Hi everyone! I'm a fairly new player, having only been playing Showdown for the past month and a half or so. So glad to be part of this community! With that being said, I'm proud to present my first ever RMT. This is the highest I've gotten with a team I completely built myself. Please let me know how I can improve, or if you take the team for a spin yourself and enjoy it, please let me know!
Table of Contents:
1. Proof of Peak
2. Teambuilding Process
3. The Pokémon
4. Threat List
5. Considered Changes
6. Conclusion
7. Importable
1. Proof of Peak
With this team I peaked at 1840 ELO as shown below.
2. Teambuilding Process
After having watched blunder's recent tier changes video and listening to him hype up Choice Specs Hatterene, I wanted to give it a spin. I also figured this would be a good time to let it shine before Hisuian Samurott and Kleavor invalidate Magic Bounce. Since Hatterene fits well on most any team, I left the playstyle open at this point and looked for Pokemon that had good synergy with Hatterene.
This led me to add the ever-splashable Kingambit to the team. Kingambit provides a switch-in to all of Hatterene's weaknesses and can threaten immediate damage back. Kingambit also started to round out the physical/special balance of the team.
The next two Pokemon I added were Volcarona and Dragonite. I added these as I had already been hypothesizing the strength of Kingambit, Volcarona, and Dragonite as an offensive core with great defensive synergy between them. With these three as setup mons and Choice Specs Hatterene as a breaker, I began to round out my defensive core.
At this point, Great Tusk was a fairly obvious (obligatory for Gen 9 OU) addition. Tusk walls physical attacks and provides general utility through hazards and item removal. Great Tusk also has great synergy with the mons already on the team, namely Kingambit and Hatterene.
Now I needed a special tank with longevity. I hadn't been a fan of AV Toxapex up to this point, but since blunder swore by it (in the same video as mentioned above), I gave it a spin and was not disappointed.
3. The Pokemon
Her (Hatterene) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 200 HP / 252 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draining Kiss
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
- Trick
The Pokemon I decided to teambuild around, Choice Specs Hatterene is a great surprise factor. Specs Draining Kiss is a very spammable and forgiving move, allowing Hatterene to heal 20-30% on most incorrect predictions and back to full on correct ones. Draining Kiss also allows Hatterene to go bar for bar, drip for drip with non-Heavy-Slam Ting-Lu, Garganacl, Dondozo, etc. It can even eat hits like (non-Tera) Specs Valiant Moonblast and offensive Tusk Headlong Rush, and heal back to full in return. Psychic is a nuke that 2HKO's Skeledirge and Dondozo, and OHKOs a lot of common switch-ins that expect Hatterene to spend a turn Nuzzling or setting up. Additionally, it was chosen over Psyshock as it threatens physical walls more while still doing insane damage to Clodsire and AV Toxapex. Mystical Fire is another safe move that torches unsuspecting Gholdengo, Corviknight, and Kingambit who are expecting the Calm Mind + Nuzzle set, or neuters Volcarona or Dragapult if you get the prediction wrong. Lastly, Trick can be used to cripple an annoying Pokemon, especially in matchups where Hatterene is the weakest link.
The given EV spread seeks to outspeed Garganacl that are trying to outspeed Toxapex. The rest of the investment maximizes power and bulk, in that order. Tera Fire is chosen for defensive utility against Steel-type moves, while turning Mystical Fire into a third STAB move.
Sama Samurai (Kingambit) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
As mentioned in the introduction, Kingambit synergizes very well with Hatterene (and the rest of the team), tanking hits and dishing damage out in return. Kingambit utilizes great priority and spammable moves to either wear down the opposing team early game or clean late game.
The standard Bulky Swords Dance set was chosen to maximize hit-taking potential, with a little bit of speed creep to outspeed opposing Kingambits with the same set. Tera Flying is used to set up on Earthquakers, namely Great Tusk.
Nose Collector (Great Tusk) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
You know him. You may or may not love him. He rocks foes' socks off, knocks foes' rocks off, and socks foes' Knock Offs. He is That Guy ™ . Tusk provides a much needed physical tank, hazard controller, and item remover to the team. Since all Tusk v Tusk wars start very gentlemanly, with a proper handshake, running Leftovers seemed largely pointless. Rocky Helmet gets that extra chip on opposing Tusks that allow for our rocks to go up, and their rocker to go down. This set also punishes the rising Eject Pack set of Great Tusk, obvious U-Turners, and Kingambit who think that Tera Flying = win.
The EV spread provides maximum physical tankage. Tera Water is chosen to improve the rain matchup as well as counter Baxcalibur and Acrobatics Roaring Moon.
Mothingtons (Volcarona) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 108 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Morning Sun
- Giga Drain
A cheap and skill-less Pokemon, Volcarona is perfect for noobs like me. The Bulky Quiver Dance set was selected to maximize longevity of the sweeper and allow Volcarona to potentially burn physical attackers more throughout the game. The notable change here is that Giga Drain was chosen over Will-o-Wisp since it and Flame Body can often times be anti-synergistic. Additionally, I prefer Giga Drain as it provides a way to heal and dish out damage simultaneously and punish Garganacl and Toxapex (yes, even AV Pex will not win versus this if the opponent lets you run away with setup) who think we are running Will-o-Wisp last.
The given EV spread is standard and hits 301 speed, outspeeding 252+ Baxcalibur and Great Tusk naturally. The rest is poured into HP and Defense since QD covers the special side. Tera Grass gives the team a Spore immunity, allows Volcarona to eat Ground and Water-type moves and setup on their users, and turns Giga Drain into a win button.
Choke of '22 (Toxapex) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Sludge Bomb
- Infestation
- Acid Spray
Toxapex serves as the team's primary special tank, Water resistance, grounded Poison-type, and most fire blunder reference. AV Pex can largely invalidate Choice Specs users like Dragapult as well as setup sweepers like Volcarona with no Ground/Psychic coverage, Skeledirge (after Tera we can trap with Infestation), Hydreigon (who will often feel forced to Tera to continue its sweep), Gholdengo, and more. Infestation + Acid Spray allows us to trap and quickly dispose of greedy switch-ins like Garganacl or greedy stay-ins like Dondozo or Volcarona.
The given EV spread maximizes raw power with a bit of speed creep to outspeed Garganacl trying to outspeed Toxapex. Tera Dark was selected to goob Psychic-types and eat Shadow Balls from the three Ghost types in tier.
Green Chain (Dragonite) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Dragonite is our first dedicated Ground-immune, second priority spammer, and third setup sweeper. Earthquake gives us much-needed Ground-type damage, while Dragon Claw is just a strong STAB move. Additionally, since most things like Air Balloon Gholdengo, Baxcalibur, and Dragapult will expect to wall Dragonite's coverage or tank ESpeeds, Dragon Claw gives us ways of catching those.
The Bulky Dragon Dance set was selected to maximize Dragonite's ability to take hits now and take noses later. Tera Normal is great defensively to provide a Ghost immunity while also turning ESpeed into a win button.
4. Threat List
This goes without saying because there is no clear wall to this Pokemon in the current meta. I find it is usually best to try to sack Kingambit health or Tera Water Tusk to this goober to chip it and clean it up afterwards with Dragonite. It may also be worth considering sending in Dragonite on this raw, Terastalizing, and cleaning up with Dragon Claw if it hasn't setup enough to OHKO with Icicle Spear.
@ 
Simply put, something will get burned or sacked, and that is the way it goes with this guy. Do not lead passively if you suspect utility Dragapult, as he will set up a Substitute on you and burn your boys.
--> 
Okay, but who hasn't gotten swept by this guy? Tera Water Skeledirge is a scary dude. These things are particularly threating if they have Earth Power, as Toxapex is no longer a safe answer to them. I think the best answer is to try to muscle through with Toxapex assuming no Earth Power, but if they have Substitute this gets even more challenging.
This thing is not a meme. Do not be fooled and do not let yourself be caught off guard by this. There are like three guys running Sylveon on high ladder and they will smoke your whole pack with either Calm Mind + Tera Blast Ground + Psyshock coverage, or Specs Hyper Voice + Psyshock + Mystical Fire. Kingambit normally can tank these hits and OHKO in return, but this thing has to be kept on a tight leash.
General Weaknesses:
5. Considered Changes
Here are a list of team changes I've already pondered, ordered by Pokemon and then by how worth consideration each change is. If you are rating the team below, please feel free to use these as a starting point. If you are trying the team for yourself, consider these as you play. It is quite possible that a combination of a few of these changes could be all the team needs to go from Heatah to Fajita:
6. Conclusion
Overall, this team has served me very well and nabbed me some commanding wins, even against some well-known high ladder titans and teambuilders. I definitely think these six Pokemon have great synergy in their own right, but may be suffering from suboptimal movesets currently. Additionally, its possible there are better-suited Pokemon to some of the roles I've established in this team than the current ones I'm using. Please let me know what y'all think!
7. Importable
https://pokepast.es/86a477ff3d9bea77
Table of Contents:
1. Proof of Peak
2. Teambuilding Process
3. The Pokémon
4. Threat List
5. Considered Changes
6. Conclusion
7. Importable
1. Proof of Peak
With this team I peaked at 1840 ELO as shown below.
2. Teambuilding Process
After having watched blunder's recent tier changes video and listening to him hype up Choice Specs Hatterene, I wanted to give it a spin. I also figured this would be a good time to let it shine before Hisuian Samurott and Kleavor invalidate Magic Bounce. Since Hatterene fits well on most any team, I left the playstyle open at this point and looked for Pokemon that had good synergy with Hatterene.
This led me to add the ever-splashable Kingambit to the team. Kingambit provides a switch-in to all of Hatterene's weaknesses and can threaten immediate damage back. Kingambit also started to round out the physical/special balance of the team.
The next two Pokemon I added were Volcarona and Dragonite. I added these as I had already been hypothesizing the strength of Kingambit, Volcarona, and Dragonite as an offensive core with great defensive synergy between them. With these three as setup mons and Choice Specs Hatterene as a breaker, I began to round out my defensive core.
At this point, Great Tusk was a fairly obvious (obligatory for Gen 9 OU) addition. Tusk walls physical attacks and provides general utility through hazards and item removal. Great Tusk also has great synergy with the mons already on the team, namely Kingambit and Hatterene.
Now I needed a special tank with longevity. I hadn't been a fan of AV Toxapex up to this point, but since blunder swore by it (in the same video as mentioned above), I gave it a spin and was not disappointed.
3. The Pokemon
Her (Hatterene) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 200 HP / 252 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draining Kiss
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
- Trick
The Pokemon I decided to teambuild around, Choice Specs Hatterene is a great surprise factor. Specs Draining Kiss is a very spammable and forgiving move, allowing Hatterene to heal 20-30% on most incorrect predictions and back to full on correct ones. Draining Kiss also allows Hatterene to go bar for bar, drip for drip with non-Heavy-Slam Ting-Lu, Garganacl, Dondozo, etc. It can even eat hits like (non-Tera) Specs Valiant Moonblast and offensive Tusk Headlong Rush, and heal back to full in return. Psychic is a nuke that 2HKO's Skeledirge and Dondozo, and OHKOs a lot of common switch-ins that expect Hatterene to spend a turn Nuzzling or setting up. Additionally, it was chosen over Psyshock as it threatens physical walls more while still doing insane damage to Clodsire and AV Toxapex. Mystical Fire is another safe move that torches unsuspecting Gholdengo, Corviknight, and Kingambit who are expecting the Calm Mind + Nuzzle set, or neuters Volcarona or Dragapult if you get the prediction wrong. Lastly, Trick can be used to cripple an annoying Pokemon, especially in matchups where Hatterene is the weakest link.
The given EV spread seeks to outspeed Garganacl that are trying to outspeed Toxapex. The rest of the investment maximizes power and bulk, in that order. Tera Fire is chosen for defensive utility against Steel-type moves, while turning Mystical Fire into a third STAB move.
Sama Samurai (Kingambit) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
As mentioned in the introduction, Kingambit synergizes very well with Hatterene (and the rest of the team), tanking hits and dishing damage out in return. Kingambit utilizes great priority and spammable moves to either wear down the opposing team early game or clean late game.
The standard Bulky Swords Dance set was chosen to maximize hit-taking potential, with a little bit of speed creep to outspeed opposing Kingambits with the same set. Tera Flying is used to set up on Earthquakers, namely Great Tusk.
Nose Collector (Great Tusk) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
You know him. You may or may not love him. He rocks foes' socks off, knocks foes' rocks off, and socks foes' Knock Offs. He is That Guy ™ . Tusk provides a much needed physical tank, hazard controller, and item remover to the team. Since all Tusk v Tusk wars start very gentlemanly, with a proper handshake, running Leftovers seemed largely pointless. Rocky Helmet gets that extra chip on opposing Tusks that allow for our rocks to go up, and their rocker to go down. This set also punishes the rising Eject Pack set of Great Tusk, obvious U-Turners, and Kingambit who think that Tera Flying = win.
The EV spread provides maximum physical tankage. Tera Water is chosen to improve the rain matchup as well as counter Baxcalibur and Acrobatics Roaring Moon.
Mothingtons (Volcarona) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 108 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Morning Sun
- Giga Drain
A cheap and skill-less Pokemon, Volcarona is perfect for noobs like me. The Bulky Quiver Dance set was selected to maximize longevity of the sweeper and allow Volcarona to potentially burn physical attackers more throughout the game. The notable change here is that Giga Drain was chosen over Will-o-Wisp since it and Flame Body can often times be anti-synergistic. Additionally, I prefer Giga Drain as it provides a way to heal and dish out damage simultaneously and punish Garganacl and Toxapex (yes, even AV Pex will not win versus this if the opponent lets you run away with setup) who think we are running Will-o-Wisp last.
The given EV spread is standard and hits 301 speed, outspeeding 252+ Baxcalibur and Great Tusk naturally. The rest is poured into HP and Defense since QD covers the special side. Tera Grass gives the team a Spore immunity, allows Volcarona to eat Ground and Water-type moves and setup on their users, and turns Giga Drain into a win button.
Choke of '22 (Toxapex) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Sludge Bomb
- Infestation
- Acid Spray
Toxapex serves as the team's primary special tank, Water resistance, grounded Poison-type, and most fire blunder reference. AV Pex can largely invalidate Choice Specs users like Dragapult as well as setup sweepers like Volcarona with no Ground/Psychic coverage, Skeledirge (after Tera we can trap with Infestation), Hydreigon (who will often feel forced to Tera to continue its sweep), Gholdengo, and more. Infestation + Acid Spray allows us to trap and quickly dispose of greedy switch-ins like Garganacl or greedy stay-ins like Dondozo or Volcarona.
The given EV spread maximizes raw power with a bit of speed creep to outspeed Garganacl trying to outspeed Toxapex. Tera Dark was selected to goob Psychic-types and eat Shadow Balls from the three Ghost types in tier.
Green Chain (Dragonite) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Dragonite is our first dedicated Ground-immune, second priority spammer, and third setup sweeper. Earthquake gives us much-needed Ground-type damage, while Dragon Claw is just a strong STAB move. Additionally, since most things like Air Balloon Gholdengo, Baxcalibur, and Dragapult will expect to wall Dragonite's coverage or tank ESpeeds, Dragon Claw gives us ways of catching those.
The Bulky Dragon Dance set was selected to maximize Dragonite's ability to take hits now and take noses later. Tera Normal is great defensively to provide a Ghost immunity while also turning ESpeed into a win button.
4. Threat List
This goes without saying because there is no clear wall to this Pokemon in the current meta. I find it is usually best to try to sack Kingambit health or Tera Water Tusk to this goober to chip it and clean it up afterwards with Dragonite. It may also be worth considering sending in Dragonite on this raw, Terastalizing, and cleaning up with Dragon Claw if it hasn't setup enough to OHKO with Icicle Spear.
@ Simply put, something will get burned or sacked, and that is the way it goes with this guy. Do not lead passively if you suspect utility Dragapult, as he will set up a Substitute on you and burn your boys.
--> Okay, but who hasn't gotten swept by this guy? Tera Water Skeledirge is a scary dude. These things are particularly threating if they have Earth Power, as Toxapex is no longer a safe answer to them. I think the best answer is to try to muscle through with Toxapex assuming no Earth Power, but if they have Substitute this gets even more challenging.
This thing is not a meme. Do not be fooled and do not let yourself be caught off guard by this. There are like three guys running Sylveon on high ladder and they will smoke your whole pack with either Calm Mind + Tera Blast Ground + Psyshock coverage, or Specs Hyper Voice + Psyshock + Mystical Fire. Kingambit normally can tank these hits and OHKO in return, but this thing has to be kept on a tight leash.
General Weaknesses:
- 5 of 6 mons are 224 Speed or less. This is compensated for by Quiver Dance, Dragon Dance, priority spam, and general bulk, but the speed differences between this team and many offensive teams in the meta right now is noticable.
- The lack of a VoltTurn user is noticable on this team, particularly because of the aforementioned low speed tiers. Switching around often requires tanking multiple hits that add up quickly over time.
5. Considered Changes
Here are a list of team changes I've already pondered, ordered by Pokemon and then by how worth consideration each change is. If you are rating the team below, please feel free to use these as a starting point. If you are trying the team for yourself, consider these as you play. It is quite possible that a combination of a few of these changes could be all the team needs to go from Heatah to Fajita:
- Take away some Speed or SpAtk investment to increase tanking potential, allowing for safer switch-ins and healing afterwards with Draining Kiss.
- Replacing Hatterene with Choice Specs Iron Valiant. This would go against the entire point of the team and, in my opinion, weaken the defensive synergy of the team, so for this particular version this is not an option. But I cannot deny that Iron Valiant would be much more suited to the role of Choice Specs wallbreaker on another version of this build.
- Replace Mystical Fire/Trick with Giga Drain/Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse.
- Change Tera Type to Fire to improve matchup against Volcarona and Hex Dragapult.
- Replace Iron Head with Low Kick for winning Kingambit wars and hitting Great Tusk and Ting-Lu harder on switch-in.
- Change the EV spread to the standard offensive set, 0/252+/0/0/4/252.
- Replace Iron Head with Tera Blast Fairy/Flying for general coverage.
- Replace Earthquake with Body Press. I originally had Body Press on the team since it matches up much more advantageously/neutrally into setup Baxcalibur, Kingambit, Dragonite, and opposing Great Tusk, but I didn't like being walled by Gholdengo and Skeledirge after I Knock Off and they Recover/Slack Off.
- Swap the Def and HP EV spread to maximize physical tankage. This intuitively makes sense to me since we have QD for the SpDef, but if there is a reason this is faulty logic please inform me.
- Replace Giga Drain with Tera Blast Fairy for coverage into Dragapult, Dragonite, and Baxcalibur who we cannot OHKO with our current moveset even at +3.
- Shift from AV to the classic Black Sludge set with a 252/0/4/0/252+/0 EV spread. This, in theory, would give me a better check to setup sweepers with Toxic and Haze, while weakening my matchup into Walking Wake and losing my ability to trap and exterminate defensive pieces.
- Replace Dragon Claw with a different coverage move. There are a LOT of options, including Ice Spinner, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Iron Head, Low Kick, Stone Edge, and more. My first thought was Fire Punch but I already have two Fire-Type spammers on the team, so I've shied away from it thus far.
- Replace Dragon Claw with Roost to allow Dragonite to retain Multiscale and setup multiple times throughout the battle.
- Replace Dragon Claw with Encore to do a little trolling.
- Change the EV spread to the standard offensive set, 0/252/0/0/4/252+.
6. Conclusion
Overall, this team has served me very well and nabbed me some commanding wins, even against some well-known high ladder titans and teambuilders. I definitely think these six Pokemon have great synergy in their own right, but may be suffering from suboptimal movesets currently. Additionally, its possible there are better-suited Pokemon to some of the roles I've established in this team than the current ones I'm using. Please let me know what y'all think!
7. Importable
https://pokepast.es/86a477ff3d9bea77
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