After playing around with it a bit on the ladder, I would like to nominate Hoopa to move from B -> A, A- at the lowest. As Hoopa is relatively new and I seem to be the only one currently behind this nomination, I wanted to be as detailed as possible in my nomination so I apologize in advance for the length.
I believe that Hoopa is a very underrated threat in the current metagame, perhaps because it is relatively new and admittedly it's speed can leave something to be desired at times. Nevertheless, Hoopa is no doubt one of the most powerful wallbreakers that UU has ever seen, boasting a massive 150 base special attack and a very respectable movepool to compound that strength. With STAB Shadow Ball and Psyshock alone you can lay a heavy neutral or super effective hit on everything in the tier, bar any dark types, and with access to Focus Blast you can break through even those with relative ease (assuming Hoopa has it's glasses on, of course). Hoopa doesn't even need to run another coverage move, freeing up a slot for Substitute or a boosting move such as Nasty Plot, although it is free to run another coverage move such as Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, or even Hidden Power Ice/Fire if it benefits the team. It's even capable of running Trick Room due to its "meh" speed tier, providing support to its team or allowing it to punch holes all by itself. Speaking of its support moves, Hoopa also gets access to both Taunt and Trick, theoretically allowing it to shut down the few things fat enough to switch in to any unboosted hit or cripple it with a Choice item. Granted, I have no experience using either of those moves on this mon and the only relevant things I can think of that would be crippled by such a set would be Blissey (meh), Mandibuzz, and Umbreon (a bit more of a problem to Hoopa) but the point being that it's there, serves a specific purpose, and due to the immense pressure Hoopa can apply thanks to its ridiculous special attack, isn't too unrealistic to pull off. My point being that Hoopa has the tools necessary to be one of those tricky mons with the ability to pick and choose what can counter it. Of course, it can't beat EVERYTHING in one set (although it can beat a lot in just one), but it has just enough versatility to make your opponent think twice before switching into any old thing on this mon.
Enough about Hoopa's offensive options though, we all know just how much of a problem it can be to switch in on, so I'd like to talk about its defenses a bit, something that doesn't get as much mention. Psychic/Ghost typing is both a blessing and a curse for this mon. While it has 2 very useful immunities in Fighting and Normal, as well as a resistance to Poison, due to its 4x weakness to Ghost and Dark it is easily blown away by even the weakest of Knock Offs and Shadow Balls. Due to the prevalence of threats such as Hydreigon and Chandelure, it would be unwise to build a team without solid Ghost and Dark answers, however with Hoopa it's an outright necessity to have some sort of check for those threats. Unfortunately, even then you have to be very wary of Pursuit users, particularly Honchkrow, whom if given a free switch, not only KOs Hoopa regardless of whether or not you switch but also gains a Moxie boost in the process. It's not all bad for Hoopa though, on the special side it sports nice 80/130 defenses, allowing it to easily chew up non super-effective special hits with ease. Compounding that, you are only weak to the aforementioned Ghost and Dark types. For reference, with no investment Hoopa can avoid a 2HKO from the likes of scarf Hydreigon Draco Meteor. Of course, you'd never switch into Hydreigon with Hoopa, but I picked that calc more to show that it can even take hits from some of the tiers most powerful special attackers, uninvested. On a bulkier set (admittedly I have never seen one of these besides the one on my own team, but they are perfectly viable and in fact the main reason I wanted to make this nomination, I will demonstrate this in a moment), Hoopa can switch into the likes of Life Orb Nidoking and avoid the 2HKO.
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Hoopa: 149-177 (40.9 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
With rocks, Nidoking has a mere 13.3% chance to 2HKO, bar the rouge Sucker Punch. In short, unless you're packing Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse, you aren't doing too much to Hoopa on the special side, at least without taking a heavy hit in return, if not getting outright KOd. And of course, as alluded to earlier, Hoopa can prevent spins and HJK/CC sweeps by virtue of its typing, as well as make your opponent think twice before locking into a Normal or Fighting move, for fear of giving Hoopa a free switch.
The way I see it, there are probably 3 main sets we'll be seeing a lot of on Hoopa. Nasty Plot with 3 Attacks or NP+2 Dual STAB+Sub (destroys Stall), offensive Trick Room (destroys Offense), and perhaps the most slept on set of all (seriously, I'm the only one I've seen run this and it runs through both Stall and to a lesser extent Balance), Sub Calm Mind.
Hoopa @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock/Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
So I'm sure a lot of you might think I'm crazy to use a mon with base 150 special attack and not invest, but hear me out. Uninvested you already hit a massive 336 special attack, enough to put a serious dent in anything bar a dedicated special wall. For reference, with no investment at all you are a mere 13 points shy of a fully invested, Timid Hydreigon. As such, Hoopa is STILL able to OHKO many mons, given a super effective hit. Thus, with no investment Hoopa can still check many of the things it needs to, no setup required. With the given EVs you outspeed everything up to and including neutral max speed base 80s. This includes threats such as Adamant Mamoswine, Gatr before a boost, Cloyster, Offensive Nidoqueen, Slurpuff before unburden, and anything slower than the aforementioned pokes. Because Hoopa has such high Sp.Atk even uninvested, you can seriously cripple or outright KO many of these mons without even setting up, especially with Hazard support. The HP EVs allow you to set up on practically any defensive threat in the tier, bar Umbreon and Mandibuzz for obvious reasons. They also allow a fresh Substitute to tank weak U-Turns from the likes of Scarf Hydreigon, forcing them to stay in and attack you directly. Shadow Ball is a must on this set, dealing solid neutral damage to most of the tier and becoming quite potent after even just a single boost. Likewise, Substitute is mandatory as it allows you to setup freely on any wall that needs status to beat you. Partly from experience and partly from the rankings list, this includes things such as:
Blissey, Tentacruel, Vaporeon, Porygon2, Florges, Cresselia, Empoleon (bar roar), Defensive Roserade, Shuckle, Amoonguss, Alomomola, Aromatisse, Blastoise (non-mega), Gourgeist, Milotic, Suicune (!), Defensive Seismetoad and Weezing.
That's a lot of mons, but Hoopa can also take advantage of moves such as Overheat, Leaf Storm, and Draco Meteor to create even more setup opportunities. At -2, you can safely bring Hoopa in on the likes of Mega Sceptile, Rotom-H/Rotom-C, Noivern, and Hydreigon (be sure it's actually choiced, -2 Dark Pulse still blows you away lol) and get behind a sub. While some of them may deal 25% at -2, absolutely none of them can at -4. Oh, and of course being a ghost is pretty handy too, allowing you to setup on Choiced Normal/Fighting attacks from mons such as Mienshao, Heracross, and PZ. TL;DR, Hoopa sets up on a lot. And that's not even entering the realm of predicted switches. Due to it's natural bulk and the prospect of a powerful super effective hit, Hoopa can threaten out a lot of offensive things incapable of OHKOing it as well, assuming Hoopa is healthy. This creates EVEN MORE opportunity to get behind a sub and wreak havoc. And of course, Sub can also be used to dodge Sucker Punch. This works best if Sub has not yet been revealed, but it's good for creating 50/50s in a do or die situation.
With Psyshock, you have an easier time setting up and sweeping with the added bonus of 100% beating other Calm Mind users 1v1, Suicune and Florges in particular as the others do not appreciate Shadow Ball. With Focus Blast, you have perfect neutral coverage in tandem with Shadow Ball, but perhaps more importantly, you can potentially beat all of Hoopa's offensive checks from behind a substitute, allowing you to setup and sweep later with your checks removed, or opening a hole for a teammate to sweep.
0 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 270-318 (83 - 97.8%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Honchkrow: 206-243 (60.4 - 71.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Absol: 374-440 (138 - 162.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Houndoom: 270-318 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Krookodile: 330-390 (99.6 - 117.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
No surprises here, most offensive Dark types are blown away by uninvested Focus Blast or require just a tiny bit of prior damage in order to secure a KO. At +1, none of them stand a chance and even Umbreon is 2HKOd, leaving Mandibuzz as the only true counter to a Shadow Ball/Focus Blast variant.
In short, this set allows for numerous setup opportunities against many staples of Stall and Balance. Depending on the structure of the team, both Psyshock/Shadow Ball and Focus Blast/Shadow Ball are viable, and thanks to Calm Mind coupled with the HP investment special attackers will quickly become a liability against this thing unless they pack a super effective move. U-Turn shenanigary can be played around thanks to Sub, forcing something to take a huge hit or risk allowing you to setup. While this set shines against Stall, similar to the NP set, it can also hold its own against Balance thanks to substitute and the ability to boost its Sp.Def to incredible heights. This set really only struggles with Hyper Offense, and even then the threats are for the most part frail enough that nothing really wants to take a hit from Hoopa, so even then chances are Hoopa is at the very least going to secure you some solid damage.
So, with all that being said, I think Hoopa definitely deserves a spot in the A Rank, perhaps A-. It can serve multiple roles against multiple playstyles and serve them well. Nasty Plot is terrifying, sending Hoopa to over 800 Sp.Atk after a single boost. Trick Room, while more difficult to build with (no more difficult than most Trick Room users, however) is a nasty surprise for Hyper Offense, as it has little to switch in forcing it to resort to priority. Finally, Sub+Calm Mind is very tough on Stall and Balance alike, and can even serve as a win condition once key threats are removed. Hoopa has many options, and the ability to pick its own counters, something that very few mons can say. It has a very unfortunate 4x weakness to Dark and Ghost, forcing your team to have some answer to common users of these types, and the Hoopa user MUST be wary of Pursuit users, assuming Hoopa is not behind a sub. Still, it's hard to deny that Hoopa is a huge threat, one that I have hopefully demonstrated to be a little more versatile than it may first appear. I feel the Calm Mind set certainly fits the bill of "capable of sweeping significant portions of the metagame", whereas the wallbreaking and Trick Room sets manage to provide invaluable support to many mons in the tier. I love Hoopa so I'd like to say A but with a 4x Pursuit weakness and the inability to beat every playstyle on a single set, I could definitely see an argument for A-. B certainly feels too low to me, however, as Hoopa is in fact a bit more splashable than that, thanks to its potential to be a wallbreaker, sweeper, or support itself along with its teammates with Trick Room.
