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Hawlucha has always been a potent Unburden sweeper in the tier, but has previously been held back by the lack of good ways to activate Unburden. Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini can set Terrain for it, but on the hyper offensive structures Hawlucha tends to reside on, they can feel like dead weight. Other items like White Herb or Focus Sash are relegated to more cheese territory.
With the drop of Rillaboom, Hawlucha not only has a fantastic way to easily activate Unburden with Grassy Seed, but also a great partner. On Rillaboom + Hawlucha structures, Rillaboom provides support through either being a fantastic pivot with Choice Band, able to wear down shared checks like Skarmory, Pecharunt, Mega Latias, and Aegislash, or break alongside Hawlucha with a Swords Dance set. This greatly decreases the risk factors related to using Hawlucha; you have a reliable way to activate Unburden on a teammate that isn’t dead weight in many matchups.
While Hawlucha’s counterplay has always been limited, a reliable terrain setter makes that issue more noticeable. With Swords Dance + STABs, Hawlucha has 1 available moveslot to ruin any potential defensive counterplay; Taunt shuts down Whirlwind and Iron Defense from Skarmory and Roar from Hippowdon as well as status attempts from Mew and Rotom-W; Substitute can ease prediction and allow Hawlucha to set up a Swords Dance more easily while similarly blocking status; Encore can end games if Hawlucha locks a check like Clefable or Slowbro into a recovery move and forces it to switch; Throat Chop, while niche, OHKOs Aegislash after any chip, which is often the only counterplay on other HO teams.
Many of Hawlucha's checks are penned into specific movesets and/or hoping Hawlucha isn't the right last moveslot to be consistent checks. Mega Latias needs to be bulky with Psychic due to the defense buff of Grassy Seed; Aegislash needs to be either the special Wallbreaker set or SD Z; Skarmory needs to be Brave Bird; etc. As a result, Hawlucha ends up limiting teambuilding options considerably; offensive counterplay is essentially nonexistent with nothing outspeeding Hawlucha. This is particularly annoying for offensive teams, who have already lost a strong tool in Ting-Lu and now have trouble fitting the Rotom-W that would grant more freedom in the builder.
Hawlucha is not completely free to ravage the tier, however. Checks like Slowbro and Aegislash are good Pokemon in their own right and are fairly reliable answers and alongside slightly less reliable, but still potent, answers like Clefable and Mega Latias, they can contain Hawlucha. Hawlucha also weakens its bulk through its use of Close Combat, which can be taken advantage of by priority moves from Scizor or Lokix. However, the former means require specific Pokemon and for them to be kept at high HP, while the latter means are reliant on having already taken damage from Hawlucha.
We have decided to suspect Hawlucha instead of Rillaboom as Hawlucha is the only problematic terrain abuser here, and it is very clear from the recent survey that Rillaboom itself is not considered even close to a problem by the playerbase.
Suspect Test Information
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The suspect test will last until June 16th 11:59 PM GMT -8.
For those of you wondering about the Suspect Tours, due to limited interest and player quantity, we will not be continuing with these Tours.
Time to pull some double duty in a suspect post! Finished reqs and want to share the teams I used so we can get more suspecters this go around, then we'll get on to some Luchanalysis.
Not so subtle flex https://pokepast.es/c53a49f43152e1d1 - Used this for most of the run, since you can kinda just brainlessly click through the first 10 games. Lucha EVs aren't optimal, but I made this before the optimal spread was made. https://pokepast.es/904fc07c315a1227 - Switched to this for the last three or so games to dodge cteams and also just. It's more consistent into ladder when you're ready to actually use your brain.
Right, on to the main article then: the birb
As stated in the suspect post, Hawlucha's power comes from the tried and trued fighting/flying dual stab that got its predecessor, Galarian Zapdos, banned before it. Next to nothing in the tier resists both, with only a few notable exceptions. Additionally, its last move being so variable means that counterplay is never consistent, as shown in this replay against Erindor during a room tournament, where I eventually just had to guess that Erindor was running coverage other than Throat Chop and play accordingly. The guessing game Hawlucha's last move slot causes devolves almost any situation it creates to a game of cat and mouse, where Hawlucha's opponent is trying to find a line that plays around Throat Chop coverage, while not relying on recovery that can get blocked by Taunt or lose the game to Encore, while also not playing too passively and allowing it to gain an additional Swords Dance and win the game. Meanwhile, the Hawlucha itself just... waits for the right moment to click its coverage move, and farms damage with Close Combat and Acrobatics in the meantime.
Before the suspect, I compiled a list of all relevant Hawlucha counterplay. It is far too easy for Hawlucha to find an in against something that is vital to the opponent's team or can't threaten any meaningful damage, and get at least one boost while forcing a switch. As such, any relevant defensive counterplay has to be able to switch in and do something after Hawlucha has boosted to +2 with its +1 defence boost from Grassy Terrain. I'll go through that list now, discussing each individual point of counterplay and the relevant conditions needed for it to function appropriately.
Sets: Z Wallbreaker, Z Swords Dance
EVs: Standard slow tank
Minimum HP to answer safely: 84%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Throat Chop vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Both: 226-268 (70.4 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
248+ SpA Aegislash-Both Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 438-516 (147.4 - 173.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Aegislash-Both Never-Ending Nightmare (140 BP) vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 225-265 (75.7 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Aegislash-Both Shadow Sneak vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 66-78 (22.2 - 26.2%) -- 5% chance to 4HKO
Let's start at the very top, with the counter that most offence teams go to. The best pokemon in the tier is undoubtedly the best and most splashable counter for teams to go to. While it finds itself best suited to Offence, it's still perfectly capable of finding a home on more Balanced teams, a trait that secures its spot on the top of the metagame. Having to run it so often is also certainly no hardship, with its Z sets often being able to claim kills into any team that lacks a ghost resist. It is even resistant to being chipped into range, having to take four separate rounds of Stealth Rock chip, or multiple layers of spikes, to put it in range of a KO. The only flaw in this otherwise stellar review is a slight snag in this last point. As a priority user, Aegislash is often relied on to finish off low health threats against the Hyper Offence teams. If Mew is utilised in the lead spot, this often can mean switching in under spikes once or multiple times before Hawlucha hits the field. This puts an enormous strain on the rest of the team to not be able to rely on Aegislash for what is an otherwise vital role in the Hyper Offence match up, its pilot having to choose between keeping Aegislash healthy and losing its priority for most of the game, or sacrificing its health and relying on outpositioning the opponent with Hawlucha to handle it safely (this line of play is also a 'play better than your opponent' argument, and therefore irrelevant to tiering discussion, but does at least bear mentioning). This scenario is relatively unlikely, but does come up in an unnervingly large proportion of games.
Sets: Calm Mind + Psychic
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 87%
8 SpA Latias-Mega Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 378-446 (127.2 - 150.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Following up the titan of the metagame, Mega Latias is also just about able to squeak past a kill range after rocks, allowing it to safely answer Hawlucha if kept at full health. Psychic is necessary for Mega Latias to fulfill this role, as Psyshock misses the KO due to the defense boost Hawlcuha's Grassy Seed provides and Ice Beam barely comes up short of the OHKO without Stealth Rocks, which are never a given to have against Hyper Offence with either Excadrill's Rapid Spin or Mew's Taunt. Similarly to Aegislash, Mega Latias is perfectly splashable on a wide variety of teams, being seen everywhere from Offence to Balance, but its major flaw is also significantly more obvious. Particularly with Ting Lu having left the tier, Mega Latias is often called on to answer every Fighting's eternal partner: Iron Moth. While it is more than adept at answering Iron Moth, it will not be able to do so with full health, and will always be forced out afterwards by other partners such as Galarian Moltres and Aegislash rendering it unable to recover. This presents a reliable sequence that a Hyper Offence team can utilise to prevent Mega Latias from being in range to answer Hawlucha, by simply forcing damage on it with Iron Moth prior.
Sets: Unaware Wall
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 42%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Clefable: 136-162 (34.5 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Grassy Terrain recovery
Unaware Clefable is a very consistent answer to Hawlucha, but it has a glaring issue that puts it out of contention for the vast majority of the metagame. It is exclusive to stall teams. No other structure wants to sacrifice Magic Guard, due to the sheer amount of utility it provides in any other circumstance.
Sets: Defensive Wall
EVs: Reduced Special Defense to run necessary Defense investment
Minimum HP to answer safely: 100%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 124 Def Celesteela: 294-346 (74 - 87.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Celesteela Air Slash vs. 72 HP / 60 SpD Hawlucha: 228-270 (72.3 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Now we start working with margins. From pristine condition, Celesteela is just about able to take a Close Combat and survive, retaliating with a strong Air Slash for a kill. That said, again the issue should be obvious. While able to farm Leftovers recovery to make its way back to full HP after Stealth Rocks chip, any chip it had taken prior would put Celesteela in range to just be OHKOed. Some defensive investment can be utilised on Celesteela to improve this range incidentally while helping it check other parts of the physical metagame, but the standard set needs to be switching in at 100% HP or potentially fail to get any damage off at all.
Editors Note: Yeah so turns out I completely forgot lucha can just SD on the protect turn. I blame 1am brain. So the defense investment is required for Celesteela to take the hit after rocks and leftovers. Calcs and initial details have been updated. Ty 3MoreMinutes for pointing this out.
Sets: Defensive Pivot
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 54%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 144+ Def Pecharunt: 171-202 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Pecharunt Malignant Chain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 141-166 (47.4 - 55.8%) -- 79.7% chance to 2HKO
Pecharunt is next, being able to safely switch in and either Malignant Chain twice for a kill, or pivot around with Parting Shot to reduce Hawlcuha's onslaught if weakened. It is important to note here that Pecharunt needs to be in perfect condition to answer Hawlucha safely on its own. If it is chipped even slightly, it finds itself very quickly having to rely on a Confusion proc to prevent itself from just being 2HKOed without landing enough meaningful damage. That said, as long as it stays out of range of the OHKO, it can still aid its teammates with parting shot to potentially allow another partner to survive a hit it otherwise wouldn't at +2. The downsides here are, as discussed, in Pecharunt being a defensive pivot that needs to be kept in pristine condition to serve as a counter. This is very often completely impossible to manage against Hyper Offence, with Pecharunt often having to pivot in and out against the Rillaboom that is a mandatory presence on Hawlucha teams. The other flaw is that Pecharunt is unable to answer much of the surrounding metagame, which is what confined it to B+ on the last VR shift. While not being a dead slot in many match ups, it often finds itself struggling to contribute much elsewhere, making it incredibly straining on the teambuilder.
Sets: Defensive Utility + Psychic
EVs: Reduced Defense to give necessary Special Attack investment
Minimum HP to answer safely: 71%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Mew: 241-285 (59.6 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
60 SpA Mew Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 300-354 (101 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is getting into obscure territory. Defensive Mew is realistically a hold over from a previous meta; currently it has almost no relevance. Its current ranking on the VR is almost exclusively based on its efficiency as a Hyper Offence lead. That said, if a dedicated Hawlucha counter that can set rocks and spread status is necessary, Mew can certainly fill the role. At this point, however, the flaw in this plan should be obvious. Defensive Mew answers exactly Hawlucha and almost nothing else. In fact, it has to drop its attack of choice in Seismic Toss to be able to run Psychic, rendering it even further obsolete into the surrounding metagame on top of the reduced bulk in order to guarantee an OHKO.
Sets: Bulky Calm Mind + Psychic
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 81%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 180+ Def Reuniclus: 289-342 (68.1 - 80.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Reuniclus Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 338-402 (113.8 - 135.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Reuniclus is very similar to Mew, earning its spot on the VR in a prior metagame where its Balance and Stall breaking skills were significantly more relevant. While still theoretically having a spot on teams, in the current metagame Reuniclus struggles to carve a niche out on any team beyond luring Tyranitar against opponents that forget what set it runs, and answering Hawlucha. Balance struggles to survive in the increasingly more Offensively inclined tier, meaning that Offence teams don't have the need to try and slot it, and Balanced structures have bigger problems to worry about than the Balance ditto or Stall match up.
From here on out, any pokemon mentioned is no longer a counter, but instead either trades with Hawlucha or otherwise forces it into a range where it can be revenged by a priority user. As such, I'll be keeping these summaries briefer than the previous analyses.
Sets: Defensive Pivot
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 64%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 211-249 (53.6 - 63.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Slowbro Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 312-368 (105 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
As ridiculous as it might sound, Slowbro is unable to cleanly answer Hawlucha. In fact, it struggles to even trade itself for Hawlucha under certain conditions. While Thunder Wave sets answer Throat Chop and Encore Hawlucha, which are its most common variants, it ends up useless into Taunt sets and actively sets the team back against Substitute sets, rendering it an unreliable option at best. The most consistent method for Slowbro to attempt to answer Hawlucha is through setting up a Future Sight, and trying to stall out the necessary turns with as few casualties as possible. This, however, is an incredibly dangerous game. Theoretically, it is possible to outpredict your opponent for three turns in a row and not lose anything, however the significantly more likely outcome is that at least one member of your team will be traded for Hawlucha, and quite often a second will have to be sacrificed in the process as well if Slowbro is not at full health going in (It should also be noted that, similarly to the Aegislash mention, outpredicting is another 'play better than your opponent' argument).
Sets: Magic Guard Defensive Utility, Calm Mind
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 82%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 273-322 (69.2 - 81.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 236-282 (79.4 - 94.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This one surprised me as well, but an uninvested Clefable is unable to OHKO Hawlucha from full and, as previously established, it is impossible to guarantee hazards go up against HO to get the necessary chip that would be needed for this to function as a counter. That said, Clefable is the single best pokemon in the tier for forcing Hawlucha into enough damage that it can be easily revenged by any priority user. Other items can be used to guarantee this kill, notably Rocky Helmet and Life Orb, however these items vastly reduce the survivability of Clefable into the rest of the metagame, where it only just avoids 2HKOs and 3HKOs thanks to the passive recovery of Leftovers.
Sets: Defensive pivot
EVs: Reduced Speed to give necessary Defense investment
Minimum HP to answer safely: 95%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 204+ Def Rotom-Wash: 243-286 (80.1 - 94.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. -1 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 288-338 (96.9 - 113.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
This may seem like an oversight from the counters section of this post, but the problems here are twofold. First and foremost, Stealth Rocks need to have been cleared from the field for Washer to stay out of range of a possible OHKO. The second is that the standard set requires more speed than this in order to answer Jolly Swords Dance Aegislash, another incredibly powerful Hyper Offence threat. Running the extra speed turns this from clearing rocks to avoid a potential KO into trying to avoid a guaranteed KO, something that is made all the worse by Rotom Wash being the defacto Hazard Removal in the tier, and specifically losing to the Mold Breaker Excadrill that most Hyper Offense teams use as a lead.
Sets: Defensive Wall + Brave Bird
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 73%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164+ Def Skarmory: 204-241 (61.2 - 72.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Skarmory Brave Bird vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Hawlucha: 182-216 (61.2 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This may seem like a no brainer, but the issue here is in the move choice of Brave Bird. While somewhat relevant to the tier, Brave Bird would almost always rather be passed over for Iron Defense and Body Press. This combination is significantly better into the surrounding metagame, notably for handling threats like Tyranitar and Ursaluna, which would otherwise completely destroy the Balanced teams that Skarmory so often finds itself on. Brave Bird being forced to handle Hawlucha is a massive concession in its move choice, rendering the mon vastly inferior to its full potential otherwise.
Sets: Defensive
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 75%
0 SpA Salamence Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 312-368 (105 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
The primary reason this isn't higher up is just hurricane accuracy. Having to hit a 70% move is already going to lose you an annoying number of games, but if you run into Substitute Hawlucha your odds of actually winning the 1v1 become incredibly slim. Defensive Salamence also has an incredibly difficult match up into the rest of the tier; answering Fightings is all well and good, but doesn't help when they U-Turn out to any of the million pokemon in the tier that threaten Salamence out in some way due to its lack of damage output.
Sets: Unaware Wall
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 42%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 136-162 (34.5 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 126-148 (31.9 - 37.5%) -- 77% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Quagsire Scald vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 75-88 (25.2 - 29.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Another Stall exclusive, and also technically a counter, but only under ideal circumstances. 35% each time Quagsire switches in to acrobatics is hard to deal with in an extended match, and Taunt Hawlucha keeps that damage permanent, eventually winning the 1v1 if timed correctly. To make matters worse, this is possibly the only time where having to answer a +2 Hawlucha is both not guaranteed, but also actively detrimental to the pokemon switching in. It is very unlikely that any Hawlucha player using their brain will go for a Swords Dance with a healthy Quagsire still on the field, meaning it's highly likely that you will have to switch into an attack rather than on a boost (This does stray very close to a 'play better than your opponent' argument as well, so feel free to take it as you will).
Sets: Unaware Wall
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 40%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 44+ Def Unaware Skeledirge: 136-162 (33 - 39.4%) -- 14.6% chance to 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
0 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 114-135 (38.3 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Skeledirge is another victim of the metagame surrounding it. While perfectly adept at answering Hawlucha, it fails to answer nearly anything else in the tier, rendering it nigh useless in any other match up. It somehow doesn't even match up well into Rillaboom due to its access to Knock Off, which makes answering Hawlucha in the future significantly trickier due to Acrobatics suddenly finding rolls for a 2HKO. It also ends up playing an eternal guessing game around Hawlucha's coverage to a greater extent than most others; as usual, Taunt shuts off Will o' Wisp and Encore turns Slack Off into all but a free win for the Hawlucha player, but Skeledirge also has its main attacking move, Torch Song, turned off by Throat Chop. This can often mean that attacking into the Hawlucha isn't a safe prospect either, though you do still win the 1v1 after recovering off and hitting a burn. But even in this, Hawlucha provides a huge opportunity for the aforementioned Galarian Moltres and Aegislash to enter the field and potentially start claiming kills, returning later without its speed boost to clean up a weakened team.
We're nearly done, just a few checks that need to be mentioned left. These only work if Hawlucha has specific coverage, or rather doesn't have specific coverage. Make sure you go get a drink if you've read all of this in one sitting, stay hydrated!
Sets: Physically Defensive, Physically Defensive + Roar
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 62%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 219-258 (52.2 - 61.5%) -- 60.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
Hippowdon is potentially able to at least start wearing Hawlucha down with Toxic, or phase it our with Roar, while only suffering at least recoverable damage. That said, the main set of Toxic is completely shut down by both Taunt and Substitute. Going for this option can just mean an auto loss if the Hawlucha happens to be carrying either of these utility moves, as it will then be able to go to +4 completely for free.
Sets: Physically Defensive, Physically Defensive + Whirlwind
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 73%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164+ Def Skarmory: 204-241 (61.2 - 72.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Similarly to Hippowdon, Skarmory can attempt to phase out Hawlucha using Whirlwind on the rare set that carries this coverage. More likely, however, is it being able to use Iron Defense to just barely be able to set up to +6, recover off, and eventually kill the Hawlucha through Rocky Helmet recoil and Body Press damage. That said, this immediately fails if the Hawlucha is Taunt or Encore.
Sets: Physically Defensive
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 77%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Swampert: 262-309 (64.8 - 76.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
This is an almost identical case to Hippowdon, with Toxic and Roar both being options to potentially stall Hawlucha out long term. It carries the exact same weakness to Taunt, however.
Sets: Defensive Utility
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 71%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Mew: 241-285 (59.6 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
Oh hey this looks familiar. Regular defensive Mew can still answer Hawlucha, being able to burn Hawlucha through Will o' Wisp and just barely squeak past the 2HKO thanks to terrain recovery. That said, this loses to all 3 of Taunt, Substitute and Encore, with the first two blocking status and Encore locking Mew into the move, allowing Hawlucha to just go to +6 and be at exactly the same point anyway. Encore does, fortunately, give the rest of your team a chance to play around Hawlucha a bit more ala Pecharunt's Parting Shot.
Sets: Defensive Wall
EVs: Standard
Minimum HP to answer safely: 78%
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 204+ Def Sableye-Mega: 199-235 (65.6 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
And the best for last! Very similarly to Mew, Mega Sableye can tank a hit and get off a burn, then find its way back in later to heal back via Clefable's or Chansey's Wish. It also does this while blocking both Taunt and Encore through Magic Bounce. It's a shame this completely folds to Substitute though. You're better off relying on Clefable and Quagsire for your stall teams, since that's also the only place you'll find Mega Sableye.
You may have noticed that throughout this entire post, I've only been mentioning defensive counterplay. Offensive counterplay is also integral to being able to play around a threat like Hawlucha, something we've seen many times with Iron Moth's rise and fall over the course of the tier. So, let's start getting into some of that...
...
Yeah slight issue here; there isn't any. Hawlucha is, bar none, the fastest available threat in the tier, and powerful enough at +2 to OHKO almost the entire offensive metagame. This is honestly the most constricting part of Hawlucha, particularly for Offence teams. You are forced to rely on priority in order to get the jump on it, but Hawlucha resists both Sucker Punch and Grassy Glide while also gaining a Defence boost from Grassy Seed, effectively nullifying a large portion of the common priority found in the tier. Normally you would just be able to run a Choice Scarf pokemon to get around it, but there aren't any that can outpace Hawlucha either. In fact, the only relevant pokemon that can outpace Hawlucha is another Hawlucha that has been speed crept a little more, specifically to beat opposing Hawlucha. And here we can see the centralisation that Hawlucha forces in play.
I think it's fair to say that the most powerful team style in the tier at the moment is Bulky Offence. It utilises all the most powerful pokemon available, including Hawlucha sometimes, and has a highly varied list of pokemon that you would normally be able to pick from. With the latest series of drops, however, and particularly Hawlucha rising to prominence, this has been far from the experience that I have had. Nearly every team has ended up being built in exactly the same way:
Step 1: The Threat
Let's take Offensive Buzzwole as an example. It has an incredible array of helpful resists, but doesn't sacrifice any of the power, leaving it in a perfect place for current Bulky Offence
Step 2: The Speed Control (Semi-Forced inclusion)
The main threat to Buzzwole are Flying and Fire types, both of which Mega Aerodactyl happen to match up well into. It's also extremely fortunate that Mega Aerodactyl is arguably the best Speed Control in the tier, outspeeding every unboosted threat available. That said, it has a nasty Stealth Rocks weakness, which leads us onto...
Step 3: The Removal (Forced inclusion)
Rotom Wash is one of two available removal options for Offence, and honestly the significantly better option compared to Utility Excadrill in my opinion. While its ground immunity is less important next to Buzzwole and Mega Aerodactyl, the pivoting it provides next to removal is an incredible amount of role compression, especially next to a decently strong Hydro Pump for damage and Will o' Wisp to handle pesky Aegislash. That said, this now means we can't run another bulky water, putting Slowbro out of the question. Clefable doesn't fit easily, and we need a Hawlucha check, which means...
Step 4: The Wallbreaker (Forced inclusion)
The most splashable and reliable Hawlucha counter, Z Wallbreaker Aegislash. This looks like a great start to the team! Slight issue though.
This process can and will be repeated for almost any Bulky Offence team. Pick any threat, any start point, really anything you want, and you will almost always end up devolving back to Mega Aerodactyl, Rotom Wash and Aegislash. Sometimes Mega Latias will take Aegislash's place, maybe occasionally a Scarf Rotom Wash will show up and let you use Excadrill with Tyranitar for speed control, but the vast majority of teams that I have seen and helped build just become the same three core team members with a rotating cast around them. I've even had discussions in the showdown lobby about how Rillaboom is only perceived as a threat due to Hawlucha forcing Aegislash everywhere, which is the only steel in the tier beyond Iron Crown that doesn't have recovery in some form.
Needless to say, I will be voting Ban in the upcoming suspect. That said, it's up to you what you would like to vote. I intended this... god this is basically a research paper at this point, to be a referral point that people can come back to for key information. While I believe that Hawlucha should be banned from all the evidence I've seen, I've tried to place as much of the argument on the table as I can for people to expand on.
Hope you all have a good day, while I go rest my fingers from the 4788 words I just typed.
Not much to really say like the previous user above me did. (Nerd..)
I did steal TBIC's team above and used it for like 7 games to find like 5 people on ladder also abusing it as well. So I made something to combat possible Hawlucha suspect games runners abusing Rilla + Lucha. Enjoy.
paste is included in the sprites. just click on it!
Celebrating my hundredth post to tell y'all Lucha is eye-rolling at best and wins on preview at worst. I'll be voting ban because this mon restricts offensive teambuilding in the tier and does what Gapdos did but with nothing to outspeed it and with a free +1 def boost. While there are defensive checks to each of its sets, Lucha's 4th move slot (Throat Chop, Encore, Taunt, Sub) and shared checks can neutralize each of them, and with most playstyles, there isn't enough time to play around its coverage moves lest you make one wrong move and let it get another swords dance.
I had fun using the below semi-room Slowbro team for most of recs. I played against a few Tauntless Luchas and I am glad I didn't play more because the matchup is hazy with only poor Slowbro able to answer it.
Suspect Stats:
Sweats broken upon seeing Lucha: 3
Enjoyment of the tier & ladder suspect: 7.5
Specs Blacephalon kills on little timmy with 1040 elo: Too many to count
I don't think it's the end of the world if it stays in the tier, but with time I think it's a mistake to keep alongside a bevy of other HO threats that enable it further. Peace Y'all
50% +1 pro-ban majority of ban is required for a ban, and no further Do Not Ban votes can alter the result. Therefore, Hawlucha is now banned from SV National Dex UU. Tagging dhelmise to implement, thank you!
Thank you to all who have voted. The vote will remain open for until the deadline at Thursday 19th at 11:59pm GMT -4 to allow the remaining people with voting requirements to vote and have their vote count towards the Tiering Contributor badge if they so please. I will close voting at this time.
