Iron Valiant, the Paradox Pokémon. It has some similarities to a mad scientist's invention covered in a paranormal magazine. It's possible that this is the object listed as Iron Valiant in a certain expedition journal.

Overview

The final ace in Violet, Iron Valiant proves just as fierce as its Scarlet counterpart, if not even more so. Fairy and Fighting is a brutal offensive combination with absurdly wide coverage. Add in Iron Valiant’s brutal base 130 Attack and 120 Special Attack, and that alone would ensure consideration as an attacker on both sides of the spectrum, if not mixed. It doesn’t stop there either; Iron Valiant’s movepool is an embarrassment of riches. Fitting of its inspirations, Iron Valiant has a deep physical coverage pool and respectable special coverage, leaving few targets it can’t hit. Adding to this is a vibrant disruptive movepool with stellar options such as Hypnosis, Encore, Trick and Taunt, Iron Valiant can make for a setup sweeper that creates its own setup opportunities. All of this is made possible by Iron Valiant’s absurd Base 116 Speed that is easily boosted even further by Quark Drive, allowing it to outspeed all but the fastest of Pokémon, making Iron Valiant incredibly reliable at whatever it does.

All of Iron Valiant’s sheer offense and disruption comes at a cost. Iron Valiant’s screaming offenses are contrasted by its lack of defenses. 60 Special Defense straddles the line of abysmal and 90 Defense isn’t all that impressive with Iron Valiant’s unimpressive base HP. This causes even resisted hits to leave Iron Valiant reeling and neutral hits to push lethal, leaving Iron Valiant to offer little in defensive utility and mandates good prediction on its disruption tools to avoid being crippled. As with any Paradox Pokémon, Booster Energy further hurt’s Iron Valiant’s flexibility, making it very one and done, especially without any viable Electric Terrain setters. Without Speed Booster Energy, the massive Speed creep of this generation opens Iron Valiant up to many faster threats, such as Meowscarada, Zamazenta, Roaring Moon, Dragapult, and Cinderace, that can put a stop to it before it starts. Furthermore, while Iron Valiant’s movepool may be great, it cannot fit the answer to every situation on its moveset, leaving vulnerabilities Iron Valiant simply can’t afford thanks to its frailty. Iron Valiant’s is still every bit the terror one would expect, with this terminator well equipped to slice through unprepared teams at a moment’s notice.
Positives
130 Attack and 120 Special Attack are incredible, and with both Swords Dance and Calm Mind, Iron Valiant can run physical, special and mixed sets with ease.
Base 116 Speed is incredible with few able to outspeed it naturally and just about nothing can after Speed Booster Energy
Absurd movepool with just about every coverage move Iron Valiant could desire and plenty of disruptive tricks that further mixes up Iron Valiant’s options.

Negatives
74/90/60 defenses is frail, causing even neutral hits to leave Iron Valiant reeling.
Speed is not peerless, and Iron Valiant’s frailty make naturally faster Pokémon dire threats.

Movesets

The Terminator

-Calm Mind
-Encore
-Moonblast
-Shadow Ball
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Calm Mind Iron Valiant makes for a terrifying breaker and cleaner, using its overwhelming speed and offense to rip open holes in teams or end a battle. Calm Mind is the crux of the set, turning Iron Valiant’s Special Attack from good to great and patching up its horrid Special Defense. Encore, while difficult to use, is an amazing tool for turning Pokémon into setup fodder. Come in on a predicted Knock Off from Roaring Moon, Gliscor or Meowscarada, Thunderclap from Raging Bolt, Sucker Punch from Kingambit or Hisuian Samurott, etc. and turn them into complete setup fodder for Iron Valiant or even disrupt a dedicated wall like Dondozo, Blissey, Skeledirge or Clodsire by locking them into a recovery move, enabling Calm Mind Iron Valiant to outlast them. Moonblast is the primary STAB attack, boasting incredible power and great coverage. Shadow Ball is preferred for coverage, boasting incredible neutral synergy with Moonblast leaving only very niche Pokémon like Grafaiai that truly resist the two moves while obliterating a popular Unaware Wall in Skeledirge, as well as Fairy resistant Pokémon like Galarian Slowking, and Gholdengo.

Tera Types:
As a sweeper, Iron Valiant tends to prefer offensive Terastalizations that allow it to blast through problematic foes. Tera Ghost is especially popular given how hard it is to resist Shadow Ball, especially when coupled with STAB Moonblast for Dark types, while providing an immunity to Tera Normal Dragonite’s Extreme Speed, and a resistance to Poison, though it does expose Iron Valiant to Kingambit’s Sucker Punch. With Tera Ghost, Iron Valiant can even muscle through Fairy resists like Iron Moth, Assault Vest Iron Crown, Moltres and the like after a Calm Mind. Tera Fairy is a more traditional offensive option, pushing Moonblast into terrifying levels of power, causing even resists like Moltres to be 2HKO’d after a Calm Mind. Tera Fighting is more niche, but helps push Vacuum Wave to respectable levels of power. Tera Steel is the lone defensive Terastalization recommended, for the sheer number of resistances it supplies greatly facilitating Calm Mind setup and Encore use.

EVs and Items:
Standard sweeper investment of Max Speed and Max Special Attack. Iron Valiant falls just short of the lauded base 125 offensive stat, so while its Special Attack is nothing to scoff at, it does fall short in the face of resists and bulkier Pokémon. Max Speed with Timid Nature is all but mandatory to get the speed boost from Quark Drive, given Iron Valiant’s speed is not peerless and the few naturally faster attackers pose such a dire threat to it. Even without Booster Energy, Iron Valiant is in such a competitive Speed tier that every point matters. Booster Energy is highly advised as the item, giving Iron Valiant a pseudo Choice Scarf boost and making it impossible to outspeed without an opposing boosted Pokémon, while maintaining move flexibility. Otherwise, one can go for power with Life Orb, or an offensive boosting item like the Fairy Feather, Spell Tag or Black Belt to help Iron Valiant squeeze out extra power on its attacks.

Partners:
: Allies that can answer Fairy resists are invaluable for Calm Mind Iron Valiant, making it far less reliant on Terastalization and coverage to pick up the slack. Ground types like Great Tusk, and Landorus-Therian immediately come to mind, able to threaten with their own STABs, while both offer hazard control. Landorus-Therian is especially recommended given the lack of a shared Fighting typing and Intimidate facilitating setup for Iron Valiant. Wellspring Ogerpon is another example, doing well into Iron Treads, Clodsire, Moltres, Heatran and Iron Moth with providing disruption for facilitating setup or Spikes of its own to help with the pain train. These Pokémon in turn love Iron Valiant for terminating physical walls like opposing Great Tusk, Dondozo, Corviknight and Skarmory, facilitating their own offenses.

Other Options:
Psyshock is great for obliterating Unaware Clodsire and Blissey, two notable Pokémon that are otherwise hard walls for Iron Valiant. Thunderbolt is decent coverage, hitting Moltres, Dondozo, and Alomomola, but such targets can generally be handled by Moonblast. Aura Sphere is rare special Fighting STAB though it is not as synergistic as Shadow Ball, though it is Iron Valiant’s best answer to Heatran. Vacuum Wave is STAB priority and Iron Valiant is one of the few with the Special Attack to abuse it. This also benefits Iron Valiant in not leaving it beholden to Booster Energy. Taunt is great against more defensive teams, turning prospective walls into setup fodder. Hypnosis while unreliable, can mean the end of the game if it connects, allowing Iron Valiant to boost out of control.

Steel Sword Sith

-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Spirit Break
-Knock Off
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Swords Dance Iron Valiant, while incredibly similar, contrasts its Calm Mind set in many ways, from the differences between its special and physical attacks to what threats it must contend with. As such, while Swords Dance Iron Valiant's ceiling is much higher thanks to Iron Valiant's absurd physical movepool and greater base Attack, it can be far easier to disrupt thanks to Landorus-Therian's Intimidate and Moltres' Flame Body passively stopping a sweep. Swords Dance is the namesake of the set, giving Iron Valiant incredible stopping power after a single turn of setup, setup it can garner thanks to its high speed forcing Pokémon out and few resistances offering easy switch in opportunities. Close Combat is an incredible STAB attack, with absurd power and incredible coverage, able to break even neutral Pokémon with ease. Spirit Break is secondary STAB and while the drop in power from Close Combat is disappointing, Fairy's superb coverage, especially against the many Dragon types that serve as key threats on opposing teams cannot be understated. Knock Off rounds out the set, being superb coverage and disruption in a single move, blunting opposing offense and defense alike through the removal of items, while synergizing beautifully with Close Combat by hitting the Psychic types that resist it and dissuading Flying types who abhor losing their Heavy-Duty Boots.

Tera Types:
Iron Valiant's poor bulk and incredible offenses again incentivizes offensive Teras to brutalize opposing with its STABs. Tera Dark is popular for bolstering Knock Off, placing it in line with Iron Valiant's STABs and making it even easier to use than normal. Tera Fighting pushes Close Combat to ridiculous levels, allowing Iron Valiant to reliably 2HKO max Defense Alomomola, 2HKO defensive Landorus-Therian and Gliscor after Swords Dance, making Iron Valiant incredibly hard to switch into. Tera Fairy pushes Spirit Break to respectable levels, Tera Water works well with Liquidation against Moltres and the many absurdly bulky Ground types while Tera Ghost synergizes well with Shadow Sneak. Tera Steel is again a fine fall-back option, granting Iron Valiant a lot more wiggle room in setting up.

EVs and Items:
Max Attack and Speed investment are advised to get the most out of both Swords Dance and gain the speed boost from Booster Energy. Jolly Nature is once again recommended so Iron Valiant can receive that vital speed boost from Booster Energy. Booster Energy is recommended as the item, making Iron Valiant impossible to outspeed by an unboosted Pokémon and most Choice Scarf users while maintaining move flexibility. Otherwise, Life Orb is great for a general boost to power and Expert Belt can be justified with the wide Super Effective coverage physical Iron Valiant boasts.

Partners:
Allies that can answer the physical walls Swords Dance Iron Valiant can't are preferred. Raging Bolt is incredible in this regard given its ability to down both Dondozo, Skarmory, Corviknight and Moltres who otherwise greatly trouble physical Iron Valiant, while capable of drawing in Dragon attacks that Iron Valiant can use as an entry point. Ghost types like Gholdengo and Dragapult love Iron Valiant for how easily it answers opposing Dark types, allowing them to flourish once their checks are removed. The benefit is mutual, with the Dark attacks they draw being one of Iron Valiant's limited switch in opportunities and boasting fierce special offense that compliment's Swords Dance Iron Valient's physical. Dragapult can take this a step further with its ability to spread Will-O-Wisp Burns further facilitating setup on Iron Valiant's part..

Other Options:
Psycho Cut compliments Iron Valiant's STABs well, hitting the Poison types that resist both Fairy and Fighting.
Encore is just as viable in opening a setup opportunity for Swords Dance Iron Valiant as it is Calm Mind.
Shadow Sneak is physical Iron Valiant's priority move, but the lack of STAB is incredibly disappointing.
Liquidation is niche but invaluable in stopping Moltres cold while slamming Gliscor, Landorus-Therian and hard.

Victorious Valiant

-Moonblast
-Close Combat
-Thunderbolt
-Destiny Bond
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
EVs and Nature:
56 Atk / 200 SAtk /252 Spe
Naive Nature

Mixed Iron Valiant takes the best of both worlds, initially bluffing a special or physical set luring in a wall before blowing them away, pushing Iron Valiant’s offensive flexibility to the limits. This allows Iron Valiant to act as both a vicious revenge killer and deadly lure. For example, open with Moonblast to bluff a Special set to lure in Blissey before annihilating it with Close Combat or use Close Combat to bluff a physical set and draw in Dondozo before zapping them down with Thunderbolt. Moonblast is the preferred Special STAB due to its higher power than Aura Sphere and greater reliability than Focus Blast, while Close Combat is Iron Valiant’s strongest physical STAB. Thunderbolt is recommended for hitting many problematic targets, including Dondozo, Skarmory, Moltres, and Toxapex. Destiny Bond is great when Iron Valiant is at the end of its rope, allowing it to take a foe it otherwise couldn’t down with it, and punishes opponents expecting Encore or Taunt and attacking straight away to capitalize on Iron Valiant’s frailty.

Tera Types:
While mixed Iron Valiant can function just fine without Terastalization, a timely Tera can make the difference in surviving and getting off another attack or even outright KOing an opponent it had no right to otherwise. Tera Fairy is the ideal example of an offensive, defensive Terastalization, shedding Iron Valiant’s Flying and Psychic weaknesses while super charging Moonblast. Tera Steel is the ideal defensive Tera, removing all of Iron Valiant’s weaknesses on top of being a great defensive typing, allowing Iron Valiant to stomach blows it otherwise couldn’t allowing it to get a vital second hit.

EVs and Items:
Max Speed with a Speed boosting nature is recommended so that Iron Valiant gets the speed boost from Booster Energy and just to outspeed as many targets as possible. Naďve Nature is recommended as you don’t want to drop your offenses and there are fewer special priority attacks compared to physical, and Raging Bolt’s Thunderclap can still OHKO Iron Valient, even with a Hasty Nature. As for offensive EV distribution, it is recommended to heavily invest in Special Attack, given Moonblast’s wide coverage and complete lack of drawback making it far easier to click freely than Close Combat, which is buoyed by its higher Base Power and Iron Valiant’s greater base Attack. Some Attack investment does have merit; 56 Attack EVs guarantees the OHKO on Blissey with Close Combat, while weighing Kyurem’s OHKO in your favor, though you will miss the 2HKO on Hatterene with Moonblast as well as making the OHKO on Keldeo unlikely. Booster Energy is again the item of choice. The speed boost coupled with the freedom of move selection is hard to pass up. However, this Iron Valiant set isn’t required to stick around after taking out a Pokémon, making Choice Scarf viable as a more traditional revenge killer. Otherwise, Life Orb is great for reaching knock outs, especially considering the lack of boosting moves on this set.

Partners:
Iron Valiant loves having offensive partners that can burst down Pokémon to OHKO range while said same partners love mixed Iron Valiant’s ability to lure and destroy staple walls. Special attackers like Iron Moth and Raging Bolt adore Iron Valiant’s ability to annihilate Blissey while Kingambit and Dragonite become so much more threatening when staple defensive walls like Dondozo and Great Tusk are removed.

Other Options:
Psyshock is fantastic, obliterating Clodsire, and Iron Moth while still maintaining coverage on Toxapex. Knock Off threatens Fairy resistant Ghost types like Skeledirge and Gholdengo that otherwise wall Iron Valiant while having endless utility thanks its item removal. Poison Jab is niche, but effectively deals with Assault Vest Primarina and Assault Vest Azumarill that otherwise tank Thunderbolt and Moonblast nicely. Encore is incredible disruption, albeit disruption that requires good prediction, and punishes opponents playing passively in front of Iron Valiant.

Doubles and VGC Options

Iron Valiant’s whirlwind success in singles does not translate well to doubles. Like many other frail fast attackers, the two on two nature of doubles makes Iron Valiant’s frailty all the more noticeable and exploitable. Iron Valiant lacking any spread moves further constrains it, leaving offensive Iron Valiant a high-risk Pokémon that requires consistent prediction to get mileage out of, lest it gets entire attacks nullified by Protect and then taken out in short order. This is not to say that Iron Valiant hasn’t seen success in doubles. Iron Valiant’s deep support movepool and absurd speed have it carved out a tiny niche as one of the best support Pokémon to Calyrex Ice Rider thanks to Iron Valiant being the effective fastest user of Coaching around. Add in the potent Encore + Disable combo, Wide Guard and more and it is clear to see why Iron Valiant has made a name for itself in doubles despite its crippling flaws in the format.

Silver Server

-Coaching
-Encore
-Wide Guard
-Spirit Break
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
Tera Type: Steel
EVs and Nature:
204 HP / 4 Atk / 100 Def / 28 SDef / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature

Based on Yuta’s Ishigaki's second place world's Iron Valiant, this set offers inevitability with this set as Calyrex-Ice Rider's partner in crime. Coaching is terrific for Calyrex Ice Rider, allowing to escalate offensively even when not picking up knock outs, while the Defense boosts make Ice Rider even harder to remove. As terrifying a disruption tool Encore is in singles, it outright dominates in doubles with a plethora of commonly used moves that do nothing or are actively detrimental when repeated (including Tailwind, Fake Out, Protect and its clones, weather moves, Trick Room, Imprison, screens, etc.), temporarily turning the battle into a two versus one. Iron Valiant’s Speed Booster Energy Speed really allows it to shine, allowing it to more accurately gauge when to Encore as opposed to a slower Pokémon which would have to be more prediction reliant to get a crippling Encore off. Wide Guard is a staple in restricted formats with the many spread moves being thrown about from a team’s biggest threats. This enables Wide Guard to provide invaluable damage mitigation for the team without having to sacrifice too much offensive momentum. Spirit Break is preferred as the attacking move, as a STAB attack that maims the Dark types that threaten Calyrex Ice Rider while pairing well with Coaching by blunting the opposition’s special offense. Spirit Break is particularly targeted against Miraidon, threatening it both offensively and defensively, reducing the threat it presents to Iron Valiant’s team.

EVs are a mixture of bulk and Speed. 172 Speed with Booster energy allows Iron Valiant to outspeed a vast majority of the game, including Timid Scarf Chi-Yu while giving Iron Valiant enough bulk to survive Tera Water Urshifu's Surging Strikes, Calyrex Shadow's Astral Barrage, Raging Bolt's Thunder Clap, Chi-Yu’s Heat Wave, Ogerpon’s Wood Hammer and Ivy Cudgel, etc. Tera Steel is recommended for the broad defensive profile it offers, including resisting all of Iron Valiant's weaknesses.

Preferred Partners:
Calyrex Ice Rider is the main beneficiary for this set, allowing it to escalate even out of Trick Room, with the additional defense making Ice Rider an impossible foe regardless of Speed. Dondozo is another potent beneficiary of Coaching, getting an added boost pre commander Tatsugiri or simply becoming a win condition against physically offensive teams.

Other Options:
Disable is a neat tool, allowing Iron Valiant to deny a previously used move from being repeated, great for shutting down troublesome moves and can be paired with Encore to force an opponent to switch or Struggle, placing them in a dire position. Protect is the best move in Doubles, and Iron Valiant does gain a lot of durability by having it, but can struggle to do so with all of its other options. Moonblast is a serviceable alternative for Spirit Break, making up for the guaranteed Special Attack loss with more consistent damage given it is not impacted by Intimidate.

Countering Iron Valiant

Iron Valiant’s balanced offenses, wide coverage and even disruption cause checks to vary wildly.

Swords Dance Iron Valiant struggles against dedicated physical walls. Dondozo is most apparent, with Close Combat unable to 3HKO without Terastalization or Life Orb. Moltres and Landorus Therian can both hamper a sweep thanks to their abilities crippling Iron Valiant’s offense, allowing them to prey on Iron Valiant’s poor defenses and easily endure even Swords Dance boosted attacks. Toxapex and Clodsire do decently, able to tank boosted attacks and either wipe the boosts away or recover the damage off. Yet all of these come with exceptions. Knock Off is ruinous for every Pokémon mentioned, compromising their role later in the battle and Encore at the wrong time turns such Pokémon into setup fodder, forcing them to waste PP while Iron Valiant lays into them. Moltres and Landorus-Therian also struggle against Liquidation, Toxapex against Psycho Cut and Clodsire loathes both.

Calm Mind Iron Valiant is just as difficult to handle thanks to the synergy between Ghost and Fairy, even if it lacks the same explosive power of Swords Dance. Special Walls like Unaware Clodsire and Blissey are the most reliable answers, the former’s sheer bulk and the latter’s typing performing well. Iron Moth’s high Special Defense and Poison STAB allows it to burst down Iron Valiant post Calm Mind, while Specially Defensive Heatran can slow Iron Valiant down with Taunt and Magma Storm reliably 2HKOs even after 2 Calm Minds. However, Psyshock cleanly answers Blissey, Clodsire and Iron Moth, while Aura Sphere obliterates Heatran.

Mixed Iron Valiant is the most unpredictable of all and defies general walls, though some common answers do stand out. Pokémon that resist both Fairy and Fighting are invaluable against mixed Iron Valiant. Poison types like Iron Moth, Galarian Slowking, Toxapex and Clodsire work well if Iron Valiant isn’t running Psyshock. Fairy resistant Ghosts like Gholdengo and Skeledirge do well against sets not running Knock Off or Shadow Ball. Moltres also resists both STABs but cannot handle Thunderbolt.

Offensively checking Iron Valiant is difficult thanks to its high speed and Quark Drive, but if those are surpassed it becomes much simpler. Priority immediately comes to mind, with Raging Bolt’s Thunderclap, Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite’s Extreme Speed, Scizor’s Bullet Punch with only Dragonite requiring a single layer of Spikes to reach a OHKO. Speed Booster Energy Roaring Moon is one of the few Pokémon capable of outspeeding Iron Valiant and OHKOing with Acrobatics. Choice Scarf Roaring Moon does outspeed, but can’t OHKO with Iron Head without 3 layers of Spikes. Iron Valiant’s reliance on Booster Energy is also exploitable and if it is forced out, its pool of offensive checks expands greatly. Banded Roaring Moon, Choice Band Meowscarda, Specs Dragapult, Darkrai, and offensive Zamazenta can all outspeed and OHKO Iron Valiant.

Anime Appearences

Iron Valiant has yet to make any appearances in the anime # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics