[SET]
name: Dynamax Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance / Dragon Dance
move 2: Dragon Ascent
move 3: V-Create
move 4: Extreme Speed / Outrage
item: Life Orb
ability: Air Lock
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Rayquaza is a fearsome Dynamax sweeper in AG thanks to its generally good Attack stat and amazing movepool, which allow it to threaten a large portion of the metagame. Swords Dance turns Rayquaza into a deadly wallbreaker capable of OHKOing Ho-Oh, Eternatus, and defensive Xerneas after Stealth Rock damage as well as defensive Kyogre. Dragon Dance can be used instead to be consistently faster without using Max Airstream, especially if another teammate has already used Dynamax. Dragon Ascent turns into Max Airstream during Dynamax, making Rayquaza difficult to revenge kill by raising its Speed by one stage each turn, tearing apart offensive teams. V-Create deals heavy damage to Steel-types like Ferrothorn, Necrozma-DM, and Zacian-C. Extreme Speed is useful for revenge killing weakened threats such as boosted Xerneas, Sucker Punch Yveltal, and opposing Rayquaza. Alternatively, Outrage nails Zygarde-C; being able to outspeed key faster threats is invaluable, though. Life Orb allows Rayquaza to OHKO Ho-Oh and defensive Kyogre from full health after a Swords Dance boost.
Rayquaza fits excellently on hyper offensive teams because entry hazard leads such as Excadrill, Mew, and Shuckle are able to provide Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Sticky Web, respectively. Other setup sweepers such as Calyrex-S, Zacian-C, and Xerneas are able to overwhelm walls such as Lugia, Tyranitar, and Lunala, giving Rayquaza a safer route to sweep. Rayquaza has a hindering weakness to Stealth Rock, so Rapid Spin Excadrill plays a big role in removing it, while Yveltal deals with most spinblockers. Ghost-types like Marshadow and Calyrex-S are immune to Extreme Speed, which helps against non-Dynamaxed Ditto if it has copied Rayquaza. Rayquaza should usually be used mid- to late-game once all of its checks are removed. It's also recommended to waste the opponent's Dynamax with dangerous wallbreakers like Zacian-C and Calyrex-S before attempting to sweep, since it becomes much harder for foes to take hits from Rayquaza.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Earthquake is most notably used to hit Tyranitar and Zekrom, at the cost of dealing less damage against Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn. Heavy-Duty Boots negates Rayquaza's weakness to Stealth Rock, which puts less pressure on teammates like Excadrill to remove entry hazards for it. The loss of damage output with Life Orb is noticeable, however, as it struggles to OHKO Ho-Oh and defensive Kyogre from full health after a Swords Dance boost.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Bulky walls such as Lunala and Lugia can take any unboosted hit from Rayquaza thanks to Shadow Shield and Multiscale and retaliate with Ice Beam or cripple it with status. Healthy Zygarde-C can tank almost any hit from Rayquaza and either paralyze it with Glare or phaze it out with Dragon Tail. Outrage can OHKO Zygarde if it's not Dynamaxed, but Rayquaza still must be careful of its immense bulk once Power Construct has been activated. Giratina can weaken Rayquaza with Will-O-Wisp and stall out its low PP moves with Pressure, but it must be wary of Outrage breaking through it.
**Revenge Killers** Rayquaza's unimpressive Speed stat leaves it outsped by dedicated revenge killers like Choice Scarf Calyrex-S, Ditto, and Marshadow, which can take it out if it gets weakened. However, Ditto's reliance on Extreme Speed make it vulnerable to potential teammates such as Dragon Dance Necrozma-DM, Marshadow, and Calyrex-S. Zacian-C and Eternatus are capable of outright OHKOing an unboosted Rayquaza, while ignoring the effects of Dynamax with Behemoth Blade and Dynamax Cannon, respectively.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[RottenInfernape, 491896]]
- Quality checked by: [[Guardsweeper, 360582], [Geysers, 426798]]
- Grammar checked by: [[CyroGyro, 331519]]
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