Drednaw

[PrincessGardevoir]

Credit: TerminalMontage's Gigantamax Battle Royale​

Typing:

/

Primary Viable Tera types:

,

,

Abilities: Strong Jaw/Shell Armor/Swift Swim (HA)
Base Stats: 90 HP / 115 Atk / 90 Def / 48 Sp.Atk / 68 Sp.Def / 74 Spe

Notable moves (Niche options in italics):

Waterfall, Liquidation, Razor Shell

Stone Edge, Head Smash, Rock Blast

Crunch, Jaw Lock

Ice Fang, Ice Spinner

Earthquake

Poison Jab

Tera Blast

Shell Smash, Substitute, Stealth Rock, Swords Dance, Rock Polish


PROS:
- Drednaw gained Shell Smash in Scarlet and Violet, granting it access to some of the strongest damage output in the tier after a single click.
- Differentiates itself from other Shell Smashers through utility outside of just Smashing via Swift Swim and Stealth Rock
- Strong Jaw Crunch and Ice Fang give excellent coverage, and miscellaneous options like Earthquake, Poison Jab, and Ice Spinner give variety and can instantkill standard checks
- Strong Jaw Crunch is so strong that even super effective moves will rarely be worth it if Crunch is neutral. After Dark Terastalization, it has an effective base power of 180, meaning options like Poison Jab or Ice Spinner when super effective don't outdamage it. You really do have a one button wonder.
- Swift Swim can function in or against rain teams, and in rain gives a backup speed option. Shell Smash under Rain makes you absolutely a nuclear bomb.
- Dark and Grass Terastalization have vastly different checks, and Quagsire, the best answer to Dark, loses automatically to Grass.
- Dark Terastalization makes you immune to Prankster, meaning Klefki becomes setup fodder and Morgrem can do absolutely nothing Grafaiai trying to Taunt or Parting Shot gives a free turn as well.
- Even if Terastalization gets banned, Drednaw's access to Rock STAB gives it a place as a Shell Smasher over Cloyster and a place on Rain over Barraskewda!

CONS:
- Status absolutely ruins Drednaw. Prankster Thunder Waves from Klefki and Morgrem, Will-o from Arcanine and Talonflame, Toxic Spikes from Glimmet, and much more all can either slow down or completely neuter Drednaw, forcing external support from gimmicky options like Healing Wish. Dark Terastalization makes you immune to Prankster, while Grass Terastalization makes you immune to Spore, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed.
- Priority just kills you. Slither Wing resists Crunch, Grass Terablast, and Earthquake and OHKOs both Terastalization types, ExtremeSpeed is only resisted by base typing, Aqua Jet and Mach Punch are never resisted.
- Coverage is strong, but faces 4MSS between a second STAB move, Ice Fang/Spinner, Earthquake, Poison Jab, and Substitute.
- Faces strict competition as a Shell Smasher by Cloyster, who has stronger Ice STAB, a reliable 125 bp Rock Blast, Ice Shard, and relies less on Terastalization, and Polteageist, who is a special attacker, has Strength Sap, and is arguably a better Terastalization candidate.
- Faces competition in the Swift Swim role from Barraskewda, who hits harder and is significantly faster and generally has enough coverage to make Drednaw's pros not as worth it.
- Requires massive amounts of team support to function best, and is susceptible to just losing at team preview.
- Whirlwind, Roar, Dragon Tail exist.

Terastalization potential:

- Your bread and butter, the peanut butter and jelly, the man, the myth, the legend, the GOAT. Dark Terastalization boosts Strong Jaw Crunch into the reason you're using the mon in the first place, along with granting a Sucker Punch resistance and immunity to Prankster Parting Shot and Thunder Wave.

- Mostly useful for OHKOing Quagsire with Grass Terablast, it also offers a resistance to Earthquake, Earth Power, and Grass STAB options in the tier.

- Almost exclusively useful on Rain teams as a pseudo-Barraskewda with better coverage and Shell Smash in exchange for lower power and much lower Speed.




SAMPLE SETS:

Non-Swift Swim Smasher

Standard (Drednaw) @ White Herb
Ability: Strong Jaw
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Waterfall / Stone Edge
- Poison Jab / Ice Fang / Earthquake / ...
- Shell Smash

Non-Swift Swim Drednaw is wholly reliant on overpowering targets with brutal amounts of damage after a single turn of setup. Terastalize Dark Strong Jaw Crunch is capable of frankly staggering damage after a single boost, and in instances where multiple boosts are acquired can result in an instantaneous game loss. Thanks to its sheer power, coverage options are heavily limited to those whose utility can cover the few flaws Crunch has while also keeping up in raw power. Waterfall carries STAB and a 20% flinch rate to occasionally completely bypass an otherwise consistent wall like Mimikyu, and I consider it mandatory on non-Swift Swim sets, although Stone Edge generally has better coverage. The last moveslot is a filler slot for miscellaneous coverage; Poison Jab hits Dachsbun, Wo-Chien, and Fairy Terastalization as hard as possible while also carrying a solid poison chance against neutral targets; Ice Fang hits Hydreigon, Wo-Chien, Brute Bonnet, and Salamence as hard as possible; Earthquake is almost solely for Tinkaton, who can paralyze Drednaw and immediately kill the sweep.

Other niche options can include changing to Terastalize Grass in order to OHKO Quagsire and become immune to Spore and Leech Seed, although you will notice an immense drop in power. Liquidation and Head Smash are more damaging versions of moves already on the recommended move list, but the former's defense drop will rarely be notable when shooting for OHKOs and the latter will put Drednaw into revenge killing range faster. Jolly can be used to get the jump on faster Scarfers, including the 110 speed bracket. The 100 speed bracket you already outspeed, such as Salamence, by 2 points with Adamant, however. Jaw Lock is an extremely gimmicky option to replace Crunch, which can trap Prankster Klefki and set up to +6 if it is a non-attacking variant, but also risks getting nuked if your opponent guesses correctly once

Rain Smasher

Rain Abuse (Drednaw) @ White Herb
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Tera Blast / Earthquake / ...
- Waterfall / Liquidation
- Ice Spinner / Earthquake / ...

Rain version, who trades Tera Dark for Tera Grass to OHKO Quagsire and Gastrodon.




BEST FRIENDS:

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Dual Screens support means making Shell Smash function far easier, and means you can survive a turn on setup and potentially a weak priority move thrown afterwards. Klefki and Morgrem are the most popular for their access to Prankster, with Klefki having Spikes and Morgrem being immune to opposing Taunt attempts. Hatterene and Espeon both have Magic Bounce, with Hatterene having various other utility options like Nuzzle and Healing Wish as well as actively threatening with a potential sweep, while Espeon... exists. Espeon is the only one I both haven't seen and haven't tested myself the effectiveness of.

Fellow Rain-abusers can pummel an opposing team into oblivion to prepare for a sweep. Rain teams in general are extremely strong at the time of writing, and teams are preparing counterplay to Barraskewda and Tauros-Water, and Drednaw can fit right in. It has to fight to keep its positioning among them, but as a Swift Swimmer who is still incredibly strong and consistent outside of weather, it is pretty good! Kilowattrel in particular can help immensely with threatening out Fighting types.

Tinkaton's various utility options, such as Thunder Wave, Stealth Rock, Encore and Knock Off give it a valuable role as a huge supporter. Thunder Wave in particular can give Drednaw the ability to outspeed Pokemon early or to get a jump on a speed-boosted mon. Bulky Espathra builds who are Paralyzed, even at +3 or +4 Speed, will lose to a Shell Smashed Drednaw, who with Dark Terastalize can be immune to Stored Power. Tinkaton also acts as an absorber of Grass, Fairy, and Bug attacks launched at it. If you're a madman, you could even run Dual Screens on Tinkaton!

A rather unique case, Arboliva provides several benefits to Drednaw: Grassy Terrain offer an Earthquake power reduction, making it safer to set up on Pokemon like Donphan, and provides passive healing, something Drednaw sorely lacks. A Grass resistance, especially one as respectably bulky as Arboliva, means you can have multiple turns of absorbing damage. Arboliva also gets a lot of utility options in Memento, dual screens, and Strength Sap, allowing itself to have a large bevy of tricks. Lastly, thanks to its immense Special Attack it can bait in and deal massive damage to otherwise consistent checks like bulky Tinkaton with Earth Power. It is deathly afraid of Fire types, and unfortunately Drednaw cannot stop two common ones, Arcanine and Talonflame, due to its aversion to Burns, and is even worse off against Tauros-Paldea-Fire, who threatens both with an OHKO Close Combat.
It's probably one of the only reasons Arboliva is useful in UU, so it can take solace in that. Other Grass types provide similar benefits (Earthquake resistance, status options, can hit very hard), but Arboliva's access to Grassy Terrain is extremely unique and can also fuel Hawlucha if you're an absolute unit.

WORST ENEMIES:

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Quagsire is practically the only 'real' reason that Grass Tera is useful; Quagsire can tank anything you throw at it, haze away boosts, Toxic you, and then recover stall until you perish. Even a Strong Jaw Crunch against physically defensive Quagsire won't break 48%. While Espathra is still in UU, SpDef Quagsire is deathly afraid of eating two back to back Crunches, eating 57% minimum. Waterfall can help, especially with rain support, but you will still likely get your boosts hazed. You're less afraid of Gastrodon, but its still annoying.

Tauros-Paldea-Water, much like how it checks every other water type Rain sweeper, stops everything Drednaw has. Crunch is resisted, Stone Edge is resisted, Waterfall is resisted, and Earthquake is relatively weak and only marginally stronger than Crunch. It also can Intimidate you to lower your attack further.

Strong priority will immediately kill Drednaw. With mediocre at best bulk and an awful defensive typing, including its main Terastalization options, you are weak to virtually everything revenge killing you. Bisharp and Shadow Sneakers are less problematic, but still annoying.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Drednaw got a massive boost in getting the rare Shell Smash. Unlike other Shell smashers, it is able to outspeed Scarf Gengar so after it is set up pretty much nothing will outspeed you barring priority. Quagsire is one of its biggest problems being able to wall the vast majority of sets with the notable except of Tera Grass. Another viable set is the Choice Band set, but is mostly eclipsed by the other sets. Drednaw is largely overlooked because of the other offensive threats that exist.