Project OU Next Best Thing: Cycle 87 - Not hosted anymore

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Voting is up! This was a pretty cool round, all of these sets were very explorative into Celesteela!

:ss/celesteela:

The winner is…

:Occa Berry: Acrobatics by TheSergio235!

:Choice Band: Choice Band by RedDiamond1024 - 2
:Expert Belt: Offensive Expert Belt by Smashburn - 3
:Leftovers: Defensive / Classic by 658Greninja - 3
:Occa Berry: Acrobatics by TheSergio235 - 7
:Assault Vest: Assault Vest by Mandibuladel5555 - 5
:Leftovers: Metal Sound by nameless90 - 1

Week 70: Zeraora

:ss/zeraora:

Zeraora is an iconic win condition that boasts an absolutely amazing Speed tier, in tandem with good coverage, a great STAB, and a solid Attack stat. The main Zeraora set in the meta is a Bulk Up set, letting it act as a scary late-game win condition on many bulky offenses, especially if Ground-type counterplay is removed. However, Zeraora has a very vast movepool on all sides of the spectrum, leaving a lot of room for creativity and versatility.

You guys have until next Saturday, April 23. I cannot wait to see what you guys come up with, seeing how successful last week was!

Banned Sets

:heavy duty boots: (Standard BU)​
 
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AV Offensive Lead

Zeraora @ Assault Vest
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 196 HP / 60 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Endeavor
- Invertivolt

"Fly like a butterfly, but sting like a bee"
This Zeraora is meant to dish out some decent damage with its good (although not great) invested Atk stat, but with the possibility to stomach some hits through AV and Plasma Fist when you predict an incoming Normal move. It is worth mentioning that Plasma Fist can give Zeraora a way to recharge some health back thanks to Volt Absorb, which is already useful to stop opposing VoltSwitchers.
No Close Combat because it ruins immediately our natural bulk and leaves us prone to be revenge killed by priority moves.
Knock Off is for both coverage and utility; Invertivolt is to keep the momentum whereas Endeavor is the "coverage" move towards generic targets. Keep in mind that Zeraora is worn down with every possible hazards, so its hp are going down easily.
196 hp EVs are picked to accomplish these features:
0 SpA Life Orb Clefable Moonblast vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Zeraora: 103-122 (28.1 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO
0 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Zeraora: 132-156 (36 - 42.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
 
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Knock Off + Toxic

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Toxic

Electric + Fighting + Dark provides solid coverage while Toxic cripples the tier's ground-types and bulky neutral targets such as Buzzwole. It pairs well with anything that can wear down steels as Close Combat cannot OHKO them. Some options include Tapu Lele, Melmetal, Weavile, and spikes support. U-Turn and Teleport are also valuable for getting Zeraora onto the field safely.
 
Choice Band Zeraora

:ss/zeraora: :choice band:
Zeraora @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Play Rough (occasionally I see a rando toxic here but I think it is just worse)

This set is an excellent wallbreaker against many of the offensive structures that have been cropping up recently. It has particularly good matchups into teams that rely on Garchomp as their ground, or have the audacity to go groundless and rely on Buzzwhole instead. Since it lacks boots, try to keep stealth rocks off and keep in mind that the opponent will likely assume band if you take hazard damage. It fits best on offensive team structures that cannot wait for it's toxic variation to chip the grounds down, but not HO as being choice locked loses momentum. Its best niche is as a lure that needs to encompass Garchomp, as it can almost never clean due to chip and choice lock and faces competition as a ground lure from aqua tail Garchomp especially. It also suffers against ground types with recovery such as hippo, so stallbreakers are very appreciated, be it future sight or another breaker. good partners include Heatran due to it being able to set rocks and assist when pressuring grounds, and Volcarona (with proper support against tran and waters) who struggles against tank chomp and aqua tail chomp.
 
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I hope this set isn't banned but oh well

:ss/zeraora:
Zeraora @ Air Balloon
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Acrobatics
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat / Knock Off​

Acrobatics has 4 main targets, Buzzwole, Rillaboom which regular bu zera can't ohko at +1, Bulky Volcarona which can even beat regular bu if it gets the burn, and getting an extra hit on Lando in lategame. Here are the standard set calcs (using the sets in the calc):

+1 252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 248 HP / 156 Def Volcarona: 255-300 (68.3 - 80.4%)
+1 252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 192-226 (56.3 - 66.2%)

Here are the calcs with acrobatics (again, calc sets):

+1 252 Atk Zeraora Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 352-416 (103.2 - 121.9%)
+1 252 Atk Zeraora Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 156 Def Volcarona: 374-440 (100.2 - 117.9%)
+1 252 Atk Zeraora Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Buzzwole: 400-472 (95.6 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

This set ofc has to choose between CC or Knock Off, that is hitting Pult or Heatran + Ferro. Is not meant to use as a sweeper (even thought it can) but rather as a partner to mons such as SD Kartana that may find Buzzwole and Bulky Volc just as annoying. The balloon is not super hard to set up on things such as U-Turn from Lando, Weavile trying to chip you with Ice Shard, Buzzwole trying to 2HKO you, or Rilla Grassy Glide once you are at +1.
 
:Zeraora:
Life Orb Offensive Pivot
Zeraora @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 196 Atk / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot / Knock Off
- Volt Switch
​
This older Sun and Moon era set allows Zeraora to hit would-be Ground type checks for high damage. Life Orb gives it an immediate power boost without locking itself into an undesired move and mixed EVs + a Hasty nature allow it to hit as hard as possible with both Physical and Special attacks. Plasma Fists is mandatory physical STAB, Close Combat nails the Steels and Darks looming around, Grass Knot is especially important for taking on heavier grounds such as Hippowdon and the occasional Gastrodon/Swampert/Quagsire/Whiscash (Knock Off can be put in place of this to cripple more switch-ins, but Grass Knot is important in the bulky Ground matchup) and Volt Switch serves as a general pivot move. Becareful of Landorus-T though, Specially Defensive variants wall this set.

56 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Hippowdon: 216-255 (51.4 - 60.7%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

56 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 203-239 (47.6 - 56.1%) -- 79.3% chance to 2HKO

56 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 250-296 (61.8 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

56 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Quagsire: 458-541 (116.2 - 137.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
Reserving Work Up Grass Knot Zeraora
This is my first post in this thread, so please give feedback and be nice :)
:ss/Zeraora:
Zeraora @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Work Up
- Grass Knot
- Close Combat / Knock Off
- Plasma Fists

Work Up Zeraora is a set from gen 7 that used HP ice instead of grass knot to lure and destroy Landorus-T on the switch. Now, you can use work up with grass knot to lure and destroy other ground types that may pop up (other than Landorus-T because it's not weak to grass).
Life Orb is for the important damage boost that Zeraora needs and loves, but this set can run HDB to avoid life orb recoil and come in more often.
Work up is the preferred boosting move.
Grass Knot is the other unique move of this set, smacking ground types really hard.
Close combat hits steels like Heatran, Ferrothorn, or darks like Hydreigon and Bisharp a lot harder, but knock off has better coverage for mons like Dragapult, and keep Zeraora's important defensive utility by being able to RK Dragapult.
Plasma Fists is the obligatory stab move that you click most of the time.

:Hippowdon: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Hippowdon: 304-359 (72.3 - 85.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
:Quagsire: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Unaware Quagsire: 432-510 (109.6 - 129.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 312-369 (98.4 - 116.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
:Krookodile: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Krookodile: 307-361 (92.7 - 109%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (if not running Close Combat, and Krook isn't scarf)
:Tyranitar: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 164-195 (40.5 - 48.2%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (again if not running CC)
:Mamoswine: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 517-611 (143.2 - 169.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
:Swampert: +1 4 SpA Life Orb Zeraora Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 240 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 354-421 (88.2 - 104.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Just be careful about Life Orb recoil pushing into range of a priority move (kill rillaboom before trying to clean), and remember that this set doesn't have HDB and need to be careful around stealth rocks.
 
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:zeraora: :toxic-orb: Sub Toxic Zeraora :toxic-orb: :zeraora:
Zeraora @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 116 Atk / 240 Def / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Plasma Fists / Close Combat​


This set aims to be the ultimate lando/chomp lure, preferably launching a toxic on the switch, and stalling it out with the combination of protect and substitute. EV's are tailored to tank a u-turn from landorus under substitute, allowing zera to heal a bit more and stay behind a sub on whatever comes in. The speed EV's are enough to outspeed koko.

0 Atk Landorus-Therian U-turn vs. 0 HP / 240 Def Zeraora: 67-79 (21.1 - 24.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

Obviously steel types are a pain for this sub toxic build, so close combat is an optional replacement over plasma fists.

​
 
Sorry for being late!

Cycle 70 Submission Phase is over! Time to vote!

Featured Pokemon

:ss/zeraora:

:Assault Vest: Assault Vest by nameless90
:Heavy Duty Boots: Knock Off + Toxic by JTD783
:Choice Band: Choice Band by BeardedDrakon
:Air Balloon: Acrobatics by SetsuSetsuna
:Life Orb: Offensive Pivot by SDK03
:Life Orb: Mixed Work Up by Bluecliqse
:Leftovers: Substitute + Toxic by M24

You can vote for 2 sets, in no particular order.
You have 24 hours to vote!

:zeraora: Please do not vote for your own set.:zeraora:​
 
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