What it does
Kowtow Cleave is a Dark-type physical move that never misses. No accuracy value, no evasion check — not affected by accuracy-lowering moves, evasion boosts from Double Team, or evasion from held items like Bright Powder. If you click it and the target is on the field, the damage happens.
Dark-type hits Psychic and Ghost super-effectively. Steel and Fighting resist Dark (×0.5); Fairy is immune (0×). Contact move, blocked by Protect.
At a high-level glance, 'never misses' sounds like a small edge — accuracy-manipulation strategies are less common in doubles than singles. But the real value is computational reliability. When Kingambit has three stacked Supreme Overlord boosts and you're closing out a game, you don't want the finisher to randomly miss. Kowtow Cleave removes that possibility. What you calculate is what happens.
Who runs it
Kingambit at 88% usage — it's the signature move and Kingambit is almost the only competitive carrier. Dark/Steel-type with high Attack, Kowtow Cleave under STAB turns into a serious threat.
The reason Kingambit is particularly powerful late-game: Supreme Overlord adds +10% to Attack and Special Attack for every party member that has already fainted. Three fainted allies = +30% Attack; four = +40%. Stack that with STAB Kowtow Cleave and the damage output goes from 'threatening' to 'erasing targets'. Defiant (the alternative ability) flips Intimidate's Attack drop into an Attack rise — each Intimidate that tries to lower it actually boosts it instead, which is awkward for opponents running Incineroar.
How to use it
Bring Kingambit in late, after ally Pokémon have fainted and Supreme Overlord has stacked. The standard sequence: lead with whatever supports your game plan, let the early game play out, switch Kingambit in when boosts are high, click Kowtow Cleave. Reliable damage, reliable execution.
Sucker Punch is the other Dark-type option on Kingambit — priority, but only hits if the opponent is using an attacking move. Kowtow Cleave is the choice when the opponent might switch out or use a support move, since Sucker Punch would fail in those cases.
Tips & strategy
Fairy is immune — zero damage regardless of Attack boosts. When a Fairy-type is in front of Kingambit, switch to Iron Head or switch out. Don't waste the action.
Steel resists Dark by half. If the primary threat is a Steel-type, Iron Head is the more efficient move (Steel vs Steel = neutral, and both give STAB to Kingambit).
Choice Band with three Supreme Overlord boosts active puts Kowtow Cleave damage into range that threatens to one-shot many targets without prior setup. That's the endgame scenario the whole team structure is built toward.