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The best competitive uses of the move "Trick"

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
I need advice with how to most effectively use the attack Trick, but in doing so I'd also like to read how some of you guys enjoy using it.

If you're someone who likes using the attack Trick in competitive battling, what are your tactics? Which held items do you like swapping the most? Are there specific types of Pokemon you focus on when using the attack (Ie. sweepers, tanks, stallers/annoyers), or do you judge things based on the actual stats of the Pokemon that you're facing? Etc. Etc.

I've never used Trick before so my tactics are quite shallow, but I could see it being very effective to use it against a staller/annoyer/support Pokemon and trade off one of the Choice items. That's pretty well the main use that comes to mind for me...
 
I had a battle where two Pokemon use Trick to swap a Choice item to each other once, that was amusing :p

Usually its best to swap off a Choice item, I think. It completely cripples something that needs to set up or stall or whatever.
 

KoL

Expert FPS Player
Staff member
Moderator
My personal "Tricker" was a Gengar that caused a fair bit of annoyance to those who ever got Tricked by it (almost everyone it ever faced) and I can say that Trick is easily one of the most deadly moves in the game if employed correctly. Although Tricking my Scarf onto walls/support Pokemon was the most common use it saw (and it is a very good way to utilize Trick since you oftentimes cripple the Pokemon in question) I did get some use out of Tricking it onto a sweeper once, by predicting the sweeper in question would use Draco Meteor. I Tricked, locking the target into the predicted Draco Meteor (which it then used to KO Gengar) and then sent in Lucario. Needless to say, setting up Swords Dance was easy-peasy now that my opponent was locked into a move I resisted and had suffered a severe Sp.Attack drop to boot. Just goes to show that there's a lot more to Trick + Choice Scarf than simply crippling support/stall Pokemon.

Other fun items to use with Trick are Iron Ball, which you'd want to Trick onto a sweeper to cut its Speed in half (preferably a Flying-type/Levitating sweeper, since it'll also remove Levitate and any benefit from the Flying-type,) Flame Orb Tricking for a 100% guaranteed burn against a target (Clefable and Lopunny do this best thanks to Magic Guard and Klutz respectively) and then the insulting Gen III Trick of Moo Moo Milk, which does little more than take the opponent's item away whilst giving them an item that does absolutely nothing in return, but it did serve for a rather amusing Trick that mocked the opponent by suggesting you weren't taking them (or the battle) all that seriously.
 
Since I play Smogon's UU, all I really see of Trick users are Uxie, Rotom and Clefable. With Clefable, they can use a Toxic Orb or a Flame Orb. I use a Rotom, and that has a Choice Scarf to Trick onto anything that tries to set up, be it a sweeper, supporter or some other thing. There's also of course, Trick Room Hypno with Switcheroo (which is essentially the same thing as Trick). Once TR goes away, you should be able to take a hit (if it's a Special Attack, at least) and just give 'em something to slow them down.

All-in-all, a lot of things work, but depending on what Pokemon you're going against, I prefer Choice Scarfs usually. (Or Scarves? Spell-Check says it works both ways.)
 
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