SM OU wild grace ☆彡 dual screens hyper offense

Trinitrotoluene

young ☆nd foolish
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus





TABLE_OF_CONTENTS
  • preface
  • team development
  • the team
  • detailed analysis
    • landorus-therian
    • tapu koko
    • mawile
    • manaphy
    • hawlucha
    • zygarde
  • another perspective
  • postface
  • importable
PREFACE

hi. trinitrotoluene here. many of you may remember me as that one hyper offense enthusiast and one of the room owners of competitive tutoring (now known as trainers' school) who quit abruptly near the end of 2015. others may remember me as that one guy who posted the dungeonmaster's guide nearly 4 years ago. other people may recognise me as that one high-level splatoon (2) player who was and is obsessed with dynamo rollers. at the start of sun & moon, i regained some interest in playing mons competitively thanks to the release of pheromosa, only to completely lose interest in the competitive scene and quit again after the pheromosa ban. now, the few that do know and/or remember me are probably wondering why i of all people am posting a rmt in 2018, considering i have had no real interest in playing mons for quite some time. this will sound completely unrelated, but the main reason i started playing again was because i found my old pokémon platinum version cartridge a few weeks ago and restarted it, which reminded me of why i fell in love with the game in the first place. after beating the main story, i opened up pokemon showdown, played around in ubers for a bit with a sample team, and then built this team in the span of ~20 minutes by picking out some of my favorite mons that worked well with each other and others that looked cool. after finishing this team, i took it for a spin on the ladder and won a good majority (~70%) of my matches, which was somehow good enough to land my alt on the precipice in the top 500 of the ladder (proof) within 24 hours of me finishing this team. while this isn't a big deal, i'm happy with this accomplishment since i'm extremely rusty when it comes to competitive pokémon. this is where you come in: i want help with optimizing this team to take on the current ou meta. come at me with any and every suggestion you have.

sappy stuff about myself aside, here's some basic info about this team. wild grace is a hyper offense team focused on abusing the increased bulk that dual screens gives. every attacker on this team can break open threats for each other and sweep when given the opportunity. this leads into this team's overall game plan:
  1. identify the team member most likely to pull off a sweep
  2. evaluate the enemy team to see which of my opponent's mons needs to be weakened
  3. get rocks + screens up
  4. start setting up and tearing my opponent's team apart before they can do the same
carrying on an old tradition from the olden days of the rmt forum, i have named this team and its members after tokyo prose's latest lp: wild grace. coincidentally, "wild grace" aptly describes how this team carries itself: this team moves at a very frenetic pace, but is focused in terms of its goal. every team member complements each other and i can rearrange the order i send each team member out to make the most of rapidly changing situations in each game. it may not be the most original team out there (it's just 6 strong mons put together), but it's a truly wild and graceful team that's a blast to play.​

TEAM_DEVELOPMENT



when i started on this team, my goal was to make an analogue of an old dual screens uber hyper offense team. past sun & moon dual screens teams in the rmt showcase and archive typically favored using aurora veil ninetales, but i wanted to branch out a bit and use tapu koko instead. next, i realized i had to find a way to get sneaky pebbles up too. they do so much for every team that it's extremely difficult to justify not using them. since i liked playing hyper offense, i then searched for a fast, strong lead that could delete itself and get another teammate in unscathed, hopefully also deterring the enemy from removing rocks in the process. my options quickly boiled down to the following: aerodactyl, omastar, azelf, and landoge. all 4 sounded fun, but landoge got the edge in my books because it could also boost using swords dance, making its earthquakes and explosions much more lethal.



a team concept is useless without its sweepers, so i looked for some cool sweepers to really get this team shaped. as such, where better to start with than mawile, my favorite mega evolution? it has an amazing typing and enough bulk to be frustratingly difficult to take down once she's behind some screens. it also helps that mega mawile hits extremely hard, which in turn makes life difficult for most teams.



as cool and cute as mega mawile is, she has some issues of her own. fire-types, physically bulky mons that can tank a boosted knock off, and faster mons resistant to sucker punch really give her grief. this made me realize that i needed another threat that can break them apart so the rest of the team can carry on. soon after, i realized that manaphy, another offensive threat i used quite frequently in my old xy/oras teams, could help mawile bust up those threats and provide additional firepower on the special side.



now that i had mawile and manaphy, i needed another offensive threat. unlike the other members of this team, which had some thought put into their being picked, i chose zygarde only because it had a really cool shiny color. nothing else to this step in the team development process.



now i needed one more sweeper. i wanted something fast that could clean up the mess the other sweepers left behind and check other offensive teams. hawlucha ended up getting the edge over some other ideas i had for this last slot because of how unique it was as a sweeper. with that, the team was completed!​

THE_TEAM


DETAILED_ANALYSIS

nota bene: spa = special attack, spd = special defense, spe = speed

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landorus @
| intimidate ** ALIGHT
jolly | 252 atk / 4 def / 252 spe
sneaky pebbles
swords dance
earthquake
explosion

  • overview:

    for hyper offense teams, the lead is a critical member since they set the pace for how the match will play out. they should be able to get sneaky pebbles up quickly and/or prevent opponents from doing the same. this metric for evaluating the effectiveness of a lead was adapted from the dpp era, and in spite of team preview being a thing, this metric still holds up when trying to find an effective lead for hyper offensive teams. this brings us to landoge, which excels at getting rocks up for the rest of the team. what separated it from other lead candidates was the fact that it can force switches with intimidate and start the breakdown process with its own boosted attacks, all while being able to bring a teammate in unscathed (albeit at the cost of itself). the evs + jolly nature maximize landoge's damage output and speed while focus sash ensures that i can get pebbles up or get a cheeky explosion in against landoge switch-ins.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    in the vast majority of cases, i'll lead with landoge and get sneaky pebbles up on turn 1 unless i see that they have a magic bounce mon in the backlines. by doing this, i can start scouting for sets + moves and adjust my responses from there. for example, if my opponent also leads with landoge, i can start scouting for its set by looking at their team composition and paying attention to the order each landoge's intimidate is set off. if my landoge's intimidate is set off first and there are multiple candidates for possible choice scarf users on the opponent's team, i can be reasonably certain that they're running a more defensive variant (or a z move variant) and get my rocks up on turn 1. alternatively, if their intimidate is set off first, i can somewhat safely conclude that their landoge is a choice scarf variant, get pebbles up asap, and make slight revisions to my game plan and try to exploit this newfound discovery.

    if my opponent keeps their lead in and sets up sneaky pebbles or other hazards alongside me, then i'll acquire a swords dance boost and play from there. however, if they instead decide to boost, i get to have a bit of fun. explosion, even when unboosted, heavily dents most setup sweepers, leaving them vulnerable to the rest of my team. in contrast, if my opponent decides to switch out and bring in a mon that i suspect has defog, i'll either use explosion if i suspect the defogger is slower than landoge or get rocks set up again if i think the defogger is faster. regardless, i'll be able to keep rocks up on my side of the field against most cases. finally, against trick room teams that lead with uxie, i get rocks up on turn 1 and keep clicking swords dance until they decide to use memento or u-turn. from there, i start attacking their team until landoge goes down. landoge is bulky enough to tank one attack from most trick room attackers (even without focus sash) and retaliate with an earthquake of its own.

    in the rare case that i do not lead with landoge, i lead with the appropriate choice (usually tapu koko) and do my best to ensure that sash is kept active so i can retain another emergency response to set-up sweepers.
    -
  • alternative options:

    other leads i have considered for this spot include aerodactyl, omastar, and azelf. if you're trying this team out and want to use them, their movesets can be found in the hide tag below. other than that, there isn't anything else that i have considered changing on landoge itself.
    aerodactyl @ focus sash | pressure
    hasty | 100 atk / 156 spa / 252 spe
    sneaky pebbles | double-edge | fire blast | taunt

    omastar @ focus sash | weak armor
    timid | 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
    ivs: 0 atk
    sneaky pebbles | shell smash | surf | ice beam

    azelf @ focus sash | levitate
    naïve | 4 atk / 252 spa / 252 spe
    sneaky pebbles | taunt | fire blast | explosion
☆彡

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tapu koko @
| electric surge ** ASCENSION
jolly | 248 hp / 8 spd / 252 spe
reflect
light screen
taunt
u-turn

  • overview:

    if you've read my old guide on how to build hyper offense teams, you'll notice that my version 2 framework has a "utility" slot alongside the other offensive slots. this utility slot is generally the miscellaneous spot in most hyper offense and helps contribute to the team's goal. in this case, the utility slot goes to tapu koko, which sets up screens and gives me opportunities to pivot into my other team members. tapu koko and its fast taunt is also one of two ways i deter opponents from using defog to clear hazards + screens (the other way being threatening the defogger into attacking to prevent set-up on my end from happening). the evs + jolly nature maximize tapu koko's mediocre bulk and speed, which gives it more chances to get screens up safely throughout the game. the hp evs in particular keep tapu koko's hp from being divisible by 8, which reduces the passive damage it takes from pebbles and status.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    just like landoge, tapu koko's purpose is simple: set up screens and bring a teammate in safely. in many cases, it will be the first mon i bring out after landoge blows itself up or gets taken down. alternatively, i'll lead with it. either way, the next steps are the same. i get the appropriate screen up first and then get the other screen up the next turn. once both screens are up, i use u-turn to preserve tapu koko and bring in a teammate who can exploit the threat currently out on the field to set up and go to town. if my opponent opts to bring in a set-up sweeper while i have my screens up, i usually use taunt as soon as possible to keep them from setting up and running my team over.

    however, if i suspect my opponent will use defog, i instead opt to use taunt on them before getting screens up. with the given ev spread, tapu koko is bulky enough to tank one hit from most defoggers not named landoge if i guess incorrectly and fast enough to get the appropriate screen up before being taken down. should the threat out on the field when i bring tapu koko in have a propensity to run mixed sets, i guess what move they'll try to hit me with and set up the appropriate screen before tanking a hit. i then get the other screen up or bring in another teammate that can exploit the currently taunted threat for set-up opportunities. if hawlucha is the team member most likely to pull a sweep off in the end-game, i play a little more conservatively with tapu koko so hawlucha's electric seed can activate, thus boosting the power of its acrobatics and triggering unburden.
    -
  • alternative options:

    the main alternative that i have considered for this slot while building this team is alolan ninetales. unlike tapu koko, alolan ninetales can set up screens in one turn instead of two and give this team a reliable out against opposing rain offense teams, which tend to be tough hurdles for hyper offense in general. however, using alolan ninetales over tapu koko would make the team slightly more vulnerable to set-up sweepers that do not mind getting hit with a relatively weak freeze-dry or hypnosis and necessitates finding a hawlucha replacement (magearna is a pretty solid bet). that being said, if you steal this team and want to try it out, you can use the set in the hide tags.
    alolan ninetales @ light clay | snow warning
    timid | 248 hp / 8 spd / 252 spe
    ivs: 0 atk
    aurora veil | hypnosis | hail | freeze-dry
☆彡

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mawile @
| intimidate => huge power ** BACK TO YOU
adamant | 92 hp / 252 atk / 164 spe
swords dance
play rough
sucker punch
knock off

  • overview:

    a hyper offense team is not complete without its offensive core. the mons in this core need to have offensive synergy with each other, which translates into being able to break apart threats that wall each other and running through the remains of its teammates' work. enter mawile, my favorite mega evolution in general and one of the strongest mons i've ever had the fun of using. in this team, mega mawile usually is the initial breaker thanks to her possessing the most raw power. she also serves as one of the team's forms of speed control alongside zygarde and hawlucha thanks to her access to sucker punch. the ev spread gives mawile enough speed to outpace 0 spe neutral-natured base 70 speed threats and anything slower (e.g.: skarmory, most common defensive mons) while maximizing her damage output in tandem with the adamant nature. the remaining evs were placed in hp to give her a marginal increase in bulk.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    the easiest way to get mawile in is through tapu koko either using u-turn after setting up dual screens. even with its mediocre defenses in base forme, it can tank quite a few hits (especially on the physical side) with the aid of intimidate and screens support. once mawile is on the field, i mega evolve her right away. after mega evolving mawile, what i do next depends on my opponent's team composition. offensive teams tend to crumble quickly, so pounding on them and taking out one or two key targets to clear a path for a teammate is usually the best decision when facing them. if i can get a boost (which isn't that tough when behind screens), mawile can usually sweep through several key members of an offensive team before finally being taken down. against more balanced and stall-based teams, my usual first step will be to get a swords dance boost. once that's done, both sorts of teams struggle to take mawile out before losing one or two key members, which opens the door for any one of mawile's teammates to sweep. in a worst-case scenario against slower teams, mawile will not be able to take out any threats, but in turn will heavily weaken a good majority of them before finally going down, which also makes it easier for a teammate to finish the job. if i see that i can sweep with mawile, i will instead be more careful with how and when i bring her in, opting to preserve her health throughout the match. my priorities then shift to addressing threats that can thwart a successful mawile sweep: faster mons that resist sucker punch (most notably tapu koko and tapu lele), will-o-wisp users, and physically defensive landoge + garchomp.

    when facing stall teams with skarmory as their primary mega mawile check, it's vital to scout for counter since that can cut mawile's run short. this can lead to a few mindgames. the easiest way for me to do this is to use swords dance when they switch the skarmory in, use swords dance again, and see how they respond. if mawile is still on the field at +4, it doesn't exactly matter what they do with skarmory since knock off is a guaranteed ohko and most threats common on stall teams. against teams that use curse mega scizor, the best option is to boost to +4 (assuming mawile is already at +2 when the scizor comes in) and attack with play rough to weaken it so zygarde or another teammate can have an easier time breaking past scizor.

    the hardest part of using mega mawile is predicting with sucker punch against faster threats with boosting moves. it becomes a game of chicken where the winner keeps their mon on the field and the loser potentially loses the game from that point on. what i've seen in most cases is that people will attack after boosting once, hoping that they'll catch me trying to hit them with a neutral priority attack. as such, i usually click sucker punch twice or even three times in a row before going for a neutral priority attack. if i'm feeling ballsy and i know my opponent doesn't have another mon that can easily revenge kill mega mawile, i'll even click sucker punch up to 6 or 7 times. it doesn't always work, but it feels amazing when i guess correctly.
    -
  • alternative options:

    there are two sets that came to mind as alternates when building this team: subpunch and all-out attacker. the subpunch set trades the potential extra power from swords dance and priority from sucker punch for a pseudo-status immunity, protection from revenge kill attempts, and the ability to play a bit more recklessly while the all-out attacker set boasts better super-effective coverage and an easier mega scizor match-up at the cost of not being able to further boost its power. another option i've considered is tweaking the ev spread to give mawile more speed or bulk.
    mawile @ mawilite | intimidate
    adamant | 92 hp / 252 atk / 164 spe
    play rough | thunder punch | focus punch | substitute

    mawile @ mawilite | intimidate
    adamant | 92 hp / 252 atk / 164 spe
    iron head / play rough | thunder punch | ice punch | fire fang
☆彡

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manaphy @
| hydration ** RUNAWAY
timid | 252 spa / 4 spd / 252 spe
ivs: 0 atk
tail glow
rain dance
surf
psychic

  • overview:

    when building a hyper offense team, it's important to have solid offensive synergy between your team members so they can break down opposing threats so one of them can pull off a sweep. this synergy can be obtained by utilizing mons that lure walls in or overwhelm them with sheer force. for this team, i have opted to take the latter route by utilizing manaphy, a strong attacker that benefits heavily from screens support. like mawile, manaphy is primarily used as a breaker. however, manaphy can just as easily pull sweeps at the drop of a hat. this is the beauty of manaphy: i can be flexible with it throughout a match thanks to it having two moves affected by waterium z and almost never have it be dead weight. the evs are a simple 252 / 4 / 252 spread that maximizes manaphy's speed (when placed alongside a timid nature) and damage output. surf gets the nod over scald due to its higher base power, which has made quite a difference when it comes to breaking past fatmons.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    when i want to use manaphy as a breaker, i frequently bring it onto the field after tapu koko uses u-turn or is taken out post-screens set-up. due to manaphy's excellent (for an offensive mon, that is) 100 / 100 / 100 bulk, ohkoing or 2hkoing it behind screens without exceptional power or super-effective coverage becomes an arduous task for most of the tier. as such, i go for at least one tail glow boost as soon as i get manaphy on the field. just like mawile, what i do from there depends on the type of team i'm facing. if i need to break through a fat wall or a water-resistant threat that can impede a teammate's future sweep attempt, i'll get rain up for the status immunity + stab boost and go for a second tail glow if screens are still up since most fatmons are incapable of even 3hkoing manaphy behind screens. on top of this, if my opponent switches into one of tapu fini, tapu bulu, chansey, clefable, ferrothorn, or tangrowth, i will not hesitate to spend the z move on surf to open up a path for a teammate to sweep my opponent's team. versus offensive teams, i will instead spend the z move on rain dance to gain a status immunity and a +1 speed boost, which in turn allows me to outpace the vast majority of unboosted offensive threats. at worst, manaphy 2hkoes many offensive threats at +3 under rain and can avoid the 2hko from them behind screens. once i have manaphy set up, i go to town on the opponent and wear them down until i win the game or weaken them enough for a teammate to take full advantage of.

    note: even if screens are down, manaphy is bulky enough to tank one hit from most of the tier and retaliate with a boosted attack of its own.
    -
  • alternative options:

    i have not considered any alternative options for manaphy.
☆彡

_-

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hawlucha @
| unburden ** GUSTS
adamant | 96 hp / 252 atk / 36 spd / 124 spe
swords dance
acrobatics
high jump kick
roost

  • overview:

    yet another critical element of hyper offense teams is speed control. more than any other team archetype, hyper offense is prone to being swept if a threat manages to acquire a speed boost alongside an offensive boost due to the fragility of its team members. for most traditional hyper offense teams, their form of speed control consisted of utilizing a fastmon (typically one equipped with a choice scarf or a weather abuser in favorable weather) or stacking a bunch of priority abusers together to bypass speed tiers with their boosted priority attacks. this team utilizes both types of speed control, with hawlucha being this team's main fastmon. electric seed sees use here because this team uses tapu koko to set up screens. the evs are the on-site spread, which (with the adamant nature) maximizes hawlucha's damage output and lets it outrun max speed jolly excadrill outside of sand prior to unburden's activation.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    hawlucha is an interesting, albeit simple case. in many cases, it usually is my first choice as a sweeper thanks to its nearly unparalleled neutral coverage and access to two high-powered stab moves. however, when unboosted, its bulk is mediocre at best and its attacks do not sting too badly. hawlucha also is not too threatening unless it can consume its electric seed, which activates unburden, doubles the power of acrobatics, and gives a nice +1 defense boost. as a result, the most ideal time to bring hawlucha in is just after getting screens and electric terrain up again with tapu koko. this gives me plenty of room to set up for a sweep. before sweeping however, i make sure to weaken or eliminate threats resistant to hawlucha's stab options, which include zapdos, mew, and opposing tapu koko.
    -
  • alternative options:

    if alolan ninetales is being used over tapu koko, another threat that can be used in place of hawlucha is magearna, which synergizes well with the rest of this team. magearna would also give this team another specially-focused attacker that is not as dependent on outside conditions to sweep. just be mindful of faster offensive threats and magnezone while using magearna + alolan ninetales.
    magearna @ shuca berry | soul-heart
    timid | 252 spa / 4 spd / 252 spe
    ivs: 0 atk
    shift gear | calm mind | thunderbolt | ice beam
☆彡

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zygarde @
| aura break ** IMPRESSIONS
adamant | 228 atk / 68 spd / 212 spe
dragon dance
coil
thousand arrows
extreme speed

  • overview:

    zygarde's shiny looks so minty aaaaa

    as i mentioned in manaphy's overview, a solid hyper offense team's core needs to have great offensive synergy with each other. electric-types tended to be problematic for the rest of this team, which in turn necessitated an answer to them. zygarde provides this answer as well as a consistent form of priority in extreme speed, which is useful for culling fast, but frail offensive threats such as mega alakazam and ash-greninja. the ev spread is the standard on-site, which gives zygarde enough bulk to tank attacks as strong as choice specs ash-greninja's hydro pump outside of screens and comfortably tank even super-effective hits such as tapu lele's specs-boosted moonblast behind screens. the remaining evs give enough speed to outpace 252 spe timid heatran and anything slower with the remaining evs being pumped into atk to bolster zygarde's damage output.
    -
  • in-depth analysis:

    if the rest of the team hasn't completely eliminated the enemy team already, zygarde usually is the one who finishes the job. however, due to its relative lack of power, it needs significant chip dmg and bulky grasses (e.g.: tangrowth, tapu bulu) severely weakened and preferably gone before it can get to business. as such, it helps that the rest of the team is amazing at blasting through these sorts of enemies and weakening them to the point where zygarde can sweep at +1. ideally, i will try to have screens up when i set up zygarde because, much like manaphy, it becomes much harder to ohko or 2hko. this brings me to the two set-up moves present on zygarde: dragon dance and coil. i prioritize getting dragon dance boosts against offensive teams and coil boosts against slower, more balanced teams, but zygarde can accrue both boosts comfortably thanks to the use of mago berry, zygarde's natural bulk, and possible screens support, which in turn makes sweeping easier.
    -
  • alternative options:

    the main alternative i have considered for this slot is the use of weakness policy dd zygarde, which is more immediately threatening, but loses out on a substantial amount of bulk, which in turn reduces the amount of boosts it can accrue before safely sweeping. if you want to try it out though, you can check out the moveset below.
    zygarde @ weakness policy | aura break
    adamant | 192 atk / 136 spd / 180 spe
    dragon dance | thousand arrows | iron tail | extreme speed
ANOTHER_PERSPECTIVE


POSTFACE

writing this thread up has been quite a blast. the time i spent building and playing with wild grace has been some of the most fun i've had with competitive pokémon in the past few years since it succinctly encapsulates my frenetic playstyle. it's very far from perfect, considering i spent ~20 minutes total building it and only made one change (scald => surf on manaphy) during this entire phase. again, this is where you all come in: help me optimize this team to take on the ou meta. i don't have many people to shout out here, so i'll give collective shoutouts to my friends in the ct staff, rmt staff, and ou c&c teams for giving me a warm welcome back. you're all amazing people. also, as of this posting (14 september 2018), my birthday is tomorrow (15 september 2018), so this is sort of an early birthday gift from myself to the rest of the rmt forum, which was a significant part of my life for a few years. thanks for everything, and for everyone who can stomach reading my sappy commentary, thank you for taking the time to read my rmt and have a fantastic day!​

IMPORTABLE
ALIGHT (Landorus-Therian) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Explosion

ASCENSION (Tapu Koko) @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- U-turn

BACK TO YOU (Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off

RUNAWAY (Manaphy) @ Waterium Z
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Rain Dance
- Surf
- Psychic

GUSTS (Hawlucha) (F) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 36 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Roost

IMPRESSIONS (Zygarde) @ Mago Berry
Ability: Aura Break
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 Atk / 68 SpD / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Coil
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
 

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