Golurk (BW2 Revamp)【QC 3/3】【GP 2/2】


QC approvals: 3/3 [ PK Gaming || ginganinja || Colonel M ]
GP approvals: 2/2 [ Oglemi || sirndpt ]



[Overview]

<p>Golurk is unique in many ways; it is the only Pokemon that has the Ghost / Ground dual typing, which gives it unique key resistances. With its respectable base 124 Attack stat—which is high for a Ghost-type—decent defenses, and a nice number of new toys courtesy of BW2—including Stealth Rock and all of the elemental punches—it found a very interesting niche in the OU metagame. The ability to lay hazards while acting as a spinblocker is useful, even though Golurk struggles with two common spinners, namely Starmie and Tentacruel. Still, Golurk makes makes up for this by being immune to sandstorm and the rare ability to reliably counter Terrakion—something only few Pokemon can do.</p>

<p>Despite the release of No Guard, Golurk can't take as much advantage of it as Machamp can, which makes Iron Fist clearly the better option for it. The list of downsides for Golurk is sadly quite long; with five common weaknesses, Golurk will have a hard time against many Pokemon. Water, Ice, and Grass attacks severely hurt it and are seen on literally every team. Due to its Ghost typing, it also can't deal well with Dark and Ghost attacks, most notably Pursuit. Furthermore, Golurk's base 55 Speed is just horrible, making its only setup move—Rock Polish—an obviously bad choice with which to attempt a sweep. Instead, Golurk should focus on its supportive movepool and defensive capabilities to make full use of its potential.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Fire Punch / Shadow Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With this set, Golurk best fulfills its unique niche to set up Stealth Rock while blocking Rapid Spin at the same time. Earthquake is its most powerful attack, and severely dents everything weak to it. An Iron Fist-boosted Ice Punch is an invaluable new option for Golurk that makes Gliscor way easier to handle, and also grants near perfect coverage along with Earthquake. In the last slot, Golurk can choose between Fire Punch and Shadow Punch, which both gain a power boost from Iron Fist. While Fire Punch opens up a way for Golurk to break through walls and tanks such as Forretress, Ferrothorn, Scizor, and even Skarmory to some extent, Shadow Punch is still an option, as it is Golurk's best way to handle Starmie, Gengar, and Alakazam, all of which are OHKOed by it, and also 3HKOes Reuniclus.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Golurk's unique typing gives it three immunities in Normal, Fighting, and Electric attacks, and resistances to Rock, Bug, and Poison attacks. This gives Golurk a number of potential switch-ins, such as into a Choice locked Volt Switch, gaining time to set up Stealth Rock as fast as possible. The biggest selling point of Golurk's typing is that it is a solid Terrakion counter. Being immune to Close Combat and resistant to Stone Edge, it only fears the rarely seen Earthquake. With the given EVs, Golurk can survive Adamant Terrakion's Life Orb+2 Stone Edge comfortably, and possesses enough power to OHKO Terrakion with Earthquake.</p>

<p>This set can sponge many neutral hits. Most significantly, Life Orb Tornadus-T and +1 Salamence cannot OHKO with Hurricane and Outrage respectively. Even Jirachi struggles against Golurk as it can't paralyze Golurk at all, while Ice Punch, its only usable damaging move, deals 32.46% - 38.21%. Golurk can also sponge common priority attacks in OU, namely Mach Punch and ExtremeSpeed, that are aimed at its teammates, and Ice Punch variants are somewhat able to handle Dragonite. Breloom and Conkeldurr however, can simply pick their next effective move and hit Golurk hard with Bullet Seed and Payback or Ice Punch, respectively. Golurk can even take an Ice Shard from Adamant Life Orb Mamoswine but definitely not two.</p>

<p>A more offensive EV spread of 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe can be combined with an Adamant nature to hit way harder. This spread gives Golurk the jump on uninvested Scizor, which it can check well by simply OHKOing with Fire Punch. However, an Adamant Life Orb +2 Bullet Punch has a 56% chance to OHKO this offensive Golurk, but not the defensive one. Because of its crappy base Speed, there's absolutely no point in investing any more into this stat, so the rest should go into HP to make Golurk as bulky as possible.</p>

<p>Bulky Water-types are a sheer nightmare for Golurk, as it has nothing to handle them with, and thus needs proper team support to bypass these problems. Both Rotom-W and Rotom-C are ideal partners for this job, as they can patch up two of Golurk's weaknesses while sporting powerful STAB moves in Volt Switch, Discharge, Thunderbolt, and Leaf Storm for the latter, which deal well with most Water-types. Gastrodon's Storm Drain and Jellicent's Water Absorb abilities will give your team a handy Water-type immunity; they also have access to Toxic to stall out extremely bulky Water-types. Gastrodon even stops most opposing Rotom-W cold as it is immune to most of the attacking moves Rotom-W tend to carry. Vaporeon too has access to two great abilities that help out against most Water-types, while rain teams will have problems taking on Hydration variants. With both Toxic and Wish at its disposal, Vaporeon makes a great supporter to Golurk. Grass-types, such as Breloom, Celebi, and Virizion, also help against most Water-types thanks to their STAB moves. Jirachi is yet another good partner for Golurk; a Calm Mind set with Thunderbolt and Psyshock can handle threats such as Tentacruel and Calm Mind Keldeo.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Golurk sports a good number of alternative moves. Hammer Arm gets an Iron Fist boost and deals with Blissey, Chansey, and Rotom-W, which Golurk's other moves can't touch at all. Drain Punch also gets an Iron Fist boost; however, it is significantly weaker than Hammer Arm. Nonetheless, it provides HP recovery as well. Toxic cripples bulky Water-types, rendering them useless in the long run.</p>

<p>A Choice Band is Golurk's only way to pump its Attack stat and gives it a nice power boost; however, Golurk is too slow to take advantage of it. Rock Polish is its only real setup move, but Golurk's base Speed is so pathetic that it barely outspeeds all non-Choice Scarf Pokemon in OU, which makes it easy for the opponent to eliminate it with their Choice Scarf user.</p>

<p>A SubPunch set with Iron Fist can be used to get some free attacks off, but it generally lacks the Speed and coverage to pull off a sweep. Golurk's Dream World ability No Guard can grant perfectly accurate DynamicPunches and Stone Edges. However, there's not much more at Golurk's disposal that profits from it, and despite the fact that DynamicPunch is a great move when accurate, Golurk should leave this job to Machamp, who gets STAB on it and doesn't mind that much about opposing moves that get perfect accuracy, such as Hydro Pump.</p>

<p>ThunderPunch helps Golurk better deal with Water-types but isn't as good coverage-wise as the other elemental punches are. Rock Slide can be used over Stone Edge, trading power for accuracy. Bulldoze and Low Sweep can help Golurk bypass its Speed issues, but it only really helps against switch-ins and only if they are already quite slow. Low Kick is another usable Fighting-type move for coverage, but unlike Hammer Arm, doesn't reveive an Iron Fist boost. Magic Coat can surprise many opponents by reflecting back entry hazards and status moves, such as Toxic and Spore. Gravity is an option that gives (a potentially Iron Fist-boosted) DynamicPunch usable accuracy and allows Earthquake to hit everything, most notably Rotom-W, but Golurk's Speed issues are again an obstacle using this move successfully.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Even though Golurk's unique typing gives it nice resistances and immunities, it sadly got a lot of weaknesses too. Water-types are the main problem, and to make matters worse, they are extremely common. They don't mind taking Fire Punch and Ice Punch at all; Starmie and Tentacruel specifically can come into almost any move and force Golurk out with their STAB moves. Rotom-W and Gyarados don't even take any damage from Earthquake which makes them extremely hard for Golurk to handle. Grass-types, such as Virizion, Venusaur, and Breloom can come in on Stealth Rock or Earthquake easily and hit real hard with their appropriate STAB moves. Breloom even beats Substitute sets easily thanks to Bullet Seed. However, Grass-types need to be careful against Fire Punch and Ice Punch. Ice-types such as Mamoswine, Kyurem, Abomasnow, and Weavile will be hurt by Stealth Rock but they are all faster than Golurk, and thus have an easy time KOing it with any of their STAB moves. Mamoswine and Kyurem can both even handle Fire Punch thanks to their ability and secondary typing, respectively.</p>

<p>Pokemon that are part Flying-type or have the ability Levitate will come in easily on Earthquake. Gengar can take any move bar Shadow Punch, while Shadow Ball will OHKO Golurk easily. Hydreigon has to watch out for Ice Punch and Hammer Arm but else has no problems switching into Golurk and OHKOing with Draco Meteor. Latias, Latios, and all Therians and Incarnate formes of Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus have to watch out for Ice Punch. Unboosted Latias can't even manage to OHKO with Draco Meteor, whereas Life Orb Latios can OHKO with both Draco Meteor and Surf. The genies all safely 2HKO Golurk with an appropriate move. However, Landorus-T has slightly more problems. A Naive Life Orb Landorus's Earthquake does 48.69 - 57.32%, which has a 46% chance to 2HKO, factoring in Leftovers, while Golurk easily 2HKOes with Ice Punch, even factoring in Intimidate.</p>

<p>Offensive powerhouses also deal with Golurk with ease. Offensive Trick Room Pokemon such as Reuniclus can come in, set up, and start sweeping. All Ninetales, Volcarona, and Air Balloon Heatran will outspeed Golurk with ease and have a high chance to OHKO with their STAB Fire-type moves. Choice Band Haxorus and Dragonite don't have any problems either. It might sound absurd, but apart from Terrakion, Jirachi, and in some way also Mienshao, pretty much anything in OU at least makes a decent check to Golurk.</p>
 

shrang

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unique ability in laying out Stealth Rocks and being as a Spinblocker within one slot
So, why do we not have a Stealth Rock set, then? This sounds like a pretty cool niche, if you ask me.

name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Fire Punch
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
ability: Iron Fist
evs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe

Also, the Choice Band set seems questionable. Maybe it's because Choice Band Landorus that didn't get an analysis as well, but to paraphrase SDS: Ground is not a very good spamming STAB, with so many things immune to it, therefore can easily set up on you.
 

ginganinja

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No to Rock Polish Golurk for me. Hitting 418 speed after a Rock Polish really shows how fucking pathetic it is speed wise, and Golurk is going to struggle to find time to set up a boost in the first place. Assuming that you actually find the time to Rock Polish, then your opponent just sends in any scarfer not called Politoed / Tyranitar and revenges your ass to kingdom come.

I am still a little iffy on Substitute, since I think that pool of pokemon it can set up on is rather small, for example I think its limited to Tar / Toxicroak / Scarf Thundurus-T / Terrakion. I will try to think up some more but honestly, I would rate Choice Band higher, since you can just switch in and hit shit hard off the bat. For example I can KO Ferrothorn with Choice Band, while the Sub set has to try and set up a Sub while avoiding Power Whip.

This is just a personal opinion, I need to talk it over with other QC members.
 

Pocket

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So ginganinja, shrang, and I decided that all of the previous sets on-site are not set-worthy. SubPunch is outdone by Conkeldurr, CB is not ideal for reasons shrang suggested, and Rock Polish is easily revenge-killed by common Scarfers like Rotom-W (plus Landorus does this better).

Golurk's main niche is its unique defensive typing combined with its high attack, which allows it to tank hits and dish hits back. Being a Ghost-type that can set hazards (SR) is also a very unique niche only shared by Froslass and Ghost Arseus, making Rapid Spinning impossible while Golurk is out setting SR.

Basically list all the previous sets in OO and make shrang's set posted above me the main set for Golurk's OU analysis.
 

Colonel M

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If you were going to keep Choice Band, why would you use 252 Speed EVs? Golurk has an awesome base Speed of 55; might as well invest most (if not all) EVs into HP to help take hits.

I grant you that I haven't really used Golurkmoar, but to me Stealth Rock seems to be its prime niche. Substitute does have a couple merits over Conkeldurr (no damage from sandstorm and three nice immunities), but I'm going to question this set myself without some logs. The same with Choice Band and definitely Rock Polish. Rock Polish being weak to Ice Shard / Aqua Jet (albeit rare) and neutral to Bullet Punch makes the set look even worse. At least it's immune to Extremespeed and Mach Punch, I guess.
 
Ok, let's be honest - I put up the skeleton before I even started playtesting Golurk, I more orientated on the on-site analysis with BW2 updates and started to test them later on. Maybe a bad idea in the end but oh well, more work for me, yay..

Anyways, now that I had some fun with this thing, here's what I got so far:

- Stealth Rock is definately what Golurk can do best. It finds a lot of opportunities to come in and lay them out, but does horrible when it comes to lead the team

- Rock Polish just sucks, there's no reason to keep it on page, there are Scarfers that outspeed it easily (including every single fckin' OU Dragon [yes, even Dragonite would do so =_=])

- Substitute will be tested a bit longer, it has a number of opportunities to switch in and gets the time to set up, I admit OU is too fast and too strong in general but weaker, bulkier Pokemon still exist there as well, which help this set out

- Even though you say CB might not be worth it and will likely be rejected, I won't drop it down (yet) as I want to see if there's some potential in it I haven't found yet.


=====

Once I'm done with playtesting, I'll update this again.

Ok, after testing a lot today, all I can say is that Substitute just can't hold its own in battle due as its Defs and Speed don't support this set by any means, so Sub was moved to OO.


Choice Band had an impressive damage output most of the time, but it relies on predicting a bit too much to be called 'reliable'. However, it has some potential so Choice Band was mentioned as an option in OO too.


..That's it.. All that Golurk can and wants to do, is supporting the team with its great ability to set up Stealth Rock while acting as a Spinblocker and hitting real hard (yet slow) at the same time.

~Ready for QC Checks
 

shrang

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enough Speed to outrun hipster Scizor with 12 Spe EVs, max Attack, rest for HP
Man I can't believe I missed this, but this is definitely Speed creeping. I'd say drop it down to 84 Speed so you outspeed minimum Speed Scizor.
 

PK Gaming

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You should mention in both the overview & main set that Golurk has the ability to reliablycounter Terrakion. (something that very, very, very few Pokemon can do.) It's THE reason to use Golurk in BW OU.

horrible lead, best bring in into a resisted move and then set up
I'd remove this, since it's common sense.
 
Tbh I don't think Golurk even deserves an OU analysis. It's usage as a spinblocker is very limited as Starmie can easliy KO it with a Hydropump or even an LO boosted Surf (even w/o Surf will do 85.95% - 101.65%) and Tentacruel will also outspeed and 2HKO with Scald. The only spinner it stops 100% of the time is Forretress (which will even 4HKO with HP Ice, lol). It can't even stop Blastoise or Cryogonal as it's just too slow and frail, and Donphan can 2HKO with EQ while easily shrugging off 2 or 3 of Golurk's.

Now too "countering" Terrakion, which everyone is seeming to hype: Golurk is too frail to be considerd a real Terrakion counter. Jolly Banded EQ will always 2HKO even after leftovers, while Stone Edge will do about 45%, a possible 2HKO after just one layer of spikes. I'd rather just use Gliscor and have better recovery aswell as being an all around better mon.

Anyway he may have a great attack stat, but doesn't have the movepool nor the speed to use it at its fullest potential. Most physical walls can deal with Golurk easily and because of its poor defenses and speed it can also be easily checked.

Golurk has a bad case of the Metangs when it comes to OU.

All calcs are considering Golurk runs 176 HP.
 

Pocket

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Just a few things:

I don't mind reconsidering the Choice Band set; sure being choice-locked to EQ is bad, but it does have other options in its punch moves. Shadow Punch has respectable power after STAB & Iron Fist boost, and Hammer Arm / Ice Punch also packs decent power after Iron Fist. I'd think CB would be best for Golurk to dish hard damage during its short period on the field.

[Overview]
~ Note that Golurk's not a good spinblocker, despite being a Ghost-type

enough Speed to outrun hipster Scizor with 12 Spe EVs, max Attack, rest for HP
Remove

1.) it breaks through most VoltTurn comboes
2.) it has extremely useful immunities/resistances to common priority moves (Mach Punch, Extremespeed)
A pokemon hard-countered by Rotom-W is not a Volt-Turn counter lol.

Having immunities to some priority moves is irrelevant on a slow Pokemon like Golurk.

appropriate team mates needed to deal with them
Specify. Amoonguss with double spore? Celebi / Latias with T-Wave?

OO mentions:
~ Shadow Punch to hit Psychic types hard
~ Hammer Arm to hit Blissey / Chansey / Rotom-W hard; hits Ferrothorn and Skarmory harder in rain. Note that it receives Iron Fist boost (iirc).
~ Toxic can wear down bulky Water-types
~ Rock Polish, but it's easily revenged
~ Remove Icy Wind
~ Remove Substitute; you already mentioned SubPunch
~ Remove Swagger -_-

Checks & Counters:
~ needs to be beefed up a lot
~ Gyarados / Rotom-W takes nothing from EQ and doesn't mind Ice Punch at all.
~ Politoed, Jellicent, and Slowbro
~ Most bulky Grass-types can switch in on EQ and take Golurk out; Celebi and Tangrowth are among the best for this. Celebi may want to be careful of Shadow Punch depending on its defensive investment.
~ Despite the Iron Fist boost, Golurk is no match against Skarmory with Fire Punch / Hammer Arm; needs Focus Punch / CB Hammer Arm to really put a dent.
~ Lists these revenge-killers that can easily kill it -
  • Offensive Water-types, such as Keldeo, Choice Toed, Gastrodon, Starmie
  • Offensive Grass-types, such as Venusaur, Breloom, and Virizion; Breloom gets a special mention for attacking through Substitute with Bullet Seed
  • Weavile, Mamoswine, Kyurem, Abomasnow and their Ice moves
  • Starmie and Tentacruel beats Golurk 1-on-1 and Rapid Spin
  • Gengar takes hefty damage from Ice Punch (60% min) and dies to Shadow Punch, but it can switch in on EQ and Shadow Ball KO Golurk.
  • Hydreigon is a similar case to Gengar, except it must be wary of Hammer Arm instead.
  • Other powerful special hits from the likes of Latios, Tornadus, Thundurus, and OTR Reuniclus, Ninetales, Volcarona, and Heatran.
  • CB Dragons, such as Haxorus and Dragonite, can plow through Golurk
 

Seven Deadly Sins

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yo pocket i think you just named the entire metagame there in "what to look out for"

I'm really on the fence about Golurk even getting a set. Its defenses are mediocre at best, its speed is awful, and it doesn't have the tools it needs to abuse its unique typing. If it was bulkier or faster it would be great, but with neither of those things it's hard to advocate Golurk as an effective OU candidate.
 

alexwolf

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Maybe we should make Golurk more defensive so that he can actually do what he claims to (counter Terrakion)? The current set loses 40% min from CB Stone Edge which is pathetic, while it can potentially lose a min of 27%, and also avoid the 2hko from EQ after SR (however rare this situation might be). A big maybe, but who knows...

And even with no Atk evs Golruk can still prevent what it used to, from setting up on him, as every steel type that was ohkoed/2hkoed with the offensive spread is still 2hkoed by Fire Punch, and Ice Punch still hits very hard the dragons and Gliscor (it deals 57.62 - 67.79% to standard Gliscor with 0 Atk evs and neutral nature).

Finally with a fully defensive spread Golurk takes an average of 20.5% from Jirachi's Iron Head, which is a 6-7hko with lefties, while you deal back 64.35 - 76.23% with uninvested EQ (which Jirachi would stay in and risk the odds of taking so huge damage in the proccess, being unable to wall the threats it is supposed to after). Add in the fact that haxRachi can't paralyze you no matter what, and you got yourself a pretty nice Jirachi check/counter.

So being able to spin-block and set-up SR, hitting hard enough to avoid being set-up bait from the biggest OU threats, while countering Terrakion and haxRachi are pretty good niches that are enough to justify an OU analysis for Golurk,imo.

Also if you go with the defensive spread, Wish support should get a big mention. Golurk has very nice synergy with Blissey/Chansey and walls many of the threats that trouble them (Terrakion, haxRachi and Mienshao in particular).
 

shrang

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Yeah, a physically defensive spread looks like it's the best option right now. With 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 SpD Impish, you avoid getting 2HKOed by Choice Band Earthquake from Terrakion and will always OHKO with your own EQ. Wish support sounds good too.
 

alexwolf

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You clearly meant Def shrang. And your spread looks very good, being able to ohko Terrakion after SR, and still avoiding the 2hko from CB Terrakion.
 
I quickly checked some damage calcs with shrang's EV spread and it really sounds interesting. Specs Tornadus Hurricane can't OHKO this set reliably any longer, means that LO Tornadus-T won't neither. In return, It still packs enough power to OHKO the likes of Terrakion, Scizor, Dragonite, Heatran and others that are x4 weak to either of its moves or hit for super effective damage by Earthquake.

Shadow Punch also seems a viable option again, OHKOing Gengar, Espeon, and Alakazam, while 4/0 Starmie can be OHKOed as well with Stealth Rock support.

I'll change the EV spread to this one.
 
Alright, so I decided to try out shrang's spread and it actually works surprising well. (for Golurk atleast) It works very well with Roserade which can sponge water and grass attacks Golurk doesn't enjoy. It's also a great partner for Lati@s as it can usually switch into (and take out) Jirachi.

Here's one of the battles I had:
(I know I forgot to give Golurk lefties, I blame Showdown's shitty teambuilder.)

Basti2 joined.
pinkeutae joined.
Format: OU
Rated battle
Rule: Sleep Clause
Rule: Species Clause
Rule: OHKO Clause
Rule: Evasion Clause
Basti2's team:
Golurk / Tyranitar / Latias / Roserade / Terrakion / Rotom-Wash
pinkeutae's team:
Politoed / Tornadus-Therian / Thundurus-Therian / Terrakion / Ditto / Jirachi
Battle between Basti2 and pinkeutae started!
Basti2 sent out Roserade!
pinkeutae sent out Ymir (Terrakion)!
Turn 1
Basti2 called Roserade back!
Basti2 sent out Golurk!
The foe's Ymir used Stone Edge!
It's not very effective... Golurk lost 31% of its health!
Turn 2
pinkeutae called Ymir back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Politoed)!
The foe's Courier's Drizzle made it rain!
Golurk used Stealth Rock!

Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Turn 3
Basti2 called Golurk back!
Basti2 sent out Roserade!
The foe's Courier used Toxic!
Turn 4
Roserade used Sleep Powder!
The attack of Roserade missed!
The foe's Courier used Scald!
It's not very effective... Roserade lost 19% of its health!
Roserade was burned!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Roserade was hurt by its burn!
Turn 5
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Jirachi)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Roserade used Sleep Powder!
The foe's Courier fell asleep!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Roserade was hurt by its burn!
Turn 6
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Ymir (Terrakion)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Ymir!
Basti2 called Roserade back!
Basti2 sent out Golurk!
Turn 7
pinkeutae called Ymir back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Politoed)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Golurk used Earthquake!
The foe's Courier lost 33% of its health!

The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 8
Basti2 called Golurk back!
Basti2 sent out Roserade!
The foe's Courier used Scald!
It's not very effective... Roserade lost 17% of its health!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 9
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Jirachi)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Roserade used Leaf Storm!
It's not very effective... The foe's Courier lost 19% of its health!
Roserade's Special Attack harshly fell!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 10
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out 1 QUAS 2 WEX (Tornadus-Therian)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX!
Basti2 called Roserade back!
Basti2 sent out Golurk!
Turn 11
Basti2 called Golurk back!
Basti2 sent out Latias!
The foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX used Hidden Power!
It's not very effective... Latias lost 13% of its health!
Latias restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 12
pinkeutae called 1 QUAS 2 WEX back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Jirachi)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Latias used Calm Mind!
Latias's Special Attack rose!
Latias's Special Defense rose!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Latias restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 13
Latias used Calm Mind!
Latias's Special Attack rose!
Latias's Special Defense rose!
The foe's Courier is fast asleep.
Latias restored HP using its Leftovers!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 14
The foe's Courier is fast asleep.
Latias used Roar!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Ymir!
Turn 15
The foe's Ymir used Stone Edge!
A critical hit! Latias lost 100% of its health!
Latias fainted!
Basti2 sent out Terrakion!
Turn 16
pinkeutae called Ymir back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Jirachi)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Terrakion used Close Combat!
The foe's Courier lost 70% of its health!
Terrakion's Defense fell!
Terrakion's Special Defense fell!
Terrakion lost some of its HP!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 17
Terrakion used Close Combat!
The foe's Courier lost 17% of its health!
Terrakion's Defense fell!
Terrakion's Special Defense fell!
Terrakion lost some of its HP!
The foe's Courier fainted!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Ditto)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
The foe's Courier transformed into Terrakion!
Turn 18
Terrakion used Protect!
Terrakion protected itself!
The foe's Courier used Close Combat!
Terrakion protected itself!
Turn 19
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Politoed)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Basti2 called Terrakion back!
Basti2 sent out Golurk!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 20
Basti2 called Golurk back!
Basti2 sent out Roserade!
The foe's Courier used Toxic!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 21
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Ditto)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
The foe's Courier transformed into Roserade!
Roserade used Sleep Powder!
The foe's Courier fell asleep!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 22
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Politoed)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
Roserade used Hidden Power!
It's not very effective... The foe's Courier lost 5% of its health!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 23
pinkeutae called Courier back!
pinkeutae sent out 1 QUAS 2 WEX (Tornadus-Therian)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX!
Roserade used Leaf Storm!
It's not very effective... The foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX lost 38% of its health!
Roserade's Special Attack harshly fell!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 24
Basti2 called Roserade back!
Basti2 sent out Rotom-Wash!
The foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX used Hurricane!
It's not very effective... Rotom-Wash lost 44% of its health!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 25
pinkeutae called 1 QUAS 2 WEX back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Ditto)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
The foe's Courier transformed into Rotom-Wash!
Rotom-Wash used Hydro Pump!
A critical hit! It's not very effective... The foe's Courier lost 63% of its health!
The foe's Courier fainted!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!
pinkeutae sent out Ymir (Terrakion)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Ymir!
Turn 26
Basti2 called Rotom-Wash back!
Basti2 sent out Golurk!
The foe's Ymir used Close Combat!
It doesn't affect Golurk...
Turn 27
pinkeutae called Ymir back!
pinkeutae sent out 1 QUAS 2 WEX (Tornadus-Therian)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX!
Golurk used Ice Punch!
It's super effective! The foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX lost 45% of its health!
The foe's 1 QUAS 2 WEX fainted!
pinkeutae sent out Ymir (Terrakion)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Ymir!
Turn 28
The foe's Ymir used Stone Edge!
It's not very effective... Golurk lost 30% of its health!
Golurk used Earthquake!
It's super effective! The foe's Ymir lost 75% of its health!
The foe's Ymir fainted!
pinkeutae sent out 3 WEX (Thundurus-Therian)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's 3 WEX!
Turn 29
The foe's 3 WEX used Hidden Power!
It's super effective! Golurk lost 39% of its health!
Golurk fainted!

Basti2 sent out Tyranitar!
Tyranitar's Sand Stream whipped up a sandstorm!
Turn 30
pinkeutae called 3 WEX back!
pinkeutae sent out Courier (Politoed)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's Courier!
The foe's Courier's Drizzle made it rain!
Tyranitar used Crunch!
The foe's Courier lost 32% of its health!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 31
Basti2 called Tyranitar back!
Basti2 sent out Roserade!
The foe's Courier used Protect!
But it failed!
The foe's Courier restored HP using its Leftovers!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 32
Roserade used Leaf Storm!
It's super effective! The foe's Courier lost 24% of its health!
Roserade's Special Attack harshly fell!
The foe's Courier fainted!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
pinkeutae sent out 3 WEX (Thundurus-Therian)!
Pointed stones dug into the foe's 3 WEX!
Turn 33
The foe's 3 WEX used Grass Knot!
It's not very effective... Roserade lost 4% of its health!
Roserade used Sleep Powder!
The foe's 3 WEX fell asleep!
Roserade restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 34
pinkeutae forfeited.
Basti2 won the battle!


Also, Golurk is great because so many people don't even know it's part ghost!
The foe's Toxicroak used Bulk Up!
The foe's Toxicroak's Attack rose!
The foe's Toxicroak's Defense rose!
Golurk used Earthquake!
It's super effective! The foe's Toxicroak lost 75% of its health!
The foe's Toxicroak restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 2
The foe's Toxicroak used Drain Punch!
It doesn't affect Golurk...
Golurk used Earthquake!
It's super effective! The foe's Toxicroak lost 32% of its health!

Turn 3
The foe's Toxicroak used Swords Dance!
The foe's Toxicroak's Attack sharply rose!
Golurk used Earthquake!
It's super effective! The foe's Toxicroak hung on using its Focus Sash!
The foe's Toxicroak lost 100% of its health!
Golurk restored HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 4
The foe's Toxicroak used Drain Punch!
It doesn't affect Golurk...
Golurk used Earthquake!
It's super effective! The foe's Toxicroak lost 0% of its health!
The foe's Toxicroak fainted!
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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I know I'm not QC but PKGaming told me to post it here. We're telling Golurk's Choice Band set to "lurk moar". Let's review its issues:

- STAB EQ / Shadow Punch is really easy to punish. Emphasis on Shadow Punch, which is a warm welcoming party for Pursuit users. Golurk might as well serve desserts with its attack.
- Elemental punches are kind of pathetic unless it constantly hits SE.
- Honestly it's way too slow. Being slower than Tyranitar makes it all the more easier to punish Golurk.

Golurk should play its key advantages - it can lay Stealth Rock and deter Terrakion in the process. With all its issues tied together it requires careful precision to even come close to using Choice Band Golurk effectively.

So no go for Choice Ba(n)d.
 
I know I'm not QC but PKGaming told me to post it here. We're telling Golurk's Choice Band set to "lurk moar". Let's review its issues:

- STAB EQ / Shadow Punch is really easy to punish. Emphasis on Shadow Punch, which is a warm welcoming party for Pursuit users. Golurk might as well serve desserts with its attack.
- Elemental punches are kind of pathetic unless it constantly hits SE.
- Honestly it's way too slow. Being slower than Tyranitar makes it all the more easier to punish Golurk.

Golurk should play its key advantages - it can lay Stealth Rock and deter Terrakion in the process. With all its issues tied together it requires careful precision to even come close to using Choice Band Golurk effectively.

So no go for Choice Ba(n)d.
Shall I scratch Choice Band from OO then too or is it ok to keep it there?
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
OO seems okay to me. Out of all the sets listed, Choice Band is probably the closest set I would even "consider" if I were to use Golurk differently. Substitute might have a fighting competition if only because it allows me to switch moves around from time to time.

Also describe how No Guard Dynamicpunch should be left to Machamp due to having STAB behind the attack (unSTABbed Dynamicpunch isn't that good IMO). If this were the lower tiers that Machamp doesn't exist in it might have a chance. With Machamp available and easily outclassing it for the most part, it's best left to the pros.
 
It's not just the fact Dynamic Punch doesn't receive STAB from Golurk, the bigger reason for me to put this to OO from the very beginning was, that it absolutely lacks any other move (Stone Edge lol) that might profit from No Guard. In return, Golurk just would hate to take a perfectly accurate Hydro Pump or Will-O-Wisp, especially since he's so damn slow that he has to take a hit before being able to attack.
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Let's bear in mind that Machamp only uses Stone Edge to compliment Dynamicpunch as far as inaccurate moves go (using Fire Blast is a mediocre option) and is also susceptible to those attacks as well.
 

Pocket

be the upgraded version of me
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I don't see any mentions of Skarmory in Checks and Counters.

It's worth noting that CB Hammer Arm and SubPunch is Golurk's best bet to overcome Skarmory.

edit: I stand corrected. As for Sub Punch, Focus Punch always moves last, meaning Skarmory cannot Roost without being hit super-effectively.
 
80 Atk Iron Fist Golurk Fire Punch vs 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory (+Def) : 28,74% - 34,13%
80 Atk Golurk Earthquake vs 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory (+Def) Landed : 48.5 - 57.48%
252 Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Golurk (+Atk) Hammer Arm vs 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory (+Def) : 35,63% - 41,92%
252 Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Golurk (+Atk) Fire Punch vs 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory (+Def) : 53,29% - 62,87% [safe 2HKO, factoring Leftovers]
252 Atk Iron Fist Golurk (+Atk) Focus Punch vs 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory (+Def) : 35,63% - 41,92%


CB Fire Punch is probably just better for this job.
But the given set can deal with Skarmory somewhat, predicting Roosts with Earthquake.
 

PK Gaming

Persona 5
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I'm not sure what the main spread accomplishes... what are you obtaining with those Speed EVs? 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe seems like a better option (it puts you quite ahead of Scizor... landing that strong EQ before it U-turn is cool)

Shadow Punch catches Starmie on the switch, also KOes Gengar and Alakazam but Reuniclus can just be 3HKOed
I don't think this needs to be mentioned; Catching starmie probably isn't happening since it risks a strong EQ or shadow Punch. Gengar is actually a check, and the fact that shadow punch can ohko seems like a common sense thing.

Anyway

QC APPROVED (1/3)
 

shrang

General Kenobi
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That's supposed to be defense, not speed, by the way. Sorry about that. Please change it husky
 

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