Arctozolt Movesets & Competitive Sets

Arctozolt is the best Slush Rush user on Ice due to its nearly unresisted STAB combination that threatens types such as Poison, Water, Dark, and Psychic and its ability to outspeed unboosted threats such as Urshifu-R, Hydreigon, and Choice Scarf Heatran. Blizzard deals with Dragon-, Grass- and Ground-types such as Hydreigon, Amoonguss, and Landorus-T which resist or are immune to Bolt Beak. Freeze-Dry completes Arctozolt's coverage, allowing it to break down Water by 2HKOing Swampert and Gastrodon, which take minimal damage from the aforementioned attacks. Alternatively, Stomping Tantrum lets Arctozolt threaten Choice Scarf Excadrill and Zeraora, which shrug off Arctozolt's STAB moves. Substitute lets Arctozolt take advantage of its ability to force switches, allowing it to exert much more pressure on the opposing team and evade status and Leech Seed from Toxapex and Celesteela. A Naughty nature allows Artozolt to always OHKO walls such as Toxapex and Corviknight after Stealth Rock damage, while a Naive nature lets it outspeed threats such as Choice Scarf Excadrill and Zeraora under hail, which is especially useful if running Stomping Tantrum. Hail is required for Arctozolt to function, making Alolan Ninetales a mandatory teammate. It also provides Aurora Veil, which makes Arctozolt harder to revenge kill. Choice Scarf Weavile deals with Choice Scarf users such as Zarude, Blacephalon, and Galarian Zapdos, which outspeed Arctozolt even under hail. In return, Weavile benefits from Arctozolt dealing with bulky walls such as Celesteela and Toxapex, allowing Weavile to clean types such as Flying, Psychic, and Poison late-game. Kyurem forms a wallbreaking core with Arctozolt that can pressure the defensive cores of Water, Poison, Flying, and Psychic by wearing down shared checks such as Celesteela. Galarian Darmanitan can pivot in Arctozolt against physical walls such as Slowbro and Toxapex with U-turn, threaten Excadrill and Ferrothorn, and clean types such as Poison, Steel, and Fairy late-game. Entry hazard setters such as Cloyster, Piloswine, and Mamoswine provide entry hazards that allow Arctozolt to OHKO Toxapex, Celesteela, and Dragapult. Cloyster can also utilize Teleport to let it come onto the field safely, while Piloswine is a special wall that checks Choice Scarf Blacephalon and Volcarona.

Arctozolt acts as a very threatening wallbreaker and sweeper under hail due to its high-Base Power moves and amazing STAB combination, making it a great revenge killer, as well as making it very difficult for many teams to pivot. However, Arctozolt suffers from being easily revenge killed by Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Victini, and Kartana due to its poor defensive typing, mediocre bulk, and Speed tier that's easily outsped, especially outside of hail. Freeze-Dry can be used over Blizzard in order to heavily damage and KO Gastrodon and Mega Swampert, which would otherwise take Blizzard and KO Arctozolt with their Ground-type STAB move; however, Blizzard is a more consistent and threatening move due to its high Base Power, making it superior otherwise. Low Kick allows Arctozolt to bypass would-be checks like Magnezone, Ferrothorn, and Tyranitar. Substitute is great for taking advantage of Pokemon that get forced out by Arctozolt, such as Toxapex, Garchomp, and Corviknight, while also easing prediction by blocking status and abilities such as Landorus-T's Intimidate, making Arctozolt harder to pivot around. However, Substitute drains Arctozolt's HP and can waste hail turns, making it situational to use. Heavy-Duty Boots is the preferred item for Arctozolt, as it negates entry hazards, allowing Arctozolt to wreak havoc against the opposing team regardless of if hazards are on the field; however, Leftovers is a good alternative, as it can keep Arctozolt healthy throughout a match, although it necessitates hazard control as a result. Alolan Ninetales is an absolute necessity for Arctozolt, since it provides hail while also providing utility, such as setting up Aurora Veil to make it less prone to revenge killing and easier for it to switch in and overwhelm the foe. Alolan Ninetales can use Freeze-Dry to help with Arctozolt's Gastrodon and Mega Swampert matchup, allowing Arctozolt to free up Blizzard. Alolan Ninetales can also support it by locking the foe into a move with Encore, allowing Arctozolt to pivot in safely. Mega Diancie is also a great partner for Arctozolt, since it sets up Stealth Rock for Arctozolt to make it harder to switch into and pivot around, and Mega Diancie's Magic Bounce deflects the foe's entry hazards, allowing Arctozolt to switch in multiple times and wreak havoc without the worry of taking hazard damage. If Arctozolt isn't using Heavy-Duty Boots, then Defoggers such as Corviknight are very useful for Arctozolt. Priority and Choice Scarf users such as Landorus-T, Mega Scizor, and Rillaboom can be annoying for Arctozolt to handle, so checks to them such as Landorus-T, Heatran, and Corviknight are great teammates for it. Pokemon that can bring Arctozolt in safely such as Landorus-T and Corviknight work as good teammates. Toxic support from Pokemon like Landorus-T and Heatran can be useful for Arctozolt, as it can ease up its worst matchups in Gastrodon and Mega Latias.

The Speed investment allows it to outspeed Mega Sceptile and base 80 Choice Scarf users such as Regidrago when hail is active. Be careful with Trace users such as Gardevoir that will take advantage of your own weather.