Bouffalant
[OVERVIEW]
<p>Bouffalant has great bulk, a high Attack stat, and an incredibly powerful STAB move in Head Charge, which can be further augmented with its ability Reckless, along with several excellent coverage moves. However, Bouffalant is quite slow, and as such requires Trick Room or Tailwind support to work effectively, or it will just end up being outsped and KOed. Its Normal typing also leaves it weak to the many Fighting-types of VGC 2011, including Conkeldurr, Scrafty, and Terrakion. Overall, though, its bulk and the huge power of its STAB Head Charge make it an excellent choice for any Trick Room or Tailwind team.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Head Charge
move 2: Earthquake / Rock Slide
move 3: Wild Charge
move 4: Protect
nature: Brave
ability: Reckless / Sap Sipper
item: Life Orb / Chople Berry
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Bouffalant's STAB Head Charge does huge damage to most Pokemon, and with Reckless, its power is increased to an incredible level, scoring a large number of OHKOs with a Life Orb attached. Earthquake allows Bouffalant to hit the Rock- and Steel-types that resist Head Charge for super effective damage, while Wild Charge gets a boost from Reckless and allows Bouffalant to hit Tornadus and Jellicent for super effective damage. Protect gives Bouffalant's partner a turn to set up Trick Room or Tailwind, allowing it to bypass many of the Fighting-types that give it trouble. A Brave nature along with 252 HP EVs allow Bouffalant to hit as hard as possible while still retaining its decent bulk, even taking an unboosted Conkeldurr's Drain Punch, and to outspeed everything up to Scrafty under Trick Room.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Rock Slide is a viable option over Earthquake; although Bouffalant loses the ability to hit Rock- and Steel-types for super effective damage, Rock Slide does hit the genies and Chandelure for super effective damage, and does not hit Bouffalant's partner. An EV spread of 140 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Spe with an Adamant nature should be used if Bouffalant is being used in Tailwind, to allow it to outspeed the genies under Tailwind, and still give it good bulk. Sap Sipper can also be a useful ability, due to the popularity of Amoonguss. Although Bouffalant loses the ability to abuse Reckless Head Charge, with Sap Sipper it can take a Spore aimed at it to increase its Attack by 1 stage, and OHKO most Amoonguss in return with a Life Orb Head Charge. A Chople Berry allows Bouffalant a turn to take out the many Fighting-types that can stop it in its tracks. If using Bouffalant in Tailwind, Tornadus is an excellent partner, KOing or doing severe damage to Fighting-types with Acrobatics, and setting up Tailwind to allow Bouffalant to sweep. A Psychic-type partner such as Musharna or Reuniclus is similarly useful for Trick Room teams, setting up Trick Room and KOing most Fighting-types with their STAB Psychic.</p>
<p>Bouffalant fails to do significant damage to most Rock- and Steel-types. As such, a Fighting-type such as Conkeldurr or Scrafty can help tremendously, doing severe damage with their STAB Fighting-type moves, and working well in either Trick Room or Tailwind. Ghost-types are also a problem, as they are immune to Head Charge, so Chandelure makes an excellent partner, doing massive damage with its powerful STAB Shadow Ball while also being able to set up Trick Room for Bouffalant. Chandelure's STAB Fire-type moves also allow it to KO the Steel-types that would otherwise wall Bouffalant.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>A Normal Gem is a good option for an item, allowing Bouffalant to OHKO almost anything with Head Charge, but its single use, the fact that Life Orb hits harder over two turns, and the loss of power on its other moves generally makes Life Orb the better option. Payback is an option to hit the Ghost-types that resist Bouffalant's main STAB for super effective damage, but its low Base Power means that it won't hit too hard, even on opponents it hits for super effective damage, and Bouffalant has good enough coverage with the moves already listed. Megahorn allows Bouffalant to hit Hydreigon and many Psychic-types harder than Head Charge if using Sap Sipper, but its low accuracy and inability to hit any of the Pokemon that resist Head Charge for super effective damage makes it generally an inferior choice. A Sitrus Berry allows Bouffalant to extend its bulk even further and stay around a bit longer; although it loses the valuable Life Orb boost, it is able to abuse its good bulk and possibly stay in an extra turn to deal some more damage, and offset the recoil caused by Head Charge.</p>
<p>Thrash or Giga Impact may seem like powerful STAB options, but a Reckless Head Charge outdamages Thrash and is very near to Giga Impact in power, so they're both quite unnecessary, even without considering their crippling side effects. Even with Sap Sipper, though, Giga Impact's recharge turn after use allows Bouffalant to be easily KOed, or worse, allows the opponent to set up or take down Trick Room or Tailwind, completely destroying any advantage gained by a KO. Swords Dance is certainly a usable move with Bouffalant's great defenses, and allows it to OHKO almost anything, but Bouffalant's weakness to Fighting-types and reliance upon Trick Room or Tailwind to attack effectively means that it is better off simply attacking rather than wasting turns of Trick Room or Tailwind by setting up. Taunt allows Bouffalant to stop Trick Room from being set up on a Tailwind team, but with Mental Herb easily stopping it, it will be useless most of the time.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Bouffalant is almost always stopped cold by most Fighting-types, taking huge damage from their STAB moves and being unable to OHKO most of them in return. Many Rock- and Steel-types can easily take any of Bouffalant's attacks outside of Earthquake, which can damage Bouffalant's partner. Chandelure and Cofagrigus are immune to Head Charge and take little from Bouffalant's other attacks. Jellicent easily walls Bouffalant if it doesn't carry Wild Charge. Amoonguss can easily put a stop to Bouffalant, taking any attack and putting it to sleep with Spore, but must be very wary of Sap Sipper, which allows Bouffalant to increase its Attack after being hit by Spore.</p>
