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If you have a good competitive moveset for Orthworm, post an answer below and upvote the best ones.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some explanation, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Orthworm Pokedex & learnset for reference.

Orthworm sprite

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5 Answers

2 votes

Orthworm the Titan

Orthworm @ Leftovers/Chesto Berry
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Coil
- Iron Tail
- Body Press/Earthquake/Tera Blast
- Shed Tail/Rest/Smack Down/Rock Slide

Ever since Orthworm's magnificent introduction when we first stumbled upon him as a Titan, I have been a fan. This is a fun and flexible set that takes advantage of the accuracy boost from Coil and uses Orthworm as an offensive tank. First, Tera Electric + Earth Eater means that he has no Type weaknesses, and this advantage can't be taken away by Smack Down, i.e. Eelectross.

EV distribution and Nature maxes bulk and power, since his Def will be getting plenty thicc with Coil. 4 EVs in Speed to out-speed other slow mons who put their Nature and EVs elsewhere. Either Leftovers if you want continuous healing over time while you stack Coils and bodies, or Chesto Berry if you want to pair it with Rest for 1 big heal.

Now then, the main offensive selling point of this set is Coil + Iron Tail. One Coil raises Iron Tail's accuracy to 100, so now he can reliably use a 100 BP STAB move with a respectable 30% chance to lower Def. The rest of the kit depends on how exactly you want to utilize Orthworm on your team. You can use Body Press to fully take advantage of Orthworm's huge Def stat, augmented by Coil boosting his Atk and Def. Steel + Fighting is a type combo that has no single type resistances, so complete SE/Neutral coverage. Though the SE coverage does overlap significantly. Alternatively, Tera Blast to potentially take advantage of your tera type, or EQ for obvious coverage options.

His 4th move really lets you lean into how exactly you want Orthworm to work for your team. Shed Tail if you have a bad match up, and want to pivot and set up a teammate for success. Then you can switch Orthworm back in for a heal if you predict an impending Earth attack. Rest + Chesto for staying power as mentioned earlier. Or if you just go full offense, and you choose EQ for your third move, you can pair it with Smack Down for a strong "EdgeQuake" 1-2 punch, with SD still doing solid damage after a couple Coils. This combo can deal with what would otherwise be a potential threat like Kilowattrel. Ordinarily, Kilo's SpA and Steel res would be a threat to Orthworm, but going Tera Electric gives him resistance to Kilo's usual STABs, Thunder and Hurricane. SD knocks it out of the air, and if that somehow doesn't also OHKO it, a now super effective EQ will. Also works for other pesky birds like Corviknight and Skarmory. There's something satisfying about the humble worm getting sweet revenge against those pesky birds. You can also just use Rock Slide for a higher BP stand-alone "EdgeQuake" coverage option with a flinch chance, that also has its accuracy issues fixed by Coil. If only he got Stone Edge.

Let me know if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions.

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Haha, love the Electric Tera strategy. However, Smack Down is an extremely unviable move, I would recommend some of your other choices like Rock Slide or Rest & Chesto Berry.
1 vote

Gen 9 National Dex UU Defensive Utility

Orthworm @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock / Spikes
- Earthquake / Heavy Slam
- Shed Tail
- Rest

A Defensive Utility set for Gen 9 NatDex UU. Orthworm's Earth Eater ability lets it switch into Ground moves and restore some HP, meaning it has an immunity to ground moves. Stealth Rock or Spikes are used for hazards. Stealth Rock can let you chip Pokemon of all types provided they don't have Magic Guard or Heavy-Duty Boots. Spikes can be used to have multiple layers of hazards to chip grounded Pokemon. Earthquake is used as coverage against Pokemon such as Iron Hands, Iron Thorns, and Aegislash. Heavy Slam can be used instead for a Steel STAB. Shed Tail lets you pass a Substitute to a teammate, and it can work well with Orthworm's low speed stat. Since Shed Tail costs Orthworm 50% HP and it doesn't have a move like Recover, Rest is used as the last slot with Chesto Berry to let Orthworm recover HP. Tera Fairy lets Orthworm turn its Fighting weakness to a resist.

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1 vote

This is a pretty boring build for him, but in competitive he can really shine because of his absurd defense stat. Because of this, however, he gets one shot by a SpAtk mon so you have to be careful otherwise you wasted 5 turns of setup for nothing. It's valid in OU but I also use him in Anything Goes because OU is too gimmighoul'ed and Chien-Pao'ed for me to have fun RN.

Orthworm @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Coil
- Wrap
- Rock Slide

It's a defense build where you coil continuously to max defense and rest whenever you are low, that is the entirety of it. If you can, wrap the opponent so they are helpless against you as your wall yourself up. \
Once at max defense, if you aren't dead yet, rock slide and coil till the enemy is dead and repeat.

This is also just a really good spirit breaker, imagine it being a 1v1, last mons, and they pull out their secret mon ready to win but then you wrap them and coil until their double edge does 3% dmg. The best part of the build is how much PP Coil has, this works as a stall to get rid of pesky mons with high power low PP moves so they struggle themselves to death.

HP EVs because DUH
Atk EVs because rockslide strong= win
Speed EVs because why not, not like he needs more defense.

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not a big deal but generally SpD is used for special defense and not speed, Sp or Spe is used for speed evs, otherwise a great build and similar to something I would run
0 votes

Gen 9 NU Physically Defensive

Orthworm @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Body Press
- Protect

Orthworm is one of the many Pokemon that dropped to NU. Orthworm is a nice addition to the tier since it is a Steel-type that can switch into Ground moves via Earth Eater, meaning it can wall Sandaconda (unless they start running Body Press). Stealth Rock allows Orthworm to setup a hazard that chips opposing Pokemon switching in. Iron Head is used for the Steel STAB since it is more consistent than Heavy Slam. Body Press allows Orthworm to hit opposing Orthworm, Copperajah, and Coalossal super effectively. Body Press also takes advantage of Orthworm's high defense stat, allowing Orthworm to deal a little more damage. Protect allows Orthworm to scout the moves of opposing Pokemon and gives it a free turn of Leftovers recovery. Tera Ghost turns Orthworm's Fighting weakness into a resist.

248 HP EVs are used for bulk. 136 Speed EVs allow Orthworm to outspeed Pokemon such as Drifblim and max speed Adamant Hariyama. The rest of the EVs are used in Defense with Impish Nature to have as much physical bulk as possible with the remaining EVs.

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0 votes

Gen 9 NU Coil

Orthworm @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Coil
- Iron Tail
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock / Protect

Basically the defensive set, but with Coil and a different Steel STAB. Coil boosting Orthworm's Attack, Defense, and accuracy allows it to tank physical hits more easily while boosting its offensive presence. Iron Tail is used for the Steel STAB since its accuracy gets boosted by Coil, which is pretty neat and fun. Body Press is used since it takes advantage of the defense boosts and it allows Orthworm to hit opposing Orthworm, Copperajah, and Coalossal really hard. Stealth Rock allows Orthworm to setup a hazard that chips opposing Pokemon switching in and allows it to role compress being a Stealth Rocker and a Coil user. Protect can be used to scout moves from opposing Pokemon and give Orthworm free Leftovers recovery. Tera Ghost turns Orthworm's Fighting weakness into a resist.

248 HP EVs are used for bulk. 136 Speed EVs allow Orthworm to outspeed Pokemon such as Drifblim and max speed Adamant Hariyama. The rest of the EVs are used in Defense with Impish Nature to have as much physical bulk as possible with the remaining EVs.

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