ORAS UU Midnight Has Come-A Balanced Haxorus Team

[TheKrookedGatr]

It is now midnight, and this team has come to dance in the shadows.

Originally, this team was built around Midnight, the shiny Haxorus. It has gone through a few changes, but I feel like this is the best it's ever been. Any help I can receive to help this black beast tear through the UU ladder will be much appreciated!

Teambuilding:

The team, of course started with Haxorus.

My team need a reliable fairy check because of haxorus, so roserade joined the team.

I wanted a fast offensive threat, preferably mixed and that resisted ice. Mix(t)ape fit that role perfectly.

Now, onto defense. I wanted a bulky water with some power. Mega Blastoise had both.

I needed a special wall, and I still needed a fairy. Boom, florges.

I lacked a solid flying resist, priority, and I wanted a little more bulk. Doublade fit the bill.

The slots mixed around a bit. Florges dropped for sylveon, doublade dropped for nidoking and a few others, megas switched around. Eventually I came back to the same team but coballion instead of doublade.


THE TEAM

Midnight (Haxorus) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake

The star of the team. After one dragon dance, this beast can sweep entire teams. I have tried both adamant and jolly, and I like the power over speed. Outrage/Earthquake has really good coverage (heck, look at garchomp) and poison jab absolutely decimates fairies. There honestly isn't much else to it than that. Set up a d-dance and win.

Masquerade (Roserade) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

The fairy killer. Do not let her masquerade fool you; she will ruin your game. Sleep powder is really nice, and has come in clutch many times, especially because I can put someone to sleep, switch into midnight, and d-dance up. Toxic spikes are nice for breaking down walls, and giga drain/sludge bomb for dual STABs. Roserade is there to tank special hits and hit back harder.

HORSEPWR (Cobalion) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head

Yes, this is pokeaimMD's nickname. The newest member of the team, HORSEPWR has quickly become a very crucial link, due to it's versatility. I can lead with it, sweep with it, or just punch things really hard. It is my rocker, which works very well with roserade's spikes and having a spinner instead of a defogger. Standard smogon set, but it works so well. Volt switch for initiative, and dual STABs for punching/headbutting things (cuz iron head!). Not much else to say.

Carnation (Florges) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Moonblast

In my opinion, carnation here is possibly the best special tank after the egg twins. Standard stuff, but without it, my team stands no chance, especially because blastoise does not have reliable recovery. Wish-passing is essential for this team to stay alive. Toxic is there for mons who just sit there and spam recovery (looking at you, P2), and moonblast is there for STAB. Again, not much else to say.

Kamex (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin

The defensive mega of the team. I love this thing so much as an offensive spinner. Even with minimal SpA investment, this thing still hits like a truck. One guy switched in his foretress trying to spin, and, with almost no investment AND without being modest, it dealt a clean 75% and OHKOd it. Dark pulse/aura sphere for coverage. Water Pulse over scald because I want the extra damage, the confusion is nice, and, with toxic spikes on the field most games, I don't need the burns too much.

MyMix(t)ape (Infernape) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot

I cannot express how much I love this mon. Infernape is the glue of this team, and this is my absolutely favorite set to run because it is about as fire as my mixtape (heh, puns). U-turn is for momentum purposes. Overheat is for steels, STAB, and anything that has weak SpDef. Close combat is also STAB and for anything that has weak PhysDef. Gunk shot is for faries. I remember one poor soul who let me pick off a mon with cc, tried to kill me with a lucario e-speed and died to an overheat, OHKOd his florges with gunk shot, and almost killed his celebi with a u-turn. Needless to say, my mixape is a beast and a key wincon if Haxorus dies early.

So that's it! Please let me know what you think of the team and any improvements you can think of!

 

[Shiba]

Hey man, cool looking team, I just have a few recommendations that would def help this team out.

• First off, I would recommend using Timid > Calm, Spikes > Toxic Spikes, and Life Orb > Black Sludge on Roserade, as Calm boosts your Special Defense instead of Special Attack, Spikes are way more consistent than Toxic Spikes considering the latter can be absorbed by any of the common Poison-types in the tier, and lastly Life Orb gives you some much needed power, and especially with Giga Drain, you won't really need the extra recovery of Black Sludge helping you out.
• Next, I'd recommend using Shuca Berry > Leftovers on Cobalion, this helps you have a one time switch-in to huge threats to this team like Krookodile and Mamoswine and KO them back.
• Next, you're using Cleric Florges, and with Sylveon in the tier now, it's pretty much outclassed by Sylveon in every way besides the Calm Mind set. That's why I'd recommend using Sylveon > Florges in the cleric spot. Here's the set, it's pretty standard.
  
  
  
  Sylveon @ Leftovers
  Ability: Pixilate
  EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
  Bold Nature
  IVs: 0 Atk
  - Hyper Voice
  - Wish
  - Protect
  - Heal Bell
  
  
• Lastly, I'd recommend using Choice Band Infernape over the set you have now. This provides you a more solid wallbreaker that's very hard to switch-in to and still provides the roles needed over the team over something like Entei in this slot, here's the set oo
  
  
  
  Infernape @ Choice Band
  Ability: Iron Fist
  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  Jolly Nature
  - Close Combat
  - Flare Blitz
  - U-turn
  - Mach Punch / Stone Edge / Thunder Punch
  
  But yeah, besides those small set adjustments and the Sylveon change, cool team! Good luck n_n

 

[TheKrookedGatr]

Hey Shiba, thanks for the rate!

Interesting choice for the roserade set. I never thought of running a more offensive set, but it has enough special bulk so I guess it makes sense. I'll play around with spikes vs t spikes a bit, but that sounds like a worthwhile switch. I'll give shuca berry a try, although I have grown quite attacked to lefties.

As for sylveon, I have tried it before, and I liked florges better, but I don't think it was this set. Although it doesn't have as much SpDef, it has a lot more offensive, which will be appreciated. I'll give it a shot.

Infernape though, I don't think I will switch. The OG set works wonders for me, and while the band set is more powerful, overheat gives me special coverage as well for pokes like mega-aggron. I'll keep it in the back of my head though. :)

Thanks again!

 

[Sacri']

Hey man, fun looking team you have got there. Here are some ideas I've had to improve it.

• First thing that came to my mind when I looked at the team: you lack a ground resistance which means you will struggle a lot versus things like Nidos, Krookodile and Mamoswine. Dragon Dance Salamence over Haxorus would fit the team nicely, it gives you the ground immunity you lacked and it also makes a better fire check thanks to Intimidate.

• As Shiba suggested, an offensive spread on Roserade as well as Spikes over T-spikes would work better with this team.
• Also agree with using Shuca Berry over Leftovers on Cobalion, just because Mamoswine remains a massive threat to the team.

• I don't see the point of defensive mega blastoise, really. Using an offensive spread as well as Scald/Hydro Pump over Water Pulse would make it much less passive and still allows it to check the pokemons it beat with the set you were using. This would also allow you to put more pressure on Empoleon that would otherwise be able to defog easily versus your team.

• While Cleric Sylveon would indeed be a decent fit for the team, I can also see Synthesis over Protect & Heal Bell over Toxic work with this team. I would also change the spread to run 232 Defense/252 HP/24 Spedef, this is the standart spread for Florges, able to tank special hits very well while still being a decent fighting check. Basically, what Synthesis + Wish Florges has over Sylveon is the ability to heal itself without wasting momentum because of protect while still being able to heal the other members of the team thanks to Wish.

• I would also have suggested a different set for Infernape but since you seem to be willing to keep the set you're currently running (which is fine) I wont make that suggestion.

sets

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb

Florges (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Wish
- Moonblast
- Heal Bell

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Iron Tail

Hope I helped!

 

[TheKrookedGatr]

Hey Sacri,

First off, I really like the different florges spread. I tried sylveon a bit last night, and it just didn't have enough all around bulk for my taste. I will be most likely making that switch. As for blastoise, if I take out the defense, there are certain mons that just run right through my team. Most of the matches I win are when blastoise lives through most or all of the match, and if I lose it early, I basically lose. Also, wish passing to it helps a lot. If I were to make the switch, is there another mon that is on the team or that could replace something that would play a more defensive role?

The roserade changes are really nice. No going back there.

I'm not so sure on the salamance switch. As well as having a less reliable way to check faries, this also just opens my team up waaaaay more to mamoswine. It is also kind of the centerpiece of this team, so another reason why I am reluctant to switch :)

Thanks again for the rate! I'll work around with these suggestions a bit.

 

[jjoshcja]

Haxorus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Dance

If you really want to use haxorous over mence I suggest you go with dual dance, it somewhat covers the teams weak stall MU and you're not going to miss Pjab terribly with the power boost from SD EQ.

 

[TheKrookedGatr]

Haxorus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Dance

If you really want to use haxorous over mence I suggest you go with dual dance, it somewhat covers the teams weak stall MU and you're not going to miss Pjab terribly with the power boost from SD EQ.

The only problem with that is then I don't have a reliable answer to fairies without setting up. Yes, it is better for the long run and setting up, but that is not always how haxorus is played. Sometimes if infernape is down, I need a quick fairy killer, and haxorus does massive damage to any fairy with pjab. Without the pjab, haxorus cannot kill fairies without a boost, like gardevoir and sylveon.