SV OU Hydreigon + Gholdengo Offense

[Orydjinnz]

Dragon's Bane

______________________________________________________________

Team: (Pokepaste)
(An attempt at using one of my favorite Pseudo Legends)​

This is a team I've created after the Chien-Pao ban. I recently used a Garchomp hazard stack team that functioned relatively well up to 1400 and then I believe that my in-experience and in-game IQ wasn't enough. So 1400 is where I stayed. After Chien-Pao was banned, I resorted to creating a team that would function with Hydreigon as part of its main offense.

The main function of this team was to slowly whittle down the opposing team and wait for an opportunity (through mistakes or prediction) and then set up with curse Dondozo or Bulk up Corviknight. Though this team is working, I don't really feel like my sets on Gholdengo's, Corviknight and Great Tusk function with this team very well. The team kind of feels like it's spread into two different parts.
- Hydreigon offense with specially defensive Dondozo and scarf trick Gholdengo
and
- Specs valiant with spdef Corv and PhysDef Great Tusk.
These two parts never feel like they work in conjunction with each other, at least with the sets they have now. I am significantly lower on ladder than previous (partially because I got carried by endgame Chien-Pao and Booster Valiant) and am hovering around 1250.

Dreicula (Hydreigon)@ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Tera Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse

Role on Team: Hydreigon is our absolute best bud. His stab dark and dragon is great in OU, which can be seen from of the best mons in the tier being this dark typing and Hydreigon's big brother Roaring Moon. Hydreigon's natural bulk allows it to live most dragon type moves (unless banded) after tera and because of it's defensive typing, it is great versus Gholdengo. Hydreigon is an excellent switch in into special moves because his resistances are so many and also provided some great utility as an defensive pivot. Plus having nasty plot allowed me to absolutely terrify defensive checks that thought they were safe (unless your name is Clodsire). Hydreigon is an absolute unit of a mon and I love using them to dismantle fairy and Dragon checks that believe they can kill. Heavy Duty Boots is there so I can pivot around set up mons efficiently without taking too much damage.

Its All Joever (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick

Role on Team: Gholdengo is just one the GOAT of OU. He provides status absorption and is an incredible nuke when it's just able to press Make It Rain or Shadow Ball when it needs to. Trick also provides us some amazing stall crippling maneuvers. Scarf allows him to outspeed a lot of the mons that threaten it and that allows for some great working outside of other scary scarfers. Its ability to just cripple mons is incredible and the defensive synergy between Gholdengo and Hydreigon is perfect. They are literally perfect for each other. Their defensive capabilities as offensive mons is amazing and I saw no reason not to continue this godtier synergy. Tera allows for stronger Make It Rains, other than that there was no more thought put into its tera.

The Donbozo (Dondozo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Role on Team: Donbozo is an amazing unaware staller. With the combination of such a high HP stat (as it feels with all the defensive mons this gen) and middling special defenses, Donbozo provides amazing defensive capabilities. It also proves as an incredible late game sweeper thanks to Curse+RestTalk. I am using waterfall because between Liquidation and Waterfall, though Waterfall has less damaging power, it has an increased PP and also defense drops while Donbozo is attempting to sweep in said late game provides nothing due to unaware. Tera Dragon allows this mon to resist all of its previous weaknesses (gaining Fairy, Ice and Dragon, the most OP offensive type moves in the current meta) and allows it to destroy mons like Meowscarada who, with Flower Trick and Band, can no longer break this threat. Donbozo just sits there and curses until it's his time to destroy the competition.

>>>Now here is where I didn't know what to do with this team.

CorvinBlue (Corviknight) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Press
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Bulk Up

Role on Team: Corviknight is mainly used as our guy who beats Garganacl. I was a bit paranoid of running into the Minecraft Gravel Blocks, so I made a specific check in my team for it, which is exactly why I feel like this team losses to teams centered around Garg. This offers so little synergy within a team with Garg because this mon HAS to come out in order to beat it. And with a mon like Great Tusk, who's entire job is to press buttons and having one of the buttons ruin Corvi (knock), the team starts to feel really one dimensional. Everything before I added this mon was fine and then I lost that creative spark and just started pressing "Import' and clicking on one of the sets. I am using bulk up instead of iron defense because I realized that against certain mons (cough cough Gholdengo) I can't spam Body Press and with Bulk Up, Corviknight can dish out decent damage with Brave Bird. I still feel like this mon doesn't belong here. Tera was just because it was part of the imported set. I've never tera'd this mon since my other teras feel more useful.

Spatha (Iron Valiant) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naïve Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

Role on Team: Iron Valiant is my offensive slap on mon. I already really enjoyed this mon on my previous team (Booster energy late game sweeper set) but this specs set really allows for some incredibly versatility. It is an amazing Moonblast spammer and it's pseudo-mixed set is my favorite. I enjoy the random CC kills this mon can take and of course, I never really see its defenses as valuable. I switch it in when I can, usually after a prediction, and spam Moonblast. That is this mons purpose. I have psyshock for Clodsire and Shadow Ball for Gholdengo. It is an excellent killer and it feels okay on the team. It helps end games for sure, but other than that, again, the synergy feels off somehow.

Tuskothy (Great Tusk) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Earthquake

Role on Team: I know the Agency doesn't mess with Great Tusk anymore but it was my last minute, " Oh god I don't know what to do about hazards" option for this team. He presses buttons (mainly Rapid Spin and Knock Off) and then sits there being the defensive wall Corviknight would be. It is defensive because I saw my two SpDef tanky sweepers and decided I needed something that could actually take a hit from a physical attack. This mon is just the standard defensive Tusk, other than its EVS. I have 0 reason for splitting 4evs in Attack and Speed when it literally does not matter. It is Tera Ground because I had no idea what else I could make it. Considering I never even think about terrastralizing this mon, I never saw a real reason to give it a defensive tera. It is just an offensive tera for a defensive mon. I know, stupid. But yeah, I'm using a mon that just sits there and is a utility defensive mon. It is also my ground type to stop thunder waves from stall teams. Great pivot against stall.



>>I really need some help with these members. It feels like the team is split in two and the team synergy I want this team to have is incredibly lacking. I would love to be more consistent with this team, but I can't even name what the weaknesses are other than my bad gameplay most of the time. There are multiple weaknesses to this team due to it being all over the place towards the end, but I can't figure out what to do. All help is appreciated, feel free to absolutely flame my team and thank you :D

 

[SouthsideBay]

Cool team homie and good names but your poll is missing Dragapult
If you're trying to " slowly whittle down the opposing team and wait for an opportunity", I wouldve went with something like a more 'fat' team with rotom-w to force progress, if not, a semi-stall team. Also you don't have any hazards which makes whittling down a lot harder.

Hydriegon doesn't need boots as it can only be hit by sr's - I'd switch it to lefties. If you want to, change tera blast to earth power for the coverage and use tera steel (the moves and tera you have are fine this is just a lil bit better vs stall IMO, keep the original if you like). he also learns stealth rock now FYI.

You could run a covert cloak set for gholdengo and cut corv out/give it leftovers.

Your Valiant isn't a pseudo-mixed attacker it is a mixed attacker nevertheless I think Cc is a bit questionable on a specs set maybe change that to focus blast or thunderbolt.

Defensive tusk should have body press instead of Cc , if not, stealth rocks since you don't have hazards

You said waterfall drops defence, that's liquidation - waterfall flinches but because dondozo is so slow it doesn't really matter either

 

[requiescat]

this is really long tl;dr at bottom
importable (edited team): https://pokepast.es/775e6221cf21ff42
Hydreigon is definitely an interesting pick, and I laddered with the team a little to get a feel for how it plays.
No u-turn on corv hurts and "defensive" or "bulky" mons are more attack oriented. The team is very predictable, and straight up loses to some mons, particularly fast special attackers can't wall.
Some quick changes I would definitely make are U-Turn > Bulk Up on, Body Press > Close Combat on , and Wave Crash > Waterfall on Protect > Sleep Talk might work too, never really clicked it, prot is good for scouting trick from or . U-Turn over Tera Blast on is good too, Substitute with lefties could work too but I haven't tested. A Scarf set could work, but you def want to change hdb.

Here's some things I noticed while laddering:
1. no rocks really hurts.
2. is really hard to play against—andlose to specs or get chipped by dd variants, is really the only reasonable switchin, and even then it loses to tbolt because it can't pressure pult.can switch into phantom force once.
3. some teras are super weird. specifically, i would switch:
a. tera Steel > Flying
b. tera Dragon > Fairy
c. tera Poison > Fairy/Steel

reasoning

- tera flyingwalls and
- tera fairy has a lot less weaknesses and performs better against
- doesn't really have the speed tier to sweep, and there aren't really that many fairies that poison hits (, is neutral, is neutral against dark, oneshots anyways with psychic if tera) . A defensive tera like steel (levitate means no ground weakness) or fairy (resists/immune to it's weaknesses to bug, dragon, fighting, and neutral to fairy) means it can counter mons like well.

Suggestions:
scarf -> covert cloak

importable

Gholdengo @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball/Hex
- Thunderbolt/Thunder Wave/Nasty Plot
- Recover

I ran into quite a few tera water, so I'm running thunderbolt to not be too passive, np probably works too and with tera flying means you can also set up on
Max def allows it to pivot, live hits fromor

reasoning

cloak ghold completely walls, especially ironpress variants. Even eq garg isn't really a problem with recover, and gholdengo can set up with np. Cloak is also useful just for avoiding annoying 10% paras from tbolt.

calcs

Defensive calcs

252 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 270-320 (71.4 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Cinderace Pyro Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tera Flying Gholdengo: 135-160 (35.7 - 42.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock

+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 274-324 (72.4 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 294-348 (77.7 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gholdengo: 288-342 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 314-372 (83 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Offensive calcs

0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Breloom: 247-292 (94.6 - 111.8%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO, guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

0 SpA Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garganacl: 360-426 (89.1 - 105.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

The main drawback of this set is that it can't guaranteed ohko, but it walls it anyway and I think the defensive utility is more useful, ohkos after rocks anyway. Obviouslytanks even better if rocks aren't up, but knock from andare problematic. Less mons getting knock this gen makes it less of an issue tho.

This set is really good because it combines ghold and corv's roles, letting you fish for spdef drops while having a garg counter and defensive backbone. mons with high spA like orare still hard to deal with, so I'd recommend replacingwith
unaware can survive a quick physical hit and cripple with toxic, even after dd because unaware. It can 1v1 any variant from full health, even if they have psychic, too lazy for calcs. This set also gives you rocks.
Additionally, is an option. Evil as it is, it completely walls pult with purifying salt and tera fairy. You could also run rocks on it too. It provides more offensive pressure (never thought i'd say that) than clod.

clodsire set

Clodsire @ Black Sludge
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Recover

garganacl set

Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Protect/Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Salt Cure
- Body Press/Stealth Rock

4 Spe is to creep other garganacl and guarantee body press before they click recover, if rocks > body press run 4 spD.
spdef garganacl sets work just fine too.

tl;dr:
Quick corrections that would help:
tera Steel > Flying
tera Dragon > Fairy
tera Poison > Fairy/Steel
moveset changes:
u-turn > tera blast
body press > close combat
wave crash > waterfall, dondozo has very little atk investment, 40 extra bp is useful and i never found pp or recoil an issue. Usually rest or lefties keeps dondozo hp just fine.
drastic changes:
scarf > defensive cloak with set above
>
specs> booster energy?? didn't test this one
ev changes on 252 HP/ 204 Def/ 52 Spe

tusk

Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

this set means defense gets boosted against rare sun teams, so it can 1v1 any offensive tusk, even under sun. 52 spe is 334 spe after rapid spin, beating mons like ,, and without scarf
first post hopefully formatting is alright