Annihilape's great bulk, fearsome offensive presence with Rage Fist, and wide support movepool make it an unpredictable and dangerous foe early-game!
Stealth Rock: Annihilape is among the most reliable offensive setters of Stealth Rock in the metagame, though it isn't required for Annihilape to be an effective early-game Pokemon for every team.
Final Gambit: Annihilape's impressive HP stat makes Final Gambit into a powerful KO trading tool, being able to take out bulky foes like Dragonite, Garganacl, Hippowdon, and Stamina Archaludon. Make sure to run at least 236 HP EVs when using Final Gambit to OHKO Hippowdon.
Rock Tomb: Rock Tomb is an excellent Speed control option for its ability to punish Dragonite, Ogerpon-H, and Gouging Fire.
Taunt: Taunt gives Annihilape a strong matchup into bulky support Pokemon such as Ting-Lu and Archaludon.
Fling and Light Ball: This gives Annihilape a chance to paralyze a foe, including Gholdengo that lack Covert Cloak, and turn the tables on fast Focus Sash foes like Flutter Mane and Urshifu formes.
Other Options
Close Combat: If using Focus Sash, Close Combat's Defense drop isn't as devastating, though it leaves more offensive Annihilape vulnerable to getting revenge killed by multi-hit users like Urshifu-R and Loaded Dice Scale Shot foes like Dragonite, Gouging Fire, and Garchomp.
Encore: Encore is an incredibly powerful move that can lock the opponent into an attacking move to boost Rage Fist's power. Alternatively, it can lock the opponent into a status move.
Curse: This is an excellent way for Annihilape to retire itself from the battle while putting significant pressure on the opponent to switch out and shutting down gimmicks such as Baton Pass.
Endeavor: When paired with Focus Sash, Endeavor lets Annihilape massive amounts of damage before going down, though Annihilape's own bulk can lessen its effectiveness.
Tera Types
Tera Dependency - Low: This Annihilape is often used quite early in the game so Terastallization is often not needed unless it must check a specific threat.
Fire: Beyond offering a valuable Fairy resistance, the Ice and Fire resistances make Chien-Pao, Ogerpon-H, and Chi-Yu easier to deal with.
Steel: Tera Steel has excellent defensive synergy with Annihilape thanks to the Fairy resistance and doing particularly well on spreads that are faster than -1 Chien-Pao to move before Sacred Sword lands.
Water: Tera Water lets Annihilape withstand Urshifu-R's Tera Water Surging Strike with any item on either Pokemon.
Poison: Tera Poison has a good matchup against Flutter Mane, and lets Annihilape deal with Toxic and Toxic Spikes without needing to Taunt or worry about Toxapex's Mental Herb.
Abilities
Defiant: Defiant gives Annihilape the widest variety of winning match-ups, doing great against Intimidate Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Incineroar, punishing common Speed control foes like Rock Tomb Ogerpon-H, and ensuring that Charm Flutter Mane will not set up on Annihilape.
Vital Spirit: Vital Spirit adds to Annihilape’s flexibility against dangerous sleep inducers such as Yawn Ursaluna-B and Spore Breloom.
Inner Focus: This niche ability prevents flinches from Chien-Pao and Dragonite from happening, as well as stopping an Attack drop from Intimidate.
Items
Sitrus Berry: Sitrus Berry can be used with specialized spreads to avoid certain 2HKOs and protect Annihilape from Urshifu-R's Tera-boosted Surging Strikes. Try to make sure to have an even HP stat, to ensure that Sitrus Berry activates after getting hit by Ruination.
Focus Sash: Even when using bulky EV spreads, Focus Sash is useful for surviving an attack from foes that can be difficult to EV for, such as Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu.
Coba Berry: Coba Berry stops Tera Flying foes like Dragonite and Landorus-T from getting a surprise KO on Annihilape.
Roseli Berry: Roseli Berry works well on specially defensive EV spreads designed defeat Flutter Mane leads that lack Focus Sash.
Sitrus Berry EV Spread Examples
244 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 220 Spe with Jolly: This spread outspeeds Adamant Urshifu formes plus Timid Archaludon and Gholdengo, survives Jolly Choice Band Urshifu-R's Surging Strikes on all but the highest roll, and has a 87.5% chance of surviving Modest Choice Specs Archaludon's Draco Meteor.
244 HP / 140 Def / 124 Spe with Jolly: Thanks to Sitrus Berry, not even Adamant Choice Band Urshifu-R can OHKO Annihilape with Tera Water Surging Strikes! The Speed investment aims for Modest Gholdengo and Modest Archaludon, and also outspeeds up to Iron Bundle after a Speed drop from Rock Tomb.
244 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 220 SpD / 36 Spe with Careful: This Sitrus Berry optimized EV usually avoids a OHKO from Choice Specs Gholdengo's Shadow Ball, while outspeeding Adamant Breloom. It also survives Timid Tera-boosted Moonblast from Flutter Mane, meaning any Flutter Mane that gets a Speed boost from Booster Energy will be unable to OHKO Annihilape normally.
244 HP / 196 Def / 68 Spe with Impish: This defensive spread avoids a 2HKO from Adamant Tera Fire Ogerpon-H and usually does the same for Adamant Life Orb Chien-Pao, while having enough Speed to outspeed Jolly Ogerpon formes after Rock Tomb.
100 HP / 252 Atk / 140 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe with Adamant This is the most offensive option for Sitrus Berry, surviving all but the highest roll from Adamant Choice Band Urshifu-R's Tera Water Surging Strikes, and having an astonishing 87.5% chance of OHKOing it with the now 200 BP Rage Fist!
Other EV Spread Examples
236 HP / 76 Attack / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 180 Spe with Jolly: This spread OHKOes up to Hippowdon with Final Gambit, while outspeeding Jolly Dragonite, and outspeeding Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle after a Speed drop from Rock Tomb. The Special Defense EVs dodge a OHKO from Timid Flutter Mane's Moonblast.
252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with Jolly: Beyond at least reaching a speedtie with opposing Annihilape, this spread avoids a OHKO from Timid Flutter Mane's unboosted Moonblast and even outspeeds paralyzed Speed boosted Flutter Mane. It also outspeeds paralyzed Iron Bundle after Booster Energy, but note that it often uses Substitute to block Fling.