Cofagrigus Teams:

 

What Cofagrigus does/what is its role:

Cofagrigus does exactly what its typing wants: beating every meta Fighting-type excluding Scrafty, every meta Psychic-type except for a Wild Charging Mew, beating the meta bug Galvantula in lower shields, and generally beating every meta Poison-type that doesn’t have a Dark subtyping. On the flip side, Dark-types bust this ghost, along with most meta Normal-types— with the obvious exception of Normal-type Vigoroth whose Counter and Body Slam are hard resisted, making that matchup much closer.

 

It’s actually quite interesting to have a mono-Ghost-type Pokémon that is meta relevant! Dusclops is the closest we’ve come historically. Mono-Ghost has few bad matchups: resisted by only two types, and weak to only two types. This means the majority of its matchups are neutral, where Cofagrigus thrives.

 

In PVPoke’s prospective Remix-Cup Meta, for instance, Cofagrigus only loses against one Pokémon without either a Normal typing or a Ghost or Dark-type move: Whiscash. And that win for Daddy Cash is a bait-dependent one to boot!

 

How strong it looks:

With its Shadow Claws blazing, Cofagrigus looks like a master of limited metas, and an occasional sight in open metas. 

Winning roughly 60% of the meta matchups in Open Great League - on a Pokémon that rarely if ever is even able to bait - is impressive and really shows how its bulk, good moves, and good typing work to its favor.

In Great League Remix, as formerly stated, it is poised to be a POWERHOUSE, beating ⅔ of the meta and only losing to Pokémon with Dark, Ghost, or Normal typing or moves - or Whiscash.

In Halloween Cup that pool - Pokémon that are Dark, Ghost, or Normal - expands greatly and it is yet to be seen how strong our coffin will be once that arrives.

 

Moveset Decisions:

Cofagrigus is only becoming relevant because of the new fast move Shadow Claw so that’s a no-brainer. But what charged moves are best to pair with it?

Luckily there are only 3 options - but there are decisions among those.

Shadow Ball is a must - an exceptional move in terms of parameters and gaining STAB to boot will make this Cofagrigus’s bread and butter charged move.

Psychic may look enticing on the surface - Dark Pulse doesn’t cover any additional types offensively and loses STAB when compared to Shadow Ball - and is only 5 energy cheaper. And it’s true, Psychic does have some benefits - dealing higher damage than Shadow Ball against the Fighting-types and Poison-types that you would expect it to, and giving Cofagrigus a move to potentially debuff a Normal-type if it gets locked in an unfavorable matchup vs one. It’s worth noting, however, that you are beating most of the Poison-types and Fighting-types anyway on merit of Ghost-typing alone.

Dark Pulse, however, is the PVPoke recommended move and what I am eyeing up more and more closely. Only 50 energy rather than 55 isn’t usually a big deal, but there are some big matchups that are affected. In the even 1-shield scenario there are 4 specific ghosts that can be won with Dark Pulse much more easily. The mirror matchup against a Shadow Ball/Psychic Cofagrigus is won by the Dark Pulse Cofagrigus, as are Drifbllim and Alolan Marowak with the opponent properly baiting a shield, and finally Froslass when the Froslass player chooses not to bait - if they go straight for Shadow Ball your Pulses outpace. Outside of these matchups, there could be dynamic situations where the faster speed of double Dark Pulse, or double Shadow Ball + Dark Pulse comes in clutch. These situations may be less obvious in sims, but there may be the occasional game where your Psychic Cofagrigus wishes it could throw a move one Shadow Claw sooner.

 

I would personally decide based on your team - if you really need the Psychic coverage because of a fighting or poison weakness, you might consider it, but Dark Pulse may perform better in the majority of matchups, especially if you're struggling against those Ghosts.

 

How to play vs Cofagrigus teams

A general Cofagrigus team - and many we suggested - will consist of two structures: either Cofagrigus in the front with two Pokémon that beat Dark and Normal-type Pokémon in the back, or such a Pokémon in the front of a team with Cofagrigus and another Ghost-type Pokémon in the back.

Knowing that you’ll generally see these patterns can help you decide how you want to organize a match - lining up your counters properly and saving energy. Beyond that I’d generally recommend that you save shields to deal with Cofagrigus - its bulky stats and powerful moves allow it to dominate lower shield scenarios. In the 2S scenario - where spammier Pokémon can whittle down the Coffin - Cofagrigus tends to falter a bit more. If you can position your shields correctly you might be able to salvage a win strictly on matchups that would be otherwise lost to this bulky, missile-launching Ghost.

 

TL;DR

-Cofagrigus performs its role and does so well - holding its own in many neutral matchups

-Cofagrigus looks exceptional for limited metas and might join Jellicent, Sableye, and Alolan Marowak as common open Great League ghosts

-Dark Pulse seems to gain more than Psychic does as a secondary move to Shadow Ball but both moves should have viability depending upon team

-Being monotype Cofagrigus should have a very specific set of counters and knowing where to position Pokémon when you encounter one is important

-Generally it is weakest in the 2S scenario