This was the team I have used to get my voting requirements for the currently ongoing Lilligant-H Suspect Test. At the end of my run, I was left with a 32:4 win ratio and an elo of 1513, geting me to exactly the 50th place on the RU ladder, my highest placing so far! (Although I did reach higher elos in OU and Ubers before, their ladder had a higher ceiling)
I also tried to explain as much as possible. Some might be unnecsessarry for more knowledeable players but I do remember how it was being new to Pokemon, when there was so much stuff I didn't know, people just expected me to. So I'd rather write too much so the new players have an easier time following it, than write too little since most of the knowledeable players don't read it anyways and just copy the team lol
The Pokemon
Lycanroc Dusk
Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Play Rough
- Accelerock
- Swords Dance
Lycanroc is currently extremely strong, having great coverage and power, with very few pokemon that can effectively keep it in check. Once you have chiped those sufficiently, it is over for your opponent! But if you are playing against something more offensive, you don't even need to do that before just cleaving through the entire party. Even worse, if it only gets one Swords Dance of, there is just nothing that can stand in it's way.
While I stand by what I said about it's offensive capabilities, you will still have to position it properly before it is able to put in the work that I promised. The best thing you can do to set it up, is having your opponents team chipped either by hazards or the rest of the team, especially the Pokemon which are able to take physical hits well, Like Milotic or Hippowdon, since you also can't hit them super effectively.
Something else you will definitely have to keep in mind before it can do it's thing is Tera! A lot of Pokemon which would normally fall to an Accelerock from full like Jugulis, Kilowattrel or Talonflame often Run Tera Types which resist Rock make them not get OKOed just due to it not being super effective anymore. So in scenarios in which your opponents team does look susceptible to Lycanroc, force their tera first with another pokemon before going for the sweep. Even something like Yanmega only takes 20% from an unboostet Accelerock if it is Ground type!
AIthough Lycanroc is quite frail, you can sometimes position it in a way that allowes you to use a Swordsdance. At that point, there is just nothing that can switch into it so you will be able to cause substancial damage to either checks for your other Sweepers or just Oneshot most things. A vast majority of fast sweepers don't take a Life Orb + 2 Accelerock after only one Spike from full.
Speaking of which, Accelerock is an exceptional Priority on this Pokemon. The only Priority Moves which rival it are Extreme Speed with 2 Base Power(BP) (without STAB) more and First Impression, which is stronger but also resisted by more things and can only be used in limited Situations. But do keep in Mind that both Play Rough and Close Combat is still stronger if hiting with the same effectivenes, despite STAB. So you should chose those when attacking bulkier mons.
Tera Fighting Close Combat just gives you a lot of extra damage on your highest BP move. That allowes you to shred more easyly through defensive Pokemon or even KO through Intimidate and such.
While I stand by what I said about it's offensive capabilities, you will still have to position it properly before it is able to put in the work that I promised. The best thing you can do to set it up, is having your opponents team chipped either by hazards or the rest of the team, especially the Pokemon which are able to take physical hits well, Like Milotic or Hippowdon, since you also can't hit them super effectively.
Something else you will definitely have to keep in mind before it can do it's thing is Tera! A lot of Pokemon which would normally fall to an Accelerock from full like Jugulis, Kilowattrel or Talonflame often Run Tera Types which resist Rock make them not get OKOed just due to it not being super effective anymore. So in scenarios in which your opponents team does look susceptible to Lycanroc, force their tera first with another pokemon before going for the sweep. Even something like Yanmega only takes 20% from an unboostet Accelerock if it is Ground type!
AIthough Lycanroc is quite frail, you can sometimes position it in a way that allowes you to use a Swordsdance. At that point, there is just nothing that can switch into it so you will be able to cause substancial damage to either checks for your other Sweepers or just Oneshot most things. A vast majority of fast sweepers don't take a Life Orb + 2 Accelerock after only one Spike from full.
Speaking of which, Accelerock is an exceptional Priority on this Pokemon. The only Priority Moves which rival it are Extreme Speed with 2 Base Power(BP) (without STAB) more and First Impression, which is stronger but also resisted by more things and can only be used in limited Situations. But do keep in Mind that both Play Rough and Close Combat is still stronger if hiting with the same effectivenes, despite STAB. So you should chose those when attacking bulkier mons.
Tera Fighting Close Combat just gives you a lot of extra damage on your highest BP move. That allowes you to shred more easyly through defensive Pokemon or even KO through Intimidate and such.
Iron Jugulis
Iron Jugulis @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Hurricane
- Taunt
- Earth Power
A very straight forward Pokemon as well. While it does not have as much direct power as Lycanroc, it still does pack a punch. It can hit almost everything either neutrally with one of it's stabs or super effectively with Earth Power. Taunt does help it to defeat defensive Pokemon such as Umbreon or Milotic, which would normaly just heal up while dealing damage to you. It is especially great against rain, since it does outspeed Swift Swim Adamant/Modest Basculegion (common standard) and can OKO it, not to mention the always hiting Hurricanes. This Pokemon can also either bring a disatvantage back or further your advantage by geting Flinches and Confusion from Dark Pulse and Hurricane respectively. Although it is common practice, I want to mention again that you should alsways look to finish off low health Pokemon with moves that may not be super effective / resisted if possible. Jugulis can take on offensive Pokemon nicely, being able to twoshot most and even OKO some. But more bulkier ones do usually take two up to three hits without Hazards. So if your oppoent thinkts to preserve their weakend Pokemon and for example switch in something like Tinkaton, using Earth Power will give you an edge.
In general Jugulis is best used in the Midgame to cause a lot of damage on many of the opponents team members. In lucky cases, you might even get into an outright winning position from there if the stars align and you recieve a blessing from the Haxgods. In rare cases, for example against rain, you can even use it as an anti lead to cause that damage early while your opponent is expecting to face Toedscruel. In a lot of cases you also preserve it for the late game since there is little that can outspeed it and match it's movepool variety. So a very flexible Pokemon, you have to decide on how to use best every game
You can use the tera either defensively to immunize Electric type attacks, be neutral to fairy ect. or offensively to power up your Earth Power. It is a pokemon I have terad some times but not very often. Before you use your so important recource on this Pokemon, you should really concider whether you need it on something else instead in the late game or whether it is best used on your Midgame bridge.
In general Jugulis is best used in the Midgame to cause a lot of damage on many of the opponents team members. In lucky cases, you might even get into an outright winning position from there if the stars align and you recieve a blessing from the Haxgods. In rare cases, for example against rain, you can even use it as an anti lead to cause that damage early while your opponent is expecting to face Toedscruel. In a lot of cases you also preserve it for the late game since there is little that can outspeed it and match it's movepool variety. So a very flexible Pokemon, you have to decide on how to use best every game
You can use the tera either defensively to immunize Electric type attacks, be neutral to fairy ect. or offensively to power up your Earth Power. It is a pokemon I have terad some times but not very often. Before you use your so important recource on this Pokemon, you should really concider whether you need it on something else instead in the late game or whether it is best used on your Midgame bridge.
Toedscruel
Toedscruel (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mycelium Might
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Earth Power
This is your usual Lead. And although it does play like a usual suicide lead, you should always concider what you lead with every game as there are some times more favorable Counter-Lead Options or if it cannot do it's job against a particular Pokemon of your opponent, Like something with Taunt or a Grass type.
If that however isn't the case and your opponent has no Grass Type to block the Spore, you are eating good. I would argue Spikes are generally better than Stealth Rocks if you are not planing to have a long methodical game and Knock Off Users. Most Pokemon which are weak to Rock carry Heavy Duty Boots and are as such not effected by them, while those Pokemon which normally resist them do not, giving you more damage. And against neutral targets, you will do just the same ammount or even more if you are able to set up multiple Layers of Spikes.
You can spin away your opponents Hazards immedeately, allowing you to keep the Focus Sash on Zoroark in tact and potentially take more hits with your other sweepers.
But what really makes Toed a great Lead is Spore! Since your Spore is always slower than your opponents attack due to Mycelenium Might, this allowes you to switch into a setup Sweeper Safely with good odds to cause detrumental damage to the opposing teams structure, if allowed to set up. And since the opponent cannot estimate whether the sleeping Pokemon will wake up on the second or even third turn, it is most of the time the best play for them to switch out. This for one gives you free setup and secondly plays into the scenario I'm discribing in the folloing paragraph.
A tatctic that is very often applied because of the Sleep Clause, is foddering the Pokemon your opponent generally deems the least useful in the Matchup. But that doesn't mean you didn't get any value out of that spore. Having only 5 Pokemon at hand, with one immobilized for an unknown duration does give you the edge in most situations. And while the Pokemon that has been put to sleep may not be as important immedeately, all good teams are built with 6 functional Pokemon in mind for the desired Performance. Meaning this will come back to bite your opponent in the butt later in the game when they do need their fast sweeper or their defensive check.
And if you withdraw it, like in this example, you can always switch it into a strong attack later to guarantee a safe switch into another Pokemon.
Earth Power is usually just something to chip down the Pokemon standing in front of you to diminish it's ability to take on anything else. Sometimes you might even get a Special Defence drop, opening up for more plays against Specially Defensive Leads like some Tyranitars.
Tera Ghost is so that you are able to block opposing Pokemon from using Rapid Spin in order to get rid of your Spikes, which is an alternative to switching into Zoroark, as that is not only risky in terms of opponents doing something else which breaks your sash or leaves you in a bad position, it would also reveal Zoroark immedeately if it got hit by the Rapid Spin. I have not even once Tera on Toedscruel tho, since it get's the least value out of it from all the team members. You could potentially try out Tera Steel as well if you want, since it resists Ice and Hurricane.
The 12 speed are just there to outspeed Pokemon which try to be 1 Point faster than Base 100 Pokemon without investment. It is still slowed by Mycelenium Might upon using Status attacks but since the investment is minimal, the chance you will get value out of an extra Earth Power or Rapid Spin is far greater than the downside of having 2 Def less.
I have rarely encountered situations in which the Focus Sash was necsessarry, because Toed is really bulky. You might profit more of a Mental Herb to circumvent a Taunt, which is the reason you need to chose other Leads so often. I personally just didn't really want to risk it.
Another thing you could potentially try out is replacing Earth Power with Toxic since that would severely hinder the Pokemon that normally hold it off from doing it's desired job.
The alternative Set uses Leaf Storm instead of Earth Power and has enough Speed to be faster than max speed Krookodile. The 56 Special Attack EVs allow it to OKO said Krook. Generally I do not like this set as much as the one I am using since it really only is better against very few Pokemon, since Leaf Storm doesn't do a lot even against most frail Pokemon and gives them the opportunity to set up
If that however isn't the case and your opponent has no Grass Type to block the Spore, you are eating good. I would argue Spikes are generally better than Stealth Rocks if you are not planing to have a long methodical game and Knock Off Users. Most Pokemon which are weak to Rock carry Heavy Duty Boots and are as such not effected by them, while those Pokemon which normally resist them do not, giving you more damage. And against neutral targets, you will do just the same ammount or even more if you are able to set up multiple Layers of Spikes.
You can spin away your opponents Hazards immedeately, allowing you to keep the Focus Sash on Zoroark in tact and potentially take more hits with your other sweepers.
But what really makes Toed a great Lead is Spore! Since your Spore is always slower than your opponents attack due to Mycelenium Might, this allowes you to switch into a setup Sweeper Safely with good odds to cause detrumental damage to the opposing teams structure, if allowed to set up. And since the opponent cannot estimate whether the sleeping Pokemon will wake up on the second or even third turn, it is most of the time the best play for them to switch out. This for one gives you free setup and secondly plays into the scenario I'm discribing in the folloing paragraph.
A tatctic that is very often applied because of the Sleep Clause, is foddering the Pokemon your opponent generally deems the least useful in the Matchup. But that doesn't mean you didn't get any value out of that spore. Having only 5 Pokemon at hand, with one immobilized for an unknown duration does give you the edge in most situations. And while the Pokemon that has been put to sleep may not be as important immedeately, all good teams are built with 6 functional Pokemon in mind for the desired Performance. Meaning this will come back to bite your opponent in the butt later in the game when they do need their fast sweeper or their defensive check.
And if you withdraw it, like in this example, you can always switch it into a strong attack later to guarantee a safe switch into another Pokemon.
Earth Power is usually just something to chip down the Pokemon standing in front of you to diminish it's ability to take on anything else. Sometimes you might even get a Special Defence drop, opening up for more plays against Specially Defensive Leads like some Tyranitars.
Tera Ghost is so that you are able to block opposing Pokemon from using Rapid Spin in order to get rid of your Spikes, which is an alternative to switching into Zoroark, as that is not only risky in terms of opponents doing something else which breaks your sash or leaves you in a bad position, it would also reveal Zoroark immedeately if it got hit by the Rapid Spin. I have not even once Tera on Toedscruel tho, since it get's the least value out of it from all the team members. You could potentially try out Tera Steel as well if you want, since it resists Ice and Hurricane.
The 12 speed are just there to outspeed Pokemon which try to be 1 Point faster than Base 100 Pokemon without investment. It is still slowed by Mycelenium Might upon using Status attacks but since the investment is minimal, the chance you will get value out of an extra Earth Power or Rapid Spin is far greater than the downside of having 2 Def less.
I have rarely encountered situations in which the Focus Sash was necsessarry, because Toed is really bulky. You might profit more of a Mental Herb to circumvent a Taunt, which is the reason you need to chose other Leads so often. I personally just didn't really want to risk it.
Another thing you could potentially try out is replacing Earth Power with Toxic since that would severely hinder the Pokemon that normally hold it off from doing it's desired job.
The alternative Set uses Leaf Storm instead of Earth Power and has enough Speed to be faster than max speed Krookodile. The 56 Special Attack EVs allow it to OKO said Krook. Generally I do not like this set as much as the one I am using since it really only is better against very few Pokemon, since Leaf Storm doesn't do a lot even against most frail Pokemon and gives them the opportunity to set up
Toedscruel @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 56 SpA / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spore
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Leaf Storm
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 56 SpA / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spore
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Leaf Storm
Tatsugiri
Tatsugiri-Droopy (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Nasty Plot
- Rapid Spin
A lot of people severly underestimate this cute and silly little guy. But good players can tell how dangerous it is from it's mischevious expression alone!
Tatsugiri serves a lot of roles actually. The most obvious one is that it is your backbone against Rain Teams and Water Types due to it's Ability Storm Drain. It can come in on Water moves or get in after one of your Pokemon has been defeated by a choiced Water attack.
In general, this Pokemon is sort of a semi-Support with a lot of offensive Power for the team. With Rapid Spin, you can remove hazards after Toed is not an option anymore. But the speed boost is a great deal for Tatsu as opposed to Toed, since it does good damage as well. It isn't able to OKO most Pokemon with some bulk but it also doesn't faint to most neutral moves, meaning it will be able to deal two hits most of the time. It can however OKO most frail pokemon with a Draco Meteor. And after said Rapid Spin it does outspeed everything notable which isn't made faster by it's ability, a Scarf or something like that. In most cases, it will be able to deal a lot of structural damage like that.
Since Tatsu does take some hits, it is also able to deal with a lot of defensive Pokemon, on which it can set up on and use very strong Draco Meteors against. If it however gets a Nasty Plot and a Rapid Spin, which does happen some times, it is very well able to sweep your opponent.
Another role it takes, is an Anti-Lead. Pokemon like Krook or Azelf, which don't let Toed do it's job, are very susceptible to Tatsugiri. It can Spin away incoming Stealth Rocks on the Turn, breaking Sashes and then KO the opposing Pokemon immedeately after with the Speed boost.
As a side note, a very funny situation with a lead Matchup like this occured three times: Azelf vs Tatsu. Rocks > Spin > Draco Meteor KO. Opponent thinks "Now I can setup" > goes into Cloyster > Rapid Spin on the Shell Smash so I'm still faster after (breaks Sash) > -2 Draco Meteor KOs > Opponent forefits
In the role of the Anti Lead, it is also able to get the earlier mentioned setup of Nasty Plot + Rapid Spin, maybe even removing laid hazards. You should decide on whether to Spin or Plot first based on whether the opponent has a Ghost type in the back to potentially block the Rapid Spin turn 2.
Tera Steel makes you immune against Toxic from Umbreon for example and resists Fairy. Tera Fairy could also work defensively. I think I only terad Tatsu once. It does only make use of it's tera in very niche situations, since the tera is solely defensive.
As for the item, if you don't like Boots, a White Herb or an Eject Pack do help with keeping up your momentum after using Draco Meteor.
Another thing you should know is that Tatsugiri Droopy is the best form and anyone who says otherwise is a liar
Tatsugiri serves a lot of roles actually. The most obvious one is that it is your backbone against Rain Teams and Water Types due to it's Ability Storm Drain. It can come in on Water moves or get in after one of your Pokemon has been defeated by a choiced Water attack.
In general, this Pokemon is sort of a semi-Support with a lot of offensive Power for the team. With Rapid Spin, you can remove hazards after Toed is not an option anymore. But the speed boost is a great deal for Tatsu as opposed to Toed, since it does good damage as well. It isn't able to OKO most Pokemon with some bulk but it also doesn't faint to most neutral moves, meaning it will be able to deal two hits most of the time. It can however OKO most frail pokemon with a Draco Meteor. And after said Rapid Spin it does outspeed everything notable which isn't made faster by it's ability, a Scarf or something like that. In most cases, it will be able to deal a lot of structural damage like that.
Since Tatsu does take some hits, it is also able to deal with a lot of defensive Pokemon, on which it can set up on and use very strong Draco Meteors against. If it however gets a Nasty Plot and a Rapid Spin, which does happen some times, it is very well able to sweep your opponent.
Another role it takes, is an Anti-Lead. Pokemon like Krook or Azelf, which don't let Toed do it's job, are very susceptible to Tatsugiri. It can Spin away incoming Stealth Rocks on the Turn, breaking Sashes and then KO the opposing Pokemon immedeately after with the Speed boost.
As a side note, a very funny situation with a lead Matchup like this occured three times: Azelf vs Tatsu. Rocks > Spin > Draco Meteor KO. Opponent thinks "Now I can setup" > goes into Cloyster > Rapid Spin on the Shell Smash so I'm still faster after (breaks Sash) > -2 Draco Meteor KOs > Opponent forefits
In the role of the Anti Lead, it is also able to get the earlier mentioned setup of Nasty Plot + Rapid Spin, maybe even removing laid hazards. You should decide on whether to Spin or Plot first based on whether the opponent has a Ghost type in the back to potentially block the Rapid Spin turn 2.
Tera Steel makes you immune against Toxic from Umbreon for example and resists Fairy. Tera Fairy could also work defensively. I think I only terad Tatsu once. It does only make use of it's tera in very niche situations, since the tera is solely defensive.
As for the item, if you don't like Boots, a White Herb or an Eject Pack do help with keeping up your momentum after using Draco Meteor.
Another thing you should know is that Tatsugiri Droopy is the best form and anyone who says otherwise is a liar
Revarvroom
Revavroom (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Filter
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Gunk Shot
- High Horsepower
- Shift Gear
Flashing News: "Ubers player uses evil vehicle Pokemon which set's up and does unholy amounts of damage"
You most likely saw this pokemon a lot even before the drops so there isn't much to say about it, which you don't already know.
You press Shift Gear and then run over everything in your way without discrimination, like on your way home after a friday night with the boys.
It has a pretty high attack stat so at +1, you are able to OKO every frail target and a lot of bulky ones as well. There are very few Pokemon which resist all of it's coverage. This means it doesn't really have solid switch ins except for Pokemon which are just bulky by themselves. Revavroom is the second Pokemon which is very prone to cause or endure hax. You can either flinch your opponent with Iron Head and make them lose on the spot in many scenarios but you can also very well miss a crucial Gunk Shot.
So you should try to play in a way that makes you not rely on it too much, if not necsessarry. I personally had the luck to not miss too many Gunk Shots during my games but I did also miss High Horsepower once.
As for when to use it, I'd say it is best for the late game when you can pick up many KOs in a row. But there are a lot of Situations, in which you can just set up in the midgame and go from there.
The Air Balloon allows it to not take damage from spikes on switch in as well as not having to deal with it's worst Weakness in Ground.
This is definitely the bulkiest Pokemon on your team so you are even able to hard switch into it in a lot of situations. Since it has Filter, it can also take some Fire attacks or effective attacks after tera, aqua jet most commonly. It is also your main way of dealing with fairy types, which can't deal with Reva at all, giving you a free setup on their switch or scrifice.
The Tera is mostly used to get both stronger High Horsepowers as well as to not take as much damage from Ground Type attacks and in some cases immunize Electric moves (watch out for Thunderwaves).
The speed investment allows it to be faster than Base 115 Scarf Pokemon like Azelf at +2 as well as everything below ofc. It noteably also outpseeds Modest/Adamant Basculegion in Rain. The only downside is that you are slower than opposing Revavrooms but that is a very rare situation, so I'd say the extra bulk is more benificial. But if you don't like it, you can ofc also go with max speed.
You most likely saw this pokemon a lot even before the drops so there isn't much to say about it, which you don't already know.
You press Shift Gear and then run over everything in your way without discrimination, like on your way home after a friday night with the boys.
It has a pretty high attack stat so at +1, you are able to OKO every frail target and a lot of bulky ones as well. There are very few Pokemon which resist all of it's coverage. This means it doesn't really have solid switch ins except for Pokemon which are just bulky by themselves. Revavroom is the second Pokemon which is very prone to cause or endure hax. You can either flinch your opponent with Iron Head and make them lose on the spot in many scenarios but you can also very well miss a crucial Gunk Shot.
So you should try to play in a way that makes you not rely on it too much, if not necsessarry. I personally had the luck to not miss too many Gunk Shots during my games but I did also miss High Horsepower once.
As for when to use it, I'd say it is best for the late game when you can pick up many KOs in a row. But there are a lot of Situations, in which you can just set up in the midgame and go from there.
The Air Balloon allows it to not take damage from spikes on switch in as well as not having to deal with it's worst Weakness in Ground.
This is definitely the bulkiest Pokemon on your team so you are even able to hard switch into it in a lot of situations. Since it has Filter, it can also take some Fire attacks or effective attacks after tera, aqua jet most commonly. It is also your main way of dealing with fairy types, which can't deal with Reva at all, giving you a free setup on their switch or scrifice.
The Tera is mostly used to get both stronger High Horsepowers as well as to not take as much damage from Ground Type attacks and in some cases immunize Electric moves (watch out for Thunderwaves).
The speed investment allows it to be faster than Base 115 Scarf Pokemon like Azelf at +2 as well as everything below ofc. It noteably also outpseeds Modest/Adamant Basculegion in Rain. The only downside is that you are slower than opposing Revavrooms but that is a very rare situation, so I'd say the extra bulk is more benificial. But if you don't like it, you can ofc also go with max speed.
Zoroark-Hisui
Zoroark-Hisui (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Illusion
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Hyper Voice
- Flamethrower
- Nasty Plot
The most complex Pokemon of the bunch. You may need some time to get used to geting the maximum value out of illusion but the result is definitely rewarding, so keep trying! Hisuian Zoroark is an interestingls designed Pokemon both from it's visual appearance as well as it's gameplay. It didn't really find a place in the tiers it was previously in but I do belive it to be very good in the current State of RU.
It's Typing makes it immune to 3 very good common Types in Ghost, Fighting and Normal, which you want to take advantage of. It is quite hard to position due to it's mediocre stats. While it is able to outpseed a lot of pokemon, it still get's outsped by a lot of Mons, it wouldn't like to. It is very frail so it always get's twoshot with and without activating the Sash, no matter what.
This means, it doesn't really sweep by itself, it rather is another Pokemon meant for midgame pressure, to remove and weaken pokemon which would otherwise be severe threats or roadblocks to the team.
In order to accomplish that, you need to decide which Pokemon you would like to emulate for that game. You probably generally know how it's signature Ability Illusion works but may now know about the nuances, so let me fill you in. Zoroark will take the visual appearance of the last Pokemon in your party. This means that you can identify it by a couple of things, before it even attacks. Firstly, Abilities. If it there is a Wo-Chien for example, which doesn't present it's Tablets of Ruin to you, you know something is fishy. Secondly, the HP. If the pokemon that has taken damage before is now standing in front of you with full HP, you will also know that it is Zoroark. Furthermore, this applies to hazards as well. If the Ice type only takes 12.5% instead of 25% from Stealth Rocks, or the Levitate Pokemon get's hit by Spikes, the Steel Type get's poisoned by Toxic Spikes or the Ground Type takes Sandstrom Damge you will always know who is actually standing in front of you.
So here is what you should avoid: Firstly, switching a Pokemon that has been damaged to the one in your last position. Secondly, there are three red flags when having Jugulis last, one being that the Booster Energy doesn't activate, which your opponent would expect from a team structure like this.
As a side note, this also shows that Zoroark isn't really good on Balance or defensive Teams, since it is unrealistic to keep those conditions up before you find an opportunity to insert Zoroark.
The nuance I was talking about earlier is that you can for one, emulate multiple Pokemon and make it more confusing for the opponent. Tohugh this may apply only rarely, if you have presented Zoroark once as Pokemon X, withdraw it and later have Pokemon Y at full health switch with Pokemon X at the last slot, your opponent is likely to think that the Zoroark you bring in the next time, is actually the real deal because they expect Pokemon X and not Pokemon Y.
If one Pokemon faints, and another Pokemon comes in after, the slot it was in, is now empty. Meaning, if you bring in the Pokemon that was previously in the last position, the Pokemon in the second last position is now emulated. Your opponent obviously doesn't know which one that is btw. This has two implications. One being that you can cause additional confusion for your opponent because they might not think to see Zoroark emulating two Pokemon and be less cautius after defeating the first Pokemon, which Zoroark emulated.
But more importantly it means you should always not only concider one Pokemon which you want to emulate but concider an order in which you would like to emulate Pokemon from most to least.
After all this, I can now finnally get into specifics. If your opponent has Figthing type, you will likely want to emulate Lycanroc, since Fighting types would love switching into that one. But surprise! They get Nasty Plot on and then eviscerated by a Hyper Voice. What really makes emulating another Pokemon so great, is that you threaten something you arent. The more different the threat you emulate, the better. While emulating a phyiscal Pokemon, you can deal massive damage to physical walls which your opponent didn't mean to take a special hit.
Oh and you thought I was done talking about how great Tatsugiri is? Wrong! If you emulate Tatsu, you also deter your opponent from using Water attacks against you because they fear fueling your Storm Drain. In case of Rain Teams, this means Basculegion will Shadow Ball into you and Barraskewda will use Close Combat.
But there isn't only black an white, which means your opponent can instead just chose a safe option that will however be less effective in general.
The presence of Zoroark in your team alone is also enough to make your opponent concider twice what they are chosing. If they prefer to play safe, they will miss out on crucial opportunities but if they play risky, they may just throw the game by making one wrong turn.
Zoroark is also the best thing you have for dealing with Mimikyu. It can't Shadow Sneak you so if you do have the Sash active, you will always be able to take it out.
The Tera is just for extra damage on Shadow Ball, if you come to a situation in which you need it. Ghost is a great typing as only Dark and Normal can stand in it's way, which you have plenty of options to deal with.
I would advise against leading with it most of the time, since you can't really OKO most leads and other mentioned strategies provide a greater immedeate value.
You could also play Focus Blast instead of Flamethrower but I found that to be not necessary and too high risk. Taunt or Willow-Wisp are also really good options.
It's Typing makes it immune to 3 very good common Types in Ghost, Fighting and Normal, which you want to take advantage of. It is quite hard to position due to it's mediocre stats. While it is able to outpseed a lot of pokemon, it still get's outsped by a lot of Mons, it wouldn't like to. It is very frail so it always get's twoshot with and without activating the Sash, no matter what.
This means, it doesn't really sweep by itself, it rather is another Pokemon meant for midgame pressure, to remove and weaken pokemon which would otherwise be severe threats or roadblocks to the team.
In order to accomplish that, you need to decide which Pokemon you would like to emulate for that game. You probably generally know how it's signature Ability Illusion works but may now know about the nuances, so let me fill you in. Zoroark will take the visual appearance of the last Pokemon in your party. This means that you can identify it by a couple of things, before it even attacks. Firstly, Abilities. If it there is a Wo-Chien for example, which doesn't present it's Tablets of Ruin to you, you know something is fishy. Secondly, the HP. If the pokemon that has taken damage before is now standing in front of you with full HP, you will also know that it is Zoroark. Furthermore, this applies to hazards as well. If the Ice type only takes 12.5% instead of 25% from Stealth Rocks, or the Levitate Pokemon get's hit by Spikes, the Steel Type get's poisoned by Toxic Spikes or the Ground Type takes Sandstrom Damge you will always know who is actually standing in front of you.
So here is what you should avoid: Firstly, switching a Pokemon that has been damaged to the one in your last position. Secondly, there are three red flags when having Jugulis last, one being that the Booster Energy doesn't activate, which your opponent would expect from a team structure like this.
As a side note, this also shows that Zoroark isn't really good on Balance or defensive Teams, since it is unrealistic to keep those conditions up before you find an opportunity to insert Zoroark.
The nuance I was talking about earlier is that you can for one, emulate multiple Pokemon and make it more confusing for the opponent. Tohugh this may apply only rarely, if you have presented Zoroark once as Pokemon X, withdraw it and later have Pokemon Y at full health switch with Pokemon X at the last slot, your opponent is likely to think that the Zoroark you bring in the next time, is actually the real deal because they expect Pokemon X and not Pokemon Y.
If one Pokemon faints, and another Pokemon comes in after, the slot it was in, is now empty. Meaning, if you bring in the Pokemon that was previously in the last position, the Pokemon in the second last position is now emulated. Your opponent obviously doesn't know which one that is btw. This has two implications. One being that you can cause additional confusion for your opponent because they might not think to see Zoroark emulating two Pokemon and be less cautius after defeating the first Pokemon, which Zoroark emulated.
But more importantly it means you should always not only concider one Pokemon which you want to emulate but concider an order in which you would like to emulate Pokemon from most to least.
After all this, I can now finnally get into specifics. If your opponent has Figthing type, you will likely want to emulate Lycanroc, since Fighting types would love switching into that one. But surprise! They get Nasty Plot on and then eviscerated by a Hyper Voice. What really makes emulating another Pokemon so great, is that you threaten something you arent. The more different the threat you emulate, the better. While emulating a phyiscal Pokemon, you can deal massive damage to physical walls which your opponent didn't mean to take a special hit.
Oh and you thought I was done talking about how great Tatsugiri is? Wrong! If you emulate Tatsu, you also deter your opponent from using Water attacks against you because they fear fueling your Storm Drain. In case of Rain Teams, this means Basculegion will Shadow Ball into you and Barraskewda will use Close Combat.
But there isn't only black an white, which means your opponent can instead just chose a safe option that will however be less effective in general.
The presence of Zoroark in your team alone is also enough to make your opponent concider twice what they are chosing. If they prefer to play safe, they will miss out on crucial opportunities but if they play risky, they may just throw the game by making one wrong turn.
Zoroark is also the best thing you have for dealing with Mimikyu. It can't Shadow Sneak you so if you do have the Sash active, you will always be able to take it out.
The Tera is just for extra damage on Shadow Ball, if you come to a situation in which you need it. Ghost is a great typing as only Dark and Normal can stand in it's way, which you have plenty of options to deal with.
I would advise against leading with it most of the time, since you can't really OKO most leads and other mentioned strategies provide a greater immedeate value.
You could also play Focus Blast instead of Flamethrower but I found that to be not necessary and too high risk. Taunt or Willow-Wisp are also really good options.
Additional Notes
In the introduction, I mentioned that the way this HO is played was like Ubers. You might point to OU right away, since offence is favored there as well, with a lot of sucessful HO teams everywhere. The way offence is played in Ubers is generally not the same as the one in OU. In OU there is still a lot of switching involved, where you keep your Sweepers healthy while in Ubers, you mostly just attack with your Pokemon and do as much damage as possible. This is just a generalization. There is ofc a lot mor nuance to the way both of these tiers are played but.
I wish you the best of luck with the team, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I'm probably going to make some changes to this RMT next week and correct any mistakes, oversights and unclarities. I have worked on this for about 6 hours in succession now so I am very tired. But I have things to do on the weekend and just want to have this done before Lycanroc get's quick banned lol
