[OVERVIEW]
Rillaboom is among the best pivots in the metagame thanks to its excellent ability, useful utility moves, and strong priority STAB attack. Grassy Surge lets Rillaboom set Grassy Terrain on switch-in, providing passive healing for teammates and slowing down threats that benefit from Psychic Terrain such as Necrozma. Grassy Glide is given priority and boosted by Grassy Terrain, letting Rillaboom soft check a wide variety of threats regardless of Speed, such as boosted Dragon Dance Zygarde and Diancie under Trick Room, as well as picking off any Pokemon low on health. Rillaboom works well on a variety of team archetypes thanks to the sheer utility it provides. For example, structures that rely on Trick Room or setup appreciate Rillaboom’s ability to create safe turns through the use of Fake Out, while the latter also appreciates Grassy Terrain's passive healing to keep wincons healthy. Volcanion and Urshifu-R synergize well with Rillaboom, as they remove Fire-types and Kyurem-B, respectively, and in return, Rillaboom checks Water-types such as Tapu Fini. Rillaboom is not without faults, though; its Grass typing leaves it with a plethora of weaknesses that are exposed by common Pokemon such as Kyurem-B and Genesect, and it can be tricky to use alongside other Terrain setters. It's also worn down quickly by pivoting in and out, especially with entry hazards up, as it typically has no recovery besides Grassy Terrain and doesn't carry Protect, leaving it open to being attacked every turn and susceptible to double targets.
[SET]
name: Bulky Pivot
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Wood Hammer
move 4: U-turn
item: Assault Vest
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 112 Atk / 36 Def / 112 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
* Fake Out puts one of the opponent’s Pokemon out of commission for a turn, giving your partner a safe turn to create progress.
* Grassy Glide is a strong priority STAB move under Grassy Terrain that hits Water- and Rock-types such as Tapu Fini, Urshifu-R, and Diancie for super effective damage. It also can pick off faster threats such as Urshifu-R and Nihilego as well as Diancie under Trick Room.
* Wood Hammer is Rillaboom's strongest attack that is most useful for hitting slower, bulkier targets such as Tapu Fini, Blastoise, and Diancie outside of Trick Room. It also threatens an OHKO on Zeraora and a 2HKO on Zygarde under Grassy Terrain, which Grassy Glide can't do.
* U-turn helps make Rillaboom an excellent pivot by being able to switch out of disadvantageous positions and bring in a Pokemon with a better matchup. It also does a solid amount of damage to opposing Rillaboom.
* The given EVs, combined with Assault Vest, let Rillaboom survive a +1 Sludge Bomb from Nihilego, Charcoal-boosted Eruption from Heatran, and +1 U-turn from Genesect. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack to hit as hard as possible. EVs can be shifted from Defense to Speed to outspeed threats such as Zeraora under Tailwind.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Superpower is an option over Wood Hammer to hit Heatran and Kyurem-B, while High Horsepower secures an OHKO on Heatran and is better against Metagross, but it leaves Rillaboom toothless against Kyurem-B. If using High Horsepower, Rillaboom can also run a more offensive spread with a Jolly nature to always outspeed Heatran. Knock Off is also available to hit Dragapult, but all three alternatives mean missing out on your most powerful STAB attack. Eject Button is an option to switch in, set Terrain, and immediately pivot out to a strong attacker on more offensive teams if keeping up momentum is preferred over longevity. A Choice Band set can deal massive damage, notably securing the OHKO on Urshifu-R with Grassy Glide under Grassy Terrain, but it loses out on Fake Out and overall support value. Miracle Seed is another option to make sure Rillaboom can OHKO Urshifu-R while retaining Fake Out, but it's significantly weaker than Choice Band and generally inferior to Assault Vest and Eject Button besides from that one benchmark.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[emma, 294304]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [Memoric, 215000]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Estronic, 240732]]
Rillaboom is among the best pivots in the metagame thanks to its excellent ability, useful utility moves, and strong priority STAB attack. Grassy Surge lets Rillaboom set Grassy Terrain on switch-in, providing passive healing for teammates and slowing down threats that benefit from Psychic Terrain such as Necrozma. Grassy Glide is given priority and boosted by Grassy Terrain, letting Rillaboom soft check a wide variety of threats regardless of Speed, such as boosted Dragon Dance Zygarde and Diancie under Trick Room, as well as picking off any Pokemon low on health. Rillaboom works well on a variety of team archetypes thanks to the sheer utility it provides. For example, structures that rely on Trick Room or setup appreciate Rillaboom’s ability to create safe turns through the use of Fake Out, while the latter also appreciates Grassy Terrain's passive healing to keep wincons healthy. Volcanion and Urshifu-R synergize well with Rillaboom, as they remove Fire-types and Kyurem-B, respectively, and in return, Rillaboom checks Water-types such as Tapu Fini. Rillaboom is not without faults, though; its Grass typing leaves it with a plethora of weaknesses that are exposed by common Pokemon such as Kyurem-B and Genesect, and it can be tricky to use alongside other Terrain setters. It's also worn down quickly by pivoting in and out, especially with entry hazards up, as it typically has no recovery besides Grassy Terrain and doesn't carry Protect, leaving it open to being attacked every turn and susceptible to double targets.
[SET]
name: Bulky Pivot
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Wood Hammer
move 4: U-turn
item: Assault Vest
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 112 Atk / 36 Def / 112 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
* Fake Out puts one of the opponent’s Pokemon out of commission for a turn, giving your partner a safe turn to create progress.
* Grassy Glide is a strong priority STAB move under Grassy Terrain that hits Water- and Rock-types such as Tapu Fini, Urshifu-R, and Diancie for super effective damage. It also can pick off faster threats such as Urshifu-R and Nihilego as well as Diancie under Trick Room.
* Wood Hammer is Rillaboom's strongest attack that is most useful for hitting slower, bulkier targets such as Tapu Fini, Blastoise, and Diancie outside of Trick Room. It also threatens an OHKO on Zeraora and a 2HKO on Zygarde under Grassy Terrain, which Grassy Glide can't do.
* U-turn helps make Rillaboom an excellent pivot by being able to switch out of disadvantageous positions and bring in a Pokemon with a better matchup. It also does a solid amount of damage to opposing Rillaboom.
* The given EVs, combined with Assault Vest, let Rillaboom survive a +1 Sludge Bomb from Nihilego, Charcoal-boosted Eruption from Heatran, and +1 U-turn from Genesect. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack to hit as hard as possible. EVs can be shifted from Defense to Speed to outspeed threats such as Zeraora under Tailwind.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Superpower is an option over Wood Hammer to hit Heatran and Kyurem-B, while High Horsepower secures an OHKO on Heatran and is better against Metagross, but it leaves Rillaboom toothless against Kyurem-B. If using High Horsepower, Rillaboom can also run a more offensive spread with a Jolly nature to always outspeed Heatran. Knock Off is also available to hit Dragapult, but all three alternatives mean missing out on your most powerful STAB attack. Eject Button is an option to switch in, set Terrain, and immediately pivot out to a strong attacker on more offensive teams if keeping up momentum is preferred over longevity. A Choice Band set can deal massive damage, notably securing the OHKO on Urshifu-R with Grassy Glide under Grassy Terrain, but it loses out on Fake Out and overall support value. Miracle Seed is another option to make sure Rillaboom can OHKO Urshifu-R while retaining Fake Out, but it's significantly weaker than Choice Band and generally inferior to Assault Vest and Eject Button besides from that one benchmark.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[emma, 294304]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [Memoric, 215000]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Estronic, 240732]]
Last edited:
