***********************************
The Wind At Our Backs
***********************************
Hey everyone! I'm here with a fun little team I made on Halloween, since I was in the mood for a little festivity. I continued to make some changes, since it turned out to be a blast to play.
Since the team was built on Halloween, I had to start with a ghost type. I'd used Gengar before, so I wanted something a bit more unusual. Gourgeist seemed perfect for Halloween, but I don't like Gourgeist so that wouldn't work. I thought about Cofagrigus, but then I found the perfect mon to start with- Hoopa. What better for Halloween than a mon who was banned to the other realm of Ubers, but remains in our world as a Ghost type?
Hoopa has a massive special attack stat coupled with one of the most spammable offensive types in the game- Ghost. This team focuses on supporting Hoopa, whether that's through Lucario's punishing of pursuit-trapping, Tornadus's Tailwind, or Rotom and Landorus's Volt-Turn action.
***********************
Teambuilding
***********************
I began with Hoopa, since it was the basis for my theme. I didn't really follow the theme when building, but it was the inspiration.
One of Hoopa's biggest weaknesses, in both Confined and Unbound forms, is its weakness to Pursuit. However, a lot of pursuit trappers, like Tyranitar and occasionally Weavile, tend to run choice items, so I wanted something to take advantage of choice-locked Pursuit. Lucario seemed to fit with a resist and Justified (and the aura thing is a little bit creepy, if you look at it in the right way? It's on theme for Halloween, kind of).
I had a lot of power in my first two pokemon, but unfortunately I didn't have much speed. From here, I had one of the more interesting ideas for the team, and the one that provides its main wincon- prankster Tailwind. This limited my options to Illumise, Murkrow, Tornadus, Volbeat, and Whimsicott. From there, my choice is clear. Tornadus also gave me a some immediate speed, which was nice.
My first three pokemon formed a solid core that could completely tear teams apart under the right conditions, but they had no support to dictate the flow of the game so they could flourish. I needed some pivots so Hoopa could wallbreak at maximum efficiency, and I needed some bulkier switch-ins so I didn't have to sac something every time Hoopa got a kill because revenge-killers are so common for it.
Landorus-T and Rotom-W are two of the most popular pivots in OU, and for good reason. Their natural bulk is augmented by solid typing and abilities in Intimidate and Levitate, giving them incredible defensive utility, while they both have access to Volt-Turn to keep up momentum.
My team still needed a decent stall-breaker, as well as rocks somewhere. Heatran seemed like a good fit, since its Magma Storm + Taunt set seemed to fit the bill. It gave me rocks, a Serperior check, and some counterplay against defensive grass-types that didn't force me to risk my Tornadus too early.
***********************
The Team
***********************
Hoopa @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Psyshock
Here's the star of the show, Hoopa. I went with a Specs set, since Hoopa's main niche over Gengar is its superior firepower. Shadow Ball is the move I click most often by far, since it hits all but Normal and Dark types at least neutrally. Fortunately for me, I have a nice coverage move in Focus Blast that happens to beat those two types. In terms of coverage, Hoopa didn't really need anything more, so I had two filler moves to work with. Trick lets me cripple any opposing pokemon that doesn't use special attacks, so Hoopa can support the rest of my team that way. I almost never click Psshock, but it's there, just in case I see a Chansey but don't want to Trick it yet, or come up against a Mega Venusaur or something. Hoopa is really good at handling Psychic types like Slowbro and Reuniclus that like to switch in on Lucario, keeping up the offensive pressure.
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
Lucario was the second piece of inspiration for my team. Hoopa's insane weakness to Dark types forced me to take something that could check any opposing darks. Lucario's Justified ability works well with this, since it deters any opposing pokemon from using their dark attacks, lest Lucario get a free switch and an attack boost. And because a lot of pursuit users are Choice-locked, they give Lucario a free set-up opportunity.
This set is basically Lucario's standard Life Orb cleaner set. With two strong STAB moves to deal massive damage, a +2 priority move, and Swords Dance to take advantage of free switches, Lucario provides a very nice win-con for the team.
Tornadus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
Tornadus is the engine that makes most of my late-game plans work. My two hard hitters are both moderately slow, but if you double their speeds, watch out. And unlike Agility + Baton Pass, Prankster Tailwind only takes a turn to set up. It's fairly easy to predict when the opponent will KO Tornadus, and Tailwind on that turn. Tornadus provides a tertiary offensive threat as well- if an opponent focuses too much on handling Hoopa and Lucario, Tornadus can apply its own pressure with Hurricane. Superpower lets Tornadus handle things like Heatran, but Heat Wave could work as well. U-Turn is a fantastic move on Tornadus, as the pokemon who like to switch in to Hurricanes often can't handle Scarfed Earthquakes from Landorus-T or Close Combats from Lucario. It also gets Hoopa some free switches, which is an incredible asset to the team.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
At this point in the building process, I looked at my team and realized it could win games, once it got to the end game, but it couldn't handle any opposing threats. I needed a solid defensive mon, and where better to turn than to the most common mon in the format, Landorus-T? In addition to providing a ton of defensive utility, Landorus gives me chip damage through U-Turn. That chip damage is vital on this team, because most of the time, I'll only have 3 turns for Hoopa to clean up if that's my win con.
I chose a scarf set because my team needed some additional speed. Tornadus was an unreliable revenge killer on its own, since I often needed to save it for late-game Tailwind. Landorus-T gave me another ground immunity (and a much more reliable one at that) as well as some actual bulk, which was fantastic.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
On a team with slower wallbreakers like Hoopa, momentum is vital, which is why I have 3 pokemon with VoltTurn. Rotom-W is the third, with Volt Switch. Hydro Pump and Pain Split are standard for Rotom. Pump lets it threaten out ground types that would otherwise block its Volt Switching shenanigans, and Pain Split gives it semi-reliable recovery. Thunder Wave > Will-o-Wisp lets my slower mons to pull ahead against faster opponents, allowing Hoopa, Lucario, or even Heatran to get free kills. Rotom also gives me a check to troublesome offensive mons like Excadrill (Sand Rush variants, at least) and Talonflame. Rotom-W is physically defensive, which provides the bulk that I lost from making Landorus Scarfed and not defensive.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 224 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
And here we have my stallbreaker, Heatran. It provides consistent hazards against everything that doesn't have Magic Bounce (but Mega Sableye could be banned anyway so it could be just Diancie and the rare Espeon). Taunt lets me stop stall from doing stall things, like recovering health and status, and using status moves of its own. Toxic + Magma Storm is the tool that lets Heatran actually break through things like Chansey and Togekiss, trapping them in while they die to the swirling vortex and poison. Heatran is SpDef to handle things like Serperior and Tornadus better, since my team didn't really have an answer to them. 28 speed is niche, but lets me creep defensive Mega Venusaur and Dragonite with no speed without sacrificing a noticeable amount of bulk.
***********************
Threatlist
***********************
- Weavile is one of the few pursuit trappers that is not always choiced, so if it happens to have Pursuit + Low Kick, it beats Hoopa and Lucario as well. That's rare, but it's important to be aware of.
- Ironically, a team built around a ghost-type doesn't have a single ghost resist. No Dark types, and no Normal types. I really don't have much counterplay to these, since I have no switchins and my priority (extremespeed) is useless against them. Gengar in particular is a big problem, since it's immune to Landorus's Earthquake.
- In fairness, I do have Heatran, but due to the prevalence of Dugtrio, the chance that Scizor carries Superpower, and Heatran's lacking reliable recovery, I'm not entirely comfortable with having Heatran as my only true check. Lucario can't do much, and Rotom gets worn down by U-Turns or Bug Bites incredibly easily.
- Earth Power Max Attack Diancie can 2HKO my whole team. My best checks are Rotom-W, who has a 61.3% chance to live 2 Moonblasts from full, and Landorus-T, who can take 1 Moonblast and revenge-kill.
- These two, especially Lopunny, are nightmares for my team. Their dual STABs hit everything at least neutrally except for Hoopa (in the case of Medicham) and Ice Punch wrecks all of my fighting switch-ins (including Hoopa). Medicham is manageable, since it's not as fast, but Lopunny requires a healthy Rotom or Landorus to beat it. Thunder Wave on Rotom is a godsend for these two, though.
None of these can compare, though, to the single biggest, most terrible, monstrous threat to my team. The dreaded sea unicorn itself- Keldeo. Specs Keldeo OHKOs my entire team except for Hoopa and Rotom-W with one move in Hydro Pump, and that move does upwards of 80% to Hoopa and almost 50% to Rotom. Thankfully I have Tornadus to threaten it out, and Lando-T's EQ + Luke's ESpeed does a minimum of 96%, so I have some form of counterplay, but it's not an easy matchup.
***********************
Conclusions & Importable
***********************
This team is a blast to play, since it nearly always has a back door to victory in Tailwind. It may be a week late for Halloween, but it's definitely a nice team to end ORAS on. It's fun, it uses some unique things, and it has one of the Pokemon's pseudo-mascots in Lucario. It could use a little bit more tweaking to be slightly more competitive, but that's where RMTs come in. And besides, the team already turned out a lot better than I originally thought, so everything beyond here is a victory.
Thanks for your time, and (hopefully) for your rates!
Edit: Forgot the importable.
The Wind At Our Backs
***********************************
Hey everyone! I'm here with a fun little team I made on Halloween, since I was in the mood for a little festivity. I continued to make some changes, since it turned out to be a blast to play.
Since the team was built on Halloween, I had to start with a ghost type. I'd used Gengar before, so I wanted something a bit more unusual. Gourgeist seemed perfect for Halloween, but I don't like Gourgeist so that wouldn't work. I thought about Cofagrigus, but then I found the perfect mon to start with- Hoopa. What better for Halloween than a mon who was banned to the other realm of Ubers, but remains in our world as a Ghost type?
Hoopa has a massive special attack stat coupled with one of the most spammable offensive types in the game- Ghost. This team focuses on supporting Hoopa, whether that's through Lucario's punishing of pursuit-trapping, Tornadus's Tailwind, or Rotom and Landorus's Volt-Turn action.
***********************
Teambuilding
***********************
I began with Hoopa, since it was the basis for my theme. I didn't really follow the theme when building, but it was the inspiration.
One of Hoopa's biggest weaknesses, in both Confined and Unbound forms, is its weakness to Pursuit. However, a lot of pursuit trappers, like Tyranitar and occasionally Weavile, tend to run choice items, so I wanted something to take advantage of choice-locked Pursuit. Lucario seemed to fit with a resist and Justified (and the aura thing is a little bit creepy, if you look at it in the right way? It's on theme for Halloween, kind of).
I had a lot of power in my first two pokemon, but unfortunately I didn't have much speed. From here, I had one of the more interesting ideas for the team, and the one that provides its main wincon- prankster Tailwind. This limited my options to Illumise, Murkrow, Tornadus, Volbeat, and Whimsicott. From there, my choice is clear. Tornadus also gave me a some immediate speed, which was nice.
My first three pokemon formed a solid core that could completely tear teams apart under the right conditions, but they had no support to dictate the flow of the game so they could flourish. I needed some pivots so Hoopa could wallbreak at maximum efficiency, and I needed some bulkier switch-ins so I didn't have to sac something every time Hoopa got a kill because revenge-killers are so common for it.
Landorus-T and Rotom-W are two of the most popular pivots in OU, and for good reason. Their natural bulk is augmented by solid typing and abilities in Intimidate and Levitate, giving them incredible defensive utility, while they both have access to Volt-Turn to keep up momentum.
My team still needed a decent stall-breaker, as well as rocks somewhere. Heatran seemed like a good fit, since its Magma Storm + Taunt set seemed to fit the bill. It gave me rocks, a Serperior check, and some counterplay against defensive grass-types that didn't force me to risk my Tornadus too early.
***********************
The Team
***********************
Hoopa @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Psyshock
Here's the star of the show, Hoopa. I went with a Specs set, since Hoopa's main niche over Gengar is its superior firepower. Shadow Ball is the move I click most often by far, since it hits all but Normal and Dark types at least neutrally. Fortunately for me, I have a nice coverage move in Focus Blast that happens to beat those two types. In terms of coverage, Hoopa didn't really need anything more, so I had two filler moves to work with. Trick lets me cripple any opposing pokemon that doesn't use special attacks, so Hoopa can support the rest of my team that way. I almost never click Psshock, but it's there, just in case I see a Chansey but don't want to Trick it yet, or come up against a Mega Venusaur or something. Hoopa is really good at handling Psychic types like Slowbro and Reuniclus that like to switch in on Lucario, keeping up the offensive pressure.
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
Lucario was the second piece of inspiration for my team. Hoopa's insane weakness to Dark types forced me to take something that could check any opposing darks. Lucario's Justified ability works well with this, since it deters any opposing pokemon from using their dark attacks, lest Lucario get a free switch and an attack boost. And because a lot of pursuit users are Choice-locked, they give Lucario a free set-up opportunity.
This set is basically Lucario's standard Life Orb cleaner set. With two strong STAB moves to deal massive damage, a +2 priority move, and Swords Dance to take advantage of free switches, Lucario provides a very nice win-con for the team.
Tornadus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
Tornadus is the engine that makes most of my late-game plans work. My two hard hitters are both moderately slow, but if you double their speeds, watch out. And unlike Agility + Baton Pass, Prankster Tailwind only takes a turn to set up. It's fairly easy to predict when the opponent will KO Tornadus, and Tailwind on that turn. Tornadus provides a tertiary offensive threat as well- if an opponent focuses too much on handling Hoopa and Lucario, Tornadus can apply its own pressure with Hurricane. Superpower lets Tornadus handle things like Heatran, but Heat Wave could work as well. U-Turn is a fantastic move on Tornadus, as the pokemon who like to switch in to Hurricanes often can't handle Scarfed Earthquakes from Landorus-T or Close Combats from Lucario. It also gets Hoopa some free switches, which is an incredible asset to the team.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
At this point in the building process, I looked at my team and realized it could win games, once it got to the end game, but it couldn't handle any opposing threats. I needed a solid defensive mon, and where better to turn than to the most common mon in the format, Landorus-T? In addition to providing a ton of defensive utility, Landorus gives me chip damage through U-Turn. That chip damage is vital on this team, because most of the time, I'll only have 3 turns for Hoopa to clean up if that's my win con.
I chose a scarf set because my team needed some additional speed. Tornadus was an unreliable revenge killer on its own, since I often needed to save it for late-game Tailwind. Landorus-T gave me another ground immunity (and a much more reliable one at that) as well as some actual bulk, which was fantastic.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
On a team with slower wallbreakers like Hoopa, momentum is vital, which is why I have 3 pokemon with VoltTurn. Rotom-W is the third, with Volt Switch. Hydro Pump and Pain Split are standard for Rotom. Pump lets it threaten out ground types that would otherwise block its Volt Switching shenanigans, and Pain Split gives it semi-reliable recovery. Thunder Wave > Will-o-Wisp lets my slower mons to pull ahead against faster opponents, allowing Hoopa, Lucario, or even Heatran to get free kills. Rotom also gives me a check to troublesome offensive mons like Excadrill (Sand Rush variants, at least) and Talonflame. Rotom-W is physically defensive, which provides the bulk that I lost from making Landorus Scarfed and not defensive.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 224 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
And here we have my stallbreaker, Heatran. It provides consistent hazards against everything that doesn't have Magic Bounce (but Mega Sableye could be banned anyway so it could be just Diancie and the rare Espeon). Taunt lets me stop stall from doing stall things, like recovering health and status, and using status moves of its own. Toxic + Magma Storm is the tool that lets Heatran actually break through things like Chansey and Togekiss, trapping them in while they die to the swirling vortex and poison. Heatran is SpDef to handle things like Serperior and Tornadus better, since my team didn't really have an answer to them. 28 speed is niche, but lets me creep defensive Mega Venusaur and Dragonite with no speed without sacrificing a noticeable amount of bulk.
***********************
Threatlist
***********************
***********************
Conclusions & Importable
***********************
Hoopa @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Psyshock
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
Tornadus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 224 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Psyshock
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
Tornadus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 224 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
This team is a blast to play, since it nearly always has a back door to victory in Tailwind. It may be a week late for Halloween, but it's definitely a nice team to end ORAS on. It's fun, it uses some unique things, and it has one of the Pokemon's pseudo-mascots in Lucario. It could use a little bit more tweaking to be slightly more competitive, but that's where RMTs come in. And besides, the team already turned out a lot better than I originally thought, so everything beyond here is a victory.
Thanks for your time, and (hopefully) for your rates!
Edit: Forgot the importable.
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