What it does
Body Press is a Fighting-type physical move with an unusual damage formula: instead of using the attacker's Attack stat, it uses the attacker's Defense stat. Defense investment becomes offense. The logic is simple — a Pokémon built to wall hits as hard as its Defense is high.
This is transformative for defensive archetypes. A Steelix with base 200 Defense doesn't need Attack investment to threaten with Body Press. Its Defense EV investment is also Attack investment. You get walls that actually hit back without diluting their defensive role.
Fighting coverage hits Normal, Rock, Ice, Steel, and Dark for super-effective damage — a wide spread that keeps Body Press from being a pure self-buff tool. Ghost-types are immune. Flying and Psychic take reduced damage. Factor both into selection.
Who runs it
Steelix at 96% and Orthworm at 95% are the premier users. Both have exceptional Defense stats, and Body Press is how they threaten anything that tries to set up in front of them. Bastiodon at 95% has similarly top-tier Defense.
Skarmory at 75% uses Body Press as its primary offensive move — it's the cleanest answer to what a defensive Steel/Flying Pokémon should click when it needs to deal damage.
Aggron at 73% benefits further in its Mega Evolution form, where Defense climbs even higher and Body Press output rises with it.
Corviknight at 55% pairs Body Press with Mirror Armor, which reflects Defense-lowering moves back at the opponent — keeping the Defense baseline intact and the damage output consistent.
How to use it
Body Press plus Iron Defense is a win condition in itself. One Iron Defense raises Defense by two stages; Body Press output rises with it. Two stages in and the damage becomes difficult for most teams to handle. Three stages and it starts one-shotting walls.
In doubles, the partner's role is to buy time for the Body Press user to get one Iron Defense in safely — whether by redirecting attacks with Follow Me, flinching threats with Fake Out, or directly removing them. One stage is often enough to change the damage math completely.
Tips & strategy
Ghost-types are immune to Fighting moves. Any team leaning on Body Press needs a Ghost answer elsewhere, or the opponent will pivot to their Ghost and stall indefinitely.
Corviknight's Mirror Armor means opponents can't safely click Intimidate or other Defense-lowering moves into it — the drop reflects. Keep that interaction in mind; it protects the Body Press damage floor.