Ogerpon is perhaps the strongest new Pokémon to come out of the Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC, and one of the best VGC players has started theorizing which of the Legendary Pokémon’s four forms is the most viable in competitive play.
It’s no secret; everyone who’s played through The Teal Mask has fallen in love with the adorable Ogerpon, whether it’s because of how cute it looks or because it’s incredibly strong in battle. In fact, VGC players are already cooking up new strategies for when Ogerpon eventually becomes legal in the format.
The unique part about the adorable Legendary Pokémon is its different forms that change depending on which mask it wears. These four forms not only change Ogerpon’s typing but also its Ability, which makes a huge difference.
This gives it the option to be pure Grass with Defiant, Grass/Fire with Mold Breaker, Grass/Water with Water Absorb, or Grass/Rock with Sturdy.
This week, two-time regional champion Joseph Ugarte talked about each of Ogerpon’s forms in a YouTube video and gave his opinion on which is the best for VGC.
According to Ugarte, the Grass/Fire Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon is by far the best form because it naturally fits in well with popular Pokémon in the meta such as Heatran and Tornadus.
Heatran is normally immune to Fire-type attacks with its Flash Fire ability, but Hearthflame Ogerpon would be able to bypass that immunity with its Mold Breaker, which ignores other abilities. That essentially means Heatran wouldn’t be able to freely switch into a potential attack when there’s an opposing Hearthflame Ogerpon on the field.
Meanwhile, Hearthflame Ogerpon makes an excellent partner for Tornadus.
When the two are on the field together, Tornadus can immediately set up the sun with Sunny Day and its Prankster ability, allowing Ogerpon to deal massive damage with a sun-boosted Fire-type Ivy Cudgel. And you could make that attack even stronger by Terastallizing Ogerpon and activating its Embody Aspect ability for an extra boost in its Attack stat.
To top it off, Ivy Cudgel naturally has a high critical hit ratio, so Ogerpon might just tear through the opposing team.
Other VGC players seem to agree with Ugarte. In a Sept. 17 Reddit thread, players are voting for which Ogerpon they’ll be using in Teal Mask competitive play, and around half the votes are for the Hearthflame form, at the time of writing.
