Perrserker, the Viking Pokémon. What appears to be an iron helmet is actually hardened hair. This Pokémon lives for the thrill of battle. After many battles, it evolved dangerous claws that come together to form daggers when extended.

Overview

Like the Vikings of yore, Perrserker is a relic lost to time. It barely changed in the generational shift, and with abysmal Special Defense and poor Speed, it is easy to see why Perrserker fell by the wayside. Perrserker’s lacking Special Defense and no recovery further curses it given the stiff competition for Steel types since they are often key to a team’s defensive backbone. Perrserker’s reliance on Steel offense is rather unfortunate as well, given Steel’s poor offensive profile, leaving Perrserker’s most potent offense easily resisted.

Perrserker still has merit. Its Defense is rather good, and coupled with the Steel typing, affords Perrserker many pivoting opportunities. And for power? Perrserker is not left wanting, with two amazing abilities in Tough Claws and Steely Spirit jacking its power much higher than the already good Base 110 would suggest. Perrserker’s coverage is also quite wide, and possessing both Swords Dance and Curse for boosting options leave few defensive answers once Perrserker gets going. Getting Trailblaze in the generational shift is another boon for Perrserker, giving it a method to address its low speed without giving up on coverage. While Perrserker has been left ashore for good reason, its power is evocative of famed warriors from long ago.
Positives
Wide coverage and boosting options enables Perrserker to make the most of its good Base 110 Attack and boosting abilities in Tough Claws and Steely Spirit.
Steel typing and high Base 100 Defense give Perrserker a multitude of opportunities to switch in.
Good utility movepool including U-Turn, Knock Off and Stealth Rock help Perrserker excel as a pivot.

Negatives
Poor Base 50 Speed requires Perrserker to tank attacks before acting, lessening the worth of its good defenses
Poor Base 60 Special Defense is a gaping achilles heel that prevents Perrserker from absorbing Special Attacks well.
Steel is poor offensively which can leave Perrserker’s offense wanting.

Movesets

Leaf Erikson

-Swords Dance
-Trailblaze
-Iron Head
-Knock Off
Ability: Tough Claws
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

A Double Dance set, Perrserker boosts its Attack and/or Speed depending on the opposing team composition and situation, using its great Defense and typing to pivot in and garner setup opportunities. Swords Dance gives Perrserker the power to muscle through more defensive Pokémon like Avalugg and Appletun. Trailblaze addresses Perrserker’s speed issues, enabling it to get the jump on threatening attackers like Morpeko, Basculin, and Braviary after a single boost. Trailblaze also hitting the Ground types that threaten Perrserker and the Water types that resist its STAB is another bonus. Iron Head is STAB of choice, providing incredible power given both STAB and Tough Claws boost and Perrserker’s go to move for damage. Knock Off rounds out the set, enabling Perrserker to provide valuable utility in item disruption, making the opposing team more vulnerable to further assaults or blunting their power.

Tera Types:
Tera Grass is highly recommended for this set, pushing Trailblaze from decently powered boosting move to outright coverage against Ground and Water types. Pivoting from a Ground weakness to a resistance is another boon, though the shared Fire weakness is unfortunate. Tera Dragon is another defensive Tera option, giving Perrserker resistances against common Fire Water Grass cores, while Fairy and Ice types are leery of STAB Tough Claws Iron Head. If running Steely Spirit over Tough Claws, Tera Steel should be your main consideration, given a massive power boost to OHKO anything not resistant to Iron Head or physically bulky. And even those will take serious damage.

EVs and Items:
Since we are running a double dance set, Max Attack and Speed are recommended for Perrserker to get the most out of its boosts. Jolly Nature is mandatory for Perrserker to outspeed as many targets as possible after a single Trailblaze, enabling it to outspeed any unboosted target below Base 100, while Adamant only guarantees up to a speed tie with Base 86 Speed Pokémon after 1 Trailblaze. If not running Trailblaze, and especially if running Curse, investing in HP for Perrserker to make better use of its defense. Life Orb is recommended for the general boost in power, though if the HP sapping effect is untenable, Metal Coat or Miracle Seed are also worth consideration.

Partners:
Swanna is a fantastic partner for Perrserker, easily answering the Ground, Fighting and Fire types that give Perrserker pause, able to pivot in easily. Perrserker in turn is a reliable pivot into Rock Attacks, and offers complimentary physical offense. Other Water types, like Poliwraith, Basculin, Quaquaval also offer similar synergies and are far more appreciative of Perrserker checking opposing Grass types. Rillaboom offeris Grassy Terrain that dampens Earthquake and provide desperately needed passive recovery for Perrserker while checking opposing Ground and Water types in general that can be used to play around Perrserker. Perrserker in turn is an invaluable pivot into many of Grass’ weaknesses, most of which lack the coverage to answer Perrserker.

Other Options:
Curse -an alternative boosting option that makes Perrserker near impossible to break through physically and is more reliable in setting up, but the lack of natural recovery hurts a lot.
Close Combat -amazing coverage option against opposing Steel types, though Perrserker outmuscles most of them anyways.

Fashionable Raider

-Iron Head
-Close Combat
-Knock Off
-U-Turn
Ability: Tough Claws
Item: Choice Band
EVs and Nature:
124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature

Banded Perrserker is a dangerous wallbreaker that offers some utility beyond damage. Iron Head is great, getting both the STAB and Tough Claws boost and providing the most damage in most situations. Close Combat is fantastic coverage, hitting many Steel types that would otherwise be called upon to stop Perrseker. Knock Off provides invaluable utility, depriving walls of badly needed items like Heavy Duty Boots, Leftovers and/or Eviolite, making them easier to wear down and eliminate. U-Turn rounds out the set, enabling Perrserker to using its great Defense and Steel typing as an aggressive pivot, switching into a resisted hit, and then U-Turning out to counter the opponent’s counter switch to maintain momentum. /p>

Tera Types:
Tera Steel is highly recommended given the extra boost provides Perrserker a great deal of wallbreaking power. Other offensive Teras like Fighting and Dark are also viable to help Perrserker reach OHKOs on dangerous foes like Orthworm, and Slowbro who can otherwise stomach a hit.

EVs and Items:
As this set is a wallbreaker, Max Attack is mandatory. Max Speed is highly recommended, or one can go for more bulk so Perrserker can tank more hits. 204 Speed outstrips uninvested Klawf, 132 Speed is necessary to outspeed 4 Speed Orthworm, 84 Speed outstrips uninvested Whishcash, and 44 Speed outspeeds uninvested Swalot. Choice Band is key to this set for the immediate power necessary for wallbreaking. Otherwise, Assault Vest patches up Perrserker’s Special Defense, enabling it to act as a bulky pivot able to soak attacks.

Partners:
Swanna is a fantastic partner for Perrserker, easily answering the Ground, Fighting and Fire types that give Perrserker pause, able to pivot in easily. Perrserker in turn is a reliable pivot into Rock Attacks, and offers complimentary physical offense. Other Water types, like Poliwraith, Basculin, Quaquaval also offer similar synergies and are far more appreciative of Perrserker checking opposing Grass types. Dachsbun is a fantastic answer for opposing Fire and Fighting types and offers Wish Support that Perrserker desperately needs to stay healthy and pivot in repeatedly. Perrserker in turn pivots into opposing Steel and Poison types.

Other Options:
Stealth Rock -great move even if Choice Locked to start setting up damage as your opponent tries to pivot around you.
Seed Bomb -great for opposing Ground and Water types.

Doubles and VGC Options

Perrserker’s flaws are massive hinderances in the doubles format, with its poor Special Defense and Speed being especially exploitable without support. However, Perrserkers still manages to gouge out a tiny niche for itself thanks to Steely Spirit. 50% bonuses to power outside of STAB are rare and often come with significant downsides, so Steely Spirit’s unconditional boost enabling an irreproducible Steel spamming strategy is a tantalizing prospect. Add in Perrserker’s good support movepool and it is a fantastic enabler of Pokémon like Gholdengo and Scizor. However, Perrserker’s flaws ensure that it is strongly in the gimmick category with Urshifu able to destroy Perrserker through Protect and Intimidate users like Landorus-Therian and Hisuian Arcanine stopping Perrserker before it can start.

Crew of Steel

-Fake Out
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Iron Head
Ability: Steely Spirit
Item: Choice Scarf
Tera Type: Steel
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Perrserker acts as a disruptor and supporter for its teammates enabling huge Steely attacks to ruin the opposition. Fake Out is fantastic, offering chip and vital disruption that can enable allies Tailwind, Trick Room, weather, etc. Helping Hand pairs wonderfully with Steely Spirit, pulling off feats like Banded Scizor being favored to OHKO Max HP Rillaboom with Bullet Punch, and Gholdengo's Make it Rain doing at least 3/4s to Bloodmoon Urslauna accounting for the spread reduction. If the target doesn't resist Steel they are in for a world of hurt. Taunt offers invaluable disruption, stopping opposing Trick Room, Protect/Spikey Shield, Spore, Rage Powder, Strength Sap, etc. Iron Head rounds out the set, so Perrserker can exercise its Steely Spirit for its own benefit, doing appreciable damage despite the lack of investment, doing near half to Amoongus, and Rillaboom.

Tera Steel is recommended to enable Perrserker to apply offensive pressure in case its teammates can’t, despite the lack of attack investment.

Other Options & Partners:
Assault Vest -patches up Perrserker’s lacking Special Defense, but the loss in support moves like Helping Hand and Taunt are painful.
Gholdengo and Scizor are the best available abusers of Steely Spirit, with Make It Rain and Bullet Punch already doing obscene damage normally.
Ogerpon-Wellspring -given Steel types struggle with Fire, Ground and Water types, Ogerpon Wellspring’s ability to handle all three is invaluable. .

Countering Perrserker

Offensively checking Perrserker is a simple affair. Anything faster, especially with Special Attacks can easily force Perrserker out. Pyroar, Charizard, Tauros-Paldea, and Typhlosion all outspeed Perrserker, even after Trailblaze and can OHKO with ease while reliably tanking Perrserker’s Iron Head. Others like Haunter, Houndoom, Dugtrio, Medicham and all reliable outspeed an unboosted Perrserker and can OHKO with their STABs (or Focus Blast in Haunter’s case). Salazzle outspeeds even a boosted Perrserker, but its frailty has it struggle to tank a boosted Iron head.

Defensively checking Perrserker is a much more difficult affair. Even checks that can tank Perrserker’s attacks don’t like eating Knock Off. Disregarding item disruption, defensive Poliwrath and Fluffy Houndstone both easily tank attacks and threaten with Fighting STAB and Will-O-Wisp respectively though they dislike Seed Bomb and Knock Off respectively.

Anime Appearences

Perrserker has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably one led a group of Galarian Meowth to cause some trouble in Wyndon # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 1216 Just a Scone's Throw From Here Goh and Cinderace! The Place Where It All Began!! Pics 40 TBC Farewell, Sprigatito Pics