Iron Hands

Iron Hands @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Wild Charge
- Heavy Slam
- Fake Out

Overview

Iron Hands is one of the highest-usage VGC Pokémon every regulation. Assault Vest + base 68 SpD (boosted) makes it a special tank too. Quark Drive triggers Atk under Electric Terrain or Booster Energy — base 140 Atk + Quark Drive is one of the highest physical attack stats in the game. Tera Grass removes the Fairy and Ground weaknesses (becomes Fighting/Grass).

Move analysis

Drain Punch heals 50% of damage dealt — sustains Iron Hands through long matches. Wild Charge for Electric STAB and Tornadus/Pelipper KOs. Heavy Slam (HP-based damage) hits Fairies hard since Hands is heavy. Fake Out for free damage + flinch turn 1.

Team partners

Indeedee-F (Follow Me + Electric Terrain via Tapu Koko alternative), Iron Bundle (covers Hands' bad matchups), Amoonguss (Rage Powder for Fairy attacks), Tornadus (Tailwind).

What beats Iron Hands

Tornadus (Bleakwind Storm, immune to EQ via Flying), Iron Bundle (Freeze-Dry hits hard), Tera Fairy + Moonblast pivots, Levitate Misdreavus/Mismagius (immune to EQ, hits with Shadow Ball).

How to use the build

Open our damage calculator and plug in the EV spread above to see what Iron Hands OHKOs and 2HKOs against the current OU/VGC meta. Drop Iron Hands into the team builder to check defensive coverage gaps when paired with your other 5 slots.

Other Fighting/Electric options

If you want to run a different Fighting-type, browse our competitive builds hub. For more on Tera mechanics, see the damage calculator's Tera explainer and our guide on type matchups.