Fairy Friday: Togekiss
/This Fairy Friday is all about the final evolution of the mysterious little egg Togepi, Togekiss! Togekiss can be a difficult Pokémon to acquire as Togepi is not found naturally in X and Y (Friend Safari) and must be received as a gift or hunted for with the PokéRadar in some of the previous games. After that you'll need lots of friendship and a Shiny Stone.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
“With STAB Air Slash at its disposal and new fairy type moves Togekiss can be a game changer.”
Togekiss's special bulk and high stats in general immediately push it into the top ranks of the new Fairy type. Stat wise, Togekiss is the 3rd highest special sweeper in the type (after Mega Gardevoir and Gardevoir) and the 5th highest special tank (Mega Gardevoir, Florges, Gardevoir and Sylveon). Togekiss second flying type does provide a plethora of weaknesses including the widely used Stealth Rock move. With STAB Air Slash at its disposal and new fairy type moves Togekiss can be a game changer.
ABILITIES
Togekiss has two options for abilites: Serene Grace or Hustle. Hustle will increase the Pokemon's Attack by 50%, but also reduces the accuracy of all physical moves by 20%. Serene Grace on the other hand, doubles the chance of moves' secondary effects. These include stat changes, status ailments, or flinching. For clarity's sake, Serene Grace does not affect critical hit ratio, it does not increase chances of effects from held items (though it does not prohibit them either), or Secret Power.
As Togekiss sports a low attack stat, and those using it competitively will undoubtedly fills its move slots with soecial attack and boosting moves, Hustle ends up being relatively worthless to Togekiss. As such, both competitive builds we'll bring discussing will be using Serene Grace.
Base Stats
Hp: 85
Attack: 50
Defense: 95
Special Attack: 125
Special Defense: 115
Speed: 80
Total: 545
STRATEGY AND MOVESETS
Since Togekiss's stats lend heavily to both the sweeper and tank categories, lets take a look good movesets for both. It's broken down into both special sweeper and special tank.
Special Sweeper
Move 1: Air Slash
Move 2: Dazzling Gleam
Move 3: Nasty Plot
Move 4: Anicent Power
Special Tank
“For tank purposes Roost give Togekiss a way to stay in the fight a bit longer.”
Move 1: Air Slash
Move 2: Ancient Plot
Move 3: Roost
Move 4: Nasty Plot
To move Togekiss from tank to sweeper we're switching an offensive move to a healing move that will give Togekiss more longevity as a tank. Air Slash with its STAB is a no brianer offensively for either build. Ancient Power has the potential of boosting all stats, which are increased with Togekiss's Serene Grace. Not to mention a possible curveball for opponents who weren't expecting a Rock move from a flying type. If you're going for more of an offensive move Dazzling Gleam is the highest power Fairy move in the game, sweeping through the high-statted dragon-types that still populate many compettive teams. For tank purposes Roost give Togekiss a way to stay in the fight a bit longer. Of course all moves are special based to advantage of Togekiss's high spec attack.
TRIVIA
Prior to generation 6, Togepi, Togetic and Togekiss had the typing of Normal/Flying. They are the only dual-typing evolutionary line to have their typing changed.
Togekiss and its eveoltionary line are also the only Pokemon with the Fairy/Flying typing changed.
TCG
Four different Togekiss TCG cards have been printed to date in the TCG, though none yet as a fairy type Pokemon. All printing of Togekiss to date have been with the Generation 4 and 5 typing. Togekiss appears in the Great Encounters, Undaunted, Plasma Storm and Supreme Victors expansion packs.
ANIME
Though Misty carried a Togepi and later it evolved into Togetic, Misty would leave it in The Togepi Kingdom during the Hoenn-based Advanced Generaton series. Dawn however recieves a Togekiss from Princess Salvia and carries it with her throughout the series from then on.
CLOSING REMARKS
Togekiss's bulk and unique typing help it stand out among the pack of Fairy type Pokémon. Whether this new typing will help it make a dent in the competitive scene remains to be seen.