Project Victim of the Week: ZU Edition

[My Gender is Egg]

Hakamo-o @ Eviolite
Impish Nature
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Dragon Tail/ Dragon Claw/ Bulk Up / Toxic
- Drain Punch

Physically poor's man throh defensive Hakamo-o, while niche, is viable enough and counters many metagame threats such as literally all our physical Rock types and many Grass types
Anyway Hakamo-o is a counter to Drednaw since it resists both STABs, being able to comfortably take any hit and retaliate hard with a super effective Drain Punch
252+ Atk Life Orb Drednaw Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Hakamo-o: 82-97 (26.1 - 30.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Drednaw Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Hakamo-o: 165-195 (52.5 - 62.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Hakamo-o Drain Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Drednaw: 140-168 (43.6 - 52.3%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO

 

[missangelic]

Nominating Choice Scarf Manectric as an offensive CHECK

You Hit Me Like Lightning!

Electra Heart (Manectric) @ Choice Scarf
Timid Nature
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Switcheroo​

The Discharge Pokémon, with a Choice Scarf, will always outspeed Addy rain daddy and OHKO with Thunderbolt.

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Drednaw: 348-410 (108.4 - 127.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

best boi confirmed :3

 

[Toto]

Broken monke (Grookey) @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn

I remembered to add my own submission this time yay! Grookey is a Check as grassy glide has priority and kills drednaw 2x over
252+ Atk Choice Band Grookey Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Drednaw in Grassy Terrain: 684-808 (213 - 251.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Checks
​

Albinson​	​	Defensive Leafeon​
sexywooper​	​	Defensive Bellossom​
Marjane​	​	Defensive Gloom​
T0T0DI!E​	​	Choice Band Grookey​
missangelic​	​	Choice Scarf Manectric​

Counters ​

risin_glory​	​	Defensive Palpitoad​
My Gender is Egg​	​	Defensive Hakamo-o​

Vote for one check and counter

My votes:
Leafeon and Palpitoad

Voting ends Sunday, November 22nd​

 

[Tuthur]

Grookey and Palpitoad

 

[OranBerryBlissey10]

Gloom and Palpitoad

 

[risin_glory]

Leafeon and hakamo-o

 

[JonAmon 25]

Manetric and Hakamo-o

 

[Albi]

Grookey and Palpitoad

 

[My Gender is Egg]

manectric and palpitoad

 

[giove97]

leafon and Palpitoad

 

[Celever]

Gotta go with my boy Leafeon and Hakamo-o for creativity and it being pretty unexplored in the new meta.

 

[AstilCodex]

Manectric and Palpitoad

 

[wooper]

funny monkey and hakamo-o

 

[missangelic]

Bellossom and Hakamowo

 

[5gen]

grookey and palp

 

[Toto]

Winners of the week

checks​

Albinson​	​	Defensive Leafeon​
T0T0DI!E​	​	Choice Band Grookey​

counter​

risin_glory​

​

Defensive Palpitoad​

Votes

Checks
Leafeon - 4
Grookey - 4
Manectric -2
Bellossom - 1
Gloom -1

Counters
Palpitoad - 7
hakamo-o - 5

Leaderboard

risin_glory - 4
Cheezy - 3
missangelic - 3
T0T0DI!E - 3
JonAmon 25 - 2
Albinson - 1
AstilCodex -1
Oathkeepre - 1
Ryan207 - 1
OranBerryBlissey10 - 1
k.r.o.b. - 1
Marjane - 1
sexywooper -1
uhuhuhu7 - 1

Week 11 - Bouffalant

Bouff go brrr (Bouffalant) @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Head Charge
- Close Combat
- Throat Chop
- Earthquake

Submissions start now, voting starts Friday November 27th.
choo choo is a haxer at cc 1v1​

 

[Albi]

Raboot @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch​

Raboot is an offensive check, outspeeding Bouffalant and threatening a guaranteed OHKO thanks to Libero-boosted HJK. It's also a very effective pivot and late game cleaner in general.
That power and coverage may show Bouffalant as an unstoppable monster, especially for this challenge, since not many mons avoid the 2HKO against it, and the bulk allows it to tank basically any non super-effective hit. However, in my experience it rarely feels so overwhelming because that set is very prediction reliant and allows you to scout for moves with a bulky mon or protect. That's just to say that these checks/counters won't be the only way to deal with it, for example even a t-spike goes a long way, or any form of chip damage.
Good Luck to anyone looking for counters! Really curious to see what you'll come up with

252 Atk Libero Raboot High Jump Kick vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Bouffalant: 336-396 (101.5 - 119.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[My Gender is Egg]

reserving dubwool

(gif from pkparaiso)
Dubwool @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fluffy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 184 HP / 252 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cotton Guard
- Body Press
- Rest
- Sleep Talk/ Payback
While I originally wasn't a fan of fluffy dubwool the fact that Focus Blast isn't that common and we only have 1 mainly special fire type made me change my idea.
Dubwool is a counter to Bouffalant because it can avoid the 2KO from Close Combat (with a high chance to live after SR), outspeed, setup Cotton Guard and beat it 1v1
252+ Atk Choice Band Bouffalant Close Combat vs. 184 HP / 252+ Def Fluffy Dubwool: 138-163 (41.6 - 49.2%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Bouffalant Close Combat vs. 184 HP / 252+ Def Fluffy Dubwool: 138-163 (41.6 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+3 252+ Def Dubwool Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Bouffalant: 416-490 (125.6 - 148%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[wooper]

Falinks @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Throat Chop
- Zen Headbutt/Poison Jab/Rock Slide
- Swords Dance/First Impression​

check. given a safe switch in, falinks will always outspeed (regardless of whether you are jolly or adamant), and will always ohko with life orb close combat. the rest of the moves are just fillers really, just go with whatever your supports your team the best. falinks also can switch into any of bouffalant's moves besides head charge, which always ohkos you

 

[risin_glory]

Drednaw @ Life Orb
Adamant Nature
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Liquidation
- Head Smash
- Rain Dance

Check
Go smash in the victory to yourself drednaw! OHKO head smash yay! Basically yeah being late to this tough votw made me go against my ethics and nom a mon that has been selected as a VOTW mon earlier ;_; .

252+ Atk Life Orb Drednaw Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Bouffalant: 335-395 (101.2 - 119.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[missangelic]

Submitting Eiscue as a check

The Iceman Cometh

Eiscue @ Salac Berry
Jolly Nature
Ability: Ice Face
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Belly Drum
- Icicle Crash
- Reversal
- Substitute

Thanks to Ice Face, you get a free opportunity to set up on Bouffalant. It's pretty clear what to do with your Eiscue from there.​

 

[Toto]

Gourgeist-Large
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Foul Play
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis

Gourgeist-Large is a counter as it can switch into throat chop from Bouffalant, burn it and then precede to synthesis up and use foul play. Im using this speed tier and to speed creep adamant Bouffalant and other threats like Marowack. Also have gone no item over Colbur Berry as I think its the better defensive gour set overall and it doesn't even need Colbur anyway.

252+ Atk Choice Band Bouffalant Throat Chop vs. 112 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Large: 160-190 (50.1 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band burned Bouffalant Throat Chop vs. 112 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Large: 80-95 (25 - 29.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Gourgeist-Large Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Bouffalant: 106-125 (32 - 37.7%) -- 93.2% chance to 3HKO

Checks​

Albinson​	​	Raboot​
sexywooper​	​	Falinks​
risin_glory​	​	Drednaw​
missangelic​	​	Eiscue​

Counters​

My Gender is Egg​	​	Dubwool​
T0T0DI!E​	​	Gourgeist-Large​

Vote for one check and counter
Voting ends Sunday, November 29th
Happy birthday old man Czim ​

 

[risin_glory]

1) gourgeist and raboot
2) toto u forgot to vote
3) happy birthday c-zim!

 

[Tuthur]

Falinks and Gourg

 

[Toto]

Don't mind me passing by to increase my post count

Voting for Raboot and Dubwool