Monotype Bug Team

RicardoSilva7631

Hello, and welcome to my monotype Bug team. Bugs have always been a sore spot to me. I started playing in generation 1 and that was not a very good first impression to them. I built this team in a attempt to familiarize myself with them and put up a good fight. All comments are welcome.


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Galvantula @ Focus Sash

Ability: Compound Eyes

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Sticky Web

- Toxic

- Thunderbolt

- Bug Buzz


Galvantula is my most used lead. I try to capitalize on its speed and Focus Sash to set up Sticky Web and in its other moves to cripple the opponent with Toxic or deal high damage with Thunderbolt or Bug Buzz. However it is very frail and usually does not last more than 3 strikes.


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Forretress @ Leftovers

Ability: Sturdy

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

Relaxed Nature

IVs: 0 Spe

- Rapid Spin

- Toxic

- Stealth Rock

- Gyro Ball

Forretress serves as a Rapid Spinner user and is capable of adding Stealth Rock to the field on top of Sticky Web. However it is the opposite of Galvantula. It has no way to attack efficiently but is resistant. Sometimes Gyro Ball is a surprise attack.

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Araquanid @ Assault Vest

Ability: Water Bubble

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Scald

- Facade

- Lunge

- Liquidation

I chose Araquanid to this team as a concession to the fire types that some time appear. It is better than I thought it would be thanks to its ability which damps damage and its Stabs are very useful.



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Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite

Ability: Skill Link

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Rock Blast

- Pin Missile

- Bullet Seed

- Arm Thrust


Heracross is one of my favourite pokémons in this team. I chose this set for versatility instead of the most advised one with Swords Dance and Close Combat. All its move are multi-hitters and I tried. The set is inconsistent: when it works, it works very well. When it does not work, Heracross is useless.

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Scizor @ Leftovers

Ability: Technician

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Roost

- Bullet Punch

- Knock Off

- Superpower


Scizor is a tactical choice. It its very hard and with Roost, Bullet Punch and Knock Off, it is full of options. Superpower is the most advised move but I find it is not very efficient in most battles.


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Volcarona @ Leftovers

Ability: Flame Body

EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe

Bold Nature

- Roost

- Quiver Dance

- Bug Buzz

- Fiery Dance

Volcarona was picked for this team thanks to Quiver Dance and Roost, since they are an excellent way to set up, and as a contingency against other Bug Teams. The set I use is the most common and I use it in the most common way.
 
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I don't know monotype very much but since you are using coumpound eyes Galvantula, why not using Thunder instead of Thunderbolt ?
 
I feel as though this Bug team could use quite a few edits:

Replace Toxic with Energy Ball and Bug Buzz with Hidden Power Ice on Galvantula: The rate above already suggested to replace Thunderbolt with Thunder. Galvantula doesn't have the bulk or sustain to slowly wear things down with Toxic, whereas Energy Ball can allow it to hit Water types that are immune to Thunder such as Swampert, Gastrodon, and Seismitoad. Bug STAB isn't too largely necessary on a Bug team except in a few specific cases. Hidden Power Ice can allow Galvantula to hit Ground types like Landorus and Gliscor, as well as Dragon types like Dragonite and Garchomp. Another suggestion would be changing Galvantula's spread to 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe. At the end, the set should look something like this:

Galvantula @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Energy Ball
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Replace Forretress with Armaldo: While Forretress is a viable option as a Stealth Rocker and Rapid Spinner, Armaldo's Rock STAB, Knock Off utility, and generally better offensive presence works better in more matchups. You also already have Scizor as a means of checking Terrakion. For a possible set, you can go with this:

Armaldo @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Replace Lunge with Leech Life and Facade with Mirror Coat on Araquanid: Leech Life is generally the better Bug STAB than Lunge due to it giving Araquanid a form of sustain. You already have Scald as a means of crippling physical attackers, so Lunge isn't very necessary. Facade is generally a really bad move to have on it, while Mirror Coat can take advantage of its amazing special bulk by removing threatening special attackers that Araquanid can survive a hit from. You should also try running 56 Speed as a means of outspeedig max Speed Azumarill after Sticky Web. The set should end up looking like this:

Araquanid @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Scald
- Mirror Coat
- Leech Life
- Liquidation

Replace Arm Thrust with Close Combat and Bullet Seed with Swords Dance/Substitute on Mega Heracross: Close Combat has more power than Arm Thrust even after 5 hits, which is more than worth the defense drops. As for Bullet Seed, while it does improve your Ground and Water matchups, Mega Heracross can tear through them after a single Swords Dance, while also doing really great in the Poison and Ghost matchups. Substitute can pretty much guarantee your Normal matchup as well. Another suggestion would be changing the EV spread to 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature as a means of outspeeding many common Zapdos variants, as well as Adamant Dragonite, Adamant Diggersby, and Jolly Breloom and Bisharp. Overall, the set would look like this:

Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Blast
- Pin Missile
- Swords Dance / Substitute
- Close Combat

Change the Scizor to a more offensive set: With Armaldo and Araquanid as a sort of defensive core, Scizor doesn't particularly need to be bulky. For a set, you can try either a Choice Band set, or an offensive Swords Dance set. Out of the 2, the Choice Band set is more effective, but the offensive Swords Dance set can also work if you choose to run Substitute on Mega Heracross. The sets each look like this:

Choice Band
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower

Swords Dance
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower

Make the Volcarona a more offensive set: Defensive Volcarona is extremely mediocre right now, since it lacks the solid Speed tier as well as the offensive presence to be a real threat. More offensive sets with the Firium Z can allow it to break past some of its usual defensive checks such as Garchomp and Gyarados:

+1 252 SpA Volcarona Inferno Overdrive (185 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 233-274 (70.3 - 82.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

+1 252 SpA Volcarona Inferno Overdrive (185 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 267-314 (74.5 - 87.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

For the set, it should look like this:

Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Quiver Dance

Overall, I hope the rate helped and that you have better success with these changes.
 
Cool team, i'm always glad to see people running Bug teams because i find it a really fun type to use and also my favourite type. The general structure of the team is good but there are some changes i'd make to maximize its potential. Here they are:
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    Galvantula: First of all, Galvantula needs to run Thunder > Thunderbolt to exploit its ability (Compound Eyes) and hit as hard as possible since its Special Attack is not very high. Another change i'd do is Hidden Power Ice > Toxic since this allows Galvantula to threaten mainly Garchomp in the Dragon matchup, which would otherwise set Stealth Rock up for free as you won't be able to spin with Forretress in front of Garchomp due to the combination of Rocky Helmet+Rough Skin. One major change you definetely need is to change the EV spread; Galvantula hasn't the defensive stats to take hits (that's why you are running Focus Sash) and its role in a Bug team is to set up Sticky Web and after that hit the opposing team as hard as possible, so there's no point in running a defensive EV spread with it. Galvantula should always run 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 4 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe to maximize its offensive power to help with some difficult matchups for Bug such as Water and Flying. To help in the Water matchup, specially with Water-types that are immune to Thunder, i usually prefer running Energy Ball > Bug Buzz. Proposed Change(s): Thunder > Thunderbolt, Hidden Power Ice > Toxic, 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 4 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe & Energy Ball > Bug Buzz
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    Forretress:     Everything in the set is fine except for one thing. Forretress' job is to get rid of entry hazards, mainly Stealth Rock, and to set up Stealth Rock to help its teammates to KO the opposing foes. Although Toxic is a good option to wear down opposing bulky foes such as Hippowdon i'd run Volt Switch > Toxic, since this is a good utility move that combined with its low Speed lets Forretress to bring in teammates like Mega Heracross and Volcarona safely. In my opinion Armaldo is a better spinner and stealth rocker for Bug teams as it's neutral to Fire and Flying threatening those types with STAB Rock-type move, and it's not as passive as Forretress. However Forretress is a decent option. Proposed Change(s): Volt Switch > Toxic
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    Mega Heracross:     Mega Heracross is an insanely great wallbreaker that is even better with webs on the field. If you want to benefit from the Sticky Web that Galvantula can set up you need to run another EV spread for Mega Heracross: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 248 HP /252 Atk / 8 SpD. Another minor change i'd make is Jolly nature > Adamant nature since this allows Mega Heracross to outspeed SubToxic Zapdos, Choice Band Tapu Bulu and Breloom without Sticky Web, because it's not worthy to be outsped by those Pokemon in exchange of the extra power. You also need to run Close Combat > Arm Thrust despite not taking advantage of Skill Link because it has 120 Base Power compared to 75 Base Power from Arm Thrust (5 hits, 15 Base Power), which helps Mega Heracross to hit very hard with this STAB Fighting-type move. Finally i suggest you to run Substitute > Bullet Seed since this Grass-type move is only useful against Water and Ground, types that Mega Heracross can break with the combination of Pin Missile+Close Combat, and Substitute is more useful because Mega Heracross forces a lot of switches and can avoid status. Proposed Change(s): 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 248 HP /252 Atk / 8 SpD, Jolly nature > Adamant, Close Combat > Arm Thrust & Substitute > Bullet Seed
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    Scizor:     I suggest running a more offensive EV spread for Scizor, as it performs better in an offensive role: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 252 HP / 252 Atk /4 SpD. With that being said i'd run Choice Band > Leftovers to ensure Scizor hits the opposing team very hard. With the combination of the offensive EV spread, Adamant nature and Choice Band, Scizor helps Bug teams a lot against types like Psychic, Fairy, Ice and Rock. Scizor's job shouldn't be to take hits as the team doesn't need to, it just needs to perform an offensive role to help its teammates. In the Choice Band set i suggest to run U-turn > Roost to have a STAB Bug-type move to gain some momentum since Scizor can force some switches when the opponent is expecting Bullet Punch, Superpower or Knock Off. I'd personally keep Superpower to hit opposing foes that resist or aren't really threatened for the other moves (mainly Steel-types), such as Heatran or Ferrothorn. Another alternative is running a Sword Dance set but in my experience Choice Band Scizor performs much better in Bug teams. Proposed Change(s): 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 252 HP / 252 Atk /4 SpD, Choice Band > Leftovers & U-turn > Roost
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    Volcarona:     Last gen i liked to run bulky Volcarona to have more options to set up in exchange of needing more boosts to be able to sweep. But this gen offensive Volcarona is just the best option to run, so i suggest running 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe and Timid nature > Bold Nature. I'd also make some changes in the moveset, such as Giga Drain > Bug Buzz to help against Water and Ground, Fire Blast > Fiery Dance since offensive Volcarona needs the higher power and Hidden Power Ground > Roost because otherwise it'd be walled by Heatran. Another change to make the set as offensive as possible is Firium Z > Leftovers to have a 185 Base Power Inferno Overdrive to prevent things that could check Volcarona in the past from disturbing it, like Cradily or Zapdos. Proposed change(s): 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe > 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe, Timid nature > Bold Nature, Giga Drain > Bug Buzz, Fire Blast > Fiery Dance, Hidden Power Ground > Roost & Firium Z > Leftovers
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    Scolipede > Araquanid: Although i understand that Araquanid is really useful against Fire special moves i feel like it doesn't fit that well in an offensive team like this. Fire teams can easily keep rocks against you and that would deal 25 % damage to Araquanid every time it comes in to sponge hits. This would wear gradually down Araquanid and the team would end autolosing against fast Fire mons, so that's why i suggest running Scolipede > Araquanid. Scolipede can check big threats like Mega Charizard Y and OHKO it with Rock Slide and provides a source of speed control outside of webs thanks to Speed Boost. Proposed Change(s): Scolipede > Araquanid
Good luck with the team! Here is the importable with the suggested changes:

Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Substitute
- Close Combat

Galvantula @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Gyro Ball

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Scolipede @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
 
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