SM OU Hoops and Loops

[xapx]

Inportable

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Band
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch
- Gunk Shot

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn

Tornadus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Stun Spore
- Hidden Power [Ice]

What's up Smogon people, I'm back with another RMT. This one is a team which I built when Psychic spam started rising in popularity again during the start of summer. This is the current build of the team which I'm most satisfied with and has worked pretty well.

Let's stop rambling and get straight to the team


Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Band
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch
- Gunk Shot

Hoopa is actually the mon I wanted to build with. Psychic Spam in USM OU revolves around MZam, MLati and Tapu Lele. Hoopa has good 80/130 special defense, letting it take these threats except for Tapu Lele's Moonblast.

Choice Band boosts Hoopa's already high attack to incredible levels, and Magician is it's only ability. A Jolly nature with Max Speed investment lets Hoopa be as fast as possible, and max Attack investment allows Hoopa to hit as hard as possible without a positive nature. 4 SpD so Hoopa (kind of) takes special hits more easily.

Hyperspace Fury is a must on any physical Hoopa and is a very powerful move, breaking past Substitutes and Protects. Zen Headbutt is a good move alongside Hyperspace Fury, hitting the meta for unresisted coverage. Gunk Shot hits Fairy types such as Tapu Fini and Clefable for super effective damage. It also has a good chance to poison. Fire Punch hits Magearna, Scizor and Kartana for super effective damage and is good coverage, as neither Tapu Koko nor Tangrowth has HP fire.


Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Landot is a great partner for Hoopa, as Hoopa has terrible physical bulk, and Landot can take most of them for Hoopa.

I chose a Rocky Helmet Landot because it makes U-turn take recoil and blocks Volt Switch. Intimidate is Landot's only ability, and the EVs are Smogon Dex suggested. Impish increases Landot's overall physical bulk.

What more do I have to say about this Mon, everyone knows what it does.


Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn

Tapu Koko forms a nice U-turn core with Landot for bringing Hoops in.

Choice Scarf Tapu Koko with Timid nature and max speed investment allows Tapu Koko to check rain. It outspeeds Kingdra by 1 point. Tbolt is STAB, Grass Knot for the rising Gastro and MPert.


Tornadus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

Tornadus is my defogger in the team. A FlyZ set with an offensive EV spread is used here, and SSSS provides a nice one-time nuke. Regenerator increases Torn's longevity, and Timid with max speed investment gives Torn a nice 375 speed, outspeeding a majority of the unboosted meta.

Hurricane is a powerful but inaccurate STAB, but is always on Tornadus sets, as it also has a confusion chance. Knock Off can remove important items such as Eviolite or Leftovers, helping Hoopa wallbreak. It can also scout for Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Landot or Tran. Defog removes annoying hazards, as none of the teammates above have recovery.


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Gastrodon checks non-Grass Knot Koko, Gren and Zeraora, non-GrassZ Heatran, and non-Giga Drain Volc. It's the special wall, what else is it supposed to do?


Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Stun Spore
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Helps Landot with Kart and Zygarde, Gastro with physical Zeraora, and is generally a good physical wall. The only reason I use Stun Spore is because you can't Sleep Powder in electric terrain.

Threats:
SD MPinsir and Kart: These generally are trouble for most teams, in my case they either severely weaken the team or just win.

MCham and MMawile: Because what isn't threatened by them?

Mixed Zeraora: This Mon is surprisingly good against the team, being able to weaken the team with its good coverage.

Z-Fly or Rock Landot: No steel type is kind of a problem, as these variants gets a KO when it Zs.

thanks for reading, and please leave some suggestions so I can improve the team ;)

Replays: stupid me forgot to save any replays, sorry bros

 

[xapx]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-783208240 - Hoopa coming in on a predicted Psyshock
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-782809137 - All I know is I won an orthodox team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-777952571 - Koko outspeeding Kingdra in Rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-782807388 - Stun Spore helping a lot

 

[Finchinator]

Hey man, thanks for the PM!

I think that this team has a really encouraging start, but could probably use some adjustments to optimize it.

The first thing that stands out to me would be your lack of a Steel type. I feel like that’s very much needed in the current metagame, especially when you have more passive Pokemon like Tangrowth and Gastrodon on your team that allow some specific things free turns. Because of this, I would strongly advise the following two changes to your team:

Change your Landorus-T to an offensive Scarf variant — this will make much more sense once I suggest the second change as they work in tandem with each other, but basically you don’t need the bulk with PDef Tangrowth and the momentum + speed will come in handy. The SR will go on the next suggestion and it will also make your team scarfless, thus making this more necessary.

Make Scarf Tapu Koko in to standard SR Magma Earth Power Taunt Heatran — this gives you a much needed Steel type for things like Tornadus-T and Tapu Lele while also giving you a reliable Stealth Rock setter that can potentially make progress against stall or bulkier structures you may otherwise struggle with depending upon their Hoopa counterplay.

Overall, these two changes make your team more consistent against common metagame threats and a bit more standardized, too. Hope this helps!

 

[xapx]

Hey man, thanks for the PM!

I think that this team has a really encouraging start, but could probably use some adjustments to optimize it.

The first thing that stands out to me would be your lack of a Steel type. I feel like that’s very much needed in the current metagame, especially when you have more passive Pokemon like Tangrowth and Gastrodon on your team that allow some specific things free turns. Because of this, I would strongly advise the following two changes to your team:

Change your Landorus-T to an offensive Scarf variant — this will make much more sense once I suggest the second change as they work in tandem with each other, but basically you don’t need the bulk with PDef Tangrowth and the momentum + speed will come in handy. The SR will go on the next suggestion and it will also make your team scarfless, thus making this more necessary.

Make Scarf Tapu Koko in to standard SR Magma Earth Power Taunt Heatran — this gives you a much needed Steel type for things like Tornadus-T and Tapu Lele while also giving you a reliable Stealth Rock setter that can potentially make progress against stall or bulkier structures you may otherwise struggle with depending upon their Hoopa counterplay.

Overall, these two changes make your team more consistent against common metagame threats and a bit more standardized, too. Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot again, I'll be testing the team once I finish my breakfast lol!

 

[Indigo Plateau]

Hey XxAwesomePlayzxX! Hoopa-U is a very threatening Pokemon due to its amazing incredible offensive stats and typing. Although fitting it on a team isn't easy, I believe your team has potential with some tweaks.

=========================

The biggest flaw that I see with your team is the lack of a Steel-type. Steel-types are a necessity in OU due to their defensive capabilities. Next, we'll analyze some key threats to your team in order to help improve it.

Due to your lack of Steel-type, the only good switch-in to Psychic-types such as Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele is Hoopa-U, which isn't a reliable switch-in to these two at all. Mega Alakazam has appropriate coverage to beat it, while Tapu Lele just clicks Moonblast versus it.

Mega Scizor is able to set up either a Curse or Swords Dance in front of Pokemon like Tangrowth and Landorus-T and proceed to beat your team with some prior chip damage.

Mawile is normally extremely hard to counter on paper, and against your team it's no exception. It gets to click Play Rough when Hoopa-U is choice locked, Tornadus-T is in, or against a weakened Gastrodon, and claims one every time.

Strong Dark-types also are a big threat to your team. Hoopa-U clicks Hyperspace Fury mindlessly and leaves a huge dent in your team, Weavile does the same with Knock Off, and Mega Gyarados can beat your team at +1 when Tangrowth is weakened.

=========================

These are my suggestions in order to improve your team:

>

A more defensive change, but I believe Mega Scizor will be valuable to your team because it gives you a Steel-type that can check strong, physical attackers such as Weavile, Mega Gyarados, and Mawile lacking Fire Fang. It helps somewhat with opposing Psychic- and Grass- types, and gives you a solid late-game wincon with Curse, beating most other setup sweepers 1v1.

>

This might be a weird change, but ultimately I think it'll help you out. You already have a Flying- and a Ground-type on your team, and opposing Steel- types can still be a pain to deal with, and that's where I think Heatran will help. Sure, Scarf Heatran may not be as common as other Choice Scarf users at all, but it makes for a good surprise factor on this team (i.e. 2HKO Mega Zam on the switch), and can be potent to pair up with Curse Scizor + CB Hoopa.

>

Now that you have a Mega Scizor, Assault Vest will help improve your Ash-Greninja (and offensive Water-types in general) matchup. Tangrowth still has good physical bulk even with an Assault Vest, and this change helps your team pivot better.

Note: Stealth Rock on Choice Scarf Heatran is a bit weird, but you can still make it work since Heatran forces so many switches. If you feel it's too awkward, then you can always just turn Heatran into standard utility, but you do lose out on some Speed control.


=========================

(click me!)

Above is the team with the suggested changes. Overall, the team is more consistent than your initial version, but that's not to say it doesn't have its flaws.

sits in front of your team and can spread status, so try to hinder it with Knock Off and wear it down.

can trap Scizor and is usually paired with Pokemon like

, which become more threatening after Scizor is removed. Lastly,

has no switch-ins, so play aggressively around it.

Good luck with the team; pm me if you have any questions!

 

[xapx]

Hey XxAwesomePlayzxX! Hoopa-U is a very threatening Pokemon due to its amazing incredible offensive stats and typing. Although fitting it on a team isn't easy, I believe your team has potential with some tweaks.

=========================

The biggest flaw that I see with your team is the lack of a Steel-type. Steel-types are a necessity in OU due to their defensive capabilities. Next, we'll analyze some key threats to your team in order to help improve it.

Due to your lack of Steel-type, the only good switch-in to Psychic-types such as Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele is Hoopa-U, which isn't a reliable switch-in to these two at all. Mega Alakazam has appropriate coverage to beat it, while Tapu Lele just clicks Moonblast versus it.

Mega Scizor is able to set up either a Curse or Swords Dance in front of Pokemon like Tangrowth and Landorus-T and proceed to beat your team with some prior chip damage.

Mawile is normally extremely hard to counter on paper, and against your team it's no exception. It gets to click Play Rough when Hoopa-U is choice locked, Tornadus-T is in, or against a weakened Gastrodon, and claims one every time.

Strong Dark-types also are a big threat to your team. Hoopa-U clicks Hyperspace Fury mindlessly and leaves a huge dent in your team, Weavile does the same with Knock Off, and Mega Gyarados can beat your team at +1 when Tangrowth is weakened.

=========================

These are my suggestions in order to improve your team:

>

A more defensive change, but I believe Mega Scizor will be valuable to your team because it gives you a Steel-type that can check strong, physical attackers such as Weavile, Mega Gyarados, and Mawile lacking Fire Fang. It helps somewhat with opposing Psychic- and Grass- types, and gives you a solid late-game wincon with Curse, beating most other setup sweepers 1v1.

>

This might be a weird change, but ultimately I think it'll help you out. You already have a Flying- and a Ground-type on your team, and opposing Steel- types can still be a pain to deal with, and that's where I think Heatran will help. Sure, Scarf Heatran may not be as common as other Choice Scarf users at all, but it makes for a good surprise factor on this team (i.e. 2HKO Mega Zam on the switch), and can be potent to pair up with Curse Scizor + CB Hoopa.

>

Now that you have a Mega Scizor, Assault Vest will help improve your Ash-Greninja (and offensive Water-types in general) matchup. Tangrowth still has good physical bulk even with an Assault Vest, and this change helps your team pivot better.

Note: Stealth Rock on Choice Scarf Heatran is a bit weird, but you can still make it work since Heatran forces so many switches. If you feel it's too awkward, then you can always just turn Heatran into standard utility, but you do lose out on some Speed control.


=========================

(click me!)

Above is the team with the suggested changes. Overall, the team is more consistent than your initial version, but that's not to say it doesn't have its flaws.

sits in front of your team and can spread status, so try to hinder it with Knock Off and wear it down.

can trap Scizor and is usually paired with Pokemon like

, which become more threatening after Scizor is removed. Lastly,

has no switch-ins, so play aggressively around it.

Good luck with the team; pm me if you have any questions!

Thank you very much for the rate, it is great appreciated. I didn't expect another rate (I guess asking Finch for a rate bumped this up lol), and this version of the team seems really solid. I'll pm you if I have questions when I use it