What is a good moveset for Greninja?

If you have a good competitive moveset for Greninja (or Ash-Greninja),post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to includefull set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated.Access the full list of guidelines here.

Greninja Pokédex and learnsetfor reference.

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

This thing is a monster. So far my favorite set which abuses both it’s speed, Hidden Ability and wonderful Special Attack stat utilizes the item Expert Belt. This allows it to fake Choice Specs, which ruins other teams.

Greninja @ Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeHasty Nature- Dark Pulse- Hydro Pump- Ice Beam- U-turn

Dark Pulse and Hydro Pump are both powerful moves allowing him to pretend he isn’t running Torrent > Protean. Ice Beam is great coverage, hitting grass types well. U-Turn provides excellent scouting with a base 120 speed stat. With it’s Hidden Ability Protean he constantly gets powerful, EBelt boosted STABs. He’s like an upgraded Infernape, truly a marvelous beasty.

Greninja @ Choice SpecsAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeNaive Nature- Hydro Pump- Dark Pulse- Ice Beam- U-turn / Extrasensory

The whole idea of this set is to get massive power and coverage from the constant STAB Protean provides combined with the boost from Choice Specs. The first 3 moves are pretty much mandatory on any all-out attacking special Greninja. Hydro Pump and Dark Pulse are STABs and Ice Beam is crucial coverage hitting Dragons and others hard. Extrasensory is coverage and trolls fighting types that switch in, but U-Turn is recommended for scouting with its incredible speed stat.

Greninja (M) @ Focus SashAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeNaive Nature- Spikes- Hydro Pump- Hidden Power [Fire]- U-turn

This set is a great scout, and Protean allows it to become a great team player. Spikes are entry hazards that shield Greninja’s Water typing by replacing it with Ground. Hydro Pump is STAB, and HP Fire is coverage. U-turn is to escape out of bad situations.

Sup everyone my Pokemon name is XMIrage and I was one of the finalists in a Pokemon competition.

My Greninja is a unique one, but is a great Pokemon to have as a lead.

Greninja @ Focus SashAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Spikes- Mat Block- Shadow Sneak- U-turn

This set works best as a lead, as its four moves each take advantage of different openings. Greninja is fast and thus works well as a hazard setter; coupling Spikes with Focus Sash ensures your opponent will have to contend with extra chip damage. Mat Block is helpful for denying first-turn pivoting, and it can be a niche tech option with Protean to have Greninja resist an incoming U-turn the next turn. Shadow Sneak and U-turn break an opponent’s Sash and the latter is also helpful for retaining momentum.

Spikes and U-turn are realistically the only moves you’ll click often, but the other two have their infrequent uses.

XMirage

Greninja @ Choice ScarfAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Power-Up Punch- Night Slash- Waterfall- Rock Slide / Acrobatics

This set is made to dish out damage quickly on special walls. I’m really sad he doesn’t get SDance or Bulk Up, but Power-Up Punch is a great move to hit Dark types (which are going to rise with Steels) and raise attack. You see how the set works, blah blah blah.

Greninja @ Life OrbAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Surf / Hydro Pump- Exstrasensory / Ice Beam- Dark Pulse- Hidden Power [Fire]

HP Fire is a good option in order to deal with Scizor / Ferrothorn / Forretress. Surf STAB might not do enough for Scizor, and it definitely won’t be doing anything to Ferrothorn. The good thing about HP Fire is that Protean will change type to Fire, meaning Fairy will be not very effective as a result.

Some moveset choices will be down to personal preferences. Surf or Hydro Pump, depending if you want accuracy or power. Extrasensory or Ice Beam for coverage. To be honest, Psychic doesn’t cover much apart from Fighting and Poison, and with Protean, Greninja will no longer be weak to fighting (because you won’t be using a Dark move against a fighting Pokemon). Then again, with HP fire, Ice Beam could be redundant. Surf will cover Landorus & Gliscor, so the main worry there is Thundurus and Tornadus. Again, personal choice and dependent on the rest of your team.

Life Orb does sap health, but I think Greninja can sweep easily because of its great speed, and the fact that all moves will receive STAB due to Protean.

You can go different ways with this awesome Gen 6 monster. Its stats and its awesome Hidden Ability make this Pokemon my favorite gen 6 starter.

Greninja Physical Moveset

Greninja @ Focus SashAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly / Adamant Nature- Night Slash- Waterfall / Water Shuriken- Aerial Ace / Rock Slide- U-turn / Power-Up Punch

Night Slash is his most powerfull physical Dark-Type move and a powerful STAB. His Water-Type STAB can be Waterfall with high power or you can use Water Shuriken if you want a really cool ninja move. The Flying-Moves have the most coverage over his weaknesses and the Rock-Move only covers one. For the last slot you can use U-Turn for switch and some damage or use Power-Up Punch to power up your attack and deal some damage. Both of the last slot moves are Super-effective against other Dark-Types.

Greninja Special Moveset

Greninja @ Focus Sash / Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid / Modest / Hasty Nature- Dark Pulse- Hydro Pump / Scald / Surf- Ice Beam / Hidden Power [Flying]- Extrasensory / U-turn

Dark Pulse is his most powerfull special Dark-Type move and a powerfull STAB. His Water-Type STAB can be Hydro Pump with high power or you can use Scald or Surf with less power but better accuracy. If you go with Scald you even gain a chance to burn the target. For the third slot you can use Ice Beam for coverage or Hidden Power [Flying] for even more coverage. In the last slot you can use U-turn for escape and damage or Extrasensory for coverage and damage.

Gen 7 OU

Why not Ash-Greninja?Greninja @ Waterium ZAbility: Battle BondEVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpDTimid Nature- Water Shuriken- Dark Pulse- Ice Beam- Grass Knot

Get a KO with Hydro Vortex to activate Battle Bond and sweep from there. Water Shuriken becomes stronger under Battle Bond and, with priority, is one of Greninja’s better STAB options. Dark Pulse is the best Dark move available and does well breaking down Jirachi. Ice Beam pressures common Grass types like Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu, though both are prone to running special bulk. Finally, Grass Knot takes care of the uncommon but threatening Water/Ground types: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, and Quagsire.

Gen 7 OUGreninja @ Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeHasty Nature- Water Shuriken- Dark Pulse / Extrasensory- Ice Beam / Gunk Shot / U-Turn / Spikes / Toxic Spikes- Hydro Pump

Greninja gaining STAB from all of his attacks is what gives him the power to KO those who are vulnerable to it’s coverage. While most Protean Greninja sets I’ve seen don’t use Water Shuriken due to its low power, I believe it is a reliable move to use against faster Pokemon who tend to be frailer and easily fall to priority, or to quickly finish off Pokemon weakened from Stealth Rock, Spikes, etc. This set is meant to take advantage of hazards as well as Greninja’s amazing speed and priority to swiftly Assassinate anything in it’s way. The only counters I can see for this set are bulky mons and those that out speed it and don’t care about it’s coverage or Water Shuriken, but such mon’s are few and far between.

Greninja @ Focus SashAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- U-turn- Acrobatics- Taunt- Swagger

This set is meant to just annoy the hell out of people. Greninja is a little frail, but his speed and ability can make up for it. Taunt or Swagger hits set up sweepers, if that Lucario hits you can hope to Swagger and Acrobatics for the KO. If you can’t, the semi-status is great with U-Turn.

I think this pokémon is going to end up in the OU tier. It has the best speed for all water type pokémon and the 3rd best speed for all dark type pokémon.

Special Sweeper

Greninja @ Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeModest Nature- Hydro Pump- Ice Beam- Dark Pulse- Extrasensory

Greninja @ Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature / Modest Nature- Dark Pulse- Hydro Pump- Extrasensory- Ice Beam

This set covers some types as Dark Pulse covers Psychic and Ghosts, Hydro Pump covers Rock, Ground and Fire, Extrasensory covers Fighting and Poison, Ice Beam covers Grass, Ground, Flying and the popular Dragons…pretty strong guy this is!!

Greninja @ Expert BeltAbility: ProteanEVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Scald- Dark Pulse- Grass Knot- Ice Beam

With it’s ability Protean, each of its moves gain STAB, which helps a lot. Scald is for the chance of burning the target. Dark Pulse is for coverage, along with the chance of flinching. Grass Knot can screw your opponents over when they try attacking with an electric type move, and with this ninja frog’s blinding speed, it will almost always go first. Predict what your opponent will do, and change your type according to your prediction. The Expert Belt will be really useful as well, since it boosts the power of super-effective moves.

Great Lead and Anti-Lead Set

Greninja @ Focus Sash (Guarantees Taunt plus 1 layer of Spikes)Ability: Protean (To change types)EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Spikes- Taunt- U-turn- Shadow Sneak

Moveset:Spikes (Hazards)Taunt (No Hazards, Setup, or Status)U-turn (Switch out with damage)Shadow Sneak (Priority, Normal Immunity)

Physical SupportGreninja @ Focus Sash / Lum berryAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe- Mat Block- Spikes- Acrobatics- Shadow Sneak

This is a doubles set so use with high area of effect damage moves like Earthquake and Boomburst etc.Moves:

This set is designed for multi battles and trolling your opponents hard as you can ignore 4 types of moves (5 if you switch into a physic type attack) if played correctly. Also its great when used in cohesion with strong pokes who use Earthquake, Boomburst, and Discharge allowing great area of effect damage and protecting your team with Mat Block. Not designed to help you sweep but can really bring down the hurt and play as a protector / finisher with his decent attack and extremely high speed.

An unexpected Greninja:

Greninja @ Life OrbAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Power Up Punch- Water Shuriken- Aerial Ace- Night Slash

Most Greninjas are Special Sweepers, so a physical one is a bit of a surprise. PuP to boost attack even further while attacking, Water Shuriken to have a water move, Aerial Ace to hit fighting, grass and bug. Night Slash is STAB.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire setGreninja @ Life Orb / Expert Belt (Life Orb preferred)Ability: ProteanEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeHasty Nature- Hydro Pump- Gunk Shot- Ice Beam- ExtrasensoryThis thing got busted AF with the Gunk Shot move tutor. No safe switch ins, except for Empoleon. Almost everything in the Metagame can get OHKO’d and if not that 2HKO’d. If you can take care of Ferrothorn, you win.

I used this set and it was pretty successful

Greninja @ Life OrbAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature / Adamant Nature- Shadow Sneak- Gunk Shot- Ice Punch- Night Slash

Alright lemme explain.This set seems weird af just like my other Beedrill set right? May seem so but it is pretty good. Ice Punch works well on this thing and provides good coverage. Shadow Sneak is to avoid those nasty Mach Punches and retaliate with a good move, get some damage off and die maybe or take it out. Gunk Shot is pretty self explanatory. Good power but pretty average accuracy. Like a buffed Stone Edge. Ice Punch is a physical Ice Beam and a pretty good move against dragons. Night Slash is a good move to have in general.The nature is up to you entirely. The item, Life Orb is really good to have. I used to use an Adamant Nature. But really sad not in OU anymore maybe :c

PHYSICAL GRENINJA? YOU WOT M8?

Greninja @ Focus SashAbility: ProteanEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Water Shuriken- Gunk Shot- Ice Punch- U-turn

252 Atk Greninja Water Shuriken (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 162-198 (54.5 - 66.6%) – guaranteed 2HKO

Greninja outspeeds Talonflame, so its priority will go first. Assuming you get 3 hits on the first turn, you take out about half, and you live the Brave Bird with Focus Sash. Water Shuriken KO’s next turn.

This set was honestly just for the lolz.

This is a standard sweeping set:

Greninja @ Choice Specs / Life OrbAbility: Battle BondEVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeModest Nature- Hydro Pump- Water Shuriken- Dark Pulse- Ice Beam / Extrasensory

Hydro Pump is a move that destroys anything that doesn’t resist it. Water Shuriken is enourmously powerful after Battle bond and can break through sturdy or a focus sash. Dark pulse is for STAB and has a chance to flinch. Ice beam is for coverage against grass types. Extrasensory can be used over Ice beam for coverage against fighting types.

Have fun with this set!