[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Hyperspace Fury
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Trick
item: Choice Band
ability: Magician
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
This set can act as a fierce wallbreaker that can pivot into many common defensive Pokemon such as Slowbro, Toxapex, or Chansey, although one must be careful to dance around the status they can dish out, as a potential burn from a Slowbro or Toxapex scald could ruin your damage output, and a toxic from Toxapex or Chansey can seriously limit your impact on the game. The choice band set aims to take advantage of Hoopa’s powerful STAB Hyperspace Fury and base 160 Atk stat to seriously pound opposing defensive cores, Drain Punch allows it to threaten Tyranitar, as well as giving it another option to hit Chansey while simultaneously keeping Hoopa healthy. Gunk Shot is nigh mandatory on the Choice Band set, as without it, you lack any ways to seriously immediately pressure fairies such as Clefable and Tapu Fini. In the fourth slot, you can go with Zen Headbutt for another STAB option that notably threatens Toxapex severely, or go with either Fire Punch or Ice Punch for the clean OHKO on any Ferrothorn or Gliscor attempting to stay in, or any Landorus-Therian that lacks significant defensive investment that think they can switch in. The last move you could potentially run here is trick, which can give a choice band to a wall that you could not break through with the coverage you already have, though for the most part, the extra coverage provided by not running trick can give you the edge needed to break through entire defensive cores. 252 Speed EVs along with a Jolly nature are preferred, as it allows you to outrun a variety of threats who can otherwise beat you if you are running Adamant, most notably Jolly Choice Band Dracovish and Jolly Mega Swampert outside of Rain.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Dark Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Psychic / Thunderbolt / Grass Knot / Energy Ball
item: Choice Specs
ability: Magician
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Similarly to the previous set, the Choice Specs set aims to break down common defensive cores, but unlike the Choice Band set, the Specs set can switch into Scald from most defensive Pokemon relatively worry-free, as it is not crippled by a burn. Dark Pulse is easily the most spammable of all Hoopa-Unbound’s special coverage options, as there are no Dark immunities, and most things that are hit neutrally will take a chunk just switching in. Psyshock is required for this set to be effective, as without it, Chansey and Blissey can switch into any of your attacks, barring Focus Blast, all day and force you to switch out without accomplishing anything. Just like Drain Punch on the Choice Band set, Focus Blast is also imperative on the Specs set to hit Tyranitar, who can take any of Hoopa’s other moves and potentially remove it entirely by Pursuit trapping it, due to Hoopa’s relative physical frailty. The last slot can go to Psychic for a slightly stronger STAB option than Dark Pulse or Psyshock for Pokemon who have essentially equivalent bulk on both sides of the spectrum, like Cinderace, Dragapult, and Mega Lopunny, and it also notably reaches a guaranteed OHKO against all Toxapex, whereas Psyshock falls up short against physically defensive variants. Alternatively you can use Thunderbolt in order to grab the guaranteed 2HKO against more specially defensive Corviknight, while Grass Knot and Energy Ball can guarantee the OHKO against standard physically defensive Hippowdown while also giving another weapon to fight Tyranitar. 252 Speed EVs along with a Timid nature are preferred for the Choice Specs set for the same reasons that 252 Speed Jolly is preferred on the Choice Band set, although you can also use Modest in order to massively improve your chances of 2HKOing standard Chansey with Psyshock or Focus Blast. If you’re running thunderbolt, a Modest nature is preferred, as it gives Hoopa a guaranteed OHKO on standard Corviknight, while retaining a chance to OHKO specially defensive Corviknight after stealth rocks, whereas Timid is a roll on standard and never OHKOs specially defensive Corviknight after stealth rock. With a Modest nature, you’ll want to run an alternate EV spread of 4 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 236 Spe, which guarantees you will always survive a Mega Tyranitar Pursuit with no prior chip damage while maintaining enough speed creep to outspeed Modest Heatran, adamant Choice Band Dracovish, standard Zapdos, and standard Gliscor.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Hyperspace Fury
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Drain Punch / Focus Blast
move 4: Gunk Shot
item: Life Orb
ability: Magician
nature: Hasty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
The mixed attacking set sacrifices a bit of the raw power that the choice sets provide in order to be able to switch moves and use your powerful STAB Hyperspace Fury to hit most things, and Psychic to hit either dedicated physical walls or Pokemon that resist Hyperspace Fury. Either Drain Punch or Focus Blast can be ran on this set, Drain Punch providing some longevity to Hoopa while simultaneously hitting Tyranitar hard, and Focus Blast being generally stronger against non-specially defensive Tyranitar variants, while simultaneously giving you a stronger weapon for Ferrothorn, Heatran, and non-specially defensive Magearna. Gunk Shot is preferred in the final moveslot to reach guaranteed OHKOs on all of the standard Tapu’s, as well as giving you a chance to OHKO Clefable before it has a chance to retaliate with a Moonblast or safely pivot out with teleport. A Hasty nature alongside 252 speed EVs is preferred on this set, in order to outspeed as much as possible without sacrificing any power. A Naive nature can also be used, but it is generally safer to use Hasty, as you sacrifice noticeably less comparative bulk, as Hoopa-Unbound’s defense stat is already relatively low, and Hyperspace Fury will only lower it even further as you use it.
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Psyshock / Psychic
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast
item: Life Orb / Fightinium Z
ability: Magician
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
While the previous sets just use Hoopa’s naturally unparalleled offenses to break through defensive cores with raw power, the Nasty Plot set can take advantage of defensive Pokemon Hoopa immediately forces out, such as Slowbro or Toxapex, in order to boost with Nasty Plot, taking it’s already sky-high special attack stat to monstrous proportions, reaching feats such as OHKOing standard Corviknight with a boosted Life Orb Dark Pulse, getting the OHKO against max HP Magearna with a boosted All-Out Pummeling or Life Orb Focus Blast, and getting chances to OHKO Mega Sableye and Chansey with a +2 Life Orb Dark Pulse and +2 All-Out Pummeling, respectively. While the Choice Specs set needed Psyshock for the extra power against Chansey, Nasty Plot allows it to potentially run Psychic instead, in order to get the extra power against physically defensive Unaware Clefable, which otherwise stonewalls Psyshock. Dark Pulse is the obligatory spammable STAB move that can tear defensive teams to shreds once Hoopa gets a single boost, and Focus Blast is required in order to hit Tyranitar, and also lets you use Fightinium Z for a one-time nuke that can muscle its way through just about anything that doesn’t have both a resist and great special bulk.
All-in-all, Hoopa-Unbound is a potent wallbreaker of unrivaled strength, who can tear apart defensive teams at a moment’s notice, with or without a boost. Despite this, Hoopa can find it difficult to start or complete it’s rampage, as a middling speed tier alongside low physical bulk and a very unfortunate x4 weakness to U-turn mean it can be very easily played around with smart offense and revenge killed by many common staples on offensive teams, such as Cinderace, Mega Lopunny, Kartana, Landorus-Therian, Volcarona, Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, Protean Greninja, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Dragapult. Choiced sets are also quite vulnerable to pursuit trapping from Tyranitar, if you lock into the wrong move. Therefore, one is usually best off using Hoopa for its ability to systematically crush any attempt at walling it and punish defensive plays by the opponent. Due to Hoopa’s proneness to destroying any defensive counterplay to it, it pairs well with late game sweepers who benefit from the removal of their defensive checks, such as Rillaboom, Volcarona, Greninja-Ash, and Dragapult. Pivoting teammates can both greatly increase Hoopa’s overall effectiveness, as the switches common U-turn users like Cinderace and Mega Lopunny force can get exactly the kind of defensive targets Hoopa preys upon out on the field.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Super Suit, 505884]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]], [[username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]], [[username2, userid2]]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Hyperspace Fury
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Trick
item: Choice Band
ability: Magician
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
This set can act as a fierce wallbreaker that can pivot into many common defensive Pokemon such as Slowbro, Toxapex, or Chansey, although one must be careful to dance around the status they can dish out, as a potential burn from a Slowbro or Toxapex scald could ruin your damage output, and a toxic from Toxapex or Chansey can seriously limit your impact on the game. The choice band set aims to take advantage of Hoopa’s powerful STAB Hyperspace Fury and base 160 Atk stat to seriously pound opposing defensive cores, Drain Punch allows it to threaten Tyranitar, as well as giving it another option to hit Chansey while simultaneously keeping Hoopa healthy. Gunk Shot is nigh mandatory on the Choice Band set, as without it, you lack any ways to seriously immediately pressure fairies such as Clefable and Tapu Fini. In the fourth slot, you can go with Zen Headbutt for another STAB option that notably threatens Toxapex severely, or go with either Fire Punch or Ice Punch for the clean OHKO on any Ferrothorn or Gliscor attempting to stay in, or any Landorus-Therian that lacks significant defensive investment that think they can switch in. The last move you could potentially run here is trick, which can give a choice band to a wall that you could not break through with the coverage you already have, though for the most part, the extra coverage provided by not running trick can give you the edge needed to break through entire defensive cores. 252 Speed EVs along with a Jolly nature are preferred, as it allows you to outrun a variety of threats who can otherwise beat you if you are running Adamant, most notably Jolly Choice Band Dracovish and Jolly Mega Swampert outside of Rain.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Dark Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Psychic / Thunderbolt / Grass Knot / Energy Ball
item: Choice Specs
ability: Magician
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Similarly to the previous set, the Choice Specs set aims to break down common defensive cores, but unlike the Choice Band set, the Specs set can switch into Scald from most defensive Pokemon relatively worry-free, as it is not crippled by a burn. Dark Pulse is easily the most spammable of all Hoopa-Unbound’s special coverage options, as there are no Dark immunities, and most things that are hit neutrally will take a chunk just switching in. Psyshock is required for this set to be effective, as without it, Chansey and Blissey can switch into any of your attacks, barring Focus Blast, all day and force you to switch out without accomplishing anything. Just like Drain Punch on the Choice Band set, Focus Blast is also imperative on the Specs set to hit Tyranitar, who can take any of Hoopa’s other moves and potentially remove it entirely by Pursuit trapping it, due to Hoopa’s relative physical frailty. The last slot can go to Psychic for a slightly stronger STAB option than Dark Pulse or Psyshock for Pokemon who have essentially equivalent bulk on both sides of the spectrum, like Cinderace, Dragapult, and Mega Lopunny, and it also notably reaches a guaranteed OHKO against all Toxapex, whereas Psyshock falls up short against physically defensive variants. Alternatively you can use Thunderbolt in order to grab the guaranteed 2HKO against more specially defensive Corviknight, while Grass Knot and Energy Ball can guarantee the OHKO against standard physically defensive Hippowdown while also giving another weapon to fight Tyranitar. 252 Speed EVs along with a Timid nature are preferred for the Choice Specs set for the same reasons that 252 Speed Jolly is preferred on the Choice Band set, although you can also use Modest in order to massively improve your chances of 2HKOing standard Chansey with Psyshock or Focus Blast. If you’re running thunderbolt, a Modest nature is preferred, as it gives Hoopa a guaranteed OHKO on standard Corviknight, while retaining a chance to OHKO specially defensive Corviknight after stealth rocks, whereas Timid is a roll on standard and never OHKOs specially defensive Corviknight after stealth rock. With a Modest nature, you’ll want to run an alternate EV spread of 4 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 236 Spe, which guarantees you will always survive a Mega Tyranitar Pursuit with no prior chip damage while maintaining enough speed creep to outspeed Modest Heatran, adamant Choice Band Dracovish, standard Zapdos, and standard Gliscor.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Hyperspace Fury
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Drain Punch / Focus Blast
move 4: Gunk Shot
item: Life Orb
ability: Magician
nature: Hasty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
The mixed attacking set sacrifices a bit of the raw power that the choice sets provide in order to be able to switch moves and use your powerful STAB Hyperspace Fury to hit most things, and Psychic to hit either dedicated physical walls or Pokemon that resist Hyperspace Fury. Either Drain Punch or Focus Blast can be ran on this set, Drain Punch providing some longevity to Hoopa while simultaneously hitting Tyranitar hard, and Focus Blast being generally stronger against non-specially defensive Tyranitar variants, while simultaneously giving you a stronger weapon for Ferrothorn, Heatran, and non-specially defensive Magearna. Gunk Shot is preferred in the final moveslot to reach guaranteed OHKOs on all of the standard Tapu’s, as well as giving you a chance to OHKO Clefable before it has a chance to retaliate with a Moonblast or safely pivot out with teleport. A Hasty nature alongside 252 speed EVs is preferred on this set, in order to outspeed as much as possible without sacrificing any power. A Naive nature can also be used, but it is generally safer to use Hasty, as you sacrifice noticeably less comparative bulk, as Hoopa-Unbound’s defense stat is already relatively low, and Hyperspace Fury will only lower it even further as you use it.
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Psyshock / Psychic
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast
item: Life Orb / Fightinium Z
ability: Magician
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
While the previous sets just use Hoopa’s naturally unparalleled offenses to break through defensive cores with raw power, the Nasty Plot set can take advantage of defensive Pokemon Hoopa immediately forces out, such as Slowbro or Toxapex, in order to boost with Nasty Plot, taking it’s already sky-high special attack stat to monstrous proportions, reaching feats such as OHKOing standard Corviknight with a boosted Life Orb Dark Pulse, getting the OHKO against max HP Magearna with a boosted All-Out Pummeling or Life Orb Focus Blast, and getting chances to OHKO Mega Sableye and Chansey with a +2 Life Orb Dark Pulse and +2 All-Out Pummeling, respectively. While the Choice Specs set needed Psyshock for the extra power against Chansey, Nasty Plot allows it to potentially run Psychic instead, in order to get the extra power against physically defensive Unaware Clefable, which otherwise stonewalls Psyshock. Dark Pulse is the obligatory spammable STAB move that can tear defensive teams to shreds once Hoopa gets a single boost, and Focus Blast is required in order to hit Tyranitar, and also lets you use Fightinium Z for a one-time nuke that can muscle its way through just about anything that doesn’t have both a resist and great special bulk.
All-in-all, Hoopa-Unbound is a potent wallbreaker of unrivaled strength, who can tear apart defensive teams at a moment’s notice, with or without a boost. Despite this, Hoopa can find it difficult to start or complete it’s rampage, as a middling speed tier alongside low physical bulk and a very unfortunate x4 weakness to U-turn mean it can be very easily played around with smart offense and revenge killed by many common staples on offensive teams, such as Cinderace, Mega Lopunny, Kartana, Landorus-Therian, Volcarona, Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, Protean Greninja, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Dragapult. Choiced sets are also quite vulnerable to pursuit trapping from Tyranitar, if you lock into the wrong move. Therefore, one is usually best off using Hoopa for its ability to systematically crush any attempt at walling it and punish defensive plays by the opponent. Due to Hoopa’s proneness to destroying any defensive counterplay to it, it pairs well with late game sweepers who benefit from the removal of their defensive checks, such as Rillaboom, Volcarona, Greninja-Ash, and Dragapult. Pivoting teammates can both greatly increase Hoopa’s overall effectiveness, as the switches common U-turn users like Cinderace and Mega Lopunny force can get exactly the kind of defensive targets Hoopa preys upon out on the field.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Super Suit, 505884]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]], [[username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]], [[username2, userid2]]
