Hybrid Hunters: Mixed Attackers in SV OU

By Marnie. Released: 2025/07/08.
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Hybrid Hunters Mixed Attackers in SV OU art

Art by a blue banana.

Whether it's Mega Alakazam's staggering base 175 Special Attack eclipsing its atrocious base 50 Attack, the access to explosive damage-amplifying abilities like Conkeldurr's Guts, Mega Mawile's Huge Power, and Galarian Darmanitan's Gorilla Tactics, or the colorful coverage options in Ice Beam, Flamethrower, and Thunderbolt that Nidoking gets, there are multiple factors—even all of them at once—that can dictate which attacking side an offensive Pokémon will lean into. While most will be known as either a physical or special attacker, a small portion of them are designed quite differently; whereas some Pokémon have the attacking stats and movepool to run either a physical or special set, they can go further and beyond by merging both roads together and becoming known as mixed attackers. SV OU is no stranger to them, as we've encountered numerous throughout the tier's blossoming lifespan, so this article will try to shine a light on these familiar faces!

The Viable Ones

Dragapult

We've definitely felt how Dragapult's STAB moves leave a lot to be desired (physical Ghost move, anyone?). Lucky for you, OU players have come up with a surprisingly stellar solution, and it's by going mixed! Instead of having to pick between the sheer power of Draco Meteor or the reliability and spamability of Dragon Pulse, its signature Dragon Darts gives it the perfect mix between the two, all while still maintaining a reliable Ghost-type STAB move that fully physical sets desperately need. Not just that, but its freedom in unleashing its adorable Dreepy at the foe is further backed up by its status-boosted Hex to dent physical walls like Great Tusk, Pecharunt, and Zamazenta, with Dragon Darts denting Calm Mind users like Raging Bolt hard and still being capable of forcing special walls like Blissey and Clodsire to waste their Recover PP. With this particular set's freedom to pivot around even in the face of entry hazards that the tier is fond of, it can slowly dissect teams long-term by slowly chipping a whole slew of physical and special walls alike, including Ting-Lu and Assault Vest Alomomola, while its insane Speed tier and typing prevent it from being out-offensed by most of the metagame, letting it take on giant threats like Dragonite, Zamazenta, and Ogerpon-W.

Why choose between Dragon Darts and Draco Meteor when you can let Dragapult run both? Instead of fitting on balance teams by winning long-term through accumulated chip damage, mixed Dragapult is also capable of taking on a more offensive approach with immediate damage output for more offensive teams. Its strong Dragon Darts and Draco Meteor, which can be further magnified by Tera Dragon, can pressure physical and special walls alike, with Life Orb in particular finally giving its Dragon Darts the power to cleanly 2HKO special walls in Blissey and Clodsire. While strong Fire-type coverage in Fire Blast elevates its wallbreaking duties further by disintegrating Corviknight and Tinkaton, even straight up OHKOing offensive Kingambit after minor chip damage, Will-O-Wisp's ability to neutralize opposing offensive threats like Zamazenta and Terastallized Dragonite and Kingambit cannot be understated in the offense mirror matchup, even giving subsequent teammates more setup opportunities. Like other Ghost-types found on these structures such as Gholdengo and Pecharunt, Dragapult also does double duty by spinblocking, which is appreciated to maintain the valuable entry hazards from teammates like Landorus-T, Glimmora, and Araquanid.

Iron Valiant

Similarly to Dragapult, mixed Iron Valiant uses the best of both worlds for both of its STAB moves. Let's be honest, Spirit Break is way too weak and Focus Blast never hits, so going for Moonblast + Close Combat gives it the reliability and power it needs. Moreover, Close Combat's ability to hit special walls like Blissey and Heatran is also a huge plus, while the tier's physical tanks like Great Tusk and Zamazenta shudder at its catastrophic Moonblast, even bypassing contact effects like Zapdos's Static and Landorus-T's Rocky Helmet. Going mixed also lets it run a stronger Knock Off, which provides it a way to not only super effectively hit Gholdengo and Galarian Slowking—similarly to special sets and their Shadow Ball—but also cripple troublesome walls like Moltres and Alomomola. While mixed Iron Valiant tends to make use of Booster Energy-boosted Speed to match up well against offensive teams, especially with its status move to put them into unfavorable positions, it can also run a huge slew of items like Life Orb, Expert Belt, and the more-valued Heavy-Duty Boots. These variants can even further make use of their mixed offensive prowess; Ice Punch dents Gliscor, especially because it still threatens the highly dangerous Tera Normal + Swords Dance variant naturally, while Thunderbolt is a great catch-all option against most physical walls, including would-be checks like Corviknight and Moltres.

Kyurem

At first glance, mixed Dragon Dance Kyurem feels wrong and seemed to be the type of set one would only encounter on a 1000 ELO ladder game, but it has proven to be one of the million other sets that Kyurem can run effectively! Even with just one move to truly take advantage of Dragon Dance's Attack boost, the set turns Kyurem into a Swiss army knife of a setup sweeper, wallbreaker, and particularly stallbreaker all in one. Fully physical sets usually struggle to break through walls like Alomomola, Toxapex, Skarmory without enough luck, and, even with Tera Blast Electric, Dondozo. This is where its Freeze-Dry comes in; it's capable of 2HKOing them effortlessly, even slicing through the potential Defense boosts that Skarmory and Dondozo try to accrue to 1v1 Kyurem. To top it all off, Freeze-Dry switch-ins like Blissey and even Clodsire want nothing to do with Kyurem's Icicle Spear, making sure every wall trembles in its face. Going mixed also allows Kyurem to run Earth Power over Tera Blast Ground, giving it a non-Tera-reliant way to hit Pokémon like Gholdengo, Kingambit, and Cinderace all in one and more freedom to run Tera Ice to crank up its Icicle Spear and Freeze-Dry much further.

Boots attacker Kyurem is definitely the tamer mixed variant of the two, but it still does its job solidly nonetheless. Excelling more on entry hazard-stacking teams to compensate for the lack of boosts while being resilient against opposing hazards, Kyurem has lots of freedom to run on its last move due to the sheer coverage that Ice + Ground already provides. While the nuclear Draco Meteor is generally the go-to, it can opt for Scale Shot instead as its Dragon-type STAB move; on top of denting the likes of Blissey and Galarian Slowking harder with enough hits, the valuable Speed boost also compensates for its less-than-ideal Speed tier, allowing it to now outpace would-be revenge killers like Dragapult, Darkrai, and Zamazenta. It was even seen dropping the Dragon-type STAB move entirely in favor of Stone Edge early on in the metagame as a way to cleanly OHKO Volcarona and specially defensive Moltres, especially bulky variants of the former that can otherwise set up on it as an offensive team's sole answer to Kyurem.

Deoxys-Speed
  • Deoxys-Speed @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Eject Pack / Life Orb / Expert Belt
  • Ability: Pressure
  • EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
  • Tera Type: Fighting
  • Naive Nature
  • - Psycho Boost
  • - Superpower
  • - Knock Off
  • - Ice Beam
  • Deoxys-Speed @ Red Card / Rocky Helmet / Colbur Berry
  • Ability: Pressure
  • EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 104 Spe
  • Tera Type: Dark / Ghost
  • Naive Nature
  • - Stealth Rock / Spikes
  • - Psychic Noise
  • - Knock Off
  • - Superpower

While Deoxys-S can opt for a fully special set with Nasty Plot that prefers the coverage of Focus Blast + Shadow Ball, most sets—particularly all-out attacking ones and entry hazard leads—enjoy going mixed for the reliability of Superpower and the utility that Knock Off provides. Besides being another case of a special attacker that would rather not run Focus Blast if it can, running Superpower also provides it with a way to dent Blissey more while still being a similarly strong tool against foes like Ting-Lu, Roaring Moon, and Assault Vest Hisuian Samurott. Running Knock Off means it gets to punish walls like Ting-Lu, Galarian Slowking, and Alomomola further while also providing the necessary coverage to hit Gholdengo, with the move working even well on lead sets to make Heavy-Duty Boots users like Dragonite and Hydrapple susceptible to the entry hazard. These are especially notable, as foes looking to take on its Superpower and Knock Off, like Zamazenta, Pecharunt, and Great Tusk, get blown away by either its Psycho Boost or Psychic Noise, especially as Deoxys-S can use its out-of-this-world Speed tier to revenge kill even a fully Defense-boosted Zamazenta. Another unique synergy is how any Psycho Boost drops still maintain the power of its coverage moves, and vice versa, as using Superpower will not affect its STAB move at all.

Hoopa-Unbound

Anybody who's played stall since the past few generations has surely made the name "Hoopa-Unbound" synonymous to their worst nightmare, and unluckily for them (or luckily for us), the mischievous Pokémon still maintains its title as a dangerous stallbreaker to this day. However, instead of leaning towards one attacking direction and running Choice Band, Choice Specs, or Nasty Plot, Hoopa-U takes on a different approach by going with a mixed set instead. It notably utilizes the dangerous combo of its STAB Knock Off + Psychic Noise, and when backed up further by its coverage options, it can suffocate any manner of walls. A Fighting-type coverage move is valuable to cover for the otherwise-problematic Dark-types like Darkrai and Kingambit; the same song and dance applies here where Focus Blast never hits, but it also prefers Drain Punch for the extra bit of recovery, which works well with its hit-taking nature, especially against faster offensive teams that can overrun it quite easily. On top of being stronger than Thunder Punch, Thunderbolt covers a huge slew of physical walls, including Alomomola, Dondozo, Corviknight, and Skarmory, even doing so without having to worry about their Rocky Helmets. Another coverage move worth running is Gunk Shot, which gives it a nuke against Clefable and Tera Fairy users like Moltres and Gholdengo, with the nasty poison chance being able to put walls like Ting-Lu on a timer.

The Niche Ones

Darkrai

When you can't figure out which STAB moves to run so you use all of them at once! With all the valuable Dark-type moves it has access to, Darkrai can sometimes be seen running a mixed set, taking advantage of its standard Dark Pulse's reliability while having Sucker Punch's priority and Knock Off's utility simultaneously, really. Even with an incredible Speed tier, Sucker Punch is still helpful to let Darkrai keep up with the tier's plethora of faster threats such as Dragapult and weakened boosted foes like Iron Moth and Roaring Moon, letting it turn the tides of battle, especially with the surprise factor still hidden. Similar to some special attacking sets that can run Knock Off, the utility is great to cripple checks like Ting-Lu, Blissey, Garganacl, and Assault Vest Alomomola. As a bonus, Darkrai can then use Knock Off as a decently strong damaging tool against special tanks with the initial hit, notably hitting Galarian Slowking and Assault Vest Iron Crown slightly harder than Dark Pulse.

Dragonite

Dragon Dance Dragonite has been a staple set ever since the start of the generation, but what truly takes the spotlight is running it together with the infuriating Hurricane. On top of its deceptively respectable base Special Attack, this strong STAB move gives Dragonite an immediate way and, more importantly, a non-Tera-reliant move, to threaten two of the tier's most common physical tanks in Great Tusk and Zamazenta, especially because they are often the only methods for offensive teams to handle the dragon. These two might be the primary targets, but as a bonus, the move can even allow Dragonite to bypass another one of its—if not its—sturdiest answers, Dondozo, something that physical Tera Blast Flying fail to do; the move is strong enough to 3HKO it from full while also ignoring its Curse boosts, preventing the catfish from sitting on and PP stalling Dragonite with Rest indefinitely. As a disclaimer, however, this does require multiple things to go right, as on top of having to chain multiple moves that essentially never hit, Dondozo must not be calling Avalanche during its Sleep Talk; just something to keep in mind!

Enamorus

Unless it's running Calm Mind or even if it's not going for Tera Blast Stellar, Contrary is generally still the preferred ability on Enamorus even if it very rarely makes use of it. The ability will mostly come into play in very specific scenarios, such as punishing Iron Valiant's Spirit Break, Pecharunt's Parting Shot, and Sticky Web if it Terastallizes. However, Enamorus can fully take advantage of Contrary itself by going for a niche mixed attacking set by utilizing one of its strongest coverage moves in Superpower. Additionally, the move gives the genie the tool to dent the special blob in Blissey while also potentially OHKOing the tier staple Kingambit right away. Going full-on physical is unfortunately off the table due to Enamorus's horrendous physical movepool; however, this seemed to be its saving grace, as Fairy + Ground gives it enough coverage, notably punishing physically defensive tanks such as Great Tusk, Zamazenta, and Pecharunt looking to stop its Superpower. While more Tera reliant, it can even go as far as to run a physical Tera Blast as coverage; aside from taking advantage of the stat boosts, Tera Blast Ghost complements Superpower well by blasting through common Fighting-resistant foes like Galarian Slowking and Air Balloon Gholdengo hard, especially because they can otherwise shrug off its Earth Power. As a bonus, the other boost in Defense can be helpful to stop the likes of Dragonite, Zamazenta, and Ogerpon-W from revenge killing it easily. Consider this section a plea to Game Freak: give Enamorus Fleur Cannon!

Kommo-o

A very niche offensive threat, Kommo-o can utilize Clangorous Soul's omniboost to its fullest by using both the Attack and Special Attack boosts all at once. While it leans more towards being specially offensive to take advantage of the strong neutral nuke that is Tera Normal Boomburst and stronger Fire-type coverage in Flamethrower to hit Gholdengo, especially physically defensive variants, it still prefers running Drain Punch as its Fighting-type STAB move. On top of—repeat after me—Focus Blast being a bad move, it gives Kommo-o valuable recovery to compensate for Clangorous Soul's health cost while being able to nuke special walls like Blissey, Heatran, and Garganacl hard, similarly to the generally preferred Fighting-type move in Close Combat that it also learns. Most importantly however, the extra longevity is valuable in letting it use its natural bulk, typing, and +1 boost in both defenses to help check opposing offensive threats like Darkrai, Kingambit, Hisuian Samurott, and Iron Moth lacking Dazzling Gleam that can prove problematic for the offensive teams that Kommo-o found its home in.

Tyranitar

Tyranitar has unfortunately fallen off after arguably being the most influential OU Pokémon of all time ever since its debut generation. Mixed Tyranitar has existed since then onwards, and while it doesn't go all-out fully offensive this time—as it prefers to focus more on its bulk to handle foes like Darkrai, Iron Moth, and Dragapult better instead—going mixed has been Tyranitar's preference. While making use of its high base Attack alongside the new tool it gets this generation in Knock Off is a given, it has adapted to also run Ice Beam as a reliable tool to dent common physical walls in Great Tusk and Landorus-T, which can greatly open up its sidekick Excadrill to sweep late-game, as well as preventing Gliscor from getting away scot-free against it.

The Forgotten Ones:

Landorus-Therian
  • Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
  • Ability: Intimidate
  • Tera Type: Ground
  • EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
  • Naive Nature
  • - Earthquake
  • - U-turn
  • - Stone Edge
  • - Grass Knot
  • Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
  • Ability: Intimidate
  • Tera Type: Water
  • EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
  • Naive Nature
  • - Substitute
  • - Earthquake
  • - Smack Down / Stone Edge
  • - Grass Knot

Before currently cementing itself as one of the tier's most common faces, Landorus-T has had quite the less fortunate run during the earlier part of the generation. Landorus-T most commonly used a defensive set as well back then, but it was also seen running offensive variants from time to time—whether it acts as a pivot and speed control with Choice Scarf as it does now or attempts to dissect defensive teams with a Substitute + 3 Attacks set—that went with a mixed set that utilizes Grass Knot. Using its mighty Attack stat for the classic EdqeQuake coverage, Grass Knot would then take care of common physical walls in Great Tusk and Dondozo as well as Defense-boosting Tera Water Garganacl that can otherwise tank its physical attacks. Albeit less common, Grass Knot Landorus-T is still seen even to this day, but it has gone fully special when doing so, making the older Landorus-T sets truly iconic.

Meowscarada

Before the introduction of Deoxys-S and, most importantly, Hisuian Samurott, Meowscarada was the tier's best lead at setting Spikes for highly offensive teams, courtesy of its blazing Speed tier and utility options. While standard offensive sets went with Flower Trick as its Grass-type STAB move, the lead variant prefers going for Leaf Storm instead. Even with its pitiful base Special Attack, the move's Base Power gets to slightly compensate for it, and it ultimately gives Meowscarada an immediate way to nuke the tier's most common Pokémon and best spinner, Great Tusk, preventing it from safely removing its Spikes. This is especially notable because most of them ran fully physically defensive sets during the time, which would eat its Flower Trick for breakfast. Another valuable interaction where Leaf Storm shows its true value is in the matchup against lead Glimmora, as it lets the kitty cat threaten it without triggering Toxic Debris; notably, a Leaf Storm into a Overgrow-boosted -2 Leaf Storm can immediately dispatch the gemstone.

Garchomp

Mixed Garchomp, or, as people love to call it, ChainChomp, has been a classic set that has existed throughout competitive Pokémon history and also happened to be one of Garchomp's most defining sets early on in the generation. As always, it took advantage of the high Base Power of its STAB moves alongside the complementary Fire Blast to wallbreak ferociously; it notably became one of the tier's best offensive entry hazard setters by doing so, as it puts fear into the tier's most common hazard removal options. The prehistoric Great Tusk trembles at the thought of a Draco Meteor that reminded it of its extinction, while Corviknight—which also still leaned towards being physically defensive even at this point in time—gets melted by Fire Blast. All of these are done while maintaining the power of its Earthquake, which helps it handle special walls like Clodsire, both Slowking formes, and Assault Vest Toxapex thinking they can take on the land shark.

Closing Words

Going mixed for Pokémon that can afford it is one of the best ways to circumvent their issues in dealing with specific matchups in the metagame, whether it's targeting the weaker defense stat of an otherwise impenetrable wall, giving them the much-needed reliable attacking move that they otherwise lack, or even both simultaneously. Hopefully this article gives you a crystal clear idea of what and how the mixed attackers in our flagship tier look like and, even better, might inspire you to try them out yourself or even experiment with more than just the ones listed here. Either way, if there's another thing to take away from this article, then it's that Focus Blast sucks.

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