With a base 200 Defense of 200, it's(add apostrophe) no surprise that Steelix acts as one of the best physical walls in the NU tier. With Due to its ten resistances, Steelix is capable of shutting down common physical threats like such as Slurpuff, Swellow, and Sneasel. Furthermore, with access to Stealth Rock and hazing moves, Steelix offers valuable support to teams Steelix has access to Stealth Rock and phazing moves, (AC) offering valuable support to teams. That being said However, its 4 four resistances are very common, and it has a lackluster Special Defense stat. Combined with its lack of real recovery, Steelix can be worn down very quickly if used incorrectly.
Wall
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name: Wall
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Roar / Dragon Tail
move 4: Heavy Slam / Gyro Ball
ability: Sturdy
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Careful / Sassy
Moves
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Steelix is one of the most reliable users of Stealth Rock in the tier, and given the moves overall utility, there's no reason not to run it. Earthquake is Steelix's primary STAB move, to go with your steel type move of choice pair with either Steel-type move. The two of them These two moves threaten a majority of the Pokemon that Steelix walls. While the choice of Heavy Slam or Gyro Ball is up to the user.,(RP)(AC) they both have similar damage outputs against most threats. Gyro Ball, which has a power based on the speed descrepency, does more damage against Pokemon like Scyther, Haunter, and most choice scarf wielders,; whereas Heavy Slam, based on weight descrepency, does more against Pokemon such as Granbull. Since Heavy Slam has a higher pp, and hence it is the reccomended recommended choice. The last move is a phazing move. Roar can be used to go through substitute and hit fairies,;(RC)(add semicolon) but while Dragon Tail hits Soundproof Pokemon and Xatu, as well as doing some damage. Phazing moves let you force a boosted threat out even if you can't KO it.,(RP)(AC) It while also lets you rack racking up passive damage by switiching switching in random and potentially ineffective Pokemon.
Set Details
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The EVs maximize overall bulk, as Steelix's physical bulk doesn't need a huge boost. Even with minimal Defense investment Steelix still takes most physical hits like a rock. Leftovers give Steelix passive recovery, as it has no other form of recovery. Both natures listed boost Special Defense.,(RP)(AC) You should use a Sassy nature with Gyro Ball and or a Careful nature without it. If you do choose to use Gyro Ball, you should also set your speed IV to 0. Lastly, given the set, Sturdy is the only ability which has any given use,.(RC)(AP) despite the fact that hopefully Steelix is going to need to use it.
Usage Tips
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Steelix has a very simple job:(remove colon) which is deal dealing with physical attackers. It should switch into Pokemon which can't damage it, and then respond with an attack or a support option. It Steelix really shouldn't stay in on a against most special attacker attackers, however, as most special attacks will do significant damage to it despite the investment in special defense. This is especially pertinent as Steelix has no way of healing off that damage. Keep in mind that a few of the Pokemon Steelix can stop, like Slurpuff and Electivire, can run special or mixed sets, so be careful when switching into such threats. This set can also stop most Uxie and Mespirit Mesprit's, although beware of getting tricked a choice item. Steelix has a variety of usable EV spreads, and thus you can change it based on what you want to stop. For example 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD and a Relaxed nature lets you focus on physical bulk while also keeping some special bulk.
Team Options
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One of Steelix's primary roles is to set up Stealth Rock. As such, Pokemon which can deal with rapid spinners and defoggers are great teammates appreciated. For example Pokemon such as, Gourgeist and Mismagius are great teammates, with Will-O-Wisp to weaken physical attackers. Also, They are also immune to Ground-(add hyphen) and Fighting-(add hyphen) type attacks, two of Steelix's weaknesses. Specially defensive Pokemon are also great allies, given Steelix's lack of special bulk. Dragalge and Cryogonal are great in this respect.,(RP)(AC) Lanturn is another good teammate given its ability to scare both fire and water types out. Vileplume, albeit a physically defensive Pokemon, deals with Water-(add hyphen) and Fighting-(add hyphen) types well, although they chare share a weakness to fire type Pokemon. Lastly, A a little wish support goes a long way to preserving Steelix, given its lack of recovery,.(RC)(AP) so a pokemon like Audino would be a good fit with Steelix.
Bulky Attacker
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name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch / Rock Slide
move 4: Stealth Rock
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 HP / 252 Att Atk / 4 SpD
nature: Adamant / Brave
Moves
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Earthquake and Iron Head are your two main STABs on this set, Iron Head being boosted by Sheer Force. The third attacking move depends on what you want to hit; Crunch does more damage to Rotom and the floating Psychic pixies,(AC) whereas Rock Slide hits Flying-(add hyphen) types like Pelipper, Mantine, and Rotom fan Rotom-Fan. You could also run Fire Fang or Thunder Fang can be used to hit Ferroseed or Water/Flying Water / Flying types, but the lack of power leaves these options is dissapointing disappointing more often than not. The last move in this set should still be Stealth Rock, as it still provides great team support.
Set Details
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The EVs maximize attack and overall bulk. There's no need for investment in defense given Steelix's massive base Defense stat. Using a Life orb allows you to do a ton tons of damage, while not locking you into moves. A Adamant nature gives you an attack boost. Finally while, Sheer Force boosts the power of most of your moves and makes the damage output of this set reasonable.
Usage Tips
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Because of With Steelix's bulk, it is easy to find time for switch Steelix to switch in and start attacking. However, because it also has very clear counters, using it as part of a double switch is often a good idea. Steelix won't(add apostrophe) sweep very often, but it can clear holes that your other sweepers can make use of.
Team Options
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Physical Sweepers like Feraligatr and Klinklang are good teammates since they can take advantage of the damage Steelix does to their counters, turning 2KOs 2HKOs into KOs. Grass-(add hyphen) types are good teammates, threatening the Water-(add hyphen) types which will often switch in on Steelix, while Steelix deals with Poison-(add hyphen) types. This makes sweepers like Lilligant are great teammate teammates for this reason. Fighting-(add hyphen) types also enjoy Steelix's ability to deal with Psychic-(add hyphen) and Fairy-(add hyphen) Pokemon, and thus Gurdurr and Hariyama work well with it. Normal-(add hyphen) and Bug-(add hyphen) type sweepers enjoy that Steelix deals with Rock-(add hyphen) and Steel-(add hyphen) types, so Tauros, Zangoose, and Scyther are good teammates as well. And of course Finally, due to the lack of recovery, a little wish support can help Steelix immensely.
Other Options
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Steelix has a ton of other options, but most of them are no where near as good as the ones listed above. Rock polish is usable, but Steelix is still really slow even afterwards. Protect could be used with Sturdy to scout and to also regain more HP to utilize Sturdy after entry hazards. Explosion is an option, but will often fail to KO most Pokemon. The fact that the Custap Berry hasb't been released yet makes it significantly less useful. Fire Fang can be used to deal with Ferroseed, and it gains a Sheer Force boost, but doesn't offer much else as far as coverage goes. Stone edge is another attacking option, to deal with Flying-(add hyphen) types, but is weaker than Rock Slide if you have Sheer Force. Rocky Helmet could be used, but you need all the recovery you can get on most sets from Leftovers. Rock Head's only use is with Double Edge, which is nowhere near as powerful as your other moves. Toxic can be used to spread status, although there are often better choices for such a role. Curse would boost attack while making Gyro Ball even more powerful, but Steelix usually doesn't have time to set up before a special attacker switches in. There are also lots of viable EV spreads, depending on what your team needs. Remember that if you use sturdy, there's no point in trying to use an ev spread to survive a particular attack.
Checks & Counters
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**Fire-(add hyphen) Types**: Pokemon like Typhlosion and Pyroar can outspeed and KO Steelix with super effective fire attacks.
**Water-(add hyphen) Types**: Water-(add hyphen) types like Samurott and Seismitoad will force Steelix out every time they switch in.
**Fighting-(add hyphen) Types**: Despite its sky high physical defense, STAB Fighting-(add hyphen) type moves will wear Steelix down quickly. Sawk and Hariyama are two pokemon which can use such moves.
**Ground-(add hyphen) Types**: A strong Earthquake will put a dent in Steelix.,(RP)(AC) so Ground-(add hyphen) types like Golurk are very hard for Steelix to get around.
**Special Attackers**: Any strong nuetral neutral special attack will take a chunk out of Steelix, so Pokemon like Specs Rotom, Lilligant, and Mismagius can all put a dent in Steelix cause serious problems.
**Burn**: Getting burned is annoying will cripple and leaves leave Steelix with very little to do as far as damage output is concerned.,(RP)(AC) and will It also slowly will KO you.
**Xatu**: If running roar, Xatu is a counter, since it can Roost off any damage and bounce back Stealth Rock, all while setting up with Calm Mind.
**Defog and Rapid Spin**: Pelliper Pelipper, Swanna, and Mantine can scare Steelix out with Water-(add hyphen) type moves while also using Defog to remove entry hazards. They should all be wary of taking a Rock Slide or Thunder Fang, however. Similarly, Sandslash has the bulk to take whatever Steelix throws at it and Rapid Spin away rocks, while also hitting it with super effective Earthquakes.
