Munkidori, the Retainer Pokémon. The chain is made from toxins that enhance capabilities. It stimulated Munkidori's brain and caused the Pokémon's psychic powers to bloom. Munkidori keeps itself somewhere safe while it toys with its foes, using psychokinesis to induce intense dizziness.

Overview

The last member of the Loyal Three, Munkidori finds itself in dire straits compared to its two cohorts. This is largely due to the disconnect between its stats, ability, and movepool in comparison to its typing. Munkidori’s strengths as a fast and frail special attacker are poorly suited to offensively weak Poison and Psychic typings. Even the many resistances Poison provides are let down by Munkidori’s paltry Defense, with the common Ghost and Dark weaknesses from its Psychic subtyping doing no favors. As a frail sweeper Munkidori struggles to get the most out of Toxic Chain, which requires landing multiple hits and then surviving long enough for the Poison to take its toll. Further adding to Munkidori’s offensive woes, Steel types are particularly nightmarish for Munkidori. Barring the unreliable Focus Blast, they resist both of its STABs and are immune to the crippling Toxic Chain that could otherwise make up the difference.

That is not to say Munkidori doesn’t have its strengths. As one of the rare Pokémon that gets Parting Shot in addition to the power of Toxic Chain U-Turn, Munkidori is a fantastic fast pivot. Even as unsuited as Toxic Chain is for Munkidori, the pressure it provides cannot be understated. Otherwise sturdy sponges can find themselves utterly ruined by pivoting into a Toxic Chain hit and most Poison types want nothing to do with Munkidori thanks to its potent Psychic STAB. Munkidori isn’t wanting for power either. Base 130 Special Attack is incredible even with Munkidori’s lackluster STABs and the fact it can boost its power even further with Nasty Plot is quite nightmarish. Base 106 Speed is a fine place to be as well, outspeeding even some already fast offensive staples. While Munkidori suffers from the disconnect between typing and role, this member of the Loyal Three can be just as dangerous when given the chance.
Positives
Base 130 Special Attack is great even before considering boosting options like Nasty Plot.
106 Speed is incredible, getting the jump on many fast Pokémon.
Toxic Chain is a potent ability allowing Munkidori to pressure many would be checks.

Negatives
Poison Psychic is underwhelming offensively and Munkidori only has the unreliable Focus Blast for Steel types.
Base 66 Defense is quite poor leaving Munkidori exposed to priority attacks and most physical attackers.

Movesets

Think No Evil

-Nasty Plot
-Sludge Wave
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
Ability: Toxic Chain
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Nasty Plot Munkidori strives to be near impossible to resist once it gets going. Between the sheer power of its boosted attacks and crippling from Toxic Chain denying even resisted hits safe refuge, Munkidori can tear an opposing team’s backbone to shreds. Sludge Wave is the primary STAB for the extra power, capable of cutting down even offensive Goodra after a Nasty Plot boost and still solidly 2HKOing Max HP Goodra. Psychic is secondary coverage, but it is invaluable into Poison types looking to absorb one of Munkidori’s Poison STABs and avoid a Toxic Chain activation like Assault Vest Galarian Slowbro and Dragalge. Focus Blast, while unreliable, is a necessary evil for Munkidori, handling the Steel and Dark types that are immune to its Poison and Psychic STABs respectively, especially Steel types given their innate resistance to Psychic as well.

Tera Types:
While Nasty Plot Munkidori can coast by on its raw power alone, Terastalization can do a lot to fill the gaps in Munkidori’s offense and defense. Tera Fighting absolutely deserves mention, not only for the vital resistance to Sucker Punch that otherwise wrecks Munkidori, but for giving Munkidori a reliable Fighting STAB option in Tera Blast. This option does make Munkidori much more reliant on Terastalization however. Tera Poison is another popular option, as Munkidori’s Ghost and Dark weaknesses tend to be more exploitable than its Ground weakness, allowing Tera Poison to act as a powerful offensive defensive option. The power boost from Tera Poison is insane allowing Munkdori to do a minimum of 70% to Dragalge after a Nasty Plot boost while even targets as bulky as Tatsugiri and Torterra are liable to be OHKO’d without a Nasty Plot boost. Tera Psychic can be used in a similar vein to Tera Poison, removing Munkidori’s Ground weakness for a better matchup into bulky Poison and Ground types.

EVs and Items:
Max Special Attack and Speed are recommended here. Munkidori’s frailty makes walling difficult, and while Munkidori’s base Speed is good, it isn’t so good that Munkidori can afford to avoid investing in it. Even dropping down to Modest leaves Munkidori outspeed by base 100s like Paldean-Tauros and Flygon as well as the incredibly slightly slower Scyther. Max Special Attack investment is just as valued given a lot of Munkidori’s terror is from how few options there are for it once set up. Life Orbi s recommended for this set, giving Munkidori incredibly explosive power. Heavy-Duty Boots is another popular option, allowing Munkdori to be more active throughout the fight and not just when the opposing Steel types have been compromised.

Partners:
: No matter what the set, Steel and to a lesser extent Dark types are a massive headache for Munkidori, so allies that can handle it or not. Fighting types are a natural pick for this task, with most Fighting types loving Munkidori’s obliteration of opposing Poison and Fairy types. Tauros-Aqua and Tauros-Blaze are natural picks for this reason, their Intimidate making it so much easier for Munkidori to pivot in and set up, with the formere loving Munkidori’s matchup into Grass types while Tauros-Blaze can turn opposing physical attackers into setup fodder with Will-O-Wisp. Incineroar also deserves mention, not only for its great matchup into Steel types, but its ability to get Munkidori in safely to setup with its slow Parting Shot that creates easy setup opportunities for Munkidori with Munkidori in turn handling opposing Fighting types with ease.

Other Options:
Sludge Bomb is very slightly weaker than Sludge Wave, but in exchange has a whopping 30% to inflict regular Poison. Psyshock is a slightly weaker alternative to Psychic that targets Defense over Special Defense, though Munkidori is already fantastic at muscling through sponges with sheer power and Toxic Chain. Shadow Ball is Munkidori’s best option into opposing Psychic types, especially Bronzong.

Doubles and VGC Options

Munkidori has not boasted the same level of success in doubles as its peers. Fast frail attackers are volatile in doubles where a single bad hit can mean the end of them and Munkidori is no exception. The fact that Munkidori struggles as a fast attacker is even more troubling. Base 106 Speed, while still a good benchmark, falls short of numerous staples in the rampant speed creep introduced in Generation 9 including Flutter Mane, Chien-Pao, and Roaring Moon. While Base 130 Special Attack is certainly not lacking for power, Munkidori still falls short of other Special Attackers like Flutter Mane, Raging Bolt, and Ursaluna Bloodmoon who boast better natural STABs that offer superior coverage. Not to say that Munkidori is completely without merit. Munkidori is one of the few very Pokémon that gets access to Parting Shot and Fake Out, allowing Munkidori to ruin a team offensively while aggressively repositioning and resetting Munkidori's very fast Fake Out. A Fake Out that can become utterly ruinous with a Toxic Chain activation. Or one could simply spring for U-Turn for even more chances of Toxic Chain. With Grass type support Pokémon on every team, Munkidori is well positioned to threaten them with only Cornerstone Ogerpon not being weak to either of Munkidori's STABs. Munkidori's frailty still holds it back to a massive degree, where one wrong move can mean Munkidori's removal, but remains an interesting if unorthodox pick nontheless.

Monkey Maneuvers

-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Sludge Bomb
-Psychic
Ability: Toxic Chain
Item: Assault Vest
Tera Type: Poison
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 188 Def / 4 SAtk / 60 SDef / 4 Spebr /> Bold Nature

This bulky Munkidori set forgoes power for pure longevity, allowing it to stick around to Fake Out the opposing team as long as possible in an endavor to get Toxic Chain activations acting akin to Incineroar, albeit with a much rarer typing that doesn't as heavily double down on weakness like Fire-Dark. Fake Out is one of the best moves in doubles, as for a single turn can supress an opposing Pokémon, while doing chip damage. This allows for brutal double ups into fast Focus Sash users like Chien-Pao and remove them using slower teammates that such Pokémon could otherwise check. U-Turn is fantastic for pivoting Munkidori out of the line of fire as well as an extra chance to activate Toxic Chain and allow Munkidori to switch back in for another Fake Out. Sludge Bomb and Psychic are STAB options for when Munkidori can go on the offensive the former invaluable in checking opposing Grass types like Rillaboom, Ogerpon and Whimsicott while the latter is great for Amoonguss and Urshifu-Rapid. EVs are here to maximize bulk. With the physical investment given Incineroar cannot 2HKO with Flare Blitz without significant Attack investment, while Jolly Ogerpon is unlikely to 2HKO as well as survive Adamant Urshifu-Rapid's Surging Strikes into Aqua Jet as well as survive two of Rillaboom's High Horsepowers thanks to Grassy Terrain recovery. With 60 Special Defense and Assault Vest, Munkidori becomes quite the sponge, only being 3HKO'd by Raging Bolt's Life Orb Thunderbolt, on top of being likely to survive Scarf Chi-Yu's Overheat in the Sun. Tera Poison is recommended for this set as Munkidori's more exploitable weaknesses come from its Psychic typing on top of having offensive merit in boosting Munkidori's Sludge Bombs into OHKO's on its preferred targets save Assault Vest Rillaboom..

Preferred Partners:
Ironically other Grass types work incredibly well with Munkidori. Rillaboom and Wellspring-Ogerpon especially struggle to deal damage against other Grass types outside of U-Turn, something Munkidori does with ease. Both being excellent and durable pivots make them great partners for continuously cycling Fake Out with Munkidori, allowing for more Toxic Chain activations and general running out of the clock. While Toxic Chain is generally preferred, Frisk is still amazing in closed team sheet environments, giving hints on what set a Pokémon may be running. This is even more important to Munkidori as a Fake Out user, allowing it to spot Covert Cloaks and not waste a Fake Out on such targets. Focus Sash is great for more offensive Munkidori while keeping most of the same utility as Munkidori is guaranteed to survive a single hit. Parting Shot is great on non-Assault Vest sets given how much bulkier the stat drops makes Munkidori’s team. Protect is the best move in Doubles formats, with endless utility in stalling for setup, stalling out detrimental field effects, punishing double ups, scouting for information, Protect is invaluable in Doubles and should be considered whenever possible. Sludge Wave is Munkidori’s only spread move, and while a good way to spread Toxic Chain, the friendly fire aspect is unfortunate.

Countering Munkidori

Munkidori boasts one of the fiercest offenses available in the game, with few able to tank it safely without being ruined afterwards, being held back only by its lacking coverage and pitiful bulk.

Steel types should always be considered when dealing with Munkidori. They resist both STABs and cannot be badly Poisoned by Toxic Chain with Munkidori only having the unreliable Focus Blast to answer them, if it is running it. Bronzong is particularly nightmarish fearing only Shadow Ball or a boosted Focus Blast and able to use Munkidori as setup fodder. Copperajah also does well, though boosted Psychics will wear it down quickly. Klefki lacks knockout power, but can survive one boosted hit, and cripple Munkidori with Thunder Wave.

Dark types are a good backup option in a pinch given their immunity to Munkidori’s other STAB, though Toxic Chain, boosted Poison STABs and Focus Blast are dire concerns. Alolan Muk is probably the best non-Steel check to Munkidori given its great Special Bulk, Dark STAB and Poison typing, allowing it to soak even a Nasty Plot boosted Focus Blast while KOing with Knock Off. Overqwill while 2HKO’d by Nasty Plot Sludge Wave otherwise weathers Munkidori’s blows quite well and can OHKO back even with an uninvested Throat Chop. Incineroar too is only 3HKO’d by Sludge Wave while threatening an OHKO back with Throat Chop.

Defensively checking Munkidori otherwise is not recommended. Even targets as bulky as Goodra can get shredded by Nasty Plot boosted blows and even Choice sets are unpleasant thanks to Toxic Chain and Trick both capable of compromising a wall for the rest of the battle.

Offensively checking Munkidori is simpler. Its physical frailty and weakness to Dark means most Sucker Punch users can give Munkidori a bad time, with even Toxicroak can knock off 2/3rds of Munkidori’s HP easily. Banded Brambleghast also all but gets the OHKO with Shadow Sneak and Banded Adaptability Basculegion can easily knock off over half with Aqua Jet. Banded Staraptor’s Quick Attack falls just short of dealing 50% but can work in a pinch.

Munkidori’s speed is also not peerless, with other swift attackers like Cinccino, Espeon, Infernape, Inteleon, and Pawmot all capable of dealing severe damage, though given Munkidori’s propensity for running Choice Scarf would mandate Choice Scarfs of their own.

Anime Appearences

Munkidori has made a cameo appearance in the anime when Diana was talking about Pecharunt's history # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 123 TBC Shock and Horrors! Mochi Mayhem on the Ship Pics