Comfey, the Posey Picker Pokémon. It uses its vine to pick flowers. The flowers that Comfey attaches to itself develop healing properties. It prefers areas with lots of flowers. A Comfey adorned with flowers is a happy Comfey, and the flowers gain healing effects.
Overview
Comfey despite being the Pokémon most emblematic of Hawaii, the inspiration for Alola, has languished for the past few generations. As a supportive Pokémon, Comfey would excel from having great bulk to stick around, but its decent Defense and appreciable Special Defense are sabotaged by a poor base 51 HP stat. The generational shift hasn’t been kind to Comfey’s movepool either, depriving it of invaluable support moves in Defog and Aromatherapy, greatly limiting what support Comfey can provide. Offensively, Comfey isn’t much to write home about either. Base 82 Special Attack requires several boosts or severe weakness exploitation to be viable and Comfey’s offensive move pool is quite lacking as well being wholly unable to handle Steel types. With both lacking bulk and offense, it is easy to see why Comfey has not excelled in the competitive scene.
Yet despite all this, the ninth generation has been the best for Comfey. Terastalization is an enormous boon for Comfey, giving it the coverage it so desperately needed to handle the Steel types that wall it. This allows Comfey to make the most out of its utterly insane ability Triage. Triage gives all healing moves including draining moves like STAB Draining Kiss +3 in priority, allowing Comfey to get the jump on even Extreme Speed and First Impression users like Dragonite and Lokix, making it absurdly hard to revenge KO by outspeeding unless one is sporting a Fairy resist. The power of Triage is as such that Comfey rarely needs to invest much into its Speed stat, allowing it to throw everything in bulk without losing much and its good base 100 Speed allows it to get the jump on most defensive Pokémon even without investment. This works well with Comfey’s disruptive moveset, with moves such as Encore and Taunt allowing Comfey to cripple opposing Pokémon to greatly facilitate its own setup. Comfey is still held back by its many flaws, but for a Pokémon to have spent so much time struggling to make a mark, this generation has truly been Comfey’s time in the sun.
Positives
Triage is an absurd ability making Comfey effectively impossible to outspeed if it is using a healing attack.
STAB Fairy Draining Kiss works wonderfully with Triage, threatening a wide range of Pokémon and making Comfey much more difficult to revenge KO.
Great support movepool with Encore, Taunt, and Knock Off providing potent disruption.
Negatives
Base 51 HP ruins what would be respectable defenses.
Base 82 Special Attack strains the definition of usable, with Comfey often needing multiple boosts to be a threat.
Movesets
Flower Power
-Taunt
-Calm Mind
-Draining Kiss
-Tera Blast
Ability: Triage
Item: Leftovers
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
Comfey’s Calm Mind sweeping set is a dedicated late game sweeper that is hard to stop thanks to priority Draining Kiss being impossible to outspeed and keeping Comfey healthy while attacking. Taunt is a great shutdown tool against defensive Pokémon like Mandibuzz, Gliscor, and Slowking as well as setup sweepers like Sinistcha, Quaquaval, and Primarina utilizing its base speed to get the jump on such Pokémon that could otherwise stop Comfey before it can start. Calm Mind is a necessity for this set, as Comfey’s Special Attack is barely passable, and Comfey’s incredibly healing prowess alongside Taunt makes it far easier to accrue multiple Calm Minds. The Special Defense bonus can’t be discounted either, making it easier for Comfey to get multiple Calm Minds against Special Attackers. Draining Kiss is the star of the set and really shows off how powerful Fairy is as an attacking type, that a Base 50 super priority draining attack be the starring attack of the set. Comfey threatens so many Pokémon with Draining Kiss that makes up for its lacking Special Attack with sheer coverage. Hydreigon, Lokix, Greninja and Roaring Moon all lose half their health from an unboosted Draining Kiss, while Keldeo, Quaquaval, Darkrai, easily take a third, and most struggle to OHKO Comfey, making it easy to grab a Calm Mind into Draining Kiss whose healing will enable Comfey to survive the follow up and effectively win the one on one. Tera Blast provides vital coverage for the targets that Draining Kiss can’t handle. Calm Mind Comfey finds its home on hyper offense teams that excel at breaking everything down and don’t mind playing down a Pokémon until the endgame.
Tera Types:
Terastalization is a massive boon for Comfey offensively, providing vital coverage or just power in general that its movepool and stats do not afford it. If running Tera Blast, Tera types that deal with Steel types are heavily recommended. Tera Ground is ideal for this, granting Comfey coverage against all Draining Kiss’s resistances, leaving Comfey only stymied by Fairy resistant Flying types like Moltres and Corviknight. Tera Fire is another consideration if one is particularly concerned by Scizor, turning it into setup fodder for Comfey and roasting it alongside Corviknight, but leaves Comfey exposed to opposing Fire types, alongside Toxapex. If not running Tera Blast, Comfey still loves running offensive Teras. Tera Fairy is incredible, pushing Draining Kiss’ power up to base 60 before the pseudo-Adaptability boost same type Tera provides. Tera Psychic is also great pushing up Comfey’s Stored Power, making it possible to push past Unaware walls like Dondozo and Skeledirge. It would be remiss not to mention Tera Poison as a popular defensive option, allowing Comfey to comfortably tank popular Poison coverage and setup.
EVs and Items:
Full HP and Defense EV investment is recommended, making Comfey as physically bulky as possible, both easing setup and making Comfey harder to remove once setup. Given Comfey’s poor offensives, moving EV investment from Defense to Special Attack with a Modest nature can mean the difference between picking up a KO or being KO’d, such as reaching the 2HKO on Unaware Clodsire and Skeledirge with Tera Ground Tera Blast, as well as after 1 Calm Mind guaranteeing the OHKO on Cobalion, Gholdengo and Excadrill, the 2HKO on Empoleon, Keldeo, Latios, Mamoswine, and offensive Zamazenta. Despite all this, some Speed investment would not be remiss, to land non healing moves before select Pokémon. 16 EVs outspeeds Max Speed Adamant Metagross, while 160 Speed outspeeds max Speed Adamant Excadrill and Mamoswine. Leftovers is recommended for passive recovery, making Comfey even harder to take out without a one hit knock out, though if running Stored Power, Grassy Seed with Rillaboom as a teammate helps Comfey setup Stored Power more quickly while being even harder to remove. Life Orb is a more aggressive option, relying on Comfey’s healing options to stay healthy.
Partners:
Considering how Comfey struggles to cover everything with its set, having allies cover what gaps it can’t are greatly preferred. Hisuian Arcanine works fantastically with both sets, able to cover floating Fairy resists like Corviknight, Moltres, Air Balloon Goldengo, Air Balloon Excadrill for Tera Ground Comfey, as well as Steel types that wall the Stored Power variant with STAB Flare Blitz. All of this on top of being able to setup Stealth Rock. Stored Power Comfey appreciates Ground types that can handle Steel types like Great Tusk, Sandy Shocks, and Iron Treads, all of whom also provide Entry Hazard support.
If runny Grassy Seed, Rillaboom is mandatory, setting up the Grassy Terrain that not only triggers the Seed but providing passive recovery that makes up for the loss of Leftovers.
Other Options:
Encore is a great alternative to Taunt, locking a slower Pokémon into a bad move and allowing Comfey to freely grab a Calm Mind while the opponent switches out.
Substitute is a classic compliment to Calm Mind, providing status, debuff and revenge KOing protection while Comfey’s Triage boosted healing options make it simple to setup multiple subs.
Stored Power is a potent alternative to Tera Blast, especially if running Grassy Seed, allowing Comfey to boost out of control and sweep, though it takes fully defensive Comfey 2 Calm Minds and Grassy Seed to threaten bulky offensive Pokémon with a 2HKO and 3 Calm Minds to threaten most with OHKOs.
Synthesis is a potent instant heal option for times when Draining Kiss won’t provide enough healing to keep Comfey up.
Doubles and VGC Options
Comfey supportive abilities truly shine in doubles, offering on the spot healing, speed control and disruption all in one ersatz floral package. Triage is just as ridiculous in doubles as it is in singles, giving Comfey’s healing attacks the same priority as Fake Out. This makes Comfey somewhat resistant to Fake out as it is naturally faster then most Fake Out users, bar odd exceptions like Mienshao and Raichu, allowing it to provide Healing or attack with little fear of disruption. This reliable healing has Comfey excel on teams that have bulky Pokémon as centerpieces, keeping them up through repeated assaults and helping them come on top of the battle of attrition. Comfey’s passivity can still be problematic, for while there is no lack of Fairy weak all stars like Urshifu, the Raidons, Chien-Pao, etc. Comfey’s underwhelming Special Attack and the weakness of Draining Kiss leave it all but regulated to support in Regulation G, and can make one feel like they are going 1 versus 2. Comfey’s unspectacular bulk also means while Comfey’s partners are obscenely hard to remove while Comfey is around, the same can’t be said for it.
Floral Field Medicine
-Floral Healing
-Draining Kiss
-Protect
-Trick Room
Ability: Triage
Item: Mental Herb
Tera Type: Steel
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Calm Nature
Comfey’s field medic set is arguably the best healer available in VGC, between Triage allowing excellent reactive healing and the sheer recovery Floral Healing provides. Most of the time, Floral Healing is the same as Heal Pulse, recovering half of the target’s HP but in Grassy Terrain it gets boosted to a whopping two thirds before even factoring the passive recovery Grassy Terrain provides. Factoring in the Grassy Terrain recovery, a target will heal close to three fourths of their health, which gets bumped up to almost four fifths if they are carrying Leftovers. Draining Kiss while weak, provides numerous facets of utility that can’t be discounted, namely keeping Comfey healthy, and breaking Focus Sash, Multiscale, Tera Shell and Shadow Shield, though the popularity of frail Fairy weak Pokémon like Urshifu and Chien-Pao does give Comfey some teeth against them. Protect is amazing in Doubles, allowing for scouting of attacks and surprise Teras, stalling out opposing field conditions, punishing opponents doubling up into Comfey, etc. Trick Room is the Comfey’s preferred speed control method, given the bulky Pokémon that benefit from Comfey’s healing tend to be on the slower side.
The EV distribution emphasizes special bulk, taking in account there are far more special offensive restricted Pokémon than physical. This EV spread comfortably survives a +2 Astral Barrage from bulky Calyrex-Shadow Rider, survive Scarf Kyogre’s Water Spout and is massively favored to be 3HKO’d by Specs Terapagos Stellar’s Tera Starstorm, with everything else going into physical defense. You almost never want to Terastalize this Comfey given its passivity, though if you absolutely need its healing, Tera Steel is aggravating for many Pokémon to get through, while other options like Tera Water (being another excellent defensive typing) or Tera Dark (to block Prankster disruption like Encore) are worth considering. Mental Herb is for preventing opponents from shutting down Comfey’s support with Taunt.
Preferred Partners:
Any Pokémon with more bulk than sense makes for a great partner for Comfey, loving the healing it provides, allowing them to stick around longer and do their job. Terapagos is heads and shoulders above the rest, with Terastal Form loving Floral healing re-establishing Tera Shell and Stellar Form having the sheer bulk that makes it a key beneficiary of Floral Healing. Terapagos also values Comfey for its great match up into Urshifu, one of the few unrestricted Pokémon that can reliably crack Terapagos’ shell. Other popular bulky partners include Eternatus and Lugia.
Rillaboom is highly recommended as a partner given the synergy between Floral Healing and Grassy Terrain while Rillaboom is bulky enough to get significant mileage out of Floral Healing as well, reducing the consequences of firing off Wood Hammers.
Other Options:
Tailwind is Comfey’s other Speed Control option, and merits consideration especially given the number of Pokémon that can benefit from both Tailwind and Floral Healing, though Trick Room tends to be preferred given the synergies such teams having with it.
Helping Hand mitigate’s Comfey’s passivity by making its partner even more dangerous.
Taunt is a potent disruption option, shutting down Protect, Follow Me, Parting Shot, Rage Powder, Spore, Trick Room, and more.
Encore is difficult to use, but devastating when it does connect given the large number of moves that don’t like being repeated in Doubles.
Countering Comfey
Checking Comfey means mitigating Triage Draining Kiss, due to the sheer power the priority Fairy healing move provides. Naturally faster Fairy resists are highly recommended as a result. Scizor is highly recommended as a result, its natural bulk and typing allowing Scizor to tank even a +1 Ground Tera Blast while it will OHKO with Bullet Punch (2HKO if Comfey Terastalizes). Sand Rush Excadrill, Scarf Gholdengo, Iron Moth, and Iron Crown all fit the bill as well.
As with most setup sweepers, Calm Mind Comfey is exposed to Unaware Walls who leave its lacking Special Attack exposed for all to see, especially Max Defense cLEFAIRY, though it is reliant on what set Comfey running. Clodsire and Skeledirge do fine against the Stored Power sets, but struggle against Tera Ground. Dondozo can work, but it needs Heavy Slam, as otherwise Draining Kiss will out heal Waterfall and Taunt makes Curse and Rest unreliable.
Other checks are largely dependent what is Comfey’s coverage. Moltres resists both STABs, but needs Comfey weakened lest it be overwhelmed Calm Mind. Corviknight and Skarmory do well against Tera Ground sets, but it needs Iron Head or Comfey to Terastalize to threaten Comfey. Toxapex and Heatran are hard walls to the Tera Fire Comfey, though Taunt can shutdown Haze and Toxic from Toxapex. Stored Power variants struggle against physical Steel types who uniformly possess super effective STAB and resist both attacks, while not being shut out by Calm Mind, though too many Calm Minds can cause Comfey to get out of hand with Stored Power.
Comfey is annoying aggravating for using Terastalization to get out of a bad matchup and endure attacks it shouldn’t to get enough Calm Mind boosts to snowball out of control. However, that can be used against it as well. Lure Comfey in with Fairy weak fodder and Terastalize to a Fairy resistant type to gain an edge.
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:
Lush Jungle
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Lush Jungle
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Fields of Honor, Soothing Wetlands, Forest of Focus, Challenge Beach, Training Lowlands, Insular Sea, Honeycalm Island
Max Raid Battles: Fields of Honor, Soothing Wetlands, Forest of Focus, Insular Sea
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Legends: Arceus:
Not in game
Scarlet/Violet:
Coastal Biome
Anime Appearences
