Petilil Movesets & Competitive Sets

Moves Giga Drain allows Petilil to recover half of the damage dealt as health and is Petilil's preferred STAB move. However, Solar Beam is a far more offensive choice as it OHKOes almost all Pokemon weak to Grass and deals significant damage to neutral foes. Despite not having the accuracy of Foongus's Spore, Sleep Powder still hits most of the time and allows Petilil to put a foe to sleep for a few turns. Healing Wish lets Petilil sacrifice itself to cure a team member of status and restore them back to full health. Hidden Power Fire gets a boost in damage under sun and allows Petilil to 2HKO a large portion of its checks, such as Snover, Ferroseed, and Foongus after Stealth Rock damage. On the other hand, Hidden Power Ice is Petilil's only coverage for Vullaby, which is immune to powder moves, and 2HKOes after its Eviolite has been knocked off and after Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Ice can also potentially 2HKO the rest of Petilil's Grass-type checks apart from Snover and Ferroseed. Stun Spore is a good choice for a secondary status move once Sleep Cause is in effect to paralyze fast Pokemon or ones with Vital Spirit or Insomnia. Set Details The given EV spread and nature along with Eviolite allow Petilil at full health to survive an Acrobatics from Fletchling, Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave from Croagunk, Brave Bird from defensive Vullaby, or Sludge Bomb from Foongus to KO the enemy in return or ensure the use of Healing Wish. The bulk also lets Petilil check Water-, Electric- and Ground-types more efficiently. Petilil's maximum unboosted Speed of 13 is doubled to 26 under the sun courtesy of its ability Chlorophyll, which allows Petilil to outspeed Choice Scarf Pokemon with 17 Speed. Usage Tips Sun is mandatory, as Petilil outspeeds the unboosted metagame and has better offensive presence under the sun. Setting up sun before Petilil switches in can also allow it to Speed tie with +2 Shell Smash Sweepers such as Omanyte and Shellder and outspeed Tirtouga to revenge kill them. Petilil should never be left in against foes that threaten it with a potential OHKO, such as Ponyta and Skrelp. Petilil will perform best when faced with Pokemon that have a significant weakness to Grass-types, such as Water-, Electric-, and Ground-types, but be careful of potential coverage moves such as Ice Beam on Chinchou. Healing Wish should be used when Petilil is low on health to make full use of Petilil's longevity, or could be used as a strategy to bring a teammate safely into the battle, even if they are healthy. Team Options Vulpix and an additional Chlorophyll sweeper, ideally Bellsprout, are mandatory teammates as they both gain quite a lot from Petilil's presence; Petilil complements Vulpix by resisting its weaknesses to Ground and Water and helps other Chlorophyll sweepers like Bellsprout by allowing them to run another move over Sleep Powder. Furthermore, since Bellsprout and other Chlorophyll sweepers can get weakened by Life Orb recoil and resisted priority attacks or might get statused by moves like Thunder Wave, they appreciate Petilil healing them completely with the use of Healing Wish so they can continue to fulfill their roles without hesitation. Flying- and Fire- type checks such as Chinchou, Onix, Tirtouga, and Omanyte make good teammates, as Petilil has trouble handling them. Checks to Ice- and Poison-types such as Pawniard and Magnemite are also good teammates. Stealth Rock and Knock off users are handy for weakening Vullaby and Foongus to allow Petilil to get a potential KO on them.

The goal of this set is to set up Sunny Day and proceed to sweep with Petilil's high Special Attack. Petilil hits 26 Speed with Chlorophyll, which allows it to beat every unboosted Pokemon in the metagame and a handful of Choice Scarf users, such as Cranidos and Growlithe. Solar Beam and Giga Drain are powerful STAB options: Solar Beam is a very powerful STAB move that should only be used in the sun, while Giga Drain is a weaker move that can be used in any weather condition to recover some HP. Hidden Power Fire benefits from Sunny Day and provides great coverage along with Petilil's Grass-type STAB. The fourth slot is a choice between utility and power. Sleep Powder puts the opponent to sleep, whereas Growth boosts Petilil's Special Attack stat by two stages in sunlight. Eviolite improves Petilil's bulk, and even though Petilil has bad defenses, its Grass typing makes up for it. Life Orb can be used to grant Petilil more power, but it loses out on a significant amount of bulk. Chlorophyll should always be used over any of Petilil's other abilities, as Chlorophyll is the only niche Petilil has over other Grass-types. A Modest nature can be used over Timid for more power, but this makes Petilil slower than base 65 Speed Choice Scarf users, such as Houndour. Hidden Power Rock can be used over Hidden Power Fire to hit Flying-types, such as Taillow. If you opt to use Hidden Power Rock, Petilil cannot do anything to Steel-types, such as Ferroseed, making Fire-types, such as Houndour, good teammates. In addition, Houndour can switch into Ice- and Fire-type attacks aimed at Petilil, while Petilil can take Water- and Ground-type attacks aimed at Houndour. If you're using teammates that set up Sunny Day, you can replace Sunny Day with Growth or Sleep Powder.