SV OU Serperior Rotom-W Skeledirge Hazard Spam Balance (Top 50, Peak 1930)

Magcargo

Magcargo

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FINAL VERSION: https://pokepast.es/eb1b2e1e6fd62e10

Iron Valiant Variant: https://pokepast.es/895e524626ab52f8
:SV/Serperior:
:SV/Skeledirge:
:SV/Ting-Lu:
:SV/Gholdengo:
:SV/Rotom-Wash:
:SV/Weavile:

Introduction​

Hey hey! Everyone's favorite part-time troll, part-time LARPer, full time yapper Magcargo here, bringing you all another heat team, this time featuring Serperior!

Despite the DLC2 metagame being roughly a year and half old, Serperior was never really a mon I made extensive use of. I decided to try building it out like I do any cool mon. Things were going pretty normally, but I noticed the team I built ended up doing really well, far better than most of the teams I have built in the past. Through a bit of ladder grinding + trial and error, I managed to reach a peak of roughly 1930, which is the highest I have ever reached in OU! Now, this isn't exactly special, but reaching this high on ladder with my own team, featuring 3 UU Pokemon, is pretty awesome! Typically I would only be able to perform this well by stealing other players teams, which I don't like doing.

Team itself isn't too unique. Vert used a similar team a while back in a tourney match that also featured Rotom-W / Skeledirge / Serperior + Ting Lu. Still, building the team myself to make an (admittingly worse) squad was nice to help me understand the building process better, which is usually one of my weaker areas.

Teambuilding​

:Serperior:
So I started off the team with Serperior. Despite getting hype early in DLC2, I never really used it much. I thought it had some cool traits in the metagame that it could make use of, between a solid typing for threats like Ogerpon-W and Garganacl, a good speed tier, Synthesis recovery, and Glare to punish switch-ins like Slowking-Galar.
:Serperior:
:Iron Valiant:
My initial idea was to pair Serperior with Iron Valiant. Iron Valiant does a good job of luring and crippling Serprior's checks with moves such as Knock off and Thunderbolt, making it easier for Serperior to sweep later in the game.
:Serperior:
:Iron Valiant:
:Ting-Lu:
Naturally, I decided to add Ting-Lu next to provide entry hazard support and a more direct switch in to Serprior's checks such as Slowking-Galar and Zapdos.
:Serperior:
:Iron Valiant:
:Ting-Lu:
:Gholdengo:
I noticed the team was a bit weak to a few threats such as Zamazneta, Iron Valiant, and Enamorus. I decided to add Choice Scarf Gholdengo as speed control, which had the bonus of assisting in the Corviknight MU.
:Serperior:
:Iron Valiant:
:Ting-Lu:
:Gholdengo:
:Rotom-Wash:
Great Tusk, Iron Treads, and Cinderace were looking like annoying Pokemon to switch into. I decided to add Rotom-W to aid in these match-ups. It naturally pairs well with Gholdengo and I have seen Serprior teams use it as a partner in the past, so it felt like a good fit here. It also can absorb Knock Offs from opposing hazard stack teams well.
:Serperior:
:Iron Valiant:
:Ting-Lu:
:Gholdengo:
:Rotom-Wash:
:Weavile:
Lastly, I decided to add Weavile. It is a situational Knock Off absorber + strong Knock Off user and can also help play around some big threats like Darkrai and Kyurem.
:Serperior:
:Skeledirge:
:Ting-Lu:
:Gholdengo:
:Rotom-Wash:
:Weavile:
The team was generally doing fine, but I found the Dragonite / Zamazenta MUs to be extremely frustrating. Additionally, miscellaneous Fire-Types such as Cinderace and Blaziken were very difficult to play around. After a bit of hesitation, I swapped Iron Valiant for Skeledirge. Despite my skepticism, its been performing pretty well.

The Team​

:SV/Serperior:

Serperior @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Contrary
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 140 HP / 128 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tera Blast
- Synthesis
- Leaf Storm
- Glare​

The mon I built the team around. Serperior can be a pretty solid team player between its alright defensive typing and Glare, letting it check some key Pokemon well like Ogerpon-Wellspring & spread paralysis easily to its checks like Slowking-G, Corviknight, and Moltres. What I like about Serperior compared to other Grass-types like Amoongus is that its not passive at all. In fact, its decent speed and Leaf Storm often let it snowball pretty easily against more offensive structures, especially annoying bullshit cheese like Webs. Contrary also lets it capitalize on potential Crunch drops from Zamazenta looking to catch Ghold / Skeledirge, which is cool. Serp isn't entirely perfect though. I have found it to have some trouble getting past its checks like Moltres and Gking. I think Knock Off or something else like Dragon Pulse might have use over Tera Blast for this reason. That said, I have found the potential ability to OHKO Kingambit, Tinkaton, Gholdengo, and Corviknight + strong immediate pressure of Tera Blast to be difficult to forgo and much more useful in the offense MU compared to the more methodical approach with Knock Off. I also won't pretend like this Pokemon is entirely skill based - Glare cheese makes it easy to get greedy and be rewarded for it. There have been a few times where I relied on Glare para procs to brute force past certain Pokemon or heal with Synthesis - and this ends up working out more than I expect. I recommend other players to be a bit more cautious than me.

I am not sure what the EV Spread does, I stole it from serperiorr because it looked cool + I like bulking mons out when possible.


:SV/Skeledirge:

Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 24 Def / 216 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torch Song
- Slack Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex​

Skeledirge is a last minute addition to the team. Initially I was using Iron Valiant. While Iron Valiant performed better against the various stall teams and broke key Pokemon for Serperior, I found it to make my Dragonite and Zamazenta MUs a bit too difficult, and did not help against the various Fire-types in the tier like Cinderace or Blaziken. Normally I don't like to run Skeledirge for a few reasons:
  • I consider to be a very cheap / annoying Pokemon.
  • Its felt very difficult to properly utilize when I have used it in the past because it is prone to getting overwhelmed
  • It would make the team too similar to Vert's team.
Ultimately, I bit the bullet and decided to add it. To my surprise, its performed much better than I expected. My defensive core can often help take the slack off of it in dealing with a few threats like Zamazenta, and it does the same in return by reduring the need of Ting-Lu, for example, to handle something like Iron Moth. This lets each member of my defensive core specialize in specific match-ups depending on the context of a battle. Notably, it eases pressure off of my Rotom-W from handling Fires, making Rotom more reliable against the Ground-types. It also benefits from the Status spam of the other members of the team, with Serp's paralysis giving it more free turns to Slack Off, and Rotom-W's wisp support making positioning a bit easier. It can make good progress itself against switch-ins with Wisp too.

This is a basic bitch set, but I am thinking that some of Dirge's other options could be more useful. I like Wisp for its "reliability" but I could see Scorching Sands or Alluring Voice being useful for a few annoying MUs like Raging Bolt and Walking Wake. Other shit like Encore and Roar could also be cool. IDK if Water is the best Tera-type, but so far its been doing fine for me.

:SV/Ting-Lu:

Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Ruination
- Whirlwind​

Here it is people, the 2nd most brainless, 0 skill Pokemon behind Gking! I elected to run Ting-Lu because of its ability to capitalize on Gking and Zapdos - big threats to Serperior, while blanket checking 90% of the metagame. Living everything + setting up all the hazards, disrupting with Whirlwind, and spamming Ruination makes several MUs against a lot of teams much easier. A lot of games can be decided by how easy it is for Ting-Lu to do its thing. I elect to run double Hazards on Ting-Lu because Ting-Lu is good at setting up both and I did not want to run Rocks on a different Pokemon. Ruination + Whirlwind is pretty good at making progress against most other threats. I am running Tera Water to better handle the Sun match-up. That said, perhaps another Tera Type like Fairy could be superior. Heavy Duty Boots may also be a better item to run against bulkier teams, but Leftovers recovery has mattered a lot from my experience.

Also, as I was writing this, I just realized my Ting-Lu was Serious Nature this entire time I was laddering.... whoops! Changed the nature to Calm. Hopefully this should make the Raging Bolt MU easier.

:SV/Gholdengo:

Amascut's Promise (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Trick
- Recover​

Normally I am not a fan of using Gholdengo on a Balance team like this (or in general really) because its bulk is a bit middling and its speed and typing can increase a structure's vulnerability to already threatening Pokemon like Darkrai, Great Tusk, and Weavile. That said, this set has been an exception. Scarf Gholdengo kind of acts as an alternative Dragapult that exchanges boots + Status utility with a better defensive typing and alternative utilities between Trick and Recover to help against defensive structures. Scarf also gives Gholdengo greater safety against Great Tusk should it go for Rapid Spin, though be wary as many Great Tusk run Knock Off. Scarf + Shadow Ball are usually enough to allow Gholdengo to clean up games here and there when supplanted by hazards. I've greatly appreciated its ability to check a few Pokemon like Zamazenta, Iron Valiant, Kyurem, opposing Gholdengo, and Darkrai / Weavile. And the ability to counter Corviknight and Slowking-Galar is very useful for Serperior. I was considering swapping it out for Zamazenta after adding Skeledirge if Gambit became too big of a problem. But surprisingly, I have had very few issues with Kingambit. I made the Tera Type Ghost to clean up easier, but truthfully I don't Tera it much. I think Hex could cook with the status support from Serp / Rotom-W / Dirge, but eh, too lazy to try it.

:SV/Rotom-Wash:

slow cycle (Rotom-Wash) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split​

Rotom-W serves as our primary Rocky Helmet Pokemon, switch in to Knock Off, and check to Ground-types such as Iron Treads and Great Tusk. I saw many Serperior teams run it as a partner and I have had good experience running it with Gholdengo in the past, so it seemed like a natural fit. Helmet lets it punish spin attempts, as well as spammed moves from a few other Pokemon like Cinderace U-Turn, Samurott-H Ceaseless Edging, Gambit Iron Head, and Weavile Triple Axel. Rotom-W is unfortunately stretched a bit thin, and against standard offensive squads it won't usually last long because of Rocks chip, hazards making its Pain Split recovery worse + pressure from the common Pokemon like Kingambit and Great Tusk. That said, its a good disrupter in that time frame. Against stall teams, Tera Steel + Pain Split 32 PP give it a strong MU, as does its ability to force out Gliscor, though it is a bit prone to getting its Hydro Pumps PP stalled. Tera Blast or Thunder Wave may have utility in a few annoying MUs, but eh, haven't tried em.

:SV/Weavile:

Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Stellar
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Triple Axel
- Low Kick​

Finally, we have Weavile. Weavile is the main DPS of the team, serving as our main Knock Off user and revenge killer against annoying threats like Cinderace, Gholdengo, Kingambit, Gliscor, and more. I was initially running Swords Dance, but changed to xavgb's all out attacker set with Tera Steller in order to have a better line of defense against Kingambit. Weavile is vital in the fight against stall, and helps the team play around some key Pokemon like Kyurem with its Ice Shard priority. Nothing too complex. Swords Dance + different Tera types like Ghost might have a niche. I think all-out-attacker is better for this team - you can never be too safe against Kingambit.

Threats​

:Hatterene:
Prevents hazards, annoying to switch into because my checks don't like getting Paralyzed.
:Heat Rock:
Sun is incredibly difficult MU. Setting up hazards against them is difficult and I do not have any easy answers to Pokemon such as Walking Wake. Walking Wake also outspeeds everything on this team under Sun.
:Dragonite:
Even with Skeledirge + Rotom-W, it can be hard to stop Dragonite from sweeping given its many set variations.
:Weavile:
:Meowscarada:
:Darkrai:
Very difficult to deal with due to outspeeding most of my team. Weavile hasn't been too bad, but Meowscarada and Darkrai heavily threaten Rotom-W and and are quite difficult to play around.
:Ogerpon-Wellspring:
U-Turn + Knock Off variations or Synthesis variants can be annoying to fight. That said, hazards + Speed control can usually take care of it.
:Garganacl:
Team has no Salt Cure switch-ins and while Serp is a solid check, it needs to play annoying 50/50s with Garg's partners like Moltres and Slowking-G
:Okidogi:
Autoloss on preview. Nothing on my team wants to switch into it because of Knock + Poison and it can deal high damage to checks such as Gholdengo with Knock Off.
:Manaphy:
Tail Glow Ice Beam Energy Ball Surf is annoying to fair, esp if it has Tera.
:Kingambit:
:Kyurem:
On paper big threats, but I haven't found them too difficult to beat whenever I come across them.
:Gliscor:
SD Tera Normal sets + Hazards shred this team.
:Ceruledge:
:Blaziken:
:Quaquaval:
:Polteageist:
:Cloyster:
Bullshit cheesers that will find a way to win.
:Iron Valiant:
Scary Knocker that Ghold / Dirge don't want to switch into. Tera Ghost sets are also difficult to deal with.
:Gholdengo:
Tera Fairy Nasty Plot on Screens is difficult to beat. At the very least, it is slow, so Serp / my own Ghold can revenge kill it with Leaf Storm / Make It Rain. Also stops Rotom-W Pain Split Recovery which makes it incredibly easy to wear down.
:Heatran:
Annoying mon to switch into. Setting up hazards hard vs common team structures.
:Hydreigon:
Has a good MU with most of the team and is difficult to wear down due to levitate.
:Deoxys-Speed:
Nothing on the team wants to switch into it and it is difficult to tell the set at a glance.
:Slowking-Galar:
Even with all the counters in the world, this mon can still be a massive pain because it hard walls serp and can convert that into momentum with Chilly Reception, Fish for poison / burn, or just attack.
:Iron Treads:
:Great Tusk:
Annoying Pokemon because they threaten spinblockers. Knock off variants are the scariest since they can completely fuck up a cheeky Gholdengo swap.
:Ursaluna:
:Hydrapple:
Strong breakers that can man-handle my defensive cores & are difficult to play around.
Status moves missing: This happens a lot with Ruination / Wisp and can fuck you over against a few of the above threats.

Replays​

Shoutouts​

  • JackRG - One of the few people who will tolerate my yapping and give actual feedback to my interesting teams.
  • Iznamakin / StarChewer - Two awesome showdown users that offered interesting suggestions and helped me deal with the stress during the climb to the 1900s.
  • serperiorr / quacc / Lily / xavgb - Stole miscellaneous tech from you all.
  • Vert - Most of the team is just a shitty copy of the one you made last year. Still, I thought that team was extremely fire, and showed that balance was more versatile than running the standard Corv King Lu shit. Thank you for producing the greatest heat, and I wish you the best in whatever you are up against.
  • CTC - As the inventor of Serp x Rotom-W x Chandelure core in gen 6, I have to pay my respects to the lead goat. I will forever defend Gliscor and Kyurem in your name.
  • DaddyBuzzwole - A true freedom fighter against the tyranny of the OU Monarchy. I will forever defend Kyurem and Gliscor in your name.
  • 1LDK / FayaWizard - These two are one in the same, challenging me at every corner. Thankfully, as usual, I prove them wrong each and every time. The snail always wins!
  • SetsuSetsuna - One of the few users who sees my vision. They make the OU forum and Showdown a better place with their presence.
Probably will shout out more people later, idk.


Anyways that's all. Back into the catacombs I go.
 
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Love to see creative stuff, always nice to see anti-meta builds succeed at high level !

Especially like the inclusion of Serperior, I think it’s a smart pick. When I’m building offense or bulky offense, I’m always on the lookout for reliable offensive answers to Ogerpon-Wellspring, and I usually find myself defaulting to Pecharunt or Sinistcha, so seeing Serperior is really refreshing. I’ll definitely try fitting it in my builds more often.

Anyway, I’m super happy I could help out in some way, def let me know if you need some advice or anything else !

Congrats on the peak !
Next : 2000 ELO

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