[SET]
Quiver Dance Sweeper (Volcarona) @ Covert Cloak / Grassy Seed / Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fairy / Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 108 Spe OR 252 HP / 60 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Tera Blast / Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Protect
[SET COMMENTS]
- Volcarona acts as a dangerous setup sweeper through Quiver Dance, allowing it to sweep games. Through Terastallization, Volcarona can improve its survivability to prevent itself from being KOed by attacks it would normally be threatened by, allowing it to keep its boosts and retaliate. Volcarona provides invaluable Fire-type offense through Heat Wave, which threatens popular Grass-, Steel-, and Ice-types in the format such as Gholdengo, Rillaboom, and Alolan Ninetales.
- Heat Wave bypasses redirection from the likes of Electabuzz, Maushold, and Amoonguss. Tera Blast Fairy allows Volcarona to damage Dragon-types such as Garchomp and Dragonite. Giga Drain on Tera Grass sets hits Water- and Ground-types, such as Basculegion-M and both Ursaluna formes.
- Covert Cloak allows Volcarona to ignore Fake Out, Speed drops from Icy Wind, and Special Attack drops from Snarl that would otherwise hinder its ability to set up and sweep. Grassy Seed helps Volcarona tank physical hits; however, this leaves Volcarona vulnerable to the aforementioned moves and is reliant on Grassy Terrain from Rillaboom to improve Volcarona's poor Defense. Leftovers provides passive healing, which, in combination with Grassy Terrain and Giga Drain recovery, extends Volcarona's longevity throughout a match and gives it more opportunities to dish out damage.
- Tera Fairy allows Volcarona to gain an immunity to Dragon-type attacks such as Scale Shot from Dragonite while providing a good defensive typing that importantly maintains its resistance to Fighting-type attacks from Sneasler and Annihilape. However, it introduces new weaknesses to Poison- and Steel-type moves such as Sneasler's Dire Claw and Gholdengo's Make It Rain. Tera Grass gives Volcarona a resistance to Water- and Electric-type attacks such as Wave Crash from Basculegion-M and Electro Shot from Archaludon, allows Giga Drain to OHKO Basculegion-M at +1, and grants an immunity to powder moves from Pokemon such as Amoonguss and Jumpluff. However, it retains Volcarona's weakness to Flying-type attacks such as Pelipper's Hurricane and Kilowattrel's Air Slash. Tera Grass also introduces a new weakness to Fire-type attacks from Torkoal and Hisuian Typhlosion.
- The first EV spread is used on Covert Cloak and Leftovers sets, with the allocated bulk allowing Volcarona to always survive five hits of Scale Shot from Adamant Dragonite and almost always live two Dire Claws from Jolly Sneasler. With minimal Special Defense investment, Volcarona always survives a Blood Moon from Modest Tera Normal Life Orb Ursaluna-B after a Quiver Dance boost. With a Modest nature, Volcarona can outspeed Adamant Dragonite, but with a Timid nature, Volcarona can outspeed unboosted Jolly Basculegion-M. The second EV spread is used on Grassy Seed sets. With the HP and Defense EVs, Volcarona can always survive an Adamant Guts-boosted Facade from Ursaluna with both Intimidate and the Grassy Seed boost. With the Speed EVs and a Timid nature, Volcarona can always outspeed Gholdengo and Archaludon, while a Modest nature lets Volcarona outspeed Adamant Dragonite and, after a Quiver Dance, outspeed Modest Ursaluna-B under Tailwind. The Special Attack investment with a Modest nature almost always ensures an OHKO on Kingambit with Heat Wave at +1 Special Attack.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona can sweep entire teams but requires multiple turns of setup, leaving it vulnerable to moves such as Spore, Taunt, and Encore that can prevent it from sweeping. Volcarona can often be forced to Terastallize or switch out due to its poor defensive typing that can be utilized by opponents to create pins against it or gain momentum by forcing Volcarona to switch out. Quiver Dance Volcarona prefers to stay on the field for a long time and is often led alongside supportive Pokemon such as Incineroar to set up early or kept in the back to set up and sweep a weakened team.
[SET]
Bulky Redirector (Volcarona) @ Sitrus Berry / Safety Goggles
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water / Grass
EVs: 156 HP / 84 Def / 12 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat / Heat Wave
- Struggle Bug
- Rage Powder
- Tailwind
[SET COMMENTS]
- Volcarona acts as a great support Pokemon thanks to its access to redirection, speed control, damage reduction, its ability in Flame Body that discourages foes from hitting it with contact moves, and a STAB move that threatens many common Steel-, Grass-, and Ice-type Pokemon in the format such as Kingambit, Amoonguss, and Alolan Ninetales.
- Overheat allows Volcarona to deal a big burst of damage, notably allowing it to always OHKO standard Gholdengo, Kingambit, and Rillaboom while having a good chance to KO less specially defensive Amoonguss sets. Heat Wave hits both foes, ignoring redirection. Struggle Bug helps Volcarona's teammates survive longer against foes such as Ursaluna-B and opposing Volcarona by lowering their Special Attack. Rage Powder allows Volcarona to redirect attacks to protect its partner and can potentially burn Pokemon whose contact moves are redirected to it through its ability, Flame Body. Tailwind provides speed control for Volcarona and its partners to ensure they always go first.
- Sitrus Berry improves Volcarona's survivability through its healing, while Safety Goggles allows Volcarona to become immune to powder moves from the likes of Amoonguss and Jumpluff.
- Tera Water allows Volcarona to safely redirect Water-type moves from Basculegion-M and Pelipper such as Wave Crash and Weather Ball, respectively, while maintaining its resistance to Gholdengo's Make It Rain. However, Tera Water makes Volcarona weak to common Grass- and Electric-type moves such as Rillaboom's Wood Hammer and Archaludon's Electro Shot. Tera Grass allows Volcarona to become immune to powder moves from Amoonguss and Jumpluff without Safety Goggles. However, it makes Volcarona weak to common Fire-type attacks such as opposing Volcarona's Heat Wave and Incineroar's Flare Blitz. Additionally, Volcarona retains its weakness to Flying-type attacks such as Flamigo's Brave Bird and Sneasler's Acrobatics.
-The EV spread allows Volcarona to survive a Black Glasses Kowtow Cleave from Adamant Kingambit and nearly always live five hits of Scale Shot from Adamant Dragonite. Additionally, Volcarona can always live Kilowattrel's Air Slash, a +2 Special Attack Volcarona's Heat Wave, and a -1 Special Attack Tera Normal Life Orb Blood Moon from Ursaluna-B. Maximum Speed EVs and a Timid nature allow Volcarona to outrun Hisuian Typhlosion and, under Tailwind, faster Pokemon such as Sneasler and +1 Speed Dragonite.
- Support Volcarona is a good option able to lower the opponent's offensive prowess through burn from Flame Body and Special Attack drops from Struggle Bug, provide speed control, and threaten the format's Grass-, Steel- and Ice-types. However, its typing leaves it with many weaknesses compared to other redirectors such as Maushold and Amoonguss, meaning it can go down quickly to super effective attacks such as Rock Slide, Wave Crash, and Hurricane from Hisuian Arcanine, Basculegion-M and Pelipper, respectively. Support Volcarona isn't concerned about having to switch out and isn't as vulnerable to Encore since it does not need to set up. However, support Volcarona doesn't have the ability to sweep games or punch holes in opposing teams compared to Quiver Dance Volcarona.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Teambuilding
============
- Quiver Dance Volcarona is a staple of balance teams, as it can utilize the support given by redirectors such as Electabuzz and Fake Out users such as Rillaboom and Incineroar to set up safely and launch huge damage against a majority of the format.
- Support Volcarona is a staple of offense teams, as it can protect the frail offensive teammates that it's paired with such as Sneasler, Indeedee-M, and Excadrill through redirection, provide damage reduction through Flame Body burns and Struggle Bug, and provide speed control through Tailwind. In return, Volcarona's teammates can deal high damage to make up for its low offensive output.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona pairs excellently with Rillaboom, as it provides Fake Out to help Volcarona set up and uses its Grass-type STAB moves to pressure the Water- and Rock-types that threaten Volcarona such as Basculegion-M. Rillaboom can also check both Ursaluna formes, whose high-powered moves hit Volcarona very hard.
- Another great partner is Incineroar, which can provide damage reduction in the form of Intimidate and Parting Shot. Incineroar's access to Taunt prevents Spore, opposing Taunt, and Trick Room, all of which would hinder Volcarona. Incineroar also has Fake Out to allow Volcarona to set up safely.
- Alolan Ninetales provides coverage to hit Dragon-types such as Dragonite and Garchomp in Blizzard, speed control in the form of Icy Wind, and damage reduction in Aurora Veil. It also helps Volcarona against rain teams by overriding rain and can hit Basculegion-M and Pelipper with Freeze Dry.
- Electabuzz provides redirection to help Volcarona set up and has a resistance to Flying-type attacks and an immunity to sleep to redirect Spore from Amoonguss and Sleep Powder from Jumpluff. Electabuzz also has access to Taunt and speed control in the form of Electroweb to allow Volcarona to go first.
- Basculegion-M is a great partner Pokemon for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as it can hit the Fire-types that resist Volcarona's STAB moves and coverage. It particularly threatens Incineroar, which could otherwise disrupt Volcarona through Fake Out and Parting Shot. Basculegion-M also hits the Ursaluna formes that could otherwise threaten Volcarona. In return, Volcarona can hit Grass-types such as Rillaboom that threaten Basculegion-M.
- Dragonite is a useful ally for Volcarona, as it can hit opposing Dragon-types like Garchomp hard with Scale Shot and switch into powerful Water-type attacks like Wave Crash from Dondozo and Basculegion-M thanks to Multiscale and its Dragon typing.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona can be outsped and KOed by faster Pokemon such as Charizard in the sun before it can set up, and its frailty on the physical side can be exploited by strong physical attackers such as Sneasler and Dragonite. Volcarona often needs to Terastallize to avoid being KOed, which can be exploited through pinning it or forcing it to switch out. Volcarona is vulnerable to Encore from Alolan Ninetales and Whimsicott, forcing it to use Quiver Dance and risk being easily KOed. This can be dealt with through redirection from Pokemon such as Electabuzz to prevent Volcarona from being Encored or Taunt from Incineroar to prevent Encore.
- Support Volcarona pairs well with Pokemon such as Kingambit, Archaludon, and Ursaluna-B that appreciate Volcarona's ability to redirect Fighting-type moves that threaten them. Additionally, Volcarona both resists and can threaten the Grass- and Ice-types that Ursaluna-B is weak to. Archaludon's and Ursaluna-B's poor Special Defense stats can be mitigated through Volcarona's Struggle Bug. In return, Ursaluna-B, Kingambit, and Archaludon can threaten the Rock-, Water-, and Flying-types for Volcarona through Earth Power, Iron Head, and Electro Shot, respectively.
- Sneasler is a great partner for support Volcarona, as its frailty means it likes to have a supporting partner that can provide damage reduction and redirection. Sneasler in return can threaten Rock-types such as Hisuian Arcanine that threaten Volcarona.
- Dragonite and Archaludon can take Water-type attacks that threaten Volcarona. Ursaluna poses a problem for Volcarona, as it OHKOes Volcarona with Facade and doesn't care about being burned thanks to its Guts ability. Sneasler helps with this because its Fighting-type STAB moves threaten Ursaluna. Volcarona can struggle against Taunt users such as Incineroar and Electabuzz that prevent redirection and Tailwind while not taking much from Volcarona in return. Sneasler threatens Incineroar, while Ursaluna-B counters Electabuzz. Additionally, Kingambit discourages Incineroar from switching in and Taunting Volcarona through Defiant.
Strategy Comments
============
- Quiver Dance Volcarona's role is to set up Quiver Dance and snowball or punch holes in the opposing team for late in the game. Volcarona shines when paired with Fake Out, Intimidate, and redirection support, which can be used alongside Volcarona in the lead to ensure it can set up and sweep.
- Support Volcarona's role is to provide redirection, speed control, and damage reduction through Rage Powder, Tailwind, Flame Body, and Struggle Bug to allow high-powered offensive threats such as Ursaluna-B, Sneasler, and Kingambit to hit foes hard, move first, and survive for longer.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona is either led alongside Incineroar, Rillaboom, or other support Pokemon to set up Quiver Dance early-game and then sweep mid- or late-game or kept in the back, where it comes out late-game to set up and sweep through a weakened team. Trick Room is a problematic matchup for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as Ursaluna and Torkoal threaten to OHKO Volcarona before it can move. Volcarona isn't brought against these teams. Balance teams are a favorable matchup for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as they often can't threaten to KO Volcarona immediately, allowing Volcarona to set up and break through them with boosted attacks.
- Without Terastallization, Quiver Dance Volcarona is checked by Dragon-types such as Garchomp and Dragonite that resist its Fire-type STAB moves, with the latter being able to remove its boosts with Haze. This can be mitigated through Terastallization, specifically Tera Blast Fairy, or an Ice-type such as Alolan Ninetales. Without Giga Drain, Volcarona is checked by Primarina, which resists Volcarona's Heat Wave, threatens it with Hyper Voice, and is specially bulky enough to take a Tera Blast Fairy and use Haze to remove Volcarona's boosts. This can be mitigated with Rillaboom, which threatens Primarina for super effective damage on its much weaker Defense. Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Hisuian Arcanine resist Volcarona's Fire-type STAB move and threaten Volcarona with 4x super effective damage, forcing Volcarona to Terastallize or switch out. Tyranitar in particular can take multiple boosted attacks thanks to the Special Defense boost provided by both sand and its Assault Vest. Fighting- and Ground-types such as Sneasler and Ursaluna-B mitigate this by threatening these Rock-types for super effective damage.
- Support Volcarona shines when it's supporting powerful attackers that enjoy redirection and damage reduction to stay alive while providing high offensive output, such as Archaludon, Sneasler, and Ursaluna-B. Support Volcarona excels at being able to discourage contact moves from opposing Sneasler and Kingambit by threatening to burn them with Flame Body, permanently weakening them. Burning the former is great for Archaludon and Ursaluna-B.
- Support Volcarona can be led with in order to set up Tailwind for its teammates to utilize throughout the battle. It can also be kept in the back and switch into many of the common attacks it resists, such as Close Combat from Sneasler and Matcha Gotcha from Sinistcha, to support its team through the battle.
- Super effective attacks such as Rock Slide and Weather Ball from Hisuian Arcanine and Pelipper, respectively, can threaten to OHKO support Volcarona and limit its supporting ability. Ursaluna doesn't care about burns and OHKOes Volcarona with Facade. To counteract this, Pokemon such as Sneasler and Rillaboom can threaten the Rock- and Water-types as well as Ursaluna that threaten Volcarona. Taunt Pokemon such as Magmar and Talonflame can limit support Volcarona's ability to support its team while not taking much from its Fire-type STAB moves in return. The aforementioned Taunt Pokemon can be threatened by Excadrill and Tyranitar.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/a-regu1ar-guy.716969/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pengu.650323/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rausakura.589964/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/tbolt.555379/
Quiver Dance Sweeper (Volcarona) @ Covert Cloak / Grassy Seed / Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fairy / Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 108 Spe OR 252 HP / 60 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Tera Blast / Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Protect
[SET COMMENTS]
- Volcarona acts as a dangerous setup sweeper through Quiver Dance, allowing it to sweep games. Through Terastallization, Volcarona can improve its survivability to prevent itself from being KOed by attacks it would normally be threatened by, allowing it to keep its boosts and retaliate. Volcarona provides invaluable Fire-type offense through Heat Wave, which threatens popular Grass-, Steel-, and Ice-types in the format such as Gholdengo, Rillaboom, and Alolan Ninetales.
- Heat Wave bypasses redirection from the likes of Electabuzz, Maushold, and Amoonguss. Tera Blast Fairy allows Volcarona to damage Dragon-types such as Garchomp and Dragonite. Giga Drain on Tera Grass sets hits Water- and Ground-types, such as Basculegion-M and both Ursaluna formes.
- Covert Cloak allows Volcarona to ignore Fake Out, Speed drops from Icy Wind, and Special Attack drops from Snarl that would otherwise hinder its ability to set up and sweep. Grassy Seed helps Volcarona tank physical hits; however, this leaves Volcarona vulnerable to the aforementioned moves and is reliant on Grassy Terrain from Rillaboom to improve Volcarona's poor Defense. Leftovers provides passive healing, which, in combination with Grassy Terrain and Giga Drain recovery, extends Volcarona's longevity throughout a match and gives it more opportunities to dish out damage.
- Tera Fairy allows Volcarona to gain an immunity to Dragon-type attacks such as Scale Shot from Dragonite while providing a good defensive typing that importantly maintains its resistance to Fighting-type attacks from Sneasler and Annihilape. However, it introduces new weaknesses to Poison- and Steel-type moves such as Sneasler's Dire Claw and Gholdengo's Make It Rain. Tera Grass gives Volcarona a resistance to Water- and Electric-type attacks such as Wave Crash from Basculegion-M and Electro Shot from Archaludon, allows Giga Drain to OHKO Basculegion-M at +1, and grants an immunity to powder moves from Pokemon such as Amoonguss and Jumpluff. However, it retains Volcarona's weakness to Flying-type attacks such as Pelipper's Hurricane and Kilowattrel's Air Slash. Tera Grass also introduces a new weakness to Fire-type attacks from Torkoal and Hisuian Typhlosion.
- The first EV spread is used on Covert Cloak and Leftovers sets, with the allocated bulk allowing Volcarona to always survive five hits of Scale Shot from Adamant Dragonite and almost always live two Dire Claws from Jolly Sneasler. With minimal Special Defense investment, Volcarona always survives a Blood Moon from Modest Tera Normal Life Orb Ursaluna-B after a Quiver Dance boost. With a Modest nature, Volcarona can outspeed Adamant Dragonite, but with a Timid nature, Volcarona can outspeed unboosted Jolly Basculegion-M. The second EV spread is used on Grassy Seed sets. With the HP and Defense EVs, Volcarona can always survive an Adamant Guts-boosted Facade from Ursaluna with both Intimidate and the Grassy Seed boost. With the Speed EVs and a Timid nature, Volcarona can always outspeed Gholdengo and Archaludon, while a Modest nature lets Volcarona outspeed Adamant Dragonite and, after a Quiver Dance, outspeed Modest Ursaluna-B under Tailwind. The Special Attack investment with a Modest nature almost always ensures an OHKO on Kingambit with Heat Wave at +1 Special Attack.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona can sweep entire teams but requires multiple turns of setup, leaving it vulnerable to moves such as Spore, Taunt, and Encore that can prevent it from sweeping. Volcarona can often be forced to Terastallize or switch out due to its poor defensive typing that can be utilized by opponents to create pins against it or gain momentum by forcing Volcarona to switch out. Quiver Dance Volcarona prefers to stay on the field for a long time and is often led alongside supportive Pokemon such as Incineroar to set up early or kept in the back to set up and sweep a weakened team.
[SET]
Bulky Redirector (Volcarona) @ Sitrus Berry / Safety Goggles
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water / Grass
EVs: 156 HP / 84 Def / 12 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat / Heat Wave
- Struggle Bug
- Rage Powder
- Tailwind
[SET COMMENTS]
- Volcarona acts as a great support Pokemon thanks to its access to redirection, speed control, damage reduction, its ability in Flame Body that discourages foes from hitting it with contact moves, and a STAB move that threatens many common Steel-, Grass-, and Ice-type Pokemon in the format such as Kingambit, Amoonguss, and Alolan Ninetales.
- Overheat allows Volcarona to deal a big burst of damage, notably allowing it to always OHKO standard Gholdengo, Kingambit, and Rillaboom while having a good chance to KO less specially defensive Amoonguss sets. Heat Wave hits both foes, ignoring redirection. Struggle Bug helps Volcarona's teammates survive longer against foes such as Ursaluna-B and opposing Volcarona by lowering their Special Attack. Rage Powder allows Volcarona to redirect attacks to protect its partner and can potentially burn Pokemon whose contact moves are redirected to it through its ability, Flame Body. Tailwind provides speed control for Volcarona and its partners to ensure they always go first.
- Sitrus Berry improves Volcarona's survivability through its healing, while Safety Goggles allows Volcarona to become immune to powder moves from the likes of Amoonguss and Jumpluff.
- Tera Water allows Volcarona to safely redirect Water-type moves from Basculegion-M and Pelipper such as Wave Crash and Weather Ball, respectively, while maintaining its resistance to Gholdengo's Make It Rain. However, Tera Water makes Volcarona weak to common Grass- and Electric-type moves such as Rillaboom's Wood Hammer and Archaludon's Electro Shot. Tera Grass allows Volcarona to become immune to powder moves from Amoonguss and Jumpluff without Safety Goggles. However, it makes Volcarona weak to common Fire-type attacks such as opposing Volcarona's Heat Wave and Incineroar's Flare Blitz. Additionally, Volcarona retains its weakness to Flying-type attacks such as Flamigo's Brave Bird and Sneasler's Acrobatics.
-The EV spread allows Volcarona to survive a Black Glasses Kowtow Cleave from Adamant Kingambit and nearly always live five hits of Scale Shot from Adamant Dragonite. Additionally, Volcarona can always live Kilowattrel's Air Slash, a +2 Special Attack Volcarona's Heat Wave, and a -1 Special Attack Tera Normal Life Orb Blood Moon from Ursaluna-B. Maximum Speed EVs and a Timid nature allow Volcarona to outrun Hisuian Typhlosion and, under Tailwind, faster Pokemon such as Sneasler and +1 Speed Dragonite.
- Support Volcarona is a good option able to lower the opponent's offensive prowess through burn from Flame Body and Special Attack drops from Struggle Bug, provide speed control, and threaten the format's Grass-, Steel- and Ice-types. However, its typing leaves it with many weaknesses compared to other redirectors such as Maushold and Amoonguss, meaning it can go down quickly to super effective attacks such as Rock Slide, Wave Crash, and Hurricane from Hisuian Arcanine, Basculegion-M and Pelipper, respectively. Support Volcarona isn't concerned about having to switch out and isn't as vulnerable to Encore since it does not need to set up. However, support Volcarona doesn't have the ability to sweep games or punch holes in opposing teams compared to Quiver Dance Volcarona.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Teambuilding
============
- Quiver Dance Volcarona is a staple of balance teams, as it can utilize the support given by redirectors such as Electabuzz and Fake Out users such as Rillaboom and Incineroar to set up safely and launch huge damage against a majority of the format.
- Support Volcarona is a staple of offense teams, as it can protect the frail offensive teammates that it's paired with such as Sneasler, Indeedee-M, and Excadrill through redirection, provide damage reduction through Flame Body burns and Struggle Bug, and provide speed control through Tailwind. In return, Volcarona's teammates can deal high damage to make up for its low offensive output.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona pairs excellently with Rillaboom, as it provides Fake Out to help Volcarona set up and uses its Grass-type STAB moves to pressure the Water- and Rock-types that threaten Volcarona such as Basculegion-M. Rillaboom can also check both Ursaluna formes, whose high-powered moves hit Volcarona very hard.
- Another great partner is Incineroar, which can provide damage reduction in the form of Intimidate and Parting Shot. Incineroar's access to Taunt prevents Spore, opposing Taunt, and Trick Room, all of which would hinder Volcarona. Incineroar also has Fake Out to allow Volcarona to set up safely.
- Alolan Ninetales provides coverage to hit Dragon-types such as Dragonite and Garchomp in Blizzard, speed control in the form of Icy Wind, and damage reduction in Aurora Veil. It also helps Volcarona against rain teams by overriding rain and can hit Basculegion-M and Pelipper with Freeze Dry.
- Electabuzz provides redirection to help Volcarona set up and has a resistance to Flying-type attacks and an immunity to sleep to redirect Spore from Amoonguss and Sleep Powder from Jumpluff. Electabuzz also has access to Taunt and speed control in the form of Electroweb to allow Volcarona to go first.
- Basculegion-M is a great partner Pokemon for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as it can hit the Fire-types that resist Volcarona's STAB moves and coverage. It particularly threatens Incineroar, which could otherwise disrupt Volcarona through Fake Out and Parting Shot. Basculegion-M also hits the Ursaluna formes that could otherwise threaten Volcarona. In return, Volcarona can hit Grass-types such as Rillaboom that threaten Basculegion-M.
- Dragonite is a useful ally for Volcarona, as it can hit opposing Dragon-types like Garchomp hard with Scale Shot and switch into powerful Water-type attacks like Wave Crash from Dondozo and Basculegion-M thanks to Multiscale and its Dragon typing.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona can be outsped and KOed by faster Pokemon such as Charizard in the sun before it can set up, and its frailty on the physical side can be exploited by strong physical attackers such as Sneasler and Dragonite. Volcarona often needs to Terastallize to avoid being KOed, which can be exploited through pinning it or forcing it to switch out. Volcarona is vulnerable to Encore from Alolan Ninetales and Whimsicott, forcing it to use Quiver Dance and risk being easily KOed. This can be dealt with through redirection from Pokemon such as Electabuzz to prevent Volcarona from being Encored or Taunt from Incineroar to prevent Encore.
- Support Volcarona pairs well with Pokemon such as Kingambit, Archaludon, and Ursaluna-B that appreciate Volcarona's ability to redirect Fighting-type moves that threaten them. Additionally, Volcarona both resists and can threaten the Grass- and Ice-types that Ursaluna-B is weak to. Archaludon's and Ursaluna-B's poor Special Defense stats can be mitigated through Volcarona's Struggle Bug. In return, Ursaluna-B, Kingambit, and Archaludon can threaten the Rock-, Water-, and Flying-types for Volcarona through Earth Power, Iron Head, and Electro Shot, respectively.
- Sneasler is a great partner for support Volcarona, as its frailty means it likes to have a supporting partner that can provide damage reduction and redirection. Sneasler in return can threaten Rock-types such as Hisuian Arcanine that threaten Volcarona.
- Dragonite and Archaludon can take Water-type attacks that threaten Volcarona. Ursaluna poses a problem for Volcarona, as it OHKOes Volcarona with Facade and doesn't care about being burned thanks to its Guts ability. Sneasler helps with this because its Fighting-type STAB moves threaten Ursaluna. Volcarona can struggle against Taunt users such as Incineroar and Electabuzz that prevent redirection and Tailwind while not taking much from Volcarona in return. Sneasler threatens Incineroar, while Ursaluna-B counters Electabuzz. Additionally, Kingambit discourages Incineroar from switching in and Taunting Volcarona through Defiant.
Strategy Comments
============
- Quiver Dance Volcarona's role is to set up Quiver Dance and snowball or punch holes in the opposing team for late in the game. Volcarona shines when paired with Fake Out, Intimidate, and redirection support, which can be used alongside Volcarona in the lead to ensure it can set up and sweep.
- Support Volcarona's role is to provide redirection, speed control, and damage reduction through Rage Powder, Tailwind, Flame Body, and Struggle Bug to allow high-powered offensive threats such as Ursaluna-B, Sneasler, and Kingambit to hit foes hard, move first, and survive for longer.
- Quiver Dance Volcarona is either led alongside Incineroar, Rillaboom, or other support Pokemon to set up Quiver Dance early-game and then sweep mid- or late-game or kept in the back, where it comes out late-game to set up and sweep through a weakened team. Trick Room is a problematic matchup for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as Ursaluna and Torkoal threaten to OHKO Volcarona before it can move. Volcarona isn't brought against these teams. Balance teams are a favorable matchup for Quiver Dance Volcarona, as they often can't threaten to KO Volcarona immediately, allowing Volcarona to set up and break through them with boosted attacks.
- Without Terastallization, Quiver Dance Volcarona is checked by Dragon-types such as Garchomp and Dragonite that resist its Fire-type STAB moves, with the latter being able to remove its boosts with Haze. This can be mitigated through Terastallization, specifically Tera Blast Fairy, or an Ice-type such as Alolan Ninetales. Without Giga Drain, Volcarona is checked by Primarina, which resists Volcarona's Heat Wave, threatens it with Hyper Voice, and is specially bulky enough to take a Tera Blast Fairy and use Haze to remove Volcarona's boosts. This can be mitigated with Rillaboom, which threatens Primarina for super effective damage on its much weaker Defense. Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Hisuian Arcanine resist Volcarona's Fire-type STAB move and threaten Volcarona with 4x super effective damage, forcing Volcarona to Terastallize or switch out. Tyranitar in particular can take multiple boosted attacks thanks to the Special Defense boost provided by both sand and its Assault Vest. Fighting- and Ground-types such as Sneasler and Ursaluna-B mitigate this by threatening these Rock-types for super effective damage.
- Support Volcarona shines when it's supporting powerful attackers that enjoy redirection and damage reduction to stay alive while providing high offensive output, such as Archaludon, Sneasler, and Ursaluna-B. Support Volcarona excels at being able to discourage contact moves from opposing Sneasler and Kingambit by threatening to burn them with Flame Body, permanently weakening them. Burning the former is great for Archaludon and Ursaluna-B.
- Support Volcarona can be led with in order to set up Tailwind for its teammates to utilize throughout the battle. It can also be kept in the back and switch into many of the common attacks it resists, such as Close Combat from Sneasler and Matcha Gotcha from Sinistcha, to support its team through the battle.
- Super effective attacks such as Rock Slide and Weather Ball from Hisuian Arcanine and Pelipper, respectively, can threaten to OHKO support Volcarona and limit its supporting ability. Ursaluna doesn't care about burns and OHKOes Volcarona with Facade. To counteract this, Pokemon such as Sneasler and Rillaboom can threaten the Rock- and Water-types as well as Ursaluna that threaten Volcarona. Taunt Pokemon such as Magmar and Talonflame can limit support Volcarona's ability to support its team while not taking much from its Fire-type STAB moves in return. The aforementioned Taunt Pokemon can be threatened by Excadrill and Tyranitar.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/a-regu1ar-guy.716969/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pengu.650323/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rausakura.589964/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/tbolt.555379/
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