Wigglytuff, The Balloon Pokémon. Their fur feels so good that if two of them snuggle together, they won't want to be separated. The body is soft and rubbery. When angered, it will suck in air and inflate itself to an enormous size. Its fine fur feels so pleasant, those who accidentally touch it cannot take their hands away.
Overview
In times passed, Wigglytuff was always considered the lesser of the two pink Normal-types that were introduced in Red & Green. While Wigglytuff had higher Hit Points, Clefable had higher everything else. With X & Y, these two Pokémon changed a bit more. Clefable became a pure Fairy-type, while Wigglytuff became both Normal/Fairy-type. This means that Wigglytuff is no longer weak to Fighting and resistent only to Ghost, but rather it's weak to Poison & Steel, immune to Ghost & Dragon (which is different to Clefable) and resists Bug & Dark. This is definitely a change for the better. To top it off, it got a brand new ability, which makes it far more competitively viable, called Competitive. Now, whenever its stats are reduced, its Special Attack is increased by 2 stages. This is very handy in such an Intimidate-filled metagame and makes Wigglytuff more viable. Does it make it worth using? Probably not, but it can make it somewhat usable if you want to try something unique. Despite all this, Wigglytuff still holds the mantle of being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Positives
+It has ridiculous Hit Points. 140 is very good
+The changes in Pokémon X & Y were highly beneficial to Wigglytuff. Competitive is a decent ability, and its typing changes are mostly beneficial
+It has a decent movepool
+Its special attack received a nice 10 point boost which puts it in the realms of "usable", especially when tied with its new ability
Negatives
-Its defences are not the best. This makes its high Hit Points nearly useless as it doesn't have the bulk to support it.
-Its movepool is unfortunately predominantly physical, while Wigglytuff is yearning to be used as a special focused Pokémon.
-It's rather slow with a base 45 Speed.
-What sort of Fairy-type doesn't have Moonblast? Its Fairy-type move options are either moderately weak with Dazzling Gleam, very weak with Disarming Voice, or near useless like Play Rough being physical
Abilities
Cute Charm: The opponent has a 30% chance of being induced with Attract when using an attack, that requires physical contact, against this Pokémon. - Very situational. Best to avoid in a competitive environment when its other abilities have more use
Competitive: Raises Sp. Atk stat by two stages whenever a stat is lowered - This is handy. It means an Intimidate turns Wigglytuff from a pink blob to a scary beast
Hidden Ability (Available):
Frisk: Reveals the foe’s held item. - This is always handy for scouting possible strategies, but isn't necessarily the best option
Movesets
Tuff Specs
-Dazzling Gleam
-Hyper Voice
-Psychic / Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt / Flamethrower / Ice Beam
-Psychic / Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt / Flamethrower / Ice Beam
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Competitive
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
Ok, so Wigglytuff isn't fast, that we know, but if you manage to switch in to a stat being dropped, Wigglytuff becomes a force to be reckoned with. Couple this with Choice Specs and it can do some decent damage with decent coverage. Hyper Voice and Dazzling Gleam get STAB and should always be used. The other slots are all situational and can be used however you please. These moves all hit hard with various possible effects such as Paralysis on Thunderbolt, Burn on Flamethrower and Freezing on Ice Beam. However, as you're likely to face Steel-types, Flamethrower is a top choice, as that'll deal with that, and Psychic will deal with the Poison-type Pokémon.
Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle
-Protect
-Hyper Voice
-Dazzling Gleam
-Wish
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Bold Nature
This is a standard defensive set for Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff can survive a couple of hits, and Protect is a great way of scouting whether or not you should leave. Hyper Voice is a powerful move that gets STAB on Wigglytuff, which is always handy. Plus, it can bypass a Substitute...that's always fun. Dazzling Gleam does decent damage, also with STAB and Wish is Wigglytuff's only viable form of recovery, but it takes a few turns to run, which is why you should bide your time with Protect where possible.
Let's Get Physical
- Return
- Brick Break / Focus Punch
- Ice Punch / Thunderpunch
- Play Rough
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Cute Charm / Frisk
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Everyone's suspecting Wigglytuff to be a Special Pokémon or a Supporter, so you can go in for a physical. Wigglytuff's physical Attack is passable. It's not great...in fact it's not even in the top 300 Attack stats in the game, however it can do some decent damage. Return is a very powerful move that gets STAB. A fighting move is essentially required to deal with Rock and Steel types, with Brick Break being preferable for consistency and Focus Punch for additional power (although relying heavily on the element of surprise). Ice Punch and Thunderpunch provides it with decent coverage, but currently require Gen V tutors, making it not viable in the Gen VI metagame, and Play Rough is powerful with STAB and can lower the opponent's Attack'
Other Options
Charm, Captivate, Body Slam, Double-Edge, Fire Blast Reflect / Light Screen, Rest/Talk, Thunder, Sing & Thunder Wave
Charm & Captivate are great options in that they will lower Attack or Special Attack respectively by 2 stages. This can severely hinder opponents and perhaps force switching. That's always handy.
Double-Edge, along with Body Slam, is a STAB alternative to Return. Of course, the recoil is an unattractive aspect, but the power makes it worth a look.
Fire Blast & Thunder provide more powerful alternatives to Thunderbolt & Flamethrower, but have the risk of having lower accuracy
Dual Screening with Reflect & Light SCreen can help Wigglytuff, and can possibly be done thanks to Wigglytuff's Hit Points, but it's quite risky
The Rest & Sleep Talk combo is somewhat viable here. It's Wigglytuff other form of recovery, and is instant & removes any status afflictions. However, it's always situational and reliant on luck
Sing provides a sleep status option, although poor accuracy is a major letdown. It can be combined with Thunder Wave for a double-status set or used as a status alternative to it.
Double & Triple Battle Options
Wigglytuff's new ability in Competitive put it back on the map competitively. Normally, Special Attacker's are indifferent to intimidate, but with Competitive, they benefit from it. How much do they benefit? +2 Special Attack every time one of their stats are lowered. Meaning, two Intimidates later and Wigglytuff is at +4 SAtk. Seems insane right?
WigglyTough
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Hyper Beam / Psychic
Item Attached: Assault Vest
Ability: Competitive
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 188 Def / 236 SAtk / 12 SDef / 68 Spd
Modest Nature
This very spread was used by the (currently) 3 time VGC World Champion, Ray Rizzo, in taking his second first place win in the US Regional's Circuit. Despite that, it's still fairly situational.
In order to properly abuse Competitive, the opponent needs to have an Intimidate user on their team, if they don't have that then most of Wigglytuff's shine goes away. There's still random stat drops from the likes of Psychic and Moonblast, but one generally shouldn't depend on those.
The EV's here are optimized to give Wigglytuff respectable firepower while being able to take at LEAST 2 hits from a variety of threats. The speed is there to speed creep a majority of Mega Mawile who otherwise would just OHKO with Huge Power Iron Head.
Excellent partners for Wigglytuff are those who are afraid of Intimidate and/or opposing Dragon type attacks. Garchomp and Mega Charizard X comes to mind immediately, but Hydreigon isn't a bad choice either because Wigglytuff resists most of Hydreigon's weaknesses.
Wigglytuff is a great pick for an Intimidate deterrent, sure Bisharp has a wildly powerful Sucker Punch at +1, but when Wigglytuff is at +2 or +4 it's pretty much "click Dazzling Gleam until I win." Which is amazing seeing as Wigglytuff was an afterthought until Competitive came to light.
If it just had a little more of.. shoot, just about any stat besides Attack, it might see even more play. Abysmal speed and defenses, average SAtk and Amazing HP leaves playing it leaning more towards "liability" rather than "asset" Use with caution! The rewards are there, it just takes careful playing to achieve them.
On a side note - being Normal/Fairy means that Wigglytuff walls Giratina by being immune to both of its STABS. Unfortunate for Giratina and hilarious for the Wigglytuff user.
Countering Wigglytuff
Wigglytuff is frail. Basically, any super effective hit from a powerful enough Pokémon such as Nidoking or Ferrothorn will just OHKO it, despite its ridiculous Hit Points. Otherwise, you just need to chip away at it. Just a simple Earthquake from Garchomp will 2HKO it, with Wigglytuff not even being able to OHKO it. Go in with Special Walls and Wigglytuff will often be rendered useless.
Locations in Games
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Evolve Jigglypuff
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Evolve Jigglypuff
Colosseum/XD:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Jigglypuff
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Jigglypuff
Black/White:
Route 14
Black 2/White 2:
Route 1, Route 2, Dreamyard
X/Y:
Evolve Jigglypuff
Animé Appearences
