Tinkaton is known for its ridiculously powerful signature move, Gigaton Hammer, and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players have found a way to make it even stronger by removing its one drawback—possibly opening up quite a powerful combo in doubles.
In a June 23 Reddit thread, a player shared a hilarious Pokémon Showdown moment where they used Encore against Tinkaton, only for it to smack them back with two Gigaton Hammers in a row—which shouldn’t normally be possible.
Under normal circumstances, Gigaton Hammer cannot be used two turns in a row as a restriction to balance out its massive 160 base power. When the Showdown player used Encore, which forces the target to use the same move for several turns, they were likely under the impression that Gigaton Hammer would fail the second time. Instead, it bypassed the drawback and landed a second hit.
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While it won’t work in single battles (unless your opponent uses Encore), players can actually take advantage of this to make Tinkaton more viable in VGC double battles. After Tinkaton uses Gigaton Hammer once, a faster ally can use Encore the following turn to force the Fairy/Steel Pokémon to use its hammer a second time. Paired with a Choice Band, this strategy could be deadly.
Still, there are ways to counter this. If your opponent is aware of what you’re trying to do, they can simply use Protect to keep their Pokémon safe from the second Gigaton Hammer. Alternatively, they can use Disable against Tinkaton, which would force it to use Struggle instead. The good news is that Disable hasn’t been seen too much in the Scarlet and Violet meta outside of Scream Tail’s Encore/Disable build.
Players also pointed out how the strategy will fail after getting the second Gigaton Hammer off. This means Tinkaton would be able to get two powerful Gigaton Hammers off before being forced to use Struggle or swap out—which still could be worth it if you have another healthy Pokémon to swap into.
While it certainly has its drawbacks, the double Gigaton Hammer Tinkaton combo might be coming to doubles battles near you.
