Battle Spot Zacian-C

[Theorymon]

Sword Doge go brrrrr

[SET]
name: All-out Attacker
move 1: Behemoth Blade
move 2: Play Rough
move 3: Close Combat / Wild Charge / Crunch
move 4: Quick Attack / Wild Charge / Substitute
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 28 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* With absurd power and a great defensive typing, Zacian-C stands out as the most defining offensive threat in the metagame!

* Behemoth Blade is key to Zacian-C's success, letting it ignore the bulk boost Dynamax gives its foes.

* Close Combat is Zacian-C's strongest attack against Steel-types that would otherwise wall it.

* Quick Attack may be weak, but the priority is very helpful for picking off faster, weakened foes such as Choice Scarf Cinderace.

* Wild Charge deals massive damage to Ho-Oh, which otherwise can give Zacian-C issues, and OHKOes maximum HP Kyogre (assuming it doesn't Dynamax).

* Crunch ensures that Shedinja will not wall Zacian-C. Note that it deals the same amount of damage to Necrozma-DM as Close Combat, and it risks activating Weakness Policy.

* Substitute gives Zacian-C some insurance against Ditto, which can otherwise revenge kill it with a bit of chip damage.

* Fire Fang is rather weak, but it covers Shedinja and Ferrothorn with one move, though it does rather poorly in the rain.

* Solar Blade requires sun support from Groudon or Torkoal, but it allows Zacian-C to overcome its arch nemesis, Quagsire.

EV Spreads
========

220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 28 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread allows Zacian-C to outspeed up to Adamant Cinderace, survive Jolly Landorus-T's Earthquake—provided it lacks Life Orb, and maximizes its power.

236 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SpD / 28 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread allows Zacian-C to survive Choice Scarf Kyogre's Water Spout 93.7% of the time, survive Jolly Landorus-T's Earthquake from full health, and still outspeed Adamant Cinderace.

92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread sacrifices a major amount of bulk to outspeed Jolly Cinderace. This spread is worth considering if your team has Stealth Rock support to chip Focus Sash Cinderace.

252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with Jolly: Maximizing Speed allows Zacian-C to outspeed Eternatus and Choice Scarf Dracovish but results in far less bulk.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Behemoth Blade
move 3: Play Rough
move 4: Close Combat / Wild Charge / Crunch / Fire Fang
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Swords Dance may seem like overkill with Zacian-C's crazy strength, but the extra boost can stop offensive Steel-resistant Pokemon such as Kyogre, Zapdos, and Ho-Oh from escaping a KO!

* Despite not offering much extra coverage alongside Zacian-C's other moves, Behemoth Blade is essential for the extra damage against Dynamax users such as Landorus-T.

* Close Combat is Zacian-C's most powerful tool against the majority of Steel-types.

* Wild Charge prevents defensive Ho-Oh from walling Zacian-C. With Stealth Rock support, even defensive Ho-Oh won't be saved by Dynamax.

* Crunch lets Zacian-C get around Shedinja. It also deals the same amount of damage to Necrozma-DM as Close Combat, though watch out for Weakness Policy.

* Fire Fang lets Zacian-C beat Shedinja and Ferrothorn with one moveslot. However, it is fairly weak and not particularly effective against other Steel-types in rain.

* Substitute creates a serious loss in coverage, but it does prevent a potentially devastating counter-sweep from Ditto.

* Quagsire will usually give Zacian-C problems, but preparing for it is especially important when trying to sweep with this set. Pokemon with Grass-type attacks are usually a good choice against it. Using Groudon or Torkoal in combination with Solar Blade is also an option, though it's fairly easy to predict at Team Preview if using Torkoal.

* When using this set, take dual screens support in serious consideration, as, despite its decent bulk, Zacian-C has a hard time setting up Swords Dance against most of the metagame. Good teammates to consider include Lapras with its Gigantamax set, Regieleki, and Grimmsnarl.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[Tox, 146], [Luisin, 469498]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

 

[Theorymon]

Just got Zacian-C ready! Before the QC checking starts, I do want to explain a few changes I made!

- OK the biggest thing is EV spreads for the first set. I changed the name to All-Out Attacker since I just made Swords Dance its own set to make writing easier. Feel free to suggest more or better EV spreads!

- I deslashed Fire Fang, but I still mention it because I think there is some value for smacking Shedinja and Ferrothorn with one move, even if the rain can make it sorta a miserable move at times.

- I made the 2nd set go all-in on Swords Dance. I realize mentioning Quagsire preparation and dual screens seems like a lot more teammate mentioning than you'd expect from this format, but Zacian-C is so widely prepared for that I felt like touching upon that stuff would be a good idea!

 

[Tox]

The bulky all-out attacker set seems like the most important set on the most important mon in the format, and it is handled in a concise, yet through way. Relevant options are covered, irrelevant ones (Imprison, Focus Energy) are not. Alternative EVs and their explanations provided should be especially helpful to readers in grasping the true horror this most format-warping threat represents.

It will be interesting to see what Zacian's final entry will end up looking like after six more months of Series 12.



QC 1/2

 

[Theorymon]

Luisin QCed this over Discord yesterday, so I guess that's QC 2/2!

This is now ready for grammar checks!

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC): Add Comma

Hide

[SET]
name: All-out Attacker
move 1: Behemoth Blade
move 2: Play Rough
move 3: Close Combat / Wild Charge / Crunch
move 4: Quick Attack / Wild Charge / Substitute
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 28 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* With absurd power and a great defensive typing, Zacian-C stands out as the most defining offensive threat in the metagame!

* Behemoth Blade is key to Zacian-C's success, letting it ignore the bulk boost Dynamax gives its foes.

* Close Combat is Zacian-C's strongest general (or keep general and "Steel-types that" -> "Steel-types, which". i imagine either my change or that change makes sense) attack against Steel-types that would otherwise wall it.

* Quick Attack may be weak, but the priority is very helpful for picking off faster, weakened foes such as Choice Scarf Cinderace.

* Wild Charge let's Zacian-C deal deals massive damage to Ho-Oh, who which otherwise can give Zacian-C issues, and OHKOes maximum HP Kyogre (assuming it doesn't Dynamax).

* Crunch ensures that Shedinja will not wall Zacian-C. Note that it deals the same amount of damage to Necrozma-DM as Close Combat, and it risks activating Weakness Policy.

* Substitute gives Zacian-C some insurance against Ditto, who which can otherwise revenge kill it with a bit of chip damage.

* Fire Fang is rather weak, but it covers Shedinja and Ferrothorn with one move, though it does rather poorly in the rain.

* Solar Blade requires sun support from Groudon or Torkoal to remove its risk, (if you wanna specifically ref like other weather dropping the power, go ahead, just explicitly include it) but it allows Zacian-C to overcome its arch nemesis, Quagsire.

EV Spreads
========

220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 28 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread allows Zacian-C to outspeed up to Adamant Cinderace, survive Jolly Landorus-T's Earthquake (provided they lack Life Orb), and maximized Earthquake—provided it lacks Life Orb, and maximizes its power.

236 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SpD / 28 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread allows Zacian-C to survive a Choice Scarf Kyogre's Water Spout 93.7% of the time, survive Jolly Landorus-T's Earthquake from full health, while still outspeeding and still outspeed Adamant Cinderace.

92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe with Adamant: This EV spread sacrifices a major amount of bulk to outspeed Jolly Cinderace. This spread is worth considering if your team has Stealth Rock support for to chip Focus Sash Cinderace.

252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with Jolly: Maximizing Speed allows Zacian-C to outspeed Eternatus and Choice Scarf Dracovish (RC) at the cost of but results in far less bulk.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Behemoth Blade
move 3: Play Rough
move 4: Close Combat / Wild Charge / Crunch / Fire Fang
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Swords Dance may seem like overkill with Zacian-C's crazy strength, but the extra boost can stop offensive Pokemon with Steel-type resistances Steel-resistant Pokemon such as Kyogre, Zapdos, and Ho-Oh from escaping a KO!

* Despite not offering much extra coverage alongside Zacian-C's other moves, (bc blade is first and thus you don't have other moves explained already to compare it with) Behemoth Blade is essential for the extra damage against other Dynamaxers, Dynamax users such as Landorus-T.

* Close Combat is Zacian-C's most powreful powerful tool against the majority of Steel-types.

* Wild Charge prevents defensive Ho-Oh from walling Zacian-C. With Stealth Rock support, even defensive Ho-Oh won't be saved by Dynamax.

* Crunch lets Zacian-C get around Shedinja. It also deals the same amount of damage to Necrozma-DM as Close Combat, though watch out for Weakness Policy.

* Fire Fang lets Zacian-C beat Shedinja and Ferrothorn with one moveslot. However, it is fairly weak and not particularly effective against other Steel-types in the rain.

* Substitute offers creates a serious loss in coverage, but it does prevent a potentially devastating counter-sweep from Ditto.

* Quagsire will usually give Zacian-C problems, but preparing for it is especially important when trying to sweep with this set. Pokemon with Grass-type atacks attacks are usually a good choice against it. Using Groudon or Torkoal in combinatin combination with Solar Blade is also an option, though it's fairly easy to predict on team preview at Team Preview if using Torkoal.

* When using this set, take dual screens support in serious consideration, as, (AC) despite its decent bulk, Zacian-C has a hard time setting up Swords Dance against most of the metagame. Good teammates to consider include Gigantamax (if keeping gmax is required, "Lapras with its Gigantamax set" or something should work) Lapras, Regieleki, or and Grimmsnarl.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[Tox, 146], [Luisin, 469498]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

1/1

 

[Theorymon]

Thank you very much for the speedy check Finland !

Time to put this puppy onsite!