Hyper offense as an archetype is one typically known for its variance in success because of its dedication to maintaining offensive pressure; once you're past early-game, one misplay can be extremely costly to such builds because you don't have the typical utility of say, a balance build to fall back on. Because of this wild variance, games generally end fairly quickly; this is extremely beneficial for laddering because it lets you effectively grind laddering sessions and makes it somewhat easier to gain lost points back. Furthermore, hyper offense is just fun to use; there's something oddly satisfying about turning off your brain and trying to brute force through an opposing team with setup sweepers. Pokemon is a game about enjoying yourself, and it's nice that there's basically a dedicated "for fun" archetype to get the best experience out of this game.
However, that's not to say using hyper offense means you're sacrificing winning---quite the contrary, especially in current NU. I want to dedicate a bit of this post to detailing out why hyper offense is a strong archetype currently, at least on the ladder, and I will then give a full RMT of a hyper offense build I have used to solid success. I don't remember the team's peak, but I think it got me somewhere above 1500, which is good for NU rating standards.
Why is hyper offense so good?
Silvally: I think the biggest reason for HO's current peak in viability is the Silvally formes. Since Multi-Attack's buff in Generation 8 and the decreased power creep, Silvally's Swords Dance sets have risen to prominence and provide HO with a Pokemon that's threatening after just a single turn of setup. Furthermore, what really enhances the potency of Silvally is how many of its formes are viable: Dark, Water, Dragon, Ground, Fire, Normal, and even Flying can all effectively slot onto hyper offense teams, and trying to predict which forme your opponent has can be challenging. For the most parts, the different Silvally formes have different counterplay and can tweak their movesets to pick and choose which Pokemon adequately check them. Flame Charge just adds onto the issue of finding adequate counterplay by removing revenge killing from the equation and turning Silvally into a "Double Dance" sweeper of sorts. Every hyper offense team should have a Silvally forme on it; there's really no good excuse to not.
Consistent leads that provide for a stable early-game: A core part of current hyper offense is what your lead is. I'm going to focus on suicide leads here because NU has several solid ones: Drednaw, Cursola, Crustle, and Sandaconda (listed in order of my perceived viability of them on hyper offense.) Drednaw tops my list for two moves really: Head Smash and Bulldoze. These moves essentially exist to prevent your opponent from gaining momentum; you get to self KO with Head Smash and prevent meaningful attempts at setting up with Bulldoze. Cursola clocks in next thanks to it being so damn strong and having Weak Armor. Weak Armor forces your opponent to play differently around Cursola; if you give it the Speed boost, you risk having it mow through your team with its solid coverage and Special Attack. It even can run Endure to try and force the Speed boost, which adds another layer to how you have to play against it. Crustle clocks in at third because it enables hazard-stacking offense in one slot and is reliable at doing so thanks to Sturdy. There's really not anything else to say here. Knock Off is cool to have? Sandaconda is definitely in last place here, but it's reasonably fast and provides Glare support; every team will appreciate paralysis support.
Aurora Veil: Aurora Veil does not have the most pleasant of histories within Smogon tiering, particularly in lower tiers. Setting dual screens in one turn is really great and provides immediate security for setup sweepers. There's not a whole lot else to say here; the setter in the tier, Abomasnow, is also a nice lure for potential teammates with Earthquake and provides priority support with Ice Shard. Cool Pokemon.
There are other facets of hyper offense that I could include up here, but I find them to be less widespread features of the archetype. I'll go into the ones applicable to my team as they pop up, though.
A comment on the song choice: Unleash the Archers is a really, really good group. I recommend listening to more of their work. kay introduced me to them through the song Apex, and I have no regrets.
The Team
Silvally-Fire @ Fire Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Multi-Attack
- Rock Slide
- Flame Charge
Silvally-Fire @ Fire Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Multi-Attack
- Rock Slide
- Flame Charge
The goal of this team was to make Silvally-Fire work. NU is not known for its stellar Fire-type checks; for bulky Water-types, we're mostly limited to Lanturn, Silvally-Water, and Wishiwashi. Seeing this, I thought it'd be pretty easy to enable the spam of +2 Multi-Attack. This proved to be true and got even easier with April's tier shifts, which moved Rhydon from NU to RU. The nice thing about this set is that you essentially get all the coverage you could need between Multi-Attack and Rock Slide; I've had people suggest Double-Edge to me before, but I find it suboptimal to willingly drop my Silvally's health, and it's generally easier to force damage with teammates onto Silvally's checks. When using Silvally-Fire, you should aim to be going all-in; the severe hazards weakness combined with an inability to run Heavy-Duty Boots means Silvally will get chipped down by hazards + hail + potential attacks rather easily.
Drednaw @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Head Smash
- Liquidation
- Bulldoze
There is very little to say about Drednaw that hasn't already been said. Thanks to its good Speed stat and access to moves like Head Smash and Bulldoze, it's able to reliably get Stealth Rock up and then get on out of there. Along with preventing foes from reliably setting up against Drednaw, Bulldoze is also nice for hitting Toxicroak hard, which would otherwise easily take advantage of Drednaw. The ability of choice is mostly irrelevant because Drednaw isn't meant to last beyond the first few turns, but Swift Swim does aid the rain matchup, I guess.
Abomasnow @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
The addition of Aurora Veil to Abomasnow's movepool has transformed it from merely a wallbreaker with great coverage to a potential support Pokemon. Although it may be tempting to go for a specially offensive set with Blizzard and Giga Drain so you can both take advantage of the hail and have extra longevity, I've found physical variants to be more effective. It allows Abomasnow to get through Pokemon like Rotom-F, Clefairy, and Flareon more effectively, which otherwise may try to take advantage of Abomasnow. You'll typically want to try and set Aurora Veil as early as possible, but don't fret if an opportunity doesn't present itself.
Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Nasty Plot
Cofagrigus is one of the most potent setup Pokemon in the tier, and this property is only amplified with Aurora Veil support. Cofagrigus's great bulk makes it really hard to remove with anything other than super effective attacks, and further boosting that with Aurora Veil turns it into a true pain. Originally, this set was an Iron Defense + Trick Room variant with Body Press; I figured the team would benefit from a solid Fighting-type check, but once Quagsire dropped into the tier, I realized the team needed a way to win that matchup. Therefore, the transition to Nasty Plot with Energy Ball was made, which is also nice for supporting Silvally-Fire.
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Encore
This is where my take on hyper offense may differ from other builds, but bear with me. Togedemaru provides a lot of utility for the team in one slot that I otherwise would be unable to have. U-turn and Encore are the two most important moves here; they're great for generating setup opportunities for my other teammates, whether it be simply pivoting out of an unfavorable matchup or locking a foe into an exploitable move. Lightning Rod versus Iron Barbs is at times a debate; I find Lightning Rod to always be the superior choice, though, because the Electric immunity is often too good to pass up. There's an argument to be made for Iron Barbs on teams that have an Electric immunity somewhere else, but this team doesn't.
Skuntank @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Memento
Although Skuntank was originally put on the team to check Haunter, it's withstood the test of time, providing me with a reasonable Indeedee-F answer and a way to pressure opposing Cofagrigus for Silvally-Fire and, to a lesser extent, Togedemaru. Because having only two setup users would be a poor use of Aurora Veil, I went with Nasty Plot here. Skuntank is reasonably strong after a boost and has nice coverage, allowing for it to wallbreak reasonably well. Further, Memento provides support to the team a la Togedemaru, letting a teammate have a significantly easier time setting up. Shuca Berry was decided as the best item choice here, as otherwise my only Ground-type check would be Abomasnow (and Cofagrigus kind of, but I'd like to preserve health on it.)
Conclusion
Although it's certainly not the only viable representation of hyper offense, I find this build to be about as consistent as they come. Certain matchups will be rough; that's the nature of the archetype. But I don't think any game is a guaranteed loss at team preview; so long as you manage your resources properly and determine potential win conditions, any game is winnable.