Before Pokémon Scarlet and Violet released their first competitive doubles format, there was a lot of theorycrafting as to what Pokémon are going to be strong and what the new strategies in the meta would be going into Gen IX’s competitive scene.
While some ‘mons were expected to make waves in the early meta of season one ranked battles, other threats came entirely out of nowhere and left players in awe with their true potential, while some staple picks from previous metagames saw consistent drops in usage after players found perfect counterplay to them.
So clearly, knowing which Pokémon are worth your time building around isn’t the easiest task. That’s where we come in. Continue reading our list of the 10 best competitive Pokémon to use in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s ranked battles season one to find out what could work for you.
The 10 best competitive Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s ranked battles season one
Armarouge
Armarouge is now one of the few Pokémon that still get Expanding Force, with the moves distribution being heavily cut going into Scarlet and Violet.
This Fire/Psychic dual-type has taken the place of Hatterene in the very popular Indeedee-Hatterene Trick room core which boomed in Gen VIII VGC, being able to to do nearly the same things that Hatterene did, and arguably better, since Armarouge possesses incredibly strong, STAB Fire-type moves to hit Steel-types which resist Expanding Force, which Hatterene did not.
Armarouge gets access to the move Trick Room, which it can make great use of when it has its Speed stat minimized. It’s base Speed stat, however, is fast enough that it can also make use of Tailwind with the correct EV spread, making it a flexible ‘mon.
With Life Orb and Tera Psychic, Armarouge can dish out unbearable amounts of damage through Expanding Force that no Pokémon would want to take, even ones that resist it.
Gholdengo
It won’t be a stretch to say that Gholdengo will be going down in history as the poster child for season one of Scarlet and Violet’s ranked double battles, and we’ll just have to see how this surfer dude is going to fare in future metagames of VGC.
Gholdengo was once the most used Pokémon across all the early tournaments but has now slightly decreased in usage. This is completely normal since players will be running more and more counterplay for the top threats in the metagame, but this does not mean that Gholdengo isn’t a huge menace anymore; far from it, actually.
The little cheese string man’s best set is its Choice Specs set that runs Make it Rain, Shadow Ball, and two coverage moves of your choice, or even Trick on the final slot to disrupt opponents. To watch complete chaos ensue, pair this ‘mon with a Haze-Tailwind Murkrow to clear away stat drops from Make It Rain and double its Speed under Tailwind.
Murkrow
Without strong Prankster Tailwind Pokémon in the format such as Whimsicott and Tornadus, Murkrow has the monopoly on priority Speed control, while having other options that happen to be amazing in the current metagame.
Apart from priority Tailwind, Murkrow also gets access to the move Haze to clear any stat boosts from the opponent, while getting rid of your own Pokémon’s stat drops from moves such as Make It Rain and Draco Meteor. Murkrow also gets access to Taunt which prevents setup from the opponent as well as denies Trick Room. For the final moveslot Murkrow can carry either Foul Play or Brave Bird to be able to deal some kind of damage.
Focus Sash and Eviolite and going to be your best bets for its item, since Murkrow is rather frail and would prefer to survive at least one hit.
Hydreigon
Currently, Hydreigon has risen to have the highest usage stat in tournaments, and it’s not tough to see why.
This Dark/Dragon dual-type has an amazing ability in Levitate which lets it ignore Ground-type attacks such as Earthquake which is everywhere in the meta due to Garchomp. Furthermore, it can Terrastalize into three very common types which have seen a lot of usage in Poison, Fire, and Steel which all resist Fairy moves while also being immune to ground moves that they would usually be scared of due to Hydreigon’s ability.
Apart from this, Hydreigon can support its team with Tailwind and fire off strong Choice Specs or Life Orb-boosted Special attacks, making this Dragon incredibly flexible and threatening.
Garchomp
After being on the bench for the majority of Generation VIII, Garchomp is now primed to make a reappearance in competitive VGC through Scarlet and Violet.
What held Garchomp back the previous generation was the omnipresence of Grassy terrain thanks to Rillaboom. With the grassy gorilla heavily—and not currently in the game—Garchomp is free to do Garchomp things.
With its incredibly fortunate Speed stat of 102, being able to narrowly outspeed every base 100 Speed ‘mon along with a deathly Attack stat and access to Swords Dance, Garchomp can quickly overpower you with strong spread attacks in STAB Earthquake and also Rock Slide.
It is also significantly tougher to neuter Garchomp’s offense by switching in a Pokémon with Intimidate now due to the presence of the item Clear Amulet, which Garchomp almost always runs.
Meowscarada
Meowscarada is a neat Pokémon for sure, but a big reason it is seeing so much usage right now is because it fares amazingly well in the current state of the metagame.
With Flower Trick always landing critical hits and effectively having a base power of 105, this vegan kitty cat can crit through all of the Defense-boosting strategies that a lot of Pokémon such as Annihilape and Dondozo utilize to win battles. With the ability Overgrow and the item Focus Sash, Meowscarada will always be brought down into Overgrow range to fire off even stronger Flower Tricks, and with Terrastalization, its damage output can even knock out Pokémon that resist the move.
Meowscarada also has other solid options like Knock Off and Sucker Punch, with supportive moves such as Fake Tears and Trick Room as well, to catch your opponent off guard.
Annihilape
We’ve had Final Gambit strategies throughout the history of competitive VGC, but Annihilape has taken it to the next level.
With a phenomenal HP stat of 110, using the Choice Scarf item, there are little to no Pokémon in the metagame that Annihilape cannot outspeed and KO in a single hit. But this undead raging monkey is far from being a one-trick pony, as we have recently seen a rise in usage of its Bulk Up set.
With Bulk Up, Annihilape and raise its weaker Defense stat along with its Physical Attack, and if the opponent wants to neuter it through Intimidate, Defiant will give it an Attack boost instead. It can then use Drain Punch for solid damage and healing, with its signature move Rage Fist, a 50 base power move that powers itself up by 50 base power for every hit Annihilape takes.
Maushold
Maushold has seen consistent usage since the beginning of the format and nothing has changed till now.
This family of mice mainly runs one set, letting it be a strong attacker with supportive options as well. This set makes use of the ability Technician to power up its signature move Population Bomb. It further runs the Wide Lens item to have the highest possible chance of landing all 10 hits, which can easily nuke your average Pokémon.
When it has no use going on the offense, it can make use of its wide supportive options, the most popular ones being Follow Me and Encore.
Amoonguss
This sussy baka has been the premier redirector in all of the metagames it has been legal in since Gen V, and this is no different for season one in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Amoonguss has incredible bulk that lets it take multiple attacks from the opponent that it redirects away from its partner using Rage Powder. After its health runs too low, it can simply switch out and come back in, recovering one-third of its health in the process thanks to its ability Regenerator.
It can also fire off completely accurate Spores, clear opponent’s stat boosts with Clear Smog, and heal its partner’s health by half over and over using Pollen Puff. Amoonguss has incredible role compression and there is no other Pokémon that can do what this little bugger does.
Grimmsnarl
Grimmsnarl was already an absolute pest in Gen VIII, and now they’ve buffed it even further with the advent of Scarlet and Violet.
This Dark/Fairy dual-type now gets access to the move Parting Shot, and with the Prankster ability giving it +1 priority, Grimmsnarl can neuter a strong attacker’s offense before it can move to safely get in its partner.
Its most common set continues to be the Light Clay dual screens set to support its team by bulking them out. Other moves to round out this set usually are Spirit Break and Parting Shot, Different sets that don’t include dual screens can make use of other amazing supportive options like Fake Out, Fake Tears, Thunder Wave, Scary Face, and Sucker Punch to pick off opponents with a priority attack.
