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.

Great Tusk's already great Attack and physical bulk combined with Bulk Up make it a premier setup sweeper that can use its bulk to set up with ease on Pokemon like Dragonite, Garchomp, and Mega Scizor. Ice Spinner takes care of most Pokemon immune to Headlong Rush like Landorus-T, Zapdos, Mega Latios, and Gliscor, among others, while also dealing with Grass-types like Rillaboom and Meowscarada. Rapid Spin is an amazing utility move for Great Tusk, as the extra boosts to Great Tusk's Speed help it avoid revenge killing attempts from Speed Booster Energy Iron Valiant and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and let it boost Speed after its Booster Energy is used up. Rapid Spin also removes entry hazards for Great Tusk's teammates to clean up after it. The EV spread guarantees Great Tusk gains a Speed boost from its Booster Energy, allowing it to threaten Pokemon it would normally be threatened by, like Mega Diancie, Dragapult, and Mega Medicham.

Bulk Up sets are most commonly used on hyper offense teams that appreciate another setup sweeper that can threaten common Pokemon like Landorus-T, Kingambit, and Raging Bolt for its teammates to cleave through. These teams also appreciate Great Tusk's ability to remove entry hazards, which is extremely helpful for Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y and Z-Move Dragonite. Great Tusk is easily revenge killed by Pokemon like mixed Iron Valiant and Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele and Urshifu-R even with the Speed boost. Therefore, Pokemon that can switch into these Pokemon such as Mega Scizor for Tapu Lele and Kartana and Dragonite for Urshifu-R are appreciated. Great Tusk is weak to special attackers like the aforementioned Iron Valiant, Tapu Lele, Terapagos, and Volcarona, so Pokemon like Kingambit, Raging Bolt, Roaring Moon and your own Terapagos can be useful. Great Tusk also thuds into Pokemon that can take both of its moves, like Ogerpon-W, Moltres, Slowbro, and Alomomola, so Pokemon like your own Ogerpon-W, Raging Bolt, and Gholdengo are great partners that can chip down these Pokemon for Great Tusk to sweep.