Does anyone else find it weird that our first Fairy / Fighting is a robot? This means we have a robot weak to Steel moves, wtf!
[SET]
name: Physical Destiny Bond
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Shadow Sneak / Encore
move 3: Encore / Spirit Break / Knock Off
move 4: Destiny Bond
item: Focus Sash / Booster Energy
tera type: Ghost / Fighting
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Iron Valiant's blistering Speed and Destiny Bond make it a cybernetic assassin that's excellent at taking foes down with it!
* **Shadow Sneak**: Shadow Sneak is Iron Valiant's best tool against Flutter Mane and is useful for picking off Focus Sash foes such as Iron Bundle.
* **Encore**: Encore plugs in perfectly with Destiny Bond, punishing foes that use support moves to avoid getting taken down with Iron Valiant.
* **Spirit Break**: Besides being a decent STAB move, Spirit Break's Special Attack drops give Iron Valiant a chance to help teammates set up after it gets KOed.
* **Knock Off**: This is Iron Valiant's only way to 2HKO offensive Gholdengo.
Tera Types
========
* **Ghost**: Tera Ghost lets Iron Valiant safely Encore Dragonite's Extreme Speed.
* **Fighting**: An extra powerful Close Combat gives Iron Valiant better late-game cleaning potential.
Items
========
* **Focus Sash**: Getting around Iron Valiant's aluminum-thin bulk gives it the potential to take down multiple Pokemon.
* **Booster Energy**: Getting a one-time Speed boost trades Iron Valiant's great early-game potential for excellent revenge killing potential.
[SET]
name: Special Destiny Bond
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Encore / Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak
move 3: Close Combat / Aura Sphere / Shadow Ball
move 4: Destiny Bond
item: Focus Sash / Booster Energy
tera type: Ghost / Fairy
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Naive / Timid
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Iron Valiant's high Special Attack and Destiny Bond make it a highly unpredictable threat that can surprise its more physically defensive checks, such as Dondozo.
* **Encore**: This will give any foe attempting to use support moves to escape Destiny Bond a nasty shock.
* **Shadow Ball**: Shadow Ball 2HKOes Skeledirge and will often 2HKO defensive Gholedngo, both of whom are common issues for the physical variant of this set.
* **Shadow Sneak**: While weak enough to be unable to 2HKO bulkier Flutter Mane, Shadow Sneak is still a great choice for picking off Focus Sash foes such as Great Tusk and Iron Bundle.
** Close Combat versus Aura Sphere**: Even without physical investment, Close Combat is generally the stronger move, and it ensures Blissey and Chansey will not wall Iron Valiant without Terastallization. However, Aura Sphere does hit many physically defensive foes such as Corviknight harder, and it gets around Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin.
Tera Types
========
* **Ghost**: Tera Ghost gives Iron Valiant an opening to Encore Extreme Speed Dragonite and gives Shadow Sneak a more acceptable amount of power.
* **Fairy**: Tera Fairy's boost to Moonblast potentially gains a 2HKO on Dondozo and Terastallized Skeledirge.
Items
========
* **Focus Sash**: Focus Sash is particularly useful for letting Iron Valiant surprise Skeledirge, who normally OHKOes with a +1 Torch Song.
* **Booster Energy**: While unlikely to enable a sweep unless it's late-game, this consumable Speed boost transforms Iron Valiant into an effective revenge killer.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat / Encore
move 3: Spirit Break / Encore
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Knock Off
item: Focus Sash / Booster Energy / Life Orb
tera type: Ghost / Steel / Fairy / Fighting
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* While tricky to set up without support, Swords Dance Iron Valiant is a dangerous sweeper that requires dedicated defensive Pokemon such as Skeledirge and Dondozo to easily check.
* **Encore**: Encore lets Iron Valiant short-circuit support moves and have a shot of setting up Swords Dance, but this does come at the cost of one of its STAB moves.
* **Close Combat versus Spirit Break**: If giving up a slot for Encore, Close Combat's high power against bulky foes such as Kingambit and Corviknight makes it the easy option. Spirit Break's low Base Power reduces Iron Valiant's general sweeping potential in exchange for dealing big damage to common Tera Fairy Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Garchomp.
* **Shadow Sneak versus Knock Off**: With a boost, Shadow Sneak is capable of ruining Flutter Mane's attempt to revenge kill, but Knock Off lets Iron Valiant deal with Gholdengo, hit Volcarona and Iron Moth hard, and punish Skeledirge switch ins.
Tera Types
========
* **Ghost**: Powering up Shadow Sneak can make cleaning easier and the Extreme Speed immunity can turn Extreme Speed Dragonite into setup bait with Encore.
* **Steel**: Tera Steel has excellent defensive synergy, giving Iron Valiant an important Bullet Punch resistance and covering Flying- and Fairy-type attacks.
* **Fairy / Fighting**: Terastallizing into one of Iron Valiant's STAB types can make cleaning through bulky foes easier if dropping coverage for Encore.
* **Fire**: In addition to a useful Bullet Punch resistance, Tera Fire gifts Iron Valiant a burn immunity and can even be used with Tera Blast to break defensive Gholdengo and Corviknight.
* **Electric**: Not only does this help Iron Valiant against Scizor, but Tera Electric can be paired with Life Orb and Tera Blast to wear down Dondozo.
Items
========
* **Focus Sash**: If not using Encore, this is the most reliable way to get Swords Dance set up.
* **Booster Energy**: Quark Drive's Speed boost makes it far more difficult to revenge kill Iron Valiant, outpacing key threats such as Dragapult, Flutter Mane, Iron Bundle, and Choice Scarf Gholdengo.
* **Life Orb**: Life Orb makes Iron Valiant more effective at hit-and-run tactics and can let it OHKO bulky threats such as Corviknight after a boost and Stealth Rock damage.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Encore / Psyshock / Thunderbolt
item: Life Orb / Booster Energy
tera type: Ghost / Fairy / Steel / Electric
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Naive
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Iron Valiant's excellent special movepool gives it an effective wallbreaking mode that can catch foes such as Skeledirge and Dondozo by surprise.
* **Shadow Ball**: Shadow Ball is essential for 2HKOing Skeledirge before it Terastallizes, as it's normally a great Iron Valiant check.
* **Encore**: Encore is perfect for punishing attempts to set up on Iron Valiant.
* **Psyshock**: Psyshock deals massive damage to Iron Moth and Clodsire, who are otherwise big problems.
* **Thunderbolt**: This programs Iron Valiant to 2HKO Corviknight and physically defensive Dondozo with Life Orb.
Other Options
========
* **Calm Mind**: Calm Mind makes Iron Valiant even more difficult to wall, but it's very difficult to set up without Focus Sash or Encore.
* **Aura Sphere**: Close Combat's higher power is usually preferred, but Aura Sphere does better against Corviknight and makes Iron Valiant less vulnerable to priority attacks.
Tera Types
========
* **Ghost**: With Tera Ghost, Life Orb Shadow Ball OHKOes physically defensive Skeledirge, in addition to giving Iron Valiant an important immunity to Extreme Speed.
* **Fairy**: Powering up Moonblast with Tera Fairy can 2HKO even specially defensive Dondozo.
* **Steel**: Tera Steel has fantastic defensive synergy, giving useful resistances to Scizor's Bullet Punch and Flying- and Fairy-type attacks.
* **Electric**: Tera Electric means Iron Valiant no longer needs Life Orb to reliably 2HKO physically defensive Dondozo without Life Orb, in addition to giving a vital resistance to Scizor's Bullet Punch.
Items
========
* **Life Orb**: While the recoil makes Iron Valiant even more vulnerable to priority attacks, it provides immense wallbreaking power.
* **Booster Energy**: Taking advantage of Quark Drive trades easy wallbreaking in exchange for incredible revenge killing power and late-game sweeping.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[Thick Fat Azumarill, 330577]]
- Grammar checked by: [[UT, 523866]]
Last edited:
