SS OU THE CLOWN (blacephalon balance)

[rcklssoptmsm]

hi all, comin back at u with another mediocre team that im looking to make slightly less mediocre. this time we're building a team around my (second) favorite ultra beast, blacephalon (my fav is nihilego dont @ me) !! the concept of the team is simple - handle blacephalon's weaknesses as best as you can and then let blacephalon do the cleaning up. it's worked for me pretty well so far, but i can feel that it's missing something. there are lots of battles where i get super close to winning but can't quite get there; these teams are usually bulkier teams, and i have had an especially hard time with some sand teams mostly because of tyranitar. without further ado, here's the team (and a pokepaste in case anyone wants to try it out)!

https://pokepast.es/ea9cc2209a7e2fe0

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Mind Blown

the star of the team and my main hole puncher. choice specs so he can hit super hard, but a timid nature so that he can still outspeed a fair bit of the metagame. flamethrower and shadow ball are the STAB of choice, and i went with psyshock instead of psychic for coverage pretty much exclusively for blissey. mind blown is a last ditch effort that i only use in the most desperate situations, usually when im stuck with one super pesky bulky mon that the rest of the team cant take out. blacephalon's biggest problems are 1. it's frail af and 2. not the fastest; therefore, the rest of the team is built around these issues.

Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

to handle its frailness (fraility?), a consistent defogger will be necessary. i thought about moltres and zapdos, but torn has the longevity with regenerator that i need to consistently remove hazards without having to roost. boots on this guy are essential, hurricane for stab of choice, knock off for some utility, and u-turn to gain some momentum. regenerator certain helps with torn's longevity, but it still is a bit too frail for certain situations; i think out of all the mons, he's the one i'd be willing to swap out first. anyway, now that hazards are handled, i decided to include some bulky pivots to help out blacephalon's inability to take hits further.

Magearna @ Choice Specs
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Trick

here's my first bulky pivot. i was originally thinking AV for mag here, but choice specs seems like it would work better; it's bulky enough to take a hit and the increased damage from a specs volt switch was pretty beneficial. def let me know if AV would be preferred here tho. the two cannons are my stab of choice jic, but volt switch is my most clicked move on this mon. trick is for crippling those pesky setup or stall mons, and it's saved me from a few scary situations.

Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Teleport

our lil bro here is my physical pivot of choice; he can take a hit like no other and either slack it off or teleport on out, and future sight is currently my favorite move to click in this metagame bc i love messing with people that much. scald is to hopefully cripple the physical mons that threaten blacephalon further. at this point i'm realizing that spectrier (any set) is going to RUIN this team; enter...

Urshifu @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

my spectrier counter of choice. i thought about maybe including ttar instead, but i felt that urshifu fit a little better because he can provide some physical pressure in the way that mag can specially. given that a ton of speed isn't necessary on him and i wanted to focus on breaking more physically bulky mons, i went with an adamant nature and choice band to hit as hard as possible. wicked blow and close combat for stab, iron head for some fairies, and sucker punch for our friend spectrier. he also synergizes SO well with slowbro + future sight, since it keeps the opponent from switching out to mons like pex on a wicked blow.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

since i ended up going with specs on mag, i wanted specially defensive swampert to give a little bit more defensive presence. he's also an excellent pivoter in flip turn and i had him be my rock setter of choice. earthquake for some chip damage on mons like an opposing mag (or even a grounded zapdos, which i've done a surprising number of times) and toxic for mons that try to set up when expecting a flip turn.

there's the team! don't hold back on your advice, i want to make this team as successful as my last rain team that i posted (it got me to 1700 which is the highest ive ever been!!), so if i gotta throw out half of the mons on this team to make it better then so be it. i'd also like some help optimizing my EV spreads where necessary (more specific than just 252/252/4 kinda thing). thank you for your help!

 

[GaryTheGengar]

cool team, blacephelon is a fun choice compared to the standard spectrier pick.

The two big weaknesses that stand out to me for the clown are its susceptibility to toxic spikes, and its complete inability to touch tyranitar. This team doesn't really seem to address either one too much, as long as the opponent has a check for urshifu, which every team should. To address the tspikes issue, I'd suggest replacing slowbro with a toxapex of your own. Pex not only absorbs those pesky spikes for blacephelon, but can provide them to help chip down ttar. It also helps with your own shifu weakness, who you don't have many switchins for except possibly magearna once. With pex, you can pivot in, check the move that it is going to use, chip it with rocky helmet, and then pivot out to a switchin like your own urishifu on wicked blow. While tspikes help with ttar, I don't think they're enough on their own. I'd suggest trying out superpower on tornadus-t as a lure to hit tar for big damage, as it is usually an unexpected move. with knock off slotting in fairly easily on pex, I'd replace tornadus' own knock, and change to a naive nature to help the damage. Since your own switchin for urshifu will often be your own, I'd suggest changing to a jolly nature as well. You've got clefable covered fairly well, especially with the addition of pex - I think iron head is largely unnecessary. I think u-turn would be a wise addition as well, to help pivot in your strong breakers, and form a volt-turn chain with magearna. Finally, I'd suggest trick on blacephelon - I think you'd get a lot more mileage out of it than some of your options.

Changes:

Hide

Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive/Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Defog

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
- Haze
- Knock Off

Urshifu @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick

Best of luck!

 

[rcklssoptmsm]

cool team, blacephelon is a fun choice compared to the standard spectrier pick.

The two big weaknesses that stand out to me for the clown are its susceptibility to toxic spikes, and its complete inability to touch tyranitar. This team doesn't really seem to address either one too much, as long as the opponent has a check for urshifu, which every team should. To address the tspikes issue, I'd suggest replacing slowbro with a toxapex of your own. Pex not only absorbs those pesky spikes for blacephelon, but can provide them to help chip down ttar. It also helps with your own shifu weakness, who you don't have many switchins for except possibly magearna once. With pex, you can pivot in, check the move that it is going to use, chip it with rocky helmet, and then pivot out to a switchin like your own urishifu on wicked blow. While tspikes help with ttar, I don't think they're enough on their own. I'd suggest trying out superpower on tornadus-t as a lure to hit tar for big damage, as it is usually an unexpected move. with knock off slotting in fairly easily on pex, I'd replace tornadus' own knock, and change to a naive nature to help the damage. Since your own switchin for urshifu will often be your own, I'd suggest changing to a jolly nature as well. You've got clefable covered fairly well, especially with the addition of pex - I think iron head is largely unnecessary. I think u-turn would be a wise addition as well, to help pivot in your strong breakers, and form a volt-turn chain with magearna. Finally, I'd suggest trick on blacephelon - I think you'd get a lot more mileage out of it than some of your options.

Changes:

Hide

Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive/Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Defog

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
- Haze
- Knock Off

Urshifu @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick

Best of luck!

thanks!! i like the changes thus far. my only qualms are this - even with superpower, torn still seems to not do enough damage to tyranitar to keep it at bay (unless i'm using it wrong, which is possible). it's left with a sliver of hp, enough so that it can still come out and restart the standstorm for an excadrill if it needs to and then switch back out into something that can take a hit. what should i do about this? also, toxapex was a great switch - the only issue is again, i'm more susceptible to ground types like excadrill now, and i can't take a hit from a future sight. i'm thinking about trying AV on mag again and using aura sphere/focus blast instead of trick - how do you think this would work? thank you for the help!!