How viable is Encore, and how is it used?

Question

I have always viewed Encore as a move whose success relies heavily on the predictive skills of the player, so I usually don't use it. I do know that it is often used to lock an opponent into a setup move or Protect to leave them vulnerable, but are there any other situations in which it can be useful?

Comments

It's not that good in singles, but it's apparently very viable in doubles. I don't play doubles, so I'm not exactly sure what it's used for.

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I know it's quite viable on Wobbuffet due to how its moveset is

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I was in this battle a little while ago where Encore was a huge factor of the late game.  I feel like it's appropriate:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7randombattle-643936923

Encore can be used to lock an opponent into a set-up move or one with little or no effectiveness to allow you time to set up yourself or to just simply KO them.  But yes, it requires a lot of prediction to pull off properly, and even then, usually your opponent will just switch out if they can, which only gives you one free turn, rather than three.  So yeah, it's pretty meh overall.

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Encore is only really used by Prankster users in singles since it's guaranteed to go first. It can lock opponents into moves they don't want to be in and force switches.

Answer 1

Along with locking Pokemon into subpar moves or nondamaging moves, like setup moves, Encore also has the effect of helping one's own setup.

The best example of this is Iron Valiant, which can be extremely dangerous with it's Swords Dance set. However, it can struggle to find opportunities to Swords Dance due to it's mediocre bulk. As a result, Encore can be used to lock certain Pokemon into nondamaging moves so Iron Valiant can spam Swords Dance. Take Ferrothorn, and as Iron Valiant switches in, it sets up Stealth Rocks. Iron Valiant can then proceed to Encore the Ferrothorn and get a free Swords Dance, unafraid of Gyro Ball.

It is worth mentioning that Encore can also be used to generate free opportunities for the user's teammates, not just itself; after using Encore, the user can switch out to another Pokemon that benefits more from the free turns.

Comments

As far as I know, the best encore users historically in 6v6 singles have been weather leads (like Politoed or both Ninetales forms) or hazard leads (like Tinkaton), because this lets them disrupt opposing setup leads and hazard leads. In VGC, Whimsicott has been using prankster encore to mess with setup users and fake out users for multiple generations.

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yeah I've seen success with Encore Politoed and A9. Encore Hisuian Samurott is also a viable option.

Answer 2

The main role for this move is the one you already know, to lock the foe with an move who is not very good to be using all time. Both in single, double, triple, and rotation formats.

But sometimes, if you find the right situation, you can improvise. For example, if your Pokemon has the ability Sap Sipper and you make it use Encore on a Pokemon who just used a Grass type move, it will give a large amount of support, especially if it's the last Pokemon of that player. And everybody knows by experience that some players usually use the wrong moves a bunch of times, and are not able to predict most abilities. So you can take advantage of their inexperience.