Oranguru, the Sage Pokémon. People used to mistake Oranguru for a human when they saw it issue command after command to the other Pokémon of the forest. This Pokémon lives quietly in the depths of the forest. The purple, cape-like fur gets longer and longer as Oranguru ages.

Overview

For all Oranguru’s claimed sagacity, it struggles to hold up in a solo act. Oranguru is clearly designed for Doubles, with a Doubles oriented signature move and 3 Doubles oriented abilities with only Inner Focus having any mechanical benefit in Singles. As such it struggles to make an impact in singles battles. Good HP and Special Defense along with passible Defense does give Oranguru some hit taking ability, but the defensively lacking Normal Psychic typing and no way to recover HP outside of Pain Split and the incredibly situational Dream Eater means Oranguru’s bulk often falls short. Which is made even worse by the fact that Oranguru must rely on its bulk to succeed thanks to poor base 60 Speed. Moreover, Oranguru is far from an offensive powerhouse either, with poor STABs and a passable at best base 90 Special Attack necessitating setup, a task easier said than done given Oranguru’s defensive woes. Add in no access to passive damage for a grind game and Oranguru effectively fails at offense and defense, a horrible spot for any Pokémon to be in.

If there is one good thing that can be said for Oranguru, it is its movepool. Oranguru’s movepool is flush with supportive options, from the game warping Trick Room, disruption in Taunt, Psychic Noise, Encore, Knock Off, Chilling Water and Yawn, to passive support in Screens and Gravity. Oranguru’s coverage is nothing to scoff at either,with Electric, Ghost, Grass and Focus Blast coverage complementing Oranguru’s STABs, allowing Oranguru to have an answer to just about every situation, especially after a Calm Mind or Nasty Plot boost or two. However, one cannot help but feel that most of Oranguru's supportive movepool would be better on a faster or at least bulkier Pokémon. Similarly Oranguru’s offensive coverage is merely above average in comparison to other Psychic types, most of which boast superior offenses in comparison to Oranguru. If one wants the most out of Oranguru, stick to doubles formats, as it heavily struggles in singles.
Positives
90 HP and 110 Special Defense give Oranguru good special bulk and 80 Defense means it isn’t exactly frail physically.
Excellent movepool with plenty of supportive and disruptive options
Calm Mind and Nasty Plot pair well with Oranguru’s great coverage options and STABs, giving it an offensive answer to any situation.
Instruct is incredible in Doubles

Negatives
Normal Psychic is poor defensively with few resistances, and lack of reliable recovery further worsens Oranguru’s bulk.
Base 60 Speed ensures Oranguru is often moving last, taking a lot of unnecessary hits.
Base 90 Special Attack is underwhelming, requiring setup to get any offensive merit out of Oranguru.
Outclassed by better Psychic types.

Movesets

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

-Trick Room
-Nasty Plot
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
Ability: Inner Focus
Item: Sitrus Berry
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature

While Oranguru is underwhelming in most aspects, it can at least weaponize its low speed with Trick Room, flipping space to aid itself and other similarly slow Pokémon and flipping the matchup on normally overwhelming offensive sweepers that rely on moving first to excel. However, to make the most out of Trick Room itself, Oranguru needs a little extra power. That’s where Nasty Plot comes in. Have Oranguru setup Nasty Plot before throwing up Trick Room and it makes for an competent attacker that is very difficult to outslow. Psychic is primary STAB having good neutral coverage and the Special Defense drop, while infrequent, can help Oranguru muscle past targets it otherwise has no right dealing with. Focus Blast’s accuracy is maddening but is Oranguru’s best option for the Steel and Dark types that would look to tank its STABs and the power is vital for smash sponges like Snorlax.

Tera Types:
With Oranguru’s poor base typing, it is rather Tera hungry both offensively and defensively. For offensive Teras, the given set can work with Tera Fighting or Tera Psychic to boost up Focus Blast or Psychic respectively for an extra burst of power, Tera Fighting being preferred for the Dark and Bug resistances it provides making it an excellent defensive option as well. Tera Fairy is another fantastic offensive defensive option, giving Oranguru a direct answer to Dark types while providing phenomenal resistances to Dark, Bug, Dragon, and Fighting, though it does leave Oranguru struggling to answer Steel types. Tera Fire is another decent offensive defensive option, melting Steel types while granting a wide array of resistances, especially to Bug. If running a Normal Ghost coverage combination, Tera Ghost is a decent offensive option for bolstering Shadow Ball, though the shared Dark weakness is unfortunate.

EVs and Items:
As with most bulky attackers, Max HP and Special Attack investment are the recommended way to go, as Oranguru is lacking in both offense and defense and needs as much investment as possible to make up the difference. If for a more supportive Trick Room setter, one can forego Special Attack investment for Defense to make Oranguru as bulky as possible. Sitrus Berry is good for setting Trick Room, helping Oranguru survive setup the initial setup with burst healing. Life Orb is a more offensive option that can help Oranguru reach knock outs otherwise out of reach and Oranguru is sure to expire when Trick Room does, so it may be best to have it go down swinging. If running Hyper Voice, Throat Spray is an option for one time setup in Trick Room that allows Oranguru to get a boost without wasting Trick Room’s turns or setting up outside of it, though the difference between Throat Spray and Nasty Plot’s boosts are stark.

Partners:
: Slow attackers love making incidental use of Oranguru’s Trick Room. Glastrier is most prominent, with Trick Room allowing Glastrier to turn the tables on normal would be checks like Typhlosion and Passimian. Oranguru drawing in Snorlax that is pure fodder for Glastrier is also an excellent boon. Brute Bonnet is another slow attacker that benefits from Trick Room and forms a decent Dark-Psychic core with Oranguru while possessing a reliable Close Combat for the Dark types that threaten Oranguru while Oranguru does well against Weezing that gives Brute Bonnet trouble. Allies that can cover the inevitable gaps in Oranguru’s coverage are also valuable. Whimsicott with its Fairy coverage excels against Sableye and Spiritomb who wall off Psychic+Focus Blast, while Grass STAB handily dispatches Garganacl that wall Normal STAB + Shadow Ball sets.

Other Options:
Psyshock and Psychic Noise are weaker alternatives to Psychic, though the former allows Oranguru to bypass dedicated sponges like Articuno while the latter prevents opposing walls from outlasting Oranguru’s Trick Room by healing. Hyper Voice and Tera Blast are Oranguru’s best answers for Normal STAB and possess decently wide neutral coverage. Tera Blast synergizes incredibly with Terastalization and can even be used on sets running Psychic STAB. Shadow Ball is strongly recommended if running Normal STAB as Normal Ghost coverage is extremely wide with few Pokémon that resist both. Gravity is a good option for more supportive Oranguru given slow Rock and Ground types loving the effective accuracy fix to Rock attacks and being able to throw out Ground attacks without a Flying type blanking them. Future Sight is another niche option for a dedicated Trick Room Oranguru, allowing Oranguru to Future Sight, setup Trick Room and still apply pressure as it switches out to the Trick Room attacker.

Doubles and VGC Options

Oranguru’s traits are far better aligned for Doubles formats, where weaponizing ones low speed with Trick Room is quite viable. Yawn, Taunt, and Encore are similarly powerful in Trick Room and Oranguru can even enable normally fast attackers unviable for Trick Room with order manipulation like After You. However, the crown jewel of Oranguru's moveset and its signature move Instruct, takes the cake. Forcing a Pokémon to repeat its last move is frankly insane, greatly outpacing the damage buff from Helping Hand. It is already difficult for many Pokémon to survive one attack from powerhouses like Kyogre and Calyrex-Shadow, so to have a second attack in the same turn can mean lights out for most teams. Add in Inner Focus to make it near impossible to disrupt Oranguru or Telepathy allowing for the free Instruct Spamming of spread moves like Surf, Earthquake, Discharge and Lava Plume and Oranguru can literally reshape battles into its trainer's favor. However, competition for the Normal-Psychic support slot is incredibly fierce; Indeedee and Farigiraf tend to be preferred over Oranguru since their abilities block priority for the entire team as opposed to Oranguru's Inner Focus only protecting itself from Fake Out. Instruct, for all its power, is rather easy to disrupt, whether by Taunting Oranguru, Faking Out Oranguru's Instruct target and or the use of any redirection will cause Instruct to fail.

Teacher of Legends

-Trick Room
-Instruct
-Encore
-Protect
Ability: Inner Focus
Item: Mental Herb
Tera Type: Dark/Ground
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SDef
Sassy Nature

Oranguru's more popular moves manipulate the moves of allies and foes alike, guiding the course of battle. Trick Room is core to this set and thanks to Oranguru's Inner Focus and Mental Herb, it is very difficult to stop Oranguru's Trick Room without outright KOing it, itself not an easy task with Oranguru free to maximize investment into bulk. Instruct pairs wonderfully with Trick Room for several reasons. First, it avoids the common pitfall of dedicated Trick Room setters being passive after Trick Room is setup and wasting vital turns, by enabling the dedicated Trick Room attacker to move again. Instruct is vital in closing out games quickly once Trick Room is setup simply for the sheer amount of offense it can output by enabling a Trick Room attacker. Instruct also pairs decently with naturally faster Pokémon that Oranguru outslows in Trick Room. Say Kyogre uses its first turn to use Origin Pulse while Oranguru sets up Trick Room. On the second turn, Oranguru can preemptively instruct Kyogre to use Origin Pulse again, rather quickly for the normally fast for Trick Room Kyogre while Kyogre is free later in the turn to choose another move like Hydro Pump, Ice Beam or Thunder, allowing Kyogre to cover for potential Wide Guard or Terastalization. Not to say having Calyrex-Ice Rider outslow Oranguru and using Glacial Lance before being Instructed to use another Glacial Lance before the opposing team can act isn't a strong option either. Encore is a brutal disruptive option in Doubles given the huge number of moves that do nothing when repeated (Screens, Weather, Fake Out, Protect, Tailwind) often forcing the opponent to switch and allowing Oranguru to continue its shenanigans unabated. Protect is vital for this set, used to punish opponents trying to Double Up into Oranguru to prevent the Trick Room/Instruct, as well as scout for attacks and Teras, stall out opposing field conditions, stall for allied setup, etc. Protect is a marked durability increase for any Pokémon that uses it in Doubles and Oranguru is no exception.

EVs are focused on Oranguru's physical bulk, giving it better odds against physical attackers like Incineroar and Urshifu who often carry Dark moves to threaten Oranguru. Often one wants to save Terastalization for Oranguru's partner, but if one must, Tera Dark is popular for denying Prankster boosted Taunts and Encores from the likes of Whimsiscott, Grimmsnarl and Tornadus. Tera Ground is for Miraidon, preventing Volt Switch pivoting and preventing any easy OHKO with Specs Elecctro Drift.

Preferred Partners & Options:
Powerful attackers love being able to attack twice with Instruct, especially restricted attackers, of which Instruct allows Oranguru to act as a copy of that attacker, applying immense pressure. The Calyrex-Riders are notable for their ability to escalate after each KO, so enabling them to attack twice makes it laughably easy to pick up KOs and start running over the opposing team. Miraidon is another apt abuser of Instruct, as it directly punishes opponents trying defensive Teras like Grass or Steel to survive, as the second resisted hit is often enough for a KO regardless. Iron Ball Kyogre is another potent option, able to excel in the Trick Room Oranguru sets up and drown the competition in high powered Water STABs. Trick Room abusers like Iron Hands and both forms Ursaluna love the dedicated Trick Room support Oranguru provides and are excellent targets for Instruct in their own right. Foul Play gives Oranguru an offensive attack, allowing it to avoid being complete Taunt bait. Taunt denies opposing setup or disruption as well as Protect, prevent opponents from stlalling out Trick Room. Yawn is potent disruption with either the forced switch or Sleep, slowing an opponent down either way.

Countering Oranguru

Oranguru’s decent bulk and colorful support movepool are the biggest hurdles in managing it. Any Trick Room sweeper set is rife with problems. Taunt and Encore stop any setup cold and Oranguru’s multi-turn setup makes it rather vulnerable to disruption and only having two attacking moves guarantees there are holes in Oranguru’s coverage. Sableye is a hard counter to sets with only STABs or Psychic + Fighting coverage, with Encore and Taunt shutting down setup and being outright immune to Oranguru’s attacks. Spiritomb is equally potent given it is equally immune to Oranguru’s offense and outslows Oranguru in Trick Room, turning its greatest strength into a weakness. Psychic types are also problematic to this combination due to resisting both attacks. Uxie, Mesprit, and Galarian Articuno all take pittance from both and can overwhelm Oranguru. Oranguru running Normal Psychic coverage struggle with Purifying Salt Garganacl by dint of typing and ability resist both STABs with ease and Salt Cure guarantees they win the grind game. Snorlax does well on sets lacking FIghitng coverage, its sheer Special Bulk requiring multiple Nasty Plots to overcome while heavily punishing Trick Room. Articuno is also a massive headache, its incredible special bulk, and ability to wipe boosts with both Haze and Roar and Roost allow it to outlast Oranguru with ease. Overcoming Oranguru directly with sheer force is easier said than done. Choice Specs Dragalge is the level of power needed to overwhelm a max HP max Defense Oranguru, with even powerful attackers like Specs Zoroark and non Specs Vikavolt struggling to get a OHKO if at all. If only invested in HP and not defense, physical attackers do fare better with banded Sneasel, and Zoroark easily picking up one shots if Oranguru still has its item. As such, it is often better to aim for an attacker than can take Oranguru’s hits, and reliably 2HKO it, or just overwhelm Oranguru with multiple hits since it can’t shrug those off. Specs Alolan Exegutor, Life Orb Hisuian Braviary, Specs Goodra, Banded Brute Bonnet, Banded Arcanine, Specs Florges, and Hisuian-Typhlosion are all attackers than can 2HKO even the bulkiest of Oranguru. If handling Oranguru in Doubles, the best methods to deal with it are to suppress Trick Room and Instruct. Imprison Trick Room users like Indeedee, Farigiraf, and Flutter Mane can all deny Oranguru’s Trick Room, as that isn’t blocked by Mental Herb. Dealing with Instruct is more difficult. Redirection from Follow Me and Rage Powder will redirect Instruct into the redirection user merely repeated the redirection move. Fake Out, while not recommended on Oranguru, is applicable on its partner as the Flinch will apply for the entire turn. Knocking out Oranguru or its Instruct target is another way to deny advantage from Instruct by preventing the move from being repeated.

Anime Appearences

Oranguru has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably, one owns a café in the forests of Melemele Island where many Pokémon come to relax. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 982 Mallow and the Forest Teacher! Mallow the Runaway and Oranguru Pics 988 Now You See Them, Now You Don't! Nebby's Panic! The Teleport Happened Suddenly!! Pics 1005 Acting True to Form! The Dark Meowth is Alolan Meowth!? Pics 1029 I Choose Paradise! I Choose Here! The Pokémon Steam Paradise!! Pics 1030 Filling the Light with Darkness! Crisis in Alola! The Darkness that Eats Radiance!! Pics 1064 A Recipe for Success! Mallow's Valiant Effort! The Forest Pokémon Café!! Pics 1073 Battling Besties! Mallow & Lana! A Fully Powered Battle of Friendship!! Pics