With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you have a lot of options for attacking moves, which is great because you need to be able to use them well. In Generation Nine, many Special Attackers were added that changed the rules of competitive play. These Pokemon now have special skills and moves that really help them do well in Paldea.
Common nerfs like “Intimidate” can’t hurt Special Attackers, and their strikes won’t use contact-based abilities like “Toxic Debris.” Some of them are a little slower than their physical versions, but Scarlet and Violet has changed that by adding strong Special Attackers that can sweep quickly. Paldea has a lot of strong Special Attackers, which can make it hard to choose the best one for your team.
Espathra
The ostrich Pokemon that Cleopatra liked best is definitely one for a queen who likes to compete, especially in singles! It’s one of the few that has the Hidden Ability Speed Boost, which makes your Speed stat go up by one stage every turn. For some reason, its Special Attack of 101 is not as high as some of the others on the list. However, its signature move makes it a much bigger threat.
The Psychic Special Attack Lumina Crash is very strong and brings down the target’s Special Defense stats very quickly. When you combine this with Speed Boost, it can hit first and break through the enemy’s defenses, making it perfect for any team that wants to score more.
Farigiraf
The Special Attacker skills of this astronaut giraffe are truly out of this world. With 110 Special Attack, a pricey set of moves, and a big 120 HP base, it has a lot to work with. It’s also the best at setting up and sweeping Trick Rooms compared to its competitors.
Armor Tail, one of its abilities, stops Priority Moves. This means that your opponent can’t use them to counter your speed advantage, which makes it perfect for setting up a Trick Room. You can also use Hyper Voice, a strong Special Spread move, on it, and by Terastalizing into a Normal-type, you can double its power.No doubt, Fargiraf has all the tools it needs to make any enemy crazy.
Glimmora
It is not often that you see a Rock-type Special Attacker, so Glimmora was a nice treat. Its base 130 Special Attack is very strong and can do a lot of damage, especially with Power Gym and Sludge Wave. Its mid-tier Speed is made up for by its ability to help other units.
It can use both Screens and has a special move called Mortal Spin that poisons both targets and gets rid of any stage dangers in its path. Being so strong, poisonous rock can do a lot of things, which makes it a really bad addition to the competition meta.
Tatsugiri
Most of the time, Tatsugiri is just seen as support because it’s Dondozo’s unique power-up treat. However, it has a lot of untapped potential. Even though most of its stats aren’t great, it has some of the strongest moves in the game and a base Special Attack of 120. As a Water/Dragon type, it has a lot of defense benefits. Other Dragon and Fairy types are its only weakness.
Tatsugiri can knock out a Garchomp with just one Draco Meteor if they have the right help. If Dondozo is brought in, any attack on Tatsugiri will automatically miss, so opponents will often double into that spot, guessing a switch in. The mind games make them change their own focus, which gives it a lot of promise as a Special sweeper.
Armarouge
Armarouge has to be one of the most powerful weapons in Generation Nine. Its Special Attack stats aren’t as high as Hatterene’s, but it still fits the same need. Expanding Force is a powerful Psychic-type move that only this generation’s Pokemon can use. If Psychic Terrain is up, it hits both Pokemon.
Armor Cannon, its signature move, is great against Steel-types because it often threatens the help that Steel-types need to thrive. With a Grass Tera type, its new Fire weakness is covered by Flash Fire, and Powder moves can’t hurt it. Since water is such a threat, it’s a great move that lets you use Energy Ball. Armarouge is a very powerful Special Attacker because it can do so many things.
Hydreigon
Hydreigon is a unique Special Attacker that can do three things well. It’s one of the best Pokemon for getting the most out of Teratalization. It also has great base stats and a movepool with both offensive and defensive choices. Through Terrastalization, Hydreigon can turn its 4x Fairy-type weakness into an offensive danger with moves like Flash Cannon, Heat Wave, or even just Terrablast.
You can see it most often with Steel and Poison Tera Types, but it can also use Fire, Fighting, and even Fairy Types. It makes sense that Hydreigon has become one of the most popular Special Attackers on the ranked ladder since your opponent never knows what they’ll get.
Miraidon
Miraidon is the more competitive of the two Box Legendaries. Its Ability, Hadron Engine, makes Electric Terrain, which raises its Special Attack stat and gives Electric-type moves an extra STAB bonus.
With this and its base Special Attack of 135, this giant mecha-motorcycle can easily beat its opponents. The fact that Hadron Engine can also turn on Quark Drive on other Paradox Pokemon is just the cherry on top for this time-traveling tech dragon.
Chi-Yu
This Legendary Pokemon doesn’t look like much, but its Special Attack is one of the best in Eggy Car. With a base Special Attack of 135, Chi-Yu is very strong, but its Ability is what makes it stand out.
With Beads of Ruin, all Pokemon on the field have less Special Defense except for itself. This makes everyone more exposed to Chi-Yu’s attacks. As a Fire/Dark type, it can cover a lot of ground. It has two abilities, Heat Wave and Snarl, that can both hurt and help. Don’t be fooled—this old goldfish will definitely make you flush.
Iron Moth
In Paldea, the Volcarona of the future is one of the best Special Attackers ever made. This mecha-moth can do a lot of damage with its base Special Attack of 140, and it can do even more damage when it switches in Quark Drive.
Since it’s a Poison/Fire-Type, it has some of the best covering, and its base Speed of 110 makes it often the fastest thing on the field. Plus, its signature move, Fiery Dance, makes its Special Attack even stronger, so it can use its office of power to sweep whole teams.
Flutter Mane
Based on Misdreavus, Flutter Mane is a Ghost/Fairy Paradox Pokemon. With 135 Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, Flutter Mane has almost the right stats for a strong Special Attack cleanser. It’s only held back by its low Defense and HP, but does that really matter when you’re killing everyone on the other team?
Also, Flutter Mane can use strong STAB moves like Moonblast and Shadowball, as well as covering moves like Energy Ball, Thunderbolt, Dark Pulse, Power Gem, and more. People like Flutter Mane for both Tera Raids and Competitive Battles because it has great stats and a lot of great moves.
Gholdengo
One of the most sought-after Special Attackers and a very valuable Pokemon in professional games is Gholdengo. String cheese that likes to ski has a Special Attack of 120 and a special Steel-type spread move called “Make It Rain” that has 130 base power. Its ability, “Good as Gold,” protects it from all status moves, and its typing as “Ghost” helps it make up for some of its Steel-type flaws.
This new attack’s Special Attack stat goes down every time it’s used, but this can be quickly fixed by a partner using Haze, which is why it’s so common to see it used with Murkrow. It works well as a sweeper and could also be used as a pivot against popular threats like Amoonguss. When it comes to Special Attackers, this golden boy steals the show.
Vikavolt
Vikavolt is a good Special Attacker. With a base of 145, her Special Attack stat is one of the best in Scarlet and Violet. The only thing that makes Vikavolt’s other stats look bad is that his Speed stat is only 43. With its wide range of moves and unique types in Bug and Electric, Vikavolt really shines.
Magnezone and Sandy Shocks are the only other Electric-type Pokemon that even come close to Vikavolt’s Special Attack stat in terms of type. This makes Vikavolt great in Tera Raids, where Electric-type is very strong. And Vikavolt is even stronger if you can get outside sources to make it stronger.
Chandalure
Chandalure is a great Special Attacker who has the unique ability to mix Ghost and Fire. Chandalure’s base Special Attack of 145 is very strong, and it will be hard for many other Pokemon to hit harder than it, especially with Fire-type strikes.
However, unlike Vikavolt, Chandalure has a good base Speed of 80 and good defense stats, so it can stand on its own without help from other Pokemon. When combined with moves like Hex, Overheat, Shadow Ball, and Flamethrower that cover a lot of ground, Chandalure will do a lot of damage.