One glorious summer day, sat in my mother's basement (or maybe a starbucks), I thought it would be fun to jump onto the Seed Hawlucha bandwagon. But why would I ever want to play the same old rain-koko-lucha offence that plagues the ladder when I can play bad things?
And so, Psychic Hawlucha was born.
I say this, but I've had more success with this team than with any other team in OU. I had been memeing for all of 7th gen, and this team pulled me back from about ~20% winrate to around ~60% very quickly.
There's not all that much of a teambuilding process. The team started with Lucha and Lele, with Celesteela and Venusaur as a defensive core. Celesteela turned to Skarm to avoid having to add a defogger, Garchomp found himself chosen over Landorus thanks to his bluffing potential, and I put on a Terrakion to clean and check Volcarona, that later changed to Nihilego.
The Team
Lucha Libre (Hawlucha) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Stone Edge
The sweeper. Everyone knows him, everyone hates him.
Early on in the team I played with Zen Headbutt, but there isn't a single mon in the meta who's hit harder by it than Acrobatics, even on Toxapex in Psychic terrain. So, I went for Stone Edge, which can OHKO Koko after rocks at +2, and happily kill Thundurus.
Dunce Hat (Tapu Lele) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
As I knew this team would end up being decimated by Volcarona, I decided not to go for a scarf on Lele, but rather to go for Taunt. Originally this was Psychic/Psyshock/Twinkle Tackle, but the dugtrio ban brought Heatran back hard, rendering that set weak. Even before then, Celesteela was too much of a pain - Fight Z is much better for all of these would-be checks. With Taunt, we can shut off Skarmory, Toxapex and Celesteela, denying them their recovery and hazard cleaning while we sac Lele to bring in Hawlucha and win.
Loli (Nihilego) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam
I knew when setting up the team that it would have two weaknesses - Volcarona and fizzling out. Hawlucha won't be able to mow down every team, so the team needed a dedicated cleaner to deal with everything afterwards. I initially decided to take a page from LC and go fightspam with Terrakion, but ran into two problems - Terrakion doesn't check a well-played or Charti Berry Volc, and it generally sucks ass otherwise. Nihilego, on the other hand, has enough bulk to beat a well-played Volc, and surprises a lot of players with just how specially tanky it is. This guy, at +1, beats Shift Gear Calm Mind Mag. 35% turn 1, 35% turn 2, then eat his attacks until he dies. The set was initially built to be a counter-lead to Landorus, able to OHKO it with HP Ice. Unfortunately, this only works on offensive sets, so its not the best lead option. However, it's still a move worth having, else this set struggles against Garchomp, Lando and Zygarde. Dazzling Gleam is basically filler. I dont remember ever clicking it, as this set can't really afford to be making safe plays.
Bomb Clip (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
I needed a rocker. I needed a lure for Scizor. I needed a Physical tank. I didn't want to give up and add Lando. So here we are. This guy is a pain in the ass for a lot of mons, and not too crucial for the late-game strategy, so makes excellent early sac fodder into mons like Medicham and Lopunny. Rocks are nice, but not really essential - one layer or spikes or rocks is normally enough for this team to operate with. Fire Blast lets him lure in Ferrothorns and Scizors and take kills, and Dragon Tail helps against opposing Luchas.
Feed Me, Seymour (Venusaur-Mega) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Fire]
The glue of the team. A near-catch-all switchin, with surprising power off the back of Sludge Bomb, surprising recovery off of giga drain, and the ability to beat mons like Magearna and Celesteela thanks to Leech Seed. I've had a lot of people tell me no-synthesis Venusaur is trash, but this isn't a stall team. Eventually, Venusaur will die, but it will have chipped the team enough that Nihilego is clear to go most of the time.
Birb (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost
- Spikes
The ultimate defensive partner to Leech Seed Venusaur. Not needing seeds meant I could run this guy instead of Celesteela, allowing me access to Defog, and the ability to Sturdy-Phaze key setup mons. Spikes make him a decent lead, and generally are less likely to pull a panic defog from the opponent. Whirlwind was added in place of Toxic because I didn't much like being complete setup fodder against Fini teams.
Strategy
The team isn't too complicated to play. In the early game, use Lele, Skarmory and Garchomp to win the hazard game, and use Venusaur to get hits. Only go to Nihilego and Lucha as predictions. Once you have a hazard up and relevant chip on your opponent's walls, make your sac and push with one of your wincons, then finish up with the other if it's not enough. The team can win lategame stall-offs thanks to Taunt on Lele and Venusaur, but it's not easy.
The Stall matchup is hard, but winnable. Venusaur is your pivotal mon, leave it alive at all costs (unless there's a Heatran. Fuck Heatran). Use your Fight-Z well, use your taunts sensibly as the PP will really matter. If you can sac Lucha or Nihilego to punch a hole, do so. Remember that the Psychic Seed means nothing in this matchup, don't hesitate to just setup Lucha in the face of anything that can't hurt it. Don't reveal Psyshock if your opponent has a Chansey. Celesteela, Ferrothorn, AV Magearna and Scizor all lose to Garchomp and Venusaur, while Toxapex can be handled by Lele.
Threats
Aurora Veil can stop your offence in its tracks, and this things STABs are a real pain to handle. I toyed with Brick Break as Lucha's fourth move for a bit because of how hard this was
If he's got both Zen Headbutt and Ice Punch, we have no wall for this. We can chip it down, sure, but it threatens both of our sweepers with Fake Out pivots. Our strongest play against this is to be super-aggressive with Psychic Terrain and Nihilego.
Although this girl isn't a huge danger as a late-game sweeper as it is for many teams, it's a nightmare lead. It needs to die ASAP if we're ever going to win the hazard game. If this becomes prominent I'll start running Iron Head on Skarm.
You might think I've added enough checks to this mon.
You can't have enough checks to this mon. Most of my lost games are this surviving the helmet chip and going in to sweep. Don't get complacent just because we have checks, this bastard wins games.
I'm so happy this mon doesn't see much play. This with a scarf is an absolute nightmare. We can beat it with Nihilego in the late game, but unless we can keep rocks up, he'll come in and keep taking kills.
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