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Project UU Victim of the Week (Round Twenty Four: Rhyperior)

The Winners are:
Twilight
Estarossa

Twilight and Estarossa
The underrated dragon reigns over as a check while Alolan Muk continues to be a nuisance against all Special Attackers (albeit it still kinda sucks as a mon in general).

Checks:
Kyurem=5
Gastrodon=3
Mega Manectric=2
Mega Sceptile=2
Seismitoad=2
Krookodile=1

Counters:
Alolan Muk=5
Blissey=3

Round 18’s Victim is:
Moltres
moltres.gif

Moltres @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Hurricane
- U-turn / Agility / Defog
- Roost

The fiery bird approaches as the next Victim. Offensive Moltres is a menace as its typing both provides offensive and defensive benefits. Its Fire/Flying typing stop Steel-types dead in their tracks while it also lets it check various breakers such as Scizor, Cobalion, and Mega Altaria while also scoring a possible burn with Flame Body. Submissions are due by Thursday!​
 
rhyperior-f.png

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Toxic
As a COUNTER.

Takes less than 30% from anything, resists rocks, smacks this set and can set up SR to make sure that even if it tries to pivot back in, it's gonna hurt.
 
diancie.gif

Diancie @ Leftovers / Normalium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock / Diamond Storm
- Heal Bell / Diamond Storm
- Toxic
- Moonblast

Diancie is a Hard Counter, as even Moltres' Z Hurricane only does ~26% -> ~31%. With Leftovers Diancie stays healthy, and Diancie can set rocks up, as well as provide utility through Heal Bell. Toxic can pressure it when not running Diamond Storm, and obviously if you are running Diamond Storm, you're annihilating Moltres, even with no attack investment, even with a Calm nature. You could even opt to run Normalium with Heal Bell, which is basically a healing wish used on yourself, so you can wall Moltres AGAIN. Even with a Z Hurricane CRIT, Moltres isn't breaking Diancie.


252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Diancie: 79-93 (25.9 - 30.5%) -- 2.7% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Moltres Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Diancie: 47-56 (15.4 - 18.4%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Diancie: 47-56 (15.4 - 18.4%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery
0- Atk Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Moltres: 424-504 (132 - 157%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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174082


Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 80 HP / 176 Spa / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Grass Knot / Power Gem
- Thunderbolt / Stealth Rock / Power Gem / Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Wave
- Protect

Nihilego as a counter. Takes very little from any of moltres's attacks, and is able to set up rocks / tspikes freely against moltres. 176 SpA EVs for speed boosts. Thunderbolt / Sludge wave are both 2hkos, but power gem can be run for an ohko while forsaking coverage or hazards. Can even protect against the potential z-move if necessary (say if you are lowish hp).
252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 80 HP / 4 SpD Nihilego: 116-137 (30.6 - 36.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 80 HP / 4 SpD Nihilego: 69-81 (18.2 - 21.3%) -- possible 7HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Moltres Fire Blast vs. 80 HP / 4 SpD Nihilego: 69-81 (18.2 - 21.3%) -- possible 7HKO after Black Sludge recovery

176 SpA Nihilego Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
176 SpA Nihilego Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 165-195 (51.4 - 60.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
176 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 556-660 (173.2 - 205.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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Reserving Rotom-Heat

4020-Rotom-Heat.png
Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Toxic

Rotom-Heat reists both STABs of Moltres and is able to check it pretty well with its good type combination in Fire and Electric.
Rotom-Heat is bulky enough to withstand all attacks Moltres can go for, even a Flynium Z Hurricane Rotom-heat is able to withstand due to its typing and also natural bulk.
In Return Rotom-Heat can just slow Volt Switch out on Moltres and do a good chunk of damage to that Fire-Bird, or it can just limit its recovery options
with a Toxic as Toxic is able to reck up after some turns and it is forced to Roost more often.
Also Rotom-Heat has some sort of recovery too to check Moltres throughout the game with the Iapapa berry, which pops and gets eaten when Rotom is low on health.
Rotom can also Defog on Moltres and get rid off the hazards on your side of the field as only one out of 4 hazards hit Rotom-Heat,
which are the Stealth Rocks as Levitate allows it to stand above the ground so it can't get hit by Spikes, T-Spikes and Webs.
However speaking of hazards, Rotom-Heat does not like Rocks after all as they do 25% damage to it as well, but in overall Heattom is a good check to Moltres due to the reasons
which are said above.


Calcs:
252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 82-97 (27.3 - 32.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Moltres Fire Blast vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 82-97 (27.3 - 32.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Heat: 138-163 (46 - 54.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

20 SpA Rotom-Heat Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 186-218 (57.9 - 67.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
20 SpA Rotom-Heat Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 186-218 (57.9 - 67.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
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terrakion.gif

Terrakion @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Stealth Rock​

Not every team can resort to having a genuine hard counter to Moltres, so they use offensive counter measures to handle it. Terrakion sort of fits in between where it can tank a hit or two virtue of its typing, but also always OHKO Moltres with Stone Edge. I opted to post an Iapapa Berry variant as it allows it to consistantly take a few hits from it if played correctly. In most cases you will always force the opposing Moltres out, which makes Terrak a very good SR setter to chunk it for 50% of its health the next time it comes in. It should be noted you can't wildly switch it in as you will die to a SSS most of the time. Terrak as a check.

252 SpA Moltres Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Terrakion: 95-112 (29.4 - 34.6%) -- 9.8% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Terrakion: 190-225 (58.8 - 69.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Terrakion: 319-376 (98.7 - 116.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO​
 
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Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock

Because Tapu Lele doesn’t exist in UU, Blissey is the de facto special wall of the tier. And guess what, Moltres is a special attacker. Moltres is completely unable to touch Blissey, taking 6 Hurricanes/Fire Blasts or 4 Supersonic Skystrikes. In the meantime, Blissey sits back, Toxics, sets Rocks (really important if Molt is the defogger), and gives out Toss chip. Ofc Molt can U-turn out of Blissey but you have 5 mons in the back that deal with Blissey’s weaknesses.
 
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174380

Zeraora @ Electrium Z
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off

smacks with stab or can knock a switch in or even set up! look at me finishing posts
 
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Latias as a check
latias.gif

Latias @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost

Latias outspeeds Moltres, resists its Fire-type STAB, and has enough special bulk coupled with Roost to sponge off Hurricane damage. However, she has to be at full health to reliably check Moltres, as even Stealth Rock Damage is enough to put her in range of Supersonic Skystrike, and she has to burn its Z-move (or setup a Calm Mind) to OHKO Moltres with Draco Meteor.

252 SpA Moltres Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latias: 139-165 (46.1 - 54.8%) -- 60.5% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latias: 234-276 (77.7 - 91.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Latias Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 216-255 (67.2 - 79.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Latias Devastating Drake (195 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Moltres: 322-381 (100.3 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
Twilight how dare you chew on my deluxe glow-in-the-dark polished socks

As any person with a donkey's IQ and above would know, Fire is weak to water. This means that Starmie has an advantage over Moltres. Starmie cleanly OHKO's with Hydro Pump, and if Molt decides to switch, it can spin away hazards that might be in the way of its teammates. It can also take a Fire Blast, and if at full, a Hurricane. but SSS is no place to switchin, as that is a clean OHKO. Therefore, this is a check.

starmie.png

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
 
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Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Roost

mega aero resists its stab move, and it only hits around 30% flynium z hits 59% max. it really cant hurt it in anyway maero is also faster and kill it with stone edge. it can also always roost up. It can even pursuit trap molt if it tries to switch
Mega Aero is a counter
 
174362
- Definitely a great counter to this moltres. If the set mentioned included potential toxic too instead of u-turn / defog then this one would dislike it more than heal bell diancie and nihilego would. Nonetheless will still constantly force out moltres all game, and is consistently able to keep rocks up vs it which is great, and able to punish swaps with toxic + rocks and its hard hitting even while uninvested attacks. Also has a more reliable rock type move thats more accurate and has far more pp, which means you can't just swap until it's pp is gone, or pray for misses.

174363
- A decent counter to moltres. The downside to this one imo being that to both kill it and punish its swaps with rocks you need to lose heal bell on the moveset provided. Diamond storm also has a low PP of only 8, and only does 66-78.5% if the moltres roosts first, which means moltres could potential reach the point where diancie can't actually kill it, especially if you waste diamond storms on swaps, and with cleric support and a secondary defogger moltres may end up actually beating it.

174364
- Another great counter to this particular moltres. Sets up rocks and punishes attempts to defog with toxic, putting pressure on the secondary defogger to do work. Nothing moltres can do can really touch it, but it is a bit more passive than the other options if the moltres u-turns into something to set up on it. The downside to this counter to me is that it suffers if the enemy happens to be running other moltres options like pressure + defog, or substitute to block toxic's etc, which while not mentioned on the set provided, the rock types still actually stop unlike blissey. Against teams with secondary defoggers that don't care about blissey like scizor and cleric support however, this blissey may also end up never killing moltres and just lengthening the game and wasting pp from both sides.

174368
- While it takes any hits from moltres quite happily, aero has a similar problem as diancie in a way though nowhere near as bad. Low stone edge PP means you have to be careful not to run out, and aero can't risk trying to pursuit trap lest it get burned either. Still nonetheless can take any hits from moltrs happily and roost the damage off, but has no real way of punishing swaps like the other 4 counters nommed since it has no rocks and pursuit is too risky.

Out of the above counters I'll probably be voting for rhyperior and blissey, though this may change after hearing other people.

All counters are really good submissions though as Katy said, why I tried to be very critical about their downsides/upsides.

174365
- Standard moltres check, does the job well. Slower volt switch and toxic both punish swaps, and toxic can cripple moltres that decides to stay in and attempt to roost on your volt switch. Can't actually kill ever especially if moltres roosts on your volts though, and can only take so many hits, so while you could toxic it you'd need some other way of dealing with moltres too preferably.

174366
- My favourite check listed here. While it cant swap in on a SSS, if brought in it always freely gets rocks up and forces molt out, and if sandstorm support present can tank even a SSS. Technically has to watch out for burns if it ends up CC'ing on moltres either with a prediction from enemy or a failed prediction from you, but fairly unlikely. Definitely be voting for this as a check.

174367
- Another nice check since if given a free swap in to moltres can set up calm minds and force moltres out, since it outspeeds. May not have rocks to punish swap, but a free set up opportunity is still nice. Will be my 2nd vote if we get two for checks.

174369
- Nice check and all, but has no way of punishing swaps (outside of analytic anyway, but doesnt punish moltres, especially since chances are there won't be hazards up for starmie to rapid spin unless enemy also had a rapid spinner), and has to rely on a 70% accurate move to get the kill which a SSS would cripple after, which is slightly dodgy.
 
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Pretty much everything has been said already b Estarossa, but I want to add that all counters are really good sumbissions, I think when it comes to checks I would vote either Latias or Terrakion as both outspeed Moltres and either setup on ir or force it out or can hit it with a super effective move or a boosted move due to Calm Mind in latias case.

Counters I like Rhyperior, Blissey and Nihilego a lot and I find it hard to vote on a counter as Diancie has its upsides too.

I don't know yet which mons will get my vote but in overall we can agree that we had a lot and good submissions.
 
Estarossa said:
A decent counter to moltres. The downside to this one imo being that to both kill it and punish its swaps with rocks you need to lose heal bell on the moveset provided. Diamond storm also has a low PP of only 8, and only does 66-78.5% if the moltres roosts first, which means moltres could potential reach the point where diancie can't actually kill it, especially if you waste diamond storms on swaps, and with cleric support and a secondary defogger moltres may end up actually beating it.
Click to expand...
First off, I would like to point out Diamond Storm isn't usually ran, so you would be toxicing it anyways, which it can't roost stall that. I should've stated that in my OP, however, so that's my fault.

Anyways, I'll give my thoughts:

Counters:

1557333353052-png.174362
1557334688361-png.174368
1557333598938-png.174363
793MS.png
- I think it's fair to group these all together, due to them having the same common type that makes them Counters. All can come in on Moltres alot and either murder it, or pressure it with status, and in Diancie's and Rhyperior's case, get rocks up. Rhyp and Dianice can pressure switches with Toxic, and Aerodactyl can punish Moltres for switching with Pursuit. Overall, these are probably the best answers in my opinion. My vote will probably go to Mega Aerodactyl due to access to Roost to consistently answer Moltres. That is my personal problem with Rhyperior, as it only has Leftovers to rely on to stay healthy. Nihilego also has this problem, but can outrun and demolish Moltres.

1557333863871-png.174364
- Another great counter. Standard special wall, doesn't care about Moltres, and cannot be pressured by it due to lack of Toxic. Blissey punishes switches via Wish or Toxic, depending on what you're running. Overall, a great Counter imo.

Checks:

These checks fall under 2 categories: Can switch into STABs and barely tank a SSSS / Can switch into STABs and cannot tank a SSSS. This first one will be one that can switch into STABs and take a SSSS.

1557334242237-png.174365
- Nice check, and generally the Moltres check on most offensive builds these days. As Estarossa mentioned, can't do much except Toxic Moltres if it roosts. Still a good check though. I will probably vote for this, as it is the best check imo.

Everything else falls under the category of being able to come in on STABs for the most part, but drops to SSSS. Or if you're Zeraora, drop to a STAB.

807MS.png
1557334386422-png.174366
1557334575368-png.174367
1557334832555-png.174369
- All can some in on one or another of Moltres' STAB attacks, but crumble to the Z move, or in Zeraora's case, a well timed Fire Blast. Can do their separate things to punish Moltres, whether it be getting Rocks up, spinning them away, setting up with Calm Mind, or just attacking something with good coverage/pivoting with Volt Switch. Out of all of these, I'd probably vote for Latias, due to CM and recovery, as well as Dragonium to shred Moltres.

Edit: forgot Nihilego, ty Estarossa
 
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