Metagame NP: Stage 13: Free The Animal (Hoopa now RU)

[Thatwackycruton]

Anyone heard talk of an offensive Blastoise set? Yeah, it's not exactly a powerhouse with 85 special attack, but you have stuff like Ice beam, dark pulse, aura sphere and whatnot, it should be able to work, in theory. Honestly, the main beef I'd have with a set like that would be the fact that most of the things that it would pick up more damage on, like Virizion and Meloetta, are still mopping the floor with it. Likewise, the extra damage you do with investment is sometimes negligible in comparison to the threat of a scald burn and better bulk. In my opinion, offensive blastoise wouldn't want to run scald simply due to the fact that that would leave it kinda outclassed by defensive Blastoise. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter? (or any others, I'm tired of this thread being dead)

 

[Take Azelfie]

Anyone heard talk of an offensive Blastoise set? Yeah, it's not exactly a powerhouse with 85 special attack, but you have stuff like Ice beam, dark pulse, aura sphere and whatnot, it should be able to work, in theory. Honestly, the main beef I'd have with a set like that would be the fact that most of the things that it would pick up more damage on, like Virizion and Meloetta, are still mopping the floor with it. Likewise, the extra damage you do with investment is sometimes negligible in comparison to the threat of a scald burn and better bulk. In my opinion, offensive blastoise wouldn't want to run scald simply due to the fact that that would leave it kinda outclassed by defensive Blastoise. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter? (or any others, I'm tired of this thread being dead)

Its mostly a set that lower ladder uses but it can be justifiable in some cases. Mostly if people know you and think your a good player you can lure them with that coverage lol but when I have actually used it isn't very impressive and I wish I had Toxic to wear down stuff like Aromatisse and such.

Honestly this thread won't be dead for too long, drops will be comin' in shortly. Now we just build up anticipation to see if we get something that won't be banned

 

[MrAldo]

Anyone heard talk of an offensive Blastoise set? Yeah, it's not exactly a powerhouse with 85 special attack, but you have stuff like Ice beam, dark pulse, aura sphere and whatnot, it should be able to work, in theory. Honestly, the main beef I'd have with a set like that would be the fact that most of the things that it would pick up more damage on, like Virizion and Meloetta, are still mopping the floor with it. Likewise, the extra damage you do with investment is sometimes negligible in comparison to the threat of a scald burn and better bulk. In my opinion, offensive blastoise wouldn't want to run scald simply due to the fact that that would leave it kinda outclassed by defensive Blastoise. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter? (or any others, I'm tired of this thread being dead)

On the times I used blastoise, it is always an offensive variant lol

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Toxic / Aura Sphere
- Ice Beam

Ive never been a fan of defensive blastoise due to its general passivity so Ive been trying offensive variants for a long time and the results have been pretty sufficient.

Trades its defensive prowess for decent offensive presence, capable of pressuting mons that defensive one fails to do while still retaining good overall bulk to check what it is supposed to check. Dark pulse is honestly terrible on this set cause you arent getting past jellicent or meloetta with that, no matter what you do. I keep scald cause it is decently strong, good amount of PP and... it burns... more for the PP tho, for a durable main STAB move. What this mon can do is:

- Sigilyph cant roost on cause scald can always 2hko.
- KO something like delphox after stealth rock damage with scald, defensive variants fail to do so and can lose 1v1
- Doesnt invite mons like tangrowth since scald + ice beam have a good chance to KO together. So luring

Toxic cause it is one of the main fillers you could put on blastoise, helps with opposing waters and stuff. Aura sphere if sharpedo fucks your shit up. Thats pretty much it, dont play this as you would play your standard defensive blastoise. If defensive blastoise can switch into stuff 4 times, this variant can do it on 3 at most. And you will be fine :)

 

[eren]

my oh my my dudes. while we didnt get honcher, cloy, or hax cuz fucks used them in uu, we got this beauty in hoopa. hoopa will obviously impact the metagame quite a bit, just destroying stall and has 3 really nice sets that me and MrAldo have tested. here they are:

OTR

Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Hp
Quiet Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 1 Spe
- Trick Room
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball

we have gained another huge bolster towards trick room offense in this metagame as it partners extremely well with emboar, diancie, and HW mesprit as mentionef in my last series of posts. it works similar to diancie however only has one true counter, av melo. av melo will definitely see some increased usage to aid versus hoopa on bulky offensive teams. overall, tr hoopa is quite good rn with all the offense abrewing.

SUB + 3 ATTACKS OR AoA

Hoopa @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Timid / Hasty Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Substitute / Knock Off
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

an extremely dangerous set that just fucks up stall to the maximum. knock off removes potential eviolites on stall and hits melp while sub is cool for avoiding suit from drap etc

NASTY PLOT

Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Nasty Plot
- Focus Blast
- Psychic / Subsitute
- Shadow Ball

another fairly self-explanatory set. just focuses more on besting stall than the others. hoopa is godlike lmao.

CORES:
hoopa + dugtrio (for drap and hound)
non knock hoopa + pursuit (for melo)
hoopa + escava + diancie + emboar (TR offense core)

hehe

also

TR IS SO FUCKING GOOD RN HOLY BALLS

 

[EonX]

Alright boys, we got Hoopa in a bit of a shocker! It's our only drop this time around and I've already been tinkering with some possible sets / EV spreads that may benefit it in the current meta. First and foremost, this thing's typing is really unfortunate. It has insane special attack and a good movepool on both ends, but being 4x weak to Pursuit and only 80 / 60 physical bulk, it's dying to every Pursuit ever. So that takes out Choice sets and almost makes Substitute mandatory for it imo. Here's a couple of theory sets for us to work off of:

Hoopa @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SpA / 156 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Hoopa can't run dual STABs due to its severe weakness to Pursuit, but SubNP is still a potent set. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast have great neutral coverage with each other and Hoopa's base 150 Special Attack will mean that it won't always have to boost to deal serious damage. Against balance and stall teams, it's an absolute menace. Shadow Ball + Focus Blast is incredibly hard to wall at +2 and most defensive Pokemon can be used as setup fodder. The EVs maximize Special Attack and give Hoopa enough Speed to outpace Exploud so it can't Boomburst you (you're immune to Meloetta's Hyper Voice) before OHKOing it with Focus Blast
The rest goes into HP so that Hoopa's Subs are a bit bulkier and harder to break.

Hoopa @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

A simple Sub + 3 Attacks set can also serve Hoopa well. Instead of boosting with Nasty Plot, this set uses a Modest nature to gain a lot of power. The moves are pretty basic with Shadow Ball and Psyshock serving as solid STAB options and Focus Blast to take out Houndoom and Absol. Substitute lets Hoopa switch out of Escavalier without being taken out by Pursuit. EVs simply maximize Special Attack and Speed with a Modest nature to get as much power as possible. Timid is usable to outspeed Adamant Absol, but Hoopa should have a Sub up most times.

Any stall team is going to need Pursuit now to avoid being blown back by Hoopa.

 

[Cheryl.]

YAY DARKSPAM JUST GOT BETTER AND STALL DIED

Hoopa @ Salac Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock / Nasty Plot

SubSalac Hoopa sounds pretty damn threatening. Basically, the strategy is that on the switches that Hoopa can force, you set up Sub, like the other sets, or set up Sub on a passive wall like Alomomola (Unless Knock Off) But with Salac Berry, you can set up multiple Subs and then when you get to that magical 25%, you get a +1 Speed Hoopa, and if you've successfully set up a Nasty Plot, a +2/+1 Hoopa, which is basically GG unless the opponent has an Accelgor or a Scarfer. While the vulnerbility to Scarfers and fast mons hurt this set, it's definitely an option.

 

[Lord Death Man]

YAY DARKSPAM JUST GOT BETTER AND STALL DIED

Hoopa @ Salac Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock / Nasty Plot

SubSalac Hoopa sounds pretty damn threatening. Basically, the strategy is that on the switches that Hoopa can force, you set up Sub, like the other sets, or set up Sub on a passive wall like Alomomola (Unless Knock Off) But with Salac Berry, you can set up multiple Subs and then when you get to that magical 25%, you get a +1 Speed Hoopa, and if you've successfully set up a Nasty Plot, a +2/+1 Hoopa, which is basically GG unless the opponent has an Accelgor or a Scarfer. While the vulnerbility to Scarfers and fast mons hurt this set, it's definitely an option.

Just an fyi, modest doesn't outspeed anything base 115 or higher at +1, so timid is likely better.

I'm personally interested in a Sub/Knock Off/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast set to eat teams relying on Meloetta to check it, since essentially every Meloetta set, bar Colbur CM, is going to suffer if they take that huge chunk.

 

[eren]

kinda sorta double posting

Diogo (Meloetta) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Shadow Ball / Knock Off
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot

I know I know, AV melo is a thing, albeit mostly a thing of the past.

+2 252 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Meloetta: 157-185 (38.8 - 45.7%) -- 17.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

this checks hoopa extremely well bar knock. it also pivots and knocks or lures rhyperior. neat set atm

Here's a neat defensive core with a mon that got a lot better:

+

+

LDM (Drapion) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Pursuit
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab / Taunt

KABLEYE (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 12 SpA / 80 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Fire]

MrAldo (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 112 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Toxic / Knock Off
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect

if you are looking to play semi-stall or hard balance, this core is almost essential to not dropping to hoopa, diancie, meloetta, durant, mega snow, lo venu, lo growth, and the like. these two work extremely well as they provide multiple forms of hazards as well as checking the aformentioned threats and some more. ofc you would like alomomola associated with this core as it wishes them up and it is a fire resist

E: meant relaxed, thanks cruton

 

[Miyami~~]

Hoopa @ Cutsap Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
- Zen Headbutt

Just a fun little set. Not sure if it's actually viable or not, but this thing has so many sets.

 

[rau]

Hoopa @ Cutsap Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
- Hyperspace Fury

Just a fun little set. Not sure if it's actually viable or not, but this thing has so many sets.

fyi only Unbound Hoopa can use Hyperspace Fury; Focus Blast to hit Mega Steelix would be way better anyway imo

Oh yeah since everyone is laying down Hooper sets, might as well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hoopa @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyperspace Hole
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick / Hidden Power Fire

Standard fare for a scarfer. With an already powerful base 150 Special Attack and a not-too-shabby base 70 Speed, Hoopa seems like a pretty cool choice for a scarf user. The coverage is pretty well rounded and Trick can help cripple fat switch-ins such as Mola. Not the most innovative thing ever, but just throwing that out there. sorry for clutterin'.

e; Figured HP Fire could work too to avoid Escavalier shenanigans and Hyperspace Hole for anti-Protect scouting.

 

[Thatwackycruton]

kinda sorta double posting

Diogo (Meloetta) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Shadow Ball / Knock Off
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot

I know I know, AV melo is a thing, albeit mostly a thing of the past.

+2 252 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Meloetta: 157-185 (38.8 - 45.7%) -- 17.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

this checks hoopa extremely well bar knock. it also pivots and knocks or lures rhyperior. neat set atm

Here's a neat defensive core with a mon that got a lot better:

+

+

LDM (Drapion) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Pursuit
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab / Taunt

KABLEYE (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 12 SpA / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Fire]

MrAldo (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 112 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Toxic / Knock Off
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect

if you are looking to play semi-stall or hard balance, this core is almost essential to not dropping to hoopa, diancie, meloetta, durant, mega snow, lo venu, lo growth, and the like. these two work extremely well as they provide multiple forms of hazards as well as checking the aformentioned threats and some more. ofc you would like alomomola associated with this core as it wishes them up and it is a fire resist

I can agree with this. Specially defensive Drapion and AV Meloetta will be back with a vengeance with Hoopa roaming about. Is the set on your Bronzong intentional? Bold doesn't seem very efficient while running Iron Head. I don't thing that Hoopa will shake up offense that much, even with the TR set. Anyway, do you guys think that running 56 Speed EVs on Specially Defensive Drapion would be viable to speed creep modest Hoopa? It seems like a decent idea to me, but i wanted a little more input on it before I started building with it.

Edit: I Thought of this set, as a saw a slight lack of Aoa sets for hoopa.
Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Not saying that it would be a fantastic set, but it would have a lot more firepower and be able to bait in Escavalier, which might be the second most common Pursuit trapper behind Drapion in the new meta. Sub can also be run, but I like the extra wallbreaking potential.

 

[Wandering Wobbuffet]

With all of the Hypa going on at the moment lets just admire the power that is specs hoopa
Hoopa @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Energy Ball/Trick

Depending on the move you are locked into you can 2HKO everything in the tier at worst and OHKO like 100000 times over at best (
252+ SpA Choice Specs Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Aggron: 1448-1704 (515.3 - 606.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO LEL) Drapion is no longer a switchin. Offensive variants get OHKOd by focus blast and defensive variants are 2HKO and outsped. Energy ball is useful for getting a guaranteed OHKO on spdef diancie however trick can be useful to cripple mons on stall (as if stall even has a chance now). HP fire is also an option to get a get a guaranteed OHKO on escavalier but it's 2HKOd by shadow ball after rocks.

 

[Lemon Ginger]

WHAT THA HELL...who let Hoopa Drop?

Whelp, trick room is going to be real good now, since you can slap some combination of Hoopa, Diancie, M-aboma, slowking, M-camel etc.. and call it a day.

Though it requires 2 turns of set-up, you can use was is effectively a double dance set to OHKO pretty much everything (that's not AV melo)

Hoopa @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Hp
Quiet Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 1 Spe
- Trick Room
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball

You can come in on most special attackers and just boost in their face, then when they they can't hurt you, you trick room on the switch and blow everything up. Sitrus aids this, by providing a surprising boost of HP to lure people in to continuing to attack.

Admittedly, these are OU replays, but Hoopa does the brunt of the work, and I mean to only show how effective it is under TR.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-251555431
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-251571419
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-256877463 (SKIP TO TURN 24)

 

[EonX]

I think we're all forgetting that Hoopa gets Hyperspace Hole. Sure it can't use Fury, but Hole still busts through Protect which is really useful to simply blast through Alomomola and Aromatisse without a care in the world about them Wishing up. The loss of 10 BP compared to Psychic is rarely going to matter anyway.

Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Hyperspace Hole
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off

I know someone posted an AoA Hoopa set earlier, but this is honestly what it should probably look like. Hyperspace Hole over Psychic / Psyshock so you don't have to worry about Alomomola or Aromatisse trying to stall you out with Wish. Knock Off smacks Melo and combined with Shadow Ball, it gives Hoopa ~90% chance to KO Escavalier. You'll want Absol, Houndoom, and Drapion protection for sure since they outspeed Hoopa, but it isn't like they're going to be willing to switch in. Mild is honestly the better nature. You get about a 6% power increase compared with Hasty (this happens when you have base 150 Special Attack) and I feel like most Absols are going to start running Jolly to make sure they outspeed Hoopa.

I am still very hesitant about any Choice set. Scarf is really held down by Tyrantrum and it lacks U-turn. Any Choice set has to contend with the fact that it can't really safely use a STAB move in the presence of a possible Pursuit user. The only Pursuit user you can maybe get away with using Ghost STAB against is Spiritomb, and that's still a 50 / 50 due to Sucker Punch. And it isn't like other Psychic-types that run Choice items, such as Delphox or Meloetta. They're only weak to one, maybe two Pursuit users and can at least stay in to live Pursuit if they're locked into the right move. Hoopa is weak to every single Pokemon capable of using Pursuit and will usually be KOed even if it stays in. Even freaking Ambipom! (please don't use that btw. It's still awful.) TR Hoopa looks like heat, but I am a little concerned with that severe Dark weakness since most TR teams have enough issues with that. At least Mesprit and Slowking can run Colbur Berry to mitigate this issue a bit.

 

[Kableye]

def think psychic move | Shadow Ball | Focus Blast | Knock Off is Hoopa's best set. Knock Off lets it kill Escavalier without needing to run bad moves like Hidden Power Fire and still beats Meloetta. What I do enjoy a lot while looking at Hoopa is that its a Slowking check that does not lose as easily to fast Colbur sets, an offensive ghost type that doesn't suck (sorry Mismagius lovers D:). Definitely an ease to teams that CM Colbur Slowking just 6-0'd on its own!! Also to note, SpDef Drapion needs 56 speed to not lose to Hoopa if it switches in on Focus Blast, though I don't think its any better now than before seeing as it can't switch in twice and still has a poor match-up vs almost everything else in the tier. I see Hoopa like its OU brother, crazy good wall breaker but ass match-up vs offense unless running a trick room set. My fear with a trick room set is a Sucker Punch weakness which I assume will be quite common at least for the beginning months of Hoopa being RU. Anyway Hoopa is a great wall breaker just because of the spam-ability of Ghost typing, just looking at SPL pre-Hoopa the best ghost + dark resist were Sharpedo and Houndoom lol, which with some nice prediction Hoopa can easily loast. It'll definitely be a spooky mon (ha!), I'd say its killed stall but stall died awhile ago

 

[EonX]

I think we're all forgetting that Hoopa gets Hyperspace Hole. Sure it can't use Fury, but Hole still busts through Protect which is really useful to simply blast through Alomomola and Aromatisse without a care in the world about them Wishing up. The loss of 10 BP compared to Psychic is rarely going to matter anyway.

Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Hyperspace Hole
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off

I know someone posted an AoA Hoopa set earlier, but this is honestly what it should probably look like. Hyperspace Hole over Psychic / Psyshock so you don't have to worry about Alomomola or Aromatisse trying to stall you out with Wish. Knock Off smacks Melo and combined with Shadow Ball, it gives Hoopa ~90% chance to KO Escavalier. You'll want Absol, Houndoom, and Drapion protection for sure since they outspeed Hoopa, but it isn't like they're going to be willing to switch in. Mild is honestly the better nature. You get about a 6% power increase compared with Hasty (this happens when you have base 150 Special Attack) and I feel like most Absols are going to start running Jolly to make sure they outspeed Hoopa.

I am still very hesitant about any Choice set. Scarf is really held down by Tyrantrum and it lacks U-turn. Any Choice set has to contend with the fact that it can't really safely use a STAB move in the presence of a possible Pursuit user. The only Pursuit user you can maybe get away with using Ghost STAB against is Spiritomb, and that's still a 50 / 50 due to Sucker Punch. And it isn't like other Psychic-types that run Choice items, such as Delphox or Meloetta. They're only weak to one, maybe two Pursuit users and can at least stay in to live Pursuit if they're locked into the right move. Hoopa is weak to every single Pokemon capable of using Pursuit and will usually be KOed even if it stays in. Even freaking Ambipom! (please don't use that btw. It's still awful.) TR Hoopa looks like heat, but I am a little concerned with that severe Dark weakness since most TR teams have enough issues with that. At least Mesprit and Slowking can run Colbur Berry to mitigate this issue a bit.

Figured I would just leave this replay showcasing what Hyperspace Hole can do. You can use Hoopa on ladder now btw. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-327090981

 

[Hot N Cold]

ALSO HOOPA

AHH ME AHOGO, ¿BEST TIER EVER?

Spirit :/

 

[tko]

heres a core EonX and I have been using

Hoopa Absol makes a pretty fun offensive core, by wearing down eachothers checks with offensive pressure. Both are pretty strong mons at that (+400 spA on hoopa is hot). Thanks to hoopas psychic type, absols fighting types are also threatened by the likes of hyperspace hole (so that it can break thru things like emboars tect). Stall is pressed with hoopa and the other relatively /new/ mons, and this core puts a strain on it also because hoopa is god along absols great wallbreaking. Absol has decent matchup against offense, which helps with hoopa being a bit slower and without priority.
However, absol dosent need to be a wallbreaker on some teams and can rather be a lure (with play rough) and the team can go about this core with pursuit absol in mind!

Hoopa has been pretty fun so far, there are those 1 or 2 games where it cant do much but against more balanced / stall (rip) teams it is a big strain

 

[EonX]

heres a core EonX and I have been using

Hoopa Absol makes a pretty fun offensive core, by wearing down eachothers checks with offensive pressure. Both are pretty strong mons at that (+400 spA on hoopa is hot). Thanks to hoopas psychic type, absols fighting types are also threatened by the likes of hyperspace hole (so that it can break thru things like emboars tect). Stall is pressed with hoopa and the other relatively /new/ mons, and this core puts a strain on it also because hoopa is god along absols great wallbreaking. Absol has decent matchup against offense, which helps with hoopa being a bit slower and without priority.
However, absol dosent need to be a wallbreaker on some teams and can rather be a lure (with play rough) and the team can go about this core with pursuit absol in mind!

Hoopa has been pretty fun so far, there are those 1 or 2 games where it cant do much but against more balanced / stall (rip) teams it is a big strain

Absol @ Life Orb
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Play Rough

Carrying on with this topic, this is the Absol set tco alluded to. Absol has gone from being one of the premier wallbreakers to one of the best utility Pokemon. With Hoopa around, Absol has assumed a new key role as a Pursuit trapper that can still pressure fast and bulky teams alike. Sucker Punch and Pursuit combine to make Absol a nightmare for the numerous Psychic- and Ghost-types. Knock Off still hits ridiculously hard and can put a ton of pressure on defensive Pokemon. With the rise of Hitmontop and Poliwrath to check Dark spam Play Rough and Zen Headbutt have become quite appealing options. I chose for Play Rough for the ability to also blast Scrafty and its lack of immunities. With Play Rough, Absol becomes a fantastic lure for the likes of Sharpedo, Tyrantrum, and Sneasel. Just don't try to predict switches with it. Ideally the target will switch into Knock Off and you can just follow it up with Play Rough to KO them. Even if you can't get this ideal situation, Play Rough will make it incredibly difficult for the opposing team to handle Sharpedo or Tyrantrum if they're relying on bulky Fighting-types to handle them. I feel the tier has plenty of ways to lure in and weaken / remove Steel-types but Absol makes for a great way to lure in bulky Fighting-types. Sadly, Absol will rarely be able to sweep with this moveset, but it can trap Psychics and Ghosts, revenge kill, lure, and clean pretty nicely. Jolly is an option to make sure you outspeed Hoopa, but you'll miss out on the chance to OHKO Poliwrath with Play Rough.

 

[DiscoDucky]

Why do you choose to not run Dread Plate on Absol?

 

[rau]

Why do you choose to not run Dread Plate on Absol?

The higher power boost (1.3x) to all of its moves unlike Dread Plate boosting only Dark-type ones by 1.2x (being able to deal a good chunk to hitmontop n gurdurr is cool) aside from the fact that the recoil isn't really minded since Absol has pitiful bulk anyway

 

[Punchshroom]

Why do you choose to not run Dread Plate on Absol?

Many reasons for that: Life Orb gives a more substantial boost than Dread Plate, Absol cares not for its longevity when it's already such a glass cannon, and Life Orb also boosts the power of Play Rough, making it a more effective bulky Fighting lure.

 

[EonX]

Why do you choose to not run Dread Plate on Absol?

Dread Plate would be useful on Absol were it not for the fact that it almost never is seen with a Choice item. Life Orb gives Play Rough the power it needs to do around 60% to typical bulky Fighting-types, which is often more than enough when combined with the Knock Off they're likely switching into for the likes of Sharpedo and Tyrantrum to get past them late-game. Poliwrath takes around 80% on average from the two moves while Hitmontop takes around 75% on average from Knock Off + Play Rough. With Dread Plate, Absol won't even do 50% to either target with Play Rough (67% to Poliwrath with Knock + Play Rough and 58% on average to Hitmontop with both moves back to back) Should also be noted that Play Rough does over 80% minimum to Hariyama, which can let Houndoom break through it later.