Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Ninetales would have to be this:

Attacks:

Flamethrower
Will-o-Wisp
Substitute / Grudge / Hidden Power [Grass]
Substitute / Grudge / Hidden Power [Grass]

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Timid or Calm

Strategy Using Ninetales

Probably the only Ninetales set that works out well, Ninetales's move pool pretty much limits it to a set like this. Flamethrower is obvious, it gains STAB and hits some things for a super-effective hit. Will-o-Wisp will halve the attack stat of most physical sweepers (avoid Pokémon with the Guts trait) which acts quite nicely as support for it's team-mates, with it's good Speed stat it can hit most physical sweepers with Wisp and absorb a hit afterwards. Grudge is a rather nice move to use before being KOed, you can hurt the effectiveness of a Pokémon rather easily with Grudge (removing a Salamence's Earthquake or a Blissey's Seismic Toss for example) allowing a team-mate to set-up stat-boosts against it. Substitute is mainly a filler but it blocks stuff like Thunder Wave as well as stopping an attack. Hidden Power [Grass] is just an added attack option, it hits Water types and Rock types (and Ground types but those can be hit with Flamethrower) for a super effective hit so you have a little bit of weakness coverage if you can predict their switch ins.

EV Corner:

EVs: 132 HP / 148 Spd / 228 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Probably the most effective option, 300 speed outruns most of the common opponents meaning you can catch them with Will-o-Wisp before they can hit you back. The other stats can be modified to your leisure depending on the set-up of your team, if you expect Ninetales to take a few more physical hits you can boost it's Defence, if you expect it to take some Special hits you can boost it's Special Defence, whilst it's not particularly tailored to take either it's quite capable of it.

EVs: 252 HP / 136 Spd / 120 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

The bare minimum Speed stat you'll want for Ninetales is 270, it's enough to outrun Pokémon who use 264 Speed for a Salac boost as well as outrunning Adamant Heracross. If you want your Ninetales to be a wall you'll probably want Max HP (or at least 336 or 196 HP EVs). Since it's Special Defence is it's highest defensive stat I've used it in this example, if you want a physically defensive Ninetales you'll probably want to take a Timid Nature and just adjust the EVs accordingly rather than going for Bold.

Other Optional Moves

Hypnosis, Toxic, Fire Blast, Confuse Ray, Hidden Power [Water], Hidden Power [Ice], Charm, Psych Up, Spite, Safeguard, Roar.

All of these moves are mainly intended to be used in place of another in the main set. Hypnosis is probably the best of the bunch, a lot of opponents familiar with Ninetales will send out a Special based Wall or Attacker who won't take much damage from Will-o-Wisp so being able to surprise it with Hypnosis will throw it off it's game, admittedly it's accuracy is rather chance reliant (especially since if it misses on the first go you'll lose the element of surprise) but over a couple of turns you're most likely to have landed it. Since you only need to land Hypnosis once to get use out of it the odds are in your favour. Toxic is just like Hypnosis, a status option to hit opponents who won't be hurt too badly by Will-o-Wisp.

Fire Blast is just a power option over Flamethrower, since Ninetales will do little attacking the PP isn't an issue and there are times when the added power can make a lot of difference.

Confuse Ray is a staller choice, not much else to say about it but all Pokémon (except those with an immunity) don't like to be on the opposite end of it.

Hidden Power [Water] is a decent option as far as Hidden Powers are concerned, Fire types are a common pick to switch in against Ninetales, especially in UU, so HP Water can catch them as well as retaining the ability to hit Rock and Ground types. Hidden Power [Ice] hits Dragons, not much else since Flamethrower can cover those but most Dragons can cause Ninetales problems.

Charm can wall out physical sweepers pretty nicely but it doesn't need it since it has Will-o-Wisp, adding Charm would be a bit overkill. Psych Up can copy stat boosts but there are few situations where that will be worthwhile. Spite can waste PP of moves (like Heal Bell for example), it's a nice move since a lot of opponents like to use Ninetales as an opportunity to support the team or Recover HP. Safeguard can protect Ninetales and it's team from status attacks, it's a reasonable utility move. Roar can PHaze opponents but it isn't particularly well designed for that duty.

Strategy Against Ninetales

A large bulk of Ninetales's effectiveness comes from the use of Will-o-Wisp, with it's good Speed stat and reasonable defences it can put Will-o-Wisp on most physical sweepers before they can take it down. Due to this using Pokémon that aren't too badly affected by Will-o-Wisp is preferable. Pokémon with Natural Cure or a status removing move (Heal Bell, Aromatherapy or Rest) are a good start, obviously it's better if they're Special Attackers as well. Pokémon with Guts gain attack from being hit with Will-o-Wisp so they're the next best choice, Milotic is also a good choice for absorbing Will-o-Wisp since it gains a large defence boost from it and resists Flamethrower. Fire types, provided they have non-Fire attacks are also a very good choice for facing Ninetales, most Ninetales only have Flamethrower as an offensive move so something like Blaziken or Houndoom can beat it with relative ease. Water types that are special based are effective choices as well.

In all cases of these Counters though you need to be aware of Grudge, before a Ninetales faints it's quite likely to hit it's opponent with Grudge and remove all the PP of whichever move was used last, a lot of people are likely to forget this since it's rarely seen so it's something to keep in mind, especially if that move is a core attack or necessary to make a Pokémon function (a Blissey without Seismic Toss isn't an effective Special Sweeper counter for example).

Since Ninetales usually relies on Will-o-Wisp or Flamethrower to get any offence in it's usually a good Pokémon to take advantage of for "free turns", a weakened Starmie can switch in on it and Recover any lost HP for example. Generally anything that isn't weak to Flamethrower (and in some cases even if they are) can set-up on it, especially if they have an immunity to Will-o-Wisp or Substitute. Ninetales's Special Attack is rather forgettable so in many cases without a Super Effective boost it won't be able to do noticeable damage.

Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Ninetales would have to be this for the Smart Contest best with Calm, Gentle, Careful, Sassy Nature:

Attacks:

Body Slam
Imprison
Confuse Ray
Flamethrower

Items Attached:

Green Scarf

Strategy Using Ninetales

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - Body slam, 2nd - Imprison, 3rd - Confuse Ray, 4th - Body slam, 5th - Flamethrower

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Evolve Vulpix Colosseum Trade from R/S/E/LG/XD (Col) Evolve Vulpix (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Trade from R/S/E/LG/XD (FR) Evolve Vulpix (LG)

Animé Appearences

Ninetales has had a few Animé Appearences. First Blaine used one in his battle against Ash's Squirtle, After that a trainer that went to New Island had one which was thus cloned. After that, a friend of Suzie's had one in a Breeding Contest. After that a very old one thought Brock was it's trainer. The Rest are Cameos Episode 040: The Battling Eevee Bros! Episode 058: Riddle Me This! Movie 1: Mewtwo Strikes Back! Movie 2: The Power of One Episode 171: Beauty & The Breeder! Episode 234: Just Waiting On A Friend! Special 2: Mewtwo Returns!