[OVERVIEW]
Meowth's niche in Little Cup stems from both its great Speed stat, which allows it to hit the impressive 19 Speed tier, and its ability, Technician, which it can take advantage of with several priority and coverage moves including Fake Out, Feint, Water Pulse, Aerial Ace, and Hidden Power. Meowth's access to a strong Fake Out coupled with its wide movepool gives it a good matchup against several common leads, including Mienfoo, Dwebble, and Onix. However, Meowth's low attacking stats often hold it back; it's nearly required to run a Life Orb to boost its damage output to acceptable levels, and even then it's fairly reliant on hitting foes super effectively to secure KOs. If Meowth is unable to KO a foe, it's almost always forced out due to its terrible bulk and lack of resistances. This also makes it very susceptible to revenge killers. Furthermore, Meowth faces heavy competition with Aipom for a team slot, which has better bulk and more wallbreaking ability. However, Meowth's access to a wide array of Technician-boosted attacks, not to mention its ability to set up and sweep with Nasty Plot more effectively, does give Meowth an edge over Aipom in several scenarios.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Feint / Return
move 3: Water Pulse
move 4: Aerial Ace / Knock Off / U-turn
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Hasty
evs: 236 Atk / 36 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
ivs: 19 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Meowth has the strongest Fake Out in the metagame thanks to Technician, allowing it to outdamage even Aipom's Fake Out. Fake Out gets useful chip damage on the foe and can also be useful to help determine the foe's item or EV spread based on its damage output. Feint provides Meowth with STAB and Technician-boosted +2 priority, allowing it to pick off weakened Choice Scarf users, as well as Fletchling. Alternatively, Return may be used for heavier damage against neutral targets. Water Pulse hits Rock-types such as Dwebble, Onix, and Archen super effectively, KOing them after Fake Out or Stealth Rock damage. Aerial Ace deals massive damage to Fighting-types such as Mienfoo and Timburr. Knock Off cripples Meowth's switch-ins by removing their item, and is Meowth's most reliable method of KOing Gastly. U-turn allows Meowth to get chip damage and switch out of foes it cannot KO outright, as well as pivot on its switch-ins. Hidden Power Fire is also an option to 2HKO Ferroseed, which doesn't take much from any of Meowth's other moves.
Set Details
========
- 236 Atk lets meowth's attacks physical attacks hit as hard as possible
- 196 Spe + Hasty lets Meowth hit 19 Speed, tying with mons like Ponyta / Abra, outspeeds Gastly
- 36 SpA ensures that Water Pulse KOes offensive Archen after either Fake Out or Stealth Rock damage. remainder is put into SpD
- Technician boosts the power of Fake Out, Feint, Water Pulse, and Aerial Ace
- Life Orb boosts the power of all of Meowth's attacks, 19 HP IV is used to lower Meowth's HP so that it only takes 1 damage from LO recoil
Usage Tips
========
item The combination of Fake Out + Feint KOes Choice Scarf Mienfoo.
- don't switch meowth into any attacks or expect it to tank any hits
- only bring it in to revenge kill, via slow voltturn, or use it as a lead
- pretty straightforward attacker, click the appropriate moves for the situation. fake out + feint allows it to take on the role of a revenge killer, other coverage moves allow it to mess with its switchins as well as function as an antilead.
Team Options
========
- voltturn from the likes of mag/chou/foo/larv get meowth in safely
- fighting checks like snubbull, spritzee, croagunk
- rock types like archen/onix deal with fletch + provide sr support
- gothita can remove problem mons like ferro / fighters
- pursuit trapper like stunky is nice to remove ghosts, especially if meowth isn't running knock off
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Round
move 3: Water Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Thunderbolt
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 76 Def / 200 SpA / 200 Spe
ivs: 19 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Nasty Plot boosts Meowth's Special Attack, allowing it to deal heavy damage to most of the metagame after a single boost.
- Round is Meowth's preferred STAB move, hitting anything that isn't resistant or immune to it hard after a Nasty Plot boost. Can bypass Substitute users thanks to it being a sound-based move.
- Water Pulse provides great neutral coverage overall alongside Round and super effective coverage against Archen, Drilbur, and Hippopotas, OHKOing them all after a Nasty Plot boost.
- Hidden Power Fire OHKOes Ferroseed after SR damage, also provides stronger coverage against other Grass- and Steel-types such as Foongus, Snivy, and Honedge.
- Thunderbolt allows Meowth to OHKO Drifloon, Omanyte, and Skrelp after a Nasty Plot boost, as well as Vullaby after Stealth Rock damage. However, this leaves the set walled by Ferroseed.
Set Details
========
- 200 SpA / 200 Spe allows Meowth to hit as hard and as fast as possible, accounts for HP Fire's IV drops
- 76 Def lets Meowth stomach priority attacks such as Timburr's Mach Punch more easily
- Life Orb boosts the power of Meowth's attacks, 19 HP IV is used to lower Meowth's HP so that it only takes 1 damage from LO recoil
- Technician gives Round, Water Pulse, and Hidden Power Fire a much-needed power boost
- Modest gives Meowth the most wallbreaking potential, guarantees that +2 Round OHKOes 12 Def Mienfoo, guarantees that +2 HP Fire OHKOes Foongus after SR, among other important rolls.
- Timid may be used instead to hit 19 Speed, tying with Ponyta and Abra as well as outspeeding Gastly, but comes with a noticeable power drop.
- if not running HP Fire, run a spread of 76 Def / 196 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe to give Meowth an extra point in SpD
Usage Tips
========
- don't switch meowth into attacks, only bring it in on a free switch and set up nasty plot on forced switches
- click appropriate coverage move
Team Options
========
- sr support is really important for this set to secure KOes; archen/onix/omanyte/dwebble work well in this respect, omanyte/dwebble can also set spikes and allow for meowth to more viably run Timid
- fairy types like snubbull/spritzee can check fighters
- cottonee can provide free turns w/ encore and setup opportunities w/ memento, decent check to fighters as well
- having a mon to remove ferroseed, like gothita, is very important if not running hp fire.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- Taunt may be used to stop opposing entry hazard setters and setup sweepers from setting up on Meowth, however Meowth can usually handle most of these Pokemon by simply attacking them.
- Hypnosis can be used to put a foe to sleep, shaky accuracy is kind of a bummer
- Seed Bomb or Hidden Power Grass can be used to provide stronger coverage against Chinchou, Omanyte, and Tirtouga, though Meowth has trouble fitting it in its set without giving up more important coverage.
- Gunk Shot 2HKOes Spritzee after Stealth Rock damage and has a decent chance to OHKO Berry Juice Snubbull after Stealth Rock damage. Again, Meowth has trouble fitting this in its set.
- Icy Wind can hit several Ground-types and Flying-types super effectively in one slot, slows down faster switch-ins (scarfers) so that Meowth can follow up w/ another attack
- Hidden Power Fighting OHKOes Eviolite Pawniard while retaining decent coverage against other Steel-types. It's usually inferior to Hidden Power Fire, which has much better all-around coverage and still 2HKOes Eviolite Pawniard.
- Normal Gem + Covet because the ladder loves it :(
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Pokemon**: really bulky pokemon like porygon/spritzee can stomach meowth's strongest hits and retaliate by attacking (or crippling w/ twave in pory's case). they risk being heavily chunked by +2 round, so they need to be kept healthy.
**Fighting-types**: Mienfoo/Timburr can tank a hit + KO back with STAB, should watch out for Aerial Ace
**Steel-types**: Steel-types like ferro/pawn/mag can check Meowth fairly well, though hp fire is troublesome
**Faster Pokemon**: faster mons like diglett/elekid as well as scarfers can check meowth pretty well due to its frailty. many of these, especially the frailer ones, will get chunked by feint
**Priority Users**: meowth is frail and doesn't tank strong priority attacks very well
