VGC 2017 Pokemon Spotlight #4 - Tapu Koko

Welcome back to another episode of the Pokemon Spotlight, where the goal is to shine a light on the Pokemon that's doing well in the VGC 2017 metagame. Today, we'll be looking at Tapu Koko. Tapu Koko is a very strong Pokemon and has had a very strong season, appearing on the teams that won both the London International and the Dallas Regional. I hope you enjoy and let's begin.

Base Stats


Tapu Koko has very strong stats. 70/85/75 is pretty mediocre as it won't allow it to take major hits, but it can take neutral hits very well. 115/95 attacking stats is very strong as it allows Tapu Koko to use very strong attacks, although its move pool is pretty lackluster for physical based moves means it has to rely more on its special attack stat to be a damage dealer. Its also very fast at base 130, meaning it can outspeed many Pokemon in the metagame to that may prove to be troublesome for Tapu Koko.

Notable Moves - Here's some moves that Tapu Koko may find useful.

• Brave Bird - Strong flying-type coverage move to hit grass types.
• Wild Charge - Strong electric-type move to take advantage of your physical move.
• Nature's Madness - Great for chunking a bulky Pokemon to pick them off later.
• Discharge - Great for getting past Lighting Rod users like Marowak
• Taunt - Great for shutting down support Pokemon like Porygon2
• Hidden Power [Ice] - Great for KOing Pokemon like Garchomp and Salamence
• Protect - Great for blocking moves and weakening the power of Z-Moves
• Thunderbolt - Strong electric-type special move
• Thunder - Strong electric-type special move to use in the Rain
• Sky Drop - Great for removing a Pokemon that being's problematic so you can deal with them later.
• Volt Switch - Great electric type move for switch initiative.
• Grass Knot - Great for hitting Pokemon like Mudsdale and Gastrodon
• U-turn - Great for switch initiative.
• Substitute - Puts up a shield so Tapu Koko can take a hit at the cost of its HP
• Dazzling Gleam - Strong Fairy type STAB spread move

Now I wanna go into some sample sets. I have 5 sets I wanna show you so I hope you enjoy it.

Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Dazzling Gleam

- Discharge

- Protect

This is a pretty standard special attacking Tapu Koko set that's meant to get damage off really efficiently to pave the way for its other members to finish up. The moves are pretty simple to explain with Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam being your STAB moves and Discharge is good because of Lightning Rod users like Alolan Marowak, which means you can use Discharge to still be able to use Electric type moves with it on the field. The EV Spread emphasizes the offensive potential Tapu Koko has, maxing out its Sp. Attack and Speed stats to allow Tapu Koko to get as fast as possible and the Timid nature allows it to get as fast as possible. The Focus Sash is for since this set doesn't run much bulk, you can take a hit and still keep fighting the next turn.


Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- U-Turn
- Brave Bird
- Protect

This is a physical Tapu Koko set. The idea is to use Wild Charge as your physical attack and Brave Bird for flying coverage to hit Tapu Bulu for major damage. U-Turn is great for switch initiative. The EV Spread covers the same goals as the first set.


Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt
- Protect

This set was used by Aaron Zheng to get 6th place at the San Jose Regional. I'll link his video here. In his video, he said that Hidden Power [Ice] was used to OHKO Garchomp and Salamence and use Taunt to shut down support Pokemon like Porygon2 and Oranguru, but I recommend checking out his video to get his in-depth thoughts on the set.


Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Discharge
- Wild Charge
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect

The idea of this set is that since Tapu Koko has 2 fantastic offensive stats, it sounds like a great idea to run a mixed attacker so you can hit Pokemon on both the physical and special side of the spectrum. This way, Intimidate or Snarl alone won't 100% weaken your damage output. The EV Spread is designed for more of a special attacker, but 4 Attack EVs with the Life Orb allows Tapu Koko to OHKO many Tapu Fini with Wild Charge in Electric Terrain and does 70.6 - 83.6% in Misty Terrain. The max Sp. Attack allows Tapu Koko to do the same thing as the first set.


Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 236 HP / 12 Def / 84 SpA / 76 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Discharge

This set is actually from Ray Rizzo, who has done a video on the set and everything it could do.  I'll link his video here, which does a fantastic job of covering everything this set can do, from offensive/defensive damage calcs to why it's doing a great job in the current metagame.


Potential Items - Here are some items that Tapu Koko can use

• Focus Sash – Allows Tapu Koko to take a hit
• Life Orb – Gives Tapu Koko an extra boost in its attacks
• Fairium Z – Turns Dazzling Gleam into their Z-Move Twinkle Tackle
• Electrium Z – Turns its Electric type moves into their Z-Move Gigavolt Havoc
• Choice Specs – Gives all of its special attacking moves an extra power boost, but locking yourself into 1 move
• Assault Vest – Gives Tapu Koko an extra special defense boost, but not allowing it to use status moves
• Tapunium Z – Turns Nature’s Madness into its Z-Move Guardian of Alola to do 75% of its current HP

Partners - Here are some Pokemon that can help Tapu Koko out

• Celesteela - Its typing provides a perfect switch for Tapu Koko since its immune to its 2 weaknesses and threatens all 3 of the other Tapu Pokemon
• Salamence - It can provide Intimidate to help Tapu Koko take physical hits better and handles Ground types
• Garchomp - These 2 can provide an excellent first turn hyper offensive lead and Tapu Koko can safely Discharge next to it
• Oranguru - Its Telepathy ability allows Tapu Koko to freely use Discharge, while also having Instruct to allow it to repeat its last move, and reverse Trick Room if need be
• Gengar/Mimikyu - It can handle Alolan Marowak with Ghost moves, which can prove troublesome for Tapu Koko
• Politoed/Pelipper - They provide the rain to handle ground types while allowing Tapu Koko to use a 100% accurate Thunder in the Rain

How to beat Tapu Koko?

1. Alolan Marowak - It's Lightning Rod ability blocks electric type moves and it can KO it with Bonemerang while not taking much from Dazzling Gleam
2. Garchomp - Since Dazzling Gleam is a 2HKO, Garchomp can use Earthquake to easily KO Tapu Koko
3. Ground types - Tapu Koko can use electric type moves and fear strong ground type moves from ground types like Mudsdale and Krookodile.
4. Tapu Bulu - It resist Tapu Koko's electric type moves and is slower to set its terrain up, while also being able to use strong grass moves like Horn Leech and Wood Hammer to cause massive damage
5. Tapu Lele - It can sets its terrain up since its naturally slower than Tapu Koko, then use boosted Psychic to OHKO it
6. Alolan Muk - While electric type moves are a threat, it can live it and fire off a Poison Jab to KO Tapu Koko
7. Trick Room - Since Tapu Koko is one of the fastest Pokemon in the metagame, Trick Room is a nightmare.
8. Kartana - Its steel type move Smart Strike can easily do massive amounts of damage while being able to take a Thunderbolt or Dazzling Gleam in return.

I hoped you enjoyed this. Overall, Tapu Koko is a very strong Pokemon. Through its access to strong attacking moves, great offensive stats, and variety of ways it can be played, Tapu Koko is a threat to watch out for. Check out my older content and I'll see you guys next time. Bye!