Defiant
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Post elo
3. Teambuilding process
4. The team
5. Threatlist
6. Replays
7. Pokepaste/additional options
1. Introduction
2. Post elo
This was as high as I got, I don't play a ton and as you can see in the screenshot I usually play on mobile.
3. Teambuilding process
I wanted to build around Ogerpon-Teal and figured the best way to do that was to use Defiant as effectively as possible. H-Samurott and Gholdengo were naturals for this for getting hazards down and keeping them down, and Tusk helps with the same while also spinning.
Added Zapdos for a true ground immunity and to check many physical attackers with thunder wave and static cheese.
Still needed some speed control, and now that Wake gets Flip Turn I wanted to slap a scarf on it and use it as a pivot. Wake also served as a great check to rain, which was kind of an issue for this team.
Realized that instead of switching gho into defog I could just switch in Ogerpon, click encore, tera once they switch and win the game off the free defiant boosts. I figured having a ghost type was still a good idea so when I cut gho I also cut wake and replaced it with pult, who does most of the same things, and gho became heatran. Still trying heatran but he's good for what he is for now.
4. The Team
Ogerpon (F) @
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Encore
Role / General Tips: Ogerpon Teal does 2 things better than Wellspring. It first caught my attention when I realized its Embody Aspect raised speed in this form, making it a super effective sweeper, but its first ability before terastalizing is also super good. Defiant means you can switch it into Corviknight using defog and click encore when they try to Brave Bird or U-Turn out, getting up to +4 immediately and enabling a sweep.
Item: Boots allow Ogerpon to come in and live. Typically you only want to bring it in once at the end of the game to sweep but when you need Ogerpon to come in you really need it, usually to encore something.
Moves: Cudgel and sd are self-explanatory. Knock off is the best coverage move alongside cudgel. Encore is a broken move. Sometimes you win the game cuz they clicked protect, sometimes you get to beat kingambit for free if they click sucker. It's especially good on oger because you're super fast and get faster when you tera, so you can stop setup sweepers except dragonite (they always just espeed at +1)
EVs & Nature: Gotta go fast gotta hit hard
Other Options: I do like Miracle Seed here as well, the extra power is nice and against sticky webs teams sometimes you actually want to be affected by hazards for the free sd when you switch into webs. But overall I went with boots for the reasons above.
Samurott-Hisui @
Ability: Sharpness
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Sacred Sword
- Flip Turn
- Sucker Punch
Role / General Tips: Usually not a lead. Priority user, kingambit check, surprisingly hard hitter. Also importantly lays down spikes to bait defog so you can get the sweep with oger.
Item: Focus sash is so strong. It almost always guarantees your ability to get a hit off, whether it's 1 layer of spikes, the kill on a +6 gambit, or a priority move with sucker. In some matchups it's really important to preserve the sash. The most notable ones are kingambit and booster speed+substitute iron moth
Tera Type: Tera ghost allows Samurott to spinblock and occasionally threaten fighting types. I rarely tera this guy, maybe tera dark or something would be better, not sure
Moves: Edge hits way harder than it seems like it would, this thing always hits harder than I expect it to; spikes are just a nice bonus on top of the good damage. Sacred sword is needed to beat gambit if ogerpon can't, and I like sucker punch better than aqua jet for the extra power. Flip turn is very niche, but it can be extremely useful to develop some momentum when you need to.
EVs & Nature: go fast hit hard
Other Options: Aqua cutter might be better than flip turn on this guy, I rarely pivot with him since just clicking flip turn can be risky if it'll cause you to get hax'd or break sash on a rocky helmet or something. You could try a different tera type too.
Heatran @
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
Role / General Tips: Heatran is the member of this team I'm currently least sold on. For the most part, Heatran's role in the team is pseudo stallbreaker and steel. Currently he's almost always my first sac, which is why I'm not super confident that I like him
Item: Air balloon so he doesn't just get immediately shot switching into anything. Also helps heatran to stop gliscor if they don't run knock off
Tera Type: Tera grass heatran flips his type chart almost completely. I've been considering switching this to tera flying for the fighting resist and for the fake out after the balloon is popped.
Moves: Magma storm and earth power are self-explanatory, they hit hard and are generally very useful. Magma storm+ taunt is a really effective way of dealing with many different kinds of threats. Will o wisp stops many physical attackers, especially if you can switch tran in while it still has its balloon. Taunt beats so much weird stuff but most importantly it helps heatran chip away at pokemon with recovery. Without taunt you're not beating much in a 1v1
EVs & Nature: This may be the reason I don't love this mon as much as I have in the past. Timid max offensive heatran allows it to beat most gholdengo sets and pressure lots of passive mons but it makes it very frail and vulnerable to chip damage, hazards, and anything that pops its balloon. On the other hand I don't know if bulky heatran can survive in current meta, although I haven't tried it.
Other Options: I do kind of want to try a bulkier heatran but have been kept from doing so for the reasons above. If I were to replace heatran the next thing I'd try would probably be kingambit in this slot
Zapdos @
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
Role / General Tips: God pivot, hax lord, tusk killer, etc. Zapdos does so much but its main role is to pivot and create opportunities for pult and oger to smash.
Item: Boots are a necessity on pivot oriented mons like zapdos. Also if they knock off they just get hax'd with static sometimes which is neat
Tera Type: Tera dragon allows Zapdos to check Ogerpon-wellspring most of the time.
Moves: Hurricane is spamable and strong. Mostly it kills fighting types but sometimes you just click it and hope for confusion to create an opportunity to switch. With thunder wave and hurricane confusion you can sometimes steal back games that you otherwise had no business winning. Volt switch is necessary for Zapdos to fulfil its role as a pivot. Thunder wave allows Zapdos to stop sweepers and sometimes just buys you a turn when you need one. Roost is here to provide recovery
EVs & Nature: Timid 152 speed allows Zapdos to hit 301 speed, outspeeding all great tusk sets except booster speed. The rest goes into bulk
Other Options: Other tera types are sometimes good. Tera steel was preferred pre-bax ban, but currently I think dragon is the best.
Great Tusk @
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Role / General Tips: Tusk is the best role compression mon available. A one stop shop for all your hazard needs. You gotta love this guy
Item: Leftovers means tusk sticks around for longer, it's really good.
Tera Type: You usually don't tera this thing but when you do, steel is the best option as it gives tusk a chance against opposing Zapdos. Occasionally you may want to use this to gain poison immunity against gliscor or to survive a hit and get some chip damage against valiant
Moves: Rocks and spin should be obvious. Earthquake is chosen over headlong rush to give tusk some more staying power. Ice spinner is sometimes useful in the mirror, but it's mostly here for gliscor.
EVs & Nature: Bulky tusk gives us a switch-in against some physical attackers. I don't remember where I got this exact spread from, it was some rmt from a few months ago I think. With moon and bax banned I think it may be better to go more fast offensive tusk, but I'm not sure.
Other Options: As said above, due to changes in the meta I may try a more fast offensive tusk set in the future.
Dragapult @
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Role / General Tips: Speed control and wallbreaker. We all know this pult set. Infiltrator also allows pult to stop sub sweepers
Item: Specs are the only option for a wallbreaking set
Tera Type: Tera fairy flips pult's type chart, giving it the dragon immunity but also turning its crucial dark weakness into a resist
Moves: I considered some other coverage moves- this team doesn't have good water coverage, so hydro pump would be nice in the fourth move slot, but U-Turn is too good at generating momentum and occasionally popping an air balloon. Shadow ball and draco are strong and STAB while flamethrower is necessary to beat steels
EVs & Nature: Modest is nice but dying to zamazenta and other pults is not. Also adamant +1 dragonite outspeeds modest pult, it's bad, you have to run timid
Other Options: As discussed above, more/different coverage moves would be nice but there's a reason this is the most common dragapult set.
5. Threatlist
opposing Zapdos are really scary. Basically you have to play around it by switching your own Zapdos in on their hurricanes and getting a little bit of chip with volt switch until it's low enough to die to a draco from pult, you do not want to risk oger getting static hax'd. In rain zapdos agility sets are near unbeatable for this team
This outspeeds oger after tera and can force her out if she's not 100% healthy. Typically I'll sac something and try to get a paralysis or just a hurricane off with Zapdos to stop it. If it's calm mind it's especially scary cuz you can't just switch in, tera oger and encore.
setup sweeper that can't be beat with encore. Espeed is scary
if it's booster speed+substitute it's really important to preserve Samurott's sash to get some chip damage. If you're lucky you can get an edge hit+sucker punch to kill. Otherwise you have to break the sub somehow then have zapdos stick a thunder wave6. Replays
May add to this section as I continue to play, I haven't been saving replays so far really7. Pokepaste/Additional Options
pokepaste link
The previous version of the team worked, I just prefer this one. These are the Walking Wake and Gholdengo sets I was working with in the previous version of the team
Walking Wake @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Steam
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Flip Turn
Gholdengo @ Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 172 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Recover
- Nasty Plot
The previous version of the team worked, I just prefer this one. These are the Walking Wake and Gholdengo sets I was working with in the previous version of the team
Walking Wake @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Steam
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Flip Turn
Gholdengo @ Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 172 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Recover
- Nasty Plot
