Happy New Year everyone! While Pokemon has taken a backseat to other important life things in recent months, I was able to generate a spark over the holiday downtime and have a little fun romping through BSS ladder before Reg E officially came to a close.
Only having spent the last week or so of the month working on this team--amid all the holiday jubilee going on with family--this team is far from being fully optimized. But for as little time as I spent with it, I had some massive "aha!" moments that I didn't want to just let slip without sharing. So this time, I'm writing a mini(?) RMT: I'm going to spend less time going into minutia about individual sets and selections and more time talking about the overarching concepts that I learned about face-to-face teambuilding. Hope you enjoy!
Individual Sets
Ogerpon-Hearthflame (F) @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 Def
Adamant Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Horn Leech
- Rock Tomb
- Quick Attack
What I would consider to be the axis of the main core (Ogerpon / Urshifu / Bloodmoon.) Speed investment is completely foregone in lieu of heavy bulk investment, so much so that opposing max split Hearthflames (Jolly) cannot consistently 2HKO with Rock Tomb into Ivy Cudgel if not Terastallizing. Obviously other important benchmarks like Tera Water Urshifu still apply as well. It can be a massive wrench in an opponent's game plan when this thing refuses to die quickly.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unseen Fist
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Aqua Jet
A semi-slow Urshifu build meant to prey on fast CC Urshifu and Ogerpon-Hearthflame, as well as carrying CC to pressure opposing Ursaluna-Bloodmoon. It being slower than no Speed Ogerpon can be big, since the first Horn Leech will go after Surging Strikes and miss out on the lion's share of healing normally expected.
The lack of speed can definitely be a two-edged sword though. All things considered, I'm not sure Sash was the best call here either (I say "best" since it absolutely helped in a lot of games,) and with more time I might have experimented more with a Sitrus Berry or even faster Swords Dance set. But like Ogerpon above, you're almost always getting value out of something as strong as Adamant Urshifu.
Ursaluna-Bloodmoon @ Leftovers
Ability: Mind's Eye
Level: 50
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 36 SpA / 124 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blood Moon
- Earth Power
- Yawn
- Moonlight
A quick point of self-indulgence: this was originally a three attacks + Calm Mind set with Silk Scarf, meant to beat Ogerpon and opposing AV Bloodmoon without having to utilize a Normal Tera. For what its worth, it felt really spicy, especially into targets that weren't expecting me to start boosting.
In the end though, I wanted something that felt more consistent switching into Dragonite (both Twave and all-out offense sets,) so I more or less stole the defensive spread from this report. It doesn't specify nature but I ran it with Modest.
While this set didn't feel nearly as deadly as the former, it was much more disruptive, which is what the first two members really needed more than anything. The main core didn't originally have a good way of recovering from well-placed face-to-face setup, so this set was a stabilizing piece in that regard. Tera Poison still gives it a workable offensive matchup into Urshifu and Flutter Mane, while also denying Ogerpon any meaningful Horn Leech recovery.
Dragonite @ Assault Vest
Ability: Multiscale
Level: 50
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 132 HP / 236 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Low Kick
- Iron Head
Special Fire-type sweepers like Chi-Yu and Iron Moth (the latter of which saw a small surge in usage to end the month) can be problematic for the main core, so I added Assault Vest Dragonite as an answer to these. Even with the new toy in +1 Meteor Beam from Iron Moth, Dragonite doesn't take more than half with Multiscale up. Dragonite also gives a Ground-immunity for games where I intend to lean into Bloodmoon Tera. Finally, I appreciate that this set isn't as Tera hungry as other popular sets tend to be, so Tera can still flow freely to where it is needed.
Tera Normal was the choice made for Extreme Speed shenanigans, but I do think Tera Steel could've been a good choice here as well to improve performance against Flutter Mane and Bloodmoon.
Chien-Pao @ Life Orb
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Crunch
- Sucker Punch
- Sacred Sword
Chosen as an offensive complement to Dragonite, meant to punish Ghost Terastallization with Sucker Punch (and Tera Steel with Sacred Sword.) It also helps that the two cover Iron Moth well together: Booster Moth struggles to break Dragonite and Power Herb Moth is slower than Chien-Pao.
Focus Sash would've probably been better here, but since Urshifu was already using it I went for Life Orb instead. Jolly was chosen to outspeed opposing Adamant Chien-Pao, with the loss of power being patched up by Life Orb. Tera Dark was, again, for raw offensive power. A nice finishing piece but without Focus Sash its value was a bit situational.
Flutter Mane @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hex
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
Your standard disruptor Flutter Mane. It was mainly employed against teams that clearly telegraphed setup (Annihilape, Ting-Lu, Roaring Moon, etc.) Its prepped for much more heavily now than when the set emerged, but it still retains good value into the more flowchart-y archetypes utilized by the previously mentioned matchups.
Because the team is so weak against Stealth Rocks and hard setup, this type of set felt like a necessity. Whether it leads or comes out second can depend on the circumstances. While I wasn't convinced that Flutter Mane was exactly what the team needed, it was still very splashable. When deployed, it ultimately fulfilled its purpose.
Selection Process
These are the basic selections I relied upon at team preview.
Versus "Big 6" / standard face-to-face builds :
+ + Versus cycle / offense with Chi-Yu or Iron Moth :
+ + / / Versus dedicated setup :
+ 2Reflection
My educational foray into learning "Big 6" was inspired by the following report: https://tamiminzemi.hatenablog.com/entry/2023/12/02/142410
This article essentially attacks a concept that I've been grappling with this generation : volatility. How does one deal with the unpredictable nature of Tera in a consistent manner? Is running "Big 6" and hitting as hard as possible truly the most reliable way to go?
The answer to that last question is... sort of! At least as it pertains to face-to-face archetypes, this team led me to a cascading chain of conclusions.
Concept 1 : This generation continues the trend of offense leaning towards raw power.
In my opinion, there are two driving factors at play here:
- Tera's ability to provide type-based momentum swings make super-effective hits more inconsistent. As such, strong neutral coverage usually backed by STAB tends to be "safer" compared to super-effective hits that are often teched for. This is not to say that super-effective hits aren’t desirable; rather, it’s an acknowledgment that slapping “Fighting move” on a random sweeper does not suddenly make it a reliable Chien-Pao counter.
- Power creep has been strong over the last two generations. If you look at the month of December, 15 out of 20 top usage spots in BSS are occupied by Gen 8 and Gen 9 mons, including the two new Kitakami "legendaries" in Ogerpon and Bloodmoon. While Dexit certainly contributes to this, you'd be pressed to find seasoned BSS players who think mons like Chien-Pao, Urshifu and Ursaluna aren't at least borderline broken.
This was a concept that I kind of understood already, even if I didn't get the full nuance of it. But that leads me to the next point:
Concept 2 : Defensive Tera usage favors targeted resistance over broad neutral typing.
Again, I want to stress that I'm talking mainly about offense here. Going for broad neutral typing is much more effective on Dondozo or Wo-Chien when you have the raw bulk that they possess. But for sweepers, strong neutral typing is usually second (though often a nice incidental perk) next to getting specific type resistances.
The reason for this ties right back into the first point: many attackers are already doing major damage with neutral coverage already. Even though turning a super-effective hit to neutral may save you for a turn, it may still leave you chunked below half of your max HP. This is significant because in a meta where revenge killing is extremely strong, burning Tera just to be immediately cleaned up afterwards often doesn't represent a strong enough return on value for the face-to-face archetype.
In order for a sweeper to maintain its momentum beyond a single turn, it often needs to resist or block whatever is coming at it. This makes it less susceptible to incoming priority and helps extend its reach beyond the initial 1v1 it was trying to win. Outside of Super STAB applications, this provides the high return on value from Tera that is desired.
Concept 3 : The range of resists to a specific type is limited, making Tera more PREDICTABLE to respond to.
Here is where it all starts coming together.
So if I'm building offense according to concept 1 and I understand that opposing offence has to use concept 2 to flip momentum, then suddenly Terastallization becomes a much less volatile mechanic to deal with. If I know that the opponent only has 1 or 2 solid Tera options to resist my high-octane offense, I can now much more effectively compress a response to this into my teambuilding. I'll use the pairing of Urshifu and Ogerpon-Hearthflame as my main example.
Let's say that from the lead, I have Surging Strikes Urshifu out and that we have a generally favorable matchup. Clicking Surging Strikes is the "right" answer based on the available information. Theoretically, the matchup plays out one of two ways:
- The opponent does not use their Tera and Urshifu uses Surging Strikes to win the 1v1. I now have momentum and a numbers advantage.
- The opponent Teras to resist Surging Strikes and wins the 1v1 against Urshifu. There are only three types that resist Water: Water itself, Grass and Dragon. Dragon is rare, so I prep for Water and Grass with Ogerpon, which can come in and clean-up with its super-effective STABs.
When you consider this give and take of type shifting, suddenly "Big 6" doesn't feel as braindead as it did before. This concept is interwoven into the team (and arguably "Big 6" generally) in multiple places:
| Starting Point | Teras Baited | Processing Point |
|---|---|---|
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I'll stress again that meta/matchup knowledge is still important, such as understanding the key targets that these Teras are likely to come from. For example, a Bloodmoon that uses Poison Tera defensively (vs. Horn Leech, Close Combat, etc.) loses out on the power boost of Normal Tera, and subsequently can lose the mirror against opposing Earth Power Bloodmoon; this was something I experienced firsthand!
Other Concepts
There are some other related concepts I could probably wax eloquent on, but I'm gonna keep things more short and sweet and wrap things up.
- Personally, the biggest "secondary" breakthrough here is move selection confidence. If I can always click the "strongest" move because I've incorporated fail-safes against the opponent's Terastallization, then I can more effectively avoid the nagging 50/50 guesses that can plague offensive showdowns. This is exactly the sort of counter-tech to volatility I've been looking for.
- Getting to "Tera second" is optimal for offensive teams, an observation that has been pointed out before such as by top player Sigma. At high level play, its generally an indicator that you are making the opponent follow your game plan rather than the other way around.
- "Tera first" is still viable, but its better used on high-bulk disruptor sets that are better at guaranteeing multiple turns of value. Examples would be Ting-Lu, defensive Ursaluna and... nah, I ain't saying its name again.
- When considering the major concepts above, this is a huge reason why the meta was more centralized in Reg E. Is the nichemon getting the return on value desired with Tera, or is it simply winning the 1v1 battle and losing the war? We've seen some interesting top 100 placements before, but it takes high-level knowledge and piloting to elevate certain mons. It'll be interesting to see if these new perspectives of mine enable some more colorful picks in the future.
And that's that! Not my most illustrious team by far, but hopefully one that will provide a pathway for greater things to come. Thank you for reading and don't hesitate to add your own thoughts on state of the meta.