Hey
Riven_or_afk, this is certainly an interesting team you've got here. While I'm always delighted to see a Xurkitree, I'm admittedly really sceptical about its position on this team, as it doesn't really achieve anything notable on this build, as it's vastly outclassed as a form of speed control. Now I know jcbc already pointed out a few weak matchups - mainly the glaring weaknesses versus Psychic-type breakers. Hoopa-U, Mega Latios, Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele are essentially guaranteed a single pick at minimum. Alakazam is particularly notable here, since it can easily forces you into a position where you must sack Xurkitree (seeing that Tbolt doesn't ohko) if Bulu has been weakened at all. Additionally, this team really struggles versus a notable amount of faster breakers in general, in particular, Tornadus, Kartana, Medicham, Magearna and both Kyruem forms, which is (again) particularly annoying because you're so pressured to revenge kill these mons with Xurk, which in general is absolutely horrible because being choice locked into an electric move is generally really annoying, since you give free turns to stuff like the aforementioned Lati@s, Ferrothorn, Rocks + Toxic Gliscor and Helmet Chomp, which are incredibly annoying for this team to deal with, considering that nothing on this team really appreciates Toxic + phasing from the latter. Continuing with the theme of defensive threats, both Toxapex and Celesteela essentially wall the entire team, and paired with a consistent Electric immunity / resist, these mons are simply unbreakable. Finally, this team is simply just unable to reliably deal with stall and rain, which are essentially an auto-lose at team preview, simply because this team can't consistently break past Chansey or Mega Aggron with wish support, nor does it have the capability to withstand the overwhelming pressure of common rain abusers such as Mega Swampert and Ash Greninja.
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While Diancie is a pretty cool mon to use alongside Greninja and Bulu, it ultimately doesn't really accomplish anything dire; it only adds to the inherit Ash Greninja weakness and it doesn't really address the team's issues versus offensive Psychic-types, so I believe replacing Diancie with an Assault Vest Magearna is a much better option here. Magearna improves this team's matchup versus the aforementioned Psychic-types, particularly Alakazam, Tapu Lele, whilst also providing this team with a much sturdier Ash Greninja, Tornadus and Magearna answer. Additionally, it also prevents base Kyurem from keeping its substitute up and allows the team to pressure Calm Mind Clefable much more consistently, as you no longer need to play around with special attack drops with Heatran. Finally, it provides this team with valuable Volt Switch support, which allows practically everything to come in safely versus a large number of threats.
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Similarly to Diancie, Xurkitree just didn't really accomplish much as speed control and it doesn't really provide as much role compression as you'd really hope, so I opted to replace with a Mega Alakazam. This change not only provided this team with some defensive counterplay versus the likes of Heatran and Mega Latios, but it also provided the team with a consistent method to break past Toxapex and provided this team, whilst also providing this team with a safer method to revenge kill the likes of Tornadus, Tapu Lele, Medicham and Ash Greninja. Additionally, it also provides this team with a much more consistent matchup versus Rain, allowing you to revenge kill particularly annoying mons such as Swampert and Kingdra, whilst also possessing fantastic synergy with Greninja, seeing as you are able weaken many of its checks for it. You also have the option of running Knock Off over Shadow Ball in order to cripple the likes of Chansey, Celesteela, Tangrowth and Landorus, but that comes at the cost of being walled by bulkier psychics.
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So I opted to change Landorus' set here from a defensive set to an offensive scarf variant. This change not only provides this team with an incredibly crucial form of speed control, but it also provides the team with a consistent form of hazard control. Additionally, this change provides the team with a method to pivot into and revenge kill the likes of Pinsir, Tornadus and Charizard matchups through Stone Edge. Landorus also forms the second half of the Volt-turn core that I created with Magearna, which grants this team with a fast form of momentum. The given speed EVs allow you to outspeed a boosted Kommo-o, which is pretty difficult for this team to deal with otherwise. If you're still concerned about the Hawlucha matchup, you can opt to run Explosion over Stone Edge, which comes at the cost of losing your primary form of speed control.
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Since the stall matchup was still incredibly difficult, I decided to change Heatran's set from a specially defensive set to an offensive set. This change not only improves your matchup versus stall, but it also allows you to pressure balance teams a lot more consistently by being able to break through threats such as Celesteela, Ferrothorn and Gliscor. Now, you might be confused about the presence of Metal Sound, but it allows you to break through Chansey and Toxapex without Toxic and Taunt, meaning that you are free to run Stealth Rock while retaining your Chansey matchup.
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While Rockium Bulu is certainly an interesting set, I feel like Heatran needed the Z-crystal slot a lot more than Bulu does. I also feel like there are a lot more consistent sets that Bulu can use, so I've decided to change Bulu's set from a Swords Dance set to a Choice Band set. This change vastly improves the team's overall balance and stall matchups, while also possessing the ability to punish Tornadus and Zapdos a lot more consistently. The given speed evs will allow you to outspeed both Crawdaunt and Tyranitar, while the HP evs allow you to avoid the 2hko from Greninja's Hydro Pump before it transforms.
Finally, I recommend that you replace Ice Beam with Spikes. Spikes are honestly just too good to pass up on, as the residual damage is incredibly helpful in most matchups, while Ice Beam doesn't really do too much anyways.
Hope these suggestions helped, if you've got any questions about the rate, then hit me on discord at curi#2758. Hope you enjoy the team!
