[OVERVIEW]
Zacian-C is arguably VGC 2022's best Restricted Pokemon with its speed that can get past the entire metagame asides the pertinent threats of Calyrex-S and Regieleki, its sky high offense, and it's (remove the apostrophe) Behemoth Blade which allows it to check or outright OHKO many of the metagame's Dynamax beneficiaries top Dynamax options such as Venusaur and Calyrex-I. Being so fast and immediately threatening makes Zacian-C exceptional at sweeping weakened teams and complement the many slower Restricted Pokemon such as Groudon, Kyogre, and Palkia well (I don't really get the logic of this sentence, if anything sweeping weakened teams complements fast teams who can get the damage off quickly. I get that Zacian can clear a threat that would otherwise outspeed those, but that is not what the sentence implies). Zacian-C does struggle against some of the format's common forces such as Groudon, Kyogre, and most importantly Incineroar, however it often takes fairly minimal support for Zacian-C's few checks to be handled. For example, (Add comma) Defiant Thundurus checks Kyogre and benefits from Landorus-T's and Incineroar's Intimidate. Groudon and Kyogre are good Restricted Pokemon partners for Zacian-C, as the former checks Incineroar, Thundurus, and Regieleki with it's Drought being a valuable tool against Kyogre (This is phrased really awkwardly, maybe change it to something like "and offers additional support against Kyogre through Drought), while the latter checks common Zacian-C checks like Incineroar and Landorus-T.
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Behemoth Blade
move 2: Play Rough / Sacred Sword / Close Combat
move 3: Substitute / Sacred Sword / Close Combat
move 4: Protect
item: Rusted Sword
ability: Intrepid Sword
nature: Adamant
evs: 236 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Play Rough is most important for for allows Zacian-C to slam Palkia hard and it comes with other benefits such as giving Zacian-C an option to 2HKO Kyogre even after having been Intimidated and hits the likes of Seismitoad, Support Thundurus, and Gastrodon hard (Should probably specify which of these it OHKOs / 2HKOs).
* Sacred Sword gives Zacian-C a strong super effective hit on Incineroar, ignores defense boosts from Ferrothorn's Iron Defense and Solgaleo's Max Steelspike or Ferrothorn's Iron Defense, and doesn't drop Zacian-C's defenses like Close Combat, letting it survive attacks like Incineroar's Flare Blitz. Close Combat is a much stronger option that allows Zacian-C to OHKO Incineroar while at +1, and is a good pick on hyper offense teams where Zacian-C's bulk is less important (I think you need to break down what kind of Incins these can OHKO. +1 CC picks up all of them besides Sash or Chople of course, but 4+ Zacian-C +1 Sacred has solid odds to OHKO non-defense invested Incins, which might be more relevant with the advent of no fighting move Zacian).
* Substitute is great to take advantage of the defensive counterplay Zacian-C so easily forces, can block status moves such as Amoonguss's Spore and Grimmsnarl's Thunder Wave and its is useful for stalling out the Dynamax turns of slower Pokemon. Running three attacks with Fighting coverage over Substitute is viable, however Substitute is generally most more valuable (Should move this before the fighting move section if you think Bblad/Prough/Sub is the primary set. I'd also give the fighting move section a lead-in to the effect of "As an alternative to Substitute or Play Rough..." or something).
* Zacian-C can afford to invest in its bulk without compromising its sweeping capabilities too much, and it gains benefits such as guaranteed living Venusaur's Modest Life Orb Max Quake and Calyrex-I's Intimidated Life Orb Max Quake. Moreover, (add comma) bulk investment is especially good alongside the format's common damage mitigators such as dual screens Grimmsnarl and Intimidate Incineroar. 236 HP investment gives Zacian-C an optimal number for Substitute. However, Zacian-C's EV spread is extremely flexible, it can run Jolly to outpace Dragapult and Adamant Zacian-C with more attack investment to compensate the power loss, or it can viably run maximum speed and attack with a Jolly nature, especially on hyper offense teams where its bulk is less valuable (I think you should cut the section I highlighted in red since 1) Pult isn't all that common, 2) you need to run 212+ to outspeed Pult and you should just max Speed at that point for the mirror, and 3) running Bulk + Attack with less speed is probably more common than going Jolly with minimal attack. Consequently I'd also mention that option of dropping speed and pumping attack. Can probably rephrase the rest of the sentence if you absolutely want to mention Jolly with minimal attack investment).
[OTHER OPTIONS]
Swords Dance allows Zacian-C to take advantage of its defensive counterplay, able allowing it to offset Intimidate from the likes of Incineroar and Landorus-T, as well and pose a more immediate sweeping threat, (This is a run on and I'd probably split it into two sentences with this comma becoming the period) however, (add comma) this leaves Zacian-C more vulnerable to status, more easily pinned down by Fake Out, and gives up its ability to waste Dynamax turns with Substitute. Imprison with a Jolly nature and max speed allows Zacian-C to potentially outspeed and disable opposing Zacian-C, however, (add comma) considering the variance of Zacian-C's second moveslot attacking moves and the possibility of losing a speed tie to opposing max speed Zacian-C, its Imprison is inconsistent at shutting down opposing Zacian-C completely, (Remove comma) and there's comes with the significant opportunity cost in of dropping Substitute or a third attack (Sorry to mess with this sentence so much but it was phrased pretty awkwardly and as an econ guy I need to make sure the opportunity cost section is phrased correctly :^) ).
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[zee, 501951], [Namuko Pro, 426995]]
- Grammar checked by: [[name, id]]
