Porygon2, The Virtual Pokémon. This is a Porygon that was updated with special data. Porygon2 develops itself by learning about many different subjects all on its own. After artificial intelligence was implemented in Porygon2, the Pokémon began using a strange language that only other Porygon2 understand.

Overview

Not many things have changed for Porygon2 which makes up for a decent utility Pokemon thanks to Eviolite boosting its defenses along with the ability to hinder an opponent with status while being able to switch safely into Pokemon like Chandelure, Vaporeon or Manectric thanks to Trace copying their abilities. One huge upgrade Porygon has received was the move Teleport from LGPE which allows it to regain momentum against the opponent. However, Porygon2 still has the same flaws in the past due to its reliance on Eviolite, it is vulnerable to Knock Off. Furthermore, Porygon2's vulnerability to residual damage from entry hazards and Toxic mean that it can be overwhelmed easy. That being said, Porygon2 is still the same monster it's always been in Ranked Singles, aside from the part where it's banned during Series 6 due to its high usage.
Positives
Base 85 / 90 / 95 defenses which are further bolstered by Eviolite grants Porygon2 a great amount of bulk, making it really hard to OHKO without a powerful STAB super-effective hit.
Access to instant recovery and a decent support moveset with options like Toxic, Thunder Wave and most importantly, Teleport, makes Porygon2 a decent Pokemon to switch into prominent threats like Incineroar, Vaporeon, Zeraora and Chandelure.
Trace makes for an useful ability since it can copy immunity abilities like Volt Absorb and Flash Fire making it a good switch-in against Pokemon with these abilities.
Download and Analytic are both very powerful offensive ability choices that Porygon2 has at its disposal, allowing it to even make use of Dynamax offensively.

Negatives
Because it relies on Eviolite to get the massive bulk it obtains from the item, it is incredibly vulnerable to Trick or Knock Off which can easily render Porygon2 useless through the rest of the match.
Poison will easily cut Porygon2's lifespan short crippling its ability to recover lost health and wall threats for the rest of the match.
It's weakness to Fighting will make it easily fall against powerful Fighting STAB users like Urshifu, Lucario, Terrakion and Heracross.

Movesets

HAXDUCK

- Tri Attack
- Recover / Trick Room
- Ice Beam
- Discharge / Thunderbolt
Item Attached: Eviolite
Ability: Download / Analytic
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold / Quiet Nature

Standard Battle Stadium Porygon2 hasn't changed a whole lot, though it has gained a lot more offensive flexibility thanks to Dynamax. While it no longer has Hidden Power, Tri Attack is a very suitable replacement as a moderately powerful STAB that offers a powerful Max Strike option as well. Ice Beam may not have its usual targets of Garchomp, Salamence, and Landorus at the moment, though it's still useful for dealing with Dragapult, Dracozolt, and Rillaboom efficiently. Discharge completes the classic BoltBeam combo for Porygon2 and boasts a nice 30% paralysis chance, though Thunderbolt's extra power can be useful too. Both moves have the same base power for Max Lightning though, so Discharge utility is often better. Recover is an obvious choice for Porygon2 since reliable recovery is a huge selling point that makes it very difficult for many Pokemon to deal with. However, offensive sets with Trick Room are also common and generally drop Recover to make use of this.

DYNAMAX
Porygon2 is actually a very powerful Dynamax user in a pinch even with no offensive investment, due to its strong coverage and potential Download boost. It becomes very difficult to KO Porygon2 while its Dynamaxed, making it a dangerous tank especially if using a more offensive spread with Trick Room.

EV and Items
Max HP and Defense with a Bold nature is ideal to take advantage of the physical-heavy metagame in Battle Stadium, allowing it to more comfortably tank hits from physical threats such as Mimikyu, Dragapult, Dracozolt, and so on. However, if utilizing an offensive set for Trick Room then the Defense focus should be shifted to Special Attack with a Quiet nature. Eviolite is a no-brainer, there's really nothing else to say about it.

Partners

Porygon2 is realistically a good partner for every team since it's such a good catch-all defensive pivot for most foes. Cinderace, Togekiss, Rillaboom, Dragapult, Dracozolt, all the big guys appreciate having Porygon2 as a teammate. However Trick Room sets are particularly helpful for the likes of Dragalge and Rhyperior, who both excel under Trick Room to pull off a Dynamax sweep. Unfortunately, none of this is relevant during Series 6 since poor Porygon2 is getting booted for a few seasons.

CYBER RUBBER DUCK

- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Teleport
- Toxic / Thunder Wave
Item Attached: Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm / Bold Nature

Thanks to the increased bulk from Eviolite, Porygon2 becomes a decent utility Pokemon capable of tanking powerful hits. Ice Beam is the main option for Porygon2 to hit Dragapult and Rillaboom for super-effective damage. Recover allows it to replenish lost health and give it more opportunities to wall the threats it is supposed to check. Teleport is the main new addition as it allows Porygon2 to regain momentum from an unfavorable switch by the opponent. Finally the last slot depends on what you want Porygon2 to do: Thunder Wave puts a huge dent on sweepers like Gyarados and Dragapult while Toxic allows it to hinder Pokemon that Porygon2 can't hurt.

DYNAMAX
There is no benefit whatsoever from ever Dynamaxing this Porygon2 set. Due to its passive nature, most of its max moves would become Max Guard so you've got to be in a really tough position for this to be the best choice for your Dynamax.

EV and Items
Max HP and Special Defense allows Porygon2 to take multiple hits from the likes of Dragapult, Vaporeon and Chandelure. However, if you want Porygon2 to handle more physically inclined threats like Incineroar or Gyarados, a Bold nature is also an option. Eviolite is the only item worth for Porygon2 to carry as otherwise it becomes a much more mediocre Pokemon.

Partners

Corviknight: Defog support is crucial for Porygon2 as it is incredibly vulnerable to any kind of passive damage, specially if it is Toxic Spikes. Corviknight also forms a decent U-Port core with it.
Amoonguss: It's resistance to Fighting and ability to wall Keldeo and Rapid Strike Urshifu makes it a great partner who can also remove Toxic Spikes upon switching.
Clefable: Getting more Teleport Pokemon might sound crazy but with Clefable being able to virtually check most Fighting types, it becomes a good option and you might be able to even free the Teleport moveslot on one of them.
Celebi: Thanks to Natural Care it can absorb the status ailments Porygon2 doesn't wants to take and it gets access to both Nasty Plot and Psychic to get rid of Fighting types.

Other Options

Porygon2 has an excellent special movepool with moves like Thunderbolt, Psychic and Shadow Ball but its evolution will carry out any offensive role much better and the lack of a strong STAB hurts it.

VGC & Double Battle Options

Porygon2 is actually one of the more stand-out Pokemon introduced with the Isle of Armor DLC. Unfortunately this is probably the most inconvenient time to be talking about Porygon2 since it will soon be banned from Battle Stadium metagames for Series 6, which means it's banned from VGC. Porygon2 happened to be one of the Top 10 most used Pokemon in Singles during the month of July and not Doubles, contrary to what you might have expected, but regardless it remains banned for Series 6 as a whole. This results in an unfortunate loss for VGC since it's actually a very reliable Trick Room setter, though you can probably manage without the duck for a few months since Dusclops barely dodged the ban hammer. Porygon2 is very bulky with Eviolite and is only weak to Fighting-type moves, also boasting a Ghost immunity if Dusclops taking too much from Dragapult is a problem for you. It also has strong coverage to work with to give it a solid offensive presence over its fellow Trick Room setter, so Porygon2 has quite a bit going for it. Unfortunately, you're not actually going to see this thing for a few months, so we're just pretend that this never happened.

Firewall

- Ice Beam
- Tri Attack / Thunderbolt
- Trick Room / Ally Switch
- Recover
Item Attached: Eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef
Quiet / Modest Nature

Porygon2 has three solid coverage options but only two move slots to make room for them in most cases. Ice Beam boasts solid coverage against Rillaboom, Dragapult, and Togekiss, giving it a way to threaten some of the most common threats in the metagame. Tri Attack doesn't complement Ice Beam nearly as well as Thunderbolt does, but it does make for a reasonably powerful STAB move for hitting threats it can't hit super-effectively, such as Incineroar and a Cinderace that hasn't used Max Airstream yet. Thunderbolt's coverage is still useful though for hitting Lapras and Charizard harder than Tri Attack, so you can choose based on your team's needs. Trick Room is a common support option for Porygon2 as it functions as a powerful form of speed control, and being a Trick Room setter that isn't weak to Dragapult is always a useful niche. However, if Trick Room support isn't necessary than you can go with the chaotic Ally Switch option instead for some positioning utility. Recover is a given here, Porygon2 is very bulky so it can often find an opportunity to heal up several times during a battle. You heard that right, no Protect here.

There's a number of different ways to EV Porygon2, you can make it as offensive as you want though ideally you'll want some level of mixed bulk to support it. Quiet nature is ideal on an offensive set to underspeed as many foes as possible under Trick Room, though there's always an argument for maintaining some of that Speed for matchups outside of Trick Room. Eviolite is the obvious item choice since the bulk it provides is unmatched, though Eviolite is a hot commodity so this usually means you're not using Dusclops or Clefairy on your team if you pick Porygon2. Download is an interesting ability that still works fairly well in Doubles, since it averages the defensive stats of the foes to determine the boost Porygon2 gets. Trace and Analytic are both highly inconsistent in Doubles though so it's hard to recommend using those anyway.

Other Options & Team Ideas

- For the time being, you might want to consider the option of using Dusclops instead because Dusclops is not banned for Series 6. Not a traditional option for Porygon2 but it'll have to do for now.
- As a Trick Room setter, Porygon2 wants to be paired with Pokemon that can best utilize this support. Alolan Marowak, Torkoal, Primarina, and Rhyperior are all strong Pokemon that greatly appreciate Trick Room support. Primarina can notably threaten Fighting-types that Porygon2 doesn't want to deal with, while Alolan Marowak and Torkoal are both Trick Room attackers that don't get bullied by Grassy Glide.
- Fake Out support from Rillaboom or Incineroar can be helpful for setting up Trick Room more safely, with the former providing extra healing support via Grassy Terrain and the latter providing debuff support with Intimidate and Parting Shot.
- Redirection is another tool that helps ease Trick Room setup, so Togekiss, Amoonguss and Indeedee are both solid partners for this role. Togekiss and Amoonguss also have a resistance to Fighting-type moves, making it very complicated to actually prevent the Trick Room in these cases.
- Porygon2 is not limited to full Trick Room archetypes, so you can feel free to use Porygon2 alongside faster teammates such as Cinderace and Dragapult to maintain some offensive pressure in cases where Trick Room mode is not ideal.

Countering Porygon2

Any strong Fighting STAB user will dent Porygon2 although it will require some minimal damage to get OHKO'd in order to avoid the risk of a paralysis or poison. Terrakion, Keldeo, Urshifu and Lucario will easily defeat Porygon2.

Porygon2 will struggle against Steel types as otherwise the only thing it can do to them is paralyzing them. Excadrill deserves a mention since it is immune to both Toxic and Thunder Wave and the only thing Porygon2 can do back against it is firing Ice Beams which won't come close to 2HKO.

Toxapex will easily shut down Clangorous Soul sets thanks to Haze and pretty much wall it for the rest of the game.

Anime Appearences

Porygon2 has yet to make an appearance in the anime # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics