Hey guys. Don't really know how to start something like this so I'm just gonna say that the title's obviously a joke but does have tiny a bit of truth to it. I haven't really taken OU seriously in a long time, since around Gen 7 or so, and most of that time was just me challenging random people on XY's PSS to battles. Other than that I'd sometimes get to like mid ladder before getting pissed off because omg I can't believe that Meteor Mash missed and just go back to doing something else. Instead I've mostly been playing Pet Mods because those are cool and you can do stuff like adding a funny wheel that can make your Pokemon explode when the game feels like it. I've had some issues with how the developers have been balancing these recent games, but at two different points now, I've been a bit curious if I'd at least be able to enjoy OU at either point. The answer was "no" both times but today I've hit the highest I've ever hit on any OU ladder, all while having a pretty good GXE (like 73%) and stopping during a win streak. I'm not horrible at this game even if I don't think I'm anywhere near good at it, but it still makes me curious if this team could be any better in case I get bored enough to ladder again some other time. There's a few things I haven't tried yet but I'm done with laddering for a bit and felt like posting here to see if I could get input.
Iron Jugulis @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Earth Power
- Knock Off
- Taunt
Here's the Pokemon I built this team around. I don't even really like Iron Jugulis that much, but I saw this set in some OU thread and thought it was pretty fun looking. This thing's really cool in the early game, really difficult to switch into and just in general matches up well against a bunch of defensive stuff. Taunt destroys Ting-Lu and Toxapex especially but practically no defensive Pokemon appreciate taking both Knock Off and Taunt especially. Rotom-W and Corviknight are the only relevant Pokemon that switch into Flying / Ground coverage that I can think of, but Rotom-W hates Knock Off and if Corviknight gets Taunted then it's forced to use a weak attack or U-Turn, which kinda plays into another part of this team.
Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chilling Water
- Toxic
- Haze
- Recover
Looking at this just now makes me realize I forgot to give this thing a tera type lmao. Guess there's something I could ask about? I'd think Fairy would be best here but I've genuinely never thought to terastallize this. Anyways, Toxapex. I felt like starting out a defensive core would be a nice place to go with this and don't want to need to care about Chien-Pao so here. I don't like the general lack of longevity the Tauros forms have for something like this and Dondozo is just horribly unfun to use. Chilling Water has kinda felt useless for the games I've played of this, I've clicked the move like twice period and both of those times were to just click an attacking button. I've normally found that I just click Haze against boosting stuff.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Foul Play
- Toxic
- Spore
Here's a Regen core, the only way I really want to build balance teams here. I kinda knew Amoonguss would be good in this meta just as the datamines were rolling out, and it's not disappointed. It might seem kinda weird to have two Regen Poisons making up almost the entire defensive core but the mons do mostly check different things. If Amoonguss and Toxapex are both alive then Garganacl cannot do anything, you're safely able to PP stall your way around Salt Cure and Toxapex can Haze away Iron Defense boosts. Spore is great for pivoting and just neutering a Pokemon for a bit, you check offensive Grounds and Grasses, and it blanket checks a bunch of other stuff that Toxapex struggles with. Having Rocky Helmet on two mons here is really cool as well, helps your defensive mons feel less passive if you can't get hazards up and you make Corviknight's job way harder if it's Taunted especially. This is another case where I've never even thought about terastallizing this Pokemon so I'm sure the tera type could be optimized, probably to Tera Steel, and Toxic could probably be swapped for Sludge Bomb.
Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Court Change
Here's my method of hazard control. These three appreciate having more of an immediate offensive presence, plus I really wanted to mess with Screens and Spikestack teams and screw with Corviknight more directly with one of my mons. Fat Waters in this tier basically boil down to stuff that you can chip down or something that another one of your Pokemon doesn't mind, so Cinderace is a pretty natural fit here, especially since Fire resists are otherwise not super common. I've never really played against a Skeledirge with this team so I have no idea how that matchup would go, Fairy Tera might legitimately be a problem or it could just be Pex food. No idea.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Acrobatics
- Crunch
- Earthquake
Here's my general lategame mon I just kinda slapped on because the team's kinda built on overwhelming the Pokemon that have a good matchup against this anyways. The set's kinda standard but I haven't really seen a need to change much about it. It's pretty difficult to say much more about it because I feel like everyone knows what this Pokemon does at this point, and "my other teammates wear its checks down super nicely" should summarize the rest. I guess I can add that my other Pokemon not really using terastal that much makes it that much easier for it to set up when you have two possible defensive types you can choose from at most points.
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Recover
- Body Press
- Salt Cure
- Iron Defense
Gonna be totally honest, I REALLY was not sure what to add at the end here. Was considering some kind of hazard setter but really wasn't huge on any of them on paper and didn't feel it was super necessary because of how common Boots are. Instead, I slapped Garganacl here, found it fun to use, and the team kept feeling strong, so I just stuck with it. I've mostly been using it as a wincon or an emergency check to a few things like Kingambit or Dragonite that my regen core deals with okay, but not super convincingly otherwise. It's kind of a weird way to answer things that might work less and less if I go up against better and better players. I sometimes do use it in the midgame as well if I misplay with Iron Jugulis or something because Salt Cure is just such a stupid move. As for alternatives I'm thinking Gholdengo could fit here for reasons you'll soon see but am not sold yet.
As for things that threaten this team (and there's some pretty egregious ones but I have ways around all of them)...
- Lumping these two together here. Psychic/Fairy coverage kinda just screws up my team in general and I currently have little direct countermeasure here. Hatterene comes in very easily on Toxapex and Amoonguss and Espathra has the greatest potential to finish the game on the spot. My main form of counterplay is to just play very aggressively when I see either of these Pokemon, which isn't always easy when so much of my early/mid game uses my Regen core. I can toss out Cinderace against Hatterene but that only works so many times and might leave it Nuzzled. This is honestly the main reason for me to consider putting Steel tera on Amoonguss and replace Toxic with Sludge Bomb, and although the lure would help me chip it down, it would still lose to Mystical Fire Hatterene. Honestly makes me kinda glad I forgot to give a tera type to either of my fatmons LOL
- Specifically sets with Recover. This is once again something I kinda need to play aggressively against. Amoonguss has Foul Play but is still setup food that I need to make super dangerous plays to answer fully. This is another place where Garganacl comes in clutch, and Iron Jugulis is pretty nice in the early game as well, but if it's able to consistently push my team then there will be problems.
- I feel like every team is going to struggle with at least one set this Pokemon has. In this case, basically anything that isn't Choice locked and has Psychic-type coverage. If it doesn't have Psychic coverage period, then it's not a big problem so long as I keep my Regen users healthy enough, and if it's Choice locked then lmao good job bozo you just let me get one of my Dark mons in for free I can regen some of that health back. That's not to say it isn't a problem at all though because it can still chunk my Poisons regardless of what set it is. Basically, this thing can all but guarantee massive chip on AT LEAST one of my Pokemon, sometimes outright killing one of them and some sets can serve to be an even bigger headache. Cinderace outspeeding it has been super nice, but I normally keep Spore for something like this.I'm sure there's other stuff I'm forgetting but that's the gist of it. Of course I didn't mention every mon that each of my team members does well against and I didn't mention everything that might do well against my team, probably would've forgotten some even if I were trying. Thanks for reading!
