[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Mighty Cleave
move 3: Close Combat / Earthquake
move 4: Earthquake / Zen Headbutt / Substitute
item: Booster Energy
tera type: Fighting / Ground / Flying
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Swords Dance Iron Boulder is one of the most potent setup sweepers in the current metagame as well as one of the most effective forms of speed control, outspeeding the likes of Booster Energy Iron Valiant and +1 Roaring Moon. Close Combat hits targets such as Archaludon, Kingambit, and Ting-Lu. Alternatively, Earthquake can be used over Close Combat, forgoing the Ting-Lu matchup for a better matchup into non-Air Balloon Gholdengo. These moves can be run in conjunction with each other, but in that case Iron Boulder has difficult matchups against Great Tusk and Zamazenta. Zen Headbutt can be used to improve these matchups as well as provide a reliable means of revenge killing Booster Energy Iron Valiant, again in exchange for the Gholdengo matchup. Substitute is also a viable option, and it can be used to ease Iron Boulder's matchup versus Sucker Punch from Kingambit, as well as allowing it to avoid Thunder Wave from Galarian Slowking as it sets up. Given a free turn to set it up, Substitute can also allow Iron Boulder to avoid being revenge killed by priority, such as Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and Kingambit's Sucker Punch. However, its main use case is with Tera, as Substitute + Tera Flying allows Iron Boulder to circumvent Gliscor (which otherwise would be a solid check) and turn it into setup fodder by avoiding both Toxic and Earthquake. Tera Fighting boosts the power of Close Combat, notably helping Iron Boulder brute force its way past Skarmory, while also allowing it to OHKO Ting-Lu after a Swords Dance. It also provides a Sucker Punch resistance, which helps versus Kingambit. Tera Ground can be used to boost the power of Earthquake, guaranteeing the OHKO on bulkier variants of Gholdengo at +2 as well as helping Iron Boulder avoid being picked off by Raging Bolt's Thunderclap. Tera Flying not only lets Iron Boulder wall Gliscor in combination with Substitute but also grants it a resistance to Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and facilitates setup opportunities versus other Ground-types like Great Tusk and Landorus-T.
Iron Boulder's power and its top-tier speed, alongside its good coverage and access to Swords Dance, make it very suitable for hyper offense teams. Teammates such as Kingambit appreciate the weakening of shared checks such as Landorus-T and Skarmory. The same goes for Iron Moth but with Ting-Lu and Gliscor. Iron Valiant also appreciates Gliscor being weakened and can whittle down shared checks such as Gholdengo to make it easier for Iron Boulder to sweep later. Iron Boulder struggles with entry hazard damage putting it in KO range of priority moves such as Kingambit’s Sucker Punch and Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide after Tera. Teammates that are effective at keeping hazards off your side such as Taunt Deoxys-S, Glimmora, Hatterene, or Great Tusk are good partners. The first two also provide their own hazards, facilitating the weakening of Iron Boulder's checks. Iron Boulder also has difficulty overcoming Dondozo. Partners that can weaken it or take advantage of it, such as Taunt Roaring Moon or Ogerpon-W, respectively, are good partners. Volcarona is also a good partner, as it takes advantage of Iron Boulder checks such as Skarmory, Gholdengo, and Rillaboom and turns them into setup fodder.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sufys.477404/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zastra.558636/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/p-squared.168392/
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Mighty Cleave
move 3: Close Combat / Earthquake
move 4: Earthquake / Zen Headbutt / Substitute
item: Booster Energy
tera type: Fighting / Ground / Flying
ability: Quark Drive
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Swords Dance Iron Boulder is one of the most potent setup sweepers in the current metagame as well as one of the most effective forms of speed control, outspeeding the likes of Booster Energy Iron Valiant and +1 Roaring Moon. Close Combat hits targets such as Archaludon, Kingambit, and Ting-Lu. Alternatively, Earthquake can be used over Close Combat, forgoing the Ting-Lu matchup for a better matchup into non-Air Balloon Gholdengo. These moves can be run in conjunction with each other, but in that case Iron Boulder has difficult matchups against Great Tusk and Zamazenta. Zen Headbutt can be used to improve these matchups as well as provide a reliable means of revenge killing Booster Energy Iron Valiant, again in exchange for the Gholdengo matchup. Substitute is also a viable option, and it can be used to ease Iron Boulder's matchup versus Sucker Punch from Kingambit, as well as allowing it to avoid Thunder Wave from Galarian Slowking as it sets up. Given a free turn to set it up, Substitute can also allow Iron Boulder to avoid being revenge killed by priority, such as Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and Kingambit's Sucker Punch. However, its main use case is with Tera, as Substitute + Tera Flying allows Iron Boulder to circumvent Gliscor (which otherwise would be a solid check) and turn it into setup fodder by avoiding both Toxic and Earthquake. Tera Fighting boosts the power of Close Combat, notably helping Iron Boulder brute force its way past Skarmory, while also allowing it to OHKO Ting-Lu after a Swords Dance. It also provides a Sucker Punch resistance, which helps versus Kingambit. Tera Ground can be used to boost the power of Earthquake, guaranteeing the OHKO on bulkier variants of Gholdengo at +2 as well as helping Iron Boulder avoid being picked off by Raging Bolt's Thunderclap. Tera Flying not only lets Iron Boulder wall Gliscor in combination with Substitute but also grants it a resistance to Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and facilitates setup opportunities versus other Ground-types like Great Tusk and Landorus-T.
Iron Boulder's power and its top-tier speed, alongside its good coverage and access to Swords Dance, make it very suitable for hyper offense teams. Teammates such as Kingambit appreciate the weakening of shared checks such as Landorus-T and Skarmory. The same goes for Iron Moth but with Ting-Lu and Gliscor. Iron Valiant also appreciates Gliscor being weakened and can whittle down shared checks such as Gholdengo to make it easier for Iron Boulder to sweep later. Iron Boulder struggles with entry hazard damage putting it in KO range of priority moves such as Kingambit’s Sucker Punch and Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide after Tera. Teammates that are effective at keeping hazards off your side such as Taunt Deoxys-S, Glimmora, Hatterene, or Great Tusk are good partners. The first two also provide their own hazards, facilitating the weakening of Iron Boulder's checks. Iron Boulder also has difficulty overcoming Dondozo. Partners that can weaken it or take advantage of it, such as Taunt Roaring Moon or Ogerpon-W, respectively, are good partners. Volcarona is also a good partner, as it takes advantage of Iron Boulder checks such as Skarmory, Gholdengo, and Rillaboom and turns them into setup fodder.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sufys.477404/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zastra.558636/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/p-squared.168392/
Last edited:
