Lopunny, the Rabbit Pokémon. This Pokémon's ears are apparently very delicate. They must be handled gently and with care, or else Lopunny will kick you with its graceful legs.
Overview
Few Pokémon were hit as hard as Lopunny with the removal of Mega Evolutions. While Mega Lopunny is an exemplary physical attacker, base Lopunny has little going for it. The only thing that immediately stands out about Lopunny is its speed. Base 105 is quite good outrunning already fast Pokémon like Garchomp, Mega Floette and Mega Excadrill. Lopunny can use this speed to excellent effect with a diverse disruptive movepool, with Thunder Wave for Speed control, Encore to punish setup, Healing Wish to give an ally a second chance at a sweep, or even Baton Pass boosts from Cotton Guard, Cosmic Power, Swords Dance and Agility. As one of the few Pokémon with Klutz, Lopunny can even weaponize this to devastating effect, holding detrimental items like the Iron Ball with no effect and Switcheroo them over to the opponent to debilitate them.
Yet that is everything going for Lopunny. Pure Normal typing is a horrible place to be both offensively and defensively unless one has the lopsided stats to account for the lack of resistances and super effective matchups. Lopunny lacks both traits in spades. 65 HP brings down a decent base 96 HP and merely average 84 Defense, preventing Lopunny from tanking many blows in the first place. Yet that is nothing compared to Lopunny’s offense. With base 76 Attack as the higher of Lopunny’s offenses,, it is horribly passive and with such a flawed defensive profile Lopunny, struggles to get the Swords Dance boosts to address for this. Even worse is Lopunny’s lack of reliable physical STAB. Since the removal of its signature moves in Return and Frustration, Lopunny’s STAB offense has been regulated to the utility of Fake Out and Quick Attack, the situational Façade and the unreliable Mega Kick, none of which do enough to address Lopunny’s lack of Attack. Even Lopunny’s best point, its speed, comes up short after generations of speed creep ensuring there is no lack of Pokémon that outstrip it. This becomes worse when one considers there are other Pokémon that can fulfill Lopunny’s niches much better. As a Baton Passer, Lopunny finds itself outstripped by the much faster and more efficient Scolipede, speed control through Paralysis and Encore disruption is better done by base Raichu, let alone its Mega Evolutions and Switcheroo is unreliable in formats with Mega Stones which block the move. This leaves Healing Wish as Lopunny’s remaining niche due to being the fastest natural user of it, but is not nearly enough when it can do so little otherwise. For all Lopunny’s Cute Charm, it brings little else to the party and is soon forgotten.
Positives
Base 105 Speed is quite good, getting the jump on Pokémon already valued for their Speed, including several offensive staples.
Potent supportive movepool, with Healing Wish and Baton Pass alongside Encore, Thunder Wave and Klutz Switcheroo for disruption.
Negatives
Poor base 76 Attack and lack of viable physical STAB leaves Lopunny rather passive
65/84/96 defenses with the resistance barren Normal typing leaves Lopunny with little defensive utility.
Speed creep has made Base 105 Speed less valuable than it would otherwise be.
Movesets
Bunny Nurse
-Healing Wish
-Encore
-Switcheroo
-Thunder Wave
Ability: Choice Scarf
Item: Klutz/Limber
Stats and Nature:
32 HP / 2 Def / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
This set makes the most of Lopunny’s best niche in giving one’s attackers a second chance to wreak havoc and close out a game. Have a Mega Staraptor or Mega Feraligatr chipped down from Brave Bird/Dragonize Double Edge? Mega Metagross or (Mega) Gyarados burned by Mega Scovillain while taking it out? Lopunny’s Healing Wish, wipes the damage and injuries away, allowing for a second, likely game ending sweep. Teams can only carry so many checks to account for every attacker in a format and it is rare for a check to emerge unscathed from such exchanges. This allows attackers to compromise checks during the first attempted sweep and after Lopunny’s assistance, come back and break through the check and presumably the rest of the team that were relying on their partner to handle the newly invigorated attacker. While Healing Wish is this set’s raison d’etre, the other moves can facilitate setup sweepers by creating an opening for them to setup safely. Encore is great at this, especially with Lopunny’s speed allowing it to usually choose what to lock an opponent into. This can be especially punishing for opposing setup sweepers or other passive Pokémon like hazard setters, locking them into a move that does nothing and either force a switch or get free setup in the endgame. Switcheroo is a more persistent version of this, and for bulkier Pokémon like Toxapex, Hippowdon, Clefable and Umbreon, this can gut their utility for the rest of a match. Thunder Wave is persistent Speed control and is great for crippling revenge killers and attackers reliant on their speed, allowing Lopunny to subvert its partner’s offensive checks and enable their offenses in a different manner. Ability is up for preference. Klutz ensures that Lopunny can still switch it moves even with a Choice Scarf, allowing for more flexibility as well as surprising opponents in closed team sheet not expecting such a crippling item. However, the speed boost from Choice Scarf can be invaluable in ensuring that Lopunny can get its Healing Wish off before being knocked out and makes it far more reliable at landing crippling Encores or Thunder Waves. .
Stats and Items:
Max HP and Speed are recommended for support Lopunny. Lopunny wants to be as fast as possible for Encore to have better control over what it locks an opponent’s move into as well as outrun opponents so that it can get Healing Wish off. Everything else goes into bulk for Lopunny to survive as many hits as possible so it can get off disruption aside from Healing Wish, as well as make Lopunny less vulnerable to priority so it can’t be preemptively taken out. Choice Scarf is recommended as the item for both its lockdown potential with Switcheroo, as well as making Lopunny very difficult to outspeed, allowing it to get off its disruption and support more easily, though there are other options. If running Klutz, Iron Ball is another persistent Speed control option that also Grounds Flying and Levitating Pokémon, enabling Ground attackers. Otherwise, Focus Sash is great for ensuring that Lopunny survives one hit to get its support and disruption off. Mental Herb is also worth considering so that Lopunny is not completely shut down by Taunt and can get its support off. Chople Berry is another alternative given Lopunny’s only weakness is Fighting, temporarily giving Lopunny no weaknesses to exploit and making it much more difficult to remove in a single blow.
Partners:
Given how this Lopunny set works, it pairs well with most bulky attackers that can overwhelm just about everything in their path. Mega Staraptor is a prime example of this, thanks to its ability to take over games due to defensive escalation from Close Combat while often relying on Brave Bird to remove troublesome Fairies. With Healing Wish Lopunny in the wings, Mega Staraptor can Brave Bird the offending Fairy type down, switch out and then come in later to wrap matters up with Healing Wish. Dragon Dance Mega Feraligatr, Mega Eelektross, Gyarados, Mega Blaziken, Dragon Dance Dragonite, Swords Dance Mega Scizor, Nasty Plot Mega Delphox and more can all fit this bill while benefitting from the disruption Lopunny can throw about.
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Other Options:
Fake Out, while weak, is good for breaking Focus Sash, Multiscale, and Sturdy or picking off attackers brought to a sliver.
Circle Throw allows Lopunny to act as a pHazer against non-Ghost types, wiping away boosts, but necessitates Lopunny to run Focus Sash to reliably do so.
Lopunny can make for a passable Baton Pass user, especially with its access to the rare Cotton Guard for an absurd +3 Defense boost. Other choice options include Swords Dance, Cosmic Power and Agility.
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Countering Lopunny
Lopunny’s non-existent offense and lacking defenses should make it simple to handle, though the true difficulty comes in how Lopunny enables its teammates.
First and foremost, Taunt. The bulk of the headaches Lopunny provides comes from its status moves which Taunt shuts down hard, often forcing it to struggle or pivot out without having contributed. However, due to Lopunny’s high speed, landing the Taunt before it can act can be a difficult task. Prankster users in Mega Bannette, Grimmsnarl and Whimsicott are the best, since their Prankster ensures they go first even in the face of Choice Scarf. Dragon Dance Gyarados and Greninja, are other fast Taunt users that can outrun Lopunny and Taunt it before it can move.
Other good checks to Lopunny are those that are immune to its disruption. Gholdengo unsurprisingly excels at this, its Good as Gold and Ghost typing stopping everything Lopunny can do short of Healing Wish, to the point Gholdengo can use Lopunny as setup. Magic Bounce users, while still vulnerable to Switcheroo, completely negate Thunder Wave and Encore, leaving Hatterene and Espeon decent checks. Electric and Paralysis Immune Mega Evolutions also block most of Lopunny’s Tricks as Mega Stones cannot be Switcheroo’d away. This means the Mega Raichus, Mega Sceptile, Mega Swampert, Mega Eelektross and Mega Excadrill can pivot in safely and apply offensive pressure to Lopunny. Other Mega Evolutions will block Switcheroo by default, and Ground and Electric types like Garchomp and Rotom-Wash do not fear Thunder Wave, while Lum Berry users do get a one time pass against the status.
Offense to shut Lopunny down can work, though the HP investment and possible Focus Sash and/or Chople Berry can make that difficult. Entry Hazards are best to combat this, pushing Lopunny down into KO range, breaking Focus Sash and in best case scenarios, knocking out the intending Healing Wish recipient as it comes in from the hazard damage, forcing opponents out earlier than they would otherwise like. Population Bomb Maushold is probably the only multihit attacker that can both outspeed Lopunny and OHKO it through Focus Sash. If looking to bypass Chople Berry, Scarf Adaptability Basculegion and Mega Swampert in the Rain are the few faster attackers that can outright OHKO 32 HP Lopunny. If Chople Berry isn’t a factor, Mega Staraptor, Mega Lucario, Mega Raichu Y, Speed Boost (Mega) Blaziken, and ironically enough Mega Lopunny can all outrun and crush Lopunny.
Mega Lopunny, the Rabbit Pokémon. It swings its ears like whips and strikes its enemies with them. It has an intensely combative disposition.
Overview
Mega Lopunny is an offensive revamp of the Sinnoh bunny, evolving the passive speedster to lightning-fast attacker. This is in part due to the whopping 60 base stat points poured into Lopunny’s Attack stat, pushing it up to an amazing base 136 Attack, on par with Powerhouse Pokémon like Dragonite, Metagross, and Tyranitar, an excellent standard for power to be sure. However, coverage is where Mega Lopunny truly shines. Mega Lopunny boasts the excellent coverage movepool of most early generation Normal types and the gifts it has received in the generations since its last appearance, with the Elemental Punches, U-Turn, Play Rough, and Triple Axel supplementing the already wide neutral coverage of Normal. The fact that Mega Lopunny does need these offensive options to excel boggles the mind. This is due to Mega Lopunny gaining a new Fighting subtyping upon Mega Evolution, granting Mega Lopunny incredible STAB options that threaten key Dark and Steel types like Kingambit, Meowscarada, Mega Gyarados, Hydreigon, Hisuian-Samurott and more. What truly pushes this over the edge is Mega Lopunny getting Scrappy upon Mega Evolution. With the ability to ignore Ghost type immunity, Mega Lopunny has perfect neutral coverage from its STAB attacks alone, allowing it to dig deep into base Lopunny’s extensive support movepool to cripple opponents before beating them up. All this is enabled by a Mega Gengar eclipsing base 135 Speed, same as the Miraidon, Koraidon, Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao that terrorized Scarlet and Violet’s competitive scene, making Mega Lopunny nearly impossible to outspeed before it can put on the pain.
Yet the generational shifts have been rough on Mega Lopunny. What once were its signature moves in Return and Frustration have been removed from the game. This has left Mega Lopunny without any reliable Normal STAB to wield, instead having to rely on the inaccurate Mega Kick, the situational Façade, or the weak Quick Attack for STAB, not even having Double Edge or Body Slam for reliable options. While Normal is generally considered a poor offensive STAB, it is vital for Mega Lopunny given its synergy with Scrappy and Fighting STAB. While Fighting STAB is valued for its wide super effective coverage, it has as many types it is resisted by, making Fighting STAB rather inconsistent in a way that no type like Scrappy Normal addresses, drastically cutting down on Mega Lopunny’s consistency. Which is a shame as power and speed is all Mega Lopunny has. While 94/96 defenses aren’t bad, they certainly are not sufficient with a poor base HP of 65, leaving Mega Lopunny struggling to tank blows. Normal-Fighting is little better in terms of defensive utility, with a Ghost immunity, Dark and Rock resistances are not sufficient to make up for the vast majority of types that hit it neutrally, let alone super effectively. These issues have only slowed Mega Lopunny down, not stop it, and it is more than capable of going leaps and bounds if given the chance.
Positives
Solid Base 136 Attack gives Mega Lopunny plenty of stopping power, allowing it to threaten most Pokémon.
Scrappy with Normal and Fighting STABs are amazing, giving Mega Lopunny perfect neutral coverage from STABs alone.
Amazing movepool with plenty of physical coverage, setup and disruptive options.
Base 135 Speed is ludicrous, being the 7th fastest available at the time of this writing ensuring Mega Lopunny goes first in most circumstances.
Negatives
Lack of reliable Normal STAB makes it difficult for Mega Lopunny to exercise its perfect coverage.
65 HP brings down decent defenses, giving Mega Lopunny limited staying power, even before the recoil of High Jump Kick or defense drops of Close Combat are taken into consideration.
Normal-Fighting typing has little in the way of resistances, giving Mega Lopunny little defensive utility.
Movesets
Do Not Dream of Fighting Rabbits
-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Close Combat
-Triple Axel
Ability: Limber -> Scrappy
Item: Lopunnite
Stats and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
Through sheer power and speed alone, Mega Lopunny is an excellent cleaner in removing frail and compromised targets. Scrappy Fake Out is invaluable for this and has Mega Lopunny stand out from other cleaners. Fake Out’s incredible priority bracket helps out in this regard, helping Mega Lopunny move even before other priority users like Extreme Speed Dragonite and Mega Lucario, Aqua Jet Scarf Basculegion, and Mega Starmie, Bullet Punch, Mega Metagross, etc. This allows Mega Lopunny to remove such targets safely without incurring damage but it goes beyond that. Fake Out forced flinch means it is free damage, allowing Mega Lopunny to safely break Focus Sashes, Sturdy, (Mega) Dragonite’s Multiscale and even Mimikyu’s Disguise thanks to Scrappy without incurring counter attacks, getting effective knock outs on Pokémon otherwise renowned for being able to survive any one attack. This is especially fantastic in the face of the often frail Focus Sash users preventing from getting their one attack off while Mega Lopunny is all but assured to outspeed and KO them with its own follow up. U-Turn pairs wonderfully with Fake Out, allowing Mega Lopunny to chip a target while pivoting out to reset Fake Out, ideal if Mega Lopunny had to come out early to remove a sweeper that setup, but isn’t time for it to clean. Close Combat is Mega Lopunny’s primary STAB option and fantastic given the number of Steel and Dark types running about while Scrappy allows Mega Lopunny to cover targets like Gholdengo, Aegislash, and Mega Froslass with its Fighting STAB that would otherwise happily pivot in to Close Combat. Triple Axel rounds out the set for its great coverage and good synergy with Fighting STAB, obliterating Fighting resistant Flying types while being neutral on the other types that resist Fighting. Ice coverage into the many dominant Dragon types like Garchomp, (Mega) Dragonite, and Mega Dragalge cannot be understated.
Stats and Items:
Standard Sweeper array of Max Speed and Attack is recommended for Mega Lopunny. Mega Lopunny’s biggest asset is its blinding speed, outrunning even the likes of Mega Gengar, Mega Raichu Y and Mega Delphox, allowing it to apply pressure where few other Pokémon can. As such, full investment and Jolly nature is what one will see most of the time and for good reason. However, with a speed stat as extreme as Mega Lopunny’s, dropping to Adamanat isn’t unviable, as Mega Lopunny speed ties with Jolly (Mega) Hawlucha, a positive natured base 118, and still outspeeding a wide range of foes. With Adamant, Mega Lopunny is favored to OHKO 32 HP Archaludon, guaranteed to KO 32 HP Primarina with a Fake Out into Mega Kick, favored to 2HKO Grimmsnarl through Reflect after a non-Reflect Fake Out, rarely KO Alolan-Ninetails with Fake Out into Close Combat, and favored to KO 32 HP Rotom Appliances with Fake Out into Close Combat. Item is locked to the Lopunnite.
Partners:
Mega Lopunny is rather flexible given its many value comes from picking off weakened targets, but it does have a few issues. Mega Lopunny struggles against physical walls if lacking Swords Dance, so allies that can handle them are greatly appreciated. Primarina is a noted partner in crime for Mega Lopunny, its special prowess making quick work of Corviknight, Hippowdon and Skarmory, as well. The ability to check the Fighting+Ice resistant Flame Body Volcarona is also a nice bonus. Mega Lopunny returns the favor making fast work of Mega Raichu Y and Meowscarada thanks to its sheer speed and able to ignore Focus Sash with Fake Out and Triple Axel.
Sets relying on Close Combat + Triple Axel struggle against Fighting resistant Water types like Toxapex, Primarina, and to a lesser extent, Mega Starmie (who takes minimum 84% from Fake Out + U-Turn). Meowscarada does well into Primarina and Mega Starmie while hindering Toxapex with Knock Off. Rotom-Wash is a more traditional answer against such Pokémon given its Water resistance and Electric STAB giving it an amazing advantage against even Toxapex
Other Options:
Swords Dance grants Mega Lopunny a lot of stopping power it otherwise lacks, allowing it to devastate physically bulky Pokémon like Corviknight, Mega Metagross and Hippowdown.
Mega Kick is a powerful, if inconsistent physical Normal STAB option that gives the perfect Normal coverage.
Façade is generally weaker, but great against teams reliant on status to stop Mega Lopunny like Mega Scovillain, Rotom-Wash and Skeledirge.
While easily punishable by Protect and slightly unreliable, High Jump Kick is an even stronger Fighting STAB than Close Combat while lacking the defense dropping side effect.
Mach Punch severely threatens the Fighting weak Scarf users and Mega Greninja looking to pick off a weakened Mega Lopunny.
Encore can mess with more defensive checks like Toxapex, turning them into setup for Mega Lopunny’s teammate.
Doubles and VGC Options
With as amazing as Mega Lopunny is in Singles, it should excel even more in Doubles. Since Mega Lopunny was last available, Scrappy had been buffed to block Intimidate, removing a key tool in slowing Mega Lopunny down. Though, even without the buff, Mega Lopunny would have seen consideration. Fake Out is one of the most pivotal moves in Doubles, turning any matchup into a temporary 2v1 to the point that it actively affects how people play from just the threat of Fake Out. Ghost types are invaluable in Doubles due to their immunity to the move, so Mega Lopunny being able to outright ignore that immunity and flinch said Pokémon anyways can completely upend strategies reliant on said Ghost type (i.e. Trick Room teams reliant on Mimikyu or Sinistcha for setup). Mega Lopunny’s blazing speed pays dividends in other areas too, outrunning the terrifying Mega Raichu Y, while being one of the few Pokémon that can reliably deny Focus Sash Aerodactyl’s Tailwind, on top of enabling its own disruption and support with both Encore and After You. Yet, Mega Lopunny has had a rough time. The removal of Return and Frustration means that it lacks the perfect coverage Scrappy Normal + Fighting STAB provides, leaving it struggling against a fairly Fairy centric metagame. Furthermore, Mega Lopunny frailty makes it a rather volatile pick and results in poor matchups into several of the most popular Mega Evolutions currently running around, including Mega Metagross, Mega Staraptor, Mega Swampert, Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Delphox. Mega Lopunny lacking Scrappy pre–Mega Evolution further causes issues, making it vulnerable to opening or turn 1 switching Intimidate users, slashing its Attack before it can act. The fact that Mega Lopunny is not unique at its role as a Scrappy Fake Out user hurts as well, causing it to compete directly with base Kangaskhan for a team slot, who being not beholden to its Mega Evolution is a much lower opportunity cost to use.
Double-Eared Savate
-Fake Out
-Encore
-Close Combat
-Triple Axel/Mega Kick
Ability: Limber -> Scrappy
Item: Lopunnite
Stat Points and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
This Mega Lopunny set is offensive support, being equal parts disruption and power. First and foremost is Fake Out, of which, Mega Lopunny is easily the best user of the move in the series. Fake Out is already a staple in Doubles for being able to control the pace of a match, denying opposing setup, enabling easy double ups to remove a dangerous threat with a slower ally, and the sheer mind games it triggers in forcing opponents to play passively. Mega Lopunny takes this even further thanks to being the fastest Fake Out user in the game, always ensuring its Fake Out goes off first, and with Scrappy can even stop Ghost types that are normally valued for their ability to act even in the threat of Fake Out. Encore is the other part of Mega Lopunny's package and goes hand in hand with Fake Out. Encore is already an insane move in doubles given the number of commonly used moves that do nothing or are actively detrimental when repeated, including Fake Out, screens, Tailwind, weather, Protect etc. Encore, with Mega Lopunny's speed is even more potent, making it far easier for Mega Lopunny to lock a Pokémon into a move of its trainer's using. Encore in conjunction with Fake Out is even more potent, given how easily Fake Out causes opponents to Protect, giving Mega Lopunny an easy target for locking down and turning any matchup into a temporary 2v1. For offense, Close Combat is the way to go, being a powerful Fighting STAB option that threatens many staples including Kingambit, Gholdengo, Aegislash, Incineroar, Archaludon, and Maushold just to name a few. Last option is up for choice. Triple Axel is Ice coverage, which pairs incredibly well with Fighting, while its multi-hit nature allows Mega Lopunny to OHKO targets through Focus Sash, namely Aerodactyl and Whimsicott. Mega Kick does deserve strong consideration, however. Scrappy Normal and Fighting STAB is near impossible to resist, giving Mega Lopunny a safe way to compromise the Fairy and Poison typed staples that Close Combat can't handle, like Mega Floette, Sylveon, Toxapex, and Primarina. While Mega Kick is unreliable at only 75% accuracy, a 3-hit Triple Axel only has an effective accuracy of 72.9%, so it is slightly more reliable when looking at power, while Triple-Axel is more reliable when wanting any damage at all.
Max Speed and Attack are highly recommended. Mega Lopunny's biggest asset is its absurd base 135 Speed outrunning base 130s like Mega Gengar, Mega Raichu Y and especially Aerodactyl, allowing it to pressure such speedy threats that few other Pokémon can. Attack investment is to make up for the lack of the ability to hold items and enabling Mega Lopunny to apply as much offensive pressure as possible. Investing in HP to increase general bulk is not a bad option either, given the potency of Mega Lopunny's disruptive movepool. Sacrificing power for HP is also viable, given the sheer value of Mega Lopunny’s support movepool.
Preferred Partners & Other Options:
Mega Lopunny can fit well onto most teams as an excellent support Mega Evolution due to the power of Scrappy Fake Out and Encore alone. Answers to Fighting resists remain paramount, especially if Mega Lopunny isn’t running Triple Axel or Nomal STAB. Mega Metagross is an ideal candidate if wanting to use Mega Lopunny as a secondary Mega Evolution, as Mega Metagross handles opposing Fairy and Poison types very well, while Mega Lopunny excels more against teams relying on Dark types like Incineroar and Kingambit that can both troublesome for Mega Metagross.
Partners that struggle with Dark types are natural picks for Mega Lopunny. Basculegion immediately stands out due being able to take advantage of Mega Lopunny’s own volatility to fuels its own Last Respects sweep later. Sinistcha conversely addresses Mega Lopunny’s fragility, keeping Mega Lopunny healthy with Hospitality and Life Dew, on top of threatening Triple Axel resistant Water types. Both Basculegion and Sinistcha also boast good matchups into most Fighting resists thanks to their good matchup against Psychic and wide neutrality to everything else. Farigiraf is a more supportive partner, blocking opposing priority and able to push Mega Lopunny’s offense to a new level with Helping Hand while countering opposing Trick Room teams through either Imprison or directly reversing Trick Room.
Protect is the best move in Doubles and a consideration on anything that can use it with incredible utility including scouting for moves, punishing doubling up, blocking opposing Fake Outs, stalling out opposing field conditions and more.
Ice Punch is a much more reliable Ice STAB that is ideal for handling the Dragons in the format like Garchomp, but lacks the multi-hit attribute that makes it so valuable into Aerodactyl, Whimsicott and Multiscale Dragonite.
After You can be used to enable a normally slower ally like Torkoal or Sylveon to move immediately after Mega Lopunny, artificially granting them Mega Lopunny's Speed.
U-Turn is fantastic with Fake Out as Incineroar and Rillaboom have proved that Fake Out cycling can easily slow your opponent's game plan down to a crawl.
Mach Punch is priority that works past the first turn, allowing Mega Lopunny to consistently pick off low HP Pokémon.
Giga Impact can be used akin to Explosion, deleting a target in return for Mega Lopunny’s effective removal itself, though is best used in closed teamsheet for shock factor.
Countering Mega Lopunny
Mega Lopunny’s sheer speed and offense are a sight to behold, but if handled is far more manageable.
Physical walls are troublesome for Mega Lopunny. While it does boast a fantastic Attack stat, unlike the powerhouse Pokémon, it cannot hold any boosting items, which can have it miss knock outs its contemporaries wouldn’t. While Mega Lopunny can address this with Swords Dance, it does not always run Swords Dance and can have difficulty finding time to safely setup. Even with Swords Dance, Mega Lopunny’s preferred non-Close Combat moves are unreliable, and the more hits it takes Mega Lopunny to bring a Pokémon down, the more likely it will miss, often leading to Mega Lopunny’s own knock out. 32 HP / 32 Def Corviknight and Skarmory are nightmares for Mega Lopunny as an Unboosted Close Combat only manages 36-42% while they easily OHKO with Body Press after the Defense drop. 32 HP Archaludon can also be annoying especially since it can switch into Fake Out or Triple Axel for free Stamina boosts, and survive the subsequent Close Combat, but Close Combat has a 1/8 to OHKO unboosted Archaludon and will still deal 57-68% on a +1 Def Archaludon. Archaludon also needs the Special Defense drop to reliably get the OHKO as without that, even 32 Special Attack Modest Archaludon only has a 3/16 chance of one shotting with Draco Meteor. While Toxapex doesn’t threaten an immediate KO back, even a Mega Kick only deals 40-47%, making it easy for Toxapex to stall out Mega Lopunny with Toxic and wiping away Swords Dance boosts with Haze. 32 HP/ 32+ Def Skeledirge is notable for not even caring about Swords Dance, while Close Combat deals 36-43% at best, allowing Skeledirge to easily stall Mega Lopunny out or even outright cripple it with Will-O-Wisp. Even in the worst case scenario of Mega Lopunny having Façade, an Adamant Burned Façade Mega Lopunny only deals 45-54% and thus cannot 2HKO Leftovers or Sitrus Berry Skeledirge.
Mega Lopunny’s moveset can also cause issues. If lacking a non-priority Normal STAB, type combinations that resist Ice and Fighting become very problematic. Max HP Primarina, and Azumarill both take at worst 42% and 36% from Mega Lopunny’s Close Combat respectively and easily OHKO back with their Fairy STAB regardless of defense drops. Volcarona takes this to the extreme, fearing only Normal STAB options (even Fake out does a full 31-37%) but threatens to cripple Mega Lopunny with Flame Body, can setup a Quiver Dance, and outlast Mega Lopunny with Morning Sun or OHKO with +1 Fire STAB after a Close Combat drop (a +1 Modest Fiery Dance has a 1/16 chance to OHKO, while unboosted only does 57-67% if Mega Lopunny has taken no Special Defense drops). Volcarona is more of a soft check as Close Combat deals 46-54% on offensive Volcarona, still being favored to 2HKO. Mega Floette can also make Mega Lopunny’s life difficult, with even offensive variants able to survive Fake Out into Triple Axel easily while assurdly OHKOing with the Fairy STAB of choice. While Mega Kick cannot OHKO on its own it does deal 78-93%, meaning Mega Floette must be healthy to safely act as a check. Mega Starmie does not like U-Turn, but excepting that only takes at most 43% from Close Combat and can OHKO with Zen Headbutt.
Dropping Triple Axel for Mega Kick is not without its own issues either. Multiscale Dragonite cannot be KO’d by Fake Out into Mega Kick unless Multiscale was previously broken. In fact, Mega Lopunny may not even select Fake Out for fear of Inner Focus. However, Adamant Dragonite can outspeed and OHKO with Adamant Dragon Fang Outrage, while Jolly Dragon Dance variants will outspeed Mega Lopunny post boost and OHKO with Outrage as well. Mega Dragonite is even worse given its superior bulk, even if it lacks the mind games of base Dragonite. While Mega Kick still deals 55-66% with Multiscale broken, Mega Dragonite easily OHKOs back with Draco Meteor or Hurricane, and can pick off a weakened Mega Lopunny with Extreme Speed past the Fake Out window. 32 HP / 32 Def+ Hippowdown takes 38% from Close Combat and Mega Kick from Jolly Mega Lopunny, allowing it to easily outlast and grind Mega Lopunny down with Earthquake and Sandstream.
Offensive checks are far fewer given Mega Lopunny’s impeccable speed stat, but if that can bypassed, Mega Lopunny’s frailty becomes quite evident. Mega Aerodactyl tops the list, being naturally faster than Mega Lopunny while its brutal Dual Wingbeat ensures a quick knockout. Mega Alakazam is close behind given it takes a brutal 39-46% from Fake Out/Quick Attack. Mega Greninja also naturally outspeeds, but needs Extrasensory to ensure the OHKO. (Mega) Blaziken also works well, able to block a Fake Out with Protect/Detect, grab a Speed boost than outspeed and OHKO Mega Lopunny. Mega Swampert in the rain also grabs an easy OHKO while outspeeding, as do fellow weather sweepers Life Orb Venusaur and Life Orb Excadrill. Otherwise, one must look to Choice Scarf users. Scarf Eternal Floette easily is best with its Moonblast picking up a clean OHKO. As for other Scarf and priority users that can pick off a weakened Mega Lopunny, Meowscarada deals with Flower Trick, Mega Lucario does 73-87% with Vacuum Wave, Scarf Garchomp does 83-99% with Outrage, Scarf Hydreigon with an 18% chance to OHKO with Draco Meteor (min 86%).
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Buneary
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Buneary
Black/White:
Trade from Black 2
Black 2/White 2:
Castelia City (Black 2)
X/Y:
Trade from Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Buneary
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Poni Grove
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Fields of Honor, Soothing Wetlands, Challenge Beach
Max Raid Battles: Fields of Honor, Soothing Wetlands, Stepping-Stone Sea, Insular Sea
Dynamax Adventures
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Evolve Buneary
Legends: Arceus:
Obsidian Fieldlands: Heartwood or nearby
Alabaster Icelands: Bonechill Wastes, Snowfall Hot Spring or nearby
Obsidian Fieldlands: Massive Mass Outbreak
Alabaster Icelands: Massive Mass Outbreak
Scarlet/Violet:
Not in game
Legends: Z-A:
WildWild Zone 18
Hyperspace Lumiose - Normal (3 Star)
Anime Appearences
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Lopunny has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably, it was used by Nando in the Sinnoh League |
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