I'm sure everyone who was remotely interested in Parting Shot a few months back remembers the mass disappointment that came when we found out Pangoro was the only 'mon to get it and that his stats and remaining movepool just couldn't cut it for OU, on top of his 4x weakness to the then-new Fairy type. Soon enough our beloved yakuza panda faded into obscurity and people moved on.
Well, I'd always been a fan of the concept of VoltTurn teams but never really used one since I wasn't around during the peak of its popularity in gen V. So I decided to make one myself with the addition of Parting Shot. It's been pretty fun to use for some 30-40 OU matches in the 1100-1400 ladder, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't have some issues. So here I am, hoping others will join me in my #hipster spirit and help me bring out the full potential of the beauty that is VoltTurnShot!
Deoxys-Speed
@ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
Summary: Hazards are the first thing that must be taken into consideration with any strategy that involves a lot of switching, whichever side of the field they're on. A Deoxys-Speed suicide lead is perfect in this case, preventing not only hazards but any number of nasty surprises the opponent might want to kick the battle off with. Sitting at a dandy 504, max-speed Deoxys-S was Uber for a reason and is probably the fastest non-scarfed 'mon in the game, even beyond the likes of Mega-dactyl, and WILL out-speed any non-priority lead to neuter them with Taunt, following up with at least 1 guaranteed layer of hazards assuming the opposing lead has enough oomph to 1-shot him (otherwise 2-3 layers). Once he's done his job, he can punch some early holes with a STAB Psycho Boost or two for even more fun-- even uninvested, he can OHKO (or come close to it) some unsuspecting Poison and Fighting types that come in thinking they have nothing to fear from a support 'mon (for some reason no one seems to be aware Psycho Boost is a thing). When I see the opponent has something like a Venusaur or Gengar, instead of letting him suicide for hazards I'll usually keep him around a bit to take care of the threat later. I've been using Red Card for extra shuffling and hazards damage, but quite a few times I've given a free escape to Taunted lunchmeat so I'm thinking of using Sash instead to avoid the OHKO's that Dark/Ghost/Bug-type users tend to dole out.
Cons: When a half-decent player sees a Deoxys-S on your team, they know what's coming since there's only so much he's used for and will act accordingly. However, oftentimes you can't afford to NOT lead with Deo when that Smeargle they may or may not lead with only needs 1 turn to Spore and begin setting up, even if they could just as easily start with their Espeon. They can also simply hold a spinner/defogger in reserve until Deoxys meets his early demise. This vulnerability can get a little frustrating, but I've had more yes than no moments with him so far. It's mostly just outplaying or getting outplayed in my experience.
Rotom-W
@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Spd / 212 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
Summary: Pretty standard TrickScarf set. Come in, cripple a wall or whoever with Trick, start WoW/Volt Switching and become a reliable switch-in for the rest of the battle. Alternatively can use the scarf himself to get off a fast Hydro Pump/WoW when necessary, or just keep up fast Volt Switches. Even uninvested, his attacks pack quite a punch. He checks many threats such as Heatran, Talonflame, etc. and can take the Water/Ice attacks Lando hates or the Ground/Fire attacks Heliolisk hates. Meanwhile Scizor can take Rotom's only weakness, Grass, with a 4x resistance while Rotom sponges even more Fire attacks in Scizor's stead.
Cons: TrickScarf can be a pretty risky strategy sometimes so you've got to be careful not to give the scarf to something that can wreck your team with it, although there are enough different Rotom-W sets running around that you can bluff until you show your hand. Of course there is a good number of 'mons Rotom-W can't handle, including Venusaur, Trevenant, and Mold Breaker EQ'ers (as for walls like Ferrothorn w/o Power Whip and Blissey, a well-played Trick will neuter them). But that becomes something you can play around with VoltTurnShot.
Scizor
@ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 HP / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Aerial Ace
- Superpower
Summary: Even before Scizorite, this bug's always formed one of the best VoltTurn cores in tandem with Rotom-W; this combo has only gotten better with Mega-Scizor. One thing I feel is underappreciated about this duo is how Scizor's typing gives him immunity to Toxic, which is really annoying for both Rotom and Landorus. Superpower and Technician-boosted Aerial Ace are coverage moves, chosen because otherwise this team has limited answers to Grass-, Bug-, Steel-, Fighting-, and Normal-types. Why Superpower over Brick Break? Since you'll be switching a lot anyways, the Attack and Defense drops become irrelevant and allows you to OHKO (or bring them into the red) a lot of threats and potential switch-ins who may not be expecting such a nuke (i.e. Lucario, Heatran on his way in, etc.). While Scizor is usually pretty predictable, Aerial Ace and Superpower are rare enough on him that you can catch the enemy by surprise. Should screens become an issue, I have Brick Break on Pangoro. U-Turn over Bug-Bite because duh, and Bullet Punch because duh. TBH I forget why I put specifically 12 Speed EVs on him, although it does allow him to outspeed the more common varieties of Scizor.
Cons: If Rotom dies before their Fire-types do, then good luck. Other than that, Special Attackers with neutral coverage dent him pretty well if he can't hit them harder back. Will-o-Wisp makes him cry, and Bullet Punches are pretty easy to see coming.
Pangoro
@ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Parting Shot
- Circle Throw
- Crunch
- Brick Break
Summary: The star of the show with near-exclusive access to Parting Shot, which it shares only with Smeargle and its pre-evo Pancham. With Parting Shot, he can combo with Landorus-T's Intimidate to bring any Physical attacker (that he can outspeed or survive) down to 0.5x Attack in one turn. Even without that, there aren't a lot of 'mons who appreciate -1 Atk/SpAtk into an unfavorable/neutral match-up. Circle Throw allows him to shuffle the opposing team for extra hazards damage as well as phazing set-up sweepers. Crunch and Brick-Break are his STAB offenses giving him pretty decent offensive presence with his max 381 Attack; Scrappy allows Brick Break to OHKO Sableye and for Circle Throw to hit other Ghosts who like to overstay their welcome like Trevenant, Gourgeist, Dusclops, and Cofagrigus. On top of Brick Break's handy side-effect, he's a great answer to Psychic-type screen setters like Espeon, especially if it's a mono-attacking Psychic/Psyshock set.
Cons: Fairy. x4 weakness. Ugh. Even when some of the poke's he would otherwise check aren't carrying Dazzling Gleam coverage (Alakazam, Gengar, Espeon occasionally), they can usually answer with Focus Blast instead. This hampers his usability quite a bit alone. Add that to how underwhelming 95/78/71 defenses are in OU, and you have to be very careful about which offensive threats you try to cripple with him. Maximum HP investment helps alleviate this somewhat, but it doesn't change the OHKO a lot of the top poke's like Talonflame and Chari-Y threaten him with.
Heliolisk
@ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Surf
Summary: This team had a fast Special Attacker-shaped hole in it that Heliolisk fit perfectly with his Water-type immunity for Lando-T and Ghost-type immunity for Deoxys-S (both of whom can take his Fighting-type weakness with ease), on top of access to both Volt Switch and U-turn. At 109 base Special Attack and Speed, he gets the best of both worlds with Hasty and Specs for a swift and strong Volt Switch. For an Electric-type, Heliolisk has a surprisingly diverse movepool due to his Normal dual-typing, including gems such as Focus Blast and Grass Knot, but I think this team better appreciates the coverage offered by Surf and Dark Pulse. Since it's pretty easy to predict an incoming Volt Switch and send out a Ground-type, he has U-Turn to fake them out and fall back to Rotom-W's or Lando-T's Ground-immunity (and often popping an Air Balloon in the case of Excadrill).
Cons: Any Choice set is a double-edged sword. If you make the wrong choice and get locked into Dark Pulse or Surf when you should have Volt Switched or U-Turned, you'll lose the momentum you're supposed to have been building. And while his Speed and Special Attack are great, there's no shortage of OU 'mons who can outspeed or tank him, or both, to threaten back with a OHKO (94 Special Defense is decent but 62/52 HP/Defense is not) so you need to be acutely aware of just how much you can put on his plate.
Landorus-Therian
@ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off/Toxic/Gravity
Summary: Ah yes, we have come full-circle from super-common to uncommon and now back to common. The elemental core he completes with this team is beautiful (and already covered in previous sections)-- even Scizor can sponge the Ice-type attacks headed his way should Rotom be unable to. Intimidate is also priceless on VoltTurn teams, and becomes even more effective in tandem with Parting Shot, basically forcing switches for any physical threat that can't deal with 0.5x Attack (bonus points if you managed to burn them with Rotom). The EVs are nothing new, giving him a combination of defensive and offensive presence to utilize with EdgeQuake coverage and U-Turn. For the final slot, I'll be honest and admit to using Gravity for fun. It's super-niche, but it can completely shut down your opponents option to switch into something with Ground-immunity when you both know you're going to use EQ. That is, however, only when they provide you with the free turn to set it up which probably doesn't happen at all higher up on the ladder. In light of Gravity's unreliability, Knock Off becomes the more attractive option for the usual reasons as well as being able to hit levitating Psychic-types like Latios super-effectively. Toxic is good too, but Lando-T has difficulty walling with nothing but Leftovers recovery and I'm not a fan of Rest-reliant sets.
Cons: Lack of recovery, as stated. If you decide to pull Gravity shenanigans for funzies, keep in mind that he and Rotom-W also lose their Ground-immunities. Stone Miss is Stone Miss and will never stop being Stone Miss (mostly the reason I began toying with Gravity). He's decently beefy, but he still doesn't like any Special attacks he doesn't resist. Ice- and Water-types are his bane as per usual, but with Rotom, Heliolisk, and Scizor they're far less worrying.
So, thanks for reading! What do you think? Feel free to try it out for yourself if you want, I'd love to hear if you thought it was fun. I am very much open to suggestions and improvements, and even roster changes if you think they'll help!
Edit-- Replays:
In which I lead with Pangoro upon seeing their Espeon
In which they lead with Hawlucha upon seeing my Deoxys-S
In which Pangoro gets that one free turn and does work
In which I'm an idiot and feed Bisharp to 4x Attack and still avoid a sweep
In which classic VoltTurn does its thing
Well, I'd always been a fan of the concept of VoltTurn teams but never really used one since I wasn't around during the peak of its popularity in gen V. So I decided to make one myself with the addition of Parting Shot. It's been pretty fun to use for some 30-40 OU matches in the 1100-1400 ladder, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't have some issues. So here I am, hoping others will join me in my #hipster spirit and help me bring out the full potential of the beauty that is VoltTurnShot!
Deoxys-Speed
@ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
Summary: Hazards are the first thing that must be taken into consideration with any strategy that involves a lot of switching, whichever side of the field they're on. A Deoxys-Speed suicide lead is perfect in this case, preventing not only hazards but any number of nasty surprises the opponent might want to kick the battle off with. Sitting at a dandy 504, max-speed Deoxys-S was Uber for a reason and is probably the fastest non-scarfed 'mon in the game, even beyond the likes of Mega-dactyl, and WILL out-speed any non-priority lead to neuter them with Taunt, following up with at least 1 guaranteed layer of hazards assuming the opposing lead has enough oomph to 1-shot him (otherwise 2-3 layers). Once he's done his job, he can punch some early holes with a STAB Psycho Boost or two for even more fun-- even uninvested, he can OHKO (or come close to it) some unsuspecting Poison and Fighting types that come in thinking they have nothing to fear from a support 'mon (for some reason no one seems to be aware Psycho Boost is a thing). When I see the opponent has something like a Venusaur or Gengar, instead of letting him suicide for hazards I'll usually keep him around a bit to take care of the threat later. I've been using Red Card for extra shuffling and hazards damage, but quite a few times I've given a free escape to Taunted lunchmeat so I'm thinking of using Sash instead to avoid the OHKO's that Dark/Ghost/Bug-type users tend to dole out.
Cons: When a half-decent player sees a Deoxys-S on your team, they know what's coming since there's only so much he's used for and will act accordingly. However, oftentimes you can't afford to NOT lead with Deo when that Smeargle they may or may not lead with only needs 1 turn to Spore and begin setting up, even if they could just as easily start with their Espeon. They can also simply hold a spinner/defogger in reserve until Deoxys meets his early demise. This vulnerability can get a little frustrating, but I've had more yes than no moments with him so far. It's mostly just outplaying or getting outplayed in my experience.
Rotom-W
@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Spd / 212 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
Summary: Pretty standard TrickScarf set. Come in, cripple a wall or whoever with Trick, start WoW/Volt Switching and become a reliable switch-in for the rest of the battle. Alternatively can use the scarf himself to get off a fast Hydro Pump/WoW when necessary, or just keep up fast Volt Switches. Even uninvested, his attacks pack quite a punch. He checks many threats such as Heatran, Talonflame, etc. and can take the Water/Ice attacks Lando hates or the Ground/Fire attacks Heliolisk hates. Meanwhile Scizor can take Rotom's only weakness, Grass, with a 4x resistance while Rotom sponges even more Fire attacks in Scizor's stead.
Cons: TrickScarf can be a pretty risky strategy sometimes so you've got to be careful not to give the scarf to something that can wreck your team with it, although there are enough different Rotom-W sets running around that you can bluff until you show your hand. Of course there is a good number of 'mons Rotom-W can't handle, including Venusaur, Trevenant, and Mold Breaker EQ'ers (as for walls like Ferrothorn w/o Power Whip and Blissey, a well-played Trick will neuter them). But that becomes something you can play around with VoltTurnShot.
Scizor
@ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 HP / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Aerial Ace
- Superpower
Summary: Even before Scizorite, this bug's always formed one of the best VoltTurn cores in tandem with Rotom-W; this combo has only gotten better with Mega-Scizor. One thing I feel is underappreciated about this duo is how Scizor's typing gives him immunity to Toxic, which is really annoying for both Rotom and Landorus. Superpower and Technician-boosted Aerial Ace are coverage moves, chosen because otherwise this team has limited answers to Grass-, Bug-, Steel-, Fighting-, and Normal-types. Why Superpower over Brick Break? Since you'll be switching a lot anyways, the Attack and Defense drops become irrelevant and allows you to OHKO (or bring them into the red) a lot of threats and potential switch-ins who may not be expecting such a nuke (i.e. Lucario, Heatran on his way in, etc.). While Scizor is usually pretty predictable, Aerial Ace and Superpower are rare enough on him that you can catch the enemy by surprise. Should screens become an issue, I have Brick Break on Pangoro. U-Turn over Bug-Bite because duh, and Bullet Punch because duh. TBH I forget why I put specifically 12 Speed EVs on him, although it does allow him to outspeed the more common varieties of Scizor.
Cons: If Rotom dies before their Fire-types do, then good luck. Other than that, Special Attackers with neutral coverage dent him pretty well if he can't hit them harder back. Will-o-Wisp makes him cry, and Bullet Punches are pretty easy to see coming.
Pangoro
@ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Parting Shot
- Circle Throw
- Crunch
- Brick Break
Summary: The star of the show with near-exclusive access to Parting Shot, which it shares only with Smeargle and its pre-evo Pancham. With Parting Shot, he can combo with Landorus-T's Intimidate to bring any Physical attacker (that he can outspeed or survive) down to 0.5x Attack in one turn. Even without that, there aren't a lot of 'mons who appreciate -1 Atk/SpAtk into an unfavorable/neutral match-up. Circle Throw allows him to shuffle the opposing team for extra hazards damage as well as phazing set-up sweepers. Crunch and Brick-Break are his STAB offenses giving him pretty decent offensive presence with his max 381 Attack; Scrappy allows Brick Break to OHKO Sableye and for Circle Throw to hit other Ghosts who like to overstay their welcome like Trevenant, Gourgeist, Dusclops, and Cofagrigus. On top of Brick Break's handy side-effect, he's a great answer to Psychic-type screen setters like Espeon, especially if it's a mono-attacking Psychic/Psyshock set.
Cons: Fairy. x4 weakness. Ugh. Even when some of the poke's he would otherwise check aren't carrying Dazzling Gleam coverage (Alakazam, Gengar, Espeon occasionally), they can usually answer with Focus Blast instead. This hampers his usability quite a bit alone. Add that to how underwhelming 95/78/71 defenses are in OU, and you have to be very careful about which offensive threats you try to cripple with him. Maximum HP investment helps alleviate this somewhat, but it doesn't change the OHKO a lot of the top poke's like Talonflame and Chari-Y threaten him with.
Heliolisk
@ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Surf
Summary: This team had a fast Special Attacker-shaped hole in it that Heliolisk fit perfectly with his Water-type immunity for Lando-T and Ghost-type immunity for Deoxys-S (both of whom can take his Fighting-type weakness with ease), on top of access to both Volt Switch and U-turn. At 109 base Special Attack and Speed, he gets the best of both worlds with Hasty and Specs for a swift and strong Volt Switch. For an Electric-type, Heliolisk has a surprisingly diverse movepool due to his Normal dual-typing, including gems such as Focus Blast and Grass Knot, but I think this team better appreciates the coverage offered by Surf and Dark Pulse. Since it's pretty easy to predict an incoming Volt Switch and send out a Ground-type, he has U-Turn to fake them out and fall back to Rotom-W's or Lando-T's Ground-immunity (and often popping an Air Balloon in the case of Excadrill).
Cons: Any Choice set is a double-edged sword. If you make the wrong choice and get locked into Dark Pulse or Surf when you should have Volt Switched or U-Turned, you'll lose the momentum you're supposed to have been building. And while his Speed and Special Attack are great, there's no shortage of OU 'mons who can outspeed or tank him, or both, to threaten back with a OHKO (94 Special Defense is decent but 62/52 HP/Defense is not) so you need to be acutely aware of just how much you can put on his plate.
Landorus-Therian
@ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off/Toxic/Gravity
Summary: Ah yes, we have come full-circle from super-common to uncommon and now back to common. The elemental core he completes with this team is beautiful (and already covered in previous sections)-- even Scizor can sponge the Ice-type attacks headed his way should Rotom be unable to. Intimidate is also priceless on VoltTurn teams, and becomes even more effective in tandem with Parting Shot, basically forcing switches for any physical threat that can't deal with 0.5x Attack (bonus points if you managed to burn them with Rotom). The EVs are nothing new, giving him a combination of defensive and offensive presence to utilize with EdgeQuake coverage and U-Turn. For the final slot, I'll be honest and admit to using Gravity for fun. It's super-niche, but it can completely shut down your opponents option to switch into something with Ground-immunity when you both know you're going to use EQ. That is, however, only when they provide you with the free turn to set it up which probably doesn't happen at all higher up on the ladder. In light of Gravity's unreliability, Knock Off becomes the more attractive option for the usual reasons as well as being able to hit levitating Psychic-types like Latios super-effectively. Toxic is good too, but Lando-T has difficulty walling with nothing but Leftovers recovery and I'm not a fan of Rest-reliant sets.
Cons: Lack of recovery, as stated. If you decide to pull Gravity shenanigans for funzies, keep in mind that he and Rotom-W also lose their Ground-immunities. Stone Miss is Stone Miss and will never stop being Stone Miss (mostly the reason I began toying with Gravity). He's decently beefy, but he still doesn't like any Special attacks he doesn't resist. Ice- and Water-types are his bane as per usual, but with Rotom, Heliolisk, and Scizor they're far less worrying.
So, thanks for reading! What do you think? Feel free to try it out for yourself if you want, I'd love to hear if you thought it was fun. I am very much open to suggestions and improvements, and even roster changes if you think they'll help!
Edit-- Replays:
In which I lead with Pangoro upon seeing their Espeon
In which they lead with Hawlucha upon seeing my Deoxys-S
In which Pangoro gets that one free turn and does work
In which I'm an idiot and feed Bisharp to 4x Attack and still avoid a sweep
In which classic VoltTurn does its thing
Scizor (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 HP / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Aerial Ace
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Pangoro (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Parting Shot
- Circle Throw
- Crunch
- Brick Break
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Spd / 212 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
Heliolisk (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Surf
Deoxys-Speed @ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 HP / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Aerial Ace
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Pangoro (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Parting Shot
- Circle Throw
- Crunch
- Brick Break
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Spd / 212 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
Heliolisk (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Surf
Deoxys-Speed @ Red Card
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
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