Ubers Kyurem-W

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree


[OVERVIEW]

Kyurem-W is one of the most powerful wallbreakers in the tier, as base 170 Special Attack boosted by Life Orb or Choice Specs OHKOes or 2HKOes almost everything in the metagame. Powerful Ice- and Dragon-type STAB moves in Ice Beam and Draco Meteor and solid coverage options such as Fusion Flare provide Kyurem-W with excellent coverage, leaving Chansey, Blissey, and bulky Water-types as its only safe switch-ins in the entire metagame. While Kyurem-W is fairly slow at base 95 Speed, with full investment it can outspeed base 90 Pokemon such as Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, and Giratina-O, and it can outspeed prominent sets on more offensive Pokemon such as Geomancy Xerneas and neutral-natured Yveltal.

However, Kyurem-W has several weaknesses that restrict it as a wallbreaker. Kyurem-W has a terrible defensive typing and must preserve its health if it is to check faster Pokemon, so it lends almost no defensive utility to any team and is hard to bring in without dedicating it precious free switches. Its mediocre Speed and typing also make it incredibly vulnerable to fast revenge killers, notably Deoxys-A, Mega Lucario, Pheromosa, Lunala, Mega Salamence, and Mega Gengar, each of which commonly carries moves that can OHKO Kyurem-W after Stealth Rock. Since Kyurem-W is so easily forced out, it is extremely prediction reliant, so its incredible power and coverage achieve results very inconsistently. A Stealth Rock weakness and possible Life Orb recoil means Kyurem-W is very easily worn down throughout a match and requires Defog support to be effective. Finally, its reliance on Draco Meteor leaves teams with Kyurem-W extremely weak to the popular Geomancy Xerneas and restricts teambuilding by practically mandating the use of one of its more defensive checks. Overall, Kyurem-W is very seldom used due to the ridiculous amount of team support it requires to be effective. On teams that can provide that support, however, its sheer power is almost unparalleled in the tier.

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: Fusion Flare
move 4: Earth Power / Focus Blast
item: Choice Specs / Life Orb
ability: Turboblaze
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Ice Beam is a powerful STAB move and has one of the most effective attacking types in the tier. Draco Meteor is an even more powerful STAB option that inflicts massive damage on anything that doesn’t resist it, although its use causes a sharp drop in Special Attack. Fusion Flare provides essential coverage against the Steel-types that resist Kyurem-W's STAB moves and 2HKOes every relevant Steel-type. Earth Power hits Primal Groudon harder than Ice Beam while being hard for Steel-types to switch into, which greatly eases prediction, especially for Choice Specs sets. Life Orb sets that find Earth Power's coverage redundant can opt to run Focus Blast, which significantly improves Kyurem-W's matchup against Arceus-Dark and Extreme Killer Arceus.

Set Details
========

Kyurem-W is only used as a wallbreaker, so maximum Speed and Special Attack investment help it perform this role effectively. A Timid nature allows Kyurem-W to outspeed prominent Pokemon such as Giratina-O, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Geomancy Xerneas, and neutral-natured Yveltal, which can all potentially outspeed Kyurem-W otherwise. While a Modest nature provides a significant boost in power, these matchups are common enough that it should not be used except on teams that can very confidently switch into these threats. The decision between Life Orb and Choice Specs presents a significant trade-off. Since Kyurem-W is so easy to revenge kill and is forced out anyway when using Draco Meteor, the Choice-lock effect of Choice Specs is oftentimes not a significant issue with Kyurem-W. Life Orb does enable the use of Roost, which is helpful against hazard-stacking teams and makes it significantly harder for certain Pokemon such as Xerneas to take advantage of Kyurem-W, so it depends on what your team needs to be strong against. Turboblaze is Kyurem-W's mandatory ability and is situationally useful against Lugia, can be OHKOed by Choice Specs Kyurem-W, as well as Levitate users such as Bronzong.

Usage Tips
========

Kyurem-W should be brought in on almost every free switch against most teams, since its massive power makes it incredibly difficult to switch into, and it can be hard to bring in otherwise. Making risky predictions can be very tempting early-game, but a play that risks losing Kyurem-W is usually only a wise choice if Kyurem-W has a bad matchup or the match is going badly. Kyurem-W is incredibly easy to take advantage of after using Draco Meteor, so it should generally be used only to break more annoying walls such as a weakened Arceus-Water. Kyurem-W can only check faster Pokemon such as special Arceus-Ground if it is kept healthy, so play carefully, and avoid Stealth Rock damage if such Pokemon are on the opposing team.

Team Options
========

Kyurem-W's great power is kept in check largely by its several defensive weaknesses, so it requires extensive team support to be able to work effectively. Kyurem-W invites a large weakness to Xerneas and to a lesser extent other Fairy-types, so offensive checks such as Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh are generally insufficient. A solid switch-in for these Pokemon such as Aegislash, Mega Scizor, Magearna, or Wacan Berry Toxapex is essential to stop potential sweeps. Mega Scizor and Magearna deserve a particular mention for their ability to respectively provide slow U-turns and Volt Switches for Kyurem-W, which can take advantage of them more than almost anything else in the tier. Kyurem-W needs hazard control to be effective against most teams, a role that support Arceus formes and Giratina-O can generally handle effectively. Stealth Rock support is essential for Kyurem-W to stand a chance against the likes of Ho-Oh and Arceus-Water, so reliable setters such as Primal Groudon and Dialga are good partners. Kyurem-W also appreciates being paired with sweepers such as Mega Lucario, Mega Salamence, and Xerneas that value its ability to weaken shared checks such as Magearna, Arceus-Water, and Ho-Oh. Alternatively, offensive teams built around Sticky Web can try to rely on momentum to prevent the opponent from effectively taking advantage of Kyurem-W's weaknesses. Timid Kyurem-W outspeeds almost the entire tier under Sticky Web, including the likes of Deoxys-A and Pheromosa, making it extremely difficult to revenge kill. As such, Kyurem-W appreciates being partnered with Sticky Web setters such as Shuckle and Smeargle. Sticky Web teams are usually at an advantage against offense archetypes but struggle greatly with defensive teams, so a powerful wallbreaker like Kyurem-W goes a long way to improving this matchup.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Most of Kyurem-W's effective options provide it with a bit more coverage to handle specific threats that a team might be weak to. Although it is useless against anything else, Stone Edge can be used to OHKO Ho-Oh, which can otherwise switch into Kyurem-W comfortably. If Stone Edge is used with Choice Specs, a Naive nature should be used to maximize the move's damage; Life Orb sets will land an OHKO even when running a Timid nature. Roost significantly improves Life Orb Kyurem-W’s utility against hazard-stacking teams by providing sustainability against passive Pokemon, although it is almost useless against offensive teams. Few other justifiable options exist for Kyurem-W. A Substitute set can be used to ease prediction, but it is worn down even faster than the other sets. Sleep Talk can be used for a sleep absorber, but that is gimmicky outside of a surprise factor. Toxic can be used to cripple a wall that switches in, but the only relevant target is Arceus-Water. Icium Z can be used to OHKO bulky threats such as Xerneas and Primal Groudon with a 200-Base Power attack, but Kyurem-W can be quite underwhelming without a boosting item, so this set just makes it into deadweight for the sake of luring things it doesn't need to. Finally, while Kyurem-W's mediocre speed and significant power make it seem like an effective user of Choice Scarf, it checks nothing that Choice Scarf Lunala does not and possesses far less bulk and utility.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Fairy-types**: All relevant Fairy-types can check Kyurem-W when healthy. While Xerneas cannot switch into Ice Beam, the potential use of Draco Meteor make it very easy to set up with Geomancy Xerneas at full HP against Kyurem-W. Arceus-Fairy can outspeed Kyurem-W and threaten it with STAB Judgment, while Clefable gets free turns from Choice-locked Draco Meteor, although they are less common than Xerneas.

**Faster Attackers**: Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Lunala, Mega Gengar, Mega Lucario, Mega Salamence, Pheromosa, Deoxys-A, and Mewtwo formes can all outspeed Kyurem-W and revenge kill it easily.

**Arceus**: Most Arceus formes can check Kyurem-W if they are healthy. Offensive Arceus formes such as Extreme Killer and Arceus-Dark have the advantage over Kyurem-W after one boost. Many support Arceus formes can either stall out Kyurem with Toxic like Arceus-Water or threaten it with STAB Judgment like Arceus-Dragon or Arceus-Fairy. However, none of these can switch into a neutral STAB move from Kyurem-W, with the sole and very notable exception of Arceus-Water.

**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Arceus-Water, RestTalk Primal Kyogre, and Toxapex are among the few Pokemon that can reliably counter Kyurem-W by switching in. The only attack that can hit these meaningfully is Draco Meteor, which they can just heal off and force Kyurem-W to switch. If these Pokemon are still healthy, it is generally a good idea to not send out Kyurem-W.

**Chansey and Blissey**: Kyurem-W can achieve nothing against Chansey and Blissey to the point that sending it out will just give the opponent free turns with them.

**Ho-Oh**: Unless Stone Edge is run or Stealth Rock is up, Ho-Oh can repeatedly switch into any of Kyurem-W’s attacks and force it out while healing with Regenerator.

**Steel-types**: Defensive Steel-types such as Aegislash, Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, Bronzong, and Magearna threaten to OHKO or 2HKO Kyurem-W with super effective STAB moves. While none of these will beat Kyurem-W if they switch into Fusion Flare, they can easily take advantage of Kyurem-W if its Choice-locked into one of its STAB moves, and Kyurem-W is reluctant to lock itself into the otherwise lackluster Fusion Flare. Offensive Steel-types such as Mega Lucario, Mega Metagross, and Solgaleo effectively check Kyurem-W by threatening to outspeed and OHKO it with their STAB moves.
 
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Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
This is ready for QC checks. Compared to the original skeleton the other guy made, I believe that the early meta is showing how Scarf Kyurem, always a niche choice, is now completely unviable due to how inferior it is to Scarf Lunala. If QC disagrees I will implement, but I would like to hear some guidance on when it would be a superior choice given its lack of bulk and Shadow Shield, less spammable attacks and more vulnerable typing.
 

Perry

slayer
is a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
i'm not qc or anything, but throwing a heads up: you don't really need to use the listing tool when writing down an analysis, you should use "*" followed by text because iirc that's how the smogdex will recognize it as a paragraph.

\/ fair point
 
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Some minor personal issues with the overview:

Kyurem-W has low bulk and must preserve what it does have to effectively check Pokemon such as Arceus-Ground, so it lends almost no defensive utility to any team.
125/90/100 is overall only slightly worse than Dialga's bulk (100/120/100), so that's a little inaccurate. It isn't the bulk that's the issue, it's that terrible defensive typing

Finally, reliance on Draco Meteor leaves teams with Kyurem-W extremely weak to the extremely popular Geomancy Xerneas and restricts teambuilding by practically mandating the use of one of its strongest checks.
How does this restrict teambuilding any more than usual? Every good Ubers team should have a reliable way to check Xerneas.
 

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
Some minor personal issues with the overview:

125/90/100 is overall only slightly worse than Dialga's bulk (100/120/100), so that's a little inaccurate. It isn't the bulk that's the issue, it's that terrible defensive typing
Good point, I'll edit this in.

How does this restrict teambuilding any more than usual? Every good Ubers team should have a reliable way to check Xerneas.
The issue is more that Kyurem-W highly encourages the use of a more defensive counter than an offensive check, since Xerneas could switch in after a Draco Meteor or into a Choice-locked Draco Meteor, and get to boost taking no damage, which very few things in the meta give it the chance to do. Offensive checks like Pdon, Mluke, and Ho-oh aren't really enough if GeoXern can stay at full health after boosting, since they can only beat it if its down to like 60% hp, so you'd need to preserve 2 to beat it instead of the usual 1 and end up fighting a 4 v 5. In my experience using Kyurem-W being aware of this issue is essential to have a chance of winning consistently with it.
 

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
Am I supposed to do something other than post QC ready on the thread to get it checked by QC?
Please don't take the question as a sign of impatience, since I know Kyurem-W isn't exactly a priority and I'd happily wait a few weeks if that's what it takes, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything since it's been a few days.
 
Am I supposed to do something other than post QC ready on the thread to get it checked by QC?
Please don't take the question as a sign of impatience, since I know Kyurem-W isn't exactly a priority and I'd happily wait a few weeks if that's what it takes, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything since it's been a few days.
If your skeleton/analysis has been sitting around without any progress, feel free to directly annoy the QC team via the Ubers Discord at https://discord.gg/Ybycvrw. All QC are encouraged to be active on this platform, and they have a specific role group that they can be tagged by: "@QC".
 
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: Fusion Flare
move 4: Roost / Focus Blast / Stone Edge
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Soundproof
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
I highly doubt that Kyruem-W gets Soundproof...
 
Not bad for a first time analysis, I approve of all the extra detail put in that make this a lot better with information. There are a couple things I'd prefer to see changed before i stamp this:

Move 4 is probably better as Earth Power / Focus Blast with Choice Specs being first slash over Life Orb - its the main way this mon has been used in high level play. Roost can go to Moves or maybe even Other Options (aka deslash it) and note its ok for Life Orb sets.

Turboblaze is circumstantially useful against Lugia, which is OHKO’d by the most powerful Kyurem-W sets, but the declining relevance of Lugia has in turn made Turboblaze less useful in Gen 7
I wouldn't say Lugia has really gotten any worse this gen, its still a popular mon and stall teams are better off this gen than they were in ORAS. I'd remove that part.

Team Options should see note of Sticky Web - its where Kyurem-W saw usage in SPL and is probably its ideal playground with all the potential revenge killers and fast support arceus slowed down.

C&C needs some work:

Xerneas can simply be renamed to "Fairy-types" because Arceus-Fairy exists as well and is a pretty good switch in. Clefable is 2HKOd by Ice Beam but pivots on usage of Draco Meteor.
Arceus formes can probably get their own general bullet point mentioning what ones have a good advantage over Kyurem-W. I considered splitting them as quite a lot of them are able to handle Kyurem-W in different ways... but maybe just generalizing with stuff like Arceus-X dealing with Kyurem via Y is fine.
Steel-types can get a bullet as well detailing users of Bullet Punch (Lucario/Scizor/Metagross) and the ones that resist both STAB moves. Fusion Flare is generally a risky click... teams with these Steel-types probably have an Arceus that would be switched in before them.

I'll take another look after the changes.
 

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
Thanks for the feedback. I think I've implemented all the changes, so please tell me what you think.
 
Clefable doesn't "set up" in Ubers, but it can use the free turn to Heal Bell or Moonblast something. Change that little bit of the C&C area.

otherwise, this is impressive.

QC 1/3
 
standard sets for yveltal and arceus-water always outpace jolly kyurem, fix all parts of the analyses that suggest otherwise

is it really kyurem's typing that makes it vulnerable to revenge killers? seems like its mediocre speed tier is what puts it in a bind. you can keep the sentence structure how it is but i would reword it since any hard hitter that outspeeds kyurem can take it out without much trouble after a bit of chip damage.

when you refer to kyurem necessitating the use of one of geoxerns "strongest checks" i would assume you're referring to pdon. if so please explicitly state that, and i might even change the wording because there are mons that deal with xern more reliably e.g. magearna and aegislash

you're over exaggerating kyurem's effectiveness as a check to arceus-ground. sd sets completely blow it out of the water and unless it's carrying roost, it won't appreciate switching in to support sets either. kyurem-w can definitely force it out, but the analysis implies kyurem is a reliable answer to it which isn't true.
 

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
standard sets for yveltal and arceus-water always outpace jolly kyurem, fix all parts of the analyses that suggest otherwise

is it really kyurem's typing that makes it vulnerable to revenge killers? seems like its mediocre speed tier is what puts it in a bind. you can keep the sentence structure how it is but i would reword it since any hard hitter that outspeeds kyurem can take it out without much trouble after a bit of chip damage.

when you refer to kyurem necessitating the use of one of geoxerns "strongest checks" i would assume you're referring to pdon. if so please explicitly state that, and i might even change the wording because there are mons that deal with xern more reliably e.g. magearna and aegislash

you're over exaggerating kyurem's effectiveness as a check to arceus-ground. sd sets completely blow it out of the water and unless it's carrying roost, it won't appreciate switching in to support sets either. kyurem-w can definitely force it out, but the analysis implies kyurem is a reliable answer to it which isn't true.
Implementing the revenge killers point.

I'm not sure I should argue with a QC much, but I do want to note a few things:

My analysis specifically discusses how outside of a Sticky Webs team PDon is not a good enough check for Xerneas when using Kyurem, which the QC so far agreed with. I don't think I left that ambiguous throughout my analysis, which is why I get the feeling you might have only skimmed it a bit and hence why I'll protest a few points with a QC member that otherwise knows a lot more about the meta than me. If you would like, I could mention "such as Magearna and Aegislash" in the intro, which is the only part of the analysis that doesn't give examples, but I felt going into specific team options was not great in the intro - would like clarification on whether that's what you're telling me to implement.

Yveltal's standard set is Rash/Mild, with Timid even left unslashed in the first analyses. Except for Choice Yveltal, which run either scarf or a Timid nature, Kyurem should outspeed. The previous analysis for Arceus-Water also places it at 307 speed. These might have changed in new metagame trends since those analyses were made, but LO Yveltal needs the Rash/Mild to 2HKO Geoxern with Oblivion Wing after rocks, and Arceus water cant fall below 100 defense EV's or it can't check Mega Salamence after rocks, and I don't see why it would run more than 124 Speed EVs given what it could outspeed within that unless a team really wants to check Rayquaza better for some reason. Both of these seem like notable enough reasons that I'd be surprised if they weren't standard anymore, so I do feel like my analysis is correct there.
I could note this more specifically, such as "neutral-natured Yveltal and most Arceus-Water" if you would like, but that seems less meaningful for a reader - please give me feedback as to whether my understanding of the meta here is wrong.

I'm not sure that I oversell its ability to check Arceus-Ground, as I make it clear that Kyurem needs to be healthy. I cite it as a check and not a counter, so it's not switching in or facing it boosted. It hard-checks Arceus-Ground even after one round of SR (worst Arceus-Ground can do is Stone Edge, which maxes at 68%). Ofc it doesn't check it if its below 68% HP, but I do think that is communicated by "needs to preserve it's health to check Arceus-Ground".

Finally, I would like to note here that I do understand that of course a QC member probably knows a lot more than a player like me who usually lives in the humble realm of the 1500-1600 ladder, so I am very willing to admit I might be wrong about some or all of these points and I'll definitely implement this all if you reply telling me to. I just get the feeling you might have only skimmed this a little from your Pdon correction and I do not understand the rationale behind a couple points, so I would appreciate some clarifications here for the sake of my being able to implement things effectively, and I apologize if I'm misunderstanding anything.
 
the way you wrote that sentence implies there is a single strongest xern check that must be used, which is what the problem is.

idk what the previous analyses say but no viable offensive yveltal set should be running anything other than timid/naive. outspeeding lunala is a must, and to be effective against offensive teams you certainly want to outspeed exca and the occasional jolly ho-oh. there are other mons that lunala needs +spe in order to check, typing this from phone so i can clarify more later if needed.

likewise arceus-water wants to outspeed yveltal because 1. you can switch into it without worrying about being 2hkoed before defogging or getting taunted and 2. this also enables you to outrun everything up to base 97, notably lunala. this would mean running 64 speed evs, which still leaves 168 for def and still comfortably lives a +1 edge after rocks.

as for arceus-ground u need to stress kyurem can only reliably deal with support formes. it can't switch into sd formes at all except on a recover, and a bit of chip damage will put it in range of stone edge or tectonic rage.
 

Nixon73

Scuttlebug Jamboree
Thanks for the clarifications!
I've taken out mentions of Arceus-Water since using Kyurem against it is pretty clutch to begin with, and specified neutral-natured Yveltal and special Arceus-Ground.
On the first sentence, I say "more defensive checks" when referring to handling GeoXern, which I think is ok since I go into more detail in team options and usage tips. Doesn't imply that there is a best one and also makes it clear I don't mean Pdon.
With that I think I've implemented your corrections, tell me if you want any more changes.
 
add remove comments
[OVERVIEW]

Kyurem-W is one of the most powerful wallbreakers in the tier, as base 170 Special Attack boosted by Life Orb or Choice Specs will OHKO or 2HKO OHKOes or 2HKOes almost everything in the metagame. Powerful ice- and dragon-type Ice- and Dragon-type STAB moves in Ice Beam and Draco Meteor and solid coverage options such as Fusion Flare provide Kyurem-W with excellent coverage, leaving Chansey, Blissey, (AC) and bulky Water-types as the its only safe switch-ins in the entire tier metagame (chansey/bliss arent in the tier). While Kyurem-W is fairly slow at base 95 Speed, with full investment it can outspeed base 90 Pokemon such as Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, (AC) and Giratina-O, and it can outspeed prominent sets on more offensive Pokemon such as Geomancy Xerneas and neutral-natured Yveltal.

However, Kyurem-W has several weaknesses that restrict how well it can act as a wallbreaker. Kyurem-W has a terrible defensive typing and must preserve its health if it is to check faster Pokemon, so it lends almost no defensive utility to any team, (RC) and is hard to bring in without dedicating it precious free switches. Its mediocre speed Speed and typing also make it incredibly vulnerable to fast revenge-killers revenge killers, notably Deoxys-A, Mega Lucario, Pheromosa, Lunala, Mega Salamence, (AC) and Mega Gengar, each of which commonly carries moves that can OHKO Kyurem-W after Stealth Rock. Since Kyurem-W is so easily forced out, it is extremely prediction reliant, so its incredible power and coverage achieve results very inconsistently. A Stealth Rock weakness and possible Life Orb recoil means Kyurem-W is very easily worn down throughout a match, (RC) and requires Defog support to be effective. Finally, its reliance on Draco Meteor leaves teams with Kyurem-W extremely weak to the popular Geomancy Xerneas and restricts teambuilding by practically mandating the use of one of its more defensive checks. Overall, Kyurem-W is very seldom used due to the ridiculous amount of team support it requires to be effective. On teams that can provide that support, however, its sheer power is almost unparalleled in the tier.

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: Fusion Flare
move 4: Earth Power / Focus Blast
item: Choice Specs / Life Orb
ability: Turboblaze
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Ice Beam is a powerful STAB move in and has one of the most effective attacking types in the tier. Draco Meteor is an even more powerful STAB option that will inflict inflicts massive damage on anything that doesn’t resist it, although its use causes a sharp drop in Special Attack. Fusion Flare provides essential coverage against the Steel-types that resist Kyurem-W's STAB moves, (RC) and will 2HKO 2HKOes every relevant Steel-type relevant in the tier. Earth Power can hit hits Primal Groudon harder than Ice Beam while being hard for Steel-Types Steel-types to switch into, which greatly eases prediction, especially for Choice Specs sets. Life Orb sets that find Earth Power's coverage to be redundant can opt to run Focus Blast, which significantly improves Kyurem-W's matchup against Arceus-Dark and Extreme Killer Arceus.

Set Details
========

Kyurem-W is only used as a wallbreaker, so maximum Speed and Special Attack investment help it perform this role effectively. A Timid nature allows Kyurem-W to outspeed prominent Pokemon such as Giratina-O, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Geomancy Xerneas, and neutral-natured Yveltal, which can all potentially outspeed Kyurem-W otherwise. While a Modest nature can provide provides a significant boost in power, these matchups are common enough that it should not be used except in teams that can very confidently switch into these threats. The decision between Life Orb and Choice Specs presents a significant trade-off. Since Kyurem-W is so easy to revenge-kill revenge kill and is forced out anyways anyway when using Draco Meteor, the drawback to Choice-lock effect of Choice Specs (this what you mean?) is oftentimes not a significant issue with Kyurem-W. Life Orb does enable the use of Roost, which is helpful against hazard-stacking teams, (RC) and will make makes it significantly harder for certain Pokemon such as Xerneas to take advantage of Kyurem-W, so it should depend depends on what your team needs to be strong against. Turboblaze is Kyurem-W's mandatory ability, and is circumstantially situationally useful against Lugia, which is OHKO’d OHKOed by the more powerful Kyurem-W sets (which sets? Choice Specs? mention them), as well as Levitate users such as Bronzong.

Usage Tips
========

Kyurem-W should be brought in on almost every free switch against most teams, since its massive power makes it incredibly difficult to switch into, and it can be hard to bring in otherwise. Making risky predictions can be very tempting early match early-game, but a play that risks losing Kyurem-W is usually only a wise choice if Kyurem-W has a bad matchup or the match is going badly. Kyurem-W is incredibly easy to take advantage of after using Draco Meteor, so it should generally be used only as a mallet (doesnt say anything that the next bit doesn't) to break the more annoying walls such as a weakened Arceus-Water. Kyurem Kyurem-W can only check faster Pokemon such as special Arceus-Ground if it is kept healthy, so play carefully and avoid SR Stealth Rock damage if such Pokemon are in the enemy opposing team. Finally, note that entry hazards, especially Stealth Rock, are very helpful to turn 2HKO’s 2HKOs into OHKOs (imo either explain how this effects how Kyurem-W is played or keep it in team options).

Team Options
========

Kyurem-W's great power is kept in check largely by its several weaknesses (not really a GP thing but maybe say something about why its weaknesses in particular are bad? most Pokemon have more than one weakness so this doesnt really tell the reader much), so it requires extensive team support to be able to work effectively. Kyurem-W invites a large weakness to Xerneas and to a lesser extent other Fairy-types, so offensive checks such as Primal Groudon and Ho-oh Ho-Oh are generally insufficient. A solid switch-in for these Pokemon such as Aegislash, Mega Scizor, Magearna, (AC) or Wacan Berry Toxapex is essential to stop potential sweeps. Mega Scizor and Magearna deserve a particular mention for (remove space)their ability to provide slow U-turns and Volt-Switches Volt Switches for Kyurem-W, who which can take advantage of them more than almost anything else in the tier. Kyurem-W needs hazard control to be effective against most teams, a role that Arceus forms formes and Giratina-O can generally handle this job effectively. Stealth Rock support is essential for Kyurem-W to stand a chance against the likes of Ho-oh Ho-Oh and Arceus-Water, so reliable setters such as Primal Groudon and Dialga are good partners. Kyurem-W also appreciates being paired with sweepers such as Mega Lucario, Mega Salamence, (AC) and Xerneas, that appreciate its ability to weaken shared checks such as Magearna, Arceus-Water, and Ho-oh Ho-Oh. (remove line break) Alternatively, offensive teams built around Sticky Webs Sticky Web can try to rely on momentum to prevent the opponent from effectively taking advantage of Kyurem-W's weaknesses. Timid Kyurem-W will outspeed outspeeds almost the entire tier under webs Sticky Web, including the likes of Deoxys-A and Pheromosa, making it extremely difficult to revenge kill. Sticky Webs Sticky Web teams are usually at an advantage against offense archetypes but struggle greatly with defensive teams, so a powerful wallbreaker like Kyurem-W goes a long way to improving this matchup. (this is team options after all, maybe mention a webs setter?)

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Most of Kyurem-W's effective options provide it with a bit more coverage to handle specific threats that a team might be weak to. Although it is useless against anything else, Stone Edge can be used to OHKO Ho-oh Ho-Oh, which can otherwise switch into Kyurem-W comfortably. If Stone Edge is used with Choice Specs, a Naive nature should be used to maximize its Kyurem-W's damage output; Life Orb sets will land a an OHKO even when running a Timid nature. Roost significantly improves Life Orb Kyurem-W’s utility against hazard-stacking teams by providing sustain sustainability against passive Pokemon, although it is almost useless against offensive teams. Few other justifiable options exist for Kyurem-W. A substitute Substitute set can be used to ease prediction, but it is worn down even faster than the other sets. Sleep Talk can be used for a sleep absorber, but that is gimmicky outside of a surprise factor. Toxic can be used to cripple a wall that switches in, but the only relevant target is Arceus-Water. Icium-Z Icium Z can be used to OHKO bulky threats such as Xerneas and Primal Groudon with a 200BP 200-Base Power attack, but Kyurem-W can be quite underwhelming without a boosting item, so this set just makes it into deadweight for the sake of luring things it doesn't need to. Finally, while Kyurem-W's mediocre speed and significant power make it seem like an effective user of Choice Scarf, it checks nothing than Scarf that Choice Scarf Lunala does not and possesses far less bulk and utility.

Checks and Counters
===================
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**Fairy-types**: All relevant Fairy-types relevant in the tier can check Kyurem-W when healthy. While Xerneas cannot switch into Ice Beam, the potential use of Draco Meteor make it very easy to set up with GeoXern at almost full hp HP against Kyurem-W, so a team with Kyurem-W must carry a contingency for this situation (this is team options stuff and youve already mentioned it there). Arceus-Fairy can outspeed and threaten Kyurem-W with STAB Judgment, while Clefable gets free turns from a Choice-locked Draco Meteor, although the latter two are they are less common than Xerneas.

**Faster Attackers**: Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Lunala, Mega Gengar, Mega Lucario, Mega Salamence, Pheromosa, Deoxys-A, and MewTwo forms Mewtwo formes can all outspeed Kyurem Kyurem-W and revenge kill it easily.

**Arceus**: Most Arceus formes can check Kyurem Kyurem-W if they are healthy. Offensive Arceus formes such as Extreme Killer and Arceus-Dark have the advantage over Kyurem Kyurem-W after one boost. Many support Arceus formes can either Toxic-stall stall out Kyurem with Toxic like Arceus-Water or threaten it with a STAB Judgment like Arceus-Dragon or Arceus-Fairy. However, none of these can switch into a neutral STAB move from Kyurem-W, with the sole and very notable exception of Arceus-Water.

**Bulky Water Types Water-types**: Bulky Water Types Water-types such as Arceus-Water, RestTalk Primal Kyogre, (AC) and Toxapex are among the few Pokemon that can reliably counter Kyurem-W by switching in. The only attack that can hit these meaningfully is Draco Meteor, which they can just heal off and force Kyurem-W to switch. If these pokemon Pokemon are still healthy, it is generally a good idea to not send out Kyurem-W.

**Chansey and Blissey**: Kyurem-W can achieve nothing against these Pokemon Chansey and Blissey to the point that sending it out will just give the opponent free turns with them.

**Ho-oh Ho-Oh**: Unless Stone Edge is run or Stealth Rock is up, Ho-oh Ho-Oh can repeatedly switch into any of Kyurem-W’s attacks and force it out while healing with regenerator Regenerator.

**Steel-types**: Defensive Steel-types used in the tier such as Aegislash, Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, Bronzong, (AC) and Magearna threaten to OHKO or 2HKO Kyurem-W with super-effective super effective STAB moves. While none of these will beat Kyurem-W if they switch into Fusion Flare, they can easily take advantage of Kyurem if its Choice-locked into its STABs, one of its STAB moves and Kyurem-W is reluctant to lock itself into the otherwise lackluster Fusion Flare. Offensive Steel-types such as Mega Lucario, Mega Metagross, (AC) and Solgaleo effectively check Kyurem-W by threatening to outspeed and OHKO it with their STAB moves.

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