SM OU "Last Surprise" - Mega-Lopunny + Ash-Greninja Balance

[Adamant Rotom-W]

Yo why is this game's music so good​

Hey everyone, I'm back with another RMT, 1 year and 5 months after my previous one (Seems like I can only make good teams after a long break...). This time, I'm taking a stab at balance, an archetype I rarely delve into. I tried a lot of variants of Lopunny balance, inspired by the team in the OU Sample Teams thread, but none came close to the success I had with this one. And hey, we don't have much time until the next generation of Pokémon is released, so this is my last hurrah. Let's get into the analysis.

Teambuilding Process

I wanted to start with the offensive part of the team and I had already determined that this is the way to go. Lopunny and Ash-Greninja complement each other perfectly and give the team a great way to deal with Hyper Offense by overwhelming the opponent, and blasting through common Balance cores with sheer power.

The next part of the team was completely influenced by the simple fact that I wanted to use Reuniclus in a team. Reuniclus is a fearsome set-up sweeper that gives me a way to deal with special attackers that don't have Dark-type moves thanks to Calm Mind. Toxapex and Celesteela are the perfect defensive backbone here as together they wall out most of the metagame, with the added benefit of Toxic Spikes support from Toxapex and Leech Seed from Celesteela if necessary.

Last but not least, I needed role compression. I didn't have a Z-move user, and no Stealth Rock setter. Landorus was the obvious pick, having the added benefit of being a Ground-type immunity and providing a slow U-Turn. Fly-Z is also the perfect pick to get rid of pesky Grass-types in the way of a Greninja sweep.

The sets:

Greninja (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes/Ice Beam

The standard Ash-Greninja set. I decided to go with Surf because I personally am tired of having to deal with Hydro Pump missing at crucial points. Yes I do miss the added power sometimes, but I get to hit the move 100% of the time and honestly, Hydro Pump OHKO's are misleading because if you miss, you need an extra turn. In those cases, you might as well have used Surf. Dark Pulse rounds up our STAB and Water Shuriken simply serves as a strong priority move for the rare cases where Ash-Greninja is outsped. Spikes are useful for a predicted switch, making Lopunny and Reuniclus even harder to switch into. However, if you're finding yourself not using the move properly, you might want to replace it with Ice Beam to punish Grass-type switch-ins (keep in mind that AV Tangrowth still beats you 1v1 if you haven't transformed) and OHKO Garchomp.

Lopunny (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Quick Attack

Mega Lopunny fits Balance teams remarkably well, and this one is no exception, despite the fact that this set here carries no utility. This is because of her matchup against Hyper Offense, with 405 Speed and unresisted Normal/Fighting coverage thanks to Scrappy. The Fake Out / Quick Attack priority combo allows Lopunny to act as a revenge killer when needed. Quick Attack is used over Ice Punch to further improve Lopunny's abilities VS Hyper Offense, at the tradeoff of making it worse VS Balance and Stall, and having no real answer to Landorus-Therian and Garchomp. If you're struggling with these archetypes and/or Pokémon, then go ahead and replace Quick Attack with Ice Punch.

Reuniclus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

The set-up sweeper for the team. Magic Guard is honestly a broken ability, as it guarantees that Reuniclus doesn't get halted by Toxic or any entry hazards. Calm Mind is needed to perform a sweep and guarantee that Reuniclus can counter opposing special attackers. Psyshock is used to beat out other Calm Mind users and catch any special walls that try to switch in. Focus Blast targets the Dark-types that love switching into Reuniclus, despite it's shoddy accuracy. Recover is used to ensure that Reuniclus is capable of outlasting any enemy and complete the sweep.

Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Toxapex is the go-to wall for any physical menace. Scald allows it to try to neutralize the opponent with a burn. Toxic Spikes are used over Toxic to guarantee a larger presence and giving opposing set-up sweepers no choice but to get poisoned if the opposing defogger has fainted. However, if you prefer, Toxic is also a great choice. Haze stops opposing set-up sweepers before it's too late, and Recover is essencial to guarantee that Pex can last as long as possible. Regenerator is used for the same purpose.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 28 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower

Celesteela is a prime special wall in this meta. Leech Seed forces the opponent to switch or get its health drained. It works especially well with Protect, allowing it to stall opponents and scout for coverage and lures. Heavy Slam allows it to not be completely passive and is a relatively strong STAB move, even with no investment. Flamethrower is solid coverage that helps get rid of grass-types. Try to lure them in by spamming Leech Seed and punish them on the switch.

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fly
- U-turn

Last but not least, our Stealth Rock setter and Z-move user. Rocks are very important on any team obviously, they make the attackers far harder to switch into, and put pressure on defensive teams. Volcarona, for example, is a good target for the rocks as we don't have a very solid answer to it and it takes 50% damage on the switch. Earthquake is mandatory STAB and helps deal with any Steel-type that may threaten Lopunny, like Heatran carrying Protect. Fly, combined with Flynium-Z, is a fantastic nuke, nailing any Grass-type, Tapu Bulu specifically being a great target. Bulus often switch in expecting an Earthquake, allowing you to predict the switch-in and getting a clean OHKO. U-turn gives the team a slow pivot and allows you to observe your opponents habits, like the Bulu switch-in previously mentioned.

Major Threats:

- This thing is serious trouble, Toxapex being the only thing in this team close to a counter. If it's running Buginium-Z + HP Ground it's easy to deal with it, however if it's a Psychium-Z variant, it destroys Toxapex and is free to ravage the rest of the team after a single boost.

- Koko can reliably blast through the team's defensive core and outspeeds Greninja. If the enemy team has a Koko, do your best to have hazards up and nail it on the switch with your best option

Stall - The Stall matchup is a long and difficult one. This is always the case, but for this team, it's even more noticeable. Our best answer for Stall is Reuniclus, but first you must get rid of any Unaware users, phazers, or Haze users.

Conclusion:

This is probably the most successful team I've EVER built in my 6 or so years on Showdown. When you get right down to it, it's a simple team, but it works really well from my testing. I reached 1600 on two accounts before getting tilted back down to the 1400s. This isn't a particularly impressive record to most but it's the highest I've ever gotten. Thanks for checking out my RMT, and I hope you enjoy the team! Now, for the most important part, the one everyone skips to:


Importable:

Last Surprise

Greninja (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

Lopunny (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Quick Attack

Reuniclus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 28 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fly
- U-turn

 

[Ace Trainer Conan]

What a fun team! Greninja and Mega lopunny are an amazing offensive core to play with, and congrats on 1600!

 

[Adamant Rotom-W]

What a fun team! Greninja and Mega lopunny are an amazing offensive core to play with, and congrats on 1600!

Thank you for the compliments! Greninja + Lopunny might be my favourite core to build with atm because of how flexible it is.

 

[Ace Trainer Conan]

Not as cool as Galarian Weezing and Slaking

Yeah! Lopunny's my favorite mega!

 

[Adamant Rotom-W]

Bump

 

[baldur]

Your team looks pretty cool, but it looks like Zapdos could annoy your team.How about changing Flyinium Z on landorus to Rockium Z?

 

[Adamant Rotom-W]

Your team looks pretty cool, but it looks like Zapdos could annoy your team.How about changing Flyinium Z on landorus to Rockium Z?

Thanks for the suggestion! I've had some issues dealing with Zapdos before yeah, but I think the value of defensive Lando-T with Flynium-Z offers more to the team than an offensive Rockium-Z set (Slow U-turn, getting rid of Grass-types for Greninja). I'd go for a defensive set with Rockium-Z but sadly that doesn't OHKO. I honestly think Ice Beam on Greninja is a more reliable answer because it lures Zapdos in and gets the 2HKO on normal forme, and has a high chance to OHKO when transformed.

On the other hand, Rockium-Z would give me a way to deal with Volcarona and both Charizard formes so it has it's value. I'll definitely be trying it out, thanks once again!