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Hello! I know that many special attackers in competitive Pokémon are given 0 IVs, to decrease the damage taken from confusion and foul play.

However, are there any advantages to giving a physical attacker 0 Special Attack IVs? Thanks!

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I think it's good when your opponent has power split, but I can't think of any other situations.
Oh, Thanks!

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Generally no; however, there are niche cases.

As sumwun mentioned, if the opponent had the move Power Split, you might benefit from your Pokémon having the lowest possible special attacking stat because the opponent would end up with less special attack overall.
Another move that might fall under a similar case is Power Swap, if the opponent were to try and use that to gain special attack.

In both of these cases, it would benefit your physical attacker to have exactly zero IVs in Special Attack.


There are also cases where a physical attacker might prefer lower, if not necessarily zero, Special Attack IVs. For example, in Gen 7 a Dusk Mane Necrozma that was EVed defensively (perhaps bulky swords dance/autotomize?) with no EVs in Attack would want to lower its Special Attack IV such that the move Photon Geyser, which acts as either physical or special based on the higher offensive stat, would still be a physical move if the Pokémon Ultra Bursted to Ultra Necrozma, which has equal base offenses. This is insanely niche, and would not require a zero IV exactly.

An even more ridiculous case, also in gen 7, would be for a level 9 Brave nature Naganadel (yes, this is specifically the case at level 9) that wants to get its Beast Boost ability to raise the attack stat. Unless the Special Attack IV is either 0 or 1, Attack will not be the highest stat. Yes, I spent too much time on this. Yes, it's so niche it's stupid.

All this to say, Special Attack IVs will not realistically matter on any Physical attacker.

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Thanks, that's pretty cool!
Glad to be of help!
I thought that Power Swap only swapped attack and special attack boosts and lowers. Not the stat...
The database says it swaps the stats in general.  However, I believe your idea is also correct, with it swapping stat changes, as well.