Golem (QC 1/3)

[The Leprechaun]

Overview
########

• One of the most reliable stealth rockers in the tier thanks to sturdy
• Edgequake STAB combo paired with base 120 attack stat
• Strong priority in sucker punch makes up for low speed
• Has a few relevant resistances and good defence stat making it a great check to big threats like dodrio, scyther and flareon
• A slew of weaknesses including 4x weaknesses to water and grass hold it back

Tank
########
name: Tank
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Sucker Punch / Toxic
ability: Sturdy
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
nature: Adamant

Moves
========

• Stealth Rock is important on every team
• Earthquake is strong STAB
• Sucker Punch is great for picking off weakened mons
• Rock blast is great for hitting through subs and sashes and has an average power of 79.2
• Rock STAB helps against common defoggers and spinners such as togetic, pelipper and avalugg
• Toxic can allow it to cripple mons it otherwise can't do much to like musharna, tangela and poliwrath

Set Details
========

• Leftovers give Golem slightly more longevity, notably restoring sturdy after switching into stealth rock
• Sturdy allows reliable rock setting
• Nature and EV spread allow it to retain bulk as well as hit hard

Usage Tips
========

• Golem's main role on any team is to set up stealth rock, tank a few physical hits and threaten the opponent with high powered moves
• It's not a wall and should not be treated as such

Team Options
========

• Golem can fit on both balance and offensive teams
• Pokemon that can switch into Water- and Grass-types, such as Gourgeist and Tangela, make for useful partners
• Has great synergy with offensive flying types such as Dodrio, Scyther and Chatot as it can beat steel types with earthquake and can tank rock and electric attacks

Offensive stealth rock
########
name: Offensive stealth rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Explosion / Sucker Punch
ability: Sturdy
item: Normal Gem / Mental Herb / Weakness Policy
evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
nature: Adamant

Moves
========

• Stealth rock is important
• Dual STAB covers a lot of threats and hits hard
• Explosion is a nuke and blocks against spin / defog
• Sucker punch can be used to pick off faster mons

Set Details
========

• Max speed almost guarantees setting rocks
• Max attack allows it to deal good damage after
• Normal gem powers up explosion to very high levels
• Mental herb + sturdy makes it very difficult to prevent rocks
• Weakness policy allows it so make use of its weaknesses and discourages the use of super effective moves when Golem is at full HP
• Speed investment allows it to outspeed everything up to univested base 75 speed mons
• Max attack for max damage

Usage Tips
========

• Very strong as a lead where sturdy will always be in tact
• Using Explosion in front of slower spinners and defoggers blocks their hazard control
• Watch out for Mold Breaker Rampardos and Bullet Seed Torterra who can easily OHKO
• Should not be considered a reliable check to offensive threats the other set can take on. Without HP investment Golem's bulk is compromised

Team Options
========

• This is one of the best stealth rock options for Hyper Offence as it is relatively quick and relatively powerful
• Should be paired with a ghost type and possibly a defiant user as often you'll only get one chance to set rocks
• If you need hazard control, preferably don't pair with defog support for the same reason as above

Other Options
########

• Natural gift + Liechi berry (base 100 power grass move)/ Ganlon berry (base 100 power ice move)
• Superpower
• Counter
• Sunny Day
• Rock Polish
• Choice Band

Checks & Counters
########

• Bulky grass and water mons such as Poliwrath, Serperior and Torterra
• Any decent physical wall such as Misdreavus
• Mons that can prevent stealth rock including bullet seed torterra, mold breaker rampardos and taunt users such as misdreavus, vigoroth and kricketune
• Anything with grass or water coverage can normally OHKO. This includes Raichu, Ninetales and Zebstrika. Strong special attackers in general hit Golem pretty hard as well

 

[col49]

y0. not qc, ofc, but i thought i'd throw around a couple points.

i tend to disagree with the use of weakness policy on the first set, as it would suggest it should be played far more aggressively than it likely should, as it's primary function (a tank, as you state) requires it to withhold longevity in a game, rather than sticking around and dropping to 1 HP in order to get 1-2 strong hits off. i would consider lum berry, if anything, for its ability to push just that much extra damage on wisp users, but aside from that, other item choices seem somewhat less appropriate. furthermore, it should be noted that 88 speed evs would be considered speed creep in this instance (as it suggests you should be looking to outpace 44 speed piloswine, which could in turn justify the use of 52 speed piloswine in response, etc. etc.), which should likely be adjusted accordingly.

a set that i would consider addressing is a more offensively oriented sr set. golem has the distinction of being one of the few pokemon capable of performing as a flexible sr suicide lead, which can be capitalized upon fairly well with slight chances in the conventional sr set and in playstyle. i ran something to this effect:


name: Suicide Lead (name is iffy)
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Explosion
ability: Sturdy
item: Normal Gem
evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
nature: Adamant / Jolly

essentially plays like a more aggressive variant on the standard sr sets. gem boom is a pretty big draw here for offense, as it easily shaves off upwards of 65% from fatmons like musharna and poliwrath, bringing them to a point where they can no longer adequately perform defensive roles for their team, as long as they aren't given the breathing room to recover from thereon in. weakness policy, as well as the natural gift variations, are also usable here, as this golem is meant to be thrown into pokemon it doesn't necessarily match up well in order to set up other pokemon to sweep, though these lack the consistency and package utility of gem boom (hits most relevant targets neutrally and effectively, doesn't require it to be hit by particular moves to do what it's supposed to, retains its sr vs.slower defog and spin users, etc.).

 

[The Leprechaun]

y0. not qc, ofc, but i thought i'd throw around a couple points.

i tend to disagree with the use of weakness policy on the first set, as it would suggest it should be played far more aggressively than it likely should, as it's primary function (a tank, as you state) requires it to withhold longevity in a game, rather than sticking around and dropping to 1 HP in order to get 1-2 strong hits off. i would consider lum berry, if anything, for its ability to push just that much extra damage on wisp users, but aside from that, other item choices seem somewhat less appropriate. furthermore, it should be noted that 88 speed evs would be considered speed creep in this instance (as it suggests you should be looking to outpace 44 speed piloswine, which could in turn justify the use of 52 speed piloswine in response, etc. etc.), which should likely be adjusted accordingly.

a set that i would consider addressing is a more offensively oriented sr set. golem has the distinction of being one of the few pokemon capable of performing as a flexible sr suicide lead, which can be capitalized upon fairly well with slight chances in the conventional sr set and in playstyle. i ran something to this effect:


name: Suicide Lead (name is iffy)
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Explosion
ability: Sturdy
item: Normal Gem
evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
nature: Adamant / Jolly

essentially plays like a more aggressive variant on the standard sr sets. gem boom is a pretty big draw here for offense, as it easily shaves off upwards of 65% from fatmons like musharna and poliwrath, bringing them to a point where they can no longer adequately perform defensive roles for their team, as long as they aren't given the breathing room to recover from thereon in. weakness policy, as well as the natural gift variations, are also usable here, as this golem is meant to be thrown into pokemon it doesn't necessarily match up well in order to set up other pokemon to sweep, though these lack the consistency and package utility of gem boom (hits most relevant targets neutrally and effectively, doesn't require it to be hit by particular moves to do what it's supposed to, retains its sr vs.slower defog and spin users, etc.).

Cheers for the tips. I implemented all your suggestions but I feel that the exclusion of weakness policy entirely from the analysis is unfair as I've seen and used the wp sturdy combination a lot and found it very effective. Because of this i moved it to the Suicide lead set (now named offensive rocker). I haven't been running a set identical to this but it was very similar. The reason i feel weakness policy should be included is because often it limits your opponents options when playing against you, especially against faster variants. For example, even though Poliwrath should be a strong check, if you're carrying weakness policy (and run max speed) it's forced to circle throw you out rather than scald you if you're sturdy's still in tact. If you do go for scald and fail to get the burn then you're going to take 65-77% from the next earthquake. Against offensive teams, if your weakness policy is activated and they lack priority then you can do some serious damage just with sucker punch. For me it's too good not to go in OO

I need some thoughts on Rock Polish. I've put in the set but atm i really don't think it deserves analysis as it is severly outcalssed by shell smashers and possibly other rock polish users (relicanth). What would your opinion be?
Also thought about including a choice band set but i'm unsure on this as well as i haven't tested it.

 

[Magnemite]

add a sun setter set to oo, it's one of two pokemon in the tier alongside carbink that get both sr and sunny day and can actually set them up effectively. carbink is generally better though because it's much harder to 2hko, which you can mention if you want.

agree that suicide lead should be a set, though i don't think that jolly should be a slash as the only things jolly does that adamant doesn't are outspeeding 0 speed misdreavus and not tying with adamant 252 speed marowak.

i wouldn't mind weakness policy being slashed, but make sure to make it clear what its uses are (also what it isn't used for, specifically that golem is not a sweeper, that getting the wp boost isn't your goal when using it and as such you shouldn't be switching into things just to get the boost, etc)

rock polish seems kinda bad and really outclassed, i wouldn't include it.

 

[The Leprechaun]

add a sun setter set to oo, it's one of two pokemon in the tier alongside carbink that get both sr and sunny day and can actually set them up effectively. carbink is generally better though because it's much harder to 2hko, which you can mention if you want.

agree that suicide lead should be a set, though i don't think that jolly should be a slash as the only things jolly does that adamant doesn't are outspeeding 0 speed misdreavus and not tying with adamant 252 speed marowak.

i wouldn't mind weakness policy being slashed, but make sure to make it clear what its uses are (also what it isn't used for, specifically that golem is not a sweeper, that getting the wp boost isn't your goal when using it and as such you shouldn't be switching into things just to get the boost, etc)

rock polish seems kinda bad and really outclassed, i wouldn't include it.

Yeah i didn't think it was great, really wasn't sure though.

Any thoughts on a choice band set and do you think that this is QC ready?

 

[Magnemite]

Yeah i didn't think it was great, really wasn't sure though.

Any thoughts on a choice band set and do you think that this is QC ready?

choice band seems decent enough for oo, probably not a full set unless you find it to be good in testing.

and yeah this looks like it's qc ready, once you change the tag i'll check this.

 

[Magnemite]

Looks pretty good, just a few minor things:

For the first set, the mentions of toxic go in moves, not set details.

You can keep wp slashed if you want, just make sure to do what I said about it above if you do.

Golem checks a few dangerous threats quite nicely, mainly scyther and dodrio. This could be mentioned in the overview.

Talk about the EV spread in set details.

Since PU has so few sr setters, the first set first on more than just bo and balance honestly, you could mention that it fits on regular offense as well.

Mention in usage tips of the second set to explode in front of slower defoggers like pelipper and togetic if you have rocks up.

C&C could be a bit more thorough. Pokemon that can prevent it from getting sr up (particularly the lead set) like taunters, bullet seed torterra, etc. you could also mention grass and water coverage moves on things like Raichu and ninetales, as well as strong special attackers in general (as long as they don't take too much from sucker punch)

Tag me when you're done with this and I'll stamp.

 

[The Leprechaun]

Magnemite

Decided to keep WP slashed only on the offensive rocks set. Just makes more sense there i think.

 

[Magnemite]

good job, just remove musharna from c&c. QC 1/3

 

[WhiteDMist]

For the second set, one cute thing about running max Speed is: 252+ Atk Golem Rock Blast (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mantine: 232-276 (69.4 - 82.6%) -- approx. 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. So you outspeed uninvested Mantine and Togetic, so you can hit them with Rock Blast before they Defog. It's not exactly guaranteed to stop even specially defensive Togetic, let alone Pelipper, but being able to snipe Mantine is a nice plus. But you do have the luxury of stating that Golem can threaten most defensive Defoggers due to its invested Speed and Rock STAB. Stone Edge in Moves for the second set, just for a better chance to 2HKO the physically bulky Defoggers and have a great chance to OHKO specially defensive Togetic after Rocks.

 

[scorpdestroyer]

Overview:
- Don't need to say the stat is 120 Atk, they will be listed right above.

TANK

Moves:
- no more Musharna

Usage Tips:
- Mention that Sucker Punch is useful to finish off weakened opponents and get off chip damage before dying
- Mention to hit bulky stuff on the switch with Toxic because staying in on them isn't recommended
- Make sure you beef this up when you write it

SUICIDE

Moves:
- Mention that Explosion brings in teammate safely
- Add Stone Edge to Moves for a better chance to KO the Defog users that WDM stated above

Set Details:
- Mention examples of Pokemon it outspeeds and not just the speed tier
- Notably, it outruns common Defoggers such as Pelipper and Mantine so mention this.

Team Options:
- Mention examples of the Ghost-types that fit on HO

OO:
- Mention why you would use the different Natural Gifts, I legitimately don't know what they're for (you're really slow and I doubt it KOs the bulky stuff like Poliwrath), tbh I'd just remove it but it's up to you.

Relatively simple, we don't have to hold back Golem any longer e_e good job The Leprechaun

QC 2/3

 

[Magnemite]

now that i've used it wp golem is absolutely godly, it should absolutely be the first slash along with sucker, and the fast set should probably be first

also you haven't responded to this in a while The Leprechaun, are you still working on this?

 

[The Leprechaun]

O shit i completely forgot about this :/. Really sorry dude but I think I'm going to have to drop this.

 

[WhiteDMist]

This was dropped. Locking.