I tried with Delphox and it worked for me, Sunny Day plus Magical Fire to keep lower its sp atk.
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Dec 22- 25 - 7* Iron Bundle (Ice)
- Thread starter R_N
- Start date
I was able to beat Iron Bundle thanks to the one and only big sumo: Hariyama
Hariyama @ Shell Bell
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Belly Drum
- Drain Punch
- Sunny Day
- Brick Break
I used Sunny Day to weaken Iron Bundle's water moves, as well as getting rid of its Hail. Then I used Brick Break to shatter its Aurora Veil. Then I used Belly Drum + Drain Punch to whittle down Iron Bundle's health whilst healing with the help of Shell Bell.
I chose Haryiama its thick fat ability will allow it to withstand Iron Bundle's Ice moves.
The spread is needed to tank as much hits from Iron Bundle as possible, especially when Electric Terrain is up.
Hariyama @ Shell Bell
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Belly Drum
- Drain Punch
- Sunny Day
- Brick Break
I used Sunny Day to weaken Iron Bundle's water moves, as well as getting rid of its Hail. Then I used Brick Break to shatter its Aurora Veil. Then I used Belly Drum + Drain Punch to whittle down Iron Bundle's health whilst healing with the help of Shell Bell.
I chose Haryiama its thick fat ability will allow it to withstand Iron Bundle's Ice moves.
The spread is needed to tank as much hits from Iron Bundle as possible, especially when Electric Terrain is up.
This set solves the solo:
Flutter Mane@Aguav Berry
Fairy Tera
124 HP, 248 SpA, 124 SpD, 12 Spe
Careful Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
Mystical Fire
Sunny Day
Calm Mind
Draining Kiss
Spread is:
12 Speed to outspeed in the early game, where it's harder to survive
124+ SpD so Proto-Synthesis boosts my Special Defense instead of Special Attack
124 HP to maximize Aguav Berry
248 SpA to maximize the damages
Mystical Fire is the early debuff, late damages
Sunny Day prevents the freeze, boosts the special defense, increase Mystical Fire's damages and basically removes water moves (forcing to use the weaker Freeze-Dry or the less accurate Blizzard)
Calm Mind is the boost to go after the reset (75 % boss HP)
Draining Kiss is for sustain. Fairy Tera bumps its power to 60 and raise the stab to *2.
Turn 1 Calm Mind, Turn 2 Sunny Day, Turns 3 to 5 Mystical Fire, end of the Aurora Veil
Tera either way to remove the shield with Draining Kiss/Mystical Fire until the reset
Then once I got the reset, I went to +4 and spammed Mystical Fire until the end.
I didn't need any PP Up. I didn't need the berry either but I had Arboliva teammate, which was amazing (recovery and removing the electric terrain).
Flutter Mane@Aguav Berry
Fairy Tera
124 HP, 248 SpA, 124 SpD, 12 Spe
Careful Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
Mystical Fire
Sunny Day
Calm Mind
Draining Kiss
Spread is:
12 Speed to outspeed in the early game, where it's harder to survive
124+ SpD so Proto-Synthesis boosts my Special Defense instead of Special Attack
124 HP to maximize Aguav Berry
248 SpA to maximize the damages
Mystical Fire is the early debuff, late damages
Sunny Day prevents the freeze, boosts the special defense, increase Mystical Fire's damages and basically removes water moves (forcing to use the weaker Freeze-Dry or the less accurate Blizzard)
Calm Mind is the boost to go after the reset (75 % boss HP)
Draining Kiss is for sustain. Fairy Tera bumps its power to 60 and raise the stab to *2.
Turn 1 Calm Mind, Turn 2 Sunny Day, Turns 3 to 5 Mystical Fire, end of the Aurora Veil
Tera either way to remove the shield with Draining Kiss/Mystical Fire until the reset
Then once I got the reset, I went to +4 and spammed Mystical Fire until the end.
I didn't need any PP Up. I didn't need the berry either but I had Arboliva teammate, which was amazing (recovery and removing the electric terrain).
Several fire types work with this method. Including Iron Moth.
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So far, I’ve beaten iron bundle with several supports. Here are my general thoughts (playing with randos):
S: Magneton (immortal)
A: Scream tail, Tinkatuff, Frosmoth (immortal), Alcremie, Joltik, Umbreon
B: Oranguru, Azurill, Pikachu, Minun, Goodra-H
C: Seviper, Jigglypuff
D: Perrserker (good for cheese strats, but dies too easily for randos), Scovillain (cool, but bulk issues), Golduck (outclassed by Joltik)
There are other supports that I know work well, like Delphox, Flutter, Chansey/Blissey, and Iron Moth. I just don’t have personal experience to tell you how easy it is to get them into a winning comp.
Just to give explanation as to why Magneton is uncontested S tier: Delibird doesn’t clear debuffs until half his HP is gone, so any debuffs applied early will stick. Magneton biggest weakness is being deadweight when shields are up, but this aspect lets him shine. He drops fat eerie impulse, screech/metal sound to make sure the team will survive and get through shields fast. He also has sun and light screen, which give further protection, on top of magneton being effectively immortal, and capable of spamming moves as fast as possible. Point being, there is no support safer than magneton that i’ve found, that shuts down delibird so hard as to quickly block him from nuking the surprise lvl 75 Koraidon on your team, while also boosting damage enough to avoid awkward 10 minute deaths. Support Magnezone is good too, but his only advantage is helping hand and zoom lens, and magneton already has a plenty full moveset.
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I've got it done as well, I just went with Blissey (Covert Cloak - Brick Break / Sunny Day / Light Screen / Life Dew).
Since it was my first attempt I didn't feel like trying to do damage, so my plan was just to break the veil and then screen up, replace snow and spam life dew. Which is more or less what I ended up doing.
Incidentally, our raid comp was Mew / Mimikyu / Blissey / Iron Hands.
The Mew was the host and definitely knew what he was doing, was likely the same as the Mewtwo Raid except it basically alternated Sunny Day / Light Screen with me and then just spammed Struggle Bug without terastalizing.
Mimikyu was completely useless, though he didn't die (mainly cause between Light Screen and the struggle bug spam it was taking no damage)
Iron Hands did what you expect from Iron Hands players, pepega belly drum turn 1, almost die, heal cheer, then for some reason he belly drummed again (maybe he got chilling watered?) and then proceeded to spam Drain Punch.
We got relatively close with time but it was mostly due to basically having only Iron Hands as damage, the Mimikyu could very well have not existed (probably contributed some chip but didn't look like it was doing much, all the big chonks of hp were from IH)
Honestly I think IH is still a fine raid mon for this one as long as you have someone else to provide sun / screen.
Without replacing snow (and possibly breaking veil) I feel it has some horrible issues early cause you do nonexistant dmg for first 5 turns and are never outspeeding so basically it just becomes belly drum into death.
I don't feel like using Lapras with randoms but i'll give it a go later with friends.
Since it was my first attempt I didn't feel like trying to do damage, so my plan was just to break the veil and then screen up, replace snow and spam life dew. Which is more or less what I ended up doing.
Incidentally, our raid comp was Mew / Mimikyu / Blissey / Iron Hands.
The Mew was the host and definitely knew what he was doing, was likely the same as the Mewtwo Raid except it basically alternated Sunny Day / Light Screen with me and then just spammed Struggle Bug without terastalizing.
Mimikyu was completely useless, though he didn't die (mainly cause between Light Screen and the struggle bug spam it was taking no damage)
Iron Hands did what you expect from Iron Hands players, pepega belly drum turn 1, almost die, heal cheer, then for some reason he belly drummed again (maybe he got chilling watered?) and then proceeded to spam Drain Punch.
We got relatively close with time but it was mostly due to basically having only Iron Hands as damage, the Mimikyu could very well have not existed (probably contributed some chip but didn't look like it was doing much, all the big chonks of hp were from IH)
Honestly I think IH is still a fine raid mon for this one as long as you have someone else to provide sun / screen.
Without replacing snow (and possibly breaking veil) I feel it has some horrible issues early cause you do nonexistant dmg for first 5 turns and are never outspeeding so basically it just becomes belly drum into death.
I don't feel like using Lapras with randoms but i'll give it a go later with friends.
I used this set but with 252 HP / 252 SpD and Tera Blast with Tera Steel, worked like a charm.Hydro Pump + Freeze-Dry, as expected, is pretty comprehensive coverage. The only Pokemon that resist both moves are Smoochum, Jynx, and Shedinja, but none of those Pokemon are in the game. Water/Ice with Thick Fat (Dewgong, Walrein) can pretend to resist both, so Dewgong is at least an option, for whatever that can do in return. Beyond resisting it, DLC2 also gave us access to a bunch of legends, including Regice--Ice-types are infamously bad with their defensive reputation, but they actually work pretty well here, having the key resist on the double-STAB Ice moves, and a Special Defense that can get over 500 is about as good as the typical resistance to Water. But why not...612?
Frosmoth @ Light Clay
Ability: Ice Scales
Calm Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Struggle Bug
- Quiver Dance
- filler attack (Giga Drain/Bug Buzz/etc.)
Frosmoth offers soloing and online support options. If Iron Bundle is going to open with immediate Aurora Veil, you can take advantage of the snow for your team too. You're not going to outspeed out of the gate, but with all this special bulk, Hydro Pump should deal less than 25%, and even has a convenient chance to miss, then starting with screens gives you even more of a runway. If you want, you can put the speed at 206 so you start outspeeding with the first QD, and can then start on the Struggle Bugs to get to +1 vs. -1 for tanking the next hit. Otherwise, dumping the rest in HP and SpA is fine, knowing you won't be faster until the second QD in that case. When you have more QDs down and are ready to attack, Bug Buzz is the most powerful option, or Giga Drain lets you heal off whatever pittance of damage the boss is dealing by this point. This is a case where you might actually want Tera Stellar if you can afford the shards for it: you don't really want to give up the ice typing, but going tera-ice for ice moves as your damage source isn't all that helpful.
someone in my team also brought a Dragonite so that was fun to deal with but nailed it first time WITH this partner. The other two were Arceus-Fire & Mewtwo. Arceus was somewhat competent with Acid Spray.
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Started off with Aurora Veil, QD x2, Struggle Bug until Tera, Tera and then just Tera Blast until dead. The SpA drop means that once it uses Electric Terrain it boosted its speed instead. It then reset its stat drops lol.
Frosmoth seems to be the best option. takes minimal damage from Hydro Pump (all 5 hit me) and I didn’t go below like 90% HP.
Delphox
Ability: Blaze
Timid Nature
252 SPATK
SPD 309
Rest for SPD
Shell Bell
Sunny Day
Mystical Fire
Flamethrower/Fire Blast
Nasty Plot
Sunny Day first turn, then spam Mystical Fire and reuse Sunny Day whenever it went off. It will choke off Hydro Pump's damage to very little.
Nasty Plot if possible after it clears buff.
use heal cheer during drive turns if needed
Ability: Blaze
Timid Nature
252 SPATK
SPD 309
Rest for SPD
Shell Bell
Sunny Day
Mystical Fire
Flamethrower/Fire Blast
Nasty Plot
Sunny Day first turn, then spam Mystical Fire and reuse Sunny Day whenever it went off. It will choke off Hydro Pump's damage to very little.
Nasty Plot if possible after it clears buff.
use heal cheer during drive turns if needed
I think the posts about late boss debuff clear is the most important. Eerie Impulse and non-Fire type Mystical Fire ftw. Sounds like Magneton support is solid. Glhf
Terrain is kinda not relevant if you're running Flutter Mane since it'd boost its speed and you don't really care but yes.
I think Fluttermane has the easiest solo outside of turn 1 freeze shenenigans.
Shoutout to my friend who while we did it toghether (Blissey / Flutter mane / 2x Iron Hands) managed to eat 3 Blizzards without Sun up and got frozen on 2 out of 3. 10/10 luck)
I soloed with Flutter Mane, thanks to Vinc2612 posting a good set and playbook. I barely ran out of time on my first solo attempt with Mane, so I switched my held item to Metronome to amp up the damage when spamming attacks in the endgame. That worked like a charm and I soloed it with plenty of time to spare on my second run with Mane.
In online play, this Iron Bundle raid has been very tough! I've only won a few times in more than 10 attempts. And the main problem is bad players dying early and often. Lots of terrible pokemon choices being made by randoms, including a slew of Dragons and other legends that are obviously weak to Ice and die quickly, oftentimes literally on the first turn. When the timer burns that quickly there's little you can do.
I have experimented with a mon that is working very well for me in online play, and is a great mix of big damage and good team support. Check it out:
Iron Moth @ Shell Bell
Tera Type: Fire
Timid Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpDef / 100 Speed
- Fiery Dance
- Acid Spray
- Struggle Bug / Light Screen
- Sunny Day
Using a Fire pokemon in a raid against a water-typed boss that spams Hydro Pumps may not sound like a good idea, but this build is actually quite reliable and effective against Iron Bundle. You can't just use a standard tera raid Iron Moth here, because it can die easily if you don't have the right build. But with the right build, everything about this Iron Moth fits together nicely for this Christmas event raid.
The real key is the beginning of the battle. Iron Moth is EV'd to have 309 speed, which is crucial at the start. It allows Moth to put up Sunny Day before the first Hydro Pump hits. If you don't have Sunny Day in effect, that HPump will do almost 80% to you, and if it crits, it is guaranteed OHKO. But since crits can't bypass Sunny Day, unlike Screens and debuffs, if you are faster than Bundle, you are not going to die on that first turn, no matter what.
With this Moth, in most battles, you will take less than 40% on that first turn, and it goes down from there as you Struggle Bug or Light Screen after that. I've used both and I'm not sure which I prefer most. Screen is best when you don't have any other supporters helping. But since I've seen lots of Light Screen users, Struggle Bug is better to really dampen Bundles damage output.
I use Acid Spray to build tera and help any other special attackers in the group, which are becoming more popular by the hour as randoms are realizing this raid is much easier if you don't bring your standard physical attackers to the party. I go tera as soon as possible and then spam Fiery Dance from there. Once you tera, it's easy going from that point on, because you get SpAtk boosts and Sunny Day is boosting the Fire damage even more, so the Shell Bell recovery is huge. Refresh Sunny Day as required.
Moth usually appreciates when teammate do heal cheers, Life Dews, etc, because depending on the debuffs and crits, the damage can add up prior to going tera and becoming self-sustaining. And I don't know about other people's experiences with a "dumb AI" on this raid, but I've never seen it. In literally every online battle with Iron Moth, I have only seen Iron Bundle use Hydro Pump literally every single turn. And, yes, those Hydro Pumps are shockingly accurate, lol. So IMO don't expect to cheese out with dumb move choices by the boss on this raid.
Originally when I built this Iron Moth, I was expecting to get my own Quark Drive boost when Bundle lays down Electric Terrain. I thought maybe I was missing something when I never saw my ability proc with terrain on the field. I knew Bundle laid down E-Terrain on the same turn that it wipes stats and negates abilities, so I wasn't expecting my Quark Drive to proc immediately. But I DID expect that it would kick in after that one turn. Well, much to my surprise -- no dice. Apparently, if Quark Drive is "disabled" on the turn that Electric Terrain is laid down, it does not activate at all after the ability comes back. It does, of course, proc if you get fainted and then return to the field. But, from what I can tell, it won't activate after the wipe turn, like all the other abilities effects return. The mechanics quirk with Quark Drive doesn't ruin Iron Moth for this raid, but I was really hoping to abuse this aspect of the raid, and was disappointed when it wasn't so.
I plan to play around with Ability Shield, different SpDef and Speed EVs, and Morning Sun to see if those work better or worse than this build. And I haven't used Iron Moth solo yet (I'll try tomorrow when my solo raid resets) but I think with Arboliva as an NPC, this should solo easily. We'll see tomorrow!
In online play, this Iron Bundle raid has been very tough! I've only won a few times in more than 10 attempts. And the main problem is bad players dying early and often. Lots of terrible pokemon choices being made by randoms, including a slew of Dragons and other legends that are obviously weak to Ice and die quickly, oftentimes literally on the first turn. When the timer burns that quickly there's little you can do.
I have experimented with a mon that is working very well for me in online play, and is a great mix of big damage and good team support. Check it out:
Iron Moth @ Shell Bell
Tera Type: Fire
Timid Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpDef / 100 Speed
- Fiery Dance
- Acid Spray
- Struggle Bug / Light Screen
- Sunny Day
Using a Fire pokemon in a raid against a water-typed boss that spams Hydro Pumps may not sound like a good idea, but this build is actually quite reliable and effective against Iron Bundle. You can't just use a standard tera raid Iron Moth here, because it can die easily if you don't have the right build. But with the right build, everything about this Iron Moth fits together nicely for this Christmas event raid.
The real key is the beginning of the battle. Iron Moth is EV'd to have 309 speed, which is crucial at the start. It allows Moth to put up Sunny Day before the first Hydro Pump hits. If you don't have Sunny Day in effect, that HPump will do almost 80% to you, and if it crits, it is guaranteed OHKO. But since crits can't bypass Sunny Day, unlike Screens and debuffs, if you are faster than Bundle, you are not going to die on that first turn, no matter what.
With this Moth, in most battles, you will take less than 40% on that first turn, and it goes down from there as you Struggle Bug or Light Screen after that. I've used both and I'm not sure which I prefer most. Screen is best when you don't have any other supporters helping. But since I've seen lots of Light Screen users, Struggle Bug is better to really dampen Bundles damage output.
I use Acid Spray to build tera and help any other special attackers in the group, which are becoming more popular by the hour as randoms are realizing this raid is much easier if you don't bring your standard physical attackers to the party. I go tera as soon as possible and then spam Fiery Dance from there. Once you tera, it's easy going from that point on, because you get SpAtk boosts and Sunny Day is boosting the Fire damage even more, so the Shell Bell recovery is huge. Refresh Sunny Day as required.
Moth usually appreciates when teammate do heal cheers, Life Dews, etc, because depending on the debuffs and crits, the damage can add up prior to going tera and becoming self-sustaining. And I don't know about other people's experiences with a "dumb AI" on this raid, but I've never seen it. In literally every online battle with Iron Moth, I have only seen Iron Bundle use Hydro Pump literally every single turn. And, yes, those Hydro Pumps are shockingly accurate, lol. So IMO don't expect to cheese out with dumb move choices by the boss on this raid.
Originally when I built this Iron Moth, I was expecting to get my own Quark Drive boost when Bundle lays down Electric Terrain. I thought maybe I was missing something when I never saw my ability proc with terrain on the field. I knew Bundle laid down E-Terrain on the same turn that it wipes stats and negates abilities, so I wasn't expecting my Quark Drive to proc immediately. But I DID expect that it would kick in after that one turn. Well, much to my surprise -- no dice. Apparently, if Quark Drive is "disabled" on the turn that Electric Terrain is laid down, it does not activate at all after the ability comes back. It does, of course, proc if you get fainted and then return to the field. But, from what I can tell, it won't activate after the wipe turn, like all the other abilities effects return. The mechanics quirk with Quark Drive doesn't ruin Iron Moth for this raid, but I was really hoping to abuse this aspect of the raid, and was disappointed when it wasn't so.
I plan to play around with Ability Shield, different SpDef and Speed EVs, and Morning Sun to see if those work better or worse than this build. And I haven't used Iron Moth solo yet (I'll try tomorrow when my solo raid resets) but I think with Arboliva as an NPC, this should solo easily. We'll see tomorrow!
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Really been enjoying the Magneton set flamewizzy21 posted. Built two of them, one with Screech and another with Metal Sound. Personally, I've ran Helping Hand over Light Screen so I can do something during the shield besides resetting Sun. I've found that a lot of people are bringing Light Screen + their own method of lowering Bundle's SpA anyway, so the extra benefit of HH has been doing my teams wonders.
I've been using this Iron Moth set from a discord server for solos to great success. You will die if enough Hydros land, but that won't stop the fast tempo of this solo:
Iron Moth @ Shell Bell
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 44 SpDef / 212 Speed
Modest Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Acid Spray
- Light Screen
- Sunny Day
T1: Light Screen
T2: Sunny Day
T3-5: Acid Spray
T6: Light Screen
T7+: Tera Fire Fiery Dance
I've been using this Iron Moth set from a discord server for solos to great success. You will die if enough Hydros land, but that won't stop the fast tempo of this solo:
Iron Moth @ Shell Bell
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 44 SpDef / 212 Speed
Modest Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Acid Spray
- Light Screen
- Sunny Day
T1: Light Screen
T2: Sunny Day
T3-5: Acid Spray
T6: Light Screen
T7+: Tera Fire Fiery Dance
Charjabug @ Eviolite
Ability: Battery
Tera Type: Steel (Or Ice, just to get a resistance to Ice, not that it matters that much)
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Eerie Impulse
- Light Screen
- Mud-Slap
- Skitter Smack
Charjabug is a fun option for support role. Eerie Impulse and Light Screen will keep allies healthy while Mud-Slap and Skitter Smack are there to be useful during shield.
Updating my thoughts from before on the quality of supports vs Iron Bundle with randos. Including more pokemon, and some adjustments:
Italic = I haven’t tested personally
S: Magneton (immortal)
A: Scream tail, Tinkatuff, Umbreon, Frosmoth (alternate win con), Mew
B+: Oranguru, Plusle, Joltik, Minun, Goodra-H, Muk-Alola, Grumpig, Bronzong, Lucario
B-: Rotom-Frost, Azurill, Alcremie, Flutter mane (alt win con), Bellibolt, Delphox (alt win con), Espeon (outclassed), Pikachu
C: Seviper (frail), Jigglypuff (frail), Armarouge, Iron Moth, Charjabug (passive), Chansey/Blissey (too passive), Muk-Classic, Gardevoir
D: Perrserker (good for cheese strats, but dies too easily for randos), Scovillain (cool, but bulk issues), Golduck
D-S roughly correlates to how likely you win when picking that support into a matching composition, and how frequently those winning compositions come up. So Joltik and Goodra-H are on par, even though Goodra-H lets you play more sloppily. ALL options here can win without too much fuss, but not equally consistent.
Italic = I haven’t tested personally
S: Magneton (immortal)
A: Scream tail, Tinkatuff, Umbreon, Frosmoth (alternate win con), Mew
B+: Oranguru, Plusle, Joltik, Minun, Goodra-H, Muk-Alola, Grumpig, Bronzong, Lucario
B-: Rotom-Frost, Azurill, Alcremie, Flutter mane (alt win con), Bellibolt, Delphox (alt win con), Espeon (outclassed), Pikachu
C: Seviper (frail), Jigglypuff (frail), Armarouge, Iron Moth, Charjabug (passive), Chansey/Blissey (too passive), Muk-Classic, Gardevoir
D: Perrserker (good for cheese strats, but dies too easily for randos), Scovillain (cool, but bulk issues), Golduck
D-S roughly correlates to how likely you win when picking that support into a matching composition, and how frequently those winning compositions come up. So Joltik and Goodra-H are on par, even though Goodra-H lets you play more sloppily. ALL options here can win without too much fuss, but not equally consistent.
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On today's run, I used Calm Mind twice, then Sunny Day, three Mystical Fires, Tera-Kiss.
That new sequence allowed me to reach the reset earlier, as Tera-Kiss dropped Bundle to 75 % while fully healing me.
Then instead of setting the Sun back immediately after, I broke the shield with Draining Kisses, and Sunny Day one last time after the 50 % Snowscape.
This should* solve the "almost not enough time" part, at the cost of hax risk.
In that run, Blizzard didn't miss before the reset (so the berry was consumed), and I got frozen between my two Sunny Days, forcing me to Heal Cheer. I won with almost no time left, but I believe it was still a better sequence. Maybe I should still have Sunny Day'd during the "boost to +4/+4 part", not sure, I'll do that tomorrow
According to https://stevecooktu.github.io/sv_raid_lookup/ (updated to 3.0.0), Iron Bundle's double attack phase ("second shield") triggers at 40% HP and has a 50% rate of the double attack proc. The shield is worth about 25% HP, which tracks with it being so close to the buff reset. In the following strategy, I choose to ignore the effects of all the scripted actions of the battle instead.
I was thinking about an old school Slowbro clear for this one since everyone was using special nukers. Since all of Bundle's resets are HP based, we have all the time in the world to stall to setup a classic Stored Power OHKO. I tried Slowbro out for a while, and the strategy would have been similar to Azumarill's faint into cheer setup and trying to set up 6 Calm Minds, but it would still require some other multiplier to get the OHKO like fishing for Special Defense drops from the AI or needing more turns to set Iron Defense. The ultimate problem ended up being the fact that Stored Power was doing too much damage after fully setting up CM and it would just ram into 75% HP immediately even against the shield, but I needed the special defense to survive Freeze-Dry in the first place.
(Modest + 252 HP/252 SpA/6 SpD + I don't know what my IVs are + ability does not matter)
On the other hand, there are a few other Slowbro-type mons available, and it turns out Galarian Slowking is a pretty good pick. It isn't weak to Freeze-Dry so it can actually survive the turn 1 onslaught itself and set up at the same time, and it even has Acid Spray to fix its own damage.
+5 252+ SpA Tera Psychic Slowking-Galar Stored Power (220 BP) vs. -6 0 HP / 0 SpD Tera Ice Iron Bundle: 9870-11612 (130 - 152.9% of 30x hp boss) -- guaranteed OHKO
So with Galarian Slowking, I just need to set 5+ Calm Minds and hit 3 Acid Sprays on shield to destroy Iron Bundle, even through the 70% shield damage, and I went to +6 for good measure. It doesn't even need an attack cheer or offensive item, so I just put on Leftovers for passive healing. The start is pretty rough, needing to alternate between setting CMs and healing on red HP, barely possible thanks to the AI's defense cheer at first. The good part is that every turn has value in this setup, and you stall long enough that the snow disappears and Blizzard can miss sometimes. In this clear I managed well enough even with no real supporting AI on my side.
Overall I think this is a rather straightforward clear, since there's nothing that can really happen other than the chance of a 10% freeze or a critical hit over the course of the battle, and ideally you just need to buff up once before blowing Bundle up.
Anyone tried Metagross?
Can set screens and sun, access to mud slap and can hit back with Iron Head/Meteor Mash. Also Metagross looks cool, which has to help, right?
Can set screens and sun, access to mud slap and can hit back with Iron Head/Meteor Mash. Also Metagross looks cool, which has to help, right?
So I tweaked my Iron Moth and I’m REALLY liking this now. It is much more reliable this way:
Iron Moth @ Ability Shield
Tera Type: Fire
Timid Nature
EVs: 136 HP / 240 SpDef / 132 Speed
- Fiery Dance
- Struggle Bug
- Sunny Day
- Morning Sun
This build gives Iron Moth the following key stats: 316 SpAtk, 316 SpDef, 317 Speed. Like the previous build, it is faster than Iron Bundle, so it can set Sunny Day and do Struggle Bugs BEFORE getting hit with hard Hydro Pumps. But unlike the previous build, this Iron Moth STAYS faster than Iron Bundle even after Bundle wipes abilities and lays down Electric Terrain. Because Moth has an Ability Shield, and because its highest stat is Speed, when Electric Terrain hits the field, Moth’s Quark Drive is in full effect and it boosts Moth’s speed. And because of the Struggle Bugs lowering Bundle’s SpAtk, Bundle’s speed will be boosted instead of its SpAtk, which is great for everyone from a damage standpoint.
Because this Iron Moth is guaranteed to always be faster than Bundle, and because Bundle won’t ever boost its damage output, Moth can comfortably control its health level by never taking a raw Hydro Pump to the face. It can always dampen it with Sunny Day and Struggle Bug in advance. And if Moth’s health has gotten low enough to be a concern, it can Morning Sun in the sun and get a massive 67% recharge to get back to high green health.
I really wish I could’ve kept Acid Spray, but 4MSS is a thing, so it had to go. It works out fine anyway, because it means Moth does more Fiery Dances and gets SpAtk boosts along the way. So when Moth goes offensive post-tera, it does big chunks of damage to Bundle and can easily carry the wincon for an entire team, if needed.
Iron Moth is getting more popular in these raids, and I even had one battle with a team of 3 Iron Moths (including mine) and a great support Blissey. We cleared that raid in 5-6 turns total! Sweeeet!
Iron Moth @ Ability Shield
Tera Type: Fire
Timid Nature
EVs: 136 HP / 240 SpDef / 132 Speed
- Fiery Dance
- Struggle Bug
- Sunny Day
- Morning Sun
This build gives Iron Moth the following key stats: 316 SpAtk, 316 SpDef, 317 Speed. Like the previous build, it is faster than Iron Bundle, so it can set Sunny Day and do Struggle Bugs BEFORE getting hit with hard Hydro Pumps. But unlike the previous build, this Iron Moth STAYS faster than Iron Bundle even after Bundle wipes abilities and lays down Electric Terrain. Because Moth has an Ability Shield, and because its highest stat is Speed, when Electric Terrain hits the field, Moth’s Quark Drive is in full effect and it boosts Moth’s speed. And because of the Struggle Bugs lowering Bundle’s SpAtk, Bundle’s speed will be boosted instead of its SpAtk, which is great for everyone from a damage standpoint.
Because this Iron Moth is guaranteed to always be faster than Bundle, and because Bundle won’t ever boost its damage output, Moth can comfortably control its health level by never taking a raw Hydro Pump to the face. It can always dampen it with Sunny Day and Struggle Bug in advance. And if Moth’s health has gotten low enough to be a concern, it can Morning Sun in the sun and get a massive 67% recharge to get back to high green health.
I really wish I could’ve kept Acid Spray, but 4MSS is a thing, so it had to go. It works out fine anyway, because it means Moth does more Fiery Dances and gets SpAtk boosts along the way. So when Moth goes offensive post-tera, it does big chunks of damage to Bundle and can easily carry the wincon for an entire team, if needed.
Iron Moth is getting more popular in these raids, and I even had one battle with a team of 3 Iron Moths (including mine) and a great support Blissey. We cleared that raid in 5-6 turns total! Sweeeet!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the ability negate pulse (and ability negation in general) did not work on Paradox abilities?
Neutralizing Gas works on them now, at least. Dunno if that applies to the pulse
I feel there are better options (Magneton is another Steel-type than can set sun screen, but is significantly bulkier with Eviolite and gets Metal Sound and Eerie Impulse), but if you really want to use Metagross, I'd opt for Flash Cannon instead of its physical moves. Iron Bundle's SpDef is way lower than its Def, and everyone's gunning to lower it further with Acid Spray, Metal Sound, and Fake Tears. Flash Cannon can even fish for SpDef drops of its own, and while it's just a 10% chance, it's something.
See this from my original post about Iron Moth:
After running Ability Shield and not running ability shield, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that in this current Iron Bundle raid, if you have a pokemon with Quark Drive, the ability negation will absolutely prevent your Quark Drive boost when Bundle lays down Electric Terrain. And that boost will NOT kick in later, unless you faint, change the terrain, or something else to force the ability to “reinitialize” or whatever. And with Ability Shield, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that your Quark Drive boost WILL activate when Bundle sets Electric Terrain.
I don’t know what was happening in the past, but I think Paradox abilities are, in fact, different than other abilities, in that the “effect” of Paradox abilities is not the ongoing boost that you receive, but rather the activation of the boost. I think when the boss negates your ability it negates the activation of Paradox abilities. But if your ability has already activated then the boost is in place, so the negation can’t wipe it out. Furthermore, because the Paradox ability “boost” is probably not implemented like other stage boosts, the stat wipe that happens concurrently with the ability negation is not able to wipe out the Paradox ability boost. I’m guessing that is why we have always thought the ability negation was not affecting paradox abilities. I’m just guessing here, I can’t say any of this with certainty. Then again, maybe in one of the patches they have changed the raid mechanics when it comes to paradox abilities.
One other interesting thing I notice sometimes when running Ability Shield with Iron Moth in the Bundle raid — The message saying that the Ability Shield is preventing my ability from being disabled, that message appears BEFORE the message saying that Bundle is doing the ability and stat wipe. It doesn’t do that every time, but it does it most of the time. Maybe it’s just the odd way that raid battles sequence moves and messages sometimes, I dunno. But I don’t remember seeing that message appear BEFORE the ability wipe in the past, for example when I was running Ability Shield on Gholdengo (which is usually my default item on Gholdengo). But, like I said, I’ve never been paying super close attention to it, so I might be wrong.
At this point I am wondering if making the ability negate go off just as it uses electric terrain was actually intentional design from GF.
Clever girls...
Why 132 Speed? I went to the Showdown calculator and 100 is enough for a timid Moth to outspeed Bundle.So I tweaked my Iron Moth and I’m REALLY liking this now. It is much more reliable this way:
Iron Moth @ Ability Shield
Tera Type: Fire
Timid Nature
EVs: 136 HP / 240 SpDef / 132 Speed
- Fiery Dance
- Struggle Bug
- Sunny Day
- Morning Sun
This build gives Iron Moth the following key stats: 316 SpAtk, 316 SpDef, 317 Speed. Like the previous build, it is faster than Iron Bundle, so it can set Sunny Day and do Struggle Bugs BEFORE getting hit with hard Hydro Pumps. But unlike the previous build, this Iron Moth STAYS faster than Iron Bundle even after Bundle wipes abilities and lays down Electric Terrain. Because Moth has an Ability Shield, and because its highest stat is Speed, when Electric Terrain hits the field, Moth’s Quark Drive is in full effect and it boosts Moth’s speed. And because of the Struggle Bugs lowering Bundle’s SpAtk, Bundle’s speed will be boosted instead of its SpAtk, which is great for everyone from a damage standpoint.
Because this Iron Moth is guaranteed to always be faster than Bundle, and because Bundle won’t ever boost its damage output, Moth can comfortably control its health level by never taking a raw Hydro Pump to the face. It can always dampen it with Sunny Day and Struggle Bug in advance. And if Moth’s health has gotten low enough to be a concern, it can Morning Sun in the sun and get a massive 67% recharge to get back to high green health.
I really wish I could’ve kept Acid Spray, but 4MSS is a thing, so it had to go. It works out fine anyway, because it means Moth does more Fiery Dances and gets SpAtk boosts along the way. So when Moth goes offensive post-tera, it does big chunks of damage to Bundle and can easily carry the wincon for an entire team, if needed.
Iron Moth is getting more popular in these raids, and I even had one battle with a team of 3 Iron Moths (including mine) and a great support Blissey. We cleared that raid in 5-6 turns total! Sweeeet!