[Anything Goes] Groudon

dhelmise

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[OVERVIEW]

Primal Groudon is one of the most threatening and customizable Pokemon in Anything Goes due to its ability to perform as a blanket check for common threats. On top of that, its Ground / Fire typing leaves it with only two weaknesses and provides it with five resistances; this lets it check Xerneas, Arceus-Steel, and, to an extent, Klefki. Additionally, even though one of Primal Groudon's two weaknesses is a 4x weakness to Water, this is remedied by its ability, Desolate Land, which gives it an immunity to Water-type moves, thus letting it switch in on Water-types and break through Primal Kyogre after it switches in. A vast movepool lets Primal Groudon run a plethora of sets, ranging from a support Pokemon to a wall, which makes it difficult for almost any Pokemon to switch into Primal Groudon. Primal Groudon has both powerful physical and powerful special STAB moves in Precipice Blades and Lava Plume, allowing it to weaken a wider range of walls. However, Primal Groudon's base Speed is quite low in the AG metagame without any boosts, and it is setup bait for and easily KOed by Darkrai due to its lack of recovery moves and its inability to run a support item like Lum Berry to avoid being put to sleep. Its inability to run a Lum Berry further causes Primal Groudon to be easily worn down by poison, resulting in it easily getting walled by bulky Arceus formes. Despite technically only having a weakness to Ground-type moves, Primal Groudon finds that weakness glaring due to how commonly Earthquake and Earth Power are used as coverage moves, limiting what it can wall. Mega Rayquaza also easily checks Primal Groudon, which is especially annoying, considering how common it is. Despite all of that, Primal Groudon is incredibly strong with both Swords Dance sets and Rock Polish sets. While Rock Polish doesn't directly boost Primal Groudon's Attack, the ability to outspeed the entire unboosted AG metagame is a great advantage.

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades / Earthquake
move 3: Lava Plume / Stone Edge
move 4: Roar / Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by applying chip damage to any foe that switches in. Stealth Rock is especially easy to set up when combined with Primal Groudon's ability to force switches against almost any Pokemon. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's primary STAB move and lets it maintain a great offensive presence, 2HKOing Xerneas and Arceus. Earthquake can be used as a more accurate alternative to Precipice Blades at the cost of power; however, the drop in power is often very noticeable, notably not being able to 2HKO Xerneas and Arceus. Lava Plume is Primal Groudon's other STAB move and has great power under Desolate Land, and when used in tandem with a 30% burn chance, it lets Primal Groudon cripple a plethora of physical attackers by burning them as well as weaken down walls. Stone Edge can be used over Lava Plume to hit Ho-Oh, mostly because non-Rock-type coverage variants are forced out by Ho-Oh. However, just keep in mind this is only recommended if you are running this set on a Ho-Oh-weak team. Roar is used to phaze setup sweepers like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus, and it helps rack up residual damage with Stealth Rock. Thunder Wave can be used over Roar to cripple fast threats, which help Primal Groudon and its teammates deal with threatening wallbreakers. Dragon Tail can be used over Roar as well to phaze Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O and can specifically hit Mega Rayquaza for a lot of damage while phazing it. However, one disadvantage of running Dragon Tail over Roar is the inability to phaze Xerneas, which is one of AG's most prevalent setup sweepers, and even if Primal Groudon is running Thunder Wave, it can at least lower Xerneas's Speed.

Set Details
========

The given EVs let Primal Groudon survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas, even after taking chip damage from Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes. If you're running Stone Edge on Primal Groudon, use an Impish nature instead. In addition to that, the EVs allow Primal Groudon to avoid the 2HKO from Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, Arceus-Rock's Judgment, and Giratina-O's Shadow Force. A Relaxed nature lets Primal Groudon survive an Earthquake from +2 Arceus and a Precipice Blades from opposing support Primal Groudon. A Careful nature with an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD could be used instead to let Primal Groudon face Xerneas and Primal Kyogre more easily but makes it harder for Primal Groudon to take physical attacks.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon to support its teammates by setting up Stealth Rock and crippling foes with Thunder Wave; this is the main focus of the set. Don't rely solely on Primal Groudon to set up Stealth Rock and paralyze foes, as its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards and ability to get pressured by Arceus make it difficult to set up Stealth Rock repeatedly. Try to spam Lava Plume because of its incredible chance of burning foes. Be wary of using Primal Groudon's Ground-type STAB move if the opponent still has a Ground-immune Pokemon on their team, as they can switch it in on Primal Groudon and attempt to capitalize off of it. Set up Stealth Rock early-game for as much residual damage on the opponent's team throughout the match. Use Primal Groudon as a phazer to setup sweepers like Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Xerneas. Try to avoid a situation where Primal Kyogre can switch in on Primal Groudon to allow the harsh sun to stay up and to avoid Primal Groudon getting forced out, giving Primal Kyogre a free KO; the same applies for Mega Rayquaza coming in on Primal Groudon and making it setup bait.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon doesn't like facing Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O, with the latter being able to remove Primal Groudon's Stealth Rock with Defog; Fairy-types like Xerneas, Mega Diancie, and Arceus-Fairy can be used to take care of them, and they appreciate Primal Groudon's ability to take care of the Steel-types that threaten them. Klefki can be a decent teammate because it can set up Spikes to complete a Stealth Rock + Spikes entry hazard setting core to further help cripple the foes that Primal Groudon cripples with its moves and Stealth Rock, and it additionally can take care of most of Primal Groudon's checks with Swagger + Foul Play. Arceus-Ground is also very threatening because a +1 Judgment OHKOes Primal Groudon and a +2 Earthquake 2HKOes it; Skarmory, Lugia, and Mega Rayquaza can check it. Aromatherapy and Heal Bell support from Xerneas, Blissey, Mega Diancie, and Chansey is useful to help Primal Groudon get rid of status ailments. Ho-Oh checks like Mega Diancie, Arceus-Rock, and Arceus-Water are good because Ho-Oh threatens Primal Groudon with Earthquake and it can't do anything in return. Entry hazard removers like Giratina-O and Arceus-Fairy get rid of the entry hazards that severely weaken Primal Groudon. Pokemon that can take down support Arceus formes, such as Ho-Oh, are good, considering that a lot of support Arceus formes are weak to Ho-Oh's STAB and coverage moves. Pokemon that benefit from Stealth Rock support like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus are good teammates because it helps them turn would-be 2HKOs into OHKOs.

[SET]
name: Offensive Stealth Rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Tail / Fire Punch
move 4: Stone Edge / Rock Tomb
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 236 Atk / 44 SpD / 76 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by turning more 2HKOs into OHKOs due to chip damage, and it is easy to set up thanks to Primal Groudon's ability to force foes out with its offensive pressure. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move, as it lets it 2HKO most of the AG metagame. Dragon Tail lets Primal Groudon phaze most setup sweepers; it is particularly useful against Mega Rayquaza due to its Dragon weakness and decent power. However, it leaves Primal Groudon without a way to phaze Geomancy Xerneas due to its immunity to Dragon-type moves. Fire Punch can be used over Dragon Tail to give Primal Groudon a strong, sun-boosted secondary STAB move, letting it easily damage a vast majority of the metagame neutrally, as well as being able to OHKO Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Bronzong. Stone Edge lets Primal Groudon hit threatening Flying-types like Yveltal, Lugia, and Ho-Oh super effectively. Rock Tomb can be used over Stone Edge to give Primal Groudon a more accurate Rock-type move, but the power drop is quite noticeable; however, it still lets Primal Groudon OHKO Ho-Oh and has the benefit of lowering the foe's Speed.

Set Details
========

76 Speed EVs let Primal Groudon outspeed every Pokemon up to uninvested Xerneas and Yveltal. 152 HP EVs and 44 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Geomancy Xerneas after Stealth Rock and an Earthquake from +1 Mega Rayquaza. 236 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon 3HKO physically defensive Xerneas and 2HKO opposing Primal Groudon.

Usage Tips
========

Play Primal Groudon with minimal risk if it needs to perform both as a Geomancy Xerneas check and as a Stealth Rock setter reliably. Try to set up Stealth Rock early-game to have as much of an effect throughout the match as possible, or when Primal Groudon is forcing a switch. Use Dragon Tail when you predict that the opponent is trying to bring in an entry hazard clearer or a foe is trying to set up. If you're running Fire Punch on Primal Groudon instead, it's safe to use the move when you aren't sure what Pokemon is going to be brought in because of the decent damage it deals after the sun and STAB boosts. If you can predict that a faster foe is switching in, try to use Rock Tomb because it can cause normally threatening Pokemon to switch back out or get KOed.

Team Options
========

Offensive Ground-immune Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O are good teammates for switching in on opposing Ground-types like Primal Groudon. Ho-Oh helps with covering some of Primal Groudon's weaknesses to special attacks and Ground-type moves. Fairy-types like Xerneas and Mega Diancie are helpful for taking care of the Dragon-types that threaten Primal Groudon, like Arceus-Dragon and Mega Rayquaza. Ghost- and Dark-types like Mega Gengar, Darkrai, and Yveltal are useful for threatening stall and balance teams, which Primal Groudon otherwise struggles with. All of the aforementioned teammates appreciate Stealth Rock support from Primal Groudon in return. A more reliable Xerneas check is recommended due to Primal Groudon being unable to do so after being whittled down by other attacks.

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Claw / Swords Dance
move 4: Stone Edge / Fire Punch
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Rock Polish helps Primal Groudon outspeed the entire neutral metagame after one boost, which makes it a deadly late-game sweeper. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to hit opposing Primal Groudon, Mega Gengar, and Arceus-Poison super effectively and deal a lot of damage to threatening foes like Arceus. Dragon Claw can be used to let Primal Groudon 2HKO the Dragon-types that normally wall it such as Giratina-O and Mega Rayquaza. Swords Dance can be used to give Primal Groudon a double dance set to let it perform as an insanely fast and strong attacker, allowing it to deal with bulkier threats like Lugia and Arceus-Water more reliably. Stone Edge lets Primal Groudon hit Flying-types like Ho-Oh and Yveltal super effectively and is optimal with Swords Dance because it can easily KO the aforementioned Lugia. Fire Punch can be used over Stone Edge to let Primal Groudon hit Steel-types like Skarmory and Ferrothorn super effectively, provides great neutral coverage in general, and is more reliable than Precipice Blades in the sun; however, it gives Primal Groudon the burden of not being able to hit Flying-types as reliably.

Set Details
========

Maximum Attack EVs and an Adamant nature grant Primal Groudon an outrageous offensive presence. 56 Speed EVs guarantee that Primal Groudon outspeeds Choice Scarf base 90 Speed Pokemon like Dialga, Kyogre, and Zekrom after a Rock Polish boost. 104 HP EVs and 96 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Xerneas. 124 Speed EVs can be used instead to let Primal Groudon outspeed faster Choice Scarf users like Jirachi and Genesect, but it sacrifices either Primal Groudon's ability to check Geomancy Xerneas or a substantial amount of damage.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon to force out Pokemon like Xerneas and set up Rock Polish (and Swords Dance if you're running it) on said switches. Try to get rid of or weaken opposing Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O before sending Primal Groudon in to sweep. Swords Dance can be a good option for pressuring support Defoggers like Arceus-Water but is less reliable against Mega Rayquaza. Non-Swords Dance variants need support Arceus formes and other physically bulky teammates gone to successfully sweep. Keep Primal Groudon healthy if it's needed for checking Fairy-types.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon pairs well with offensive Pokemon like Mega Gengar, Yveltal, another Primal Groudon, and Arceus-Water to take care of Lugia, defensive Primal Kyogre, and Ground Arceus. Mega Gengar is an especially useful teammate for variants of this set that lack Fire Punch to give your team a way of trapping and KOing support Arceus formes and Skarmory. Darkrai is a good teammate because it can outspeed and put all of Primal Groudon's checks to sleep to help it set up later in the match. Powerful wallbreakers like Mega Rayquaza and Ho-Oh can weaken walls like Lugia to help Primal Groudon wear down the opposing team easily. Stealth Rock support from Pokemon like Arceus-Fairy and Deoxys-S is important to chip at the health of Flying-type foes and break Focus Sashes on common users like Smeargle, as the former can reliably check Mega Rayquaza and the latter can easily fit onto most offensive archetypes.

[SET]
name: Paradancer
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Precipice Blades
move 4: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 48 SpD / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance gives Primal Groudon a way to boost its Attack to monstrous levels, letting it break through many bulky walls like Lugia. Thunder Wave is a great utility move that allows Primal Groudon to cripple and set up on a plethora of faster foes like Xerneas, Lugia, and Arceus-Water. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move because it gives it the ability to OHKO many neutrally effected foes after one Swords Dance. Rock Slide lets Primal Groudon hit Ground-immune foes like Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Yveltal; paraflinch foes when used in tandem with Thunder Wave; and it is more accurate than Stone Edge at the cost of less power. Fire Punch can be used as a secondary STAB move, but the lack of a way to reliably hit Flying-types is quite noticeable when Primal Groudon uses dual STAB over Precipice Blades + Rock Slide.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP EVs and 48 Special Defense EVs allow Primal Groudon to survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock Damage. 12 Speed EVs allow Primal Groudon to outspeed maximum Speed Diancie before it Mega Evolves. 196 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon maximize its power while maintaining enough bulk to survive moves from threatening foes.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon early-game to paralyze as many foes as possible to make it easier to keep Primal Groudon's Swords Dance boosts for longer periods of time later on in the match and to break through walls for teammates to finish off later. Try to set up on more passive Fairy- and Steel-types like Clefable and Ferrothorn to take minimal damage while completing the set up. Setting up will likely force the passive foes out, so try to paralyze the switch-in. Don't spam Thunder Wave too often until all opposing Ground-types are eliminated, as the lack of momentum can be detrimental later on in the match. Try to avoid setting up on Toxic users like Arceus-Water if possible; however, this may be required to remove Arceus-Water from the match. Primal Groudon should be played offensively so Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza can't freely pivot into it and ruin its sweep.

Team Options
========

Stealth Rock setters like Dialga and Deoxys-S are good teammates for weakening foes to give Primal Groudon more KOs against bulkier Pokemon like Arceus-Water and Lugia. Other setup sweepers like Geomancy Xerneas, Swords Dance Mega Rayquaza, and Extreme Killer Arceus can potentially sweep after Primal Groudon cripples, weakens, or KOes their checks. Primal Groudon gets checked by Dragon-types and Ho-Oh easily if it runs Fire Punch, so teammates like Klefki, Mega Diancie, and Arceus-Rock are great teammates to deal with them. Healing Wish users like Jirachi and Latias are good to fully heal Primal Groudon to let it have a chance at sweeping again. Pokemon that appreciate support Arceus formes being gone like Mega Rayquaza and Extreme Killer Arceus are good teammates for this set as well. Mega Gengar is a good teammate for removing Skarmory for non-Fire Punch variants.

[SET]
name: Lum Berry
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Dragon Tail / Roar
item: Lum Berry
ability: Drought
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Earthquake is Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to dent most neutral targets, even without Attack investment, and is much more reliable than Precipice Blades on a support set. Stealth Rock gives Groudon the ability to indirectly weaken foes for it or its teammates to finish off. Thunder Wave lets Groudon cripple fast wallbreakers like Darkrai and Ho-Oh on the switch. Rock Tomb can be used over Thunder Wave to deal decent damage to Ho-Oh and still act as a form of speed control. Dragon Tail is Groudon's main phazing move because it can damage Mega Rayquaza and isn't stopped by taunt. Roar is an alternative phazing move to Dragon Tail that hits behind Substitute, evades Protect, and hits Fairy-types.

Set Details
========

248 HP and Defense EVs let Groudon act as a bulky tank that can survive powerful physical attacks from Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Primal Groudon. 12 Speed EVs let Groudon outspeed Mega Diancie before or on the turn that it Mega Evolves. Lum Berry lets Groudon check status spreaders like Klefki and Darkrai temporarily.

Usage Tips
========

Utilize defensive Groudon as a lead to efficiently set up Stealth Rock and cripple any non-Ground-type foes with Thunder Wave. Use this set to capitalize on Swagger + Foul Play Klefki and OHKO it in return or to check sleep inducers like Darkrai and surprise them with an attack. Don't try to switch Groudon in on powerful special attackers like Xerneas due to its lack of special bulk that leaves it 2HKOed or OHKOed often. Be wary of Flying-types like Mega Rayquaza and Lugia because they can often take advantage of Groudon's lack of coverage. Spam Thunder Wave when the Ground-types on the opponent's team are gone to support teammates by crippling fast foes.

Team Options
========

Regular Groudon has trouble dealing with Water-types due to the lack of Desolate Land, so teammates like Mega Rayquaza are almost mandatory. Special walls like Clefable are good teammates because they can cover Groudon's low Special Defense and provide Wish support to give Groudon a form of recovery. Pokemon that appreciate entry hazard support to get easier KOs like Mega Rayquaza and Arceus are good teammates. Fairy-type checks like Mega Gengar, Ho-Oh, and Arceus-Poison are great for taking care of Xerneas. Options for dealing with Primal Kyogre such as Primal Groudon are recommended, as this set struggles immensely with Primal Kyogre, contrary to the other listed sets.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

On the support set, an offensive EV spread of 224 HP / 240 Atk / 32 SpD / 12 Spe with an Adamant nature can be used to let Primal Groudon be more threatening offensively. The EVs let Primal Groudon OHKO Primal Kyogre with Precipice Blades after Stealth Rock and still survive a Focus Blast from +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock. Rest is good on Primal Groudon due to it being its only form of recovery; however, wasting two turns is very annoying and leaves Primal Groudon setup fodder, and while it could be used with Heal Bell users, that just puts more of a burden on the user unless the team is stall oriented. Overheat can be used as a special STAB move to reliably OHKO physical walls like Skarmory; however, it lowers Primal Groudon's Special Attack, which might cause it to get easily forced out. Substitute can be used over Thunder Wave on the Swords Dance set to mess with Pokemon like Arceus-Water, but Primal Groudon can't take advantage of the move too well. Solar Beam could be used as a lure for Quagsire and Arceus-Water. A special Rock Polish set can be used to lure in physical walls like Yveltal and Arceus-Fairy and KO them with moves like Fire Blast, Earth Power, and Dragon Pulse. Eruption can be used to deal incredible amounts of damage; however, it requires some form of speed control such as Sticky Web.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ground-immune Pokemon**: Lugia can survive most of Primal Groudon's non-boosted attacks due to its outrageous bulk, and it can proceed to Toxic stall it down due to Multiscale and Roost. However, Lugia takes large amounts of damage from Stone Edge if Multiscale is not active, and it does not like Lava Plume burns either. Pokemon such as Mega Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Latias all resist or are immune to both of Primal Groudon's STAB options and can break through it with their powerful attacks. However, Primal Groudon can run Dragon Claw or Dragon Tail as a coverage move to hit these threats as well. Yveltal beats physically offensive Primal Groudon sets due to its immunity to Primal Groudon's main STAB move, Precipice Blades, its decent bulk with Rocky Helmet, and its ability to Toxic stall Primal Groudon. Skarmory can beat all Groudon sets that lack Fire-type coverage by simply phazing Groudon or making it waste its Rock-type coverage move by recovering off the damage with Roost. Giratina's outrageous bulk allows it to survive anything of Primal Groudon's and phaze it with Roar or Dragon Tail. However, Giratina must be wary of Swords Dance + Dragon Claw Primal Groudon variants. Ho-Oh can check Primal Groudon variants that do not decide to run Rock-type coverage moves and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. Ho-Oh also benefits from not being weakened by burns from Lava Plume, although Stone Edge is a popular choice on Primal Groudon, so switching it in becomes a risk in most cases.

**Support Arceus Formes**: Support Arceus formes like Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Dragon, bulky Arceus, and Arceus-Water resist or take little from Fire-type attacks and can avoid the 2HKO from Precipice Blades. They can then Toxic stall Primal Groudon; however, they do get beaten by Swords Dance variants.

**Arceus-Ground**: Arceus-Ground can survive any attack from Primal Groudon and can OHKO or 2HKO it with its own STAB Ground-type moves. Recover can help Arceus-Ground stall out Primal Groudon, but the burn from Lava Plume can cripple it, especially the physical sets.

**Primal Kyogre**: Primal Kyogre can overwrite Desolate Land with Primordial Sea and threaten to OHKO Primal Groudon with its Water-type moves. However, it does not appreciate switching in on Primal Groudon's STAB Ground-type attacks. Adding onto that, Primal Groudon can also switch in on Primal Kyogre to overwrite its Primordial Sea and either force it out or OHKO it with Precipice Blades.

**Chip Damage**: Chip damage from entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes and weak attacks all easily cut down Primal Groudon's health, especially due to its secondary Fire typing giving it a neutrality to Stealth Rock.
 
Last edited:

MZ

And now for something completely different
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[OVERVIEW]​

- pdon is one of the most threatening and splashable pokemon in ag thanks to its ability to blanket check commen threats- ground / fire typing gives pdon only 2 weaknesses w/ 5 resistances; lets it check xerneas, steelceus, and to an extent klefki
- desolate land gives pdon an immunity to water-type moves, which lets it switch in on water-types and wallbreak good verb pogre after the switch
- vast movepool lets it run a plethora of sets ranging from support, setup sweeper, and wall that makes it hard for almost any pokemon to switch into
- has both powerful physical and special stab moves in precipice blades and lava plume to weaken down more walls
- low speed stat w/o any boosts
- easily pressured by special attackers like mewtwo, mgar, and darkrai due to its lack of recovery moves this point is a little confused, it's weak to being worn down in general bc no recovery but that doesn't only apply to special attackers and m2/gengar arent really the best examples for this anyway
- glaring weakness to a common coverage move in earthquake/earth power, limits what it can wall
- susceptible to being worn down by poison and getting walled by bulky arceus formes
- mega rayquaza easily checks pdon, which is annoying considering how common it is
- is stupidly strong with swords dance sets I'd just specifically mention SD and RP make it v threatening rather than the small mention of setup sweeper above and 1 quick bullet here

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades / Earthquake
move 3: Lava Plume / Stone Edge
move 4: Roar / Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
======== dont forget spacing on p much all of these, 1 line after the =======
- stealth rock lets it support it and its teammates when used with its ability to force switches easily
- precipice blades is primary stab, lets pdon 2hko most of the ag metagame idk about 2hkoing most, it just gives it decent offensive presence since pdon is so strong for an uninvested wall
- earthquake can be used as a more accurate alternative, but the drop in base power can tend to be noticeable
- lava plume is the other stab move, has great power under desolate land, and when applying the 30% chance to burn lets pdon cripple physical attackers by burning them and weaken down walls
- stone edge can be used over lava plume to hit ho-oh, but pdon is switched out when it's sent in most of the time this point doesn't make much sense since u only switch out when u dont have edge, I'd just specify that edge is only needed on hooh weak teams but otherwise plume has way better pros
- roar is used to phaze setup sweepers like xern, mray, and arceus, and helps rack up residual damage
- twave can be used over roar to cripple fast threat, which can help pdon deal with threatening wallbreakers
- dtail can be used over roar as well to phaze out Ground-type-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O, and specifically can hit mray for a lot of damage while phazing it, but it can't phaze out xern, which is one of ag's most prevalent setup sweepers, sorta goes from con to pro weird here, I dont see the point of this last point and even with twave, pdon can at least cripple its speed

Set Details
========
- the given ev spread lets pdon live a focus blast from +2 xern after rocks and spikes and avoid the 2hko from pogre's ice beam, rockceus's judgment, and gira-o's shadow force
- relaxed nature lets pdon live an eq from +2 arceus and a pblades from opposing support pdon
- a careful nature with an ev spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD could also be used to let pdon face xern and pogre more easily but makes it harder for it to take physical attacks
- desolate land helps boost pdon's fire-type attacks and grants it an immunity to water moves idt u have to mention this because it's the only ability (so it's not required to mention why one ability over the other) and there's not much point in restating what it does when it's clearly v obvious with nothing to say. also checked w/ubers one and they dont bother either

Usage Tips
========
- can be used as a blanket check to many dangerous threats in the metagame like arceus and mray
- use to support teams by setting up sr and crippling foes with twave; this is the main focus of the set
- dont rely solely on pdon to set up sr and paralyze foes, as its weakness vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards and ability to get pressured by Arceus make it difficult to do all of this repeatedly
- try to spam lava plume for its incredible chance of burning foes
- be wary of using? ground type attacks if your opponent has a flying type pokemon or levitate user, as they can switch in on pdon when it uses a ground move
- set up rocks early game for residual damage throughout the match
- use pdon as a phazer to setup sweepers like mray, arceus, and xerneas
- try to avoid pogre getting switched in on pdon to keep the harsh sun up and so it doesnt come in and get a KO also mention that u want to avoid being Mray bait as much as possible

Team Options
========
- pdon doesnt like facing ground-immune dragon-types like mray and gira-o, with the latter being able to remove its stealth rock with defog; fairy types like xern, mdiancie, and fairyceus can be used to take care of them and can take care of the steel types that threaten them
- klefki can be a decent teammate because it can set up spikes to allow for a sr + spikes combo to help further cripple the foes that pdon cripples with its moves and sr and can take care of most of pdon's checks with swagplay
- groundceus is also very threatening to pdon because a judgment from cm groundceus ohkoes it and an eq from sd groundceus 2hkoes it; yveltal, lugia, and mray easily take care of groundceus maybe check rather than easily take care of since all have the potential to fall to CM or SD pretty easily depending on the scenario
- wish support from blissey is useful for letting pdon regain health back to stay alive throughout more of the match
- aromatherapy and heal bell support from xerneas, blissey, mega diancie, and chansey is useful to help pdon get rid of status ailments
- ho-oh checks like mega diancie, rockceus, and waterceus are good because ho-oh threatens groudon with eq and don can't do anything back
- entry hazard removers like gira-o and fairyceus are good teammates because they get rid of the hazards that severely weaken pdon
- pokemon that can take down support arceus formes like ho-oh are good considering a lot of support arceus formes are weak to ho-oh's moves
- pokemon that benefit from sr support like xerneas, mray, and arceus are good teammates because it helps them turn would-be 2hkos into ohkos

[SET]
name: Offensive Stealth Rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Tail / Fire Punch
move 4: Stone Edge / Rock Tomb
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 236 Atk / 44 SpD / 76 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- stealth rock is the main purpose of this set, as it allows pdon support it and its teammates to turn more 2hkos into ohkos, and is easy to set up thanks to pdon's offensive pressure
- precipice blades is pdons primary stab move, as it lets it 2hko most of the ag meta
- dragon tail lets pdon phaze out setup sweepers, it's especially useful for mray, as pdon can hit mray really hard while also removing its stat boosts; however, it means that pdon has no form of phazing out geoxern due to xern's immunity to dragon moves
- fire punch can be used to give pdon a strong secondary stab move that gets boosted in the sun, letting pdon easily damage a plethora of pokemon for neutral damage
- stone edge lets pdon hit threatening flying-types like yveltal and ho-oh
- rock tomb can be used over stone edge to give pdon a more accurate rock-type move but the drop in base power is very noticeable; however, it still ohkoes ho-oh and has the benefit of lowering the foe's speed

Set Details
========
- 76 speed evs let pdon outspeed every pokemon up to uninvested xerneas and yveltal
- 152 hp evs and 44 spd evs let pdon survive a focus blast from geoxern after stealth rock damage and an earthquake from +1 mega rayquaza
- 236 atk evs and an adamant nature let pdon 3hko physdef xern and 2hko opposing pdon
- desolate land gives pdon a boost to its fire type moves and an immunity to water-type moves same as above

Usage Tips
========
- play pdon with minimal risk to assure that it performs its role as a check to xern and as a stealth rock setter reliably this is a bit subjective, maybe play with minimal risk specifically if it's needed as a geoxern check?
- try to set up stealth rock early-game to have as much of an effect throughout the match as possible or when pdon is forcing a switch
- use dtail when u predict the opp tries to bring in a defogger or attempt to set up
- if you're running fire punch instead, it's a safe move to use when you're not sure what pokemon is going to be brought in because of the decent damage it deals after the sun and stab boosts
- if you can predict a faster pokemon switching in, try to use rock tomb because it can cause normally threatening pokemon to switch back out or get koed

Team Options
========
- offensive ground-immune pokemon like mega rayquaza and giratina-o are good for switching in on opposing pdon and other ground-types
- ho-oh helps with covering some of pdon's weaknesses to special attacks and ground-type moves
- fairy-types like xerneas and mega diancie are helpful for taking care of dragon-type foes that threaten pdon, like dragonceus and mega rayquaza
- ghost- and dark-types like mega gengar, darkrai, and yveltal are useful for threatening stall and balance teams, which pdon has trouble with
- all appreciate stealthrock support from pdon ? I think some stuff might've gotten deleted by accident

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Claw / Swords Dance
move 4: Stone Edge / Fire Punch
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- rock polish helps pdon outspeed most of the metagame after one boost, which makes is a deadly late-game sweeper
- pblades is the main ground-type stab move and allows pdon to hit opposing pdon, mega gengar, poisonceus, and other threats like arceus
- dclaw can be used to 2hko dragon-types that can normally wall pdon, like gira-o and mray
- swords dance can be used to give pdon a double dance set to let it perform as a fast and insanely strong attacker, letting it deal with bulkier threats like lugia and waterceus more reliably
- stone edge lets pdon hit flying-types like ho-oh and yveltal super effectively and is optimal with swords dance because it can hit the aforementioned lugia super effectively
- fire punch can be used over stone edge to let pdon hit steel-types like skarmory and ferrothorn super effectively and provides great neutral coverage in general, and is more reliable than pblades in the sun but has the drawback of not hitting birds as well

Set Details
========
- 56 spe evs guarantee that pdon outspeeds choice scarf base 90 speed pokemon like zekrom, dialga, and kyogre after a rock polish boost
- 104 hp evs and 96 spd evs let pdon survive a focus blast from +2 xerneas
- 124 speed evs can be used instead to outspeed faster choice scarf users like jirachi and genesect but sacrifices a lot of bulk, in particular the ability to check geoxern once
also you dont mention atk EVs


Usage Tips
========
- try to set up rock polish on forced switches
- use pdon to force out pokemon like xerneas and set up on those forced switches
- try to get rid of or weaken opposing mray or ho-oh before sending in pdon to sweep
if SD, this can be good for pressuring support defoggers like water arceus but be aware Mray can be a consistent check
if not SD, don needs support arc formes and other physically bulky things to reliably sweep
keep healthy if needed for fairy checking
probably one or two other things, I think this is what you wanted to write more of but I really had to check this so yeah


Team Options
========
- pairs well with offensive pokemon like mega gengar, yveltal, another primal groudon, and waterceus to take care of lugia, defensive pogre, and groundceus
- mega gengar is especially useful for variants that lack fire punch to give your team a way of koing it what is it? gengar can trap annoying support arc formes and lugia and steel types, all of those should be mentioned
- darkrai is a good teammate because it can outspeed and put all of pdon's checks to sleep to help it set up later in the match
- powerful wallbreakers like mray and ho-oh can weaken walls like lugia to help pdon wear down the opposing team easily
- stealth rock support from pokemon like fairyceus and deo-s is important to chip away flying type foes' hp and to break focus sashes on common users like smeargle; the former can reliably check mray and the latter can easily fit onto any team archetype rather than the any archetype, I think it's worth mentioning that don will generally fit onto more offensive teams and require an offensive SR setter, like deo or even stuff like dialga
some kind of fairy to help check ray and other dragon checks to pdon is cool for this


[SET]
name: Swords Dance + Thunder Wave
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Precipice Blades
move 4: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 48 SpD / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- swords dance gives pdon a way to boost its attack to monstrous levels, letting it break through many bulky walls like lugia
-twave is a great utility move to allow pdon to cripple and set up against a plethora of faster foes like xerneas, lugia, and waterceus
- pblades is pdon's main ground-type stab move because it gives pdon the ability to ohko many neutrally effected foes after one boost
- rock slide lets pdon hit ground-immune foes like lugia, ho-oh, and giratina-o, it lets pdon paraflinch foes when used in tandem with twave, and it is more accurate than stone edge at the cost of less power
- fire punch can be used as a secondary stab move, but the lack of an ability to hit flying-types that pdon has when using dual stab is quite noticeable and should be avoided

Set Details
========
- maximum hp evs and 48 spd evs allow pdon to survive a focus blast from a +2 xerneas after stealth rock damage
- 12 spe evs allow pdon to outspeed max speed diancie before it mega evolves
- 196 atk evs with an adamant nature let pdon maximize its power while maintaining enough bulk to survive threatening moves

Usage Tips
========

This Primal Groudon set should be used more early on within the game, as it should try to status its checks and counters before it starts setting up.
Try to setup on Fairy- and Steel-types as they cannot hurt Primal Groudon too much with their STAB attacks, in which it can take this opportunity to status the likely switchin such as Lugia, Giratina-O, or Mega Rayquaza.
Do not spam Thunder Wave too often if your oppoenent has a Ground-type such as Ground Arceus or a Primal Groudon of their own, as the lack of momentum can be detrimental later on.
try to avoid setting up on toxic users like water arc if possible
don wants to play offensive so things like ray can't pivot into it for free and ruin its time

I dont know why any of the stuff beyond here isn't in bullets but this needs to go through so whatever I suppose


Team Options
========
Stealth Rock setters such as Dialga, Mega Diancie, Deoxys-S, and Ferrothorn are good teammates to have, as the hazards can weaken opposing Pokemon which grants Primal Groudon the certain OHKO on certain mons such as Water Arceus and Lugia after a Swords Dance boost.
Other setup sweepers like Geomancy Xerneas, Swords Dance Mega Rayquaza, and Extreme Killer Arceus all contain the potential to sweep after Primal Groudon weakens their appropriate checks.
Primal Groudon also gets checked by a multitude of Pokemon such as Latios, Ho-Oh, Mega Rayquaza, and Giratina-O if it decides to run Fire Punch. Partners such as Mega Diancie, Rock Arceus, and Klefki are all options to deal with the aforementioned Pokemon in this case.
Primal Groudon can also be weaken quite a bit, thus Healing Wish supporters such as Latias and Shaymin-S can heal it to max health, in order to give it the chance to sweep again. idk about this last point, HW is super hard to justify thanks to its users but at least use jirachi as the primary example and /maybe/ latias as the secondary

[SET]
name: Lum Berry
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Roar / Dragon Tail
item: Lum Berry
ability: Drought
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Earthquake is Groudon's main STAB move that allows it to hit to dent most neutral targets even without the Attack investment.
Stealth Rock is an invaluable move that grants Groudon the ability to net residual damage on opposing incoming Pokemon.
Thunder Wave lets Groudon to cripple fast wallbreakers that tend to come in on it such as Latios, Darkrai, and Ho-Oh.
Roar allows Groudon to phaze out setup sweepers can hurt the enemy team in conjunction with the residual damage from Stealth Rock. Dragon Tail is another phazign option that does not get blocked by Taunt, however does not force out a Pokemon behind a Substitute. or fairies like xern and fairyceus, which is general more relevant for this

Set Details
========
The Evs are implemented in HP and Defense to turn Groudon into a bulky tank that can survive powerful physical attacks from the likes of Mega Rayquaza and Mega Mewtwo-X. While 12 EVs are added in the Speed stat to allow Groudon to outspeed Mega Diancie before it mega evolves.
Lum Berry was given as an item to allow Groudon to check status spreaders such as Klefki, Darkrai, and Ho-Oh for one turn.

Usage Tips
========
This Groudon set is mostly used to check Swagger Klefki and be able to OHKo it in return. However, you can also sleep inducers such as Darkrai, and be able to suprise them with an attack.
Do not try an switch in Groudon on powerful special attackers, as its lack in special bulk can leave it being 2HKOed or even OHKOed at times.
Be weary of Flying-types such as Mega Rayquaza and Lugia, as they can often abuse Groudon's lack of options to hit them besides it phazing them out.
a lot of its utility also comes from being able to check darkrai before the set is revealed, so u can try to abuse that
it also doesn't have much long term utility so be aware that it's not gonna be setting SR a lot
often a useful lead since not much can perfectly 1v1 this without getting out unscathed and aforementioned short term utility


Team Options
========
Regular Groudon has a hard time dealing with Water-types without the ability Desolate Land that its Primal counterpart contains. This means Pokemon like Kyogre become much more threatening and appropriate checks such as Latios and Mega Rayquaza may be necessary.
Wallbreakers that can abuse the sun from Drought and the hazard support from Stealth Rock such as Mega Blaziken and Ho-Oh also may be beneficial partners to Groudon, as they tend to sweep much more easier.
Special Walls such as Clefable may also be useful to cover Groudon's low Special Defense and can provide Wish support as well to preserve Groudon's health.
fairy checks are 100% critical since one of the huge things this mon drops is the ability to actually check geoxern, maybe other stuff chloe will mention as well since this feels short but nothing else specifically comes to mind

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- on the support set, an offensive ev spread with 224 HP / 240 Atk / 32 SpD /12 Spe w/ an Adamant nature can be used to let pdon be more threatening offensively; the evs let pdon ohko pogre with pblades after stealth rocks and still lets it live a focus blast from +2 xern after rocks
Rest is a viable move on bulky Primal Groudon sets, as it is its only tool for recovery. However, the drawback of wasting two turns asleep can be crucial as your opponent is given the opportunity to setup or weaken Primal Groudon again.
Overheat can also be used as a Special STAB option to reliably OHKO physical walls such as Skarmory, although it lowers Primal Groudon's Special Attack by two stages after one use, which may force it to switchout as a result.
Rock Tomb can be used as a niche coverage move that can lower the Speed of incoming wallbreakers such as Latios and offensive Arceus formes on the switchin, but the low BP of the move leaves much to be desired. I think this was mentioned in other sets / the point is left over from funbot's? remove
substitute over twave on SD can fuck with things like water arceus but don cant abuse the move too well
solarbeam quagsire lure
special / special RP, basically the ubers stuff but things like surprise eruption and dragon pulse



Checks and Counters
===================

**Lugia**: Lugia can live most of Primal Groudon's non-boosted attack due to its massive bulk and can proceed to Toxic stall it to death thanks to Multiscale and Roost. Although, Lugia takes large amounts of damage from Stone Edge if Multiscale is not active.

**Ground-immune Dragon-types**: Pokemon such as Mega Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Latios all resist both of Primal Groudon's STAB options and can break through it with their powerful attacks. However, Primal Groudon can run Dragon Claw or Dragon Tail as a coverage move to hit these threats as well.

**Ground Arceus**: Ground Arceus can live any attack from Primal Groudon and can OHKO it with its own STAB Ground-type moves. Recover can help it stall out Primal Groudon, but the burn status from Lava Plume can cripple Ground Arceus, especially the physical sets.

**Water Arceus**: Water Arceus resists Fire-type attacks and can avoid the 2HKO from Precipice Blades. It can then Toxic stall Primal Groudon, however it does get beaten by Swords Dance variants.

**Primal Kyogre**: Primal Kyogre can overwrite Desolate Land with Primordial Sea and can threaten to OHKO Primal Groudon with its Water-type moves. However, it does not appreciate switching in on Primal Groudon's STAB Ground-type attacks.

**Ho-Oh**: Ho-Oh can check Primal Groudon variants that do not decide to run Rock-type coverage moves, and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. Ho-Oh also benefits from not being weakened by burns from Lava Plume, although Stone Edge is a popular choice on Primal Groudon so switching it in becomes a risk in most cases.

c&c is just straight up missing mentions of regular tina, yveltal, and chip damage. I'd add yveltal, tina, and chip in that order to the very bottom of this. it should all be straightforward but this is p critical so yeah
e: apparently even more stuff is being changed so not a full stamp yet, checking tomorrow so this gets done
 

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AM QC coming through

General notes: All the spelling and grammar issues made it a bit hard to read. This isn’t that much of an issue, but it would make it a lot easier to check.
There’s also waaaay too much mention of Giratina-O. It’s not that good.


QC: Megazard / x / x

GP: x / x


[OVERVIEW]


- pdon is one of the most threatening and splashable pokemon in ag thanks to its ability to blanket check commen threats- ground / fire typing gives pdon only 2 weaknesses w/ 5 resistances; lets it check xerneas, steelceus, and to an extent klefki

- desolate land gives pdon an immunity to water-type moves, which lets it switch in on water-types and break through pogre after the switch

- vast movepool lets it run a plethora of sets ranging from support to wall that makes it hard for almost any pokemon to switch into

- has both powerful physical and special stab moves in precipice blades and lava plume to weaken down more walls

- low speed stat w/o any boosts

- easily koed by special attackers like darkrai due to its lack of recovery moves

- glaring weakness to a common coverage move in earthquake/earth power, limits what it can wall

- susceptible to being worn down by poison and getting walled by bulky arceus formes

- mega rayquaza easily checks pdon, which is annoying considering how common it is

- is stupidly strong with swords dance and rock polish sets
It’s not “easily KOed” by Darkrai, it’s setup bait. The distinction is rather large, both in how they play and in how much team support you need.
Mention Rocks here, as being a reliable rocker is one of PDon’s (and reg don’s) biggest draws
Rock polish doesn’t boost power and isn't the only SD set, so mention how strong SD sets are or how strong Groudon is in general- not rock polish. If you want to talk about how good it is (which is worth doing), make a new bullet or mention how it works in concert with swords dance.
[SET]

name: Support

move 1: Stealth Rock

move 2: Precipice Blades / Earthquake

move 3: Lava Plume / Stone Edge

move 4: Roar / Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail

item: Red Orb

ability: Drought

nature: Relaxed

evs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD


[SET COMMENTS]

Moves

========


- stealth rock lets it support it and its teammates when used with its ability to force switches easily

- precipice blades is primary stab, lets pdon have a great offensive presence

- earthquake can be used as a more accurate alternative, but the drop in base power can tend to be noticeable

- lava plume is the other stab move, has great power under desolate land, and when applying the 30% chance to burn lets pdon cripple physical attackers by burning them and weaken down walls

- stone edge can be used over lava plume to hit ho-oh because pdon is switched out when ho-oh's sent in most of the time, but stone edge is only needed on ho-oh weak teams

- roar is used to phaze setup sweepers like xern, mray, and arceus, and helps rack up residual damage

- twave can be used over roar to cripple fast threat, which can help pdon deal with threatening wallbreakers

- dtail can be used over roar as well to phaze out Ground-type-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O, and specifically can hit mray for a lot of damage while phazing it, but it can't phaze out xern, which is one of ag's most prevalent setup sweepers, and even with twave, pdon can at least cripple its speed
You don’t support yourself, and the last part is worded oddly. Make clear either that you are setting it on the switches primal groudon forces, or you are setting them and then later causing switches.
Mention how PBlades 2HKOes Xerneas and can 2HKO Ekiller, which is why it is almost always the better pick.
This point is confusing as people don’t tend to switch Ho-Oh into PDon, and PDon can cripple it with rocks anyway. I think I still got what you meant, but this bullet still needs a cleanup.
Add a Particularly or w/e, because it can phase out things that aren’t ground immune dragons.
Set Details

========


- the given ev spread lets pdon live a focus blast from +2 xern after rocks and spikes and avoid the 2hko from pogre's ice beam, rockceus's judgment, and gira-o's shadow force

- relaxed nature lets pdon live an eq from +2 arceus and a pblades from opposing support pdon

- a careful nature with an ev spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD could also be used to let pdon face xern and pogre more easily but makes it harder for it to take physical attacks


Usage Tips

========


- can be used as a blanket check to many dangerous threats in the metagame like arceus and mray

- use to support teams by setting up sr and crippling foes with twave; this is the main focus of the set

- dont rely solely on pdon to set up sr and paralyze foes, as its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards and ability to get pressured by Arceus make it difficult to do all of this repeatedly

- try to spam lava plume for its incredible chance of burning foes

- be wary of using ground type attacks if your opponent has a flying type pokemon or levitate user, as they can switch in on pdon when it uses a ground move

- set up rocks early game for residual damage throughout the match

- use pdon as a phazer to setup sweepers like mray, arceus, and xerneas

- try to avoid pogre getting switched in on pdon to keep the harsh sun up and so it doesnt come in and get a KO, same applies for mray and pdon becoming setup bait


Team Options

========


- pdon doesnt like facing ground-immune dragon-types like mray and gira-o, with the latter being able to remove its stealth rock with defog; fairy types like xern, mdiancie, and fairyceus can be used to take care of them and can take care of the steel types that threaten them

- klefki can be a decent teammate because it can set up spikes to allow for a sr + spikes combo to help further cripple the foes that pdon cripples with its moves and sr and can take care of most of pdon's checks with swagplay

- groundceus is also very threatening to pdon because a judgment from cm groundceus ohkoes it and an eq from sd groundceus 2hkoes it; yveltal, lugia, and mray check groundceus

- wish support from blissey is useful for letting pdon regain health back to stay alive throughout more of the match

- aromatherapy and heal bell support from xerneas, blissey, mega diancie, and chansey is useful to help pdon get rid of status ailments

- ho-oh checks like mega diancie, rockceus, and waterceus are good because ho-oh threatens groudon with eq and pdon cant do anything in return

- entry hazard removers like gira-o and fairyceus are good teammates because they get rid of the hazards that severely weaken pdon

- pokemon that can take down support arceus formes like ho-oh are good considering a lot of support arceus formes are weak to ho-oh's moves

- pokemon that benefit from sr support like xerneas, mray, and arceus are good teammates because it helps them turn would-be 2hkos into ohkos
Mention how many layers of spikes; it’s minor, but still important.
How does it check MRay? Arceus I can see, but this set dies to MRay.
Why Giratina-O, or even Ground immune dragons? It just struggles with flying types that don’t die to lava plume, which is pretty much all of them besides some Yveltals. Giratina-O isn't relevant to be worth mentioning on a point it doesn't especially fit
Don’t mention Blissey Wish- this doesn’t fit on the kind of stall that runs Blissey. Replace with Healing Wish, or even Clefable.
-Same thing with the aromatherapy bullet; say Xerneas, Diancie, Clefable etc.
- stealth rock is the main purpose of this set, as it allows pdon support it and its teammates to turn more 2hkos into ohkos, and is easy to set up thanks to pdon's offensive pressure

- precipice blades is pdons primary stab move, as it lets it 2hko most of the ag meta

- dragon tail lets pdon phaze out setup sweepers, it's especially useful for mray, as pdon can hit mray really hard while also removing its stat boosts; however, it means that pdon has no form of phazing out geoxern due to xern's immunity to dragon moves

- fire punch can be used to give pdon a strong secondary stab move that gets boosted in the sun, letting pdon easily damage a plethora of pokemon for neutral damage

- stone edge lets pdon hit threatening flying-types like yveltal and ho-oh

- rock tomb can be used over stone edge to give pdon a more accurate rock-type move but the drop in base power is very noticeable; however, it still ohkoes ho-oh and has the benefit of lowering the foe's speed


Set Details

========


- 76 speed evs let pdon outspeed every pokemon up to uninvested xerneas and yveltal

- 152 hp evs and 44 spd evs let pdon survive a focus blast from geoxern after stealth rock damage and an earthquake from +1 mega rayquaza

- 236 atk evs and an adamant nature let pdon 3hko physdef xern and 2hko opposing pdon


Usage Tips

========


- play pdon with minimal risk if it needs to perform as a geoxern check and as a stealth rock setter reliably

- try to set up stealth rock early-game to have as much of an effect throughout the match as possible or when pdon is forcing a switch

- use dtail when u predict the opp tries to bring in a defogger or attempt to set up

- if you're running fire punch instead, it's a safe move to use when you're not sure what pokemon is going to be brought in because of the decent damage it deals after the sun and stab boosts

- if you can predict a faster pokemon switching in, try to use rock tomb because it can cause normally threatening pokemon to switch back out or get koed


Team Options

========


- offensive ground-immune pokemon like mega rayquaza and giratina-o are good for switching in on opposing pdon and other ground-types

- ho-oh helps with covering some of pdon's weaknesses to special attacks and ground-type moves

- fairy-types like xerneas and mega diancie are helpful for taking care of dragon-type foes that threaten pdon, like dragonceus and mega rayquaza

- ghost- and dark-types like mega gengar, darkrai, and yveltal are useful for threatening stall and balance teams, which pdon has trouble with

- all appreciate stealth rock support from pdon
Just list Lugia in with HooH and YGod, it’s part of the same set.
“Play with minimal risk” ???
[SET]

name: Rock Polish

move 1: Rock Polish

move 2: Precipice Blades

move 3: Dragon Claw / Swords Dance

move 4: Stone Edge / Fire Punch

item: Red Orb

ability: Drought

nature: Adamant

evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Moves

========


- rock polish helps pdon outspeed most of the metagame after one boost, which makes is a deadly late-game sweeper

- pblades is the main ground-type stab move and allows pdon to hit opposing pdon, mega gengar, poisonceus, and other threats like arceus

- dclaw can be used to 2hko dragon-types that can normally wall pdon, like gira-o and mray

- swords dance can be used to give pdon a double dance set to let it perform as a fast and insanely strong attacker, letting it deal with bulkier threats like lugia and waterceus more reliably

- stone edge lets pdon hit flying-types like ho-oh and yveltal super effectively and is optimal with swords dance because it can hit the aforementioned lugia super effectively

- fire punch can be used over stone edge to let pdon hit steel-types like skarmory and ferrothorn super effectively and provides great neutral coverage in general, and is more reliable than pblades in the sun but has the drawback of not hitting flying-types as reliably


Set Details

========

- max atk evs and an adamant nature let pdon have an outrageous offensive presence

- 56 spe evs guarantee that pdon outspeeds choice scarf base 90 speed pokemon like zekrom, dialga, and kyogre after a rock polish boost

- 104 hp evs and 96 spd evs let pdon survive a focus blast from +2 xerneas

- 124 speed evs can be used instead to outspeed faster choice scarf users like jirachi and genesect, but it sacrifices pdon's ability to check geoxern


Usage Tips

========


- try to set up rock polish on forced switches

- use pdon to force out pokemon like xerneas and set up on said forced switches

- try to get rid of or weaken opposing mray or ho-oh before sending in pdon to sweep

- sd can be good for pressuring support defoggers like waterceus but less reliable against mray

- non-sd variants need support arceus formes and other physically bulky pokemon gone to sweep

- keep pdon healthy if it's needed for checking fairies


Team Options

========

- pairs well with offensive pokemon like mega gengar, yveltal, another primal groudon, and waterceus to take care of lugia, defensive pogre, and groundceus

- mega gengar is especially useful for variants that lack fire punch to give your team a way of trapping and koing support arceus formes and skarmory

- darkrai is a good teammate because it can outspeed and put all of pdon's checks to sleep to help it set up later in the match

- powerful wallbreakers like mray and ho-oh can weaken walls like lugia to help pdon wear down the opposing team easily

- stealth rock support from pokemon like fairyceus and deo-s is important to chip away flying type foes' hp and to break focus sashes on common users like smeargle; the former can reliably check mray and the latter can easily fit onto most offensive archetypes
It hits flying types reliably, just not for as much damage.
Scarf 90’s aren’t that relevant (lol @ Scarf dialga). Hit some kind of benchmark, whether its 136 for Geo-xern, 124 for scarf Mray (*cough* thimo *cough*) Rachi, and Gene, 20 for Deo-S, or 16 for Deo-S.
You only need 104/72 to live a +2 FBlast after rocks if preprimal (+2 252+ SpA Xerneas Focus Blast vs. 104 HP / 72 SpD Primal Groudon: 292-344 (79.5 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock), while post primal even 96 won’t save you (+2 252+ SpA Xerneas Focus Blast vs. 104 HP / 96 SpD Primal Groudon: 284-335 (77.3 - 91.2%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock)

>offensive waterceus, what is this

[SET]

name: Swords Dance + Thunder Wave

move 1: Swords Dance

move 2: Thunder Wave

move 3: Precipice Blades

move 4: Rock Slide / Stone Edge

item: Red Orb

ability: Drought

nature: Adamant

evs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 48 SpD / 12 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Moves

========


- swords dance gives pdon a way to boost its attack to monstrous levels, letting it break through many bulky walls like lugia

-twave is a great utility move to allow pdon to cripple and set up against a plethora of faster foes like xerneas, lugia, and waterceus

- pblades is pdon's main ground-type stab move because it gives pdon the ability to ohko many neutrally effected foes after one boost

- rock slide lets pdon hit ground-immune foes like lugia, ho-oh, and giratina-o, it lets pdon paraflinch foes when used in tandem with twave, and it is more accurate than stone edge at the cost of less power

- fire punch can be used as a secondary stab move, but the lack of an ability to hit flying-types that pdon has when using dual stab is quite noticeable


Set Details

========


- maximum hp evs and 48 spd evs allow pdon to survive a focus blast from a +2 xerneas after stealth rock damage

- 12 spe evs allow pdon to outspeed max speed diancie before it mega evolves

- 196 atk evs with an adamant nature let pdon maximize its power while maintaining enough bulk to survive threatening moves


Usage Tips

========


- use early-game to paralyze as many foes as possible to make it easier to keep pdon's sr boosts for longer periods of time later on in the match and to wallbreak foes for teammates to finish off later

- try to set up on more passive fairy- and steel-types like clefable and ferrothorn to take minimal damage while completing the set up. setting up will likely force them out, in which try to twave the switch-in

- dont spam twave too often until all opposing ground-types are eliminated, as the lack of momentum can be detrimental later on in the match

- try to avoid setting up on toxic users like water arc if possible

- don wants to play offensive so things like ray can't pivot into it for free and ruin its time


Team Options

========


- sr setters like dialga, deo-s, and ferrothorn are good teammates for weakening foes to give pdon more kos against bulkier pokemon like waterceus and lugia

- other setup sweepers like geoxern, swords dance mray, and ekiller arceus can potentially sweep after pdon cripples, weakens, or koes their checks

- pdon gets checked by dragon-types and ho-oh easily if it runs fire punch, so teammates like mega diancie, rockceus, and klefki are great teammates to deal with them

- healing wish users like jirachi and latias are good to fully heal pdon to let it have a chance at sweeping again

- pokemon that appreciate supportceus formes being gone, such as mray and ekiller arceus, are good teammates for this set

- mega gengar is a good teammate for removing skarmory for non-fire punch variants of this set
Change it over to max attack, please. You KO YGod after rocks at +2, you have a shot to 2hko Lugia at +2/a chance to OHKO after rocks, you get the 3HKO on Tina, you get a shot to KO bulkceus at +2 after rocks… it’s just so much better.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 152 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
Still lives +2 FBlast after rocks, and the loss of physical bulk is more than made up for

Rock Slide doesn't really hit tina that well, and you've mentioned it enough already. Consider swapping it for Yveltal, whose bulky set is also a threat.
Mention better rock setters. Dialga and Ferro are mediocre and have little synergy bar how PDon checks Ho-Oh
[SET]

name: Lum Berry

move 1: Earthquake

move 2: Stealth Rock

move 3: Thunder Wave

move 4: Dragon Tail / Roar

item: Lum Berry

ability: Drought

nature: Impish

evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Moves

========


- eq is groudons main stab move and allows it to dent most neutral targets even without attack investment and is much more reliable than pblades on a support set

- stealth rock gives pdon the ability to indirectly weaken foes for it or its teammates to finish off

- twave lets pdon cripple fast wallbreakers on the switch in like darkrai and ho-oh

- dtail is pdon's main phazing move because it can damage mray and is not stopped by taunt

- roar is an alternative to dtail that hits behind sub and evades protect and can hit fairy-types, unlike dtail


Set Details

========


- 248 hp evs and 248 def evs let groudon act as a bulky tank that can survive powerful physical attacks from mray and mmx

- 12 spe evs let groudon outspeed mega diancie before it mega evolvs

- lum berry lets pdon check status spreaders like klefki and darkrai temporarily


Usage Tips

========


- use mostly to check swagplay klefki and ohko it in return or to check sleep inducers like darkrai and surprise them with an attack

- dont try to switch groudon in on powerful special attackers like xerneas due to its lack in special bulk leaving it 2hkoed or ohkoed often

- be wary of flying types like mray and lugia because they can often take advantage of pdon's lack of coverage

- spam twave when the ground-types on the foes team are gone to support teammates by crippling fast foes


Team Options

========


- regular groudon has trouble dealing with water-types due to the lack of desolate land, so teammates like mray are almost mandatory

- special walls like clefable are good teammates because they can cover groudon's low spd and provide wish support to give groudon a form of recovery

- pokemon that appreciate entry hazard support to get easier kos, like mray and arceus, are good teammates

- fairy-type checks like mgar, ho-oh, and poisonceus are great for taking care of xern


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options

=============


- on the support set, an offensive ev spread with 224 HP / 240 Atk / 32 SpD /12 Spe w/ an Adamant nature can be used to let pdon be more threatening offensively; the evs let pdon ohko pogre with pblades after stealth rocks and still lets it live a focus blast from +2 xern after rocks

- rest is good on pdon sets due to it being its only form of recovery; however, wasting two turns is very annoying and leaves pdon as setup fodder, and it could be used with heal bell users, but that puts more of a burden on them unless the team is stall-oriented

- overheat can be used as a special stab move to reliably ohko physical walls like skarmory; however, it lowers pdons special attack, which might make it easily forced out

-substitute can be used over twave on the sd set to mess with pokemon like waterceus but cant abuse the move too well

- solarbeam can be used as a lure for quagsire

- special rock polish can be used to lure in physical walls such as yveltal and fairyceus with things like eruption and dragon pulse
Don’t bother with MMX, just say Arceus+Pdon- that’s a much bigger draw
This would be a great place to mention the mixed RP set
Swords Dance+SR isn’t terrible in AG. especially when compared with eruption- consider listing
Checks and Counters

===================


**Lugia**: Lugia can live most of Primal Groudon's non-boosted attacks due to its outrageous bulk, and it can proceed to Toxic stall it to death due to Multiscale and Roost. However, Lugia takes large amounts of damage from Stone Edge if Multiscale is not active, and it does not like Lava Plume burns either.


**Ground-immune Dragon-types**: Pokemon such as Mega Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Latias all resist or are immune to both of Primal Groudon's STAB options and can break through it with their powerful attacks. However, Primal Groudon can run Dragon Claw or Dragon Tail as a coverage move to hit these threats as well.


**Support Arceus Formes**: Support Arceus formes like Fairy Arceus, Dragon Arceus, bulky Arceus, and Water Arceus resist or take little from Fire-type attacks and can avoid the 2HKO from Precipice Blades. They can then Toxic stall Primal Groudon; however, they do get beaten by Swords Dance variants.


**Ho-Oh**: Ho-Oh can check Primal Groudon variants that do not decide to run Rock-type coverage moves, and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. Ho-Oh also benefits from not being weakened by burns from Lava Plume, although Stone Edge is a popular choice on Primal Groudon so switching it in becomes a risk in most cases.


**Ground Arceus**: Ground Arceus can live any attack from Primal Groudon and can OHKO or 2HKO it with its own STAB Ground-type moves. Recover can help it stall out Primal Groudon, but the burn from Lava Plume can cripple Ground Arceus, especially the physical sets.


**Primal Kyogre**: Primal Kyogre can overwrite Desolate Land with Primordial Sea and threaten to OHKO Primal Groudon with its Water-type moves. However, it does not appreciate switching in on Primal Groudon's STAB Ground-type attacks. Adding onto that, Primal Groudon can also switch in on Primal Kyogre to overwrite its Primordial Sea and either force it out or OHKO it with Precipice Blades.


**Yveltal**: Yveltal beats physically offensive Primal Groudon sets due to its immunity to Primal Groudon's main STAB move, Precipice Blades, its decent bulk with Rocky Helmet, and its ability to Toxic stall Primal Groudon.


**Skarmory**: Skarmory can beat all Groudon sets that lack Fire-type coverage by simply phazing Groudon out or making it waste its Rock-type coverage move by recovering off the damage with Roost.


**Chip Damage**: Chip damage from entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes and weak attacks all easily cut down Primal Groudon's health due to its Fire typing giving it a weakness to Spikes and neutral damage from Stealth Rock.


**Giratina**: Giratina's outrageous bulk allows it to live anything of Primal Groudon's and can phaze it out with Roar or Dragon Tail. However, Giratina must be wary of Swords Dance + Dragon Claw Primal Groudon variants.
You can combine some combination YGod, Skarm, Ho-Oh, Ground immune dragon types and Lugia into just “ground immune pokemon”, as they all threaten PDon for that reason. Maybe some of these like Lugia and maybe Ho-Oh or Yveltal deserve their own slot, but you definitally don’t need 5 slots for one method of checking.
Mention Iron Def Arceus in supportceus, as it is a way they can get around SD
Consider adding Quag- I wouldn’t recommend it normally, but you mentioned Solar Beam for it and it’s getting more common.
 
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Chloe

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
NUPL Champion
It’s not “easily KOed” by Darkrai, it’s setup bait. The distinction is rather large, both in how they play and in how much team support you need.
Mention Rocks here, as being a reliable rocker is one of PDon’s (and reg don’s) biggest draws
Rock polish doesn’t boost power and isn't the only SD set, so mention how strong SD sets are or how strong Groudon is in general- not rock polish. If you want to talk about how good it is (which is worth doing), make a new bullet or mention how it works in concert with swords dance.

You don’t support yourself, and the last part is worded oddly. Make clear either that you are setting it on the switches primal groudon forces, or you are setting them and then later causing switches.
Mention how PBlades 2HKOes Xerneas and can 2HKO Ekiller, which is why it is almost always the better pick.
This point is confusing as people don’t tend to switch Ho-Oh into PDon, and PDon can cripple it with rocks anyway. I think I still got what you meant, but this bullet still needs a cleanup.
Add a Particularly or w/e, because it can phase out things that aren’t ground immune dragons.

How does it check MRay? Arceus I can see, but this set dies to MRay. they never said this?
Don’t mention Blissey Wish- this doesn’t fit on the kind of stall that runs Blissey. Replace with Healing Wish, or even Clefable. <- dont mention either
-Same thing with the aromatherapy bullet; say Xerneas, Diancie, Clefable etc.

Just list Lugia in with HooH and YGod, it’s part of the same set.
“Play with minimal risk” ??? <- just clarify this in writeup


It hits flying types reliably, just not for as much damage.
Scarf 90’s aren’t that relevant (lol @ Scarf dialga). Hit some kind of benchmark, whether its 136 for Geo-xern, 124 for scarf Mray (*cough* thimo *cough*) Rachi, and Gene, 20 for Deo-S, or 16 for Deo-S.
You only need 104/72 to live a +2 FBlast after rocks if preprimal (+2 252+ SpA Xerneas Focus Blast vs. 104 HP / 72 SpD Primal Groudon: 292-344 (79.5 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock), while post primal even 96 won’t save you (+2 252+ SpA Xerneas Focus Blast vs. 104 HP / 96 SpD Primal Groudon: 284-335 (77.3 - 91.2%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock)

>offensive waterceus, what is this


Change it over to max attack, please. You KO YGod after rocks at +2, you have a shot to 2hko Lugia at +2/a chance to OHKO after rocks, you get the 3HKO on Tina, you get a shot to KO bulkceus at +2 after rocks… it’s just so much better.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 152 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
Still lives +2 FBlast after rocks, and the loss of physical bulk is more than made up for
<- no

Rock Slide doesn't really hit tina that well, and you've mentioned it enough already. Consider swapping it for Yveltal, whose bulky set is also a threat.
Mention better rock setters. Dialga and Ferro are mediocre and have little synergy bar how PDon checks Ho-Oh <- dialga is fine, just switch out ferro

Don’t bother with MMX, just say Arceus+Pdon- that’s a much bigger draw
This would be a great place to mention the mixed RP set
Swords Dance+SR isn’t terrible in AG. especially when compared with eruption- consider listing

You can combine some combination YGod, Skarm, Ho-Oh, Ground immune dragon types and Lugia into just “ground immune pokemon”, as they all threaten PDon for that reason. Maybe some of these like Lugia and maybe Ho-Oh or Yveltal deserve their own slot, but you definitally don’t need 5 slots for one method of checking.
Mention Iron Def Arceus in supportceus, as it is a way they can get around SD
Consider adding Quag- I wouldn’t recommend it normally, but you mentioned Solar Beam for it and it’s getting more common.
I'm stamping this, just make note of the strikeouts and additional comments I made when using it.
 

Chloe

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
NUPL Champion

QC: Megazard / Chloe. / x
GP: x / x

[OVERVIEW]

Primal Groudon is one of the most threatening and splashable Pokemon in Anything Goes due to its ability to perform as a blanket check for common threats. On top of that, its Ground / Fire typing leaves it with only two weaknesses and provides it with five resistances; this lets it check Xerneas, Steel Arceus, and to an extent, Klefki. Even though one of Primal Groudon's two weaknesses is a 4x weakness to Water, this is remedied by its ability, Desolate Land, which gives it an immunity to Water-type moves, thus letting it switch in on Water-types and break through Primal Kyogre after it switches in. A vast movepool lets Primal Groudon run a plethora of sets, ranging from a support Pokemon to a wall, which makes it difficult for almost any Pokemon to switch into Primal Groudon. Primal Groudon has both powerful physical and powerful special STAB moves in Precipice Blades and Lava Plume, allowing it to weaken a wider range of walls. However, Primal Groudon's base Speed is quite low in the AG metagame without any boosts, and it is setup bait for and easily KOed by Darkrai due to its lack of recovery moves and its inability to run a support item like Lum Berry to avoid being put to sleep. In addition to its inability to run a Lum Berry, this causes Primal Groudon to be easily worn down by poison, resulting in it easily getting walled by bulky Arceus formes. Primal Groudon, despite technically only having a weakness to Ground-type moves, finds that weakness glaring due to how common Earthquake and Earth Power are used as coverage moves, limiting what it can wall. Mega Rayquaza also easily checks Primal Groudon, which is especially annoying, considering how common it is. Despite all of that, Primal Groudon is stupidly strong with both Swords Dance sets and Rock Polish sets. While Rock Polish doesn't directly boost Primal Groudon's Attack, the ability to outspeed the entire unboosted AG metagame is a great advantage.

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades / Earthquake
move 3: Lava Plume / Stone Edge
move 4: Roar / Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by applying chip damage to any foe that switches in. Stealth Rock is especially easy to set up when combined with Primal Groudon's ability to force switches against almost any Pokemon. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's primary STAB move and lets it maintain a great offensive presence, 2HKOing Xerneas and Arceus. Earthquake can be used as a more accurate alternative to Precipice Blades at the cost of power; however, the drop in power is often very noticeable, notably not being able to 2HKO Xerneas and Arceus like Precipice Blades. Lava Plume is Primal Groudon's other STAB move and has great power under Desolate Land, and when used in tandem with a 30% burn chance, it lets Primal Groudon cripple a plethora of physical attackers by burning them, and it helps weaken down walls. Stone Edge can be used over Lava Plume to hit Ho-Oh, mostly because non-Rock-type coverage variants are forced out by Ho-Oh. If running Stone Edge, run Impish > Relaxed However, just keep in mind this is only recommended if you are running this set on a Ho-Oh-weak team. Roar is used to phaze setup sweepers like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus, and it helps rack up residual damage with Stealth Rock. Thunder Wave can be used over Roar to cripple fast threats, which help it and its teammates deal with threatening wallbreakers. Dragon Tail can be used over Roar as well to phaze out Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O and can specifically hit Mega Rayquaza for a lot of damage while phazing it. However, one disadvantage of running Dragon Tail over Roar is the inability to phaze out Xerneas, which is one of AG's most prevalent setup sweepers, and even if Primal Groudon is running Thunder Wave, it can at least cripple Xerneas's Speed, yet it cannot do anything with Dragon Tail.

Set Details
========

The given EVs let Primal Groudon survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas, even after taking chip damage from Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes. In addition to that, the EVs allow Primal Groudon to avoid the 2HKO from Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, Rock Arceus's Judgment, and Giratina-O's Shadow Force. A Relaxed nature lets Primal Groudon survive an Earthquake from +2 Arceus and a Precipice Blades from opposing support Primal Groudon. A Careful nature with an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD could be used instead to let Primal Groudon face Xerneas and Primal Kyogre more easily but makes it harder for Primal Groudon to take physical attacks.

Usage Tips
========

Primal Groudon can be used as a blanket check to many dangerous threats like Arceus and Mega Rayquaza. Use Primal Groudon to support its teammates by setting up Stealth Rock and crippling foes with Thunder Wave; this is the main focus of the set. Don't rely solely on Primal Groudon to set up Stealth Rock and paralyze foes, as its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards and ability to get pressured by Arceus make it difficult to set up Stealth Rock repeatedly. Try to spam Lava Plume because of its incredible chance of burning foes. Be wary of using Primal Groudon's Ground-type STAB move if the opponent still has a Ground-immune Pokemon on their team, as they can switch it in on Primal Groudon when it uses a Ground move, and attempt to capitalise off of it. Set up Stealth Rock early-game for as much residual damage on the opponent's team throughout the match. Use Primal Groudon as a phazer to setup sweepers like Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Xerneas. Try to avoid a situation where Primal Kyogre can switch in on Primal Groudon to allow the harsh sun to stay up and to avoid Primal Groudon getting forced out, giving Primal Kyogre a free KO; the same applies for Mega Rayquaza coming in on Primal Groudon and making it setup bait.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon doesn't like facing Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O, with the latter being able to remove Primal Groudon's Stealth Rock with Defog; Fairy-types like Xerneas, Mega Diancie, and Fairy Arceus can be used to take care of them, and they appreciate Primal Groudon's ability to take care of the Steel-types that threaten them. Klefki can be a decent teammate because it can set up Spikes to allow for a Stealth Rock + Spikes entry hazard combo to further help cripple the foes that Primal Groudon cripples with its moves and Stealth Rock, and Klefki can take care of most of Primal Groudon's checks with Swagger + Foul Play. Ground Arceus is also very threatening because a +1 Judgment OHKOes Primal Groudon and a +2 Earthquake 2HKOes it; SkarmoryYveltal, Lugia, and Mega Rayquaza are good teammates for checking Ground Arceus. Aromatherapy and Heal Bell support from Xerneas, Blissey, Mega Diancie, and Chansey is useful to help Primal Groudon get rid of status ailments. Ho-Oh checks like Mega Diancie, Rock Arceus, and Water Arceus are good because Ho-Oh threatens Primal Groudon with Earthquake and it can't do anything in return. Entry hazard removers like Giratina-O and Fairy Arceus are good teammates because they get rid of the entry hazards that severely weaken Primal Groudon. Pokemon that can take down support Arceus formes, such as Ho-Oh, are good, considering that a lot of support Arceus formes are weak to Ho-Oh's STAB and coverage moves. Pokemon that benefit from Stealth Rock support like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus are good teammates because it helps them turn would-be 2HKOs into OHKOs.

[SET]
name: Offensive Stealth Rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Tail / Fire Punch
move 4: Stone Edge / Rock Tomb
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 236 Atk / 44 SpD / 76 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock is the main purpose of this set, as it allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by turning more 2HKOs into OHKOs due to chip damage, and it is easy to set up thanks to Primal Groudon's ability to force foes out with its offensive pressure. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move, as it lets it 2HKO most of the AG metagame. Dragon Tail lets Primal Groudon phaze most out setup sweepers; it is particularly useful against Mega Rayquaza, as Primal Groudon can deal a lot of damage while also forcing it out. However, this means that Primal Groudon has no way to phaze out Geomancy Xerneas due to its immunity to Dragon-type moves. Fire Punch can be used over Dragon Tail to give Primal Groudon a strong, sun-boosted secondary STAB move, letting it easily damage a plethora of the metagame neutrally, as well as being able to OHKO Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Bronzong. Stone-Edge lets Primal Groudon hit threatening Flying-types like Yveltal, Lugia, and Ho-Oh super effectively. Rock Tomb can be used over Stone Edge to give Primal Groudon a more accurate Rock-type move, but the power drop is quite noticeable; however, it still lets Primal Groudon OHKO Ho-Oh and has the benefit of lowering the foe's Speed.

Set Details
========

76 Speed EVs let Primal Groudon outspeed every Pokemon up to uninvested Xerneas and Yveltal. 152 HP EVs and 44 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Geomancy Xerneas after Stealth Rock and an Earthquake from +1 Mega Rayquaza. 236 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon 3HKO physically defensive xerneas and 2HKO opposing Primal Groudon.

Usage Tips
========

Play Primal Groudon with minimal risk if it needs to perform both as a Geomancy Xerneas check and as a Stealth Rock setter reliably. Try to set up Stealth Rock early-game to have as much of an effect throughout the match as possible, or when Primal Groudon is forcing a switch. Use Dragon Tail when you predict that the opponent is trying to bring in an entry hazard clearer or a foe is trying to set up. If You're running Fire Punch on Primal Groudon instead, it's safe to use the move when you aren't sure what Pokemon is going to be brought in because of the decent damage it deals after the sun and STAB boosts. If you can predict that a faster foe is switching in, try to use Rock Tomb because it can cause normally threatening Pokemon to switch back out or get KOed.

Team Options
========

Offensive Ground-immune Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O are good teammates for switching in on opposing Ground-types like Primal Groudon. Ho-Oh helps with covering some of Primal Groudon's weaknesses to special attacks and Ground-type moves. Fairy-types like Xerneas and Mega Diancie are helpful for taking care of the Dragon-types that threaten it, like Dragon Arceus and Mega Rayquaza. Ghost- and Dark-types like Mega Gengar, Darkrai, and Yveltal are useful for threatening stall and balance teams, which Primal Groudon otherwise struggles with. All of the aforementioned teammates appreciate Stealth Rock support from Primal Groudon in return. A more reliable Xerneas check is recommended due to Primal Groudon being unable to do so after being whittled down by other attacks.

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Claw / Swords Dance
move 4: Stone Edge / Fire Punch
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Rock Polish helps Primal Groudon outspeed the entire neutral metagame after one boost, which makes it a deadly late-game sweeper. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to hit opposing Primal Groudon, Mega Gengar, and Poison Arceus super effectively, and deal a lot of damage to threatening foes like Arcceus. Dragon Claw can be used to let Primal Groudon 2HKO the Dragon-types that normally wall it such as Giratina-O and Mega Rayquaza. Swords Dance can be used to give Primal Groudon a double dancing set to let it perform as an insanely fast and strong attacker, allowing it to deal with bulkier threats like Lugia and Water Arceus more reliably. Stone Edge lets Primal Groudon hit Flying-types like Ho-Oh and Yveltal super effectively and is optimal with Swords Dance because it can easily KO the aforementioned Lugia. Fire Punch can be used over Stone Edge to let Primal Groudon hit Steel-types like Skarmory and Ferrothorn super effectively and provides great neutral coverage in general, and it is more reliable than Precipice Blades in the harsh sun but gives Primal Groudon the burden of not being able to hit Flying-types as reliably.

Set Details
========

Maximum Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon have an outrageous offensive presence. 56 Speed EVs guarantee that Primal Groudon outspeeds Choice Scarf base 90 Speed Pokemon like Dialga, Kyogre, and Zekrom after a Rock Polish boost. 104 HP EVs and 96 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Xerneas. 124 Speed EVs can be used instead to let Primal Groudon outspeed faster Choice Scarf users like Jirachi and Genesect, but it sacrifices Primal Groudon's ability to check Geomancy Xerneas or alternatively, sacrifices a substantial amount of damage.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon to force out Pokemon like Xerneas and set up Rock Polish (and Swords Dance if you're running it) on said switches. Try to get rid of or weaken opposing Mega Rayquaza and Ho-OhGiratina-O before sending Primal Groudon in to sweep. Swords Dance can be a good option for pressuring support Defoggers like Water Arceus but is less reliable against Mega Rayquaza. Non-Swords Dance variants need support Arceus formes and other physically bulky teammates gone to successfully sweep. Keep Primal Groudon healthy if it's needed for checking Fairy-types.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon pairs well with offensive Pokemon like Mega Gengar, Yveltal, another Primal Groudon, and Water Arceus to take care of Lugia, defensive Primal Kyogre, and Ground Arceus. Mega Gengar is an especially useful teammate for variants of this set that lack Fire Punch to give your team a way of trapping and KOing support Arceus formes and Skarmory. Darkrai is a good teammate because it can outspeed and put all of Primal Groudon's checks to sleep to help it set up later in the match. Powerful wallbreakers like Mega Rayquaza and Ho-Oh can weaken walls like Lugia to help Primal Groudon wear down the opposing team easily. Stealth Rock support from Pokemon like Fairy Arceus and Deoxys-S is important to chip at the health of Flying-type foes and break Focus Sashes on common users like Smeargle, as the former can reliably check Mega Arceus and the latter can easily fit onto most offensive archetypes.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance + Thunder WaveParadancer
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Precipice Blades
move 4: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 48 SpD / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance gives Primal Groudon a way to boost its Attack to monstrous levels, letting it break through many bulky walls like Lugia. Thunder Wave is a great utility move that allows Primal Groudon to cripple and set up on a plethora of faster foes like Xerneas, Lugia, and Water Arceus. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move because it gives it the ability to OHKO many neutrally effected foes after one Swords Dance. Rock Slide lets Primal Groudon hit Ground-immune foes like Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Yveltal; paraflinch foes when used in tandem with Thunder Wave; and it is more accurate than Stone Edge at the cost of less power. Fire Punch can be used as a secondary STAB move, but the lack of a way to reliably hit Flying-types is quite noticeable when Primal Groudon uses dual STAB over Precipice Blades + Rock Slide.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP EVs and 48 Special Defense EVs allow Primal Groudon to survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock Damage. 12 Speed EVs allow Primal Groudon to outspeed maximum Speed Diancie before it Mega Evolves. 196 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon maximize its power while maintaining enough bulk to survive moves from threatening foes.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon early-game to paralyze as many foes as possible to make it easier to keep Primal Groudon's Swords Dance boosts for longer periods of time later on in the match and to break through walls for teammates to finish off later. Try to set up on more passive Fairy- and Steel-types like Clefable and Ferrothorn to take minimal damage while completing the set up. Setting up will likely force the passive foes out, so try to paralyze the switch-in. Don't spam Thunder Wave too often until all opposing Ground-types are eliminated, as the lack of momentum can be detrimental later on in the match. Try to avoid setting up on Toxic users like Water Arceus if possible; however, sometimes this may be required to remove Water Arceus from the match (didn't know how to word this but I hope you can figure it out :)). Primal Groudon should be played offensively so Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza can't freely pivot into it and ruin its sweep.

Team Options
========

Stealth Rock setters like Dialga and Deoxys-S are good teammates for weakening foes to give Primal Groudon more KOs against bulkier Pokemon like Water Arceus and Lugia. Other setup sweepers like Geomancy Xerneas, Swords Dance Mega Rayquaza, and Extreme Killer Arceus can potentially sweep after Primal Groudon cripples, weakens, or KOes their checks. Primal Groudon gets checked by Dragon-types and Ho-Oh easily if it runs Fire Punch, so teammates like Klefki, Mega Diancie, and Rock Arceus are great teammates to deal with them. Healing Wish users like Jirachi and Latias are good to fully heal Primal Groudon to let it have a chance at sweeping again. Pokemon that appreciate support Arceus formes being gone like Mega Rayquaza and Extreme Killer Arceus are good teammates for this set as well. Mega Gengar is a good teammate for removing Skarmory for non-Fire Punch variants.

[SET]
name: Lum Berry
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Dragon Tail / Roar
item: Lum Berry
ability: Drought
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Earthquake is Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to dent most neutral targets, even without Attack investment, and is much more reliable than Precipice Blades on a support set. Stealth Rock gives Groudon the ability to indirectly weaken foes for it or its teammates to finish off. Thunder Wave lets Groudon cripple fast wallbreakers like Darkrai and Ho-Oh on the switch. Dragon Tail is Groudon's main phazing move because it can damage Mega Rayquaza and isn't stopped by taunt. Roar is an alternative phazing move to Dragon Tail that hits behind Substitute, evades Protect, and hits Fairy-types. Mention running Rock Tomb over Thunder Wave as a viable option here to hit Ho-Oh and still act as a form of speed control.

Set Details
========

248 HP and Defense EVs let Groudon act as a bulky tank that can survive powerful physical attacks from Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Primal Groudon. 12 Speed EVs let Groudon outspeed Mega Diancie before or on the turn that it Mega Evolves. Lum Berry lets Groudon check status spreaders like Klefki and Darkrai temporarily.

Usage Tips
========

Utilise Defensive Groudon as a lead to efficiently set up Stealth Rock and cripple any opponents with Thunder Wave. Use this set mostly to checkto capitalise off of Swagger + Foul Play Klefki and OHKO it in return or to check sleep inducers like Darkrai and surprise them with an attack. Don't try to switch Groudon in on powerful special attackers like Xerneas due to its lack of special bulk that leaves ie 2HKOed or OHKOed often. Be wary of Flying-types like Mega Rayquaza and Lugia because they can often take advantage of Groudon's lack of coverage. Spam Thunder Wave when the Ground-types on the opponent's team are gone to support teammates by crippling fast foes.

Team Options
========

Regular Groudon has trouble dealing with Water-types due to the lack of Desolate Land, so teammates like Mega Rayquaza are almost mandatory. Special walls like Clefable are good teammates because they can cover Groudon's low Special Defense and provide Wish support to give Groudon a form of recovery. Pokemon that appreciate entry hazard support to get easier KOs like Mega Rayquaza and Arceus are good teammates. Fairy-type checks like Mega Gengar, Ho-Oh, and Poison Arceus are great for taking care of Xerneas. Options for dealing with Primal Kyogre such as Primal Groudon are recommended, as this set struggles immensely with Primal Kyogre, contrary to the other listed sets.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

On the support set, an offensive EV spread of 224 HP / 240 Atk / 32 SpD / 12 Spe with an Adamant nature can be used to let Primal Groudon be more threatening offensively. The EVs let Primal Groudon OHKO Primal Kyogre with Precipice Blades after Stealth Rock and still lets it live a Focus Blast from +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock. Rest is good on Primal Groudon due to it being its only form of recovery; however, wasting two turns is very annoying and leaves Primal Groudon as setup fodder, and while it could be used with Heal Bell users, that just puts more of a burden on the user unless the team is stall oriented. Overheat can be used as a special STAB move to reliably OHKO physical walls like Skarmory; however, it lowers Primal Groudon's Special Attack, which might cause it to get easily forced out. Substitute can be used over Thunder Wave on the Swords Dance set to mess with Pokemon like Water Arceus, but Primal Groudon can't abuse the move too well. Solar Beam could be used as a lure for Quagsire and Water Arceus. A special Rock Polish set can be used to lure in and KO physical walls like Yveltal and Fairy Arceus with moves like EruptionFire Blast, Earth Power, and Dragon Pulse. Eruption can be used to deal incredible amounts of damage; however, it requires some form of speed control such as Sticky Web.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ground-immune Pokemon**: Lugia can live most of Primal Groudon's non-boosted attacks due to its outrageous bulk, and it can proceed to Toxic stall it to death due to Multiscale and Roost. However, Lugia takes large amounts of damage from Stone Edge if Multiscale is not active, and it does not like Lava Plume burns either. Pokemon such as Mega Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Latias all resist or are immune to both of Primal Groudon's STAB options and can break through it with their powerful attacks. However, Primal Groudon can run Dragon Claw or Dragon Tail as a coverage move to hit these threats as well. Yveltal beats physically offensive Primal Groudon sets due to its immunity to Primal Groudon's main STAB move, Precipice Blades, its decent bulk with Rocky Helmet, and its ability to Toxic stall Primal Groudon. Skarmory can beat all Groudon sets that lack Fire-type coverage by simply phazing Groudon out or making it waste its Rock-type coverage move by recovering off the damage with Roost. Giratina's outrageous bulk allows it to live anything of Primal Groudon's and can phaze it out with Roar or Dragon Tail. However, Giratina must be wary of Swords Dance + Dragon Claw Primal Groudon variants. Ho-Oh can check Primal Groudon variants that do not decide to run Rock-type coverage moves, and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. Ho-Oh also benefits from not being weakened by burns from Lava Plume, although Stone Edge is a popular choice on Primal Groudon so switching it in becomes a risk in most cases.

**Support Arceus Formes**: Support Arceus formes like Fairy Arceus, Dragon Arceus, bulky Arceus, and Water Arceus resist or take little from Fire-type attacks and can avoid the 2HKO from Precipice Blades. They can then Toxic stall Primal Groudon; however, they do get beaten by Swords Dance variants.

**Ground Arceus**: Ground Arceus can live any attack from Primal Groudon and can OHKO or 2HKO it with its own STAB Ground-type moves. Recover can help it stall out Primal Groudon, but the burn from Lava Plume can cripple Ground Arceus, especially the physical sets.

**Primal Kyogre**: Primal Kyogre can overwrite Desolate Land with Primordial Sea and threaten to OHKO Primal Groudon with its Water-type moves. However, it does not appreciate switching in on Primal Groudon's STAB Ground-type attacks. Adding onto that, Primal Groudon can also switch in on Primal Kyogre to overwrite its Primordial Sea and either force it out or OHKO it with Precipice Blades.

**Chip Damage**: Chip damage from entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes and weak attacks all easily cut down Primal Groudon's health due to its Fire typing giving it a weakness to Spikes and neutral damage from Stealth Rock.
Check there^, QC 3/3
 

Lumari

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add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2
[OVERVIEW]

Primal Groudon is one of the most threatening and splashable (pick something else; viable / customizable / w/e, rephrase the entire sentence to "Few Pokemon are as threatening and easy to fit on teams as Primal Groudon", as long as you don't use splashable) Pokemon in Anything Goes due to its ability to perform as a blanket check for common threats. On top of that, its Ground / Fire typing leaves it with only two weaknesses and provides it with five resistances; this lets it check Xerneas, Steel Arceus-Steel, and, (AC) to an extent, Klefki. Additionally, even though one of Primal Groudon's two weaknesses is a 4x weakness to Water, this is remedied by its ability, Desolate Land, which gives it an immunity to Water-type moves, thus letting it switch in on Water-types and break through Primal Kyogre after it switches in. A vast movepool lets Primal Groudon run a plethora of sets, ranging from a support Pokemon to a wall, which makes it difficult for almost any Pokemon to switch into Primal Groudon. Primal Groudon has both powerful physical and powerful special STAB moves in Precipice Blades and Lava Plume, allowing it to weaken a wider range of walls. However, Primal Groudon's base Speed is quite low in the AG metagame without any boosts, and it is setup bait for and easily KOed by Darkrai due to its lack of recovery moves and its inability to run a support item like Lum Berry to avoid being put to sleep. In addition to Its inability to run a Lum Berry (RC) this further causes Primal Groudon to be easily worn down by poison, resulting in it easily getting walled by bulky Arceus formes. Primal Groudon, Despite technically only having a weakness to Ground-type moves, Primal Groudon (makes more sense as a preceding clause than as a parenthesis) finds that weakness glaring due to how commonly Earthquake and Earth Power are used as coverage moves, limiting what it can wall. Mega Rayquaza also easily checks Primal Groudon, which is especially annoying, considering how common it is. Despite all of that, Primal Groudon is stupidly incredibly strong with both Swords Dance sets and Rock Polish sets. While Rock Polish doesn't directly boost Primal Groudon's Attack, the ability to outspeed the entire unboosted AG metagame is a great advantage.

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades / Earthquake
move 3: Lava Plume / Stone Edge
move 4: Roar / Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by applying chip damage to any foe that switches in. Stealth Rock is especially easy to set up when combined with Primal Groudon's ability to force switches against almost any Pokemon. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's primary STAB move and lets it maintain a great offensive presence, 2HKOing Xerneas and Arceus. Earthquake can be used as a more accurate alternative to Precipice Blades at the cost of power; however, the drop in power is often very noticeable, notably not being able to 2HKO Xerneas and Arceus like Precipice Blades. Lava Plume is Primal Groudon's other STAB move and has great power under Desolate Land, and when used in tandem with a 30% burn chance, it lets Primal Groudon cripple a plethora of physical attackers by burning them (RC) and it helps as well as weaken down (weaken or chip down) walls. Stone Edge can be used over Lava Plume to hit Ho-Oh, mostly because non-Rock-type coverage variants are forced out by Ho-Oh. However, just keep in mind this is only recommended if you are running this set on a Ho-Oh-weak team. Roar is used to phaze setup sweepers like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus, and it helps rack up residual damage with Stealth Rock. Thunder Wave can be used over Roar to cripple fast threats, which help it Primal Groudon and its teammates deal with threatening wallbreakers. Dragon Tail can be used over Roar as well to phaze out Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O and can specifically hit Mega Rayquaza for a lot of damage while phazing it. However, one disadvantage of running Dragon Tail over Roar is the inability to phaze out Xerneas, which is one of AG's most prevalent setup sweepers, and even if Primal Groudon is running Thunder Wave, it can at least cripple lower Xerneas's Speed, yet it cannot do anything with Dragon Tail.

Set Details
========

The given EVs let Primal Groudon survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas, even after taking chip damage from Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes. If you're running Stone Edge on Primal Groudon, use an Impish nature instead. In addition to that, the EVs allow Primal Groudon to avoid the 2HKO from Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, Rock Arceus-Rock's Judgment, and Giratina-O's Shadow Force. A Relaxed nature lets Primal Groudon survive an Earthquake from +2 Arceus and a Precipice Blades from opposing support Primal Groudon. A Careful nature with an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD could be used instead to let Primal Groudon face Xerneas and Primal Kyogre more easily but makes it harder for Primal Groudon to take physical attacks.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon to support its teammates by setting up Stealth Rock and crippling foes with Thunder Wave; this is the main focus of the set. Don't rely solely on Primal Groudon to set up Stealth Rock and paralyze foes, as its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards and ability to get pressured by Arceus make it difficult to set up Stealth Rock repeatedly. Try to spam Lava Plume because of its incredible chance of burning foes. Be wary of using Primal Groudon's Ground-type STAB move if the opponent still has a Ground-immune Pokemon on their team, as they can switch it in on Primal Groudon when it uses a Ground move (implied) and attempt to capitalize off of it. Set up Stealth Rock early-game for as much residual damage on the opponent's team throughout the match. Use Primal Groudon as a phazer to setup sweepers like Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Xerneas. Try to avoid a situation where Primal Kyogre can switch in on Primal Groudon to allow the harsh sun to stay up and to avoid Primal Groudon getting forced out, giving Primal Kyogre a free KO; the same applies for Mega Rayquaza coming in on Primal Groudon and making it setup bait.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon doesn't like facing Ground-immune Dragon-types like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O, with the latter being able to remove Primal Groudon's Stealth Rock with Defog; Fairy-types like Xerneas, Mega Diancie, and Fairy Arceus-Fairy can be used to take care of them, and they appreciate Primal Groudon's ability to take care of the Steel-types that threaten them. Klefki can be a decent teammate because it can set up Spikes to allow for complete a Stealth Rock + Spikes entry hazard combo setting core to further help cripple the foes that Primal Groudon cripples with its moves and Stealth Rock, and Klefki it additionally can take care of most of Primal Groudon's checks with Swagger + Foul Play. Ground Arceus-Ground is also very threatening because a +1 Judgment OHKOes Primal Groudon and a +2 Earthquake 2HKOes it; Skarmory, Lugia, and Mega Rayquaza are good teammates for checking Ground Arceus can check it. Aromatherapy and Heal Bell support from Xerneas, Blissey, Mega Diancie, and Chansey is useful to help Primal Groudon get rid of status ailments. Ho-Oh checks like Mega Diancie, Rock Arceus-Rock, and Water Arceus-Water are good because Ho-Oh threatens Primal Groudon with Earthquake and it can't do anything in return. Entry hazard removers like Giratina-O and Fairy Arceus-Fairy are good teammates because they (repetitiveness etc) get rid of the entry hazards that severely weaken Primal Groudon. Pokemon that can take down support Arceus formes, such as Ho-Oh, are good, considering that a lot of support Arceus formes are weak to Ho-Oh's STAB and coverage moves. Pokemon that benefit from Stealth Rock support like Xerneas, Mega Rayquaza, and Arceus are good teammates because it helps them turn would-be 2HKOs into OHKOs.

[SET]
name: Offensive Stealth Rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Tail / Fire Punch
move 4: Stone Edge / Rock Tomb
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 152 HP / 236 Atk / 44 SpD / 76 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Stealth Rock is the main purpose of this set, as it allows Primal Groudon to support itself and its teammates by turning more 2HKOs into OHKOs due to chip damage, and it is easy to set up thanks to Primal Groudon's ability to force foes out with its offensive pressure. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move, as it lets it 2HKO most of the AG metagame. Dragon Tail lets Primal Groudon phaze most out setup sweepers; it is particularly useful against Mega Rayquaza, as Primal Groudon can deal a lot of damage while also forcing it out due to its Dragon weakness and decent power. (or w/e, more direct + less repetitive) However, this means that it leaves Primal Groudon has no without a way to phaze out Geomancy Xerneas due to its immunity to Dragon-type moves. Fire Punch can be used over Dragon Tail to give Primal Groudon a strong, sun-boosted secondary STAB move, letting it easily damage a plethora majority / vast majority / w/e of the metagame neutrally, as well as being able to OHKO Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Bronzong. Stone Edge lets Primal Groudon hit threatening Flying-types like Yveltal, Lugia, and Ho-Oh super effectively. Rock Tomb can be used over Stone Edge to give Primal Groudon a more accurate Rock-type move, but the power drop is quite noticeable; however, it still lets Primal Groudon OHKO Ho-Oh and has the benefit of lowering the foe's Speed.

Set Details
========

76 Speed EVs let Primal Groudon outspeed every Pokemon up to uninvested Xerneas and Yveltal. 152 HP EVs and 44 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Geomancy Xerneas after Stealth Rock and an Earthquake from +1 Mega Rayquaza. 236 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon 3HKO physically defensive Xerneas and 2HKO opposing Primal Groudon.

Usage Tips
========

Play Primal Groudon with minimal risk if it needs to perform both as a Geomancy Xerneas check and as a Stealth Rock setter reliably. Try to set up Stealth Rock early-game to have as much of an effect throughout the match as possible, or when Primal Groudon is forcing a switch. Use Dragon Tail when you predict that the opponent is trying to bring in an entry hazard clearer or a foe is trying to set up. If you're running Fire Punch on Primal Groudon instead, it's safe to use the move when you aren't sure what Pokemon is going to be brought in because of the decent damage it deals after the sun and STAB boosts. If you can predict that a faster foe is switching in, try to use Rock Tomb because it can cause normally threatening Pokemon to switch back out or get KOed.

Team Options
========

Offensive Ground-immune Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O are good teammates for switching in on opposing Ground-types like Primal Groudon. Ho-Oh helps with covering some of Primal Groudon's weaknesses to special attacks and Ground-type moves. Fairy-types like Xerneas and Mega Diancie are helpful for taking care of the Dragon-types that threaten it Primal Groudon, like Dragon Arceus-Dragon and Mega Rayquaza. Ghost- and Dark-types like Mega Gengar, Darkrai, and Yveltal are useful for threatening stall and balance teams, which Primal Groudon otherwise struggles with. All of the aforementioned teammates appreciate Stealth Rock support from Primal Groudon in return. A more reliable Xerneas check is recommended due to Primal Groudon being unable to do so after being whittled down by other attacks.

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Precipice Blades
move 3: Dragon Claw / Swords Dance
move 4: Stone Edge / Fire Punch
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Rock Polish helps Primal Groudon outspeed the entire neutral metagame after one boost, which makes it a deadly late-game sweeper. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to hit opposing Primal Groudon, Mega Gengar, and Poison Arceus-Poison super effectively (RC) and deal a lot of damage to threatening foes like Arcceus Arceus. Dragon Claw can be used to let Primal Groudon 2HKO the Dragon-types that normally wall it such as Giratina-O and Mega Rayquaza. Swords Dance can be used to give Primal Groudon a double dancing dance set to let it perform as an insanely fast and strong attacker, allowing it to deal with bulkier threats like Lugia and Water Arceus-Water more reliably. Stone Edge lets Primal Groudon hit Flying-types like Ho-Oh and Yveltal super effectively and is optimal with Swords Dance because it can easily KO the aforementioned Lugia. Fire Punch can be used over Stone Edge to let Primal Groudon hit Steel-types like Skarmory and Ferrothorn super effectively, (AC) and provides great neutral coverage in general, and it is more reliable than Precipice Blades in the sun; (SC) but however, it gives Primal Groudon the burden of not being able to hit Flying-types as reliably.

Set Details
========

Maximum Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let grant Primal Groudon have an outrageous offensive presence. 56 Speed EVs guarantee that Primal Groudon outspeeds Choice Scarf base 90 Speed Pokemon like Dialga, Kyogre, and Zekrom after a Rock Polish boost. 104 HP EVs and 96 Special Defense EVs let Primal Groudon survive a +2 Focus Blast from Xerneas. 124 Speed EVs can be used instead to let Primal Groudon outspeed faster Choice Scarf users like Jirachi and Genesect, but it either sacrifices either Primal Groudon's ability to check Geomancy Xerneas or a substantial amount of damage.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon to force out Pokemon like Xerneas and set up Rock Polish (and Swords Dance if you're running it) on said switches. Try to get rid of or weaken opposing Mega Rayquaza and Giratina-O before sending Primal Groudon in to sweep. Swords Dance can be a good option for pressuring support Defoggers like Water Arceus-Water but is less reliable against Mega Rayquaza. Non-Swords Dance variants need support Arceus formes and other physically bulky teammates gone to successfully sweep. Keep Primal Groudon healthy if it's needed for checking Fairy-types.

Team Options
========

Primal Groudon pairs well with offensive Pokemon like Mega Gengar, Yveltal, another Primal Groudon, and Water Arceus-Water to take care of Lugia, defensive Primal Kyogre, and Ground Arceus. Mega Gengar is an especially useful teammate for variants of this set that lack Fire Punch to give your team a way of trapping and KOing support Arceus formes and Skarmory. Darkrai is a good teammate because it can outspeed and put all of Primal Groudon's checks to sleep to help it set up later in the match. Powerful wallbreakers like Mega Rayquaza and Ho-Oh can weaken walls like Lugia to help Primal Groudon wear down the opposing team easily. Stealth Rock support from Pokemon like Fairy Arceus-Fairy and Deoxys-S is important to chip at the health of Flying-type foes and break Focus Sashes on common users like Smeargle, as the former can reliably check Mega Arceus (huh) and the latter can easily fit onto most offensive archetypes.

[SET]
name: Paradancer
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Precipice Blades
move 4: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
item: Red Orb
ability: Drought
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 48 SpD / 12 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Swords Dance gives Primal Groudon a way to boost its Attack to monstrous levels, letting it break through many bulky walls like Lugia. Thunder Wave is a great utility move that allows Primal Groudon to cripple and set up on a plethora of faster foes like Xerneas, Lugia, and Water Arceus-Water. Precipice Blades is Primal Groudon's main STAB move because it gives it the ability to OHKO many neutrally effected foes after one Swords Dance. Rock Slide lets Primal Groudon hit Ground-immune foes like Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Yveltal; paraflinch foes when used in tandem with Thunder Wave; and it is more accurate than Stone Edge at the cost of less power. Fire Punch can be used as a secondary STAB move, but the lack of a way to reliably hit Flying-types is quite noticeable when Primal Groudon uses dual STAB over Precipice Blades + Rock Slide.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP EVs and 48 Special Defense EVs allow Primal Groudon to survive a Focus Blast from a +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock Damage. 12 Speed EVs allow Primal Groudon to outspeed maximum Speed Diancie before it Mega Evolves. 196 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature let Primal Groudon maximize its power while maintaining enough bulk to survive moves from threatening foes.

Usage Tips
========

Use Primal Groudon early-game to paralyze as many foes as possible to make it easier to keep Primal Groudon's Swords Dance boosts for longer periods of time later on in the match and to break through walls for teammates to finish off later. Try to set up on more passive Fairy- and Steel-types like Clefable and Ferrothorn to take minimal damage while completing the set up. Setting up will likely force the passive foes out, so try to paralyze the switch-in. Don't spam Thunder Wave too often until all opposing Ground-types are eliminated, as the lack of momentum can be detrimental later on in the match. Try to avoid setting up on Toxic users like Water Arceus-Water if possible; however, this may be required to remove Water Arceus-Water from the match. Primal Groudon should be played offensively so Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza can't freely pivot into it and ruin its sweep.

Team Options
========

Stealth Rock setters like Dialga and Deoxys-S are good teammates for weakening foes to give Primal Groudon more KOs against bulkier Pokemon like Water Arceus-Water and Lugia. Other setup sweepers like Geomancy Xerneas, Swords Dance Mega Rayquaza, and Extreme Killer Arceus can potentially sweep after Primal Groudon cripples, weakens, or KOes their checks. Primal Groudon gets checked by Dragon-types and Ho-Oh easily if it runs Fire Punch, so teammates like Klefki, Mega Diancie, and Rock Arceus-Rock are great teammates to deal with them. Healing Wish users like Jirachi and Latias are good to fully heal Primal Groudon to let it have a chance at sweeping again. Pokemon that appreciate support Arceus formes being gone like Mega Rayquaza and Extreme Killer Arceus are good teammates for this set as well. Mega Gengar is a good teammate for removing Skarmory for non-Fire Punch variants.

[SET]
name: Lum Berry
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Dragon Tail / Roar
item: Lum Berry
ability: Drought
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe (why not just 252 HP?)

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Earthquake is Groudon's main STAB move and allows it to dent most neutral targets, even without Attack investment, and is much more reliable than Precipice Blades on a support set. Stealth Rock gives Groudon the ability to indirectly weaken foes for it or its teammates to finish off. Thunder Wave lets Groudon cripple fast wallbreakers like Darkrai and Ho-Oh on the switch. Rock Tomb can be used over Thunder Wave to deal decent damage to Ho-Oh and still act as a form of speed control. Dragon Tail is Groudon's main phazing move because it can damage Mega Rayquaza and isn't stopped by taunt. Roar is an alternative phazing move to Dragon Tail that hits behind Substitute, evades Protect, and hits Fairy-types.

Set Details
========

248 HP and Defense EVs (Groudon's max HP is not divisible by 16, why not just 252 HP?) let Groudon act as a bulky tank that can survive powerful physical attacks from Mega Rayquaza, Arceus, and Primal Groudon. 12 Speed EVs let Groudon outspeed Mega Diancie before or on the turn that it Mega Evolves. Lum Berry lets Groudon check status spreaders like Klefki and Darkrai temporarily.

Usage Tips
========

Utilize defensive Groudon as a lead to efficiently set up Stealth Rock and cripple any non-Ground-type foes with Thunder Wave. Use this set to capitalize off of on Swagger + Foul Play Klefki and OHKO it in return or to check sleep inducers like Darkrai and surprise them with an attack. Don't try to switch Groudon in on powerful special attackers like Xerneas due to its lack of special bulk that leaves ie it 2HKOed or OHKOed often. Be wary of Flying-types like Mega Rayquaza and Lugia because they can often take advantage of Groudon's lack of coverage. Spam Thunder Wave when the Ground-types on the opponent's team are gone to support teammates by crippling fast foes.

Team Options
========

Regular Groudon has trouble dealing with Water-types due to the lack of Desolate Land, so teammates like Mega Rayquaza are almost mandatory. Special walls like Clefable are good teammates because they can cover Groudon's low Special Defense and provide Wish support to give Groudon a form of recovery. Pokemon that appreciate entry hazard support to get easier KOs like Mega Rayquaza and Arceus are good teammates. Fairy-type checks like Mega Gengar, Ho-Oh, and Poison Arceus-Poison are great for taking care of Xerneas. Options for dealing with Primal Kyogre such as Primal Groudon are recommended, as this set struggles immensely with Primal Kyogre, contrary to the other listed sets.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

On the support set, an offensive EV spread of 224 HP / 240 Atk / 32 SpD / 12 Spe with an Adamant nature can be used to let Primal Groudon be more threatening offensively. The EVs let Primal Groudon OHKO Primal Kyogre with Precipice Blades after Stealth Rock and still lets it live survive a Focus Blast from +2 Xerneas after Stealth Rock. Rest is good on Primal Groudon due to it being its only form of recovery; however, wasting two turns is very annoying and leaves Primal Groudon as setup fodder, and while it could be used with Heal Bell users, that just puts more of a burden on the user unless the team is stall oriented. Overheat can be used as a special STAB move to reliably OHKO physical walls like Skarmory; however, it lowers Primal Groudon's Special Attack, which might cause it to get easily forced out. Substitute can be used over Thunder Wave on the Swords Dance set to mess with Pokemon like Water Arceus-Water, but Primal Groudon can't abuse take advantage of the move too well. Solar Beam could be used as a lure for Quagsire and Water Arceus-Water. A special Rock Polish set can be used to lure in and KO physical walls like Yveltal and Fairy Arceus-Fairy and KO them with moves like Fire Blast, Earth Power, and Dragon Pulse. Eruption can be used to deal incredible amounts of damage; however, it requires some form of speed control such as Sticky Web.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ground-immune Pokemon**: Lugia can live survive most of Primal Groudon's non-boosted attacks due to its outrageous bulk, and it can proceed to Toxic stall it to death down due to Multiscale and Roost. However, Lugia takes large amounts of damage from Stone Edge if Multiscale is not active, and it does not like Lava Plume burns either. Pokemon such as Mega Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Latias all resist or are immune to both of Primal Groudon's STAB options and can break through it with their powerful attacks. However, Primal Groudon can run Dragon Claw or Dragon Tail as a coverage move to hit these threats as well. Yveltal beats physically offensive Primal Groudon sets due to its immunity to Primal Groudon's main STAB move, Precipice Blades, its decent bulk with Rocky Helmet, and its ability to Toxic stall Primal Groudon. Skarmory can beat all Groudon sets that lack Fire-type coverage by simply phazing Groudon out or making it waste its Rock-type coverage move by recovering off the damage with Roost. Giratina's outrageous bulk allows it to live survive anything of Primal Groudon's and can phaze it out with Roar or Dragon Tail. However, Giratina must be wary of Swords Dance + Dragon Claw Primal Groudon variants. Ho-Oh can check Primal Groudon variants that do not decide to run Rock-type coverage moves (RC) and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. Ho-Oh also benefits from not being weakened by burns from Lava Plume, although Stone Edge is a popular choice on Primal Groudon, (AC) so switching it in becomes a risk in most cases.

**Support Arceus Formes**: Support Arceus formes like Fairy Arceus-Fairy, Dragon Arceus-Dragon, bulky Arceus, and Water Arceus-Water resist or take little from Fire-type attacks and can avoid the 2HKO from Precipice Blades. They can then Toxic stall Primal Groudon; however, they do get beaten by Swords Dance variants.

**Ground Arceus Arceus-Ground**: Ground Arceus-Ground can live sruvive any attack from Primal Groudon and can OHKO or 2HKO it with its own STAB Ground-type moves. Recover can help it Arceus-Ground stall out Primal Groudon, but the burn from Lava Plume can cripple Ground Arceus it, especially the physical sets.

**Primal Kyogre**: Primal Kyogre can overwrite Desolate Land with Primordial Sea and threaten to OHKO Primal Groudon with its Water-type moves. However, it does not appreciate switching in on Primal Groudon's STAB Ground-type attacks. Adding onto that, Primal Groudon can also switch in on Primal Kyogre to overwrite its Primordial Sea and either force it out or OHKO it with Precipice Blades.

**Chip Damage**: Chip damage from entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes and weak attacks all easily cut down Primal Groudon's health, (AC) especially due to its secondary Fire typing giving it a weakness to Spikes and neutral damage from neutrality to (weirdly worded re. Spikes since it's just as vulnerable to Spikes as every non-Flying / Levitate / Magic Guard Pokemon and its Fire typing has nothing to do with that, if I overlooked something feel free to adjust) Stealth Rock.
 
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