Salazzle LuchaBoom Offense
This is my first RMT, so sorry if it's not great. Any feedback on the team or post would be appreciated!
And now, to the team.
This is my first RMT, so sorry if it's not great. Any feedback on the team or post would be appreciated!
And now, to the team.
Salazzle. One of my favorite mons in OU currently, design wise and in the metagame. It has extremely good utility as a breaker, and due to Corrosion allowing it to use Toxic against opposing Steel and Poison types, it does very well against mons like Ferrothorn and Corviknight, while serving as a good check to Clefable (although MG Clefable can't be poisoned). I wanted to make a team around Salazzle, so I looked at Salazzle's strengths and weaknesses. Salazzle does very well against slow, bulky mons and teams, but its low bulk means that most faster things can do heavy damage or OHKO it, and its 4x weakness to ground means that it's easily forced out by most Ground types bar Excadrill (you should be wary of Excadrill anyway, as under sand it outspeeds Salazzle and if it's at full health and hasn't revealed an item it could be Focus Sash, which means Salazzle will die). So, I needed a way of outspeeding and beating faster threats and Ground-types.
Enter Rillaboom, aka Bulu Jr. Rillaboom's new Hidden Ability, Grassy Surge, boosts the power of its Grass moves by 1.3x, and also provides recovery to the rest of the grounded mons on my team and weakens the power of Earthquake by 1/2, helping Salazzle's longevity a lot since it doesn't have reliable recovery or Leftovers. Rillaboom also excels at beating Water and Ground types, two types which Salazzle struggles against. The core of Rillaboom + Salazzle helps my team break bulky cores easily, since Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain STAB Wood Hammer coming off of a 125 Attack stat is very powerful. Sadly, with its pretty alright 85 base Speed, Rillaboom is outsped by common opposing Scarfers, such as Gengar, Jirachi, and Terrakion, meaning that scouting for these items is important as if they aren't Scarfed, Rillaboom can usually OHKO them but if they are, Rillaboom is in trouble and pivoting to another mon is a better play. Now that we have two good breakers, we need something fast to clean up. Luckily, Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain comes with one more benefit.
Hawlucha. The sweep-or-die mon himself. Hawlucha is incredibly fast after using his Grassy Seed, easily outspeeding even max speed Choice Scarf Zeraora with only some Speed investment. The game plan with Hawlucha is simple, just keep Rillaboom alive and work on chipping anything capable of stopping the Hawlucha sweep, then set your Terrain and bring Hawlucha in safely, by sacking a mon or using Teleport. Then, one way or another, the game is most likely over. Hawlucha is capable of sweeping entire offensive teams with hazards up and/or some chip on key threats. These threats include Aegislash, who should be brought extremely low or KOd before Hawlucha pops his Seed, and Zeraora, who can survive +0 Close Combat and OHKO with Plasma Fists. Hawlucha can be pivoted in earlier in the game, but be sure not to consume the Seed or take too much damage, as either of these things will heavily restrain Hawlucha's sweeping ability (without Unburden, Hawlucha is pretty slow, and if it takes too much chip it risks dropping into range of powerful priority moves). Still, Hawlucha is a powerful cleaner in the late game. Since we now have 3 offensive mons, I needed to add a good defensive core so I could better take on opposing offense.
You knew it was coming. At least, you were 42.154% sure. Clefable. Clefable provides great utility with WishPort and, more importantly, Magic Guard. Clefable is very important to this team, because it functions as a solid pivot with great longevity (it can't be chipped by hazards and status). Clefable also gives the team a Dark resist and another Fighting resist (I'm not counting Hawlucha since it doesn't have any defensive utility). Also, it helps against VoltTurn because of its good bulk and Bug resistance. Clefable is helped very well by Salazzle, since Salazzle can poison or damage Clefable's checks, like Iron Head Corviknight and Toxapex, and Clefable can abuse that later if they switch in by racking up poison damage with Protect. Clefable can't stop everything, though. Strong physical Poison and Steel types can do heavy damage to Clefable and force it out, so I needed a good physical wall.
At first, I put Hippowdon in this spot, but I later realized I had a big problem with Rotom-H, so I needed a sturdy physical wall that also beat Rotom-H. So, here it is. I know, I know. Vish is gone, so Toad is much less viable. And, I completely agree, but Seismitoad has tons of role compression for my team, providing more Toxic support, Stealth Rocks, a Rotom-H and Rotom-W counter, and good physdef for general switching. Seismitoad can also beat Toxapex and check Cinderace locked into Pyro Ball or Gunk Shot (ew). So, at this point, I needed one more mon for the last slot. I didn't have any hazard removal, and even though my team is pretty good against Rocks typing wise, sometimes you just have to get em off.
Lastly, Rotom-H. This is basically here for Defog, but also because it beats Bulk Up Corviknight, Life Orb Clefable (if anyone wants to run that), Mandibuzz, Toxapex, etc. Rotom-H has a Volt Switch slower than lots of offensive threats, so that's another plus. The team already has 2 Water resists and 1 very good Rock resist, so the shared typing with Salazzle isn't too bad. Rotom-H is also decent at wallbreaking, since if you predict a switch you can boost up with Nasty Plot and deal some big damage. Not too much more to say here.
Sets
Salazzle (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Nasty Plot
Great set. Toxic is usually a good move to use early game so you can start getting chip on checks as soon as possible. Sludge Wave because you don't want to be walled by Kommo-o. I use Flamethrower over Fire Blast for the consistency, I'm sure Fire Blast would be effective but I'll take the extra PP and accuracy over a little power that doesn't really matter if you go +2 anyway. Nasty Plot allows Salazzle to set up on the switch and start destroying things if they have taken chip already. Maximum Speed investment, since I want to outspeed as many mons as possible. Also, know that even with Grassy, a 4x super effective EQ from Hippo or Toad will OHKO, so if they come in, switch out. Also, you outspeed Addy Cinderace. Know that.
Rillaboom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Pretty standard moveset, max speed so you can outspeed Togekiss, etc. I usually lead with this if I'm facing offense, since I can U-turn if I don't like the lead matchup or Wood Hammer if I do. Wood Hammer does have recoil damage, but a lot of the time you end up healing most of it with Grassy, so don't be afraid to spam it if the opponent doesn't have a good counter. Knock Off against Aegislash is a great play because Hawlucha needs lots of chip on Aegislash to sweep. Be aware that you have to get damage on Zeraora at some point, and usually Scarf Rilla is pretty good at that. Don't be afraid to sack Rilla if it means Lucha can come in for free with Grassy up and sweep.
Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Acrobatics
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
You know what this is. Speed EVs are enough to outspeed Scarf Zeraora and everything slower, so you're good there. The rest of the EVs are in HP so your Subs are harder to break. If you think the opponent will switch, sub. If you have a sub up, you should keep it if there are priority users on the opposing team, but SD if you know there aren't. Also, know that Dragapult can go through Subs with Infiltrator.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport
Standard. SpDef so you can check special threats better. If the mon you're facing is Poisoned, go for lots of Protects, but try not to be too predictable or you might give them a free switch. Also, if the opponent gets Tspikes up and you don't want to go to Rotom or Salazzle to get them off, Clefable is a good alternative play since it doesn't take poison damage and actually likes being poisoned because then it can't be paralyzed. This mon has almost 50% usage, I think you probably know what it does. I was considering adding Primarina, but I haven't tried that at the time of this going up. (Primarina adds a Grass weakness, which isn't good.)
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power
- Scald
PhysDef, so the team can cover physical and special threats. If you can get the Toxic on Rotom-H, that's great. If you can get chip on Aegislash, even better. Try not to get knocked off, but even if you do it's not terrible since you have WishPort and Grassy Terrain. If there's a Zeraora, scout for Grass Knot. If they don't have it, you know what must be done. EP against Pex, EP + Salazzle chip puts a lot of pressure on.
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Defog
- Nasty Plot
Rotom-Heat. Again, pretty standard set. I originally used Hex over Nasty Plot to cover my Rotom-Heat weakness, but then I added Toad over Hippo and Nasty Plot had much better utility now that I didn't have to worry about opposing Heat as much. Timid Max Speed helps Rotom's speed, but 86 speed can only go so far. Usually, if you predict a switch, Nasty Plot is the best play if they're switching into a slow threat, and Volt Switch if they might go into something faster. Rotom is really easy to bring in on things that threaten Toad out, like Ferrothorn. If rocks go up, try to Defog them away at some point before Hawlucha comes in. Don't be too worried though, as the team isn't especially weak to Rocks (only 3 able to be hit, and 1 of those 3 is a resist, the others are neutral), so if you are in a situation where you might trade rocks, try to get them up.
And that's the team! Again, any feedback is great.
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: This mon sets up on a lot of your team. If Rillaboom goes down, it can sweep quite easily. Putting offensive pressure on it by predicting it to switch in and doubling Salazzle or Rillaboom on it will be crucial. It definitely has counterplay, but be careful.
: NP Hydreigon can be problematic for your team. You have scarf Superpower Rillaboom and SpDef Mandibuzz, two good checks for it, but there are scenarios in which you will probably have to sack a mon if you let it set up. Again, it has counterplay on this team, but it can be an issue.