An utter monster. Thanks to the Zen Mode buff in RR, Darm now goes into Zen Mode regardless of health. Life Orb pushes Darm's offensive power to the point where U-turn can 3HKO Pokemon that don't resist Bug. The Choice Band set is almost overkill as it secures more KOs against unresisted targets than the Life Orb set, but usually, Life Orb provides ample power and frees up your attack choices in order to sweep teams. The Life Orb set heavily dents Lance's team, given that Melmetal and Dialga have chip damage. It is also very effective against the Champion's team, as it outspeeds and OHKOs Eternatus, Mega Metagross, Yveltal, and Miraidon/Koraidon. Other teams it excells against are Claire's, Agatha's, and Bruno's. Fire Punch is typically chosen over Flare Blitz because due to its very low defenses and very exploitable defensive typing, Zen Mode Darmanitan-G is quite vunerable to revenge killing via priority, thus Fire Punch is chosen to save the little bulk and survivability it has left. However, if your desire is to not sweep weakened teams but to nuke a slower mon that doesn't resist Fire, Flare Blitz is not a bad choice. Hazard prevention on your team is heavily recommended, as Zen Mode Darmanitan-G is 4x weak to Stealth Rocks and combined with Life Orb damage, if you're not careful, Darm will run out of HP before it does much. Also be aware of any weather offense teams, as they will have Pokemon that outspeed Darm and easily OHKO them. If this is an issue, pairing Darm with a sun setter is a good option, as it changes other weathers and boosts its Fire STAB even further, although you should be cautious of Chlorophyl users. It goes without saying though that this is a Pokemon that is more than worth accomodating your team for.
