SS OU gen8 balance (peaked 1753, 14th on ladder, 84.2% gxe)

Dancing In The Smoke

proofs of peaking:

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Hello smogon community…. since the 8th generation of pokemon has just been released and i immediately started building / playing i felt like showing the team i used the most on the ladder up to now. Team's title referes to a song i was listening to while building this team by the way, i'll leave the link below, at the end on the topic. So , without further ado, let's go through the team description.

Team Description
Looking at its stats, dragapult is not surprisingly one of the best and strongest pokemon viable in this tier, and mandibuzz looks really useful combined to the " Heavy Duty Boots", it surely is the best hazard removal in the whole current metagame. This is the idea the team takes its origins in. If we take a closer look at the current meta, we also notice some other pokemon standing out, such as darmanitan-galar, corviknight, dracovish, grimmsnarl etc... but some old ones have been given the chance to rise up and be dreadful, such as gyarados ( which now learns power whip) clefable, nevertheless it no longer learns soft boiled, life orb set is still really dangerous to deal with, and hydreigon is scary too. The team is based on a dragapult-mandibuzz core aimed at being a balance, so it needed something to revenge kill the most dangerous sweepers and to wall the strongest wall-breakers.



The Team

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Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Darts
- U-turn
- Phantom Force
- Fire Blast

So this is what we start from, my first thought was to run choice specs, but as i noticed it has more attack than special attack + it learn u-turn i felt in love with the banded version. As previously said, this is in my opinion one of the best pokemon in the current meta, it revenge kills sub users like hydreigon since it has infilatrator, it catches some good momentums with u-turn and gets some good chips by Dragon Dards. The fire move only aims at hitting ferrothorn / corviknight. Although the latter doesn't take so many damages it at least allows you to turn up the sun against an hypothetical rain team, once you dyanamax.

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Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Defog
- Roost
- Toxic

As said, here is the best hazards removal in the current meta. This thing also knocks leftovers from annoying mons, like ferrothorn or rotom-wash off + catches something off guard with toxic, which is usually useful to get nice chips on opposing mandibuzz itself or seismitoad and rotom-wash too. It is also a good check for physical dragapult, mold breaker excadrill, aegislash, and it's a pretty nice way to waste opposing turns of dyanamax on pokemon like dracozolt, which is usually scarfed but once it has been dyanamaxed it threatnes the team so much.


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Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform

Well, there's not so much to say about ditto. Ever since gen8 has been released, this little being turned out to be extemely useful, because of its ability to copy the opposing pokemon and generally outspeed it by means of the choice scarf. Nothing can set up and get boosts for free as long as you have a ditto.


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Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 62 HP / 194 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head

Excadrill is indeed really useful in this tier, (as in the past ones it wasn't lol). It's a very solid rock setter, and a good check for fairy types, although you have to watch out for fire moves, like mystical fire on hatterene and flamethrower / fire blast on clefable. Since we already have a defog user, i thought sword dance could've been a better choice than rapid spin, which is blocked by every ghost type, where as sword dance gives you the chance to scare pokemon like ferrothorn, eldegross, hippowdown (if you manage to get some chips before) which used to be solid answers to excadrill.


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Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Baneful Bunker
- Scald
- Recover

Fine, this is our special-defensive wall. Since i chose to run ditto, i thought haze would have been a waste and so, baneful bunker was a solid choice to poison something annoying, for example dracovish or darmanitan-galar if it tries to u-turn. Toxic spikes are a nice way to poison something and stall it, such as sesmitoad, dragapult, and it also makes matters worse for rain teams, since they can no more run defog pellipper.


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Rotom-Heat @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Nasty Plot
- Rest

Last but not the least, here is rotom-heat. This pokemon is a quite solid answer for darmanitan-galar, ferrothorn, corviknight, bisharp ( since 128 speed evs make it speeder than bisharp) and takes some momentums too. Since iapapa berry isn't that good anymore, rest and chesto berry is the best way to recover its health and help it doing its work. As a matter of facts, corviknight + rocks could be kind of annoying but nasty plot + rest don't give corviknight a chance to set up and win the game… sometimes , as far as i know, people run sub corviknight which, if speeder, could be really annoying to deal with. That's why i wholeheartedly suggest you to try running 196 speedevs on rotom-heat, so that you are able to outspeed corviknight and prevent him from stalling your pps out.




IMPORTABLE: https://pokepast.es/bb411b0d50c16ab5

Few replays ( i'm not used to save so many replays, my bad):

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1019408160-qqmsrg2jg1bvk0nnt4clh74ct3epzgrpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1020053047-sl1nf585r53iv7ozhca9clgvy8hluuypw


Song i was listening to:

Hope you guys have enjoyed the team, let me know what you think about it, suggestions are always welcome.

Have a good day :]






 
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Nice team, but i really dont think you benefit much from running nasty plot on rotom. Its not really fast enough to capitalize on the +2, plus its a waste to use it in conjunction with overheat + volt switch anyway. Additionally, there would be know way a corv or ferro is staying in on rotom, they would switch into something speedier to revenge kill or bulkier to force a switch. I think would be much better served to use just a defensive set, utilizing will-o-wisp or thunder wave to cripple speedy attackers. I also really dont understand the investment of hp on excadrill, what does that help it outlive? You also may want to reconsider the set, running swords dance in such a fast paced meta is not a great idea with such fast threats running around like pult and skewda and scarf vish, i think you'd be best suited to run a sash set consisting of stealth rock, rapid spin, earthquake and iron head. with drill running rocks you could then replace mandi with another attacker, as the team lacks firepower. Something like specs gengar or scar dreigon could benefit your team. Or if you want to opt for a bulkier approach you could run spikes ferro to rack up damage on switch in. either way clearly you have a sold team to ladder so high so either way you'll keep on winning until the meta eventually changes lol
 
Nice team, but i really dont think you benefit much from running nasty plot on rotom. Its not really fast enough to capitalize on the +2, plus its a waste to use it in conjunction with overheat + volt switch anyway. Additionally, there would be know way a corv or ferro is staying in on rotom, they would switch into something speedier to revenge kill or bulkier to force a switch. I think would be much better served to use just a defensive set, utilizing will-o-wisp or thunder wave to cripple speedy attackers. I also really dont understand the investment of hp on excadrill, what does that help it outlive? You also may want to reconsider the set, running swords dance in such a fast paced meta is not a great idea with such fast threats running around like pult and skewda and scarf vish, i think you'd be best suited to run a sash set consisting of stealth rock, rapid spin, earthquake and iron head. with drill running rocks you could then replace mandi with another attacker, as the team lacks firepower. Something like specs gengar or scar dreigon could benefit your team. Or if you want to opt for a bulkier approach you could run spikes ferro to rack up damage on switch in. either way clearly you have a sold team to ladder so high so either way you'll keep on winning until the meta eventually changes lol
hey, thanks for approaching to my rmt, i really appreciate it :]
by the way, those hp investments on exca are supposed to lower the chance for a Life Orb modest clefable of 3hkoing me with moonblast (252+ SpA Life Orb Clefable Moonblast vs. 62 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 126-149 (33.5 - 39.6%) -- 25.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery) and ease the damages given by +2 darkest lariat grimmsnarl (+2 0 Atk Grimmsnarl Darkest Lariat vs. 62 HP / 0 Def Excadrill: 322-381 (85.6 - 101.3%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery) assuming of course it doesn't run any attack investment. Also i don't think repleacing mandi would be a nice idea, both dragapult and excadrill would become a way too threatening, as well as aegislash.
That being said, i'll however try to change something according to your suggestion, thanks :]
 

NG Spencer

Banned deucer.
solid peak, big fan of how your team handles common threats like galarian darm, gyarados, corviknight, etc and that ditto doesn't give you trouble seeing as you have counterplay around the mon of yours they turn into, mandibuzz handling pult, rotomh handled by staying in potentially if you live or midgrounding pult even potential for drill on volt, pex on overheat making it hard for them. not too much I would change, maybe experiment with heavy duty boots on rotomh and a status move over rest? personally ive had much more success with specs dragapult than banded seeing as shadow ball is more spammable than phantom force thats the main suggestion I have, but i can see band working just fine in conjunction with a NP rotom to soften corviknight teams so i understand why your sets are what they are just food for thought, nice team overall!
 
solid peak, big fan of how your team handles common threats like galarian darm, gyarados, corviknight, etc and that ditto doesn't give you trouble seeing as you have counterplay around the mon of yours they turn into, mandibuzz handling pult, rotomh handled by staying in potentially if you live or midgrounding pult even potential for drill on volt, pex on overheat making it hard for them. not too much I would change, maybe experiment with heavy duty boots on rotomh and a status move over rest? personally ive had much more success with specs dragapult than banded seeing as shadow ball is more spammable than phantom force thats the main suggestion I have, but i can see band working just fine in conjunction with a NP rotom to soften corviknight teams so i understand why your sets are what they are just food for thought, nice team overall!
Hey man, thank you for the feedback :]
At first i thought heavy duty rotom-heat could have been the best choice, but i immediately convinced myself that i needed a solid recovery move.. however double heavy duty boost doesn't sound that ugly, i will try it :]
 
Really strong balance going on here! Covers for opposing ditto super well too. I think nasty plot on rotom is actually really useful though unlike the others. Being able to threaten multiple overheats in a 1v1 is great.

My biggest issue when trying it is that Hatterene is just so scary for this team. I don’t know what the way to fix this is, but maybe i’m just not playing around it properly.
 
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Really strong balance going on here! Covers for opposing ditto super well too. I think nasty plot on rotom is actually really useful though unlike the others. Being able to threaten multiple overheats in a 1v1 is great.

My biggest issue when trying it is that Hatterene is just so scary for this team. I don’t know what the way to fix this is, but maybe i’m just not playing around it properly.
Hey thank you for the feedback:]
Btw yea nasty plot rotom heat always gives you a chance to strike back.. hatterne is kind of annoying, not your fault if you struggle playing against it, you only have to foresee what you foe is going to click and play around it, over the time it gets easier :]
 

Glitchwood High

formerly Err0r Mobutt
Dynamax's incoming suspect test is going to make Ditto a lot less threatening of a mon. I'd thought that this was worth mentioning. Your team is really solid, but if any issue were to come to mind, it's that if the opponent switches in an Alcremie against your Rotom Heat, you don't have a safe switch-in. Dragapult and Mandibuzz take damage from dazzling gleam, Excadrill gets 2HKO'd by Mystical Fire and might not be able to OHKO safely, Toxapex suffers to psychic. Not that Alcremie is a major threat, this just came to mind that you have no reliable switch-in against it.
 
Dynamax's incoming suspect test is going to make Ditto a lot less threatening of a mon. I'd thought that this was worth mentioning. Your team is really solid, but if any issue were to come to mind, it's that if the opponent switches in an Alcremie against your Rotom Heat, you don't have a safe switch-in. Dragapult and Mandibuzz take damage from dazzling gleam, Excadrill gets 2HKO'd by Mystical Fire and might not be able to OHKO safely, Toxapex suffers to psychic. Not that Alcremie is a major threat, this just came to mind that you have no reliable switch-in against it.
hey thanks for approaching to my rmt:]
Yea as i wrote in my topic, every fairy type with a potential fire type move could be really annoying to deal with, but i'm pretty sure you can pivot around it, just like against hatterene, which is much more played than alcremie.
Btw i think ditto could be useful regardless either dyanamax will be banned or not:]
 
Hey thank you for the feedback:]
Btw yea nasty plot rotom heat always gives you a chance to strike back.. hatterne is kind of annoying, not your fault if you struggle playing against it, you only have to foresee what you foe is going to click and play around it, over the time it gets easier :]
One change I’ve made in using it is changing phantom force to sucker punch on Dragapult, dunno if it’s optimal, but I could rarely ever justify clicking phantom force & the team didn’t have any priority beforehand. Banded sucker punch can hit pretty hard too.
 
One change I’ve made in using it is changing phantom force to sucker punch on Dragapult, dunno if it’s optimal, but I could rarely ever justify clicking phantom force & the team didn’t have any priority beforehand. Banded sucker punch can hit pretty hard too.
Yea that looks like kind of a solid change, i appreciate it :]
i'll test whether it has more implications in the game development than phantom force and i'll let you know eventually
 
I never got ditto. Scarf darmantan can do it’s job and even sweep
hey thanks for your feedback:]
i feel like i'm forced to point out that ditto does a totally different job than darmanitan… imagine if you'll be facing a +2 attack + 2 speed gyarados… in that case darmanitan wouldn't be as useful as ditto could be… as a matter of fact ditto would copy gyarados' boosts and outspeed it by mean of the choice scarf where as darmanitan galar would get blown away.
 

ThirdStrongestMole

Banned deucer.
I used this team yesterday to get reqs, and it was really solid! I made a few minor changes though, most of them options that you already mentioned in your post. I made excadrill sash to make it a better lead and also sometimes have one game-saving situation where it can live and OHKO opposing threats. I also swapped out SD for rapid spin because I've found that extra hazard control to be really nice, along with how useful the speed boost can be in certain situation. The last change I made was giving pex haze over bunker because I've found sub/bulk up corviknight to be annoying against this team, and the haze stops him from getting out of control. The only thing that beats it 1v1 is rotom, so if rotom dies, not having haze allows it to setup and basically win. Great team overall though, it has an excellent combination of offensive threats and a defensive backbone, and is very relevant to the current meta. Oh and btw, you didn't mention this in your post, but dynamaxed +2 rotom heat actually goes crazy. Even seismitoad gets 2HKOd. That part (thankfully) won't be relevant in a few days though.
 
I used this team yesterday to get reqs, and it was really solid! I made a few minor changes though, most of them options that you already mentioned in your post. I made excadrill sash to make it a better lead and also sometimes have one game-saving situation where it can live and OHKO opposing threats. I also swapped out SD for rapid spin because I've found that extra hazard control to be really nice, along with how useful the speed boost can be in certain situation. The last change I made was giving pex haze over bunker because I've found sub/bulk up corviknight to be annoying against this team, and the haze stops him from getting out of control. The only thing that beats it 1v1 is rotom, so if rotom dies, not having haze allows it to setup and basically win. Great team overall though, it has an excellent combination of offensive threats and a defensive backbone, and is very relevant to the current meta. Oh and btw, you didn't mention this in your post, but dynamaxed +2 rotom heat actually goes crazy. Even seismitoad gets 2HKOd. That part (thankfully) won't be relevant in a few days though.
Hey thanks for approaching to my rmt.
Yea i was thinking about the same changes honestly, team works either way and probably even better than before
Also as you said full speed sub corviknight has a potential chance to destroy this team, haze toxa might really be useful...
However i honestly dont know yet what to vote for dynamax suspect for few reason, but like dynamax rotom-heat does go crazy lmao, even when seismitoad tries to toxic you, once dynamax is expired, you just go rest and have your whole health back :]
 
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