Noivern, the Sound Wave Pokémon. Ultrasonic waves emitted by a Noivern can pulverize a large boulder. This Pokémon has a cruel disposition. In the dark, even Hydreigon are terrified of this Pokémon. But in the light, Noivern is the one that avoids battle.
Overview
Noivern returns triumphantly in Generation 9 as one of the better abusers of Terastalization. Being able to get STAB on the amazing Boomburst pushes Noivern’s offense from decent to good, able to slam most opponents for considerable damage thanks to its absurdly wide neutral coverage, and incredible base speed that ties with Meowscarada as one of the fastest Pokémon around. The ability to pivot with U-Turn and disrupt with Taunt adds depth to Noivern’s game, giving it a niche even when its ability to spam Boomburst is not needed.
However, Noivern remains overshadowed by Dragonite who pulls a similar Tera Normal schtick and boasting wholly superior bulk and power. Dragon Flying is an unfortunate typing having a cripplingly common weaknesses that can strain team building and require hazard control. Lackluster base 97 Special Attack often leaves Noivern wanting for damage when not clicking Boomburst or Draco Meteor and it can struggle to break past sturdier walls. Additionally, while base 123 Speed is fantastic, generational powercreep has introduced several Pokémon that either tie or outright outspeed Noivern, leaving its best quality falling short when Noivern needs it most. Noivern has some incredible qualities, but its at times lacking offenses and middling bulk can make it a difficult sell over the other incredible Dragon type Pokémon.
Positives
Base 123 Speed is incredible. The number of commonly used Pokémon that outspeed Noivern can be counted on one hand.
Great offensive movepool, with wide coverage and the coveted Boomburst that Noivern can abuse with Terastalization
Choice support moves in Defog, Taunt and Tailwind give Noivern a niche on multiple teams
Negatives
Dragon Flying is laden with common crippling weaknesses that stress teambuilding and require entry hazard support.
Lackluster offenses and no way to boost them can leave Noivern missing out on KOs at crucial times.
Outclassed by other Dragons and other naturally speedy Pokémon.
Movesets
Turn Down for What
-Boomburst
-Dark Pulse
-Focus Blast
-Hurricane
Ability: Infiltrator
Item: Throat Spray
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Boomburst Noivern acts as a late game cleaner, stacking Boomburst, Normal Terastalization and Throat Spray for an easily spammable nuke that batters down the opposing team while leaving Noivern flexible enough to counter incoming switches so that an opponent can’t pivot around like they could with a Choice set. While Boomburst will be the move of choice, Dark Pulse and Focus Blast offer important coverage against Ghost and Rock/Steel types respectively, as they’re the ones who resist Boomburst and thus the crux of Noivern’s offense. Hurricane rounds out the set as a powerful alternative STAB that has important coverage against opposing Grass, Fighting and Bug types. It is important to stress that you only get one shot with Throat Spray, so while it is tempting to use Noivern in the early game for revenge killing, you must be judicious with Boomburst until it is time to go for the sweep.
Tera Types:
Normal is the only option here, offering STAB on the horrifically powerful Boomburst and wiping away Noivern’s common Ice, Rock and Fairy weaknesses and having Noivern resist Fighting before Terastalization enables mind games and making it punishing to mispredict the Terastalization.
EVs and Items:
Max Special Attack and Speed to get as much power out of Noivern as possible. Timid Nature to ensure ties with Meowscarada and outspeeding Greninja and co. Throat Spray is key to how this set functions, giving Noivern a significant power boost while maintaining flexibility.
Partners:
While Noivern has the coverage, having allies that can soften or eliminate resists to Boomburst facilitate’s Noivern’s sweep. Iron Valiant is exemplary, covering Rock, Steel, Ghost and Dragon types with its STABs and Shadow Ball. Cinderace and Greninja both excel as well, covering most of Noivern’s weaknesses and offering important hazard control.
The hazard game is invaluable for Noivern, both for keeping it healthy and applying damage punishing an opponent’s pivoting and helping Noivern reach for KOs for a revenge KO or sweep. Clodsire, Great Tusk, Brambleghast, Toedscruel are all standout choices, covering problematic Rock and/or Steel types with their STABs.
Other Options:
Shadow Ball -Dark Pulse is generally preferred for covering Hisuian Zoroark, but if Flutter Mane and Mimikyu are a concern, Shadow Ball is preferred
Partners:
The hazard game is invaluable for Noivern, both for keeping it healthy and applying damage punishing an opponent’s pivoting and helping Noivern reach for KOs for a revenge KO or sweep. Clodsire, Great Tusk, Brambleghast, Toedscruel are all standout choices covering Rock and/or Steel types with their STABs, though the shared Ice weakness is unfortunate.
Other pivoting users work incredibly well with Noivern, forming potent VoltTurn cores that constant pivot to maintain positioning advantage over the opponent. Scizor is an exemplary example, easily pivoting into Ice and Fairy moves as well as potent priority for the few things faster than Noivern. Noivern in turn pivots into Fire moves easily and shuts down walls like Garganacl that can give Scizor trouble. Cinderace and Greninja also excel for similar reasons. Rotom-Wash makes a good Volt Switch partner, beating most Rock types with ease while offering disruption with Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave, and enjoying Noivern’s ability to pivot into Grass types.
Other Options:
Flamethrower/Hurricane/Air Slash/Boomburst -Noivern can run a dedicated Choice Specs set, swapping out Taunt and potentially U-Turn for extra coverage while still maintaining the fantastic Switcheroo disruption for walls.
Defog -Noivern’s speedy Defogs are very difficult to disrupt making it a decent Defogger if given Heavy Duty Boots
Super Fang -set 50% damage can be great for chipping bulky targets given Noivern’s somewhat lacking offense.
Roost -Noivern is going to be constantly switching and taking attacks and Stealth Rock damage. This can help it stick around longer in lieu of Heavy Duty Boots
Doubles and VGC Options
Noivern has spent many generations languishing in obscurity in the doubles format despite its excellent traits. It is one of the fastest Tailwind setters, making it incredibly reliable in setting it up and having a speedy non Prankster boosted Taunt is invaluable in shutting down opposing setup in doubles consider that it can’t be stopped by Tera Dark. Infiltrator and Frisk are wildly invaluable in doubles given how common Screens are, and the information Frisk provides enables more accurate plays, especially in best of 3 matches. However, Noivern suffers from incredibly stiff competition. Both Talonflame and Kilowattrel are naturally faster, the former possessing priority Tailwind thanks to Gale Wing, while Murkrow is effectively faster than Noivern with Prankster. Even if Noivern can boast more power thanks to Draco Meteor, it still suffers competition with that from Hydreigon who while admittedly is much slower, its Draco Meteors are far more damaging, enabling Hydreigon to better abuse its own Tailwind and Hydreigon’s Levitate means it has two incredible defensive Tera types that alongside its bulk make it difficult to put down quickly.
Bat Colony
-Tailwind
-Taunt
-Draco Meteor
-Super Fang
Ability: Frisk
Item: Covert Cloak
Tera Type: Fire/Steel
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Noivern acts as a middle Ground between the support/disruption of Talonflame and the power of Hydreigon. As mentioned before, the number of common Pokémon that naturally outspeed Noivern can be counted on one hand, making Noivern reliable at setting up Tailwind and shutting down opposing setups with a speedy Taunt Frisk further increases the utility Noivern offers, showing what items your opponent has. Knowing what item can be instrumental in figuring an opponent's set or knowing when they are running protective items like Covert Cloak and Safety Goggles to avoid moves that would be shutdown by them.
As for the offense, Noivern offers a fast Draco Meteor that will force your opponent to Terastalize or lose their Dragon while Super Fang is great in softening up bulkier targets it lacks the direct power to answer itself.
Covert Cloak blocks Fake Out, one of the few ways to stop Noivern before it can throw up a Tailwind.
Partners & Other Options:
Focus Sash -Considering the prevalence of Iron Bundle, Flutter Mane and Chien Pao who all naturally outspeed and OHKO Noivern, this can be invaluable in guaranteeing the Tailwind goes up.
Boomburst+Tera Normal -fantastic as always, but be sure to pair with a Ghost type or Protect user to avoid friendly fire.
Powerful attackers that can abuse Tailwind love the support Noivern can provide. Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu stand out, possessing overwhelming offense especially against the naturally faster opposing Flutter Mane, Iron Bundle and Chien-Pao that trouble Noivern.
Countering Noivern
Noivern lives and dies based on its Speed, so any priority and most faster targets naturally mess with Noivern and what it is trying to do. Banded Lycanroc Dusk best exemplifies this, able to pivot into most moves short of Focus Blast or a boosted Draco Meteor and get the OHKO with Accelerock. Baxcalibur is similar but can’t switch into Draco Meteor at all. Dragonite solidy 2HKOs with Tera Normal Extreme Speed, but needs Multiscale intact to endure a Draco Meteor/Focus Blast. Dragapult, Weavile, Chien-Pao, Iron Bundle and Fluttermane are also naturally faster attackers that can easily OHKO with their own STABs but can’t switch in Safely due to Draco Meteor or possibly Shadow Ball in Flutter Mane’s case.
Aside from these generalizations, Noivern counters vary widly between sets. Tera Normal Boomburst sets loathe opposing Ghost types for stopping Noivern from spamming Boomburst. Skeledirge and Ceruledge do well against sets lacking coverage for Ghost moves, taking pittance from everything else, but are unable to quickly KO in turn. Garganacl is an even bigger problem its bulk easily tanking most attacks and putting Noivern on a clock with Salt Cure/outright OHKO with Body Press, but struggles to stomach a Focus Blast. Blissey, Ting-Lu and Clodsire do by far the best, having the sheer special bulk to stomach even multiple +1 Focus Blasts and Boombursts without issue.
Pivot sets are even more difficult to manage due to the hit and run nature of them making it difficult to pin Noivern down. Unlike the Boomburst sets, dedicated Walls want nothing to do with Noivern as being Switcheroo’d a choice item is crippling for the rest of the match, and Taunt isn’t much better. Stealth Rocks are your friend here, as Noivern will constantly be taking chip damage, KOing it or forcing it to Roost sooner rather than later. Though in turn, Pivot Noivern’s damage outside of Super Fang is rather lacking and do not pose a significant threat unless exploiting a weakness.
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:
Trade from Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Resolution Cave
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Bridge Field, Lake of Outrage, Ballimere Lake, Lakeside Cave
Max Raid Battles: Axew's Eye, Workout Sea, Honeycalm Sea, Frostpoint Field, Giant's Bed, Frigid Sea, Ballimere Lake, Dyna Tree Hill
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Legends: Arceus:
Not in game
Scarlet/Violet:
North Province Area One, North Province Area Two
Tera Raid Battles: 5 Star Raid Battles
Anime Appearences
