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

[Smashburn]

Metrognome

Blacephalon @ Metronome
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Subsitute
- Shadow ball
- Flamethrower
- Encore​

Take advantage of an unsuspecting opponent and gather enough momentum to sweep a game. Metronome allows you to continually boost your STABs, while Substitute and Encore support this. After a kill, you quickly snowball and spiral out of control for your opponent. You need to be cautious around most bulky water types and ghost resists, in addition to being mindful of things like Dragapult and Urshifu-- but outside of that most unprepared teams are fair game. Optionally, you can run this set with Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots to offset chip damage, but that detracts from it overall and at that point you might as well just use Calm Mind.

(Tagging BT89 and Bluecliqse).

By my recollection, if there are two or more votes to make the voter cannot skimp on any of the votes or it doesn't count. They're mandatory, as without them you forego other entries for the sake of one which is overall unfair to those who submitted. Just remember for next time.
Just a little sour I almost finally won one of these and got stomped by single votes lol. No biggie though.

 

[blooclipse]

Metrognome

Blacephalon @ Metronome
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Subsitute
- Shadow ball
- Flamethrower
- Encore​

Take advantage unsuspecting opponent and gather enough momentum to sweep a game. Metronome allows you to continually boost your STABs, while Substitute and Encore support this. After a kill, you quickly snowball and spiral out of control for your opponent. You need to be cautious around most bulky water types and ghost resists, in addition to being mindful of things like Dragapult and Urshifu-- but outside of that most unprepared teams are fair game. Optionally, you can run this set with Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots to offset chip damage, but that detracts from it overall and at that point you might as well just use Calm Mind.

(Tagging BT89 and Bluecliqse).

By my recollection, if there are two or more votes to make the voter cannot skimp on any of the votes or it doesn't count. They're mandatory, as without them you forego other entries for the sake of one which is overall unfair to those who submitted. Just remember for next time.
Just a little sour I almost finally won one of these and got stomped by single votes lol. No biggie though.

yeah, probably. A lot of people just foget and only vote for one, but I'll make sure everyone votes for 2 next time :)

 

[Cdijk16]

Mixed Explosion + Flame Charge

Boomcephalon (Blacephalon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Flame Charge
- Explosion
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower

This sets ains to lure in an explode on Blacephalon's usual checks and counters such as Tapu Fini, Toxapex and Blissey. This allows teammates like Weavile and Dragapult to take advantage. It can also destroy AV Torn if you Flame Charge on the switch. Normal Gem may also be used to bluff a scarf or specs set. Flame Charge let's you clean up lategame as well.

 

[BT89]

24 hours until submissions close!

 

[Xenocide88]

Utility Lure: "Jack-in-the-Box"

Blacephalon @ White Herb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower/Fireblast
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp/Toxic/Taunt

The idea of this set is try and abuse how people play around the traditional choiced sets to nab a surprise KO on a check and snowball cripple the rest of the team. White Herb helps punish switch-ins you out speed that would hope to force you out after the SpA drop from Overheat, but instead you can turn around and hit them at full power or cripple them with status. Fireblast is if you're really wanting more power, Status depends on what your team needs to answer. Landorus switching and Heatran can be a little annoying at times, but team preview is a thing too.

The ghost clown is one of my favorites in this generation, and honestly I have so many ideas for it, so I'm really happy to see it getting played around with here. If Pennywise were a pokemon it would be Blacephalon.

 

[blooclipse]

Cycle 72 Submissions Phase is over!
Time to vote!

This Cycle's Featured Pokemon:



Submissions:
Weakness Policy Endure by Snapteryx
Substitute + Calm Mind by Bluecliqse
Blunder Policy by JTD783
Metronome by Smashburn
Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16
White Herb Lure by Xenocide88
Life Orb Pain Split by nameless90
You can vote for 2 sets, in no particular order.
You have 48 hours to vote!

Please do not vote for your own set, and make sure to vote for 2 sets. ​

 

[blooclipse]

White Herb by Xenocide88
and
LO pain split by nameless90

 

[Xenocide88]

Blunder Policy by JTD783
Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16

Edit: Had I remembered It I would have possibly voted for the set by nameless90.

 

[nameless90]

Bluecliqse Why is my set NOT in the list?

Substitute + Calm Mind by Bluecliqse
Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16

 

[blooclipse]

Bluecliqse Why is my set NOT in the list?

Substitute + Calm Mind by Bluecliqse
Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16

because im an idiot
sorry

 

[JTD783]

Sub CM

Life Orb Pain Split

 

[Snapteryx]

Sub + Calm Mind
Mixed Explosion

 

[Smashburn]

Sub CM by Bluecliqse

Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16

 

[BT89]

Voting is up!



The winner is…
Substitute + Calm Mind by Bluecliqse!

Votes

Weakness Policy Endure by Snapteryx - 0
Substitute + Calm Mind by Bluecliqse - 4
Blunder Policy by JTD783 - 1
Metronome by Smashburn - 0
Mixed Explosion by Cdijk16 - 3
White Herb Lure by Xenocide88 - 1
Life Orb Pain Split by nameless90 - 2

Week 73: Nidoking



Nidoking has had great success in recent times, thanks in no short part to its ludicrous wallbreaking potential due to its potent ability and threatening STAB combination. This threat potential is exacerbated by its amazing movepool, letting it easily tear apart common balance teams. Nidoking's colorful movepool leaves a lot of potential for some really cool sets, so I can't wait to see what you creative bunch can come up with!

Banned Sets


The deadline is Saturday, May 14! I'm very excited for this one.​

 

[blooclipse]

Mixed Nidoking w/ Superpower

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash / Mild Nature
- Superpower
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Any Coverage Move / Substitute

Nidoking smashes through a lot, but blissey couldn't care less. Superpower forces it to care.

36 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Superpower over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 715-845 (100.1 - 118.3%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns

If running sub, sub n the switch and then 2HKO Blissey with Superpower. If not, just hard superpower and get the kill.
Obligatory STABs, and either a coverage move or Sub.

 

[nameless90]

Toxic Spikes Nidoking

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Toxic Spikes
- Fire Blast


Here we have a Nidoking with Toxic Spikes in the 4th moveslot in order to deal better with offensive threats and, with little luck, with bulky threats.
Toxic Spikes draws in Poison types that can be dealt with Earth Power or Fire Blast, and KOed.

Fire Blast is picked over Flamethrower in order to achieve this feature: 252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Amoonguss: 361-426 (83.5 - 98.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
In this scenario, Amoonguss switches onto the battlefield in order to absorb the layer(s) of Toxic Spikes, but it is caught by a boosted Fire Blast (if hits).

 

[Snapteryx]

Reserving Shuca berry lure

Ground Lure Nidoking



Nidoking (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Thunderbolt / Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
​

This set takes advantage of how prone Nidoking is to fast earthquake users (Primarily Garchomp and Landorus) and turns that weakness into a valuable lure. Using Shuca berry, you can avoid the OHKO for any ground type that tries to revenge kill Nidoking and retaliate with a hard ice beam. This can help open up room for pokemon that struggle with breaking ground types like Nihilego, Regieleki or Blaziken. Thunderbolt is for bulky water types, but you can run the more traditional sludge wave if you want. Flamethrower is mainly for Ferrothorn and Corviknight but you can also use it to revenge kill Buzzwole. Earth Power is your primary stab move and ice beam is your way of luring and OHKOing ground types.

Damage Calcs

->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 348-412 (91 - 107.8%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 348-412 (91 - 107.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 320-380 (83.7 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 320-380 (83.7 - 99.4%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 440-520 (104.7 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dracozolt: 386-456 (120.2 - 142%) -- guaranteed OHKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Terrakion: 312-368 (96.5 - 113.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Excadrill: 408-480 (113 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
->252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Nidoking: 362-428 (119.4 - 141.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
->0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 186-219 (61.3 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 220-259 (72.6 - 85.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->0 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 168-198 (55.4 - 65.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 204-240 (67.3 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252+ Atk Choice Band Dracozolt Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 186-219 (61.3 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 202-238 (66.6 - 78.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Nidoking: 210-247 (69.3 - 81.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
->252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Shuca Berry Nidoking: 235-278 (77.5 - 91.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Smashburn]

Taunt SuiSash

Nidoking (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower / Sludge Wave
- Earth Power

Thanks to its wide movepool and offensive profile, Nidoking is a great suicide lead and gatekeep for dangerous sweepers and breakers. Taunt allows it to stop things like Blissey from walling it, in addition to preventing hazards and set up sweepers. Alternating coverage in its tertiary slot between Flamethrower and Sludge Wave is dependent on your preference and team structure, though Sludge Wave offers more wall breaking opportunities than Flamethrower.

 

[Xenocide88]

The King saw all this defense boosting and body press action that has been all the rage and decided to show his subjects how it's done.

Curse Breaker

Cursed is the Crown (Nidoking) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 196 HP / 60 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Earthquake/High Horse Power
- Body Press/Poison Jab
- Ice Punch/Poison Jab

What's a point of being a wall if you don't try to go all in? And with curse who the heck needs any speed? With an amazing typing that let's him basically move around hazards almost with impunity, I decided to try and create a physical wall/breaker to better utilize his higher Atk stat and subvert expectations from the common Special Breakers that we see most often. The King is not blessed with an amazing base Def, and Curse doesn't boost as quickly as Iron Defense, but many of the Iron Defense+Body Press users in the tier pair it with pretty mediocre coverage on a good day. This means that boosting our attack in addition to defense let's us still hit very hard with sheer force boosted coverage moves.

High Horse Power is actually the recommended ground move on the set, and the reason why is because I believe this set really shines and does some funny stuff with grassy terrain, which would normally reduce the power of Earthquake, but HHP for a 5% reduction in power is unaffected. With Grassy terrain and Ice Punch you do a surprisingly great job checking Garchomp and Landorus-T. U-turn Rillaboom is the most obvious candidate, which can act as a duo breaking core to help overload physical checks and provide strong opportunities for the King to find openings.

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 196 HP / 252+ Def Nidoking in Grassy Terrain: 278-330 (78.9 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery.
+2 252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 196 HP / 252+ Def Nidoking in Grassy Terrain: 302-356 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO.

These are your worst case scenarios. From full Garchomp can't OHKO you but you have a roll to KO him in return, it's a roll for Lando to kill you but you easily KO him back. Here's what it looks like when they have to come in after a +1 Curse in Grassy:

252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. +1 196 HP / 252+ Def Nidoking in Grassy Terrain: 96-114 (27.2 - 32.3%) -- possible 5HKO after Black Sludge recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery.
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +1 196 HP / 252+ Def Nidoking in Grassy Terrain: 102-122 (28.9 - 34.6%) -- 0.1% chance to 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery.

It's good to be the King. Grassy terrain in conjunction with Black Sludge makes up for the innate lack of good recovery option, and also helps buffer the inevitable knock off. Without Grassy terrain your ability to laugh off the top tier ground threats like the peasants they are is much more difficult to pull off, and would require you to get more curses off. With no boosts on either side but Grassy up you can always survive EQ to get a Curse off, and return kill even after the next EQ. If you opt to not go with grassy terrain, Tapu Fini with misty terrain for burn protection is also pretty strong. If you opt against running grassy, and thus now less inclined to run Ice Punch for the ground types, EQ and Poison Jab become choices to consider.

There might be a more super optimal spread for the EVs, but I'm not that brainy when it comes to the numbers in this game. The fun things to note is this set can counter the Ground types and Blissey that would normally force it out, the standard Blissey is set up fodder for this variant. Body Press also feels sort of silly, as the only two mons it made an appreciable difference for were Blissey and oddly enough Weavile (Or if you get into a boosting battle with Corviknight, in which case he can never Roost if you predict it right). You could probably just run the set with HHP, Ice Punch, and Poison Jab (Or Even HHP IP and TP) to enjoy solid coverage and STABs. Body Press is really just for the spice. I had also considered Head Smash as both a coverage move and a way to hit very hard on the switch without boosts, but have not tested it, so could not justify including it in the recommended moves for the set.

 

[KrookKing]

Physically Based Nidoking


King (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
252 Atk/4 spdef/252 speed
Jolly Nature
-Earthquake/High Horsepower
-Poison Jab
-Ice Punch
-Sucker Punch/Super Power

Even though Nidoking is more used for its special attacking wallbreaking, its atk is still higher than special attack (102 v 85) though the moves its special side uses is naturally stronger than the physical side, notably Poison Jab and Ice Punch.
Though what makes this set from absolute gimmick to worthwhile strat is Sucker Punch. Priority is something that Nidoking cant get on the special side so having this move to damage low hp attackers its speed tier cant catch up to.
High Horsepower can be used if you want to use this mon in a grassy terrain team. But if you want the power EQ can be used.

 

[odt]

Physically Based Nidoking


King (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
252 Atk/4 spdef/252 speed
Jolly Nature
-Earthquake/High Horsepower
-Poison Jab
-Ice Punch
-Sucker Punch/Super Power

Even though Nidoking is more used for its special attacking wallbreaking, its atk is still higher than special attack (102 v 85) though the moves its special side uses is naturally stronger than the physical side, notably Poison Jab and Ice Punch.
Though what makes this set from absolute gimmick to worthwhile strat is Sucker Punch. Priority is something that Nidoking cant get on the special side so having this move to damage low hp attackers its speed tier cant catch up to.
High Horsepower can be used if you want to use this mon in a grassy terrain team. But if you want the power EQ can be used.

I like the idea of using Sucker Punch and Superpower, but I think I'd rather go mixed to still OHKO Lando, Pex and quite a few others.
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 104 Atk / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch

The spread lets it OHKO Blac, 2KO Bliss and still OHKO standard Pex after rocks.

 

[KrookKing]

I like the idea of using Sucker Punch and Superpower, but I think I'd rather go mixed to still OHKO Lando, Pex and quite a few others.
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 104 Atk / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch

The spread lets it OHKO Blac, 2KO Bliss and still OHKO standard Pex after rocks.

Sounds good to me, didnt think of physically mixed, ran just flat physical, will try this out

 

[Snapteryx]

I like the idea of using Sucker Punch and Superpower, but I think I'd rather go mixed to still OHKO Lando, Pex and quite a few others.
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 104 Atk / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch

The spread lets it OHKO Blac, 2KO Bliss and still OHKO standard Pex after rocks.

Quick question, this doesn't count as a submission right? It's just giving feedback on the set and how it can be changed?
Also, Bluecliqse's set is pretty similar to this. It's a mixed nidoking with superpower, the main difference being the ev spread and sucker punch.

 

[TheSergio235]

The Exponential Profit



Gatsby (Nidoking) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam


The reason for a scarf on this mon is that it works like a lure supper nicely. It's able to catch off-guard moons like Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko. Stuff like Garchomp and Kartana love to OHKO this mon since it's a somewhat slow threat. Since you are running scarf and Timid you don't hit as hard as you would normally although it has a nice niche as a scarf revenge killer pokemon due to its incredible move pool and decent power.

​

 

[blooclipse]

Quick question, this doesn't count as a submission right? It's just giving feedback on the set and how it can be changed?
Also, Bluecliqse's set is pretty similar to this. It's a mixed nidoking with superpower, the main difference being the ev spread and sucker punch.

I'm pretty sure sucker is a big enough difference.