Great Tusk is a behemoth of role compression. It provides an imposing offensive presence, access to entry hazards and hazard removal, and a defensive profile that enables it to check certain physical attackers such as Kingambit and Mega Tyranitar all in one slot. Rapid Spin enables the removal of hazards in the face of nearly every hazard setter in the tier such as Heatran, Garchomp, and Ting-Lu, which is specially given the difficulty of spinblocking Great Tusk, which is able to threaten massive damage on Gholdengo and Pecharunt. Additionally, Ice Spinner is necessary for threatening Flying-types such as Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Zapdos. Great Tusk is a good Stealth Rock setter given its ability to force switches against foes such as Galarian Slowking and Gholdengo and to threaten removal options such as Landorus-T and opposing Great Tusk if carrying Icium Z. Close Combat can be run to deny Ogerpon-W a safe switch in and better pressure Skarmory, Corviknight, and Rotom-Wash. Alternatively, Knock Off is an option for making progress against Great Tusk's checks, such as through removing Heavy-Duty Boots from Alomomola, Moltres, and Zapdos, as well as hitting Air Balloon Gholdengo for more damage. Stone Edge OHKOes Moltres and Volcarona, as well as 2HKOes Zapdos without making contact. Heavy-Duty Boots protects Great Tusk from Spikes and particularly Toxic Spikes, which is important given its role as hazard removal. Leftovers is another source of longevity, providing passive recovery for longer matchups in exchange for increased vulnerability to offensive hazard pressure. Booster Energy makes Great Tusk nigh unwallable, enabling it to threaten 2HKOs on standard Alomomola, Corviknight, and Rotom-Wash with its STAB options. Booster Energy sets should always carry Close Combat to maximize wallbreaking potential. Subzero Slammer lets Great Tusk OHKO Tornadus-T and Zapdos, as well as Landorus-T even after Intimidate, while weakening the effect of Knock Off from the likes of Kingambit and Mega Tyranitar. Finally, Rocky Helmet provides a source of chip damage against the physical attackers Great Tusk switches into, including punishing U-turn from pivots such as Landorus-T and Mega Scizor.

Great Tusk's ability to perform a plethora of roles leads it to fit best on offense and bulky offense due to its lack of longevity. However, it is also effective on balance teams, especially with the right teammates such as Alomomola, as its traits are highly coveted nonetheless. Great Tusk is often forced out by special attackers, such as Tapu Lele and Mega Charizard Y, meaning teammates such as Melmetal and Toxapex are strong teammates. Great Tusk is also not a blanket check to physical attackers, as its somewhat double-edged defensive typing leaves it with common weaknesses to attacks from Ogerpon-W, Weavile, and Kartana. As a result, defensive Pokemon with complementary typings such as Ferrothorn and Alomomola are effective partners. In particular, the latter can also provide Great Tusk with Wish support to mitigate its lack of longevity. With regards to its offensive profile, Great Tusk appreciates the ability of powerful special wallbreakers such as Raging Bolt and Tapu Lele to break through its checks such as Alomomola and Skarmory. In return, Great Tusk can exploit their checks such as Ting-Lu, Ferrothorn, and Melmetal as opportunities to set up Stealth Rock or remove entry hazards with ease. On offense teams, Great Tusk can pair well with other physical attackers such as Kingambit and Swords Dance Iron Valiant, being able to overwhelm or threaten common switch-ins such as Landorus-T and Moltres. Finally, Great Tusk forms a powerful core with Mega Charizard Y, providing premium hazard removal to address its crippling Stealth Rock weakness, the ability to switch into powerful physical attackers such as Mega Tyranitar, and threatening Mega Charizard Y's checks such as Dragonite, Toxapex, and Raging Bolt. In exchange, Mega Charizard Y's Drought provides Great Tusk with a Protosynthesis boost at no cost to the item slot while using Great Tusk's switch-ins such as Alomomola and Slowbro as wallbreaking opportunities.

Defensive Great Tusk acts as important glue on teams due to its incredible role compression by acting as a defensive wall, setting entry hazards, and clearing them. Utilizing its high bulk and HP, defensive Great Tusk acts as a great check to many metagame staples such as all-out attacker Zamazenta, Kingambit, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Tyranitar. Earthquake is the preferred STAB move on Great Tusk, but Headlong Rush can also be run for better damage rolls, such as an OHKO on offensive Gholdengo and a 2HKO on Kartana, at the cost of lowering its defenses. Moreover, Headlong Rush isn't weakened by Grassy Terrain. Ice Spinner is used mainly to threaten Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Dragonite while also hitting Zapdos and opposing Great Tusk super effectively. Great Tusk can freely remove hazards, since spinblockers like Dragapult and Gholdengo are threatened by moves such as Ice Spinner and Earthquake, respectively, and Knock Off. The last slot on this set is flexible; running Stealth Rock turns Great Tusk into an effective hazard setter, threatening most hazard removal options such as Landorus-T and opposing Great Tusk with Ice Spinner. Knock Off can also be run to remove key items, like Heavy-Duty Boots from the likes of Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Moltres as well as Leftovers from Landorus-T and opposing Great Tusk, with the added benefit of being able to hit Air Balloon Gholdengo and Dragapult super effectively. Body Press is an option in the final slot to surprise Ferrothorn, Ting-Lu, and Terapagos that has had its Tera Shell broken. 40 Speed EVs allow defensive Great Tusk to outspeed base 90s like Moltres as well as other prominent threats such as uninvested Landorus-T and bulky Gholdengo. Heavy-Duty Boots prevents Great Tusk from taking too much chip damage from hazards, while Leftovers helps in checking the threats and increases Great Tusk's longevity. Rocky Helmet is another item that can be run on Great Tusk to punish many physical attackers that either attack it recklessly or try to gain momentum like Landorus-T, Zamazenta, and Kingambit.

Defensive Great Tusk fits best on balance and bulky offense teams, which value its role compression. The main attributes hindering Great Tusk are its typing and lack of longevity. Thus, Great Tusk appreciates partners like Alomomola, which helps with its lack of longevity by Wish passing; additionally, Alomomola is able to switch into common Water-types like Hisuian Samurott and Urshifu-R. It also appreciates Pokemon such as Volt Switch Raging Bolt and Zapdos that can reliably switch in against common Flying-types such as Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mega Charizard Y and Water-types like Ogerpon-W while also threatening them offensively. Steel-type partners like Mega Scizor and Melmetal are greatly valued due to their ability to switch into fast Fairy-type foes like Tapu Lele. Moreover, the hazards set up by Great Tusk pressure many switch-ins on entry, forcing progress over time. Being able to remove the items on checks to Raging Bolt like Leftovers from Ting-Lu and Assault Vest from Melmetal allows Raging Bolt to break through switch-ins with its STAB moves aided by Great Tusk's hazards. Furthermore, these teammates appreciate Great Tusk's ability to spin away hazards for them and can continue to check threats to Great Tusk. Defensive Great Tusk also pairs extremely well with Mega Charizard Y, which appreciates Great Tusk removing Stealth Rock and checking Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar. In return, Mega Charizard Y is able to break through walls like Alomomola, Clefable, Skarmory, and Corviknight. Mega Charizard Y also sets up sun, granting Great Tusk a Defense boost due to Protosynthesis, which allows it to better wall physical attackers.