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Competitive Pokemon: Oranguru

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Now, as many of you may be well aware, I am quite a fan of the move Trick Room. It reverses the speeds of all Pokemon, makes your opponent immediately regret putting all those high speed (and usually low defense) Pokemon on their team, and it gives a lot of rarely seen Pokemon a chance in the competitive spotlight when really the only thing that was holding them back from being seen more often in the metagame was that they were very slow. You won't see them very often in Single Battle formats (because they're not as effective when only one Pokemon is in play), but they absolutely shine in double battles. For a long time Musharna was my go-to Pokemon to set up Trick Room for my Trick Room team because of its bulk, tankiness, and overall good synergy with a majority of its teammates due to its teammates. But then Sun and Moon brought forth a contender that trumped Musharna and is now my new best Trick Room setter Pokemon, Oranguru. For someone who loves and uses Trick Room teams this may very well be the best Pokemon to have gotten as it is literally a dream come true for Trick Room users). Despite being the unfair target of Harambe Gorilla memes (seriously people it's an Orangutan not a Gorilla! Give it a rest already! It's both a bad comparison and one that is seriously getting old!), Oranguru is actually the newest premier Pokemon of Trick Room teams. Seriously, this Pokemon was literally made for Trick Room and actually operates better under Trick than it does outside of it. While it can perform decently alone in single battles, it performs much better in Double Battles alongside a partner Pokemon that benefits from Trick Room. When you compare Oranguru with Musharna, you might at first think I'm crazy when say that Oranguru is a better Trick Room user of the two. Statwise Musharna actually trumps Oranguru as it is bulkier, more defensive, and slower (which means it'll be faster under Trick Room). While that is technically true, Oranguru has a couple of good things going its way that Musharna does not have. For starters having an additional Normal typing actually removes its weakness to Ghost-types and even makes it an immune to the type. Other than that, Oranguru has the same number of resistances to the other types as Musharna does (except Fighting, as being part Normal makes it take neutral damage from the type). Another thing that sets Oranguru apart from Musharna is that it has access to the amazing move, Instruct. Instruct is a move that when used causes target to use their last move again. In double battles, that means Oranguru can use Instruct on its partner Pokemon so that they can use a powerful attacking move again. With an immunity to a former weakness, a signature move that works wonders in double battles and one only it has access to, and access to Telepathy AKA one of the best abilities to have in double battles. Oranguru more than makes up for having less bulk and tankiness than Musharna. On top of that, is the main reason to run it over Musharna now. Sorry, Musharna, I'll still use you every now and again, but Oranguru can do your Trick Room job even better than you can.
 


Here’s my Oranguru's summary.
Nature: Relaxed 
Held Item: Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpAtk
-Psychic
-Instruct 
-Thunderbolt
-Trick Room

This is pretty much the standard Trick Room set you'll find on an a Oranguru. You'll want to set up Trick Room immediately on the first turn so that both it and its partner will then be able to outspeed your opponent's faster Pokemon. Psychic is Oranguru's main STAB move and is used to hit physically bulky Pokemon such as Conkeldurr, Weezing, Mudsdale, Bewear, and Kommo-o (all of which have high Defense, but low Special Defense). Thunderbolt gives Oranguru's fairly good neutral coverage overall and since I mainly pair it with my Gigalith, it helps cover its weakness to Water-types. Instruct as previously mentioned, is to be used on Oranguru's partner so that it enables them to use the same move they previously used twice in a single turn. With my Gigalith, that means double Rock Slides and double Earthquakes! O_O I don't think there are very few Pokemon that could stand up against either move being used twice in a row in a single turn.

Max HP and Defense EV's makes Oranguru better able to endure physical hits so that it can at the very least survive long enough to be able to set up Trick Room. Relaxed Nature is the preferred nature over Bold as Oranguru's speed stat is close to being potentially bad to have while under Trick Room so it needs to be lowered (you'd think since it operates the best under Trick Room, they would've given it less speed). Mental Herb is the item of choice for all Trick Room setters as it enables them to not be shut down by Taunt once so that they can successfully set up Trick Room. Telepathy is the preferred ability as it enables Oranguru to not take any damage from moves its partner uses such as Earthquake and even Explosion (which my Gigalith runs both)! 



Of course Oranguru can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions: 
-Psyshock can be Oranguru's alternate primary psychic STAB if you wish to attack your opponent's defense rather than special defense.
-Focus Blast can be used for more power and additional coverage, as well as being able to cover Oranguru's weakness to Dark-types. But I wouldn't consider using given both its low accuracy and the fact that Oranguru is really more of a support Pokemon. 
-If you do want to make your Oranguru have more of an offensive presence, than you can have it run Calm Mind to boost its special attack as well as increase its already high special bulk. 
-Foul Play can be used to hit opponent's physical attacking Pokemon for a high amount of damage. 
-Knock Off is always a good utility move overall, and one Oranguru can always use to remove items from your opponent's Pokemon. Though frankly there are lots of other Pokemon that can use this move better than Oranguru could.   
-Other offensive moves that Oranguru has access to include Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, Thunder, Charge Beam, Extrasensory, and Nature Power (which inside buildings in which all battles take place becomes Tri Attack, thus giving Oranguru a good Normal special STAB move). 
-Toxic because status conditions are always good. 
-Spite is a always good for depleting the PP of the moves of your opponent's Pokemon.
-Pain Split is Oranguru's only recovery option outside of the Rest/Sleep Talk combo, so it might be worth considering if you're interested in trying out a more defensive set.
-Gravity can be utilized to bring your opponent's Flying-types or any Pokemon they have with the ability Levitate down to Earth for a few turns, thus making them susceptible to Ground-type moves like Earthquake. 
-Taunt can be used to shut down opposing Taunt users and to prevent setup Pokemon your opponent has from destroying your whole team.
-Psychic Terrain is a new terrain move and Oranguru is one of the few Pokemon that has access to it outside of Tapu Lele (whose ability instantly activates upon entry into battle). Psychic Terrain lasts for 5 turns like Trick Room and while it is up powers up Psychic-type moves and prevents the use of priority moves such as Quick Attack, Fake Out, and Ice Shard (so this terrain is a nightmare for Prankster Pokemon who are literally shut down while it is up on the field). It's always a good move to have in case you're afraid of being revenge-killed by a priority user.
-Oranguru's alternate ability, Inner Focus, is also more than viable. While the Mental Herb it holds prevents it from being taunted once, it cannot stop Oranguru from being flinched by Fake Out users. Inner Focus prevents flinching and with the Mental Herb enables Oranguru to set up Trick Room without any sort of problem. I have absolutely no problem with this ability, as no other Trick Room setter actually has it. But the reason I do not run it on my Oranguru is because than it will take damage from moves its partner Pokemon run such as Earthquake and Explosion (which again, my Gigalith runs both). Both abilities have their ups and downs and you're good with running either one, but I won't run it on my Oranguru in Doubles given how members of my Trick Room team run spread moves. If you're using an Oranguru in single battle format (for whatever reason) however, than this is the ability to have since Telepathy is useless in Single battles. 



Notes: 

I nicknamed my Oranguru "Maurice" after the Orangutan who was Caesar's friend
 in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its sequels. I originally gave this nickname to my Darmanitan, but I later decided to change it and give it to Oranguru since it looks and acts so much more like an Orangutan. 

You could also nickname your Oranguru "King Louie" after the famous Orangutan character from the Jungle Book. Though I always found it weird how the Jungle Book takes place in India and Orangutans actually are not native to India. Makes me happy that in the 2016 live action remake they made him a Gigantopithecus, a giant species of extinct ape that was in fact native to Asia including parts of India. 


NOTE: ANY COMMENTS TELLING ME THAT I SHOULD'VE NICKNAMED IT AFTER HARAMBE WILL BE BLOCKED! (Sorry but I was never of a fan of that meme)

Do you have your own Oranguru moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!

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KesslerStormblade's avatar
When I saw the name Maurice, I immediately thought of Madagascar. I think I watched that movie too many times as a kid.