Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 8 HP / 212 Atk / 72 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang
Tapu Lele @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Calm Mind
Steelix @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Heavy Slam
- Taunt
Dracovish has Speed EVs to outspeed Base 130 Speed Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Spectrier alongside its Jolly Nature and Choice Scarf, it has Defense for Choice Band Jolly Urshifu-Rapid Close Combat, and the remaining EVs are put into Attack to maximize damage output. I am running 8 HP and 72 Defense in particular because it is the fewest EVs I need to live the hit I want while maximizing Special Bulk with the 8 HP EVs. Fishious Rend is its main attacking move, and should be used unless the opponent is both resistant to Water and is weak to Psychic Fangs or Outrage. It OHKOes many Pokemon weak to the move like Landorus and Entei, along with frailer Pokemon neutral to Water like Spectrier. It also is a great tool combined with Dracovish's natural bulk to 2HKO Pokemon like Metagross and Celesteela. It does so much damage despite its 85 Base Power and Dracovish's base 90 Attack Stat because if Dracovish moves first, the base power of Fishious Rend doubles to Base 170 Power, and along side Strong Jaw, its ability which boosts biting moves, and STAB, it is a nuclear threat. The rest of Dracovish's moveset are to be used only if the opponent resists Water but is weak to your coverage, or if they are Neutral to Water and 4 times weak to your coverage. Outrage is to hit Dragons that resist Fishious Rend like Choice Band Haxorus and Naganadel. Psychic Fangs are for hitting Venusaur, Roserade, and Urshifu-Rapid. The last move is Ice Fang to hit Garchomp and Zygarde slightly harder, though the last move slot does not matter too much. Another option is Rock Tomb, which allows you to beat Shedinja and somewhat defeat Choice Scarf Darmanitan Galar, but with your low Attack investment, it is not a favorable matchup, so I chose to put Ice Fang on the set. Strong Jaw is chosen as the ability to boost the power of Fishious Rend, Psychic Fangs, and Ice Fang, and the item Choice Scarf allows Dracovish to outspeed many more threats than it could without the item and to hit as many targets as it can with its double power Fishious Rend.
Tapu Lele has max Special Attack to maximize its damage output, 216 Speed EVs along with a Timid Nature to outspeed + Speed Nature Base 90 Speed Pokemon like Porygon-Z and Roserade. The remaining 40 EVs are put into HP for a little more general bulk, mainly helping you live 2 Choice Specs Tapu Fini Hydro Pumps, though it isn't 100% guaranteed. Psychic is used over Psyshock here mainly for the extra power against Volcanion, allowing you to just use Psychic twice and win fairly safely. Since we are so fast, we can outspeed Pokemon like Tapu Fini and use Taunt before they can Calm Mind, making Psyshock not as worth using, though it is still a good option both on this team and in general. Psychic is also your strongest attacking move when under Psychic Terrain. Moonblast is a secondary STAB option to hit the things Psychic cannot, mainly Dark types like Moltres-Galar and Urshifu-Single and to hit Dragons like Regidrago and Haxorus harder. Similarly to Steelix, Taunt is used to allow Tapu Lele to prevent opposing Pokemon like Tapu Fini and certain Cresselias from setting up on you, allowing you to use Calm Mind and attacks to win. It also prevents certain Pokemon like Primarina from cheesing Tapu Lele with moves like Encore and Endure + Custap Berry. Calm Mind is the last move to boost the power of Psychic and Moonblast, alongside boosting your special bulk, allowing you to being Special Attackers like Primarina and Tapu Fini. Psychic Terrain is chosen as the abiility to boost the power of Psychic, alongside stopping Priority Moves from chipping you. Psychic Seed is chosen as the item, which immediatly procs in Psychic Terrain and gives you a +1 Special Defense boost for Pokemon like Choice Specs Necrozma and Volcanion.
Steelix has max HP and 16 Special Defense EVs to live 2 Choice Specs Magnezone Flash Cannons, and the rest of the EVs in Defense to maximize its Physical Bulk as well as Body Press Damage, which is based off of its Defense Stat. That is also why it has an Impish Nature, which lowers Special Attack and Raises Defense. Iron Defense is used to tank Physical Attackers, mainly non Choice Banded threats like Scarf Haxorus and Swords Dance Garchomp. Body Press makes Steelix not as passive, since it gets more powerful the more you use Iron Defense. It also hits Fighting weak Pokemon hard, like Porygon-Z and even OHKOing frail Urshifu Single after a Close Combat, which lowers its Defenses. Heavy Slam is to cover Pokemon not hit hard by Body Press, mainly Fairies like Togekiss and Aromatisse. Taunt as the last move prevents opposing Pokemon from setting up on you, like Iron Defense Avalugg or some Leech Seed Celesteelas (If they don't have something like Flamethrower to hit you super effectively). It has Sitrus Berry as its item, which gives it needed recovery against certain threats like non Taunt Rillaboom and Swords Dance Garchomp. Rocky Helmet is another option, which loses out on some matchups but allows Steelix to beat Pheromosa. You also would want to move some EVs to Attack, I would recommend 32 EVs from Defense to Attack with Rocky Helmet to OHKO Pheromosa with Heavy Slam after Rocky Helmet chip.
There are some problematic matchups for this team, the main ones I found were:
Tapu Bulu
Steelix can finesse certain sets but Bulk Up, Leech Seed, Taunt, and Disable prove to be a problem for it. This is definitely the biggest problem with the team.
Rillaboom
Steelix can beat many Rillabooms, but bulkier variants with Taunt can prevent Steelix from boosting its Defense and Rillaboom can win from there. Tapu Lele can also beat extremely bulk Rillaboom variants focusing on Leech Seed Stall, but it is not a very solid matchup.
Garchomp
Steelix, despite being weak to its STAB Earthquake, can beat non Choice Band Garchomps with Iron Defense, Body Press, and Sitrus Berry. Dracovish has an okay matchup against Choice Band Garchomp, though it is not very reliable.
Sawk
Steelix can defeat most variants with its immense Physical Bulk alongside Iron Defense and Body Press, but Choice Band Sawk can beat Steelix unless it has a lot of Attack investment (156 EVs) and Rocky Helmet. Dracovish has a favorable roll against Choice Band Sawk but can still get OHKOed and loses to other variants.
Pheromosa
Without Rocky Helmet, Steelix cannot check Pheromosa, and Tapu Lele and Dracovish both get outsped and OHKOed.
