[SET]
name: Physical Wallbreaker
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Iron Head / Play Rough / Close Combat
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Stealth Rock / Swords Dance
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Lycanroc-D's good Attack is boosted even further by its great ability in Tough Claws. Combine this with its nice Speed, a plethora of strong physical contact moves, and access to priority, setup, and Stealth Rock, and it becomes one of the scariest wallbreakers in the metagame. Crunch grants Lycanroc-D a Dark typing and STAB on Sucker Punch. Iron Head notably covers the Fairy-types aiming to wall Dark-type moves while Play Rough covers the Dark- and Fighting-types hoping to check Dark-type attacks. Close Combat is a third option for the secondary STAB move that provides a much higher Base Power and hits Normal- and Steel-types even harder, but it leaves Lycanroc-D unable to hit Pokemon with Fairy and Poison typings, like Cresselia, as easily. Sucker Punch provides Lycanroc-D with powerful priority to take on faster offensive threats like Dragapult, Tornadus-T, and Zeraora. Lycanroc-D is a great Stealth Rock setter thanks to its breaking potential forcing the opponent to switch often. Swords Dance is another option that quickly makes Lycanroc-D even more threatening and can potentially lead to sweeps with a stronger Sucker Punch. Life Orb provides Lycanroc-D with the most immediate power, but it wears it down over longer battles and can put it in range of even resisted hits like Extreme Speed due to its poor bulk. Focus Sash is an option, particularly if you're running Lycanroc-D as a lead, to allow it to use Stealth Rock or Swords Dance safely. A Jolly nature is needed to outspeed threats like Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Terrakion and Speed tie with Latios and Latias.
While Lycanroc-D has various methods of breaking through walls, team support is very important to optimize its damage output and opportunities to come in. Lycanroc-D's most common typings are able to hit most defensive typings at least neutrally, but they can struggle to break past certain combinations like Water / Poison, Dark / Poison, and certain Fairy and Flying typings. Strong special attackers like Dragon / Electric Latios and Ground / Poison Landorus can help Lycanroc-D pressure threats like Toxapex, Latias, and Cresselia. Lycanroc-D is able to target certain faster threats with Sucker Punch, but it is unable to take on most Extreme Speed users, since its defenses are frail. Bulky Normal-type checks like Ghost / Dragon Salamence and Ghost / Fighting Slowbro can take on Extreme Speeds aimed at Lycanroc-D and chip their users with Rocky Helmet. Lycanroc-D also appreciates teammates like Tornadus-T and Dark-type Heracross that can remove opposing Rocky Helmets and, in Tornadus-T's case, remove entry hazards with Defog to cut down on the residual damage Lycanroc-D takes.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Lycanroc-D can increase its damage output by running Iron Tail instead of Iron Head, but this has the cost of having unreliable accuracy. Drill Run is another coverage option that allows Lycanroc-D to hit defensive Steel- and Fire-types, but it is not as useful in a metagame where Flying-types and Levitate are common. A Rock-type Lycanroc-D with Accelerock provides alternate Tough Claws-boosted priority that can hit foes more reliably than Sucker Punch, but its power is much weaker and it leaves Lycanroc-D running Stone Edge, which isn't boosted by its ability and has shaky accuracy. Psychic Fangs allows Lycanroc-D to hit Poison-type walls like Cresselia and Latias reliably, but the prevalence of Dark-types in the metagame makes using this move harder to justify.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Physically Defensive Poison-types**: Bulky Poison-type Pokemon like Toxapex, Latias, and Cresselia each have methods of checking and stalling Lycanroc-D thanks to their access to recovery, useful abilities, and status-inflicting moves like Scald from Toxapex and Toxic from each.
**Passive Damage**: With Life Orb being its best item, Lycanroc-D is constantly chipping its own health. Outside of Steel-type variants, Lycanroc-D is open to chip damage from every entry hazard, and running contact moves to take advantage of Tough Claws means Rocky Helmet effectively punishes it. Too much chip damage over a battle can severely limit Lycanroc-D's opportunities to cause damage.
**Extreme Speed**: Although Steel-type Lycanroc-D resists Extreme Speed, all other variants take neutral damage from it and are easily 2HKOed by unboosted hits. +1 or Choice Band-boosted Extreme Speed from Adamant Entei or Lucario can OHKO Lycanroc-D with a favorable roll or after minor chip damage.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[a loser, 410702]]
- Quality checked by: [[In The Hills, 324242], [ Euphonos, 50586]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
name: Physical Wallbreaker
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Iron Head / Play Rough / Close Combat
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Stealth Rock / Swords Dance
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Lycanroc-D's good Attack is boosted even further by its great ability in Tough Claws. Combine this with its nice Speed, a plethora of strong physical contact moves, and access to priority, setup, and Stealth Rock, and it becomes one of the scariest wallbreakers in the metagame. Crunch grants Lycanroc-D a Dark typing and STAB on Sucker Punch. Iron Head notably covers the Fairy-types aiming to wall Dark-type moves while Play Rough covers the Dark- and Fighting-types hoping to check Dark-type attacks. Close Combat is a third option for the secondary STAB move that provides a much higher Base Power and hits Normal- and Steel-types even harder, but it leaves Lycanroc-D unable to hit Pokemon with Fairy and Poison typings, like Cresselia, as easily. Sucker Punch provides Lycanroc-D with powerful priority to take on faster offensive threats like Dragapult, Tornadus-T, and Zeraora. Lycanroc-D is a great Stealth Rock setter thanks to its breaking potential forcing the opponent to switch often. Swords Dance is another option that quickly makes Lycanroc-D even more threatening and can potentially lead to sweeps with a stronger Sucker Punch. Life Orb provides Lycanroc-D with the most immediate power, but it wears it down over longer battles and can put it in range of even resisted hits like Extreme Speed due to its poor bulk. Focus Sash is an option, particularly if you're running Lycanroc-D as a lead, to allow it to use Stealth Rock or Swords Dance safely. A Jolly nature is needed to outspeed threats like Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Terrakion and Speed tie with Latios and Latias.
While Lycanroc-D has various methods of breaking through walls, team support is very important to optimize its damage output and opportunities to come in. Lycanroc-D's most common typings are able to hit most defensive typings at least neutrally, but they can struggle to break past certain combinations like Water / Poison, Dark / Poison, and certain Fairy and Flying typings. Strong special attackers like Dragon / Electric Latios and Ground / Poison Landorus can help Lycanroc-D pressure threats like Toxapex, Latias, and Cresselia. Lycanroc-D is able to target certain faster threats with Sucker Punch, but it is unable to take on most Extreme Speed users, since its defenses are frail. Bulky Normal-type checks like Ghost / Dragon Salamence and Ghost / Fighting Slowbro can take on Extreme Speeds aimed at Lycanroc-D and chip their users with Rocky Helmet. Lycanroc-D also appreciates teammates like Tornadus-T and Dark-type Heracross that can remove opposing Rocky Helmets and, in Tornadus-T's case, remove entry hazards with Defog to cut down on the residual damage Lycanroc-D takes.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Lycanroc-D can increase its damage output by running Iron Tail instead of Iron Head, but this has the cost of having unreliable accuracy. Drill Run is another coverage option that allows Lycanroc-D to hit defensive Steel- and Fire-types, but it is not as useful in a metagame where Flying-types and Levitate are common. A Rock-type Lycanroc-D with Accelerock provides alternate Tough Claws-boosted priority that can hit foes more reliably than Sucker Punch, but its power is much weaker and it leaves Lycanroc-D running Stone Edge, which isn't boosted by its ability and has shaky accuracy. Psychic Fangs allows Lycanroc-D to hit Poison-type walls like Cresselia and Latias reliably, but the prevalence of Dark-types in the metagame makes using this move harder to justify.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Physically Defensive Poison-types**: Bulky Poison-type Pokemon like Toxapex, Latias, and Cresselia each have methods of checking and stalling Lycanroc-D thanks to their access to recovery, useful abilities, and status-inflicting moves like Scald from Toxapex and Toxic from each.
**Passive Damage**: With Life Orb being its best item, Lycanroc-D is constantly chipping its own health. Outside of Steel-type variants, Lycanroc-D is open to chip damage from every entry hazard, and running contact moves to take advantage of Tough Claws means Rocky Helmet effectively punishes it. Too much chip damage over a battle can severely limit Lycanroc-D's opportunities to cause damage.
**Extreme Speed**: Although Steel-type Lycanroc-D resists Extreme Speed, all other variants take neutral damage from it and are easily 2HKOed by unboosted hits. +1 or Choice Band-boosted Extreme Speed from Adamant Entei or Lucario can OHKO Lycanroc-D with a favorable roll or after minor chip damage.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[a loser, 410702]]
- Quality checked by: [[In The Hills, 324242], [ Euphonos, 50586]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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