SV OU Sort of Snow Team

[Shinobi Shuckle]

Heyo. This is sort of my snow team. The goal really is have the core of 5 mons, and the lingering threat of Cetitan breaking out and taking game. I am considering changes to some members, and will mention them in their description. I'm not really overly into competitive, and as such this team is mostly meant for fun, and I have been having plenty with it, but still want opinions on it competitively to see how it really stands up. thank you for your time for reading all this if you do.

"The Sword of Damocles"
Cetitan is the primary sweeper of the team. With slush rush and belly drum, his goal is to take out as much of the team as possible before going down himself. Even when not in play, the hope is that he deters the opponent by making certain switches when snow is active, and just generally be a threat that hangs over them the whole match. High risk, high reward. Ice Tera for extra power vs bulkier mons. Considering changing to defensive tera instead.

Richard (Cetitan) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Slush Rush
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Ice Shard
- Belly Drum


"Newest Weather Wars Warrior"
Slowking's primary role is to be the snow setter with chilly reception. The other side role he fills is to be a large Sp.Def wall. Even without Sp.Atk investment, Hydro pump can deal with certain mons, such as Tusk. A lot of the weaknesses come from the psychic side, hence the water Tera for less weaknesses and stronger pump, but may change, but rarely Tera with him. Considering Twave instead of Slack Off.

Vanilla (Slowking) (M) @ Icy Rock
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chilly Reception
- Hydro Pump
- Slack Off
- Psychic


"The Necessary Pick"
I didn't originally want to use Chien-Pao, but it has become important to have a mon that has an immediate threat level without the setup like Cetitan. Having something strong to out speed Chi-yu is what made me come to this choice, as well as he can enjoy the bulk from snow when it is active. CB set as if I had the chance to use SD, I would just do Cetitan instead, and immediate power is what I need, which Band gives. Ghost Tera to become neutral to many, and dodge the one Quad weakness. Considering Sucker instead of Shard.

Rufus Teefus (Chien-Pao) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Ice Spinner
- Crunch
- Sacred Sword

"Gotta Love Rocks"
Great Tusk is a normal lead of the team, as it's main purpose is to set and remove spikes, while having outstanding physical bulk. While I needed a spinner, having rocks alongside that allows sashes to be disabled in the event that Cetitan runs rampant, as well as lower damage thresholds for the non damage focused mons. Not a common Tera user, main goal is hazards and blocking major physical hits.

Unga Bunga (Great Tusk) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Body Press
- Earthquake

"The Glue"
Scream Tail is a support mon that binds the team together, many matches would be rough without it. Bulky and fast, it's purpose is either be healer to other mons, or wall out and perish song to stop a setup threat. Occasionally, in the event of perish song and they don't immediately switch out, I can switch to King, Reception into Cetitan, and if the mon is still in they are left with the decision of try to kill Cetitan and lose their mon, or let the beast Belly Drum and run rampant. Even if not in that event, perish song forces them into a corner, leaving me a chance to punish them. A common Tera choice, as the Fairy Tera removes a lot of the weakness it faces, making it's bulk slightly better without drastic changes. Maybe consider change to different Tera, but it feels nice as is. Considering changing flamethrower to Encore.

AAAAAAAAAA (Scream Tail) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Perish Song
- Flamethrower

"Funny Coin Man"
Gholdengo's main role is really be the special attacker of the team. Without one, my team falls to being physically focused and can be walled out easier. He has solid typing with wide coverage, as well as an ability to help defend against certain actions, like parting shot or spore. While typical Dengo's run choice, running AV gives it slightly better bulk, and allows me to lure mons if they expect choice. Water Tera for defensive purposes, not really prone to being changed.

Golden Cinnamon (Gholdengo) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

 

[awyp]

Hi, Chilly Reception is a very cool addition on Slowking and makes it extremely viable in OU in my opinion it's hard to stop the Chilly Reception + Regenerator combo.

Threats - I feel like Iron Valiant with Booster Energy could be a problem because it outspeeds even Ceititan when it gets +2 from Slush Rush (546 vs 538) only thing you can do is go for Ice Shard which won't do much (I'm talking about a CM variant with Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball, and Moonblast). Other threats could be Sun teams as well as Sandstorm teams so making sure that Snow prevails as the dominant weather is key.

Suggestions -

For Cetitan as you suggested you're thinking about defensive Tera instead of offensive especially when it comes to consideration of setting Belly Drum, I think it would be ideal to go to defensive Tera. I would suggest going with Tera Type Fairy in addition to replacing Ice Spinner with Rough Play. I don't think you need 2 ice moves and once Snow wears out you can still use Ice Shard which I think would be ideal in this situation over Ice Spinner.

I think with the Slowking, the benefit of Chilly Reception is pivoting and setting up Snow is a 2 in 1. so I don't think there's a need for Icy Rock over something like Heavy-Duty Boots which come in ideal when it comes to keeping Regenerator really active and keeping your HP high by not taking entry hazard damage. For the moves go with Future Sight > Psychic so you're opponent has to constantly look 2 turns further and play for the future (plus it hits harder). Also go with Chilling Water > Hydro Pump for PP usage as well as lowering down attack of any Pokémon that gets hit by it (which can be nice because Slowking naturally has a low defense for a wall).

For Chien-Pao, I would agree with using Sucker Punch > Ice Shard because it hits much harder the only problem is relying on your opponant not to see it coming where they can play around it. I would say both are fine priority moves but it just depends on preference, Ice Shard because it's useless when the opposition tera types into steel, where Sucker Punch could still hit hard in a situation like that.

Great Tusk would need to go with Knock Off > Body Press because you get completely walled by Air-Balloon Gholdengo which is pretty common currently in the metagame. Knock Off is essential in chipping down Pokémon in general by removing leftovers or a choice item that could be bothersome. Since Great Tusk needs to be in high HP to keep long term to avoid entry hazard stacking, it would be ideal again in this situation to go with Heavy-Duty Boots > Leftovers (This Pokémon will be brought in and out a lot especially based on the prevalence of Ghost types / Gholdengo switching in). (For these changes go from Tera Type Fighting into Tera Type Steel for defensive purposes)

For Scream Tail, I think the Perish Song set is really intriguing. I could see it working well in conjunction to this team. Now that being said you wrote that you're considering getting rid of Flamethrower for Yawn, which I think could be fine but I think if you get taunted it becomes a useless Pokémon. So I think in the situation where you're constantly prone to being taunted there should be at least 1 attacking move. You can use Fairy Tera Type to your benefit and go with Dazzling Gleam > Flamethrower (Provides a solid STAB move + Tera Type Boost).

I don't really like Gholdengo's set because you're giving it a bunch of speed EVs and 0 HP EVs, when you're using Assault Vest there should be some sort of investment, if you want to use Gholdengo's bulk as well as spreading status I recommend trying this set. It provides bulk as well as the ability to recover and hurt with Hex.

Gholdengo (Thunder Wave) set

Gholdengo @ Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hex
- Make It Rain
- Recover
- Thunder Wave

Hope some of my suggestions are helpful.