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One of Urshifu's lovely niches is being able to lure out Toxapex and Final Gambit it away. You know who really likes not having to see Toxapex on the other side of the field? Keldeo. By stacking two threatening Water/Fighting mons on the same team, this pairing can often overload opposing defensive cores, and then both of them have the speed and/or priority to do some serious damage cleaning up the opposing team. Between Final Gambit and Secret Sword, it is hard to find a Water resist/immunity that can stand up to this pairing and prevent them from breaking the game open, allowing either to break for the other.
perdemos (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake / Stealth Rock
- Toxic / Stealth Rock
Since Facade 2HKOs basically all neutral targets it forces in steels like tran corv gene, while koko volts on all of them and safely brings in terrak. terrak also 2hkos literally everything and when given a free switchin it makes progress really easily; this is compounded by the fact that koko can taunt stuff like corv and keep them low, e.g. corv is in OHKO range of terrak after rocks + facade. Speaking of rocks terrak is a decent setter and greatly helps the duo's wallbreaking prowess. terrak also forces a bunch of switches / protect uses so koko can usually come in safely to activate its orb/ simply get a free turn.
Cinderace @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Gunk Shot / Zen Headbutt
Cinderace and Tapu Koko can form a potent VoltTurn core that can pivot around until they find a favorable matchup for themselves. Tapu Koko has some trouble breaking through things such as heatran and other steels like Corviknight, Ferrothorn and even Skarmory and Doublade. Cinderace can help get rid of these annoying guys through its powerful moves with no drawbacks. Gunk shot on Cinderace is to deal with fairy types that will switch into Cinderace's own attacks, while Zen Headbutt helps deal with pesky poison types like Toxapex that may switch into Tapu Koko's fairy type facade. Cinderace's ability to force out many common mons can give Tapu Koko an opportunity to get free turns to gain momentum or simply activate its orb so it can come in and start wreaking havoc later. Cinderace and Tapu Koko can help each other gain momentum and while Tapu Koko does large amounts of damage to anything that doesn't resist it, and can volt and taunt it's common switchins to enable cinderace.
Landorus (M) @ Wise Glasses / Leftovers
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
Or
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 168 Atk / 88 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Weather Ball
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
Desolate Land-orus is an odd yet effective partner for Terrakion. With Koko's blazing fast speed, the only faster threat (without Scarf) that scares it out at high HP is Barraskewda, which Landorus can prevent from gaining momentum and forces mind games when its set is revealed. Against Scarf threats, the two still cover each other nicely, as Koko forces out Zapdos-Galar, while Landorus provides a ground immunity against opposing Landorus.
Koko struggles against bulky mons that resist Fairy or have Dauntless Shield/Intimidate, such as Ferrothorn, Heatran, Hippowdon, Doublade and Volt Absorb Corviknight and Skarmory. Landorus threatens all of these, except Flash Fire/Bulletproof Ferrothorn which can be worn down over time. Koko also appreciates Stealth Rock that Landorus can provide, in addition to forming a great VoltTurn core.
Set details: The most important thing, Landorus is chosen over its Therian forme because of its higher Speed, and also higher SpA for the non Life Orb variation. The higher speed allows it to outspeed Pokemon that threaten Lando-T, the most relevant including Zapdos, Volcarona (which can Quiver Dance and destroy a lot of builds these two are used in), Genesect and Lele. The higher SpA allows the non LO set to 2HKO Hippo, who otherwise stalls it out with Toxic or set Rock on its own. Wise Glasses allow Lando to net the 2HKO on Hippowdon without fearing LO wearing it down. The EV on the LO set allows it to 2HKO Lefties Hippo.
252 SpA Landorus Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Hippowdon in Harsh Sunshine: 197-232 (46.9 - 55.2%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (69.5% if Rock is up or not Leftovers)
88 SpA Life Orb Landorus Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Hippowdon in Harsh Sunshine: 225-265 (53.5 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Landorus Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight in Harsh Sunshine: 240-284 (60 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
168 Atk Life Orb Landorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ferrothorn: 153-183 (43.4 - 51.9%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
There's a bunch of ways this set synergizes well with the kekker. First of all, it's a slow pivoting wish passer - it can safely bring koko in off a flip turn and proc its Flame Orb, while keeping it topped of over the course of the game. This is particularly important, since despite having roost, burn chip, helmet chip and rocks chip can add up over the course of a game, forcing Koko to heal up at certain points. Wish alleviates that issue, letting you spam attacking moves more often. Second, its a good switchin to (non Desoland) steel types that want to come in on Koko to eat Facades. Third, it can fish for Scald burns on opposing Ferro switching in since that lets Koko 1v1 it more easily. Fourth, since this Koko runs -spd its not as good of a Zapdos check as the MG pivot sets. With the heavy SPD invest Vape can eat a Thunder, taking like 65 and regen half of it back, which takes some of the load off of Koko when it comes to checking the bird.
Genesect @ Life Orb
Ability: Tinted Lens
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Leech Life
- Explosion
- Shift Gear
Pixie Koko has very few reliable answers, but one of them is Heatran, who quad resists Pixilate Facade, doesn't particularly fear Volt Switch, and usually has the bulk to check it multiple times over the course of the match. Tinted Genesect is here to lure and remove Heatran from the match, allowing Koko to terrorize the opposing team without its biggest check standing in the way. Genesect makes for an effective lure as Heatran normally is your opponents best answer to most Genesect sets, meaning you can fairly reliably draw it out. Against teams that Genesect does not need to explode against, it makes a great win condition as it can fairly easily clean up teams weakened by Koko with a Shift Gear under its belt. Since they share a number of the same soft-checks, like Intimidate Corv, one is usually able to break for the other to clean.
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Tinted Lens Genesect Explosion vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 523-616 (135.4 - 159.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
Koko tends to struggle with guys like volt absorb corviknight and Toxapex. It also does't have breat sustainability because it is burned. Grachomp is able to cover for both of these, since it is able to hit Toxapex super effectively, and force Corviknight in to always take chip from rocks or stone edge. In these positions Corv is never making any progress and just gets chipped down and stuff, allowed Koko to break it later. Pair this core, with a heal bell pokemon to really round it off! Oh, this guy also really pressures heatran and stuff, which koko struggles with.
Azelf @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Expanding Force
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Trick / Psyshock
Specs Azelf is a great pairing with Flame Orb Tapu Koko, as it draws in Mandibuzz, Moltres-Galar, Silvally-Dragon and Blissey, as well as being something that can heavily pressure Regenerator Heatran and Ferrothorn. Additionally, Tapu Koko helps pressure Toxapex, Volt Absorb Corviknight and Mew. Given that both of these mons are also fast pivots, they can also hold their own versus offensive structures, and due to the heavy amount of damage that they can create, as well as Azelf being able to block forms of priority, they tend not to get broken by faster moves like Triage Draining Kiss, Grassy Glide and Extreme Speed.
Thanks for all of the submissions! The winners this week are Vaporeon from The Number Man, Genesect from UT, Terrakion from pastebin.com/5prjvzV9 (lph), and Azelf from Chazm! Next week is Balanced Hackmons...
Zekrom tends to struggle with Magic Bounce Steel-types and Fairy-Types as they can block it from setting hazards or quickly remove them with Rapid Spin, thus making it difficult to make much progress with Spikes or Zekroms attacks. Henceforth a team would want a secondary hazard setter that has a good match-up against these incredible common pokemon. Thus Desolate Land Ho-Oh:
AnInterestingIdea (Ho-Oh) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- V-create
- Synthesis
- Stealth Rock
Would be an excellent partner as not only does it resist Fairy, but its strong V-Creates force out the Magic Bounce pokemon that frequently can deny Zekrom its Spikes. In addition to that, it's more than capable of filling a role as a secondary hazard setter as many pokemon are forced out by the threat of V-Create. Xerneas, Tapu, Fini, Magic Bounce Ho-Oh, and most Steel Types without Immunity abilities can't take Swords Dance Boosted V-Creates and can't really touch Ho-Oh offensively either, thus making those corresponding pokemon set-up and hazard bait.
Edit: Shoutouts to idea for creating the Ho-Oh set.
Using my rudimentary knowledge of BH, the Zekrom set seems to be a nice breaker. This Regigigas appreciates having things broken for it so it can clean up. cityscapes brought a team featuring a similar Zekrom/Gigas core in OMWC, so I don't think I'm totally off base.
Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Mind Blown
- Glacial Lance
Pheromosa outpaces threats to Zekrom such as Zamazenta-C and Eternatus and can pressure them with big damage from super effective hits. It also has a strong U-turn and can click it for free against common switch-ins like Giratina and other slow and fat dragons like Zygarde-C to bring Zekrom in safely. Zekrom can also protect Pheromosa from Triage Flying-types in a pinch thanks to resisting their main STAB move.
Thanks for all of the submissions! Decided to change the deadlines over to Sundays as that works better for my schedule with uni. All of the submitted sets look good and will be added to the HoF! Next week is STABmons...
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- No Retreat
Terrakion helps Thundy-T against opposing Thundy-T, Tyranitar, and Rotom-Heat. Double Dance allows Terrakion to act as a win con vs offense and as a breaker vs bulkier builds. Thundy-T can break Toxapex, Slowbro, Seismitoad, Hippowdon, and Corviknight. Both form a very potent offensive core that is very hard to wall, while still possessing solid speed tiers in the meta.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Final Gambit
- Aqua Jet
Water + Fighting pairs well with Flying + Electric since they cover each other's weaknesses pretty well, especially with thundy-t having volt absorb. I went with a cb set cause I personally prefer big bunguses that hit hard and I can always just immediately click gambit if I don't think it is doing anything in the game. No pivot move cause I honestly believe having jet is better because if I ever need it, I have it and if I didn't have it and I lost a game because of it, I would mald. Also, why pivot when I could just click a move with big number or just gambit??? Also probably helps in the sand match up cause we all know thundy-t isn't landing any fb's against ttar or excadrill...or anything really for that matter.
Thundy can make progress against mostly everything if u can get it in enough times, and Buzzwole can get it said enough times with u turn. It is also a reliable check to ttar, which means that thundy does not have to risk hitting focus miss or get accelrocked against it, and can force out bliss/Chansey tho u do fear status
Thanks for all the submissions and once again apologies for the delay... i swear one week we'll stop having holidays to throw my days off. As we all agree, Fighting-types make a good combo for Thundurus-T! All the sets will be added to the Hall of Fame. Next week is AAA!
Week 35: Turboblaze Heatran (Almost Any Ability)
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Turboblaze
EVs: 252 HP / 188 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
You have until 1/23 to submit a partner for Heatran. As always reservations last 24 hours, so be sure to finish posts in a timely manner!
Corviknight is a great partner for deso tran, as it can safely swap into mons that force out tran like Garchomp, Lando, terrak etc. It can also give tran safe switchins with u turn, letting tran preserve it health.
Zarude-Dada @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Darkest Lariat
- Close Combat
- U-turn
Zarude-Dada (the only viable Zarude Set) forms a powerful pair with Turboblaze Heatran. Zarude can eliminate threats and common switchins to Heatran like Primarina, Barraskewda and Fini while stacking passive recovery on top of Leftovers and weakening Earthquakes from things like Garchomp. Heatran, in turn, deals well with things like Corviknight and Ferrothorn and helps to get chip on revenge kill targets like Tapu Lele and Terrakion. Heatran also appreciates the help breaking through specially defensive mons like Blissey and AV Swampert. Heatran also has trouble breaking through set up sweepers like Calm Mind Magic Guard Koko, which Zarude is capable of revenge killing.
Cinderace @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Gunk Shot
- High Jump Kick
Cinderace has great synergy with Heatran as Heatran is able to deal with Flash Fire Corviknight, a Pokemon that Cinderace struggles with, while Cinderace is able to pressure Tapu Fini with Gunk Shot. Cinderace also appreciates Heatran being able to set up rocks many times of the course of a game, as Cinderace sometimes lacks to strength needed to break through its checks.
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Haze
- Knock Off
- Toxic
Great defensive partner with heatran, Heatran's guarenteed stealth rock and pressure vs common defoggers such as Corviknight combined with toxapex's knock off can easily chip down enemies. Defensive heatran is relatively weak to setup sweepers, especially those whom are immune to toxic, and toxapex can prankster haze the target to make up for it. Further on, Toxapex can comfortably absorb water and fighting type attacks that heatran is afraid of, while heatran can deny psychic sweepers that threatens toxapex.
As I've already mentioned a few times, stacking fire types is very good in AAA because (as stresh often points out) the best form of counterplay for Deso variants is not the same as for MG variants or Moldy variants. In practice this means that by stacking fire types you either overwhelm the mon that checks both of them, or you exploit a team's less than ideal MU vs one of your mons.
In theory, just about any Fire type works as long as it's Desoland, because you really want to run Desoland on firespam teams, otherwise you're too weak to flip turn. But i chose Volcarona specifically because heatran often invites both garchomp and zapdos (two of the most splashable volc counters) in and pressures it via repeated toxic -> magma + protect sequences, wearing it down pretty reliably for the sweep. Furthermore, non BP tran is not a great Lele check, but Volcarona with some SPD is, as long as the Lele doesnt carry psychic. Last, this volcarona can abuse a toxicd swampert pretty hard by blocking its flip turn and forcing it to take additional chip after coming in on tran, altho you do need to be wary of toxic (or carry heal bell on the team) and stone edge.
(ev spread can be whatever tbh)
PrimSea Zapdos is very much enabled by Turboblaze Heatran--particularly by the fact that Heatran poisons common regen switchins like avpert and regen Blissey. On slower-paced builds, this means you can gameplan for things like Heatran poisoning everyone and working together with Zapdos to wear them down over time. Hurricane + U-turn is quite problematic for a decent amount of Pokemon [especially when they're poisoned], and it doesn't take much to setup for an endgame where the continuous chip from unblockable rocks + toxic and high-powered STAB moves pulls through in the end.
