Iron Moth
The Disco Devil Fiery Dances into the Spotlight!
I am JagSamurott, the number 1 Iron Moth fan. I've grown to love Iron Moth ever since I began using it in regulation B, as it forces the user to be smart with their teambuilding and play to really gain an edge in battle. I think this Pokemon has incredible potential in this format, let’s explore why!
Pokémon Spotlight: Iron Moth
Screenshot from Smogon
Iron Moth is one of the several new paradox Pokemon coming into Scarlet and Violet, and a very powerful one at that! Hailing more Special Attack than even the coveted Flutter Mane, while bearing a rare typing of Fire and Poison. Quark Drive, as others of its kind, allows it to utilize the item Booster Energy to give a substantial increase to either its Special Attack or Speed. This item is by far the most common item for it, and for good reason, as it loves getting those boosts while also being able to protect and not taking Life Orb recoil.
Being such a strong fire type, it has some incredible matchups into pokemon like Amoonguss, Gholdengo, and Rillaboom to name a few. Iron Moth has the ability to OHKO all of them with Booster Energy. Not even Water Types are reliable into it, as it has an excellent Tera option of Tera Grass with Energy Ball to OHKO nearly any Urshifu or even Ursaluna in the format.
Defensively, its Special Defense and typing allows it to be quad resistant to Fairy. The only other relevant pokemon with this feat is Heatran, allowing some shockingly good defensive capabilities from this Pokemon into such threats like Flutter Mane.
A very potent move that it has access to is Fiery Dance, which has a 50% chance to raise its special attack by one, while also being 80 Base Power. When this move has its secondary effect activate, it can allow Iron Moth to solo entire teams on its own, but even if it doesn’t you still have a solid powered move as an option, even if there are more consistent, higher damage options like Flamethrower
However, some of its weaknesses come in due to its typing and low physical defense. With Urshifu-Water everywhere, you are heavily threatened by its insane Water Type Damage. Considering the bear’s teams usually have a lot of mons that hit Grass Types for super effective damage - Chien-pao and Tornadus to name a few - it can be tricky to consistently commit the Tera to it in that matchup.
To add to that, it doesn’t love the priority spam of Chien-Pao teams. Be it a Dragonite or even the snow leopard’s own Sucker Punch, it can prove problematic with its low defense and immunity to Extreme Speed that Flutter Mane gets away with.
Ultimately, this type combination can lead to tricky situations, where you are at a major threat to being OHKO’d yourself due heavy hitters in this format. Heatran is a big one as it loves to tech Earth Power, and it is incredibly hard for Moth to hit it thanks to Flash Fire. However, since its Special Defense is so high, it can actually live these hits with help of something like Light Screen so it still has some survivability even against Special Attacks
History of Iron Moth in Competitive Play:
It has had some big showings in prior tournaments, especially in regulation C where it first had some great wins in grassroots:
Then got top 8 in the Sao Paulo regional:
And culminating in a top 8 at NAIC!
These showings were of both of the common Iron Moths, utilizing the booster Special Attack in the Ting Lu Variants, while the one that Justin used in NAIC was booster speed. It goes to show that this Pokemon has a lot going for it, despite being so underused.
Modern-Day Uses in VGC:
Now for its big blast in Regulation D, let’s see just where it is going, has to be everywhere, right?
Reg. D Usage
Unfortunately, Iron Moth is not nearly the meta-shaping threat it could be, and that is due to the clunkiness it carries in team building combined with the competition it has for its own slot.
To address the elephant in the room, Iron Moth’s moveset when it comes to poison type moves is… Limited. It is Acid Spray, and Sludge Wave. Both of these are incredibly effective but team specific moves, where acid spray wants to be with a plethora of special attackers, and Sludge Wave with Pokemon who don’t mind being hit with the move. This requires Iron Moth to be at the focus of a lot of Teambuilding in comparison to the slappable Flutter Mane.
With that paradox pokemon, no other fairy type can compete with what it does. Teams, even with its dominance, have 3-5 Pokemon on it that are weak to Ghost or Fairy due to the sheer coverage that Flutter carries. Using it adds so much to a team, and with it being so similar to Iron Moth apart from the type, it's hard to warrant the moth for most players.
Especially when, unlike Flutter and Fairy, there are a LOT of other Fire Types to choose from. Chi-yu, Heatran, and even Arcanine slot into teams a lot easier than a Pokemon that needs partners specifically benefitting from what it is doing.
This, compared with a few new faces in this format, have kept down the Moth from seeing the play it deserves. Yet, when put at the focal point of team building, there is nothing to scoff at here! It still has the power to dominate the competition!
This was accomplished using Iron Moth
Example Sets:
Set 1: The Sludge Wave Surfer
Move 1: Fiery Dance/Flamethrower/ Heat Wave
Move 2: Sludge Wave
Move 3: Protect
Move 4: Energy Ball
Item: Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Timid
Tera Type: Grass
EV Spread: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Speed
This is my go-to Iron Moth, one that hits hard and fast. No need for bulk when you can just OHKO so many things, even in a spread attack like Sludge Wave. This underrated move can clean sweep through games, but requires your partner to take the hit too. Building your team around this caveat can be tricky, but extremely powerful as this spread move’ll chunk anything that gets hit by it.
The added power also really turns this Pokemon’s damage, being able to reliably OHKO nearly any Amoonguss with a simple Flamethrower, or can simply just Grass Tera to ignore it. You’ll be nabbing a ton of KOs with this Pokemon and its Booster Energy!
Set 2: Say it AND Spray it
Move 1: Fiery Dance/Flamethrower/ Heat Wave
Move 2: Acid Spray
Move 3: Protect
Move 4: Energy Ball
Item: Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Nature: Timid
Tera Type: Grass
EV Spread: 4 HP, 116 Def, 132 SpA, 4 Spdef, 252 Speed
I will admit, the sets for Iron Moth are not very diverse. Just your Fire move, your Grass move, Protect, and pick your poison… Literally. However, the big difference here is that the bulk transitions this Moth from boosting SpA, to boosting Speed off Booster Energy. This gives it a ton of utility with acid spray, allowing for Pokemon like Gholdengo to hit anything for double damage or being able outspeed and Tera Grass to OHKO all Urshifu-Waters holding a choice scarf.
The bulk also adds a lot when combined with Reflect, allowing you to shockingly survive a Tera Normal Extreme Speed off Dragonite with Chien Pao on the field. With a calc like that, this Pokemon can stick around longer to spread Acid Sprays for itself and its Special Attacking Allies.
Click on this to check out this insane calc!
Example Teams:
Team 1: Big Boosted Boy
Pokémon 1: Iron Moth
Pokémon 2: Grimmsnarl
Pokémon 3: Goodra-Hisui
Pokémon 4: Annihilape
Pokémon 5: Cresselia
Pokémon 6: Ting-Lu
This is a sort of evolution of the teams I brought up in this Pokemon’s history, where it was able to utilize screens and bulky pokemon who do not mind being sludge waved, or in some cases are totally immune. Grimmsnarl is here as it helps round out the bulk of the team, but also unlocks one of the most powerful tools for Iron Moth: Scary Face.
Being as strong as it is, being able to effectively negate a tailwind on a naturally slower Urshifu is an incredible tool, and is even something to utilize inside of Trick Room on your own Pokemon. Goodra-Hisui is the classic Body Press set, and alongside Iron Moth taking a lot of attention on the field with Sludge Waves, it allows Goodra the time it needs to set up with its Acid Armors/Shelters.
Annihilape may seem weird without Maushold, but it can snowball games behind screens like NO other. Not to mention, Iron Moth can Sludge Wave it for not too much damage and give the Annihilape the most important first proc of Rage Fist to step on the gas. Cresselia rounds out the team with speed control and healing, and Ting-Lu is such an incredible wall to Special Attackers that this team may not love, like Heatran, Flutter+Chi-Yu lead, etc.
Team 2: Speed Demon
Pokémon 1: Iron Moth
Pokémon 2: Gholdengo
Pokémon 3: Flutter Mane
Pokémon 4: Grimmsnarl
Pokémon 5: Urshifu-Water
Pokémon 6: Rillaboom
While some faces may be similar, the way they come together is very different than before. Now that Iron Moth is Booster Speed with Acid Spray, it becomes much more synergistic with the other special attackers on the team, and with Scary Face Grimm you have access to speed control even still. You could even forgo Screens and become a disruptor Grimmsnarl with Fake Tears! Rillaboom and Urshifu round out the team’s damage on the physical side, allowing for this aggressive team to break through any bulky team.
Conclusion:
While I do think Iron Moth has strict competition for the role it brings to a team, and requires stricter team building around itself, there is a reason I have stuck with it for this long. It’s an awesome robot that plays in such a unique way that I just can’t get enough of. Even in a world of Urshifu’s Surging Strikes, Iron Moth can’t be stopped!
Disclaimer: The opinions/stories expressed in the blog post are those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of the platform or its affiliates.
Author Bio:
Hey, I am JagSamurott, a big fan of using lesser-used Pokemon to their strongest! I’ve been playing since 2015 and have always pushed weird teams and Pokemon to their limit. Some hits include playing swamp pledge all of 2017, Araquanid in 2019 Ultra Series, and Umbreon all of Gen 8. Recently, as the article suggests, having a grand time with Iron Moth and all of the fun partners it can play with! Utilizing niche favorites of mine has been something I love so much about Pokemon, and something I strive for - while winning - best I can!
Find this article helpful and want to go in-depth on a given Pokemon? I am open to coaching!
https://metafy.gg/@jagsamurott/sessions