[OVERVIEW]
With its low-risk, high-reward Knock Off backed up by Triple Axel and an excellent Speed tier— which allows it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame barring Dragapult, Tapu Koko, and Zeraora and fire of strong attacks without taking a hit itself—Weavile establishes itself as a top threat every team needs to be prepared for. Knock Off and Triple Axel have amazing synergy, as Triple Axel's main flaw is that Rocky Helmet users that can take a Triple Axel can punish Weavile with heavy damage, but Knock Off can remove Rocky Helmet from these Pokemon, allowing Weavile to use Triple Axel more freely. Its Dark / Ice STAB combination also allows it to threaten many tier staples such as Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Galarian Slowking, and Slowbro with an OHKO, forcing out these Pokemon to gain opportunities to spam Knock Off. Weavile also serves as a valuable check to Swords Dance Garchomp and Choice Specs Dragapult, with its Ice Shard OHKOing Garchomp after its Defense is dropped by Scale Shot, as well as serving as one of the tier's only Ghost-resistant Pokemon. However, Weavile is held back by various contact-punishing effects, including the previously mentioned Rocky Helmet as well as Flame Body, Static, and Iron Barbs. Flame Body Heatran and Volcarona can take Triple Axel with ease while being favored to inflict a burn on Weavile, ruining its offensive capabilities. Zapdos cannot safely switch into Weavile, but it has favorable odds to inflict paralysis when Triple Axel is used, and a paralyzed Weavile is nearly useless in many matchups due to its poor bulk and defensive typing.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Triple Axel
move 4: Knock Off
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Pressure
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Swords Dance Weavile threatens heavy damage with Swords Dance-boosted attacks and disrupts opposing teams with Knock Off. Swords Dance enables Weavile to OHKO Pokemon like Choice Band Tyranitar and Kartana with Triple Axel after a boost and heavily weaken Pokemon like Buzzwole, Corviknight, and Skarmory for other physical attackers like Urshifu-R, Kartana, and Garchomp to finish off. Ice Shard is mainly useful for Swords Dance Garchomp and Dragon Dance Dragonite, as it can OHKO them after they use Scale Shot or take chip damage, respectively; however, other Pokemon, including weakened Rillaboom and Dragapult, can also be picked off. The immunity to entry hazards granted by Heavy-Duty Boots allows Weavile to last longer while being less reliant on Taunt, Defog, and Rapid Spin support, which is important to gain more opportunities to use Knock Off and support its team's effort of breaking through the opposing team. A Jolly nature is preferred on Weavile to outspeed Tornadus-T while tying with Modest Dragapult and other Jolly Weavile. Adamant can be used instead, making Weavile slower than the aforementioned Pokemon but giving it the capability to OHKO Pokemon like bulky Volcarona, Clefable, and opposing Weavile at +2.
Team Options
========
Weavile's excellence at wallbreaking and removing items allows it to form powerful synergies with many Pokemon. Future Sight users like Slowbro, Tapu Lele, and Assault Vest Galarian Slowking can help Weavile break through checks like Toxapex, Buzzwole, and Urshifu-R. Steel-types like Melmetal, Heatran, and Ferrothorn trying to absorb both Future Sight and Knock Off lose their items like Assault Vest and Leftovers in the process, which greatly assists Tapu Lele in wallbreaking or cleaning up weakened teams. Tapu Lele and Weavile also provide answers to both of Dragapult's STAB types. Galarian Slowking gains easy entry on one of Weavile's best checks in Toxapex while checking some of Weavile's revenge killers, like Tapu Koko and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, as well as Tapu Fini, which is a counter to Weavile. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking can also scout what move Choice Specs Dragapult locks into, allowing Weavile to safely come in on Shadow Ball. Slowbro can bring in Weavile safely with Teleport while checking Urshifu-R, defensive Buzzwole, and Melmetal. Entry hazard-setting teammates like Landorus-T, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Clefable, and Garchomp are amazing partners, as Weavile's Knock Off enables their hazards to reach their full potential by removing Heavy-Duty Boots. These Pokemon have additional synergies with Weavile as well. Specially defensive Landorus-T checks Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Dragapult that can threaten Weavile, and it can also use a slow U-turn against Pokemon like opposing Landorus-T and Tornadus-T to bring in Weavile safely. Heatran benefits from Weavile removing Shed Shell from Toxapex, allowing Heatran to trap it, which in turn removes one of Weavile's counters. Ferrothorn's Spikes in conjunction with Weavile's Knock Off has potential to be far more potent than Stealth Rock, and Ferrothorn also checks important Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Fini that can revenge kill or wall Weavile. Mew is a great teammate on hyper offense for Life Orb Weavile especially, as it can both deny opposing entry hazards with Taunt and set Spikes to wear down Steel-type checks like Melmetal and Ferrothorn. Despite helping with the matchup, Weavile cannot handle Dragapult alone, so specially defensive Pokemon like Assault Vest Tornadus-T and Clefable can assist against it. Weavile cannot safely switch in against most Pokemon, which makes pivots like Tapu Koko and Landorus-T excellent partners. Tapu Koko can bring Weavile in with U-turn against Pokemon like Galarian Slowking, Landorus-T, and Garchomp; however, both it and Weavile struggle with Ferrothorn. Therefore, Fire-types like Heatran and Victini can be used alongside them to threaten Ferrothorn. Wallbreakers like Urshifu-R, Melmetal, and Heatran appreciate Weavile removing items from shared counters like Toxapex and Buzzwole, especially if they are running Rocky Helmet, as these wallbreakers' main attacks are both multi-hit and contact. Urshifu-R can also break through Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Heatran and pressure Blaziken, boosted Volcarona, and Choice Scarf Blacephalon with Aqua Jet. Protective Pads Urshifu-R, in particular, can use Taunt against Buzzwole to prevent it from recovering, which helps Weavile break through it. In return, Weavile can threaten Zapdos, Dragonite, and Dragapult for Urshifu-R. Melmetal and Heatran can check Fairy-types like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, and Clefable for Weavile, while Weavile can take on Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T for them.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Life Orb is an option over Heavy-Duty Boots on Swords Dance sets with an Adamant nature on hyper offense to make Weavile nearly unwallable after using Swords Dance, as it lets Weavile OHKO Pokemon that would otherwise counter it, like Corviknight, Skarmory, and defensive Buzzwole, at +2 after Stealth Rock. However, Life Orb Weavile becomes very vulnerable to passive damage from Stealth Rock, its own Life Orb, Rocky Helmet, and Iron Barbs. Despite the sheer power provided by Life Orb, Weavile is still checked by Urshifu-R, Melmetal, and Tapu Fini at +2, while Ferrothorn, especially if holding Rocky Helmet, can often force a trade with +2 Weavile. Additionally, Choice Scarf users and Tapu Koko forcing Weavile out becomes much more punishing due to the lack of Heavy-Duty Boots, as Weavile will usually take entry hazard damage whenever it attempts to switch in again. Low Kick can be used both with and without a Life Orb. Without a Life Orb, Low Kick can be used to deal heavy damage to Ferrothorn and bulky Melmetal while OHKOing Heatran at +2, while with a Life Orb, Low Kick can OHKO Ferrothorn and Melmetal after a Swords Dance and opposing Weavile before a Swords Dance. Giving up Ice Shard for Low Kick results in Weavile being unable to check boosted Dragonite and Garchomp, while dropping Triple Axel results in Weavile being checked by Pokemon like Buzzwole, Corviknight, Clefable, Skarmory, and Tapu Fini, even at +2. Icicle Crash can be used as an alternative option on Choice Band sets, with higher accuracy, a lack of contact, and a chance to flinch, which minimizes randomness and thus is particularly nice against Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Garchomp, and Zapdos. However, Icicle Crash sacrifices a lot of power and most notably fails to OHKO Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Dragonite, and defensive Zapdos.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon, including Dragapult, Zeraora, Tapu Koko, and Choice Scarf users like Kartana and Tapu Lele, can force Weavile to switch out. While all Weavile sets dislike revenge killers, Life Orb and Choice Band sets get put on an especially fast timer before they succumb to entry hazard damage if forced out repeatedly.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types like Melmetal, Ferrothorn, bulky Scizor, and physically defensive Heatran can switch into Weavile while also threatening to make progress through wallbreaking and setting entry hazards. However, Low Kick variants can bypass Steel-types weak to Fighting with correct prediction, although Weavile still risks a burn from Heatran's Flame Body.
**Water-types**: Water-types like Urshifu-R, Toxapex, and Tapu Fini can counter Weavile with their good physical bulk and resistance to Triple Axel. Urshifu-R and Tapu Fini additionally resist Knock Off, while Toxapex doesn't mind losing its item and can take damage from Knock Off well. Urshifu-R threatens to break through Weavile's teammates with its powerful attacks and threatens Weavile with Close Combat. Toxapex can disrupt Weavile and its teammates with moves like Toxic, Scald, and Knock Off to make free progress while having both Recover and Regenerator to stay healthy long-term. Tapu Fini can set up Calm Mind or punish switch-ins with Whirlpool or Trick while forcing Weavile out with the threat of Moonblast.
**Contact Punishers**: Pokemon that can trigger negative effects like status and chip damage through Rocky Helmet or an ability can punish almost all of Weavile's best options. Ferrothorn and physically defensive Heatran are the worst to face, as they have the bulk and typing to take multiple hits from Weavile; however, even Pokemon weak to Ice, like Garchomp and Zapdos, can be sacrificed to inflict negative effects in a pinch. Although Volcarona is crippled by Knock Off, bulky variants can threaten a burn on Weavile. Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Buzzwole, Clefable, Corviknight, and Skarmory can take on Heavy-Duty Boots Weavile while dealing significant damage back to it with Rocky Helmet.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/veti.612907/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/earthflax.515115/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
With its low-risk, high-reward Knock Off backed up by Triple Axel and an excellent Speed tier— which allows it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame barring Dragapult, Tapu Koko, and Zeraora and fire of strong attacks without taking a hit itself—Weavile establishes itself as a top threat every team needs to be prepared for. Knock Off and Triple Axel have amazing synergy, as Triple Axel's main flaw is that Rocky Helmet users that can take a Triple Axel can punish Weavile with heavy damage, but Knock Off can remove Rocky Helmet from these Pokemon, allowing Weavile to use Triple Axel more freely. Its Dark / Ice STAB combination also allows it to threaten many tier staples such as Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Galarian Slowking, and Slowbro with an OHKO, forcing out these Pokemon to gain opportunities to spam Knock Off. Weavile also serves as a valuable check to Swords Dance Garchomp and Choice Specs Dragapult, with its Ice Shard OHKOing Garchomp after its Defense is dropped by Scale Shot, as well as serving as one of the tier's only Ghost-resistant Pokemon. However, Weavile is held back by various contact-punishing effects, including the previously mentioned Rocky Helmet as well as Flame Body, Static, and Iron Barbs. Flame Body Heatran and Volcarona can take Triple Axel with ease while being favored to inflict a burn on Weavile, ruining its offensive capabilities. Zapdos cannot safely switch into Weavile, but it has favorable odds to inflict paralysis when Triple Axel is used, and a paralyzed Weavile is nearly useless in many matchups due to its poor bulk and defensive typing.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Triple Axel
move 4: Knock Off
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Pressure
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Swords Dance Weavile threatens heavy damage with Swords Dance-boosted attacks and disrupts opposing teams with Knock Off. Swords Dance enables Weavile to OHKO Pokemon like Choice Band Tyranitar and Kartana with Triple Axel after a boost and heavily weaken Pokemon like Buzzwole, Corviknight, and Skarmory for other physical attackers like Urshifu-R, Kartana, and Garchomp to finish off. Ice Shard is mainly useful for Swords Dance Garchomp and Dragon Dance Dragonite, as it can OHKO them after they use Scale Shot or take chip damage, respectively; however, other Pokemon, including weakened Rillaboom and Dragapult, can also be picked off. The immunity to entry hazards granted by Heavy-Duty Boots allows Weavile to last longer while being less reliant on Taunt, Defog, and Rapid Spin support, which is important to gain more opportunities to use Knock Off and support its team's effort of breaking through the opposing team. A Jolly nature is preferred on Weavile to outspeed Tornadus-T while tying with Modest Dragapult and other Jolly Weavile. Adamant can be used instead, making Weavile slower than the aforementioned Pokemon but giving it the capability to OHKO Pokemon like bulky Volcarona, Clefable, and opposing Weavile at +2.
Team Options
========
Weavile's excellence at wallbreaking and removing items allows it to form powerful synergies with many Pokemon. Future Sight users like Slowbro, Tapu Lele, and Assault Vest Galarian Slowking can help Weavile break through checks like Toxapex, Buzzwole, and Urshifu-R. Steel-types like Melmetal, Heatran, and Ferrothorn trying to absorb both Future Sight and Knock Off lose their items like Assault Vest and Leftovers in the process, which greatly assists Tapu Lele in wallbreaking or cleaning up weakened teams. Tapu Lele and Weavile also provide answers to both of Dragapult's STAB types. Galarian Slowking gains easy entry on one of Weavile's best checks in Toxapex while checking some of Weavile's revenge killers, like Tapu Koko and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, as well as Tapu Fini, which is a counter to Weavile. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking can also scout what move Choice Specs Dragapult locks into, allowing Weavile to safely come in on Shadow Ball. Slowbro can bring in Weavile safely with Teleport while checking Urshifu-R, defensive Buzzwole, and Melmetal. Entry hazard-setting teammates like Landorus-T, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Clefable, and Garchomp are amazing partners, as Weavile's Knock Off enables their hazards to reach their full potential by removing Heavy-Duty Boots. These Pokemon have additional synergies with Weavile as well. Specially defensive Landorus-T checks Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Dragapult that can threaten Weavile, and it can also use a slow U-turn against Pokemon like opposing Landorus-T and Tornadus-T to bring in Weavile safely. Heatran benefits from Weavile removing Shed Shell from Toxapex, allowing Heatran to trap it, which in turn removes one of Weavile's counters. Ferrothorn's Spikes in conjunction with Weavile's Knock Off has potential to be far more potent than Stealth Rock, and Ferrothorn also checks important Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Fini that can revenge kill or wall Weavile. Mew is a great teammate on hyper offense for Life Orb Weavile especially, as it can both deny opposing entry hazards with Taunt and set Spikes to wear down Steel-type checks like Melmetal and Ferrothorn. Despite helping with the matchup, Weavile cannot handle Dragapult alone, so specially defensive Pokemon like Assault Vest Tornadus-T and Clefable can assist against it. Weavile cannot safely switch in against most Pokemon, which makes pivots like Tapu Koko and Landorus-T excellent partners. Tapu Koko can bring Weavile in with U-turn against Pokemon like Galarian Slowking, Landorus-T, and Garchomp; however, both it and Weavile struggle with Ferrothorn. Therefore, Fire-types like Heatran and Victini can be used alongside them to threaten Ferrothorn. Wallbreakers like Urshifu-R, Melmetal, and Heatran appreciate Weavile removing items from shared counters like Toxapex and Buzzwole, especially if they are running Rocky Helmet, as these wallbreakers' main attacks are both multi-hit and contact. Urshifu-R can also break through Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Heatran and pressure Blaziken, boosted Volcarona, and Choice Scarf Blacephalon with Aqua Jet. Protective Pads Urshifu-R, in particular, can use Taunt against Buzzwole to prevent it from recovering, which helps Weavile break through it. In return, Weavile can threaten Zapdos, Dragonite, and Dragapult for Urshifu-R. Melmetal and Heatran can check Fairy-types like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, and Clefable for Weavile, while Weavile can take on Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T for them.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Life Orb is an option over Heavy-Duty Boots on Swords Dance sets with an Adamant nature on hyper offense to make Weavile nearly unwallable after using Swords Dance, as it lets Weavile OHKO Pokemon that would otherwise counter it, like Corviknight, Skarmory, and defensive Buzzwole, at +2 after Stealth Rock. However, Life Orb Weavile becomes very vulnerable to passive damage from Stealth Rock, its own Life Orb, Rocky Helmet, and Iron Barbs. Despite the sheer power provided by Life Orb, Weavile is still checked by Urshifu-R, Melmetal, and Tapu Fini at +2, while Ferrothorn, especially if holding Rocky Helmet, can often force a trade with +2 Weavile. Additionally, Choice Scarf users and Tapu Koko forcing Weavile out becomes much more punishing due to the lack of Heavy-Duty Boots, as Weavile will usually take entry hazard damage whenever it attempts to switch in again. Low Kick can be used both with and without a Life Orb. Without a Life Orb, Low Kick can be used to deal heavy damage to Ferrothorn and bulky Melmetal while OHKOing Heatran at +2, while with a Life Orb, Low Kick can OHKO Ferrothorn and Melmetal after a Swords Dance and opposing Weavile before a Swords Dance. Giving up Ice Shard for Low Kick results in Weavile being unable to check boosted Dragonite and Garchomp, while dropping Triple Axel results in Weavile being checked by Pokemon like Buzzwole, Corviknight, Clefable, Skarmory, and Tapu Fini, even at +2. Icicle Crash can be used as an alternative option on Choice Band sets, with higher accuracy, a lack of contact, and a chance to flinch, which minimizes randomness and thus is particularly nice against Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Garchomp, and Zapdos. However, Icicle Crash sacrifices a lot of power and most notably fails to OHKO Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Dragonite, and defensive Zapdos.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon, including Dragapult, Zeraora, Tapu Koko, and Choice Scarf users like Kartana and Tapu Lele, can force Weavile to switch out. While all Weavile sets dislike revenge killers, Life Orb and Choice Band sets get put on an especially fast timer before they succumb to entry hazard damage if forced out repeatedly.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types like Melmetal, Ferrothorn, bulky Scizor, and physically defensive Heatran can switch into Weavile while also threatening to make progress through wallbreaking and setting entry hazards. However, Low Kick variants can bypass Steel-types weak to Fighting with correct prediction, although Weavile still risks a burn from Heatran's Flame Body.
**Water-types**: Water-types like Urshifu-R, Toxapex, and Tapu Fini can counter Weavile with their good physical bulk and resistance to Triple Axel. Urshifu-R and Tapu Fini additionally resist Knock Off, while Toxapex doesn't mind losing its item and can take damage from Knock Off well. Urshifu-R threatens to break through Weavile's teammates with its powerful attacks and threatens Weavile with Close Combat. Toxapex can disrupt Weavile and its teammates with moves like Toxic, Scald, and Knock Off to make free progress while having both Recover and Regenerator to stay healthy long-term. Tapu Fini can set up Calm Mind or punish switch-ins with Whirlpool or Trick while forcing Weavile out with the threat of Moonblast.
**Contact Punishers**: Pokemon that can trigger negative effects like status and chip damage through Rocky Helmet or an ability can punish almost all of Weavile's best options. Ferrothorn and physically defensive Heatran are the worst to face, as they have the bulk and typing to take multiple hits from Weavile; however, even Pokemon weak to Ice, like Garchomp and Zapdos, can be sacrificed to inflict negative effects in a pinch. Although Volcarona is crippled by Knock Off, bulky variants can threaten a burn on Weavile. Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Buzzwole, Clefable, Corviknight, and Skarmory can take on Heavy-Duty Boots Weavile while dealing significant damage back to it with Rocky Helmet.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/veti.612907/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/earthflax.515115/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
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