I'm a very experimental player, sometimes to a fault. In general, I don't really take laddering very seriously; this is for a slew of reasons, but the biggest is that I am not really built to be a ladderer. I don't really have laddering stamina, nor do I have the time to really sit down and commit to it. As such, I tend not go too much higher than top 250 on average. However, this team is a bit different, as it marked one of the first times that I built a team and effortlessly cleaved into top 100, only really sustaining losses to my own stamina issues corrupting my play and bad RNG. With that in mind, getting close to top 75 is a pretty nice achievement given my personal setbacks and since it's connected to a set of interactions that I personally designed and applied, I wanted to share one of my more successful mad science experiments, featuring Hydrapple!
Hydrapple is a Pokemon that recently has been having quite a strong stride in SV OU. This year's OLT has spawned a new variant: a bulky NP variant utilizing Fickle Beam, Giga Drain, and Earth Power. The idea of this set is pretty simple, but its dynamic in-battle is a lot more complicated as a result of its tricky weaknesses and pretty bad Speed tier forcing it into a more wallbreaker-centric position instead of something able to consistently close out games.
Fickle Beam is, well, fickle, but for all of its inconsistency, it boasts an NP-friendly base power of around 80, making it a decent Dragon-type STAB at worst, and a fat-throttling nuke when the cards play out. When Fickle Beam's insane secondary effect kicks in, it can attain genuinely mind-boggling highs, such as OHKOing SpDef Glowking at +2, and cleave open less SpDef oriented resistances that attempt to heal off your damage. This is a pretty awesome ace in the hole for bulky Nasty Plot wallbreakers and into Pokemon like Corviknight, Moltres, and Gholdengo; when it pans out, Fickle Beam can come with some very insane and exploitable payoff if you build around these interactions.
However I was more interested in the other part of this set: Hydrapple's defensive profile with Giga Drain as a secondary STAB. With Grassy Terrain to leverage a more aggressive defensive Tera and boosting Giga Drain's power, Hydrapple is capable of effortlessly sweeping bulky offense structures while keeping itself healthy (especially with Leftovers) and able to take repeated hits to leverage its low Speed tier. With a Tera that appreciates Grassy Terrain's support and Grassy Terrain bolstering Giga Drain's power, Giga Drain becomes an insanely high value move, even into resisted targets, since it can still reliably 2HKO most things and heal off any chip damage it's forced to sustain before attacking. This can make it a win condition in itself, but because it has access to Fickle Beam and Regenerator on top of this, it boasts great utility into fat and offense in the mid-game to enable potential teammates (like Rillaboom itself) and checking threats like Ogerpon-Wellspring.
So, let me show you what I have in store:
Rillaboom @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn
"I'm slipping through the cracks of a dark eternity, with nothing but my pain and a paralyzing agony, to tell me who I am, who I was; uncertainty enveloping my mind, 'til I can't break free."
This Rillaboom set combines Rillaboom's two most prominent sets: Choice Band and utility-based Terrain Extender sets. The thing about Rillaboom is that, while it appreciates having a Choice Band, the natural power of Wood Hammer with Tera Grass and Grassy Surge still 2HKOs most things and Grassy Glide remains a highly reliable revenge killing option. With Terrain Extender, Hydrapple's Giga Drain-centric gameplan becomes more effective, and not having a Choice lock can matter a lot since the one-two punch of Knock Off and U-turn can be a great way to open the game, especially into Galarian Slowking and Gliscor structures. With this, I gave Rillaboom a good deal of bulk investment so it can alleviate some pressure from Hydrapple into Play Rough Ogerpon-Wellspring; Grassy Glide leverages the need to invest heavily in Speed, and you still outspeed the big targets you want to threaten, such as Clefable, uninvested Gliscor, Tera Kingambit, and Galarian Slowking. Specifically this spread shoots to outspeed Adamant Scizor, letting it secure a Knock Off into Choice Band sets clicking U-turn; with this, you can also outspeed uninvested Gliscor, which is relatively common on fat.
Hydrapple @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Fickle Beam
- Earth Power
"You can tell me what to say, you can tell me where to go, but I doubt that I would care, and my heart would never know."
This is the set of the star of the show. As mentioned above, this set is tuned to take advantage of the Grassy Terrain that Rillaboom sets, while being able to possess natural mid-game utility by trading against offense and tanking some dangerous physical hits. It's in part able to accomplish this thanks to Earth Power, letting it 1v1 Kingambit and Gholdengo more reliably without a boost. However, when a Nasty Plot boost is active, and ideally when Grassy Terrain is too, Giga Drain becomes the only move ever worth clicking. It can 2HKO all neutral targets, some frailer resists, and if nothing else, sustain it enough to win a 1v1 and leverage a teammate. It's worth noting that Hydrapple is really fucking strong even without the +2. It needs it if it wants to break past Galarian Slowking and spam Giga Drain, but if you need to score damage, its natural offensive profile really makes Earth Power and Fickle Beam decently reliable general-purpose moves.
Tera Poison was my Tera type of choice. Tera Poison, to be frank, is one of the best Tera types in the format for bulkier setup Pokemon, if not the best, since it comes with a Toxic immunity and great resistances, and it defensively complements Hydrapple, letting it use its natural offense to secure a safe KO into Ice Spinner Great Tusk, Kyurem, Acrobatics Roaring Moon, and Raging Bolt. Grassy Terrain weakens the Earthquake of Landorus-T, Iron Treads, and Roaring Moon, offsetting Tera Poison's biggest drawback, and letting it outright just win games into balance-based Gliscor compositions. Tera Poison also makes it easier to aggressively click Nasty Plot into Toxic users like the aforementioned Gliscor and also into Galarian Slowking's Sludge Bomb.
Iron Treads @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel / Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Steel Beam
- Rapid Spin
"Ever on and on, I continue circling with nothing but my hate in a carousel of agony-"
Iron Treads is a pretty awesome glue for offense, thanks to Booster Energy, its typing, and the combination of Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin. It made a natural fit on this team, letting me afford more offensive Pokemon that appreciated Hydrapple's damage output, and also defensively coring well with it so maneuvering around Galarian Slowking and Gholdengo in the early game isn't as much of a hassle. This set uses Iron Treads's Special movepool, since Grassy Terrain weakens Earthquake; however, this isn't the only reason why. Something else about Iron Treads I think people sometimes underrate is the potential damage output of Steel Beam. Steel Beam is an obscenely strong move, and Iron Treads can leverage its BP in spite of its middle-of-the-road Special Attack to force huge damage on neutral targets and outright KO bulky Fairy-types. Iron Treads can also afford Modest since it hits 311 with a neutral nature, notably still outpacing Landorus-T and Great Tusk. With Grassy Terrain, Iron Treads can fire off two of these meaty attacks and clear hazards/set Stealth Rock, or click it three times to deal major hurt before it goes down and create offensive momentum for a teammate to begin setting up. The big interaction of note is against Great Tusk, as Earth Power -> Steel Beam can easily clear it out, letting Hydrapple Terastalize with less fear. Rapid Spin is also a big help for AV Primarina and Hydrapple, since nothing on our team has Heavy-Duty Boots.
Steel Beam being leveraged by Rillaboom is part of why Tera Steel is the big Tera of choice, as the damage boost can be meaningful in outright removing bulkier Great Tusk and Gliscor variants. Tera Steel has some intrinsic defensive utility into Hisuian Samurott, letting us win the hazard war against it, too. Tera Ghost I found has been alright too if Rapid Spin if unpreventable and you really need Stealth Rock up, but the big nukes of Steel Beam and neutralizing Water tends to have more game-to-game value. Though, typically, you're not using your Tera on Iron Treads.
Primarina @ Assault Vest
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Moonblast
- Flip Turn
- Psychic Noise
"If I make another move, if I take another step; then it would all fall apart, there'd be nothing of me left."
AV Primarina is an awesome offensive pivot and highly versatile tank. Not only does it appreciate Grassy Terrain weakening Earthquake, but it also loves the residual recovery to give it more staying power into Pokemon like Dragapult, Gholdengo, and Landorus-T. In general, Primarina is a really naturally strong Pokemon. Its STAB combination stings 99% of the tier and forces a lot of damage onto Gholdengo/Corviknight structures. It has Flip Turn to pivot around stuff like Blissey and Galarian Slowking to position Rillaboom, which can either do some damage, create progress with Knock Off, or position a Pokemon itself with Terrain activated. Psychic Noise is typically not a move clicked often, but it's nice to have for Blissey and Specially Defensive Gholdengo and as a midground move into Iron Moth structures. Primarina loves the pressure this team puts on Galarian Slowking, and helps reinforce it on the special side/against Cinderace, while helping leverage haymakers in Iron Crown and Hawlucha.
Iron Crown @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 84 HP / 172 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Tachyon Cutter
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
"Maybe it's a dream, maybe nothing else is real; but it wouldn't mean a thing if I told you how I feel."
CM Iron Crown is not a set very often seen, since Choice Specs and AV are both just far more applicable. However, CM Iron Crown fits this team like a glove since we exert a metric shitton of pressure onto Gholdengo and Corviknight, and it pairs superbly with Grassy Terrain by weakening Earthquake and leveraging several turns of setup with its residual recovery. It can be utterly disgusting in the endgame once these checks are battered down by Hydrapple and Primarina, but its typing and the Speed boost from Booster Energy can force Pokemon like Kyurem, Booster Energy Great Tusk, Glimmora, and Ribombee out to make things easier for Hydrapple later, and let it do some chip damage into Gholdengo/Moltres for Hawlucha and (situationally) Hydrapple. We have Tera Fighting as a way to take on Kingambit if push comes to shove, and lets us better react to Roaring Moon which is a problem for this team.
Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
Tera Type: Flying / Steel
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Atk / 120 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat
- Encore / Substitute
"If I find a way to change, if I step into the light, then I'll never be the same and it all will fade to white."
For the most part, this is about as generic as a set comes on this team. Hawlucha is a pretty natural complement to a team built around Rillaboom, and because Hydrapple lays out the pressure on Gholdengo, Zapdos, and Moltres, it makes a pretty natural fit, so I find being special for the sake of it isn't the move here. Being an additional check to Roaring Moon, Kingambit, and Great Tusk is obviously quite good, but once you overwhelm its main checks, which this team is built around doing, it can go pretty crazy. Tera Steel and Substitute are the main slashes on this team; Tera Steel is nice because it lets us maneuver a bit better around Slowking if we can't successfully remove it and give us a free Swords Dance, and Substitute is nice as a way to statistically outmaneuver Sucker Punch and Thunderclap. However I find that Tera Flying is the default Tera choice for a reason. Juicing up Acrobatics lets it muscle past checks while also letting us shed our annoying Fairy- and Psychic-type weaknesses, which can be a big deal since this team isn't capable of outright sniping and deleting stuff like Gholdengo, so the extra muscle can often make the difference.
Roaring Moon is probably the most common problematic threat to play around on this team. While we have options, such as Tera Primarina, Hydrapple, Tera-boosted Steel Beam from Iron Treads, and Hawlucha, there are a few opportunities for it to get to +2 due to our Rillaboom set, by which point there is no escape, even with Tera. The best way to play around Roaring Moon is to preserve your Tera and aggressively utilize it when it enters the field. If you can force it out, it becomes easier to deal with since it loses the Protosynthesis boost and has likely sustained damage in the process, making it easier to stop from getting to the game-ending state it has the potential to reach. You have to preserve your resources against it.
Dragapult is pretty annoying to deal with, mainly Hex pivot variants. These sets are mostly annoying because they can easily spread status and use Primarina as U-turn fodder while also forcing damage on it with Hex. The best way to deal with it is to keep Primarina healthy and use your Steel Beams on it so you can get it low enough for Rillaboom to handily revenge kill. You can also lure and delete it with Tera Hydrapple.
Choice Band Lokix is becoming increasingly common and due to this being an offense team, Lokix has the potential to be pretty threatening under the right conditions. Thankfully though we have resources; Tera Hydrapple can tank some hits, and Hawlucha resists Tinted Lens First Impression, so it's not impossible by any means.
Sun is very doable, but the combined pressure from Walking Wake, the aforementioned Roaring Moon, and Venusaur can be a headache, and aside from Hawlucha there's no real way to revenge kill anything. The main way to approach it is to aggressively boost with Hydrapple, and Tera -> Giga Drain opposing Great Tusk.
This fucking asshole is rare but this team has almost nothing to deal with it, since it can outheal the damage you deal against it, and Iron Crown tends to let it in. The approach here is to preserve Iron Treads and break a potential Focus Sash before entering the field with it so you can either force it out and reliably remove it later with Hawlucha. Otherwise, this is just kind of a nightmare matchup and easily the worst I've faced with this team. Thankfully Ceruledge is pretty niche and consequently not very common, but you have to respect it.
Vs. Offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199072819
vs. Moltres Offense
Hydrapple.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199071243?p2
vs. Trick Room
Hydrapple wins the war of attrition and kills everything. Even without +2, Terrain makes Giga Drain a very solid move to click in neutral.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199069167
vs. Kingambit Iron Crown Bulky Offense
Hydrapple serves as both a wallbreaker, removing Galarian Slowking, and a tank that can 1v1 Iron Crown, Great Tusk, and Dragapult with Terastalization and no boosts required.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199866669-w13elysrfq9iwjcq9a53k1mgil5e9x5pw?p2
vs. Weavile Dragapult Offense
Hydrapple and Iron Crown simply just do too much damage, letting us win the end-game with more resources to work with than our opponent.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199803863-2b8sgdjuyiqtv6uz3938gr17fmv2aclpw?p2
vs. Hazard Stack Bulky Offense
All members of the team contribute, leading up to Hawlucha sending a wrecking ball into the opponent in the endgame.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199801515-btxej3y8oh1u15rue49xmyjie76st19pw
vs. Deoxys Ogerpon Offense
Again, all members of the team contribute here. Some interactions against Ogerpon are highlighted, with Rillaboom's bulk investment playing a big role into Deoxys and Play Rough Ogerpon.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199077988?p2
vs. Okidogi Offense
Hydrapple checks Ogerpon-Wellspring, leveraging it to click Nasty Plot and spam its STAB moves. Once Hydrapple Terastallizes, Rillaboom takes on Ogerpon for us, and with Hydrapple to remove Landorus-T and Dragonite, Hawlucha can have a very commanding endgame.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199768121-q8cx4l9af6njls6aoswf0gcasjpssdvpw?p2
vs. Enamorus Offense
Hydrapple showing that Enamorus is easily overwhelmed with this set, and eventually sweeps once it regenerates off the damage it took in the process.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199139236-j125ek1f0a9sop75n7djplk88v3f0lmpw?p2
vs. Glimmora Offense
Hydrapple goobing an SCL player and us apparently needing to learn to play.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199137431-2yxeqijhqackz5eiaxime61hxo6i992pw
vs. Veil Offense
Hydrapple.
Vs. Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199798007-s0laq2hudx54hxlmc8bfym7sbop8hippw
vs Lokix Balance
Hydrapple weathers the storm against Lokix, lures Dragapult to its destruction, and exploits the passivity of the remaining Pokemon to clear out the game decisively.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199075239?p2
vs. Garganacl Specs Dragapult Balance
Hydrapple doesn't need boosts to be a great tank. Hawlucha acts as our wallbreaker this game, leveraging Iron Treads to break Sinistcha wide open. Once this happens, Hydrapple can take some nice trades and clear out the game into Choice Specs Dragapult.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199086346
vs. Toxapex Gholdengo Balance
Although Hydrapple sustains a Toxic, the combination of Tera and Terrain lets it wallbreak and eventually clean, since nothing can sufficiently outpressure Giga Drain, even Toxic! Gholdengo is compromised by both Primarina and Iron Treads, which would've made an Iron Crown endgame just as feasible if not for Sucker Punch Cinderace.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199082375?p2
vs. Sand Balance
Hydrapple overwhelms Mandibuzz, enabling Iron Crown and Iron Treads to do serious damage.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199098621?p2
vs. Galarian Slowking Ting Lu Balance
Peak Hydrapple game; use Fickle Beam to delete Galarian Slowking, and then spam Giga Drain to clear the game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199097789?p2
vs. Dragapult Primarina Balance
Hydrapple 6-0s the moment it lures and deletes Great Tusk.
Vs Fat/Stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199793882-51xzfw4r416facpaav7z1wif0x33zolpw
vs. Reuniclus Fat
Hydrapple.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199096972?p2
vs. Cinderace Fat
Hydrapple finds a clean opportunity to enter the field thanks to Primarina's Flip Turn and Iron Crown to force out Dragon Dance Kyurem early on; with the Terrain Extended terrain and Tera, it begins to cleave open the team with very little room for comfort since Gliscor can't retaliate with Toxic or Earthquake due to Tera and terrain.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199814544-zfogr74eof5qa8jjh0p2rbu25l2tjzppw
vs. Stall
Iron Crown steals the show, clearing the game out hard with Psyshock and Tera-boosted Focus Blast. This game also exhibits why Hydrapple needs to outspeed Blissey, and shows how the 1v1 is lost.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2199080194?p2
vs. Stall
Hydrapple tends to have a rough time into Stall, which is hugely why it needs Speed investment for Blissey. Removing Blissey is something Iron Crown and Primarina are well suited to do, thanks to Psyshock and Psychic Noise. Once this is done, Iron Treads goes to town, spamming Steel Beam with little to safely react to it, especially as Rapid Spin forces it to Tera Ghost.
__
Overall, I hope this was an interesting read! If you're interested in using the team, feel free and please let me know what you think/if you guys would like to see more of my goofy team experiments. I build very often and try to study new metagame trends/archetypes all the time, and while that usually docks my testing accounts' elo pretty hard, the payoff on goofy teams feels great when it happens.
Thanks for reading!
