Parallel Powerhouses: Type Spam in SM OU

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A Peculiar Past - The Promising Preamble

Any offensive Pokémon, regardless of how far-reaching their movepool is, usually possess that one singular attack that becomes a mainstay on all of their sets. More often that not, it's the move they want to keep on using regularly. Being a STAB move is generally a given, but having high Base Power, minimal drawback, and compensating for something they lack really put the cherry on top. Mega Scizor wants to throw out a fury of Technician-boosted Bullet Punches, Landorus-T prefers to shatter the lands with its mighty Earthquakes, while Mega Diancie loves to embrace the night sky to let loose catastrophic Moonblasts. Unfortunately, competitive Pokémon isn't as straightforward—there will always be a Toxapex or a Celesteela that can stop them on their tracks. But don't fret! What if there was a way for these Pokémon to just use their favorite move repeatedly and still come out on top?

The answer lies in pairing them with someone alike, taking advantage of their same-type attacks to their maximum potential. This is what encompasses the concept of Type Spam. Generally, this kind of offensive core aims to put immense amount of pressure into that single Pokémon in the opposing team that is usually tasked to handle both of them. By doing so, their defensive backbone will eventually crumble, which allows either of them to take over the game effortlessly. Unfortunately, some walls are rigid enough to withstand them, so possessing the necessary coverage or utility moves goes a long way. Each's ability to hit physically or specially is also a boon, since they can then cover a wider variety of defensive targets. Moreover, what makes these cores even more successful is that they tend to match up well into the team structures that the other struggles with, allowing one to take the backseat for the other to shine on a game-to-game basis. Just like a healthy relationship, embracing each other's similarities, covering each other's weaknesses, and supporting each other's endeavors are very valuable components!

This concept is not revolutionary either, as it has occurred since the very beginning of Pokémon, whether it's intentional or not. We've observed the existence of Normal spam with Snorlax and Tauros as they throw out mighty Body Slams and Hyper Beams in every game of RBY OU. The King of ADV OU, Tyranitar, forms a dangerous Rock spam core with Aerodactyl to bury the opposition with their vicious Rock Slides. Finally, the well-known archetype known as DragMag in BW OU embodies the idea of Dragon spam, with the likes of Kyurem-B, Latios, Garchomp, and Dragonite nuking their enemies with their soul-crushing Outrages and Draco Meteors. Even then, with all of their great success and popularity, Generation 7 managed to take the concept to a whole new level.

Aside from the fact that power creep exists with every new generation, the introduction of the Alolan Guardians alongside their power-boosting Terrains and the generation’s mechanic, Z-Moves, to blow back even resistant Pokémon make type spam even scarier, more viable, and more prevalent than ever. SM OU has seen countless offensive cores that utilize this concept to the fullest, and this article will introduce you to some of these potent pairings.

A Passionate Present - The Proficient Partners-in-Crime

Psychic Spam

Starting off our list is with the most dreadful, mind-bending, well-known, and insanely dangerous type spam of the whole metagame. Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam's telekinetic attacks under Psychic Terrain are nearly impossible to deal with, with the few ones that can are standing merely inches away from total annihilation. Bulky Steel-types like Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Heatran are frightened of Hidden Power Fire and Focus Blast, with the sturdy Mega Aggron even falling to Tapu Lele's +1 All-Out Pummeling. Dark-types such as Mega Sableye, Mega Tyranitar, and Weavile fall victim to Moonblast and Focus Blast, which makes Pursuit trapping the psychic partnership not an easy task. Special walls such as Chansey, Celesteela, and Assault Vest Magearna hate losing their valuable items from Mega Alakazam's Knock Off, which makes Chansey more vulnerable to Choice Specs Tapu Lele’s Psyshock afterwards. Most of these walls also lack the longevity to withstand their repeated hits to truly stop them throughout the game. On the flip side, dealing with them offensively is similarly difficult, as Mega Alakazam's blistering Speed tier and their immunity to priority attacks—like Mega Mawile's Sucker Punch and Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch—thanks to Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain mean they can blitz past offensive teams without a sweat. Trust me when I say their powers are so otherworldly that it's frighteningly transcendental.

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Tapu Lele can opt to partner up with a physically-based Psychic Mega Evolution instead, and both Mega Medicham and Mega Gallade are perfectly fit to take on that mantle. They are explosive wallbreakers in their own right, but Psychic Terrain amplifies their power further to blast through physically defensive foes like Clefable, Zapdos, and bulky Volcarona with their mind-boggling Zen Headbutts. More importantly, both fighters possess a secondary-yet-similarly-destructive STAB move that can immediately threaten Chansey as well as the Steel- and Dark-types that stop Choice Scarf Tapu Lele from spamming its Psychic easily. Mega Gallade compensates for its initially weaker wallbreaking compared to Mega Medicham with a potential to sweep with Swords Dance, and its Knock Off can cripple and significantly damage bulky Psychics like Reuniclus and Mew for Tapu Lele. In return, the Akala Island's guardian is valuable in threatening Mega Sabeleye, one of their biggest roadblocks, making them similarly harder to deal with afterwards. If you're strong enough to withstand your mind getting screwed over, try doing it with a kick on the face or a punch in the gut!

Grass Spam

If you decide to team up with Tapu Bulu and Kartana, they'll guarantee the phrase "grass is always greener on the other side" is just a mere fallacy. Choice Band Tapu Bulu can take on the role of a wallbreaker, possessing nuclear power to dent even Grass-resistant Pokémon, especially with the corresponding coverage move; Superpower pummels Ferrothorn and Heatran, Stone Edge decimates Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, Tornadus-T, and Zapdos, while Megahorn impales Tangrowth, Mega Latias, and Mega Latios. A Swords Dance set does so similarly, but brute forces them instead with a +2 Grassium Z-boosted Wood Hammer, capable of OHKOing the aforementioned Zapdos and Mega Latias. This gives Choice Scarf Kartana a trouble-free time to snowball with Leaf Blade alongside Beast Boost, assisted further by Knock Off to make Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Ferrothorn easier to break down. If a late-game cleaner is not what you seek, Kartana can choose to ditch its Choice Scarf to become a wallbreaker by running Swords Dance or Choice Band as well, which is, stunningly, even stronger than Tapu Bulu, helping in muscling past physically defensive Magearna and Tangrowth. I guess Kartana and Tapu Bulu are just that oblivious to the Type chart—Grass-resistant Pokémon what?

Choice Scarf Serperior takes on a more supportive role for Tapu Bulu, using its utility movepool to truly put Tapu Bulu in the spotlight. Similarly to Choice Scarf Kartana, the serpent provides Knock Off to cripple their shared checks and has great snowballing potential itself, courtesy of Contrary + Leaf Storm. However, the biggest difference that makes Serperior a worthy ally is attributed to the infuriating move Glare. Aside from potentially granting Tapu Bulu more setup opportunities with the paralysis chance, Serperior's ability to spread paralysis will slow foes down to compensate for Tapu Bulu's quite middling Speed tier. But most importantly, Serperior tends to invite in Tornadus-T, Mega Latias, and bulky Volcarona, three common defensive Pokémon that check Tapu Bulu and take advantage of their valuable Speed tier to do their job. This grants the Ula'Ula Island's guardian the upper hand to easily set up and throw out its +2 attacks safely, which in turn gives Serperior more freedom to spam its Leaf Storms afterwards. If you've played this game long enough, then you know that the odds you'll move through paralysis is worse than throwing dice and getting snake eyes!

Fairy Spam

Don't be fooled by their adorable appearances; Tapu Lele and Magearna pose an insatiable hunger to rip through teams at a moments notice, exacerbated by the metagame's lack of Pokémon that can consistently handle them. Steel-types like Heatran, Celesteela, and opposing Magearna lack proper longevity and crumble easily from their repeated attacks, especially if the duo nails them with the appropriate coverage move. Since the Fire-types are mostly offensive in nature, the only other type that can withstand it—i.e. Poison-types like Toxapex and Mega Venusaur—does not want to go anywhere near Tapu Lele's Psychic and its Terrain. Shift Gear Magearna sweeping easily once Choice Specs or Calm Mind Tapu Lele forces huge damage onto the opposition is not the only thing they are adept at doing; instead, Tapu Lele can use Choice Scarf to match up better against offensive teams filled with Ash-Greninja, Garchomp, and Mega Charizard X, with Calm Mind Magearna in the back ready to decimate stall teams that lack a Heart Swap Magearna of their own, attributed to Pain Split + a Toxic immunity to beat the problematic Chansey one-on-one as well as signature Fleur Cannon to overwhelm Unaware walls such as Clefable and Quagsire. They'll prove to you that the bedtime horror stories you hear about them are not just fairytales!

If Choice Specs Tapu Lele is a fearsome wallbreaking partner for Magearna, then Mega Mawile is nothing short of destructive and unwallable. Mega Mawile is capable of trucking through defensive teams easily with its Huge Power-boosted attacks, decimating Toxapex at +2 or luring in Heatran with its Substitute + Focus Punch set, which is valuable for a Magearna sweep. Magearna can then focus on beating offensive teams instead, outpacing fast-but-frail threats with either its Shift Gear or Trick Room sets. The latter also helps support Mega Mawile and its poor Speed, letting them turn the tides against Pokémon like Garchomp, Mega Lopunny, and both Greninja formes. Their synergy doesn't end there, as Swords Dance Mega Mawile can become the late-game cleaner instead if Magearna has blown its Z-Move onto a common answer in Heatran or Mega Venusaur. If that's not enough, then pairing them with Tapu Lele to form an even more dangerous triple threat is also an option!

Water Spam

This trio is exclusively tied to a specific team archetype in rain, which in and of itself encompasses the entire concept of flooding the opposition with endless wave of waters. Manaphy's sole purpose is to wash away fat teams effortlessly due to its survivability from Rest + Hydration, letting it ignore their accumulated chip damage to set up Tail Glows freely and blast through the opposition, even OHKOing the immovable Chansey with its +3 Hydro Vortex after Stealth Rock. Moreover, Manaphy still has freedom to run a coverage move of choice, either opting for Ice Beam for Tangrowth and Mega Latias, Psychic for Mega Venusaur and Toxapex, or Energy Ball for Tapu Fini, Gastrodon, Slowbro, and Rotom-W. If not, Toxic can be used as a midground option to debilitate most of them as well as Shedinja. This gives the other two speedy teammates more opportunities to clean up the game, as Mega Swampert's Swift Swim and Ash-Greninja's high Speed and priority Water Shuriken allow them to also match up better against offensive teams that would otherwise overwhelm Manaphy, which usually contain the likes of Kartana, Tapu Koko, Mega Latios, and Shift Gear Magearna. Unfortunately for their enemies, singing "rain rain go away come again another day" is incredibly futile...

Electric Spam

Did you remember the phrase "being a STAB move is a given"? Yeah, well, Kyurem-B proved us wrong. Missing out on STAB attacks doesn't faze it and its gargantuan Attack in the slightest, especially because Tapu Koko provides it with the support it needs in pivoting and the precious Electric Terrain. If there's any silver lining, Kyurem-B can make use of its strong STAB Ice Beam to threaten Ground-types like Landorus-T and Gliscor that try to neutralize Electric attacks, giving the pair more freedom to spam them. Other bulky pivots such as Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Mega Tyranitar that can take their hits get overwhelmed very quickly, especially if Kyurem-B decides to run Hidden Power Fire and Earth Power; even if it doesn't, they get straight up dented by a devastating Subzero Slammer anyway. The Melemele Island's guardian will have an easier time blitzing past the opposition once Kyurem-B punched huge holes on the opposing defenses, threatening out fast foes such as Fightinium Z Tornadus-T, Mega Charizard Y, and Garchomp that would otherwise scare away Kyurem-B. Go and find shelter, cause they'll bring the thunder!

Dragon Spam

Throughout the generations, Dragon-types are known as one of—if not—the scariest offensive beings; one of the few reasons is due to them possessing hard-hitting STAB moves in Outrage and Draco Meteor at their disposal. Generation 7 came and it brings forth an even better Dragon move in Clangorous Soulblaze. The exclusive user of the move, Kommo-o, can team up with Mega Charizard X to form a very strong setup sweeping core, especially because Steel-types such as Skarmory, Heatran, and Ferrothorn—the classic way of checking most Dragon-types since their existence—are incredibly inconsequential due to their secondary typings. This means the one true way to truly stop them is generally by using Fairy-types. Even then, Mega Charizard X can tear through most of them with its mighty Tough Claw-boosted Flare Blitzes; the likes of Magearna and Tapu Bulu get shredded to pieces, while Tapu Fini and Clefable have a difficult time of withstanding it repeatedly. With the pixies being turned to dust, Kommo-o gains more freedom to unleash its Clangorous Soulblaze, guaranteeing it gets the omniboost, and then potentially sweep!

Fire Spam

We've talked about rain, so it's only natural that the other offense-boosting weather, sun, makes its appearance. Mega Charizard Y is a nuclear wallbreaker itself, but it becomes even more dangerous when a Pokémon like Victini can use the sun to turn up the heat and evaporate anything standing in their sight. Its Choice Band V-create can straight up 2HKO Toxapex, while other Pokémon such as Heatran, Mega Tyranitar, Mega Latias, and Garchomp dislike being hit by Brick Break, U-turn, or repeated V-creates. Alternatively, a more utility-focused variant with Choice Scarf lets Victini outpace the likes of Mega Alakazam, Tapu Koko, and Ash-Greninja—especially under the sunlight to weaken the latter's Water Shuriken—that would otherwise threaten Mega Charizard Y. Instead of going all-out offensive, this set supports Mega Charizard Y by utilizing Trick and Final Gambit to ruin all of their shared checks, including the aforementioned Toxapex, Heatran, and Mega Latias. If you think the temperature will cool off anytime soon, think again!

Heatran trades Victini's instantaneous wallbreaking power with more defensive utility. Still, don't underestimate its offensive presence in the slightest. Magma Storm is already known as one of the hardest moves to switch into if it hits—possessing strong initial damage, substantial periodic chip, and the trapping effect—so doing so under the harsh sunlight becomes an even harder challenge. When it is combined with Toxic and Taunt, Heatran can trap and eliminate common Mega Charizard Y answers such as Toxapex, Chansey, and some Mega Latias variants as well as overwhelm common checks in Mega Tyranitar and Garchomp, trailblazing the path for Mega Charizard Y to wreak havoc. In return, Mega Charizard Y provides a Ground immunity against Earthquake users like Gliscor, Mega Swampert, and Excadrill—even resetting the latter two's respective weather—and pressures bulky Waters like Rotom-W, Tapu Fini, and Gastrodon with its instantaneous Solar Beam, giving Heatran more freedom to ruin the opposition. If the extreme heat coming from high up above and deep down below combined is not enough, then I don't know what is...

If you're more of a night person, then this heated harmony will surely be the one for you. Instead of depending on the harsh sunlight, they solely rely on scorching their foes with brute force. Both of their most common shared answers in Toxapex and Tapu Fini can't stand the repeated hits, especially if Volcarona opts for Psychium Z + Psychic for the former or Giga Drain for the latter. However, running either of these moves over the valuable Hidden Power Ground makes Heatran harder for Volcarona to break through; enter Mega Charizard X to take care of it, as even without Earthquake, not Mega Evolving straight away allows it use Heatran as setup fodder. Aside from demolishing the pink blob in Chansey for Volcarona, Mega Charizard X and its Dragon Claw can easily pressure Volcarona's soft checks such as Garchomp, Kommo-o, and Thunder Wave Rotom-W in return. Be sure to observe and be enchanted by their dances around the blazing flames of the battlefield!

Flying Spam

Flying is arguably one of the best offensive typings in the metagame because most Pokémon that do resist it, including the likes of Heatran, Mega Tyranitar, and Tapu Koko, crumble to either a Ground or Fighting coverage move. With both Hawlucha and Mega Pinsir possessing these traits, they manifest true aerial assault in Birdspam with their fully-powered Acrobatics and Aerilate-boosted Frustrations, respectively. Either of them can force damage onto a shared check in Zapdos—one of the few Pokémon that resists any attacking combinations—especially if Hawlucha is running Stone Edge for it. They also excel against offensive teams, as the quick nature of Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack and an instant activation of Unburden under Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain are way too fast for the enemies to keep up with. Unfortunately, on the flipside, they generally falter against bulkier builds that contain the likes of Quagsire and Skarmory, since Hawlucha can't afford to run Taunt. If we want to replicate the true success of Birdspam from the early days of the preceding generation, I guess we should ask GameFreak to unnerf Talonflame...

Dark Spam

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When it's not dancing in the rain, Ash-Greninja can embrace its dark side with either Crawdaunt or Hoopa-U. Though niche, both of these physical wallbreakers are proficient in dismantling slow bulky teams, as they take advantage of their incredibly high damage output and the archetype's lack of proper Dark-resistant options. The ones that do, such as Clefable, Magearna, and defensive Kommo-o, still fall to a coverage move or are straight up overwhelmed way too quickly by their attacks, especially once these walls lose their valuable items from Crawdaunt's Knock Off. Either Crawdaunt or Hoopa-U is able to decimate Chansey and force damage onto other Ash-Greninja's answers like Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, and Toxapex. Their wallbreaking prowess is cranked up a notch with either U-turn or Spikes support from Ash-Greninja. With the opposing defenses bruised, Ash-Greninja has an easier time transforming, which then gives it the edge against fast-paced teams filled with the likes of Tapu Lele, Kartana, and Kyurem-B that would run over Crawdaunt and Hoopa-U. If you think staying in the light will keep you safe from them, then I got bad news for you...

Ground Spam

Mega Garchomp is unfortunately one of the most forgotten Mega Evolutions in the metagame; once in a blue moon, however, it emerges from the desert's blur to team up with Excadrill on sand teams. Excadrill excels at gliding and outpacing fast offensive threats like Mega Diancie, Weavile, Mega Lopunny, and Greninja that can revenge kill Mega Garchomp and their sand-setting sidekick, Tyranitar. Even with Swords Dance at its disposal, Excadrill can still struggle in breaking through defensive stalwarts such as Slowbro, Rotom-W, Landorus-T, and Skarmory. This is where Mega Garchomp comes in; it can take advantage of its high-Base Power attacks and Sand Force to opt for either a Swords Dance or mixed set to dismantle the aforementioned walls and more, which also include other Excadrill checks such as Tangrowth, Celeesteela, and Quagsire. They might not be as groundbreaking or earthshattering as the other pairs, but the forgotten ones are often the deadliest, and they'll happily remind you of it.

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A Perpetual Promise - The Parting Piece

Type spam is one of the most reliable and effective ways of forming an offensive core. The aforementioned pairs have proved to you just that, as they have stood the test of time in the face of the metagame's highs and lows. However, this list isn't exhaustive at all! If you notice, there are still plenty of missing types that unfortunately hasn't made their mark in the metagame yet. Even after all this time, SM OU is still open to creativity and innovations&emdash;perhaps you'll be the one to introduce us with the next formidable fusion. Maybe a Bug spam consisting of the never-before-seen Mega Beedrill alongside Volcarona, with the wasp softening up both Toxapex and Heatran with Knock Off, repeated U-turns, and Drill Run so the moth can make its buzz heard late-game? Or the double bunny core of Mega Lopunny and the niche Diggersby to form Normal spam together, with the former being more effective against fast offensive teams while the latter doing so similarly with bulkier teams instead? Or even utilizing the under-appreciated Blacephalon on Ghost spam with the rare Gengar or Mimikyu to replicate its success with Dragapult in the subsequent generation? Time to see for yourself and find out!

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