Project OU Next Best Thing - Cycle Last: Mega Latias (Voting)

Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Protect
- Power Gem

Stealth Rock is necessary on every team, Protect to scout for choice sets and Sludge Wave and Power Gem pressure pokemon like Tornadus and fairy types.
 
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Nihilego @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Nihilego actually makes for a pretty decent suicide lead for offenses that can abuse it. I've used this as a suicide lead alongside Vincune on screens, sort of condensing Lando-T and Gren into one slot while not being as offensively prolific. The big thing that I like about Nihilego as a lead is that it can beat basically every Defogger in the tier with relative ease. The reason why this set opts for Sludge Wave over Power Gem is for the increased damage against Tapu Fini and Rotom-W, as being able to OHKO Torn-T isn't nearly as important as the increased damage on those two. Obviously, this isn't a perfect set by any means, but it's a decent suicide lead that fills its niche well.
 
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Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 76 HP / 176 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Wave
This set makes for a decent late game cleaner thanks to it's coverage and EV spread redirecting Beast Boost into Speed
176 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 369-437 (104.8 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
176 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 380-452 (119.1 - 141.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
176 SpA Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Kartana: 147-173 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
176 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Greninja-Ash: 315-372 (110.5 - 130.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
176 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 260-307 (71.8 - 84.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
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LO Thunder Wave Nihilego

Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power Ice
- Power Gem


General idea
Thunder Wave is still strong despite the 90% accuracy and it is quite unexpected from Nihilego: you can punish some careless switch-ins with this simple move. With this trick you gain some team support and free turns to spread some (even chip) damage to the opponent's team.
What I really like of this set is that nice Thunder Wave + HP Ice combo: generally speaking, what is immune to Thunder Wave is hit hard by a LO-boosted HP Ice.
Power Gem is the Rock STAB (really shabby, but that's it) and Bomb is picked over Sludge Wave for the nice 30% poison chance on Ground/Ghost-type checks that usually lack reliable recovery moves.


EVs (spread) and item
It is the standard offensive one. When Beast Boost activates, we'll get a +1 SpA boost that is mandatory with these moves with a middling base power.
Calcs:
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 406-478 (106.2 - 125.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp-Mega: 354-416 (99.1 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 385-458 (109.3 - 130.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 367-432 (101.3 - 119.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Team(mates) support
Something to get rid of Steel types is mandatory because they can stop Nihilego even at +2 SpA.
Hazards support is always appreciated to net KOs with more ease.
 
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Katy said:
Nihilego @ Choice Scarf
snip
Click to expand...
I feel like you kinda have to run Toxic Spikes on this set, Tspikes are basically the only reason to use Nihilego in the first place, so foregoing them on a set as offensively terrible as Scarf is gonna make it dead weight a ton of the time.
 
I see you're trying to fill out the OO for your analysis
Reseverving Bind BoltBeam
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Nihilego @ Electrium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bind
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Bind lets you trap and eliminate things that act as switch ins to the standard set, such as garchomp and gliscor(with hidden power ice), along with things that may want to pivot into sludge bomb or power gem and then avoid the Z move, like Celesteela and Toxapex.(with Gigavolt Havoc from Electrium z). Exact Calcs are looking a bit wonky because of lefties and poison heal not working nicely with being binded on the turn they switch in means I actually need to do a bit of very simple math so i'll try and put that later.
 
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Rockium-Z
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Nihilego @ Rockium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes/Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Thunderbolt/HP Ground

Thanks to it's Rock stab Nihilego can take advantage of a strong continental crush which gives it a nice mid ground play due to the lack of rock resists in OU as well as a way to hit it's checks such as celesteela, scizor and heatran for strong neutral damage, the same goes for other problematic defoggers such as gliscor, spdef rotom-w and lando-t. T-Spikes are the prefered hazards of choice for the obvious reason of them being hard to come by but stealth rocks can be utilized if the team calls for role compression. T-bolt is used to further pressure celesteela and toxapex but can be dropped for hp Ground to always assure the kill against spdef heatran.

252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 198-234 (51.2 - 60.6%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 244 SpD Scizor-Mega: 204-241 (59.4 - 70.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 200+ SpD Rotom-Wash: 184-217 (60.5 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 232+ SpD Celesteela: 186-220 (46.8 - 55.4%) -- 17.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 297-349 (84.3 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 310-366 (81.1 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Partners:
Since this set can't obliterate pex and still struggles with bulky Steels such as magearna, mawile, magnezone and even celesteela Partners that pressure these are ideal. Heatran is a prime example, as it traps pex and kills all of the above mentioned Steels. With t-spikes and stealth rocks they also form a potent hazard stacking core. Mixed Mega Chomp also deserves a mention since it can overwhelm celesteela with it's fire blast in conjonction with Nihilego's Z and just eliminates the other mentioned pokemon with it's stab earthquake. It also forms the same hazard stacking core with Nihilego. Rocky Helmet Torn-t can help with nihilego's ground weakness and punish scarf lando-t's and scizor's u-turns.
 
Nihilego @ Rockium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave

Full offensive set , Knock Off helps in early game for common switches, taking possible sustain item (Jirachi, Exadrill, Gastrodon, Chansey, Celesteela, Ferro, Spd Heatran). Sludge wave for stab damage and Rockium Z gives big amounts of damage. Finally I opted for HP Ice to kill Lando without usin the Z move.

252 SpA Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 296-352 (84 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Poison Heal <-- KO with rocks
252 SpA Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 312-368 (81.6 - 96.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery <-- defensive lando
252 SpA Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 312-368 (97.8 - 115.3%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO <-- Z lando
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 144-171 (47.3 - 56.2%) -- 24.2% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Nihilego Continental Crush (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 232+ SpD Celesteela: 186-220 (46.8 - 55.4%) -- 17.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
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To break the tie between SubSplitToxic, Focus Sash, and Knock Off, I'm voting for the Focus Sash set. And this concludes the voting phase; congratulations to Mannat for winning! Your submission will be added to the Hall of Fame soon. Ok, the new cycle begins!

Cycle Thirteen - Serperior
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Meet the grass snake! Serperior is infamous for its Leaf Storm, which becomes only stronger thanks to Contrary. Of course, this amazing snowball potential isn't the only reason why Serperior is good; its access to Glare lets it annoy offensive teams a lot and cripple its answers like Tornadus-T and Heatran, and naturally great Speed tier makes it even tougher to stop from running over many offenses by spamming Leaf Storm. Balanced teams usually don't enjoy eating such a powerful Leaf Storms too. Ok, I'm waiting for some cool sets on Serperior from you guys!

Banned Sets
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The deadline is Thursday 15th of August. Good luck!
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specs

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Serperior @ Choice Specs
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain

Choice Specs Serperior hits relatively hard right from the start and with a Leaf Storm Special Attack boost it is a threatening menace for every pokémon, which doesn't resists grass moves very well
and even then it can spread out a high amount of damage on the likes of spdef Toxapex and also Tornadus T, when it tries to come in on a +2 + Specs leaf Storm.
On both these pokémon there is a chance, that it'll be a OHKO after the +2 due to Contrary.
The other moves are Hidden Power Fire for the many steels in this tier and the 3rd slot is given to Dragon Pulse, so it can put out some damage on the many dragon types running around in this tier.
The last slot ist Giga Drain for some recovery if you'd like to get some Health back for Serperior.
Also if someone dares to Knock Off the Specs and you're at +2 due to a Leaf Storm already you have the freedom of the moveslots and with +2 you'll hit everything pretty hard.
The Idea behind this set is to be capable to break through things, which Serperior can't do otherwise.

Calcs:
+2 252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 247-292 (81.2 - 96%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
+2 252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 241-284 (66.5 - 78.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 220-260 (61.6 - 72.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 252-297 (70.5 - 83.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 265-313 (83 - 98.1%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Latios-Mega: 184-218 (61.1 - 72.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Latios-Mega: 105-124 (34.8 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
into
+2 252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Latios-Mega: 210-247 (69.7 - 82%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Hidden Power Fire vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Magearna: 122-144 (40.5 - 47.8%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Choice Specs Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kartana: 132-156 (50.9 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
 
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Serperior @ Iapapa Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Taunt
- Synthesis / Nature Power
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Hidden Power [Ground]

Stallbreaker Serp. Be an annoying bitch and spam Taunt+Leaf Storm, and then it's customizable. If you wanna use Synthesis, go Lefties. If you wanna use the heat Electric Terrain Nature Power to snipe flying types like a chad, then use Iapapa. The Hidden Power is whatever you wanna hit, either Scizor/Ferro or Tran
 
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Grassium Z
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Serperior @ Grassium Z
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Glare

With leech seed + Glare Serperior can wear down and eventually beat many of it's checks and Counters such as Heatran, Volcarona, Zapdos, Magearna and a lot of other bulky Steels while boosting up for an incredibly strong 195 base power Bloom doom. Grassium Z is listed as the item of choice to make up for this serp's pp issues giving it 1 extra attack that can assure it a KO. Serperior also gains the ability to stall break since most unaware users flat out lose to it or struggle against leech seed + glare and even the bulkiest Special walls can't stand against a fully boosted Bloom doom.

+6 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 531-625 (75.5 - 88.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO <- coupled with leech and glare chansey will easily get overwhelmed and can't even begin to hard Switch into this serp
+2 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Sableye-Mega: 274-324 (90.4 - 106.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
+4 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 226-267 (56 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO <- it still loses to tangrowth but this is worth noting since it means serp can win against it if it's been weakened before.
+4 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 352-415 (115.7 - 136.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 248 HP / 188+ SpD Jirachi: 318-374 (78.9 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+4 200 SpA Serperior Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Tapu Bulu in Grassy Terrain: 350-412 (102 - 120.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Partners:
This Serperior loses to many Pokemon that 4x resist it's only attacking move These pokemon include the likes of Ferrothorn, Celesteela and scizor. All of These can be trapped and eliminated by Magnezone. Further more this Serperior will struggle to break through bulky grasses such as tangrowth and mega venusaur and still appreciates Support in order to handle to likes of magearna and heatran since leech seeds won't be enough handle them on their own, so fire types like either charizard form, heatran, and on more offensive builds the likes of blacephalon or victini should fit the bill. Water and ground types that pressure fire types like volcarona, both charizard formes and the aformentioned heatran are appreciated.

PS: i'd appreciate if i could be notified in the case of this set being considered too similar to the Standard Sub + glare set, but i believe the Addition of a 1 time nuke + the lack of coverage and leech seeds make this set Play pretty differently.
 
Okay I’m redacting my original post because after laddering with it for a couple hours I’ve decided it’s trash, even though it’s a meme I have terrible luck so I can’t say the RNG was worth it. I’m still leaving it up because it’s heat but I’ll submit something else in it’s place. If some other madman wants to submit that atrocity then they’re welcome to take it from me.

Anyway...

Knock Off + Glare Serperior

190217


Serperior @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power Fire
-Knock Off
-Glare

I chose to do this set as a legitimate post, unlike the dumb meme below, since I believe it makes the most of what Serperior is capable of: being a hit-and-run mon until the late game, where it can attempt a sweep, and being a mon that threatens every playstyle, from offense to stall.

Leaf Storm and HP Fire are obviously fantastic but Serp’s underwhelming movepool makes the rest of the set more challenging. I’ve never liked how the usual SubSeed can be unreliable and easily worn down so I wanted to incorporate better utility options. Knock Off and Glare are insanely good moves in general, as being to remove Leftovers and Assault Vests from checks / counters or brokenly spread paralysis is very valuable to Serp and its teammates. Seriously this set has no switch-ins in any meta or any tier. It’s annoying as hell.

Basically this thing is used by switching around in the early and throwing off Knocks and Glares for free to cripple Chansey, Magearna, Mega Latias, Heatran, Tornadus-Therian, and others. Once they’re chipped or dead you just run through the remnants with Leaf Storm. Add some hazards and it’s even better.

and of course, some heat
Cancer Serp (Cancerp?)

aka

Leaf Tornado

190217


Serperior @ Bright Powder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Substitute
-Leaf Tornado
-Hidden Power [Fire]
-Leech Seed

Why use a storm when you can use a tornado? This set is mostly heat but it can cheese... well, get around some of its checks by abusing Bright Powder in tandem with accuracy drops from Leaf Tornado. Despite Leaf Storm’s absence it’s still optimal to run Contrary because of opposing Sticky Web and Defog. HP Fire prevents it from being walled by Ferrothorn and such and Sub takes advantage of free turns from opponents that miss. Leech Seed is the best option in the last slot so this set can get past Heatran and Toxapex and maintain itself in general. Glare works if you’re really looking for some spicy queso but you’re better off pairing this with Thunder Wave Clef or Rotom, or Toxic/T Spikes Pex.

I guess there’s still stuff like Coba HP Rock but this is far more entertaining.

Zhro might wanna change Contrary to Overgrow for that set, chief
 
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Serperior @ Waterium Z
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Tail
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade

After using the 150% of my brain capacity, I bring this LORD set. Serp with +2 attack kills Pivot Torna with water Z+rock damage and 1KO Heatran.

+2 56 Atk Serperior Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian: 255-300 (70.4 - 82.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 56 Atk Serperior Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 406-478 (105.1 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Steel With It said:
(Zhro Contrary Swords Dance would give you -2, not +2.)
Click to expand...
fixed!
 
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