Intro
Hi there. I used to ladder quite high back in gen 6 OU, iirc my peak was a brief dip into top 100 - but I ended up disliking gen 7, and fell off the game over time. But nostalgia for the old exploits pulled me back now, and this is the first team I am now working on after an initial bout of studying up on gen 9 OU and the Pokémon that now exist.
Am definitely not in the shape I used to be in (only been back for 1-2 weeks), and still lack deep knowledge of gen 9 - hence why I'm here to get advice from my betters.
I took notes all throughout testing. So besides the per Pokémon descriptions, I will also copypaste my test rounds, adjustments over time and findings. The PokéPaste link shows the team the way it is now; initially, Ribombee had Tera Ghost, and Iron Boulder had Tera Ground and Earthquake instead of Close Combat.
Thank you very kindly in advance for any advice on making this team shine brighter!
The Team
PokéPaste
It's classic linear HO with systematic sacking, where a hazard-focused duo prepares the field for the lineup of purely offensive setup sweeping damage dealers. The way I built the team was to start with a good opener duo, and then I sequentially added sweepers that offensively synergized with what was already there (both with the team at large and on an individual basis among the sweepers, so that I can have a few different lines). It's generally working really well, but has a few match-ups that are disproportionately disastrous (summarized at the bottom of the Testing Logs section).
Ribombee hugely enables the team. Sticky Web enables especially Ceruledge and Primarina to hit first where they normally wouldn't be able to, but even Great Tusk and Garchomp appreciate it in a fair number of situations. Stun Spore complements Sticky Web versus Flying-types, Levitate users and Air Balloon holders, and also just adds a layer of cheesy parahax RNG in my favor. Skill Swap is there to make Hatterene feel very dumb, and Focus Sash does the obvious, ensuring Sticky Web goes up no matter what.
Great Tusk is fantastically versatile. Rapid Spin keeps especially Ceruledge safe, and the whole team appreciates Stealth Rock especially against bulky offense and VoltTurn teams. As well, it can sometimes catch opponents off-guard for it to pop a Rapid Spin, get a Speed boost, and suddenly act as something of a "mini sweeper" in combination with the Protosynthesis Attack boost. Obviously carries Booster Energy for obvious reasons.
Iron Boulder ended up on the team late in the initial building process, as a result of looking for a good match for what was already there. I'm very glad I did choose it. With Tera Fighting and Close Combat, it can set up on and OHKO a surprisingly vast range of things, while Booster Energy gives me an instant Quark Drive Speed boost that combines with Swords Dance for setting up very high offensive stats in an uncomplicated way.
Ceruledge pulls a lot of weight on the team. On one hand, it makes opponents shy away from hitting it with physical moves that aren't super-effective to avoid giving it a Speed boost from Weak Armor, resulting in opponents pushing themselves into wonky match-ups against it at times; on the other hand, even if the enemy team gives it few good opportunities to setup sweep, Shadow Sneak lets it act as an immediate revenge killer in a way the other team members can't.
Primarina can really mess enemy teams up in ways that surprised me at first. With the right holes already punched into the opposing team, Calm Mind's Special Defense boost combines with Leftovers and Substitute to make the value of the Special Attack boost effectively greater, and Tera Steel exaggerates it further into some match-ups. The investment into HP is there to let it take better advantage of the Substitute + Leftovers combination, while the existing amount of Speed EVs ensures better Sticky Web advantage and still lets it get the jump on any Kingambit without max Speed (forces them into resisted Sucker Punch if they want to hit Primarina twice).
Garchomp is probably the most "extreme" Pokémon on the team, in a certain way, since it's usually the one that's the hardest to fully set up (it takes two turns, and Scale Shot is dead into Fairy-types), but also often sweeps the hardest when that full setup does happen. Besides that, there's nothing complicated about it; despite what I just said, and besides Tera Fire sometimes making fun of Fairy-types, it's the most straightforwardly uncomplicated Pokémon on the whole team, I feel.
Testing Logs
TEST ROUND #1: Linear HO 1.0
Start Elo: ~1150
Wins: 13 (of which 4 close, 1 okay, 3 decisive, 5 one-sided)
Losses: 7 (of which 5 normal, 2 one-sided)
End Elo: 1271
65 % Win Rate
Initial Findings:
- No consistent loss reasons across different match-ups; losses feel like misplay or mind game fail
- All team members find frequent use; none feel like a liability
- Team feels intuitive to pilot; losses more or less never really feel like I couldn't have won
- Ribombee: Stun Spore super-useful; Glimmora issue; Tera Ghost unused; Tera Steel?
- Great Tusk: Extremely versatile; usually gets Rocks up; Tera Steel good defensive trap
- Ceruledge and Primarina: Stand out as highest value; Tera Steel Primarina saves games
- Garchomp: Swords Dance + Scale Shot setup usually sweeps; Tera Fire good trap vs Fairy-types
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground mixed bag (bad vs a lot, but good vs Raging Bolt, etc.)
Adjustments Made:
- Ribombee: Tera Ghost -> Tera Steel
TEST ROUND #2: Linear HO 1.1
Start Elo: 1226 (tested other team, lost Elo)
Wins: 11 (of which 1 close, 1 okay, 2 normal, 3 decisive, 4 one-sided)
Losses: 9 (of which 1 close, 3 normal, 2 decisive, 3 one-sided)
End Elo: 1284
55 % Win Rate
Refined Findings & Changes:
- Team still feels great; W/L ratio change doesn't bother me yet (sample size, nuance)
- Trick Room with Ursaluna is a specific weakness (only priority is Ghost-type)
- Reacting to Gholdengo lead with switch to Great Tusk rarely goes answered well
- Ribombee: Tera Steel has exactly the desired effect, Glimmora becomes non-issue
- Primarina: Substitute lets it counter Kingambit and Raging Bolt quite cleanly
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground still iffy; rarely use Earthquake; Tera Fighting Close Combat?
Adjustments Made:
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground -> Tera Fighting; Earthquake -> Close Combat
TEST ROUND #3: Linear HO 1.2 (current)
Start Elo: 1284
Wins: 20 (of which 4 close, 2 okay, 5 normal, 4 decisive, 5 one-sided)
Losses: 20 (of which 5 close, 3 okay, 5 normal, 1 decisive, 6 one-sided)
End Elo: 1308
50 % Win Rate
Refined Findings & Changes:
- W/L ratio remained similar, but getting too low, decreasing as Elo increases
- Besides the specific issues, unsure if my play or team needs improvement to increase W/L ratio
- Rain so-so; Curse Dondozo quasi-impossible; Trick Room with Ursaluna bad; Raging Bolt? Vacuum Wave Iron Valiant?
- Iron Boulder: Tera Fighting and Close Combat both extremely useful; multiple sweeps
Definitive Identified Issues Remaining:
- Curse Dondozo (debilitating)
- Trick Room + Ursaluna (bad)
- Rain (so-so)
Hi there. I used to ladder quite high back in gen 6 OU, iirc my peak was a brief dip into top 100 - but I ended up disliking gen 7, and fell off the game over time. But nostalgia for the old exploits pulled me back now, and this is the first team I am now working on after an initial bout of studying up on gen 9 OU and the Pokémon that now exist.
Am definitely not in the shape I used to be in (only been back for 1-2 weeks), and still lack deep knowledge of gen 9 - hence why I'm here to get advice from my betters.
I took notes all throughout testing. So besides the per Pokémon descriptions, I will also copypaste my test rounds, adjustments over time and findings. The PokéPaste link shows the team the way it is now; initially, Ribombee had Tera Ghost, and Iron Boulder had Tera Ground and Earthquake instead of Close Combat.
Thank you very kindly in advance for any advice on making this team shine brighter!
The Team
PokéPaste
It's classic linear HO with systematic sacking, where a hazard-focused duo prepares the field for the lineup of purely offensive setup sweeping damage dealers. The way I built the team was to start with a good opener duo, and then I sequentially added sweepers that offensively synergized with what was already there (both with the team at large and on an individual basis among the sweepers, so that I can have a few different lines). It's generally working really well, but has a few match-ups that are disproportionately disastrous (summarized at the bottom of the Testing Logs section).
Ribombee hugely enables the team. Sticky Web enables especially Ceruledge and Primarina to hit first where they normally wouldn't be able to, but even Great Tusk and Garchomp appreciate it in a fair number of situations. Stun Spore complements Sticky Web versus Flying-types, Levitate users and Air Balloon holders, and also just adds a layer of cheesy parahax RNG in my favor. Skill Swap is there to make Hatterene feel very dumb, and Focus Sash does the obvious, ensuring Sticky Web goes up no matter what.
Great Tusk is fantastically versatile. Rapid Spin keeps especially Ceruledge safe, and the whole team appreciates Stealth Rock especially against bulky offense and VoltTurn teams. As well, it can sometimes catch opponents off-guard for it to pop a Rapid Spin, get a Speed boost, and suddenly act as something of a "mini sweeper" in combination with the Protosynthesis Attack boost. Obviously carries Booster Energy for obvious reasons.
Iron Boulder ended up on the team late in the initial building process, as a result of looking for a good match for what was already there. I'm very glad I did choose it. With Tera Fighting and Close Combat, it can set up on and OHKO a surprisingly vast range of things, while Booster Energy gives me an instant Quark Drive Speed boost that combines with Swords Dance for setting up very high offensive stats in an uncomplicated way.
Ceruledge pulls a lot of weight on the team. On one hand, it makes opponents shy away from hitting it with physical moves that aren't super-effective to avoid giving it a Speed boost from Weak Armor, resulting in opponents pushing themselves into wonky match-ups against it at times; on the other hand, even if the enemy team gives it few good opportunities to setup sweep, Shadow Sneak lets it act as an immediate revenge killer in a way the other team members can't.
Primarina can really mess enemy teams up in ways that surprised me at first. With the right holes already punched into the opposing team, Calm Mind's Special Defense boost combines with Leftovers and Substitute to make the value of the Special Attack boost effectively greater, and Tera Steel exaggerates it further into some match-ups. The investment into HP is there to let it take better advantage of the Substitute + Leftovers combination, while the existing amount of Speed EVs ensures better Sticky Web advantage and still lets it get the jump on any Kingambit without max Speed (forces them into resisted Sucker Punch if they want to hit Primarina twice).
Garchomp is probably the most "extreme" Pokémon on the team, in a certain way, since it's usually the one that's the hardest to fully set up (it takes two turns, and Scale Shot is dead into Fairy-types), but also often sweeps the hardest when that full setup does happen. Besides that, there's nothing complicated about it; despite what I just said, and besides Tera Fire sometimes making fun of Fairy-types, it's the most straightforwardly uncomplicated Pokémon on the whole team, I feel.
Testing Logs
TEST ROUND #1: Linear HO 1.0
Start Elo: ~1150
Wins: 13 (of which 4 close, 1 okay, 3 decisive, 5 one-sided)
Losses: 7 (of which 5 normal, 2 one-sided)
End Elo: 1271
65 % Win Rate
Initial Findings:
- No consistent loss reasons across different match-ups; losses feel like misplay or mind game fail
- All team members find frequent use; none feel like a liability
- Team feels intuitive to pilot; losses more or less never really feel like I couldn't have won
- Ribombee: Stun Spore super-useful; Glimmora issue; Tera Ghost unused; Tera Steel?
- Great Tusk: Extremely versatile; usually gets Rocks up; Tera Steel good defensive trap
- Ceruledge and Primarina: Stand out as highest value; Tera Steel Primarina saves games
- Garchomp: Swords Dance + Scale Shot setup usually sweeps; Tera Fire good trap vs Fairy-types
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground mixed bag (bad vs a lot, but good vs Raging Bolt, etc.)
Adjustments Made:
- Ribombee: Tera Ghost -> Tera Steel
TEST ROUND #2: Linear HO 1.1
Start Elo: 1226 (tested other team, lost Elo)
Wins: 11 (of which 1 close, 1 okay, 2 normal, 3 decisive, 4 one-sided)
Losses: 9 (of which 1 close, 3 normal, 2 decisive, 3 one-sided)
End Elo: 1284
55 % Win Rate
Refined Findings & Changes:
- Team still feels great; W/L ratio change doesn't bother me yet (sample size, nuance)
- Trick Room with Ursaluna is a specific weakness (only priority is Ghost-type)
- Reacting to Gholdengo lead with switch to Great Tusk rarely goes answered well
- Ribombee: Tera Steel has exactly the desired effect, Glimmora becomes non-issue
- Primarina: Substitute lets it counter Kingambit and Raging Bolt quite cleanly
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground still iffy; rarely use Earthquake; Tera Fighting Close Combat?
Adjustments Made:
- Iron Boulder: Tera Ground -> Tera Fighting; Earthquake -> Close Combat
TEST ROUND #3: Linear HO 1.2 (current)
Start Elo: 1284
Wins: 20 (of which 4 close, 2 okay, 5 normal, 4 decisive, 5 one-sided)
Losses: 20 (of which 5 close, 3 okay, 5 normal, 1 decisive, 6 one-sided)
End Elo: 1308
50 % Win Rate
Refined Findings & Changes:
- W/L ratio remained similar, but getting too low, decreasing as Elo increases
- Besides the specific issues, unsure if my play or team needs improvement to increase W/L ratio
- Rain so-so; Curse Dondozo quasi-impossible; Trick Room with Ursaluna bad; Raging Bolt? Vacuum Wave Iron Valiant?
- Iron Boulder: Tera Fighting and Close Combat both extremely useful; multiple sweeps
Definitive Identified Issues Remaining:
- Curse Dondozo (debilitating)
- Trick Room + Ursaluna (bad)
- Rain (so-so)
-> 
-> 
match up. However, as you said garchomp is the most inconsistent member. Now, raging bolt does make you even weaker to 
