SM OU Bulky Offense (USUM RMT #1)

[TheCamelDude]

Introduction

Hey everyone, it's TheCamelDude. Some of you may know me from my previous RMTs in SM. Well sorry if you wanted to see more from me, I just never had the inspiration for a new team till now, which is why I'm so late to USUM. With all that out of the way, here's one of the more solid teams I've made.

The Team

Breakdown

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Water Shuriken

One of my main breakers, priority users, and late-game cleaners. Mostly standard Greninja-Ash set. 4 in defense for taking priority like Mach Punch. Ice Beam over Spikes because Pinsir-Mega is a threat.

Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 36 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Swords Dance

Usually saved for late-game, when it can pick off the rest of a team, or when Tapu Bulu is going to go down soon. 124 speed outspeeds everything in the meta after Unburden except faster Hawlucha spreads that also have Unburden activated. 96 HP and 36 special defense lets it survive 1 Moonblast from Clefable. The rest is dumped into attack. Poison Jab hits the Tapus and Clefable. Grassy Seed because my Tapu is Bulu.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

My rocker, one of my main leads, and a great general pivot, Heatran is the answer to pretty much everything. Max speed and HP to maximize its utility. Magma Storm is an amazing move that gives free switch initiative if it hits, Earth Power for coverage, Stealth Rock for hazards, and Taunt for utility. Grassy Terrain from Tapu Bulu helps it with its ground weakness and gives it extra recovery and longevity.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn

My main physical pivot, hazard removal, and one of my priority users. I made its non-mega ability Light Metal so a rogue Low Kick from a Weavile will do less to it if it switches in before going mega, as if it was doing a lot in the first place. But a niche use is more than either of its other abilities offer it, especially since it gets Technician after mega evolving. U-turn is good for switch initiative, Bullet Punch for priority, and Roost for longevity. Its only weakness is fire, but I have 3 fire resists, so that's no problem. I've considered making it Swords Dance, but I'm not sure how important Defog is to this team or where else I could put it if I need it. Suggestions are welcome.

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Atk / 56 SpD / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Nature's Madness
- Stone Edge
- Wood Hammer

My main special pivot and a decent breaker, it comes in on pretty much every special hit with a few exceptions that my other pivots easily take care of. Grassy Terrain is extremely useful to this team, Nature's Madness halves the HP of anything that thinks it can wall this thing. Stone Edge is run over Superpower since I have a harder time with flying types like Zapdos than I do with steel types. Horn Leech is for longevity and Wood Hammer is for damage. 144 speed outspeeds max speed adamant Tyranitar, 60 attack plus an adamant nature lets Wood Hammer always KO Clefable with Wood Hammer in Grassy Terrain after Nature's Madness, even after a round of Leftovers and Grassy Terrain recovery, and the rest is dumped into bulk.

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 188 HP / 140 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Substitute
- Thousand Arrows

My other main breaker, priority user, and solid cleaner and pivot, Zygarde's stats, typing, and movepool lets it do it all. We all know how broken Thousand Arrows is, and dragon/ground on its own is a great type both offensively and defensively. It has a x4 weakness to ice, but my team can more than cover that. Extreme Speed offers more priority, Dragon Dance is a great setup move, and Substitute lets it avoid status. The spread lets it outspeed Lopunny-Mega at +1, gives its Substitutes 101 HP so Seismic Toss doesn't break them, and the rest is dumped into attack.

Threats

Stall: If you hate fighting stall, this is not the team for you. Its matchup vs stall is terrible, especially if it has Zapdos + an Unaware mon (usually Clefable).

Zapdos: Zygarde is your only switch-in to Zapdos, making it frustrating to deal with at times.

Landorus-Therian: Specifically, the Supersonic Skystrike variant. You really have no switch-ins, so if it gets +2, pick your sack. And if it keeps coming in, it can become frustrating.

Pinsir-Mega: All you have for it is Ice Beam on Greninja, so make sure you keep most of your HP so you can live a +2 Quick Attack. Against adamant, you're screwed, though. Thankfully that's pretty uncommon and easy to identify due to it only being on webs teams.

Medicham-Mega: You'll probably need to pick one every time it comes in, so be prepared to be aggressive around it.

Charizard-Mega-X: Error 404 switch-in to Earthquake/Flare Blitz/Dragon Claw not found.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-755260495 Zygarde sweep
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-755262513 Playing around Charizard-Mega-X
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-755267287 Vs mono dark
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-755276016 Picking apart Medicham-Mega Offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-755281593 Proof that I can break balance when I'm not getting haxed out the ass

Importable

http://pokepast.es/99ad33146e7f6c11

Conclusion

I've really enjoyed using this team, and it's one of my best teams on-paper, but it feels like it's missing something when I use it to let it win more often, and definitely needs to improve its stall matchup. Any suggestions would be appreciated, and I hope you enjoy.

 

[DKM]

Hi TheCamelDude, nice team. It looks like it'd work in most matchups, although it does have some weaknesses as you mentioned. I'll go over the ones I saw when looking through the team and then suggest changes to hopefully improve the matchup against them.


Threats to the team:

: As you mentioned, stall is a pain for the team to beat. I believe it comes down to having no real way to wear it down quickly, such as Spikes. The dedicated counters to your offensive threats just come in and wall them without any punishment or anything to limit them.

: You mentioned Pinsir as a threat, which it is. Although Hawlucha is more common and just as threatening. Your only flying resist is Heatran and it gets OHKOd by HJK, leaving you with no real answer. Scizor can take a hit but won't do much back without SD.

​

Major Change

> : The first change I suggest is using a Defog Zapdos over Scizor. This gives you a flying resist that beats Hawlucha and Pinsir easily. Zapdos still checks things like Bulu and Kartana, it also beats Flyinium Z Landorus if they lack Gravity/Smack Down. The set is a standard defensive one with Heat Wave to beat Bulu and Kartana easily and Discharge which gives you the chance to paralyze things like Heatran and Clefable. You can also use Thunderbolt to always OHKO Pinsir or Volt Switch so you still keep momentum.

​

Minor Changes

> | Spikes > Ice Beam: Next I suggest changing the Greninja set to Waterium Z with Spikes. This allows you to get up Spikes against stall, Z-Hydro Pump catches Sableye off guard or forces them out, giving you a free chance to get them up. This set is also good against hyper offense like Trick Room or screens, allowing you to switch up moves and nuke something with Z-Hydro. Lastly, it can catch Clefable off guard as Hydro into Z-Hydro KOs, which makes it easier for Hawlucha to sweep.

Roost > Poison Jab: Lastly, I suggest Roost on Hawlucha over Poison Jab. Roost allows you to setup on the likes of Landorus, Tangrowth, Celesteela and other defensive mons that can't hit you hard. Poison Jab only hits Clefable and Tapu Koko, both of which can be worn down. Overall Roost is useful in more cases which is why I think it's better.


~~


The team still isn't perfect, which is the case with all Hawlucha teams. Lack of a scarfer limits your revenge-killing and means you'll usually have to play aggresively and rely on things taking a hit to kill off threats.

Without Scizor, Kyurem-B can pose a threat. Bulu can live a non-Z, Heatran can live any hit and Greninja can outspeed, but you still have to play aggresive and pick carefully who you need the least.

M-Medicham is also still a threat. Zapdos adds a fighting resist but it can only switch in once if rocks aren't up. Again, you'll need to play aggresive to limit its free attacks.


I hope these changes were helpful, good luck :]

Importable

​

 

[TheCamelDude]

Hi TheCamelDude, nice team. It looks like it'd work in most matchups, although it does have some weaknesses as you mentioned. I'll go over the ones I saw when looking through the team and then suggest changes to hopefully improve the matchup against them.


Threats to the team:

View attachment 119224: As you mentioned, stall is a pain for the team to beat. I believe it comes down to having no real way to wear it down quickly, such as Spikes. The dedicated counters to your offensive threats just come in and wall them without any punishment or anything to limit them.

View attachment 119225: You mentioned Pinsir as a threat, which it is. Although Hawlucha is more common and just as threatening. Your only flying resist is Heatran and it gets OHKOd by HJK, leaving you with no real answer. Scizor can take a hit but won't do much back without SD.

​

Major Change

View attachment 119228> View attachment 119227: The first change I suggest is using a Defog Zapdos over Scizor. This gives you a flying resist that beats Hawlucha and Pinsir easily. Zapdos still checks things like Bulu and Kartana, it also beats Flyinium Z Landorus if they lack Gravity/Smack Down. The set is a standard defensive one with Heat Wave to beat Bulu and Kartana easily and Discharge which gives you the chance to paralyze things like Heatran and Clefable. You can also use Thunderbolt to always OHKO Pinsir or Volt Switch so you still keep momentum.

​

Minor Changes

View attachment 119230View attachment 119231> View attachment 119232| Spikes > Ice Beam: Next I suggest changing the Greninja set to Waterium Z with Spikes. This allows you to get up Spikes against stall, Z-Hydro Pump catches Sableye off guard or forces them out, giving you a free chance to get them up. This set is also good against hyper offense like Trick Room or screens, allowing you to switch up moves and nuke something with Z-Hydro. Lastly, it can catch Clefable off guard as Hydro into Z-Hydro KOs, which makes it easier for Hawlucha to sweep.

View attachment 119225Roost > Poison Jab: Lastly, I suggest Roost on Hawlucha over Poison Jab. Roost allows you to setup on the likes of Landorus, Tangrowth, Celesteela and other defensive mons that can't hit you hard. Poison Jab only hits Clefable and Tapu Koko, both of which can be worn down. Overall Roost is useful in more cases which is why I think it's better.


~~


The team still isn't perfect, which is the case with all Hawlucha teams. Lack of a scarfer limits your revenge-killing and means you'll usually have to play aggresively and rely on things taking a hit to kill off threats.

Without Scizor, Kyurem-B can pose a threat. Bulu can live a non-Z, Heatran can live any hit and Greninja can outspeed, but you still have to play aggresive and pick carefully who you need the least.

M-Medicham is also still a threat. Zapdos adds a fighting resist but it can only switch in once if rocks aren't up. Again, you'll need to play aggresive to limit its free attacks.


I hope these changes were helpful, good luck :]

Importable
View attachment 119230View attachment 119225View attachment 119239View attachment 119228View attachment 119238View attachment 119237
​

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't find opposing Hawlucha to be too dangerous thanks to Zygarde and Greninja's priority, but there's definitely merit in Zapdos since it lets me put spikes on gren and deals with a couple threats more consistently which gren was a panic check to. I'll try it and get back on how it works (probs gonna run Volt Switch on Zapdos).

 

[patlop2307]

Hey TheCamelDude! Very solid team team you have there. This team, while it does have some consctructural holes, doesn't have a lot of them anyway. With this rate I will explain the issues I have with the team, which were mostly named by the way, and try to cover the issues mentioned. So without further ado, let's get started!

Overview:​

​

The team, as already said in the intro, is a relatively standard looking, but solid team. What I like about it is the fact that every basic aspect of a Pokémon team is present: You have a rocker, a remover, an

immunity, and a

resist on the team. However, I do think some potential is just taken away from the team due to either unconvetional sets that don't work on the team, or additional stuff that is missing, that mainly being Spikes. I think that a direct correlation can be made between the lack of Spikes/unfitting sets and the weakness to stall because normally a team like that should not be weak to stall. What I am going to do is compliment the team rather than changing some its dynamics to deal better with certain Pokémon because even with these small changes, a lot of match-ups can be improved.​

​

How can you improve the team?​

​

Major Changes:​

​

>

: To start off the major changes I decided to replace Heatran with Clefable. The main reason for this was that Clefable is way better at getting the rocks up and is thus a better supporter for the team in terms of breaking stall. I also think that since you already have a

type in Mega-Scizor, we don't need Heatran as much anymore. Trapping, although it is occasinally nice to have, is not needed for the most part, especially since your Heatran is going to get knocked by Mega-Sableye and not going to beat it in the long run. In a nutshell: Heatran is far from a bad Pokémon on this team but Clefable brings more benefits to the team including the improvement of the stall match-up.​

​

Minor Changes:​

​

>

: Protean Greninja is one of the most versatile Pokémon in the OU Tier. The movepool it has is insane with moves like Ice Beam, Rock Slide, U-Turn, Gunk Shot, and Hydro Pump and the fact that Greninja changes its typing according to the typing of the move is also pretty nice. With that in mind, I think Greninja is a great Spikes setter that can, at the very least, get U-Turns into the breakers of the team and, in the best case scenario, gets a Spike up. It also acts as a vague check to Mega-Pinsir and a revenge killer for set-up sweepers thanks to its high base speed stat and Choice Scarf. I am going with the standard set of U-Turn|Ice Beam|Spikes|Rock Slide.​

​

>

(

): Changing Zygarde's set to Dragonium Z gives you a lure to the more or less common Quagsire and thus a wincon against the correspondant stall. While it could be seen as a relatively vague wincon, I do think the team offers enough support for it in the form of Spikes and Volt-Turn. If you feel like you prioritize beating Unaware Clefable or balance better, I would go with Steelium Z and Groundium Z respectively. That is, by the way, one of the things I love about Zygarde: It is so diverse and can adapt to so many styles and can work versus any. I am going to run the standard set and spread for of Thousand Arrows|Outrage|Dragon Dance|Extreme Speed with the spread of 252 Atk|4 SpDef|252 Spe Adamant.​

​

Roost > Poison Jab| Spread Change (

): I think both changes are necessary for Hawlucha's ability to sweep. Roost is nice for setting up on key Pokémon such as Landorus-Therian or Mega-Scizor while the spread change of 252 Atk|4 SpDef|252 Spe Adamant is mainly there to outspeed other Hawluchas and, at the very least, force a speed tie with opposing Hawluchas that run the same spread. The set is therefore going to be the standard Acrobatics|High Jump Kick|Roost|Swords Dance one.​

​

Knock Off > U-Turn (

): This change mind sound illogical at first, but Knock Off is mainly another supporting instrument for Zygarde to better break stall by knocking off Unaware Quagsire . The change does have its disadvantages, no doubt (e.g. getting trapped by Magnezone more easily), but Knock Off also has a lot of different uses outside of stall like being able to knock off Stealh Rock Clefable and beating it beceause of it. However, I could also understand if you would want to keeep U-Turn.​

​

Conclusion:​

​

I thought the composition of the team wasn't all that bad, hence I actually maintained most of the team. I optimized a couple of sets and tried to fit a stallbreaker in there. I would advise you, however, to always keep stall in mind and to build accordingly. With that in mind, I would say the team now isn't specifically weak to any of the threats you mentioed, but still gets annoyed by some like Mega-Pinsir. And obviously Pokémon like Mega-Medicham and Mega-Mawile still beat the team because there is close to no way to cover these. Additional weaknesses would be Magnezone since it traps the hazard remover which is then usually resulting in a loss. Those were quite a few nuisamces and weaknesses, so if you have any additional suggestions, questions or criticism feel free to tell me. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!​

​

​

​

Resources and Calculations:​

​

Calculations

252+ Atk Zygarde Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 228-268 (57.8 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery|0 Atk Technician Scizor-Mega Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 162-192 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

​

​

What I use for my rates

https://www.bisafans.de/pokedex/ind...s://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page

​

 

[TheCamelDude]

Hey TheCamelDude! Very solid team team you have there. This team, while it does have some consctructural holes, doesn't have a lot of them anyway. With this rate I will explain the issues I have with the team, which were mostly named by the way, and try to cover the issues mentioned. So without further ado, let's get started!

Overview:​

​

The team, as already said in the intro, is a relatively standard looking, but solid team. What I like about it is the fact that every basic aspect of a Pokémon team is present: You have a rocker, a remover, an

immunity, and a

resist on the team. However, I do think some potential is just taken away from the team due to either unconvetional sets that don't work on the team, or additional stuff that is missing, that mainly being Spikes. I think that a direct correlation can be made between the lack of Spikes/unfitting sets and the weakness to stall because normally a team like that should not be weak to stall. What I am going to do is compliment the team rather than changing some its dynamics to deal better with certain Pokémon because even with these small changes, a lot of match-ups can be improved.​

​

How can you improve the team?​

​

Major Changes:​

​

>

: To start off the major changes I decided to replace Heatran with Clefable. The main reason for this was that Clefable is way better at getting the rocks up and is thus a better supporter for the team in terms of breaking stall. I also think that since you already have a

type in Mega-Scizor, we don't need Heatran as much anymore. Trapping, although it is occasinally nice to have, is not needed for the most part, especially since your Heatran is going to get knocked by Mega-Sableye and not going to beat it in the long run. In a nutshell: Heatran is far from a bad Pokémon on this team but Clefable brings more benefits to the team including the improvement of the stall match-up.​

​

Minor Changes:​

​

>

: Protean Greninja is one of the most versatile Pokémon in the OU Tier. The movepool it has is insane with moves like Ice Beam, Rock Slide, U-Turn, Gunk Shot, and Hydro Pump and the fact that Greninja changes its typing according to the typing of the move is also pretty nice. With that in mind, I think Greninja is a great Spikes setter that can, at the very least, get U-Turns into the breakers of the team and, in the best case scenario, gets a Spike up. It also acts as a vague check to Mega-Pinsir and a revenge killer for set-up sweepers thanks to its high base speed stat and Choice Scarf. I am going with the standard set of U-Turn|Ice Beam|Spikes|Rock Slide.​

​

>

(

): Changing Zygarde's set to Dragonium Z gives you a lure to the more or less common Quagsire and thus a wincon against the from it's derived stall. While it could be seen as a relatively vague wincon, I do think the team offers enough support for it in the form of Spikes and Volt-Turn. If you feel like you prioritize beating Unaware Clefable or balance better, I would go with Steelium Z and Groundium Z respectively. That is, by the way, one of the things I love about Zygarde: It is so diverse and can adapt to so many styles and can work versus any. I am going to run the standard set and spread for of Thousand Arrows|Outrage|Dragon Dance|Extreme Speed with the spread of 252 Atk|4 SpDef|252 Spe Adamant.​

​

Roost > Poison Jab| Spread Change (

): I think both changes are necessary for Hawlucha's ability to sweep. Roost is nice for setting up on key Pokémon such as Landorus-Therian or Mega-Scizor while the spread change of 252 Atk|4 SpDef|252 Spe Adamant is mainly there to outspeed other Hawluchas and, at the very least, force a speed tie with opposing Hawluchas that run the same spread. The set is therefore going to be the standard Acrobatics|High Jump Kick|Roost|Swords Dance one.​

​

Knock Off > U-Turn (

): This change mind sound illogical at first, but Knock Off is mainly another supporting instrument for Zygarde to better break stall by knocking off Unaware Quagsire . The change does have its disadvantages, no doubt (e.g. getting trapped by Magnezone more easily), but Knock Off also has a lot of different uses outside of stall like being able to knock off Stealh Rock Clefable and beating it beceause of it. However, I could also understand if you would want to keeep U-Turn.​

​

Conclusion:​

​

I thought the composition of the team wasn't all that bad, hence I actually maintained most of the team. I optimized a couple of sets and tried to fit a stallbreaker in there. I would advise you, however, to always keep stall in mind and to build accordingly. With that in mind, I would say the team now isn't specifically weak to any of the threats you mentioed, but still gets annoyed by some like Mega-Pinsir. And obviously Pokémon like Mega-Medicham and Mega-Mawile still beat the team because there is close to no way to cover these. Additional weaknesses would be Magnezone since it traps the hazard remover which is then usually resulting in a loss. Those were quite a few nuisamces and weaknesses, so if you have any additional suggestions, questions or criticism feel free to tell me. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!​

​

​

​

Resources and Calculations:​

​

Calculations

252+ Atk Zygarde Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 228-268 (57.8 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery|0 Atk Technician Scizor-Mega Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 162-192 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

​

​

What I use for my rates

https://www.bisafans.de/pokedex/ind...s://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page

​

Thanks for the rate, I'll try them and see what works, messing around with the Zapdos over Scizor as well. I think Clefable was smart, but I do fear not having a better fire switch-in than Zygarde, especially if it's gonna run the Z Move set instead of bulky. Also, for Clefable, what do you suggest for its fourth move? Knock Off/Calm Mind/Thunder Wave/Flamethrower

 

[patlop2307]

Thanks for the rate, I'll try them and see what works, messing around with the Zapdos over Scizor as well. I think Clefable was smart, but I do fear not having a better fire switch-in than Zygarde, especially if it's gonna run the Z Move set instead of bulky. I do have to ask though, why Rock Slide over U-turn on Greninja?

First off, I do think Heatran wasn't a good Heatran counter anyway because of Earth Power. I think that Wish support + Grassy Terrain + Zygarde should do the trick. Secondly, both moves are on Greninja. *EDIT: Sorry for having forgotten the link to the team. It is Wish Clefable I am running for the support of the offensive portion of the team.

 

[TheCamelDude]

First off, I do think Heatran wasn't a good Heatran counter anyway because of Earth Power. I think that Wish support + Grassy Terrain + Zygarde should do the trick. Secondly, both moves are on Greninja.

Sorry, I realized after I read it. Edited my reply.