All Iron Treads Weaknesses and Best Counters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Iron Treads, the Paradox form of Donphan, is one of the newly introduced Pokemon in Generation 9. Unfortunately, if you want to use this in your team for competitive play, you’re out of luck. In terms of other battles, you’ll also want to know how to take it down. Here are all the weaknesses and counters to use against Iron Treads in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

All Iron Treads Weaknesses in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Similar to Donphan, Iron Treads is also a ground type, but it also has a steel typing. Because of that pairing, these are its type weaknesses:

• Fire
• Water
• Fighting
• Ground

If you’re playing Pokemon Violet and got to this boss in the Path of Legends storyline, this will still be applicable to you. A good thing to note while you’re here is that this Pokemon excels in Attack, Defense, and Speed. It can hit hard, withstand physical Attacks, and have priority on each turn.

To properly counter Iron Treads, you should have a Pokemon with a high Defense stat so it can take some hits before going down. It’ll be even better if your high-Defense Pokemon has a strong Sp. Attack stat. The Paradox Donphan has a relatively low Sp. Defense stat, making it susceptible to taking more damage from Special moves.

If you’re a player on Scarlet, you’re going to be pitted against Great Tusk, so only some knowledge is transferrable between the Donphan Paradoxes. 

Like the other Paradox Pokemon, Iron Treads also has the Quark Drive ability. If it’s holding a Booster Energy item or it’s on Electric Terrain, this will become a sweeping nightmare. Since its Attack stat will mostly be the one to be affected by the ability, it’ll easily turn this into yet another premier sweeper. It’s no wonder why other Paradox Pokemon have been banned ahead of time, like Flutter Mane just to name a few.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.