Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Mantine would have to be this:

Attacks:

Surf
Haze
Ice Beam/Toxic/Hidden Power [Grass/Electric]/Rest/Confuse Ray
Ice Beam/Toxic/Hidden Power [Grass/Electric]/Rest/Confuse Ray

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Calm

Strategy Using Mantine

Mantine is a decent Special Sponge in UU. Its 140 Base Special Defense is equal to Kyogre’s and higher then Blisseys. Abuse it, but watch out for Electric attacks. Otherwise, let this guy play around with his Remoraid. Surf and Haze is a must on Mantine for obvious reasons.

-Ice Beam: I personally have Ice Beam since none of the other moves Mantine has can hit Grass types. Having tanks that only have one attack that damage your opponent really bugs me as it’s a free switch.

-Toxic: This attack is mainly for water Pokémon, non poison grass types, and mainly for filler. It’s either this or Confuse Ray if you’re aiming for the filler type moves so it really is your pick. One major bonus of Toxic is that in UU not much can cleric, meaning that it’s effect will be felt throughout the battle. This is barely an option outside of OU however, but it still holds merit for out stalling the likes of Vaporeon and forcing things to Rest.

-Hidden Power [Grass/Electric]: If you don’t want the filler moves and want offensive, use Hidden Power. For the most part, Hidden Power Grass is the one you should go since you get to hit those part grounders like Quagsire and Swampert and Hidden Power Electric can’t hit grass types anyways, but it’s really your choice, although when using Ice Beam as well Electric could be considered for the “Bolt-Beam” effect.

-Rest: Obviously, this is just so you can reuse your hazer. There aren’t really any good Heal Bellers/Aromatherapists in UU so beware as you won’t be able to get those free rest/bell combos.

-Confuse Ray: Toxic or Confuse Ray, which one do you choose? Well, if you don’t have Ice Beam, I’d say Confuse Ray. Otherwise, Toxic since if you don’t have Ice Beam and have Toxic, you won’t be able to touch those part Poison Grass types like Venusaur. In my opinion, Confuse Ray is the way to go since it has the cooler animation.

EV Corner:

EVs: 196 HP / 96 Def / 26 SAtk / 192 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

Max HP helps out a lot, some Defense is a necessity as well for taking the odd physical hit that you might find yourself walling, namely fighting and bug attacks and occasionally the odd rock attack when you find yourself in a situation to KO something but you are forced to take a hit before you can attack. Special Defense is obviously a must since Mantine’s main job is to wall Special Attacks.

It should be noted that some Speed could be added for outrunning stuff of equal speed and HP EVs should be double checked for when using Hidden Powers.

Other Optional Sets:

Mantine @ Leftovers
EVs: 170 HP / 88 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]/Toxic

Too many things can pull this set off better than Mantine but it still remains an option and the initial Rain Dance could catch something off-guard. Stuff like Gligar thinking they’ve got a free switch in to Rock Slide you to death and so forth. Rain Dance + STABed Surf can deal some heavy damage and Ice Beam and Hidden Power [Electric] handle things with resistances. Toxic could be given a go for the likes of Lanturn as well as out stalling water types with a means of self healing away any damage Hidden Power [Electric] would’ve done.

Mantine @ Choice Band
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 SAtk
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]/Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide
- Hydro Pump/Hidden Power [Ghost]

Lol, no! Doesn’t even get a 300 Attack stat with the Choice Band, god only knows why Nintendo gave it such a good physical move pool.

Strategy Against Mantine

Tentacruel and Lanturn are definitely up on the list as the number one counters for Mantine. Both shrug off super effective Hidden Powers, one can absorb Hidden Power [Electric] and one can absorb Toxic and both can make it run or KO it. Beyond those two anything with an Electric attack and no Water or Ice weaknesses can do the job nicely, especially Pokémon with STABed Thunderbolts. Outside of those Rock attacks, strong physical attacks and Toxic mess it up.

Without Ice beam: Grass types can counter it (especially Grass/Poison types who aren’t affected by Toxic) as well as Dragon types.

Without Hidden Power [Grass]: Rock slide Quagsires and Swamperts (and Whiscashs) counter it.

Without Toxic or Hidden Power: Water types will force it into a stall war or counter it if they have an electric or Rock Attack.

For Swift Swim Mantines: it can be countered by anything else with the Swift Swim trait and a resistance to water attacks, a special mention goes to Rock Slide Kabutops as well, provided it has enough speed to outrun Mantine.

Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Mantine would have to be this for the Beauty Contest best with Modest, Mild, Rash or Quiet Nature:

Attacks:

Hail
Ice beam
Blizzard
Earthquake

Items Attached:

Blue Scarf

Strategy Using Mantine

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - Hail, 2nd - Ice beam/Blizzard, 3rd - Earthquake, 4th - Hail, 5th - Ice beam/Blizzard

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade From LGC Colosseum/XD Snag from Miror B. Peon Ferma in Pyrite Hill (Colosseum), Trade From LGC (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Trade From LGC (FR), Tanoby Ruins & Trainer Tower (LG)

Animé Appearences

Mantine has had a few Animé Appearences. First it was used by Molly in a battle against Misty. Then a trainer used it to help find the lost Silver Feather in the Whirl Islands. After that it was used in the Coastline Gym and then Lola, Brock's Mother used it in a battle against Brock in Pewter Gym Movie 3: Spell Of The Unown Episode 216: Mantine Overboard! Episode 258: Just Add Water! Chronicles 5: A Family That Battles Together, Stays Together!