OU Zeraora

:ss/zeraora:
Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch

Zeraora has recently resurged in OU, owing to its fantastic Speed tier and valuable coverage moves in Knock Off and Volt Switch, making it a remarkable offensive pivot! Plasma Fists enables Zeraora to threaten many common Pokemon such as Toxapex, Corviknight, and offensive Tornadus-T. Knock Off is vital, as it provides useful coverage against Dragapult while crippling Zeraora's checks such as defensive Landorus-T, Swampert, and Garchomp. Close Combat hits numerous foes that can take Zeraora's other moves comfortably like Ferrothorn, Kartana, and Hydreigon super effectively. Volt Switch lets Zeraora gain momentum by repeatedly pivoting out of defensive checks that aren't immune to it such as Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Clefable. Teammates like Cinderace, Melmetal, and Landorus-T can offensively pressure Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Swampert, and Garchomp by forcing damage on them, while Cinderace handles Grass-types like Tangrowth and Rillaboom and forms an offensive VoltTurn core with Zeraora. Teammates like Slowbro and Slowking can provide Zeraora with amazing support through their good bulk, Teleport, and Future Sight.
 
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Jordy or Ruft, would either of you be willing to check this?
ok sure :psycry:

:ss/zeraora:
Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Volt Switch
- Close Combat
- Knock Off

this move order makes me uncomfortable; switch knock and volt

With a fantastic Speed tier, decent I don't necessarily agree with it being decent, more because you're implying that it's got a shallow movepool, when it definitely doesn't coverage, and Volt Switch, I don't think this is necessary? Like sure having access to volt is cool but just mentioning "volt switch" doesn't really add anything of value. Perhaps if you were to combine the two statements about its movepool so it reads like "with a wide arsenal of valueable moves including knock off and volt switch" or "access to a colourful movepool which includes knock off and volt", then this could work but just mentioning volt switch like that seems completely unnecessary Zeraora is a remarkable offensive pivot and revenge killer in OU. I think you might have noticed by now but I don't really find this introduction compelling by any means? I personally find this to be a little cold and really uninspiring, so you really need to find that strong, captivating introduction. One solution to this issue could be mentioning its recent surge in popularity (and if you do decide to use that, specifically use the word surge) or even just raising the modality of the adverbs could work.

Before I go on, I want you to prioritise explaining its recent resurgence; what meta trends enabled this to make comeback after the release of the crown tundra? I say that mostly because the majority the facebook audience has no fucking clue whatsoever, so you need to spell it out as clearly as possible.

Plasma Fists is able to threaten many common Pokemon such as Toxapex, Mandibuzz, Slowbro, and Tapu Fini. I don't really know whether I like these mentions here; there's definitely nothing wrong with these mentions, but you also have to acknowledge that you're mostly using Zeraora as a pivot with a great matchup versus offence, not as a breaker, so mentioning some of the fattest mons in the meta doesn't feel quite right to me. I think you're fine to cut the tapu fini mention here, but I also think it's worth replacing the slowbro mention with offensive tornadus-t. I just don't think that zera pressures slowbro enough to the point where it's worth mentioning, especially when you consider how a 1v1 scenario works (fists into teleport means you've only done a net of somewhere between 27% and 30% and you lose momentum in the process) and now that torn is super relevant again, it's definitely worth mentioning. You could argue that Corvi is also a better mention than Mandi given how corvi can't really do anything in return but that's up to you. Volt Switch repeatedly pivots out of foes that aren't immuneto it such as Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Clefable. I just don't like how this is phrased; I know this is more of a GP thing but it really reads super awkwardly? It almost sounds like Volt Switch is a mon that pivots in and out of those mons as opposed to zera, so I'd definitely love to see that changed before moving onto the GP stage. Close Combat hits numerous foes like Ferrothorn, Heatran, Kartana, and Hydreigon super effectively. Knock Off is vital as it provides useful coverage against Dragapult and Spectrier, while also removing items from Zeraora's checks such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, Clefable, and Tangrowth. Move this up to the top of the paragraph, and as I've said, I want you to emphasise the importance of crippling ground types; the three grounds I want you to emphasise are: defensive lando, pert, and chomp - those are the most affected by knock so these should be the sole focus of the point. Remove the spectrier mention; by the time this is published, it's more than likely going to be banned.

Teammates such as Slowbro, Toxic Landorus-T, and Ferrothorn can pressure or limit the numerous Ground-types that Zeraora struggles with such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Hippowdon, making them particularly good. These aren't bad mentions at all, but I don't think the focus of these points should be ground-types. I want this point to not only be moved down, but to be focused around the defensive utility of these mons. I want Slowbro (and Slowking if you can) expanded upon since Teleport and Future Sight are absolutely inane with this mon. Drop the lando mention here and replace it with another defensive mon like swampert if you can.
Teammates like Cinderace, Hydreigon, and Landorus-T are also good to lure in foes that Zeraora can deal with such as Slowbro, Blissey, and Tapu Fini. Now this point should be focused on the ground types; you already have cinderace and lando mentioned, so you might as well replace hydra with something like Melmetal, Kartana or Heatran which can offensively pressure most grounds.
Partners like Cinderace, Heatran, and Tornadus-T are also useful to deal with Grass-types for Zeraora, while Cinderace and Zeraora form an offensive VoltTurn core. Merge this with the point above; you're already repeating mentions anyways so might as well mention that lando / cinderace provide momentum support or can scare out grasses .

This section is waaaaaaaay too repetitive; try to use different mons for each section, as it kinda just paints out the mon as a very niche mon that requires oddly specific support, which it really isn't.


Things to take note of:
  • Unless it's absolutely important, limit yourself to three examples per point. It just feels tedious if you constantly mention four or five mons per point.
  • Your grammar seems really inconsistent and somewhat messy. If you can, please give it a touch-up before sending this to GP.
  • There's a lot to take in, so please don't be afraid to take your time in implementing this.
  • e: Try not to use terms like "Revenge Killer" and "foes" since that's really vague and can apply to basically to everything; try to be more specific and label them as speed control or defensive checks respectively
And with that being said, please tag me once you've implemented everything.
 
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You could probably drop the Heatran mention from the list of CC targets and maybe drop the CC mention from the introduction. Otherwise, this looks pretty bloody good. Thanks for implementing everything so quickly! QC 1/1

curiosity-QC-Jotaro.gif
 

Milak

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GP 1/1

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch

Zeraora has recently resurged in OU,(AC) owing to its fantastic Speed tier and valuable coverage moves in Knock Off and Volt Switch, making it a remarkable offensive pivot and form of speed control! (being fast ≠ providing speed control) Plasma Fists enables Zeraora to threaten many common Pokemon such as Toxapex, Corviknight, and offensive Tornadus-T. Knock Off is vital,(AC) as it provides useful coverage against Dragapult,(RC) while crippling Zeraora's checks such as defensive Landorus-T, Swampert, and Garchomp. Close Combat hits numerous foes that can take Zeraora's other moves comfortably like Ferrothorn, Kartana, and Hydreigon super effectively. Volt Switch lets Zeraora gain momentum by repeatedly pivotting pivoting out of defensive checks that aren't immune to it such as Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Clefable. Teammates like Cinderace, Melmetal, and Landorus-T can offensively pressure Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Swampert, and Garchomp by forcing damage on them, while Cinderace handles Grass-types like Tangrowth and Rillaboom and forms an offensive VoltTurn core with Zeraora. Teammates like Slowbro and Slowking can provide Zeraora with amazing support through their good bulk, Teleport, and Future Sight.
 
Zeraora has recently resurged in OU,(AC) owing to its fantastic Speed tier and valuable coverage moves in Knock Off and Volt Switch, making it a remarkable offensive pivot and form of speed control! (being fast ≠ providing speed control)
Sorry, just wanted to interject - being fast absolutely means you're providing speed control, especially in the context of ss ou. I normally wouldn't bother correcting this, but for a lot of the target audience, they don't quite understand that this is a huge reason as to why zera's so good fsr, so removing this would be hugely detrimental.
 

Astra

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Sorry, just wanted to interject - being fast absolutely means you're providing speed control, especially in the context of ss ou. I normally wouldn't bother correcting this, but for a lot of the target audience, they don't quite understand that this is a huge reason as to why zera's so good fsr, so removing this would be hugely detrimental.
While I understand your concern, speed control does not refer to the Pokemon itself, as seen from the Spelling and Grammar Standards:
The term speed control is used to refer to "control of how quickly Pokemon will act," through moves such as Thunder Wave, Icy Wind, and Trick Room.
I'm sure there is a way to word what you'd like to see in this, though unfortunately "speed control" would be an incorrect way in doing so.
 

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