Greedent

Greedent, the Greedy Pokémon. It stashes berries in its tail—so many berries that they fall out constantly. But this Pokémon is a bit slow-witted, so it doesn't notice the loss. Common throughout the Galar region, this Pokémon has strong teeth and can chew through the toughest of berry shells.

Overview

Greedent is a unique take on the early game rodent Pokémon. Instead of being fast and frail, Greedent sacrifices speed for bulk. Impressive Base 120 HP and decent 95 Defense immediately stand out, and with Berry abusing abilities in Gluttony and Cheek Pouch Greedent seems poised to be a potent berry user. Especially when it can shift gears and go completely on the offense with Belly Drum, enabling Greedent to devastate all but the bulkiest of targets, while its abilities ensure that it will be healthy enough to do so.

Or at least that is the theory, cause in practice, Greedent just falls short too often. While it has potential as a tank, lacking Recycle and other reliable recovery gives its healing only one shot to be effective, and even that is questionable with the resistance lacking Normal typing. Belly Drum is honestly terrifying once Greedent gets going, but its misses out on OHKOs so often thanks to the lack of a powerful, reliable STAB thanks to the removal of Return in the generational shift. And Greedent’s speed. Base 20 Speed is outright crippling, leaving Greedent outsped by other slow tanky Pokémon. It needs Trick Room to operate effectively, and outside it, its bulk is easily overwhelmed. And Greedent has no way to setup Trick Room on its own. Needs a partner, and even if it could, it struggles to fit everything it needs to do, especially as its power without Belly Drum is underwhelming. Greedent has the makings of greatness, but needs heavy team support and setup to get there.
Positives
Impressive Base 120 HP and decent 95 Defense help Greedent take a hit or two.
Belly Drum synergizes beautifully with both Cheek Pouch and Gluttony, maxing out Greedent’s attack reliably.
Greedent’s physical coverage is rather impressive, having coverage moves for nearly every type of foe.

Negatives
Base 20 Speed is horrid. Outside of Trick Room, Greedent will be moving last.
Lack of reliable recovery, inability to reuse berries and resistance lacking Normal typing prevent Greedent from walling effectively.
Reliance on Belly Drum for offensive pressure further cuts into Greedent’s bulk and the lack of a reliable powerful Normal STAB causes issues in closing the damage.

Movesets

Berry Drum

-Belly Drum
-Body Slam
-Fire Fang
-Earthquake
Ability: Cheek Pouch
Item: Sitrus Berry
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature

Belly Drum Greedent is an overwhelming force that can turn a game in one’s favor if you can get it going. Get Greedent in while Trick Room is up, Belly Drum to max out attack and then use the remaining two turns of Trick Room to rip and tear into the opposing team. Body Slam is the STAB of choice -while Paralysis dropping speed is bad for a Trick Room strategy, the target would have to be rather slow to begin with to outslow Greedent in Trick Room, and the power and potential loss of turns is fantastic. Fire Fang gives Greedent valuable Fire coverage against Steel types, particularly those immune to Ground, like Skarmory, Corviknight and Bronzong. Earthquake rounds out the set, striking Rock and Steel types that otherwise resist Greedent’s STAB.

DYNAMAX:
If Greedent gets setup, Dynamax is incredibly synergistic, giving Greedent the extra power it needs to ensure OHKOs on nearly everything while preventing its foes from stalling out Trick Room with Protect. Greedent’s impressive base 120 HP becomes ludicrous, turning it into a wall able to take impressive hits, even Banded/Specs STAB Fighting moves.

EVs and Items:
As standard for a Trick Room sweeper, maximizing HP and Attack to get the best blend of offense and bulk while dropping speed to as low as possible. Sitrus Berry synergizes wonderfully with Cheek Pouch, being effectively a one time Recover, ensuring Greedent can get the Belly Drum off, or even get it to full if it is healthy when Belly Drumming.

Partners:
Trick Room setting partners are vital for this set to work. Claydol is a fantastic example, able to setup Trick Room, Teleport to get Greedent in safely while also capable of setting up Stealth Rock and answering Fighting, Rock and Steel types. Other Trick Room setters, like Slowbro, Exeggutor, offer similar utility. Grimmsnarl makes for a great partner too, giving Greedent more leeway when Belly Drumming with Screens while reliably answering Fighting and Ghost types thanks to its STABs.

Other Options:
Giga Impact -if you want Greedent to be a dedicated Trick Room Dynamax sweeper, look no further than Giga Impact, becoming an overwhelmingly powerful Max Strike in Trick Room.
Crunch/Seed Bomb/Psychic Fangs -Greedent’s other coverage options. Crunch hits Ghost types and Bronzong, Seed Bomb handles Rock types and Hippowdon while Psychic Fangs scares Fighting types and prevents stalling with Screens.

Countering Greedent

Facing a setup Greedent under Trick Room is a nigh insurmountable task -hence its niche as a game closer. However, the number of things that have to go right give the strategy several breaking points. Taking out the Trick Room user before they can setup Trick Room, either through Taunt or offense thanks to Trick Room’s negative priority can stop Greedent before it even gets started. Continuously applying pressure works as well. Attacking Greedent as its sets up Belly Drum or after the setup can leave its bulk compromised and vulnerable to being picked off later, while any status, especially Burn can ruin a Trick Room Belly Drum Sweep by wasting the turns. Greedent’s bulk, especially with Max HP investment makes it very difficult to OHKO outside of super effective attacks or overwhelmingly powerful STAB attacks like Specs Metal Beam Magneton, or Banded Close Combat Infernape.

Unaware walls like Quagsire and Clefable generally perform well against Greedent, ignoring its massive power boost and tanking hits comfortably, though Quagsire must be wary of Seed Bomb.

Greedent’s low speed is its biggest failing, one it can’t rectify on its own. If encountered out of Trick Room, overwhelming it with constant attacks will compromise its bulk in rather short order.

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

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:
Not in game

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Not in game

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game

Sword/Shield:
Route 6, Route 7, Route 9, Axew's Eye, Bridge Field, Giant's Cap, Giant's Mirror, Giant's Seat, Hammerlocke Hills, Lake of Outrage, Motostoke Riverbank, Slippery Slope, Frostpoint Field, Giant's Bed, Giant's Foot, Ballimere Lake, Dyna Tree Hill
Max Raid Battles: Bridge Field, Motostoke Riverbank, Stony Wilderness, Loop Lagoon, Slippery Slope, Giant's Bed, Giant's Foot, Ballimere Lake

Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game

Legends: Arceus:
Not in game

Anime Appearences

Greedent has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably Goh's Skwovet evolved into one during an eating contest.

# -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics
1136 Crowning the Chow Crusher! Pokémon Champion! The Battle of Big Eaters!! Pics
M22 Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle Pokémon: Koko  
1159 Take My Thief! Please! Please Get Morpeko!! Pics
1162 Grabbing the Brass Ring! Commander Pikachu! Head Forth, Falinks!! Pics
1167 Detective Drizzile! The Cerise Laboratories Become a Target!! Pics
1183 Suffering the Flings and Arrows! The Heracross Loss and the Pinsir in Love Pics
1190 A One-Stick Wonder! The Thwackey with One Stick! Pics
1221 Partners in Time! The Finals IV: Partner Pics
1225 These Could be the Start of Something Big! Ash and Goh! Setting Off Anew!! Pics
18 Flying Pikachu, Rising Higher and Higher! The Sky Is The Limit For Flying Pikachu! Pics
27 As Long as I'm with My Friends As Long As I'm With My Companions Pics