The OU Discord is a better place to ask this, this question cannot really be answered without an entire discussion.
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Resource SV OU Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread
- Thread starter ironwater
- Start date
What are best defensive cores in the meta?
I noticed something weird in Raging Bolt's page, both of its sets have special moves(which makes sense) but for some reason it is supposed to run 20 attack IVs.
why is that? why not 0?
why is that? why not 0?
The event that you get Raging Bolt (and by proxy, Gouging Fire, Iron Boulder and Iron Crown) forces it to have IV's at 20 or above.
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Very good defensive core, with AV Alo you can come into special hits pech struggles to take then u have momentum with flip turn and u can do the same thing for pecharunt tanking physical hits / coming in on ogerpon-w and parting shot out or poison with malignant chain
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This ones kinda underrated, AV glowking for kyurem / general progress and then sinistcha for woger and tusk and finally ting lu for hazards and beating Bolt / annoying gholdengo. Another cool part of this is the spinblocking sinistcha has for ting lu hazards
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Tried and true anti hazard core, the best you can get atm both cover weaknesses pretty well but it definitely needs a final mon for woger / resisting fire and water and electric so a dragon like fat bolt or dnite can work here.
Ting-Lu @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Tera Type: Ghost
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Payback
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Could this work? Dual hazards help compress roles, while weakness policy with attack investment makes you surprisingly threatening, and theoretically be able to set up hazards on stuff that wall you. I think you can still be a stopgap vs a lot of threats. Meant to be on offensive teams as an offensive utility set.
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Tera Type: Ghost
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Payback
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Could this work? Dual hazards help compress roles, while weakness policy with attack investment makes you surprisingly threatening, and theoretically be able to set up hazards on stuff that wall you. I think you can still be a stopgap vs a lot of threats. Meant to be on offensive teams as an offensive utility set.
This set has actually been using on top ladder by the player GXE although they use Stone Edge over 1 of the hazards, the idea is it's a nice surprise anti lead to ogerpon, Kyurem, Primarina and a lot of other Pokemon who normally try to go for the 2HKO on Ting-Lu immediately. I've played against it and it's kind of annoying to deal with since if you aren't giving the boost you can't do any better than a 3HKO on Ting-Lu which means hazards + damage and the 110 base attack is no joke for sure. I'd definitely use Stone Edge I don't think EQ + Payback alone is enough coverage but the general idea here is good and has been used on top ladder by a few players during OLT.
A minus defense nature is fine for AV Hoopa-U as it's defense bulk is bad and you are using AV Hoopa-U for it's spdef anyways
Aside from item choice, are there any differences between Clear Amulet Iron Treads and the standard sets?
No. The movesets for Clear Amulet or Air Balloon or Booster Energy attack / speed are gonna be the same physical set of Rapid Spin, Earthquake, and either final 2 moves of Ice Spinner, Knock Off or Stealth Rock. However there are functional differences Clear Amulet has, most notably blocking Pecharunt Parting Shot which stops your opponent from getting momentum for free. There's also the other add on of blocking intimidate from Landorus-Therian for stronger Ice Spinners.
Weakness Policy Ting-Lu and Tyranitar, both have the same basic idea of baiting Ogerpon to click Ivy Cudgel and then OHKO back.
Wise Glasses Walking Wake, it doesn't guarantee any calcs that Wake wouldn't otherwise get but rolls being confirmed / more likely is still good enough
Covert cloak on bulky ghold is probably an example of this. Legitimately good because it lets it set up/heal against a lot of things it already beats (garg, non-mystical fire hatt, ribombee, fezandipiti) but it probably would not exist as a set if not for zama requiring it to recover off a lot of crunches to win the 1v1.