SS OU Get Stick Bugged (BO) [Peaked 1922]

[Dark Rankor]

The Team

Version 1: (Timid Nidoking + Specs Magearna)
https://pokepast.es/64433c5dc3bb15db

Version 2: (Modest Nidoking + Shift Gear Magearna)
https://pokepast.es/0ad5f3dcfee73e60

In Depth

The general gist behind the team is to overwhelm your opponent with the strength of your breakers while having a strong back-line to fall back on with utilities to help shift the momentum back into your favor, should find yourself in a disadvantaged state.

Get StickBugged (Pheromosa) @ Protective Pads / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 Atk / 28 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Triple Axel
- Rapid Spin

The Team was built around Pheromosa and Buzzwhole. Pheromosa remains a versatile and threatening breaker/ sweeper with it's stellar speed and attacking stats. The Gen8 buffs to Rapid Spin make an Adamant nature a very interesting choice to run, considering how easy it is for Pheromosa to Spin on any of the numerous switches it forces. Spinning on a low HP sack can also set you up to sweep, as you will get Attack buffs on KOs from Beast Boost due to the Adamant nature. Of course jolly remains a viable option, but I find it's damage to be a bit lacking without a Life Orb or CB. Speaking of items: Protective Pads fits Pheromosa very nicely. As Zapdos is among the 10 most used Pokemon (and Moltres is getting increasingly popular with Zygarde gone), having the ability to ignore the Static risk is a massive boon for Pheromosa, especially considering Triple Axel is a multi-hit move. Rocky Helmet usage is also really high, so negating chip from that helps a lot. Boots are a viable option, should you struggle against hazard stacking.
EDIT:28 Defense ensures you live a banded Grassy Glide from Rillaboom at full HP. Several people have gone for the roll, so this small adjustment has been made.

ThiccBug (Buzzwole) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Roost
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

Stick Bug's thicc cousin remains a potent wall to most physical attackers in the current OU Landscape. Most notably Urshifu. It's very passive however, so your opponent can take advantage of it if you get too comfortable with it. Toxic can help out against some of the popular switch-ins like Zapdos or Moltres, looking for a free Defog. Rocky Helmet is a necessity on such a passive member, so you at least can get consistent chip on all the U- and Flip Turns.
EDIT: 144 speed allows you to outspeed jolly Azumarill + Crawdaunt and also Arctozolt outside hail. You'll outspeed some slower Landos and Heatrans as well.

Onii-chan (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Toxic Spikes/ Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower

Many checks to Adamant Pheromosa have one thing in common. Nidoking blows them up. Steadily gaining popularity since the Lando-I ban, Nidoking is one of the most potent wallbreakers in the tier. With Zygarde gone, I've found Ice Beam to be bit of an overkill, as the team does not struggle against Lando-T or Garchomp at all. Instead, Toxic Spikes can be a neat way go get extra residual damage on your opponent (it's a really great way to get Tapu Fini poisoned!). Nidoking is one of the Pokemon that forces your opponent to take action if they don't want to risk a defensive member slain, which makes it quite easy to get up your Spike. Alternatively you could run Rocks, Taunt or Sub, if any of those suit your style more.
Edit: Modest has proven to be an interesting and potent option, especially vs the bulkier/ stallier teams you're gonna find on the higher ladder. this obviously prevents you from going for ties against other Nidokings, but it does guarantee 2hit KOs on Physdef HDB Slowking, AV Glowking and even Mandibuzz. you could make the pitch that Modest Queen would be preferable, but given how 90% of your opponents will assume timid king, you may score some surprise KOs.

Ban me already (Magearna) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Fleur Cannon
- Trick

Magearna's switch ins are in finite quantity, and they do not appreciate the extra pressure coming from Toxic Spikes and Pheromosa. And if you can't brute force your way though them still, Trick is here to cripple them. Thanks to Volt Switch you can maintain offensive pressure on the switches Magearna forces. It used to be an Urshifu, but the triple Fighting core opened up too many weaknesses. Don't think much more needs to be said about SpecsMag, it's straightforward and the nickname speaks for itself.
Edit: Shift Gear is a great alternative to run on this team, providing the team with a broken sweeper, rather than a lump of breakers. Both Mosa and Nido can break down the Pokemon that would stop Magearna from setting up and sweeping.

Slowsis (Slowbro) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Teleport
- Slack Off

Slowbro used to be a Tapu Fini, but the team was extremely weak to Cinderace. Slowbro patches up said weakness and helps the team not get 6-0'd by rain. While CM Fini was a fun wincon, Slowbro can provide great assistance to the team's breakers with Future Sight and Teleport. Thanks to Regenerator, it can often just come in, chip your opponent with Helmet and Teleport out again. The negative priority on Teleport makes it significantly easier to get your breakers into advantageous positions.

Kekw (Blissey) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock/ Toxic
- Teleport
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss / Shadow Ball

Blissey provides the team with Rocks and comfortably sponges most special attackers out there. Thanks to Boots it can't be pressured with hazards and can pivot around rather freely with Teleport. Shadow ball helps you deal with Spectrier and mono Shadow Ball Aegislash, Seismic Toss does more against anything else. So pick your poison. :) The negative priority on Teleport makes it significantly easier to get your breakers into advantageous positions.
Edit: Toxic on Blissey helps against Volcarona, unless it's the safeguard set, which can be a very big threat otherwise. SO i recommend to run Toxic over Rocks and have those on Nidoking over T-Spikes.

Weak Points

Apart from Triple Axel's accuracy the main threats to this team are Alolan-Marowak and SpA Pheromosa.
While Alowack isn't that common, it can nab very easy KOs against you if you let it in for free.
Special attacking Pheromosa can be a real handful to deal with, especially if it's Modest. It can pick off easy KOs against most teammates and snowball from there.
Edit: Certain weather cores, namely Tornadous-T/ Thundurous-T can dismantle your defensive core quite effectively if they are allowed to nasty plot up. Dracozolt in sand can be very tough to deal with as well. Strong sun cores can potentially overwhelm Blissey, so be on the lookout for those.
And then there's dual Screens Mag. Yeah.

Conclusion

The team has proven very easy to use, often putting my opponent in the position of having to make risky and aggressive plays in order to gain any foothold against it. Given the low number of "unwinnable" matchups this team has, it can certainly serve as a good learning team for people.
If Special Pheromosa keeps gaining popularity however, some adjustments will be needed.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the team!

Any type of feedback or suggestions are always welcome~

Edits
- Adjusted EV spreads of Pheromosa and Buzzwhole
-Adjusted Moves of Nidoking and Blissey
-Added alternative set ides for Nidoking and Magearna
-Expanded segment regarding weak points.
-Updated Pokepaste links and expanded them to two versions.​

 

[Anirav]

Hey I don't really have any suggestions. I just wanted to let you know that I tried this team out on the ladder and absolutely loved it. The only change I made was Pheromosa->Jolly and Nidoking Ice Beam>Toxic spikes(to catch the cheeky players who go lando/flying/levitating mons). I got to 1937 with the team and am still climbing. Great team :)

 

[musiquepkmn]

Consider running a couple Spdef EVs on Buzzwole (64 Spdef) so you aren't 3HKOed by 4 spatk HDB Mosa Ice Beam. Although you'll still be beaten by QD sets, running this spdef will make sure your Buzzwole can't be broken by Ice Beam Mosa

 

[PlsIneedWins]

Qd volcarona is a big problem aswell, for me atlest. U either toxic it on the switch or u dead. Beside that pretty fun team to use.

 

[RaikouLover]

This team is really weak to weather builds. Rain that has a prominent special attacker such as Thundurus, Torn, Volcanion will slice this up. Dracozolt Sand builds look kind of menacing also. And Sun / Venusaur is an impossible matchup. Not sure what can be done about that without redoing the team. Fini does help with rain at least.

 

[Dark Rankor]

Qd volcarona is a big problem aswell, for me atlest. U either toxic it on the switch or u dead. Beside that pretty fun team to use.

I've noticed so as well. I've tried to use toxic on blissey and replace t-spikes on nido with rocks. Unless it's the accursed safeguard set this has worked pretty well.

This team is really weak to weather builds. Rain that has a prominent special attacker such as Thundurus, Torn, Volcanion will slice this up. Dracozolt Sand builds look kind of menacing also. And Sun / Venusaur is an impossible matchup. Not sure what can be done about that without redoing the team. Fini does help with rain at least.

Aye, several weather builds have proven to be troublesome. Thundurus and Torn can indeed be menacing, but they need a free nasty plot, which usually can be prevented with some aggressive plays. And Adamant Mosa is guaranteed to knock them both out. Specs volc I've found to be a bit less of an issue than the other 2, with it being slower than Nidoking, but if played well by the opponent it's certainly a scary Matchup.
Dracozolt is rather frightening, can be counter played to an extent, but not reliably so. Faced a few sun-venu's, match up was rough, but not what I'd call unwinnable.
But as you say, I've had a hard time coming up with proper countermeasures myself, that don't open new, glaring weak points. Think that's inevitable tho, given the amount of broken threats still running around in the tier. I'm not sure how fini would help more against rain, considering the main threats are Tornadous- + Thundurous-T, could you elaborate?

 

[Smashburn]

The Team
View attachment 296218

https://pokepast.es/95471ff13cfa33ca

In Depth

The general gist behind the team is to overwhelm your opponent with the strength of your breakers while having a strong back-line to fall back on with utilities to help shift the momentum back into your favor, should find yourself in a disadvantaged state.

Get StickBugged (Pheromosa) @ Protective Pads / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 Atk / 28 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Triple Axel
- Rapid Spin

The Team was built around Pheromosa and Buzzwhole. Pheromosa remains a versatile and threatening breaker/ sweeper with it's stellar speed and attacking stats. The Gen8 buffs to Rapid Spin make an Adamant nature a very interesting choice to run, considering how easy it is for Pheromosa to Spin on any of the numerous switches it forces. Spinning on a low HP sack can also set you up to sweep, as you will get Attack buffs on KOs from Beast Boost due to the Adamant nature. Of course jolly remains a viable option, but I find it's damage to be a bit lacking without a Life Orb or CB. Speaking of items: Protective Pads fits Pheromosa very nicely. As Zapdos is among the 10 most used Pokemon (and Moltres is getting increasingly popular with Zygarde gone), having the ability to ignore the Static risk is a massive boon for Pheromosa, especially considering Triple Axel is a multi-hit move. Rocky Helmet usage is also really high, so negating chip from that helps a lot. Boots are a viable option, should you struggle against hazard stacking.
EDIT:28 Defense ensures you live a banded Grassy Glide from Rillaboom at full HP. Several people have gone for the roll, so this small adjustment has been made.

ThiccBug (Buzzwole) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Roost
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

Stick Bug's thicc cousin remains a potent wall to most physical attackers in the current OU Landscape. Most notably Urshifu. It's very passive however, so your opponent can take advantage of it if you get too comfortable with it. Toxic can help out against some of the popular switch-ins like Zapdos or Moltres, looking for a free Defog. Rocky Helmet is a necessity on such a passive member, so you at least can get consistent chip on all the U- and Flip Turns.
EDIT: 144 speed allows you to outspeed jolly Azumarill + Crawdaunt and also Arctozolt outside hail. You'll outspeed some slower Landos and Heatrans as well.

Onii-chan (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Toxic Spikes/ Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower

Many checks to Adamant Pheromosa have one thing in common. Nidoking blows them up. Steadily gaining popularity since the Lando-I ban, Nidoking is one of the most potent wallbreakers in the tier. With Zygarde gone, I've found Ice Beam to be bit of an overkill, as the team does not struggle against Lando-T or Garchomp at all. Instead, Toxic Spikes can be a neat way go get extra residual damage on your opponent (it's a really great way to get Tapu Fini poisoned!). Nidoking is one of the Pokemon that forces your opponent to take action if they don't want to risk a defensive member slain, which makes it quite easy to get up your Spike. Alternatively you could run Rocks, Taunt or Sub, if any of those suit your style more.
Edit: Modest has proven to be an interesting and potent option, especially vs the bulkier/ stallier teams you're gonna find on the higher ladder. this obviously prevents you from going for ties against other Nidokings, but it does guarantee 2hit KOs on Physdef HDB Slowking, AV Glowking and even Mandibuzz. you could make the pitch that Modest Queen would be preferable, but given how 90% of your opponents will assume timid king, you may score some surprise KOs.

Ban me already (Magearna) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Fleur Cannon
- Trick

Magearna's switch ins are in finite quantity, and they do not appreciate the extra pressure coming from Toxic Spikes and Pheromosa. And if you can't brute force your way though them still, Trick is here to cripple them. Thanks to Volt Switch you can maintain offensive pressure on the switches Magearna forces. It used to be an Urshifu, but the triple Fighting core opened up too many weaknesses. Don't think much more needs to be said about SpecsMag, it's straightforward and the nickname speaks for itself.
Edit: Shift Gear is a great alternative to run on this team, providing the team with a broken sweeper, rather than a lump of breakers. Both Mosa and Nido can break down the Pokemon that would stop Magearna from setting up and sweeping.

Slowsis (Slowbro) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Teleport
- Slack Off

Slowbro used to be a Tapu Fini, but the team was extremely weak to Cinderace. Slowbro patches up said weakness and helps the team not get 6-0'd by rain. While CM Fini was a fun wincon, Slowbro can provide great assistance to the team's breakers with Future Sight and Teleport. Thanks to Regenerator, it can often just come in, chip your opponent with Helmet and Teleport out again. The negative priority on Teleport makes it significantly easier to get your breakers into advantageous positions.

Kekw (Blissey) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock/ Toxic
- Teleport
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss / Shadow Ball

Blissey provides the team with Rocks and comfortably sponges most special attackers out there. Thanks to Boots it can't be pressured with hazards and can pivot around rather freely with Teleport. Shadow ball helps you deal with Spectrier and mono Shadow Ball Aegislash, Seismic Toss does more against anything else. So pick your poison. :) The negative priority on Teleport makes it significantly easier to get your breakers into advantageous positions.
Edit: Toxic on Blissey helps against Volcarona, unless it's the safeguard set, which can be a very big threat otherwise. SO i recommend to run Toxic over Rocks and have those on Nidoking over T-Spikes.

Weak Points

Apart from Triple Axel's accuracy the main threats to this team are Alolan-Marowak and SpA Pheromosa.
While Alowack isn't that common, it can nab very easy KOs against you if you let it in for free.
Special attacking Pheromosa can be a real handful to deal with, especially if it's Modest. It can pick off easy KOs against most teammates and snowball from there.
Edit: Certain weather cores, namely Tornadous-T/ Thundurous-T can dismantle your defensive core quite effectively if they are allowed to nasty plot up. Dracozolt in sand can be very tough to deal with as well. Strong sun cores can potentially overwhelm Blissey, so be on the lookout for those.
And then there's dual Screens Mag. Yeah.

Conclusion

The team has proven very easy to use, often putting my opponent in the position of having to make risky and aggressive plays in order to gain any foothold against it. Given the low number of "unwinnable" matchups this team has, it can certainly serve as a good learning team for people.
If Special Pheromosa keeps gaining popularity however, some adjustments will be needed.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the team!

Any type of feedback or suggestions are always welcome~

Edits
- Adjusted EV spreads of Pheromosa and Buzzwhole
-Adjusted Moves of Nidoking and Blissey
-Added alternative set ides for Nidoking and Magearna
-Expanded segment regarding weak points.​

I have to say, playing against and with this team I found a couple things:

1. The Magearna specs set it underwhelming against most bulkier mons, even with trick. This set's lack of speed makes it weak to quite a lot, and its moveset (although giving you stab) lacks the ability to KO switch-ins and often has to switch out to avoid being KOed itself on a revenge kill because its move set isn't very diverse. I have to say I like the set, just not where it is run right. I am not sure of what you would switch in, but perhaps a SpD or Def set with Weakness and Shift-Mind would be better. I feel like this set forces a lot of switch-outs, but so does the Shift-Mind set, and it gives Magearna the ability to take more hits. OP talked about this set being a good alt to specs Magearna, but personally I see it is an obvious switch considering the ever changing meta scenario at the moment and how good the setup is.

2. To add to the situation of the QD weakness, I have actually found a lot of people using Volcarona. It could just be my streak, but I believe as Pheromosa (by what I think will happen) will be inevitably pushed into Ubers, Volcarona will only find itself more of a home in the OU. This went on a little off topic, but the general idea is that Volcarona's increased popularity either by experimentation or otherwise gives this team a heck of a time since the only answer to it is Blissey, which is easily switched into, and if you don't switch out you risk losing your breakers.

3. Not mentioned on the threats is Cinderace, who for most of us who have played this team have come to recognize as a huge threat. Its HDB make it immune to those Rocks and T-Spikes, and access to moves like Sucker Punch which threaten Pheromosa, Pyro Ball which answers Buzzwole, Pheromosa, and Magearna, HJK which answers Blissy, and U-Turn for easy switch outs into threats and setups to spin your offense round and round, make Cinderace quite the nuisance. There isn't really a way to fix this in the team's current state, you just have to recognize that you most play carefully when around the Fire-Type Greninja.

 

[Dirkhann]

Solid team it's pretty easy to use, got reqs for the Phero suspect test with it. I did notice Suicune can be a huge headache to the team since only Phero and Nidoking can break its subs but they can't switch in. QD Phero can sweep this team (tho Phero is getting banned anyways) aswell as Dragonite if you don't burn it with Bro. Also I ended up swapping Rocks for Shadow Ball on Blissey cus Spectrier and some Blacephalons. And T,Spikes on Nidoking rarely did anything for me at all. Maybe Rocks on Nido is the way to go. Oh and Slowking Galar is nearly unkillable for this team, and Future Sight + Urshifu is really tough to play against.

But other than that it's a fantastic team, despite the issues mentioned above it's still really strong, congrats.

PD: The guy who posted above me must be on crack lol, Specs Mag is definitely really good on the team and Ace while threatening is very manageable. And Volc is only really a threat if its the Safeguard set.

 

[Dark Rankor]

Solid team it's pretty easy to use, got reqs for the Phero suspect test with it. I did notice Suicune can be a huge headache to the team since only Phero and Nidoking can break its subs but they can't switch in. QD Phero can sweep this team (tho Phero is getting banned anyways) aswell as Dragonite if you don't burn it with Bro. Also I ended up swapping Rocks for Shadow Ball on Blissey cus Spectrier and some Blacephalons. And T,Spikes on Nidoking rarely did anything for me at all. Maybe Rocks on Nido is the way to go. Oh and Slowking Galar is nearly unkillable for this team, and Future Sight + Urshifu is really tough to play against.

But other than that it's a fantastic team, despite the issues mentioned above it's still really strong, congrats.

PD: The guy who posted above me must be on crack lol, Specs Mag is definitely really good on the team and Ace while threatening is very manageable. And Volc is only really a threat if its the Safeguard set.

Agree with the T-spike change on Nido for sure. Noticed thtat I had forgot to update the Pokepaste despite changing and adding sets in the "in-depth" section, whoops!
The increase in Suicune + Galarking has certainly been annoying for this team, and I have been thinking of what adaptions could possible help here (outside of modest King making it a lot easier to smoke the latter) but with the near certain incoming Mosa ban it'll probably end up for naught, as this team will probably follow the lovely bug to the grave. :c

 

[Dirkhann]

Agree with the T-spike change on Nido for sure. Noticed thtat I had forgot to update the Pokepaste despite changing and adding sets in the "in-depth" section, whoops!
The increase in Suicune + Galarking has certainly been annoying for this team, and I have been thinking of what adaptions could possible help here (outside of modest King making it a lot easier to smoke the latter) but with the near certain incoming Mosa ban it'll probably end up for naught, as this team will probably follow the lovely bug to the grave. :c

That's sad to hear, I really enjoyed playing with your team, it was a really fun ride, unfortunately though I think Mosa has to go so I'm leaning towards a ban, but yeah I was thinking modest King might be good here for the extra power.

As for the other threats while tough to play against they're manageable, for the record I didn't lose to Cune but it was still a terrifying experience to watch it boost up in my face lol.