ORAS OU Zard X Hyper Offense ft. Serperior (Peaked #391 w/ 1522 elo)

[Soleil Noir]

Hey smogoners o/ Today, for my first post, I would like to present you the team I am actually using on the OU ladder. This team recently reched 1522 elo in the ladder, which is not bad, I guess.

I) Teambuilding Process

Well, I started first with a core that I wanted use for a long time, which is Zard X/Serperior/LO Kyurem-B

So, this core is really cool, but also weak to Talonflame. I also needed Stealth Rock Support to deal more easily with pokemons like M-Pinsir, so I choose to add Heatran to the team.

Well, now I was really really weak to Sand Rush Excadrill, so I needed something to check it, but in Hyper Offense, it is hard to find something that can take a hit from LO Adamant Excadrill. Finally, I choose to add a Choice Bander Azumarill, who can OHKO Excadrill with Aqua-Jet, and also is a really good wallbreaker for things like Heatran, that the team has troubles to kill.

Finally, I needed something to removes Entry Hazards, so I added a LO Starmie.

Now the team seems relly cool, but it is also a pretty slow team, so I switched LO Kyurem to Choice Scarf Kyurem.


II) Les Jean-Sets

Changes are in bold

Jean-Plante (Serperior) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Glare / Taunt ?​

First, my favorite pokemon of the team, Serperior, who is also my first win condition. It is a pretty classic set, except of the item. I choose to run Lum Berry>Life Orb/Coba Berry because it allow to stallbreak more effectively, and can help against mons like Klefki or Thundurus. The moves are really classics, Leaf Storm because Leaf Storm (you now, 130 BP and a +2 SpA boost :]), Hidden Power fire because I wanted to kill Ferro and Scizor, Dragon Pulse is a good coverage move, and Glare is cool to paralyze a switch-in, like Tornadus-Therian.

Jean-Y (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost​

My second wincon, a really good mon (and also super badass :]). Well, the set is pretty standard, I choose Jolly nature to outspeed Scarfed Landorus-Therian after one DD and OHKO it w/ Flare blitz (after rocks), and also outspeed Scarfed Kyurem-Black. For the moves, Dragon Claw for a stab which do good damages to almost everything without a dragon resistance/immunity, Flare Blitz is an insanely powerful stab with Tough Claws boost, Dragon Dance for setup, and Roost to heal.

Jean-Fée (Azumarill) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet​

My Wallbreaker/Exca's revenge killer. The repartition is standard too, the EV in speed are used to outspeed mons w/ 60 speed base stat without investment, like Clefable., max attack to hit as hard as possible, and the rest of the EV are put into HP to maximize bulk. The moves are also standards, Waterfall and Play Rough are the 2 stabs, Aqua-Jet for priority, and Knock Off is pretty useful on a switch, or to weaken Slowbro for example.

Jean-Dragon (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage​

Well, this set is a bit "original", because I really saw something like 3 scarfed Kyubes on ~20 Kyubes. But well, so it is a scarfed Kyurem Black, with enough speed to outspeed (and OHKO obviously) asarf Landorus. We maximize attack, and the rest is put in SpA to maximize the damages of Earth Power and Ice Beam. For the attacks, Outrage is really spammable when all the steel/fairy mons are KOs, which can OHKO mons like M-Lopunny. Ice Beam fort stab/hit M-Venusaur/Landorus/Gliscor, Fusion Bolt for coverage, and Earth Power to hit Heatran.

Jean-Eau (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin​

My rapid spinner. The repartition is classic, max SpA/Spe to hit as hard and as fast as possible, Life Orb to increase his damages, who are a bit low without Analytics boost. For the attacks, Rapid Spin because this is a spinner (well... yes.), Hydro Pump for a Powerful stab, and TBolt/Ice Beam for a BoltBeam pretty useful against a lot of mons of the meta (Gyarados, Garchomp, Lati@s...).

Jean-Feu (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon​

And last, my EH setter, a Balloon offensive Tran. So, the Air Balloon is pretty cool to troll leads Exca/Lando, who are going to be really sad (cry if you rt evertieme for them). The repartition is also basic, the Hasty nature is here to maximize chances to OHKO SpDef Talonflame, otherwise, max SpA/Spe, to hit as hard as possible w/ our two stabs. Stealth Rock because, well, you now, Stealth Rock>All, Fire Blast is a powerful stab, Flash Cannon is cool to lure leads Diancie, if you use Fire Blast or Stone Edge during the Protect turn, and hit Flash Cannon T2. And finally, Stone Edge to deal w/ mons like Talonflame and Volcarona.

III) The other things

1) Export

Jean-Dragon (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage

Jean-Plante (Serperior) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Glare

Jean-Y (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Jean-Eau (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin

Jean-Feu (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon

Jean-Fée (Azumarill) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet


2) Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-263945950 VS. a stall team totally raped by Serperior

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-264179638 A replay who shows well that M-Lopunny is a great threat to the team.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-265518058 VS. another stall team, and you now, Serperior VS Stallteam is a rough battle. (spoiler: it's wrong, Serperior vs Stall team=6-0)

 

[celes]

Hey Soleil Noir, cool team. I actually have a team with Lum Serperior too since it's great for teams that rely on Klefki or Thund to T-Wave as a way to check it. Plus you can switch-in on Scald risk free which is always nice.

Anyways, i only have a few suggestions for your team.

For one, i think you should consider Taunt > Glare on Serperior since this allows you to break through Unaware Clefable, SpDef Skarm, and Chansey in a 1v1 situation. The mons that check you that Glare on switch-in like Scarf Jirachi, TornT, and Talonflame all lose to Heatran 1v1 anyway. This is subjective since Glare definitely has its uses outside of Paralyzing the mons i named, but this helps a lot vs stall teams that don't have Gothitelle to revenge you.

The next suggestion i have is to run Timid > Hasty on Heatran. Stone Edge, even with Timid, still OHKOs Zard Y and Talonflame, so you should make use of the bit of bulk you have so you can eat hits better vs. Talonflame and Zard X since this is your main answer to them.

The last two suggestions i have is to run a spread of 40 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe on Zard X to have a bit of bulk for setting up and for taking Flare Blitz recoil a bit better, while still outspeeding max speed Scarf Kyurem-B. And also run Superpower > Knock Off on Azumarill to get rid of Ferrothorns for your Starmie since Ferro can consistently get up hazards on your it while wearing it down fast with Life Orb and Iron Barbs recoil. This also helps for breaking through Steels for your Kyurem-B to be able to freely spam Outrage late game.

Sets

Jean-Plante (Serperior) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Taunt

Jean-Y (Charizard-Mega-X) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Jean-Fée (Azumarill) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Aqua Jet

Hope i was able to help!

 

[Soleil Noir]

First, thanks for the rate !

So, for Taunt > Glare, it can really help to make Serperior a really powerful Wallbreaker, but in fact, Without Glare, I have nothing for Bisharp (well, if an opponent Bisharp setup a Swords Dance, if he is LO, he can OHKO pretty much all my team after some prior damages) so I don't know, but I'm going to test that.

For Timid > Hasty, it effectively doesn't change so much for the damages of Stone Edge, so I run this nature, thanks :3

For the EV spread of Charizard, I run max speed also for outspeed Choice scarf Hydreigon after 1 DD, but I guess I'm going to use this spread 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe, but I don't know if 16 Spe EV are really useful.

 

[Albacore]

Glare doesn't really help that much against Bisharp, sure it means Azu can check it but Serperior still risks getting hit by Knock Off and you still have to play around it. Besides, some Bisharp carry Lum Berry and can just remove paralysis If you want Serperior to be able to deal with Bisharp better, you try running Substitute on it, this lets you evade Sucker Punches from Bisharp and hit it afterwards. This laos means you don't really need the Lum Berry since Sub also blocks status, you can repalce it for Meadow Plate which powers up Leaf Storm. The problem with that is that you become weaker to Torn-T since you can't Glare it as it switches in, I think the best course of action is to replace something else on your team.

Alongside Bisharp, the biggest threats to your team are Mega Lopunny, Mega Diancie (Diamond Storm 2HKOs Heatran), Azumarill, Mega Gardevoir, Tornadus-T, Landorus-T, Latios and opposing Kyu-B to some extent. The best way I can think of to handle these weaknesses is by running Defensive Garchomp>Kyu-B and running a Scarf on Heatran. Garchomp acts as an answer to Bisharp and Lopunny, a way to prevent Landorus-T from spamming U-Turn all over your team, as well as a secondary check to Talonflame, and an emergency check to Azumarill who can force it to kill itself by Rough Skin/Rocky Helmet damage. Also gives you a Ground immunity to stop Volt Switch spam from runing your life (though arguably not a big deal since half your team resists Electric anyway, still, it's nice to have). Scarfing Heatran enables it to check Diancie and Kyuem-B better (swicthes in on anything but Earth Power from both of these), and lets it handle Latios, Torn-T and Gardevoir to some extent as well.
Now, the biggest problem with this version of the team is that it's even weaker to Mega Altaria, not too sure how to deal with that honestly, but defenitely keep Glare on Serperior so that it can paralyze it instead of serving as setup fodder for it. If MAlt really becomes a problem, you can try out Ferrothorn over Serperior, it has great synergy with XZard and Azu and can turn your team into a Spikes-stacking team, and also helps a lot vs Diancie, Latios and Azumarill, however it is probably too passive for this team. You're still a tad weak to Dual Dance Landorus-T as well, though Garchomp can phaze it out so it's not too much of a problem), and the fact that you lose your only Ground immunity really bothers me (you can maybe try Latios>Starmie, although you have 3 Dragon-types at that point I don't think it's too much of a problem, you do stack a Dragon weakness, but only of them are weak to Ice and Fairy and Dragon-types in general are covered by Azumarill and Heatran decently).

Other suggestion : I think it would be beneficial for yur team to run Hidden Power Ground on Serperior. HP Fire is usually better, but on this specific team, the ability to lure Heatran hugely benefits XZard and can enable it to pull off a sweep (most people expect HP Fire as opposed to HP Ground), and you already have 2 Fire types, both of which can easily take on HP Fire targets. At that point you are actually pretty weak to Ferrothorn, so I'd run Superpower over Knock Off on Azumarill, this enables you to bait it out and remove it for Serperior, Kyu-B and Starmie.
If you decide to try out my Latios suggestion I highly recommend HP Fire on it, or even EQ to lure Heatran, but in the latter case stick with HP Fire on Serperior. Basically, what you want to do is create some sort of chain of lures, where, for example, Azu lures Ferro for Serp, which lures Heatran for XZard. This is far from necessary for your team, just something you may want to try out so feel free to ignore this whole paragraph

Also, tiny nitpick but you might as well run 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe on Charizard. 16 HP EVs are barely helping you live any hits, and the ability to at least speed tie with Timid base 100s (like Manaphy, Gardevoir, YZard, opposing XZard, etc..) before you set up seems way more important than 4 measly HP points.

sets

Jean-Plante (Serperior) @ Meadow Plate / Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Substitute / Glare

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 76 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Toxic (cripples bulky waters for XZard) / Fire Blast (lures various Steels if you ever decide to run HP Ground Serperior)

Jean-Feu (Heatran) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Flash Cannon
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice] (for Garchomp) / Earth Power

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Earthquake
- Defog

Jean-Fée (Azumarill) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet

Jean-Y (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 16 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost