Rillaboom [QC 1/2]

[Dreadfury]

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s solid offensive stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge allow Rillaboom to function as a strong wallbreaker for offensive teams with powerful priority to threaten opposing offensive teams. Rillaboom's priority Grassy Glide grants it a fantastic matchup against weakened threats like Zeraora, Garchomp, and Excadrill. Rillaboom's great coverage in Knock Off and Superpower give it excellent coverage against Grass-type resists. Rillaboom's access to a hard-hitting Knock Off is especially useful for its twofold ability to damage traditional checks like Volcarona and Zapdos whilst removing their coveted Heavy-Duty Boots, making these checks far more inconsistent at dealing with Rillaboom later in the game. Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker; the recovery from Grassy Terrain allows Rillaboom to more easily pivot against the opposing team and, at worst, offsets a noticeable portion of its Life Orb and/or Wood Hammer recoil. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery while cutting Earthquake's power in half. However, Rillaboom is not without flaws; it is extremely reliant on its Grassy Terrain to deal with faster offensive threats since its base Speed is simply decent, so Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele can threaten to revenge kill it by forcibly changing the terrain and thus removing Grassy Glide's priority component. Lastly, Rillaboom's Grass STAB is quite mediocre in terms of coverage and Rillaboom can consequently be exploited by Grass-type resists like Kartana, Kyurem, Hydreigon, and Dragapult if it is either locked into its STAB or forced to use Grassy Glide, though none of these can safely switch in against Rillaboom's coverage options and can be dispatched by Grassy Glide anyway if significantly weakened.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off
Item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator, very frequently 2HKOs Zapdos even without any residual damage from Stealth Rock, and even OHKOs Tornadus-Therian after Stealth Rock damage. U-Turn allows Rillaboom to grab momentum against a predicted switch into a Grass-type resist. Knock Off provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while crippling a prospective Grassy Glide switchin like Heatran, Zapdos, or Mandibuzz.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past bulky Flying-types like Zapdos or Corviknight and Flame Body users like Volcarona; many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its moves either with chip damage or with status. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull. Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive Earthquakes from defensive Ground-types like Rocky Helmet Landorus-Therian, Hippowdon, and Swampert. Kartana, despite sharing a similar typing and similar coverage to Rillaboom, makes for a great offensive teammate. Kartana's access to Knock Off can allow Rillaboom itself to forego Knock Off in some cases, Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain gives Kartana some more passive recovery and a significant power boost to its already-strong STAB Leaf Blade, and they can wear down their similar checks and counters over the course of the game, allowing one to sweep after the other has fulfilled its wallbreaking duties.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Rillaboom can use Swords Dance to break past slow Grass-type resists like Corviknight and Skarmory with its great coverage early in the game and to even outpace faster Grass-type resists and KO them with Grassy Glide after some chip damage. After a boost Rillaboom's Grassy Glide can OHKO Dragapult after Stealth Rock damage and Garchomp without any prior damage. Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos by removing their items and offers solid neutral coverage. Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s coverage by giving it an effective way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to 2HKO Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Skarmory with a +2 Superpower into a +1 Superpower. An Adamant nature with full offensive investment is run to ensure that Rillaboom can hit as hard as possible with its boosted Grassy Glides and Superpowers, with the former even having a significant chance to OHKO Dragapult at +2 after Stealth Rock damage.


Zapdos, Volcarona, and Rocky Helmet Corviknight can punish anything Rillaboom can use against them with either crippling status or with chip damage, though none can safely switch in against it; as such, teammates that can threaten these checks are often greatly appreciated. Screens setters Grimmsnarl and Regieleki can reliably set up Reflect and Light Screen and thus temporarily give the offensive teams Swords Dance Rillaboom frequently fits on some additional setup opportunities. Hawlucha deserves special mention as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom with Unburden and a Grassy Seed. Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it a super effective and contact-free hit against Zapdos and Volcarona. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs, and can help wear down their shared checks. Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes well with both Rillaboom and Hawlucha and greatly appreciates their ability to wear down Heatran and Tapu Koko, which otherwise stop its sweep. Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down their similar checks, can wear down those checks itself, and greatly appreciates the power and survivability boost from Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and Buzzwole at +2. However, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with a +2 Superpower into a +1 Superpower. Moreover, Tangrowth and Buzzwole are themselves very niche options that see little use, and Acrobatics only serves to break past them and does rather little in the way of coverage otherwise.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom even more longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

Superpower can also be run on the Choice Band set to break past Ferrothorn, though giving up one of Wood Hammer, Knock Off, or U-Turn can be very difficult to justify at times due to the power or utility each move provides.

Wood Hammer can be run on the Swords Dance hit to break past Toxapex at +2 but giving up the valuable coverage or utility of Superpower or Knock Off is often very difficult to justify.

A Jolly nature can be considered to outpace opposing Rillaboom and the uncommon Timid Heatran, but the loss in power by foregoing an Adamant nature is often too significant to justify as it can no longer OHKO Dragapult with a +2 Grassy Glide after Stealth Rock damage the majority of the time.

Checks and Counters
====

**Steel-Types**: Corviknight, Scizor, and Skarmory all boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom's STAB and can easily Roost off damage from anything Rillaboom can use against them barring a +2 Life Orb Superpower.

**Fire-Types**: Volcarona and Moltres cannot switch in against Rillaboom's Knock Off safely but can force it out with their Fire STABs, can Roost off any damage they take, and can even punish Rillaboom with burns from Flame Body should it attack into them. Volcarona in particular gives Rillaboom a headache as it easily OHKOs it even without any investment and can set up on a Rillaboom locked into Grassy Glide quite safely.

**Dragon-Types:** Kyurem, Hydreigon, and Dragapult all outpace Rillaboom and can KO it with relative ease, thus forcing it out. However, none of them can switch in against Rillaboom's coverage options and Dragapult can even be OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb Grassy Glide after just Stealth Rock damage. Dragonite can keep Rillaboom in check with its Multiscale, recovery from Roost, and excellent defensive typing and can even set up in front of it if running Dragon Dance.

**Flying-Types:** Zapdos and Tornadus-Therian can withstand at least one hit from Rillaboom as long as they remain healthy and can threaten to KO it with their Heat Waves or STAB Hurricanes. Mandibuzz can cripple Rillaboom with Knock Off or OHKO it at +2 with Foul Play but must remain healthy enough to survive a +2 Superpower. The aforementioned Dragonite, Skarmory, and Corviknight can also leverage their Flying-typings and access to Roost to check Rillaboom, to varying degrees of success.

**Contact Punishment:** Because all of Rillaboom's attacks make contact with the opponent, Rillaboom can be worn down by Rocky Helmet damage over the course of the game and fears being crippled by paralysis from Zapdos's Static or a burn from Volcarona's Flame Body. As such, Rillaboom often has to be played very carefully if one of these aforementioned threats is on the opponent's team.

**Miscellaneous Grass-type resists:** Weezing-Galar, Sap Sipper Azumarill, Buzzwole, and Tangrowth are all very niche options that seldom fear both Rillaboom's STAB and coverage options and can often force it out as a result, but have many downsides outside of being dedicated Rillaboom checks.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[Ausma, 360720], [curiosity, 443485]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[Dreadfury]

Alright fellas. It took me a little bit to draft this analysis on a separate document before uploading it here, but it should now be ready for QC!

 

[ausma]

comments in orange
additions/changes in purple
removals will be striked

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner that can still wallbreak very effectively by punishing most attempts to deal with its STAB. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay. Mentioning its ability to punish/get momentum against Grassy Glide switch-ins is important here as well I think, especially because it lets Rillaboom actually force progress on them, which can be especially bad for Mandibuzz/Zapdos due to HDB removal. While its defensive stats are by no means stellar, Rillaboom’s Grassy Surge grants it access to temporary pseudo-Leftovers recovery while simultaneously cutting Earthquake’s power in half. It can also run Drain Punch on Swords Dance sets for some additional recovery. These factors give Rillaboom a surprising amount of longevity for such an offensive powerhouse. I feel like you can probably compress these three sentences down, plus its natural bulk is actually really solid. Saying smth like "Rillaboom also has great longevity as a wallbreaker due to Grassy Terrain's recovery and its natural bulk" (not verbatem) I think would get the same point across more concisely. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. In some situations it can even help to facilitate their own late-game sweeps should Rillaboom not be able to do so itself.

[SET]
Name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams utilizing its powerful Grassy Glide. Grassy Glide, when used while the Grassy Terrain Rillaboom itself activates, becomes an extremely powerful priority attack that can revenge kill weakened threats after some chip damage; for instance, it always OHKOs Sand Rush Excadrill after Stealth Rock damage and can even 2HKO uninvested Dragapult under similar conditions. We don't need this; we know what Grassy Glide does and how effective it is. Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful neutral attack, by far and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex, even after it switches out and healing with Regenerator and it always outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Blissey variants. Blissey feels really obvious to me. Maybe get a different example like Clefable? U-turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter such as Corviknight or Skarmory, and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing a target’s held item, and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage. Mentioning how Knock Off can force an item removal on common Grassy Glide switch-ins is really important, I think. A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace most of the tier’s defensive staples, and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Corviknight, Skarmory, Moltres, Buzzwole, Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, and Volcarona; many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body or Static or items such as Rocky Helmet. Moltres, Buzzwole, and Volcarona are too specific of examples, I feel. Ig you could keep Volcarona if you want to keep Flame Body as a mention, but none of these mons like catching a Knock Off. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull. Heatran appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain, giving it access to more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes while Heatran can get up Stealth Rock and threaten Defoggers. What kind of Defoggers does it threaten? A pretty big example is Corviknight, which is even more prominent given that Rillaboom can U-turn out on it. While it doesn’t appreciate its own Earthquake being weakened by Grassy Terrain very much, Stone Edge Garchomp, particularly when also running Fire Blast, can threaten all of Rillaboom’s defensive checks with an OHKO or a 2HKO. I don't really like Garchomp as a mention; the Earthquake weakening is... really bad, more than you might think. You could either omit this or find a different example, preferrably the latter. Kartana makes for a potent offensive teammate, since it greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain support to greatly power up its already-strong Leaf Blades.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Choice Band Rillaboom can consider running High Horsepower to deal with Toxapex and Heatran, but both can be dealt with decently well by Wood Hammer and Knock Off or Superpower, respectively, or turned into momentum with U-Turn. Unlike Earthquake, High Horsepower retains its full power under Grassy Terrain.


[SET]
Name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off / High Horsepower
move 4: Superpower / Drain Punch
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

I find Knock Off to be a near necessity on this set; your High Horsepower explanation probably works in Other Options.

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom trades a portion of the immediate power of Choice Band for the improved flexibility of being able to switch its attacks and to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance; as such, this set is often considered a staple on Hyper Offense teams that can help facilitate Rillaboom’s lategame sweep and that also greatly benefit from its supportive capabilities and ability to help facilitate their own sweeps. You can easily break this into two sentences, it's way too wordy as it is. However, I would remove any comparisons to Choice Band. Don't compare sets to each other, especially since they're supposed to perform/be analyzed independently. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. Grassy Glide continues to be mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost Obvious and unnecessary, but introducing this is vital to the next part of the analysis so I'm ok with mentioning it, just get rid of the obvious aspects of Glide; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, always OHKOing defensive Landorus-T after Stealth Rock damage (factoring Intimidate in), cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. I'm ok with you mentioning these for Grassy Glide, but I would probably remove Landorus-T as typically Rillaboom will be at +1 against it, and doesn't get the KO then. Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like what by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught—and hits hard with solid neutral coverage even before a boost. High Horsepower, on the other hand, always OHKOs even the physically-bulkiest Toxapex sets after a Swords Dance and always cleanly OHKOs all Heatran variants without having to commit to using Superpower. Its power is not cut by Grassy Terrain, and as such is far superior to Earthquake on all Rillaboom variants. Move to other options. Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s coverage by giving it an option to potentially OHKO Blissey even without a boost, though its most important role is to give Rillaboom a way to greatly damage Corviknight and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter, and Corviknight cannot even OHKO it with Brave Bird after Life Orb recoil (and potentially KOs itself with the recoil instead). I'm surprised to see no mention of Ferrothorn here, which happily is willing to take a Grassy Glide/Knock Off and retaliate with a Knock Off of its own or its offensive move of choice. Blissey is again a pretty obvious target, and emphasizing the ability of Superpower to muscle past stuff like Mandibuzz/Corvi is way more important. Though an Adamant nature is still preferable to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power is very noticeable, though, as it causes Rillaboom to miss out on some crucial OHKOs. Like what?

Many of the defensive answers to Rillaboom’s Choice Band set also check the Swords Dance set to some degree, but they will now seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. Again, careful with comparing other sets. Mention directly what these answers are, because someone might be specifically looking for the Swords Dance variant and not look at the CB variant. Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom and its teammates in securing crucial OHKOs and 2HKOs. Like what? Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets and can help break past Rillaboom’s checks like what if it opts to take a more offensive approach. Regieleki can boast a similar supportive feat, but is usually relegated to just that role. Hawlucha deserves special mention as an offensive teammate for its great offensive synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game. Does Rillaboom bust through anything that Hawlucha dislikes/vice versa? Swords Dance Garchomp with Stone Edge can once again weaken or eradicate Rillaboom’s defensive checks and can use Scale Shot to outpace and eliminate its few offensive checks. Again, no on Garchomp. Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to weaken Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. If it's niche, why mention it? Are there any more relevant examples you can use that operate similarly? Lastly, Kartana continues to appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down its checks and power up its Leaf Blades to truly astronomical levels.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off or High Horsepower in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. However, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with +2 Superpower into +1 Superpower.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom some much-needed longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

You can add the HORSE here.

Checks and Counters
====

**Corviknight and Skarmory**: Corviknight and Skarmory can both handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. You can probably amend this to Flying-types and add Zapdos and Mandibuzz, which are both pretty annoying for it, so you can keep things general.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-Turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it, although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres, and Static users like Zapdos, fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process.

**Buzzwole**. Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though it cannot be stressed enough how crucial it is to keep them healthy. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for.

Alternatively you could combine the "Corviknight and Skarmory" and "Buzzwole" categories into one in the form of Grass-type resistances to make the sentiment more clear. I think I'd prefer this route as it makes Rillaboom's counterplay and opportunity costs more coherent for readers and less difficult to understand.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

lmk when you implement

 

[Dreadfury]

Awesome. I've made most of the recommended changes (as well as some minor tweaks). Thoughts?

I made a comment about the G-Moltres mention in Discord, but the TL;DR of it is that despite it being a more niche option I don't know what else fills its unique role on Screens teams. I'd definitely say those two have good offensive synergy, and I don't think you were denying it either, but I do agree that it's a very niche option. I just don't know what alternative would make sense in its place there, unless I were to outright omit it.

 

[AM]

Ignore anything already mentioned by above since didn't read through it all.

You should probably clarify what the benefit of Adamant/Jolly is in terms of specifics and as to why Adamant is main slash. The Jolly benchmark is normally for one specific target in Timid Max Speed Heatran, a relevant benchmark. If a team is pretty weak to Heatran it's something to consider, even more so if it's Swords Dance variant.

Ausma has a point about Chomp but Chomp on teams with Rillaboom are normally either one of two things, utility chomps which run something like Scorching Sands (see builds like Ox's with Suicune, Heatran, Torn, Chomp, Rillaboom, Clef) or leads, a similar case with Lando-T. In some cases people don't even care that much if they're paired with a Grassy Terrain user because its not permanent and the offensive pressure Chomp provides is still strong.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-541045 - BroFist vs Lycan SPL

This isn't a team with Rillaboom but it's a team with Terrain plus Chomp, a better explanation of Chomp being paired with Rillaboom is to deal with things like Volcarona. Speaking of, there should be more mention of Fires like Volcarona in the Checks and Counters because Volcarona itself is seeing more use.

The niche checks/counters probably dont need strong mentions in comparison to things like Volcarona, Kyurem, Dragonite (either DDance or Defog variants) meta relevant stuff which is already covered with things like Corviknight. Moltres-Galar can't switch in and only specific offenses use it.

Some mention if not done so is explaining why something like Rillaboom would be used over its other Grassy Terrain counterpart Tapu Bulu ie the access to Grassy Glide the main reason, some benchmarks due to its slightly higher speed tier (Bulu can't outrun Timid Heatran for example while Rilla can if running Jolly). Bulu sports a higher defensive utility due to typing and even some more options offensively (STAB Horn Leech, Close Combat, etc.) so players are going to want to know why one over the other (Rillaboom offsets rain and sand matchups, Tapu Bulu doesnt necessarily do so). Anyone that plays OU at an average level will know, a newer player which is what the dex entry is for won't though.

 

[ausma]

comments in orange
additions/changes in purple
removals will be striked

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner. Though Rillaboom competes with Tapu Bulu as a Grassy Terrain setter and abuser, its important Speed tier that gets the jump on Heatran and its incredible priority solidify it as the more commonly-used option despite lacking Tapu Bulu's Fairy typing, bulk, and access to Stone Edge and Close Combat. I would put this set of comparisons at the end of the overview. I don't really like it being before the Grassy Glide explanation, and it fits a lot more at the end alongside your Grassy Terrain breakdown. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay; however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them. Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. In some situations it can even help to facilitate their own late-game sweeps should Rillaboom not be able to do so itself. Very situationally; I wouldn't mention this.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

the beginning parts need to be lowercased for on-site implementation reasons

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator and often outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Clefable variants. U-Turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter such as Corviknight or Skarmory, and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing the held item of a prospective Grassy Glide switchin, and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage. A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace most of the tier’s defensive staples like what? You mentioned Heatran for one, what else? and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Mandibuzz Corviknight, Skarmory, Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, and Flame Body users like Volcarona; many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body, Static or items such as Rocky Helmet, though none of them appreciate being crippled by Knock Off long-term. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull and is naturally powerful enough to threaten slower non-Steel type Rillaboom answers. Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes. In return, Heatran can reliably set up Stealth Rock and greatly pressure most Defoggers, once again including Corviknight as well as Skarmory and Mandibuzz. Nidoking can generally 2HKO most of Rillaboom's defensive answers with a combination of Sludge Wave and Flamethrower and greatly appreciates both Rillaboom's ability to keep faster, frailer threats in check and the pseudo-neutrality to Earthquake and additional recovery provided by Grassy Terrain. I guess? Most Nidoking variants tend to run Ice Beam and Substitute over Flamethrower, so I'm not really sure how I feel about it here, especially since Nidoking pressures fairly similar things to Rillaboom. You probably just outright don't need a mention regarding an offensive Ground-type. Additionally, Kartana makes for a potent offensive teammate, since it greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain support to greatly power up its already-strong Leaf Blades.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Choice Band Rillaboom can consider running High Horsepower to deal with Toxapex and Heatran, but both can be dealt with decently well by Wood Hammer and Knock Off or Superpower, respectively, or turned into momentum with U-Turn. Unlike Earthquake, High Horsepower retains its full power under Grassy Terrain, thus making it the default choice for Rillaboom in terms of Ground-type coverage.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

same here

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom is able to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance. This set is often a staple on Hyper Offense teams that both benefit from Rillaboom's ability to facilitate their sweeps and help facilitate Rillaboom's own sweep. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. Grassy Glide is mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos, Moltres, and Corviknight by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught or the Rocky Helmets they can use to deter it—and hits hard even before a boost. Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s coverage by giving it an option to potentially OHKO Blissey even without a boost, though its most important role is to give Rillaboom a way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to greatly damage Corviknight, Mandibuzz and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter. The Blissey mention is, again, not really necessary. You can just outright omit that; we know that a physical wallbreaker can cleave past a super physically frail Pokemon. Though an Adamant nature is still preferable to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power is very noticeable, though, as it causes Rillaboom to miss out on a great deal of potential OHKOs; most notably, without an Adamant nature its +2 Grassy Glide almost never an OHKO on Latios and Dragapult after Stealth Rock instead of OHKOing the majority of the time with an Adamant nature. You can break this up into a couple different sentences; this is a run on.


Contact punishment through Rocky Helmet on the likes of Corviknight and Defensive Tangrowth and through Abilities like Zapdos's Static and Volcarona's Flame Body can greatly slow down an attempted sweep from Swords Dance Rillaboom, but they will seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom in securing crucial OHKOs against Dragapult and Latios. The entry hazard can similarly benefit Rillaboom's teammates. Not relevant to Rillaboom. Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets and can help break past Rillaboom’s checks again, like what? Mandibuzz and Corviknight strike me as prominent examples if it opts to take a more offensive approach. Hawlucha deserves special mention as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and greatly pressures Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth with just its STABs. Hawlucha can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it both a super effective and a contact-free hit against Zapdos, Moltres, and Volcarona. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs, and offers both a very strong Knock Off to pressure Rillaboom's checks and a powerful Sucker Punch to further augment the team's already-strong priority. Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to KO Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down its checks and power up its Leaf Blades to staggering levels.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off or High Horsepower in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. That said, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with +2 Superpower into +1 Superpower.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom some much-needed longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

High Horsepower always OHKOs even the physically-bulkiest Toxapex sets after a Swords Dance and always cleanly OHKOs all Heatran variants without having to commit to using Superpower. Its power is not cut by Grassy Terrain, and as such is far superior to Earthquake on all Rillaboom variants. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to justify giving up the valuable utility of Knock Off and is even more difficult to justify foregoing Superpower's crucial coverage and immediate power.

Checks and Counters
====

**Physically-Bulky Grass-type Resists**: Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Skarmory can handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. Mandibuzz can survive even a +2 Superpower from full HP and OHKOs it in return with Foul Play. Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts to U-Turn around it with Rocky Helmet chip. Volcarona doesn't appreciate losing its Heavy-Duty Boots to a Knock Off but otherwise uses Rillaboom for low-risk Quiver Dance opportunities, easily OHKOs it with even an unboosted and uninvested Flamethrower or Bug Buzz, and can stay in and fish for Flame Body burns and thus gain even more Quiver Dance boosts. Dragonite is an effective Rillaboom answer for similar reasons; though it very much dislikes losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, offensive variants can safely set up on Rillaboom while defensive variants can safely remove entry hazards, as both variants generally force Rillaboom to switch out.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it, although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres and Static users like Zapdos fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process.

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though it cannot be stressed enough how is crucial it is to keep them healthy beforehand. Formality and such. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for. Volcarona once again deserves a mention here as it naturally outpaces Rillaboom, comfortably survives Grassy Glide if moderately healthy, forces it out with the threat of a nigh-guaranteed OHKO even when uninvested, and sets up on it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

great work, qc 1/2

 

[Dreadfury]

comments in orange
additions/changes in purple
removals will be striked



great work, qc 1/2

Changes are all implemented! I also added Specs Dragapult, Tornadus-T, and Specs Latios as three examples under "faster Grass-type resists" since all three of them can survive a +2 Grassy Glide (albeit from full HP) while threatening to OHKO Rillaboom in return. Specifically, Specs Draco Meteor from Pult, any Hurricane from any Tornadus-T variant, and any commonly-run attack from Specs Latios after Rillaboom suffers Life Orb recoil can score these OHKOs. It wasn't recommended by anybody here or on Discord, but I figured that providing specific examples here was in-line with other specific examples I needed to add to other parts of the analysis.

If QC wants me to omit this I will, though.

EDIT: Also added back the Bisharp segment:

 

[airfare]

am check, feel free to implement whatever u think makes sense! this my first am check so it might be rough but I'll try my best
comments, additions, removals

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay; however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them. i wouldould mention here why Knock Off is great for Rilla especially - knocking Boots from birds is super important Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker because of the added longevity and ability to pivot more freely - elaborate on this. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. Though Rillaboom competes with Tapu Bulu as a Grassy Terrain setter and abuser, its important Speed tier that gets the jump on Heatran and its incredible priority solidify it as the more commonly-used option despite lacking Tapu Bulu's Fairy typing, bulk, and access to Stone Edge and Close Combat.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer / Superpower
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
Item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

imo this set looks strange - rillaboom, when not paired with kartana, should always have knock off to pressure birds and cripple common steel switchins to help break more easily the next time it switches in. i find myself using superpower when my team has trouble dealing with steels like ferrothorn that rilla can help punish. wood hammer, although it is a strong STAB, isn't really necessary on cb rilla. the reason i say "when not paired with kartana" is because kartana performs a similar role in knocking birds and freeing up that moveslot for rilla.

some examples:
https://pokepast.es/3a5bc3753f4c143a
https://pokepast.es/987060335075bed3

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator and often outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Clefable variants. i think it would be good to mention zapdos also gets 2hkod before rocks U-Turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter such as Corviknight or Skarmory, and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing the held item of a prospective Grassy Glide switchin, and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage. A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace neutral-natured Heatran, uninvested Jirachi and Landorus-T while still outpacing the majority of the tier's defensive staples along the way and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Mandibuzz, Corviknight, Skarmory, Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, and Flame Body users like Volcarona; many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body or Static or items such as Rocky Helmet, though none of them appreciate being crippled by Knock Off long-term. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull and is naturally powerful enough to threaten slower non-Steel type Rillaboom answers. Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes. In return, Heatran can reliably set up Stealth Rock and greatly pressure most Defoggers, including Corviknight as well as Skarmory and Mandibuzz. Additionally, Kartana makes for a potent offensive teammate, since it greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain support to greatly power up its already-strong Leaf Blades. feel like this kart description is kinda off - kartana and rilla share most of the same checks. kartana uses swords dance to break through these checks so rilla can clean up with grassy glide easily. although the grassy terrain boost is there kart will mostly be clicking other moves than leaf blade

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Choice Band Rillaboom can consider running High Horsepower to deal with Toxapex and Heatran, but both can be dealt with decently well by Wood Hammer and Knock Off or Superpower, respectively, or turned into momentum with U-Turn. Unlike Earthquake, High Horsepower retains its full power under Grassy Terrain, thus making it the default choice for Rillaboom in terms of Ground-type coverage.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off / Wood Hammer
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

because rillaboom is primarily a breaker on hyper offense teams aiding and breaking for win conditions like hawlucha, wood hammer's recoil doesn't really matter as much for it. i would explain in the paragraph below the tradeoffs between knock and wood hammer. wood hammer benefits sweepers like bisharp and dragapult in particular because it ohkos pex at +2, which they struggle with, while HO teams usually don't have the time to get value out of removing boots. both are good options but i think wood hammer is 100% worth mentioning on SD sets. knock off is less common on grassy terrain-based ho for similar reasons as on the SD set with kartana as a partner

examples:
https://pokepast.es/a35228869bfdd363
https://pokepast.es/046ef8d29bd2ba0b

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom is able to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance. This set is often a staple on Hyper Offense teams that both benefit from Rillaboom's ability to facilitate their sweeps and help facilitate Rillaboom's own sweep. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. Grassy Glide is mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos, Moltres, and Corviknight by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught or the Rocky Helmets they can use to deter it—and hits hard even before a boost. Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s by giving it an effective way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to greatly damage Corviknight, Mandibuzz and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter. Though an Adamant nature is still preferable to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power causes Rillaboom to miss out on a great deal of potential OHKOs, though. Without an Adamant nature its +2 Grassy Glide almost never an OHKO on Latios and Dragapult after Stealth Rock instead of OHKOing the majority of the time with an Adamant nature. great description here!


Contact punishment through Rocky Helmet on the likes of Corviknight and Defensive Tangrowth and through Abilities like Zapdos's Static and Volcarona's Flame Body can greatly slow down an attempted sweep from Swords Dance Rillaboom, but they will seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom in securing crucial OHKOs against Dragapult and Latios. Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets and can help break past Corviknight and Mandibuzz if it opts to take a more offensive approach. Hawlucha deserves special mention as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and greatly pressures Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth with its STABs. Hawlucha can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it both a super effective and a contact-free hit against Zapdos, Moltres, and Volcarona. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs, and offers both a very strong Knock Off to pressure Rillaboom's checks and a powerful Sucker Punch to further augment the team's already-strong priority. Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to KO Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down its checks and power up its Leaf Blades to staggering levels.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off or High Horsepower in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. That said, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with +2 Superpower into +1 Superpower. itemless acrobatics could be worth mentioning here as a lure to these grass types without giving away that you have the acro moveslot. up to you if you think you should add

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom some much-needed longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

High Horsepower always OHKOs even the physically-bulkiest Toxapex sets after a Swords Dance and always cleanly OHKOs all Heatran variants without having to commit to using Superpower. Its power is not cut by Grassy Terrain, and as such is far superior to Earthquake on all Rillaboom variants. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to justify giving up the valuable utility of Knock Off and is even more difficult to justify foregoing Superpower's crucial coverage and immediate power.

i haven't seen a high horsepower rilla since dlc1, especially with magearna ban. wood hammer should always be used in this slot if you need to hit toxapex

Checks and Counters
====

**Physically-Bulky Grass-type Resists**: Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Skarmory zapdos and defensive torn-t are other very prominent examples of this can handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. Mandibuzz can survive even a +2 Superpower from full HP and OHKOs it in return with Foul Play. would mention knock for mandi here Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts to U-Turn around it with Rocky Helmet chip. Volcarona doesn't appreciate losing its Heavy-Duty Boots to a Knock Off but otherwise uses Rillaboom for low-risk Quiver Dance opportunities, easily OHKOs it with even an unboosted and uninvested Flamethrower or Bug Buzz, and can stay in and fish for Flame Body burns and thus gain even more Quiver Dance boosts. Dragonite is an effective Rillaboom answer for similar reasons; though it very much dislikes losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, offensive variants can safely set up on Rillaboom while defensive variants can safely remove entry hazards, as both variants generally force Rillaboom to switch out.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-Turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it, although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres and Static users like Zapdos fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process. i'd mention ferro iron barbs for non-superpower cb variants

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though keeping them healthy beforehand is crucial. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for. Choice Specs Latios, Choice Specs Dragapult, and any variant of Tornadus-T can all survive a +2 Grassy Glide from full HP and threaten to OHKO it in retaliation, though none can switch in safely for fear of getting crippled or outright OHKOed by Knock Off. Volcarona deserves special mention as it naturally outpaces Rillaboom, comfortably survives Grassy Glide if moderately healthy, forces it out with the threat of a nigh-guaranteed OHKO even when uninvested, and sets up on it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[Ausma, 360720], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[Dreadfury]

Implemented!

 

[TailGlowVM]

AM check implement what you want
add remove comments

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer, wallbreaker and late-game cleaner. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay; however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them. Rillaboom's access to a hard-hitting Knock Off is especially useful for its twofold ability to considerably damage traditional checks like Volcarona and Zapdos whilst removing their coveted Heavy-Duty Boots, making these checks far more inconsistent at dealing with Rillaboom later in the game. Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker; the recovery from Grassy Terrain allows Rillaboom to more easily pivot against the opposing team and, at worst, offsets a significant portion of its Life Orb and/or Wood Hammer recoil. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. Though Rillaboom competes with Tapu Bulu as a Grassy Terrain setter and abuser, its important Speed tier that gets the jump on Heatran and its incredible priority solidify it as the more commonly-used option despite lacking Tapu Bulu's Fairy typing, bulk, and access to excellent coverage such as Stone Edge and a safer Fighting-type attack in Close Combat. as you can run other options like Megahorn for Tangrowth. They don't need a dedicated mention but it makes it clear there are other options Bulu can use.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer / Superpower
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
Item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator, very frequently 2HKOs Zapdos even without any residual damage from Stealth Rock, and often outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Clefable variants. U-Turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter such as Corviknight or Skarmory, and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing the held item of a prospective Grassy Glide switchin, and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage. A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace You don't need to explain basic 252 / 252 / 4 spreads. The nature might be worth mentioning but you could say: An Adamant nature is preferred as Rillaboom still outspeeds Modest as a neutral nature is also used on SpD sets Heatran, uninvested Jirachi and Landorus-T while still outpacing the majority of the tier's defensive staples along the way and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Mandibuzz Corviknight, Skarmory, Rocky Helmet Pretty much all Tangrowth use this Tangrowth, and Flame Body users like There's only one really relevant Flame Body user, and Rillaboom struggles against it anyway without the ability Volcarona; many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body or Static or items such as Rocky Helmet, though few of them appreciate being crippled by Knock Off long-term Corviknight and Skarmory don't mind much. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull, as well as Ferrothorn, meaning Rillaboom can use Wood Hammer over Superpower more easily, and is naturally powerful enough to threaten slower non-Steel type Rillaboom answers. Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes. In return, Heatran can reliably set up Stealth Rock and greatly pressure most Defoggers, including Corviknight as well as Skarmory and Mandibuzz. Kartana, despite sharing a similar typing and similar coverage to Rillaboom, makes for a great offensive teammate. Kartana's access to Knock Off can often allow Rillaboom itself to forego Knock Off, Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain gives Kartana some more passive recovery and a significant power boost to its already-strong STAB Leaf Blade, and they can wear down their similar checks and counters over the course of the game, allowing one to sweep after the other has fulfilled its wallbreaking duties.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off / Wood Hammer
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom is able to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance. This set is often a staple on Hyper Offense teams that both benefit from Rillaboom's ability to facilitate their sweeps and help facilitate Rillaboom's own sweep. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. Grassy Glide is mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos, Moltres, and Corviknight by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught or the Rocky Helmets they can use to deter it—and hits hard even before a boost. Wood Hammer's recoil is negligible due to the fast-paced nature of the Hyper Offense teams this set fits on, and at +2 boasts enough power to OHKO Toxapex without any prior damage. Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s coverage by giving it an effective way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to greatly damage Corviknight, Mandibuzz and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter. Though an Adamant nature is still preferred to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power causes Rillaboom to miss out on a great deal of potential OHKOs, though. Without an Adamant nature its +2 Grassy Glide is almost never an OHKO on Latios and Dragapult after Stealth Rock instead of OHKOing the majority of the time with an Adamant nature. This basically repeats a line twice. I think this would be clearer if it said: For example, it no longer has a high chance to OHKO Dragapult or Latios with a +2 Grassy Glide after Stealth Rock.


Contact punishment through Rocky Helmet on the likes of Corviknight and Defensive Tangrowth is a defensive Pokemon by default, so this isn't necessary Tangrowth and through Abilities like Zapdos's Static and Volcarona's Flame Body can greatly slow down an attempted sweep from Swords Dance Rillaboom, but they will seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. This first sentence doesn't really fit here if there aren't any team options that help this
problem Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom in securing crucial OHKOs against Dragapult and Latios. Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets and can help break past Corviknight and Mandibuzz if it opts to take a more offensive approach. Hawlucha deserves special mention as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and greatly pressures Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth with its STABs. Hawlucha can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it both a super effective and a contact-free hit against Zapdos, Moltres, and Volcarona. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs Is Dragapult especially a threat? It gets OHKOd most of the time by +2 Glide after Rocks, greatly appreciates Rillaboom's ability to dispatch Toxapex with its +2 Wood Hammer, and offers both a very strong Knock Off to pressure Rillaboom's checks and a powerful Sucker Punch to further augment the team's already-strong priority. Dragapult, too, appreciates Rillaboom's ability to deal with Toxapex if running Wood Hammer. Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to KO Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down their similar checks, can wear down those checks itself, and greatly appreciates the power and survivability boost from Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain. Perhaps you could mention something that likes having Earthquakes weakened?


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. If mentioning Buzzwole then Amoonguss probably ought to be here too, as it's ranked higher and another normally hard counter you can beat. One could even completely forego an item and run Acrobatics to bluff a more standard Swords Dance variant and lure in these aforementioned would-be checks. However, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with a +2 Superpower into a +1 Superpower.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom even more longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

Checks and Counters
====

**Physically-Bulky Grass-type Resists**: Corviknight, Mandibuzz, Scizor, and Skarmory can handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. Mandibuzz can survive even a +2 Superpower from full HP and OHKOs it in return with Foul Play or removes its item with Knock Off. Zapdos and Tornadus-Therian aren't quite as bulky as the aforementioned Grass resists but can still survive a hit and threaten Rillaboom with an OHKO in return, though neither appreciates a Knock Off. Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts to U-Turn around it with Rocky Helmet chip. Volcarona doesn't appreciate losing its Heavy-Duty Boots to a Knock Off but otherwise uses Rillaboom for low-risk Quiver Dance opportunities, easily OHKOs it with even an unboosted and uninvested Flamethrower or Bug Buzz, and can stay in and fish for Flame Body burns and thus gain even more Quiver Dance boosts. Dragonite is an effective Rillaboom answer for similar reasons; though it very much dislikes losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, offensive variants can safely set up on Rillaboom while defensive variants can safely remove entry hazards, as both variants generally force Rillaboom to switch out.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-Turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it but the terrain removes this chip? although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres and Static users like Zapdos fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process. Ferrothorn can also chip away at Rillaboom with its Iron Barbs ability, although it greatly fears Superpower variants.

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though keeping them healthy beforehand is crucial. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for. Choice Specs Latios, Choice Specs Dragapult, and any variant of Tornadus-T can all survive a +2 Grassy Glide from full HP and threaten to OHKO it in retaliation, though none can switch in safely for fear of getting crippled or outright OHKOed by Knock Off. Volcarona deserves special mention as it naturally outpaces Rillaboom, comfortably survives Grassy Glide if moderately healthy, forces it out with the threat of a nigh-guaranteed OHKO even without Special Attack investment as well as the threat of a debilitating Flame Body burn, and sets up on an unboosted Rillaboom without any fear of being OHKOed.

**Tapu Lele**: Can't switch in, but removes terrain and Specs sets force Rillaboom out, so it can be punished for getting KOs.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[Ausma, 360720], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[curiosity]

airfare: comments, additions, removals
rest of them belongs to me

check

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner. A lot of this generally feels unnecessary; you could also condense all of this by just simplifying phrases like "high Attack and solid Speed stats" and "collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche" down into phrases like "solid offensive stats in combination with.." and "allows Rillaboom to function as..." given that it just doesn't really do anything beyond overcomplicating things for an audience that wants this information as directly and simply as possible.
. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay. You're overexaggerating how much of an impact glide has on the tier. You're absolutely making it sound like this is a vish cb rend where you need to specifically be preparing water immunes or at least 2-3 solid pivots, when iit certainly isn't. If you really want to talk about the effects of Glide, i'd rather you talk about how it gives rillaboom a great matchup versus offence and how Glide allows it to serve as a great offensive check to stuff like Scale Shot Garchomp, Zeraora, Excadrill, etc. however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them. i wouldould mention here why Knock Off is great for Rilla especially - knocking Boots from birds is super important I'd agree with this, if it wasn't for the fact that I'd prefer it if you were to just remove this point entirely. Again, this feels needlessly complicated;you can easily condense all of this into the introduction by replacing "excellent movepool" with something like "good coverage moves in Superpower and Knock Off" which carries the same sentiment, while also just making it easier for audiences to digest. Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker because of the added longevity and ability to pivot more freely - elaborate on this. Implement this. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. Again, you're better off just mentioning that you weaken Earthquake istead of calling it a "pseudo-resistance" since you really can't say that (x4) ground weaks are suddenly resistant to eq. Though Rillaboom competes with Tapu Bulu as a Grassy Terrain setter and abuser, its important Speed tier that gets the jump on Heatran and its incredible priority solidify it as the more commonly-used option despite lacking Tapu Bulu's Fairy typing, bulk, and access to Stone Edge and Close Combat. It's unnecessary to draw parallels to Bulu here - that can be done in Bulu's analysis.

I want to see more mentions of its actual shortcomings. Mention:

• its reliance on Terrain and Priority to revenge kill faster mons - describe how its unable to properly revenge stuff like Kartana, Kyurem, Koko, etc.
  • mention how its relative low speed for an offensive mon lets those mons revenge it
• how grass is a really exploitable type to be locked into offensively - describe how a lot of good grass resists corvi, scizor, kart, hydra etc. are able to abuse it.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer / Superpower
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
Item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

imo this set looks strange - rillaboom, when not paired with kartana, should always have knock off to pressure birds and cripple common steel switchins to help break more easily the next time it switches in. i find myself using superpower when my team has trouble dealing with steels like ferrothorn that rilla can help punish. wood hammer, although it is a strong STAB, isn't really necessary on cb rilla. the reason i say "when not paired with kartana" is because kartana performs a similar role in knocking birds and freeing up that moveslot for rilla.

some examples:
https://pokepast.es/3a5bc3753f4c143a
https://pokepast.es/987060335075bed3

Remove the superpower mention entirely. While it wasn't the AM's intention, they've more or less proven that sup is a relatively niche use on cb.

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. This could use some clarification since it feels pretty awkward to read; if you could separate these points into two separate sentences or to just rephrase them, then perhaps it might solve the issue? Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator and often outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Clefable variants. i think it would be good to mention zapdos also gets 2hkod before rocks add this, but also add the fact that you ohko torn after rocks U-Turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter again, this is unnecessary, just say that its good for grabbing momentum such as Corviknight or Skarmory everything after this point in the sentence is absolutely redundant, remove it., and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup never was. between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing the held item of a prospective Grassy Glide switchin simplify this; just say it cripples checks like tran torn zap ferro etc. and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage.

A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace neutral-natured Heatran, uninvested Jirachi and Landorus-T while still outpacing the majority of the tier's defensive staples along the way and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

this is all unnecessary, remove it.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Mandibuzz, Corviknight, Skarmory, Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, and Flame Body users like Volcarona you don't need to list of half of its fucking checks, just generalise by type here. many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body or Static or items such as Rocky Helmet, though none of them appreciate being crippled by Knock Off long-term. this is all unnecessary, remove it. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull
remove everything after this point, it's still unnecessary and is naturally powerful enough to threaten slower non-Steel type Rillaboom answers.
Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes. See this is giving me the impression that you really can't afford to take a stray earthquake from a few of the defensive grounds, when it certainly can. Assuming that Heatran's relatively healthy, it can pretty easily take one from defensive lando / hippo / pert in a pinch to remove these mons and still be relatively healthy enough to function afterwards, so change that mention accordingly .In return, Heatran can reliably set up Stealth Rock most heatran don't run rocks, remove this mention and greatly pressure most Defoggers, including Corviknight as well as Skarmory and Mandibuzz. this is all unnecessary, remove it. Additionally, Kartana makes for a potent offensive teammate, since it greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain support to greatly power up its already-strong Leaf Blades. feel like this kart description is kinda off - kartana and rilla share most of the same checks. kartana uses swords dance to break through these checks so rilla can clean up with grassy glide easily. although the grassy terrain boost is there kart will mostly be clicking other moves than leaf blade. implement this

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Choice Band Rillaboom can consider running High Horsepower to deal with Toxapex and Heatran, but both can be dealt with decently well by Wood Hammer and Knock Off or Superpower, respectively, or turned into momentum with U-Turn. Unlike Earthquake, High Horsepower retains its full power under Grassy Terrain, thus making it the default choice for Rillaboom in terms of Ground-type coverage. there's no reason to run hh anymore; remove this and add mentions of superpower here.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off / Wood Hammer
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

because rillaboom is primarily a breaker on hyper offense teams aiding and breaking for win conditions like hawlucha, wood hammer's recoil doesn't really matter as much for it. i would explain in the paragraph below the tradeoffs between knock and wood hammer. wood hammer benefits sweepers like bisharp and dragapult in particular because it ohkos pex at +2, which they struggle with, while HO teams usually don't have the time to get value out of removing boots. both are good options but i think wood hammer is 100% worth mentioning on SD sets. knock off is less common on grassy terrain-based ho for similar reasons as on the SD set with kartana as a partner

examples:
https://pokepast.es/a35228869bfdd363
https://pokepast.es/046ef8d29bd2ba0b

Same as above; am's only proven that this is a niche option, so add mentions of wh in oo. Remove the Jolly slash and make it oo; timid tran is a relatively niche option, and accounting for that niche option is unnecessary in the majority of scenarios.

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom is able to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance. this is all unnecessary, remove it. This set is often a staple on Hyper Offense teams that both benefit from Rillaboom's ability to facilitate their sweeps and help facilitate Rillaboom's own sweep. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. just mention what sd allows you to break past; saying that it has a limited number of switch-ins really isn't helping anyone. Grassy Glide is mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this and remove the mentions of shitmons like lati Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos, Moltres, and Corviknight how does knock cripple corvi when it can very easily function without its lefties? by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught or the Rocky Helmets they can use to deter it—and hits hard even before a boost. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s by giving it an effective way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to greatly damage Corviknight, Mandibuzz and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this

Though an Adamant nature is still preferable to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power causes Rillaboom to miss out on a great deal of potential OHKOs, though. Without an Adamant nature its +2 Grassy Glide almost never an OHKO on Latios I don't see why it's necessary to mention a shitmon before a top 5 mon; remove it. and Dragapult after Stealth Rock instead of OHKOing the majority of the time with an Adamant nature. great description here! again, move the jolly mentions down to the set oo and remove the rest of it.

Contact punishment through Rocky Helmet on the likes of Corviknight and Defensive Tangrowth and through Abilities like Zapdos's Static and Volcarona's Flame Body can greatly slow down an attempted sweep from Swords Dance Rillaboom, but they will seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this
Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom in securing crucial OHKOs against Dragapult and Latios. Every fucking mon in the game appreciates rocks so this is practically useless information. remove it. Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets there's need to specify what sort of sets its running when you've already mention that koko can set up screens. More importantly tho, if you're running rilla on ho, you're never running koko as your screens setter, especially because you're running lucha alongside it in the majority of scenarios. Replace this mention with Regieleki and Grimmsnarl. and can help break past Corviknight and Mandibuzz if it opts to take a more offensive approach ok this is all useless because a. you're never running offensive koko next to sd rilla and b. practically speaking, you're almost never going to have koko remove either of those mons. remove this mention entirely. Hawlucha deserves special mention no it doesn't, just refer to it as another standard partner. as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko nobody is and ever has run dual terrain lucha without the end result looking absolutely awful, remove the mention; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and greatly pressures Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth with its STABs. I mean it might but practically speaking, you're not using rillalucha to abuse the fact that lucha's pressuring these mons (sans corvi) in particular; you're benefitting off of the fact that you're weakening shared checks like zapdos, torn, skarm, etc. replace these mentions accordingly. Hawlucha can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it both a super effective and a contact-free hit against Zapdos, Moltres, and Volcarona. refer to the comments above; merge this with the previous points. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs I don't understand why this is relevant, especially when specs pult is flat out 2hko'ing + twave / wisp just cripples this., and offers both a very strong Knock Off to pressure Rillaboom's checks and a powerful Sucker Punch to further augment the team's already-strong priority. Just mention that it weakens shared checks Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to KO Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. If you really want to talk about moltres, the only point you should be making is the fact that it pressures heatran and allows you to run lucha, which weakens koko for it. Saying that it removes ttar is idealistic at best because unless you're in a scenario where you have nothing better to do other than to sac. it, you're never actually removing it.Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down its checks and power up its Leaf Blades to staggering levels.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off or High Horsepower in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. That said, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with +2 Superpower into +1 Superpower. if you're going to mention this, mention the fact that both are really uncommon (and by extension awful) and none of its common partners really benefit from this. itemless acrobatics could be worth mentioning here as a lure to these grass types without giving away that you have the acro moveslot. up to you if you think you should add if you had said this 6 months ago we might have considered it, but because the only real relevant target is tangrowth - which is terrible - there's practically no reason to run it anymore.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom some much-needed longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

High Horsepower always OHKOs even the physically-bulkiest Toxapex sets after a Swords Dance and always cleanly OHKOs all Heatran variants without having to commit to using Superpower. Its power is not cut by Grassy Terrain, and as such is far superior to Earthquake on all Rillaboom variants. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to justify giving up the valuable utility of Knock Off and is even more difficult to justify foregoing Superpower's crucial coverage and immediate power.

i haven't seen a high horsepower rilla since dlc1, especially with magearna ban. wood hammer should always be used in this slot if you need to hit toxapex. and with that being said, remove all mentions of hh and add mentions of wood hammer.

Checks and Counters
====

**Physically-Bulky Grass-type Resists**: Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Skarmory zapdos and defensive torn-t are other very prominent examples of this can handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. Mandibuzz can survive even a +2 Superpower from full HP and OHKOs it in return with Foul Play. would mention knock for mandi here Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts to U-Turn around it with Rocky Helmet chip. Volcarona doesn't appreciate losing its Heavy-Duty Boots to a Knock Off but otherwise uses Rillaboom for low-risk Quiver Dance opportunities, easily OHKOs it with even an unboosted and uninvested Flamethrower or Bug Buzz, and can stay in and fish for Flame Body burns and thus gain even more Quiver Dance boosts. Dragonite is an effective Rillaboom answer for similar reasons; though it very much dislikes losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, offensive variants can safely set up on Rillaboom while defensive variants can safely remove entry hazards, as both variants generally force Rillaboom to switch out.

separate this into a section on Steel-types, Flying-types, Dragon-types, Fire-types, and Grass-types ; having this condensed into the one section just diminishes the value of each of these mons while also making it a pain in the ass to read. merge the points below with their respective types.

add a point on misc. physdef mons like gweez, buzzwole, sap sipper azu, anything else you can think of that doesn't fit the criteria above.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-Turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it, although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres and Static users like Zapdos fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process. i'd mention ferro iron barbs for non-superpower cb variants ig you don't lose anything by including this, but it's not necessarily the most important detail.

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though keeping them healthy beforehand is crucial. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for. Choice Specs Latios, Choice Specs Dragapult, and any variant of Tornadus-T can all survive a +2 Grassy Glide from full HP and threaten to OHKO it in retaliation, though none can switch in safely for fear of getting crippled or outright OHKOed by Knock Off. Volcarona deserves special mention as it naturally outpaces Rillaboom, comfortably survives Grassy Glide if moderately healthy, forces it out with the threat of a nigh-guaranteed OHKO even when uninvested, and sets up on it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[Ausma, 360720], [curiosity, 443485]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

As for some general feedback: try to be more concise and direct. Practically everything in this analysis gave me the impression that you were trying your hardest to avoid describing things simply; what really should be simple to describe ended up being unnecessarily long and confusing to follow because you decided that trying to sound smarter was more important than cohesion. Here's a perfect example of this:

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay; however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them.

The things to keep note of here are the terminology and the phrasing: I said this earlier (refer to the check if you haven't already read it) but there's practically no reason as to why you can't just phrase it like...

"Rillaboom's access to Grassy Surge and Grassy Terrain-boosted Grassy Glide, great offensive stats, and good coverage moves such as Superpower and Knock off allows Rillaboom to function as a fantastic offensive threat. Rillaboom is also able to serve as a reliable offensive threat to the tier's most dangerous attackers including garchomp, zeraora, excadrill."

...when it does everything you've written without having to not only separate that into three or four sentences, but to also remove all that unnecessary shit on centralisation, consideration and randomly throwing in its coverage options. While we're on that topic: you include a lot of unnecessary shit that really doesn't need to be mentioned. There's no need to include stuff like this and "Its U-turns doing damage because of its formidable attack stat" because it absolutely doesn't anything of value.

If you keep this in mind in the future, then I honestly think your work could be great. Tag me if you have any questions / once you've finished everything, and I'll go over this.

ashwins72 I honestly don't have much to say other than I liked a lot of your suggestions. Good work!

 

[Dreadfury]

airfare: comments, additions, removals
rest of them belongs to me

check

[Overview]

Rillaboom’s high Attack and solid Speed stats, excellent movepool, and access to a powerful priority Grassy Glide courtesy of its own Grassy Surge collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche as a powerful revenge killer and late-game cleaner. A lot of this generally feels unnecessary; you could also condense all of this by just simplifying phrases like "high Attack and solid Speed stats" and "collectively grant Rillaboom a valuable niche" down into phrases like "solid offensive stats in combination with.." and "allows Rillaboom to function as..." given that it just doesn't really do anything beyond overcomplicating things for an audience that wants this information as directly and simply as possible.
. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide is among the most centralizing attacks in OU and as such requires a significant amount of consideration, be it during the teambuilding process or during actual gameplay. You're overexaggerating how much of an impact glide has on the tier. You're absolutely making it sound like this is a vish cb rend where you need to specifically be preparing water immunes or at least 2-3 solid pivots, when iit certainly isn't. If you really want to talk about the effects of Glide, i'd rather you talk about how it gives rillaboom a great matchup versus offence and how Glide allows it to serve as a great offensive check to stuff like Scale Shot Garchomp, Zeraora, Excadrill, etc. however, its access to a strong Knock Off and U-Turn and strong coverage against Steel-types in Superpower still allow it to keep up a great deal of offensive pressure against would-be checks either by removing their items, by generating momentum, or by breaking past them. i wouldould mention here why Knock Off is great for Rilla especially - knocking Boots from birds is super important I'd agree with this, if it wasn't for the fact that I'd prefer it if you were to just remove this point entirely. Again, this feels needlessly complicated;you can easily condense all of this into the introduction by replacing "excellent movepool" with something like "good coverage moves in Superpower and Knock Off" which carries the same sentiment, while also just making it easier for audiences to digest. Rillaboom's natural bulk, reinforced by the pseudo-Leftovers recovery of its Grassy Terrain, is also quite solid for a wallbreaker because of the added longevity and ability to pivot more freely - elaborate on this. Implement this. The Grassy Terrain Rillaboom summons can also provide its teammates with some much-needed recovery and a pseudo-resistance to Earthquake. Again, you're better off just mentioning that you weaken Earthquake istead of calling it a "pseudo-resistance" since you really can't say that (x4) ground weaks are suddenly resistant to eq. Though Rillaboom competes with Tapu Bulu as a Grassy Terrain setter and abuser, its important Speed tier that gets the jump on Heatran and its incredible priority solidify it as the more commonly-used option despite lacking Tapu Bulu's Fairy typing, bulk, and access to Stone Edge and Close Combat. It's unnecessary to draw parallels to Bulu here - that can be done in Bulu's analysis.

I want to see more mentions of its actual shortcomings. Mention:

• its reliance on Terrain and Priority to revenge kill faster mons - describe how its unable to properly revenge stuff like Kartana, Kyurem, Koko, etc.
  • mention how its relative low speed for an offensive mon lets those mons revenge it
• how grass is a really exploitable type to be locked into offensively - describe how a lot of good grass resists corvi, scizor, kart, hydra etc. are able to abuse it.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Grassy Glide
move 2: Wood Hammer / Superpower
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Knock Off / Superpower
Item: Choice Band
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

imo this set looks strange - rillaboom, when not paired with kartana, should always have knock off to pressure birds and cripple common steel switchins to help break more easily the next time it switches in. i find myself using superpower when my team has trouble dealing with steels like ferrothorn that rilla can help punish. wood hammer, although it is a strong STAB, isn't really necessary on cb rilla. the reason i say "when not paired with kartana" is because kartana performs a similar role in knocking birds and freeing up that moveslot for rilla.

some examples:
https://pokepast.es/3a5bc3753f4c143a
https://pokepast.es/987060335075bed3

Remove the superpower mention entirely. While it wasn't the AM's intention, they've more or less proven that sup is a relatively niche use on cb.

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Band Rillaboom offers most offensively-oriented teams a great deal of immediate power, allowing it to both break through more defensive teams in the early to mid-game and act as an extremely dangerous revenge killer and lategame cleaner against more offensive teams using its very powerful Grassy Glide. This could use some clarification since it feels pretty awkward to read; if you could separate these points into two separate sentences or to just rephrase them, then perhaps it might solve the issue? Wood Hammer is Rillaboom’s most powerful attack and thanks to both its Choice Band and Grassy Terrain boosts can pose a threat to most slower targets; it often 2HKOs Toxapex even after healing with Regenerator and often outright OHKOs the most physically-defensive Clefable variants. i think it would be good to mention zapdos also gets 2hkod before rocks add this, but also add the fact that you ohko torn after rocks U-Turn allows Rillaboom to generate momentum on a predicted switch into a counter again, this is unnecessary, just say that its good for grabbing momentum such as Corviknight or Skarmory everything after this point in the sentence is absolutely redundant, remove it., and coming off of Rillaboom’s formidable Attack stat can leave its mark on most switchins. The final moveslot is a tossup never was. between Knock Off, which provides even more utility by inflicting decent damage while removing the held item of a prospective Grassy Glide switchin simplify this; just say it cripples checks like tran torn zap ferro etc. and Superpower, which OHKOs even max HP Heatran and has a decent chance to OHKO Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock damage.

A Choice Band, in tandem with an Adamant nature and maximum Attack investment, allows Rillaboom to hit as hard as possible; maximum Speed investment allows Rillaboom to utilize its important Speed tier to outpace neutral-natured Heatran, uninvested Jirachi and Landorus-T while still outpacing the majority of the tier's defensive staples along the way and as a bare minimum allows it to speed tie with opposing Rillaboom.

this is all unnecessary, remove it.

While Rillaboom can naturally threaten a significant portion of the tier, it has a very difficult time breaking past Zapdos, Mandibuzz, Corviknight, Skarmory, Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, and Flame Body users like Volcarona you don't need to list of half of its fucking checks, just generalise by type here. many of these, in addition to resisting Rillaboom’s STAB, are able to punish all of its contact moves through either Abilities such as Flame Body or Static or items such as Rocky Helmet, though none of them appreciate being crippled by Knock Off long-term. this is all unnecessary, remove it. Magnezone makes for an exceptional teammate for its ability to trap and eliminate Corviknight and Skarmory with Magnet Pull
remove everything after this point, it's still unnecessary and is naturally powerful enough to threaten slower non-Steel type Rillaboom answers.
Heatran appreciates both Rillaboom’s U-Turn support to get it in safely against a Corviknight attempting to switch in and its Grassy Terrain support, which provides more recovery and the ability to survive some coverage Earthquakes. See this is giving me the impression that you really can't afford to take a stray earthquake from a few of the defensive grounds, when it certainly can. Assuming that Heatran's relatively healthy, it can pretty easily take one from defensive lando / hippo / pert in a pinch to remove these mons and still be relatively healthy enough to function afterwards, so change that mention accordingly .In return, Heatran can reliably set up Stealth Rock most heatran don't run rocks, remove this mention and greatly pressure most Defoggers, including Corviknight as well as Skarmory and Mandibuzz. this is all unnecessary, remove it. Additionally, Kartana makes for a potent offensive teammate, since it greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain support to greatly power up its already-strong Leaf Blades. feel like this kart description is kinda off - kartana and rilla share most of the same checks. kartana uses swords dance to break through these checks so rilla can clean up with grassy glide easily. although the grassy terrain boost is there kart will mostly be clicking other moves than leaf blade. implement this

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Choice Band Rillaboom can consider running High Horsepower to deal with Toxapex and Heatran, but both can be dealt with decently well by Wood Hammer and Knock Off or Superpower, respectively, or turned into momentum with U-Turn. Unlike Earthquake, High Horsepower retains its full power under Grassy Terrain, thus making it the default choice for Rillaboom in terms of Ground-type coverage. there's no reason to run hh anymore; remove this and add mentions of superpower here.


[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Grassy Glide
move 3: Knock Off / Wood Hammer
move 4: Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

because rillaboom is primarily a breaker on hyper offense teams aiding and breaking for win conditions like hawlucha, wood hammer's recoil doesn't really matter as much for it. i would explain in the paragraph below the tradeoffs between knock and wood hammer. wood hammer benefits sweepers like bisharp and dragapult in particular because it ohkos pex at +2, which they struggle with, while HO teams usually don't have the time to get value out of removing boots. both are good options but i think wood hammer is 100% worth mentioning on SD sets. knock off is less common on grassy terrain-based ho for similar reasons as on the SD set with kartana as a partner

examples:
https://pokepast.es/a35228869bfdd363
https://pokepast.es/046ef8d29bd2ba0b

Same as above; am's only proven that this is a niche option, so add mentions of wh in oo. Remove the Jolly slash and make it oo; timid tran is a relatively niche option, and accounting for that niche option is unnecessary in the majority of scenarios.

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance Rillaboom is able to drastically boost its damage output after a turn of setup with Swords Dance. this is all unnecessary, remove it. This set is often a staple on Hyper Offense teams that both benefit from Rillaboom's ability to facilitate their sweeps and help facilitate Rillaboom's own sweep. After a Swords Dance boost, the number of safe switchins to any of Rillaboom’s attacks becomes extremely limited. just mention what sd allows you to break past; saying that it has a limited number of switch-ins really isn't helping anyone. Grassy Glide is mandatory, as it is among OU’s strongest priority moves even before a boost; after a boost it accomplishes astounding feats such as OHKOing Latios and Dragapult the majority of the time after Stealth Rock damage, cleanly OHKOing offensive Garchomp, and even OHKOing offensive Tornadus-T after minimal chip damage. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this and remove the mentions of shitmons like lati Knock Off cripples would-be switchins like Zapdos, Moltres, and Corviknight how does knock cripple corvi when it can very easily function without its lefties? by removing their items—often the Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots they depend upon to survive Rillaboom’s onslaught or the Rocky Helmets they can use to deter it—and hits hard even before a boost. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this Superpower rounds out Rillaboom’s by giving it an effective way to cleanly OHKO Ferrothorn after a boost and to greatly damage Corviknight, Mandibuzz and Skarmory; a +2 Superpower puts defensive Corviknight and Skarmory within range of a subsequent +1 Superpower thereafter. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this

Though an Adamant nature is still preferable to maximize Rillaboom's damage output, a Jolly nature may be worth considering to get the jump on Timid Heatran and to avoid the speed tie against Modest Nidoking and opposing Adamant Rillaboom; the decrease in power causes Rillaboom to miss out on a great deal of potential OHKOs, though. Without an Adamant nature its +2 Grassy Glide almost never an OHKO on Latios I don't see why it's necessary to mention a shitmon before a top 5 mon; remove it. and Dragapult after Stealth Rock instead of OHKOing the majority of the time with an Adamant nature. great description here! again, move the jolly mentions down to the set oo and remove the rest of it.

Contact punishment through Rocky Helmet on the likes of Corviknight and Defensive Tangrowth and through Abilities like Zapdos's Static and Volcarona's Flame Body can greatly slow down an attempted sweep from Swords Dance Rillaboom, but they will seldom escape the situation without suffering a considerable amount of damage from its boosted coverage options. this is all unnecessary, condense all of this
Entry hazard setters like Focus Sash Landorus-T and Excadrill can quickly and safely get Stealth Rock up and ensure it remains up to aid Rillaboom in securing crucial OHKOs against Dragapult and Latios. Every fucking mon in the game appreciates rocks so this is practically useless information. remove it. Tapu Koko can set up Reflect and Light Screen quite reliably with its utility sets there's need to specify what sort of sets its running when you've already mention that koko can set up screens. More importantly tho, if you're running rilla on ho, you're never running koko as your screens setter, especially because you're running lucha alongside it in the majority of scenarios. Replace this mention with Regieleki and Grimmsnarl. and can help break past Corviknight and Mandibuzz if it opts to take a more offensive approach ok this is all useless because a. you're never running offensive koko next to sd rilla and b. practically speaking, you're almost never going to have koko remove either of those mons. remove this mention entirely. Hawlucha deserves special mention no it doesn't, just refer to it as another standard partner. as an offensive teammate for its great synergy with Rillaboom and with the aforementioned Tapu Koko nobody is and ever has run dual terrain lucha without the end result looking absolutely awful, remove the mention; with Unburden and either a Grassy Seed or an Electric Seed, Hawlucha can sweep a team already weakened by Rillaboom’s assault late-game and greatly pressures Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth with its STABs. I mean it might but practically speaking, you're not using rillalucha to abuse the fact that lucha's pressuring these mons (sans corvi) in particular; you're benefitting off of the fact that you're weakening shared checks like zapdos, torn, skarm, etc. replace these mentions accordingly. Hawlucha can also run Stone Edge to widen its coverage, giving it both a super effective and a contact-free hit against Zapdos, Moltres, and Volcarona. refer to the comments above; merge this with the previous points. Bisharp also fits nicely on Hyper Offense teams, synergizes quite well with Rillaboom defensively by resisting Dragapult's STABs I don't understand why this is relevant, especially when specs pult is flat out 2hko'ing + twave / wisp just cripples this., and offers both a very strong Knock Off to pressure Rillaboom's checks and a powerful Sucker Punch to further augment the team's already-strong priority. Just mention that it weakens shared checks Moltres-Galar, though a more niche option on Hyper Offense teams, greatly appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to KO Tyranitar, which otherwise walls it. If you really want to talk about moltres, the only point you should be making is the fact that it pressures heatran and allows you to run lucha, which weakens koko for it. Saying that it removes ttar is idealistic at best because unless you're in a scenario where you have nothing better to do other than to sac. it, you're never actually removing it.Lastly, Kartana appreciates Rillaboom’s ability to wear down its checks and power up its Leaf Blades to staggering levels.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Grassy Seed is a usable alternative to Life Orb on the Swords Dance set. It expands Rillaboom’s setup opportunities somewhat and allows it to forego Knock Off or High Horsepower in favor of an extremely powerful Acrobatics that demolishes the likes of Tangrowth and the uncommon Buzzwole at +2. That said, the loss in power by foregoing Life Orb leaves Rillaboom in a far less ideal position against Corviknight, which it can no longer comfortably 2HKO with +2 Superpower into +1 Superpower. if you're going to mention this, mention the fact that both are really uncommon (and by extension awful) and none of its common partners really benefit from this. itemless acrobatics could be worth mentioning here as a lure to these grass types without giving away that you have the acro moveslot. up to you if you think you should add if you had said this 6 months ago we might have considered it, but because the only real relevant target is tangrowth - which is terrible - there's practically no reason to run it anymore.

Drain Punch gives Rillaboom some much-needed longevity and still hits most targets very hard at +2, but the loss of power against Corviknight and Skarmory is very noticeable; as such, it is often very difficult to justify running Drain Punch over Superpower.

High Horsepower always OHKOs even the physically-bulkiest Toxapex sets after a Swords Dance and always cleanly OHKOs all Heatran variants without having to commit to using Superpower. Its power is not cut by Grassy Terrain, and as such is far superior to Earthquake on all Rillaboom variants. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to justify giving up the valuable utility of Knock Off and is even more difficult to justify foregoing Superpower's crucial coverage and immediate power.

i haven't seen a high horsepower rilla since dlc1, especially with magearna ban. wood hammer should always be used in this slot if you need to hit toxapex. and with that being said, remove all mentions of hh and add mentions of wood hammer.

Checks and Counters
====

**Physically-Bulky Grass-type Resists**: Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Skarmory zapdos and defensive torn-t are other very prominent examples of this can handle Rillaboom very well as long as they remain healthy; they boast a quadruple resistance to Rillaboom’s STAB and can Roost off the damage from anything barring a +2 Life Orb-boosted Superpower and thus force Rillaboom out. Mandibuzz can survive even a +2 Superpower from full HP and OHKOs it in return with Foul Play. would mention knock for mandi here Though an increasingly-niche option, Buzzwole can comfortably handle anything any Rillaboom set can commonly run, heal the damage off with Roost, threaten significant damage with Ice Punch, and can even punish Rillaboom's attempts to U-Turn around it with Rocky Helmet chip. Volcarona doesn't appreciate losing its Heavy-Duty Boots to a Knock Off but otherwise uses Rillaboom for low-risk Quiver Dance opportunities, easily OHKOs it with even an unboosted and uninvested Flamethrower or Bug Buzz, and can stay in and fish for Flame Body burns and thus gain even more Quiver Dance boosts. Dragonite is an effective Rillaboom answer for similar reasons; though it very much dislikes losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, offensive variants can safely set up on Rillaboom while defensive variants can safely remove entry hazards, as both variants generally force Rillaboom to switch out.

separate this into a section on Steel-types, Flying-types, Dragon-types, Fire-types, and Grass-types ; having this condensed into the one section just diminishes the value of each of these mons while also making it a pain in the ass to read. merge the points below with their respective types.

add a point on misc. physdef mons like gweez, buzzwole, sap sipper azu, anything else you can think of that doesn't fit the criteria above.

**Contact Punishment**: Rocky Helmet users like Toxapex, Corviknight and Landorus-Therian can punish Rillaboom’s attempts to break past them or U-Turn out of an unfavorable situation by chipping away at it, although most of them have to be very cautious as Rillaboom can still run options to KO them. Flame Body users like Volcarona and Moltres and Static users like Zapdos fare better in this regard, as they threaten to potentially cripple Rillaboom for the rest of the game with debilitating status effects no matter what attack Rillaboom uses against them, even if they get KOd in the process. i'd mention ferro iron barbs for non-superpower cb variants ig you don't lose anything by including this, but it's not necessarily the most important detail.

**Faster Grass-type Resists**. Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide, though extremely powerful as far as priority moves go, often falls short of landing some crucial OHKOs or 2HKOs. Anything healthy enough to survive a Grassy Glide and powerful enough to threaten to KO Rillaboom in return can force it out, though keeping them healthy beforehand is crucial. Threats that are dangerously close to getting 2HKOed by a Choice Band Grassy Glide are often dangerously close to being OHKOed by a +2 Life Orb-boosted Grassy Glide, but both must be accounted for. Choice Specs Latios, Choice Specs Dragapult, and any variant of Tornadus-T can all survive a +2 Grassy Glide from full HP and threaten to OHKO it in retaliation, though none can switch in safely for fear of getting crippled or outright OHKOed by Knock Off. Volcarona deserves special mention as it naturally outpaces Rillaboom, comfortably survives Grassy Glide if moderately healthy, forces it out with the threat of a nigh-guaranteed OHKO even when uninvested, and sets up on it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Dreadfury, 408271]]
- Quality checked by: [[Ausma, 360720], [curiosity, 443485]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

As for some general feedback: try to be more concise and direct. Practically everything in this analysis gave me the impression that you were trying your hardest to avoid describing things simply; what really should be simple to describe ended up being unnecessarily long and confusing to follow because you decided that trying to sound smarter was more important than cohesion. Here's a perfect example of this:



The things to keep note of here are the terminology and the phrasing: I said this earlier (refer to the check if you haven't already read it) but there's practically no reason as to why you can't just phrase it like...



...when it does everything you've written without having to not only separate that into three or four sentences, but to also remove all that unnecessary shit on centralisation, consideration and randomly throwing in its coverage options. While we're on that topic: you include a lot of unnecessary shit that really doesn't need to be mentioned. There's no need to include stuff like this and "Its U-turns doing damage because of its formidable attack stat" because it absolutely doesn't anything of value.

If you keep this in mind in the future, then I honestly think your work could be great. Tag me if you have any questions / once you've finished everything, and I'll go over this.

ashwins72 I honestly don't have much to say other than I liked a lot of your suggestions. Good work!

Implemented! I had already implemented parts of the AM check you mentioned here but I've simplified much of what you've pointed out in your post as well.

 

[Dreadfury]

Just bumping this to know that this is still ready for its second QC check after my implementations and this should still be relevant now that Zama-C is gone.

 

[ausma]

As explained in a private DM, this analysis will be partially reassigned, with my check remaining intact. It will be taken over by curiosity; I'll be locking this thread, but I will keep it here until curi's analysis thread goes live and is QC ready so he can copy and easily alter any necessary information.