Buzzwole [QC 0/3]

[Poek]

taken over TDK

QC:
GP:
​

[OVERVIEW]

* 139 base attack allows it to put a dent on most mons
* Decent defensive typing in Bug / Fighting, amazing physical bulk and access to Roost and the newly buffed Leech Life makes it quite hard to take down
* Good array of coverage options, making countering all of its sets it quite difficult
* Will faint to most special attacks due to its low SDef
* Kinda slow

[SET]
name: Sub Punch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Leech Life
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 196 HP / 200 Atk / 12 SDef / 100 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Substitute lets Buzzwole avoid status and punishes switches
* Focus Punch coupled with Substitute gives Buzzwole an incredibly strong STAB
* Leech Life is a very important STAB for Buzzwole, allowing it not only to have a powerful STAB that isn't Focus Punch, but also gives Buzzwole passive recovery to regain the lost health from Substitute.
* Earthquake is the best last, allowing Buzzwole to defeat Toxapex and Alolan Marowak, which otherwise flawlessly wall STABs alongside Ice Punch or Poison Jab.
* Poison Jab can be used over Earthquake in order to hit Tapu Fini and Clefable.
* Similarly, Ice Punch can be used here to deal with Landorus-T but it's generally inferior as Landorus-T can't do anything back to you anyways.

Set Details
========

* 196 HP grants Buzzwole with 101 Substitutes, which prevents Chansey from breaking its Substitute with one Seismic Toss. 12 SDef prevents Toxapex from breaking its Substitute with one Scald. 100 Speed allows Buzzwole to outspeed up to defensive Landorus-T. The remaining EVs are placed into Attack to maximize Buzzwole's power. Adamant is optimal to make Buzzwole as powerful as possible.
* Leftovers is the best option while using Sub Punch Buzzwole, as the passive recovery coupled with the use of Leech Life increases its longevity.

Usage Tips
========

* Take every opportunity to get it in as Buzzwole's good physical bulk allows it to switch on mons such as Landorus-T, Tapu Bulu, Choice Locked Hoopa-Unbound, Pheromosa (beware of special moves as they do a good chunk), etc.
* Set up a sub on Pokemon that Buzzwole threatens out or can't much back to it such as Ferrothorn, Toxapex and Landorus-T and start breaking the opposing team.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole as even resisted moves will do a good chunk to it.

Team Options
========

* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying and Psychic. Heatran specially excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Fairy lures like Grassium Z Heatran for Tapu Fini or Gunk Shot Greninja are appreciated.
* AV Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Hazard setters such as Ferrothorn and Landorus-T are needed in order to make Buzzwole's job at breaking teams easier.

[SET]
name: Offensive Roost
move 1: Roost
move 2: Leech Life
move 3: Earthquake / Superpower
move 4: Poison Jab / Ice Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 156 SDef / 60 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Roost is a necessity for bulky Buzzwole, allowing it to have longevity throughout a match and check some dangerous threats such as Pheromosa, Landorus-T, and Tapu Bulu.
* Leech Life is Buzzwole's best Bug STAB and passively heals it while dishing out damage.
* Earthquake allows Buzzwole to hit Toxapex and Alolan Marowak super effectively, which would otherwise wall Buzzwole running dual STABs and a coverage move. Earthquake also retains Buzzwole's ability to hit Steel types such as Heatran with a super effective attack without running Superpower or Hammer Arm.
* Superpower gives Buzzwole a powerful Fighting-type STAB which hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Heatran extremely hard. Superpower allows Buzzwole to OHKO Ferrothorn, which otherwise could trouble a Buzzwole lacking Fighting-type STAB.
* Hammer Arm could be used over Superpower if the drop in Speed is preferred over the Defense drop, albeit it is slightly weaker.
* Poison Jab allows Buzzwole to handle Fairy-types, which otherwise would pose to be extreme annoyances to this set. Tapu Fini and Clefable would otherwise wall this set, but are now 2HKOd by Poison Jab.
* Ice Punch is a viable alternative if your team requires a more reliable answer to Landorus-T and Gliscor, as Buzzwole can comfortable take any non-Flying-type hit from these aforementioned Pokemon.

Set Details
========

* The HP and SDef EVs allow Buzzwole to switch into Life Orb Pheromosa reliable, as it takes two Life Orb Ice Beams after Stealth Rock.
* The speed EVs allow Buzzwole to outspeed Rotom-Wash.
* The remaining EVs are dumped into attack to maximize Buzzwole's power.
* Leftovers is best to give Buzzwole more longevity.
* Life Orb alongside an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe with an Adamant Nature is another option while using Roost Buzzwole. This change gives Buzzwole more power and wall-breaking abilities in turn for its longevity and utility.

Usage Tips
========

* Take every opportunity to get it in as Buzzwole's good physical bulk allows it to switch on mons such as Landorus-T, Tapu Bulu, Choice Locked Hoopa-Unbound, Pheromosa (beware of special moves as they do a good chunk), etc.
* Use Roost on pokemon that can't do anything to you whenever you're weakened.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole as even resisted moves will do a good chunk to it.

Team Options
========

* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying and Psychic. Heatran specially excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Depending on the coverage you run, you get walled by certain threats. If Earthquake is chosen, you lack a way to hit Scizor and thus, Magnezone comes to mind to solve this problem. If Superpower is chosen, Toxapex becomes a huge problem, so lures for it such as Extrasensory Greninja are appreciated. If Poison Jab is chosen, defensive Landorus-T can pivot out of you easily so try to pack a Rocky Helmet user of your own to punish U-turn. If Ice Punch is chosen, Fairy-Types such as Tapu Fini and Clefable become huge problems, Grassium Z Heatran is a good partner to lure Tapu Fini and deal with Clefable.
* AV Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Hazard setters such as Ferrothorn and Landorus-T are needed in order to make Buzzwole's job at breaking teams easier.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Superpower
move 2: Leech Life
move 3: Ice Punch / Poison Jab
move 4: Earthquake / Poison Jab
item: Choice Band
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Superpower is Buzzwole's strongest viable STAB
* Leech Life gives Buzzwole a more spammable STAB than Superpower.
* Ice Punch allows Buzzwole to hit Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Gliscor which would otherwise trouble Buzzwole locked into STABs
* Earthquake hits Poison-types and Alolan Marowak, which otherwise easily take Buzzwole's STABs
* Poison Jab hits Tapu Fini and Clefable, which otherwise are able to take any of Buzzwole's other attacks and OHKO in turn.

Set Details
========

* Max attack and max speed are best
* Choice Band is the point of the set
* Jolly allows Buzzwole to outspeed Heatran, Jolly Tapu Bulu, Bisharp, and Adamant Landorus-Therian
* Adamant can be used for more power, but there is nothing particularly useful for the drop in speed.

Usage Tips
========

* Take every opportunity to get it in as Buzzwole's good physical bulk allows it to switch on mons such as Landorus-T, Tapu Bulu, Choice Locked Hoopa-Unbound, Pheromosa (beware of special moves as they do a good chunk), etc.
* Use the appropiate attack once you're on the field to nab a kill. If there are bulky Fairy-Types on the opposing team, try to surprise them with Poison Jab or if it is not ran, Earthquake still does a good chunk to them and the most common one being Tapu Fini lacks recovery so it will eventually go down.
* This Buzzwole set doesn't have the durability other sets have, so be careful to not let it get weakened if you need it to check something else.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole as even resisted moves will do a good chunk to it.

Team Options
========

* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying and Psychic. Heatran specially excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* AV Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* If Poison Jab is not ran, pair it up with sturdy fairy resists like the aforementioned Magearna or Heatran to keep coming in on them.
* Ash-Greninja appreciates banded Buzzwole weakening all the Fairy-Types it hates to clean late game.
* Hazard setters such as Ferrothorn and Landorus-T are needed in order to make Buzzwole's job at breaking teams easier.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* Sub Bulk Up
* Bulk Up

Checks and Counters
===================

* Fairy-types
* Flying-types
* Strong special attackers
* Poison-types

 

[Colonel M]

Understanding it is a WIP, but I would still like to suggest Lunge as either slashed or the main Bug move option in the second set as Buzzwole can force switches and can cripple some of those that come in with physical attacks.

 

[Unowninator]

Understanding it is a WIP, but I would still like to suggest Lunge as either slashed or the main Bug move option in the second set as Buzzwole can force switches and can cripple some of those that come in with physical attacks.

Me too, especially since it has Roost to do the healing.

 

[LucarioOfLegends]

Is AV an option? It could theoretically patch up its SpD problem and doesn't and could form an all-out attacker set.

Edit: Should also mention Poison Jab hits Zard Y, which also resists the other moves.

 

[readytolose]

Is AV an option? It could theoretically patch up its SpD problem and doesn't and could form an all-out attacker set.

I'm gonna say no because the ability to self-heal is one of the main things that sets Buzzwole apart from other Fighting types, at least defensively. I still think Conkeldurr does the AV thing better because of Guts which lets it switch in on Scald users easily, and Knock Off which hits a ton of special attackers that it checks. Knock Off has a lot of utility on a pivot as it weakens defensive mons by depriving them of their item, while AV Buzzwole wouldn't really be able to do anything against defensive mons. If you want to use Buzzwole for its defensive qualities, Roost is absolutely the way to go.

That being said AV Buzzwole probably isn't the worst thing ever as it can still heal itself with Leech Life while surprising some things so it's probably okay. It can live attacks from stuff like Ash Greninja and heal back up with Leech Life. It sounds mayyyybe Other Options worthy but I haven't actually tried it so idk

 

[Hootie]

Is AV an option? It could theoretically patch up its SpD problem and doesn't and could form an all-out attacker set.

Buzzwole should focus on areas that play to its strengths (being one of the best physical sponges in the tier). AV doesn't do anything noteworthy when it shouldn't be staying in on special attackers anyways. Missing out on options like Roost and Substitute is very subpar and makes Buzzwole way easier to wear down too, even if it has Leech Life. It shouldn't be listed in other options.

 

[Unowninator]

Edit: Should also mention Poison Jab hits Zard Y, which also resists the other moves.

Uh, wouldn't Stone Edge be better for that?

Anyway, what about a Choice Scarf?

 

[readytolose]

Anyway, what about a Choice Scarf?

I'd argue that Scarf Buzzwole is outclassed by Scarf Heracross, which in itself is outclassed by the other Bug types in OU. Compared to Heracross, Buzzwole doesn't have a strong Bug type STAB, a spammable Fighting move, and it is slower than threats such as Pheromosa, +1 Xurkitree, +1 Gyarados, +1 Dragonite, all of which Scarf Heracross outspeeds. The only distinguishing factor is elemental punches and Poison Jab which is pretty okay but that doesn't change the fact that there's literally no reason to run Scarf Buzzwole right now. Genesect and Pheromosa occupy the roles of "scarf bug with ice or poison/steel coverage", and they are much faster than Buzzwole, letting them be great revenge killers. And of course, they have U-turn.

 

[Ash Borer]

I think it's worth noting that if you take the speed EVs from the subpunch spread and put them into Special Defense, you can prevent Quagsire's Scald from breaking your substitute.

0 SpA Quagsire Scald vs. 196 HP / 12 SpD Buzzwole: 99-117 (24.5 - 28.9%) -- 99.4% chance to 4HKO
0 SpA Quagsire Scald vs. 196 HP / 112 SpD Buzzwole: 84-100 (20.7 - 24.7%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than outspeed landorus

 

[lydian]

I think it's worth noting that if you take the speed EVs from the subpunch spread and put them into Special Defense, you can prevent Quagsire's Scald from breaking your substitute.

0 SpA Quagsire Scald vs. 196 HP / 12 SpD Buzzwole: 99-117 (24.5 - 28.9%) -- 99.4% chance to 4HKO
0 SpA Quagsire Scald vs. 196 HP / 112 SpD Buzzwole: 84-100 (20.7 - 24.7%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than outspeed landorus

I don't think Quagsire is too relevant atm, and outspeeding Lando-T is a very important benchmark imao

 

[Hootie]

Poek97 progress on this?

 

[TURBODERP]

I don't think Quagsire is too relevant atm, and outspeeding Lando-T is a very important benchmark imao

Dunno about this-you're doing nothing to Lando-T even if you're not at -1. I guess you can Sub up on it, but you'll end up taking so much from Helmet.

200+ Atk Buzzwole Focus Punch vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Landorus-Therian: 105-125 (27.5 - 32.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

Running 64 Speed EVs gives you 210 speed which lets you outspeed Adamant Crawdaunt, Mandibuzz, most Mega Venusaur, and Rotom-Wash.

 

[readytolose]

Dunno about this-you're doing nothing to Lando-T even if you're not at -1. I guess you can Sub up on it, but you'll end up taking so much from Helmet.

If you manage to get behind a sub before Lando comes in, or if you come in against it, you actually won't lose health against it if you use Leech Life, iirc, letting you eventually beat it without really losing any health. (Lefties + Leech Life heals more than Rocky Helmet hurts). Then again I was using 252+ Attack Buzzwole so I'm not sure if the calc is different for 200+ Attack. Of course if the Landorus-T manages to Intimidate you it's a losing battle either way.

Running 64 Speed EVs gives you 210 speed which lets you outspeed Adamant Crawdaunt, Mandibuzz, most Mega Venusaur, and Rotom-Wash.

I was using that spread and it works alright but I think outspeeding Lando-T is pretty good because sometimes it can have Toxic which just ruins you. Also half the time Rotom-W speed creeps you enough to burn you before you can Sub and it's just awful. That being said Rotom-W easily breaks your Subs with an attack so again kind of a moot point.

 

[PK Gaming]

Very nice

1/3

Just fill out Other Options & Checks and Counters and try to cut down on the repetition in the Usage Tips sections

 

[p2]

elaborate on things in the overview, it's slow and lacks special bulk but whats it outsped by and how does that affect it?

2/3

 

[TKGriffiths]

General question, how does the moderating team decide if a pokemon is even worthy of an OU analysis? This screams new toy syndrome to me. It's basically non-mega Heracross (which has no ORAS OU analysis) except SM OU is even more unsuitable for it due to being infested with fairies and Toxapex.

Surely this is an UU/BL pokemon at best once the metagame settles.

(Note I'm just curious and the above are only my crude opinions, for example it's quite different to Heracross even though they share a lot of similaities. It's kind of an amalgamation of Heracross and Hippowdon both of which I imagine will be UU this generation. I'm not interested in challenging the actual analysis which is well written just seeking an answer on the selection policy)

 

[Hootie]

General question, how does the moderating team decide if a pokemon is even worthy of an OU analysis? This screams new toy syndrome to me. It's basically non-mega Heracross (which has no ORAS OU analysis) except SM OU is even more unsuitable for it due to being infested with fairies and Toxapex.

Surely this is an UU/BL pokemon at best once the metagame settles.

(Note I'm just curious and the above are only my crude opinions, for example it's quite different to Heracross even though they share a lot of similaities. It's kind of an amalgamation of Heracross and Hippowdon both of which I imagine will be UU this generation. I'm not interested in challenging the actual analysis which is well written just seeking an answer on the selection policy)

We decide if a Pokemon gets an analysis based on how effective it is in the metagame which can change obviously, but as it stands Buzzwole remains effective in the metagame for several reasons (which I won't list as the analysis should explain it well) and Buzzwole certainly isn't a case of new toy syndrome either. Also I'm assuming you meant that Heracross has no SM OU analysis because it has one right now for ORAS OU, but in any case it doesn't have one this generation because it currently is unavailable.

 

[TKGriffiths]

No I meant ORAS OU, I only see a Mega Heracross analysis on the dex anyway. I was making the comparison to non-mega Heracross because Mega Heracross plays very differently to both base Heracross and Buzzwole.

 

[Finchinator]

Add Thunderpunch to OO, imo

3/3
good stuff

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Really minor change, but I'd like to recommend moving 8 Atk EVs to HP on the SubPunch set. This will allow Buzzwole to make 5 Subs in a row from full health instead of 4, which can be useful if you're trying to stall out a dangerous move or fish for a miss or something. It's situational, but it could come in handy from time to time. Besides, the 0.5% drop in physical power is almost completely unnoticeable.

 

[Gary]

Poek97 Are you still alive? None of these checks have been implemented nor have you shown any activity in 3 weeks.

 

[Colonel M]

Due to inactivity as far as completing the analysis, I am re-assigning this to young Martin .

SD Buzzwole is live.