I had fun writing my last RMT, so I decided to make another. Again, I wanted to build something a little unconventional to try to have more fun with SS OU. In my previous RMT, I initially tried to use Assault Vest Hatterene, and I liked it, but I ended up replacing her because she didn't offer enough value to that team. This time, I tried to build around AV Hatt more specifically. I also wanted to include some more off-meta mons, so I ended up going with two non-OU options in Gastrodon and Cobalion. Togekiss benefits nicely from AV Hatt and I've always liked its design, so I went with it. I've found Conkeldurr and Corviknight to round out the team nicely. I also understand that this team could likely be improved by swapping Hatt with max SpDef-Wish Clef, Gastrodon with Seismitoad, and Cobalion with Rotom-Heat, but at that point it ends up pretty standard. There's nothing wrong with that, but like I said, the point of this team was to mix it up a little. I feel like Gastrodon and Cobalion offer enough unique values too so they're not total downgrades over other mons, and it's not like I'm using some real heat like Morpeko or something either. So anyway, I'll get into the team now.
The Team:
Hatterene @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic
- Draining Kiss
- Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle
AV Hatt was the first thing that I knew I wanted to build around. I feel like her stats and movepool is very well suited to run AV and she's a fun wall to use. Magic Bounce is a fantastic ability to prevent hazards from getting set up and also reflect status, which helps Gastrodon and Togekiss on my team a lot. Along with the fantastic SpDef she reaches with AV (which is 492 with this EV spread), she's able to completely wall all Seismitoad, Toxapex, and Clef variants, although Knock Off from any of them can be annoying. Psychic is her best STAB and hits surprisingly hard even without any SpAtk investment, since she has a really high SpAtk base stat of 136. Draining Kiss is great not only for the fairy coverage but also because it's her only form of recovery. The biggest problem with AV Hatt is that she can't reliably recover, so you have to be careful about her getting worn down, but Draining Kiss helps with that. It allows her to heal for more than mons like Seismitoad or importantly, specs Kyurem, can damage her. Also, nothing is better than living a +2 Hydreigon Flash Cannon, OHKOing it back with Draining Kiss, and recovering back all of the damage it did to you. Mystical Fire has a few nice uses. The most obvious is fire coverage, but dropping your opponent's SpAtk with Mystical Fire also allows Hatt to stall-out things like some Mew and Clef variants. Finally, Nuzzle is a huge part of Hatt's value. She's able to very reliably paralyze key pokemon like Clef, other Hatts, and Togekiss (if she fights through the flinch). Spreading paralysis is huge for this team, and I'll talk about that more under Togekiss, Cobalion, and Conkeldurr. Nuzzle also makes it much harder for them to switch in against Hatt.
As for the EVs and nature, max HP is a given to increase her walling capacity. The 28 Def EVs allow her to always live a Conkeldurr Facade from full health, which can be nice since she OHKOs it back with Psychic. The rest is in SpDef and with a Calm nature to maximize the benefit from Assault Vest and make her as good of a special wall as possible. Calm is also better than something like Sassy because a Calm Hatt out-speeds a paralyzed Corviknight, but Sassy wouldn't, and Nuzzle is doing very little damage anyway. I've tried different sets with SpAtk investment to try to make her more threatening and recover more from Draining Kiss, but I like just bulking up her SpDef more.
Gastrodon (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Toxic
I've been hearing more talk lately about why Gastrodon isn't seeing much usage, so I was intrigued to try him out more. I believe in past generations he didn't see much use in the early metas but became more prominent as time progressed, and I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up happening again in SS. Probably the main thing that has kept his usage lower is the prevalence of Seismitoad, due to his ability to compress the roles of water immunity (mainly for Dracovish) and Stealth Rock setter. However, I feel like if your team already has a Stealth Rocker, Gastrodon is often more valuable than Seismitoad. Still, it can be hard to fit Gastrodon on teams though, and that's why I felt like I needed a Rocker to provide more varied utility, but I'll talk about that when I get to Cobalion.
Gastrodon fills the role of water immunity to check Dracovish and also provides some additional assistance against things like Dragapult that Hatterene can't as easily wall. Gastrodon also pairs nicely with Corviknight, the same way that Seismitoad does, in that it resists fire attacks and has electric immunity, and in return, Corviknight strongly resists grass. The main thing that Gastrodon has going for it over Seismitoad is Recover, and that's a big deal, especially since my team doesn't have a Wish-passer (I.E. Teleport Clef). As always, Scald makes Gastrodon harder to switch into and can be huge against things like Corviknight. The potential boost from Storm Drain powering up Scald and Earth Power can be nice too. Earth Power is better than Earthquake because it isn't weakened by burns, hits Bulk Up Zeraora much harder, usually hits Toxapex harder, and can be boosted by Storm Drain. Gastrodon is also a better Grass Knot Zeraora check than Seismitoad, due to Gastrodon's higher SpDef and also since Grass Knot only has a base power of 60 against the lighter Gastrodon than the 80 base power against Seismitoad. Zeraora can still be annoying though. Finally, I like the utility that Toxic adds to hit things like Seismitoad on the switch, but the last slot feels more variable to me. I know that some people prefer Amnesia to wall better and Clear Smog can be cool, but I feel like Gastrodon doesn't do great against a lot of the prominent setup sweepers.
The EV spread improves Gastrodon's chances of not being 2HKOed by Grass Knot from Zeraora and also allows him to better handle SpAtk Dragapult. The rest is put into Def to help against Dracovish. He isn't as good of a Dracovish check as Seismitoad because of his worse defense, but usually the main thing to fear is Fishious Rend anyway and I have two fairies in Hatt and Togekiss in case they use Outrage. Finally, I use Gastrodon-East because I'm from the East Coast and that feels important lol
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head
So as I mentioned before, I felt like using Gastrodon required me to use a Stealth Rocker that offered more utility. Cobalion does that for my team by filling the roles of both my Rocker and being a pivot, through the use of Volt Switch. One of the best things about Cobalion is that it's fast; its base 108 speed stat outruns important threats like Kyurem and unboosted Excadrill, and gives the option of potentially big speed ties against Keldeo and Terrakion. STAB Close Combat is always nice and Volt Switch can be great to gain momentum. Taunt can be cool for a fourth move but I've found Iron Head to be better for my team to hit fairies. Cobalion's resistance to ice moves is nice to help preserve Hatterene's health by switching into Kyurem, but you have to be careful not to get greedy and switch into an Earth Power, like I did in a replay I'll link below. Justified can also be a useful ability to get a +1 attack boost after switching into a dark move like Knock Off from Bisharp or Crawdaunt or a Dark Pulse from Scarf Hydreigon. +1 CC from Cobalion can be hard for many things to switch into.
I decided to go with a bulkier, less-offensive spread because Cobalion is mainly used as a Stealth Rock setter and pivot on my team. I considered going with a Rocky Helmet or a Shuca Berry as the item, but I went with Leftovers to provide some form of recovery. However, I could see either of those other options, and especially a Shuca Berry, being more appealing at times. The 28 attack EVs allows Cobalion to always 2HKO max SpDef Clef and 252 HP-4 Def Hatterene with Iron Head; Cobalion also naturally 2HKOs Togekiss as well. This can be big, especially with Iron Head's flinch rate combined with Hatterene's ability to spread paralysis on other fairies, since the odds of hitting through paralysis and Cobalion's Iron Head is 52.5%. This Cobalion spread is also almost always guaranteed to 3HKO most Grimmsnarls through Reflect, but I'm not sure how relevant that is. One last important aspect of this spread is that it allows Cobalion to always live an Earthquake from Excadrill and OHKO it back with Close Combat.
Togekiss (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
I mainly chose Togekiss to be my team's primary special attacker because she benefits a great deal from Hatt. The main ways that Hatt benefits Togekiss is by helping prevent Rocks from coming up and also spreading paralysis. As we all probably know, with some luck, Togekiss can potentially take down any paralyzed pokemon with Serene Grace boosting the Air Slash flinch rate - paralyzed pokemon only have a 30% chance to hit through paralysis and Serene Grace Air Slash. With Nasty Plot and Substitute, Togekiss threatens to sweep late game after Hatterene has paralyzed some key targets. I went back and forth a lot on whether or not to use Flamethrower or Roost as the fourth move. Roost is nice to help Togekiss stay alive longer, especially if you Sub on switches, but I found that I prefer the coverage of Flamethrower. Corviknight and Ferrothorn can always be hard to break and Aegislash is threatening, so Flamethrower helps there. Being able to hit switch-ins like Zeraora for neutral damage is nice too and the boosted 20% burn rate can potentially be huge.
The EV spread is standard and Leftovers is nice to give more opportunities to Sub, especially if you're flinching something down. I debated on going with Choice Scarf Togekiss as well to give me more speed control, but I think that the Nasty Plot-Sub variant benefits more from what AV Hatt brings to the table. Nasty Plot-Sub Togekiss does much better against more stall-oriented teams as well, which is also nice.
Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Thunder Punch
Conkeldurr is my physical attacker. Flame Orb activating Guts is nice because it also prevents more debilitating statuses, like paralysis. However, since Flame Orb doesn't activate until after the first turn that Conk is out, you can't use him to sponge statuses until he's already been in the battle. I somehow managed to mess this up in both of the replays I linked below lol, but Conk getting badly poisoned usually isn't much worse than being burned. Conk is naturally pretty slow so he also benefits from Hatt spreading paralysis against faster mons. Drain Punch generally hits hard across the board and the recovery can be really nice, especially to assuage the burn damage. Mach Punch offers great utility and is excellent insurance against things like Cloyster and Excadrill after a spin. Mach Punch also helps a lot with cleaning up late game, especially since my team doesn't have a Scarf user. I honestly wanted to use Obstagoon here but Mach Punch alone felt more valuable to me. Knock Off also provides good utility and catches Dragapults trying switch in on a fighting move or expecting Facade. Speaking of Facade, I know it's the most common fourth move on Conk and maybe I should run it over Thunder Punch, but I like having Thunder Punch to catch Corviknights. I could definitely be persuaded to run Facade instead though.
Corviknight (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Corviknight is the physical wall to round the team out. Body Press hits fairly hard with the Def investment and makes Corviknight a great answer to Excadrill and Bisharp, as well as less common things like Obstagoon. Bisharps in particular try to switch into Defogs a good amount so they're pretty easy to catch with Body Press. Physically defensive Corviknight is a nice hazard remover to pair with Hatt because Corviknight can switch into many of the hazard setters that Hatterene can't, such as Hippowdon and the aforementioned Excadrill. Roost is mandatory for recovery, but the fourth move is a lot more flexible. I went with Brave Bird for opposing Conkeldurrs and to overall make Corviknight less passive. This is important for my team because it can struggle with some setup sweepers, but with Brave Bird, Corviknight can usually handle things like DD Gyarados and SD Hawlucha. I don't feel like Iron Head is necessary because my team typically does fine against opposing fairies anyway, but I do miss not being able to run U-Turn.
The EV spread was actually suggested by Anish in my previous RMT, and I like it. The speed investment allows Corviknight to outrun Conkeldurr. I get that Conk may not be a huge threat to my team because I could switch into Corviknight on a Facade and then pivot to Togekiss on a Drain Punch or Knock Off if it stays in, but that's a more complicated and less reliable solution than just out-speeding it and using Brave Bird. Also, if the opposing Conk is running Thunder Punch as well, I wouldn't be able to dance around it with Togekiss anyway. I'm not sure if there's so important roll I'm overlooking, but I don't think the 80 fewer Def EVs usually make a huge difference either. I guess Conk is just always scary and I like having more options against him.
Weaknesses/Threats:
I feel like overall, more offensive teams can be annoying to deal with. That may be more of a personal weakness in my playstyle than something to do with my team though, as I've usually found HO and setup sweepers, like Volcarona in previous gens, more difficult to play against. I still think that more offensive teams in particular could be more threatening to my time because it doesn't have a lot of speed to threaten revenge kills with, outside of Mach Punch from Conk but that's not reliable across the board. Regardless, I'll list a few common mons that I feel are more threatening to this team:
Replays:
I'll just link a couple replays here in case anyone wants to see the team in action. I was on my testing alt so it's not super high ladder (I think I'm like mid-high 1500s on that account, and the highest I've ever peaked was around 1750 on my main account, so it's not like I'm a top level ladder player anyway) but I think they do a decent job of showcasing how the team functions.
Replay 1
This replay mainly shows how much support AV Hatt can provide the team, especially Togekiss. I probably let Hatt get worn down too much and my opponent shouldn't have brought Hydreigon in on Conk, but you see how big paralysis can be for Togekiss as I flinch down the Jirachi, which is ironic in itself. This was before I put Flamethrower on Togekiss over Roost, so I wouldn't have needed as many flinches if I had Flamethrower. I also debatably should have sent in Togekiss on turn 20 instead of Conk and gone for the Air Slash KO/flinch, but it wasn't a huge deal. Going for Rocks there may have helped my opponent more than toxic also, but again, it probably wouldn't have changed much. This replay shows as well how important Conk's Mach Punch can be cleaning up late game. Cobalion also does its job this game by getting rocks up, pivoting out, and helping put on some offensive pressure late.
Replay 2
I think this is a better replay at demonstrating the team. I get greedy and lose my Cobalion by switching into Kyurem, but I was trying to preserve more health on Hatt, which comes in big later. Hatt is huge again in this game by taking down Seismitoad and Kyurem. Gastrodon also is a good answer to two of the biggest offensive threats on the opposing team in Zeraora and Dragapult, and although I don't really leverage that as much as I could have, you can still see the impact of Gastrodon's presence. There's unfortunately a decent amount of luck in this game with Kyurem freezing my Hatt but Hatt immediately thawing (I at first thought this was because I used Mystical Fire but I looked it up later and that's not one of the fire attacks that's supposed to thaw you, so I think I just got lucky after initially getting unlucky with the freeze) and a few crits, but I think it was still a good game. I played the end game a little sloppy too but you can still see how the team functions, which is the point.
Conclusion:
Thanks to anyone who actually read or skimmed through this! I apologize, I know that I write way more than I need to; I just like writing out my thoughts about stuff like this. I feel like in some ways, just the process of writing RMTs makes me a better builder because it forces me to be more deliberate with my building. I just wanted this team to be a fun, somewhat off-meta team that is still fairly solid, and I feel like it accomplishes that. As I said in the intro, I get that this team could likely be improved by replacing the less common picks with more standard OU mons, but I guess I wanted to be a hipster and keep it somewhat offbeat. I do feel like this team generally works too and the slightly different picks like Cobalion and Gastrodon provide enough unique attributes to warrant their inclusion. Any thoughts or feedback is always appreciated!
Hatterene @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic
- Draining Kiss
- Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle
Gastrodon (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Toxic
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head
Togekiss (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Thunder Punch
Corviknight (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic
- Draining Kiss
- Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle
Gastrodon (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Toxic
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head
Togekiss (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Thunder Punch
Corviknight (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
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