Hey, its been a very long time since I wrote one of these. My last RMT I believe was the Quaquaval one posted back when Chi-Yu was legal. Anyways, I digress. After many failed projects, I eventually came to something that I feel is very solid in the current metagame. This is an HO team that focuses on the two mons I believe to be borderline broken as of right now (Baxcalibur and Valiant). The duo can pair up and take down pretty much everything in the metagame, and it can be extremely hard to stop one of the two from breaking down a team. The rest of the team helps facilitate this goal.
1. Proof of Peak
2. Teambuilding Process
3. Individual Pokémon
4. Threats
5. Replays
6. Conclusion
Proof of Peak:
I was able to reach 2039 ELO with this team, as well as also getting suspect test requirements.
Teambuilding Process:
I personally find balance and bulky offense to be extremely hard to use in this metagame, so I decided on running a Samurott HO team that can overwhelm the opponent before they can get their gameplan going.
These two were lumped in at once. As I mentioned before, I believe these two are a heavy contributor to the difficulty of BO and balance in the metagame. These two can help deal with each others checks, such as Valiant beating Kingambit, Dragapult (if booster is active) and even the occasional Breloom. Baxcalibur can take down the mons like Toxapex and Amoonguss who both give Valiant many issues sweeping.
With me running double physical attackers, two things stood in my way. Corviknight, and Skeledirge. Sandy Shocks helps deal with both of these mons nicely. Shocks is a fast special attacker than can overwhelm opposing HO and offense teams. Shocks sets up the rocks to pair alongside the spikes from Samurott.
This team looked weak to water types, so I decided on the 4x resist Walking Wake. Wake helps us not get too overwhelmed by archetypes like Rain, which would normally give HO teams a run for their money. Agility Walking Wake gives us a win con on the special attacking side, just incase we are up against a phys def Dondozo, or a phys def Zamazenta.
Lastly, we have the glue for every braindead HO team. Gholdengo is simple. It gives us a fairy resist (as the team is insanely weak to fairy), but more importantly, blocks all forms of hazard removal (Maushold does not count). Gholdengo is pretty self explanatory.
Individual Pokémon:
Samurott-Hisui @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sharpness
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Ceaseless Edge
- Razor Shell
- Taunt
This guy is essentially our suicide lead (sometimes you will need to save him). Ceaseless Edge is the move you will pretty much be clicking the entire time. Aqua Jet helps with priority, finishing off low HP opponents. Razor Shell gives us a secondary STAB, helping us hit Great Tusk, Iron Treads etc. Taunt rounds off the moveset, helping us stop setup from the likes of Kingambit, Azumarill, Masquerin etc.
Baxcalibur @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Glaive Rush
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
One of two primary sweepers, I expect you will be using him to sweep more often than not. I run a pretty standard DD set, with Crash, Glaive Rush, and Earthquake for Steel type coverage. I run Boots over Loaded Dice because I don't have a hazard remover, and I don't want Bax dying when trying to set up. Tera Fairy lets you take Draco from Dragapult and win the game (most of the time).
Booster EnergyIron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spirit Break
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
Swords Dance Iron Valiant. Without Volcarona, this thing is a monster. Other than Baxcalibur, this mon should be the other most common mon for cleaning games. Swords Dance makes Valiant very scary to deal with, as it let's you break Pokémon like Slowking-Galar and Gholdengo. Knock Off also helps remove the boots from the likes of Toxapex, Amoonguss etc. Tera fairy allows Valiant to boost Spirit Break, making it an actual strong move.
Booster EnergySandy Shocks @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Tera Blast
- Stealth Rock
Sandy Shocks will often be ripping offensive teams apart. Sandy Shocks with a speed boost allows us to overwhelm opposing threats like Enamorus and Cinderace. Sandy Shocks gives us a ground type, helping a ton against Zapdos and other Volt Switch users. Lastly, Sandy Shocks gives us Stealth Rock complimenting Samurott perfectly. Sandy Shocks is likely to be your primary tera abuser. With tera ice, you can break through checks like Landorus-T and Thundurus-T.
Booster EnergyWalking Wake @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Substitute
- Agility
Our third and final Booster Energy user is Walking Wake. Walking Wake gives us that 4x water resistance, helping out a ton against rain and Volcanion. Walking Wake is your third option when it comes to closing out a game. Substitute allows you to annoy non Sludge Bomb Toxapex, and shut down Kingambit trying to Sucker Punch to revenge KO. Tera water gives us more power on Surf, letting us hit things harder.
Gholdengo @ Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Nasty Plot
- Recover
Nasty Plot Gholdengo is the final member of the team. I decided to give Gholdengo a Balloon, as this team lacked a ground immunity, and it helped out a ton in the Ursaluna matchup. Tera flying helps maintain the ground immunity, helping out against the likes of Great Tusk and Landorus-T. Gholdengo is a very self explanatory Pokémon, so I don't need to go any more in depth on it.
Threats:
This is the hardest matchup this team will ever encounter. Once Azu gets a Belly Drum off, it is borderline impossible to prevent a sweep. My main keys of advice would to be to get up Stealth Rock, and preserve Samurott, allowing you to taunt and prevent the sweep.
I might as well lump these two in one. The team has 4 mons weak to fairy, and only one resist. Enamorus can be dealt with offensively, however it is much harder to deal with Valiant. If you are facing SD Valiant, one SD can be game depending on if you win or lose the speed tie. I would recommend keeping Gholdengo healthy, and using tera fly on the +2 Knock Off. Even if the opponent switches out, you still remove their speed boost, giving you a massive advantage.
This guy is nasty, and absolutely threatens the team to no end. If he gets +2 +2, game is pretty much lost. Bax can take a +2 Fiery Wrath but crash will not OHKO if screens are up. The best advice I could give is to always have something out that can deal with it 1v1, like Iron Valiant, Bax, or taunt on Samurott.
The last threat I would like to talk about is Dragonite. Dragonite can be extremely scary to go up against, as we only have one ghost type who is weak to Earthquake. My best piece of advice would be to overwhelm it with strong attacks, like Dragon Pulse from Wake or Glaive Rush from Baxcalibur. Dragonite can't take these hits without tera, which can give you a massive advantage. If you already have Valiant or Bax set up, then Dragonite shouldn't be able to touch the field, and if it does, it won't have a good time.
Replays:
Vs Dragapult https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885558284-aonpxkt7f79xqwmpa7e2ghnewi9r3uvpw
Vs Moltes Galar https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885556867-mmrvslne8w6rf1yyjlfhvzomhdy4l20pw
Vs Weird Primape Rillaboom combo https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885553840-tipqi2lecsob09rx68fwnpvl9nq91ovpw
Vs Rain https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885548357-ke3yr0i24b2izttcotaydhxkd2gtngqpw
Vs Screens HO https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885541425-g80htif3cmtkdxdfi7emcdn3s4a4zkdpw
Baxcalibur Sweeps Balance https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885538831-neo7yloq4x7rowq5tsaqibq1s22mpjrpw
Baxcalibur Sweeps Sneasler Offense https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885536837-b1f77mkhxrr7h16qfg97dmfl45ceubvpw
Vs Ceruledge and Enamorus https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885534408-r1ol12c23pectfgdpcrtlj7z8qszxafpw
Another Baxcalibur Sweep https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1885231303-vf96ie2tbb2wubqx40y6x4eodvyvlwspw
Conclusion:
If you have made it this far, I appreciate your time. I am hoping to create more teams in the future, and sorry for the long wait. If you have anything you want me to build around, feel free to send me a DM, and I can try to make something work for you. Anyways, enjoy the squad.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/51b2bf69bcf20e73
Check out some of my other RMT's:
Urshifu at Home. Quaquaval Balance. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ring-moon-updated-version-in-replies.3711701/ (Team is likely outdated due to tier shifts and metagame adjustments)
(SS)
Choice Band Dragapult Spikes Stack. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...7-2023-elo-ft-choice-specs-magnezone.3708697/ (If you are interested in SS OU, you can check out this RMT, which has all my other SS RMT's at the bottom of the page)
Last edited:
