SS OU RMT- OU HO Team

I was an ass, missclicked and posted this into the wrong forum without paying attention.

To anyone who is interested in the final team, after the changes scroll to the bottom. --> Tapeworm, Pendulum Swing

Intro
Here's a pretty standard/basic OU HO team. Setup screens for hawlucha/dragapult to set up and sweep. I was able to take this to 1500s, then went on an epic losing streak, so now back at ~1450; which I know isn't great. The team is very good at applying pressure very quickly. Once Hawlucha sets up a SD and has unburden, it's very hard for your opponent to have answer for it as everything either dies or loses a considerable % of hp. As with many strategies, the goal is to open a door and exploit that opening. For this team, Hawlucha is the abuser of that opening and can bring many teams down. Fun fact, scarf ditto cannot beat hawlucha since it holds scarf and doesn't get the unburden boost.

The Sauce
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Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sky Attack
- Close Combat
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance

The brainless mon to click 2 buttons and sweep the team. SD behind screens and then sky attack for screen nuke + unburden speed boost. The goal is to outspeed and hit everything like a truck. Biggest targets I go for after unburden and SD are: zera, ferro, drill, dragapult, and scarf hydreigon. It's not a perfect strategy that gets itself open to a lot of counter play, but the payoff is worth it. Also, it can set up SD in front of wishport clef behind light screen which helps a lot. This is the team's dedicated mid-game sweeper once at least one defensive mon is taken out.

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 148 SpD / 28 Spe
Serious Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Spirit Break
- Taunt

Screen setter/some form of hazard control (not really). I almost always lead with grimm to taunt hazards or early bulk up zera. The only purpose of this thing is for screens and taunting setup/hazard mons. Gets checked by mandibuzz with defog, but spirit break forces it out pretty quickly. It's also a safe pivot against dragons and the team's ghost resist. It gets hit pretty hard against banded u-turn/pyroball cinderace leads, but setting up a reflect is helpful. It can mess with stall oriented teams and completely shuts down toxapex allowing safe pivots.


Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Darts
- Steel Wing
- Shadow Ball

I understand shadow ball is an odd choice, but the idea is to bait the opponent into thinking I'm a special life orb set, then punishing with steel wing on the clef switch in. It has a lot of breaking potential after 1 DD, but is hard walled by physical bulk like corviknight, ferro, hippowdon. After a DD it can begin to pressure almost any mon that doesn't resist dragon/steel. Also dragon darts loves to crit on at least one dart. This is generally the team's early or late game sweeper. It's good in the early game as dragon darts can put holes in many mons and baiting clef into steel wing is a big bonus. In the late game once gengar, clef, ferro, corviknight have been taken out, this mon can freely set up and sweep. It can also serve as a counter to sub nasty plot hydreigon due to infiltrator.


Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

The physical wall of the team. This is my physical life-orb zera check. Barbs+Rocky Helmet wear zera down fast, which allows mach punch conk to revenge if needed. It's also a very good deterrent to dracovish. While it doesn't have unlimited switch ins to either mon, it can deal a decent amount of damage. SR for hazards, Leech Seed for recovery and forcing mons out, power whip for drill/toad/dracovish, knock off for obvious reasons.


Togekiss @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 156 SpA / 136 SpD / 216 Spe (base 250 speed for band dracovish)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Dazzling Gleam

The weakest link of the team. The role togekiss is supposed to fill is to counter dark spam and absorb fighting type hits. However, zera, all rotom forms, gyroball ferro, mamoswine, scarf dracovish (which I feel like is becoming more common), specs kyurem, and drill all cause togekiss many problems. Nasty plot is here to help set up on the opponents switch out, and crank up air slash's power. It's great for countering opposing conk and other common fighting types. Keldeo can give it a hard time with icy wind, but 2-3 airslashes is all it takes.


Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 58 HP / 252 Atk / 198 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Facade

Standard OU conk, nothing special. Mach punch to revenge many things in the tier. Knock off predict and crush every ghost type, as well as getting rid of key items. Drain Punch for free recovery against ferro switch ins. Facade for anything that resists fighting/dark. This mainly serves as a way to revenge and put sizable holes in the opponent's team. It has base 175 speed which is only for outspeeding other conkeldurrs with mach punch. It really appreciates screens support and allows it to fight for longer. It pairs well with togekiss being able to hard counter steel types.

The Building Process
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Hawlucha: I would argue hawlucha to be one of the premier screen abusers in the tier. It greatly benefits from screen support, allowing it to get up a SD in front of almost anything with screens in place. After one SD all you need to do is click acrobatics or close combat and watch almost everything drop. Again, it's not hard to understand why Hawlucha would be placed onto an HO team.

Grimmsnarl: The best screen setter in OU. Can taunt away hazard leads, or early set-up abusers like zera. The dark typing makes it perfect as a ghost resist, and the fairy typing allows it to put dents in the dark types it can't taunt with spirit break. Not too hard to understand why Grimmsnal is on an OU HO team.
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Dragapult: Dragapult was added as another set-up sweeper. I realized early on that gengar was going to be a pretty big problem for this team, and dragapult is a very strong counter to gengar. I also added dragapult to the team since I thought it was the best DD abuser, and it knows steel wing which can crush fairy types. Dragapult is a very hard mon to predict and shadow ball makes it even harder to predict. Obviously once DD is shown, the opponent knows exactly what set it is.
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Ferrothorn: The team now needed some defense. Zera , Dracovish, Drill, Bisharp would run through the team without it. Rocky helmet is fantastic at wearing down opponents when paired with iron barbs. Hazards can go a long way especially against specs kyurem. All in all, needed a fat defensive mon to shrug off common physical threats in OU.

Togekiss: Togekiss was added as a special wall. Air slash is a really gimpy way to wear down mons, but it's strong flamethrower coverage mixed with dazzle makes it a hard mon for the opponent to comfortably switch into. The 4x fighting resist makes it the perfect conk switch in (unless it has poison jab then it's screwed). I didn't add substitute as I was mainly concerned with coverage options. Dazzling Gleam is a great fairy stab that can put the beating down on dragon/dark types that would otherwise shrug off air slash/flamethrower.
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Conkeldurr: Finally Conk. As previously said, conk is a great partner to togekiss and grimmsnarl as it is able to counter steel types that would otherwise cause issues. Conk can also easily pressure zera after it has taken damage from ferro using mach punch. Conk can also put some damage onto corviknight allowing togekiss to clean it up with flamethrower. Basically, I needed a stronger knock off user other than ferro, and a strong priority abuser on the team that could counter steel types.

Threats
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Dragapult
, Zera, Hippowdon, Toxapex, Sub/Scarf Hydreigon, Togekiss. These are the 6 mons that give this team the most trouble.

Opposing dragapult is able to tear apart my team especially if it is specs. It outspeeds my own dragapult, destroys hawlucha, and dents ferro. The only safe switch in is grimm which resists and is immune to dragapult STABs. No one on the team except grimm can switch into dragapult.

Zera is a massive OU threat since it has an unholy speed tier, and can have many coverage options. Plasma fists destroys hawlucha and togekiss. It can be hard to pivot around since the only "safe" switch in is ferro to weaken it for mach punch conk. While hawlucha and dragapult can outspeed it after one boost, its' presence makes that difficult. God forbid it's calm mind with focus blast cause then ferro drops much quicker.

Hippowdon is probably the biggest threat for this team. Its' sky high defense makes it the perfect check to conkeldurr, hawlucha, and dragapult allowing it to slack off most of the damage. The ability to whirlwind hawlucha after an SD is a pretty sad sight to see, as getting in hawlucha can sometimes be a tough time. This team has no answers to hippowdon which is the biggest problem. Hippowdon isn't impossible for this team to ko as it just needs to be worn down, but wearing it down is a process.

Toxapex is an issue for the exact same issues as hippowdon except now it resists fighting types and can haze away all stat boosts. The only reason why toxapex isn't as big of an issue as hippowdon is because of togekiss. Togekiss airslash can put dents in toxapex and after 1 flinch can pressure it to switch out. Having flinches as a strat for wearing down a mon proves how much of an issue it is. Like I said earlier, taunting with grimmsnarl shuts down pex and forces it out.

Sub Hydreigon is pretty scary. Flash cannon makes switching in togekiss very risky and nasty plot cranks the power up to unholy levels. Scarf hydreigon is more of an issue since it outspeeds dragapult, and can drop draco meteor on hawlucha before unburden. Conk and Hawlucha are my answers to hydreigon, and togekiss is great at pressuring it, but flash cannon makes that much harder to play around. DD dragapult can help too.

Togekiss is another big issue for this team, but it is manageable with some preplanning. It's 2 stab attacks threaten the entire team (air slash/dazzle), and they often run flamethrower for ferro. The safest way to beat this mon is to steel wing with dragapult, and revenge with hawlucha. Togekiss isn't a safe switch in for itself because most togekiss sets run max speed, and outspeed this team's togekiss. While it is easily exploited due to its' poor physical defense, it can wipe the team if unchecked. However, after 1 dd as dragapult it will be an ohko with steel wing.


Trick Room
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Adding in this section because trick room is a very big problem for this team. As with HO teams, speed is top priority. Common trick room setters like reuniclus and hatterene are problematic (especially hatterene as this team is pretty weak to fairy). The team's answer is ferro, but ferro is not a perfect answer. The lack of gyro ball means hatterene is unaffected by ferro's hits, and if hatterene has mystical fire, it's over. Unfortunately, there isn't really a winning mathcup against TR teams. Both reuniclus and hatterene counter this team's setup sweepers. Togekiss isn't a safe option either as reuniclus can run thunder. Pretty much, TR is bad match-up for this team. It's not impossible to win, but the match-up is very unfavorable.


Team Issues
The biggest issue with this team is the lack of a fast special attacker and togekiss. The entire team is physical offense, which is surprising I've made it this far with only physical offense. A common issue with this team is a problem all HO teams face. Once the defensive pivot is taken out, the rest of team can crumble. Once ferro is eliminated, it's hard for the team to sponge hits. Screens help a lot with this, but grimm can only take so many hits as well. Hazards aren't too much of an issue as no one on the team is weak to SR. -12% on hawlucha and dragapult is a bummer, but it's not the end of the world. Spikes can be a little more problematic if stacked but by the time one spike layer goes up from ferro, hawlucha/togekiss is switching in.

Conclusion
The team is pretty good and I've had a lot of fun playing with it. I think a possible fix to the team would be to make togekiss a scarfer with max speed and special attack. It would be able to counter the dragons that give dragapult a problem and could be used to revenge zera/rotom if they have been worn down into dazzle/flamethrower range. Issue is with no hazard control, the number of switch ins it has is very limited. Clefable would probably be able to patch all of togekiss's problems. Another possible fix would be to swap Facade out for EQ on conk, allowing it to pressure poison types.

I am open to all suggestions (even if it is to delete the team entirely), and criticism helps a lot. Thanks for reading!

New Sauce
Hawlucha@ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sky Attack
- Close Combat
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 148 SpD / 28 Spe
Serious Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Spirit Break
- Taunt

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Toxic
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Final Gambit
- Toxic Spikes
- Encore

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
 
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Hey, man. I'm a huge fan of some HO so I always like checking out new teams in that genre, though I have to say reading some of your descriptions has me a little confused as far as your intentions for this team go and there's some questionable decisions in choices here too which I'll cover in a bit.
What I mean by being confused by your intentions is that HO prioritises offensive synergy above all else and looks more for opportunities rather than falling back on defense to reposition or just send out breaker after breaker and cracking what's in front of you without thought. With that in mind, selecting your team choices on 'counter to this', 'resit to that', 'the team needed some defense' is not a way to go about it, in this respect Ferro is easily the biggest odd one out of the whole lot because it offers nothing in terms of offensive potential nor does it have a way of offering any defensive wiggle room without completely destroying your momentum, it's an easy opportunity for an opponent to send out their offensive threat and put the pressure on you, which is the total opposite of what HO should allow. Kiss doesn't seem to offer anything on this team offensively that you don't already have covered equally, if not more effectively with other members (which would explain why it feels like the weakest member of the team), and Conk is also less than ideal for HO since it's so easily worn down and slow as balls, Conk works best on balance where it can be supported with Wish and pivot support. From a pure offensive perspective, it seems to lack direct ways of removing Lucha's checks and opening up sweep opportunities.
There's a lot of changes that can be done here, but I'll work with what's here and I think these will at least improve the overall playability of this team a little more:

1.
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This one's self-explanatory. Lead Excadrill gets your hazards up, keeps hazards off, can Spin turn 1 and get an early sweep going, or kill itself to give you a free switch in to another breaker to preserve your momentum. Ferro offers nothing of value to this team and a classic lead like Exca does a better job supporting you.

2.
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Aegi is one of Lucha's greatest enemies and is a severe pain to Pult too, so having a direct answer to it is instrumental. In my opinion, Bisharp is the most consistent HO staple, it works effectively on any style of HO and always carries utility. It deters Defogging which is vital for your Screens, offers you priority and lets you play 50/50 mindgames with opponents which can open up great opportunities with the rest of your team. It also benefits from Screens allowing it to set up easier and break through common balance cores very effectively. It's a fantastic hole-puncher that I think can have a place on almost any HO team and should be virtually mandatory with Lucha. Conk offers nothing that your team doesn't already do while Bish brings you more supportive and offensive utility.

3.
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This one is a slightly odd one but hear me out. I know you value your defensive utility to give yourself a bit of wiggle room to allow you to reposition but I think you went about it the wrong way since your defensive utility just killed your momentum. Rotom-H comes in on threats like Zera and allows you to VS out on switch-ins to keep your momentum going. It also has a very good offensive presence with NP and Overheat so it's not easy for your opponent to take advantage of. You're right, Kiss does very little for you, and I think Rotom allows you that fallback room you seem to value without the repercussions.

4.
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I get the idea of Shadow Ball on Pult, but it's bad and you shouldn't do that, it has barely any worthwhile damage output and I don't see what the bluff helps you accomplish that coverage doesn't already. I don't think I'm completely sold on Pult on this team in general, but if you're going to run it then keep Fire Blast on it, it lets you blow through Ferro without racking up Barbs damage or having to switch to Rotom and end up at -2 to be exploited later.

These will at least answer some of your problems and greatly improve the team's general playability. Hope you enjoy, have fun.

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Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Steel Beam
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

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Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

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Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Discharge / Toxic
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot

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Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Darts
- Steel Wing
- Fire Blast
 
Hey, man. I'm a huge fan of some HO so I always like checking out new teams in that genre, though I have to say reading some of your descriptions has me a little confused as far as your intentions for this team go and there's some questionable decisions in choices here too which I'll cover in a bit.
What I mean by being confused by your intentions is that HO prioritises offensive synergy above all else and looks more for opportunities rather than falling back on defense to reposition or just send out breaker after breaker and cracking what's in front of you without thought. With that in mind, selecting your team choices on 'counter to this', 'resit to that', 'the team needed some defense' is not a way to go about it, in this respect Ferro is easily the biggest odd one out of the whole lot because it offers nothing in terms of offensive potential nor does it have a way of offering any defensive wiggle room without completely destroying your momentum, it's an easy opportunity for an opponent to send out their offensive threat and put the pressure on you, which is the total opposite of what HO should allow. Kiss doesn't seem to offer anything on this team offensively that you don't already have covered equally, if not more effectively with other members (which would explain why it feels like the weakest member of the team), and Conk is also less than ideal for HO since it's so easily worn down and slow as balls, Conk works best on balance where it can be supported with Wish and pivot support. From a pure offensive perspective, it seems to lack direct ways of removing Lucha's checks and opening up sweep opportunities.
There's a lot of changes that can be done here, but I'll work with what's here and I think these will at least improve the overall playability of this team a little more:

1.
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This one's self-explanatory. Lead Excadrill gets your hazards up, keeps hazards off, can Spin turn 1 and get an early sweep going, or kill itself to give you a free switch in to another breaker to preserve your momentum. Ferro offers nothing of value to this team and a classic lead like Exca does a better job supporting you.

2.
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Aegi is one of Lucha's greatest enemies and is a severe pain to Pult too, so having a direct answer to it is instrumental. In my opinion, Bisharp is the most consistent HO staple, it works effectively on any style of HO and always carries utility. It deters Defogging which is vital for your Screens, offers you priority and lets you play 50/50 mindgames with opponents which can open up great opportunities with the rest of your team. It also benefits from Screens allowing it to set up easier and break through common balance cores very effectively. It's a fantastic hole-puncher that I think can have a place on almost any HO team and should be virtually mandatory with Lucha. Conk offers nothing that your team doesn't already do while Bish brings you more supportive and offensive utility.

3.
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This one is a slightly odd one but hear me out. I know you value your defensive utility to give yourself a bit of wiggle room to allow you to reposition but I think you went about it the wrong way since your defensive utility just killed your momentum. Rotom-H comes in on threats like Zera and allows you to VS out on switch-ins to keep your momentum going. It also has a very good offensive presence with NP and Overheat so it's not easy for your opponent to take advantage of. You're right, Kiss does very little for you, and I think Rotom allows you that fallback room you seem to value without the repercussions.

4.
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I get the idea of Shadow Ball on Pult, but it's bad and you shouldn't do that, it has barely any worthwhile damage output and I don't see what the bluff helps you accomplish that coverage doesn't already. I don't think I'm completely sold on Pult on this team in general, but if you're going to run it then keep Fire Blast on it, it lets you blow through Ferro without racking up Barbs damage or having to switch to Rotom and end up at -2 to be exploited later.

These will at least answer some of your problems and greatly improve the team's general playability. Hope you enjoy, have fun.

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Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Steel Beam
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

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Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

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Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Discharge / Toxic
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot

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Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Darts
- Steel Wing
- Fire Blast

I appreciate the feedback, thanks a lot for posting. Would Hydreigon be a better option over Dragapult? I feel like it would fill the same role as Dragapult being a gengar check, while being able to threaten out fairies with flash cannon and being a ground immunity. Dragapult could also be switched out for gengar as a fighting immunity/spinblocker, and another fairy check with sludge wave.

The rest of the changes make sense. Kiss was a hit or miss mon, ferrothorn was a great wall, but was hard to pivot with. Conk worked pretty well on the team, but the slot was probably redundant due to Hawlucha already being the premier fighting type and it was very slow.

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Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot
Draco Meteor
Flash Cannon
Flamethrower

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Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Modest Nature
Dark Pulse
Draco Meteor
U-Turn
Fire Blast

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Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot
Shadow Ball
Sludge Wave
Focus Blast
 
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I appreciate the feedback, thanks a lot for posting. Would Hydreigon be a better option over Dragapult? I feel like it would fill the same role as Dragapult being a gengar check, while being able to threaten out fairies with flash cannon and being a ground immunity. Dragapult could also be switched out for gengar as a fighting immunity/spinblocker, and another fairy check with sludge wave.

The rest of the changes make sense. Kiss was a hit or miss mon, ferrothorn was a great wall, but was hard to pivot with. Conk worked pretty well on the team, but the slot was probably redundant due to Hawlucha already being the premier fighting type and it was very slow.

View attachment 247747
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot
Draco Meteor
Flash Cannon
Flamethrower

View attachment 247748
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Modest Nature
Dark Pulse
Draco Meteor
U-Turn
Fire Blast

View attachment 247746
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot
Shadow Ball
Sludge Wave
Focus Blast
I think that's worth experimenting with. I left Pult untouched because it does still have utility on this team, especially in its innate speed control which is always nice. I think it should work as-is unless you're really finding it dead weight in which case all your options are worth trying (barring Scarf Hydra, Choiced mons are not ideal for HO since they're easily exploitable due to the lock, there's not many cases where they're ideal over other options). I'm not totally sold on Hydra in general as it shares a type-overlap with Bish that seems wholly unnecessary in all honesty and your Ground immunities are solid as-is.
I think a variant of Aegislash, either SD or mixed AOA, could be worth your consideration for that role too, giving you that ability to Spin-block and being some kind of line of defense against Cloyster who can 6-0 you, but this comes at the cost of your inherent speed control so I'm hesitant to solidly advise that, but it's something to consider. Polish Policy Necrozma is great on Screens and makes a great team with Bish and Lucha, being able to blow through things like Pex, Dom Froggo, Corv, etc as a primary special powerhouse. You're relatively open to play around with that slot if you're not happy with it, all of these are workable options.
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Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

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Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat

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Necrozma @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Rock Polish
 
Hi, I'm going to suggest a few changes on your team:
First of all, I think that Ferrothorn isn't a pokemon made to be in Hyper Offence.

People usually use suicide setters like sash terrakion,sash excadrill, shuckle, accelgor and many others. Thats because ferrothorn drains momentum in a fast and offensive team like yours; Also you said that you're playing it as an answer to LO zeraora, but thats not really the case: you cant call ferrothorn a zeraora check, because LO zeraora can 2HKO it with close combat, and Bulk Up zeraora can set up on that guy. The problem is that you can't find a proper defensive answer to zeraora in the metagame (There isn't really any pokemon who can always switch in zeraora, considering the many sets he has). You should apply offensive pressure to prevent switchins, and you have to rely a lot on screens.

The first change i wanna suggest: Accelgor>Ferrothorn.
Accelgor is a really fast mon, who can easily set up spikes and tspikes in every game. He's faster than zeraora, and can kill him with final gambit turn 1 if you play well your cards. Here's the set:
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Final Gambit
- Toxic Spikes
- Encore


The second change: Fire Blast>Shadow Ball on Dragapult
I get the idea, but a wise opponent will never get baited, as your spread reveals your set. Shadow Ball's damage output will reveal that you're not invested in special attack, so it's not really working. As you said, your dragapult set struggles against pokemons like ferrothorn and corviknight, so LO uninvested Fire Blast will OHKO the ferrothorn and 2HKO Corviknight.

The third change: Bisharp>Conkeldurr
Tapeworm adressed really well the matter, so i don't see anything to add.

This is the final result i suggest, hope it helps :)
 
I think that's worth experimenting with. I left Pult untouched because it does still have utility on this team, especially in its innate speed control which is always nice. I think it should work as-is unless you're really finding it dead weight in which case all your options are worth trying (barring Scarf Hydra, Choiced mons are not ideal for HO since they're easily exploitable due to the lock, there's not many cases where they're ideal over other options). I'm not totally sold on Hydra in general as it shares a type-overlap with Bish that seems wholly unnecessary in all honesty and your Ground immunities are solid as-is.
I think a variant of Aegislash, either SD or mixed AOA, could be worth your consideration for that role too, giving you that ability to Spin-block and being some kind of line of defense against Cloyster who can 6-0 you, but this comes at the cost of your inherent speed control so I'm hesitant to solidly advise that, but it's something to consider. Polish Policy Necrozma is great on Screens and makes a great team with Bish and Lucha, being able to blow through things like Pex, Dom Froggo, Corv, etc as a primary special powerhouse. You're relatively open to play around with that slot if you're not happy with it, all of these are workable options.
681.png

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

681-b.png

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat

800.png

Necrozma @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Rock Polish
I ended up going with Air Balloon SD Aegislash. I wanted another mon to setup with, have priority, as well as have a spinblocker. I think the ghost type is a necessity for this team to spin block due to how common excadrill is in the meta right now. Necrozma was good, but the spikes staying on the field/being able to poison (Accelgor T-spike lead) any non-steel grounded mon helped a lot with putting rolls into my favor.

Again thanks for the help! I think this slot was probably the largest hole in my team next togekiss.
 
Hi, I'm going to suggest a few changes on your team:
First of all, I think that Ferrothorn isn't a pokemon made to be in Hyper Offence.

People usually use suicide setters like sash terrakion,sash excadrill, shuckle, accelgor and many others. Thats because ferrothorn drains momentum in a fast and offensive team like yours; Also you said that you're playing it as an answer to LO zeraora, but thats not really the case: you cant call ferrothorn a zeraora check, because LO zeraora can 2HKO it with close combat, and Bulk Up zeraora can set up on that guy. The problem is that you can't find a proper defensive answer to zeraora in the metagame (There isn't really any pokemon who can always switch in zeraora, considering the many sets he has). You should apply offensive pressure to prevent switchins, and you have to rely a lot on screens.

The first change i wanna suggest: Accelgor>Ferrothorn.
Accelgor is a really fast mon, who can easily set up spikes and tspikes in every game. He's faster than zeraora, and can kill him with final gambit turn 1 if you play well your cards. Here's the set:
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Final Gambit
- Toxic Spikes
- Encore


The second change: Fire Blast>Shadow Ball on Dragapult
I get the idea, but a wise opponent will never get baited, as your spread reveals your set. Shadow Ball's damage output will reveal that you're not invested in special attack, so it's not really working. As you said, your dragapult set struggles against pokemons like ferrothorn and corviknight, so LO uninvested Fire Blast will OHKO the ferrothorn and 2HKO Corviknight.

The third change: Bisharp>Conkeldurr
Tapeworm adressed really well the matter, so i don't see anything to add.

This is the final result i suggest, hope it helps :)

I ended up using Accelgor over excadrill as my suicide lead. I thought excadrill was a good suicide lead, but accelgor works better. Being able to final gambit on turn 1 to ohko zera is very beneficial. The toxic spikes are the star of the show. Being able to poison mons really does help shift rolls into my favor, and encoring other suicide leads to force them out works great. The pairing of encore + taunt Grimmsnarl has helped put many teams behind in the first 5 turns, since most people try to get hazards off the field ASAP. Aegislash working as a spinblocker helps a lot too.

Thank you for the suggesstion to use Accelgor. I think the team is honestly complete now thanks to you and tapeworm!
 
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