It’s Valentine’s Day, and while we can’t all get dates, we can at least catch our favorite pink Pokémon. Here are the strongest pink Pokémon in Sword and Shield and how to use them in ranked doubles or VGC.
Gastrodon (West Sea)
Gastrodon’s West Sea variation is a light pink with a chocolate brown shell. This Pokémon is the ultimate wall to any Water-type moves. Its ability, Storm Drain, absorbs any Water-type move and heals it even if Gastrodon isn’t the target. Its Water/Ground typing is an amazing defensive typing and renders it weak only to Grass-type moves.
This bulky slug gets the most value as a bulky special attacker. Using a Modest or Quiet nature and investing EVs into HP and Special Attack is the most popular build. Earth Power, Scald, Recover, and Protect are commonly taken to give it STAB (same-type attack bonus) coverage and survivability. Having it hold a Rindo Berry helps it survive Grass-type attacks.
Milotic
While Milotic isn’t purely pink, it would be unfair to leave this beautiful and powerful Pokémon off this list. It serves as a bulky Water-type attacker with a great ability in Competitive that can help increase its damage output.
Milotic will generally take a Bold nature with a defensive EV spread to give it survivability. It relies on Competitive to give it Special Attack boosts and takes supportive moves such as Scald, Muddy Water, Hypnosis, or Icy Wind to hinder opponents.
Sylveon
Sylveon is Eevee’s most recent and most powerful evolution. This Pokémon is undoubtedly cute, but it wouldn’t be wise to take it lightly. Sylveon relies on a strong ability, decent coverage, and good bulk to help its trainer win battles.
Sylveon’s Hidden Ability, Pixilate, allows it to use Hyper Voice as a STAB Fairy-type move. This, along with its 110 base Special Attack stat, means it’s going to hit both opposing Pokémon like a truck. It generally runs a Modest nature and maximizes HP and Special Attack to survive and dish out damage.
Hatterene
This Fairy/Psychic-type Pokémon has become one of the best Trick Room users in Sword and Shield. It has an awful base Speed stat, which is great for Trick Room, and its Magic Bounce ability makes it immune to status moves like Taunt in most cases.
Hatterene will generally run a Quiet nature to increase its Special Attack and decrease its Speed. It invests in HP and Special Attack and generally holds a Babiri Berry to protect from Steel-type moves so that it can safely use Trick Room on the first turn of the battle. Once it gets Trick Room off, it will generally move first and be able to dish out damage.
Clefairy
Clefairy is as old as Pokémon itself and still remains a solid cute and competitive option. It just got access to its Hidden Ability, Friend Guard, with the release of Pokémon Home. The ability reduces the amount of damage its allies take, which makes it extremely useful in doubles battles.
Clefairy will invest fully in defensive stats and support moves. It holds an Eviolite, which gives it even more survivability. It will mainly use Follow Me and Helping Hand to help its partner, and nothing screams Valentine’s Day more than helping a partner out.
So if you’re alone on Valentine’s Day and want something to do, check out one of these cute, pink, powerful Pokémon and breed one for yourself in Pokémon Sword or Shield!
