Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon. It creates throwing stars out of compressed water. When it spins them and throws them at high speed, these stars can split metal in two.
Overview
Greninja’s foray in Champions has it reprise its role as a revenge killer par excellence, taking advantage of its absurdly wide movepool and Protean to remove just about anything its trainer could ask for. This is in part enabled by Greninja’s fantastic base speed. Base 122 is blazingly fast with few non-Mega evolutions able to reliably outspeed Greninja and those that can out speed have to deal with Greninja’s many priority moves. The flexibility Protean provides cannot be understated, turning any of Greninja's moves into a STAB option that hits surprisingly hard, allowing Greninja to pull moves out of nowhere and annihilate opponents not expecting Greninja to run the perfect move to annihilate their Pokémon. Balanced attacking stats further add to the confusion Greninja wreaks, allowing it to use both its special and physical moves to great effect. Add in solid utility moves like Taunt, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Flip Turn, U-Turn and Switcheroo and Greninja is more than well equipped to keep opponents guessing. The current removal of Terastalization has been a large boon to Greninja as well, as Terastalization effectively shuts down both Greninja’s ability, as well as its utility in allowing opponents to change their typing and evade Greninja’s takedown.
For despite all this utility and speed, Greninja simply comes up short in power. Base 95 and 103 offenses are barely usable, leaving Greninja reliant on Super Effective hits and Protean to get the knockouts it needs. No Pokémon has been hit harder by the Protean nerf than Greninja who in the past could change typings to best match the situation, whether offensively or defensively. Now, a switch all but forces Greninja out as it will likely lack the power to take down the new threat unless it was sufficiently softened up beforehand. The Protean nerf also locks out other options for Greninja as well; boosting with Swords Dance is unviable due to Greninja due to locking it into Normal typing upon use, slashing the power of any non Normal follow up move. To say nothing of the fact that Greninja struggles to find an opportunity to boost up in the first place, with paltry 67/71 defenses leaving Greninja obscenely frail and incredibly reliant on Protean to either get the knock out or survive the incoming blow. Furthermore, the speed creep provided by numerous Mega Evolutions does Greninja no favors either, with many able to outrun and OHKO Greninja irrespective of Greninja’s priority attacks. The fact that Greninja can succeed despite these flaws is amazing. To truly excel with Greninja, one must fight like a ninja, exploiting advantageous matchups and weakened foes and getting out of dodge right after.
Positives
Base 122 Speed is amazing, generally assuring Greninja will move before its opponent.
Balanced attacking stats, absurdly wide coverage and Protean all come together turning Greninja into an effective assassin always able to hit a weak point while having numerous moveset variations.
Solid Support movepool including Spikes, Toxic Spikes, U-Turn, Switcheroo increases the roles Greninja can fill, giving it a place on most teams.
Negatives
Poor offenses means Greninja struggles to deal with neutral targets.
Protean’s Nerf means Greninja isn’t always attacking with STAB, making its lack of power more apparent
Poor defenses ensures that even resisted attacks will sting and limiting switch in opportunities.
Cannot fit every move it wants into a single set, ensuring there are always gaps.
Movesets
Ninjutsu Master
-U-Turn
-Night Slash
-Rock Slide
-Gunk Shot
Ability: Protean
Item: Focus Sash
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk /32 Spe
Jolly Nature
Despite Greninja’s Attack being lower, it is fully capable of running a physical set and in fact may be better for it considering the boost it gives to U-Turn, allowing Greninja to take off more health from a target as it pivots out. U-Turn is a fantastic move on Greninja regardless of set, giving Greninja a way of dealing damage and resetting Protean in one move, ensuring Greninja is always making progress. While Greninja is not beholden to STABs thanks to Protean, Water and Dark are excellent offensive types in general hitting a wide range of targets. Night Slash is a fantastic option into many of the dominant Ghost types running around like Aegislash, Ceruledge, Basculegion, and Gengar as well as able to deal considerable damage to Galarian-Slowking expecting a more specially oriented Greninja. Rock Slide is coverage for opposing Fire types, but mainly Mega Charizard Y whose Drought would otherwise nullify Greninja’s Water attacks while also quickly dealing with Volcarona, Rotom-Heat, and to a lesser extent Mega Charizard X on top of quickly removing Pelipper. Gunk Shot is valued for its ability to threaten Fairy and some Grass types the latter much more effectively than Ice Punch. With Gunk Shot, Greninja can easily remove Primarina, Mega Floette, Clefable, Sylveon, Mega Meganium, Alolan Ninetales and Mega Gardevoir to name a few, many much more effective than Sludge Wave given the high Special Defense of most of these targets, though Gunk Shot’s imperfect accuracy can be maddening.
EVs and Items:
As this set is purely physical, max Attack and Speed are recommended for Greninja to deal as much damage as possible. Jolly Nature is recommended, given how Greninja lives and dies on its speed. While the power boost from Adamant is tempting, but Greninja is then outsped by Alolan Nintales, Gengar, Serperior, Sneasler, as well as Adamant Meowscarada. If running special coverage like Hydro Pump, some Special Attack investment can be warranted to break through physical walls, though even Water weak targets like Max HP Hippowdon and Max HP Arcanine require an obscene 24 points for Greninja to be favored to OHKO with Hydro Pump. Focus Sash is recommended as the item allowing Greninja to eat one attack, making it far less disastrous if it misses the OHKO on a target. Choice Scarf also works to make Greninja nearly impossible to outspeed and that much more reliable at cleaning up weakened targets. If Life Orb or the Choice items return, they will likely be mainstays on Greninja, making it that much easier for Greninja to reach OHKOs. With Mystic Water alone, 10 Special Attack points is enough to always OHKO Max HP Hippowdon and Arcanine.
Partners:
With Greninja’s flexibility, it is easy to customize it to fill whatever gaps in coverage you have in your team, more as an end point than a starting point. Greninja can’t cover everything though and is best to server as a cleanup to a more direct attacker. Mega Charizard Y loves this set’s ability to handle opposing Mega Charizard Y and other Fire attackers as well as weather setters like Pelipper and Alolan Ninetales without being hampered by its Sun as well as down specially bulky targets like Mega Floette and Primarina. Charizard Y in turn melts most physical walls like Hippowdon, Skarmory, Archaludon, Corviknight and more with its searing Fire STABs and Solarbeam on top of Greninja providing an easy avenue to reset Drought. Mega Lucario is another powerful partner that greatly benefits from Greninja’s ability to clean up Ghost and Psychic types to enable Mega Lucario’s Fighting STABs as well as handle Steel neutral Fairies like Primarina and Azumarill. Mega Lucario in turn obliterates Steel types with ease between its Fighting STABs and Earthquake.
Other Options:
Flip Turn as an alternative to U-Turn for pivoting and just as viable. U-Turn has slightly higher base power, but is resisted by a lot more types. Flip Turn is a much better offensive type, but Greninja has plenty of stronger Water options.
Liquidation is Greninja’s best physical Water STAB and a stronger and more reliable option into most Fire types like Rotom-Heat, and Ceruledge, as well as handling Ground and Rock types like Diggersby and Mamoswine.
Hydro Pump is a powerful coverage option into physically bulky Ground and Fire types that can otherwise eat a Liquidation with little issue like Hippowdon and Arcanine.
Low Kick cleans up Kingambit, Tyranitar, Hisuian Goodra and Hydreigon while dealing good damage to Mega Kangaskhan.
Spikes and Toxic Spikes are great in positions where Greninja is unlikely to get a KO, threatening the Pokémon in back and limiting how much an opponent can pivot in front of Greninja. Spikes providing immunity to Electric and Toxic Spikes providing resistance to Grass, Fairy, Fighting and Bug also wards Greninja against common super effective attacks.
Switcheroo is a powerful option with Choice Scarf for messing with the bulky walls Greninja otherwise struggles with.
Purely special sets are also viable with Surf, Ice Beam, Sludge Wave, and Grass Knot all up for consideration.
Countering Greninja
While Greninja’s flexibility is unparalleled, it is held back in part by its lacking power, especially against targets it cannot hit super effectively.
Mega Venusaur tends to do best against most base Greninja, as barring the rare Extrasensory or Acrobatics, the best Greninja can do is a 3HKO with Gunk Shot, while Mega Venusaur can outlast with Synthesis/Giga Drain and OHKO with a super effective Earth Power or neutral Leaf Storm. Max HP Rotom-Wash also does well, only being 2HKOd by Gunk Shot, an already unreliable move (and goes down to 3HKO after a Sitrus Berry) while able to OHKO with a neutral Hydro Pump or super effective Thunderbolt.
Purely physical sets lack answers in Corviknight and Skarmory, who can easily brutalize Greninja back with a few Body Presses. Max HP Corviknight with Leftovers is even durable enough to only be 3HKOd by Mystic Water Hydro Pump. Max HP Archaludon only fears Low Kick, which in of itself is an unlikely 2HKO before considering items like Leftovers or Sitrus Berry and OHKOs back with Draco Meteor.
Purely special sets struggle to break through Specially bulky Galarian Slowking with even Dark Pulse merely 3HKOing which Galarian Slowking can easily outlast with Slack Off. Barring a surprise Low Kick, Hisuian Goodra is similarly immovable, with not even Ice Beam being a guaranteed 3HKO as opposed to Modest Hisuian Goodra’s Draco Meteor which is an OHKO.
When in doubt, outspeeding and preying on Greninja’s low defenses, is the simplest way to go preventing Greninja from gaining momentum. Meowscarada is excellent at this with its Flower Trick cleanly OHKOing Greninja, as does Mega Gengar, Mega Delphox (though it needs Dazzling Gleam pre Protean), and Dragapult all fit this bill nicely as do a plethora of Choice Scarf users like Garchomp (Adamant Earth 31% chance to OHKO), Hydreigon, Basculegion (post Protean), and Hisuian Samurott to just name a few.
Other checks are reliant on what coverage Greninja is lacking. Toxapex walls any Greninja lacking Extrasensory, Bulky Water types like Palafin and Mega Blastoise tend to do well against Greninja lacking Grass Knot, though several others like Mega Gyarados also must watch out for secondary weaknesses. Without Low Kick, Kingambit is 3HKOd by any move aside from Hydro Pump, an unlike 2HKO without Mystic Water. Without Ice Beam, Dragons, like Garchomp and Multiscale Dragonite can soak attacks from Greninja with ease, though the former can be 2HKO’d by Hydro Pump.
Predicted switching also messes with Greninja greatly as it is reliant on Protean and super effective blows to get effective knock outs. If one can pivot into a resisted attack and waste the Protean, Greninja will be very unlike to KO the new Pokémon even with the free damage and forced to flee or be KO’d, though this can be punished by entry hazards and pivoting of Greninja’s own.
Mega Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon. This Pokémon spins a giant shuriken at high speed to make it float, then clings to it upside down to catch opponents unawares.
Overview
Generations after Ash-Greninja, Greninja finally receives its long-awaited Mega Evolution. Mega Greninja is quite the different beast from Ash-Greninja. While Ash-Greninja once transformed boasted absurd offenses, Mega Greninja invests far more in speed as well as some extra bulk on top of the improved offenses. This works to Mega Greninja’s favor given the rampant Speed creep that has been occurring. At base 142 Speed, Mega Greninja is the second fastest Pokémon currently available in Champions, tying with the already notoriously fast Dragapult. Being such a speedy Pokémon gives Mega Greninja loads of offensive pressure, something that it can take great advantage of thanks to Greninja’s absurdly wide movepool and Protean. While Mega Greninja keeps the ability of its base form, Greninja can actually use it to its benefit as Mega Evolution resets Mega Greninja back to its base Water Dark typing allowing Greninja to change its type again with Protean without being forced to switch out, capturing some of the old nightmare that was Protean and Libero in Generations 6-8. This flexibility is further fueled by Mega Greninja’s much improved base 125 Attack and Base 133 Special Attack allowing it to exercise its movepool to the fullest, making Mega Greninja one of the few viable mixed attackers currently available.
Yet for all this boosted speed and power, Mega Greninja is too similar to its base form. While Mega Greninja’s offenses are fantastic, the power jump from base to Mega is not that high, being the approximate equivalent of a Mystic Water boost in comparison to base Greninja’s power. While this is still an amazing and flexible boost, if Life Orb and the offensive Choice items return, Mega Greninja will be losing out to its base form in terms of power since it can’t hold other items. This leaves Mega Greninja in a similar position to its base form where it needs to exploit weaknesses to grab effective knockouts. Base Greninja is also plenty fast at base 122 Speed and while Mega Greninja does outspeed plenty of important targets that base Greninja misses, it still loses out to some of the same Choice Scarf users that thrash its base form as well. While Mega Greninja’s defenses were improved, it is still on the frail side, leaving it reliant on resistances and picking up knock outs to stay healthy, and struggles in more direct slugfests where it can’t take advantage of Protean. All these issues may make the opportunity cost of using Mega Greninja too high when base Greninja can do much of the same. Of course, having such an excellent base form is still an enabling factor for Mega Greninja. Since Greninja can function without Mega Evolving allowing one to save the Mega Evolution for the right situation while not losing too much by giving up Greninja’s item slot. Like the ninja of yore, Mega Greninja excels when it confounds its foes using an ever-shifting palette of tools to handle the situation.
Positives
Base 142 Speed is insane, being the second fastest currently available and outspeeding just about everything regardless.
Base 125 Attack and Base 133 Attack are fantastic even when uninvested allowing Mega Greninja to run mixed sets with ease.
Protean turns any move Mega Greninja has into STAB, and with Greninja’s absurd movepool, its has the tools for every situation.
Negatives
72/77/81 defenses still aren’t impressive, greatly limiting Mega Greninja’s hit taking ability.
Still misses knockouts if not exploiting Protean.
Cannot fit every move it wants into a single set, ensuring there are always gaps.
Movesets
Grandmaster Ninja
--Ice Beam
-Dark Pulse
-Sludge Wave
-Surf
Ability: Protean -> Protean
Item: Greninjite
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 SAtk / 32 Spe
Timid Nature
While Mega Greninja can function as a mixed attacker, its wider special movepool and higher base special attack makes a purely special set completely viable and does help Mega Greninja muscle through targets it can’t get Super Effective hits on. Regardless, Mega Greninja acts as a swift attacker and revenge killer, picking off opponents with its high speed and Protean fueled attacks. Ice Beam is incredibly emblematic of the power of Protean, allowing Mega Greninja to make the most of Ice’s absurd offensive coverage into many popular Pokémon like Garchomp, Dragonite, Hydreigon, Dragapult, Serperior and Meowscarada. Dark Pulse, while a great STAB option in general for its wide coverage, is invaluable against several of the top Ghosts currently running around, namely Aegislash, Basculegion, and Mega Gengar on top of dealing with the terror that is Mega Starmie and a lesser extent Mega Delphox. Sludge Wave is for the many Fairies currently running around that have limited counterplay due to the strength of their base typing on top of turning the tables on them trying to pivot into a predicted Dark Pulse, especially Primarina, Azumarill, Mega Floette, Mega Meganium (who is too bulky for Ice Beam) and Mega Clefable. Changing to Poison is also excellent defensively, not only for the aforementioned Fairy resist, but the Grass and Fighting resists as well, while being difficult for opponents to directly exploit thanks to Greninja usually running Water and Dark coverage. Surf rounds out the set being excellent coverage into popular Rock, Ground and Fire types like Tyranitar, Hippowdon, Glimmora, Mega Delphox and Volcarona.
EVs and Items:
As with this set having nothing but special moves, the standard max Speed and Special Attack does work well for Mega Greninja though that is subject to change with move choices. Timid is recommended; Mega Greninja’s biggest niche is its near unparalleled speed; dropping down to Modest means Mega Greninja no longer outspeeds base 130s like Mega Gengar, to say nothing of Mega Delphox, Mega Lopunny , Max Speed Dragon Dance Tyranitar, and Adamant Scarf Basculegion. This may be a price to high to pay given Mega Greninja’s underwhelming bulk. If running mixed moves, swapping out Timid for Naďve is recommended, that way Greninja’s physical coverage isn’t taking a hit, with Naďve being recommended given how there are so much fewer special priority attacks than physical. Item is locked to the Greninjite.
Partners:
With Mega Greninja’s flexibility, it is easy to customize it to fill whatever gaps in coverage you have in your team, more as an end point than a starting point. However, Mega Greninja cannot cover everything and will needs its teammates to pick up the slack. The given set struggles against Steel types not named Excadrill or Aegislash, so teammates that can answer bulky Steel types are greatly appreciated. Garchomp immediately comes to mind, its Ground STAB destroying Kingambit and Archaludon, while being far more effective against Mega Tyranitar as well. Mega Greninja in turn is great against the Fairy and opposing Dragon types that can give Garchomp issues. Archaludon also works well, with Aura Sphere slamming most Steel types while Thunderbolt thrashes Corviknight, and Mega Skarmory, as well as opposing Water types like Mega Gyarados, Hisuian-Samurott, and Palafin. IronPress Corviknight is another great option that most Steel types struggle to break through while loving Mega Greninja’s ability to remove Fire types. Ceruledge is another great partner, melting Steel types, and a good pivot if Mega Greninja locks itself into one of its STAB typings with Protean, while Greninja helps out against opposing Fire and Dragon types that Ceruledge can't easily heal from with Bitter Blade.
Other Options:
Water Shuriken is priority, making it fantastic at cleaning up Pokémon hanging on by a thread, especially Sash users without having to worry about opposing priority moves save Dragonite’s Extremespeed.
Hydro Pump is a far stronger Water coverage option, but the imperfect accuracy can doom Mega Greninja.
U-Turn and Flip-Turn are both fantastic pivoting options that allowing Mega Greninja to pivot out after picking up a KO and reset Protean or to scout a predicted switch, while doing appreciable damage given Mega Greninja’s good Attack and Protean STAB.
Grass Knot is Mega Greninja’s most consistent option into opposing Water types, especially Mega Gyarados, Mega Starmie, Basculegion, Palafin and Hisuian-Samurott, but several other targets are too light (Rotom-Wash, Primarina) for Grass Knot to be effective.
Low Kick is Mega Greninja’s lone source of Fighting coverage, but excellent into Kingambit as well as Max HP Mega Tyranitar who is too bulky to be felled by Grass Knot or Hydro Pump. Even with Timid nature, Mega Greninja is strong enough to OHKO them with Protean. For a target like max HP Hisuian Goodra, Naďve nature with 8 Attack is required to be favored to OHKO with Low Kick (21 Attack for the guaranteed OHKO). Offensive Mega Kangaskhan requires full Attack investment for a coin flip on the OHKO.
Gunk Shot is physical Poison STAB. While the accuracy is unfortunate it does get the OHKO on Mega Floette unlike Sludge Wave as well as blasting through Calm Mind variants of all three.
Rock Slide is almost solely for Mega Charizard Y, whose Drought renders even Hydro Pump unable to OHKO.
A purely physical Mega Greninja is completely viable, with Night Slash and Liquidation serving similar roles to Dark Pulse and Surf.
Doubles and VGC Options
Greninja has not made a significant splash in Champions doubles. This is in part due to (Mega) Greninja's frailty which makes it incredibly volatile in the fast paced doubles format, where a single misstep can result in Greninja's removal without having contributed much. The fact that despite its fantastic speed, Mega Greninja cannot offer much outside of damage does not help matters either. In previous generations, Greninja has seen some use thanks to its access to Water Pledge, which when combined with Grass Pledge enabled one of the most brutal forms of speed control in the game with the swamp the two moves created, quartering the opposing field's speed, a detriment that not even Tailwind can overcome. Not to say Mega Greninja can’t work. Have one or two Pokémon that your team struggles against? Mega Greninja will likely have a move to answer said Pokémon and with its absurd speed it is fantastic at eliminating such Pokémon before they can wreak havoc on Mega Greninja’s teammates. While it is a heavy opportunity cost to use one’s Mega Evolution for such a specific role, the fact that Greninja can function when not Mega Evolved allows for much more flexibility than other Pokémon that need there Megas. Mega Greninja is unlikely to be the centerpiece of any team, but rather the specialist for the matchups that the others can’t handle.
Mega Meta Assassin
-Low Kick
-Extrasensory
-Dark Pulse
-Protect
Ability: Protean -> Protean
Item: Greninjite
EVs and Nature:
13 Atk / 32 SAtk / 21 Spe
Naive Nature
This Greninja set is aimed at removing the currently popular non-Mega core of Kingambit, Sneasler and Basculegion, taking advantage of Greninja's wide coverage and surprise factor to seal the deal. Protean means Greninja is not beholden to Water and Dark attacks for offense (not that Greninja wouldn't mind taking either of its innate STABs as Water and Dark are excellent offensive options). Low Kick is explicitly for Kingambit, as massive problem for many Pokémon as well as easily removing Max HP Mega Tyranitar while not Mega Evolved. Don't expect it to remove Incineroar, as post Intimidate, Mega Greninja's Low Kick deals 38-45% to 32 HP/14 Def Incineoar and only caps out at 83% on Max HP Mega Kangaskhan (96% for offensive Mega Kangaskhan). Extrasensory is for Sneasler, cleanly OHKOing it even in base. If Mega Evolved, Extrasensory gains a few more targets in Chlorophyll Venusaur and offensive Kommo-o, both being unlikely OHKOs) while dealing 64-77% to Max HP Mega Venusaur. Dark Pulse is for Basculegion the only target of this set that requires Greninja to Mega Evolve to get the OHKO. It also removes Mega Froslass (68% to OHKO while Mega Evolved) does appreciable damage into Farigiraf (81-97%) and Aegislash (62-75%) though missing the OHKO on Farigiraf is often a death sentence to Mega Greninja given the threat of Trick Room.
EV'd specifically to OHKO Kingambit and Basculegion (must Mega to possibly OHKO Basculegion) with everything else going into Speed. Naive nature means Basculegion is only a 37% chance to get OHKO. However, with Naive, base Greninja outruns the Jolly/Timid base 110s, while Mega Greninja outruns base 130s like Mega Gengar and Aerodactyl. With Rash, Mega Greninja much more reliably OHKOs Basculegion (93% chance to OHKO) on top of being able to OHKO Max HP Farigiraf 43% of the time. However, with only being able to afford 21 Speed points, base Greninja would fall just short of positive speed natured base 100s, while Mega Greninja is still outran by Timid/Jolly base 130s. Sacrificing Attack investment for Speed so that base Greninja can reliably outrun Sneasler is an option, though at that point, Low Kick is a Coin flip on whether or not base Greninja can OHKO. Naive and Rash are preferred over Timid and Modest respectively due to how Greninja cannot afford to sink its Attack against Kingambit and how prevalent physical priority moves are over special.
Preferred Partners & Other Options:
This particular set works fantastically with Incineroar, given how that entire core gives Incineroar issues, while Greninja greatly appreciates the effective bulk boost from Intimidate and Parting Shot as well as Fake Out turning a 2v2 into a pseudo 1v1 where Greninja excels. Greninja also obliterating the Fake Out immune Ghost types doesn’t hurt matters either. Sinistcha also greatly appreciates Greninja handling Basculegion and Kingambit while able to ward Mega Greninja with its Rage Powder, keeping Mega Greninja around longer to perform its duties. Sinistcha’s fantastic matchup into most other Water types does not hurt either. Sylveon greatly struggles against the Steel and Poison types that this Greninja set is well equipped to handle, allowing it to fire off its Pixelate Hyper Voices with impunity while not taking up the Mega Slot.
Hydro Pump is Water STAB and great for threatening Incineroar, but even with Rash and Mega Evolution is only a 18% chance to OHKO 32/20 Calm Incineroar at best. It does cleanly OHKO Max HP Rotom Heat and Mega Delphox however.
Water Shuriken is multihit STAB priority, though sadly even Max Special Attack Rash Mega Greninja cannot OHKO Aerodactyl through Focus Sash with Water Shuriken. Still a fantastic move for cleaning up barely hanging on targets, like Focus Sash users
Ice Beam is fantastic coverage on a good day, but with Protean, Mega Greninja is as close to the ideal offensive Ice type as one can get, capable of OHKOing Garchomp through Yache Berry, as well as other Grass types like Tasreena and Sinistcha (31% chance to OHKO)
Gunk Shot is for Fairies like Mega Floette, and Sylveon, with even base Greninja’s unvinvested Gunk Shot capable of OHKOing offensive variants of both, while Max HP Mega Floette is favored to be OHKO’d at 17 Atk as base Greninja. Mega Greninja cleanly OHKOs both without any investment.
Taunt is fantastic utility, especially given how fast Greninja is, but is hard to fit into a moveset.
Countering Mega Greninja
Mega Greninja’s ever shifting type, absurdly wide coverage and good offenses across the board defy easy defensive answers just as much as its absurd speed constrains offensive ones. Offensively checking Mega Greninja is the way to go, as if one can survive one hit, Mega Greninja’s lacking defenses are easy to exploit. Even better if one can outspeed Mega Greninja, and strike at its weakness laden base typing before Protean activates. Scarf Eternal Floette is an excellent example, capable of outrunning Mega Greninja and OHKOing it with a super effective Fairy STAB or even a neutral Light of Ruin. Jolly Scarf Adaptability Basculegion outspeeds max Speed Mega Greninja, but needs Protean to have change Greninja’s type as Mega Greninja’s base type allows it to resist both of Basculegion’s STABs with ease. The same story with Scarf Hisuian Typhlosion, though it specifically needs Mega Greninja to not be Water to OHKO with Eruption or Overheat. Scarf Archaludon and Hydreigon do better, reliably outspeeding and OHKO with Draco Meteor while Mega Greninja outright lacks the coverage to resist such a blow. Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Alakazam outspeed, but the former can’t OHKO Mega Greninja without exploiting a weakness (i.e. Ice or Grass) and the latter either needs to land Focus Blast or catch Mega Greninja when it is not Dark. Scarf Garchomp, while unable to outright OHKO, does outspeed, and can easily pick off a slightly softened Mega Greninja with Adamant Earthquake dealing 79%-93%. Priority can also do wonders in softening up or picking off a weakened Greninja. Mega Lucario is the possible exception to the rule, able to OHKO 37% of the time with Vacuum Wave provided Mega Greninja is still part Dark. Mega Lopunny can reliably deal 30-36% with Fake Out, and does 61-72% with a super effective Mach Punch, while fellow Normal Mega Mega Kangaskhan does 34-42% with Fake out. Jolly Dragonite does about 39-46% with Extreme Speed, but otherwise needs to be Mega Evolved to survive a Protean Ice Beam through Multiscale.
Defensive answers on the other hand vary wildly given how Mega Greninja doesn’t even need to run its STAB attacks to be effective. It is to the point that what Mega Greninja lacks determines what it can’t answer, or the bulkiest of targets that Mega Greninja does not have an answer to. Max HP Rotom-Wash is one of the best defensive answers due to its light weight preventing Grass Knot from being a direct answer, being 2HKO’d by Protean Sludge Wave at best while all but OHKOing with a neutral Hydro Pump, winning the war of attrition with Pain Split or permanently crippling Mega Greninja with Thunder Wave. Grass Knot is still a problem as it allows Greninja to resist both STABs and pick up a reliable 3HKO with Dark Pulse. Max HP Archaludon also does well, avoiding the OHKO from any move while being 2HKO’d at best by Low Kick or Ice Beam and can reliably OHKO with Draco Meteor.
If lacking Extrasensory, Mega Venusaur does incredibly well, being 3HKO’d by Sludge Wave or Ice Beam while OHKOing with Leaf Storm or Earth Power, to say nothing of outlasting Mega Greninja with Synthesis or Giga Drain. Toxapex also boasts the sheer bulk and Recover to outlast Mega Greninja with Dark Pulse’s 3HKO while putting Mega Greninja on a timer with Toxic.
Mega Greninja lacking Grass Knot opens several Water typed problems. Max HP Palafin is an unlikely 2HKO with Sludge Wave while OHKOing back with a neutral Wave Crash. Sludge Wave similarly 2HKOs Mega Blastoise, though a Shell Smash Mega Blastoise will then outspeed and OHKO on the following turn, and even if not deals 70-82% with a neutral Aura Sphere or Dark Pulse. Mega Gyarados is only 3HKO’d even by Sludge Wave, can setup a Dragon Dance and outspeed. However, it needs its base form’s Intimidate to certainly survive Low Kick and its base form is cleanly 2HKOd by Ice Beam.
Without Low Kick, Max HP Mega Tyranitar survives a Hydro Pump with ease (and is almost never 2HKOd by Surf) while always OHKOing Mega Greninja with Stone Edge and Sand Stream. Supreme Overlord Kingambit tanks Surf and Hydro Pump similarly well and at 2 fallen allies reliably OHKOs Greninja with neutral Adamant Blackglasses Kowtow Cleave and dealing 78-92% with a neutral Iron Head.
Without poison coverage, Mega Greninja is eaten alive by most Fairies. Primarina and Azumarill are particularly bad as excepting Grass Knot, they resist the rest of Mega Greninja’s coverage and would always have a neutral STAB to remove Mega Greninja with. Mega Floette absorbs any other Special Attack with ease while threatening an OHKO with Moonblast or Light of Ruin. Mega Meganium doesn’t like Protean Ice Beam either but can survive one at max HP and assuredly OHKO with a neutral Solar Beam.
Mega Greninja lacking Ice Beam find a number of Dragons and Grass types (if also not running Poison coverage) to be quite durable. Mega Dragonite is not threatened by any other move save Rock Slide even with Multiscale Broken and easily OHKOs with its own Draco Meteor. Serperior absorbs any other move with ease, can cripple Mega Greninja with Glare or even start firing Leaf Storms to overwhelm it.
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:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Evolve Frogadier
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X & Y
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Poni Wilds
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Not in game
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Legends: Arceus:
Not in game
Scarlet/Violet:
Evolve Frogadier
Legends: Z-A:
Evolve Frogadier
Hyperspace Lumiose - Water (4 Star), Water (5 Star), Dark (4 Star)
Anime Appearences
