Project SV OU Teambuilding Competition (Indigo Disk Edition) (Week 23: Hoopa Unbound)

[Heatranator]

Voting time.

First time posting a team and unsure how to add sprites (any help would be greatly appreciated!), but here's something I concocted:

https://pokepast.es/d237b5da6ba6ece6

Been toying with the idea of a lead hoopa-u for a minute and decided this was my sign to get in the lab. Pretty simple ooga booga offence with 6 guys all threatening to sweep.

The star of the show, of course, is custap d-bond hoopa-u, which gets away with far too much. Obviously you mainly use this to get surprise (suicide) KOs, but in very very specific situations, it can also be fun to steal an item the same turn the custap procs. I have this fantasy of yoinking a second custap but I haven't quite managed that yet. Moves on this guy are honestly totally flexible. Brick break could be pretty cool to troll screens, but I figured with cinderace in the back we'd rather take em for ourselves. This thing could absolutely be special or mixed too, I just like the utility of knock + surprise gunk for fairies. Whatever the set, hoopa-u gets value off lead vs anything but a u-turner and punches holes for one of the guys in the back to clean up.

The rest of the team is relatively standard. I think I got spell tag dnite from an old leng dump somewhere? And that's facilitated by cinderace and speed booster tusk basically always keeping hazards off our side. Torn is just a guy that'll do as much or as little as it feels like on the day (cane over bleakwind for a better shot at OHKOing tera waterpon at +2), and waterpon is waterpon. A fun interaction that happens more than you'd think with this waterpon set is trailblazing on a zama idef into encore. Also tusk is tera dark for the random endgame deoxys psycho boost lol, but 9 times out of 10 tera is for dnite.

Gonna try to add some replays through the week:

Surprise scarf hoopa
No hands? No problem
Torn occasionally shows up to work
vs that one serperiorr reun offence RMT
Tera hoopa

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I wanted to build with CB Hoopa because Scarf felt weird and AV is boring, Specs felt the same as CB and some other options like Balloon came to mind because of ability but stuck to CB.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Band
Ability: Magician
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Zen Headbutt

Hoopa helps the team break through teams and force Tera as well as being able to Knock Lu, Mola and some birds that might be able to beat the rest of the team. Knock + Hyperspace is nice over trick because you kind of want to keep CB and 8 PP sucks when theres many mons that can come in on a lot of the Hyperspaces but can’t outlast Knock. I’ve never got to click Zen and you probably won’t need to ever click it outside of Dozo post Tera.

Iron Treads @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin

I wanted a cool rocker so I decided to go with Treads but made it AV after deciding on the 3rd slot. It takes a lot from Draco but is the Bolt answer (Hoopa and Tran can kind of do this in a pinch too). I liked being able to Knock different things than Hoopa with this but a cool tech you could run over it since there is a Knock Hoopa is Endeavor to deal with cheesy Clef sets or Bug Bolt. Speed is for Iron Crown because I don’t like it getting too much free moves, but 250 speed or around that benchmark should be sufficient since Iron Crown is kinda rare and we have options for it if you do run into it.



Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 208 SpD / 48 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Will-O-Wisp
- Stealth Rock


Heatran is broken, when I decided on Heatran I knew I had to make this the Rocker and Treads AV. Comes in on a lot of mons and gets Rocks and Wisps off for free. Team is kind of weak to Mix Iron Valiant so Tera Ghost is an option to get a wisp or plume off if you think it’s needed. CM and SD sets are dangerous but Wisp into Plume spam should be alright vs both and Sinistcha or Zama can finish off if SD and Treads if CM. But these are usually on offensive teams so it will be easy to spot a potential Set-up Val team. If Zama keeps Crunch Dropping Sinistcha and you get a bit low and do not think you need another Tera you can also Ghost Wisp Zama.


Zamazenta @ Leftovers
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 16 HP / 124 Atk / 196 Def / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Crunch
- Heavy Slam

I decided on Zama because the team was very susceptible to Ground types and Gambit which are both semi kept in check by Idef Zama. I decided on Tera Electric due to Moltres being weak into Heatran and the Knock mons I have, but Zapdos can be a nuisance. I did Heavy Slam as well to deal with the mixed fairies that can cause this team a lot of annoyance I took this spread from a World Cup team dump, and the Zama attack evs fit these perfectly with lefties gone Clef dies to 2 Heavy Slams and Offensive Ghold is also 2hkoed by Crunch which fit what I wanted.





Sinistcha @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Heatproof
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Matcha Gotcha
- Shadow Ball
- Strength Sap


Or

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 80 HP / 180 SpA / 8 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Tera Blast

Final mon in this slot I landed on was Sinistcha. Wellspring and Ground types were still massive threats to this team and Sinistcha fit this role better than Zapdos. It didn’t outspeed Tusk but walls it pretty hard. It also comes in on Wellspring and Fighting types were also bad for the first 4 mons and Sinistcha helps with that, also a good wincon.

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam

Last mon on the team is Darkrai. I wasn’t too sure on this slot but I was still losing to ground types long term so I thought it would be cool to run bulky Rai with Tera Fly, It helps with Idef Zama defensively still and felt like I didn’t need Tera Poison or Ghost because I had a Tera Poison Sinistcha and a Spinner. I didn’t get to use this but vs Scarf Lando and Bulk Up Speed Boost Tusk this set definitely does what it needs to.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2484406344?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2484400187?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2484401773
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2484393244?p2

Some replays of the team on an alt
Team Pastes
https://pokepast.es/44bc34f68680f035 Teapot version
https://pokepast.es/bfafea8aa8f1c84b Zap version

B

Click the team for the paste and breakdown​

I went with AV Hoopa as its the most reliable set it has that doesn't require extensive support to put in work versus almost any teamstyle. I then paired it with other AV 'mons in Samurott-H and Zamazenta to allow them the extra bulk to trade more favorably against offense heavy teams with the Samu still forcing progress through Spikes and Knock. Then I went with a dual-removal core of Boots Tusk and Weezing-G as I really needed a T-spikes absorber and team appreciates having the extra layer of hazzard control (plus its good at trolling fat teams by cutting them off of Regenerator and the like). Finally, I picked Calm Mind Sinistcha as my spin-blocker thanks to it being a sturdy ground resist and being able break balance teams once it gets some boosts. I went with Colbur berry to turn it into a borderline counter to Wellspring while also having utility against stuff like opposing Samurott and Lokix.
Its not the most creative set, but it felt nice to use.
Also, shoutouts to EpicGuy for posting his AV Zama stuff in the Metagame thread. Feels like a dream being able to box with both physical and special attackers.

C

Voting Deadline is 23rd November 2025

 

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