In-battle formes
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| HP: | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 160 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 60 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 170 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 130 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 80 |
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Formes
- Base
- Unbound
Overview
Hoopa-U is a premier Dark / Psychic Pokemon of 1v1, with only two weaknesses to Fairy and Bug and an immunity to Psychic, and is gifted with amazing offensive stats and coverage moves. Because of its high offensive stats, Hoopa-U can run physical, special, and mixed sets, leaving the opponent bewildered to what set it could be running and letting it break walls such as Celesteela, and defeat stall Pokemon like Mega Slowbro and Deoxys-S before they can even set up. Its signature move in Hyperspace Fury allows Hoopa-U to beat Jumpluff and Aegislash by ignoring Substitute and Protect, while access to Gunk Shot helps beat Fairy-type Pokemon that would otherwise beat it, like Primarina and Tapu Fini. Hoopa-U also has great base Special Defense, allowing it to survive Moonblast from Tapu Lele and potentially a Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Porygon-Z. Its Dark typing also grants Hoopa-U an immunity to Prankster-boosted status moves, letting it easily beat Whimsicott. However, Hoopa-U's lackluster physical bulk leaves it easily KOed by Pokemon faster than it or bulky hard hitters like Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, and Landorus-T. Its ability, Magician, has little to no use in the 1v1 format. Hoopa-U's 4x weakness to Bug shouldn't be ignored either, allowing Bug-types like Genesect and Volcarona to simply OHKO it. Fairy also is one of the most common offensive types, and Pokemon such as Magearna and Mega Mawile, which are both immune to Gunk Shot, and Mega Gardevoir, which simply outspeeds Hoopa-U, all easily deal with it.
Bulky Choice Band
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Moves
Hyperspace Fury is a very powerful Dark-type STAB attack that allows Hoopa-U to ignore Protect and Substitute; however, the move has a slight drawback, as it reduces Hoopa-U's Defense. Despite the Defense drop, Hyperspace Fury helps Hoopa-U beat SubSeed users like Jumpluff and deal massive damage to Psychic-type Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Meloetta, and Deoxys-S. Gunk Shot lets Hoopa-U beat Fairy-type Pokemon like Primarina, Tapu Fini, and give the best chances at beating Tapu Lele. Zen Headbutt is Hoopa-U's secondary STAB attack and is used to hit Venusaur and Kommo-o super effectively. Fire Punch is used to beat foes that are 4x weak to it like Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor; however, it cannot get rid of Kartana because it simply outspeeds and nukes Hoopa-U. Drain Punch is an option that helps beat Mega Tyranitar and Greninja. Trick shuts down Pokemon that carry Leftovers or Eviolite, like Pyukumuku and non-Return Type: Null, while also beating FEAR Pokemon like Aron. Ice Punch can also be used to beat non-Extreme Speed Zygarde.
Set Details
The given HP and Defense EVs let Hoopa-U take a Meteor Mash from non-Adamant Mega Metagross. Its high Special Defense stat already allows it to naturally tank special hits from Tapu Lele, Greninja, and Heatran, specifically allowing Hoopa-U to take a Hyper Beam from a Modest Choice Scarf Porygon-Z with the given HP investment. 164 Speed EVs allow Hoopa-U to outspeed uninvested base 100 Speed Pokemon, like Victini and Manaphy, and the remaining Attack EVs and Choice Band maximize Hoopa-U's damage output, allowing it to secure KOs on bulky Fairy-types such as Primarina and Tapu Fini.
Alternatively, an EV spread of 252 HP / 24 Atk / 12 Def / 124 SpD / 96 Spe can be run in order to beat Magnezone, outspeeding it and surving an Electroweb into Gigavolt Havoc, as well as still tank a Meteor Mash from Mega Metagross, but will lose out on overall power and Speed, making Hoopa-U less reliable against bulkier variants of Mega Metagross and faster variants of Kommo-o. A simpler spread of maximum Speed and maximum Attack, with a Jolly nature, in order to outspeed common Pokemon, like Smeargle.
Usage Tips
Against Mega Swampert, which uses Yawn, use either Hyperspace Fury on its Yawn to attack through the Protect, or use Zen Headbutt as it uses Earthquake turn 1 because Earthquake can OHKO Hoopa-U after the Defense drop on Hyperspace Fury. Against Serperior, use Hyperspace Fury if it uses Substitute or Leech Seed to 2HKO it; however, use Gunk Shot on a Leaf Storm so you can OHKO it before it 2HKOes Hoopa-U. Furthermore, Serperior can simply fish for Gunk Shot misses by repeatedly using Substitute.
Team Options
Hoopa-U struggles with 1v1's metagame-defining Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Dragonite, Mega Gyarados, and Magearna because of their ability to tank neutral hits and set up to OHKO Hoopa-U. Pokemon like Garchomp, Heatran, Clefable, and Mega Altaria, which can handle a good number of them, partner well with Hoopa-U. At the same time, Hoopa-U handles stall users such as Mega Slowbro and Deoxys-S that the previous Pokemon struggle with. Hoopa-U lacks the ability to defeat Pokemon with the ability Sturdy such as Donphan, Golem, and Crustle. Pairing it with Mega Gyarados or Primarina helps deal with these Pokemon thanks to their adequate defenses, while Hoopa-U deals with Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, and Tapu Lele, which give them trouble. Despite being able to beat certain Fairy-types, Hoopa-U still can't cover all of them; Mega Mawile and Magearna are immune to Gunk Shot, while Mega Gardevoir is simply faster and OHKOes with a Pixilate-boosted Hyper Beam. Hoopa-U is also 4x weak to Bug. Pair it with Fire-type Pokemon like Mega Charizard X, or Heatran, as they cover both Bug-types and the Fairy-types Hoopa-U fails to beat. In return, Hoopa-U is able to take out Water-type Pokemon like Primarina and Mega Slowbro, which they typically struggle with.
Bulky Choice Specs
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Moves
Dark Pulse is Hoopa-U's primary STAB move, hitting Psychic-type Pokemon like Mega Metagross and Mega Slowbro super effectively, and when paired with Hoopa-U's high base Special Attack, it deals massive damage to Pokemon that take neutral damage from it like Volcanion and Heatran. Thunderbolt allows Hoopa-U to notably beat Mega Gyarados and Celesteela more reliably than Dark Pulse. Alternatively, Hoopa-U can run Grass Knot, as it still beats Mega Gyarados but also covers Mega Swampert; however, this makes the Celesteela matchup more difficult. Psychic is Hoopa-U's secondary STAB move and is used to hit Mega Venusaur and Mega Blaziken super effectively. Alternatively, Hoopa-U can run Hyperspace Hole; although it inflicts less damage than Psychic, it does bypass Protect and Substitute, allowing it to beat Jumpluff and making the Whimsicott matchup much easier. Hidden Power Ice is used to beat Garchomp, Zygarde, and Jolly Landorus-T, while Focus Blast helps beat Incineroar and Mega Tyranitar. Alternatively, Trick shuts down Pokemon that carry Leftovers or Eviolite, like Pyukumuku and Type: Null, while also beating FEAR Pokemon like Aron.
Set Details
Maximum HP and Defense investment gives Hoopa-U the best chance of tanking two Waterfalls from maximum Attack Mega Gyarados, as well as guarantees Hoopa-U will survive a Tectonic Rage from Garchomp and a Fake Out plus Malicious Moonsault from bulky Incineroar, while its high Special Defense stat already allows it to naturally tank special hits from Greninja, Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, and Heatran. The remaining Special Attack EVs and Choice Specs maximize Hoopa-U's damage output.
A faster spread of 148 HP / 184 Def / 4 SpA / 176 Spe with a Timid nature can be run to outspeed Tapu Fini and Adamant Gyarados while still taking a Dragon Dance-boosted Waterfall from Mega Gyarados. However, this frailer set cannot survive a hit from a Garchomp or Incineroar.
Usage Tips
Avoid using the defensive Hoopa-U spread against Tapu Fini, who will be able to 2HKO you and survive any one attack.
Team Options
Choice Specs Hoopa-U is great at dealing with Ground-types such as Garchomp, Zygarde, and Jolly Landorus-T, so partnering it with a Steel-type Pokemon such as Heatran and Magearna would be appreciated. At the same time, these Steel-type Pokemon deal with the Fairy-types Hoopa-U struggles with, such as Gardevoir and Tapu Lele. Choice Specs Hoopa-U has no tool to deal with Fairy-types such as Tapu Lele, Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Gardevoir. Thus pairing Hoopa-U with Salazzle or Jirachi, which deal with these Pokemon quite well, is appreciated. At the same time, Hoopa-U deals with the Water-types Salazzle and Jirachi struggle with, such as Mega Gyarados and Mega Swampert. Choice Specs Hoopa-U still fails to beat some of 1v1's strongest Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X and Y, Dragonite, and Magearna. Garchomp, Heatran, and Mega Altaria deal with most of them and appreciate Hoopa-U dealing with stall Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro that they can't take on. Hoopa-U is also great at bluffing sets and baiting. Its Choice Specs set is great at baiting Mega Gyarados, while its Choice Band set baits Primarina and Tapu Fini. Having at least one physical attacking Pokemon and a special attacking Pokemon makes the opponent question what set Hoopa-U could be running.
Other Options
Hoopa-U can run a Choice Scarf set to outspeed Pokemon that would otherwise just OHKO it. Pokemon such as Mega Gardevoir, Genesect, and Kartana are examples. However, this set sacrifices Hoopa-U's overall damage output, losing the Primarina and Mega Slowbro matchups. A Darkinium Z set with two Dark-type moves, one physical and one special, allows Hoopa-U to reliably beat both physically frail Pokemon such as Nihilego and Araquanid or specially frail foes such as Rhyperior. This set, however, sacrifices Gunk Shot and therefore loses to Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Tapu Bulu. A quite niche move to run is Skill Swap, which lets Hoopa-U tank a move from Multiscale Dragonite and OHKO in return with Ice Punch or steal Crustle or Magnezone's Sturdy to tank a hit and OHKO in return with a Z-Move. It's a set designed to catch people off guard, but it only truly works in specific matchups. Hoopa-U can run a bulky Psychium Z set with Reflect, Calm Mind, Dark Pulse, and Psychic to reliably beat Porygon-Z, Donphan, and Golem; however, it struggles to beat the Ground-types the Choice Specs set beats and the Fairy-types such as Tapu Lele and Tapu Bulu that the Choice Band set deals with.
Checks and Counters
Bulky Physical Attackers: Because of Hoopa-U's low Defense stat, Pokemon like Mega Charizard X and Dragonite, which all can take a hit from Hoopa-U, can 2HKO it.
Fast Nukes: Hoopa-U is not the fastest Pokemon around, so foes like Mega Charizard Y, Kartana, and Archeops just outspeed it and beat it with their strongest move.
Fairy-types: Despite Hoopa-U's ability to beat common Fairy-types such as Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Tapu Bulu, it still fails to beat Magearna, Mega Mawile, and Mega Gardevoir because they're either immune to Gunk Shot or are faster and OHKO Hoopa-U.
Sturdy: Hoopa-U lacks the right utility to reliably beat all Pokemon with Sturdy. Donphan, Golem, and Crustle can simply use their Z-Moves to OHKO Hoopa-U.
Bug-types: Genesect and Volcarona, which Hoopa-U can't hit super effectively and all run a Bug-type move, simply OHKO Hoopa-U.
Credits
- Written by Shyom
- Quality checked by Ginger Princess, Chickenpie2, and The Official Glyx
- Grammar checked by Lumari and deetah
