Resource SV OU Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

[jackuzzler]

Is Ursaluna really that strong in the current meta? I know the stats and all that, but I feel like consensus is 50/50 split on whether it's effective (with TR teams) or if its glaring weaknesses are easily manageable. With all the great mon available, wondering if it's worth taking a spot on the roster.

In my opinion, it's strong on HO teams for a few reasons. With tera water, it's able to provide a genuine answer to rain teams which some HOs can struggle with. Under screens, it's surprisingly bulky and with its immense power it's usually able to tank a few strong neutral hits and claim kills. Just don't switch it into a CC or hydro pump pretty much.

It's also insane on trick room teams, which are not extremely prevalent since the Magearna ban, however there are still many setters that are relevant and Ursaluna alone makes the strategy viable in singles which hasn't really happened before (at least in my opinion, I think it's that good). Regardless these setters include Hoopa-U, Slowking-G, Slowking, and Cresselia. I have personally been using it quite a bit and in my opinion, it fills a decent role on HO.

Hope this helps

 

[xxart]

In my opinion, it's strong on HO teams for a few reasons. With tera water, it's able to provide a genuine answer to rain teams which some HOs can struggle with. Under screens, it's surprisingly bulky and with its immense power it's usually able to tank a few strong neutral hits and claim kills. Just don't switch it into a CC or hydro pump pretty much.

It's also insane on trick room teams, which are not extremely prevalent since the Magearna ban, however there are still many setters that are relevant and Ursaluna alone makes the strategy viable in singles which hasn't really happened before (at least in my opinion, I think it's that good). Regardless these setters include Hoopa-U, Slowking-G, Slowking, and Cresselia. I have personally been using it quite a bit and in my opinion, it fills a decent role on HO.

Hope this helps

Sorry, noob question: what's HO? Otherwise, I think your explanation makes sense and appreciate the thorough breakdown of use-cases.

 

[Turtlek]

Sorry, noob question: what's HO? Otherwise, I think your explanation makes sense and appreciate the thorough breakdown of use-cases.

Hyper offense, teams with no defensive Pokémon. (They usually have suicide lead)

 

[awyp]

Sorry, noob question: what's HO? Otherwise, I think your explanation makes sense and appreciate the thorough breakdown of use-cases.

Hyper Offense is HO, HOs purpose is essentially having a lead that sets up entry hazards / web / terrain / screens (whatever the goal for the team is), and to have a combination of sweepers and wall breakers.

Hyper Offense is a much faster playstyle in general compared to other types of playstyles. (1 entry setter, mix of 5 breakers / sweepers)

In terms of the 4-5 other mons outside the lead it would be mons that are setting up, choiced specs or band users, as well as booster energy mons. The purpose of it is to deal as much damage / pressure to the opposition the whole entire game and keep them on their toes.

 

[xxart]

In my opinion, it's strong on HO teams for a few reasons. With tera water, it's able to provide a genuine answer to rain teams which some HOs can struggle with. Under screens, it's surprisingly bulky and with its immense power it's usually able to tank a few strong neutral hits and claim kills. Just don't switch it into a CC or hydro pump pretty much.

It's also insane on trick room teams, which are not extremely prevalent since the Magearna ban, however there are still many setters that are relevant and Ursaluna alone makes the strategy viable in singles which hasn't really happened before (at least in my opinion, I think it's that good). Regardless these setters include Hoopa-U, Slowking-G, Slowking, and Cresselia. I have personally been using it quite a bit and in my opinion, it fills a decent role on HO.

Hope this helps

Is tera water the de-factor tera type now for Ursaluna to counter rain teams? I thought people were generally going tera normal lately.

 

[jackuzzler]

Is tera water the de-factor tera type now for Ursaluna to counter rain teams? I thought people were generally going tera normal lately.

It usually runs either water ghost or normal. Water for rain, ghost for other Ursaluna (not very common anymore) and normal for power.

 

[Finchinator]

It usually runs either water ghost or normal. Water for rain, ghost for other Ursaluna (not very common anymore) and normal for power.

Ghost also helps with opposing Sneasler trying to RK outside of Trick Room, same with offensive Tusk. Normal and Water are definitely most seen though

 

[SFNR]

Hey guys, I need some help with teambuilding.
I read that the hyperoffensive style seems to be most peoples favourite in the current meta. Why do you think it is?
I usually prefer teams with a mix of offense and defense, where you do not have the one centerpiece you rely on in oder to win but instead success is built on the team working together.
Do you think these kind of teams stand a chance in the current Meta? Like I said, I currently have trouble to built a team I am really happy with. How should one start to build such a team? Do you have any advice?

 

[jackuzzler]

Hey guys, I need some help with teambuilding.

There are a couple questions here so I'll address them separately

I read that the hyperoffensive style seems to be most peoples favourite in the current meta. Why do you think it is?

Personally, as someone who likes HO a lot myself, I think it comes down to a few factors. One being is it is arguably the strongest playstyle in the meta right now. Two, it's usually pretty easy to use, and games go quickly as well.

I usually prefer teams with a mix of offense and defense, where you do not have the one centerpiece you rely on in oder to win but instead success is built on the team working together.
Do you think these kind of teams stand a chance in the current Meta? Like I said, I currently have trouble to built a team I am really happy with. How should one start to build such a team? Do you have any advice?

This is absolutely viable, in fact, it's not necessarily true that this isn't the case with hyper offence either, as usually you need a lead in order to setup your team, and then a few different sweepers/breakers to win. Teambuilding comes down to a lot of factors, but usually, the process is something along the lines of, choose 2-3 mons that synergize well offensively or defensively, then fill in the gaps in order to cover the weaknesses that core has. I'm not very good at teambuilding, usually I build then get someone else to look at my team and make it better. But that's the general philosophy around it. In 'mons you're always going to have to have a solid core of mons that work well together no matter your playstyle, what's important is to recognize when you're playing what your wincons are in each particular game.

Hope this helped, it's a pretty open ended question but this is the simplest answer I can give on this thread I think lol

 

[xxart]

Hyper Offense is HO, HOs purpose is essentially having a lead that sets up entry hazards / web / terrain / screens (whatever the goal for the team is), and to have a combination of sweepers and wall breakers.

Hyper Offense is a much faster playstyle in general compared to other types of playstyles. (1 entry setter, mix of 5 breakers / sweepers)

In terms of the 4-5 other mons outside the lead it would be mons that are setting up, choiced specs or band users, as well as booster energy mons. The purpose of it is to deal as much damage / pressure to the opposition the whole entire game and keep them on their toes.

What's a common HO team that I would run if I wanted to squeeze in Ursaluna? I'm assuming Cresselia is my staple entry setter here?

 

[SFNR]

There are a couple questions here so I'll address them separately



Personally, as someone who likes HO a lot myself, I think it comes down to a few factors. One being is it is arguably the strongest playstyle in the meta right now. Two, it's usually pretty easy to use, and games go quickly as well.



This is absolutely viable, in fact, it's not necessarily true that this isn't the case with hyper offence either, as usually you need a lead in order to setup your team, and then a few different sweepers/breakers to win. Teambuilding comes down to a lot of factors, but usually, the process is something along the lines of, choose 2-3 mons that synergize well offensively or defensively, then fill in the gaps in order to cover the weaknesses that core has. I'm not very good at teambuilding, usually I build then get someone else to look at my team and make it better. But that's the general philosophy around it. In 'mons you're always going to have to have a solid core of mons that work well together no matter your playstyle, what's important is to recognize when you're playing what your wincons are in each particular game.

Hope this helped, it's a pretty open ended question but this is the simplest answer I can give on this thread I think lol

Thank you very much for your answer!

what I feel I fail to understand is, how it can be that succesfull when
a) you start with a suicide lead to set hazards, but when the hazards get removed by spin/ defog, you can Not reset them again when your frail hazardsetter is gone
b) how can hyperoffensive pokemon coexist in such a team with no defensive options to switch into when you get walled or a counter appears?

Can someone show me an examples of a good working HO Team and/ or some replays?

thank you in advance!

 

[Red Raven]

Thank you very much for your answer!

what I feel I fail to understand is, how it can be that succesfull when
a) you start with a suicide lead to set hazards, but when the hazards get removed by spin/ defog, you can Not reset them again when your frail hazardsetter is gone
b) how can hyperoffensive pokemon coexist in such a team with no defensive options to switch into when you get walled or a counter appears?

Can someone show me an examples of a good working HO Team and/ or some replays?

thank you in advance!

Because the goal of a hyper offense team is to overwhelm the enemy before they can respond. You're gonna have to sack a lot of mons just to get in a position to deal big damage. You're goal is to pressure the enemy team anyway, you have to play aggressively and deny them the chance to remove your hazards. In most cases, HO teams are very fast paced and want to end the game before roughly 15 turns. If it goes beyond 20 turns, the HO team lost its momentum and probably will lose

 

[xdr]

Thank you very much for your answer!

what I feel I fail to understand is, how it can be that succesfull when
a) you start with a suicide lead to set hazards, but when the hazards get removed by spin/ defog, you can Not reset them again when your frail hazardsetter is gone
b) how can hyperoffensive pokemon coexist in such a team with no defensive options to switch into when you get walled or a counter appears?

Can someone show me an examples of a good working HO Team and/ or some replays?

thank you in advance!

The best explanation is the 'momentum' of the battle. There's an opportunity cost of removing hazards when your opponent has a Pokemon that is threatening to set up or break through your team, and when versus 4-5 Pokemon like you rarely have that opportunity because it's more important to deal with the threat in front of you.

Similarly you can get up hazards early on but keeping them up is not necessary, having a suicide lead like / with focus sash or Steel Beam is helpful to set hazards, but it's just as if not more important to generate that momentum for your team by getting good match ups for your other Pokemon rather than focusing on the hazards.

As for switching, as you get more experienced you become more familiar with approximate damages and resistances and you can still pivot into frail Pokemon without getting knocked out, but also a valid tactic is letting your current Pokemon take the hit and faint and you switch in one that has the better matchup. You only need to win 1-0, sacrificing 5 of your Pokemon to facilitate the last is a perfectly good strategy. ()

Some good HO examples are from MAVERICK SHOOTERS here and wrockstah here, they have good explanations for how to pilot the teams along with replays.

 

[buayagator]

I like HO discussion because its my favorite playstyle

Referring to my team in bazaar https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-ou-bazaar-post-home-edition.3722209/#post-9653865

what is the best mon replacing volcarona as special sweeper? I think its future counterpart can fit very well

 

[Krazy95]

What team styles does Garganacl work best on right now? Building a bulky offense team right now and really want to use it.

 

[awyp]

What team styles does Garganacl work best on right now? Building a bulky offense team right now and really want to use it.

garga works well on balanced teams, I think a good defensive core to look at is garga and toxapex or garga and slowking

 

[pika pal]

Thank you very much for your answer!

what I feel I fail to understand is, how it can be that succesfull when
a) you start with a suicide lead to set hazards, but when the hazards get removed by spin/ defog, you can Not reset them again when your frail hazardsetter is gone
b) how can hyperoffensive pokemon coexist in such a team with no defensive options to switch into when you get walled or a counter appears?

Can someone show me an examples of a good working HO Team and/ or some replays?

thank you in advance!

To add on to some comments made, HO is particularly powerful right now because of a point some have responded to your first question with. Removing Entry hazards is typically a more "passive" action, in that you are not putting pressure on your opponent to make a specific play if you go to remove them, which can give them a chance to exert that pressure on you. HO teams for example will frequently have a win condition, such as SD Sneasler or DD Booster Energy Roaring Moon, where the idea is to overwhelm the opponent so that they can't preserve the Pokemon that would stop those from sweeping and/or give them a free turn to get their Boosting in. Going for Hazard removal can be that set-up turn, and even if the Hazards are gone, the sweeper is now positioned to inflict serious enough damage that they might not be needed anymore.

Another part of it is that in Gen 9, Hazard removal is very sparse. We have 2 notable Hazard removers in OU between Rapid Spin on Great Tusk and Defog on Corviknight, after which the options are more niche or team specific, compared to how many good Hazard setters we have alongside Gholdengo who stops most removers from doing so simply by existing. If your opponent goes to Rapid Spin, they're essentially giving a free turn to set-up or whale on Great Tusk, a mon that's already commonly used as a Glue/Blanket Check to cover a lot of important things.

On the second point, think of HO as Blitzkreig. They try to get away with minimal defensive focused options by simply exerting so much offensive pressure that it's risky for the opponent to mount a counteroffensive such that it would be needed. Even then, there are common HO Pokemon who bring some Defensive power thanks to their typing, stat spread, or simply other power-boosts letting them focus on defenses (most famously Kingambit), they just only go for enough to keep up the attack without blowback rather than weathering a barrage.

 

[Ehmcee]

Is battle bond Greninja not available in Scarlet and Violet? I was under the impression that with the home release, we would be able to transfer it over.

 

[sims796]

Who are the viable screen setters nowadays? Any off the wall ones? I was surprised to find Dragapult finding new work as a screens setter.

 

[awyp]

Who are the viable screen setters nowadays? Any off the wall ones? I was surprised to find Dragapult finding new work as a screens setter.

There's a lot but mainly Dragapult and Grimmsnarl are the top ones, you can also throw Cresselia in there for Lunar Dance.

 

[sims796]

Cresselia sounds sexy, what would that set look like? Tera Steel?

 

[Athyestic]

Cresselia sounds sexy, what would that set look like? Tera Steel?

Check Your Privilege (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison/Fairy/Steel/Fire/wtv
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Moonlight
- Stored Power
is my personal favorite set. though something more splashable is like:
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison/Fairy/Steel/Fire/wtv
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lunar Dance/Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Grass Knot
Or the TR set, which is the one above but with TR instead of Thunder Wave.

 

[Discharged Xurkitree]

I wanted to ask a question about Enamorus, which form is the better one? And which sets are good for enamorus?

 

[awyp]

I wanted to ask a question about Enamorus, which form is the better one? And which sets are good for enamorus?

Honestly they're both pretty good Enamorus-Therian runs either Choice Specs Trick Room (Moves: Moonblast, Mystical Fire, Earth Power, Sludge Bomb / Tera Blast) it also runs a Calm Mind set with Iron Defense and Draining Kiss / Earth Power. It's not super versatile but the movesets it does have are pretty good.

Enamorus-Incarnate run various sets you can find them all here: https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/pokemon/enamorus/

personally I think Enamorus-Incarnate is better, because of speed and versatile sets it can run.

 

[InvisibleWater]

What does Dragapult usually run on a screens set?