Klinklang + Technician and Bulldoze
Yikes! With Technician + Gear Grind reaching immense power, and Shift Gear to boot, this thing is gonna boast some epic sweeping potential. Technician boosted Bulldoze finally gives the gear some much needed coverage, and the speed drop gives some nice utility that in practice would actually come in handy quite often. Doubt it'll have the slots for it and it'll probably be very niche but I do wonder if there would be any value to a Bulldoze + Volt Switch set (rounded out with Gear Grind and Shift Gear of course), using the speeds drops and pivoting to help remove Klinklang's checks. Between Gear Grind and Bulldoze, the majority of Klinklang's checks have rather exploitable 4x weaknesses, meaning you can run various Technician boosted Hidden Powers to pick your poison and let your allies handle the rest.
Something which I don't think has been touched on yet though is that Gear Grind actually only has 85% accuracy. Obviously its not that bad but for something that is meant to be sweeping or cleaning, a crucial miss could easily lose you the game. When I used Klinklang in the lower tiers I seem to remember losing quite a few games due to Gear Grind's poor accuracy. Just something to keep in mind when considering what sweeper would be the most consistent for your team.
Another thing I don't think was mentioned was that it beats Sash Alakazam. I know people said it beats Sturdy and Sashes but this I think is an important one because it is a common threat on offense used to prevent such sweeps, but Klinky don't give a damn.
I honestly can't see me voting for this though. I'm a bit over fast and powerful sweepers, and with Gear Grind giving +2 Speed and +1 Atk, and Technician making Gear Grind crazy, this may be a little over the top. It just has such extreme levels of speed and power, especially for a non mega.
This calc scares me and I don't like it:
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Technician Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Sableye: 268-320 (88.1 - 105.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Magnet Pull Cobalion
This is probably my second favorite on what is a great slate. For a trapper it boasts some great versatility. I particularly like the idea of an anti lead with Taunt, Stealth Rock, Close Combat and Volt Switch. There are many steel type hazard setters out there that don't always necessarily lead, but its not that uncommon. Things like Klefki, Skarmory, Forretress, Ferrothorn, etc. The boosting sets I feel will be among the most powerful though. The combination of Sub/Taunt + SD vs passive steels like Ferrothorn would easily allow Cobalion to nab a couple boosts from SD or CM (or RP I guess). Its speed isn't that greatest, but its enough to get Keldeo by, and STAB CC at like +4 will be pretty nasty. I can see stall struggling against this.
My favorite thing about Magnet Pull Cobalion though is that it is designed to be a team player. It functions perfectly fine by its self, but when removing steels for a powerful sweeper like Mega Altaria it is just that much better. I LOVE that it can trap and destroy Bisharp, now being its best counter by far. This trait will make it an epic partner to Psychics vulnerable to Pursuit trapping like the Lati twins. It also wrecks Tyranitar and Weavile just to further this point (thought it could of course do this before and can't trap them).
But yeah, versatile, strong, and great utility to help out the team. Definitely a strong vote contender.
Ghost/Electric Mismagius + Volt Switch
Not sure really. At a glance it seems like standard Rotom on roids, only the roids weren't really enough.
They both share Ghost/Electric typing + Levitate, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, and Volt Switch.
In comparison the stats look like this:
Rotom -> Mismagius
50 -> 60 - +10
50 -> 60 - +10
77 -> 60 - -17
95 -> 105 - +10
77 -> 105 - +28
91 -> 105 - +14
I don't know. When I think about how useless Rotom is it just doesn't seem that much better.
So lets have a looksy. The biggest thing going for Mismagius in my eyes is its access to boosting moves in Calm Mind and Nasty Plot, and also the speed tier is much better (though still slightly lacking). But then I feel like the addition of Volt Switch doesn't suit a boosting set, and I reckon Volt Switch would work best on Scarf sets if you don't want other electrics to do it better, in which case boosting is even less relevant. But I honestly can't look past the boosting. The only OU relevant pokemon that resist Electric + Ghost coverage are Diggersby, Hydreigon and Krookadile. Hence, a Sub Nasty Plot set with dual STAB would be a great stall breaker. If you do wanna abuse Volt Switch though I would go with Scarf. The power is fairly poor but a fast Volt Switch is always the best Volt Switch for something so frail and a quick Ghost STAB is nice enough to be locked into with few solid resistances. Utility moves like Destiny Bond and Trick are also good for the scarf set.
Looking at the added resistances from Electric typing, here are some of the new things Mismag can check:
Thundurus-I/T, Tornadus-T, Mega Manectric, Skarmory, Magnezone, and not too much else tbh. Physical steels still break you, due to your piss poor Physical defence, unless you run Will-O-Wisp which opens up a few opportunities.
I just think that as a Ghost, Gengar is better, and as an Electric type, most things are better. And together, they just aren't impressive enough to make Mismagius anything too special.
I feel like this'll end up being one of those C rank pokemon that are useable but no one uses them. At best it reminds me of standard Cobalion, only worse.
Drought Torterra
Saving the best till last imo. A well deserved reslate of what I believe to be the last winner of Alexwolf's thread? I've been waiting for this thing to return for a while and hinted at it a fair bit with the council members. So lets discuss.
I honestly believe that Drought Torterra has what it takes to make dedicated sun teams a thing that exists again. 2 of sun's biggest problems are its weakness to Talonflame and stacking SR weaknesses. With a sun setter that resists SR and has epic synergy with amazing sun abuser and great Talonflame check, Scarf Heatran (also not weak to SR), all of a sudden Sun teams are seeming a lot more viable. I'm thinking that AV Slowking could round out the FWG core as a Fighting resist and now we're looking really solid. The reduced Scald power isn't that big a deal, it still burns and you still have another STAB, plus Fire Blast in sun is more powerful than STAB Scald outside sun anyway. I might write up this core later.
As a side note, sun was gifted this gen with Mega Diancie which also helps vs SR and Talonflame. Torterra also has Ground STAB which when combined with Stone Edge for Edgequake, allows the tortoise to threaten many of the pokemon that would give sun teams trouble such as Talon, Heatran, and the Zards.
Torterra has great defensive synergy with Fire type sun abusers, being able to take on Ground and Rock types with ease. In fact it is 1 of 4 pokemon to resist edgequake and the only one of the 4 to not be Fighting/Grass. Synthesis recovering 75% and 95/105/85 defences give Torterra the ability to easily outlast opposing weather inducers (something Ninetales failed to do), except for maybe Hippo. Torty also provides SR support for its great wall breakers and sweepers.
So lets look at the rest of its partners.
I've mentioned Scarfed Heatran, which doesn't need much of an explanation, neither does Victini. I also mentioned Mega Diancie which can fit in REALLY well on sun teams.
Chlorophyl Venusaur is an outstanding sweeper, particularly with Growth. It'll be nice to see this thing being relevant again.
A couple new faces for sun would be Heliolisk and Mega Houndoom. Specs Heliolisk with Solar Power is actually and really strong. As for Mega Houndoom:
+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Eviolite Chansey in Sun: 435-513 (67.7 - 79.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Kingdra in Sun: 247-291 (84.8 - 100%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
So yay sun teams will be legit good!
To continue the hype, and drag this post out even longer, lets talk about Torterra by itself.
It has a lot of great defensive niches. Resists Edgequake, is a ground type the resists Water thanks to Drought, has great mixed bulk, solid offensive presence, Roar, Leech Seed, SR, 75% recovery, and removes opposing weather.
One of my favorite things about Torterra by itself is that it can be EVd to be a guaranteed switch in to Azumaril. Not many pokemon can boast that. At all.
A spread of 96 HP / 40 Atk / 252 Def / 120 Spe with an Adamant Nature does the Trick.
The speed evs are to creep standard BD Azumaril, the Atk guarantees the OHKO with Wood Hammer, and the rest is dumped into physical bulk.
40+ Atk Torterra Wood Hammer vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 384-452 (100 - 117.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 96 HP / 252 Def Torterra: 205-243 (57.7 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 96 HP / 252 Def Torterra in Sun: 45-54 (12.6 - 15.2%) -- possibly the worst move ever
+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 96 HP / 252 Def Torterra in Sun: 120-142 (33.8 - 40%) -- 32.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
So even when not on dedicated sun team, Torterra is still a great pokemon to have as a counter to Azumaril, Keldeo, Sand, Edgequake, and just a really solid Tank with lots of great assets defensively, offensively and utility wise.
Vote Drought Torterra! :D
