|
-
Intimidate
- Lowers the foe's Attack 1 stage. Decreases wild encounter rate.
-
Quick Feet
- Increases Speed by 50% when hit with a status move.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
90
|
- |
321 |
384 |
- |
| Atk |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
| Def |
75
|
167 |
186 |
249 |
273 |
| SpA |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
45
|
113 |
126 |
189 |
207 |
Granbull has great Attack, good HP, and passable Defense, so Bulk Up works out pretty well for it. You'll want to do something about your opponent's special attackers before sending this out—162 Special Defense won't cut it. Body Slam helps compensate for Granbull's awful Speed, and can help buy some time to set up, although if you want more power, Return is a fine replacement. Crunch and Earthquake provide coverage against Ghosts, Rocks, and Steels, who all laugh at the Normal attacks.
Close Combat was eschewed in the previous set because Granbull needed to keep its defenses up. Now, however, that doesn't matter much, and you can use it with impunity. Besides the obvious higher base power when compared to Earthquake, Close Combat also has the advantage of putting a nice, big hole in Lunatone and Solrock. As this combination of attacks is guaranteed to hurt just about anything critically, the last moveslot is essentially filler. Ice Fang and Intimidate mean Granbull can serve as a good counter to Dragon Dance Altaria. Earthquake is somewhat redundant with Close Combat, but it can help ease prediction if you opponent is relying on earthbound Rock, Steel, and Ghost-types to absorb Return, since it hits them all hard.
This takes greater advantage of Intimidate and Granbull's small, but nonetheless useful support movepool. Heal Bell is a rare commodity and Granbull is fairly sturdy, so he can make good use of it. If you don't feel that Body Slam is a reliable enough way to paralyze your enemies, then Thunder Wave is a great option. Toxic helps to wear down walls, and means Granbull can actually damage Drifblim and Rotom if you opt for Earthquake over Crunch. Charm will annoy incoming physical attackers, like Fighting-types.
Other Options
Payback is more powerful than Crunch if Granbull goes last, or use it on the switch, but Crunch is the more reliable Dark attack. Stone Edge, despite being a great attack, has little use on Granbull. The full set of elemental punches are on offer, but they're illegal with Close Combat, so the less powerful fang attacks will have to suffice. Fire Punch is the most useful, but only if you want to use the Choice Band set in OU (not recommended), as it will hit Skarmory, Bronzong, and Forretress. Don't bother with Overheat, as Skarmory will simply Roost off the damage.
Quick Feet is a cool ability, but Granbull can only reach 283 or 310 Speed with it activated, so it's best to stick with the ever useful Intimidate. If you want something to abuse Toxic Orb and Facade, go with Raticate, who will be faster and more powerful.
EVs
He won't be outrunning much, so focus on HP and Attack. For the Support set, you can invest in more Defense to soak up physical hits.
Opinion
"Slow" and "outclassed" sum up the problems with Granbull. It's not a bad Pokémon by any stretch, but you can usually find better ways to get the job done. This mostly applies to OU battles, of course, where Tauros, Snorlax, and Ursaring are the superior choices. However, in UU Granbull is a powerful and sturdy competitor.
Counters
Skarmory and Bronzong are effective, but really, he shouldn't be going up against either of them. Like most Normal type Choice Banders, a combination of a Rock or Steel-type, alongside a Ghost (ideally a floating one like Rotom or Drifblim), will shut down Granbull if you can predict well. Other than that, the best way to beat Granbull is to smack it hard with any sort of fast sweeper (especially a special one), which is liable to be effective given Granbull's low Speed and poor Special Defense.