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Overview
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Hustle is Zweilous's most significant trait, giving a massive power boost to its physical attacks. This is augmented by Zweilous's access to powerful STAB moves and decent neutral coverage, making it very tricky to withstand Zweilous's attacks. Zweilous also has some useful resistances to Fire, Grass, and Dark, as well as a Psychic immunity, which allows it to wall Pokemon such as Ninetales and Leafeon. That said, its typing also comes with very inconvenient weaknesses, most notably to Fighting and Ice, which isn't helped by its low Speed. Hustle also lowers the accuracy of Zweilous's physical moves, meaning that despite its power, Zweilous can easily whiff and accomplish nothing. Zweilous also competes with Fraxure as a hard-hitting physical Dragon, as Fraxure has better accuracy and the ability to boost its stats.
Choice Band
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name: Choice Band
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Head Smash
ability: Hustle
item: Choice Band
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant
Moves
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Crunch is Zweilous's most reliable STAB move, making it the spammable attack of choice. Outrage is used as a nuke that can blow defensive cores open, but it prevents Zweilous from switching and leaves Zweilous easily revenge killed, so it should be used with care. Superpower smashes Steel-types, most notably Klang, that resist Zweilous's Outrage, and hits bulky Pokemon such as Lickilicky, Carracosta, Bouffalant, and Piloswine very hard without preventing Zweilous from switching. Head Smash OHKOes physically defensive Togetic and 2HKOes Carbink, Clefairy, and Avalugg; however, it is extremely inaccurate due to Hustle and deals heavy recoil damage, so it should only be used as a last resort.
Set Details
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Maximum Attack investment is for maximum destruction, and maximum Speed investment allows Zweilous to outrun as many walls as possible and Speed tie with Aurorus and Rampardos. A Jolly nature is an option to outrun Pokemon such as Flareon, Aurorus, and Heatmor. Life Orb can be considered over Choice Band, but Choice Band's power and lack of recoil tends to make it the better item choice. Eviolite can be considered to reduce Zweilous's susceptibility to being revenge killed, but Zweilous appreciates the power of Choice Band, which boosts its wallbreaking ability, and Head Smash's recoil would offset Eviolite's bulk increase anyway.
Usage Tips
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Don't expect Zweilous to last too long, as it functions like a glass cannon and is rather easily revenge killed. Zweilous should exploit a team's defensive link, such as Gourgeist, Lickilicky, or Roselia, and proceed to punch a giant hole in the opponent's team. If the opponent has Fairy- or Steel-types, refrain from using Outrage recklessly to avoid giving them free setup opportunities, and go for the safer Crunch. You can click Outrage and watch Pokemon drop like flies, although this exposes Zweilous to be picked off by faster Pokemon, so be wary of them if you want to keep Zweilous around for longer. Zweilous does have the coverage moves and power necessary to nail Outrage switch-ins for massive damage, so do keep that in mind.
Team Options
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Zweilous has several weaknesses that should be covered if one is to make use of its wallbreaking abilities properly. Steel-types can shield Zweilous from Fairy-, Ice-, Bug-, and Dragon-type moves; Metang responds well to Mr. Mime and Regice, Klang can take advantage of foes that Zweilous has weakened, and Bastiodon and Metang can set up Stealth Rock for Zweilous. Poison-types resist Bug-, Fighting-, and Fairy-type moves for Zweilous; Whirlipede and Roselia can provide Spikes and Toxic Spikes support for Zweilous, while Haunter can apply even more additional offensive pressure to the opponent. Because Zweilous can punch holes into the opponent's team, fast sweepers such as Scyther, Tauros, Dodrio, and Rotom-F can be used to clean up, while also covering for Zweilous against faster, offensive teams.
Sticky Web support can be considered, as with a Jolly nature Zweilous can outspeed up to base 110 Speed Pokemon such as Tauros and Raichu under Sticky Web; Leavanny and Kricketune are good candidates for the job. Ninjask makes for a very interesting teammate, as it can Baton Pass Speed and even accuracy boosts with Hone Claws, covering up two of Zweilous's largest flaws; Zweilous can even forgo Choice Band for Eviolite in this case. Alternatively, Trick Room can be used instead, with the nature changed accordingly to Brave and the Speed IVs adjusted to 0; Carbink, Beheeyem, Dusknoir, and Kecleon make for good Trick Room setters.
Other Options
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Ice Fang and Thunder Fang allows Zweilous to hit Togetic more accurately, but they miss out on Clefairy, Carbink, and Avalugg. Zweilous can adopt a specially defensive Eviolite set to trade power for bulk and make better use of its resistances, but it walls few Pokemon in the metagame, and they can be responded to with much more effective and useful walls. Thunder Wave can be used to slow down foes, while Dragon Tail can phaze foes and works well with Thunder Wave for parashuffling, but Hustle reduces Dragon Tail's accuracy to shaky levels, so Dragon Tail may be better left off to Dragonair.
Checks & Counters
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**Fairy-types**: Fairy-type Pokemon prevent Zweilous from spamming its STAB moves and can easily OHKO it, and they can easily revenge kill it if it is locked into Outrage. However, Mr. Mime does not resist Crunch, while other Fairy-types such as Clefairy and Carbink are slower than Zweilous and get dented by Head Smash on the switch.
**Faster Pokemon**: Revenge killing is the easiest method of dealing with Zweilous, and it is helped by Zweilous's low Speed, several weaknesses, and tendency to get locked into Outrage. Particularly effective responses include Sneasel, Scyther, Frogadier, Rotom-F, and Articuno, which have super effective STAB moves to easily end Zweilous with.
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: While these Pokemon can't reliably switch safely into Zweilous, they are usually bulky enough to take one hit from it and respond accordingly, and they can prompt Zweilous to use Outrage or its coverage moves, which all have nasty side effects that can be exploited. Walls with powerful and/or super effective moves, such as Piloswine, Throh, Avalugg, Poliwrath, and Torterra, can retaliate for huge damage against a Zweilous that fails to KO them, whereas more passive walls such as Tangela and Pelipper can instead whittle down Zweilous with status and residual damage.
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