Best Moveset For Tinkaton in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Tinkatink is one of the more popular Pokémon out of the new ones introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, probably due to its interesting dual typing of Fairy and Steel. When fully evolved, it becomes Tinkaton, a sturdy Pokémon with lots of type coverage. And in this guide, you can learn all about the best moveset for Tinkaton in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Tinkaton’s best moves in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Tinkaton is the final evolution of the Tinkatink, a dual-type Steel and Fairy Pokémon. Tinkaton has some pretty balanced base stats all around, as you can see from Bulbapedia’s data chart, reproduced below:

• HP: 85
• Atk: 75
• Def: 77
• Sp. Atk: 70
• Sp. Def: 105
• Speed: 94

Tinkaton isn’t particularly packing any extreme power in its moderate attack stats, but it makes up for it with high defense and special defense stats. With good HP, Tinkaton can soak up physical attacks pretty well, but it is exceptional at tanking special attacks.

Because Tinkaton’s attack and special attack stats aren’t too far apart, that means that it can take either physical or special offensive moves and the difference shouldn’t be too noticeable.

Tinkaton’s best Steel-type moves

Let’s start with some of Tinkaton’s best Steel-type moves. Of course, we have to mention its signature move, Gigaton Hammer, first. Tinkaton learns Gigaton Hammer as soon as it evolves from Tinkatuff.

Gigaton Hammer is a powerful Steel-type physical move that has a whopping 160 base power. Gigaton Hammer is Tinkaton’s strongest Steel-type move, so you want to take it to bring on the pain for types that are weak against Steel.

The only downside to Gigaton Hammer is that its max PP is 5, and it cannot be used twice in a row, under normal circumstances. Though, with its immense base power, it should still be able to one-shot most Pokémon.

Tinkaton will also learn Metal Claw and Flash Cannon. Metal Claw is a physical move with 50 base power and 95 accuracy, and it has a 10% chance to raise the user’s Atk. Flash Cannon is a special move with 80 base power and 100 accuracy that has a 10% chance to lower the target’s Sp. Def.

Both of these moves are good backup Steel-type moves in case you run out of PP for Gigaton Hammer. Flash Cannon is pretty reliable with its 100 accuracy, but since it lowers Sp. Def and not regular Def, it doesn’t pair as well with Gigaton Hammer.

On the other hand, Metal Claw can raise Tinkaton’s Atk, which goes very well with Gigaton Hammer. However, the chance of that effect happening is pretty low, and Metal Claw can miss on its own, though it shouldn’t happen too frequently.

An alternative move is Heavy Slam, a Steel-type physical move. This move deals more damage the heavier the user is compared to its target, and although Tinkaton looks tiny, it weighs roughly 250 lbs due to its massive hammer. You need to use TM121 to learn this, though.

Another alternative is Steel Beam, a Steel-type special move. With a base power of 140, 95 accuracy, and 5 max PP, it’s very similar to Gigaton Hammer is terms of raw power. Learn the move from TM170.

Tinkaton’s best Fairy-type moves

Tinkaton has a few choices to make when it comes to Fairy-type moves. Fairy Wind is something it learns early on, and it’s a decent choice, but it should be replaced with something else later on, due to its low base power of 40.

The next Fairy-type move Tinkaton learns is Draining Kiss. You should replace Fairy Wind with Draining Kiss, as it deals more damage and absorbs HP.

But the best Fairy-type move has to be Play Rough. With a base power of 90 and it being the only physical Fairy-type move Tinkaton can learn, it’s easily the best choice. Although it has an accuracy of 90, it’s still worth it.

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Tinkaton’s miscellaneous moves

Now that you’ve got your baseline attack moves, you can use your remaining slots for auxiliary moves. Here are some of the better options for Tinkaton.

• Covet (Normal) and Knock Off (Dark) are helpful options if you want a way to deal with an enemy’s held item;
• Sweet Kiss (Fairy) is a guaranteed confusion on most Pokémon. It’s a better choice than Flatter (Dark), as it won’t increase your target’s stats;
• Rock Smash (Fighting) and Skitter Smack (Bug) give Tinkaton more type coverage, if needed.

Now that we’ve covered most of Tinkaton’s important moves, here is an example moveset. Please keep in mind that this moveset is not absolute, so feel free to modify it however you see fit.

1. Gigaton Hammer
2. Play Rough
3. Metal Claw/Flash Cannon/Heavy Slam/Steel Beam
4. Any miscellaneous move

That concludes our guide on the best moveset for Tinkaton in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. What is your favorite moveset for Tinkaton? Let us know in the comments below!