Brick by Brick: Wallbreakers in USM OU

By Exploudit.
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Wallbreakers by Cretacerus

Art by Cretacerus.

Definition of a Wallbreaker

Wallbreakers are Pokémon that excel at punching holes in the opponent's team for partners to seal the match later on; their skill to deconstruct teams generally comes from titanic raw power, setup moves, utility versus stall, or a combination of those. Furthermore, they tend to have great matchups against notable defensive cores in the tier and are a reliable answer to the bulkiest Pokémon in the tier overall while keeping average defensive utility and the ability to outspeed targeted walls most of the time.

This kind of Pokémon is commonly seen on offensively oriented teams, such as bulky offense, hyper offense, balance, rain, and even on more obscure offensive playstyles such as Sticky Web and Aurora Veil. Two wallbreakers is a generally a good number for most of the aforementioned playstyles, but some may opt for a different numberbalance can work with one wallbreaker only, provided it is supported well enough, whereas rain, Sticky Web, and Aurora Veil tend to have three wallbreakers or possibly even four.

Overall, wallbreakers are a fundamental piece in the SM OU metagame, as they are essential to carve into bulkier teams and the reason why offensive teams are able to thrive in the metagame, as without them, breaking walls would be nearly an impossible task. That's why matchups such as the infamous stall versus stall often come down to PP stalling; imagine if every game was like that? No, thanks!

Types of Wallbreakers

Wallbreakers come in numerous shapes and forms, though; while you can't properly draw a line into wallbreaker classification (especially since most of the examples in this very article may belong in the other categories as well), wallbreakers can indeed be defined by their main method to wallbreak. In this article, we'll take a look at three specific types of wallbreakers:

Raw power-based

Pokémon in this category have devastating strength, often relying only on their sheer power to wallbreak. However, this strength can come in many ways; by outright gargantuan attacking stats, such as on Kyurem-B and Hoopa-U; by powerful offensive abilities, as exemplified by Mega Medicham and Mega Mawile; by signature items in Alolan Marowak's case; or by high-Base Power moves such as Z-Moves. This is a very interesting type of wallbreaker because it generally doesn't mind Unaware and Haze, which are assets bulkier teams usually use to circumvent setup wallbreakers. Let's take a look at two examples case-by-case:

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Overview: With jaw-dropping base 170 Attack, colorful coverage, and all-around solid stats, newer players might be wondering what Kyurem-B is doing in OU? Well, to keep it brief, one of the main flaws that has kept Kyurem-B rooted in OU is its lack of a reliable physical Ice-type STAB move. If Kyurem-B had Icicle Crash or even Ice Punch it might have been too much for the tier to handle, so for its balance up until Gen 6, its only physical Ice-type STAB move was Freeze Shock, which is clearly the opposite of reliable. In Gen 7, though, Kyurem-B is able to equip Icium Z and turn the nearly useless Freeze Shock into a devastatingly strong Subzero Slammer; the one-time use aspect of the move keeps it at bay, but that doesn't mean it's not a smart option. Subzero Slammer is commonly used to devastate even Pokémon that resist it such as Magearna and do extreme damage to dedicated physical walls like Ferrothorn and Chansey. Nonetheless, Electrium Z with Fusion Bolt is also a notable wallbreaking set that can be used instead, especially when paired with Tapu Koko.

Walls it breaks: Not much is withstanding a Subzero Slammer from Kyurem-B, as most Pokémon resistant to Ice, like Toxapex, Suicune, and Tapu Fini, are threatened by Fusion Bolt; for those that don't resist the move, like Clefable, Chansey, Ferrothorn, and Celesteela, it's no surprise that they are either straight up OHKOed or come pretty close to being OHKOed after some residual damage. Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn are also considerably damaged by Hidden Power Fire.

Walls it fails to break: Magearna, Heatran, and Magnezone are tough to beat unless Kyurem-B is running Earth Power. Meanwhile, Mega Scizor can tank anything bar Hidden Power Fire from the Unovan Boundary Pokémon. Overall, the easiest way for a wall to take it on is to bait Kyurem-B to use its Z-Move on the wrong target by double switching; without its greatest wallbreaking tool, the likes of Clefable, Chansey, Mew, and Gastrodon can take it on without any issues.

Overview: Ever since Ash-Greninja's stats were revealed, it's safe to say it's no surprise how menacingly strong it is. With a great STAB combination, a very potent priority move, and access to Spikes, Ash-Greninja defines itself as one of the best wallbreakers in the tier. It still has its share of flaws, like every other Pokémon does, but its positive attributes considerably outweigh its negative ones.

Walls it breaks: Landorus-T, Heatran, Celesteela, and Zapdos are just some of the notable Pokémon that get devastated by a Hydro Pump, and Mega Latias, Suicune, and Amoonguss are all threatened by Dark Pulse. In general, and with only a handful of exceptions, most Pokémon that don't resist both of its STAB moves will be taken down.

Walls it fails to break: Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini resist its STAB combination and can take it on without many issues; Gunk Shot would be troublesome for these Pokémon, but the move is very subpar on Ash-Greninja and shouldn't really be used. Water-resistant Pokémon that can endure some neutral Dark Pulses such as Toxapex, Gastrodon, and Tangrowth can also take on Ash-Greninja. Chansey gets a special mention because it simply walls 95% of special attackers. Nonetheless, it's important to note that Ash-Greninja gains an opportunity to set up Spikes as any of these Pokémon come in, eventually wearing them down if their Trainer isn't careful.

Setup-based

Setup-based wallbreakers are those that use setup moves as a wallbreaking mean; their goal most of the time is not to sweep but rather simply wreak havoc on the opponent's defensive backbones. Moves such as Swords Dance, Tail Glow, Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, and Bulk Up fit the bill here. Let's take a closer look at two notable examples:

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Overview: Swords Dance Kartana is an absolute pain for bulkier teams. Swords Dance further boosts Kartana's already jaw-dropping base 181 Attack to astronomical levels, meaning most defensive teams struggle a bit to keep up with it, as they usually lack Speed and offensive pressure that offensive teams use to keep Kartana at bay, thus having to rely on the small group of Kartana switch-ins. Methods of ignoring stat boosts such as Unaware are often not that effective against Kartana, as its typing allows it to excel against the common Unaware users, Clefable and Quagsire.

Walls it breaks: Kartana is truly a terrifying wallbreaker; even Steel-types not weak to Fighting, like Celesteela, Magearna, and Mega Scizor, are taken down by +2 All-Out Pummeling, whereas Bloom Doom takes down Landorus-T, Toxapex, speedy Zapdos, defensive Zapdos after Stealth Rock, and pretty much any wall that doesn't resist it. Even would-be checks like Mega Venusaur and Volcarona are threatened by the rarer Black Hole Eclipse set and other niche Z-Moves, and these sets also aid in more reliably taking on defensive Zapdos.

Walls it fails to break: There are no reliable switch-ins to Kartana. Zapdos is arguably the best one, specifically defensive Zapdos, but even Kanto's Thunderbird is OHKOed by +2 Bloom Doom under Grassy Terrain, which could be easily set up by an ally Tapu Bulu. Mega Venusaur generally handles most common Kartana sets, but it is OHKOed by +2 Black Hole Eclipse after prior damage or just straight up annihilated by the niche Breakneck Blitz Kartana with Giga Impact. Steel-types like Celesteela and Mega Scizor can usually handle any non-Fightinium Z set but to call them a reliable answer is a whole other story.

Overview: While base 105 Attack is pretty mediocre for a wallbreaker, Huge Power gives Mega Mawile the equivalent of a base 259 Attack! Mega Mawile is absurdly strong, and with access to Swords Dance, great coverage, priority in Sucker Punch, and an amazing defensive typing, this Pokémon finds itself in a very comfortable spot when facing off against bulkier teams. Unlike most wallbreakers, though, Mega Mawile also tends to have a great matchup versus hyper offense thanks to the aforementioned Sucker Punch, which is capable of sweeping weakened offensive teams on its own.

Walls it breaks: Pretty much every wall in the OU tier is heavily threatened by Mega Mawile. After a Swords Dance, it is virtually impossible to wall Mega Mawile.

Walls it fails to break: Well, technically Mega Mawile could handle all of the walls in this list, but being limited to four moveslots doesn't really allow Mega Mawile to threaten them all at once. If Mega Mawile is at neutral Attack, Mega Venusaur can tank anything bar Iron Head, but it still struggles with Swords Dance sets. Heatran is a great switch-in as well, but it has to be careful of Focus Punch, an uncommon yet very effective lure. Toxapex, Skarmory, and Celesteela are all possible switch-ins provided Mawile isn't running Thunder Punch or Swords Dance. Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn are also noteworthy if Mawile lacks Fire Fang or Swords Dance. But overall, the recommended set above has pretty much zero defensive counterplay with the exception of faster Will-O-Wisp users and Skarmory, which can trade with Mega Mawile by enduring a hit thanks to Sturdy and taking it down with Counter.

Stallbreakers

Stallbreakers are a very interesting type of wallbreaker, as they usually neither have outstanding attacking prowess, nor coverage moves, nor setup options to allow them to break conventional walls; instead, they are leaned towards breaking one specific playstyle: stall. By using moves such as Taunt, Toxic, and Magma Storm, or simply by having a great matchup against the playstyle, stallbreakers are able to pressure and carve through stall and semi-stall with ease. Let's take a closer look at two notable examples:

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Overview: With Taunt and Toxic in its arsenal, Heatran already stands out as a notable stallbreaker; one of stall's staples, Mega Sableye, avoids both Taunt and Toxic thanks to Magic Bounce, but conveniently enough, Mega Sableye is threatened by the combination of a Magma Storm into Inferno Overdrive. The only detail of this strategy is the fact that Mega Sableye is a Ghost-type, so it doesn't get trapped by Magma Storm and thus can switch out into a partner, such as Toxapex or Chansey, to endure the Inferno Overdrive. Nonetheless, a well-played Firium Z Heatran can single-handedly break most of stall's structure, as it, at the very least, forces Mega Sableye out and can trap most of the common faces in stall. Solar Beam replacing Toxic along with a Grassium Z is also quite a solid set that can be used to circumvent Water-types and still break past Mega Sableye under Grassy Terrain.

Walls it breaks: Any Pokémon that doesn't have a way to avoid Taunt is likely to get beaten one-on-one by Heatran unless it can damage Heatran before fainting. Even would-be counters such as Toxapex and Chansey can get taken down with some mind games or prior damage, respectively.

Walls it fails to break: Walls that can beat Heatran before it beats them are safe, even though they will most likely get weakened at least a little bit; examples include Gastrodon, Suicune, Tapu Fini, and Quagsire, but they should still be careful about Bloom Doom. Gliscor deserves a special mention, as it is quite unlikely to go down to an Inferno Overdrive, and it outspeeds Heatran and OHKOes it with an Earthquake. Ways to circumvent Taunt like Magic Bounce and Oblivious work, but the only viable wall in OU with this ability is Mega Sableye, which can be taken down by a well-played Heatran.

Overview: Akala's Guardian, Tapu Lele, is probably one of the strongest overall wallbreakers in the entire tier. While base 130 Special Attack is already pretty good, adding a 1.5x multiplier to one of its STAB moves courtesy of Psychic Surge lets it become almost unbearable to switch into. While it may seem odd that Tapu Lele is in the stallbreaker section, it does match up exceptionally well against the playstyle, being an extreme nuisance to any stall team lacking Jirachi.

Walls it breaks: I think it's no surprise how devastatingly strong a 160-Base Power Shattered Psyche is coming from Tapu Lele under Psychic Terrain, achieving feats such as nuking physically defensive Steel-types like Mega Scizor and Skarmory, which would tank a Psyshock; speaking of Psyshock, it notably allows Tapu Lele to take down Chansey, Magearna after some chip damage, and other dedicated special walls that would otherwise be very troublesome for Tapu Lele. Meanwhile, Moonblast takes care of Dark-types, and Focus Blast or Hidden Power Fire targets Steel-types like Heatran and Ferrothorn.

Walls it fails to break: Magearna and Jirachi are probably your best bet to check the Alolan Guardian of life, but they're still threatened by its signature Z-Move: Guardian of Alola, which is a rather rare but still decently effective set. Celesteela is also a great switch-in, but it appreciates neither the aforementioned Guardian of Alola nor Gigavolt Havoc, despite these two moves being rather rare. Chansey is also a notable switch-in if Tapu Lele lacks Psyshock, which is run quite frequently. Finally, Psychic-types like Mew and Cresselia can tank anything but the very suboptimal Shadow Ball into Never-Ending Nightmare.

Wallbreaker cores

A core is essentially a group of two or three Pokémon that share a goal; said goal can be to wall a great portion of the tier, set up, benefit from a weather, layer hazards on the opponent's side, or simply wallbreak! That's where wallbreaker cores come in; their goal is to group together two Pokémon that can pressure each other's checks, making an effective way to deal with a core of walls. Here are two notable examples in the OverUsed tier:

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Core Overview: This core's main goal is for Tapu Koko to support Mega Medicham as a wallbreaker. Game Freak's incarnation of Shiva is already quite the wallbreaker by itself, but with Volt Switch support from Tapu Koko, Medicham becomes nearly unbearable to deal with. It can also opt for Thunder Punch, 2HKOing all of its would-be checks when Terrain-boosted in exchange for its ability to handle Clefable and Toxapex a little bit. On the other hand, Mega Medicham helps out Tapu Koko by pressuring its checks, namely Mega Venusaur, Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, and Gastrodon.

Cores it breaks: Most common defensive cores like CelePex + Grass-type are heavily threatened by Tapu Koko and Medicham, as Volt Switch from Tapu Koko safely brings Medicham in, allowing it to wreak havoc. The same applies to defensive Landorus-T + Assault Vest Magearna, which can be threatened considerably by a well-played Tapu Koko + Medicham core. In general, cores whose Tapu Koko switch-in can't block Volt Switch and is threatened by Mega Medicham struggle against this offensive core.

Cores it failes to break: Mega Sableye, Quagsire, and Chansey, a stall staple, does very well at handling the offensive duo. Quagsire's ability to pivot into Choice Specs Volt Switch makes it so the core gets worn down easily, and Chansey takes on Dazzling Gleam from Choice Specs Tapu Koko. Mega Sableye takes on Mega Medicham, and while Electric Terrain-boosted Thunder Punch does still 2HKO Mega Sableye, Quagsire can also pivot on Thunder Punch. Hippowdon also acts as a Volt Switch stopper and, when paired with a Mega Medicham check like Mew or Mega Sableye, can beat the core with correct plays.

Core Overview: This is a classic example of a trapper core, in which one member traps the other's checks. In this case, thanks to Magnet Pull, Magnezone removes Mega Latios's checks, namely Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Mega Scizor, big threats to Mega Latios, whereas other notable Steel-types, like Magearna, Heatran, Jirachi, and opposing Magnezone, are taken care of by Mega Latios's Earthquake.

Cores it breaks: Most CelePex + Grass-type cores can be taken down by Mega Latios after Celesteela is successfully trapped. The ever-common Landorus-T + Magearna core as well as Landorus-T + Toxapex cores are also taken down by Mega Latios alone.

Cores it failes to break: Despite being indeed a notable offensive core, Chansey and Gastrodon are notable threats and can wall both members on their own, so any core featuring either of them is already a big issue. Overall, though, since most of Mega Latios's checks are trapped by Magnezone, pivoting around this core is not a solution.

Conclusion

Now that you know everything about OU's most notable wallbreakers, it's time for you to hop on the ladder and demolish all those balance, stall, and semi-stall teams running around! After all, nothing feels better than effectively knocking out a well-played Toxapex!

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