I massively disagree with all the people saying that Rain as an archetype is too strong, I think Snow is at least as good as Rain (in part due to Ninetales-A being a far better Pokemon than Pelipper, but also due to builds being more flexible), and (Tornadus) goodstuffs is still the clear best as usual. Usage from recent tours backs that up, if you look at any of
, then Pelipper has similar usage, if not slightly lower, than Ninetales-Alola, with neither cracking the top 10. Archaludon itself does have a bit higher usage due to non-rain use (particularly in SCL), though I consider that noticeably weaker and not a strong argument to ban. The same goes for any other off-meta sets like Sturdy/Power Herb that have been mentioned, to properly utilise Archaludon I believe you need Rain to unlock Electro Shot as otherwise its reliance on Body Press for damage is super exploitable, while Sinistcha is practically required to cover for Archaludon's defensive weaknesses enough for it to be a reliable enough win condition in most games (though I have included non-Sinistcha Rain replays below for argument's sake).
To help look at how Archaludon performs in games I will analyse recent tour replays featuring Archaludon Rain:
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Ann vs SMB
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 8, Game 1
The first few turns involve mostly positioning, until turn 6 where SMB gets Archaludon out in a good spot after a free switch from letting Pelipper go down. With Ogerpon-Wellspring, SMB manages to get Archaludon to +3 SpA whilst remaining untouched, but with Ogerpon-Wellspring then forced out and Rain ended Ann's Heatran connects a couple of big Earth Powers onto it. Even bringing in Sinistcha for Hospitality healing and redirection, Ann still cleanly knocks out Archaludon without any threat of Tera tripping them up, due to SMB committing it to Ogerpon-Wellspring earlier on. On the other hand, SMB's +3 SpA Archaludon still only does 50% to Heatran with Dragon Pulse. Notably SMB used an Archaludon set with Leftovers/Protect rather than the more common Assault Vest, which it did benefit from a couple of times, but also meant Heatran's Earth Powers did more than they otherwise would. However I don't think that massively changed things either way, the main takeaway is how Archaludon struggles without Tera to remove its weaknesses. SMB then went on to lost the game, though with Landorus and a Tera'd Ogerpon-Wellspring there was still some chance, unlike some other Rain teams that go more heavily on supporting Archaludon.
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Ann vs SMB
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 8, Game 2
Ann uses Calm Mind Raging Bolt which generally matches up well into Archaludon teams as long as it doesn't take a big Earth Power from Landorus or Draco Meteor from Archaludon. Ann gets to +2 while staying at 100%, then commits Tera Fairy on Raging Bolt and goes in. SMB uses Tera Fairy on Archaludon to try and pull things back, but it cannot stop Raging Bolt which was the stronger set up Pokemon in this game.
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Akaru Kokuyo vs MADARAAAA
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 16, Game 1
Akaru Kokuyo immediately commits to setting up with Archaludon and using Tera Fairy, but MADARAAAA's immediate pressure with Chi-Yu and Hoopa-Unbound decimates their team, with Archaludon being one shot by a Tera'd Ogerpon-Wellspring due to Tera Fairy losing its resist and its own teammates Rain strengthening it. MADARAAAA's offensive pressure takes advantage of the Archaludon team's passivity, with it only getting to +2 SpA and Akaru Kokuyo unable to set Trick Room once despite the team's reliance on it.
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Akaru Kokuyo vs MADARAAAA
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 16, Game 2
Akaru Kokuyo commits an early Tera Ghost on Landorus to survive Ogerpon-Wellspring and aiming to take down the Gholdengo due to the threat it poses to the Archaludon team, but a double Protect to scout from MADARAAAA leads to Akaru Kokuyo switching it out turn 2 as MADARAAAA uses Tera Dragon on Gholdengo to survive if it stays in and doubles up on Mew for a KO as it misses Will-O-Wisp on Ogerpon-Wellspring. Akaru Kokuyo then decides to forfeit early at this point.
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Ann vs Actuarily
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 16, Game 3
Actuarily picks up an early KO on Iron Hands, exploiting Mew's passivity, with Chien-Pao also then forcing Archaludon to Tera Fairy due to the threat of Sacred Sword, but Actuarily smartly Protects to scout for it. Actuarily then commits Tera Normal on Dragonite aiming to KO Archaludon with a double target which would have been massive if it had, but unfortunately narrowly missed out. Hospitality healing allows it to then survive another Extreme Speed and get a final attack off, before it was Faked Out and KOed by Landorus. However, a healthy Sinistcha beats the remainder of Actuarily's team with Chien-Pao down and Tera Normal used on Dragonite losing a resist in the process and losing the option to turn a weakness into a resist on Diancie.
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sir jelloton vs volcaronavgc
2025 Doubles Ladder Tournament, Top 16, Game 1
sir jelloton uses a slightly unconventional team, leading with Deoxys-Speed to stack hazards, with Tera Fairy Tyranitar overriding Rain and using Dragon Tail to phaze out Archaludon while taking advantage of hazards. As volcaronavgc uses Tera Dark on Sinistcha to help successfully set Trick Room without dying, and attacks with Ursaluna outside of Trick Room to play around another Dragon Tail, sir jelloton takes advantage of that threat to double up into Ursaluna for the KO. Trick Room goes up, but now it's far easier for sir jelloton to weather the storm, and despite the Sinistcha revealing Nasty Plot, it is a +2 Ogerpon-Wellspring that emerges healthy at the end of Trick Room. This and Chien-Pao despatch of Archaludon in a one-two punch, having made sure to avoid targeting it previously and trigger Stamina, with +2 Ogerpon-Wellspring helping cover the possibility of Tera to deal with Sacred Sword, but in this case that possibility was gone completely due to Tera being commited earlier to Sinistcha. With volcaronavgc's Trick Room mode neutered and Archaludon down they now forfeit, with the remainder of their team just support Pokemon that have no hopes alone against more threatening Pokemon like a boosted Ogerpon-Wellspring and Chien-Pao.
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Voltix vs bagel
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Round of 16, Game 2
Both players lead their respective setup Pokemon (Iron Hands and Archaludon respectively), with the Archaludon threatened and forced to switch while Pelipper unable to offer immediate support beyond setting Rain. Voltix is given the room to use Swords Dance with Iron Hands from the immediate pressure, and despite giving Archaludon some room to boost up itself by Drain Punching into a Sinistcha switch and Ice Punching into an Incineroar switch goes on to win the game. Despite reaching +4 Def +4 SpA, using Tera Fairy and receiving Hospitality healing a couple of times, the Archaludon still goes down with the team losing as a result, with the team's only other real source of damage in Ursaluna requiring Trick Room to be up which cannot be achieved.
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MADARAAAA vs Yellow Paint
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Round of 16, Game 2
MADARAAAA sets Trick Room turn 1 with Mew while U-Turning Archaludon in onto a resisted Ivy Cudgel from Ogerpon-Wellspring, while Yellow Paint's Okidogi uses an early Tera, subsequently making it weak to Electro Shot while taking away the option of Tera to help turn things around during/after Trick Room. Most of Yellow Paint's team is taken out during Trick Room, with Sinistcha healing Archaludon out of Sacred Sword range to prevent a Nasty Plot Gholdengo any hopes to turns things around.
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Hugo vs Actuarily
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Round of 16, Game 2
Both teams lead setup, but in this case not Archaludon. Both Iron Hands use Swords Dance, with also revealing Nasty Plot. Setting up both screens with Grimmsnarl then using Parting Shot into Sinstcha, Actuarily comes out ahead in this scenario with a KO on Sinistcha. A double target by Hugo into an Iron Hands Protect lets Sinistcha set Trick Room, which lets Actuarily's Iron Hands win the mirror and punch a hole in Hugo's team. A critical hit Stomping Tantrum from Dragonite KOes Iron Hands but Actuarily still cleans up what is left at this point. Archaludon did come out to Electro Shot Kingambit one turn during Trick Room, though as it then died to Drain Punch this was completely inconsequential to the win.
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SMB vs Actuarily
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Quarter-Finals, Game 3
Here we see a clash between the two different styles of Archaludon teams, with and without Rain (though in this case, both with screens). Glimmora dies after using Earth Power for a third of Actuarily's Archaludon's HP, after which it goes on to resoundingly win the game with the help of Tera Flying, Sinistcha's healing, Pelipper's Rain, and Grimmsnarl's screens. With SMB's team having a single special attacker in Grimmsnarl, a frail lead Pokemon, after it goes down the rest of their team is underprepared for a well supported Archaludon which uses Tera to dodge the one wrinkle of Chien-Pao's (Tera Fighting) Sacred Sword.
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Frixel vs ratpacker
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Semi-Finals, Game 3
Another Rain vs non-Rain Archaludon mirror, though this time the Rain team is the Ursaluna version. Both players lead their Archaludon and hinge on it winning, with this time the Glimmora using Stealth Rock and a Mortal Spin that is Lunar Healing'd off before dying, then leaving the team again with no special attackers. ratpacker's Archaludon uses Tera Bug to resist the Iron Defense boosted Body Press Frixel has been preparing, and then there is almost no way for it to be broken down by the remainder of Frixel's team due to the near complete lack of special damage it was built with.
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MADARAAAA vs Actuarily
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Semi-Finals, Game 2
This is another game where Archaludon is lead but then pressured out by Iron Hands, which again takes advantage of that pressure to get a Swords Dance off. Actuarily misses a Dragon Tail onto Iron Hands turn 2, which then proceeds to punch through most of Actuarily's team. Actuarily reaches a position where has Reflect up and a full HP Archaludon (and Iron Hands), but no Sinistcha. Chien-Pao threatens Archaludon into using Tera Bug while MADARAAAA actually switches to preserve it, before notably a +2 Electro Shot fails to OHKO Ogerpon-Wellspring. MADARAAAA positions towards an endgame where the Archaludon is +3 SpA but only +1 Def (due to a Matcha Gotcha) having played around the Archaludon to avoid giving it boosts, and overpowers it with Chien-Pao and Dragonite.
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MADARAAAA vs ratpacker
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Finals, Game 1
This is the only Snow vs Rain matchup featured in Invitationals. MADARAAAA immediately leads Ninetales-Alola and goes for Aurora Veil, which ratpacker blocks switching in Pelipper from the back while using Parting Shot to position out Archaludon at the same time while MADARAAAA's Incineroar goes for an inconsequential Knock Off leaving them in a rough spot on the backfoot. This lets Archaludon get a guaranteed Electro Shot off without the risk of weather changing. After scaring Raging Bolt into Protecting on the following turn, Archaludon only clicks Snarl on the following few turns though, with the real progress maker for ratpacker being Ursaluna after setting Trick Room with Cresselia, which knocks out Raging Bolt through Rage Powder with Earthquake. MADARAAAA survives Trick Room using Tera Ghost Incineroar in the process, but still comes out disadvantaged with 4 Pokemon totalling 374% HP to ratpacker's 6 Pokemon totalling 504% (with Archaludon at ~60% the lowest). However in a tragic conclusion, MADARAAAA receives two massive Freezes that swing the game back from a position that otherwise should probably be lost.
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MADARAAAA vs ratpacker
2024 Doubles Invitationals, Finals, Game 3
The final game of the same set seen an Archaludon mirror, interestingly this time with both teams opting for Tornadus in addition to Pelipper, a choice not seen in the teams in the earlier replays, along with MADARAAAA making the rare choice to forego Sinistcha. MADARAAAA sets up hazards and gets an important Burn on Iron Hands, which immediately pinpoints ratpacker's Archaludon as the only remaining way on their team to really damage MADARAAAA's in a meaningful way. MADARAAAA immediately takes advantage, switching in Archaludon to take little from a Burned +0 Drain Punch which will only have diminishing returns. As ratpacker's own Archaludon is brought out, MADARAAAA gets an Electro Shot off while bringing in Tornadus to match Tailwind, though ratpacker's has nearly ended without having done much with it. ratpacker uses Tera Fairy to protect against a potential Draco Meteor, but with Snarl and a severely defanged Drain Punch does not put any pressure on MADARAAAA's Archaludon, while Tornadus switches to Landorus while ratpacker's Archaludon is still unboosted. The following turn ratpacker lets the pinned Archaludon go down (not that the other options were much better) and with it any real hopes of winning, due to how reliant the team is on supporting Archaludon successfully.
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EternalSnowman vs Kreksu
DWCoP V, Finals
Both teams are quite unconventional, with EternalSnowman using Sableye and Comfey, while Kreksu has the lesser used Amoonguss over Sinistcha, along with a rogue Floatzel pick. The surprises continue into movesets, as EternalSnowman reveals Sunny Day Sablye while Kreksu uses Loaded Dice Bullet Seed Rillaboom to quickly bring Archaludon to +5 Defense. However, Moltres-Galar uses Tera Ghost to avoid a massive Body Press and 2HKOes Archaludon with +2 Fiery Wrath, before eventually going down to Floatzel while Raging Bolt takes care of the remaining FWG teammates. While the teams are nonstandard, the occurrences of Archaludon struggling into other setup and its team falling apart after it goes down are not.
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SMB vs emforbes
DWCoP V, Finals
Another Archaludon mirror, again with two Tornadus, but SMB's team goes for Politoed over Pelipper, and leaves out any form of redirection completely
. Both Archaludon are lead, with Rillaboom vs Incineroar in the accompanying slots. SMB switches to Politoed to use Electro Shot into Incineroar, while emforbes double targets with Knock Off and Dragon Pult to put SMB's Archaludon down to ~40% and gains an early advantage. Politoed Focus Blast deals a whopping 70% to emforbes' Archaludon, but their Tornadus switching in and getting Tailwind up first, along with using Tera Fairy on Archaludon, ensures victory in the battle of the Archaludons, after which they go on to win the game.
I don't believe there were any games featuring it in DWCoP Semi-Finals, and Quarter-Finals is too much for me to go through when this is already way too long. The games where Archaludon does best in my opinion are, ironically, into opposing Archaludon teams. Rain teams have several Pokemon including Pelipper, Sinistcha, and Ogerpon-Wellspring that struggle to hit Archaludon, meaning teams without Landorus often struggle to immediately threaten it (a general problem of passivity with these teams as seen in the replays above). Archaludon then being possibly the best way to hit itself exacerbates the importance to its team in this matchup, though that's a result of choosing to use such a team that the mirror can be tough and incredibly centred around the two Archaludons.
As for non-Rain Archaludon teams, well I'm just not a fan of those at all really, Iron Defense is too one dimensional with its reliance on Body Press and is far more suspectible on the special side without Assault Vest, even with Snarl. To be frank, I think the Chien-Pao / Ogerpon-Hearthflame / Rillaboom / Archaludon / Glimmora / Grimmsnarl team featured in several of the replays earlier is straight up bad and asking to lose to Archaludon. Glimmora as the only special attacker on a team is just not it, I have the same problem with priority spam teams that are the same, and not just because of Archaludon, but because of other reasons too like stacking weaknesses to Intimidate/Breaking Swipe, being unable to hit Glimmora without activating Toxic Debris, lack of a strong spread attacker without one usually, etc. If your team's only true hope of dealing with Archaludon is connecting a Chien-Pao Sacred Sword without them using Tera, then I don't think that's an Archaludon issue, that's a teambuilding issue.
On a similar train of thought, I think many teams understandably have a weakness to Trick Room, and while Archaludon does benefit from it into the faster Pokemon in the tier it's often actually Iron Hands or Ursaluna which are taking advantage of it, as in some of the replays above. In other words, if a team is getting folded over by specifically Archaludon in Trick Room then it's probably also getting folded by other Pokemon more suited to Trick Room, especially Swords Dance Iron Hands which also greatly benefits from Sinistcha, so it's not really accurate to pinpoint the problem on Archaludon in that case either.
For teams without Archaludon then I think it's a lot easier to avoid playing into its hands, as you don't have several mandatory Pokemon weak into it and are free to run a wider variety of Pokemon good into it than mainly just Landorus and Iron Hands. As shown in the replays, faster setup like Swords Dance Iron Hands can win the setup race against Archaludon, and exploit the passivity of those teams. Even with Archaludon, going for Swords Dance with Iron Hands can often be the better plan as it comes online quicker and easier. Other setup is also great into Archaludon though, such as Nasty Plot Gholdengo or Calm Mind Raging Bolt. Sinistcha healing is only useful if you're chunking Pokemon but not KOing them, so setting up to KO in one or two hits avoids playing into that and giving away Stamina boosts unnecessarily.
On the other end of things, Pokemon with more immediate pressure such as Chien-Pao or any of the number of strong special attackers can also take advantage of Archaludon teams' passivity, though it isn't like teammates such as Ogerpon-Wellspring that can struggle into Archaludon itself can't also be useful as a partner at the same time as long as you have a partner out which does threaten it. Taking out Sinistcha heavily shuts down Archaludon so aiming for that is quite effective, with the turns it wants to switch in often being quite obvious as Archaludon typically doesn't have Protect and doesn't want to switch out once it has acquired boosts. Removing Pelipper also limits Archaludon, though unless you can override weather this usually a lot less effective as there will still be several turns where Archaludon can still use Electro Shot before Rain runs out. As shown in the replays above, Archaludon is incredibly reliant on having Tera commited to it, but even then it's
beatable. Playing around the fact if something else Teras then while it may be bad in the short term, in the long term if benefits you dealing with their win condition can help you gain an advantage; while forcing out an early Tera on the Archaludon itself removes the biggest threat of the turn where Tera is used, and removes the useful resistances of its base typing so Pokemon like Ogerpon-Wellspring have more of a shot at it, or something like Gholdengo can take advantage of Tera Fairy, etc. Avoiding hitting into Archaludon for free Stamina boosts is still as important as ever, and some of the replays above show the effectiveness of this.
Ultimately, the base fact remains that Archaludon requires committing both Tera and half the team in support to be a reliable win condition, and while it can pull this off a fair amount of time, it's not an unreasonable amount for the cost given how reliant the team becomes on it as a result. Goodstuffs teams are far more flexible, and other setup like Swords Dance Iron Hands among others can have games where it's just as strong as Archaludon can be while requiring far less support (if you look at something like the Actuarily Rain team, Iron Hands is often actually the bigger threat in games). The bigger teambuilding restriction from Archaludon absolutely comes from using it, not beating it. Just look at the range of teams that have beaten Archaludon Rain in replays, there's no world where it's overpowered unless you're only using poorly constructed teams relying on one thing like Sacred Sword Chien-Pao among a team of physical attackers as I stated earlier. If Archaludon Rain was really as unbeatable as some people are making out, then it would be used more than it is and wouldn't be losing so many games as it is. Can Archaludon be annoying to face? Absolutely. Is it the strongest Pokemon in the tier? Absolutely not, it's not even the best setup Pokemon. Even if Rain somehow was the best archetype in the meta that wouldn't be a reason in itself to ban Archaludon, but regardless, for the aforementioned reasons I will be voting
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There were a lot of fun tera interactions this week, especially some aggressive plays on Turn 1.