Pokémon Zygarde-10%

[drakylon]

(credit to Serebii for the sprite)
Zygarde-10%
Also known as Zydog
​

Name: Zygarde-10% (Zygarde, 10% forme)
Type:

/

Weaknesses:

(4x),

,

Resists:

,

,

Immune to:

Ability 1: Aura Break - The effects of other "Aura" abilities are reversed.
Ability 2: Power Construct - When this Pokemon's HP falls below half, it changes to its 100% forme. Power Construct has been banned from OU.
Base Stats: 54 HP / 100 Atk / 71 Def / 61 SpA / 85 SpD / 115 Spe (BST 486)

Moves

Level Up:
--- - Glare
--- - Bulldoze
--- - Dragon Breath
--- - Bite
5 - Safeguard
10 - Dig
18 - Bind
26 - Land's Wrath
35 - Sandstorm
44 - Haze
51 - Crunch
55 - Earthquake
59 - Camouflage
63 - Dragon Pulse
72 - Coil
80 - Outrage

TM:
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM11 Sunny Day
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM26 Earthquake
TM27 Return
TM31 Brick Break
TM32 Double Team
TM34 Sludge Wave
TM37 Sandstorm
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM48 Round
TM52 Focus Blast
TM68 Giga Impact
TM71 Stone Edge
TM78 Bulldoze
TM80 Rock Slide
TM81 Dragon Tail
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM90 Substitute
TM100 Confide

Move Tutor
Draco Meteor

Egg Moves - none

Special Moves via Zygarde Cube
Core Enforcer
Dragon Dance
Extreme Speed
Thousand Arrows
Thousand Waves

Gen VI Exclusive Moves - Zygarde-10% must be native to Alola
XY TM94/ORAS HM06 - Rock Smash
ORAS TM94 - Secret Power
XY/ORAS HM04 - Strength
ORAS Move Tutor - Block
ORAS Move Tutor - Earth Power
ORAS Move Tutor - Hyper Voice
ORAS Move Tutor - Iron Tail
ORAS Move Tutor - Pain Split
ORAS Move Tutor - Shock Wave
ORAS Move Tutor - Snore
ORAS Move Tutor - Spite
ORAS Move Tutor - Superpower
ORAS Move Tutor - Zen Headbutt

Of all the Zygarde formes, this one is by far the fastest at a blistering 115 base Speed. Along with a passable 100 base ATK and a superb offensive typing, Zygarde-10% can operate as a highly offensive sweeper. Furthermore, it has the distinct niche of having access to the only Ground-type move that can hit airborne targets: Thousand Arrows. This means some of the usual answers to physical sweepers, such as Skarmory, are less than effective against Zygarde. Its other STAB, Outrage, is also a very strong attack that supplements its sweeping power. However, this forme is also by far the squishiest, with only measly 54/71/85 defenses. These low defenses undermine Zygarde-10%'s great defensive typing and limit its ability to set up with Dragon Dance. Furthermore, Zygarde has no reliable Dragon-type move other than the risky Outrage, and it can be easily revenge killed when locked into the move.

Choice Band
Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly / Naive Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge
- Sludge Wave / Outrage

With access to the best priority move in the game, Zygarde-10% can sport a fast Choice Band set to augment its power against both offensive and defensive teams alike. Even without STAB, Extreme Speed can hit many fast offensive threats hard. Thousand Arrows is your main STAB move, and should be the default choice of attack. Despite being a Ground-type move, it still hits airborne targets ignoring their Flying-type or Levitate in type calculation. Stone Edge can nail, on the switch, many of the few Pokemon faster than Zygarde-10% that aren't OHKO'd by Thousand Arrows. Sludge Wave has the sole niche of 2HKO'ing Tapu Bulu, who resists Thousand Arrows and doesn't take enough from Extreme Speed. Earthquake can also be used if more power is desired and Fairies are not the biggest concern. Jolly nature is preferred due to Zygarde-10% occupying a rather crowded Speed tier. Naive, however, should be used if using Sludge Wave as Jolly does not have a very high chance of 2HKO'ing bulky Tapu Bulu.

Dragon Dance
Zygarde-10% @ Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant / Naughty
OR
Jolly / Naive Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed / Sludge Wave

Even though Zygarde-10% has questionable defenses, it can still find opportunities to set up a Dragon Dance with a nice Electric immunity and decent resistances. At +1 Speed, there's not much that will outspeed it even with a neutral nature; not even Pheromosa can manage to outspeed. Again, Thousand Arrows and Outrage is your STAB combo, though as always Outrage is a risky move to be locked into. The last set should usually go to Extreme Speed, but Sludge can be used if Tapu Bulu is troublesome, as despite Zygarde-10%'s atrocious Special Attack stat, Sludge Wave will always 2HKO any threatening variant of Tapu Bulu. Naughty or Naive nature should be used with Sludge Wave.

Other Options: Coil? 50% is probably a better body for that though. Same with Glare. Superpower/Brick Break can be used on sets.

 

[nyttyn]

Correcting the OP here: 1k arrows IS avalible, via the zygarde core (same for 1k waves, core enforcer, espeed, dragon dance). This gives Zygarde a unique niche in being able to hit flying types and levitates with ground type attacks, which is pretty huge (especially for choice band sets).

 

[drakylon]

Oh it is!? Seems like the Showdown just updated while I was asleep. I'll go fix that right away.

I can't think of any uses for Thousand Waves though.

 

[Ba'al]

Rockium-Z with Stone Edge might be an interesting OO for the Ice and Flying types that are otherwise shaky matchups. Though giving up Life Orb for a Rock Nuke may not be worth it all the time.

 

[drakylon]

There's really not much reason to run any Rock-type coverage on a set with Thousand Arrows. Thousand Arrows already takes care of most of the problematic Flying-types and Levitaters in the tier, as the target's Ground immunity from their Flying-type/ability into a neutrality. Rotom-W, Skarmory, Celesteela, Thundurus(-T) and Zapdos all get hit super-effectively by the Ground-type Thousand Arrows, as does the occasional Crobat. Gengar doesn't even Levitate anymore. I'm pretty sure Landorus wouldn't be hit as hard by Stone Edge with Rockium-Z than Thousand Arrows + Life Orb. Togekiss and Vikavolt are the only mons viable in OU that would be hit harder by Stone Edge than Thousand Arrows; Iron Tail hits the former hard enough, and the latter isn't too big of a problem to begin with outside of HP Ice.

 

[Siggu]

I'm pretty sure Landorus wouldn't be hit as hard by Stone Edge with Rockium-Z than Thousand Arrows + Life Orb

-1 252 Atk Life Orb Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Landorus-T: 83-99 (21.7 - 25.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
-1 252 Atk Zygarde Continental Crush (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Landorus-T: 85-101 (22.2 - 26.4%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

Stone Edge-based Continental Crush hits harder, but the difference of 0.5% is so laughable it's not worth even considering.

Perhaps the only con Thousand Arrows can have is that it makes Landorus-T grounded, meaning it will take advantage of terrains until it switches out.

 

[Höhe]

There's really not much reason to run any Rock-type coverage on a set with Thousand Arrows. Thousand Arrows already takes care of most of the problematic Flying-types and Levitaters in the tier, as the target's Ground immunity from their Flying-type/ability into a neutrality. Rotom-W, Skarmory, Celesteela, Thundurus(-T) and Zapdos all get hit super-effectively by the Ground-type Thousand Arrows, as does the occasional Crobat. Gengar doesn't even Levitate anymore. I'm pretty sure Landorus wouldn't be hit as hard by Stone Edge with Rockium-Z than Thousand Arrows + Life Orb. Togekiss and Vikavolt are the only mons viable in OU that would be hit harder by Stone Edge than Thousand Arrows; Iron Tail hits the former hard enough, and the latter isn't too big of a problem to begin with outside of HP Ice.

Thousand Arrows does not hit a [Flying/dual type weak to ground] mon super effectively per se. The first hit is always neutral, regardless of secondary type. Only after the first hit grounds them will Thousand Arrows be SE.

 

[MikaDo]

With Flygon getting access to Dragon dance too, how would Zygarde 10% compete with it? Does the slightly better movement speed and Extremespeed make up for the lack of bulk, Roost and Dragon claw? Because I personally see Flygon outclassing it in that niche. Choice band still seems very solid though, as that's where its Extremespeed becomes more valuable.

 

[drakylon]

Thousand Arrows does not hit a [Flying/dual type weak to ground] mon super effectively per se. The first hit is always neutral, regardless of secondary type. Only after the first hit grounds them will Thousand Arrows be SE.

My bad, I assumed it'd just ignore the Flying-type/Levitate. Even so, the target mon is most likely switching into a Thousand Arrows, meaning the second one will kill.

...By the way, does that mean the first Thousand Arrows vs something like a Pinsir will be neutral?

With Flygon getting access to Dragon dance too, how would Zygarde 10% compete with it? Does the slightly better movement speed and Extremespeed make up for the lack of bulk, Roost and Dragon claw? Because I personally see Flygon outclassing it in that niche. Choice band still seems very solid though, as that's where its Extremespeed becomes more valuable.

Zygarde-10% has the niche of being much faster than Flygon, and Extreme Speed is amazing on a set-up sweeper as it lets Zygarde-10% deal with priority much better. There's also Thousand Arrows which makes Zygarde-10% much harder to wall than Flygon, as well as Power Construct to take a much bulkier forme when it falls below 50% health.

The extra Speed is fairly noticeable when facing scarfed variants of 'mons between base 100 and 115 Speed (exclusive) such as Keldeo, Garchomp and possibly Ninetales-Alola, as +1 Zygarde-10% will outspeed them but +1 Flygon will not; as such, all of those examples can easily revenge kill +1 Flygon but not +1 Zygarde-10% (unless a +1 Thousand Arrows somehow isn't enough to dispatch Keldeo or Ninetales-Alola).

In fact, Zygarde-50% and Zygarde-100% are probably Zygarde-10%'s strongest competitor for this niche, as both are much bulkier (which allows for more opportunities to set up) and retain of Zygarde-10%'s advantages aside from its Speed.

 

[Höhe]

...By the way, does that mean the first Thousand Arrows vs something like a Pinsir will be neutral?

Yes, actually.

 

[November Blue]

Thousand Arrows is finally here. We waited what, a year for this? More?

I really like 10% as a standalone mon. Just slap a band on it and go crazy.

Substitute is a really good choice. It lets you safely activate Power Construct once you start boosting, and 100% forme has such immense bulk that its subs are actually kinda hard to break. Toxapex's Scald needs to hit three times to break it, IIRC, and that's with an offensive EV spread.

 

[Ba'al]

Oh it is!? Seems like the Showdown just updated while I was asleep. I'll go fix that right away.

I can't think of any uses for Thousand Waves though.

Something veryveryvery situational you can to may be to 1k Waves something you can set up on and subsequently sweep like 1k Waves/ES/1k Arrows/DD or Coil though you have no reliable recovery so its pretty bad.

The thing with Zygarde-10 is that it lacks any significant status moves or defenses to capitalize on the trapping like Decidueye does. A set like this may be workable on the bulkier Complete form, but as of now Thousand Waves is... markedly useless on 10%, unfortunately.

 

[Albacore]

Choice Band looks legitimately good on this thing. Also really consistent, I can't think of a single playstyle where doesn't have at least a shot, the only time where it'd be complete deadeight is vs Rocky Helmet Tangrowth teams. Otherwise, it seems pretty good. Heck, it even deals a chunk to Hippowdon with Outrage:

252 Atk Choice Band Zygarde-10% Outrage vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Hippowdon: 171-202 (40.7 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

so Hippowdon only needs to be weakend a little. if it gets a free switch vs offense (not too hard, its bulk is pretty bad but its typing gives it very useful resistances) it's going to get a kill. Tapu Bulu is a very annoying for it admittedly, but the most common set, Band, isn't too hard to wear down, and other sets like SubSeed are pretty easy to switch into. Such a shame it doesn't get Poison Jab, but at least it still gets Iron Tail. The only other things on offense that enjoy 1K arrows are Lando-T, whichis easily worn down, and Serperior, which is destroyed by Outrage. And with Epseed, it can clean up if only Scarfers and prio users are left.

Obviously, it doesn't completely kill everything, generally physically bulky mons can still handle it okay, but the fact that its able to equally threaten every playstyle from offense to stall without even needing to ever predict makes it a really cool mon to me. Also formes a really good core with Pheromosa btw, since it destroys its 2 main switchins, Aegislash and Toxapex.

I'm not actually sure whether or not I'd use Power Construct on it. One the one hand, getting a Speed drop is really detrimental vs offense, since it turns you from one of the fastest mons in the tier into something slow by OU standards. On the other hand, vs Stall, Power Construct is pretty good for it since it increses its longevity by a ton, and thus, its ability to outlast its checks on stall, and thespeed drop doesn't even matter vs that playstyle. Plus, it can still ESpeed anyway

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Zygarde-10% is mostly overshadowed by its complete forme but it is pretty underrated. Its great speed allows it to beat Latios, Keldeo and a whole bunch of other stuff. Its DD set is much harder to revenge kill oytside Ice Shard and other priorty moves and even then it has Extremespeed. Setting up may be a bit challenging due to its frailness and its needs LO, CB or a Z-move to do significant damage.

 

[Ema Skye]

So without Power Construct to fall back on, what can Zydoge fall back on for viability?

I really like the Choice Band set, especially because Thousand Arrows means it doesn't have to worry about Flying/Levitate. Would Dragon Dance work? It gets competition from Flygon, but the extra speed as well as Arrows gives it a possible edge.

 

[viol and bass]

Wait so, just to be totally clear because I'm not sure how this works, can you definitely get a Zygarde-10% with Aura Break? Is it also possible to teach an Aura Break Zygarde-50% Thousand Arrows/Waves? Thanks.

 

[Halcyon.]

I like this thing. It's not amazing but Thousand Arrows is really cool and Choice Band (the only set I've used thus far), is extremely fun to use. Works well with Genesect, since this can come in on Heatran after a U-Turn and immediately threaten with Thousand Arrows similarly to Dugtrio.

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Wait so, just to be totally clear because I'm not sure how this works, can you definitely get a Zygarde-10% with Aura Break? Is it also possible to teach an Aura Break Zygarde-50% Thousand Arrows/Waves? Thanks.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Basically, how it works in-game is that you collect up to 100 Zygarde cells in order to assemble its forms. The more cells you get, the greater % form you can create. 10 cells gets you the 10% form, and 50 cells gets you the 50% form. Both will have Aura Break. If you collect all 100 cells, then you can give Zygarde Power Construct and use its 100% form. In addition to cells, there are also 5 Zygarde cores to collect, and each one of those allows you to teach it one of the following moves: Extreme Speed, Dragon Dance, Thousand Arrows, Thousand Waves, and Core Enforcer. So any combination of forms and moves is possible. In fact, I've been using Zygarde's 10% form with Aura Break and Thousand Arrows since pretty early in my playthrough of Pokemon Sun.

 

[Vengeance417]

I don't particularly see a reason to run Adamant on the Band set when that Base 115 speed should definitely be utilized to its fullest since you naturally outpace the very crowded Base 110 speed tier such as the Latis as well as Thundurus (can't T-wave you), Landorus-I, Keldeo and Offensive Garchomp, while Adamant outpaces none of these very relevant threats. At least with Jolly, you get to speed tie with Starmie.

 

[Jaguar360]

What do you guys think about offensive Coil ZyDog
Zygarde-10% @ Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Coil
- Zen Headbutt / Iron Tail / Outrage

The +1 defense could give it more opportunities to set up and accurate Iron Tail/Zen Headbutt is good shit. And everything faster than it pretty much dies to +1 ESpeed aside from Mega Aero and Minior, which don't do more than half to it +1 Def anyway (unless Mega Aero carries Ice Fang of course).

Zen Headbutt hits Buzzwole and the odd Chesnaught while Iron Tail 2HKOs Unaware Clef and OHKOs Magic Guard at +1 a good amount of the time.

 

[nameless90]

I really like this set because 115 base Spe may grant Zygarde 10% a free turn to boost its physical side and, on a side note, Expert Belt (which preserves the bulk of this thing) plus a +1 Atk from Coil enables Zygarde to have the same damage output of a Choice Band, but with the possibility to change moves.
Coil can rectify that meager bulk, but this set is easily exploitable because Zygarde is quite frail. At least, the Choice Band set makes an immediate use of that 115 Spe tier.

 

[BENDIEZ]

At a simple glance, 10% Zygarde looks like a mediocre Pokemon. Mediocre to bad base stats outside of it's nice 115 speed. Though Thousand Arrows + Solid speed tier gives it a niche over other Pokemon. 100 attack is not great, though usable with Band or Dragon Dance. This Zygarde form has potential in being a late game cleaner. Unless your opponent has a very physically bulky mon that isn't weak to ground like Hippowdon or a Grass / Bug type, Thousand Arrows is pretty spammable and can be hard to switch into, especially if your opponent's team depends on Flying types or Levitaters to switch in on Ground moves.

 

[viol and bass]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Basically, how it works in-game is that you collect up to 100 Zygarde cells in order to assemble its forms. The more cells you get, the greater % form you can create. 10 cells gets you the 10% form, and 50 cells gets you the 50% form. Both will have Aura Break. If you collect all 100 cells, then you can give Zygarde Power Construct and use its 100% form. In addition to cells, there are also 5 Zygarde cores to collect, and each one of those allows you to teach it one of the following moves: Extreme Speed, Dragon Dance, Thousand Arrows, Thousand Waves, and Core Enforcer. So any combination of forms and moves is possible. In fact, I've been using Zygarde's 10% form with Aura Break and Thousand Arrows since pretty early in my playthrough of Pokemon Sun.

Thank you legitimately so much for clarifying this.

 

[DialgaTheTimeLord]

Any chance this could be updated to reflect the Power Construct quickban?

 

[drakylon]

Any chance this could be updated to reflect the Power Construct quickban?

I actually removed the references to Power Construct and 100% from the sets right after the announcement, but apparently I forgot the intro. Whoops. It's fixed now; Power Construct should not be anywhere in the analysis anymore.