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While it may not be as fast as Cinderace or Inteleon, Rillaboom can be a great starter Pokemon for Pokemon Sword and Shield with good IVs.
Not only does Rillaboom hit incredibly hard with a 125 base Attack stat, but this Grass-type Pokemon is also quite bulky. It has 100 base HP and 90 base Defense. These stats are going to help it live for many turns in Pokemon battles as well as stomp opponents.
Rillaboom was also granted two great tools in the Isle of Armor DLC - a Gigantamax form and the move Grassy Glide. With Grassy Glide, this move gets priority in Grassy Terrain. Rillaboom has the high Defense and Attack power to work amazingly in Gigantamax as well. These IVs are going to help Rillaboom become a big threat.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.
The best IVs for Rillaboom in Pokemon Sword and Shield
The big stat for Rillaboom to get good IVs in is Defense. Yes, it is a great attacker. Rillaboom does, though get access to Attack-boosting moves. It can Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Work Up, or Use Max Knuckle in Gigantamax to make it extra powerful.
The reason why Defense is so important for Rillaboom is because it often relies on surviving an attack before it can retaliate. Even Pokemon that Rillaboom can hit for super effective damage can win out simply by outspeeding it.
Consider a Pokemon like Rapid-Strike Urshifu. Rillaboom definitely has a good matchup against this Pokemon, but without good defense, it’s not a sure victory. Rillaboom can certainly fire off a powerful Grassy Glide or Drum Beating to get great damage on Urshifu.
The issue is that Urshifu has enough bulk to at least survive one of those attacks. Urshifu also gets access to Ice Punch, so unless Rillaboom can live through two Ice Punches, it actually can lose to Urshifu. Situations like this are why Rillaboom’s defense should be maxed out.
This doesn’t mean that Attack isn’t important to Rillaboom. It still wants to do as much damage as possible when it gets the opportunity to attack. Not only does Rillaboom get access to strong Grass-type moves, but it also gets plenty of other strong attacks like Superpower, Giga Impact, and Earthquake (don’t use this move if Rillaboom has Grassy Surge though; Grassy Terrain lowers Earthquake’s power).
With a strong Attack stat behind it, Rillaboom is going to be able to deal with a variety of Pokemon with its wide variety of attacks.
Speed is also a stat Rillaboom wants a lot of IVs in, if not maxed out. Rillaboom’s base Speed is at 85. This certainly isn’t too fast, but it can outspeed quite a lot of Pokemon. A slow Rillaboom might be taking hits every time a Pokemon comes out.
A Rillaboom with a bit of speed, however, can get the jump on Pokemon in that sort of middle speed tier. This can be very beneficial for Rillaboom since it won’t have to take as much damage and can instead just focus on dropping heavy attacks on the enemy.
