This is a strategy guide for using Solgaleo in competitive play for the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, and Held Items to use with Solgaleo, as well as its strengths and weak points.
| Solgaleo - Related Guides | |
|---|---|
| Evolution and Learnset |  Build for Ranked Battle |
List of Contents
- Basic Information for Solgaleo
- Singles Movesets for Solgaleo
- Doubles Movesets for Solgaleo
- How to Use Solgaleo Effectively
- How to Build a Team with Solgaleo
- Counters for Solgaleo
- Related Links
Basic Information for Solgaleo
Types and Abilities
| Pokemon | Type 1 | Type 2 |
|---|---|---|
Solgaleo | ||
| Abilities | ||
| Full Metal Body | Prevents other Pokémon's moves or Abilities from lowering the Pokémon's stats. | |
Solgaleo Weaknesses and Resistances
| Type | |
|---|---|
| Takes 4x damage | - |
| Takes 2x damage | |
| Takes 0.5x damage | |
| Takes 1/4x damage | |
| Takes 0x damage |
What is Type Effectiveness?
Base Stats
| HP | Attack | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 137 | 137 | 107 | 113 | 89 | 97 |
Best Nature for Solgaleo
| Best Natures | |
|---|---|
| Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk) | Jolly (+Spe, -Sp. Atk) |
What are Natures?
Singles Movesets for Solgaleo
Choice Scarf Moveset & Best Build
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -Sp. Atk) |
|---|---|
| EV Spread | Atk 252 / Sp. Def 4 / Spe 252 |
| Final Stat Values | HP 212 / Atk 189 / Def 128 / Sp. Def 110 / Spe 163 |
| Ability | Full Metal Body |
| Held Item | Choice Scarf |
| Moveset | ・Sunsteel Strike ・Wild Charge ・Flare Blitz ・Earthquake |
Solgaleo is an immensely powerful attacker with decently sturdy defenses. Its modest speed allows it to be an excellent Choice Scarf user. It boasts a wide variety of coverage options, making it a good Pokemon to fit into any team.
About Solgaleo's Moves
Sunsteel Strike is Solgaleo's primary STAB move and is a powerful Steel-type move that ignores the opponent's Abilities. This move allows it to threaten Pokemon that get increased resistances or bulkiness with Abilities, such as Solid Rock, Filter, and Multiscale.
Wild Charge allows Solgaleo to hit opposing Yveltal, Kyogre and other bulky Water-types for super-effective damage. When Dynamaxed, Max Lightning also protects Solgaleo from sleep. Meanwhile, Flare Blitz is a strong Fire-type coverage move that can knock out Ferrothorn looking to set up in front of Solgaleo.
Solgaleo's last move is Earthquake and is a powerful coverage move that complements Sunsteel Strike, allowing Solgaleo to boost its Defense and Special Defense during Dynamax.
About Solgaleo's EV Spread
We maximize Solgaleo's Attack stat, as well as its Speed stat with a Jolly Nature. We prioritize its Speed, thus not running an Adamant Nature, so that Solgaleo can attack as soon as possible. It already has a very high Attack stat, so running a Jolly Nature instead of an Adamant nature is best.
About Solgaleo's Ability
Full Metal Body is a great ability to have for a physical attacker. This Ability grants Solgaleo immunity from Intimidate attack drops.
About Solgaleo's Held Item
Choice Scarf allows Solgaleo to outspeed Yveltal and Charizard and possibly knock them out with a super-effective move. This also comes with the same disadvantages of other Choice items, by locking Solgaleo into a move. It is important to note that Choice Scarf does not grant Solgaleo its speed boost if it Dynamaxes.
Other Viable Moves
| Stone Edge | Stone Edge lets Solgaleo knock out threats like Charizard and Heat Rotom. It is, however, inaccurate. A less powerful but more accurate alternative would be Rock Slide. |
|---|---|
| Psychic Fangs | Psychic Fangs is preferred over the more traditional Zen Headbutt due to it having slightly higher power and more consistent accuracy. |
| Close Combat | Close Combat lets Solgaleo deal damage to a variety of different types at the cost of lowering its defenses. |
Doubles Movesets for Solgaleo
Weakness Policy Attacker Moveset & Best Build
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -Sp. Atk) |
|---|---|
| EV Spread | Atk 252 / Sp. Def 4 / Spe 252 |
| Final Stat Values | HP 212 / Atk 189 / Def 128 / Sp. Def 110 / Spe 163 |
| Ability | Full Metal Body |
| Held Item | Weakness Policy |
| Moveset | ・Sunsteel Strike ・Psychic Fangs ・Earthquake ・Protect |
Solgaleo's typing and many weaknesses work to its advantage, allowing it to have many different ways of activating Weakness Policy. Its sky-high Attack stat with a Weakness Policy boost turn Solgaleo into a very efficient physical sweeper that is very difficult to wall.
About Solgaleo's Moves
Sunsteel Strike is Solgaleo's primary STAB move and is a powerful Steel-type move that ignores the opponent's Abilities. Psychic Fangs is its secondary STAB move, offering greater utility over Zen Headbutt with its ability to break Reflect, Light Screen, and Aurora Veil.
Earthquake is a powerful coverage move that complements Sunsteel Strike, and also allows it to boost its Defense and Special Defense during Dynamax. Protect is its last move and is mostly used to scout the opposing team's moves, while also giving Solgaleo Max Guard during Dynamax.
About Solgaleo's EV Spread
We maximize Solgaleo's Attack stat, as well as its Speed stat with a Jolly Nature. We prioritize its Speed, thus not running an Adamant Nature, so that Solgaleo can attack as soon as possible. It already has a very high Attack stat, so running a Jolly Nature instead of an Adamant nature is best.
About Solgaleo's Ability
Full Metal Body is a great Ability to have for a physical attacker. This Ability grants Solgaleo immunity from Intimidate attack drops.
About Solgaleo's Held Item
Weakness Policy gives Solgaleo a boost to its already impressive offensive stats, most importantly its Attack stat.
Other Viable Moves
| Wild Charge | Wild Charge is good for checking opposing Kyogre or other bulky Water-types. When Dynamaxed, Max Lightning can protect Solgaleo from sleep. It is also a good move to use against opposing Yveltal and other Flying-types. |
|---|---|
| Flare Blitz | Flare Blitz is a strong Fire-type coverage move. This move can knock out Ferrothorn who would want to try and set up in front of Solgaleo. |
| Rock Slide | Rock Slide improves your matchup against Fire-types like Charizard or Heat Rotom. Do note, however, that Solgaleo will typically not outspeed Charizard. |
How to Use Solgaleo Effectively
Solgaleo would always want to get multiple knock outs when it Dynamaxes. Teammates that can support it, boost its offense or activate its Weakness Policy are good teammates for Solgaleo. Having a switch-in to Dark-types is also good to have at the back of your team.
How to Build a Team with Solgaleo
Teammates that can mitigate damage to Solgaleo or activate its Weakness Policy are good to have alongside it.
Dynamax Attacker
Solgaleo is an excellent Dynamax attacker, especially with teammates that can support it.
Example Solgaleo Team
| Support | Physical Attacker | Special Attacker |
|---|---|---|
| Entei | Solgaleo | Kyogre |
Support Entei is a good partner for Solgaleo because it is immune to getting flinched thanks to its Inner Focus. It is reasonably fast and can activate Solgaleo's Weakness Policy with Bulldoze. Solgaleo's Full Metal Body Ability makes it immune to Bulldoze's speed drop, thus making Bulldoze function like Electroweb.
Kyogre's Drizzle protects Solgaleo by weakening Fire-type moves. It can also attack into Fire and Ground-types who Solgaleo might have trouble dealing damage to.
Counters for Solgaleo
| Weakness |
|---|
Counter Solgaleo with Fast Super-Effective Damage
Solgaleo has trouble going toe-to-toe against Pokemon who can hit it for super-effective damage and are faster. Foul Play is also a very good move against Solgaleo, especially if its Weakness Policy has been activated.
Best Pokemon to Use
| Pokemon | Description |
|---|---|
| Yveltal | Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Can outspeed and threaten Solgaleo with powerful boosted Dark-type moves. |
| Charizard | Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Can outspeed and threaten Solgaleo with a super-effective Fire-type move. |
| Porygon2 | Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Can usually tank a hit from Solgaleo and punish it with Foul Play. ・Can put Solgaleo at a disadvantage with Trick Room. |
Related Links
All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle
Competitive Guides for Pokemon Sword and Shield
| Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier List | Best Builds | Series 10 List of Contenders | |||
| Doubles Tier List | Team Building | Rental Teams | |||
Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon
| Movesets & Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Galarian Articuno | Galarian Zapdos | Galarian Moltres |
| Raikou | Entei | Suicune |
| Articuno | Zapdos | Moltres |
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| Tapu Fini | Regieleki | Regidrago |
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| Kartana | Stakataka | Blaziken |
| Kyogre | Yveltal | Xerneas |
| Necrozma (Dusk Mane) | Calyrex (Shadow Rider) | Mewtwo |
| Calyrex (Ice Rider) | Dialga | Lugia |
| Black Kyurem | Zekrom | Ho-Oh |
| Rayquaza | Zygarde | Reshiram |
| White Kyurem | Groudon | Regirock |
| Palkia | Regigigas | Registeel |
| Regice | Giratina |  Solgaleo |
| Lunala | Kyurem | Necrozma |
| Uxie | Mesprit | Azelf |
| Calyrex | ||
