0226 Mantine

Mantine can go one of two directions, and both of them end with Bubble Beam and Ice Beam. Wing Attack deals more damage than Bubble, but has slightly less energy generation. On the whole you'll choose your fast move based on which coverage you'd rather have: Flying or Water. Bubble Beam's low damage output means it's best used to shield bait, which is especially beneficial because of the Attack debuff it applies to your opponent. Ice Beam is the secondary move of choice primarily because the rest are bad, and Ice has great offensive coverage!

Mantine is a bulky, bait-dependent mon that has an impressive amount of play against a lot of the metagame. What it can't beat, it can at least debuff on the way out, setting up your next Pokémon in an advantageous position. Of course, Mantine is a Flying-type, making it vulnerable to the ever-present anti-flyings in the format (hi, Bastiodon.) That said, it's definitely a mon that sees less play than it deserves, and while it's not the best thing in the format, it's worth playing!

The Level 50 update sadly did not provide Mantine enough power to compete effectively in the Ultra League. Not only is it expensive, it's just not that great.

Mantine doesn't perform well in Master League.