All the Paradox Pokemon added in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are special in their own way, but Roaring Moon is even more special. The Pokemon has increased stats and the potential to be the hardest hitter of the bunch.
Paradox Pokemon are a big deal in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. While they aren’t traditional legendaries, as they can be repeatedly caught in the wild, they have power akin to the “ominous black stake” legendaries found in Paldea.
But even by those standards, Pokemon Scarlet’s Roaring Moon and Pokemon Violet’s Iron Valiant stand above the rest. Unlike Iron Valiant, Roaring Moon fits into almost any competitive team thanks to its great move pool and unique offensive offering. Here is the best way to build Roaring Moon for ranked battles.
Best Build for Roaring Moon in Singles Battles
In singles battles, Roaring Moon can be looked at as an excellent pokemon for closing out games. With maximum Speed EVs and one Dragon Dance, it’s capable of landing first against most of the Pokemon in the meta and blasting them with its strong move coverage. Here’s the best setup:
- Ability: Protosynthesis
- Nature: Adamant
- EVs: 252 Attack, 6 Sp. Defense, 252 Speed
- Tera Type: Flying, Steel
- Item: Booster Energy
- Moves: Acrobatics, Earthquake, Iron Head, Dragon Dance
Acrobatics is an excellent move on Roaring Moon thanks to Booster Energy effectively disappearing upon activation, improving Acrobatics’ damage from 55 to 110. Earthquake and Iron Head are excellent moves under almost any circumstances, but Throat Chop is also worth considering.
Flying and Steel Tera Typing are both great options thanks to their ability to up the damage of Acrobatics and Iron Head, respectively. Steel is a great defensive option as well, as it allows Roaring Moon to turn its double weakness to fairy into a resistance.
Best Build for Roaring Moon in Doubles Battles
The singles battles build for Roaring Moon can potentially be used in doubles battles, but it’s not necessarily optimal. In double battles, Roaring Moon will want to ensure that it can out-speed the field, which means adjusting its EV spread and nature to ensure that Booster Energy will improve its Speed stat rather than Attack, which makes a Dragon Dance setup unnecessary.
- Ability: Protosynthesis
- Nature: Jolly
- EVs: 38 HP, 220 Attack, 252 Speed
- Tera Type: Flying, Steel
- Item: Booster Energy
- Moves: Acrobatics, Throat Chop, Protect, Tailwind
This EV spread with a Jolly nature pushes Roaring Moon’s Speed stat one point higher than its Attack stat, allowing Booster Energy to increase it even further. The nature of doubles battles makes Protect and Tailwind optimal moves for Roaring Moon, which turns Acrobatics and Throat Chop into its best options for attacking moves. Acrobatics hits very hard with Booster Energy consumed. Throat Chop deals solid damage and has STAB, with the added effect of disabling Hyper Voice Sylveon and preempting Perish Song users, who are growing in popularity.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
