[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Triple Axel / Icicle Crash
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Ice Shard
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Pressure
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Weavile's access to Swords Dance in tandem with its powerful offensive typing and great Attack and Speed stats let it act as a wallbreaker, revenge killer, and late game cleaner. Very few of its checks function in the long term; since Weavile uses Heavy-Duty Boots to ignore chip damage from entry hazards its often able to outlast its checks, and it only needs minimal chip damage to break through physical walls like Skarmory, Buzzwole, and Clefable. However, Weavile's lack of immediate power allows offensive threats such as Mega Mawile and Urshifu-R to switch in freely while additionally losing out on the ability to Pursuit trap susceptible foes. Triple Axel is the preferred Ice-type option due to its power, notably doing significantly more damage to Clefable and Corviknight, whereas Icicle Crash is more accurate, does not make contact, and has a handy flinch chance at the cost of a significant power drop. Knock Off is the Dark-type move of choice due to its excellent secondary effect of item removal, allowing Weavile to weaken foes like Heatran, Corviknight, and Tapu Fini, which helps with its ability to clean in the late game. Meanwhile, Ice Shard allows Weavile to pick off faster targets like Choice Scarf Landorus-T and weakened Tapu Koko, while also being able to revenge kill sweepers like Hawlucha and Mega Garchomp.
Weavile's amazing offensive profile nets it a role on teams that appreciate its offensive capability and have the defensive backbone to support its subpar bulk. However, Weavile's inability to directly switch into attacks during games makes it difficult for Weavile to consistently break down teams. As such, Pokemon that can help safely pivot Weavile onto the field such as Landorus-T, Corviknight, and Mega Lopunny make for excellent teammates. Magnezone is an excellent pairing for Weavile due to its ability to trap Steel-types like Corviknight and Ferrothorn which Weavile might have trouble breaking through, as well as providing a strong Volt Switch which can potentially allow Weavile a free switch-in. Due to its potency as a late-game cleaner, Weavile appreciates being paired up with powerful wallbreakers like Kartana, Ash-Greninja, and Mega Mawile which can help it sweep after overwhelming shared checks like Corviknight, Tapu Fini, and Ferrothorn. Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Heatran which can provide support in the form of entry hazards make Weavile's job against Pokemon like Corviknight and Melmetal much easier. Furthermore, these Pokemon help to defensively check Pokemon that might try to revenge kill Weavile, such as Tapu Koko and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele. In return, Weavile is able to Knock Off Heavy-Duty Boots from the likes of Volcarona, Clefable, and opposing Weavile, helping their hazards matter more in the long term.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
An Adamant nature compounds an extra boost to Weavile's offense at the cost of its great Speed tier, notably not being able to outspeed Serperior, Mega Diancie, and Greninja. Life Orb is seen on hyper offense builds to boost Weavile's damage to truly devastating levels, notably being able to OHKO Corviknight with a boosted Triple Axel. However, entry hazard damage caused by the lack of Heavy-Duty Boots combined with Life Orb recoil greatly reduces Weavile's longevity. Since hyper offense playstyles focus on breaking down the opponent's team quickly, this lack of longevity is less noticeable for a comparatively huge damage boost. Alternatively, Wide Lens boosts the accuracy of Weavile's notoriously unreliable Triple Axel, but the greatly reduced longevity and lack of damage boost makes this option less ideal as well. While Low Kick helps to break past Ferrothorn and Melmetal, the loss of a valuable moveslot is often not worth it. Icium Z is an interesting option for a consistently powerful attack to break past certain targets like Ferrothorn and Corviknight while also bypassing the unreliability of Triple Axel; however, as with many of the other items, the lack of longevity makes it hard to fit. Darkinium Z also provides a high-power move that allows Weavile to potentially break through its checks, but this comes at the cost of the incredible utility of Knock Off. Groundium Z with Dig allows Weavile to bait in and KO Toxapex and Heatran, but the opportunity cost of dropping Ice Shard makes this hard to justify.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Steel-types**: Mega Scizor can switch in easily on Weavile and threaten it out with Bullet Punch while additionally being able to recover its HP via Roost for the next time it needs to switch in. Corviknight and Skarmory both do not get outright KOed by Weavile and are able to OHKO it back with Body Press should they carry it, but are prone to being chipped down through Stealth Rock and can't switch in on a +2 Triple Axel. Mega Mawile, Melmetal, and Magnezone can all function as checks in the short term, being able to OHKO Weavile with their respective attacks, but cannot switch in over time due to their lack of recovery.
**Contact-related Effects**: Because Triple Axel makes contact three separate times, Weavile does not appreciate adverse contact effects like Rocky Helmet from Pokemon like Corviknight and Flame Body from Volcarona. The chip damage and status effects garnered up from these items and abilities make Weavile more susceptible to getting revenge killed and more easily dealt with defensively.
**Fast Revenge Killers**: While they cannot switch in directly, faster revenge killers such as Choice Specs Tapu Koko and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and Kartana, as well as powerful priority users like Rillaboom, Mega Medicham, and Mega Lopunny, can come in on a free switch and KO Weavile. These Pokemon need to be wary of taking too much chip damage, however, as Weavile's +2 Ice Shard does sizable damage on its own.
**Bulky Water-types**: Tapu Fini's defensive bulk and typing allows it to take any hit from Weavile and heavily threaten it with Moonblast. However, due to its lack of recovery outside of Leftovers, which Weavile can easily remove via Knock Off, Tapu Fini can be chipped down into range of Weavile's moves. Physically defensive Toxapex, especially one with its item removed, is able to consistently switch in on Weavile, remove Weavile's Swords Dance boosts with Haze, and threaten a burn with Scald. Alomomola is also able to sponge hits from Weavile and threaten it with a Scald burn. Manaphy can check Weavile more proactively, as its Hydro Vortex will almost always score the KO, and its Z-Crystal means that it takes reduced damage from Knock Off.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Earthflax, 515115]]
- Quality checked by: [[pannuracotta, 517892], [adem, 529732]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Kris, 241023]]
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