[OVERVIEW]
Hailing from the Crown Tundra, the regional variant of Zapdos distinguishes itself as a strong, fast attacker thanks to its good Speed and great STAB combination. Galarian Zapdos also has the benefit of being a physical attacker that punishes Intimidate attempts with its Defiant ability, which makes it even stronger. Its Fighting / Flying typing grants it an excellent STAB combination that threatens many excellent Pokemon such as Rillaboom, Urshifu-R, Kyurem-B, and Incineroar. In particular, Galarian Zapdos is one of the best Rillaboom counters thanks to its resistance to Grass-type moves and ability to OHKO it with Brave Bird. This makes it one of the best partners for Tapu Fini, which greatly appreciates one of its greatest threats being removed. Another great teammate is Zygarde, who also loves Galarian Zapdos handling Rillaboom, along with it discouraging Intimidate from the likes of Incineroar and Landorus-T. Thanks to the combination of its base 100 Speed and the boost from Choice Scarf, Galarian Zapdos is able to outspeed Kyurem-B after a Dragon Dance, as well as common users of Choice Scarf, most notably Genesect. Galarian Zapdos's ability to consistently be the fastest Pokemon on the field is invaluable for bulkier teams that can struggle against more offensive teams. However, Galarian Zapdos struggles against the same bulkier teams, as Pokemon with high Defense like Tapu Fini and Diancie are mainstays on those teams, and Galarian Zapdos can struggle to break past them. Its damage can also be lackluster against neutral targets without a rare Defiant boost. Galarian Zapdos's poor defenses also make it dead weight against opposing speed control, and its reliance on Choice Scarf makes it very susceptible to Fake Out putting it in a vulnerable situation, along with the move lock being easily exploited. On top of that, it faces stiff competition from fellow Fighting-type Urshifu-R, which indirectly ignores Intimidate via Surging Strikes, while also being able to ignore Protect thanks to Unseen Fist.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Brave Bird
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Blaze Kick / Low Sweep
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Defiant
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Brave Bird and Close Combat are Galarian Zapdos's main STAB moves due to their high Base Power and ability to threaten several of the top Pokemon in the tier, like Rillaboom, Kyurem-B, and Urshifu-R. Brave Bird is the preferable attack to lock into, as it's the least exploitable of the two.
* Blaze Kick allows Galarian Zapdos to OHKO Genesect, while Low Sweep lets it provide immediate speed control for its teammates, thanks to Generation 8's dynamic speed mechanics.
* U-turn keeps momentum by taking advantage of Galaran Zapdos's switch-ins and can be used to pivot out of unfavorable situations.
* Choice Scarf allows Galarian Zapdos to immediately outspeed the vast majority of the metagame, even other users of Choice Scarf like Genesect, while the EV spread maximizes its offensive prowess.
* Defiant allows Galarian Zapdos to punish Intimidate and other methods of dropping stats, such as Icy Wind from Kyurem-B.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Choice Band and Life Orb are both options to increase Galarian Zapdos's damage output, but they make it very reliant on speed control as it no longer outspeeds Pokemon like Zeraora and Dragapult. Steel Wing OHKOs Diancie with Choice Band and has a good chance to with Life Orb, however, it's an exploitable move to lock into and has little usage otherwise.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[dnagerbdager, 531334]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [Yoda2798, 243662]]
- Grammar checked by: [[queez, 229690]]
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