credit to soulgazer for the skeleton
[Overview]
<p>Lairon has access to the combination of Head Smash and Rock Head, allowing it to use a very powerful attack without drawbacks. In addition, it has a very high physical bulk bolstered further by Eviolite, along with several useful resistances including Normal, Flying, and Psychic. Unfortunately, Lairon also has weaknesses to the common Fighting-, Ground-, and Water-type attacks, and a lack of recovery, including Leftovers, limits Lairon's staying power severely. It also lacks the special bulk to survive special attacks from the likes of Charizard; while these flaws do give it a lot of competition from Probopass, which doesn't have many of these problems, Lairon's higher offensive presence can make it more useful in some scenarios.</p>
[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roar / Toxic
item: Eviolite
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Due to Head Smash, the ability to hold an Eviolite, and a typing that grants it multiple resistances, Lairon gets several opportunities to set up Stealth Rock or fire off a powerful attack. As Stealth Rock supports its teammates and checks dangerous Pokemon such as Charizard and Braviary, every team needs some sort of user of the move. Head Smash is the preferred STAB attack, which hits very hard coming off of Lairon, hitting significantly harder than even Golem's Stone Edge, and Earthquake covers the Rock- and Steel-types that could take the hit easily, although note that the lack of STAB means Head Smash outdamages it even if Earthquake is super effective. Roar allows Lairon to phaze an opponent that may be trying to set up on Lairon, such as Musharna or Braviary—notably, having Roar makes Lairon one of the best checks for Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary in NU. However, Toxic can cripple walls that can take multiple hits from Lairon, such as Alomomola and Tangela.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Maximized Attack is preferred to take full advantage of Head Smash, although a physically defensive spread can make Lairon extremely durable on the physical side—it takes these hits well enough regardless, however, and its higher offensive presence is the main reason to use it over other Rock-types anyway. Iron Head allows Lairon to have an extra STAB attack, but it doesn't offer that much additional coverage and is usually inferior to Earthquake as it covers more targets.</p>
<p>Lairon's common weaknesses warrant partners that can take these hits for it. Misdreavus in particular makes a very good partner due to its immunities to Ground and Fighting, as well as its ability to keep Stealth Rock from being spun away. Musharna is a similar partner, and can typically set up on Fighting-types due to its high bulk while still having enough bulk to take a fair amount of Earthquakes. Grass-types, especially Tangela and Roselia, also make good partners for Lairon. The former's ridiculous physical defense allows it to sponge Ground attacks very easily and take a fair amount of Fighting-type moves as well, while the latter has high special bulk and is able to easily take Water-type attacks that scare out Lairon. It can also use the opportunity to set up Spikes, which can further wear down opponents alongside Stealth Rock. In return, Lairon generally has a very easy time taking on Flying-type attacks, especially from the likes of Swellow and Braviary as it 4x resists both their STABs. Finally, Eelektross and Rotom-S make good partners as they both are immune to Ground-type attacks and have an Electric STAB in order to scare out Water-types. The latter can take on Fighting-types for Lairon, even though it does have difficulty switching into them occasionally, while the former can threaten Pokemon such as Golem or Seismitoad due to its access to Giga Drain.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Lairon has a few means of setup, including Curse, Hone Claws, and Autotomize, but these are all hard to set up due to Lairon's low Speed and common weaknesses. Lairon's access to Sturdy can create several strategies to utilize Lairon as a lead, such as Cutsap + Endeavor or Metal Burst, but doing either means Lairon is incapable of taking advantage of Head Smash before it goes down, and Golem is usually better as a lead due to access to Explosion and a Ground STAB. A Choice Band can work with the fact that Lairon rarely uses anything other than Head Smash, making it hit even harder, but its Speed and bulk are not high enough to get the full benefit of this. Magnet Rise gives it a temporary immunity to Ground attacks, but Lairon is slow enough to the point that it will likely get hit before it uses the move. Superpower hits Normal-types hard, but most of them are hit around as hard as Head Smash and other targets of Superpower are general dealt with by Earthquake. Likewise, Double-Edge is a strong, recoil-less move Lairon can use, but it doesn't offer any additional coverage. Finally, Protect can be used to scout, but a major problem is that, other than the lack of space, Lairon cannot even get a turn of passive recovery as it uses an Eviolite.
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Ground-types such as Golurk, Seismitoad, Golem, and Marowak make the best ways to check Lairon as they can take a Head Smash, outspeed Lairon, and OHKO with Earthquake. While Water-types such as Samurott and Simipour cannot switch in as easily due to Head Smash, they can easily OHKO Lairon as long as they use a special Water-type move (note that Lairon isn't even 2HKOed by Samurott's Waterfall without a boosting item). Fighting-types such as Sawk, Primeape, and Gurdurr are also easily capable of OHKOing Lairon, and Gurdurr in particular does not take very much damage from Head Smash due to its great physical bulk. Spikes tend to wear down Lairon a lot as it does not have any recovery and is forced out somewhat easily, meaning that this limits it ability to wall other Pokemon severely. Finally, Lairon has a rather poor special bulk when compared to its physical bulk, meaning that strong special attackers such as Charziard or Eelektross can finish off a slightly weakened Lairon, even though Head Smash punishes many switch-in opportunities, especially for the former.</p>
[Overview]
· Access to Head Smash and Rock Head, which prevent recoil.
· Hard body babe.
· Decent typing that allows it to take on Normal-, Flying-, Psychic-types, and more.
· Weakness to the common Fighting-, Ground-, and Water-types and lack of recovery gives an hard time for Lairon to survive for long.
· Lacks the special bulk to survive two Fire Blast from Charizard.
· Face competition with Probopass, which takes special hits better than Lairon, but the later has more offensive presence.
[Set Comments]
· Stealth Rock to support its teammates.
· Head Smash is Lairon's strongest STAB, and will hit everything hard.
· Earthquake for coverage (EdgeQuake) and lets Lairon hit opponent's Steel-type hard.
· Roar allows Lairon to phaze an opponent's Pokemon trying to set up on it, such as Musharna, Braviary, etc.
· Toxic to cripple walls that can take more than two hits, such as Alomomola and Tangela.
[Additional Comments]
· Iron Head.
· Musharna resists Fighting-type attacks for Lairon and can also take some Ground-type moves thanks to its bulk.
· Misdreavus is immune to Fighting- and Ground-type moves, spinblock and offer great utility.
· Grass-types such as Tangela and Roselia pairs well with Lairon. The former resists Ground-types attack and is bulky enough to take any Fighting-type attacks, while the latter can easily take Water-type attacks (hell, any special attack) that will force Lairon out.
· Eelektross.
[Other Options]
· Curse, Autotomize, Hone Claws.
· Sturdy, Custap + Endeavor, Metal Burst.
· Choice Band.
· Magnet Rise
· Protect for scouting.
· Superpower.
[Checks and Counters]
· Golurk, Golem, Marowak.
· Water-types such as Seismitoad, Samurott, Simipour.
· Sawk, Primeape, Gurdurr.
· Spikes.
· ???
· Access to Head Smash and Rock Head, which prevent recoil.
· Hard body babe.
· Decent typing that allows it to take on Normal-, Flying-, Psychic-types, and more.
· Weakness to the common Fighting-, Ground-, and Water-types and lack of recovery gives an hard time for Lairon to survive for long.
· Lacks the special bulk to survive two Fire Blast from Charizard.
· Face competition with Probopass, which takes special hits better than Lairon, but the later has more offensive presence.
[Set Comments]
· Stealth Rock to support its teammates.
· Head Smash is Lairon's strongest STAB, and will hit everything hard.
· Earthquake for coverage (EdgeQuake) and lets Lairon hit opponent's Steel-type hard.
· Roar allows Lairon to phaze an opponent's Pokemon trying to set up on it, such as Musharna, Braviary, etc.
· Toxic to cripple walls that can take more than two hits, such as Alomomola and Tangela.
[Additional Comments]
· Iron Head.
· Musharna resists Fighting-type attacks for Lairon and can also take some Ground-type moves thanks to its bulk.
· Misdreavus is immune to Fighting- and Ground-type moves, spinblock and offer great utility.
· Grass-types such as Tangela and Roselia pairs well with Lairon. The former resists Ground-types attack and is bulky enough to take any Fighting-type attacks, while the latter can easily take Water-type attacks (hell, any special attack) that will force Lairon out.
· Eelektross.
[Other Options]
· Curse, Autotomize, Hone Claws.
· Sturdy, Custap + Endeavor, Metal Burst.
· Choice Band.
· Magnet Rise
· Protect for scouting.
· Superpower.
[Checks and Counters]
· Golurk, Golem, Marowak.
· Water-types such as Seismitoad, Samurott, Simipour.
· Sawk, Primeape, Gurdurr.
· Spikes.
· ???
[Overview]
<p>Lairon has access to the combination of Head Smash and Rock Head, allowing it to use a very powerful attack without drawbacks. In addition, it has a very high physical bulk bolstered further by Eviolite, along with several useful resistances including Normal, Flying, and Psychic. Unfortunately, Lairon also has weaknesses to the common Fighting-, Ground-, and Water-type attacks, and a lack of recovery, including Leftovers, limits Lairon's staying power severely. It also lacks the special bulk to survive special attacks from the likes of Charizard; while these flaws do give it a lot of competition from Probopass, which doesn't have many of these problems, Lairon's higher offensive presence can make it more useful in some scenarios.</p>
[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roar / Toxic
item: Eviolite
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Due to Head Smash, the ability to hold an Eviolite, and a typing that grants it multiple resistances, Lairon gets several opportunities to set up Stealth Rock or fire off a powerful attack. As Stealth Rock supports its teammates and checks dangerous Pokemon such as Charizard and Braviary, every team needs some sort of user of the move. Head Smash is the preferred STAB attack, which hits very hard coming off of Lairon, hitting significantly harder than even Golem's Stone Edge, and Earthquake covers the Rock- and Steel-types that could take the hit easily, although note that the lack of STAB means Head Smash outdamages it even if Earthquake is super effective. Roar allows Lairon to phaze an opponent that may be trying to set up on Lairon, such as Musharna or Braviary—notably, having Roar makes Lairon one of the best checks for Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary in NU. However, Toxic can cripple walls that can take multiple hits from Lairon, such as Alomomola and Tangela.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Maximized Attack is preferred to take full advantage of Head Smash, although a physically defensive spread can make Lairon extremely durable on the physical side—it takes these hits well enough regardless, however, and its higher offensive presence is the main reason to use it over other Rock-types anyway. Iron Head allows Lairon to have an extra STAB attack, but it doesn't offer that much additional coverage and is usually inferior to Earthquake as it covers more targets.</p>
<p>Lairon's common weaknesses warrant partners that can take these hits for it. Misdreavus in particular makes a very good partner due to its immunities to Ground and Fighting, as well as its ability to keep Stealth Rock from being spun away. Musharna is a similar partner, and can typically set up on Fighting-types due to its high bulk while still having enough bulk to take a fair amount of Earthquakes. Grass-types, especially Tangela and Roselia, also make good partners for Lairon. The former's ridiculous physical defense allows it to sponge Ground attacks very easily and take a fair amount of Fighting-type moves as well, while the latter has high special bulk and is able to easily take Water-type attacks that scare out Lairon. It can also use the opportunity to set up Spikes, which can further wear down opponents alongside Stealth Rock. In return, Lairon generally has a very easy time taking on Flying-type attacks, especially from the likes of Swellow and Braviary as it 4x resists both their STABs. Finally, Eelektross and Rotom-S make good partners as they both are immune to Ground-type attacks and have an Electric STAB in order to scare out Water-types. The latter can take on Fighting-types for Lairon, even though it does have difficulty switching into them occasionally, while the former can threaten Pokemon such as Golem or Seismitoad due to its access to Giga Drain.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Lairon has a few means of setup, including Curse, Hone Claws, and Autotomize, but these are all hard to set up due to Lairon's low Speed and common weaknesses. Lairon's access to Sturdy can create several strategies to utilize Lairon as a lead, such as Cutsap + Endeavor or Metal Burst, but doing either means Lairon is incapable of taking advantage of Head Smash before it goes down, and Golem is usually better as a lead due to access to Explosion and a Ground STAB. A Choice Band can work with the fact that Lairon rarely uses anything other than Head Smash, making it hit even harder, but its Speed and bulk are not high enough to get the full benefit of this. Magnet Rise gives it a temporary immunity to Ground attacks, but Lairon is slow enough to the point that it will likely get hit before it uses the move. Superpower hits Normal-types hard, but most of them are hit around as hard as Head Smash and other targets of Superpower are general dealt with by Earthquake. Likewise, Double-Edge is a strong, recoil-less move Lairon can use, but it doesn't offer any additional coverage. Finally, Protect can be used to scout, but a major problem is that, other than the lack of space, Lairon cannot even get a turn of passive recovery as it uses an Eviolite.
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Ground-types such as Golurk, Seismitoad, Golem, and Marowak make the best ways to check Lairon as they can take a Head Smash, outspeed Lairon, and OHKO with Earthquake. While Water-types such as Samurott and Simipour cannot switch in as easily due to Head Smash, they can easily OHKO Lairon as long as they use a special Water-type move (note that Lairon isn't even 2HKOed by Samurott's Waterfall without a boosting item). Fighting-types such as Sawk, Primeape, and Gurdurr are also easily capable of OHKOing Lairon, and Gurdurr in particular does not take very much damage from Head Smash due to its great physical bulk. Spikes tend to wear down Lairon a lot as it does not have any recovery and is forced out somewhat easily, meaning that this limits it ability to wall other Pokemon severely. Finally, Lairon has a rather poor special bulk when compared to its physical bulk, meaning that strong special attackers such as Charziard or Eelektross can finish off a slightly weakened Lairon, even though Head Smash punishes many switch-in opportunities, especially for the former.</p>
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