Granbull @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Facade/Heal Bell/Pretty much any move at all
A lot of people seem to forget and dismiss Granbull's rather high base 120 Attack, instead reducing Granbull to the common defensive set. However, with a Choice Band, Granbull's Attack is taken full advantage of and boosts it to powerful levels. Due to being an ex-Normal-type, Granbull's movepool is very colorful with many cool moves. Granbull gets perfect coverage with Fairy/Fire/Ground (I guess it can't dent Weezing very well. So just run a Mesprit or something). Play Rough is a decently powerful STAB, Fire Punch covers Ferroseed and Vileplume, while EQ covers other Steels, Fire-types, and Poison-types. These 3 moves allow it to hit everything in the tier for at least neutral damage. The last moveslot is just filler. You can run Heal Bell to rid your team of status, but this forces you to switch out. I like to run Facade, though, since it takes advantage of Will-O-Wisps and Scald burns. 140 BP Facade becomes even stronger than STAB Play Rough and hits
extremely hard. Meanwhile, Granbull can still wall many physical threats using Intimidate.
The EV spread maximizes Attack to hit as hard as possible. The rest goes into HP and Def so Granbull can still tank hits. An alternate spread of 208 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 44 Spe allows you to outspeed standard Vileplume, which you can 2HKO with Fire Punch if it tries to switch in on you.
Important Calcs:
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Seismitoad: 198-234 (47.8 - 56.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Pelipper: 165-195 (51 - 60.3%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Spiritomb: 312-368 (102.6 - 121%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Uxie: 183-216 (51.6 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 160 Def Eviolite Togetic: 147-174 (46.9 - 55.5%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Ferroseed: 260-308 (89 - 105.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (this is max def ferroseed, something most people dont even run)
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vileplume: 204-242 (57.6 - 68.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Seismitoad: 205-242 (49.5 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Facade (140 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Pelipper: 171-202 (52.9 - 62.5%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
did i say granbull can't dent weezing? never mind:
252+ Atk Choice Band Granbull Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Weezing: 151-178 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 89.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
The only problem with this Granbull is that it sometimes gets worn down due to no lefties or RestTalk, which is why a partner with Wish is very helpful and will allow Granbull to keep tanking hits and then doing massive damage. Audino and Lickilicky stand out as great partners due to Granbull being able to handle their Fighting weakness while Audino/Licky take special attacks directed at Granbull.
Overall, Choice Band Granbull is quite a viable and powerful threat. It also has quite the surprise factor against opponents! Try it out :)