Tapu Lele #786: The Butterfly Deity of Akala Island

A butterfly deity that heals, and has fun doing it. Tapu Lele (Tokopiyon in French) is the Land Spirit Pokémon of Akala Island, one of Alola's main islands. From beneath its butterfly-shaped pink shell, this Psychic- and Fairy-type Legendary Pokémon scatters scales that close wounds. The Pokémon Sun Pokédex sums it up like this: guileless yet terribly cruel.

Contents

• Who is Tapu Lele?
• Alola's guardian deities: four islands, four Tapu
• Psychic Surge and Psychic Terrain: two names not to mix up
• Nature’s Madness and Guardian of Alola
• Healing scales, a cruel innocence
• Tapu Lele at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Tapu Lele?

Listed as #786 in the National Pokédex, Tapu Lele is the "Land Spirit Pokémon" of Generation VII, the generation of Pokémon Sun and Moon. It stands 1.2 meters tall, weighs 18.6 kilograms and was revealed in the trailer released on October 27, 2016.

Its head and body are black, accented with white markings, and its blue eyes are crossed by a pink line. A mass of pink tentacles serves as its hair, and its light-pink shell takes the shape of a butterfly when it closes — a silhouette that translates beautifully into a Pokémon plush.

Its design draws on a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and on Kāne, the creator god of Hawaiian mythology. Its 570 base stat points lean toward the special side: 70 HP, 85 Attack, 75 Defense, 130 Special Attack, 115 Special Defense and 95 Speed.

Alola's guardian deities: four islands, four Tapu

Tapu Lele isn't a loner: it belongs to Alola's guardian deities, the name the official Pokémon Sun and Moon website uses for this quartet. Players tend to call them "the Tapu", and each one watches over a single island.

Who guards which island is easy to remember: Tapu Koko (#785) protects Melemele Island, Tapu Lele watches over Akala Island, Tapu Bulu (#787) over Ula'ula Island and Tapu Fini (#788) over Poni Island. On Akala Island, whose Kahuna is Olivia, the choice fell to Tapu Lele: the guardians are the ones who appoint their island's Kahunas.

All four share Fairy as their secondary type, the Land Spirit Pokémon category, 570 base stat points, no gender and an Ability that sets up a terrain. Each one wears its island's color — pink for Akala.

Psychic Surge and Psychic Terrain: two names not to mix up

Its main Ability is called Psychic Surge, and it isn't named after what it summons: as soon as Tapu Lele enters battle, it covers the field in Psychic Terrain.

This terrain lasts five turns, eight with a Terrain Extender, and only affects grounded Pokémon: it boosts the power of their Psychic-type moves by 30% — 50% before Pokémon Sword and Shield — and shields them from any priority move used by an opponent.

As its hidden Ability, Tapu Lele has Telepathy, shared by all four guardians. Psychic Surge, for its part, was its signature Ability until Indeedee arrived in Generation VIII.

Its Psychic and Fairy pairing holds up remarkably well. Only Poison, Ghost and Steel deal double damage to it; it halves Psychic damage, takes Fighting at a quarter of its power, and Dragon doesn't affect it at all. Bug and Dark, meanwhile, drop back to normal damage.

✨ Looking to spoil an Alola fan? The guardian of Akala Island opens the door to our Pokémon gift ideas.

Nature’s Madness and Guardian of Alola

Its signature move is called Nature’s Madness, but it isn't Tapu Lele's alone: all four guardians learn it at level 43 in the Alola games, and no one else in the series does. It's a special Fairy-type move with 90 accuracy and 10 Power Points.

Its effect ignores stats entirely: it takes away half of the target's remaining HP, rounded down and never less than 1. Against an opponent with 100 HP, it removes 50, whatever the balance of power.

There's an even more ruthless version: the Z-Move Guardian of Alola, reserved for the four Tapu when they know Nature’s Madness and hold a Tapunium Z. It wipes out 75% of the target's remaining HP, or a quarter of that damage — 18.75% of the remaining HP — if the target uses Protect or Detect.

Healing scales, a cruel innocence

The official Pokémon Sun and Moon website relates a legend: Tapu Lele is said to have ended the conflicts between Alola's islands by scattering its scales over the warriors to heal their wounds. Ultra Sun backs this up: it sprinkles a shower of them over injured people and Pokémon.

These scales stimulate the body and cure illness and injuries, but too much exposure becomes dangerous. Yet it scatters them wherever it pleases: hence its murky reputation, with Pokémon Ultra Moon calling it the perfect embodiment of nature, as innocent as it is cruel.

In battle, if the energy in its shell runs low, it would rather inflict status conditions than knock out its opponent. Worth noting: Tapu Lele does not evolve and is not the evolution of any Pokémon.

No regional form, no Gigantamax, and above all no Mega Evolution — Generation VII only has five, belonging to Crabominable, Golisopod, Drampa, Magearna and Zeraora. You battle it at level 60 at the Ruins of Life, on Akala Island, once you've beaten the Alola League — a guardian right at home among our Pokémon figures.

Tapu Lele at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which island is Tapu Lele the guardian of?
  Akala Island. The Pokédex entries in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Ultra Sun spell it out: it's the guardian of Akala. It's also on this island, at the Ruins of Life, that you can battle and catch it at level 60, after beating the Alola League. Be careful not to mix them up: Melemele Island belongs to Tapu Koko, Ula'ula Island to Tapu Bulu and Poni Island to Tapu Fini.
• What is the group of Alola's four guardians called?
  Alola's guardian deities, the name used by the official Pokémon Sun and Moon website. You'll also see them called the Guardians of Alola, guardian Pokémon, protector Pokémon, or simply the Tapu, the word all four of their English names share (in French, they're the Toko, a syllable common to their four French names). The group brings together Tapu Koko #785, Tapu Lele #786, Tapu Bulu #787 and Tapu Fini #788.
• What is Tapu Lele's Ability, and what does Psychic Terrain do?
  Its main Ability is Psychic Surge, not to be confused with the terrain it summons, Psychic Terrain. As soon as Tapu Lele enters battle, the terrain is set up for five turns, or eight if it's holding a Terrain Extender. While it's active, grounded Pokémon get a 30% power boost on their Psychic-type moves, compared with 50% before Pokémon Sword and Shield, and can no longer be hit by priority moves used by an opponent. Tapu Lele also has Telepathy as its hidden Ability.
• Is Nature’s Madness exclusive to Tapu Lele?
  No, it's shared by all four of Alola's guardian deities, who all learn it at level 43 in the Alola games (55 in Sword and Shield) and are the only ones able to do so. It's a Fairy-type move in the special category, with 90 accuracy and 10 Power Points, that takes away half of the target's remaining HP, rounded down and never less than 1. Its Z-Move, Guardian of Alola, is also shared by the four guardians and wipes out 75% of the target's remaining HP, or a quarter of that damage, i.e. 18.75% of the remaining HP, if the target uses Protect or Detect.
• Does Tapu Lele evolve, and does it have a Mega Evolution?
  No on both counts. Tapu Lele has no evolution and isn't the evolution of any Pokémon, like most Legendaries. It doesn't have a Mega Evolution either: Generation VII only has five, those of Crabominable, Golisopod, Drampa, Magearna and Zeraora, and none of the four guardians is among them. It also has no regional form and no Gigantamax form, although it can Dynamax in the Dynamax Adventures of Pokémon Sword and Shield.
• What are Tapu Lele's weaknesses?
  Its Psychic and Fairy pairing leaves only three weaknesses, all at double damage: Poison, Ghost and Steel. On the other hand, it halves damage from Psychic-type moves, takes only a quarter of the damage from Fighting-type moves, and is completely immune to Dragon-type moves. Good to know: Bug and Dark, super effective against a pure Psychic-type Pokémon, are brought back down to normal damage by its Fairy type.

In short

A healer on one side, a careless prankster on the other, Tapu Lele embodies an Alola where nature heals without promising to be gentle. And then there's the Psychic Terrain it sets up every time it enters battle: the signature of the guardian of Akala Island.