Project SS OU - Victim of the Week - Not hosted anymore

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Gm

:ss/tyranitar:
:choice band: Tyranitar @ Choice Band :choice band:
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Assurance / Crunch / Lash Out
- Fire Punch / Heavy Slam
- Ice Punch / Earthquake

Choice Band Tyranitar is a check to Dragapult because of its natural bulk in tandem with Sand Stream and resisting Shadow Ball. Tyranitar can always come in on Dragapult and threaten it out with its super-effective Dark Stab move. While it needs to be wary of Hydro Pump and U-Turn, Tyranitar can be paired with teammates to scout out Dragapult's move before it can come in. Once you came in on Pult, you can either click Assurance on the upcoming switchin and hit it hard, or do a little predicting and click the other moves.

Calcs:
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Assurance vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 416-492 (131.2 - 155.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 54-64 (15.8 - 18.7%) -- possible 6HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 177-208 (51.9 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0- Atk Dragapult U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 98-116 (28.7 - 34%) -- 0.8% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 200-236 (58.6 - 69.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This is why you gotta be careful incase the Dragapult is Hydro Pump.​
 
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ironwater

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PS Admin
Hey there, I'm gonna close the submission phase tomorrow (in something like 15 hours or a bit more). agslash23 and Sirwings, tagging you if you want to fill your submissions. Also FearNeverDies, Choice Scarf Tapu Fini is more a check than a counter because it can't recover health and thus can't come in reliably against Dragapult (even though it can revenge kill it). I'm gonna count it as a check, but if you disagree we can still talk about it, you can dm me on Smogon to do so.
 

ironwater

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PS Admin

ironwater

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is a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
PS Admin
As there is an equality for both second best check and second best counter, I'm gonna vote myself (as it is a better way to decide than with a randpick).

Checks: :tyranitar: :melmetal:

Counters: :blissey: :toxapex:


With that saying, ending the voting phase. Here are the winners for the Dragapult Victim week:

Checks:

:tapu fini: by FearNeverDies and :tyranitar: by FangFoe

Counters:

:blissey: by Tysonslayer and :toxapex: by cardinal silver

Checks
:tapu fini: 6
:tyranitar: 6
:weavile: 5
:tornadus-therian: 3
:zeraora: 3
:tapu lele: 2
:melmetal: 1
:primarina: 0
:kartana: 0

Counters
:blissey: 13
:toxapex: 7
:mandibuzz: 6

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who made a submission, I hope that all these suggestions will help you dealing with this terrifying Ghost Dragon Pokemon.


For this new week, our Victim will be the gen8 emblem of a playstyle who has been popular since BW. I’m talking about the Rain demon Barraskewda.


barraskewda.gif

Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs
- Close Combat​

Moving at the speed of light under Rain to fire off Strong boosted Water type attacks, this fish which seems ordinary at first glance is actually a massive threat in the OU metagame. Even good Water resists struggle to take Rain boosted hits and thanks to Swift Swim, it can outspeed every single unboosted Pokemon in the tier, making it one of the best revenge killers in OU. Flip Turn is an amazing tool to pressure its answer with a very strong hit while keeping the momentum. Liquidation hits a bit harder and is very spammable under Rain when the opponent doesn’t have a reliable Water resist. Close Combat is a useful coverage move to hit some annoying Steel types like Ferrothorn, while Psychic Fangs helps against things like Toxapex. Even if it is an offensive beast, this propeller fish also has some drawbacks like its contact effects and chip damage weaknesses, taking Rocky Helmet, Iron Barbs or Stealth Rock repeatedly. He also has an extremely low bulk which means it can easily be killed when it doesn’t OHKO its target and is weak to priority moves. Who do you are the best checks and counters for the new Rain king? Let’s find out!

Submission phase will end on next Friday, good luck!
 
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agslash23

Banned deucer.
:ss/Slowbro:

Slowbro @ Colbur Berry / Rocky Helmet / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald / Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Body Press / Future Sight / Thunder Wave
- Teleport

Once again the better Kantonian Slowtwin, Slowbro is a hard COUNTER to Barraskewda. It takes a pittance from any of the stated moves, and beats it with ease using any of its attacks. Furthermore, it heals off any chip damage thanks to Slack Off and Regenerator. It can also use Barraskewda as Teleport fodder, thereby giving free momentum to its team. Finally, It can also use Barraskewda as a free opportunity to set up a Future Sight, so that teammates like Kartana, Urshifu-R and Weavile can break the opponent backbone with ease.

Slowbro can elect to use Colbur Berry to deal with the rare Crunch Barraskewda, while Rocky Helmet punishes Flip Turns, and finally HDB avoids any sort of Hazard Damage (double hazards are common on rain)

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro in Rain: 111-131 (28.1 - 33.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Colbur Berry Slowbro: 94-111 (23.8 - 28.1%) -- 92.9% chance to 4HKO

0 SpA Slowbro Future Sight vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 223-264 (84.7 - 100.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Def Slowbro Body Press vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Barraskewda: 128-151 (48.6 - 57.4%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda in Rain: 112-132 (42.5 - 50.1%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
 
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Zeno420

Banned deucer.
F5113EF3-565A-4509-A08F-2C0ED0FDD101.gif

Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots :heavy-duty boots:
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
Rash Nature
- Hex
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Not much elaboration needed here, with most skewdas dropping crunch for psychic fang to hit the much more popular toxapex. Shedinja hard walls most skewda sets with no trouble at all. Not to mention it also destroys most rain structures being able to counter many of its common sweepers in seismetoad, skewda, garchomp (on rain chomp usually runs aqua tail), and thundy-t.
With that being said, shedinja as a counter to :barraskewda:
(don’t really need to provide Calcs for this mon right)
 
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:swsh/rillaboom:
Rillaboom @ Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Superpower

252 Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Barraskewda in Grassy Terrain: 564-665 (214.4 - 252.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Rillaboom can either switch in on Banded CC once, or be pivoted in, or come in after Barraskewda kills something, and then either revenge kill with priority Grassy Glide, or set up an SD on the potential switch. Therefore Rillaboom is a Check to Barraskewda
 
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romanji

eepy
is a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
:bw/gastrodon:
Gastrodon @ Heavy-Duty Boots

Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD

Careful Nature
- Waterfall

- Earthquake
- Recover

- Curse

Curse Gastrodon is a neat option on some semi-stall teams and is a decent check to Barraskewda. Storm Drain allows it to be immune to Barraskewda's STAB and other threats on rain teams. This allows it to get free turns to set up multiple Curse Boosts allowing it to win for the stall team. The spread allows Gastrodon to survive 2 Close Combats after a Curse boost. It has to worry about switching directly into Close Combat or Psychic Fangs directly.

0 Atk Gastrodon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Barraskewda: 139-165 (52.8 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 0 Atk Gastrodon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Barraskewda: 210-247 (79.8 - 93.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 0 Atk Gastrodon Earthquake vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Barraskewda: 313-369 (119 - 140.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 0 Atk Gastrodon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Barraskewda: 279-328 (106 - 124.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Gastrodon: 190-224 (44.6 - 52.5%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. +1 252 HP / 40 Def Gastrodon: 179-211 (42 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Gastrodon: 268-316 (62.9 - 74.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. +1 252 HP / 40 Def Gastrodon: 179-211 (42 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
 
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Katy

Banned deucer.
rocky helmet tangrowth

:ss/tangrowth:
Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Focus Blast

- Sleep Powder

Rocky Helmet Tangrowth is a counter
to Choice Band Barraskewda, as it takes very little from its Water-type STAB moves and it also takes very little from Psychic Fangs and it doesn't take that much from Close Combat either. Tangrowths longevity in Regenerator and Giga Drain means, its an outlasting counter. Moreover, Tangrowth Rocky Helmet can be very hindering for Barraskewda, as it will take chip-damage eacht time it Flip Turns out and therefore its potential as a wallbreaker is lowered immensely.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 67-80 (16.5 - 19.8%) -- possible 5HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 128-151 (31.6 - 37.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Flip Turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 48-57 (11.8 - 14.1%) -- possible 7HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Psychic Fangs vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 90-107 (22.2 - 26.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Stealth Rock

in rain:
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth in Rain: 102-120 (25.2 - 29.7%) -- 0.9% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Flip Turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth in Rain: 72-85 (17.8 - 21%) -- guaranteed 5HKO after Stealth Rock

0 SpA Tangrowth Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 306-360 (116.3 - 136.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO​
 
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Reserving Dragonite
:bw/dragonite:
Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Atk / 52 Def / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dual Wingbeat
- Earthquake / Heal Bell
- Roost

Dragonite is a check to Barraskewda, as Dragonite is 3HKOed by Liquidation in rain after Multiscale is out so it can Roost the damage off and get Multiscale again which allows Dragonite to check Barraskewda. Dragonite uses Barraskewda as an opportunity to set up or straight up KO it with Dual Wingbeat. Once Dragonite comes in on Barraskewda, Dragonite can either Roost, use Dragon Dance, KO it with Dual Wingbeat, or Heal Bell off status for its teammates. However, Dragonite can be overwhelmed by Barraskewda. If Dragonite comes in on Liquidation, and then the Barraskewda stays in as Dragonite doesn't click Roost, Barraskewda can break past it. It is also checked by Barraskewda's mandatory teammate, Pelipper. But even then, Dragonite risked nothing by clicking Roost after Barraskewda clicks Liquidation. Dragonite hard counters Barraskewda IF rain is not up.


252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 56 Def Multiscale Dragonite in Rain: 81-95 (21 - 24.6%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 56 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 51-60 (13.2 - 15.5%) -- possible 7HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Flip Turn vs. 248 HP / 56 Def Multiscale Dragonite in Rain: 57-67 (14.8 - 17.4%) -- possible 6HKO

No Multiscale:
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 56 Def Dragonite in Rain: 162-191 (42 - 49.6%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO​
 
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1634535276569.png

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower

Volcanion is a check to Barraskewda. Water Absorb blocks Flip turn and Liquidation, allowing Volcanion to heal 25% damage and force Barraskewda out. This is key, as Volcanion's presence causes mind games from turn 1. Barraskewda will often be forced to click suboptimal coverage moves, opening itself up to meaningless chip damage and poor positioning. Volcanion is not OHKOed by either of the coverage moves after rocks, so the threat of blocking Flip turn remains as long as Volcanion is alive. Furthermore, Volcanion has the raw strength to abuse Barraskewda's frailty and the boost to Steam Eruption's power under rain. (Barraskewda is so frail that the retaliatory move doesn't even matter):

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 177-209 (48.7 - 57.5%) -- 94.9% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Psychic Fangs vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 125-148 (34.4 - 40.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 256-302 (97.3 - 114.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda in Rain: 384-453 (146 - 172.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 280-330 (106.4 - 125.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 295-348 (112.1 - 132.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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