Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: the weirdest competitive Pokemon pairings

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet's competitive scene is heating up, but there's still room for strange teams that break the meta

Assembling a powerful team for competitive Pokémon is no simple task. Not only do you have to carefully consider the ability, item, stats, nature, and moves of everyone on your team, but you then have to put the time in to breed/catch the Pokémon you need with all the right attributes. Still, if you can put something together that fits into the current meta, you should be able to do pretty well.

However, if you’re looking for something a bit more unorthodox, there are options for you too. Be they pure meme teams, or a genuine attempt to counter the Scarlet and Violet meta, these are pairings you might not consider that work exceptionally well in tandem. These are all pairings of two or more Pokemon, as the VGC format only allows double battles.

Armarouge and Dachsbun – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Another favorable pair of abilities, Dachsbun’s Well-Baked Body will raise its Defense every time it is hit with a Fire-type move. That’s right, it’s time to start attacking our allies again. Armarouge can use Lava Plume which will hit both opponents while boosting Dachsbun’s Defense. As that stat increases, the amount of damage Dachsbun can deal with Body Press does too, and it’ll be able to stick around for longer.

You can even turn this around, pairing Torkoal with Armarouge, this time letting Torkoal us Lava Plume to boost Aramrouge’s attack with Flash Fire.

Indeedee and Polteageist – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Poltergeist is the star of the show here, making use of Shell Smash and Stored Power. Shell Smash drops its Defense for a boost in Attack and Speed, while Stored Power’s power increases depending on the number of stat changes. On top of that, its ability, Weak Armor, boosts its Speed every time it’s hit, further boosting Stored Power. With just two uses of Shell Smash, Stored Power will hit 260 power, which is unstoppable for most opponents.

Indeedee’s job is to keep Polteaeist alive while it does all of that setup, as it will be dropping its own Defense. Light Screen and Reflect will both help restore some of Polteageist’s defensive capabilities, while Follow Me can prevent opponents from targeting it.

Scovillain and Dragapult – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

This is a simple but effective combination. Scovillain has the signature move Spicy Extract which raises the target’s Attack but lowers their Defense. However, if you use Dragapult’s Clear Body ability, it will prevent its Defense from being lowered, meaning you just get the Attack boost. This can be further boosted by having Dragapult hold a Mirror Herb to let it copy any stat boosts of the opposing team.

Maushold and Annihilape – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Here we’re taking two relatively common Pokémon in the current meta and using them in a unique way.

This exploits a part of Annihilape’s signature move, Rage Fist, as its power grows by 50 every time it gets hit with a move. There are two ways to do this and both are pretty powerful.

The first way is to get Maushold to us Beat Up on Annihilape. This will hit Annihilape with a small amount of damage, boosting Rage Fist’s power to 250, putting it on par with Explosion, the most powerful move in the game.

If you want to take it one step further though, give Maushold a Wide Lens and have it use Population Bomb on Annihilape. This will hit Annihilape a whopping ten times, boosting Rage Fist’s power to a ludicrous 550. However, as it’s a Normal-type move you’ll need to have Annihilape Teratalize otherwise the move won’t hit due to its Ghost-typing – preferably with a Tera-type of Steel since it resists Normal attacks.

Tatsugiri, Dondozo, and Flamigo – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

This is quite a complex team that is commonly seen in the meta, but it’s such a wild strategy that we think it fits in this list.

You want your Flamigo to be holding a Choice Band, Tatugiri a Toxic Orb.

What you need to do is start the battle by sending out Flamigo and Orange Tatsugiri (aka Curly Form Tatsugiri). On the first turn, you have Flamigo use U-Turn on Tatsugiri, which should knock it down to about 30% HP. Flamigo will then switch out and you should bring in Dondozo.

Tatsugiri being in play and damaged will effectively double all of Dondozo’s stats, so use Order Up for the next two turns to further boost your attack. Tatsugiri will inevitably feint at some point here, so when it does bring in Flamigo, whose Costar ability will copy Dondozo’s boosted attack.

This isn’t an unstoppable combo, but it’ll set you up to sweep if you can pull it off. You just need to beware of opposing Dondozo or a Skeledirge, as its Unaware ability will ignore any of your stat boosts.