SM OU Hitmonlee and friends: A gimmicky HO team (Peak 1881 elo, #64)

BlueLobster · Sep 23, 2018

Introduction

Hi, Lobster here with a team that wasn't intended to be a serious team, but has fared pretty well on ladder and is really fun so I wanted to share it. The story of this team is basically, I was tilting hard after olt ended, so decided to make a fun team to mess around with in the lower end of the ladder using gimmicky HO mons. It was somewhat inspired by PS! user blankyfangs treble red card team. So, let's get into the team.

The Team

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Stone Edge

Since I was building HO, I started with a lead. I wanted this lead to be able to prevent hazards reasonably well as well as set them and I didn't want to go with the standard lando/exca leads. Therefore, I chose aerodactyl as it is the fastest mon with access to sr and taunt, allowing it to taunt other sr setters then set its own hazards. It has another valuable support move in tailwind, which allows me to set up with the other mons easier as they can threaten mons that would normally outspeed and KO/heavily damage. Edge was the obvious attack move, being STAB that hits defoggers like torn t and zapdos, although EQ is another option to hit leads like exca and mdiancie (although you can 2hko mdiancie with edge and taunt blocks excas hazards anyway).

Xurkitree @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Tail Glow
- Hypnosis

Then, I added standard z hypnosis Xurkitree, probably my favourite gimmicky sweeper. Xurk helps this team immensely as it threatens stall (except shedinja stall) really well, being able to 2hko Chansey at +6 and hypnosis being able to let it break through even SpD unaware clef. Also, it is the natural wisp absorber on this team due to being a special attacker. Xurks main problem is being revenged by scarf lando t, which I can take advantage of with gyara and cloyster which both set up on it.

Cloyster @ White Herb
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Liquidation / Hydro Pump
- Shell Smash

Cloyster is a well known low ladder meme, used as a lead that shell smashes and attempts to sweep. For this reason, many people underrate it's ability to actually sweep a team once it's checks (almost any bulky water) are removed. I went for jolly > adamant so that it can outspeed scarf kartana after a shell smash, which is important as kart, particularly scarf variants, threaten everything bar hitmonlee heavily. White herb is the item of choice to stop cloyster being revenged by priority after smashing. Hydro pump can be used over liquidation to help V mscizor, which is an issue for this team (go naive nature if you do this).

Mimikyu @ Red Card
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Swords Dance

I will admit, I have been quite vocal with my dislike for mimikyu in the past, due to it being extremely weak and not really fast enough to make up for it. However, it's gimmick is vital to this team. Disguise works amazingly well with red card, which I have used here as it allows me to force out Hawlucha so that other mons can outspeed + kill it later in the game, and in general to throw off other sweepers which are problematic (think coil zyg, curse sciz, and any offensive magearna). I went for jolly to outspeed lele and kyu-b, even though the power drop from adamant is notable since it's necessary to give me a better matchup V any lele team. Mimik also serves as the teams primary zyg check, and offers the only source of priority on this team, and is the glue that prevents me from having problems with opposing HO.

Hitmonlee @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Reversal
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Endure

Hitmonlee is by far the most underrated mon in this squad (I blame Hawlucha). The combination of endure + reversal gives it a 200BP stab move, added to unburden that allows it to outspeed almost the whole meta (only scarf gren, lucha and the rare scarf koko outspeed) and the liechi berry, giving it +1 attack to really bust through everything, means that any opponent that falls into its trap will be in peril provided it's handful of defensive checks are taken care of (zap, clef and pex need to be on 60 ish, msab needs to be gone). Knock is there for ghost/psychic types which aren't threatened by reversal, while jab allows me to kill bulus and can slay weakened clefs, and even use them as setup bait as it takes a moonblast, and jab followed by +1 jab kills most of the time (all of the time if it's knocked or has any chip). With most priority users being choiced, I can also use it to take out a mon to force in the priority user to set up on them with another mon, which is another very effective use for it. This is the main check to kartana, as well as any other mon that I don't really have a check to. It also helps massively V rain (and sun) teams, outspeeding any swift swimmer after unburden and only really threatened by ash gren (which some rains forgo for kingdra).

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch / Earthquake
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance

Finally, I chose mega gyarados as I needed a reliable stallbreaker and something that ash gren didn't revenge. I went for a taunt variant as it allows me to beat coil zyg and curse msciz 1V1, and also prevents pex from hazing me (although if it gets a scald burn I lose). If you are particularly scared of pex more than grass types for some reason, EQ is good over crunch so you can take it out at +1.

Ash gren - Due to water shuriken + power, this is a major threat. The best way to handle it is keep mgyara healthy and kill it as soon as possible. Hitmonlee can take it out if you reversal on its shuriken when healthy as it doesn't KO but the opp probably assumes it does.

Tapu Koko - Kills mgyara and cloyster, stops xurk from sleeping things so it can set up, in general a nuisance due to its speed. Should be easy enough to take out if you get something set up though.

Zygarde - Not a major issue, but guessing it's set wrong (or more specifically if it has espeed/glare or not) can mess you up.

Kartana - Hitmonlee is the only real check to this.

Shedinja stall - Xurk is useless here so you have to play mgyara perfectly to win. If you take out msab then aero should be able to get rocks + ensure they stay up so shed dies, however.

Ditto - Click X. Realistically the only way to beat this is if hitmonlee can get a sweep (or if they're dumb enough to let you take out ditto rather than sack something else) since it can't copy unburden.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Stone Edge

Xurkitree @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Tail Glow
- Hypnosis

Cloyster @ White Herb
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Liquidation
- Shell Smash

Mimikyu @ Red Card
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Swords Dance

Hitmonlee @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Reversal
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Endure

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance

So that's it guys, hope you enjoy the team as much as I do.

SM OU Hitmonlee and friends: A gimmicky HO team (Peak 1881 elo, #64)

BlueLobster

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