[OVERVIEW]
Zacian-C's absurd speed tier, ability, and amazing typing make it one of the most dangerous physical threats in Ubers. A single Swords Dance sets it up to threaten 2HKOs on even the tier's premier physical walls, allowing Zacian-C to take over games if left alone for even a single turn. Fairy/Steel typing allows it to switch into dragon type attacks and resist Arceus even at +3. Its wide selection of powerful coverage moves can easily check tier staples such as Arceus-Fairy, Koraidon and Miraidon. It serves as an extraordinarily powerful wallbreaker and sweeper, able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame save for Deoxys and Regieleki. While extremely powerful, Zacian-C is heavily reliant on its ability Intrepid Sword, which only activates once per game, and cannot boost its own speed without sacrificing coverage. Good positioning and threat control are required for it to seize an opportunity and tear apart enemy teams.
[SET]
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fighting
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade / Play Rough
- Close Combat / Play Rough
- Wild Charge
[SET COMMENTS]
Wild Charge allows Zacian-C to break through Flying or Water types that might otherwise resist its attacks, such as Ho-Oh, Arceus-Water, Corviknight, and defensive Kyogre. Close Combat allows Zacian-C to OHKO Arceus, prevents its opponents from using Tera Steel, and is the strongest option to damage Necrozma-DM, killing defensive sets in two hits alongside Tera Fighting. Tera Flying instead allows Zacian-C to shed its Ground weakness, setting up on Arceus-Ground, Groudon, or Necrozma-DM. It can also terastalize defensively to live a hit from Choice Scarf users such as Koraidon, Miraidon, and Eternatus.
Zacian-C shines on bulky or hyper offensive team structures which allow it to get the most value out of its Intrepid Sword boost. Ribombee and its Sticky Webs make a fantastic partner for Zacian-C, providing much needed speed control against opposing scarfers. Physically defensive Pokemon such as Groudon, Skeledirge, or Landorus-T prove difficult for it to break through, so it enjoys being paired with a strong special attacker such as Miraidon or Kyogre. Fast sweepers such as Scale Shot Koraidon, Kyurem-Black, and Arceus all benefit from Zacian-C's ability to force out Teras and severely weaken enemy physical walls. While not as common, it can still be valuable on slower teams, especially against Miraidon, and serves as a potent revenge killer once its opponents have been chipped by hazards.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Substitute can be run over an attacking move, sacrificing its coverage for the ability to dodge status conditions and safely set up. Unfortunately, giving up an attack greatly limits Zacian-C's offensive profile, meaning this set relies heavily on your team being able to cover the resulting bad matchups.
Checks and Counters
====
**Speed Control:** Rusted Sword means Zacian-C can never outspeed Choice Scarfers or speed boosting Paradox Pokemon. Tera Fire Choice Scarf Koraidon always guarantees an OHKO on Zacian-C with Flare Blitz unless it Terastalizes to a fire resist. Scarf Miraidon or Eternatus and Iron Bundle can all revenge kill Zacian-C after it has been chipped.
**Bulky Ground Types:** Groudon, Arceus-Ground, and Landorus-T can leverage their HP investment to survive Intrepid Sword boosted attacks, then threaten Zacian-C with super effective ground type attacks.
**Unaware Pokemon:** Pokemon such as Skeledirge or Dondozo ignore Intrepid Sword's attack boost, allowing them to comfortably wall Zacian-C and prevent it from making progress against bulkier team compositions.
**Tera Fire Users:** Zacian-C's primary STAB types are both resisted by Fire, allowing Pokemon such as SD Koraidon or Calyrex-I to flip the matchup around and safely revenge kill or threaten a sweep against Zacian-C.
**Necrozma-DM**: The ability to comfortably resist all of Zacian-C's standard attacks makes Necrozma-DM one of its most reliable checks. Behemoth Blade, Play Rough, and Wild Charge struggle to meaningfully damage Necrozma-DM, while Zacian-C is threatened by a retaliatory Earthquake, which will always OHKO it at +1. Close Combat is Zacian-C's best option against Necrozma-DM, but even at +3 it cannot OHKO fully physically invested variants, and the defense drop allows even sets without Earthquake to 1v1 it after any chip.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/insolence.668571/
Quality checked by:
[QC checker 1's profile link]
[QC checker 2's profile link]
Grammar checked by:
[GP checker's profile link]
Zacian-C's absurd speed tier, ability, and amazing typing make it one of the most dangerous physical threats in Ubers. A single Swords Dance sets it up to threaten 2HKOs on even the tier's premier physical walls, allowing Zacian-C to take over games if left alone for even a single turn. Fairy/Steel typing allows it to switch into dragon type attacks and resist Arceus even at +3. Its wide selection of powerful coverage moves can easily check tier staples such as Arceus-Fairy, Koraidon and Miraidon. It serves as an extraordinarily powerful wallbreaker and sweeper, able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame save for Deoxys and Regieleki. While extremely powerful, Zacian-C is heavily reliant on its ability Intrepid Sword, which only activates once per game, and cannot boost its own speed without sacrificing coverage. Good positioning and threat control are required for it to seize an opportunity and tear apart enemy teams.
[SET]
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fighting
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade / Play Rough
- Close Combat / Play Rough
- Wild Charge
[SET COMMENTS]
Wild Charge allows Zacian-C to break through Flying or Water types that might otherwise resist its attacks, such as Ho-Oh, Arceus-Water, Corviknight, and defensive Kyogre. Close Combat allows Zacian-C to OHKO Arceus, prevents its opponents from using Tera Steel, and is the strongest option to damage Necrozma-DM, killing defensive sets in two hits alongside Tera Fighting. Tera Flying instead allows Zacian-C to shed its Ground weakness, setting up on Arceus-Ground, Groudon, or Necrozma-DM. It can also terastalize defensively to live a hit from Choice Scarf users such as Koraidon, Miraidon, and Eternatus.
Zacian-C shines on bulky or hyper offensive team structures which allow it to get the most value out of its Intrepid Sword boost. Ribombee and its Sticky Webs make a fantastic partner for Zacian-C, providing much needed speed control against opposing scarfers. Physically defensive Pokemon such as Groudon, Skeledirge, or Landorus-T prove difficult for it to break through, so it enjoys being paired with a strong special attacker such as Miraidon or Kyogre. Fast sweepers such as Scale Shot Koraidon, Kyurem-Black, and Arceus all benefit from Zacian-C's ability to force out Teras and severely weaken enemy physical walls. While not as common, it can still be valuable on slower teams, especially against Miraidon, and serves as a potent revenge killer once its opponents have been chipped by hazards.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Substitute can be run over an attacking move, sacrificing its coverage for the ability to dodge status conditions and safely set up. Unfortunately, giving up an attack greatly limits Zacian-C's offensive profile, meaning this set relies heavily on your team being able to cover the resulting bad matchups.
Checks and Counters
====
**Speed Control:** Rusted Sword means Zacian-C can never outspeed Choice Scarfers or speed boosting Paradox Pokemon. Tera Fire Choice Scarf Koraidon always guarantees an OHKO on Zacian-C with Flare Blitz unless it Terastalizes to a fire resist. Scarf Miraidon or Eternatus and Iron Bundle can all revenge kill Zacian-C after it has been chipped.
**Bulky Ground Types:** Groudon, Arceus-Ground, and Landorus-T can leverage their HP investment to survive Intrepid Sword boosted attacks, then threaten Zacian-C with super effective ground type attacks.
**Unaware Pokemon:** Pokemon such as Skeledirge or Dondozo ignore Intrepid Sword's attack boost, allowing them to comfortably wall Zacian-C and prevent it from making progress against bulkier team compositions.
**Tera Fire Users:** Zacian-C's primary STAB types are both resisted by Fire, allowing Pokemon such as SD Koraidon or Calyrex-I to flip the matchup around and safely revenge kill or threaten a sweep against Zacian-C.
**Necrozma-DM**: The ability to comfortably resist all of Zacian-C's standard attacks makes Necrozma-DM one of its most reliable checks. Behemoth Blade, Play Rough, and Wild Charge struggle to meaningfully damage Necrozma-DM, while Zacian-C is threatened by a retaliatory Earthquake, which will always OHKO it at +1. Close Combat is Zacian-C's best option against Necrozma-DM, but even at +3 it cannot OHKO fully physically invested variants, and the defense drop allows even sets without Earthquake to 1v1 it after any chip.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/insolence.668571/
Quality checked by:
[QC checker 1's profile link]
[QC checker 2's profile link]
Grammar checked by:
[GP checker's profile link]
Last edited:
