This is my first RMT, so hopefully it comes out good. I already started this and then realized there was an automatic format thing, so hopefully the format comes out okay. The idea of the team actually started from several other teams I had been experimenting with. Basically, I took the strongest wallbreakers from a couple of different teams and what I had seen on the ladder, (Mawile, Celebrate Vic, Crawdaunt) and then tried to pair them with a more defensive/balance core. In it's heart though, despite having a ferrothorn, this team is a HO build, and should be played as such.
This brings me to my first pokemon,
Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Stored Power
- Focus Blast
Z-Celebrate Victini is a pokemon that obliterates entire teams by itself. Against opposing HO and balance teams, I often found myself winning in one turn by bluffing scarf V-Create to force a switch, then setting up and sweeping the entire team. The set itself is pretty self explanatory, with Searing Shot and Stored Power as your main Stab Moves, plus Focus Blast to take out threats like Tyranitar and Greninja, as well as 2HKO Heatran. Against teams that lack a strong counter to this pokemon such as Chansey, or Quagsire, or a healthy Zygarde, it is best to set this pokemon up as early as possible, crippling the opponent's team for your other powerful wallbreakers to clean up and pick apart the rest. If the opposing team does have Chansey or Quagsire or the like, it is best to save for the mid to late game, after you've already hit those pokemon with a banded Knock Off from Crawdaunt.
Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower
Next we have this team's biggest powerhouse, wallbreaker, and star of the show, Crawdaunt. The idea for this pokemon on the team really came out of a deep seated hatred for Chansey, Tangrowth, Slowbro, and other stall mons. With its Choice Band and Adamant nature, Crawdaunt's Knock Off OHKOs pokemon such as Gastrodon and Slowbro, and severely cripples pokemon like Chansey, Celesteela, AV Tangrowth, and even Ferrothorn upon switch in. Here are a couple calcs for Knock Off:
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 244 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 436-514 (62.1 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Tangrowth: 266-314 (65.8 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 252 HP / 92 Def Ferrothorn: 242-286 (68.7 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Zapdos: 266-314 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Toxapex: 226-268 (74.5 - 88.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Then, paired with Crabhammer and Superpower, it has the ability to OHKO other defensive threats such as Clefable, Mega Sableye, Heatran, Ferrothorn (with Superpower). Additionally, its max HP stat allows it to live hits from Specs Ash Gren and and then kill it back with Superpower.
Here are some calcs for those two moves:
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Crabhammer vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 280-330 (111.5 - 131.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Crawdaunt Superpower vs. 252 HP / 92 Def Ferrothorn: 300-354 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- OHKO after U-Turn by Tapu Koko or Lando
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Crabhammer vs. 248 HP / 104+ Def Celesteela: 272-322 (68.5 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
And of course, they KO everything else you'd expect these moves to (i.e. Heatran, TTar, etc.).
And finally, Aqua Jet, because you just have to have it on Crawdaunt. It allows Crawdaunt to threaten pokemon like Scarf Lando into switching to a defensive mon, where you will often find a lot of your Knock Offs on Chansey and Tangrowth, Crabhammers on Tapu Lele, and Superpowers on Ferrothorn. Aqua jet also helps clean up fast threats in the endgame, like Tapu Koko, Tornadus, and Volcarona, as well as low health Mawile, Medicham, and whatever else.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Protect
Next up is Ferrothorn. This pokemon basically makes up the entire truly defensive core of this team. If it dies early, you will need to play very smart to get around the lack of proper defense on the rest of the team. The reason I went with Rocky Helmet over Leftovers was to punish U-Turn users like Tapu Koko and Landorus, because this team can struggle to recover momentum sometimes once a U-turn core gets going. The point of this pokemon is not to take on pokemon on it's own, but to get up rocks, take hits and deal back Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet damage, as well as to take hits from pokemon like greninja, mawile, and landorus. An important thing to note about this pokemon is that sometimes it is unfortunately this team's best way of dealing with Medicham. Getting a protect right on HJK will often decide the game. After chip damage from rocks or what have you, plus the iron barbs and rocky helmet damage from landing HJK, Medicham dies to Aqua Jet. In a pinch, sacking this pokemon to revenge with Crawdaunt is often the only way to really shut down a medicham. Fortunately, Medicham's common offensive core teammates like Greninja or Tapu Lele can be dealt with by other members of this team such as Crawdaunt and Mawile respectively, or Tapu Koko if the Tapu Lele is not Choice Scarfed and the Greninja has not evolved. Because of its lack of Leftovers recovery, it is important to get your leech seed off whenever possible in order to keep it healthy.
I feel like most people have a good grasp of the calcs for defensive ferrothorn, so I'll skip those.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
This is a pretty standard Mega-Mawile set, so I'll spare a long explanation. I think everyone knows what Mega Mawile does. What's important about this set though, is the Fire Fang in the 4th slot. This is the team's best reliable way of dealing with ferrothorn, and a lot of people expect knock off instead, so you can pretty often get away with an easy kill there. Another important thing about this pokemon on the team, besides its obvious ability to tear teams apart, is its ability to take hits. After Mega evolving, max HP mawile is actually decently tanky, don't be afraid to use it to absorb hits and kill something back.
Important calcs to keep in mind:
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Medicham-Mega: 164-194 (62.8 - 74.3%)
-1 252 Atk Pure Power Medicham-Mega High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 195-229 (64.1 - 75.3%)
The above calc means that if you get the intimidate off and mega evolve in front of it, you can take a HJK and revenge kill.
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 248 HP / 104+ Def Celesteela: 430-506 (108.3 - 127.4%)
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 174-210 (57.2 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 222-264 (73 - 86.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Tapu Koko @ Zap Plate
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
My lead in almost every game is Tapu Koko, or Landorus so that I can start generating momentum and learning about the opponent's sets immediately. At the end of Tapu Koko's explanation I include some info on how it can help you learn about the opponents team as a lead.
As much as I love not running things with plus speed nature, this is the only fast mon on the team besides scarf lando, so it needs timid in order to be able to properly bluff specs with zap plate. Bluffing specs or z move is also the reason I chose zap plate over life orb or something. Also because hp ice doesn't really need to do damage, it just needs to hit landorus and zygarde for 4x damage. Since Tapu Koko's attack is actually pretty good, you'll want to use U turn for weakening serp and tangrowth instead. An important thing that Tapu Koko does for the team is build momentum by clicking U turn on things like Celesteela and Tornadus in order to catch switches into defensive mons, which you'll then use the wallbreaking core of the team to break down. You can also build momentum by clicking HP Ice on switches into Landorus. One thing to note is that sometimes when you want to bluff the specs, it's better to switch straight out instead of U-turning.
Notably, the zap plate on Tapu Koko gives a really strong boost to Thunderbolt with it's ability. It can destroy things like Tapu Lele, Mega Mawile, and Offensive Magearna after they've taken some damage.
Calcs:
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Magearna in Electric Terrain: 190-225 (63.1 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 40 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega in Electric Terrain: 225-265 (89.6 - 105.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Medicham-Mega in Electric Terrain: 246-289 (94.2 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran in Electric Terrain: 204-240 (63.1 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 256-304 (67 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Important note about Tapu Koko's mechanics:
On the first turn, if Landorus' intimidate happens before Electric Terrain, then it is Scarf Lando. The same applies to other Tapu's and their terrains, most notably the fact that if Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko come out at the same time, the one whose terrain ends up on the field is the slower one.
I just included this because not everyone knows this and it matters to the team.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Because what's a Gen 7 team without Landorus. Landorus is the supplemental defensive core to Ferrothorn. I included stone edge on this set mostly because I find it really fun leading Landorus and killing lead Tornadus by surprise. It's also just about this team's only way of beating Zard Y late game. So remove it for defog if you want to, since this team has no hazard control, but be aware that you'll have to hang on to Tapu Koko til late game if you run into a zard y team. Landorus is also this team's best way of beating Zygarde, by switching in to get off Intimidate and then spamming HP ice to prevent it from setting up a sub or DD or coil, and then either killing it, or keeping it weak enough to revenge kill with Tapu Koko or Crawdaunt or Mega Mawile.
Replays:
Honestly, I didn't save enough good replays of this team, which makes me sad cuz I love using it even though I haven't for a while.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-805277973 this one shows off why I run max hp Crawdaunt. It also is up on Joey's channel here if you want some commentary on it (and salt lol).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-814314463
A great replay:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-828780619
Drawbacks, Weaknesses, and Bad Matchups to this team:
One drawback to this team currently is that I peaked with this a couple months ago, so it could be considered a little behind the meta. Still, it is a really good team and still performs well. It just doesn't dominate as well as it once did.
While this team and its highly potent wallbreakers are great for tearing stall apart, this team can sometimes struggle against other faster HO teams.
Another thing this team can struggle with is hazard stack teams. Thankfully in the current OU Meta they are pretty rare, so you won't really have to deal with that, but if you do, you'll have to make sure to play extra aggressive to end the game faster before the opponent can get a lot of hazards set up.
Threats to this team:
Zygarde:
If this pokemon gets set up, there's often not much you can do. And weakness policy zygarde is just unbeatable with this team. Auto-lose. To prevent the setup though, you need to switch in Landorus and start hp Ice-ing as soon as possible.
Medicham:
I went over Medicham a lot in this guide, so you should have a good idea of it by now. But basically, it can do huge damage to the team every time it switches in. Force it out by taking an HJK with Tapu Koko or Landorus, or stall it with ferrothorn.
Heatran:
Heatran is just annoying for this team to deal with. It's perfectly manageable between Crawdaunt and Landorus, and most of the time you'll have no problem, but I've been outplayed by and strugged with Heatran in the past, especially if it's a defensive set with wisp and protect or something like that.
Tapu Lele:
In the late game, this team often finds itself relying on priority aqua jet and sucker punch to finish its plate so to speak. Tapu Lele can give this team a lot of trouble late game, so you'll want to try to take it out with Mawile or Tapu Koko early. It's also a good idea to do your best to keep psychic terrain off the field.
Conclusion:
This team was a lot of fun to use, and it feels great to break apart teams the way it does. It was my first really really successful team, and now that I don't use it as much anymore I thought I'd share it with everyone.
Pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/UapNFtxs
Edited to add another replay showing how this team should be played.
This brings me to my first pokemon,
Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Stored Power
- Focus Blast
Z-Celebrate Victini is a pokemon that obliterates entire teams by itself. Against opposing HO and balance teams, I often found myself winning in one turn by bluffing scarf V-Create to force a switch, then setting up and sweeping the entire team. The set itself is pretty self explanatory, with Searing Shot and Stored Power as your main Stab Moves, plus Focus Blast to take out threats like Tyranitar and Greninja, as well as 2HKO Heatran. Against teams that lack a strong counter to this pokemon such as Chansey, or Quagsire, or a healthy Zygarde, it is best to set this pokemon up as early as possible, crippling the opponent's team for your other powerful wallbreakers to clean up and pick apart the rest. If the opposing team does have Chansey or Quagsire or the like, it is best to save for the mid to late game, after you've already hit those pokemon with a banded Knock Off from Crawdaunt.
Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower
Next we have this team's biggest powerhouse, wallbreaker, and star of the show, Crawdaunt. The idea for this pokemon on the team really came out of a deep seated hatred for Chansey, Tangrowth, Slowbro, and other stall mons. With its Choice Band and Adamant nature, Crawdaunt's Knock Off OHKOs pokemon such as Gastrodon and Slowbro, and severely cripples pokemon like Chansey, Celesteela, AV Tangrowth, and even Ferrothorn upon switch in. Here are a couple calcs for Knock Off:
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 244 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 436-514 (62.1 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Tangrowth: 266-314 (65.8 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 252 HP / 92 Def Ferrothorn: 242-286 (68.7 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Zapdos: 266-314 (69.4 - 81.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Toxapex: 226-268 (74.5 - 88.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Then, paired with Crabhammer and Superpower, it has the ability to OHKO other defensive threats such as Clefable, Mega Sableye, Heatran, Ferrothorn (with Superpower). Additionally, its max HP stat allows it to live hits from Specs Ash Gren and and then kill it back with Superpower.
Here are some calcs for those two moves:
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Crabhammer vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 280-330 (111.5 - 131.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Crawdaunt Superpower vs. 252 HP / 92 Def Ferrothorn: 300-354 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- OHKO after U-Turn by Tapu Koko or Lando
252+ Atk Choice Band Adaptability Crawdaunt Crabhammer vs. 248 HP / 104+ Def Celesteela: 272-322 (68.5 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
And of course, they KO everything else you'd expect these moves to (i.e. Heatran, TTar, etc.).
And finally, Aqua Jet, because you just have to have it on Crawdaunt. It allows Crawdaunt to threaten pokemon like Scarf Lando into switching to a defensive mon, where you will often find a lot of your Knock Offs on Chansey and Tangrowth, Crabhammers on Tapu Lele, and Superpowers on Ferrothorn. Aqua jet also helps clean up fast threats in the endgame, like Tapu Koko, Tornadus, and Volcarona, as well as low health Mawile, Medicham, and whatever else.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Protect
Next up is Ferrothorn. This pokemon basically makes up the entire truly defensive core of this team. If it dies early, you will need to play very smart to get around the lack of proper defense on the rest of the team. The reason I went with Rocky Helmet over Leftovers was to punish U-Turn users like Tapu Koko and Landorus, because this team can struggle to recover momentum sometimes once a U-turn core gets going. The point of this pokemon is not to take on pokemon on it's own, but to get up rocks, take hits and deal back Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet damage, as well as to take hits from pokemon like greninja, mawile, and landorus. An important thing to note about this pokemon is that sometimes it is unfortunately this team's best way of dealing with Medicham. Getting a protect right on HJK will often decide the game. After chip damage from rocks or what have you, plus the iron barbs and rocky helmet damage from landing HJK, Medicham dies to Aqua Jet. In a pinch, sacking this pokemon to revenge with Crawdaunt is often the only way to really shut down a medicham. Fortunately, Medicham's common offensive core teammates like Greninja or Tapu Lele can be dealt with by other members of this team such as Crawdaunt and Mawile respectively, or Tapu Koko if the Tapu Lele is not Choice Scarfed and the Greninja has not evolved. Because of its lack of Leftovers recovery, it is important to get your leech seed off whenever possible in order to keep it healthy.
I feel like most people have a good grasp of the calcs for defensive ferrothorn, so I'll skip those.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
This is a pretty standard Mega-Mawile set, so I'll spare a long explanation. I think everyone knows what Mega Mawile does. What's important about this set though, is the Fire Fang in the 4th slot. This is the team's best reliable way of dealing with ferrothorn, and a lot of people expect knock off instead, so you can pretty often get away with an easy kill there. Another important thing about this pokemon on the team, besides its obvious ability to tear teams apart, is its ability to take hits. After Mega evolving, max HP mawile is actually decently tanky, don't be afraid to use it to absorb hits and kill something back.
Important calcs to keep in mind:
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Medicham-Mega: 164-194 (62.8 - 74.3%)
-1 252 Atk Pure Power Medicham-Mega High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 195-229 (64.1 - 75.3%)
The above calc means that if you get the intimidate off and mega evolve in front of it, you can take a HJK and revenge kill.
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 248 HP / 104+ Def Celesteela: 430-506 (108.3 - 127.4%)
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 174-210 (57.2 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 222-264 (73 - 86.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Tapu Koko @ Zap Plate
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
My lead in almost every game is Tapu Koko, or Landorus so that I can start generating momentum and learning about the opponent's sets immediately. At the end of Tapu Koko's explanation I include some info on how it can help you learn about the opponents team as a lead.
As much as I love not running things with plus speed nature, this is the only fast mon on the team besides scarf lando, so it needs timid in order to be able to properly bluff specs with zap plate. Bluffing specs or z move is also the reason I chose zap plate over life orb or something. Also because hp ice doesn't really need to do damage, it just needs to hit landorus and zygarde for 4x damage. Since Tapu Koko's attack is actually pretty good, you'll want to use U turn for weakening serp and tangrowth instead. An important thing that Tapu Koko does for the team is build momentum by clicking U turn on things like Celesteela and Tornadus in order to catch switches into defensive mons, which you'll then use the wallbreaking core of the team to break down. You can also build momentum by clicking HP Ice on switches into Landorus. One thing to note is that sometimes when you want to bluff the specs, it's better to switch straight out instead of U-turning.
Notably, the zap plate on Tapu Koko gives a really strong boost to Thunderbolt with it's ability. It can destroy things like Tapu Lele, Mega Mawile, and Offensive Magearna after they've taken some damage.
Calcs:
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Magearna in Electric Terrain: 190-225 (63.1 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 40 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega in Electric Terrain: 225-265 (89.6 - 105.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Medicham-Mega in Electric Terrain: 246-289 (94.2 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Zap Plate Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran in Electric Terrain: 204-240 (63.1 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 256-304 (67 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Important note about Tapu Koko's mechanics:
On the first turn, if Landorus' intimidate happens before Electric Terrain, then it is Scarf Lando. The same applies to other Tapu's and their terrains, most notably the fact that if Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko come out at the same time, the one whose terrain ends up on the field is the slower one.
I just included this because not everyone knows this and it matters to the team.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Because what's a Gen 7 team without Landorus. Landorus is the supplemental defensive core to Ferrothorn. I included stone edge on this set mostly because I find it really fun leading Landorus and killing lead Tornadus by surprise. It's also just about this team's only way of beating Zard Y late game. So remove it for defog if you want to, since this team has no hazard control, but be aware that you'll have to hang on to Tapu Koko til late game if you run into a zard y team. Landorus is also this team's best way of beating Zygarde, by switching in to get off Intimidate and then spamming HP ice to prevent it from setting up a sub or DD or coil, and then either killing it, or keeping it weak enough to revenge kill with Tapu Koko or Crawdaunt or Mega Mawile.
Replays:
Honestly, I didn't save enough good replays of this team, which makes me sad cuz I love using it even though I haven't for a while.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-805277973 this one shows off why I run max hp Crawdaunt. It also is up on Joey's channel here if you want some commentary on it (and salt lol).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-814314463
A great replay:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-828780619
Drawbacks, Weaknesses, and Bad Matchups to this team:
One drawback to this team currently is that I peaked with this a couple months ago, so it could be considered a little behind the meta. Still, it is a really good team and still performs well. It just doesn't dominate as well as it once did.
While this team and its highly potent wallbreakers are great for tearing stall apart, this team can sometimes struggle against other faster HO teams.
Another thing this team can struggle with is hazard stack teams. Thankfully in the current OU Meta they are pretty rare, so you won't really have to deal with that, but if you do, you'll have to make sure to play extra aggressive to end the game faster before the opponent can get a lot of hazards set up.
Threats to this team:
Zygarde:
If this pokemon gets set up, there's often not much you can do. And weakness policy zygarde is just unbeatable with this team. Auto-lose. To prevent the setup though, you need to switch in Landorus and start hp Ice-ing as soon as possible.
Medicham:
I went over Medicham a lot in this guide, so you should have a good idea of it by now. But basically, it can do huge damage to the team every time it switches in. Force it out by taking an HJK with Tapu Koko or Landorus, or stall it with ferrothorn.
Heatran:
Heatran is just annoying for this team to deal with. It's perfectly manageable between Crawdaunt and Landorus, and most of the time you'll have no problem, but I've been outplayed by and strugged with Heatran in the past, especially if it's a defensive set with wisp and protect or something like that.
Tapu Lele:
In the late game, this team often finds itself relying on priority aqua jet and sucker punch to finish its plate so to speak. Tapu Lele can give this team a lot of trouble late game, so you'll want to try to take it out with Mawile or Tapu Koko early. It's also a good idea to do your best to keep psychic terrain off the field.
Conclusion:
This team was a lot of fun to use, and it feels great to break apart teams the way it does. It was my first really really successful team, and now that I don't use it as much anymore I thought I'd share it with everyone.
Pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/UapNFtxs
Edited to add another replay showing how this team should be played.
Last edited:
