[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Sacred Fire / Flare Blitz
move 2: Defog / Recover / Toxic
move 3: Toxic / Thunder Wave / Earthquake
move 4: Brave Bird / Whirlwind
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Regenerator
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Ho-Oh is a great defensive pivot due to Regenerator, its good defensive stats, especially its Special Defense, and its many useful resistances to types such as Steel and Fire, letting it counter foes such as Buzzwole and Volcarona. Thanks to Sacred Fire and its choice of Toxic or Thunder Wave, it's very good at crippling switch-ins such as Landorus-T and Rotom-W with status, making it quite difficult to switch into. Flare Blitz can be used over Sacred Fire if more PP is valued. Ho-Oh can remove entry hazards from the field thanks to Defog and can do so while threatening the most popular Spikers, Skarmory and Ferrothorn, making it especially good at denying Spikes stacking. Recover is an option if alternate entry hazard control is available, giving it even more sustainability on top of Regenerator; Recover is preferred over Roost to maintain its immunity to Ground moves against foes like Gastrodon. Earthquake gives Ho-Oh the ability to counter Heatran, hitting it 4x super effectively while also doing more damage to Victini and Zekrom. Whirlwind allows Ho-Oh to phaze setup sweepers such as Calm Mind Clefable, Nasty Plot Tornadus-T, and Quiver Dance Volcarona before they get too dangerous, though Brave Bird can be used over Whirlwind, as it can take Volcarona out of the game completely and can hit Pokemon that switch into Sacred Fire such as Kyogre much harder. Defense investment allows Ho-Oh to become a mixed wall, allowing it to reliably deal with foes such as Buzzwole and even pivot around Choice Scarf Victini's Bolt Strike while still being able to cover special attackers such as Volcarona.
As a god, Ho-Oh can donate its good defensive stats to its teammates and form cores by covering their weaknesses and providing entry hazard removal. As the only Uber with Regenerator, it has fantastic longevity and lends itself to balance and bulky offense teams. Bulky physical walls like Slowbro, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, and Buzzwole can use a Special Defense donation to become bulky mixed walls. Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Excadrill appreciate Ho-Oh's ability to answer foes that threaten them like Buzzwole, Pheromosa, and Volcarona, while giving them improved defensive stats. Ferrothorn especially goes great with Ho-Oh as it can pair Leech Seed and Spikes with Ho-Oh's status spreading to force heavy chip damage onto the opposing team. On the other hand, Ho-Oh enjoys being paired with Grass-types such as Tangrowth that can deal with the Electric- and Water-types that threaten it; Tangrowth is also able to help check Zygarde-10%. It also pairs well with Ground-types such as Hippowdon, Landorus-T, and Gastrodon, as they can cover Ho-Oh's Electric weakness and like being donated a high Special Defense stat. Due to Ho-Oh's reliance on Heavy-Duty Boots, it needs teammates such as Buzzwole and Clefable that can absorb Knock Off for it.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Sacred Fire
move 2: Brave Bird
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Whirlwind / Flare Blitz
item: Choice Band
ability: Regenerator
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Choice Band Ho-Oh utilizes its high-powered STAB moves, which have near-perfect coverage, and Regenerator to function as a durable wallbreaker. Even with minimal defensive investment, its excellent natural bulk, fantastic set of resistances, and Regenerator provide it with numerous opportunities to switch in against metagame staples like Buzzwole, Volcarona, and Galarian Moltres. Sacred Fire is the preferred Fire-type move thanks to its excellent burn chance threatening common switch-ins like Rotom-W. Brave Bird provides excellent coverage against the rest of the tier, notably hitting Dragon-types like Giratina that can comfortably tank Sacred Fire; Regenerator also helps offset Brave Bird's recoil. Earthquake rounds out Ho-Oh's coverage, hitting foes like Zekrom, Flash Fire Heatran, and Tyranitar that can stomach Ho-Oh's other attacks. Whirlwind is the primary option in the last slot, allowing Ho-Oh to serve as an emergency check to setup sweepers like Calm Mind Clefable that it cannot reliably KO; Flare Blitz is another option to provide a secondary, slightly stronger Fire-type move, as Sacred Fire's meager 8 PP can be stalled out. Maximizing Ho-Oh's HP and Attack allows it to use its good bulk and power to trade hits with the opposing team.
Choice Band Ho-Oh is best suited to balance teams where its receivers can form a robust defensive core. Since Ho-Oh forgoes Heavy-Duty Boots for Choice Band, consistent entry hazard removal is mandatory. Defoggers such as Corviknight and Rotom-W and spinners such as Excadrill can reliably clear Stealth Rock and enjoy the increased HP and Special Defense Ho-Oh offers them. Ho-Oh is a reliable wallbreaker, especially given its favorable matchup with physically defensive stalwarts like Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and even Landorus-T, so fast cleaners like Zeraora and Kartana make fantastic partners. Ho-Oh cannot do meaningful damage to HP Rotom-W and Rotom-H, so teammates that can reliably threaten them like Zygarde-10% also make good partners. While Ho-Oh retains excellent bulk, it still prefers teammates like Slowbro, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T taking hits for it and pivoting it in safely. Ho-Oh is also slow, so teammates that can spread paralysis like Ferrothorn or reliably revenge kill faster threats like Zeraora make great partners.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A specially defensive set can allow Ho-Oh to wall very powerful special attackers such as Kyurem-W or foes inheriting a high Special Attack stat such as offensive Tornadus-T but makes it unable to handle physical attackers, meaning it deals with a smaller pool of Pokemon than the physically defensive set. Choice Band Ho-Oh can run an alternative spread of 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe with an Adamant nature to outspeed neutral nature Heatran and Necrozma-DM at the cost of fairly significant HP investment. Ho-Oh can also run an offensive setup set with Curse, Recover, Sacred Fire, and Brave Bird to take advantage of its excellent bulk, power, and STAB coverage, but this forgoes much of its defensive utility.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Knock Off**: Knock Off users like Landorus-T, Kartana, and Tornadus-T can severely cripple Ho-Oh by removing its Heavy-Duty Boots, dramatically reducing its longevity if Stealth Rock is up. This weakness can be mitigated with other forms of hazard control such as Defog Rotom-Wash, which allows Ho-Oh to then reliably switch into these threats.
**Electric- and Water-types**: Ho-Oh is unable to reliably deal with common attackers like Zeraora and Volcanion due to their ability to hit it super effectively.
**Rotom-W and Rotom-H**: Rotom-W and -H resist both of Ho-Oh's STAB moves and are immune to Earthquake, making them reliable switch-ins. However, they do fear Toxic and are prone to being worn down in longer games.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Zygarde-10%, Rayquaza, and Technician Alolan Persian can outspeed and 2HKO defensive Ho-Oh sets.
**Rock-type Coverage**: Ho-Oh needs to scout for Rock-type coverage from threats like Excadrill and Necrozma-DM; it is able to comfortably wall them if they lack it, but risks being KOed otherwise.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Mossy Sandwich, 519233], [UT, 523866]]
- Quality checked by: [[longhiep341, 500884], [beauts, 484270]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988]]
name: Defensive
move 1: Sacred Fire / Flare Blitz
move 2: Defog / Recover / Toxic
move 3: Toxic / Thunder Wave / Earthquake
move 4: Brave Bird / Whirlwind
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Regenerator
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Ho-Oh is a great defensive pivot due to Regenerator, its good defensive stats, especially its Special Defense, and its many useful resistances to types such as Steel and Fire, letting it counter foes such as Buzzwole and Volcarona. Thanks to Sacred Fire and its choice of Toxic or Thunder Wave, it's very good at crippling switch-ins such as Landorus-T and Rotom-W with status, making it quite difficult to switch into. Flare Blitz can be used over Sacred Fire if more PP is valued. Ho-Oh can remove entry hazards from the field thanks to Defog and can do so while threatening the most popular Spikers, Skarmory and Ferrothorn, making it especially good at denying Spikes stacking. Recover is an option if alternate entry hazard control is available, giving it even more sustainability on top of Regenerator; Recover is preferred over Roost to maintain its immunity to Ground moves against foes like Gastrodon. Earthquake gives Ho-Oh the ability to counter Heatran, hitting it 4x super effectively while also doing more damage to Victini and Zekrom. Whirlwind allows Ho-Oh to phaze setup sweepers such as Calm Mind Clefable, Nasty Plot Tornadus-T, and Quiver Dance Volcarona before they get too dangerous, though Brave Bird can be used over Whirlwind, as it can take Volcarona out of the game completely and can hit Pokemon that switch into Sacred Fire such as Kyogre much harder. Defense investment allows Ho-Oh to become a mixed wall, allowing it to reliably deal with foes such as Buzzwole and even pivot around Choice Scarf Victini's Bolt Strike while still being able to cover special attackers such as Volcarona.
As a god, Ho-Oh can donate its good defensive stats to its teammates and form cores by covering their weaknesses and providing entry hazard removal. As the only Uber with Regenerator, it has fantastic longevity and lends itself to balance and bulky offense teams. Bulky physical walls like Slowbro, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, and Buzzwole can use a Special Defense donation to become bulky mixed walls. Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Excadrill appreciate Ho-Oh's ability to answer foes that threaten them like Buzzwole, Pheromosa, and Volcarona
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Sacred Fire
move 2: Brave Bird
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Whirlwind / Flare Blitz
item: Choice Band
ability: Regenerator
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Choice Band Ho-Oh utilizes its high-powered STAB moves, which have near-perfect coverage, and Regenerator to function as a durable wallbreaker. Even with minimal defensive investment, its excellent natural bulk, fantastic set of resistances, and Regenerator provide it with numerous opportunities to switch in against metagame staples like Buzzwole, Volcarona, and Galarian Moltres. Sacred Fire is the preferred Fire-type move thanks to its excellent burn chance threatening common switch-ins like Rotom-W. Brave Bird provides excellent coverage against the rest of the tier, notably hitting Dragon-types like Giratina that can comfortably tank Sacred Fire; Regenerator also helps offset Brave Bird's recoil. Earthquake rounds out Ho-Oh's coverage, hitting foes like Zekrom, Flash Fire Heatran, and Tyranitar that can stomach Ho-Oh's other attacks. Whirlwind is the primary option in the last slot, allowing Ho-Oh to serve as an emergency check to setup sweepers like Calm Mind Clefable that it cannot reliably KO; Flare Blitz is another option to provide a secondary, slightly stronger Fire-type move, as Sacred Fire's meager 8 PP can be stalled out. Maximizing Ho-Oh's HP and Attack allows it to use its good bulk and power to trade hits with the opposing team.
Choice Band Ho-Oh is best suited to balance teams where its receivers can form a robust defensive core. Since Ho-Oh forgoes Heavy-Duty Boots for Choice Band, consistent entry hazard removal is mandatory. Defoggers such as Corviknight and Rotom-W and spinners such as Excadrill can reliably clear Stealth Rock and enjoy the increased HP and Special Defense Ho-Oh offers them. Ho-Oh is a reliable wallbreaker, especially given its favorable matchup with physically defensive stalwarts like Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and even Landorus-T, so fast cleaners like Zeraora and Kartana make fantastic partners. Ho-Oh cannot do meaningful damage to HP Rotom-W and Rotom-H, so teammates that can reliably threaten them like Zygarde-10% also make good partners. While Ho-Oh retains excellent bulk, it still prefers teammates like Slowbro, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T taking hits for it and pivoting it in safely. Ho-Oh is also slow, so teammates that can spread paralysis like Ferrothorn or reliably revenge kill faster threats like Zeraora make great partners.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A specially defensive set can allow Ho-Oh to wall very powerful special attackers such as Kyurem-W or foes inheriting a high Special Attack stat such as offensive Tornadus-T but makes it unable to handle physical attackers, meaning it deals with a smaller pool of Pokemon than the physically defensive set. Choice Band Ho-Oh can run an alternative spread of 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe with an Adamant nature to outspeed neutral nature Heatran and Necrozma-DM at the cost of fairly significant HP investment. Ho-Oh can also run an offensive setup set with Curse, Recover, Sacred Fire, and Brave Bird to take advantage of its excellent bulk, power, and STAB coverage, but this forgoes much of its defensive utility.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Knock Off**: Knock Off users like Landorus-T, Kartana, and Tornadus-T can severely cripple Ho-Oh by removing its Heavy-Duty Boots, dramatically reducing its longevity if Stealth Rock is up. This weakness can be mitigated with other forms of hazard control such as Defog Rotom-Wash, which allows Ho-Oh to then reliably switch into these threats.
**Electric- and Water-types**: Ho-Oh is unable to reliably deal with common attackers like Zeraora and Volcanion due to their ability to hit it super effectively.
**Rotom-W and Rotom-H**: Rotom-W and -H resist both of Ho-Oh's STAB moves and are immune to Earthquake, making them reliable switch-ins. However, they do fear Toxic and are prone to being worn down in longer games.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Zygarde-10%, Rayquaza, and Technician Alolan Persian can outspeed and 2HKO defensive Ho-Oh sets.
**Rock-type Coverage**: Ho-Oh needs to scout for Rock-type coverage from threats like Excadrill and Necrozma-DM; it is able to comfortably wall them if they lack it, but risks being KOed otherwise.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Mossy Sandwich, 519233], [UT, 523866]]
- Quality checked by: [[longhiep341, 500884], [beauts, 484270]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988]]
Last edited:
