SS OU Double Scarf Beast Boost

Hey everyone! With gen 8 coming to a close soon, Ive decided to post a team I made recently thats really proved its worth to me. I used this team to peak on the ladder several times, and recently to get suspect reqs for Melm. Its a pretty solid offensive team, and I hope you enjoy using it as much as I have!

:landorus-therian:
Whenever I start building an OU team, I always slap sp.def lando on there by default. I sometimes change this slot to something else later in the process, but having Lando as a glue mon usually makes teambuilding easier for me, and I can replace it with something else later if I end up not needing it.
:landorus-therian: :tangrowth:
Next, I added Tangrowth as a physdef backstop with regenerator. Tang has a bunch of different options for its movesets, but I start off with Sleep Powder and Knock, with the rest to come later.
:landorus-therian: :tangrowth: :urshifu:
I add Banded Urshifu as a breaker and offensive pivot. Shifu threatens so much of the tier that it really takes over much of the early to mid game by itself, allowing me to use the remaining slots to focus on the lategame.
:landorus-therian: :tangrowth: :urshifu: :slowking-galar:
I add Slowking-galar next, because future sight lets Shifu drop Thunder-Punch and run Aqua Jet instead, which I've always found useful. Like Tang, Slowking has a lot of options, so I just slap on FS and Sludge Bomb and move on.
:landorus-therian: :tangrowth: :urshifu: :slowking-galar: :kartana: :blacephalon:
I could not choose between Scarf Kart and Scarf Blacephalon. I didnt think I necessarily needed a second breaker, either, so i decided to run both of them and decide which to keep later on. Surprisingly, the first four mons dominated the early and mid game so much that I didnt really need another breaker or defensive mon, so I just ended up keeping both of them.
I then tidy up the movesets. Tangrowth gets Sludge Bomb to hit Rilla super effectively while also hitting Barraskewda and shifu, and Leech for everything else. Since this means its walled by Ferro, Glowking gets Flamethrower and then Earthquake for Tran. Blacephalon doesnt need Psyshock for Blissey, so I go ahead and give it Trick for the stall and Trick Room matchup.
And with that, the team is done!


Playstyle:
So this team features two scarfers, which honestly gives it a LOT of leeway in endgame scenarios. With that in mind, this means early and midgame have to be played MUCH more aggressively than the endgame. Urshifu is your only true breaker on this team, so you cant afford to play reactively with it.
At team preview, based on the opponents team, you can tell which of Kartana or Blacephalon is going to be more valuable. While you shouldnt keep to this at the detriment of your team (eg, if Blacephalon will 100% sweep with Shadow Ball as long as a Bisharp is taken out, but the Bisharp is being played conservatively, just change your plan midgame instead of risking a bad endgame scenario), usually the game will revolve around bluffing it to not be scarfed. Most people will only expect 1 of Kart or Blace to be scarfed, so if, for example, you plan to sweep with Blace, you can reveal Scarf Kart early game, and theyll usually put their energy into preventing a Kart sweep, which should entail throwing their walls into it. With those walls chipped, Blace should be able to sweep as soon as Kart goes down.
Tang or Slowking also play similarly. While most teams are split between physical and special offense, they still lean one way or the other most of the time, so you can usually tell which of those two mons will be more pressured at team preview. Feel free to use Landorus as a crutch for whichever mon is feeling the pressure more. Once their specific targets go down (eg Koko and Fini are the only special attackers and both are dead/chipped enough to not be a problem) they can be sacked for momentum if needed.
As a final note, I highly recommend this team be played with Showdex, as it allows fast calcing, both of opponents to get natures/items right on threats like Lele and Rilla, as well as just being able to tell instantly what chip you need on the opponent to win with your chosen scarfer.

At A Glance (click for pokepaste)
:ss/landorus-therian: :ss/tangrowth: :ss/urshifu-rapid-strike: :ss/slowking-galar: :ss/kartana: :ss/blacephalon:

A Closer Look

:ss/landorus-therian:
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

What it does: If you play SS OU, you know what spdef lando does. It acts as a blanket check to many mons, takes a long ass time to die, its the best rocker in the tier, and its just such a good glue mon. In the early game, it just comes in on everything and gets knocks and toxics off. Its your first line of defense against Shadow Ball spam and Lele. You should always be calcing damage this mon takes to determine choice items and natures. Its also a great pivot in on DD sweepers like Dragonite and Scale Shot Chomp.
Moves and EVs: This Lando is not rocking either U-Turn or Defog, opting instead for Knock Toxic. Knock is just a great move on Lando, not only threatening the OHKO on Blace and the 2HKO on Dragapult, but also for getting rid of helmets and boots. Knock Toxic also allows Lando to usually beat zapdos, barring Hurricane confusion or toxic missing. Its also good for Lele, who is a problem for this team in the early game, as getting rid of a scarf lets Urshifu beat it 1v1. It is NOT for Kartana, because switching this into Kart is begging to get swept by SD Adrenaline Orb. The EVs are standard spdef lando. You can speed creep opposing sp.def landos to toxic them before they can u-turn out, but I dont think its very necessary to do that tbh.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Play Lando reckless and fast. You have the defensive core ready in the back for when this dies, so early game dont be afraid to throw it into attacks to get a toxic off. Lando is usually the first mon on the team to go down, and it has great synergy with glowking. Both are Sp.Def mons, and Lando switches in on the EQs that Glowking fears and eases the pressure on Glowking vs Koko and Lele, while Glowking easily tanks the bulky waters and ice beam spammers that Lando might have a problem with. Just play aggressive with the mon, make midground doubles with it, and just knock/toxic everything in sight, every little bit of chip will benefit the scarfers in the endgame.

:ss/tangrowth:
Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb

What it does: Tangrowth is the panic button for physical breakers and sweepers. It gets chip on melm, rilla, shifu, barraskewda, dragonite, garchomp, exca, zera, etc. Once its in, it gets to be VERY annoying with sleep, leech and knock, and then do it all over again once its forced out thanks to regenerator. Helmet is mandatory, otherwise you're a little bit of a sitting duck. One of Tangs most important function on this team, however, is knocking off scarf kartana, who would otherwise force the endgame into a speed tie. However, once Kart has lost its scarf, the endgame becomes much clearer and easier to play.
Moves and EVs: Sleep and Knock are the cornerstones of this set. Oftentimes, you can bring Tang in on a Rillaboom or something, then sleep the heatran/volc as it comes in for free setup. Once they're asleep, its a free switch for you. Knock, as explained, prevents scarf kart speedties, and is just generally a good move to use. Leech is helpful if youve slept something and are unsure of whether they'll switch or try for the wakeup (EG a dragonite that has already DDed and lost its multiscale due to helmet chip might stay in and hope to wake up and roost like the sunk cost fallacy). Sludge hits Rilla super effectively, and poison chip is appreciated on this team to wear down stuff like Zapdos.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Tang can be played much more reactively than Lando. Having Tang in the back allows you to go for riskier plays, because barring a few problem matchups, Tang will never straight up die to a physical attack, so you can click Toxic on Lando into a Kart and it'll be fine. Once in, Tang should sleep if there are no grass types, or knock/sludge if there are. Tang really shines versus teams that forgo a powder immmunity, as its nearly guaranteed to take a couple of mons out of commission per game, barring sleep powder misses. Tang and Glowking have decent synergy, with Tang being able to deal with the threats Glowking is afraid of, while Glowking is able to deal with the threats Tang is afraid of. Tangrowth gets more dangerous the longer the game goes on, as putting 1/4 of your opponents team to sleep when they're 2 down is much higher value than putting 1/6th of their team to sleep when the situation is even. Tang + 1 of Blace / Kart is the most common endgame positioning this team finds itself in post 1700s, and its a VERY good matchup if your opponent is similarly down, since sleep is just so fucking valuable in the endgame.
Side note, why Tang and not Ferro?: Tang loses spikes and special bulk in exchange for regen, better typing for this teams needs (being weak to fighting would make shifu/rilla/kart more 50/50ish), sleep powder, and enough speed to sleep most melms before they can hit you (Melm has to put in atleast 116 speed evs OR 68 with a +Spe nature, which is more investment than most melms can afford). Generally speaking, running Ferro in this slot doesnt give you enough value in most matchups to justify losing Tangs unique points, and Tang sticks around for wayyyy longer than Ferro can, due to Regen. In a vaccum, Ferro is almost definitely superior to Tang, but this team appreciates Tangs niche's more than Ferros all around utility. Dont run Ferro in this slot if you use this team, the team becomes wayyy more inconsistent in longer games.

:ss/urshifu-rapid-strike:
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet

What it does: Urshifu breaks in the early game, getting the damage off on the enemy thats required for your scarfers to clean up late game. With Future Sight support from Glowking, Shifu just breaks holes in the enemies team like crazy. Its a fantastic lead on this team, as it can threaten out their Lando-T and u-turn to your own Lando to get up your rocks while denying theirs. People also underestimate Shifu's defensive capabilities, as 100/100 bulk is VERY solid, and makes it a very good pivot in the early game alongside its typing giving it key resistances this team appreciates (namely dark, ice, and rock). Shifu's 97 speed tier is also very good in SS, narrowly outspeeding Lele.
Moves and EVs: Shifu needs Surge and CC for obvious reasons. U-Turn is the only pivoting move on this team, and it does very nice damage for the utility it provides. Lastly, Aqua Jet is preferred on this team for Volcarona and Blacephalon, as Thunder Punch isnt really necessary with FS support, and Corv/Mandi get slapped about by CCs. Fini is a bit of a problem without TPunch, but you can generally wear down fini over the course of a game to where CC or Surge will kill it.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Play aggressive but not suicidal. Shifu is the main damage dealer for most of the game, so dont throw it away for no reason. If they have a Ferro, NEVER surge unless youre 100% sure they wont go to it. Also, if they have a resist/corv/buzzwole, dont click Surge straight off the bat, if its Helmet thats almost half your HP gone. Click u-turn in those situations to item scout. Dont leave this in VS Lele until you've calced damage to determine if its scarf or specs. You want to use its resistances to Weavile and Bisharp well, if the opponent has one of those, keep it as healthy as possible so you can switch into Axels/Knocks and threaten the KO back. This thing practically dictates the early game, just keep it healthy for the first 15ish turns, and it'll reward you. Urshifu also has great synergy with Blacephalon, who is stopped in its tracks by TTar, who in turn is bodied by Shifu.

:ss/Slowking-galar:
Slowking-Galar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Future Sight
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Sludge Bomb

What it does: Glowking is the specially defensive tank on this team. It benefits from Lando taking pressure off it in the early game, so it can invest more in Sp.Atk and REALLY hit the opponent where it hurts. Future Sight pairs wonderfully with Shifu, and Sludge Bomb provides good nuetral coverage. Flamethrower is for Ferro. Earthquake always 2HKOs specially defensive heatran after SR, and KOs it 84% of the time without it (its a guaranteed 2HKO if Heatran isnt holding lefties). It also beats CM Fini, and provides a switch in to Torn, Koko if Lando is dead, and beats Clef 1v1. The team doesnt REALLY struggle with fairies, but having Slowking as a panic button for them is very nice. Glowking just comes in on a lot of special attackers, sets up a Future Sight, and either pivots out or smacks something hard with Sludge Bomb/Coverage.
Moves and EVs: 12 Defense allows Glowking to live a banded urshifu surge in a pinch, altho its a roll in their favor if rocks are up. You can honestly take those EVs off and pump them into Sp.Atk or Sp.Def instead, since this team has no removal. Quiet nature is becuz its not outspeeding anything anyways, and you need a nuetral attack nature to 2HKO Heatran with EQ. Moves have already been explained.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Glowking can be played more riskily than Tang, but it still thrives in a reactive manner as well. You can double glowking in, since its bulk means its rarely OHKOd by anything, and the rewards of getting a free FS up are great. Glowking is mostly a midgame tool, but can be used in the early game in case of Pex/Fini walling Shifu. Glowking also usually doesnt need to come in more than two or three times a game, live a few key attacks, get damage off, and just be a supportive threat for the scarfers in the lategame. You can usually let it die without consequences in the lategame, unless they have something like a Zap and Blacephalon is dead, but those situations are rare. Glowking has obvious offensive synergy with Shifu, but also defensive synergy, tanking moonblasts and tbolts for shifu while appreciating Shifu dealing with Weavile and Bisharp (although it can catch both of those switching in on FS with Flamethrower).

:ss/Kartana:
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike

What it does: Kartana is the first scarfer. The idea is behind the two beast boost scarfers is that in any given matchup, it is highly unlikely that neither of them will be able to a do a snowball sweep. In general, Blace is the better generalisable scarfer due to the spammability of Shadow Ball, but Kart destroys some teamcomps that Blace would have trouble with (such as rain, Darkspam and certain webs offense).
Moves and EVs: Knock is a great coverage move, and hits Dragapult well. Leaf Blade and Smart Strike are the obligatory STABs, and are good for certain endgames. Leaf Blade is good into endgames VS sand, where it looks like (Lele/Exca/TTar/Volcanion), while Smart Strike demolishes hail (which is less common now than it was when this team was made, but its still a nice tool to have into Clef endgames). Sacred Sword hits Heatran, Melm and Magnezone (who traps you, so its important to hit), and is fun for comboing with Future Sight in the midgame as well. I have toyed with running Adamant, but that only speed ties with Scarf Lele, and getting outsped by Scarf Blacephalon is a big problem in endgames as well, so I would honestly just run Jolly to be 100% safe.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Have combined this section with Blacephalons since they play very similarly.

:ss/Blacephalon:
Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Trick

What it does: Blacephalon is the second scarfer. It does very well in most matchups, and is usually the endgame snowballer, but it can be brought out earlier to threaten things like Corv and Ferro in a pinch. It absolutely NEEDS TTar gone, and it really wants Heatran chipped, but in general, this is one of the best scarfers in the game, and if you havent tried it, the potential to snowball is INSANE.
Moves and EVs: Flamethrower and Shadow Ball are your main moves. In 90% of games, these are the only moves you will click. Overheat is good into 1 very specific problem matchup: Zapdos-Galar. Overheat will do enough to Zapdos that itll kill itself with BB recoil (provided youre at 100% health, but its also a high change to get KOd even if you arent), so you can honestly lead it into Gapdos to force a trade at worst. Trick is best into stall, and can do funny stuff like lock Volcarona into Quiver Dance or Corviknight into Roost.
Synergy with team/Playstyle: Blacephalon and Kartana are usually purely endgame mons. Most of the time, you can tell at team preview which one them has better sweep potential, so you can use the other one in the midgame to get damage off to help the true sweeper. Not much to say here that hasnt already been said in other sections.

Problem Matchups:
No team is perfect, and while this team has the tools to finesse most matchups, there are still some pokemon which you should lookout for, and play around very specifically. This section is to highlight these threats, and how to play them.

1) :ss/Zapdos-galar:
As mentioned above, Zapdos is highly threatening, being able to break holes with Brave Bird, which hits everything neutrally at worst, and hits Tangrowth super effectively. To play around this, lead Blacephalon (theyll usually lead Zapdos to catch the lead Lando) and Overheat immediately. If you need Blace to sweep, or Zapdos is the only threatening physical attacker on their team, you can also switch Tangrowth into Brave Bird, as itll take around 70% from Helmet + BB Recoil, and to cap it off, Tangrowth actually has a very good chance to live, as its only an 18.8% OHKO (this goes upto a guaranteed OHKO after rocks though). Then use Blace to outspeed and kill, or pick it off with Shifu Aqua Jet (33.4% min).

2) :ss/Latios:(only Scarf)
You will p much NEVER see this, but I did get a game on the suspect ladder where Scarf Latios ran circles around this team. This is becuz its the only scarfer faster than Kartana that also cleans up your entire team once Glowking and Lando are chipped. Since Lati isnt so rare (2% usage in 1500s+), I wouldnt worry about this much, but just incase it pops up, keep Glowking healthy and get rocks up.


3) :ss/Kartana:(only timid Kart)
Timid Kart is a problem if it gets a speed boost, since then you're forced into a speedtie situation with your own Kart. Just be aware of this, constantly be calcing Kartana damage, and if its min attack, get Blacephalon in on the SD or something to force it out. If its not timid Kart, its fine though.


4):ss/Dragapult: (only DD in the endgame)
DD Dragapult is honestly quite annoying for this team, since they usually run Flamethrower to kill Kart with. If you see a Clear Body Dragapult, keep Tang healthy and be ready to sleep it on the DD (Tang never dies to uninvested Flamethrower, even if theyre freaks who run a +Spa nature for some reason).

Apart from that, Lele is a problem but only when you dont know its set. Once you know its set, you know how to beat it. Just switch in Lando or Glowking and calc the damage to find out what it is.

Replays:
(Disclaimer: These are all replays from the suspect ladder, which I cannot play anymore since my reqs are still being confirmed and I dont feel like getting a fresh alt up the ladder, so these are all around 1500sish. However, this team has hit 1800s before (I have proof of mid 1700s but didnt bother getting proof of 1800s with this unfortunately), and I might edit in more high level replays once my reqs go through.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686020801
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686092994
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686101061
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686104573
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686118575-8v0flxvwzjg8tblk7lusse3bqh9omnupw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1686121699

359.PNG

(i know it says choose name in the corner so Im posting a replay of me laddering with that account with this team as well)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1553383942-zm2dmu80auw4tzxoofvvda5ew84dnhupw


Let me know what you think of the team! Love you all!
 

3d

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at first glance the main issue i see with this team is there is no defensive steel type. this in turn comes with a subset of problems the main ones being no flying resist, and no psychic resist. this allows something like tapu lele to get a kill everytime it comes in and with no hazard removal, blacephalon can only come in a few times and scarf kart doesn't really do much to pressure teams. also, your main breaker not being able to revenge kill lele until you can confirm it is specs is not a good look. its also worth noting that your main breaker, urshifu, has trouble coming in as it cannot benefit off of u-turns from anything else.

:tangrowth: -> :melmetal: my first suggestion is changing tangrowth to melmetal. throwing in a defensive steel such as mel and pairing it with av slowing makes lele very manageable. having a defensive steel type here means you can go glowking first into lele and if they psyshock you have a realistic switchin to it which was lacking before. among other things, melmetal is very good into dd dragapult and can even take specs shadow balls from relatively high health and kill if ever in the situation. melmetal is an excellent physical tank and paired with intimidate makes it very hard to kill, and losing out on this water resist does not really open this team up to rain anymore than it already was. however, if you find yourself really struggling with rain, another option here is ferrothorn which also works well, but the offense melmetal provides is really valuable to a team with it as its only reliable psychic resist.


:landorus-therian: i believe on a team like this, uturn will prove to be much more reliable than toxic. getting in your breakers is very important especially since a team with blace/kart isn't typically meant to have longer games. having an alternative way of getting them and urshifu in safely will prove to be incredibly beneficial.

Melmetal @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Toxic


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
 

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