What is a good moveset for Lycanroc?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Lycanroc, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for its pre-evolutions, if any, can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Lycanroc Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Gen 8 ZU

Lycanroc-Midnight @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch

The sample set on Smogon. Swords Dance allows you to become a wallbreaker after a +2 boost. Stone Edge is powerful rock STAB and doesn't miss thanks to No Guard. Close Combat provides coverage against steel types like Alolan Sandslash and Klinklang. Sucker Punch is used for revenge killing weakened Pokemon that are faster than you.

Comments

I'm pretty sure that posting Smogon sets isn't allowed.

---

Actually they are. You can't just copy paste their analyses, though.

---

Oh? I didn't know that you can post exact carbon copies of Smogon's set...

Answer 2

Lycanroc-Midnight @ Lycanium Z
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Fang
- Zen Headbutt
- Stone Edge

Fire Punch are coverage for those grass, steel Venausaur, Decidueye, Metagross, etc. Thunder Fang is coverage to those of water types like Milotic, Zen Headbutt is also coverage to fighting types, stone edge is stab. So mostly a lot of coverage tho but I'm not sure if I had all the coverage mostly yes.

Comments

well is this a good moveset

Answer 3

Suicide Anti-Lead

Lycanroc-Midnight @ Lycanium Z / Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Counter
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

- Taunt is used to deny the other Pokemon of using status moves on your team while setting up your Stealth Rock while all they can do is struggle literally.
- Counter to use the Pokemon's moves against them (if the move is physical) but with double the damage to instantly take care of them if they are in your way and you are guaranteed to survive if your running focus sash.
- Stone Edge good STAB and never misses thanks to no guard and can become Splintered Stormshards with the Lycanium Z and do big damage to take out a threat before you die.
- Stealth Rock is the MAIN move you are trying to use before you die that way you can soften up the opposing team and make them easier to handle.

Answer 4

Gen 8

Lycanroc @ Choice Band / Focus Sash / Lum Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Play Rough / Zen Headbutt
- Thunder Punch/Fire Punch/Crunch / Stealth Rock / Outrage / Iron Head
- Bulk Up / Stealth Rock/Swords Dance

I love Lycanroc Midnight form because I used it in my first ever champion team (which SUCKED), so I wanted to make a decent set now that I understand more about Pokémon. Focus Sash is so he doesn't get OHKO'd, and can at least set up stealth rock before he dies (If that's what you choose to run). Play Rough/Zen Headbutt covers Fighting types. Thunder Punch covers water. Fire Punch covers Grass and Steel types.. You can run Crunch for Psychic coverage if you need it. Outrage kills Dragons (This set could kill Dragonite, Salamence, etc...) The Lum Berry is only useful if you run Outrage, to heal confusion. Bulk Up raises Atk. and Def. at once, which helps him stick around and hit harder. If you only want higher Atk, do Swords Dance. Hope I helped you Midnight Form fans!

Answer 5

Annoying Fast Sweeper For 2's

Lycanroc (M) @ Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Double Team
- Swords Dance

Playing with this moveset is risky, but can be reasonably safe and very broken with a mon that knows follow me. Start of by spamming double team and on a different mon spam follow me. Baring in mind that the support mon has to be extremally bulky. After maximizing your evasiveness, you can attack and probably not be hit. If your really greedy, keep on doing follow me and instead of DT, use swords dance until max attack and then sweep. Also, with life orb and the ability tough claws, stone edge and close combat do even more. You can run leftovers if you worried, but for more power definitely go for the life orb, and also make your support mon have a good healing move for your lycanroc so it doesn't die quickly when sweeping.

Comments

Double Team isn't legal in most formats

Answer 6

Lycanroc-Midday @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Keen Eye
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Accelerock
- Stone Edge
- Fire Fang
- Play Rough

Accelerock is for the obvious priority move. Stone edge is for stab and Z move activation. Fire fang is coverage on most of lycanroc's weaknesses such as Steel and Grass. Play rough gives extra coverage against fighting types and is neutral to both ground and water types, thus allowing lycanroc to tear through teams.

Alternate items you can run on this particular set is focus sash, life orb, or leftovers.

Comments

Is this NatDex? Also, you’re missing 4 EVs.

Answer 7

This set is for Lycanroc-Dusk or Midday. Preferably Dusk, but if you're playing Gen 9 RU, then you'd be using Lycanroc-Midday.

Lycanroc-Dusk @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tough Claws / Steadfast
Tera Type: Rock / Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Play Rough

Jolly is preferred over Adamant to maximize Speed, ensuring to outspeed common threats like Krookodile. Swords Dance amplifies your Attack stat to great levels, making Accelerock much stronger. Close Combat is coverage against Weavile, Krookodile, and the occasional Wo-Chien. Play Rough is coverage against Fighting types like Pawmot and other Dark types. Tera Rock boosts Accelerock even more, while Tera Fighting gives you a somewhat good typing, also boosting Close Combat. Tough Claws is Lycanroc-Dusk's only Ability, and Steadfast helps against Fake Out users.

Answer 8

Gen 9 NU Sand Sweeper

Lycanroc @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance / Accelerock
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Crunch

A Sand Sweeper set that should be used on Sand Teams in Gen 9 NU. Swords Dance boosting Lycanroc's Attack can make it a scary sweeper once its checks are weakened/eliminated. Accelerock can be used instead if you prefer to have a priority move that can be used outside of Sand and if you prefer to have an AoA (All-out-Attacker) set. Stone Edge is Lycanroc's powerful Rock STAB. Close Combat lets Lycanroc smack Steel-types such as Copperajah, Magneton, and Orthworm. Crunch targets Pokemon such as Palossand and Bronzong if Lycanroc hasn't used its Tera or something else used their Tera. Crunch is also useful against Pokemon who use Tera Ghost. Tera Fighting is used to make Close Combat a STAB move, giving Lycanroc a STAB move that doesn't have a chance to miss unlike Stone Edge. Tera Fighting Close Combat has a chance to OHKO Physically Defensive Sandaconda, which is pretty neat.

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Fighting Lycanroc Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 176+ Def Sandaconda: 333-394 (95.6 - 113.2%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

Answer 9

Gen 9 NU Swords Dance

FIZZ!!! (Lycanroc-Dusk) @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Crunch

Since Lycanroc-Dusk is in NU, here is the Swords Dance set it used (or uses) in RU and is now using in NU. Lycanroc-Dusk is a very scary Pokemon to face in NU, being hard to switch into once it uses Swords Dance to boost its attack stat. Accelerock is the STAB move since it provides a priority move that gets boosted by Tough Claws, which is useful to eliminate faster Pokemon to limit offensive counterplay to Lycanroc-Dusk. Close Combat is nice coverage alongside Accelerock, as not a lot of Pokemon can resist both Rock and Fighting moves. Close Combat also gets boosted by Tough Claws, making it more powerful. Tough Claws Close Combat kind of sort of has some calcs against defensive Pokemon that feel... illegal. Crunch is honestly a filler move since Accelerock and Close Combat is basically the attacking moves Lycanrock-Dusk needs. Crunch does allow Lycanrock-Dusk to hit Pokemon such as Brambleghast, Mew, Necrozma, Basculegion, and Slowbro super effectively. Life Orb is used to give Lycanroc-Dusk's attacks some more powerful. Tera Fighting is used to make Close Combat a STAB move. Fun fact, if you Tera Fighting, +2 Close Combat sends Mudsdale down to the Earth's core (in simpler terms, +2 Close Combat OHKOs Mudsdale).

Answer 10

Gen 9 NU Swords Dance Tera Dark

Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Sucker Punch

A Tera Dark Swords Dance set Lycanroc-Dusk can use on Hyper Offense teams. This set doesn't have a STAB move since Tough Claws Close Combat is essentially a 156 BP move, making it stronger than STAB Stone Edge, and this set has Tera so Lycanroc-Dusk can have Dark STABs.

Swords Dance is used to boost Lycanroc-Dusk's attack to make it a scary sweeper. Since Lycanroc-Dusk is rather frail, you'll want to use opportunities such as the opponent switching out or against a move that won't do a lot of damage to Lycanroc-Dusk. Close Combat is a powerful move that hits Steel-, Rock-, and Dark-types such as Magnezone, Krookodile, Brute Bonnet, Incineroar, Umbreon, Copperajah, Registeel, Rhyperior, and Iron Thorns super effectively. Crunch is nice to hit most Pokemon that resist or are immune to Close Combat such as Slowbro, Vileplume, Talonflame, Mew, Basculegion, and Chandelure. Usually Accelerock is the priority move Lycanroc-Dusk uses. This one uses Sucker Punch instead, as unlike Accelerock, +2 Sucker Punch can actually deal with Choice Scarf Pokemon such as Flygon and Mienshao a lot better than Accelerock does, especially with Tera Dark. Tera Dark allows Lycanroc-Dusk to have STAB on Sucker Punch and Crunch, which is useful against the mentioned Choice Scarf since Tera Dark secures a +2 Sucker Punch OHKOing Flygon as well as having a highly favorable OHKO chance against Mienshao.

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Tera Dark Lycanroc-Dusk Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Flygon: 430-508 (142.8 - 168.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Tera Dark Lycanroc-Dusk Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mienshao: 270-320 (99.6 - 118%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

Since this set only has Fighting/Dark coverage, Fairy-types and Pokemon who Tera Fairy pose an issue for Lycanroc-Dusk, but this isn't too problematic. Diancie and Klefki get packed up by a +2 Close Combat, and the other viable Fairy-types, Sylveon and Florges, take decent chip from Close Combat and Crunch.

Answer 11

Lycanroc @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def /252 Spe
- Accelerock
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- Stone Edge

Most Rock type moves are physical attacks, so it's best to have Swords Dance on your Lycanroc to double the power. With Focus Sash, you have more time to prepare with Swords Dance without KOing, then slam your opponent with a Stone Edge / Rock Slide / Accelerock!

Comments

Why do you have 3 same type STAB instead of coverage?

Answer 12

Lycanroc @ Focus Sash
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Brave Nature
- Thunder Fang / Fire Fang / Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Accelerock

Accelerock provides a hard-hitting, priority STAB move that perfectly fits a Lycanroc's fighting style. The EVs in Defense and Speed are there to help it take at least one physical hit to set up Stealth Rock or get rid of a pesky opponent with Roar. The Focus Sash helps prevent OHKO's from strong super-effective spacial and in some cases, physical moves. Thunder Fang / Fire Fang is there for coverage on Flying, Water, Steel or Grass types. Unfortunately, Lycanroc get few moves if any to hit pure-fighting type Pokemon. Since Fighting types are usually physical, its defense EVs come into play. However, there are Pokemon like Lucario who hit with Focus Blast or Aura Sphere. With this set, I advise you stay away from Lucario's and the like (also Alakazam [why I have Crunch]).

Comments

1.) Rockruff & Lycanroc don't get Ice Fang. 2.) Modest lowers Attack and raises Sp. Attack, not the opposite. The Nature that does what you listed is Adamant. 3.) You're missing 4 EVs. 4.) Only Lycanroc Midday can have Accelerock and only Midnight can have Vital Spirit. You can't have one and the other on the same Pokemon. 5.) Maxing out the Defense EVs when using a Focus Sash doesn't make sense. 6.) Suggesting a Nature that lowers Speed while maxing out Speed EVs makes no sense either.

---

All correct statements, the fixed version would be:

Lycanroc-Midnight @ Focus Sash
Ability: Vital Spirit (No Guard is better but this person opted for Vital Spirit)
Evs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant / Jolly

Stealth Rock
Thunder Fang
Roar
Stone Edge

This set still isn't good, but its better this way.
Things that should still be fixed:
Ability: Use No Guard or Keen Eye
Item: Midnight Lycanroc is the bulkiest of the Lycanrocs, so putting a sash on it isn't a great choice, but I guess it could still work.
Moveset:
Roar isnt really that good, but i guess you could use it.