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

[blooclipse]

LO offensive pivot by SDK03
and
Assault Vest by nameless90

 

[BT89]

Voting is up!



The winner is…

Choice Band by BeardedDrakon!

Tiebreaker

Votes

Assault Vest by nameless90 - 1
Knock Off + Toxic by JTD783 - 1
Choice Band by BeardedDrakon - 2
Acrobatics by SetsuSetsuna - 2
Offensive Pivot by SDK03 - 2
Mixed Work Up by Bluecliqse - 0
Substitute + Toxic by M24 - 0

Week 71: Slowking-G



Slowking-G, while somewhat less common than in previous iterations of the meta, continues to act as a solid special sponge due to its good typing in tandem with its great offensive movepool and ability to wield an Assault Vest. It is a fairly solid blanket check to special attackers, but has been rather overshadowed recently due to more special checks existing within the meta. In recent times, I’ve noticed that more and more people are looking at a wider variety of Slowking-G sets, so let’s see what you guys got!

Banned Sets


The deadline is Sunday, May 1! Hope you guys come up with something cool!​

 

[blooclipse]

reserving offensive choice specs
Specktakals. (Slowking-Galar) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD OR 204 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 48 Spe (speed creeps 12spe melmetal)
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam / Trick
- Psychic
- Sludge Bomb / Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast / Hydro Pump / Future Sight
(lots of variety...)

Specs Slowking-G does a lot of damage, and can really do anything with its expansive movepool. STABs are there for good overall damage (bomb usually preferred over wave for the good poison chance and barely any power difference), but you can really run anything else. Instead of the usual STABs + Ice Beam + Flamethrower/ Fire Blast, you can run hydro for Heatran, Future Sight for extremely powerful combo potential, Trick to unleash your choice item on an unsuspecting wall, and so on.
Slowking also learns shadow ball, scald, and grass knot, but they're less consistently good.

calcs

252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowking-Galar Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 268-316 (69.4 - 81.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowking-Galar Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 92 SpD Corviknight: 362-426 (90.7 - 106.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowking-Galar Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 344-408 (100 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowking-Galar Fire Blast vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 222-262 (50.1 - 59.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowking-Galar Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 476-564 (124.6 - 147.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[TheSergio235]

Reserving offensive np (will make the post latter this week just that im lazy rn)

 

[Smashburn]

Trick Room - Galar

Slowking-Galar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 188 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast​

The goal of this set is to tank a hit from what usually targets it, and hit them back like a truck or reverse sweep with Trick Room. The current coverage allows Slowking-Galar to slam most of its targets and receive crucial interaction advantages with Weakness Policy. Regenerator allows it to be a renewable sweeper apart from when Weakness Policy is activated, which is helpful in a pinch.

More power can be dedicated to the set with screens support, and additional bulk would be unnecessary.

EV Benchmarks

252 Atk Kartana Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Slowking-Galar: 302-356 (76.6 - 90.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Slowking-Galar on a critical hit: 309-369 (78.4 - 93.6%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowking-Galar: 302-356 (76.6 - 90.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Slowking-Galar: 332-392 (84.2 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Hatternity]

Shuca Berry Slowking-G



Slowking-Galar @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 116 SpA / 144 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Bomb / Flamethrower
- Slack Off

Ground types typically force Slowking-G out. However, shuca berry allows us to eat up an earthquake we otherwise would not be able to, and then lure and KO the opposing Landorus-T or Garchomp with Ice Beam (Or severely weaken it in the case of SDef Landorus-T). Eliminating these ground types is extremely useful to a wide variety of pokemon (i.e., Zeraora, Tapu Koko), who also happen to synergize well with future sight support. Slack off is obvious for recovery, and then the final move depends on the team. Sludge bomb is good for STAB, whereas showing flamethrower will scare away a Ferrothorn leading your opponents to think it is safe to pressure you with their ground type (flamethrower can also be used to hit Excadrill after eating an EQ). EVs have enough special attack to KO Garchomp, and the rest into special bulk to preform Slowking-G's usual role as well as possible.

Calcs

Garchomp
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Slowking-Galar: 196-232 (49.8 - 59%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO
116 SpA Slowking-Galar Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 360-424 (100.8 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Offensive Landorus-T
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Slowking-Galar: 213-252 (54.1 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
116 SpA Slowking-Galar Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 376-444 (117.8 - 139.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

SDef Landorus-T
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Slowking-Galar: 178-211 (45.2 - 53.6%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO
116 SpA Slowking-Galar Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 260-308 (68 - 80.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[TURBODERP]

Slowking-Galar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Slack Off
- Trick
- Ice Beam

This Mixed Defense Slowking-Galar utilizes the combination of Trick and Black Sludge to help wear down Steel-types like Corviknight, Ferrothorn, and Heatran, while using said mixed defensive investment to act as a reliable scout and check for lots of threats. Having Black Sludge also makes you an unfun target to Trick for things like Tapu Fini (although Sticky Barb Clefable is still unfun), which is nice. Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam are the best coverage options, letting you hit things for big damage that would force out the AV set (Weavile and Lando-T/Garchomp respectively).

The heavy physical defense investment lets this Slowking-Galar set tank unboosted HDB Weavile's Knock Off (71-84%), as well as Banded Weavile's Triple Axel (66-78%). Sludge Bomb back does 42-50%, and Weavile doesn't like being poisoned, so at the very least you aren't set up fodder for SD Weavile and aren't automatically forced out even at full. Scarf Kart's Knock Off has a shot to OHKO the standard AV Slowking-Galar after SR, but this set easily avoids that (mind you, you're still 2HKO'd so watch out). Offensive Lando-T and Garchomp can't OHKO from full with EQ (which they do to the standard AV Slowking-Galar), while Ice Beam OHKO's offensive Lando-T and has a 30% shot to do so to offensive Garchomp. Of course SpDef Lando-T is more common, but Ice Beam is still a clean 2HKO. Specs Lele has a 30% shot to OHKO the standard AV Slowking-Galar set with Psyshock after SR, but this set easily avoids that (in exchange for taking exactly the same from Psychic, i.e. 61-71%).

On the special side, this set is still pretty bulky, even though it isn't packing an AV or max SpDef investment. This set is still good for pivoting into strong special attackers and then swapping out to a better answer. The given EVs let Slowking-Galar avoid the OHKO from Specs Dragapult's Shadow Ball even after SR, and if SR aren't up, two max roll Specs Draco Meteors ain't doing the job ever from full either. Modest Nidoking's Earth Power has a less than 10% chance to OHKO with Earth Power, while Ice Beam is a clean 2HKO. You still handily check/counter things like offensive Torn-T (+2 Hurricane does 67-79%), Tapu Koko

Generally, use Trick early and often to start chipping down the aforementioned Steel-types, especially because said Steel-types are often a very good switch-in to Slowking-Galar's other sets. Also, you'll still want a way to pressure Steel-types more directly - stuff like Specs Lele, Magnezone, and Dragapult are all solid options, as they really appreciate the chip damage on opposing Steel-types that comes from a Tricked Black Sludge.

 

[nameless90]

LO Slowking-G

Slowking-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Future Sight
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast
- Scald


General idea

Here we have a more offensive approach thanks to the nice combination of Life Orb + Regenerator to keep Slowking-Galar at decent health since it is forced out although with some EVs investment it can stomach a good hit thanks to the numerical bulk + some nice resistances.

44 Spe EVs are meant to reach 107 Spe points, whereas 212 SpA+ EVs are enough to accomplish this features:

• 212+ SpA Life Orb Slowbro-Galar Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ferrothorn: 359-426 (101.9 - 121%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 212+ SpA Life Orb Slowbro-Galar Future Sight vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 330-393 (108.5 - 129.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  
  
  

 

[TheSergio235]

Neurotic Infection





Supersonic (Slowking-Galar) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 184 HP / 16 Def / 252 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Flamethrower
- Scald
- Nasty Plot


The doctor who brought the pain to you. That's the name Bo players will give this Slowking set. It's evs let it live a max attack Doble Iron Bash from Melmetal if you are at full 94% of the time while having over 80% of possibilities to kill if you are at +2. Another option if you want to be walled by Heatran is to run Ice Beam over Scald depending on the team you use it on.

Using this set has been really fun since it has almost no switch ins if you set it up properly

s/o to Sirwings since he was the first person to present me the Nasty Plot tech

Hope u like it and have a nice day/night you all!!!


​

 

[BT89]

Submission Phase is up!

Featured Pokemon



Submissions

Choice Specs by Bluecliqse
Offensive Trick Room by Smashburn
Shuca Berry by Hatternity
Mixed Defensive by TURBODERP
Life Orb by nameless90
Nasty Plot by TheSergio235

You can vote for 2 sets, in no particular order.
You have 48 hours to vote!

Please do not vote for your own submission.

Also, please give a warm welcome to Bluecliqse as the co-host of this project!​

 

[blooclipse]

Trick room by Smashburn !
lmao i forgor you can vote for2
also LO by nameless90

 

[nameless90]

Shuca Berry by Hatternity

Edit: I don't vote for a 2nd set (unless it is mandatory), since I think that there isn't a clear second one.

 

[658Greninja]

Mixed Defensive

Edit: Also NP

 

[velenoso]

Offensive trick room and nasty plot

 

[blooclipse]

nameless90 658Greninja
remember you can vote for 2!
don't forget like i did lmao

 

[Snapteryx]

Shuca Berry
Also offensive trick room

 

[GaijinEagle]

(1) Nasty Plot,
(2) Trick Room

 

[JTD783]

Mixed Defensive

Nasty Plot

 

[CG12]

Sergio's Nasty Plot

 

[TheFallenShuriken]

Sergios nasty plot

 

[blooclipse]

Hi, I'm the co-host of this project from now on!

And voting is over!

The winner of Cycle 71 (Slowking-G) is:
HDB Nasty Plot by TheSergio235!
tagging BT89 to add it to the hall of fame

votes

specs : 0
offensive TR :4
shuca berry :2
mixed def :2
offensive LO :1
Nasty Plot :6

Cycle 72: Blacephalon

Blacephalon is a strong special attacker, added in generation 7. It boasts an incredibly high base 151 special attack, and a respectable base 108 speed, in addition to its good STAB combination and incredibly good ability in Beast Boost. With the advent of generation 8 and the inclusion of Heavy-Duty Boots; Blacephalon got a nice addition to its repertoire, but it still usually sticks with its best items: Specs and Scarf. Recently, Blacephalon has been getting increasingly more popular on ghost-spam and on more offensive teams. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!
Banned Sets:
| | |
Deadline for submissions is Saturday, May 7th!​

 

[Snapteryx]

Reserving endure + weakness policy Blacephalon

Intercontinental Ballistic Blacephalon



Blacephalon @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Flame Charge
- Endure​

This set is a very high risk high reward mid-late game sweeper. The premise is simple. Get a safe switch into something it can revenge kill (you can even bluff scarf if you're feeling wild), use flame charge on the switch, use endure when they attack you, then commit arson on the opponent's team. This set is really good at snowballing. Once you've got a sweep going, it quickly overwhelms the entire enemy team.

Blacephalon doesn't OHKO every tank ever, so it's recommended to bring it out near the late game when the opponent's Blacephalon switch ins are chipped if not fainted. Keep in mind that these calcs are done with +2 spatk. After the first kill, beast boost will let you snowball from there.

Damage Calcs

+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 392-464 (99.4 - 117.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 277-327 (85.7 - 101.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 277-327 (85.7 - 101.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Assault Vest Slowking-Galar: 278-330 (70.5 - 83.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 214-253 (70.3 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 396-466 (103.6 - 121.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 358-423 (93.4 - 110.4%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 358-423 (98.8 - 116.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

Pros & Cons

Pros:
- Keeps the same speed as scarfed Blacephalon while dealing a ton more damage
- It isn't choice locked, which is great for sweeping and also confusing the hell out of people
- Snowballs into an absolute monster if the opponent isn't careful
- Has the ability to bluff choice scarf
- Doesn't sacrifice anything super valuable in order to make it work

Cons:
- Since you'll be sweeping at 1 hp, any form of priority can shut down a sweep. In theory, this could be avoided with psychic terrain support, but setting up wastes a lot of psychic terrain turns so it won't net you much value.
- Weather kills it. Sand and hail are obvious answers, but Sun and Rain also work because Venusaur and Barraskewda can outspeed Blacephalon even after a flame charge.
- While it's still pretty likely, there's no guarantee that the opponent will switch after you bring out Blacephalon. If you get a safe switch on let's say a garchomp at 20%, they're expecting you to kill it with shadow ball but that doesn't mean they have to switch. What if they intended to sack it? If you use flame charge predicting a switch and they stay in, things won't end well for that fight.

Edit: If you want to try this set in action, I made a quick team around this Blacephalon set. I don't expect it to be perfect in the slightest, but it should give you a good idea on how to make use of the set.
https://pokepast.es/1b7c9ecd66886b4b

 

[nameless90]

Offensive LO with Pain Split Blacephalon

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Fire Blast
- Pain Split


Here we have a good cleaner (= you can't OHKO from full health, but you need your targets already weakened) with good offensive prowess and a nice (although trollish) Spe tier and a weakness to SR, which is normally only a bad thing to have...unless you run Pain Split to make good use of your already low base hp.
Pain Split is useful both offensively to get past some checks, and defensively: although you have a bad numerical bulk, but you have two immunities and 7 resistances to emergency check something.
Life Orb is picked to have some useful extra damage output to clean decently while retaining the ability to switch moves unlike Choice Specs.

 

[blooclipse]

Stall Killer Blacephalon (SubCM)

Blacephalon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 8 HP / 240 SpA / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower / Psychic



You basically run this set as a stall killer. Set up on blissey, ferro, whatever and then commit some murder. Pex is annoying w/haze but you can run psychic to ohko.

Just a bit of HP and SpD so that toxapex scald doesn't kill sub at +3 (sub on the switch and then spam cm)
0 SpA Toxapex Scald vs. +3 8 HP / 8 SpD Blacephalon: 50-62 (20 - 24.8%)

calcs against all sort of stall mons

+1 240 SpA Blacephalon Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 240-284 (78.9 - 93.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 240 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Unaware Quagsire: 205-243 (52 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+6 240 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 501-591 (70.1 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (you can infinitely set up on blissey bc Blaceph is immune to seismic toss and can't be toxicked behind the sub)
240 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ferrothorn: 424-504 (120.4 - 143.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 240 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 248 HP / 92 SpD Corviknight: 506-596 (126.8 - 149.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 240 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 56+ SpD Clefable: 229-270 (58.1 - 68.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 240 SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Hippowdon: 217-256 (51.6 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 240 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Assault Vest Slowking-Galar: 278-330 (70.5 - 83.7%)
+2 240 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 220-261 (56.9 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[JTD783]

Blunder Policy Blacephlon

Blacephalon @ Blunder Policy
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hypnosis
- Calm Mind
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball

For the majority of the game you bluff Scarf. In the late game you click Hypnosis as the opponent switches and either put a check to sleep, enabling a free Calm Mind, or get a speed boost that enables a sweep. This is best paired with Tapu Lele since it helps wallbreak, removes Electric and Misty Terrain (which make Hypnosis fail), and removes Blacephalon's vulnerability to Aqua Jet and Sucker Punch. Modest > Timid is usable but it's better to retain Blacephalon's good unboosted speed tier.