SM OU M-Gallade Bulky Offense Team

[Gaju]

Introduction

Hi there,

I'm Gaju, and first of all I'd like to say that english is not my first language, so please forget about the mistakes I'll make. I'd describe myself as a new player, even if I've been playing showdown for a few years, as I actually never really invested in trying to play competitive or to build a team from myself - I'm basically what I'd call a casual.

I recently felt like I could try to build a team myself, I've been playing it a little, changed a few things, played it again and now I feel like I could use some advice. I'll try to make this post fit the forum's guidelines and as it seems to be a habit here I'll share some music with you before I start explaining the team.

Before I explain the sets in details, I'd like to talk a bit about this team came out : I wanted to make a team with what must be my favorite pokemon : M-Gallame. I tried to use him in a veil offense team with alolan ninetales, but it felt like I was always lacking some coverage/moves (for example I had some issues finding place for an entry hazards setter in a full-offensive team). I finally decided, even if I really like alolan ninetales, that it would be a better idea to build a more simple Bulky Offense team as a first team, and I'll come back playing Veil Offense once I'll get more used to building. After a few more changes to complete the team coverage I end up playing the following team. I'm doing pretty well atm, and I'm quite satisfied with it, but as I said I don't have this much experience in competitive play and I'm sure there's a lot improvements that could be made. That's why I came here to get some advice.

The Team

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Psycho Cut
- Knock Off

This set is almost the one recommended by smogon, and that's the one I'm using for now. The idea is to make some space for M-Gallade to set up with swords dance, after what he can easily make holes in the enemy team. He has a decent speed with Jolly nature, which combines quite well with psychic terrain priority suppression, letting him deal with a lot of different threats. I tried some little adjustments, like playing drain punch on close combat (I really like the healing power it gives to gallade, but I think I still prefer the explosive power of close combat) or playing Psycho cut instead of zen headbutt (which I kept, as a 70 base power is usually enough for M-Gallade to sweep, with a more reliable accuracy). I'm considering the idea to replace Knock Off with Ice Punch, but it would make him lose perfect coverage and the utility Knck Off can bring by removing items so I'm not sur what to do.

Bisharp (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch

Bisharp is here to reinforce the offensive core of the team. His STAB combination is really helpful to deal with M-Gallade main counters as he hits hard on fairy and ghost types. I originally played him with swords dance, but I replaced it with pursuit to reinforce his potential as a revenge killer. Sucker Punch helps dealing with pokemons that are faster than M-Gallade (hello M-Alakazam). What I'm wondering with him is if I should change one of the 3 dark-type moves he has cause it might be too much, but I find him useful as he is now, so I'm not sure whether or not I should do it.

Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Let's talk about Landorus. He serves as a leader with stealth rock. Swords dance combined with earthquake and stone edge / continental crush allows him to deal with a large amount of opponent, such as usual leaders (ferrothorn, skarmory ...) or counters. I like this aggressive set, even if not having U-turn makes the team lose momentum.

Thundurus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flash Cannon

I originally played thundurus on a nasty plot + agility set, which I couldn't make good use of, and I changed it to something that fits my current experience a lot more. Volt switch and thunderbolt are two very useful stabs, plus they give the team an other way (with Landorus) to deal with M-Gallade's third weakness : flying types. HP ice gives thundurus great coverage. Flash cannon is here to anticipate switches and counter Thundurus weaknesses (ice and rock), but I'm still not sure of what could be better between this and focus blast (more damage, less accuracy).

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Taunt
- Focus Blast

Gengar is here to bring another special attacker. As a life orber, he really deals great damages with his 2 STAB moves. Focus blast completes perfect coverage, and taunt helps destroying stalls that would elseway heal and heal again.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

My last pokemon si Tapu Lele, with a choice specs set. She brings psychic terrain to the team, and can deal a great amount of damage too. I don't really know what to say about her. Her role is simple and she completes the team in a very smooth way imo. I sometimes use her as a lead, especially when there's a threat in the enemy team that would counter Landorus and that I really don't want to get huge.

Conclusion

I'm finally done talking about the team. I tried to make the logic behind it understandable, but like I said I'm not that used to competitive building and there must be mistakes I didn't see. I think it still has some potential, sinc I've been playing this team and it gives a good feeling.

Concerning the main threats to this team, I've had some issues dealing with :
- M-Alakazam (bisharp helps a lot though).
- M-swampert is a problem too, he's really bulky and that might be because I'm not good enough but I've had some hard times killing him since I don't have any grass-move.
- Greninja really is a pain to me, but I think this is because there's a lot of different sets for him and I'm not experienced enough to predict what he'll do.

I'll end by apologizing again for my english, and thanking people who still took time reading me. I hope I've been clear enough so that you will be able to help me improve !

 

[Indigo Plateau]

Hey Gaju, welcome to Smogon! Mega Gallade is a pretty cool Pokemon that sees little usage in OU nowadays. Because I really like it and have built with it a while back, I figured I could drop by and give you some advice.

Let's talk about some issues that I see with your team from taking a quick glance at it.

Your team seems very offensively inclined, even though you stated in your description that you wanted to make this team a bulky offense. As I read through your RMT, you did try to explain the reasoning behind each team member after you chose it. MGallade + Bisharp was a scary core in ORAS, but Bisharp is not as viable anymore due to the power creep and prevalence of Heatran, Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, Hawlucha, and others. Thundurus-T sees no usage in the current metagame. Furthermore, your team contains no switch-ins to some of the tier's most common attackers such as Ash-Greninja, Zygarde, and Heatran. Lastly, in the OU metagame, it is essential that you possess a Steel- type. Although Bisharp is one, it can't afford to switch in to many resisted hits.

Without further ado, let's get into the rate and try to patch up the most holes possible.


~Threats~

In no particular order:

Ash-Greninja gets to spam dual stab very easily, since your best resist to a potential specs Dark Pulse is Bisharp. With hazards up and a little bit of chip damage, Ash-Greninja can clean up very easily against your team seeing as your only way of revenge killing it is scarf Thundurus-T.

Similar to Ash-Greninja, Rain sweeps your team without pretty effortlessly. Scarf Thundurus-T can't deal with Swampert or Kingdra, and your team contains no Water resists, meaning Waterfall and/or Surf are guaranteed victories. Rain is definitely a playstyle you have to take into consideration in SM.

Being arguably one of the most annoying Pokemon to face in SM, Heatran gets to spam Magma Storm without drawbacks when it comes in versus Bisharp or one of your choiced Pokemon. Luckily, your initial team is offensive enough to make Heatran's job of switching in a bit harder, but the weakness is still there.

Having no Fire resists = having no answer for Volcarona. Your team does good job at pressuring it for the most part, but if it ever gets a chance to pull off a QD on say, Gallade or Bisharp, it's pretty much game over. Your only counterplay is ensuring that hazards stay up and keeping Thundurus-T and hope it can rk.

Any variant of Kartana has the potential to put in work against your team, but it's mainly scarf that looks very scary for your team. One wrong prediction (switching in Bisharp on Sacred Sword, for example) means that Kartana can easily get the ball rolling. Base 108 speed outspeeds your whole team holding a Choice Scarf, and it's pretty easy to eliminate/weaken a couple of Pokemon to the point where your opponent clicks either STAB and wins.

As you noticed and mentioned in your own threat list, Psychic spam (or either Psychic- type) really dents your team. Tapu Lele clicks either STAB and picks up a kill every time since Bisharp is your Steel- type, and Mega Zam is extremely hard to revenge kill for your team, as it can even trace Thundurus-T's Volt Absorb.

Hawlucha has become one of the most threatening Pokemon in SM due to the combination of boosting terrain seed + SD. A simple combination of Tapu + Hawlucha 6-0's your entire team. Once Hawlucha gets a Def / SpD boost and is able to get to +2, nothing stops it from cleaning up against your team. For the record, after rocks: +2 HJK kills Thundurus-T and Acro is a roll in Lucha's favor to kill.

Don't really think this one requires much of an explanation; CB Zygarde clicks Thousand Arrows and picks up almost every time since Lando-T is offensive.


~Suggestions~

Your team is a bit too offensive without any real type synergy at the moment, so let's replace some expendable team members and cover threats to your team simultaneously.

>

Although you liked the Mega Gallade + Bisharp core, it's not as effective in SM for reasons I mentioned before. Instead, I would opt to put AV Magearna here over Bisharp. Although Bisharp might hit harder, Magearna provides several benefits to your team due to its higher defenses and Steel/Fairy typing:

1) A reliable Psychic resist to take on the likes of Zam/Lele more reliably
2) A soft check to Ash-Greninja and Kartana at sufficient HP
3) Volt Switch to bring in Gallade, Tapu Lele, and Gengar easier and form a VoltTurn core with Landorus-T

Also note that Magearna draws in and can pivot out against Heatran, which is very common and gives Gallade a potential opportunity to setup.

>

Your team still suffers from the rain matchup, and solely relying on Magearna to handle Ash-Greninja is also extremely shaky. I think Thundurus-T is pretty expendable and Toxapex fits quite nicely. Toxapex helps your team by:

1) Providing an extra Ash-Greninja check and strengthens the Rain matchup
2) Helps against Fire- types such as Heatran, Zard-Y, and Volcarona (depends on the item)
3) Can status Flying- types like Hawlucha and Zapdos that can annoy your team

(Defensive)
Offensive Landorus-T has fallen out of favor lately, and I think that defensive Landorus-T can offer more to your team and create a solid defensive backbone with Toxapex. Flyinium-Z is a solid way to handle Hawlucha, dents Zygarde and Kartana, and allows you to possibly kill Volcarona from full.

I'm not the biggest fan of Gengar in the current metagame, but Choice Scarf Gengar here allows you to outspeed most common scarfers outside of Greninja (most notably Kartana). I'm putting Destiny Bond to surprise Volcarona, but you can also opt for Trick to ease the stall matchup.

Now that Gengar is your scarfer, Choice Specs Tapu Lele can provide immense wallbreaking power for the team. Psychic Terrain can power up Zen Headbutt for Gallade to break through fat Pokemon like Clefable. The only Pokemon capable of switching in are Steel- types, which Gallade can take advantage of.

!Important note!
I tried maintain as many of the original members as possible, but this means that your team will either lack Stealth Rock or Defog, depending on what you decide to give your Landorus-T. I would test it out and see what you like the most, but for now I'll stick to Defog to avoid hazard stacking builds from screwing you over. If you want to have both Stealth Rock and Defog, I'd advise doing the following:

>

Using Kartana over Gengar means losing out on the 110 base speed, but it means that you can have emergency Defog in the back for hazard stacking. Kartana provides Defog, an additional and more reliable answer against Rain, and prevents you from being trapped by Tyranitar, but keep in mind it makes dealing with Volcarona and opposing Kartana harder. This is an optional change, but I figured I might as well include it for you to try out.


~Conclusion~

New Team

http://pokepast.es/e3ec47d14f8346b2

Above you'll find the new team after the changes. The purpose of the team is to use your defensive backbone of Magearna + Lando-T to safely pivot out against to your offensive Pokemon and give Gallade an opportunity to setup.

Overall, I do believe this team is more consistent than your initial version and resembles BO, but that's not to say it doesn't have its weaknesses. Volcarona is a pain to deal with if it doesn't fall for scarf Destiny Bond or if Lando-T isn't at absolute full, so make sure to play around it aggressively. Swampert can still handle your team with ease, but scarf Gengar can outspeed and if you're really worried about it, you can put Kartana over Gengar. Opposing hazard stacking builds can get out of hand if you don't keep Lando-T healthy. Zygarde pressures your team a lot but it's really hard to handle it without greatly changing your team. Lastly, Electric- types are really annoying; luckily, you have ways to pressure them. For example, you can Toxic both Zapdos and Tapu Koko if they try to switch into Toxapex.

Test out the squad and let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to also make changes if you don't like something. Hope I was able to help & gl with the new team