Long post with many sections incoming.
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We got some inaugural Gen 9 Pure Hackmons games down; check them out!
Teams are likely not completely optimized, but they're a start.
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The following important moves are (currently) snapped from Gen 9 Pure Hackmons:
- Sunsteel Strike
- Moongeist Beam
- Photon Geyser
- Spectral Thief
- Core Enforcer
- Double Iron Bash
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Anchor Shot
- Octolock
- Lovely Kiss
- Magic Coat
- Topsy-Turvy
- Bolt Beak
- Fishious Rend
- Oblivion Wing
- Beak Blast
- Tail Glow
- Clangorous Soul
- King's Shield
- Powder
- Trick-Or-Treat
- Electrify
- Obstruct
The Moldy moves being snapped is huge, as we now enter a meta where Innards Out shores up Wonder Guard without Moldy moves to harass the Wonder Guards.
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Ability Shield is huge in this meta that also has Neutralizing Gas, as it prevents NGas from suppressing your ability. Users of most, if not all, other abilities will really want Ability Shield (e.g. Wonder Guard, No Guard, Innards Out, Shadow Tag, Imposter, Magic Bounce, -ates) so they can still work against NGas users.
While this seemingly means that only Neutralizing Gas users are free to choose any item they want, I strongly suspect that some abilities may not actually really need the Ability Shield for NGas users after all, as their primary purpose is to beat certain other abilities:
- Magic Guard: This ability's biggest niche is offensively slaying Innards Out without a care in the world, as it takes no damage from Innards Out activating. Combine that with special attackers being the most common Magic Guard users in Gen 7, discouraging burns, and perhaps Magic Guard doesn't need Ability Shield so much (and frees up slots for stuff like Plate Judgment).
- Fur Coat: This ability's biggest niche is containing Huge Power and Pure Power with mediocre but teched-out defensive typings that resist at least one common STAB attacking type (see Mega Slowbro in Gens 6-7). Once you know the opponent is using Neutralizing Gas instead, they're already at half power compared to Huge Power/Pure Power, so perhaps Fur Coat doesn't need that Ability Shield after all. ...Well, until NGas Zacian-Crowned tries setting up and tearing the Fur Coater a new one, but Will-O-Wisp can solve that, and Safety Goggles can block Spore if Zacian-C thinks that's a good disruption move.
- Sturdy: This ability's biggest niche is letting a mon with a defensive typing that Wonder Guard can't save from OHKO moves (e.g. Eternatus's Poison/Dragon, Arceus-Grass's Grass) actually take an OHKO move or three, especially from No Guard. OHKO moves should be significantly rarer on Neutralizing Gas mons now that Eternatus-Eternamax is gone and Wonder Guard is back in business, so if Sturdy still manages to keep its niche, it may not really need that Ability Shield.
Gambiting with any non-Ability Shield item (preferably stuff like Choice items, Black Sludge, Flame Orb, Lagging Tail) so you can Trick/Switcheroo it with an actual Ability Shield also seems viable, especially with users of abilities who bait in non-Neutralizing Gas mons (e.g. No Guard baits in Wonder Guard, passive Wonder Guard baits in Huge Power/Shadow Tag/support mons, hazard layers bait in Magic Bounce/Innards Out, Huge Power baits in Innards Out).
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Another implication of Ability Shield overtaking the meta is that No Guard suddenly can't make progress against multiple Wonder Guards anymore with Gastro Acid, Sing, and hazards. At least some combinations of moves and often abilities can make progress through Ability Shield on everything, though:
- Lock-On & OHKO move & hazards: The new substitute for No Guard's Gastro Acid & OHKO move & hazards - now anyone can use it! Hazards are needed to actually dent mons switching around and prevent Wonder Guards from completely clowning all over this. Opposing Magic Bounce is particularly good against this combination against non-No Guard, though, to the point that you might need to use Stone Axe/Ceaseless Edge for hazards instead of the safer Stealth Rock/Spikes if you're using this on a non-No Guard mon.
- Magic Powder & Knock Off/Ceaseless Edge/Infernal Parade/Bitter Malice & hazards: Lock-On & OHKO move's little brother except it can actually dent or threaten Wonder Guards. Ceaseless Edge has the advantage of setting Spikes if the newly Psychic-type Wonder Guard is foolish enough to stay in. Infernal Parade is like (60-BP) Hex if it had a 30% chance to burn. Bitter Malice is a 75-BP Ghost-type special attack that lowers the Attack of whoever it hits, especially Huge Power/Pure Power.
- Neutralizing Gas & Magic Room: Magic Room turns all items off for 5 turns, including opposing Ability Shields. Now your NGas users can Spore, Taunt, and attack away to your heart's content!
- Corrosive Gas & Knock Off: Magic Room might actually want the Knock Off support anyway, but at least Corrosive Gas and Knock Off work together to eliminate all other mons' items. Use Corrosive Gas first against any team with suspected Innards Out users.
- Shadow Tag & Taunt & Stone Axe/Ceaseless Edge: Taunt first. If Magic Bounce or Good As Gold activate, at least your Shadow Tagger can still safely Stone Axe and/or Ceaseless Edge and lay hazards that way.
...and that's the sound of the viability of Dark-weak Wonder Guards plummeting due to them being hit by every Knock Off and Ceaseless Edge in the meta without making their users burn extra turns. Zoroark-Hisui's going to have to dance carefully in this meta.
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Some of the biggest changes between Gen 9 PH and all those other generations' PH metas are the addition of two new attacks that set hazards and deal damage at the same time, Stone Axe (sets Stealth Rock) and Ceaseless Edge (sets Spikes). Let's explore their advantages and disadvantages in Pure Hackmons compared to good old Stealth Rock and Spikes!
Stone Axe/Ceaseless Edge Pros Over Stealth Rock/Spikes
- Can't be Magic Bounced
- Can't be Taunted away
- Can deal considerable damage per swing to other mons
Stealth Rock/Spikes Pros Over Stone Axe/Ceaseless Edge
- Can't pop opposing Innards Out
- Can't be blocked by Wonder Guard
- Perfect accuracy
- More PP
Since Stealth Rock and Spikes are reflected by Magic Bounce and Stone Axe and Ceaseless Edge are blocked by Wonder Guard, teams will likely end up using a status move and an attack to set hazards, instead of just one or the other, in order to set up hazards as often as possible.
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The cool new status move-blocking ability from Gen 9 is Good As Gold, which literally blocks (pretty much?) all targeted status moves. While Good As Gold looks like a nerfed version of Magic Bounce at first blush, the two abilities actually have pronounced pros and cons over each other:
Good As Gold Pros Over Magic Bounce
- Forces Choice Scarf Comaphazers to switch and burn an extra turn instead of immediately forcing them out (with a Bounced phazing move)
- Blocks Ghost Curse (instead of letting it behave normally); even prevents the opposing Ghost Curse user from lowering its own HP
- Nulls Perish Song on self (Soundproof-style) while still letting the opponent get hit by (most likely their own) Perish Song
- Blocks normal symmetrical status moves that Magic Bounce doesn't affect such as Trick, Switcheroo, Psycho Shift, Pain Split, and Skill Swap
- Blocks Parting Shot instead of being forced out by it (or letting anyone switch, for that matter)
- Blocks Defog instead of copying it and clearing hazards anyway (hint: don't use Defog in Gen 9 PH unless you really think the increased PP over Tidy Up is worth it)
- Blocks Memento (FWIW); even prevents the opposing Memento user from fainting
Magic Bounce Pros Over Good As Gold
- Bounces back status-inflicting moves such as Spore and Will-O-Wisp instead of just blocking them, thus putting the fear into leads' eyes
- Bounces back status move hazards such as Stealth Rock instead of just letting them go through, thus punishing hazard layers
- Bounces back Taunt for profit instead of merely blocking it, thus crippling the opponent
- Lets you heal for free against opposing Strength Sap instead of merely blocking it
- Bounces back Entrainment and Gastro Acid (FWIW) instead of letting the opposing Entrainment/Gastro Acid user keep its own ability (this might be moot in practice due to Ability Shield)
I personally suspect that Magic Bounce will be the more feared ability of the two in the teambuilder, but Good As Gold will be the more feared ability of the two in practice due to being harder to force out or disadvantage.
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Speaking of Tidy Up, I suspect that self-targeting hybrid of Defog and Dragon Dance will be quite possibly the only viable hazard removal move in Gen 9 PH. Defog is blocked by Good As Gold, Rapid Spin is blocked by Wonder Guard (even -ate Spin), the new Mortal Spin is blocked by Steel-types and Wonder Guard (Zacian-C notably eats Mortal Spin's lunch - Mortal Spin does have notable trouble popping Innards Out Chansey, though), Court Change swaps hazards around but does nothing if both sides have Stealth Rock and nothing else....
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Revival Blessing is one hell of a dunk, as it brings back any of your fainted mons at half their max. HP without denting the user. ...Yes, this includes your Innards Out mon! Revival Blessing has 1 PP and nothing will ever raise that...but it turns out that you can still involve it in an infinite PP-stalling loop with multiple users of it and Lunar Dance:
- Mon 1 faints (it optionally uses Lunar Dance on some mon)
- Mon 2 uses Revival Blessing on Mon 1
- Mon 2 uses Lunar Dance on Mon 1
- Mon 1 uses Revival Blessing on Mon 2
- Mon 1 uses Lunar Dance on Mon 2
We're now right back where we started.
Admittedly, until a mon on your team faints, you're playing with some fairly passive mons with two nigh-1-PP moves on each set. Once a mon of theirs faints, opposing Imposter can now milk your Revival Blessing (although, if they bring back the wrong mon, you can now neatly KO it all over again without breaking a sweat). As usual, opposing mons will try to break up the loop with Taunt, Encore, sleep moves, setting up and OHKOing, Tricking Choice items, and more.
Wonder Guards, Magic Bouncers, Good As Gold users, and Shadow Taggers seem like good mons to involve in the loop, especially since Good As Gold is immune to being Tricked loop-breaking Choice items, but you kinda need to make sure that your opponent can no longer disrupt the loop before going for that loop. If both teams are reduced to mons that can't touch each other and a bunch of hazards on the field, then the team with the infinite PP-stalling loop wins against the team with no such loop.
If you're not interested in looping, note that Sleep Talk calls Revival Blessing and Leppa Berry refreshes Revival Blessing's PP as usual.
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May as well continue with a guide for which mons half-health Revival Blessinged Innards Out Chansey can still pop.
Innards Out Chansey maxes out at 704 max. HP, and half that is 352 HP. This means that this half-health Chansey can still pop anyone with a base HP stat of 74 or less that likes physical attacks, including these guys:
- Scovillain (65 base HP)
- Scizor (70 base HP)
- Spiritomb (50 base HP)
- Sableye (50 base HP)
- Zoroark-Hisui (60 base HP)
Man, is failing to pop Regieleki, Quagsire, Muk-Alola, and more with this Chansey going to suck, though.
The 55-base-HP Flutter Mane technically pops half-health Chansey but probably won't hit it with a physical attack.
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Other cool new moves in Gen 9 PH include these:
- Shed Tail: It's Substitute & Baton Pass in the same move if it always ripped out 50% of your max. HP instead of 25% and it still gave you a regular old Sub. Likely the best way to punish Spore with a move. Note that this fails completely instead of dry passing if you have 50% of your max. HP or less.
- Victory Dance: For those who want a physical Quiver Dance and not a boosting move that leaves your defences compromised.
- Last Respects: After you've racked up your team's fainted count with Revival Blessing-Lunar Dance loops, this attack, especially on a Neutralizing Gas mon, should OHKO everyone but Normal-types.
- Salt Cure: This 40-BP physical Rock-type attack smacks Water- and Steel-types with an effective Ghost Curse and still chips away everyone else with 1/8 of their HP lost per turn. Shame that Wonder Guard blocks this completely and Magic Guard doesn't give a hoot about the chip.
- Dire Claw: This 80-BP physical Poison move can inflict sleep, poison, or paralysis. Watch Zacian-C and Wonder Guards laugh at this attack.
- Jet Punch: The return of Gen 6 Water Shuriken, or close enough to it, anyway.
- Headlong Rush: Neat, it's Ground-type Close Combat, which means it's 100% accurate for once!
- Bitter Blade: Hey neat! This 90-BP physical Fire move drains HP for you!
- Gigaton Hammer: Hits unfairly hard at 160 BP and, being a Steel-type move, smashes Fairy-type Wonder Guards really hard. Auto-Tormented, though, so it basically can't be used twice in a row.
- Magical Torque: Goodbye, Play Rough - this 100% accurate and more powerful physical Fairy move is the new Play Rough in town. It even comes with a chance to confuse!
- Population Bomb: This shamefully still has a chance to pop Innards Out Chansey and OHKO Regieleki that way, but at least non-Huge Power/Pure Power, non-Pixilate Zacian-C can use this 20-BP, hopefully 10-hit Normal-type move to load considerable damage into mons and not get OHKOd by Innards Out Chansey. (Huge Power and Pixilate Zacian-C OHKO Innards Out Chansey with one hit.) Expect this to average out at around 100 BP as long as you can't increase its accuracy.
- Triple Arrows: This 90-BP physical Fighting move can hax through opponents with its considerable chance to lower opposing Defense and/or flinch. Bring in your Ghosts and Wonder Guards.
- Lumina Crash: This 80-BP special Psychic-type move tears through the Special Defense of anyone it touches. Calyrex-Shadow might be interested.
- Torch Song: This 80-BP special Fire-type move boosts your own Special Attack every time it connects. ...Guess we're stuck with Beads of Ruin or Desolate Land or Adaptability or something if we want this to turn into as big a nuke as possible.
- Silk Trap: It's a Protect clone that drops the Speed of anyone who makes contact. There's probably some cool things you can do with this.
- Comeuppance: It's Metal Burst that can hit more Wonder Guards thanks to being Dark-type. ...Or something like that.
- Rage Fist: Now we just need its user to get chipped by a lot of attacks...
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Terastallization will no doubt make a splash in Gen 9 Pure Hackmons. Leads and support mons may use it to change into a Grass-type to dodge Spore. Wonder Guards will use it to flip around their weaknesses, and honestly, I think this is the more worthwhile use of Terastal. Note that Tera wears off once your Terastallized mon is KOed.
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I'm honestly somewhat prone to dropping Scovillain to A+ or maybe even A because Scovillain gets bit by every reasonable Stone Axe in the meta thanks to being weak to Rock, and people will be scared enough of Magic Bounce to want to diversify their hazard-setting moves:
252 Atk Regieleki Stone Axe vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scovillain: 112-134 (33.5 - 40.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Stone Axe vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scovillain: 148-176 (44.3 - 52.6%) -- 23% chance to 2HKO
Scovillain 100% wants a recovery move that heals 50% (or more) of its HP at this rate, and people can repeatedly set Stealth Rock on it by thumping Stone Axes its way, no Neutralizing Gas or removing Scovillain's Ability Shield needed. Scovillain will be fairly tempted to use a burn- or sleep-inducing move at this point.
Remember, if your opponent puts your Wonder Guard to sleep with Spore, they still need a way to get rid of that sleeping Wonder Guard or at least wait for it to wake up and then nail an injurious status on it.
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Here's the first Gen 9 Pure Hackmons team I've been working on:
https://pokepast.es/14cdff3896e30777
Neutralizing Gas Regieleki is the dedicated lead. It currently has Focus Sash to improve its odds against No Guard leads, but this means it can't just fire off Spore on Turn 1 - it's safer firing off Magic Room first to disable Magic Bounce and hopefully No Guard in time. Busting your Tera on this for a Spore-immune Grass-type lead may or may not be worthwhile. Knock Off chips loads of mons and prepares for the eventual NGas Last Respects clean.
Shadow Tag Zacian-Crowned uses a set that Taunts offensive mons into attacking Innards Out Chansey and wallops passive Wonder Guards with Taunt and Perish Song. If opposing Magic Bounce bounces Taunt back, it can Stone Axe and set Stealth Rock anyway. This Shadow Tagger especially takes advantage of the lack of Shed Shell in the meta. Strength Sap is a pretty good healing move, especially since you can scout for Magic Bounce and Good As Gold with this mon.
Innards Out Chansey can Spore, heal up, provide Revival Blessing support, and Final Gambit anyone who'd rather not attack it with physical attacks.
The Wonder Guards don't share weaknesses and can pull off Revival Blessing-Lunar Dance loops together. Both use Defense-boosting natures to increase their chances against Huge Power/Pure Power. In particular, Bold Arceus-Water survives this Grass attack:
252 Atk Huge Power Zacian-Crowned Power Whip vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Arceus-Water: 370-436 (83.5 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Both Wonder Guards have healing moves - the bulkier Arceus-Water has Wish, while the frail Scovillain needs a faster 50% recovery move. Scovillain has Volt Switch to pivot out of Shadow Tag while Taunted and still not pop Innards Out Chansey, while Arceus-Water has Fissure to bean cocky No Guards and try to hit Shadow Taggers, NGassers, and Huge Power breakers switching in and possibly Taunting it while still missing Innards Out Chansey most of the time. Arceus-Water has a tough time 2HKOing anything, anyway. If you're that worried about Imposter-proofing this Arceus-Water with something besides leaving Wonder Guards in front, though, try Scald instead. Note that the Wonder Guards' Tera types make their new weaknesses - as well as their old weaknesses - still be resisted by team members.
Good As Gold Eternatus is stuck holding the support moves of the team - Tidy Up to remove hazards, Spikes to set hazards without popping Innards Out, and a spare Revival Blessing instead of going for Heal Bell or a recovery move. Yes, this team is leaning on Revival Blessing instead of a cleric or so many recovery moves. Good As Gold is picked to screw over Comaphazers more solidly, and the immunity to Trick, Ghost Curse, and Perish Song help. Eternatus is picked as possibly the best and bulkiest non-Wonder Guard Poison-type in the meta, with a good speed tier and the Poison-type ability to profitably use and Switcheroo away Black Sludge for an Ability Shield and support NGas Regieleki that way. Ghost Tera lets Eternatus get away from Shadow Taggers in desperation.
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Here are some other cool new sets that might be worth considering:
Calyrex-Shadow @ Ability Shield
Ability: Innards Out
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def
- Astral Barrage / Hex / Lumina Crash
- Spore
- Taunt
- Shell Smash
The moves don't matter as much as being an Innards Out user that punishes people for using Ghost and Dark attacks does. With its/his-&-her 100 base HP, Innards Out Calyrex-S can pop these mons who use errant Ghost and Dark attacks:
252 Atk Regieleki Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Calyrex-Shadow: 564-664 (139.6 - 164.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Ceaseless Edge vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Calyrex-Shadow: 504-596 (124.7 - 147.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Spooky Plate Calyrex-Shadow Judgment vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Calyrex-Shadow: 744-876 (184.1 - 216.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Flutter Mane Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Calyrex-Shadow: 640-756 (158.4 - 187.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Note that Electrode-Hisui's Knock Off is not a guaranteed OHKO, and neither is Regieleki's Ceaseless Edge.
Dondozo @ Ability Shield
Ability: Wonder Guard
Tera Type: Electric / Fairy / Normal / Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish / Shore Up
- Will-O-Wisp / Spore
- Volt Switch
- Heal Bell / Tidy Up / Whirlwind / Parting Shot / Spikes / Spiky Shield
Dondozo survives super-effective Huge Power attacks the best among Water-types, so it's a more resilient Wonder Guard on the physical side:
252 Atk Huge Power Zacian-Crowned Power Whip vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 380-448 (75.5 - 89%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Shame about being soft to special attacks compared to Arceus-Water, though.
Ting-Lu @ Shed Shell / Safety Goggles / Ability Shield
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Flying / Poison / Fairy / Ghost / Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Wish / Moonlight
- Ceaseless Edge / Spiky Shield
- Teleport / Tidy Up / Heal Bell / Whirlwind / Stealth Rock
Ting-Lu has trouble being a Wonder Guard thanks to being weak to too much (e.g. Sheer Cold, Fighting, Fairy, Grass, U-turn, Flip Turn), but like Mega Slowbro before it, it makes a pretty decent Fur Coat user:
252 Atk Huge Power Zacian-Crowned Last Respects (750 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Ting-Lu: 271-319 (52.7 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Huge Power Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Ting-Lu: 176-208 (34.2 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Huge Power Zacian-Crowned Magical Torque vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Ting-Lu: 218-260 (42.4 - 50.5%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO (46.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock)
You may use Ability Shield instead if you're that worried about set-up sweeper or Choice Band Neutralizing Gas Zacian-C. But Shed Shell is pretty good to escape Shadow Taggers, while Safety Goggles blocks Spore, as always.
Arceus-Dark @ Ability Shield
Ability: Moody
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Trip
- Spiky Shield / Roost
- Magic Powder
- Taunt / Encore / Spore / Roost
Moody might actually be viable this round. This needs hazards support to discourage Wonder Guards from switching around you. At least you have ways to prevent opponents from using Whirlwind, Encore, Haze, Spore, Will-O-Wisp, Strength Sap, Revival Blessing, and friends. Get enough boosts and even fast No Guards won't be able to take you down fast enough.
Kartana
Ludicolo
Slaking
Zoroark-Hisui
Arceus-Fairy
Arceus-Water
Escavalier
Ferrothorn
Muk-Alola
Sableye-Mega
Swampert-Mega
Dondozo
Gyarados
Flutter Mane
Ogerpon-Wellspring
Arceus-Ghost
Eternatus
Farigiraf
Gengar-Mega
Groudon-Primal
Meloetta
Ogerpon-Hearthflame
Pidgeot-Mega
Pheromosa
Scizor-Mega
Scovillain
Venusaur-Mega
Chansey
Arceus-Grass
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Aerodactyl-Mega
Electrode-Hisui
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Ting-Lu
Arceus-Ground
Calyrex-Ice
Diancie-Mega
Deoxys-Attack
Giratina
Gourgeist-Super
Gyrarados-Mega
Kyurem-Black
Sceptile-Mega
