drizzle
formerly henguinie
[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 4 onwards
**Price Range**: 13-15 points
**Overview**: Zarude is a strong physical attacker with a solid Speed tier and lots of versatility, allowing it to fit in a variety of roles. It can be used a a solid pivot or wallbreaker to enable teammates, or it can be a setup sweeper on its own, with or without Tera. However, its typing leaves it incredibly vulnerable to U-turn, allowing foes to easily pivot on it to maintain momentum, and its coverage without Tera struggles against many threatening types, such as Flying. It also gets outsped by many of the meta's biggest threats, most of which have STAB combinations that deal super effective damage to Zarude.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Pivot**: Although Zarude's typing leaves it weak to a lot of common types, it can be used as a solid pivot to position teammates better against Zarude's own checks. Jungle Healing also allows it to absorb status moves, such as Scald, making it a great switch-in to many Pokemon.
**Setup Sweeper**: Especially potent as a Tera Captain, Zarude can use its access to setup moves to clean teams up. Its great natural bulk allows it opportunities to set up, especially when using Tera to remove its mediocre typing. The major downside to this set, however, is that its STAB combination often struggles versus specific Pokemon, requiring additional coverage or specific Tera types.
**Wallbreaker**: With powerful STAB options in Power Whip and Knock Off as well as powerful coverage options like Close Combat, Zarude can use its high Attack to break down walls.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Power Whip, Bullet Seed, Petal Blizzard, Knock Off, Crunch
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Encore, Jungle Healing, Synthesis, Roar, U-turn, Brick Break
**Coverage**: Acrobatics, Drain Punch, Low Kick, Close Combat, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Stomping Tantrum, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Throat Chop**: While the chance to decrease Defense makes Crunch the better option for setup-sweeping Zarude and the utility Knock Off provides is useful in almost any other case, Throat Chop can be used to surprise check Pokemon that use sound moves like Toxtricity and Pixilate Sylveon.
**Endure**: Endure with Acrobatics and a Liechi or Salac Berry can be used to surprise your foes. It can also be used with a Custap Berry to revenge kill opposing fast sweepers.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Because Zarude wants to avoid entry hazard damage on both pivot and setup sets, Heavy-Duty Boots is a safe option for it.
**Resistance Berries**: Due to Zarude's expansive list of weaknesses, it is not hard for foes to fit coverage that hits Zarude super effectively. On setup sets, picking the correct weakness to hold a Berry for may be essential to safely sweep.
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf Zarude is a great pivot and revenge killer that can use its powerful STAB moves to threaten foes or U-turn to get momentum while avoiding unfavorable matchups.
**Leftovers**: Zarude is naturally bulky enough that it can gain enough value from Leftovers on setup sets to warrant it over other items.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Giving Zarude a larger and more immediate health restoration than Leftovers does, Sitrus Berry is also a safe option to almost always have a held item while still eventually empowering Acrobatics.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is a way to clear status if it is not efficient to have Jungle Healing on a set.
**Custap / Liechi / Salac Berry**: Zarude can use one of these items on Endure sets more efficiently, as reaching the health threshold required to activate them is not always reliable.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Zarude usually has more than enough damage thanks to Swords Dance, but if it needs just a little bit more or if finding a Pokemon to set up against is too difficult, having a damage-boosting item is not a problem.
Tera
========
Zarude works well as a lower-priced Tera captain, since its defensive typing and limited movepool are both assisted by the ability to Terastallize and use Tera Blast. Tera Poison is often effective, as it gets rid of all of Zarude's weaknesses and opponents will most likely not consider to bring Psychic- or Ground-type coverage for a Zarude, but Zarude can use pretty much any Tera type. Besides Tera Poison, offensive Tera types such as Tera Fairy, Fighting, and Water are also effective.
Draft Strategy
========
If intended to be a Tera Captain, Zarude should be drafted alongside stronger Pokemon that are banned from being a Tera Captain, such as Iron Valiant and Latios. It fits well on balance or bulky offense drafts; however, it needs quite a bit of support to live up to its full potential.
**Slow Pivots**: Due to Zarude's poor defensive typing, getting Zarude in with a slow pivot such as Galarian Slowking is the safest way to get it on the field.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: While entry hazard setters such as Garchomp and Glimmora are essential on any Draft team, setup and pivot Zarude sets both especially appreciate residual damage, since they often struggle breaking through many defensive Pokemon at full health.
**Speed Control**: Although Zarude is a good Choice Scarf user, drafting other speed control Pokemon such as Palafin and Tornadus-T takes the pressure off of Zarude to be the sole revenge killer.
**Special Wallbreakers**: Reliable special attackers like Raging Bolt and Gholdengo are important for removing the physical walls that hinder Zarude's sweeping capabilities. Special wallbreakers put lots of pressure on physically defensive Pokemon, which often forces them to invest in Special Defense EVs rather than the Defense EVs that will stop Zarude's sweeping capabilities.
Checks and Counters
========
**Poison- and Flying-type Pokemon**: Despite Zarude's access to Ground- and Rock-type moves, respectively, Poison- and Flying-types still annoy Zarude with their resistance to Zarude's Grass-type STAB moves and ability to hit back super effectively.
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon can often threaten Zarude out, and even at +1 Speed with Choice Scarf or Trailblaze, Zarude is outsped by a lot of other Choice Scarf and Booster Energy users. Many faster Pokemon can also maintain momentum with U-turn, since Zarude does not want to stay in on them.
**Contact Move-punishing Effects**: Most of the moves Zarude uses are contact moves, meaning it is easy to punish it with effects that punish contact moves, like Flame Body and Rocky Helmet.
**Priority Users**: Zarude is especially vulnerable to priority moves, as it will often be left at low HP after KOing a Pokemon.
**Haze / Clear Smog**: Moves that remove stat boosts, especially on physical walls such as Toxapex, make it much harder for Zarude to defeat foes, much less sweep.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/henguinie.313217/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/hacker.387847/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 4 onwards
**Price Range**: 13-15 points
**Overview**: Zarude is a strong physical attacker with a solid Speed tier and lots of versatility, allowing it to fit in a variety of roles. It can be used a a solid pivot or wallbreaker to enable teammates, or it can be a setup sweeper on its own, with or without Tera. However, its typing leaves it incredibly vulnerable to U-turn, allowing foes to easily pivot on it to maintain momentum, and its coverage without Tera struggles against many threatening types, such as Flying. It also gets outsped by many of the meta's biggest threats, most of which have STAB combinations that deal super effective damage to Zarude.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Pivot**: Although Zarude's typing leaves it weak to a lot of common types, it can be used as a solid pivot to position teammates better against Zarude's own checks. Jungle Healing also allows it to absorb status moves, such as Scald, making it a great switch-in to many Pokemon.
**Setup Sweeper**: Especially potent as a Tera Captain, Zarude can use its access to setup moves to clean teams up. Its great natural bulk allows it opportunities to set up, especially when using Tera to remove its mediocre typing. The major downside to this set, however, is that its STAB combination often struggles versus specific Pokemon, requiring additional coverage or specific Tera types.
**Wallbreaker**: With powerful STAB options in Power Whip and Knock Off as well as powerful coverage options like Close Combat, Zarude can use its high Attack to break down walls.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Power Whip, Bullet Seed, Petal Blizzard, Knock Off, Crunch
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Encore, Jungle Healing, Synthesis, Roar, U-turn, Brick Break
**Coverage**: Acrobatics, Drain Punch, Low Kick, Close Combat, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Stomping Tantrum, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Throat Chop**: While the chance to decrease Defense makes Crunch the better option for setup-sweeping Zarude and the utility Knock Off provides is useful in almost any other case, Throat Chop can be used to surprise check Pokemon that use sound moves like Toxtricity and Pixilate Sylveon.
**Endure**: Endure with Acrobatics and a Liechi or Salac Berry can be used to surprise your foes. It can also be used with a Custap Berry to revenge kill opposing fast sweepers.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Because Zarude wants to avoid entry hazard damage on both pivot and setup sets, Heavy-Duty Boots is a safe option for it.
**Resistance Berries**: Due to Zarude's expansive list of weaknesses, it is not hard for foes to fit coverage that hits Zarude super effectively. On setup sets, picking the correct weakness to hold a Berry for may be essential to safely sweep.
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf Zarude is a great pivot and revenge killer that can use its powerful STAB moves to threaten foes or U-turn to get momentum while avoiding unfavorable matchups.
**Leftovers**: Zarude is naturally bulky enough that it can gain enough value from Leftovers on setup sets to warrant it over other items.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Giving Zarude a larger and more immediate health restoration than Leftovers does, Sitrus Berry is also a safe option to almost always have a held item while still eventually empowering Acrobatics.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is a way to clear status if it is not efficient to have Jungle Healing on a set.
**Custap / Liechi / Salac Berry**: Zarude can use one of these items on Endure sets more efficiently, as reaching the health threshold required to activate them is not always reliable.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Zarude usually has more than enough damage thanks to Swords Dance, but if it needs just a little bit more or if finding a Pokemon to set up against is too difficult, having a damage-boosting item is not a problem.
Tera
========
Zarude works well as a lower-priced Tera captain, since its defensive typing and limited movepool are both assisted by the ability to Terastallize and use Tera Blast. Tera Poison is often effective, as it gets rid of all of Zarude's weaknesses and opponents will most likely not consider to bring Psychic- or Ground-type coverage for a Zarude, but Zarude can use pretty much any Tera type. Besides Tera Poison, offensive Tera types such as Tera Fairy, Fighting, and Water are also effective.
Draft Strategy
========
If intended to be a Tera Captain, Zarude should be drafted alongside stronger Pokemon that are banned from being a Tera Captain, such as Iron Valiant and Latios. It fits well on balance or bulky offense drafts; however, it needs quite a bit of support to live up to its full potential.
**Slow Pivots**: Due to Zarude's poor defensive typing, getting Zarude in with a slow pivot such as Galarian Slowking is the safest way to get it on the field.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: While entry hazard setters such as Garchomp and Glimmora are essential on any Draft team, setup and pivot Zarude sets both especially appreciate residual damage, since they often struggle breaking through many defensive Pokemon at full health.
**Speed Control**: Although Zarude is a good Choice Scarf user, drafting other speed control Pokemon such as Palafin and Tornadus-T takes the pressure off of Zarude to be the sole revenge killer.
**Special Wallbreakers**: Reliable special attackers like Raging Bolt and Gholdengo are important for removing the physical walls that hinder Zarude's sweeping capabilities. Special wallbreakers put lots of pressure on physically defensive Pokemon, which often forces them to invest in Special Defense EVs rather than the Defense EVs that will stop Zarude's sweeping capabilities.
Checks and Counters
========
**Poison- and Flying-type Pokemon**: Despite Zarude's access to Ground- and Rock-type moves, respectively, Poison- and Flying-types still annoy Zarude with their resistance to Zarude's Grass-type STAB moves and ability to hit back super effectively.
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon can often threaten Zarude out, and even at +1 Speed with Choice Scarf or Trailblaze, Zarude is outsped by a lot of other Choice Scarf and Booster Energy users. Many faster Pokemon can also maintain momentum with U-turn, since Zarude does not want to stay in on them.
**Contact Move-punishing Effects**: Most of the moves Zarude uses are contact moves, meaning it is easy to punish it with effects that punish contact moves, like Flame Body and Rocky Helmet.
**Priority Users**: Zarude is especially vulnerable to priority moves, as it will often be left at low HP after KOing a Pokemon.
**Haze / Clear Smog**: Moves that remove stat boosts, especially on physical walls such as Toxapex, make it much harder for Zarude to defeat foes, much less sweep.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/henguinie.313217/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/hacker.387847/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited: