We’ve all seen our fair share of Gholdengo, Dragonite, Flutter Mane, and the like in Regulation B and the previous format from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s VGC scene. With the current format coming to an end and Regulation C soon taking its place on April 1, let’s dive even deeper into meta choices with the four Treasures of Ruin coming into play.
But when the meta threats come a-knockin,’ you know the anti-meta picks are going to come out of the woods hungry for their time to shine in the spotlight.
This is why we have singled out seven of the best underappreciated Pokémon that you should be using in the upcoming Regulation C format in Scarlet and Violet to upset the meta and get those juicy wins that you deserve.
7 underrated Pokémon to use in Scarlet and Violet’s Regulation C VGC
Gyarados
Gyarados, in every competitive metagame throughout the years of Pokémon, has always found a way to sneak into the meta when its time was right, and it seems like Regulation C is the right time for this underappreciated beast.
Now that Chi-Yu has the spot reserved for Fire types on a lot of teams, adding Arcanine on such teams is not the most ideal since you don’t necessarily want to be stacking Pokémon of the same type. While adding Arcanine alongside a Chi-Yu for Intimidate support is completely fine, adding a Gyarados now instead of our beloved flaming doggo makes a lot more sense.
Related: Treasures of Ruin: How to use four of Scarlet and Violet’s strongest Pokémon
Not only does Gyarados also possess the Intimidate ability, it also has a great matchup into two of the Ruin Pokémon: Chi-Yu and Ting-Lu, being able to one-shot the former with Waterfall and two-shot the latter with the same. Gyarados can then run a Dragon Dance set and become a formidable offensive threat in addition to the Intimidate support it already provides.
You can also commit to a completely supportive set as it learns some very useful moves such as Icy Wind, Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Bulldoze, letting you have Speed control, disrupt the opponent, or even proc your own Weakness Policy.
Ceruledge
Now you might be wondering: what is a Ghost-type doing on a list of Pokémon you should use in a format that introduces four incredibly strong Dark-types? Well, unlike its counterpart, Armarouge, Ceruledge isn’t very intuitive to use, but once you bring out its potential, it can be a very rewarding ‘mon.
In Regulation B (commonly known as Series Two), people started catching on to the fact that Ceruledge is actually pretty great in the meta, so the same applies for Regulation C. If its the Dark moves you’re worried about, you should know that it’s only two of the Ruin Pokémon that consistently use their Dark-type moves: Chi-Yu and Chien-Pao. For them, you can simply Terrastalize defensively and take out the former with a Close Combat and the latter with a Bitter Blade.
You can also make quick work of Wo-Chien by using Bitter Blade while Ting-Lu is the only one you should be wary of going up against, even if you have Close Combat coverage. This Legendary is quite bulky and can hit you back with Ground coverage for solid damage.
Scizor
In the previous format, Scizor was mainly seen as a very niche pick, usually only seeing success on a couple of Rain teams here and there. You would think that with Flutter Mane having higher than 60 percent usage in Charlotte Regionals—the most recent tournament—that Scizor would be used a lot more. But this was unfortunately not the case for arguably the most popular Bug-type of all time.
With the four Treasures of Ruin all being part Dark-type, Flutter Mane is all the more popular, making Scizor a perfect pick as it can easily one-shot Flutter Mane with a single Bullet Punch.
With Scizor also getting access to STAB Bug moves such as Technician-boosted Pounce and X-Scissor, it also has the ability to hit three of the four Treasures for super-effective damage, while straight-up one-shotting Wo-Chien. Its Bullet Punch can also OHKO Chien-Pao, and since the move is priority, Scizor’s low Speed tier won’t even matter when taking out Chien-Pao before it gets a chance to move.
Like Regulation B, fitting Scizor onto a Rain team may just be your best bet to optimize its staying power while letting it deal with a large majority of the format’s threats with its threatening offense.
Slither Wing
It’s everyone’s favorite past Paradox Pokémon that players tried so hard to teambuild around, only to come to one unanimous conclusion: Slither Wing is simply not that good. But just like a lot of Gen-Z kids like to spout that they were “born in the wrong generation,” you too were perhaps using Slither Wing in the wrong format.
Regulation C might just be the right format for Slither Wing to thrive in, since its already got some top cut placements in a couple of recent grassroots tournaments, one of them being a win for this prehistoric Volcarona as well.
Its First Impression—with the right EV spread and item—can take out each of the Treasures in a single hit before they can even move. With Tera Fire, it can remove its weakness to Fairy and not be threatened by the omnipresent Flutter Mane anymore, while also removing its ability to get burned.
To take full advantage of its Fire Tera, it can either run Flame Charge for STAB Fire damage that also increases its Speed with each usage, or simply run Flare Blitz to overpower opponents. If built on the bulkier end, moves like Leech Life can keep Slither Wing healthy to continue to cause mayhem on the opponent’s side of the field. Close Combat can fill the final moveslot for that irreplaceable Fighting coverage, letting Slither Wing take out threats like Kingambit and Tyranitar in a single hit.
Iron Valiant
Players have tried really hard to make Iron Valiant work in the past, so much so that you almost felt sorry for them when they could barely make it to top cut in grassroots tournaments. But just like Slither Wing, this format could very easily let Iron Valiant show what it’s truly made of.
The combination of Fairy and Fighting coverage lets this futuristic amalgamation of Gallade and Gardevoir potentially one-shot each of the Treasures. Apart from its offense, Iron Valiant gets access to a plethora of support moves in Taunt, Trick Room, Icy Wind, Encore, Destiny Bond, Disable, Wide Guard, Thunder Wave, Quick Guard, and more to effectively disrupt opponents when not exerting offensive pressure.
The fact that Iron Valiant possesses amazing mixed offensive stats lets it very easily deal with Wo-Chiens and Ting-Lus that want to mitigate its damage output. If you run Moonblast and Close Combat on the same set, you can use the former to deal with Wo-Chien who reduces your Attack stat, and you can use the latter to deal with Ting-Lu who reduces your Special Attack stat.
Tsareena
Whenever priority moves become incredibly prevalent in a format, we have seen Tsareena do well in such a metagame. With Fake Out and other strong priority not having much of a chokehold on early Scarlet and Violet formats coupled with the fact that Tsareena got its move pool nerfed, this queenly Grass-type never really saw much play.
In Regulation C, however, with the projected rise of Scizor and the already-omnipresent Palafin throwing around priority moves everywhere, Tsareena could definitely be a nice soft-check to these ‘mons. There’s also the incredibly oppressive Dragonite-Chien-Pao archetype running around everywhere that loves to spam the incredibly strong Extreme Speed and Sucker Punch combination, another combo that Tsareena shuts down well.
And even though Tsareena has its move pool nerfed, it still has a good Attack stat coupled with solid moves such as Seed Bomb, Power Whip, High Jump Kick, Play Rough, and U-Turn along with decent supportive options in Taunt and Charm to slow down momentum on the opponent’s side of the field.
A Choice Scarf set could work well to more easily pivot Tsareena in and out of the field with U-Turn whenever its talents are needed, while an Assault Vest set could work to let it survive hits from various Special Attackers in the format easier.
Cetitan
After a brief moment in the first format of competitive VGC for Scarlet and Violet, Cetitan was completely forgotten soon after. Just like most of the Pokémon on this list though, Regulation C might just be this whale’s comeback story.
Ice Spinner can quickly wear down the likes of Ting-Lu and Wo-Chien and force the opponent to burn their Tera early, while Liquidation and Tera Water can easily one-shot Chi-Yu. Heavy Slam is a perfect coverage option to one-shot Chien-Pao and even Flutter Mane. Ice Shard is also a very useful tool to take care of ‘mons left at low health, while Stomping Tantrum and Earthquake can be neat choices if you really need the Ground coverage.
With the Thick Fat ability, Cetitan can easily tank Fire moves from the likes of Chi-Yu and also Freeze Dry from Iron Bundle after you’ve Terastallized Cetitan into a Water-type. Furthermore, with the Assault Vest item—which proves to be one of its best choices—you can further tank Special hits with frightening ease.
