The Next Best Thing [Current Subject: Tapu Bulu]

cant say

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I really don't get the Nature Power hype at all. The only thing that interested me was the Psychic Terrain version for hitting Mega Venusaur, but that's it. Hitting Pex is cute until you realise it doesn't like being hit by Earth Power anyway... Grassy Terrain for dealing with Water-types sounds like a worse version of Z Solar Beam, plus you presumably have your own Bulu that you can just switch into the water-types. Misty Terrain..? Why not just run Hidden Power Ice for the Salamence (and Lando)? Electric Terrain..? Does the same thing as Z Solar Beam again, and you're not staying in vs Gyarados anyway..

I'm normally all for the F I R E sets but this just seems dumb to me, sorry.

With that said, i'm voting for DawnManeDuskWing's Grassium Z set because it actually is the next best set for Heatran popping up in the metagame, as evidenced by its increase in usage lately (I was kinda surprised it was allowed to be nommed because it is kinda a thing already).


I totally forgot to make my nomination this week; I was gonna do Stone Edge on the Assault Vest set because it actually kills Volcarona and Charizard Y after tanking a Hidden Power Ground or Focus Blast respectively. rip me
 
Congratulations to Devilican for winning this week's Next Best Thing! Your submission will be logged in the Archive!
This week's subject loves that sweet, sweet poison. It's non other than: Gliscor! Thanks to it's great bulk and ability, Gliscor works as a great wall in the Battle Spot metagame, being a premier mon on both stall and bulky offense teams. So, with all that in mind, what is The Next Best Thing (TM) for Gliscor?

You have until Thursday (5/10) at 9:00 p.m. EST (GMT-5) to post your submissions. Best of luck to everyone!
 

Darkinium

the mighty nuaguunibi

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 32 Def / 76 Spe (s/o to Jmal98 for help with the spread!)
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Roost
- Other Options: Ice Fang, Substitute, Baton Pass

Swords Dance Gliscor. The Speed EVs outspeed max Speed Celesteela, the Attack EVs OHKO Bulky Mega Genger, and HP and Defense are dumps. Max Attack can be run over max HP instead. Facade is good neutral coverage, Roost let you set up repeatedly in front of bulkier foes, Ice Fang has good neutral coverage with EQ as well, Substitute dodges Leech Seeds and is especially dangerous in tandem with Baton Pass and powerful teammates. Baton Pass works well on its own too, but a Substitute is always appreciated.
 
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ethan06

⋖(☼┆☼)⋗
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Reserving Fling Acrobatics lol


Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fling
- Acrobatics

- Protect
- Earthquake

This set aims to take advantage of bulky Pokémon such as Hippowdon and Landorus-T that expect the Substitute set and surprise them with a poison. Now, Toxic would achieve the same job just as easily, but using Fling allows Gliscor to rid itself of its item, which is obsolete after the initial activation, and gain access to a 110 BP Acrobatics, which gives it surprisingly useful Flying-type coverage and a slightly more powerful move than Earthquake, which is still incredibly synergistic and allows Gliscor to break defensive Grass-type/Heatran/Toxapex type cores such as bulutran and venutran. This Gliscor is also capable of dealing with Breloom quickly and efficiently, which is really helpful and capitalises on Gliscor's immunity to sleep. Finally, Fling has some uses outside of simply breaking Focus Sashes: being able to break Disguise and inflict poison in the same turn makes it a valuable tool against Mimikyu, and makes the 1v1 a lot easier as well with Protect. Adamant 252 Speed puts you just above Jolly max Gyarados, for the fast Fling.

252+ Atk Mega Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gliscor: 109-129 (59.8 - 70.8%)
4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Blaziken: 156-186 (100.6 - 120%)
4+ Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Blaziken: 144-170 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 84-102 (44.9 - 54.5%) -- 37.5% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Mega Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 64-76 (35.1 - 41.7%)

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 116-140 (65.5 - 79%)
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gliscor in Grassy Terrain: 141-166 (77.4 - 91.2%)

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Breloom: 316-376 (232.3 - 276.4%) lol
 
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Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Spe / 12 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Baton Pass

I love SubTox Gliscor, but it can be completely useless if the opponent has something like Celesteela. Sure, Guillotine works 30% of the time, but this is far more reliable - turn the momentum in your favour and pass that sub off to a teammate! Pass a sub to Volcarona or MegaZard X in the face of the aforementioned Celesteela and it's basically GG right there.

You could run a slower, bulkier spread if you want, but I like being able to sub up on as many things as possible.
 
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Submissions are now closed! There are to be no edits of your own Pokemon, nor are there to be any new submissions. A few quick things to note;
  • Voting will close on 5/13 at 9:00pm EST (GMT-5), where the next subject will also be announced
  • You can't vote for your own submission
  • You can only change your vote once, so think carefully before doing so
  • You can vote even if you haven't made a submission. It is expected that you vote if you did submit yourself, but not compulsory

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 32 Def / 76 Spe (s/o to Jmal98 for help with the spread!)
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Roost
- Other Options: Ice Fang, Substitute, Baton Pass

Swords Dance Gliscor. The Speed EVs outspeed max Speed Celesteela, the Attack EVs OHKO Bulky Mega Genger, and HP and Defense are dumps. Max Attack can be run over max HP instead. Facade is good neutral coverage, Roost let you set up repeatedly in front of bulkier foes, Ice Fang has good neutral coverage with EQ as well, Substitute dodges Leech Seeds and is especially dangerous in tandem with Baton Pass and powerful teammates. Baton Pass works well on its own too, but a Substitute is always appreciated.
eserving Fling Acrobatics lol




Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fling
- Acrobatics

- Protect
- Earthquake

This set aims to take advantage of bulky Pokémon such as Hippowdon and Landorus-T that expect the Substitute set and surprise them with a poison. Now, Toxic would achieve the same job just as easily, but using Fling allows Gliscor to rid itself of its item, which is obsolete after the initial activation, and gain access to a 110 BP Acrobatics, which gives it surprisingly useful Flying-type coverage and a slightly more powerful move than Earthquake, which is still incredibly synergistic and allows Gliscor to break defensive Grass-type/Heatran/Toxapex type cores such as bulutran and venutran. This Gliscor is also capable of dealing with Breloom quickly and efficiently, which is really helpful and capitalises on Gliscor's immunity to sleep. Finally, Fling has some uses outside of simply breaking Focus Sashes: being able to break Disguise and inflict poison in the same turn makes it a valuable tool against Mimikyu, and makes the 1v1 a lot easier as well with Protect. Adamant 252 Speed puts you just above Jolly max Gyarados, for the fast Fling.

252+ Atk Mega Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gliscor: 109-129 (59.8 - 70.8%)
4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Blaziken: 156-186 (100.6 - 120%)
4+ Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Blaziken: 144-170 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 84-102 (44.9 - 54.5%) -- 37.5% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Mega Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 64-76 (35.1 - 41.7%)

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 116-140 (65.5 - 79%)
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gliscor in Grassy Terrain: 141-166 (77.4 - 91.2%)

4+ Atk Gliscor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Breloom: 316-376 (232.3 - 276.4%) lol



Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Spe / 12 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Baton Pass

I love SubTox Gliscor, but it can be completely useless if the opponent has something like Celesteela. Sure, Guillotine works 30% of the time, but this is far more reliable - turn the momentum in your favour and pass that sub off to a teammate! Pass a sub to Volcarona or MegaZard X in the face of the aforementioned Celesteela and it's basically GG right there.

You could run a slower, bulkier spread if you want, but I like being able to sub up on as many things as possible.
 

cant say

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Steel With It's SubPass. I feel it's kinda hard to maintain momentum with Gliscor when I use it unless you make good reads. The passing to Volc/Zard against Steela example sounds like a game winner to me.
 
Congratulations to Steel With It for winning this week's Next Best Thing! Your submission will be logged in the Archive!
This week's subject is another one of the mysterious ultra beasts: Pheromosa! Pheromosa can be a dangerous threat in Battle Spot thanks to it's amazing speed, and attacks, letting it function as a great revenge killer and mixed attacker. So, with all that in mind, what is The Next Best Thing (TM) for Pheromosa?

You have until Thursday (5/17) at 9:00 p.m. EST (GMT-5) to post your submissions. Best of luck to everyone!
 

Darkinium

the mighty nuaguunibi

Pheromosa @ Groundium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Drill Run
- Ice Beam

Although Drill Run itself is far from uncommon, in conjunction with Groundium Z, it allows you to pick up KOs against threats that could normally take a hit and strike back.

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 146-174 (87.4 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 146-174 (87.4 - 104.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 124-147 (94.6 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 124-147 (94.6 - 112.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 146-174 (94.1 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 146-174 (94.1 - 112.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 112-134 (71.3 - 85.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
 
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Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Ice Beam

Once of the greater annoyances you will deal with when using Pheromosa is Fake Out from Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Lopunny, and Protect solves this theoretical issue. As Pheromosa already excels at causing annoyances to most teams with HJK, U-turn, and Ice Beam, it can still do its job with three moves.
 
Basically Me-first OHKOs a counter aegislash using shadow ball/claw. Bit of a meme though.

Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Me First
- Ice Beam
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
 
I'm going to add my own set that I shamelessly stole from an old Victim of the Week since there aren't very many sets this week

Pheromosa @ Fist Plate
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty / Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab/Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Fling

This Pheromosa set lures out Ghost-types like Mega-Gengar and then KOs them with Fling, nothing else to it.
252+ Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 140-166 (83.8 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 140-166 (103.7 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 128-152 (94.8 - 112.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO



Submissions are now closed! There are to be no edits of your own Pokemon, nor are there to be any new submissions. A few quick things to note;
  • Voting will close on 5/20 at 9:00pm EST (GMT-5), where the next subject will also be announced
  • You can't vote for your own submission
  • You can only change your vote once, so think carefully before doing so
  • You can vote even if you haven't made a submission. It is expected that you vote if you did submit yourself, but not compulsory


Pheromosa @ Groundium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Drill Run
- Ice Beam

Although Drill Run itself is far from uncommon, in conjunction with Groundium Z, it allows you to pick up KOs against threats that could normally take a hit and strike back.
252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 146-174 (87.4 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 146-174 (87.4 - 104.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 124-147 (94.6 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 124-147 (94.6 - 112.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 146-174 (94.1 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 146-174 (94.1 - 112.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Pheromosa Tectonic Rage (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 112-134 (71.3 - 85.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery


Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Ice Beam

Once of the greater annoyances you will deal with when using Pheromosa is Fake Out from Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Lopunny, and Protect solves this theoretical issue. As Pheromosa already excels at causing annoyances to most teams with HJK, U-turn, and Ice Beam, it can still do its job with three moves.
Basically Me-first OHKOs a counter aegislash using shadow ball/claw. Bit of a meme though.

Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Me First
- Ice Beam
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
I'm going to add my own set that I shamelessly stole from an old Victim of the Week since there aren't very many sets this week

Pheromosa @ Fist Plate
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty / Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab/Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Fling

This Pheromosa set lures out Ghost-types like Mega-Gengar and then KOs them with Fling, nothing else to it.
252+ Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 140-166 (83.8 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 140-166 (103.7 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Fist Plate Pheromosa Fling (90 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar-Mega: 128-152 (94.8 - 112.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
 
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Darkinium

the mighty nuaguunibi
Kinda a tough choice for me, because to be honest none of these options are extremely appealing: Protect and Me First are both pretty situational, and since tutor moves have arrived, Fist Plate + Fling has kinda become inferior to Drill Run.

Ultimately, my vote is probably going to have to go to DMDW's Protect. It is both unique, and also stops a pretty big obstacle for Pheromosa. It makes it less reliant on Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain, too.
 
I swear this is not a give and take

Darkinium's Groundium Z, because it is one of the very few ways around Aegislash and Toxapex (against the former you have to play mind games even if you run Drill Run without the Z-Crystal)
 
Oops, I kind of forgot about this:psyduck:
I'm going to go and vote for Darkinium's Groundium Z because it's a great lure for Aegi and Pex, which both give Pheromosa a ton of trouble.

Congratulations to Darkinium for winning this week's Next Best Thing! Your submission will be logged in the Archive!
This week's subject is arguably the most underrated Tapu, but it's still a powerhouse: Tapu Bulu! Bulu has an amazing attack stat paired with a great ability that lets it fire off super powerful Grass STABs, while also supporting its teammates. So, with all that in mind, what is The Next Best Thing (TM) for Tapu Bulu?

You have until Sunday (6/24) at 9:00 p.m. EST (GMT-5) to post your submissions. Best of luck to everyone!
 
Tapu Bulu @ Fairium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 116 Atk / 8 Def / 144 SpA / 36 SpD
Brave/Quiet Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Horn Leech
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge

One of Tapu Sulu's biggest problems is that it lacks a fairy type move, which encourages Pokemon like Salamence and Latias to switch in; encouraging set up. But not with this set!

100+ SpA Tapu Bulu Twinkle Tackle (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 156-186 (100 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
100+ SpA Tapu Bulu Twinkle Tackle (160 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence-Mega: 212-252 (123.9 - 147.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140+ SpA Tapu Bulu Twinkle Tackle (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0+ SpD Salamence-Mega: 204-240 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 

Tapu Bulu @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Synthesis

Good old bulu except this set remains fat without relying on AV.

OU recently found usefulness of specially defensive bulu so I thought I would post here. EV spread has one goal:

252 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 216+ SpD Tapu Bulu: 134-158 (75.7 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery and trapping damage

+2 Superpower will OHKO. Synthesis is there so that bulu won't slowly be worn down and will therefore be able to consistently check fini / zapdos / etc. It also lets bulu set up and beat Porygon2.
 

Darkinium

the mighty nuaguunibi

Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Disable
- Horn Leech

Set up a Substitute as the opponent sends out their Mega Salamence, Rotom-Heat, Scizor, etc. When they attack to break the Substitute, just Disable their attack, and you get free subs and seeds! Even against stuff like Naganadel or Mega Metagross that can hit Tapu Bulu in two ways, you still restrict one of their options, and can switch into a teammate you couldn't go to otherwise. This is also good against things that usually rely on one move, such as Tapu Lele, or Choice locked Pokemon in general.
 
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