SM OU The Queen of Gen 7

[Mystletainn]

Hi all, Mystle here! Some of you may know me from various places around the Showdown server(s), but I'm here to throw down my newest favorite team I've been running. I've been a gigantic fan of the Pheromosa - Tapu Lele core since day 1 of Sun & Moon, and have usually been running it in some essence in every team I've made (which admittedly isn't too many, I tend to just stick with the best).
The previous iteration of the team was in a Hyper Offense variant consisting of:

It was an incredibly strong team and ran train on both ladder and room tournaments. But obviously, with the recent Landorus-I ban, I did need to rework the team. And, looking at how the Hyper Offense team worked, I really had no substitute for Landorus-I and thus had to reshape the entire direction of the team. So this time around, I worked to include some of my favorite Pokemon, and ended up with this really quite wonderful team that I've genuinely been enjoying.

THE TEAM​

Pheromosa @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Beam
- Poison Jab

The first Pokemon is my favorite of Gen 7, and a powerful force in the metagame, Pheromosa. She's an incredible momentum controller that can threaten a sweep at the drop of a hat should the Pokemon that wall her fall in battle. I really grew to dislike the Life Orb set as the recoil whittles her down a lot over time, but more importantly the fact that Pheromosa's greatest strength is her untouchability from her insane speed combined with access to a strong STAB U-Turn. Getting outsped by an unexpected scarfer really puts a damper on things, especially when Life Orb Pheromosa is outsped by Scarf Tapu Lele of all things, quite the popular set nowadays. I've been playing the Scarf Pheromosa set for quite some time now, and I'm noticing it's finally gaining some more traction with other users. With a Scarf, her speed becomes blisteringly high, and you don't ever have to worry about being outsped, save for the very rare things like Sand Rush Excadrill. A Naughty nature allows you to partially make up for the drop in damage without a Life Orb, and also provides Moxie boosts for easy cleanups of teams towards the end of the game. The moveset is very standard because they're the only viable moves she can run.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

The second Pokemon of my very strong offense core is none other than the cutest Tapu, Tapu Lele. With her unique ability, Psychic Surge, she exerts a heavy control on the battle with empowered Psychic-type attacks and the ability to render priority useless, a very useful side effect that Pheromosa just loves having. Ordinarily, I've been running Tapu Lele with the Choice Specs set for punching gigantic holes in teams, since in my Hyper Offense teams I've often had other fast Pokemon around to clean, but this time, Lele holds the Choice Scarf. I'll miss the raw power that Specs Psychic brought, but Scarf s still very threatening. Hidden Power Fire is chosen here because Steel-types tend to give several Pokemon on my team some trouble, and Thunderbolt pairs along with it. With Aegislash gone, there is no reason to go for Shadow Ball, as Terrain-boosted STAB Psychic would outdamage a super effective Shadow Ball anyway.

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Aura Sphere
- Volt Switch

This here is a Pokemon I wanted to include in my team because I previously haven't, and I really wanted to use it. There were many sets I could've run, and the Shift Gear Fairium Z set really appealed to me, but I didn't end up going with that for a couple of reasons, one of them you'll find out soon. Anyway, the Assault Vest set had some strong appeal to it, such as the ability to switch moves at will, further amplifying its already amazing bulk, and being able to pivot out of a Fleur Cannon drop with Volt Switch. It's typing is wonderful, and it serves as an amazing bulky offense threat that really helps keep my team together.

Garchomp (M) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

I figured some hazards would be nice, but Garchomp does the job better than all of the other candidates I could've added. This set specifically can pump out some serious damage, threatening a lot of other leads and hazard removers, as well as just launching the Devastating Drake in general to OHKO a threat even if I don't lead with it (which I actually tend to not do often, Ninetales, Magearna, and Pheromosa can all also lead). Originally I opted for Iron Head, but then later realized it's not really necessary in the big scheme of things, and Swords Dance can help get around walls as well. Additionally, Magearna's defensive typing covers all of Garchomp's weaknesses perfectly.

Ninetales-Alola (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Moonblast
- Aurora Veil
- Encore

When building this team, I added the last two Pokemon at the same time considering the core they make. When analyzing the team, I was looking for a good Mega to fit in, and trying to consider what would fit best with the team's style. The entire team, sans Pheromosa, benefits immensely from the presence of Aurora Veil, turning strong offensive threats with useful natural bulk into absolute nightmares to try and take on. The set itself is pretty self-explanatory, with Freeze-Dry over Blizzard as a personal choice as Ninetales really isn't going to be sweeping by herself anyway, and Encore can create lots of opportunities for setting up against other support or defensive Pokemon.

Gyarados-Mega (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Gyarados is one of the best Megas in OU right now, and for good reason. It's a very useful bulky Pokemon whose Intimidate pre-Mega is handy for blunting opposing attacks and giving Gyarados the chance to set up. Ninetales pairs wonderfully with Gyarados, who really loves being able to set up much more freely under Aurora Veil, and with Mold Breaker, can threaten a myriad of opposing teams with its raw power. I'm not really sure on what nature I should be running, as while Tapu Koko outspeeds Gyarados at +1, losing out on damage versus a lot of other Pokemon does hurt. I've been going with Adamant on the premise that Tapu Lele and Magearna do plenty to stop Koko, who hasn't been too much of an issue for me yet, but I may change it if Koko starts showing more.



Overall, the team has been super fun to play, and is doing quite well for me at the moment. I still need to run more games with it, but so far it's shown to be very solid. Any tips and nitpicking are much appreciated, if you have any comments or suggestions.

Here's a replay displaying the team, here in which Aurora Veil is pivotal in adding extra bulk to Tapu Lele so that she could reliably check Tapu Bulu at an important point in the game.

IMPORTABLE​

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Ninetales-Alola (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Moonblast
- Aurora Veil
- Encore

Garchomp (M) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Aura Sphere
- Volt Switch

Gyarados-Mega (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Pheromosa @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Beam
- Poison Jab

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello! I was inspired to come here because this is similar to a team I run.

Please excuse any typos I might make, since I am writing this on my phone.

Now, looking at the team, it has good potential. However, I really see a weakness to stall here -- with things like Tapu Bulu and Celesteela and even Dugtrio on stall teams, I would say that Garchomp is only good against some builds of stall, leaving you vulnerable to Shedinja / Bulu / Celesteela / Skarmory / Unaware Clefable builds. Tapu Bulu itself is hard to switch into and can practically 6-0 I'd it gets enough free switches.

However, I have some potential fixes.

Let me start with some minor changes. I would argue that aura sphere on AV Magearna can only really hit Magnezone, and most of the time you are better off just VSwitch out of that fight to conserve HP. For these reasons, I heavily recommend swapping Aura Sphere for Hidden Power Fire . HP Fire Magearna can lure out Ferrothorn, Genesect, and Scizor, easing the pressure of Tapu Lele greatly.

Speaking of Lele, you could swap HP Fire for something else (I recommend Psyshock, but it had a ton of options). I really think running scarf on Lele is just sloppy; if I had to guess, I would say it is mainly there for surprise kills, and Scarf Pheromosa is the best scarf of all time, so using scarf on Lele is pretty ridiculous. I heavily recommend using Choice Specs since this will make facing stall much easier and puts the pressure of Garchomp greatly.

Actually, here is one of the bigger changes I suggest making: replace Garchomp for Rocks Swords Dance Landorus-T. With Specs Lele and DD Gyarados, you probably do not need Garchomp to wallbreak anyway (especially since Chomp itself isn't the best SD Z-move breaker in the tier anyway). Landorus switch is mainly there to pair better with magearna (landorus & magearna form a very bulky core; between avest and intimidate they can check a lot of things together). I would use stone edge with rockium so you can lure in celesteela / skarmory and KO with +2 Continental Crush. Ground / Rock with intmidate is just better than garchomp for this team imo. The evs are flexible, you couod run 252 hp 252 attack or something with more defensive investment, depending on how hard you want to hit.

I feel like Ninetales needs to run more bulk so that it might be able to check Koko and Bulu a bit, probably put the special attack evs into hp to make it fatter.

Lastly, I would swap Gyarados to Jolly to jump Koko. Adamant isn't too necessary since Gyara is used against offense as wincond rather than stall or balance mostly so the speed is usually more important anyway. With Spec Lele and SD Landorus-T I don't see the reasoning behind Adamant anyway .

Good luck, hope this helps.

 

[Mystletainn]

Thank you for the response!

Tapu Lele I do actually prefer the Specs set, but because bulking up the team slowed it down a lot, so I figured that would help out. Funnily enough, Aura Sphere on Magearna did let me plow through a Magnezone in the replay I had, but I could probably make that switch anyway. If I change over Ninetales's EVs, should I give it Blizzard to maintain at least some semblance of threat?

The one problem I have with swapping to Landorus-T over Garchomp is that with the additional change to Tapu Lele, that's 4 Pokemon now at a slow base speed, which is really kind of concerning to me. 333 to 218 is a pretty significant drop, because Garchomp could also blow apart other offense teams as well as defensive ones while Landorus-T will just get outsped. Would investing in some speed EVs instead of HP be a big problem for Landorus?

 

[Shurtugal]

Thank you for the response!

Tapu Lele I do actually prefer the Specs set, but because bulking up the team slowed it down a lot, so I figured that would help out. Funnily enough, Aura Sphere on Magearna did let me plow through a Magnezone in the replay I had, but I could probably make that switch anyway. If I change over Ninetales's EVs, should I give it Blizzard to maintain at least some semblance of threat?

The one problem I have with swapping to Landorus-T over Garchomp is that with the additional change to Tapu Lele, that's 4 Pokemon now at a slow base speed, which is really kind of concerning to me. 333 to 218 is a pretty significant drop, because Garchomp could also blow apart other offense teams as well as defensive ones while Landorus-T will just get outsped. Would investing in some speed EVs instead of HP be a big problem for Landorus?

Scarf Pheromosa practically invalidates offensive teams, and the slow volt switch from Magearna gives Specs Lele plenty of opportunities to just tear offensive mons to shreds (it has no switch ins). As I said earlier, Landorus-T's effort values are pretty flexible and are entirely up to you. Since you run auroa veil, you could probably get away with running some speed, but I would only invest to hit 244 (bulky Zygarde hits 244 iirc) since investing anymore would be overkill. Between Gyarados and Pheromosa and using VoltTurn to get Lele in for free, offensive teams shouldn't be as big of an issue as it looks on paper! (Espec since scarf pheromosa invalidates offense, holy shit does it ever, too powerful & fast for it to do anything.)

I think Blizzard might be stronger than Freeze Dry, but I'd have to use this team in practice to really get a feel for what would work better -- Freeze Dry can smack Rotom-W for Gyarados, so I'm at a crossroads on what to suggest there, too. Ultimately, Ninetales is just setting auroa veil and checking a few threats. Since you're asking, I would recommend trying Blizzard so you can hit Tapu Bulu harder, which is a huge threat.

One last note: I suggested SD Landorus because I felt it would make playing stall easier, but it should be noted that a U-Turn Rocks Landorus would work well, too, since it creates a very strong voltturn core with AV Magearna, and I feel Specs Lele could smack stall hard enough to where you wouldn't need the SD boosts, but this change, while very good with Specs Lele and Pheromosa and Gyarados, since you can get them in easier, it leaves something to be desired in Ninetales's role since you wouldn't need auroa veil as much. (You would no longer have Landorus SD / Garchomp SD to take advantage of it.) This is why I didn't suggest that Landorus -- because I felt if I recommended U-Turn Landorus, that I would have to swap Ninetales as well, and that might be changing your team too much. However, I wanted to leave my note of it here so that if you want you can try U-Turn Landorus and play around with NInetales's slot. Basiaclly anything that helps with Bulu or can hit stall would be useful (Magma Storm Heatran is the first thing that comes to mind, perhaps with a Chople Berry to ease switching into Bulu Superpower, but like I said, it's a flexible spot since it's basically just the Glue.)

Good luck and let me know how you do!

 

[Mystletainn]

Alright, sounds good, I'll try out 148/252+/108 Landorus-T and see how that goes.

Some people responded in the SM OU Bazaar thread, Blizzard won't OHKO Tapu Bulu even with max SpA investment (43.8% after rocks isn't good), while 104 HP / 152 SpA / 252+ Spe still 2HKOs with Freeze Dry, so I'll likely end up running that (the HP lets it live Magnezone Flash Cannon, nothing else is really relevant and the SpA lets it still check other threats like

• 2HKO on Mega Gyarados (after hail is taken into consideration; don't forget that)
• OHKO on regular Gyarados (43.8% chance, but that's still nearly a coin flip and reaaaallly isn't going to be important with the exception of like last turn low HP Ninetales situations)
• 2HKO on SpDef Mantine (69.1% chance, but guaranteed with rocks down)
• OHKO on offensive Garchomp
• OHKO on defensive Lando-T (75% chance; guaranteed if Lando carries Rocky Helmet)
• 2HKO on PDef Toxapex (48% chance with rocks; basically a coin flip)
• 2HKO on PDef Hippowdon (81% chance with rocks)
• 2HKO on Bisharp
• 2HKO on Tapu Bulu (97% chance if Bulu 252 HP; guaranteed with rocks obviously)

Copy-pasted from here.

I did think about the defensive U-turn set but you're spot on, Balance isn't really the direction I wanted to go, I'm very much an offense player (which is why I'm often worried about speed tiers), but I will try out the SD Landorus-T set.

Thanks for the help!