Analysis
There isn't a better way to describe Armaldo than as the other swift swimmer of september. Its only place is on the most dedicated of rain teams, but it does a pretty good job in them.
For starters it has a phenomenal 125 atk stat which combined with its stabs allows it to effortlessly OHKO 2 of the 3 most popular mons in the tier (krook and starmie) while earthquake makes it so any glowking that tries to change the weather gets heavily punished. Thanks to its typing and access to rapid spin its a very solid anti lead against hazard stacking teams trying to use spidops, glimmora or accelgor to set them quickly at the start of the game, while also allowing it to outspeed the scarfers trying to revenge kill it when combined with the speed doubling boost of swift swim.
Its defensive profile is also solid in some aspects thanks to its typing and solid 75/100/80 bulk, most notably being able to survive any attempts at revenge kill it by scarf krook or toxicroak if at full hp and resisting the terrifying last resort from Komala. Of course, its not without its problems: it needs rain up to do most of the feats described above and there are 2 mons it hates to see on the other side of the field: Basculin and Mudsdale. Basculin is the perfect revenge killer for it, it doesn't matter how much speed you have when you get hit by a rain boosted aqua jet. You either sac armaldo or give the fish free momentum to do whatever it wants. Mudsdale on the other hand sits on the opposite side of the spectrum, being the best defensive counter. Not having that ice type stab beartic enjoys really shows here. Theoretically you could use liquidation, but you either give up your main utility or lose one of your 3 offensive moves and get walled by something else, while not even guaranteeing a victory over the horse.
In summary: its a rain mon and a rain mon only, but a pretty good one at that. It doesn't compete with the other ones but rather complements them, working together to overwhelm the opponent. It can contribute meaningfully at all stages of the match, either as an anti hazard lead, an emergency revenge killer and spinner mid game or as a late game cleaner.
Written by Apu