Digging deep into its bag of tricks, mixed Iron Valiant makes full use of its wide movepool, powerful STAB attacks, and lightning-fast Speed with Booster Energy to be a devastating cleaner and speed control option. The mixed attacking combination of Moonblast and Close Combat flips the script on checks to its other sets like Landorus-T, Clefable, and Dondozo. Knock Off slams those that resist Iron Valiant's STAB moves, with a chance to 2HKO Galarian Slowking and offensive Gholdengo, as well as removing crucial items from Heavy-Duty Boots Moltres and Assault Vest Primarina. Iron Valiant outspeeds the entire unboosted tier as well as some boosted foes like Kyurem and Great Tusk and can use Encore on them, locking walls like Alomomola and Garganacl into recovery moves, threats like Ogerpon-W and Darkrai into setup moves, Pokemon like Gliscor and Corviknight into utility moves, and even priority users Kingambit and Raging Bolt into their priority moves. Alternatively, Destiny Bond can force lose-lose situations for the opponent, where they must sacrifice their own Pokemon in order to take down Iron Valiant. This is especially potent with Encore over Knock Off or Close Combat, as if the opponent tries to avoid Destiny Bond by clicking a non-attacking move, Encore punishes them for it. It is important to be careful on which move to drop, however, as dropping Close Combat means Iron Valiant misses the OHKO on Kyurem and Kingambit, as well as the 2HKO on Garganacl and Ting-Lu. Meanwhile, dropping Knock Off ensures Iron Valiant struggles into its checks like Galarian Slowking and Moltres, as it has no way to force meaningful damage. Tera Steel flips Iron Valiant's poor matchups into threats like Galarian Slowking, Iron Crown, and opposing Iron Valiant while giving it a useful Toxic immunity against Gliscor. Tera Fairy is an alternative pick to boost Iron Valiant's offensive capabilities, ensuring 2HKOs against Pokemon like Clefable, Zapdos, and Hatterene while allowing for OHKOs against threats like Zamazenta and Raging Bolt, as well as improving its matchup into opposing Iron Valiant.

Mixed Iron Valiant fits best on bulky offense and hyper offense teams, which greatly appreciate its ability to check other threats while being an offensive force in and of itself. It pairs excellently with Ogerpon-W, taking advantage of Ogerpon-W's checks like Zamazenta and Tera Dragon from the likes of Corviknight. In return, Ogerpon-W punishes Iron Valiant's checks like Moltres, Gliscor, and Gholdengo. Dragapult especially appreciates Iron Valiant's ability to threaten Kingambit, as well as Darkrai and Hisuian Samurott, and in return threatens Gholdengo, Galarian Slowking, Moltres, and Iron Crown and wears down shared checks like Assault Vest Primarina and Clefable. Great Tusk is another strong teammate, able to remove the entry hazards that cripple Iron Valiant, especially Sticky Web, as well as threatening Gholdengo and Galarian Slowking. Iron Valiant also works well with hazard setters like Landorus-T and Hisuian Samurott, appreciating the chip damage wearing down potential switch-ins like Assault Vest Primarina and Gholdengo, while Iron Valiant's Knock Off can remove the Heavy-Duty Boots from users like Alomomola to force hazard chip. They also threaten Galarian Slowking, Iron Crown, and Gholdengo; Hisuian Samurott additionally threatens Moltres. Meanwhile, Iron Valiant can beat Kyurem, as well as Zamazenta for Hisuian Samurott. Similarly, Glimmora is a natural partner on hyper offense teams, spewing out hazards that can enable a late-game cleanup by Iron Valiant, with its Toxic Spikes weakening Assault Vest Primarina and potential temporary checks like Hatterene. Iron Moth is another excellent partner for Iron Valiant as well, able to wear down their shared checks in Galarian Slowking and Moltres, especially with Knock Off forcing hazard chip onto both. Dragonite is a solid teammate as well, able to blow holes and weaken the opposing team for Iron Valiant to finish off, wearing down shared checks like Moltres and Clefable while luring in targets like Zamazenta, Corviknight, and Alomomola for Iron Valiant to exploit.

Iron Valiant is a premier Calm Mind sweeper thanks to its special movepool and a Speed boost from Booster Energy. Moonblast 2HKOes every bulky Dragon-type as well as Ting-Lu +1. Shadow Ball is super effective against Gholdengo, Pecharunt, Hatterene, and Iron Crown, making for an unresisted coverage combination with Moonblast. Psyshock can be used instead to OHKO Iron Moth after a Calm Mind boost. It also deals much more damage to special walls like Blissey and Clodsire. Encore lets Iron Valiant set up by locking foes like Corviknight and Gliscor into Roost and Protect, respectively. Iron Valiant can also use Encore to punish setup sweepers like Swords Dance Kingambit, Swords Dance Ogerpon-W, and Calm Mind Raging Bolt. Thanks to its 4x Dark resistance, Iron Valiant can even use Encore on moves like Kowtow Cleave from Kingambit, Dark Pulse from Darkrai, and Knock Off from Weavile despite its low defensive stats. Thunderbolt allows Iron Valiant to 2HKO Moltres and Corviknight and deals super effective damage to Primarina, 2HKOing Assault Vest variants at +1. Tera Ghost increases Shadow Ball's odds of 2HKOing Assault Vest Iron Crown and OHKOing Gholdengo after a boost. It also lets Iron Valiant stay in on Dragonite trying to pick it off with Extreme Speed. Tera Steel flips Iron Valiant's weaknesses to Galarian Slowking's STAB options, helps it survive Moonblast from Pokemon like opposing Iron Valiant and Clefable, and lets it resist moves like Make It Rain from Gholdengo and Extreme Speed from Dragonite. Tera Electric lets Iron Valiant resist Steel- and Electric-type attacks from Gholdengo and Raging Bolt, respectively. As a bonus, Iron Valiant receives an immunity to paralysis, helping it against Galarian Slowking and Clefable.

Iron Valiant is most commonly used on hyper offense. Its most defining and desirable trait is its high Speed when boosted, outspeeding the entire unboosted metagame and a great amount of the boosted metagame, with common examples being Speed Booster Energy Iron Moth and Dragon Dance Kyurem, which allows it to be a great anti-offense tool. A common answer to Calm Mind Iron Valiant, Galarian Slowking can even tank a +1 Shadow Ball and delete it with Sludge Bomb. Without Shadow Ball, Pokemon like Gholdengo, Iron Crown, and Hatterene can easily survive Iron Valiant's attacks and take it down. If Iron Valiant lacks Psyshock, Clodsire and Blissey answer it defensively, while Iron Moth can do so offensively. Without Thunderbolt, Moltres can force Iron Valiant out with Roar, causing it to lose its one-time Speed boost. Corviknight and Primarina can easily survive non-Thunderbolt Iron Valiant's attacks and take it out with Brave Bird and Moonblast. Cinderace can take anything barring a +1 Thunderbolt and threaten Iron Valiant with Pyro Ball. Landorus-T can set up entry hazards to help soften up opposing Pokemon. It can additionally bring in Iron Valiant safely with U-turn, potentially positioning it against Pokemon Landorus-T invites in, like Alomomola and Kyurem. Ting-Lu can take a +1 Moonblast and ruin Iron Valiant's sweeping attempt with Whirlwind, so pairing Iron Valiant with physical attackers like Hisuian Samurott and Ogerpon-W can help it out. Other special attackers, like Iron Moth, Gholdengo, and Raging Bolt, can help to overwhelm other Iron Valiant's checks like Corviknight and Primarina. Galarian Slowking can take on those three aforementioned special attackers individually, but not together. Knock Off users, like Hisuian Samurott, can also soften up the opposing team; item removal is particularly helpful against Moltres. Spikes set by Hisuian Samurott's Ceaseless Edge can help Iron Valiant in achieving KOs. Kingambit is an amazing partner to cover Iron Valiant's weaknesses, and Iron Valiant can do the same for it. Great Tusk tanks Kingambit's attacks but drops to Moonblast, while Galarian Slowking and Gholdengo are weak to Kowtow Cleave. Both Kingambit and Zamazenta also love Iron Valiant taking Moltres and Zapdos out, freeing them from potential burns and paralysis. Psyshock users like Gholdengo, Iron Crown, and Hatterene can take care of the stall matchup, and Iron Valiant returns the favor by taking Gholdengo out for them. Ogerpon-W can brute force its way through almost every Iron Valiant check, including Moltres, Corviknight, Primarina, Clodsire and Blissey, with ease. It also has the option of running Encore to free up Iron Valiant. In return, Iron Valiant threatens Ogerpon-W's checks, like Darkrai, Dragonite, and Raging Bolt.

Swords Dance Iron Valiant is an excellent cleaner and wallbreaker, leveraging its high threat level as an expected special attacker to force out many common physical walls such as Great Tusk and Zamazenta in order to set up a Swords Dance. It can then KO or cripple many of its standard checks such as Gholdengo, Galarian Slowking, and Moltres with a boosted Knock Off. Encore allows Iron Valiant to lock many Pokemon such as Garganacl, Kingambit, and Raging Bolt into disadvantageous moves, giving it more setup opportunities, while also ending potential sweeps from Pokemon, such as Dragon Dance Kyurem, Swords Dance Kingambit, and Calm Mind Raging Bolt if they use a setup move. Alternatively, Spirit Break can be used, allowing Iron Valiant to OHKO Great Tusk, unboosted Zamazenta, and opposing Iron Valiant after a Swords Dance boost. Iron Valiant is a fantastic user of Terastallization, as it makes use of a potential free turn to more easily set up Swords Dance. Tera Dark allows Iron Valiant to OHKO both Galarian Slowking and Dragapult with Knock Off without setting up Swords Dance. Tera Dark Knock Off also deals significantly higher damage to both Zapdos and Moltres. Meanwhile, Tera Steel allows Iron Valiant to flip all of its weaknesses into resistances, letting it set up on otherwise lethal attacks such as Gholdengo's Make It Rain, Corviknight's Brave Bird, and Galarian Slowking's Sludge Bomb, while also granting Iron Valiant a Toxic immunity, which is valuable against Pokemon such as Gliscor and Toxapex. Iron Valiant's wide coverage and high Speed allow it to run many alternative coverage moves and Tera types depending on your preferences. Tera Water can be used with Liquidation to OHKO key physical walls like Moltres, Gliscor, and Landorus-T after a Swords Dance boost. Tera Electric is another option, granting Iron Valiant a paralysis immunity, which can be helpful in letting it set up against Zapdos. Ice Punch can be used to nail Landorus-T and Gliscor without Terastallizing. Moonblast allows Iron Valiant a chance to directly OHKO offensive Great Tusk without setting up, which can be useful to open up certain partners such as Kingambit. If Iron Valiant is being used with Sticky Web support, it can run an Adamant nature so that Booster Energy raises its Attack instead, making it a more potent wallbreaker. Iron Valiant can also make use of alternative utility options bolstered by its high Speed. Destiny Bond allows Iron Valiant to effectively trade with an enemy Pokemon of its choice, while Taunt allows Iron Valiant to prevent key Pokemon such as Zapdos from recovering, making it easier for a partner to KO.

Iron Valiant works best on hyper and bulky offensive teams as an late-game cleaner and speed control. It greatly appreciates entry hazard support from Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Hisuian Samurott, Glimmora, Ting-Lu, and Iron Treads in order to improve its wallbreaking power. In turn, Iron Valiant can make their hazards even more potent by knocking off Heavy-Duty Boots from key targets like Dragonite and Galarian Slowking. Sticky Web setters such as Araquanid and Ribombee are also great partners, as Sticky Web can alleviate potential Speed ties from opposing Iron Valiant while also allowing slowing down Iron Valiant's other offensive checks like Choice Scarf Darkrai and Iron Boulder. Iron Valiant is excellent at luring and weakening many of the checks to its special sets such as Gholdengo, Moltres, and Galarian Slowking. Pokemon that benefit from these threats being weakened or removed, like Zamazenta, Kyurem, and Primarina, are thus excellent partners, as it becomes much easier for these Pokemon to sweep if their typical checks are weakened. Iron Valiant is a solid check to Raging Bolt, Hisuian Samurott, and Kingambit with Encore, making it a great teammate for partners that may struggle against these Pokemon, like Gholdengo, Darkrai, and Galarian Slowking. While Iron Valiant exerts a great deal of offensive pressure, it can still struggle with key defensive Pokemon like Gliscor, Landorus-T, and Dondozo, and thus Pokemon such as Kyurem and Ogerpon-W are useful to immediately pressure and KO these Pokemon. Iron Valiant's defensive profile is rather limited given its poor bulk. Support from bulky pivots such as Galarian Slowking, Zapdos, Moltres, and Landorus-T is thus appreciated to bring it in safely. In particular, both Zapdos and Moltres can punish powerful priority moves from key foes such as Dragonite and Scizor with their abilities. Gholdengo resists all of Iron Valiant's weaknesses and can spread paralysis to help Iron Valiant outspeed foes such as Darkrai and Zamazenta even after its Booster Energy is consumed. While this Iron Valiant set is great at luring Galarian Slowking and Gholdengo, it can still struggle against these Pokemon one-on-one, particularly if they are running Colbur Berry. Partners that can exploit them, such as Kingambit, Hisuian Samurott, Darkrai, and Ting-Lu, are thus recommended. Iron Valiant can struggle against Toxic Spikes given that it is not running Heavy-Duty Boots, so a Toxic Spikes absorber, such as Galarian Slowking or Iron Moth, is recommended. Iron Valiant can have an awkward time against Iron Moth, which can survive any attack barring Liquidation at +2 and KO back with Sludge Wave. Pokemon that can check Iron Moth, such as Dragonite, Hisuian Samurott, and Landorus-T, are therefore great partners.