Pokemon Scarlet and Violet stand out as one of the best generations in the franchise in terms of the quality of new Pokemon, even though some might argue that the power creep levels of Gen 8's Zacian were reached and maybe surpassed once again. Many of the new Gen 9 Pokemon have ideal base stat distributions, with a few points in their least preferred attack stat and many in their favorite one, such as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Flutter Mane, whose Special Attack sits at 135 while its Attack is just 55. Gen 9 can count the cross-gen evolution of Primeape, Annihilape, among the very best critters it has to offer, and this is because of how versatile this new pocket monster can be.
Annihilape is the second Pokemon to ever be graced with the Ghost and Fighting type combination, which makes it weak to four types, resistant to three, and immune to two. It can also hit seven types out of eighteen for supereffective damage, making it quite a potent adversary to come up against and especially so in competitive battles. Even though Annihilape's versatility is not best served with the current format of open teams, which means that players have to reveal everything about their pocket monsters except their stats, this creature remains among the very best Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Final Gambit Annihilape Set Explained
One of the most popular strategies that players are currently employing for Annihilape revolves around its incredibly high base HP, the move Final Gambit, and the Choice Scarf. Final Gambit is a move that faints the user and inflicts damage equal to its user's remaining HP, which at level 50 and with full EVs and IVs equals 217 in the case of Annihilape. This is more than enough to one-shot any Pokemon in the format with a few notable exceptions, like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Amoonguss.
This is where the Choice Scarf comes into play, as it ensures that Annihilape acts first outside of priority moves, meaning that it gets to attack with its HP full. Some players also like to use this iteration of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Annihilape with a Grass Tera type, as it becomes immune to Amoonguss' Rage Powder or Spore. Normally, the former would ensure that the Pokemon sacrifices itself and doesn't score a kill, whereas the latter puts it to sleep and can be equally problematic, but Grass-type Pokemon are inherently immune to powder-like effects.
Bulky Builds Make Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Annihilape a Major Threat
This is far from the only viable build for Annihilape in competitive battles, and another great set is about using Leftovers and moves like Drain Punch to stay alive in longer fights, only for the Pokemon to then unleash its signature move. Among Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's best Ghost-type moves is in fact Rage Fist, which normally has a base power of 50, but this can be increased by another 50 every time Annihilape is hit or hits itself when confused. As such, this can easily become the strongest move in the game that then also gets STAB bonus to its damage.
Because Annihilape is so naturally bulky, players can use several different strategies with it, with a popular one being using Maushold with Beat Up into this Pokemon to have a 250 base power Rage Fist on turn one. With this build, it's a good idea to use a defensive Tera type in order to counter potential supereffective hits. Overall, the combinations are endless with Annihilape, which makes it the perfect jack of all trades in competitive battles for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, as players can easily put it on any team when they have a hard time picking the sixth critter to use.
PokemonScarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
