(Play this song as you read to properly get in the hyper beam mood)
HYPER BEAM ZORUA
This team was a lot of fun to play with and caught many foes off guard. This peak is from a few months ago. I really feel I could have climbed higher but now that I am graduated and working it's been hard to push higher. With the voltorb ban I wanted to share the team before the meta shakes up all over again.
Paste:
The Team
Zorua-Hisui @ Eviolite
Ability: Illusion
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 116 Def / 156 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hyper Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Tera Blast
The outlying question is why hyper beam? Hyper beam works really well here because at +2 it OHKOs some of the bulkiest mons in the tier including mienfoo, vullaby, and mudbray. In most metas you can easily punish hyper beam on the recharge turn but it is a bit different. LC is really lacking on the setup mons it has and especially when used early in the battle, not only is hyper beam hard to punish but the hyper beam user can often come away with an advantage. With this team I would usually lead zorua disguised as vullaby, using nasty plot into hyper beam will often get you a KO on the opposing mienfoo or vullaby, and then your opponent will usually switch something into to knock it out which gives momentum on the switch-in the following turn. The most common set up threats are magby and shellder which are manageable between pawniard and impidimp screens.
Tera ground is actually used pretty often with this mon, if you are disguised as vullaby and the opponent switches in stunky or glimmet, you should use the tera to kill it, even though you burn your tera early it is usually worth it.
Magby @ Oran Berry
Ability: Vital Spirit
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 236 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Mach Punch
Magby is a key HO mon, and is really underrated. I opted for this set instead of the popular tera ghost + flame charge set just because this team really appreciates the coverage from fire punch and thunder punch and priority in mach punch is nice for the few things that do outspeed you (mach punch would 2hko voltorb-hisui after belly drum which was used a lot pre-ban). Most teams are not as prepped as they should be for magby. Look for chances to set up with it once screens are up it becomes pretty bulky and can tank hits from almost anything and get it's belly drum up. Tera-Ghost is purely for mienfoo's fake out and is the most common tera used on this team. Another thing to note is if your opponent ever switches in foongus you should switch hard into magby and belly drum to punish spore.
tingus pingus (Impidimp) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 156 HP / 196 Def / 116 SpD / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Parting Shot
- Dazzling Gleam
Had to include the nickname on this one cause it is tingus pingus. You might be asking yourself "who da f*** is tingus pingus." Well tingus pingus is an important glue mon for this team, it sets up screens and switches out and will occasionally click dazzling gleam on vullabys and stunkys. I would avoid leading this mon, try to use it to take advantage of your opponents positioning. Tera ghost is for mienfoo's fake out if you are using it in an end game scenario, block opponent spinning tspikes you may have set up, and it can resist gunk shot from stunky if you need an extra turn.
Glimmet @ Eviolite
Ability: Toxic Debris
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Power Gem
- Tera Blast
- Dazzling Gleam
This mon is your spike absorber, vullaby check, and a soft-check to growlithe-h. power gem is a really nice stab option and tera blast fire + dazzling gleam are your coverage options for fighting and steel types that would resist rock typing. Dazzling gleam can help chip mudbray and tera blast is also used for foongus in a pinch.
the 13 speed with rock polish keeps up offensive momentum of the team, glimmet has the highest SpA stat in the tier so being able to run modest makes you hit extremely hard even without a boost.
Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Tera Blast
This mon is most commonly used as a shellder check for if the opponent tries to set up on your hyper beam recharge turn. It's priority also comes in handy for dealing with faster threats and other pokemon trying to take advantage of setting up on your recharge turn. Pawniard can also be a late game sweeper if needed by winning sucker punch 50/50s. Tera blast fairy is used to allow it to check mienfoo as it resists both fighting and dark typing. Pawniard synergizes amazingly well with zorua and works to help make this team composition function.
Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 76 Def / 236 SpA / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Roost
This mon works as a mienfoo and mudbray switch-in. It can also function both as an early breaker and a late-game sweeper depending on your match up. Avoid getting too greedy with nasty plots on mons like mudbray, air slash will do a decent chunk and has a flinch chance so it is often better to get chip damage on certain mons if you are using this early as that can open the door for things like magby to sweep later. Roost is good for stalling out certain defensive pokemon that can't deal 50% like mareanie. Tera ghost is to be immune to mienfoo's fake out if they switch it in to try and get a defense drop for free, and you can kill it back with a +2 air slash.
Weaknesses
This team is weak to stunky, try to pick it off with tera blast ground if you can
Biggest threat to this team by far, keep magby healthy as it can live a first impression and kill life orb nymble with a fire punch.This team also has a bad matchup into spike stacking teams so really try to prevent spike set up when you can.
Replays:
Funny replay 3 Hyper Beam kills in one match: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2202881802-1vmfahn2lcs9u4t7setkjgh6tczwb02pw
Vs. Torchic offense: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2204561209-6qmnzwz3j8whh3oanfy4u91624w97c7pw
Vs. Nymble: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2182385268
Vs. Shellder: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2182379181
Vs. High rated opponent: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2182259113-dx85ujec5bghnrcec6z4ld4z7it54jzpw
Vs. Timburr: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2190555189