Got some interesting sets that I've found in the last year or so. Most of these are niche mons although not all of them
Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Sleep Talk
Was looking for fun mons and this one is pretty cool. Basically imagine that it is feasible to run Scarf Ho-oh in DPP Ubers (it actually might be but it looks pretty difficult and the gain isn't as much) and your Scarf Ho-oh also happened to be able to U-turn. That's what Staraptor does here. Brave Bird is pretty strong and raptor has good coverage and can pivot out with U-turn. Even if it does nothing, Intimidate still makes sure that you're never left with no value from this mon.
Downsides are that its longevity is still pretty bad - 2x Rocks is not as bad as 4x Rocks weak but it's still shitty, especially when you're taking BB recoil. Sleep Talk is a slot on here but I wouldn't feel very safe switching it into Darkrai anyway since you take a million damage even from unboosted Dark Pulse, so you could just change the last slot to something better like Endeavor/Return/Double Edge or something.
Still, this is a fast, decently strong mon that is pretty self-sufficient in the end of the day.
Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Thunder / Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
- Trick
I might make a bigger niche Ghost-type post some time later, but essentially there's been lots of times where I'd build a team where I need a spinblocker but neither of the Giratina formes ticks all the boxes on what I need from the last mon. I basically then started branching out options and saw that hey, depending on the situation, some of the lower ranked Ghosts actually may fit your slot just a little bit better if the downsides of running said Ghost is not critical.
Gengar is probably the most viable of all those non-Giratina Ghosts (apart from Froslass that has an established niche). To be honest I think Gengar is quite unexplored and there are probably more sets that are viable. One thing that Gengar can do that pretty much nothing else can is check DD Ray, SD Ray and SD Lucario at the same time, no matter how healthy you are. Granted - if you're running Thunder you'd need a bit of chip on Lucario (just click your -2 Draco one more time) and a Close Combat SpD drop to KO with Thunder, but if you're running Focus Blast you have a 70% chance to revenge Lucario from full. Nothing else, with the exception of maybe Fire Punch Jirachi in the sun can do this.
But wait - there's more! Fire Punch/Ice Punch Jirachi can revenge all variants of DD/SD Ray/SD Lucario, but can it stop Scarf Chomp? What about Adamant Kabutops in the rain? You can also check the average RP Groudon that only aims to outspeed Scarf Chomp. On top of that, you can spinblock at least once so if your HO team just needs that 1 turn of spinblocking, it can do that. Explosion lets you check just about anything that's not a Baton Passed Dialga if you absolutely have to. TrickScarf is also very useful, especially against said BP teams since you can come in on Mew using Rock Polish and they tend to just run enough speed for Deo-S so you can just Trick them when they think they can Taunt you.
Obviously, there are downsides. Gengar is actually kind of weak without any boosting items. As mentioned you need a bit of chip and SpD drop for you to KO Lucario with Thunder. HP Ice only does like 40 to fat RP Groudons too so if you're not healthy you fail to KO that thing (if you're healthy you may live a +0 Dragon Claw and deal more damage with another HP Ice). If in doubt and you really need something gone just click the boom button. There's also being Pursuit weak but it's not super common so you might be okay.
Ekiller at home (Linoone) @ Power Herb
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Dig
- Shadow Claw
As you know, I got very upset (and still am) about Farceus being banned. Basically, this was my attempt to cope with not being able to use Ekiller on my Wobb HO teams. The problem with Linoone is not that it can't sweep lategame, it absolutely can, the problem is that unlike Ekiller, it's too weak without the setup move and therefore contributes very little from a defensive standpoint.
You absolutely need to use this with Wobb otherwise you'd never find any turns to set up. One common place is when people lock their Giratina-O into Sneak so it can't get killed by your Wobb and this is a fun way to punish them for it. Once you're at +6, if your opponent doesn't have a fat Groudon/Giratina-A/Skarm or Scarf Dialga/Jirachi/Gengar or Kabutops they are toast. Back Deo-A can also revenge kill you since I'm not running Salac but back Deo-A is a fucking unmon anyway.
The beauty of this set is that previously people would always discount Linoone since you can't hit Steels with it outside of weak Rock Smash. I think with the knowledge of newer gens and the fact that Power Herb is actually a viable option on certain things, you can retrospectively bring this back and make it viable. +6 Dig does 98% minimum to SpD Dialga and that's probably the fattest grounded Steel you'll find. Bronzong gets 2HKOed by +6 Shadow Claw and can't OHKO you in return without having to boom (imagine trading your Bronzong for a Linoone) unless they're using Gyro Ball.
Ekiller at home (Raticate) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Facade
- Crunch
- Sucker Punch
This thing is so fucking stupid but it's so funny that I have to include it. Again, this is looking for funny normal types (maybe I should do a bigger post on this as well) that can switch into Encored Sneak from CREATINAAA and set up to do big damage. If you get +1 it hits way harder than linoone, and Facade even without a boost actually hits decently hard. If you get the opportunity to set up though, this hits like an absolute truck. You 2HKO Bronzong with +2 Facade and they *surprise surprise* can't OHKO you back unless they have Gyro or something (so again, imagine sacrificing your Bronzong for stupid rat). Be careful using this with Safeguard Wobb though - if you haven't been burnt yet, Safeguard stops Flame Orb working when it's up.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 168 HP / 132 Atk / 208 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute / Taunt
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall / Earthquake
- Outrage / Ice Fang / Stone Edge / Bounce
Okay, now we're getting into some more legit things. I've pretty much kind only got this mainly figured out yesterday (don't worry I have tested this out extensively but have only really figured out the EV spread yesterday), but Gyarados has some really good qualities about it. The main one, like what it does in ADV OU, is that it's a Dragon Dancer that doesn't take too much from Ice Beam. The main target for this Gyarados is obviously Cresselia, who is a really good counter to Rayquaza/Salamence/Garchomp but is absolutely helpless against Gyarados. Like in ADV OU, the space in which Gyarados can operate is pretty small, but when it gets the right matchup and setup, it's an absolute force. Like in ADV OU, it takes a bit of effort and jockeying to really squeeze the most out Gyarados. The other thing is even if Gyarados achieves nothing, Intimidate still provides value.
This set aims to work as an anti-Eclipse/sun stall mon. Being Flying-type means you're not bummed by Toxic Spikes like a lot of the Swift Swimmers/Ogre/Palkia are. Substitute is preferred in standard DPP Ubers since if you want to set up on Eclipse, you really want to be able to set up on Groudon, and if you don't have Sub they can just spam Lava Plume to fish for burns which given how many turns you need to set up is a very real possibility. Taunt is preferred in Farceus since Roar is more common on pretty much everything since it prevents Ekiller set up turns and for Groudon to actually stop Ekiller.
So there are 2 main ways of using this. The first way is to slap this onto something like Highlord 6 or other rain HOs that tend to be a bit sun stall weak and it synergises pretty well. If you're not facing sun stall you got a decently strong Water-type attacker that can probably attempted to break a couple of walls. If you are facing sun stall then you have a win condition on your hands. Waterfall/Outrage are best moves to use if you're using rain offense to maximise your access to rain and maximise coverage.
The other way to use this is to try and use it a bit more independently. I actually find Groudon to be a really good partner to Gyarados even if it deletes your Water moves. Defensively, they synergise really well with each other. Thunder being 50% accurate is a boon to Gyarados. The downside is that you have effectively no STAB, but given Gyarados is a slow win condition, that's probably not so bad. In this case, you really need something to take down Bronzong because you can't do much to it without a Water attack. The 2 more reliable moves to use would be Ice Fang and Earthquake since they maximise your super effective coverage. Outrage and EQ are fine, but locking into Outrage really restricts your ability to change tact if need be.
Other options in the last slot are Bounce if you want a good neutral STAB out of rain and Stone Edge which lets you fit Gyarados onto sun BO as a potential Ho-oh check since Ho-oh absolutely fucks those teams up. In both of these cases, use EQ as your coverage move.
EVs currently are there so you outspeed Scarf Chomp at +2. Note you're outsped by Darkrai/M2/Skymin at +1 which kind of sucks but given you're really setting up slowly with this, it's not a big deal. The other option you can use in the current metagame climate is run Jolly since most people run Modest on their Scarf Dialga/Kyogre anyway so you may be able to get away with it. 168 HP lets your Subs live standard Gira-O Shadow Sneak all the time without needing Intimidate, have your Sub live Bronzong's Payback most of the time without needing Intimidate and have Sub live Dclaw from Groudon after an Intimidate. Just a note about the power - if you're using Ice Fang, even at +6 you're still only doing about 40% to Cresselia. You do have 3x the PP as Moonlight, so if you can get something to smack Cresselia a couple of times and use up a few Moonlights that would help Gyarados out in the long run.
Groudon @ Life Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch / Rock Polish
- Dragon Claw
Idea I've been floating around recently and admittedly haven't tried it much yet but I think it has good potential. Giratina-O's are getting slower and bulkier again currently so it takes a 1-2 more Stealth Rock switch-ins or a bit more chip for Groudon to break it with Dragon Claw. Without +2 AND Life Orb, Groudon cannot OHKO current Giratina-O with Dragon Claw. Life Orb sets tend to just run RP, and Double Dance sets tend not to run Life Orb. I think it's time (at least in the current climate) for Groudon forego the clean up/sweep job and move into pure wallbreaking with SD and 3 attacks. To be honest, I think if you have lots of ways to weaken Bronzong then you can drop Fire Punch for Rock Polish. +2 LO Fire Punch is still useful for Cresselia though.
So basically, most base 90s don't run a lot of Speed these days unless they're a Scarfer. Exception obviously do exist (fast SpecsOgre, fast SubCM Gira-A, Lucario) but I think if you run Jolly Groudon, unless they're a Scarfer, you can count on your Groudon to win the speed tie. Even if not, you're tying them at worst. Adamant max Speed is also an option which I'd try out as well.
Damage with LO and SD are quite massive. +2 EQ will always OHKO Kyogre after 1 layer of hazards no matter how fat they are. +2 Dragon Claw will OHKO 0/200 Giratina-O after Rocks (even without Rocks it does like 94% minimum). Even Cresselia can't wall you reliably since +2 LO Fire Punch does 50% minimum and Ice Beam does 40% maximum so you can potentially just go to +4 or even +6 and take yourself down along with it. Lugia needs Reflect to beat you otherwise you can just SD again to +4 vs Calm Mind variants and take it down; Giratina-A is probably the only thing that can really stop you and CREATINAAA needs to not miss Wisp otherwise it's toast.
Deoxys-Speed @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Sunny Day
Ever wanted your Deo-S to set up 2 layers on both Kyogre and Tyranitar leads? This set is for you! To be honest when I initially thought of this I thought it was going to solve all of my Deo-S lead problems. It didn't, mainly because you're weaker against other attacking leads like Ray and gives you less options against other Deo-S/A leads (no Espeed for Deo-A, no Thunder Wave vs TrickScarf Deo-S leads).
However, this works pretty well. You can now set up 2 layers vs TTar (I think Banded Payback might still KO you) and vs Ogre leads, you can avoid a 2HKO vs even Water Spout vs every Ogre lead that's not a Specs lead (see, now that Specs leads are a bit more common, it's less cool but back about a year ago this was pretty funny).