Resource SV OU Viability Ranking Thread [ UPDATE: POST #751 ]

[lolgod3]

from B+ to B-

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IRON TREADS DROPPED!!!1!!!!1!

for real though I have one opinion about this, which is that IMO meowscarada and armarouge should've been ranked a bit higher, but other than that everything is solid. (Treads should drop to C+ imo but i'm not going to complain about its drop)

also Arboliva should be at least C due to its ability to check Psyspam and Rotom-Wash easily, beating Gholdengo 1v1, and Strength Sap allows it to take on Kingambit and other physical attackers semi-consistantly. It also has the benefit of base 125 special attack, and unlike Polteageist does not crumple to a single physical attack, allowing it to not lose to Garganacl instantly.

That's all for me, but i do have one question, why didn't polteageist rise? It saw quite a bit of usage on psyspam and works surprisingly well even when your opponent expects it. (if it did rise and I didn't see it just ignore me)

 

[Venuesaur]

There was a lot in the vr i wasn't sure if i agreed with but i agreed with Lily that meowscarada was probably A/A+ at least considering its usage in tours. Ruft gave a bit of an explanation but i figured it being top 10 and having as much versatility (and everything lily said) was good enough of a reason and I wondered if there was anything else. i also was wondering why cinder/moon didnt drop and why washer didn't rise.

 

[658Greninja]

Why is Zoro-H in A-?

 

[UnusualBoy]

Is Gambit really as splashable as Tusk or what warranted its rising? I know he is good but damn.

 

[Magcargo]

Is Gambit really as splashable as Tusk or what warranted its rising? I know he is good but damn.

In some ways, yeah. It has strong priority, is very bulky which goes good w/ Tera, has an unresisted STAB combo, and brings crucial defensive utility against key threats like Gholdengo and Dragapult. The fact that its ability powers it up when your allies faint is really powerful, and makes it more dangerous the longer a battle goes on.

 

[g3od00d]

What was the reasoning for Clodsire not rising? My tetrapod baby could have easily gone to A with how incredibly useful it is. Assuming the justification was competition as a rocker/spiker and being overwhelmed by physical attackers?

Also Breloom dropping was not something I expected. I've had tremendous success with the Banded sets. Mach Punch is crazy good against offensive teams, while Close Combat + Bullet Seed punches massive holes in the enemy team for Pokemon like King-of-OU-gambit to clean up later.

 

[malomyotismon]

what was the reason for slither wings drop? I have found it to be a rather potent wallbreaker for sun teams that also help make up for it's weaknesses. Understandably more sun teams can be a mixed bag for it through.

 

[Finchinator]

What caused a dozo drop as well as breloom?

Dondozo we alluded to in the last explanation post, but Breloom is just pretty inconsistent. It’s good at getting a sleep, but offensively limited when facing bulky Volc, Dnite, and overly offensive teams that

Why is Zoro-H in A-?

It’s a nice offensive presence with a very practical ability, oftentimes enabling it to get KOs and make surprise progress.

Is Gambit really as splashable as Tusk or what warranted its rising? I know he is good but damn.

Viability =/= usage and splashability. Kingambit is used less for sure, but it’s potent and can take over games. It also is hard to RK thanks to Sucker and Tera, making it one of the best sweepers and also fantastic at winning specific important 1v1s any given teams need.

 

[UUTS]

It is CRIMINAL how Golduck is not ranked. Free the duck! Unironically though golduck has every right to equally share the limelight with Float. For every rain team that is just peli float, there’s also a rain team that’s peli azum golduck. Golduck does so many good things for float and the way they break water resists like bax and Wash together is just beautiful

 

[AndViet]

andviet opinion:

So thank you for VR council for your work, I personally like going off usage > VR because numbers don't lie and not everyone's VR list won't be perfect to each user because it's all based off personal opinions backed up with knowledge of the meta / facts.

Kingambit I don't think is S ranked, it's not 2 of the top Pokémon it's a fantastic mon great bulk all around, abuses tera when it sees a mon on the opposing side with Fighting / Ground move namely Tusk it teras into Flying or something else. It handles a lot of the meta very well, and you will always have the opportunity to sweep, this is probably the strongest Gambit has felt since the release of SV because of all the bans and introductions of new mons (it sits in a very solid place). It can't break Dozo, and unless you're running Tera Fairy (Blast) (or something to beat Tusk) it really gets walled by Tusk. If you Tera Flying (Gambit) Tusk might have problems taking it down for sure (so I can't say Tusk is outright a problem against it) but I think I can say Dozo straight up gives it an issue. Dozo is not as popular as it once was so I understand Gambit being a "top 4" mon. Gambit suffers from 4 move syndrome, we all want to run Low Kick, Tera Blast, Stealth Rock but we like priority, swords dance, and 2 stab moves. I think Gambit is good, but to put it on the same level of Tusk is not fair honestly, Tusk is so versatile and does a lot of utility things as well as going straight off as a Rapid Spin / Bulk Up sweeper (if it needs to). I think Kingambit is S-

I understand Nacl being A+, I think Iron Valiant and Gholdengo should be S-. Valiant might be the most threatening offensive mon in the meta. Specifically for one thing, a lot of mons cannot copy it's access to be physical, mixed, or special attacking force. When you see Valiant with Booster Energy you don't know if it's running SD, Calm Mind, or 4 attacks. The ability that Valiant has where you cannot determine it's set is problematic. It's wide movepool is also something to take into account is a vast amount of moves and usually also suffers from 4 syndrome. It's one of the few mons with Knock Off this generation, has the ability to Trick, access to moves like Liquadation, you have the taunt Calm Mind set which literally breaks stall teams. Easily said there's a Valiant set out there to beat every singe OU mon in the meta right now, I don't think you can make that argument with any other mon. I can go into detail if someone wants me to break it down further. Like there's movesets that are still very underused not explored / untapped with Iron Valiant such as a Destiny Bond Booster Energy set if you're facing a hard counter, you have the option of Hypnosis (Which doesn't get spoken about enough). It learns Future Sight where you can Tera Psychic and Switch-in and out to scout out the opposing switch-ins. I really can go on but Iron Valiant without a doubt deserves a little more respect. Versatility needs to be accounted for and the problem with Valiant is it can run so much sets where it's hard to prepare for and you can't assume what it's running or it can be problematic for the opposing team.

Gholdengo I think dropped for no reason, it's still one of the most used mons, I get it that it's not used as much or usage = VR. But lets not act like S to A+ is a fair drop when there hasn't been anything that changed in the meta which drops it out of the top 4 in terms of viability. It literally controls the meta, a mon that forces you to not remove entry hazards (outside of Court Change) needs to be constantly accounted for.

I'd say Gholdengo and Garganacl fall victim to the faster, more offensive pace the metagame is at right now compared to last update. Gholdengo tends to get punished by Kingambit, while Garganacl dislikes the uptick in Taunt users and Shed Tail. Both are also vulnerable to Spikes. A+ is still excellent though, most of us just don't think they're at the same level as Dragapult, which has multiple threatening sets with differing answers, and Volcarona, which can similarly tear through a significant amount of teams with the right set/Tera type.

Okay so to respond, faster meta, sure but it's not like no one runs Scarf Dengo (It's still being used). Dengo sometimes * gets punished by Gambit but a lot of people switch in Gambit on Dengo when it has the ability to OHKO with Focus Blast if it hasn't tera'd yet. A+ is undeserving it has a 41% usage for the month of February (There's good reason for that) Usage =/= Brokeness but it definitely has something to do with viability. I want to take something into account when comparing Gholdengo to any other mon like saying oh it has a lot of threatening sets (pult), but such as Kingambit it takes advantage of Tera. Is Offensive Nasty Plot not a threatening set with the right Tera? Air Balloon sets for switchins to rapid spin / EQ for Tusk? Defensive sets which becomes very hard to break? where if you put 252 HP EVS / 252 DEF EVS BOLD it has 378 HP / 317 Defense it becomes a literal wall that cannot be statused, and regardless of running a defensive set, it has a fantastic natural bulk ontop of that? I think there just needs to be more reasoning on it dropping 2 spots vs just 1 spot which could be understood a bit more because it's just a change of the nature of the meta. It's S-, I understand if it's not viewed as a top 2-3 mon but lets be real it's in the top 5.

Thank you for the work of the council to have the VR updated

 

[Fusion Flare]

Hisuian Zoroark in A-? Is it really that good? I’d assume it’s frailty would be a severe downside in this meta.

 

[MrKensa]

Why isn't arboliva even ranked You can justify ranking abomasnow but not arboliva??? I nommed it to B+ in a time with chien pao and espathra in the tier, when psychic terrain teams were just starting to pick up, and when rotom-w/garg usage was at an all time high. Since then, Pao and espathra are banned, psyspam is standard, and rotom-w/garg have calmed down a bit. Arboliva is best vs more defensive teams and helpful vs psyspam, so I can agree that its overall a bit worse, but it should absolutely be ranked.

Also, why did iron hands drop to C+? In a faster paced meta where HO is so common and strong, it has great matchups vs big threats like baxcalibur, kingambit, meowscarada, and roaring moon. Yes it struggles with tusk but no more than kingambit does, and we all know gambit's rise was well deserved.

Especially if Tera'd into a more beneficial typing like Ground, it can hit harder with Earth Powers and can function pretty decently as a Great Tusk check/counter. Also, with Strength Sap and Leech Seed, it can help cheese offense and defense alike in the right spots.

 

[Lily]

Gholdengo I think dropped for no reason, it's still one of the most used mons, I get it that it's not used as much or usage = VR. But lets not act like S to A+ is a fair drop when there hasn't been anything that changed in the meta which drops it out of the top 4 in terms of viability. It literally controls the meta, a mon that forces you to not remove entry hazards (outside of Court Change) needs to be constantly accounted for.

Okay so to respond, faster meta, sure but it's not like no one runs Scarf Dengo (It's still being used). Dengo sometimes * gets punished by Gambit but a lot of people switch in Gambit on Dengo when it has the ability to OHKO with Focus Blast if it hasn't tera'd yet. A+ is undeserving it has a 41% usage for the month of February (There's good reason for that) Usage =/= Brokeness but it definitely has something to do with viability. I want to take something into account when comparing Gholdengo to any other mon like saying oh it has a lot of threatening sets (pult), but such as Kingambit it takes advantage of Tera. Is Offensive Nasty Plot not a threatening set with the right Tera? Air Balloon sets for switchins to rapid spin / EQ for Tusk? Defensive sets which becomes very hard to break? where if you put 252 HP EVS / 252 DEF EVS BOLD it has 378 HP / 317 Defense it becomes a literal wall that cannot be statused, and regardless of running a defensive set, it has a fantastic natural bulk ontop of that? I think there just needs to be more reasoning on it dropping 2 spots vs just 1 spot which could be understood a bit more because it's just a change of the nature of the meta. It's S-, I understand if it's not viewed as a top 2-3 mon but lets be real it's in the top 5.

Thank you for the work of the council to have the VR updated

I don't really agree with this post for a few reasons - I strayed away from Gholdengo in tournaments quite a bit despite trying my best to make it work, but I couldn't really make many teams I liked with it. I find Gholdengo has many issues rn that take it out of the top 5, which imo is pretty cleanly taken up by Great Tusk, Kingambit, Volcarona, Dragapult and Iron Valiant.

Gholdengo has been struggling to pick its poison a bit lately. With the standard NP STABs Recover set, it's walled by Kingambit, which has become incredibly popular. If you drop Make It Rain, you struggle with immediate power and even after a boost you don't have your nuke option for stuff like Fairy Garg, plus you're much more easily walled by Unawares in Clodsire and (Tera) Skeledirge. If you drop Recover, you lose out on a lot of the midgame utility Gholdengo has against stuff like Iron Valiant, making it much more difficult to justify, an issue also seen in the Choiced sets. And if you drop Nasty Plot, stuff like Pex and Corv is much less scared to give you a free turn.

To elaborate more on the Choiced sets, they are extremely limited in what they can do. Scarf Gholdengo is incredibly difficult to justify because it's fodder for two of the most brutally overbearing Pokemon in the tier right now, Kingambit and Volcarona. It still gets used, of course, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Specs doesn't fare much better because it's still going to give Kingambit a free SD or Volcarona a free QD, to say nothing of the difficulty it has with giving free turns to stuff like Iron Valiant if it locks into Focus Blast or Hydreigon if it locks into Shadow Ball, and Make It Rain is of course not great to lock into since Steel is a mediocre offensive typing & the SpA drop is huge. You end up having to overcompensate for these issues heavily, and they're not easy to get past because of how brutal the things Gholdengo gives free opportunity are.

Then we get to another issue which is less specifically tied to Gholdengo; its best partners are just falling off quite a bit. Ting-Lu is not nearly as good as it once was, for instance, and Glimmora-based hyper offenses are becoming less popular in favour of other leads. Gholdengo is very rare on those offenses now, too, because the slot it fills is more often taken up by Kingambit; Gholdengo isn't threatening enough to really be a great fit on HO since it's so slow and isn't the hardest thing to wall, and shredding balance, its best job, is not a trait that's in demand on a team style that can easily fit Kingambit, Baxcalibur, Iron Valiant and Volcarona. Backbones with the likes of Dondozo still work but they're a bit janky and not the most comfortable to play. Midgame Spikers like Meowscarada are great but they don't really -need- their hazards to be protected as much, so Gholdengo blocking Defog is less of an appealing option, on top of the fact that its presence has somewhat forced Corviknight out of the metagame anyway (something that is definitely noteworthy in its favour).

Defensively speaking, Gholdengo is kind of a crappy check to just about everything other than really passive walls like Toxapex. It's not very good at handling Garganacl, for instance, despite running Covert Cloak, because Earthquake just does too much damage and you can't really beat one of the most common Tera-types in Water anyway. Its matchup into the top 4 Pokemon is abysmal, and its matchup against Iron Valiant is pretty crap too considering how common Knock Off and Shadow Ball are. Baxcalibur and Dragonite shred it with EQ, Cinderace with Pyro Ball and Roaring Moon with Crunch, etc. If you look at S through A on the VR, you'll see that the only Pokemon it's truly capable of abusing is Toxapex - something that should've probably dropped anyway, and also something you need Nasty Plot to actually beat.

This isn't even getting started on Gholdengo's somewhat abysmal matchup against offense thanks to its pretty crappy Speed tier and inability to handle any offense staples. Take my own Week 5 SPL team as an example. I'm not doing this to toot my own horn or whatever, it's just a common offense structure; literally every single Pokemon here can hit Gholdengo for super effective damage, and after a boost they all OHKO it. That's a very relevant team style that Gholdengo is effectively worthless against. That's not the making of an S-rank threat. Something ranked that high shouldn't have such polarising bad matchups; it should be able to accomplish things at a baseline level in every game, and go beyond that often as well.

To be honest, it's a testament Gholdengo's versatility and influence that it's still ranked this high. With the way the tier is going rn, it's a really tough landscape for it. If Pokemon were ranked solely off their in-game influence, I think Gholdengo would drop even further than this; its builder influence is large enough to justify the A+ ranking, but it is trending downwards for now. As time goes on and people discover more sets that make it more effective, it will surely pick back up and come back with a vengeance, but for now it just does too little to justify the problems it gives you in the builder and in the battle.

 

[agslash23]

Why did Iron Moth rise considering Pex and Clod are still great?

 

[Savouras]

Why did Iron Moth rise considering Pex and Clod are still great?

Its generally a great pokemon and owing to the 2 mons u mentioned aswell as other ones like Torkoal sun, Skeledirge and opposing Moths Tera Ground +speed booster energy set rised in popularity making Moth still a very threatning pokemon

 

[I am New]

Why on earth is iron valiant still A+? isnt it one of the most versataile deadly breakers of the tier? I consider it on par with pult on how scary it can be and very unpredictable. It has 0 real counters. Counters depend on sets. pyshock blasts clod and pex. knock chunks skeliderge. Tbolt makes corvi very careful to switch in. specs sd cm cb booster energy? all these sets are very good and its a pain to realize that the valiant has the right coverage move. Not to mention the fact that each set has millions of set variety. It can be a random destiny bond to stop volc from sweeping or hypnosis ruining a would be check like dirge.It is almost on par with pult at that. shouldnt valiant rise to S-????

 

[Savouras]

Why on earth is iron valiant still A+? isnt it one of the most versataile deadly breakers of the tier? I consider it on par with pult on how scary it can be and very unpredictable. It has 0 real counters. Counters depend on sets. pyshock blasts clod and pex. knock chunks skeliderge. Tbolt makes corvi very careful to switch in. specs sd cm cb booster energy? all these sets are very good and its a pain to realize that the valiant has the right coverage move. Not to mention the fact that each set has millions of set variety. It can be a random destiny bond to stop volc from sweeping or hypnosis ruining a would be check like dirge.It is almost on par with pult at that. shouldnt valiant rise to S-????

Could very easily Rise up to S- if it continues doing so well for sure!

 

[Azure_Crystal]

from UR to C

Abomasnow is an interesting one, but what reason caused its rise?

 

[TheTraininator]

Sneaking in a question before the period to ask them closes, I’m curious why Meowscarada only rose to A-. I understand why it didn’t rise to A+ considering that tier is currently inhabited by the likes of Gholdengo, Garganacl, and Dragonite, but with its current success and usage statistics as well as based on theory, it seems on par with a lot of the things in A moreso than the things in A-, which is where it used to inhabit anyways back in the earlier stages of the meta where it was less explored and has arguably less favorable matchups against the entirety of the metagame.

 

[FootHead58]

View attachment 502655 from UR to C

Abomasnow is an interesting one, but what reason caused its rise?

Surprising bulk under hail, decent offenses, and a surprisingly useful offensive movepool all help it out, but the best thing about it by far is Snow Warning + Aurora Veil, which is a combination that’s pretty hard to be bad with!

 

[Magcargo]

Why did Salamence get dropped? Would have thought it would have moved up if anything given that a top player was vouching for it to rise before the update.

Why did Tinkaton rise? I've struggled against some SD variants and think its pretty good, but iirc it was ranked due to its utility set, which I believe would be in lower demand rn compared to the Chien-Pao meta (iirc it was used as a check to that, though I may be misremembering).

Why did only Alolamola rise and not other stall staples like Blissey?

 

[a2ul]

I wanted to bring breloom a tier above
reasoning: base 130 attack, technician, priority and spore support

first of all, let's discuss what 130 is:
* same base atk as garchomp
* 10 points above dragapult and chien-pao
* 4 points below dnite and ttar
as you can see breloom has pseudo legendary base atk

this doesn't seem much comparing it to top meta threats like roaring moon, however, breloom can be more threatening because of its ability, technician
technician boosts its bullet seed 1.5 every hit, making it an effective way to KO most defensive walls except maybe steel types corv and gholdengo.
Technician and loaded dice effectively boosts breloom offensive potential (bullet seed) making it more threatening than base 145 atk baxcalibur's glaive rush with 120bp.

(common) walls that breloom breaks:
bulldoze breloom breaks:
rock tomb breloom breaks:
(tblast fire breloom lures amoonguss but it is suboptimal IMO )
everything slower is also easy to break through without SD support, however the main thing that stops breloom (being corviknight ofc) can be safely spore'd without any drawback since you outspeed corv in the adamant variant, this can be useful to pivot into a faster mon for free, or to pivot back to breloom on a safe double.

but how about the things that are faster than breloom? well unless you're facing a ghost type, the technician boosted breloom mach punch 2hkos everything with base 80+ spe on the meta (let's ignore valiant): meowscarada hydeigon offensive quaquaval * and can tank a hit from defensive tusk
(breloom also revenge kills kingambit )

TL;DR: you can't wall the bulldoze rock tomb and tblast fire variants at the same time, and even if you do bullet seed is a nuke, the main hardcounter which is corv gets spored easily
+ funny calc: +2 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Breloom: 233-274 (89.2 - 104.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

optimal set: 252spe 252atk+ (adamant), loaded dice, bullet seed, mach punch, rock tomb / bulldoze, spore

breloom balance double switching example:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1829986447
the gameplan was very simple, switch breloom and chip corv keep pressure and predict bax
although I suck and could have played better ^^

 

[DiscoDucky]

1. Is Hax just utterly outclassed by every other dragon? Admittedly I haven’t had much of a chance to use it, but I would’ve imagined that Mold Breaker would give it some niche with the Unaware bros and Earth Eater Orthworm running around

Hax is best used on Screens offense. Screens, for the most part, doesn't have the luxury to run traditional options that beat Unaware Pokémon. IMO, Hax kind of shores up those problems. With that said, Screens is at its weakest point right now, so Hax being UR makes sense

 

[Divine Retribution]

*breloomposting*

What changed for Breloom to deserve a rise now?

 

[UUTS]

Ok this is a follow up to my Golduck post. In this essay I will write about why Golduck deserves to be in the same rank as Floatzel (or at most like a tier below)

First of all Golduck is fast. 269 modest may not sound impressive but under swift swim that’s pretty much unbeatable. For reference Proto speed moth goes to 525. The only realistic things that can outspeed Golduck are Proto Speed Valiant/Roaring and Scarf Meow. Even these Pokémon can be lured as timid 295 —> 590 outspeeds and OHKO.

252 SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Valiant in Rain: 348-411 (120.4 - 142.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 281-333 (95.9 - 113.6%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

Another excellent trait of Golduck is the raw power it has. Golduck’s strong rain boosted stab Surfs threaten ohkos with a little bit of hazard support (or just a Tera water!). And for those who say “fuck it we ball” hydro pump will usually result in guaranteed ohkos.

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gholdengo in Rain: 274-324 (86.9 - 102.8%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Hydro Pump vs. 112 HP / 0 SpD Kingambit in Rain: 356-421 (96.4 - 114%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 112 HP / 0 SpD Kingambit in Rain: 292-344 (79.1 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Hydro Pump vs. 112 HP / 0 SpD Kingambit in Rain: 356-421 (96.4 - 114%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 302-356 (103 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

If that list seems small you have to remember a lot of Pokémon are weak to water. There’s no point in listing how Iron moth Glimmora Garganacl and especially tier king Great Tusk get OHKO by a surf, forcing switches. And that leads to arguably the most important part of Golduck: Nasty plot

Nasty plot is a new gen 9 addition that makes Golduck near unwallable.+2 does horrendous stuff such as OHKO Spdef Corviknight and Tera Fairy Garg (Tera water gets OHKO by grass knot). More importantly it lets you OHKO water resists by hitting them with super effective damage

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight in Rain: 407-480 (102 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tera Fairy Garganacl in Rain: 391-461 (96.7 - 114.1%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Roaring Moon: 445-525 (126.7 - 149.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 158 SpD Amoonguss: 452-533 (104.6 - 123.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Unlike other rain sweepers Golduck is very versatile in moveset, being able to tailor itself to win nearly any matchup.

Wanna destroy dragons (and meow)? Ice beam.
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 286-338 (90.2 - 106.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 302-356 (103 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Wanna decimate Dondozo and troll Tera water? I suggest Grass knot
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 426-502 (84.5 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Tera Water Skeledirge: 263-309 (63.9 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tera Water Great Tusk: 497-585 (114.5 - 134.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Wanna lure in Clod/Pex annoying your Float? +2 psychic (or psyshock) will do the trick!
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Psychic vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Toxapex: 304-359 (100 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex: 278-328 (91.4 - 107.8%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

Need to beat kingambit? Go for sub. Really hate stall? Try taunt. Want to roleplay as a SPL player and put encore where it doesn’t belong? Do one better and put encore on a Pokémon it does belong! Golduck is just this perfect storm of insanely fast, insanely threatening, and insanely dangerous that breaks teams wide open