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Phione has a rather unique status in the world of Pokemon, being the only critter to be bred from a legendary Pokemon, Manaphy. Phione, as one might expect, is a bit like Manaphy’s excitable little sister. She can’t do everything her big sister can – or indeed, even most things – but by god she’s gonna try anyway. Phione’s greatest strengths lie in its powerful ability and a movepool that, while disturbingly small, still manages enough type coverage to be effective. It doesn’t get Tail Glow, Heart Swap, or even most of the more mundane moves Manaphy gets, but Phione can still make a decent try of using the same tricks as the big jellyfish.

Phione
Water
HP: 80 Atk: 80 Def: 80 Sp Atk: 80 Sp Def: 80 Spd: 80
Ability: Hydration: If the weather is Heavy Rain, this Pokemon will be cleared of all status effects at the end of the turn.

One thing that Phione did inherit from Manaphy is the exceptionally useful ability Hydration. A wonderful ability, Hydration removes any and all status effects on Phione at the end of the turn, as long as it’s raining. This allows Phione to abuse Rest without that nasty two-turn sleep period, stalling foes out by recovering its entire health bar at a moments notice. Generally speaking, Manaphy has the edge as far as a Hydration-abuse set goes – in Ubers, it can rely on Kyogre to set the rain up, freeing a moveslot for Tail Glow – but in UU, Phione is pretty much where it’s at.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where the good news ends. Phione’s movepool is very, very small, to the point where it can barely even manage four differently-typed attacks in the same moveset. Its support movepool is little better, being largely limited to Rain Dance, Rest and Substitute. And, strangely enough, Safeguard – a pointless move, given that Rain Dance has more or less the same effect on Phione. What all this adds up to is that Phione is supremely predictable. As soon as she comes in, your foe will almost certainly know exactly what you’re doing, and how to counter it.

In the end, Manaphy’s little sister just isn’t capable of the same kind of damage as the big jellyfish. Phione can still kick a few shins in the Never Used tier, where it makes a great Hydration Pokemon, but using it effectively anywhere else is going to require a lot of luck.

Hydrest
Phione @Leftovers / Damp Rock / Life Orb
Modest (+Sp Atk, -Atk) nature
Hydration ability
252 HP, 252 Sp Atk, 6 Def
-Surf
-Grass Knot / Ice Beam / Toxic
-Rest
-Rain Dance
Manaphy and Phione both do this set surprisingly well, but Phione’s got competition for this set in UU in the form of Dewgong. What Phione offers over Dewgong is, first, the ability to hit other Water-types with Grass Knot, and second, better resistances. Where Dewgong has four weaknesses, Phione has only two.

Aside from that, this set is fairly straightforward. Get in, set up the rain, and start blasting away with a boosted Surf, using Rest to recover as needed. It also makes a great status absorber, especially if other members of your team can Rain Dance as well. Thanks to some unimpressive base stats, Phione doesn’t tank as well as some, but you can improve its longevity by switching its Sp Atk EVs over to its defenses. You can focus on one defense or the other, or split them with 144 EVs in Def and 112 in Sp Def and a Calm nature, which will get you roughly equal defenses. I’d recommend Toxic over Grass Knot or Ice Beam if you go defensive, as the exponentially growing damage will take full advantage of Phione’s survivability.

Selective Jellyfish
Phione @Choice Specs
Modest (+Sp Atk, -Atk) or Timid (+Spd, -Atk) nature
Hydration ability
252 Sp Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot
-U-Turn / Brine / Hidden Power Electric
This is where Phione’s small movepool begins to be a problem. The little jellyfish gets just barely enough moves to make a Choice Specs set, having to settle for a filler move in the last slot. U-Turn is probably the best choice, since even though it doesn’t benefit from Choice Specs, it’ll still allow you to scout a bit. Brine could help finish off a particularly stubborn opponent, or there’s always Hidden Power if you can get it. Interestingly, HP Electric actually makes Phione into a somewhat less durable version of Specs Lanturn.

A Choice Scarf would also work with this set, but it would be more novelty than anything else, thanks to Phione’s lackluster offensive stats. Choice Specs is definitely recommended for the bump to its damage output. Water / Ice / Grass still isn’t a terrible type combination, so there is that, at least.

Physical Jellyfish
Phione @Life Orb
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk) nature
Hydration ability
252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Spd
-Waterfall
-Return / U-Turn
-Rain Dance
-Rest
Phione’s physical movepool is even more of a joke than its special one, but it does get access to the Water/Normal combo, which makes a set like this much more viable. As you can see, it’s more or less just a physical version of the Hydrest set, but the ability to use the Water/Normal type combination gives it slightly better coverage, and having access to U-Turn means it’s in a better position to support other rain-abusing party members.