SS OU Articuno Galar + Regieleki offense

Dear smogon, please help me improve this team.

https://pokepast.es/c0d726f82c904180


2022-05-18 (2).png


INTRODUCTION
Articuno Galar is quite underrated in my opinion, especially with Landorous Therian being the currently most used and most popular Pokémon in the tier as of right now. This, combined with the strong likelihood of facing a Defog user almost guarantees at least 1 Competitive activation in the majority of games.

As of right now, I have currently plateaud in the 1600s with this team, with my peak being around 1730, so although it has been powerful, it needs improvement. A team with a gimmick like this could be seen as "inconsistent" and maybe there are ways to make wins more sure.

TEAMBUILDING PROCESS

ARTICUNO GALAR


Articuno-Galar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Freezing Glare
- U-turn
- Psyshock


I started with Articuno Galar because I believe it's an underrated threat in the current metagame.

Originally, I had Hurricane over Air Slash for the raw power, but missing so often on a mon that's meant to be spamming strong attacks was just so infuriating so I decided on Air Slash. Not to mention, the chance to flinch is really beneficial.

Decent defensive utility for a specs user too.

Timid Nature, although perhaps modest could be better in some situations. Let me know what you all think. Personally I like to outspeed threats like Nidoking
There are very few Pokémon in the tier that can take more than 2 attacks from this thing after a Competitive boost.

Calcs

+2 252 SpA Articuno-Galar Freezing Glare vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 237-280 (62 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

+2 252 SpA Articuno-Galar Freezing Glare vs. 252 HP / 56+ SpD Clefable: 267-315 (67.7 - 79.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recover

+2 252 SpA Articuno-Galar Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 460-543 (64.4 - 76%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252 SpA Articuno-Galar Freezing Glare vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 313-369 (81.7 - 96.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252 SpA Articuno-Galar Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowking-Galar: 306-361 (77.6 - 91.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

while this could seem unimpressive - massive dents are put into the enemy team before Articuno is taken down, allowing for one of the other two sweepers to clean up.

This mon really surprised me in testing. IT'S SO NATURALLY BULKY. It can survive some rolls of Scarf Karts Knock Off for example. Not an impressive calc to include perhaps (seeing as it might usually die lol), but should give you an idea of what else this thing can survive

252 Atk Kartana Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Articuno-Galar: 312-368 (97.1 - 114.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO



REGIELEKI

Regieleki @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Transistor
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Rapid Spin
- Ancient Power


Regieleki was chosen as a means to lure in Landorous to get a competitive boost. Additionally, once the ground type is defeated, it often sweeps late-game. The EVs were chosen to outspeed +1 Base 100s. The rest was put into HP to get a little bit of bulk.

I don't really like Electro Ball tbh, I feel it's inconsistent, especially when Eleki's role is lategame sweeper. Thunderbolt was chosen instead.


FERROTHORN

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 1 Spe
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Spikes
- Leech Seed

Ferrothorn was chosen mostly to stack Spikes on the opponent. This provides vital support for Eleki or Weavile Sweeps lategame in addition to allowing for the Defog bait, which will proc Competitive on Articuno. I decided to invest in special bulk because it has Iron Defense Anyway, and because I was struggling Vs. Special Rain Sweepers. The Iron Defense set was chosen because I think it's pretty neat... and also I have enough Knock off support anyway.

Min Speed but I like to be able to outspeed other min Speed ferros so I can win the Body Pressing War.

LANDOROUS

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 25 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake


Standard Max Spdf Lando. Stealth Rock for the pesky defoggers who don't know what Competitive is. Also baits in other lando sometimes which can help proc Competitive too.

Helps Vs Blaceph, Lando, Dragapult, Glowking etc. Perhaps Toxic over Knock Off could be more useful, but I feel so useless when my only attacking move on Landorous is EQ. Knock Off also helps Vs. Dragapult. I like Knock Off, I'm a Knock Off kind of guy.

I REALLY like to underspeed other lando so it's quite speedcreeped downwards.

No Defog on this team - sorry!


SLOWBRO

Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 8 SpA / 76 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Teleport
- Future Sight
- Ice Beam
- Scald

Slowbro - pretty standard stuff, although I invested quite a bit in Sp.Df. I forget why oops, but it's quite nice having a slightly specially bulky Slowbro.

I opted for no Slack Off, which might seem weird, but I think a turn where you're not Future Sighting or Teleporting to get in one of the big threats on an offensive team like this is a bad turn. Plus, I like having Ice Beam to deal with the setup dragons and scald for regular scald purposes.

WEAVILE


Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard

Weavile, secondary lategame sweeper, and also another mon that enjoys the baited Landorous or other ground switch from Eleki's presence. I know Adamant is usually ran lately but not outspeeding Torn or opposing Weavile really sucks!


THREATS

Hail
The hail matchup is tough because there is nothing on the team that can reliably OHKO Ninetails - pretty awful matchup

Lead Mew
Leading Vs. Mew can feel really awful to play against with this team, although I suppose that's not unique to this team.

Heatran
Finding it hard to switch into Magma Storms and Max SPAtk Eruptions!


Well let me know what you think could be improved!
Lots of love xoxo
 
I played you recently and have some thoughts. My main suggestion is to replace Regieleki with Tapu Koko. The brief reasoning would be that it does what you have regieleki doing but better. In our battle, I was able to use garchomp to take advantage of regieleki every time it came in. If it were Tapu Koko, chomp would've been pivot bait into Articuno.

Defensively I don't have a ton to offer. My vague feeling is that Ferrothorn might be too passive. You could try to replace Ferrothorn with Slowking-Galar to slow down heatran and volcanion issues. I think those changes would give your big smashers more opportunities to come in.
 
I played you recently and have some thoughts. My main suggestion is to replace Regieleki with Tapu Koko. The brief reasoning would be that it does what you have regieleki doing but better. In our battle, I was able to use garchomp to take advantage of regieleki every time it came in. If it were Tapu Koko, chomp would've been pivot bait into Articuno.

Defensively I don't have a ton to offer. My vague feeling is that Ferrothorn might be too passive. You could try to replace Ferrothorn with Slowking-Galar to slow down heatran and volcanion issues. I think those changes would give your big smashers more opportunities to come in.
thanks for the reply! yeah koko is probably better, but i think maybe i lose out on some important speed control... tough choice - shall test it
 
i think someone else sed it but consider swapping eleki, however then you get quickly beaten down by fast special attackers. honestly a really cool team. gonna try it out
 
think i'm gna keep eleki - it really wins a lot of games on the spot once the landorous is down. I switched slowbro for a mixed defense (mostly physical) slowking however and am finding a lot more sucess vs rain (less weak to the sptakers), lele, and volcanion (sorry for the oxford comma).

In addition, while koko might be a better mon than eleki, people FEAR eleki. no one wants to lose to it. i find it helps with the psychological aspect of playing an opponent. i'm not sure how to properly articulate it, but i think you incite more fear with an Eleki than a Koko. Perhaps teams shouldn't be rated based on how much fear they incite, but anyway.

On a personal note, i'm more of a "play to win condition" sort of player - so carving out a clear eleki or weavile win is my personal playstyle.

In conclusion... Regieleki or Tapu Koko tbh...
 
also swapped u turn for hurricane on articuno to smash pellipers turn one and to ohko +1 volcaronas. no need for u turn anyway tbh
 

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