[OVERVIEW]
Dark
========
Zarude's Grass typing, good natural bulk, and favorable Speed tier make it a great check to Water- and Ground-types that would otherwise give Dark teams trouble such as Urshifu-R, Tapu Fini, and Nidoking. Thanks to this, it can be useful in matchups such as Water, Ground, and Rock. Jungle Healing and Taunt make Zarude a formidable stallbreaker as well, allowing it to use foes that rely on status ailments to wear it down such as Toxapex, Slowking, Slowbro, and Gastrodon as setup fodder while preventing them from using status moves like Recover and Haze. However, Zarude's Grass typing brings it many weaknesses, leaving it particularly weak to Pokemon like Blacephalon, Victini, and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan. It also heavily struggles in matchups like Steel and Fire, as it mainly relies on Power Whip to deal damage. Its Speed tier is good, but not fast enough to outspeed many prominent fast attackers such as Tapu Koko, Dragapult, Weavile, and Cinderace, making it vulnerable to being revenge killed by them.
[SET]
name: Bulk Up (Dark)
move 1: Bulk Up
move 2: Power Whip
move 3: Taunt / Drain Punch
move 4: Jungle Healing
item: Chople Berry / Leftovers
ability: Leaf Guard
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Zarude can use Bulk Up on Water-types like Toxapex, Gastrodon, Slowking, and Slowbro, becoming a decent setup sweeper while increasing its already impressive physical bulk. Power Whip deals immediate damage to Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Slowbro, Tapu Fini, and Swampert. Taunt shuts down passive foes such as Galarian Corsola and Toxapex by preventing them from using status moves like Strength Sap and Haze. Drain Punch is an alternative over Taunt, hitting Steel- and Dragon-types like Bisharp, Kyurem, and Hydreigon super effectively. Jungle Healing gets rid of status ailments such as burn and Toxic poison while providing Zarude with useful longevity. Chople Berry enables Zarude to survive Fighting-type attacks from many threats such as Choice Scarf Terrakion, Keldeo, and Barraskewda and KO them back with Power Whip. Leftovers is another option over Chople Berry to provide passive recovery, letting Zarude heal off much more damage in conjunction with Jungle Healing. Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature allows Zarude to outspeed foes like Mimikyu, Garchomp, and Tapu Lele.
Mandibuzz handles threats such as Scizor and Dragonite for Zarude due to its good bulk and typing allowing it to take multiple Fighting- and Bug-type attacks. It can also get rid of entry hazards for Zarude with Defog and pivot out with U-turn, giving it opportunities to use Bulk Up. Tyranitar's amazing special bulk coupled with Sand Stream allows it to take on threatening special attackers such as Choice Specs Dragapult, Blacephalon, and Alolan Ninetales. Its Sand Stream and Toxic support can also wear down foes quickly, which Zarude appreciates. Urshifu-S is another great wallbreaker that's able to particularly take on Steel teams, as it can be tough to take down due to its excellent STAB combination, naturally good bulk, especially with Bulk Up, and Unseen Fist letting it bypass moves such as King's Shield and Protect from Aegislash and Celesteela, respectively. Hydreigon is a mandatory wallbreaker for Zarude, as it's able to pressure many physically defensive walls such as Skarmory, Avalugg, and Bewear that give Zarude and the rest of Dark teams trouble. It can also pressure Dragon- and Fire-types such as Dragalge, Kyurem, and Torkoal for Zarude. Drapion can deal with Fairy-types such as Tapu Bulu, Clefable, and Alolan Ninetales, which Zarude finds difficult to beat, and provide Toxic Spikes support. Weavile is also a neat revenge killer for Zarude thanks to its Ice typing, taking out Dragon-types such as Dragapult, Dragonite, and Latias while picking off weakened foes like Tapu Koko with Ice Shard. It also covers Flying-types like Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Dragonite.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Dark
--------
Choice Band significantly increases Zarude's damage output, giving it the means of 2HKOing Toxapex with Power Whip and specially defensive Celesteela with Darkest Lariat. However, Zarude then misses out on the ability to remove status conditions like burn and Toxic poison using Jungle Healing, which leaves it more easily crippled. Choice Scarf is an option to allow Zarude to revenge kill otherwise faster foes such as Choice Scarf Victini, Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Choice Scarf Tapu Fini. However, Zarude has a hard time dealing with a notable Water-type in Toxapex, which can take multiple Power Whips from it.
Checks and Counters
===================
Dark
--------
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Zarude struggles to deal great damage to physically defensive walls such as Skarmory, Galarian Weezing, and Porygon2. In return, Skarmory is able to heal off its attacks with Roost and phaze it with Whirlwind, Galarian Weezing can weaken it with Strange Stream, and Porygon2 can weaken it with Ice Beam and use Teleport to bring in another teammate if Zarude switches out.
**Revenge Killers**: Zarude finds itself weak to powerful revenge killers like Volcarona, Blacephalon, Victini, and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, as they carry super effective coverage against it, forcing it to switch out or be KOed.
**Grass-resistant Pokemon**: Pokemon that resist Zarude's Power Whip such as Victini, Torkoal, and Buzzwole all threaten Zarude with their STAB moves while it struggles to deal massive damage to them. However, some foes that resist Power Whip such as Bisharp, Kyurem, and Hydreigon can all be hit super effectively by Drain Punch.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Dark analysis by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Quality checked by: [[maroon, 305839], [Harpp, 320110], [Conflux, 408641]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Milak, 262594], [P Squared, 168392]]
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