Zygarde Throughout Sun & Moon Overused

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Introduction

Zygarde was gifted upon arriving at the Alolan archipelago with three brand new signature moves at its disposal; however, the one move that let it stand out was Thousand Arrows. Hitting Flying-types with a Ground-type move is a big plus and was enough to shoot Zygarde up the viability rankings, eventually culminating in its current suspect test. Throughout its history in the OU tier, Zygarde gained a plethora of viable sets, all of which were born in a specific time. In this article, I'll cover its main sets, as well as when and why they were born.

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Core Sets

Substitute Utility | (Release Sun & Moon)

Overview

With Substitute, Zygarde can shield itself from status conditions and capitalize on Tangrowth lacking Hidden Power Ice and Grass Knot. Zygarde can also pair Substitute with Protect to cheese its way through would-be checks like Tapu Bulu and Tangrowth with Toxic Spikes support, giving it room to set up with Dragon Dance and be the nuisance it usually is after the Grass-types in question are worn down. It later opted for the combo of Glare and Coil by the time USM came out, letting it potentially fully paralyze foes with Glare to get a free Substitute up and start wreaking havoc from there. Note that Glare makes up for the lack of Speed that Dragon Dance would provide. The Speed EVs alongside a Jolly nature let Zygarde outrun Timid Heatran, and the rest of its EVs are invested into HP and Special Defense for bulk.

Metagame Influence

Very early in the metagame, people came to realize how much of a threat Zygarde was. Checks like Tapu Bulu and Tangrowth were everywhere, and Toxic was a nice way to cheese through and punish those. Later down the line in late Sun & Moon, Glare was also popularized—and would eventually take over as the better option on Substitute sets—as a way to pretty much cripple most Zygarde checks and let paralysis overwhelm them. Meanwhile, offensive switch-ins to Zygarde like Mega Heracross and Serperior get quite annoyed by paralysis. Glare-spam teams with Serperior were also gaining traction as people quickly realized how good of a status paralysis is.

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Choice Band | (Early Sun & Moon)

Overview

After some time using Zygarde, players realized how powerful Thousand Arrows could be after a Choice Band boost. This set has since been a staple among Zygarde's wide array of sets, maintaining traction from early SM until current USM. Thousand Arrows and Extreme Speed are the moves you'll wanna click the most, for obvious reasons, but there are several other choices for Zygarde's Choice Band set. Originally, it always had Outrage for Tangrowth and either Iron Tail or Toxic for Tapu Bulu, the former of which also packed a punch against Clefable, a big threat to Zygarde otherwise. Later on, other moves started being used: Earthquake pressures Clefable, Tapu Lele, and Mega Scizor a lot more with the added power over Thousand Arrows, Superpower is an important move to strike Ferrothorn and Chansey, both of which avoid a knockout from two consecutive Thousand Arrows, Glare can be used to hinder offensive switch-ins trying to pivot around Zygarde, and lastly, even the RestTalk combo can be used in the last two slots.

Metagame Influence

Early Sun & Moon was still a mess, with Mega Metagross, Pheromosa, and Arena Trap unbanned. The likes of Tapu Fini and Tangrowth were quite common at the time though, so a Zygarde set that could pressure them with Choice Band levels of power was definitely a desirable feat. Extreme Speed was also quite nice to revenge kill Pheromosa, and being more of a breaker than a sweeper gave Zygarde room to act as an offensive check to threatening Fire-types of the time such as Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona. To this day, Choice Band Zygarde remains a solid pick, just adjusting some of its moves to fit the departure and arrival of several different threats.

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Double Dance | (Early Sun & Moon)

Overview

This Zygarde set fits better on offensive teams, most notably dual screens teams. The added bulk provided by Reflect and Light Screen allows it to set up a lot more easily, and most importantly, Coil lets it set up with more ease against physical attackers thanks to the added Defense. The Speed investment lets Zygarde outrun Heatran, and the Special Defense investment lets it tank a Moonblast from unboosted Tapu Lele after using one Substitute under Light Screen or Aurora Veil. The pinch berries that were buffed this generation hadn't seen much use in OU up until this point, being mostly made with Doubles in mind, but this Zygarde set was one of the first sets to effectively use them. Figy Berry gives Zygarde an immediate boost in HP, which can be very helpful to help it set up, healing more than Leftovers would for the couple of turns Zygarde would need recovery. It also helps that Zygarde can trigger it with Substitute if need be.

Metagame Influence

This set rose to viability when the metagame was seeing more of an offensive surge. Aurora Veil was growing as a playstyle, and eventually someone had the idea to put Dragon Dance and Coil together, but this set was especially helpful thanks to its flexibility and ability to overcome Tapu Bulu under Aurora Veil and tackle Mega Scizor, which was a huge threat to Aurora Veil teams. Nowadays, Aurora Veil has taken a bit of a back seat to dual screens, meaning you'll see this set paired more with dual screens Tapu Koko instead of Alolan Ninetales; however, offense is still very viable, especially after Official Ladder Tournament.

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Dragon Dance | (Mid Sun & Moon)

Overview

When this set was first conceived, Zygarde ran Outrage and Dragonium Z to deal big damage to nearly anything that resisted Thousand Arrows, most notably Tangrowth, which allowed it to possibly sweep afterwards. However, Groundium Z would later become the preferred choice for letting Zygarde better handle the likes of Clefable, Mega Scizor, and Ferrothorn. Outrage was forfeited for Substitute, which lets Zygarde avoid status moves such as Glare, Toxic, and Will-O-Wisp. There was also a Dragon Tail variant that saw some use in OLT 5 as a way to handle Double Dance Reuniclus and Curse Mega Scizor.

Metagame Influence

This set was initially born as a sweeper that could overpower Tangrowth and other Ground-resistant Pokémon via Dragonium Z. However, the rising influence of Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Clefable in late Sun & Moon brought Groundium Z to the spotlight alongside a steady and subtle decrease in Tangrowth usage and viability by that time. It most notably allowed Zygarde to throttle Tapu Fini, which had higher usage by then, but when Clefable, Mega Scizor, and Ferrothorn rose in viability later on, this set still kept its value and completely eclipsed the Dragonium Z variant.

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Weakness Policy | (Early Ultra Sun & Moon)

Overview

Weakness Policy Zygarde takes advantage of its surprising special bulk to turn the likes of Landorus-T and Clefable into setup bait. Zygarde is very well capable of tanking a Hidden Power Ice or Moonblast and receiving a +2 boost to its Attack stat, letting it beat both of these would-be checks. Iron Tail also gives it a much better matchup against Tapu Bulu; nonetheless, with Landorus-T and Clefable falling off a bit during OLT and Tangrowth resurging as a Zygarde check, this set has definitely lost a bit of its flare. Aside from this "gimmick," this set is quite alike to the standard Dragon Dance set, though it does give up the power of a Z-Move.

Metagame Influence

Before OLT in early USM, Clefable got a great chunk of usage, especially alongside cores such as Ferrothorn and Heatran or Gastrodon and Heatran, which made it so Clefable often was a team's main Zygarde check. Then this set quickly rose to viability, being able to take out Clefable provided it doesn't dodge Zygarde's Iron Tail. This set also preyed on Landorus-T, which will always be a dominant force in OU. With OLT, however, Clefable quickly saw several physical wallbreakers overwhelming it and tearing most teams that relied too heavily on it apart, so Clefable took a bit of a back seat. Meanwhile, Landorus-T opted for more offensive sets, whereas Tangrowth rose again to deal with Zygarde; thus, Weakness Policy Zygarde took a back seat as well.

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Rest | (Mid Ultra Sun & Moon)

Overview

With Rest and Sleep Talk, Zygarde can turn into a reliable Heatran check, making better use of its great bulk and typing, adding more longevity, and even beating Pokémon like Clefable that it wouldn't be able to beat otherwise. Alternatively, Zygarde can make use of Toxic to punish walls that can’t 3HKO it, notably Tangrowth, specifically defensive Tapu Bulu, and Alomomola Dragon Dance still lets it be more aggressive and make up for the lower Attack this type of set demands, which happens because of the need to take hits better, as Zygarde is put in a more defensive stance with this set. The unique EV spread is also something that stands out, so let's go over it: 236 HP EVs maximize Zygarde's Leftovers recovery while 4 Defense EVs let it take two Crunches from Choice Band Tyranitar. The Special Defense investment, alongside the HP EVs, lets it take three uses of Hidden Power Ice from Jolly or Impish Landorus-T, three Flash Cannons from offensive Heatran, and Flash Cannon into Corkscrew Crash after Stealth Rock from the same Pokémon. Meanwhile, the Speed EVs let Zygarde outrun Pokémon with base 110 Speed or less after a Dragon Dance, such as the Mega Eon Duo, Mega Diancie, and so on. Lastly, the remaining EVs are thrown into Attack.

Metagame Influence

With Heatran rising to the summit of the OU viability hierarchy, checks to it get to stand tall as well. RestTalk Zygarde is not only a reliable check, but also one that doesn't mind Toxic, as most Heatran checks do. Just to attest to Heatran's rise, you can see the likes of Mega Alakazam rising as Psychic-types that beat Heatran. Sets like specially defensive Swords Dance Tapu Bulu and All-Out Pummeling Tornadus-T also became a thing to more comfortably take this OU titan on. Thus, it's definitely not hard to see why this set was created and popularized.

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Conclusion

Between Zygarde's several viable sets, and even some more obscure ones like Camouflage, it's clear to see its dominance in the USM OU metagame. It has always been a top pick ever since the start of the generation, and it will likely be one for very long. Go out there and play with Zygarde a bit on Pokémon Showdown! I hope you don't struggle too much to decide on a set, though. It has always been a top pick ever since the start of the generation, and it will likely be one for very long—if it survives this current suspect test, that is. Get out there and try meeting the requirements for the suspect test to decide the fate of the controversial Zygarde!

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