Falinks, the Formation Pokémon. The brass, which is the one that stands at the front and issues orders, is the strongest and smartest of the six. The leader, known as the brass, uses its extendible horn to issue orders to the others when it's time to change formation. Five of them are troopers, and one is the brass. The brass's orders are absolute.

Overview

Everyone’s favorite refugee from Kirby, Falinks has returned in Champions as a dedicated game ending sweeper. How could it not be, with the amazing No Retreat? A guaranteed single turn omni-boost is incredible, an effect otherwise limited to niche Z-Moves and Kommo-o. It is almost to the point that the switching restriction doesn’t matter as why would Falinks would want to pivot out and lose the boost? Of course, a great boosting move is nothing without the appropriate coverage to back it up. Coverage that Falinks has in spades. Not only does Falinks possess a fantastic Fighting STAB, it also backs it up with more coverage than you can shake a stick at. Between High Horsepower, Megahorn, Iron Head, Knock Off, Poison Jab, Seed Bomb, Rock Slide, and Zen Headbutt, Falinks can cover every Fighting resist out there. Add in Defiant to punish any stat dropping to counter No Retreat’s buffs and Falinks’ setup sweep looks more an inexorable charge.

However, Falinks trips and falls at almost every point. Base 65 HP is not a good starting point, cutting into any bulk boost Falinks receives from No Retreat, but with base 60 Special Defense Falinks struggles to endure Special Attacks even while boosted. Without a boost, Falinks can be expected to fall to just about any Special Attack sent its way. Not to mention the difficulty in keeping the defensive boosts when Falink’s best STAB is the defense sapping Close Combat. To say nothing of Fighting’s onerus Fairy weakness in a metagame currently dominated by them. All these defensive issues are compounded by Falink’s lackluster base 75 Speed, making it trivially easy to outspeed and remove Falinks before it can get a No Retreat off, forcing it to rely on its flawed base bulk. Even offensively Falinks can struggle. Base 100 Attack is barely usable and requires explosive boosting, which No Retreat alone cannot compensate. Defiant is enough to push Falinks over the edge, but it is dependent on what your opponent is running and cannot be consistently relied upon. While Falink’s coverage is phenomenal, it cannot fit every move it wants on a single set, always leaving gaps due to the many types that resist Fighting. The biggest nail in Falink’s coffin is that it is simply outclassed. Not only by its own Mega Evolution, but by numerous other Fighting types in general that boast much greater power and generally speed over Falinks, alone with secondary typings that offer far more robust offensive and defensive profiles. Of these, Annihilape is particularly onerous for having the same Defiant ability as Falinks, further depriving it of what unique utility it could offer. The fact that Falinks can offer nothing but damage hurts as well, pigeon holing Falinks into a roll that it is easily outclassed in. While Falinks’ offensive line may be imposing, its faulty stats in just about every area leaves its march easily stymied.
Positives
No Retreat is an absurd move, giving Falinks much improved speed and power while making it more difficult to remove.
Defiant allows Falinks to push its power even further while being resistant to Attack drops from Intimidate.
Amazing coverage movepool along with STAB that enables Falinks to hit a wide variety of targets.

Negatives
65 HP and 60 Special Defense mean Falinks drops to most special attacks.
Base 100 Attack is barely usable and Defiant is hard to reliably activate, causing Falinks to miss knockouts.
Base 75 Speed pre No Retreat makes Falinks easy to pressure.

Movesets

Hold the Line

-No Retreat
-Close Combat
-Knock Off
-Iron Head/Poison Jab
Ability: Defiant
Item: Lum Berry
Stats and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature

Falinks’ one claim to fame is as a game ending sweeper with No Retreat. No Retreat does so much for Falinks, making it much harder to remove while boosting its speed and offense from mediocre to impressive. Falinks can use these boosts to great effect, fueling brutal Close Combats and Falinks’ myriad of coverage options. Close Combat, while anti-synergistic with No Retreat, is Falinks’ best STAB option due to its immense base power and getting potential further boost from Defiant. Knock Off is incredibly complimentary to Close Combat, hitting the Fighting immune Ghost and resistant Psychic types for super effective damage, along with invaluable item disruption, which can hamstring a Pokémon from their intended role. Iron Head and Poison Jab round out the set, necessary to handle the Fairy types that resist both Close Combat and Knock Off. Which move is up to what one feels needs to be checked. Iron Head handles Mimikyu, and Alolan-Ninetails better, both of which can easily cripple Falinks between Will-O-Wisp, Curse and Aurora Veil. Poison Jab threatens Primarina, Azumarill, and Mega Meganium, far more immediate threats to Falinks.

Stats and Items:
The standard sweeper investment of 32 Attack and 32 Speed is recommended. Falink’s Attack sits on the cusp of usable, so it needs every point it can get. This goes double for Falinks’ Speed which sits at a mediocre base 75, making Falinks easy to outrun. Whether to go Jolly or Adamant is up for debate. With Adamant, +1 Falinks has an effective base Speed of 121, an impressive benchmark to considering Falinks is outrunning base 120s like Sneasler, and Mega Starmie. With Jolly, +1 Falinks is between a positive Speed natured base 138 and base 139 in terms of speed, outrunning the likes of Greninja, Meowscarada, Mega Gengar, Mega Raichu Y, Mega Delphox and Mega Lopunny. Bulk investment is hard to recommend if running Close Combat, given Falinks is making itself frailer with every blow. However, if running alternate Fighting STABs in Body Press or Brick Break, bulk investment can be recommended. If running Body Press, one could push all Falinks’s Attack points to Defense, but comes at the cost of sapping the power of Falinks’ coverage options. Lum Berry is recommended as the item, preventing opponents from instantly shutting down Falinks with status after No Retreat. Sitrus Berry or Leftovers can also make setup smoother, recouping damage taken before No Retreat goes up.

Partners:
Due to the many types that resist Fighting, Falinks will always have gaps in its coverage, so allies that can manage such gaps are invaluable. With Dark and anti Fairy coverage, Falinks lacks direct answers into bulky Poison types like Toxapex and Mega Venusaur. Mega-Metagross and Mega Delphox can handle such troublesome opponents easily while also providing a valuable check for Fairy types, especially specially inclined ones that Falinks can struggle with. These two also work well if Falinks is running Dark and Psychic/Rock coverage, which leaves Fairy types a significant problem. Gholdengo and Mega Mawile, also make good partners in such circumstances in addition to better handling Flying and Psychic types than Falinks. Answers to physical walls are recommended given how Falinks struggles to get the multiple Attack boosts needed to handle them. Palafin, for example thrashes Hippowdon and Skeledirge two otherwise prominent physical walls that can stop Falinks cold. Falinks can lure them in with No Retreat and chip them down as well as deprive them of their items and make them that much less able to handle Palafin’s follow up assault. Volcarona conversely melts Corviknight and Skarmory while drawing in Rock attacks that Falinks can use as an entry point for its own setup.

Other Options:
Throat Chop is a more consistent Dark coverage option that is invaluable against Dark weak Mega Evolutions like Mega Gengar and Mega Delphox. Rock Slide is Falink’s best option into Flying types. Megahorn is anti-Psychic coverage, but does not check Ghost types unlike Dark and is commonly a neutral hit due to secondary typings. Seed Bomb destroys Mega Swampert as well as handle some bulky Water and Ground types like Hippowdon without having to resort to Close Combat.

Countering Falinks

While Falinks literally possesses a move that makes it tougher, faster and stronger, it does not address the fact that the starting material is so lack luster.

Defensive walls are a big headache for Falinks, given how it can’t use No Retreat multiple times while out, but is so lacking in every other matter that it can’t afford to run another boosting move. Even worse are Unaware Walls that ignore both the attack and defense increases and cut down Falinks with ease. Max physical bulk Clefable is amazing, only taking 36-43% from Iron Head and Poison Jab at best and able to punish No Retreat for safe Calm Mind setup, or just remove Falinks instantly as even an uninvested Moonblast is a guaranteed OHKO. Skeledirge is not far behind. While not liking losing its item to Knock Off, the initial Knock Off only caps out at 41% while Throat Chops only deal 29-35%, allowing a 32 HP /32+ Def Skeledirge to safely Will-O-Wisp Falinks, heal up with Slack Off, and strike it down in a few Torch Songs. Hippowdon while not ignoring boosts, is so bulky that a +1 Close Combat is effectively a 3HKO (though reliably deals 54-65% with Life Orb), and can punish No Retreat with Yawn, wipe the boosts with Whirlwind or simply outlast Falinks between Earthquake, Sandstream, Close Combat’s defense drops and Slack Off. Corviknight, while a bit less bulky taking 48-57% from Close Combat, can easily use Falinks to setup Iron Defenses and crush it with its own Body Press or just 2HKO with Brave Bird. Corviknight should take care not to use Defog while Falinks is on the team as that would be a free Defiant boost that turns Falinks truly scary.

Other checks are more dependent on Falinks’ moveset. Sets lacking Zen Headbutt are walled by Toxapex who can easily Haze the boost away and chip Falinks down with Toxic. Max HP Venusaur is only 2HKOd by Life Orb Falinks Megahorn (55-65%), but can easily heal itself out of KO range with Giga Drain and is heavily favored to 2HKO Falinks in turn. Sets without Iron Head or Poison Jab struggle against 32 HP Mega Meganium and 32 HP/32+ Def Mega Clefable, taking 44-52% from Megahorn and Rock Slide respectively at worst and threatening OHKOs back with their Fairy STABs. Sets without Dark coverage find Ghost types to be a difficult wall. Basculegion takes 45-53% from Zen Headbutt at worst, but can only deals 73-87% with 2 Ally Adaptability Last Respects if Falinks has managed to keep its Defense boost. Gholdengo and Specially offensive Aegislash aren’t even 3HKOd by any attack that is Throat Chop, Knock Off or High Horsepower and can exploit Falinks’ poor Special Defense. However, Aegislash cannot use Kings Shield due to the Defiant Boost it grants.

Offensively checking Falinks isn’t too difficult either, though Falinks’ incredible speed after No Retreat can make it difficult for frailer Pokémon. Mega Greninja outspeeds even Jolly Falinks and OHKOs with Extrasensory. While Dragapult can’t OHKO, it is notable for naturally outspeeding +1 Falinks and can cripple it with Will O-Wisp. Choice Scarf Eternal Floette can also outspeed and OHKO No Retreat Falinks with ease. Scarf users like Hydreigon, Basculegion as well as Speed Boost Mega Blaziken and Espathra will outrun +1 Jolly Falinks and can easily pick off a weakened Falinks or one that has lost its defense boosts to Close Combat. If facing Adamant Falinks, that pool increases, including Mega Delphox, and Life Orb Extrasensory Greninja for defense boosted Falinks and Mega Gengar and Mega Raichu Y for non defense boosted Falinks. Applying constant pressure so that Falinks cannot No Retreat also works given how slow and frail it is without the boosts or at least makes it so much easier to remove if it does get the boosts.

It is also easy to punish No Retreat as well. Standard anti Sweeper options like Haze, Encore, Curse and Perish Song live Falinks in a horrid state where it cannot switch out to end the effects and will be forced to operate as is.

Mega Corner

Mega Falinks, the Formation Pokémon. Mega Falinks has taken on the ultimate battle formation, which can be achieved only if the troopers and brass have the strongest of bonds.

Overview

The only 8th generation Pokémon to get a Mega Evolution, Mega Falinks has the makings of greatness with Mega Evolution fixing many of its old issues. Base 135 Attack is an amazing jump from base 100, allowing Mega Falinks to hit hard even before boosting up. This gets even better when considering not only the expansive coverage Falinks boasts to utilize that Attack but the boosting options including the Intimidate defying Defiant, Bulk Up and Swords Dance. Base 135 Defense is also a noticeable jump allowing Mega Falinks to absorb physical attacks much more readily, especially the incredibly popular Knock Off, or just outright weaponize it with STAB Body Press. Going up to base 100 Speed is perhaps Mega Falinks’ saving grace, being a gold standard met by many other Mega Evolutions that makes it much harder to immediately pressure Mega Falinks. All these boosts pay dividends with No Retreat; effectively turning Mega Falinks into a Dragon Dance Salamence that gets more durable when it boosts up and cannot be slowed down by Intimidate.

Yet all these positives are all but ruined by Mega Falinks’ near untouched Special Defense stat. Despite the massive power buff from Mega Evolution, Mega Falinks’ is only marginally bulkier than its base form on the Special side, giving a myriad of special attackers an easy out to Mega Falinks before it can even throw up a No Retreat. Mega Falinks’ defensive issues do not end there either. Close Combat being Mega Falinks’ best STAB option runs contrary to the defense boost of No Retreat and due to lacking Drain Punch, Mega Falinks loses a reliable healing option that could take advantage of with its improved bulk. Pure Fighting is unfortunate defensively in an environment dominated by Fairy offense despite the valuable Rock and Dark resistances. Having only Fighting hurts offensively as well leaving Mega Falinks with the same coverage issues that plague its base form. Mega Falinks’ poor Special Defense also marries it to No Retreat and all the problems associated with that as well due to lacking any other method of addressing its weaker defense. All these issues have Mega Falinks falter in comparison to other Fighting typed Mega Evolutions, especially Mega Staraptor, Mega Blaziken and Mega Barbaracle who are far more terrifying setup sweepers as well as the solid Mega Lucario. Mega Falinks forming up does give it a breath of fresh air, but beneath the formation is the same tired squad struggling to hold it together..
Positives
Base 135 Attack is amazing and with boosting options in Defiant, Swords Dance and/or Bulk Up, Mega Falinks can seriously damage most Pokémon.
Base 135 Defense allows Mega Falinks to endure multiple physical blows from most attackers.
No Retreat is an absurd move, giving Falinks much improved speed and power while making it more difficult to remove.
Amazing coverage movepool along with STAB that enables Falinks to hit a wide variety of targets.

Negatives
65 HP and 65 Special Defense mean Mega Falinks drops to most special attacks.
No reliable recovery makes Mega Falinks easily to wear down.
Outclassed by other Fighting type Mega Evolutions

Movesets

Phalanx Formation

-No Retreat
-Close Combat
-Knock Off
-Iron Head/Poison Jab
Ability: Defiant -> Defiant
Item: Falinksite
Stats and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature

Despite the massive boosts to Attack, Defense and Speed, Mega Falinks plays very similarly to base Falinks, just far more effectively. With the same Attack and Speed as Salamence, a single use of No Retreat evokes the same terror as Dragon Dance Salamance in the past, only with Mega Falinks it is difficult to remove after setting up due to the same boost bumping up its defenses. Close Combat is the STAB of choice, its sheer power pulling off incredible stunts after a boost like one shotting targets as bulky as offensive Garchomp, 32 HP Archaludon, and 32 HP Rotom-Wash, while dealing to Mega Swampert takes 81-97% and 70-84% to Mega Metagross. Knock Off is incredibly complementary to Close Combat for coverage, hitting the Ghost and Psychic types that could otherwise absorb Close Combat with ease while providing item disruption. Iron Head and Poison Jab are anti-Fairy coverage, being the only types that resist both Fighting and Dark. Which move to use is up to preference. Iron Head handles Mimikyu, and Alolan-Ninetails better, both of which can easily cripple Mega Falinks between Will-O-Wisp, Curse and Aurora Veil. Poison Jab is more effective in removing Primarina, Azumarill, and Mega Meganium, far more immediate threats to Mega Falinks.

Stats and Items:
Max Speed and Attack are recommended, mostly for Mega Falinks to get the most out of No Retreat offensively. Jolly nature is recommended in general. Base 100 is a crowded Speed tier to begin with, so every little bit helps in having Mega Falinks get the jump on its opponents and setup No Retreat to boost its defenses to help absorb the blow. Furthermore, with Jolly Nature, Mega Falinks can outrun even Adamant Mega Swampert in the Rain after a No Retreat boost. However, even with Adamant, +1 Mega Falinks outruns every unboosted threat and can use the increased power to great effect becoming massively favored to OHKO Garchomp and Scizor, having a 43% chance to OHKO Mega Swampert, and guaranteeing the OHKO on Mega Charizard X. If running Body Press, Defense investment can be considered to improve the output on Mega Falinks’ STAB but at the cost of power on non STAB attacks. Item is locked to the Falinksite.

Partners:
While Mega Falink’s offensive coverage is fearsome, it cannot account for every threat. Fighting + Knock Off + Anti Fairy coverage cannot easily handle bulky Poison and Fighting resistant Flying types, so allies that can handle and remove such threats are important. Garchomp immediately comes to mind, annihilating most Poison types with Earthquake, compromising Dragonite with Dragon STAB and even capable of luring in and compromise Unaware wall Skeledirge. Excadrill is another excellent anti Poison option with its strait up immunity to Poison and powerful Ground STAB while threatening Flying types both directly with Rock Slide and indirectly with Stealth Rocks. Alolan-Ninetails is a solid anti-Flying option, able to destroy Dragonite and Mega Staraptor with Blizzard while facilitating setup with Aurora Veil and Encore. Rotom-Wash is another good anti-Flying option with its own Electric STAB for Flying types and Toxapex. If sacrificing Iron Head or Poison Jab, anti-Fairy coverage is a must. Gholdengo is a great example, not only hitting Fairy types, but Ghost and Psychic types as well with its own Ghost STAB, while drawing in Dark types that Mega Falinks can use as an easy in.

Other Options:
Body Press is a strong alternative Fighting STAB option that doesn’t sap Mega Falinks’ defenses, but doesn’t get boosted by Defiant. Rock Slide is Falink’s best option into Flying types like Mega Charizard Y and Dragonite. Zen Headbutt is excellent coverage into Poison types like Toxapex and Mega Venusaur. Megahorn is anti-Psychic coverage, but does not check Ghost types unlike Dark, but can be useful as a strong neutral hit. High Horsepower is a stronger coverage option for Poison types but shares Bug and Flying resistances with Fighting. With Mega Falinks’ improved stats, Bulk Up and Swords Dance are worth considering, allowing Mega Falinks to not only pivot, but boost beyond the point of No Retreat, but the lack of Speed and Special Defense boosts do hurt.

Doubles and VGC Options

At first glance, Mega Falinks should be much stronger in Doubles. Intimidate is standard for the format, making it far more consistent to trigger Defiant, to say nothing of more common other speed control options like Electroweb and Icy Wind. Even if one’s opponent doesn’t bring Intimidate, that is still a net positive as that means Mega Falinks’ teammates aren’t hindered by Intimidate. The fact that Mega Falinks has Defiant in its base form is a huge boon as well, in comparison to other anti-Intimidate Mega Evolutions like Mega Staraptor and Mega Lopunny, as there isn’t any opening Intimidate Falinks before it Mega Evolves. Despite this, Mega Falinks has not made much impact on the Doubles scene. Part of this is due to Mega Falinks’ horrendous special bulk and the prominence of fairy offense, making Mega Falinks rather volatile despite its fantastic Defense. This issue leads to Mega Falinks second issue in that it is simply outclassed in its niche. Not only by Mega Staraptor who possesses the same anti-Intimidate and Fighting type as Mega Falinks, but even by non-Mega evolutions in Annihilape, Kingambit and Milotic who all boast superior overall bulk to Mega Falinks between typing, recovery options and lack of self-sabotaging STAB attack. Even as an all out attacker, Mega Falinks struggles due to wanting to include Protect on a moveset that really needs two coverage moves to have adequate coverage. The opportunity cost of Mega Falinks is just too high for the output one gets from it.

Falinks Line

-No Retreat
-Close Combat
-Rock Slide/Knock Off/Iron Head
-Protect
Ability: Defiant -> Defiant
Item: Falinksite
Stat Points and Nature:
5 HP / 32 Atk / 29 Spe
Adamant Nature

This Mega Falinks set is a setup attacker that punishes opponents that rely on stat drops for damage mitigation and/or speed control. No Retreat is Mega Falinks’ biggest differentiating point from its competitors, with the sheer efficiency of boosting everything in a single attack. This not only makes Mega Falinks far more difficult to remove, but also difficult to outspeed, with even the likes of Mega Aerodactyl not being fast enough. This is even before getting to the fact that Mega Falinks is going to be hitting obscenely hard. Close Combat is Mega Falinks best STAB attack option and does horrific damage to anything that does resist it, to say nothing of how it annihilates the likes of Kingambit and Archaludon. Coverage option is up to preference. Rock Slide is spread damage with a strong flinch chance, synergizing well with Mega Falinks’ boosted speed while directly threatening the popular Mega Charizard Y. Knock Off has the widest neutral coverage with Close Combat with only Fairy types being the common resistance, on top of removing the many prominent Ghost types and providing invaluable item disruption. Iron Head instantly threatens Fairy types like Mega Floette, Sylveon, and Whimsicott that otherwise soak up Close Combats with ease while threatening to OHKO Mega Falinks back. Protect is the best move in doubles formats for the sheer utility it provides, blocking Fake Out, stalling for allied setup, stalling out detrimental field conditions, scouting for attacks, punishing focus fire attempts and more.

EVs are to focus on offense as much as reasonable. With 29 points in Speed, at +1 Mega Falinks outruns even Jolly Mega Aerodactyl. More Speed does grab some surprising targets. At 30 Speed points, Mega Falinks outruns even max Speed neutral natured base 60s in Tailwind, while at 31 points allows Mega Falinks to outrun Modest Scarf Hydreigon. Jolly with 30 Speed points even allows Mega Falinks to outrun Swift Swim Adamant Mega Swampert. The saved points from Speed are placed into HP to improve bulk, while everything else goes into Attack for as much stopping power as possible.

Preferred Partners & Other Options:
With how powerful No Retreat is as a boosting option, pairing Mega Falinks with Psyche Up users can enable a wide range of Pokémon very quickly. Ceruledge stands out having good bulk, and speed and exceptional power, along with recovery in Bitter Blade to make the use of those increased defenses. Ceruledge handles Ghost and Psychic types for Mega Falinks as well as Mega Charizard Y, while Mega Falinks crushes one of Ceruledge’s biggest counters in Incineroar as well as being most Dark type’s worst nightmare. Palafin can also make excellent use of the omniboost Mega Falinks provides, while boasting recovery in Drain Punch and loving Mega Falinks’ anti Intimidate. Primarina in turn is a specially oriented Psyche Up user that can gleefully use the improved bulk and Draining Kiss to become near immovable. Sinistcha is one of the best partners for Mega Falinks for giving it the recovery that Mega Falinks so desperately lacks while loving Mega Falinks obliterating opposing Dark types. Incineroar and Grimmsnarl deserve similar mention for their ability to keep Mega Falinks healthy through their own damage mitigation. Upper Hand is a powerful disruptive option that Mega Falinks can use to block priority, especially Incineroar’s Fake Out where Mega Falinks can OHKO unless Incineroar is heavily invested in Defense. Brick Break is a STAB option that doesn’t drop Mega Falinks’ defenses and breaks Screens, but the power drop is painful.

Countering Mega Falinks

While Mega Falinks’ combining mech formation brings with it much improved stats, it still has many of the same issues as base Falinks.

Unaware walls are the biggest roadblock to Mega Falinks’ ignoring all the boosting that it is capable of. Of these, physically defensive Skeledirge is easily the best. While the initial Knock Off does deal a respectable 42-51% from Adamant Mega Falinks, nothing else comes close, and Skeledirge can cripple with Will-O-Wisp, heal up with Slack Off and setup on its own with Torch Song. Physically defensive Clefable does not like Iron Head or Poison Jab, which deal 44-53% and Mega Falinks can easily get the KO if it gets a flinch or poison, but absorbs any other attack with ease and always OHKOs with Moonblast.

Other physical walls can also work well depending on Mega Falinks’ coverage. 32 HP/32 Def+ Hippowdon is perhaps the exception to that rule, being able to turn +1 Adamant Close Combat into a 3HKO with Sitrus Berry, pHaze away any boosts with Whirlwind or disable Mega Falinks with Yawn. However, it struggles to deal damage to Mega Falinks with Earthquake only being a 3HKO on Mega Falinks without a Defense boost. Mega Falinks lacking Zen Headbutt or High Horsepower can struggle with bulky Poison types. 32 HP Toxapex fears only Zen Headbutt and High Horsepower and neither can OHKO if Mega Falinks is at +1, while being able to Haze away any boosts and cripple Mega Falinks with Toxic. Lacking Zen Headbutt or Mega Horn also means max HP Mega Venusaur is a problem, able to 2HKO +1 Mega Falinks with Sludge Bomb and Energy Ball while only being 3HKO’d back. Megahorn variants can be dealt with using Giga Drain to heal out of Megahorn’s KO range and then Energy Ball or Sludge Bomb follow up will knock Mega Falinks out. Mega Dragalge is 2HKOd by +1 Close Combat, but can OHKO back with Draco Meteor when at neutral Special Defense. Lacking Iron Head or Poison Jab causes bulky Fairy types to be an issue such as Mega Meganium, Mega Clefable, Hatterene and Primarina, who can all endure one attack and OHKO back. Azumarill can’t OHKO +1 Falinks, but Play Rough still does an acceptable 71-84% allowing Azumarill to pick off a weakened Mega Falinks. Without Dark coverage, Ghost and Psychic types become more problematic. Gholdengo and Aegislash are not found of High Horsepower in addition to the Dark attacks, but resist everything else that Mega Falinks has to offer and can 2HKO with Shadow Ball. Aegislash should avoid using King’s Shield as that will trigger Defiant, making Mega Falinks far less manageable. Mega Dragonite excels against Mega Falinks lacking Rock Slide, able to absorb any one blow with ease and will only get 3HKOd if Multiscale was active while 2HKOing back with Dragon Pulse.

No Retreat Mega Falinks is also quite vulnerable to status, as it cannot pivot out to avoid the crippling. Mimikyu is easily one of the best Pokémon for crippling Mega Falinks thanks to Disguise absorbing any one blow. In addition to Will-O-Wisp, Curse is especially effective on Mega Falinks post No Retreat as after the move, Mega Falinks can’t clear the status. Mega Scovillain’s Spicy Extract also cripples Mega Falinks turning it into setup fodder for its teammates. Whimsicott, Mega Banette and Sableye also deserve mention for being able to punish No Retreat with Encore, forcing Mega Falinks to Struggle. Whimsicott is more of a direct threat thanks to its special Fairy STAB, while Mega Banette and Sableye have multiple tools to cripple Mega Falinks with Will-O-Wisp and Taunt as other disruptive options.

Offensive checks are less reliable against Mega Falinks thanks to its insane Speed post No Retreat. Scarf Extrasensory Greninja and Speed Boost Espathra can both outrun Mega Falinks, but can’t OHKO it at +1 Special Defense, dealing around 77-92%. Chlorophyll Venusaur can OHKO with Leaf Storm but again requires Mega Falinks to be at neutral Special Defense, dealing 68-80% otherwise. Constant pressure is also invaluable; Mega Falinks is far more manageable pre No Retreat, so not giving it an opening to setup makes Mega Falinks far easier to safely take down.

Anime Appearences

Falinks has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably, it was used by Goh after he caught one in Galar. Later, Ivor used one in battle against Roy, and Mega Evolved it # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics M22 Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle Pokémon: Koko   1162 Grabbing the Brass Ring! Commander Pikachu! Head Forth, Falinks!! Pics 1174 Battle Three with Bea! Rival Showdown! Ash VS Bea!! Pics 1183 Suffering the Flings and Arrows! The Heracross Loss and the Pinsir in Love Pics 1225 These Could be the Start of Something Big! Ash and Goh! Setting Off Anew!! Pics 142 TBC Lumiose City! New Encounters!! Pics