BH Balanced Hackmons

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

Hello everyone. Now that the tour is over, I can finally reveal some of the greatest and most terrible sets you'll ever witness. Before that, I will mention that I am going to keep this as brief as possible. Have you heard of the parable of the sower? It goes:

"Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

That is exactly what I will do. I will simply spread my ideas. If you refuse to try these sets, so be it. I believe some people will realise and utilise the power of these sets, and that is enough for me.

Starscourge Radahn (Dialga-Origin) @ Adamant Crystal
Ability: Wandering Spirit
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Doom Desire
- Thunder Cage
- Ruination
- Strength Sap

This is not the first time I have recommended this set. This dialga is the ultimate Regenerator counter. Unless the regen mon has Precipice Blades or Salt Cure, you can always switch this into u-turn, knock off rapid spin, stone axe and other contact moves. Doing so will swap both mons' abilities, granting Dialga Regenerator and giving your opponent the useless Wandering Spirit. But that's not all. The Doom Desire -> Thunder Cage -> Ruination trifecta is an extremely lethal combination which lets you do what I call "bursting". Bursting is a term from video games where you deal a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. This Dialga can burst all by itself or be paired with a nuke to suddenly OHKO a mon. Furthermore, you're also imposter-proof because of how Strength Sap makes you recover more hp. Other moves you can try include Torch Song, Scald and Whirlwind.

ReinhardLohengramm (Sceptile-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Energy
- Chloroblast
- Torch Song
- Strength Sap

Next we have MG Sceptile. This is a very straightforward mon. Sceptile is the fastest special dragon, which means it can outspeed all other dragons at neutral and OHKO them with Dragon Energy. Chloroblast is good coverage for Greninja, Kyogre and Ground Arceus. It also hits Swampert and Slowbro which is nice. The last two moves are more flexible. I recommend Strength Sap for longevity to keep your Dragon Energy powerful, but you can try Matcha Gotcha for different sort of sustain. You can even run no recovery if you want. As for coverage, I recommend Torch Song, Thunder Cage and Secret Sword. There are other options though like Malignant Chain, Steel Beam and Blue Flare if you want more immediate damage.

Arceus @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Take Heart
- Boomburst
- Shore Up
- Judgment

Your eyes do not deceive you. This is indeed a Normal-type Arceus. This mon is the best Ghost Arc and Flutter Mane check if they have Secret Sword. If they don't have Secret Sword then Blissey is the best. Thanks to how Secret Sword was coded, its damage is reduced by Ice Scales. Normal is only useful for its ghost immunity but Fighting is quite rare so it's a decent type. Furthermore, it gets two of the most powerful moves in the game in Boomburst and Population Bomb. Unlike a lot of Arcs, this one is not really Imposter proof since you're not running Thunder Cage but you can easily imposter proof with a ghost-type.

Blissey (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ruination
- U-turn
- Clear Smog
- Stone Axe

This is another old set I made, but I don't think people realise how good Regenvest Blissey is. Do you want to know what the worst thing about running passive mon is? You easily get set up on and you have to spend turns recovering because of chip damage from hazards and poison. Well what if I tell you that there is another way to circumvent the drawbacks of Blissey and that is Regenvest. With Clear Smog, you parma-wall every Torch Song dragon in existence. You sap block them because Blissey has 0 attack. Not only that, you chop their health in half with Ruination. You never lose momentum because of U-turn, and you also prevent stuff like salt cure and poison damage because you switch. Trust me, run these three moves on your Blissey and you'll soon realise how terrifying this innocent-looking mon is. As for the last move you can run whatever regen move like stone axe, knock off, spin, salt cure etc.

Alakazam-Mega @ Flame Orb
Ability: Flare Boost
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Pain Split
- Psystrike
- Moongeist Beam

If you're looking for a stall breaker/offense cleaner than look no further than Flare Boost Alakazam. This is basically a copy of the Flutter Mane set except you're faster and stronger but with worse coverage. After a single NP you OHKO almost every single offensive mon in the game. Flame Orb + Pain Split means you can turn your chip damage into health against high hp mons. There are some drawbacks though, mostly from coverage. I think you always choose either moongeist or moonblast. Don't be fooled though, even when Psystrike is resisted, you're still doing a ton of damage to resists as shown below:

+2 252 SpA Flare Boost Alakazam-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Steelix-Mega: 129-153 (36.4 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252 SpA Flare Boost Alakazam-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Lugia: 183-216 (43.9 - 51.9%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO

Zacian @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Strength Sap
- Spirit Break
- U-turn
- Salt Cure

I think Zacian is one of the best Ice Scales/RegenVest mon atm. This is because of its amazing 138 Speed. Do you remember why everyone ran Miraidon to check Kartana? Sure it was because you resist the STABs, but what was more important was because Miraidon could outspeed and Torch Song the Kartana without needing to take a hit. The same thing is what makes Zacian so good. I think you should always run Knock Off on this mon to reduce the opponent's damage. Spirit Break lets you neutralise Take Heart and No Retreat. You do need another way to beat Arc if they have Sap though. This could be Salt Cure on Zacian or another mon in your team. I will note that you outspeed Necrozma and Greninja among a bunch of other dragons. You can even use this to soft check Koraidon if that gets popular. Unlike Arc, you outspeed it.

Calyrex-Ice @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Aurora Veil
- Flip Turn
- Ice Shard
- Strength Sap

Alright that was the end of the "good" sets. Now I would like to share extremely spicy and 100% optimal "god" sets that will cause your opponents to uncontrollably shake and cry. The first is Snow Warning Caly-I. This mon is a soft Garchomp and Kyurem-B check. Great improof if you run those mons with Mold Breaker since it doesn't work against the Snow defense boost. But here is the twist: we can run Aurora Veil on this mon or another mon on your team to utilise the snow. I know Cityscapes is shaking and crying right now from the sight of this demon. Do you think that's all? well of course not. With Adamant nature and Ice Shard, you have a roll to kill chomp at -1:

252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Ice Shard vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Garchomp-Mega: 372-444 (88.5 - 105.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

The chances are even higher if they're running less defense to OHKO imposters or if they clicked Glaive Rush the previous turn. The sheer emotional damage inflicted from this sequence of events will definitely make your opponent forfeit immediately.

BARTHOLOMEW KUMA (Tyranitar-Mega) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Jaw Lock
- No Retreat
- Power Trip
- Strength Sap

You have reached the conclusion of this post, and deserve to be bestowed possibly the greatest set in the 2024 BH metagame: No Retreat Tyranitar. Contrary to what the name suggest, you do in fact, retreat with this set. If you don't know, you can actually use No Retreat multiple times if you are already under the trapping effect of Jaw Lock, Spirit Shackle, Block or Mean Look. The strategy is simple: run another mon with Spirit Shackle, switch into an imposter of it and click No Retreat. You can No Retreat a second time even if the imposter switches. Most of the time even one No Retreat is enough to let Tyranitar OHKO a lot of mons. If an imposter comes, you can Strength Sap twice before Jaw Lock. If they switch, your Jaw Lock will mean that they can't switch the Imposter back in. Once the Imposter is trapped you can 1v1 it with Strength Sap. If you are wondering what peak BH team building looks like, this is it. We have peaked with this set.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

The Homogenisation of offensive threats and death of bulky threats

The Guy who has Many Alts
12th February 2024

1 Introduction
Greetings everyone. In this post I would like to talk about the current metagame of BH and how I feel regarding it. This will
be slightly more serious post compared to other posts because it is a topic that holds importance to me. I would like to preface
this by saying that everything in this post is subjective. I have my idealised version of the BH meta, just as you and everyone
else have. What I like to play in BH may not be the same as yours. What you think is broken may be fine for me. Believe it
or not, that’s okay. I am glad there are others who enjoy the meta. You should not let others affect your enjoyment of anything.
With that out of the way, I will now discuss my source of dissatisfaction: the homogenisation of offensive threats and the
death of bulky threats.

2 The homogenisation of offensive threats
In my opinion, the current roster of good offensive mons consists of those which can severely dent Imposters immediately, with
no setup. This usually requires the mon to be a fast Dragon or a Ghost type because they hit themselves super-effectively,
meaning that they can threaten Imposters simply by clicking their main stabs. For examples of such mons, just think of
Garchomp, Flutter Mane, Necrozma, Eternatus, Miraidon, Koraidon and so on. However, there are also non-Ghost/Dragons
which can accomplish this goal. The most common method is to use a mon with low bulk and such high offensive stats so
that even neutral moves hit extremely hard. E.g. Greninja, Deo-N, Alakazam, Beedrill, Diancie (now banned). There are
also mons such as Lucario which hits itself super-effectively despite not being a Ghost/Dragon.

Just to be clear, there is no problem with offensive mons that threaten Imposters. Offensive mons which threaten imposters
have historically been good because it limits your opponent’s hard switch to just their dedicated Fur/Scales/Regen rather
than allowing an Imposter to come in. I will also mention that just because the aforementioned mons do threaten Imposter,
it does not mean that Imposters can’t switch in. Thanks to Eviolite and Chansey’s base hp, Imposters are still able to come
in on a coverage move. So, what exactly is my problem here?

3 The death of bulky setup
My personal dissatisfaction of the meta stems from the fact that the the aforementioned ”archetype” of offensive mons are
the only available option of offensive threats. Let me state this once again: this post is subjective. If you enjoy the range of
offensive threats available currently, then I am happy for you. Nevertheless, let’s stop and consider what we have lost, and
what is not viable: bulky setup sweepers.

Setup as a whole is still alive in BH, despite the numerous bans to generational setup-staples such as Quiver Dance, Substitute
and Quiver Dance. A lot of Dragon types such as Koraidon and Garchomp can readily run Tidy Up, while most special
mons have access to the new Torch Song which doubles as coverage and setup, not to mention the brand-new Take Heart.
Simple No Retreat is another viable setup option, albeit usually limited to Arceus-Ghost and Lunala. We also have some
variant of setup Arceus in almost every team. However, let me raise an argument: apart from Arceus and Lunala, all of these
mons do not require setup to function. They run setup because they can, and not because they must in order to be threatening.
Sure it’s nice that your Garchomp can sweep with Tidy Up, but it’s not necessary to kill walls when you already have Life
Orb Adaptability. It’s nice that your Eternatus can use Torch Song to boost, but you don’t need it to 2HKO non-scales/vest
mons with Dragon Energy. Yes, your Adapt Lucario can run Tidy Up, but most of the time you’re going to click your Sunsteel
Strike, Gigaton Hammer or Close Combat because they don’t need a boost to deal a hefty chunk of damage. You’ll have to
switch out when your opponent slow pivots into their Imposter anyways. In fact, basically every good setup mon right now
are just the offensive mons from the section above, but with a setup move.

Let’s stop and think for a moment: has this always been the case? Has setup mons always just been offensive mons that
decide to run a setup move? The answer is no. The current state of setup has been a product of the Substitute and Poison
Heal ban. Prior to the these ban, setup mons which do not immediately threaten Imposters are viable. For example, this
list has historically included mons such as Tyranitar, Kyogre, Xerneas, Zac-C, Slaking/Regigigas, Yveltal and much more.
Instead of using their Dragon or Ghost type to scare Imposters, these bulky mons are able to leverage their bulk alongside
Sub or PH to beat Imposters. Even without PH, Sub allowed you to run self-proof bulky setup such as WBB Zac-C, GaG
Zama-C, Levitate Pdon etc.

There are more reasons why bulky setup is completely dead outside of Imposters, and it all stems from the PH and
Sub ban. Despite the lack of Core Enforcer and Spectral Thief to punish bulky setup mons, this gen has introduced some
extremely crippling moves for bulky setup sweepers: Mortal Spin and Salt Cure. The pressure from Mortal Spin is somewhat
alleviated since the introduction of Take Heart, but the presence of Salt Cure means that if you don’t have Magic Guard, all
Water and Steel setup mons are basically unplayable. Moreover, even if you do run Take Heart or Magic Guard, suddenly it
becomes very difficult for your set to deal with Imposter. On the other spectrum, the popularity of Strength Sap means that
bulky physical setup sweepers will never sweep unless you have GaG or Sap Sipper (Bounce is vulnerable to Parting Shot).
There is absolutely nothing your setup mon can do in the face of Strength Sap spam without those abilities. Once again,
even if you run those abilities, you will probably lose to Imposter without Sub. I will now challenge you to come up with a
single setup mon that requires setup to pose a threat while at the same time able to overcome the challenges I have listed above.
If your answer is Arceus, then congratulations, you have chosen the only correct answer. In fact, I’d bet that you have not
seen a setup mon not named Arceus which utilises Take Heart or Victory Dance effectively within the last six months. Arceus
and its variants are the only last survivor from the expansive ”bulky setup” archetype that used to exist in BH. Arceus is
also widely considered to be the best and most splashable mon in the meta thanks to it’s fantastic bulk and unremovable
Plate-Judgment mechanic. If you need proof, let me ask you how many Arceus you would run if species clause was deleted.
It should be a testament to the unplayability of bulky setup mons when the only viable user is literally the best mon in the
game with a unique gimmick.

At this point you might be wondering: so what? What’s wrong with bulky setup being complete trash outside of Arceus?
Doesn’t the omnipresence of setup Arceus prove that ”bulky setup” is not dead? If you think so, believe it or not, you’re
right. There is nothing inherently wrong with the meta favouring only one type of offensive mons. There is nothing inherently
wrong with an entire archetype of mons is now represeneted by Arceus. You are not obligated to care about the viability of
the bulky setup archetype in BH. However, it matters to me. I want to run slow setup sweepers other than Arceus. I want
to be able to utilise mons such as Tyranitar, Caly-I, Kyogre and Groudon. I want BH to be a sandbox where multiple kinds
of offensive mons are viable. It saddens me to try come up with new ideas when in the end, my offensive mons will likely be
some SF LO Dragon or CB SOR/CS BOR nuke. It saddens me that the only setup mon outside of Arceus are just glorified
nukes with setup tacked on as a 4th move. It saddens me that so many cool offensive mons that I used to run is reduced to
such an unplayable state.

4 Conclusion
At the end of the day, is there actually a problem in the BH meta which needs to be addressed? It depends on who you ask.
There are a lot of people who enjoy the current meta. From a balance perspective, there’s nothing too strong like Kartana or
MMX. A lot of offensive mons has become viable since the Diancie ban. However, from my perspective, the loss of a whole
archetype of offensive mons have severely limited the possibilities in teambuiding which BH used to offer to its playerbase.
Outside of Arceus, I can never run a bulky setup mon win condition. For me, this is extremely disappointing.

So am I advocating for a Sub and PH unban after all? No, I am not. There is a saying that goes: ”If something is
important to you, you’ll make time for it. If it is not, you’ll make an excuse not to do it”. Before we even begin to argue about
a Sub and PH unban, I would like you to look inside yourselves and think about these questions: is it alright for only one
kind of offensive mon to be viable in the metagame? Do you care that an entire population of viable mons became unplayable
since the Sub and PH ban? Has the core principle of BH; offering a sandbox metagame to its playerbase, been compromised
by the erasure of bulky setup mons? These are the questions which I cannot answer for you. If the viability of bulky setup
sweepers matter to you, you will find excuses to keep it. If it is not, you will find excuses to ban it.

 

[IAMLEGENDhalo]

Just wanted to share some fun sets I've been using with my time playing BH!

Ogerpon-Hearthflame (F) @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Solar Blade
- U-turn
- V-create

This thing hits very hard and the combination of grass and fire leave it quite difficult to switch into aside from bulky dragons and fire types. However that can be quite useful as it means if an imposter mon copies it you can wall your own set. Hearthflame mask is used for the general power boost and immunity to knock off being nice. Solar blade is the grass move of choice as it benefits greatly from the sun being up and even allows an OHKO on Primal-Kygore. Bitter blade is used as a form of offensive recovery while v-create is good as a nuke. It's also capable of singlehandedly shutting down those annoying tinted lens water spout greninja teams which is quite nice.

Altaria-Mega @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- U-turn
- Spirit Break
- Dragon Tail
- Mortal Spin


This set is quite nice for a few very key resistances despite the comparatively lower base stats when compared to the rest of the tier. Resistances to dark, fighting, water, electric and fire with an immunity to dragon leaves Altaria poised to switch into a number of dangerous pokemon and threaten them. Notably thunder cage sets, dragon energy/ water spout sets, certain torch song pokemon, ash-gren, and honestly most dragon types. Eternatus can be annoying for it however.

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Strength Sap
- Victory Dance

Prob a set that's been done before but I thought it might be fun to share. Magic guard pairs very nicely with ho-oh in general allowing free switch ins on stealth rocks, no recoil high bp stab in brave bird and flare blitz a whats also a nice is an immunity to burn. It can also 1v1 most chansey sets granted no crits happen. It can also pair with a bulky steel type running a fire immunity if you're concerned about imposter which is what I ended up doing for extra insurance.

Tyranitar-Mega @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Axe
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Jungle Healing

The ultimate annoying hazard setter that also has the benefit of hitting back hard. Stone axe knock off is a quite nice STAB combo and regenerator means you can keep doing it over and over again. Jungle healing is just to ensure you aren't crippled by status as well. It does require some scouting to make sure the opponent doesn't have some random fighting coverage, however. Pairs nicely with a magic bounce mon like the one listed below to shut down imposter sets.

Metagross-Mega @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Opportunist
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spicy Extract
- Rapid Spin
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake

This is kind of gimmick but wow is it a fun gimmick. You bait in the opponent thinking you're just trying to remove hazards then you click spicy extract instantly getting a +4 boost and lowering the opponents defense by 2 stages. Theirs basically nothing in the game that can survive that. Mega-Metagross is chosen over some other pokemon for its useful resistance good bulk, attack and solid speed stat meaning you don't always need the rapid spin speed boost.

Zacian @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Magical Torque
- Spirit Shackle
- Night Shade
- Shore Up

Very nice anti-bullshit pokemon. It can shut down a lot of hazard stuff, and entrainment normalize pokemon with ease. It can also trap and eliminate imposter sets well and all of this while it's able to deal solid damage. It's bulk isn't even too bad either with 92/115/115 defenses bolstered by a blazing 138 speed stat. While Arceus fairy could be argued to be better this set means you don't need to use your arceus form on it which is pretty valuable.

Garchomp-Mega @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bone Rush
- Scale Shot
- Jungle Healing
- Coil

This set is also a lot of fun. It hits exceptionally hard thanks to the boost from both loaded dice and technician. It also means imposter sets are going to have a hard time since they don't use loaded dice meaning their damage output is inconsistent when copied. Coil is used to boost accuracy and damage at the same time and scale shot is both useful for damage and speed. Jungle healing is just here to ensure you aren't worn down too fast by status or salt cure shenanigans.



Well, if you made it this far thanks for giving it a read!

 

[rightclicker]

Just wanted to share some fun sets I've been using with my time playing BH!

View attachment 603770

Ogerpon-Hearthflame (F) @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Solar Blade
- U-turn
- V-create

This thing hits very hard and the combination of grass and fire leave it quite difficult to switch into aside from bulky dragons and fire types. However that can be quite useful as it means if an imposter mon copies it you can wall your own set. Hearthflame mask is used for the general power boost and immunity to knock off being nice. Solar blade is the grass move of choice as it benefits greatly from the sun being up and even allows an OHKO on Primal-Kygore. Bitter blade is used as a form of offensive recovery while v-create is good as a nuke. It's also capable of singlehandedly shutting down those annoying tinted lens water spout greninja teams which is quite nice.


View attachment 603771
Altaria-Mega @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- U-turn
- Spirit Break
- Dragon Tail
- Mortal Spin


This set is quite nice for a few very key resistances despite the comparatively lower base stats when compared to the rest of the tier. Resistances to dark, fighting, water, electric and fire with an immunity to dragon leaves Altaria poised to switch into a number of dangerous pokemon and threaten them. Notably thunder cage sets, dragon energy/ water spout sets, certain torch song pokemon, ash-gren, and honestly most dragon types. Eternatus can be annoying for it however.


View attachment 603772
Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Strength Sap
- Victory Dance

Prob a set that's been done before but I thought it might be fun to share. Magic guard pairs very nicely with ho-oh in general allowing free switch ins on stealth rocks, no recoil high bp stab in brave bird and flare blitz a whats also a nice is an immunity to burn. It can also 1v1 most chansey sets granted no crits happen. It can also pair with a bulky steel type running a fire immunity if you're concerned about imposter which is what I ended up doing for extra insurance.




View attachment 603773
Tyranitar-Mega @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Axe
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Jungle Healing

The ultimate annoying hazard setter that also has the benefit of hitting back hard. Stone axe knock off is a quite nice STAB combo and regenerator means you can keep doing it over and over again. Jungle healing is just to ensure you aren't crippled by status as well. It does require some scouting to make sure the opponent doesn't have some random fighting coverage, however. Pairs nicely with a magic bounce mon like the one listed below to shut down imposter sets.


View attachment 603776

Metagross-Mega @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Opportunist
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spicy Extract
- Rapid Spin
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake

This is kind of gimmick but wow is it a fun gimmick. You bait in the opponent thinking you're just trying to remove hazards then you click spicy extract instantly getting a +4 boost and lowering the opponents defense by 2 stages. Theirs basically nothing in the game that can survive that. Mega-Metagross is chosen over some other pokemon for its useful resistance good bulk, attack and solid speed stat meaning you don't always need the rapid spin speed boost.


View attachment 603777

Zacian @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Magical Torque
- Spirit Shackle
- Night Shade
- Shore Up

Very nice anti-bullshit pokemon. It can shut down a lot of hazard stuff, and entrainment normalize pokemon with ease. It can also trap and eliminate imposter sets well and all of this while it's able to deal solid damage. It's bulk isn't even too bad either with 92/115/115 defenses bolstered by a blazing 138 speed stat. While Arceus fairy could be argued to be better this set means you don't need to use your arceus form on it which is pretty valuable.




View attachment 603778

Garchomp-Mega @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bone Rush
- Scale Shot
- Jungle Healing
- Coil

This set is also a lot of fun. It hits exceptionally hard thanks to the boost from both loaded dice and technician. It also means imposter sets are going to have a hard time since they don't use loaded dice meaning their damage output is inconsistent when copied. Coil is used to boost accuracy and damage at the same time and scale shot is both useful for damage and speed. Jungle healing is just here to ensure you aren't worn down too fast by status or salt cure shenanigans.



Well, if you made it this far thanks for giving it a read!

the main problem with a lotta these sets is they're really farmed by imposter - like what are you gonna do when imposter copies your +4 metagross lol

(edit: btw you also can use a mon's animated sprite without having to manually add their image in)

 

[IMPERIUM OF MAN]

The Homogenisation of offensive threats and death of bulky threats

The Guy who has Many Alts
12th February 2024

1 Introduction
Greetings everyone. In this post I would like to talk about the current metagame of BH and how I feel regarding it. This will
be slightly more serious post compared to other posts because it is a topic that holds importance to me. I would like to preface
this by saying that everything in this post is subjective. I have my idealised version of the BH meta, just as you and everyone
else have. What I like to play in BH may not be the same as yours. What you think is broken may be fine for me. Believe it
or not, that’s okay. I am glad there are others who enjoy the meta. You should not let others affect your enjoyment of anything.
With that out of the way, I will now discuss my source of dissatisfaction: the homogenisation of offensive threats and the
death of bulky threats.

2 The homogenisation of offensive threats
In my opinion, the current roster of good offensive mons consists of those which can severely dent Imposters immediately, with
no setup. This usually requires the mon to be a fast Dragon or a Ghost type because they hit themselves super-effectively,
meaning that they can threaten Imposters simply by clicking their main stabs. For examples of such mons, just think of
Garchomp, Flutter Mane, Necrozma, Eternatus, Miraidon, Koraidon and so on. However, there are also non-Ghost/Dragons
which can accomplish this goal. The most common method is to use a mon with low bulk and such high offensive stats so
that even neutral moves hit extremely hard. E.g. Greninja, Deo-N, Alakazam, Beedrill, Diancie (now banned). There are
also mons such as Lucario which hits itself super-effectively despite not being a Ghost/Dragon.

Just to be clear, there is no problem with offensive mons that threaten Imposters. Offensive mons which threaten imposters
have historically been good because it limits your opponent’s hard switch to just their dedicated Fur/Scales/Regen rather
than allowing an Imposter to come in. I will also mention that just because the aforementioned mons do threaten Imposter,
it does not mean that Imposters can’t switch in. Thanks to Eviolite and Chansey’s base hp, Imposters are still able to come
in on a coverage move. So, what exactly is my problem here?

3 The death of bulky setup
My personal dissatisfaction of the meta stems from the fact that the the aforementioned ”archetype” of offensive mons are
the only available option of offensive threats. Let me state this once again: this post is subjective. If you enjoy the range of
offensive threats available currently, then I am happy for you. Nevertheless, let’s stop and consider what we have lost, and
what is not viable: bulky setup sweepers.

Setup as a whole is still alive in BH, despite the numerous bans to generational setup-staples such as Quiver Dance, Substitute
and Quiver Dance. A lot of Dragon types such as Koraidon and Garchomp can readily run Tidy Up, while most special
mons have access to the new Torch Song which doubles as coverage and setup, not to mention the brand-new Take Heart.
Simple No Retreat is another viable setup option, albeit usually limited to Arceus-Ghost and Lunala. We also have some
variant of setup Arceus in almost every team. However, let me raise an argument: apart from Arceus and Lunala, all of these
mons do not require setup to function. They run setup because they can, and not because they must in order to be threatening.
Sure it’s nice that your Garchomp can sweep with Tidy Up, but it’s not necessary to kill walls when you already have Life
Orb Adaptability. It’s nice that your Eternatus can use Torch Song to boost, but you don’t need it to 2HKO non-scales/vest
mons with Dragon Energy. Yes, your Adapt Lucario can run Tidy Up, but most of the time you’re going to click your Sunsteel
Strike, Gigaton Hammer or Close Combat because they don’t need a boost to deal a hefty chunk of damage. You’ll have to
switch out when your opponent slow pivots into their Imposter anyways. In fact, basically every good setup mon right now
are just the offensive mons from the section above, but with a setup move.

Let’s stop and think for a moment: has this always been the case? Has setup mons always just been offensive mons that
decide to run a setup move? The answer is no. The current state of setup has been a product of the Substitute and Poison
Heal ban. Prior to the these ban, setup mons which do not immediately threaten Imposters are viable. For example, this
list has historically included mons such as Tyranitar, Kyogre, Xerneas, Zac-C, Slaking/Regigigas, Yveltal and much more.
Instead of using their Dragon or Ghost type to scare Imposters, these bulky mons are able to leverage their bulk alongside
Sub or PH to beat Imposters. Even without PH, Sub allowed you to run self-proof bulky setup such as WBB Zac-C, GaG
Zama-C, Levitate Pdon etc.

There are more reasons why bulky setup is completely dead outside of Imposters, and it all stems from the PH and
Sub ban. Despite the lack of Core Enforcer and Spectral Thief to punish bulky setup mons, this gen has introduced some
extremely crippling moves for bulky setup sweepers: Mortal Spin and Salt Cure. The pressure from Mortal Spin is somewhat
alleviated since the introduction of Take Heart, but the presence of Salt Cure means that if you don’t have Magic Guard, all
Water and Steel setup mons are basically unplayable. Moreover, even if you do run Take Heart or Magic Guard, suddenly it
becomes very difficult for your set to deal with Imposter. On the other spectrum, the popularity of Strength Sap means that
bulky physical setup sweepers will never sweep unless you have GaG or Sap Sipper (Bounce is vulnerable to Parting Shot).
There is absolutely nothing your setup mon can do in the face of Strength Sap spam without those abilities. Once again,
even if you run those abilities, you will probably lose to Imposter without Sub. I will now challenge you to come up with a
single setup mon that requires setup to pose a threat while at the same time able to overcome the challenges I have listed above.
If your answer is Arceus, then congratulations, you have chosen the only correct answer. In fact, I’d bet that you have not
seen a setup mon not named Arceus which utilises Take Heart or Victory Dance effectively within the last six months. Arceus
and its variants are the only last survivor from the expansive ”bulky setup” archetype that used to exist in BH. Arceus is
also widely considered to be the best and most splashable mon in the meta thanks to it’s fantastic bulk and unremovable
Plate-Judgment mechanic. If you need proof, let me ask you how many Arceus you would run if species clause was deleted.
It should be a testament to the unplayability of bulky setup mons when the only viable user is literally the best mon in the
game with a unique gimmick.

At this point you might be wondering: so what? What’s wrong with bulky setup being complete trash outside of Arceus?
Doesn’t the omnipresence of setup Arceus prove that ”bulky setup” is not dead? If you think so, believe it or not, you’re
right. There is nothing inherently wrong with the meta favouring only one type of offensive mons. There is nothing inherently
wrong with an entire archetype of mons is now represeneted by Arceus. You are not obligated to care about the viability of
the bulky setup archetype in BH. However, it matters to me. I want to run slow setup sweepers other than Arceus. I want
to be able to utilise mons such as Tyranitar, Caly-I, Kyogre and Groudon. I want BH to be a sandbox where multiple kinds
of offensive mons are viable. It saddens me to try come up with new ideas when in the end, my offensive mons will likely be
some SF LO Dragon or CB SOR/CS BOR nuke. It saddens me that the only setup mon outside of Arceus are just glorified
nukes with setup tacked on as a 4th move. It saddens me that so many cool offensive mons that I used to run is reduced to
such an unplayable state.

4 Conclusion
At the end of the day, is there actually a problem in the BH meta which needs to be addressed? It depends on who you ask.
There are a lot of people who enjoy the current meta. From a balance perspective, there’s nothing too strong like Kartana or
MMX. A lot of offensive mons has become viable since the Diancie ban. However, from my perspective, the loss of a whole
archetype of offensive mons have severely limited the possibilities in teambuiding which BH used to offer to its playerbase.
Outside of Arceus, I can never run a bulky setup mon win condition. For me, this is extremely disappointing.

So am I advocating for a Sub and PH unban after all? No, I am not. There is a saying that goes: ”If something is
important to you, you’ll make time for it. If it is not, you’ll make an excuse not to do it”. Before we even begin to argue about
a Sub and PH unban, I would like you to look inside yourselves and think about these questions: is it alright for only one
kind of offensive mon to be viable in the metagame? Do you care that an entire population of viable mons became unplayable
since the Sub and PH ban? Has the core principle of BH; offering a sandbox metagame to its playerbase, been compromised
by the erasure of bulky setup mons? These are the questions which I cannot answer for you. If the viability of bulky setup
sweepers matter to you, you will find excuses to keep it. If it is not, you will find excuses to ban it.

Honestly, this is the kind of post i was wishing someone would make because its exactly how i feel, the lack of variety in offensive mons is what has forced me to quit playing BH. Despite BH and PH being the only formats I enjoy. I feel robbed because all the offensive threats i used to enjoy are gone and I just can't play with the very limited options. thank you for making this post.

(can't wait to hear the meme responses, never ending to anything i say on this website)

 

[IAMLEGENDhalo]

the main problem with a lotta these sets is they're really farmed by imposter - like what are you gonna do when imposter copies your +4 metagross lol

(edit: btw you also can use a mon's animated sprite without having to manually add their image in)

Well tbf I did that call that one specifically a gimmick for a reason lol.

It def comes down to having the right teamates to switch into ur own threats. I mentioned a few potential ones in the post itself.

 

[Rotommaster87]

Since people posting sets of stuff, I wanna drop one that i think is a bit weird, but it works


Arceus-Electric @ Zap Plate
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
- Take Heart
- Strength Sap
- Thunder Cage
- Knock Off

Yes, its another take heart set, i know very creative, but instead of FC/Scales, im making use of Earth Eater with the electric typing so nothing hits for super effective, outside of the one mold breaker garchomp ive seen. Arceus has enough bulk on his own that he can survive key things, and with my mostly steel type team i needed a good answer to ground types, not to mention my lack of Arceus on the team prior, i landed on this. I like to run Zap plate with Tcage over some other plate and judgement so then i can have more utility, been experimenting with various different moves in the last slot, you can kinda stick any kind of damaging move that does utility there. Ive been running knock off because its super useful, but also used Scald, other plates with Judgement, even haze at one point (wouldnt recommend that one unless you're against a team of 6 imposters). It already improofs itself with Tcage as its main form of damage

 

[Chessking345]

2 The homogenisation of offensive threats
In my opinion, the current roster of good offensive mons consists of those which can severely dent Imposters immediately, with
no setup. This usually requires the mon to be a fast Dragon or a Ghost type because they hit themselves super-effectively,
meaning that they can threaten Imposters simply by clicking their main stabs. For examples of such mons, just think of
Garchomp, Flutter Mane, Necrozma, Eternatus, Miraidon, Koraidon and so on. However, there are also non-Ghost/Dragons
which can accomplish this goal. The most common method is to use a mon with low bulk and such high offensive stats so
that even neutral moves hit extremely hard. E.g. Greninja, Deo-N, Alakazam, Beedrill, Diancie (now banned). There are
also mons such as Lucario which hits itself super-effectively despite not being a Ghost/Dragon.

Just to be clear, there is no problem with offensive mons that threaten Imposters. Offensive mons which threaten imposters
have historically been good because it limits your opponent’s hard switch to just their dedicated Fur/Scales/Regen rather
than allowing an Imposter to come in. I will also mention that just because the aforementioned mons do threaten Imposter,
it does not mean that Imposters can’t switch in. Thanks to Eviolite and Chansey’s base hp, Imposters are still able to come
in on a coverage move. So, what exactly is my problem here?

In basically every recent BH meta, every good offensive mon had the capability to hit Imposter hard because anything that gets farmed by Imposter hard enough is, well, going to be worse considering Imposter is number 1 mon. The sole exception to this is MMY and MMX to an extent, and I would argue that MMY getting checked well by Imposter is one of the main reasons it remained unbanned in the USUM meta.

3 The death of bulky setup

I think this entire section has one crucial flaw, and that is that setup has never existed outside of Poison Heal, and in this generation's case, Substitute. Consider the resembling meta in NDBH, where all these elements you bring up are freed. Setup virtually is still limited to self-improof mons either through Poison Heal or Spooky Judgment. The reason is that yes, as you point out, unimproofed setup is not very good setup.

One of the biggest benefits Imposter brings to the tier is to dissuade BS setup sets that would be perfectly functional without Imposter. This is why whenever an Imposter ban is brought up it is common to say that most forms of setup would have to also go less the tier devolve into setup spam. You claim you want to run these setup mons, but the issue is that any form of these setup mons being viable leads to, at least in my opinion that I think is shared by at least some other, a worse meta.

Substitute was banned because it was inherently unhealthy for the meta, in a similar way Poison Heal was. People always look at the one egregious GaG Zama-C set and claim how since Zama-C no longer exists that Sub is reasonable, but Sub was abused on the most silly of sets. Landorus-T ran GaG Sub VD Blades and Throat Chop since Throat cannot break Sub while disabling Boomburst and Torch Song, Arceus-Fairy ran SProof Sub Torch VD Spirit Break, a seemingly incoherent set that saw plenty of success. This is not including the various other Arceus formes that can just run Sub setup since, statline wise, they are not too different from Zama-C. Sub shuts down basically all setup counterplay currently, namely Topsy, Strength Sap, pivoting into Imposter. Haze is an awful tool into Sub because it creates free turns which translates to Leftovers recovery for the Sub user, and considering they are forced into Recover to not be blocked by Sub the 8 pp is easily stalled out. This is why for me, I am against a Sub retest and if a retest were to happen in my opinion it would just be for formality, Sub has no place in this meta. Even in ND where tools like Spectral Thief and Heal Order exist, Sub is still very strong on sets like Pressure Zac-C (Sub BU Anchor Shield) or the nicher FC Zac-C (Sub Anchor fillers) that take advantage of how exploitable Spectral Thief can be. Regarding Poison Heal, I don't think you need me to tell you how that also has absolutely no place in this meta.

You then bring up new tools introduced this generation that help deal with setup, except, these tools do absolutely nothing into Substitute, and Salt Cure only is a temporary check into Poison Heal (or even current setup) considering the viability of trapping. Perhaps a midground would be nice, but that midground does not exist, anything that deals with such tools completely shuts them down along with all of the other anti-setup tools.

Regarding Arceus, I have expressed this before and I will do it again, Arceus formes should never be regarded as one mon, they are completely different mons that can do completely different roles. The best mon in the meta is far and away Imposter, evident by the VR where the next highest mon sits at A (and isn't like much better than the A- stuff) (BTW check out new Resources if you haven't!). Yes using an Arceus forme is basically mandatory for a good team but that's just because there is no reason to not use one. It has the right speed tier while having very good bulk, everything faster has insufficient bulk and the speed tiers don't particularly matter, and everything with more bulk is crucially slower and often passive. With QD banned, special setup cannot boost Speed and so the mon must be inherently fast, and considering the popularity of Arceus as a SpD itself, the options are indeed limited where Dragons like Etern and Mirai prefer the compression of Torch. VD/Tidy Up however has seen usage on other mons, such as the sets tzaur posted before with MG setup. The limitation of mons ultimately comes down to STABs, since one move basically has to be dedicated to trapping for Imposter, and it just so happens that Arceus can pick any STAB.

TLDR basically is that you want all of these bulky setup stuff and variety in them, except that is simply not possible because we lack the tools that can potentially balance some of the elements that enable such bulky setup in the first place. Thus, there is nothing that can be done other than full banning such elements.

Do you care that an entire population of viable mons became unplayable
since the Sub and PH ban? Has the core principle of BH; offering a sandbox metagame to its playerbase, been compromised
by the erasure of bulky setup mons?

This line makes no sense btw, BH's principle is allowing basically anything and then balancing the meta from there. Claiming that the erasure of bulky setup mons is compromising a "sandbox metagame" is hypocritical when the entire meta revolved around such setup when they were present in the meta and thus compromising the rest of the metagame.

Honestly, this is the kind of post i was wishing someone would make because its exactly how i feel, the lack of variety in offensive mons is what has forced me to quit playing BH. Despite BH and PH being the only formats I enjoy. I feel robbed because all the offensive threats i used to enjoy are gone and I just can't play with the very limited options. thank you for making this post.

While Hallward makes points that are correct observations this is just completely false. What lack of variety in offensive mons, Diancie ban opened up the entire offensive meta if you take any look at the VR. You always say how the stuff you use like Caly-S and Zacc are now banned but guess what, when those were in the meta there was NO variety because the entire meta revolved around those mons. Why use anything else when you can use broken S tier mon that wins every time. Start looking through the VR and learn to use the new viable mons in this new meta.

 

[IAMLEGENDhalo]

Wanted to post one more pretty cool set. An imposter-proof set-up sweeper with a malleable ability. Simple is pretty good when facing more offensive teams and magic guard is prob better for facing stall. I flip flop back and forth on these two and I'm not really sure which one is better.

Gyarados-Mega @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Simple/Magic Guard
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Magic Powder
- Victory Dance
- Jaw Lock
- Liquidation


Magic powder changes the pokemon's type to psychic so when facing an imposter mon they take double damage from your attacks and lose STAB allowing for an easy 1v1 granted you don't get crit. They can't do the same back thanks to safety goggles blocking magic powder. Jaw lock allows you to boost to +6 from trapping them and acting as a solid form of STAB. Liquidation is used over surging strikes so imposter mons can't bypass your defense boost. Victory dance is just a great form of boosting attack speed and importantly defense.

 

[Tera2Norml]

I had some ideas that I want to try when I started playing this metagame. Here are some of them.

First up, Eruption copies.



Sceptile-Mega @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Dragon Energy
- Clanging Scales
- Matcha Gotcha

You can also make it Magic Guard, Chloroblast.


Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Fire
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Astral Barrage
- Aura Sphere
- Matcha Gotcha

Was going to put Greninja here, but its already well known, so I decided against it.

Frankly, I'm surprised that Simple isn't banned. So, I decided to make two builds that abuse this:


Ursaluna @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Amnesia
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

Who doesn't like priority moves? Fast pokemon! Ursaluna is slow, bulky, and with a high attack stat too. Swords Dance + Amnesia makes this thing a menace.


Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Recover
- Burning Bulwark
- Bite

Yes, yes, I know that Ting-Lu has some better builds. But the thing is so tanky, that I couldn't not make a build for it. Bite is for stalling

I can use Megas? And there are (almost) no restrictions? This format has it all:


Lopunny-Mega @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poltergeist
- Mach Punch
- Hyper Drill
- Combat Torque

Always wanted to try out this thing with a different ability, and now I can!


Blaziken-Mega @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Pyro Ball
- Collision Course
- Glacial Lance

This thing doesn't really need to change its role. It was doing great before, and it sure won't stop now.

And are you struggling with gimmicks lately, with weird Sturdy Endeavor Pokemon, or with Cosmic Power strategies? Are pokemon just getting too many boosts to keep up? Presenting, a solution:


Regieleki @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Zap Cannon
- Inferno
- Magma Storm
- Origin Pulse

Zap Cannon serves as a guaranteed paralysis, along with STAB damage. Inferno allows for a guaranteed burn, and Magma Storm serves as a trapping damage when needed. Origin Pulse is coverage. Just coverage.

 

[Tera2Norml]

Hello everyone. Now that the tour is over, I can finally reveal some of the greatest and most terrible sets you'll ever witness. Before that, I will mention that I am going to keep this as brief as possible. Have you heard of the parable of the sower? It goes:

"Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

That is exactly what I will do. I will simply spread my ideas. If you refuse to try these sets, so be it. I believe some people will realise and utilise the power of these sets, and that is enough for me.

View attachment 603375
Starscourge Radahn (Dialga-Origin) @ Adamant Crystal
Ability: Wandering Spirit
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Doom Desire
- Thunder Cage
- Ruination
- Strength Sap

This is not the first time I have recommended this set. This dialga is the ultimate Regenerator counter. Unless the regen mon has Precipice Blades or Salt Cure, you can always switch this into u-turn, knock off rapid spin, stone axe and other contact moves. Doing so will swap both mons' abilities, granting Dialga Regenerator and giving your opponent the useless Wandering Spirit. But that's not all. The Doom Desire -> Thunder Cage -> Ruination trifecta is an extremely lethal combination which lets you do what I call "bursting". Bursting is a term from video games where you deal a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. This Dialga can burst all by itself or be paired with a nuke to suddenly OHKO a mon. Furthermore, you're also imposter-proof because of how Strength Sap makes you recover more hp. Other moves you can try include Torch Song, Scald and Whirlwind.

ReinhardLohengramm (Sceptile-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Energy
- Chloroblast
- Torch Song
- Strength Sap

Next we have MG Sceptile. This is a very straightforward mon. Sceptile is the fastest special dragon, which means it can outspeed all other dragons at neutral and OHKO them with Dragon Energy. Chloroblast is good coverage for Greninja, Kyogre and Ground Arceus. It also hits Swampert and Slowbro which is nice. The last two moves are more flexible. I recommend Strength Sap for longevity to keep your Dragon Energy powerful, but you can try Matcha Gotcha for different sort of sustain. You can even run no recovery if you want. As for coverage, I recommend Torch Song, Thunder Cage and Secret Sword. There are other options though like Malignant Chain, Steel Beam and Blue Flare if you want more immediate damage.

Arceus @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Take Heart
- Boomburst
- Shore Up
- Judgment

Your eyes do not deceive you. This is indeed a Normal-type Arceus. This mon is the best Ghost Arc and Flutter Mane check if they have Secret Sword. If they don't have Secret Sword then Blissey is the best. Thanks to how Secret Sword was coded, its damage is reduced by Ice Scales. Normal is only useful for its ghost immunity but Fighting is quite rare so it's a decent type. Furthermore, it gets two of the most powerful moves in the game in Boomburst and Population Bomb. Unlike a lot of Arcs, this one is not really Imposter proof since you're not running Thunder Cage but you can easily imposter proof with a ghost-type.

Blissey (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ruination
- U-turn
- Clear Smog
- Stone Axe

This is another old set I made, but I don't think people realise how good Regenvest Blissey is. Do you want to know what the worst thing about running passive mon is? You easily get set up on and you have to spend turns recovering because of chip damage from hazards and poison. Well what if I tell you that there is another way to circumvent the drawbacks of Blissey and that is Regenvest. With Clear Smog, you parma-wall every Torch Song dragon in existence. You sap block them because Blissey has 0 attack. Not only that, you chop their health in half with Ruination. You never lose momentum because of U-turn, and you also prevent stuff like salt cure and poison damage because you switch. Trust me, run these three moves on your Blissey and you'll soon realise how terrifying this innocent-looking mon is. As for the last move you can run whatever regen move like stone axe, knock off, spin, salt cure etc.

Alakazam-Mega @ Flame Orb
Ability: Flare Boost
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Pain Split
- Psystrike
- Moongeist Beam

If you're looking for a stall breaker/offense cleaner than look no further than Flare Boost Alakazam. This is basically a copy of the Flutter Mane set except you're faster and stronger but with worse coverage. After a single NP you OHKO almost every single offensive mon in the game. Flame Orb + Pain Split means you can turn your chip damage into health against high hp mons. There are some drawbacks though, mostly from coverage. I think you always choose either moongeist or moonblast. Don't be fooled though, even when Psystrike is resisted, you're still doing a ton of damage to resists as shown below:

+2 252 SpA Flare Boost Alakazam-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Steelix-Mega: 129-153 (36.4 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252 SpA Flare Boost Alakazam-Mega Psystrike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Lugia: 183-216 (43.9 - 51.9%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO

Zacian @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Strength Sap
- Spirit Break
- U-turn
- Salt Cure

I think Zacian is one of the best Ice Scales/RegenVest mon atm. This is because of its amazing 138 Speed. Do you remember why everyone ran Miraidon to check Kartana? Sure it was because you resist the STABs, but what was more important was because Miraidon could outspeed and Torch Song the Kartana without needing to take a hit. The same thing is what makes Zacian so good. I think you should always run Knock Off on this mon to reduce the opponent's damage. Spirit Break lets you neutralise Take Heart and No Retreat. You do need another way to beat Arc if they have Sap though. This could be Salt Cure on Zacian or another mon in your team. I will note that you outspeed Necrozma and Greninja among a bunch of other dragons. You can even use this to soft check Koraidon if that gets popular. Unlike Arc, you outspeed it.

Calyrex-Ice @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Aurora Veil
- Flip Turn
- Ice Shard
- Strength Sap

Alright that was the end of the "good" sets. Now I would like to share extremely spicy and 100% optimal "god" sets that will cause your opponents to uncontrollably shake and cry. The first is Snow Warning Caly-I. This mon is a soft Garchomp and Kyurem-B check. Great improof if you run those mons with Mold Breaker since it doesn't work against the Snow defense boost. But here is the twist: we can run Aurora Veil on this mon or another mon on your team to utilise the snow. I know Cityscapes is shaking and crying right now from the sight of this demon. Do you think that's all? well of course not. With Adamant nature and Ice Shard, you have a roll to kill chomp at -1:

252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Ice Shard vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Garchomp-Mega: 372-444 (88.5 - 105.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

The chances are even higher if they're running less defense to OHKO imposters or if they clicked Glaive Rush the previous turn. The sheer emotional damage inflicted from this sequence of events will definitely make your opponent forfeit immediately.

BARTHOLOMEW KUMA (Tyranitar-Mega) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Jaw Lock
- No Retreat
- Power Trip
- Strength Sap

You have reached the conclusion of this post, and deserve to be bestowed possibly the greatest set in the 2024 BH metagame: No Retreat Tyranitar. Contrary to what the name suggest, you do in fact, retreat with this set. If you don't know, you can actually use No Retreat multiple times if you are already under the trapping effect of Jaw Lock, Spirit Shackle, Block or Mean Look. The strategy is simple: run another mon with Spirit Shackle, switch into an imposter of it and click No Retreat. You can No Retreat a second time even if the imposter switches. Most of the time even one No Retreat is enough to let Tyranitar OHKO a lot of mons. If an imposter comes, you can Strength Sap twice before Jaw Lock. If they switch, your Jaw Lock will mean that they can't switch the Imposter back in. Once the Imposter is trapped you can 1v1 it with Strength Sap. If you are wondering what peak BH team building looks like, this is it. We have peaked with this set.

Thank you for the Tyranitar Set. I don't know if you intended for it to be used as a way to force Struggles on Imposters, but that's how I've been using it.

 

[rightclicker]

sample submishun

imoprtabl: https://pokepast.es/2b73fb0e815ef56c
team nam: epic team :)
synopsis: kil everythin with as gerinja arcus fire or goldo an wall evry with kinganbit guzlod or altari meg :)
weeknes: none :)

actual sample submission

importable
Team name: ...Like Antennas To Heaven - Magic Guard Arceus-Dragon + Regenerator Eternatus Balance

Synopsis:

Dragonceus is a potent progress maker & lategame cleaner that can heavily exploit passive walls with Magic Guard + Arceus bulk. Eternatus supports Dragonceus by targetting Fairies which Dragonceus likely cannot break through while also setting Spikes, forming a double Regenerator core with Mega Swampert, and appreciating Dragonceus baiting in Steels and removing them.
You can read more about specific members of the team in my RMT.

Weaknesses:

Sheer Force Ultra Necrozma, Lunala + Ghostceus, Selfproof speed boosting + Taunt sweepers. Magic Guard Blissey is also an annoyance for the main progress makers but what I usually do is just hard Mega Swampert then Flip Turn out.

Effectiveness: Got to #1 on ladder fairly easily, does pretty strong in private games.

 

[Sulo]

Sample Submission

Team: Magic Guard Arceus-Ghost Balance
Synopsis: This was slightly inspired by rightclicker making MG Arceus-Dragon work, and I felt like wanting to make something out of another Arceus forme with Magic Guard. Spikes support from Magearna prevents Ice Scales users from switching into Arceus-Ghost as easily as they should; Blissey can further hamper them through sapblocking if they're reliant on Strength Sap for healing as well. Koraidon has a good matchup into special walls like opposing Blissey and appreciates Arceus-Ghost's positive matchup into walls like Dondozo and Mega Slowbro. Arceus-Ghost and Magearna are Imposter-proofed by Blissey, Dondozo by Arceus-Ghost, and Koraidon by Dondozo.
Weaknesses: Playing around hazards can be a bit troublesome if you're against certain Ghost-types like Flutter Mane, since both removal options struggle into them. Ultra Necrozma is also annoying; the main counterplay there is just getting turns right against coverage and forcing it out accordingly.
Effectiveness: Got me to around #11 on ladder pretty easily and has a fairly good matchup spread in my experience.

 

[Zenpoppa]

Why is Liquid Ooze of all abilities banned?

 

[Notgamingreally]

Why is Liquid Ooze of all abilities banned?

Cause liquid ooze isn’t comfortably counterable even when you have good mus vs the ooze mon I.e arceus fairy vs magic bounce yveltal is a good mu for the arc fairy user but arceus fairy vs liquid ooze yveltal means the ooze user can force awkward moments especially since ooze is un revealed

 

[Codename C.A.T]

Why is Liquid Ooze of all abilities banned?

The best healing move is Strength Sap. When you have an ability that can literally just kill you for attempting to heal, it can get quite unhealthy. Magic Bounce is different because it doesn't just delete your mon for trying to sap.

 

[IAMLEGENDhalo]

While we're on the topic of bans I've been wondering why quiver dance is banned

 

[TTTech]

While we're on the topic of bans I've been wondering why quiver dance is banned

Recovery nerf, no spectral thief, more special attackers/abusers in the tier, burns don't matter unlike if you were to burn a physical attacker thats setting up. Quiver is just too much when the tier lost a lot of it's tools thats got dexit'd

 

[FishSucksAtPKMN]

This set should NOT work as well as it does.

the nuh uh-inator (Regidrago) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Metal Burst
- Destiny Bond
- Baneful Bunker
- Taunt

It almost always forces a death. There's a lot of mindgames you can play involving slotting chansey and blissey on the team to play "is this impostor?"

This thing is meant to die in one hit, hence the lack of anything but HP.

Sash metal burst takes advantage of that.
Destiny Bond is meant to play off of the nature of Sash + Metal Burst.
The other 2 moves can be anything really, I picked baneful bunker and taunt.

A replay of one of my friends running the general set:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2082615207

 

[augustakira]

https://pokepast.es/2198875f2c4ad165

Submitting this team as a sample. I've already posted it as an RMT here and it's already done the rounds on discord and stuff so people know it works, it has a solid tour record and I just think it's really fun to pilot.

https://pokepast.es/460e32058974f002

Alternatively, this team has been very functional for me as a more generic type of balance with the CB Ash-Greninja set I've popularised plus great sapblocking capabilities to support it. I wouldn't say it's perfectly optimised as the Melo can be a bit weird to use, changing it to a support M Audino (bounce perhaps?) would also work well most likely.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

been a bit quiet the past couple weeks so thought i'd post on some stuff i've been using


Eternatus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Energy
- Sludge Bomb / Malignant Chain
- Nasty Plot / Torch Song
- Strength Sap

one of a bevy of special attackers that is violently effective in the absence of blissey, this perhaps more than competitors like sceptile and miraidon. life orb energy without the recoil is phenomenal when you can actually kill fairies, and it's strong enough to the point where you can simply drop fire coverage and have good odds to just kill most steels outright; torch makes them easier to handle but means you miss out on 2hkoing scales arc as they switch in with rocks up. big "if in the absence of blissey" though; energy's damage isn't phenomenal on it even at +2, and the reliance on sap for healing + poison move doing nowhere near as much damage as energy means that standard mg bliss is basically unbreakable without pretty sophisticated team support.


Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Opportunist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spicy Extract
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Strength Sap

meme set isn't actually that bad. opportunist as a gimmick is funny in that it doesn't do anything particularly unique (it's just spicier simple sd) but it's good at forcing chokehold 50/50s given you have an effective +6 v-create to swing about. the +2 attack is by itself enough to crush basically all neutrals (even non-fc arceus), but the -2 def allows you to OHKO eternatus, miraidon, and neutral fur coat arceus; even after they outspeed and sap you back to +1, miraidon is a favoured roll to OHKO and arc is still taking up to 90, which is a pretty free sapblock opportunity. ho-oh is chosen over anything else because it's got great natural bulk and is weak to the coverage you want to be running anyway; set-up bolt strike is one of the most comically effective ways at inverting the mbro matchup, going from "i will sit here and spam scald + tp forever" to "this physical attacker is doing min 74% through fur coat and i can't burn it". ultimately though it's still a setup ho-oh which means you have to be really careful about losing boots and even taking salt cure / stone axe direct damage, and fur coat dragons just make you cry enough tears to subsidise the below set:


Greninja-Ash (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Water Spout
- Wicked Blow
- Volt Switch
- Strength Sap

a few people have been messing around with semi-weather over the past week to some pretty good results. a notable issue with a lot of the breakers in the current meta is that there's always a pretty sizeable risk that you're just going to run into their permanent wall, and with double fur coat / scales + bliss structures being decently common (moreso the latter) there's no guarantee you can just bring a supporting breaker and punch through that way. weather circumvents this issue by supercharging one breaker such that it's nigh-guaranteed to make progress when it has a chance to do stuff; the window to do stuff is just more restrictive. of the two main weathers, rain seems weaker due to spout being a worse move; the above gren set is decent enough and tries to navigate spout's issues with mglo + wicked (for bliss), but it simply doesn't do enough damage on either side, and even something like 150bp specs beads spout in rain is only a roll to ohko av mpert. while pogre technically does more damage, imp is also a severe momentum killer even with tinted (and something like sflo with bolt strike still has to get the predicts) and its speed is less than ideal.


Blaziken-Mega @ Choice Band / Flame Plate
Ability: Tinted Lens / Chlorophyll / Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely / Hasty Nature
- V-create
- Close Combat
- Electro Drift
- U-turn

this, on the other hand, is much more effective at just clicking a single button and watching stuff drop, which is what weather ultimately sort of relies on; instant kill potential. cb tinted has absurd damage (it ohkoes bold giratina in sun) and anything that doesn't have fur coat or an immunity ability just simply drops; it helps that stab CC makes psea registeel and celesteela non-factors and it's the only fire that doesn't get completely bullied by stone axe. edrift is basically just for mbro, as it's essentially the only thing that isn't mauled by v-create and routinely uses recover, and you're a v-create bot so you're not exactly strapped for moveslots. the choice of ability is a bit odd; tinted means only fur coats wall you, moldy means only resists wall you, chloro is similar to moldy but gives you a form of speed control in exchange for being less v-create efficient. +spe should only ever be used with chloro (same for base 90s like ho-oh) as +spe gives you the jump on base 135s (korai, mirai, flutter) at -1, with mblaze also outrunning base 145s (mbee, mscept).


now onto take heart; i don't think it's egregiously broken, but i also don't think it's a healthy presence. this is for two main reasons:

• it mandates a defensive response. stuff using take heart is almost always running a defensive ability / has good natural bulk and defensive typing, meaning it's pretty much impossible to force it out with damage; there are exceptions (unaware torch etern being the main one), but these are very limited. what this means is that, when a take hearter is in, essentially your only option to get it out and keep playing the game is salt cure or topsy. what this means is that, unless you're running a sapblocker (which, spoiler alert, is the only reliable way to make progress), anytime it gets set up, the momentum of the game essentially flatlines until one of those conditions is met.
• making progress against them is very painful. the nature of take heart sets mean sap is mandatory; on top of fur coat users essentially needing to have sap to actually beat physical attackers, if you don't use sap, then you're having to run th/recover/judge (or other stab move)/spirit shackle to not get mocked by imp, which is a very poor decision if you had dealing damage on your mind. with the status cleansing and high speed + sap, the only real way to make damage stick is to either amass a skip full of hazards and have your fast physical attacker pick it off from there, or run a sapblocker; it's almost always more convenient to use the latter. what this ends up creating is a flat gameplay loop where the only safe way to counter the set is to play ultra-defensive with this one way of making damage stick, and as the take heart user your set just loses functionality.

thats my thoughts on the move; it's not that it doesn't have counters, but that it perpetuates a boring, uninteractive, and builder-constraining gameplay loop.

also, has sort of been the case for a while but nobody formally announced it: sample submissions are open! oldest set is egregiously outdated and there's not any major tiering action planned for a while, so hopefully this new set doesn't go off as soon as we get them in.

 

[rightclicker]

Hello fellow BH forum lurkers, today I will post about the best gimmick of all time that will win 100% of your games


Giratina @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Teleport
- Tidy Up
- Shore Up

Yes, you are not hallucinating. This is a Trick Room setter Giratina.
Before you go “nuke what the fuck does this do” allow me to show you what it’s pivoting into.


money is bad (Blaziken-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- V-create
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Trick

This guy commits literal war crimes under TR. V-Create speed drops actually boosts your speed, so you actually win the trade vs. Imposter if they hard in (don’t calc just trust me bro). CC is STAB, U-turn is U-turn, and Trick kills guys you would never break through without chip like FC Arceus formes.

You can also do other TR setters as well that can be just as effective and accomplish other things. The above Giratina was hazard control, but you can be:

bulky prankhaze + revive your attacker from 1 hp

Melmetal @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Lunar Dance
- Haze
- Shore Up

generic fc arc with tr > th and topsy > utility

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Topsy-Turvy
- Judgment
- Strength Sap
- Trick Room

hwatever the fuck this thibg is

Arceus-Ground @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Haze
- Taunt
- Trick Room
- Lunar Dance

Oh and yeah the attackers don’t just end at Mega Blaziken there’s even more I tried


Necrozma-Dawn-Wings @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Torch Song
- Psystrike
- Moongeist Beam
- Astral Barrage

Magic Guard Blissey a problem for your Moongeist Beam shenanigans? Dispose of it with one simple move!


Kyogre-Primal @ Choice Specs
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Water Spout
- Steam Eruption
- Water Shuriken
- Volt Switch

“Hard Imposter into Primal Kyogre” users hate this one simple trick!!! also does something else idfk

I also tried but that guy was just ass lol

Anyways, I hope this post made you aware of this absolutely gamebreaking gimmick and I wish you the best of luck on your ladder games while using this.

 

[FishSucksAtPKMN]

I was climbing on ladder, tryna hit that 1500 mark where ladder decay stops...
but then

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2104168311
I WON.
This is INSANE.

here's my team
maybe add it to RMT?
https://pokepast.es/56a88aef7aa9ef84

only 35 elo scam

 

[iLiekMudkipz_]

I was climbing on ladder, tryna hit that 1500 mark where ladder decay stops...
but then
View attachment 624834
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2104168311
I WON.
This is INSANE.

here's my team
maybe add it to RMT?
https://pokepast.es/56a88aef7aa9ef84

only 35 elo scam

man who is this banned nerd
what a fraud amirite
using an alt when he knows hes hated

anyways yeah im back, learned my lesson from last year
i collectively apologize
to everyone i befriended on that account
to anyone who saw my win against quantum and thought i was legit
im a fraud and i deserve all the hate coming


anyways latest version of fraudulent me's team
https://pokepast.es/1272b8e02479578a

 

[iLiekMudkipz_]

YOO I DID IT
I HIT 1500 ON LADDER
currently working on an RMT

anyways imma be real, alt guy's wandering spirit dialga set is HEAT.
another thing, Arceus-Poison really should run ice plate and ground coverage. the amount of times i've lost to a stray Arceus-Ground is too much to laugh off.