Introduction
Welcome to this new RMT! Grass is a really cool type but I found it a bit underwhelming that 5 members on the typical grass team are already set, leaving little room for creativity and uniqueness. For this reason, I wanted to create a more offense-oriented team that strays away from the grass archetypes but at the same time, more importantly, is also very fun to use as well as at least passable to score a few wins. For this reason, when commenting on the team, please keep in mind that it is mostly made for fun and I would appreciate if all advice would aim to improve the team without changing the general idea too much.
Teambuilding Process
A pokemon that I always wanted to use but never really found room for either on typical grass or ground, was torterra. With decent attack and access to stone edge and earthquake, it can hit types that grass may struggle against and so I wanted to give him at least a try.
Unfortunatelly, grass pokemon are generally not known to be the fastest. To fix this issue, I added leavanny, providing sticky webs and opening the door to build a real HO team.
Next, a sort of strong sweeper was needed. Serperior has the wonderful ability contrary to boost itself with every leafstorm. Furthermore, it is pretty fast and takes advantage of opponents trying to clear the field of webs and rocks.
But webs will not always work and grass still struggles vs certain foes such as celesteela. To counter such opponents, I wanted to add a second layer of speedy attack, namely utility whimsicott and chlorophyll venusaur.
Lastly, I needed to be able to hit specially bulky mons which torterra might not be able to handle. Here, my choice fell on breloom and its impressive 130 base atk stat.
The Team
Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
In many matchups, leavanny is my typical and preferred lead, bring out the webs as soon as possible. As speed and typing aren't amazing, a sash secures to at least get sticky webs up before fainting. Of course, anyone looking at this team can spot the webs lead right away and for this reason, Leavanny carries magic coat to shut opposing taunters and hazard setters down. As leavanny isn't exactly meant to survive long, EVs are invested in atk and speed with leaf blade as STAB move to hit certain leads such as diancie reasonably hard. Knockoff allows to weaken unsuspecting foes such as chansey or alola-muk by removing their items. Overcoat rpevents fainting due to sand/hail.
Whimsicott @ Heat Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Memento
- Encore
- Moonblast
Next up is a second supporting member of this team. Whimsicott sports a great ability in prankster, giving priority to all status moves. As mentioned above, the team contains a weather component and whimsicott is the probably best weather setter grass has access to thanks to priority, strengthened by heat rock for even more sun. Depending on the state of the game, whimsicott can then sacrifice itself to create an opening for my setup sweeper with memento. If sun isn't needed or helpful, whimsicott may also fulfil other roles, e.g. by shutting down opposing set up sweepers with priority-boosted encore. Moonblast ensures to not be full taunt-bait and is a great asset in the dragon and dark matchups. Perhaps investing in some bulk to give it a little longevity might be useful to really set sun and click memento afterwards but so far, the spa prove itself to be quite crucial in the dragon matchup. I also thought about running defog as opposing hazards can be very dangerous, but thanks to webs (and rocks) opponents usually do the defogging for me.
Venusaur @ Normalium Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball/Earthquake/Giga Drain
- Growth
- Hidden Power [Fire]
If I have sun, I also need a sun-sweeper, right? Because of that, a storng chlorophyll mon was needed, but unfortunately most chlorophyll pokemon are either rather weak or lack the necessary coverage. My choice fell on venusaur, as it was the most well-rounded option available. This venusaur has several move set options but suffers from the typical 4 move syndrome. Nonetheless, it can generally perform quite well and the heart of the set is Z-growth, boosting spa by 3 and atk by 2 stages in sunlight. Sludge bomb is the most crucial STAB move, hitting many opponents hard. Secondly, HP fire is a great asset in the steel and flying matchups, allowing to outspeed and remove many threats. The last moveslot has several options and I am still experimenting. Giga drain allows to recover some health while energy ball and max spa is the only option to get past toxapex on water teams. With some atk investment, +2 earthquake is also an option, threatening many frailer fire and poison pokemon. Current EV spread maximises special attack, while assuring to outspeed 110 speed scarfers such as latios in sun with the rest dumped in HP for a little extra bulk.
Serperior @ Bright Powder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Taunt
A second strong special attacker was added to take advantage of the webs. Serperior is capable of breaking through walls by boosting its own spa with each consecutive hit. As a second attack, HP ground was chosen. The main reason for this is that the current venusaur moveset is lacking earthqake, which means that venusaur is generally walled by heatran. Serperior is thus capable of easing this matchup. The combination of substitute and taunt allows to take advantage of predicted switchins and to fully wall stall sets as well as to prevent losing its stat boosts to haze. The item is admittedly is a joke and perhaps something like leftovers might be more reliable. But in combination with raised evasion thanks to defog or simply by clicking substitute until a fireblast misses, it has proven itself to be at least sort of viable.
Torterra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Wood Hammer
With this, I am still lacking physical attackers as well as entry hazards. As outlined above, I really wanted to use torterra and I first attempted to make it work with rock polish or sword dance sets but they simply didn't work out in most cases. Instead, I opted for its 3 strongest attacks to deal as much damage as possible. Furthermore, it can provide stealth rocks which are crucial in, for example, the flying matchup. By running a sash, I can use torterra as an emergency attacker, stopping dangerous foes such as dragonite, greninja or kyurem-b. While woodhammer seems counter-intuitive in combination with a sash, the combination works out reasonably well as woodhammer usually either removes the opponent (if i move first) or hits even harder thanks to overgrow followed by suicide if I move last. The speed investment allows to make use of the sticky webs, outspeeding/tying everything up to 108 base speed.
Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Superpower
Lastly, I needed more physical raw power with the main options being Tapu Bulu and Breloom. As steel is a generally difficult matchup for grass, I decided to go with breloom which provides STAB fighting moves. The typical breloom set includes spore, maybe SD and is often sashed but I already have 2 sashes, which led to me to look for other options. I thought, it might be funny to try out a scarf and surprise opposing threats such as charizard y, volcarona or landorus-i with speedy attacks. I opted for an adamant nature as scarfed jolly breloom reaches 393, just missing the crucial mark to outspeed tapu koko or aerodactyl. In between, the only relevant threats would be weavile (which is rarely seen) and greninja, which can be (kind of) stopped otherwise. Bluffing the sash is an additional interesting element, as many people expect to require two hits for breloom, hence switching out an initial threat and getting punished for it later on.
Tough matchups
A few match ups have emerged as more difficult than others and those are listed below:
Fire: I first played a physical venusaur variant, making fire a quite possible game but unfortunately resulting in bad matchups elsewhere. Without dedicated atk investment on venusaur, fire is a big threat.
Flying: Flying is very versatile and here it depends greatly on the composition of the flying team. Breaking mantine can be a pain and if celesteela gets going, I am also in trouble. But generally, it is a possible matchup.
Poison: The combination of a-muk, toxapex and m-venusaur is very difficult to break and the element of surprise is what truly helps in this matchup. Venusaur can do no sweeping here but instead must act as a wallbreaker to remove either m-venusaur or toxapex (or a-muk if carrying eq) before going down itself. If the defensive core can be broken, torterra, breloom and serperior have a chance to use that gap in the defence to score the win. And of course, a scarfed nihilego may just claim a kill each turn once its checks are removed or weakened.
Ice: This is probably not surprising, as ice hits me hard and hail additionally interferes with a potential sun sweep. Not running defog also means that I cannot get rid of aurora veil.
Dragon: Here, the first few turns often decide how the match will go. If I can get webs up, whimsicott alone can blast a big hole into the opposing team but dragonite and kyurem remain dangerous. Whether lead-garchomp tries to set rocks or attacks leavanny right away, is an important part of the game.
Fire: I first played a physical venusaur variant, making fire a quite possible game but unfortunately resulting in bad matchups elsewhere. Without dedicated atk investment on venusaur, fire is a big threat.
Flying: Flying is very versatile and here it depends greatly on the composition of the flying team. Breaking mantine can be a pain and if celesteela gets going, I am also in trouble. But generally, it is a possible matchup.
Poison: The combination of a-muk, toxapex and m-venusaur is very difficult to break and the element of surprise is what truly helps in this matchup. Venusaur can do no sweeping here but instead must act as a wallbreaker to remove either m-venusaur or toxapex (or a-muk if carrying eq) before going down itself. If the defensive core can be broken, torterra, breloom and serperior have a chance to use that gap in the defence to score the win. And of course, a scarfed nihilego may just claim a kill each turn once its checks are removed or weakened.
Ice: This is probably not surprising, as ice hits me hard and hail additionally interferes with a potential sun sweep. Not running defog also means that I cannot get rid of aurora veil.
Dragon: Here, the first few turns often decide how the match will go. If I can get webs up, whimsicott alone can blast a big hole into the opposing team but dragonite and kyurem remain dangerous. Whether lead-garchomp tries to set rocks or attacks leavanny right away, is an important part of the game.
Replays
A few replays to highlight how the team works.
Bug https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-948689538
Ground https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-948684451
Fairy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-947237426
Dark https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-945642200
Electric https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-945645167
Water https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-941096448
Bug https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-948689538
Ground https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-948684451
Fairy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-947237426
Dark https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-945642200
Electric https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-945645167
Water https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7monotype-941096448
Conclusion
I hope this fun little take on the grass monotype was an enjoyable read. Of course, I am aware that this is far from perferct but I think it is a very fun and surprising ladder team, sporting at least moderate success. If you'd like to give it a try, feel free to take the paste below and if you want me to add any calcs or replays, just say so in a comment. Any tips or ideas are welcome!Whimsicott @ Heat Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Memento
- Encore
- Moonblast
Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Superpower
Serperior @ Bright Powder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Taunt
Venusaur @ Normalium Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball
- Growth
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Torterra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Wood Hammer
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Memento
- Encore
- Moonblast
Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Superpower
Serperior @ Bright Powder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Taunt
Venusaur @ Normalium Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball
- Growth
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Torterra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Wood Hammer
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