SM OU Bulky Offense Triumvirate - SM OU RMT

This is one of my first successful competitive teams. (and also my first post on Smogon!). I made my start in early Gen 7 and while I can't claim to be good, I win my fair share of battles. I've always been more into Bulky Offense than Stall or Hyper Offense due to the utility it offers. This is one of my more successful teams that I'd like to share. This is a F/W/G team with a Tapu Bulu/Heatran/Gastrodon core.


The Team:






Team Progression and Sets:

I started with Tapu Bulu after realizing its true potential as a bulky Swords Dance sweeper.



Tapu Bulu @ Grassium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Synthesis​

Bulky Tapu Bulu is the centerpiece of the team. His Grass/Fairy typing checks Pokemon like Ash-Greninja (being resistant to both of its STABs and only losing to the rare Gunk Shot variant), Mega-Gyarados, and (on the switch) Weavile. Swords Dance allows Tapu Bulu to boost its Attack to break through bulkier walls like Chansey or Clefable. Bloom Doom is a nuke that can OHKO the likes of Chansey, Magearna, Landorus-Therian, Clefable, and Toxapex after a Swords Dance. Horn Leech and Synthesis provide useful recovery that can keep Tapu Bulu healthy in conjunction with Grassy Terrain. Superpower helps destroy Heatran on the switch, but also covers the rare Magnezone, Mega Scizor, Mega-Tyranitar, and can somewhat deal with Magearna at +2.






  • Once I got Bulu on the team, I checked his weaknesses. Fire, Flying, Steel, Ice, Poison.... what deals with all that? It could only be one Pokemon. The next Pokemon I recruited was of course, the mighty Fire/Steel Heatran.​





Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 128 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Stealth Rock​

Heatran's defensive typing synergizes perfectly with Tapu Bulu - Tapu Bulu's Poison, Fire, Ice, etc. weaknesses are completely covered by Heatran's unique typing and Flash Fire ability. The immunity to Fire helps tremendously in switching into dangerous threats like Scarf Blacephalon. Heatran also appreciates the Grassy Terrain from Bulu, which weakens the normally fatal Ground moves, such as Landorus-T's Earthquake. Heatran forces threats to Bulu out with its unique typing and can set up Stealth Rock on the switch. Lava Plume and Earth Power together cover the two most prevalent defensive Pokemon in OU: Celesteela and Toxapex. Protect allows you to scout out moves, especially from Scarfed mons like Landorus-Therian and Excadrill. Lava Plume's high 30% burn chance can cripple physical sweepers. Earth Power can force out Toxapex, who doesn't have a good answer to Heatran outside of Scald. The given EVs allow Heatran to outspeed Mega Mawile and survive powerful hits under Grassy Terrain, like the aforementioned Landorus-T's Earthquake.




After this duo was completed, I turned to answers for entry hazards. I settled on a semi-bulky Defogger - Tornadus-Therian, due to its ability to pivot in and out and keep itself healthy with Regenerator.


Tornadus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Defog

Tornadus's invaluable ability in Regenerator allows it to take hits and still remain healthy and able to Defog hazards away without the crutch and moveslot waste of Roost, unlike Skarmory. Rocky Helmet punishes physical attackers who try to attack Tornadus when it comes in to Defog. Hurricane takes out Mega-Venusaur, opposing Tapu Bulu, and Kartana. U-turn allows Tornadus to pivot in and out to make use of Regenerator. Knock Off is utility to cripple Toxapex, Porygon2 and Chansey, who rely on held items. The EV spread allows Tornadus to take normally fatal hits, like Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt when not in Electric Terrain.



With a solid hazard setting defensive core with Defog support, I now turned to offense. Aside from Heatran, one major threat the team faced was Scarfed Blacephalon, which I know firsthand to be deadly when set up correctly. I decided that if they were going to use a fast Fire-type, I would use an even faster Water-type. I settled on Ash-Greninja.



Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot/Ice Beam​

Ash-Greninja's high initial speed of 122 is able to outspeed Scarf Blacephalon if scarfed itself. However, Blacephalon is unable to OHKO Ash-Greninja with any of its STAB moves at +1 Special Attack. As such, it was not necessary to scarf Ash-Greninja. Gunk Shot surprises and OHKOs Tapu Bulu, which otherwise stops Ash-Greninja in its tracks. Dark Pulse and Hydro Pump are powerful STAB attacks that cover dangerous Pokemon like Volcarona, Tapu Lele, Garchomp, and opposing Heatran. Water Shuriken is a decent base 60 power priority move (20 BP, guaranteed 3 hits) that can help KO low HP Pokemon before they can OHKO Ash-Greninja, such as a +1 Volcarona. Ice Beam can be run in place of Gunk Shot to trip up Zapdos and OHKO them before they can kill you with a Discharge.




With threats dealt with, I started cleaning up loose ends. To add another 2 immunities on top of Heatran's Flash Fire, I added Storm Drain Gastrodon to the team.




Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Recover

Gastrodon's unique combination of the Ground-type and Storm Drain gives it immunities to both the deadly Thunderbolt of Tapu Koko and the Hydro Pump of Ash-Greninja. Earthquake is chosen over Earth Power to hit Assault Vest Pokemon, especially Magearna that little bit harder. Scald is used to cover dangerous Fire-types and to fish for burns on physical attackers. Recover allows Gastrodon to remain healthy while Toxic whittles down opponents. Gastrodon completes the defensive core and is helped tremendously by the fellow core members that can take Grass-type attacks for it. A Sassy nature allows Gastrodon to hit as hard as possible without losing bulk.



With 5 slots filled, I completely came to a halt. I had no idea what could synergize with these Pokemon. Then, it finally hit me. I needed a mega, and I needed priority. I came up with a fast, priority using sweeper and wallbreaker that can mop up late-game. This, of course, fits one of the hardest-hitting Pokemon in the tier - Mega Pinsir. However, Pinsir doesn't quite have the bulk to stack up to things like Hawlucha or Scarf Tapu Lele, both of which shut it down. Along with a crippling 4x weakness to Stealth Rocks, Pinsir just wasn't fit for the team. But there was one other mega with consistent priority, which just so happened to also be a Bug-type. Mega Scizor.



Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost​

Unlike Pinsir, Scizor has substantial bulk that lets it survive a +2 Hawlucha's High Jump Kick and +2 Magearna's Fleur Cannon and Focus Blast. The given EV spread allows Scizor to retain the physical bulk necessary to check Zygarde, while 156 SpD EVs eases Scizor's matchup considerably against M-Alakazam and Tapu Lele. Scizor's 4x Fire weakness synergizes well with Heatran's Flash Fire. Curse boosts Mega Scizor's bulk while also giving it an Attack boost. Roost allows Scizor to heal itself to keep setting up. Knock Off cripples Chansey, Celesteela and Toxapex, 3 very solid checks to Scizor. Bullet Punch lets Scizor take advantage of Technician and is a priority move, which helps by ignoring the Speed drop of Curse.



Overall, the team works very well. The three defensive Pokemon can cover each other's weaknesses almost entirely, while Tornadus is able to blow away hazards and remove items. Scizor and Ash-Greninja can punch holes in teams with their powerful STAB moves, and in Scizor's case, its Curse and Technician-boosted STAB move.​
 
Last edited:
Hi! Finie here, and so far I really like your team, but theres a few things I would change.
MINOR CHANGES:
  • Change the EV set on Bulu to 216 HP/196 SpDef/ 96 Speed. This set allows you to better deal with threats such as MZam as it will offer a decent check, can deal with Zyg (which so far seems to be a relatively large threat to your team) and deals with Scarfed Lando, which also can deal hefty damage to all your mons.
  • Change the GS/IB moveset to spikes on AshGren; this hits mons such as Mage, MMaw, Ferro, Pex and more. You don't really need an Ice Beam to kill Lando given your water STAB, and Bulu (after the changes implemented) should be able to deal with Zygarde well enough on it's own.
  • Run 248 HP on Gastro in order to take less damage from Stealth Rocks, and 8 SpAttack.
THREAT LIST:
  • MMedi seems to be a large threat to your team at the moment, nothing really can switch in onto it safely and you're forced to lose a mon (or suffer heavy damage to your Bulu) if you want to revenge kill it with Pinsir. While admittedly not as prominent a mon as it was before, you should still take it into consideration when editing your team.
  • Hawlucha (specifically the electric seed variant) also forces you to lose a mon if you want to hopefully revenge kill it with Pinsir. Pinsir's unboosted Quick Attack only has a 12.5% chance to OHKO a +2Def Hawlucha after electric seed, and while you could use AshGren, it should still manage to kill one or two of your mons before being killed.
  • Zygarde will be a pain to deal with. While Bulu should be able to deal with the majority of DD Zygardes, the odd Steelium Z or Coil set will be able to deal with Bulu (especially given the Grassy Terrain recovery) and proceed to damage the rest of your team accordingly.
I generally quite like your team, and it seems quite fun to use and ladder with, but when editing it I'd suggest looking into the 3 threats I mentioned previously and trying to find ways around them. I hope everything goes well!

Finie​
 
Replies are in bold, thanks for taking the time to reply!
Hi! Finie here, and so far I really like your team, but theres a few things I would change.
MINOR CHANGES:
  • Change the EV set on Bulu to 216 HP/196 SpDef/ 96 Speed. This set allows you to better deal with threats such as MZam as it will offer a decent check, can deal with Zyg (which so far seems to be a relatively large threat to your team) and deals with Scarfed Lando, which also can deal hefty damage to all your mons. I'll try that out. Seems that Bulu can deal with a lot more with that spread. Thanks!
  • Change the GS/IB moveset to spikes on AshGren; this hits mons such as Mage, MMaw, Ferro, Pex and more. You don't really need an Ice Beam to kill Lando given your water STAB, and Bulu (after the changes implemented) should be able to deal with Zygarde well enough on it's own. The main reason I run Ice Beam is to hit Zapdos, which otherwise destroys most of my team with the exception of Gastrodon. I might just try this out though, considering Gastrodon is immune to Discharge and resistant to Heat Wave and has Toxic.
  • Run 248 HP on Gastro in order to take less damage from Stealth Rocks, and 8 SpAttack. Anything that reduces damage from Rocks is definitely a plus and an add into the team from me. I will most certainly do this.
THREAT LIST:
  • MMedi seems to be a large threat to your team at the moment, nothing really can switch in onto it safely and you're forced to lose a mon (or suffer heavy damage to your Bulu) if you want to revenge kill it with Pinsir. While admittedly not as prominent a mon as it was before, you should still take it into consideration when editing your team. Admittedly, that does seem to be a bit of an issue. However, I do quite like to juke High Jump Kicks with Heatran's Protect, giving me a leg up. This should give me time to swap into Tornadus and Hurricane, provided they don't predict the switch.
  • Hawlucha (specifically the electric seed variant) also forces you to lose a mon if you want to hopefully revenge kill it with Pinsir. Pinsir's unboosted Quick Attack only has a 12.5% chance to OHKO a +2Def Hawlucha after electric seed, and while you could use AshGren, it should still manage to kill one or two of your mons before being killed. Hawlucha definitely is a threat. Just a couple nitpicks here. The damage calcs are wrong twice. Electric Seed only boosts by one stage, and an unboosted Quick Attack actually does around 50-60% on a no investment Hawlucha at +1 Defense. Aside from that, Hawlucha definitely is a threat with Unburden SD. However, the aforementioned Heatran strategy, combined with a Quick Attack or Water Shuriken should be able to take Hawlucha out, though, as you mentioned I will likely lose a mon in the progress.
  • Zygarde will be a pain to deal with. While Bulu should be able to deal with the majority of DD Zygardes, the odd Steelium Z or Coil set will be able to deal with Bulu (especially given the Grassy Terrain recovery) and proceed to damage the rest of your team accordingly. Aside from Bulu, which can OHKO offensive variants with Bloom Doom without a boost, keeping IB on Ash-Gren also helps with Zygarde. In fact, I think most of my mons have at least one Zygarde check, excluding Heatran and Pinsir. Gastrodon can Toxic non-Sub variants, Tornadus is naturally faster and can Knock Off Choice Band variants or cripple Sub variants that rely on Leftovers to heal, Ash-Gren can IB and Bulu can of course Bloom Doom.
I generally quite like your team, and it seems quite fun to use and ladder with, but when editing it I'd suggest looking into the 3 threats I mentioned previously and trying to find ways around them. I hope everything goes well!

Finie​
I quite like these suggestions. I'll definitely check these out! Thanks!
 
After much deliberation, I have reached a new conclusion. Despite Pinsir having priority, it didn't quite stack up to things like Hawlucha or Stealth Rocks as much as I'd have liked it to. In this case, I have replaced it with a new mega and will update the original post as such.
 

Heart Doom

Banned deucer.
Dude I found your team really cool but I feel that you need to make some changes in some sets of your pokemons.

First the coverage of gunk shot in greninja I find unnecessary, because you have a tornadus and a heatran that are 2 good checks of bulu.Spikes is possibly the best option for the greninja.

Use magma storm on the Heatran to help your team against pex and maybe taunt is a more viable option to protect on this team to help against setupers.

I would use Bulk Up in the tapu bulu to help against zygarde and be able to win celesteela in the 1 x 1 and possibly leftovers becomes more viable in him.

Greninja you can use waterizium z if you do not want to stay locked and can help you bleff with spikes + hydro + dark pulse.

Good Luck

https://pokepast.es/20033395b3e4618d
 
Replies are in bold. Thanks for replying!
Dude I found your team really cool but I feel that you need to make some changes in some sets of your pokemons.

First the coverage of gunk shot in greninja I find unnecessary, because you have a tornadus and a heatran that are 2 good checks of bulu.Spikes is possibly the best option for the greninja.
I don't typically use Gunk Shot anymore, instead I use Ice Beam to hit Zapdos. (I should probably edit Gunk Shot out) However, considering Gastrodon completely walls Zapdos, being resistant to Heat Wave, HP Ice and immune to Discharge, I may end up using Spikes after all.


Use magma storm on the Heatran to help your team against pex and maybe taunt is a more viable option to protect on this team to help against setupers.
On another team I posted on r/stunfisk, it was noted that Magma Storm doesn't really have the PP to be consistent across the match, especially with am accuracy only 5% better than Focus Miss. In any case, I use Lava Plume to burn opposing Pokemon, so while trapping Pex is appealing, Lava Plume is more consistent and has more utility in the long run.


I would use Bulk Up in the tapu bulu to help against zygarde and be able to win celesteela in the 1 x 1 and possibly leftovers becomes more viable in him.
Grassium Z allows Bulu to hit incredibly hard, which is why I use it. Without Bloom Doom, Bulu struggles to KO walls like Chansey. Bulk Up would probably ease the matchup slightly against Hawlucha but Swords Dance's raw power allows Bulu to break through bulkier opponents. I'll test out Bulk Up on Showdown, though.

Greninja you can use waterium z if you do not want to stay locked and can help you bleff with spikes + hydro + dark pulse.
While being choice-locked is hardly desirable, the power boost from Choice Specs is essential in getting a KO pre-transformation. I might, however, consider Life Orb due to it giving comparable boosts while not getting choice-locked. Waterium Z is a good option, though it can potentially rob Bulu of its Grassy Terrain nuke.

Good Luck

https://pokepast.es/20033395b3e4618d
Thanks again for replying!
 

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