Cobalion

Cobalion's flexibility and utility make it one of the best role compression options on bulky offense and balance teams. Its typing and ability Justified give it many openings against Pokemon such as Scizor, Zarude, non-Stun Spore Amoonguss, and Nihilego to reliably boost with Swords Dance or set Stealth Rock. This also helps Cobalion punish Choice-locked Zygarde-10% and Diggersby for using Outrage and Body Slam. Its quadruple resistance to Stealth Rock makes Cobalion incredibly difficult to wear down without other forms of residual damage, and its ability to exploit Pokemon such as the aforementioned Scizor and Zarude makes Cobalion an excellent user of Swords Dance. After a boost, coverage options like Stone Edge and Megahorn have limited switch-ins and can eliminate checks like Moltres, Gyarados, and Slowking, though the lack of perfect accuracy can make them somewhat unreliable. Cobalion also boasts some useful utility options such as Stealth Rock to chip down switch-ins, Toxic for crippling checks like Hippowdon and Salamence, and Volt Switch to gain momentum off checks like Galarian Slowbro. Cobalion's Speed tier also helps it offensively check dangerous Pokemon like Hydreigon, Nihilego, and Thundurus-T. However, its mediocre base 90 Attack means it's dependent on Swords Dance to be threatening, and teams with good Cobalion counterplay like Hippowdon and Galarian Slowbro can prevent it from setting up in front of desirable targets such as Scizor and Zarude. Non-Swords Dance Cobalion sets struggle to reliably break through Scizor and must be paired with other methods of checking it. Cobalion's Speed tier, while impressive, still leaves it vulnerable to common offensive Pokemon such as Azelf and Zygarde-10%. Cobalion's subpar Special Defense also means it can have trouble facing bulky Water-types like Rotom-W and Slowking and leaves Cobalion to take notable damage from even resisted special moves like Choice Scarf Hydreigon's Draco Meteor and Vanilluxe's Blizzard. Lastly, Cobalion's neutrality to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic hinders its role as a Steel-type against foes like Togekiss and Hatterene, which can strain teambuilding.