This doubles strategy makes use of Coalossal’s ability Steam Engine ability to give it a huge speed boost while also doubling its Special Attack through Weakness Policy, allowing Coalossal to OHKO most Pokemon with its great type coverage. It also sets up G-Max Volcalith to whittle down defensive opponents.
G-Max Coalossal’s Build
Coalossal makes up for its terrible speed with great special attack and good bulk. With a base stat of 110 HP, it is a great target to Dynamax since Dynamaxing doubles the Pokemon’s health. However, it has a 4x weakness to Water, meaning that hard hitting Water moves can still OHKO it.
Coalossal’s nature and EV distribution is left a bit up to choice. The most important stats for Coalossal are Special Attack, Speed, and HP. Focusing on Special Attack and Speed give Coalossal the best chance of being able to OHKO a Pokemon before it gets its turn. However, in situations where you won’t be able to OHKO or the opponent has priority moves, the extra bulk from HP will significantly increase how long Coalossal lives. HP is also a great choice if you expect that your opponent will be able to shut down your Water Enabler (see Counters).
You can also min/max a bit with the SpA and Spe values to just perfectly outspeed or OHKO the Pokemon you expect to be up against, allowing you to put more EVs into HP. Since it is tough to account for every possible scenario, especially with the prevalence of speed increases like Max Airstream, I suggest just maxing EVs in SpA and Spe, even if it ends up being a bit overkill.
The moves are chosen to maximize G-Max damage; Coalossal will not be very effective when not G-Maxed, but if you get three G-Max moves off with this build, you are likely doing well.
G-Max Coalossal
| Nature | Timid (+Spe, -Atk) Modest (+SpA, -Atk) |
| Ability | Steam Engine |
| Item | Weakness Policy |
| EVs | SpA: 252 Spe: 252 HP: 4 |
| Moves | Meteor Beam (G-Max Volcalith) Fire Blast (Max Flare) Solar Beam (Max Overgrowth) Earth Power (Max Quake) |
Water Enabler’s Build
To trigger Coalossal’s Steam Engine and Weakness policy at the same time, you will want to hit it with a water move. There are two good options for water moves to use on your Coalossal – Aqua Jet and Surf.
Aqua Jet
The best option to guarantee you outspeed your opponent is Aqua Jet, a +1 priority water move. Aqua Jet allows your Water Enabler to bypass speed concerns, opening up a more diverse set of builds, including bulky supports.
Where Aqua Jet will have issues when compared to Surf is against Follow Me and Rage Powder. These moves will redirect your Aqua Jet into the other Pokemon instead of Coalossal. See Counters for more on this.
A couple good options to consider for an Aqua Jet Water Enabler:
- Azumarill – 50 Atk, 100 HP, bulky, Light Screen, Grass absorb
- Clawitzer – 73 Atk, 120 SpA, solid Special Attacker
Azumarill
| Nature | Modest (+SpA, -Atk) |
| Ability | Sap Sipper |
| Item | Leftovers Wacan Berry Kebia Berry Sitrus Berry |
| IVs | Atk: 0 |
| EVs | HP: 252 SpA: 252 Def/SpD: 4 |
| Moves | Aqua Jet Light Screen Hydro Pump / Scald Hyper Voice / Ice Beam |
Clawitzer
| Nature | Modest (+SpA, -Atk) |
| Ability | Mega Launcher |
| Item | Life Orb |
| IVs | Atk: 0 |
| EVs | SpA: 252 Spe: 252 HP: 4 |
| Moves | Aqua Jet Scald / Water Pulse Ice Beam / Dragon Pulse Dark Pulse / Aura Sphere |
Surf
Another option instead of Aqua Jet is to bring Surf on a fast Pokemon. Similar to Aqua Jet, you will want this move to hit for very little. The benefit of Surf over Aqua Jet is Surf hits the entire field. This ignores one of the major counters to an Aqua Jet setup, Follow Me and Rage Powder. The AoE of Surf also hits opponents, removing their Focus Sashes before Coalossal gets its first hit.
The issue with Surf is that your snabler is more vulnerable to priority moves and fast Pokemon. Whimsicott’s Trickster priority Tailwind can make many Pokemon faster than your Water Enabler, potentially OHKOing it before it gets Surf off. See Counters for more on this.
Some Pokemon to consider as Surf Water Enablers:
- Weavile – 125 Speed, 45 Special Attack, non-STAB Water
- Dragapult – 142 Speed, 100 Special Attack, non-STAB Water
- Barraskewda – 136 Speed, 60 Special Attack
Weavile
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -SpA) |
| Ability | Pressure |
| Item | Focus Sash Life Orb |
| IVs | SpA: 0 |
| EVs | Atk: 252 Spe: 252 HP: 4 |
| Moves | Surf Icicle Crash Ice Shard Knock Off |
Dragapult
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -SpA) |
| Ability | Infiltrator Clear Body |
| Item | Focus Sash Life Orb Colbur Berry |
| IVs | SpA: 0 |
| EVs | Atk: 252 Spe: 252 HP: 4 |
| Moves | Surf Phantom Force Dragon Claw/Darts Sucker Punch |
Barraskewda
| Nature | Jolly (+Spe, -SpA) |
| Ability | Propeller Tail |
| Item | Focus Sash |
| IVs | SpA: 0 |
| EVs | Atk: 252 Spe: 252 HP: 4 |
| Moves | Surf Liquidation Close Combat Psychic Fangs |
Minimize Damage
Whether you pick Aqua Jet, Surf, or any other water move, you will want it to hit for as little as possible to avoid dealing unnecessary damage to your Coalossal. This means that you should have a 0 IV (“No Good”) in the associated damage stat (Attack for Aqua Jet and Special Attack for Surf). This will keep your Coalossal as healthy as possible and potentially allow it to take a few hits.
The Strategy: Attack Your Coalossal With Water
In an ideal opening turn (with no counters), G-Max your Coalossal and aim to OHKO any threats to Coalossal, like water types. If you don’t need to pick a specific move to guarantee a kill, try to set up G-Max Volcalith as soon as possible. Volcalith’s 1/6 health per turn to both opponents adds up quickly and counters any Focus Sash they may have.
With your Water Enabler. hit Coalossal with the water ability to trigger Steam Engine and Weakness Policy. Steam Engine will make Coalossal faster than most Pokemon, especially on turn one before they’ve had much of a chance to setup. Weakness Policy will give a +2 to Coalossal’s Special Attack, effectively doubling the amount of damage it deals.
G-Max Coalossal Counters
Focus Sash Water Attacker
A Focus Sashed Pokemon with a powerful water type move can OHKO Coalossal. Remember that Coalossal takes 4x damage from water. Coalossal can outspeed almost any Pokemon once Steam Engine is active and G-Max Volcalith will finish off any sashed Pokemon at the end of the turn. However, you won’t be able to stop a Pokemon with a Focus Sash from hitting Coalossal at least once.
To account for this, you can bring Fake Out on your Water Enabler and try to take out the sashed Pokemon without Weakness Policy. You might consider switching in a Pokemon that resists or absorbs water and bring Coalossal back once the threat is gone. The issue with Focus Sash is that you won’t know for sure if a Pokemon has one. Pokemon that are likely to have a Focus Sash are hard hitting but low health ‘glass cannons’ like Barraskewda.
Fake Out
Fake Out can stop you Water Enabler from activating Coalossal. This will not only stop Weakness Policy on Coalossal, but also block the activation of Steam Engine. Your opponent’s other Pokemon can potentially take Coalossal down before it gets to do anything.
The best way to deal with a Fake Out starter is to replace one of Coalossal’s moves with Protect. Use Protect on your first turn and do the combo on the second. Your opponent may go for you Water Enabler though, so a Protect, Fake Out, or a Focus Sash can help get them to the next turn. The issue here is that you’ll be losing one of your coverage moves on Coalossal, though having Max Guard against other threats is always nice.
Water Enabler Counters
Redirect – Aqua Jet Counter
Aqua Jet is a targeted ability. If your opponent uses Follow Me or any other redirect move, Aqua Jet will attack the new target instead of Coalossal. Redirect moves have a higher priority than Aqua Jet, so you won’t be able to go before it. If you don’t deal with a redirector, they will likely redirect the next turn as well.
This is very hard to deal with on an Aqua Jet setup. Barraskewda can learn Aqua Jet and has the ability Propeller Tail, which ignores redirects. However, Barraskewda hits very hard with Aqua Jet, even with a 0 IV, so be careful hitting your Coalossal with it. For other Pokemon, the best way to get around it is to take out the redirector on the first turn and hope that your opponents other Pokemon doesn’t hit too hard.
Fast Pokemon – Surf Counter
Surf is not a priority move. Your opponent can go before you and potentially OHKO your Water Enabler or Coalossal before you get a chance to activate Steam Engine.
A Focus Sash on your Water Enabler can keep them alive through at least one hit. Picking a high speed Surf Pokemon is important to not run into this counter too often.