An Analysis of Steel-types in Anything Goes

Art by LifeisDANK.

Introduction

They're durable, they're powerful, and they're historically some of the best Pokémon out there—Steel-types rule almost every meta, and Anything Goes is no exception. Sporting a myriad of useful resistances and immunities, Steel-types are hardened defensive Pokémon that can withstand any attack. In AG, this is no different; Steel-types have a valuable defensive niche in the meta by checking Fairy-, Dragon-, Flying-, Poison-, and even opposing Steel-types. Certain ones can be great offensively, too, and the introduction of Necrozma-DM in Ultra Sun and Moon gave us a fantastic addition to the metagame. All the Steel-types on this list are quite unique in their uses, each sporting different typings, stats, movepools, and thus uses. In this article, I'll be going through the merits of each one and I'll even provide a replay or two to showcase their use in tournaments, so stick around!

Necrozma-DM

Double Dance Specially Defensive Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Solganium Z

@ Solganium Z Ability: Prism Armor

EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Swords Dance

- Sunsteel Strike

- Rock Polish

- Earthquake Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Prism Armor

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- Sunsteel Strike

- Stealth Rock

- Morning Sun

- Toxic

The newest addition to the list and also the best, Necrozma-DM is a real force to be reckoned with. It is one of the most unique Pokémon in AG, with its incredibly diverse movepool, amazing stats, and great defensive typing and ability giving it a number of different roles and possibilities. It holds the title of the most versatile Steel-type in the meta, as it's able to run multiple potent offensive sets as well as effective defensive sets. Its offensive prowess is nothing to scoff at, since it can boost its stats with Swords Dance and Rock Polish to becoming a menacing sweeper capable of shredding most teams once set up. Sporting extremely solid bulk combined with Prism Armor and a Steel typing, Necrozma-DM is able to set up with ease against a multitude of foes. Defensively, it uses its typing to effectively check Pokémon like Arceus-Fairy and Xerneas and can use the opportunities created by switching into them to set up Stealth Rock, spread status, heal, or boost, though its Psychic typing can be a letdown at times by making it vulnerable to Mega Gengar, Marshadow, Yveltal, and Arceus-Dark. All these checks can be easily circumvented one way or another, though, making Necrozma-DM always a scary threat to keep in mind. Double Dance Necrozma-DM is a great fit on any offense playstyle, and specially defensive Necrozma-DM can make up a fantastic defensive core on balanced teams. It's warped the meta to an extent, increasing the usage of Pokémon like Choice Scarf Yveltal and Ho-Oh that are required to check it. With its multitude of roles and the effectiveness at which it performs them, Necrozma-DM is an almost necessary pick for many teams and one you should definitely consider.

Necrozma-DM in Action

This game between Mysterious M and Quantum Tesseract for Round 2 of the Winter Seasonal showed Double Dance Necrozma-DM in action. MM's Necrozma-DM uses QT's Arceus-Fairy as setup bait, allowing it to set up both Swords Dance and Rock Polish. With these boosts, it was able to KO Arceus-Steel with Earthquake, Ho-Oh with Searing Sunraze Smash, and Arceus-Ground with two Sunsteel Strikes. With half of QT's team gone, MM was able to easily clean up with the rest of their offense squad.

The first game between GRNxBLN and bdov for the Anything Goes Spring Seasonal Round 3 featured a Rock Polish Necrozma-DM on GRNxBLN's team. While it is not known if it also carried Swords Dance, with a Rock Polish, Necrozma-DM was able to take out Xerneas and Uxie and also effectively KO Mega Rayquaza with Life Orb recoil after Sunsteel Strike. Taking out three of the opposing Pokémon then opened the door for GRNxBLN's Zygarde-C to win.

Celesteela

Physically Defensive Substitute + Flame Charge Celesteela @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Impish Nature

- Heavy Slam

- Leech Seed

- Toxic

- Protect Celesteela @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spe

Timid Nature

- Flame Charge

- Leech Seed

- Substitute

- Protect

It might seem odd that arguably the second-best Steel-type in AG is actually an OU Pokémon, but Celesteela has just the right qualities to allow it to fit the Anything Goes metagame perfectly. Its solid mixed defenses and especially fantastic typing make it a sturdy check to some of the metagame's biggest threats, like Mega Rayquaza lacking V-create, Calm Mind Arceus-Fairy, Necrozma-DM, pretty much every support Arceus forme, Arceus-Ground, Extreme Killer Arceus...the list goes on. Celesteela is certainly unique, with its incredible typing, somewhat odd but fitting movepool, and balanced stats giving it an edge over most other Steel-type options. Its ability to wear everything down that isn't named Ferrothorn with Leech Seed and annoy everything with Protect makes it a reliable check to a lot of threats in the metagame. Celesteela has made Dragon Dance Mega Rayquaza run V-create more frequently just to deal with it, and Calm Mind Arceus-Fairy and Arceus-Steel are also more frequently running Fire-type coverage. Celesteela even has access to Flame Charge, which makes for a very fun (read: annoying) and effective set that takes advantage of Substitute + Leech Seed to wear down supposed checks while continuously subbing up before the foe can attack. Celesteela can be very difficult for a lot of teams to wear down and beat because of how consistent it can be in a battle, always in the back to check a threat or two and always putting in work.

Celesteela in Action

In this game between Holy Break and PurpleGatorade for Round 12 of the Anything Goes Winter Seasonal, PurpleGatorade's Celesteela was able to use Leech Seed and Substitute on most of Holy Break's team and effectively checked his Arceus-Ground, Mega Rayquaza, Marshadow, Necrozma-DM, and Xerneas. In the final match between Holy Break and Megazard for the AGSSNL Grand Finals, Holy Break's Celesteela is able to continually annoy Megazard's team by spamming Leech Seed throughout the game and effectively neuter Megazard's Arceus-Fairy for the most part. It also ends up sweeping after a few Flame Charge boosts at the end of the game.

Ferrothorn

Specially Defensive

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Iron Barbs

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Sassy Nature

IVs: 0 Spe

- Leech Seed

- Protect

- Gyro Ball / Power Whip

- Spikes / Stealth Rock

On paper, Ferrothorn has a worse defensive typing than Celesteela does, not being able to reliably check the likes of Mega Rayquaza and Swords Dance Arceus-Ground, but its main defensive niche lies in the fact that its Grass typing makes it one of the only reliable checks to Primal Kyogre, something Celesteela doesn't offer. On top of this, Ferrothorn has the ability to set up both Stealth Rock and the coveted Spikes and can take advantage of Pokémon it walls to set them up, making it a nice hazard setter for balance and bulky offense teams. Spikes in particular are almost an invaluable asset that can easily pressure whole teams, and Ferrothorn is also able to beat a lot of common Defoggers like Arceus-Fairy and Arceus-Ground and set up Spikes on them. Ferrothorn's immunity to Leech Seed can also be useful to take on Celesteela itself, provided the latter doesn't have Flame Charge. However, the increased weakness to Fire can be troublesome at times, disallowing Ferrothorn to take attacks from the likes of Ho-Oh that Celesteela would be able to. Stealth Rock setters such as Primal Groudon and Arceus-Rock can allow Ferrothorn to more freely run Spikes, fitting well together on hazard-stacking teams. Primal Groudon also makes for an additional Primal Kyogre check, which is useful because Ferrothorn can find itself overwhelmed by Calm Mind and Water Spout variants.

Ferrothorn in Action

This game for the second round of the Anything Goes Spring Seasonal between Mysterious M and Quantum Tesseract features Ferrothorn in action. While both teams possessed a Ferrothorn, Mysterious M's Ferrothorn really shone, playing a pivotal role in the player's win. Ferrothorn was able to get up all three layers of Spikes against QT, which, along with Stealth Rock, heavily pressured QT's team due to his team being fully grounded. Ferrothorn also checked Zygarde-C with Leech Seed, which allowed Mysterious M's team to deal with it thanks to its massive HP stat maximizing Leech Seed recovery.

Skarmory

Physically Defensive

/ Skarmory @ Leftovers / Shed Shell

/ @ Leftovers / Shed Shell Ability: Sturdy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Roost

- Whirlwind

- Toxic / Defog

- Spikes / Stealth Rock

Sporting the same incredible defensive typing as Celesteela as well as reliable recovery in Roost, the ability to phaze with Whirlwind, hazard removal in Defog, and entry hazards in Stealth Rock and especially Spikes, Skarmory can be seen as a wonderful alternative to Celesteela that has a bunch of its own niches. Though these qualities are all incredible, Skarmory really lacks the offensive presence that Celesteela does, with Celesteela's Heavy Slam, Leech Seed, Flame Charge, and Toxic making it as offensive as it is defensive. With Skarmory's only way to damage foes besides hazards being Toxic, it finds itself relying on teammates to deal with very hard-hitting Pokémon, and Whirlwind is its only way to deter setup sweepers. Skarmory does have a much higher Defense stat than Celesteela at base 140, though, allowing it to check powerful attackers including Mega Rayquaza, Swords Dance Arceus formes, and Necrozma-DM even better than Celesteela can. The combination of Sturdy + Whirlwind can make Skarmory a decent panic check to setup sweepers in cases of emergency, though having Skarmory as a team's sole Defogger can prove this to be troublesome. As with Ferrothorn, Spikes is an incredible asset and is likely the primary reason to put Skarmory on a team. Its moveset can be optimized depending on its team's structure; more offensive teams appreciate having a solid Spikes setter and Defogger that can also Whirlwind away threats, while more bulky and stall-centric teams may prefer something like Iron Defense Skarmory and use Skarmory as their sole Stealth Rock setter.

Skarmory in Action

This game between GRNxBLN and Megazard for AGTT Round 1 best showcases Skarmory's utility, as it's used to its fullest extent on both sides. Both players are able to get up three layers of Spikes, greatly pressuring the opposing team along with Whirlwind, and both players use Skarmory to check some crucial threats. GRNxBLN's Skarmory checks Arceus-Ground and Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza and is also able to both check Necrozma-DM and stop it from setting up with Whirlwind. Megazard's Skarmory checks GRNxBLN's Ultra Necrozma and is able to land crucial Toxics on his two Arceus formes.

Arceus-Steel

Calm Mind Support Arceus-Steel @ Iron Plate

@ Iron Plate Ability: Multitype

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Calm Mind

- Judgment

- Recover

- Earth Power Arceus-Steel @ Iron Plate

@ Iron Plate Ability: Multitype

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Judgment

- Recover

- Defog

- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic

No Anything Goes article is complete without an Arceus mention, so here we are. Arceus-Steel is the only pure Steel-type on this list, but it uses this typing to check a myriad of Pokémon like Arceus-Fairy, Mega Sableye, and Choice Scarf Yveltal. An immunity to Toxic means Arceus-Steel can forgo Refresh for Earth Power, giving it powerful Steel + Ground coverage, and break some variants of stall. Arceus-Steel has a defined niche as the only powerful special attacking Steel-type, giving it a reason to be used over Necrozma-DM. However, Arceus-Steel struggles with the ubiquity of Ground-, Fire-, and opposing Steel-types such as Zygarde-C, Arceus-Ground, Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Celesteela. Ho-Oh, Celesteela, and Ferrothorn wall Arceus-Steel for eternity, so it's often useless in a match until these Pokémon are gone, though it can forgo Earth Power to run Thunder for the former two or Fire Blast for the latter two. Calm Mind Arceus-Steel is a great fit on offense, since offense teams often lack good special attackers, it works well with offense staples like Mega Rayquaza, and it generally doesn't have to compete with the other Steel-types on this list. In general, Arceus-Steel doesn't do that well against opposing offense teams due to Pokémon like Zygarde-C, Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza, and Rock Polish Primal Groudon stopping it from sweeping, though it's great at breaking balance teams, which often rely on defensive staples like Arceus-Fairy and Tyranitar. Arceus-Steel can choose to run a support set instead to cripple some of its counters with Toxic and Defog away entry hazards, but it's often outclassed by other support Arceus formes like Arceus-Fairy and Arceus-Water. Nevertheless, a Pokémon with Arceus's stats and a Steel typing is bound to never be bad.

Arceus-Steel in Action

This game between Zenithial and Holy Break for the fifth round of the Spring Seasonal features an Arceus-Steel on the former's team. Arceus-Steel ends up KOing Holy Break's Excadrill and Naganadel and heavily weakens the opposing Necrozma-DM and Primal Groudon, allowing Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza to easily finish the game. Arceus-Steel also acts as an effective check to Xerneas once its Geomancy was used.

Magearna

Specially Defensive

/ Magearna @ Leftovers / Normalium Z

/ @ Leftovers / Normalium Z Ability: Soul-Heart

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Heal Bell

- Heart Swap

- Fleur Cannon / Volt Switch

- Pain Split

Magearna was a very solid Pokémon in early SM following its release thanks to its ability to check some of the best Pokémon in the metagame, such as Geomancy Xerneas, Yveltal, Mega Gengar, and Arceus-Fairy. Throughout the year, though, it dropped in usage because of how easily very common threats like Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Arceus-Ground took advantage of it. It has since then become more common in USM, due largely in part to its newfound access to Heal Bell, which allows it to support its team much more effectively and gives it a unique quality over every other Steel-type that almost no other Pokémon besides Clefable can offer. Healing off burns on physically offensive Pokémon and Toxic poison on bulky teammates can be very helpful for every team, making Magearna a nice fit on balance and semi-stall teams, and it can even heal itself fully with Z-Heal Bell, diminishing its previous issues of lack of recovery. Its ability to use Heart Swap on Geomancy Xerneas and Calm Mind Arceus formes is still a valuable asset for balance teams as well; in particular, Calm Mind Arceus-Dark is a terrifying stallbreaker thanks to Refresh that can often roll over teams without Magearna, and having Magearna as a surefire counter to it, as well as many other special sweepers, is very helpful. Magearna's access to Volt Switch allows it to preserve momentum against more offensive teams and avoid being trapped by Gothitelle and Mega Gengar, though it makes Magearna even more vulnerable to Primal Groudon. However, Magearna is still vulnerable to being exploited by threats it's walled by, like Ho-Oh, so teammates like Zygarde-C and Arceus-Rock can be helpful in this regard.

Magearna in Action

In the first game between Pigeons and Holy Break for the Losers' Finals of the Winter Seasonal, Holy Break's Magearna continually healed its team of status with Heal Bell, allowing its teammates to function more effectively and not be swept by Pigeons's Hex Mega Gengar, while wearing down Pigeons's team with Fleur Cannon and Volt Switch and checking his Arceus-Fairy and Mega Gengar.

Excadrill

Suicide Lead

Excadrill @ Focus Sash

@ Focus Sash Ability: Mold Breaker

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Rapid Spin

- Toxic

- Rock Tomb / Earthquake

Excadrill may seem like the oddest Pokémon in this article, but that's because it functions very differently to any of the others. Its distinct niche lies in its access to Stealth Rock + Rapid Spin, which allows it to be a solid suicide lead for hyper offense teams. Mold Breaker is a boon that allows Excadrill to set up Stealth Rock on even Mega Sableye, making it quite reliable at setting up the entry hazard. Rapid Spin is useful to win hazard wars against opposing leads like Deoxys-S and Shuckle, and Toxic is nice to cripple Pokémon such as Primal Groudon, support Arceus formes, and Primal Kyogre. Because Excadrill pretty much only fits on hyper offense, teammates like Dragon Dance Mega Rayquaza and Geomancy Xerneas can take advantage of the Stealth Rock Excadrill sets up and benefit from early hazard removal. Excadrill does, however, find itself outclassed at times by other suicide leads like Deoxys-S, which can Taunt to prevent hazards from going up in the first place, can set up Spikes, Stealth Rock, and dual screens, and is much faster than Excadrill.

Excadrill in Action

In this match between Ransei and lotiasite for the first round of the Spring Seasonal, lotiasite's Excadrill is able to both spin away Stealth Rock and get its own Stealth Rock up; removing Stealth Rock aided lotiasite's Ho-Oh in checking Ransei's Arceus-Fairy and Arceus-Dark, and getting the entry hazard up weakened the opposition for the rest of the wallbreakers on the team.

Get Out There!

Whether they're a sturdy sweeper, an unkillable wall, a suicide lead, or a Poké Ball, Steel-types will always be top threats in Anything Goes. They offer so much utility and versatility that it's hard to find a good team without a Steel-type on it. This doesn't mean you should use a mono-Steel team in your next tournament, but maybe you've read about a Pokémon on this list you haven't tried before, so go ahead and use it!