Hi UU!
A month back or so, during the Weavile suspect, I made a post on a team I'd been using to great success featuring defensive Quaval, a mon that originally sounded awful but was actually a pretty functional check to Weav and that also worked against the rest of the metagame. Well, fast forward to November, we're having a Hoopa-Unbound suspect test, and do you know what checks Hoopa-U? Grimmsnarl!!! Haha, great joke right?
It wasn't a joke.
Here's the team.
Here's the
paste too.
Now, you might be wondering: so this is a weird bulky screens team, with Booster Sandy, NP Torn, some weird ID Press Coba... Nope. No screens. Just pure max HP max SpDef Grimmsnarl. And hear me out, it sounds crazy, but its strengths are way more evident and logical than they seem at first glance. I'll try to explain the reasoning behind the team, while explaining the role of each pokemon.
Why the heck is Grimmsnarl on your screen:
First, let's tackle the elephant in the room before explaining the remainder mons and their synergies. The concept of a Dark+Fairy typing being really strong into the tier should come to no surprise; sadly, this combination is exclusive to Grimmsnarl, a pretty mediocre mon albeit with some nice tools at its disposal. The idea of trying some Grimmsnarl cooking was lurking around in my mind for a while, as one of those pesky intrusive thoughts you can't help but have sometimes, but it never came across until the day I tried to build an Azelf team- which got me some decent results but truly sucked hard-. Grimmsnarl, unlike Azelf, was pulling its weight on that team, so I decided to give it a more serious try. And guess what, it got me some really impressive results. With this team, I both achieved my highest elo yet by some margin and matched my highest ladder ranking, #2 with 1712 elo.
So then: what does Grimm bring to the table? Well, it might sound crazy, but a max HP max SpDef mon with access to two moves that drop SpA actually beats most special attackers. It doesn't have the highest stats (95/65/75 bulk is barely passable), but with boots it has just enough longevity to be functional, not as a stand-alone special wall, specially since the lack of recovery really hurts it, but as a nice pair with AV Torn.
Its natural typing makes it one of the best possible switch-ins to two of the most fierce breakers in the tier: Hoopa-U and Latios. Of course, Hoopa can deal up to 44.5% with Drain Punch, and Latios also gets close to 40% with some coverage moves, but punishing them for clicking their stabs (252+ Atk Hoopa-Unbound Hyperspace Fury vs. 248 HP / 4 Def Grimmsnarl: 74-87 (18.8 - 22.1%) -- possible 5HKO) and being able to pivot is already massive. Moreover, it isn't dead weight in other MUs. Not only does it bring fast pivoting w/ Prankster PS and Sucker Punch priority, which are always valuable, it also matches up possitively into Hydrapple and Battle Bond Greninja, and you can sometimes 1v1 things like Sandy Shocks, Thundy-T or even Weavile in a pinch (specially factoring in Tera Steel). Nonetheless, Grimmsnarl's other stellar MU is HO. It beats some Comfeys 1v1 even without tera, and has them completely beat if it chooses to use tera steel, eats offensive and defensive Polteageist (even if Cursed Body can get scary), and gets the job done against Iron Jugulis and NP Torn.
Finally, let's dig into its moveset. Parting Shot and Spirit Break are no brainers, since they're absolutely required to pivot around and beat things you're supposed to beat, plus fairy being a pretty good neutral STAB that hits decently hard from 120 base attack, even if uninvested. Sucker Punch not only provides nice utility with priority, but also can have some decent surpise factor. Something like Lash Out or Throat Chop can also be considered as a more reliable Dark STAB, though. Finally, Drain Punch complements Fairy STAB decently well, making it less of a fodder into steel types or common tera Steels, while also OHKO-ing Weavile if needed. Here's some calcs:
0 Atk Grimmsnarl Drain Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 190-224 (52.6 - 62%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (you actually have a shot to kill with Drain Punch into Sucker Punch)
0 Atk Grimmsnarl Drain Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 122-144 (37.7 - 44.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Grimmsnarl Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 96+ Def Heatran: 102-120 (26.4 - 31%) -- 7.8% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Grimmsnarl Spirit Break vs. 252 HP / 92 Def Hydrapple: 162-192 (38.9 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Grimmsnarl Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 106-126 (29.2 - 34.8%) -- 8.1% chance to 3HKO (You can act as a Torn-T switch-in if needed, can swtich quite a few times and sucker chips it down significantly with rocks up. If it raw switches. then Parting Shot pivots out and gets you in a nice position too).
Scarf Quaquaval
On second note, I'll talk about the other black sheep of the team, and also my personal MVP. Scarf Quaval has seen some play, but it is far from being its main set. It benefits hugely from the surprise factor, since adamant scarf Quaval outspeeds the whole tier (including adamant scarf Hoopa) and takes advantage of the threat of its SD set, requiring immediate reaction, to catch switch-ins off guard, being by pivoting on them or by outspeeding a supposed offensive check and immediately snowballing. This set is no sweeper, but can be way more dangerous as a lategame cleaner, and you'll often find it being your best wincon in many MUs. It also provides great speed control together with Torn, a secondary check to Weav and Gren, pivoting and knock support. Overall, I'd advise anyone using this team to keep the scarf info hidden as long as possible; for example, if you're facing a Torn-T, hard switch rather than going for the faster U-Turn. That makes it way more effective at earning surprise KOs. Tera Water is pretty straighforward, strenghthening its best move.
Rest of the team
The other members of the squad are far more tried and true, so I'll give them only brief explanations.
Sandy Shocks is the main way of making early and mid-game progress, pivoting out of its checks, stacking spikes repeatedly and having tera ice as a double edged sword, where you become almost unstoppable offensively but also pretty frail defensively. It's a tempting click, but I'd advise to think it twice before doing it mindlessly, specially since this team struggles a lot to make progress if Shocks ever goes down early. You'd much rather let the bulkier teammates take hits in its place and then pivot in safely, but it can take some strong hits too in a pinch. For instance, it can be a nice check to Torn, Thundy, Coba, Dirge or Pecha.
Torn-T is, as mentioned previously, a complementary special wall to Grimm. It does Torn things, knocks everything, pivots, provides speed control and naturally checks half of the tier while healing with regen. The best mon in the tier. It can get overwhelmed with rocks up and, since the team lacks removal, it realy needs to share some of its defensive pressure with other teammates, specially Grimm.
Coba is here for rocks, checking the otherwise scary Lokix and Scizor, being a decent Weav, Zarude and Cornerpon answer and overall making for a solid pivot and complementing the teams defensive structure. Tera Ghost can act as a spin blocker if needed, but actually I've only used it as a means to be immune to Weavile's Low Kick or Cornerpon's Superpower in a pinch.
Hydrapple is, imo, one of the best mons in UU. It really benefits from its great synergy with Torn-T, making for an excellent regen core, and in this team is both the defensive glue to most unfavorable MUs (Exca, Shocks, Washer etc.) and the most potent breaker. NP defensive sets struggle to break through Torn, so rocks up or having it knocked off is pretty much a requirement, but it's easy to have one or both of those conditions checked, and, once you do, this is hardly answerable both offensively and defensively. I like to go with Tera Fairy over steel to keep it as a decent Exca check.
Tips and observations
This team has some significant weaknesses, even if they can be played around in battle. First of all, having Quaval as the only fire resist isn't fun, and can make the Heatran and Dirge situation really tough. Gameplan against Heatran is usually knocking it off and letting hazard chip accumulate; overall, even if switching into it is really hard, every mon has at least a move that can significatively cripple it, and it isn't really going for OHKO's on anything except Coba. Dirge on the other hand can be tougher, specially factoring Tera Fairy. Usually, your best bet is positioning the team in such a way it doesn't get a chance to come in without taking significant chip and preserving Sandy Shocks as a means of pressuring it. Also, Quaval's scarf can be essential into Greninja and Weavile MUs, and, as was mentioned before, losing Sandy Shocks early game can leave you with a team that's too passive to ever get a position for Quaval to sweep. Traiblaze Jolly Mamo is also in theory a pretty big threat but I've never faced one and also personally refuse to acknowledge that as a real mon.
On the other hand, lack of removal can also be an issue in some matchups, since the team relies so hardly on pivoting. My personal experience has been avoiding losing boots on Shocks and Hydra, mainly by using Grimm as a knock absorber, and trying to play more agressively to make up for the loss of longevity. Overall, hazards of your own can really help soften this kind of MUs, since Exca can't spin without getting hit back for significant damage (you can play aggresively to pressure it and prevent the free spin), and it can only remove once or maybe twice, and Donphan, while being more reliable, also has limited longevity.
Finally, the usage of tera really depends on the matchup. The most potent one is Sandy Shocks, but it also comes with a great downside. In MUs where you need to go on the offensive, Hydra also tends to be high value, allowing you to maybe 1v1 a Torn after a NP or survive key hits and strike back. Quaval tera is more of a lategame move, but can also be decisive in the right situation. Nonetheless, there are many matchups where you'd rather play deffensively and use a reactive tera, usually on Hydrapple or Grimmsnarl, in order to live hits and beat threats 1v1.
Replays
Finally, here are some replays to get a grasp on the team. I tried to select some that not only showcase the team itself, but specially ones that feature Grimmsnarl or Quaval performing. They aren't against specially high ranked opponents but I didn't really face many high elo foes, and the ones I've got are private replays for some reason.
Elo peak:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2246468380?p2
Against the one Bramble team that beat Joey and Rabia on vid:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2245770296?p2
Losing to sand but Grimm ballin:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2242710209
Grimmsnarl actually won this 1v1 even without the miss:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2245578536?p2
My best Quaval clean:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2241737120?p2
Yet another Quaval:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2244770030?p2
Facing HO:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2242575351?p2
Pickpocket interaction being crazy:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2242585811?p2