To start off the team, a Pokemon that I wanted to build around since it got reintroduced was battle bond Greninja.I noticed that it has a pretty good matchup vs a lot of Pokemon in the tier, especially if it's able to secure a KO and get the battle bond form off.
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
The star of the team. I always liked using Greninja in gen 7 and was super excited for when he was coming back after getting owned by a million gholdengos and great tusks at the beginning of generation 9. One of my favorite teams that i used pre-home contained a specs Greninja, but honestly the protean nerf made it way worse than I was expecting and it mostly would just spike up and die on my team. Once they brought back battle bond, I wanted to give it another shot, and this is the way to run a Greninja in gen 9. It's great speed and strong stabs allow it to act as a good revenge killer to a lot of common Pokemon in the tier, and after battle bond is activated not many Pokemon can withstand Greninja's attacks.
Glimmora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Toxic Debris
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Energy Ball
- Mortal Spin
Next I knew the team was probably going to have to be some sort of offense team, so I wanted to get started right off the bat with some hazards, so I threw on Glimmora. I use Glimmora in this slot instead of hamurott, ting lu, or meow as my hazard setter because I think it does a better job of not only being able to put hazards up, but also keep them off from our opponent. A lot of games in the hamurott match up will be my Glimmora getting 1 layer and then clicking mortal spin to put hamurott into regular gren range to get the battle bond form off & start breaking the other team. I almost always lead with this thing and click some form of hazards turn one, if they lead Great Tusk into this I usually just go hard into Gholdengo or valiant if I don't need my booster and get off an attack or double back and start layering up.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Acrobatics
- Crunch
- Earthquake
After deciding on those 2, I wanted something that I knew would be able to sweep once hazards are up and gren has softened the other team, and one of my favorite sweepers in this gen has been standard acro dd Roaring Moon so I decided to go with him here. Vs teams that rely on Zapdos/Great Tusk to deal with physical attackers, you're able to force a tera on the tusk, and Zapdos is pretty paralysis reliant to be able to defeat you before you tera so you can usually set up on it, or get off a strong crunch.
Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 8 Atk / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Destiny Bond
Another staple that I've loved using throughout the entirety of SV has been Iron Valiant. While there are tons of different sets that I think could work here for valiant, this was what I originally put on it when I built the team and never ended up changing it. I've found that this set ends up being pretty consistent in most of the games I play due to the sheer utility. Encore + destiny bond as well as having knock off to get rid of lefties/boots is huge, if the opponent goes for a non attacking move, u can encore + knock them to death unless they are boosting their speed, as well as being able to encore an opponent into using an attacking move and killing you to ensure a trade or a swap with destiny bond, additionally encore can be used on ground or psychic moves before dying to ensure 1 free dragon dance for Roaring Moon which can sometimes just straight up win games. Dbond can also be extremely useful for killing galar/regular slowking to help greninja clean if that's their only special pivot.
Gholdengo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Focus Blast
- Trick
Pretty mandatory for a hazardstack in gen 9 imo. Similar to valiant where I can always count on it to do something in a game, Amoongus switch in, defog/spin block, espeed immune, valiant check, bax check, additionally nice speed control with scarf and extra Kingambit insurance with tera fight + focus blast. Trick is also invaluable utility vs setup mons, I haven't actually had to use the tera fight on it as tusk/gren/roaring moon/valiant usually end up taking out gambit could potentially change to tera ghost to make cleaning late game with shadow ball easier.
Great Tusk @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Headlong Rush
Every good SV team has gotta have a great tusk (just kidding, only like 50% of them). But anyway we've got standard speed boosting great tusk with bulk up + dual stabs and ice spinner with the tera ice. I considered using head smash to be able to smash moltres + kill zap easier without tera but haven't tested it. I find myself pretty rarely using my tera with this thing but it comes in handy sometimes with a late game tusk. Ice spinner for Zapdos, Enamorus, & tera flying Kingambit as well as tera ice for added boost in power if needed & emergency check to bax. I don't like to rely on this guy too much to sweep but if u can eliminate Dondozo's and booster valiants this guy can usually come in on something get 1-2 bulk ups and clean late game, but is generally used early game to break Zapdos, lando, dnite, and other mons that are annoying for Roaring Moon.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/7c197952f6012e5e
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
The star of the team. I always liked using Greninja in gen 7 and was super excited for when he was coming back after getting owned by a million gholdengos and great tusks at the beginning of generation 9. One of my favorite teams that i used pre-home contained a specs Greninja, but honestly the protean nerf made it way worse than I was expecting and it mostly would just spike up and die on my team. Once they brought back battle bond, I wanted to give it another shot, and this is the way to run a Greninja in gen 9. It's great speed and strong stabs allow it to act as a good revenge killer to a lot of common Pokemon in the tier, and after battle bond is activated not many Pokemon can withstand Greninja's attacks.
Glimmora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Toxic Debris
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Energy Ball
- Mortal Spin
Next I knew the team was probably going to have to be some sort of offense team, so I wanted to get started right off the bat with some hazards, so I threw on Glimmora. I use Glimmora in this slot instead of hamurott, ting lu, or meow as my hazard setter because I think it does a better job of not only being able to put hazards up, but also keep them off from our opponent. A lot of games in the hamurott match up will be my Glimmora getting 1 layer and then clicking mortal spin to put hamurott into regular gren range to get the battle bond form off & start breaking the other team. I almost always lead with this thing and click some form of hazards turn one, if they lead Great Tusk into this I usually just go hard into Gholdengo or valiant if I don't need my booster and get off an attack or double back and start layering up.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Acrobatics
- Crunch
- Earthquake
After deciding on those 2, I wanted something that I knew would be able to sweep once hazards are up and gren has softened the other team, and one of my favorite sweepers in this gen has been standard acro dd Roaring Moon so I decided to go with him here. Vs teams that rely on Zapdos/Great Tusk to deal with physical attackers, you're able to force a tera on the tusk, and Zapdos is pretty paralysis reliant to be able to defeat you before you tera so you can usually set up on it, or get off a strong crunch.
Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 8 Atk / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Destiny Bond
Another staple that I've loved using throughout the entirety of SV has been Iron Valiant. While there are tons of different sets that I think could work here for valiant, this was what I originally put on it when I built the team and never ended up changing it. I've found that this set ends up being pretty consistent in most of the games I play due to the sheer utility. Encore + destiny bond as well as having knock off to get rid of lefties/boots is huge, if the opponent goes for a non attacking move, u can encore + knock them to death unless they are boosting their speed, as well as being able to encore an opponent into using an attacking move and killing you to ensure a trade or a swap with destiny bond, additionally encore can be used on ground or psychic moves before dying to ensure 1 free dragon dance for Roaring Moon which can sometimes just straight up win games. Dbond can also be extremely useful for killing galar/regular slowking to help greninja clean if that's their only special pivot.
Gholdengo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Focus Blast
- Trick
Pretty mandatory for a hazardstack in gen 9 imo. Similar to valiant where I can always count on it to do something in a game, Amoongus switch in, defog/spin block, espeed immune, valiant check, bax check, additionally nice speed control with scarf and extra Kingambit insurance with tera fight + focus blast. Trick is also invaluable utility vs setup mons, I haven't actually had to use the tera fight on it as tusk/gren/roaring moon/valiant usually end up taking out gambit could potentially change to tera ghost to make cleaning late game with shadow ball easier.
Great Tusk @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Headlong Rush
Every good SV team has gotta have a great tusk (just kidding, only like 50% of them). But anyway we've got standard speed boosting great tusk with bulk up + dual stabs and ice spinner with the tera ice. I considered using head smash to be able to smash moltres + kill zap easier without tera but haven't tested it. I find myself pretty rarely using my tera with this thing but it comes in handy sometimes with a late game tusk. Ice spinner for Zapdos, Enamorus, & tera flying Kingambit as well as tera ice for added boost in power if needed & emergency check to bax. I don't like to rely on this guy too much to sweep but if u can eliminate Dondozo's and booster valiants this guy can usually come in on something get 1-2 bulk ups and clean late game, but is generally used early game to break Zapdos, lando, dnite, and other mons that are annoying for Roaring Moon.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/7c197952f6012e5e
