Always Greener on the Other Side: The Grass-Types of UU

By Celebiii. Released: 2022/03/28.
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Art by Daylight

Art by Daylight.

Introduction

Grass is a common typing in Pokémon, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there are also many viable Grass-types in UU. Grass-types frequently provide their teams with important defensive utility, resisting common types like Ground, Water, and Electric, and provide other benefits like spreading status, setting up entry hazards, and removing items via Knock Off. However, Grass-types can also often dish out some serious offense as well, usually complemented by their secondary typings, especially through solid offensive stats and great coverage. With so many options to choose from, it can be difficult to pick the right Grass-type for your team! The aim of this article is to help ease that decision by giving quick summaries of the roles the various UU-viable Grass-types fulfill, and contrasting them against each other to make their strengths and weaknesses clear. Let's begin!

UU-by-Usage Grass-types

Amoonguss

Amoonguss is a defensive pillar and one of the very best Pokémon in UU, boasting a bevy of invaluable traits that allow it to find its way onto a great many teams. Perhaps the greatest standout is Amoonguss's access to the no-miss Spore to completely put an opposing Pokémon out of action for several turns, forcing teams to make the difficult decision of which Pokémon to sacrifice to slumber when Amoonguss hits the field. Another crucial advantage is Amoonguss's ability Regenerator, which keeps it healthy throughout a match, offsetting damage from entry hazards and the variety of hits it is tasked with absorbing from threats like Azumarill and Lycanroc-D. Not to be forgotten as well are Amoonguss's great defensive typing and bulk, giving it a Toxic immunity and resistances to Fighting and Fairy. Access to Sludge Bomb allows Amoonguss to spread poison on switch-ins like Mandibuzz and threatens other Grass-types like Tangrowth and Zarude, and Foul Play makes any physical attacker think twice about trying to boost their Attack. Thanks to these traits, Amoonguss checks or even counters a huge variety of important Pokémon in UU, including top-tier threats like Zarude, Primarina, Azumarill, and Swampert. Amoonguss does have its shortcomings, however. Its Poison typing is a double-edged sword that makes it neutral to Ground, meaning it is not an effective long-term answer to certain offensive Ground-types its main competitor Tangrowth handles effortlessly, such as Excadrill and Zygarde-10%. It also makes Amoonguss weak to Psychic, meaning it must run from strong STAB attacks like Azelf and Slowking's Psychic and making common threats like Thundurus-T and Primarina all too happy to exploit by running Psychic coverage. Finally, after Amoonguss uses Spore, it becomes much more passive and can be taken advantage of by many more Pokémon like Celesteela, since they no longer need to fear being put to sleep. Nevertheless, Amoonguss is the definition of a consistent performer, fitting on a great variety of teamstyles (pretty much anything except hyper offense) and being the first choice of Grass-type for many UU players.

Tangrowth
  • Rocky Helmet Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
  • Ability: Regenerator
  • EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
  • Relaxed Nature
  • - Giga Drain / Power Whip
  • - Knock Off
  • - Sludge Bomb
  • - Synthesis / Earthquake
  • Assault Vest Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
  • Ability: Regenerator
  • EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
  • Sassy Nature
  • - Giga Drain / Power Whip
  • - Knock Off
  • - Sludge Bomb
  • - Earthquake

Tangrowth has been a counterpart to Amoonguss throughout this generation, acting as the alternative defensive Grass-type and trading places with it on the Viability Rankings many times. In comparison to Amoonguss, Tangrowth sports a pure Grass typing, allowing it to resist Ground and not be weak to Psychic. This allows Tangrowth to consistently answer threats Amoonguss can be worn down by, most notably Ground-types, including Excadrill and Zygarde-10%. Tangrowth hits much harder than Amoonguss thanks to its surprisingly high base attacking stats, allowing it to threaten foes like Azumarill and Calm Mind Primarina with a Power Whip OHKO where Amoonguss would come up short. Additionally, Tangrowth is physically bulkier than Amoonguss when running its physically defensive set, and it can more easily run an Assault Vest set to become specially bulky if its team demands it. Finally, Tangrowth provides fantastic utility for its team with Knock Off, a move that is more or less a requirement for every team, punishing switch-ins like Celesteela and Moltres with item removal. Still, like Amoonguss, Tangrowth is not without its downsides. Tangrowth's physically defensive set is much more susceptible to special attacks than Amoonguss, while the Assualt Vest set is not as physically bulky, meaning Tangrowth is always compromising on one side of the defensive spectrum. Its lack of a Toxic immunity additionally means that it can be worn down throughout a game more easily than Amoonguss by Pokémon that commonly carry Toxic like Aegislash, Chansey, Rotom-W, and Swampert. In terms of type matchups, Tangrowth's pure Grass typing, while making it stronger vs. Ground, also burdens it with poor matchups against several other notable types. A neutrality to Fairy also means its physically defensive set isn't a good check to offensive variants of Primarina, and a weakness to Bug means the U-turns Tangrowth absorbs from Zarude sting it more than they would Amoonguss. Finally, Tangrowth is also weak to Poison, meaning that it must run from Amoonguss and that it is vulnerable to threats that Amoonguss is less scared of, like Nihilego and Tentacruel. That being said, Tangrowth is still an excellent Pokémon that plugs defensive gaps in teams where most other Pokémon could not, and its longevity with Regenerator and huge bulk can offset its defensive shortcomings, making it a great choice for every style except hyper offense.

Tapu Bulu
  • Life Orb Tapu Bulu @ Life Orb
  • Ability: Grassy Surge
  • EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe
  • Adamant Nature
  • - Swords Dance
  • - Horn Leech
  • - Close Combat
  • - Darkest Lariat / Zen Headbutt / Stone Edge
  • Heavy-Duty Boots / Rocky Helmet Tapu Bulu @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Rocky Helmet
  • Ability: Grassy Surge
  • EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
  • Impish Nature
  • - Horn Leech
  • - Dazzling Gleam
  • - Toxic
  • - Synthesis

Tapu Bulu has experienced quite the rollercoaster of viability in SS UU, but it maintains a definite presence in the current metagame. Its two main sets are the Life Orb + Swords Dance set and the physically defensive set.

Let's first examine the Swords Dance set. This Tapu Bulu variant becomes a powerful wallbreaker after a boost, conveniently offsetting recoil from the Life Orb it carries via the Grassy Terrain Tapu Bulu sets. Its STAB Horn Leech, which also benefits from the Grassy Terrain with a 50% power boost, threatens heavy damage on important metagame presences like Primarina, Slowking, and Excadrill and aids in keeping Tapu Bulu healthy. Along with the requisite Horn Leech, Tapu Bulu enjoys a variety of coverage options that allow it to pick its checks and counters and force its opponents to guess which ones it carries. Close Combat allows Tapu Bulu to not be walled by bulky Steel-types like Celesteela and Skarmory. Darkest Lariat allows Tapu Bulu to threaten Aegislash, Jirachi, and Galarian Slowbro; Zen Headbutt puts a hefty dent into Amoonguss, Nidoking, and Nihilego; and Stone Edge punishes Fire-types like Moltres and Rotom-H and Flying-types like Thundurus-T and Salamence. This variety in coverage is a blessing and a curse, however, in that Tapu Bulu will never have the coverage to hit everything it would like to. In particular, not being able to significantly damage Aegislash without Darkest Lariat means that this is often the coverage move Tapu Bulu finds itself using, meaning that Tapu Bulu will be unable to threaten Amoonguss and Moltres. It also suffers from being a slow wallbreaker with a unique but exploitable defensive typing, which lends itself to being revenge KOed by faster threats. That being said, you'd be foolish to underestimate a boosted Tapu Bulu and the havoc it can wreak!

On the other end of the spectrum is the physically defensive Tapu Bulu variant, which excels at holding off several dangerous threats like Azumarill, Thundurus-T, Crawdaunt, Conkeldurr, and Zygarde-10%. Just like on the Swords Dance set, Tapu Bulu's Terrain-boosted Horn Leech helps to keep itself in good shape, but the defensive set augments this with manual recovery from Synthesis as well. Dazzling Gleam hits Fighting-, Dragon-, and Dark-type switch-ins, which include several of the previously mentioned physical attackers, but also Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Salamence, and Zarude. Rocky Helmet aids in dealing with physical assaults thrown at Tapu Bulu and punishes U-turns from pivots such as Zarude, Mandibuzz, and Choice Scarf Diggersby. Finally, Toxic is used as a catch-all move to hit most Pokémon that switch into Tapu Bulu like Tangrowth and Moltres. The disadvantage of this Tapu Bulu variant is that it can be quite passive, allowing it to be taken advantage of by Pokémon it cannot meaningfully damage. In particular, Steel-types like Aegislash, Celesteela, and Skarmory take advantage ofthis Tapu Bulu variant well, since Tapu Bulu cannot threaten them at all, and they can frequently use Tapu Bulu to set up entry hazards, set up a Substitute, or boost their stats. Don't underestimate this stalwart guardian, though—it watches over an entire island, after all!

Venusaur

Venusaur is found almost exclusively on sun teams, but in its role on those teams, it is utterly unmatched. Venusaur blows by the entire UU metagame under sunny weather thanks to Chlorophyll, and from there it begins its terrifying offensive assault. Grass / Poison / Fire coverage in addition to Life Orb makes Venusaur incredibly difficult to stomach hits from. In addition, its good natural bulk often allows it to use Growth while under sun, effectively acting as a Nasty Plot to allow it to truly annihilate whatever dares to try to take it on. Even the few reliable answers UU has to an unboosted Venusaur in Nihilego, Chandelure, specially defensive Umbreon, and Chansey cannot handle it well at all at +2 Special Attack, meaning that very often a team's only recourse is to wait out the assault with Protect and many sacrifices or try to take it down with strong priority moves. Thankfully, UU has several options for this—Lycanroc-D's Accelerock, Zygarde-10%'s ExtremevSpeed, and most importantly Mamoswine's Ice Shard all put sizeable dents into Venusaur, which can be enough to take it down after Venusaur has weakened itself through Life Orb recoil. Certain bulky offensive Pokémon like Salamence and Moltres are also able to take one unboosted hit from Venusaur and threaten it back with super effective STAB moves in Hurricane and Flamethrower. If sun is not up, Venusaur's speed is unimpressive, allowing frail offensive Pokémon like Nidoking, Thundurus-T, and Azelf opportunities to threaten it out or KO it. Though not occupying the traditional defensive roles Grass-types take on, Venusaur has a notable presence in the UU metagame, and one that can quickly dispatch teams that do not respect it when being built.

  • Heavy-Duty Boots Zarude @ Heavy-Duty Boots
  • Ability: Leaf Guard
  • EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  • Jolly Nature
  • - Power Whip
  • - Darkest Lariat
  • - U-turn
  • - Jungle Healing
  • Choice Scarf Zarude @ Choice Scarf
  • Ability: Leaf Guard
  • EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  • Jolly Nature
  • - Power Whip
  • - Darkest Lariat
  • - U-turn
  • - Jungle Healing

The final and perhaps most viable of the UU-by-usage Grass-types is Zarude, Generation 8's contribution to Pokémon's beloved cast of Mythical Pokémon. Zarude's main role in UU is acting as a fast offensive pivot, and it performs this role spectacularly with either of its two main sets. The Heavy-Duty Boots set allows Zarude to switch in without taking entry hazard damage, which can prolong its utility throughout a game. The Choice Scarf set on the other hand will be struck by any entry hazards present on the field, but it outspeeds just about everything in the UU metagame (a notable exception being Venusaur under sunlight), allowing it to pull off many safe U-turns over the course of a game without fearing faster Pokémon like Azelf and Keldeo and perform helpful speed control and revenge KO duties to shore its team up against fast offensive threats. Both sets almost always run the same complement of moves and identical EVs, with the rare Close Combat for Steel-types or Rock Slide for Fire-types like Moltres occasionally popping up as well. What makes Zarude so good at its job is its great natural bulk and Attack stat; its bulk allows it to check threats like Aegislash and Excadrill, and its high Attack stat lets it punish switch-ins like Moltres, Celesteela, and Salamence. Zarude's signature move Jungle Healing also complements this facet of the Rogue Monkey Pokémon's gameplan; using this move, Zarude is able to rid itself of status ailments and heal 25% of its HP in one go, allowing it to bypass attempts to cripple it with burns and Toxic from the likes of Slowking and Aegislash, making it a great switch-in to them. Notably, Zarude is one of the best checks to one of the hardest Pokémon to handle in the tier thanks to Jungle Healing: Substitute + Toxic Aegislash. Zarude threatens heavy damage with Darkest Lariat, resists Aegislash's STAB Shadow Ball, and easily heals off any attempts to Toxic it. These traits combine to make Zarude an exceptional Pokémon in the current UU metagame that can enable many other Pokémon like Moltres and Swampert through its reliable offensive pivoting abilities. Zarude, like any Pokémon, is not without flaw, though. It is often forced into being a so-called "U-turn bot" throughout a game to maintain momentum because of the many defensive checks it has, and this means that it is frequently chipped down by Rocky Helmets and stray hits throughout a game, sometimes without having a good opportunity to make use of its STAB attacks. Additionally, although Zarude is fast, its Heavy-Duty Boots set is still outsped by several good UU Pokémon, including Lycanroc-D, Azelf, Zygarde-10%, and Cobalion. Conversely, the Choice Scarf set is outsped by very little,but is even more forced into using U-turn whenever it comes in, lest it lock into a move that can be taken advantage of. Lastly, Zarude's partial Dark typing opens defensive holes in its team that other Grass-types like Amoonguss and Tapu Bulu do not, notably making teams with Zarude weaker to Fairy-types like Azumarill and Primarina and Fighting-types like Cobalion and Conkeldurr. In truth, these flaws are extremely minor, and many UU players consider Zarude to be one of the best Pokémon in the tier—you will rarely go wrong with this great ape on your team!

RU- and Lower-by-Usage Grass-types Viable in UU

Celebi

Celebi is a much more specific defensive Grass-type than staples Amoonguss or Tangrowth, but it has a valuable niche nonetheless. Celebi's biggest selling point is its access to Stealth Rock, which no other UU-viable Grass-type has and it can use to provide utility even in the face of Pokémon it cannot threaten, like Celesteela and Skarmory. Celebi is also able to maintain a modest (pun intended) offensive presence with Psychic and Leaf Storm, allowing it to threaten heavy damage or OHKOs on Pokémon that would take advantage of other Grass-types, like Conkeldurr and Thundurus-T. Speaking of Thundurus-T, it's a giant threat in the current UU metagame, and Celebi does an excellent job of handling it one-on-one. Thundurus-T's standard Nasty Plot set needs to accrue two Nasty Plot boosts before it is able to outpace Celebi's reliable healing in Recover, while Celebi threatens a clean 2HKO on it with Psychic. Celebi does need to be mindful of the occasional U-turn on pivot Thundurus-T sets, though. Celebi is also one of the best Grass-types at dealing with Zygarde-10% throughout a match thanks to Recover and its great damage output (although it does need to be wary of Skitter Smack). Finally, Natural Cure makes Celebi resilient in the face of status attempts, allowing it to shrug off attempts to use paralysis and poison to cripple it from Pokémon like Slowking, Amoonguss, and Swampert. Celebi's typing and moveset unfortunately also saddles it with many weaknesses, however. While its great bulk can allow it to stomach one U-turn, its quad weakness to Bug means that it's very easy to pressure Celebi with the many offensive pivots UU offers, such as Zarude, Azelf, and Moltres. Celebi is also very vulnerable to entry hazards and cannot compensate for this like the Regenerator Grass-types can by switching out, which requires it to be paired with consistent hazard removal. Lastly, Celebi hates the prevalence of Knock Off, and while losing its Leftovers is not the end of the world thanks to Recover, a weakness to a coverage move that is present on essentially every team (and often on more than one Pokémon) is bad news for Celebi. Nonetheless, on certain structures, Celebi fills a defensive niche no other Grass-type can, and so finds itself a worthy, albeit specific, choice in current UU.

Roserade

Roserade is perhaps the most unique of all UU-viable Grass-types, for two main reasons. Firstly, its claim to fame comes from taking advantage of other Grass-types (particularly Amoonguss) by laying Spikes in their face. Secondly, as a defensive Pokémon, Roserade focuses on handling special attackers, rather than the physical attackers most of the other Grass-types are tasked with handling. Roserade excels at both of these roles, laying Spikes consistently throughout matches and tanking a variety of special hits. Notably, Roserade is capable of handling Choice Specs Primarina and tanking Shadow Balls from Substitute + Toxic Aegislash thanks to its naturally-high Special Defense stat and access to recovery in Synthesis. Like Celebi, Roserade also maintains a great offensive presence throughout a game by way of its STAB Sludge Bomb and Grass-type attack of choice. Sludge Bomb's 30% poison rate makes Roserade particularly nasty to switch into, even for things that scare it out, like Moltres and Salamence. Roserade does have its unique set of downsides too, though. For one, it completely fails at handling physical threats other Grass-types would take on much more reliably, such as Zygarde-10%, Zarude, and Gyarados. Also similarly to Celebi, Roserade is vulnerable to entry hazards and does not regain HP upon switching out, meaning that its special tanking duties can be compromised if hazards are not kept off its side of the field. This task is often difficult for the teams Roserade finds itself on to do, so Roserade frequently finds itself being even more pressured than Celebi by hazards. Roserade additionally does not appreciate Aegislash being extremely prominent right now, as it struggles to hurt Aegislash without running Shadow Ball (which comes at a significant opportunity cost to Roserade in that it will be unable to run attacking moves for both of its STAB types). Aegislash can also use Roserade's attempts to lay Spikes as an opportunity to set up a Swords Dance. This means that teams using Roserade must have a solid plan for Aegislash that usually does not include Zarude (Aegislash's best check), which can force these teams into awkward or constrained structures. For example, Roserade teams almost always use Mandibuzz to alleviate the Aegislash problem, which makes them more vulnerable to Rock-type attackers like Nihilego and Lycanroc-D. Finally, though Roserade can handle some special attacks, it will often find itself faced with special attacks that it cannot deal with despite its great special bulk, whether that be due to being unable to hurt the attacker much (ex. Nihilego and Choice Specs Aegislash) or taking super effective damage from the attack (ex. Galarian Moltres and Celesteela). All in all, Roserade is specific to certain teams, and perhaps more than any other UU-viable Grass-type needs to have a team thoughtfully built around it, but what it does, it does with aplomb. It may be no coincidence that the band Poison's #1 hit song is "Every Rose Has its Thorn"!

Dhelmise

Finally, we come to Dhelmise, which rose in popularity as a response to Excadrill's dominance in UU. Dhelmise flips the script on Excadrill's otherwise extremely consistent hazard control by blocking its Rapid Spin attempts and spinning away any Stealth Rock Excadrill or its teammates may have set without being threatened by Excadrill in return. Dhelmise has valuable qualities beyond just dealing with Excadrill, however—it has good physical bulk and instant recovery in Synthesis, meaning it aids in dealing with Zygarde-10%. It also sports a useful Poison neutrality and immunities to Fighting and Normal, which can occasionally come in handy when switching around dangerous threats like Conkeldurr and Diggersby. Finally, Dhelmise boasts access to STAB Poltergeist, a strong physical attack that puts a good dent into just about anything that doesn't resist Ghost or isn't affected by it, easing the burden of prediction for the Dhelmise user. Now, on to the downsides. Dhelmise is unfortunately burdened with a Dark weakness, meaning it is vulnerable to the extremely common Knock Off. While it sometimes runs a Colbur Berry to offset this, this also means that Dhelmise usually cannot afford the passive recovery of Leftovers, hampering its longevity. Secondly, Dhelmise is extremely slow, and in contrast to Amoonguss and Tangrowth, which can compensate for this with Regenerator and their gigantic bulk, Dhelmise is stuck with Steelworker and has a low HP stat, meaning that it does not recover upon switching out and must invest EVs generously into its defenses in order to perform its defensive duties, stealing away EVs it would love to be able to put into Attack or Speed. On a similar note, Dhelmise always invests in physical bulk, meaning that though it might appear to be a good check to special attackers whose STAB attacks it resists like Keldeo and Primarina, it will in reality be worn down quickly by repeated assualts, meaning that it cannot effectively check them, and necessitating other checks elsewhere on its team. Finally, Dhelmise is a relatively underexplored Pokémon as of the time of writing, meaning that it does not have a standard set that has been found to be the most effective. The suggested one in this article has seen some use, but optimization for whatever team Dhelmise finds itself on is encouraged (such as slotting in Body Press to hit Dark-types like Zarude if the team needs additional insurance against it). To conclude, Dhelmise, like Celebi and Roserade, is not nearly as easy to fit on teams as the Grass-types UU by usage, but it has seen success and can reward players who make the most of its unique qualities.

Final Words

Deciding which Grass-type to use on your team can be a complex, involved decision, with a huge number of factors to consider, including what threats need to be checked, what utility is required, and how reliably a Pokémon can perform its role. Thankfully, UU offers a colorful variety of viable Grass-type Pokémon that can support your team in a multitude of roles by adding defensive backbone, pressuring the opposing squad, or going on intense offensive assaults. I hope this article has been informative for you in choosing the best Grass-type for your team, and hopefully even encouraged you to try out some of the ones you may not have had the pleasure of using yet! Thanks for reading!

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