Rillaboom
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Rillaboom had to wait a whole year to get access to Frenzy Plant after Meowscarada, its fellow Grass-type starter that's its junior by an entire generation, got access to it. But, at long last, it's here!
Rillaboom is... pretty good! This thing hits hard for a Grass Type, boasting the highest Attack stat among the Grass starters. It also basically ties with Meowscarada for the highest damage among non-Shadow/Mega Grass Type starters while sporting higher average TDO when sub-typings aren't a consideration. This makes Rillaboom a strong attacker with above-average performance when Grass damage is the way to go..... however, you're probably better off waiting for Gigantamax Rillaboom to come back into rotation and raising that, as it can still be used in normal raids and has the advantage of outstanding performance in Max Battles.
Offense
- Razor Leaf pairs with Frenzy Plant* for the best Grass Type damage that Rillaboom can muster.
- Drum Beating is a solid backup option if you don't want to drop an Elite TM or wait for the next event that grants it.
- Scratch, Energy Ball, Grass Knot and Earth Power all fall behind in traditional DPS sense. However, as Scratch is a 0.5s move, it is useful in higher tier Max Battles to charge the Max Meter more quickly. Keep in mind that it will result in Max Strike instead of Max Overgrowth during the Dynamax phase.
Defense
- Razor Leaf sports good Defensive performance, while Earth Power grants counter-coverage against most Fire Types.
- Drum Beating is great due to being 3-bar, but it's very easy to dodge, and pairing it with Razor Leaf leaves Rillaboom hilariously easy to wall for a huge number of attackers. That said, it's even easier to wall it out with a Flying Type if it's using Earth Power, so it's still worthy of consideration.
- Frenzy Plant* hits pretty hard, but it's still not hard to dodge and has the same issues as Drum Beating while coming out less frequently.
- Scratch, Grass Knot, and Energy Ball all fall behind.
Razor Leaf is primarily damage-oriented and has low energy gains, but it's superior to the competition. Drum Beating allows Rillaboom to spam a solidly powerful attack that can bait shields and drop the target's Attack stat, making it a must have. For the last slot, it's a bit of a toss-up: Frenzy Plant leaves Rillaboom with a mono-grass moveset that's extremely easy to wall, but the attack hits hard for a very reasonable amount of damage, while Earth Power provides some counter-coverage, but is one of Rillaboom's most energy-expensive attacks, and has leaves a lot of offensive holes in its kit, in particular against anything that has Flying as one of its types.
Generally speaking, Rillaboom is outclassed in any niche that it may have in the Great League. It may be capable of putting in some work in niche teams, but it's just about always better to use another Razor Leaf spammer instead.
