National Dex Grassy Spam team OU Nat Dex

[YellowLandorus]

Hey everyone! This is my first time sharing a team, hope you'll like it and find it as fun as I do!

This is a Grassy Spam team in National Dex OU, and here are the 6 pokemon that compose it:

Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 4 Def / 212 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Horn Leech
- Stone Edge
- Synthesis

First, we have Tapu Bulu. I wanted a terrain setter and had the choice between Rillaboom and Tapu Bulu. Now, the reason I chose him over Rillaboom is that he has a better physical bulk, which is very useful in a tier where Dracovish is used and used frequently. He also has the Fairy type, which makes him even stronger when facing Dracovish, and enables him to switch into an attack from Dragapult or any decent Dragon-type. His role in this team is that he sets up the Grassy Terrain and can be a set up sweeper in mid-game to late-game. As for his set, he has Bulk Up to fill his purpose as a bulky set-up sweeper, Horn Leech to enable him to inflict damage to the opponent while being boosted by the terrain and heal him (which is also the purpose of Synthesis, although this last move can be even more effective). Lastly, we have Stone Edge so that he doesn't have any problems checking Flying-types such as Zapdos, Charizard-Y (if he switches into this move because he anticipated Superpower or an other move), and can also take a hit from Volcarona unboosted and OHKO it with Stone Edge.

Serperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 76 HP / 40 Def / 136 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Substitute
- Glare

Then we have our first terrain abuser, with Serperior. The set is pretty simple to understand, as it is his most popular, but the EVs might need explaination. In a tier where Dracovish's menace is constant, having more than one pokémon that can tank one of its hits is useful. This is why I put 76HP as well as 40 def, which is the minimum bulk required to allow it to be 3HKO'ed by a Dracovish Band+Fischious Rend. The rest of the EVs are put into speed (easy to understand why) and 136 in SpA is to stay strong enough to sweep in late game. Also, it checks pretty easily Ferrothorn and other Steel-types, even with this much EVs in SpA, so that
Bulu's task as a set up sweeper can be easier to complete.

Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat

The second and main terrain abuser is Grassy Seed Hawlucha, that I absolutely love to play, as it is pretty easy to sweep through teams with it once Unburden is activated, since the Grassy Seed boosts its defense, making his physical bulk more correct. Taunt is an alternative to Substitute, as both immunes Hawlucha from statuses and other non-direct attacks. However, one thing I noticed when playing against Hawlucha is that he gets cancelled by Hippodown, as the latter can take hits from him and can retaliate with Whirlwind, completely cancelling the boost gained by Unburden. Taunt is, in this case, better than Substitute, since you can prevent the other to do that, and then setting up and possibly winning the game solely thanks to this. It's also another check to annoying Steel-types and other very popular pokemons, such as Dragon-types such as Dragapult, Kyurem or Kommo-O (which you can't lay a finger on with the former two pokemons), as well as the numerous Fire-types which can cause severe problems to the team and that you can hit neutrally thanks to boosted Acrobatics.

Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Earthquake
- Toxic

The rest of the team is quite bulky, starting with Kommo-O, in the role of Stealth Rock setter. He can also Toxic offensive threats to stop them from sweeping the entire team, as well as more bulky and annoying pokemons. The EVs are there to maximise its physical bulk, and 56 Speed is here to outspeed Modest Specs Magnezone and Aegislash, two mons that can cause some problems to the team.

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 68 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog

Next, we have Zapdos, another one of my favourite strategic pokemons. It has the Heavy-Duty Boots, to make it easier for him to come on the field and Defog away. The EVs are here to maximise its bulk, allowing it to counter pretty popular pokemons such as Loppuny-M, which will hesitate/regret hitting it because of Static.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover

Last but not least, Toxapex. It can counter some very dangerous Fire-types as well as taking physical hits like a champ. It counters physical offensive mons even better thanks to its access to Baneful Bunker, which makes the opponent's pokemon easier to counter because of the poison which will cripple greatly its life. It can also poison other mons even more thanks to the T-Spikes. Then, Scald and Recover are the classic move to put on Toxapex to make it even more annoying.

If you have any suggestions as to make the team better, feel free to comment!

 

[theotherguytm]

Ok, hi YellowLandorus! There are a few things I can suggest here to help your team.

First of all, you seem to be miscalculating your "Dracovish repsonses". Here are the actual calcs.
252+ Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend (170 BP) vs. 76 HP / 40 Def Serperior: 266-313 (85.8 - 100.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend (170 BP) vs. 248 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 235-277 (68.5 - 80.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, Leftovers recovery, and Grassy Terrain recovery
Lesson to learn: Fishious Rend should be considered to ignore the type chart (remember it also gets the double power on a switch-in). It OHKOs anything short of Ferrothorn or Toxapex, and 2HKOs the rest.

In fact, ironically enough, my first suggestion is to swap Tapu Bulu for Rillaboom... Because it beats Dracovish. And also because it gets U-turn and Swords Dance, has more Attack and Speed, less weaknesses... It's just a better terrain mon in every way. And the particular set I think is right for this team is the Choice Band one.
Rillaboom @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn
While it is slightly, slightly less powerful than Tapu Bulu, Rillaboom actually has many, many advantages over it. It has a more efficient stat distribution (higher HP, lower SpA) that makes their bulk almost identical, and has more speed. In move terms, it has Grassy Glide, a new move that gains +1 priority on Grassy Terrain, which makes it the strongest priority move in the game. It also has Knock Off to cripple its checks, and U-turn to switch in its fellows safely. Notably, it lures and Knocks Heavy Duty Boots off Zapdos, a major enemy of Grass spam. Basically, Wood Hammer is to KO things slower than you, Grassy Glide is to KO things faster than you, Knock Off is for when you can't KO and the target still has an item, U-turn is for when something else on your team needs to get in.

While Serperior is an excellent mon, as a Grassy abuser there is one mon it is clearly overshadowed by. And you don't have a Z Crystal on your team.
Kartana @ Normalium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Giga Impact
Not having Kartana on a Grassy Terrain team is like not having Mega Swampert on a Rain team. The weaknesses it stacks are the rest of the team's problem: Kartana does way too much damage to pass up! Leaf Blade is the Grassy-boosted STAB that at least 2HKOs more than half the game, Sacred Sword is the coverage move of choice to hit otherwise troublesome threats like Heatran and Ferrothorn. Swords Dance is used to set up for a sweep. Giga Impact along with Normalium Z is used just to hit Grass resists as hard as feasibly possible in one attack. And it is scary. OHKOs Zapdos with ease, high chance to OHKO physically defensive Tangrowth after Rocks, the list goes on. And of course, Beast Boost makes Kartana even more unstoppable with a kill under its belt. You're probably never clicking Giga Impact otherwise, but the nuke it provides via the Z Crystal is well worth it.

It's worth taking a moment to explain how these two work together. These two share a lot of the same checks due to their shared reliance on Grass STAB to reach their full damage capabilities. However, none of their defensive checks like a +2 Z Move from Kartana, and none of their offensive checks like Grassy Glide spam. So how it will work in any given game is one of them will be the support, the other will be the wincon. Either Rillaboom weakens and KOs Kartana's revenge killers to allow it to sweep, or Kartana smashes the defensive core wide open for Rillaboom to clean house. So the rest of the team just has to be based on helping these two do their thing.

Your Hawlucha set is fine movewise. You could consider Roost over Taunt to heal up while you sweep, but I strongly recommend the EV spread 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe with an Adamant nature. The 44 Spe makes you faster than Scarf Greninja, and the rest of the EVs make you much, much more bulky against priority and while setting up. You can also run 124 Speed to deal with Sand Rush Excadrill, though it rarely has room for Rock coverage to hurt you in the current metagame. If you do, run 96 HP and 36 SpD so you live a Moonblast from Clefable. The only reason to run Max Speed is for other Hawlucha, and you have Zapdos to halt that.

Right, now for the Stealth Rocker. Kommo-o is a pretty good rocker, but when a mon fits Grassy Terrain like a glove in the way Heatran does, why not upgrade from "pretty good" to "the best?"
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpD / 120 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power
The given Speed lets Heatran reach the same benchmark as Kommo-o on your original team, though since many other mons are aiming for the same benchmark it might be worth a couple more Speed points to jump them. Even uninvested, Lava Plume does notably large damage and comes with a nifty 30% to burn. Stealth Rock is the name of the game for Heatran, and no hazard remover in the tier can reliably switch in on it. Toxic cripples select targets like a bold Zapdos attempting to clear Rocks. Earth Power punishes Toxapex, has great coverage overall, and lets you beat other Specially Defensive Heatran... If you get the jump on them! So a few extra Speed points are well worth considering. Heatran only gets one Ability, but it's a nifty one: Flash Fire lets Heatran absorb other Fire moves aimed for your Grass types and fire back with a 50% stronger Lava Plume! Heatran also loves Grassy Terrain giving it extra recovery it otherwise is lacking in, while also weakening Heatran's bane: Earthquake. So it's a win-win for the team! You can even fake out your opponent the first time you come in, as they will be doubtless worrying about a Grassy-boosted Bloom Doom from Heatran's other set!

Your Zapdos's moveset is fine, though I'd again suggest a different EV spread. 72 EVs in Speed gets you the jump on max speed Modest Heatran, though this is another common benchmark that speed creeping takes place at. Use 248 HP to reduce Stealth Rock damage if you lose your Boots. The rest should be all dumped into Phys Def to minimise damage from Choiced Kartana and so on.

Finally, The Pex. Having both Baneful Bunker and Toxic Spikes is somewhat suboptimal, as you miss out on the utility offered by Haze. On ladder where people spam Dracovish you have to run Baneful, but in a tournament setting against someone who knows the metagame, Toxic Spikes all the way. But either way, Toxapex has to run Haze so it isn't setup fodder for sweepers and can clear their boosts.

Hope this helps!