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This is a strategy guide for using Galarian Articuno in competitive play for the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, and Held Items to use with Galarian Articuno, as well as its strengths and weak points.
Galarian Articuno - Related Guides | |
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Evolution and Learnset | Build for Ranked Battle |
List of Contents
Pokemon | Type 1 | Type 2 |
---|---|---|
Abilities | ||
Competitive | Raises Special Attack when the Pokemon's stats are lowered. |
Type | |
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Takes 4x damage |
|
Takes 2x damage | |
Takes 0.5x damage | |
Takes 1/4x damage | |
Takes 0x damage |
HP | Attack | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
90 | 85 | 85 | 125 | 100 | 95 |
Best Natures | ||
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Timid (+Spd, -Atk) |
Nature | Timid (+Spd, -Atk) |
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EV Spread | Def 4 / Sp.Atk 252 / Spd 252 |
Final Stat Values | HP 165 / Def 106 / Sp.Atk 177 / Sp.Def 120 / Spd 161 |
Ability | Competitive |
Held Item | Weakness Policy |
Moveset | ・Freezing Glare ・Hurricane ・Shadow Ball ・Calm Mind |
Galarian Articuna has a niche as a sweeper for dedicated Rain Teams, firing off powerful Hurricanes that hit bulky Grass-types, as well as serving as a great check to Toxapex.
Freezing Glare is Galarian Articuno's main STAB move, and has a 10% chance to freeze the target. Hurricane is its secondary STAB move and has perfect accuracy in Rain. It also has a 30% chance to confuse the target.
Shadow Ball hits Ghost-types and opposing Psychic-types like Cresselia.
Calm Mind is its last move, boosting Galarian Articuno's Sp.Atk and Sp.Def by one stage. It's best used when predicting a switch, allowing Galarian Articuno to potentially overpower the incoming check.
We're using a simple special attacking EV spread with full investment in Special Attack and Speed, with the remaining EVs placed in Defese to round off its bulk.
Competitive is Galarian Articuno's only ability, raising its Special Attack by two stages when one of its stats is lowered. This makes it a great check to Intimidate users such as Landorus and Gyarados, as well as Defog users such as Tapu Fini.
Weakness Policy boosts Galarian Articuno's Attack and Special Attack by one stage. It's best used during Dynamax as the increased HP helps it shrug off a super effective move that would otherwise KO it.
Nature | Timid (+Spd, -Atk) |
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EV Spread | HP 252 / Def 252 / Spd 4 |
Final Stat Values | HP 197 / Def 150 / Sp.Atk 145 / Sp.Def 120 / Spd 116 |
Ability | Competitive |
Held Item | Leftovers Kee Berry |
Moveset | ・Stored Power ・Air Slash ・Calm Mind ・Recover |
Galarian Articuna has a niche as a sweeper for dedicated Rain Teams, firing off powerful Hurricanes that hit bulky Grass-types, as well as serving as a great check to Toxapex.
Stored Power increases in power depending on how many boosts Galarian Articuno currently has. It needs to use Calm Mind at least three times in order for the move to start hitting harder than Freezing Glare.
Air Slash is its secondary STAB move and has a good 30% chance to cause flinching. Recover is its last move and ensures Galarian Articuno can stay for longer in battle as it accumulates more boosts.
We're using a simple special bulky EV spread with full investment in HP and Defense so that it can set up multiple Calm Minds, with the remaining EVs placed in Speed.
Competitive is Galarian Articuno's only ability, raising its Special Attack by two stages when one of its stats is lowered. This makes it a great check to Intimidate users such as Landorus and Gyarados, as well as Defog users such as Tapu Fini.
Galarian Articuno has two options for held item.
Leftovers provides great passive recovery on top of Recover and helps it stay in matches for a longer time.
Kee Berry increases Galarian Articuno's Defense by 1 stage if it gets hit by a physical attack. On top of making it bulkier, it also boosts the power of Stored Power.
Substitute | Protects Galarian Articuno from status moves. |
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Hypnosis | A niche move that allows Galarian Articuno to put an incoming check to sleep, but it has poor accuracy. |
Galarian Articuno is a great candidate for lead sweeper and Dynamax user for teams. Since most teams lead with Intimidiate users, Galarian Articuno can get a +2 Special Attack boost off the bat thanks to its Competitive Ability and then Dynamax afterwards.
Access to Max Airstream is another reason why it's a good choice to lead with Galarian Articuno as it instantly boost it and its team's speed by one stage.
Galarian Articuno is easy to fit in many teams, especially if used as a lead or Dynamax user. It's also a formidable setup sweeper with Calm Mind and Stored Power.
Galarian Articuno is best used as a Dynamax Lead for offensive-oriented teams as it has the coveted Max Airstream move during Dynamax.
Dynamax Lead | Offensive Pivot | Physical Attacker |
---|---|---|
Galarian Articuno | Heatran | Dragonite |
Unlike other Dyanamax Leads, Galarian Articuno shouldn't immediately Dynamax. It's best to try and set up Calm Mind to boost its offensive and special bulk, after which it can Dynamax and fire powerful Max Airstreams and Max Mindstorms.
Heatran is a great offensive pivot as it can set up Stealth Rock and burn opposing Pokemon using Lava Plume.
Dragonite rounds off this offensive team by providing strong, neutral physical attacks with its Dragon-type and Flying-type STAB moves.
How to Build an Offensive Team
Weakness |
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Galarian Articuno is weak against 5 types, many of which are very common in the current metagame. Although it can potentially boost its bulk, it still struggles to stay in matches against Pokemon that can take advantage of its weaknesses.
Pokemon | Description |
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Zapdos | Ranking: ★★★★★
・Special Attacking variants can easily KO Galarian Articuno with Thunderbolt ・Easily shrugs off Galarian Articuno's non super effective attacks Moveset & Best Build for Zapdos |
Mimikyu | Ranking: ★★★★★
・Easily KOs Galarian Articuno with Swords Dance boosted Shadow Claw ・Can hit a faster Galarian Articuno with Shadow Sneak Moveset & Best Build for Mimikyu |
Cinderace | Ranking: ★★★★★
・Naturally outspeeds Galarian Articuno ・Can threaten Galarian Articuno with STAB Libero Boosted Sucker Punch Moveset & Best Build for Cinderace |
Nihilego | Ranking: ★★★★
・Outspeeds Galarian Articuno and easily KO's with STAB Meteor Beam ・Needs a safe switch in due to its Poison typing Moveset & Best Build for Nihilego |
Galarian Articuno struggles against Dark-type Pokemon as it doesn't have a reliable way to check them. Some Dark-types even resist Galarian Articuno's secondary Flying STAB and doesn't care much about confusion.
Pokemon | Description |
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Tyranitar | Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Immune to Freezing Glare and resists Hurricane ・Sand Stream boosts Tyranitar's Special Defense and lowers Hurricane's accuracy Moveset & Best Build for Tyranitar |
Bisharp | Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Immune to Freezing Glare and resists Hurricane ・Threatens Galarian Articuno with Sucker Punch Moveset & Best Build for Bisharp |
All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle
Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides | |||||
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Tier List | Best Builds | Series 10 List of Contenders | |||
Doubles Tier List | Team Building | Rental Teams |
Galarian Articuno - Moveset & Best Build for Ranked Battle
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Btw, Psychic terrain only affects grounded pokemon, so Articuno's Expanding Force and psychic moves aren't affected in any way, making it's expanding force set not viable.