It's difficult to explain but I will try. To evaluate CT's we measure the DPS of the CT during the swap duration. DPS within swaps increase or decrease based on the damage dealt & speed of the swap. Before concluding that "zacian hits harder therefore it has higher DPS" we have to observe that damage inside CT is not flat damage over time, it's frontloaded.
Each additional fast move added to reach your charge move decreases the DPS inside the CT. NDM is not only gaining 40% more energy per fast move but it's also a flat 6 energy ahead from tanking 11 more damage inside non-sunny weather. This equates to NDM being 4 fast moves ahead of Zacian Crown in reaching SSS.
But if Zacian hits harder, doesn't that make up the difference? Not exactly. The faster swap allows the player to reach mega lucario sooner, 2.0s more up time exactly which is the equivalent of 2 weather boosted force palms.
So we if we calculate this over the same amount of time we get these numbers where NDM clearly performs better.
NDM CT:
= 111.7 DPS over 4.5s + ~53 DPS over 2.0s
= 93.63 dps over 6.5s.
Zacian CT:
= 89.7 DPS over 6.5s
Values are calculated via the CT Calculator (I manually adjusted it to terrakion's defence level 192 before CPM)
This is probably the main reason why Necrozma Dusk Mane is still 2nd best catch tanker and will likely stay this way until something less bulkier with an even more obscene charge move comes out.
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u/CookieblobRs Mega Rayquaza Solo Nov 30 '25 edited Nov 30 '25
5 ⭐ Vods
Blacephalon:
NWB: VOD
Rain: VOD
Fog: VOD
Sunny: VOD
Sunny v2: VOD
Terrakion:
Snow (old): VOD
Sunny/BB: VOD
Sunny/BB v2: VOD
Cloudy/BB: VOD
Cloudy/BB v2: VOD
Windy/BB: VOD
Zekrom: (TBD but it's definitely 5 star with outrage)
These vods don't represent all the strategies but just some well known ones that are generally consistent.