Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: The Best Azumarill Build

You wouldn’t initially think so when looking at any wild Azumarill build, but this cute Pokémon can be very dangerous! In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Azumarill has access to abilities and moves that can make it a potent physical sweeper.

The Best Competitive Azumarill Build

Since Generation IX’s metagame seems to be even more speed-focused than that of past Generations, you want to make your Azumarill build simple. Using Belly Drum against a veteran trainer isn’t that viable these days as pros who see an Azumarill will expect that. As such, more experienced trainers will do their best to get Azumarill’s HP below 50% as soon as possible to prevent any drumming—which is fairly easy.

Best Competitive Battle Moveset

1. Aqua Jet
2. Play Rough
3. Liquidation
4. Superpower or Ice Spinner

Best Competitive Battle Traits

• Ability – Huge Power
• Item – Choice Band or Assault Vest
• Nature – Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
• EVs – 252 HP, 252 Attack, and 4 Speed (if you need more bulk) or 116 HP, 252 Attack, and 140 Speed (if you need more speed)
• Tera Type – Water or Fairy

The Best Tera Raid Battle Azumarill Build

Conversely to online battles, you need to bring more power to succeed in high-Star-level Tera Raid Battles. As such, you want to have Belly Drum but won’t need Aqua Jet, as out-speeding a Raid Boss isn’t very important. For the most part, the other factors remain similar to what you’d want for competitive battles.

Best Tera Raid Battle Moveset

1. Belly Drum
2. Play Rough
3. Liquidation
4. Superpower or Ice Spinner

Best Tera Raid Battle Traits

• Ability – Huge Power
• Item – Assault Vest or Sitrus Berry
• Nature – Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
• EVs – 252 HP, 252 Attack, and 4 Defense (or 4 Special Defense)
• Tera Type – Water or Fairy

What Makes Azumarill so Good

To judge whether or not a Pokémon is better than its peers for battle, you need to look at four main things: its typing, its ability, its stats, and its moveset. Azumarill is one of the pocket monsters that has good things going for it in three out of these four departments.

Azumarill’s Typing

By being both Water and Fairy-type, Azumarill gets more benefits than disadvantages in regards to the type chart. Firstly, it only has three weaknesses (Poison, Grass, and Electric). All the while, it has one immunity (Dragon) and six resistances (Fire, Fighting, Bug, Dark, Water, and Ice), which tip the scales in Azumarill’s favor.

Because of this, the cute water rabbit is more likely to encounter moves that it is resistant to than weak to in battle. There are still plenty of types that hit Azumarill for normal effectiveness, but that’s not the worst situation in which to be.

Azumarill’s Abilities

The two main abilities that Azumarill can have are Thick Fat and Huge Power, while the hidden one is Sap Sipper. Out of these, Huge Power is by far the best.

Thick Fat is more of a defensive ability, as it basically reduces the incoming damage from Fire and Ice-type attacks by 50% (to put it simply). Though, with that said, Azumarill is already resistant to these two types. This makes this ability redundant and a waste of space on Azumarill.

Sap Sipper—Azumarill’s hidden ability—is better than Thick Fat for this Pokémon. Sap Sipper makes Azumarill immune to Grass-type attacks, which increases this pocket monster’s viability. Better yet, when hit by a Grass-type attack, Azumarill’s Attack stat will get boosted by one stage.

However, the best out of all of Azumarill’s potential abilities is Huge Power. This ability is beautifully simple: it doubles Azumarill’s Attack stat. It does not increase stat stages, like the effects of Sap Sipper. Instead, it automatically multiplies the Attack stat by two whenever Azumarill is in battle.

Azumarill’s Stats

These are Azumarill’s base stats:

• HP – 100
• Attack – 50
• Defense – 80
• Special Attack – 60
• Special Defense – 80
• Speed – 50

This Pokémon’s stats are the least viable part about it. The only base stat that breaks into triple digits is its HP—which is one of its best features. Azumarill’s moderate defensive stats back up the fairly large HP reserve. This allows it to have decent longevity in battle. It also helps that Azumarill only has three true weaknesses.

However, it does not have the Speed to make it usable for utility purposes, such as debuffing opponents and more. On top of that, neither of its offensive stats is high enough to give it an edge in combat. This leads you to believe that Azumarill isn’t battle-worthy, but, don’t forget its ideal ability!

If Azumarill has Huge Power as its ability, its Attack base stat essentially becomes 100 instead of 50. To put it another way, if your Azumarill’s actual Attack stat gets up to 200 when it has been trained up to level 100, this gets doubled to 400 thanks to Huge Power’s effect.

This would make Azumarill’s Attack on par with some of the biggest online battling threats in Generation IX, such as Annihilape and Breloom. As a result, Azumarill can hold its own in battle thanks to reliable bulk and an innately boosted Attack stat.

Azumarill’s Best Level-Up Moves

Through leveling up, TM usage, and breeding, Azumarill has access to some awesome moves. If you want to put together a truly mighty Azumarill build, you will need to do some breeding—which works a bit differently in Generation IX. In fact, you must do some chain breeding to get Azumarill’s best status move, but more on that later.

As your Azumarill grows in level, it can learn a few great attacks, such as Aqua Tail (learned at level 21), Play Rough (learned at level 25), and Superpower (learned at level 50).

Azumarill’s Best TM Moves

In regards to TMs, you want to teach Azumarill moves that will help it deal with foes that have a type advantage over it. This means moves that will be helpful against Poison, Grass, and Electric-type enemies. Ice Spinner (learned from TM124) and Bulldoze (learned from TM028) can be useful for this reason.

Although the latter’s base power is a bit too low to consistently knock out foes. The other Ground-type option is Dig (learned from TM055), however, since it takes two turns to hit, your foe has an entire turn to prepare. They could switch out to a Flying-type or use a move like Protect, which would foil your plans.

A couple of other moves that could be good for your set would be Liquidation (learned from TM110) in place of Aqua Tail and Facade (learned from TM025) in place of a coverage move like Superpower or Ice Spinner.

Liquidation has slightly less base power than Aqua Tail, though it has better accuracy and can decrease the opponent’s Defense. Facade is great for when you get afflicted by a status condition, but not really viable to use any other time.

Azumarill’s Best Egg Moves

For the mightiest Azumarill build, you want to consider getting Aqua Jet and Belly Drum on your aquatic bunny. Aqua Jet is an increased priority move that acts like Quick Attack in that it will let you move first most of the time. Belly Drum is a high-risk and high-reward move that increases the user’s Attack stage to +6—even if its user has been debuffed—but consumes 50% of the user’s HP.

The issue is that you need to do some breeding to get these moves for an Azumarill. As such, you need to create a family tree that ends in the ideal aquatic bunny.

Aqua Jet can be bred to an egg by breeding a female Azumarill (or Marill) with another member of the Water 1 Egg Group, such as a male Golduck that knows Aqua Jet.

However, there is no direct way to do this with Belly Drum. In past generations, the Poliwag line was the best option for this as it can learn Belly Drum by leveling up and is part of the Water 1 Egg Group. Sadly, the Poliwag line is not currently in Generation IX. But there is a way around this!

How to Get Azumarill With Belly Drum Through Breeding

To get an Azumarill build that knows Belly Drum in Generation IX, you need to do some chain breeding. This is because there are no Pokémon that can naturally learn Belly Drum in either the Water 1 or Fairy Egg Groups (the two Egg Groups that Azumarill is in).

There are multiple ways to chain breed Belly Drum to an Azumarill, however, the method discussed below will be using Pokémon that are easy to find to make the process less tedious.

Step #1 – Catch a Zangoose

First, you need to get a Pokémon that can learn Belly Drum naturally (by leveling up or remembering). In this case, catch a Zangoose, and get it to remember Belly Drum. Though, since Zangoose is only in the Field Egg Group, it cannot directly breed with Azumarill.

You can find a Zangoose relatively easily in the grassy stretch of pond-pocketed land between South Province Area One and South Province Area Five. The Zangooses here will all be around level 20.

Step #2 – Catch an Eiscue

The reason you want an Eiscue is due to a few crucial factors. To begin with, it is in the Water 1 and Field Egg Groups. This means that it can breed with both Zangoose and Azumarill, which lets it act as the breeding bridge between the two species. Equally important is the fact that Eiscue can learn Belly Drum, which lets it pass down this Egg Move to its offspring.

Eiscue is found in all of the northernmost waters of the Paldea region. It will be very easy to spot this species as you’re surfing around the northern parts of the game. The Eiscues here will all be around level 50.

Step #3 – Breed to Get a Male Eiscue That Knows Belly Drum

The genders of the respective Pokémon in this breeding tree are important to note, as only female Pokémon (in non-Ditto breeding) will pass on their species. For example, a mating pair consisting of a male Zangoose and a female Eiscue will always produce Eiscue eggs.

The example given above is exactly how you want to start breeding for an Azumarill with Belly Drum. Start with a male Zangoose that knows Belly Drum and breed it with a female Eiscue.

You want the baby Eiscue that hatches to be male, as, in the next step of the chain breeding, you want the offspring to be an Azurill instead of another Eiscue. As such, you should try to get your Zangoose and original Eiscue to produce multiple eggs, so that you have a better chance of getting a male baby Eiscue.

Step #4 – Breed a Male Eiscue That Knows Belly Drum With an Azumarill

Afterward, you’re ready for the last step. Once you have a male Eiscue that knows Belly Drum, you can breed it with a female Azumarill (or Marill) to get an Azurill that knows Belly Drum.

However, make sure to pick the ideal female Azumarill (or Marill). In this case, you want one with the following traits:

• Adamant Nature
• IVs that are geared toward the HP and Attack stats
• Huge Power as their ability
• Water or Fairy as their Tera Type

For a better chance of passing down the Adamant Nature, make sure to get your female Azumarill (or Marill) to hold an Everstone. Holding an Everstone guarantees that a parent will pass down their Nature.

Although it will take you a while to do all of the above, it is worth it if you want the best possible Azumarill build.