SM OU The Tribe Has Spoken (Peak: 1814, #149)

[Blumenwitz]

I first built this team a few months ago, then slept on it for a while, then decided to pick it up again a few weeks ago. To my surprise, it's taken me higher on the OU ladder than I've ever been before, and I first discovered Showdown nearly five years ago. That said, I still think that the team could use some tweaking, which is why I'm posting it here.

Anyway, let's get started!

Otomi (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

"Passion, devotion and love course through my veins."

I started out with a typical Tapu Koko/Hawlucha offensive core. Here, most of what you see is self-explanatory: Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam for STAB, HP Ice to lure and OHKO the likes of Garchomp, Landorus-Therian and Gliscor, and most importantly, Volt Switch for pivoting into Hawlucha (well, pivoting in general, but pivoting into Hawlucha especially). Specs are the way to go, in my opinion, since they give Koko the power it needs to carve away chunks of health from the threats that Hawlucha can't OHKO without a boost (Magearna, Rotom-W, etc.).

Frida (Hawlucha) (F) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Roost

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

And here's the second half of the core. The EV spread is designed to maximize her sweeping potential while keeping her just fast enough to outspeed almost anything relevant, leaving me free to pile the rest into bulk. I know the standard set includes 36 SpD EVs, but I think pouring everything into HP makes it easier for her to set up against Celesteela (at least, the set I've seen most often, which is Leech Seed / Protect / Heavy Slam / Flamethrower). This spread also lets her survive Landorus T's explosion after SR (most of the time), which is pretty neat.

Durk (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

"Durk is tough. Durk is strong. Durk is sharp. Don't touch Durk."

Ferrothorn serves a few different purposes here. First, he's my special damage sponge, reliably soaking up hits from threats like Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele (barring Focus Blast variants) and especially Ash-Greninja. The last one is particularly important, since he blocks opposing Greninjas from transforming - at least for a little while. Second, Hawlucha appreciates the entry hazard support, since it lets her muscle through particularly tenacious walls more easily. He also helps against toxic stall teams, for what it's worth.

Shin (Greninja-Ash) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Surf

"If it bleeds, I can kill it."

Ash-Greninja's role is to help Tapu Koko clear away the physical walls that impede Hawlucha from sweeping. Thanks to his Specs-boosted Water Shuriken, he also helps me revenge kill scarfers without having to prematurely bring Hawlucha in. As for why I'm going with Surf instead of Hydro Pump... well, see, I don't trust the random number gods. They're a tricky, slippery bunch.

Wendell (Pelipper) (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Roost
- Hurricane
- U-turn

"I do love a rainy day. Don't you, old chum?"

This one requires a bit of explanation. See, originally, Ash-Greninja's slot was taken by Kingdra, but someone on Showdown told me that I'd be better off with Ash-Greninja. I asked if I'd have to replace Pelipper too, but they said that Ash-Greninja works wonderfully in rain, even without Swift Swim.

On one hand, they weren't wrong. The rain provided by Pelipper does allow Ash-Greninja to score a lot of KOs with Water Shuriken that he wouldn't have been able to manage otherwise, and he even lets him come in safely with a slow U-Turn. As an aside, he also helps insulate Ferrothorn against HP Fire users. On the other hand, the former benefit is a bit of a double-edged sword. Pelipper can be a bit of a liability against opposing Ash-Greninjas, since the rain helps them revenge kill Hawlucha mid-sweep.

Should I replace Pelipper? And if so, with what?

Thaddeus (Landorus-Therian) @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance

"You're a damn fool for staying in on me. You've got no one to blame but yourself for what happens next."

Landorus-Therian provides my team with additional entry hazard support, but his key role is luring and KOing one of the biggest threats to my team: Zapdos. Set up rocks, SD on the switch, and when Zapdos comes in to Defog, BOOM! Continental Crush. The EV spread lets him outspeed max defensive Zapdos, which is important since it often carries HP Ice. Notably, this set also OHKOs Rotom-W, another popular defogger, after an SD.

And there you have it! All feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Spectear]

Yo. The team looks good in general but I think that you can make any changes to improve the team. First, you should run a Defog user on your team to not lose Pelipper by Stealth Rock. And Gren-Koko-Ferro on spikes. Rn you are kinda weak to other rain teams and classic BO teams like Torna-T/Bulu/Pex. To fix this you can replace Specs Koko to Roost CM or just Roost Defog Koko. Making this you gain a Torna-T check, also one consistent dark resist that make it easy to pivot against Greninja-Ash, as even a solid answer to Zapdos. Therefore, you are free to use Flyunium Z Landorus-T that helps against the defensive cores mentioned before and Grass-types for G-Ash.

Tapu Koko @ Magnet
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Defog/CM/Volt-Switch/Uturn
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ice]

 

[GeoffT]

And how is you Rain match-up? It looks like Mega-Pert/Specs Kingdra can sweep you almost alone. Just bring one of them out in Rain and click buttons - everything dies. Ironically, apart from Thorn, Peliper, which in fact helps opposing team, is the only member of the squad that can live a hit from Pert/Kingdra and not get OHKO'ed. Even excluding the fact that you are helping opponent with your own mon (let's for a second assume you'd drop Peliper), the team is still very weak to Rain.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

And how is you Rain match-up? It looks like Mega-Pert/Specs Kingdra can sweep you almost alone. Just bring one of them out in Rain and click buttons - everything dies. Ironically, apart from Thorn, Peliper, which in fact helps opposing team, is the only member of the squad that can live a hit from Pert/Kingdra and not get OHKO'ed. Even excluding the fact that you are helping opponent with your own mon (let's for a second assume you'd drop Peliper), the team is still very weak to Rain.

Lucha can actually set up on Mega Pert and sweep most rain teams not carrying a Gren or some other priority user

 

[Blumenwitz]

Spectear: Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll try out that Tapu Koko set you posted.

GeoffT: Oddly enough, Kingdra and Swampert have never been that much of a problem for me. Maybe it's just because I don't see them that often, but the few times I have seen them, I just had Ferrothorn tank their attacks and hit them back hard with Power Whip.

 

[MFJK]

Hello Blumenwitz, although I'm not a big fan of using Pelipper on a team that isn't full-on Rain, I think that the concept of the team is pretty cool, and I've got a few ideas that might help improving some matchups.

:

->

As I said, I'm really not a fan of using Pelipper in a non-Rain team, and even less when this Pelipper is Damp Rock, considering that the only pokemon that really benefits from Rain is Ash-Greninja. I think that you would make better use of Pelipper by making it an offensive Choice Specs variant, forming an offensive Double Water core with Greninja. Your original goal in using Pelipper was to help Ash-Greninja, and Specs Pelipper does so in a more effective and productive way, seeing as it can also shut down or severely weaken pokemons that are annoying for Greninja such as Magearna, Tapu Bulu, Tangrowth, Rotom-W and Toxapex with its powerful, rain-boosted STABs. For the moveset, Hydro Pump / Hurricane / Knock Off are the moves that you want for sure, and the last move is a little more flexible -- I would recommend Scald the most, although U-turn is an option too, if you want more momentum.

:

->

This change is a lot more based on my own preference but I figured that you would benefit more overall from making your Greninja Waterium Z. The main reason behind that is the fact that it gives you a strong nuke, even stronger when Rain boosted, which can help you pick up some weakened threats. Even when Rain is not up, it can be really useful against threats such as Tornadus-T which might come in thinking you're locked into Spikes, and you can just get a surprise kill and guarantee that your hazards will stay up for the rest of the game, which is pretty useful for an eventual Hawlucha late-game sweep.

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->

I agree with Spectear here that you would be better off with a more utility-based variant of Tapu Koko, as you need a switch-in to Tornadus-T. Not gonna add much here since he covered on that pretty well already.

->

The last change I'm proposing, which is also the only major one, is M-Scizor over Landorus-T. At this point, I felt there was a number of things that were really hindering the team. The main ones were your lack of a solid counterplay against M-Alakazam and an overall overreliance on Hawlucha to sweep games, as well as a massive weakness to threats such as M-Mawile. M-Scizor basically covered all of those issues, giving you something that can take hits from M-Alakazam, another way of cleaning, a solid M-Mawile switchin, as well as a U-turn user. The spread I'm recommending here is 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD Impish, which allows you to take 2 Focus Blasts from non-Modest M-Alakazam.

~

I also made one smaller change in changing Ferrothorn's set to Stealth Rock + Thunder Wave because of the removal of Landorus-T as your rocker and because Specs Pelipper appreciates faster threats being slowed down. I also changed its spread a bit to help it take physical hits such as Kartana's Sacred Sword and Landorus-T's Earthquake a little better, while still avoiding the 2HKO from Ash-Greninja's Dark Pulse. Overall I really enjoyed rating this team, and I hope you liked my rate as well!

(click for importable!)​

 

[Blumenwitz]

Thanks for the feedback! The revised team looks like a lot of fun to try out, particularly the Specs Pelipper set which I legit didn't know was a thing. My only concern is that the loss of Lando-T makes me a bit weaker to Zapdos, although I guess I do still have Tapu Koko to deal with that. I'm going to try laddering with the revised team and I'll let you know how that works out.

 

[Blumenwitz]

Hey! Me again. I just want to thank MFJK for helping me out with my team. That Choice Specs Pelipper set is really putting in work - way more than I expected. That Specs-boosted Hydro Pump punches holes in almost anything that doesn't resist it.