Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Best Palafin Moveset

Palafin, in its Hero Mode, is one of the most powerful Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet! Generation IX features a variety of Pokemon and Palafin easily ranks towards the top when it comes to offensive capabilities.

Palafin is extremely useful in almost all the game modes, starting from in-game battles to the Casual and Ranked battles!

However, in order to actually obtain a fruitful impact from its abilities, you need the best Palafin moveset in play, along with a complementary nature mint and held items.  

Best Palafin Moveset in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Palafin will start off battles in its normal, “Zero” mode. But, with the “Zero to Hero” ability, it will automatically turn into the beastly “Hero” mode once you switch it out.

The next time Palafin comes back into the battle, it’ll have the buffed up attributes of the Palafin – Hero.

In Hero mode, Palafin’s Attack is at a whopping 160! It’s the second-highest Attack level for any Pokemon in the game, and that’s exactly where we’ll focus our moveset on.

The Sp. Atk is at an impressive 106 as well, with a good HP coverage at 100.

The moveset of Palafin will consist of the Jet Punch, Flip Turn, Wave Crash, and Close Combat.

The Jet Punch is Palafin’s primary offensive move and is available for use from Level 1! It belongs to the Physical Attack category and really excels with the 160 Attack stat of the Pokémon.

Furthermore, Wave Crash is Palafin’s strongest Water-type move and learnt by the Pokemon by levelling up to 61. Wave Crash will be your go-to move for the final blows and knockouts.

Close Combat can be a good option when the opponent is resistant to Water-type moves.

It’s a preferred move in many cases due to the significant damage it can inflict, making it key for Pokemon like Pawmot, too! However, it has to be taught to Palafin through TM167.

Lastly, Flip Turn works best with Palafin if it’s the first one in your party. The move will deal damage on the opponent and quickly switch out. Palafin will switch back into the battle later on in the powerful Hero mode.

Apart from these four moves, you could also go for Zen Headbutt as an alternate to Flip Turn. Zen Headbutt gives you extra coverage to Pokemon that are resistant to the Water-type moves of Palafin.

You could definitely exchange Jet Punch with Ice Punch since it has greater power, but it needs to be taught to Palafin. Bulk Up could also be up for consideration, if a boost in attack and defense is what you are looking for!

Best Nature for Palafin in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Palafin’s key stat is Attack. Therefore, whichever nature mints you choose, make sure it’s not nerfing this attribute.

The best nature for Palafin in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would be Adamant. This mint raises the Attack stat of the Pokemon, while decreasing the Sp. Atk stat. This will work perfectly as long as you don’t have any Special Attacking moves in your moveset.

In case you do, Naughty is a viable option to go for. If you’re looking to specialize Palafin for tera raids, such as the 5-star and 6-star raids, Brave nature works pretty well.

For a wider idea on regarding this aspect, check out our guide on nature mints in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

Best Held Items and EV Spead for Palafin

If you’ve followed the moveset and nature mentioned in the article so far, then the Choice Band is definitely the best held item to use for Palafin. We’re looking to boost the Attack stat as much as possible!

Leftovers is a good option to be used as a Held Item too, given that you’re content with the offensive output.

The EV training is quite significant to raise the output of Palafin. Obviously, you should be maxing out the EV for Attack.

After that, the next stat to invest your EVs on can be between Speed and HP, depending on your playing style and the game mode you’re planning to play the most. HP is an easy call if it is Tera raids that you’re after.

You could also evenly spread the EV between Speed and HP for a more balanced state.

EV training can be quite time-consuming; you can check out our guide on quickly EV training your Pokemon if you want to engage in battles with Palafin right away!

Wrapping Up

Palafin is an amazing Pokemon and a brilliant new addition to the Generation IX Pokedex. With the proper movesets and nature mints used as mentioned above, you can turn Palafin into an overpowered monster!

Make sure you utilize the insanely high Attack attribute of this Pokemon to achieve maximum output and the best results in battles and challenges!