It might not have been a thing in AG but offensive Stealth Rock sets used to run Dragon Tail in Ubers due to Lati twins + Giratina-Origin being fairly prevalent as checks - the Lati twins being gone means that Primal Groudon is much safer going mixed now. This is what I am referring to, running Dragon Tail over Rock Tomb on an offensive Stealth Rock set.
As for the argument put down here - isn't this a fundamental issue with Primal Groudon in the first place? I get that defensive sets can live all of these but is it so much better than getting a much stronger hit on bulky Arceus, and thus having a better ability to set Stealth Rock? Is that not a good enough niche to see usage?
Regardless, thank you for your answer. I can definitely see that some Rock Tomb sets from Ubers being much less effective in AG, especially with more Zygarde-Complete usage.
I see. Tbh I wasn't actually thinking about an offensive DTail Stealth Rock PDon set, but more of some SD 3 Atks or even a 4 Atks PDon. It's definitely something you don't really see in AG though, so I can get why you're wondering why people aren't using it. I'm assuming it would run SR, DTail, Precipice, and could have a lot of options for a 4th move filler. I'll give my thoughts on some of the filler options
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch / Toxic / Stone Edge / Thunder Wave
Looking at running Fire Punch or Stone Edge as the 4th move, I think a little problem is that you're going to be walled by bulky Defog Arcs that will Toxic and spam Recover for eternity. I'm pretty sure max Atk Precipice does less than 50 vs a 248 HP / 244+ Def Arc (pretty standard in AG, bulky arcs are really everywhere, we're talking Fairy, Ground, Water, and Dark all sometimes run this set) so you can usually just wait for a Precipice miss. This calc is pretty depressing but this is why I think Toxic or
even Thunder Wave is crucial for crippling defensive Arceus
252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Fire Punch vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Arceus-Ground in Harsh Sunshine: 165-195 (37.2 - 44%)
252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Precipice Blades vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Arceus-Ground: 177-208 (39.9 - 46.9%)
You CAN run Swords Dance as a 4th move filler but that honestly just sounds pretty horrible like, yeah my only attack that hits flying types is dragon tail and now Yveltal and Ho-Oh wall. If you go with Toxic as your filler then this brings me back to my point of "just use defensive", since it lives all of the attacks from MRay. I think the optimal set to use if you're ever going with offensive SR DTail is probably going to be the SR 3 Atks set because you'll want to get the most out of max Atk PDon, but, it's still is really sad that it gets walled by support Arcs.
Tbh offensive SR PDon is super rare in AG in the first place. SR is almost never ran on offense because better rock setters like Excadrill and Deo-S exist. I think it has a niche on Webs but those sets would primarily be eruption or SD, not DTail. SR DTail might be possible to run on some sort of BO but I don't think there's any reason to invest in Atk EVs when going standard SpD Toxic SR allows you to live lots of crucial attacks. Max Atk PDon possibly could be good for Cteaming Stalls that don't utilize defensive Arcs, but DTail isn't too useful in that situation, even if it can Dragon Tail a mon like Giratina, Precipice does 40% anyways so there's not much of a point
Some better offensive SR sets in my opinion:
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Tomb / Fire Punch
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
- Stealth Rock
- Eruption
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Tomb / Dragon Pulse / Hidden Power Ice
I do think living attacks with the SpD set is more important than doing more damage. I'd be open to change my mind if there's a calc that you can only achieve with max Atk PDon but it looks like defensive Arcs wall non Toxic, SD, or special PDon variations