SS OU Anti-Meta Low Ladder SS OU team

Raikyu · Feb 21, 2021

Ah yes, low ladder, where gimmicks are everywhere and the idea of predicting plays is non-existent. I have decided to create a team that could dominate this chaotic area of ladder to help some of you to get through it. I created an alt account at 1000 elo and began building and testing things out.

The team

Here are some a couple of common threats in low ladder that I built my team to counter:

(scarf and defensive variants)

(shift + CM weakness policy cheese)

(SD scale shot)

(bulk up/iron defense)

(ddance)

(encore mean look lead sweep and terrain seed)

First I put

in my team. He is the jack-of-all-trades and can counter a big portion of the physical threats in the metagame, like cinderace, chomp, other landos etc.
He also provides rocks as an entry hazard.

Then the next big threats I wanted to check were the special attackers, like

,

or the slow brothers, but mainly Mag. the solution I got was a rather strange one,

. Rotom-H with boots removes its stealth rock weakness, and has discharge to deal with water types or speedy threats, something Lando would struggle with. It is also one of the only mons that resist BoltBeam coverage as well as fairy, making it a great counter to most Magearna sets.

I realised

would still be a major problem, so I played

to counter it. I also had to think about the 2 coverage moves I get on him, which in the end I found Scald and Ice Beam being the best, countering anything Rotom-H can't check.

When I think Slowking-G, I immediately think his kantonian brother,

. After a bit of thinking though

seems better with the bulk, access to toxic, knock off and a better matchup against

or

. This checks stuff that use ice type or water type moves which are problematic for Lando, mainly

,

or

(ice punch coverage). Thunder Punch is played on Urshifu-R and Melmetal though, but thanks to the huge bulk of Pex he can tank them up and recover up, damaging them in the process with the helmet. A later decision to replace Knock with Haze to stop set up mons came to my mind and god it works so well.

even though Pex sort of counters

and

it struggles sometimes, especially when crippled by rocks or other mons that are checked by it. The best answer is of course

,4 times resisting grass and forcing them to either switch or exhaust their PP. If the Rillaboom/Kart is life orb instead of band you would taunt it, as well as any other setup mons.

I have been thinking so much about defensively checking things I forgot about offensively checking threats. I already check a couple with my current team, for example Lando-T with Ice Beam on

, Discharge on

to check

(RAIN!) and Overheat for

, but there are still many holes left to patch up on the offensive side. I did consider changing the rest of the team to get more offensive pressure on, but it is not needed as

is here. Thanks to Libero she can get STAB on any move, making her, in my opinion, the best fast attacker in the OU metagame. The synergy between Cinderace and Slowking-G will stop

,

or even the occasional

from switching into Cinderace as the Future Sight will kill them. Gunk Shot and Sucker Punch was preferred over Zen Headbutt and HJK because the rest of my team has that coverage.

One note: most of the time, people will lead sweeping mons like mag, azumarill or hawlucha (or setup after screens) for a quick and easy 6-0, and could easily be prevented by playing intelligently. Against these you lead Pex to toxic non-steel or poison sweepers, or Corviknight to taunt stuff that toxic can't get.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1286914522-nkgpdn9dfcxmvhvpnxm6r85sdjb3r4wpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1286922229-tmc9y2pljosmrtcfz3zn9bi3375a8kqpw (he left, but I was going to win anyways)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1286945706-8qkn2cac3u474mp24e9d75zi31yq787pw (he left this one too, but this is proof of how low ladder players play)

If you have any suggestions, put them down in the comments. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have success with this team!

Smashburn · Feb 21, 2021

I like the idea for checking most low ladder teams and crushing noobies stuck in the 1200-1300 range but how does this team not get tr*ucked by Rain

Raikyu · Feb 22, 2021

Smashburn said:
I like the idea for checking most low ladder teams and crushing noobies stuck in the 1200-1300 range but how does this team not get tr*ucked by Rain

Slowking-G suprisingly checks all the specially offensive mons really well and Pex to deal with Urshifu-R and Barraskewda. You would recover on a supereffective move like Psychic Fangs or T-Punch to keep it alive.

To deal with Pelipper I would use Rotom-H's Discharge, since base speed is guaranteed to outspeed a base speed Pelipper, forcing them to switch (or lose their source of rain, which is what normally happens)

Possibly the biggest problem for the team is Ferrothorn in rain, but Overheat should very well kill it one shot, unless it's AV or some sort of Occa Berry gimmick.

Raikyu · Feb 22, 2021

Welp Cinderace got banned right after I post this so... yeah

Smashburn · Feb 22, 2021

Raikyu said:
Welp Cinderace got banned right after I post this so... yeah

Wow, I didn't even see a suspect test. Was it a QB to Ubers? Either that or I am just blind.

Also, I was talking about the water threats like Urshifu RS and Barraskewda for their STAB, which is far more powerful than their super effective moves. Realistically Barra will never have Psychic Fangs or Crunch because they are outclassed with so many Slowbro and Toxapex checks running around, they will have the base set with CC and Band, and Banded STAB Liquidation on Slowking G is a OHKO. I think when you thought of those interactions you confused Glowking instead of Slowbro, as only Slowbro deals with those two. T-Punch isn't super effective on Glowking and Crunch will still OHKO it if Barra runs it regardless. Also sure Rotom-H can outspeed Pel, but no one in their right mind keeps Pel in regardless of whether they are new to Showdown or not. Plus, if they do go Pel first they get up rain and switch into their electric-type check and Rotom is immediately wasted space without a grass check like Rillaboom. Plus, most decent rain teams now at least run Swampert, Seismitoad, or Koko which also destroy the team as although you have some tech with Lando looking like a scarf, rain will still have plenty of switches. Altogether this team has no defenses against rain.

Raikyu · Feb 22, 2021

Smashburn said:
Wow, I didn't even see a suspect test. Was it a QB to Ubers? Either that or I am just blind.

I think when you thought of those interactions you confused Glowking instead of Slowbro, as only Slowbro deals with those two. T-Punch isn't super effective on Glowking and Crunch will still OHKO it if Barra runs it regardless.

Ohh I think you misunderstood a bit. I meant that psychic fangs and t-punch was super effective to pex, so after they hit you with it you recover on the same turn to chip their health away.

To the rest of your questions: but it’s low ladder. I played against a guy who (I assume) tried to scald my Rotom and obviously, that did not end well for him. STAB water moves under rain will do a good deal of damage to even pex, thanks to choice band and stuff, but it won’t be lethal.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Toxapex in Rain: 90-106 (29.6 - 34.8%) -- 12.6% chance to 3HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Toxapex in Rain on a critical hit: 117-141 (38.4 - 46.3%) -- approx. 3HKO

One thing I would change about the team though is the replacement of Cinderace to banded Rillaboom, like you said, the team struggles against water-ground types who are only weak to grass, and because cinderace is banned.