Project OU Next Best Thing Week 10: Mew (Voting)

[Jordy]

approved by Subject 18
banner by MamOwOswine
co-hosted with Volcanoheadproduction(yt)

What is Next Best Thing?
The Next Best Thing is a project where people search through a Pokemon of my choice's movepool and post about it, explaining what it does and why it should be used over other more standard sets. The sets posted at the time may not be standard, however, they can become standard in the future, its not guaranteed for every set that will be posted to see success.

How does it work?
Every week a new Pokemon will be chosen for participants to create a new creative yet effective set, this set may not be in progress of being written or already uploaded on smogdex. The participants will get 5 days to make their set and create their post, people may discuss the set posted during 5 days, the following two days there will be a vote to represent the most creative yet effective set. After the voting and the winner has been announced their post will be archived.

Rules​

• Be as creative as possible, however, you must be able to prove the viability of the posted set.​
• The posted set can't be changed after the voting phase has started.​
• Feel free to include replays in your post, this helps the players to understand what the set does and how it works exactly.​
• You may only submit one set per week.​
• Do not vote for your own set.​
• Do not use other people's reservations.​

Nominations will start on Sunday.
Nomination deadlines will be due Friday.
Voting deadlines will be due Sunday.
Current Slate:

​

 

[Jordy]

Reserved for archive

DragonKnightmaster's Steelium Z Jirachi

View attachment 91983

Jirachi @ Steelium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Thunderbolt
- Doom Desire
- Calm Mind


The main point of this set is to lure in things like Landorus, Heatran, Celesteela and Zapdos to an extent.

relevant calcs

VS Landorus
252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 318-375 (83.2 - 98.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Heatran
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Hidden Power Ground vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 316-372 (84 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Celesteela
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Celesteela: 214-254 (53.7 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Zapdos
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 134-158 (34.9 - 41.2%) -- 73.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 222-262 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Jirachi can calm mind up on things like Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu, they usually switch into Landorus on the CM and get OHKO'd the next turn. HP ground is specifically for Heatran and Magnezone, Thunderbolt is for Celesteela, Skarmory, weakening Zapdos and bulky Water-types.

Good partners for this set would be Mega-Pinsir, Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Medicham, SD Mega-Scizor, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele and perhaps a few others.

Pinsir enjoys the removal of Landorus, Celesteela and Zapdos. The same goes for Medi and Lop, who also appreciate something to take on Mew and Clefable.

SD Scizor and Bulu can sweep easier with the removal of Lando, Celesteela and Heatran.

Tapu Lele appreciates the removal of the bulky steel types.



I decided to build around Pinsir and this Jirachi set to test it out since Pinsir is a really good mon in the meta right now.


The team:

View attachment 91984 View attachment 91985 View attachment 91986 View attachment 91987 View attachment 91988 View attachment 91989
https://pokepast.es/379ec58882c45615


This is a pretty standard bulky-offense volturn which I've had alot of success with. It's not the best team but it shows off Jirachi's set quite well.

replays I remembered to save

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668873705

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668569459

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668570835

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668870844

Lastly, some alternative options are HP Fire over ground for Ferrothorn, Psychic as a second STAB and Healing Wish over Calm Mind to heal your wincon (I personally prefer Calm Mind though).
It all depends on the team.
​

cdbk's Firium Z Hoopa-U

Hoopa-Unbound @ Firium Z
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Drain Punch / Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch
- Hidden Power [Ice]


This an an incredible set that i've been using lately on various playstyles. The Firium Z sets allows Hoopa to break through its traditional checks including Magearna, Celesteela and Scizor with minimal effort, as well as being able to lure in 'mons such as Landorus with HP Ice. Unlike Ice Punch, HP Ice has a high chance of OHKOing Defensive Lando with minimal investment, while simultaneously avoiding residual from the rocky helmet.

KuraiTenshi26's Copycat Mega Lopunny

Copycat Lopunny-M

“set”

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out / Power-Up Punch
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Copycat

Lopunny has a great utility movepool which never really sees the light of day in OU, but it’s in the draft format where I could truly appreciate the more obscure options it has, and even apply them in ladder play. Copycat lets Lopunny use the last move used by the opponent’s team. You can set up rocks or spikes while scaring out a ferrothorn or heatran, copy a choice locked knock off and cripple the fat stuff as they switch in, steal a leech seed on celesteela, heal up on a Chansey you force out, tspike up on a toxapex... the list goes on.

Copycat lets Lopunny pressure switch-ins in a very unconventional, but surprisingly effective way. It can come across as gimmicky, but it’s an effective option that Lopunny can afford to run thanks to only needing 2 moves.

Eclipse's Icium Z Manaphy

Manaphy @ Icium Z
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Psychic

This set serves as a lure to typical Manaphy answers found on bulky offense such as AV Bulu, Ferrothorn, AV Tangrowth and Kyurem-B. +3 Subzero Slammer is able to lure out and take out many of these threats with some prior damage. It also has the ability to take out threats such as Latios and Kartana switching in on Manaphy predicting it to set up.

+3 252 SpA Manaphy Subzero Slammer (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Ferrothorn: 266-313 (75.5 - 88.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+3 252 SpA Manaphy Subzero Slammer (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 56 SpD Assault Vest Tapu Bulu: 520-614 (151.6 - 179%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+3 252 SpA Manaphy Subzero Slammer (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 228+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 588-694 (145.5 - 171.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Manaphy Subzero Slammer (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 294-346 (97.6 - 114.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Manaphy Subzero Slammer (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kartana: 382-450 (147.4 - 173.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

KuraiTenshi26's Devastating Dragonite

foreword

I have to say, Dragonite is an incredibly versatile breaker/sweeper. It recently got a rise to the S tier rankings in a draft league I'm a part of, and for good reason. The ability to annihilate many of the checks to a smogondex set makes for a rather... Devastating Drake, in any metagame it's a part of.

Inspired by SD Garchomp, introducing...

Devastating Dragonite

destroy KokoLucha counters here

Hikari Tenshi (Dragonite) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch / Thunder Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake

The idea behind this set is rather simple: destroy all counterplay to flyspam cores. Dragonium Z Dragonite eschews powerful priority in Extremespeed, in order to destroy as much of the metagame as possible. A Jolly nature is used to outspeed Koko at +1 and ohko it with Earthquake.

Z-Outrage is capable of ripping through most walls in the metagame, including the likes of defensive Zapdos, defensive Rotom-W, Lando-T, and more.

z outrage calcs

252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 253-298 (66.2 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(Z-Outrage on a defensive Lando-T switching into Ddance already ruins it. However, multiscale is broken and lets you ddance twice)
+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 378-445 (98.9 - 116.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 88 Def Venusaur-Mega: 369-435 (101.6 - 119.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 630-742 (89.6 - 105.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 240 HP / 156 Def Mew: 408-481 (101.7 - 119.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Not even this semi-irrelevant blob can check you

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Sableye-Mega: 390-459 (128.7 - 151.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Tangrowth: 382-451 (94.5 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
You still beat Z-Fly targets with this set

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Zapdos: 384-453 (100.2 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 40 HP / 216+ Def Alomomola: 408-481 (84.8 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
force the protect first

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Suicune: 423-498 (104.7 - 123.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Dragonite Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 200+ Def Rotom-Wash: 340-402 (112.2 - 132.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Fire Punch is used to hit steel/flying types and can facilitate the Koko part of KokoLucha by outright ko'ing a ferrothorn or Scizor-M, while also breaking fat grass types like Tangrowth or Bulu.

Thunder Punch supports the Hawlucha part of KokoLucha more by hitting bulky water types like Fini hard, while still retaining the ability to hit steel/flying types.

Earthquake is used to make would-be checks to this set crumble, such as Heatran, Diancie, and Magearna. It's also Dragonite's highest bp coverage option on this set, hitting Dragon resists/immunities as hard as possible if the punch of choice does not exploit a type weakness. It can also be used to 2hko Ferrothorn when at +1, if Fire Punch isn't on the set.

Replay vs Zapdos Offense: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-681816749
They literally had to hope that Dragonite was Flyinium Z to win. Zapdos just drops to Z-Outrage.

The unaware blobs wall this set unsurprisingly, and hazard chip is a must for scoring ohko's at +1 while using coverage options for neutral targets. Throw this set on hazard stack HO along with answers to unware walls, and you're good to go.

EDIT: Added calc showing dnite ohko a rotom-w
EDIT2: Added a replay vs Zapdos Bulky Offense

LL's yaboiNJNP

NJNP (Celesteela) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid/Naive/Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Autotomize
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain/Earthquake

This is the fabled NJNP webs Celesteela set. I haven't used this thing in a while, but it's fun to use for shits and giggles on ladder. Supersonic Skystrike is actually really neat for murdering a lot of offensive mons like Ash Greninja and frens. Fire Blast roasts shit like Magnezone that normally chomps on Air Slash while EQ smacks Heatran and Tyranitar. I had to slash Giga Drain first to pay homage to rriv's team, but EQ is 10x better let's be honest. Celesteela is a mon people try innovating and frankly shouldn't because basically anything besides defensive is horseshit right now, but I'd like to think this is at least a little bit better than the other submissions.

LL's Psychium Z Magearna

Magearna @ Psychium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast
- Synchronoise
- Shift Gear

This Magearna set is really neat because it addresses the problem that most sets with Fleur + Focus traditionally have, being walled by Toxapex while also hitting Mega Venusaur for insane damage. This is a really cool tech that was used back in snake and I hope that it manages to pull out a surprise win sometime this SPL. Being able to take down the Poison-types that usually murder you is really cool and an awesome tech. I've provided a couple of calcs below to show how effective this set is.

252+ SpA Magearna Shattered Psyche (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 256-302 (84.2 - 99.3%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Magearna Shattered Psyche (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Venusaur-Mega: 310-366 (85.3 - 100.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Martin's Life Orb Clefable

Stealing the LO Clef reserve ‘cuz Leo is bad and has been sitting on his reserve for >2 days for no real reason

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Fire Blast
- Soft-Boiled
- Psyshock / Calm Mind / Focus Blast / Stealth Rock

LO Clef hits desceptively hard, taking advantage of the very limited range of Fairy+Fire resists to rlly pose as a menace to a lot of teams. I’m not going to dump a wall of calcs, but a few noteworthy things this achieves include 2HKOing Relaxed Celesteela (and Sassy after SR), 2HKOing AV Magearna at +1, 2HKOing Calm Toxapex after SR with Psyshock, and having a high chance to 2HKO Defog Gliscor with Moonblast through Poison Heal, forcing it to burn Roost PP (and leaving it 1v1’d by CM variants). There are more options for the last slot as it’s mostly filler, but Psyshock is for Toxapex, CM is to bolster offensive presence, Focus Blast dents Tran and SR is SR. The listed EVs outrun uninvested Magearna.

I reckon CM, SR and KOff r worth mentioning in the Flamethrower slot too; CM ‘cuz free turns from para+having a means of (slowly) 1v1ing Taunt Tran is broken; SR/KOff ‘cuz those+T-wave on one set is stupid good utility.

Counting Sheep's BoltBeam Fire Mega Latias

Reserving mono attacking cm refresh Damn Sniped D:

Latias (F) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

This M.Latias was first seen during olt, on Liones and DANN3 team primarily during the second cycle. What makes this set so nice, is its speed combined with it great natural bulk and scary coverage combonation of Bolt Beam Fire, this set is both hard to ko and switch into. This set is very similar to Zapdos's Roost 3 Attacks set, and shares a lot fo the same traits, being exceedingly hard for more offensive orientated teams to deal with that lack Ttar, and this has already been proven an effective strategy.

 

[Jordy]

First Pokemon will be Jirachi, the deadline will be due Thursday the 7th.
​

 

[DKM]

Reserving z-doom desire Jirachi

 

[weirdo faye]

Jirachi @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power [Ground] / Doom Desire
- Icy Wind
- Healing Wish / Doom Desire

Ok, my friend said I should post this so here goes. Firstly, this set is originally not something that I came up with myself, so it's only right to give credit when due. The original idea was from a ladder player I faced "kingmaker kvothe" (and lost to, bummer) who was #1 on the ladder a while ago and the following is his team. The healing wish part was something I decided to add myself because I was running sweepers on my team.

kvothe's team

I've used this set before and it's not what you'd call a "viable" set but I used it because I wanted to lure certain things. For example...

• Specs icy wind ohkos lando-t so your opponent doesn't get to set rocks up, good if you have things that are weak to that.
• Hp ground is for heatran, mainly used if your team is weak to heatran.
• Thunderbolt lures mainly celesteela and pelipper.
• Healing wish on jirachi is nice to bring back a weakened team member, which is especially nice with sweepers.
• Doom desire acts as a steel version of future sight but personally I much prefer healing wish.

Below are some replays of me using the set, jirachi also functions as some sort of glue for a team, patching up a team's tapu lele weakness.

replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656951372
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656967999
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656990441
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656993278
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656995532
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656959081
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656991568

 

[DKM]

Jirachi @ Steelium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Thunderbolt
- Doom Desire
- Calm Mind


The main point of this set is to lure in things like Landorus, Heatran, Celesteela and Zapdos to an extent.

relevant calcs

VS Landorus
252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 318-375 (83.2 - 98.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Heatran
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Hidden Power Ground vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 316-372 (84 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Celesteela
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Celesteela: 214-254 (53.7 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Zapdos
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 134-158 (34.9 - 41.2%) -- 73.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 222-262 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Jirachi can calm mind up on things like Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu, they usually switch into Landorus on the CM and get OHKO'd the next turn. HP ground is specifically for Heatran and Magnezone, Thunderbolt is for Celesteela, Skarmory, weakening Zapdos and bulky Water-types.


Good partners for this set would be Mega-Pinsir, Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Medicham, SD Mega-Scizor, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele and perhaps a few others.

Pinsir enjoys the removal of Landorus, Celesteela and Zapdos. The same goes for Medi and Lop, who also appreciate something to take on Mew and Clefable.

SD Scizor and Bulu can sweep easier with the removal of Lando, Celesteela and Heatran.

Tapu Lele appreciates the removal of the bulky steel types.



I decided to build around Pinsir and this Jirachi set to test it out since Pinsir is a really good mon in the meta right now.


The team:


https://pokepast.es/379ec58882c45615


This is a pretty standard bulky-offense volturn which I've had alot of success with. It's not the best team but it shows off Jirachi's set quite well.

replays I remembered to save

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668873705

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668569459

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668570835

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668870844

Lastly, some alternative options are HP Fire over ground for Ferrothorn, Psychic as a second STAB and Healing Wish over Calm Mind to heal your wincon (I personally prefer Calm Mind though).
It all depends on the team.

​

 

[Jordy]

Lets get some more submissions before im closing this today

 

[TheTapDancer]

Jirachi @ Mental Herb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Healing Wish​

Jirachi is slept on as a trick room setter due to the viability of Magearna, but his role is reminiscent of Uxie in the lower metagames. Access to U-turn lets you take advantage of trick room turns better, stealth rock is nice to have, and Healing Wish can put a weakened bulky attacker back even without trick room up. Toxic could be used but realistically the threats to trick room aren't toxic weak. Jirachi also doesn't core well with Cresselia, preferring Diancie as the second setter.

 

[Finchinator]

Sure, why not.

Jirachi @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 20 HP / 220 Atk / 16 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Happy Hour
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch

This is a bit of a meme that Reyscarface used during the pre-WCOP metagame on a team that was not too serious at all, but I got a good laugh out of it at the time., For those that are unaware, Z-Happy Hour gives the user +1 in every single statistic, letting Jirachi function as the win condition that it never really got the chance to be in generation 6 or 7 OU. It still has a lot of flaws and plenty of counterplay, especially on the defensive end of the spectrum, but there is a little bit of potential there. Seeing as Jirachi was not seeing much usage at all and there were at least a bit more HO/offensive teams brought into the mix upon the release of USUM, I figured trying to craft a set like this would be interesting and I wanted to try it out. The fact of the matter is, this Jirachi never is going to do a ton against fat teams unless it gets significant chip and progress cleared for it in the early game stage, in which case a lot of more practical Pokemon can also do the trick in terms of cleaning up. However, this Jirachi set actually shines in some offensive match-ups, if you can weaken Heatran and remove Landorus-T, which is not as hard as it may seem to manipulate.

First and foremost, I would almost always pair it with a Landorus-T like this one because it has speed that lets you get an HP Ice off on opposing Landorus-T, outrun Heatran, outrun Adamant Zygarde, and Knock Off Celesteela, essentially supporting Celesteela in a number of ways. I would also pair it with a physical strongmon such as CB Tyranitar, Mega Pinsir, or even some form of Kartana as they all have similar switch-ins and can open holes for Jirachi later on in games. Second of all, most people will assume Jirachi is the typical specially defensive support set, perhaps with Stealth Rock, Iron Head, U-turn, and Healing Wish, and the fact that this is not the case often does not become apparent even to smarter players until mid-game, who also might assume it will be Scarf once the first prospect is out of the question. Given this, there is a clear element of surprise and "what the fuck does this do" to the Jirachi, leaving lanes of counterplay to be unclear. This can be used to your advantage, especially when threatening with it earlier on and then pulling back to try and gain leverage or momentum to position yourself better in the long-term. Ideally, you trade some Pokemon and get a fair amount of damage on the opponent's remaining Pokemon while keeping some form of hazards up and then you go for the game with this set later on. You can run Ice Punch over Fire Punch if you still are scared of Landorus-T, but you are EVd to always live Adamant EQ after two SR switch-ins or a single layer of Spikes once you get the +1 defense from Happy Hour, so the main issue is that it can Intimidate you moreso than it can really ruin your entire sweep then-and-there. Also, the main appeal is the fact that Jirachi is hard to kill when it has the +1 in both defensive stats, not just the boosted speed and attack.

Anyway, I would not really advise using this consistently or on a ton of high-level teams, but it has a slight niche, in my opinion, and is fun to use, so figured it'd be cool to share even if the other ideas might be a bit more practical.

 

[lydian]

Sure, why not.

Jirachi @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 20 HP / 220 Atk / 16 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Happy Hour
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch

This is a bit of a meme that Reyscarface used during the pre-WCOP metagame on a team that was not too serious at all, but I got a good laugh out of it at the time., For those that are unaware, Z-Happy Hour gives the user +1 in every single statistic, letting Jirachi function as the win condition that it never really got the chance to be in generation 6 or 7 OU. It still has a lot of flaws and plenty of counterplay, especially on the defensive end of the spectrum, but there is a little bit of potential there. Seeing as Jirachi was not seeing much usage at all and there were at least a bit more HO/offensive teams brought into the mix upon the release of USUM, I figured trying to craft a set like this would be interesting and I wanted to try it out. The fact of the matter is, this Jirachi never is going to do a ton against fat teams unless it gets significant chip and progress cleared for it in the early game stage, in which case a lot of more practical Pokemon can also do the trick in terms of cleaning up. However, this Jirachi set actually shines in some offensive match-ups, if you can weaken Heatran and remove Landorus-T, which is not as hard as it may seem to manipulate.

First and foremost, I would almost always pair it with a Landorus-T like this one because it has speed that lets you get an HP Ice off on opposing Landorus-T, outrun Heatran, outrun Adamant Zygarde, and Knock Off Celesteela, essentially supporting Celesteela in a number of ways. I would also pair it with a physical strongmon such as CB Tyranitar, Mega Pinsir, or even some form of Kartana as they all have similar switch-ins and can open holes for Jirachi later on in games. Second of all, most people will assume Jirachi is the typical specially defensive support set, perhaps with Stealth Rock, Iron Head, U-turn, and Healing Wish, and the fact that this is not the case often does not become apparent even to smarter players until mid-game, who also might assume it will be Scarf once the first prospect is out of the question. Given this, there is a clear element of surprise and "what the fuck does this do" to the Jirachi, leaving lanes of counterplay to be unclear. This can be used to your advantage, especially when threatening with it earlier on and then pulling back to try and gain leverage or momentum to position yourself better in the long-term. Ideally, you trade some Pokemon and get a fair amount of damage on the opponent's remaining Pokemon while keeping some form of hazards up and then you go for the game with this set later on. You can run Ice Punch over Fire Punch if you still are scared of Landorus-T, but you are EVd to always live Adamant EQ after two SR switch-ins or a single layer of Spikes once you get the +1 defense from Happy Hour, so the main issue is that it can Intimidate you moreso than it can really ruin your entire sweep then-and-there. Also, the main appeal is the fact that Jirachi is hard to kill when it has the +1 in both defensive stats, not just the boosted speed and attack.

Anyway, I would not really advise using this consistently or on a ton of high-level teams, but it has a slight niche, in my opinion, and is fun to use, so figured it'd be cool to share even if the other ideas might be a bit more practical.

Hey Finch! Great post, but Happy Hour Jirachi has a little element that completely ruins the surprise factor: it has to be Shiny. Happy Hour was only distributed on Shiny Jirachis so as soon as your opponent sees that your Jirachi is Shiny they would be a lot more likely to believe it's Z-Happy Hour, specially if your team has no other shinies, so it's nice to blend some shinies in to at least try to cover Jirachi as most ppl never make their Pokemon shiny on PS!

Still, Z-Happy Hour Rachi is a very fun and slightly underrated set!

 

[Finchinator]

Hey Finch! Great post, but Happy Hour Jirachi has a little element that completely ruins the surprise factor: it has to be Shiny. Happy Hour was only distributed on Shiny Jirachis so as soon as your opponent sees that your Jirachi is Shiny they would be a lot more likely to believe it's Z-Happy Hour, specially if your team has no other shinies, so it's nice to blend some shinies in to at least try to cover Jirachi as most ppl never make their Pokemon shiny on PS!

Still, Z-Happy Hour Rachi is a very fun and slightly underrated set!

This is a bad argument because every Jirachi should be shiny if this is the case; this has been the case for countless Pokemon with relevant/semi-relevant event moves that force them to be shiny. For example, Raikou should always be shiny in every tier as well so that the prospect of Aura Sphere being on the set is not totally dismissed from team preview. This is similar to the case for Protean Greninja and natures, given the lock for Ash Greninja.

Finch edit: yea that’s fair I suppose

 

[lydian]

This is a bad argument because every Jirachi should be shiny if this is the case; this has been the case for countless Pokemon with relevant/semi-relevant event moves that force them to be shiny. For example, Raikou should always be shiny in every tier as well so that the prospect of Aura Sphere being on the set is not totally dismissed from team preview. This is similar to the case for Protean Greninja and natures, given the lock for Ash Greninja.

Absolutely! I always make my Jirachis shiny for this exact reason, but unfortunately the ladder doesn't seem to think the same. It wasn't meant to be an argument against your post though, it was more of a reminder that many players don't make their Rachi shiny and for that reason, a shiny Rachi gives a stronger indication that it could be Z-Happy Hour. It still does keep many of the surprise factor, I was just trying to say that it isn't that strong due to the lack of shiny Jirachis in the ladder.

 

[Jordy]

Time to vote!
Really liked the creative posts keep it up :]

candidates

Jirachi @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power [Ground] / Doom Desire
- Icy Wind
- Healing Wish / Doom Desire

Ok, my friend said I should post this so here goes. Firstly, this set is originally not something that I came up with myself, so it's only right to give credit when due. The original idea was from a ladder player I faced "kingmaker kvothe" (and lost to, bummer) who was #1 on the ladder a while ago and the following is his team. The healing wish part was something I decided to add myself because I was running sweepers on my team.

kvothe's team

I've used this set before and it's not what you'd call a "viable" set but I used it because I wanted to lure certain things. For example...

• Specs icy wind ohkos lando-t so your opponent doesn't get to set rocks up, good if you have things that are weak to that.
• Hp ground is for heatran, mainly used if your team is weak to heatran.
• Thunderbolt lures mainly celesteela and pelipper.
• Healing wish on jirachi is nice to bring back a weakened team member, which is especially nice with sweepers.
• Doom desire acts as a steel version of future sight but personally I much prefer healing wish.

Below are some replays of me using the set, jirachi also functions as some sort of glue for a team, patching up a team's tapu lele weakness.

replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656951372
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656967999
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656990441
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656993278
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656995532
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656959081
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656991568

View attachment 91983

Jirachi @ Steelium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Thunderbolt
- Doom Desire
- Calm Mind


The main point of this set is to lure in things like Landorus, Heatran, Celesteela and Zapdos to an extent.

relevant calcs

VS Landorus
252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 318-375 (83.2 - 98.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Heatran
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Hidden Power Ground vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 316-372 (84 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Celesteela
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Celesteela: 214-254 (53.7 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

VS Zapdos
+1 252 SpA Jirachi Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 134-158 (34.9 - 41.2%) -- 73.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252 SpA Jirachi Corkscrew Crash (200 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 222-262 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Jirachi can calm mind up on things like Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu, they usually switch into Landorus on the CM and get OHKO'd the next turn. HP ground is specifically for Heatran and Magnezone, Thunderbolt is for Celesteela, Skarmory, weakening Zapdos and bulky Water-types.

Good partners for this set would be Mega-Pinsir, Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Medicham, SD Mega-Scizor, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele and perhaps a few others.

Pinsir enjoys the removal of Landorus, Celesteela and Zapdos. The same goes for Medi and Lop, who also appreciate something to take on Mew and Clefable.

SD Scizor and Bulu can sweep easier with the removal of Lando, Celesteela and Heatran.

Tapu Lele appreciates the removal of the bulky steel types.



I decided to build around Pinsir and this Jirachi set to test it out since Pinsir is a really good mon in the meta right now.


The team:

View attachment 91984 View attachment 91985 View attachment 91986 View attachment 91987 View attachment 91988 View attachment 91989
https://pokepast.es/379ec58882c45615


This is a pretty standard bulky-offense volturn which I've had alot of success with. It's not the best team but it shows off Jirachi's set quite well.

replays I remembered to save

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668873705

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668569459

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668570835

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-668870844

Lastly, some alternative options are HP Fire over ground for Ferrothorn, Psychic as a second STAB and Healing Wish over Calm Mind to heal your wincon (I personally prefer Calm Mind though).
It all depends on the team.
​

Jirachi @ Mental Herb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Healing Wish​

Jirachi is slept on as a trick room setter due to the viability of Magearna, but his role is reminiscent of Uxie in the lower metagames. Access to U-turn lets you take advantage of trick room turns better, stealth rock is nice to have, and Healing Wish can put a weakened bulky attacker back even without trick room up. Toxic could be used but realistically the threats to trick room aren't toxic weak. Jirachi also doesn't core well with Cresselia, preferring Diancie as the second setter.

Sure, why not.

Jirachi @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 20 HP / 220 Atk / 16 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Happy Hour
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch

This is a bit of a meme that Reyscarface used during the pre-WCOP metagame on a team that was not too serious at all, but I got a good laugh out of it at the time., For those that are unaware, Z-Happy Hour gives the user +1 in every single statistic, letting Jirachi function as the win condition that it never really got the chance to be in generation 6 or 7 OU. It still has a lot of flaws and plenty of counterplay, especially on the defensive end of the spectrum, but there is a little bit of potential there. Seeing as Jirachi was not seeing much usage at all and there were at least a bit more HO/offensive teams brought into the mix upon the release of USUM, I figured trying to craft a set like this would be interesting and I wanted to try it out. The fact of the matter is, this Jirachi never is going to do a ton against fat teams unless it gets significant chip and progress cleared for it in the early game stage, in which case a lot of more practical Pokemon can also do the trick in terms of cleaning up. However, this Jirachi set actually shines in some offensive match-ups, if you can weaken Heatran and remove Landorus-T, which is not as hard as it may seem to manipulate.

First and foremost, I would almost always pair it with a Landorus-T like this one because it has speed that lets you get an HP Ice off on opposing Landorus-T, outrun Heatran, outrun Adamant Zygarde, and Knock Off Celesteela, essentially supporting Celesteela in a number of ways. I would also pair it with a physical strongmon such as CB Tyranitar, Mega Pinsir, or even some form of Kartana as they all have similar switch-ins and can open holes for Jirachi later on in games. Second of all, most people will assume Jirachi is the typical specially defensive support set, perhaps with Stealth Rock, Iron Head, U-turn, and Healing Wish, and the fact that this is not the case often does not become apparent even to smarter players until mid-game, who also might assume it will be Scarf once the first prospect is out of the question. Given this, there is a clear element of surprise and "what the fuck does this do" to the Jirachi, leaving lanes of counterplay to be unclear. This can be used to your advantage, especially when threatening with it earlier on and then pulling back to try and gain leverage or momentum to position yourself better in the long-term. Ideally, you trade some Pokemon and get a fair amount of damage on the opponent's remaining Pokemon while keeping some form of hazards up and then you go for the game with this set later on. You can run Ice Punch over Fire Punch if you still are scared of Landorus-T, but you are EVd to always live Adamant EQ after two SR switch-ins or a single layer of Spikes once you get the +1 defense from Happy Hour, so the main issue is that it can Intimidate you moreso than it can really ruin your entire sweep then-and-there. Also, the main appeal is the fact that Jirachi is hard to kill when it has the +1 in both defensive stats, not just the boosted speed and attack.

Anyway, I would not really advise using this consistently or on a ton of high-level teams, but it has a slight niche, in my opinion, and is fun to use, so figured it'd be cool to share even if the other ideas might be a bit more practical.

 

[Jeffv]

Z-Doom Desire Jirachi

 

[lydian]

Z-Happy Hour Jirachi

 

[MultiAmmiratore]

Z-doom desire rachi

 

[Marigold]

Z-Doom Desire Jirachi

 

[Randompizza]

Z-Doom Desire Jirachi

 

[Tokyo Sonata]

Z - Happy Hour Jirachi.

 

[TheTapDancer]

Got to vote specs rachi as the coolest one.

 

[Breezy]

it’s a tough decision between specs- and the two z-sets, they are all cool sets.
I’m gonna vote for the z-happy hour set because it seems to be the more viableright now.

 

[wisdom dog]

Z doom desire

 

[matthewc20090]

bad set + bad mon = zzzz
z happy hour cause you can bullshit past counters

 

[TJ]

Z happy hour

 

[Aliss]

Specs rachi