SS OU Future Sight Slowbro + Lum Scale Shot Haxorus + Bulk Up Cinderace Offense

[qwertyman888]

Hey everyone! First post here, wanted to get some criticism on a team I made. It's pretty standard minus two mons, but I feel like it's fun even with all the future sight spam that's already out there. It makes use of an extremely underrated 'mon, Magnezone, because even without Corviknight sitting in top 20 usage, it's amazing at pivoting and threatening a TON of 'mons in the tier. And of course, Haxorus is on this team as well. Sitting in RUBL right now, and outclassed in all ways except one by Garchomp, though it has base 147 Attack compared to Chomp's base 130 and STAB Earthquake. This one way it manages to be better than Chomp is the rather niche application of ignoring Unaware and Levitate with Mold Breaker. Of course, that's useful for winning against the occasional Quagsire and easily threatening Clefable, but when Garchomp does everything it does but better, it's understandable why Haxorus is at below 150th in the tier and Garchomp is top 20. However, I think Haxorus is a fun 'mon with Mold Breaker, Swords Dance, and Scale Shot (provided you don't hit only twice all the time). So let's get into this!

Haxorus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Scale Shot
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab

Haxorus is one of the three wallbreakers of this team, and with its colossal Attack stat, after a boost and a Scale Shot, it's rather menacing against a lot of matchups. Earthquake is for the obvious Toxapex, as well as Tyranitar, Excadrill, and the like. Poison Jab is for Clefable, Fini, and maybe Tangrowth. I chose Lum Berry for its item because it's constantly vulnerable to status, with Toxic absolutely everywhere, as well as Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave, and the occasional Spore/Sleep Powder. Lum is a free get-out-of jail card for moves like these, and after trying it out I've found that absolutely HILARIOUS against passive 'mons like Toxapex. Keeping it healthy is essential for it to do work, and although Life Orb provides great power, I greatly dislike wearing it down. It'd be possible to run it with a Heal Bell user or Wishport Clefable, but to be honest, Clefable doesn't often get the time to set up a Wish and Teleport with HP to spare in my experience. Rillaboom is also a team possibility to stave off over half of the LO damage with Grassy Terrain, but it doesn't last forever, and Haxorus wants to sweep. It doesn't get many opportunities to SD and Scale Shot, after all, so constantly switching JUST to get terrain up again isn't that great. I'm not saying not to switch, switching is important, just G-Terrain doesn't seem all that great with Haxorus.

Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Gunk Shot
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch / Zen Headbutt / High Jump Kick?

Cinderace is the second wallbreaker, and it's great at its job. Libero with Pyro Ball and Gunk Shot is absolutely amazing against a lot of the tier, and the rest of its movepool is also quite good. It's absolutely TERRIFYING after a Bulk Up and has the potential to bust holes in a huge array of teams.This set has great synergy with Mold Breaker Haxorus as irritating abilities such as Unaware are ignored completely. Pyro is the obvious first move. 120 BP and Fire is amazing. Then Gunk Shot for Tapu Fini and Clefable, as well as another 120 BP STAB move. Last slot is up for grabs coverage. Sucker Punch for things like Spectrier and Slowbro, which comes in a lot and clicks Future Sight immediately for some reason which is one of Cinderace's most common switch-ins. Bulked Up Gunk Shot should deal with Bro if it's weakened, though. Zen Headbutt for Toxapex, and Nidoking if you want to save Pyro Ball PP. HJK is niche and difficult to pull off, but it can be worth it to ruin Heatran's day, and win against other threats like Garchomp. PP stall is annoying.

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Acrobatics / Throat Chop
- U-turn

The last wallbreaker of this team, Zapdos-Galar was chosen over Urshifu because it pads a few essential weaknesses of this team(Landorus-T, Pheromosa) and still has great wallbreaking potential, as well as pivot. It leaves the team more open to Spectrier and is weak to Zapdos, so preserving Tyranitar, the next 'mon, fervently when against those Pokemon is important. I have both Brave Bird and Acrobatics on this set in case it happens to switch into a Knock Off, and gains a slightly weaker, no-recoil Brave Bird(though without a Choice Band, Zapdos is a bit weak). Throat Chop is an option to help it deal with the obvious Spectrier, and also Slowbro if U-Turn isn't enough.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rock Blast
- Crunch
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock

Designated Spectrier switch-in. Taking the Smogon set here but instead of running Rock Blast OR Crunch, I'm running both. Crunch, even burned with 0 attack, does 50 to Spectrier and easily breaks its Substitute. Rock Blast is for all the flying 'mons Tyranitar switches into. Thunder Wave is great speed control. Stealth Rock NEEDS to be spammed here, as this team has no removal and you'll want your opponent to Defog and remove for you, and get Zapdos-Galar a boost if it's alive. Leftovers is needed for longevity in my opinion. Sand Stream not only boosts its Special Defense, but is one of your only bastions against opposing weather teams outside Sucker Punch Cinderace(and Sucker Punch Urshifu if replacing Galarian Zapdos is preferred though that defeats the purpose of having no Defog on your side.) Earthquake is an option here for Eleki and Heatran, though the team has other 'mons to deal with Heatran. Getting Magma Stormed and then getting steamrolled by a Spectrier sucks. Heatran is threatened by Haxorus and Zap-G, and Cinderace as well with HJK, but it's still a massive threat.

Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Future Sight
- Teleport

Another Smogset. It's great backbone defensively for this team. Reliable recovery, Teleport, and Future Sight can make life very difficult for opposing teams if you can get it off. Dark-types like Shifu don't even sweat it, but they can be dealt with. Future Sight also forces these Dark-types in, which can make for some great plays. Why 0 Speed IV's? I have no idea besides Teleporting after other Slowbro. Maybe to get Scalds and Slack Offs out against Trick Room or take less from an opposing Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball? Overall a very useful and very easy-to-preserve wall.

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Body Press / Steel Beam

The last Pokemon on this team, Magnezone brings back the good old Drag-Mag. It's amazing at pivoting with Volt Switch, provides a consistent special attacker, and helps threaten prominent defensive threats. It's great versus Toxapex, Mandibuzz, Clefable, Pelipper, Slowbro, Tapu Fini, and of course Corviknight, as even with coverage and their sheer power, the wallbreakers of the team can struggle to break these Pokemon. It's the third Electric resist, this time 4x, which is great versus Regieleki as there is no Ground-type on this team. It's also immune to annoying things like Thunder Wave. I prefer Body Press in the last slot over Steel Beam, because it's good against Ferrothorn, Melmetal, Blissey, and some other things that might try to come in like Kartana, Excadrill, and Urshifu.

THREATS
Garchomp - The man himself, the very 'mon that makes Haxorus irrelevant. Having no Fairy-type makes things really annoying for this team, and priority is one of your only ways to deal with it if it's set up (another reason to pick Shifu over Zap-G, though -1 Defense uninvested Garchomp is 2HKO'd by Cinderace's Sucker Punch. You win versus bulky Chomp most of the time.

Excadrill - In sand, it's a monster and you have to be very careful to outplay it. Outside sand, it's still threatening, and can spin away your rocks constantly, which are essential for this team to make headway.

Regieleki - No Grounds. Can win if most of your electric resists and Cinderace are gone, which might be hard for its team to do, but it's still very powerful. Urshifu also helps a ton in this matchup with its Sucker Punch, but Landorus is top 3 in usage, so I still prefer G-Zapdos for security.

Tapu Lele - Can be played around, but busts holes in this team.

Heatran - Can pave the way for mons like Garchomp and Spectrier to lay waste to the team

Spectrier - Annoying. Can be scarfed, specs, sub NP, and all of these sets can really really hurt.

Lando-T: If G-Zap is down,it's annoying.

Mandibuzz: Generally hard to break, but Magnezone deals with it.

I'd love people's thoughts on this. I don't think this team is all that good, but I like it on paper and would really appreciate feedback on things like the Urshifu and Lando-T situation and the no-Fairy-type situation, suggestions for sets, and how to deal with and patch up threats. And yes, I get that Haxorus is outclassed, but I felt like trying it, if you think Garchomp is really really mandatory on this team, just tell me I guess lol

Team Paste: https://pokepast.es/f16aed26bee6cad1

 

[ChubsTheGod]

Personally, I really don't see any reason to use Haxorus over Garchomp if you're not going to be using a dragon dance set. Haxorus has a higher attack stat yes, but Garchomp is superior in every other way, including speed. Garchomp has 108 health compared to Haxorus' 76, 5 more defense and 15 more special defense, as well as 5 more speed. Garchomp also has a handy ground typing to give Earthquake a solid STAB and making it an even more threatening move. Just check out this quick example:

252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 128-152 (42.1 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 176-210 (57.8 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

and with life orb:
252 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 229-273 (75.3 - 89.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This shows that even though Haxorus has a higher base attack stat, Garchomp's STAB earthquake is just straight up better, and that's not even taking into account extra life orb damage or Garchomp's higher speed, health, and defensive stats. I also agree life orb just feels bad on something like Garchomp or Haxorus, but it's used because it's just the best item in most cases. To sum this up, I'd switch Haxorus for Garchomp. I get that mold breaker is a good ability and can come in handy to deal with levitate and other troublesome abilities, but it's just very niche and won't get as much use as the extra stats you get from Garchomp. The extra attack Haxorus offers, even with mold breaker, isn't worth losing out on all the areas in which Garchomp is better. You can run a completely identical movelist for Garchomp and it'll just be stronger overall.

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab

I'd also say that considering you have TTAR on your squad anyway, you may want to consider a sand rusher to take advantage of that. Excadrill is the obvious and most common choice, but Dracozolt isn't half bad either if you want to stay true to the old drag & mag combo.

 

[qwertyman888]

Yeah, part of the point of this team was to use a Garchomp alternative to have some extra fun on the ladder, and I can handily replace Chomp, but about your Sand Rusher comment, what wallbreaker should I replace for that purpose? Zapdos-Galar is to patch up the Lando matchup, and Cinderace is about the best you can get in any other area, as well as a priority user.

I'd also say that considering you have TTAR on your squad anyway, you may want to consider a sand rusher to take advantage of that. Excadrill is the obvious and most common choice, but Dracozolt isn't half bad either if you want to stay true to the old drag & mag combo.

I think Tyranitar is just fine on its own, but what exactly are the merits of having an Excadrill or Dracozolt over a Cinderace or Zapdos-Galar?

 

[RaikouLover]

Sorry, I know you don’t want to use Chomper but a team without an electric immunity is hardly viable in this meta game. I suggest Chomp or switching out one of your other moms for Excadrill. Excadrill is super good with Mag support, but you’re starting to really stack fighting weaknesses going that route. Just use ‘Chomp...

 

[Red Raven]

Chubs is right. There is literally zero reason to use Haxorus over Garchomp. Something like unaware Clefable is not even a good switch in to Garchomp at all. It is fun to just drop things with stupid ability but in all honesty, just not worth

Also, I'd drop Magnezone on the time. I just don't think it is that good other than removing steels, which Cinderace already does. I'd suggest using spikes Ferrothorn or Heatran in its place. Ferrothorn so you can put even more pressure with spikes or Heatran to completely remove bulky waters with magma trap, or just weaken them to the point where they won't survive an attack

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Abiltiy: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball / Power Whip

or

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume
- Magma Storm

I would also consider court change on Cinderace since you currently have no way to deal with opposing hazards. Those are just my suggestions

By the way, where did you get such large gifs anyway?

 

[ChubsTheGod]

Chubs is right. There is literally zero reason to use Haxorus over Garchomp. Something like unaware Clefable is not even a good switch in to Garchomp at all. It is fun to just drop things with stupid ability but in all honesty, just not worth

Also, I'd drop Magnezone on the time. I just don't think it is that good other than removing steels, which Cinderace already does. I'd suggest using spikes Ferrothorn or Heatran in its place. Ferrothorn so you can put even more pressure with spikes or Heatran to completely remove bulky waters with magma trap, or just weaken them to the point where they won't survive an attack

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Abiltiy: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball / Power Whip

or

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume
- Magma Storm

I would also consider court change on Cinderace since you currently have no way to deal with opposing hazards. Those are just my suggestions

By the way, where did you get such large gifs anyway?

I agree about Cinderance, drop bulk up (it's a bit of an awkward move on Cinderance as it wants to pivot in and out with u-turn after dealing heavy STAB damage, not stay in and power up) and replace it with court change.

Another thing: replacing acrobatics/throat chop on Zapdos with stomping tantrum or thunderous kick (stomping tantrum has some nice type coverage but thunderous kick is the better move by far). I understand the concern over everyone's least favorite ghost horse, but TTAR with crunch is more than enough to stop anything but the most insanely nasty plot powered up shadow ball.

I also agree that Magnezone is a bit of an awkward pick at the moment as it's heavy ground type vulnerability and low speed make it vulnerable to most attackers. The only thing you might manage to magnet trap (that won't basically kill you instantly) is Corviknight and the occasional Magearna (depending on their moveset). There are other ways to deal with annoying steel types (Cinderance) that just work better and have more overall utility. I would recommend replacing it with the Heatran set in the comment above ^^^ as it just adds a lot of overall utility to the team and some serious damage considering 0SpA EVs or nature.

 

[qwertyman888]

So replacing Haxorus with Chomp and Zone with Heatran works, but I do want to talk about Cinderace's set. If I should really replace Bulk Up, what do I replace it for? U-Turn seems obvious but Court Change seems to be popping up in your replies.

By the way, where did you get such large gifs anyway?

Damn, they are a bit big. Maybe I should just put those little sprites next time I post a team here...

 

[Red Raven]

Yeah because you have no hazard control. You're team is gonna suffer real hard against a spiking Ferrothorn unless you take it out immediately, which is gonna be a challenge. That is unless you wanna use one of the birds over my suggested Ferrothorn or Heatran to provide defog support. Maybe Corvinight would do since it keeps the steel typing of the two and doesn't rely on boots

I actually kinda like them, which is why I asked where you got them. They look like those kinds of cousins whose cheeks you just wanna pull real hard

 

[qwertyman888]

I actually kinda like them, which is why I asked where you got them. They look like those kinds of cousins whose cheeks you just wanna pull real hard

I literally got them from google images lmao

And yeah Corv works I think last slot, Heatran is underperforming and I still need removal

 

[Red Raven]

Wait, where from google images? I've never been able to find any gif when searching for an image on google. I had to go to some random websites and the gifs there were not like these

Yeah I feel like Heatran isn't that good as well. Corvinight is probably the best choice since it has reliable recovery. If you do go Corvinight then maybe you could go dark Urshifu over galarian Zapdos. You don't even have to worry about ground types that much since Slowbro is bulky as fuck and shrugs off even +2 life orb Excadrill earthquake before retaliating with scald. Still not that great of an idea tho. Now that you mention it, the final team should be something like Tyranitar, Urshifu, Garchomp, Slowbro, Corvinight, Cinderace. On Cinderace, I'd say go for u turn and hjk over bulk up

 

[qwertyman888]

Wait, where from google images? I've never been able to find any gif when searching for an image on google. I had to go to some random websites and the gifs there were not like these

I quite literally searched "Slowbro gif" "Magnezone gif" etc lmaooo

And the problem with going darkshifu is that I now lose to Landorus. How else am I supposed to circumvent Lando than with Gapdos?

 

[Red Raven]

How do you actually do that? Like really I just searched 'Slowbro gif' and the first results is from giphy, which doesn't have any sprites and the one where you click images on the search bar doesn't have gifs

Actually, you don't lose to Landorus with dark Urshifu. People rely on Landorus to slowly deal with physical attackers but Urshifu ain't having any of that shit. It just brute forces its way past it with wicked blow and it's not like it's difficult to wear it down since it takes too much damage from rocks. Not only that, since that will have the dreaded Slowbro + Urshifu combo, everything is pretty much in trouble as Landorus will not be able to eat a wicked blow and survive future sight with rocks up unless it's like a max hp max spd assault vest Lando

 

[YeetYolk07]

I quite literally searched "Slowbro gif" "Magnezone gif" etc lmaooo

And the problem with going darkshifu is that I now lose to Landorus. How else am I supposed to circumvent Lando than with Gapdos?

Urshifu straight up doesn't care about intimidate. Banded still eats lando. Since most lando don't run flying coverage, you should be fine.

 

[ElStefano]

I just wanted to defend Bulk Up Cinderace. I think it's actually an amazing cleaner that many teams are underprepared for. The surprise factor makes set up easy, and it's hard to stop afterwards because it can run such a variety of coverage. With the rest of your team weakening defensive switch-ins like Lando and Fini, it should work perfectly here. I'd use Life Orb with BU, Zen, Pyro and sucker. Easy OHKO on full health defensive Pex, which the rest of your team appreciates a lot. Don't let the others talk you out of BU Cinderace ;)

 

[YeetYolk07]

I just wanted to defend Bulk Up Cinderace. I think it's actually an amazing cleaner that many teams are underprepared for. The surprise factor makes set up easy, and it's hard to stop afterwards because it can run such a variety of coverage. With the rest of your team weakening defensive switch-ins like Lando and Fini, it should work perfectly here. I'd use Life Orb with BU, Zen, Pyro and sucker. Easy OHKO on full health defensive Pex, which the rest of your team appreciates a lot. Don't let the others talk you out of BU Cinderace ;)

Now you get walled by heatran and phys def fini still beats you. 3 move court change is still better option.

 

[qwertyman888]

Now you get walled by heatran and phys def fini still beats you. 3 move court change is still better option.

Using Chomp and Zbutting Fini if it's low should work. It's meant to be a cleaner and not a sweeper. I have Corv for removal now, so I don't see what's wrong with Cinderace having BU.