ORAS OU [16:05:14] @tcmk: haha i knew that hahahahah guyswtfwhydidntanyofyoutellmeitwasalopunny

[zbr]

credits to Rumor for the awesome banner

Opening:
Hello guys! I am ZanbakuResh. Most of you may know me by my alt [MiniAltaria] or something with Zanbaku in the name. Today I am bringing you an ORAS OU squad that I've been using, playing and refining for the past few months or so. This team is pretty strong and by nature is extremely offensive. This is more of a tour team than anything because I am extremely lazy to ladder (also because my day time is sucked away constantly by shit) but I have had some decent results with this team and it has been really fun to play with. This squad was build with the Greninja metagame in mind but it works well even after the death of Greninja. Anyway, enough of the intro, let's get right down to it.

Team's aim:
This team, from design, is an extremely hyper offensive team that is designed to make use of plays that you would make and pressure your opponent into making mistakes. HO is a really fun archetype of playstyle and this team rewards you really well when you make good plays and not miss fucking draco meteor and high jump kicks like it's your freaking job

First Look

In Depth Analysis
Mega Lopunny

miyazono kaori (Lopunny) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Frustration
- Toxic / Healing Wish / Ice Punch / Heal Bell / Encore / Baton Pass / Quick Attack

When ORAS was first released and M-Lop was playable in a tier without brokenmence, my first action was to build a team that revolved around this mon. Rabbit lady here was initially PU in XY, meaning it was allowed in RU (where I resided there while waiting for brokenmence to be banned). This mon pretty much destroyed the tier and we had to put up with this shit in RU for like 3 weeks or so. I really really loved this mon because it was cute, powerful and has access to a plethora of moves that allows it to be extremely versatile. It is literally the definition of Hyper Offense (Just as how M-Man was in XY). It had pretty much unresisted coverage and both of which being stabs are extremely amazing. As you can see from the last move slot, it pretty much tells you how freaking flexible it is and I really love mons that are flexible in terms of their moveslots so I can catch opponents off guard. Our rabbit lady is now even more stronger than ever because you don't have to fear random scarfers which were designed to outspeed and revenge Gren. Jolly nature simply because Weavile, Torn-T, and LO Zam all have a potential to break my team if I don't play around them properly and I don't want to lose speed games because of an Adamant nature (Also because let's be real, who isn't a speed creeping whore? I know I sure am). Limber as the ability pre-mega, because it allows you to get free switch ins on people who like to promote mexican aids (aka thunder wave spammers) and knowing me, I will probably get parahaxed like 10000 times in a row just because I can. Fake Out is amazing on Offense since you will never ever say no to chip damage, free Mega evolution and most importantly, strong priority. Frustration is there because I personally get extremely angry and upset when I get haxed out the wazoo and seeing as it happens to me a lot (who the fuck even runs brightpowder talonflame and venomoth?!). I swear if Lop got CC, my life would be so much more easier but alas, I have to settle for HJK since it's extremely high powered and spammable stab. The last move is a toss up between so many moves, all of which I've tested. However, my personal favorites are Toxic, Healing Wish, Quick Attack or Baton Pass. It honestly depends on your personal taste and your opponent. I usually switch it up based on who I'm playing against. If I know I'm playing against a player who has a taste for stall or heavy balance, then Toxic is the way to go. If I know my opponent plays HO or Offense, then Quick Attack or Healing Wish is the way to go. If I know my opponent commonly plays balance then without a doubt Baton Pass is the way to go so that I can retain momentum. This is why I said at the beginning that this is more of a tour team than a ladder team but ultimately if you want to use this on the ladder, I suggest going for either Toxic or Quick Attack since they provide the best results.​

arima kousei (Raikou) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball

At the time when I built this team, my friend and I were really intrigued by Choice Specs Raikou. We really loved it because at the time, 110 was the legendary number and any mon that could apply enough pressure on the said 110 tier was considered intriguingly good. Raik is a mon that was and still is extremely underrated and overlooked. During late XY, M-Man was everywhere, resulting in most teams having close to zero reason to run Raik as they fulfilled mainly the same role but M-Man had more in terms of ability (Intimidate > Pressure), speed (135 > 115) and base SpA (135 > 115) . However, things changed in ORAS, as the competition for a Mega slot due to the new toys syndrome as well as the rise in Bisharp that aided a lot of teams to break the new megas, hurt M-Man's viability quite a bit. Raikou, on the other hand, has stepped up to take its place on many teams. Raikou's role on the team is to not only act as a breaking force against monsters like Mega Slowbro (bulky fat waters in general), it also does a really decent job of checking other monsters like Gengar, Keldeo, Thundurus, and the Lati twins reliably. We knew for sure that we wanted to try out a specs set because it hit like a truck and was also capable of retaining momentum for the team. It's extremely useful for gaining momentum against fast teams once their Ground-type is gone, as well as breaking teams down to the point where the other members can help to clean up the game. The set itself is the standard Specs set, with max speed because I rather speed tie than to lose to a faster Raik (this will be a different story when Volt Absorb is released). Shadow Ball is the coverage move of choice to hit the likes of Gengar, Latios, and most importantly, Mega Metagross because Lop's HJK does 60% to standard gross and Shadow Ball can clean up games just by itself. HP Ice is there because who doesn't like to kick Gliscors and Land-I down the grave when they switch in on a predicted Electric move. I've been contemplating Zap Plate for a very long while but I came to the conclusion that is not as good as Specs in the long run. (also it's shiny because of mind games huehue)

ryota watari (Keldeo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Substitute

Back when this squad was created, Specs Keld was still the in thing to run. However, due to the fact that we were already chocked full on choiced users, we decided to initially settle on LO Calm Mind 3 Attacks Keld. However, because it's easily whittled down, we ended up settling on Sub CM Keld and we loved it a lot. Keld fulfills many roles on this team. It acts as a failsafe against dangerous threats such as Bisharp, Landorus of both formes. It is also the most effective Pokemon against stall as between Stealth Rock, burn damage and the potential to set up calm minds and fire off attacks that hit on two sides of the spectrum, not even Pokemon such as Cress and Sab want to deal with it, especially when there are strong threats like Specs Raik at the back to support Keld. While Keldeo performs decently well against stall teams, it actually works pretty decently against other archetype of playstyles as well; most offensive and balanced teams have problems taking powerful attacks for a elongated amount of time as well. Furthermore, with Sub and CM, it has the capability to find opportunities to set up subs and with that, it can fire off free scalds to fish for burns as well as weaken it's counters to the point where it could no longer freely come in on Keld. It also wards off other common leads such as Ttar, Tran and obviously it doesn't fare too badly against opposing Keldeos. Thundy and M-Venu is dealt with by other members hence it isn't too big of a deal to worry about (WHEN IS RAIKOU GOING TO GET VOLT ABSORB?!!?!). Scald is by far Keld's most spammable move, as the burns against Pokemon such as Lati twins, Venu, Amoong, Alom, Cress are incredibly helpful to take them out. Secret Sword gets great coverage together with its water moves and hurts Pokemon such as Chansey who is absolute set up fodder for SubCM Keld. It also does massive damage to Rotom-W and makes Keld our best answer to Suicune, as we will always win a CM war due to our access to Secret Sword. Secret Sword also already does a huge amount of damage to both Gyara and M-Gyara, not to mention that we have can always fish for burns by going for Scald. There really isn't much to say about SubCM Keld as it is a rather standard Pokemon. We have considered using a Choice Scarf set before, but we really found its power underwhelming compared to the fact that you had no more flexibility to change up moves. It also didn't help much with stuff that we are weak to and made us a lot more susceptible to stall, so we stuck with Sub CM.​

sawabe tsubaki (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish

As with any offensive team that relies on volt turning to retain momentum goes, having hazards stacked against you is a gigantic no-no as it pressures you too much. The Lati twins are famed in OU for being unrivaled in terms of hazard control as well offensive presence and the choice between the siblings often depend on what type of support you want to have on your squad. Both of us were a big fan of Latias not only because it was extremely bulky while having a strong presence on the field, but also because it had access to Healing Wish. Healing Wish is such an invaluable support on HO teams as it essentially gives you more space to play around and you can play in a more reckless fashion. Having a backup Full Restore is always a good thing to have late game when you want a safe switch into your fast mons or your sweepers. With access to unrivaled offensive stats, great offensive typing and decent bulk, Latias is another important poke to the team as it a fantastic offensive check to Keldeo, Mega Charizard Y, and Landorus-I, all of which otherwise are major threats. This allows Latias to really pull it's weight as it's ability allows you to switch in freely on ground moves and act as a strong fighting resist since it has very powerful natural bulk. Because Raikou and Latios mostly target similar defensive threats, Latias is often used as an early team breaker against balanced squads and Stall, once Chansey or any other Specially Defensive Wall is taken on by SpecsKou. Together with SubCM Keldeo, the offensive core has proven to give most teams a run for their money as momentum can be easily generated and Healing Wish can nullify their attempts to slowly break your squad. The moveset let's Latias maintain it's dual STABs, covering the likes of Amoongus, Mega Venusaur, Terrakion and Conkeldurr (who is a huge threat to this team), which Latias can come in on (on resisted hits) and threaten to severely dent them in return. Overall, this is a very powerful addition to the squad and the support it brings to the table is too plenty to count.

takeshi aiza (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

When we decided to use Raikou, the first thing my friend said was "Welp, Lando T is definitely gonna be on the team isn't it." Lando T is an incredibly standard Pokemon, but there's no reason to fix what isn't broken. Considering that this was a HO team that was build in the Greninja era, it is to no surprise that this team has multiple soft checks to Brokeninja. Lando T was and will always be an amazing pivot. It was one of my primary answer M-Meta (you have to bait out the mega because otherwise Meteor + BP will kill). Whenever I bring this mon out, it is almost a guarantee that I will U-turn because preserving momentum on this squad is pretty important due to the nature of this team and it helps to bring out one of my other Pokemon safely, which in many cases is preferred to killing something and becoming free setup for something else. Only if it is very obviously going to be sacked off, or when you really need to kill something right there either because it is fat and walls half of your team or because it's about to clean you, should you consider using any of the other three moves. In any case, having Landorus-T not only as a cleaner but also as sort of a backup plan for setup sweepers is definitely preferable to being swept as early as turn 5. Intimidate helps with a lot of physically oriented mons such as Scizor and Conk, who are capable of threatening your team. It's typing is really superb as it not only allows me to have a mexican aids absorber but also have a ground immunity, which is extremely important. Knock Off is the preferred option here because it is amazingly good in helping me keep certain walls under control by preventing them from gaining valuable lefties recovery and it also helps me scout for opponent's items. Since I already have dual fighting users, there is not really much fear against mons like MGyara and Ferrothorn hence having a more useful utility move is much more beneficial to the squad as it is. With U-turn I can gain invaluable momentum and scout out my opponent's spread. The other three moves are just plain standard.exe so there's not much to say. My EV spread is just standard max max because comparing the benefits of winning speed ties against opposing max max Scarf Land-T and the benefits of being slow as balls to eat a hit then go for the momentum gaining move, I decided that the former was more valuable. Rock Slide is an option if you don't want to OHKO Thundurus or Dragonite or regular Pinsir after Stealth Rock and Adamant is an option if you wish to lose.

igawa emi (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball

We thought about it for a while before we decided on this mon. Because being the glue for this team, it had to be able take hits as well as set up rocks in a hyper offensive metagame. I wanted to use Rocks Clef but because it wasn't as good with GShot Gren around everywhere. Ferrothorn is the specially defensively based glue to the squad. With it's amazing defensive typing and stats, it saves me from being overwhelmed by some monsters in the metagame. The likes of Azu, Mana, Cune, Kyub, Mamo, non HP Fire Lati@s, are all handled by Ferro. Even though it lacks reliable recovery, it is extremely hard to wear down, due to it's stable yet passive recovery in the form of Leech Seed and Leftovers + Protect. Leech Seed and Protect are neccesary for Ferrothorn to function as well as a SpDef tank and to be able to potentially help my other mons heal up. Stealth Rocks are there because I need hazards on HO squads while Gyro Ball paired with a Relaxed nature and zero Speed IVs lets it hit monsters like Loom, Mamo, Gard, and Kyub hard. Initially I considered running Knock Off so that I have a better chance 1v1-ing Zone. However, in the end, we decided that Gyro was better so that I can have a better time dealing with Fairies in general. Ferrothorn's EV spread are a bit lopsided towards the SpDef side with the EVs such that we reach a jump point on SpDef; Full HP investment let's it hit a Leftovers number, maximizing it's recovery. Another role Ferrothorn performs on this team is it's pivoting after coming in on Volt Turn. It can come in on Gard's Hyper Voice, or Lop's Fake Out, then scout with Protect and gain some recovery, before switching out and getting in another member of the team, that's capable of taking on the opponent's mon.

Threats:​

Hide

- This mon single handedly destroys this team if it's well played. Lucky for me it's not as common as it once was.
will update this in a bit

Replays:​

Hide

- This was an entire live tour so to make things simple here are the timeslots where I won with the squad. (1:40:30-1:41:48 , 2:02:07-2:10:07 , 2:13:55-2:22:05 , 2:30:59-end) I'll upload more if I get more motivation to use this team to ladder [:

Closing Words and Shoutouts
Thank you for making it this far. Hope you enjoyed reading this wall of text [:

Keeping my shoutouts in hides tag cause I can [:​

IRL

Shoutouts to my IRL friends who are like super cool bros that helped me test the squad out or helped me in my competitive pokemon journey
Blader96 Alpha1234 yuruuu Timeless JunYuan (for building this with me) MakiMakiMaaaaaa (for always skyping and helping me out) and Jun Kai (for skyping and demolishing tours with me ^_^)

BOF

Shoutouts to everyone in the BOF fam in particular Ninety Nine for always being such a cool bro as well as being teaching me how to not sleep, Rumor for making the absolute BEST drawings, Alkov for being another bro

RU Room

Shoutouts to my bros in the RU room for being the absolutely best people to hangout with! aoemica lighthouses KingT gorex Kableye thecrystalonix (for being the best tester and great fren) Scythe Soulgazer (for being a fellow weeab <3) Cowtao xastify and Arikado (who is forever drunk) firehusky for hitting me up with a squad, also one more shoutout I almost missed is my bro Mysteria who is always shrouded in a mystery

SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS TO Recreant FOR BEING THE BEST FEMALE USER ON SMOGON THAT I KNOW [:

importable
Please remember to keep the nicknames and give credit where credit is due [:​

squad

miyazono kaori (Lopunny) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Frustration
- Toxic

igawa emi (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball

sawabe tsubaki (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish

takeshi aiza (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

ryota watari (Keldeo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Substitute

arima kousei (Raikou) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball

​

 

[C9 DRM2K]

ayyyy love live cool show ;)

 

[Timeless]

:]

 

[Rumor]

what a classy drawing

 

[Genesis9507]

Hey ZANBAKUResh, I like your team a lot so there is not a lot of changes i can provide. However, I recommend substitute to replace toxic on Mega Lopunny as it can be used to predict a switch and gain momentum. Also Landorus-T is almost on every team so you could lead with Mega Lopunny and say your opponent leads of with heatran, you could go for the sub and providing they have a Landorus-T you can get damage onto it and at the same time scout whether it is the stealth rocks set or the choice scarf set. This is just one of the scenarios where I think Substitiute is better.

 

[Leftiez]

Hey, thats a solid team you got there. I really like your volturn core with lopunny, that allows you to pressure as good as possible and keep momentum as well, though i noticed some minors weakness and i'll help you to cover it as much as possible.

• As i said, i noticed a weakness that can be very annoying for your team, indeed clefable cm can be dangerous because it can find a way to setup pretty easily on your team and ferrothorn is not really a good answer since it has fireblast/flamethrower. Keldeo cant win the war and raikou doesnt 2HKO after one CM which is lame. I cant really suggest you to swap a pokemon only for clefable, but i'd suggest to use Explosion instead of Knock off on Landorus-T, Explosion is a good move for your team because you will be allowed to weaken clefable and then kill it if he's becoming unmanageable (which is still better than autolose or praying for crit), plus Explosion will also help you against thing like Gliscor SD/ Landorus-T double dance and Reuniclus.

• Then i can see that Keldeo/Charizard Y can pressure your team a lot since latias is your only one reliable check and it cant even heal. Thats why i'd suggest Roost > Defog, Roost provides a solid staying power for latias which is your main check to those threats, now you will be able to keep it alive as much as possible and it will also make you safer instead of saccing a pokemon because latias is weakned. Defog is not really needed on your team, especially when you got any pokemons that are Stealth Rock weak, plus you are pressuring enough to prevent your oponent from using Hazards.

I hope I Helped and good luck with your team.

 

[peere]

Amazing nicknames.

 

[zbr]

Hey guys [: thanks for the replies!

Hey ZANBAKUResh, I like your team a lot so there is not a lot of changes i can provide. However, I recommend substitute to replace toxic on Mega Lopunny as it can be used to predict a switch and gain momentum. Also Landorus-T is almost on every team so you could lead with Mega Lopunny and say your opponent leads of with heatran, you could go for the sub and providing they have a Landorus-T you can get damage onto it and at the same time scout whether it is the stealth rocks set or the choice scarf set. This is just one of the scenarios where I think Substitiute is better.

Sub is an idea that might work but I normally only use it if I'm running SubPUP or SubEncore so I might test it out.

Hey, thats a solid team you got there. I really like your volturn core with lopunny, that allows you to pressure as good as possible and keep momentum as well, though i noticed some minors weakness and i'll help you to cover it as much as possible.

• As i said, i noticed a weakness that can be very annoying for your team, indeed clefable cm can be dangerous because it can find a way to setup pretty easily on your team and ferrothorn is not really a good answer since it has fireblast/flamethrower. Keldeo cant win the war and raikou doesnt 2HKO after one CM which is lame. I cant really suggest you to swap a pokemon only for clefable, but i'd suggest to use Explosion instead of Knock off on Landorus-T, Explosion is a good move for your team because you will be allowed to weaken clefable and then kill it if he's becoming unmanageable (which is still better than autolose or praying for crit), plus Explosion will also help you against thing like Gliscor SD/ Landorus-T double dance and Reuniclus.

• Then i can see that Keldeo/Charizard Y can pressure your team a lot since latias is your only one reliable check and it cant even heal. Thats why i'd suggest Roost > Defog, Roost provides a solid staying power for latias which is your main check to those threats, now you will be able to keep it alive as much as possible and it will also make you safer instead of saccing a pokemon because latias is weakned. Defog is not really needed on your team, especially when you got any pokemons that are Stealth Rock weak, plus you are pressuring enough to prevent your oponent from using Hazards.

I hope I Helped and good luck with your team.

Thanks toupip [: I tested your suggestions with a friend a while back and I like both changes ^_^. Will be editing the OP soon. [:

 

[chimpact]

Specs Raikou with CM keldeo is a core that I really enjoy using.

I think you should run Power Whip over Protect on Ferrothorn. Just some extra insurance against gyarados and other water types. Solid team

 

[bludz]

So I played some games with your team and it's pretty solid, good stuff man.

One thing I notice however is that Volcarona can set up a QD on Ferrothorn and proceed to sweep the rest of your team pretty much - Lopunny can Fake Out a few times but you're likely to get burned doing that and you're going to have to make some sacs anyway. I was going to suggest a Heatran over Ferro, but realized that would leave the team way too weak to Azumarill. In my own testing, I swapped out Ferro for an Empoleon with the spread of 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 SpD and a Bold Nature and the moves Stealth Rock / Protect / Scald / Roar. It's still kind of passive like Ferro but Roar prevents setup and it can still switch into Azu / Latis / Fairies relatively well. I kept Protect because you said you liked scouting / passive recovery and help with matchup vs other Lopunnys, but Flash Cannon could be used there too IMO. The fear of Scald burns allows it to either cripple or scare out Mega Sableye, which is a mon that turns Ferro into dead weight in most matches. Kyurem-Black and Mamoswine become more problematic with this change but this is offense so you don't really need switch-ins to everything anyway, and both are easily revenged by other members of the team. Also gives you a secondary check to Talonflame which is always nice

Anyway I don't think you need to make this change like I did but maybe try it out and see how it works for you :)

 

[Soldier]

Yo, I recommend you change your ferrothorn a pokemon a little more aggressive, and that would fit well with your team, helping you against conkeldurr, Garchomp.

Garchomp @ Draco Plate
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 160 SpA / 8 Spe
Rash Nature
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock

or

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake