Introduction
Hello everyone, I’m Splendid Silver Star, the winner of this year’s NDUB Open. I’m also in the loser bracket final of the current Summer Seasonal, and got a 4-3 (not great, but at least positive) record in NDPL. I’m interested in the tutor program of ND Ubers, so I think I need to share something to prove my knowledge of the metagame, and here comes this RMT. In this thread, I want to introduce a solid team I built for this tier. I shared this team with my friends Remnonc Corvikafka before, and this team brought us good results in tours. I never tried to grind a super high ELO on the ladder by using this team, but it worked consistently on the ladder when I tested it:
(starting from somewhere 1500s, lost maybe two games in the process)
1.The inspiration of team-building
As we know, DD tera ground ZygardeC is the single biggest threat in this tier, and many people, including me, believe that it’s the only mon could be considered broken in the current metagame. However, we also know that this demon’s single worst enemy is itself -- with a different set: tera fairy coil. Your tera ground DD Zygarde would never break through the opponent’s tera fairy coil Zygarde unless you score multiple critical hits, which shouldn’t be expected as a strategy. Since the whole player base has realized the power of DD Zygarde, more and more people are using tera fairy coil Zygarde as the no-brainer counter play. As a result, some people even argue that DD Zygarde is no longer OP and becoming less and less popular, which makes me consider: can we find a way to Make DD Zygarde Great Again even when there’s a tera fairy coil Zygarde in the opponent’s team? In other words, in the 1V1 situation, DD Zygarde always loses, but is there a way for a DD Zygarde team to beat a tera fairy coil Zygarde team?
Quickly, an idea comes into my mind: since coil Zygarde needs to become a fairy type in order to fully counter DD Zygarde, DD Zygarde’s value would be that it forces out the opponent’s tera while keeping your own tera inactive. All I need to do afterwards is exploiting the type weaknesses of fairy, which are, ofc, steel type and poison type.
In NDUB, the primary attackers of these 2 type are the following: Necrozma DM, ZacianC, Eternatus. These are all A tier minimum elite pokemon in this tier, so my team should have at least two of them. In this case, I choose NDM and ZacianC, the two physical attackers. Ofc you can also try new teams with Etern and other attackers like Kingambit and Melmetal.
However, steel and poison types are both weak to opposing Zygarde’s ground-type moves, which means that these mons won’t be able to directly switch into the opposing Zygarde. Also, even facing a fairy type Zygarde, these physical attackers may not be able to immediately break through because of the 1-2 times of coil Zygarde already used. Something like Marshadow is extremely prediction-heavy, so I won’t call it a reliable strategy. Thus, the conclusion is the following: I won’t run an HO team. Instead, I will run a balance team, and use my defensive backbone to phaze the opposing tera fairy coil Zygarde out after it teras. Then in the late part of the game, my opponent’s primary physical defensive wall won’t be able to stop my steel spam physical barrage.
So which pokemon should I use? You may say taunt Arceus, but it’s still prediction-heavy because it won’t enjoy switching into a toxic or glare. For me, the answer is clear: Alomomola+Hooh, my favorite regenerator combo in this tier.
Now we already have 5 mons in this team: DD Zygarde, dual Steel, double regenerator, and lastly, I need an SR setter. I cannot find any reason not to put the best pokemon in the tier into the last slot of my team: Primal Groudon. So here’s the final version of our team. You can call it "Make DragonDance Great Again":
https://pokepast.es/6d2b74d21aefc725
Yes, this team doesn’t have any form of Arceus, which is rare. However, during the building process above, mons naturally fit into the 6 team slots, and I have no more room for an Arceus. If anything, I might use a Grassceus to replace Pdon as the SR setter. It also helps against many water types (but Primal Kyogre easily 2HKOs it with ice beam) and DD groundceus, but many other mons can use it as an entry point, including some big threats against this team like NDM and ZacianC. With SR/Gknot/Recover as your first three moves (fixed), the remaining last move slot is just not enough. So aside from some specific matchups, this change won’t make this team better in the general sense. Or you can give it defog and roar to replace Hooh’s duty instead of Pdon’s, but I still don’t consider it as a very strong option.
2. A detailed explanation of each team member
Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 12 HP / 216 Atk / 48 SpD / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Substitute
- Dragon Tail
It’s the standard set. I have nothing to say about it, and I don’t think it needs any further adjustment.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Solganium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Def / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Photon Geyser
It’s steel spam, so I won’t use its ultra form. Maxed out physical attack is for sure. With 152 Spe investment, it naturally outruns base 90 and would outrun 341 speed Arceus after one DD, and I put the rest of EVs into its bulk. Its HP number is 351, which is a good number (16n-1). I care more about its physical bulk because it’s just a physical heavy meta.
Nowadays, Ultra burst is the mainstream set for DD NDM, but the SolganiumZ version has one huge advantage: it OHKOs Darkceus with its Z move:
+1 252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Arceus-Dark: 463-546 (104.2 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO (foul play Darkceus are usually slower than 341 speed, but if you worry about that, you can always give it more speed EV so it would outspeed 372 at +1)
0 SpA Dread Plate Arceus-Dark Judgment vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: 211-249 (60.1 - 70.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (43.8% chance to OHKO after one CM, you can work on that if this calc matters to you)
For its moves, NDM always has the 4 move slot syndrome. Sunsteel Strike is mandatory for its Z move, and EQ's coverage is close to necessary. Many players’ NDM runs stone edge, but photon geyser can still deal good neutral damage against Hooh (and in many cases, the opposing Hooh doesn’t want to risk against stone edge, so it chooses to tera), and your steel stab already does enough amount of damage against Yveltal. Photon geyser is also good against opposing water types (especially Dondozo because this move ignores unaware). There’s no more move slot for recovery, but you can always get the healing from Mola.
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
Standard set, and probably the second biggest threat in this tier. Nothing for me to explain. It’s not the go-to mon for me to tera, so I won’t use tera ground tera blast. One thing to notice is that it’s your only natural speedster in this team, so be careful when using it. You may not want to lose it in the early stage. This is a weakness of the team, but I can't fit in another naturally fast mon here. If you think Ultra Necrozma would also work, you can give it a try.
Alomomola @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Toxic
- Wish
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off
Basically all my Mola runs this set (but with different tera choices) even it’s not the mainstream choice. You need the most physical bulk you can get in this physical-heavy meta. You want to be as slow as possible so you could flip turn after the opponent moves. I love the utility of knock off, and this move is out of most people’s radar. I also love the helmet’s chip damage when facing Melmetal, Marshadow, ZacianC, E-killer, foul play Darkceus, etc.
For its tera type, one thing you need to know is that you won’t tera Mola in most battles, so you basically want to use its tera to cover specific cases and threats. In another team, I use tera normal Mola, and many people are confused about this choice. In that case, my main concern is CB tera ghost Marshadow and Basculegion’s last respect. In this case, tera dark still helps against these two, but my main concern is DD Ultra burst NDM. As you can see, there’s no good way for me to answer this mon reliably. However, you might still need to use your NDM or Pdon to bait out the ultra burst, otherwise the opposing NDM is immune to toxic, thus Mola couldn’t handle it even with tera.
Mola is dropping in the official VB ranking, but it’s still one of my favorite mons in this tier because it provides extra longevity for the whole team. For me, it should be ranked A-. Somehow in Gen 9, all recovery moves’ PP are cut to 8, but wish still has 16PP, which is truly a blessing.
Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Whirlwind
Basically the standard set except the tera choice. I don't like that 56SpD investment against Etern because it lowers Hooh's chance of survival against ZacianC. I intentionally lower its speed a little bit in order to get a slower defog against Pdon’s SR when it’s badly poisoned. But you’ll always be faster than the mixed Pdon, and I don’t want to be as slow as possible. For all the defensive Hooh, it’s always about choosing 4 moves from 5 options: sacred fire, brave bird, toxic/Twave, defog, and whirlwind. You always run sacred fire. For this team, you definitely need defog because it will be the only hazard removal, and you definitely need whirlwind because you want to phaze out the opposing coil Zygarde. So it’s just status vs BB in the last move slot, and your Hooh always runs BB if your team is not super good against Web (for this team, if Zygarde lead doesn’t work against their web setters) & mono attack taunt CM Arceus.
Lastly, tera pick. Most defensive Hooh runs tera grass, but for this team, I have three reasons to run tera fairy. First, since I’m using DD Zygarde myself, I cannot use my own Zygarde to counter the opposing DD Zygarde. Thus, I need a way to answer opposing DD Zygarde when it controls the battlefield. Second, ZacianC is my only dark resist, and it doesn’t have recovery except from being healed by Mola. So Hooh’s tera provides an extra safeguard against mono attack Darkceus. Third, BB won’t guarantee you a good MU against Web, and tera fairy improves your chance against Chi-Yu and Yveltal, two main defog stoppers in Web teams.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 232 HP / 176 SpA / 92 SpD / 8 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Solar Beam
- Overheat
Pdon is the last mon in this team, and you may notice that all the other 5 mons are fully on the physical side, which is certainly not great, so I choose to run a mixed set heavily investing in the special side. The standard 4 moves for mixed Pdon are SR/Pblade/toxic/overheat, but I choose solar beam over toxic as the last move. It deals huge amount of damage against Groundceus and opposing water types, especially Mola and Dondozo, two annoying physical walls stifling this team.
For EV spread, the HP number is another 16n-1 one. The minimum SpA EV requirement to cleanly one-shot ZacianC (after tera) by Overheat is 168, and 176 is the closest number to fully utilize its nature. I give it SpD investment because I need to show enough respect to Kyogre (and sometimes Yveltal & Etern). I put 8 Speed EV to outrun the standard mix Pdon. There’s no crucial damage calc benchmark requiring a little bit physical attack investment.
This Pdon’s set has been changed several times. I initially applied the standard 4 moves just with more emphasis on SpA instead of physical bulk, then I switched to a faster full special set and used solar beam as the secret weapon. However, CM Pogre proved to be a big problem, and the damage calc on Etern further confirmed the necessity of Pmiss:
0 Atk Groudon-Primal Precipice Blades vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Eternatus: 452-534 (107.1 - 126.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Groudon-Primal Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Eternatus: 374-444 (88.6 - 105.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
Earth power might be better against opposing Pdon, but Pblade’s advantages are more crucial for this team, so I switched back to the mix set. This Pdon is weaker than the standard set on the physical defense side. You can give it 100 Def investment to guarantee the survival from +3 tera fighting ZacianC’s CC, or 116 Def investment for Pblade from offensive Pdon. Of course, dropping toxic means you lose the ability to cripple opposing defog Hooh. Now you won’t be able to fetch down a feather from it. For this problem, we have Mola, one of the best switch-ins for Hooh in this tier. Not being able to outspeed coil ZygardeC would hurt sometimes, but there’s no way to optimize that problem based on the set.
3. Threat list
-Primal Kyogre: you won’t have tera grass Hooh as the backup plan for it, so Pdon is your only answer. Sometimes you may want to switch an ice-resist in against Pogre’s ice beam to alleviate Pdon’s pressure.
-DD NDM: honestly, most NDM’s answers are not perfect if you don’t know your opponent’s set. I’ve already introduced the tools against it, but you still need precise judgement and good play to fully stop it.
-DD Groundceus: it’s not a tera grass Hooh, so the risk would be higher than normal. There would be some guessing games. Grassceus over Pdon helps against this MU if you really want, but I won’t recommend that.
-Eternatus: the hard counters for Etern are rare in this tier (mostly Chansey and Fez). ZacianC outspeeds it. Pdon always survives a tera dragon LO Dcannon, and Zygarde almost always survives (93.6%) this move with tera. NDM always survives a +1 fire blast after one SR damage. Hooh has tera and whirlwind. These are the toolkit for you to play around Etern.
-ZacianC: on the one side, you’d be in a dangerous situation if you give opposing ZacianC an SD when it hits the field the first time in a battle; on the other side, 5/6 mons in this team pose a big threat against it (except Mola, but Mola could flip turn), so it’s not easy for the opposing ZacianC to safely switch in or set up. Usually the opposing ZacianC won’t be able to sweep. HP trade+helmet chip+ZacianC speed tie are enough in most circumstances.
-Web: you will be in a very good position if you lead your Zygarde and the opposing Smeargle doesn’t run perish song. If that’s an encore Shuckle lead or a Smeargle with perish song, then make good use of your double regenerator.
-Trick-room: you are the favorable side. Double regenerator mons handle Melmetal well (especially with the helmet chip); Sub burns TR turns; Dtail stops all the non-Hat TR setting; Mola-Hooh-NDM trio play around against CalyrexI. Finally, you always use your Pdon against Pogre, and its HP shouldn’t be wasted against other threats.
-Stall: you are the favorable side. Double regenerator mons at least guarantee you a 1000T tie, and it’s very hard for you to screw that up. NDM (be careful with its PP against mons with pressure ability) and special Pdon are key mons for you to break through. Knock off utility from Mola is also crucial. Keep your Pdon healthy with Mola’s support, otherwise Dondozo would be able to solo your whole team when it becomes the last remaining mon in the team. If you lose against a stall team, that might be the most plausible scenario.
-Zygarde: do I need to give more explanation? That’s why I build this team. For tera water coil set, use Dtail, knock off, and whirlwind. For DD tera ground set, use Hooh’s tera (or use Grassceus over Pdon) if you’re in a bad situation. For tera fairy coil set, 1) use Dtail to force out the tera; 2) use Mola+Hooh to force a rest & phaze it out; 3) use your steel type attackers to threaten a sweep afterwards. There’s also a chance that a coil Zygarde becomes your opponent’s last mon, then you need to figure out what’s the best tool against it depending on the damage calc. For example:
176+ SpA Groudon-Primal Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tera Water Zygarde-Complete: 316-374 (49.6 - 58.8%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
4. Replays
You just need to know that my Pdon’s set was not fully consistent in these replays, and not every game was played perfectly.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2394447820-3f89p2tnqgj1ilmms4rr3p02ggtl09fpw (VS Arcfairy)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...91941952-t7e42qm03rss39tu4jd4nec7g5m3hmipw?p2 (VS Bobsican)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...91940270-04sgpiv4i1gjcfu5nb96jvgjl9gp78tpw?p2 (VS Thatoneguy1337)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2445551007-bsveshrnerg7ijkecyncagbowt2hvdqpw (VS Germanie)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2447813091-g5nqjwlgybykukfgo2ok2iarqgxbttipw (VS BpR00f)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2448246095-xo1nkmnam0qshpyeh1roj7jk3idbtpmpw (VS abz5)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2397891669-ug62tnb91x6uqm3tba7jmj4cg0b22e8pw (VS Sami, NDUB Open III R3)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2405499750-q84tfjwlfq9ue4oaqf3bv68adg93i11pw (VS Emoxu9, NDUB Open III R5)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2408470864-f7jwv31qy7iwg743acch5j4ruyyjlh9pw (VS 8truc, NDUB Open III Semi)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2420148744-4d1eycg7i6xyvneyqo263wf9avlle87pw (Summer Seasonal R2, used by Corvikafka)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...31635180-mft5anxk5devax1povp9pkhkl1esiqspw?p2 (Summer Seasonal R4, used by Corvikafka)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2460187644-bhuen92hkht8nu0gc1d124ps50m74d7pw (VS ILoveGarchom, Summer Seasonal R10)
One more replay (lost): Corvikafka once played against me on the ladder using this team. I was running the Mola+Ray team (used by Remnonc in NDPL Week 1&3) at that time (with some 1800+ELO). Although I knew all the details of Corvikafka’s team, and he didn’t know anything about my team (which I hyped a lot), I was still totally destroyed by my own team.
5. Final words
Honestly, I don’t like DD ZygardeC. It auto-pilots your entire team if you don’t show enough respect to it (which cost me a crucial NDPL game). However, I don’t consider it ban-worthy by the standard of an Ubers tier, so we still need to live through it, which means we could continue to explore its potential. Even its own set is close to optimal, there’s still room for improvement for its teammate slots, eg. this team. I hope you enjoy reading this RMT, and I hope this team can give you good results. Feel free to change any set as long as you have a legit reason, especially because your opponent might also have read this RMT.
This team used several non-standard sets, so I’m not sure if it’s suitable for a new sample team. But I think there should be a sample team tell new players how to use the biggest threat in the tier, and currently all the ZygardeC in the sample teams are using the bulky coil set.
Okay, now you may ask, if even tera fairy coil Zygarde is not safe enough against DD Zygarde, are there any other options? I probably won’t write another RMT on this issue, but let me tell you this: use unaware Clefable. It handles both Zygarde sets well without consuming your tera.
Hello everyone, I’m Splendid Silver Star, the winner of this year’s NDUB Open. I’m also in the loser bracket final of the current Summer Seasonal, and got a 4-3 (not great, but at least positive) record in NDPL. I’m interested in the tutor program of ND Ubers, so I think I need to share something to prove my knowledge of the metagame, and here comes this RMT. In this thread, I want to introduce a solid team I built for this tier. I shared this team with my friends Remnonc Corvikafka before, and this team brought us good results in tours. I never tried to grind a super high ELO on the ladder by using this team, but it worked consistently on the ladder when I tested it:
(starting from somewhere 1500s, lost maybe two games in the process)
1.The inspiration of team-building
As we know, DD tera ground ZygardeC is the single biggest threat in this tier, and many people, including me, believe that it’s the only mon could be considered broken in the current metagame. However, we also know that this demon’s single worst enemy is itself -- with a different set: tera fairy coil. Your tera ground DD Zygarde would never break through the opponent’s tera fairy coil Zygarde unless you score multiple critical hits, which shouldn’t be expected as a strategy. Since the whole player base has realized the power of DD Zygarde, more and more people are using tera fairy coil Zygarde as the no-brainer counter play. As a result, some people even argue that DD Zygarde is no longer OP and becoming less and less popular, which makes me consider: can we find a way to Make DD Zygarde Great Again even when there’s a tera fairy coil Zygarde in the opponent’s team? In other words, in the 1V1 situation, DD Zygarde always loses, but is there a way for a DD Zygarde team to beat a tera fairy coil Zygarde team?
Quickly, an idea comes into my mind: since coil Zygarde needs to become a fairy type in order to fully counter DD Zygarde, DD Zygarde’s value would be that it forces out the opponent’s tera while keeping your own tera inactive. All I need to do afterwards is exploiting the type weaknesses of fairy, which are, ofc, steel type and poison type.
In NDUB, the primary attackers of these 2 type are the following: Necrozma DM, ZacianC, Eternatus. These are all A tier minimum elite pokemon in this tier, so my team should have at least two of them. In this case, I choose NDM and ZacianC, the two physical attackers. Ofc you can also try new teams with Etern and other attackers like Kingambit and Melmetal.
However, steel and poison types are both weak to opposing Zygarde’s ground-type moves, which means that these mons won’t be able to directly switch into the opposing Zygarde. Also, even facing a fairy type Zygarde, these physical attackers may not be able to immediately break through because of the 1-2 times of coil Zygarde already used. Something like Marshadow is extremely prediction-heavy, so I won’t call it a reliable strategy. Thus, the conclusion is the following: I won’t run an HO team. Instead, I will run a balance team, and use my defensive backbone to phaze the opposing tera fairy coil Zygarde out after it teras. Then in the late part of the game, my opponent’s primary physical defensive wall won’t be able to stop my steel spam physical barrage.
So which pokemon should I use? You may say taunt Arceus, but it’s still prediction-heavy because it won’t enjoy switching into a toxic or glare. For me, the answer is clear: Alomomola+Hooh, my favorite regenerator combo in this tier.
Now we already have 5 mons in this team: DD Zygarde, dual Steel, double regenerator, and lastly, I need an SR setter. I cannot find any reason not to put the best pokemon in the tier into the last slot of my team: Primal Groudon. So here’s the final version of our team. You can call it "Make DragonDance Great Again":
https://pokepast.es/6d2b74d21aefc725
Yes, this team doesn’t have any form of Arceus, which is rare. However, during the building process above, mons naturally fit into the 6 team slots, and I have no more room for an Arceus. If anything, I might use a Grassceus to replace Pdon as the SR setter. It also helps against many water types (but Primal Kyogre easily 2HKOs it with ice beam) and DD groundceus, but many other mons can use it as an entry point, including some big threats against this team like NDM and ZacianC. With SR/Gknot/Recover as your first three moves (fixed), the remaining last move slot is just not enough. So aside from some specific matchups, this change won’t make this team better in the general sense. Or you can give it defog and roar to replace Hooh’s duty instead of Pdon’s, but I still don’t consider it as a very strong option.
2. A detailed explanation of each team member
Ability: Power Construct
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 12 HP / 216 Atk / 48 SpD / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Substitute
- Dragon Tail
It’s the standard set. I have nothing to say about it, and I don’t think it needs any further adjustment.
Ability: Prism Armor
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Def / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Photon Geyser
It’s steel spam, so I won’t use its ultra form. Maxed out physical attack is for sure. With 152 Spe investment, it naturally outruns base 90 and would outrun 341 speed Arceus after one DD, and I put the rest of EVs into its bulk. Its HP number is 351, which is a good number (16n-1). I care more about its physical bulk because it’s just a physical heavy meta.
Nowadays, Ultra burst is the mainstream set for DD NDM, but the SolganiumZ version has one huge advantage: it OHKOs Darkceus with its Z move:
+1 252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Arceus-Dark: 463-546 (104.2 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO (foul play Darkceus are usually slower than 341 speed, but if you worry about that, you can always give it more speed EV so it would outspeed 372 at +1)
0 SpA Dread Plate Arceus-Dark Judgment vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: 211-249 (60.1 - 70.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (43.8% chance to OHKO after one CM, you can work on that if this calc matters to you)
For its moves, NDM always has the 4 move slot syndrome. Sunsteel Strike is mandatory for its Z move, and EQ's coverage is close to necessary. Many players’ NDM runs stone edge, but photon geyser can still deal good neutral damage against Hooh (and in many cases, the opposing Hooh doesn’t want to risk against stone edge, so it chooses to tera), and your steel stab already does enough amount of damage against Yveltal. Photon geyser is also good against opposing water types (especially Dondozo because this move ignores unaware). There’s no more move slot for recovery, but you can always get the healing from Mola.
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
Standard set, and probably the second biggest threat in this tier. Nothing for me to explain. It’s not the go-to mon for me to tera, so I won’t use tera ground tera blast. One thing to notice is that it’s your only natural speedster in this team, so be careful when using it. You may not want to lose it in the early stage. This is a weakness of the team, but I can't fit in another naturally fast mon here. If you think Ultra Necrozma would also work, you can give it a try.
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Toxic
- Wish
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off
Basically all my Mola runs this set (but with different tera choices) even it’s not the mainstream choice. You need the most physical bulk you can get in this physical-heavy meta. You want to be as slow as possible so you could flip turn after the opponent moves. I love the utility of knock off, and this move is out of most people’s radar. I also love the helmet’s chip damage when facing Melmetal, Marshadow, ZacianC, E-killer, foul play Darkceus, etc.
For its tera type, one thing you need to know is that you won’t tera Mola in most battles, so you basically want to use its tera to cover specific cases and threats. In another team, I use tera normal Mola, and many people are confused about this choice. In that case, my main concern is CB tera ghost Marshadow and Basculegion’s last respect. In this case, tera dark still helps against these two, but my main concern is DD Ultra burst NDM. As you can see, there’s no good way for me to answer this mon reliably. However, you might still need to use your NDM or Pdon to bait out the ultra burst, otherwise the opposing NDM is immune to toxic, thus Mola couldn’t handle it even with tera.
Mola is dropping in the official VB ranking, but it’s still one of my favorite mons in this tier because it provides extra longevity for the whole team. For me, it should be ranked A-. Somehow in Gen 9, all recovery moves’ PP are cut to 8, but wish still has 16PP, which is truly a blessing.
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Whirlwind
Basically the standard set except the tera choice. I don't like that 56SpD investment against Etern because it lowers Hooh's chance of survival against ZacianC. I intentionally lower its speed a little bit in order to get a slower defog against Pdon’s SR when it’s badly poisoned. But you’ll always be faster than the mixed Pdon, and I don’t want to be as slow as possible. For all the defensive Hooh, it’s always about choosing 4 moves from 5 options: sacred fire, brave bird, toxic/Twave, defog, and whirlwind. You always run sacred fire. For this team, you definitely need defog because it will be the only hazard removal, and you definitely need whirlwind because you want to phaze out the opposing coil Zygarde. So it’s just status vs BB in the last move slot, and your Hooh always runs BB if your team is not super good against Web (for this team, if Zygarde lead doesn’t work against their web setters) & mono attack taunt CM Arceus.
Lastly, tera pick. Most defensive Hooh runs tera grass, but for this team, I have three reasons to run tera fairy. First, since I’m using DD Zygarde myself, I cannot use my own Zygarde to counter the opposing DD Zygarde. Thus, I need a way to answer opposing DD Zygarde when it controls the battlefield. Second, ZacianC is my only dark resist, and it doesn’t have recovery except from being healed by Mola. So Hooh’s tera provides an extra safeguard against mono attack Darkceus. Third, BB won’t guarantee you a good MU against Web, and tera fairy improves your chance against Chi-Yu and Yveltal, two main defog stoppers in Web teams.
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 232 HP / 176 SpA / 92 SpD / 8 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Solar Beam
- Overheat
Pdon is the last mon in this team, and you may notice that all the other 5 mons are fully on the physical side, which is certainly not great, so I choose to run a mixed set heavily investing in the special side. The standard 4 moves for mixed Pdon are SR/Pblade/toxic/overheat, but I choose solar beam over toxic as the last move. It deals huge amount of damage against Groundceus and opposing water types, especially Mola and Dondozo, two annoying physical walls stifling this team.
For EV spread, the HP number is another 16n-1 one. The minimum SpA EV requirement to cleanly one-shot ZacianC (after tera) by Overheat is 168, and 176 is the closest number to fully utilize its nature. I give it SpD investment because I need to show enough respect to Kyogre (and sometimes Yveltal & Etern). I put 8 Speed EV to outrun the standard mix Pdon. There’s no crucial damage calc benchmark requiring a little bit physical attack investment.
This Pdon’s set has been changed several times. I initially applied the standard 4 moves just with more emphasis on SpA instead of physical bulk, then I switched to a faster full special set and used solar beam as the secret weapon. However, CM Pogre proved to be a big problem, and the damage calc on Etern further confirmed the necessity of Pmiss:
0 Atk Groudon-Primal Precipice Blades vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Eternatus: 452-534 (107.1 - 126.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Groudon-Primal Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Eternatus: 374-444 (88.6 - 105.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
Earth power might be better against opposing Pdon, but Pblade’s advantages are more crucial for this team, so I switched back to the mix set. This Pdon is weaker than the standard set on the physical defense side. You can give it 100 Def investment to guarantee the survival from +3 tera fighting ZacianC’s CC, or 116 Def investment for Pblade from offensive Pdon. Of course, dropping toxic means you lose the ability to cripple opposing defog Hooh. Now you won’t be able to fetch down a feather from it. For this problem, we have Mola, one of the best switch-ins for Hooh in this tier. Not being able to outspeed coil ZygardeC would hurt sometimes, but there’s no way to optimize that problem based on the set.
3. Threat list
-Primal Kyogre: you won’t have tera grass Hooh as the backup plan for it, so Pdon is your only answer. Sometimes you may want to switch an ice-resist in against Pogre’s ice beam to alleviate Pdon’s pressure.
-DD NDM: honestly, most NDM’s answers are not perfect if you don’t know your opponent’s set. I’ve already introduced the tools against it, but you still need precise judgement and good play to fully stop it.
-DD Groundceus: it’s not a tera grass Hooh, so the risk would be higher than normal. There would be some guessing games. Grassceus over Pdon helps against this MU if you really want, but I won’t recommend that.
-Eternatus: the hard counters for Etern are rare in this tier (mostly Chansey and Fez). ZacianC outspeeds it. Pdon always survives a tera dragon LO Dcannon, and Zygarde almost always survives (93.6%) this move with tera. NDM always survives a +1 fire blast after one SR damage. Hooh has tera and whirlwind. These are the toolkit for you to play around Etern.
-ZacianC: on the one side, you’d be in a dangerous situation if you give opposing ZacianC an SD when it hits the field the first time in a battle; on the other side, 5/6 mons in this team pose a big threat against it (except Mola, but Mola could flip turn), so it’s not easy for the opposing ZacianC to safely switch in or set up. Usually the opposing ZacianC won’t be able to sweep. HP trade+helmet chip+ZacianC speed tie are enough in most circumstances.
-Web: you will be in a very good position if you lead your Zygarde and the opposing Smeargle doesn’t run perish song. If that’s an encore Shuckle lead or a Smeargle with perish song, then make good use of your double regenerator.
-Trick-room: you are the favorable side. Double regenerator mons handle Melmetal well (especially with the helmet chip); Sub burns TR turns; Dtail stops all the non-Hat TR setting; Mola-Hooh-NDM trio play around against CalyrexI. Finally, you always use your Pdon against Pogre, and its HP shouldn’t be wasted against other threats.
-Stall: you are the favorable side. Double regenerator mons at least guarantee you a 1000T tie, and it’s very hard for you to screw that up. NDM (be careful with its PP against mons with pressure ability) and special Pdon are key mons for you to break through. Knock off utility from Mola is also crucial. Keep your Pdon healthy with Mola’s support, otherwise Dondozo would be able to solo your whole team when it becomes the last remaining mon in the team. If you lose against a stall team, that might be the most plausible scenario.
-Zygarde: do I need to give more explanation? That’s why I build this team. For tera water coil set, use Dtail, knock off, and whirlwind. For DD tera ground set, use Hooh’s tera (or use Grassceus over Pdon) if you’re in a bad situation. For tera fairy coil set, 1) use Dtail to force out the tera; 2) use Mola+Hooh to force a rest & phaze it out; 3) use your steel type attackers to threaten a sweep afterwards. There’s also a chance that a coil Zygarde becomes your opponent’s last mon, then you need to figure out what’s the best tool against it depending on the damage calc. For example:
176+ SpA Groudon-Primal Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tera Water Zygarde-Complete: 316-374 (49.6 - 58.8%) -- 71.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
4. Replays
You just need to know that my Pdon’s set was not fully consistent in these replays, and not every game was played perfectly.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2394447820-3f89p2tnqgj1ilmms4rr3p02ggtl09fpw (VS Arcfairy)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...91941952-t7e42qm03rss39tu4jd4nec7g5m3hmipw?p2 (VS Bobsican)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...91940270-04sgpiv4i1gjcfu5nb96jvgjl9gp78tpw?p2 (VS Thatoneguy1337)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2445551007-bsveshrnerg7ijkecyncagbowt2hvdqpw (VS Germanie)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2447813091-g5nqjwlgybykukfgo2ok2iarqgxbttipw (VS BpR00f)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2448246095-xo1nkmnam0qshpyeh1roj7jk3idbtpmpw (VS abz5)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2397891669-ug62tnb91x6uqm3tba7jmj4cg0b22e8pw (VS Sami, NDUB Open III R3)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2405499750-q84tfjwlfq9ue4oaqf3bv68adg93i11pw (VS Emoxu9, NDUB Open III R5)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2408470864-f7jwv31qy7iwg743acch5j4ruyyjlh9pw (VS 8truc, NDUB Open III Semi)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2420148744-4d1eycg7i6xyvneyqo263wf9avlle87pw (Summer Seasonal R2, used by Corvikafka)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...31635180-mft5anxk5devax1povp9pkhkl1esiqspw?p2 (Summer Seasonal R4, used by Corvikafka)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2460187644-bhuen92hkht8nu0gc1d124ps50m74d7pw (VS ILoveGarchom, Summer Seasonal R10)
One more replay (lost): Corvikafka once played against me on the ladder using this team. I was running the Mola+Ray team (used by Remnonc in NDPL Week 1&3) at that time (with some 1800+ELO). Although I knew all the details of Corvikafka’s team, and he didn’t know anything about my team (which I hyped a lot), I was still totally destroyed by my own team.
5. Final words
Honestly, I don’t like DD ZygardeC. It auto-pilots your entire team if you don’t show enough respect to it (which cost me a crucial NDPL game). However, I don’t consider it ban-worthy by the standard of an Ubers tier, so we still need to live through it, which means we could continue to explore its potential. Even its own set is close to optimal, there’s still room for improvement for its teammate slots, eg. this team. I hope you enjoy reading this RMT, and I hope this team can give you good results. Feel free to change any set as long as you have a legit reason, especially because your opponent might also have read this RMT.
This team used several non-standard sets, so I’m not sure if it’s suitable for a new sample team. But I think there should be a sample team tell new players how to use the biggest threat in the tier, and currently all the ZygardeC in the sample teams are using the bulky coil set.
Okay, now you may ask, if even tera fairy coil Zygarde is not safe enough against DD Zygarde, are there any other options? I probably won’t write another RMT on this issue, but let me tell you this: use unaware Clefable. It handles both Zygarde sets well without consuming your tera.
