SV OU Helmet Torn-T + Specs Kyurem Balance. Hit Top 500 with it for the first time :D

[lllbisgod]

Intro: While I was studying for my exams this past week, I frequently went between studying and ladder matches to feed my mons addiction while ensuring I don't fail College. Gen 9 OU is the first time I've played OU at an age where I understand the game and I've been loving it since the tier came out. I love the building process and will build with anything that peaks my interest, whether it's a trash mon or Tusk. Recently, I've been enjoying a lot of Blimax's content and I love how he builds his teams. This team features the same defensive core in Blim's Mabostiff video, with tweaks to the sets and a more opposing breaker. I've reached my peak elo with this team at 1721 and consider it one of my favourite builds ever. As much as a LeBron lie this might sound, I built this squad before seeing Blim's vid but I don't doubt a core like this was sitting in his builder for a while so he deserves the most credit for this core. I don't usually build Balance cuz I suck at using them and I find it harder to build in comparison to Fatter or Offence teams. I'm also new to building since the last time I built a team was when I was 12 and Aegi was legal in XY (bring them back TPC) I've climbed roughly 300 point with this build so far and will make an attempt at Volc suspects with it after my exams.

(top 500)

The Mons:

Blizzy Brake (Kyurem) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power

Kyurem: Guarding specs Blizzard is like guarding Victor Wembanyama, its impossible. Kyurem is the main damage dealer and what typically wins me games since it usually claims a kill when it's switched in. The defence boost it gets from snow lets you live stuff like Dragapult Darts and Ogerpon-W Play Rough. Decided on using tera ice for harder blizzards and to still keep the snow boost, also the team has enough defensive teras so there's no reason for the fairy tera flip IMO. I try sending out Kyurem as much as I can in the early game when no hazards are up, he can often take the role of clearing the path for the late game Dozo sweep or the rare Tusk sweep.

(its gucc adlib) (Great Tusk) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner

Great Tusk: Like I said in the intro, I love watching Blim and I decided to try out the Industry's finest creation for the first time, and it's an absolute beast. Tusk is the main defensive wall on this team. This team hates Gambit and while the tera ghost doesn't help the matchup, it's primary typing alongside Bulk Up makes it very hard for Gambit to come out alive. Tusk also provides Spin support, which is much needed on this team since I only have one boots user. The Industry's Tusk is also great into other Bulk Up Tusks which can cause a lot of problems for this team if Dozo is resting. I kept the tera type as ghost just as a fail-safe against Zamazenta but it's rare I tera Tusk during my games.

SKYWALKER (Tornadus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- Bleakwind Storm
- Taunt
- U-turn

Torn-t: This is easily my favourite mon on the team, people are sleeping on this shit. I went with helmet cuz i don't like Torn-T with boots, it feels useless. Helmet is nice for chipping stuff like Lando, Ace, Zama and Pult as an example. I went with 352 speed cuz there's no reason to outspeed Ace for taunt when my team has 0 hazards and I wanted to be faster than Ogerpon-W. Max speed works if you want to taunt Moon but I like the 88 EVs rounding out its defence stat a little more. Taunt is probably the best move on this guy, it forces out stuff like Gliscor allowing me to U-Turn and get some free momentum. Taunt also denies Mola's Wish passing and with helmet, it won't recover as my from Regen. Also taunting set-up mons is a must. Tera doesn't really matter on this, I tried dragon to resist Oger but switched to dark cuz this team hates ghost and dark types, and i have no real Future Sight switch in. Steel also works but I didn't go with it because I feared I'll be too weak to ground.

Slowking-Gyat (Slowking-Galar) (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Focus Blast
- Toxic
- Chilly Reception

Slowking-Galar: You already know what this guy does, Future Sight up, chilly to Kyurem and win. Slowking-G is my main special wall for stuff like Prima and Val, it's also really nice at absorbing Grassy Glide if Torn-T is too weak. This set is still iffy to me but I like signing up for the 70% on chipping/killing Darkrai or Gambit on the switch. I went with Colbur over Shuca so I can stay in on Gambit and Rai if I get the 30%. Still unsure if I want tera fight but it deals with dark moves without being weak to Iron Head. I decided Toxic over T-wave for Volc that has Giga Drain, also to mitigate Bolt if I don't feel like risking Kyurem to the possible tera fairy. The volt-turn between Torn-T and this is really threatening and can gain momentum pretty easy with the threat of Knock + Future Sight.

Pockets on Dozo (Dondozo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Liquidation
- Rest

Dondozo: Another mon I think is super underrated in this meta, probably because fitting this on a lot of teams isn't easy. Spdef Dozo is my closer, since Im super weak to Pult and Ghold, they are typically the last mons alive in the endgame and the tera flip to normal is a great way to punish choice locked Shadow Ball or Hex if im resting. Dozo also owns Volc unless its Giga, so toxic on Glowking helps combat that. I stole this set from that one tournament game where it won down 1-6 (i think it was crying that was using it). Max SpDef also helps in the early game just as a check to things like Iron Moth or if Glowking isn't high enough HP. Unaware is also a life saver if you let Prima CM too much. Mono Liquid is unviable when Oger-W is running around so I had to sacrifice Sleep Talk, but BS is probably more threatening when dozo teras. Dozo is usually who I tera the most when playing this team.

AceLaGoob (Cinderace) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Sucker Punch
- Court Change
- U-turn

Cinderace: Since Ace is the only one with boots on this squad and I have 0 hazards, its a perfect fit. I went with offensive cuz the defensive core is already good and this teams speed control is a joke so Sucker Punch is a must. Ace also has great Synergy with Torn-T and Glowking, allowing the volt-turn vortex to work. Glim doesn't have a hard time getting hazards up against this squad since my best course of action for killing it is Kyurem and Dozo which don't like getting hit by Power Gem and Mortal Spin.

How I Play the Team and Why I Built it: All these guys have amazing synergy, with the double removal, the triple pivoting and the snow for Kyuerm. Typically, I'll lead with Torn-T, troll with Knock and Taunt, then try to get Kyurem under snow and just click the right move. Nothing much to think about which is probably why this is my most successful build behind CM Unaware Clef under misty. Like I said earlier, Kyurem is unguardable so it's usually getting 1-2 kills a game and living shit its not suppose to like Darts. Bulk up tusk is a safety net if I'm too weak in the Gambit endgame, which happens a lot. I focus on removing Dozo's checks because it closes out games after getting 2-3 curses off. It's STABs after tera having high hax chances can also force a lot of terrible positions for the opponent. Breaking through Tusk and Glowking is very hard, especially when I can pivot between them with Torn-T getting constant Regen. This team originally started with Torn-T since I've been watching old SM OU games and found it to destroy that meta. I also wanted to try blizzard Kyurem cuz that been owning me when I was trapped in the 1400s. With these three, and the lack of boots, Tusk and Ace are mandatory to compliment the Torn-T and Glowking vortex. SpDef dozo was a last minute call. Originally it was gonna be tera normal Hat to punish choiced ghost move but then Volc and Ghold would feast on this team. Dozo and Torn-t are the MVPs of this team. They check so much in the meta with knock + taunt and Spdef Dozo is a huge threat in endgame scenarios. Dozo is the mon I'm teraing the most, defensively and offensively the normal typing is amazing since the only fighting moves I come across often CC and BP which do nothing if it's been cursing.

Weaknesses/Pokemon I Struggle With: Not being able to fit hazards sucks a lot but it hasn't been the end of the world. A lot of games do dragged out with the lack of hazards and missing chip on stuff like Gliscor or Lando is annoying.

Dragapult is who fear the most with this team. All sets have a way to deal with my guys, Specs Draco for Dozo, Wisp Hex for the other guys. I usually counter it with Torn-T helmet on U-Turn, Torn-T knock/bleak on the stay in. If it's running boots, I'm fine with sacking Kyurem's HP because it will leave it under snow. This is also why I wanted Sucker Punch on Ace.

If Darkrai gets a plot off then the game gets shiesty asf. U-Turning on it or keeping my Dozo at full HP are my best ways to work around it. I find this probably just as threatening as Pult.

Taunt Roaring Moon is a hydrogen bomb to this team, but I haven't played it yet so I can't confirm on any counterplay.

Walking Wake under the sun fucks shit up, banded Goug owns this build too if Tusk isn't healthy.

I hate going against Glimmora and honestly pray it takes rocks over chip on Kyurem.

Unfortunately, I haven't faced any Stall with this build, so I can give real examples on the matchup. However, I imagine it to pretty rough. If I were to play Stall, I would probably just spam Future Sight + Ice Beam and try to eat at Blissey's Softs, since it's the only thing in Kyurem's way from Blizzarding everything else.

Replays (you know we don't post loses lmao): Some replays of me cooking with the squad.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2104083941?p2 Dozo won if I Lead it lmao.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2103287951?p2 Torn-T shows off how annoying it can be.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2103363098?p2 Torn-T being annoying into Dozo win.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2102582187?p2 Playing around Band Pult


Unfortunately, I haven't had that much time testing this team, outside of the climb I did from 1400 to 1721 and a tiny bit of Suspect Reqs. However, I have a strong belief that this team in better hands can go far on the ladder.

Shoutout The Industry.

The PokePaste: https://pokepast.es/61d77b545031c18f
Reply
Edit Report

 

[EeveeWillEatYou]

Super cool team, I really think torn is quite the solid mon in OU rn

 

[leng loi]

Hi friend, very cool team. I like the ancient crying tech of tera normal Dondozo especially. I can see some issues with it beyond what you've listed, and I'm going to make some suggested edits to try to address these issues.

• Lack of real speed control makes Dragapult, Darkrai, Roaring Moon, etc. hard to deal with.
• Tusk as your only (slow) ground type makes Raging Bolt a huge problem, as Slowking can be knocked and pressured by mixed attackers/special breakers.
• Glimmora HOs put you on the back foot immediately.
• There is little resiliency against Kingambit, so chipping Tusk and Dozo/forcing it to Rest is a very clear winpath. I see the Colbur Focus Blast Slowking but that is fairly unreliable.
• You lack a ghost resist without tera.

I was going to try to remedy these issues without changing the structure of the team too much. However I ran into blocks where I was creating drafts with too many holes to meet my personal standards. Therefore I'm going to give you two edits that are a little further away from the original team. The first preserves Torn, Kyurem, and Glowking, while the latter preserves Kyurem, Cinderace, and Glowking. I know this approach is a little heavy-handed, but I found that trying to manage Kyurem + Cinderace + Torn on one team that was meant to be a balance structure left too many holes because they each provide next to no defensive utility.

Team 1: (Click sprites for paste)

• A lot of this edit was focused on creating a more well rounded matchup spread. I had to make some weird choices such as fast Taunt Ting-Lu (first seen on this VertXXX team) and HDB Valiant in order to feel comfortable into Kingambit and especially opposing Stall/Fat Balance.
• Ting Lu gives you a much needed Ghost resist and Electric immunity.
• The first change is making this HDB Kyurem. You can go with a more standard set but I have liked DD Special on some teams after seeing it on an Empo team because it can lure Dondozo and cripple stall.
• HDB Torn is used because we remove hazard removal and turn this into a bootspam team. Similarly, Slowking-G runs boots here as well.
• Deoxys provides a secondary Knocker, a way to force out Gliscor, and speed control to act as an important defensive disruptor against offense.
• I used tera Steel on Deoxys and Torn to help against Poison Jab Gliscor.
• Valiant runs SpA investment to 2hko SpD Mola after Rocks (since you've hopefully knocked it).

Team 2: (Click sprites for paste)

• This version I had a little more fun with. Though we still wanted to be solid against most things. For that reason it looks a lot like some standard tournament teams but with some techs.
• We retain Specs Kyu here because Cinderace and Chilly Glowking are excellent enablers for it. No notes here except making Slowking HDB for reliability.
• Next is SD Gliscor for a Ground and Electric immune (crucially outspeeding Modest Raging Bolt) and a great breaker against Balance.
• Kingambit is another physical breaker, a Kingambit check with Jolly Low Kick and Tera Ghost, and a Ghost Resist.
• Zamazenta is an oddball pick, but only really in its' set choice. Feel free to run a more standard boots attacker or even Iron Defense, though I would recommend an AoA set to be a more reliable speed control and revenge killer than ID Press.

Hope you enjoy these builds. I'm sorry that I couldn't make Tera Normal Dozo work in the time I had. I actually had planned on making a team with either Normal Dozo or Covert Cloak Spdef Tera Dark a few weeks ago but couldn't make something satisfactory. Let me know how it goes!

 

[lllbisgod]

Hi friend, very cool team. I like the ancient crying tech of tera normal Dondozo especially. I can see some issues with it beyond what you've listed, and I'm going to make some suggested edits to try to address these issues.

• Lack of real speed control makes Dragapult, Darkrai, Roaring Moon, etc. hard to deal with.
• Tusk as your only (slow) ground type makes Raging Bolt a huge problem, as Slowking can be knocked and pressured by mixed attackers/special breakers.
• Glimmora HOs put you on the back foot immediately.
• There is little resiliency against Kingambit, so chipping Tusk and Dozo/forcing it to Rest is a very clear winpath. I see the Colbur Focus Blast Slowking but that is fairly unreliable.
• You lack a ghost resist without tera.

I was going to try to remedy these issues without changing the structure of the team too much. However I ran into blocks where I was creating drafts with too many holes to meet my personal standards. Therefore I'm going to give you two edits that are a little further away from the original team. The first preserves Torn, Kyurem, and Glowking, while the latter preserves Kyurem, Cinderace, and Glowking. I know this approach is a little heavy-handed, but I found that trying to manage Kyurem + Cinderace + Torn on one team that was meant to be a balance structure left too many holes because they each provide next to no defensive utility.

Team 1: (Click sprites for paste)

• A lot of this edit was focused on creating a more well rounded matchup spread. I had to make some weird choices such as fast Taunt Ting-Lu (first seen on this VertXXX team) and HDB Valiant in order to feel comfortable into Kingambit and especially opposing Stall/Fat Balance.
• Ting Lu gives you a much needed Ghost resist and Electric immunity.
• The first change is making this HDB Kyurem. You can go with a more standard set but I have liked DD Special on some teams after seeing it on an Empo team because it can lure Dondozo and cripple stall.
• HDB Torn is used because we remove hazard removal and turn this into a bootspam team. Similarly, Slowking-G runs boots here as well.
• Deoxys provides a secondary Knocker, a way to force out Gliscor, and speed control to act as an important defensive disruptor against offense.
• I used tera Steel on Deoxys and Torn to help against Poison Jab Gliscor.
• Valiant runs SpA investment to 2hko SpD Mola after Rocks (since you've hopefully knocked it).

Team 2: (Click sprites for paste)

• This version I had a little more fun with. Though we still wanted to be solid against most things. For that reason it looks a lot like some standard tournament teams but with some techs.
• We retain Specs Kyu here because Cinderace and Chilly Glowking are excellent enablers for it. No notes here except making Slowking HDB for reliability.
• Next is SD Gliscor for a Ground and Electric immune (crucially outspeeding Modest Raging Bolt) and a great breaker against Balance.
• Kingambit is another physical breaker, a Kingambit check with Jolly Low Kick and Tera Ghost, and a Ghost Resist.
• Zamazenta is an oddball pick, but only really in its' set choice. Feel free to run a more standard boots attacker or even Iron Defense, though I would recommend an AoA set to be a more reliable speed control and revenge killer than ID Press.

Hope you enjoy these builds. I'm sorry that I couldn't make Tera Normal Dozo work in the time I had. I actually had planned on making a team with either Normal Dozo or Covert Cloak Spdef Tera Dark a few weeks ago but couldn't make something satisfactory. Let me know how it goes!

Those are some cool edits and I'll try them out when I feel like laddering. I 100% understand why you couldn't fit Dozo on these structures cuz it goes against the offence and speed stuff like Val and Deo-S provide. I'd probably prefer the second edit over the first because Zama+Kyurem look like they open a good path to a Gambit win. Like you said Cind and Gking can still easily enable Kyurem and to me Zama is one of the scariest pokemon in the meta, whether boots or ID and I love using it.