BH Balanced Hackmons

[a loser]

I'd like to submit a team for samples that has been pretty fun to use on the ladder. It features Fur Coat Giratina-O which I'd been wanting to use after hearing people say it was a nice alternative to Lunala.

Team Name: Full Wack No Brakes
Description: Double Rend offensive core with Nuzzle and Heal Bell support.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/23bdbc93769a641b
How to Use: Leading with Giratina-O or Ferrothorn is generally safe to either paralyze the opponent or remove their items and prevent entry hazards. Ferrothorn's Knock Off is handy to prevent Rocky Helmet chip damage to Palkia and Zacian and Giratina-O's Nuzzle helps them break past potential checks like Zamazenta-C. Rapid Spin on Palkia helps control hazards along with Ferro's Magic Bounce but it also helps it outpace Zama-C and Eternatus. Giratina-O is EV'd to outspeed defensive Lunala, Modest Xerneas, and Adamant Kyurem-B while underspeeding Adamant Regigigas. Ice Scales Zama-C with Topsy-Turvy keeps Eternatus in check and Heal Bell is handy to remove status from teammates. Having Heal Bell allows the breakers to be a bit more aggressive and risk taking Nuzzles and Baneful Bunkers when needed. Cresselia prevents setup sweepers with Prankster Haze and picks up momentum with Parting Shot and Future Sight.
Weaknesses: Choiced breakers like Kartana and Eternatus can be tough to play against and lead to some coinflip decisions, but Cresselia's Parting Shot and Giratina-O's Nuzzle can help alleviate these problems. Fire coverage like V-create and Magma Storm can be deadly for Ferrothorn and Zama-C, so breakers like Regigigas and Xerneas must be felt out with teammates like Giratina-O and Cresselia to avoid being lured. While I haven't faced it, Mold Breaker Eternatus with Fire-type coverage could be a nuisance but it generally doesn't have enough moveslots to sweep the team on its own. Zama-C's Shuca Berry could also be swapped for an Occa Berry to help with Fire-type lures.
Effectiveness: So far this team has done well on the ladder and against some higher level opponents. Its offensive core pressures most of the common defensive cores I've ran into. I haven't tried to peak with it but it did get my BHLT account into the top 10 at 1661 ELO. Here's a few replays of the team in action.
Replay 1
Replay 2
Replay 3 (slightly different Cress set here)

I'm also submitting a team on the behalf of a ladder guy who isn't on smogon. Their submission is below:

Team Name: Crippling Depression
Description: Paraspam + Webs with Physical Offensive spam.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/24af784109032b97
How to Use: Lunala guarantees webs vs non-bounce pokemon and spinblocks w/ prank entrainment. NDM + Shift Gear TC Xern breaks essentially every wall in the game, and posses enough defensive use to be pivoted in, like NDM can switch into Tcage Xern for example. The team heavily threatens common FC pokemon like Giratina and Zamazenta and common Pranksters like Tapu Fini. Dialga improofs both sweepers, Giratina acts as a buffer to some threats like fightings which the others cant wall and is crucial vs stall to sets spikes, while spreading paras as well. Dialga and Zam are self-improofed, while you can stay in and glare imp with Giratina, and you can go to either Dialga or Xerneas afterwards.
Weaknesses: Team has issues with DrumSpam, but only if the drummers can beat both Lunala and Dialga, (Yveltal + Kart/NDM is a good example of this) and Adapt Banded Groudon also claims a life each time it switches in.
Effectiveness: Peaked #1 in the middle of a sweaty BHLT week.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1514286599

 

[Onyx Onix 7]

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

There is a Setpedia if that would be helpful: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1stL_wq5Kl-hmC3uVsAKwIv9Vt1nnkY6cYkCzr4RIiCc/edit?usp=sharing, that contains most established sets. Keep in mind it doesn't contain every viable set nor is it complete as new sets are constantly being innovated as the metagame evolves.

 

[hozuuu]

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!

There is a Setpedia if that would be helpful: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1stL_wq5Kl-hmC3uVsAKwIv9Vt1nnkY6cYkCzr4RIiCc/edit?usp=sharing, that contains most established sets. Keep in mind it doesn't contain every viable set nor is it complete as new sets are constantly being innovated as the metagame evolves.

Thank you! I'm really liking this community, everyone is so nice

 

[Tanny89k]

I made another team

Team Name: wow new team

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/1fd035dd8a657262

Description: Doom Desire + Groudon Bulky Offense

How to Use:

The main leads on this team include Zygarde-C and Magearna. Zygarde can scout and activate Toxic Orb with Spiky Shield, pivot out with Teleport, or spread Toxic. Magearna can pivot out with Parting Shot or set up Doom Desire.

This team's main goal is to set up Doom Desire with Magearna, pivot into Groudon, and click Precipice Blades. Very few things can live a Precipice Blades in conjunction with Doom Desire. This is also applicable to Eternatus, if to a lesser degree.

The primary defensive cornerstones of this team are Zygarde-C, Magearna, and Chansey. Zygarde blocks and spreads status, passes 318 HP Wishes, and can take non super-effective attacks very well and recover health very quickly. By using Wish and Spiky Shield, Zygarde-C can recover 74% of its health. However, Zygarde-C has some prominent weaknesses in Ice, Fairy, Dragon, and opposing Poison Heal. Magearna covers these weaknesses fairly well, however. Magearna resists the types mentioned, and Poison Heal Xerneas, the most prominent Poison Heal user, is scared out by Doom Desire and is generally annoyed by Haze and Parting Shot.

Regarding Imposter, it's not too bad for this team, though there are some things to consider when facing it. Magearna being copied isn't a big deal. Imposter transformed into Magearna gets scared out by Groudon, and its Doom Desire becomes useless once it switches out. However, it can be annoying when it loses the speed tie against your Magearna when you're trying to pivot out after setting up Doom Desire, and Parting Shots on Groudon.

Imposter transforming into Groudon isn't really a big deal as long as Zygarde-C's healthy and poisoned. Additionally, Imposter will often find it difficult to switch into Groudon, especially when Doom Desire is set.

Imposter transforming into Zygarde-C can be dangerous if it's poisoned. Chansey's 352 HP Wishes can set back a lot of progress, and it's generally just really hard to kill.

Imposter transforming into Eternatus isn't a common occurrence, since Imposter can't switch into Dragon Energy. Zygarde-C can handle a Core Enforcer in a pinch. However, if Imposter is at high HP, careful play is required. Magearna can handle its STAB options, but is in return 2HKOed by Blue Flare. Only Magearna is really threatened by Blue Flare, and everything else can take it fairly well. The general plan to deal with Imposter transformed into Eternatus is to get Magearna in and click Parting Shot. Either that, or you can just hope to win the speed tie.

Xerneas being copied by Imposter isn't a concern. Both Magearna and Chansey wall it very well.

Weaknesses:

Normally, this team has to worry very little about Toxic, but Corrosion Eternatus is a different situation. Whereas normally Magearna, Zygarde-C, and Eternatus block Toxic, only Zygarde-C can block Corrosion Eternatus's Toxic, which Corrosion Eternatus can set up on and threaten easily. Groudon can OHKO with either STAB, but that can be difficult to make happen. Magearna doesn't like being hit with Corrosion Toxic, but it can Haze away Quiver Dance boosts and block its STAB options.

This team is rather vulnerable to hazard stacking, as it's limited to Xerneas and Chansey for hazard control. Chansey can Defog away hazards, but Chansey not being transformed isn't a common occurrence. Poison Heal Regigigas, one of BH's most prominent Spikes setters gives Xerneas a hard time switching in, and it can set up on Zygarde-C trying to pivot into Xerneas.

Poison Heal Regigigas as a whole is a big threat to this team. It can beat Imposter and isn't threatened by most team members. However, Groudon and Eternatus can threaten it out or prevent it from switching in as long as it hasn't set up. Dragon Energy from full health OHKOs Regigigas and Groudon has a 65.2% chance of living two unboosted Facades from full health and can 2HKO with either STAB after Poison Heal.

Effectiveness: It's gotten me to top 10 on the ladder at 1650 Elo

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1519664924
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1519631576

 

[drbillz]

What are the best ways to imposter proof these days?

 

[Onyx Onix 7]

What are the best ways to imposter proof these days?

Here is a prior post by a LOSR that goes in-depth with the most common Imposter proofing methods for gen 8 BH.: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-hackmons.3656408/page-17#post-8568349. That should have everything you need. If you have any questions on the specifics of Imposter-proofing you can post them in the BH thread and we can answer them directly.

 

[cityscapes]

sample submissions i guess!

Team Name: Empty Shells
Description: Slow balance that uses several hazards to set up for Regigigas or Xerneas eventually winning. Not too concerned with winning as fast as possible.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/783aaaf6bb11e181
How to Use: Scout sets with Imposter to gain an initial lead, then use that lead to make comfortable and risk-free progress including activating Regigigas's Toxic Orb, setting hazards, and throwing out Glare or Scald. Next, set up a way to go for the win with Regigigas or Xerneas. For more information, check out the RMT (second post).
Weaknesses: Magic Bounce Ferrothorn stops all hazards but can be worn down and must be played very passively. In general if the team can't get hazards up it has issues. Choice Specs Eternatus is a bit problematic, usually I go hard Celesteela against it as a midground but this isn't always reliable.
Effectiveness: Yes

Team Name: Scarlet Offense
Description: Aggressive hazard-stacking team with several breakers and a slow pivot.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/69fa9cc285d1920e
How to Use: Punish offense by halting their initiative with Regigigas and Yveltal, then putting on the pressure with Eternatus and Spectrier. Against more balanced builds, activate Spiritomb's orb early and focus on getting spikes so Eternatus can break through. Use Solgaleo to counter Fairy-types and deny hazards, use Regigigas to handle fast setup and Pokemon such as Palkia, use Spiritomb for Poison Heal Regigigas. Eternatus, Spectrier, and Yveltal lack longevity, but you have three of them so you can usually afford to lose one. Beat Assault Vest spinners by simply blocking them with one of the ghosts.
Weaknesses: Rain is annoying. Magic Bounce Careful Ho-Oh usually survives 2 Astral Barrages, but dies if chipped. Bounce Zygarde-C is threatening but uncommon. In general you need to play pretty carefully against opponents who like spamming very high powered moves, such as Fishious Rend, Dragon Energy, and others, especially boosted with choice items. The team can withstand these with proper play, but will collapse with the wrong gameplan. Hax is also very annoying--if you don't play extremely lame you can randomly lose to Will-O-Wisp misses, crits through screens, or Eternatus misses.
Effectiveness: I won a bunch of high ladder games and peaked with this today, and also beat sevag with it in a test. I really like its unique character and aggressive nature.

 

[Storm Eagle]

I've been grinding Balanced Hackmons a ton, manually building team after team for the purpose of building an effective, easy to use team. I have built a team after weeks, possibly months of work and I have gotten 1600s with it today.

I have not contributed to Gen 8 Balanced Hackmons lately like I have with Gen 7, and that changes today. I have my own team that I'd like to submit as a sample.

Team Name: The Armored Core
Description: Standard balance team which aims to keep constant pressure on enemies, using Final Gambit and Regigigas to break holes in the enemy team and eventually win through attrition.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/6da0dbef06899eed
How to Use: Scout with Imposter and let Dialga/Zygarde take hits, spamming pivot moves until you can safely bring Eternatus, Regigigas, and Xerneas in. Spam Nuzzle to assist in breaking bulkier mons through full paras. Dialga doesn't care about being statused, let it take the Nuzzles and Glares. Don't be too afraid to Gambit early with Eternatus as anything that walls Eternatus will usually also wall Xerneas. Both Xerneas and Regigigas are your wincons depending on the enemy team, long-term Eternatus and Imposter are not that important.
Weaknesses: No hazards. Imposter can heal off Regenerator if not careful. Lacks a Ghost-type and is vulnerable to Imprisonform.

more in depth post on said team

Xerneas @ Metronome 
Ability: Pixilate 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe 
Naive Nature 
- Boomburst 
- Fishious Rend 
- Extreme Speed 
- Strength Sap

Standard Xerneas set. Boomburst is extremely powerful when used in combination with the Metronome, letting it beat more passive mons rather easily. Fishious Rend hits slower Steel-type neutrally and Ho-Oh can't wall it without Desolate Land. Groudon is less of a problem with it as well. Extreme Speed bops low health Zama-Cs and Eterns, and is nice for annoying Normpult. Strength Sap lets Xerneas live longer, but I use Xerneas aggressively enough that I don't use it frequently.

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite 
Ability: Imposter 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe 
Bold Nature 
IVs: 0 Atk 
- Shift Gear 
- Baton Pass 
- Roost 
- Final Gambit

Shift Gear and Baton Pass are strange moves, however Shift Gear allows Chansey to outspeed both Eternatus and Zama-C so it can lure them into a Final Gambit if need be. It can also pass to Regigigas to give it a headstart breaking the enemy team. Roost lets it improof Xerneas, as Imposter cannot transform into an already transformed Pokemon. Non-existent attack means Xerneas heals nothing from Sap. Eviolite is needed, as Shed Shell lacks the bulk to wall Xerneas's Extreme Speed.

Before yesterday, I specifically ran Wish/Roost/Parting Shot/Stealth Rock, however I find Chansey to be lousy at setting up hazards since it's not threatening to any Magic Bounce mon, especially Zama-C / Giratina. I have had more success with and prefer Final Gambit, and the Baton Pass set works fine.

Eternatus @ Black Sludge 
Ability: Adaptability 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe 
Modest Nature 
IVs: 0 Atk 
- Core Enforcer 
- Final Gambit 
- Blue Flare 
- Sludge Wave

Standard Adapt set. I am of the opinion that Final Gambit Eternatus is fantastic and this set is no exception. It normally runs Taunt, but I've leaned the more nuclear option for the purpose of supporting Xerneas. It can survive off entirely Black Sludge recovery surprisingly enough, and using Dialga to pivot to it to get free recovery is a thing I have done when the game has stalled. Core Enforcer nukes any Dragon-type that would come in on it, including Imposter, while Imposter lacks any healing. Blue Flare nukes most Steel-types, while Gambit rids you of the Primsea / Ice Scales Steel-types that annoy Regigigas/Xerneas. Sludge Wave can get rid of Xerneas, but is somewhat uncommonly used.

I've consistently used Eternatus as an early game breaker. When I feel I can get it in safely, I will either spam Core Enforcer or use Final Gambit depending on whether I feel Eternatus will contribute long-term or not.

Dialga @ Assault Vest 
Ability: Regenerator 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD 
Sassy Nature 
IVs: 0 Spe 
- Nuzzle 
- Core Enforcer 
- Rapid Spin 
- U-turn

The Armored Core. Dialga is easily one of the best mons in this metagame. It is almost impossible to OHKO. Specs DMaw Etern cannot ohko it and gets significantly weaker when Paralyzed. Same with Crit Etern, which is popular too. A ton of low effort mid ladder junk that spams Eruption/Spout/Energy gets stopped hard by Dialga. Nuzzle cripples faster threats and helps break past bulkier mons with full paras. Core Enforcer is a powerful move which is often underestimated due to Dialga being defensive. I chose Rapid Spin on Dialga rather than Xerneas since I felt Xerneas should be more offensively focused, as Dialga should be the secondary team support. Dialga tanks status and lives a ton of stuff rather easily to the point of where I occasionally even lead with it.

This mon is a classic, but Imposter can take advantage of it. You must always be cautious when using it. That being said, Dialga is easily a glue mon for this team. It improofs Eternatus.

Zygarde-Complete @ Leftovers 
Ability: Prankster 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD 
Relaxed Nature 
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe 
- Parting Shot 
- Entrainment 
- Recover 
- Haze

This set is rather lame since it doesn't have any attacks, but it gets the job done. Parting Shot acts as a fast pivot and since it lowers offenses, it can give other mons cover to come in on otherwise risky scenarios. Entrainment fucks PH and can also annoy -ates, but can also be used to scout offensive abilities if Chansey cannot freely come in. Entrainment also checks Normpult. Haze is mandatory on any Prankster.

Zygarde can serve as an emergency improof for Xerneas if need be, however it cannot freely come in. It mainly improofs Regigigas and predictably is my Gigas check.

Regigigas @ Life Orb 
Ability: Tough Claws 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe 
Adamant Nature 
- Dragon Dance 
- Multi-Attack 
- Wicked Blow 
- V-create

TC Gigas is underrated because it can shred most teams rather easily, and anything that Regigigas has trouble with, Eternatus can gambit or Dialga can paralyze. Even just one boost is enough to OHKO the majority of the metagame rather easily. Xerneas can handle Zyg-C which would otherwise tank Gigas. Wicked Blow eliminates Ghost-types that would wall it such as Prank Gira, FC Lunala, and I suppose Aegislash. V-create eliminates any non-Primsea Steel including Fur Coat Zama-C after a small amount of chip.

While this set is usually used as a cleaner, I can occasionally bring it in mid-game to break the enemy team for Xerneas and, if it's still alive, Eternatus to clean up instead.

I specifically made the team to be effective and easy to use, and it's arguably my best Generation 8 team thus far based on my testing. I hope it's considered as a sample, since before today I didn't think any of my teams warranted being a sample. I beat both SD Latias and cityscapes (I don't seem to have saved the replay on hand...) on ladder with the team I posted above.

 

[Redchimp]

Is there any scenario in which cramorant could come back without being an utterly unstoppable stall force again? Just curious because I went cleaning out old teams deleting them and saw one i took from here by the name "adaptable offense" and saw that menace of a mon. It made me think if there was anything that could be done to stop it or if certain moves or caveats could be made to not make it as insanely stupid as it was before it was banned.

I can't think if there is but remember that poison heal wasn't as prevalent as it is now and certain knock off poison heal users could hard counter it, still not sure and obviously you don't want to lock in a specific counter to a team.

 

[theotherguytm]

Is there any scenario in which cramorant could come back without being an utterly unstoppable stall force again? Just curious because I went cleaning out old teams deleting them and saw one i took from here by the name "adaptable offense" and saw that menace of a mon. It made me think if there was anything that could be done to stop it or if certain moves or caveats could be made to not make it as insanely stupid as it was before it was banned.

I can't think if there is but remember that poison heal wasn't as prevalent as it is now and certain knock off poison heal users could hard counter it, still not sure and obviously you don't want to lock in a specific counter to a team.

Cram was never a "stall force", it had only slightly more survivability than the Pikachu in its mouth. It was just a blanket check to basically the entire metagame you could throw onto an offensive/balanced team to make it very hard for the opponent to out-offense you by paraing half their team while randomly doing massive damage to Spinners.
It was banned because the mindgames involved every single turn you went to click a damaging move were dumb. Like Innards Out, but instead of randomly losing a mon, you take 41% and get parared. Then again, weak attacks often didn't KO Cram, so it got to be used multiple times sometimes.

 

[Onyx Onix 7]

Is there any scenario in which cramorant could come back without being an utterly unstoppable stall force again? Just curious because I went cleaning out old teams deleting them and saw one i took from here by the name "adaptable offense" and saw that menace of a mon. It made me think if there was anything that could be done to stop it or if certain moves or caveats could be made to not make it as insanely stupid as it was before it was banned.

I can't think if there is but remember that poison heal wasn't as prevalent as it is now and certain knock off poison heal users could hard counter it, still not sure and obviously you don't want to lock in a specific counter to a team.

First and foremost Cramorant is not a "Stall" force as paralysis doesn't even benefit defensive strategies because it doesn't actively damage teams like poison or burns. Cramorant was predominately used on offense to punish other offensive and balanced teams for playing actively. The reason Cramorant was banned was that it could punish just about any pokemon for clicking a damaging move with Paralysis. Even with the increased presence of Poison Heal pokemon the fact you paralyze an opponent for clicking the wrong move with Cramorant is inherently both unfun and uncompetitive in BH. To answer your last question, the moves and stats on Cramorant are irrelevant, what makes it a problem is Gulp Missle plus Pikachu allowing for Paralysis apon damage.

 

[MAMP]

the only way cram would come back is if we banned gulp missile instead. nothing has meaningfully changed for it in the meta since it was banned

 

[Tea Guzzler]

thought I might make a forum post bc i'm bored as shit
things i've had success with lately:


Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Boomburst
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
- Strength Sap
this thing is a nuclear bomb and can rip teams apart in a very short amount of time if there's no dedicated answer to it. great mixed attacking stats combined with the ability to not care about the best steel type put this in a very good spot. psea steels/specially bulky dragons give it some trouble but given even minor chip on these you can normally overwhelm them and just steamroll whole games, aside from like vest zygod which refuses to die anyway. flying stab is super good rn and ray abuses the shit out of this.


Palkia @ Lustrous Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Dragon Energy
- Shift Gear / Rapid Spin
- Strength Sap
setup palkia is horrifying to face. palkia outspeeding everything and threatening it's huge adapt-boosted rends and energies is very difficult to safely control. spin lets you clear hazards on the many forced switches that you create, but if you already have hazard control then shift gear lets you slaughter pretty much everything, turning would-be walls like fini/psea ferro into just more victims. ladder tour game against jqlove (here) shows this pretty well, one shift gear on a predicted protect instantly wins the game. sap last lets you play very aggro in looking for opportunities to blast holes or just end games since common bouncers do not like the threat of being hit on the switch at all. prank fini is a very glue improof but works as you'd expect.


Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Nuzzle
- Stealth Rock / Topsy-Turvy
- Shore Up
funny squid is a niche defensive option that i used on Sky High Drive-By, sand stream makes you incredibly specially bulky and resisting poison/fairy/fire/flying is very nice to have. rend xern/epower etern makes you cry but without these coverage moves you can completely stonewall these mons in most games, with the very low attack stat of 99 preventing xern from getting meaningful health back on sap. sand is also very nice to have as sand chip digs into a lot of things for free and you can abuse the boosted shore up healing on multiple team members. complete absence of physical bulk + 4x ground weakness isn't nice but nuzzle works as a great lure for zama-c's looking to do 90 with anchor, possibly run volt switch for this? idk


Groudon @ Soft Sand
Ability: Ice Scales / Soundproof / Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Careful Nature
- Precipice Blades / Thousand Arrows
- Poison Fang / Thousand Waves
- Stealth Rock / Knock Off
- Shore Up
groudon is great, great base stats + access to ground stab + good bulk let it do basically whatever you want, similar to eternatus. unlike eternatus, however, it is one of the few mons that always poses an immediate threat even unboosted just because of 150 attack + goated stab, meaning that giratina's almost always coming in when you send this in lest the enemy just lets you start blasting. the fact that you can engineer this to do pretty much whatever your team needs, from wall to utility to breaker to improof to even setup, as well as stab that is SE against 2 of the top 3 mons and basically unresisted against everything else, makes this thing excellent to use.


Magearna @ Metronome / Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Rapid Spin / Blue Flare
- Volt Switch
- Strength Sap
not much to say here, good xern substitute if you want to match better into zamac/other xern at the cost of being worse into groudon/ho-oh. more predictable since the enemy knows you'll only have special attacks but this doesn't really detract from the mon that much.


Celesteela @ Rocky Helmet / Sky Plate
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Rapid Spin
- Anchor Shot
- Soft-Boiled
similar concept as ray in that flying stab is really good rn, use this if you want a non-passive -atespinner that isn't pixilate and can self-improof. also better -ate into gigas then xern which is nice but don't rely on it as your gigas answer.


Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Astral Barrage
- Moongeist Beam
- V-create
- Strength Sap
funny clown has always been good, hard to position well but if you do then expect this to probably get a kill every time you hit the field. especially bullies stall teams if their answer to it is absent/not sustainable. vest zygod and scales etern work as pretty good checks even if etern does not like moongeists very much, and shed shell imposter guzzlord (yes, funny and no, not joking) can improof as well.


Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold / Modest / Timid Nature
- Nuzzle
- Hex
- Core Enforcer
- Recover
haven't used this much myself but i know it's rising in usage as a more offensive substitute for fc lunala, better effective sp.atk + knock sponge + better bulk + doesn't get bullied by random wicked blow coverage aimed at lunala are all good reasons to run it. dragon typing is a bit dodgy since you have a glance weakness + can't firm a boomburst to para xern (when at full) anymore but i think the other benefits outweigh these.

thoughts on the overall meta:
it's balanced, i'll say that much. there's a lot of room for innovation but i think that if you aren't innovating then most games are gonna end up not necessarily stale but very similar. nothing jumps out as broken, game-breaking or uncompetitive other than impform being a slog and drumspam being mostly unfun to play against, but people have probably talked about these enough and there's not much point in me rambling on about them as well. bolt beak could be suspected to be freed because of fat dragons being everywhere and grounds being pretty good but i didn't play BH when it was free so idk how bad it'd be.

with the above being said, i'd like to submit another sample team:
Team Name: Critical Wounds
Description: Double Aerilate offence ft. setup Palkia
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/5f68dcb44c7ef194
How To Use: There's multiple ways of going about winning with this team - you can either gear it towards a palkia sweep, or by a ray cleaning operation. Zama-C is a good lead for getting early paras and also self-improofs, and it having nuzzle helps limit early toxic orb cracks/other fast mons trying to pinch early progress. Celesteela carries anchor and can annoy things going for early spikes, as well as trapping imps thinking they're funny and that you're just another triage user. Don helps limit xerneas and eternatus, and poison fang can be an excellent tool for forcing chip onto switch-ins like giratina and lunala. Palkia can be played pretty aggressively, instakilling a significant proportion of the meta and heavily limiting what the enemy can do when it's on the field. Rayquaza also acts as a monstrous breaker that can help break past things that palkia struggles to, such as FC Zama-C and Tapu Finis (if Palkia isn't in a position to just set up in their face). Fini is a pretty glue prankster, scouting tool and palkia improof all in one, knowing what ability things like Zama-C and etern are early on can greatly assist how you go about disassembling things.
Other Options:
- Groudon can run either Soundproof or Scales. Soundproof means that the Ray improof is safer and you are much better into Xern (particularly metronome) but Scales is better into non-monostab eterns. Don can also substitute rocks or poison fang for spectral if you're concerned about the PH xern matchup.
- Palkia does not like status if you intend for going for a sweep with it. Fini can run aromatherapy if you don't want this issue, but you lose the scouting/anti-PH tool of entrain and you need to be a lot more careful with keeping ray healthy into normpult.
- Etern can be pretty hard to manage. Nuzzle Don and Glare Fini can help alleviate this.
Weaknesses:
- Blace/Spect/Moldy attackers. Often get kills whenever they come in, against these you want to be really aggressive to limit their oppurtinities. Zama can live Blace in a pinch and threaten a Para, but that's about all you're getting.
- Vest Zygod. Irritating to break through if Palkia isn't in good condition, though +1 rend and 150BP energy both do upwards of 66%.
- Eviolites. Without knock, these can be annoying to get through but even eviolite boosted menaces like clops and null don't enjoy coming in.
- Simple/Crit etern. Blades miss spells disaster.
- Metronome Xern, if not soundproof. You probably need to sack don to this in order to get enough chip for something else to pick up the slack.
Effectiveness: Has done consistently well on ladder and has beaten good players, tho i haven't played a trememdous amount of games. Only have 2 replays (here and here) since i built this for the BH Ladder Tour playoffs and was privating all my replays. Beat LOSR if that's anything.

shoutout to sevag for the teambuilding advice btw

 

[Nihilslave]

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

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.

First of all I've updated my previous post, adding one sample submission and one hyper offense there. Read it if you are interested.

That being said, I kinda give up that submission because everyone tends to play that team so badly except me. Just see the comparison:
How others play (Hybone was even taught by me how to play this team.)
How I play
TTTech: Yeah. I have the same feeling.

So there's a new sample submission:

The Story

One day Sevag showed me QT's and asked if I can build a hyper(?) offense around it to help them beat Quojova in the semi-final. I at first didn't think it's a good mon for offense teams since it's very slow speedwise. But Sevag then reminded me that it's a good counter to Regigigas. Thus I'm convinced there's enough reason to use it and we started to build something like Bulky-Hyper Offense. I don't remember what Sevag's first version is but mine is like this.

Yeah that team is absolutely trash but there's still something good in it. For the following few days I just did many adjustments well ngl I just did nothing but let my subconsciousness run by itself. And at the end the team is in my hand. At that time we both thought the Kyurem-B is very cool so I recommended this version to them tho it does have some improof issues. But what I can tell you now is that Groudon is cooler.

Team Name: Magic Guard Offense
Description: Bulky offense with great hazards and paralysis resistance.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/4f2e09707cdd7468
How to use:
- Once you know how to check and counter the popular mons in the meta, this team is easy to use for you. Groudon has some specific utilities such as improof and anti set-up, but the other 5 mons are quite uniform. You can just go mons you like to keep yourself in the dominant position. And what's more, you don't even need to do frustrating hazard removal (well you can't actually).
- One thing you should notice is that when facing set-up attackers, the first thing to do is always considering how to deal with them without Groudon. For example, you can paralyze opposing Eternatus with Ho-Oh or Lunala, and kill it afterwards, instead of hard switching into Groudon. That's because Groudon is not that reliable as an anti set-up utility.
- Celesteela is improofed by Zekrom, or itself if necessary. It can improof itself if its item is still there and the rng is not too bad. Ho-Oh is improofed by Zekrom. Zekrom is improofed by Groudon. Lunala is improofed by Groudon. Groudon is improofed by itself. Zamazenta-C is improofed by Celesteela.
TL; DR: Team is very easy to use.
Weaknesses:
- Standard Poison Heal Xerneas. You don't have many good answers for it. Just play well.
- Some special breakers like Specs Adapt Spectier. This team do not have a special wall but Ho-Oh and Zamazenta-C can both serve as half. If you are really scared of Eternatus, change the Zamazenta-C set.
- Some Poison Heal Regigigas. Regigigas with V-Create or Dragon Tail is hard to handle. However they are not popular currently. And you can go Zamazenta-C to check them. Also you can change Destiny Bond for Entrainment on Groudon to solve this.
- Magic Bounce Zygarde-C. Hard to break.
Effectiveness: It won many tour games for different players. And I topped the ladder with it.

Replays:
Ladder Replays: 1 2
Tour Replays: 1 2 3
Test Replay: 1

 

[SlightlyAngryKevin]

Hello It's me your friendly neighborhood Minecraft dog here to show you an amazing team I think should be considered for the new samples.

Team Name: Purify Hard Stall
Description: Hard Stall team featuring Umbreon
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/840591daa118cee2
How To Use: This team is quite straightforward and simple. Start off by savely getting your PHers toxic so they can easily absorb knock offs. Second slowly make progress with removing items, burns, spikes and traps while keeping your team healthy and far from being KO'd. Lastly if they haven't rage quit yet then play the game out no need to make rash plays take your time and wall their team as you slowly whittle them down till they can't keep up
Weaknesses: Gambit may get in your way since they're able to trade a pokemon for their own if you need the one they take it may leave you without an answer to one of their threats for the rest of the game. Hazards are another problem if left unchecked your team will take huge damage on switch-ins that they would usually be able to take just fine.
Effectiveness: Has performed extremely well on the ladder helping me reach 1500 multiple times.

 

[fififlutters]

.
Name: Path of Peril and Pain

Description: Chip damage heavy bulky offense centered around durable, but non-passive wincons.

How to Use: The team is highly effective and intuitive at beating most metagame threats, but the team does need to watch out for certain lures like Diamond Storm Xerneas in order to stick around. Use Groudon as a scout to avoid losing an integral part of the team due to a lack of information. Against bulkier teams, playing the long game is highly recommended, as Xerneas and Regigigas both have a lot of 1v1 potential and natural longevity, to the point where they can often burn out the recovery PP of relevant answers like Registeel, Ho-Oh and Scales Zamazenta-Crowned. You should seek to set Spikes as early as possible to get started, but make sure to look out for Magic Bounce steels, as some of them can be extremely brutal for this team to face.

Alternations: There are a huge amount of relevant alterations for the main core of 5, but since this team has a Zacian, I'd figure I'd work specifically around Zacian's alterations.
Knock Off on Zacian: If Leftovers / Boots are causing you long term issues, you can remove Rapid Spin for Knock Off, which reduces the power of the team to stave off hazards itself, but significantly increases the effectiveness of Spikes vs certain targets.
Precipice Blades on Regigigas: This is usually my preference, but I started getting worried about loading into Magic Bounce Ferrothorn and Aerilate Celesteela, which gave me the desire to put more Fire moves on the team. Precipice Blades is usually the better option though, especially if you're loading into Primordial Sea Zamazenta-C.
Spikes on Regigigas / Lava Plume on Xerneas: Dependent on the matchup, you can change the Spikes setter around. This other configuration has a tendency to overly rely on Xerneas as a bruteforce mechanism, so teams that are built strongly against PH Xerneas may cause a comp like this to have problems.
Nuzzle on Zamazenta-C: Weakens the Regigigas matchup a fair bit but gives Zamazenta-C a bit more leeway against "brokens", and additionally gives Zamazenta-C another way to be a broken.
Glare on Groudon: This is probably the most significant change here, it's one I had a tough time deciding on whilst building this. Glare gives you a better matchup against some sweeper-type mons like Simple Eternatus, but can make playing around PH a fairly passive process and slows down the team a little. Glare also makes Imposter way less free on Groudon, meaning progress is easier to make if Groudon is needed in defensively checking the opposing team.

Weaknesses: Magic Bounce Ferrothorn can be a really big killer for a build like this. Not only does it stop both Fairies in their tracks, but it also stops Xerneas from setting Spikes at all, meaning progress can be very difficult to make against it. Additionally, some setup like Palkia can be very frustrating to check long term in the current configuration, often requiring multiple sacks throughout a game. Diamond Storm Xerneas, particularly Diamond Storm + Blue Flare Pixilate Xerneas, can cause a lot of issues defensively for the team as nothing on the team can really stomach a hit that well, and it requires some foresight from the user to identify the set before it starts luring this team. Some variants of Thunder Cage Eternatus can also be painful to check long term, and prompts something like Ho-Oh to abuse full paralysis in order to beat without losing something.
Effectiveness: Teamstyles using very similar cores to this 5 have been very effective for me in high level tournament play, and as such I've built a few teams around this 5. This one is probably my favourite, although the sets for the PH mons tend to change dependent on how I feel players are going to adapt. Additionally, because of the speed tier that Zacian gives to the team, I feel like the team is no longer susceptible to a variety of the fast breakers going around, like Spectrier and Blacephalon.

 

[Dead by Daylight]

Hey!

This is my first time in the BH scene, and I created a team focused around Triage + Nasty Plot Thundurus-T. It originally had a Prankster Shuckle for Tapu Fini, but then Imposter Kyurem-B went brr on the team. It still needs a lot of Improofing, though, and I don't quite know how to. So if anyone can help, that would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the team:
Desolatium (pokepast.es)
(don't laugh, it's probably terrible)

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Hey!

This is my first time in the BH scene, and I created a team focused around Triage + Nasty Plot Thundurus-T. It originally had a Prankster Shuckle for Tapu Fini, but then Imposter Kyurem-B went brr on the team. It still needs a lot of Improofing, though, and I don't quite know how to. So if anyone can help, that would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the team:
Desolatium (pokepast.es)
(don't laugh, it's probably terrible)

hi, welcome to hackmons! couple things about the team:

• chansey tends to run eviolite more than scarf. this is because, if people have a well-improofed team, then imposter's heavily limited by itself and with scarf you often become dead weight. scarf imposter isn't necessarily bad, but often you prefer the significantly more useful eviolite just because 50% in both defenses is pretty much insurmountable.
• lunala, and by extension dawn wings, often runs simple + no retreat with a focus sash instead of survival ability + NR. this lets you get to a +2, 220bp stored power instantly as opposed to a +1, 120bp one. lunala's also better in my opinion since, if you de-ev your special defence to 200 or lower, +sp.atk astral barrage guaranteed kills eviolite chansey so that's another option in a pinch. the extra sp.atk offered by dawn wings usually isn't impactful since it doesn't gain you any kills that lunala wouldn't.
• triage mons usually run oblivion wing/steel coverage/random coverage like sludge wave, leech seed, core enforcer etc. with thundy-i you probably want secret sword/earth power over psystrike so you can hit steels for SE damage.
• the fini set's pretty mich fine tbh. normally you want spiky shield over baneful on PH mons so you don't accidentally poison imposter (meaning they can abuse your PH), and moonblast without any boosting moves isn't really impactful in the long run.
• kyu-b is really threatening, but glacial lance is the only really threatening move on this set. i'd probably move over to choice band adapt for a big power boost and to not additionally augment the amount of chip you're taking. kyurem gets to abuse the strongest physical attacks in the game with bolt strike, glacial lance, v-create and precipice blades (you don't really need dragon stab, but if you do use it, dragon darts is strictly better than hammer).
• scarf kartana isn't particularly good, since you already have thundurus as a cleaner and as a breaker you don't really want scarf anyway. with kartana you barely ever end up actually clicking power whip, so you can instead opt to use steely spirit - which benefits any doom desires your teammates cast as well (there are very few mons that die to power whip but not sunsteel). kartana's best suited to choice band + tinted lens or steely spirit/steelworker as a wallbreaker.

with teambuilding, there's also some things that you need to consider that will basically be required for a decent team:

• hazard control. this can either be spin (-ate spin, such as pixilate spin, cannot be blocked unless you're using galvanize) or defog, but hazards are the primary way for the majority of teams to make progress. you NEED to control these.
• meta answers. regigigas/xerneas/eternatus/zamazenta-crowned are some of the best mons in the meta, can run multiple offensive/utility/defensive variations, and you need answers to these as well, simply based on how often you'll see them.
• a clear-set win condition. your teams need to have direction more than anything, whether that be breaking down common defensive cores, getting useful trades, going for hazards/status, etc.. this makes it important for the mons on your team to work together in order to overwhelm the enemy. for example, if you wanted band steely spirit kart to be the cleaner, you want things to break down or otherwise pressure the few things that are beating kart, being zygarde-complete, dialga, ho-oh, zamazenta-c, you get the idea. having a clear goal aids both your building and also gives you direction in-game in terms of what to go for.
• damage control. less important than the others, but you want to give yourself the capability to combat some odd-ball threats which might otherwise instawin against your team. even if it isn't a hard wall, you at least want to give yourself room to generate a plan when a dodgy mon is in play. the example i always use is spectrier, whose primary set in adapt specs + astral/moongeist/voltswitch/trick or focus blast often leaves many teams strapped for answers - it's uncommon enough that you can't really afford a hard counter unless you're already using one (eg. you're already building with a bulky yveltal set), but still not extinct, so you want to give yourself options against it such as 'nuzzle it, then go to x mon whenever it comes in to limit it snowballing' or some other backup plan. fur coat, ice scales, assault vest + regenerator and unaware are all good abilities for this.

now, for the improofing bit. especially given strong offensive threats such as adapt kyurem, steely spirit kart and the like, a good improof will not only safely live the mon it's improofing but also limit it from making significant process. this is particularly important when improofing a mon with utility, such as PH spikes setters, as you not only need to not die to their setup/coverage but also prevent them from just getting 3 spikes layers for free. another important thing is making sure that your improof isn't a useless mon when it isn't improofing - since, if you load into a game and there isn't imposter on the field, you're at a massive handicap.
as an example, as an improof against your tapu fini, i might suggest a magic bounce mon, or alternatively, pixilate xerneas - you can spin away any spikes it sets for free, aren't damaged heavily by moonblast/any coverage it's choosing to run, and pose a massive in-game threat with pixilate boomburst, which can be further augmented by items such as pixie plate or metronome. against kyurem, you might want to drop bolt strike and give fini scald/wisp so you can reliably wall it out until it leaves - or, if you want to keep bolt strike, you could use a fur coat mon such as zama-c (one that withstands coverage is important).
key emphasis here is that your improofs are reliable, useful in more than just improofing, limit imp both through sponging hits and denying utility and do more than sit in front of imp and spam recover. some mons are also able to compound multiple improofs/self-improof, such as eviolite chansey acting as a blanket improof to basically every special attacker (if you want this to wall thundurus, use EP over secret) and PH xerneas usually being able to 1v1 it's imposter with thunder cage + quiver dance. there's also a detailed guide here on the many different ways you can improof.

hope that answers most of your questions, i can get a bit rambly with my explanations so if you still aren't sure then other users here are happy to help + the OM discord (here) is great for discussion and advice.

 

[Dead by Daylight]

hi, welcome to hackmons! couple things about the team:

• chansey tends to run eviolite more than scarf. this is because, if people have a well-improofed team, then imposter's heavily limited by itself and with scarf you often become dead weight. scarf imposter isn't necessarily bad, but often you prefer the significantly more useful eviolite just because 50% in both defenses is pretty much insurmountable.
• lunala, and by extension dawn wings, often runs simple + no retreat with a focus sash instead of survival ability + NR. this lets you get to a +2, 220bp stored power instantly as opposed to a +1, 120bp one. lunala's also better in my opinion since, if you de-ev your special defence to 200 or lower, +sp.atk astral barrage guaranteed kills eviolite chansey so that's another option in a pinch. the extra sp.atk offered by dawn wings usually isn't impactful since it doesn't gain you any kills that lunala wouldn't.
• triage mons usually run oblivion wing/steel coverage/random coverage like sludge wave, leech seed, core enforcer etc. with thundy-i you probably want secret sword/earth power over psystrike so you can hit steels for SE damage.
• the fini set's pretty mich fine tbh. normally you want spiky shield over baneful on PH mons so you don't accidentally poison imposter (meaning they can abuse your PH), and moonblast without any boosting moves isn't really impactful in the long run.
• kyu-b is really threatening, but glacial lance is the only really threatening move on this set. i'd probably move over to choice band adapt for a big power boost and to not additionally augment the amount of chip you're taking. kyurem gets to abuse the strongest physical attacks in the game with bolt strike, glacial lance, v-create and precipice blades (you don't really need dragon stab, but if you do use it, dragon darts is strictly better than hammer).
• scarf kartana isn't particularly good, since you already have thundurus as a cleaner and as a breaker you don't really want scarf anyway. with kartana you barely ever end up actually clicking power whip, so you can instead opt to use steely spirit - which benefits any doom desires your teammates cast as well (there are very few mons that die to power whip but not sunsteel). kartana's best suited to choice band + tinted lens or steely spirit/steelworker as a wallbreaker.

with teambuilding, there's also some things that you need to consider that will basically be required for a decent team:

• hazard control. this can either be spin (-ate spin, such as pixilate spin, cannot be blocked unless you're using galvanize) or defog, but hazards are the primary way for the majority of teams to make progress. you NEED to control these.
• meta answers. regigigas/xerneas/eternatus/zamazenta-crowned are some of the best mons in the meta, can run multiple offensive/utility/defensive variations, and you need answers to these as well, simply based on how often you'll see them.
• a clear-set win condition. your teams need to have direction more than anything, whether that be breaking down common defensive cores, getting useful trades, going for hazards/status, etc.. this makes it important for the mons on your team to work together in order to overwhelm the enemy. for example, if you wanted band steely spirit kart to be the cleaner, you want things to break down or otherwise pressure the few things that are beating kart, being zygarde-complete, dialga, ho-oh, zamazenta-c, you get the idea. having a clear goal aids both your building and also gives you direction in-game in terms of what to go for.
• damage control. less important than the others, but you want to give yourself the capability to combat some odd-ball threats which might otherwise instawin against your team. even if it isn't a hard wall, you at least want to give yourself room to generate a plan when a dodgy mon is in play. the example i always use is spectrier, whose primary set in adapt specs + astral/moongeist/voltswitch/trick or focus blast often leaves many teams strapped for answers - it's uncommon enough that you can't really afford a hard counter unless you're already using one (eg. you're already building with a bulky yveltal set), but still not extinct, so you want to give yourself options against it such as 'nuzzle it, then go to x mon whenever it comes in to limit it snowballing' or some other backup plan. fur coat, ice scales, assault vest + regenerator and unaware are all good abilities for this.

now, for the improofing bit. especially given strong offensive threats such as adapt kyurem, steely spirit kart and the like, a good improof will not only safely live the mon it's improofing but also limit it from making significant process. this is particularly important when improofing a mon with utility, such as PH spikes setters, as you not only need to not die to their setup/coverage but also prevent them from just getting 3 spikes layers for free. another important thing is making sure that your improof isn't a useless mon when it isn't improofing - since, if you load into a game and there isn't imposter on the field, you're at a massive handicap.
as an example, as an improof against your tapu fini, i might suggest a magic bounce mon, or alternatively, pixilate xerneas - you can spin away any spikes it sets for free, aren't damaged heavily by moonblast/any coverage it's choosing to run, and pose a massive in-game threat with pixilate boomburst, which can be further augmented by items such as pixie plate or metronome. against kyurem, you might want to drop bolt strike and give fini scald/wisp so you can reliably wall it out until it leaves - or, if you want to keep bolt strike, you could use a fur coat mon such as zama-c (one that withstands coverage is important).
key emphasis here is that your improofs are reliable, useful in more than just improofing, limit imp both through sponging hits and denying utility and do more than sit in front of imp and spam recover. some mons are also able to compound multiple improofs/self-improof, such as eviolite chansey acting as a blanket improof to basically every special attacker (if you want this to wall thundurus, use EP over secret) and PH xerneas usually being able to 1v1 it's imposter with thunder cage + quiver dance. there's also a detailed guide here on the many different ways you can improof.

hope that answers most of your questions, i can get a bit rambly with my explanations so if you still aren't sure then other users here are happy to help + the OM discord (here) is great for discussion and advice.

Thank you so much. I revamped the team, so here it is now:

Desolatium (pokepast.es)

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Thank you so much. I revamped the team, so here it is now:

Desolatium (pokepast.es)

few more things to talk about:

• mag's physical attack isn't worth using blades for, especially given that you remove the ability for etern or chansey to safely improof it. i'd probably say to drop blades for either qd or volt switch, then have sap last slot. mag also really likes modest.
• imposter wants healing. you might not think that the moves on chansey matter but these will come in important if you're using it as an improof to one of your other mons. normally any generic support moves + uturn + recover work good, but tspikes aren't good in bh and having 2 pivot moves is redundant. a safe bet is always nuzzle/aromatherapy/uturn/recover if you're not sure on what to do, though you might want to keep topsy over nuzzle since you're using this to cover thundurus. important thing with chansey: minimize your attack (including a -atk nature) and ensure you have 252 EVs/31 IVs in sp.atk. if you use doom desire and switch out, it goes off of chansey's special attack, not the thing you used doom desire with. min attack also limits the amount of healing anything can get from strength sap.
• kart can run blades/vcreate over eq/anchor, you aren't getting any meaningful traps with anchor since if you trap something, it either died to sunsteel or is beating you regardless of if it's trapped or not. there's also no clear improof to this which is a problem since with no recovery it isn't self-improofing and even though thundy resists sunsteel you're still taking mad damage (and not healing enough with o-wing to stop it from just clicking sunsteel twice and killing you). also, band is better because no chip + you're probably spamming the same move whenever you're in so the absence of a choice lock isn't too big a benefit.
• dynamax cannon is redundant in bh, core enforcer exists. pretty standard scales etern set, tp is good but something like spectral to better control PH xern is nice too (if it already has boosts, you can run out of sludge bombs in longer games / might not be able to answer it if you're too low). be aware that sludge bomb can also poison chansey.
• similar story with the reshiram, core's strictly the best dragon stab (crit mons will normally run draco + scope lens/focus energy so the higher crit rate of spacial rend isn't needed). sub is nice because imposter can't copy you if you're behind a sub, but no recovery on a mon with life orb, a rocks weakness and with sub's -25% hp doesn't bode well for longevity. you also get bricked completely by fire-immune (flash fire/primordial sea) steel types, which are very common to help contain eternatus and you end up running into these too.
• good thundy set. run modest, the speed is basically irrelevant because of triage.
• you also don't appear to have any forms of damage control beyond chansey, so any well-improofed attacker that's not beaten by etern (ie. most things not named xerneas) is likely to cause significant issues.

one thing i will say is that, with a triage cleaner like thundurus, you don't really want all of these fragile, no-recovery breakers: these in themselves need team support and if you can't instantly break open holes then you're going to have a lot of trouble getting through with thundurus. a more balanced team with recovery, such as PH regigigas, is effective at breaking walls but also at facilitating it's teammates with utility such as spikes or nuzzle and can stay healthy over the course of a game. overall, i'd say that the team in general is likely to catch more inexperienced players off guard with it's high damage output + better-than-prankster priority, but against competent players that will preserve their answers to your breakers then you may fall short. into most high-level teams you'll need to be equipped to play the long game.

 

[Redchimp]

I just wanted to share some sets I've been messing with that have been pretty good (in my experience)

Zamazenta-Crowned @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Anchor Shot
- Body Press
- Spectral Thief
- Shore Up
This thing is a TANK, if you pair it with anything with good special defense you can wall just about anything. Only real threat is stored power sweep, however a prankster haze user or dark type is a good pokemon to pair with it. Surprisingly good offense-wise body press can threaten pokemon pretty good. The only time I've seen the mon faint to physical moves was a 2x phyatk low kick from another zamazenta

Groudon @ Soft Sand
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Anchor Shot
- Nuzzle
- Shore Up
Really good counter lead, the only pokemon this build has issues with are kyogre sets, and zygarde complete. Amazing counter to impform dragapult as nuzzle can then stall for if groudon falls by a slowed dragapult, I usually use this and the FC Zam above together. Sometimes Thousand Arrows lacks power and I don't know what I would use besides it though and sometimes I feel careful nature isn't the move and I should switch to Impish. The main issue with the build is a lack of firepower to threaten certain bulky pokemon like fur coat lunala, necrozma dusk mane (although if anchor shot->thousand arrows can definitley win that matchup against necrozma dusk mane)

 

[Dead by Daylight]

I'm sorry if I'm repeat posting, but I want to share a set that I grabbed inspiration from Triage Yveltal:

Thunderous (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Life Orb / Metronome / Sharp Beak
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Oblivion Wing
- Thunder Cage
- Earth Power
- Nasty Plot

This set powers through many walls such as Fur Coat Lunala, Zamazenta-C, and Regigigas. Life Orb Oblivion Wing hits insanely hard and recovers tons of HP (especially at +2), while Thunder Cage traps slower walls and setup fodder. Earth Power serves as the Steel-type coverage, and finally Nasty Plot boosts its SpA to insane levels and gives it more recovery. You can use one of the three items: Life Orb gives you some extra firepower for practically free (seeing as you are simply going to regain HP from Oblivion Wing spam), Metronome gives you extra firepower if you try to spam OW, and finally Sharp Beak gives you essentially a +3 priority, 104 BP move.

Triage outspeeds Prankster, and gives Oblivion Wing even more attacking prowess as this cannon can actually heal.

 

[SlightlyAngryKevin]

Hello, I just wanted to quickly share an interesting set that I came up with a few days ago to hopefully get peoples' cogs turning about other creative sets that could be useful.

Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Shore Up
- Spectral Thief / Topsy-Turvy
- Anchor Shot / U-Turn

Some points of interest about this set is that it's able to wall most Zama, Regi's, and even banded Barraskewda, which can be extremely useful for improofing or any other needs one might need. One downside with the set is that it folds against most special attackers since it's spdef is far from usable, However That can also be used to our advantage as imp will be easily 2HKO by a PH Xern's Moonblast even at full HP, and not be able to deal that much damage back to Xerneas. Overall I've had a lot of fun using this set and I do recommend it for a good time. Anyway hope you're doing well and hope you have a good day/night. :3

 

[Lunatic Hai]

I'm sorry if I'm repeat posting, but I want to share a set that I grabbed inspiration from Triage Yveltal:

Thunderous (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Life Orb / Metronome / Sharp Beak
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Oblivion Wing
- Thunder Cage
- Earth Power
- Nasty Plot

This set powers through many walls such as Fur Coat Lunala, Zamazenta-C, and Regigigas. Life Orb Oblivion Wing hits insanely hard and recovers tons of HP (especially at +2), while Thunder Cage traps slower walls and setup fodder. Earth Power serves as the Steel-type coverage, and finally Nasty Plot boosts its SpA to insane levels and gives it more recovery. You can use one of the three items: Life Orb gives you some extra firepower for practically free (seeing as you are simply going to regain HP from Oblivion Wing spam), Metronome gives you extra firepower if you try to spam OW, and finally Sharp Beak gives you essentially a +3 priority, 104 BP move.

Triage outspeeds Prankster, and gives Oblivion Wing even more attacking prowess as this cannon can actually heal.

Unfortunately, the issue wih Thundurus is one that other mons like NDW have; not only are they one dimensional, they're incredibly setup reliant. You really don't want to suffer from both; Regigigas and Xerneas, for example, by and large stick to a single set, but not only do they have incredible moveslot variety that can catch an opponent off guard, they're immediately threatening as well, and often provide utility for their team with hazard play/removal. Then there's Etern, who can take you entirely by surprise, wallbreak, set up, etc. depending on the set, and even if you have a dedicated hard counter, can just click funny gambit to blow a hole in your team anyway.

Thundurus, on the other hand, announces exactly what it is off the bat and screams "stop me from setting up!" It lacks the bulk/typing to actually live many strong hits and, unboosted, isn't going to kill any of the things that'll be chucking those at it. Even boosted, it can be lackluster, because Even a +2 LO earth power can't 2hko scales zam, and then you just get topsied or specthiefed. If you were another (better) mon you could take advantage of this and get some meaningful progress with some other utility, but you can't because you're Thundurus. There are mons that, while not at the tippy top of the meta, are terrifying at team preview even if you know what they're going to do, like Kartana, Blace, etc. Sadly, Thundurus just isn't really among them. It CAN net you some wins on ladder, but against a good player, it'll probably just serve as an opening for a better offensive mon to get a free 6-5 advantage.

 

[SuperSkylake]

Hello, I just wanted to quickly share an interesting set that I came up with a few days ago to hopefully get peoples' cogs turning about other creative sets that could be useful.

View attachment 414868
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Shore Up
- Spectral Thief / Topsy-Turvy
- Anchor Shot / U-Turn

Some points of interest about this set is that it's able to wall most Zama, Regi's, and even banded Barraskewda, which can be extremely useful for improofing or any other needs one might need. One downside with the set is that it folds against most special attackers since it's spdef is far from usable, However That can also be used to our advantage as imp will be easily 2HKO by a PH Xern's Moonblast even at full HP, and not be able to deal that much damage back to Xerneas. Overall I've had a lot of fun using this set and I do recommend it for a good time. Anyway hope you're doing well and hope you have a good day/night. :3

This feels pretty much like a worse Urshifu-R. Reasons why:
* Urshifu-R has a better typing in water/fighting which gives it a useful resistance and stab on Fishious Rend, allowing it to be far less passive than Buzz. Buzz's U-Turn barely tickles any resists and so you aren't even dealing meaningful chip to its checks.
* Urshifu-R is also a lot faster and able to actually force mons like Groudon and non-Desoland Ho-Oh out, which is something Buzzwole can't. * Both sets still hate Regigigas, though Urshifu has the advantage in that matchup once again,, because it can eat a v-Create if Gigas decides to run it.
* Against Kartana, Urshifu's matchup is better because it resists Sunsteel, which is the move Kartana wants to be clicking, so you have better recourse against that too.
* Urshifu-R has the advantage in the Regigigas Matchup too. Gigas can 2hKO Buzzwole, but if it switches into a Dragon Dance or Shift Gear, has to eat 34-41% in damage from V-Create. Two if it's not running Topsy. Gigas can of course switch out to a check which Buzzwole can't damage much such as Giratina or a Fairy-Type. Urshifu-R takes up to 28-34% from Facade and still 2hKOs with Thunderous Kick, but with more offensive punch against some switches. In addition, Jolly Urshifu-R outspeeds Adamant Gigas, so the non setup variants with spikes are outsped for at least one turn (Gigas often runs Nuzzle).
* One matchup where Buzzwole does have the advantage is against Tough Claws Zacian, where its greater bulk does allow it to live any +2 attack.
252 Atk Tough Claws Zacian Multi-Attack vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 204-240 (50.4 - 59.4%) -- 75.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Tough Claws Zacian Multi-Attack vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Buzzwole: 146-174 (34.9 - 41.6%) -- 70.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Urshifu-Rapid Strike @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 Spd / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Thunderous Kick / Close Combat
- Recover
- Spectral Thief / Knock Off / Anchor Shot