Competitive Pokémon History - Zekrom Quiz

Answer: Ignores the target's ability

Teravolt had two critical applications- ignoring Lugia's Multiscale and ignoring Skarmory's Sturdy. This seems, and frankly is, niche, but those two targets were physical walls whose weakness to Electric meant they could not stand up to Zekrom. Lugia would've had a chance thanks to Multiscale, but Teravolt turns the tables on it and made Zekrom into one of, if not the only Pokémon capable of consistently breaking Lugia to support its team.

Answer: Arceus-Ground

Groudon seems like it could pull this off at first glance. The existence of Groudon on the opposing team is definitely at least annoying for a Zekrom user, as they will be unable to safely utilize Zekrom's power Electric type attacks lest they risk giving the mover of continents a free switch in. However, Groudon cannot switch into Choice Band boosted Outrages, and a mixed Zekrom with Draco Meteor and a Shuca Berry can actually outright win one-on-one.

Arceus-Ground's well rounded stats and reliable recovery means that it can reliably tame Zekrom without much difficulty. It can outspeed it and pulverize it with, at most, two super effective Judgments or Earthquakes. It can take an Outrage if need be, outspeed Zekrom, and either OHKO with a Ground move or stall with Recover until Zekrom's Outrage is over. As such, teams weak to Zekrom could turn to Arceus-Ground for a reliable answer.

Answer: Hone Claws

Weakness Policy did not yet exist- not to worry, however, as the item would be an iffy pick on Zekrom anyway due to its mediocre defenses.

Hone Claws was the best Zekrom could do for a boosting move. At first glance, this seems like a joke worthy idea- however, the accuracy boost from Hone Claws does benefit Zekrom's Bolt Strike, which is a relatively inaccurate move.

In particular, Zekrom could turn the tables on slow defensive Pokémon such as Ferrothorn who would typically be able to deal with it otherwise. It could easily put up a Substitute, start boosting, then eventually overcome Ferrothorn or other slower threats who could not directly threaten Zekrom. As such, though a little on the gimmicky side, Hone Claws paired with Substitute did make Zekrom a formidable sweeping threat.

Answer: 130

Bolt Strike's awe-inspiring power meant dealing with Electric-weak threats was basically effortless for Zekrom. Even Lugia would be cleanly OHKOed from full health thanks to Zekrom's ability to bypass Multiscale.

Answer: Primal Groudon and Xerneas

Primal Groudon was immune to Zekrom's devastating Bolt Strike, while Xerneas walled off its frighteningly strong Outrage. However, if Zekrom hits Primal Groudon with Outrage or Xerneas with Bolt Strike, they will both take a lot of damage. Because these two were unbelievably common, Zekrom users often encountered awkward situations whenever it hit the field, and both trainers had to make difficult predictions in this scenario- do I switch my Primal Groudon in, thinking my opponent's Zekrom goes for Bolt Strike? Or do I bring Xerneas in on a predicted Outrage? The one who guessed correctly obtained a major advantage in the process, making Zekrom out to be an incredibly volatile Pokémon who could easily win or lose games in a single exchange.

Answer: 90

90 isn't absolutely horrid, but it misses on some backbreakingly crucial benchmarks that would've made Zekrom arguably a high or even top level threat. Speed tying with Primal Groudon and Kyogre creates dangerous situations in the form of Speed ties which, should Zekrom lose, will cause it to get obliterated before it can move or at least accomplish far less than it otherwise would've been able to. Being outsped by Xerneas and Yveltal creates a similar, unfortunate dilemma minus the Speed tying aspect.

Moreover, Zekrom's Choice Scarf set has its viability hindered by the fact that, even with a Choice Scarf, it is still outsped by Deoxys-A and Mega Mewtwo-Y and OHKOed- this is not a problem Choice Scarf variants of Xerneas, Yveltal or Rayquaza have to deal with.

As such, Zekrom would've really appreciated a little more in the Speed department- even ten points would've made a gargantuan difference.

Answer: Dragonium-Z

Dragonium-Z made Zekrom's Outrage become Devastating Drake, a title which is in no way misleading. After a Hone Claws boost, the move flat out OHKOed defensive Primal Groudon, defensive Dialga, and generally anything that did not resist it and have astounding bulk. Of course, Fairy types are immune to this move, so there was still considerable risk in trying to use it.

However, no Fairy wants to switch in to Zekrom's +1 Bolt Strikes, so it could leverage that to deter them from brainlessly switching into it.

Answer: Physical Wall

Access to Roost and Dragon Tail to go with a reasonable defensive profile with reasonable physical defense made Zekrom into an alright physical wall. Not being weak to Ghost, Water, Fire or Flying (in fact resisting the latter three) meant it made for a great check to Marshadow, Primal Kyogre, Ho-Oh and Rayquaza among others. With Dragon Tail to deter setup as well as a Bolt Strike which was still decently strong despite lack of investment, defensive Zekrom was best suited on semi-stall teams but could work on balance or dedicated stall quite decently as well.

Answer: Dragon Dance

Dragon Dance's speed boost was absolutely amazing for Zekrom who, up to this point, lacked an efficient, reliable way to boost its Speed apart from using an unwieldy Choice Scarf set. This finally gave offensive Zekrom some breathing room against offensive teams, as well as made it nightmarishly hard to deal with defensively thanks to the lack of Arceus-Ground to keep it in check.

This was exactly what Zekrom needed to manifest into the high tier threat it always had the potential of becoming.

Answer: Lunala

Lunala's Shadow Shield is the one ability which cannot be ignored by Teravolt, and it has a Multiscale effect to boot. Lunala can easily take a hit at full health, outspeed Zekrom, then either cripple it with Will-o-Wisp, whittle it down with Ice Beam, do both, or destroy it with either Moongeist Beam or Moonblast. With Yveltal being the best Pokémon in the metagame, fully capable of countering Lunala, correcting this problem was fairly easy but still highly recommended.