Zarude, The Rogue Monkey Pokémon. Within dense forests, this Pokémon lives in a pack with others of its kind. It's incredibly aggressive, and the other Pokémon of the forest fear it. Once the vines on Zarude's body tear off, they become nutrients in the soil. This helps the plants of the forest grow.

Overview

Zarude is one of the new mythicals introduced on this generation and thanks to its good stat distribution, coverage and dual STAB combination, Zarude does well on checking mayor threats such as Spectrier, Slowbro and Rotom-Wash. Zarude's signature move, Jungle Healing, restores 1/4 of its health while healing it from any status condition making it a decent pivot capable of switching into Scalds without fear of being hinderd for the rest of the match. Zarude's speed tier and great attack stat also allows it to deal decent damage to any Pokémon vulnerable to it. While Zarude's defensive typing does grant him plenty of resistances to take advantage of, it also grants it plenty of weaknesses which holds him back from being successful on the current format. It's nasty x4 weakness to Bug also heavily hinders it since it becomes weak to a common pivoting move such as U-turn./> Positives
It's great base 105 speed allows it to outspeed crucial threats such as Mew, Urshifu and Jirachi.
A base 120 Attack along with strong STABS like Power Whip and some great coverage options such as Stomping Tantrum or Close Combat allows it to hit hard. It can also use Bulk Up to set up and threaten the opponent's team on the long run.
It's Grass/Dark typing gives it good resistances to common attacking types such as Ground, Electric, Grass, Ghost, Dark and Water.
Its Jungle Healing move is quite fun and useful to use, especially in Double Battles & Raids!
Negatives
A nasty x4 weakness to Bug makes it incredibly easy to pressure Zarude and lose momentum since U-turn users can easily force it out.
While its typing gives it a good amount of resistances, it also gives him plenty of weaknesses to Fire, Fairy, Flying, Poison, Ice and Fighting. This makes it really difficult for Zarude to find good switch-in opportunities.

Movesets

ZARUDE WITHOUT SANDSTORM

- Bulk Up
- Jungle Healing
- Power Whip
- Darkest Lariat
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Zarude can become a decent wallbreaker once its checks and counters are weakened. Bulk Up allows it to increase its physical Attack while gaining bulk and does combine very well with Jungle Healing's recovery. Thanks to its signature move, Zarude can easily recover from status ailments such as poison or burn that would otherwise end its sweep early while recovering a 25% of its HP. Power Whip is Zarude's strongest STAB and it will demolish anything weak to it. Darkest Lariat is the best secondary STAB to use since it allows Zarude to ignore the opponent's stat changes.

Max Attack and Speed are the best stats to invest allowing Zarude to be as fast as possible while being able to hit hard. A Jolly nature is used allowing Zarude to be faster than base positive 100 Speed Pokémon. Leftovers allow Zarude to gain as much recovery as possible considering that Jungle Healing only recovers a 25%.

Partners
Zarude appreciates partners that can take attacks from its various weaknesses. Tapu Fini complements Zarude well since it can support it with Misty Terrain and defeat Fighting and Fire type Pokémon that threaten it, despite sharing a Poison weakness. It goes without saying that Landorus-Therian is also the best partner available for Zarude thanks to its Bug resistance and ability to threaten Fire types with Earthquake. Magearna is also an excellent partner for Zarude protecting it from Flying, Poison, Ice and Fairy attacks while Zarude deals with the Ground types that trouble it.

MONKEY

- U-turn
- Power Whip
- Darkest Lariat
- Close Combat / Stomping Tantrum
Item Attached: Choice Scarf
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Zarude can also become a decent revenge killer capable of surprising some opponents while regaining momentum in your favor. U-turn becomes the most important move allowing Zarude to regain momentum from unfavorable match-ups. Power Whip is Zarude's strongest STAB to ravage Water and Ground types that can switch into. Darkest Lariat is the recommended secondary STAB to allow Zarude ignore the opponent's boosts. Close Combat is the recommended coverage move allowing Zarude to significantly hurt Ferrothorn while being able to hit Heatran for super-effective damage. Stomping Tantrum is also another option in case you prefer to hit Toxapex and Heatran for higher damage at the cost of dealing less to Ferrothorn.

Max Attack and Speed allows Zarude to hit as hard as possible and outspeed opponents like Mew, Jirachi, Charizard and Volcarona.

Partners
Zarude appreciates partners that can take attacks from its various weaknesses. Tapu Fini complements Zarude well since it can support it with Misty Terrain and defeat Fighting and Fire type Pokémon that threaten it, despite sharing a Poison weakness. It goes without saying that Landorus-Therian is also the best partner available for Zarude thanks to its Bug resistance and ability to threaten Fire types with Earthquake. Magearna is also an excellent partner for Zarude protecting it from Flying, Poison, Ice and Fairy attacks while Zarude deals with the Ground types that trouble it.

Other Options & Team Ideas

Zarude can also use Rock Tomb to avoid being used as set up fodder by Pokémon like Volcarona and Tornadus. However, considering that its Dark STAB has a higher neutral coverage, it becomes difficult to justify above other options.
If you feel that Jungle Healing's recovery is too low, Synthesis is also an option allowing Zarude to recover more health. However, Jungle Healing's niche relies on being able to heal status conditions. Make sure you plan accordingly for this.
A Choice Band is also an option for Zarude to use and hit its checks even harder. Despite its good speed tier, take into account Zarude will be outsped by bigger threats like Dragapult and Cinderace.

Countering Zarude

Fire types like Cinderace and Heatran will force out Zarude pretty easily and burn it to a crisp. Flying types like Zapdos, Tornadus and Corviknight can also deal pretty well with Zarude thanks to their resistance to Grass and decent bulk to take its Dark type STAB.

Common U-turn users will easily pressure Zarude and force it out due to its x4 weakness to Bug. Additionally, Pokémon like Scizor and Volcarona will easily beat Zarude thanks to their STAB.

Super-effective hits will usually bring Zarude's health down due to Jungle Healing's low recovery.

Anime Appearences

Zarude has made an appearance in the anime. In it, one separated from the pack of Zarude to take care of a human baby it found # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics M22 Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle Pokémon: Koko