SM OU Big Cuddly Boy Team (Golisopod OU)

[NurseNinja]

This one is dedicated to my boy, Golisopod, #1 in my heart forever <3

Introduction:

Just look at this big boy, and tell me you don't want to give him a hug. I based my entire team around this under-rated colossus of destruction who is not only powerful, but also cute. With a huge STAB, priority move in First-Impression and plenty of options as a bulky, physical threat, he's a phenomenal mid-late-game sweeper. Played correctly, his ability Emergency Exit can be used to your advantage for a pivotal, game-changing free switch to take momentum back to your side. I'm no pro, but I've had moderate success with this team and looking for ways to improve.

The Team Building Process:

Cuddly Boy (aka Golisopod)
Here he is, the star of the team. His role is to finish off weakened opponents with devastating priority moves, but don't scare to send him in on some pokes with his handy resistances. I know what you're thinking, with Tapu Lele everywhere how will he ever have a time to shine? With a combination of slow volt/turn and careful planning, she can be stomped out, leaving him plenty of opportunity to shine. Killing her is the up most priority which leads me to the second member of the team:

Rocky Boy (aka Tyranitar)
Homeboy Tyranitar's role is 2-part: first and foremost is trapping Tapu Lele with Pursuit and sending her to hell. Second is to set up rocks and slowly wear down opponents with passive sand damage, clearing the way for Golisopod. He is typically my lead. With Lele gone, Golisopod needs a little extra help removing those pesky steel-types to effectively sweep better. With that in mind, here comes the third member:

Magnet Boy (Magenezone)
His role is pretty clear, trap and murder the like of Skarmory and Celesteela along with Ferrothorn. With a slow volt switch, he can be used to safely pivot into Golisopod who can fire off powerful First Impressions. With these two added, another weakness of Golisopod is Rocks, so a defogger is needed. Here comes the predictable Landorus inclusion:

Over-Centralizing Boy (Landorus-T)
With no investment in speed, he has a similar role with Magnezone in using a slow u-turn to bring in Golisopod. With intimidate to allow for an easier switch-in to physical attackers, he's my team's defogger. With the team being pretty slow and bulky, I needed an answer to faster threats. Here comes the speed:

Frog Boy (Greninja)
Given a choice-scarf, Greninja can be used to outspeed a lot of +1 pokes and act as a stop-gate to boosting 'mons. His unpredictability is something to be capitalized on, and he also utilizes U-turn for momentum and scouting threats. For the last member of the team, I opted for a cleric Clefable. His role is to keep Golisopod healthy and also pass wish support to him when possible to make use of Emergency Exit extra times.

Pretty Boy (Clefable)
As mentioned above, he's my cleric. Pretty self-explanatory. Moon-blast has some use to weaken opponents too, and he sponges a lot of special attacks.
So there you have it! The teams all there.

Set Details:

Cuddly Boy
Golisopod @ Life Orb
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- First Impression
- Leech Life/Poison Jab
- Aqua Jet

So you may be wondering why I'm using Life Orb and also Tyranitar on my team and the answer is this: to purposefully activate Emergency Exit more easily. When you see homeboy at 60% health, you can use Aqua Jet or First Impression to take the 10% life orb recoil and switch out before the opponent gets to attack. If they use u-turn or volt-switch (though you shouldn't stay in on volt-switch), Emergency Exit will activate, allowing you to switch while the opponent does not. Golisopod should be used to pick off weakened threats with powerful STAB moves, leech life and poison jab I go back and forth on. Recovery is great, but also is having an answer to Tapu Bulu. Enjoy him, and use him to the best of his Potential <3

Rocky Boy (Tyranitar)
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock
Standard Choice Band set here with the only difference being that rocks are used over earth-quake. I typically lead with him to set up rocks or fire off a powerful Stone edge. Keep him alive for Tapu Lele, otherwise fire away to chip down opponents.

Magnet Boy (Magnezone)
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA /4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Fire
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
I'm not particularly familiar with the damage calcs, so I go full-bulk to ensure I KO bulky steel types with minimal effort. Slow volt-switch to get Golisopod back in.

Over-Centralizing Boy (Landorus-T)
Every team has one, and this is no different. He's just too good to pass up as both a defog user and U-turn support. I went for the defensive route here to bulk out as much as possible as a pivot.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn

Frog Boy (Greninja)
Frog Boy (Greninja) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
Greninja is just so fast, and acts as a secondary killer of Tapu Lele with Gunk Shot. His role is to stop boosting sweepers such as Volcorona, Gyrados, and Zygarde, and to also scout using U-Turn

Pretty Boy (Clefable)
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Gaurd
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
Again, self-explanatory. He's here to support the team and keep them healthy while also sponging special attacks.

Conclusion:

With proper support, the goal of this team is to allow the cute and cuddly Golisopod to pick off weakened foes once steel types and Tapu Lele have been removed. I'm completely open to any criticism. Thanks for reading! Import below:

Cuddly Boy (Golisopod) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Aqua Jet
- Poison Jab
- Liquidation

Rocky Boy (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Magnet Boy (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch

Frog Boy (Greninja) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot

Pretty Boy (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Moonblast

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn

 

[stuuful12]

Hey, I like the idea of your team, and want to try and improve it, so here's a couple of suggestions

1. Provide replays: This is sort of an imperative as we need to see how your team ideally functions in battle, and replays can showcase that

2. Judging by your enthusiasm for Golisopod, it seems you won't be too receptive to changing him, so let's start by making Golisopod better.
- First change Aqua Jet to Spikes-- This is done to hurt switchins like Toxapex, and ultimately contribute to your Team by making it easier to nab KOs
- Change the Life Orb to Insect Plate -- this is done to give a Stronger First Impression that hits harder, while having less recoil helps in the long run to not accidentally trigger Emergency Exit, and force yourself out of a good situation. Alternatively, you can give the Metronome to it for Liquidation spam, but Insect Plate is generally more worth it

3. Since you want to check Tapu Lele efficiently, lets start by replacing Tyranitar with SpDef Jirachi. Here is the set
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 108 SpD / 152 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
This helps by not only giving you a consistent rocker ( Choice Band and Stealth Rock are never good to have together as they lose momentum) but also gives you an actual means to check Tapu Lele via Iron Head, unlike Tyrantar who rolls over to Z-Fighting and can't do much to Specs Lele. If you really want Tyranitar, try Mega Tyranitar with a bit of special defense investments, but know it isn't the best check.

3. Change Magnezone to Sub Steelium Z.
While Specs is pretty cool, being locked into Thunderbolt can sometimes be disadvantageous, so lets change it to something better. So try using Steelium Z since the Z move slot isn't taken
Magnezone @ Steelium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Fire
This set takes out all the steels that Choice Specs does, with the added benefit of not being locked into moves. Thanks to sub, you can tank most hits that steels dish out, and KO them back. You can then use Steelium Z on Landorus or Zygarde if your substitute is still intact.

4. Ok, this suggestion is going to be a bit interesting and wholly optional, unlike the others. Seeing as Golisopod and Ash-Greninja share similar checks and both can lay down Spikes, I was wondering what if you could help Frog Boy ascend into Ash-Greninja to assort that out. Both Golisopod and Ash-Greninja are checked by pokemons like Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur, and both can use this to their advantage by wearing down these mons until one of them can sweep. As weird as a water spam core is going to sound like, with Golisopod ability to switch out with Emergency Exit and Ash-Greninja's habit of easily cleaning up afterward, doing this change could be very interesting. However, if you don't like that suggestion, you don't need to change Frog-Boy

5. Change Wish Protect into Soft-Boiled and Calm Mind on Clefable as you don't need it any more since Jirachi now covers it.

6. If you opted to change Froggy Boy into Ash-Greninja, then change Landorus into a Scarf Variant.
If you didn't, then keep Landorus.

Tell me if you disagree with any of these suggestions, and have a good day.