Moves
Psychium Z-boosted Psychic is Tapu Lele's primary STAB option, and, boosted with the help of Psychic Terrain, it is able to obliterate swaths of metagame threats such as offensive Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, and non-Choice Scarf Porygon-Z. Psyshock can be run in order to hit specially defensive Pokemon that are physically frail, such as Chansey, as well as outdamaging threats that can raise their Special Defense, such as opposing Tapu Lele and Clefable, in exchange for a slightly weaker Shattered Psyche. Moonblast is Tapu Lele's secondary STAB option, able to hit pesky Dark-types such as Mega Gyarados, Mega Sableye, and Krookodile, which are immune to Shattered Psyche, as well as Psychic-types that resist Tapu Lele's Shattered Psyche, such as Choice Specs Necrozma. Reflect, when boosted with Psychium Z, allows Tapu Lele to easily take attacks from some of the heavier physical hitters in the game, such as Mega Gyarados, specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Donphan, Golem, and Zygarde as well as Flail Mega Lopunny. Taunt shuts down other setup or stall Pokemon, such as Jumpluff, Stored Power Necrozma, and Type: Null. Calm Mind is paramount in beating bulky special attackers such as Tapu Fini, Primarina, and slow Mega Charizard Y, allowing Tapu Lele to tank their powerful attacks and OHKO them back. Skill Swap can be run to turn the opposing Pokemon's abilities against them in a few matchups, such as against certain Sturdy users such as Magnezone, Mirror Coat Avalugg, and mixed Carracosta; Volt Absorb Pokemon such as Charge Zeraora; and Unaware Pokemon such as Clefable and Quagsire. Skill Swap also turns riskier matchups against Pokemon like Crustle into guaranteed wins as opposed to Taunt, which relies on proper prediction.
Set Details
96 HP and 188 Defense EVs allow Tapu Lele to tank Giga Impact from Mega Lopunny and Flare Blitz from Mega Charizard X as well as take special attacks more reliably, such as tanking bulky Tapunium Z Tapu Fini's Guardian of Alola followed by Brine after two Special Defense boosts from Calm Mind as well as Flyinium Z-boosted Hurricane from Dragonite. Normally, Pokemon have to prepare for both Fake Out followed by Giga Impact from Mega Lopunny; however, as Psychic Terrain blocks priority moves, this is unnecessary. 224 Speed EVs allow Tapu Lele to outspeed Landorus-T as well as Pokemon such as Normalium Z Porygon-Z and Adamant Mega Charizard X.
Tapu Lele can run a specially defensive spread of 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD and a Calm nature in order to take a Blast Burn from Mega Charizard Y as well as other special attacks from fast threats, such as a Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Porygon-Z and a Hydro Cannon from Choice Specs Greninja. However, this set will be outsped by threats that Tapu Lele can normally easily deal with, such as Landorus-T, Normalium Z Porygon-Z, Vivillon, and Smeargle, as well as sacrifice consistency against physical threats such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Charizard X. Tapu Lele can also choose to invest any amount of EVs into its Special Attack, letting it beat several specially defensive checks such as Electrium Z Togekiss, Clefable, Charge Zeraora, and Pyukumuku.
Usage Tips
Tapu Lele is powerful, even without Special Attack investment, but it will still fight Pokemon who can avoid being OHKOed. Sturdy and Multiscale attackers, such as Donphan, Golem, and physical Dragonite, and bulky special attackers such as Tapu Fini and special Dragonite, will require setup with either Z-Reflect or Calm Mind. Mega Charizard X normally runs two different spreads: offensive and specially defensive. Against offensive Mega Charizard X, use Shattered Psyche immediately, whereas against specially defensive Mega Charizard X, the correct play is to use Z-Reflect turn one, followed by repeated Psychic.
Team Options
Tapu Lele is naturally weak to Steel- and Poison-type Pokemon, and due to this, moderately fast Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp serve as excellent partners for Tapu Lele for their ability to hit these Pokemon super effectively and tank their attacks. In return, Tapu Lele can threaten bulky Water- and Flying-type Pokemon such as Primarina, Tapu Fini, Dragonite, and opposing Landorus-T, which all give Ground-type Pokemon trouble. Tapu Lele also appreciates Pokemon that can offensively threaten opposing Steel-types and shrug off the damage done by Poison-type Pokemon, meaning that Steel-, Fire-, and Fighting-type Pokemon can all work well as teammates. Magearna, Aegislash, Mega Metagross, both Mega Charizard formes, Mega Blaziken, and Kommo-o can all threaten several prominent Steel-types while crushing Poison-types like Naganadel and Nihilego. In return, Tapu Lele can beat Mega Charizard X, bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Primarina, and Tapu Fini, and most Ground-type Pokemon such as Donphan, Golem, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Tapu Lele also has issues with highly specially defensive Pokemon such as Meloetta, Chansey, Mega Slowbro, and Electrium Z Togekiss. Thus, Pokemon such as Aegislash, Magnezone, and Celesteela, which can all utilize Metal Sound to beat such Pokemon, all serve well as partners for Tapu Lele. In exchange, Tapu Lele can beat the Ground- and Fire-type Pokemon that threaten these Pokemon, namely Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, and Donphan.