Granbull is your typical Physical sweeper in the sense that it’s all brute force at the cost of good defenses. Luckily for Granbull, base 120 Attack means it won’t feel upset about the fact it doesn’t have access to Swords Dance. Plus, it has an interesting movepool to select from for that insane Attack.
Of course, its Speed is pathetic for a sweeper (base 45), but there’s always Trick Room. Quite honestly, there’s no point to even using Granbull outside of a Trick Room. Every time I’ve encountered someone foolishly using it under normal battle circumstances, it went down in one hit. It’s kind of like Glaceon in that sense.
Granbull hits like a truck, but its poor Speed and defenses means it can easily be taken advantage of unless you’ve prepared the battle scene in its favor.
Abilities:
Intimidate – Lowers the opponents’ Attack one level when Granbull is sent out. This is really the only helpful ability for Granbull, as it adds just a smidgen more bulk to its Defense.
Quick Feet – Increases your Speed when inflicted with a major status (burn, sleep, etc). Like I said previously, Granbull isn’t blessed in the Speed department. Even if you invested into the Speed stat like no tomorrow... You should probably just use another Physical Sweeper in the first place.
Rattled (Dream World) – Get hit by a Bug-, Ghost-, or Dark-type move, and your Speed increases by one stage. A Beat Up Whimsicott could essentially quadruple Granbull’s Speed in double battles this way, but again, we’re talking about Granbull here. Stick with Intimidate.
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GranBrute
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Sp. Def
Nature: Brave (+ Atk, - Spd)
- Return / Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Close Combat / Brick Break
- Crunch
Return gets STAB and insane power from a perfectly happy Granbull.
Headbutt is another good STAB option, as it has the potential to flinch.
Earthquake is always awesome.
Close Combat is a wicked powerful Fighting option at the consequence of lowering Granbull’s Defense and Special Defense, which it isn’t even concerned about in the first place being a sweeper. However, if you’re really trying to keep Granbull alive,
Brick Break is another Fighting-type choice. Although much weaker, it does at least prevent your opponent from walling you with Light Screen and Reflect.
Crunch Takes care of Ghosts-types, especially Levitating ones that would otherwise block this entire set.
Because I am heavily influencing Granbull to only be used in Trick Rooms, A Brave Nature and absolutely no attention to Speed is important. Really, the only other stat to raise outside of Attack is HP... Hey, it might help Granbull survive, like, one attack.
Life Orb further increases Grabull’s power at the cost of some HP each turn. Because it’s wired as a sweeper, survival isn’t expected to last very long anyways.
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Bulky-ish Bulldog
Item: Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 HP –OR—252 Atk / 252 Sp. Def / 4 HP –OR—252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Sp. Def –OR—252 Atk / 132 Def / 124 Sp. Def
Nature: Brave (+ Atk, - Spd)
- Bulk Up
- Crunch
- Fire Punch / Thunderpunch / Ice Punch
- Return / Headbutt
This set attempts to increase Granbull’s defensive capabilities, but keep in mind that its Special Defense will always be left exposed in the open.
Bulk Up increases Attack and Defense one stage each.
Crunch takes care of Ghosts.
Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch provide an interesting variety option. Out of all of them,
Fire Punch easily takes care of Steels that would resist you otherwise (well,
Heatran gets neutral damage...).
Life Orb gives more power.
Leftovers will attempt to recover your health.
Other Options:
Outrage has wicked power, but confuses Granbull at the end and targets randomly in multi-battles. I personally don’t recommend it, but that’s just my personal taste.
Granbull actually has access to
Reflect, which will boost your whole team’s Defense.
Stone Edge and
Rock Slide are typical Rock-type options.
Last Resort has more power than a maxed-happiness Return. All of you other attack have to be used first, however.
Partners:
YOU NEED TRICK ROOM SUPPORT! Why would you even want to use Granbull without it when it has such abysmal Speed? Outside of that, Granbull doesn’t have access to a super effective attack against Fighting-types. Keep a Flying or Psychic Pokémon close at hand.
Countering:
Without Trick Room, Granbull is easy to overcome. However, don’t ignore its presence because it’s slow - it hits hard and most likely has an attack in its roster that has the upper hand against you. Muscle all the strength you can right when you encounter it and take it out with its poor defenses.
Fighting types in general can get the job done.
Attack Index:
- Brick Break - TM 31, Snubbull/Granbull
- Bulk Up - TM 08, Snubbull/Granbull
- Close Combat -
EGG- Crunch - Lvl. 49, Snubbull ; Lvl. 53, Granbull
- Earthquake - TM 26, Snubbull/Granbull
- Fire Punch – PtHGSS Tutor, Snubbull/Granbull
- Headbutt – Lvl. 19
- Ice Punch – PtHGSS Tutor, Snubbull/Granbull
- Last Resort - PtHGSS Tutor
- Outrage - Lvl. 67, Granbull only
- Reflect - TM 33, Snubbull/Granbull
- Return - TM 27, Snubbull/Granbull
- Rock Slide - TM 80, Granbull only
- Stone Edge - TM 71, Granbull only
- Thunderpunch – PtHGSS Tutor, Snubbull/ Granbull