Archaludon in its natural habitat
[SET]
Defensive Support (Archaludon) @ Sitrus Berry / Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Stamina
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fairy / Flying / Water
EVs: 244 HP / 164 Def / 100 SpD
Impish / Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head / Flash Cannon / Heavy Slam
- Body Press / Thunder Wave
- Dragon Tail / Roar / Thunder Wave
[SET COMMENTS]
* Archaludon's magnificent typing, superb ability, and beautiful movepool make it a golden bridge to Stealth Rock in the Regulation F metagame!
* **Iron Head VS. Flash Cannon VS. Heavy Slam**: Archaludon should always take advantage of its Steel-type STAB moves to whack Fairy-types. Iron Head has excellent synergy with Thunder Wave thanks its flinch rate and easily 2HKOes most Flutter Mane. Flash Cannon sets risk getting set up on by Calm Mind Flutter Mane but deal more damage to Tera Fairy Pokemon like Gouging Fire and opposing Archaludon. Finally, Heavy Slam crushes all but the most bulky Flutter Mane but does poorly against heavy Tera Fairy foes like Gouging Fire.
* **Body Press**: Body Press works great with Stamina to make Archaludon a less passive threat.
* **Thunder Wave**: Archaludon's decent Speed means it outspeeds almost anything that lacks a Choice Scarf after paralyzing them, which can be especially frightening when paired with Iron Head's flinch rate stacking with full paralysis.
* **Dragon Tail VS. Roar**: Archaludon is a fantastic phazer that also happens to outspeed most other phazers. Dragon Tail is easy to recommend, being usable through Taunt and dealing extra chip damage, but Roar is required to force out Fairy-types and Pokemon behind Substitute.
Other Options
========
* **Mirror Coat**: While it can be tricky to fit in, Mirror Coat on specially defensive Archaludon can cause huge upsets against foes like Flutter Mane and Latios.
* **Draco Meteor**: Draco Meteor deals massive damage to opposing Dragon-types and Ursaluna-B that lack Assault Vest, but it's rather tricky to fit in without losing some utility or running a Speed-decreasing nature.
* **Rest and Chesto Berry**: Rest and Chesto Berry give Archaludon even more time to rack up Defense boosts and also make Yawn foes like Swampert and Hippowdon less momentum-killing. Both the move and item require giving up more generally useful slots, though.
Tera Types
========
* **Tera Dependency - Low**: Archaludon's fantastic typing can make Terastallization a net negative, so make sure to Terastallize only if it's needed for the matchup.
* **Fairy**: Tera Fairy solidifies Archaludon against Urshifu-S and Chien-Pao, making the Defense boost-ignoring moves Wicked Blow and Sacred Sword far less of a problem, and saves it from powerful Draco Meteors from foes like Latios.
* **Flying**: Tera Flying fixes up its weakness to Ground- and Fighting-type attacks, which can save Archaludon from Ursaluna-B for a turn. Just note that losing its Blood Moon resistance could be detrimental in the long run without a boosted Body Press.
* **Water**: Tera Water is Archaludon's best option against Urshifu-R, removing its Fighting weakness while allowing it not to worry about Surging Strikes ignoring Defense stages.
EV Spreads
========
* When using Sitrus Berry, make sure Archaludon's HP is an even number at Level 50 so that one hit by Ruination activates it. This can easily be done with 244 HP EVs.
* **244 HP / 164 Def / 100 SpD Impish or Bold**: This Sitrus Berry-optimized spread avoids a 2HKO from Timid Flutter Mane's unboosted Moonblast and also survives two hits of Earthquake from Jolly Landorus-T thanks to Stamina.
* **244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD Impish or Bold**: Maximizing Defense means it takes Adamant Choice Band Landorus-T to have a good shot of OHKOing Archaludon, with other Landorus-T variants usually failing to OHKO it, at the cost of a worse Flutter Mane matchup.
* **244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD Careful or Calm**: This specially defensive spread almost always survives Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor after Stealth Rock damage and has around an 88% chance of avoiding a 2HKO from Modest Choice Specs Gholdengo's Shadow Ball with Sitrus Berry recovery.
* **252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe Careful or Calm**: The extra bit of special bulk ensures Archaludon will survive Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor after Stealth Rock, even on the highest roll! Just note that Ruination will no longer immediately activate Sitrus Berry.
Items
========
* **Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry has excellent synergy with Stamina, letting Archaludon take on foes it normally wouldn't dream of, such as Landorus-T and Garchomp with the correct EV spread!
* **Leftovers**: Leftovers's gradual recovery rewards Archaludon that manage to get multiple Stamina boosts, making it even more difficult to take down than usual! This can usually be done by switching into a weak priority attack like Primarina's Aqua Jet
* **Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet is an effective tool against physical attackers, being especially helpful on Tera Flying Archaludon to force Tera Normal Dragonite to use Extreme Speed.
[SET]
Pseudo-Sash (Archaludon) @ Custap Berry / Jaboca Berry / Power Herb
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
Tera Type: Flying / Fairy / Stellar
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Stealth Rock / Electro Shot / Mirror Coat
- Thunder Wave / Electro Shot / Heavy Slam / Mirror Coat
[SET COMMENTS]
* This Archaludon takes advantage of Sturdy to get around Item Clause for Focus Sash, making it a surprising offensive support Pokemon or revenge killer depending on the matchup!
* **Thunder Wave**: Thunder Wave is especially brutal with Custap Berry, letting Archaludon fire off one last priority Thunder Wave to support an incoming teammate.
* **Electro Shot and Power Herb**: Electro Shot's Special Attack boost when combined with Power Herb's recharge removal makes Archaludon far more difficult to wall, with offensive Gholdengo in particular being in KO range of Flash Cannon afterwards!
* **Heavy Slam VS. Mirror Coat**: Heavy Slam OHKOes all but the bulkiest of Flutter Mane, giving Archaludon even more early-game power. Mirror Coat is the riskier option, since Archaludon must get hit, but it can lead to a shocking demise for many a special attacker!
* **Modest VS. Timid**: Modest is preferred to get as much power out of Archaludon as possible, but Timid happens to outspeed Gholdengo and Adamant Urshifu formes.
Other Options
========
* **Steel Beam**: Steel Beam is an insanely powerful kaboom to go out with, but Archaludon's reasonable bulk even when uninvested makes it a rather constraining move to slot in.
* **Dark Pulse**: Dark Pulse is Archaludon's strongest attack against Gholdengo but does little else, especially if using Power Herb and Electro Shot.
* **Rock Tomb**: This Archaludon is fast enough to fully take advantage of the speed control Rock Tomb provides. While not as devastating as paralysis, it is less vulnerable to Lum Berry, Taunt, and Encore, in addition to breaking Iron Bundle's Substitute. Just make sure to use a Timid nature so Iron Bundle will be outsped after the Speed drop.
* **Dragon Tail or Roar**: Phazing with such an offensive set may seem odd, but it makes Archaludon less passive after using Draco Meteor.
* **Metal Burst**: Metal Burst is a seemingly less risky alternative to Mirror Coat, but its lack of negative priority doesn't bode well against slower special attackers like Ursaluna-B.
* **Naive with 0 IVs in HP, Defense, and Special Defense**: Going this route is the most likely way to get Custap Berry to activate on Archaludon, but the bulk loss makes it less flexible overall.
Tera Types
========
* **Tera Dependency: Very Low**: Since this Archaludon is usually used in the early parts of the game to support the rest of the team, Terastallization isn't usually a good idea unless a matchup absolutely requires it.
* **Flying**: A Groundm immunity can come in handy against Landorus-T, a common early-game Stealth Rock setter that can give Archaludon some issues.
* **Fairy**: Tera Fairy is a big surprise to powerful Dragon-type wallbreakers like Choice Band Dragonite and Choice Specs Latios.
* **Stellar**: In the rare situation Terastallization is needed, Tera Stellar's one-time power boost for each attack could be situationally useful for cleaning up late-game.
Items
========
* **Custap Berry**: Custap Berry gives Archaludon a pseudo-priority move in the situation it gets hit hard, giving it a chance to completely ruin gameplans or even revenge kill later in the game!
* **Jaboca Berry**: This Berry guarantees that the first physical attack to hit Archaludon will deal damage to its foe, potentially ruining common Focus Sash leads such as Chien-Pao and Urshifu formes.
* **Sitrus Berry**: Archaludon's great physical bulk means even if Sturdy is activated, it's capable of surviving resisted priority attacks from foes like Adamant Urshifu-R, Dragonite, and Entei while at 26% of its health.
* **Red Card**: Red Card makes early-game setup foes like Dragonite much less of a worry when Sturdy is intact.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theorymon.29010/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/derpysux.528485/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/autumn.384270/
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