SS OU Spec Hex Dragapult + Toxic Spikes

[VeryJammy]

Team premise
I haven't play much pokemon this generation and haven't really gotten into the grove of making team but this team feels like one of the better teams I've made so far this generation even though its some what generic. The basic premise around the team is I wanted to use spec hex dragapult as I have had a lot of fun using the shadow tag set with Wilo wisp and Hex and I want to see how effective it could be with Spec and some else inflicting the status condition.
The team
Dragapult

Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hex
- Fire Blast
- U-turn --->other option I'm thinking of are Thunder bolt/Surf/Shadow ball/Toxic/Wilo Wisp

Dragapult is the main focal point of this team blasting of 130 power hexes after the enemy's have been affected by the toxic spikes, I think having a 130 base power hex is very power full as not many pokemon can switch into that and due to its insanely high speed it will move first most of the time. Draco meteor means that the Dragapult can still do things before the spikes are up and the other two moves are interchangeable coverage moves/fillers.
Toxapex

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes

Toxapex provides a nice pivot for the team and is the toxic spike setter for the team. Scald provides another way to status the enemy haze to prevent set up sweepers. Pex make a nice wall core with clef and ferro as they cover each others weaknesses Ferro covers pex's weakness to electric and psychic and rotom-H covers it ground weakness
Clefable

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Teleport
- Wish
- Protect

Clef provides another nice pivot as its use of Teleport can give free switches to Dragapult and with it's use of wish any teleport it can heal Ferro and Rotom-H aswell as it walling a lot of special threats. And clef works well with Ferro and pex as they both resist its weaknesses of poison and steel clefs can also switch into any dark types that want to switch into Dragapult that also helps the team
Ferrothorn

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Knock Off/Spikes/Power Whip
- Leech Seed
Ferro does what Ferro does best walls a lot of the offensive threats in the tier sets up hazards and completes the defensive core with clef and Pex. I am currently unsure of weather to run Spikes or Knock Off but at the moment if am preferring the utility of Knock Off although the extra Hazards would be very beneficial for Dragapult Hex spam as due to it high speed dragapult can force a lot of switches so the spikes might be better but Body press is needed for dealing with Bisharp.
Rotom-Heat

Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp

Rotom-H is a very common pairing with clef as it very much appreciate the wish support the clef can provide for it on my team rotom-H provides hazard removal in the form of defog as will as being a useful pivot and being a semi counter to zeraora one of the team biggest problems. and so because of this I am running Will-O-Wisp over the more popular Toxic to help deal with Zeraora
Bisharp

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
Bisharp is the win condition for this team along side Dragapult. Hopefully after Dragapult has caused chaos Bisharp can come in and sweep the rest of the enemy's team. Bisharp also provides strong priority in Sucker punch to allowed the team to get out of sticky situations.

Weaknesses/treats to the team

Zeraora @ Expert Belt
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Play Rough
- Bulk Up
Zeraora can be a massive problem for this team as the only real switch in to it is Rotom-H which even that Isn't .very good as Rotom-H as no sustainability , Wish clef does help but Zeraora is still a massive threat, Bisharp can revenge kill it with Sucker Punch but bulk up variants can even get around that although bulk up variants are rare

.
Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Outrage
Dracovish is also a big problem for this team although a lot less so that Zeraora. A lot of the time Dracovish can collect as kill or two against my team but with when running a balance team with out toad its pretty hard not to.

Suggestions
Over all the team is very fun to use but I think it could use to minor re-works any suggestions are welcome although preferable no changing of the main idea of the team Spec Hex + T Spikes

Pokepaste
https://pokepast.es/dd0d29d22ba8c0af

 

[Jordy]

Hey man, the premise of Choice Specs Dragapult with Hex combined with a way of spreading status, such as Toxapex and Rotom-H is very potent in this metagame and I find this team to be a pretty cool spin off of that. I do think a couple things could be improved, though.

Before getting into any changes, I would simply like to comment on the threatlist you laid out. As you said, Zeraora's definitely an issue to an extent, but between Ferrothorn and Rotom-H, it's certainly manageable. You could consider running a faster Dark-type such as Choice Scarf Hydreigon to further solidify this matchup, but I wasn't really a fan of that as shoehorning Defog onto Rotom-H isn't a great approach in my opinion. As for Dracovish, the matchup against it really cannot get much better than this without a Pokemon immune to Water. The matchup requires adequate HP management which can be hard if the opponent plays aggressively, but it is a workable matchup.

Anyways, let's move on to the changes I'd like to suggest.

Major Changes

Bisharp → Mandibuzz

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The idea to punish Defog with Bisharp is certainly potent, but you can capitalize off that much better with more offensively oriented teams. One issue that did come to my attention was the lack of a Flying-type, which can be very bothersome against Mold Breaker Excadrill. Although it's definitely fallen out of favor in favor of Sand Rush variants, it's still prominent enough to actively worry about. You can argue that Ferrothorn checks Excadrill fine enough, and while that is true, there's nothing that will ever prevent Excadrill from using Earthquake, having your Ferrothorn then take ~35% damage, and them then switching into Clefable to prevent any Leech Seed recovery, which will eventually force you out, and that can quickly lead to having Ferrothorn worn down into range of a +2 Earthquake. This becomes an especially prominent issue when you realize that Excadrill has plenty opportunities to switch into play against Clefable, too. Ultimately, what I'm trying to get at is that you need to be able to force the Excadrill out of clicking Earthquake, having Mandibuzz is a great way of accomplishing that.

That isn't all Mandibuzz brings to the table, though. It still provides you with a Ghost-resistant Pokemon, a much sturdier one at that, which is great against Pokemon like Dragapult and Choice Specs Aegislash, which are otherwise very threatening because of Bisharp's relative frailty. Mandibuzz also offers you some very useful role compression with Defog, allowing you to run Nasty Plot Rotom-H, which is simply a formidable potential wincondition in this metagame, especially when combined with Dragapult's expertise at breaking down teams once important Pokemon like Clefable are afflicted by status.

I would specifically like to suggest fast Mandibuzz with Brave Bird here because Bisharp can be very annoying to play around otherwise. This team doesn't thrive off momentum too much so the opportunity cost of running Brave Bird instead of U-turn to pressure Conkeldurr that you otherwise have to think about on most teams isn't a terribly big deal.

Minor Changes

As Corviknight are predominantly running physically defensive investment now, I don't really see the need for Fire Blast -- the extra damage output really doesn't come into play that often, and that's at a tradeoff of a lot of PP and inaccuracy. That's why I'd simply like to suggest you use Flamethrower instead. You could also consider running Thunderbolt to pressure Mandibuzz teams more adequately, but locking into any Electric-type move is very punishable in this metagame in general. Not being able to OHKO Bisharp is another pretty detrimental downside to Thunderbolt.

In order to give Dragapult more opportunities to switch into play safely, I'd like to suggest running slightly less Speed IVs. 7 Speed IVs are what I suggest you run to be precise. This gives you a slower Teleport than most other Clefable, while still outspeeding Hippowdon, which can be very useful in certain situations.

The addition of Mandibuzz to the team leaves your Rotom-H with room to run Nasty Plot, which makes it a much more threatening wincondition. Instead of Will-O-Wisp I'd definitely like to suggest Toxic, too, as it is key in wearing down Pokemon like Dragapult and, more importantly, opposing Rotom-H for this team. Discharge is also much more potent with Dragapult here; paralyzing Pokemon like Hydreigon can make Dragapult much more consistently threatening. On top of that, it's a much more potent wincondition against Toxapex teams than with Volt Switch as it won't be forced out against Toxapex just to hit it.

Final Comments

You could definitely consider using Stealth Rock Clefable with Spikes Ferrothorn here, too, but Stealth Rock Clefable misses out on Teleport and that leads to having Rotom-H pressured a lot quicker. With this, keeping Bisharp would also be much more excusable as the team would take an even heftier focus on stacking entry hazards, though you shouldn't run Defog Rotom-H with it as you should be forcing the opponent to use Defog. This is definitely an approach that may be worth bothering with, but I personally prefer this approach with Mandibuzz.


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