Gen 9 NU Choice Band
Brambleghast @ Choice Band
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Poltergeist
- Tera Blast
- Shadow Sneak
Choice Band Brambleghast is quite a funny wallbreaker in NU, with decent attack and speed stats along with STAB moves that have a high BP (Base Power). Quite a shame it doesn't outspeed Krookodile, though. This set only uses STAB moves since Brambleghast's STAB combination is nice coverage on its own, with only a few Pokemon in the tier being able to resist the combination.
Power Whip is Brambleghast's strongest STAB in general, being a Grass move not even Dark-types want to switch into. Krookodile gets smacked in the face by Power Whip, being sent flying to Mars. (In simpler terms, Power Whip OHKOs Krookodile) Umbreon gets 2HKOed by Power Whip, so it doesn't want to directly switch in. Brute Bonnet and Alolan Muk take decent chip from Power Whip, meaning Alolan Muk can realistically only switch in once (Brute Bonnet has Sucker Punch to force Brambleghast to switch). Incinceroar is the only Dark-type that can easily switch into Power Whip without taking too much damage. Power Whip is also useful to OHKO Swampert. Poltergeist is Brambleghast's strongest Ghost STAB, being useful to hit Pokemon who resist Power Whip such as Talonflame, Dragalge, Magnezone, Chandelure, Thundurus, and Vileplume. Shadow Sneak is used to allow Brambleghast to have a priority move to pick off faster Pokemon. Tera Ghost is used to give power to Brambleghast's Ghost STAB, and gives Brambleghast a secondary Ghost STAB in Tera Blast. Wind Rider is used for the Ability so Brambleghast can switch into wind moves such as Hurricane. It is also useful if you decide you want to make a Tailwind team with Brambleghast on the Tailwind team so it can have another attack boost in addition to the Choice Band boost. If you decide to go the Tailwind team route, some Tailwind setters you can use are Tornadus, Whimsicott, and Shiftry.
While Tera Blast Ghost may seem like a weird option since Brambleghast already has Poltergeist, there are a couple reasons for this. Tera Blast Ghost doesn't rely on the opposing Pokemon holding an item, which is useful if you had another Pokemon use Knock Off against opposing Pokemon, face itemless Pokemon, are the opposing Pokemon has a consumable item that they used. Tera Blast Ghost also gives Brambleghast an accurate STAB move, being useful to clean with late-game against a weakened team if you don't want to risk a Poltergeist miss.
