What is a good moveset for Greninja?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Greninja (or Ash-Greninja), post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Greninja Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Mixed Attacker
Greninja @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Protean / Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature / Timid Nature
- Scald / Hydro Pump / Water Shuriken (Ash-Greninja Only)
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam

Gunk Shot is a risky move but it can really put Fairies out of business (but of course, Mega Mawile).
Scald/Hydro Pump/Water Shuriken (Ash-Greninja only) and Dark Pulse are good STAB moves.
Ice Beam for Grass Types.

Comments

Cool moveset! I upvoted :)

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thanks

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Hasty should be the only recommended nature here since this Greninja is a mixed attacker and Timid lowers physical attack.

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If you using ice beam solely to kill grass types, then just gunk shot since it covers grass as well, allowing you to free up an extra moveslot for more coverage.

Answer 2

Greninja @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 12 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken / Ice Beam / Extrasensory / Grass Knot

Substitute knocks you down into HP range. HP EVs make sure you get to exactly 25% HP to activate Petaya Berry. Factoring in STAB, the Petaya Berry boost, and Torrent, the STAB Water move of your choice will be absolutely obliterating things. Dark Pulse is your secondary STAB move that is still strong. Water Shuriken is priority for a tough situation, and the other three options are coverage.

Answer 3

Greninja @ Wide Lens / Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Hydro Pump / Scald
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Water Shuriken / Dark Pulse / Spikes / Toxic Spikes

I’ve used this set quite a bit in Gen 7 OU, and it works quite well. Wide Lens sacrifices extra damage for more accuracy on Gunk Shot and Hydro Pump, and Life Orb give more power but makes Gunk Shot less accurate. If you aren’t running Wide Lens, I suggest using Scald instead of Hydro Pump but it’s your choice to make. Hydro Pump / Scald is your Water STAB, Ice Beam is coverage, Gunk Shot takes out all 4 Tapus, and most aren’t expecting to take a physical Poison move from a Greninja anyway. The last move is personal preference. Water Shuriken is nice since it’s a 60 power STAB priority multi-hit move. Helpful against sturdy, Mimikyu and Focus Sash, although Sash isn’t too common from my experience. Dark pulse is just some nice STAB, and both Spikes variants are there if you want to run Greninja as a lead. I personally run Water Shuriken, but I’m not 100% on it. Again, personal preference is what matters. A few other moves you could run are Grass Knot, HP Fire, U-Turn, Low Kick, Toxic Spikes, etc. Greninja is incredibly versatile and incredibly strong, making him one of my favorite Pokémon to use right now. Hope this set helps, let me know if you have any improvements!

Answer 4

Gen 7 NFE

Frogadier @ Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- U-turn

All moves become STAB moves thanks to Protean. Hydro Pump is water STAB. Ice Beam is for grass types. HP Electric deals with oppsing water types and forms the BoltBeam combo. U-Turn is for pivoting.

Answer 5

Gen 7 OU

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Spikes / Toxic Spikes / U-Turn / Gunk Shot / Extrasensory
- Hydro Pump / Surf

- Water Shuriken for priority STAB, can be used in the rain where it gets a monsterous power boost, and helps you deal with faster opponents and priority users.
- Dark Pulse for Dark Type STAB. Destroys opposing Psychics and Ghosts like Aegislash, Gengar, and Bulky Mew.
- Hydro Pump is meant to be taken advantage of in rain to bust crazy amounts of damage that is able to OHKO almost anything that doesn't resist it, not to mention if they are weak to it.
- The 3rd move slot is completely customizable to provide ample versatility to whatever coverage, pivoting, or hazards you require.
- Ice Beam provides the much needed Grass coverage and allows Greninja to become an effective Dragon and Flying Type killer as well, KOing the likes of Mega-Latios and Tornadus-Therian. It is also a good method to threaten the majority of common defoggers like Zapdos, and Giratina-Origin, allowing you to keep your hazards up and further pressure the opposing team.
- Spikes and Toxic Spikes are also amazingly good options to consider if you don't have a hazard setter on your team. Hazard support complements Greninja's assault and helps him weaken down his own checks and counters to pickup certain KOs on mon's he was unable to before.
- U-Turn is also a good Momentum Tool and Pivoting option. You can also pair this with a Volt Switch user to make a nice Offensive VoltTurn Core.
- Gunk Shot packs in the grass coverage along with a nice way to deal with your fairy checks like Clefable, Tapu Fini, and Azumarill.
- Extrasensory can be substituted for an ample coverage option against those nasty fighting and poison types like Keldeo, Mega-Venusaur, Toxapex, Kommo-o, and Amoongus.
- Surf A more accurate but less powerful alternative to Hydro Pump. Trust me when I say that I know the pain experienced when your Greninja misses a key hit with Hydro Pump that ends up sacrificing your win.

This set was developed to maximize Ash-Greninja's firepower and take advantage of priority, extensive coverage, and high power STAB to decimate your opponents. Not to mention, this Greninja can be used on Rain Teams to bolster it's already powerful Water STABs for almost broken amounts damage.

Comments

Gunk Shot is better than Aerial Ace or Ice Punch as it covers Fairy-types as well as Grass-types, so is U-turn for pivoting and momentum.

Answer 6

Mixed lure for National Dex / Gen 7

Greninja @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 24 Atk / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Extrasensory
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Low Kick

Ash-Greninja is one of the most frequently seen Pokemon in the meta, so checks and counters have appeared to beat it. These include Ferrothorn, Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Blissey, and Chansey. This set takes advantage of most players' tendency to expect Ash-Greninja and can lure them all in and beat them or make them take uncomfortable damage. Extrasensory is for Toxapex, Gunk Shot is for the pink blobs and Tapu Fini, Ice Beam is to be better against Dragons, Hp Fire is for Steels (especially Ferrothorn), Low Kick is for more damage against SpD Ferrothorn and to beat Heatran which will beat HP Fire Greninja after the set is discovered. This set is a great offensive mon in its own right, but is also a great partner for Pokemon who appreciate Greninja luring in their checks. I suggest making this set Male and not shiny, so that it is harder to see through the disguise.

Answer 7

Since Greninja is now available in Gen 9 Formats, I'm posting a set for Gen 9.

Gen 9 Monotype Choice Specs (Water/Dark)

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Extrasensory / Hydro Pump

A Choice Specs set Greninja can use for Monotype. All moves get STAB due to Protean. Keep in mind that in Gen 9, Protean has been nerfed to it being used once per switch-in, which pretty much makes Choice Specs Protean Greninja more viable. Dark Pulse targets Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Gholdengo, Ceruledge, Skeledirge, Indeedee, Espathra, Slowbro, and Slowking. Ice Beam targets Dragon-, Flying-, Ground-, and Grass-types such as Amoonguss, Meowscarada, Cyclizar, Dragonite, Iron Jugulis, Great Tusk, Clodsire, Garchomp, and Kilowattrel. Grass Knot allows Greninja to deal super effective damage to Pokemon such as Quagsire, Quaquaval, and Gastrodon. Grass Knot also allows Greninja to deal quite a bit of damage to Ting-Lu. Extrasensory allows Greninja to 2HKO Toxapex. If you use this set on Dark teams, you can use Hydro Pump for a powerful Water-type move.

Answer 8

Gen 9 OU suicide lead

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Ghost / Water
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Surf
- Taunt
- Hydro Cannon

This set kind of functions like a lead Meowscarada set. I found out it has higher Special Attack than Meowscarada Spikes are used to soften up the enemy team. Surf is consistent Water type damage that does not miss. Grass Knot is for use against Storm Drain Gastrodon, Taunt can prevent opposing leads from setting up their screens / hazards, and forces the opponent to attack you or switch, making it even easier to activate Torrent. Hydro Cannon is a nuke to use if you're certain the opponent is going to use an attacking move while you are in Torrent range.

Greninja should not terastilize with this set, but if necessary, Tera Ghost blocks Rapid Spin if you want that. You can also Tera Water to power up Surf or Hydro Cannon.

A good Pokemon to use alongside this would ne Gholdengo, for its Good as Gold Ability and Ghost typing blocking Defog and Rapid Spin. Also, a Grass type Pokemon like Meowscarada or Breloom could be a solid pick, as they threaten Pokemon that have Water Absorb or Storm Drain.

Answer 9

Greninja @ Flying Gem
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Taunt
- Hydro Pump
- Acrobatics / Spikes
- U-turn

Probably a stupid Idea, but maybe anti-lead? A special biased mixed attacker that can taunt common SR leads, and U-turn out. Acrobatics with Flying gem packs quite a punch, and Hydro pump is great STAB. One more thing, Protean makes Acrobatics ultra powerful.

Comments

Water Shuriken > Hydro Pump so you can run full physical. Just makes more sense in my mind anyway.

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Waterfall over water shuriken, and it's physical too!

Answer 10

Mixed Sweeper

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 128 Atk / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Rock Slide
- Night Slash

Shenanigans.

Answer 11

Greninja @ No item / Flying Gem
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- Acrobatics
- Night Slash

Waterfall and Rock Slide are good for flinching.
Acrobatics without an item is still pretty good. If you can manage to get a Flying Gem, even better. Also is coverage for being Water, Rock Type or Dark type.
Night Slash has high crit ratio

Comments

No item is awful. In competitive battling, a Flying Gem should always be used. Most competitive battling is done on simulators or wi-fi battling where the items that are used up come back after the battle.

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Haven't come across one yet, and haven't seen location either.
I'll k eep that in mind for next time though.

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Internet research tells me they can be found via Rock Smash in a certain cave, but they're really rare.

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There is no flying gem in gen 6 yet, and you cannot transfer items over.

Answer 12

Ok, so I came up with this set when I visited showdown and noticed that they had Gen 6 up. This is similar to many of the other sets posted. I hope to show you their advantages:

Greninja @ Life Orb

Ability: Protean
EVs: 44 Atk / 212 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

OK, so the key differences between my set and a few of the others is: Firstly, Life Orb helps boost the power of the moves so that, with Protean, his attacks will be dealing a lot of damage, ensuring KO's. This works very well for the scout / revenge killing nature that this set has. Secondly, 44 Atk EV's helps the power of U-turn, maybe his most used move. Thirdly, Naive nature evens out his defenses more, though he isn't going to be able to take much either way. All in all, Greninja is an amazing Pokemon that might make it to OU.

Answer 13

Physical sweeper
Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Night Slash / Power-Up Punch
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Waterfall / Water Shuriken / Aerial Ace

Night Slash / Power-Up Punch: Weak but good as finisher or if it's super effective to gain attack while attacking
Rock Slide: Flinch+Coverage
U-Turn: Escape!! Coverage
Waterfall / Water Shuriken / Aerial Ace: Coverage

Answer 14

Torrent Moveset
Greninja @ Mystic Water / Scope Lens
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
Water Shuriken- Can do great damage
Waterfall- Does 80 damage, can make target flinch
Night Slash- 70 damage, higher critical hit rating
Power-Up Punch- Raises Attack
Mystic Water powers up Water Shuriken & Waterfall, or Scope Lens raises crit ratio

Answer 15

Well there is mine:
Special Sweeper
Greninja @ LIfe Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Grass Knot / Scald
- Extrasensory
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam

You don't need to run Water-type moves anymore and Grass Knot makes you beat another water-type Pokemon easily with Protean making STAB in all moves.

Answer 16

Greninja @ King's Rock
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Extrasensory
- Ice beam

With Protean he gets STAB for each move and with King's Rock if you open with either Dark pulse or Extrasensory you will most likely get a flinch. Scald is a good water type move which can also burn and Ice beam can also freeze.

Comments

king's rock only has a boosted flinch rate if the move that you are using doesn't have a flinch rate.

Answer 17

Lead
Greninja @ Red Card
Ability: Protean
EVs: 64 HP / 64 Atk / 64 Def / 64 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-Turn (TM 89)
- Spikes (Lv. 28)
- Toxic Spikes (Egg Move)
- Waterfall (HM 05)

Answer 18

He makes quite a good lead.

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Night Slash
- U-turn
- Toxic Spikes

Firstly start off with Toxic Spikes. Protean will change his type to poison, which is good because it resists 4 of Greninja's weaknesses. Waterfall and Night Slash are STAB if you haven't used toxic spikes, and even after that they are still useful. U-Turn to get out of sticky situations.

Answer 19

This is what I like for a Greninja.

Greninja @ Life Orb (Boosts the power of your moves, plus the Protean STAB)
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- U-Turn / Substitute
- Dark Pulse / Extrasensory

Life Orb boosts the power of your moves, plus the Protean STAB. Protean gives you STAB regardless of what attack you use. All these natures increase SpA, however Modest will lower Atk, that's why it's used more.

Now for the moveset!

• Scald/Hydro Pump (Scald has better accuracy, but a lower power of 80, but you can also possibly get a burn off on your target. Hydro pump has an accuracy of 80, meaning it may rarely miss, but when it doesn't it does a large 110 damage to whatever it hits! Plus STAB for both of these).

• Ice Beam (Great accuracy of 100, nice damage of 90, with the ability Protean you can get the STAB and your Life Orb, also a chance of freezing you target! Don't forget it's nice type coverage for flying, dragon, ground, and even grass!).

• U-turn/Substitute (Alright so mine has U-turn takes care of other Dark, Psychic and Grass types, not to mention decent power and great accuracy,and it also gets you lovely Greninja out of battle. Now substitute is something I tried out, with the Hidden Ability Protean, you'll more than likely, be constantly switching types, thus making your Substitute last longer).

• Dark Pulse / Extrasensory (Dark pulse is used more but their pretty much the same moves just opposite types, they both do 80 damage, both have 100 accuracy, and both have a chance of making you target flinch. Dark pulse would deal with Psychic and Ghost types, while Extrasensory would deal with Poison and Fighting types).

I hope all that helps you decide!

Comments

I would have voted for you if you proofread…the lack of spaces sickens me

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Y the hell would u run quiet? Greninja needs speed

Answer 20

Greninja @ Salac Berry
Ability: Protean / Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Power-Up Punch
- Waterfall
- Night Slash / Shadow Sneak

Greninja is a boss. This set is a physical set you actually might want to run Torrent with. Substitute can get you down into Torrent range and you get the effects of the Berry.