I wanted to make a Monotype team using a type that was harder to use. By pure coincidence, I have gained a ton of recent experience testing a lot of pokemon who happen to be bug type. And so the core idea for the team came together rather quickly. Bug typing is largely horrible to base a team around due to it's weakness to Stealth Rock, the many types that resist it, and just generally the difficulty of covering for its defensive weaknesses with only other bug types. However, even the worst type choices you could make usually have some good things going for them.
I realized my best chance here was a hyper offense team, since that could take advantage of the strengths without exposing too many weaknesses. In my opinion, the best bug types in the pokemon franchise are mostly offensive ones. U-turn is arguably the best pivot move in the game, and it's always STAB on bug type teams. Quiver Dance is one of the best set up moves in the game and a lot of bug types have it. Web support is also easiest to get on bug teams. It all just seemed to fit best towards offense. With that in mind, I based my team around a few core principles:
The Team:
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Defog
The primary use here is to maximize Bullet Punch. This means max attack EVs, Adamant Nature, Technician, and Choice Band. The advantage of going Choice Band Scizor over Mega Scizor is you get more initial damage without having to setup. This can really help with momentum. Also, you save your mega for something else. There are some teams that just lose to Bullet Punch spam. Super Power hits unsuspecting Steel Types and Chansey super hard. Choice Banded U-turn gives me a powerful slow pivot STAB move. I also added Defog to help secure hazard removal in case I need it. For the rest the EVs, I tried to add bulk since speed doesn't matter as much on this set.
One thing I played around with recently is a set that had more defensive investment than HP. Not sure if I need that here. I may adjust it if it proves to be better in key matchups. In OU, I found it was useful to have more defense to switch into Tapu Bulu and tank most other opposing priority moves better. However, those things aren't as much of a problem on this Bug team so far. The main reason why I think I would do it here is to better take physical rock type moves. However, having the defensive Forretress also on the team really makes that not seem remotely as necessary.
Golisopod @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
As mentioned earlier, this is mainly for the dual priority STAB. Aqua Jet is a much needed water priority move that helps cover for a lot of the weaknesses of the team. First Impression can OHKO a lot of threats and takes a good chunk out of most everything else that doesn't resist it. I have tested Golisopod in multiple tiers and I can say it's actually pretty good even in tiers you might not expect it like OU. I won't cover that here to the degree I covered it on my other team with it. Like with Scizor, I have max attack, Adamant Nature, and Choice Band to boost the power of the priority moves. The extra HP helps it give it a bit more survivability on a pokemon that already has pretty decent natural bulk. Liquidation and Leech Life are mostly heavy hitting STAB to punish the opposing team on predicted switches. However, Golisopod is bulky enough to take some threats head on with it's slower moves, particularly if it is the last pokemon left on the team. Leech Life is especially useful in that regard since it provides a heal for some sustainability.
In the past, feedback for my Choice Band Golisopod sets have been mixed. Some people just don't like it. It's admittedly a bit awkward to use so I'll try to explain it a bit better here. You have to pick your spots. It's not something that you can just switch in and spam most of the time. And when you do, you have to have good prediction to make use of the slower moves. If the opponent keeps switching out to avoid your priority attacks, that's often the time to use Liquidation or Leech Life. Furthermore, Choice Band isn't optional on this team. It needs the power of Banded Aqua Jet to face certain threats. Period. Rock and Fire types are huge threats to this team and Aqua Jet is a big help against a lot of each.
Beedrill @ Beedrillite
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poison Jab
- Drill Run
- U-turn
- X-Scissor
The Mega of the team. I like to think of Mega Beedrill as the Queen Bee of the hive. Either way, it serves its role well as the fast U-turn pokemon. I added the standard max speed and attack EVs to hit hard and fast. Its Adaptability boosted STAB moves hits everything hard that doesn't resist them. Poison Jab and U-turn do work. Drill Run provides a much needed ground type coverage to face opposing Fire, Rock, Steel, Poison, and Electric types. Ironically, this mega tested better for my team than any other bug type Mega. So there is that.
The only thing I'm not quite sure about is the 4th move. I added X-Scissor for a slightly harder hitting Bug STAB that I wouldn't be forced out on for situations where I wanted to stay in. Not quite sure it's the best move for my set. Either way, it's still better than anything else I tried so far. I found that Fell Stinger was too hard to use and just generally awful. Swords Dance was too slow and annoying to use on such a frail pokemon that hates any incoming damage and status so much. Brick Break was meant to add coverage and utility, but it wound up just being bad. Should I try Knock Off maybe?
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
The best Quiver Dance user makes the perfect complimentary special attacker to all my physical attackers. The fire typing also helps my team against some opposing fire type moves. I went for an offensive EV set to secure any potential speed issues. This was particularly important for flying types and pokemon with Levitate, since they are immune to webs. Leftovers is my item of choice to just give it a bit of sustain. I chose Fire Blast over another fire move to secure more OHKOs. However, I find the accuracy to be a bit frustrating so I may change this. I decided to forgo Bug Buzz since I figure I have enough bug type STAB on my team already. For coverage, I added Psychic to hit fighting an poison types that resist my team's bug type moves and Giga Drain to hit water, rock, and ground types that can resist Volcarona's fire STAB. Giga Drain can also be handy for the heal.
Galvantula @ Electrium Z
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Sticky Web
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The web setter of my team. I chose Galvantula to do it because I desperately needed some sort of electric type move to hit flying and water types. To take advantage of this, I gave it as much speed and power as I could. Compound Eyes let's you use Thunder at 91% accuracy instead of a horrid 70%. Thunder also works well against Rain teams. Despite Galvantula's decent yet underwhelming special attack, the extra power from Thunder makes up for most of it. Failing that, I added the Electrium Z to further boost the power of my Electric STAB since I still needed a Z move on the team.
For coverage, I added Energy Ball and Hidden Power Ice to hit ground types that might think they are safe to switch into my electric type moves. Energy Ball hits those pesky Water/Ground types hard so that Galvantula can deal with more of those water teams better. Many of the ground types that resist Energy Ball are going to be part flying, dragon, or maybe even grass, which means they are 4x weak to Hidden Power Ice. You can't cover for everything. But you can cover for a decent amount with that.
Forretress @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
This was mainly added for much needed hazard support. There aren't a lot of Rapid Spinners to choose from. It's hard to find any that are bug type and aren't weak to rock type. The fact that it can also set up Stealth Rock is a must given my team's inherent weakness to fire and flying type teams. I added max HP and Special Defense to round out the survivability against anything that isn't fire type. Iapapa Berry is a nice burst heal that works better for this set than slower recovery like leftovers. I find that Sturdy is a very useful ability, particularly in cases where it makes sense to lead with Forretress. I can't tell you how many times I have set up rocks, been taken down to 1 HP, and then still been a factor for later in the match because Iapapa Berry healed it back to decent HP levels.
For the other moves, I added Gyro Ball for a decent STAB move that hits some rock types. Earthquake is for coverage. When I can get it off, the ground type coverage is often good for my team. It's especially useful for fire teams. Also, I have the world's most hilarious Forretress replay while I was attempting to ladder:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-972037984
Araquanid is arguably the best web setter and would help my fire weakness. However, I didn't really like the idea of using it on the same team as Golisopod since the typing and coverage is redundant. I did briefly consider ditching Golisopod and making up for it another way. But there really is nothing else that comes close to what Golisopod does from an offensive standpoint.
Ribombee has the distinct advantage of getting Sticky Web and Quiver Dance. In an offensive pairing with Volcarona, it could be quite dangerous and could compliment my physical attackers well. There was a good while where I felt I was actually really close to adding it. The problem? Coverage. My team needed coverage Ribombee just doesn't provide.
Shuckle was an interesting hazard setter to consider setter since I could get both Sticky Web and Stealth Rock in the same pokemon. Also, the rock typing would be extremely helpful against fire and flying type teams, which are my hardest matchups. Unfortunately, there isn't any room for it on my team since it can't clear hazards. Rapid Spin was just too important for my team.
Unlike Shuckle, Armaldo is an actual rock/bug type with Rapid Spin. This made it something I had to strongly consider. Furthermore, getting any kind of decent rock STAB for opposing flying and fire types was intriguing. The main thing that held it back was the rock type weakness. I just had trouble switching it in sometimes when the stealth rocks were up. In general, you usually don't want hazard removers that are weak to rock type for this reason. In testing, I have found that Forretress was actually fine and better at its job overall. Sturdy is also a much more useful ability.
Mega Pinsir works well off of web teams, so I heavily considered using it as my Mega. Earthquake would give me a much needed ground coverage move. Also, the Aerilate Quick Attack would add an interesting dynamic to my priority theme. The problem was I didn't need the flying type moves because I don't struggle with most fighting, bug, or grass types on this team. It's just a poor offensive typing here. The lack of U-Turn also really hurts. Mega Beedrill just worked better with that Adaptability boosted U-Turn and Drill Run. It's sort of a shame since I had a couple weird sets I wanted to try involving Me First or Aerilate Flail. Ultimately, this team wasn't the place for any of those gimmicks. Maybe another time?
I realized my best chance here was a hyper offense team, since that could take advantage of the strengths without exposing too many weaknesses. In my opinion, the best bug types in the pokemon franchise are mostly offensive ones. U-turn is arguably the best pivot move in the game, and it's always STAB on bug type teams. Quiver Dance is one of the best set up moves in the game and a lot of bug types have it. Web support is also easiest to get on bug teams. It all just seemed to fit best towards offense. With that in mind, I based my team around a few core principles:
Bullet/Jet Core:
The idea here was simple. Two of the best priority users you can get (at least that aren't banned in OU) are Scizor and Golisopod. Technician Bullet Punch hits like a truck against just about anything that doesn't resist it. Golisopod has the advantage of two distinct priority moves. First Impression and Aqua Jet. This hits a lot of things hard. Most importantly, Aqua Jet can help cover for those rock and fire type weaknesses. I have tested both recently on multiple teams in multiple tiers, sometimes apart and sometimes with both on the same team. It turns out they have surprisingly decent synergy together, even in OU. Of course, you have to build the right team around them and deal with priority counters like Tapu Lele in the case of OU. The point is it works. So I realized that building my team around that would give me pretty good priority coverage and a great start to my offensive plan of attack. Also, Tapu Lele is banned in monotype so we don't have to worry about it.
Hazard Warriors:
One thing I knew I had to do with this team was win the hazard war. From a defensive standpoint, my team absolutely had to deal with opposing Stealth Rock in most cases. The other hazards aren't great for me, either. But Stealth Rock is especially problematic on a type team that is weak to it. From an offensive standpoint, it's pretty much a shame to use a bug team and not take advantage of webs. While my team has pretty good speed control without them, webs do counter most of the speed boosts from non-flying types and let me put more pressure on the opponent. Stealth Rock is my chip hazard of choice since it hits flying and fire types harder, which is necessary given how good those types are against most bug teams.
Forretress is the hazard MVP of my team. His stealth rock gives me means to fight back against my weaknesses while Rapid Spin clears opposing hazards without clearing mine. For a web setter, I chose Galvantula. While there are better web setters, Galvantula provided what my team needed more. (More on this later.) I also made Scizor a secondary defogger just so that I had insurance to clear Stealth Rock in case Forretress died or whatever. I don't know if it is exactly ideal to have my two hazard clearers be 4x weak to fire, but I didn't really have to adjust my team to do it.
Round Out the Offense:
The rest of the team building process was just rounding out what I already had. I had two spots. I needed a Quiver Dancer and a Mega. Volcarona is easily the best Quiver Dancer I have ever used. The fire typing also really helps my team. Mega Beedrill is sort of an odd choice for most teams. But the speed and fast U-turn really help put pressure on my opponents given everything else I have going on.
The idea here was simple. Two of the best priority users you can get (at least that aren't banned in OU) are Scizor and Golisopod. Technician Bullet Punch hits like a truck against just about anything that doesn't resist it. Golisopod has the advantage of two distinct priority moves. First Impression and Aqua Jet. This hits a lot of things hard. Most importantly, Aqua Jet can help cover for those rock and fire type weaknesses. I have tested both recently on multiple teams in multiple tiers, sometimes apart and sometimes with both on the same team. It turns out they have surprisingly decent synergy together, even in OU. Of course, you have to build the right team around them and deal with priority counters like Tapu Lele in the case of OU. The point is it works. So I realized that building my team around that would give me pretty good priority coverage and a great start to my offensive plan of attack. Also, Tapu Lele is banned in monotype so we don't have to worry about it.
Hazard Warriors:
One thing I knew I had to do with this team was win the hazard war. From a defensive standpoint, my team absolutely had to deal with opposing Stealth Rock in most cases. The other hazards aren't great for me, either. But Stealth Rock is especially problematic on a type team that is weak to it. From an offensive standpoint, it's pretty much a shame to use a bug team and not take advantage of webs. While my team has pretty good speed control without them, webs do counter most of the speed boosts from non-flying types and let me put more pressure on the opponent. Stealth Rock is my chip hazard of choice since it hits flying and fire types harder, which is necessary given how good those types are against most bug teams.
Forretress is the hazard MVP of my team. His stealth rock gives me means to fight back against my weaknesses while Rapid Spin clears opposing hazards without clearing mine. For a web setter, I chose Galvantula. While there are better web setters, Galvantula provided what my team needed more. (More on this later.) I also made Scizor a secondary defogger just so that I had insurance to clear Stealth Rock in case Forretress died or whatever. I don't know if it is exactly ideal to have my two hazard clearers be 4x weak to fire, but I didn't really have to adjust my team to do it.
Round Out the Offense:
The rest of the team building process was just rounding out what I already had. I had two spots. I needed a Quiver Dancer and a Mega. Volcarona is easily the best Quiver Dancer I have ever used. The fire typing also really helps my team. Mega Beedrill is sort of an odd choice for most teams. But the speed and fast U-turn really help put pressure on my opponents given everything else I have going on.
The Team:
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Defog
The primary use here is to maximize Bullet Punch. This means max attack EVs, Adamant Nature, Technician, and Choice Band. The advantage of going Choice Band Scizor over Mega Scizor is you get more initial damage without having to setup. This can really help with momentum. Also, you save your mega for something else. There are some teams that just lose to Bullet Punch spam. Super Power hits unsuspecting Steel Types and Chansey super hard. Choice Banded U-turn gives me a powerful slow pivot STAB move. I also added Defog to help secure hazard removal in case I need it. For the rest the EVs, I tried to add bulk since speed doesn't matter as much on this set.
One thing I played around with recently is a set that had more defensive investment than HP. Not sure if I need that here. I may adjust it if it proves to be better in key matchups. In OU, I found it was useful to have more defense to switch into Tapu Bulu and tank most other opposing priority moves better. However, those things aren't as much of a problem on this Bug team so far. The main reason why I think I would do it here is to better take physical rock type moves. However, having the defensive Forretress also on the team really makes that not seem remotely as necessary.
Golisopod @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Aqua Jet
As mentioned earlier, this is mainly for the dual priority STAB. Aqua Jet is a much needed water priority move that helps cover for a lot of the weaknesses of the team. First Impression can OHKO a lot of threats and takes a good chunk out of most everything else that doesn't resist it. I have tested Golisopod in multiple tiers and I can say it's actually pretty good even in tiers you might not expect it like OU. I won't cover that here to the degree I covered it on my other team with it. Like with Scizor, I have max attack, Adamant Nature, and Choice Band to boost the power of the priority moves. The extra HP helps it give it a bit more survivability on a pokemon that already has pretty decent natural bulk. Liquidation and Leech Life are mostly heavy hitting STAB to punish the opposing team on predicted switches. However, Golisopod is bulky enough to take some threats head on with it's slower moves, particularly if it is the last pokemon left on the team. Leech Life is especially useful in that regard since it provides a heal for some sustainability.
In the past, feedback for my Choice Band Golisopod sets have been mixed. Some people just don't like it. It's admittedly a bit awkward to use so I'll try to explain it a bit better here. You have to pick your spots. It's not something that you can just switch in and spam most of the time. And when you do, you have to have good prediction to make use of the slower moves. If the opponent keeps switching out to avoid your priority attacks, that's often the time to use Liquidation or Leech Life. Furthermore, Choice Band isn't optional on this team. It needs the power of Banded Aqua Jet to face certain threats. Period. Rock and Fire types are huge threats to this team and Aqua Jet is a big help against a lot of each.
Beedrill @ Beedrillite
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poison Jab
- Drill Run
- U-turn
- X-Scissor
The Mega of the team. I like to think of Mega Beedrill as the Queen Bee of the hive. Either way, it serves its role well as the fast U-turn pokemon. I added the standard max speed and attack EVs to hit hard and fast. Its Adaptability boosted STAB moves hits everything hard that doesn't resist them. Poison Jab and U-turn do work. Drill Run provides a much needed ground type coverage to face opposing Fire, Rock, Steel, Poison, and Electric types. Ironically, this mega tested better for my team than any other bug type Mega. So there is that.
The only thing I'm not quite sure about is the 4th move. I added X-Scissor for a slightly harder hitting Bug STAB that I wouldn't be forced out on for situations where I wanted to stay in. Not quite sure it's the best move for my set. Either way, it's still better than anything else I tried so far. I found that Fell Stinger was too hard to use and just generally awful. Swords Dance was too slow and annoying to use on such a frail pokemon that hates any incoming damage and status so much. Brick Break was meant to add coverage and utility, but it wound up just being bad. Should I try Knock Off maybe?
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
The best Quiver Dance user makes the perfect complimentary special attacker to all my physical attackers. The fire typing also helps my team against some opposing fire type moves. I went for an offensive EV set to secure any potential speed issues. This was particularly important for flying types and pokemon with Levitate, since they are immune to webs. Leftovers is my item of choice to just give it a bit of sustain. I chose Fire Blast over another fire move to secure more OHKOs. However, I find the accuracy to be a bit frustrating so I may change this. I decided to forgo Bug Buzz since I figure I have enough bug type STAB on my team already. For coverage, I added Psychic to hit fighting an poison types that resist my team's bug type moves and Giga Drain to hit water, rock, and ground types that can resist Volcarona's fire STAB. Giga Drain can also be handy for the heal.
Galvantula @ Electrium Z
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Sticky Web
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The web setter of my team. I chose Galvantula to do it because I desperately needed some sort of electric type move to hit flying and water types. To take advantage of this, I gave it as much speed and power as I could. Compound Eyes let's you use Thunder at 91% accuracy instead of a horrid 70%. Thunder also works well against Rain teams. Despite Galvantula's decent yet underwhelming special attack, the extra power from Thunder makes up for most of it. Failing that, I added the Electrium Z to further boost the power of my Electric STAB since I still needed a Z move on the team.
For coverage, I added Energy Ball and Hidden Power Ice to hit ground types that might think they are safe to switch into my electric type moves. Energy Ball hits those pesky Water/Ground types hard so that Galvantula can deal with more of those water teams better. Many of the ground types that resist Energy Ball are going to be part flying, dragon, or maybe even grass, which means they are 4x weak to Hidden Power Ice. You can't cover for everything. But you can cover for a decent amount with that.
Forretress @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
This was mainly added for much needed hazard support. There aren't a lot of Rapid Spinners to choose from. It's hard to find any that are bug type and aren't weak to rock type. The fact that it can also set up Stealth Rock is a must given my team's inherent weakness to fire and flying type teams. I added max HP and Special Defense to round out the survivability against anything that isn't fire type. Iapapa Berry is a nice burst heal that works better for this set than slower recovery like leftovers. I find that Sturdy is a very useful ability, particularly in cases where it makes sense to lead with Forretress. I can't tell you how many times I have set up rocks, been taken down to 1 HP, and then still been a factor for later in the match because Iapapa Berry healed it back to decent HP levels.
For the other moves, I added Gyro Ball for a decent STAB move that hits some rock types. Earthquake is for coverage. When I can get it off, the ground type coverage is often good for my team. It's especially useful for fire teams. Also, I have the world's most hilarious Forretress replay while I was attempting to ladder:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-972037984
Araquanid is arguably the best web setter and would help my fire weakness. However, I didn't really like the idea of using it on the same team as Golisopod since the typing and coverage is redundant. I did briefly consider ditching Golisopod and making up for it another way. But there really is nothing else that comes close to what Golisopod does from an offensive standpoint.
Ribombee has the distinct advantage of getting Sticky Web and Quiver Dance. In an offensive pairing with Volcarona, it could be quite dangerous and could compliment my physical attackers well. There was a good while where I felt I was actually really close to adding it. The problem? Coverage. My team needed coverage Ribombee just doesn't provide.
Shuckle was an interesting hazard setter to consider setter since I could get both Sticky Web and Stealth Rock in the same pokemon. Also, the rock typing would be extremely helpful against fire and flying type teams, which are my hardest matchups. Unfortunately, there isn't any room for it on my team since it can't clear hazards. Rapid Spin was just too important for my team.
Unlike Shuckle, Armaldo is an actual rock/bug type with Rapid Spin. This made it something I had to strongly consider. Furthermore, getting any kind of decent rock STAB for opposing flying and fire types was intriguing. The main thing that held it back was the rock type weakness. I just had trouble switching it in sometimes when the stealth rocks were up. In general, you usually don't want hazard removers that are weak to rock type for this reason. In testing, I have found that Forretress was actually fine and better at its job overall. Sturdy is also a much more useful ability.
Mega Pinsir works well off of web teams, so I heavily considered using it as my Mega. Earthquake would give me a much needed ground coverage move. Also, the Aerilate Quick Attack would add an interesting dynamic to my priority theme. The problem was I didn't need the flying type moves because I don't struggle with most fighting, bug, or grass types on this team. It's just a poor offensive typing here. The lack of U-Turn also really hurts. Mega Beedrill just worked better with that Adaptability boosted U-Turn and Drill Run. It's sort of a shame since I had a couple weird sets I wanted to try involving Me First or Aerilate Flail. Ultimately, this team wasn't the place for any of those gimmicks. Maybe another time?
Rather than talking about individual threats, I think it's probably more efficient to talk about general type matchups. I mean, it is monotype. So naturally, there are going to be certain types a team does better or worse against.
Worst Threats:
Fire Types:
Fire types are probably the hardest matchup. It's a downside of nearly any monotype bug team, let alone one with two bug/steel types. Fire type moves hurt. While Volcarona and Golisopod can take a little, no one on my team wants to take a setup and/or sun boosted fire type STAB. And while I have Golisopod partly for fire types, the sun weakens water type moves and makes it harder to use. Victini shreds through practically all my team. I have nearly nothing for Heat Rotom, except to try and use it as setup bait for my Volcarona. Scizor does next to nothing against most of fire types, and so it almost becomes like a 5 on 6 match for me.
I did as much as I could to make this as bearable as possible. Any more would sacrifice the integrity of my team and make me worse for other matchups. I have beat quite a few fire type teams. But a good and well played fire type team is really hard for these guys to deal with. Stealth Rock is absolutely necessary to put chip damage and pressure and to keep Mega Charizard in line. Mega Beedrill is surprisingly decent against fire type teams due to it's speed and Drill Run. Poison Jab is also often ok as neutral damage because of Adaptability. Sometimes Forretress can get off Earthquake chip damage, particularly with Sturdy. Choice Band Aqua Jet from Golisopod is necessary in most of these matchups if you can play around the sun. Golisopod can also chunk a large portion of Victini's health. However, this requires prior chip damage so that you can KO it with priority before it wrecks you. Also, the best use I have found for Scizor against fire type teams is to use Bullet Punch on a Flare Blitz user like Mega Charizard X.
Flying Types:
Another hard matchup. Flying types are very difficult for bugs to deal with and the teams are incredibly versatile. Counterintuitively, Stealth Rocks aren't always effective there since flying type teams have a lot of defog options. They are also immune to webs, so they don't have the speed debuff for any of their members. What's worse is that many flying types have access to extra speed like Tailwind, Dragon Dance, and/or Speed Boost, meaning they are one of the few archetypes that possibly can threaten my crazy speed control. Part of the reason why I chose Galvantula is because Thunder STAB makes my web setter helpful against this archetype instead of largely useless against it.
The good news is that flying types don't inherently resist any part of Bullet/Jet. While there are some that individually resist one or both, it's easier to punch a hole in the team so that my priority can take over. Scizor and Forretress also resist flying STAB. So they can often switch into it and then counter attack. Since many flying types are fast, a lot of them dislike Gyroball. They also don't inherently resist Adaptability Poison Jab from Beedrill. Volcarona/Galvantula can usually take out any Steel/Flying types that are problematic to the former three.
Water Types:
Water Types are some of the best and most versatile teams in the metagame. Pretty much nothing on my team likes scald spam and/or burns from it. They also have access to rain shenanigans, which can be troublesome if you aren't prepared for it. What's truly bad for this team is they inherently resist both parts of Bullet/Jet. Given that Volcarona is fire type, the water type team counters most of my offensive threats almost by default. The only way to deal with it was coverage. When I say I added Galvantula just to make my matchup with Water and Flying teams more bearable, I 110% mean it. When I added Giga Drain to Volcarona, water types were the greatest consideration. And because there are some cheeky Water/Poison types on most Water type teams, Psychic coverage means I have a way to deal with that besides just Galvantula and ground coverage. Outside of that, Golisopod and Mega Beedrill deal good STAB damage when it is neutral coverage. Golisopod is also a champ at stopping Mega Swampert in the rain.
Pretty Dangerous:
Electric Types:
Electric types can be tricky since the typing is so good. The biggest problem for this team is electric types resist both parts of Bullet/Jet. This makes taking them out somewhat hard. Galvantula also tends not to like attacking into electric type teams. And while the ground type coverage moves I added can be good against them, most electric teams cover for this by having members who are part flying and/or have levitate. As I have mentioned before, this team hates flying types. For these pokemon, my main course of action is neutral STAB moves. But it's generally never a 1HKO. Magnezone also needs to be mentioned as a possible steel type counter since I have two of them on my team. Also, my team hates any fire coverage move it may have.
I found the best thing to do is get rocks up to pressure the flying types. With enough chip damage, Mega Beedrill can sort of clean up these teams. Though this can be difficult if a Rotom variation is involved, as Beedrill's Poison Jab is usually the best answer for most of them and they tend to retaliate with burn. Bug STAB from Golisopod can accomplish a similar feat, except against Rotom Heat or Fan. Again, this requires enough chip damage to KO before a burn or counter attack. However, Grass coverage from Galvantula or Volcarona and can hit the most common Rotom Wash. Scizor is fairly good at countering Tapu Koko. Other than that, it is ok at providing chip damage in some cases since many electric types are inherently squishy.
Steel Types:
Steel types resist a lot of my attacks, are immune to Poison Jab, and often carry troublesome rock type coverage moves. They also inherently resist Stealth Rock. So they can be tricky to deal with outside of Volcarona. Heatran, especially with Air Baloon, is generally the biggest obstacle to the Volcarona win condition. But I do have ground coverage for it and other steel types. Galvantula can hit Steel/Flying types that can be a bit troublesome to that plan. Celesteela with flying STAB and fire coverage can be a somewhat bad matchup for my team. One also has to be wary of them abusing this team's webs to hit hard with Gyroball. Although, the team does have a decent amount of resistances to that. Superpower from Scizor and Liquidate from Golisopod can catch these teams off guard and often do great damage. Magnezone is a danger for this team since I have two vulnerable steel types, even though both have coverage moves (Superpower and Earthquake) that are good against it if they can manage to get them off.
Needs Caution:
Rock Types:
One might think this matchup is horrible for this bug type team. Counterintuitively, it's not. I suspect the reason is because these teams are inherently weak to both parts of Bullet/Jet. Also, everything outside of that has some sort of grass or ground type coverage move that just happens to hit most rock types. This makes rock teams kind of ok to face. Still, not much on my team likes rock STAB and Mega Diance's special attacking rock STAB can be tricky if the steel types on the team are outmaneuvered. Mega Diance also make hazards potentially difficult to work with. Rock/Steel types can be somewhat tricky as well, depending on the situation. Stakataka and Trick Room can turn Sticky Web against you and has high enough defense to live some of the 4X weak coverage moves on the team since they are physical.
Ground Types:
Ground type teams are often pretty good and they resist Stealth Rock. The biggest danger here is most of them have access to some sort of rock type coverage move. Continental Crush is common on these teams to punish opposing flying types. For our purposes, it works just fine against bugs by coincidence. Ground/Flying types are really common on this team type, and usually are a pain. Landorus-Therian is generally the biggest pain since it usually has rock coverage and Intimidate hurts my mostly physical team. The two most common Z moves on it are rock and flying type, which both wreck my team. And while bug types do inherently resist ground type STAB, I did unintentionally make my matchup worse by making two thirds of my team neutral to it. Volcarona, Galvantula, Scizor, and Forretress are all neutral to ground on a team archetype that should be more resistant to it. However, it's not really worth making the team worse overall to make this ground matchup slightly better. Furthermore, most ground types don't resist Bullet Punch and most are weak to Aqua Jet. So they can be played around.
Ghost Types:
These teams tend to be tricky and full of status. Most of my team dislike burns, which are extremely common on ghost teams. Most of my team doesn't like Thunder Wave, either. I once lost to a ghost team because I tried to use a wall (I think it was Dusclops) as set up fodder for Volcarona, only to get it a Toxic status that would wear it down as it finished off the wall. Speaking of defensive walls, these teams also tend to have at least a couple walls that are really annoying. It's also just a bit hard to hit a lot of these teams since most ghost type resists the bug type STAB moves. A lot of the physical attackers on the team could break through better if they weren't afraid of burn. Mega Beedrill really struggles against them since ghost types resist both its STABs. I may add Knock Off to Mega Beedrill to help make this matchup slightly better. Ghost teams can be worn down. The problem is they often like to take you with them.
Worst Threats:
Fire Types:
Fire types are probably the hardest matchup. It's a downside of nearly any monotype bug team, let alone one with two bug/steel types. Fire type moves hurt. While Volcarona and Golisopod can take a little, no one on my team wants to take a setup and/or sun boosted fire type STAB. And while I have Golisopod partly for fire types, the sun weakens water type moves and makes it harder to use. Victini shreds through practically all my team. I have nearly nothing for Heat Rotom, except to try and use it as setup bait for my Volcarona. Scizor does next to nothing against most of fire types, and so it almost becomes like a 5 on 6 match for me.
I did as much as I could to make this as bearable as possible. Any more would sacrifice the integrity of my team and make me worse for other matchups. I have beat quite a few fire type teams. But a good and well played fire type team is really hard for these guys to deal with. Stealth Rock is absolutely necessary to put chip damage and pressure and to keep Mega Charizard in line. Mega Beedrill is surprisingly decent against fire type teams due to it's speed and Drill Run. Poison Jab is also often ok as neutral damage because of Adaptability. Sometimes Forretress can get off Earthquake chip damage, particularly with Sturdy. Choice Band Aqua Jet from Golisopod is necessary in most of these matchups if you can play around the sun. Golisopod can also chunk a large portion of Victini's health. However, this requires prior chip damage so that you can KO it with priority before it wrecks you. Also, the best use I have found for Scizor against fire type teams is to use Bullet Punch on a Flare Blitz user like Mega Charizard X.
Flying Types:
Another hard matchup. Flying types are very difficult for bugs to deal with and the teams are incredibly versatile. Counterintuitively, Stealth Rocks aren't always effective there since flying type teams have a lot of defog options. They are also immune to webs, so they don't have the speed debuff for any of their members. What's worse is that many flying types have access to extra speed like Tailwind, Dragon Dance, and/or Speed Boost, meaning they are one of the few archetypes that possibly can threaten my crazy speed control. Part of the reason why I chose Galvantula is because Thunder STAB makes my web setter helpful against this archetype instead of largely useless against it.
The good news is that flying types don't inherently resist any part of Bullet/Jet. While there are some that individually resist one or both, it's easier to punch a hole in the team so that my priority can take over. Scizor and Forretress also resist flying STAB. So they can often switch into it and then counter attack. Since many flying types are fast, a lot of them dislike Gyroball. They also don't inherently resist Adaptability Poison Jab from Beedrill. Volcarona/Galvantula can usually take out any Steel/Flying types that are problematic to the former three.
Water Types:
Water Types are some of the best and most versatile teams in the metagame. Pretty much nothing on my team likes scald spam and/or burns from it. They also have access to rain shenanigans, which can be troublesome if you aren't prepared for it. What's truly bad for this team is they inherently resist both parts of Bullet/Jet. Given that Volcarona is fire type, the water type team counters most of my offensive threats almost by default. The only way to deal with it was coverage. When I say I added Galvantula just to make my matchup with Water and Flying teams more bearable, I 110% mean it. When I added Giga Drain to Volcarona, water types were the greatest consideration. And because there are some cheeky Water/Poison types on most Water type teams, Psychic coverage means I have a way to deal with that besides just Galvantula and ground coverage. Outside of that, Golisopod and Mega Beedrill deal good STAB damage when it is neutral coverage. Golisopod is also a champ at stopping Mega Swampert in the rain.
Pretty Dangerous:
Electric Types:
Electric types can be tricky since the typing is so good. The biggest problem for this team is electric types resist both parts of Bullet/Jet. This makes taking them out somewhat hard. Galvantula also tends not to like attacking into electric type teams. And while the ground type coverage moves I added can be good against them, most electric teams cover for this by having members who are part flying and/or have levitate. As I have mentioned before, this team hates flying types. For these pokemon, my main course of action is neutral STAB moves. But it's generally never a 1HKO. Magnezone also needs to be mentioned as a possible steel type counter since I have two of them on my team. Also, my team hates any fire coverage move it may have.
I found the best thing to do is get rocks up to pressure the flying types. With enough chip damage, Mega Beedrill can sort of clean up these teams. Though this can be difficult if a Rotom variation is involved, as Beedrill's Poison Jab is usually the best answer for most of them and they tend to retaliate with burn. Bug STAB from Golisopod can accomplish a similar feat, except against Rotom Heat or Fan. Again, this requires enough chip damage to KO before a burn or counter attack. However, Grass coverage from Galvantula or Volcarona and can hit the most common Rotom Wash. Scizor is fairly good at countering Tapu Koko. Other than that, it is ok at providing chip damage in some cases since many electric types are inherently squishy.
Steel Types:
Steel types resist a lot of my attacks, are immune to Poison Jab, and often carry troublesome rock type coverage moves. They also inherently resist Stealth Rock. So they can be tricky to deal with outside of Volcarona. Heatran, especially with Air Baloon, is generally the biggest obstacle to the Volcarona win condition. But I do have ground coverage for it and other steel types. Galvantula can hit Steel/Flying types that can be a bit troublesome to that plan. Celesteela with flying STAB and fire coverage can be a somewhat bad matchup for my team. One also has to be wary of them abusing this team's webs to hit hard with Gyroball. Although, the team does have a decent amount of resistances to that. Superpower from Scizor and Liquidate from Golisopod can catch these teams off guard and often do great damage. Magnezone is a danger for this team since I have two vulnerable steel types, even though both have coverage moves (Superpower and Earthquake) that are good against it if they can manage to get them off.
Needs Caution:
Rock Types:
One might think this matchup is horrible for this bug type team. Counterintuitively, it's not. I suspect the reason is because these teams are inherently weak to both parts of Bullet/Jet. Also, everything outside of that has some sort of grass or ground type coverage move that just happens to hit most rock types. This makes rock teams kind of ok to face. Still, not much on my team likes rock STAB and Mega Diance's special attacking rock STAB can be tricky if the steel types on the team are outmaneuvered. Mega Diance also make hazards potentially difficult to work with. Rock/Steel types can be somewhat tricky as well, depending on the situation. Stakataka and Trick Room can turn Sticky Web against you and has high enough defense to live some of the 4X weak coverage moves on the team since they are physical.
Ground Types:
Ground type teams are often pretty good and they resist Stealth Rock. The biggest danger here is most of them have access to some sort of rock type coverage move. Continental Crush is common on these teams to punish opposing flying types. For our purposes, it works just fine against bugs by coincidence. Ground/Flying types are really common on this team type, and usually are a pain. Landorus-Therian is generally the biggest pain since it usually has rock coverage and Intimidate hurts my mostly physical team. The two most common Z moves on it are rock and flying type, which both wreck my team. And while bug types do inherently resist ground type STAB, I did unintentionally make my matchup worse by making two thirds of my team neutral to it. Volcarona, Galvantula, Scizor, and Forretress are all neutral to ground on a team archetype that should be more resistant to it. However, it's not really worth making the team worse overall to make this ground matchup slightly better. Furthermore, most ground types don't resist Bullet Punch and most are weak to Aqua Jet. So they can be played around.
Ghost Types:
These teams tend to be tricky and full of status. Most of my team dislike burns, which are extremely common on ghost teams. Most of my team doesn't like Thunder Wave, either. I once lost to a ghost team because I tried to use a wall (I think it was Dusclops) as set up fodder for Volcarona, only to get it a Toxic status that would wear it down as it finished off the wall. Speaking of defensive walls, these teams also tend to have at least a couple walls that are really annoying. It's also just a bit hard to hit a lot of these teams since most ghost type resists the bug type STAB moves. A lot of the physical attackers on the team could break through better if they weren't afraid of burn. Mega Beedrill really struggles against them since ghost types resist both its STABs. I may add Knock Off to Mega Beedrill to help make this matchup slightly better. Ghost teams can be worn down. The problem is they often like to take you with them.
For the heck of it, I decided to talk a bit about the easiest matchups as well. If you struggle against these types with this team, chances are high that you are doing something wrong.
Grass Types:
By far the easiest matchup for this team and bugs in general. Grass is literally the only type in the entire franchise that is weak to bug types on both offense and defense. To compound this, 4 of my 6 pokemon have a double resistance to grass STAB. That's Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Beedrill that all have double resistances to it. Not bad enough? Half my team (everyone I mentioned except Volcarona) is immune or resistance to the common poison coverage moves from their team. And still, it gets worse for them. Volcarona's Fire STAB tears through their teams. Psychic hits those that are part poison, including Mega Venusaur. Many of them that aren't part poison type are weak to Beedrill's Poison Jab as well. Sometimes nearly all I have to do against grass teams is spam the fast and slow U-turn chain from Mega Beedrill to Scizor. Also, Scizor 1 shots Tapu Bulu with Bullet Punch. So there's that.
Ice Types:
It always feels good to have my most favorable matchups be against some of the other worst types in monotype. (That was sarcasm.) Ice types are a horrific defensive typing that is also weak to Stealth Rock, so they are understandably hard to use for an entire team. The short breakdown is that Stealth Rock + Bullet Punch tends to just win against them. They don't like Volcarona fire STAB much, either. For resistances, 4 of my 6 pokemon (Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Golisopod) resist ice moves just by coincidence really. Freeze-Dry hits Golisopod but still. There isn't a lot these teams can really do to mine.
Fairy Types:
While Fairy types do resist bug STAB, they tend not to like the other attacks on the team. A recurring theme you may notice is that nearly any team that hates when you spam that Bullet Punch is usually a lot easier for this team to defeat. For Fairy teams, they usually have a steel type or two to cover for their weaknesses to poison and steel type attacks. But once you break through those, it's usually pretty easy to clean them up with Scizor. For this feat, Volcarona Fire STAB and ground coverage usually works ok. One has to be a bit careful of Mega Diance. However, I find it's not as much of a problem when the whole team isn't also threatening that rock STAB like on rock monotype teams. For resistances, I once again have 4 of 6 pokemon that resist fairy type STAB. Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Beedrill all do this.
Grass Types:
By far the easiest matchup for this team and bugs in general. Grass is literally the only type in the entire franchise that is weak to bug types on both offense and defense. To compound this, 4 of my 6 pokemon have a double resistance to grass STAB. That's Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Beedrill that all have double resistances to it. Not bad enough? Half my team (everyone I mentioned except Volcarona) is immune or resistance to the common poison coverage moves from their team. And still, it gets worse for them. Volcarona's Fire STAB tears through their teams. Psychic hits those that are part poison, including Mega Venusaur. Many of them that aren't part poison type are weak to Beedrill's Poison Jab as well. Sometimes nearly all I have to do against grass teams is spam the fast and slow U-turn chain from Mega Beedrill to Scizor. Also, Scizor 1 shots Tapu Bulu with Bullet Punch. So there's that.
Ice Types:
It always feels good to have my most favorable matchups be against some of the other worst types in monotype. (That was sarcasm.) Ice types are a horrific defensive typing that is also weak to Stealth Rock, so they are understandably hard to use for an entire team. The short breakdown is that Stealth Rock + Bullet Punch tends to just win against them. They don't like Volcarona fire STAB much, either. For resistances, 4 of my 6 pokemon (Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Golisopod) resist ice moves just by coincidence really. Freeze-Dry hits Golisopod but still. There isn't a lot these teams can really do to mine.
Fairy Types:
While Fairy types do resist bug STAB, they tend not to like the other attacks on the team. A recurring theme you may notice is that nearly any team that hates when you spam that Bullet Punch is usually a lot easier for this team to defeat. For Fairy teams, they usually have a steel type or two to cover for their weaknesses to poison and steel type attacks. But once you break through those, it's usually pretty easy to clean them up with Scizor. For this feat, Volcarona Fire STAB and ground coverage usually works ok. One has to be a bit careful of Mega Diance. However, I find it's not as much of a problem when the whole team isn't also threatening that rock STAB like on rock monotype teams. For resistances, I once again have 4 of 6 pokemon that resist fairy type STAB. Scizor, Forretress, Volcarona, and Beedrill all do this.
