Some folks have been waiting on this one for a while… the very unique and wacky GRIMMSNARL arrives this weekend (and beyond) with the latest GO Wild Area events! And of course, a new release means a new PvP analysis by yours truly, so let's get right into it!

GRIMMSNARL

Dark/Fairy Type

GREAT LEAGUE:

Attack: 137 (137 High Stat Product)

Defense: 91 (90 High Stat Product)

HP: 132 (133 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs [Best Friend Trade]: 5-13-10, 1496 CP, Level 19.5)

ULTRA LEAGUE:

Attack: 175

Defense: 116

HP: 174

(Highest Stat Product IVs [Best Friend Trade]: 5-15-15, 2498 CP, Level 34)

MASTER LEAGUE:

Attack: 203

Defense: 129

HP: 194

(Assuming 15-15-15 IVs: 3222 CP at Level 50)

So first I want to point out the typing, because it's completely unique in the series: Grimmsnarl and its pre-evolutions are the only Dark/Fairy types around. The good is that Fairy cancels out the usual Dark weaknesses to both Fighting and Bug, and there are no typings that get to "double up" with double super effective damage… Grimm is left with just single-level weaknesses to Poison and Steel (on its Fairy side) and, ironically, Fairy damage (on its Dark side). You DO gain a double resistance to Dark (since both Fairy and Dark resist), and also get double resistances to both Psychic damage and Dragon damage from the Dark and Fairy sides, respectively. And finally, Grimm also gets a single-level resistance to Ghost damage. Put it all together, and you have three weaknesses stacked up against four resistances, with three of those being two-level resistances. Not bad!

What IS bad is the bulk, because Grimmsnarl has very little to speak of. That Defense is abyssmal, and the overall bulk drags it down below other notably Darks that show off Fairy damage like Sableye, Thievul, and even Mightyena. Overall, its glassiness results in a similar total stat product to other glassy Pokémon like Toxicroak, Sceptile, Exeggutor, and Dugtrio, and only just barely ahead of Gardevoir/Gallade and Mamoswine territory. Obviously not ideal.

But of course, there are a number of Pokémon that excel in PvP without ideal stats thanks to their moveset. Can Grimmsnarl be one of them?

Fast Moves

• Sucker Punch (Dark, 4.0 DPT, 3.5 EPT, 1.0 CoolDown)

• Bite (Dark, 4.0 DPT, 2.0 EPT, 0.5 CD)

• Low Kick (Fighting, 2.0 DPT, 2.5 EPT, 1.0 CD)

Ah, we've come to one of those analyses you all pay me for. Tough decisions like this one. Go with Low Kick for coverage? Bite for high, Same Type Attack Bonus damage? Or Sucker Punch, a move that blows them both away in basically every way?

…oh, right. I'm not paid, and this is actually one of the easiest decisions ever. Moving on!

Charge Moves

• Power-Up Punch (Fighting, 20 damage, 35 energy, Raises User Attack +1 Stage)

• Foul Play (Dark, 60 damage, 40 energy)

• Dark Pulse (Dark, 80 damage, 50 energy)

• Play Rough (Fairy, 90 damage, 60 energy)

This is actually pretty easy too. Foul Play is basically a must, and while is unfortunately slightly more awkward than the perfect pairing of Sucker Punch and Night Slash found on Thievul (every 5 Sucker Punches is exactly the 35 energy needed for Slash), it only takes one extra fast move, as opposed to Dark Pulse which requires two more. The pacing is just much better with Foul Play, and the pressure it offers is critical for a low bulk Pokémon like Grimm.

The obvious second charge move is Play Rough, right? Coverage and the biggest closing power that Grimmsnarl has to offer. So then, is there any role for Power-Up Punch? It keeps that sweet Sucker Punch/35-energy charge move pacing, and ratcheting up the damage of the already highly pressuring Sucker Punch can't be a bad thing, can it? No, it's not, and I can see cases for giving it serious consideration. But as we'll see in a moment, it's usually a bit less ideal unless you KNOW you're going to trying to blow through multiple shields.

GREAT LEAGUE

So here we go… let's bring it all together. I've already mentioned Thievul a few times, with slightly better bulk, better pressure with Night Slash, and the same Sucker Punch and Play Rough found on Grimm. Put together, we get this, a solid enough PvP performance but one that's still hard to trust in Open play.

And yeah, Grimm is a bit worse. While it can beat a handful of things that Thievul cannot, including Annihilape (taking neutral instead of super effective from Counter is pretty huge there), Talonflame, Blastoise, and Stunfisk, Thievul just does more, with its own unique wins over Galarian Moltres, Fearow, SScizor, Empoleon, Corviknight, and Clodsire. And while Power-Up Punch can sometimes carve out extra wins over Bastiodon, Gastrodon, and Shadow Charizard, it jettisons Stunfisk in the process, and picks up none of those wins exclusive to Thievul.

And PuP, of course, performs quite a bit worse than Play Rough with shields down, missing out on Drapion, Charjabug, Blastoise, and Togekiss that Play Rough can take out. Though of course, that flips entirely in 2v2 shielding, with Play Rough still being necessary for things like G-Moltres, but Power-Up Punch's constant buffing bringing in new potential wins like Clodsire, Diggersby, Gastrodon, Steelix, Empoleon, Blastoise, Cradily, Bastiodon, Dunsparce, and Talonflame. But even there, it has a bit of trouble trying to outperform the Thievul we already have on hand (and Grimm continues to trail Thievul with shields down).

The typing alone doesn't seem to do enough to separate Grimmsnarl from existing options already in PvP… in Great League, at least. Maybe max out a Morgrem instead? It at least comes with a little more bulk.

But there is one place that Grimm can leave its competition behind….

ULTRA LEAGUE

Technically Thievul can come out to play at this level too, but it HAS to be maxed, still falls short of 2500 CP, and honestly doesn't really seem worth the trouble. Because Grimm can be built far cheaper (settling into Ultra League with a level only in the mid-30s) and looks quite a bit better doing it. Several of its standout wins should look familar — names like Corviknight, Annihilape, Galarian Moltres, Togekiss, and Blastoise — but some are all new, including Zygarde, Kommo-o, Regidrago, and Kingdra. It's not blowing the doors off the meta or anything, but with a nice spread of wins that include all the biggest Dragons, Psychics, and Ghosts that Ultra League has to offer, with bonuses like Feraligatr and those others mentioned a minute ago, I DO think Grimmsnarl may be able to carve out a nice, potent niche in Ultra League. And its performance is pretty consistent (or, if anything, further improved) in other even shield scenarios too.

And while I don't necessarily recommend giving PuP the same consideration it had in Great League, I would be remiss to NOT point out that, yes, PuP is a viable enough alternative IF run not with Foul Play, but with Play Rough. And that combo does get pretty scary in 2v2 shielding matchups, if that's something you want to try and bank on.

IN SUMMATION

I mean, it's pretty simple: yes, get Grimmsnarl while you can. It does enough good things to be worth having on your PvP bench, particularly in Ultra League, and if nothing else, could prove very interesting in Dark-heavy Limited metas (having HUGE advantages over most other Dark types). You may not find yourself using it often, but there will absolutely be times when a hole on certain teams is best filled by the unique (and pretty future-proof) Grimmsnarl.

Alright, that's it for today… just a quick one! Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets or Patreon.

Good hunting, folks! Good luck on your grind during yet another event, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!