==General== *Very solid Electric-type. Is a staple on mostly all competitive UU teams. *Highest speed in the meta bar the rare Electrode. *Most reliable check/counter to Kingler, Golduck and Earthquake-free variants of Poliwrath, which is a very important role. Also one of the reasons Charizard isn't seen as much as it could. *Gets Psychic to hit Graveler and Sandslash when it switches in, unlike Magneton and Electrode. No Psychics in the tier means it is unresisted too. *Decent lead versus Charizard and Venomoth, but loses to Tangela leads. *Frail defenses, can't take a hit on the switch. *Fears status. Taking paralysis or sleep can be a game-changer if you lack other (generally worse) Electrics. ==This is the only set, really== Electabuzz - Thunderbolt - Thunder Wave - Psychic - Seismic Toss / Reflect / Body Slam / Rest *Thunderbolt for the STAB. *Thunder Wave for the paralysis on Pokémon not named Graveler or Sandslash. *Psychic to hit Venomoth, Tangela, Graveler, Sandslash and other Electabuzz. *Fourth move is usually not very important, but helps in certain situations. Seismic Toss is useful in the Ditto and aids when you need to finish off an Amnesia-boosted Golduck (Super Fang*2 from Raticate + Seismic Toss is a fixed-damage 3HKO). Reflect allows Buzz to take some physical hits from various Pokémon although he still does not last very long, but can catch the foe off-guard. Body Slam is for paralyzing Graveler and Sandslash mostly, and Rest is for winning slow games in the lategame versus other Buzzes. ==Other Options== *Thunder is used by inexperienced players but should be avoided as the accuracy is too poor to be worth it, and the paralysis chance is only 10%. *Screech could be used to make sure something dies should Electabuzz be killed - useful versus beefed up, paralyzed Amnesia users *Quick Attack grants priority but isn't very useful as it has very low base power, Buzz has very low attack and very high speed. ==Checks and Counters== *Graveler is the most common counter, threatening an instant OHKO with Earthquake while taking zilch damage from Thunderbolt. *Sandslash does mostly the same as Graveler but is not used as frequently, however it can switch in on more Psychics than Graveler. *Tangela sleeps or stuns Electabuzz while taking little damage itself. --- I don't expect any comments on this but I plan to put this on the Wiki sooner or later.
I don't play RBY competitively (doubt I'll ever be a good RBY player since finding good matches is impossible), so I have some questions: Wouldn't Quick Attack be an ok option in the 4th slot instead of being mentioned only in OO? I don't know how fast Electabuzz is relatively to the RBY UU metagame, but I don't see Reflect being all that good on a Pokemon lacking recovery...or Rest for that matter (it sounds extremely specific for PP stall in the end of the match). If it could take an EQ (calcs would be needed) maybe Counter would be an option to serve as a surprise killer to things like Sandslash. Maybe a set involving both Reflect and Counter could work?
If we include NU Pokémon, we're still only looking at the following outspeeding Electabuzz: Electrode, Aerodactyl, and a speed tie with Scyther. All of those three are NU and Electrode is the only one that sees some random use in UU. I don't think Reflect is that great either, but it's seeing usage. I could probably move it to Other Options. Rest IS extremely specific, but in a ditto where both players only have a few Pokémon left that can't deal burst damage (Tangela, Venomoth, Vaporeon, another Electabuzz, Magneton...), Rest works out as it takes a few special hits to bring him down. Physically, he can't take a hit. Counter does not work on Ground moves in RBY, only on Normal and Fighting moves. He can take an Earthquake and live if it comes from Poliwrath, but he dies to STAB EQ. Reflect+Counter is giving up Thunder Wave or Psychic, both are very important. The UU metagame is very much about predicting your opponents switches rather than predicting his moves. The most common Graveler death cause is switching in to Psychic one time too many. Thunder Wave is one of the most powerful moves in RBY across all metagames, as it gives slower Pokémon time to shine, or set-up opportunities.
Well tbh Counter is situational, and Poliwrath is the most common abuser of a Fighting move. I think Mimic is worth a mention, for those Tangela switch ins that might nab you Sleep Powder, or even Growth. Works better with Graveler/Sandslash out of the way. This looks fine as it is though.
My two cents: Seismic Toss hits Tangela and Magneton harder than anything else. I'd move every other move to OO honestly. I wouldn't call it "reliable" counter/check to Kingler/amnesiers. It can't really switch into Kingler more than once plus it could be taking body slam para or crabhammer+hyper beam koes it or a +2 hyper beam too. A healthy tangela is probably a better check or at least switch-in, scaring Kingler the same way buzz does and taking a lot less damage and not caring about para as much, even if tangela is around 50% if you avoid switching into sd it can work too. Regarding Golduck, Electabuzz actually loses if it switches into Amnesia and it doesn't get a ch tbolt. Golduck is about pounding it as much as possible either in the switch-in or with other waters like Vaporeon's slam or Poli's EQ or whatever, it's about forcing it to rest, then either Raticate or Kingler can get the job done. Not saying buzz isn't a good kingler/amnesier counter or that you shouldn't say that, it's a good switch-in in the sense that it works well because you shouldn't be switching into these mons much, especially into kingler. I'd try to explain this in some way when you talk about electabuzz's role. "Also one of the reasons Charizard isn't seen as much as it could." I just wouldn't mention this. Buzz is a mere nuisance for zard compared to all the waters or even Graveler.