Burden of finding next best Unburden Pokémon
In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the undisputed best Unburden sweeper was introduced in form of
and was introduced into playable format mid generation. Not only having the highest raw firepower with 130 Atk and dual 120 BP STABs, but also ties for second fastest Unburden user or first for Pokemon legal in the game. It hits hard and at 120 Spe had very few Pokemon that could outspeed it. Sneasler also was introduced with the absurd signature move in Dire Claw, which was as strong as Poison Jab, but had a 50% chance to either Poison, Paralyze, or Sleep the target. Unsurprisingly Sneasler was eventually banned and did not receive an unban for the Indigo Disk DLC.
Ever since the ban of Sneasler, there seems to have been a gap with Unburden sweepers. Odd as Unburden has been really popular ever since the introduction of terrain seeds. Seeds that activate immediately when the corresponding terrains are up. A common pairing on HO would be a pivot with a terrain setting ability such as Tapu Koko and Rillaboom, and an Unburden sweeper such as Hawlucha.
But what makes Unburden so good? There are a few reasons why Unburden is great compared to abilities like Swift Swim.
-It lasts as long as you stay in and aren’t given an item. It doesn’t go away if Weather is supressed or removed or changed
-It’s a lot more flexible than Swift Swim or other abilities like it as Weather teams are a lot more constraining. For example Rain would not work well with Gouging Fire or Heatran as Water moves are stronger and Fire moves are weaker
-Compared to Booster Energy abilities, Unburden is faster
-Additionally Unburden doesn’t get screwed over by Sticky Webs. If you use Sticky Webs, Paradox Pokemon that would have gotten a speed boost now get boost to their second highest stat
-Small niche but Unburden is the most anti-ditto ability you can have besides Neutralizing Gas, as Ditto won’t copy the speed boost and you’ll be faster than Choice Scarf
Before we look at current Unburden Pokemon, let's briefly look at currently available terrain setters.
Ubers so it's not legal.
Okish as a regular Pokemon, bad terrain and has better abilities.
Both pretty bad on their own, but the terrain is good but not worth using.
Absolutely terrible. If it's not even worth using with Paradox Pokemon, it's not worth using with Unburden. Doesn't even learn volt switch wtf.
So yeah just use Rillaboom. Other terrain setters are either garbage Pokemon making games a 5.5 v 6 or don't fit as Terrain setters for HO. Indeedee Male could be a choice if you also want to use Psyspam in conjunction with unburden if you wanted to. Indeedee Female could have had potential if Baton Pass was legal.
With that out of the way, let's look at all the currently available and legal Unburden Pokemon
Pros:
-Currently by far the strongest having 120 Atk with STAB HJK/Axe Kick/Close Combat
-Excellent coverage for Fighting STAB with Knock Off, Poison Jab, Stone Edge, and Blaze Kick
-Has access to Rapid Spin, if you really want it
-Adamant variants are as fast as Booster Energy Iron Valiant, and can outspeed +1 Roaring Moon/Iron Boulder with Jolly
Cons:
-Paper thin physical defense is almost as bad as Deoxys-N
-Mono-STAB
-It speed ties Iron Valiant, which is also a negative
-Doesn’t outspeed Excadrill in Sand, as well as tons of other
Hitmonlee getting access to Sword Dance looks promising and having such powerful attacks fits the HO sweeper the best, it has glaring issues. Namely its speed tier and physical bulk. Speed ties with Iron Valiant are always coin flip and running Jolly does cut into that power. Not to mention that running Adamant means you’re also outsped by Iron Boulder and +1 Speed Proto Great Tusk. But more importantly, having such terrible Def means priority is a major issue. Even at +1 it folds over without resisting priority. Hitmonlee does have other great attributes to somewhat make up for that. It has strong coverage for Pokemon like Gholdengo, having a 50% chance to OHKO defensive Gholdengo after Sword Dance and Stealth Rock. Also Hitmonlee has the best chance of physical attackers with Grassy Terrain + Tera Blast + some chip. And while I did rag on Hitmonlee’s speed, it should be still outspeeding a lot of the metagame.
Pros:
-Fastest available Unburden Sweeper currently
-So fast it can reasonably run neutral nature and invest less into speed
-Grassy Terrain boosts its Grass STAB
-Having a respectable SpA stat, in fact it's the highest SpA for available Unburden Pokemon
-Grass STAB can help as it'll be Super Effective against Dondozo, and Grass typing means you resist its Wave Crashes
Cons:
-Mono STAB attacker
-Second lowest Atk stat among fully evolved Unburden Pokemon
-Has Sword Dance but not Nasty Plot for some reason
-Poor coverage. Earthquake is halved by Grassy Terrain, Drain Punch is Sceptile's best Fighting option, and you have limited options for Flying, Poison, Dragon, and Fire types as well
Sceptile has good qualities but not enough to offset its drawbacks. HO teams need their sweeps to have punch to them so they can actually sweep. Sceptile is one of the weakest in terms of raw power as you have Leaf Blade to use as an Unburden Sweeper and that's really your only STAB. For special attacking, which I don't recommend, Sceptile still has coverage issues. Literally nothing to hit Gholdengo what so ever and only means to hit Steel types is with Focus Blast. Unboosted and non-STAB btw. Even if Sceptile is basically outspeeding everything, it’s far too easy to wall and outspeeding ton of things is a common trait between Unburden Pokemon.
Pros:
-Has best bulk of the Unburden Sweepers
-Only really usable special attacker having access to Calm Mind
-Has great utility options like Strength Sap and Will-o-wisp
-Flinch Hax with Air Slash
-Immune to Extreme Speed and resists Grassy Glide
Cons:
-The slowest of the Unburden Pokemon and can’t even outspeed Iron Boulder
-Weak BP of STAB moves
-Calm Mind boosts its SpA way too slow
-Mon really isn’t built for HO in OU
-Weak to Sucker Punch, Ice Shard, and Thunderclap
Drifblim is unique as being the only that can really use Special attacks for sweeping besides non-boosted Sceptile. But this Pokemon fits more defensive teams than HO. It’s more like a bulky set up sweeper that can also go somewhat fast, but doing so means being forced out kind of ruins the strategy.
Pros:
-Is insanely fast without the burden of having crappy firepower
-Natural STAB Acrobatics, synergizing well with Unburden
-Has utility options allowing for better set up like Encore
-Resists Grassy Glide and Sucker Punch
Cons:
-Options for Gholdengo are underwhelming compared to Hitmonlee
-Fighting STAB is also far weaker compared to Hitmonlee
-Still is incredibly frail
-Weak to Ice Shards
-Doesn’t get passive boosts from Terrain
Hawlucha had been the best Unburden Sweeper for a long time and is arguably top contender for best legal Unburden sweeper, but has stiffer competition thanks to Hitmonlee getting Sword Dance. Really only Hawlucha and Hitmonlee should be considered for OU HO teams. Hawlucha provides much better speed and priority handling than Hitmonlee, while Hitmonlee is way stronger and breaks past Pokemon way better. I think both are valid but have to say Hawlucha edges out on top.
Pros:
-Fast enough to outspeed most of the tier
-Has dual 120 BP options
-Resists Grassy Glide
Cons:
-You’re using Grafaiai
-And not using Prankster
-Terrible movepool and STAB combo
This mon is the worst of the Unburden users that’s fully evolved. The few good qualities are overshadowed by how bad it is in other areas. Plus Grafaiai has better usecases with Prankster.