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Slowbro-Galar @ Quick Claw
Ability: Quick Draw
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Shell Side Arm
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch
This is Skillbro, and 44% of the time this set is the most dangerous thing you will ever face in any tier ever, bar none.
The way it works is simple: set up a Belly Drum on something passive or on a Screens team and then potentially do some damage. Shell Side Arm is basically always physical at +6 with this much investment and as such is the far superior choice over Poison Jab. With a Quick Claw+Quick Draw, G-Bro has a 44% chance of cheating each turn; at +6 it OHKOs everything but Unaware users and Corviknight, and Corviknight can't even come close to 2HKOing it in return.
This set obviously only works in the hands of an incredibly skilled player, so it isn't exactly easy to use. However, an adept player capable of outplaying his or her opponent will find this set to be incredibly rewarding.
44% of the time, it works every time.
EDIT: If anybody thought this was some shitty gimmick, I have some replays to assure you that it is, indeed, a shitty gimmick.
I was looking for mons to pair with Urshifu-R, which draws in defensive mons like Amoonguss, Tangrowth, and Toxapex, and this set came to mind. Serene Grace Blissey is kind of an insane status spreader and generally fun as shit. Standard Blissey invests 252 EVs into its already gargantuan HP, so by reinvesting some of that into Special Attack, its bulk isn't really reduced that much. Its sub isn't broken by most of the defensive mons in the tier, like Clefable, Amoonguss, Tangrowth, Toxapex, Blissey, and Mandibuzz, so these mons are largely turned into setup fodder. Body Press users like Corviknight and Ferrothorn are a bit of a problem, but Corviknight gets nailed and likely paralyzed by Thunder, and Focus Blast helps against Ferrothorn. These EVs KO PhysDef Toxapex with a +1 Thunder into a +0 Thunder, while outspeeding Tyranitar. This mon doesn't like status because it doesn't have Natural Cure, so it shouldn't be directly switched in on Pex and shit. Bring it in via pivoting or whatever. It also can be useful against offense because of Serene Grace Thunder's 60% paralysis chance and Blissey's good coverage.
Focus Blast nails Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Ttar, Magnezone, and Kyurem, but leaves you open to Dragapult and Kommo. Neither really appreciates being paralyzed however. Ice Beam is amazing coverage and helps against Hippowdon and Kommo, but makes the matchup with Excadrill, Ttar, and Ferrothorn harder. Tri Attack is STAB and gives you a 40% chance to status whatever comes in on you, but you're walled by Zeraora clicking Plasma Fists. They all have tradeoffs, but Focus Blast is the most effective in my experience.
This thread has been dead for a while so I thought I should revive it with a fun hawlucha set!
Hawlucha @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Encore
- Mean Look
- Acrobatics
I was inspired to use this set mainly because my dear friend IPF got swept against it in low ladder. I call it "you'll regret mindlessly rocking" the set. Essentially its first and foremost an anti-lead against most people who will mindlessly rocks. You first mean look as they set down rocks and then you encore them and bulk up to +6. You then continue to encore until leppa berry activates and then proceed to sweep them or at least get as many kills as you can. I wanted to see if the set could be effective on decently high ladder and it got pretty decent results. It worked in many different situations as well such as a clefable knocking and a corviknight roosting.
The replays: Against Storm Zone's (current #1) alt
Nothing fancy occurs in this replay but its a great example of why it is such a funny anti-lead. Because it really gets a +6 if they set up rocks turn 1. It also shows literally anyone can get got by it.
Against a Clefable using knock off
I believe the individual was overpredicting with knock off but it was a funny reversal of events when he does.
Against a corviknight roosting
Again it shows how unconventional the set is as normally the corviknight roosting is an okay playbut because its against this particular set he gets punished for it and gets swept as a result.
It is by no means a superior set to the normal hawlucha set and is honestly deadweight in a lot of matchups where they don't rocks turn 1. It is however a hilarious anti-lead and can do some fun sweeps in very interesting situations.
EVS are to just barely outspeed jolly landorus-therian (you of course can change it to any spread you desire)
This thread has been dead for a while so I thought I should revive it with a fun hawlucha set!
Hawlucha @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Encore
- Mean Look
- Acrobatics
I was inspired to use this set mainly because my dear friend IPF got swept against it in low ladder. I call it "you'll regret mindlessly rocking" the set. Essentially its first and foremost an anti-lead against most people who will mindlessly rocks. You first mean look as they set down rocks and then you encore them and bulk up to +6. You then continue to encore until leppa berry activates and then proceed to sweep them or at least get as many kills as you can. I wanted to see if the set could be effective on decently high ladder and it got pretty decent results. It worked in many different situations as well such as a clefable knocking and a corviknight roosting.
The replays: Against Storm Zone's (current #1) alt
Nothing fancy occurs in this replay but its a great example of why it is such a funny anti-lead. Because it really gets a +6 if they set up rocks turn 1. It also shows literally anyone can get got by it.
Against a Clefable using knock off
I believe the individual was overpredicting with knock off but it was a funny reversal of events when he does.
Against a corviknight roosting
Again it shows how unconventional the set is as normally the corviknight roosting is an okay playbut because its against this particular set he gets punished for it and gets swept as a result.
It is by no means a superior set to the normal hawlucha set and is honestly deadweight in a lot of matchups where they don't rocks turn 1. It is however a hilarious anti-lead and can do some fun sweeps in very interesting situations.
EVS are to just barely outspeed jolly landorus-therian (you of course can change it to any spread you desire)
This shit is legit.. Got caught up by this once . They brought it in raw on my Magearna and I said " LOL OK." and started setting up. Next thing I knew my phone was in my wall. it all happened so fast.
68 attack lets you 2hko ttar with double kick & heatran with stomping tantrum, 56 defense lets you live cb adamant barraskewda waterfall(37% chance to get ohkod by liquidation), and adamant life orb rillaboom grassy slide(also gives a higher chance of surviving kartana attacks and gives a chance of surviving jolly urshifu sucker punch
with 132 spa you can still 2hko alot of offensive threats
132 SpA Life Orb Spectrier Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 216-255 (76.8 - 90.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
132 SpA Life Orb Spectrier Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 195-230 (54.6 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
132 SpA Life Orb Spectrier Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Hawlucha: 247-292 (68.6 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
and you can beat toxapex if you get a spdef drop before you use too many shadow balls, same thing with fini
this set is not actually good obviously, but it will be funny if it actually kills a ttar or heatran(it worked a few times in my testing, and made me lose many games, but i forgot to save the replays and cant find them anymore)
I know I, Omari P, havent posted bc Ive been working and doing a lot shit but here's some fire. Don't make fun fo the dragapult set until you actually try it. Av cursola also lives +1 spectrier shadow ball and okoes back. clearly lives specs gengar. and if u wanna talk about urshifu stopper that shit is hilarious to use ko urself because u have more mons. stop's physical sweeps just by existing...
Nidoking (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Overal ive gotten to like 1800 with it and climbing. Whats really interesting is clefable can late game stall out so I’m thinking about adding trick onto lele, but definitely give thoughts on it
Now for replays. nah real shit one of you admins need to seriously get rid of that fucking hide replay button. this modjoin shit is outta fucking control and so stupid and anti user experience that I literally forget sometimes that a game is hidden. you fucking weirdos on this site requested this anti social and anti ux feature for what? and when I broiught it up In a thread since I literally do this type of shit for work lol you had no point so you just left it there. it's fine. stay broke bitches. hope you got corona.
ANYWAY here are the ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY PRIVATE replays because of what I just mentioned <3 <3 <3 <3
Yeah I like the Pult set, it reminds of the old Wisp/Sub/Disable/Hex set that took off near the start of the gen, back before Leftovers/Spell Tag/Boots became the set. Punishes people who throw away their Dragon check very nicely. The biggest problem I see with it is baiting in Clef and locking off Moonblast was one of the biggest selling points of SubDisable, so not having Pult be able to abuse that (especially with Clef's absurd usage) is a bit problematic. The issue is Pult's physical movepool is so barren literally anything besides Steel Wing or Bite (lol) is going to be bait for something. The old Hex set is outclassed by Spectrier now, so I guess my question for the less informed of us is: What do you think are the pros and cons of this Dragapult compared to SubDisable Spectrier?
I know you've been on Cursola for some time now, but recently a lot of people have been hyping another slow Assault Vest Pokemon, Slowking-G. Obviously Slowking-G offers Regenerator, so what would you say Cursola brings to a team that Slowking-G can't? Is it just a good lure that generally hits harder or is there more to it?
Obviously the major comparison point with Entei is Darm, so is it just for Extreme Speed or is there another reason you don't like Darm here? And how often do you find yourself wanting Crunch/Stone Edge instead of 2 STABs?
Obviously the Mandibuzz set is pretty bad VS Spectrier, but that's what Cursola's for. The Rocky Helmet is the interesting choice here, is this just to punish Urshifu and chip it, or do you think Boots aren't needed on Mandibuzz?
Lele set seems pretty standard, simple is effective, and the Nidoking seems like a cool anti-lead. Do you mind explaining your thinking on Modest VS Timid on both?
I know I, Omari P, havent posted bc Ive been working and doing a lot shit but here's some fire. Don't make fun fo the dragapult set until you actually try it. Av cursola also lives +1 spectrier shadow ball and okoes back. clearly lives specs gengar. and if u wanna talk about urshifu stopper that shit is hilarious to use ko urself because u have more mons. stop's physical sweeps just by existing...
Nidoking (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Overal ive gotten to like 1800 with it and climbing. Whats really interesting is clefable can late game stall out so I’m thinking about adding trick onto lele, but definitely give thoughts on it
Now for replays. nah real shit one of you admins need to seriously get rid of that fucking hide replay button. this modjoin shit is outta fucking control and so stupid and anti user experience that I literally forget sometimes that a game is hidden. you fucking weirdos on this site requested this anti social and anti ux feature for what? and when I broiught it up In a thread since I literally do this type of shit for work lol you had no point so you just left it there. it's fine. stay broke bitches. hope you got corona.
ANYWAY here are the ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY PRIVATE replays because of what I just mentioned <3 <3 <3 <3
av cursola is fire, ppl leave their spect in and get popped
banded entei hits like a truck and e-speed comes super clutch against things like skewda
disable pult just cleans up once u remove fairies, underrated set and most dont expect it
since lele doesn't get trick, scarf indeedee is a budget lele that can trick its scarf away if that's what you're after.
Nice team as always!
Yeah I like the Pult set, it reminds of the old Wisp/Sub/Disable/Hex set that took off near the start of the gen, back before Leftovers/Spell Tag/Boots became the set. Punishes people who throw away their Dragon check very nicely. The biggest problem I see with it is baiting in Clef and locking off Moonblast was one of the biggest selling points of SubDisable, so not having Pult be able to abuse that (especially with Clef's absurd usage) is a bit problematic. The issue is Pult's physical movepool is so barren literally anything besides Steel Wing or Bite (lol) is going to be bait for something. The old Hex set is outclassed by Spectrier now, so I guess my question for the less informed of us is: What do you think are the pros and cons of this Dragapult compared to SubDisable Spectrier?
I know you've been on Cursola for some time now, but recently a lot of people have been hyping another slow Assault Vest Pokemon, Slowking-G. Obviously Slowking-G offers Regenerator, so what would you say Cursola brings to a team that Slowking-G can't? Is it just a good lure that generally hits harder or is there more to it?
Obviously the major comparison point with Entei is Darm, so is it just for Extreme Speed or is there another reason you don't like Darm here? And how often do you find yourself wanting Crunch/Stone Edge instead of 2 STABs?
Obviously the Mandibuzz set is pretty bad VS Spectrier, but that's what Cursola's for. The Rocky Helmet is the interesting choice here, is this just to punish Urshifu and chip it, or do you think Boots aren't needed on Mandibuzz?
Lele set seems pretty standard, simple is effective, and the Nidoking seems like a cool anti-lead. Do you mind explaining your thinking on Modest VS Timid on both?
dragon dance is extremely different than the wisp disable one. cursola is bulkier and stronger on the special side than g slowking, with different moves, while I rarely want stone edge. ive been using mandibuzz for almost 7 years now and I think boots mandibuzz is a waste of an itemslot and just groupthink. for how I play mandibuzz, helmet is FAR more useful in nearly every situation.
lastly I’m modest/adamant on almost every mon on this team lol the power is noticeable and allows you to 2ho things that heal much more efftively
Seadra @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Moist Steed Seadra checks a bunch of physical attackers, most notably Cinderace, and punishes with Poison Point. Punishes anything clicking U-turn, burns shit with Scald, pivots out, etc. Rest Talk Flip Turn is honestly hilarious. You can't rest with misty or electric terrain though so like Ice Beam / Clear Smog / Protect or whatever can be used over it if it's not your jam.
Seadra @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Moist Steed Seadra checks a bunch of physical attackers, most notably Cinderace, and punishes with Poison Point. Punishes anything clicking U-turn, burns shit with Scald, pivots out, etc. Rest Talk Flip Turn is honestly hilarious. You can't rest with misty or electric terrain though so like Ice Beam / Clear Smog / Protect or whatever can be used over it if it's not your jam.
Seadra @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Moist Steed Seadra checks a bunch of physical attackers, most notably Cinderace, and punishes with Poison Point. Punishes anything clicking U-turn, burns shit with Scald, pivots out, etc. Rest Talk Flip Turn is honestly hilarious. You can't rest with misty or electric terrain though so like Ice Beam / Clear Smog / Protect or whatever can be used over it if it's not your jam.
I like the Seadra set, but i have a question, why Seadra over Dragalge?, Dragalge has the same stuff than Seadra and has dragon type added, it also checks Cinde so idk whats the Seadra's niche over it
I like the Seadra set, but i have a question, why Seadra over Dragalge?, Dragalge has the same stuff than Seadra and has dragon type added, it also checks Cinde so idk whats the Seadra's niche over it
Some Cinderace run Zen for Pex so if you ran into one of those while using Dragalge you'd be in for a bad time. Seadra would at least be neutral to that.
Some Cinderace run Zen for Pex so if you ran into one of those while using Dragalge you'd be in for a bad time. Seadra would at least be neutral to that.
As Sensemaker indicated, Dragalge is 2HKOed by Zen Headbutt, but Seadra's also a lot more physically bulky (although Eviolite does eat up its item slot).
252 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dragalge: 70-83 (20.9 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
252 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Seadra: 45-54 (14.3 - 17.1%) -- possible 6HKO
---
252 Atk Libero Cinderace Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dragalge: 186-222 (55.6 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Nidoking @ Life Orb Naive Nature
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower - Focus Punch
Been messing around with Focus Punch Nidoking for a hot minute and have been astounded by the amount of work this thing puts in. It's an underrated Blissey lure and definitely performs extremely well in that department, especially when compared to the (admittedly kinda lousy) Superpower lure variant.
"Why Focus Punch?"
Blissey is running too much Defense for Superpower to cleanly 2HKO it in this meta, and Nidoking cannot rely on Stealth Rock/Spikes damage to chip away at it like it could in the past. Superpower into Sludge Wave never 2HKOs Blissey, and even Superpower into -1 Superpower has a chance of not KOing Blissey (in which case Nidoking gets Soft-Boiled on and is thus walled):
4 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 413-489 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Focus Punch, on the other hand, does this to Blissey:
4 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 517-611 (72.4 - 85.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
into
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 153-181 (21.4 - 25.3%) -- 0.2% chance to 4HKO
Most of the time Blissey gets 2HKOed by Focus Punch into Sludge Wave (Focus Punch needs a criminally low roll for Blissey to be safe) from full HP, thus giving Nidoking all the room in the world to flex its absurd coverage with STABs+Flamethrower without the fear of getting bricked by the blob.
Most of the time Nidoking comes in safely through either a sac, an aggressive double switch, or a slow U-Turn/Flip Turn or a Teleport, and should always come in on something that it threatens to OHKO (which basically anything slower than it). Teams running Blissey will almost always liberally switch Blissey in against Nidoking only to be on the receiving end of the Fiery Fist O' Pain. Chansey is a bit safer without hazards, but with some chip from hazards it gets pulverized pretty comfortably by the Focus Punch into Sludge Wave combo too.
Try this set out! I wouldn't call it a legitimate "lure" set yet, but I think it fits right in for the time being!
EDIT 3/1/2021: Apparently this was a thing in SPL as early as January, but I didn't actually see that until today.
Nidoking @ Life Orb Naive Nature
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower - Focus Punch
Been messing around with Focus Punch Nidoking for a hot minute and have been astounded by the amount of work this thing puts in. It's an underrated Blissey lure and definitely performs extremely well in that department, especially when compared to the (admittedly kinda lousy) Superpower lure variant.
"Why Focus Punch?"
Blissey is running too much Defense for Superpower to cleanly 2HKO it in this meta, and Nidoking cannot rely on Stealth Rock/Spikes damage to chip away at it like it could in the past. Superpower into Sludge Wave never 2HKOs Blissey, and even Superpower into -1 Superpower has a chance of not KOing Blissey (in which case Nidoking gets Soft-Boiled on and is thus walled):
4 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 413-489 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Focus Punch, on the other hand, does this to Blissey:
4 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 517-611 (72.4 - 85.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
into
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 153-181 (21.4 - 25.3%) -- 0.2% chance to 4HKO
Most of the time Blissey gets 2HKOed by Focus Punch into Sludge Wave (Focus Punch needs a criminally low roll for Blissey to be safe) from full HP, thus giving Nidoking all the room in the world to flex its absurd coverage with STABs+Flamethrower without the fear of getting bricked by the blob.
Most of the time Nidoking comes in safely through either a sac, an aggressive double switch, or a slow U-Turn/Flip Turn or a Teleport, and should always come in on something that it threatens to OHKO (which basically anything slower than it). Teams running Blissey will almost always liberally switch Blissey in against Nidoking only to be on the receiving end of the Fiery Fist O' Pain. Chansey is a bit safer without hazards, but with some chip from hazards it gets pulverized pretty comfortably by the Focus Punch into Sludge Wave combo too.
Try this set out! I wouldn't call it a legitimate "lure" set yet, but I think it fits right in for the time being!
Fire set. It's worth noting that if you get a low roll with the first Focus Punch, you could just click it again as they softboiled. Playing this Nidoking in Sand also guarantees a kill even if you get bad rolls
Haxorus is pretty underrated rn as it can 6-0 stall and punch a hole in many teams once lando-t gets weakened. Earthquake provides great neutral coverage but makes you walled by Skarmory/Corviknight/Ferrothorn so only run it if you have Magnezone support. Otherwise, CC is more consistent to hit Skarm/Corv/Ferro. I posted the team I was using along a short explanation in the OU bazaar here, you can probably replace Blissey > Audino if you want (although Audino is still fine post-spectrier)
random fun calcs
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Toxapex: 354-419 (116.4 - 137.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 355-419 (88.7 - 104.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 437-515 (110.9 - 130.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Tapu Fini: 341-403 (99.1 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 237-285 (60.1 - 72.3%) -- approx. 2HKO
Nobody is using Keldeo rn cuz of the abundance of Toxapex/Slowbro, but this mon is actually quite good with the right support. SubCM alone takes advantage of Slowbro/Slowking/Slowking-galar as right now most people run F-Sight as their psychic STAB. Mono-Scald with Taunt on the other hand goes a step further and sets up even on Toxapex.
This set is no doubt hard to use as you need to play the long game by spreading status to grass types and weakening your opponent's team, but with decent support it can do great. This set isn't sweeping after 1 CM or anything like that, rather it focuses on weakening the team slowly and taking advantage of common checks to set up on them. It technically loses to Blissey but no one in their right mind is going to Blissey on a Keldeo behind a sub, and by the time they realize you are monoscald you are +3 which shouldn't be a problem esp. if Blissey was weakened.
Haxorus is pretty underrated rn as it can 6-0 stall and punch a hole in many teams once lando-t gets weakened. Earthquake provides great neutral coverage but makes you walled by Skarmory/Corviknight/Ferrothorn so only run it if you have Magnezone support. Otherwise, CC is more consistent to hit Skarm/Corv/Ferro. I posted the team I was using along a short explanation in the OU bazaar here, you can probably replace Blissey > Audino if you want (although Audino is still fine post-spectrier)
random fun calcs
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Toxapex: 354-419 (116.4 - 137.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 355-419 (88.7 - 104.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 437-515 (110.9 - 130.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Tapu Fini: 341-403 (99.1 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 237-285 (60.1 - 72.3%) -- approx. 2HKO
Nobody is using Keldeo rn cuz of the abundance of Toxapex/Slowbro, but this mon is actually quite good with the right support. SubCM alone takes advantage of Slowbro/Slowking/Slowking-galar as right now most people run F-Sight as their psychic STAB. Mono-Scald with Taunt on the other hand goes a step further and sets up even on Toxapex.
This set is no doubt hard to use as you need to play the long game by spreading status to grass types and weakening your opponent's team, but with decent support it can do great. This set isn't sweeping after 1 CM or anything like that, rather it focuses on weakening the team slowly and taking advantage of common checks to set up on them. It technically loses to Blissey but no one in their right mind is going to Blissey on a Keldeo behind a sub, and by the time they realize you are monoscald you are +3 which shouldn't be a problem esp. if Blissey was weakened.
Another juicy one is Terrakion
Doesn't have the speed boosting capabilities of Haxorus but starts at a better speed tier for balance builds and has a pretty beastly dual STAB. Main drawback is two moves with 80% accuracy
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 455-538 (115.4 - 136.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 416-491 (102.9 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Tapu Fini: 289-341 (84 - 99.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 352-417 (88 - 104.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 370-437 (93.9 - 110.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Buzzwole: 259-305 (61.9 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Garchomp: 433-511 (103 - 121.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Hippowdon: 328-386 (78 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 278-329 (72.7 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 226-266 (74.3 - 87.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
So this is the team I built around the Eject item + Magnezone tech I posted on the SS OU Good Cores thread. I post it here and not on RMT because I don't want to go in depth on it too much since it wants to be a showcase of the strategy.
The team revolves around these two OGs removing Steel types from the battle, with Scarf Kartana and Metronome Mamoswine to clean up offensive and defensive teams, respectively. Toxapex is a nice pivot mon that continues the Eject train and can partecipate in fun combinations like the one shown in the replay. Then last member is Mandibuzz as an anchor against a number of big threats, mostly Ground types and the Grass demons.
The tech works most of the time to trap steel types that are not Heatran or Magearna (which you have Mamoswine for) and you can get massive momentum, especially with Latios bringing Mamoswine in safely, as Mamo beats pretty much everything that stops Latios. It beats pretty much everything slower than it with Metronome, destroying any recovery stall shenanigans by boosting its own attacks consecutively.
The team is fun, I played a lot with it and it's a showcase not only of the fun, unexplored items and strategies, but it also ended up being a showcase of how unholy of a beast Mamoswine is.
This core is straight outta Gen 5, but with a twist. With the loss of HP Fire and the addition of Body Press, Magnezone had to adopt a different approach in the trapping of Steel type criminal #1 Ferrothorn. Furthermore, Corviknight is another relevant Steel type that gets fried by its Thunderbolt. As such, I feel like Magnezone is an underrated presence in this metagame, also boasting the ability to disrupt the dangerous Kartana and tanking Rillaboom's STAB attacks. However, when people see it at team preview they are very cautious with their metal birds or Ferrothorn, so they won't leave them in exposed. This is where Latios come into play. The Jet Pokémon equipes itself with an Eject Pack, to fire a 1-turn switch Draco Meteor on a Steel type to bring in Magnezone. Of course there are some Steel types that Zone can't beat, such as Heatran and Magearna, that can switch in on Latios, so it has adapted to them as well by running Earthquake to bait them for good damage, especially on Heatran. Eject Pack is also quite useful in just firing off a Draco against something that can tank it, not necessarily a Steel type, to immediately get momentum over them by bringing in a teammate that can scare it out, which may prevents the opponent from being able to use a recovery move.
These two also happen to cover their weaknesses almost perfectly (if Steel resistances weren't nerfed, they would have perfect type sinergy).
Teammates of this core include any sort of Pokémon that appreciates certain Steel types being removed or chipped down. Main examples that come to mind are Grass-spamming demons like Rillaboom, Tapu Bulu or Kartana, the former two also coming with the added benefit of softening EQs up for Zone (when coupled w/ Iron Defense, you may be able to beat a Ground type 1v1). Aside from hating Corviknights Skarmory and Ferro, they all love Magearna and Heatran being crippled by a well timed EQ from Latios.
Mamoswine is also a decent example, due to how well it does against slower teams when metal birds and ferrothorns are removed
This core can also be accompanied by Eject Button Toxapex, which does a fairly good job of covering threats that scare out Magnezone and/or Latios
Replay
This is a very short replay of this strategy in action. Leading Latios is very easy against slower builds because you can instantly get momentum with Draco Meteor, especially when the opponent here leads Melmetal thinking he's going to have a good time. Immediately Draco allows me to bring in Toxapex, that can live any hit (no one goes for EQ turn 1 with the team that I have, because there is no chance I switch Zone in on a Melmetal, it's a bad play). You can understand the set just by seeing that DIB did >40% to max def pex, so when eject button activates you already know the mon most suited to switch in. In this case, a bad lead Latios v Melmetal turn into Magnezone trapping the Melmetal on a single turn. All for the price of like 9% health on toxapex because of regenerator. of course i missplayed by going sub and not iron defense on the second turn, but to be fair i didn't think melmetal would break a sub with a x4 resisted move on a mon with 240+ evs on its 115 defense.
This set allows Magearna to win SpDef Haze Toxapex. Forcing Recover after using Stored Power, you lock Toxapex into Recover allowing you to use more than one Shift Gear with the forced switch, the same applies for Blissey and Clefable.
If any Heatran / Ferrothorn are crazy enough to use Stealth Rock or Protect, take advantage.
You can also lock an opposing Magearna that uses Calm Mind (just make sure you have used an extra Shift Gear to stay faster). Focus Blast is mandatory coverage in my opinion, allowing KO Heatran SpDef after Weakness Police activate.
+2 252 SpA Magearna Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 400-472 (103.6 - 122.2%).
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 184 SpD / 72 Spe
Careful Nature
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Agility
- Power Trip
Get rid of zapdos and then you just win the game on the spot. Common teams have very little to break corvinight after it gets a bulk up. I partner with the ever OP electro ball cinderace (Life orb + 104SpA) to remove the boring turns I'd otherwise face vs slowbro and toxapex. Corviknight also doesn't need to be held as a sweeper; there are the obvious benefits of using it defensively as well against landorus, stone edge garchomp (OP), excadrill, melmetql, etc.
There is for sure a better EVs spread, but this goes faster than Tornadus-T after agility, and can pressure stall boots cinderace. Does not get 2HKO by the non-stab special fire moves of the tier. Blasts through clown fairy types that can't handle 220 BP power triple.
You'll see in a lot of these replays that corvinight cleans 4-5 Pokemon by itself.
the gen8 equivalent of normalium z kartana. instead of snowballing into its own sweep, giga impact kartana sacrifices itself in order to break through common grass resists such as the flying and grass types shown below to set rillaboom up to clean easily. it can also beat both corviknight and non-whirlwind skarmory on the switch with +2 sacred sword.
not much more to explain about this set - it can obviously shine on grassy terrain-based hyper offense and bulky offense teams. you may be asking, why not use knock off + good hazard support to pressure flying-types? giga impact is somewhat more efficient and helpful in practice because it requires two turns to execute rather than half the game. this offensive core of giga impact kartana + rillaboom is an incredibly easy way to set up rillaboom and other abusers for a clean endgame.
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Giga Impact vs. 248 HP / 204+ Def Mandibuzz: 395-465 (93.3 - 109.9%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Giga Impact vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Moltres: 420-495 (109.6 - 129.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Giga Impact vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 435-513 (113.5 - 133.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Giga Impact vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Amoonguss: 491-578 (113.9 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 337-396 (83.4 - 98%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 227-269 (56.7 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 186-220 (55.6 - 65.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
ive been using this sun a lot to have fun and honestly this motherfuckre some fire. shiftry works as well as you can use sucker to kill A LOT more after sun runs out but you could easily just run both on the same squad and I REALLY enjoy taking out trans from full
