Piplup (SM) | Hohou's Home | Competitive Movesets

Competitive Pokemon Sun/Moon Movesets and Strategies for Piplup

Base Stats for Piplup

Water

Abilities:
,

Evolutions / Family:
Piplup
Prinplup
Empoleon

Weakness Chart for Water-type:

Bug

Dark

Dragon

Electric

Fairy

Fighting

Fire

Flying

Ghost

2x

0.5x

Grass

Ground

Ice

Normal

Poison

Psychic

Rock

Steel

Water

2x

0.5x

¼x

½x

2x

4x

Movesets for Singles

What is a good competitive moveset for Piplup? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Sun/Moon Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Sun/Moon generation metagame.

Piplup is a spectacular Water-typed Pokemon. Piplup is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Piplup's only type-related weaknesses are Electric and Grass.

Species: Piplup
Item: Waterium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 224 Hp / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpD
Moveset:
- Waterfall / Dive
- Return / Secret Power
- Drill Peck / Pluck
- Brick Break

Physical Sweeper Piplup (Defiant)

Piplup is an astounding Physical Sweeper. It is primarily designed to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Life Orb boosts the power of Piplup's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defiant, Piplup's attack is raised by 2 for each of its stats that is lowered by a foe.

♦ Waterfall is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Water-type move (20% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Dive is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Water-type move (dives underwater turn 1, strikes turn 2).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Secret Power is a physical 70-base power Normal-type move (effect varies with terrain. (30% paralysis chance)).
♦ Drill Peck is a physical 80-base power Flying-type move that deals a substantial amount of damage.
♦ Pluck is a physical 60-base power Flying-type move (Piplup steals and eats the target's berry).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, unless the target is immune).

Species: Piplup
Item: Waterium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 224 Hp / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Moveset:
- Surf / Scald
- Ice Beam / Icy Wind
- Signal Beam
- Round / Snore

Special Sweeper Piplup (Defiant)

Piplup is an outstanding Special Sweeper. It's goal is to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Life Orb boosts the power of Piplup's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defiant, Piplup's attack is raised by 2 for each of its stats that is lowered by a foe.

♦ Surf is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. double damage on dive).
♦ Scald is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Water-type move (30% chance to burn the target. thaws target).
♦ Ice Beam is a special 90-base power Ice-type move (10% chance to freeze the target).
♦ Icy Wind is a special 55-base power Ice-type move (100% chance to lower the foes speed by 1 stage).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Round is a special 60-base power Normal-type move (power doubles if others used round this turn).
♦ Snore is a special 50-base power Normal-type move (Piplup must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).

Movesets for Doubles

What is a good doubles moveset for Piplup? These builds have been optimized for Sun/Moon Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Sun/Moon generation metagame.

Species: Piplup
Item: Waterium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 224 Hp / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpD
Moveset:
- Waterfall / Dive
- Return / Secret Power
- Drill Peck / Pluck
- Brick Break

Doubles Physical Sweeper Piplup (Defiant)

Piplup is an astounding Physical Sweeper. It was designed to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Life Orb boosts the power of Piplup's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defiant, Piplup's attack is raised by 2 for each of its stats that is lowered by a foe.

♦ Waterfall is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Water-type move (20% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Dive is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Water-type move (dives underwater turn 1, strikes turn 2).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Secret Power is a physical 70-base power Normal-type move (effect varies with terrain. (30% paralysis chance)).
♦ Drill Peck is a physical 80-base power Flying-type move that deals a mighty amount of damage.
♦ Pluck is a physical 60-base power Flying-type move (Piplup steals and eats the target's berry).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, unless the target is immune).

Species: Piplup
Item: Waterium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 224 Hp / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Moveset:
- Surf / Bubble
- Icy Wind / Ice Beam
- Signal Beam
- Round / Snore

Doubles Special Sweeper Piplup (Defiant)

Piplup is a wonderful Special Sweeper. This moveset attempts to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Life Orb boosts the power of Piplup's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defiant, Piplup's attack is raised by 2 for each of its stats that is lowered by a foe.

♦ Surf is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. double damage on dive).
♦ Bubble is a special STAB-boosted 40-base power Water-type move (10% chance to lower the foes speed by 1 stage).
♦ Icy Wind is a special 55-base power Ice-type move (100% chance to lower the foes speed by 1 stage).
♦ Ice Beam is a special 90-base power Ice-type move (10% chance to freeze the target).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Round is a special 60-base power Normal-type move (power doubles if others used round this turn).
♦ Snore is a special 50-base power Normal-type move (Piplup must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).

Movepool

Wondering what moves can Piplup learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.

Combo List

These are a list of several common move combinations Piplup can perform in Sun/Moon. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.

Competitive SM Move and Ability Combos for Piplup

Moves: Endure + Flail
Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
Move: Fling + Item: King's Rock
Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
Move: Double Hit + Item: King's Rock
Moves with Priority: Bide, Endure, Protect
Moves that Break Screens: Brick Break

Optimize Piplup's EVs for Sun/Moon

Competitive Information for Piplup [Sun/Moon]