Pastable:
The Preamble
Hi all, so after like a year of playing almost exclusively SV UU on and off, I've decided to try out playing on OU aaand it's actually been kinda fun, with the wider array of teambuilding options available and all. Because of this, for my first (serious) team, I wanted to try to use my favorite UU wallbreaker that got me to top 100 in UU -- Hisuian Arcanine -- in OU!
So, what does H-Arcanine have going for it anyways? Well, offensively it's pretty good, with dual Fire/Rock STAB being great, alongside Rock Head allowing it to click Head Smash and Flare Blitz with zero recoil damage. Banded Head Smash 2HKOs most notable defensive mons in the tier like, 
, and 
, while also 2HKOing 
with tera. Flare Blitz deals with steels and notably 2HKOs defensive . Although hindered by its weakness to Stealth Rock and poor defensive typing, it still has some switchin opportunities without pivoting, with the quad resist to fire allowing it to switch into 
most notably, and to a lesser extent non-High Jump Kick 
and 
; and with pivoting and proper support, it can find even more opportunities to switch in and wreak havoc, out-speeding tier kings like , 
and 
.
Anyways, looking forward to all of your critiques and feedback for this one as after all, I am still learning this tier as of now (~1500 rated) and haven't been playing for that long. Thanks!
The Team
Arcanine-Hisui @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
As mentioned in the preamble, this is the main wallbreaker of the team. Tera Rock turns Head Smash into a nuke that can OHKO mons like Clef, max def Hatterene and standard Gliscor, among others. With Tera Rock Head Smash also guaranteeing a 2HKO on Dondozo and possibly OHKOing Garg after rocks damage, H-Arca is the key mon of the team for stall matchups. Extreme Speed gives a priority option to finish off faster targets, and Close Combat improves the team's matchup vs. Ting-Lu (allows H-Arca to comfortably 2HKO).
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Standard Specs Pult gives the team a secondary breaker, and also is the primary speed control and spinblocker. As a fast offensive pivot, it can also provide more switch-in opportunities for H-Arca, using U-Turn to switch H-Arca into mons that would normally switch into Shadow Ball/Draco Meteor like Heatran, Clef and special walls. Pult also serves as a great cleaner, with Ghost tera amplifying the damage of the already spammable Shadow Ball, sometimes becoming the team's win condition. Specs over Band also gives the team much needed special-side damage.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Tusk provides defensive utility with great defenses and knock off, while also being a much-needed check to Ghold and Gambit. Rapid Spin provides hazard removal to support rocks-weak H-Arca. Leftovers over Boots worsens the team's matchup vs. hazard stack teams, but improves the matchup vs. mons like Cinder and Iron Hands (which Corv struggles with), giving it the longevity to serve as a secondary defensive pivot that also threatens out rockers like Chomp and Lando-T.
Slowking-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 248 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Chilly Reception
- Sludge Bomb
- Future Sight
- Thunder Wave
G-Slowking is the last mon of the original iteration of the team, with its impressive special bulk allowing it to tank special hits and pivot out into Pult/H-Arca with Chilly Reception. The aforementioned move also gives the team an out vs. weather teams (as Walking Wake in sun is a particularly major issue). Future Sight also helps guarantee progress as Future Sight -> Chilly -> H-Arca allows H-Arca to click Head Smash more liberally without worrying about Tusk switching in. Finally, T-Wave is incredibly useful to get major threats like Scarf Kyurem down to Pult and H-Arca's speed tier. Dark Tera allows it to tank Ghost and Dark type moves from the likes of Pult/Darkrai/Ghold as a backup in case Ting-Lu is worn down.
Corviknight @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- U-turn
- Roost
IronPress Corv is the main physical wall of the team, responsible for dealing with major threats to the team such as Wellspring, Zama, H-Samurott, and Rilla, among others. IronPress over the standard set with Defog, again worsens the team's matchup vs. hazard stack, but also gives the team some much needed leeway vs. physical setup sweepers, notably vs. SD Wellspring and DD Dnite. It also allows Corv to act as a win condition of some sort, given all the special threats of the opposing team are eliminated. Pressure also provides some PP-stalling utility (i legit won quite a few games that ended with Corv stalling a mon out of recovery or down to struggle). Tera Dragon is important as a last resort vs. Wellspring, which can be deadly after an SD, or if Corv has been previously worn down.
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ruination
- Whirlwind
And last but not least, Ting-Lu gives the team some respite vs. special threats that G-Slowking can't handle such as Darkrai, Pult and Ghold, and also giving the team a fallback option in case G-Slowking is blundered (yes, i have skill issue). It provides incredible utility, with rocks helping soften targets up for H-Arca and Pult to clean up later, and Whirlwind allowing some more accumulation of hazard damage and also as a last resort vs. setup sweepers (Ting-Lu is tanky enough to survive a lot of setup sweepers). Tera Water is important for the Kyurem matchup (which is already pretty abysmal as it is), while also being a generally good defensive typing.
Some Issues
Off the top of my head,
Anyways, that is all! Again, looking forward to y'all's critiques of this team, and thanks in advance!
The Preamble
Hi all, so after like a year of playing almost exclusively SV UU on and off, I've decided to try out playing on OU aaand it's actually been kinda fun, with the wider array of teambuilding options available and all. Because of this, for my first (serious) team, I wanted to try to use my favorite UU wallbreaker that got me to top 100 in UU -- Hisuian Arcanine -- in OU!
So, what does H-Arcanine have going for it anyways? Well, offensively it's pretty good, with dual Fire/Rock STAB being great, alongside Rock Head allowing it to click Head Smash and Flare Blitz with zero recoil damage. Banded Head Smash 2HKOs most notable defensive mons in the tier like
, , and , while also 2HKOing with tera. Flare Blitz deals with steels and notably 2HKOs defensive . Although hindered by its weakness to Stealth Rock and poor defensive typing, it still has some switchin opportunities without pivoting, with the quad resist to fire allowing it to switch into most notably, and to a lesser extent non-High Jump Kick and ; and with pivoting and proper support, it can find even more opportunities to switch in and wreak havoc, out-speeding tier kings like , and .Anyways, looking forward to all of your critiques and feedback for this one as after all, I am still learning this tier as of now (~1500 rated) and haven't been playing for that long. Thanks!
The Team
Arcanine-Hisui @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
As mentioned in the preamble, this is the main wallbreaker of the team. Tera Rock turns Head Smash into a nuke that can OHKO mons like Clef, max def Hatterene and standard Gliscor, among others. With Tera Rock Head Smash also guaranteeing a 2HKO on Dondozo and possibly OHKOing Garg after rocks damage, H-Arca is the key mon of the team for stall matchups. Extreme Speed gives a priority option to finish off faster targets, and Close Combat improves the team's matchup vs. Ting-Lu (allows H-Arca to comfortably 2HKO).
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Standard Specs Pult gives the team a secondary breaker, and also is the primary speed control and spinblocker. As a fast offensive pivot, it can also provide more switch-in opportunities for H-Arca, using U-Turn to switch H-Arca into mons that would normally switch into Shadow Ball/Draco Meteor like Heatran, Clef and special walls. Pult also serves as a great cleaner, with Ghost tera amplifying the damage of the already spammable Shadow Ball, sometimes becoming the team's win condition. Specs over Band also gives the team much needed special-side damage.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Tusk provides defensive utility with great defenses and knock off, while also being a much-needed check to Ghold and Gambit. Rapid Spin provides hazard removal to support rocks-weak H-Arca. Leftovers over Boots worsens the team's matchup vs. hazard stack teams, but improves the matchup vs. mons like Cinder and Iron Hands (which Corv struggles with), giving it the longevity to serve as a secondary defensive pivot that also threatens out rockers like Chomp and Lando-T.
Slowking-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 248 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Chilly Reception
- Sludge Bomb
- Future Sight
- Thunder Wave
G-Slowking is the last mon of the original iteration of the team, with its impressive special bulk allowing it to tank special hits and pivot out into Pult/H-Arca with Chilly Reception. The aforementioned move also gives the team an out vs. weather teams (as Walking Wake in sun is a particularly major issue). Future Sight also helps guarantee progress as Future Sight -> Chilly -> H-Arca allows H-Arca to click Head Smash more liberally without worrying about Tusk switching in. Finally, T-Wave is incredibly useful to get major threats like Scarf Kyurem down to Pult and H-Arca's speed tier. Dark Tera allows it to tank Ghost and Dark type moves from the likes of Pult/Darkrai/Ghold as a backup in case Ting-Lu is worn down.
Corviknight @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- U-turn
- Roost
IronPress Corv is the main physical wall of the team, responsible for dealing with major threats to the team such as Wellspring, Zama, H-Samurott, and Rilla, among others. IronPress over the standard set with Defog, again worsens the team's matchup vs. hazard stack, but also gives the team some much needed leeway vs. physical setup sweepers, notably vs. SD Wellspring and DD Dnite. It also allows Corv to act as a win condition of some sort, given all the special threats of the opposing team are eliminated. Pressure also provides some PP-stalling utility (i legit won quite a few games that ended with Corv stalling a mon out of recovery or down to struggle). Tera Dragon is important as a last resort vs. Wellspring, which can be deadly after an SD, or if Corv has been previously worn down.
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ruination
- Whirlwind
And last but not least, Ting-Lu gives the team some respite vs. special threats that G-Slowking can't handle such as Darkrai, Pult and Ghold, and also giving the team a fallback option in case G-Slowking is blundered (yes, i have skill issue). It provides incredible utility, with rocks helping soften targets up for H-Arca and Pult to clean up later, and Whirlwind allowing some more accumulation of hazard damage and also as a last resort vs. setup sweepers (Ting-Lu is tanky enough to survive a lot of setup sweepers). Tera Water is important for the Kyurem matchup (which is already pretty abysmal as it is), while also being a generally good defensive typing.
Some Issues
Off the top of my head,
- As mentioned earlier, hazard stack teams are a tough matchup as just rocks deals massive chip to H-Arca, and only G-Slowking runs boots. Without Defog on Corv, the easily worn-down Tusk is the only hazard control on the team. Versus these types of teams, it is imperative that you blow some holes open into the enemy team as soon as possible, as both H-Arca and Pult will be put on a timer.
is likewise an issue for the team, with Earth Power threatening Slowking and Ice Beam threatening Ting-Lu. A possible out is sacrificing G-Slowking to para, which then allows H-Arca or Pult to come in and kill something. Another out is sacking the current mon to let Ting-Lu in and tera water, chipping Kyurem down enough to let H-Arca kill with E-Speed (for scarfed Kyurem), but honestly I can't find a consistent answer to this mon.- Some
sets can be difficult to deal with, particularly tera Ghost as it makes it immune to Corv's Body Press, much less vulnerable to Tusk, and immune to H-Arca's E-Speed to finish it off. If allowed to setup, the game is practically over. - Likewise some sets are a challenge. Although sometimes H-Arca can deal with it before it sets up (surprisingly, Head Smash OHKO's from full), defensively answering an already boosted Dnite with Corv is challenging with some sets running Encore and Fire Punch.
Anyways, that is all! Again, looking forward to y'all's critiques of this team, and thanks in advance!
