SS OU Tempo Turn (Balanced)

[Cpt.]

Teambuilding:


I was testing out a lot of the new Flip Turn mons and all of the Volt Switchers and U-Turners in the current OU meta. I decided upon using mainly due to his base 143 speed.


One of Zeraora's only poor match ups is against excadrill. I wanted a partner for him that could stand against thatand possibly get a punish off as well. Having U-turn is even better for the tempo of the game which is the type of team I was trying to build.


At first I tried Rotom-W and Rotm-H as a tertiary partner due to the fact that they had levitate, but because of how frail Zeraora is in the first place it's not always going to be a ground move that is threatening him out. I decided on Arcanine instead to pressure scarfed pokemon with it's extreme speed and act as a hard read against other fire types with Flash Fire.


As Zeraora & Rotom/Arcanine have bad matchups against Dragon types I thought Clefable here was a must. She can also be good acting as my 3rd pivot using Teleport.


I needed something to pivot into that would provide a lot of offensive pressure. With the electric typing of Zeraora I realized that an Ice pokemon would be great. And Kyurem's SpA is also good along with Zeraora's PhA.


Finally I wanted a specially defensive pokemon who could aid my who other walls of Mandibuzz and Clefable. I thought Ferrothorn was the the best choice since it resists steel & electric as well as it being immune to poison. It's weakness to fire was already covered by Rotom (which later became Arcanine).

Sets

Yellow Thunder (Zeraora) @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature

- Volt Switch

- Plasma Fists

- Knock Off

- Play Rough

The main revenge killer and a good offensive pressure pivot. I made him a mixed attacker because I wanted to use both Volt Switch as a pivoting STAB and Knock Off/Play Rough as good offensive super effective coverage against Dragons like Dragapult. Finally I went with Plasma Fists for a STAB physical move. The EV spread is a bit odd because he is a mixed attacker. Specially Offensive with Choice band to put him +300 in each offensive stat. This helps him revenge kill frail fast targets with high HP.

Black Night (Mandibuzz) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature

- U-turn

- Defog

- Roost

- Foul Play

One of my PhD pokemon and the team's defogger. It is pretty important to keep alive due to the 25% Kyurem will take from rocks, though I did choose to give my fire type Heavy-Duty Boots as well incase you need to sac something or punish a physical rock/electric type for staying in with foul play and might die. Roost is for stalling purposes and to keep Mandibuzz healthy against chip damage. U-turn is a great tool to pivot into an offensive pokemon.

Red Burn (Arcanine) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

- Extreme Speed

- Flame Charge

- Morning Sun

- Play Rough

Arcanine acts as secondary revenge killer & heat sink. I firgured that one of Zeraora's main weaknesses was anything faster than it due to him having the highest base speed in OU, if I am caught against a set-up +1 speed or a scarfer then an extreme speed can come in handy. I also didn't see much of a threat in the opponent's steel types due to Zeraora's ability to take out metal birds and my own ferrothorn. So I choose to give him flame charge as it would still deal a solid amount of damage and give myself +1 speed in case they switch out to a fire resist like a Dragon type. Then you can attack the dragon type with Play Rough. Potentially will swap morning sun < Wild Charge to cover water types, but for now I wanted some sustainability on Arcanine since I need it alive for ferrothorn's coverage.

Pink Magic (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Moonblast

- Wish

- Teleport

- Protect

A typical Clef set. It's main purpose hear is only to stay alive to either get a safe swap to an offensive threat or to punish fighting and dragon type pokemon. I noticed how broken Urshifu was in this meta as well as the sheer amount of Dragapults so PhD Clef it is. Worst case, she can deal a little bit of chip damage to them and die giving you a safe revenge kill with Zeraora. Protect aint as great as it used to be due to unseen fist. But it is still useful at keeping Clef alive against any other pokemon pairing with Wish.

Blue Dino (Kyurem) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Freeze-Dry

- Ice Beam

- Dragon Pulse

- Flash Cannon

For Kyurem I went with specs as my team has so much positive tempo already I wont be punished as hard for a bad read. A volt swich/u-turn/teleport into Kyurem can be ridiculously threatening due to his great move coverage especially paired with Zeraora's electric typing. Not that Kyruem even needs that due to the move freeze-dry, HOWEVER it does reassure that it is an extra bad play for the opponent to switch in a water type pokemon. Generally Dragon Pulse is the go-to move since Zeraora and Kyurem's typing scares resistances out. But if you see a fairy on their team, then a hard read flash canon is the play. With Choice Specs it will surely two shot any fairy at worst.

Green Thorn (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Spikes

- Body Press

- Knock Off

Last, but never ever least is one of my favorite mons since its release, Ferrothorn. Acting here as a specially defensive wall. It's great at dealing with scarfed Hydreigon or opposing Kyurem with it's new move in Body Press. Though with a special defensive investment it won't be doing as much damage as it normally would. Ferro also acts as a hazard setter since pokemon without fire or fighting moves will often switch out giving out a good opportunity to start adding chip damage. It is also importnat to set hazards when you are providing a lot of tempo pressure with volt switch/u-turn/teleport. The move hazards you have up compared to the opponent will help you in the long run due to all the pressure to switch you will make. Knock Off is good against opposing walls that your opponent brings in as well.

Thanks for any feed back :D

Importable:
https://pokepast.es/6386c798a8f5246c

 

[the hunter]

Hi and welcome to RMT!
The team at hand is pretty interesting, although it needs some changes in my opinion. So without further ado, let's get through it.
First of all that Zeraora is really anomalous, which of course doesn't mean it's bad most of the the times, but in this case I'd personally never run such a set. If i were you, looking at how much both Tangrowth

and Amoongus

annoy zeraora, I'd never run Zeraora without Toxic in that team of yours.

Zeraora @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat

Moving through the team Ferrothorn really can't work it best self, since the more physically defensive you are the more damages body press deals. Furthermore you don't need it to be a special wall whatsoever, since Clefable can do the same work, but surely better.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Body Press
- Leech Seed

This Ferrothorn also annoys Bisharp and every pokemon hitting it with contact moves.

As previously mentioned, since your physical wall is now Ferrothorn, there's no reason to keep running physically defensive Clefable.
Let's just move it on another level.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled

At first glance, wish Clefable without teleport might look weird and not reliable, but it doesn't always need to run both teleport and wish all together. Instead you do need something to deal with Magearna

which most of the times runs stored power and aura sphere as its attacking moves. Having a thunder wave user like Clefable helps you to make it slower and of course to caught it off guard.
Then, I'd wholeheartedly suggest you not to run Arcanine in this team. Cinderace

instead would be a good choice, since it's a fire type as well as Arcanine ( you do need a fire type in your team ). Cinderace makes your team more offensive, and offers more fire power, besides being one of the best wallbreaker in the current OU metagame, and it would surely help you while facing fat teams that you couldn't otherwise handle easily counting only on zeraora and a choice-item user.

Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Bulk Up
- Zen Headbutt
- Sucker Punch

Last change, but it's a minor one, rather just a tip I'm genuinely giving you, i'd slightly change Kyurem set.

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

This beast will be your special wallbreaker, and most of the times will never disappoint you. Both flash cannon and dragon pulse wouldn't help it release its true power. Besides, earth power threatens all steel type pokemons like Magearna as well as Toxapex, which could be kind of annoying to deal with sometimes.

I hope I've been exhaustive, however if you need some other tips or explanations, knock to my door and i'll help you out. :]

 

[Cpt.]

Hi and welcome to RMT!
The team at hand is pretty interesting, although it needs some changes in my opinion. So without further ado, let's get through it.
First of all that Zeraora is really anomalous, which of course doesn't mean it's bad most of the the times, but in this case I'd personally never run such a set. If i were you, looking at how much both Tangrowth

and Amoongus

annoy zeraora, I'd never run Zeraora without Toxic in that team of yours.

Zeraora @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat

Moving through the team Ferrothorn really can't work it best self, since the more physically defensive you are the more body press deals more consistent damages. Furthermore you don't need it to be a special wall whatsoever, since Clefable can do the same work, but surely better.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Body Press
- Leech Seed

This Ferrothorn also annoys Bisharp and every pokemon hitting it with contact moves.

As previously mentioned, since your physical wall is now Ferrothorn, there's no reason to keep running physically defensive Clefable.
Let's just move it on another level.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled

At first glance, wish Clefable without teleport might look weird and not reliable, but it doesn't always need to run both teleport and wish all together. Instead you do need something to deal with Magearna

which most of the times runs stored power and aura sphere as its attacking moves. Having a thunder wave user like Clefable helps you to make it slower and of course to caught it off guard.
Then, I'd wholeheartedly suggest you not to run Arcanine in this team. Cinderace

instead would be a good choice, since it's a fire type as well as Arcanine ( you do need a fire type in your team ). Cinderace makes your team more offensive, and offers more fire power, besides being one of the best wallbreaker in the current OU metagame, and it would surely help you while facing fat teams that you couldn't otherwise handle easily counting only on zeraora and a choice-item user.

Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Bulk Up
- Zen Headbutt
- Sucker Punch

Last change, but it's a minor one, rather just a tip I'm genuinely giving you, i'd slightly change Kyurem set.

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

This beast will be your special wallbreaker, and most of the times will never disappoint you. Both flash cannon and dragon pulse wouldn't help it release its true power. Besides, earth power threatens all steel type pokemons like Magearna as well as Toxapex, which could be kind of annoying to deal with sometimes.

I hope I've been exhaustive, however if you need some other tips or explanations, knock to my door and i'll help you out. :]

I don't want to come off as rude... I appreciate the things you are pointing out. And I think we agree on the problems. However, I don't see at all how your fixes solve them. Maybe I am just a little confused? At the very least I don't like how you are taking off pivoting moves from 2/3 of my pokemon when the point of the team is to get good tempo through it.

1) if struggles against how does

toxic or

close combat help? I believe keeping

volt switch would be better. Even if it is not doing much damage to these pokemon, it is still better to create good tempo with it in this case and swap to or

2) I completely agree that Physically Defensive is better in general but for the purpose of adding him to this team it is to deal with Special Offensive threats that can outspeed or

Scarfed :Hydriegon: , in the rain, , Scarfed , Shift-Gear , Quiver Dance , SpA are all pretty common in OU and I can use SpD as a swap in to all of them except Volcarona. Though typing this out has made me realize that I should probably add Gyro Ball to Ferrothorn

3) I do think SpD can be good against some of these Pokemon, the Dragon types specifically, I do think that she is only good in specifically half of the matchups. While suffers against Physical attackers right now like , , , , , , (all being quite common in the current OU)

Clefable has a much better time against all of these pokemon. Specifically as long as with

wicked blow is around I really think Defensive is the play. But maybe is enough to deal with all of these threats? Idk.

I do think Ferrothorn deals nicely with

type offensive threats like but without sand or priority moves these pokemon are slower than & . could also be a threat but :Madibuzz is strong enough vs it

4) This bring me to the move switch point you bring up. I do think that Earth Power would be a strong addition to it's move pool. Especially considering what I just said. I don't have much against opposing fairy types (though again adding

Gyro Ball to Ferrothorn should help) so I don't want to get rid of Flash Cannon. Perhaps Earth Power > Freeze Dry is the better option :D

5) I like the idea of adding . Specifically having another

U-turning would be good and he can still have a priority move in

Sucker Punch. Though I will point out that it would be risking considering adding > would make my team weak against the opposing , :Rotom-H: as well.

Though I do think it should be considered as Cinderace can OHKO so I appreciate that advice :)

Maybe there are some things that I am missing from the points that you were trying to bring up? Please let me know if so! Thanks.

 

[the hunter]

I don't want to come off as rude... I appreciate the things you are pointing out. And I think we agree on the problems. However, I don't see at all how your fixes solve them. Maybe I am just a little confused? At the very least I don't like how you are taking off pivoting moves from 2/3 of my pokemon when the point of the team is to get good tempo through it.

1) if struggles against how does View attachment 257872 toxic or View attachment 257874 close combat help? I believe keeping View attachment 257875 volt switch would be better. Even if it is not doing much damage to these pokemon, it is still better to create good tempo with it in this case and swap to or

2) I completely agree that Physically Defensive is better in general but for the purpose of adding him to this team it is to deal with Special Offensive threats that can outspeed or

Scarfed :Hydriegon: , in the rain, , Scarfed , Shift-Gear , Quiver Dance , SpA are all pretty common in OU and I can use SpD as a swap in to all of them except Volcarona. Though typing this out has made me realize that I should probably add Gyro Ball to Ferrothorn

3) I do think SpD can be good against some of these Pokemon, the Dragon types specifically, I do think that she is only good in specifically half of the matchups. While suffers against Physical attackers right now like , , , , , , (all being quite common in the current OU)

Clefable has a much better time against all of these pokemon. Specifically as long as with View attachment 257876 wicked blow is around I really think Defensive is the play. But maybe is enough to deal with all of these threats? Idk.

I do think Ferrothorn deals nicely with View attachment 257877 type offensive threats like but without sand or priority moves these pokemon are slower than & . could also be a threat but :Madibuzz is strong enough vs it

4) This bring me to the move switch point you bring up. I do think that Earth Power would be a strong addition to it's move pool. Especially considering what I just said. I don't have much against opposing fairy types (though again adding View attachment 257882 Gyro Ball to Ferrothorn should help) so I don't want to get rid of Flash Cannon. Perhaps Earth Power > Freeze Dry is the better option :D

5) I like the idea of adding . Specifically having another View attachment 257880 U-turning would be good and he can still have a priority move in View attachment 257881 Sucker Punch. Though I will point out that it would be risking considering adding > would make my team weak against the opposing , :Rotom-H: as well.

Though I do think it should be considered as Cinderace can OHKO so I appreciate that advice :)

Maybe there are some things that I am missing from the points that you were trying to bring up? Please let me know if so! Thanks.

Alright i will explain briefly and answer to your doubts.
1) toxic zeraora DO NOT help you against Amoongus but gets Tangrowth off guard and as time goes by the poison will be more and more annoying for your opponet, especially if you switch in Ferrothorn and prevent it from clicking seeds hypothetically. Your zeraora set didn't help vs any of them, besides giving momentum to literally nobody, because you could only switch in Kyurem which would next be locked into one move ( usually nobody runs either Tangrowth or Amoongus without another good wall for its weaknesses ).
2) Special Defensive Clefable allows you not to struggle that much vs Choice specs or Spell tag Dragapult, it also paralyses Volcarona and potentially Magearna running the set i previously mentioned, also having 60 EVs in Defense helps vs Choice Band Dark Urshifu and its most used move also known as Wicked Blow
3) you could also choose to run Flash cannon on your kyurem, even though i don't think it's big deal but, I mean you do you
4) Ferrothorn DOES help vs Bisharp,Excadrill and Zeraora ( unless it's the special version ) because of Body Press and the way it works, having more defense on Ferrothorn makes it endure knock off from +2 attack Bisharp which would be really annoying to deal with after few chips and also helps vs Excadrill for the same reason. It also gets good recoil damages on Zeraora if it dares hitting you with Close Combat
5) the only point of yours i agree with is the risk of being weaker to Cinderace. It could be a problem, but i think you can play around it,also exploiting thunder wave on Clefable, which usually Cinderace will be switched into as it could be seen as a Setup fodder.
These are my tips, it's up to you to follow them or not to, i of course don't force you to :laugh:

 

[Cpt.]

Here is the updated verion I've been using so far (mainly swapping for Life Orb )
https://pokepast.es/1593e85647241ea7

Marowak-Alola has been extremely annoying, but Mandibuzz along with a good hard read can usually beat it out as a lot of people like to run stealth rocks for whatever reason. Still I do think Cinderace > Arcanine is all together a good switch so far based on his ability to outspeed most other mons in the meta.

I also swapped freeze-dry for earth power on . Haven't needed to use it yet, unfortunately.

Finally I swapped spikes < gyro ball on :ferrothron: and that has been a great help dealing with Physical Offensive threats. Was also able to trade with a who trapped me in thanks to body press lol.

Alright i will explain briefly and answer to your doubts.
1) toxic zeraora DO NOT help you against Amoongus but gets Tangrowth off guard and as time goes by the poison will be more and more annoying for your opponet, especially if you switch in Ferrothorn and prevent it from clicking seeds hypothetically. Your zeraora set didn't help vs any of them, besides giving momentum to literally nobody, because you could only switch in Kyurem which would next be locked into one move ( usually nobody runs either Tangrowth or Amoongus without another good wall for its weaknesses ).
2) Special Defensive Clefable allows you not to struggle that much vs Choice specs or Spell tag Dragapult, it also paralyses Volcarona and potentially Magearna running the set i previously mentioned, also having 60 EVs in Defense helps vs Choice Band Dark Urshifu and its most used move also known as Wicked Blow
3) you could also choose to run Flash cannon on your kyurem, even though i don't think it's big deal but, I mean you do you
4) Ferrothorn DOES help vs Bisharp,Excadrill and Zeraora ( unless it's the special version ) because of Body Press and the way it works, having more defense on Ferrothorn makes it endure knock off from +2 attack Bisharp which would be really annoying to deal with after few chips and also helps vs Excadrill for the same reason. It also gets good recoil damages on Zeraora if it dares hitting you with Close Combat
5) the only point of yours i agree with is the risk of being weaker to Cinderace. It could be a problem, but i think you can play around it,also exploiting thunder wave on Clefable, which usually Cinderace will be switched into as it could be seen as a Setup fodder.
These are my tips, it's up to you to follow them or not to, i of course don't force you to :laugh:

Thank you :)

I will certainly keep volt switch > toxic because it is a more rewarding read to get in Kyurem. And even if they have a mon to cover him they are still now down in terms of tempo and I am the one pressuring them. Say they have Chansey and Amoongus. I volt switch in Kyurem. Now they are forced to go Chansey which give me a free switch into whatever I want to deal with her. Could be Ferro, Cinderace, Zeraora. Eventually they will second guess themselves once and stay in and that is when I can go for dragon pulse or ice beam :D

If SpD Clef is good enough vs. then I will test it for sure. The team is flexible enough since it has 3 walls. Looking at the pokemon calc I am a bit worried as Wicked Blow and Close Combat are doing 1/3 of her HP meaning I can't exactly switch in unless I am above 2/3s HP. And poison jab is dealing ~60% meaning I can't switch in at all. But still if played correctly and I am willing to sack another mon first then it would surely beat Urshifu in a 1v1. The problem is that they could just switch out to something else. This is why I believe you are running the T-wave (which I think is smart). So I would need to sacrifice her pivot for a cripple. Not sure how it will work out, but it should be tested sure.

Again, I am not worried about steel types much. Especially with joining up and adding earth power to . There is no use over preparing for something. Ferrothorn is filling his role amazingly so far in providing ship to non-fire or fighting type attackers and tanking non-volcarona special attackers. So I will keep him SpD unless the meta changes.

Perhaps T-wave will be good since I don't have any status inducing moves lol. So thank you for the explanation!

 

[theotherguytm]

Why you need Draco Meteor on your Kyurem:
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 306-360 (98.3 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 201-237 (64.6 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 300-354 (99 - 116.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 196-232 (64.6 - 76.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Conkeldurr: 450-529 (128.2 - 150.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Conkeldurr: 295-348 (84 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
In human terms, you need to be able to punish neutral switch-ins as hard as possible. With Kyurem it is very likely you are clicking one attack and then switching out anyway, so you may as well hit as hard as possible. It also means if you get your prediction wrong:
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 118-140 (29.5 - 35%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 181-213 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 118-139 (38.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 178-211 (58.5 - 69.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
You end up doing much more damage, making it harder for them to switch into you again. And you need Earth Power so you're not food for Aegislash and Magearna, you need Freeze Dry because otherwise you're food for every bulky Water in the tier. And is Flash Cannon really needed?
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Clefable: 196-232 (49.7 - 58.8%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Specs Ice Beam says no. Every Fairy in OU bar full SpDef Clefable (which no-one runs because of Urshifu) drops to Ice Beam (or in the case of Prim and Azu, Freeze Dry). So you don't actually need Flash Cannon unless you're running into... Sylveon? That's about the only thing I can think of Flash Cannon actually makes a difference against.
TL;DR: The set The Hunterr recommended works great and is Kyurem's best set. It's even Modest so you hit even harder still.

Right, why Banded Zeraora is bad:
Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. Hippowdon: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252 Atk Choice Band Zeraora Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 46-54 (11.5 - 13.5%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252 Atk Choice Band Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Terrakion: 77-91 (23.8 - 28.1%) -- 95% chance to 4HKO
Zeraora's main strength is its versatility that lets it use its speed to change up its moves and beat whatever is in front of it. But it only has 112 Attack. Which isn't enough to punish things switching in on its coverage. It relies on being faster than its target so it can punish it by hitting it with the correct move next turn. If you Band it... It can't do that. As soon as you lock into a move, you become food for half the tier because unlike successful Choiced users, who do massive damage on neutral or even resisted moves, Zeraora has to hit super effectively to do anything with a move not called Plasma Fists, and Plasma Fists falls flat against anything that resists it, as well as being easy for every Ground type ever to punish. So don't choice Zeraora. And as for why no-one uses Volt Switch on it, Zeraora is very, very short on moveslots, and wasting one of them on Volt Switch (as well as 252 EVs why????) makes it even easier to beat than it already is. It needs Grass Knot for Grounds, Close Combat for neutral coverage, Knock Off and/or Toxic for crippling its checks, Play Rough for Dragons and naturally Plasma Fists for STAB. Volt Switch is a waste of a moveslot, and even with the massive investment you put in...
252 SpA Zeraora Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 110-132 (36.1 - 43.4%) -- 96% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Zeraora Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn: 42-51 (11.9 - 14.4%) -- possibly the worst move ever
It does nothing. Again, I completely agree with the above set posted because it's the only way Zeraora can make progress against the current metagame.
If you want a Volt Switch user, replace Zeraora with a Rotom-form, which is much better choiced if you want that, can status and cripple things, set up with Nasty Plot if not Choiced, and provide defensive utility too.

Mandibuzz is fine, but consider more special bulk to handle Specs/SubToxic Aegislash better. 148 SpD allows you to avoid the OHKO from Modest Specs Steel Beam from full in combination with your current HP investment. You can instead consider some Speed to Defog against Kommo-O before it can Taunt you. 100 EVs will let you creep the most common Kommo-O spread, which is 56 EVs due to its 5 more base speed, while 96 makes you tie with that while always outspeeding Modest Aegislash, so you Foul Play or Roost before it can attack.

Life Orb Cinderace is not a good idea due to how fast it gets worn down. Just switching into Rocks, attacking once and switching out without getting hit will burn through 35% of your health! It's not good for you to have to Defog over and over every time Rocks go up just because both your breakers are weak to them, as it makes it far too easy to status and cripple Mandibuzz, a mon who is your sole check to a lot of nasty Ghosts, Grounds and Psychics. Even with Wish, you'll just have to Wish far too often. Again, I recommend the above set due to it having Heavy-Duty-Boots, which prevents Mandibuzz being overloaded, and Bulk Up to boost through teams. Also, never run Low Kick due it being tragically weak against threats Cinderace should beat, and High Jump Kick is always better. The crash damage risk is minimal due to Urshifu making Protect go rapidly out of fashion and no Ghost in the game being willing to switch in on Cinderace. Still, the above set is better due to having Zen
Headbutt to beat Toxapex.

Standard WishPort Clef is fine, but The Hunterr is right to be concerned about Magearna: you pretty much have no answers to Shift Gear 3 Attacks with Flash Cannon or the Double Dance set they mentioned. So while their set is unconventional, it fills a specific hole in your team.

If SpD Clef is good enough vs. then I will test it for sure. The team is flexible enough since it has 3 walls. Looking at the pokemon calc I am a bit worried as Wicked Blow and Close Combat are doing 1/3 of her HP meaning I can't exactly switch in unless I am above 2/3s HP. And poison jab is dealing ~60% meaning I can't switch in at all. But still if played correctly and I am willing to sack another mon first then it would surely beat Urshifu in a 1v1. The problem is that they could just switch out to something else. This is why I believe you are running the T-wave (which I think is smart). So I would need to sacrifice her pivot for a cripple. Not sure how it will work out, but it should be tested sure.

To explain how this works, Urshifu is almost always Choice Band. So Clef can switch into any of its attacks once, and any attack bar Poison Jab fine. So if Urshifu uses anything bar Poison Jab you can just heal in its face and/or T-wave it, while if it uses Poison Jab, Ferrothorn comes in for free, with Clef being bought in by Mandibuzz or a forced switch to heal in front of something else that can't hurt it. Just remember Wish is for your allies, Softboiled is for you.

Finally, Leech Seed is mandatory on pretty much every Ferrothorn, as it is the only viable move it can use to regain health. Rocky Helmet is good in the current metagame, to give you a secondary switch-in to Urshifu that punishes U-turn spam.

Hope this clarifies things a bit!

 

[Cpt.]

Why you need Draco Meteor on your Kyurem:
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 306-360 (98.3 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 201-237 (64.6 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 300-354 (99 - 116.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 196-232 (64.6 - 76.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Conkeldurr: 450-529 (128.2 - 150.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Conkeldurr: 295-348 (84 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
In human terms, you need to be able to punish neutral switch-ins as hard as possible. With Kyurem it is very likely you are clicking one attack and then switching out anyway, so you may as well hit as hard as possible.

Thank you for the response :)

I must say, these seem like odly specific and cherry picked sets & scenarios to me...

Why bother calcing vs a +0 Volcarona??? +0 isn't a threat. +1 is a threat. Simple as that.
iff Volcarona is +1 then Draco Meteor 65.5 - 77.1%
so you still lose

Why worry about only HP invested Rotom? Rotom isn't beating Kyruem in a 1v1 in any scenario unless you are foolish enough to swap Kyurem into a +2 nasty plot Overheat... it's not like Rotom outspeeds.

If Rotom is SpD then its a 2 hit KO regardless if you use Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse
Draco Meteor 72 - 84.8%
Dragon Pulse 47.3 - 55.5%

If Rotom is full offensive then it is a one shot from Draco Metero and a two shot from Dragon Pulse, but you outspeed him anyway lol. It would need to be scarf rotom. Even then he can only do 50% to Kyruem in return and you just got rid of the only thing that could threaten Zerora's speed. But if you have rocks up then it doesn't even matter and both one shot regardless...
Draco Meteor 123.9 - 146.2%
Dragon Pulse 80.9 - 95.8%
Where as if you have Draco Meteor > Dragon Pulse you are now -2 SpA and you can't fight the next pokemon they send in. So you better hope that it is early game and not late game.

Again, with Conkeldurr if you have rocks up, then who cares? Or what if the Conk is Assault Vest? Then it is two shot either move. Now AV is much less common in the current meta ik, but still who really cares when you have Mandibuzz + Clef on the team? Why cherry pick Conkeldurr to make a point when he is a non problem? I don't understand.

And this is all even ignoring the fact that Draco Meteor has a 10% miss rate...

It also means if you get your prediction wrong:
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 118-140 (29.5 - 35%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 181-213 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Dragon Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 118-139 (38.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 178-211 (58.5 - 69.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

Why are you using a dragon type move when you see the opponent has a steel type wall? Always Ice Beam lol That's what the second STAB is there for.

You end up doing much more damage, making it harder for them to switch into you again. And you need Earth Power so you're not food for Aegislash and Magearna, you need Freeze Dry because otherwise you're food for every bulky Water in the tier. And is Flash Cannon really needed?
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Clefable: 196-232 (49.7 - 58.8%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Specs Ice Beam says no. Every Fairy in OU bar full SpDef Clefable (which no-one runs because of Urshifu) drops to Ice Beam (or in the case of Prim and Azu, Freeze Dry). So you don't actually need Flash Cannon unless you're running into... Sylveon? That's about the only thing I can think of Flash Cannon actually makes a difference against.
TL;DR: The set The Hunterr recommended works great and is Kyurem's best set. It's even Modest so you hit even harder still.

Yeah I like earth power xD

But Freeze Dry isn't much needed with Zeraora + Ferrothorn on the team. Especially when Dragon Pulse is doing just as good vs them in comparison to other moves.

Kyruem vs Slowbro:
Draco Meteor 80.4 - 94.9%
Dragon Pulse 52.9 - 62.5%
Freeze-Dry 83.5 - 98.6%
Earth Power 71 - 84.2%

Kyurem vs Toxipex:
Draco Meteor 77.3 - 91.1%
Dragon Pulse 50.3 - 59.5%
Earth Power 37.4 - 44%
Freeze-Dry 87 - 102.7%

Only difference is a chance to 1 shot with stealth rocks up. Which admittedly can be good. But like I said, my team already has 2 other answers for them.

Right, why Banded Zeraora is bad:
Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. Hippowdon: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252 Atk Choice Band Zeraora Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 46-54 (11.5 - 13.5%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252 Atk Choice Band Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Terrakion: 77-91 (23.8 - 28.1%) -- 95% chance to 4HKO
Zeraora's main strength is its versatility that lets it use its speed to change up its moves and beat whatever is in front of it. But it only has 112 Attack. Which isn't enough to punish things switching in on its coverage. It relies on being faster than its target so it can punish it by hitting it with the correct move next turn. If you Band it... It can't do that. As soon as you lock into a move, you become food for half the tier because unlike successful Choiced users, who do massive damage on neutral or even resisted moves, Zeraora has to hit super effectively to do anything with a move not called Plasma Fists, and Plasma Fists falls flat against anything that resists it, as well as being easy for every Ground type ever to punish. So don't choice Zeraora. And as for why no-one uses Volt Switch on it, Zeraora is very, very short on moveslots, and wasting one of them on Volt Switch (as well as 252 EVs why????) makes it even easier to beat than it already is. It needs Grass Knot for Grounds, Close Combat for neutral coverage, Knock Off and/or Toxic for crippling its checks, Play Rough for Dragons and naturally Plasma Fists for STAB. Volt Switch is a waste of a moveslot, and even with the massive investment you put in...
252 SpA Zeraora Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 110-132 (36.1 - 43.4%) -- 96% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Zeraora Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn: 42-51 (11.9 - 14.4%) -- possibly the worst move ever
It does nothing. Again, I completely agree with the above set posted because it's the only way Zeraora can make progress against the current metagame.
If you want a Volt Switch user, replace Zeraora with a Rotom-form, which is much better choiced if you want that, can status and cripple things, set up with Nasty Plot if not Choiced, and provide defensive utility too.

Perhaps a max attack invested Zeraora is better. But idk why you are bringing up V-switching a wall as a bad choice lol. You seem to be ignoring the tempo gained.

Mandibuzz is fine, but consider more special bulk to handle Specs/SubToxic Aegislash better. 148 SpD allows you to avoid the OHKO from Modest Specs Steel Beam from full in combination with your current HP investment. You can instead consider some Speed to Defog against Kommo-O before it can Taunt you. 100 EVs will let you creep the most common Kommo-O spread, which is 56 EVs due to its 5 more base speed, while 96 makes you tie with that while always outspeeding Modest Aegislash, so you Foul Play or Roost before it can attack.

This is interesting. I hadn't thought about splitting the EVs on Mandibuzz, thank you.

Life Orb Cinderace is not a good idea due to how fast it gets worn down. Just switching into Rocks, attacking once and switching out without getting hit will burn through 35% of your health! It's not good for you to have to Defog over and over every time Rocks go up just because both your breakers are weak to them, as it makes it far too easy to status and cripple Mandibuzz, a mon who is your sole check to a lot of nasty Ghosts, Grounds and Psychics. Even with Wish, you'll just have to Wish far too often. Again, I recommend the above set due to it having Heavy-Duty-Boots, which prevents Mandibuzz being overloaded, and Bulk Up to boost through teams. Also, never run Low Kick due it being tragically weak against threats Cinderace should beat, and High Jump Kick is always better. The crash damage risk is minimal due to Urshifu making Protect go rapidly out of fashion and no Ghost in the game being willing to switch in on Cinderace. Still, the above set is better due to having Zen
Headbutt to beat Toxapex.

I havne't had a problem with rocks yet. Rather a problem one shotting with Cinderance. So I decided to go for life orb.

Standard WishPort Clef is fine, but The Hunterr is right to be concerned about Magearna: you pretty much have no answers to Shift Gear 3 Attacks with Flash Cannon or the Double Dance set they mentioned. So while their set is unconventional, it fills a specific hole in your team.

I've been testing a version of the team with T-wave clef and one with the defensive set. Still not sure which is better tbh.

To explain how this works, Urshifu is almost always Choice Band. So Clef can switch into any of its attacks once, and any attack bar Poison Jab fine. So if Urshifu uses anything bar Poison Jab you can just heal in its face and/or T-wave it, while if it uses Poison Jab, Ferrothorn comes in for free, with Clef being bought in by Mandibuzz or a forced switch to heal in front of something else that can't hurt it. Just remember Wish is for your allies, Softboiled is for you.

I haven't run into more choiced Urshifu than non-choiced. I see the point here, but isn't moonblast just better > T-wave? lol

Finally, Leech Seed is mandatory on pretty much every Ferrothorn, as it is the only viable move it can use to regain health. Rocky Helmet is good in the current metagame, to give you a secondary switch-in to Urshifu that punishes U-turn spam.

Hope this clarifies things a bit!

I don't think Leech Seed is mandatory. And it is also much better with protect. 3 attack move Ferro is unexpected, I've been catching a lot of people off guard and the offensive moveset on him is versatile enough to fight almost all pokemon in OU if they aren't fire/fighting.

I'll be testing with this team version now:
https://pokepast.es/26511ceae14fc75b

 

[theotherguytm]

must say, these seem like odly specific and cherry picked sets & scenarios to me...

Why bother calcing vs a +0 Volcarona??? +0 isn't a threat. +1 is a threat. Simple as that.
iff Volcarona is +1 then Draco Meteor 65.5 - 77.1%
so you still lose

Why worry about only HP invested Rotom? Rotom isn't beating Kyruem in a 1v1 in any scenario unless you are foolish enough to swap Kyurem into a +2 nasty plot Overheat... it's not like Rotom outspeeds.

If Rotom is SpD then its a 2 hit KO regardless if you use Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse
Draco Meteor 72 - 84.8%
Dragon Pulse 47.3 - 55.5%

If Rotom is full offensive then it is a one shot from Draco Metero and a two shot from Dragon Pulse, but you outspeed him anyway lol. It would need to be scarf rotom. Even then he can only do 50% to Kyruem in return and you just got rid of the only thing that could threaten Zerora's speed. But if you have rocks up then it doesn't even matter and both one shot regardless...
Draco Meteor 123.9 - 146.2%
Dragon Pulse 80.9 - 95.8%
Where as if you have Draco Meteor > Dragon Pulse you are now -2 SpA and you can't fight the next pokemon they send in. So you better hope that it is early game and not late game.

Again, with Conkeldurr if you have rocks up, then who cares? Or what if the Conk is Assault Vest? Then it is two shot either move. Now AV is much less common in the current meta ik, but still who really cares when you have Mandibuzz + Clef on the team? Why cherry pick Conkeldurr to make a point when he is a non problem? I don't understand.

Ok, so since examples don't pull weight, I'll discuss this completely in the abstract.
Dragon Pulse>Draco Meteor only if you care about the extra PP or you intend to spam it over and over without switching.
2 Dragon Pulses=170 BP
2 Draco Meteors=195 BP
Satisfied? Draco Meteor is an indispensable part of Kyurem's moveset because it KOs things. The examples above are just to show the power gap (you notice Dragon Pulse is consistently miles weaker). So when you need something dead, it dead. There's no penalty in the game for doing too much damage.

Why are you using a dragon type move when you see the opponent has a steel type wall? Always Ice Beam lol That's what the second STAB is there for

if you get your prediction wrong:

Basically, if you can get rewarded for messing up or being outplayed, why not?

But Freeze Dry isn't much needed with Zeraora + Ferrothorn on the team. Especially when Dragon Pulse is doing just as good vs them in comparison to other moves.

Kyruem vs Slowbro:
Draco Meteor 80.4 - 94.9%
Dragon Pulse 52.9 - 62.5%
Freeze-Dry 83.5 - 98.6%
Earth Power 71 - 84.2%

Kyurem vs Toxipex:
Draco Meteor 77.3 - 91.1%
Dragon Pulse 50.3 - 59.5%
Earth Power 37.4 - 44%
Freeze-Dry 87 - 102.7%

Only difference is a chance to 1 shot with stealth rocks up. Which admittedly can be good. But like I said, my team already has 2 other answers for them.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 196-232 (64.4 - 76.3%)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 212-252 (69.7 - 82.8%)
More damage=Pex spends longer healing=Pex spends less time being annoying=win
It's the niche but otherwise annoying mons quad weak to it that get murdered:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 616-732 (144.6 - 171.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 456-540 (121.9 - 144.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 756-892 (228.3 - 269.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Draco kills him too but lol that damage. Worth noting Dragon Pulse does NOT kill, even with Rocks it's a 50/50.)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Quagsire: 1068-1260 (271 - 319.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (again just for lols, Pulse only has an 18% chance to kill after rocks, so weak.)
Or would you perhaps like to hit the Water/Fairies that have a good niche in OU at the moment?
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 248 HP / 44+ SpD Primarina: 290-344 (79.8 - 94.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 456-536 (133.3 - 156.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Basically, Freeze Dry is the reason Kyurem is OU, and not UUBL like it was in Gen 5 (or RUBL last gen lol). Without it, bulky Waters force you to Draco every time and hinder you. With it, they don't dare come near you! It doesn't matter if the rest of your team handles them, it's just better for Kyurem to handle them himself, rather than constantly trying to pivot into the Waters and their Scalds.

Perhaps a max attack invested Zeraora is better. But idk why you are bringing up V-switching a wall as a bad choice lol. You seem to be ignoring the tempo gained.

Uhhh. Would you rather:
A: Gain momentum
B: Kill a mon.
Gaining momentum for the sake of momentum is not a good idea. At some point you do have to cash in your chips and click the big "kill things" button. It's like if Zacian-C got Teleport. Yes, you're bringing in something else, but the best mon on your team is already out! It's better to cripple Zeraora's checks than to just pivot out of them for minor chip. Two additional things to consider: Volt Switch is occupying a moveslot that could be given to Grass Knot, Toxic or Close Combat to hit Zeraora's checks and without one of those moves a significantly longer list of things beat Zeraora, and most of Zeraora's checks are Ground-types that block Volt Switch anyway.

I havne't had a problem with rocks yet. Rather a problem one shotting with Cinderance. So I decided to go for life orb.

You may notice the above set has Bulk Up for this exact reason. Also, never, ever assume rocks won't go up. Because they will. Things like lead Mew and fast Taunt Kommo-o would cripple your team because Mandibuzz can't Defog against them. And don't forget Spikes too. Your entire team bar Mandi is grounded so a layer of Spikes or two can add up very fast.

I've been testing a version of the team with T-wave clef and one with the defensive set. Still not sure which is better tbh.

Like I said, it just comes down to "would you like to not lose the instant Magearna Shifts Gear?"

I haven't run into more choiced Urshifu than non-choiced. I see the point here, but isn't moonblast just better > T-wave? lol

Banded Urshifu is busted. T-wave is for the switch-in.

I don't think Leech Seed is mandatory. And it is also much better with protect. 3 attack move Ferro is unexpected, I've been catching a lot of people off guard and the offensive moveset on him is versatile enough to fight almost all pokemon in OU if they aren't fire/fighting.

Let me put it this way: In Ferrothorn's Gen 7 analysis, every move except Leech Seed was slashed. Basically, not having Leech Seed means you can't run Helmet (which is good right now), you cannot heal the moment you lose your Leftovers or get burned, and you lack any way to threaten Corviknight, the most common and best Defogger in the tier, in the slightest. It's mandatory. The extra Gyro Ball is only ok, as Body Press+Knock Off+chip from Iron Barbs and Leech Seed does more than enough damage.