Tapu Fini, The Land Spirit Pokémon. The guardian deity of Poni, it can control water. People say it can create pure water that will wash away any uncleanness.Because it lives deep within a thick fog, it came to be both feared and revered.Although it’s called a guardian deity, terrible calamities sometimes befall those who recklessly approach Tapu Fini. The dense fog it creates brings the downfall and destruction of its confused enemies. Ocean currents are the source of its energy..
Overview
While Tapu Fini is often overlooked in favor of the other Guardians due to her lackluster offensive capabilities, Tapu Fini is one of the best bulky Pokemon around. Water/Fairy is an excellent defensive typing providing many useful resistances to Fighting, Fire and immunity to Dragon, granting her plenty of opportunities to switch into. Her ability, Misty Terrain, while it doesn’t provides any offensive boost like its counterparts, it protects Tapu Fini and its grounded teammates from being inflicted by status conditions such as burn, posion, confusion and paralysis, making her an ideal support teammate for sweepers like Volcarona, Zygarde and Mega Scizor who appreciate the immunity to status. Tapu Fini also has a good movepool that allows her to make use of support sets or offensive sets. However, due to its only decent Special Attack stat, Tapu Fini is rather passive and lacks the ability to KO most Pokemon quickly. Tapu Fini is also vulnerable to Grass, Electric and Posion moves which are fairly common attacks. Tapu Fini also struggles against its Guardian brethren as she lacks strong moves to threaten them away putting her at a disadvantage on Terrain wars.
Positives
· A fantastic Water/Fairy typing grants Tapu Fini plenty of resistances to common offensive types such as Fire, Fighting, Bug, Dark, Ice and Water including an immunity to Dragon.
· Solid 115/130 Defenses makes Tapu Fini very bulky although it is somewhat let down by its meager base 70 HP.
· A decent base 85 Speed allows Tapu Fini to outspeed a decent amount of Pokemon depending on how much Fini invests. It can outspeed up to neutral base 95 Pokemon like Zygarde.
· Misty Surge is a fantastic support terrain as it grants Tapu Fini and any grounded teammates an immunity to status conditions like Posion, Burn, Paralysis and Confusion. It also weakens Dragon attacks against grounded Pokemon to a 50%.
· A great movepool with excellent support options like Taunt, Defog, Nature’s Madness, Whirlpool and Knock Off allows Tapu Fini to fill certain roles. Access to Hydro Pump, Scald, Ice Beam and Moonblast provide decent options on the offensive spectrum.
Negatives
- Tapu Fini lacks power (Base 95 SpA) to be an immediate threat and struggles most of the time to get KOs even if she hits foes for super-effective damage. She has a hard time specially against Pokemon she can’t significantly hurt like Ferrothorn and Zapdos.
· Strong Electric, Poison and Grass types are very difficult for Tapu Fini to deal with as she will often struggle to hurt these Pokemon. Alolan-Muk, Mega Venusaur, Gengar, Tangrowth, Zapdos, Kartana and Tapu Koko are pokemon who will easily defeat Tapu Fini 1-on-1.
· Because her Terrain does not provides her with an offensive boost, Tapu Fini will always be at disadvantage on Terrain wars due to the fact that the other 3 Guardians are able to hurt her very badly if she switches into them. Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu easily have the power to straight OHKO Fini due to their type advantage while Tapu Lele’s boosted Psychic moves heavily dents her.
· Her lack of reliable recovery outside Leftovers prevents her from staying in the pitch for quite longer. Due to this, it becomes very easy to wear down Tapu Fini throughout the match.
Abilities
Misty Surge: Activates Misty Terrain for 5 turns when the Pokémon enters a battle. Tapu Fini's signature ability, Misty Surge, allows it to summon Misty Terrain whenever it enters the battlefield. Under Misty Terrain, all grounded Pokémon can't be affected by status conditions
Hidden Ability (Not Available):
Telepathy: Prevents damage from teammates during Double and Triple battles. While this is not currently obtainable, none of the Island Guardians have a good reason to use this over their terrain abilities anyway.
Movesets
Song of the Mermaids
- Taunt
- Defog / Whirlpool
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs and Nature:
248 HP / 24 Def / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
Tapu Fini’s excellent bulk and typing allows her to serve as an excellent Pokemon protecting herself and her teammates from status and support her teammates with hazard removal or trapping. Taunt allows Tapu Fini to shut down defensive Pokemon like Chansey, Clefable and Gliscor while preventing offensive Pokemon like Zygarde from setting up. Moonblast is Tapu Fini’s preferred STAB move due to the lack of immunities to Fairy attacks while also providing a slight chance of reducing the opponent’s Special Attack which might come in handy. Nature Madness somewhat alleviates Tapu Fini’s passiveness and allows her to chip half of the opponent’s HP. It becomes an incredibly useful move that can break down walls in combination with Taunt. Finally, the last slot depends on what role you want Tapu Fini to fill in your team: Defog allows Tapu Fini to remove hazards and provide excellent utility to her teammates. Whirlpool allows Tapu Fini to defeat walls like Toxapex and Chansey 1-on-1 and remove them from the field, paving the way for other sweepers to take advantage of this.
The given EV spread allow Tapu Fini to outspeed max Speed neutral Zygarde allowing her to Taunt it, before it uses Dragon Dance or Coil. Near max HP is used to maximize Leftovers recovery and the rest is dumped on Defense to bolster Tapu Fini’s physical defense a little bit.
A Timid nature is the preferred nature to outspeed Zygarde and most defensive Pokemon who use this as a benchmark to hit, like Mew and Gliscor.
The Fisherman's Temptation
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power Fire / Ice Beam
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
A Choice Specs provides Tapu Fini with the extra power required to actually be a threat with a surprise factor as most of the time, people will be expecting more defensive sets. Hydro Pump is Tapu Fini’s strongest STAB and destroys Landorus-T and Heatran with super-effective damage. Moonblast is Tapu Fini’s secondary STAB and it is a great move that will punish Dragon types like Zygarde and Latios. Trick allows Tapu Fini to cripple defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and lock it in one move. Finally, Hidden Power Fire allows Tapu Fini to deal with Mega Scizor & Ferrothorn while Ice Beam can be used to chip down Tapu Bulu switch-ins.
Max Special Attack and Speed are used to maximize Tapu Fini’s offensive potential while outspeeding Zygarde and speed tying with other base 85 Speed Pokemon. However, you can reduce the Speed EVs to 236 and invest the rest in bulk.
A Timid nature is the preferred nature to outspeed Zygarde and speed tie with other positive base 85 Speed Pokemon. A Modest nature is also an option to give Tapu Fini more power
Other Options
· Tapu Fini can use a Calm Mind set as a win condition against weakened teams, however, the presence of Pokemon like Zapdos, Tapu Koko and Kartana hurts its viability. A bulkier CM set is an option as well, however, due to her lack of recovery, it can be easily overwhelmed by offensive teams.
· Z-Haze and Z-Refresh are options to provide Tapu Fini a one turn full recovery, however, Tapu Fini is a Pokemon that constantly switches into attacks on virtue of its typing and bulk which makes it of little help on the long run.
· Knock Off is an option on the Choice set to remove items such as Ferrothorn’s Leftovers, Kartana’s Choice Scarf and Tapu Bulu’s Assault Vest.
· Tapu Fini gains access to Trick which can be used on Choice sets, however, it is an inferior option as walls like Chansey don’t switch into it anyways due to its poor match-up vs support sets.
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:
Not in game
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in game
Sun/Moon:
Ruins of Hope
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Ruins of Hope
Animé Appearences
