Groundbreaking: Ground-types in OU

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Ground has always been a stellar typing in the OU metagame, ever since the RBY era, and it's not difficult to see why. Ground-types have generally above-average stats and excellent movepools, consisting of options such as a 100-Base Power physical STAB move in Earthquake, as well as the coveted Stealth Rock. Offensively, Ground is super effective against an impressive total of five different types: Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, and Steel. Unfortunately, the common Flying-types and Levitate users are immune to Ground, which limits how spammable Ground-type attacks are. Ground-types are no slouch defensively either. They come with two resistances to Poison and Rock as well a key immunity to Electric. Sadly, they also come with three very common weaknesses to Water-, Ice-, and Grass-types. Despite these flaws, Ground-types are extremely influential in the OU metagame, and their power should not be underestimated.

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Common Ground-types in OU

Landorus-T

Boasting an incredible base Attack stat of 145, a decent Speed tier, as well as a great ability in Intimidate, Landorus-T is undoubtedly the best Ground-type in OU. Landorus-T was already a top-tier threat in ORAS OU, and it's only become better in the transition to SM. Its typing gives it two key immunities to Ground and Electric and also allows it to function as a check to a huge number of top-tier threats, such as Excadrill, Garchomp, Magnezone, Heatran, Alolan Marowak, and many more. It can even check itself thanks to Intimidate! Its above-average bulk allows it to act as arguably the best Stealth Rock setter in the tier as well as a great pivot with U-turn. It can also run a number of lure sets to surprise its usual checks and counters, such as Hidden Power Fire to break through Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn and either Smack Down or Gravity in order to beat Skarmory, Zapdos, and Rotom-W. Toxic is also an option to cripple Hippowdon and Rotom-W, as well as punishing opposing Landorus-T. Hidden Power Ice has become more and more popular in SM, nailing otherwise would-be switch-ins such as Garchomp, Zygarde, the rare Gliscor, and opposing Landorus-T, although running it on the defensive set comes with significant opportunity cost, as the lack of Stone Edge means that Landorus-T cannot hit Mega Pinsir, Zapdos, and Mega Charizard Y hard. The introduction of Z-Moves this generation has been a blessing for Landorus-T, as its offensive Stealth Rock set is now far more effective when equipped with Rockium Z or Flyinium Z to make threats such as Tangrowth, Mega Venusaur, Zapdos, Celesteela, and Buzzwole no longer good switch-ins to Landorus-T after it gains a Swords Dance boost.

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Dugtrio

At first glance, Dugtrio looks extremely underwhelming. Its defensive stats are comparable to that of Pheromosa; that is, it will be KOed by pretty much anything. Even its offensive stats are fairly average. So what gives? Why is Dugtrio such a threat in OU? The answer lies in one of its abilities, Arena Trap. Arena Trap allows Dugtrio to trap any grounded Pokémon that isn't either a Ghost-type or holding a Shed Shell. This allows it to trap and eliminate a number of prominent threats in the OU metagame, such as Tapu Lele, Heatran, Magnezone, Magearna, and Hoopa-U, for a teammate. This, alongside Dugtrio's access to a number of utility moves such as Memento and Screech, allows it to function as an extremely effective support Pokémon. Memento is helpful to give Dugtrio a use after it has trapped what it needs to trap, allowing it to potentially create setup opportunities for a teammate. Screech can be used to cripple more defensive Pokémon that Dugtrio can't KO by itself, such as Chansey and Hippowdon. Stealth Rock is another option if the team needs a setter. Dugtrio's most common set is a Focus Sash trapper, which allows it to somewhat make up for its poor bulk, giving it the ability to pivot into an attack and trap a foe on the opposing team. It also means that Dugtrio is able to utilize Reversal to trap threats that it otherwise wouldn't be able to deal with, such as Ferrothorn and Chansey, as Reversal turns into a 200-Base Power Fighting-type move once Dugtrio has been reduced to its Focus Sash. Dugtrio can also use an offensive trapper set with Groundium Z, which grants it immediate power at the cost of not being able to switch in on most attacks. Dugtrio is most commonly seen on stall teams, as its ability to trap and KO threats that would otherwise single-handedly beat those types of teams, such as Hoopa-U, Tapu Lele, and Kyurem-B, is incredibly useful. However, Dugtrio has also adapted to more offensively oriented teams with its Choice Scarf set, which allows it to trap and eliminate faster threats that would otherwise be extremely painful for offense to deal with, such as Tapu Koko and Volcarona after a Quiver Dance.

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Garchomp

Garchomp's best qualities are its great Speed tier and its excellent Attack stat of 130. Its base 102 Speed allows it to just outpace Pokémon in the crowded base 100 Speed tier, such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Manaphy, Mew, Jirachi, Volcarona, Salamence, and Zapdos. Garchomp also boasts good all-around bulk as well as a surprisingly decent Special Attack stat. To top it off, Garchomp possesses a great typing both offensively and defensively, granting it near-perfect STAB coverage as well as three resistances and one immunity. It also has access to the coverage moves required to hit the few Pokémon that resist its dual-STAB coverage, such as Skarmory, Celesteela, and Tapu Bulu, which are all taken down by Fire Blast. These qualities make Garchomp a fairly good offensive Stealth Rock setter. When equipped with a Focus Sash, Garchomp is able to reliably set up Stealth Rock against the entire tier, barring Mega Sableye. It can also run a more defensively oriented Stealth Rock set with Rocky Helmet alongside Rough Skin in order to badly punish physical attackers, although this set has fallen out of use a little in the seventh generation. Garchomp's excellent movepool also allows it to utilize a plethora of other movesets. Choice Scarf Garchomp, also known as Scarfchomp, is often used as a revenge killer or late-game cleaner on offensively oriented teams, utilizing Garchomp's great offensive coverage. Swords Dance is another common set that utilizes Garchomp's sheer offensive power to break through a number of its common sets and act as a brutal wincon.

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Zygarde

Zygarde was first introduced in XY, and despite a lot of initial hype from the community, it was ultimately placed in the BL tier and found extremely low usage in OU. Zygarde faced a lot of competition from other Dragon-types, namely Garchomp, which outclassed it in a number of offensive and defensive roles. Although Zygarde came with better physical bulk than Garchomp, it also had significantly less firepower as well as a less useful Speed tier and a completely useless ability. Although Zygarde had access to great boosting moves in Dragon Dance and Coil, there were far better Dragon Dance users in the tier, such as Mega Charizard X and Dragonite, and Coil didn't give it enough of a niche to justify its usage over better Ground-types. However, in SM, things changed for Zygarde. It received two major buffs: access to an extremely good ability in Power Construct, as well as finally receiving its signature move, Thousand Arrows. Although Power Construct was quickly banned to Ubers, Zygarde is still able to utilize Thousand Arrows to make itself a top-tier threat in the OU metagame. Thousand Arrows acts similarly to Smack Down—it grounds Flying-types and Levitate users, allowing them to be hit by Ground-type moves. Unlike Smack Down, however, Thousand Arrows is a STAB 90-Base Power Ground-type move. This makes it extremely spammable, as it now has no immunities and only a total of two resistances! Zygarde's most common set is a SubCoil set, which takes advantage of its good natural bulk and transforms Zygarde into a bulky late-game sweeper. It can also run a more offensive set with Dragon Dance as well as a Choice Band set to make up for its relatively low Attack stat and to take advantage of the fact that Thousand Arrows has no immunities.

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Excadrill

Back in the fifth generation, Excadrill was one of the defining forces in the OU metagame; so much so that it was found to be too overcentralizing and was banned to Ubers. Unfortunately, the removal of permanent weather in XY means that Excadrill is no longer the threat that it once was. Despite this, Excadrill is still a strong sweeper in the OU metagame with Sand Rush, as it doubles Excadrill's already decent Speed stat under sand, making it difficult to revenge kill without a priority user or an opposing weather setter. This quality, combined with Excadrill's great base 135 Attack and access to Swords Dance, makes it an decent setup sweeper in OU when paired with Tyranitar or Hippowdon to set up sand. The introduction of Steelium Z further amplifies Excadrill's potency as a setup sweeper, allowing it to nuke many of its traditional checks at +2, such as Mega Venusaur, Tangrowth, Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Mew. Excadrill doesn't always have to act as a sweeper, however. It has access to two amazing utility moves in Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock, and its hidden ability, Mold Breaker, allows it to set up Stealth Rock against everything in the tier, since it ignores Magic Bounce. It also comes with the benefit of allowing Excadrill to hit Levitate users with Earthquake, giving it the ability to beat a number of traditional Ground-type checks, namely Rotom-W and Latios. These traits make Excadrill an excellent choice for a bulky spinner and Stealth Rock setter despite its relatively poor bulk. Its Choice Scarf set is also very popular, as it can act as a very fast spinner and late-game cleaner against offensively oriented teams.

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Less common Ground-types in OU

Gliscor

Gliscor has access to arguably one of the best defensive abilities in the game in Poison Heal, which allows it to heal one-eighth of its HP every turn when poisoned or badly poisoned, as well as making it essentially immune to status. It also boasts excellent physical bulk and a decent Speed tier of 95. However, Gliscor's typing means that it's outclassed by Landorus-T in a large number of roles, as Landorus-T has the same typing but far better offensive stats and better special bulk. Landorus-T also has access to Intimidate, allowing it to fulfill the same role as Gliscor as a check to physical attackers. Gliscor's main niche over Landorus-T comes in its access to Taunt, an excellent utility move that allows it to easily break through defensively oriented teams.

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Zygarde-10%

Although Zygarde-10% is extremely fast with its Speed tier of 115 that allows it to outpace a number of prevalent threats, notably Mega Metagross, Gengar, and Latios, it's generally inferior to its larger counterpart. Zygarde's better mixed bulk means that it outclasses Zygarde-10% in almost every role. Although the extra Speed is occasionally more appreciated on certain offensive sets, survivability is usually far more useful.

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Mamoswine

Mamoswine has a unique dual typing, which alongside Thick Fat, essentially gives it a resistance to the common BoltBeam combination. Mamoswine also boasts a great Attack stat of 130, which makes it quite a strong wallbreaker in the OU metagame. When holding a Life Orb, it's capable of putting in a lot of work against bulkier teams. However, Mamoswine's low Speed and special bulk mean that it struggles against offensively oriented teams, as it's extremely reliant on Ice Shard and is easily outsped and KOed by faster threats.

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Hippowdon

Hippowdon is a decent defensive Stealth Rock setter in SM OU thanks to its good physical bulk and access to reliable recovery in Slack Off. It can also act as a sand setter for Excadrill. Unfortunately, it's easily turned into setup fodder due to its passivity and lack of offensive presence, being heavily reliant on Whirlwind to phaze setup sweepers before they get out of hand.

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Conclusion

Although Ground-types have multiple common weaknesses, they are definitely some of the most-used Pokémon in OU. A number of Ground-types are top-tier threats, and they often have access to a lot of useful moves both offensively and defensively. Ground-types are some of the most influential Pokémon in OU and should never go unnoticed when building a team.

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