Galarian Articuno - Moveset & Best Build for Ranked Battle

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
Evolution and Learnset	Build for Ranked Battle

Basic Information for Galarian Articuno

Types and Abilities

Pokemon	Type 1	Type 2
Galarian Articuno
Abilities
Competitive	Raises Special Attack when the Pokemon's stats are lowered.

Galarian Articuno Weaknesses and Resistances

	Type
Takes 4x damage	-
Takes 2x damage
Takes 0.5x damage
Takes 1/4x damage
Takes 0x damage

What is Type Effectiveness?

Base Stats

Best Nature for Galarian Articuno

Singles Movesets for Galarian Articuno

Weakness Policy Sweeper Moveset & Best Build

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Moves

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.

About Galarian Articuno's EV Spread

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Ability

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Held Item

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.

Bulky Stored Power Sweeper Moveset & Best Build

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Moves

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.

About Galarian Articuno's EV Spread

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Ability

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.

About Galarian Articuno's Held Item

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.

Other Viable Moves

How to Use Galarian Articuno Effectively

A Lead Dynamax Sweeper

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.

How to Build a Team with Galarian Articuno

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.

Dynamax Lead Sweeper

Galarian Articuno is best used as a Dynamax Lead for offensive-oriented teams as it has the coveted Max Airstream move during Dynamax.

Example Offensive Team

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

Counters for Galarian Articuno

Weakness

Exploit its Many Weaknesses

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
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

Counter it with Dark-type Pokemon

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.

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
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

Related Links

All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle

Competitive Guides for Pokemon Sword and Shield

Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides
Tier List		Best Builds		Series 10 List of Contenders
Doubles Tier List		Team Building		Rental Teams

Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon

Movesets & Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon
Galarian Articuno	Galarian Zapdos	Galarian Moltres
Raikou	Entei	Suicune
Articuno	Zapdos	Moltres
Tornadus	Thundurus	Landorus
Tapu Koko	Tapu Lele	Tapu Bulu
Tapu Fini	Regieleki	Regidrago
Latios	Latias	Heatran
Cresselia	Glastrier	Spectrier
Nidoking	Swampert	Dragonite
Salamence	Garchomp	Metagross
Galarian Slowking	Nihilego	Naganadel
Pheromosa	Buzzwole	Celesteela
Kartana	Stakataka	Blaziken
Kyogre	Yveltal	Xerneas
Necrozma (Dusk Mane)	Calyrex (Shadow Rider)	Mewtwo
Calyrex (Ice Rider)	Dialga	Lugia
Black Kyurem	Zekrom	Ho-Oh
Rayquaza	Zygarde	Reshiram
White Kyurem	Groudon	Regirock
Palkia	Regigigas	Registeel
Regice	Giratina	Solgaleo
Lunala	Kyurem	Necrozma
Uxie	Mesprit	Azelf
Calyrex