Pokémon Sword & Shield: 8 Pokémon To Dominate Multiplayer

With threats like Zacian, Barraskewda and Polteageist, Sword and Shield have introduced a number of powerful, fast sweepers. If you haven't got enough speedy Pokémon of your own, these might prove too much to handle. However, Hatterene offers a strategy to use these Pokémon's speed against them.

Hatterene's speed stat is very low, which you might expect to cause a problem in such a speed-saturated competitive scene. But Hatterene can make use of Trick Room, a move which causes the slowest Pokémon to move first for five turns. Using Trick Room, Hatterene can effectively turn the tables on speedy opponents. Using its high special attack, it can then go on the offensive, blowing holes in your opponent's team with a diverse movepool.

It's not just speedy Pokémon that Hatterene can counter - it also provides a handy check for slow, bulky Pokémon like Toxapex and Ferrothorn; its high special attack and Psychic typing can obliterate the former, and if it knows Mystical Fire it can do the same to the latter with a 4x-super effective Fire attack.

What's more, Hatterene's Magic Bounce ability blocks and bounces back an opponents status moves, allowing Hatterene to safely switch in against these support-based Pokemon and prevent them from setting up stage hazards.