Noivern, The Sound Wave Pokémon. They fly around on moonless nights and attack careless prey. Nothing can beat them in a battle in the dark. The ultrasonic waves it emits from its ears can reduce a large boulder to pebbles. It swoops out of the dark to attack.
Overview
Noivern is an interesting Pokémon, boosting solid typing for the tier, RU, as well as incredible speed making it a solid threat. Noivern also has solid enough coverage with Focus Blast and Flamethrower, as well as access to Hurricane to make use of its Flying typing. However, Noivern has low Attack and average Special Attack, making it both predictable and a bit easy to handle, but is still a major threat in tier.
Positives
+ High speed allows Noivern to apply a lot of pressure to opposing teams with strong stab moves
+ For its tier Noivern has solid typing and defensive stats, allowing it to tank hits a bit and heal with Roost
Negatives
- Noivern lacks a lot of power making it hard to confirm damage/deal damage. This is made a further problem by its main stab move Hurricane and Draco Meteor (low accuracy on one and power drop on the other)
- Noivern has to compete with other fast threats like Swellow and Jolteon who are just as fast but have more power and less shaky moves
Abilities
Frisk - Reveals opponents item - Alright as it reveals items on sets making it easier to predict and outplay
Infiltrator - Bypasses Light Screen, Reflect, Substitute, Aurora Veil, Mist, and Safeguard - A really strong offensive ability as it guarantees neutral damage, which Noivern struggles to deal
Telepathy - Immune to allies moves - Only good in VGC/Doubles, but a solid ability overall
Movesets
Life Orb Attacker
-Draco Meteor
-Hurricane
-Flamethrower/Focus Blast
-Roost
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator/Frisk
EVs and Nature:
252SpAtk/4SpDef/252Spd
Timid Nature
Noivern needs to run as much power as possible, so a Life Orb is a must. This also makes Draco Meteor and Hurricane a must use, though both are great moves in their own right, but have drawbacks. Flamethrower is the main option to deal with Steels, but Focus Blast is nice to get over Rock threats but has low accuracy like Hurricane. Lastly Roost is the last option to heal the recoil from Life Orb as well as switch in damage.
Other Options
Choice Specs - Noivern can easily make use of Choice Specs, switching Roost for U-Turn, and just try to blow stuff up but needs more control of hazards.
Possible Partners
Nidoqueen - With its Poison typing, Nidoqueen can easily pressure out Fairy types that wall Noivern such as Florges. Nidoqueen also brings entry hazards, both Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes, which Noivern really enjoys with its low base power
Cryogonal - With its Flying typing, Noivern really likes having Stealth Rocks removed. Cryogonal is a good option as it can go head to head with most Stealth Rock setters in tier and win, allowing it to maintain pressure and make it harder to reset Stealth Rocks
Snorlax - Snorlax is a nice team option with Noivern with its solid Attack stat, allowing it to break specially defensive walls that plague Noivern. Snorlax also packs a lot of coverage to beat most as well such as Crunch, Iron Head, Earthquake, or Fire Punch
VGC, Double, & Triple Battle Options
Noivern is another Pokemon not found in the Alolan Pokedex and therefore missing from VGC 2017, but it has been uncommon in doubles in its first few years of existence anyway. Noivern’s most common role has been a fast Tailwind setter, as its high base speed (typically holding a Focus Sash) almost guarantees Tailwind will go up. Though it is not the bulkiest Tailwind user, it does provide some offensive presence to help a teammate sweep, but it faces stiff competition from a number of other supporting Tailwind Pokemon. Although we probably will still not see this dragon much once VGC 2018 comes around, it is a unique supporting choice in doubles with a great ability and a relatively deep movepool.
Cloud Jumper
-Draco Meteor
-Air Slash / Flamethrower
-Tailwind
-Super Fang / Protect
Item Attached: Focus Sash
Ability: Frisk
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Max speed with a Timid nature helps Noivern get Tailwind up as quickly as possible and outspeed a majority of the Pokemon commonly found in doubles. Max special attack gives it some power so that it does not become dead weight after using Tailwind, while the remaining four EVs are put into special defense to give opposing Download Porygon2 an attack boost. Focus Sash helps Noivern take any one hit, which can be useful for surviving attacks from faster threats like Tapu Koko or surprise Choice Scarf opponents. Frisk is an incredible ability in double battles, revealing the items of your opponents’ Pokemon when Noivern is sent out, which can help determine your opponent’s sets and which Pokemon holds a z crystal.
Draco Meteor is Noivern’s strongest move to do damage. Air Slash is moderately strong, but the main reason to use it is for a potential flinch, which goes well with the high speed stat and Tailwind. Flamethrower is an alternative that is useful for steel types, especially Ferrothorn or Celesteela. Tailwind of course is Noivern’s primary role in supporting the team. Protect is not always necessary due to the Focus Sash, but if you fear Fake Out breaking your Sash, it is a good option to have. Alternatively, Super Fang is fantastic to help a sweeper eliminate a threat. Strong attacks from Pokemon like Tapu Lele or Mega Charizard Y have no problem knocking out opponents once they have been reduced to 50% of their health.
Other Options & Team Ideas
-While Frisk is the best ability for Noivern, the other abilities can still be considered for specific occurrences. Infiltrator is great for hitting Pokemon behind Substitute, which can be annoying to deal with. Telepathy gives you the ability to run certain spread moves like Discharge, Surf, Sludge Wave, or Lava Plume next to Noivern to throw off your opponent.
-The flying and dragon Z-Moves give Noivern a massive attack when paired with Hurricane and Draco Meteor, respectively.
-Hurricane is very powerful, but with the poor accuracy, it is best to run it in the rain or paired with the Z-Move.
-Dragon Pulse is an alternative to Draco Meteor that does not lower your special attack, but the missing power is not ideal since Noivern does not have the bulk to stick around forever. Heat Wave is an alternative to Flamethrower that does spread damage.
-Taunt is very common on Noivern to prevent Trick Room and other strategies. Whirlwind is another alternative to stop boosting Pokemon or Trick Room.
-Sunny Day can mess with some rain teams since Noivern can live super-effective attacks from Swift Swim Pokemon thanks to its Focus Sash. Swicheroo has seen some use to mess with your opponent, but can be risky due to your opponent switching and it being useless on mega stones and z crystals. Snatch is a sneaky alternative to Tailwind to steal an opponent’s Tailwind (or certain other moves they use) when they try to match yours.
-Noivern has access to a number of coverage moves like Boomburst, Hyper Voice, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, and Focus Blast, but Boomburst is the only one that really sees any significant use due to its high base power as a spread move. It does also hit your teammate though, so Boomburst is best used next to a ghost-type.
-Tapu Fini is not threatened by Noivern, and weakens your dragon-type attacks against targets on the ground with its terrain, so Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Kartana are good teammates to scare it away.
-Earthquake users (especially Choice Scarf sets to KO Tapu Koko) like Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Krookodile can freely Earthquake next to Noivern.
-Fake Out is always useful to help set up Tailwind and help keep Noivern’s Focus Sash intact.
-Like previously mentioned, powerful sweepers that can take advantage of Tailwind like Mega Charizard Y, Tapu Lele, Mega Gardevoir, and Landorus-T are great partners.
Countering Noivern
Special Defensive Threats - With the best option being Draco Meteor and having the stat drop, Special Defensive walls easily stop Noivern. Porygon 2 can threaten back with Ice Beam while other walls like Umbreon, Cresselia, and Bronzong all sponge attacks, heal, and threaten stats moves.
Rock types - Without Focus Blast, Rock types wall Noivern easily. Diancie is the best being part Fairy so it takes neutral from Focus Blast and threaten back with Fairy stab moves. Defensively Gigalith dodges a 2hko from Focus Blast and KO back with Stone Edge. Lastly Aerodactyl can revenge kill Noivern and come in on all moves but Draco Meteor
Ice types - While none can switch directly in, Mega Glalie and Sneasel threaten Noivern with powerful Ice Shards, while Cryogonal can pressure Noivern out if it has used Draco Meteor
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Evolve Noibat
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X/Y
Sun/Moon:
Transfer from Generation VI
Animé Appearences
