Ice Rider Corner

Calyrex Ice Rider, the High King Pokémon. According to lore, this Pokémon showed no mercy to those who got in its way, yet it would heal its opponents' wounds after battle. It's said that this Pokémon once moved a large forest—and all the Pokémon living there—to a new location overnight.

Overview

Astride its pale horse, Calyrex-Ice Rider flips common sense on its head, excelling in niches commonly thought impractical for a singles Pokémon. Common sense dictates that a bulky Ice type would struggle to excel, and while yes, Calyrex-Ice Rider’s Ice typing does cause it difficulties, it doesn’t change the fact that 150 Defense and 130 Special Defense are phenomenal, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to stomach all sorts of blows. Calyrex-Ice Rider backs up this incredible bulk with terrifying offense. Base 165 Attack is already beyond the pale for most Pokémon, but Calyrex pushes it to the limit with the superb STAB Ice offense and great coverage in general, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to threaten huge swathes of Pokémon. This becomes even more terrifying when one considers As-One’s Chilling Neigh effect, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to get stronger with each KO it picks up, allowing for a mid-to late game Calyrex-Ice Rider to snowball out of control. What truly flips heaven and earth is that Calyrex-Ice Rider is a Trick Room user that excels in singles. While Trick Room is normally unviable in singles given its short time frame, Calyrex-Ice Rider makes the most of this thanks to its bulk allowing for easy setup and its offense and self setup allowing it to immediately go on the offense. All of this is even before getting into the benefits of Terastalization allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to shed its horrid defensive typing, making it even harder to take down.

It speaks volumes that the inherent flaws of these niches only slow Calyrex-Ice Rider down instead of stopping it. Calyrex-Ice Rider’s typing does give it numerous weaknesses that make it hard to take full advantage of its incredible bulk, making it a Tera Sink that constrains team building. These weaknesses are exasperated by Calyrex-Ice Rider’s poor speed. While this speed does allow it to excel in Trick Room, when out of it, Calyrex-Ice Rider is far easier to pressure and handle. Lack of reliable recovery further compounds Calyrex-Ice Rider’s woes, with an unintended big attack can completely compromise Calyrex-Ice Rider and prevent it from contributing. Calyrex-Ice Rider also suffers heavily from four moveslot syndrome, struggling to fit Glacial Lance, Trick Room, Swords Dance and/or all the coverage it needs onto one set, invariably leading to gaps. Even with all these flaws, Calyrex-Ice Rider is still a phenomenal Pokémon that one must plan for, lest this frozen king leave naught but hoarfrost in its wake.

Positives
Base 165 Attack is phenomenal, and Calyrex-Ice Rider can easily boost it higher with Swords Dance and As-One.
Glacial Lance is an incredible signature move and being Ice STAB grants it superb coverage on top of that.
Incredible 100/150/130 bulk allows Calyrex-Ice Rider to endure all manner of assaults before firing back.
Can weaponize low Speed with Trick Room, turning many fast offensive Pokémon into fodder.

Negatives
Psychic-Ice typing is abysmal with numerous weaknesses, making it easier to overcome Calyrex-Ice Rider’s prodigious bulk.
Base 50 Speed is a shackle outside of Trick Room, forcing Calyrex-Ice Rider to take hits before acting, effectively reducing its bulk.
Lack of reliable recovery greatly limits longevity.

Movesets

King of Frozen Swords

-Trick Room
-Swords Dance
-Glacial Lance
-High Horsepower
Item Attached: Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: As-One (Unnerve + Chilling Neigh)
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature

Calyrex-Ice Rider is an incredible bulwark against extremely aggressive offensive teams, punishing all their hyper fast Pokémon with the supreme speed control that is Trick Room, making them slower and thus easy pickings for Calyrex-Ice Rider and its teammates. Swords Dance is for the opposite end of the spectrum, giving Calyrex-Ice Rider, the necessary power to break through bulkier Pokémon, ruining defensive cores and opening holes for teammates to exploit. Glacial Lance helps immensely in this task, being a STAB signature base 120 Ice Attack that covers against many prominent Dragon and Ground types like Miraidon, Koraidon, Eternatus, Giratina-Origin, Landorus, Gliscor, Ting-Lu and more, which excepting the Raidons often are part of a team’s defensive backbone. High Horsepower compliments Glacial Lance nice, smashing the Ice resistant Fire and Steel types that would switch in to stop Calyrex-Ice Rider’s assault, namely Necrozma-Dusk Mane, Zacian-Crowned, preventing them from being safe switch ins.

Tera Types:
Calyrex-Ice Rider’s typing is a shackle that holds it back defensively, with numerous exploitable weakness with next to nothing to make up for it, making it very Tera hungry to best check as many threats as possible. Tera Fire is a universally common pick on Calyrex-Ice Rider, the wide range of resistances it supplies, especially towards Fire and Steel attacks are invaluable. What is even more valuable is the Burn immunity, a common and popular way to neutralize Calyrex-Ice Rider’s offense, whether it be through Calyrex-Shadow Rider or Giratina’s Will-O-Wisp or Ho-oh’s Sacred Fire. Tera Water is also popular, being an excellent defensive type in general while providing the same Fire and Steel resistances, while not worsening Calyrex-Ice Rider’s matchup into opposing Ice resistant Water types. Tera Ground is a more offensive pick; while no selling Miraidon’s Electric STABs is nice, what it is really used for is the extra muscle to burst through Necrozma Dusk Mane and Zacian Crowned, allowing for a OHKO on the latter without any boosts, and even the physically bulkiest variants of the former.

EVs and Items

Calyrex-Ice Rider is best used with a bulky attacker EV spread of Max HP and Max Attack to get the most out of its two most important attributes. Calyrex-Ice Rider’s lowest defensive stat is its HP, which while still good, greatly benefits from the investment, increasing its overall bulk. Max Attack investment is just as important with the absurdly bulky Pokémon Calyrex-Ice Rider finds itself in contention with. Brave Nature is preferred for Calyrex-Ice Rider to outslow everything in Trick Room, given it otherwise speed ties with Kingambit, and is outslowed by Ting-Lu. Heavy-Duty Boots is highly recommended for the item. Calyrex-Ice Rider is wholly reliant on its bulk to get Trick Room up or act in general, so having Stealth Rocks and other hazards chewing up Calyrex-Ice Rider’s HP can prevent it from functioning. If hazards are not a concern, other items can be considered. Weakness Policy works incredibly well with Calyrex-Ice Rider, given its numerous weaknesses and insane bulk allowing it to endure Super Effective hits, giving instant and efficient setup.

Partners

Allies that can check the Fire, Steel and Water types that resist Calyrex-Ice Rider’s STAB, go a long way in enabling its sweeps. Kyogre is by far the most prominent given how it drowns everything with its super charged Water STABs, reduces Calyrex-Ice Rider’s Fire weakness with its Rain, and even threatens opposing Water types thanks to Thunder. Calyrex-Ice Rider in turn brutalizes Water resistant Dragon and Grass types far more efficiently than Kyogre can with Ice Beam thanks to Calyrex-Ice Rider’s STAB. Special Attackers in general work well with Calyrex-Ice Rider busting through the physical walls that can slow it down, while Calyrex-Ice Rider does well against the sponges that slow them down. Miraidon is especially notable given its pairing with Calyrex-Ice Rider offers the famed Ice Electric coverage combination, with very little that can safely survive assaults from both. Other allies that can benefit from Trick Room also make for great partners. It is not unthinkable that Calyrex-Ice Rider can be forced out, so the ability to have an ally that can take advantage of Trick Room or re-establish it is invaluable. Hatterene is a fantastic example, given its ability to ward off hazards and being a direct answer to Dark types with its own Fairy STAB while capable of setting its own Trick Room. Necrozma-Dawn Wings is a niche pick but is the second best legendary Trick Room attacker after Calyrex-Ice Rider and offers potent Ghost offense that is missed out from not picking Shadow Rider. In limited restricted formats, Mimikyu is notable for its efficacy at setting up Trick Room and forcing targets into KO range with Curse, making many setup fodder for Ice Rider. Kingambit does well against opposing Ghost, Dark and Steel types, while being a Pokémon that excels both in and out of Trick Room.

Other Options

Seed Bomb is fantastic coverage into opposing Water types like Kyogre, but does nothing into the Steel and Fire types. Calyrex-Ice Rider can be a fearsome Loaded Dice attacker with Bullet Seed and Icicle Spear over usual coverage to handle Focus Sash and Substitute users that it would normally struggle with. Close Combat is fantastic into Kingambit and Tera Steel types, though is not as effective against Fire types and Necrozma Dusk Mane.

Doubles and VGC Options

Given Calyrex-Ice Rider’s whirlwind success with Trick Room in Singles, its success in Doubles where Trick Room is much stronger is all but assured. Indeed, Calyrex-Ice Rider has become the face of Trick Room in restricted formats, its bulk making it fantastic at setting up Trick Room, while its high Attack, Ice STAB and Chilling Neigh make it a fearsome attacker. Glacial Lance helps enormously in this regard, being an absurdly powerful spread attack that allows Calyrex-Ice Rider to pick up multiple knockouts at once and escalate out of control with As-One while getting the most out of Trick Room turns. Calyrex-Ice Rider’s bulk is so great, it can even switch gears and run Leech Seed for a long game, wearing down targets until they are nothing more than offerings to Calyrex-Ice Rider’s lance. Being a physical spread attacker opens Calyrex-Ice Rider to all sorts of vulnerabilities. Wide Guard is a fantastic method of shutting out Calyrex-Ice Rider’s main STAB, greatly lowering its threat level. Add on to this a poor matchup against Incineroar, and Calyrex-Ice Rider is often forced into Clear Amulet just to not be slowed down by the common cat.

Army of Ice

-Glacial Lance
-Leech Seed
-Trick Room
-Protect
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: As-One (Unnerve + Chilling Neigh)
Tera Type: Water/Fire/Grass
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 56 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SDef
Adamant Nature

Leech Seed Leftovers Calyrex-Ice Rider trades coverage for pure longevity, allowing it to flip matchups against bulkier targets that would normally win. Regardless of Leech Seed, Glacial Lance remains Calyrex-Ice Rider's go to STAB an incredibly powerful move that threatens many staples including the Raidons, Landorus, Tornadus, as well as Leech Seed Immune Grass types like Ogerpon, Amoonguss, Rillaboom and more. Leech Seed is what makes this set shine; with the absurd HP values many restricted Pokémon boast, Ice Rider can get an absurd amount of healing between Leech Seed, Leftovers and Protect, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to stall out Pokémon like Kyogre, Zamazenta, Terapagos and Dondozo, Pokémon that could otherwise be called upon to tank Ice Rider's assault. Trick Room is standard on Calyrex-Ice Rider, being potent speed control and with Calyrex-Ice Rider's poor speed, ensuring it gets the jump on most attackers. Protect is the double standard, being the best move for the format, stalling out for allied setup, scout for Teras, stalling out opposing setup and more. Protect has extra utility with Leech Seed and Leftovers, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to get extra chip damage and recovery even when hunkering down.

Calyrex's weakness laden typing makes it very reliant on Terastalization to tank as many attacks as possible. Tera Water is the best for Ice Rider to flip its matchup against Kyogre, as any Kyogre lacking Thunder find themselves hopelessly walled, while giving Calyrex-Ice Rider that all important Fire resistant to counter opposing Incineroar, and Koraidon while giving an out to Zacian-Crowned's Behemoth Blade. Tera Fire is also a strong option, granting the self same resistance to Fire and Steel as Tera Water while blocking Incineroar's and Volcarona's Will-O-Wisp. Grass shares the same weakness to Fire, but grants Ice Rider greatly improved matchups into Amoonguss and Miraidon while still giving the Protect breaking Urshifu-Rapid a hard type. the EVs given are to maximize Ice Rider's special bulk guaranteeing it to survive even Specs Miraidon's Electro Drift and by extension Calyrex Shadow Rider's Astral Barrage and Specs Flutter Mane's Shadow Ball without Terastalizing.

Partners & Options

As this set is reliant on bulk to excel, teammates that reduce the damage Calyrex-Ice Rider takes are invaluable. Incineroar is a given considering the insane role compression that it offers while Grimmsnarl with its Dual Screens support is quite potent in its own right. Both can also help guarantee Trick Room setup with Fake Out and can pivot Trick Room excelling allies in with Parting Shot without losing momentum. Coaching users like Urshifu, and Iron Valiant are also worth noting, as this is a mono-Attacking set with usually little Attack investment, so the free Bulk Up from such users goes a long way both defensively and offensively. As Calyrex-Ice Rider often struggles into physically bulky Water and Fire types thanks to their Ice resistance, allies that can threaten them make for incredible partners. Miraidon is a common Calyrex-Ice Rider partner, making opponents think twice on bringing their Water types with its ability to obliterate them. Kyogre is another frequent face next to Ice Rider, its Drizzle reducing Calyrex-Ice Rider's Fire weakness and weakening opposing Koraidon on top of obliterating Fire and Water types in general with its Water STAB and Thunder respectively. Both love Calyrex-Ice Rider's amazing matchup into Rillaboom, a common check to both Pokémon. Additionally, Glacial Lance readily threatens the numerous Tera Grass, Tera Ground and Landorus looking to answer Miraidon while obliterating the Raging Bolt that threatens Kyogre with its own super effective priority. Seed Bomb is fantastic coverage into Water types like Kyogre and Tera Water Amoongus, pinning what is otherwise a common answer to Trick Room teams. Crunch is great into opposing Psychic types, especially Lunala, Calyrex-Shadow Rider and opposing Calyrex-Ice Rider while punishing popular support like Farigiraf and Indeedee-F.

Checks & Counters

Calyrex-Ice Rider is a Pokémon of many strengths and weaknesses, and it is necessary to navigate both to fare successfully against it.

The biggest hurdle for managing Calyrex-Ice Rider is its bulk, allowing it to survive all manner of attacks, even super effective ones, allowing Calyrex-Ice Rider to flip the tables on its attacker with Trick Room or a Weakness Policy boosted attack, if not both. There are a few Pokémon that can outright one hit KO Calyrex-Ice Rider. Zacian-Crowned is likely to grab the knock out with Behemoth Blade but needs the boost from Intrepid Sword to seal the deal. Choice Band Chien-Pao can also pull it off with Crunch, though the calculation is far more in Calyrex-Ice Rider’s favor, though Ice Rider can only 2HKO Chien-Pao without Close Combat.

What is more reliable are Ice-resistant Pokémon. The bulk of Calyrex-Ice Rider’s power lies in its Ice STABs, so Pokémon that can stomach such blows have a much easier time pivoting in, especially if Calyrex-Ice Rider lacks the coverage for them. Arceus-Water is ruinous for Calyrex-Ice Rider, between pHazing with Dragon Tail, setup denial with Taunt, crippling with Will-O-Wisp and outright punishing Tera Fire with Will-O-Wisp there is little reproach Calyrex-Ice Rider has. Necrozma-Dusk Mane reliably 2HKOs with its Sunsteel Strike, regardless of its boosts, while Calyrex-Ice Rider needs to be boosted to threaten the same with High Horsepower. Kingambit dislikes High Horsepower and Close Combat, but can potentially outslow Calyrex-Ice Rider or just outright threaten it with Tera Dark Sucker Punch.

While Ho-oh struggles with boosted Glacial Lances, its ability to threaten major damage and cripple Calyrex-Ice Rider with Burns via Sacred Fire cannot be discounted.

Entry Hazards are also problematic for Calyrex-Ice Rider, as its niche entire centers around its bulk, so lose a quarter of its HP to Stealth Rocks and/or Spikes greatly reduces the damage threshold needed.

Shadow Rider Corner

Calyrex Shadow Rider, the High King Pokémon. It’s said that Calyrex and a Pokémon that had bonded with it ran all across the Galar region to bring green to the wastelands. Legend says that by using its power to see all events from past to future, this Pokémon saved the creatures of a forest from a meteorite strike.

Overview

Astride its grim horse, Calyrex-Shadow Rider reigns at the pinnacle of offense, having everything an attacker could want. Base 165 Special Attack is absurd, giving Calyrex-Shadow Rider incredible power right from the word go. Calyrex-Shadow Rider uses this power to fuel its insane Base 120 power signature Ghost STAB, which is more than enough to consume neutral targets, a distressingly wide range given Ghost’s coverage. As-One turns this absurd damage into self-setup, with each knock out, Calyrex-Shadow Rider gets stronger and even harder to resist. If Calyrex-Shadow Rider can’t get a knockout with its base power? No problem, it can just reach that power after a single Nasty Plot. Adding onto all this offensive pressure is Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s insane base 150 Speed, tied for third fastest game allowing it to provide offensive pressure from the word go. This insane speed also enables Calyrex-Shadow Rider to make the most of its supportive and disruptive movepool, using moves like Encore, Leech Seed and Substitute to create setup opportunities for itself, and compromise would be checks.

While Calyrex-Shadow Rider has all the offensive tools a Pokémon could ever want, it is sorely lacking on defense. Base 100 HP with 80 defenses is downright frail by the standards of Pokémon Calyrex-Shadow Rider must contend with, making it reliant on typing for any defensive utility. Psychic-Ghost is not a typing for defensive utility, as beyond the useful immunities to Normal and Fighting, Calyrex-Shadow Rider has no useful resistances to speak off, and in fact two crippling quadruple weaknesses. Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s Dark weakness is particularly troubling, given its only answers to Dark are the weak Draining Kiss and the oft resisted Pollen Puff. Both flaws often force Calyrex-Shadow Rider to Terastalize to make up the difference. Additionally, while Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s speed is not impossible to surmount, leaving it vulnerable to priority, and attackers that can use external means to outspeed it, albeit not to the same extent as Deoxys-Normal or Attack. Even in the face of these flaws, Calyrex-Shadow Rider is a terror to behold where a single misstep can mean it spiral out of control and leave naught left in its path.

Positives
Base 165 Special Attack is phenomenal, and Calyrex-Shadow Rider can easily boost it higher with Nasty Plot and As-One.
Astral Barrage is an incredible base 120 power Ghost STAB attack that is very difficult to resist.
Base 150 Speed is incredible, tied for third fastest around and all but ensuring Calyrex-Shadow Rider moves first.

Negatives
100/80/80 defenses are frail by the standards Calyrex-Shadow Rider must compare itself to, making it relatively easy to KO if struck.
Two Quadruple weaknesses and no meaningful resistances to speak of, deprives Calyrex-Shadow Rider of almost all defensive utility.
Flawed coverage against Dark types is noticeable achilles heel.

Movesets

A Need for Steed

-Astral Barrage
-Psychic
-Grass Knot
-Trick
Item Attached: Choice SCarf
Ability: As-One (Unnerve + Grim Neigh)
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Choice Scarf Calyrex-Shadow Rider all but removes the ability to outspeed it, making for a vicious revenge-killer that can subsequently escalate into a full on sweep thanks to the power of As-One. Astral Barrage is an all around absurd STAB attack, with absurd neutral coverage that few Pokémon can be expected to tank safely as is one’s go to move most of the time. Psychic is for Koraidon, easily netting a OHKO where Astral Barrage doesn’t and threatening Normal and Tera Normal Pokémon like Arceus, Dragonite with incredible damage. Grass Knot is largely for Ting-Lu, one of the few Dark types that has the special bulk to stomach Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s assault, as well as threatening significant damage to Kyogre and Ursaluna as well. Trick is the Choice’d attackers answer for bulky targets it cannot reliable one or two shot, depriving them of their ability to switch moves, which can leave such Pokémon all but dead weight and easy pickings for Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s teammates.

Tera Types:
While Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s pure speed and power means that it can get by on its base typing due to pure offensive might, Calyrex-Shadow Rider often makes great use of Terastalization to pivot around weaknesses, gain coverage or just get that extra bit of muscle needed for a knock out. As with any offensive Pokémon, Calyrex-Shadow Rider can make use of Tera Stellar for a surprise KO, as with the Tera Stellar, Calyrex-Shadow Rider can OHKO offensive Kyogre after Stealth Rock chip. Tera Ghost reduces Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s Ghost and Dark weaknesses, while providing a consistent boost to Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s deadly Astral Barrage that can close out games on its own. Tera Fairy and Fighting are common offensive defensive choices, granting a vital resistance to Dark while offering super effective coverage for Dark types in Draining Kiss or Tera Blast, flipping what is a normally bad matchup for Calyrex-Shadow Rider on its head. Tera Fairy is a better defensive typing, but Tera Fighting hitting Normal and Tera Normal types cannot be discounted either, especially with how wide reaching Ghost Fighting coverage is. Tera Normal is a pure defensive option, namely for opposing Calyrex-Shadow Riders that can be vital for winning the mirror match, though negating an opposing Flutter Mane’s Shadow or Giratina-Origin’s Shadow Sneak is nice as well.

EVs and Items

Max Speed and Special Attack investment are the go-to option for this set. Calyrex-Shadow Rider lives and dies off its speed, so being able to outrun everything, especially opposing Calyrex-Shadow Rider is of paramount importance. Special Attack is equally vital, as Calyrex-Shadow Rider needs as much Special Attack as possible to KO opponents with as little prior damage as possible so it can get Grim Neigh boosts from As One and escalate from there. Choice Scarf is the namesake of the set and is great for preventing Protosynthesis Flutter Mane and Scarfed variants of the Raidons from outrunning and knocking out Calyrex-Shadow Rider in turn. Choice Specs is an alternative, trading peerless speed for crushing power, though the move selection is largely the same.

Partners

Answers for Dark and Normal types are of utmost importance to Calyrex-Shadow Rider, given its own struggles with them without Terastalizing. Koraidon stands out the most given its incredible speed and power allowing it to suppress such Pokémon, while also being a reliable switch in to the specially bulky Kyogre, removing its Rain and forcing it to switch or be knocked into Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s KO range.

Other Options

Draining Kiss is great if running Tera Fairy, giving Calyrex-Shadow Rider coverage against Dark types and healing that can prevent it from being worn down. Psyshock is an alternative to Psychic, for explicitly the dispatch of Blissey as it fails to OHKO Koraidon unboosted.

Doubles and VGC Options

Calyrex-Shadow Rider in many aspects could be considered a souped up Flutter Mane, which seems ridiculous when one considers how ridiculously good Flutter Mane is. Calyrex-Shadow Rider possesses the self same Ghost typing that offers an extremely spammable STAB and immunity to Fake Out, while being naturally faster and stronger than the already absurdly fast and strong Flutter Mane. And with an ability that makes it even more dangerous each time it picks up a knock out, allowing it to escalate out of control in a way Flutter Mane could only dream of. Flutter Mane didn't just use its Speed for offense, and neither does Shadow Rider, possessing the disruptive movepool expected of a Ghost type, locking opponents down with Encore, Will-O-Wisp and Disable. Not to say this king is not without its achilles heel. Like Calyrex-Ice Rider, Calyrex-Shadow Rider is wholly reliant on the spread Astral Barrage for the bulk of its offense, with Wide Guard considerably reducing Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s threat level. Calyrex-Shadow Rider also suffers many of the same problems as other frail Pokémon, where it can be rather volatile and quickly removed without having contributed anything. A generally bad matchup into Dark types, especially prominent support Pokémon like Incineroar and Grimmsnarl add further pressure to Calyrex-Shadow Rider, though careful play can win the day.

Fleeting Fallen King

-Astral Barrage
-Psychic
-Encore
-Protect
Item Attached: Focus Sash
Ter Type: Ghost/Dark/Fairy
Ability: As-One (Unnerve + Grim Neigh)
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Calyrex-Shadow Rider casts a long shadow over the opposing team, an immediate threat that must be answered. Astral Barrage is Calyrex-Shadow Rider's bread and butter being an extremely spammable spread Ghost attack that is hard to resist and more than capable of cleaning up weakened teams by its lonesome, especially with the self escalation from Grim Neigh. Psychic is a secondary single target STAB here just as an option for opponents packing Wide Guard, able to threaten decent damage on most Wide Guard users not named Lunala. Encore is here for disruption and is incredibly brutal in Doubles given the large number of moves that do nothing when repeated, or are actively detrimental, like Fake Out, Protect, weather, screens, and more, and can turn any fight into a temporary two on one with the opponent often forced to switch and take huge damage. Protect rounds out the set as the doubles staple, stalling for allied setup, stalling out opposing field conditions, scouting for Terastalizations, punishing doubling up and more, Protect's utility cannot be overstated in doubles, to the point that any Pokémon without it is less durable.

As a relatively aggressive Pokémon, max Speed and Special Attack are recommended for Calyrex-Shadow Rider to threaten as many Pokémon as possible while at the very least speed tying with opposing Calyrex-Shadow Rider. Tera Types is where some more flexibility is show. Tera Ghost is by far the most popular, reducing Calyrex-Shadow Rider's Ghost and Dark weakneses abd maintaining its Fake Out immunity, all the while boosting up Astral Barrage and compensating for the damage reduction from being a spread move, making it that much easier to pick up KOs. Tera Dark is more defensive, allowing Calyrex-Shadow Rider to turn both of its quadruple weaknesses into resistances while the immunity to Prankster shenanigans, such as Taunt or Thunder Wave is a nice bonus. Tera Fairy is by far the best Defensive typing and grants a resistance to Dark while boosting up Draining Kiss to the point of being respectable coverage and healing.

Partners & Other Options

As Dark types as a consistent threat to Calyrex-Shadow Rider regardless of the set, having an ally that can handle them is invaluable. Zamazenta-Crowned stands out thanks to being a physical Fighting type not bothered by Incineroar's Intimidate shenanigans, while able to threaten reliable damage not only into opposing Dark types, but other Pokémon in general, greatly facilitating a Grim Neigh sweep. Zamazenta-Crowned in turn loves the anti-Ghost presence Calyrex-Shadow Rider provides, taking away one of the biggest stops to its own offense. Urshifu also stands out as an Intimidate resilient Fighting type, especially Urshifu-Rapid's ability to threaten Incineroar. Pollen Puff is a great option into most opposing Dark types, and the utility to heal teammates cannot be discounted. Draining Kiss is best used with Tera Fairy, but the recovery it provides does give Calyrex-Shadow Rider invaluable longevity. Nasty Plot can make use of one free turn to have Calyrex-Shadow Rider escalate to a point of near no return as well as counteract the effects of Light Screen, Calm Mind and Snarl.

Checks & Counters

While Calyrex-Shadow Rider may have stark and noticeable flaws, its insane speed and disruptive movepool ensures nothing is truly safe, with checks reliant on what set Calyrex-Shadow Rider is running and its coverage.

Super Effective Priority is by far the most reliable way of handling Calyrex-Shadow Rider regardless of set, invariably forcing it to Terastalize, switch out or be knocked out. Chien-Pao and Kingambit’s Sucker Punch, as well as Giratina-Origin’s Shadow Sneak all fit this criterion nicely. However, Focus Sash Calyrex-Shadow Rider can survive the revenge blow, and Sucker Punch sets can be taken advantage of with Encore.

If not running Choice Scarf, outspeeding and cutting Calyrex-Shadow Rider offense short is the most reliable way to go. However, Calyrex-Shadow Rider’s insane base speed limits this to other fast Choice Scarf users like Miraidon, Koraidon, as well as Protosynthesis Flutter Mane and Quark Drive Iron Bundle, though the latter lacks the direct power to one shot Calyrex-Shadow Rider in turn.

Choice sets can struggle against bulkier walls if lacking any boosts, especially the Choice Scarf set, though such walls must usually be wary of Trick. Blissey excels against any Calyrex-Shadow Rider not running Psyshock and can even avoid crippling from Trick with Fling. Terapagos can stomach even a boosted blow if its Tera Shell is intact and cripple Shadow Rider with Toxic or pHaze it with Roar on top of being immune to Astral Barrage. If running Choice Scarf, the lack of immediate power is more apparent with even Roaring Moon and Kingambit able to switch into an Astral Barrage and survive the follow up before striking back. Ho-oh’s insane special bulk also does well here, though even defensive sets will be 2HKO’d by Specs Astral Barrage, and it cannot OHKO Calyrex-Shadow Rider in turn.

Best way to deal with Calyrex-Shadow Rider is often lure it in and surprise it with a defensive Terastalization to survive its STABs, and knock it out before the trainer can adjust.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in Game

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in Game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in Game

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in Game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in Game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in Game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in Game

Black/White:
Not in Game

Black 2/White 2:
Not in Game

X/Y:
Not in Game

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in Game

Sun/Moon:
Not in Game

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Not in Game

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in Game

Sword/Shield: Crown Shrine

Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in Game

Legends: Arceus:
Not in game

Scarlet/Violet:
Transfer through Pokémon HOME