SM OU Mega Lopunny Hazard Stack Core

[Twilight]

Hey I took a little break and decided to get back into playing OU again and I decided to build a team around one of my favourite megas back in ORAS, Lopunny. I have had quite a lot of success with this team so I thought I would share it here and get some advice on it.

Started off with Mega Lopunny as this used to be my favourite mega back in ORAS and seeing as it isn’t that bad in the current metagame I decided to give it a go.

I then added Scarf Tapu Koko because it helps pressure Toxapex and Celesteela and out speeds pretty much everything both boosted and unboosted.

Added Flyinium Z Landorus-T because it destroys bulky grass types for Koko to wreak havoc on Lopunny’s checks and reliably sets up rocks.

I decided to add a defensive backbone next so went for Ferrothorn as checks Koko and Ash-Gren to an extent plus sets up Spikes for Lopunny Sweep.

Added Toxapex for its ability to wall most of the metagame and set up Toxic Spikes to help Lopunny sweep late as well.

Finally I added Mew mainly because this team struggled switching into Medicham, plus it is a better Zygarde and Landorus-T answer.

​

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-

High Jump Kick
-

Frustration
-

Fake Out
-

Power-Up Punch

So here is the star of the team and honestly, I absolutely love the design of Mega Lopunny. She hits hard and pressures the common steel types in the meta. Of course I must mention her incredible speed stat allowing it to outpace the likes of Tapu Koko and revenge killing it. High Jump Kick is one of her hardest hitting moves pressuring the steel types in the meta which are prominent on basically every team. Frustration is the other hard-hitting move which pressures common Pokémon that resist fighting stab, I use Frustration over Return just out of habit :3. I decided to go with Fake Out to net priority if Koko isn’t the most reliable revenge killer in the given scenario and it annoys most aurora veil teams as Alolan-Ninetails goes down after Fake out + High Jump Kick meaning Aurora Veil either doesn’t go up or goes up later in the game. Also stops Smeargle setting up Sticky Webs for the same reason turn 1. I then decided to go with Power-Up Punch so it can set up and sweep against walls late.​

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
-

Thunderbolt
-

Brave Bird
-

Volt Switch
-

Dazzling Gleam

I decided to run Scarf Tapu Koko because Lopunny struggles to revenge kill the likes of Volcarona at +1, Scarf Latios and Keldeo etc. so I deemed Koko to fit this role perfectly. It also pressures the likes of Celesteela and Toxapex which are very common switch-ins to Lopunny. I went with a Rash nature to maximise it's special attack due to the lack of specs. Thunderbolt is the main stab for Koko hitting like a truck in Electric Terrain. Brave Bird is used as it revenge kills Volcarona with a little prior damage, if it is a last ditch effort Lopunny can always revenge kill with Fake Out afterwards. Volt Switch provides much needed momentum for this team though you have to be wary of a ground type switch-in. Dazzling Gleam OHKOs the likes of Zygarde, Latios and Kyurem-B after a little prior damage which is not an issue with the hazards on my team.

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-

Earthquake
-

Stealth Rock
-

Gravity
-

Fly

I added Flyinium Z Landorus to deal with the bulky grass types which Koko doesn't enjoy. Paving the way for Koko to spam T-Bolt means Lopunny has a better chance at sweeping. I am still currently testing between Rockium Z and Flyinium Z but as of so far I have found this set most successful at doing it's job. Earthquake is it's main stab and with combination of Gravity it means things like Skarmory or Celesteela aren't walls for it. It does mean Lopunny can't use High Jump Kick but Landorus should be coming in early to wallbreak rather than late. I needed a Stealth Rock setter so Landorus was perfect for that too.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-

Scald
-

Toxic Spikes
-

Haze
-

Recover

Toxapex is my main Keldeo and Ash Greninja answer. The set is standard for this bulky wall. Scald is the best covergae move for it potentially netting a burn on a threat. Toxic Spikes helps wear down the likes of Tangrowth for example and with the combination of Gravity can force things like Zapdos to be intoxicated. Haze stops set up sweepers such as Volcarona from sweeping or some Zard X variants. Recover is it's standard recovery needed for it to sustain itself if switching for Regenerator recovery isn't an option.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
-

Power Whip
-

Spikes
-

Leech Seed
-

Knock Off

This is my second wall which supports Toxapex by taking on the likes of Koko and Lele to an extent which bother Toxapex for example. Power Whip hits Landorus-T, Zygarde and Bulky water types the hardest. Spikes helps Lopunny sweep in the end game and makes Landorus job of wallbreaking easier. Leech Seed nets recovery for it and the team. Knock Off was my preferred final move slot to remove items such as leftovers and eviolite to help Lopunny sweep easier.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
-

Ice Beam
-

U-Turn
-

Will-O-Wisp
-

Soft-Boiled

Mew is my best Zygarde answer and also I needed it because this team really hates Mega Medicham which runs through it otherwise. I have the standard Mew set, Ice Beam for Landorus and Zygarde which it outspeeds. Will-O-Wisp is to stop physical sweepers or breakers being such a threat to the team. Soft-Boiled is for recovery and for now I am U-turn because with the idea of the team being built around setting up hazards though it does make me weak to rocks and spikes not that I suffer that much from it. If you guys think there is a better move for this slot do let me know.​

importable

Lopunny-Mega (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Power-Up Punch
- Frustration

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Spikes

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Brave Bird

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Gravity
- Fly
- Stealth Rock

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled

I hope you guys like and can improve this team, I have been away for a while so my account has decayed a lot and I see there have been a few tier changes. I am currently climbing back up to where I used to be and will shortly follow up with replays and proof of how high I can peak with the team hopefully by tomorrow.​

 

[Indigo Plateau]

Hey Twilight! Cool team, I haven't used Mega Lopunny as much in SM as I did in ORAS, but it definitely can still excel in the current meta. The team is very solid and the defensive backbone that you have helps you cover a lot of threats. Some issues that I notice with the team is that you heavily rely on Lando-T to kill something and then on Scarf Koko + Lop plus hazards to clean up later. Fatter teams that can adequately handle Lando-T (since no SD) and that can reliably defog are problematic, since your backbone is too passive to break them and then you're relying on a locked Koko + Lop. There are a couple ways to circumnavigate this (mostly movepool changes), and I'll try to give you some possible improvements below.

Threats

Like I mentioned, you're going to struggle against fatter builds that can deal with Lando-T. Take this scenario as an example: your Koko vs their Celesteela. Since you're choice locked, say you predict their Venusaur (walls minimum 4/6 members) and go for BB while they click Protect. Celesteela is very annoying for your team, and now you have to find something to switch into Leech Seed. If TSpikes are up already, this is especially problematic, since you won't have a way to heal up your breakers and might lose to the VenuPexSteela core in the end. Lando-T is effective at breaking this core, especially with Gravity, but you have to play mind games with when to use your Z-Move on Venusaur.

Stall is very heard for your team to break. On one hand, you're relying on Lopunny to do a lot of the work, and this won't happen with the likes of Quagsire coming back to standard stall builds. You also have Lando to potentially put in work, but Quagsire + Skarmory are an issue again. Hazards aren't an issue for stall with Sableye being able to practically come in for free on your hazard setters and bounce them back, and Skarmory can defog them if they get out of hand. Quagsire in general just seems like a huge pain in the ass, so thankfully you don't see stall as much now lol.

Offensive Lando-T really has no true counters, but it is still an issue since you're relying on Mew to always be healthy to counter it. That's not a bad assumption, but this can quickly get overwhelming if Lando-T is paired with something like Medicham. This issue is very hard for a lot of teams to fix on paper, but I wanted to still point it out.

Mega Zam + Tapu Lele are very annoying for your team too, as only Ferro + Mew can reliably switch in. Mega Zam is able to 2hko both Ferro and Mew with FB / HP Fire and Shadow Ball respectively, and nothing really is going to be switching into a Specs Lele. Again, this is a hard fix on paper without changing the structure of your team, but I'll briefly touch on this later.

Definitely more of a niche weakness, but Reuniclus runs through your team. Hazards don't affect it, and it gets a free CM (or TR if OTR) whenever it comes in vs Ferro, Pex, or Mew. This is also problematic because it is usually seen on fatter builds, which if you use Lando's Z-Move to attempt to break through it, you'll have other fat mons to deal with in the back.


Suggestions

This might seem like a lot to take into account, and I do think that your team has a solid structure, so I will focus on moveset / item tweaks that I think will help you out in the long run.

Encore > Fake Out

I know you said that Fake Out helps out with A-Veil and is good chip damage for the likes of Volcarona (which you also struggle with as your only answer is Koko if Z Psychic, but I'll mention this later), but I definitely think that Encore helps you out more with this team. It helps you with both the fat team mu (Celesteela / Venu) and the stall mu (think Quag), as you can make them double think about getting hazards up, going for recovery, etc. Encore + PuP is very efficient at breaking these types of teams, and I do believe it will supplement your team more than getting chip damage on the likes of Volc and whatever might outspeed Lop. Fake Out is also good when hazard stacking for the extra chip damage, but fat builds won't care about the minimum damage, as they'll usually find ways to defog. Against offensive archetypes, you do lose out on Fake Out against faster things than Lop, but you have a nice defensive backbone to fall back on.

Swords Dance > Stealth Rock

As I mentioned before, I see that you rely a lot on having Lando-T break something problematic for your team and then rely on Lop + Koko to clean up. A good player can play around SSSS, recover any damage off, and then proceed to trouble you with hazards (for example, Ferro can recover damage off with Leech Seed and get Spikes up). For this reason, I think that you should forego SR on Lando-T and opt for SD. This will help you threaten fatter things out instead of inviting them in freely to wall you (Ferro / Celesteela w/ Leech Seed, Mew, Reuniclus) - especially Reuniclus, since now it doesn't want to stay in and CM. I might also recommend opting for Jolly > Adamant if you feel that opposing offensive Lando's are a nuisance (especially Sub + SD sets), but that might be more of a nitpick since you still do have speedy Mew in the back.

Stealth Rock / Taunt > U-Turn

Now that Lando doesn't have SR anymore, I think you can easily fit it on Mew over U-Turn. I know U-Turn is nice to bring in your mons for free, but it isn't a complete necessity as I can't think of a glaring scenario in which U-Turn will help you bring one of your offensive mons in (besides Heatran ig). If you opt to keep SR on Lando-T, then I think that having Taunt will benefit you more in the long run. You lack Defog because you want to hazard stack, but you have no way of pressuring other hazard stackers when one of your passive mons is in against theirs. Opposing Ferro won't care about a WoW as they'll aim to Leech Seed + Spike up against your team regardless, so Taunt will help here. If you don't like any of these, Defog is always an alternative if you feel that you keep losing hazard wars.

Occa / Chople Berry > Leftovers
More of a situational and personal preference change. You're welcome to keep Lefties on Ferro, but I felt like it was good to drop this idea in if you feel that opposing Mega Zam + Lele cores are too overwhelming. I personally don't run into those two that much, but I have been seeing them more lately. Occa / Chople will give you a chance to live hits if you're weakened or if they predict the switch and get off a possible attack to cripple one of these mons.

Papaya Berry / Leftovers > Black Sludge

Now, if you're really worried about Volc, then this is always a possible change if your Koko can't revenge kill it in order to tank a Z-Psychic and haze away the setup. Volc in general is hard for your team to deal with if it comes in the likes of Ferro and/or Mew, as you have to basically go straight Pex on the QD. If for whatever reason it gets 2 QD's up then it's game over. Now that I opted out of Fake Out on Lop, Papaya Berry is an interesting alternative. I think you're okay without it tbh, but you can always use it if the Volc mu scares you. If you don't, then change Black Sludge to Leftovers in the rare case of Trick shenanigans.

Conclusion

I like the structure of your team and I tried to keep it as is for the most part, as switching out team members will open up new weaknesses. Try out the changes and let me know what works and what doesn't. I do think that the mentioned changes will improve your team in the long run and alleviate some mu issues. I don't see any glaring new weaknesses that the team has after the changes since I kept the members the same. The biggest one is that Ash-Ninja becomes more threatening now; the lost recovery from Lefties make it annoying as it is a nuisance when they're both weakened, especially if it flinches them. Try to keep those at a reasonable amount of HP and then scare them out with Lop/Koko. If you do choose to go for Berries on Ferro/Tox then they will lack some recovery, but you still have Leech Seed + Recover/Regen respectively to patch that. If you have any more questions then feel free to contact me. Gl with the team!

 

[Twilight]

Hey Twilight! Cool team, I haven't used Mega Lopunny as much in SM as I did in ORAS, but it definitely can still excel in the current meta. The team is very solid and the defensive backbone that you have helps you cover a lot of threats. Some issues that I notice with the team is that you heavily rely on Lando-T to kill something and then on Scarf Koko + Lop plus hazards to clean up later. Fatter teams that can adequately handle Lando-T (since no SD) and that can reliably defog are problematic, since your backbone is too passive to break them and then you're relying on a locked Koko + Lop. There are a couple ways to circumnavigate this (mostly movepool changes), and I'll try to give you some possible improvements below.

Threats

Like I mentioned, you're going to struggle against fatter builds that can deal with Lando-T. Take this scenario as an example: your Koko vs their Celesteela. Since you're choice locked, say you predict their Venusaur (walls minimum 4/6 members) and go for BB while they click Protect. Celesteela is very annoying for your team, and now you have to find something to switch into Leech Seed. If TSpikes are up already, this is especially problematic, since you won't have a way to heal up your breakers and might lose to the VenuPexSteela core in the end. Lando-T is effective at breaking this core, especially with Gravity, but you have to play mind games with when to use your Z-Move on Venusaur.

Stall is very heard for your team to break. On one hand, you're relying on Lopunny to do a lot of the work, and this won't happen with the likes of Quagsire coming back to standard stall builds. You also have Lando to potentially put in work, but Quagsire + Skarmory are an issue again. Hazards aren't an issue for stall with Sableye being able to practically come in for free on your hazard setters and bounce them back, and Skarmory can defog them if they get out of hand. Quagsire in general just seems like a huge pain in the ass, so thankfully you don't see stall as much now lol.

Offensive Lando-T really has no true counters, but it is still an issue since you're relying on Mew to always be healthy to counter it. That's not a bad assumption, but this can quickly get overwhelming if Lando-T is paired with something like Medicham. This issue is very hard for a lot of teams to fix on paper, but I wanted to still point it out.

Mega Zam + Tapu Lele are very annoying for your team too, as only Ferro + Mew can reliably switch in. Mega Zam is able to 2hko both Ferro and Mew with FB / HP Fire and Shadow Ball respectively, and nothing really is going to be switching into a Specs Lele. Again, this is a hard fix on paper without changing the structure of your team, but I'll briefly touch on this later.

Definitely more of a niche weakness, but Reuniclus runs through your team. Hazards don't affect it, and it gets a free CM (or TR if OTR) whenever it comes in vs Ferro, Pex, or Mew. This is also problematic because it is usually seen on fatter builds, which if you use Lando's Z-Move to attempt to break through it, you'll have other fat mons to deal with in the back.


Suggestions

This might seem like a lot to take into account, and I do think that your team has a solid structure, so I will focus on moveset / item tweaks that I think will help you out in the long run.

Encore > Fake Out

I know you said that Fake Out helps out with A-Veil and is good chip damage for the likes of Volcarona (which you also struggle with as your only answer is Koko if Z Psychic, but I'll mention this later), but I definitely think that Encore helps you out more with this team. It helps you with both the fat team mu (Celesteela / Venu) and the stall mu (think Quag), as you can make them double think about getting hazards up, going for recovery, etc. Encore + PuP is very efficient at breaking these types of teams, and I do believe it will supplement your team more than getting chip damage on the likes of Volc and whatever might outspeed Lop. Fake Out is also good when hazard stacking for the extra chip damage, but fat builds won't care about the minimum damage, as they'll usually find ways to defog. Against offensive archetypes, you do lose out on Fake Out against faster things than Lop, but you have a nice defensive backbone to fall back on.

Swords Dance > Stealth Rock

As I mentioned before, I see that you rely a lot on having Lando-T break something problematic for your team and then rely on Lop + Koko to clean up. A good player can play around SSSS, recover any damage off, and then proceed to trouble you with hazards (for example, Ferro can recover damage off with Leech Seed and get Spikes up). For this reason, I think that you should forego SR on Lando-T and opt for SD. This will help you threaten fatter things out instead of inviting them in freely to wall you (Ferro / Celesteela w/ Leech Seed, Mew, Reuniclus) - especially Reuniclus, since now it doesn't want to stay in and CM. I might also recommend opting for Jolly > Adamant if you feel that opposing offensive Lando's are a nuisance (especially Sub + SD sets), but that might be more of a nitpick since you still do have speedy Mew in the back.

Stealth Rock / Taunt > U-Turn

Now that Lando doesn't have SR anymore, I think you can easily fit it on Mew over U-Turn. I know U-Turn is nice to bring in your mons for free, but it isn't a complete necessity as I can't think of a glaring scenario in which U-Turn will help you bring one of your offensive mons in (besides Heatran ig). If you opt to keep SR on Lando-T, then I think that having Taunt will benefit you more in the long run. You lack Defog because you want to hazard stack, but you have no way of pressuring other hazard stackers when one of your passive mons is in against theirs. Opposing Ferro won't care about a WoW as they'll aim to Leech Seed + Spike up against your team regardless, so Taunt will help here. If you don't like any of these, Defog is always an alternative if you feel that you keep losing hazard wars.

Occa / Chople Berry > Leftovers
More of a situational and personal preference change. You're welcome to keep Lefties on Ferro, but I felt like it was good to drop this idea in if you feel that opposing Mega Zam + Lele cores are too overwhelming. I personally don't run into those two that much, but I have been seeing them more lately. Occa / Chople will give you a chance to live hits if you're weakened or if they predict the switch and get off a possible attack to cripple one of these mons.

Papaya Berry / Leftovers > Black Sludge

Now, if you're really worried about Volc, then this is always a possible change if your Koko can't revenge kill it in order to tank a Z-Psychic and haze away the setup. Volc in general is hard for your team to deal with if it comes in the likes of Ferro and/or Mew, as you have to basically go straight Pex on the QD. If for whatever reason it gets 2 QD's up then it's game over. Now that I opted out of Fake Out on Lop, Papaya Berry is an interesting alternative. I think you're okay without it tbh, but you can always use it if the Volc mu scares you. If you don't, then change Black Sludge to Leftovers in the rare case of Trick shenanigans.

Conclusion

I like the structure of your team and I tried to keep it as is for the most part, as switching out team members will open up new weaknesses. Try out the changes and let me know what works and what doesn't. I do think that the mentioned changes will improve your team in the long run and alleviate some mu issues. I don't see any glaring new weaknesses that the team has after the changes since I kept the members the same. The biggest one is that Ash-Ninja becomes more threatening now; the lost recovery from Lefties make it annoying as it is a nuisance when they're both weakened, especially if it flinches them. Try to keep those at a reasonable amount of HP and then scare them out with Lop/Koko. If you do choose to go for Berries on Ferro/Tox then they will lack some recovery, but you still have Leech Seed + Recover/Regen respectively to patch that. If you have any more questions then feel free to contact me. Gl with the team!

Thanks for the rate bro, I definitely agree with some of these changes and sorry for the lack of replays I've not had the time right now to post them like I wanted to but I've definitely struggles with stall due to the lack of offensive pressure lando provides without SD.

So i completely agree with adding swords Dance to landorus as I can muscle past a lot of bulky walls now. I wanted to run it before but it never crossed my mind mew learns SR as i never run it on mew xD. I'll try taunt on mew too as I have struggled against opposing hazard stacking occasionally.

As for the berries they are definitely interesting and I'll most likely run it on toxapex because it doesn't necessarily need recovery to be a good Mon. Ferrothorn is very situational and I personally haven't struggled with lele and zam but if it becomes an issue I'll use the idea :). I'm confused about the lefties on toxapex though, wouldn't it be better to trick an opponent black sludge as it weakens them or are you referring to if they tricked a second time?

And I agree about lopunny I've only found fake out to be useful in certain scenarios like to revenge kill or rack up poison damage. I think encore and Pup is definitely needed and is the reason lopunny is a decent Mon right now. So ill be using this set.

Thanks for the suggestions ill try them out today hopefully and get replays anf proof of peak up asap. Appreciate the help.