Is there any reason to use Phione over Manaphy?

2 minute read

Phione just seems like a Manaphy clone with worse stats. Is there something I’m missing?

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Short answer: No.Longer answer: In the words of Smogon, Phione is essentially a cheap ripoff of Manaphy. Besides their base stats, there is one major difference that sets Manaphy apart from Phione, its access to Tail Glow. In Gen 7 and Gen 8, where it is only available in NatDex, thus, Tail Glow is an option, this allowed Manaphy to decimate a sweeper with a +3 Hydro Vortex. Additionally, it allows Manaphy to break solid walls especially on Rain Teams with its Hydration Ability and Rest. Essentially, full HP restored for free.

Now, Phione has much worse stats, no access to Tail Glow, so it really only acts as a Heal Bell Cleric. It runs Rain Dance to shrug off any status, Heal Bell to fulfill its Cleric Role, and U-Turn to pivot. However, even in this role, it is outclassed by Volbeat which has Pranskter to better support. Because of this, Phione has landed Untiered or in PU sine Gen 5.

Conclusion: Never use Phione over Manaphy unless you are playing in a format where you can’t use Manaphy, but Phione is still sure to be outclassed due to what I stated above.

No. There is absolutely no reason to use Phione over Manaphy. Manaphy is just better in every way imaginable, manaphy has better stats and a better move pool. I’m going to give you sets for both of them to show you how vastly superior Manaphy is to Phione, and also incase you want to use them (why would you use Phione though). This is also a set for gen 8 national dex

Phione @ Choice SpecsAbility: HydrationEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid NatureIVs: 0 Atk- Surf/Scald- Ice Beam- Dazzling Gleam- Signal Beam

If you want to deal as much damage as possible with Phione, you just have to use choice Specs. This set also makes it a threat to lower tiers.

Manaphy @ Leftovers /Life orbAbility: HydrationEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid NatureIVs: 0 Atk- Surf- Ice Beam- Energy Ball- Tail Glow

Tail glow is overpowered (due to it being overpowered, it was removed in gen 8 so you can only use this set in Nat dex)