Overview of Rampardos 

At first glance Rampardos might not seem worth using due to its frailty and low speed, as well as its weakness to Pawmot, which is one of if not the best Pokemon in the July meta. However, Rampardos can make up for these weaknesses in many ways, and there is very little that can withstand a Rampardos that has positioned itself so that it can spam those base 165 Attack Head Smashes (as long as it doesn’t miss). 

Let’s take a look at each of Rampardos’ sets in more detail. 

Choice Scarf 

This set is Rampardos’ most immediately threatening set, as with a Choice Scarf you outspeed most of the tier and you can immediately go Head Smashing. It should be noted that Eiscue and Zebstrika can outspeed and get damage on Rampardos, as well as other Choice Scarf Pokemon like Rotom and Mabosstiff, so this set is probably best on a team that utilizes Sticky Web. 

This set should always be running Head Smash. Options for other moves include Earthquake to hit Steel types that resist Rock, as well as other Pokemon that are weak to Ground, like Pawmot, Muk, Tinkaton and Houndoom. Fire Punch is also a good option to hit grass types like Venusaur, Shitry, Brambleghast, Rotom-Mow, Ferrothorn, and Chesnaught. Ice Beam is a relatively niche pick that snipes Torterra and Donphan after some chip damage is done to them. Rock Slide can also be run as a safe option if you don’t want to risk missing Head Smash. 

Rock Polish 

If you can manage to find a turn to set up Rock Polish with Rampardos, it probably won’t faint without punching (or Smashing in this case) a Pokemon-shaped hole in the opponent’s team. Without the restriction of Choice Scarf, Rampardos can use Life Orb for its damage to reach meteoric heights. The caveat is that it’s pretty difficult to set up with a mon as frail as Rampardos against a sentient opponent. But if you manage to find a free turn to set up, you’ll have the pleasure of using a bomb that just keeps on exploding. Alternatively, you could use Focus Sash, sacrificing power for an easier time setting up. This set runs the same moves as the Choice Scarf set, but you will only have two extra move slots after Rock Polish and Head Smash. 

Trick Room 

Rampardos can also be run on Trick Room teams, using pivots like Slowking, Porygon2 and Claydol (the carry) in order to come in safely and deal large amounts of damage. Without the need of Choice Scarf or Rock Polish to outspeed anything, you can focus on giving your Rampardos all of the coverage it needs without the drawback of being locked into one move. It should be noted that Slowking will underspeed Rampardos, moving before it and knocking it out in TR. This can be prevented by equipping Iron Ball on your Rampardos, which will barely underspeed Slowking with a Brave nature and 0 Speed IVs. This also has the added benefit of confusing your opponent, who thinks it’s impossible for Rampardos to underspeed a min Speed Slowking.