Taken over from Poek97, who took it over from TDK
SD BUZZWOLE
[OVERVIEW]
* High Attack allows Buzzwole to deal a lot of damage.
* Its good defensive typing, which is complemented by amazing physical bulk, access to Roost, and the newly buffed Leech Life, makes Buzzwole difficult to KO on the physical side.
* It has a good array of coverage options, making taking on all of its sets a challenge
* It has a low Special Defense stat, which makes it easy to take out with special attacks.
* While it is fast enough to outpace Heatran when fully invested, its Speed stat is still very underwhelming—being low enough for it to be outpaced by everything from fully invested Mamoswine upward.
[SET]
name: Offensive Roost
move 1: Roost
move 2: Hammer Arm
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Ice Punch / Lunge
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 52 HP / 244 Atk / 152 SDef / 60 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Roost is a necessity, allowing Buzzwole to have longevity throughout a match and allowing it to consistently check various dangerous Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu.
* Hammer Arm allows Buzzwole to take on Skarmory solo by preventing it from stalling with Roost due to the Speed drop.
* Poison Jab allows Buzzwole to hit Fairy-types such as Tapu Fini and Clefable, which otherwise would pose to be extreme annoyances to this set, for super effective damage. The ability to OHKO Tapu Bulu is also useful.
* Ice Punch is a viable alternative if Buzzwole's team is weak to Landorus-T, benefiting from the ability to take any move other than Fly, Hidden Power Flying, or its choice of Z move with ease. It also hits Zygarde, which gives Buzzwole a headache by using it as Coil fodder.
* Lunge provides a reliable Bug-type STAB to hit bulky Psychic-types such as Slowbro hard while also providing a situational Attack drop.
* Superpower is an option over Hammer Arm for the higher initial power, but the Defense drops aren't desirable.
* Thunder Punch is an alternative to Poison Jab for hitting Tapu Fini and has good type coverage alongside Ice Punch; it exchanges coverage on various Fairy-types such as Clefable and Tapu Lele—as well as the OHKO on Tapu Bulu—for the ability to hit Pokemon such as Mantine, Toxapex, and Pelipper for solid damage.
* Earthquake allows Buzzwole to hit Toxapex and Alolan Marowak super effectively, which would otherwise wall Buzzwole running dual STAB moves and a coverage move without sacrificing the ability to hit Pokemon such as Heatran super effectively. That said, Buzzwole doesn't have room in its moveset to sacrifice any moves for it and it doesn't hit much beyond this.
* Leech Life can be used over Ice Punch or Lunge for its healing, but it is mostly unnecessary due to Buzzwole having Roost already.
Set Details
========
* The HP and Special Defense EVs allow Buzzwole to take two Ice Beams from physical Life Orb Pheromosa when Stealth Rock is on the field while also hitting a Leftovers number.
* The Speed EVs allow Buzzwole to outspeed uninvested Rotom-W.
* The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack to maximize Buzzwole's power.
* Leftovers gives Buzzwole longevity and takes it out of range of a few KOs.
* Life Orb alongside an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with an Adamant nature is another option; this change gives Buzzwole more power and wall-breaking abilities at the cost of longevity and defensive utility.
Usage Tips
========
* Take every opportunity to get Buzzwole in by coming in on physical moves from Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu and physically defensive Landorus-T.
* Use Roost against Pokemon that Buzzwole takes minimal damage from whenever it is weakened in order to use Buzzwole to check things repeatedly.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole, as even resisted moves will deal heavy damage.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Heatran specifically excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Pokemon that can take on or lure Toxapex, such as Garchomp, Tapu Lele, or Extrasensory Greninja, make good partners for Buzzwole.
Pursuit users that can trap Alolan Marowak, such as Weavile and Tyranitar, make good partners because it resists or is immune to everything Buzzwole can throw at it.
* Assault Vest Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Pokemon that can use Stealth Rock or Spikes, such as Landorus-T and Greninja, make for good partners because they help wear down things that try to switch into Buzzwole, improving its wallbreaking abilities.
* Other wallbreakers such as Mega Metagross and Choice Band Tapu Bulu help Buzzwole overwhelm its opponent.
[SET]
name: Substitute + Focus Punch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Leech Life
move 4: Poison Jab / Ice Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 204 HP / 192 Atk / 12 SDef / 100 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Substitute lets Buzzwole avoid status, punishes switches, and provides Buzzwole with a safety net to use Focus Punch behind.
* Focus Punch, coupled with Substitute, gives Buzzwole an incredibly strong STAB attack.
* Leech Life provides a secondary STAB move to use without relying on Substitute, and it also allows Buzzwole to recover some HP to set up more Substitutes. It also hits Psychic-types such as Latios, Tapu Lele, and Slowbro, which resist Focus Punch, for heavy damage.
* Poison Jab hits Fairy-types which resist Buzzwole's STAB moves, such as Tapu Fini and Clefable.
* Ice Punch hits Landorus-T hard, which is nice for avoiding having to play mindgames with an undetermined variant early game and for stopping offensive variants using Buzzwole as setup bait. It also hits Zygarde hard, which is useful to prevent it using Zygarde for setup fodder.
* Earthquake allows Buzzwole to deal solid damage to Toxapex, giving it no free turns and stopping it walling Buzzwole, while also preventing Alolan Marowak coming in on Buzzwole with ease.
Set Details
========
* 204 HP EVs allow Buzzwole to set up 101 HP Substitutes, which prevents Chansey from breaking its Substitute with one Seismic Toss. It also allows Buzzwole to make 5 consecutive Substitutes.
* 12 Special Defense EVs prevent Toxapex from breaking Buzzwole's Substitute with one Scald.
* 100 Speed EVs allow Buzzwole to outpace everything up to uninvested Landorus-T.
* The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack along with an Adamant nature so that Buzzwole can hit as hard as possible.
* Leftovers allows Buzzwole to heal a little every turn, helping its longevity and allowing it to use Substitute more often.
Usage Tips
========
* Take every opportunity to get Buzzwole in against physical attackers that it can force out and set up Substitute on, such as Tapu Bulu and Hoopa-U locked into Hyperspace Fury.
* Set up Substitute on other weak Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, bulky Jirachi, and physically defensive Landorus-T.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole; even resisted moves will take a chunk out of its health due to its low Special Defense stat.
* Do not try to set up Substitutes on Landorus-T until you have determined what its set is, and do not stay in on it if Buzzwole is not protected by Substitute unless you have confirmed it is physically defensive.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Jirachi tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Bronzong in particular is nice because it deals with offensive Landorus-T consistently while also covering Psychic-types like Tapu Lele, and Heatran is also a good partner due to it being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole.
* Specially bulky Pokemon like Assault Vest Magearna, Celesteela, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T can take special attacks for Buzzwole.
* Entry hazard users such as Ferrothorn and Landorus-T are needed in order to make Buzzwole's job at breaking teams easier.
* Other wallbreakers such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Lele complement Buzzwole by helping it put pressure on the opposing team.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Superpower / Hammer Arm
move 2: Leech Life
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Superpower is Buzzwole's strongest STAB attack, having a higher initial power than Hammer Arm.
* Hammer Arm has a higher damage output than Superpower over two turns and stops Skarmory roosting on Buzzwole due to the Speed drop at the cost of initial firepower. Buzzwole still needs to be careful of Skarmory's Brave Bird, however.
* Leech Life gives Buzzwole a more spammable STAB move than Superpower which allows Buzzwole to heal off a little damage when used.
* Poison Jab hits Tapu Fini and Clefable, which otherwise are able to take any of Buzzwole's other attacks and OHKO in turn as well as OHKOing Tapu Bulu.
* Ice Punch allows Buzzwole to hit Landorus-T, which would otherwise wall Buzzwole. It also nails Zygarde.
* Thunder Punch is an alternative to Poison Jab which still hits Tapu Fini while exchanging the ability to hit a number of Fairy-types with the ability to hit a number of bulky Water-types. It has good type coverage alongside Ice Punch.
* Earthquake hits Poison-types and Alolan Marowak hard, which is nice because they otherwise easily take Buzzwole's STAB moves; it is particularly useful on this set for its ability to 2HKO Toxapex, which it fails to do without the boost from Choice Band. However, other coverage is generally more useful, and being locked into a Ground-type move isn't always desirable.
* Lunge is an alternative to Leech Life which hits just as had while exchanging the healing for Attack drops.
Set Details
========
* The listed EVs allow Buzzwole to hit as hard and fast as possible.
* Choice Band bolsters Buzzwole's damage output.
* Jolly allows Buzzwole to outspeed Timid Heatran, Jolly Tapu Bulu, Bisharp, and Adamant Landorus-T.
* Adamant can be used for more firepower, but the drop in Speed is undesirable.
Usage Tips
========
* Bring Buzzwole in against physical attackers that it forces out.
* Think carefully about what your opponent is going to do before clicking an attack; if Buzzwole doe not dent the Pokemon that switches in, the result will be a loss of momentum.
* 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 deal heavy damage.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Heatran specifically excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Assault Vest Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Ash-Greninja appreciates Choice Band Buzzwole weakening all the Fairy-Types it hates to clean late-game.
* Entry hazard setters such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak are needed in order to help Buzzwole break through defensive Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* A Substitute + Bulk Up set can protect Buzzwole from status and boost up to very hard-to-break levels physically, but it is held back by its very low Special Defense, meaning it can't take advantage of Bulk Up to the fullest, and it struggles due to only having one attacking move.
* Bulk Up on its own is an option to boost Buzzwole's Attack stat, and it can even be used alongside Fightinium Z to boost Buzzwole's Attack stat by two stages in one turn along with the Defense boost or, alternatively, to give a single-use extremely strong Fighting-type attack. This benefits from two-type coverage, but it is still vulnerable to a lot of Pokemon and simply isn't as effective as other sets.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Tapu Fini and Clefable take very little from Buzzwole's STAB moves and can retaliate with Moonblast. Tapu Lele resists its choice of Fighting-type STAB move, outpaces, and OHKOes back with either Psychic or Moonblast. Magearna can take any one hit from Buzzwole and OHKOes back with Fleur Cannon, but it needs to be careful of Substitute + Focus Punch variants because Focus Punch puts a heavy dent into it.
**Flying-types**: Flying-types such as Tornadus-T and Salamence outrun Buzzwole and hit hard back with a 4x super effective STAB move. That said, they need to be careful of Ice Punch and the rare Thunder Punch. Landorus-T is faster, switches in on anything other than Ice Punch with ease, and can threaten Buzzwole with Supersonic Skystrike or Continental Crush.
**Alolan Marowak**: Alolan Marowak resists or is immune to literally everything Buzzwole can throw at it aside from Earthquake and can either 2HKO with Fire Punch or hit whatever Buzzwole is forced out into hard with STAB Shadow Bone.
**Strong Special Attackers**: Latios and Mega Alakazam both outpace and OHKO with STAB Psychic. Heatran and Volcarona outpace regardless of EV spread and can OHKO with Magma Storm or Fire Blast, respectively. Strong neutral STAB moves from various Pokemon like Keldeo, Greninja, Ash Greninja, and Nihilego take chunks out of Buzzwole due to its low Special Defense stat.
**Poison-types**: Mega Venusaur takes any move aside from Choice Band Leech Life with ease and 2HKOes with Sludge Bomb. Nidoking resists both of Buzzwole's STAB moves, outpaces, and OHKOes with Flamethrower without Stealth Rock damage or Sludge Wave with it. Toxapex hard walls Buzzwole aside from Choice Band Earthquake.
SD BUZZWOLE
[OVERVIEW]
* High Attack allows Buzzwole to deal a lot of damage.
* Its good defensive typing, which is complemented by amazing physical bulk, access to Roost, and the newly buffed Leech Life, makes Buzzwole difficult to KO on the physical side.
* It has a good array of coverage options, making taking on all of its sets a challenge
* It has a low Special Defense stat, which makes it easy to take out with special attacks.
* While it is fast enough to outpace Heatran when fully invested, its Speed stat is still very underwhelming—being low enough for it to be outpaced by everything from fully invested Mamoswine upward.
[SET]
name: Offensive Roost
move 1: Roost
move 2: Hammer Arm
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Ice Punch / Lunge
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 52 HP / 244 Atk / 152 SDef / 60 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Roost is a necessity, allowing Buzzwole to have longevity throughout a match and allowing it to consistently check various dangerous Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu.
* Hammer Arm allows Buzzwole to take on Skarmory solo by preventing it from stalling with Roost due to the Speed drop.
* Poison Jab allows Buzzwole to hit Fairy-types such as Tapu Fini and Clefable, which otherwise would pose to be extreme annoyances to this set, for super effective damage. The ability to OHKO Tapu Bulu is also useful.
* Ice Punch is a viable alternative if Buzzwole's team is weak to Landorus-T, benefiting from the ability to take any move other than Fly, Hidden Power Flying, or its choice of Z move with ease. It also hits Zygarde, which gives Buzzwole a headache by using it as Coil fodder.
* Lunge provides a reliable Bug-type STAB to hit bulky Psychic-types such as Slowbro hard while also providing a situational Attack drop.
* Superpower is an option over Hammer Arm for the higher initial power, but the Defense drops aren't desirable.
* Thunder Punch is an alternative to Poison Jab for hitting Tapu Fini and has good type coverage alongside Ice Punch; it exchanges coverage on various Fairy-types such as Clefable and Tapu Lele—as well as the OHKO on Tapu Bulu—for the ability to hit Pokemon such as Mantine, Toxapex, and Pelipper for solid damage.
* Earthquake allows Buzzwole to hit Toxapex and Alolan Marowak super effectively, which would otherwise wall Buzzwole running dual STAB moves and a coverage move without sacrificing the ability to hit Pokemon such as Heatran super effectively. That said, Buzzwole doesn't have room in its moveset to sacrifice any moves for it and it doesn't hit much beyond this.
* Leech Life can be used over Ice Punch or Lunge for its healing, but it is mostly unnecessary due to Buzzwole having Roost already.
Set Details
========
* The HP and Special Defense EVs allow Buzzwole to take two Ice Beams from physical Life Orb Pheromosa when Stealth Rock is on the field while also hitting a Leftovers number.
* The Speed EVs allow Buzzwole to outspeed uninvested Rotom-W.
* The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack to maximize Buzzwole's power.
* Leftovers gives Buzzwole longevity and takes it out of range of a few KOs.
* Life Orb alongside an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with an Adamant nature is another option; this change gives Buzzwole more power and wall-breaking abilities at the cost of longevity and defensive utility.
Usage Tips
========
* Take every opportunity to get Buzzwole in by coming in on physical moves from Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu and physically defensive Landorus-T.
* Use Roost against Pokemon that Buzzwole takes minimal damage from whenever it is weakened in order to use Buzzwole to check things repeatedly.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole, as even resisted moves will deal heavy damage.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Heatran specifically excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Pokemon that can take on or lure Toxapex, such as Garchomp, Tapu Lele, or Extrasensory Greninja, make good partners for Buzzwole.
Pursuit users that can trap Alolan Marowak, such as Weavile and Tyranitar, make good partners because it resists or is immune to everything Buzzwole can throw at it.
* Assault Vest Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Pokemon that can use Stealth Rock or Spikes, such as Landorus-T and Greninja, make for good partners because they help wear down things that try to switch into Buzzwole, improving its wallbreaking abilities.
* Other wallbreakers such as Mega Metagross and Choice Band Tapu Bulu help Buzzwole overwhelm its opponent.
[SET]
name: Substitute + Focus Punch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Leech Life
move 4: Poison Jab / Ice Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 204 HP / 192 Atk / 12 SDef / 100 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Substitute lets Buzzwole avoid status, punishes switches, and provides Buzzwole with a safety net to use Focus Punch behind.
* Focus Punch, coupled with Substitute, gives Buzzwole an incredibly strong STAB attack.
* Leech Life provides a secondary STAB move to use without relying on Substitute, and it also allows Buzzwole to recover some HP to set up more Substitutes. It also hits Psychic-types such as Latios, Tapu Lele, and Slowbro, which resist Focus Punch, for heavy damage.
* Poison Jab hits Fairy-types which resist Buzzwole's STAB moves, such as Tapu Fini and Clefable.
* Ice Punch hits Landorus-T hard, which is nice for avoiding having to play mindgames with an undetermined variant early game and for stopping offensive variants using Buzzwole as setup bait. It also hits Zygarde hard, which is useful to prevent it using Zygarde for setup fodder.
* Earthquake allows Buzzwole to deal solid damage to Toxapex, giving it no free turns and stopping it walling Buzzwole, while also preventing Alolan Marowak coming in on Buzzwole with ease.
Set Details
========
* 204 HP EVs allow Buzzwole to set up 101 HP Substitutes, which prevents Chansey from breaking its Substitute with one Seismic Toss. It also allows Buzzwole to make 5 consecutive Substitutes.
* 12 Special Defense EVs prevent Toxapex from breaking Buzzwole's Substitute with one Scald.
* 100 Speed EVs allow Buzzwole to outpace everything up to uninvested Landorus-T.
* The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack along with an Adamant nature so that Buzzwole can hit as hard as possible.
* Leftovers allows Buzzwole to heal a little every turn, helping its longevity and allowing it to use Substitute more often.
Usage Tips
========
* Take every opportunity to get Buzzwole in against physical attackers that it can force out and set up Substitute on, such as Tapu Bulu and Hoopa-U locked into Hyperspace Fury.
* Set up Substitute on other weak Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, bulky Jirachi, and physically defensive Landorus-T.
* Don't try to take many special attacks with Buzzwole; even resisted moves will take a chunk out of its health due to its low Special Defense stat.
* Do not try to set up Substitutes on Landorus-T until you have determined what its set is, and do not stay in on it if Buzzwole is not protected by Substitute unless you have confirmed it is physically defensive.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Jirachi tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Bronzong in particular is nice because it deals with offensive Landorus-T consistently while also covering Psychic-types like Tapu Lele, and Heatran is also a good partner due to it being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole.
* Specially bulky Pokemon like Assault Vest Magearna, Celesteela, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T can take special attacks for Buzzwole.
* Entry hazard users such as Ferrothorn and Landorus-T are needed in order to make Buzzwole's job at breaking teams easier.
* Other wallbreakers such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Lele complement Buzzwole by helping it put pressure on the opposing team.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Superpower / Hammer Arm
move 2: Leech Life
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Superpower is Buzzwole's strongest STAB attack, having a higher initial power than Hammer Arm.
* Hammer Arm has a higher damage output than Superpower over two turns and stops Skarmory roosting on Buzzwole due to the Speed drop at the cost of initial firepower. Buzzwole still needs to be careful of Skarmory's Brave Bird, however.
* Leech Life gives Buzzwole a more spammable STAB move than Superpower which allows Buzzwole to heal off a little damage when used.
* Poison Jab hits Tapu Fini and Clefable, which otherwise are able to take any of Buzzwole's other attacks and OHKO in turn as well as OHKOing Tapu Bulu.
* Ice Punch allows Buzzwole to hit Landorus-T, which would otherwise wall Buzzwole. It also nails Zygarde.
* Thunder Punch is an alternative to Poison Jab which still hits Tapu Fini while exchanging the ability to hit a number of Fairy-types with the ability to hit a number of bulky Water-types. It has good type coverage alongside Ice Punch.
* Earthquake hits Poison-types and Alolan Marowak hard, which is nice because they otherwise easily take Buzzwole's STAB moves; it is particularly useful on this set for its ability to 2HKO Toxapex, which it fails to do without the boost from Choice Band. However, other coverage is generally more useful, and being locked into a Ground-type move isn't always desirable.
* Lunge is an alternative to Leech Life which hits just as had while exchanging the healing for Attack drops.
Set Details
========
* The listed EVs allow Buzzwole to hit as hard and fast as possible.
* Choice Band bolsters Buzzwole's damage output.
* Jolly allows Buzzwole to outspeed Timid Heatran, Jolly Tapu Bulu, Bisharp, and Adamant Landorus-T.
* Adamant can be used for more firepower, but the drop in Speed is undesirable.
Usage Tips
========
* Bring Buzzwole in against physical attackers that it forces out.
* Think carefully about what your opponent is going to do before clicking an attack; if Buzzwole doe not dent the Pokemon that switches in, the result will be a loss of momentum.
* 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 deal heavy damage.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types tend to pair well with Buzzwole due to its weaknesses to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic. Heatran specifically excels in this regard, being able to take Fire-type attacks for Buzzwole as well.
* Assault Vest Magearna to take special attacks thrown at Buzzwole and covers Tapu Lele and Greninja which are scary to switch into.
* Ash-Greninja appreciates Choice Band Buzzwole weakening all the Fairy-Types it hates to clean late-game.
* Entry hazard setters such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Alolan Marowak are needed in order to help Buzzwole break through defensive Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* A Substitute + Bulk Up set can protect Buzzwole from status and boost up to very hard-to-break levels physically, but it is held back by its very low Special Defense, meaning it can't take advantage of Bulk Up to the fullest, and it struggles due to only having one attacking move.
* Bulk Up on its own is an option to boost Buzzwole's Attack stat, and it can even be used alongside Fightinium Z to boost Buzzwole's Attack stat by two stages in one turn along with the Defense boost or, alternatively, to give a single-use extremely strong Fighting-type attack. This benefits from two-type coverage, but it is still vulnerable to a lot of Pokemon and simply isn't as effective as other sets.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Tapu Fini and Clefable take very little from Buzzwole's STAB moves and can retaliate with Moonblast. Tapu Lele resists its choice of Fighting-type STAB move, outpaces, and OHKOes back with either Psychic or Moonblast. Magearna can take any one hit from Buzzwole and OHKOes back with Fleur Cannon, but it needs to be careful of Substitute + Focus Punch variants because Focus Punch puts a heavy dent into it.
**Flying-types**: Flying-types such as Tornadus-T and Salamence outrun Buzzwole and hit hard back with a 4x super effective STAB move. That said, they need to be careful of Ice Punch and the rare Thunder Punch. Landorus-T is faster, switches in on anything other than Ice Punch with ease, and can threaten Buzzwole with Supersonic Skystrike or Continental Crush.
**Alolan Marowak**: Alolan Marowak resists or is immune to literally everything Buzzwole can throw at it aside from Earthquake and can either 2HKO with Fire Punch or hit whatever Buzzwole is forced out into hard with STAB Shadow Bone.
**Strong Special Attackers**: Latios and Mega Alakazam both outpace and OHKO with STAB Psychic. Heatran and Volcarona outpace regardless of EV spread and can OHKO with Magma Storm or Fire Blast, respectively. Strong neutral STAB moves from various Pokemon like Keldeo, Greninja, Ash Greninja, and Nihilego take chunks out of Buzzwole due to its low Special Defense stat.
**Poison-types**: Mega Venusaur takes any move aside from Choice Band Leech Life with ease and 2HKOes with Sludge Bomb. Nidoking resists both of Buzzwole's STAB moves, outpaces, and OHKOes with Flamethrower without Stealth Rock damage or Sludge Wave with it. Toxapex hard walls Buzzwole aside from Choice Band Earthquake.
Last edited:
