Oricorio Guide: A Versatile Avian Fighter

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Oricorio, the dancing Pokémon, is a Flying-type Pokémon introduced in Gen 7. Oricorio has something special about it; it can have 4 different styles, each one changes its types:

  • The Baile Style makes Oricorio a Flying/Fire-type Pokémon.
  • The Pom-Pom Style makes Oricorio a Flying/Electric-type Pokémon.
  • The Pa’u Style makes Oricorio a Flying/Psychic-type Pokémon.
  • The Sensu Style makes Oricorio a Flying/Ghost-type Pokémon.

Oricorio can change its style depending on the nectar you give it.

  • The Red Nectar can change Oricorio to the Baile Style.
  • The Yellow Nectar can change Oricorio to the Pom-Pom Style.
  • The Pink Nectar can change Oricorio to the Pa’u Style.
  • The Purple Nectar can change Oricorio to the Sensu Style.

Oricorio is based on the Carduelinae, one of the three subfamilies of the finch family named Fringillidae. Oricorio’s style change with the nectars is based on the fact that Carduelinae species have different colors from each other; their color resembles the color of the flower and the seeds they are eating.

Oricorio’s Baile Style is based on a typical flamenco dress, with red and black feathers and some white feathers in its head, making a ball with some extensions resembling the flamenco hairstyle and some earrings. This Pokémon is very passionate, it can get angry quickly, and it uses its dance to throw some feathers and burn them to make a fire attack.

Oricorio’s Pom-Pom Style is based on cheerleading; its two arms are covered in a ball of feathers resembling two pom-poms. Oricorio’s Pom-Pom Style is primarily yellow, it has some white feathers on its legs, and the rest of its body is light yellow. It uses its pom-poms while dancing to create static energy, which it uses to attack its enemies.

Oricorio’s Pa’u Style is based on the Polynesian dance style known as Hula. Its body is pink, while it has some white feathers in its head resembling a headdress and in the lower half of its body resembling a skirt. This Oricorio is relatively relaxed and laid-back, which means that trainers don’t like to train this Oricorio because it ignores its trainer orders.

It uses its dance to enhance its psychic powers, and sometimes it gets into dancing so hard that it ignores everything in its surroundings. It is said that Pa’u Style Oricorio dances to present its respects to the Guardian Deities.

Oricorio’s Sensu Style is based on the Jinta Mai, A Japanese traditional dance. It is primarily purple; its body resembles a traditional Japanese dance suit, while the tips of its wings resemble some fans. The top of its head has two vertical feathers on each side, resembling some hair sticks. This Pokémon is serene and chill. It dances to invoke the spirits around it to use them in combat. This Pokémon is pretty loved by Kanto trainers since it reminds them of their homeland.

Oricorio’s name comes from the combination of Oriole and Choreography.

Oricorio Summary of Appearances in Pokémon Versions and Media (Games, Anime, Movies)

Oricorio

In the games, you can find Oricorio in the following places:

  • Gen 7: They appear in the same place in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.- Baile Style: In the Ula’ula meadow.- Pom-Pom Style: In the Melemele meadow.- Pa’u Style: On Route 6.- Sensu Style: In the Poni meadow.
  • Gen 8: Unobtainable.

Oricorio’s Baile Style made its first debut in the anime in the episode A Seasoned Search!, but briefly, since it sucked some Yellow Nectar and then changed into Pom-Pom Style.

Oricorio’s Pom-Pom Style was the first of the four to appear in the anime; in the episode, Lillie’s Egg-xhilarating Challenge! Appeared under Hobbes’ ownership. It battled against Ash’s Rowlet, winning the battle. After that, Hobbes’ Oricorio appeared in another two episodes: in The Ol’ Raise and Ship! Fighting against Ash’s Pikachu and in The Dex Can’t Help It! protecting Lillie from the Pokédex Rotom when it took the Mow Rotom form.

Oricorio’s Pa’u Style debuted in All They Want To Do Is Dance Dance! under Anela’s ownership. Anela’s Oricorio, named Dori-chan, taught Mallow’s Steenee how to dance. Dori-chan reappeared in Securing the Future! where it helped Necrozma to get to its true form.

Oricorio’s Sensu Dance debut was as a group of them in the episode named That’s Some Spicy Island Research! where they were singing on the beach.

In the manga, neither Pa’u nor Sensu Styles appeared yet, but Baile Style Oricorio appeared for the first time in PASM11 when it was seen under Kahili’s ownership. Also, Two Pom-Pom Style Oricorio appeared for the first time in PASM11, too, as spectators of Kahili’s battle against Buzzwole and Kartana.

In the TCG, Oricorio has some special cards, Having three Rare cards featuring its Baile, Pom-Pom and Pa’u Styles in the Guardians Rising expansion, And the Pa’u style one is also a SM Black Star Promo. Baile and Pom-Pom Style also appeared as uncommon cards in the Celestial Storm expansion.

Oricorio also has three GX cards, all of them in the Cosmic Eclipse expansion, one Ultra Rare-Rare, a Rare Ultra and a Secret Rare. These three cards feature the Sensu Style Oricorio.

Oricorio evolution line: When Does Oricorio Evolve?

Oricorio doesn’t have evolutions.

Oricorio Stats

Ocorio Anime

The Style doesn’t change Oricorio’s stats; this means that Baile, Pom-Pom, Pa’u, and Sensu styles share their stats. Nonetheless, Oricorio’s Pa’u and Sensu Styles aren’t as useful as their Baile and Pom-Pom styles, mainly because Pom-Pom has an excellent type combination which prevents it from having a particular weakness besides the Rock-type.

Baile Oricorio is tiered in the PU and the ZU tiers, while Pom-Pom, Pa’u, and Sensu Oricorio are commonly used in the PU tier.

Let’s check out its ability, it will not help us much with the standard tactic we are gonna use, but at least it is an interesting one and can lead to a great strategy. Also, this is the signature ability for Oricorio, which means that there’s no other Pokémon with this ability besides Oricorio..

Ability

Oricorio can only have the following ability:

  • Dancer: Whenever a Pokémon, regardless if it is a foe or a teammate, does a Dance move, Oricorio will copy it, regardless if Oricorio knows or doesn’t know the move.

Being the Dance move the following:

  • Fiery Dance, Petal Dance, and Revelation Dance as attacking moves.
  • Feather Dance, Dragon Dance, Lunar Dance, Quiver Dance, Swords Dance, Teeter Dance as status moves.

As you can see, Oricorio’s Dancer can actually work, mostly in team strategies or to try to counter those Sword Dance or Dragon Dance spammers. But we are gonna use a strategy in where it is not essential to use Dancer.

Natures

Oricorio is a great Special attacker, which means that we need it to be as good with it as possible.

  • Modest (Increases Special Attack, reduces Attack)
  • Mild (Increases Special Attack, reduces Defense)
  • Quiet (Increases Special Attack, reduces Speed)
  • Rash (Increases Special Attack, reduces Special Defense)

But we also want Oricorio to be as fast as possible since we need it to use Calm Mind in the first turn, and later hitting first in every turn. So, it needs to have great Speed.

  • Timid (Increases Speed, reduces Attack)
  • Hasty (Increases Speed, reduces Defense)
  • Jolly (Increases Speed, reduces Special Attack)
  • Naive (Increases Speed, reduces Special Defense)

We will choose Timid, since we need Oricorio to handle the first hit while it is buffing itself with Calm Mind. Also, we are not using Attack at all.

Stats

 HPAttackDefenseSp. AtkSp. DefSpeed
Base Stats757070987093
Favorable Nature354262262324262313

As you can see, Oricorio doesn’t have bad stats at all. It is fairly balanced, having decent HP, Attack, Defense and Sp. Defense stats, while its Special Attack and Speed are the best of it. Oricorio has 476 base points, and every time you defeat an Oricorio, you’ll get 2 EVs in Special Attack.

Moves list per level (Gen 7)

LevelMoveTypeCategoryPowerAccuracyPP
1PoundNormalPhysical40100%35
4GrowlNormalStatus100%40
6PeckFlyingPhysical35100%35
10Helping HandNormalStatus—%20
13Air CutterFlyingSpecial6095%25
16Baton PassNormalStatus—%40
20Feather DanceFlyingStatus100%15
23Double SlapNormalPhysical1585%10
26Teeter DanceNormalStatus100%20
30RoostFlyingStatus—%10
33CaptivateNormalStatus100%20
36Air SlashFlyingSpecial7595%15
40Revelation DanceNormalSpecial90100%15
43Mirror MoveFlyingStatus—%20
46AgilityPsychicStatus—%30
50HurricaneFlyingSpecial11070%10

We will keep Revelation Dance since it is the signature move of Oricorio and it suits it very well. Revelation Dance changes its type depending on the style that Oricorio has in that moment. That means that Revelation Dance will be Electric-type if a Pom-Pom Oricorio does it, and so on.

Moves list per TM (Gen 7)

TM
(GEN VII)
MoveTypeCategoryPowerAccuracyPP
TM01Work UpNormalStatus—%30
TM04Calm MindPsychicStatus—%20
TM06ToxicPoisonStatus90%10
TM10Hidden PowerNormalSpecial60100%15
TM12TauntDarkStatus100%20
TM17ProtectNormalStatus—%10
TM19RoostFlyingStatus—%10
TM20SafeguardNormalStatus—%25
TM21FrustrationNormalPhysical100%20
TM27ReturnNormalPhysical100%20
TM32Double TeamNormalStatus—%15
TM37SandstormRockStatus—%10
TM40Aerial AceFlyingPhysical60—%20
TM42FacadeNormalPhysical70100%20
TM44RestPsychicStatus—%10
TM45AttractNormalStatus100%15
TM48RoundNormalSpecial60100%15
TM51Steel WingSteelPhysical7090%25
TM60QuashDarkStatus100%15
TM62AcrobaticsFlyingPhysical55100%15
TM63EmbargoDarkStatus100%15
TM75Swords DanceNormalStatus—%20
TM76FlyFlyingPhysical9095%15
TM87SwaggerNormalStatus85%15
TM88Sleep TalkNormalStatus—%10
TM89U-turnBugPhysical70100%20
TM90SubstituteNormalStatus—%10
TM100ConfideNormalStatus—%20

We are gonna use Calm Mind for our strategy. Now, we have to talk about Oricorio’s weaknesses and strengths because this will decide which styles we will use.

Oricorio Strengths

Oricorio Strengths

Oricorio doesn’t have a standard type, which means that its weaknesses and strengths will depend on which style Oricorio uses in the battle. So, let’s resume every single style briefly!

Baile Style Oricorio

Baile Style Oricorio is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, which means it is strong against the following types:

  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Steel-type.
  • It gets only 1/4 of the damage against Bug-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Fairy-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Fire-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Fighting-type.
  • It gets only 1/4 of the damage against Grass-type.
  • It is immune to Ground-type.

Baile Style Oricorio has some interesting checks since it can resist pretty well some Grass and Bug-types attackers like Shiftry or Victreebel, but they aren’t much of a menace into this tier. The types that Baile Style Oricorio can handle perfectly aren’t a problem in this tier besides the Fighting-type, but Sensu Style or Pa’u Style can cover it way better than Baile Style Oricorio.

Pom-Pom Style Oricorio

Pom-Pom Style

Pom-Pom Style Oricorio is an Electric/Flying-type Pokémon, so it can do a great battle against the following types:

  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Steel-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Bug-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Flying-type
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Fighting-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Grass-type.
  • It is immune to Ground-type.

You might think that Pom-Pom Style isn’t as practical as Baile Style can be, but it has an excellent type combination because Electric and Flying can compensate for each other pretty well. Unlike Baile Style with its Grass and Bug strengths, Pom-Pom Style can counter many harmful Pokémon into PU like Manectric, Alolan Raichu, and Eelektross. With Pom-Pom Style, you are eliminating the only Electric-type weakness while also having a Flying-type Pokémon that can handle Electric-type attacks without hesitating. That, combined with the fact that Pom-Pom can outplay other Flying-types and Water-types, and the Flying-types strengths, we are looking at one of the best Pokémon of the PU tier.

Pa’u Style Oricorio is a Psychic/Flying-type Pokémon, so it can resist the following types:

  • It gets only 1/4 of the damage against Fighting-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Grass-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Psychic-type
  • It is immune to Ground-type.

Pa’u Style has an awful type combination, but it has some good strengths here since it can deal efficiently with those Fighting-types that are strong in PU, like Primeape or Gurdurr. It can handle some Psychic-types as well, so it is a kind of problem to those Beheeyem, Bronzor or Kadabra that can potentially be a bad issue.

Sensu Style Oricorio

Sensu Style Oricorio

Sensu Style Oricorio is a Ghost/Flying-type Pokémon, so it can resist the following types:

  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Grass-type.
  • It gets only 1/4 of the damage against Bug-type.
  • It gets only ½ of the damage against Poison-type.
  • It is immune to Ground, Fighting and Normal-types.

Sensu Style Oricorio is really good, it has only a few strengths, but those are significant threats in PU. It is immune to every single Fighting, Ground, and Normal-type attack, and the Poison-types can’t do a good job against it; it can cover Skuntank, Victreebel, Roselia Qwilfish, Ursaring, and many more. If you want an alternative to Pom-Pom Style, then Sensu Style has to be your option.

Oricorio Weaknesses

Baile Style Oricorio

  • It takes x2 damage against Water-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Electric-type.
  • It takes x4 damage against Rock-type.

Baile Style Oricorio is an excellent example of a Pokémon with a bad combination type since Fire and Flying can compensate each other pretty well against Bug and Grass types; the problem is that it is fragile against Rock-types. This means that Oricorio will start its turn with only 50% (or less) of its life if it lands in terrain with Stealth Rocks. There’s a lot of better options if you want to use Fire as your offensive arguments like Turtonator or Simisear since they can be capable of handling a Rock-type attack or some Stealth Rocks without problems.

Pom-Pom Style Oricorio

  • It takes x2 damage against Ice-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Rock-type.

Pom-Pom Style, thanks to its almost perfect type combination, has only two major weaknesses; Ice and Rock-types. Alolan Sandslash, Jynx, Cradily or Crabominable are some things you don’t want to fight, but they are not common in PU teams. The vast majority of Pokémon into PU or ZU aren’t a menace against Pom-Pom Style.

Pa’u Style Oricorio

  • It takes x2 damage against Electric-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Ghost-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Ice-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Rock-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Dark-type.

As you can see, Pa’u Style has a lot of weaknesses, every single Dark-type can sweep out Pa’u Style, and they are also immune to its strongest attack, Revelation Dance. Drifblim can sweep it out easily too, and other Ghost-types, and it can’t learn something useful against it. Manectric or Electrode can also get rid of Pa’u, so it is probably the weakest Oricorio style.

Sensu Style Oricorio

  • It takes x2 damage against Electric-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Ghost-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Ice-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Rock-type.
  • It takes x2 damage against Dark-type.

Yes, Sensu Style has many weaknesses over Pom-Pom Style, but its immunity to Fighting and Normal-types is a big plus to Sensu Style against Pa’u Style and Baile Style. Drifblim is a big issue against it and some Dark-types too, and the Rock-types that Oricorio doesn’t have to forget.

Oricorio Moveset

Oricorio Moves

Oricorio, no matter which style is in the field, has to use the following moves:

  • Calm Mind
  • Roost
  • Hurricane
  • Revelation Dance

With Rocky Helmet as its item, Dancer as its ability, and Timid as its nature.

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def or SpD / 252 Spe.

We strongly recommend using Pom-Pom Style Oricorio since it’s the best of the 4 styles. You are free to use anyone, but they will not do the best job compared with Pom-Pom Style.

Calm Mind will be your helping hand trying to make Oricorio work. Calm Mind is why we should buff Oricorio’s Speed, as well as it doesn’t learn something useful to buff its Speed.

Roost will heal you; the 248 HP EVs, as well as those 8 EVs in Defense and the Calm Mind, are your shield against any menace.

Hurricane and Revelation Dance are your offensive moves. Hurricane can’t miss in the rain, but when Oricorio is in normal weather, Hurricane only has a precision of 70%. The good thing about it; if you do a Double battle, you can use a Rain setter and change Revelation Dance for Thunder; with that, you have a great combo.

Rocky Helmet will hurt your foe every time Oricorio gets Physically attacked.

Oricorio doesn’t need a Sticky Web helper since it has good Speed, but it will thank any Stealth Rock helper or a Defog user if the field has some Stealth Rocks. Some Reflect, or Light Screen users will be helpful too. It is evident that Oricorio doesn’t have to be the lead; then, you have to use it as a sweeper.

Oricorio In a video

In this video, we can see how you can use the Dancer ability on Oricorio since it is perfect and fun to use. Our build is meant to be for a Single Battle, but Oricorio’s prime time is in Double Battles, so you can help Oricorio with a Dance user, like Sword Dance, Dragon or Quiver Dance, so on.

FAQs

Question: Which is the best Oricorio form?

Answer: Oricorio can have four Styles, the Baile, Pom-Pom, Pa’u, and Sensu Styles. They have their strengths and weaknesses, but the best one has to be the Pom-Pom Style since it only has two weaknesses and it is really useful in single battles.

Question: How to change Oricorio forms?

Answer: Oricorio can change its styles with the Red Nectar to change it to the Baile Style, Pink Nectar to change it to the Pa’u style, Yellow Nectar to change it to the Pom-Pom Style, and Purple Nectar to change it to the Sensu Style.

Question: Which is Oricorio’s ability?

Answer: Oricorio has a great ability: Dancer. It can copy every Dance move (Like Swords Dance or Dragon Dance) no matter if the move is executed by an ally or a foe.

Conclusion

We personally love Pokémon that change the game mechanics somehow, or at least they are different from the rest, and this is Oricorio’s case. This Pokémon isn’t the strongest Flying-type Pokémon to use competitively, but we want to show Oricorio to you all since it’s a fun Pokémon to use.

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