Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion (Usage stats in post #944)

[volx757]

Yeah the bulk just doesn't end up compensating for the speed at all. scrappy close combat's kinda cool though. the only thing i'd consider would be a choice band set with first impression to at least revenge kill faster Pokemon while still being able to make use of that 135 base atk vs slower stuff(close combat/knock off/first impression/defog or meteor assault would work). Another idea would be on a Trick Room team like people mentioned already.

I wanted to talk a little about Cinderace. Here's what I've been using atm:

Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- U-turn
- Court Change
- High Jump Kick

I think people are still sleeping on this mon a little. Court change brings a whole new form of mindgames to the table, especially combined with boots. The thing is, even if your opponent knows of court change, the sheer pressure from the move itself scares out the presence of things like spikes/sticky web/screens a lot of times(heavy-duty boots actually bypasses sticky web btw), which allows for a clean field on your side unless they're up to going through a hazard game longterm. Cinderace itself is no slouch either though, Pyro Ball is actually pretty strong with 116 base atk, and it's got access to sucker punch to revenge pokemon like dragapult and zen headbutt for pex, although I'd probably almost always use a set with court change since that's what makes it OU worthy to me atm. Here's a team if anyone wants to try it out:

https://pokepast.es/31943baf6dfab716

Acrobatics on dragapult's more of an experimental option to boost up speed while dynamaxed but U-turn/Thunderbolt works as well. AV snarl's a solid check to dragapult and NP hydreigon which are on a ton of teams right now and just a decent poke for offensive teams. I wouldn't use this team for a big game since you need to be really smart with court change bc sash polteageist is your means to beat a lot of setup threats and it just struggles too much with Toxapex for my liking, but it's really fun to just spam on the ladder nonetheless.

Yea court change + buffed rapid spin have made the hazard game crazy. The new move in particular brings not only the mindgames of if/when should you set hazards, but allows for some cool strategies with sticky web + contrary. I fought a galvantula + cinderace + malamar team, he set webs on me, then once i had a spike and a rock on his side, he took webs back, sent out malamar and swept.

Agree, it's not like gen8 brought us a plethora of new pokemons, items, abilities and moves, while also resetting the pokedex for the first time since the beginning of the series (and removing quite a few moves altogether)... least but not least, Z moves and mega evolutions.
It doesn't matter, does it? After all a stupid gimmick introduced to appeal to the kid's audience during the playthrough is way more important than anything else and its removal will surely nullify any change whatsoever Game Freak has made to the game.

Why is this argument even a thing? It should be blacklisted from any discussion on the topic, it's just plain dumb.

I don't agree with the "we need new mechanics every gen" argument either, but I think calling dynamax a stupid gimmick is wrong. Megas and z-moves had similar reactions from a lot of ppl initially, and now most ppl love both mechanics (apparently there's a camp that hates z-moves tho?)
We're playing a game that someone else designed, and we need to be very thoughtful before we go and modify or remove a major aspect of that game. If smogon gets rid of DMax, we will be further from emulating actual cart play than we've ever been before. I'm not saying def keep DMax, just that kneejerk reactions to it are harmful and should be ignored.

 

[Deleted User 229847]

Yea court change + buffed rapid spin have made the hazard game crazy. The new move in particular brings not only the mindgames of if/when should you set hazards, but allows for some cool strategies with sticky web + contrary. I fought a galvantula + cinderace + malamar team, he set webs on me, then once i had a spike and a rock on his side, he took webs back, sent out malamar and swept.



I don't agree with the "we need new mechanics every gen" argument either, but I think calling dynamax a stupid gimmick is wrong. Megas and z-moves had similar reactions from a lot of ppl initially, and now most ppl love both mechanics (apparently there's a camp that hates z-moves tho?)
We're playing a game that someone else designed, and we need to be very thoughtful before we go and modify or remove a major aspect of that game. If smogon gets rid of DMax, we will be further from emulating actual cart play than we've ever been before. I'm not saying def keep DMax, just that kneejerk reactions to it are harmful and should be ignored.

My answer was to the “without dynamax (and gmax) gen8 doesn’t bring anything new to the table which is factually and evidently wrong.

I am also in favor of quickbanning dynamax (a bit on the fence with gmax) but that’s a completely different topic of discussion, didn’t mean to go there.

 

[carbonlifeform]

I do not think at all however that Trick Room as a whole is a lost cause. Rather, I've had extreme success with it in Balance teams, way more than in pure Trick Room teams, which is what I recommend way more.

This is a thing that I'm hoping to play around with next time I have a chance. Max Airstream seems like the straw that breaks the camel's back with DMax in my limited experience. Something like Mimikyu that's guaranteed-ish to be able to jump in and get Trick Room running to empower a revenge killer of the boosted 'mon seems like it could play dividends, much more so than unaware or prankster thunderwave or whatever else. But then you're just making Mimikyu (and then a Mimikyu counter) a required part of most competitive teams, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Lennart]

Dugtrio cant trap with Arena Trap if it's Dynamaxed, right? (Since it seems like Dmax nullifies the effects of abilities)
If that's the Case and we consider that Dmax stays and Dugtrio's downsides, like the lackluster bulk and the attack stat that leaves something to be desired and it not really trapping much rn besides pex, do you think it will stay? Personally, I also see it being a hindrance to the potencially centralizing pex (which can run shed shell and sash variants fall comfortably short of even OHKOING SpDef Pex and they can run more physical Bulk to deal with duggy and other stuff like gyarados, cinderace and darm more easily, also it cant hard switch in and burns/tspikes are especially annoying and dont even calc sash duggy a.k.a dash suggy vs. phy. Def Pex under the effects on Grassy Terrain) and exca (although it requires the sash to be a check and cant hard switch under sand) more as a positive and a balancing aspect for the meta, furthermore the extend of factors playing a role on how trappable a mon is, require very cautious playing and often prevent direct Initiative, costing some offensive momentum as a consequence. With that in mind I could really see it staying. It might seem ridiculous but the loss of pursuit is hurting it more than it seems at first glance, since banded duggy with pursuit would sound good on balances, trapping typical obstacles/nuisances for balance, while maintaining the ability to trap anothet example for that as a buffed ghost type, in form of gengar and rarer polteageist, etc.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Dugtrio cant trap with Arena Trap if it's Dynamaxed, right? (Since it seems like Dmax nullifies the effects of abilities)

Where did you get this from? Is this a newly discovered thing that I missed out on?

 

[Ruft]

Where did you get this from? Is this a newly discovered thing that I missed out on?

Only Gorilla Tactics is negated as far as I'm aware.

 

[MC Squared]

Just to make it clear folks, the reason why you don't get locked into moves from Choice items when Dynamaxed is because those items are completely DISABLED when Dynamaxed, meaning you won't get a damage or speed boost in that state for the 3 turns. I've been seeing so many posts of people thinking that you can freely fire off Choice boosted Max Moves when that's not the case!!

It's the same thing for Gorilla Tactics too, but someone needs to test it for Huge Power and Pure Power though

 

[VCrakeV]

So, what have people been switching in on Darmanitan? It seems fire and water types are best, since they both resist fire and ice moves. But fire types get throttled by EQ, and flying types (like Charizard) don't resist ice. Most water types take too much from u-turn, considering the momentum it provides. Those that resist u-turn, like Toxapex and Cramorant, are vulnerable to Darmanitan's other moves (EQ and icicle crash). Like, I guess there's Jellicent? It still loses to banded sets though, and it still takes notably more damage from u-turn than leftovers can recover.

 

[RotomGuy]

So, what have people been switching in on Darmanitan? It seems fire and water types are best, since they both resist fire and ice moves. But fire types get throttled by EQ, and flying types (like Charizard) don't resist ice. Most water types take too much from u-turn, considering the momentum it provides. Those that resist u-turn, like Toxapex and Cramorant, are vulnerable to Darmanitan's other moves (EQ and icicle crash). Like, I guess there's Jellicent? It still loses to banded sets though, and it still takes notably more damage from u-turn than leftovers can recover.

Body Press Corviknight is my usual answer. It can survive long enough to Bulk Up as well.

 

[earl]

So, what have people been switching in on Darmanitan? It seems fire and water types are best, since they both resist fire and ice moves. But fire types get throttled by EQ, and flying types (like Charizard) don't resist ice. Most water types take too much from u-turn, considering the momentum it provides. Those that resist u-turn, like Toxapex and Cramorant, are vulnerable to Darmanitan's other moves (EQ and icicle crash). Like, I guess there's Jellicent? It still loses to banded sets though, and it still takes notably more damage from u-turn than leftovers can recover.

Physical defense corsola works as long as it doesn’t click banded icicle crash

 

[JTD783]

So, what have people been switching in on Darmanitan? It seems fire and water types are best, since they both resist fire and ice moves. But fire types get throttled by EQ, and flying types (like Charizard) don't resist ice. Most water types take too much from u-turn, considering the momentum it provides. Those that resist u-turn, like Toxapex and Cramorant, are vulnerable to Darmanitan's other moves (EQ and icicle crash). Like, I guess there's Jellicent? It still loses to banded sets though, and it still takes notably more damage from u-turn than leftovers can recover.

Rotom-Heat is one of the better checks that I’ve seen. It struggles to remain an answer if rocks are up but it can run timbs to negate this; of course this means no lefties. Also Corv + Ferro + Pex cores get destroyed by it so that’s cool.

It’s still insanely tough to switch into and I’d focus on revenging it more than walling it, kind of like with Icium Kyurem Black from SM.

 

[Vengeance417]

Rotom-Heat is one of the better checks that I’ve seen. It struggles to remain an answer if rocks are up but it can run timbs to negate this; of course this means no lefties.

It’s still insanely tough to switch into and I’d focus on revenging it more than walling it, kind of like with Icium Kyurem Black from SM.

If transferred moves are allowed to be used, I can see bulky timbs Rotom-Heat (lmao) with Pain Split being a very good bulky pivot against stuff like Darm, Clef, Togekiss, and Corviknight.

 

[Gondra]

Hello i've been experimenting a bit with the new gen and has enough things that don't convince me, gmax with some pokemons is more unbalanced than it got to be with a zmove in the 7th gen but in a way that is what is making the generation "fun and unique".

I have focused on the most offensive styles like Screens HO, Sticky Webs and Rain and the truth is there are pokemons that abuse them very well with their gmax form like Gyarados (mainly), Gengar, Galarian Darm and Hawlucha and even if for some reason you have to use the gmax in another of your team members you can take advantage without the gmax.

And well i think Gmax Gengar is pretty good with the help of sticky webs and I think that there is no need to use nasty plot when you have gmax and sludge wave give you a +1 in spa and the coverage helps a lot with thunder for mandibuzz/pex and focus blast for dark types such as tyranitar.

Im going to leave two teams that i liked very much





An apology because my English isnt the best but this help me to practice

 

[furyofyuriy]

Something that I’ve mentioned in the Grimmsnarl thread that people don’t either know of or ignored may shake up how we view a lot of mons this gen. Grimmsnarl learns TM 60, which in this Gen is Power Swap. For the first time in Pokémon history, Prankster + Power Swap can be done and it’s scary. Essentially, if you make a bulky enough Grimmsnarl (still working on the most optimal ev spread) you could give it a healing berry of choice and steal something else’s DD or BD boosts. With absurd coverage, Two immunities, and other moves like T-wave and dual screens, this thing can cripple a lot of sweepers. Sure, they keep their speed, but he also gets sucker punch. Can’t steal curse or BU defense boosts, but darkest lariat ignores them. At the very least, even if he couldn’t live a bit even after stealing attack buffs, he at least removes those buffs for something to safely come in

 

[Missingno.1998]

Something that has been working very well for me is Ninjask. It has the raw speed to outspeed the entire tier, even Scarfed Darmanitan and Dragupult, plus speed boost to make sure that not even Swift Swim Barraskewda can outspeed. I usually set up with Swords Dance in which I either survive using Focus Sash or the opponent sets up/switches out. Then I dynamax and use Dig for Max Quake, Final Gambit for Max Knuckle, and Leech Life for Max Flutterby. Obviously the moves can be switched around a little, but overall, it is a hidden gem, especially when the opponent expects to have the speed advantage.

 

[PimpParasect]

Has anyone been having success with drapion?

He gets the combination of Sword's dance + taunt while being immune to toxic and absorbing spikes for pex, alongside potentially hitting ferrothorn with fire fang and corsula with knock off. The main downside is he's slow and doesn't do a lot without boost, and suffers from FMS (he has amazing coverage and recovery in leech life, but can't run it all on the same set)

I was just curious what everyone's thoughts on the snips were, seeing as how centiskorch is also doing similar core breaking but without taunt, SD, and being forced to run boots for his rocks weakness (gimping recovery or damage). He also gets whirlwind, not sure if that helps with anything in particular unless you predict a switch and remove hawlucha's unburden terrain boost.

calcs

+2 252 Atk Drapion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex: 236-278 (77.6 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

+2 252 Atk Drapion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 180-214 (59.2 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

+2 252 Atk Drapion Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 264-312 (75 - 88.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Drapion Thunder Fang vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 306-362 (103 - 121.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252 Atk Drapion Thunder Fang vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 540-636 (163.1 - 192.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Soda]

Honestly I don't get why a tier without a gimmick like megas/z-crystals is so bad, it seems pretty appealing to me to just have a tier with "normal" Pokemon gameplay for once with a relatively lower power-level. Also I'm pretty sure the number of banned Pokemon would keep going up and it wouldn't be limited to just Gyarados, Hawlucha and Excadrill etc as I highly doubt those are the only broken abusers, they just stand out the most right now. The whole thing could turn out to be a huge mess if it's later decided dynamax is actually broken so some testing should be done at least, imo.

Honestly reading through all of these posts I think non dynamax and dynamax Galar tiers might be the way to go. Smogon can decide on which one is the "main" or "supported" tier and clearly most people would prefer that to be non Dynamax. Just as an observer though, completely shunning a mechanic would be a really big statement and isn't something that seems in the spirit of past gens. Yes, there are clauses and Pokemon get banned and unbanned all the time but for the most part things are as close to cartridge as possible. Things like Stealth Rock or Z moves, despite how annoying they can be, never got banned even though they were centralizing. I understand DMax is pushing this to its limit, so I think two tiers might be a way to get the best of both worlds.

I can personally see the meta being really interesting without Dynamax because of new items and the omission of so many OU standards, but I also want to be able to play around with Dmax too. I would rather both of those before I played the crazy sewn-together zombie child that is National Dex OU, but obviously that's personal preference.

 

[SaccharineBaccus]

How is ttar in this meta lookin? losing mega mode and lotsa good fighting mons making him out of the ou probably? and meta is too quick i can't seem to see adamant build being run. mostly jolly

been thinking somewhere along

jolly ttar
sandstream
252 Atk 4 SpD 252 Speed

- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Crunch

made him a surprise sweeper and probably will work. but with abundance of dark typing like grimmsnarl in the meta looking strong, i just want to know what yall think about the green godzilla.

 

[Yak Attack]

I think there should be 2 modes. One with Dynamax and one without. It seems like all the teams I'm building are either snowballing for me or for the opponent after a Ditto/Lucha/Skewda/Exca sweep. I don't mind facing stall, but with Dynamax, things snowball quickly. I'm having to TeamBuild around Ditto with Choice Scarf, Electric Seed Thunder Punch Acrobatics Lucha, Waterfall/Liquidation Skewda, Sand Rush EQ Exca, and Moxie Bounce Gyara, all which GMax and have the power to take out your entire team in a reverse sweep. It would be more enjoyable for me to know that this kind of thing wasn't possible. I think it's as mandatory as Nat Dex OU because of how broken Dynamaxing is.

As far as National Dex OU, it seems like a complete mess of mechanics to me. I think what should be done is taking the Gen 8 OU metagame and just adding the culled Pokemon. That's all, no restored moves or mechanics. There's just too many mechanics right now

 

[EternalDream]

So, at first glance, Blunder Policy is a meme item that has people trying to make work with things like Inferno. Essentialy, you give up one move slot for an otherwise useless move to get +2 speed, and then if it hits and doesn't give you your speed, you're probably dead on the next turn.

But one move stands out as actually being a valid use of the item: Hypnosis
You land it? You now have an opponent with really only 5 out of 6 pokemon.
You miss it? Well congrats, here's +2 Speed instead! (And you still retain the chance to sleep something in a pinch on top)

Ok, but which offensive Pokemon even learns that right?
Well we're in luck. There's three of them!

Gallade (M) @ Blunder Policy
Ability: Justified / Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Earthquake / Leaf Blade / X-Scissor / Stone Edge / Shadow Sneak
- Hypnosis

4MSS in full force, so choose your flavor of coverage, dmax for the Max Knuckle +1 Attack, and go to town.
It's essentially an unlocked scarf set with sleep utility.

Speaks for itself how this applies to Gengar (who can do the same with Max Ooze for +1 SpA) and to a lesser extent, Gardevoir (though she'd prefer Scarf/Specs either way).

 

[RoyalDispenser]

I’m still wondering if it would be plausible to restrict Dynamax level to minimum.

Rn on showdown, Dynamax level is assumed max (100% health boost) when in-game, a Dynamax level of 0 is only a 50% health boost. Would open up potential revenge killer options or reduce life orb potency (since the % threshold sticks)

I don’t see it as a blanket restriction anymore than previous gen drizzle-swim or sleep clause, we didn’t ban swift swim or sleep just restricted the use of the mechanics.

I don’t think it’d fix some of the snowball problems, but lower health would still mean the ignital Dynamax health threshold from something switching on rocks would be lower on top of being a little squishy to hits.

If we can investigate baton pass several times before hitting the move itself, Dynamax I think should be gutted a bit first (Dynamax level > abusers > final verdict on the mechanic as a whole)

 

[chimp]

Honestly reading through all of these posts I think non dynamax and dynamax Galar tiers might be the way to go. Smogon can decide on which one is the "main" or "supported" tier and clearly most people would prefer that to be non Dynamax. Just as an observer though, completely shunning a mechanic would be a really big statement and isn't something that seems in the spirit of past gens. Yes, there are clauses and Pokemon get banned and unbanned all the time but for the most part things are as close to cartridge as possible. Things like Stealth Rock or Z moves, despite how annoying they can be, never got banned even though they were centralizing. I understand DMax is pushing this to its limit, so I think two tiers might be a way to get the best of both worlds.

I can personally see the meta being really interesting without Dynamax because of new items and the omission of so many OU standards, but I also want to be able to play around with Dmax too. I would rather both of those before I played the crazy sewn-together zombie child that is National Dex OU, but obviously that's personal preference.

If Dynamax gets banned a 'Dynamax-legal' metagame would probably pop up in the Other Metagames subforum, if anywhere.
I don't wanna talk too much about dynamaxing though, since there probably won't be a decision on the matter for atleast a week or two, so it seems a little pointless. I do find it genuinely funny thinking about how absurd the whole mechanic is, though. If you told some DPP player back in '08 that there would be a mechanic that drastically increases the BP of all your moves while setting weather or boosting stats, increases your max HP while also healing you, doesn't require an item AND can't be phazed... their heads would explode.

More relevant, though. Has anyone else noticed a lack of Tyranitars? Maybe its just me. In the couple of games I've played I haven't seen as many as early analyses of the meta suggested there would be. After using a couple of sets I did notice it wasn't really pulling its weight. Water-based teams are very common and Barraskewda just feasts on poor Ttar. Fighting types are also all over the place since Max Knuckle is one the best Max moves in the game. Maybe I'm just using it wrong, though. Anyone have any success with T-tar lately?

 

[HannibalLekter]

Personally, I am torn. I don't like the world we are in where you either take Ditto, or build your team to specifically counter Ditto (usually you just do both). That being said, I think I really like Dynamax mechanically. It rewards on the fly thinking and also presents interesting choices in team building. Problem is, the biggest counterplay to it right now is Ditto. If there was a way to fight through Dynamaxers without having to use Ditto I think it would be worth keeping, but having the only REAL counterplay be, "put Ditto on your team" just completely stunts any semblance of team-building agency. Right now you just throw in a couple of bulky mons, a couple of good mixed dynamaxers, a sweeper, and a Ditto. Gyarados is threatening, but not as threatening as I once thought (Rotom-W really ruins his day), Hawlucha is definitely still a solid threat (partially thanks to the omnipresence of Ditto), and Darmanitan-G is almost certainly going to be relegated to Ubers so I haven't really touched on him. Toxapex is also really important right now because of haze. The meta right now HATES haze, so I genuinely think you better have a damn good reason NOT to put 'Pex in one of your team's slots.

If Dynamax gets banned a 'Dynamax-legal' metagame would probably pop up in the Other Metagames subforum, if anywhere.
I don't wanna talk too much about dynamaxing though, since there probably won't be a decision on the matter for atleast a week or two, so it seems a little pointless. I do find it genuinely funny thinking about how absurd the whole mechanic is, though. If you told some DPP player back in '08 that there would be a mechanic that drastically increases the BP of all your moves while setting weather or boosting stats, increases your max HP while also healing you, doesn't require an item AND can't be phazed... their heads would explode.

More relevant, though. Has anyone else noticed a lack of Tyranitars? Maybe its just me. In the couple of games I've played I haven't seen as many as early analyses of the meta suggested there would be. After using a couple of sets I did notice it wasn't really pulling its weight. Water-based teams are very common and Barraskewda just feasts on poor Ttar. Fighting types are also all over the place since Max Knuckle is one the best Max moves in the game. Maybe I'm just using it wrong, though. Anyone have any success with T-tar lately?

The 'Tar is a victim of the meta, BUT he is really solid in sand balance teams. If you want an easy to run team that can get you pretty deep into the metagame then sand balance seems like the way to go, and TTar is an invaluable piece of the sand puzzle.

 

[chimp]

The 'Tar is a victim of the meta, BUT he is really solid in sand balance teams. If you want an easy to run team that can get you pretty deep into the metagame then sand balance seems like the way to go, and TTar is an invaluable piece of the sand puzzle.

The gen 8 weather wars nut seems yet to be cracked, tbh. Dynamax allows a lot of weather-reliant Pokemon to be self-sufficient in their set-up. Like, Barraskewda is technically a rain sweeper- but functions totally fine with or without Pelipper. I guess bringing Pelipper is beneficial for it in many ways, but Skewda can serve its purpose on its own. This seems to be the case for everything bar Chlorophyll users (since they generally don't get any Fire moves to set up sun with).

 

[Pabloaram]

The mon I haven't seen much talk about is Crawdant ... without Tapu Fini hovering around is free to break trought many walls in the tier.

Tranks to Close Combat, Crawdant is no longer walled for PDef Ferro, breaking popular cores like Ferro-Pex-GCor-Corv easily, also Aqua Jet is a powerfull tool againt offence.

KingDraw (Crawdaunt) @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat

some damage calc:

Calcs

252+ Atk Choice Band Crawdaunt Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 242-286 (68.7 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 176-208 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Misdreavus: 316-376 (97.5 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO (misdreavus has 60hHp/100Def same as G-Corsola)
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Crabhammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 238-280 (59.5 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (same stats as corviknight, but normally are special defensive)
also Aqua Jet checks many treats
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darmanitan: 220-260 (62.6 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Aqua Jet vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Excadrill: 412-488 (113.8 - 134.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Aqua Jet vs. 96 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 172-204 (53.5 - 63.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO