Ah yes… the famed mudkipnerd vs Finchinator match truly, one for the ages. as someone who got to witness this artwork live I can tell you how the people laughed when mudkipnerd pulled out bug roaring moon, “bug moon is unviable” they said. But I can tell you first hand how wrong they were.
so 1LDK and I (or if written from your pov, Fancy1 and I) decided to tackle that question, is bug moon viable? and so we worked for hours on end to bring you.
The 50 shades of mudkipnerd™ the Tera Bug Roaring Moon balance
Roaring Moon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Dragon Claw
- Crunch
- Earthquake
roaring moon has proven quite the tera abuser in the meta, with tera steel and tera flying acrobatics. However why would you use that baby garbage when we have bug moon
pros
- buggin out
- stab u-turn
- no longer weak to fighting
cons
- you are now one of the worst typings in the game
anyhow, moon has seen two main sets this gen being band and dragon dance. This sets deviates from that and aims to use moon as more of a revenge killer. The other benefit of scarf is catching your opponent by surprise, since you now outspeed stuff like dragapult which would normally click draco for free. bug u-turn can pretty decently dent holes early / midgame and pivot into other teammates or with a little prediction hit u-turn resistances with an earthquake. EVs are maxed into speed and attack to out-speed the entire unboosted metagame (with scarf) and deal as much damage when revenge killing weakened foes.
Iron Valiant @ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aura Sphere
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
As the wallbreaker of the team, we have Iron Valiant with choice specs, Specs are not a common item on valiant because most people are too busy with Booster Energy shit, us? nah man, we calling little ceasars, $5 dollar hot and ready to destroy everything, Aura Sphere over Focus Blast for the PP and the miss chance, making it more consistent overall, Moonblast for the insane stab alongside tera, who transforms Moonblast into VSHorrorMoon, Psychic for some fighting types and poison types and Shadow Ball for overall coverage, you could potentially run Thunderbolt, but that is more matchup specific, while shadow ball is more general, and as for damage potential? oh man, I just need ONE calc to convince you
252 SpA Choice Specs Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ting-Lu: 410-486 (79.7 - 94.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (this is with NO tera btw)
The items of Ruin abilitys are not fully implemented on Showdown, but even if i made the incorrect calc, is ALWAYS a 2HKO, look at that, now just imagine the rest of the meta
Breloom @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
breloom can serve as a revenge killer as well as a late game sweeper. Mach punch can pickup ko’s on chien-pao and chi-yu. With the aid of loaded dice brelooms bullet seed becomes a terrifying stab move that can be further boosted by swords dance. Spore, in conjunction with s can allow free setup turns on anything slower than breloom. Tera Steel allows for another opportunity to set up spore against foes trying to hit you with a super effective move. EVs max out damage potential and spore potential.
Corviknight @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 188 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Power Trip
- Defog
- Roost
Do you know what happens when you run into so many Gholdengos who just abused you and you want to pull your hair out of pure frustration? somebody eventually somebody realize that they had ENOUGH, and so here we are, with Tera Dark BU Power Trip Corv, now, in case you dont know, Power trip is like stored power but dark type and contact, thats the reason why we have tera dark, because it adds stab, power trip hits overall a wider variety of the meta thanks to the added physical defense once you get 2 BU, you have a shot at OHKO Gholdengo, i have decided to mirrow the Gen 8 OU defog set, because we have a dedicated phisical wall and now corvs are running spedef these days, the 4 speed are for almost always winning the corviknight speed creep war, unless they decided to also invest in speed, but thats resourcefull, and after everyone died, its time to finally defog all those piles of hazards, pure relief
Clodsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Recover
Clodsire serves as another unaware wall for the team walling most special attackers as well as the rocks setter for this team. Toxic can cripple offensive mons without means of healing, and earth quake provides chip damage on opposing mons. Tera dark fully beats chi-yu into the ground. EVs are to be as tanky as possible on the special side
Dondozo @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Wave Crash
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Last but certaintly not least, we have the father of all phisical walls, dondozo, who has the ability of trivializing Chien Pao and Roaring Moon, that enough makes it worth it, but wait, with Curse, and Rest/Sleep Talk, you can accidentally become a dangerous sweeper, not to mention you become outright unkillable with it on the phisical side, taking minimal damage from recoil wave crash while just slowly killing everything, Tera Fairy makes it so that Breloom cant just wipe the floor with Donzo
Dangers to the team: While we couldnt encounter many counters due to this team being the best of all time, there is some things that you need to expertly plan for
1) is coverage dependant, but who can just clown the entire team if careless, its beatable, you need to be agresive with Breloom and you can also bait her with Moon, thanks to U-Turn and Crunch, its beatable, but you need to use your brain
2) + a good sun team will probably have Specs Chi yu, who has NO counters, you need to play even more agresively so that he doenst have chances to enter safely, Moon is an emergency check, and Loom can revenge kill, but be carefull
Conclussion, shoutouts and pokepast:
https://pokepast.es/9b56737da6ec8996
This has been a wild experience, filled with suspense, action, masterfully planed production and memes, this is why I need to take the time and do some shoutouts for the people who helped in the project
MudkipNerd for inspiring this team, this meme, and honeslty the community feels more alive and happy thanks to the battle of the century, this team literally wouldnt exist if it wasnt for you
AndViet for beliving in me, for adopting me, teaching me how to play, showing me the super pro calculator, being there when i wasnt mentally okay and needed somebody to listen to my incoherent ramblings, and most importantly of all, doing everything so that BU Power Trip Corviknight could succeed
Fancy1 for being the partner in crime, for also being friendly with me, for understanding when i couldnt do stuff out of sheer frustration, and also being a great overall person, its been a pleasure to work with you man, thank you for everything
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1755131913
(dondozo the father truly clutching out here)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754760612-l70uw59lqldvfb9yi9y21tpjz2hgniupw
(Choice Scarf Meowscarada getting the jump on me)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754787198
(me being scared of rain but doing just fine, focusing on the water absorb clod and the kilowatrel so that Iron Valiant could sweep)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754773364 (BU Power Trip Corviknight just being the biggest of giga chads)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1755114536
(Corv sets up on ape 100% free)
(dondozo the father truly clutching out here)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754760612-l70uw59lqldvfb9yi9y21tpjz2hgniupw
(Choice Scarf Meowscarada getting the jump on me)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754787198
(me being scared of rain but doing just fine, focusing on the water absorb clod and the kilowatrel so that Iron Valiant could sweep)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1754773364 (BU Power Trip Corviknight just being the biggest of giga chads)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1755114536
(Corv sets up on ape 100% free)
Last edited: