Hi everybody. I'm Tyki. I used to be one of the Gen 5 RU tier leaders way back when PO was still a thing. If any of you count that as an accomplishment anyway. For the most part I am retired from competitive Pokemon, but every once in awhile I get inspired to theory-craft something, abuse it for a handful of games, get annoyed by ladder, and stop. Given that the vast majority of people who played back when I played are for the most part not here anymore either for me to feed them teams to, I figured I'd share a team here publically on RMT for everybody to make fun of.
This team was inspired by this team from artifice. after realizing that both Tink and Jug are RU Pokemon and should perform as good if not better against a weaker selection of 'mons. Sure, the lack of Tusk and Moth are big bummers, but there are some nice beefy big Paradox options in RU right? All in all, this team is heavily unoptimized and really is more me trying to get my wild ideas out into the public of people who care so that RU players can actually take advantage of this if they want to ladder with it and all. The winrate is pretty solid but not enough of a sample for anyone to care, but from the eye test as someone who used to be a big ladder fiend, this has potential and I implore seasoned RU players to take and adapt this team to your preferences.
@ Air Balloon
Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 24 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
Quite literally copy/pasted from artifice's team, this thing is awesome. Pickpocket balloon is my new favorite cheese and is hilarious. People in RU don't expect this type of set at all and fear a beefy Gigaton, but it's going to get your rocks up, para their entire team, and still somehow not die. You do miss having Steel STAB sometimes with some pretty big 4 moveslot syndrome here, but Play Rough is usually enough even uninvested to deal some damage. The EVs are probably meant to hit relevant OU speed tiers and I'm too lazy to redo them, so this is where something should probably be reoptimized. No complains and a key member of the team's identity. I'm not convinced Water is the best Tera Type for it here, where Ghost probably offers more.
@ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Knock Off
- Earth Power
- Hurricane
- U-turn
The second copy/paste from artifice.'s team. This 'mon is a big reason I remembered why I quit laddering. Missing Huricane makes me want to throw my computer out the window. Air Slash is hilariously weak. Sometimes I miss not having Dark Pulse instead. U-turn and Booster feels bad, but it's still plenty fast without it. It still can compete with speed on the plethora of scarfers and even some of the weather sweepers with it, making it invaluable. I guess the other question mark is if Earth Power is really its best coverage move in this specific tier, as it does have good coverage options like Fire Blast/Flamethrower and Hydro Pump available to it. I've been pretty happy with Earth Power though. Tera Steel still helps deal with Fairy, though I don't hate Ground to help with Earth Power, Electric and Rock. Ice still hurts though.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 168 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Dragon Tail
A new slot on this team after trying many things ranging from Espeon to Dragalge to Brambleghast. Having a spinner is kind of needed on this team after trying a lot of variations to simply not care, and regen makes the pivot nature a lot better as an active role. It also has some key resists the team was lacking before and has some phasing to make us not cry too hard about other setup sweepers. I'm not 100% sold this is the correct utility 'mon to have in this slot, but I think it's in the right direction. Again the EVs are copied from somewhere else to outspeed Zoroark-Hisui, but it isn't really that big of a threat to the team so it can probably be changed too. This slot kind of wishes it was spikes too, but was really hard to find the right fit for the weird typing combos that already exist.
@ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake
The second paradox we have, and probably the best in my opinion. Tera Flying feels so good when your type combo baits out ground moves, letting you get effectively a +2 attack +1 speed after one Dragon Dance and Booster Energy, letting you sweep most teams pretty easily. The coverage move here is really hard, originally it was Ice Punch, but the base power is so low compared to EQ that I slot it in instead for now. It no longer hits said ground types for super effective anymore which is a problem, but that can be something you play around before you go for the sweep with Thorns. EVs again should be optimized. Thorns will never be fast enough to get Speed from Booster, so I decided to take advantage of that and give it HP for bulk to nearly guarantee a DD, as we are already getting attack from Booster. Ideally, the EVs should be changed to outspeed X threat at +1 and attack should be given to be able to reliably 2HKO Y threat after +1 and booster, but I'm far too lazy. Math nerds can do that for their team.
@ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flame Charge
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Leech Life
Third and final Paradox and one that I've experimented a lot with. I've tried a First Impression variant with no speed, Trailblaze, Coverage Moves. I think this is the best one for similar reasons to Thorns where we have enough bulk to reliably Bulk Up, then heal it back with Leech Life and outspeec with Flame Charge. Tera Fire gives the Flame Charge base power boost and lets it hit flying types (and randomly rain Toxicroak) pretty well, but those are ideally gone before you start the sweep anyway. Once again, EVs should be changed to outspeed and 2HKO things after the boosts, but also once again, I will not be doing that here. If you do come up with those optimized EV spreads, please feel free to let me know and I will update accordingly.
@ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
Finally, we want a nice, fast, heavy hitter. I consider Azelf to be like a Dragapult of RU in a sense as it's so versitile. It's one of the fastest threats in the tier, can run Physical, Special, mixed, or utility sets, and as such isn't really that predictable in what it can do. This team desperatelly needed another special threat in its ranks as it was getting walled hard once Jug was gone, so I thought a Specs set would do wonders here. And... it does. Specs Azelf is pretty awesome, leading well, dealing a bunch of damage, and being another cog in the pivot machine to wear down opponents enough to start getting a sweep done. Originally this was a Banded Barraskewda, which had the added benefit of being a check to Rain teams, but was simply too frail to take a hit, and another physical attacker that would get walled by bulky defensive mons. Jolteon's movepool sucks, and Killowatriel being rocks weak really suffers as a specs user. Tera Psychic just destroys non-resists, though it could easily be changed to Fairy.
Importable:
https://pokepast.es/2886e5ee6e12b4ec
That's about it. I know this team is unoptimized and still needs some work, but I felt it was selfish to keep this in the purgatory that is my mind before I wipe my harddrive again and lose this forever. I'm not really looking for advice on this team for myself, but I do encourage discussions about it, as I do believe this has the potential to do some real damage. RU isn't the most popular tier, but will always be special to me as someone who spent some time trying to make it fun.
The only other Paradox that is even legal at this time is Scream Tail and I never really thought about using it. I suppose a bulky Calm Mind set could work, but that would also require more testing. No recovery outside of Wish and Rest seems mediocre though.
Anyway, thanks for reading this far. Please steal this and make it better. I encourage you.
This team was inspired by this team from artifice. after realizing that both Tink and Jug are RU Pokemon and should perform as good if not better against a weaker selection of 'mons. Sure, the lack of Tusk and Moth are big bummers, but there are some nice beefy big Paradox options in RU right? All in all, this team is heavily unoptimized and really is more me trying to get my wild ideas out into the public of people who care so that RU players can actually take advantage of this if they want to ladder with it and all. The winrate is pretty solid but not enough of a sample for anyone to care, but from the eye test as someone who used to be a big ladder fiend, this has potential and I implore seasoned RU players to take and adapt this team to your preferences.
@ Air Balloon Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 24 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
Quite literally copy/pasted from artifice's team, this thing is awesome. Pickpocket balloon is my new favorite cheese and is hilarious. People in RU don't expect this type of set at all and fear a beefy Gigaton, but it's going to get your rocks up, para their entire team, and still somehow not die. You do miss having Steel STAB sometimes with some pretty big 4 moveslot syndrome here, but Play Rough is usually enough even uninvested to deal some damage. The EVs are probably meant to hit relevant OU speed tiers and I'm too lazy to redo them, so this is where something should probably be reoptimized. No complains and a key member of the team's identity. I'm not convinced Water is the best Tera Type for it here, where Ghost probably offers more.
@ Booster Energy Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Knock Off
- Earth Power
- Hurricane
- U-turn
The second copy/paste from artifice.'s team. This 'mon is a big reason I remembered why I quit laddering. Missing Huricane makes me want to throw my computer out the window. Air Slash is hilariously weak. Sometimes I miss not having Dark Pulse instead. U-turn and Booster feels bad, but it's still plenty fast without it. It still can compete with speed on the plethora of scarfers and even some of the weather sweepers with it, making it invaluable. I guess the other question mark is if Earth Power is really its best coverage move in this specific tier, as it does have good coverage options like Fire Blast/Flamethrower and Hydro Pump available to it. I've been pretty happy with Earth Power though. Tera Steel still helps deal with Fairy, though I don't hate Ground to help with Earth Power, Electric and Rock. Ice still hurts though.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 168 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Dragon Tail
A new slot on this team after trying many things ranging from Espeon to Dragalge to Brambleghast. Having a spinner is kind of needed on this team after trying a lot of variations to simply not care, and regen makes the pivot nature a lot better as an active role. It also has some key resists the team was lacking before and has some phasing to make us not cry too hard about other setup sweepers. I'm not 100% sold this is the correct utility 'mon to have in this slot, but I think it's in the right direction. Again the EVs are copied from somewhere else to outspeed Zoroark-Hisui, but it isn't really that big of a threat to the team so it can probably be changed too. This slot kind of wishes it was spikes too, but was really hard to find the right fit for the weird typing combos that already exist.
@ Booster Energy Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake
The second paradox we have, and probably the best in my opinion. Tera Flying feels so good when your type combo baits out ground moves, letting you get effectively a +2 attack +1 speed after one Dragon Dance and Booster Energy, letting you sweep most teams pretty easily. The coverage move here is really hard, originally it was Ice Punch, but the base power is so low compared to EQ that I slot it in instead for now. It no longer hits said ground types for super effective anymore which is a problem, but that can be something you play around before you go for the sweep with Thorns. EVs again should be optimized. Thorns will never be fast enough to get Speed from Booster, so I decided to take advantage of that and give it HP for bulk to nearly guarantee a DD, as we are already getting attack from Booster. Ideally, the EVs should be changed to outspeed X threat at +1 and attack should be given to be able to reliably 2HKO Y threat after +1 and booster, but I'm far too lazy. Math nerds can do that for their team.
@ Booster Energy Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flame Charge
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Leech Life
Third and final Paradox and one that I've experimented a lot with. I've tried a First Impression variant with no speed, Trailblaze, Coverage Moves. I think this is the best one for similar reasons to Thorns where we have enough bulk to reliably Bulk Up, then heal it back with Leech Life and outspeec with Flame Charge. Tera Fire gives the Flame Charge base power boost and lets it hit flying types (and randomly rain Toxicroak) pretty well, but those are ideally gone before you start the sweep anyway. Once again, EVs should be changed to outspeed and 2HKO things after the boosts, but also once again, I will not be doing that here. If you do come up with those optimized EV spreads, please feel free to let me know and I will update accordingly.
@ Choice Specs Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
Finally, we want a nice, fast, heavy hitter. I consider Azelf to be like a Dragapult of RU in a sense as it's so versitile. It's one of the fastest threats in the tier, can run Physical, Special, mixed, or utility sets, and as such isn't really that predictable in what it can do. This team desperatelly needed another special threat in its ranks as it was getting walled hard once Jug was gone, so I thought a Specs set would do wonders here. And... it does. Specs Azelf is pretty awesome, leading well, dealing a bunch of damage, and being another cog in the pivot machine to wear down opponents enough to start getting a sweep done. Originally this was a Banded Barraskewda, which had the added benefit of being a check to Rain teams, but was simply too frail to take a hit, and another physical attacker that would get walled by bulky defensive mons. Jolteon's movepool sucks, and Killowatriel being rocks weak really suffers as a specs user. Tera Psychic just destroys non-resists, though it could easily be changed to Fairy.
Importable:
https://pokepast.es/2886e5ee6e12b4ec
That's about it. I know this team is unoptimized and still needs some work, but I felt it was selfish to keep this in the purgatory that is my mind before I wipe my harddrive again and lose this forever. I'm not really looking for advice on this team for myself, but I do encourage discussions about it, as I do believe this has the potential to do some real damage. RU isn't the most popular tier, but will always be special to me as someone who spent some time trying to make it fun.
The only other Paradox that is even legal at this time is Scream Tail and I never really thought about using it. I suppose a bulky Calm Mind set could work, but that would also require more testing. No recovery outside of Wish and Rest seems mediocre though.
Anyway, thanks for reading this far. Please steal this and make it better. I encourage you.