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

This thing is a monster. So far my favorite set which abuses both it's speed, Hidden Ability and wonderful Special Attack stat utilizes the item Expert Belt. This allows it to fake Choice Specs, which ruins other teams.

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- U-turn

Dark Pulse and Hydro Pump are both powerful moves allowing him to pretend he isn't running Torrent > Protean. Ice Beam is great coverage, hitting grass types well. U-Turn provides excellent scouting with a base 120 speed stat. With it's Hidden Ability Protean he constantly gets powerful, EBelt boosted STABs. He's like an upgraded Infernape, truly a marvelous beasty.

Comments

Acrobatics isn't that good of a move.  Plus U-Turn is good for not taking any damage.

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I would replace hydro pump with scald and u-turn with grass knot.

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in my opinion i would say use battle bond with water shuriken dark pulse extrasensory and icebeam and the item being weakness policy it can really surprise most people water shuriken is their if u play in showdown because multi hil is good for smeargle sets and marshadow counters if not run scald instead of hydrompump because having a chance to burn and 100% accuracy  is much bettter than 80% accuracy because that can really screw up a potentional ko

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Extrasensory can also be substituted in for U-Turn to have more coverage.

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I would use this build but since it has no atk moves except for u turn(which I would personally replace with extra sensory) I would use a timid nature so we don’t lose HP for nothing and replace atk Evs with hp

Answer 2

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- U-turn / Extrasensory

The whole idea of this set is to get massive power and coverage from the constant STAB Protean provides combined with the boost from Choice Specs. The first 3 moves are pretty much mandatory on any all-out attacking special Greninja. Hydro Pump and Dark Pulse are STABs and Ice Beam is crucial coverage hitting Dragons and others hard. Extrasensory is coverage and trolls fighting types that switch in, but U-Turn is recommended for scouting with its incredible speed stat.

Comments

Revised a little and made it a specs only set :) might post some type of cool LO variant later.

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This is my Greninja's set :) Nice job JarJar

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JarJar i know this is late, but as of gen 7 protean is used less than Battle Bond, so it may or may not be predictable.

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why the hell all of you keep boosting greninja`s attack and sp. attack if he already have enough don`t you see that his defenses are so low?

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@dragon tamer Plainly because boosting Greninja's Atk/SpA and Spe is better than boosting defences, including on a Choice Specs set. CS Greninja is a wallbreaker, and putting EVs into the stats that reinforce its role is best.
It would be nice to have EVs in HP/Def/SpD too, but you don't have unlimited EVs, and it is the universal consensus among competitive players that those stats are not as important for offensive Pokemon. You can use a damage calculator to show that there are many, many important interactions where Greninja has an advantage with the extra power.
Here are some stats from high-rated Gen 7 BSS games that show good players use Atk/SpA/Spe EVs on Greninja. https://www.smogon.com/stats/2019-11/moveset/gen7battlespotsingles-1760.txt

Answer 3

Greninja (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn

This set is a great scout, and Protean allows it to become a great team player. Spikes are entry hazards that shield Greninja's Water typing by replacing it with Ground. Hydro Pump is STAB, and HP Fire is coverage. U-turn is to escape out of bad situations.

Comments

Dangit Mew, beat me to it :)

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I like to use a life orb instead of a focus sash

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How do you get hp fire on greninja? I always get hp dark-.-

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How do you get u- turn

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How do you get hp fire on greninja? I always get hp dark-.-
commented Jan 4 by D.imran
Breed the IVs to it. Also check Pokemon Showdown for the IVs.

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I may sound like a  new player but what is protean?

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A ability that makes all your damaging moves stab

Answer 4

Sup everyone my Pokemon name is XMIrage and I was one of the finalists in a Pokemon competition.

My Greninja is a unique one, but is a great Pokemon to have as a lead.

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Mat Block
- Shadow Sneak
- U-turn

This set works best as a lead, as its four moves each take advantage of different openings. Greninja is fast and thus works well as a hazard setter; coupling Spikes with Focus Sash ensures your opponent will have to contend with extra chip damage. Mat Block is helpful for denying first-turn pivoting, and it can be a niche tech option with Protean to have Greninja resist an incoming U-turn the next turn. Shadow Sneak and U-turn break an opponent's Sash and the latter is also helpful for retaining momentum.

Spikes and U-turn are realistically the only moves you'll click often, but the other two have their infrequent uses.

XMirage

Comments

I love how unique this is!

Answer 5

Physical Lead

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Night Slash
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide / Acrobatics

This set is made to dish out damage quickly on special walls. I'm really sad he doesn't get SDance or Bulk Up, but Power-Up Punch is a great move to hit Dark types (which are going to rise with Steels) and raise attack. You see how the set works, blah blah blah.

Comments

Jolly actually decreases SpAtk, but good set

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SAtk is special attack. Atk is Attack.

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I have the same set!!!

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Rock Slide? Acrobatics?
Why?

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Coverage. That said, Acrobatics sucks when it is base 55 power. Maybe it is a counter to Knock Off?

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Night Slash, Rock Slide and Acrobatics are pathetic coverage options. Why not Gunk Shot? And a Scarf Physical Greninja that doesn't have U-turn is bad.

Answer 6

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Exstrasensory / Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

HP Fire is a good option in order to deal with Scizor / Ferrothorn / Forretress. Surf STAB might not do enough for Scizor, and it definitely won't be doing anything to Ferrothorn. The good thing about HP Fire is that Protean will change type to Fire, meaning Fairy will be not very effective as a result.

Some moveset choices will be down to personal preferences. Surf or Hydro Pump, depending if you want accuracy or power. Extrasensory or Ice Beam for coverage. To be honest, Psychic doesn't cover much apart from Fighting and Poison, and with Protean, Greninja will no longer be weak to fighting (because you won't be using a Dark move against a fighting Pokemon). Then again, with HP fire, Ice Beam could be redundant. Surf will cover Landorus & Gliscor, so the main worry there is Thundurus and Tornadus. Again, personal choice and dependent on the rest of your team.

Life Orb does sap health, but I think Greninja can sweep easily because of its great speed, and the fact that all moves will receive STAB due to Protean.

Comments

Yo man, how do you get hp fire on greninja?! I always get hp dark-.-

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You have to breed for it; hidden power is based on a Pokemon's IVs. There's a guy in Anistar City that checks Hidden Power types.

Answer 7

You can go different ways with this awesome Gen 6 monster. Its stats and its awesome Hidden Ability make this Pokemon my favorite gen 6 starter.

Greninja Physical Moveset

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

Night Slash is his most powerfull physical Dark-Type move and a powerful STAB. His Water-Type STAB can be Waterfall with high power or you can use Water Shuriken if you want a really cool ninja move. The Flying-Moves have the most coverage over his weaknesses and the Rock-Move only covers one. For the last slot you can use U-Turn for switch and some damage or use Power-Up Punch to power up your attack and deal some damage. Both of the last slot moves are Super-effective against other Dark-Types.

Greninja Special Moveset

Greninja @ Focus Sash / Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest / Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump / Scald / Surf
- Ice Beam / Hidden Power [Flying]
- Extrasensory / U-turn

Dark Pulse is his most powerfull special Dark-Type move and a powerfull STAB. His Water-Type STAB can be Hydro Pump with high power or you can use Scald or Surf with less power but better accuracy. If you go with Scald you even gain a chance to burn the target. For the third slot you can use Ice Beam for coverage or Hidden Power [Flying] for even more coverage. In the last slot you can use U-turn for escape and damage or Extrasensory for coverage and damage.

Comments

Please give separate movesets separate answers. Thank you.

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No, I like the fact there's one for physical and one for special. (this is a bit late I know)

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Excellent set. I now have a perfectly bred Greninja ready for competitive battling thanks to you. I really like that you include both sp.atk and atk movesets too.

Answer 8

Gen 7 OU

Why not Ash-Greninja?

Greninja @ Waterium Z
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Get a KO with Hydro Vortex to activate Battle Bond and sweep from there. Water Shuriken becomes stronger under Battle Bond and, with priority, is one of Greninja's better STAB options. Dark Pulse is the best Dark move available and does well breaking down Jirachi. Ice Beam pressures common Grass types like Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu, though both are prone to running special bulk. Finally, Grass Knot takes care of the uncommon but threatening Water/Ground types: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, and Quagsire.

Comments

I like this move set but Water Shuriken won't do enough damage on its own so I recommend taking out Grass Knot and replacing it with Scald.

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As much as I love Water Shuriken, using it for Hydro Vortex is a waste. It'll do less damage than a regular Hydro Pump would.

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Actually water shuriken has 60BP every time it hits, plus the STAB=WRECKAGE

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I would also replace grass knot with hydro pump. Other than that, great set!

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sscholer, if you use grass knot with a water type it will actually be good

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Used this kind of strategy with my moxie salamence and krookodile use a broken z move and sweep the rest with moxie.

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not sure tho. if your going against another water type or ditto, hydro vortex will not do good

Answer 9

Gen 7 OU

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse / Extrasensory
- Ice Beam / Gunk Shot / U-Turn / Spikes / Toxic Spikes
- Hydro Pump

- Water Shuriken helps greninja's priority weakness courtesy of it's frailty and is your main offensive option against faster threats. It can also be boosted in rain to improve it's offensive reliability.
- Dark Pulse can be substituted in to deal with psychic and ghost types like bulky mew and Aegislash.
- Extrasensory is used for coverage to deal with Toxapex, threaten out Keldeo, and maul the Venusaurs expecting you to use ice beam.
- Ice Beam is your main coverage move because to it handles grass types well and deals great damage to the common dragon and flying types.
- Gunk Shot is another good substitute that takes care if grass types and covers your fairy weakness.
- U-Turn can be substituted in for a pivoting option and to build up momentum as well.
- Spikes / Toxic Spikes serve as the hazard support that will give Greninja the opportunity to KO the opponent's team members with it's quality 103 SpA. Spikes and Toxic Spikes are a great way to allow you to pressure your checks and counters and bring bulky foes into KO range. They're best used when you expect a bulky check to switch-in such as Chansey, Toxapex, Clefable, Tangrowth, and Mega-Venusaur.
- Hydro Pump is your most powerful offensive move option and will be the move you use the most on any Pokemon that are slower than you. This move can also be boosted in rain and deal outstanding damage.

Greninja gaining STAB from all of his attacks is what gives him the power to KO those who are vulnerable to it's coverage. While most Protean Greninja sets I've seen don't use Water Shuriken due to its low power, I believe it is a reliable move to use against faster Pokemon who tend to be frailer and easily fall to priority, or to quickly finish off Pokemon weakened from Stealth Rock, Spikes, etc. This set is meant to take advantage of hazards as well as Greninja's amazing speed and priority to swiftly Assassinate anything in it's way. The only counters I can see for this set are bulky mons and those that out speed it and don't care about it's coverage or Water Shuriken, but such mon's are few and far between.

Answer 10

Scout / Annoyer

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Acrobatics
- Taunt
- Swagger

This set is meant to just annoy the hell out of people. Greninja is a little frail, but his speed and ability can make up for it. Taunt or Swagger hits set up sweepers, if that Lucario hits you can hope to Swagger and Acrobatics for the KO. If you can't, the semi-status is great with U-Turn.

Answer 11

I think this pokémon is going to end up in the OU tier. It has the best speed for all water type pokémon and the 3rd best speed for all dark type pokémon.

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Special Sweeper

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Extrasensory

Hydro Pump coming off Greninja's 103 Special Attack is good for immediate damage. Its other three moves seek to take advantage of Expert Belt: Ice Beam for relevant Grass and Flying types in whatever tier you're playing, Dark Pulse to hit Psychic types, and Extrasensory to flip the Fighting matchup.

Answer 12

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump
- Extrasensory
- Ice Beam

This set covers some types as Dark Pulse covers Psychic and Ghosts, Hydro Pump covers Rock, Ground and Fire, Extrasensory covers Fighting and Poison, Ice Beam covers Grass, Ground, Flying and the popular Dragons...pretty strong guy this is!!

Answer 13

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam

With it's ability Protean, each of its moves gain STAB, which helps a lot. Scald is for the chance of burning the target. Dark Pulse is for coverage, along with the chance of flinching. Grass Knot can screw your opponents over when they try attacking with an electric type move, and with this ninja frog's blinding speed, it will almost always go first. Predict what your opponent will do, and change your type according to your prediction. The Expert Belt will be really useful as well, since it boosts the power of super-effective moves.

Comments

Copied my set o3o

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Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know ;~; I'll be sure to look over the other movesets before posting next time!

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Extrasensory though…

Answer 14

Great Lead and Anti-Lead Set

Greninja @ Focus Sash (Guarantees Taunt plus 1 layer of Spikes)
Ability: Protean (To change types)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Shadow Sneak

Moveset:
Spikes (Hazards)
Taunt (No Hazards, Setup, or Status)
U-turn (Switch out with damage)
Shadow Sneak (Priority, Normal Immunity)

Comments

Nice set.  +1

Answer 15

Physical Support
Greninja @ Focus Sash / Lum berry
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Mat Block
- Spikes
- Acrobatics
- Shadow Sneak

This is a doubles set so use with high area of effect damage moves like Earthquake and Boomburst etc.
Moves:

• Mat Block: Because it only loses to priority Weavile and the few other faster Pokemon
• Spikes: To troll Electric types and hazards OP
• Acrobatics: Really good if you pop the Focus Sash or other consumable item plus avoiding Earthquake from a teammate or troll opponent's Ground types. Can be replaced with Aerial Ace if you don't use a consumable item.
• Shadow sneak: Boom burst protection, priority, troll fighting/normal types

This set is designed for multi battles and trolling your opponents hard as you can ignore 4 types of moves (5 if you switch into a physic type attack) if played correctly. Also its great when used in cohesion with strong pokes who use Earthquake, Boomburst, and Discharge allowing great area of effect damage and protecting your team with Mat Block. Not designed to help you sweep but can really bring down the hurt and play as a protector / finisher with his decent attack and extremely high speed.

Answer 16

An unexpected Greninja:

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Up Punch
- Water Shuriken
- Aerial Ace
- Night Slash

Most Greninjas are Special Sweepers, so a physical one is a bit of a surprise. PuP to boost attack even further while attacking, Water Shuriken to have a water move, Aerial Ace to hit fighting, grass and bug. Night Slash is STAB.

Comments

Nice set.  One problem I see is that Greninja's too frail to be able to set up  properly with Power-Up Punch.

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Yeah, he's best at KOing fast, rather than boosting. It's good to use if you predict a switch though.

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can't learn earthquake

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Sorry, my bad.

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Water shuriken is special, better off replacing it with waterfall

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This post was made before Water Shuriken was special. In gen 6, it was physical, in gen 7 and 8(and beyond), it is special

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It’s better to use a sp atk move than a atk move because greninja naturally has better sp atk than atk.

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It does have Power Up Punch and this set is supposed to be a surprise.

Answer 17

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire set

Greninja @ Life Orb / Expert Belt (Life Orb preferred)
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- Extrasensory
This thing got busted AF with the Gunk Shot move tutor. No safe switch ins, except for Empoleon. Almost everything in the Metagame can get OHKO'd and if not that 2HKO'd. If you can take care of Ferrothorn, you win.

Answer 18

I used this set and it was pretty successful

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Punch
- Night Slash

Alright lemme explain.
This set seems weird af just like my other Beedrill set right? May seem so but it is pretty good. Ice Punch works well on this thing and provides good coverage. Shadow Sneak is to avoid those nasty Mach Punches and retaliate with a good move, get some damage off and die maybe or take it out. Gunk Shot is pretty self explanatory. Good power but pretty average accuracy. Like a buffed Stone Edge. Ice Punch is a physical Ice Beam and a pretty good move against dragons. Night Slash is a good move to have in general.
The nature is up to you entirely. The item, Life Orb is really good to have. I used to use an Adamant Nature. But really sad not in OU anymore maybe :c

Comments

Greninja should always have a positive Speed nature, it's just too frail. Also, physical Greninja is inferior to mixed, but it could still work as a surprise attacker. Also, where is Geninja moving to?

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It's going to Ubers

Answer 19

PHYSICAL GRENINJA? YOU WOT M8?

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Punch
- U-turn

252 Atk Greninja Water Shuriken (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 162-198 (54.5 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Greninja outspeeds Talonflame, so its priority will go first. Assuming you get 3 hits on the first turn, you take out about half, and you live the Brave Bird with Focus Sash. Water Shuriken KO's next turn.

This set was honestly just for the lolz.

Comments

Yayayayaya another ice Punch user!

Answer 20

This is a standard sweeping set:

Greninja @ Choice Specs / Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Extrasensory

Hydro Pump is a move that destroys anything that doesn’t resist it. Water Shuriken is enourmously powerful after Battle bond and can break through sturdy or a focus sash. Dark pulse is for STAB and has a chance to flinch. Ice beam is for coverage against grass types. Extrasensory can be used over Ice beam for coverage against fighting types.

Have fun with this set!