Hi there. I’m softshellcrabcakes, or if you’ve bumped into me on ladder, dataexpunged. I’m part of the wave of players who started playing Gen 3 OU because of Jimothy Cool, and have been laddering for about 2 years now.
Ninjask has always been one of my favorite Pokémon. I always thought it was cool how for whatever reason, one of the fastest Pokémon in the game was not an obvious pick like a cheetah or a falcon or something, but a cicada. So when I started playing, it made me a little sad to come into this metagame and see how reviled Ninjask was. I took it as a challenge to prove that Ninjask could do things on its own merit, no SpeedPass, no Toxic, no Sand Attack, just itself.
During my time laddering, I’ve become one of those insane people who runs the same team over and over (though I’ve been trying to branch out lately). Essentially, I’ve been using Blue Offense but with Choice Band Ninjask instead of Hera or Medi. A few months ago, on March 28th, 2025, I was able to hit #1 on the ladder with this team. Thus, while I’m still going to talk about the tweaks I’ve made to the standard Blue Offense structure, and how I like to pilot Blue Offense, a lot of this post is going to be about my findings about CB Ninjask, since that’s where I think I’ll have the most things to say that people haven’t heard already.
Of course, at the time of writing this, Gen 3 OU is currently suspect testing SpeedPass. While this team does not utilize SpeedPass, part of CB Ninjask’s power is bluffing SpeedPass. So a lot will change contextually if it does get banned. Even if that happens, I want to write this just to document what I’ve accomplished and found, so I’m writing this now, just a few days before the results of the suspect come through. If you're reading this from the future and SpeedPass is banned, I've made sure to separate my writing about Ninjask into parts that are relevant to bluffing SpeedPass, and parts that aren't.
Without further ado, here’s the team. This is my first RMT, so I hope you enjoy!
ginyu (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SpA / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Roar
Like the 2015 Blue Offense sample, I’ve been using lead Suicune on this team. I think it’s a little matchup fishy– you pretty much have to switch straight out of Zapdos into Snorlax. Getting a Calm Mind in the face of Tar switching out is nice, though. I almost always stay in and pump vs Lead Meta, because I’ve found sometimes they like to EQ instead of Booming, and going to Mag or Meta means you’re down a mon for no reason. If they go Celebi and you’re at +1, I like to stay in and Ice Beam on their Leech Seed or grass move. Lately, I’ve actually been running 263 Speed Suicune because I’m tired of getting walloped by Breloom lead, but I figured I should make the RMT with the version of the team that actually got to #1.
recoome (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 244 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Self-Destruct
Snorlax set from the same Blue Offense sample. This guy and Ninjask give you a pretty nice matchup into SpecOff: At full health, Lax comes in on most special threats, and Ninjask can threaten Starmie and Celebi, and a lot of other chipped special threats to help ease the pressure on Lax. Still, this guy is probably under too much pressure as my answer to special threats. I kind of just took this spread from the 2015 sample, so you've got a better set to suggest, let me know.
guldo (Magneton) @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Screech
- Toxic
Magneton! My buddy boy! My guy! I’d love to have the room to run HP Grass but it becomes quite difficult to deal with Forre without HP Fire. Often after trapping, you’ll find Tar coming in-- I’m a believer in staying in and clicking Thunderbolt. Because this team is missing the breaking power of Hera or Medi, I use Screech to help deal with bulky last mons. Toxic is nice to give the finger to non-refresh Pert before they kill you. After you’ve trapped Skarm, I do sometimes like to switch this guy in on Zap or Gar to get some chip damage in.
jeice (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Brick Break
Standard MixMence. This guy is the glue that covers a lot of random enemy mons. I usually bring this guy right in when Pert comes in on Meta, or when I think anything is going to EQ. This guy invites in Gengar and Starmie, both of which it feels really good to DClaw on the switch. If I’m speed tying with enemy Mence, I say out loud, at my computer, “I love my Pokémon more than you, so I win the speed tie!!”. I’ve been considering trying out Pump instead of HP Grass.
16 (Metagross) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Explosion
Since Ninjask is already our CB user, I use Agility Meta on this team as our Rock resist and late game cleaner (I was finding having CB on both mons made this team too exploitable). I like to switch him into Tar and enemy Meta/Lax. Since this is Meta, sometimes you just get a +1 from Mash, boost up, and steal the whole game. I run Lum Berry because I find this team doesn’t always have the best answers to status, but I think Lefties are still probably good. I’m possibly thinking of turning this back to CB Meta and leading with it instead of Suicune, which I know is what many Blue Offense structures do these days.
burter (Ninjask) @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 48 SpD / 208 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Silver Wind
- Aerial Ace
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Shadow Ball
The star of this RMT. I run a few Special Defense EVs because the only thing you should consistently be directly switching this guy in on is Celebi, and they help you live in the event they click HP Fire or Psychic. The Speed EVs get you to 208 Speed, which creeps +2 bulky Tar and some +1 Mences. I don’t run BP even to pivot, but if you had to switch out a move for it, I’d say Aerial Ace or maybe Shadow Ball.
So, because a possible SpeedPass ban is imminent, I’ll split the rest of my writing about this guy into two sections– stuff you can do if you can bluff SpeedPass, and stuff you can do regardless of being able to bluff or not.
I’ll start with the former. If you’re reading this section from the future and SpeedPass has been banned, consider this a historical text. One of CB Jask’s strengths is that you have great surprise value. After a teammate dies to a mon like Gar, Offmie, Zard, or Molt, you can bring in Jask. Most of these will stay in on you to try and break what they think will be a sub, especially if you’ve already trapped Skarm, and you’ll just KO them for essentially free. You can also come in and do the same thing on a predicted HP Grass aimed at Suicune from Zard or Molt. If Zapdos has taken enough chip, you can also come in to kill them with HP Rock. Tar and Mence will also often dance in your face, not expecting you to hit them, and because of Speed Boost you’ll still outspeed them (this allows you to 2HKO Tar, but if you’re Intimidated you sadly do not get the 2HKO on Mence). If the only move you’ve revealed is Silver Wind, many often do not realize that you’re CB, especially if sand isn’t present to reveal no Lefties, and you can keep the surprise going. Of course, this won’t work on opponents if they remember you. If CB Ninjask ONLY had surprise value going for it, this would end here. But I genuinely do think it has good traits besides this surprise value.
Ninjask is, obviously, really fast! You’re even faster than Aero and Jolt. Because most Agility/Salac threats invest in just enough Speed to outrun Aero and Jolt, Ninjask is one of the only things that can outspeed those threats after they’ve boosted. I found this most relevant vs Agility Meta. If one of your other Pokémon is able to boom on +2 Meta, Ninjask can come in and clean it up with Silver Wind. Ninjask is also able to outspeed Salac Hera, which can really save your life when it comes down to it.
With HP Rock, you also have a 56.3% chance to OHKO Aero. While, yeah, it really sucks that you don’t always get the kill, this is slightly better odds than trying to speed tie with your own Aero, especially factoring in Rock Slide miss, and if Aero has taken any chip, you KO them outright. If the Aerodactyl is running Substitute + Liechi Berry, you’re one of the only Pokémon that can reliably outspeed to get the Sub out of the way for your teammates, and if they try to Sub in your face when you click HP Rock, you basically stop them entirely.
While I'm comparing it to Aero, it really hurts to lose out on the big damage of banded Double Edge and Earthquake, but you’re able to run Bug, Flying, and Ghost coverage all at the same time without even using your Hidden Power slot, which is really nice. This makes you excellent at revenge KOing Gengar and Offensive Starmie from full health. Shadow Ball has a 87.5% chance to OHKO Defensive Gengar, while Aerodactyl’s HP Ghost only has a 18.8% chance to OHKO. Similarly, your Silver Wind OHKOs OffMie outright, while Aerodactyl’s HP Bug or Ghost has a 12.5% or 18.8% chance to OHKO, respectively.
Ironically, this guy also has kind of an amusing matchup into enemy SpeedPass. You outspeed a lot of boosted SpeedPass threats, notably Hariyama. If you KO something vs JaskPass, you basically stop enemy Ninjask from coming in anymore because they won’t be able to maintain a sub in front of you, and you even have Aerial Ace to stop any funny business with Sand Attack. If Zapdos tries to Agility in front of you expecting a sub, you can surprise them with HP Rock, too. Theoretically, you could even run 220 Speed EVs to outspeed +1 Smeargle, but I don’t think I’ve been in a game where that’s relevant. Anyway, if you encounter the same opponent more than once, they can play around you by boosting more than would normally be necessary (this happened to me vs hclat doing the UUBL challenge), so it’s by no means a consistent counter to SpeedPass, but it has happened enough that I wanted to note it here.
Of course, CB Jask has lots of flaws. He thuds really hard into a lot of bulky mons like Pert, Rachi, the blobs, Meta, Milo, and Suicune. He’s got a very, very bad matchup into stall, to the point where I think he’s basically just there to smack Claydol and bait in Skarm for Mag. So, in terms of feedback, I’d really love suggestions for helping this team’s kind of terrible stall matchup. If I were to switch out a mon to help with that, I think it’d probably be Meta or maybe Lax or MixMence. Dunno. I’m not the best builder, so I'd love advice.
All in all, I’ve had a lot of fun using this team. I’m happy to have gotten #1 with this team, but I don’t think it’s as consistent as it could be; I have yet to breach 1800 again since then. But I hope this is at least some proof that Ninjask is capable of doing cool stuff without being reliant on SpeedPass. Whether SpeedPass gets banned or not, this is a metagame I love dearly, and I’ll keep trying to make this guy work. Though I of course run into people who get mad at CB Jask every now and then, the amount of people on ladder I’ve met who’ve thought CB Jask was cool has been much, much higher, and that’s really kept me going.
Replays:
For fun, a few replays vs SpeedPass:
Thanks so much for reading!
Ninjask has always been one of my favorite Pokémon. I always thought it was cool how for whatever reason, one of the fastest Pokémon in the game was not an obvious pick like a cheetah or a falcon or something, but a cicada. So when I started playing, it made me a little sad to come into this metagame and see how reviled Ninjask was. I took it as a challenge to prove that Ninjask could do things on its own merit, no SpeedPass, no Toxic, no Sand Attack, just itself.
During my time laddering, I’ve become one of those insane people who runs the same team over and over (though I’ve been trying to branch out lately). Essentially, I’ve been using Blue Offense but with Choice Band Ninjask instead of Hera or Medi. A few months ago, on March 28th, 2025, I was able to hit #1 on the ladder with this team. Thus, while I’m still going to talk about the tweaks I’ve made to the standard Blue Offense structure, and how I like to pilot Blue Offense, a lot of this post is going to be about my findings about CB Ninjask, since that’s where I think I’ll have the most things to say that people haven’t heard already.
Of course, at the time of writing this, Gen 3 OU is currently suspect testing SpeedPass. While this team does not utilize SpeedPass, part of CB Ninjask’s power is bluffing SpeedPass. So a lot will change contextually if it does get banned. Even if that happens, I want to write this just to document what I’ve accomplished and found, so I’m writing this now, just a few days before the results of the suspect come through. If you're reading this from the future and SpeedPass is banned, I've made sure to separate my writing about Ninjask into parts that are relevant to bluffing SpeedPass, and parts that aren't.
Without further ado, here’s the team. This is my first RMT, so I hope you enjoy!
ginyu (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SpA / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Roar
Like the 2015 Blue Offense sample, I’ve been using lead Suicune on this team. I think it’s a little matchup fishy– you pretty much have to switch straight out of Zapdos into Snorlax. Getting a Calm Mind in the face of Tar switching out is nice, though. I almost always stay in and pump vs Lead Meta, because I’ve found sometimes they like to EQ instead of Booming, and going to Mag or Meta means you’re down a mon for no reason. If they go Celebi and you’re at +1, I like to stay in and Ice Beam on their Leech Seed or grass move. Lately, I’ve actually been running 263 Speed Suicune because I’m tired of getting walloped by Breloom lead, but I figured I should make the RMT with the version of the team that actually got to #1.
recoome (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 244 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Self-Destruct
Snorlax set from the same Blue Offense sample. This guy and Ninjask give you a pretty nice matchup into SpecOff: At full health, Lax comes in on most special threats, and Ninjask can threaten Starmie and Celebi, and a lot of other chipped special threats to help ease the pressure on Lax. Still, this guy is probably under too much pressure as my answer to special threats. I kind of just took this spread from the 2015 sample, so you've got a better set to suggest, let me know.
guldo (Magneton) @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Screech
- Toxic
Magneton! My buddy boy! My guy! I’d love to have the room to run HP Grass but it becomes quite difficult to deal with Forre without HP Fire. Often after trapping, you’ll find Tar coming in-- I’m a believer in staying in and clicking Thunderbolt. Because this team is missing the breaking power of Hera or Medi, I use Screech to help deal with bulky last mons. Toxic is nice to give the finger to non-refresh Pert before they kill you. After you’ve trapped Skarm, I do sometimes like to switch this guy in on Zap or Gar to get some chip damage in.
jeice (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Brick Break
Standard MixMence. This guy is the glue that covers a lot of random enemy mons. I usually bring this guy right in when Pert comes in on Meta, or when I think anything is going to EQ. This guy invites in Gengar and Starmie, both of which it feels really good to DClaw on the switch. If I’m speed tying with enemy Mence, I say out loud, at my computer, “I love my Pokémon more than you, so I win the speed tie!!”. I’ve been considering trying out Pump instead of HP Grass.
16 (Metagross) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Explosion
Since Ninjask is already our CB user, I use Agility Meta on this team as our Rock resist and late game cleaner (I was finding having CB on both mons made this team too exploitable). I like to switch him into Tar and enemy Meta/Lax. Since this is Meta, sometimes you just get a +1 from Mash, boost up, and steal the whole game. I run Lum Berry because I find this team doesn’t always have the best answers to status, but I think Lefties are still probably good. I’m possibly thinking of turning this back to CB Meta and leading with it instead of Suicune, which I know is what many Blue Offense structures do these days.
burter (Ninjask) @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 48 SpD / 208 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Silver Wind
- Aerial Ace
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Shadow Ball
The star of this RMT. I run a few Special Defense EVs because the only thing you should consistently be directly switching this guy in on is Celebi, and they help you live in the event they click HP Fire or Psychic. The Speed EVs get you to 208 Speed, which creeps +2 bulky Tar and some +1 Mences. I don’t run BP even to pivot, but if you had to switch out a move for it, I’d say Aerial Ace or maybe Shadow Ball.
So, because a possible SpeedPass ban is imminent, I’ll split the rest of my writing about this guy into two sections– stuff you can do if you can bluff SpeedPass, and stuff you can do regardless of being able to bluff or not.
I’ll start with the former. If you’re reading this section from the future and SpeedPass has been banned, consider this a historical text. One of CB Jask’s strengths is that you have great surprise value. After a teammate dies to a mon like Gar, Offmie, Zard, or Molt, you can bring in Jask. Most of these will stay in on you to try and break what they think will be a sub, especially if you’ve already trapped Skarm, and you’ll just KO them for essentially free. You can also come in and do the same thing on a predicted HP Grass aimed at Suicune from Zard or Molt. If Zapdos has taken enough chip, you can also come in to kill them with HP Rock. Tar and Mence will also often dance in your face, not expecting you to hit them, and because of Speed Boost you’ll still outspeed them (this allows you to 2HKO Tar, but if you’re Intimidated you sadly do not get the 2HKO on Mence). If the only move you’ve revealed is Silver Wind, many often do not realize that you’re CB, especially if sand isn’t present to reveal no Lefties, and you can keep the surprise going. Of course, this won’t work on opponents if they remember you. If CB Ninjask ONLY had surprise value going for it, this would end here. But I genuinely do think it has good traits besides this surprise value.
Ninjask is, obviously, really fast! You’re even faster than Aero and Jolt. Because most Agility/Salac threats invest in just enough Speed to outrun Aero and Jolt, Ninjask is one of the only things that can outspeed those threats after they’ve boosted. I found this most relevant vs Agility Meta. If one of your other Pokémon is able to boom on +2 Meta, Ninjask can come in and clean it up with Silver Wind. Ninjask is also able to outspeed Salac Hera, which can really save your life when it comes down to it.
With HP Rock, you also have a 56.3% chance to OHKO Aero. While, yeah, it really sucks that you don’t always get the kill, this is slightly better odds than trying to speed tie with your own Aero, especially factoring in Rock Slide miss, and if Aero has taken any chip, you KO them outright. If the Aerodactyl is running Substitute + Liechi Berry, you’re one of the only Pokémon that can reliably outspeed to get the Sub out of the way for your teammates, and if they try to Sub in your face when you click HP Rock, you basically stop them entirely.
While I'm comparing it to Aero, it really hurts to lose out on the big damage of banded Double Edge and Earthquake, but you’re able to run Bug, Flying, and Ghost coverage all at the same time without even using your Hidden Power slot, which is really nice. This makes you excellent at revenge KOing Gengar and Offensive Starmie from full health. Shadow Ball has a 87.5% chance to OHKO Defensive Gengar, while Aerodactyl’s HP Ghost only has a 18.8% chance to OHKO. Similarly, your Silver Wind OHKOs OffMie outright, while Aerodactyl’s HP Bug or Ghost has a 12.5% or 18.8% chance to OHKO, respectively.
Ironically, this guy also has kind of an amusing matchup into enemy SpeedPass. You outspeed a lot of boosted SpeedPass threats, notably Hariyama. If you KO something vs JaskPass, you basically stop enemy Ninjask from coming in anymore because they won’t be able to maintain a sub in front of you, and you even have Aerial Ace to stop any funny business with Sand Attack. If Zapdos tries to Agility in front of you expecting a sub, you can surprise them with HP Rock, too. Theoretically, you could even run 220 Speed EVs to outspeed +1 Smeargle, but I don’t think I’ve been in a game where that’s relevant. Anyway, if you encounter the same opponent more than once, they can play around you by boosting more than would normally be necessary (this happened to me vs hclat doing the UUBL challenge), so it’s by no means a consistent counter to SpeedPass, but it has happened enough that I wanted to note it here.
Of course, CB Jask has lots of flaws. He thuds really hard into a lot of bulky mons like Pert, Rachi, the blobs, Meta, Milo, and Suicune. He’s got a very, very bad matchup into stall, to the point where I think he’s basically just there to smack Claydol and bait in Skarm for Mag. So, in terms of feedback, I’d really love suggestions for helping this team’s kind of terrible stall matchup. If I were to switch out a mon to help with that, I think it’d probably be Meta or maybe Lax or MixMence. Dunno. I’m not the best builder, so I'd love advice.
All in all, I’ve had a lot of fun using this team. I’m happy to have gotten #1 with this team, but I don’t think it’s as consistent as it could be; I have yet to breach 1800 again since then. But I hope this is at least some proof that Ninjask is capable of doing cool stuff without being reliant on SpeedPass. Whether SpeedPass gets banned or not, this is a metagame I love dearly, and I’ll keep trying to make this guy work. Though I of course run into people who get mad at CB Jask every now and then, the amount of people on ladder I’ve met who’ve thought CB Jask was cool has been much, much higher, and that’s really kept me going.
Replays:
For fun, a few replays vs SpeedPass:
Thanks so much for reading!
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