Entei Hyper Offense
Introduction
One day I decided to build a scarf zera team cause why not. Whenever I tilt on ladder and drop to 1500s or so, I spam random teams on ladder and see what somehow works. I was already experimenting with LO entei on balance, and whilst entei wasn't bad, the team I used it on was lacking. Thus, I slapped entei on a scarf zera team that I was building, and, alongside hazardstacking in cloyster+ferro, decided to make it a HO. I didn't expect the team to work, what with only 2 OU mons (3 if you count Gapdos), and I was just trying to get out of low ladder, but, climbing up to 1600s+, the team still had success (I reached 1750 or something with this team). Shoutouts to all who supported me in the last RMT. <3
Introduction
Edit: Did some laddering and reached 1835, which is my personal best
Pokepaste
https://pokepast.es/59b30e61a0bb23ba
Team Analysis
Pornstar Girl @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Blaze Kick / Play Rough / Fire Punch
Scarf zeraora seems like a joke at first, seeing as it is the fastest unboosted OU mon. However, something that scarf zera allows you to do is revenge kill other scarfers, boosted mons (volc, dnite), as well as timid kart. Hence, blaze kick is here to OHKO max HP kart after ferro's barbs damage. Zera isn't lacking in power; its main weakness is the abundance of grounds (lando) in the tier, so feel free to use jolly to outspeed jolly +1 pult, timid kingdra, and pult after your scarf is knocked. 248 EVs reaches 384 speed, which outspeeds weav and modest pult.https://pokepast.es/59b30e61a0bb23ba
Team Analysis
Pornstar Girl @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Blaze Kick / Play Rough / Fire Punch
At first, my main offensive core was zera + gapdos. Zera would bait lando allowing for a nasty double into gapdos, getting the defiant boost. However, zera synergises very well with my offensive / defensive core. Grounds can be abused by cloyster threatening to do cloyster things, or ferro to set up rocks. A lot of people assume banded zera if you take hazard damage, which you can use to your advantage by bluffing CB. Defensively, zera switches into torn-t a few times, and eats up priority moves except for CB rilla. Scarf zera is amazing against opposing HO.
50 on her chain @ Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed / Spikes / Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Body Press / Gyro Ball / Knock Off
Although it may be weird for a defensive backbone to fit on a HO, I put ferro here because it blanket checks nearly everything that walls my offensive mons. For example, checking fini which gets in the way of entei and friends, or checking grounds which beat zera. Ferro is also really useful against hail and rain, and provides SR. I think physdef colbur mew could fit in this slot as well, but I haven't tried it yet.
50 on her caddy @ Choice Band / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Drill Peck / Stomping Tantrum
- U-turn
The bird that everyone's using nowadays. Prevents defog, punishes lando, hard to switch into. Drill peck is an unorthodox pick but I think it's really underrated as it allows Gapdos to play more aggressively without losing most of your HP. However, BB is still there for the nuclear power it provides. Stomping tantrum hits koko and aegi, but I have drill to hard counter koko.
Gapdos' best check, Kanto Zapdos, gets worn down over the game through entei, zera's knock into hazards, and drill is always there to check zapdos. Gapdos also abuses hazards so well because defiant prevents any defog attempts.
90210 @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stone Edge / Crunch
- Extreme Speed
Entei faces direct competition from Victini, but in this team, entei plays a crucial role. Whilst vic is stronger, has great coverage in bolt strike + glaciate, and is bulkier than entei, entei has its merits which separate it from victini.
Sacred fire is one of the best moves in the game. It is different from V-create as it has a 50% burn rate, and does not lower entei's defenses and speed. This makes the move far more spammable than V-create, and unlike vic, it does not fear tran switching in as entei has stomping tantrum, which doubles in power after the flash fire activation (I think). This is why I prefer LO over CB, since entei just eats up balance. Since flash fire doesn't activate LO damage, tran might even stay in assuming CB.
Inner focus is also an underrate aspect of entei that distinguishes itself from vic. Inner focus got buffed in gen8, now preventing intimidate's attack drop. This means that it chips lando (one of zera's roadblocks) and prevents lando from pivoting out into its teammates, even 2HKOing spdef lando
252 Atk Life Orb Entei Sacred Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-Therian: 152-179 (39.7 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Although vic's unboosted v-create does more, the difference is that vic's speed drop requires it to switch out, whilst sacred fire having no drawback allows entei to spam its moves. In short, whilst vic has to predict with glaciate, entei's sacred fire makes it incredibly spammable. Alongside burn, there is only 1 mon in OU that can comfortably switch into entei, which is Slowbro (fire resists get burn or get hit by stomping tantrum).
However, the biggest thing that entei has going for it is Espeed, the strongest priority move under normal conditions. Espeed is insanely useful as it allows entei to pick off faster offensive mons such as zera / weav without compensating its power, as you can still run LO. This means entei will always be useful regardless of matchup, as it can pick off frail fast mons, such as skewda or arctozolt. Don't sleep on entei.
Stone edge hits volc / zapdos, crunch hits slowbro / slowking / latis / pult.
For the Alley @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpD / 88 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Tomb
- Rapid Spin
Another unorthodox pick you'll never see in 1000 games of OU. Drill fucking sucks, it's outclassed by any other ground, which is why I decided to use it on this team. What it has that no other grounds have is rapid spin, as well as a fairy resistance. What this means is that drill switches into special attacks and gets the spin off, unlike lando's defog that removes your own crucial hazards. Eleki could work on this slot, and maybe replace zera with something else, but scarf zera has more swag than eleki.
With AV, drill can live basically any special hits. Namely, pult, lele, koko, torn, and even fini. Since drill lures lando/corv and eats up hits from pult, it is easy for drill to get the spin off. If hazards are already off, drill can threaten to double out into gapdos or entei depending on what their drill check is. Finally, drill serves as an emergency tran check.
88 Speed outspeeds base 110s after a rapid spin or rock tomb, and rock tomb allows your offensive mons to apply more pressure on fast opponents.
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 168 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill: 112-133 (27.7 - 33%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
0 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 168 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill: 186-222 (46.1 - 55%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after trapping damage
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Focus Blast vs. 168 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill: 272-320 (67.4 - 79.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 168 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill in Psychic Terrain: 99-117 (24.5 - 29%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 SpA Tapu Fini Hydro Pump vs. 168 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill: 200-236 (49.6 - 58.5%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
Superstar Girl @ Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Naughty Nature
- Shell Smash / Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Icicle Spear / Ice Shard
- Explosion / Rapid Spin / Hydro Pump / Ice Shard
Cloyster is one of the most feared mons of all time. After a shell smash, this guy can clean up many teams. It can either set up a spike or do damage to mons that check your teammates. Rock blast is standard, but I like explosion to smack fini, ohko urshifu, ohko Spdef pex and deal more damage to melm. Hydro is an option for melmetal and buzzwole, but explosion is usually enough to put melm into entei / zera range. As a bonus, explosion scouts melm's defensive spread. This is why spikes is very important, as next time melm enters, it takes notable chip. LO ohkos physdef pex, and in general makes explosion even stronger. In most of my games, I lead cloyster to get an early hit off for my offensive teammates.
Against lead mew, I usually explosion t1 on taunt to prevent mew from setting hazards, as it puts it into zera knock range (unless colbur). This is why colbur mew is an iffy matchup to the team, as it will always get a hazard up. I don't think focus sash is mandatory, since people tend to u-turn t1 into something that can break cloyster since they assume sash, which is why LO is a great pick. I'll sometimes conserve cloyster for the midgame to set up on dnite / lando / chomp.
252+ Atk Cloyster Explosion vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Mew: 241-284 (59.8 - 70.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Cloyster Explosion vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex: 333-392 (109.5 - 128.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Cloyster Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Buzzwole: 225-270 (53.8 - 64.5%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (entei range)
If you decide to use lead mew instead of ferro, cloyster could be replaced with something like weavile.
Threatlist
Replays
(note: I was using an older version of the team which had max/max bulk on drill)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1449841319-qvfrzdmsqr3qhtt7n89x6pk3lg155sqpw
VS
Pregame
- Scarf Zera goes crazy after lando is sufficiently damaged, since it can outspeed even scarf lele / vic(note: I was using an older version of the team which had max/max bulk on drill)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1449841319-qvfrzdmsqr3qhtt7n89x6pk3lg155sqpw
VS
Pregame
- Victini looks kinda hard to switch into, especially since psychic terrain prevents entei to reliably revenge kill. I need to chip vic for zera to kill it
- Drill could be overwhelmed by lele + pult
- I could potentially chip melmetal with cloyster's boom.
Analysis
- Adamant Cloyster at +2 outspeeds timid scarf lele and he doesn't have any priority mons (psychic terrain also prevents priority), so I can set up for free- His melm switches into icicle spear which puts it into entei range 87.5% of the time, but he'll switch anyways in fear of flare blitz or CB
- Vic switches into sacred fire and we trade our fire types
- I go gapdos to fish for a lando switch since I always have drill to deal with pult
- I think he messed up by allowing lando to get chipped, but nothing wants to take that brave bird
- He predicts my drill which puts me in a tough spot, since if zera gets burned, I lose. Luckily that doesn't happen
- In his mind, scarf kart sweeps with sacred sword after damage on ferro, which is why he sacced melm like that. Of course, no one expects scarf zera
- I used SR on ferro because kart is already in zera CC range which is my endgame plan - SR allows zera to have a chance to OHKO lele if I need to
- Scarf zera is showcased through cleaning up his remaining mons
- Urshifu is a big threat, but hopefully I can lure him to stay in and OHKO with cloyster's boom
- Spikes aren't too useful as it only hits tran, pult, and urshifu (only tran is needed to be chipped, urshifu will get chipped by ferro's barbs)
- Ferro is needed for urshifu, weav, and lando
- Rocks are hella important to wear down lando and friends
Analysis
- He leads urshifu and makes a clever switch into corv, since spikes aren't too useful I decide to boom- This is fine, since it allows entei to come in and it kills tran, since he probably thought I was choice-locked
- I can confidently go ferro on urshifu due to chople, as he does not expect the switch and goes for surging strikes, which puts it into plasma fists range
- I didn't expect corv to defog seeing as I have a gapdos, but entei claims one. Inner focus is demonstrated here.
- At this point zera wins, he doesnt assume I'm choice-locked and forfeits early
- Again, I lead cloyster as boom seems to hit urshifu / pex
- Entei has no switch-ins with a chipped pex
- Drill is only needed for pult so I always go drill on pult
- Rocks hit everything for neutral except urshifu / boots bliss
Analysis
- I get lucky and crit the pex, but if it was SpDef it didn't matter- I go gapdos on a potential urshifu but he goes pult and I have drill for that
- I anticipate the corv switch but even if he for some reason dracos again entei will eat. Beating corv is great for hazards, and allows EQ spam from drill
- U-Turn on gapdos was riskless but I should've predicted him to stay in since bliss wasn't too useful for him.
- Ferro kills urshifu and he forfeits, but scarf zera + entei would've cleaned
- Hydreigon, pex and gastro is an issue for entei
- Scarf zera looks pretty bad here
- Gapdos can blow holes for teammates
- Burning hydra or gastro allows entei to beat them
- Explosion can hit toxapex
Analysis
- I attempt to boom on pex, but he switches to unaware clef which is still decent as it puts it into entei range- I thought that hydra was dark pulse earth power so gapdos seemed free, turns out it was flamethrower
- The reason I u-turn was because of skarm, I thought it was shed shell skarm and not helmet so u-turn seemed free
- I double out into entei for the sole purpose of burning hydra, but I don't get the burn
- Brave bird luckily crits pex which puts a lot of pressure since he needs to sac to bring it back in
- He makes a smart play and defogs knowing I wouldn't go gapdos since it's low
- At 45%, entei can't kill pex so I'm forced to switch
- The reason I SR on gastro was to bluff not having power whip for him to stay in next time
- I EQ'd with drill attempting to snipe shed, but I think I should've just used spin
- I can always spin later so I make the safe ferro switch on skarm
- My bluffing earlier pays off as he stays in with gastro and I OHKO, now zera looks really good, he forfeits anyways
- Gapdos goes in on this team
- Cloyster can potentially boom on rotom
- Cloyster can also setup on dnite or lando
- Entei is incredibly hard to switch into if rotom is chipped
Analysis
- I lead cloyster but he leads rotom, and fearing wisp, I go ferro as a midground- We trade rocks and I go cloyster on lando to hopefully lure rotom, and it goes as planned. Rotom is OHKOd by boom
- I go gapdos since it claims one if he doesn't go dnite, but he goes dnite so I U-turn out
- Turns out he's sub dnite which is terrible for this team
- I have to sac 2 mons to put dnite into espeed range, drill wasn't too useful as he has physical attackers mostly
- The reason I U-turn on glowking is because brave bird would allow bish to set up and win
- Max Def buzzwole isn't in entei range yet, so I sac ferro to deal barbs damage. Based on beast boost, he's offensive
- Initially I thought bish sac was a choke, but turns out he's scarf buzzwole
- Gapdos barely lives buzzwole's ice punch only because of drill peck's lack of recoil, and I win
Other Games
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1449810182- my opponent's team is pure heat, scarf zera prevents the kart sweep
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1449816842-dd528bo6qb2xdwb4no4bcvdl2xamabspw
- rematch against the same guy, cloyster sweeps
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1449805072
- I should've lost but he did not expect scarf zera and threw. Gyro ferro would be better here
Conclusion
Hope whoever reads all of this enjoyed my RMT or uses it / a variation of it on ladder. I always try to make cool teams and bring light on mons that aren't used often. Please, if you can, give some constructive criticism on the team, as I will use it for the thought process of future teams. Thank you for reading! :]
Last edited: