Plusle Movesets & Competitive Sets

Moves Nasty Plot enables Plusle to boost its Special Attack if it gains a free turn. Substitute can potentially be set up versus the few Pokemon Minun can force out, giving it a chance to set up without taking a big hit. After that, pray Minun is capable of doing damage to the opposing team. At least it has fairly good neutral coverage, with Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Ice only missing out on Chinchou. Set Details Life Orb gives Minun somewhat passable offenses after using a Nasty Plot boost. Salac Berry can somewhat solve the issue of it being too slow to sweep effectively. If using a Salac Berry, run a spread of 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe to activate it after three uses of Substitute. Don't even bother trying to pull off something like strategically switching into weak moves to get it down into Salac Berry range. It's Plusle. It will die. Lightning Rod grants an Electric immunity, but in the grand scheme of things this will not save Plusle from its pitiful unviability. Usage Tips Switch Plusle in after a teammate has been sacrificed, preferably into something that is frightened out by it, such as Pelipper, Wingull, or Luvdisc. Then, set up a Nasty Plot or Substitute as they switch out and, if you're lucky, Plusle might almost KO something. Team Options Dual screens and Memento users, such as Meowstic-M, Jumpluff, and Misdreavus, help Plusle actually survive a few hits if you aren't hoping to force something out. For example, it is no longer 2HKOed by Silk Scarf Purugly's Fake Out or Jumpluff's Acrobatics after Stealth Rock behind an appropriate screen. Minun is also a great teammate for Plusle. They are both cheerleaders, so surely the more moral support, the merrier, right?

Plusle will have a tough time setting up a Nasty Plot, but if you can manage to get it in on a Water-type, you can maybe pull it off. From there, blast away with Thunderbolt and Hidden Power until Plusle just can't blast anymore and pass the Nasty Plot boost to a teammate. While Plusle is pretty fast for NU, it has some serious trouble with Choice Scarf users, predominantly Primeape, since it can't withstand any of its attacks and won't be able to pass on its Nasty Plot boost. If at all possible, try to eliminate the opponent's Choice Scarf user before bringing in Plusle. Any Pokemon with a decent Special Attack stat will enjoy a +2 boost, but the trick is to pass to something that will both be able to weather the incoming hit and outspeed the opponent once it's in. Charizard, Articuno, and Rotom-S all usually can do this and are immune to Ground-type attacks as well. Tangela and Exeggutor resist Ground-type attacks and are very physically bulky, but are pretty slow, meaning they'll likely have to take two hits before attacking.

This set utilizes Plusle's decent offensive power and access to Encore to make him an effective Nasty Plot Baton Passer that can pose an offensive threat at the same time. Encore allows Plusle to lock defensive Pokemon, such as Registeel, into a harmless move like Stealth Rock, effectively giving Plusle a free turn to set up. As Plusle is extremely frail, Encore is often very important to obtain a Nasty Plot boost. Thunderbolt gives Plusle a reliable attack, which prevents him from being completely useless if he gets Taunted, and is fairly powerful after a Nasty Plot. This EV spread is simple yet effective: A Timid nature and 252 Speed EVs are needed to tie with other positive base 95 Pokemon such as Houndoom. This gives Plusle a 50% chance to Baton Pass the boost in a tight situation against them, or KO the opposing Pokemon with a Nasty Plot boosted Thunderbolt. 252 Special Attack EVs boost the power of Plusle's Thunderbolt, and allow Plusle to strike the opposing team with strong attacks. While it may seem odd to boost Plusle's Special Attack when Thunderbolt is his only offensive move, the Electric-type boasts respectable mono-coverage in UU, and any opponents that resist Thunderbolt can easily be Baton Passed out of. However, some defensive EVs can be transferred from Special Attack to make it easier for Plusle to obtain a Nasty Plot boost, but so many EVs are required that Plusle becomes pitifully weak, which makes this a lesser option. Plusle has a couple of other moves that he can use on this set. Agility is always useful to Baton Pass, but Nasty Plot is what makes Plusle unique. You may, however, forgo the use of Thunderbolt in favor of Agility if you wish. Magnet Rise can be an interesting option to Baton Pass, but like Agility, it should only go over Thunderbolt. It should be noted that replacing Thunderbolt with either Agility or Magnet Rise leaves Plusle rendered utterly useless by Taunt, so it isn't recommended. Hidden Power Ice allows Plusle to hit Ground-types he can't hit with Thunderbolt, but there are no moves that you can really replace on this set. As this set's main goal is to pass Nasty Plot boosts, appropriate recipients are naturally important teammates. If possible, these Baton Pass recipients should also be able to deal with Ground-type Pokemon. Therefore, Moltres, Mismagius, Rotom, and Sceptile are all excellent partners, as they benefit greatly from a Nasty Plot boost, and are immune or resistant to Ground-type attacks. All of these Pokemon pack incredible powerful after a Nasty Plot boost, and are fast enough to attempt a sweep. Because both Plusle and his Baton Pass recipients are specially-based, dedicated special sponges such as Chansey can pose problems. Even after a Nasty Plot boost, Baton Pass recipients may still face problems with the pink blob. Dugtrio is a great choice to trap and KO Chansey in one fell swoop. U-turn users, such as Scyther and Swellow, also help weaken the opposing team and scout for any Pokemon that may pose a problem to your Baton Pass recipient.

While Plusle is generally outclassed by other Electric-type Pokemon when it comes to sweeping, he can still be a decent Nasty Plot sweeper. Nasty Plot is an excellent boosting move that can quickly boost Plusle's average Special Attack to higher levels. Encore allows Plusle to capitalize on support moves with ease, and it's almost a necessity for Plusle to set up, since his overall frailty means that he cannot switch into attacking moves that are even moderately powerful. Thunderbolt is Plusle's main STAB attack, while Hidden Power Ice provides excellent coverage alongside it. Life Orb is the item of choice, as Plusle needs all the power he can get. Plusle has a couple of other options that he can use with decent results. Hidden Power Fighting can be used to strike Registeel and Steelix for decent damage, while Grass Knot is available to hit Rhyperior and Donphan harder than Hidden Power Ice. However, these attacks have worse overall coverage with Thunderbolt in comparison to Hidden Power Ice. Baton Pass is an option to scout for counters, and possibly Baton Pass a Nasty Plot boost to a partner, but Plusle needs all the coverage he can get in order to successfully sweep. You can also transfer some Special Attack EVs to HP to make setting up a Nasty Plot somewhat easier. Since Plusle is still somewhat offensively weak, even after a Nasty Plot boost, some support is necessary for Plusle to sweep; in particular, entry hazards score Plusle some OHKOes and 2HKOes that he couldn't get otherwise. Omastar is a superb entry hazard supporter that has enough bulk to switch in multiple times during a match to set up entry hazards. Qwilfish is also a decent option as he can quickly set up a layer or two of Spikes before fainting. Scyther and Swellow can both slowly weaken opposing walls with U-turn, which will gradually allow Plusle to overcome these walls. Dugtrio is also a great teammate to trap and KO Chansey and Registeel, both of which can easily sponge Plusle's attacks.

The choice between which Hidden Power to pair with Plusle's STAB Thunderbolt is a tough one; Hidden Power Ice gets extremely important coverage against Grass-types, but Hidden Power Grass gets a far stronger hit on many of the dangerous Ground-types of the tier, namely Whiscash, Piloswine, and Graveler. It all comes down to the team Plusle is on and what threats are most dangerous that it needs to cover. In the end, though, the common Grass-types will likely be able to tank Hidden Power Ice, but in end-game scenarios, they should be sufficiently weakened enough to be KOed by it. Substitute takes advantage of the switches Plusle is likely to create, blocks status, and is a good way to Baton Pass into a teammate safely. However, Encore is a fantastic disrupting move if you predict a non-damaging move from the foe that can create opportunities for Plusle's teammates to switch in for free or force the foe to take more damage from Thunderbolt. The last moveslot needs to go to Baton Pass to allow Plusle to scout the opponent's switches and retain momentum in Plusle's favor throughout the match. Max Speed and a Timid nature are absolutely needed in order to Speed tie with other Plusle and Haunter and be able to outspeed Pidgeot and Murkrow. Running anything else is not at all recommended due to the importance of Plusle's Speed tier. Magnet is an option to boost the power of Plusle's STAB move a bit, in particular opening up a 2HKO on physically defensive Chimecho. Petaya Berry is another alternative item option with a boost that can be Baton Passed to a teammate as well. At +1, Plusle can easily 2HKO Roselia with Hidden Power Ice and OHKO even specially defensive Wailord with Thunderbolt. Fake Tears can be used to push a lot of switch-ins into the OHKO or 2HKO range, particularly Lickitung, which is easily 2HKOed by Thunderbolt after a Fake Tears, and Choice Band Hitmonchan, which is OHKOed after Fake Tears and a layer of Spikes. However, using Fake Tears requires a lot of prediction and is generally less safe to use than Substitute or Encore. Rain Dance can be used with Thunder as the STAB move, and this combination is great when used in tandem with Huntail as a sweeping partner. Apart from those two options, most other support moves are done better by Minun, which is slightly bulkier. In general, most specially bulky Pokemon can check Plusle, particularly Grass-types and other Pokemon that aren't weak to Thunderbolt like Swalot and Kecleon. Flying-types like Murkrow and Fire-types like Flareon make good teammates in order to blast through the Grass-types, and Flareon can easily countersweep Sunny Day Bellossom. Hitmonchan makes for a good teammate that can smash apart Kecleon and Lickitung. Piloswine and other Ground-types like Graveler are good teammates to take on the likes of Swalot, and they love Plusle's ability to remove Water- and Flying-types from the picture.