[OVERVIEW]
Under Snow, Beartic is a chillingly threatening sweeper, boasting wide coverage and frightening offensive power while outspeeding the entire unboosted metagame. The defense boost in snow allows it to tank physical attacks like Passimian's Close Combat and Lycanroc's Stone Edge. Beartic pairs especially well with Abomasnow to form a deadly offensive core, with the latter's Aurora Veil making Beartic even more difficult to take down. Beartic, however, is hindered by its low speed and awful defensive typing; even under snow, it can be outsped by faster Choice Scarf users like Floatzel and Typhlosion. Even with the defense boost and Aurora Veil support, Beartic sports minimal defensive utility, owing to its vulnerability to all residual damage and lack of resistances if not running Heavy-Duty Boots. Outside of snow, Beartic is extremely slow and is easy to revenge kill without Terastalization, requiring significant support to perform well as a setup sweeper.
[SET]
Snow Sweeper (Beartic) @ Loaded Dice / Life Orb / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fighting / Ground
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Spear / Icicle Crash
- Close Combat
- Earthquake / Substitute
[SET COMMENTS]
The combination of Snow and Slush Rush enable Beartic to become one of the scariest setup sweepers under this archetype, boasting high offensive stats and outspeeding the entire unboosted metagame. Icicle Spear's higher power is preferred over Icicle Crash's potential flinch chance if running Loaded Dice. Close Combat threatens Ice-resistant targets like Snorlax, Orthworm, and Glastrier. Earthquake threatens out Lanturn and non-Choice Scarf Typhlosion, while Substitute capitalizes on weak walls like Hisuian Qwilfish and Dipplin. While an Adamant nature is ideal to maximize its power, Jolly can be used to outspeed Choice Scarf Passimian and Choice Scarf Mesprit under Snow. If not running Icicle Spear, Life Orb or Heavy-Duty Boots can be chosen to either strengthen all of its moves' power or protect it from hazard damage, respectively. Tera Fighting boosts the power of Close Combat, while Tera Ground boosts the power of Earthquake and provides it a Stealth Rock resistance and Electric immunity; changing into either of these Tera types, however, relinquishes the defense boost under Snow.
Due to Beartic being heavily reliant on Snow for wallbreaking, Abomasnow is a mandatory partner to enable Slush Rush and the defense boost. Pivots like Choice Scarf Rotom-C and Passimian can help threaten and force out walls like Lanturn and Orthworm, while wallbreakers like Brute Bonnet and Charizard can be similarly effective. Hattrem is a notable partner, providing paralysis and Healing Wish support, enabling Beartic to clean through teams easier. Water-types like Floatzel and Lanturn can not only force out Fire-types, but also provide pivoting support with Flip Turn. Entry hazard setters like Regirock and Sandslash not only can help rack up residual damage over the course of a game, but also provide additional utility with Thunder Wave and Knock Off, respectively.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Heavy Slam, Night Slash, and Aqua Jet can provide coverage for Tera Fairy Pokemon, Tera Ghost Pokemon, and priority respectively, those these moves detract too much of Beartic's wallbreaking power and are very limited in usage against the rest of the meta.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Revenge Killers**: Even under Snow, Beartic is still quite slow, and can be picked off by Choice Scarf users like Rotom-C, Floatzel, and Shaymin.
**Physical Walls**: Physical walls like Weezing, Spiritomb, and Sableye can threaten Beartic with Will-O-Wisp, while walls like Regirock and Orthworm can beat it with Iron Defense in a one-on-one scenario.
**Residual Damage**: Beartic is vulnerable to all entry hazards if not running Heavy-Duty Boots and despises status, all of which heavily cut into its sweeping potential and making it easier to revenge kill.
**Wallbreakers**: Most wallbreakers not weak to its coverage moves can stomach at least one unboosted attack and retaliate, which is especially prominent if Beartic is not under snow. Examples include Passimian, Vikavolt, and Clawitzer.
**Glastrier**: Glastrier can leverage its massive bulk under snow and retaliate with its own coverage moves to defeat Beartic.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/5dots.543866/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
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