In terms of next to go, the general consensus seems to be Palafin and Iron Bundle are you too strong for the current meta. Personally, I wholeheartedly agree with Palafin, but for Iron Bundle I don't see it as clear cut. I definitely see it as suspect worthy (probably would Ban), but I do think that a lot of the posts overrate the damage that Iron Bundle can actually put out. It does not 2HKO
everything... I've been testing out some fat SpDef mons, (maybe like 40sih games) and have been theorymoning some others with the damage calc. The set I've seen the most complaints about has been Specs, but I know Encore/Taunt variants are out there.
SpDef Blankets
Losing Teleport really hurts Blissey, but I don't think its completely invalidated the Pokemon. It's an absolute menace on the special side, and its not like it didn't have viable moves to fill in the slot that freed up. I've been running Seismic Toss, Shadow Ball, Thunder Wave, Softboiled. This set lets in the Donphans a bit too easily, but I've found success otherwise.
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey: 153-180 (23.4 - 27.6%) -- 75% chance to 4HKO
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We are a bit starved for Fairy types at the moment, so these two definitely have merit in this limited mon meta. These admittedly have a bit more trouble coming in on Specs Hydro's but they can get it done if at full, and can quite easily Wish/Synthesis back up to full. And because of Bundles garbage SpDef, cleanly 2HKO with STAB or just straight up kill after rocks damage.
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Sylveon: 171-202 (43.4 - 51.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 120+ SpD Florges: 150-177 (41.6 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
A bit more passive into Iron Bundle than they other 3, but still a SpDef blanket.
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon: 156-184 (39.5 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
For All of these, if the opponent is the Taunt/Encore variant, you'll have some more interesting sequences of either calling the Taunt and attacking, or clicking Recovery as they pivot out. However, the damage will be significantly less, so you have a turn or two of to be wrong.
AV Checks
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Most of these are getting 2HKO'd by the right move on Specs, but can put in work against non-Specs or if brought in safely as a check.
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Iron Hands: 175-207 (38.9 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 168-198 (54 - 63.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 128 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 156-186 (44.1 - 52.6%) -- 18% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Magnezone: 190-225 (55.2 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Hariyama: 187-222 (43.5 - 51.7%) -- 10.5% chance to 2HKO
Defensive Tera Answers
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The idea here is pretty simple, take a Water Absorb mon and make it Terastilize into something that resists Freeze Dry. Definitely sucks to have use your Tera in this way, but should be mentioned nonetheless. Clodsire already has well established viability, and I think Gastro probably deserves a bit more love now that it finally got the hazards it always wanted.
I was a bit reluctant to include this section because it opens the door to the other side as well, What if Iron Bundle Tera's? And the answer is that you're going to have a tough time! The extra power boost of Tera Water makes Hydro Pumps harder to sponge with the special walls, particular if its a Taunt variant, as now it doesn't necessarily have to switch out!
I think this is where we are starting to get to the point of discovering Pokemon where Terastilizing is taking them from potentially reasonable in a non-Tera meta
, to broken in a Tera-legal meta. For FlutterMane, Houndstone, and Palafin, Tera wasn't making or breaking them; but I think Iron Bundle is where that stops. So, at this point, is Terastilizing the problem or Iron Bundle?
Offensive Checks
Not going to list all of these off, but priority and scarfers can give this guy a hard time truly finishing up a clean.
Bad but fun
+1 252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ice Scales Frosmoth: 142-168 (41.2 - 48.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO