SS OU OU- RillaBoom and pals- Rate my team

ManLikeSteve

Hello, new to competitive and trying to get a good team going. Suggestions are very welcome! Here is an example battle:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1263768457-wuzcdro8brxe60v089sxcayl5wt6vv0pw


Updated team battles:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1264098282-uqnani72fppbk3mmclexb8lw1ln88pwpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1264092715
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1264115207

Lead- Chose him as my lead since most people will expect landorus to lead and try to counter which sets up Rillaboom nicely. Grassy seed to raise defense and allow acrobatics to hit hard and mostly because I don't like to be locked into a move with my main star. I wanted to mix sustain with power with this set.

Rillaboom @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Acrobatics
- Drain Punch

Special Sweeper: My hopeful answer to late game sweep once the threats are taken care of. Standard set so not much to say but to add some versatility to the team. Chose fire blast over flamethrower to go for those OHKO after quiver dance. Picked up Psychic to avoid a toxapex wall.
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic

Backup Lead/Kamikaze-Utility: Landorus was my gimmick choice. I wanted to hopefully bait counters and adjust according to enemy team comps. If i could set up or defog that would be great otherwise im taking out the glass cannons or doing as much damage as i can. Not too special of a set, mostly standard.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- U-turn
- Explosion
- Defog
- Stealth Rock

Utility/Clean up: Scizor was mostly chosen to put pressure on fairy types and clean up or disrupt the enemy comp. My main switch in against the ice beam thats most of the time going to be aimed against landorus. Suggestions here are very welcomed.
Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Dual Wingbeat
- Bug Bite
- Knock Off

Physical Sweeper: Not my strongest set up, wanted a coverage sweeper that can hit fast and hard. Aqua jet was chosen to get a for sure KO against a low health target and safely beat a faster type-disadvantage mon if it came down to it. I feel like I can replace this one but for now it has done good for me against the fire/ground types.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- Iron Head

Wall: Toxapex is my hopeful answer to set up mons. Switch this bad boy in and block/poison and let him do his thing. I had recover so I chose rocky helmet instead of black sludge to punish any physical attacks. This is more of a comfortable option since grassy terrain will be in play and heal me more anyways.
Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Scald
- Recover
- Block
 
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You don't seem to have any momentum on your team and iron head is not great on urshifu. Poison jab/thunder punch is a better option because you can hit bulky waters that resist cc or fairies that have a neutrality to steel. U-turn is better than bug bite so you can get a safe switch into your other members and to have some sort of momentum. You could also add replace one of your moves with swords dance so your rillaboom can be more threatening.
 
Hey ManLikeSteve, thanks for posting your team and welcome to the world of competitive pokemon! I think there's a lot here that works well, and you can tell you're using mons that you like. I've got a whole bunch of suggestions all building around the super cool framework you set up for your team.

The tweaks I made were meant to form a team that is better served to what it seems like you ultimately want to do - sweep with Volcarona, and get some mileage out of Rillaboom. These are two mons that are really well chosen to work together, as they have fantastic offensive synergy. Rillaboom can really threaten out many of the mons that can be problematic to Volcarona. It tears through bulky water types (such as Tapu Fini, Toxapex, and Swampert) who would otherwise put a stop to a Volcarona sweep, and is able to handle many of the other nuisances that can potentially give Volcarona a hard (such as Tyranitar or SpDef Hippowdon). On the other hand, Volcarona uses the steel types that Rillaboom can't break through as fodder to set-up on to potentially sweep. Plus, Volcarona really appreciates grassy terrain support. Great duo to start off with!

From there, I do think the team loses a bit of synergy. You've got some cool mons on here that can do some really helpful things, but I don't think they're using their optimum sets. This includes Rillaboom - is there a reason you're so opposed to the Choice Band set? It's just so incredibly effective, especially at late game sweeps. You might find that Volcarona really appreciates the powerful breaking ability that it has, the utility provided by knock off, and the ability to provide safe opportunities for volc to set up with u-turn. I would strongly recommend switching Rillaboom to Choice Band. (If you are truly and completely opposed to a choiced set, then I would recommend Swords Dance > Knock Off on your current set. That allows you to actually utilize your boost in defense to potentially get a sweep going! But seriously, give it a shot - I bet you'll end up liking it a lot, just for the amount of switch-ins you can allow your Volcarona to get by U-turning on an incoming Corviknight or Ferrothorn!)

The next mon on the list is Landorus. Now, right off the bat, it seems like you're putting a lot on this Landorus. It's your scarfer, your rocker, and your remover all in one. From your post, it seems like you liked the idea of a dedicated lead (you use rillaboom) and you also liked having explosion on Landorus. Maybe, you could try to switch Landorus to a suicide lead set.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance

This is a fun set that basically guarantees that you get your rocks up, and almost always allows you to do some major damage to the enemy team. At +2, there's not a lot that lives an explosion, and it lures in mons like Buzzwole, Zapdos, and Mandibuzz in order to clear the path for a Rillaboom grassy glide sweep in the late game!

Alright, next up on the list is Scizor. Now, for this guy, I totally get why you added him to the team. Fairy killer, ice resist, etc. But it seemed like this was a member you weren't super enthusiastic with. I'd like to recommend AV Melmetal > AV Scizor.

Melmetal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 128 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- High Horsepower
- Ice Punch
- Superpower

You'll find that these two mons fill similar rolls (bulky steels that still dish out damage) but that Melmetal may serve your team better. Melmetal provides your team with a solid answer to some serious special threats that would otherwise blow through the team, such as Tornadus-T, Spectrier, Magearna, and Tapu Lele. Plus, Melmetal really loves the Grassy Terrain support provided by Rillaboom! (Note: High Horsepower is used over Earthquake so that you can still do damage even in Grassy Terrain)

I really like your use of Urshifu-Rapid Strike on this team! It rounds out your offensive presence with a nice Fire-Water-Grass core, and serves as a nice breaker. I think that this mon is really under-explored right now, and would love to see it get some more attention. Perhaps consider running something else over Iron Head. You could run Thunder Punch to hit Slowbro and Toxapex, or U-turn to provide some solid momentum to the team. It also adds a second form of priority to the team in addition to Rillaboom's Grassy Glide. If you do decide to let Rillaboom hold the Choice Band, perhaps you could consider switching this mon to Choice Scarf, as that's something that Landorus is no longer holding. That way, it can serve as a strong cleaner, rather than a breaker. You do forfeit some of the power that band has, but it has a ton of perks. Once Rillaboom and Volcarona have torn through the enemy team, you can clean through them. It provides a solid form of speed control, and it even lets you pick up some surprise kills against faster offensive mons that might not be expecting you to be holding a scarf!

Finally, we get to Toxapex. I totally respect using pex to stop opponents sweeping. For that particular role however, it may be useful to run Haze > Block so that you can reset your opponents stats. This can be super helpful if you're ever staring down the barrel of a mon that's already set up such as DD Dragonite or SD Hawlucha.

To review, here's the changes I suggested:
1610870062602.png
Grassy Seed -> Choice Band

1610870242467.png
Choice Scarf -> Suicide Lead
AV
1610870373757.png
-> AV
1610870414695.png

1610870474147.png
Choice Band -> Choice Scarf
1610870523594.png
Block -> Haze

That's what I've got! I played a number of test games with the team before and after, and really think that these improvements help a ton while still keeping with the spirit of the original team. You had so many really awesome ideas working for you to start with, I had a lot of fun tweaking to try and optimize the team a bit more. Remember that teambuilding is a fluid process - you don't have to take my suggestions (or the suggestions of anyone else in this thread) if you don't care for them. Test the team wherever you can, take the advice and suggestions that work best, and continue to try and improve the team however you can! Good luck!

PS - here's an importable of the team with all the above tweaks. I nicknamed them all after some really good competitive Poketubers who you might find useful if you're just starting out (And Pimpnite, who mostly does meme teams :heart:)

Enjoy!
 
FootHead58 said:
Hey ManLikeSteve, thanks for posting your team and welcome to the world of competitive pokemon! I think there's a lot here that works well, and you can tell you're using mons that you like. I've got a whole bunch of suggestions all building around the super cool framework you set up for your team.

The tweaks I made were meant to form a team that is better served to what it seems like you ultimately want to do - sweep with Volcarona, and get some mileage out of Rillaboom. These are two mons that are really well chosen to work together, as they have fantastic offensive synergy. Rillaboom can really threaten out many of the mons that can be problematic to Volcarona. It tears through bulky water types (such as Tapu Fini, Toxapex, and Swampert) who would otherwise put a stop to a Volcarona sweep, and is able to handle many of the other nuisances that can potentially give Volcarona a hard (such as Tyranitar or SpDef Hippowdon). On the other hand, Volcarona uses the steel types that Rillaboom can't break through as fodder to set-up on to potentially sweep. Plus, Volcarona really appreciates grassy terrain support. Great duo to start off with!

From there, I do think the team loses a bit of synergy. You've got some cool mons on here that can do some really helpful things, but I don't think they're using their optimum sets. This includes Rillaboom - is there a reason you're so opposed to the Choice Band set? It's just so incredibly effective, especially at late game sweeps. You might find that Volcarona really appreciates the powerful breaking ability that it has, the utility provided by knock off, and the ability to provide safe opportunities for volc to set up with u-turn. I would strongly recommend switching Rillaboom to Choice Band. (If you are truly and completely opposed to a choiced set, then I would recommend Swords Dance > Knock Off on your current set. That allows you to actually utilize your boost in defense to potentially get a sweep going! But seriously, give it a shot - I bet you'll end up liking it a lot, just for the amount of switch-ins you can allow your Volcarona to get by U-turning on an incoming Corviknight or Ferrothorn!)

The next mon on the list is Landorus. Now, right off the bat, it seems like you're putting a lot on this Landorus. It's your scarfer, your rocker, and your remover all in one. From your post, it seems like you liked the idea of a dedicated lead (you use rillaboom) and you also liked having explosion on Landorus. Maybe, you could try to switch Landorus to a suicide lead set.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance

This is a fun set that basically guarantees that you get your rocks up, and almost always allows you to do some major damage to the enemy team. At +2, there's not a lot that lives an explosion, and it lures in mons like Buzzwole, Zapdos, and Mandibuzz in order to clear the path for a Rillaboom grassy glide sweep in the late game!

Alright, next up on the list is Scizor. Now, for this guy, I totally get why you added him to the team. Fairy killer, ice resist, etc. But it seemed like this was a member you weren't super enthusiastic with. I'd like to recommend AV Melmetal > AV Scizor.

Melmetal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 128 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- High Horsepower
- Ice Punch
- Superpower

You'll find that these two mons fill similar rolls (bulky steels that still dish out damage) but that Melmetal may serve your team better. Melmetal provides your team with a solid answer to some serious special threats that would otherwise blow through the team, such as Tornadus-T, Spectrier, Magearna, and Tapu Lele. Plus, Melmetal really loves the Grassy Terrain support provided by Rillaboom! (Note: High Horsepower is used over Earthquake so that you can still do damage even in Grassy Terrain)

I really like your use of Urshifu-Rapid Strike on this team! It rounds out your offensive presence with a nice Fire-Water-Grass core, and serves as a nice breaker. I think that this mon is really under-explored right now, and would love to see it get some more attention. Perhaps consider running something else over Iron Head. You could run Thunder Punch to hit Slowbro and Toxapex, or U-turn to provide some solid momentum to the team. It also adds a second form of priority to the team in addition to Rillaboom's Grassy Glide. If you do decide to let Rillaboom hold the Choice Band, perhaps you could consider switching this mon to Choice Scarf, as that's something that Landorus is no longer holding. That way, it can serve as a strong cleaner, rather than a breaker. You do forfeit some of the power that band has, but it has a ton of perks. Once Rillaboom and Volcarona have torn through the enemy team, you can clean through them. It provides a solid form of speed control, and it even lets you pick up some surprise kills against faster offensive mons that might not be expecting you to be holding a scarf!

Finally, we get to Toxapex. I totally respect using pex to stop opponents sweeping. For that particular role however, it may be useful to run Haze > Block so that you can reset your opponents stats. This can be super helpful if you're ever staring down the barrel of a mon that's already set up such as DD Dragonite or SD Hawlucha.

To review, here's the changes I suggested:
View attachment 308481Grassy Seed -> Choice Band

View attachment 308487 Choice Scarf -> Suicide Lead
AVView attachment 308488 -> AV View attachment 308489
View attachment 308490Choice Band -> Choice Scarf
View attachment 308491Block -> Haze

That's what I've got! I played a number of test games with the team before and after, and really think that these improvements help a ton while still keeping with the spirit of the original team. You had so many really awesome ideas working for you to start with, I had a lot of fun tweaking to try and optimize the team a bit more. Remember that teambuilding is a fluid process - you don't have to take my suggestions (or the suggestions of anyone else in this thread) if you don't care for them. Test the team wherever you can, take the advice and suggestions that work best, and continue to try and improve the team however you can! Good luck!

PS - here's an importable of the team with all the above tweaks. I nicknamed them all after some really good competitive Poketubers who you might find useful if you're just starting out (And Pimpnite, who mostly does meme teams :heart:)

Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Let me start off by saying, this is why I love the community. So many helpful tips and changes while respecting the team and the heart of it. I definitely will implement these changes and see how far it will take me. I will give choice band ringo (Rillaboom) a shot, I have always like the idea of anti-meta to take advantage of what people think my team is. Although I can see the importance after a few battles and how much pressure it adds to opponent comps. Thank you so much for your time and heart you put into this!
 
ManLikeSteve said:
Let me start off by saying, this is why I love the community. So many helpful tips and changes while respecting the team and the heart of it. I definitely will implement these changes and see how far it will take me. I will give choice band ringo (Rillaboom) a shot, I have always like the idea of anti-meta to take advantage of what people think my team is. Although I can see the importance after a few battles and how much pressure it adds to opponent comps. Thank you so much for your time and heart you put into this!
Click to expand...
Of course, and welcome to the community! Let me know how it goes for you!
 
you were saying you were thinking about replacing urshifu rapid strike, so maybe hawlucha would work well, as it's a pretty well known partner for rillaboom, since rillaboom sets up grassy terrain for it to use its' seed, and then it's fast enough that you dont need to use priority while hitting very hard after a Swords dance. it can get walled by fairy types but you already got your steel type for that. hawlucha can also punish fire types with stone edge much like urshifu, and rillaboom takes care of grounds. Also since hawlucha covers your acrobatics need you can then switch that on rilla for u-turn. I'd say if you are not using a rain team but a grassy terrain team, hawlucha is faster, hits harder after a swords dance and doesn't get choice locked so you don't get locked out of a sweep by a choice item.

Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat
- Stone edge
 
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