Is Octillery Good?

No, Octillery is not good for serious PvP, but it is highly effective for casual playthroughs. While its excellent Base 105 Attack and Special Attack paired with a massive coverage movepool hit incredibly hard, its abysmal 45 Speed and mediocre bulk make it unviable in standard competitive formats.

Octillery trades all speed and defense for a colorful arsenal of attacks, making it a fun but heavily flawed glass cannon.

Rating 4/10 · Tier Untiered (PvP) / B-(In-Game) · Role : Slow Mixed Attacker / Trick Room Sweeper

Strengths

• Massive elemental coverage movepool including Fire, Ice, Grass, and Poison attacks.
• Excellent base 105 in both Attack and Special Attack allows for unpredictable mixed sets.
• Moody ability can completely snowball casual matches if left unchecked.

Weaknesses

• Abysmal base 45 Speed guarantees it moves last against nearly all offensive threats.
• Mediocre 75/75/75 defensive bulk means it gets 2HKO'd by most neutral attacks.
• Heavily reliant on Trick Room support to function against human opponents.

Looking ahead to the mechanics of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and analyzing its current state in Scarlet & Violet, Octillery remains strictly an in-game or niche casual pick. It holds no viable tier in serious competitive play.

Its role is exclusively that of a slow mixed attacker or a dedicated Trick Room sweeper. With base 105 in both Attack and Special Attack, it has the raw numbers to threaten heavily from either side of the spectrum.

However, its abysmal base 45 Speed dictates every aspect of how you must play it. You will almost never move first unless you manipulate the field conditions.

In standard singles or doubles without heavy support, it acts as a sitting duck. It cannot function as a reliable pivot or a defensive wall due to its flat 75/75/75 defensive stats.

Bringing this Pokémon to a ranked ladder puts you at a severe disadvantage. It simply cannot keep pace with the hyper-offensive power creep and fast pivots of modern generations.

Octillery’s stat distribution is a relic of older design philosophies. The dual 105 offensive stats look fantastic on paper, allowing you to run both physical and special moves without sacrificing much damage output.

The pure Water typing is defensively sound, granting vital resistances to Fire, Ice, Water, and Steel. But typing alone cannot compensate for a lack of raw defensive stats.

At 75 HP, 75 Defense, and 75 Special Defense, it cannot survive strong neutral hits from modern wallbreakers. A STAB attack from an upper-tier threat will easily OHKO or severely cripple it.

Its abilities offer distinct flavors for casual play. Suction Cups prevents forced switching from moves like Roar or Whirlwind, which is highly situational but occasionally useful against stall teams.

Sniper boosts critical hit damage from the standard 1.5x multiplier to a massive 2.25x. When paired with a Scope Lens and high-crit ratio moves, it becomes a fun damage multiplier, though too inconsistent for reliable strategy.

Moody is its most infamous trait. Often banned in community formats due to its heavy reliance on RNG, it raises one stat by two stages and lowers another by one stage every turn. Stalling with Protect to stack Moody boosts is a hilarious, if completely unreliable, casual tactic.

Where Octillery truly excels is its expansive movepool. It possesses arguably one of the deepest and most colorful arsenals of any Water-type in the franchise.

Unlike standard Water-types, it learns Flamethrower and Fire Blast. This allows it to completely obliterate Grass-types and Bug-types that expect a safe switch-in to a Water attack.

It also gains access to Ice Beam for Dragon and Flying types, Energy Ball for opposing Water-types, and Sludge Bomb or Flash Cannon to punish Fairy-types.

Because of this absurd coverage, it easily wins matchups against Pokémon that normally wall aquatic attackers. A bulky Grass-type switching in to tank a Surf will be instantly melted by a Fire Blast.

For in-game playthroughs, this versatility is unmatched. You can tailor its four moves to counter specific Gym Leaders or Elite Four members with ease.

• Special Sweeper Set: Surf / Ice Beam / Flamethrower / Energy Ball (Holding Expert Belt)
• Physical Gimmick Set: Waterfall / Gunk Shot / Rock Blast / Seed Bomb

Its signature move, Octazooka, lowers the opponent's accuracy. While flavorful, its 65 base power and 85% accuracy make it mathematically inferior to Surf or Scald in almost every practical scenario.

If your goal is to beat the main story in games like Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl or Scarlet & Violet, Octillery is a fantastic and reliable asset.

Remoraid evolves at a very accessible level 25. This means you get a fully evolved, hard-hitting Pokémon relatively early in most campaigns, providing a massive mid-game power spike.

During a playthrough, the AI rarely switches or uses optimal speed-control tactics. This allows Octillery to simply tank one weaker hit from an NPC and retaliate with a devastating super-effective coverage move.

In older generations, it served as an excellent HM user, capable of learning Surf and Waterfall while still maintaining strong combat utility for boss fights.

In Scarlet & Violet, Terastallization gives it a new tactical edge for PvE. Tera-Fire turns its Flamethrower into a STAB nuke while flipping its Grass weakness into a resistance.

Tera-Grass is equally potent, boosting Energy Ball to deal with bulky Water-types while completely nullifying its natural Electric and Grass weaknesses.

We must be honest: Octillery is severely flawed mechanically. Its base 45 Speed is an absolute death sentence against any competent human opponent.

It is outsped by nearly every offensive threat in the game. You are forced to take a hit before you can dish one out, which breaks its potential as a sweeper.

Because its defenses are only average, taking that initial hit usually results in losing a large chunk of HP, if not outright fainting.

Fast Electric-types and physical Grass-types completely shut it down. If the opponent has a strong STAB super-effective move, Octillery will not survive to use its amazing coverage.

• Electric Attackers: Fast Volt Switch users easily pivot out while dealing massive damage, breaking its Focus Sash and maintaining momentum.
• Grass Sweepers: Anything with high physical attack and a Grass move will OHKO it through its mediocre 75 Defense.
• Status Ailments: Toxic or Burn ruins its longevity, and it has no reliable recovery outside of the vulnerable Rest.

It is heavily reliant on items like Focus Sash just to guarantee it fires off a single attack in tougher battles.

If you insist on using Octillery outside of the main story, you must build your entire team around mitigating its terrible speed.

Trick Room is mandatory. Slower Pokémon move first under Trick Room, instantly turning Octillery's biggest weakness into its greatest offensive strength.

Partnering it with reliable Trick Room setters is the only way it functions against human players. Bulky Psychic-types or Ghost-types that can guarantee the field effect are essential.

• Trick Room Setters: Bulky setters like Hatterene or Slowbro can take a hit, set up the dimensions, and pivot out safely.
• Redirection Support: In doubles formats, Pokémon with Follow Me or Rage Powder can draw attacks away while Octillery fires off attacks freely.
• Hazard Control: It needs entry hazards cleared. Taking Stealth Rock damage ruins its chances of surviving a neutral hit.

Without this heavy, dedicated support infrastructure, it is just dead weight on a competitive team.

Do not pick Octillery if you want a fast, self-sufficient sweeper. It cannot clean up weakened teams late-game unless Trick Room is actively on the field.

Avoid it entirely for high-tier ranked PvP. The power level of modern formats will crush it before it can launch a single Fire Blast.

Do not use it as a defensive pivot. It lacks the natural resistances, reliable recovery, and raw stats needed to absorb repeated hits.

If you need a Water-type with offensive presence, there are vastly superior options available.

• Azumarill: Offers the Huge Power ability, priority in Aqua Jet to bypass low speed, and a better defensive typing in Water/Fairy.
• Palafin: Boasts monstrous stats in its Hero form and actual speed to sweep independently.
• Gastrodon: Provides actual defensive utility, reliable recovery, and a crucial Electric immunity.

Octillery is a fun, quirky weapon for casual runs, but it should stay far away from competitive ladders.