Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players may be able to look forward to more secrets about Paradox Pokémon being unveiled in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero downloadable content. In the meantime, new Paradox Pokémon are available for trainers to add to their teams through ongoing Tera Raid Battles.
Players in Pokémon Scarlet can get Walking Wake, an ancient version of Suicune. Meanwhile, players in Pokémon Violet can get Iron Leaves, a futuristic take on Virizion. Here’s what to know about the best moveset for Iron Leaves in Pokémon Violet.
Strengths and weaknesses
Compared to Walking Wake, Iron Leaves’ stats are a bit more balanced. While its Attack is its highest stat by far, it also has impressive Special Defense and Speed stats. Even though its HP and Defense stats are not the best, its only truly bad stat is its Special Attack. Since the best moveset for Iron Leaves only includes physical moves, its low Special Attack stat is not even relevant.
Iron Leaves’ greatest weakness is its typing. As a Grass/Psychic-type, it has a whopping seven weaknesses, including a double weakness to Bug. Iron Leaves is also weak to Poison, Flying, Fire, Ice, Ghost and Dark. Of course, trainers can Terastallize the Iron Leaves they catch in a raid battle into a pure Grass-type. However, this still leaves it with five weaknesses.
Like other Paradox Pokémon in Pokémon Violet, Iron Leaves has Quark Drive as its Ability. Quark Drive boosts its strongest stat, its Attack, when the battlefield is under the effects of Electric Terrain. However, there is not a good Electric Terrain setter in the current format, leaving Iron Leaves worse off than Walking Wake overall.
Best moveset for Iron Leaves in Pokémon Violet
Iron Leaves’ best shot at excelling in battle is to set up with Swords Dance and deal massive damage with physical attacks. Its signature move, Psyblade, is its best attacking option as long as Electric Terrain is in effect. Under Electric Terrain, Psyblade gains a power boost, giving it a base power of 120. Meanwhile, Close Combat is a solid coverage move that deals super-effective damage to the Dark and Steel-types that aren’t threatened by Psyblade.
Iron Leaves has a few different options for the final slot in its best moveset. Protect is the best and most straight-forward option, as it allows Iron Leaves to bide time and avoid taking damage from threatening opponents. Another potential option is Electric Terrain; while not ideal, Iron Leaves could try to set up terrain itself if it doesn’t have a teammate who can reliably do so.
Leaf Blade is an option for a secondary same-type attack bonus move. This attack allows Iron Leaves to deal neutral damage to the Psychic-types that otherwise resist Psyblade and Close Combat. Finally, Iron Leaves could run Ally Switch to swap positions with its teammate. This could potentially allow it to redirect threatening attacks into a bulkier ally.
Serebii Update: The new Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Tera Raid Battle event featuring Walking Wake and Iron Leaves is now live. Runs until March 12th at 23:59 UTC
Details being added @ https://www.serebiinet pic.twitter.com/qoCUEAy66y
— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) February 27, 2023
Iron Leaves benefits from using Life Orb as its held item. While holding a Life Orb, a Pokémon will deal extra damage with its attacks in exchange for losing a bit of HP after every successful attack. Since Iron Leaves prefers to set up and deal damage without getting hit, it doesn’t mind taking a bit of chip damage at the end of each turn.
The most important teammate for Iron Leaves is Amoonguss. This excellent supporter can use Rage Powder to redirect attacks away from Iron Leaves while it is setting up with Swords Dance. Amoonguss can also use Pollen Puff to heal damage that Iron Leaves has taken from its Life Orb.
Iron Leaves naturally also synergizes well with other future Paradox Pokémon, although the question still remains as to which of them will be in charge of setting up Electric Terrain. The only Pokémon in the current format that automatically sets up Electric Terrain with its Ability is the relatively weak Pincurchin. However, Iron Leaves would truly thrive if the best Electric Terrain setter, Tapu Koko, ever returned to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Related: Learn about Iron Leaves’ weakness and best counters on PC Invasion.
Published: Feb 27, 2023 06:49 pm