Iron Boulder, the Paradox Pokémon. It resembles a Pokémon described in a dubious magazine as a Terrakion that had been modified by an evil organization. It was named after a mysterious object recorded in an old book. Its body seems to be metallic.

Overview

The future form of Terrakion, Iron Boulder has a legacy of power to live up to, which it does with aplomb. Base 120 Attack is a great start, especially when backed up by potent Rock STAB, offering amazing offensive pressure. Psychic STAB, while normally unremarkable, pairs well with Rock, obliterating Rock resistant Fighting types, including the Great Tusk that would normally stymie such offenses. If STABs aren’t cutting it for Iron Boulder, it backs them up with truly phenomenal coverage; Close Combat, Megahorn, and Earthquake are all fantastic offensive options that leave few if any Pokémon safe. Not that Iron Boulder’s own STABs are sufficient, especially with its signature Mighty Cleave, a very rare perfectly accurate signature Rock Attack that can break through Protect. This is all before we consider external boosts like Swords Dance or Quark Drive ratcheting up Iron Boulder’s power even higher. Yet Attack is not what one will likely be using Quark Drive on; base 124 Speed is frighteningly fast, already getting the jump on famed speedsters like Iron Valiant, Cinderace, Greninja and Meowscarada. Even before Quark Drive, Iron Boulder is outrunning almost everything and after, it becomes near impossible to outspeed. Good Special Defense rounds out this package, making Iron Boulder hard to remove cleanly on the special side and affording it opportunities to setup.

Not to say Iron Boulder is an unstoppable juggernaut. While Rock Psychic may be potent offensively, it is horrid defensively. Common weaknesses to Grass, Water, Dark, Ghost and a lesser extent Steel with no meaningful resistances to show for it outside of Dragonite’s Extremespeed paints a bleak picture. Even average base 80 defense feels downright frail when considering how often Iron Boulder is taking neutral or super effective damage. Furthermore, while Iron Boulder’s coverage is fantastic, it cannot fit every move it wants and Swords Dance onto the same set, invariably leaving gaps it can’t afford due to its frailty. The fact that there isn’t any good Electric Terrain setter aside from the restricted Miraidon leaves Iron Boulder beholden to Quark Drive over other items, giving it one shot to perform its duties. It could be said that Iron Boulder is exemplary of the future ideal Rock type, a ferocious attacker that pushes the offense of the typing to its fullest before their foes can prey on its flawed armor.
Positives
Base 120 Attack is solid and is difficult to resist after a Swords Dance.
Base 124 Speed is incredible before Quark Drive and utterly absurd after it, making Iron Boulder near impossible to outrun.
Phenomenal coverage and Rock STAB allows Iron Boulder to threaten a large range of targets.
Mighty Cleave is a perfectly accurate physical Rock Attack.
Base 108 Special Defense is notable, allowing Iron Boulder to tank one or two special attacks.

Negatives
Rock Psychic typing is horrid defensively with numerous weaknesses to exploit, greatly worsening Iron Boulder’s bulk.
80 Defense is insufficient with such typing, causing Iron Boulder to drop like a stone against such attacks.
Struggles to fit all the coverage it wants onto a single set.

Movesets

Future Swordsman

-Swords Dance
-Mighty Cleave
-Zen Headbutt
-Close Combat
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Iron Boulder is part setup sweeper part revenge killer thanks its quite insane Quark Drive boosted Speed, outrunning even already fast Scarf and opposing Booster Energy users like Iron Valiant, Iron Moth, and Roaring Moon. This allows Iron Boulder to come in and clean up a troublesome revenge killer and then right there or later, setup a Swords Dance and start ripping holes in the opposing team as a pseudo double dance set. Might Cleave is Iron Boulder’s signature STAB and a good one at that. While slightly weaker than Stone Edge, Iron Boulder will gladly take that trade off for the reliability in Mighty Cleave’s perfect accuracy. Its ability to break through Protect is more niche in singles, but not to be underestimated, preventing Wish passers like Alomomola, and Clefable from healing safely, denying Gliscor free turns of Poison Heal recovery, and denies Blaziken from stalling for multiple Speed Boosts. Zen Headbutt is secondary STAB, and important for bashing Great Tusk, who otherwise absorbs Mighty Cleave and Iron Boulder’s other coverage with laughable ease. Also great for allowing Iron Boulder to efficiently revenge knock out Iron Valiant while also being excellent into many Poison typed walls like Pencharunt and Toxapex. Close Combat rounds out the set, threatening the Steel and Tera Steel types that resist Iron Boulder’s STABs, preventing them from being reliable answers into Iron Boulder as well as obliterating the similarly resistant Ting-Lu.

Tera Types:
Given how horrid Rock-Psychic is defensively and how many excellent coverage moves Iron Boulder boasts, it is a very Tera reliant Pokémon both offensively and defensively. For the above set, Tera Fighting is recommended, giving pseudo-STAB to Close Combat, making Iron Boulder assault even harder to weather while providing valuable Bug and Dark resistances. If running Earthquake, Tera Ground is recommended, for the consistency of turning Iron Boulder’s anti-Steel coverage into STAB, though it is a wholly offensive choice. Tera Rock is a niche offensive option, but shoots Iron Boulder’s Mighty Cleave to terrifying levels, capable of OHKOing Magic Guard Clefable, Gliscor, Hatterene, and Multiscale Dragonite after a Swords Dance. Tera Fairy is a more defensive option, like Tera Fighting giving valuable Dark and Bug resistances but adding an always helpful Fighting resistance and Dragon immunity on top of that, making it all the more likely Iron Boulder survives to set up or launch an attack. The shared Steel weakness is a disappointment, but with the relative rarity of the move and Iron Boulder’s ability to threaten most Steel types it is a worthwhile concession. Tera Fairy Tera Blast is also a fine coverage option, threatening opposing Great Tusk, Iron Hands, and Ting-Lu.

EVs and Items:
: Max Speed and Attack are recommended. It comes as little surprise, Iron Boulder’s main value comes from its insane speed and respectable attack, though one may not necessarily invest everything into speed. 220 Speed EVs with Jolly Nature still outruns Jolly Protosynthesis Roaring Moon, while 196 Speed is all that’s needed to outrun Naďve Quark Drive Iron Valiant, allowing more investment into Iron Boulder’s bulk for better survival. Going to Adamant is a harder ask as while Iron Boulder does like the extra power in securing knockouts, as even after Swords Dance there is an uncomfortable amount of Pokémon that do survive, it no longer acts as a revenge killer against other revenge killers due to dropping so much as to be outsped by Timid Walking Wake. Just as much, Iron Boulder is beholden to Booster Energy as its hold item, as the speed boost and move flexibility is just that important. If one can acquire Electric Terrain or speed control support from another partner, item options do broaden, such as Choice Band for immediate power or Life Orb for Power and move flexibility.

Partners:
: Allies that can answer the physical walls that trouble Iron Boulder are greatly recommended. Raging Bolt is a standout option, obliterating the Corviknight, Skarmory, and Dondozo that so frequently trouble Iron Boulder while Iron Boulder is great at breaking opposing sponges like Clodsire and the Zen Headbutt or Tera Fairy variants can act as a lure for Great Tusk. Specs Dragapult is another fine option given its wide coverage threatens many of what checks Iron Boulder while Specs Dragapult loves Iron Boulder’s incredible matchup into opposing Booster Energy and Choice Scarf users that are called upon to handle Dragapult. Kyurem with is another excellent example, though while not having the same overwhelming matchup against Corviknight and Skarmory, it trades that for far better matchups into Water and Grass attackers that routinely threaten Iron Boulder like Dondozo, and Rillaboom.

Other Options:
Earthquake is a potent coverage option that pairs wonderfully with Mighty Cleave, leaving few save answers. Psycho Cut is a weaker alternative to Zen Headbutt, and while the drop in power is less than ideal, it is non-contact, which is helpful cleaning up Moltres, Zapdos, Garchomp and Rocky Helmet users. Substitute is great in shoring matchups against Kingambit, Rillaboom and status users, protecting Iron Boulder to setup safely or not get obliterated by their priority.

Doubles and VGC Options

With Iron Boulder’s superb Speed and Power, one would think it a shoe in for Doubles formats, especially with its signature Mighty Cleave bypassing Protect, one of the best and most common moves in Doubles, making Iron Boulder’s strongest STAB even more potent as its opponents cannot hide from it or use Protect to safely scout Iron Boulder out. Add in Iron Boulder’s tremendous Quark Drive boosted speed outrunning already fast Pokémon like Choice Scarf Chi-Yu, as well as opposing Booster Energy users like Roaring Moon, Iron Jugulis, and Iron Treads along with the coverage to threaten each and every one of the listed Pokémon and Iron Boulder is an incredible cleaner, able to remove high priority targets with ease. However, Iron Boulder finds itself in an awkward position of not having enough speed and power at base, requiring an item boost and/or Quark Drive to make up for it. This can be a tall ask when the only good Electric Terrain setter is Miraidon, who struggles against many of the same Pokémon Iron Boulder does, namely Rillaboom and Chien-Pao, both of whom boast the super effective priority STABs to take Iron Boulder out quickly. Mighty Cleave is also a slight disappointment in that it bypasses Protect and its variants, not break them, so Iron Boulder’s teammates cannot follow up for a safe double up unlike Urshifu. Being a physical attacker also makes Iron Boulder vulnerable to Incineroar’s Intimidate spam, especially when Incineroar can threaten damage back with Knock Off while sinking Iron Boulder’s attack to nothing. Even Iron Boulder’s most prized attribute, its Speed isn’t insurmountable with both Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle naturally outspeeding Iron Boulder with their own Booster Energy and threatening to OHKO it in turn. Iron Boulder has the tools for greatness but its struggles heavily into common support pieces greatly hold it back.

Cyber Axe

-Mighty Cleave
-Close Combat
-Throat Chop
-Protect
Ability: Quark Drive
Item: Booster Energy
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs and Nature:
36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spe
Jolly Nature

Booster Energy Iron Boulder breaks from the requirement of Miraidon to offer its services as an offensive check to opposing Choice Scarf and some booster energy users. Mighty Cleave is fantastic and the main reason to use Iron Boulder, bypassing Protect while threatening huge swaths of Pokémon for major damage, including Chi-Yu, Tornadus, Iron Jugulis, Calyrex-Ice Rider, Incineroar, Chien-Pao, Volcarona, Hearthflame-Ogerpon, Tera Fire Groudon and Koraidon, etc. Even if not striking for super effective damage, the ability to bypass Protect is a fantastic pressure tool in of itself, actively discouraging opponents from Protecting and making them more vulnerable to Iron Boulder’s teammates. Close Combat is good coverage, synergizing well with Mighty Cleave in hitting Mighty Cleave resists like Zamazenta-Crowned, and the Ursalunas while Flying types want nothing to do with Iron Boulder due to Might Cleave. Throat Chop rounds out Iron Boulder’s coverage and is great into the many Psychic and Tera Ghost Pokémon running around, most prominently Calyrex-Shadow Rider and Lunala, though the ability to threaten Indeedee and Farigiraf cannot be discounted. Protect is the best move in doubles, with numerous use cases from blocking Fake Out, to scouting for Terastalizations, stalling for allied setup, stalling out opposing field conditions and more.

While Max Speed is generally recommended, 220 Speed EVs and Jolly Nature allows Iron Boulder to outrun bulkier Speed Booster Flutter Mane who invest 124 EVs into their speed to outrun Roaring Moon, allowing Iron Boulder to maintain its utility in outrunning very fast Pokémon while allowing for some bulk. The resulting EV spread allows Iron Boulder to usually survive Adamant Assault Vest Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide up to 220 Attack EVs, where the chances then swing back into Rillaboom’s favor. Max Attack is highly recommended regardless given Iron Boulder’s power issues in securing knock outs. If one is running this set with Electric Terrain support, Life Orb is a solid option, allowing Iron Boulder to maim Incineroar and Calyrex-Ice Rider with the resulting item boost while maintaining its speed niche. Tera Fighting is preferred as an offensive defensive option, giving Close Combat pseudo-STAB while protecting Iron Boulder from Chien-Pao’s Sucker Punch and make Rillaboom’s Grassy Glides much easier to absorb.

Preferred Partners:
This Iron Boulder set slots well into Zamazenta-Crowned and Calyrex-Shadow Rider cores, both of whom have poor matchups into Scarf Chi-Yu which Iron Boulder handles readily. Zamzenta-Crowned loves the anti-Fire support in general while being able to bludgeon opposing Dark and Steel types more reliably with its own Body Presses. Calyrex-Shadow rider conversely appreciates Iron Boulder’s match up against opposing speed creep, outrunning many Pokémon that use their own speed to offensively check Calyrex-Shadow Rider in turn. Iron Boulder works well with Fake Out users, given its ability to punish the Protect used to block Fake Out and greatly discourage the use of Protect in general. Given how much Iron Boulder struggles normally in regards to power, having allies that can punish the use of Intimidate can prevent Iron Boulder from becoming dead weight and greatly improve its matchup against Incineroar. Ogerpon is notable for handling multiple of Iron Boulder’s bad matchups, its Defiant turning Intimidate into a boost, while comfortably absorbing Grassy Glides and nullifying Sucker Punches from Rillaboom and Chien-Pao with Follow Me. Galarian Weezing is another potent anti-Intimidate method while crippling many other Pokémon that rely on their abilities to function, though Galarian Weezing works best against slower teams as Iron Boulder will lack the speed boost from its own Quark Drive in the process. Miraidon is too good of a partner not to mention given how much Iron Boulder is enabled when it doesn’t have to use its item slot for Booster Energy. Megahorn is a strong anti Rillaboom option while dealing far more damage to Psychic supporters Indeedee-F and Farigiraf but offers otherwise lackluster coverage. Zen Headbutt and Psycho cut are good coverage options into opposing Fighting types like Urshifu-Rapid and Sneasler, though both have their methods of natively outspeeding Iron Boulder.

Countering Iron Boulder

While Iron Boulder’s offense and speed are truly fearsome, its struggles to pick up knock outs and its weakness laden typing make it far more manageable.

As with many physical attackers, Dondozo is unparalleled in stopping Iron Boulder’s assaults, caring not for any boosts Iron Boulder gets and can use Iron Boulder as setup fodder instead. Quagsire does even better thanks to its resistance to Rock leaving Iron Boulder reliant on either its weaker Psychic STAB or non STAB coverage. Max Physical Bulk Unaware Clefable is a bit more shaky given that it can be 2HKO’d by Iron Boulder, but it is a very low chance and is reliable in crippling Iron Boulder with Thunder Wave, drastically reducing its threat level.

Other checks are more contingent on what coverage Iron Boulder is running. If lacking Zen Headbutt, Great Tusk comfortably can soak up a Swords Dance boosted Close Combat or Earthquake and OHKO back with its own Ground STAB. If lacking Earthquake or Throat Chop, bulky Gholdengo can absorb a Mighty Cleave easily and OHKO back with Make It Rain. Sinistcha can’t stand Throat Chop, or come in on a boosted Mighty Cleave, but otherwise can survive one handily and ruin Iron Boulder with Matcha Gotcha. Gliscor has a trickier matchup given how it can’t stall out for Poison Heal recovery with Protect due to Mighty Cleave, but survives a boosted Mighty Cleave and can place Iron Boulder on a timer with Toxic if not deal catastrophic damage to it with Earthquake.

Given most of Iron Boulder’s offense is direct contact, measures that punish direct contact are helpful in dealing with it. Tanky Garchomp is perhaps the most apt, able to absorb even a +2 Close Combat and chip Iron Boulder with Rocky Helmet and secure the OHKO with Earthquake. Moltres and Zapdos can also work but they desperately need to Terastalize or they will be eaten alive by Mighty Cleave.

While Iron Boulder does resist Extreme Speed, it still falls prey to many other forms of priority. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide easily OHKO’s Iron Boulder, as does Hisuian Samurott’s and Kingambit’s Sucker Punches. Scizor is another excellent example, able to OHKO with Bullet Punch, though it at least requires a boost from Metal Coat to secure the OHKO. Banded Tera Water Barraskewda can also OHKO with Aqua Jet, or sans Tera Water after Iron Boulder takes a Defense drop from Close Combat.

If the Speed Boost from Booster Energy isn’t a concern, Dragapult can threaten Iron Boulder being one of the few Pokémon that natively outspeeds it. Another important factor is to place Iron Boulder under enough pressure that it can’t get a Swords Dance off. Without the boost from Swords Dance, its potential power goes way down to the point there are too many Pokémon to list that can survive a blow and exploit Iron Boulder’s numerous weaknesses to OHKO it back.

Anime Appearences

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