Zacian is Bullshit - P0k3m0n.1

I've played a ton of Pokemon in my youth. My first game was Silver. It's been a while, but I recently picked up Pokemon Shield and have played quite a bit of it during this pandemic. My favorite parts about Pokemon have always been team construction and battling. I know every kid says this, but I was a MONSTER at single battles. Six versus six, no duplicates, no legendaries, no hacks, my squad verses your squad...I loved that. I was also blessed with having a childhood friend, Jason, that was a seriously good battler. He wasn't the typical "me pick only strong offensive Pokemon and four attacking moves" casual player that would make my eyes roll. He was the refined "I will lose half of my total HP pool just to acquire the positional advantage" entry hazard and weather abusing enjoyer.

We would have long theoretically discussions about team compositions that would easily rival any scientific debate I've had in the last four years in grad school. And we staked our hypotheses on battles, either via one on one duels, or in a friendly competition of whose team could achieve the longer win streak in the Battle Tower. The Battle Tower grind especially hardened us. A true story, and the cause of the first and only "rage quit" I've ever done, was when I experienced a TWENTY THREE turn freeze against an Ice Beam Serene Grace Blissey. I can't begin to count the number of battles I've lost to one hit knock outs (OHKOs), paraflinching, crits, niche comps that had insanely good matchups (still scarred from getting swept from a choice scarf flare blitzing Rapidash in sun), speed ties, botched end games, SHEDINJA... The list goes on. And from these experiences, I've learned to become paranoid in team construction. Do I cover every type offensively and defensively? What about the dual types (need grass for the Swamperts, fire for the Scizors, Fairy for the Spiritombs, etc). Can I handle weather? Can I handle Trick Room and Tailwind? Can I handle entry hazards (Rapid Spin or Defog or Court Change)? Can I hit SHEDINJA? Can I deal with stall tactics? Can I deal with set up? Can I deal with hyper offensive? There is so much to think about both generally and specifically. Only six Pokemon with only four moves isn't nearly enough to cover everything, and double battles are even worse (although one could argue that having two Pokemon out at a time offers a greater potential to protect against "cheese")! What is the perfect Pokemon team? Does it exist? This is a question that I've always longed to know the answer to. But one thing is for sure, every Pokemon on your team MUST COUNT. And frankly, some Pokemon are just better than others.

And this brings me to the topic of this post. Zacian. There may not be the perfect team, but this dog, specifically with its Crowned Sword, is as close to the "perfect" Pokemon that I can imagine. Please, allow me to elaborate on how disgustingly bullshit this Pokemon is.

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Zacian's stats are bullshit

Normally, the first barometer of a Pokemon's strength are the total of its base stats. As a bonafide "cover" legendary, Zacian with its Crowned Sword boasts a whopping 720 total base stats. This equals the total of Arceus, the creator of the universe, and Zacian's counterpart Zamazenta, and is only superseded by Mega Mewtwo and Rayquaza (780), Primal Kyogre and Groudon (770), and Ultra Necrozma (754). The thing that's unique about Zacian is the crazy efficiency of how its stats are spread. Like most legendary Pokemon, Zacian is an offensive monster and is primarily used as a sweeper. Sweepers operate through powerful attacks and almost ALWAYS specialize in either attack or special attack. This means that one of these stats are effectively irrelevant when assessing the strength of the Pokemon. After correcting for the non-use of the weaker offensive stat, we find that Zacian and Zamazenta actually have the best base stats! Now one could argue that there is value in having both offensive stats being high because you can hide whether a Pokemon is special or physical and also utilize offensive moves of both categories. There is definitely some value in that, but realistically this is seldom used in competitive battling and is a discussion for another day. (As an aside, I would love to collect examples of historically great mixed sweepers i.e Rayquaza, Arcanine, Dragapult, Infernape, etc, and if people have some great examples and sets they'd like to share please reach out!

Now let's talk some specific scenarios regarding this woofer's stats.

148 base speed... Really? Was this necessary. 148 base speed means that a Zacian with ZERO speed investment (neutral nature, 0 EVs, 31 IVs) has 168 speed at level 50. Well isn't that convenient. A Pokemon with 100 base speed that is FULLY invests in its speed (positive nature, 252 EVs, and 31 IVs) has 167 speed at level 50. That's right, every competitive Zacian will outspeed every competitive Charizard, Ninetails, Zapdos, Entei, Salamence, Palkia, Regigas, Volcarona and Comfey by at least one point. Depressing right? This MUST have been deliberate. Also, let's talk about the value of having a unique base stat for speed. The next lowest base value for speed by a Pokemon is 145, shared by Accelgor, Mega Beedril, and Mega Sceptile. If we limit our scope to only Pokemon available in Sword and Shield and useable in competitive battling, the next lowest after that is the 142 base speed of Dragapult. After that is 136 by Barraskewda. Why does this matter? Well it matters because if you are EV training Zacian to outspeed all the "threats" it can outspeed you have at least 6 base stats of leeway to use in other stats (one would have to be a psycho to EV train Zacian to specifically outspeed Accelgor). And let me just say I'm not even sure that it's worth specifically EV training for Dragapult (at least in the current meta of Pokemon which is VGC series 10 at the time of writing this). The other hidden value in Zacian's 148 base speed, which is extremely close to Calyrex Shadow Rider's 150 base speed, is that it puts pressure on Calyrex Shadow Rider to almost FULLY INVEST EVs into speed JUST to ensure it outspeeds Zacian. And for what? It can't even one shot Zacian... But still, it's a big risk not outspeeding the theoretical max speed Zacian.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of Zacian is its hefty 170 base attack stat. This thing hits like a truck! A Level 50 Adamant Zacian's Behemoth Blade does 138-163 damage to a Pokemon with 150 defense and 207-244 damage to a Pokemon with 100 defense. Before its ability is even taken into account, it's STILL doing 138-163 damage to a Pokemon with 100 defense.

Finally, Zacian is BULKY. It has the same defense as Suicune (115). It's more defensively bulky than Umbreon and more special defensively bulky than Togekiss (when taking into account the combination of defenses and hp).

All together, the raw power and bulk of this Pokemon, the efficiency of how its stats are spread, and the uniqueness of its speed stat afford Zacian insane flexibility in how you can train it. And no matter how you train it, it'll be fast, strong, and bulky. As an example, below is a Zacian spread that gives an Adamant Incineroar, fully invested in attack, ZERO chance of OHKOing Zacian with Flare Blitz. To add, to the absurdity, the 4 EVs in speed ensure that Zacian outspeeds a Timid, fully speed invested, Whimsicott (184 speed). Come on now.

Zacian's ability is bullshit

Here's an idea! Let's allow one of the strongest and fastest Pokemon in the game to start the battle with +1 attack. Think about how valuable intimidate is in competitive battling. Think about how valuable it is to be able to burn physical threats. Some Pokemon NEED to be crippled in order to prevent the amount of offensive pressure they exude. There aren't THAT many ways to cripple a Zacian and they can easily be planned for. Just watch out for burns (and statuses in general), intimidates, and the niche charms (soooo hard). In FACT, you can even pair Zacian with defiant users to take advantage of an opponent's desperation to lower its attack. And not that anyone runs this, but Zacian gets access to Facade. Imagine that. You can't Trick it, you can't Knock Off, if an opposing Zacian user is just as smart as you, you're going to have to except the fact that this Pokemon will be a problem. When you see that glowing red power swirling around that steel, cyan colored body, you're probably thinking, thank god this thing can only knock out one Pokemon at a time.

Zacian's moves are bullshit

Power, accuracy, coverage, set up. Zacian has it all. The only "flaw" in Zacian's movepool is a lack of access to spread attacks. Let's get into it:

Zacian's most common moves according to Pikalytics

Behemoth Blade - This is Zacian's bread and butter, no nonsense, 100 base power, 100 accuracy, STAB "deal with it" move. I wonder where all the fairy Pokemon that were so common in previous formats went? Behemoth Blade one shots A LOT of Pokemon and two shots nearly everything if it's hitting for neutral. In fact the Pokemon with the HIGHEST defense and hp combo (in Sword and Shield) that takes neutral damage from Behemoth Blade is Aggron (180 base defense, 70 base hp). Behemoth blade from an Adamant Zacian is a guaranteed two hit KO if Aggron doesn't have a defensive nature but has 252 EVs in defense. If Aggron has a defensive nature, there is a 58.6% chance for Behemoth blade to be a two hit KO. Never mind that Zacian would realistically one shot Aggron with a fighting move :p. Hmm, I wonder what types usually have high defense? This would be the best candidates to wall a Zacian right? Steel types have the highest average base defense (122.88), followed my Rock types (114.70). The combination of Behemoth Blade and Close Combat covers for these NO PROBLEMO.

Substitute - Got tricks? Nope. Sub.

Close Combat - Fighting is one of the best offensive types in the games. It hits five types for super effective damage (although Behemoth Blade already overlaps with two of them in Ice and Rock). But the ability to take out Incineroar, one of the biggest annoyances for Zacian, is invaluable.

Sacred Sword - A 90 base power move that ignores defense changes and evasion. That's nice.

Swords Dance - You cannot mess around when Zacian is on the field because if it safely set up with a Swords Dance, then god help you.

Play Rough - Sorry dragon types.

Wild Charge - Flying and Water coverage means that all Kyogres, Yvetals, Ho-ohs and Lugias that though they were "safe" actually aren't. You are technically taking a gamble having these Pokemon on the field against Zacian. Maybe Lugia could actually wall a Wild Charge. I just checked and it's a two hit KO if Multiscale is broken and three if it isn't. Damn... that's actually impressive Lugia. Hopefully Zacian won't just Swords Dance in your face...

And did you know Zacian also has access to...

Facade - An insurance policy against burns.

Solar Blade - gROuDon COunTerS ZAciAn.

Psychic Fangs - A classic screen breaker.

Crunch - Hi Calyrex Shadow Rider!

Quick Attack - Could be useful if you activate a Focus Sash as either Tailwind or Trick room are being set up by the enemy.

Yes, 90% of Zacian's will run some combination of Behemoth Blade, Close Combat, Protect, Substitute, Sacred Sword, Close Combat and Play Rough. Against Zacian, you do need to prep for STAB and fighting moves. BUT, the cheeky team builders that add that one Wild Charge or Solar Blade or Crunch is something you have to respect, especially in a best of one scenario.

All allowable legendaries in VGC series 10 and how they can be weak to Zacian.

Image modified from Game8

Zacian's type is bullshit

Zacian has an incredible type. Steel and Fairy, two of the strongest types, combine to make an even stronger type. The defensive synergy between these two types is INSANE: nine resistances, two immunities, and weak only to Ground and Fire. Note that these weaknesses are solely covered by Water (offensively), meaning that Zacian synergyzes extremely well with rain/water. Defensively, think how easy it is to have a switch in to Ground/Fire. Steel and Fairy also have an interesting offensive synergy. Three out of the four things that resist Steel (Electric, Fire, Water, Steel) are weak to Ground. EVERYTHING that resists Fairy (Fire, Poison, Steel) is also weak to Ground. Ground literally covers 4/5 resists from Zacian's STAB moves. Fire and Steel, resist both STABs, but Zacians often carry Sacred Sword or Close Combat for Steel types. This explains why Fire types are prominently used as defensive bruisers against Zacians. Run into any Incineroars, Enteis, Arcanines or Torkoals lately? But there's something even more remarkable about the Fairy/Steel synergy. I have a hunch that it is the most "defensive" type in the game. Attacking moves can either be 4x, 2x, 1x, .5x, .25x, or 0x effective against a Pokemon. If you average the effectiveness of each type against a particular Pokemon, my "gut" tells me that Steel/Fairy will result in the lowest average effectiveness. Here, on October 7th, 2021, I am coining the concept and term "average effectiveness" abbreviated AE. Here is the calculated AE against Zacian:

Considering the type(effectiveness) against Zacian for all the types:

Ground(2),

Fire(2),

Normal(.5),

Flying(.5),

Rock(.5),

Grass(.5),

Psychic(.5),

Ice(.5),

Dark(.5),

Fairy(.5),

Fighting(1),

Ghost(1),

Steel(1),

Water(1),

Electric(1),

Bug(.25),

Poison(0),

Dragon(0),

2 + 2 + .5 + .5 + .5 + .5 + .5 + .5 + .5 + .5 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + .25 + 0 + 0 = 13.25

dividing the sum (above) by total number of types yields the average (below)

13.25/18 = .73611111...

We have our value! Zacians AEA (average effectiveness against) score is .736

(As a weird side note, I was making dilutions of 70% ethanol in lab today using 190 proof ethanol, and to make the ethanol "70%" you combine .736 parts 190 proof ethanol with .264 parts water...spoooooky)

Let's compare Zacian's AEA to that of other classically defensively-typed Pokemon

Celesteela - .750

Registeel - .833

Spiritomb - .861

Scizor - .875

Magnezone - .889

And for fun let's look at the AEA scores of poor defensively-typed Pokemon:

Abomasnow - 1.39

Parasect - 1.33

Golem - 1.29

Hydreigon - 1.11

So yeah... Zacian is insane. If anyone can think of an example of ludicrously high or low AEA scores please let me know! Also what is the highest and lowest POSSIBLE AEA score? It may be fun to play around with some type combos using a Pokemon type calculator.

Zacian's "supportability" is bullshit

Because of Zacian's amazing type and power. It is VERY easy to construct a supporting cast. I already mentioned that Zacian only has two weakness, Fire and Ground. Several Pokemon can easily switch into these types including Pelipper, Gyarados, Moltres, Latios/Latias, Rotom Heat/Wash, Hydreigon, any of the Dragon/Flying types, etc. And these are just some of the Pokemon that resist or are immune to BOTH of Zacian's weaknesses at the same time. In rain, only Ground moves do Super Effective damage to Zacian, which makes Pokemon like Pelipper and Politoed very enticing. In Grassy Terrain, Earthquake, a normally threatening move, does half the damage. Boom, Rillboom. The set of things Zacian has to be worried about is relatively small, and there are so many ways to deal with them that you can really hone in on empowering Zacian's major strength, OHKOing mons. Building a Zacian team is super straight forward: cover its TWO weaknesses, protect it from "cheese"(Taunts, terrain control, weather control, speed control, etc), and protect it from double ups (Fake Out, Follow Me, secondary threats,etc).

Here are some quick examples of teams that empower Zacian:

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The Incineroar, Rillaboom, Regieleki core is becoming a historic trio in VGC and the way these three complement Zacian is quite remarkable. Double Fake Out pressure and triple pivot pressure (allowing the cycling of more Fake Outs or Intimidates) is the perfect amount of controlled chaos that Zacian thrives in. If one opposing Pokemon is flinched, Zacian can knock out the other one. If you choose to lead Zacian, Suicune and Incineroar can switch into Fire attacks, while Zapdos and Rillaboom can switch into Ground attacks. Zapdos's Defiant discourages Intimidate users from crippling Zacian. Suicune's Inner Focus prevents flinching and makes it very difficult to stop Tailwind. The Rain Dance on Regieleki protects Zacian against pesky Fire types.

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Two flying types to cover Zacian's Ground weakness, Torkoal and Politoed to cover Zacian's Fire weakness, Indeedee-F for Psychic Terrain to prevent Fake Outs and Follow Me, Helping Hand, and Heal Pulse support, Landorus to cover Zacian's resists, tons of pivot potential (U-turn and switch ins to change weather)...off the bat I can see that this team might be weak to Calyrex Shadow Rider which may inspire me to retrain Politoed as a Special Defensive wall or perhaps exchange the cheeky Solar Blade to Crunch or even exchange Dragonite for Assault Vest Tyrannitar.

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This one is my favorite. Raichu is an amazing support for the Rain core that supports Zacian. Nuzzle and Tailwind offers the team speed control, Misty Terrain protects Zacian from status...I actually spent quite a bit of time on this team and rather than detail the full team report, I will let you, the reader, find all the synergies :p.

Zacian is SO much better than Zamazenta that it's BULLSHIT

If a shield cannot resist a sword, why bother with the extra weight. Death is death. This is how I felt about Zamazenta. I was a totally disappointed. Zacian is so fast and powerful that it feels overwhelming to play against. Meanwhile, Zamazenta feels lackluster. It isn't even THAT tanky, Zacian will still two shot a max HP max Defense Zamazenta with Close Combat.

Zamazenta's ability, Dauntless Shield, is only useful against physical damage. Zacian on the other hand, will ALWAYS utilize the extra attack from Intrepid Sword. Zamazenta's movepool is also just worse overall and doesn't fit the theme of "tank". Its signature move, Behemoth Bash, is the same thing as Behemoth Blade. The only difference is that Zamazenta's 130 base attack is used and not Zacian's 170 base attack. Why does it not get access to Body Press? And, I can't help but think of the missed opportunity to give Zamazenta King's Shield. Its stats are worse, its moves are worse, AND its type is worse. Zacian may have the best type combination in the game. Meanwhile, Steel/Fighting, which isn't new, is a worse defensive type (AEA=.889) than pure Steel (AEA=.833) or Steel/Fairy (.736). I don't regret getting Shield over Sword but damn...one dog is clearly the alpha.

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In conclusion, Zacian is a bullshit Pokemon. Its stats are deliberately and efficiently spread to enable precise and overwhelming sweeping power, its type is offensively and defensively top notch, it gets access to amazing moves, and it's easy to support. It is a definitely a "cool" doggo and I'm glad they made it, but it is a brokenly strong Pokemon left uncheck by its lackluster younger sister, Zamazenta.

This has been a ramble. I tried to be somewhat organized, but I am sure there are a ton of typos and mistakes. If anyone has any comments or feedback, please, please, pleaseeee don't hesitate to reach out.

-Rockwell