[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 5-6 points
**Overview**: Iron Leaves possesses a great Attack stat and above-average Speed for its price range, making it a potentially deadly cleaner with the combination of Booster Energy and Swords Dance. However, its typing bears weaknesses to common moves like Knock Off and, most devastatingly, U-turn, meaning it struggles to set up on most coverage-packing foes without the assistance of Terastallization. Along with its reliance on Booster Energy to outpace most offensive threats, Iron Leaves can be one-dimensional and volatile.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Setup Sweeper**: With Booster Energy, Iron Leaves can outspeed and take out weakened foes, with Swords Dance giving it the potential to finish games off on its own. These sets greatly appreciate Terastallization for easing setup and potentially giving them new type coverage.
**Wallbreaker**: Iron Leaves can catch foes expecting it to set up off guard by immediately powering through them with a damage-boosting item to complement its naturally great power. If it does not need all of its moveslots for coverage, Swords Dance is still an option on these sets to smash through bulkier foes, though Iron Leaves is liable to be picked off by faster foes without Booster Energy or Terastallization.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Blade, Psyblade
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Trailblaze, Agility
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Substitute
**Coverage**: Close Combat, Wild Charge, Throat Chop, Megahorn, Sacred Sword, X-Scissor, Smart Strike, Aerial Ace, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Quick Attack**: Iron Leaves can use Quick Attack to unexpectedly take out faster foes when they're on low health.
**Facade**: Facade can keep Iron Leaves's offensive presence relevant in the face of status, especially in the case of a burn.
Common Items
========
**Booster Energy**: Booster Energy mainly serves to patch up Iron Leaves's Speed against faster foes without drawback, though boosting Attack is an option for greater power in wallbreaking if Iron Leaves can afford comparatively lower Speed.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Items like Life Orb and Expert Belt can permanently supplement Iron Leaves's power without the one-time activation of Booster Energy or the move-locking drawback of Choice Band.
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is the most potent damage-boosting option for Iron Leaves when it wants to go all in on wallbreaking.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf can be used in place of Booster Energy if Iron Leaves needs the Speed boost consistently throughout the game for cleaning or revenge killing.
**Weakness Policy**: Iron Leaves's weakness-laden typing can draw in a multitude of weaker coverage moves by Pokemon trying to stop its initial setup, making Weakness Policy a potential option to take advantage of passive foes.
Tera
========
Iron Leaves unlocks its full potential with Terastallization, gaining the benefits of shedding its awful defensive typing while offensively boosting the power of its coverage moves, though its reliance on the mechanic can make it awkward as a secondary Tera Captain at times. If given the option to Terastallize, Tera Fire, Fighting, and Electric are standout options for Iron Leaves that let it resist many of its normal weaknesses and boost valuable coverage against its usual answers. Tera Water, Fairy, and Steel can give wider-reaching defensive utility, while Tera Grass and Psychic can push its STAB moves to their greatest potency.
Draft Strategy
========
As a primarily lower-tiered sweeper, Iron Leaves relies on its team to support it with both prior damage on foes and defensive utility. It mostly seeks this in the form of reliable wallbreakers and Pokemon that can cover for the great shortcomings of its defensive typing.
**Wallbreakers**: Pokemon like Raging Bolt, Landorus, and Palafin can soften up enemy teams to boost Iron Leaves's chance of sweeping the rest of the team.
**Slow Pivots**: Iron Leaves struggles to find entry against most foes on account of its typing, so it appreciates pivoting capabilities from the likes of Primarina, Corviknight, and Rotom-W.
**Entry Hazard Control and Setters**: Entry hazard setters like Scream Tail and Gliscor can wear down answers to be put in range of either a sweeping or revenge killing attempt from Iron Leaves. On the other hand, since Iron Leaves greatly desires item options other than Heavy-Duty Boots, Pokemon like Iron Treads and Blastoise can remove hazards to save Iron Leaves from setup-hampering chip damage.
**U-turn Absorbers**: Since U-turn is a widely accessible option for many foes to lethally damage Iron Leaves, allies that can comfortably absorb or punish foes for using it like Iron Hands, Garchomp, and Annihilape are appreciated to lessen any momentum the opponent may gain.
Checks and Counters
========
**U-turn**: Pokemon like Landorus-T, Urshifu-R, and Ogerpon-W can quickly dispatch Iron Leaves with U-turn while gaining momentum off any switches that it makes.
**Faster Offensive Threats**: Even with Booster Energy boosting its Speed, Choice Scarf and opposing Booster Energy users like Latios and Iron Moth, respectively, can still revenge kill Iron Leaves or force it to switch out and lose its boost, leaving it outsped by most unboosted threats.
**Priority**: Iron Leaves's weakness to common priority moves like Ice Shard and Sucker Punch makes it susceptible to being picked off early by Pokemon like Baxcalibur, Meowscarada, and Kingambit.
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Walls that can comfortably take Iron Leaves's STAB moves like Gholdengo, Skarmory, and Moltres can force it to rely on its weaker coverage moves and threaten it back with debilitating utility like status or phazing.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/furyy.529077/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 5-6 points
**Overview**: Iron Leaves possesses a great Attack stat and above-average Speed for its price range, making it a potentially deadly cleaner with the combination of Booster Energy and Swords Dance. However, its typing bears weaknesses to common moves like Knock Off and, most devastatingly, U-turn, meaning it struggles to set up on most coverage-packing foes without the assistance of Terastallization. Along with its reliance on Booster Energy to outpace most offensive threats, Iron Leaves can be one-dimensional and volatile.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Setup Sweeper**: With Booster Energy, Iron Leaves can outspeed and take out weakened foes, with Swords Dance giving it the potential to finish games off on its own. These sets greatly appreciate Terastallization for easing setup and potentially giving them new type coverage.
**Wallbreaker**: Iron Leaves can catch foes expecting it to set up off guard by immediately powering through them with a damage-boosting item to complement its naturally great power. If it does not need all of its moveslots for coverage, Swords Dance is still an option on these sets to smash through bulkier foes, though Iron Leaves is liable to be picked off by faster foes without Booster Energy or Terastallization.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Blade, Psyblade
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Trailblaze, Agility
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Substitute
**Coverage**: Close Combat, Wild Charge, Throat Chop, Megahorn, Sacred Sword, X-Scissor, Smart Strike, Aerial Ace, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Quick Attack**: Iron Leaves can use Quick Attack to unexpectedly take out faster foes when they're on low health.
**Facade**: Facade can keep Iron Leaves's offensive presence relevant in the face of status, especially in the case of a burn.
Common Items
========
**Booster Energy**: Booster Energy mainly serves to patch up Iron Leaves's Speed against faster foes without drawback, though boosting Attack is an option for greater power in wallbreaking if Iron Leaves can afford comparatively lower Speed.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Items like Life Orb and Expert Belt can permanently supplement Iron Leaves's power without the one-time activation of Booster Energy or the move-locking drawback of Choice Band.
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is the most potent damage-boosting option for Iron Leaves when it wants to go all in on wallbreaking.
Niche Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf can be used in place of Booster Energy if Iron Leaves needs the Speed boost consistently throughout the game for cleaning or revenge killing.
**Weakness Policy**: Iron Leaves's weakness-laden typing can draw in a multitude of weaker coverage moves by Pokemon trying to stop its initial setup, making Weakness Policy a potential option to take advantage of passive foes.
Tera
========
Iron Leaves unlocks its full potential with Terastallization, gaining the benefits of shedding its awful defensive typing while offensively boosting the power of its coverage moves, though its reliance on the mechanic can make it awkward as a secondary Tera Captain at times. If given the option to Terastallize, Tera Fire, Fighting, and Electric are standout options for Iron Leaves that let it resist many of its normal weaknesses and boost valuable coverage against its usual answers. Tera Water, Fairy, and Steel can give wider-reaching defensive utility, while Tera Grass and Psychic can push its STAB moves to their greatest potency.
Draft Strategy
========
As a primarily lower-tiered sweeper, Iron Leaves relies on its team to support it with both prior damage on foes and defensive utility. It mostly seeks this in the form of reliable wallbreakers and Pokemon that can cover for the great shortcomings of its defensive typing.
**Wallbreakers**: Pokemon like Raging Bolt, Landorus, and Palafin can soften up enemy teams to boost Iron Leaves's chance of sweeping the rest of the team.
**Slow Pivots**: Iron Leaves struggles to find entry against most foes on account of its typing, so it appreciates pivoting capabilities from the likes of Primarina, Corviknight, and Rotom-W.
**Entry Hazard Control and Setters**: Entry hazard setters like Scream Tail and Gliscor can wear down answers to be put in range of either a sweeping or revenge killing attempt from Iron Leaves. On the other hand, since Iron Leaves greatly desires item options other than Heavy-Duty Boots, Pokemon like Iron Treads and Blastoise can remove hazards to save Iron Leaves from setup-hampering chip damage.
**U-turn Absorbers**: Since U-turn is a widely accessible option for many foes to lethally damage Iron Leaves, allies that can comfortably absorb or punish foes for using it like Iron Hands, Garchomp, and Annihilape are appreciated to lessen any momentum the opponent may gain.
Checks and Counters
========
**U-turn**: Pokemon like Landorus-T, Urshifu-R, and Ogerpon-W can quickly dispatch Iron Leaves with U-turn while gaining momentum off any switches that it makes.
**Faster Offensive Threats**: Even with Booster Energy boosting its Speed, Choice Scarf and opposing Booster Energy users like Latios and Iron Moth, respectively, can still revenge kill Iron Leaves or force it to switch out and lose its boost, leaving it outsped by most unboosted threats.
**Priority**: Iron Leaves's weakness to common priority moves like Ice Shard and Sucker Punch makes it susceptible to being picked off early by Pokemon like Baxcalibur, Meowscarada, and Kingambit.
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Walls that can comfortably take Iron Leaves's STAB moves like Gholdengo, Skarmory, and Moltres can force it to rely on its weaker coverage moves and threaten it back with debilitating utility like status or phazing.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/furyy.529077/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
