21. Iron Valiant

Fairy / Fighting · Quark Drive (100%) · B+ · 12.33% usage (2026-04) · base stats 74 / 130 / 90 / 120 / 60 / 116 · the format’s premier mixed wallbreaker-revenger — picks an offensive identity per game and runs through whatever your team didn’t prepare for.

Format role

Iron Valiant is an offense-archetype staple: enormous twin offenses (130 Atk / 120 SpA) on a 116-Speed frame, a STAB combo (Fairy + Fighting) that hits the metagame’s defensive backbone for at least neutral, and item paths (Booster 45.6% / Life Orb 35.4% / Specs 8.9% / Fightinium-Z 3.3% / Scarf 2.2%) that each turn it into a different problem. Because the variants share a teambuilding slot but punish opposite answers, it forces the opponent to commit a defensive read before preview is over. It is VR B+ despite top-12 usage (divergence #2): the council ranks it down for frailty and inconsistency — 74/90/60 bulk means one wrong read and it’s dead — but on aggressive offense you run it anyway because it is the closest thing the format has to a fast, switch-free, mixed break-or-revenge button. It is a glass cannon with no defensive recourse — one wrong read and it’s dead.

Sets

Booster Energy breaker (Booster 45.6% — the default)

Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Naive  (4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe  — or mixed 120 Atk / 136 SpA / 252 Spe)
- Moonblast        (75.1%)
- Close Combat     (82.4%)
- Knock Off        (44.0%)
- Vacuum Wave / Encore  (24.8% / 11.9%)

On every standard 252-Spe spread, Speed (364) is the highest stat, so Quark Drive/Booster boosts Speed (364 → 546), not an attack. That is the point: it jumps the relevant unboosted field short of Regieleki-style outliers and common Scarfers through base 110 on switch-in while still hitting like a 339-SpA / 359-Atk mixed attacker. The mixed 120 Atk / 136 SpA spread (14.0% of all spreads) keeps both Moonblast and CC live so it rarely gives a safe switch. Vacuum Wave is the priority button (24.8%); Encore (11.9%) traps setup/recovery.

Life Orb mixed attacker (Life Orb 35.4%)

Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Naive  (120 Atk / 136 SpA / 252 Spe)
- Close Combat     (82.4%)
- Moonblast        (75.1%)
- Knock Off        (44.0%)
- Swords Dance / Vacuum Wave  (30.6% / 24.8%)

The second-most-common item, and the one to expect by default after Booster. No Speed lock (sits at 364), but the 1.3× Life Orb on both STABs plus item-free move choice makes it the most flexible breaker: it can SD (30.6%) on a forced switch and then break with a +2 physical STAB while still threatening Moonblast off 246 SpA. Ice Punch (28.9%) and Thunderbolt (28.7%) are the most common coverage slots, for Dragons/Landorus and bulky Waters/Flyers respectively.

Choice Specs wallbreaker (Specs 8.9%)

Iron Valiant @ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Timid  (252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe)
- Moonblast        (75.1%)
- Vacuum Wave      (24.8%)
- Shadow Ball      (12.8%)
- Focus Blast      (8.5%)

508 SpA off the special STAB — the rawest special breaker. No Quark Drive Speed jump, so it sits at 364 and is outsped by Scarfers, but it 2HKOs Gholdengo with Shadow Ball (Moonblast is resisted by Gholdengo’s Steel half) and 2HKOs the balance core list below. Vacuum Wave is the kept-priority insurance for a Choice-locked frail mon.

Fightinium-Z / Choice Scarf (Z 3.3% / Scarf 2.2%)

Iron Valiant @ Fightinium Z  (Z-move: max 1 per team)  (or Choice Scarf)
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Naive  (4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
- Close Combat     (82.4%)
- Moonblast        (75.1%)
- Knock Off        (44.0%)
- Vacuum Wave / Trick

Fightinium-Z turns Close Combat into All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) — a one-time nuke that blows past a Steel/bulky check without the CC defense drops, costing the team’s single Z-slot. Scarf (553 Speed) is the niche “I lost the speed-control war” revenge insurance: it outruns base-110 Scarf (525) and cleans every unboosted sweeper, with Trick to cripple a wall.

What it does

The Booster set’s whole gimmick is the Speed lock: it picks up the boost on entry and outruns the field, so you lead it or bring it in on a forced switch and immediately threaten a 2HKO on something the opponent can’t safely switch into. Because it’s item-free for move selection, it answers a double by clicking the right STAB. Life Orb trades the Speed lock for raw flexibility — SD on a passive turn, then a +2 STAB, or just spam dual-STAB + coverage. Specs trades Speed for a 50% damage hike — bring it in on a slow pivot (a Future Sight from Slowking-Galar, a slow Landorus-Therian U-turn) and the Fairy/Fighting/Ghost coverage means few free switches.

Key interactions: Gholdengo’s Good as Gold blanks Trick and other status-category disruption, but it does not block damage or Knock Off’s item removal when Knock Off connects — Shadow Ball hits Gholdengo’s Ghost typing super-effectively (2×) and 2HKOs, and Knock Off (Dark, 2× on the Ghost typing) also 2HKOs, so Gholdengo is a soft check that loses the long game. Don’t click Close Combat into it: Fighting can’t touch the Ghost typing (0×), and Moonblast is resisted by Steel (0.5×), so the Ghost/Dark coverage is the only way through. Encore is the anti-tempo tool: click it on a Calm Mind, a recovery move, or a Defog and the wall is locked into a non-threat while Valiant or a teammate sets up. Vacuum Wave is the frail-mon’s safety valve — priority that punishes Sucker Punch users and weakened faster threats. Against it, keep hazards up: at 74/90/60 it does not want to switch into Stealth Rock repeatedly, and it has no recovery.

Load-bearing calcs

Spreads: Valiant 339 SpA / 508 Specs SpA / 359 Atk (Jolly/Naive) / 364 Spe (→ 546 Booster, 553 Scarf). Defenders at standard bulk.

• Specs Moonblast vs 252 HP Kingambit (Fairy: Dark 2× × Steel 0.5× = neutral 1×): 252–297 (62.4–73.5%) [2HKO] — Moonblast is neutral, not 4×, because Kingambit’s Steel half resists Fairy; Valiant is still the cleanest answer to Kingambit (it 2HKOs and barely feels Sucker Punch — below), but it does not one-shot.
• Specs Shadow Ball vs 252 HP Gholdengo (Ghost 2× via Gholdengo’s Ghost typing, non-STAB): 268–316 (70.9–83.6%) [2HKO] — Ghost is super-effective on the Ghost half (Ghost vs Steel is only neutral), so the Good-as-Gold Defog denier is cleanly 2HKO’d by Ghost coverage (Good as Gold blocks status-category moves, not damage or Knock Off’s item removal); it checks once and loses the long game.
• Life Orb Knock Off vs 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo (Dark 2×, item-boosted): 187–221 (49.5–58.5%) [2HKO] — the physical side breaks Gholdengo with Dark coverage, not Fighting (Close Combat is immune-blocked by the Ghost typing); a 2HKO even into max physical bulk, sooner after hazard chip.
• Specs Focus Blast vs 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ting-Lu (Fighting 2×): 462–546 (89.9–106.2%) [2HKO; OHKO on the top ~6/16 rolls or after any chip] — Ting-Lu, the premier special sponge, is brought to the brink by the special set’s Fighting coverage if Focus Blast (8.5%) connects, but the min roll (89.9%) leaves a fully SpD-invested Ting-Lu alive without prior chip.
• Specs Moonblast vs 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex (Poison resists, 0.5×): 62–73 (20.4–24.0%) [5HKO] — Fairy is resisted, so Toxapex hard-walls the special set, recovering off the chip; it is a genuine counter to Specs, not to Knock + physical pressure.
• Kingambit Sucker Punch vs 0 HP Iron Valiant (0.25× double-resist): 35–42 (12.1–14.5%) [6HKO] — Valiant survives Sucker from full (Fighting and Fairy both resist Dark) and OHKOs back; the only reliable Kingambit revenge is on heavy chip.

Checks & counters

HARD (true counters): Volcarona (the block’s only listed check at 51.2 / 82.65% — resists Close Combat and takes Moonblast neutrally, OHKOs back with Fire), Toxapex (resists Specs Moonblast — ~20% — and recovers; Haze/Black Sludge), Dondozo and Clodsire (Unaware + recovery wall the special/SD sets), Corviknight (Pressure + Roost, resists Fairy and takes Fighting neutrally). These are the entries it cannot break 1v1.

SOFT (checks / revenge): Gholdengo — Good as Gold blocks the targeted status side but it’s 2HKO’d by Shadow Ball and chipped by Knock Off (Close Combat is immune-blocked by the Ghost typing), so it checks at most once or twice and loses the long game; Slowking-Galar (Regenerator sponge that still takes 50%+ from CC); Zamazenta and Great Tusk outspeed the non-Booster sets and threaten heavy damage but are OHKO/2HKO’d by Moonblast on the switch. Faster revenge pressure + priority is the standard offensive answer: at 289 HP / 216 Def (0-EV), Scarf Landorus-Therian EQ does 195–229 (67.5–79.2%) [2HKO], and any Scarfer over 546 or any boosted priority cleans it. The frailty is the whole story — it has no defensive answer to being revenged once it’s on the field.

* Offense angle

This is the offense glue mon, full stop. Run the Booster set as a mid-game break-or-revenge dual threat: its on-entry Speed lock means you don’t have to predict around most conventional speed control — bring it in on a forced switch and it’s already faster than nearly everything relevant, converting any momentum turn into a 2HKO. Pair it with hazard chip from a Landorus-Therian lead so the calcs above tip over: Life Orb Knock Off vs max-Def Gholdengo is 49.5–58.5% (a 2HKO — Close Combat is immune-blocked by Gholdengo’s Ghost typing, so Knock is the physical route), but one Spikes/Rock layer guarantees the second hit kills. The classic aggressive-offense engine is Future Sight from Slowking-Galar + Valiant: Slowking clicks Future Sight, slow-pivots Valiant in, and the wall that would sponge one Valiant STAB instead eats Future Sight + Moonblast/CC on the same turn — that double pressures Toxapex/Clodsire/Corviknight, the exact entries that check Valiant alone. If you’d rather break than revenge, Life Orb + Swords Dance turns it into a one-mon answer to passive balance, and Fightinium-Z (your one Z-slot) is the lure that nukes a Steel that thinks it walls you.

Offensively against it: it has no recovery and 74/90/60 bulk. Keep Stealth Rock up, lead with a faster Scarfer or carry boosted priority (Kingambit’s Sucker on a chipped Valiant, a Banded Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed), and do not give the Booster set a clean entry — once it has the Speed lock it picks you apart. The one trap: don’t click Sucker Punch into a possible Vacuum Wave / Encore variant, and don’t set up a sweeper into it blind (Encore locks you out).

Top teammates & cores

From the block’s top-10: Gholdengo (45.0%), Alomomola (38.5%), Landorus-Therian (35.5%), Tyranitar-Mega (25.3%), Zapdos (24.5%), Terapagos (21.1%), Iron Treads (20.5%), Kingambit (19.8%), Raging Bolt (16.9%), Tapu Koko (16.2%).

• Valiant + Gholdengo (45.0%) + Landorus-Therian (35.5%) — the defining offensive backbone, and Valiant’s two most common partners by a wide margin. Lando sets Stealth Rock and Intimidate-pivots Valiant in safely; Gholdengo blocks opposing Defog/Rapid Spin so that chip stays up, and that chip is exactly what flips Valiant’s many 2HKO rolls (Life Orb Knock Off vs Gholdengo, Specs Moonblast vs Toxapex) into kills. The three share offensive pressure on Steels/Grounds while covering each other’s revenge problems.
• Valiant + Alomomola (38.5%) — the bulkier-offense pairing: Alomomola’s Wish + Regenerator pivoting keeps the no-recovery glass cannon healthy across a game, letting it come in to break repeatedly instead of trading once. Add Kingambit (19.8%) as the priority cleaner that mops up whatever Valiant chips below Sucker Punch range. For the Future-Sight pivot variant, Slowking-Galar (off the top-10 here but the canonical FS partner — see 05-common-cores.md) is the highest-ceiling core.