[OVERVIEW]
Buzzwole's outstanding physical bulk, reliable recovery in the form of Roost and its typing which resists Ground-, Dark- and Fighting-type moves makes it a promising physical tank in the Ubers metagame. With a base 139 Attack stat, it is able to offensively check a variety of Ubers threats such as Mega Lucario, Excadrill, Extreme Killer Arceus and Arceus-Dark. It can also check offensive threats such as Marshadow, Primal Groudon without Fire STAB and Arceus-Ground by Toxic stalling them. Its access to different coverage moves helps it to hit those threats which would otherwise wall it. Although it possesses a wonderful HP stat, Buzzwole's horrible Special Defense makes it completely vulnerable to specially attacking offensive threats such as Xerneas and Yveltal. Its typing comes with a 4x weakness to Flying-type attacks, making it hard for it to check some of the tier's popular physical threats like Ho-Oh and Mega Salamence.
[SET]
name: Physical Tank
move 1: Hammer Arm
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Roost
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 76 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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Hammer Arm is a powerful STAB move which allows Buzzwole to OHKO Mega Lucario and 2HKO Arceus formes weak to Fighting-type moves, such as Extreme Killer Arceus and Arceus-Dark. It is preferred over Superpower due to twice the number of PP, lack of a drop in Buzzwole's Defense and that a decrease in its speed doesn't make too much of a difference to it, considering it is already very slow. Toxic pressures common Ground-type sweepers such as Primal Groudon and Arceus-Ground as well as those Pokemon which are likely to switch in to Buzzwole, such as Yveltal or Xerneas. Roost keeps Buzzwole healthy throughout the battle. Earthquake OHKOes Mega Gengar after Stealth Rock damage, which can otherwise switch in on any of Buzzwole's other moves, trap it and revenge kill it. It hits all Poison-types immune to Toxic as well as Mega Diancie, which would bounce back Buzzwole's Toxic due to its ability Magic Bounce, super effectively. Stone Edge can be used in place of Earthquake to OHKO Ho-Oh and 2HKO Mega Salamence switch-ins, but it leaves Buzzwole extremely vulnerable to being trapped and finished off by Mega Gengar.
Set Details
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248 HP and 76 Special Defense EVs allow Buzzwole to survive two +1 Judgments from an Arceus-Dark after Stealth Rock damage and Leftovers recovery. The remaining 184 EVs are invested into Buzzwole's Defense stat. An Impish nature helps to tank physical attacks fairly well. The given investment allows Buzzwole to survive a +2 Iron Tail from Mega Lucario or a +1 Soul-Stealing-7-Star-Strike from Marshadow after Stealth Rock damage and Leftovers recovery. If Arceus-Dark is already handled well by Buzzwole's other teammates, then all 252 EVs can be invested into its Defense to make it an exclusive physical tank.
Usage Tips
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Buzzwole fits well in certain Balance teams to offensively check threats like Mega Lucario, Extreme Killer Arceus and Arceus-Dark, and Toxic stall Primal Groudon (without fire coverage) and Arceus-Ground. As many Pokemon it checks fail to carry coverage moves to beat Buzzwole, it can easily switch into them. Try not to blindly switch into Primal Groudon though. Check for the presence of Fire coverage on it and then act accordingly. It is important to keep Buzzwole healthy via Roost so that it can effectively check those Pokemon it needs to. As Steel-type Pokemon fear Buzzwole's Fighting STAB, they are likely not to switch in to it. This makes it is easy for it to spam Toxic. Earthquake is best to use against Mega Gengar when the switch is predicted. This saves Buzzwole from losing a chunk of HP from one of Mega Gengar's moves or from getting KOed by it if Buzzwole is not healthy enough. Be careful about double switches. Since Buzzwole hard walls many physical attackers, the opponent would rather switch into something which would force it out rather than attacking it. The opponent could also attack Buzzwole during the switch, thus forcing it to heal and giving them a chance to switch into something which forces Buzzwole out. It is best to keep Buzzwole away from status moves, especially those which burn it, as they can prevent it from checking those Pokemon it checks. It should also keep a good amount of distance from special attackers (exceptions being Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Ground) such as Xerneas or Yveltal as much as possible.
Team Options
=========
Bulky Pokemon such as Chansey and Blissey can easily wall threatening special attacking Pokemon. Buzzwole can, in turn, tank physical attacks from Pokemon which threaten to take down Chansey or Blissey, such as Mega Lucario or Marshadow. Ho-Oh takes care of Fairy-types and other special attackers (apart from Primal Kyogre and Palkia) which threaten to take down Buzzwole. In return, Buzzwole can take on physical attackers like Primal Groudon lacking Fire coverage, Extreme Killer Arceus and physical Arceus-Ground. Arceus-Water checks Primal Groudon with Fire coverage as well as Flying-types such as Ho-Oh, Mega Salamence, and Rayquaza with ease. Rock types such as Arceus-Rock and Tyranitar also deal with Flying-types, such as Ho-Oh, Mega Salamence and Yveltal pretty well. Zygarde too does a great job in checking Ho-Oh. In addition to this, Zygarde can help to absorb any status and heal from it with Rest. Bulky Steel-types such as Magearna, Klefki, Ferrothorn, Bronzong, and Solgaleo can also deal with Xerneas and Mega Diancie, while Buzzwole walls threatening Ground-type Pokemon like physical Arceus-Ground, Dragon Dance Zygarde-C and Primal Groudon lacking Fire coverage. Primal Groudon checks Xerneas and Primal Kyogre, in addition to setting up Stealth Rock to make Flying-types less of an issue over the course of a match. Primal Kyogre not only deals with Fire-types, but also checks many special attackers in the metagame. Fairy-types such as Xerneas, Arceus-Fairy, Magearna, Tapu Lele and Clefable deal with Yveltal and Mega Sableye. Xerneas, Tapu Lele and Clefable have an added advantage of healing any status received by Buzzwole during battle with Aromatherapy. Mega Diancie does a great job in not only taking care of Dark-types such as Yveltal and Mega Sableye, but also in checking annoying Flying-types such as Ho-Oh and Mega Salamence and can heal Status received by Buzzwole during battle with Heal Bell. Dark-types such as Yveltal and Arceus-Dark make great partners to help deal with strong Psychic-types such as Mewtwo, Lunala, and Deoxys-A as well as Mega Gengar. Alolan Muk can reliably Pursuit trap Mega Gengar while acting as an extremely solid check to the mentioned Psychic-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=========
Ice Punch helps Buzzwole to deal with Rayquaza and Mega Salamence effectively if they try to switch into it. It also handles Zygarde-C pretty well. Leech Life is a STAB move which adds to Buzzwole's recovery, and can help to defeat Psychic-types which attempt to switch into it. However, it provides no majorly useful coverage that is different from Hammer Arm. Lunge decreases the target's attack, which annoys physical Flying-type offensive threats that may try to switch into it. However, similar to Leech Life, it provides no useful coverage. Shed Shell can be used in place of Leftovers to make sure Buzzwole doesn't have to worry about Mega Gengar trapping it, but it will not be able to check Arceus-Dark well enough in the absence of Leftovers. Taunt can frustrate those Pokemon which attempt to set up on Buzzwole and can stop slower walls from spreading status or heal from damage taken by them during battle.
Checks and Counters
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**Toxapex**: Toxapex easily walls most of Buzzwole's moves and, in spite of being weak to Earthquake, is only 3HKOed by it even after taking damage from Stealth Rock. This gives it enough time to set up Toxic Spikes on your field, thus pressuring your team. Switching in to Buzzwole when Buzzwole attempts to use Hammer Arm or Ice Punch and making it take damage from Rocky Helmet, burning it with Scald or healing from any damage taken from Buzzwole with Recover or its ability Regenerator are other things which makes Toxapex a really strong check to it.
**Other Defensive Walls**: Mega Sableye and Giratina barley take any damage from any of Buzzwole's attacking moves. Mega Sableye fails to get poisoned due to its ability Magic Bounce, while Giratina can shake off any status and heal itself with Rest. Buzzwole will, in turn, succumb to burn or Toxic damage from them. Similar to Giratina, Zygarde-C too can free itself from its status with Rest and wall all of Buzzwole's other moves. However, it needs to be wary of super effective Ice Punch.
**Flying-types**: Ho-Oh, Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, and Yveltal all easily OHKO Buzzwole with their Flying-type STAB moves and outside of Toxic or Stone Edge, or the rare Ice Punch, Buzzwole cannot do much to threaten them.
**Fairy-types**: Xerneas, Arceus-Fairy, Mega Diancie, Tapu Lele and Clefable can switch into Buzzwole without much fear and OHKO it with their super effective STAB move. Xerneas, Tapu Lele and Clefable can also use Aromatherapy while Mega Diancie can use Heal Bell to heal themselves from poison received due to Toxic.
**Other Ghost-types**: Giratina-O and Lunala can switch in on Buzzwole fairly well and OHKO it with their special attacking moves, though neither of them appreciates being poisoned. Mega Gengar can trap Buzzwole and KO it once it has been weakened somewhat, though Mega Gengar needs to be somewhat wary, as Earthquake will OHKO it.
**Powerful Special Attackers**: Buzzwole rarely ever carries Bug-type moves. Pokemon such as Mewtwo and Deoxys-A can come in with ease and OHKO Buzzwole with their super effective STAB move. However, due to Deoxys-A's poor Defenses, it will need to come in on a non-attacking move such as Roost, or after one of Deoxys-A's teammates faint. Other special attackers such as Primal Kyogre and Palkia easily OHKO Buzzwole with their STAB moves.
**Primal Groudon**: Buzzwole can effectively wall those variants of Primal Groudon which lack Fire coverage. However, it fails to do so for those which do carry a Fire-type move. Some defensive variants also carry Toxic, decreasing Buzzwole's longevity in battle.
**Status Moves**: Toxic reduces Buzzwole's longevity in battle and Attack drop due to burn can thwart Buzzwole from checking specific threats.
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