Just look at this thing, it's gonna eat all your children
Pro's:
- Great physical bulk, even for ubers'standards
- Solid rock helps it live physical super effective hits with relative ease
- Its typing allows it to check common threats such as zekrom, ho-oh, and ekiller. Especially the second is important, as its biggest rivals, being Landorus-Therian and Groudon, cannot switch into a banded Ho-Oh.
- It also has a solid 140 attack stat and phazing moves, meaning that it is almost impossible to set up on
Cons:
- It has bad special bulk
- Solid rock can't save it from having a x4 weakness to water and grass types attacks
- It gets no recovery outside of rest
- It faces heavy competition from Groudon and Landorus-therian
- Nubs will laugh you you on teampreview
Sets overview:
Physical wall
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name: Ho-Oh pls
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Blast
move 3: Roar / Dragon tail
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic
ability: Solid Rock
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Attack
nature: Impish
Moveset:
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- Earthquake is your most powerful move, and hits Zekrom for supereffective damage, as well as doing fair damage to switchins such as Palkia and Kyogre
- Rock blast hits Ho-oh, as well as breaking a possible substitute. Three hits will kill it, while two hits on it will do at least 77%, assuming the tank Ho-Oh setI It is much better than Stone Edge due to its higher accuracy and ability to hit through Substitute.
- A phazing move is mandatory on Rhyperior so that it can get rid of Extremekiller Arceus, other Swords Dance Arceus and in general prevents Rhyperior from being set up on, as well as annoying switch ins by letting them take unnecessary SR damage. Roar is generally the better move as it cannot miss, hit through Substitute, and, more importantly, can get rid of Geomancy Xerneas that might try to set up on you. However, Dragon Tail does have its merits as it does damage and is able to hit through Taunt.
- The last move is a choice between toxic and stealth rock. Stealth Rock is usually preffered, as most pokemon that run Stealth rock in Ubers are bulky ground types, and toxic users are more easy to find. However, if you already have a good stealth rock user, toxic is a great option, as it cripples defensive switch ins such as Groudon and Landorus - Therian.
Set details
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Rhyperior has stellar physical defense, and as such can serve as a one-time check to almost all physical attackers in the tier. It can switch in fairly easily on Ho-Oh due to its bulk, Rock Typing and Solid Rock - Choice Band Ho-Oh's Earthquake does not 2HKO from full health and allows it to live a low kick from blaziken with relative ease, for example. Rhyperior can also serve as a check to Extremekiller Arceus, as it takes even +2 LO EQ very nicely and can phaze Arceus away. It can also do this for Swords Dance Ghost Arceus, but falters against SD Ground and Steel Arceus formes.
Here are some damage calcs to show its bulk:
252 Atk Teravolt Zekrom Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rhyperior: 132-156 (30.4 - 35.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Zekrom: 248-294 (72.5 - 85.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ho-Oh Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 162-192 (37.3 - 44.2%) -- 100% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 480-576 (115.3 - 138.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Arceus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 265-312 (61 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 124-147 (32.5 - 38.5%) -- 98.7% chance to 3HKO (of course, it can phaze)
252+ Atk Mega Blaziken Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 226-267 (52 - 61.5%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Blaziken: 348-410 (115.6 - 136.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rhyperior: 187-222 (43 - 51.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rayquaza: 240-288 (68.3 - 82%) -- approx. 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Mega Mewtwo X Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 148-175 (34.1 - 40.3%) -- 35.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Mega Mewtwo X: 160-190 (45.3 - 53.8%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Team options
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- Something to deal with water types such as Kyogre and Palkia is needed. Sylveon and cleric Xerneas are both great choices, as they provide cleric support, healing off potential Sacred Fire burns. . They also force coin flips between outrage and Bolt Strike when scarfed zekrom is on the field.
- If you do not run sylveon with it, another wish passer is preffered. Blissey and Jirachi are both good choices
- If you choose to run Toxic on Rhyperior, another stealth rock user is needed.
- A defogger is mandatory, as choice band Ho - Oh has a 25% to 2hko it provided stealth rock and 2 layers of spikes are up, and will be 2hkoed if your opponent manages to get up three layers, while also having a 2.1% chance to beat it with one layer of spiikes. This also helps rhyperior in switching in as Leftovers are not negated by Stealth Rock. It also helps with the rare Toxic Spikes, which can seriously harm Rhyperior's longevity.Good defoggers include various Arceus forms, such as Water, Grass, and fairy, as they help it beat common Rhyperior checks, including Palkia, Kyogre and Dialga.
- Yveltal is also a viable partner, as it beats common Will-o-Wisp users , such as Stalltwo, Giratina and support Arceus , using Dark Pulse on the first two, while taunting or Oblivious Winging/Dark pulsing the latter, depending on what form it is.
Other options
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- A Resttalk set could be attempted to make up for Rhyperior not getting any reliable recovery. However, it suffers heavily from four-move-syndrome. If it decideds to run two attacks besides resttalk, it will be set up bait for bulkier set up pokemon, such as Swords Dance Arceus, as it won't have Roar. If it opts to use Roar and Earthquake, it will not be able to touch Ho-Oh, which is one of the main reasons to use Rhyperior in the first place. Finally, if it goes with rock blast and roar, it will have a hard time at checking Zekrom, only doing around 30% to it assuming three hits, meaning zekrom can safely weaken it by using outrage once the lack of outrage has been revealed.
- A Weakness Policy Rock Polish set could be attempted, however, most pokemon that hit it for super effective damage will either KO it as they are special attackers (Palkia and Kyogre), switch out against it (Ho=oh), or be able to live a hit at +2 and either KO it or phaze it out (Landorus-Therian and Groudon).
- You can also run fire punch or ice punch to catch Ferrothorn and Landorus-Therian of guard. However, these moves will be deadweight when your opponent does not have those pokemon and you will lose a lot of coverage to check more common threats such as Zekrom and Ho-Oh.
Checks & counters
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- Support Arceus forms that are not weak to its stabs can switch in easily, and proceed to burn it or knock it out, while only fearing a toxic on the switch.
- Palkia, Kyogre and Diagla can knock out Rhyperior with either a water STAB or Draco Meteor, but none of them will appreciate the Earthquake damage on the switch
- Bulky ground types can easily take any hit rhyperior throws at them and either use Toxic or slowly wear him down with earhquake. However, Rhyperior can cripple them on the switch with toxic, apart from Gliscor.
- Ferrothorn can switch in and take any hit, while leech seeding it and setting up spikes in its face.
- Will-O- Wisp users such as Stalltwo, Giratina, and Supportceus can burn it and proceed to stall it out, while the former can also taunt it stopping it from poisoning/phazing.
- Other strong special atackers such as Reshiram, Shaymin-sky, and Kyurem-W can knock it out, but none of these can switch in safely
Thanks to Raph for helping me write this <3
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