Soak Bellibolt
by spook
They ain't believe in Bellibolt...
Introduction:by spook
Just this April I released Rick Ross Rain with the hopes of getting Bellibolt his rightful spot on the OUVR. I then stopped playing Pokemon in hopes that when I returned a few months later Bellibolt would be at least C tier on the OUVR and all would be right in this world. However, when I returned, what I discovered was quite frankly appalling - Bellibolt was nowhere to be seen on the viability list. Not only that, but unusable shitmons like comfey, muk, kingdra, and pincurchin had all found their way on to the rankings while Bellibolt was left in the dust. With snub picks like these, I knew the OUVR council wasn't going to come to their senses unless I made Bellibolt's power abundantly clear, so I set off to build another rank 1 caliber Bellibolt squad...
Importable:
(click above)
Shoutouts Boomenheimer for the nicknames!
Proof of Peak:
Team Description:
BOLTENHEIMER (Bellibolt) @ Heavy-Duty Boots/Leftovers
Ability: Electromorphosis
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Flying/Grass/Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Soak
- Slack Off
On my previous Bellibolt team, I utilized the Assault Vest to take advantage of Bellibolt's decent bulk and the fantastic defensive traits of the mono electric typing. This set uses the same idea, but is more defensively oriented to fit the team style. Specially Defensive Bellibolt checks a lot of the special attackers in the tier that don't have too much immediate power (Gholdengo, Booster moth/valiant, Iron Crown, Zapdos etc.). Bellibolt has access to the very rare utility move, soak. Soak obviously pairs well with Bellibolt's discharge, and also lets Bellibolt toxic pokemon that would otherwise be immune. Soak also weakens every pokemon (that isn't a water type and hasn't already terastalized) as it removes the 1.5x stab boost on their moves. Having double status (discharge + toxic) allows Bellibolt to not thud into common defensive cores as once you get the soak off, you have the ability to choose which status to go for. For example, if you think they will go to their ground type, use toxic, and if you think they will go to their steel type, use discharge. I initially had static as my ability to punish weak pivot moves from pokemon such as primarina and alomomola, but after a bit of laddering realized that electromorphosis is broken and there is no reason to not use it. Electromorphosis makes Bellibolt's discharge around the same power as a max attack Tinkaton's gigaton hammer, allowing Bellibolt to 2hko most non-resists. Another change I made was from leftovers + tera fairy to hdb + tera flying. I made this change because I felt like the team was weak to hazard stack, ground types, and grass types, so tera flying boots helped with that. While writing this I realized that tera grass is an alternative that might honestly be better than tera flying and would synergize better with leftovers if you go with that over hdb. If anybody tries out tera grass lmk how it goes and if it is better than tera flying.
METRO BOOMER (Rillaboom) @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- High Horsepower/U-turn
Rillaboom was the first option that came to mind when thinking of a partner for Bellibolt. Not only does it resist ground, Bellibolt's only weakness, but also sets terrain, weakening certain ground moves and providing Bellibolt with extra recovery. Additionally, Bellibolt's soak allows Rillaboom to get off a free wood hammer or revenge a threat with grassy glide. Knock Off is here to remove important items and I chose high horsepower over u-turn to hit Iron Moth, Raging Bolt, and most importantly, Kingambit which is a big threat to the team since Great Tusk is offensive. U-turn is still a great option, easing player of risky double switches during drawn out games. The ev spread is just to outspeed Raging Bolt while having as much hp investment as possible for wood hammer recoil and switching in to waterpon slightly better. Also shoutouts Dragonite4242 for letting me know Rillaboom learns high horsepower, without him I would still be using stomping tantrum.
SHAMONEAMOLA (Alomomola) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Def / 248 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Wish
- Protect
- Tickle
Alomomola is the primary physical wall on the team and provides wish support for the rest of the team during longer matches. I opted for tickle on this set, which lowers the target's attack and defense by one stage. Mola can spam tickle on dragon dance sweepers to negate their attack boosts, while lowering their defense to the point where a flip turn into Rillaboom's grassy glide will pick up the kill. I am using Tera Ghost to beat Zamazenta, an otherwise huge threat to the team (ban this shit pls, it's such a fun-killer when teambuilding). It would most definitely be optimal to invest a bit more in hp and a bit less in spdef, but I was too lazy to find a good spread. If anyone has a meaningful spread please post it here and I will add it.
RAGNAROK (Tinkaton) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 156 SpD / 104 Spe
Careful Nature
- Gigaton Hammer
- Encore
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Tinkaton is a rising star in OU that many people are using for it's utility options and matchup into broken Darkrai. On this set I am using air balloon + pickpocket to provide an early game ground immunity and steal one item without using a move slot on knock off. Encore is amazing utility, notably locking Raging Bolt into dragon pulse/calm mind/thunderclap (hence the speed evs to outspeed Raging Bolt). This thing has an easy time putting up rocks against most teams and can sometimes get a thunder wave or two off which can benefit Rillaboom and Great Tusk, both of which have quite average speed tiers. Gigaton Hammer lets Tinkaton actually do it's job of checking fairy types and can get off some nice damage on most things despite Tinkaton's atrocious attack stat.
ASAC TANK SCHRADER (Great Tusk) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
For hazard control, I opted for Great Tusk's standard utility set, just with close combat over knock off. Close Combat is amazing for getting surprise ohkos on pokemon like Darkrai and Samurott-H, while also just being a super spam-able stab coming off Tusk's 361 attack. I chose tera steel for the grass and fairy resistance, two types that this team struggles to handle defensively. Great Tusk is the main Kingambit answer on the team so be mindful of your hp when facing Kingambit. In fatter games, make sure to keep Tusk healthy with wish passes so you can continue to get off strong attacks and keep hazards off your side of the field.
NIGHTWING (Dragapult) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Hex/U-turn
Dragapult rounds off the team, providing us with some much needed speed control. Choice Specs gives us immediate breaking power, and an offensive check to pokemon like Waterpon, Rillaboom, Zamazenta and many others. I have flamethrower to potentially catch steels like Kingambit, and like with Rillaboom, I have decided to forgo u-turn, this time in favor of hex. I felt that hex would be useful for drawn out games where I am able to spread status using Bellibolt and Tinkaton, but this rarely came into play so feel free to use u-turn instead. I have tera ghost for the increase power, but I'm sure other teras like fairy or dragon would work fine too.
*Quick Note - Using an RMT on ladder can be difficult as your opponent potentially has access to your team, but an easy way to fix this is to change some of the sets. Obviously there are some things you shouldn't change like taking the choice band off Rillaboom, but tera types, some moves (like close combat on tusk) and even some abilities/items can be swapped out (if you have experience with the tier). This could even give you the advantage as your opponent will think they know your set causing them to play sub optimally if you are using a different set.
Replays:
I didn't save the first few replays, but here is my run from 1909 to 2052.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154537057?
(1933-1950 not saved)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154549214
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154592510
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154604831?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154665915
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154676347
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154740309
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154537057?
(1933-1950 not saved)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154549214
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154592510
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154604831?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154665915
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154676347
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2154740309
Shout Outs:
cala_aa quacc Dragonite4242 for helping me when I was building the team and when I was laddering
Heatranator got me the shiny bellibolt 3d model
olivia Bellibolt Ambassador
Sp0oN1oRd promised to nominate Bellibolt to OUVR!!! He is such a big fan of Bellibolt.
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