QC: Magnemite / Anty / galbia
GP: Psywaves / antemortem
Overview
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Rampardos is one of the strongest wallbreakers in the tier because of its base 165 Attack stat and Sheer Force, though it can also make good use of Mold Breaker to become an effective suicide lead. Rampardos's movepool allows it to hit the majority of the PU tier for super effective damage, meaning almost nothing can switch in safely. However, its terrible defensive typing coupled with its low base Speed and bulk makes it lackluster against offensive teams and easy to revenge kill. Rampardos also faces some competition as a suicide lead from Monferno, Barbaracle, and Custap Berry Golem, all of which can perform a very similar role. Rampardos is, however, still a usable lead, because it is able to defeat opposing Golem and Dwebble easily, has terrifying power, and can stop entry hazard removal with Head Smash.
Wallbreaker
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name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Rock Slide
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Zen Headbutt
move 4: Ice Beam / Fire Blast
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive / Naughty
Moves
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Rock Slide hits very hard when boosted by Sheer Force and Life Orb. Superpower causes Rampardos to take Life Orb damage and lowers its stats, but has good coverage against Rock- and Steel-types such as Golem, Probopass, and Pawniard as well as Piloswine and Lickilicky. Zen Headbutt hits Fighting-types such as Poliwrath and Throh, which would otherwise be solid checks to Rampardos. In the fourth moveslot, Ice Beam is preferred because it allows Rampardos to break through some physical walls such as Tangela, Gourgeist-XL, and Torterra. However, Fire Blast hits all Grass-types except Torterra harder and can be used if Torterra is of no concern to Rampardos's team. Head Smash can be used over Rock Slide as Rampardos's STAB move because it hits much harder, but makes Rampardos even easier to revenge kill and makes it faint very fast due to recoil.
Set Details
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Maximized Speed EVs allow Rampardos to outspeed all walls in the tier as well as some slower offensive Pokemon such as Marowak and Golem while Speed tying with Modest Aurorus. Maximized Attack investment makes Rampardos hit as hard as possible, and the leftover 4 EVs go into Special Attack to make Ice Beam hit slightly harder. A Naive nature is preferred to cause a Speed tie with Timid Aurorus and outspeed Adamant Pawniard and Flareon. A Naughty nature is, however, definitely viable because this set is primarily a wallbreaker. The lower Speed with a Naughty nature can be troublesome though, because it makes Rampardos slower than almost all offensive Pokemon in the tier, most notably Pawniard, and with its low bulk, Rampardos does not like moving last and taking a hit every time it attacks. Life Orb makes Rampardos hit harder and works great with Sheer Force because the recoil is negated when Rampardos uses moves with secondary effects. Sheer Force increases the power of attacks with secondary effects, increasing Rampardos's wallbreaking potential.
Usage Tips
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Rampardos is best used early- or mid-game to break through walls for teammates such as Leafeon and Pawniard so that they can clean up. This set often lures in physical walls such as Tangela and Gourgeist-XL, which can be beaten by Ice Beam or Fire Blast. Predicting the switch is crucial because Rampardos fails to OHKO them and thus needs to 2HKO on the switch. Rampardos is quite slow and frail, so avoid taking unnecessary damage by switching into attacks because it will often end up moving last. Coupled with Life Orb recoil and its bad defensive typing, Rampardos can find it hard lasting long against offensive teams.
Team Options
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Stealth Rock or Spikes support is appreciated to break Golem and Avalugg's Sturdy as well as guarantee the OHKO from Zen Headbutt on standard Throh. Pokemon that can provide this support include Piloswine, Roselia, and Probopass, among others. Sticky Web support from Kricketune or Leavanny is useful to allow Rampardos to outspeed many more Pokemon and actually be useful against offensive teams. Physical sweepers that appreciate physical walls getting weakened or removed, such as Pawniard, Stoutland, Leafeon, and Sneasel, can clean up after Rampardos has done its job. Pokemon such as Poliwrath, Raichu, and Carracosta also appreciate Rampardos luring in Grass-types and defeating them with Ice Beam or Fire Blast. Because of its low Speed and bulk, Rampardos appreciates free switches provided by Volt Switch from Raichu, Zebstrika, or Rotom-F, U-turn from Ninjask, or Baton Pass from Leafeon, Flareon, or Togetic. It can also be brought in after a teammate has fainted.
Stealth Rock Lead
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name: Stealth Rock Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Head Smash
move 4: Surf
ability: Mold Breaker
item: Focus Sash
evs: 144 Atk / 112 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
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Stealth Rock is a useful entry hazard that breaks Focus Sash and Sturdy, and forces the foe to take damage every time they switch. Superpower defeats Probopass, preventing the opponent from getting up their own Stealth Rock. It also does a lot of damage to Piloswine. Head Smash hits incredibly hard coming from a base 165 Attack stat and prevents Rapid Spin and Defog if recoil causes Rampardos to faint. With Mold Breaker and 112 Special Attack EVs, Surf OHKOes the standard lead Golem, which is quite useful for preventing the opponent from getting up Stealth Rock and can also get around Sturdy + Weakness Policy combinations. It also beats Dwebble leads. Endeavor can be used together with Focus Sash to bring the foe down to 1 HP, but most of the time Rampardos should just use Head Smash because it does a lot of damage while stopping entry hazard removal and providing momentum for Rampardos's team.
Set Details
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Maximized Speed EVs make Rampardos Speed tie with Timid Aurorus and outspeed Adamant Pawniard and Flareon. 112 Special Attack EVs guarantee the OHKO with Surf on standard Golem, and the leftover EVs go into Attack to make Head Smash and Superpower hit harder. A Naive nature is used to boost Rampardos's Speed stat without lowering its Special Attack. Focus Sash ensures that Rampardos lives one attack and can get up Stealth Rock.
Usage Tips
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This set is a suicide lead, which means Rampardos can faint as long as it has done its job. Having Stealth Rock up for consistent residual damage is worth losing Rampardos for. If the opponent leads with a Marowak, it is advised to just go for Stealth Rock instead of going for the 2HKO with Surf, because if you predict wrongly, Bonemerang makes quick work of Rampardos. The same applies if the opponent leads with Piloswine or Carracosta, because both can bring Rampardos down to its Focus Sash and easily finish it off with Ice Shard or Aqua Jet, respectively. Take full advantage of Mold Breaker to defeat opposing Golem on the first turn, as Golem can be a very annoying Pokemon to play against for offensive teams with suicide leads.
Team Options
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Ghost-types such as Misdreavus, Haunter, and Dusknoir are good teammates because they can prevent Stealth Rock from being removed by Rapid Spin from Avalugg, Armaldo or Torkoal. Similarly, Pokemon with the ability Defiant such as Purugly and Pawniard can discourage the foe from using Defog, as it would give them a +2 Attack boost. This set should only be used as a lead for offensive teams. Strong sweepers such as Leafeon, Pawniard, Carracosta, and Sneasel are good teammates. They appreciate Rampardos's ability to lay down Stealth Rock and deal a great deal of damage with Head Smash while giving you momentum so they can set up or attack. They can also provide a large amount of offensive pressure, which means Rampardos's foes will have a hard time getting rid of Stealth Rock.
Other Options
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Earthquake is an option over Superpower on the first set because it hits most of the same Pokemon, but does not lower Rampardos's stats, and also hits Carbink and Metang for super effective damage; however, it does not deal super effective damage to Piloswine and Lickilicky. Crunch can be used to destroy Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Misdreavus, Dusknoir, Dusclops, Beheeyem, Solrock, and Duosion, but Rock Slide already hits them very hard. A Choice Band set with Head Smash hits incredibly hard, but is actually worse at wallbreaking than the Life Orb set because Rampardos cannot switch moves. It also makes Rampardos faint really fast because of Head Smash recoil coupled with its low Speed and bulk. A Choice Scarf set also presents a possibility to do much better against offensive teams, but still fails to outspeed very fast Pokemon such as Sneasel, Purugly, and Zebstrika. It is also outsped most other Choice Scarf users and Speed-boosting setup sweepers. Double dance or just one Swords Dance or Rock Polish could be used, but Rampardos has a hard time setting up and often does better hitting switch-ins with a powerful attack anyway.
Checks & Counters
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**Faster Pokemon**: Most faster offensive Pokemon such as Ninetales, Leafeon, Sneasel, and Simipour are able to easily take care of Rampardos. Hyper offensive teams with a minimal amount of team members dedicated solely to being a wall render Rampardos almost useless; it is outsped and OHKOed by most offensive Pokemon in the tier and is therefore prevented from doing its job. Rampardos's Rock typing also leaves it weak to common priority moves such as Poliwrath's Vacuum Wave and Carracosta and Armaldo's Aqua Jet.
**Fighting-types**: Bulky Fighting-types such as Poliwrath and Throh can often live one Zen Headbutt and OHKO Rampardos in return with their super effective STAB attacks. They cannot safely switch into Rampardos, however, and often fail to check it with Spikes up.
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Marowak, Stunfisk, and Piloswine can usually survive a hit from Rampardos and OHKO back with their super effective STAB attacks, though they have a hard time switching in safely.
**Status**: If Rampardos gets burned, it becomes quite useless because it cannot wallbreak anymore. Common Will-O-Wisp users it should watch out for are Misdreavus, Gourgeist-XL, and the less common Ninetales and Solrock. Rampardos also does not like paralysis and poison, albeit to a lesser extent, because they make it easy for Rampardos to be revenge killed or worn down, respectively.
**Physically Defensive Water-types**: Physically defensive Water-types such as Prinplup, Poliwrath, and Carracosta can take a hit and smack Rampardos with their super effective STAB attacks. Offensive variants of Poliwrath and Carracosta can also check it with Vacuum Wave and Aqua Jet, respectively. However, none of them like switching into Rampardos because they still take a sizeable amount of damage from its attacks.
**Taunt Leads**: Faster leads that carry Taunt, such as Monferno, Barbaracle, and Kricketune, can prevent the suicide lead Rampardos from setting up Stealth Rock, thus preventing it from doing its job. They can also set up their own entry hazards against it.
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