Building and Beating Trick Room Teams
How Trick Room's speed-order reversal works, the best setters and attackers to pair with it, and how to play against a Trick Room team. (updated: 2026-07-24)
What Trick Room does
Trick Room flips the turn order for 5 turns so that the slowest Pokémon on the field act first. For a heavy-hitting attacker that normally gets outsped and picked off, those 5 turns completely invert the usual speed race. Using it again while it's active cancels the effect early, even mid-duration.
Who it helps, and who it doesn't
Trick Room neutralizes "anyone faster than you," so it pays off the most on a team that's consistently losing the speed race. Check where your team lands on our speed tier list; if several of your attackers can't crack the top of the speed order, Trick Room is worth considering. Using it on an already-fast team backfires — for those 5 turns, you're the one moving last.
Reliable Trick Room setters
A good setter needs the bulk to survive right after setting the room, plus a way to pass the turn cleanly to your attackers.
- Musharna and Reuniclus: high Special Defense and recovery moves let them stick around after setting up.
- Slowbro line: bulky enough to double as both a setter and an attacker.
- Hatterene: high Special Attack paired with low Speed lets it act as setter and attacker in one slot.
Attackers that shine under Trick Room
The lower the Speed and the higher the Attack or Special Attack, the more a Pokémon benefits.
- Mega Camerupt and Mega Abomasnow: heavy hitters whose Mega Evolution doesn't raise Speed.
- Reuniclus: flexible enough to run as either the setter or the attacker.
Since this site's stat point rules cap you at 32 per stat and 66 total, leaving Speed at 0 is an easy, natural choice here — one more reason Trick Room fits this game's stat system well.
How to play against it
When you run into a Trick Room team, keep these in mind:
- Outspeed and take down the setter before Trick Room goes up — stopping the setup entirely is the cleanest counter.
- Keep one slow attacker of your own in reserve so you can still trade damage while Trick Room is active.
- Switch out deliberately to run out the clock on the 5-turn duration before committing to your real offense.
Using it in a build
Trick Room is a hard 5-turn timer, so — the same way you'd plan a damage race — decide in advance which Pokémon goes out on which turn. Build your team order so your hardest-hitting attacker is guaranteed to get the very first turn right after the room goes up.