(first analysis go easy *-*)
[OVERVIEW]
While Ninetales faces competition from the other Fire-types in the NU such as Magmortar and Pyroar, Ninetales has some notable differences that set it apart from those two. Ninetales has access to a useful boosting move in Nasty Plot, which gives it powerful wallbreaking capabilities. Also, Ninetales possesses a well-rounded movepool that includes Energy Ball and Psyshock, which lets it get past common Pokemon like Lanturn, Hariyama, and Regirock that resist its fire attacks. Another advantage over other Fire-types in the tier is a handy ability in Flash Fire which grants it a fire immunity while also boosting Ninetales Fire-type attacks if activated. However, its attacking strength isn't the greatest without any kind of boost and a weakness to common attacking types such as Ground, Rock, and Water can all hold it back from setting up. Also, while Ninetales has enough speed to outpace a lot of the tier, Pokemon like Tauros, Archeops, and Floatzel are all common and still outspeed.
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Psyshock / Will-O-Wisp
item: Life Orb
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Nasty Plot lets Ninetales boost its attacking power to frightening levels and makes it incredibly hard for most teams to switch into because of the type coverage between its attacking moves. Fire Blast is Ninetales stab move of choice due to its power and can hit Grass and Steel-types in NU such as Vileplume, Mawile, and Klingklang for super effective damage. Energy Ball is useful to hit notable fire resists in the tier like Rhydon, Carracosta, Regirock for a ton of damage. Psyshock allows Ninetales to hit on the physical side while most importantly, hitting Assualt Vest Magmortar and Hariyama for a lot more damage, even being able to OHKO the latter at +2. Conversely, Will-o-Wisp also allows Ninetales to spread status and avoid Sucker Punch, letting it burn common users like Shiftry and Skuntank.
Set Details
========
A spread of max special attack and speed with a timid nature is the most useful spread on Ninetales, as that spread allows Ninetales to make the most out its ability to boost and decent movepool. Max speed is also useful to outpace base 95 Pokemon such as Haunter, Jynx, and Electrivire. Life Orb is the preferred item to provide an additional boost to all of Ninetales attacks, at the cost of HP. Flash Fire is the only ability that Ninetales is allowed to use in NU, but the benefit of a potential fire immunity + boost to its fire attacks still makes it a great ability to have.
Usage Tips
========
In order to make the most out of Ninetales, it is important to take advantage of Flash Fire to deter the use of Fire-type moves. Common Will-O-Wisp users such as Weezing, Rotom, and Mismagius and Fire-types like Specs-locked Pyroar locked into Fire Blast or hp grass have no way to threaten Ninetales and are good examples of Pokemon Ninetales can switch into. Set up a nasty plot when Ninetales forces Grass-types like Vileplume, Ferroseed, and Gourgeist to switch out. In addition, Ninetales is best used as a sweeper late game once all of its hard counters have been weakened or knocked out.
Team Options
========
Hazard removal is important to support Ninetales in order to keep it at a healthy amount of HP. Because of this spinners and defoggers like Prinplup, Pelipper and Claydol all make good teammates as they can remove hazards for Ninetales while still sharing decent type synergy. Defensive Grass-types make great partners for their own synergy with Ninetales. Pokemon like Vileplume, Gourgeist, and Torterra all cover Ninetales weaknesses to Water-types and Rock-types very nicely. Offensive Water-types such as Samurott and Poliwrath can also handle the ground and rock types that give Ninetales trouble. Spikes support from Pokemon like Ferroseed, Roselia, and Garbodor is appreciated as Ninetales is somewhat weak without a boost, and the extra chip damage can come in handy to weaken its counters. For example, a layer of spikes helps to 2hko Regirock with no boosts and allows Ninetales to ohko it at plus 2.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Substitute + Salac Berry is a combo that can allow for more setup opportunities by blocking status moves and letting Ninetales boost its speed to outpace the majority of NU. Hypnosis, albeit shaky due to its accuracy, can be useful for forcing switches and getting set up opportunities. Hidden Power water has potential in it being a way to hit opposing Fire-types for more damage while still hitting Rock and Ground-types for a lot of damage. Leftovers is another option over Life Orb as the HP gained each turn can be beneficial to replace lost health from the likes of entry hazards. Charcoal is a useful item for giving a boost to Ninetales fire attacks while avoiding residual damage from Life Orb. Passho Berry is a neat option that provides a one-time check to offensive water types like Floatzel, Kabutops and Samurott, allowing you to ko them in return with Energy Ball. Shuca allows Ninetales to set up on non stab ground type attacks from Pokemon like Magmortar that use it for coverage. The main disadvantage of using anything other than Life Orb is that the loss in power can make Ninetales a lot less threatening as a sweeper.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster offensive Pokemon**: Ninetales speed stat isn't the greatest, so it's prone to being outsped by Pokemon like Tauros, Archeops, and Swellow that can’t switch in safely but can force Ninetales out easily with their own strong attacks.
**Water-types**: Pokemon like Floatzel can outspeed and do a lot of damage to Ninetales with its stab attacks. Kabutops and Samurott can threaten out Ninetales despite their lower speed due to their strong water priority in Aqua Jet.
**Magmortar**: Magmortar can switch in safely to most of Ninetales moves barring Psyshock, and can threaten Ninetales out with Earthquake
**Thick Fat Pokemon**: Hariyama and Grumpig can both check Ninetales due to their abilities and in Grumpig's case, typing as well. Hariyama has to watch out for Psyshock however.
[OVERVIEW]
While Ninetales faces competition from the other Fire-types in the NU such as Magmortar and Pyroar, Ninetales has some notable differences that set it apart from those two. Ninetales has access to a useful boosting move in Nasty Plot, which gives it powerful wallbreaking capabilities. Also, Ninetales possesses a well-rounded movepool that includes Energy Ball and Psyshock, which lets it get past common Pokemon like Lanturn, Hariyama, and Regirock that resist its fire attacks. Another advantage over other Fire-types in the tier is a handy ability in Flash Fire which grants it a fire immunity while also boosting Ninetales Fire-type attacks if activated. However, its attacking strength isn't the greatest without any kind of boost and a weakness to common attacking types such as Ground, Rock, and Water can all hold it back from setting up. Also, while Ninetales has enough speed to outpace a lot of the tier, Pokemon like Tauros, Archeops, and Floatzel are all common and still outspeed.
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Psyshock / Will-O-Wisp
item: Life Orb
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Nasty Plot lets Ninetales boost its attacking power to frightening levels and makes it incredibly hard for most teams to switch into because of the type coverage between its attacking moves. Fire Blast is Ninetales stab move of choice due to its power and can hit Grass and Steel-types in NU such as Vileplume, Mawile, and Klingklang for super effective damage. Energy Ball is useful to hit notable fire resists in the tier like Rhydon, Carracosta, Regirock for a ton of damage. Psyshock allows Ninetales to hit on the physical side while most importantly, hitting Assualt Vest Magmortar and Hariyama for a lot more damage, even being able to OHKO the latter at +2. Conversely, Will-o-Wisp also allows Ninetales to spread status and avoid Sucker Punch, letting it burn common users like Shiftry and Skuntank.
Set Details
========
A spread of max special attack and speed with a timid nature is the most useful spread on Ninetales, as that spread allows Ninetales to make the most out its ability to boost and decent movepool. Max speed is also useful to outpace base 95 Pokemon such as Haunter, Jynx, and Electrivire. Life Orb is the preferred item to provide an additional boost to all of Ninetales attacks, at the cost of HP. Flash Fire is the only ability that Ninetales is allowed to use in NU, but the benefit of a potential fire immunity + boost to its fire attacks still makes it a great ability to have.
Usage Tips
========
In order to make the most out of Ninetales, it is important to take advantage of Flash Fire to deter the use of Fire-type moves. Common Will-O-Wisp users such as Weezing, Rotom, and Mismagius and Fire-types like Specs-locked Pyroar locked into Fire Blast or hp grass have no way to threaten Ninetales and are good examples of Pokemon Ninetales can switch into. Set up a nasty plot when Ninetales forces Grass-types like Vileplume, Ferroseed, and Gourgeist to switch out. In addition, Ninetales is best used as a sweeper late game once all of its hard counters have been weakened or knocked out.
Team Options
========
Hazard removal is important to support Ninetales in order to keep it at a healthy amount of HP. Because of this spinners and defoggers like Prinplup, Pelipper and Claydol all make good teammates as they can remove hazards for Ninetales while still sharing decent type synergy. Defensive Grass-types make great partners for their own synergy with Ninetales. Pokemon like Vileplume, Gourgeist, and Torterra all cover Ninetales weaknesses to Water-types and Rock-types very nicely. Offensive Water-types such as Samurott and Poliwrath can also handle the ground and rock types that give Ninetales trouble. Spikes support from Pokemon like Ferroseed, Roselia, and Garbodor is appreciated as Ninetales is somewhat weak without a boost, and the extra chip damage can come in handy to weaken its counters. For example, a layer of spikes helps to 2hko Regirock with no boosts and allows Ninetales to ohko it at plus 2.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Substitute + Salac Berry is a combo that can allow for more setup opportunities by blocking status moves and letting Ninetales boost its speed to outpace the majority of NU. Hypnosis, albeit shaky due to its accuracy, can be useful for forcing switches and getting set up opportunities. Hidden Power water has potential in it being a way to hit opposing Fire-types for more damage while still hitting Rock and Ground-types for a lot of damage. Leftovers is another option over Life Orb as the HP gained each turn can be beneficial to replace lost health from the likes of entry hazards. Charcoal is a useful item for giving a boost to Ninetales fire attacks while avoiding residual damage from Life Orb. Passho Berry is a neat option that provides a one-time check to offensive water types like Floatzel, Kabutops and Samurott, allowing you to ko them in return with Energy Ball. Shuca allows Ninetales to set up on non stab ground type attacks from Pokemon like Magmortar that use it for coverage. The main disadvantage of using anything other than Life Orb is that the loss in power can make Ninetales a lot less threatening as a sweeper.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster offensive Pokemon**: Ninetales speed stat isn't the greatest, so it's prone to being outsped by Pokemon like Tauros, Archeops, and Swellow that can’t switch in safely but can force Ninetales out easily with their own strong attacks.
**Water-types**: Pokemon like Floatzel can outspeed and do a lot of damage to Ninetales with its stab attacks. Kabutops and Samurott can threaten out Ninetales despite their lower speed due to their strong water priority in Aqua Jet.
**Magmortar**: Magmortar can switch in safely to most of Ninetales moves barring Psyshock, and can threaten Ninetales out with Earthquake
**Thick Fat Pokemon**: Hariyama and Grumpig can both check Ninetales due to their abilities and in Grumpig's case, typing as well. Hariyama has to watch out for Psyshock however.
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