Arctozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Blizzard
requesting for arctozolt
Hello! I've put a team with your basic request of Arctozolt.
Before I explain how this weird team works, I would first like to say that the main reason this team does not use your set is that it is one that cannot be used to much success in the tier. From the underwhelming strength on its Blizzard, Hydro Pump, and Freeze-Dry to sustaining far too much pressure with Life Orb and Stealth Rock, it's really hard to make a set like this viably succeed, as it faces far too much pressure with too little reward. The set I instead used was one that took inspiration from your mixed set, utilizing Freeze-Dry as a way to puncture Swampert and Gastrodon which give Arctozolt quite a bit of trouble and can alleviate its teammates from having to waste turns attacking or leaving themselves vulnerable to added chip damage. It can also find a decent midground against a majority of Bolt Beak immunities. I chose to dive into Arctozolt's main offense and emphasized it with both Icicle Crash and Stomping Tantrum, the latter smacking the one Pokemon capable of resisting both of its STABs, giving Arctozolt room to run Heavy-Duty Boots and disregard the hazards that otherwise severely limit its switch-in opportunities. You'd be surprised at how naturally powerful Bolt Beak is without any extra support!
With this in mind, it's important to remember that Arctozolt's natural power level leaves a ton to be desired, even with Bolt Beak, which in my eyes makes it a pretty great win condition that can clean up chipped teams to a great effect in tandem with Slush Rush. To emphasize this, I made the decision to make a very unconventional Hyper Offense that takes advantage of some incredibly powerful overload alongside hail chip damage in order to force added chip damage onto the foe, compensate for the lack of hazards, as well as... chip yourself, too? That seems weird, but let me explain.
A common tactic that Hyper Offenses employ is a concept known as suicidal momentum, where Pokemon kamikaze the target to force chip damage, cripple them, and simultaneously position another offensive Pokemon safely. There are moves that do this seamlessly, such as Explosion, Memento, and Healing Wish, but you may notice that this team doesn't exactly have a Pokemon with any of these moves. The team uses hail chip and forced damage onto its offensive proponents as a way to help position another, and reinforces this with extremely powerful wallbreakers such as Garchomp, Urshifu-R, and situationally Dragapult in order to overload opponents' defensive cores and provide a clean endgame for either Dragapult or our star, Arctozolt. This is also why this team is using Life Orb Garchomp in spite of it being a Hail team, as Life Orb not only transcends its power to obscene levels but also lets Garchomp provide far more consistent suicidal momentum for the team to take advantage of when chipped.
Of course, this team is by no means reliant on hail chip to do its job, as half of the team is comprised of momentum users to help position wallbreakers more deliberately. We have Dragapult, Corviknight, and Urshifu-R, the former and latter comprising a very powerful offensive core that can be used to overwhelm things like Toxapex and Tapu Fini with ease while helping to position Garchomp against them for either a ripe Swords Dance or outright wallbreaking opportunity. Dragapult + Garchomp form the alleged "Double Dragon" core of the team and are probably one of the most devastating offensive cores you can find in the tier as a whole. The one dedicated defensive Pokemon, Corviknight, is used primarily as damage control against Dragapult, Tapu Lele, Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Rillaboom, which can all be really overwhelming for the team to handle naturally, especially with how critical positioning is. Corviknight provides removal and pivoting to both keep damage thresholds deliberate while helping to reignite offensive momentum, mitigate positional consequences, and maintain the focus on overload. To further aid on damage control, Ninetales is not only the necessary hail setter, but boasts access to a great speed tier, Aurora Veil, and nifty utility moves like Encore and Hypnosis that allow for it to ease switch-ins for the main offensive core and create more liberal setup opportunities for Garchomp.
If you have any further questions on how the team works, feel free to let me know! I've had a ton of fun testing it, and I hope you enjoy using it as much as I have.