Bulky RU Team

[DrewfjalsGaming]

Hello guys and gals. I've made this team for a few weeks now. I've been using it and it has been working kind of well. Even though I think it is a decent team I'd like to get advice from others, since we all have different ideas and strategies.

THE TEAM AT A FIRST GLANCE

The Team

Steelix (F) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Atk / 76 SpD / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Stealth Rock
​

Steelix will be my bulky sweeper. It has Toxic so that I can deal growing damage to my opponent every turn while dealing damage with either Heavy Slam or Earthquake. Stealth Rock is an hazard so that I can either deal damage to other Pokemon or so that I can get rid of sturdy. Earthquake is one of my stab moves together with Heavy Slam. I preferred Heavy Slam to Iron Head since when Steelix mega evolves it gets heavier and because Heavy Slam has better accuracy than Iron Head.

Seismitoad (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 SpD
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Scald
​

Seismitoad will be another bulky mon. It can take hits and do some pretty good stab damage with Earthquake. With Leftovers and Drain Punch it can heal and with Water Absorb it can be used to protect Houndoom or Steelix from possible water type attacks. Toxic is a way of dealing damage every turn and Scald is used pretty much so that I can get a burn on my opponent.

Bronzong @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Toxic
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake​

Another bulky-mon. Bronzong has the Toxic-Protect Strategy which is very useful unless I'm facing a Steel type or a Poison type, though Poison types can be dealt with fairly easily. Gyro Ball is the stab move. Having pretty low speed Gyro Ball does some nice damage on the opponent. Earthquake is used to cover Bronzong's Fire type weakness.​

Houndoom (F) @ Life Orb

Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
​

Houndoom will be the special sweeper. It can counter my team's fire type weakness with Flash Fire. It has Nasty Plot in case I have a small chance of setting up and then it has the Life Orb to power up Dark Pulse and Heat Wave. Heat Wave will give me the chance to burn my opponent and Dark Pulse the chance to flinch. HP Grass is mostly for type coverage.

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Specs

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Thunderbolt​

A sweeper/troll. With Trick I can give Choice Specs to my opponent making it only be able to use one move and with the chance of me getting a nice item in return. Leaft Storm will deal great Stab damage and if I want more power I can just use the Choice Specs. The same goes for Thunderbolt. A way of switching and dealing damage (In case I chose the strategy with Trick) is Volt Switch.​

Cofagrigus (F) @ Leftovers

Ability: Mummy
EVs: 172 HP / 84 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Haze
​

This is one of my favorite mons due to it being so bulky and useful. With mummy I can get rid of my opponent's ability. Then I have my Will-O-Wisp-Protect combo. With Haze I can stop my opponent from setting up, though it would get rid of the burn. Shadow Ball is my dealing damage move. The only weakness I see on this mon would be a Baton Passer or a Normal type.
​

I'll gladly appreciate any ideas on changes that I could do on this team to improve it. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a fabulous day.

​

 

[Chakra]

Hey dude. nice team. I have some changes to improve your team and hopefully help you adjust to the newer meta as Mega Steelix and Tyrantrum were recently banned.
Some immediate threats to your team include:

Fighting types are extremely pressuring for this team as your check is SpDef Cofagrigus which takes a lot which is easily wittled by other STAB / coverage from physical (which most fighting types in this tier are) physical attackers like Virizion, Hitmonlee and even Hitmonlee. Virizion is also threatening to this team due to the threatening speed tier and immediate weakness to the combination of Grass + Fighting STAB. Venusaur can also be threatening to this team due to Bronzong being crippled by Knock off variants and the rest of the team facing serious trouble with STAB.

Pokemon Changes

Mega Steelix and Bronzong possess Similar roles on this team and can often be seen as overlapping, especially as their two primary roles are seen as Stealth Rockers. The first change I will recommend to this team is Garbador over Mega Steelix. Mega Steelix isn't allowed because of the new bans and also makes your teams weak to the primary threats I listed above. Garbador provides a blanket check to Virizion (Stone Edge and Special Variants, which most are), Fighting Types and Venusaur. I would recommend a spread of 252 HP / 186 Def / 40 SpD / 30 Spe. The spread I listed is as follows deals with Venusaur as it able to come on Life Orb Leaf Storm 3 times after rocks, and outspeed Blastoise which prevents it from spinning on you from with the help of Rocky Helmet. I would recommend a set of Gunk Shot (Primarily to check Virizion, but also hits Fairies hard), Spikes (Your team appreciates Hazard, especially with Cofag on the team), Drain Punch (to hit Steels that are not effected by the Poison type STAB) and finally Pain Split as a method of regaining health.

Your team primarily lacks speed control, as there is no Scarfer or priority pokemon like Fletchinder, or any Pokemon with priority attacks. Therefore I would recommend a change of Houndoom to Scarf Delphox. Scarf Delphox allows to check Virizion, Scarf Medicham, Scarf Hitmonlee, Flygon and +1 Scrafty. I would recommend running a set of Fire Blast, Psychic, Trick and Dazzling Gleam. this set consists of Delphox's two STAB moves, trick which can cripple Pokemon you usually cannot touch like SpDef Diancie and Mola, while also carrying Dazzling Gleam to hit Pokemon like Scrafty, Flygon and Druddigon for more damage.

EV / SET / MOVE changes

Secondly, Seismitoad can run a different set which can help it deal with overwhelming threats and also be able to check Pokemon like Alomomola as you don't need another Stealth Rocker on this team, as Bronzong will be running that. I would recommend a set of Scald / Earth Power / Toxic / Refresh and an EV change to 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD. The reason I recommend this is that is will provide a counter towards pokemon like Alomomola as it can toxic it and not be affected by opposing toxic and scald burns due to water absorb. This also acts a counter to Jellicent as it outspeeds the 44 speed variant and can Toxic is while refreshing it's status. Other mons this assists your team in checking include Emboar, Fletchinder, limiting Volt-turn cores, etc.

This is a small but very necessary change, running Stealth Rock over Protect on Bronzong definitely is needed as every team needs a stealth rocker as this further functions with Garbador as a spiker for hazard stacking and Cofag's spinblocking abilities.

Finally, I would recommending running a fully Defensive spread on Cofagrigus as it more effectively checks fighting types (Max HP, Max Def) and also works in limiting set up sweepers like Scrafty, Fletchinder, etc with Haze. Protect is not really effective on defensive Cofagrigus as it does nto really need to scout that often, and it already blocks High Jump Kick. Instead I would recommend running Pain Split over Protect. This will allow you to increase longetivity with this Pokemon and make sure that you are continously checking Pokemon like Medicham, while being able to spread will-o-wisps freely.

changes

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 186 Def / 40 SpD / 30 Spe
Impish Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Pain Split
- Spikes

Delphox @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Trick

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Refresh
- Earth Power

Stealth Rock > Protect on Zong

Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pain Split
- Haze
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball

Hope, I helped with the changes!