Archetype Analysis
Written by Cdijk16
In this analysis, I will explain the archetypes obtained in the archetype statistics file linked below. For each archetype, I will list the the statistics, explain the gameplan and elaborate on the statistics listed in the archetype statistics file. I won't really discuss matchups since in this generation they are highly dependent on the exact lineup. Note that all archetype and sub-archetypes names were coined by me and not generated by the program. To account for the complexity of teambuilding in SM OU, many archetypes have been manually split into various different sub archetypes. Many archetypes generated by the program were also compressed into one archetype on account of being very similar to each other. Also note that that the pokemon listed for each archetype are NOT meant to be an exhaustive list and are
only meant to represent the most important and defining members of an archetype. There are many niche pokemon that have been left out for the sake of brevity. You can find sample teams for nearly all of these archetypes in the SM OU sample teams thread.
#1 Volt Turn Offence
Volt Turn Offence is an archetype of offense whose playstyle involves using Volt Switch and U-Turn users to bring in powerful breakers and keep momentum on their side. Bulkier Volt Switch and U-Turn users such as Landorus-Therian, Magearna and Rotom-Wash also double as defensive pivots to hold back opposing offensive threats long enough for the offensive components of the team to win.
Many of the most powerful offensive pokemon (examples include Tapu Lele, Kartana and Medicham-Mega etc.) in SM OU have trouble finding opportunities to switch in and attack due to combination of their frailty and the high power level of SM OU. Volt Switch and U-Turn help greatly in mitigating this issue by providing them with safe entry. The first 3 mons on the archetype are pivots. Magearna provides teams with a decent check to common special attackers like Ash-Greninja, Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele that can also maintain momentum with Volt Switch. Landorus-Therian is a physically defensive pivot, potential Scarf user and SR setter who can also maintain momentum with U-Turn. On certain teams it can also double as a wallbreaker with SD sets. Rotom-Wash provides a water resist and EQ immunity and keeps momentum with Volt Switch.
Assault Vest Magearna + Landorus-Therian + Rotom-Wash is one of the most commonly seen defensive cores on this archetype of teams as they have great defensive synergy with each other and are also great pokemon individually.
One of the most common variants of this archetype is
Psychic Spam(usually featuring Tapu Lele and either Mega Medicham or Mega Alakazam).
Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam excel at wearing down bulky Steel-types together, which allows Mega Alakazam to become a very dangerous threat late game. Tapu Lele and Mega Medicham can threaten each other's defensive checks and counters and Psychic Terrain allows Mega Medicham to break through Clefable with Zen Headbutt. The wallbreaking provided by the above pokemon helps Choice Scarf Kartana to sweep late game, making it a good choice on this archetype. Greninja's Spikes are also greatly appreciated by the psychics, and it can also lure Assault Vest Magearna with Z-Dig, making it a decent option on this style. Mega Gallade is also an option for this archetype over Mega Medicham for the same reasons, but it is not mentioned in the statistics due to low usage.
Another common offensive core on this archetype is
Tapu Koko + Mega Medicham and/or Kyurem-Black. Tapu Koko excels at bringing in Mega Medicham and Kyurem-Black via Volt Switch/U-Turn. Mega Medicham in particular excels at taking advantage of most Tapu Koko answers, in addition to being an explosive wallbreaker. Electric terrain from Tapu Koko also enables Mega Medicham 's Thunder Punch to break through its usual checks like Reuniclus, Clefable and Slowbro. It also helps Kyurem-Black to break through many of its usual checks like defensive Magearna, Mega Scizor and Heatran. Kyurem-Black is also an excellent wallbreaker overall thanks to its 170 attack and Icium-Z Freeze Shock. Hawlucha is a fantastic late game cleaner and has very good synergy with Tapu Koko and the above wallbreakers. It also provides one time speed control.
Mega Mawile is also a staple of this archetype. It's a powerful wall-breaker that synergizes well with Volt Switch and U-Turn pivots. Battle Bond Greninja is also used as it is an excellent late game cleaner and offensive Spiker which also has good synergy with Volt/Turn pivots. It is often used alongside Mega Mawile as they can wear down shared checks for each other, and Spikes help Mawile break through many of its usual answers.
Victini is a solid wallbreaker with Choice Band that can also U-Turn out of its checks into a different offensive pokemon. Scarf variants can also force a trade early game in some matchups with FInal Gambit. It also has excellent synergy with many other offensive pokemon like Tapu Koko. Kommo-O has access to Stealth Rock , is a formidable sweeper thanks to it's exclusive Z-Move, and provides defensive utility vs some pokemon like Battle Bond Greninja and Heatran, making it a solid pick on many teams. SD and Choice Band variants of Tapu Bulu are very good wallbreakers and benefit a lot from Volt Turn.
Tapu Bulu is frequently paired with Kartana on "Grass Spam" as they can overwhelm shared checks very effectively. Jirachi's Scarf sets compress speed control, a psychic resist, U-Turn and Healing Wish support, making it a decent choice on offense.
#2 Balance/Semi Stall
Semi Stall
Trapper Balance
Sand/Grass Spam Offensive Balance
Defensive teams in SM OU are fairly varied and diverse, so I've split them into multiple sub-archetypes for greater clarity.
Semi stall is an archetype relies on chip damage with
status and hazards as well as
great longevity to pave the way for a specific wincon to beat the opposing team. (examples include Calm Mind Mega Latias, Calm Mind Reuniclus and Swords Dance Gliscor).
Celesteela + Toxapex is a staple defensive core on these teams. Celesteela answers offensive Psychic-types and offensive-Ground types that threaten Toxapex. Toxapex in return checks offensive Fire-types and provides it with Toxic Spikes support. They are also excellent pokemon individually. Toxapex is a fantastic special or mixed wall thanks its high bulk, defensive typing and Regenerator ability, and it is capable of answering many notable offensive pokemon such as Choice Specs Battle Bond Greninja, non-Taunt Kommonium-Z Kommo-O, Mega Loppuny and many others. Celesteela is a very solid check to offensive Psychic types like Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam and Mega Latios, offensive grass types like Kartana and Tapu Bulu and ground types like Landorus-Therian and Garchomp, making it an excellent wall and balance staple.
Mega Latias has an excellent defensive profile, notably checking Kartana, Landorus-Therian, Rockium Z Garchomp and countering Swords Dance Gliscor. It can also provide Defog support or be a late game win-condition with Calm Mind. It is also a decent abuser of entry hazards. It also provides some speed control thanks to its 110 speed. Gliscor provides an Electric immunity, checks Heatran and is very versatile: it can be a Stealth Rock setter, a Defogger or a late game win-condition with Swords Dance. Clefable checks Mega Medicham, Mega Loppunny and Hawlucha, can act as a a status absorber thanks to Magic Guard, and can reliably set Stealth Rock.
Gastrodon + Skarmory is another common defensive core. Gastrodon checks Greninja, Heatran , counters non-Grass Knot Tapu Koko and also reliably blocks Volt Switch from Rotom-Wash, Magearna, Tapu Koko etc. This is greatly appreciated by Skarmory, who struggles with all of the above. Skarmory is an excellent blanket physical wall and makes up for Gastrodon's deficiencies in physical bulk in return. Slowbro is a blanket physical wall and one of the few reliable checks to non-Thunder Punch Medicham.
Ferrothorn is a spiker, has good longevity and bulk, excellent defensive typing and provides a psychic resist. It has good synergy with Clefable who checks Fighting-types for it and together they check Ash-Greninja very well.
Reuniclus does well against other stall and balance teams thanks to the combination of great bulk, Recover, Calm Mind and the Magic Guard ability. This makes it very hard for passive teams to threaten effectively. It also synergizes very well with entry hazards like Spikes, Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock as they wear down most of its checks like Tyranitar, Weavile etc. It also has good synergy with the other balance staples Toxapex(who can set Toxic Spikes for it and check Ash-Greninja) and Ferrothorn(who also checks Ash-Greninja and sets Spikes). In return, Reuniclus checks Fighting types like Medicham for them.
Mega Lopunny + Reuniclus is another common pairing on fat teams. Mega Lopunny has a good matchup against offensive teams in general but struggles into balance and stall. Reuniclus helps mitigate this by this doing well against the teams that Mega Loppunny struggles with.
Tornadus-Therian is also commonly used on fat teams thanks to its blistering 121 base speed and ability to check Mega Medicham, Kartana and Tapu Bulu. It can also keep entry hazard off against most setters with Defog.
Trapper balance is an archetype of balance which uses a trapper(usually Magnezone and/or Weavile, very often both) to support a bulky progress maker or setup sweeper(examples include SD Gliscor, SD Mawile and Kartana). These trappers also help remove big offensive threats to the team's defensive core(Scarf Magnezone traps Kartana for example). It also has a formidable defensive core in addition to this. The most standard 6 for this archetype uses SD Gliscor, Z-Move or Scarf Magnezone, Weavile, Chansey, Mega Latias, and Toxapex. A common 6 for the Mawile variation of the archetype uses Mega Mawile, Scarf Magnezone, Wish Chansey, Rocks Gliscor and Slowbro (see SM OU Sample Teams).
SD Gliscor + Weavile is a staple core on this archetype. Weavile traps Mega Latios and Mega Latias with Pursuit, who are SD Gliscor's most reliable answers, making it a very good partner for it. SD Gliscor has few reliable counters and and can break through some balance teams easily once Mega Latias is trapped. Magnezone traps steel types not weak to Earthquake like Celesteela and Mega Scizor, which helps SD Gliscor to sweep. Choice Scarf variants of Magnezone can also reliably trap Kartana, which can be a very big threat to the team's defensive core if running Swords Dance or Choice Band. Chansey is used on these teams as a blanket counter to special attackers and answer to Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele. Toxapex is a good mixed wall and answers Mega Loppuny. Mega Latias provides speed control, answers Landorus-Therian and Rockium-Z Garchomp and can check Heatran if running Hidden Power Ground. Mega Latios benefits greatly from Magnezone support and can be used over Mega Latias if more immediate offensive firepower is desired. The Mega Lati twins also provide speed control thanks to their good base 110 speed tier. Some variations of this team replace Toxapex with Slowbro to have a better matchup into Mega Medicham. Mega Mawile is also used on some variations of this archetype. It is usually paired with Wish Chansey to alleviate its longevity issues and wallbreak more frequently. Defog Kartana is sometimes used as well. It's a reliable Defogger thanks to its good matchup against most of the tier's Stealth Rock setters and also offensively checks Manaphy.
Offensive balance is a more of offensive sub archetype which uses its defensive pokemon to hold back the opposing team until the offensive components of the team can win. However, they have a more more robust and sturdy defensive core and much more longevity than other offensive teams. Tyranitar + Excadrill sand balances and bulkier Grass Spam teams also fall into this archetype.
Tyranitar + Excadrill is a very common offensive core used on this archetype. Both of these pokemon, in addition to being offensive threats also provide utility in the form of Pursuit support from Tyranitar and Rapid Spin from Excadrill respectively. Tyranitar's sand turns Sand Rush Excadrill into a formidable late game sweeping threat and invalidates some of its revenge killers. Excadrill can invite threatening revenge killers like Mega Alakazam and Ash-Greninja after it gets a KO, and is thus often paired with solid defensive walls like Celesteela and Toxapex respectively. Mega Garchomp is also sometimes paired with the TarExca core as Tyranitar activates its Sand Force ability and both Mixed and Swords Dance variants of Mega Garchomp have excellent offensive synergy with Excadrill. Tangrowth also checks Ash-Greninja that threatens Excadrill and also switches into Earthquakes aimed at Tyranitar and Excadrill.
Tapu Bulu + Kartana is a fantastic "grass spam" offensive core. As explained earlier, they do an excellent job of overwhelming each other's shared checks. This time they are paired with a bulkier defensive core. In addition to being a fantastic wallbreaker, Tapu Bulu checks Ash-Greninja and provides healing to other grounded teammates. Heatran is common on grass spam as Grassy Terrain alongside Leftovers greatly improves its longevity. Tapu Bulu also switches into Ground-type and Water-type moves aimed at Heatran. Kartana in grassy terrain can be either a fantastic wallbreaker with Grassium-Z SD or a dangerous late game cleaner with Choice Scarf. Mega Latios and sometimes Mega Latias are used on balanced grass spam teams as they check offensive fire types like Heatran and Mega Charizard Y which are otherwise very threatening to switch into. The Mega Lati twins also appreciate SD Tapu Bulu's ability to weaken bulky-steel types like Celesteela. Mega Mawile is also used on grass spam as Grassy Terrain weakens Earthquakes aimed at it. Magnezone is another option on these teams as it can remove bulky steel types like Celesteela that wall the grass types. Tyranitar is also used on these teams occasionally as it can Pursuit trap the Mega Lati twins and Tornadus-Therian.
#3 Hardcore stall
Hardcore stall is an archetype whose gameplan is centered around outlasting their opponents and gradually wearing them down with entry hazards like Stealth Rock and Spikes.
Mega Sableye + Skarmory + Chansey are three pokemon which are seen on practically all stall teams. Mega Sableye is the most prominent member of this archetype. It invalidates most passive entry hazard setters like defensive Landorus and Clefable. Consistently preventing entry hazards (Stealth Rock and Spikes) from going up makes the rest of the team much harder to break through. It also provides the team with a solid counter to Mega Medicham. Chansey provides a solid blanket counter to a majority of the special attackers in this tier such as Mega Alakazam and Ash-Greninja. It also has access to utility moves like Stealth Rock, Heal Bell, Thunder Wave and Toxic. Skarmory provides a blanket check to physical attackers and also sets Spikes. Chansey deals with powerful special attacks which Skarmory can't deal with and vice versa for physical threats. They also form an entry hazard stacking core with Stealth Rock and Spikes. Unaware Clefable is a solid counter to most boosting physical sweepers such as Swords Dance Landorus-Therian, Gliscor, Garchomp, Hawlucha and many others. It also keeps the rest of the team healthy with Wish support. Gliscor checks Heatran and provides the team with a Volt Switch immunity. It can also function as a bulky win condition with Swords Dance, or run Defog to ensure that entry hazards stay off the field. Defog helps greatly in preventing defensive pokemon like Chansey, Unaware Clefable and Skarmory from being worn down by entry hazards. Stealth Rock Gliscor isn't normally used on stall as it overlaps with Chansey as a rocker. Toxapex provides a check to many pokemon that Mega Sableye is weak against such as non-Thunder Punch Mega Mawile, Mega Charizard X/Y, Kommonium-Z Kommo-O, Calm Mind Clefable and non Psychium-Z Volcarona. It can also set Toxic Spikes to help further wear down opposing teams. Chansey also covers Toxapex's weakness to electric and psychic types. Heart Swap Magearna may be used on these teams to check Calm Mind + Pain Split Magearna and other Calm Mind setup sweepers like Mega Latias and Clefable. It also provides a check to offensive Psychic types. Bulky Volcarona benefits greatly from the reliable hazard control provided by Mega Sableye and checks the very threatening Mega Mawile in return. Ditto provides insurance against opposing setup sweepers.
#4 Screens Hyper Offence
Screens Hyper Offense is a niche sub-archetype of hyper offense uses of Light Screen and Reflect support from Tapu Koko to make its setup sweepers MUCH harder to answer reliably. Screens make the setup sweepers used on this archetype easier to setup with, much harder to revenge kill and invalidate many of their defensive answers.
Tapu Koko is the Screens setter of choice for these teams as it has access to U-Turn to bring in setup sweepers and a very fast Taunt to keep its Screens up against Defog users like Tornadus-Therian. Lead Landorus-Therian can reliably set up Stealth Rocks even against Defog Tornadus-Therian if running Rock Tomb. It can also use Explosion to maintain momentum, wallbreak, and also prevent Defog and Rapid Spin from slower pokemon. This makes it an excellent lead on Screens HO teams. Hawlucha is an excellent late game sweeper, has great synergy with Tapu Koko and also provides one time speed control. Screens also makes it much easier for Hawlucha to setup, makes it much harder to revenge kill and invalidates some of its usual defensive answers. This makes Electric Seed Hawlucha a staple on Screens HO. Mega Gyarados is a staple of this playstyle. Subsitute + Dragon Dance Mega Gyarados can set up very easily with screens up, especially against passive defensive pokemon that cannot break its Substitute. It also a good matchup against most balance teams. Taunt + Dragon Dance sets can also be used avoid phazing from Skarmory. Screens also make it much harder to revenge kill with Mega Zam, Scarf Kartana, Scarf Lele etc. and help it break through many of its normal defensive answers like Tapu Fini. SG Magearna is an exellent late game cleaner that heavily pressures offensive teams. Screens make it much easier for it to setup and start snowballing with Soul Heart boosts. Tapu Koko's electric terrain also boosts its Thunderbolt and Gigavolt Havoc. It also provides a psychic resist. This makes it a staple on these teams as well. Belly Drum Kommo-O has a much easier time setting up with screens up, especially against passive defensive pokemon that cannot break its substitutes, and is also much harder to revenge kill. It also pressures a lot of Hawlucha checks like Clefable, Reuniclus and Hippowdon, making it a great partner for it. Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar is an excellent sweeper, has impressive bulk with screens up and makes it harder to revenge kill with certain Choice Scarf users like Landorus-Therian and Tapu Lele. Tail Glow + 3 attacks Manaphy is an excellent wallbreaker and does especially well against certain types of SM OU balance teams. Screens also makes it much easier to setup and invalidates some of its revenge killers like Tapu Koko and Kartana.
#5 Bulky Offence
Bulky Offence
Sun Offense
The
Bulky Offense archetype covers a very wide group of teams with the shared gameplan of holding back the opposing team with a small defensive core until the offensive components of the team can win. Although many bulky offenses have some elements of Volt Turn, they are differentiated from it by being bulkier and having more longevity overall and generally not using Assault Vest Magearna.
Landorus-Therian is an excellent and highly versatile pokemon overall for reasons stated above(read its entry in the Volt Turn section, the same things that make Lando-T good on Volt Turn also make it good here) and is thus a staple of the bulky offense archetype. Tapu Fini checks Ash-Greninja and Heatran and can also reliably keep their hazards off with Defog. It is commonly paired with Stealth Rock weak pokemon like Mega Charizard X , Volcarona and Kyurem-Black. Misty Terrain blocking status is greatly appreciated by wall-breakers like Mega Mawile and Kyurem-Black as it prevents them from getting statused by passive defensive walls, making them a much bigger threat. Ferrothorn has good synergy with Tapu Fini as it checks electrics like Tapu Koko that threaten it and Tapu Fini checks Heatran and Fighting-types for it in return. Ferrothorn is common on these teams as it can set Spikes and Stealth Rocks, provides a good psychic resist and checks Ash-Greninja. Heatran is a good offensive pokemon, a fairly reliable Stealth Rocker and provides a psychic resist, making it a good pick on this archetype. Tornadus-Therian is a good offensive pivot and Defog user and a very good pokemon overall, making it a good pick as well. Assault Vest Tangrowth has good type synergy with Tapu Fini and is a decent pokemon overall, making it a decent pick as well. Rotom-Wash helps in the rain MU and is a good Volt Switch pivot. (see its entry under Volt Turn for more details) Jirachi is a good Stealth Rock setter, Scarf user and has access to Healing Wish, making it a good pick overall. It also has nice synergy with Mega Mawile thanks to Healing Wish. Swords Dance Garchomp is a reliable Stealth Rock setter(especially with Rockium-Z) and benefits from the pivoting support this archetype's members can provide. It also has decent offensive synergy with Mega Mawile, pressuring defensive Landorus-Therian for it.
Mega Mawile is a wallbreaker that benefits greatly from the pivoting support provided by common members of this archetype like Tornadus-Therian and Landorus-Therian. Tapu Bulu is a good wallbreaker and has perfect defensive synergy with Heatran, making it a decent pick. Choice Scarf and Choice Band Victini benefits greatly from the pivoting and Defog support provided by Landorus-Therian, Tornadus-Therian and Tapu Fini respectively and is a good offensive pokemon overall.
Mega Lopunny + Choice Band Victini is a common pairing on bulky offense as MLop deals with offensive teams while CB Victini deals with balance and stall teams that MLop struggles into. Mega Loppunny has a good MU into opposing offensive teams overall and is a great revenge killer, making it a good pick overall.
Mega Scizor + Tapu Fini + Heatran is a common defensive core on these teams as Fini and Heatran cover most of the tier's Fire-types, which MZor appreciates. Mega Scizor also covers Grass-types for Tapu Fini and some Ground-types for Heatran.
Mega Charizard X + Tapu Fini is another common pairing as Fini removes Stealth Rocks with Defog and its Misty Terrain protects Zard from status, which let it freely swap into passive defensive pokemon that rely on status to threaten it. They also have good type synergy.
Kyurem-Black + Tapu Fini is another common pairing for exactly the same reasons as Mega Charizard X.
Sun offense is a niche sub archetype of Bulky Offense centered around Mega Charizard Y. Weavile can trap Mega Latios and Mega Latias and put pressure on Chansey, making it a staple. Heatran abuses sun very well and can trap and eliminate Toxapex and Chansey, making it a fixture on these team. Choice Scarf Victini can remove Zard Y answers like Toxapex with Final Gambit and abuse sun. Choice Band Victini has a nuclear V-Create in sun allowing to muscle though even bulky Fire-resists like Physically Defensive Toxapex after Rocks. Tapu Fini can trap and eliminate Toxapex and Chansey using its Taunt + Whirpool + Nature's Madness trapper set or provide Defog support. Grassium-Z Kartana is a reliable Defogger, which is greatly appreciated by Vinctini and Mega-Charizard-Y.
#6 Rain Offence
Rain offense's gameplan involves setting up rain with Pelipper and then overwhelming the opponent with powerful rain-boosted offensive Water-types. By far the most standard variation of rain uses Pelipper, Mega Swampert, Ash-Greninja, Manaphy, Ferrothorn and Tornadus-Therian.
Pelipper is the rain setter of choice for all rain offence teams in SM OU. This is because it has Drizzle to set rain automatically, has a slow U-Turn to bring in its teammates and can use Defog. Thanks to its typing, it also checks Mega Scizor, some variants of Landorus-Therian and Charizard-Mega-Y. Pelipper usually runs a Defensive set with Damp Rock to extend rain turns as much as possible. It can also use a Choice Specs set to pressure usual answers to rain sweepers such as Ferrothorn and Toxapex. Mega Swampert is the premier Mega Evolution on rain team as it abuses rain very well with Swift Swim and provides the team with a much needed electric immunity. It is a huge offensive threat in rain and can easily clean up late game against weakened teams. It can also set up Stealth Rock, which frees up Ferrothorn to use Spikes. Manaphy is a fantastic stallbreaker in rain thanks to the combination of Tail Glow + Hydration. Hydration makes it immune to Toxic in Rain and lets it heal up to full in single turn with Rest if rain is active. Its rain boosted +3 Hydro Vortex can also weaken rain checks for Mega Swampert and Ash-Greninja to clean up. Ferrothorn provides the team with a psychic resist, check to Tapu Koko and provides Stealth Rock and/or Spikes support. Rain also helps it take Fire-type attacks better. Ash-Greninja is a staple on rain as well. The boost to its attack power in rain in conjuction with entry hazard support from Mega Swampert and/or Ferrothorn makes it much harder to wall. It's also an excellent late game cleaner and its powerful priority helps against Mega Alakazam. Tornadus-Therian provides Defog support which helps keep Pelipper healthy to set rain over and over again. It also checks Kartana and Tapu Bulu and can bring in its teammates with U-Turn. This makes it a staple of rain offense in SM OU. Some rain teams also replace Ash-Greninja or Manaphy with Crawdaunt, Kingdra or Tapu Koko.
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Attached below is the text file containg the raw archetypes data obtained by the program. This was used as the basis for the archetypes listed above.
SM OU Teambuilding/Strategy 
Archetypes and Cores
A Data-Driven Approach
