Corviknight is a valuable defensive pivot for many teams thanks to its great defensive typing letting it be immune to Spikes and natural bulk that lets it check Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Landorus-T, Kingambit, and Kartana. Brave Bird threatens the Grass- and Fighting-types Corviknight often checks, like Great Tusk, Ogerpon-W, and Urshifu-R. Iron Defense allows Corviknight to better take hits from powerful physical attackers that boost their offensive stats like Zamazenta and Dragonite. Corviknight uses U-turn to keep up momentum. Corviknight can use Body Press to threaten damage on the Steel-types it checks like Melmetal, Kingambit, and Iron Treads, as well as other Pokemon like Kyurem, using its high Defense stat, which can be boosted by Iron Defense. Corviknight could run Defog, allowing it to somewhat reliably remove entry hazards for its teammates, but it can be very easily blocked from doing this by Gholdengo. Corviknight always uses Roost, which lets it better check foes such as Tapu Lele over the course of a game. The first EV spread is designed to allow Corviknight to take two Close Combats from Mega Lopunny after Stealth Rock, while the other EV spread allows it to better check special attackers like Tapu Lele and Kyurem. Pressure allows stall teams to PP stall Pokemon like Kyurem, Zamazenta, and Landorus-T.

Corviknight is most common on balance, stall, and many offense teams. Balance and stall teams allow defensive Pokemon to cover Corviknight's bad matchups and vice versa. On offense teams, Corviknight can take attacks well and then pivot in a teammate with U-turn, allowing the team to keep momentum. Corviknight struggles with Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona, which Water-types like Toxapex and Assault Vest Alomomola check. In return, Corviknight can check the Ground- and Grass-types that Toxapex and Alomomola struggle with. Corviknight also struggles with powerful Electric-types like Tapu Koko and Raging Bolt. This makes Ground-types that can take their attacks, like Ting-Lu and Gliscor, valuable partners. In return, Corviknight can take the Grass- and Ice-type attacks, like from Kartana and Kyurem, the aforementioned Pokemon dislike. Corviknight also resists Fairy- and Psychic-type attacks, like from Tapu Lele and some Mega Diancie and Iron Valiant sets, causing Fighting- and Dragon-types like Zamazenta, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Latios to greatly appreciate Corviknight on their team. Special walls, such as Blissey and Ting-Lu, greatly value Corviknight on slower-paced teams, as it can take physical hits well, while Blissey and Ting-Lu can take on the special attackers like Mega Charizard Y and Gholdengo. Corviknight functions well on stall due to its aforementioned good defensive profile and how it works well with previously mentioned stall staples like Blissey and Gliscor. It can help PP stall using Pressure, and its excellent defensive typing lets it stay in on many sweepers. In addition, Corviknight can use Iron Defense to threaten sweepers attempting to break a stall teamwhile threatening said sweepers back with Body Press. Corviknight also is greatly appreciated as a Defogger for these defensive teams, which is easier on stall teams because Corviknight has more chances to use Defog and because it has teammates like Clodsire and specially defensive Gliscor that can deal with Gholdengo.