Trick Room in USM OU

By Nuked and sedertz.
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Cresselia by Arkeis

Art by Arkeis.

Introduction

Trick Room is a move that was introduced in DPP. For five turns, slower Pokémon move first in their priority bracket, which allows slow, powerful wallbreakers to wreak havoc on the opposing team with their strong hits.

During previous generations, Trick Room garnered a reputation as a mediocre, gimmicky, and matchup-based playstyle, and for good reason; Trick Room's duration is relatively short, Trick Room team members almost entirely rely on it, and full Trick Room teams tend to be matchup based by nature, which makes it less reliable than other playstyles. However, with the release of Sun and Moon, Trick Room gained several new toys: a powerful Trick Room setter and sweeper, Magearna; an amazing Trick Room sweeper in Swords Dance Alolan Marowak, which can OHKO almost the entire metagame after a boost; and Mega Mawile, which was banned during ORAS. It got even better for Trick Room with the recent release of Stakataka in Ultra Sun and Moon, giving Trick Room another powerful sweeper and Trick Room setter. One of Trick Room's greatest boons is that its users are able to invest in their HP stats, allowing them to survive hits more easily and making Trick Room setup easier as well. It isn't exactly the most reliable playstyle, but careful playing is required in order to beat it and mistakes can not be made against Trick Room teams if you plan on winning the game. Trick Room teams tend to be centered around bulky Trick Room pivots such as Uxie and Cresselia, offensive setters such as Magearna, and a few Pokémon to take advantage of Trick Room.

Trick Room setters

Uxie
Cresselia
Uxie

Uxie is almost unanimously considered the best suicide lead for Trick Room teams because of its great role compression; it fits the role of a Stealth Rock setter and Trick Room setter on one Pokémon. Because of its amazing defensive stats, Uxie is able to take incredibly powerful attacks such as Choice Specs Blacephalon's Shadow Ball and Landorus-T's Supersonic Skystrike and set up Trick Room, making it a very consistent Trick Room setter. Another reason Uxie is so good as a suicide lead is because of its access to Memento, which gives common Trick Room sweepers such as Crawdaunt and Mega Mawile the ability to set up Swords Dance without fear of taking too much damage in the process. In the last moveslot, Magic Coat and Skill Swap are both viable move options; Magic Coat is good because it prevents double Taunt from the likes of Tapu Koko and Heatran, which would prevent Trick Room being set. Additionally, it is able to bounce back Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Toxic Spikes from passive hazard setters such as Ferrothorn and Toxapex. Skill Swap is also good because it allows Uxie to set up Stealth Rock against the likes of Mega Diancie and Mega Sableye. In terms of item choices, Mental Herb is the primary option because it provides a one-time buffer against Taunt users, but Red Card is also an option to force out Pokémon such as Tapu Bulu and Mega Scizor.

Cresselia

Cresselia has absolutely ridiculous bulk, making it an extremely consistent Trick Room setter; for example, it is able to survive incredibly powerful super effective hits such as Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury, Mega Heracross's Pin Missile, Choice Band Tyranitar's Crunch, and Ash-Greninja's Dark Pulse, while its typing allows it to wall threats such as Keldeo and Mega Medicham. What really makes Cresselia useful, however, is its access to Lunar Dance, which is incredibly useful for giving Pokémon such as Crawdaunt and Magearna second chances to sweep by restoring them to full health and ridding them of any status ailments.

Ice Beam is the preferred option in the second moveslot because it hits threatening Pokémon such as Landorus-T and Zygarde for super effective damage. Moonlight allows Cresselia to potentially set up Trick Room several times over the course of the match, and also aids in consistently checking offensive Ground-types that otherwise pose large threats to Trick Room teams.

Offensive Trick Room setters

One of the advantages that offensive Trick Room setters have is that they are self-sufficient and able to maximize their Trick Room turns because they are able to attack immediately after setting it up.

Magearna
Stakataka
Magearna

Magearna has an amazing defensive typing and great bulk, which allow it to set up Trick Room at least once in most matches. It finds a lot of setup opportunities against the Pokémon that it forces out, like Tapu Lele and Weavile. What makes Magearna so amazing on Trick Room is its ability, Soul Heart, which gives it +1 Special Attack every time a Pokémon is KOed on the field, making it very easy for Magearna to sweep weakened teams. Because of Soul-Heart, Magearna also makes for an amazing Z-Move user, since Z-Moves can secure KOs on Pokémon such as Landorus-T and provide opportunities for a sweep.

Fleur Cannon is Magearna's Fairy-type equivalent to Draco Meteor; it hits extremely hard coming off of Magearna's massive Special Attack stat, capable of OHKOing offensive Landorus-T and Tapu Koko, but it drops Magearna's Special Attack stat by two stages. Flash Cannon is also usable in this slot because it gives Magearna a STAB move that doesn't drop its stats and hits Clefable super effectively.

Focus Blast provides necessary coverage to hit Steel-types such as Heatran and Ferrothorn for super effective damage. It is also possible to pair Focus Blast with Fightinium Z to secure the OHKO on both. Finally, Thunderbolt's main use is its ability to hit Toxapex, but it also hits Mantine and Suicune super effectively; Electrium Z is also worth considering with Thunderbolt because it breaks through Toxapex much more easily.

Stakataka

Stakataka is one of the new Ultra Beasts released with Ultra Sun and Moon. Its Rock / Steel typing is mediocre defensively, but its colossal Defense stat of base 211 allows it to take even super effective moves from Pokémon such as Gliscor and Tangrowth. Stakataka is unique among Trick Room setters because of its deadly combination of a rock-bottom Speed stat and Gyro Ball, which means that its Gyro Ball will often be at 150 Base Power; this, combined with its massive Attack stat, allows Stakataka to put serious dents in anything that doesn't resist it. Much like Magearna, Stakataka is a good Z-Move user on Trick Room because of its ability to secure KOs with Continental Crush and snowball with Beast Boost; with the correct EV and IV spread in conjunction with a Lonely nature, Stakataka is capable of boosting its Attack stat over its Defense stat, which makes sweeping in the late-game much easier. Superpower's main use is in its ability to hit Ferrothorn, Magnezone, Excadrill, and Kartana for super effective damage, but Earthquake is an option in the last slot so that Stakataka can OHKO Heatran and also deal significant damage to Toxapex without mandating the use of its Z-Move.

It should be noted that both Stakataka and Magearna are valid Z-Move users on Trick Room teams. They are very similar in nature; both use Z-Moves to start obtaining stat boosts in preparation for a sweep. Stakataka has issues with Intimidate users and Will-O-Wisp burns, but Magearna is walled by Chansey and has issues with being walled by certain Pokémon depending on what coverage it runs. If you are using Stakataka as your Z-Move user alongside Magearna, Shuca Berry is often a good item to run on Magearna so that it can survive Earthquake from the likes of Landorus-T and Thousand Arrows from Zygarde so that it can set up Trick Room more easily. If Magearna is your Z-Move user, Stakataka can be seen running Life Orb or Choice Band, which increase the power of Gyro Ball to ridiculous levels, capable of 2HKOing extremely bulky threats such as defensive Landorus-T and Tangrowth.

Trick Room attackers

Trick Room attackers do not set Trick Room themselves; rather, they capitalize on a teammate that sets Trick Room for them.

Mega Mawile
Crawdaunt
Alolan Marowak
Zygarde
Mega Mawile

Mega Mawile's claim to fame is its access to Huge Power. This ability doubles Mega Mawile's otherwise mediocre Attack stat, turning it into one of the strongest wallbreakers in the entire game. Its offensive typing is also very good, with Play Rough receiving great neutral coverage, and its wide movepool with a myriad of coverage options allows it to threaten anything that could otherwise wall it; additionally, priority in Sucker Punch gives it a way to threaten faster offensive threats that would otherwise KO it first should Trick Room end. Swords Dance only further bolsters Mega Mawile's incredible offensive presence, allowing it to OHKO everything outside of Unaware users at +2. Knock Off is useful because it removes items and provides solid neutral coverage in general, but Thunder Punch is also useful because of its immediate damage on Celesteela and Toxapex.

Crawdaunt

Crawdaunt is a notoriously powerful wallbreaker because of its high Attack stat combined with Adaptability, which boosts the power of its STAB moves such as Knock Off and Crabhammer. Topping this power off is Swords Dance; at +2, Crawdaunt is capable of OHKOing almost every Pokémon in OU, with the exception of Unaware users. Knock Off is also generally a great move to use, seeing as the Pokémon that do resist it, such as Keldeo and Clefable, hate getting their item removed. Even when Trick Room isn't up, Crawdaunt has its priority Aqua Jet to pick off weakened foes and potentially clean weakened teams at +2. What normally holds Crawdaunt back in OU is its paltry Speed and its mediocre defenses, but with Trick Room up, Crawdaunt does not have to take a hit before attacking, allowing it to unleash its devastating attacks on whatever is in front of it first.

Alolan Marowak

Alolan Marowak's unique item in Thick Club doubles its otherwise mediocre Attack stat, making it a very strong wallbreaker. Fire / Ghost is also an excellent offensive typing and it provides Alolan Marowak with a couple of useful resistances that allow it to take advantage of Steel-types such as Mega Scizor and Celesteela. To top it all off is Rock Head, negating Flare Blitz's recoil, making it easier for Alolan Marowak to last throughout the match.

Flare Blitz hits very hard, OHKOing both offensive and defensive Landorus-T variants at +1 after the Intimidate drop. Shadow Bone is great neutral coverage against the likes of Suicune, Keldeo, and Manaphy. Swords Dance allows Alolan Marowak to break through defensive cores with ease and potentially sweep in the late game, while Bonemerang gives it much-appreciated coverage to hit Tyranitar, Heatran, and Toxapex for super effective damage.

Zygarde

Zygarde has a very spammable STAB move in Thousand Arrows, which allows it to hit Flying-type Pokémon such as Landorus-T and Levitate Pokémon such as Rotom-W with a Ground-type move. Additionally, its access to Extreme Speed allows it to pick off faster threats when Trick Room is not up. Its bulk and resistances also allow it to check threats such as Tapu Koko locked into Electric-type moves and Heatran. Finally, it can take a single hit from Pokémon that tend to threaten Trick Room such as Blacephalon and Ash-Greninja without Ice Beam.

Threats to Trick Room

There are a slew of Pokémon that are, in fact, capable of taking on Trick Room. Ash-Greninja is particularly threatening to Trick Room, as it can easily activate its ability by spamming Hydro Pump, or attempt to make Uxie flinch on turn 1. Water Shuriken is very dangerous to Trick Room sweepers such as Alolan Marowak as well. Blacephalon is also particularly difficult to switch into, as Ghostium Z and Choice Specs sets scare all three common Trick Room users: Cresselia, Uxie, and Magearna. Common Protect users like Celesteela and Ferrothorn are also annoying because they can stall out valuable Trick Room turns. Trick Room teams also aren't able to fit Defoggers, which means that Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes can be hard to deal with, especially over the course of a long match. Toxic Spikes is especially dangerous, as Alolan Marowak and Crawdaunt are worn down extremely quickly.

Get out there!

Trick Room is a niche playstyle in SM OU, but it can be incredibly effective in the right matchups. If you have tried it, you'll know how dangerous it can be, and if you haven't, get out there and try it out!

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