Ho-Oh [WIP]

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UUPL Champion
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Sacred Fire
move 2: Defog
move 3: Toxic / Thunder Wave
move 4: Whirlwind / Brave Bird
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Regenerator
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Paragraph 1:
Ho-Oh is a great defensive pivot due to Regenerator, its good defensive stats, especially its Special Defense, and its many interesting resistances to types such as Steel or Fire letting it counter foes such as Aegislash or 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 or Rotom-W with status to wear them down, making it quite difficult to switch into. Ho-Oh can remove hazards from the field thanks to Defog and can do so while threatening the format's main spikers, Skarmory and Ferrothorn, making it especially good at denying spike stacking. Whirlwind allows Ho-Oh to phaze setup sweepers such as Calm Mind Clefable, Nasty Plot Tornadus-T, and 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 want to switch into a Sacred Fire such as Kyogre much harder. Physical defense investment allows Ho-Oh to become a mixed wall, allowing it to reliably deal with foes such as Kartana and even pivot around Choice Scarf Victini's Bolt Strike, while still being able to cover special attackers such as Volcarona and Yveltal.

Paragraph 2:
As a god, Ho-Oh can donate its good defensive stats to its teammates and form cores through covering their weaknesses and providing hazard removal. Generally bulky physical walls like Slowbro, Tangrowth, Hippowdon or Buzzwole can use a special defense donation to become bulky mixed walls. Ho-Oh can cover Steel's Fire, Fighting, and Ground weaknesses perfectly, so Steel-types such as Ferrothorn or Excadrill appreciate Ho-Oh's ability to answer foes that threaten them like Buzzwole, Pheromosa or 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 on the opposing team. On the other hand, Ho-Oh enjoys being paired with Grass-types such as Ferrothorn or Tangrowth that can deal with Electric- and Water-types that threaten it. 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 Boots to keep up against Stealth Rock, 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: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Paragraph 1:
- Wallbreaker that can switch in easily thanks to its many good resistances and Regenerator
- Strong Stab moves that can 2HKO bulky neutral targets, Earthquake for Heatran/Tyranitar, Whirlwind racks up hazard damage on counters/Flare Blitz for a more reliable/stronger fire stab with more PP.
- Max Attack, Speed to outspeed adamant bisharp, most NDMs, most lando-t, uninvested base 100s, bulk investment maximizes Regen healing while minimizing rocks damage and allows Ho-Oh to switch-in more easily

Paragraph 2:
- Fast mons like Zera, Koko and Scarf Kart appreciate Ho-Oh's wallbreaking to allow them to clean lategame
- Weak to Stealth Rock, needs reliable hazard removal from Torn-T, or Rotom-W. Speed Control or Thunder Wave support to help against faster teams.

[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, but makes it unable to handle physical attackers, meaning it deals with a smaller pool of Pokemon than the physically defensive set. Earthquake on the defensive set allows Ho-Oh to hit Heatran, preventing it from switching in for free and setting up Stealth Rock, but it does not hit anything noteworthy otherwise.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Insert Threat Here**: Describe why the Pokemon is a threat.

**Stealth Rock and Knock Off**: Ho-Oh is heavily crippled by Stealth Rock as it outdamages Regenerator and prevents it from switching in and out as much as it usually wants to. Stealth Rock can also be paired with Knock Off to force defensive Ho-Oh to take heavy damage every time it switches in, which can lead to very awkward situations if Ho-Oh is the team's only Defogger. Choice Band Ho-Oh also has more trouble breaking through bulky neutral targets such as Slowbro or Hippowdon once knocked. Ferrothorn, Kartana, Landorus-T, and Tornadus-T can all be countered by Ho-Oh, but it has to be careful when switching into them as they can ruin it with Knock Off.
 
Last edited:

UT

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Locking and archiving at the author's request. I will be taking this over.
 

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