BH Balanced Hackmons

[a loser]

The sample teams have finally been updated! While there weren't as many submissions as we'd hoped for, I think that these four teams will be great options for those getting to know the metagame better.

As seen in these samples, Balance builds are still the way to go for BH this generation but we'd love to have more options of either Hyper Offensive or Stall that have seen success on the ladder. I encourage you to keep building and feel free to submit a team for samples if you wish.

Also, I don't know about you all but I wish that Crown Tundra would just hurry up and get released.

 

[Marsopa Trump & Test Rex]

 

[a loser]

Imposter Chansey is usually a controversial topic in Balanced Hackmons, especially for newer players who can easily get overwhelmed and/or frustrated by its incredible bulk and utility in scouting your sets. Its massive base HP stat along with boosts from Eviolite make it extremely hard to wear down, especially if it has transformed into a mon with good defensive stats. I agree that facing Imposter Chansey can be frustrating and I used to think that anyone who used it was carried, but my opinions on the blob have changed over time and my early frustrations with it actually helped me become a better builder. So I'm going to talk about the various ways Imposter Chansey can be dealt with and prepared for.

How to Imposter-proof
If you're playing in a meta with Imposter Chansey, you have to start with the basics and Imposter-proof your team. This concept is very simple but not always easy to do when you're in the builder. If you don't improof your team, you absolutely will have issues when facing Imposter and could easily find yourself in an unwinnable matchup due to Imposter's "unlimited PP" if it can freely switch in and out of your team members without repercussion. There are multiple ways to improof your team and I'll get into those right now.
(For convenience, whenever I mention "Imposter" in this guide I am talking about Eviolite Imposter Chansey unless otherwise noted.)

Self-Improofed Sets

Having a set that is both effective and not worried about Imposter taking advantage of it is a great thing to have but not always easy to achieve. However, it can be achieved in several different ways. Certain combinations of moves, abilities, and typings help sets to become self-improof and I'll show some examples below.

Self-Improof via Trapping
Zamazenta-Crowned @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire / Fur Coat / Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Anchor Shot
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Spectral Thief

This set takes advantage of a trapping move in Anchor Shot and the fact that it naturally resists its Steel-type STAB and uses these advantages to trap Imposter Chansey if it switches in or decides to stay in and fight. Due to Imposter's limited 5 PP in each move, this set traps its Imposters and after 24 turns or so they are KO'd by Struggle. The only cost of this exchange is losing your held item from Knock Off, but I'll address why this is fine in a little bit. In general, Steel-types are great at being self-improof because they get STAB on Anchor Shot and resist damage from it. The only downside of trapping sets is you can't run pivot moves like U-turn or Teleport because that means Imposter gets away.

Self-Improof via Held Item
Marshadow @ Ghost Memory
Ability: Adaptability / Mold Breaker / Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Close Combat
- Shift Gear
- Taunt

Ghost-types have a unique advantage as attackers because they are weak to their own STAB but immune to Normal-type attacks. This makes them perfect users of held items that effect move typings like memories. Marshadow is a great example here because Ghost Memory allows it to have a 120 BP Ghost STAB that Imposter cannot use because it almost never holds memories. Being immune to its own Fighting STAB as well means Imposter is completely useless against this set and is forced out or KO'd.

Zekrom @ Dragon Memory
Ability: Adaptability / Mold Breaker / Tough Claws
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Bolt Beak
- Shift Gear
- Fishious Rend / V-create

Other typings have similar advantages but don't use immunities to become self-improof. Zekrom is a good example here because its Dragon/Electric-typing means it resists Electric attacks 4x but is weak to its own Dragon STAB. This allows it to hold a Dragon Memory to hit opposing Dragon-types and its Imposter super effectively while its Imposter is left with a Normal-type attack and other moves that Zekrom resists. The main difference here from Ghost-type attackers is that Imposter can damage you with Multi-Attack but it risks being 2HKOed after Shift Gear, so you just have to make sure your mon is healthy enough to take an attack before an attempted sweep.

Self-Improof via Poison Heal
Zamazenta @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Cotton Guard
- Will-O-Wisp / Spiky Shield
- Knock Off

Poison Heal users have an advantage over their Imposter because they passively heal each turn while Imposter is worn down and denied healing. This set is good because it can't be burned once the Toxic Orb activates and it takes neutral damage to its own STAB so any Imposter that stays in against it is heavily crippled by being burned and losing its held item. The only drawback of this set is it can't take on Imposter from Turn 1 (unless running a Protect clone) because it risks being burned or losing its Toxic Orb, so it requires team support like a slow pivot move or just a good predicted switch to safely activate the orb.

Zekrom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Bolt Beak
- Will-O-Wisp
- Fishious Rend / Shift Gear

This set shows another option for Poison Heal but that is weak to its own STAB. Sets like this have to be played much more carefully since it is very vulnerable to Imposter before it has a chance to burn it. This Zekrom can take comfort knowing that it is guaranteed to survive a Dragon Darts from Imposter, unless it lands a Critical Hit, and burn it in return to cripple it. This makes running this set risky compared to the PH Zamazenta from earlier but is worth it to ensure Zekrom is not forced out by other Dragon-types. Running this set likely requires some support from teammates, whether it be another burn spreader or something that can handle Zekrom's attacks like Steelix or a Fur Coat wall.

NOTE: Improofing your team with Poison Heal users is great but has other effects on teambuilding that must be considered. Running support moves like Heal Bell is off the table because if your PH mon has their orb removed, they of course will no longer benefit from Poison Heal if their status is cured by this move. Other moves like Toxic, Baneful Bunker, and Toxic Spikes can be used but must be used cautiously when playing against Imposter because if Imposter gets poisoned then your set is very likely no longer self-improof and you have to deal with a very bulky version of it that heals itself.

Improofing with Teammates

Not every set can or should be self-improof. If you try to build this way, your team will not be optimal for facing the rest of the threats in the metagame. Another method of improofing your team is to use a teammate to check the Imposter of another teammate. Look at the examples below for further explanation.

Improofing Offensive Mons with Defensive Teammates
Zamazenta-Crowned @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn
- Earthquake / Fishious Rend

Golisopod @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Spiky Shield
- Glare
- Stealth Rock

This is one of the most common and reliable improofing methods. This Zamazenta-C is threatened to be OHKOed by Imposter using Close Combat due to Intrepid Sword's mechanics making Imposter have +2 Attack. Zama-C can only hope to 2HKO Eviolite Imposter in return so Golisopod comes in to serve as the improof. Golisopod naturally resists Zama-C's STAB moves and has nice physical defense to help it stomach boosted attacks from Imposter. Coverage moves, like EQ or Fishious Rend, can be chosen to help Zama-C's moveset be optimal for hitting as much as possible while still making Golisopod a good improof. The Golisopod set is built to both absorb the Imposter Zama-C's attacks and cripple it and gain momentum on it at the same time. If the Imposter decides to stay in, Golisopod can Glare it or set Stealth Rock at no cost, or just U-turn out as Imposter is forced to switch out.

Improofing offensive mons with defensive teammates can look very different depending on the offensive mon of choice. Abilities like Fur Coat and Ice Scales are great for improofing Physical and Special Attackers, respectively. Some examples of this include things like all-out-attacker Zacian-Crowned with Fur Coat Seismitoad to improof and Adaptability Lunala with Ice Scales Incineroar to improof. There are also options like Flash Fire, Volt Absorb, and similar immunity abilities that stop Imposter from taking advantage of offensive mons.

Improofing Defensive Mons with Defensive Teammates
Another extremely important aspect of improofing is improofing defensive team members. Imposter loves coming in on defensive mons and getting free opportunities to steal your healing moves and become super bulky, so you have to limit how much it can do this. But as I mentioned before, not every set is going to be self-improof and this includes defensive mons. Running Anchor Shot or other trapping moves on every defensive team member is not a good strategy and can get you in trouble in certain matchups. Pivot moves are great in Balanced Hackmons because you can run them on anything you want and they are very useful to help keep momentum on your side. Pivot moves also help get you out of trouble and avoid being trapped yourself and falling victim to things like Imprison + Transform or Soundproof Perish Song. So if you want to run moves like Teleport, U-turn, or Parting Shot on your wall then go for it, just make sure you have an improof. See below for some examples.

Melmetal @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Recover
- Haze
- Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn

Eternatus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scorching Sands
- Dynamax Cannon
- Recover
- Teleport

Say you want to use this Prankster Melmetal to check Physical Attackers like Zacian-C and Zekrom with Will-O-Wisp and serve as a slow pivot with U-turn. This set is fine at its job, but it lets Imposter get free recovery and a chance to burn you or pivot out, which can be a problem. Enter Eternatus, who with Magic Bounce can punish Imposter for trying to burn you and has a Rocky Helmet to chip its health if it U-turns and has Scorching Sands to punish it if it decides to stay in. While Imposter might get a chance to heal itself with Melmetal, using Eternatus as the improof allows you to be in charge and keep momentum since any move it makes can be taken advantage of in one way or another.

Eternatus @ Black Sludge
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dynamax Cannon
- Teleport
- Recover
- Sludge Bomb

Magearna @ Metronome
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Boomburst
- Soft-Boiled
- Teleport

Eternatus is a great Fur Coat mon in the meta to help handle Physical Attackers but it is quite vulnerable to Imposter since it is 2HKOed by its own Dynamax Cannon. Having a teammate like Pixilate Magearna helps to ease dealing with Imposter of Eternatus thanks to Magearna being immune to both its STABs and racking up nice chip damage with strong Boombursts if Imposter tries to recover. The Metronome allows Magearna to out-damage the Imposter's recovery attempts after a couple turns.

The important takeaway here is that you can't always deny Imposter from using your walls but you can always punish it when it does.

Improofing Mons with RegenVest
Regenerator is a very useful ability in Balanced Hackmons and can become even more useful when combined with an Assault Vest. This helps your team check opposing Special Attackers all while getting healed up when you switch out. This sounds great, but Regenerator mons are basically a magnet for Imposter. Since Regen is normally used defensively, Imposter really benefits from switching into RegenVest users and taking advantage of its insane bulk and free recovery all while scouting your team. This sounds bad, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use this ability. Here's an example of how to improof a RegenVest mon.

Zamazenta-Crowned @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Body Press
- Spectral Thief
- U-turn
- Nuzzle / Knock Off

Zama-C is a common user of RegenVest thanks to its neat typing and great 92/145/145 bulk. However, Imposter gets 250/145/145 bulk that is boosted by Eviolite and gets free healing. Running a set like this can be very useful for checking a myriad of Special Attackers but you can't let Imposter fully take advantage of you every time you use it. One way to do this is with your own moveset. Moves like Nuzzle and Knock Off are not only useful to cripple any opponent but also Imposter that comes in expecting free recovery. RegenVest mons can't be fully self-improof so you'll have to use a teammate that can punish Imposter. An example teammate that goes well with this Zama-C is shown below:

Zekrom @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Glare
- Bolt Beak
- Recover
- Teleport

Using this Fur Coat Zekrom as a teammate helps improof Zama-C because Rocky Helmet cuts down on the recovery Imposter hopes to gain and Zekrom's typing helps to absorb attempted Nuzzles. The rest of Zekrom's moveset is not only relevant and viable for checking Physical Attackers but also is built to punish Imposter of Zama-C that greedily stay in to burn PP.

Improofing Offensive Mons with Offensive Teammates
This method of improofing is sometimes referred to as a "hard-improof" and is good for team builds that are offensively oriented. The idea is to use multiple offensive team members to put pressure on the opponent that also check each other's Imposters. This type of improofing often comes at the cost of running uncommon sets with the benefit of making Imposter useless to gain opportunities to setup or get momentum. See some examples below.

Zeraora @ Magnet
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Zap Cannon
- Bolt Beak
- Dynamic Punch
- Shift Gear

Golurk @ Ghost Memory
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shift Gear
- Earthquake
- Multi-Attack
- Bolt Beak

:Gourgeist-Super:Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- King's Shield
- Teleport
- Spectral Thief
- Recover

Darmanitan-Galar-Zen @ Ice Memory
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Multi-Attack
- Bolt Beak / Shift Gear
- Close Combat

This example is a core I've used on an offensive team. It uses multiple team slots that all check one another while also pretty much shutting down Imposter. Zeraora kicks off the core by spamming high-powered Electric STAB and RNG thanks to No Guard and if Imposter comes in on it, you can switch straight to Golurk because Zeraora can't touch it. This gives Golurk a chance to setup and potentially get a kill. Golurk makes use of Ghost-Memory but running EQ means it isn't self-improof completely, so Gourgeist takes advantage of Imposter not holding a memory and its unique typing to resist Golurk's coverage. It can steal boosts with Spectral Thief or pivot out with Teleport for momentum. If Imposter comes in on Gourgeist, DGZ comes in to threaten it with Ice Multi-Attack and in return, your Gourgeist also improofs Imposters of the DGZ.

Niche Options for Improofing

There are several other methods of improofing your team that can prove effective at stopping Imposter but at the cost of running sub-optimal sets that struggle to break past common things in the metagame that aren't Imposter. These types of builds can be helpful for particular matchups, like in a tournament setting against an opponent you are prepping for. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend regularly using this type of strategy because it is not does not provide consistent results. Here's an example of niche improofing:

Imprison Setup Sweepers
Obstagoon @ Leftovers
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- No Retreat / Clangorous Soul
- Power Trip
- Imprison
- Haze / Recover / Spore

A set like this aims to counter popular checks to setup sweepers by cheesing their way past them. Obstagoon's unique typing makes it immune to Spectral Thief and Prankster status moves like Topsy-Turvy and Will-O-Wisp, so its goal is to spam setup moves until it gets enough power to blow past things with STAB Power Trip. Imprison is the key on this set because it prevents the very common Prankster Haze from being used and also means Imposter can't come in and use its moves once Imprison is set.

If you use this set and have success, then bully for you. This set has plenty of problems, though. First off it takes at least two turns to fully setup and become threatening, which gives the opponent two full turns to react to your strategy. Second, Imposter can risk a Speed tie to set Imprison before you do, which forces you out. It can be fun to use cheesy/niche strategies like this, but you have to go in knowing it is very dependent on your matchup and won't always give good results.

If you build your team with the above mentioned things in mind, you can pretty much beat or shut down Imposter before the battle even begins.

Facing Imposter in Battle
Building your team and improofing your sets is one thing, but actually battling against an intelligent opponent using Imposter is another. Good players that use Imposter will generally play it carefully rather than aggressively, as they know things like trapping, Knock Off, and status threaten to cripple their Imposter.

What to Expect and How to Beat Imposter

Knowing this, battles against a team using Imposter might have to start off slowly (unless you are using the offensive hard-improofs) so that you can get your team fully setup. This could mean using a Protect clone like Spiky Shield or a slow pivoting teammate to safely activate any Poison Heal team members or using an Imposter of your own to scout the opponent's sets to find what might threaten your team. If you aren't running Poison Heal as a means of improofing, then just proceed as you normally would in battle.

Once the battle gets going, you can judge how aggressively the opponent uses their Imposter and adjust your playstyle as needed. With Balance being a popular playstyle, it is important to limit the number of times an Imposter can freely come in on your team members without consequences. Things like Knock Off, entry hazards, and status inflicting moves are important so that Imposter can be crippled and worn down early on in the battle and be less effective at its role as a scout in the long run.

How NOT to Use Offensive Mons (and How to Use them Correctly)
Something else that I really want to stress is that you should NOT give your opponent's Imposter free opportunities to heal when transformed into your offensive teammates. What I mean is don't blindly run a set like the one below, even if you have a decent improof for it.

Reshiram @ Life Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blue Flare
- Dynamax Cannon
- Quiver Dance
- Synthesis

While this set looks good and threatening on paper, it is pretty much guaranteed to either lose to Imposter or at the very least give it a chance to completely heal itself. This is what I call a lose-lose situation.

Instead of this, ideally your offensive mons shouldn't have recovery options that Imposter can steal, like Poison Heal attackers, or the offensive mon shouldn't have recovery at all. Without recovery, Imposter is limited in how many times it can switch into your attacks and is slowly worn down throughout a battle, paving the way for your offensive mon to break through. One example of a set that pulls this off is the Choice Band Zama-C I talked about earlier. While Imposter does win in a 1v1 situation here, it can't repeatedly switch into Close Combat or EQ unless it has found an opportunity to heal itself.

Why Knock Off is so Important
You might have noticed I've mentioned Knock Off more than a few times so far, so I'd like to address this move and its importance in facing Imposter. First off, Knock Off is an incredibly useful utility move that I'd recommend using on your team even if you aren't considering Imposter. But with Imposter in mind, its held item is really the only thing you can't prepare for in the teambuilder, so removing its item is very beneficial.

Eviolite is by far the most common held item for Imposter Chansey, for obvious reasons. In most situations, Eviolite gives it the most utility and longevity in a battle if it can hold onto it. Removing its Eviolite makes it much easier for you to wear it down, but its bulk from its massive HP is still something you have to deal with.

Also, it isn't uncommon for Imposter to hold different items, like Shed Shell, Choice Scarf, Toxic Orb, or even something like Ground or Dragon Memory. It is also worth considering Light Ball Imposter Pikachu, which is massively crippled by Knock Off. But for Imposter Chansey, running these other items can make it a much different threat to deal with. I'll briefly discuss the impact these items have on your matchup with Imposter.

• Imposter Chansey with Shed Shell can help Imposter to out-stall certain trapping mons that are relying on beating Imposter via trapping. Something like Flash Fire Melmetal with Anchor Shot, Recover, Spectral Thief, and Court Change can be trapped by Shed Shell Imposter only to have 20 of its own PP burned away without being able to stop it. After stalling for a bit, the Imposter can freely switch out to a teammate and is free to come back in on this Melmetal whenever it wants later.

But if you look at the Anchor Shot Zama-C set I shared above, it is running Knock Off in order to stop this from being an issue. If Shed Shell Imposter attempts to come in and out-stall a trapping set, they'll be forced to flee as to not be trapped and Struggle to death. You don't have to always run Knock Off on your trapper though, and can use a teammate for Knock Off support instead to avoid issues with Shed Shell.​

• Imposter Chansey can hold something like a Toxic Orb or a Memory to take advantage of offensive mons that rely on denying Imposter healing and/or super effective coverage, like the self-improof mons I mentioned earlier. This situation is very similar to the Poison Heal Zekrom with Dragon Darts example, in which I mentioned having a backup improof can be very useful. It is advisable to carry a backup improof to any Multi-Attack or Poison Heal user just in case your mon isn't healthy enough to defeat its Imposter.

Outside of having a backup improof, having Knock Off support helps to avoid situations where Imposter can cheese past your offensive mons by holding these items. If you suspect your opponent could be running Toxic Orb Imposter, like in a tournament setting perhaps, it is important to be cautious when sending out your PH mon and to take advantage of Steel- and Poison-type teammates that deny Imposter from activating its orb.​

Conclusion
If you follow the advice in this guide and take the time to improof your team, you really shouldn't have a problem facing any number or variant of Imposter. Each battle is different though, and of course RNG happens like critical hits and missing moves, but there is only so much you can control when playing mons. Hopefully this can help some people to become better and smarter team builders and to end their woes of dealing with Imposter Chansey.

 

[Champion Leon]

Obstagoon wants Shed Shell over Leftovers, so it can switch out after No Retreat...

I would also like to add this "Niche Option for Imposterproofing" -

Marshadow @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Poltergeist
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch / Drain Punch

Unlike Obstagoon, this Pokemon only requires 1 turns of set-up.

This set uses Mach Punch to deal with Prankster Hazers, and Topsy-Turveyers like Melmetal, Type :Null, and Snorlax once you have set-up Belly Drum:

+6 252+ Atk Marshadow Mach Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Snorlax: 524-620 (100 - 118.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 252+ Atk Marshadow Mach Punch vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Type: Null: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Otherwise, Drain Punch works well so you can heal off damage to set-up Belly Drum in the future, so you can heal before you get forced out.

The big deal about this set, is that you can use Poltergeist vs Imposter, but it cannot use it against you, since Poltergeist only works on foes that have a held item. Since you have eaten Sitrus Berry after Belly Drum, automatically, by the time Imposter comes in after it saw you set up, it wont be able to deal any damage, while you can 1HKO it in a single-boosted blow!

Poltergeist is also rarely seen, and rarely understood compared to Multi-Attack, meaning that when the foe sees you eat a Sitrus Berry they may assume its safe to bring in Imposter since they know you don't have a Ghost Memory. With 110 base power, and no fear of Knock Off, it offers most of the same power, and a unique condition that prevents Imposter from affecting it.

+6 252+ Atk Marshadow Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 848-1002 (120.6 - 142.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Overall, Marshadow is able to set-up +1 Speed and +6 Attack in 1 turn, is not threatened by Imposter, can KO Prankster Hazers before they can clear your boosts, and Marshadow gets to use both of its Dual STAB for awesome unresisted coverage. Lastly, Drain Punch combined with Belly Drum allows it to heal off damage while attacking foes it would normally KO anyway (i.e. Poison Heal Snorlax, non-Fur Coat Melmetal, etc.), allowing for re-usability.

Others Prankster Hazers like Eternatus that resist Mach Punch, and Unaware sets can avoid being swept. However, this set even turns Fur Coat sets into 2HKOs thanks to the strong coverage offered, as nothing can resist both of its STAB coverage moves, making Fur Coat sets soft-checks, but not true counters like Unaware.

Another ability to counter Imposter is Unburden, allowing you to set-up upon consuming an item, which, like Poltergeist, does not work for Imposter since it cannot use up its own item. Sets often include Belly Drum + Sitrus Berry, Throat Spray + Clangorous Soul, so they can double their speed without fear of being Speed tied, or outsped, and then KO Imposter with their own Attacks before Imposter can move.

Examples include:

Zekrom @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Dragon Darts
- Belly Drum
- Close Combat / Fishous Rend

+6 252+ Atk Zekrom Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 712-844 (101.2 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO

This allows them to not feel limited by their moveslot choices (like a Memory + Multi-Attack), so they can customize their sets, as long as it can KO Imposter.

 

[Bean Man]

How to Imposter-proof

Miss Shedinja where you could minimize defense to cripple any imposter chansey that was stupid enough to stay in very easily. Those were the days...

 

[a loser]

Just a reminder to everyone that the Fall Seasonal Tour is about to get underway and there are only two days left to sign up. I encourage everyone who hasn't to sign up and play so we can get an image of what this metagame is actually like outside of all the Simple No Retreat and Imprison + Transform we're seeing on the ladder.

Speaking of the ladder, I've been on it a lot recently and want to share some sets I've been having success with.
Zekrom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Taunt
- Shift Gear
- Scald / Filler

The main draw here is Taunt. Taunt is a move that I really like but can almost never find room to fit it anywhere. Taunt Zekrom is really cool because it is fast enough to outspeed slower walls and deny them from healing up, which can really pay off in a long battle. Other than that, it is just Bolt Beak being insanely powerful as always. Scald is a weird choice but it hits Ground-types and lessens damage from Spectral Thief and such with burns. Feel free to run Dragon STAB on this instead of Scald, just make sure you have something that can improof it.​

​

Eternatus @ Life Orb
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Draco Meteor
- Strength Sap / Quiver Dance
- Focus Blast

This set is tougher to use at times compared to standard sets, but I like it because it uses the great defensive utility of Fur Coat while taking advantage of Etern's nice SpA. Life Orb Draco Meteor notably OHKOes all the scary Dragon-types that Dynamax Cannon can't, which is super useful and keeps it from being forced out by full health Reshiram, Zekrom, etc. Wish support from a teammate is really handy to help this set work since Strength Sap isn't the most reliable recovery method.​

​

Snorlax @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Knock Off
- Spore
- Shift Gear

I keep being pleasantly surprised by this set. With Core Enforcer being gone, ability removal is not super common (but probably should be) and if this big guy gets an opportunity to get rolling, it is really hard to stop. Just remember, this is Snorlax and you're still outsped by like half the meta after one Shift Gear.​

 

[SuperSkylake]

The Case for a Baton pass ban

So if anyone has played the gen 8 bh ladder they will probably have ran into the player that is Hushreg, who has been running variations of a Baton Pass team for at least a half a year. The team is extremely consistent, unless you go out of your way to counterteam it, in which case you just lose to the rest of the meta. The main BP abusers are his Zacian-C, which can still run 3 attacks + bp which forces switches meaning he can easily bp his Intrepid Sword boost, and Type: null, which runs Substitute / Strength Sap / Spectral Thief / Baton Pass. The Eviolite boosted defenses of Type Null make it nearly impossible to prevent it from BPing Substitute, unless you manage to knock it out before it can, which is really really hard. For example, even a Low Kick from Zamazenta can't KO it, unless you have knocked off its eviolite first, in which case it probably got its substitute up and then Strength Sapped you to restore all its health.

Now you can argue, ah, it's Intrepid Sword that's the problem. I disagree, mainly because Baton Passing a Substitute to monstrous offensive threats such as Mewtwo, Zacian-C or Darm-GZ makes them extremely hard to deal with too. In order to beat Mold Breaker Darm-GZ behind a sub, you still need to hit it twice, even if you have set up Stealth Rock, meaning you lose at least one and maybe even two mons just to bring in your check, at which point it can switch back out to the Sub Passwer and just repeat the cycle. Substitute also blocks Imposter, meaning that you can't even use that instead, and again, setting up a Substitute is really easy right now.

Here are some of the ways to fight sub BP.

1. Spectral thief: this only works if the sub-bper is not a normal-type and is faster than your spectral thief user, since you prevent it from passing. I'm pretty sure Hushreg runs a very slow Type Null to fight this. Spectral thief also doesn't break the sub meaning that you can just pass the sub anyway.

2. Whirlwind and Roar: These pretty much make your mon unable to be self-improofed which is usually not a good thing since now you just lose to teams with one or more Imposters instead of the Sub-pass team. They do work great against Sub pass though.

3. Infiltrator. If you're running this, and that's inconsistent, though I guess in this case since Hushreg is on the ladder so much, you actually might win more with Infiltrator than without, so maybe it's meta now? Hmmm...

4. Just boost faster. I think this actually might work. If you can Baton Pass more boosts faster and prevent the anti-setup measures from working, you can win. Of course, broken checking broken isn't a good reason to keep it around, and it's also very matchup dependent.

5. taunt: this is another move that's hard to fit because every mon is already so strapped for moveslots as it is. Still, it does shut down non-magic bounce passers, and works through substitutes too. It only works on opponents slower than the taunter, meaning that Zacian-C is still able to pass without issues. Taunt is also nice for stallbreaking mons.

In short, none of these options are foolproof, nor are they all that useful against the rest of the meta. I don't think banning Intrepid Sword would make much of a difference in the prevalence of these teams, as Download is a suitable ability replacement, and Substitute + pass is still just as oppressive. It would do the least amount of colateral damage to get rid of Baton Pass, as we still have plenty of other pivoting moves available. I don't disagree that Intrepid Sword might deserve a suspect in the future, but Baton Pass definitely does.

 

[JoeyJoeJoeShabadoo]

Maybe it's just the weakness of a full stat-up support pokemon where any flaw ruins your team. I tend to sweep baton pass squads pretty easily and don't even use Spectral Thief often. That being said, it does have some powerful uses; although i often find i'm better throwing something else out than using my Baton Pass. The Zamazenta set wields a deadly STAB Body Press off of 853 Defense and Cotton Guard brings that to 2134; Baton Pass is there for dodging out or getting a clutch boost but usually swinging hard is more productive.

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Final Gambit
- Toxic Spikes
- Trick
- Baneful Bunker

Unoriginal

Zeraora @ Assault Vest
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Fishious Rend
- Spectral Thief
- U-turn

Bulky and boomy

Reshiram @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steel Beam
- Blue Flare
- Earth Power
- Quiver Dance

Weirdly the pokemon that ends up running through teams. The Life Orb gives it enough punch to get through Imposters and Steel Beam is fantastic against Fairies and Shuckle. I'm sure you could run a similar set with Sheer Force and a different third move, but Magic Guard is a great defense against stall. Stops a pesky leech seed+sturdy set too.

Eternatus @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Side Arm
- Clanging Scales
- Blue Flare
- Nasty Plot

Powerful and holds on well. Spore wasn't as common as I thought.

Zamazenta-Crowned @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Cotton Guard
- Body Press
- Baton Pass
- Nuzzle

Zamazenta-Crowned is the best Body Press user in the game. She's got STAB and the high HP/SP.D/SPD that mons with higher base defense lack. This thing laughs off pretty much any physical set. It can be your win condition but you can also support with Baton Pass and Nuzzle.

Toxapex @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Court Change
- Parting Shot
- Perish Song

Court Change is worth a move slot on any team, especially with Prankster. Toxic Spikes aren't much of a threat but flipping Stealth Rock chip or a Sticky Web is a game-changer. Toxic Orb works for sweepers and stallers, with Perish Song pressuring something trying to set up. Depending on the situation, you can often afford to use Trick twice to take back your Orb.

 

[cityscapes]

A Comprehensive Critique of Balanced Hackmons in Generation 8

(note 1: this applies to both galar dex bh and natdex bh, although i do have less experience in the latter and will typically be using galar dex for examples)
(note 2: by no means do i think that either of these metas are unsalvagable. the natdex bh bolt/rend suspect is a great step and i think both metas could be quite fun after appropriate tiering action is taken)
(note 3: free shed i miss him, ban boots if u have to)
(note 4: im not right about everything [i am right about note 3 though])

BH in Generation 8 has brought a variety of new and interesting mechanics, but some of these specific mechanics have combined to form a metagame that has stagnated quickly and rewarded only very specific strategies in high level play. In this essay I will attempt to explain which factors specifically have contributed to this effect, using both personal experience and general metagame knowledge. I cannot hope to prescribe any sort of optimal tiering action by myself, so I will leave this responsibility to the readers.

Without a doubt, the biggest intrinsic problem in the metagame is how absurdly strong the offensive threats are compared to their defensive counterparts. This shouldn't be too hard to illustrate, you have Mega Blaziken but with Ice STAB and a crazy speed tier, Kyurem-W from last gen, Zacian-C, and of course the two newcomers Bolt Beak and Fishious Rend with their various uses. Meanwhile, defensively you only have a couple mons that can even come close to matching these base stats while having a decent typing (Etern, Zama-C, maybe Reshiram) and even then, these answers feel extremely fragile and all crumble to an Earthquake or two.

If you look at Fur Coat in something like Gen 7 BH, it has a pretty interesting function. Stall teams are the only ones that make use of true passive, defensive FC users. Outside of that, you see the ability used typically on offensive Pokemon, like willdbeast's Kyurem-B or my Tapu Lele, to increase the amount of offensive Pokemon they can take on 1v1. In this metagame, however, FC is an absolute necessity to even attempt to take on the breakers. Intrepid Sword, for example, has no true defensive counterplay besides FC. This is less problematic in Natdex (thanks for getting rid of intrepid sword), but still stands out as an issue particularly with Bolt/Rend/V-create combined with Wicked Blow and Triple Axel to eliminate the fat dragons as counterplay, making it easy to create sets that can't really be countered.

Anyway, why is it bad that Fur Coat is used defensively and is a good ability? This is less of an intrinsically bad thing and more of a symptom of a real problem, this problem being that Pokemon and strategies designed to punish passive FC users and other ability-less defensive Pokemon (FF/PSea, Prank, Scales) are less efficient at doing their job than just using straightforward offensive Pokemon that can do the same thing better. I would say that this effect, above all others, is the greatest cause of uncompetitiveness in this metagame.

Those of you familiar with games like StarCraft will know that there are three main strategies in a game: offense (concentrating resources to deal the most damage possible), defense (concentrating resources to defend against the attack), and economy (concentrating resources to get more resources). The three strategies form a rock paper scissors triangle of offense<defense<economy<offense. In BH, the "economy" strategy is most widely seen in Poison Heal users, who make consistent progress without being chipped down or easily forced out by offensive pokemon (meaning not losing resources); other examples include Shed Shell Imposter and Mold Breaker. These categories obviously aren't absolute (some Poison Heal users like PH Regigigas fall into other categories, and it would be silly to classify Anchor + Spectral + Entrainment as "offensive") but it works as a rough picture for what I'm trying to say here. Note that "strategies" typically refers to specific Pokemon rather than teams; most good teams have a mixture of all 3 strategies.

The problem with this metagame is that "economy" strategies are generally much worse than the offensive or defensive ones. Due to the freedom offered by BH, defensive strategies typically have no issues being at least decent, and offensive strategies have a wide variety of firepower to draw from. Economy strategies, on the other hand, have tons of meta-specific factors working against them. The metagame lacks Pokemon that are bulky, strong, and resistant to status. Outside of Shed Shell Imposter, you pretty much only have PH Dark-types (urshi/grimm/ttar) and PH Zekrom. Even these Pokemon find themselves forced to adopt offensive roles to actually get something done with Shift Gear and/or Dynamax late-game.

The prevalence of Fur Coat and Ice Scales wouldn't be such a problem if the users didn't literally get bailed out of a powerful game mechanic they would otherwise lose to, that being hazards. Hazards got nerfed into the ground this gen, and this has hurt economy strategies more than anything else. No longer do you have a powerful (but still counterable) tool that can punish overly passive teams and players. Hazards are a shell of their former self because even when you put in the effort to set up hazards, you have no guarantee that the hazards will hurt your opponent more than they'll hurt you. (This is different from Magic Bounce, which discourages passive hazard setters while encouraging the Bounce user to make risky plays to get a big reward, and Mold Breaker is offered as an option to bypass Bounce for those who don't feel like taking this risk.) Court Change + Rapid Spin makes hazards basically a non-factor, and games typically end up with either max hazards on both sides or no hazards on either side. Boots also deserves a mention for giving FC/Scales yet another out to hazards.

As a result, the nuances involved in offense/economy, defense/economy, and economy/economy are emphasized much less, and the game becomes about offense/defense, offense/offense, and defense/defense matchups. Typically this means both teams slowing the game down to a glacial pace in order to give their breakers an opportunity to come in and win, defensive mons trying to hit each other with burns and Knock Off, and Imposter just hanging out because Imposter breaks the rules. Genuinely offensive teams have turned from an unstoppable, OMPL-winning behemoth into a truly pitiful ladder staple due to being simply unable to break through and establish their own tempo.

Even balance teams have very little room to innovate from my experience. A byproduct of FC/Scales being so prominent is that what your defensive mon can do offensively is less of a factor. You need the power level of Pokemon like Darm in order to not get walled by random FC/Scales mons. As a result, bulky Pokemon that can have offensive presence (Melmetal, Magearna, even offensive Eterns) get pushed out of the metagame and passive status/Knock users take their place. Similarly, only the very small subset of offensive Pokemon that don't actually have counters can be used consistently. The meta has devolved into a state where you can genuinely say "this team has 4 offensive pokemon and 2 defensive ones" and have it mean something. The passive/nonpassive spectrum has been all but abandoned as defensive mons take the decent options available to them (status, hazard removal, trapping, maybe a stab move) and offensive mons use every single tool available to them in order to not lose to FC/Scales.

Something I like to talk about is the concept of "positioning", keeping in mind the opponent's best threats and favoring positions that are solid vs them. In Gen 8, positioning has become almost entirely focused on the long term and not the short term. Playing in a way that discourages something like Darm, Zekrom, or Zac-C from coming in is completely unfeasible considering they can threaten to immediately kill half the mons on your team. Instead, you need to win the war of attrition by making their defensive mons waste more turns recovering than you do and not giving them any time to get something started as a result. If you don't focus all your resources on this specifically or look to get your offensive mon in on anything that isn't a guaranteed recover, you open yourself up to huge punishes-- despite hazards being bad, switching is punished very heavily in this metagame by moves like status and Teleport, and without Poison Heal you lack mobility. As a result, you typically only have one or two viable moves each turn. Passive play isn't just rewarded, it's practically forced.

The issue with the metagame back when Shell Smash was legal was that the offense/defense matchup was skewed incorrectly. Now, the issue is that the defense/economy matchup is skewed incorrectly. I think we have several paths to go about this; nerfing offense (by removing beak/rend/intrepid sword/maybe darm) and nerfing defense (removing court change or maybe boots/teleport if youre based) can both help this.

Thanks for reading.

tl;dr: REMEMBER 6 MONTHS AGO WHEN HAZARDS WERE GOOD AND YOU COULD MAKE DGZ DO NOTHING WITH STEALTH ROCK LOOOOOOOL

 

[JoeyJoeJoeShabadoo]

So I don't know if this was intended, but Imposter also copies a pokemon's G-Max form. Though it might have only been the aesthetic.

 

[a loser]

So I don't know if this was intended, but Imposter also copies a pokemon's G-Max form. Though it might have only been the aesthetic.

This is only aesthetic. I've ran into the same thing in the past. You look like the G-Max mon but you can't use the G-Max moves, even if you Dynamax yourself. If you do Dynamax, you remain looking like the G-Max forme.

 

[a loser]

Good news BH players! Crown Tundra is coming sooner than expected and will be released on 10/22/2020 (about a month earlier than expected).


These guys and more are returning to the meta and some new faces like Calyrex and the Galarian Bird Trio are joining them. These new mons, along with new (and old) moves and abilities they might bring, are sure to shake up the metagame quite a bit.

I'm particularly intrigued by the two new Psychic-type special attacks, one that can cause freezes and the other than reduces the opponents PP, and Thunder Cage that sounds like an Electric-type partial trapping move (hopefully on Magma Storm's level rather than Whirlpool though). Dragon Energy also looks good for making Dragon-types even more of a pain to deal with this generation, but at least we're getting some good Fairy-types back.

Notable returning moves include but aren't limited to: Sacred Fire, Origin Pulse, Precipice Blades, Dragon Ascent, Magma Storm, Shadow Force, Oblivion Wing, Geomancy, Thousand Waves, Core Enforcer, Steam Eruption, Diamond Storm, and Nature's Madness.
I've put some in bold that look more impactful than others due to bringing back high powered coverage, utility/trapping, and a much needed ability suppressor.

Until today, we thought we had at least two more months before the DLC released so the council had been discussing the state of the metagame to see what could be done to potentially improve it. Most of our discussion points, like Intrepid Sword, Dynamax, Imposter Chansey, and Bolt Beak / Fishious Rend are going to be heavily impacted by the second DLC. I'll briefly touch on these below.

Intrepid Sword has been the choice ability for physical attackers this gen, for obvious reasons, and has resulted in Fur Coat being a high-usage ability to check it. With physically bulky mons like Zygarde-C, Giratina, and Groudon returning, I'm thinking Intrepid Sword will become a little easier to deal with (or even necessary so we can break through big Zyg lol).

Following this, Bolt Beak and Fishious Rend have been talked about a lot this gen thanks to their very high base power. Zygarde-C and Giratina give us two more fat Dragons to eat these moves and perhaps free up Eternatus from needing to run Fur Coat as much. Of the returning mons, we aren't really getting great abusers of these moves outside of maybe Palkia and Tapu Koko.

Dynamax, which has already survived a suspect testing, could get interesting with new DLC content. While Core Enforcer returning is great for mons like Eternatus, it also might miss out on Dynamax Cannon's utility. Yveltal sticks out to me here as a good Dynamax mon, as its STABs while Dynamaxed grant it speed boosts and drops the opponent's special defenses. A set similar to my Adaptability Yveltal last gen could do some damage with Quiver Dance, Oblivion Wing, and either Dark Pulse or the new Fiery Wrath move that Galarian Moltres brings.

TLDR? DLC is coming early and it'll be fun!
Edit: I forgot about the datamine showing the UBs and some mythicals, so I added in a few things that have to do with them.

 

[Ren]

(i heard ubs are in the datamine too if youre confused why theyre included)

i spent a while earlier today crafting some sets that seemed kinda fun to use, idk if they'll end up being any good but i figured i'd share no less. these aren't formatted well bc i couldn't be asked (idk what the dark pulse clone is so far so if that ends up being better just replace)

dlc sets?

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Dragon Ascent
- Ice Hammer
- Flip Turn

Lugia @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Defog
- Haze
- Anchor Shot

Rayquaza @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Scorching Sands
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Ascent

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Shadow Ball
- Mind Blown
- V-create

Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Grav Apple
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn

Darmanitan-Galar-Zen @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Hammer
- Sacred Fire
- Bolt Beak
- Fishious Rend

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- V-create
- Knock Off

Yveltal @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Knock Off
- Dragon Ascent
- Thousand Arrows

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- Scorching Sands

Yveltal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Spectral Thief
- Shore Up

Yveltal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Spectral Thief
- Strength Sap
- Shore Up

Yveltal @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Quiver Dance

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Lash
- Anchor Shot
- Topsy-Turvy
- Roost

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Mind Blown
- V-create
- Strength Sap

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Boomburst
- Sacred Fire
- Recover

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Boomburst
- V-create
- Roost

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Anchor Shot
- Roost
- Defog
- Lava Plume

Xerneas @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Scorching Sands
- Spikes
- Spiky Shield

Xerneas @ Life Orb
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Boomburst
- Extreme Speed
- V-create
- Strength Sap

Xerneas @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Light of Ruin
- Head Smash
- Volt Tackle
- Mind Blown

bye :)

 

[Whitephoenixace]

ice hammer isnt returning GL Volkner . No crabrawler

 

[Champion Leon]

(i heard ubs are in the datamine too if youre confused why theyre included)

i spent a while earlier today crafting some sets that seemed kinda fun to use, idk if they'll end up being any good but i figured i'd share no less. these aren't formatted well bc i couldn't be asked (idk what the dark pulse clone is so far so if that ends up being better just replace)

dlc sets?

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Dragon Ascent
- Ice Hammer
- Flip Turn

Lugia @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Defog
- Haze
- Anchor Shot

Rayquaza @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Scorching Sands
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Ascent

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Shadow Ball
- Mind Blown
- V-create

Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Grav Apple
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn

Darmanitan-Galar-Zen @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Hammer
- Sacred Fire
- Bolt Beak
- Fishious Rend

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- V-create
- Knock Off

Yveltal @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Knock Off
- Dragon Ascent
- Thousand Arrows

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- Scorching Sands

Yveltal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Spectral Thief
- Shore Up

Yveltal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Spectral Thief
- Strength Sap
- Shore Up

Yveltal @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Quiver Dance

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Lash
- Anchor Shot
- Topsy-Turvy
- Roost

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Mind Blown
- V-create
- Strength Sap

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Boomburst
- Sacred Fire
- Recover

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Boomburst
- V-create
- Roost

Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Anchor Shot
- Roost
- Defog
- Lava Plume

Xerneas @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Scorching Sands
- Spikes
- Spiky Shield

Xerneas @ Life Orb
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Boomburst
- Extreme Speed
- V-create
- Strength Sap

Xerneas @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Light of Ruin
- Head Smash
- Volt Tackle
- Mind Blown

bye :)

Why not Moongeist Beam in Blacephalon? You listed Shadow Ball. With the Additional power, and effect, it’s totally worth the pp drop.

Yay for the IS Heavy-Duty Boots D-G-Z :)

 

[blueberrychill]

Since DLC is around the corner, just posting a couple of teams I've used recently.

https://pokepast.es/6b6a3c096f02e284

I think Marshadow is pretty interesting as it's just bulky enough to not mind eating random Knock Offs and neutral hits here and there, so it can afford to throw Spikes out. I have King's Shield on it instead of Spiky because it makes switching around Zacian-C and Darm a bit easier usually but whatever works. Ground Memory Exca is also neat since as everyone knows, Ground resists are far and few between so it can clean late game quite often with a Shift Gear since +1 Multi-Attack OHKOs a lot of common bulk mons like Zacian-C, Zen Mode and the few FC Dragons. Zam-C is a roll if they're +Def otherwise it also OHKOs.

https://pokepast.es/1ff99650e7a141f3

I like Lava Plume a bit more on Lunala compared to Scald but I opted for variety just to cover random Prim Sea and FF Pokemon. Whirlwind on Etern is very filler-y but I was tired of running into variations of that one BP team since people tend not to run MB on it for whatever reason. Would probably replace it with QD and Earth Power over Sands or something. Also I think someone mentioned this in the thread before but Draco is really cool on Reshiram since it OHKOs Zekrom after a Spike. If you don't mind making yourself weaker to Darm, you can run Modest which also has a high chance of OHKOing Eternatus after one Spike as well.

 

[Ren]

crown tundra spoilers

big if real, but there's a psychic/ghost with 100/85/80/165/100/150. jesus christ, idk if the tier is ready for this thing LOL

 

[Ren]

alright so w/ the datamine coming out i thought i'd make a bigger post with more effort than my last one which isnt saying a ton. obviously the legendaries are coming back from last gen, but i thought i'd make a post on what i think is probably gonna shake up the meta more.

1) that dumb ghost mon
i posted about it above. atm the tier doesn't have the resists to handle ghost types. that's changing - we have yveltal coming back, but how does it fare vs this beast?
252+ SpA Choice Specs Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Yveltal: 110-130 (24.1 - 28.5%) -- 97.7% chance to 4HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Yveltal: 157-185 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tinted Lens Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Yveltal: 234-276 (51.3 - 60.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

there isn't really much to say here. snorlax will very likely still be needed in the tier to check this beast but that still falls hard to adapt psystrike.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Ice Scales Snorlax: 221-260 (42.1 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

the next best immunity, typenull, does p poorly against it too (plus null is garb)

252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Photon Geyser vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Type: Null: 214-252 (54.4 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

dynamax remaining in the tier is helpful for this, but i think it'd be better to do away w/ this mon entirely. i mean, c'mon, the best counter is literally umbreon.

2) glacial lance (that 130 bp phys ice move) and thunderous kick
glacial lance is a fantastic move for darm. it's so much stronger than icicle crash. fire immunity melm isn't really a good check either...

because of thunderous kick. this move is really appreciated by stuff that hates steels. darm-g-z doesn't really have to play the game of "am i gonna beat primsea or flash fire" anymore. this move is exceptionally good coverage for darm-g-z against a ton of things that'd wall it normally. i can anticipate that doublade sees a huge boost in viability due to the immunity to fighting it provides (aegislash doesn't have the bulk) to take resisted glacial lance at +1, but darm-g-z is very likely top tier since it received a lot of indrect buffs to coverage options. it did have cc before admittedly, but this new move is still very strong and nice for it. maybe it'll function better than cc on non choiced sets? stuff like kartana also really enjoys thunderous kick existing too.

3) eerie spell

idk the pp on this move or the bp, but doing damage while deducting pp is pretty good for anchor mons (and a ton of defensives). if the dumb ghost mon goes, i can see the meta becoming incredibly defensive and this move would be fantastic for combating those meta trends. it's probably the fourth thing i'm worred about on my list though.

e: this sucks now

i went deeper than i actually wanted to so im gonna go drink some water now bye

 

[Parsimont]

Regieleki @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Fishious Rend
- U-turn/Baton Pass
- Earthquake

Literally it's fast, just why not

 

[Balanced Freakmons]

Suuuure....

Chillmaw (Kyurem-Black) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Glacial Lance
- V-create
- Spore

 

[willdbeast]

Volcanion @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- V-create
- Fishious Rend
- Glacial Lance
- Shift Gear

Should be half decent vs some darmgz sets and has stronk stabs, what's not to like?

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Glacial Lance
- Bolt Beak
- U-turn
- filler
+1 252 Atk Kyurem-Black Glacial Lance vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Spooky-Horse: 355-418 (87.8 - 103.4%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Just a couple of random sets.

Spooky-Horse seems incredibly strong though, it outgallops basically everyone and seems very difficult to defensively answer, and the few things that seem like good checks (lax, maybe yvel) seem kinda exploitable. I think a lot of teams will be relying on just every mon tanking one hit and being able to knock off or something in return. Also with dynamax around I think this could lead to a lot of 50/50s, either u dyna and tank then ohko them or don't, and they can switch out/dyna themselves or hit you normally. Regigigas might find itself with a place on teams just as something to switch into specs ghost moves. Maybe you can use fc chansey just like old times. Regenvest zyg also could be nice for scouting it, or ice scales.

As much as I hate to say it Dialga doesnt seem that amazing since it doesnt really resist any threats now, but could perhaps still be okay.

 

[berry]

some cursory thoughts

a pretty big decisions players will have to make now is whether they want to run astral or moongeist, it's the coinflip between raw power and utility. I think this decision will become pretty obvious a few weeks in after we see if ice scales mons stay extremely popular, but it's a decision we have to make

- tinted lens ghost rider is insane, it can hit crazy numbers with a combination of astral barrage / psystrike. maybe adaptability or something similar is better? It's pretty much the new MMY from last gen. It's fast, it's super great on the special side, the similarities go on and on. Kinda like a gengar / mmy mix depending on the set you decide to run

Calyrex-Shadow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Astral Barrage
- Psystrike
- Trick
- Apple Acid (???)

or you can just steal one of the old sm sets lol

Calyrex-Shadow @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Astral Barrage

Calyrex-Shadow @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sing
- Inferno
- Zap Cannon
- ???

- i pretty much stole volk's intrepid lando set from above and put it on kyurem, switched it around a bit, and it seems incredibly good. kyurem is one of the best attackers atm, it gets glacial lance which is just a fucking broken physical ice move and you can combine that with any chunk of other broken physical attacking moves and just be set for the entire endgame

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Glacial Lance
- Bolt Strike
- Poltergeist

-zyg-c is insane as always, we knew exactly what was up when this mon was rereleased

Zygarde-Complete @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Shore Up
- Volt Switch
- Thousand Waves

I think that pheal regigias is in a really really good place right now, excuse the awful set it's just kinda what i threw together but it seems like this mon is gonna put in crazy work, at least for the next couple weeks as people remember how to play actual bh and not whatever garbage dlc0 and dlc1 were

Regigigas @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Facade
- Spore
- ground move or the new ice move or some other cool coverage

i have been informed by loser that this gigas set fucking sucks and it needs knock off or something, do with that information what you will

 

[justideas]

So I returned to this metagame seriously for the first time since Sun and Moon. I was really looking forward to testing the full capabilities of the new abilities, pokemon and moves.

But then I saw it.

and then luckily that opponent sacked it unnecessarily.
But then the next game I saw another one. And another one. And one with wings. And another one

and by the time i realised what was going on i was surrounded

I can only imagine this has been asked a hundred times... So i apologise in advance. But can someone please explain to me why Imposter as an ability is still allowed in hackmons?

I have never seen a pokemon/ability combo that is so meta-defining and toxic as the imposter Chansey/Blissey sets that have plagued balanced hackmons for years. Seriously they've been around for ages, and never lost dominance in the meta. I can only guess that's because no normally regulated meta would allow for such a broken thing to exist?

Let's just remind ourselves briefly what you can do in one turn with any imposter Blissey/Chansey.

1. Instantly copy your opponent's boosts upon switch in
2. Instantly copy and let you know your opponent's set
3. Instantly obtain a superior version of their pokemon, usually with roughly 2-3 times the HP.

If you had an ability that did just one of these things, it would be considered an extremely powerful ability.

The first would be an incredible anti-offence and set up ability. The second would be fantastic for scouting. The third would just stupidly broken.
With imposter Blissey/Chansey, you get all 3 of these incredible advantages for the price of a single turn. It doesn't even have to be done with any risk or prediction involved. You are so bulky that unless you allowed your opponent to set up to +6, you can switch in and scout on just about any non-super effective move. Even if they are at +6, you can still win a speed tie and sweep, or perhaps run scarf blissey to guarantee a kill.


Going back to just the ability itself, Imposter on Ditto makes it a fantastic Ubers mon. It single-handedly deters any offence or set up. But it's not broken normally. Why? Because ditto, the only mon that has access to it, has a base HP stat of 48. It is nearly always an inferior version of whatever it copies, and that's how it is supposed to be, how it stays balanced, despite being one of the best mons in the uber's meta. It can be revenge killed by priority moves, it can be one-shot by the majority of defensive counters and it's forced to run choice scarf in order to avoid being killed by the thing it copies.

None of these weaknesses apply to Chansey and Blissey. They literally have over x5 the HP that ditto has. The impact of this is completely different, it's hardly even the same ability. You go from being an inferior copy with limitations to a version that is nearly always superior to the original, even on pokemon with HP stats that are already quite high. You can run any item you wish to. You hard switch into nearly any pokemon with the confidence that you're unlikely to take even 50%. You can stay in against, set up and risk speed ties against the pokemon you copied, knowing that you will be doing more damage to them, then they do to you. It's just blatantly overpowered and horribly unfair to the opponent that you copy.

I've included some damage calcs for reference. Please remember, this calc was done with the intent of putting the original pokemon in the best situation to OHKO an imposter at neutral. But not in a situation where the set was built specifically to counter Imposter.

Damage Calc for a Kyurem-White imposter scenario

This is the Calc for a Choice specs, modest draco from a Kyurem-White attacking an Eviolite Imposter Chansey:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. +1 252 HP / 252 SpD Kyurem-White: 452-534 (64.2 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Here's the calc for the eviolite Imposter's counter-attack:
252+ SpA Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Kyurem-White: 452-534 (99.5 - 117.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

I just want to emphasize this in case you missed it. This scenario is designed to be fully in favour of the original pokemon and disadvantageous to the imposter. You win a speed tie. You're running choice specs (item advantage) modest for damage. A closer HP stat to Chansey to help reduce the comparative buff between original and imposter (The lower the original pokemon's HP, the bigger the improvement gap between original and the Chansey/Blissey imposter). We're using a pokemon with an extremely high special attack stat to help ensure the best damage possible. We're using one of the strongest stab, super-effective moves possible, to help ensure the best damage possible.

Yet after all that, after putting the situation severely in your favour. You can't even KO them. Meanwhile, they OHKO you easily and could have roosted off the damage even if you had won the first speed tie.

And another calc to show you how frail Ditto is in is compared to the original version (To emphasize why Imposter isn't normally a problem, but is completely different on Chansey/Blissey)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kyurem-White: 854-1008 (360.3 - 425.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Sure. There is some counterplay. But should i build my entire team around countering my own techniques in case they're copied by a Chansey? Because that's what i currently do. I build sets that use imprison, rely on unique items, and ensure i have an answer on my team to my own pokemon. Despite all these precautions, i still find that the biggest threat on my opponent's team is always just my own pokemon with more HP (Ei. An imposter Blissey/Chansey). Just the mere presence of an imposter Chansey/Blissey means that i need to chip at it and play the long game in order to avoid being revenge swept by my own sets.

One of the biggest issues is that you only have three choices to effectively beat an imposter.
1. Build a set that can't be copied properly (Ei. Build sub-optimal/niche sets so that when you're copied you're not forced to switch)
2. Build teams that can counter themselves (Ei. every time the opponent copies you, you're forced to switch out into your answer -meaning that team building is more restricting and they know your full set + your best answer that technique).
3. Rely on status moves and hope the opponent doesn't expect or predict it. (Ei. Ensure your own sets are able to be crippled by status you use and hope your opponent plays risky with their imposter.)

Now obviously some people are very happy with keeping this meta as pink as possible, otherwise, it wouldn't be here. But I'm really curious to get answers as to why this combination is allowed when it is arguably the best combination in the game, bar none. It is over-centralizing, over-powered, and over-used. Seriously how the hell did we manage to ban "Illusion", but keep "Imposter"?


It just boggles my mind that the metagame that allows for the most creative and wild sets, is also the metagame that kills off my motivation for creativity the most. There's nothing more disappointing than spending time building a set, only for someone to copy it in one turn, instantly have a better version and continue to counter-sweep you. If not for purely balance reasons, then by now it should have been banned just to encourage a creative and fun metagame. Maybe I'm speaking to the wrong crowd? Maybe the hardcore hackmons players have all come to accept imposter as a part of the meta, afterall "If you can't beat em, join em". But i always get the sense from players i chat with that most players tend to agree with my assessment and that the hackmons player base is limited by the fact it encourages this sort of gameplay.



Anyway here's a little anti-meta set you might want to try:

Calyrex-Ice - Anti-meta

Calyrex-Ice @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Spectral Thief
- Swords Dance
- Imprison

The idea is that you can spam Ice-type Espeed against offence and have the bulk to set up against most balance/stall.
Since so much of the meta revolves around Espeed, imposter and spectral thief, you can just set up Imprison and start freely taking your opponent's boosts with little-to-no fear of having them taken from you or being outsped. Leftovers, weakness policy and red card are also good item choices..

 

[cityscapes]

just cause something is hard to plan around when youre first learning to play doesnt mean its uncompetitive at all levels. the structure of bh allows for dynamic and interesting ways of covering/limiting imposter on all playstyles. offense for example should typically focus on exploiting the fact that hard switching vs offense is really bad, so you can limit how many opportunities you give them to teleport and maybe bring some other imposter control like status, multiattack, or semi offensive fc mons. alternatively you can use really frail stuff with sash and try to just kill them. similarly balance and stall have so, so many ways of dealing with imposter.

the game isnt just about "bring a complete airtight 100% counter to every single one of your pokemon". this will cause you to lose momentum and is super super exploitable if you make building mistakes like giving imposter spots to recover and sit there without good counterplay. think of imposter the same way you'd think of any other pokemon, something you can cover with many situational checks/counters to ensure it rarely gets a chance to make significant progress.

https://pokepast.es/bde81ac805dc82a1 here is one example (sorry for pre-dlc2, i havent built anything good since it came out). i'll make a small list for each mon detailing some forms of counterplay if imposter comes in on them.

• urshifu - try to wisp them so their moves do much less, this is likely a worthwhile trade because urshifu typically gets hp back really fast. after that you can proceed to knock their eviolite. (if they come in later you can 1v1). etern and slowbro can be used to take hits and go for a burn if they're less valuable. you can also go to gear and click moonblast which does quite a bit. also urshifu can dynamax and become immune to low kick
• magearna - you spam qd and they can't kill you unless they crit, imposter has only 5 pp on its only damaging move (moonblast) so you can spam attacks and force them to switch out in the face of your +6 attacks which is a win for you. a backup strat is to go to your own chans who can't transform, and from there trick your scarf, whirlwind them out, or even final gambit if theyre weakened.
• eternatus - magearna hard walls this if you don't mind getting burned and still have your balloon, chansey can also take hits if you want to get rid of scarf, even urshifu can function as a midground play. tspikes affect 2 mons on the team and are removed by 2 others so are typically not an issue. defensively this isn't covered super well but imposter rarely wants to mess with etern
• zekrom - slowbro is the designated counter, it can get in trouble if it's weakened but imposter being at -2 means they'll be forced out sooner or later. zekrom itself also handles imposter extremely well thanks to sub, imposter cannot come in on anything except bolt beak or mayyybe sap.
• slowbro - hard walled by urshifu, you can also just click scorching sands or teleport in front of imposter to discourage them from just sitting there

see the team facing imposter here:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1137576288
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1137674188
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8balancedhackmons-1136566124

https://pokepast.es/ef5ecef34741b844 here's another example, this ones from a gen 7 bh team that's more semi-offensive so not all the pokemon are totally covered. rather than listing off every mon i'll look at broader patterns in general

• pdon needs a dedicated imposter-proofer (suicune) because of how self-sufficient it is in particular, able to set hazards, sap, and kill everyone unless you have a dedicated resist (ray obv will not like taking a burn). it's important to note when a pokemon needs dedicated imposter-proofing like this and when it doesn't, lopunny for example gets walled by the entire team so you don't need a wall for him.
• ray and xern don't have dedicated imposter-proofers cause they do a better job at discouraging imposter from coming in, plus they aren't powerful enough to the point where imposter just comes in and kills everyone. typically xern can win just by magma storm into qd'ing up, but if this plan doesn't work then all 4 of lopunny, pdon, chans, and cune can step in depending on the situation. similarly everyone on the team can take at least 1 move from mray (not lopunny lol)

https://pokepast.es/f48c3b080265b1b3 in case that wasn't offensive enough for you, here's this. basic idea is that you have wincons with a way around imposter (plate dazzlegar covers itself, xern, and triage ray) while the explosion users can just blow up and destroy imposter immediately. mental herb deos beats imposter only losing to prank spore as a result.

overall, beating imposter typically means thinking both offensively and defensively when building a team. if you're not planning on switching out much, your team should be really offensive otherwise you just get outlasted. even semi-offense can fit in some defensive utility instead of just going all out.

also the issue i have with calling it a "superior version of whatever you have out" is even if i had a kyurem w with 250 base hp and eviolite, i still wouldn't want to switch it in on a specs kyurem w boomburst. this is why imposter without a stable teleporter is bound to get hit-and-run'd, chipped down, and limited to 1 kill max even if the lategame is favorable.

if u reply to this please post replays + teams that "should" be good that you feel are unfairly limited by imposter. thanks

 

[Knight who says "Ni"]

Every team I build seems to need one of RegenVest Yveltal or Sand Stream Tyranitar in the current meta. Maybe it's just that I'm not a great builder, but nothing else seems really capable of handling Calyrex. The ability for both of it's stabs to ignore abilities means that Ice Scales pokémon such as Incineroar are not overly reliable checks. They can also have items removed and be left bait for other pokémon.

Calyrex

Calyrex-Shadow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moongeist Beam
- Volt Switch / Trick
- Blue Flare / Secret Sword / Moonblast / Knock Off
- Psystrike / Photon Geyser

This is the Calyrex set I have been running. As you can see, it doesn't need much more. My personal favourite set is Moongeist + Psystrike + Koff + Volt. This lets you lure in checks like Regenvest/HDB Yveltal or HDB Incin and remove their items, leaving them to be much shakier checks. It is wrong to suggest that Calyrex is uncheckable, it isn't. Here are some checks to it:

Checks

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Shore Up

Yveltal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Spectral Thief
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn


Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- U-turn
- Sunsteel Strike
- Sucker Punch

As you can see, the checks that I have listed here have one thing in common: Sucker Punch. Sucker punch is great if you are intending to counter or check Calyrex, as it prevents lucky crits or surprise coverage from taking your answer to it down. It can also be great on offensive Pokémon such as Zacian to be able to one shot. However, Calyrex can and sometimes does work around this by simply running PsySurge. This means that bringing a sturdy answer such as Yveltal or TTar is not optional. Below are calcs if you're interested in seeing how robust these "checks" actually are:

Calcs

252 SpA Choice Specs Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Yveltal: 180-214 (39.4 - 46.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Tyranitar: 492-580 (121.7 - 143.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 SpA Choice Specs Necrozma-Dawn-Wings Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 180-212 (44.5 - 52.4%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Yeah there isn't a lot checking this that isn't super passive like chansey. I think this pokémon is wholly uncheckable and needs to go.