Gen 9 OU
Basculegion @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim / Adaptability/ Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Water / Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
- Phantom Force / Ice Fang / Tera Blast
Basculegion-Male just might be the greatest rain abuser of all time. On paper, its stats are on the more unimpressive side (NU is not safe with its monstrous base 112 attack and 78 speed) and it has a small problem in its coverage movepool, but it makes up for it with 3 incredible abilities that can easily find their place on a rain team. Swift Swim is the standout, allowing Basculegion to escape its issues with middling speed and become a terrifying mon under rain with its boosted Wave Crashes (stronger than Floatzel's) destroying defensive Pokemon while not allowing any standard offensive Pokemon to keep up with its speed. Adaptability lets it take on a niche similar to Crawdaunt in generations prior, functioning as an obscenely powerful wallbreaking tool. Despite not being as consistently threatening and being forced out by faster Pokemon, the rain + Adaptability boost lets it spam Liquidation more, conserving its longevity, and use Aqua Jet as an incredibly powerful revenge kill tool which will let you shave at least 35% off of any neutral hit. This is where its secondary Ghost typing gets to shine, as traditional Water Absorb users and Gastrodon will get smacked around by Phantom Force or Tera Blast ghost. Mold Breaker is more of an utility option for rain, although the lack of a speed or power boost may seem unattractive, this ability invalidates Pokemon with water immunity granting abilities as checks. All of a sudden, Clodsire and Gastrodon go from being decent checks to getting 2hkoed. It's still a powerful rain wallbreaker despite the lack of a Swift Swim or Adaptability boost, and this gives a notable niche as a Pokemon that is not bothered to usual checks to rain teams. Mold Breaker Basculegion can help rain teammates like Swift Swim Floatzel, Swords Dance Urshifu and offensive Zapdos drown the opposing team, and once Basculegion's job is done you can sack it to have good momentum and bring in one of those three.
One other good aspect about this Pokemon is surprisingly, its defensive typing. Water - Ghost gives you a resistance to some of the most common forms of priority, like Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed, Mach Punch, and Aqua Jet.
The strength of Basculegion lies in its versatility and ability to do multiple things to surprise its opponents. This ability to have multiple devastating and unexpected options is seldom seen on a playstyle as linear and predictable as rain. With floatzel, you know what it's going to do and it could still destroy your team. With Basculegion, you don't know what will happen, what the set is. You could bring your Clodsire or Gastrodon predicting a Swift Swim set and get destroyed by Phantom Force, you could expect an Adaptability and bring on like a Dragapult on a sack, and wouldn't you know its Swift Swim and you get OHKOed by Tera Water Wave Crash.
About the move options
- Phantom Force is a 2 turn move, but the metagame is starved for Ghost immunities and resistance, and none of those want to take a Water move. You have to play carefully with this move though, but it can be very rewarding and exert a lot of pressure on its checks. Tera Blast Ghost is a more consistent option, mainly on Adaptability sets, that you can simply click on Water immune Pokemon, but it wastes a Tera, and the sheer power of Tera Water sets are generally a better use of the Tera mechanic, so Tera Ghost is not as optimal (plus Tera Blast is a wasted move slot if you don't tera) but Ghost is a the best offensive type in the game and not really anything can comfortably switch in.
- Ice Fang can still hit Clodsire for a decent amount, and it is 4x effective on Dragonite, which can live a hit thanks to Multiscale.
Recommended teammates
- Pelipper is mandatory for rain teams.
- Choice Band Floatzel, offensive Zapdos (with thunder and hurricane), Swords Dance Urshifu-Rapid Strike, Sub+Iron Defense Zamazenta Crowned, and Scizor are great teammates for their synergy with Basculegion paired with their ability to abuse rain. Swords Dance Scizor can check Clodsire, so can Sub Iron Defense Zamazenta Crowned (doubtful it will remain in the tier for long). Zamazenta-C also checks common Sucker Punch users Kingambit and Chien-Pao.
- Pivots such as Amoonguss and Galarian Slowking can find Basculegion a switch opportunity (G-Slowking especially with its slow Chilly Reception) and can exert pressure with Spore and Future Sight respectively.
- On rainless teams with Adaptability, fast threats like Nasty Plot Tornadus-Therian, Iron Valiant, Cinderace, Dragapult, Meowscarada, and Zamazenta-Hero appreciate Basculegion's wallbreaking ability and can deal with faster Pokemon for it.
