Fade to Black (Peaked #1)

[Sayonara]

[youtube]Nu4wvvoA9-s[/youtube]

Made by Sayonara and BKC. Written by Sayonara.

Introduction

Hello. With the recent Garchomp re-test in the OU tier, BKC and I decided to build a team featuring the mighty Garchomp - a team to be used in the OU Suspect Ladder on Pokemon Showdown!. We didn't intend to build a team that was too focused on offense, but one that was more balanced, which would allow Garchomp to sweep late-game. The team was pretty successful and fun to use, and BKC even managed to peak at #1 on the OU Suspect Ladder under the alt quintessence (great job!). Without further ado, we present to you Fade to Black, a suspect BW OU team.

Closer Look

Hippowdon @ Leftovers ***Life it seems will fade away
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind

With Garchomp being the star of the team, we didn't want to have to deal too much with opposing Rain or Sun teams, so we decided to use weather of our own - Sand. While Garchomp doesn't benefit from Sand without being access to Sand Veil as its ability, it does appreciate not being outsped by Chlorophyll users and not being hit harder by Water moves, which would have been the case if Rain was present. Hippowdon acts as a nice mixed wall, and a lead. When it sent in, it can usually easily set up Stealth Rock, as most opponents switch out their physical attacker, fearing a physically defensive set. Slack Off is useful for Hippowdon to regain health, keeping it healthy throughout the match, which helps during weather wars, especially since Politoed and Ninetales don't boast a recovery move. Even without significant Attack investment, Earthquake still hits really hard, thanks to STAB and a 112 Attack stat. Finally, Whirlwind is used to pHaze out set-up sweepers trying to use Hippowdon as a set-up fodder.

Rotom-W @ Leftovers ***Drifting further everyday
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom-W acts as a scout and a great answer to Rain teams, which are often troubled by this Washing Machine. It also helps deal with Tornadus-T, tanking Hurricanes. We opted for a more bulky Rotom-W, which is reflected in the chosen EV spread, which helps deal with Tornadus-T in addition to allowing Rotom-W to tank a couple of physical hits as well. Volt Switch allows Rotom-W to scout, providing offensive momentum for the team and giving the team an advantageous switch-in. Hydro Pump is a strong STAB that hits hard, allowing it to take down opposing Gliscor and Terrakion. Will-O-Wisp is used to help deal with physical threats, who are usually crippled. It also helps against Ferrothorn. Finally, Pain Split is used to gain health back, and it abuses the washing machine's low HP to gain health back quickly. Leftovers is used for recovery, helping enhance its survivability.

Amoonguss @ Leftovers ***Getting lost within myself
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ice
- Sludge Bomb

Amoonguss also helps deal with Rain teams, resisting Water moves. It has pretty good synergy with Rotom-W, being able to come in on Grass-type moves aimed towards Rotom-W, while Rotom-W can switch-in Ice, Flying and Fire-type moves Amoonguss loathes. With Regenerator, a useful ability, Amoonguss can switch-in and out on numerous occasions, healing 1/3 of its health upon switching out. Spore is very useful, incapacitating an opponent for pretty much the entire game, thanks to BW's sleep mechanics. Giga Drain is its main STAB, allowing Amoonguss to heal itself. Hidden Power Ice hits Dragons attempting to use Amoonguss as set-up fodder, like Garchomp and Dragonite. Sludge Bomb is used for coverage. The weird EV spread lets Amoonguss tank a +2 Outrage from Garchomp, which is helpful. The rest of the EVs are poured in HP and Special Defense, allowing Amoonguss to serve as a decent special wall.

Garchomp @ Yache Berry ***Simply nothing more to give
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang

The beast. Garchomp is an extremely powerful Pokemon you don't want to mess with. Thanks to above-average bulk, and a resistance to Stealth Rock, it can find a couple of opportunities to set up and start causing havoc. Swords Dance doubles its already strong Attack stat. Earthquake is its main STAB, hitting anything that doesn't resist it really hard. Dragon Claw hits opposing Dragons who are immune to Earthquake, such as Dragonite and Salamence. Fire Fang is used to hit Steel-types who resist Dragon Claw and are immune to Earthquake, notably Skarmory and Bronzong, the #1 Garchomp counters in OU. Yache Berry helps Garchomp tank Ice-type hits, being only 2HKO'd by Mamoswine's Ice Shard, allowing Garchomp to eliminate it. With a base 102 speed stat, Jolly lets Garchomp outspeed non-Scarfed Landorus, Salamence and Victini. Rough Skin is rarely used, although it can be useful.

Forretress @ Leftovers ***Emptiness is filling me
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpA
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spe)
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Hidden Power Ice
- Volt Switch

Forretress is an important defensive backbone of the team, being able to tank numerous physical attacks thanks to titanic physical bulk. It also provides Rapid Spin support, meaning entry hazards will not be detrimental to the team. Spikes support is also really nice, as it weakens the opposition to the point where Garchomp and Genesect can run through the opposing team. It helps turning 2HKOs in OHKOs. Hidden Power Ice is used to deal with SubToxic Gliscor, who can be annoying. While Volt Switch isn't going to hit hard, if it can hit a switch-in target, that gives a great advantage to the team, obtaining an advantageous switch-in. It also helps Forretress escape Magnezone's Magnet Pull. With 36 SpA EVs, Hidden Power Ice will usually 2HKO Gliscor, which is useful. The rest of the EVs are dumped in HP and Defense, easing Forretress' role as a physical wall. Sturdy can be useful to avoid being OHKO'd at full health, while Leftovers grants recovery.

Genesect @ Choice Scarf ***Need the end to set me free
Ability: Download
EVs: 96 Atk / 248 SpA / 164 Spe
Hasty Nature (+Spe, -Def)
- U-Turn
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam

Genesect is an amazing revenge-killer, wallbreaker and scout. With Download, it can often grab Attack boosts, and hit hard with U-Turn, providing the team with early offensive momentum, as it is usually sent as a lead when not selecting Hippowdon to lead. Bug Buzz hits harder than U-Turn and is often used when obtaining a SpA boost from Download. Flamethrower is a very handy coverage move, nailing KOs on Skarmory, Scizor, Ferrothorn and Forretress, who would otherwise be troublesome. Ice Beam is used to hit Dragons, Landorus and Gliscor hard, allowing Genesect to take them out. The EV spread gives Genesect enough speed to outpace opponents like Scarf Haxorus, while maximizing Special Attack and placing the remaining EVs in Attack to boost U-Turn's power. Maximizing Speed isn't necessary, as Genesect can't outspeed ScarfMence, Scarf Victini and Scarf Landorus anyways, due to an unfortunate Base 99 Speed stat. When the opponent is weakened late-game, this guy just runs through teams.


Conclusion

Well, that's pretty much it for this team, that was a pretty nice success. I'd like to thank BKC for agreeing to work with me on this team, and Kevin Garrett for the formatting used for this RMT. I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read this, and I hope you liked the team. We also used different version of the team, like one consisting of SR Fire Blast Garchomp | Spikes Ferro | Bulky Starmie | SubSplit Gar | ScarfTar | Scarf Genesect and another one consisting of SR Spikes Forre | SubSplit Gengar | Slowbro | Celebi | ScarfTar | SpDef Zapdos or Shed Shell ResTalk SpD Tran. All rates are welcome - don't be shy!

 

[Sayonara]

Importable

Amoonguss (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ice]


Hippowdon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Whirlwind
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off


Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Volt Switch
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rapid Spin


Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split


Garchomp (F) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Fire Fang
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake


Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 96 Atk / 248 SAtk / 164 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam

 

[afterburn]

Hey guys, this is a cool team, and you do have most threats covered well. However, it seems to me that last 'mon Volcarona (both, the bulky ones with Roost, and the offensive ones) would be annoying for your team to face, if it sets up on Genesect on Ice Beam / Bug Buzz. Substitute + Dragon Dance Gyarados also seems like it can set-up on Genesect locked on the ineffective move, put up a Substitute, and get in a Dragon Dance. Rotom-W can't take it out because Volt Switch will force itself out as it breaks the sub, and Gyarados can get in another Dragon Dance or hit something hard with its attacks.

Since Hippowdon is the one Pokemon which can take two hits from a boosted Volcarona on your team, I'd try out Stone Edge over Whirlwind. The problem was that even though Hippowdon could take a hit from Volcarona, Earthquake wasn't enough to get in a KO, Stone Edge should help with this. Whirlwind was to prevent Hippowdon from becoming set-up fodder, the things which would use it as set-up fodder would be Dragonite and Thundurus mainly (once they realize you lack Ice Fang) and you hit them both hard.

For SubDD Gyarados, perhaps you want to try Thunderbolt over Will-O-Wisp. With Thunderbolt you're able to handle it better as you don't force yourself out, and can just repeatedly Thunderbolt preventing further set-up and forcing it to hit you with Waterfall / Bounce, which won't do much anyway. What you do lose from this is the ability to cripple Banded Scizor, as it won't take much from your attacks and can just U-turn for good damage, so if you want you could replace Pain-Split / Volt Switch. Losing pain split means you lose your semi-reliable recovery move, though it does have enough bulk to outlast the threats it needs to handle, replacing Volt Switch would mean losing your means of scouting. Thunderbolt can go over any of those moves, since you guys have played with this team, you probably know from experience which would be the most replaceable move.

Also, I have to ask, after using this team and abusing Garchomp on ladder, what are your opinions thus far of allowing Garchomp into the metagame (for it or against it)?

cool team, and gl!

 

[BKC]

stone edge hippo, tbolt genesect

Thanks LK. They sound like good ideas, I'll try them out, although I'll probably go with Rock Slide because I don't think the power difference matters against Volc whereas a miss would probably screw me over and result in me getting swept. I never used Bug Buzz on Genesect either so Tbolt's probably worth a shot.

I prefer suspect to standard actually. Garchomp is great and not even remotely close to broken without Sand Veil.

i would recomend checking some of the rates for this team http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3467412
considering they are very similar,
spdef hippo, forretress, sandveil sweeper, bulky grass, bulky water, steel scarfer

lol

 

[peng]

i would recomend checking some of the rates for this team http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3467412
considering they are very similar,
spdef hippo, forretress, sandveil sweeper, bulky grass, bulky water, steel scarfer

I don't get your point. Practically every Hippowdon team in BW follows the base of Hippo / 2 water resists / 2 steels / sand abuser, just because this team follows that same base doesn't mean that all the rates from other Hippo teams apply to this one. Not to mention Garchomp isn't a Sand Veil sweeper in Suspect anyway lol.
tl;dr stop being a shit

So as other people have pointed out, this team is pretty weak to Volcarona, Latios, and also opposing Genesect. I 100% agree with Afterburn's suggestion of Rock Slide Hippowdon (he actually suggested Stone Edge but worst move in the game etc etc), which allows it to beat Volcarona as well as actually giving it a way of hitting Latios, which your current set does not do. I think max speed Genesect would also be a good idea, as a 50% chance to beat opposing scarf Genesect is always welcome, unless the attack investment provides any particularly important OHKOs / 2HKOs.

Given that your 3 biggest weaknesses are Volc Genesect and Latios, I think you could actually try a Specially Defensive Heatran over Forretress or something. I know BKC will refuse to do this because Forretress is like his favourite pokemon ever. Fire Blast over Fire Fang on Garchomp would also be a welcome change if you decide to go with Heatran, by giving Skarmory fewer chances to get hazards up (maybe naive nature idk).

gl

 

[Shuckler]

Great team. After a quick look, I'd suggest that you change your genesect set to an expert belt set. This can help alleviate some of the problems of having sweepers set up on genesect. While I realize your team appreciates the revenge killing, an expert belt set would allow much more versatility. You could stick the choice scarf on another mon, like changing rotom-w to a scarf set, but really you don't need the revenge that much. Garchomp is pretty fast as is, and can take out quite a lot of things without a scarf.

Hide

Genesect @ Expert Belt
Trait: Download
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt

 

[Sayonara]

@ PenguinX - thanks for the rate! heatran would be a nice addition to the team, though we'd lose spikes and rapid spin support, which is unfortunate. this change would also make subsd garchomp a bit problematic, especially since we're using a specially defensive hippowdon, though we'll give heatran a try, thanks!

@ Shuckler - thanks for the rate! i don't think expert belt genesect would be a great idea, especially since if we implemented that change, latios would be outspeeding the entire team, and genesect is our main revenge-killer. giving rotom-w a scarf would mean it'd have a harder time tanking hurricanes and such, and garchomp isn't that fast, it's still outsped by the base 108 and 110 mons like terrakion, infernape, latios and gengar.

 

[gr8astard]

I really liked the idea behind hazards stacking and using SD Garchomp and Scarf Genesect, as they both force a lot of switches and you can soften a lot of cores that way.
However, I see SD Life Orb Terrakion as a huge threat. First of all, the only thing that outspeeds it is scarf Genesect, which can't do much back to Terrakion especially in the sand. Secondly, it OHKO'es every single pokemon on your team with little residual damage at +2 (which won't be hard to achieve since Forretress isn't the most reliable at removing hazards if your opponent carries a spin-blocker).
252 +2 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Close Combat vs 252 HP/0 Def Hippowdon: 104.52% - 123.1%
252 +2 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs 160 HP/96 Def Amoonguss: 121.76% - 143.28%
(On second thought, Terrakion doesn't even need a life orb to start doing work on this team with hazards support).

In addition, it can set up on Genesect, Forretress (once they know you pack HP Ice instead of Gyro Ball), and to a lesser extent Amoonguss (after they sleep foddered something).
0 SpAtk Amoonguss Giga Drain vs 0 HP/6 SpDef Terrakion: 31.58% - 38.08%
3-4 hits to KO (in the sand).

To alleviate this issue I would suggest Gyro Ball over HP Ice on Forretress. This would also help vs Mamoswine, as Rotom-W is your only reliable switch-in to it and despite its defensive build it won't like to repeatedly switch into LO Icicle Crash or Superpower.

Another (less reliable) solution would be to use Flash Cannon on Genesect over Bug Buzz, as I think it is the most expendable move on it--you need flamethrower as it is your most reliable answer to speedy SD Scizor (another big threat) and ice beam to obviously revenge dragons. You could also just use rock polish/ebelt Genesect and Scarfchomp instead, but that would probably deter the team construct too much.

 

[Harsha]

After looking through this team, it looks fairly efficient, but there are some smaller holes that can be exploited. The weakness to sun teams, especially because you guys don't have a single Pokemon that can really tank a Fire move, looks pretty detrimental. Heatran, Volcarona, Venusaur, Victreebel, and Lilligant all look like giant pains, and there really isn't much you could do for this aside from adding something you've already stated you don't want: Heatran. I'd add this over Genesect and do a bit of shuffling on your team, actually. Garchomp is one of the best revenge killers in the entire metagame, so you could probably use a Choice Scarf on it, while you can replace Genesect for a much better answer to sun teams. You can still sweep late-game, and the best part about this change is not only do you get assurance against sun, but that Garchomp also can sweep without having to worry about its Speed. Yeah, you lose U-turn, but a VoltTurn core doesn't seem like it would be your top priority on a balanced team.

As far as other things go, I also agree with using Rock Slide over Stealth Rock, because Heatran provides Stealth Rock and you'd now get a much better answer to Volcarona if Dugtrio traps Heatran, or a similar situation occurs. By the way, the team looks extremely specially defensive, so you could probably live with 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD on Hippowdon, but that's up to you. Not much else to say, cool team guys.

sets

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power / Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

You can use Roar here, but I generally like being able to hit other Heatran a lot more.

 

[Lavos]

Interesting little statistic here, with an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd and 11 Defense IVs, Genesect will get an Attack boost instead of a SpAtk boost when switching into Garchomp, meaning that Ice Beam will have a 0% chance to OHKO, compared to a 62.5% chance based on your current EVs/IVs. This is extremely significant: since Genesect is a big weakness for the team, and Genesect loves trying to revenge-kill Garchomp, you can remove a large threat with Fire Fang and possibly save yourself the game simply by running the EVs/IVs that I'm recommending. If I were you, I'd definitely implement this change.

Nice team, props to BKC for achieving rank 1 in such a short period of time. Luvdisc'd.

 

[BKC]

gyro ball on forry, flash cannon on genesect

I haven't seen too many SubToxic Gliscors and now that I think about it, Amoonguss beats them easily anyway, so Forre can use Gyro Ball. I also like the idea of Flash Cannon on Genesect but I think if I end up going with that, I'll use its physical counterpart, Iron Head, since that gets a Download boost and doesn't hit its sand-boosted SpDef.

scarf chomp, sdef tran > genesect, rock slide > sr on hippo with max def

SpDef Tran fixes a lot of issues, yeah, but I don't want to rely on it for SR when there are so many Xatu/Espeon + Genesect + Dugtrio sun teams out there. I think I'll stick Rock Slide on Hippo over Whirlwind and use Shed Shell ResTalk Heatran. Scarf Chomp sounds good, I'll try it. SpDef Hippo is like God except better, but it can't hurt to try out max Def.

stuff about opposing genesect's download affecting its ko chance vs garchomp

This sounds like a very good idea. I'll make the change and see how it does.

Thanks for the rates, good ideas friends

 

[asterat]

This sounds really weird, but you don't have a need for hippo. If you used a specially defensive heatran he would still supply stealth rock and beat most volcarona.
You don't need max speed on genesect, which most people do not realize. You can run a mild nature and just enough speed to outspeed base 130 pokemon. The rest of the EVs could go into attack for U-Turn.

 

[The Grand Babido]

Interesting little statistic here, with an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd and 11 Defense IVs, Genesect will get an Attack boost instead of a SpAtk boost when switching into Garchomp, meaning that Ice Beam will have a 0% chance to OHKO, compared to a 62.5% chance based on your current EVs/IVs. This is extremely significant: since Genesect is a big weakness for the team, and Genesect loves trying to revenge-kill Garchomp, you can remove a large threat with Fire Fang and possibly save yourself the game simply by running the EVs/IVs that I'm recommending. If I were you, I'd definitely implement this change.

Nice team, props to BKC for achieving rank 1 in such a short period of time. Luvdisc'd.

theres absolutely no way you should be just throwing away 20 stat points on the off chance genesect chooses to revenge you while youre sitting at max hp. im sure its a common scenario but i guarantee losing 20 points will have a bigger impact

youre losing 8.9% of your defensive capabilities.... cmon... not to mention wasting the equivalent of 80 evs

 

[alamaster]

nice team guys, I've been using it to some success and surprisingly garchomp is the weak link....I've been using Landorus in its place with a sd/hp ice/eq/stone miss set with a yache berry, and clear smog over sludge bomb on amoonguss because calm minders can be a pain in the ass. Biggest weakness is scarf Mence/scarf Genesect since you have to play around them a fair bit. Also Scarfchomp is a dick too, so I tend to keep one of the steels and hippo till the end when I see one, just in case. Anyway, try Landorus out, he's a boss. Gl and thanks for the cool team. Sp.def Hippo is something I've used literally since the beginning of BW (when swift swim, skymin were unbanned) and it is amazing. Major props for that.

 

[Pocket]

This is a solid team, and it's no surprise coming from 2 quality team raters :)

There are some of the threats that were highlighted that I don't think are big threats for this team:

- Sub DD Gyarados loses to Volt Switches from Forry & Rotom-W, so it wouldn't have a chance to set up DD. Sandstorm definitely does NOT help either.
- Chlorophyll Sweepers can be a bitch, but Hippowdon is one of the toughest weather inducers to remove, so Hippowdon can easily take away the sun and make chlorophyll sweepers easily revenge-killed.

Volcarona, SubDDTerrakion, and Rock Polish Genesect are problematic, though. Here are some quick fixes:

- gr8astard's Gyro Ball > HP Ice on Forretress - not a huge fan of Forretress myself, since its often set-up bait to dangerous threats, but at least with Gyro Ball Forry can do something more than Spikes + Spin + Fodder - check Terrakion. Remember to change Spe IVs to 0 and go Relaxed. Divert those SpA EVs to Atk or Def.

- Thunder Wave > Will-O-Wisp on Rotom-W - Rotom-W has the special bulk to tank +1 Bug Buzz from Volcarona and Genesect, but no way of stopping them. T-Wave is a nice way to put their sweep to a grinding halt. It definitely wouldn't hurt to paralyze Ninetales or Politoed to make Hippo's life a little easier, too.

- afterburn's Rock Slide > WW on Hippowdon - A mono-EQ Hippowdon is easily exploited by many flying- levitating mons, who WILL switch into Hippowdon with impunity; having a Rock move can actually nab some surprise KOs as well as a solid way of checking Volcarona.

- Stun Spore / Clear Smog > Sludge Bomb on Amoonguss - Sludge Bomb does not provide much coverage that HP Ice already offers; Amoonguss is not an offensive mon so Sludge Bomb is a waste of a moveslot. Sludge Bomb is only useful for Celebi, Virizion, and Breloom, which aren't an issue for this team anyways. Stun Spore or Clear Smog provides Amoonguss much more utility here, while still checking the latter two Grass mons.

 

[alexwolf]

I completely agree with Pocket! WoW on Rotom-W is not really needed as the main targets for it, Scizor and Ferrothorn, are already hanled pretty good by your team. T-Wave helps a ton in neutering RP Genesect and Volcarona, so they should be way easier to handle. I really like how many of your teams problems get fixed with a few move changes, which means that your team practically stays the same, but it just becomes better. This is the kind of rates i am looking for when i make a RMT.

Congrats for the team, and good luck with future endeavours!

 

[gr8astard]

This sounds really weird, but you don't have a need for hippo. If you used a specially defensive Heatran he would still supply stealth rock and beat most volcarona.
You don't need max speed on genesect, which most people do not realize. You can run a mild nature and just enough speed to outspeed base 130 pokemon. The rest of the EVs could go into attack for U-Turn.

There are times when you'd wish you can speed tie with other Genesects, but I guess that is based on personal preference.
Replacing Hippowdon would make it much harder for this team to control the weather--sun would pose a great threat as they can just trap SpDef Heatran, and with Genesect running around Air Balloon is nowhere near as reliable. Even Shed Shell Heatran will be easily disposed by things like EQ Venusaur, and without your own weather there is no way to outspeed it. Rain teams would also be more problematic as things like Tornadus-T can spam Hurricanes, etc. The purpose of running a SpDef Hippowdon in itself, I believe, is that it is a great check to sun teams.