Introduction:
This team was originally made for one of the RU ladder achievements, reaching top 100 with monotype, while unintentionally doubling as altruism. As some may know, I am a huge fan of Hisuian-Braviary, and so I decided to build around it here. The focus of the team is overwhelming enemy spdef tanks such that one of the team's sweepers is able to wrap up. While engineering the team, it was important to me that every member is made to force tera or pressure resources. You will notice that all mons share a strong psychic type move alongside their respective coverage to break common walls. For example, Armarouge and Reuniclus force Alolan-Muk to tera (or take big chip), opening the door for HBrav.
(Majority of losses were with a different version of the team)
Poke-pasted Team
The enabler and terrain setter of the team. A pretty standard set, expanding force is strong STAB capable of doing great damage on unresisted hits, doing even up to 50 to a fat mon like AV Volcanion. Dazzling gleam is for secondary coverage that hits most that hope to come in on and abuse expanding force immunity. Body slam or Energy ball can be chosen in place of DG for utility and matchup purposes if need be. Encore is necessary for preventing slow setup mons from getting out of hand while also being useful for forcing the opp's hand. Healing wish then clutches games, rejuvenating a weakened sweeper for a second round. I opted to go for a bulkier set over a specially offensive variant for longevity purposes. EV wise 232+ allows you to outspeed krook and other base 90s while leaving room for spare bulk. If I was to run an offensive set, I would go 236 speed, 252+ spatk, and the rest in bulk/speed depending on preference, 236 allowing you to out-speed base 80s.
In the center of the team is its star and main wincon: Hisuian Braviary. Hbrav keeps enemy dark types under pressure by threatening to end games at any moment with its strong combination of expanding force, coverage, and speed bosting. Once enemy immunities have been dealt with by the surrounding cast, it is almost impossible to survive a tera psychic expanding force. Air slash and calm mind make for reliable secondary threats to finish weakened immunities, doing 40 to some A-Muk sets at +1. Now, at first glance astute readers might've said something along the lines of "does this man realize non-grounded pokemon don't benefit from terrain?", That's where the layering to the power of tera psychic is. Once activating tera, E-force goes from doing 29 minimum to Empoleon to a whopping 76, doubling in base power. Tera psychic is usually considered lackluster due to defensive issues and lack of power, but psychic terrain improves both issues, removing sucker punch from the equation and empowering the stabs. Max speed is pretty necessary for out-speeding Cyclizar after an esper wing or Gzap after two.
The team's primary knock-turn punisher and one of it's wallbreakers. Psychic terrain boosting psyshock allows Armarouge to comfortably run CM + Endure to benefit from both moves. Espeon's presence on this team greatly enhances the ability to go without boots, allowing multiple switch-ins and potential for a healing wish. Weakness policy then pressures the enemy into thinking twice about knock, unless they accept the trade. A usual game with this team has this mon switching into a Gzap, activating weakness policy, and then forcing tera or a massive chunk on spdef walls. Doing 50-80 to hard walls such as A-Muk and Hisuian-Goodra is well worth is for this team, as it allows the sweepers a much easier time. Psychic terrain prevents the only way of revenge killing this mon by out-speeding it bar scarf electrode after a boost, pretty much forcing progress. Tera fairy is generic as normal/ghost isn't needed for priority immunity, instead being used to potentially tank a hit into an endure for +4 speed.
As previously mentioned, Espeon is this team's way of blocking hazards for Hbrav and Armarouge, providing longevity. An issue some psychic terrain teams can face is a lack of immediate speed, as scarf on such an offensive structure can backfire. However here, scarf allows espeon to function both as a mon that can cripple walls with a scarf and a revenge killer. I have noticed that BO teams can especially struggle against this mon upon their Bisharp dying, expanding force coming from base 130 spatk and 530 speed is brilliantly powerful in endgames. This version of the set utilizes tera ghost + calm mind + alluring voice to 1v1 most blissey sets or generate more sweeping potential. The only coverage chosen being resisted by steels is rough, but most of them are easily abused by the rest of the team or welcomed in trade for chip. If Rachi is proving to be an issue, shadow ball can be substituted for either CM or A-voice while maintaining the Blissey mu, although no fairy coverage gives crawdaunt (mega threat) a free switch in.
If not already a big enough threat with magic guard, buffed psyshock rock can hit like a truck under the terrain. Working as the team's bulky setup mon, Reuniclus functions as a mon that punishes bulkier teams relying on status and chip damage to kill similar threats. Kee berry + Calm mind enables the homunculus to become incredibly hard to kill while recover keeps us healthy. As said earlier not many walls like being hit by psyshock, and the ones that do have a powerful tera blast fighting waiting for them. This set is both capable of forcing tera dark/fairy while punishing either with it's respective coverage options. This EV spread enables it to outspeed, among other things, the usual Alolan-Muk (even creeping those with 8 speed). Moving before A-Muk and other slower walls can be huge for making momentum on haze or healing turns. After 172 is pumped into speed, the rest goes into defense, furthering it's ability to take hits. With all this being taken into account, it serves as the hard A-Muk counter for the team, managing to force tera by out-speeding, tanking hits with tera fighting's defensive ability here, and eventually gain pace on missed rest-talk haze pulls.
Serving as our secondary bulky threat is Necrozma. Filter provides great defensive utility against would-be threats to this team such as A-Muk (when Reun can't tera), knock users, U-turn users, etc. All while being able to surprise the opponent with a second weakness policy slot on the team. Psychic-Ground coverage is highly regarded and for good reason, there are very little things in the tier that can comfortably take both. Substitute provides a nice layer of defense upon enemy switch out, especially useful after being hit with a low power WP activating move. You either outspeed and fall over to a +2 attack while downing the substitute, or go 2nd and take big chip. The listed three moves do a fine enough job at what this mon does, so there is a free moveslot remaining. Stealth rock is what I find to usually work best here, providing the team with an extra layer of damage while the opponent already struggles to find safe switches. That being said, I can see knock off, moonlight, or even trick-room working for utility. EV'd for maximum damage alongside the ability to tank 2 A-Muk knocks, with the rest going into speed.
I believe that summarizes each set's use and thought process well enough. If you were to try this team for yourself, I would say to lead indeedee against almost anything but kleavor, and then react accordingly to the opponent's lead choice. Most of the time this means going into Armarouge/Necrozma on a U-turn/knock. Analyze the opponents key counters to the sweepers/cleaners present, and use the breakers to make paths. For example, using Armarouge/Reuniclus to force a Blissey/A-Muk into using tera so that Hbrav/Reuniclus can clean.
Feedback would greatly be appreciated.
This team was originally made for one of the RU ladder achievements, reaching top 100 with monotype, while unintentionally doubling as altruism. As some may know, I am a huge fan of Hisuian-Braviary, and so I decided to build around it here. The focus of the team is overwhelming enemy spdef tanks such that one of the team's sweepers is able to wrap up. While engineering the team, it was important to me that every member is made to force tera or pressure resources. You will notice that all mons share a strong psychic type move alongside their respective coverage to break common walls. For example, Armarouge and Reuniclus force Alolan-Muk to tera (or take big chip), opening the door for HBrav.
(Majority of losses were with a different version of the team)
The enabler and terrain setter of the team. A pretty standard set, expanding force is strong STAB capable of doing great damage on unresisted hits, doing even up to 50 to a fat mon like AV Volcanion. Dazzling gleam is for secondary coverage that hits most that hope to come in on and abuse expanding force immunity. Body slam or Energy ball can be chosen in place of DG for utility and matchup purposes if need be. Encore is necessary for preventing slow setup mons from getting out of hand while also being useful for forcing the opp's hand. Healing wish then clutches games, rejuvenating a weakened sweeper for a second round. I opted to go for a bulkier set over a specially offensive variant for longevity purposes. EV wise 232+ allows you to outspeed krook and other base 90s while leaving room for spare bulk. If I was to run an offensive set, I would go 236 speed, 252+ spatk, and the rest in bulk/speed depending on preference, 236 allowing you to out-speed base 80s.
In the center of the team is its star and main wincon: Hisuian Braviary. Hbrav keeps enemy dark types under pressure by threatening to end games at any moment with its strong combination of expanding force, coverage, and speed bosting. Once enemy immunities have been dealt with by the surrounding cast, it is almost impossible to survive a tera psychic expanding force. Air slash and calm mind make for reliable secondary threats to finish weakened immunities, doing 40 to some A-Muk sets at +1. Now, at first glance astute readers might've said something along the lines of "does this man realize non-grounded pokemon don't benefit from terrain?", That's where the layering to the power of tera psychic is. Once activating tera, E-force goes from doing 29 minimum to Empoleon to a whopping 76, doubling in base power. Tera psychic is usually considered lackluster due to defensive issues and lack of power, but psychic terrain improves both issues, removing sucker punch from the equation and empowering the stabs. Max speed is pretty necessary for out-speeding Cyclizar after an esper wing or Gzap after two.
The team's primary knock-turn punisher and one of it's wallbreakers. Psychic terrain boosting psyshock allows Armarouge to comfortably run CM + Endure to benefit from both moves. Espeon's presence on this team greatly enhances the ability to go without boots, allowing multiple switch-ins and potential for a healing wish. Weakness policy then pressures the enemy into thinking twice about knock, unless they accept the trade. A usual game with this team has this mon switching into a Gzap, activating weakness policy, and then forcing tera or a massive chunk on spdef walls. Doing 50-80 to hard walls such as A-Muk and Hisuian-Goodra is well worth is for this team, as it allows the sweepers a much easier time. Psychic terrain prevents the only way of revenge killing this mon by out-speeding it bar scarf electrode after a boost, pretty much forcing progress. Tera fairy is generic as normal/ghost isn't needed for priority immunity, instead being used to potentially tank a hit into an endure for +4 speed.
As previously mentioned, Espeon is this team's way of blocking hazards for Hbrav and Armarouge, providing longevity. An issue some psychic terrain teams can face is a lack of immediate speed, as scarf on such an offensive structure can backfire. However here, scarf allows espeon to function both as a mon that can cripple walls with a scarf and a revenge killer. I have noticed that BO teams can especially struggle against this mon upon their Bisharp dying, expanding force coming from base 130 spatk and 530 speed is brilliantly powerful in endgames. This version of the set utilizes tera ghost + calm mind + alluring voice to 1v1 most blissey sets or generate more sweeping potential. The only coverage chosen being resisted by steels is rough, but most of them are easily abused by the rest of the team or welcomed in trade for chip. If Rachi is proving to be an issue, shadow ball can be substituted for either CM or A-voice while maintaining the Blissey mu, although no fairy coverage gives crawdaunt (mega threat) a free switch in.
If not already a big enough threat with magic guard, buffed psyshock rock can hit like a truck under the terrain. Working as the team's bulky setup mon, Reuniclus functions as a mon that punishes bulkier teams relying on status and chip damage to kill similar threats. Kee berry + Calm mind enables the homunculus to become incredibly hard to kill while recover keeps us healthy. As said earlier not many walls like being hit by psyshock, and the ones that do have a powerful tera blast fighting waiting for them. This set is both capable of forcing tera dark/fairy while punishing either with it's respective coverage options. This EV spread enables it to outspeed, among other things, the usual Alolan-Muk (even creeping those with 8 speed). Moving before A-Muk and other slower walls can be huge for making momentum on haze or healing turns. After 172 is pumped into speed, the rest goes into defense, furthering it's ability to take hits. With all this being taken into account, it serves as the hard A-Muk counter for the team, managing to force tera by out-speeding, tanking hits with tera fighting's defensive ability here, and eventually gain pace on missed rest-talk haze pulls.
Serving as our secondary bulky threat is Necrozma. Filter provides great defensive utility against would-be threats to this team such as A-Muk (when Reun can't tera), knock users, U-turn users, etc. All while being able to surprise the opponent with a second weakness policy slot on the team. Psychic-Ground coverage is highly regarded and for good reason, there are very little things in the tier that can comfortably take both. Substitute provides a nice layer of defense upon enemy switch out, especially useful after being hit with a low power WP activating move. You either outspeed and fall over to a +2 attack while downing the substitute, or go 2nd and take big chip. The listed three moves do a fine enough job at what this mon does, so there is a free moveslot remaining. Stealth rock is what I find to usually work best here, providing the team with an extra layer of damage while the opponent already struggles to find safe switches. That being said, I can see knock off, moonlight, or even trick-room working for utility. EV'd for maximum damage alongside the ability to tank 2 A-Muk knocks, with the rest going into speed.
I believe that summarizes each set's use and thought process well enough. If you were to try this team for yourself, I would say to lead indeedee against almost anything but kleavor, and then react accordingly to the opponent's lead choice. Most of the time this means going into Armarouge/Necrozma on a U-turn/knock. Analyze the opponents key counters to the sweepers/cleaners present, and use the breakers to make paths. For example, using Armarouge/Reuniclus to force a Blissey/A-Muk into using tera so that Hbrav/Reuniclus can clean.
(Team may be incomplete in replays)
Win vs 1639 Stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2430291294-8bkuue9f4xl1e8kkd4v2nx7esn93rq7pw?p2
Win vs 1542 BO/Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2429932756-p3hnuebpn6pvb731eoo9t34u1cly7espw
Win vs 1639 Stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2430291294-8bkuue9f4xl1e8kkd4v2nx7esn93rq7pw?p2
Win vs 1542 BO/Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2429932756-p3hnuebpn6pvb731eoo9t34u1cly7espw
Feedback would greatly be appreciated.
