SS OU I like Jirachi so much

[ffskanto]

I've had a good run with this lineup:

look at curry man (Dragapult) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball

My starter for a good 95% of the games, I like his offensive versatility and the possibility of quickly changing plans while still having a chance of causing some damage with U-turn. Started off using the more typical Life Orb on him, but I eventually found this item to be so annoying in long heavy-switching battles that I just changed for the less powered but momentum friendly Leftovers. Did the same on Mimikyu too (see below).

fck covidnight (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave

Used him in 7G OU and I just can't get enough of this tank, which becomes absolutely incredible with the 37% it can impose on foes' physical moves. Knock Off is one of those moves that makes you feel especially early in the game that whatever your opponent's choice will be, you'll win something as you are forcing him to lose an item. I rely heavily on getting rid of foes' items and giving them status issues, and for that Ferrothorn helps me a lot with his combination of defense + Knock Off and Thunder Wave.

monty never burns (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
- Haze

Similar use here but we have a different kind of defensive tank who can absorb fire type moves that hurt Ferrothorn so much, and that can actually heal itself. I've used Scald for a long time but am now trying Knock Off on this too, as it also makes it a bit more difficult to predict. Might go back to Scald though.

laudate dominum (Flygon) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Iron Tail

Not a very popular pick in OU but it has actually become one of my go-to-guys. It feels especially delightful to have him against Zeraoras. The combination of Ferrothorn and Flygon makes it absolutely impossible for Zeraora to be of any impact against my team. The two stabs are absolutely deadly. UnderUsed but mostly Underrated.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 228 HP / 252 SpD / 28 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Fire Punch
- Substitute

Well, if I have to say who my go-to-guy is, it has to be this vintage JiraHaxx. A super strong Spe. Def. bulk and allow it to just paralyse the typical quick sweeper like Dragapult and it can cause some incredible damage once set behind a substitute. I know this guy can be annoying for opponents, and forces you to rely so much on luck, but it actually gives me that adrenaline that makes it so fun to play him.

PR aint 90% acc (Mimikyu) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Disguise
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Swords Dance

No, it's no confirmation bias, this move misses more than 10% of the time I swear!! I also think that Scald and Lava Plume burn more than 30% of the time when its victim is a high Atk. Pokemon... whatever, I like Mimikyu a lot, as it has this fantastic Disguise ability that makes it easy to set, and Mimikyu is still deadly after one Swords Dance. Not that popular on 8G OU I think, but still one of the funniest Pokemon to play IMO.

So lads, thoughts on what I could improve here?

 

[Ehmcee]

Since your team also seems to rely a lot on Paras and Tspikes, i'd also recommend running hex on dragapult, to massively increase the threat level of your dragapult, leftovers isn't that great of an item either, so I'd either switch back to Specs or Life Orb, or run spell tag if you want to deal higher damage with hex without running the drawbacks of LO and specs.

 

[Cri]

why hasty on flygon?

 

[Makima]

You're using Dragapult as a pivot and cleaner so I would run Life Orb (or Expert Belt) on it rather than Leftovers b/c at the start of the game you're often U-Turning out making the leftovers useless. LO / E-Belt also give you rolls on Ferrothorn as Life Orb guaranteed OHKOs (Expert Belt - 87.5% chance to OHKO) defensive Ferrothorn.

 

[Mr. Mime fan]

You're using Dragapult as a pivot and cleaner so I would run Life Orb (or Expert Belt) on it rather than Leftovers b/c at the start of the game you're often U-Turning out making the leftovers useless. LO / E-Belt also give you rolls on Ferrothorn as Life Orb guaranteed OHKOs (Expert Belt - 87.5% chance to OHKO) defensive Ferrothorn.

Ye life orb seems better w this set. Also with that set u-turn flamethrower and such, is usually ran as a scarf set. But you have a scarf flygon so the team synergy seems a bit wierd. As well as i would go the hex route. Your mimiking a scarf set w your dragapult but not running scarf and your running scarf flygon. My reccomendation would be Will-O-Wisp hex flamethrower/draco meteor and u-turn w a spell tag, that way you can differentiate the role between flygon and dragapult. read this post to realise your issue. (The creator of the team, not the writer of the post im replying to)

 

[ScalchopFren]

I'm going to write this on the assumption that you want to keep Jirachi as the main focus of the team, based on the title of the post. I'll also leave an importable version at the bottom.


SET CHANGES


If I'm being honest, your current Jirachi set seems more like deadweight than a useful team member. Aside from it being a pretty bad momentum sink, with that current moveset and investment you have basically zero hope of getting past most of the defensive mons in the tier (see the calcs tab below). You're also still not safe from a lot of the special mons that would normally threaten Rachi anyway; Modest Dragapult and Life Orb Hydreigon both have a chance of 2HKOing you without any boosts whatsoever (again, see the calcs tab), and Specs Aegislash just tears through it.

calcs

0 Atk Jirachi Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 76-90 (19 - 22.5%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Jirachi Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 57-67 (13.5 - 15.9%) -- possibly the worst move ever
0 Atk Jirachi Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 132-156 (37.5 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Jirachi Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 23-27 (7.5 - 8.8%) -- possibly the worst move ever
0 Atk Jirachi Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mandibuzz: 84-99 (19.8 - 23.3%) -- possible 5HKO

252+ SpA Spell Tag Dragapult Hex (65 BP) vs. 228 HP / 252+ SpD Jirachi: 168-200 (42.2 - 50.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Flamethrower vs. 228 HP / 252+ SpD Jirachi: 179-213 (44.9 - 53.5%) -- 37.1% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 228 HP / 252+ SpD Jirachi: 326-386 (81.9 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Fortunately, there exists a Sub Rachi set that ISN'T deadweight and can actually win in its own right in the late-game, and that is Sub+Calm Mind Rachi. It may not be the "haxx" set you described with what you have currently, but this one actually has offensive presence and I feel it can accomplish a lot more for you. Not to mention the special bulk you so lauded is already higher for this set after a single Calm Mind:

252+ SpA Spell Tag Dragapult Hex (65 BP) vs. 228 HP / 252+ SpD Jirachi: 168-200 (42.2 - 50.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Spell Tag Dragapult Hex (65 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Jirachi: 156-186 (38.6 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


As others above me have mentioned, Hex Pult is a significantly better option than what you have right now. Spell Tag Hex into a statused target is quite noticeably stronger than Shadow Ball from even a Specs Pult, giving you basically no reasons to use Shadow Ball on it. Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower are no-nos for the same reason: since Pult's Special Attack is already pretty mediocre, using these over Draco Meteor or Fire Blast means you're basically never going to kill anything unless they're weak to what you click. Pult also appreciates Rachi's ability to come in on Fairy-types, which Pult will have trouble breaking itself.

Side note to other commenters: Life Orb is recommendable on Dragon Dance Pult only, and EBelt is recommendable never. DD Pult can make good use of LO because it's meant to be a setup sweeper for HO teams, but a balance team Pult would detest losing 10% over U-turn. LO Hex is also only marginally stronger than Spell Tag, so there's no valuable reason to run it. EBelt Pult is just awful and there's nothing more to it. Spell Tag is only just barely stronger than it, but the important thing is that Spell Tag gives you stronger Hexes against EVERYTHING, not just things that are weak to Ghost. Considering how little EBelt helps Pult with its other options -- Dragon is only super-effective against itself, and every Steel-type in the tier gets 2HKOd at worst by Modest Hex anyway if they're statused -- there's zero reason to ever run it. If you don't want Spell Tag (though generally you do), the best alternative item by far is Heavy-Duty Boots to allow Pult to pivot around a lot more.


Ferrothorn is often used as a Spikes setter in this tier, but you don't currently have another hazard setter, so keeping Rocks on it is fine. What is NOT fine is the lack of Body Press on this set. Your sand matchup with the current version of this team is more than a little unfavorable, so having something that can both take a hit or two from Excadrill and actually be useful in beating it is very nice to have. As such, you should be using Body Press Ferro. You can also swap out Lefties for Rocky Helmet if you REALLY want to, but Lefties is the standard on Ferro.

MON CHANGES

=>
As you yourself said in the original post, Mimikyu is not a very popular mon in SSOU, and there's good reason for that. Calling it "deadly" after an SD is a pretty big exaggeration. Even with +2 and Life Orb, its chances of breaking most of the tier's walls are quite limited (see the second calcs tab). It's even outshined in the priority department; an unboosted Black Glasses Bisharp does more with Sucker Punch than +2 LO Mimi can with Shadow Sneak.

calcs the sequel

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 191-226 (45.4 - 53.8%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 138-164 (39.2 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 125-148 (41.1 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 161-191 (40.2 - 47.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 80-95 (24.6 - 29.2%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 71-86 (21.8 - 26.4%) -- 10.3% chance to 4HKO

While it's certainly more passive, Clefable is more useful here than Mimi could ever hope to be. It's the best mon in the tier for a reason, and that reason is (largely) its ability to Wish pass with almost no consequences thanks to Teleport. This allows it to be much more supportive of the team, in conjunction with its solid bulk keeping plenty of mons in check.

=>
When I was looking over this team, two big things stood out to me. First, you lacked hazard control, which left the whole team (Pult especially) open to some pretty hefty wearing down with the prominence of Spikes and Rocks. And second, you lacked a Ghost resist, which gives opposing Pult and Aegi the ability to click their Ghost moves pretty much scot-free. The most effective way to alleviate both issues is by running Mandibuzz, which serves as basically a hard stop to Pult and a reliable switchin to Aegi.

I'm putting it over Flygon because if I'm being honest, Flygon doesn't really accomplish anything worthwhile in the OU tier. As speed control, Scarf Flygon is pretty heavily outclassed by Pult, Zeraora, and Scarf Hydreigon. If you want an offensively-oriented Ground-type, Flygon is going to lose out to Drill every time. It's also depressingly weak, even struggling to break through Toxapex at times, and is utterly hopeless against even specially defensive Corviknight:

252 Atk Flygon Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 146-174 (48 - 57.2%) -- 34% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 Atk Flygon Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 132-156 (33 - 39%) -- 7.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Especially since you already have a Pult as both a good Dragon-type and speed control, I don't see any reason to keep Flygon here when Ghosts demolish your team this easily.

=>
I'm making this particular swap for two reasons. Firstly, as if my stressing of it hasn't been obvious enough already, the first draft of this team was very VERY weak. Even the offensive mons had at best slim chances of beating down most of the defensive mons in the tier, which is not a promising sign given how prominent fat balance is at the moment. Having another strong wallbreaker like Conkeldurr helps immensely in that regard, as with Close Combat it's capable of 2HKOing even Hippowdon (which walls it otherwise). Second, as I mentioned with Ferro, the sand matchup was less than ideal (the Bisharp matchup too, for that matter). Through the use of Mach Punch, Conk is able to revenge kill both Drill and Bish, keeping them in check.

FINAL TEAM
Click the sprites for an importable version

I realize this version of the team is quite a bit different from what you had before, but it will serve you much better in the tier than the first version.

glhf :]

 

[ffskanto]

Just saw all your comments. Thanks a lot for your help guys.

 

[StepC]

Hi n welk on Rmt

I like the concept to build over Rachi - Pult core, but there are some defensive problems that u have to fix... I hope that with my advise u can improve this team n became better vs the others.

First of all i think that Mimikyu is not a good option for this core, u need some mates that can help to recover hp for your team. Also i don't see a real check for Specs Kyurem, Hydreigon Dragapult btw.
For this reason i think that Clefable is the best option for u. Thx the full SpDef n the utility by Teleport make more help for u, also can helps ve Mandibuzz n recover hp for the entire team thanks his pivot function to have always momentum.
Also Gengar n Excadrill are a very bad threats for u n Flygon is not viable atm cuz thare is too much stuff that walls it, an option that i think could work is Mandibuzz to replace it. I choice this also to fix the potential weak but also to have a very bulk defogger that can tank also Aegislah.

Lets talk about the set changes:
I think that Pex works better with Scald + Baneful Bunker to have more possibility to scout the Zeraora set n Poison him, also is the better choice n u have more security over Dracovish to not make all of the pressure on Ferrothorn.
Ferrothorn needs a good reply vs Primarina to break his sub, atm there are no reason to don't have Power Whip, is the best stab atm over Knock Off n i think that Body Press is the best option to steel types as Bisharp n Excadrill.
On Dragapult is the best choice run the Spell Tag set to have more chance to burn Toxapex n inflict several damage with Hex n also can be used like a pivot for Rachi. Optional: i prefer play with modest Dragapult (btw u can't seep Zeraora n i prefer make more damage in every case).
I think that the E Belt set on Rachi works alot for u cuz u don't have momentum to set up with cm, but u have a very fat defensive core that is build over him. Also this is the best option vs Togekiss n Clefable with the cm set.

>>>>>The Team <<<<<​