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