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Hey guys, welcome to my in-depth guide to how I use everyone's favorite wood-toting Fighting-type and biggest metagame threat, Timburr. OK, I know I'm exaggerating on that last part just a tad, but after two generations of using Timburr constantly, I can tell you it's one of the biggest threats in the metagame even though it only runs one moveset. I'm kinda known well for sticking it on every team and talking about it all the time, so I figured I'd just get it all out and write a guide based on my experiences with Timburr and how I feel is the best way to use it.
Why Use Timburr?
Timburr is a physical sweeper that's very slow, but makes up for it with very good mixed defensive stats, priority, and the ability to keep itself healthy while dishing out the pain. It's standard moveset of Bulk Up / Drain Punch / Knock Off / Mach Punch is stacked with a lot of stuff; in only four moves, Timburr has three attacking options, priority, team utility with Knock Off, defensive and offensive boosting, and recovery. Its special bulk is deceptively high when invested properly, allowing it famously to survive Sash Abra's Psychic (I have even once survived LO Abra's Psychic from full health, but that requires the lowest roll) among other things. This in conjunction with its recovery and sky-high physical bulk after setting up means that you will have a very hard time breaking through Timburr without lots of hard-hitters on your team. Timburr's biggest asset, that which sets it apart from other set-up sweepers, is its immediate usefulness and recovery while attacking. 16 Attack off the bat along with Knock Off means it will never be useless if it can't find the time to set up Bulk Up. Drain Punch's health recovery effect makes it stand out against Pokemon like CM Spritzee, who can't heal and attack at the same time, which gives your opponent free turns. Timburr can also act as a good pivot instead of boosting, switching into Knock Off users or sacrificing itself to take out something like Gastly or Abra.
Its main weakness are Fairy-types, by far. Spritzee, Snubbull, Cottonee, and other lesser Fairies all take very little damage from any of Timburr's moves and have a super-effective STAB move to hit Timburr with, making them hard stops to all but +6/+6 Timburr at full HP, which will never happen. All Timburr can do is use Knock Off on them and then switch out, or be forced to sacrifice itself. Poison Jab is occasionally used over Bulk Up to lure them in for something else on your team and eliminate them, but this of course takes away a huge part of Timburr's power. Abra, Gothita, and Gastly can also be problems, but Timburr can usually come out of top against these threats at the cost of being left with almost no HP. Poison- and Bug-types resist Fighting, but unlike Fairy, they are not super-effective to Fighting and so Timburr can eventually get past them with enough boosts. Fletchling and Doduo can both smack Timburr around with their Flying-type moves, but Timburr can beat them after a Bulk Up boost or two.
The Set
Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
Level: 5
EVs: 116 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up / Poison Jab
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
This is my favorite Timburr set, and pretty much the only thing it can run effectively. Considering how effective it is, that's not really a problem at all. If you want to learn more about it, I wrote the Timburr analysis currently on-site, so go check that out. Instead of repeating that, I'll simply talk about the important parts. The EV spread listed here is my favorite, striking in my opinion the perfect balance between offense and defense. It patches up Timburr's lower, unboosted Special Defense while hitting even numbers in Attack and Defense to maximize the 50% boost that one Bulk Up gets you. You can run a more offensive spread with 17 or even 18 Attack, but I feel that detracts too much from its defensive capability. Likewise, you can also run a more defensive spread of 76 HP / 36 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD with Careful, which gives you an extra HP which actually comes in handy a lot, but I think it makes Timburr too reliant on Bulk Up boosts and reduces its immediate damage too much.
There's also Bulk Up vs. Poison Jab, and while I still believe that Bulk Up is the better choice most of the time, Poison Jab is still a viable option. If you're running a double Fighting core, with something like Scarf Mienfoo, having Poison Jab allows you to function as a great Fairy-type lure in conjunction with Knock Off. Knock Off + 2 Poison Jabs will KO both Spritzee and Snubbull, at the cost of a large portion of Timburr's health. You can also play it more safely and switch out after using Knock Off and then wait to hit them on the switch later, considering the high chances of your opponent switching their Fairy-type into Timburr repeatedly. Cottonee is obviously OHKOed assuming it doesn't use Memento first. Overall, I think Poison Jab is a legit choice, but it requires a lot of power from the rest of your team to make it worth giving up Bulk Up.
As for other moves and sets, they're usually either gimmicky or just outclassed by the Bulk Up set and generally not worth using. A SubPunch set with Iron Fist seems like it would be awesome, but considering that most people will just switch in a Ghost- or Fairy-type if they have one makes it hard to justify. There's also the lack of Guts, which severely hinders Timburr's ability to pivot effectively. Basically, any set that tries to take advantage of Timburr's other abilities is subject to the same thing: Guts is too good on Timburr not to use. As for moves, in addition to Poison Jab, Ice Punch and Stone Edge are two moves commonly used to take the place of Bulk Up. They hit Pokemon such as Fletchling, Vullaby, Foongus and Larvesta super-effectively, all of which make Timburr's sweep harder to perform, and so they seem like good lure options. Unlike with the Fairy-type, however, these Pokemon either lack a way to hit Timburr super effectively or do not resist Drain Punch, allowing Timburr to get past them all with a few boosts. As a result, these coverage moves are not required to get past these Timburr checks since Timburr does have a chance of just muscling past them, which it cannot do with Fairies. Sticking with Bulk Up is, in most cases, the best option.
General Tips
When you put Timburr on a team, there are two ways in general that you can play it with the same set: as a tanky pivot, or as a boosting sweeper. No Pokemon, not even Timburr, is capable of walling threats and sweeping teams in the same game without extraordinary circumstances, as trying to pivot usually makes Timburr too weak to set up and sweep late-game, while preserving Timburr for the sweep forces you to play 5-6 from the start. As such, I've noticed that I play Timburr differently depending on its sweeping chances as I consider them at the start of each match, and again sometime in the middle if Timburr is still alive. Let's take a look at some hypothetical teams and see what Timburr can do against them. These teams I'm listing will all probably suck since I'm just pulling them out of thin air, but they should be good enough to be used as an example:
Team 1:
Abra/Mienfoo/Porygon/Fletchling/Houndour/Archen
If I were to see a team like this as Timburr, I doubt I would try and use Bulk Up that much, except maybe against Mienfoo and Archen depending on their sets. This team has no real Timburr switch-in, and thus it's likely I'm not forcing many switches to grab boosts. I'd much rather toss around Drain Punches, since nothing on the team except Abra resists Fighting. Even if I did grab a boost, Abra can just come in whenever I KO something and force Timburr out. Fletchling can also be a problem, but just like Abra it doesn't want to switch in. This is an example of a team where Timburr would work best as a pivot, though if Abra and Fletchling were to be removed, you could easily sweep against this team. In my experience though, good players are annoyingly preservative of their Abras, so if you have another sweeper stopped by Abra on your team, you might want to sacrifice Timburr to get off a Mach Punch or something.
Team 2:
Mienfoo/Foongus/Chinchou/Larvesta/Drilbur/Munchlax
This is a fantastic team for Timburr to set up boosts against, even though they have two sturdy Fighting resists. Foongus and Larvesta have common weaknesses to Pokemon like Archen, Fletchling, and Abra, and just having one of those on your team is a pretty good way to keep their two walls in check. After those two are gone or weakened enough for Timburr to sweep, Chinchou, Munchlax, and Mienfoo are great set-up bait for Timburr to use, and Drilbur can be too if it's too focused on spinning or setting hazards. Timburr can force a lot of switches here, and Mienfoo and Chinchou are likely to be weak enough to set up in front of easily. Play conservatively with Timburr until you've weakened the two walls, putting your priority on Foongus since Larvesta is less able to stop Timburr if you can only eliminate one, and then come in on something like Munchlax or Chinchou and sweep the team easy.
In a nutshell, any team without a good Timburr switch-in is likely not to switch and give you free turns to boost, so you should use Timburr more as a pivot so it doesn't take so much damage while trying to set up. Against a team with Pokemon that rely on one or two Timburr checks or counters to not get massacred by it, you'll want to save Timburr until those checks are gone and then boost to get a sweep. These two categories cover a large portion of LC teams from my experience, but occasionally you might come across a stall team with 3 Fighting resists or something like that that Timburr can do nothing against. If you feel Timburr will be near worthless, just spam Knock Off and use Mach Punch to score chip damage before Timburr goes down.
Playing Timburr as a pivot specifically refers to using it as a Knock Off and status absorber for the rest of your team. It works well as a bulky switch-in to Pokemon like Chinchou, Ferroseed, or Pawniard while tossing out the occasional Drain Punch to deal good damage and heal up so it can keep switching in. Timburr takes relatively little damage from each of these Pokemon, and can threaten them out with its strong Fighting STAB while recovering the health it lost from switching into them at the same time. That said, you'll find that playing Timburr as a pivot entails spamming Knock Off a lot since most teams have at least one sturdy switch-in to Timburr, and it will be your job to predict the switch and remove their Eviolite for your team. You can also save Timburr for a big threat on your opponent's team, such as Zigzagoon or Omanyte, rather than pivoting with it throughout the match. The biggest problem with using Timburr this way is the fact that absorbing Knock Off, while easy to do, makes Timburr a lot weaker defensively, and without Mienfoo's Speed which can spare it a few hits, Timburr has a hard time pivoting effectively after having its Eviolite removed.
That said, it kind of sounds like I'm describing a worse Mienfoo here since it lacks Mienfoo's Speed, Regenerator, and U-turn. So, why use Timburr when Mienfoo exists? Timburr's priority Mach Punch and Bulk Up make up for the lack of U-turn or Regenerator I feel, and rather than making it just Mienfoo lite version, sets it apart as a pivoter. Mach Punch saves you from taking a second hit from Pokemon like Aipom who can take a Drain Punch with Eviolite, and then get in one good hit before going down and only providing 1 or 2 HP in recovery from Drain Punch. Bulk Up lets you threaten switch-ins more strongly, but with possible switch-in damage or having your Eviolite removed, sweeping in a match where you've used Timburr as a pivot is very difficult. If you find that you are pivoting with Timburr more often than sweeping with, make sure you are using Timburr to its strengths rather than just having a worse Mienfoo. Timburr's advantages lie in its greater bulk and immediate Attack power, along with the potential to become a late-game threat. Mienfoo's strengths are its longevity, Speed, and momentum control at the cost of less bulk and power.
As for Timburr players who want to sweep with it, Timburr will need coddled. It seems counter-intuitive considering how much I've hyped its bulk and Drain Punch recovery, but Timburr really wants to keep itself fresh and unharmed to increase its chances of sweeping late-game. Setting up on something like Tirtouga is a lot less risky at 100% HP as opposed to 60%, since one flinch could stop Timburr in its tracks if it's not at full HP. Likewise, when getting past Pokemon such as Porygon or Ponyta who can beat Timburr if they have the HP advantage, you need to keep healthy to prevent them from stopping a sweep. To that end, you play boosting Timburr the same way you would play something like a Shell Smash sweeper: weaken the opponent's checks first, then get in on something that nets you a free turn, set up, and finally, crush what's left of your opponent's team. Shell Smash sweepers need to do this because they lower their defenses, but since Timburr is actually boosting one of its defensive stats, why does it need to be so careful? Its low Speed is the answer to that question. Fletchling, Archen, and Bunnelby are some examples of Pokemon that would be entirely decimated by Timburr if it got to strike first, but the fact that Timburr sometimes needs to take a hit before setting up means that you need to stay healthy to both beat these Pokemon and not be instantly KOed by the next Pokemon your opponent sends in.
When to Set Up
- On anything you force out
The obvious one is first. Weak attackers and Fighting weak Pokemon really do not want to waste their lives by trying to stay in on Timburr, which gives you a free chance to Bulk Up. Some examples of these Pokemon are Trubbish, Chinchou, Munchlax, Psychic-less Porygon, Lileep, and defensive Mienfoo. All of these Pokemon struggle to deal meaningful damage to Timburr and/or take double damage from Drain Punch, and so they will typically run for the hills once Timburr comes out. Naturally, it's worthless to try and boost if they switch out to something that can counter you such as Spritzee, so make sure that you are only trying to force something out later in the game when there's nothing to come in that can instantly shut down Timburr. Also be wary of uncommon sets like Acrobatics Mienfoo or ZHB Pancham that can nail you when you think you are safe.
- On anything that is trying to use support moves
What do hazard moves, Rapid Spin, Aromatherapy, Recover, and Knock Off have in common? They are all moves that deal approximately 0 damage to Timburr, and thus are free set-up turns for you along with anything else where dealing damage to Timburr is not the main goal of the move. Drilbur, Staryu, Archen, Ponyta, Ferroseed, and Dwebble, among others, all have support jobs that can get in the way of stopping Timburr. If Drilbur really wants to spin away rocks that are pinning down its Flying-type teammates, or if Ferroseed wants to Protect to get a bit of Leech Seed recovery out of you, that's your cue to set up a Bulk Up and smack them around on the next turn. Knock Off is the riskiest of the examples to set up on, but can be done if your opponent lacks strong special attackers. After a Bulk Up, your Defense is back to normal, so physical attackers (which happen to be about 95% of Knock Off users) still can't break Timburr easily even without its Eviolite.
- On opposing set-up sweepers
Timburr has a winning match-up against almost every set-up sweeper in the metagame, with the exception being special sweepers like NP Croagunk or SS Omanyte. That's because the majority of them are physical attackers, and the likes of Dwebble, Tirtouga, Scraggy, Zigzagoon, and Torchic all struggle with Timburr when it boosts alongside of them. Timburr is the only Bulk Up user in the tier that is at all successful, and so that's usually the only Pokemon capable of setting up Defense boosts. Since the rest either don't change their Defense or even lower it by setting up, Timburr has the inherent advantage because of its Defense boost. Having priority doesn't hurt either, and if for some reason Drain Punch doesn't KO the opposing sweeper, Mach Punch usually does the next turn, preventing Timburr from getting hit again which could easily turn the tables on the whole fight. In some cases, even Memento support can't stop Timburr from coming out on top, in the case of non-Eviolite wielding sweepers such as Zigzagoon and Tirtouga, though Timburr must be at full health with its Eviolite intact for this to work.
Outside of those three situations, boosting is not recommended as you take more damage than Timburr can handle. Also, note that you don't have to boost only in the late-game, as Timburr is also capable of sacrificing itself to tear holes in the opposing team early-game too. All of these situations can apply early-game as well as late-game, but it's just harder to do this early-game because your opponent's Timburr checks and counters are still healthy, especially Pokemon like Spritzee or Abra. All in all, it's up to you when the best time to boost is, or whether to boost at all. Even with only one common set, Timburr is very versatile in how to play that set, which is part of what gives it so much power.