Ubers Zacian-C (Agility)

[Manaphy]

[SET]
name: Agility
move 1: Agility
move 2: Play Rough
move 3: Behemoth Blade
move 4: Fire Fang
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 232 Atk / 124 Def

[SET COMMENTS]
Instead of breaking through defensive cores, this Zacian-C set is focused on cleaning up weakened teams. Even without Speed investment, with an Agility under its belt, Zacian-C outspeeds everything in the game, meaning it has a lot less to fear from revenge killers such as Dugtrio and Excadrill. Play Rough gives Zacian-C great neutral coverage against the majority of the metagame, notably being your best attack against Quagsire. Behemoth Blade is Zacian-C's most powerful attack and is very useful for dealing with Dynamax Pokemon. Fire Fang rounds out the coverage of the set, hitting Steel-types that would normally resist Zacian-C's STAB attacks and letting Zacian-C avoid the nasty side effects that come with using Wild Charge and Close Combat.

This set is very flexible with its EVs, and its EV spread should be carefully considered based on threats to your team. The given spread allows Zacian-C to survive a +1 Max Lightning from Life Orb Kyurem-B and Max Quake from Life Orb Drednaw after one layer of Spikes damage, which gives Zacian-C a very valuable defensive niche and helps provide role compression to your team. If using Zacian-C to check offensive threats like this, it should be kept in the back of your team to avoid any passive damage that might make it vulnerable and only be switched in when it's ready to sweep or check something. As a check to Kyurem-B, Zacian-C is one of the few viable options in the tier; the most other notable Kyurem-B check, Necrozma-DM, suffers from its Moonlight being less effective in sand or rain, making Zacian-C a good option for these teams. Alternative EVs include running only 108 Defense EVs, which let Zacian-C take a Life Orb Max Quake from Drednaw at full health, or 72 Speed EVs, which allow Zacian-C to outspeed Dynamax Dugtrio and Adamant Marshadow. Otherwise, you can run maximum Speed investment to give Zacian-C the ability to revenge kill Jolly Marshadow and Mewtwo. This set requires teammates that can deal with common checks to Zacian-C such as Quagsire, Skarmory, Corviknight, and Necrozma-DM; a notable option is Gothitelle, as it can easily trap or cripple those threats. Entry hazard support also helps make Zacian-C's job a lot easier; for example, Zacian-C has a good chance to 2HKO Quagsire after damage from one layer of Spikes or Toxic Spikes.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Manaphy, 50695]]
- Quality checked by: [[Minority, 222996], [Nayrz, 212134]]
- Grammar checked by: [[deetah, 297659]]

 

[Minority]

The spread given above allows Zacian-C to live +1 Max Thunder from Life Orb Kyurem-Black and Max Quake from Life Orb Drednaw after 1 layer of Spikes damage...

The spread is designed for the latter rather than the former, so maybe this would be more clear if the Drednaw mention is first. A GP fix, but the move is called Max Lighting not Max Thunder.

As a check to Kyurem-Black, Zacian-C is one of the few viable options in the tier, along with Necrozma-DM; this set works well on Sand teams as a result of Necrozma-DM's Moonlight being nerfed in Sand.

This sentence should be reworded to be less confusing. I had to read it several times to realize you were saying that Zacian-C is one of the few viable checks to Kyurem-Black and Necrozma-DM.

Alternative EVs include running only 100 Defense EVs, which lets Zacian-C live Max Thunder from Kyurem-Black at 1% health...

It may be worthwhile to explain if there is any tangible benefit to giving up the Drednaw calc that was brought up earlier, or at least specify where those 24 EVs are going.

This set requires teammates that can deal with common checks to Zacian-C such as Quagsire, Skarmory, Corviknight, and Necrozma-DM

The mention of Necrozma-DM here may be confusing to readers since you previously said that Zacian-C checks Necrozma-DM in sand. You may want to be more specific about what Necrozma-DM set is checked by this Zacian-C, and what Necrozma-DM set checks this Zacian-C. It would also be nice to see more than one mention of a teammate that can beat these defensive threats.

QC: 1/2

 

[oversway]

This sentence should be reworded to be less confusing. I had to read it several times to realize you were saying that Zacian-C is one of the few viable checks to Kyurem-Black and Necrozma-DM.

after reading this I’m pretty sure he’s actually saying both DM and Zacian-C are Kyurem checks, Zacian is just better on sand because DM can’t heal easily against Kyurem—this would also make more sense with the later mention of DM as a Zacian check

 

[Manaphy]

Yeah dominatio is right, I don’t mind rewording the sentence to make it more clear.

I will also change the 100 Defense EVs to 108 Defense EVs since this is the number that allows you to live Dyna Max Quake from Drednaw.

 

[Nayrz]

I'm not sure how I feel about this having literally 0 speed... my team in UPL always used 72 Speed for Dynamax Dugtrio and Adamant Marshadow. I think you should be clear at the start of the second paragraph that this set can increase its Speed if the team needs Zacian-C to revenge kill something unboosted. Agility isn't wasted just because you are already fast - without Agility you will never outspeed stuff like Sand Exca or Swift Swimmers so I think its a bit of a trap to think "I have Agility so I must be slow and bulky". It gives you some freedom but not without consequence.

implement for QC 2/2

 

[Manaphy]

implemented; should be all good for GP

 

[deetah]

Add Remove Comments (AC) = Add Comma (RC) = Remove Comma

GP 1/1

Zacian-C

[SET]
name: Agility
move 1: Agility
move 2: Play Rough
move 3: Behemoth Blade
move 4: Fire Fang
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 232 Atk / 124 Def

[SET COMMENTS]
Instead of breaking through defensive cores, this Zacian-C set is focused on cleaning up weakened teams. Even without Speed investment, with an Agility under it's its belt, Zacian-C outspeeds everything in the game, meaning it has a lot less to fear from revenge killers such as Dugtrio and Excadrill. Play Rough is your attack of choice, having gives Zacian-C great neutral coverage against the majority of the metagame, notably being your best attack against Quagsire. Behemoth Blade is Zacian-C's most powerful attack, (RC) and is very useful for dealing with Dynamax Pokemon, although Steel-type is lacking offensively (Is this really relevant here?). Fire Fang rounds out the coverage of the set, hitting Steel-types that would normally resist Zacian-C's STAB attacks, (RC) and it avoids letting Zacian-C avoid the nasty side-effects side effects that come with using Wild Charge and Close Combat.

This set is very flexible with its EVs, and its EV spread should be carefully considered based on threats to your team. The given spread given above allows Zacian-C to live survive a +1 Max Lightning from Life Orb Kyurem-Black Kyurem-B and Max Quake from Life Orb Drednaw after 1 one layer of Spikes damage, which gives Zacian-C a very valuable defensive niche and helps provide role compression to your team. If using Zacian-C to check offensive threats like this, it should be kept in the back of your team to avoid any passive damage that might make it vulnerable, (RC) and it should only be switched in when it's ready to sweep or check something. As a check to Kyurem-Black Kyurem-B, Zacian-C is one of the few viable options in the tier; the most other notable Kyurem-B check, Necrozma-DM, has suffers from its Moonlight nerfed being less effective in sand or rain, making Zacian-C a good option for these teams. Alternative EVs include running only 108 Defense EVs, which lets let Zacian-C live take a Life Orb-boosted Max Quake from Drednaw if Zacian-C has at full health, or 72 Speed EVs, (AC) which outspeeds allow Zacian-C to outspeed Dynamax Dugtrio and Adamant Marshadow. (Period) or simply running max Otherwise, you can run maximum Speed investment to give Zacian-C the ability to revenge kill Jolly Marshadow and Mewtwo. This set requires teammates that can deal with common checks to Zacian-C such as Quagsire, Skarmory, Corviknight, and Necrozma-DM; a notable option is Gothitelle, who as it can easily trap or cripple those threats. Entry hazard support also helps make Zacian-C's job a lot easier; for example, Zacian-C has a good chance to 2HKO Quagsire after damage from 1 one layer of Spikes or Toxic Spikes.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Manaphy, 50695]]
- Quality checked by: [[Minority, 222996], [Nayrz, 212134]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]