ORAS OU Zoroark mind games OU

[brbneedacrit]

INTRO​

Alright guys :) Basically I was on Youtube watching some Showdown videos looking for some inspiration for a new team when I stumbled upon a 'Mrjamvad' live featuring a scarf Zoroak. Now anyone who watches his (or his friends ie. Pokeaim, Blunder, Emvee etc.) videos will be aware of the 'Heetah Fajita' lives they do, where basically they use unorthodox Pokemon or standard mons with outrageous sets. This particular video included such MAJOR threats as scarf Wailord and offensive Skarmory, but it was their Zoroark set that caught my eye. Hence this team was born...

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THE SQUAD​

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IN DETAIL

Zoroark (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Illusion
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Foul Play
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
- U-turn

At the heart of the team is Zoroark. The main focus is to use team preview to pick who you want to disguise yourself as and play around it accordingly, I find Slowbro to be the most useful as it lures in pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar, Weavile and Bisharp all of which can be OHKO'd with low kick. Foul Play is used to punish opponents who try to set up, Offensive Mega Scizor is guaranteed to be OHKO'd with foul play after he SD's. Although he will KO you with bullet punch so be cautious and use your disguise wisely. U-turn is used for scouting but it also OHKO's Hoopa-U which again can be pulled off if disguised right. Knock off is there for a strong STAB move with the bonus of removing items.

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off


In need of a solid defensive mon and an answer to the ever popular Talonflame I decided to go with stone edge Hippo. His role in the team is to sponge hits as I switch around my offensive mons and to get rocks up to support the team. He also provides the sand for my Excadrill to sweep late game.

Slowbro (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Psychic


As mentioned Slowbro is usually my Zoroark in disguise, but he does more than just that for the team. I decided to use the assault vest variant as I already had 3 set up win-cons in the form of Scizor, Excadrill and Serperior and to make use of his great natural bulk, ability, and offensive movepool. Scald is a great STAB move with a decent chance to get burn, crippling physical treats. Fire blast is used to hit Ferrothorn and Scizor which has a chance to OHKO both depending on their spD investment. Ice beam for the common bulky Garchomp and Lando-T who really can't do much back unless they're running toxic. And finally I chose psychic over psyshock as it hits defensive mega Venasaur harder on predicted switches.

Scizor (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
- Swords Dance




Next up is my mega, Scizor. I chose Scizor as he is another possible disguise for my Zoroark as I am running U-turn and it can lure in Heatran which takes around 60% from low kick (80% if he's offensive tran). I felt with AV Slowbro and Hippo already on the team I could afford to run a more offensive Scizor set so I went for SD 3 attacks. BP for stab priority used mainly to clean up late game after an SD. Bug bite over U-turn as I find SD + U-turn redundant. And superpower to hit opposing steel types.

Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin


As I was running Hippowdon and my team did not yet have a spinner Excadrill was the obvious choice. I decided on an air balloon over life orb as my team has no flying/levitate pokemon so I needed something that could switch in on a predicted earthquake, also I don't like taking life orb recoil for a rapid spin. While my team isn't particularly weak to rocks, rapid spin is always nice in case the opponent tries to stack hazards. Excadrill also serves as a win-con in some games should the match up not favour Scizor or Serp. As long as Hippo is around to provide him with the sand he can dismantle teams with his powerful STAB moves.

Serperior (M) @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Substitute
- Glare



Looking at my team I was a little weak to Rotom-W so I needed something to solve that issue. Enter, Serperior. Another potential win-con, Serperior can be difficult to stop once he gets going. Leaf storm is a guaranteed OHKO on standard Rotom-W and also essentially gives a free nasty plot in the process. I decided against running the common hp fire/ground as I felt my team had plenty of answers for Ferrothorn and Heatan and most other common steel types. Dragon pulse is there for coverage and to help deal with the Latis (guaranteed OHKO at +2) and other dragons such as bulky Chomp. Sub and Glare are used on predicted switches, either crippling the incoming pokemon with glare or giving me protection for a free leaf storm while behind a sub. Miracle seed over life orb as leaf storm is usually the go to move and it stops Serp from being widdled by recoil.




CONCLUSION


This is by no means a perfect team, but it is very fun to play with and can work well if used properly (there is nothing more satisfying that catching a Ttar or bisharp with low kick on the switch). I have played it up to the 1600's on the ladder but im sure it has the potential to climb higher, so if anyone has any ideas on how to improve it further please let me know :)

Cheers, Crit.​

REPLAY​

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-290694746​

 

[Adeleine]

Let's see what I can find.

"At the heart of the team is Zoroark. The main focus is to use team preview to pick who you want to disguise yourself as and play around it accordingly, I find Slowbro to be the most useful as it lures in pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar, Weavile and Bisharp all of which can be OHKO'd with low kick. Foul Play is used to punish opponents who try to set up, Offensive Mega Scizor is guaranteed to be OHKO'd with foul play after he SD's. Although he will KO you with bullet punch so be cautious and use your disguise wisely. U-turn is used for scouting but it also OHKO's Hoopa-U which again can be pulled off if disguised right. Knock off is there for a strong STAB move with the bonus of removing items."

I mean, I can't really recommend Zoroark in OU (its is below UU for multiple reasons), but there's no point in rating if I'm just going to delete your main idea. Zoroark can definitely pulled off. However, the problem is that this doesnt seem like a good supporting cast to play Zoroark in. I mean, if any player worth their salt is battling you and sees that your serperior used low kick, or that Excadrill used Knock Off, the jig is up. I mean, U-turn and maybe Knock Off could fool somebody if you illusioned as Scizor Mega, but you still aren't safe. Since you have no other Pokemon that can mega evolve, your Scizor is obviously mega, and when the opponent sees this scizor or scizor mega outspending all their Pokemon, the jig will again be up. And you say you disguise as Slowbro, meaning the instant your most important Pokemon makes a move, he will be revealed Just giving my honest critique here; this team just makes Zoroark way too predictable to be viable. Because once you are predicted, you just have a greatly inferior Choice Scarf Weavile. Besides that:

Don't really see the use of foul play. You say you OHKO offensive Scizor with foul play, but thats a bit misleading. You technically may, but one of two things will happen. You switch on him before he does SD, which means you do reduced damage because he hasn't boosted. Alternatively, you switch in on him after he has already boosted. Either way, if you are out predicted, the end result will be this.
+2 252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 363-427 (139 - 163.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Foul Play, especially on a Choice Scarf, just is too niche, and will only have use once.

Using Rapid Spin and Swords Dance on the same set is trying to do too much with too little. Try Rock Slide instead. And as you said, you're not particularly weak to rocks.

Your Serperior set is interesting, but Miracle Seed is outclassed as an item. Leftovers or Life Orb would be a better choice.

 

[Vectre]

Choice scarf on an already decent base speed Pokemon seems a little redundant especially when people won't sweat over the supposedly slowbro's speed. All of the mons you said Zoraok checked are still outsped without a choice scarf aside from weavile. Instead I would suggest a special set with choice specs that runs flamethrower, focus blast, trick and dark pulse. This tends to beat mons that try to setup on slowbro along with giving a better matchup vs stall. You could run a choice scarf instead of specs if weavile is a concern. (Though sand handles it well)