SV OU Slaking got lost on the ou ladder [rank 1, 91.6%gxe]

jb291 · Monday at 4:51 PM

Slaking got lost on the ou ladder [rank 1, 91.6%gxe]

Table of Contents

Introduction
Proof of Peak
Teambuilding Process
Team Members
Threats
Replays
Closing Thoughts
Shout outs

Introduction

While some were dozing off, Slaking took the top. Here is how it happened.

Proof of Peak

After I got rank 1 I wanted to get the game amount to an even 100 so I played a few more games. Highest Elo was 2077 and GXE 91.8%, unfortunately, I don’t have a screenshot.

Teambuilding Process

I first had the idea to bring a bad mon into a meta and try to get rank 1 with it when I was playing a lot of Gen 9 AG a few years ago. This was Gen 9 AG pre home, my second metagame that I mained. I got very good results on ladder and wanted to try something different so what I did was use the command randpoke and try to get rank 1 with it. I then pulled hippowdon :Hippowdon: and managed to get rank 1 with it easily using a balance team I made.

Afterwards I felt that I could even with just 5 mons but I never got to trying the idea. Until recently, I got a peak in ou with the stall sample https://pokepast.es/e8c36e1be8adf74a and thought I could theoretically cut weezing :Weezing_Galar:

. out and try with just 5 mons. So, I made a 5 mon stall with the sample as base. This was the team I then used https://pokepast.es/2b92df0784ecf576 , only change I made was the toxapex :Toxapex:

set, to make it less passive and a bit bulkier and the physical side. I managed to get to rank 13 with 1966 elo and 83.8% gxe with this team.

A few days after this peak I decided to try the team with slaking :Slaking:

, its one of my favourite mons and I always thought it was in a way to low tier so I gave it a shot. I made 2 attempts the first was 2 weeks ago where I managed to get just under 2000 with a gxe of 90.6 but then dropped a lot. So I wanted to give it another shot a few days ago and managed to get to rank 1.

Team Members

Dondozo

Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dragon/Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature

Body Press
Avalanche
Rest
Sleep Talk

Standard Dondozo set with bpress avalanche. I thought about using a curse set but after some testing it didn’t work like I hoped it would. I chose tera dragon to have a better mu into Ogerpon-Wellspring :ogerpon_wellspring:

since without it the mu into Power Whip +Knock Off is very bad. This makes the Kingambit :kingambit:

mu worse, especially tera dark black glasses. This mu must be handled very carefully, knock it off, try to get it low before it can get dangerous etc.

Blissey

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Def / 236 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Seismic Toss/Shadow Ball
Soft-Boiled
Calm Mind
Stealth Rock

A very basic Blissey set deals with most special set up mons. Tera dark is for Psyshock, Stored power and Psynoise. I used Seismic Toss over Shadow Ball as I believe it is the more consistent set, but this set sadly loses to most ghost type/tera sweepers. There is not a lot of counterplay other than ppl stalling and hoping you don’t get crit.

Corviknight

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Iron Defense
Defog
Roost
Body Press

Corviknight is very important in this team it’s my only form of hazard control and it must deal with all of them. It is my primary counter to Kingambit :kingambit:

, to either pressure stall its pp or force it out. I use tera fighting to deal with fast versions better, though every time I had to tera it, I lost anyway cause of Iron Head flinch. Corviknight has to stay healthy most of the time or hazard will be a problem. It has to switch into most rockers before they can get them up to minimize chip.

Gliscor

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 24 Spe

Earthquake
Spikes
Knock Off
Protect

Pretty much just standart spdef Gliscor set. Tera water is for a better mu into sun and the potential resist against Make it Rain from Gholdengo :gholdengo:

. The lower speed IVs are to have the minimum speed while being faster than Kingambit :kingambit:

. Most games it is my lead unless Slaking has a great mu.

Toxapex

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Sludge Bomb
Recover
Toxic Spikes
Surf/Haze

Toxapex is very important for this team I decided to go with a mixed defensive set to live Headlong Rush from max atc Great Rusk :great-tusk:

to safely to fish for potential damage with Surf.

252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Toxapex: 254-300 (83.5 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

In general the extra defense is very useful since, since I rarely ever need max spdef anyway. I use Sludge Bomb and Surf in this team over Toxic and Haze. This helps make Toxapex more threatening to a lot of mons and not just a sitting duck. It is possible to go with Haze over Surf tho (might even be better) but I wanted to have some way to damage Kingambit :kingambit:

. Toxic Spikes is very strong in this metagame and can help to instantly win some mus. I used black sludge on this team over the usual leftovers since it is a very good counter into scarf Gholdengo :gholdengo:

. It makes the mu into hazard stack scarf Gholdengo very winnable. It is annoying when having to tera but I try not to use tera on Toxapex most of the time. Tera steel was chosen as its prob the best tera Toxapex can have.

Slaking

Slaking @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Knock Off
Giga Impact
Earthquake/Fire Punch
Double-Edge

Now to the star of the show slaking. It’s mainly meant to simply threaten out a mon or take something with it to the grave. It is most of the time my sac since it is not guaranteed to get value since its prediction reliant and I don’t want to risk that. But with the right mu it can get quite a lot. I chose to use choice band over choice scarf since without choice band laking simply does not hit hard enough. Jolly over adamant since there are a lot of mons you can outspeed with 328, in Tera Normal is to hit even harder with my stab moves and to hit some important ranges. I considered some other teras like ground or dark but I chose not to use them since I wanted the damage more. Knock Off is for removing items, Earthquake to threaten Gholdengo :gholdengo:

,Heatran

and Pecharunt :pecharunt:

and Double Edge for huge stab damage. It is possible to run Fire Punch over Earthquake to have a better mu into Corviknight :corviknight:

but I chose not to since I wanted a consistent high-power move with no drawback. Giga Impact might seem a little bad at first, Slaking is almost guaranted to die after it uses it, but honestly its my most clicked move.

Some Calcs:

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Alomomola: 476-560 (89.1 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 470-554 (91.4 - 107.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 244 HP / 36 Def Gliscor: 458-540 (130.1 - 153.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Great Tusk: 452-534 (104.1 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 374-442 (74.2 - 87.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. +1 252 HP / 88 Def Zamazenta: 314-370 (80.9 - 95.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Slaking Giga Impact vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 458-540 (119.5 - 140.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

As you can see the damage is very stupid. The only consistent answer is Corviknight. With some chip it can oneshot almost anything. Something else that’s very nice is the normal typing lets me switch into ghost moves unpunished. Makes the mus into Gholdengo :gholdengo:

, Ceruledge :ceruledge:

, Pechurant :pecharunt:

and Dragapult :dragapult:

a lot better. It’s especially good into balance teams lets me break one of the defensive mons pretty consistently and most teams fall apart afterwards.

Threats

Hazard Stack

The biggest threat overall is definitely hazard stack with Gholdengo :gholdengo:

if its scarf it can be handled else it becomes a very prediction reliant game. Slaking can put in a lot of work if its not a Corviknight :corviknight:

team. In this mu Gliscor and Corviknight have to work to getter to somehow kill the Gholdengo by repeatitly forcing it in and out letting hazards get some damage. If its boots Gholdengo the only way to win is with Slaking.

Samurott-Hisui :Samurott-Hisui:

This mon is extremely annoying I don’t know if I just don’t know how to play into it but it gives me trouble every time I see it. It does way too much damage, gets a spike while doing so and has a 50% to drop your defense with Aqua Cutter. Counterplay depends on the team its supported by but in general just try to not let it in.

Other threats

Tera dark Kingambit :Kingambit:

: don’t get flinched with corv.

Ghost special sweepers: don’t get crit.

Mixed Kyurem :kyurem:

: depends on the set but can be an autoloss

Psyshock special sweepers: has to be predicted with tera dark

Hoopa :hoopa-unbound:

: Somehow kill it with Corviknight, Gliscor or slaking

Replays

Vs Trick room :

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494900966-u5h5lgca3qt77bbvpnnc2m6x1a0o33wpw?p2

Hazard Stack:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495119309-r8yaduw49p8vf62pjq3viy2v51374clpw?p2

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495716767-x29bkuvm9l0u0x0uhu1ukviqc45s06upw?p2 (also game for 2077)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2488102922-k217a01c3w8973r4ysin38hk3g2r0b2pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2488126566-ptcsnrgnd3tne1dij5xhnh9j1isbix7pw?p2

Vs Ho:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494889068-6c9g1xbj1pkasnq6arhk905p1l8n882pw?p2

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2488040320-l3sgch9shlusechhphb60aq2gr67ypjpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494919235-65bchmf7v298c6hxyd6lyxm1631ifu6pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494917151-k6422ojsyc9gsbwasskggpkxjslaxc4pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494933859-g7cficfn4tsha0np39d8xoqlu3pq8ikpw?p2

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495127440-uy6oxk2cjvgge7st1ne3dhjrvpmpx9npw?p2

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495692747-aa25n0odkecicgnpqg5rqflmwyu7fb9pw?p2

Offense:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495106299-a5rjbf6ekrun4r7f5ji0yxyriwdtnhnpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495129494-iad4ay6g29sb40mm72k40xv5wsms7otpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494841409-feefdkry5pyhcyykmejcnkak0epgbp1pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2494907697-elq660m2lruruslo6wnrmc3kebcrfcppw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495113715-dixws2g7vslhk0u75s9393vo1pdjap6pw?p2

Vs Balance:

Stall:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2495702526-cmyrjtn06rphrgaol88fhy0fx3i4umepw?p2

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2488419876-30sfy2mg1w5nxjeg4peoiyqpjpryhnhpw

My loses:

Didn’t save any of the replays but most are due to some kind of luck involved the others are bad mus like tera poison Psyshock Darkrai, some threatening special sweepers under webs like Galarian Moltres and some Gholdengo sets, hazard stack teams and tera dark Kinggambit. Most of the other loses are mainly due to me misplaying.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I would say that the 5-mon core that is Toxapex, Dondozo, Corviknight, Blissey is very strong. It deals with most threats consistently only being very weak to hazard. Slaking is somewhat decent on stall but not good on any other playstyle sadly. I personally think I underused Slaking and relied too much on my stall core. Main reason being I don’t like prediction all that much. It is a very funny mon tho. Overall, it was a very fun attempt and proved to be more successful than anticipated.

Shout outs
Tio Chico for helping me write my first rmt

xdye · Monday at 5:00 PM

Congrats on the peak. Any particular reason for not running some speed on Corviknight to outspeed Gambit when you're running Tera Dragon on Dozo?

DaddyBuzzwole · Monday at 5:02 PM

this confirms it, we are in fact in the svou building renaissance

Tio Chico · Monday at 5:04 PM

Normal-type lazy Pokémon supremacy :Slaking:

! Grats on peak!

jb291 · 2025-12-09T02:08:06-0500

xdye said:
Congrats on the peak. Any particular reason for not running some speed on Corviknight to outspeed Gambit when you're running Tera Dragon on Dozo?

Because i personally dont think its worth it. I thought about it at one point but since corviknight is very important to my team and it basicly takes 12% more damage from all source, i decided not to.

Hyper_stupid · 2025-12-09T03:43:34-0500

jb291 said:
didn’t work like I hoped it would

What do you mean by that?

Also did you get some funny moments when switching in your slaking on a G-Weezing? Or were you too afraid of will-o-wisp?

jb291 · 2025-12-09T04:57:37-0500

Hyper_stupid said:
What do you mean by that?

Also did you get some funny moments when switching in your slaking on a G-Weezing? Or were you too afraid of will-o-wisp?

Curse dozo has to sacrifice 1 move slot either avalanche, body press or sleep talk. And no matter what you lose it makes vcrtaim mus unplayable. Most run waterfall as rhe only attacking move but that just loses to ogerpon.

Happened twice that a gweezing wanted to switch into slaking not realizing that my ability get nullified.
A favourite of mine is definjtly just oneshotting mola from full vs balance teams. Loses the slaking most of the time but wins the game.

Piyu · 2025-12-09T05:10:53-0500

Now to the star of the show slaking. It’s mainly meant to simply threaten out a mon or take something with it to the grave. It is most of the time my sac since it is not guaranteed to get value since its prediction reliant and I don’t want to risk that.

jb291 · 2025-12-09T05:34:43-0500

Piyu said:
Now to the star of the show slaking. It’s mainly meant to simply threaten out a mon or take something with it to the grave. It is most of the time my sac since it is not guaranteed to get value since its prediction reliant and I don’t want to risk that.

Slakings job never was to 1v6. Its main job is to threaten out or kill that one mon after which my stall core can win anyway. Into tera ghost lo ceruledge for example my team would break very fast but with slaking the mu gets pretty easy just need to predict once correctly or sac something. Same with gmoltres since a lot of them run taunt. Slaking is supposed to deal with the mons that the rest of my team cant deal with or break the defensive core so that it can. And if my team can deal with it i dont particularly need it. An example is tr while it obviously doesnt win solo it forces certain mons out at the right time can deal a lot of damage to the tr setters and sets the game so that the rest wins. The tr game I posted is a good example, usually the setters have 0 pressure on them and can just do what they want but with slaking they are actually treatened.
What is true is that i underused slaking quite a bit i feel like but i am not completly sure since the sample size is not big enough. I would need more games vs more diverse teams to truly use it optimally. Got very lucky mus this climb most of the time and the ones i lost slaking couldnt do anything anyway.

badabing · 2025-12-09T09:21:03-0500

im the guy with zapdos

TheDuckChris · 2025-12-09T10:05:03-0500

crazy that the building process was basically "I can win with a 5 mon team so lets just add a random guy for fun"

ScribeofRevocis · 2025-12-09T10:16:14-0500

It's so crazy that stuff like this can perform so well
Epic team, ggs on the ranking!

SV OU Slaking got lost on the ou ladder [rank 1, 91.6%gxe]

replay watcher