Introduction
It may seem like just another tasty treat, but Vanilluxe has left countless opponents feeling sour as of late. On the defensive side, Vanilluxe’s stats can be extremely deceiving. Because of the changes in generation 9, Vanilluxe’s ability Snow Warning now calls the snow weather, not hail, and grants all ice types (including Vanilluxe) a generous 1.5x defense boost. Furthermore, Vanilluxe has access to Aurora Veil which, when up, raises that defense boost to an unholy 300% (the equivalent of +4). Base 110 special attack with access to freeze dry and 100% accurate blizzard means that Vaniluxe can leverage its newfound longevity to deal some real damage to top defensive threats such as Mandibuzz and Lanturn, as well as offensive threats such as Braviary-USnova and Braviary-Hisui. Vanilluxe also matches up well into Dhelmise, able to outspeed an ohko all but the absolute fastest or most specially defensive sets.
Aurora Veil
Setting Aurora Veil means that Vanilluxe synergizes well with offensive pokemon that either need an extra turn to set up or want to stick around on the field just a little bit longer. Chief among these are Heracross and Mamoswine on the physical side. Veil allows a healthy Heracross to survive +1 adamant Scizzor’s bullet punch even after drops, allowing you to gain beneficial positioning at the minimum and possibly another KO at best. Snow Veil Mamoswine enjoys the same effective defense buff as Vanilluxe, making it a herculean effort to defeat if Rotom-H is off the board.
Other standout beneficiaries of Aurora veil are agility users such as Braviary-Hisui and bulky pokemon like assault vest Alolan Muk who lack their own form of reliable recovery. Good team partners for Vanilluxe are generally pokemon that can hard switch into its checks and counters. This includes the likes of defensive Rotom-H and Mandibuzz on the physical side, as well as Lanturn and Blissey on the special side. All 4 aforementioned mons also have access to some form of pivoting to help bring in your powerful threats while veil is still up.
Drawbacks
Vanilluxe sadly suffers from being on the lower end of the most common speed tier in the metagame. Many of the same pokemon that can’t quite break through Vanilluxe after Aurora Veil have the capacity to deny it from going up to begin with. Trading Aurora veil for an opponent’s sword dance or nasty plot is another pitfall to watch out for, particularly if Vanilluxe isn’t an immediate threat to whatever is boosting its stats. Because of its lack of pivot or reliable recovery, switching is the name of the Vanilluxe game, and strong hazard removal is strongly recommended in turn.
Written by Typhon