SS OU Hazard Spam

[timmytohns]

I thought of making a hazard spam team one day while laddering on Showdown and came up with this. Not sure if this kind of team has been posted before, but I'll put it here anyway.

The Lineup:

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover

Since this is a hazard spam team, Toxapex seemed like a natural choice. Toxic Spikes is the main move here, crippling grounded switch-ins that aren't Steel or Poison types. Scald can punish common Defoggers like Corviknight with a burn, Haze stops setup sweepers like Hawlucha from sweeping through this team, and Recover is rather obvious.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Protect

Ferrothorn forms a solid hazard-stacking defensive core with Toxapex, and can switch in on the electric, ground, and psychic mons that threaten it out. Spikes continues the hazard stacking and wears down grounded answers to Ferrothorn. Leech Seed saps the health of other Pokemon and gives Ferrothorn better recovery. Knock Off is a useful utility move that removes items and can remove the Heavy-Duty Boots that Cinderace and Rotom-Heat carry. Protect builds up Leftovers and Leech Seed recovery while poison and Leech Seed continue to wear down the opponent.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Teleport
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect

Clefable acts as the main specially defensive pivot and the status absorber for this team. With Wish and Teleport, Clefable supports her hazard-stacking teammates in case their hazards are removed and/or they need a slow switch in. Protect bypasses Wish's two turns to heal Clefable and complements Toxic Spikes well. Moonblast is self-explanatory.

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head

Excadrill is the utility mon of this team: it provides Stealth Rock to hurt airborne foes upon switching in, hazard control, and Iron Head for CM Clefable (more on that later). Earthquake is also just a strong, reliable move that dents most mons.

Dragapult @ Spell Tag
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Draco Meteor

Dragapult acts as the team's spinblocker (mostly from opposing Excadrill), revenge killer, and momentum grabber with U-turn. Will-O-Wisp helps spread burns to Pokemon not affected by Toxic Spikes and Hex is just a hard hitting move in general with all the status that's likely to go around. Draco Meteor most notably revenge kills Nasty Plot Hydreigon and can hit things resistant to Hex.

Get Out of the Kitchen (Rotom-Heat) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Thunder Wave

Rotom-Heat forms a threatening VoltTurn core with Dragapult and can switch into most mons that threaten it, like Clefable. Volt Switch also hurts common Defoggers like Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Pelipper. Nasty Plot allows Rotom-Heat to break past Clefable and Toxapex while also allowing it to be a late-game wincon. Overheat is a strong move that hits steels immune to Toxic Spikes. Thunder Wave was chosen over Will-O-Wisp and Toxic because I already have Pokemon that can poison and burn, and Thunder Wave slows down offensive threats and can prevent a sweep in a pinch.


Threats:
-Cinderace: Naturally, Court Change is very annoying for this team, and Cinderace's powerful Pyro Balls force out Excadrill, our only hazard remover. U-turn easily grabs momentum for the opponent and can make regaining it very difficult. Taunt can shut down hazards and status moves, and Sucker Punch prevents Dragapult from revenge killing it. All these possibilities make Cinderace imo the most threatening Pokemon to our team. Play around it very carefully.
-CM Clefable: Since this team mostly relies on passive damage and hazards to wear down the opposition, Magic Guard users like Clefable can be very annoying. Combine that with Calm Mind and coverage with either Flamethrower or Thunderbolt, and this Pokemon is a nightmare for this team. Only Rotom-Heat and Excadrill can really even hurt it, and Excadrill isn't a safe switch-in for Flamethrower variants.
-Conkelldurr: It threatens the main defensive core (Ferrothorn, Toxapex, and Clefable), and can 2HKO the rest of the team. Dragapult is immune to its fighting moves and revenge kills it with Hex, but be wary of directly switching it in to a Knock Off.
-CM Hatterene: Magic Bounce is even more annoying than Magic Guard, and its large defense investment means it always survives an Iron Head from Excadrill without prior damage. But since it has no reliable recovery, it can easily be worn down by hazards and toxic damage.

This is my first RMT, so there may be some (glaring) holes in this team. All feedback is greatly appreciated!

*Moves highlighted in purple are essential to the team imo.

 

[msnt]

The team looks really nice overall, never tried to make a hazards stack team because of boots and shit. The only thing I would say is that I'm not sure that Toxapex + Ferro is really useful, they are mainly doing the same things (checking dracovish) but as long as Toxapex is the only reliable Toxic Spikes setter, I guess that you had to do it like that.

 

[zbr]

Heyyos! Sick squad you've got here! Personally, I really love the concept of hazard stacking balance teams but despite the recent new mechanics (i.e - Court Change, Heavy Duty Boots), hazard stacking hasn't really taken a step back at all. Your team stems from the idea of solidly and steadily racking up damage on your opponent's team before cleaning them up with either Rapid Spin Drill or Hexpult. I can suggest some ideas for you to look into for this team and hope you like the suggestions.

First off, with the rise of hippo seismi balance and with the meta being very leaned towards balance and bulky offense in general, running Knock Off over Toxic Spikes is more beneficial for your team's long play strategy. This does mean that I will be removing one form of hazard from your squad but it doesn't detract from your team's aim, which is to utilise hazards to weaken the opponent's team. Running knock off on tox is beneficial as it allows you to ease up the pressure on your side to keep the hazards up constantly. This is also very efficient in allowing you to handle random scarf psychics that are seeing a rising trend in usage as well (i.e - Scarf Jirachi and LO Reun). You can opt to run Toxic over Toxic Spike as well but the mons that normally switch into Tox don't usually care about poison damage racking up.

Next, your team can actually be very easily dismantled by a well played Bisharp or Excadrill which is why I will suggest to run Body Press over Protect on your Ferrothorn. Yes I understand that protect is very useful since it allows you to scout out moves so that you can react accordingly, but with the way your team is structured, it is a lot more beneficial to have Body Press to prevent auto-losing to the above mentioned threats. Body Press ensure that teams relying on Drill to spin will be crippled for you to clean up since after 1 press they will not be able to come in safely on one layer of spike.

252+ Def Ferrothorn Body Press vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Bisharp: 384-456 (141.6 - 168.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Def Ferrothorn Body Press vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 290-342 (80.3 - 94.7%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

Power Whip is an option if you feel that Toad / Gyarados is giving you problems since +1 Gyarados can potentially you wipe you off the planet.

Please run 248 HP instead to ensure that you have an odd numbered HP value to allow you to get in on rocks on more time on the off chance your HDB gets knocked off. I do have another suggestion that I often give out to people playing and using heattom on balanced squads and that is to try running Trick Ring Target Heattom. This set looks like a gimmick in plain sight, however, with the rising trend of usage with regards to mons like Hippo and Seismi, running Ring Target Trick gives you plenty of extra room to maneuver around as this means that their volt switch absorber can no longer safely come in and force you out. This also gives you more leeway as it means you don't have to hard switch out of poor predictions or bad plays. On top of that, Trick as a move is very insane this gen because there is nothing that effectively prevents items from being swapped (no Megastone, no Mail) so you can opt to give this set a try if you are interested.

Lastly, for such a balanced oriented team like yours where it is quintessentially important to ensure your wish passes are safe, you need to run Min Speed Sassy Clef. This ensure you outslow opposing Clefs (or at least force a tie) to give you sufficient momentum.

Overall, your team is pretty standard and with some smart playing and more games done with the team, you'll realise that a lot of the threats you mentioned are easily overcome if you maneuver properly (i.e Mold Breaker bypasses Magic Bounce so you can just rocks up on an incoming Hatterene), just some small tweaks here and there and you should be good to go! Enjoy and stay safe during this time of uncertainty! /cheers/

recommended sets

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Knock Off / Toxic
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed / Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Body Press

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Teleport
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect

Rotom-Heat @ Ring Target
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Overheat
- Thunder Wave[/quote]