THE NICHE HEAT BRIGADE
I've heard of the Yu-Gi-Oh! archetype Tri-Brigade, but what does the word mean?
View attachment 530210
Cool. Now within 3 days, I'll make some heat
Screw it I'll make it right now
Anti-Lead Pivot Hydreigon
BUT WHY HYDREIGON?
Good point. So overall, Hydreigon is alright in OU. It's not flashy or anything - it just exists and I won't be surprised if it does drop to UU (where it normally resides and is excellent in). However, HOME has flipped the meta upside down and made previous pokemon amazing while others just co-existed. Off the top of my head, nothing prior to HOME has really gotten better but that's only because I don't play much OU as of late - more so Freedom Cup. However, Freedom Cup has led me into using
as a lead. Now, it may not seem like much but many factors allow it to thrive as an anti anti-lead. Firstly, it has
Taunt - which can shut down any and all hazard attempts. Secondly, it has coverage like no one's business. Meaning aside from
Taunt, you can honestly run any of
Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Hurricane, Dark Pulse, Earth Power or
Hydro Pump (and the weaker forms of said moves like
Surf or
Air Slash) as coverage against some leads like
,
or
. Third, it's a
Flying-type. having a
Flying-type make or breaks it in most cases. It's a great typing for a lead overall - being immune to
Ground and
Psychic attacks while neutral to
Fighting allows it to stand up to a lead
that might anti-lead a more common one like
as appose to
and beat it in a 1v1. But the most important aspect of it is its speed tier. Being a lead with 108 speed is actually incredible as you get the jump on things like
that might think they outspeed you. You could even run Booster Energy instead of a more obvious
as an item to get the jump on a
Quark Drive Speed boosting
- but this is more niche than anything else and
is a consistent tool to get damage or a
Taunt on something annoying. The only issue with
is going to do is trade 1-for-1 with something, but that's more than worth the investment to have minimal hazards on your end and allows teams to not suffocate in front of hazard stacking. Plus any form of damage on a lead is better than nothing and a 5v6 while you struggle to maintain hazards (assuming you don't have a
Rapid Spin or
Defog user - which many teams can't afford running). But this is a
post about OU, not an
post about Freedom Cup.
So why did I mention it in the first place? Well, the same basic rules apply to
.
Levitate is essentially a
Flying-type without its downsides in terms of weaknesses and
Stealth Rock dealing 1/4 instead of 1/8 like normally - meaning
is even more tightened as a pure anti-lead that matches up well into other leads. Meanwhile,
is instead neutral to
Stealth Rock and takes the normal 1/8 chip from it assuming you're not immune to it with
. It even has a neat
Dragon-type with all of its resistances being relevant. Both even pack the ever amazing
U-turn as a way to gain momentum. Now that we've gone over the basis for why I picked
, let's get into the moveset.
CHEFFED UP ANTI-LEAD PIVOT HYDREIGON
Hydreigon @ Roseli Berry
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 224 HP / 88 Def / 28 SpA / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Hydro Pump /
Draco Meteor /
Focus Blast /
Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon /
Draco Meteor /
Focus Blast /
Dark Pulse
- Taunt /
U-turn / Nasty Plot
This thing has gotten coverage for days. Every one of
's special moves could be used potentially imo except for
Fire Blast - which is just raw type overlapping. You could use any of the moves I listed and the weaker versions of them if you're afraid of missing your moves.
Earth Power is the 1 move I recommend you always have, although it can be in place of any coverage I mentioned. Note that the speed allows it to outpace
, but not max speed
. On the topic of moves,
Earth Power provides nice coverage against much of the meta including:
,
,
,
,
and overall being a solid neutral option.
Hydro Pump hits the
Ground-types is immune to via its STAB - and its a consistent option if you wanna hit the ever common
or
. If you value consistency,
Surf is another alternative.
Flash Cannon exists only for
or
but it's well worth the effort. If
can get in on an
or
safely and hit it with a
Flash Cannon, with rocks up that has a chance to KO
and probably will KO an
assuming it's not
. And even if you don't KO them, that's still a damage trade that could mean the difference between winning and losing that game.
Focus Blast is an interesting option on
. All of its coverage moves cause some type overlap - so you really could feasibly run it and hit the things you need to. It deals with things like
and
effectively, and even has a chance to drop there special defense. It could be used, but
Earth Power covers move options in terms of the meta.
Draco Meteor needs no explaining. It's the strongest move
has, and its a beefy one.This set is bulk focused however, and it could be a nice tech option vs
Dragon-types and
Unaware users. If you were to run a STAB on this,
Dark Pulse is better in multiple situations. It hits a lot of the
Trick Room users and other
Ghost /
Psychic-types for some nice damage. After you mix and match its coverage options, you can use some support tools.
Taunt, Nasty Plot and
U-turn are good in there situations.
Taunt ruins stall pokemon, and
U-turn is the best pivot move in the game. And
Nasty Plot allows
to make use of its excellent bulk and possibly sweep a team.
But there's 1 more matter to discuss:
Why is it Tera Ghost?
Seeing as it doesn't really need to tera due to its bulk living the hits it needs to, Tera Ghost has 1 VERY niche use that just so happens to work extremely well for it: it can 1v1 
. is... very powerful. If it gets a switch-in with 
and Guts intact at high HP, something is going to get KO'd. Many teams can't brute force there way through a screens supported either without a big chunk of their team at low HP or just killed outright. Enter Tera Ghost - a mon that resists Crunch pre-tera, and is immune to 's Facade afterwards. Actually, it's immune to BOTH of its STAB's after a tera. isn't a mon you want to have get no damage off. That's the only exploitable thing about it. A Tera Ghost Nasty Plot can straight up OHKO an with a Hydro Pump. It can also make it setup all over a trying to Close Combat it. Really, Tera Ghost Nasty Plot go together so well since people assume you'll turn into a Steel or Fairy-type as a .
CHEFFED HYDREIGON OFFENSIVE CALCS
+2 28 SpA Hydreigon Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ursaluna: 466-550 (100.6 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
28 SpA Hydreigon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Enamorus: 170-202 (58.8 - 69.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28 SpA Hydreigon Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Iron Valiant: 240-284 (83 - 98.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
28 SpA Hydreigon Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 324-382 (74.6 - 88%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 28 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 348-409 (107.7 - 126.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
28 SpA Hydreigon Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Torkoal: 214-254 (62.3 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28 SpA Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gholdengo: 230-272 (73 - 86.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28 SpA Hydreigon Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kingambit: 484-572 (120 - 141.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
CHEFFED HYDREIGON DEFENSIVE CALCS
+2 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Hydreigon: 232-273 (60.8 - 71.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Iron Head vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Hydreigon: 220-259 (57.7 - 67.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Hydreigon: 320-380 (83.9 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Hydreigon: 320-380 (83.9 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Enamorus Superpower vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Hydreigon: 238-282 (62.4 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Enamorus Play Rough vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Roseli Berry Hydreigon: 270-318 (70.8 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Hydreigon: 291-343 (76.3 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Guts Ursaluna Crunch vs. 224 HP / 88 Def Tera Ghost Hydreigon: 302-356 (79.2 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That's all there is too it. Hydreigon and Iron Jugulis as leads are perfect for me. The fact that it can Nasty Plot as well to catch someone off guard is even better. Thanks for reading this. I've been working on it ever since I discovered Iron Jugulis as a lead a week ago. Not as long as some of the things made here, but it was a headache inducer for me. Really happy I made this. With all that being said, goodbye.
, and 
), you have a status option for anything as well as the insane speed to land it consistently, powering up your hex and making it easier for you to avoid crippling damage. Obviously this is a pretty simple variation on the dragon darts utility 
, 
, 
, or 
close combats, as they will be forced out without breaking disguise or activating your red card, but you can also swap into these threats reasonably safely anyway thanks to disguise—your payoff will just be lower if they actually hit you.
, in conjunction with 
as both will ignore good as gold, and you will undoubtedly want an unaware wall (likely 
) to assist in dealing with the free turns you give up recovering and setting screens, but in exchange you severely limit your opponent’s hazard counterplay.
and 
, but heavy slam will muscle through 
, 
, 
—which can’t switch in and belly drum against 2 heavy slams but can do this vs iron head—
, and tera fairy 
and 
; while the list of targets for heavy slam is certainly longer, 
Non-response to Zamazenta
/
