Pokémon Cornerstone Mask

[War Incarnate]

Ogrepon-Cornerstone
Type(s) - Grass/Rock
Base Stats - 80 HP / 120 Atk / 84 Def / 60 SAtk / 96 SDef / 110 Spe (550 BST)

Abilities: Sturdy (Base) / Embody Aspect (Terastallized)
Embody Aspect - When Terastallized, this pokemon's Defense stat is raised by one stage on switch-in. (Cornerstone exclusive, other Ogrepon forms will boost different stats)
(skipped movepool, shared between all forms)
Notable Moves
Ivy Cudgel - Grass | Physical | 100 BP | 100% Acc | 10 PP (max 16) | Changes depending on held mask and has a heightened chance of landing a crit. (Cornerstone = Rock-type)
Wood Hammer
Power Whip
Horn Leech
Play Rough
Superpower
Knock Off
U-turn
Zen Headbutt
Spikes
Encore
Taunt
Swords Dance
Positives:
+ Base 120 Attack and 110 speed are, by themselves, quite good. You outspeed a lot and can hit decently hard.
+ Good offensive STAB combo. Rock STAB hits Flyings and Fires that Ogrepon's Grass STAB wouldn't touch otherwise, and Grass STAB hits Grounds (especially Great Tusk) that Rock STAB would struggle with.
+ Speaking of which, your STABs are quite strong. With Wood Hammer or Power Whip and Ivy Cudgel, which is Rock-type, strong, and 100% accurate, you have the potential to hit quite hard.
+ Even outside of STABs, it's not like Ogrepon's movepool is lacking either. Between Play Rough, Zen Headbutt, Superpower, and Horn Leech as other attacking options, U-turn, Spikes, Knock Off, and Encore for utility, and Swords Dance as boosting, this pokemon has quite a bit of options it could use.
+ Sturdy is a nice ability, effectively granting you a free Focus Sash which is useful for lead variants and offensive variants alike.
Negatives:
- Grass/Rock is quite bad defensively. Your resists are few and far between (and honestly rather useless) while your weaknesses are quite common.
- 80/84/96 bulk isn't bad but it's not especially good either. Embody Aspect patches this flaw up a little but you have to Tera for it (which I'll get into later)
- You are item locked to the Cornerstone Mask, which means you cannot run boosting items like Life Orb or utility items like Heavy-Duty Boots.
- Faces heavy competition from Ogrepon's Teal Mask and Hearthflame Mask forms. The former can afford to run an item, while the latter has a much better STAB combo offensively. Both also have much stronger abilities that help them offensively.
Terastallizing Potential:
- Due to how Ogrepon's form changes work, Ogrepon-Cornerstone cannot Tera into any type other than Rock. (no Tera Ghost for leads... rip)
- That said, doing so is not exactly worth it, since mono-Rock is an awful Tera type (5 weaknesses, many of which are quite common, for questionable-at-best resists? no bueno.), so generally speaking, you're not going to want to Terastallize Ogrepon-Cornerstone.
- Embody Aspect for Cornerstone gives you a little bit of Defense to let you survive longer I guess? Not really too useful given how bad Rock is as a type. That said, getting superstrong Rock STAB might be something, so...

Potential Movesets
Swords Dance Sweeper
Ogrepon @ Cornerstone Mask
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Power Whip/Wood Hammer/Horn Leech
- Ivy Cudgel
- Superpower/Knock Off
Bread and butter SD sweeper. High-power STABs off of high attack are already threatening enough. +2 attack boost on that pushes that to new heights. The last slot doesn't matter too much, so just run Superpower to nuke Steels or Knock Off for utility.
Utility:
Ogrepon @ Cornerstone Mask
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- U-turn
- Ivy Cudgel
- Horn Leech/Knock Off/Encore/Taunt
Spikes, high speed, U-turn... perfect build for a lead! Ivy Cudgel is there for strong STAB while U-turn lets you, well, pivot out. The last slot is quite flexible, Knock Off, Encore, and Taunt are good for disruption, while Horn Leech could be used as recovery so you can get yourself to full to re-proc Sturdy.
Overall Thoughts?:
Honestly, Ogrepon-Cornerstone likely won't be too bad. Probably not quite OU material, as even with a decent STAB combo and good stats it'll likely face competition from its Teal Mask form and even the Hearthflame forme. That said, this form of Ogrepon will surely have a niche of its own, no matter where it ends up.

 

[Cheryl.]

Very underrated I feel, Swords Dance sets lie in the shadow of Hearthflame at the moment but the Grass/Rock combo is really strong and paired with Superpower/Low Kick you’re really only struggling with Gholdengo out of the top threats (a big weakness for sure but not the end of the world). The neutrality to Flying and Poison also lends this some cute setup opportunities. I predict that if TTar Sand ever comes back as a play style with the next DLC this thing will be one of its best abusers due to the Sand SpD boost and Embody Aspect boosting your Defense.

 

[MrHands]

Not sure what tier this will end up in, but I think it might actually end up pretty solid as a bulky Swords Dancer. Assuming the ability is +1 defense that gives it effectively 135 base defense (with no EV / nature investment) and 153 base sp def in sand. It's weak to Ice / Fighting / Bug / Steel and while two of these are quite common it's also not terribly difficult to find something that can't hit super effective. It can time the Tera turn to flip the Ice / Bug weakness into neutrality and gain a fire resist so it isn't all bad. It also has a 100% accurate "Stone Edge" so that's pretty neat. It's fast and has Spikes with Sturdy I guess.

Of course using the Tera spot AND item slot if it wants to be useful is incredibly bad. So maybe it will see some solid use in lower tiers where the power level isn't so competitive.

 

[Blitz]

Turns out the masks aren’t actually useless after all!

When held, the corresponding Ogerpon mask grants it a 20% boost to ALL of its moves, including coverage.

 

[Hiddenfreezer]

yeah 20 % + on a great Rock stab sounds incredible now

 

[Mega-Pokebattlerz]

Very underrated I feel, Swords Dance sets lie in the shadow of Hearthflame at the moment but the Grass/Rock combo is really strong and paired with Superpower/Low Kick you’re really only struggling with Gholdengo out of the top threats (a big weakness for sure but not the end of the world). The neutrality to Flying and Poison also lends this some cute setup opportunities. I predict that if TTar Sand ever comes back as a play style with the next DLC this thing will be one of its best abusers due to the Sand SpD boost and Embody Aspect boosting your Defense.

Well, we're reportedly getting Excadrill back in DLC2, so there is hope :)

 

[Elkos]

Oh this gal also gets Spiky Shield, that's interesting. Shame only the Teal form can benefit from lefties but it's still got Leech Seed for a defensive set.

 

[Vengeance417]

Having a Rock-type STAB move with Stone Edge’s base power that is 100% accurate, and is now boosted by its Mask, is something truly wonderful. If only more Rock-type moves got this kind of treatment.

 

[pika pal]

The power boost from the mask makes me think Cornerstone might be the sleeper hit Ogerpon form. No SR weakness helps its longevity, and Rock STAB is as good if not better than Fire for it as a Dual STAB, mainly nailing a lot of the Flying types that resist Grass and often have Dual types for Hearthstone's Fire such as Moltres or Baxcalibur, and I think fast Rock damage is more dangerous in OU than fast Fire is against Boots-dependent Pokemon. Also always good to be a set-up Sweeper with a way around Dondozo (Power Whip/Wood Hammer is a 2HKO on Max stats), albeit they both share that

Could play well with Tyranitar as an anti-Meta partner to remove Leftovers from bulky resists like Gambit or Tera Tusk, benefits from the Sand and Sturdy to get a set-up chance for SD, and to punish things like defensive Gholdengo, while Ogerpon threatens Samurott-H, Ting-Lu, and (if it gets a SD) Lando-T. Kingambit is one concern but what isn't afraid of that thing at this point? At least punishes two of its frequent Tera choices and can run Low Kick to keep the Base form honest.

 

[Magcargo]

The power boost from the mask makes me think Cornerstone might be the sleeper hit Ogerpon form. No SR weakness helps its longevity, and Rock STAB is as good if not better than Fire for it as a Dual STAB, mainly nailing a lot of the Flying types that resist Grass and often have Dual types for Hearthstone's Fire such as Moltres or Baxcalibur, and I think fast Rock damage is more dangerous in OU than fast Fire is against Boots-dependent Pokemon. Also always good to be a set-up Sweeper with a way around Dondozo (Power Whip/Wood Hammer is a 2HKO on Max stats), albeit they both share that

Could play well with Tyranitar as an anti-Meta partner to remove Leftovers from bulky resists like Gambit or Tera Tusk, benefits from the Sand and Sturdy to get a set-up chance for SD, and to punish things like defensive Gholdengo, while Ogerpon threatens Samurott-H, Ting-Lu, and (if it gets a SD) Lando-T. Kingambit is one concern but what isn't afraid of that thing at this point? At least punishes two of its frequent Tera choices and can run Low Kick to keep the Base form honest.

I am using this mon on a Ttar / Rillaboom team. Its not bad, but I feel it is largely outshined by bulky Gholdengo and Sneaseler as sweepers due to their resistances allowing them to setup much better. This mon's bulk is ok, but the lack of resistances is a big hurdle. The only game I was able to sweep was against a rain team and that's only because the Thundy-T locked itself into Thunder.

All that said, this mon is certainly strong, espicially given how fast it is. I think it will have a place in OU for-sure, since reliable Rock attacks are a rare and valuable commodity in a boots metagame.

252 Atk Hard Stone Golem Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow: 266-314 (71.6 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO