SV OU Sticking to the Roots: A Scarf Heatran + AV Dondozo Team

[MattC (Banned)]

What's up guys? Im here with a new Rate My Team. I didn't actually play OU during Pokemon HOME, but I really wanted to play OU. So I have the team I do right now. Now that that's said, let's get into my team.


With the Teal Mask DLC, Baxcalibur has recently been banned, and firepon is wrecking the tier. I started my team with the Scarf Heatran I mentioned in the OU forum. It's a nice check to Ogerpon overall and I recognize it's potential. It just needed to be unlocked.

+
Alomomola has gotten buffed to hell with the DLC. New tools in Scald and the ever important Flip Turn allows it to be a hyper consistent Wish passer -- which is absolutely perfect for my team. I do really like Alomomola on this team, and I plan on using it on the future.

+ +
If you seen my gen 9 teams, you notice a few trends. Gholdengo, Roaring Moon, Great Tusk, Glimmora and Dondozo. A lot of my teams don't have much deviation, but this is an interesting improvement. Personally, I can't handle setup sweepers (because I'm bad at the game), and AV Dondozo is like... underrated as hell. You become as bulky on the special side as the physical (if you invest in it) and as such, you can take on threats like manaphy and iron moth much easier.

+ + +
The booster Valiant makes a return -- equipped with a new priority move in Vacuum Wave. Now I can finally slap on the final move on the standard Valiant with this thing. It's fast, it's good.

+ + + +
It's almost unfortunate that Great Tusk is the only pokemon with Stealth Rock, Knock Off, and is faster than Glimmora (that's relevant anyway) but here it is. Yea. It's good

+ + + + +
So what happens when you add diet Zacian to OU? It uuum... doesn't end well. I actually added it because I suffered vs Rotom Wash. But it's still broken tbh


Honestly I don't have much to say. Same stuff, different era. But now let's get into the team


Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 48 SpA / 128 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
- Power Gem
- Tera Blast

It can outspeed Iron Valiant. It can 2HKO every standard Ogerpon. It's not actually strong... like at all. And that's intentional. Honestly, I like heatran a lot. For a universal Ogerpon check, I'd say it's pretty damn good.


Dondozo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 224 HP / 92 Atk / 8 Def / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Tera Blast

How do you fix Dondozo? The obvious answer is buff it's special defense stat. And Assault Vest can do just that. Av dondozo has a trade-off factor with RestTalk. For one, you have recovery and lose coverage. I addition, you also gain a partial immunity to status effects. It's a strange item to use but personally I believed it could work. And it did. It stays stopping pesky set up sweepers and that's all I need.




Alomomola @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Wish
- Protect

I used to be a big mola hater. But then I found it. The perfect Wish user for my (and any) team. Regenerator, it's massive HP stat, and many other good qualities are huge determining factors for its viability. A single Wish from this mon can heal a seemingly dead Firepon all the way to maximum health. Alomomola is a great team enabler for frail sweepers like Firepon and Iron Valiant as well as provide valuable team structure support.




Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Thunderbolt
- Vacuum Wave

I'm sure everyone knows what this does. It's a fast revenge killer and can sweep teams from time to time. Vacuum Wave is an important tool for it as it can finally use a decently strong priority move to clean up opposing pokemon.




Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Standard Stealth Rock set. Nothing more to say here


Ogerpon-Hearthflame (F) @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Wood Hammer
- Play Rough
- Trailblaze

Ending off this team is Trailblaze Firepon. Another standard set, but it is very threatening. A +2 Speed +1 Attack Ogerpon Hearthflame is almost impossible to deal with. Abusing this before it's banned :/


TEAM TROUBLES

I stay hating washing machines. While Ogerpon can help, it's not perfect - as a scarf set can easily beat it.

The Waterpon is the most difficult pokemon for me to face. Swords Dance with Trailblaze is (while specific) just enough to not wipe to my team. Heatran being a special attacker and Embodiment Aspect raising specifical defense on waterpon makes things even worse.

Webs are another tedious thing in my way of victory. The speed drop and the fact that only my great tusk is there to hazard block isn't good news.

Veil is also deadly. If it gets set up, I instantly lose the game.

I. Do not like this. At all. My team can't damage it enough for its toxic antics to not absolutely crush my team.


Almost forgot this guy. Yea he can sweep my team with just it's STAB combination and calm mind + moonlight. Definitely not good


REPLAYS
Finally some replays. I'm still stuck in 1430 range (it is my home -- as well as 57% GXE) so here's some unorganized ones I saved.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1947436395 <- Webs
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1947448312 <- That Zamazenta HO team (I think?)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1947480787 <- Rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1947453200 <- FUCKING COSMIC POWER CLEFABLE

I think I made a good team? I had to rush to get this out because I really wanted to share it. Perfect? Not at all. Is it viable??? Sorta. But is it fun? Yes. Yes it is

https://pokepast.es/b9a96b3e9479ce6f team paste

Lemme know what you all think of it. I did make a blunder writing this (I saved it halfway through) so here's this now. And with all that being said, goodbye.

 

[Arc]

Heyo this is an interesting team you have made with very unique sets, with a few changes i believe the team will be a lot better.
Unfortunately with the addition of mold breaker Ogerpon-Fire Heatran has found itself in a rough spot due to its ability of Flash Fire being bypassed. However, I believe scarf heatran is currently not the best set rn, and if you are running it to solely check Heatran, I would highly suggest running a trapper set with Ability Shield > Choice Scarf, as many Ogerpon-Fire's currently run a set of SD Ivy Power Whip and Play Rough for coverage on dragons too, so you will be able to wall it fine as long as it doesnt have superpower/tantrum. This would be a lot more consistent than running scarf Heatran, which allows it to be revenged easily and is heavily reliant on Tera (flying in your case) to do anywork, which would subsequently open it to a Stealth Rock weakness.
I also suggest leftovers over boots on your tusk for greater longevity, and highly a suggest a poison type to use over Alomomola. With the prevelance of Glimmora HOs, I believe having a toxic spikes absorber is important. I suggest running toxapex as you are able to check Zamazenta, Iron Moth and some Iron Valiant sets, all which are great threats to your team. Without changing too much of your team, if you are adamant on running AV Dondozo, I suggest heavy slam to check common fairies like Iron Valiant much easier > tera blast.

The use of Ogerpon-Fire is not unviable however it does not fit your team structure perfectly. The lack of heavy duty boots, especially on a mon like Dondozo which is heavily reliant on it, as well as your sole remover being Tusk, which has become less reliable due to the metagame heavily built on momentum, or the restricting nature of defensive Gholdengo with Air Balloon and tera ghost, often making hazards impossible to clear. I would recommend Cinderace > Ogerpon to help suit your more balanced team and to solve the hazards issue as well (and an extra check to the Ogerpons with u turn and wisp). Finally, a change of Encore > Vaccum Wave could be considered on Iron Valiant. Iron Valiant is one of the fastest mons in the metagame already after a booster energy, it is not necessary reliant on priority, however considering your team structure I also think something like Specs or Scarf with trick may help better.

Lmk if you have any questions regarding my suggestions

 

[MattC (Banned)]

Heyo this is an interesting team you have made with very unique sets, with a few changes i believe the team will be a lot better.
Unfortunately with the addition of mold breaker Ogerpon-Fire Heatran has found itself in a rough spot due to its ability of Flash Fire being bypassed. However, I believe scarf heatran is currently not the best set rn, and if you are running it to solely check Heatran, I would highly suggest running a trapper set with Ability Shield > Choice Scarf, as many Ogerpon-Fire's currently run a set of SD Ivy Power Whip and Play Rough for coverage on dragons too, so you will be able to wall it fine as long as it doesnt have superpower/tantrum. This would be a lot more consistent than running scarf Heatran, which allows it to be revenged easily and is heavily reliant on Tera (flying in your case) to do anywork, which would subsequently open it to a Stealth Rock weakness.
I also suggest leftovers over boots on your tusk for greater longevity, and highly a suggest a poison type to use over Alomomola. With the prevelance of Glimmora HOs, I believe having a toxic spikes absorber is important. I suggest running toxapex as you are able to check Zamazenta, Iron Moth and some Iron Valiant sets, all which are great threats to your team. Without changing too much of your team, if you are adamant on running AV Dondozo, I suggest heavy slam to check common fairies like Iron Valiant much easier > tera blast.

The use of Ogerpon-Fire is not unviable however it does not fit your team structure perfectly. The lack of heavy duty boots, especially on a mon like Dondozo which is heavily reliant on it, as well as your sole remover being Tusk, which has become less reliable due to the metagame heavily built on momentum, or the restricting nature of defensive Gholdengo with Air Balloon and tera ghost, often making hazards impossible to clear. I would recommend Cinderace > Ogerpon to help suit your more balanced team and to solve the hazards issue as well (and an extra check to the Ogerpons with u turn and wisp). Finally, a change of Encore > Vaccum Wave could be considered on Iron Valiant. Iron Valiant is one of the fastest mons in the metagame already after a booster energy, it is not necessary reliant on priority, however considering your team structure I also think something like Specs or Scarf with trick may help better.

Lmk if you have any questions regarding my suggestions

Woah. It seems like my team isn't all that great, is it? I'll go over everything you said.

1) Thank you! Playing a lot of monopoke (1v1 with the same pokemon) has allowed me to get creative with EVs in ways no one else can. OU only amplified this

2) on . The whole team was built with scarf tran as the base. Maybe I'll do it for general team adjustments.

3) on . See I tried this. But hazard stacking was too detrimental to my team. So I simply adjusted with the dual boots core of tusk and alomomola.

4) Poison-type instead of . But I like mola... it's good team support for everyone. I am looking into something for Gliscor antics as we speak.

5) Heavy Slam on . This is a bit tricky. See, Liquidation is STAB and has a chance to drop defense. Earthquake is general strong neutral coverage vs a lot of the meta. Avalanche is strong coverage against like... everything weak to it (which is a lot). Tera Blast Grass is the only way Dondozo can hit manaphy -- which it can check with Assault Vest. Maybe put it in place of Earthquake, but I doubt i can change much here.

6) over . Well Cinderace IS Cinderace firstly. Second of all, Court Change is a gamer play. But can it aid my other bad matchups? I never used it so I'm not certain about that.

7) Encore over Vacuum Wave on . So. I usually use the standardized 3 of Moonblast, Close Combat and Thunderbolt on this. Psyshock, Psychic, Leaf Blade, Knock Off -- i tried all of it. But nothing stuck with it. A Priority move is just generally good overall for it honestly. But Encore is also good on it.

Additionally, you mentioned or with Trick on this. So, I did try scarf in the past. But I found it too inconsistent for my liking. Locking into a single move does that ig. Trick however... that's an idea. It makes defensive checks just a non factor honestly. I'll try it

Everything is taken into account. I will 100% update some things with my team. Believe me

 

[matte]

Thanks for posting! You have whacky sets, so we are just going to change them out for something more consistent. Note that Exotic64 already made some changes, I agree with them and that's why they won't be mentioned.

Big Changes:

Swap for a Curse set. will normally be switching in on strong hits through out the duration of a game and with no recovery besides Wish passing (Which is tough because one pokemon can check both Mola and Dozo (bc same typing), Dozo's walling ability is reduced. Also, having no way to get rid of status (Toxic) makes the matchup vs very tough. You mentioned the SpD of Dondozo is a big weakness so I think a Curse set with SpD investment would be perfect. Curse allows Dozo to still wall things on the physical side, Liquidation is for dealing damage, you don't want to be too passive. You can run Waterfall over Liquidation as it has more PP which is better for longer games. Rest is for longevity, and ability to rest off status and Sleep Talk is for being able to do something while sleeping. This set becomes even better because Bax is banned, meaning that running less Def investment isn't as tough. is for avoiding 2HKOs as Dozo isn't as bulky on the Phys side, but you can run if you want more consistency (heavy Hazard Stack meta rn). Tera Dark is for beating Stored Power, but you can run Fighting instead if you want a better check.

Dondozo Set

Dondozo (F) @ Leftovers / Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dark / Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Liquidation / Waterfall
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Swap for . You said that hazard stacking is really strong vs your team, so we will swap Cinderace for Pond. Sure, you might have less firepower, but the utility of Cinderace is worth it. You mentioned you didn't quite know what it does, so i'll give a quick explanation. It's a fast utility pivot that is still able to deal good damage if positioned well. You can run a "bulky" lmao it's not even that bulky or an offensive set. I'll suggest an offensive set because you already have Heatran as the bulky fire. Pyro Ball for big damage, U-turn for offensively pivoting, Court Change to solve the hazard problem and the last move can be Low Kick or Will-O-Wisp. Low Kick is a tech move for , and similar pokemon and Wisp can be used for burning attackers meaning that your walls can work better. I would suggest running Libero instead of Blaze on this set, but you can get burnt by Moltres because of it so its up to you (You do have Heatran tho). Tera flying can be ran to avoid eq, extremely situational.

Cinderace Set

Cinderace (F) @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Libero / Blaze
Tera Type: Fire / Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Court Change
- U-turn
- Low Kick / Will-O-Wisp

Small Changes:

This is mostly the stuff that Exotic suggested alr, but I think its important enough to be mentioned.

Swap Vaccum Wave for Encore. is already really fast with a speed booster so there is no need to run a priority move on it. If you really want to run Vaccum wave, I would suggest a Calm Mind set. Something like Calm Mind, Psyshock for coverage and poisons, Moonblast for STAB and Vaccum Wave in the last slot to be able to hit first even if booster energy isn't activated. (eg. Sticky Webs mess you up or you waste the Booster by switching out.

Just some small tweaks to , Make it 248 Hp evs, and 8 Atk evs. 8 evs in Atk allow you to always kill with Knock Off into Earthquake and 248 minimizes Steath Rock damage. Swap Boots for , because we have on the team now hazards will be less of a problem.

Again, that's not all as I don't want to repeat changes that Exotic suggest alr, (eg. on Heatran).
Thats all! Hope this helps. Go get em!