I wanted to make a hyper offense team for a number of reasons. First of all, I was getting very bored with competitive battling. I felt like this was because I would repeatedly make the same team over and over again. I tried other things first, like Trick Room and some weather teams, but I didn't find as much success with those. Eventually I came to hyper offense, which had a number of benefits. In general I found it less stressful and more consistent because there is little reliance on prediction, and I can hold momentum more often.
Most people know what hyper offense is, but for those who don't, you basically set up dual screens to help set up other sweepers. These sweepers ideally have similar counters and checks. The idea is that the other team only has one or two solid checks, then. By sacrificing each Pokemon as it gets walled, I can bring in a more effective Pokemon to finish off the weakened check, hopefully taking out critical members of the other team to enable a sweep. In hyper offense, there is virtually no switching (so no choice Pokemon) because that loses you momentum. If you are walled or at a significant disadvantage, you make a sacrifice to bring in another Pokemon at full health without giving your opponent any free turns.
I enjoyed making and using this team immensely. It's an entirely different playstyle that I'm glad I tried, and I definitely like it more than balance. But I feel like the metagame has stagnated for me, so I'm done with competitive Pokemon until Black/White are released. I'm throwing this team out there to see what kind of feedback I get.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
Very standard hyper offense lead. Taunt slower leads. Set up whichever screen will help most against that lead. Set up the other as/if they switch. Stealth Rock if there's time. I don't mind Stealth Rock getting set up against me, but it is imperative that Azelf does not get Taunted itself. If Azelf gets everything done, I will sometimes switch depending on the situation, as it can sometimes come back to set up screens later with a very good lead matchup. Other times I will simply sacrifice it or keep it around long enough to refresh a Taunt. Timid nature with 0 Atk / 9 SAtk IVs for minimum confusion damage.
Other Azelf leads can be problematic. Standard/Colbur Azelf rarely Taunt since they're risking themselves not getting up rocks, but against other hyper offense teams, the game is basically decided by the speed tie. Faster Taunters like Aerodactyl, Electrode, and Crobat obviously cause problems with 4 non-attack moves. Against anything where I risk a Taunt I switch. TrickScarf leads also utterly destroy this, usually locking me into something like Taunt. Since I have all set-up sweepers and I don't use choice items, I don't have a good recipient either.
Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Gyara's main purpose is to abuse choice Earthquakes as the team's sole ground immunity. This is especially important because of the upheaval that Choice Scarf Flygon can cause against a hyper offense team. Gyara's a good way to abuse it, even when they're boosted. He draws in bulky waters to be weakened. Intimidate is also very nice when coming in after a death on a physical attacker, and helps him to get that free Dragon Dance. Jolly is there because of the nature of hyper offense; I would rather be prone to getting walled than revenge killed.
Pretty standard fare on hyper offense, and balance, teams, no doubt. Moveset's very straightforward and the process is simple.
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
- Mach Punch / Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
I've always loved using SD Infernape on my balanced teams because he dismantles SkarmBliss so easily, and because it is fairly rare and people tend to expect MixApe. His main purpose here, however, is just to force out Skarmory (don't care about Blissey, since this is a solely physical team), who is quite annoying with Whirlwind, and weaken bulky waters. Gyarados and Tyranitar both struggle with bulky waters if they only get one Dragon Dance. After a Swords Dance, Infernape is able to OHKO stuff like Vaporeon with Close Combat, and severely dent things like Hippowdon. Infernape's immunity to burns is also useful on a physically oriented team, making him my second switch into most Rotom-A after Tyranitar.
I'm experimenting with Mach Punch which seems to be the better option. Stone Edge is mainly for OHKOing Gyarados and the occasional Zapdos, though a combo of Close Combat and Mach Punch can deal with these somewhat effectively. Mach Punch protects me from Agility Empoleon and makes Infernape less revenge-able by Choice Scarf Flygon.
Tyranitar @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
DDTar fits very well on a hyper offense team. People who expect a Choice Scarf often will leave things like choiced Starmie or Rotom in rather than switch out and get Pursuited. So they stay in to deal paltry damage with something like Thunderbolt or Shadow Ball while I Dragon Dance. This often allows me to get to +2 (or +3, against one SpecsJolt... needless to say there were no survivors), which many teams are unprepared for.
Tyranitar is also a huge beneficiary of screen support, as he can survive his usual revengers in Scizor's Bullet Punch, Infernape's Vaccuum Wave / Mach Punch, and Flygon's Earthquake, OHKOing them in return. I use Earthquake because it has better neutral coverage, I feel, and in hyper offense I like to deal damage to checks rather than get OHKOs on a few random things. With Sand Stream Tyranitar is very specially bulky. He's my best switch-in on choiced Thunderbolts and the like.
Sand Stream doesn't help most of my team, although with no switching there are matches where I don't even use Tyranitar, so I don't feel like it hinders me too much. Scarf Flygon is difficult as with max speed +nature it can outspeed me even at +2, but Adamant ones or mixed ones won't, so it isn't the end of the world (it's actually a set-up opportunity for Gyarados, or a free kill anyway if I have Screens, but that isn't likely).
Dragonite is replacing Kingdra. This set is easily walled by Skarmory but in that case it provides a nice spot for Infernape to hop in. Extremespeed gives me another priority to deal with revengers, and can nearly OHKO things like Flygon and Weavile at +1. Fairly straightforward moveset.
I went with a simple 4/252/252 Adamant spread mostly to give Extremespeed all the power it can get. The only thing I'll really miss out on is outspeeding ScarfTran at +1, it will be forced to use its Dragon-coverage move (Dragon Pulse or HP Ice), meaning I can easily set up something else (Metagross resists both).
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
- Earthquake
AgiliGross replaces Scizor. AgiliGross is a massive threat to unprepared teams. Thunderpunch allows me to hit bulky waters like Suicune and Vaporeon (though not Swampert) and Skarmory. It also OHKOs Gyarados who becomes a large issue for my team if it gets to +1. AgiliGross reaches 418 speed after an Agility, enough to outspeed +1 Timid Heatran. With the rest of my team using SD and DD, Metagross provides some much needed speed and still retains a fair amount of power.
My main issues lie in getting screwed up in the lead matchup, but you can't win 'em all, really, and dual screens are necessary. Other dual screen users are slower than Azelf so Taunt/Trick would screw them up equally.
Phazers can cause some problems if I haven't gotten boosts yet. Skarmory is annoying until Infernape forces it out.
Scarf Flygon can be annoying. I can usually play around it. Once Kingdra or Gyara get some boosts they can handle it very easily. If it Outrages Scizor is very happy. If it Earthquakes, Gyara is.
Looking at the team, I realize AgilitySubPetaya Empoleon could sweep my entire team, but fortunately the only thing it can set up on is Kingdra.
Overall this has been a fairly successful team, possibly my most successful. I got to low 1500s CRE but I didn't really get stopped there, just got bored of playing. So, thanks for reading through and I'd love to hear your opinions!
Most people know what hyper offense is, but for those who don't, you basically set up dual screens to help set up other sweepers. These sweepers ideally have similar counters and checks. The idea is that the other team only has one or two solid checks, then. By sacrificing each Pokemon as it gets walled, I can bring in a more effective Pokemon to finish off the weakened check, hopefully taking out critical members of the other team to enable a sweep. In hyper offense, there is virtually no switching (so no choice Pokemon) because that loses you momentum. If you are walled or at a significant disadvantage, you make a sacrifice to bring in another Pokemon at full health without giving your opponent any free turns.
I enjoyed making and using this team immensely. It's an entirely different playstyle that I'm glad I tried, and I definitely like it more than balance. But I feel like the metagame has stagnated for me, so I'm done with competitive Pokemon until Black/White are released. I'm throwing this team out there to see what kind of feedback I get.
At A Glance
Microscope
Azelf @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
Very standard hyper offense lead. Taunt slower leads. Set up whichever screen will help most against that lead. Set up the other as/if they switch. Stealth Rock if there's time. I don't mind Stealth Rock getting set up against me, but it is imperative that Azelf does not get Taunted itself. If Azelf gets everything done, I will sometimes switch depending on the situation, as it can sometimes come back to set up screens later with a very good lead matchup. Other times I will simply sacrifice it or keep it around long enough to refresh a Taunt. Timid nature with 0 Atk / 9 SAtk IVs for minimum confusion damage.
Other Azelf leads can be problematic. Standard/Colbur Azelf rarely Taunt since they're risking themselves not getting up rocks, but against other hyper offense teams, the game is basically decided by the speed tie. Faster Taunters like Aerodactyl, Electrode, and Crobat obviously cause problems with 4 non-attack moves. Against anything where I risk a Taunt I switch. TrickScarf leads also utterly destroy this, usually locking me into something like Taunt. Since I have all set-up sweepers and I don't use choice items, I don't have a good recipient either.
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Gyara's main purpose is to abuse choice Earthquakes as the team's sole ground immunity. This is especially important because of the upheaval that Choice Scarf Flygon can cause against a hyper offense team. Gyara's a good way to abuse it, even when they're boosted. He draws in bulky waters to be weakened. Intimidate is also very nice when coming in after a death on a physical attacker, and helps him to get that free Dragon Dance. Jolly is there because of the nature of hyper offense; I would rather be prone to getting walled than revenge killed.
Pretty standard fare on hyper offense, and balance, teams, no doubt. Moveset's very straightforward and the process is simple.
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
- Mach Punch / Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
I've always loved using SD Infernape on my balanced teams because he dismantles SkarmBliss so easily, and because it is fairly rare and people tend to expect MixApe. His main purpose here, however, is just to force out Skarmory (don't care about Blissey, since this is a solely physical team), who is quite annoying with Whirlwind, and weaken bulky waters. Gyarados and Tyranitar both struggle with bulky waters if they only get one Dragon Dance. After a Swords Dance, Infernape is able to OHKO stuff like Vaporeon with Close Combat, and severely dent things like Hippowdon. Infernape's immunity to burns is also useful on a physically oriented team, making him my second switch into most Rotom-A after Tyranitar.
I'm experimenting with Mach Punch which seems to be the better option. Stone Edge is mainly for OHKOing Gyarados and the occasional Zapdos, though a combo of Close Combat and Mach Punch can deal with these somewhat effectively. Mach Punch protects me from Agility Empoleon and makes Infernape less revenge-able by Choice Scarf Flygon.
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
DDTar fits very well on a hyper offense team. People who expect a Choice Scarf often will leave things like choiced Starmie or Rotom in rather than switch out and get Pursuited. So they stay in to deal paltry damage with something like Thunderbolt or Shadow Ball while I Dragon Dance. This often allows me to get to +2 (or +3, against one SpecsJolt... needless to say there were no survivors), which many teams are unprepared for.
Tyranitar is also a huge beneficiary of screen support, as he can survive his usual revengers in Scizor's Bullet Punch, Infernape's Vaccuum Wave / Mach Punch, and Flygon's Earthquake, OHKOing them in return. I use Earthquake because it has better neutral coverage, I feel, and in hyper offense I like to deal damage to checks rather than get OHKOs on a few random things. With Sand Stream Tyranitar is very specially bulky. He's my best switch-in on choiced Thunderbolts and the like.
Sand Stream doesn't help most of my team, although with no switching there are matches where I don't even use Tyranitar, so I don't feel like it hinders me too much. Scarf Flygon is difficult as with max speed +nature it can outspeed me even at +2, but Adamant ones or mixed ones won't, so it isn't the end of the world (it's actually a set-up opportunity for Gyarados, or a free kill anyway if I have Screens, but that isn't likely).
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Extremespeed
- Earthquake
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Extremespeed
- Earthquake
Dragonite is replacing Kingdra. This set is easily walled by Skarmory but in that case it provides a nice spot for Infernape to hop in. Extremespeed gives me another priority to deal with revengers, and can nearly OHKO things like Flygon and Weavile at +1. Fairly straightforward moveset.
I went with a simple 4/252/252 Adamant spread mostly to give Extremespeed all the power it can get. The only thing I'll really miss out on is outspeeding ScarfTran at +1, it will be forced to use its Dragon-coverage move (Dragon Pulse or HP Ice), meaning I can easily set up something else (Metagross resists both).
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
- Earthquake
AgiliGross replaces Scizor. AgiliGross is a massive threat to unprepared teams. Thunderpunch allows me to hit bulky waters like Suicune and Vaporeon (though not Swampert) and Skarmory. It also OHKOs Gyarados who becomes a large issue for my team if it gets to +1. AgiliGross reaches 418 speed after an Agility, enough to outspeed +1 Timid Heatran. With the rest of my team using SD and DD, Metagross provides some much needed speed and still retains a fair amount of power.
My main issues lie in getting screwed up in the lead matchup, but you can't win 'em all, really, and dual screens are necessary. Other dual screen users are slower than Azelf so Taunt/Trick would screw them up equally.
Phazers can cause some problems if I haven't gotten boosts yet. Skarmory is annoying until Infernape forces it out.
Scarf Flygon can be annoying. I can usually play around it. Once Kingdra or Gyara get some boosts they can handle it very easily. If it Outrages Scizor is very happy. If it Earthquakes, Gyara is.
Looking at the team, I realize AgilitySubPetaya Empoleon could sweep my entire team, but fortunately the only thing it can set up on is Kingdra.
Overall this has been a fairly successful team, possibly my most successful. I got to low 1500s CRE but I didn't really get stopped there, just got bored of playing. So, thanks for reading through and I'd love to hear your opinions!
Currently Testing
- Mach Punch over Stone Edge on Infernape. The only downside to this is Gyarados, but +2 Close Combat will take off over 60% on most varieties, allowing me to deal with it with Dragonite's Extremespeed or Tyranitar's Sand Stream. Also, if it goes for a DD instead of simply finishing Infernape I will probably be able to finish it with Mach Punch.
- AgiliGross over SD Scizor. Results are satisfying so far, but I've started this round of testing on a new alt and at low ratings AgiliGross weakness is especially common. I am missing the utility of Brick Break against other HO teams but it's not a huge issue.
- Dragonite over Kingdra/Weavile. Dragonite has considerably more power than Kingdra and access to Extremespeed to deal with revengers. The only issue is status, which has not bothered me yet, but I'm sure that at some point I will miss having a sponge. Weavile was too difficult to set up and Ice Shard lacked power, although having something that could outspeed those base 115s was nice.
Previous Members
Kingdra @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 60 HP/216 Atk/232 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- Rest
ChestoRest Kingdra has a few purposes. Water/Dragon gets pretty good coverage, missing just Empoleon and Shedinja I believe. Kingdra can take status like paralysis and burns which hinder everyone else on my team (besides Nape with burns). He can then set up a few DDs, Rest back to full health and clean status, and sweep from there. The EVs were my own design. Originally I gave him a simple 4/252/252 spread but I wanted to streamline it. I felt like a lot of different stuff was dealing just enough damage that ChestoRest wasn't effective so I wanted to allocate as many EVs to HP as possible. I don't remember what the speed hits, but with 1 DD is can outspeed base 130s, and I believe it can outspeed all Flygon with 2. The Attack was lowered to the bonus point. The rest of the EVs went to HP to increase bulk.
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
The rest of my team lacks priority, and I think everyone will agree that Scizor is one of the most effective priority users today. The fact that he's not banded throws a lot of people. The Magnezone who wants a free kill instead comes in on an SD and is OHKOed by Brick Break (unless it's scarfed, in which case I will be setting up someone else). Misjudging SD Scizor can be deadly. He's gotten me many 5-0s (Azelf rarely survives) because people expect a band and can't stop me from getting to +4 or +6. Brick Break is the logical choice over Superpower because lowering stats is counterproductive when I don't want to be switching.
Zapdos and Rotom, two of Scizor's main counters, are excellent opportunities for Tyranitar to set up (especially -2 Rotom-H that thinks it's about to get Pursuited). Gyarados is probably the largest problem, since my team doesn't handle it well if it gets a DD. Scizor can dent it pretty well if it comes in on my SD by Bug Bite followed by a Bullet Punch, which hopefully allows me to deal with it with Gyarados's own Intimidate and Sand Stream, with Kingdra's Outrage and set of resistences being my last option. I tend to deal with Gyarados by not letting it set up.
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 60 HP/216 Atk/232 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- Rest
ChestoRest Kingdra has a few purposes. Water/Dragon gets pretty good coverage, missing just Empoleon and Shedinja I believe. Kingdra can take status like paralysis and burns which hinder everyone else on my team (besides Nape with burns). He can then set up a few DDs, Rest back to full health and clean status, and sweep from there. The EVs were my own design. Originally I gave him a simple 4/252/252 spread but I wanted to streamline it. I felt like a lot of different stuff was dealing just enough damage that ChestoRest wasn't effective so I wanted to allocate as many EVs to HP as possible. I don't remember what the speed hits, but with 1 DD is can outspeed base 130s, and I believe it can outspeed all Flygon with 2. The Attack was lowered to the bonus point. The rest of the EVs went to HP to increase bulk.
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
The rest of my team lacks priority, and I think everyone will agree that Scizor is one of the most effective priority users today. The fact that he's not banded throws a lot of people. The Magnezone who wants a free kill instead comes in on an SD and is OHKOed by Brick Break (unless it's scarfed, in which case I will be setting up someone else). Misjudging SD Scizor can be deadly. He's gotten me many 5-0s (Azelf rarely survives) because people expect a band and can't stop me from getting to +4 or +6. Brick Break is the logical choice over Superpower because lowering stats is counterproductive when I don't want to be switching.
Zapdos and Rotom, two of Scizor's main counters, are excellent opportunities for Tyranitar to set up (especially -2 Rotom-H that thinks it's about to get Pursuited). Gyarados is probably the largest problem, since my team doesn't handle it well if it gets a DD. Scizor can dent it pretty well if it comes in on my SD by Bug Bite followed by a Bullet Punch, which hopefully allows me to deal with it with Gyarados's own Intimidate and Sand Stream, with Kingdra's Outrage and set of resistences being my last option. I tend to deal with Gyarados by not letting it set up.
