What is a good moveset for Smeargle?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Smeargle, 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.

Smeargle Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Comments

Smeargle @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/128 Def/128 SpD
Bold Nature
-Recover
-Softboiled
-Milk Drink
-Slack Off
Because I can.
Edit: False Swipe Gaming mentioned this comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N1PnP7e1pA&t=900s

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I'm guessing that moveset above is for annoying opponents and decreasing their PP over time, right?

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Uh…. no. This is just because sumwun can. Smeargle doesn’t have the bulk to PP Stall and this can be Taunted.

Answer 1

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Core Enforcer
- Dragon Ascent
- Precipice Blades
- Origin Pulse

The strategy here is to make sure you do battles and sketch those moves and have Smeargle relearn Sketch in the Pokemon Center before the Alola League. I have tried it and it is beast. it will make holes in teams and it is funny to see Smeargle use those moves. (if you can't get Dragon Ascent on your Smeargle, use Fly or a different strong Flying type move)

Answer 2

Hazard Setter #1:

Smeargle @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 128 Def / 128 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Timid Nature
- Double Team
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes

So... Just start with him, and just go down your move list! I would say use a speed boosting nature so that's you can hit your Double Team at the beginning so nobody can hit you. I used this in an online battle, and the Volcarona that switched in died instantly XD

Comments

You get crippled by Taunt.

Answer 3

Smeargle @ King’s Rock
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Fling
- Spiky Shield
- Last Resort

Fake Out: STAB, Technician boost, make em flinch
Fling: Technician boost, makes em flinch
Spiky Shield: Protects him and damages Pokémon who try to hit him with a physical move
Last Resort: Amazing damage, STAB, you can use it after you have used the other moves

This is for trick room teams ONLY. Explosion might be better than Last Resort, I’m not sure

Comments

Why technitian when no moves are 60 or less

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>fake out

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oh yeah

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Does fling count? With King’s rock, it’s power is 30

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probably

Answer 4

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo / Moody / Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 44 SpA / 212 Spe
Timid Nature / Jolly Nature
- Stored Power
- Spore
- Quiver Dance
- Minimize

Spore to make your opponent to fall asleep so you can cast Minimize (Raises the user's evasiveness by 2 stages each turn) so you can boost Quiver Dance (Raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by 1 stages each turn) without taking a hit for a heavy hitting Stored Power. (Power is equal to 20+(X*20), where X is the user's total stat stage changes that are greater than 0)

Answer 5

Gen 6 Battle Spot Doubles / VGC

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
Level: 1
EVs: Doesn't matter
Jolly Nature
- Dark Void
- Endeavor
- Extreme Speed
- King's Shield / Spiky Shield

Here's what I'm thinking. Dark Void is for sleeping and is spread. Endeavor to cut an oppoment down to 1HP. Extreme Speed to revenge kill the opponent. King's Shield for a free Moody boost and to force a switch (beware of offensive status moves like Will-o-Wisp and Leech Seed, as they bypass KS), Spiky Shield for chip damage.

Answer 6

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Spore
- Sticky Web
- Nuzzle
The point of this set is to take out a strong opponent or at least cripple em. Use Destiny Bond first, then you got for Spore, Nuzzle, or Sticky Web. If they attack you, that is one opponent out. If not, give them trouble. If you feel lucky, you can run Taunt.

WARNING: Beware of opposing Taunt abusers, Magic Bounce, and other things that ruins this set!!

Comments

Nuzzle better than Thunder Wave since it bypasses Magic Coat and if Taunted.

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Imagine ferro though

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Okay. I'll change it.

Answer 7

The Yoinker of stats

Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Heart Swap
- Baton Pass
- Spectral Thief

Basically only used for sweepers, Heart Swap or Spectral Thief to steal stats then Spore the enemy then Baton Pass.

If you used Spore first you might get unlucky because of RNG or first turn wake-up.

Answer 8

NatDex AG set.

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Shell Smash
- Baton Pass
- Taunt / Any other move that is desirable for this set

Smeargle is a great Baton Passer in NatDex AG. Spore puts the opponent to Sleep to give a free Shell Smash when they switch. Taunt is to prevent any Status Conditions and from possibly being forced out by Whirlwind users such as Lugia. This set is a lead set to guarantee that Focus Sash won't be rendered useless by Hazards. Moody is to possibly get more boosts for possible sweeping abilities.

Edit: Just popped into my mind of Moody's unreliability but of a RandBattle Glalie. Own Tempo can be run if you don't want to take the risk of getting an undesirable roll of getting a bad Stat Drop/Boost.

Answer 9

Smeargle @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody
EVs: 128 Def / 128 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Stored Power
- Recover
- Cosmic Power

Spore puts them to sleep whilst you spam cosmic power to increase stats alongside moody which further helps. Recover heals any damage you do take and all of the stat increases further improve stored power. By repeatingly using spore, cosmic power and an occasional recover you will have amazing defensive stats and great other stats too from moody. Leftovers help heal whilst your opponent is asleep. When your ready use stored power to deal out a ton of damage.

Is this good and does it need improvements?

Answer 10

What the Dawg Doing?

BDSP VGC

This thing Is literally Doubles Ubers, meaning that you cannot use It In Doubles OU at all.

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody / Technician
EVS: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Nuzzle
- Heal Pulse
- Tailwind

• Fake Out

This could Flinch a Very threatening Pokemon so that you could try and Finish It off with your ally.

• Nuzzle

Paralyzes a fast target that Is also very strong, meaning that your
allies could have the chance to kill the other Pokemon, also has a
chance to stay paralyzed.

• Heal Pulse

Stay at 1 HP and use Heal pulse to make your allies Healthy, and faint.

• Tailwind

Also a move for you to stay at 1 HP to use Tailwind to boost your
allies speed, whimsicott Isn't In BDSP VGC so Smeargle's your choice
too, but then there's other Pokemon with Tailwind.

Role: Dying Supporter

Answer 11

Role: Double Battle Physical Attack Booster

MyFoesBlood (Smeargle) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo / Technician /Moody
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Hasty Nature
Shiny: Yes
- Dark Void
- Skill Swap
- Baton Pass
- Destiny Bond

• Dark Void (Bedtime for both opponents! Have him lead with this move to complete setup.)
• Skill Swap (Make sure one Pokemon on the field has Anger Point; you're gonna need it on this guy.)
• Baton Pass (When someone lands a crit-hit on AP Smeargle, switch into a reliable Physical attacker you're gonna be carrying to max their attack.)
• Destiny Bond (Last Resort move; when everything else will fail, bring Smeargle back in to die it down to 1 HP (thanks to his sash) and then Destiny Bond. Add your opponent's blood to the collection of different mortals' blood on his tail (where the name comes from.)

Cool and trolly at the same time. How did it work for you? Let me know!

Comments

Skill Swaping Anger Point isn't a good strategy. It's unlikely someone will crit you without a crit-based strategy, and both opponents can attack Smeargle, making the strategy even more unreliable.

Answer 12

Smeargle @ Leftovers / Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 128 Def / 128 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Minimize
- Quiver Dance
- Coil
- Baton Pass

Quiver Dance, Coil and Double Team raises all stats, and the idea is that you can spam Double Team so that basically your opponent cannot hit you, and instead of sleep ( which only immobilises your opponent for 1-3 turns ), Evasion means that almost all moves will miss ( when your Evasion is 6+ ). Then you can baton pass the stats onto another Pokemon. If you fully raised all stats, it’s best to baton pass to a legendary or something that can use Stored Power.

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If you use this set people might hate you, so use it at your own risk.
Only use this set if your format allows you to raise your Evasion.

Comments

You could run Taunt of your own too. It also protects you from Phazing and Haze users.

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The reason I used Minimize instead of Spore is because Spore is also a status move, so it can be tuanted. In which case, it’ll be the end of your set up for 3 turns, and sleep can be prevented via sweet veil. While as Evasion cannot be prevented, and swift and other moves that can hit a pokemon with evasion have very low base power, so nobody actually use them. Also, Taunt can miss too if you have 5 or so stages of Evasion.

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1. Minimize is a status move too, so it can also be taunted.
2. Spore can prevent the opponent from attacking for a few turns, allowing you to get a few turns of set-up.
3. Nobody runs Sweet Veil or Swift in formats Smeargle is used.

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Exactly. Spore only allows you a maximum of 3 turns of set up. But Minimze allows multiple turns as long as you have full evasion, and as I said, taunt can miss too. Also, there are hundreds of roles for smeargle, so the opponent probably wouldn’t use taunt the first turn even if they do have it in they’re moveset. While for spore since taunt can’t miss you lose 3 turns of set up, in which you can get KO. Minimze basically let’s you set up on ALL turns, if taunt misses ( which is very likely if you have full evasion ).

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The vast majority of smeargle sets involve setup of some kind. If I face a Smeargle, I'll Taunt it the first chance I get. Setup with Minimize is unreliable too, the opponent has a good shot to ko or taunt you before you can pass your stats if you try to setup for 3 turns. You're better of using spore, setting up once and passing stats. It's not like Minimize guarantees a miss. You could also run Minimize AND Spore, while dropping Quiver Dance or Coil.

Answer 13

Smeargle is back, time for all VGC players to suffer. Anyways, here is a funny set for singles.

Smeagler (Smeargle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody (if your format allows it) / Own Tempo
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Shell Smash (Own Tempo) / Spiky Shield (Moody)
- Power Trip

This set is kinda weird, but effective. First, use Spore. Then, use Substitute. If you have Moody, just alternate between the first three moves until you have enough boosts to Power Trip everything you see. If you have Own Tempo, then it is more complicated, since you need to make sure you have a Substitute when you use Shell Smash, or else Smeargle will just die. With enough patience, Power Trip can reach astronomical levels of power.

Have fun with it!

Answer 14

Gen 9 NU HO Lead

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Axe
- Ceaseless Edge / Rapid Spin
- Burning Bulwark
- Mortal Spin

Since Smeargle dropped to NU, here is a lead set Smeargle can use in Gen 9 NU. This is basically an updated version of the HO lead set Anchor9 posted since Smeargle can no longer use Spore in OU and any tiers below OU. This variant of the lead set is quite funny. Stone Axe lets Smeargle setup Stealth Rock, being able to do so against opposing leads such as Infernape, both Lycanroc forms, and Espeon since it uses Magic Bounce. Ceaseless Edge is used to setup Spikes to help wear down opposing grounded Pokemon. Burning Bulwark allows Smeargle to scout what opposing Pokemon are going to do, being able to inflict a burn on Pokemon who make contact, crippling physical wallbreakers. Burning Bulwark is useful against Rapid Spinners such as Tsareena and Brambleghast, as it punishes them for trying to spin away the hazards Smeargle sets. Mortal Spin is used so Smeargle can clear away hazards against Ghost-types, and it allows Smeargle to spread poison to put opposing Pokemon on a timer. If you don't want to have Ceaseless Edge, you can use Rapid Spin so Smeargle can clear away hazards against Steel-types since Mortal Spin can't damage Steel-types. Focus Sash is used so Smeargle can be guaranteed to setup a hazard. You aren't really going to use Tera on Smeargle, but I'd recommend Ghost, since it can let Smeargle spinblock if you're really desperate to keep hazards up.

Answer 15

Trollface

Hate Me Now (Smeargle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody
Tera: Unsure, tell me in comments what’s best
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Serious Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Soak
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

Soakbolt troll. Soak then fire off super effective thunderbolts. Substitute lefties moody is stat stalling and recovery. Sucker punch is priority and coverage because troll. Hope you enjoy bullying people with this ;D

Answer 16

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Own Tempo/Technician
Nature: Jolly
EV: 252 HP/252 Speed/4 Def or Sp. Def
- Trick/Switcheroo
- Spore
- Thunderwave/Nuzzle
- Destiny Bond

This is a set I used to use back in the day when ShoddyBattle was a thing during Gen 4 (with Twave instead of Nuzzle, of course). I think it can still work these days. It's meant as a lead of sorts and meant to cripple teams off the bat when they lead with a Pokemon that's trying to set things up (like entry hazards).

If your opponent leads with something they expect to setup with or just happens to have out a support Pokemon in general , Smeargle swaps items to lock them into a non-offensive move, which means they are forced to switch. Spore whatever they switch in, which can force another switch. Nuzzle/Twave the last Pokemon, which reduces their speed by half. This then helps Smeargle move faster in the follow up turn to use Destiny Bond and either get KO'd with DBond live taking down the opponent with it, or deters the opponent from attacking opening up the option to switch out.

Thus, ideally, you end up crippling three Pokemon with just one, or depending on what you go up against, you can take advantage of a speed-boosted Spore from the getgo.

Own Tempo is somewhat preferred for this set, as Technician would only power up Nuzzle (which will still do minor damage) and Moody runs the risk of lowering the speed stat, which you don't really want to run the risk of with this set.

Answer 17

This dog is literally Taskmaster right here. now, the ULTIMATE PUPPY OF TERA CHAOS!

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE (Smeargle) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Moody
EVs: 169 Atk / 169 SpA / 169 Spe
Bashful nature
Tera Type: Stellar
- Collision Course / Electro Drift
- Tera Starstorm
- Ancient Power / Growth / Cosmic Power
- Ivy Cudgel / Judgement

Simple (Given by Latios' Simple Beam)

Both Collision Course and Electro Drift are absolutely BUSTED attacks boosted by Expert Belt and Stellar. Tera Starstorm is an insane STAB attack that's (again) boosted by Stellar and Expert Belt(However, it doesn't attack both Pokemon like Terapagos'). Next, an attack that can change type is useful for tackling multiple situations, Ivy Cudgel for Physical option, Judgement for Special. Finally, partner this Pokemon up with Latios with Simple Beam, use it on this guy, and it's stats will go Sky-High! Tell me in the comments if this guy has any flaws. Check it out!

Comments

> Tell me in the comments if this guy has any flaws. Check it out!

The hitting power of a noodle and the bulk of a noodle.

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Giving a weak Pokemon powerful moves does not make it powerful.

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This just gets outsped and KO'd without a Focus Sash, and even if it somehow survives a hit, the only way to boost his speed is the 10% omniboost from Ancient Power (or I guess the partner Latios can use Tailwind or something if you use it on doubles). You don't have a Plate or Ogerpon Mask to make Judgement or Ivy Cudgel change types, and even then, Ivy Cudgel can only change types if the user is an Ogerpon itself. Your EV's don't work. Bashful nature isn't very good as well.

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> +4 169 SpA Expert Belt Smeargle Electro Drift (133.3251953125 BP) vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 242-286 (79.6 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

> 0 SpA Toxapex Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Smeargle: 109-130 (43.4 - 51.7%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO

*Cough*

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Good point, Tailwind! I should do that! Maybe I should have something like this:

Smeargle@ Expert Belt\Any Plate\Focus Sash
EVs: 252 Atk or SpA, 252 Def or SpD, 4 Spe
Any nature

-Iron Defense\Amnesia
-Swords Dance\Nasty Plot
-Collision Course\Electro Drift
-Judgement

Something like that?

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Might as well add a supportive moveset for Latios while I'm at it...

Latios@ Soul Dew\Eject Pack
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 SpD or Spe, 4 Spe or SpD
Tera Type: Dragon

-Tailwind
-Simple Beam
-Luster Purge\Psychic
-Draco Meteor

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This more of what you expected?

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Sorry, but even with the Latios support, Smeargle just dies too easily, especially in a double battle.