[OVERVIEW]
Grass
========
* Tapu Bulu is an outstanding physical attacker for Grass teams that offers tremendous offensive presence and invaluable support to the entire team with its ability, Grassy Surge.
* Grassy Terrain offers great offensive utility by boosting the strength of Grass-type attacks by 1.5x for the entire team, which empowers Grass's offensive threats such as Serperior, Celebi, and Breloom.
* Grassy Terrain also gives great defensive utility by offering grounded Pokemon passive health recovery equivalent to Leftovers, which helps sustain Grass's defensive core throughout a match. It also halves the damage dealt by Earthquake, helping to cover the defensive core of Cradily, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur, which all take Ground-type moves neutrally.
* Tapu Bulu makes use of Grassy Terrain to spam excellent Grass-type STAB moves such as Wood Hammer and Horn Leech for massive damage, even against resistant foes.
* Tapu Bulu sports strong coverage options in Stone Edge and Superpower that allow it to manage dangerous threats to Grass teams such as Fire-, Flying-, Steel-, and Bug-types.
* Unfortunately, Tapu Bulu struggles against types that resist Grass-type attacks such as Steel-, Poison-, and Dragon-types.
* Tapu Bulu also has a mediocre defensive typing that leaves it with exploitable weaknesses to Poison-, Fire-, Ice-, and Flying-type attacks. However, it can switch in on Fighting- and Dark-type attacks easily.
* Tapu Bulu has only average Speed unboosted and can be outsped by countless common offensive threats such as Greninja, Nihilego, Nidoking, and Heatran.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Horn Leech
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Wood Hammer is a powerful Grass-type STAB move and Tapu Bulu's strongest attack, capable of hitting even resistant foes hard due to its 120-Base Power that is boosted by Grassy Terrain.
* Stone Edge is valuable Rock-type coverage to hit Bug-, Fire-, and Flying-types that resist Wood Hammer such as Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Volcarona.
* Superpower is Fighting-type coverage that threatens Steel-types such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, Magnezone.
* Horn Leech is a safe Grass-type STAB move that deals moderate damage and recovers health. Horn Leech is used when Wood Hammer's power is unnecessary and would result in unnecessary recoil
* Zen Headbutt is a Psychic-type move that is an option over Horn Leech for hitting Poison-types such as Mega Venusaur.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Attack investment allows Tapu Bulu to hit as hard as possible.
* Maximum Speed investment along with Jolly Nature allows Tapu Bulu to be as fast as possible.
* Choice Scarf allows Tapu Bulu to outspeed and check huge threats to Grass such as Mega Charizard Y, Landorus, Nidoking, and unboosted Volcarona and Mega Pinsir.
Usage Tips
========
* Use Tapu Bulu as a blanket offensive check and revenge killer for threats such as Nidoking, Landorus, Alolan Raichu, and Mega Charizard Y.
* Tapu Bulu's Grass-type STAB attacks are very spammable in Grassy Terrain and should be used liberally.
* Maintain Grassy Terrain as much as possible without unnecessarily risking Tapu Bulu. Take every opportunity to send Tapu Bulu in safely against passive Pokemon so that the team can enjoy the benefits of boosted Grass-type STAB moves and passive recovery.
* Take advantage of Grassy Surge to disrupt Electric Terrain to force out Alolan Raichu or disrupt Psychic Terrain to mitigate Double Dance Mew. Be wary of using Tapu Bulu to disrupt Misty Terrain, however, as it risks being burned by Tapu Fini's Scald.
* Switch Tapu Bulu into predicted Earthquakes directed against Ferrothorn, Cradily, or Mega Venusaur to make use of Grassy Terrain halving its damage, which can keep Choice Band Excadrill, Choice Band Diggersby, or Swords Dance Landorus-T from breaking the defensive core.
* Keep Tapu Bulu away from status, as burn and paralysis completely undermine its ability to revenge kill. Sacrifice a weakened or statused Tapu Bulu to set up Grass-type sweepers such as Serperior, Celebi, or Breloom to sweep.
* Make use of Grassy Terrain to reactivate Breloom's Focus Sash after Stealth Rock damage.
Team Options
========
* Mega Venusaur is the heart of Grass's defensive backbone that Tapu Bulu falls back on when faced with Pokemon it cannot beat. Mega Venusaur's high bulk, typing and ability provide valuable neutralities to Bug-, Poison-, Fire-, and Ice-type attacks.
* Ferrothorn helps support Tapu Bulu by making up part of the amazing defensive core Tapu Bulu relies upon to wear opposing teams down, by its excellent Grass / Steel typing with neutralities to Flying-, Bug-, Ice-, and Poison-type attacks. Ferrothorn's Spikes are invaluable and can be stacked to wear down checks to Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu.
* Cradily is Grass's second best Fire sponge and also an excellent Stealth Rock setter. Cradily is capable of checking several threats that Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu can't, such as Quiver Dance Volcarona. In return, Tapu Bulu acts as a Fighting-type switch-in and offers Cradily passive recovery and weakened Earthquakes with Grassy Terrain.
* Serperior is an excellent teammate for an offensive core with Tapu Bulu, as it benefits greatly from Grassy Terrain's buff to Leaf Storm, its strongest attack.
* Celebi is another strong special attacker that benefits from Grassy Terrain and offers valuable Psychic-type STAB moves to manage Poison threats such as Nidoking, Toxapex, and Mega Venusaur as well as Earth Power to hit troublesome Steel-types. Tapu Bulu helps cover Celebi in return with its resistance to Dark-type attacks.
* Breloom pairs well with Tapu Bulu, as Grassy Terrain makes Bullet Seed a much more potent option for breaking defensive cores. Spore utility is irreplaceable, and Technician Mach Punch is great for cleaning teams worn down from entry hazard stacking and Leech Seed. Grassy Terrain also allows Breloom to reactivate its Focus Sash if broken by Stealth Rock.
* Gourgeist-XL is a decent teammate that offers a bulky Bug- and Poison-type neutrality, a Fighting- and Normal-type immunity, and Will-O-Wisp and spinblocking utility. Gourgeist-XL takes a lot of pressure off of teammates like Ferrothorn and Mega Venusaur to manage physical threats such as Swords Dance Excadrill and Mega Scizor.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Choice Band Tapu Bulu is a frightening wallbreaker capable of shattering defensive threats with Wood Hammer. Choice Band Zen Headbutt also helps Grass deal with Mega Venusaur, and has no safe switch-ins on Poison teams. However, Tapu Bulu's low speed makes Choice Band sets easy to take advantage of, and such a potent wallbreaker meshes poorly with Grass's more balanced builds.
* Rockium Z Tapu Bulu with Swords Dance is strong for breaking bulky defensive threats such as Mega Venusaur and Celesteela. However, Tapu Bulu's low Speed makes it difficult to sweep with and easy to take advantage of.
* SubSeed is an option for a bulkier Tapu Bulu set to make use of its resistances and bulk. However. the opportunity cost of Tapu Bulu's other, more broadly effective sets make this suboptimal.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Magearna, and Mega Scizor are all excellent switch-ins due to their resistance to Tapu Bulu's Grass-type STAB moves and their natural bulk letting them shrug off Superpower. Even Ferrothorn is not 2HKOed by Choice Scarf Superpower. Mega Scizor in particular is troublesome because it uses Tapu Bulu as setup bait.
**Dragon-types**: Dragon-types resist Tapu Bulu's boosted Grass-type STAB moves, but unlike other Grass-resistant Pokemon such as Poison-, Fire-, Flying-, or Bug- types, Dragon-types are almost always bulky enough to shrug off Tapu Bulu's coverage moves. As such, Tapu Bulu will struggle to manage threats such as Dragonite and Kyurem-B.
**Poison-types**: Tapu Bulu's inability to threaten bulky Poison-types with its STAB moves makes threats such as Crobat and Mega Venusaur difficult to manage.
**Fire-types**: Fire-types such as Torkoal and Heatran resist Tapu Bulu's boosted Grass-type STAB moves, forcing it to rely on coverage to threaten them such as Stone Edge or Superpower, which can easily be taken advantage of. Additionally, most offensive Fire-types such as Victini are capable of OHKOing Tapu Bulu with STAB.
**Skarmory**: Skarmory walls Tapu Bulu and can take advantage of the turn to set up hazards, use Whirlwind to rack up hazard damage, or use Brave Bird for respectable damage against the Grass team.
**Mega Venusaur**: Mega Venusaur will hard wall Tapu Bulu, and it can switch in safely almost all of the time. Grass teams must rely on their own Mega Venusaur or Celebi to manage opposing Mega Venusaur.
**Revenge Killers**: While Tapu Bulu is capable of checking a wide range of unboosted offensive threats, its low Speed means it will be outrun and forced out by almost all common Choice Scarf users such as Victini, Nihilego, and Excadrill and speedy threats such as Mega Alakazam.
**Status**: Status conditions undermine Tapu Bulu's ability to maintain an offensive presence throughout a battle. Tapu Bulu, like most physical attackers, is crippled if burned, paralysis nullifies the speed control Choice Scarf offers and makes it impossible to revenge kill threats, and poison negates the passive health recovery offered by Grassy Terrain. While Tapu Bulu can still offer utility while burned by setting Grassy Terrain, it completely undermines its capacity to manage threats.
Grass
========
* Tapu Bulu is an outstanding physical attacker for Grass teams that offers tremendous offensive presence and invaluable support to the entire team with its ability, Grassy Surge.
* Grassy Terrain offers great offensive utility by boosting the strength of Grass-type attacks by 1.5x for the entire team, which empowers Grass's offensive threats such as Serperior, Celebi, and Breloom.
* Grassy Terrain also gives great defensive utility by offering grounded Pokemon passive health recovery equivalent to Leftovers, which helps sustain Grass's defensive core throughout a match. It also halves the damage dealt by Earthquake, helping to cover the defensive core of Cradily, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur, which all take Ground-type moves neutrally.
* Tapu Bulu makes use of Grassy Terrain to spam excellent Grass-type STAB moves such as Wood Hammer and Horn Leech for massive damage, even against resistant foes.
* Tapu Bulu sports strong coverage options in Stone Edge and Superpower that allow it to manage dangerous threats to Grass teams such as Fire-, Flying-, Steel-, and Bug-types.
* Unfortunately, Tapu Bulu struggles against types that resist Grass-type attacks such as Steel-, Poison-, and Dragon-types.
* Tapu Bulu also has a mediocre defensive typing that leaves it with exploitable weaknesses to Poison-, Fire-, Ice-, and Flying-type attacks. However, it can switch in on Fighting- and Dark-type attacks easily.
* Tapu Bulu has only average Speed unboosted and can be outsped by countless common offensive threats such as Greninja, Nihilego, Nidoking, and Heatran.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Horn Leech
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Wood Hammer is a powerful Grass-type STAB move and Tapu Bulu's strongest attack, capable of hitting even resistant foes hard due to its 120-Base Power that is boosted by Grassy Terrain.
* Stone Edge is valuable Rock-type coverage to hit Bug-, Fire-, and Flying-types that resist Wood Hammer such as Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Volcarona.
* Superpower is Fighting-type coverage that threatens Steel-types such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, Magnezone.
* Horn Leech is a safe Grass-type STAB move that deals moderate damage and recovers health. Horn Leech is used when Wood Hammer's power is unnecessary and would result in unnecessary recoil
* Zen Headbutt is a Psychic-type move that is an option over Horn Leech for hitting Poison-types such as Mega Venusaur.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Attack investment allows Tapu Bulu to hit as hard as possible.
* Maximum Speed investment along with Jolly Nature allows Tapu Bulu to be as fast as possible.
* Choice Scarf allows Tapu Bulu to outspeed and check huge threats to Grass such as Mega Charizard Y, Landorus, Nidoking, and unboosted Volcarona and Mega Pinsir.
Usage Tips
========
* Use Tapu Bulu as a blanket offensive check and revenge killer for threats such as Nidoking, Landorus, Alolan Raichu, and Mega Charizard Y.
* Tapu Bulu's Grass-type STAB attacks are very spammable in Grassy Terrain and should be used liberally.
* Maintain Grassy Terrain as much as possible without unnecessarily risking Tapu Bulu. Take every opportunity to send Tapu Bulu in safely against passive Pokemon so that the team can enjoy the benefits of boosted Grass-type STAB moves and passive recovery.
* Take advantage of Grassy Surge to disrupt Electric Terrain to force out Alolan Raichu or disrupt Psychic Terrain to mitigate Double Dance Mew. Be wary of using Tapu Bulu to disrupt Misty Terrain, however, as it risks being burned by Tapu Fini's Scald.
* Switch Tapu Bulu into predicted Earthquakes directed against Ferrothorn, Cradily, or Mega Venusaur to make use of Grassy Terrain halving its damage, which can keep Choice Band Excadrill, Choice Band Diggersby, or Swords Dance Landorus-T from breaking the defensive core.
* Keep Tapu Bulu away from status, as burn and paralysis completely undermine its ability to revenge kill. Sacrifice a weakened or statused Tapu Bulu to set up Grass-type sweepers such as Serperior, Celebi, or Breloom to sweep.
* Make use of Grassy Terrain to reactivate Breloom's Focus Sash after Stealth Rock damage.
Team Options
========
* Mega Venusaur is the heart of Grass's defensive backbone that Tapu Bulu falls back on when faced with Pokemon it cannot beat. Mega Venusaur's high bulk, typing and ability provide valuable neutralities to Bug-, Poison-, Fire-, and Ice-type attacks.
* Ferrothorn helps support Tapu Bulu by making up part of the amazing defensive core Tapu Bulu relies upon to wear opposing teams down, by its excellent Grass / Steel typing with neutralities to Flying-, Bug-, Ice-, and Poison-type attacks. Ferrothorn's Spikes are invaluable and can be stacked to wear down checks to Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu.
* Cradily is Grass's second best Fire sponge and also an excellent Stealth Rock setter. Cradily is capable of checking several threats that Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu can't, such as Quiver Dance Volcarona. In return, Tapu Bulu acts as a Fighting-type switch-in and offers Cradily passive recovery and weakened Earthquakes with Grassy Terrain.
* Serperior is an excellent teammate for an offensive core with Tapu Bulu, as it benefits greatly from Grassy Terrain's buff to Leaf Storm, its strongest attack.
* Celebi is another strong special attacker that benefits from Grassy Terrain and offers valuable Psychic-type STAB moves to manage Poison threats such as Nidoking, Toxapex, and Mega Venusaur as well as Earth Power to hit troublesome Steel-types. Tapu Bulu helps cover Celebi in return with its resistance to Dark-type attacks.
* Breloom pairs well with Tapu Bulu, as Grassy Terrain makes Bullet Seed a much more potent option for breaking defensive cores. Spore utility is irreplaceable, and Technician Mach Punch is great for cleaning teams worn down from entry hazard stacking and Leech Seed. Grassy Terrain also allows Breloom to reactivate its Focus Sash if broken by Stealth Rock.
* Gourgeist-XL is a decent teammate that offers a bulky Bug- and Poison-type neutrality, a Fighting- and Normal-type immunity, and Will-O-Wisp and spinblocking utility. Gourgeist-XL takes a lot of pressure off of teammates like Ferrothorn and Mega Venusaur to manage physical threats such as Swords Dance Excadrill and Mega Scizor.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Choice Band Tapu Bulu is a frightening wallbreaker capable of shattering defensive threats with Wood Hammer. Choice Band Zen Headbutt also helps Grass deal with Mega Venusaur, and has no safe switch-ins on Poison teams. However, Tapu Bulu's low speed makes Choice Band sets easy to take advantage of, and such a potent wallbreaker meshes poorly with Grass's more balanced builds.
* Rockium Z Tapu Bulu with Swords Dance is strong for breaking bulky defensive threats such as Mega Venusaur and Celesteela. However, Tapu Bulu's low Speed makes it difficult to sweep with and easy to take advantage of.
* SubSeed is an option for a bulkier Tapu Bulu set to make use of its resistances and bulk. However. the opportunity cost of Tapu Bulu's other, more broadly effective sets make this suboptimal.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Magearna, and Mega Scizor are all excellent switch-ins due to their resistance to Tapu Bulu's Grass-type STAB moves and their natural bulk letting them shrug off Superpower. Even Ferrothorn is not 2HKOed by Choice Scarf Superpower. Mega Scizor in particular is troublesome because it uses Tapu Bulu as setup bait.
**Dragon-types**: Dragon-types resist Tapu Bulu's boosted Grass-type STAB moves, but unlike other Grass-resistant Pokemon such as Poison-, Fire-, Flying-, or Bug- types, Dragon-types are almost always bulky enough to shrug off Tapu Bulu's coverage moves. As such, Tapu Bulu will struggle to manage threats such as Dragonite and Kyurem-B.
**Poison-types**: Tapu Bulu's inability to threaten bulky Poison-types with its STAB moves makes threats such as Crobat and Mega Venusaur difficult to manage.
**Fire-types**: Fire-types such as Torkoal and Heatran resist Tapu Bulu's boosted Grass-type STAB moves, forcing it to rely on coverage to threaten them such as Stone Edge or Superpower, which can easily be taken advantage of. Additionally, most offensive Fire-types such as Victini are capable of OHKOing Tapu Bulu with STAB.
**Skarmory**: Skarmory walls Tapu Bulu and can take advantage of the turn to set up hazards, use Whirlwind to rack up hazard damage, or use Brave Bird for respectable damage against the Grass team.
**Mega Venusaur**: Mega Venusaur will hard wall Tapu Bulu, and it can switch in safely almost all of the time. Grass teams must rely on their own Mega Venusaur or Celebi to manage opposing Mega Venusaur.
**Revenge Killers**: While Tapu Bulu is capable of checking a wide range of unboosted offensive threats, its low Speed means it will be outrun and forced out by almost all common Choice Scarf users such as Victini, Nihilego, and Excadrill and speedy threats such as Mega Alakazam.
**Status**: Status conditions undermine Tapu Bulu's ability to maintain an offensive presence throughout a battle. Tapu Bulu, like most physical attackers, is crippled if burned, paralysis nullifies the speed control Choice Scarf offers and makes it impossible to revenge kill threats, and poison negates the passive health recovery offered by Grassy Terrain. While Tapu Bulu can still offer utility while burned by setting Grassy Terrain, it completely undermines its capacity to manage threats.
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