Pokémon Sword & Shield: 8 Pokémon To Dominate Multiplayer
3. Galarian Darmanitan
The original Darmanitan suffers similar problems to Excadrill, in that it had high attack power but was vulnerable due to low defences and a lacklustre speed stat. Unlike Excadrill, this couldn't be fixed by using a Choice Scarf, as its key set required a Life Orb to make full use of its ability, Sheer Force. However, Galarian Darmanitan is an entirely different story.
As well as seeing its type change to Ice and its moveset change to match, Galarian Darmanitan has a new ability: Gorilla Tactics, which essentially acts as an in-built Choice Band by raising its attack by 1.5x while restricting it to the first move it uses.
This means it has tremendous power as standard, and opens up its move slot for other items. Depending on what your team requires - reliable speed or sheer power - you can give it a Choice Scarf or Choice Band to up its speed or further boost its attack, respectively.
One word of warning, though - while it can be tempting to Dynamax Darmanitan to further boost its offensive prowess, doing so actually negates the attack boost from its ability (and Choice Band, if it has one) to balance the fact that it can now use more than one move.