A Saucy HO Team (Peak 1915, 15th on ladder)

[Dat_Sauce]

With all the boring, redundant, and in my opinion, overrated DeoSharp HO teams out there, I wanted to create a new, fresh HO team. One of the main playstyles that ruins HO is stall. Keeping that in mind, I created a HO core that can break down any combination of walls and cover each other's weaknesses: Landorus, Keldeo, and Mega Mawile. Once these guys are done breaking down walls, I needed a couple of janitors to clean up. Talonflame was my first choice, and needs no explanation. Scarf Excadrill was my second, as it carries Rapid Spin to make Talonflame's job easier, and is no slouch when it comes to finishing off weakened Pokemon. Finally, I needed a Pokemon who could sponge both physical and special hits, as well as status. No Pokemon fits that bill like Chansey. Without further ado, here's the team.

Nimbus (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Knock Off
- Sludge Wave
This guy is an absolute beast. Earth Power decimates anything that isn't flying or levitating. His base speed stat of 101 allows him to outspeed many common threats like Char X and Y, Mega Medicham, and many more. Normally Landorus has 3 common checks, Latios, Lati@s, and Chansey. I included Knock off because it destroys the first two, and cripples Chansey by knocking off its Eviolite. Landorus is easy to switch into because it's immune to electric attacks aimed at Keldeo and Ground attacks aimed at Mega Mawile.

MLP (Keldeo) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Not only can Specs Keldeo demolish physical walls with Hydro Pump or Scald, but he can smash special walls with Secret Sword if you predict correctly. Even if your opponent has a few decent counters for Keldeo, you can go for Scald to possibly burn them on the switch in. HP Flying is a very important move that can 2HKO physically defensive Mega Venusaur after Stealth Rock damage. Keldeo's water typing allows him to take water and ice type moves, both of which Landorus is weak to. He can also take Fire moves that kill Mega Mawile.

Munchies (Mawile) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
The last member of this wall breaking core is also the most dangerous. With a massive attack stat of 678 after Pure Power, he can even demolish physical walls. Play Rough 2HKOs Gliscor and Focus Punch 2HKOs Skarm. If he can set up a sub on a Pokemon he scares away such as Latios, Lati@s, Chansey, Conkeldurr, and many, many more, something is most likely going to die. Mega Mawile is capable of sponging Psychic, Flying, Grass, and Fairy type attacks for Keldeo as well as Ice type moves for Landorus.

Gurren Laggan (Excadrill) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
As one of the two janitors of this team, Excadrill's job is important. He can outspeed almost any Pokemon that isn't sitting at +1 speed or carrying a scarf itself (besides Deo-S of course). He also has the luxury of being able to hit levitating Pokemon with Earthquake. He carries Rapid Spin to support Talonflame, and also shrugs off Electric and Rock type attacks that Talonflame fears.

420 Blaze It (Talonflame) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind
I used to hate this thing until I realized how much fun it is to use. Not much to say about him, because you all know the drill: Brave Bird everything. The Jolly nature and speed EVs allow him to outspeed Greninja, to safely U-turn against it, and also to outspeed and KO Thundurus with Flare Blitz. 32 HP EVs give it an odd HP number, so it can switch into SR twice if Excadrill fails to get rid of them. Once my opponant's team is weakened, Talonflame just comes in and finished everything off. I carry Tailwind because Talonflame has no better 4th move and it can clutch games for me.

666 (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 8 SDef / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
Chansey is a fat asshole. I mainly use him as a pivot to safely bring in a threat. He can also set up rocks, weaken things with Toxic, and all around be a fat asshole.

Threats:

I'll add more when I can think of them.

Replays (AKA people getting smashed by this team):
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-117377659 - Kiyo392
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-119095852 - Subway Boss
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-118407366 - Tehy

All in all, this is a really fun team to use that requires a lot of prediction but can be quite threatening in the right hands. If you ever wanna shoot the shit and possibly ladder together, you can usually find me in the Tech & Code chat. Anyways, that's all for this RMT, and remember guys, stay saucy. ;]

 

[Eddie2013]

You dont really need jolly nature to outspeed greninja because choice band adamant brave bird will kill it and as far as thundurus goes vs talonflame a choice band brave bird still does a lot because thundurus is very fragile so all in all adamant is the preferred nature over jolly for talonflame. Also will-o-wisp is a viable 4th move on talonflame to burn counters like landorus-t rotom wash and tyrantiar to name a couple.

 

[ItoI6]

With all the boring, redundant, and in my opinion, overrated DeoSharp HO teams out there, I wanted to create a new, fresh HO team.

lol this is like every ho team but with chansey over deo-d

This team really is good though but you might try HP electric on Keldeo for Azumaril switchins if its that bad.

Jolly Talon is nice to beat opposing Talon and not have to be afraid when guessing for u-turn on some stuff+Flare Blitzing Thundurus so it has some merit @ guy above^

 

[Dat_Sauce]

You dont really need jolly nature to outspeed greninja because choice band adamant brave bird will kill it and as far as thundurus goes vs talonflame a choice band brave bird still does a lot because thundurus is very fragile so all in all adamant is the preferred nature over jolly for talonflame

I like to lead with Talonflame against Greninja leads and be able to SAFELY U-turn without the possibility of being outsped in doing so. It just eases prediction. Also, Knock Off/Superpower Thundurus is a HUGE threat to my team and smart players will often preserve it. Adamant BB only does a max of 62% to Thundurus, and so Jolly Flare Blitz has saved my ass plenty of times. Although adamant is usually the way to go with Talonflame, jolly is a personal preference of mine, and I'm going to keep it.

 

[Dat_Sauce]

lol this is like every ho team but with chansey over deo-d

This team really is good though but you might try HP electric on Keldeo for Azumaril switchins if its that bad.

Jolly Talon is nice to beat opposing Talon and not have to be afraid when guessing for u-turn on some stuff+Flare Blitzing Thundurus so it has some merit @ guy above^

Lol at least I TRIED to do something different xD And I'll try out HP electric/grass sometime, but I like being able to hit MegaVenu really hard.

 

[Eddie2013]

I like to lead with Talonflame against Greninja leads and be able to SAFELY U-turn without the possibility of being outsped in doing so. It just eases prediction. Also, Knock Off/Superpower Thundurus is a HUGE threat to my team and smart players will often preserve it. Adamant BB only does a max of 62% to Thundurus, and so Jolly Flare Blitz has saved my ass plenty of times. Although adamant is usually the way to go with Talonflame, jolly is a personal preference of mine, and I'm going to keep it.

Um alright but gale wings is a thing so outspeeding greninja is irrelevant but if thundurus is such a problem to your team then I guess you could stick to jolly nature

 

[Dat_Sauce]

Um alright but gale wings is a thing so outspeeding greninja is irrelevant but if thundurus is such a problem to your team then I guess you could stick to jolly nature

Lol, I'm aware that Gale Wings is a thing, but I just like having a safer option without risking Mega TTar and some others getting a free switch in and be able to set up, or getting KO'd. Once again, it's personal preference.

 

[Kazuma Yato]

So here's my mini rate :
Wonderful team went from 1000 - 1300 in about 1 hr 30 mins ,13 battles one loss.
you wanna know what cause that loss?
SUB-TOXIC GLISCOR. It walls your team all day and night if it has a bulky water as a partner that resists fighting....
You might think oh lando can just come in and 2hko with psychic. nope. behind the sub he uses toxic, then protect to live next one then sub, then protect and repeat, all this while your toxic'd.
I thought oh keldeo will fuck this. he goes into Tentacruel.
I looked at my team everything poisoned except excadrill who does shit damage to and would be 2hko'd by Gliscor.
I usually run Air Balloon Aegi - or any other steel for that matter - to prevent such nonsense.
Also Azumarill was not a threat to me if u take off 15% of its HP, Talonflame eats dinner.
but other than that 12 wins in a row is no joke, nice team :) and hope you stay up there!
~Meloettaa!

 

[fimbu1vetr]

So here's my mini rate :
Wonderful team went from 1000 - 1300 in about 1 hr 30 mins ,13 battles one loss.
you wanna know what cause that loss?
SUB-TOXIC GLISCOR. It walls your team all day and night if it has a bulky water as a partner that resists fighting....
You might think oh lando can just come in and 2hko with psychic. nope. behind the sub he uses toxic, then protect to live next one then sub, then protect and repeat, all this while your toxic'd.
I thought oh keldeo will fuck this. he goes into Tentacruel.
I looked at my team everything poisoned except excadrill who does shit damage to and would be 2hko'd by Gliscor.
I usually run Air Balloon Aegi - or any other steel for that matter - to prevent such nonsense.
Also Azumarill was not a threat to me if u take off 15% of its HP, Talonflame eats dinner.
but other than that 12 wins in a row is no joke, nice team :) and hope you stay up there!
~Meloettaa!

But uh, if gliscor switches out into say tentacruel, lando can destroy it and gliscor. And tentacruel is super rare in higher ladder. If mawile gets a SD on said bulky water without burn, sub toxic prolly not gonna work either

 

[rachet67]

Chansey seems a little out of place due to the fact the it creates no offensive pressure, but it seems it's done well on this team. I can see how Chansey is incredibly useful as a switch in to common threats to HO, such as Thundurus, but it seems incredibly difficult to switch out of Chansey, without relying on double switching. For example, if band Terrakion comes into Chansey (which is extremely easy) and goes for Close Combat, Keldeo and Excadrill are OHKO'd, Mawile, Landorus are 2HKO'd, and Talonflame can only switch in once (or is OHKO'd if SR is up). I guess it's not really loosing any momentum, as you're only switching to Chansey once momentum is already against you.

 

[skaybestrog]

What exactly is the point of Chansey on this team?

I can see how Chansey is incredibly useful as a switch in to common threats to HO, such as Thundurus

Chansey is not a good switch-in for Thundurus. If it carries Knock Off or Superpower you're completely screwed, if it has U-Turn or Volt Switch you're just losing momentum using a Pokémon without any sort of passive recovery that is weak to every single entry hazard in the game. As far as I can see it doesn't really deal with any relevant threats for your team at all and I really don't see why you wouldn't just switch it for a faster pivot with better mixed bulk.

 

[Kazuma Yato]

L

But uh, if gliscor switches out into say tentacruel, lando can destroy it and gliscor. And tentacruel is super rare in higher ladder. If mawile gets a SD on said bulky water without burn, sub toxic prolly not gonna work either

Lando Will die on the switch from scald.

 

[Dat_Sauce]

What exactly is the point of Chansey on this team?



Chansey is not a good switch-in for Thundurus. If it carries Knock Off or Superpower you're completely screwed, if it has U-Turn or Volt Switch you're just losing momentum using a Pokémon without any sort of passive recovery that is weak to every single entry hazard in the game. As far as I can see it doesn't really deal with any relevant threats for your team at all and I really don't see why you wouldn't just switch it for a faster pivot with better mixed bulk.

Like it says in the OP, I mainly switch into him to take a hit and then switch out. And Knock Off/Superpower Thundy is a huge threat to my team, usually Excadrill, Talonflame, or Mega Maw with Sucker Punch have to deal with it. But yeah, if my opponant has Bisharp, Aegi, or Scizor I usually have to double switch after taking a hit. I could try Balloon Aegi to deal with SubToxic Gliscor, but I like having something that can take hits for days. Also, Chansey has some of the best mixed bulk in the game besides Deo-D, who has bad typing and I prefer Natural Cure over Pressure. Forgot to post this picture earlier btw.

 

[ABR]

Definitely use Adamant on Talonflame. Anything that you would be using flare blitz against gets outsped anyways. Also I recommend using a jolly nature on Excadrill so you can outspeed more scarfers and stuff like jolly Dnite, Gyarados, and TTar at +1.

 

[Dat_Sauce]

Definitely use Adamant on Talonflame. Anything that you would be using flare blitz against gets outsped anyways. Also I recommend using a jolly nature on Excadrill so you can outspeed more scarfers and stuff like jolly Dnite, Gyarados, and TTar at +1.

Nah, read my posts above. I prefer Jolly.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Quick suggestion, perhaps Taunt Skarmory could help a bit with the Gliscor problem, Ik it would become HO + Skarm/Bliss but what you gonna do eh? Skarm/Chansey is a reliable core to fall back on when you get walled/stop attacking.

 

[Dat_Sauce]

Quick suggestion, perhaps Taunt Skarmory could help a bit with the Gliscor problem, Ik it would become HO + Skarm/Bliss but what you gonna do eh? Skarm/Chansey is a reliable core to fall back on when you get walled/stop attacking.

The problem with that is that Taunt Skarm can't really do much back to Gliscor after taunting. I was thinking about Taunt Thundurus, but I'm not sure what I could replace.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Yeah i can see its a tough choice, perhaps replace exadrill with Thundy but then rocks become a problem :/ These are some pokes that learn Defog and Taunt Aerodactyl, Archen, Archeops, Chatot, Crobat, Gligar, Gliscor, Golbat, Honchkrow, Mandibuzz, Mew, Murkrow, Skarmory, Skuntank, Smeargle, Stunky, Vullaby, Zubat.

Only smeargle gets Rapid Spin and taunt, but perhaps a taunt lead is all you need to stop rocks early on (would replace gliscor) and since your running Tailwind on Talon as a last resort, perhaps an Offensive defogger either give Talon Defog,and/or have Dedicated lead taunter so that they must waste a turn to get rocks back up or fear being Ohkoed by your many threats (and if they do well defog on talon even tho he is 4x weak to it can work sometimes).

Its a tough choice and hard to find a perfect gliscor counter that isnt also stalled by him. Deoxys Speed Lead or Revenge killer set, both of which can run taunt and the revenge set carries a super fast ice beam that is very unexpected:

Deoxys-Speed @ Life Orb/Lum Berry (for prankster users like thundy who would t wave rather than attacking and Psycho Boost/Ice Beam can Ohko iirc)
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 12 Atk / 244 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Superpower For the aforementioned dragon dance T-Tar
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Knock Off/Taunt

 

[Kazuma Yato]

Like it says in the OP, I mainly switch into him to take a hit and then switch out. And Knock Off/Superpower Thundy is a huge threat to my team, usually Excadrill, Talonflame, or Mega Maw with Sucker Punch have to deal with it. But yeah, if my opponant has Bisharp, Aegi, or Scizor I usually have to double switch after taking a hit. I could try Balloon Aegi to deal with SubToxic Gliscor, but I like having something that can take hits for days. Also, Chansey has some of the best mixed bulk in the game besides Deo-D, who has bad typing and I prefer Natural Cure over Pressure. Forgot to post this picture earlier btw.
View attachment 13415

then i recommend you fit hp ice somewhere.. and prob not on keldeo

 

[Dat_Sauce]

Yeah i can see its a tough choice, perhaps replace exadrill with Thundy but then rocks become a problem :/ These are some pokes that learn Defog and Taunt Aerodactyl, Archen, Archeops, Chatot, Crobat, Gligar, Gliscor, Golbat, Honchkrow, Mandibuzz, Mew, Murkrow, Skarmory, Skuntank, Smeargle, Stunky, Vullaby, Zubat.

Only smeargle gets Rapid Spin and taunt, but perhaps a taunt lead is all you need to stop rocks early on (would replace gliscor) and since your running Tailwind on Talon as a last resort, perhaps an Offensive defogger either give Talon Defog,and/or have Dedicated lead taunter so that they must waste a turn to get rocks back up or fear being Ohkoed by your many threats (and if they do well defog on talon even tho he is 4x weak to it can work sometimes).

Its a tough choice and hard to find a perfect gliscor counter that isnt also stalled by him. Deoxys Speed Lead or Revenge killer set, both of which can run taunt and the revenge set carries a super fast ice beam that is very unexpected:

Deoxys-Speed @ Life Orb/Lum Berry (for prankster users like thundy who would t wave rather than attacking and Psycho Boost/Ice Beam can Ohko iirc)
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 12 Atk / 244 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Superpower For the aforementioned dragon dance T-Tar
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Knock Off/Taunt

Hmmmm, I might actually try Deo-Speed. He's faster than Scarf Excadrill, but I would be sacrificing Defog, although I may be able to fit Defog on Talonflame instead of Tailwind.

 

[Kazuma Yato]

it gets defog?

 

[GreenMonkey]

Talonflame does yeah.

 

[Kazuma Yato]

Talonflame does yeah.

no it doesn't lol

 

[GreenMonkey]

Huh thats odd I remember it being able to, maybe it was around the same time as showdown allowed greninja to learn rapid spin. In that case latias could run refresh/ roost/dragon pulse, defog, psyshock w levitate for gliscor? But i guess it also gets wrecked by knock off thundurus, however it can get rid of status and recover of damage if itll be a more defensive latias.

 

[Kazuma Yato]

true ,OMFG Rapid Spin Greninja was legal?