BH Balanced Hackmons

[Ace Roll]

Been a long time and the metagame feels stale and repetitive, so i'm submitting a team:

Description: Balance - offense with pheal, magic bounce and regen.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/7280fb54998bd0b2

Weaknesses:
- Specs Dragon's Maw Eternatus
- Primordial sea Zama-C with nuzzle, fish rend and low kick / thunderous kick
- B drum xern with e speed and ho-oh coverage
- Min speed belly drum calyrex-Ice

How to use:
Dialga will usually be your main lead as it can live any special hit with ease and get a slow pivot(volt switch / U - turn). If opposing player has a groudon, calyrex - ice can be a good lead to threaten it out as you don't want it to glare or set up spikes.

It is very important to get pheal up on regigigas as soon as possible to negate nuzzle/glare on unwanted mons. I opted for shift gear over dragon dance on gigas as you can outspeed opposing unburden yveltal, ho-oh etc. that run adamant. Shift gear also works better with baton pass into calyrex as with +2 (396) it can outspeed Eternatus. I found baton pass to be very useful to negate physical walls trapping and also from losing tempo with setup. Both ho-oh and calyrex are great at dealing with gigas' weaknesses, +2 is even great on Eternatus as you outspeed the potential scarf users. Calyrex set is pretty standard with simple, anchor and strength sap to be improof and trap opposing imposters. Ho-oh is similar to the aerilate set, but you are not dependant on your item and you counter corrosion etern + baneful bunker users. V - Create hits opposing Yveltal / xern for atleast 75 % and brave bird has great PP and neutral damage vs zama-C and ferrothorn. Spin blockers can be annoying, but you have hdb on calyrex for that reason.

Eternatus:
Timid + life orb to guarantee the KO on opposing eternatus as well as Magearna and Melmetal after +2.
Thunder cage to trap unwanted walls, mainly flash fire steel types, tapu fini or passive hazzard sets.
252 SpA Life Orb Eternatus Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Eternatus: 486-577 (100.4 - 119.2%)
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Eternatus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Magearna: 361-426 (99.1 - 117%)
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Eternatus Thunder Cage vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Tapu Fini: 322-382 (93.6 - 111%)

Metagame to come:
Long overdue, but I feel Glacial lance should be banned or suspect tested and bolt beak reinstated. Zekrom is honestly so underwhelming without it and instead of directly addressing nuzzle and para spam, it would be great to make the 2 main para sponges "Zekrom" and "Zygarde" more viable.
The STAB Glacial Lance users won't be affected all that much. Calyrex - Ice will lose its mid game "sweeping set" with simple, but has the bulk to run very effective stall sets or even pheal. Kyurem - B can go back to its very underrated triple axel + technician set.

Imprison + trap can be very overwhelming, especially for new and intermediate players, but it's simply a game mechanic and additional win condition that just adds to the flavour of BH. I don't think it's that prominent or lack of counterplay. That being said, if the council do decide to suspect test it, concider permitting Zacian-C again, as the imprison set was the only thing that tipped the scale to it being banned in the first place.

I think that is a good starting point and after that discuss the return of other cool abilities and pokemon like "protean and shedinja/darmanitan/calyrex - ghost".

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Thought i'd chip in with a sample team since the council's after them, but I don't exactly recommend it since this is basically my first non-atrocious team and even then it's still a bit eh (still pretty new to both BH and teambuilding).

Team Name: Sky-High Drive By
Description: Double -ate spikes offence feat. sand Nihilego & Magic Bounce Groudon
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/b5b0a60e8d5178f7
How to use: Nihilego acts as a great lead since it walls pretty much every special attacker that people will want to lead with (Rend Xerneas can be a problem, this is why Nihilego is Timid), and can pick up early nuzzles on careless leads/set rocks in front of Turn 1 Bunker mons. Groudon can also act as an alternative lead due to MBounce sending back early hazards, and early knocks/a nuzzle immunity is nice as well. Dusclops, despite the knock-off weakness, acts as a good early scouting tool with Entrainment, and also doesn't run the risk of early trapping unlike other scouts such as Chansey (which is important since knowing an enemy Zama-C's ability is extremely important for Rayquaza). Once early threats have been established, laying spikes and chipping important targets becomes the priority - depending on the enemy team, Groudon can be played very aggressively if required to eliminate or cripple an annoying wall such as removing Ho-Oh's boots or denting a PSea steel, falling back on the boosted shore up healing from Nihilego's sand if necessary. Ray can easily clean house once it's very limited checks (Fire-Immune steels, really bulky pranksters, Zekrom) are eliminated, with Magearna as a secondary wincon that can easily snowball with Metronome if given the chance.
Weaknesses:
- Palkia is the main source of problems for this team due to no naturally faster mons besides Nihilego, which always dies to Rend even if it goes first (this could be remedied through changing the Fur Coat/Prankster mons, but opens up a nasty Kartana weakness in doing so) and nothing enjoys eating any of it's attacks.
- Rend Xerneas, if not paralyzed, puts immense pressure on Magearna to stay healthy.
- Groudon, especially soundproof, can be difficult to stave off over the course of a game/reliably keep damaged.
- Ground-Coverage special attackers - mainly SimplePlot Eternatus and Triage Yveltal (Triage Steela gets OHKO'd by Rayquaza V-Create).
Ground Weakness can mostly be amended by changing Dialga to Palkia, although being able to nuzzle in front of Pixilate is nice.
Effectiveness: It's won tour matches and does consistently well on ladder (for the little time i've used it). Many teams simply aren't equipped to deal with the double Boomburst onslaught beyond Primordial Sea steels, particularly Rayquaza's which go pretty much unresisted and 2HKO virtually everything. Only have 2 decent replays though (Tour Game vs. Cityscapes, ladder game).

 

[PeepeePoopooChamp]

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/8eac8c5672b2f3ba

Why entrainment over worry seed on a prankster? Do you find yourself using it >16 times over the course of a game?

 

[MAMP]

Why entrainment over worry seed on a prankster? Do you find yourself using it >16 times over the course of a game?

in more grindy matchups against teams with multiple poison healers the extra pp does often come up. giving your opponent prankster is unlikely to be too bad for you, and entrainment is better against magic bounce (you'd rather get magic bounce than insomnia)

 

[a loser]

Following the survey results, the BH Council held a vote on several topics and the results are shown in the table below.

Subject	a loser	cityscapes	XxSevagxX	Results
Glacial Lance​	DNB​	DNB​	BAN​	(1-2) Do Not Ban​
Nuzzle​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	(0-3) Do Not Ban​
Imprison​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	(0-3) Do Not Ban​
Belly Drum​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	(0-3) Do Not Ban​
Contrary​	Keep banned​	Keep banned​	Keep banned​	(3-0) Keep Banned​

So in the end, nothing changed. As always, feel free to share your thoughts on these results!

Also, xavgb did not vote in this slate as he asked to be removed from the council at the beginning of December, before the vote was held. But props to stresh for being a valued council member that helped BH get where it is today while also being the best BH tour player seemingly without breaking a sweat. Thanks for your contributions!

Also also, quojova is joining the BH council so join me in welcoming them! They've been growing as a player and contributor in BH and OMs in general this generation and the council has recognized this and thinks they'll be a great addition.

Lastly, this is my last post as BH leader and council member. It has been an honor and a pleasure to lead this metagame and I'm sad to step away from it, but I know that BH is in XxSevagxX's capable hands. Be on the lookout for a VR update and new sample teams, and help out the council by submitting your awesome teams here and sharing your thoughts on the VR in the resources thread!

 

[cityscapes]

lets go quojova!

might as well explain the reasoning behind my votes:

• glance kyub is similar imo to mamp's tc regigigas: a strong breaker that can kill several guys given an opening, but also something with limited mobility that switches into nothing and isn't much of a "team player". kyub is additionally susceptible to spectral thief, xerneas, and le triage gear. i also am really not a fan of axel replacing glance, which is definitely a worse move but for all the wrong reasons (it doesnt hit and you can cheese it w helmet). also other glance users are extremely unconvincing: regigigas must run 3 atks to hit zamac and is still walled by luna and dusclops, fires get owned by imposter, etc. i guess lo drum kart can ohko hooh at +6 thru reflect :(
• nuzzle and glare remind me somewhat of wisp from last gen in terms of their offense control mechanic. the difference is with nuzzle you can luck your opponent and with wisp you can get lucked. anyway i'm not super convinced that teams that lose to nuzzle are significantly mechanically different than sm bh teams that lose to wisp pdon. meanwhile, any non hyper offensive team should be able to get around it with slow pivots to take the para, para immunities, or poison heal. pikachu is dumb as hell but it will stay that way regardless of para
• imprisonform is a quick and efficient way to kill a trapped guy, but certainly not the only way. anchor poison (more commonly waves poison on grounds), anchor entrain vs ph, anchor normalize, anchor tkick, even just anchor + pp stall can remove pivot-less guys and can hardly be called "uncompetitive". the only difference is imprisonform being a little faster but this is offset by it taking up 3 moveslots and being worse in every other aspect. trapping immune mons are just really nice to have in general.
• drum priority is a little cheesy but is forced to not auto-lose to imposter making the team significantly less volatile. drum unburden handily gets a 1 for 1 trade at best with prank haze, assuming it's even able to set up in the first place. both can randomly miss kills on fc.
• contrary etern is silly, contrary vcreate + superpower + glance/wicked is silly, i would prefer not to bring back fc scales on every team.

 

[shadowpea]

samples are still open? swag. might as well throw in my most successful team so far. its a really, really standard team, though but i do think that its rather newbie-friendly.


Name: Team Konkeydonk (i guess my brain just threw that one at me so dont question it)
Description: revolves around breaking the opponent's fat steels with specs etern+metroxern with support attached including bouncespin removal and double teleport
How to Use: you have the incredibly fearsome specs dmaw etern that is going to do the main wallbreaking 90% of the time. use it to pressure the enemy’s fat steels/fairies since they need them to successfully check you and also their fat dragons, basically half the meta’s entire defensive core. predict with etern but dont play too risky as youd want to keep hp up. xern does amazing in pressuring and break through the checks it share with etern i.e. fat steels and practically nothing else. then you have your two port pivots, zamac and fini, who does a great job at bringing your breakers in unscalthed and specifically help with keeping etern’s health high. watch out for fini’s passivity and try to stay in with it for only as long as necessary because its a massive momentum sink, but it does great against their defensive mons between bounce/knock/port. on preview recognize which mons you need to break through (usually the steel and/or fairy) and which members you need to preserve, since fini/zamac often take damage as they teleport out and you lose momentum as they heal. Note that xerneas can break through non-scales zamac through brute force and etern can do the same except its basically every steel. often the gameplan is to break with etern so xerneas can clean lategame, though the situation is sometimes reversed as etern is more than fast enough for the job. dont be afraid to trade one of your breakers for their fat steel - in fact this is one of your best strategies as the other one can often just run through their team without that key piece. sacking xern is preferred if you opt for it as its easier to rack up kills with etern and xern’s metronome discourages recover spam which maximizes the damage.
Alternations: earth power on xern lets you beat ff magearna who is otherwise a pain in the ass for this team to handle. you do get stonewalled by ho-oh though and can do jack shit to bounce variants. replacing teleport instead of knock on zamac frees up finis slot to run scald or something (PURIFY) and zamac is a trapper anyway, but i really like to have a bulky (in my experience fini really isnt that bulky) teleporter that can also trap threats as they come in so they cant switch to their breaker as you teleport and have you on the backfoot. running spectral or scald over heal bell makes fini less passive but im running aroma because paraspam is annoying af and i lost to hax one too many times.
Weaknesses: this thing is legitimately the only reason earth power is a slash on xern. Most fat variants are annoying enough but flash fire/primsea completely denies both my offensive pokemon. Sacking one to muscle through it is harder since it resists boomburst and etern cant touch it. Try to pressure it with groudon and zamac and force it to pivot away with anchor damage. Offense is also a rather tough matchup for this team since gira would be heavily pressured to stay alive for its haze but also to set up rocks so sashes dont screw me over randomly. Plan is to defensively answer what we can and offensively threaten what we cant. Fini is really really bad in the offense matchup so if you suspect a gambit mon it would be the ideal sack, and honestly just keep it away for the most part so you dont let up free momentum. Scales zamac is a bitch since you cant 2hko but sacking xern and rking with etern will probably blow away their best answer to etern (dont rk with xern theyre faster). Finally av steels though not the end of the world are annoying for this team to face since making etern outlast them (or at least keeping its denergy power up) can be tricky.
Effectiveness: as i said in the beginning team does well most of the time when im not playing like an idot (and when my finger’s not being a bitch). Half the time their fat steel is zamac which is amazing since both etern and xern does around 50 against nonscales/rv unboosted. You do fine against ladder cheese like no guard (aroma hooray), normalize, and setup spam and also have a great matchup against most balances that dont have ff magearna because etern just blows stuff up as soon as their fairy is removed by funny sludge wave

team originally had adapt sg/ascend/wblow/sap yveltal instead of don which is incredibly fearsome and nothings resisting flying and dark properly...except of course magearna. and then in 80% of my games yveltal just kinda sat on the side while xern and etern blew stuff up so i was like what if i built this team around them. pix zac (fake out/espeed/blades or vc/sap) works in that slot too which gives you a better mu vs offense and better odds at breaking the opponent's steels and chips fairies nicely, but groudon just worked slightly better. played around with ph gigas too but dont know what to make of it.

god i can make an essay out of everything. this is somewhat an rmt too since i know there are people far far better than me itt. so give thoughts please and peace. :)

(next year im gonna come back to this and be like *why the actual hell did i post this* like what happens to literally all of my essays but at the moment i cant care less)

 

[Lunatic Hai]

It's been a hot minute since I actively played mons, but it seems pretty fun nowadays. I'm slapping together a bunch of teams to mess around with, and might start branching from my usual balance into other playstyles again. These are the ones I've liked the most so far.

Some things I noticed: Prank tina's still around, but I'm seeing way less PH since bounce is so common, and furscales zam seems rare in favor of bounce and psea/ff. Glacial lance has dipped a bit, which is nice but hasn't impacted too much besides luring bounce tina into a false sense of security. Blace really doesn't appreciate all the psea/ff running around, but could potentially still make progress using a trick set to cripple would be counters. Or just pivot 4head. Regen ogre seems a bit slept on, since it loses less momentum than fini while still providing valuable scald utility. There's more, but this is off the top of my head. Have some teams.

Team Name: Foraging For Truffles
Description: Balance: SBEVE + Blades/Spikes Gigas
How To Use: Set up spikes or boost with Gigas as needed, use Etern once sets are scouted or you've chipped a valuable wall. Other mons provide nice utility via koff, nuzzle, pivoting, scouting, doom desire, etc. Whoo. Use Gigas liberally unless imp is present, since ph + sweep potential + hazards + light wallbreaking is just really good. The more defensive elements of this team provide some decent added pressure, as well, especially with imp. Just win 4head
Weaknesses: Team lowkey doesn't like actually fighting bounce tina + anti fire zam, feelsbad. I made an updated version below. If they have imp, you have to play pretty conservatively with gigas since there's no prank haze on this team and imp quickly snowballs off a +1 attack. If they do switch in, you'll probably have to go right to zam to cripple it. You'll probably be fine since they'll likely hit shift gear, or maybe facade. After a nuzzle you can chunk with thunderous kick so that it likely loses to etern/gigas coming back in.
Effectiveness: It does ok on ladder, this is more of a new player friendly team than anything else.


The Real Deal™ (aka my actual sample submission)
Team Name: Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO)
Description: Balance: Rend Metrosexual + Lance/Spikes Gigas
Changes/How To Use: Etern is an incredible mon and SBEVE is one of its best sets, but it does often find itself bricked by immunities. There's less fur/scales nowadays, so Xern's lack of immunity walls (Dland ho-oh is an unmon) arguably leaves it in a better spot meta-wise. Having -ate spin also helps with not getting spinblocked, and ogre over dialga offers much appreciated burn chip. Gigas changes over to Lance because these god damn tinas are getting way too comfortable, and Xerneas helps deal with Zam so blades can be forgone in favor of improofing gigas with my own Zam.
Pretty simple team, generally same concept as the last one: make openings for your offensive mons with the others through their utility and pivoting.
Pixilate Xern and PH Gigas are both incredibly strong, flexible attackers, but are pretty simple and intuitive to use. Xern especially takes advantage of the rise in psea steels by smacking them with rend. You don't really need spectral on both ogre and zam, so take your pick of another utility move depending on what you want to accomplish. Nuzzle is primarily for crippling imp and faster mons like kart or etern, but parahax are always a pain to deal with so you shouldn't feel too bad about paralyzing instead of burning a wall. Prank haze mons are generally a momentum sink, so tina uses entrain + parting. Entrainment provides fast ability removal since waiting to core can often mean death, and allows tina to proactively stop PH and -ate sets, while parting is a generally useful move for pivoting and weakening enemies. Besides bounce, entrain only fails against weird stuff like comatose, and most bounce mons don't threaten tina much anyway.
Weaknesses: Koff/Purify/Nuzzle Bounce Tina is a really annoying set I saw once, and is a nuisance to this team as well. Blow it up the second you see it, because it'll be a general pain in the ass. Prank parting fini can be a bit annoying as well, since its scald will chip bounce zam without lefties to counteract it, and you can't rely on xern or gigas to blow it away.
Effectiveness: I haven't tested this one as much as the other, but given that I feel it's a general improvement over the previous version of this team, I think it should be pretty solid.

Side note: I was reminded of SL's penguin team and remembered that Empoleon has some really good type matchups (Fighting/Ground/Electric aren't huge in Gen 8 BH). That being said, it's not IN gen 8, and its stats leave a lot to be desired, but if gamefreak could bust out a new bulky water/steel type that'd be insane pls and thank you

 

[UserRedirected]

I use to use this chansey set a lot in BH stall. I absolutely love it and wanted to share it with everyone. Haze is a flex spot for what you need on your team. I think this set is very pivotal and is an absolute tank. It also takes a lot of people by surprise

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Fur Coat
Level: 99
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Recover
- Metal Burst
- Teleport
- Haze

 

[quojova]

i have come for your drummers

Although belly drum was unanimously voted to be kept in the tier just about two weeks ago, to me this discussion is worth reopening. Here are two issues that I have with drum and why I think a ban/suspect could be desirable:

1) Matchup wins - To be clear, drum is certainly not "too viable". Drum representation is fairly limited in high-level play due to its inconsistency in setting up and the impossibility of beating all of prank/fc/imposter/priority in a single set. Rather, at times it can seem unhealthy because of simply how many varieties of drum there are to cover and how automatically it can win if given the right matchup. While there is no drum set that beats all of prank/fc/imposter/priority, the drummer gets to pick and choose which of those they want to beat. Two examples are unburden + moldmove beating fc/imposter, and triage kart with sunsteel beating slower fc/priority/a fair amount of pranks.

If the drum pokemon has a winning matchup, it can often win without much of a fight. Compare drum to other setup options: Say my only dazzling kyub counterplay is prank fini and the opponent's kyub happens to carry bolt strike. At first that sounds dire, but crucially it can't instantly win on the spot, since sacking fini to haze it then going to a dragon or fairy or steel to force it out is a very real option. Although the kyub still remains a huge threat, setting up a kyub twice across a match is challenging and the interaction is usually balanced enough. On the other hand, for drummers, winning the game depends on ohkoing all opponents before they can do anything, prank included (which is why priority drum is the most problematic to me). You rarely have an option to give something up to temporarily beat a priority drummer - it just wins immediately or it doesn't depending on the composition of your team and I find that a bit unhealthy.

2) Scouting - In the above paragraphs I've focused a lot on how easy it can be to win once drum is set up, and in doing so I've left out a key bit of the drum counterplay, which is just not letting it set up to begin with, and that ties into the impact I think scouting has on it. Setting up drum is obviously difficult in a lot of situations, but not so much if your opponent has no idea it's coming. Kartana, regigigas, ho-oh, kyub, xern, zamac, zacian - all of these have seen some use as priority drummers at some point, which is awkward to deal with when among these pokemon are some of the premiere utility or even defensive options in the metagame. Take this team for example. It is generally solid against most drummers, with etern to cover triage zamac/kart, suicune to cover unburden, and lunala to cover some low-power drummers. Even if the opponent brings a drum xerneas, it has a hard time setting up against even yveltal as it is threatened by boomburst -> helmet chip. Yet, the dedicated xern counter is etern, and if I switch etern in on a drum rather than making the insane play to stay in with yveltal, the game is most likely over if lunala has been slightly chipped. Referring back to point 1, if the consequence for this was just needing to sack some amount of pokemon, it wouldn't be all that problematic, but in the case of drum the game is often just over.

I'm curious to hear community opinions. Is drum unhealthy? Is drum fine? Does it have a positive impact on the meta that I've missed in this post? Feel free to let us know :)

 

[Eusebio_77]

Just wanted to post some of my favourite offensive mons in the meta

Zamazenta-Crowned @ Expert Belt
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Sunsteel Strike
- Glacial Lance
- Shift Gear

Because of it being mainly used as Defensive/Support mon, it catches a lot of people by surprise. I've faced a lot of people not switching out their Gigas/Dialga/Xerneas when facing this and it just picking up the OHKO.

vs Bold Dialga
252+ Atk Expert Belt Adaptability Zamazenta-Crowned Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dialga: 437-518 (108.1 - 128.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
vs PH Heal Xerneas
252+ Atk Expert Belt Adaptability Zamazenta-Crowned Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Xerneas: 470-557 (103 - 122.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Weaknesses: Prankster Parting shot and Paralyze absolute nullifies it making it very ineffective against most of the common stall teams. It's a very limited attacker too because to defeat most Dragons it needs hazards and +1 Atk

My preferred imp-check is Golisipod

Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Steelworker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- V-create
- Glacial Lance
- Bullet Punch

Probably my favourite mon in this meta. It's the absolute glass-cannon

vs Bold Fini
252+ Atk Choice Band Steelworker Kartana Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tapu Fini: 339-400 (98.5 - 116.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

Bullet Punch vs Pixelate Xerneas
252+ Atk Choice Band Steelworker Kartana Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252- Def Xerneas: 378-446 (82.8 - 97.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

vs Support Ho-oh
252+ Atk Choice Band Steelworker Kartana Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Ho-Oh: 219-258 (52.6 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Benefits from having a hazard-setter because this will put on a ton of offensive pressure and force switch-ins.

Weaknesses: It's Kartana

My preferred imp-check is Fur Coat Volcanion or Golisipod

 

[cityscapes]

NOTES ON PLAYING BH

this is for tryhards if youre not a tryhard do something else with your time

note: this post will probably be controversial!! i am not here to tell you things you already know, i am here to share what worked for me and what didn't. if you disagree with anything feel free to start an argument. let's jump in!

game mechanics

ok i might tell you some things you already know here. if you are new to bh, it is vital that you know how everything works. so here's a big list of bh-specific interactions that i see often:

long list

1. imposter copies everything except the hp stat and item and can also use pokemon-specific items. imposter chansey has 250 base hp and 1.5x defenses, imposter pikachu has 35 base hp and 2x attacking stats.
2. imposter has only 5 pp on each move, so if it's trapped and can't kill you it will likely struggle to death.
3. prankster + haze counters all setup except for prankster taunt and priority such as extreme speed and triage.
4. dark-types and priority blocking such as dazzling block prankster topsy-turvy and parting shot (although not haze).
5. poison heal is countered by ability removal such as entrainment, worry seed, gastro acid, and slower core enforcer (though xerneas is immune to that last one). combine this with trapping to remove the ph user entirely.
6. -ate abilities such as aerilate can be used with boomburst, extreme speed, and rapid spin. -ate rapid spin is unblockable unless you use galvanize.
7. thunder cage poison heal xerneas beats imposter by clicking cage first, then spamming quiver dance over the next few turns. imposter takes 70%+ and cannot kill you in return.
8. poison heal regigigas is generally favorable against imposter, because you have 140 power facade and they don't, unless you status them.
9. magic bounce bounces hazards, parting shot, and strength sap.
10. anchor shot + imprison + transform will kill anything without pivoting, unless it's a ghost type or shed shell mon. the drawback is that your moves aren't very useful if you're not killing things.
11. mold breaker means your moves go through abilities. however, field effects caused by abilities still work. for example, primordial sea will block mold breaker fire moves.
12. fur coat doubles defense, ice scales halves the power of incoming special moves. secret sword runs into both. never use secret sword.
13. the strongest moves are v-create, fishious rend, glacial lance, bolt strike, precipice blades, dragon energy, and -ate boomburst.

how to win games

back when i was a wee lass in 2018, i would always use funny lure sets and make crazy plays. i used dstorm xern back in gen 7 where it was absolutely not the meta threat it is today. since then i have learned that such measures are not necessary to win the average game. in 90% of games you can simply win by calculating better than the opponent.

by this i mean knowing how to tell who's winning, knowing what your options are if you're losing (and what your opponent's options are if you're winning), knowing which mons are most valuable, knowing how to make progress if up against passive resistance. if you have all these basics down, you can simply pick out the smallest risks, take those, and be fine otherwise. let your bad mons get paralyzed, activate your toxic orb, don't get trapped. does the opponent have anything more to do or say?

this strategy kind of builds off familiarity with game mechanics, so it won't really work if your opponent is more familiar with those than you are. luckily as i speak there are 10 players on ladder who don't have the faintest idea how to beat regigigas (at various elo ratings). go show em.

when you're familiar with mechanics, i also recommend checking out tournament replays. here are omwc replays, here is a post by me showing this method in action. evaluate the position, see what your opponent is doing wrong, punish it, win.

playstyle rant

the biggest mistake we have made as a community is thinking of hyper offense and stall as valid "main" playstyles if you want to get better at the game. they aren't.

hyper offense is like a fighting game character that can't block. this is ridiculous. then the person playing them says "oh but its ok they have really good frame data or something". how do you expect to be good at the game without knowing how to block? with the same analogy, stall is like a fighting game character that spams safe moves and runs out the clock. dude, learn how to combo. learn how to punish bad play. i said on discord a while ago that the reason i hate using stall on ladder is cause you take 50 turns to beat an ash team, lol.

the point is NOT that hyper offense and stall are inherently bad playstyles! sevag has made some good offense teams, ivar brought a terrifying stall team vs me in omwc finals that would've won had he made a slight tweak.

however, if we look at people who "main" these playstyles we see that hyper offense users are mostly hyperactive zoomers and stall users are patient zoomers who like to pretend they aren't zoomers. what these 2 groups have in common is that they're allergic to losing. and stall and hyper offense both display this fear in full view to an observant eye.

stall and hyper offense basically have the message "you don't get to attack me, and you don't get to wall me out". stall will negate any attack you throw at it, and will not collapse if walled out. hyper offense will do its best to stop you from attacking, and will spam gambit, drum, etc to break through walls.

as a result, these playstyles get a lot of mileage against inexperienced players who take these messages at face value. in actuality the way to beat stall is to start with a small way to make progress, then wall them out (aerilate spin steela was the mvp in my game against ivar). similarly, the way to beat hyper offense is to first not get swept, then attack them. if hyper offense is forced to give ground, you're probably just winning.

of course, if you do happen to do well against these players, they'll typically point to matchup or something else silly rather than admit fault. "my character has such good frame data! i clicked all the good moves! what could i have done wrong?"

this is why outplaying your opponent is a better goal than winning. if you don't outplay, then you get to work on your playing. if you outplay but don't win, then you can stop using bad playstyles. if your team doesn't give you the tools to outplay, why even use it?

even if you start with the most simplistic "sword + shield" balance structure with like kartana blace and a bunch of walls/passive imposter proofers, you can experience a wide variety of games, improve your playing, and easily transition to any of the awesome team structures that we idiotically all define as just "balance". look at mamp teams. look at the other world cup teams. hell, look at the tea guzzler ray nihilego team. i used that in call yesterday and was incredibly confused by how it worked (but it did work).

oh also don't use sun and rain those styles are AWFUL lmao they auto lose to so much. i have beaten 3 separate good players on preview because they brought weather and i didnt.

breaking adherence

if you find yourself reliant on a small number of teams to win games without any clue of how to build anything else, the best thing to do is stepping out of the tryhard mindset altogether so you can experiment with new things. i've had a lot of fun laddering in call with other people using stupid meme teams because they give me something to do other than using an annihilation team for the 200th game in a row. yes, you can also just bang your head against a wall until you get something new, but i think the meme team approach is better for your head.

taking a break from the game in general can also be a real good idea. i come up with a lot of my better ideas when i'm not actively tryharding mons.

if you play against good people after having taken a break, you'll get into things more easily because you won't be allowed to simply win with bad teams.

tournaments

tournaments are awesome. play in em even if you lose r1. everyone is encouraged to bring good teams and play well, the difference is that even as a budding player you have a decent shot at beating the non-mains that play for circuit points or whatever. those guys put up a fight and generally play less cheesy than ladder players so you can pretty consistently get some solid games against em.

idk who will read this post cause forums have generally been abandoned for discord nowadays. luckily as a sigma zoomer i have adapted and will now link this everywhere on discord. the cia cannot catch me they have not updated their records to account for my new name

 

[100%NoobJuice]

I made a meme set with magearna https://pokepast.es/0939d94d05375553

 

[TTTech]

Do you love stall? Do you enjoy having a nice time while playing mons such as eating, drinking water, or listening to music while your opponent gives you salt? Alright, it's time for all the stall lovers and passive poppers to assemble. Today, I bring to you a team I've been using for months where I was able to reach 1800s-1820s multiple times with no effort. Since I've already lost bh open, I don't really care about sharing this team now.

Team name: End of The World
https://pokepast.es/cc90db853cdd4a79

Description: The team is fairly simple to understand. It's all about hazard stacking, scouting, and preventing as much progress as you can while slowly picking apart your opponent. Its stall that can pick apart other stall and other types of team structures if you know what you're doing. Onto what everyone on the team does.

Giratina: The bouncer and anti-trick of the team. Tina's sole job is to bounce back any hazards your opponent might have after scouting for them with imposter, anti trap mon of the team, item remover, and improofs everything on the team. Can fairly check regigigas, zama, ho-oh (mostly bounce/hazard variants), and other common physical hitters or hazard setters.

Tapu Fini: The poison healer of the team that sets up spikes. Now I know what you're thinking, no spiky shield? Well, its really not needed for this team because I personally felt that will o wisp or knock was more important for the structure of the team since I wanted tina to wall everything if imposter ever came in. Fini helps with burning physical hitters and getting rid of items that tina can't. Can fairly check zama, resh, palk, zygarde, and many other common mons with this set.

Type Null: May not seem like it, but this thing is a monster at tanking hits way better than I thought it would. It's the regen mon of the team that helps with hazard stacking just like fini. It's main role is to tank a hit if you're in a dire spot or just simply want momentum. After fini and/or tina knock of the poison heal mon of the opposing team, you condition your opponent to make them think you don't have any anti poison heal tech or you can just out right click purify if your confident they'll stay in. Null does a lot for this team and it's important to keep it alive as long as possible. Can fairly check kyub, xern, zama (to an extent depending on the set), ho-oh (non bounce), and poison heal mons.

Registeel: The prankster user of the team and my long time partner in crime for 7+ years. Now... Why haze and topsy turvy? Well for one, haze isn't affected by a dark types immunity to prankster topsy and topsy can at times be more helpful than just simply resetting stats so I decided to put both. Registeel helps with scouting for any potential bouncers early in the match because your opponent will just be tempted to go to their bouncer after learning your parting shot. It also helps with weakening an opponents incoming attack that turn or the next (my usual go to move is going to null or tina after clicking parting shot). Can fairly check xern, etern, regigigas, and other mons it has resistances to.

Chansey: We all know what chansey does. Its the salt collector of many noobs that have no idea what proper improofing means. You send in chansey to scout what you opponent has and determine the best course of action for who will wall it the best on the team or just straight up use your bulk to its advantage and hit them harder than they can hit you.

Blissey: Same role as chansey, but less bulky compared to it's eviolite counter part. What blissey does that chansey can't however, is switching into a trapping move on purpose (or if you feel suspicious they're going to trap and don't wanna risk chansey) and take advantage of the fact your opponent thinks your trapped and just switch at the last second. The combination of double imposter means you have infinite pp and you can simply take advantage of anything passive on your opponents team after scouting.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1473392661

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1485256662-pcq723pn3il896ryi25wqdn9l9qvuoupw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1475958799

Weakness:
spikes xern, belly drum users, soundproof users can be devastating or annoying, taunt users, spikes regi with tina coverage, bounce users can be annoying (specifically ho-oh or tina), blacephalon, spectrier, offensive zama (not as much of a threat because of fini and chan), life orb kyub can be scary depending on the set, etern with steel coverage, and similar threats to the one's already mentioned

I'd like to say that the team got it's inspiration from players like dimrah and morogrim, who are stall gods. I just simply put my own style of building with ideas they had. You can tweak the team to be however you like, but I personally feel this is as good as this team will get for the time being. Thank you for reading my post (or just for simply calling me a boomer)

 

[Nihilslave]

Some teams & ideas.

Stone —— Something standard (feat. Soundproof & Competitive)



After a short break, I was back to pokemon. Then I instantly got bored with this xerneas-centered meta. One day Jqlove suggested me to use trap xerneas, which seems both innovative and relevant. So I put it into practice.

As you see this team has a quite standard structure, with xerneas as its core. However the trap move on it turns out not that important. The desserts on the team are soundproof and competitive. Competitive is originally (yea originally) here to be an improof utility, as it can automatically set up on strength sap and parting shot. The problem is that giratina-o, even with the orb, is not strong enough to make good use of the ability. Soundproof eternatus is a cool counter to xerneas, and with knock off and parting shot, it won't lose too much momentum facing steel-types. However this slot can be literally any mon you like (knock off is necessary tho to remove boots). I used to have fur coat zekrom there.

Paper —— Strange and fragile, but it's magic.

Sample Submission

Team Name: Paper Balance
Description: Balance that focuses on hazards.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/265760abeee81d06 (This is an easier version for new comers, but not the optimal version.)
How to use: The main idea is that you should always prevent your opponent from setting hazards, and then set hazards and set up once you have the chance.
- Eternatus & Xerneas. They are the attackers of the team, where Eternatus is for early game and Xerneas is for late game. You should always be brave to send Eternatus to bounce back the hazards. Xerneas' knock off is useful for removing Leftovers and Heavy-Duty-Boots.
- Zamazenta-C & Giratina. They are here to keep the team safe. Note that Giratina can use Entrainment to prevent hazard removal from the opposing Xerneas.
- Necrozma-D-M & Chansey. The useless mons on the team. Necrozma is a good hazard setter since it can kill Pixilate hazard removers with Anchor Shot and kill Magic Bounce users with Strength Sap. But it's almost useless otherwise. Don't use it as a reliable wall against anything. Shed Shell Chansey is good at scouting and pivoting. It helps Eternatus a lot since hard switching into an unknown suspected hazard setter is always risky.
- ALWAYS lead with Chansey when you are facing an unfamiliar team. Then you can go Eternatus to bounce back hazards, go Xerneas to trigger Toxic Orb, or do something else.
- Zamazanta improofs Eternatus. Sometimes you can try Necrozma to get some momentum but anyway it's not recommended.
　Giratina improofs Zamazenta, with Necrozma as the second choice.
　You should NEVER improof Necrozma with Eternatus. It will be killed in two Strength Saps. Necrozma improofs itself. Though in this way you will inevitably get some annoying hazards on your field. To remove them, you can find the opponent's hazard remover and go imposter on it.
　Xerneas usually improofs itself. If it's not the case, use Zamazenta to improof.
　Eternatus improofs Giratina. Change Roost for Strength Sap to get the perfect improof.
　Chansey improofs nothing. But it has Defog for hazard removal.
TL; DR: If you are totally new to BH, just try other samples; otherwise, be patient and read all the instructions.
Weaknesses:
- Regigigas with spikes. Regigigas is annoying since it's usually hard to prevent it from setting hazards. But if you have +2 SpA on Eternatus, you can stay in and try to kill it.
- Offensive Threats. This team is soft against some offensive mons such as Spectrier and Reshiram. Kill them before they kill you.
- Magic Guard Ho-Oh. Theoretically it has both immunity to hazards and a great offensive presense against the team. But you can go imposter to stall it.
- Steel Types are NOT a big problem because they can be slowly worn out by hazards and burn.
Effectiveness: I achieved a 30-0 in the ladder tour with it. (In fact I played the first 5 games with other teams so it's like 25-0.) Also I got the highest GXE in the tour with it (88.6% / 53-5).
Replays:
Hazard Control
Scouting & Guessing
CELLOPHANE

Paralysis and hazards are the two main offensive helpers in the meta. And since I never get meaningful hax when I play with paralyze, I choose hazards to be the main point of my next good team.

Firstly I need an excellent magic bouncer to keep my field clean because it's not good to have a hazard remover in such team. Eternatus has good types offensively against hazard setters, and is also fast and bulky enough. So it's the bouncer I finally choose. Regigigas seems to be the only setter that makes eternatus not that comfortable, except those mold breaker users.

I think many people must have tried some non-offensive eternatus sets. To me, a big problem of these sets is that they often lack offensive presence. So I make some "small" adjustments to the set, which largely increases its power. Here are some calculations:

Calculations

+2 252 SpA Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Groudon: 300-354 (74.2 - 87.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Dragon Fang Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Groudon: 394-465 (97.5 - 115%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

+2 252 SpA Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Regigigas: 262-309 (61.7 - 72.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Dragon Fang Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Regigigas: 345-406 (81.3 - 95.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

+2 252 SpA Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Celesteela: 139-164 (34.9 - 41.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ SpA Dragon Fang Eternatus Core Enforcer vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Celesteela: 182-215 (45.7 - 54%) -- 46.9% chance to 2HKO

There are still many other advantages of the set, such as magic bounce + nasty plot to mute tospy-turvy. Just try it and get some wonderful experience.

Secondly, well, I just don't want to explain the details of the remaining things. You will need good hazard setters and boots removers to complete this team. And I just pick some very personalized anti-meta stuff. So that's it.

Some sets can be changed, such as the items of zama-c, ndm, and giratina, the will-o-wisp on xerneas, and the strength sap on giratina.

Scissors —— Sharp but rusting quickly.



It's a very normal team imo, the main idea is ok tho, which is the Ghost + Fairy offense combo feat. Final Gambit. And it does win me one game in tour.

Regigigas is a huge threat to this team.

Some thoughts about the current meta
In my opinion this meta is not in the best state I want. It seems to be "too balanced" (and also stale). This makes teambuilding kinda like playing Paper Scissors Stone games —— Each day you read the "Balanced Hackmons Daily" to see if it's a paper day or scissors day or stone day, then just pick the corresponding team to play on ladder. Teams in tours change a lot slower, but it may become more "scissors" recently. Also a balanced meta makes hax more effective, since it's not too easy to break and win a game, especially in a small amount of turns.

 

[Tanny89k]

I made a team

Team Name: really good team

Poképaste: https://pokepast.es/eda14c1116a23960

Description: Teleport spam balance

How to Use:
Typically, you'll be leading with Giratina, since it has great bulk, is immune to residual damage, and carries Teleport, but if you're worried that your opponent might lead with Eternatus, Pixilate Xerneas, or something else that threatens Giratina, Groudon, Chansey, and Zamazenta-C are viable leads. Groudon's good for dealing with Boomburst users, since your opponent will probably expect an Adaptability set, Zamazenta-C is good for leading against setup sweepers, and Chansey can deal with non Choice Specs Etenatus. Additionally, if you're confident that your opponent is leading with Lunala or Necrozma-DW, Regigigas is a good choice.

Once the game starts, you'll want to pivot into Regigigas to activate Toxic Orb. Once that's out of the way, some of your win conditions include perish trapping a setup sweeper and switching Chansey into it to steal their setup, taking out all opposing Xerneas counters (Registeel, Celisteela, Ice Scales Zamazenta-C) and sweeping, the same but with Regigigas, getting rid of your opponent's Giratina counters and steadily chipping at the opponent's team, and more.

In regards to how each individual team member works, Zamazenta-C traps with Anchor Shot, uses Perish Song, stalls out two turns, and switches out (usually to Chansey). Watch out for trapping moves, Stored Power, and switching moves. Deal with Imposter users that have transformed into Zamazenta-C using Giratina or Groudon; Giratina is immune to trapping and walls Anchor Shot, allowing you to gain momentum with Teleport, and Groudon's Soundproof blocks Perish Song and Thousand Arrows can let you turn the opponent's Perish Song against them.

Giratina is this team's primary lead. Giratina wishpasses and gives free switches using Teleport, soaks up status and other residual damage, Defogs away hazards, and spreads Toxic. Imposter users transforming into Giratina isn't an issue; it completely walls itself thanks to Magic Guard, and it scares out the transformed opponent with Toxic, which won't immediately take effect if it lands, but will hamper the opponent later.

Regigigas functions as a wallbreaker with Facade boosted by Toxic Orb and Knock Off for switch-ins and Imposter users. It can also function as a pivot using Teleport. Poison Heal provides longevity, and Extreme Speed lets it revenge kill. Imposter users transforming into Regigigas isn't a concern so long as it isn't poisoned.

Since Adaptability Choice Band is by far the most prevalent Groudon set, you can catch a lot of people off guard with Soundproof. Many Pokémon in BH rely heavily on sound based moves that Groudon baits out easily. Some of Soundproof Groudon's favourite victims include Prankster Registeel with its Parting Shot, Pixilate Xerneas and its Boomburst, and Imposter, since it walls itself and can PP stall the transformed Pokémon once it's trapped.

Chansey is this team's Imposter user. If Chansey switches in on a transformed Pokémon, it can wishpass and spread Toxic.

Last, but not least, Xerneas. Boomburst is Xerneas's main attacking move, with 201 base power. Extreme Speed provides priority. Rapid Spin serves to both clear hazards and boost Xerneas's speed. Most Xerneas sets don't actually carry coverage, and most players will switch into Ho-oh to deal with it. Xerneas can bait in Ho-oh and OHKO after Rapid Spin or other forms of chip. If Ho-oh doesn't die to Diamond Storm, it'll die to whatever comes next. Extreme Speed for Aerilate sets, Rapid Spin for most sets, and Diamond Storm for Fur Coat, or if you're just hoping for a Def boost. Groudon improofs Xerneas.

Weaknesses:

This team really doesn't like Dragon's Maw Eternatus. The only team members that can deal with it are Chansey, who relies on a speed tie to not die to Dragon Energy, and Xerneas who is immune to Eternatus's Dragon moves, but has to risk being hit with Sludge Wave.

Registeel becomes unbreakable once Groudon goes down. Try to soften it with Regigigas's Knock Off and create a situation where Groudon is on the field with Registeel, and your opponent doesn't know about Soundproof.

As long as you don't know its ability, Zamazenta is a pretty big issue. Try to find out what its ability is as soon as possible. Don't be afraid to check the Damage Calculator to see if it has Fur Coat or Ice Scales, which are what you're looking out for the most. Xerneas's Boomburst can 2HKO non Ice Scales variants, whereas Groudon can 2HKO non Fur Coat sets.

Effectiveness: It's gotten up to low 1600's on the ladder, and it's won a daily tour.

Calcs

Calcs:
- 252 SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zamazenta-Crowned: 184-217 (47.4 - 55.9%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 105-124 (27 - 31.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Rapid Spin vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 67-79 (17.2 - 20.3%) -- possible 5HKO
- 252 SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Giratina: 422-498 (83.7 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Xerneas Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 340-404 (81.7 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Rapid Spin vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 46-54 (11 - 12.9%) -- possible 8HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Dragon's Maw Eternatus Dragon Energy (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 714-842 (101.4 - 119.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Lunatic Hai]

I made a team

Team Name: really good team

Poképaste: https://pokepast.es/eda14c1116a23960

Description: Teleport spam balance

How to Use:
Typically, you'll be leading with Giratina, since it has great bulk, is immune to residual damage, and carries Teleport, but if you're worried that your opponent might lead with Eternatus, Pixilate Xerneas, or something else that threatens Giratina, Groudon, Chansey, and Zamazenta-C are viable leads. Groudon's good for dealing with Boomburst users, since your opponent will probably expect an Adaptability set, Zamazenta-C is good for leading against setup sweepers, and Chansey can deal with non Choice Specs Etenatus. Additionally, if you're confident that your opponent is leading with Lunala or Necrozma-DW, Regigigas is a good choice.

Once the game starts, you'll want to pivot into Regigigas to activate Toxic Orb. Once that's out of the way, some of your win conditions include perish trapping a setup sweeper and switching Chansey into it to steal their setup, taking out all opposing Xerneas counters (Registeel, Celisteela, Ice Scales Zamazenta-C) and sweeping, the same but with Regigigas, getting rid of your opponent's Giratina counters and steadily chipping at the opponent's team, and more.

In regards to how each individual team member works, Zamazenta-C traps with Anchor Shot, uses Perish Song, stalls out two turns, and switches out (usually to Chansey). Watch out for trapping moves, Stored Power, and switching moves. Deal with Imposter users that have transformed into Zamazenta-C using Giratina or Groudon; Giratina is immune to trapping and walls Anchor Shot, allowing you to gain momentum with Teleport, and Groudon's Soundproof blocks Perish Song and Thousand Arrows can let you turn the opponent's Perish Song against them.

Giratina is this team's primary lead. Giratina wishpasses and gives free switches using Teleport, soaks up status and other residual damage, Defogs away hazards, and spreads Toxic. Imposter users transforming into Giratina isn't an issue; it completely walls itself thanks to Magic Guard, and it scares out the transformed opponent with Toxic, which won't immediately take effect if it lands, but will hamper the opponent later.

Regigigas functions as a wallbreaker with Facade boosted by Toxic Orb and Knock Off for switch-ins and Imposter users. It can also function as a pivot using Teleport. Poison Heal provides longevity, and Extreme Speed lets it revenge kill. Imposter users transforming into Regigigas isn't a concern so long as it isn't poisoned.

Since Adaptability Choice Band is by far the most prevalent Groudon set, you can catch a lot of people off guard with Soundproof. Many Pokémon in BH rely heavily on sound based moves that Groudon baits out easily. Some of Soundproof Groudon's favourite victims include Prankster Registeel with its Parting Shot, Pixilate Xerneas and its Boomburst, and Imposter, since it walls itself and can PP stall the transformed Pokémon once it's trapped.

Chansey is this team's Imposter user. If Chansey switches in on a transformed Pokémon, it can wishpass and spread Toxic.

Last, but not least, Xerneas. Boomburst is Xerneas's main attacking move, with 201 base power. Extreme Speed provides priority. Rapid Spin serves to both clear hazards and boost Xerneas's speed. Most Xerneas sets don't actually carry coverage, and most players will switch into Ho-oh to deal with it. Xerneas can bait in Ho-oh and OHKO after Rapid Spin or other forms of chip. If Ho-oh doesn't die to Diamond Storm, it'll die to whatever comes next. Extreme Speed for Aerilate sets, Rapid Spin for most sets, and Diamond Storm for Fur Coat, or if you're just hoping for a Def boost. Groudon improofs Xerneas.

Weaknesses:

This team really doesn't like Dragon's Maw Eternatus. The only team members that can deal with it are Chansey, who relies on a speed tie to not die to Dragon Energy, and Xerneas who is immune to Eternatus's Dragon moves, but has to risk being hit with Sludge Wave.

Registeel becomes unbreakable once Groudon goes down. Try to soften it with Regigigas's Knock Off and create a situation where Groudon is on the field with Registeel, and your opponent doesn't know about Soundproof.

As long as you don't know its ability, Zamazenta is a pretty big issue. Try to find out what its ability is as soon as possible. Don't be afraid to check the Damage Calculator to see if it has Fur Coat or Ice Scales, which are what you're looking out for the most. Xerneas's Boomburst can 2HKO non Ice Scales variants, whereas Groudon can 2HKO non Fur Coat sets.

Effectiveness: It's gotten up to low 1600's on the ladder, and it's won a daily tour.

Calcs

Calcs:
- 252 SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zamazenta-Crowned: 184-217 (47.4 - 55.9%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 105-124 (27 - 31.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Rapid Spin vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 67-79 (17.2 - 20.3%) -- possible 5HKO
- 252 SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Giratina: 422-498 (83.7 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Xerneas Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 340-404 (81.7 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Xerneas Rapid Spin vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 46-54 (11 - 12.9%) -- possible 8HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Dragon's Maw Eternatus Dragon Energy (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 714-842 (101.4 - 119.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Some stuff to note: Gigas is NOT a good lead vs Lunala, whose best set for the most part is the epic FC hex+para set.
252+ Atk Regigigas Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Lunala: 212-252 (44.3 - 52.7%) -- 19.1% chance to 2HKO
You'll end up chunking it turn 1 and removing rocky helmet, sure, but then it gets a nuzzle and you're fucked. However, if it doesn't have core enforcer, a Gigas with PH activated will generally do a pretty good job of dealing with FC Lunala. Gigas also probably doesn't wanna run espeed; it doesn't have the power to deal with much that outspeeds you, and you're better off running a coverage move or utility like funny Psycho Shift, spikes, etc. Teleport is funny but you probably would rather have Shift Gear to pose a proper threat. This gigas does absolutely 0 things to defensive Zam and Griseous Tina, which is a bit yikes.

A decent check to Pix Xern that I've been using is Regenvest Ogre. It can't serve as the stay-in-and-stall-it-out that Ho-Oh can barring coverage, but it does present MUCH less of a momentum drain, and between your choice of utility like nuzzle, scald, spectral, knock, core, etc, is definitely a solid addition to a team even without the role of light improofing. That aside, your gameplan is probably to hit a nasty nuzzle or at least knock onto imp so it's far more manageable in the future.
252 Atk Xerneas Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Kyogre: 93-110 (23 - 27.2%) -- not a KO
Rend Xern is similarly stonewalled which is nice. Personally, I'm not a fan of Dstorm Xern; with Rend, you're almost guaranteed an OHKO after a switch into Boomburst, and minimal chip turns this into a nightmare for Ho-Oh. Dland on it is super sucky so you usually don't have to worry about that anyway, since even if they do stop Rend Xern, they've revealed a gaping vulnerability in their team. Rend also means you run no risk of getting hax'd by Dstorm RNG.

Honestly, crippling imp with para is largely more valuable in my eyes than outright beating it in a 1v1 with an improof. This applies to attackers in general, tbh, because they turn into a momentum gain for you. A paralyzed etern is free real estate for my other mons to start punching holes and sweeping up the mess.

Zamazenta is a prime target for Don, but you'll want to be sure of its moveset as well. Usually Don serves as a nice switchin to deal with zamazenta, but if it's a less passive set carrying fishious rend, don gets 2hko'd on the switch.

Cool team tho, band adapt don is a beast but stuff like soundproof and bounce are very funny to see

 

[hozuuu]

Hi! I'm new to BH, coming from SS OU. How do you teambuild in this format and what roles are needed?

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Hi! I'm new to BH, coming from SS OU. How do you teambuild in this format and what roles are needed?

I can't really speak for the method of teambuilding (because i'm not very good at it), but there are definitely some roles that are highly prevalent on decent teams:

• Hazard management. The meta currently revolves heavily around hazard management and spikes stacking, so strong hazard control is basically necessary. Magic bounce, Boots and Magic guard can alleviate these to an extent but you usually want at least a defog or rapid spin somewhere. You also have -ate abilities such as pixilate so you can't get spinblocked, but many hazard-centric teams specifically prepare for the most common -atespinners.
• Imposter-proofed team. Imposter chansey with eviolite is very common and you need to build a team such that you limit Chansey's ability to do meaningful things as much as possible. Immunities, trapping, memory + multi-attack and Magic bounce are some of the most common methods for this.
• Meta answers. Probably more important than any other tier is to have answers to some of the most important meta mons. Eternatus, Zamazenta-Crowned, Xerneas and Regigigas are the main culprits here since in any given game you'll almost always see at least 1 or 2. It's also important to bear some oddball mons in mind so you don't instalose to them (even if there's no dedicated answer), such as Blacephalon, Spectrier, Kartana and the like. Many of these best mons also have wide set variety, namely Eternatus and Zama-C, so you should bear this in mind too.
• Consistent ways to make progress. This might be through hazards, status, knock off, raw damage, just something so you don't end up doing nothing whilst this mon is in.
• Damage control. This encompasses defensive options so you don't instantly get run over by strong breakers and/or sweepers. Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Soundproof, Regenerator + Assault Vest and defensive Poison Heal mons are common and good for this. Setup sweeper control is also highly recommended, with Prankster + Haze being the most widespread to stop setup sweepers but with other options like Imposter and Unaware available (note that these may be consciously prepared for, such as Mold Breaker/'moldy moves' in Photon Geyser/Moongeist Beam/Sunsteel Strike which ignore abilities, Belly drum + unburden to best imposter, moves with more than Prankster's +1 priority such as ESpeed at +2)
• A win condition. Ultimately you want something to end the game. This could be a breaker you've found an opening for, overwhelming the enemy with chip, a setup sweeper, a trap to eliminate a key enemy mon or similar. Even if it's not dedicated to an individual mon or two, a way to eventually overwhelm the enemy or exploit a misplay is highly useful for ending the game before you yourself are overwhelmed.

This is probably the least scuffed summary I can give, at least as a general scope for what sort of mons you want. Speaking to high-level players is the best advice for learning how to build decent teams given there's so much you need to prepare for, and replays are also great for looking at how people play to wincons, handle certain threats and exploit weaknesses.

also avoid noobtraps like regieleki and specs dragon's maw eternatus, only good against players that have 0 clue how to handle them which is not very many

 

[shadowpea]

Hi! I'm new to BH, coming from SS OU. How do you teambuild in this format and what roles are needed?

hey, welcome to BH! i recommend you to ready city's post here, specifically the first couple of parts are the most important for you rn.

tea guzzler said pretty much all of the important things but i just want to emphasize that improofing is mandatory on every single team, this means that every mon on your team has to be answered by another mon on your team. some sets such as poison heal regigigas are self-improof but most others need another mon to cover them. one of the trickier things with building in bh compared to main tiers is to have answers to every mon on your team while being viable against the rest of the meta.

check out the sample teams if you want to see some good teams and basic structures. balance is probably the best to start with as it teaches you how the tier works and how to play in it the best. that said dont be afraid to experiment with teams and try differnet playstyles, bh is really unique and the very nature of it lends itself to incredibly creative sets and teams.

finally, join our discord here to talk to us. there are plenty of people (almost the entire smogon playerbase, really) that are willing to help you in the bh channel if you go and ask!

 

[hozuuu]

Thank you all so much! These are really, really great tips. I appreciate it. I'm just kinda confused about improofing though:

So, I need to make sure I improof my team, basically meaning I need to prepare for a scenario where I'm fighting myself. Just to make sure I understand this right, I'll use this sample team as an example:

• Chansey improofs Celesteela and Xern with its special bulk. Groudon also improofs Xern with Soundproof + Poison Fang.
• Celesteela improofs Groudon with its typing.
• Xern improofs Palkia with its typing.
• Palkia improofs Entei with Fur Coat-boosted physical bulk + Helmet.

Is that right?

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Thank you all so much! These are really, really great tips. I appreciate it. I'm just kinda confused about improofing though:

So, I need to make sure I improof my team, basically meaning I need to prepare for a scenario where I'm fighting myself. Just to make sure I understand this right, I'll use this sample team as an example:

• Chansey improofs Celesteela and Xern with its special bulk. Groudon also improofs Xern with Soundproof + Poison Fang.
• Celesteela improofs Groudon with its typing.
• Xern improofs Palkia with its typing.
• Palkia improofs Entei with Fur Coat-boosted physical bulk + Helmet.

Is that right?

Pretty much on point. The team members have been crafted such that each can directly wall another without leading to significant moveset compromises - for example, celesteela can't be damaged by groudon, xerneas can't do any meaningful damage in front of chansey, groudon threatens to poison imp.
I'll link a loser's post (yes, that's their name) to improofing here, which is in infinitely more detail than I can give you, but the general idea is that you don't want to compromise too much on your own moveset when trying to improof something, and you want the improof to be really good at taking hits from the stolen mon (ideally, you want the improof to be no more than a 3HKO from full). Additionally, you want to try and compound what an improof's doing so that it serves some other purpose - using an example from City's team, groudon carries rocks and poison fang to provide chip to support the main breakers for the team even when it's not walling out xern.
Also, you want to be able to cancel out as much utility that imp might gain from stealing your mon as possible. Stopping it from healing, sending back hazards, limiting status and threatening to trap are some of the best ways to do this.

 

[hozuuu]

Pretty much on point. The team members have been crafted such that each can directly wall another without leading to significant moveset compromises - for example, celesteela can't be damaged by groudon, xerneas can't do any meaningful damage in front of chansey, groudon threatens to poison imp.
I'll link a loser's post (yes, that's their name) to improofing here, which is in infinitely more detail than I can give you, but the general idea is that you don't want to compromise too much on your own moveset when trying to improof something, and you want the improof to be really good at taking hits from the stolen mon (ideally, you want the improof to be no more than a 3HKO from full). Additionally, you want to try and compound what an improof's doing so that it serves some other purpose - using an example from City's team, groudon carries rocks and poison fang to provide chip to support the main breakers for the team even when it's not walling out xern.
Also, you want to be able to cancel out as much utility that imp might gain from stealing your mon as possible. Stopping it from healing, sending back hazards, limiting status and threatening to trap are some of the best ways to do this.

tysm! the improofing post was especially helpful, ill be checking that often.

 

[hozuuu]

Is there a set compendium of popular sets or is BH creative enough that you can just make your own?

 

[tzaur]

Is there a set compendium of popular sets or is BH creative enough that you can just make your own?

If there's a specific 'mon I want on my team, I generally either see how other players in this thread/the Discord server incorporate them into their teams and tailor it to the needs of my own or I go to smogon.com/stats -> the latest stats -> movesets -> gen8balancedhackmons and CTRL + G around to see what moves/abilities people tend to run on whom. The latter can be a bit tricky, though since it doesn't exactly display which moves commonly correspond to which abilities/teammates/item choices.

You can also always ask around since most of the seasoned BH players will be glad to help!