Iron Thorns weaknesses and best counters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Generation VII in the mainline Pokémon video game series introduced the concept of Ultra Beasts, who weren’t outright called Legendary Pokémon, but were basically in the class of sub-Legendary Pokémon.

With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Gen IX came up with basically the same concept in Paradox Pokémon, who are these super-strong groups of ‘mons that aren’t straight-up categorized as Legendaries, but they might as well be based on their base stat totals, overall power level, and lore.

One of the cooler-looking Paradox Pokémon from the bunch, Iron Thorns, is said to be the future Paradox form of our very own beloved pseudo-Legendary, Tyranitar.

Now, Tyranitar is no pushover, and is also a staple pick in the current competitive metagame of Gen IX VGC, so you can best bet that Iron Thorns takes no prisoners as well. So, there’s got to be a fool-proof way to beat this son of a gun, right?

That’s where we come in. Continue reading our guide on everything Iron Thorns, including the best ways you can take this mecha Godzilla out of business.

All Iron Thorns type weaknesses, resistances, and counters in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

The one thing that held Tyranitar back was its dual-typing that gave it a four-times weakness to Fighting, and its future Paradox form in question—Iron Thorns—also ended up getting a four-times weakness, to an even more common offensive type—Ground.

It even lost a very useful immunity to Psychic-type moves. The one upside about Iron Thorns’ typing is that it lost two weaknesses that Tyranitar had in Bug and Fairy.

Below, we’ve listed Iron Thorns’ entire interaction with the type chart, stating its weaknesses, resistances, and types its neutral to.

Iron Thorns weaknesses (takes double damage)

• Fighting
• Ground
• Water
• Grass

Iron Thorns resistances (takes half damage)

• Normal
• Flying
• Poison
• Electric
• Fire

Iron Thorns neutral typings (takes normal damage)

• Rock
• Bug
• Ghost
• Steel
• Psychic
• Ice
• Dragon
• Dark
• Fairy

Iron Thorns does have a few nifty resistances, but nothing to write home about. Losing its Psychic immunity also does not help it in a competitive VGC metagame where Psychic moves are prevalent due to Armarouge and Indeedee.

Furthermore, Iron Thorns’ four-times weakness to Ground makes it so that any decently strong Ground move hitting it on either its Physical or Special side should be able to cleanly take it out in a single hit.

Iron Thorns actually loses out on 30 whole stat points for a stat total of 570 compared to Tyranitar. But surely, that doesn’t make too much of a difference, right? After all, their stat spreads are both laid out so similarly.

While that may be the case, one crucial characteristic that Iron Thorns’ is very unfortunately lacking is the ability to set up the Sandstorm weather condition through the ability Sandstream, which Tyranitar had. This made it so that Tyranitar received a free 1.5 times boost in its Special Defense courtesy of being a Rock-type.

This made Tyranitar even bulkier than it appeared to be on the surface, and Iron Thorns definitely feels like the inferior version of its ancestor now that it doesn’t get this bulk increase on switch-in.

Below is a complete base stat spread for Iron Thorns, including maximum and minimum stat values at Level 50 and 100 for competitive players. These stat variables are calculated using zero EVs, IVs, and a hindering nature for minimum stats and 252 EVs, 31 IVs, and a helpful nature for max values, while not taking any additional factors into account. 

• HP: 100
  • Level 50: 160 to 207 HP
  • Level 100: 310 to 404 HP

• Attack: 134
  • Level 50: 125 to 204 Atk
  • Level 100: 245 to 403 Atk

• Defense: 110
  • Level 50: 103 to 178 Def
  • Level 100: 202 to 350 Def

• Special Attack: 70
  • Level 50: 67 to 134 Sp. Atk
  • Level 100: 130 to 262 Sp. Atk

• Special Defense: 84
  • Level 50: 80 to 149 Sp. Def
  • Level 100: 155 to 293 Sp. Def

• Speed: 72
  • Level 50: 69 to 136 Speed
  • Level 100: 134 to 267 Speed

On paper, anybody will take a look at this stat spread and conclude that Iron Thorns is a phenomenal Pokémon. It’s got the bulk, it’s got the threatening offense, and it’s got, well, an awkward Speed tier, but one that can work on both Tailwind and Trick Room teams, making it flexible too. But that would be a rather shallow analysis of this Paradox Pokémon.

It’s bad dual typing, along with its inability to set up the Sandstorm weather condition on switch-in, makes this big guy food for a lot of Pokémon, especially ones that can fire off Ground-type moves. 

We did the calc, and, a Glimmora firing off a non-STAB (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) Earth Power with no Special Attack investment whatsoever will still get a clean one-hit KO on Iron Thorns. Ouch.

Related: Iron Jugulis weaknesses and best counters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Best Iron Thorns competitive builds in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Iron Thorns’ dual typing offensively isn’t too impressive. Both of these types hit a few of the same types super-effectively, which isn’t ideal, as you’d usually want one type to cover the other’s weak points.

That being said, this Paradox ‘mon does get decent coverage to hit some of the types it’s threatened by for super-effective damage.

Below are a few of the common builds you will see run on Iron Thorns.

Item

Life Orb/Choice Band/Focus Sash/Booster Energy/Assault Vest/Shuca Berry.

Ability

Like all future Paradox Pokémon, Iron Thorns has only one Ability: Quark Drive.

EVs

A decent option for Iron Thorns would be a simple 252/252/4 spread in HP/Attack/Special Defense. This lets Iron Thorns outspeed its opponents under Trick Room which one of its partners should be running to let mecha Godzilla take advantage of its naturally slow speed and outspeed its opponents under Trick Room.

Iron Thorns can conversely opt to run a slightly faster spread with enough EVs put into Speed to outspeed most of the metagame under Tailwind while maxing out its Attack and dumping the rest into bulk.

Nature

Brave and Adamant are the two most common natures you will find Iron Thorns running. Brave Nature boosts its Attack stat while lowering its Speed, making it an even better candidate for the Trick Room EV spread suggested above, while Adamant nature makes it viable to on a Tailwind team.

Iron Thorns’ best moves

Listed below are some of Iron Thorns’ best moves, which you can mix and match to add to its four move slots based on the role you want your Iron Bundle to play:

• Stone Edge
• Rock Slide
• Wild Charge
• Thunder Punch
• Volt Switch
• Earthquake
• Stomping Tantrum
• Fire Punch
• Ice Punch
• Iron Head
• Low Kick
• Tera Blast
• Dragon Dance
• Swords Dance
• Taunt
• Protect

Tera Type

Iron Thorns benefits greatly from either Tera Flying or Tera Grass. Tera Flying makes it so that Iron Thorns get an immunity to its otherwise four-times weakness—Ground—while also now resisting its Grass and Fighting weakness, and hitting them back with a super-effective Flying Tera Blast.

Tera Grass similarly lets Iron Thorns easily tank Grass and Ground-type moves, while also now resisting Water-type moves. Grass Tera Blast also hits Water-types, but this was already possible through its STAB Electric moves, so the only reason you’d run Tera Grass over Tera Flying would be to block Spore and Rage Powder from ‘mons like Amoonguss.

Best Pokémon to counter Iron Thorns in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

As we’ve illustrated earlier with the Glimmora example, any Pokémon with access to a Ground-type move should be able to make quick work of Iron Thorns. If said Ground-type move hits on the Special side, even better, since Iron Thorns sports a lower Special Defense stat than its Physical Defense.

So at the very least, you’ll need a Pokémon faster than Iron Thorns—which shouldn’t be a hard find—that gets access to a Ground-type move to take it out in a single hit before it has the chance to move. A few examples of Pokémon that fit this role are Iron Jugulis, Hydreigon, Sandy Shocks, Glimmora, Salamence, Haxorus, Roaring Moon, and Baxcalibur.

A more complete counter would be Pokémon that can resist Iron Thorns’ dual STAB moves and fire back with a super-effective Ground move to finish it off. Ground-type Pokémon fit this role perfectly, but being quicker than Iron Thorns is also an important factor since this future Paradox Pokémon does have access to Ice moves that can hit Ground-type counters for super-effective damage.

A few Pokémon that fit this role are Iron Treads, Garchomp, Sandy Shocks, Toedscruel, Krookodile, and Great Tusk.

Furthermore, strong attackers with STAB Grass, Fighting, or Water-type moves can also make quick work of Iron Thorns if they can outspeed it, even if they can’t deal four-times super effective hits. A few key Pokémon that come to mind are Meowscarada, Rotom-Mow, Iron Valiant, Paldean Tauros, Annihilape, Quaquaval, Slither Wing, Gallade, Medicham, Barraskewda, Iron Bundle, Palafin, and Rotom-Wash.