SM OU Volcarona + Mamoswine Hyper Offense

Altervisi · Feb 12, 2018

Hyper Offense ~ By Altervisi
A hyper offensive team I built around mainly Volcarona as well as making best use of Suicide Excadrill.
My first generally successful team and my first RMT. Any comments are appreciated, no matter what your opinions on the team. I've peaked at just 1700 myself with sample teams (a Psyspam HO from Ultraballz and the NJNP Trick Room team to get through lower ladder), this team has got me into 1500

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I wanted to use Excadrill, in my opinion the best Suicide Lead right now. I knew I wanted to go Hyper Offensive to break through the low ladder, but honestly I think this is a pretty great team all around. Volcarona was chosen for my sweeper it appreciates that Excadrill, more often than not, can not only clear Rocks before dying but also the Rocks that Excadrill sets are great. They are useful for wearing down opponents and breaking opposing Sashes, two things Volcarona greatly appreciates. Volcarona is such a dangerous sweeper and is tried and tested, I decided to start out pretty safe.

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So, I wanted a defogger that could beat Chansey and Tyrantiar, which were my two main threats to Volcarona as far as I could see. Though I didn’t end up choosing Defog, Kartana was the obvious choice. I love Beast Boost and it sits at a nice speed tier to break through bulky teams, this also ended up fitting as my stallbreaker, secondary sweeper and potential wallbreaker, it also helps against rain teams, being able to take a hit from Swampert to revenge kill (outside the pretty rare Superpower). Kartana hates any form of Special Attack, which Volcarona is actually generally able to handle, especially at +1, so the 2 form a psuedo core together, though not the main one of the team.

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Now this is where things got a little weird, I realised that so far my team was extremely weak to Scarf users and general extremely fast offensive threats. Scarf Tapu Koko, inspired by one of my favorite players Omari P., has fast become one of my go-to mons. I’ll get into why in the set descriptions, but essentially this works as a fantastic revenge killer and late-game cleaner, taking out a lot of threats like Hawlucha, +1 Volcarona and Ash-Greninja. I also ended up putting Defog here due to the number of switches being forced and the last slot (HP [Ice/Fire]/Iron Head/Volt Switch) was barely used anyway.

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I initially leaned toward Tyranitar as a Pursuit trapper, then decided to move to Weavile for the Ice STAB and priority and finally settled on Mamoswine. I already have incredibly fast threats which patch up for Mamoswines’ lackluster Speed and the Ground typing really helps me out against Magearna and Heatran while still heavily threatening Landorus and the 4x weak gang. Steel types are everywhere at the moment and I have a Fire, Electric and Ground trifecta rounded off by Mamoswine to deal with all Steel-type threats.

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I was not confident on what to put in my last slot, I initially wanted a Mega Defog user, but I was not having success with Mega Scizor, it’s Utility set was redunant, with Mamoswine carrying priority + Knock Off and Rapid Spin meant having something so dedicated to hazard clearing was not often used, especially when I could slot Defog onto Koko for dire situations. I tried Calm Mind Mega-Latias, but that really requires two boosts to be effective and I wanted something with more immediate power. I already had Koko, which was constantly pivoting in and revenge killing/defogging so terrain was up a lot. Hawlucha just seemed a good fit and honestly I have won so many games with this thing, going 50/50 with Koko as my win con, as any threats to one are often weakened to KO range by the other.

Sets Analysis

Excadrill (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

Standard suicide lead set, only thing to look out for is Fake Out, Taunt and Magic Coat, otherwise Rocks is totally guaranteed. Earthquake still hits anything grounded very hard, non-grounded mons, like Landorus, hate being Toxic’d. Flying/Steel types, namely Skarmory and Celesteela hate Koko and Volcarona, honestly its nice to keep Excadrill alive to Rapid Spin or sack off for momentum later in the game if he isn’t suicided anyway. The only other flying-types I can think of that can’t get Poisoned are Gliscor and Crobat, both of which are handily beaten by Mamoswine.

Volcarona @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
- Quiver Dance

I went for Psychium Z because, despite how common it is people still try bringing Toxapex in and you are just hopeless if they guess right and you run HP [Ground]. I already have Mamoswine for Heatran so there's really no-need. Psychium Z also generally works as a great coverage Z move. Standard set, I really like having a sweeper that can actually take some hits thanks to its decent base SpDef and the +1 from Quiver Dance. Outspeed everything up to Base 100 Scarfers at +1 and hits like a truck, ‘nuff said.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Defog

So, Volacarona shreds through all but HO teams thanks to gaining defense, speed and attack boost in quiver dance. So what does beat it at +1? Well, priority like Water Shuriken, Sucker Punch and Aerialite Quick Attack, all of which Koko can take decently well and OHKO in return. With an Adamant nature and Scarf the *only* viable Scarfer that outspeeds you is Greninja, every other viable Scarfer and unboosted mon is slower, Greninja can’t OHKO you without Gunk Shot, but you sure can OHKO in return, Koko can also take 1 +2 Hawlucha HJK from full HP (only a 6% chance to OHKO after rocks damage). So if you have to check these, don’t use Koko until you can bring it in to revenge kill. Bulky Grass types and fast revenge killers are most peoples Koko answers, both of which this set laughs at with Scarf and Brave Bird.

Kartana @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 180 Atk / 60 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute

Specially defensive walls can also block Volcarona, so Kartana was chosen to shread through them, I also picked up on the sort of ‘hidden’ substitute set in the very long analysis (thanks to whoever wrote that by the way). Sub allows for breaking through stall teams that rely on burning and PP stalling to handle Kartana. The EV’s ensure that standard Toxapex and Ferrothorn can’t break your Substitute in one turn, allowing you to perpetually set up. Leftovers stops from being worn down quickly by hazards and subs. Swords Dance heightens Kartana’s attack to frightening levels. More often than not, it is fairly weak Special Attacks that lead to Kartana’s demise, Volcarona’s ability to come in on these attacks and set-up is greatly appreciated. It also sits a very nice speed tier, for a mon who’s role is to break ultra defensive teams. Kartana also hits the Ground types that annoy my cleaning core in KokoLucha.

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

Back to reality with a standard set for Mamoswine, priority to weaken faster mons for Koko or Hawlucha and to finish off faster offensive threats that have managed to live the rare weaker moves on my team, like Excadrill’s Earthquake or something unboosted from one of my sweepers. Covering Landorus, Magearna, Toxapex and Heatran in one mon is great and it slotted in very nicely as these common mons were among the glaring weaknesses to my team. Like I said my other teams members are blisteringly fast so Mamoswine can be forgiven for it’s base 80, especially with STAB Ice Priority alongside strong Earthquakes. Another answer to the Ground types that threaten KokoLucha

Hawlucha (M) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Roost

As I said I was stuck on the last slot, Hawlucha again proves itself as a meta defining threat. Along-side Koko there is very little to stop this offensive core, Mamoswine handles Zapdos and Thundurus, by the time the rest of my team has had their shots at the enemy, even usual resists find themselves too low on HP to survive a +2 High Jump Kick. Roost gives the longevity needed and can help to stall out Rain turns, great against Stone Edge Swampert.

Excadrill (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

Volcarona @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
- Quiver Dance

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Defog

Kartana @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 8 HP / 188 Atk / 60 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

Hawlucha (M) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Roost

Any help is appreciated, no matter how much or little you think needs changing. Have a great day!

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-702934141 - Some hax but demonstrates roles well, Hawlucha breaks opponent mid-game for Volc + Kartana to clean
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-702939934 - A few misplays by my opponent, but shows the strategy of weakening for Hawlucha, Koko also baits AV Magearna
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-702944617 - Mamoswine put the work in at the end, shows almost anyone can be a wincon with team support
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703893846 - An odd but threatening team, Kartana breaks cosmic power Clefable, Koko beats Shift Gear Magearna and Volcarona cleans at +0
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703895597 - Lastly a strong team, Hawlucha works midgame to hurt defensive core, Excadrill spins 3 spikes layers away and Mamoswine cleans at the end

patlop2307 · Feb 14, 2018

That's a really cool team you have there!

One main weakness your team has is Celesteela. It's a huge nuisance to your team, when three to four Pokémon can't touch it, your suicide lead included. It can also Leech Seed on almost every Pokémon.

The changes I would make:

Fightinium Z > Leftovers Kartana:
It improves your match-up by a ton, since you are most likely going to be able to set up on Toxapexs as you already pointed out and then can try to Fightinium Z it, needless to say that you need to win 50/50s (Best case scenario you get a Substitute up and then can Fightinium Z the Celesteela).

Leftovers > Psychium Z Volcarona:
Obviously you need to replace Volcarona's Z-Crystal with something else. I think Leftovers is just the best way to go in general, baring the Z-Crystal of course.

Hope this helped! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

stuuful12 · Feb 14, 2018

Very cool team you got there.

Another weakness you have is Ash-Greninja

While you did note that Tapu Koko was your main way of dealing with it, the problem with that is Water Shuriken does a great amount of damage to the rest of your team, and Tapu Koko can only check it, leaving you to have to sack a mon, which is never ideal. Plus, if your opponent has a Rocky Helmet Landorus, then you can say good-bye to Tapu Koko as a check. Normally, I would have a mon to help you out, but there isn't a lot that can accomplish checking Ash-Greninja while also being decent on an HO team. So for that, I suggest changing Choice Scaf Tapu Koko to Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, to accomplish that. While it isn't a perfect check, it can force Ash-Greninja out of Water-Shuriken, but more importantly, allow Hawlucha to survive an opposing Water-Shuriken with psychic seed, to then opposing sweep the team.

Of course, if that's unsatisfactory, then I understand.

Altervisi · Feb 15, 2018

patlop2307 said:
That's a really cool team you have there!

One main weakness your team has is Celesteela. It's a huge nuisance to your team, when three to four Pokémon can't touch it, your suicide lead included. It can also Leech Seed on almost every Pokémon.

The changes I would make:

Fightinium Z > Leftovers Kartana:
It improves your match-up by a ton, since you are most likely going to be able to set up on Toxapex's as you already pointed out and then can try to Fightinium Z it, needless to say that you need to win 50/50s (Best case scenario you get a Substitute up and then can Fightinium Z the Celesteela).

Leftovers > Psychium Z Volcarona:
Obviously you need to replace Volcarona's Z-Crystal with something else. I think Leftovers is just the best way to go in general, baring the Z-Crystal of course.

Hope this helped! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Hey man, thanks for the suggestion! I also love having my Z-Crystal in tandem with Beast Boost/Moxie/Soul Heart so I'll certainly try this.

stuuful12 said:
Very cool team you got there.

Another weakness you have is Ash-Greninja

While you did note that Tapu Koko was your main way of dealing with it, the problem with that is Water Shuriken does a great amount of damage to the rest of your team, and Tapu Koko can only check it, leaving you to have to sack a mon, which is never ideal. Plus, if your opponent has a Rocky Helmet Landorus, then you can say good-bye to Tapu Koko as a check. Normally, I would have a mon to help you out, but there isn't a lot that can accomplish checking Ash-Greninja while also being decent on an HO team. So for that, I suggest changing Choice Scaf Tapu Koko to Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, to accomplish that. While it isn't a perfect check, it can force Ash-Greninja out of Water-Shuriken, but more importantly, allow Hawlucha to survive an opposing Water-Shuriken with psychic seed, to then opposing sweep the team.

Of course, if that's unsatisfactory, then I understand.

Thanks for replying I really appreciate it. I have noticed my struggle with Ash-Greninja through playing and getting rid of priority also greatly helps out Volcarona.

Plus taking Patlop's suggestion to move the Z-Crystal having the terrain to boost the Psychic vs Toxapex makes up for this quite nicely. My only concern is stopping my own Ice Shard but overall it provides more benefits than drawbacks it seems.

Thanks to you both again.