Ninjask Moveset

[SoulBurner]

I have decided to use the very speedy Ninjask on my team, but I am not sure if my moveset will work on him. . . He looks like this:

Aerial Ace
Swords Dance
Facade
Dig

I have no idea what to do with him. . . :(

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Ninjask

Silver Wind
Swords dance
Protect
Baton Pass
@Lum Berry/Liechi Berry.

[Don't Run With Scizors]

Or: Silver Wind, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace\HP Ground\Rock\Fighting, Hyper Beam @Choice Band.

[kainashi]

Ninjask

Silver Wind
Swords dance
Protect
Baton Pass
@Lum Berry/Liechi Berry.aerial ace can also work in place of silver wind. ;) it's what i use on mine, anyways.

[andyizcool]

Ninjask@Lum Berry/Liechi Berry
Baton Pass
Swords dance
Protect/Substitute
Silver Wind/Aerial Ace

If you can get access to Pokemon FR/LG Move Tutors, Substitute can work better than Protect when you can Baton Pass it or it buys time for your Speed Boost to work a few times before using Baton Pass. Substitute also has the advantage to stop Status affecting Ninjask that can be really useful while trying to power up what needs Baton Passing.

[rinku]

If you don't want to baton pass, the following offensive set works v.well:

Aerial Ace
Silver Wind
Dig
Swords Dance/Double Team

Adamant

252 Attack
129 Defense
129 Sp. Defense

Dig, Aerial Ace and Silver Wind give excellent coverage. One Swords Dance will make its attack strength move from good to serious. If you get lucky with Silver Wind it moves into genuine sweeper status immediately. IMHO there is little to no need to futher train its Speed, and training up both defenses gives it enough durability to get in that initial Swords Dance, or dish out an extra hit. If you were building a pure baton passer you might consider 252 defense & Special Defense.

I've been using it with Baton Pass instead of Swords Dance as an opener with some success in battle tower - passing to something that likes a speed boost (i.e. Kecleon) whenever it comes up against something it can't handle.

[SoulBurner]

If I have already used the TMs for Dig and Aerial Ace, is there a way I can also get silver wind on him? I like the idea of silver wind, Dig, Aerial Ace, and Swords Dance... :)

[Poryhedron]

I don't know offhand about Aerial Ace, but you don't need a TM to put Dig on Ninjask. Nincada learns it naturally if you put off evolution until the mid-40s or so. Then, after it learns Dig, you can evolve it and then use Heart Scales to relearn any Ninjask-only moves you missed.

[rinku]

Silver Wind is an egg move. Beautifly, Dustox and Masquerain all learn it. There's no way in Ruby or Sapphire to get Aerial Ace into the Bug breeding group without a TM (you need Paras/Parasect), so it's a good place to use it considering all the Bug/Flying types. I'd suggest Beautifly as it's the most usable Bug/Flying apart from Nincada itself, and it allows you to breed the Silver Wind/Aerial Ace combo if you happen to hatch a bunch of girl Nincadas. Teach it Aerial Ace and level it up to 34 to learn Silver Wind.

[Ultimate Pikachu]

For offensive Ninjask:

Ninjask
Adamant
@Choice Band
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 Def
Silver Wind
Aerial Ace
Shadow Ball
HP Fighting

For Baton Pass:

Ninjask
Impish
@Focus Band?
252 HP, 129 Def, 129 Sp Def
Silver Wind
Protect/Substitute
Swords Dance
Baton Pass

I like Silver Wind for the chance of raising everything. Substitute works better that Protect, but Substitute needs Move Tutor.

[rinku]

Dunno about Shadow Ball. Seems a waste to include a move just to be SE vs Ghost. I've found Aerial Ace to be fine for dealing with them. I'd rate Dig over HP fighting in general, though I can see the point.

[Ultimate Pikachu]

Dunno about Shadow Ball. Seems a waste to include a move just to be SE vs Ghost. I've found Aerial Ace to be fine for dealing with them. I'd rate Dig over HP fighting in general, though I can see the point.

Shadow Ball and HP Fighting are for type coverage. The Special Defense drop is nice if Ninjask goes down, but I like Baton Passer better.

[Don't Run With Scizors]

rinku, you'll quickly realize that Aerial Ace really isn't all that good for dealing with ghosts. The 70-power difference between Shadow Ball against ghosts and a STAB'd Aerial Ace is massive. Shadow Ball could completely take out a Gengar, Misdreavus, or Banette (you'd have to weaken Dusclops first), while Aerial Ace would give them a chance to survive and counterattack. And Ninjask does not fare well if its assassination target lives to strike back.

Also, I prefer HP Rock over HP Fighting on Ninjask. A max-power HP Rock from Ninjask (complete with CB, Adamant personality, and max Attack effort, of course), can take 75% to 50% off a Salamence's HP, depending on the Salamence's effort points. And give Ninjask max Speed effort points as well. That gives it the chance to outrun most targets that have had a chance to Dragon Dance once (twice maybe if you're considering Tyranitar).

[rinku]

I guess I was just querying the need to have such broad coverage. Silver wind deals with Psychic better than Shadow Ball, due to STAB, Aerial Ace or Silver Wind will be more powerful than Shadow Ball vs Sableye, and Aerial Ace is better than Shadow Ball vs Shedinja (due to never-miss), so it is only Banette, Dusclops, Gengar and Misdreavous that Shadow Ball is desired for.

I'm just saying that I would hesitate to burn a unique TM to cover them, when Aerial Ace is adequate.

[Edit]

I just had a quick look at the numbers and it's not that dire actually. Aerial Ace should take out Gengar, Banette and Misdreavous (all of whom have very similar defensive stats) in 2 hits with Choice Band, while it looks like about 3 hits on Dusclops. (I think we can agree that Dusclops isn't a great target for Ninjask anyway). Defense effort has little net effect unless a +Defense personality... 2 hits or less to kill all Ghosts but Dusclops with a maxed Aerial Ace, unless significant effort spent on HP as well as Defense.

On a 31 IV, 252 defense effort Banette, Gengar or Misdreavous it would also take 2 Shadow Ball hits to kill, unless -Defense personality.

At least, that's my quick figures. I could have made a mistake.

So it all goes to how much effort has been allocated on the Ghost target's Defense anyway.

[Don't Run With Scizors]

Yeah, it's that second hit that's needed with Aerial Ace that's the killer. If any survive, Ninjask can be taken out with Thunderbolt or get Will-o-Wisped or something.

We can reasonably expect Gengars and Banettes not to have max defense - their forte is attack power, and their effort points will be adjusted accordingly. Some Misdreavii might survive, having had been given max defense because they Perish Trap. But those Misdreavii probably aren't going to be Thunderbolting your Ninjask.

By the way, you don't have to waste a TM for Shadow Ball... you can get both Silver Wind and Shadow Ball on a Nincada by breeding Sableye -> Illumise/Volbeat -> Masquerain -> Nincada.

[rinku]

By the way, you don't have to waste a TM for Shadow Ball... you can get both Silver Wind and Shadow Ball on a Nincada by breeding Sableye -> Illumise/Volbeat -> Masquerain -> Nincada.

Good point. I sheepishly admit I hadn't checked for that...

Also, I should have included a few type combos for whom Shadow Ball is more effective than Silver Wind and Aerial Ace:

Electric/Flying, Psychic/Flying & Rock Flying.

Add Zapdos, Xatu and Aerodactyl to the list.