Commencement
Introduction:Hey all, it's Quizzy aka F0XHOUNDD back again with another RMT. With the advent of the Indigo Disk DLC, there have been a lot of new toys running around the metagame, however recently I’ve reached the 2000s on the ladder for the first time without using any of the new Pokemon. Regardless, this team has some cool sets I’m sure you all will enjoy!
I’ve been playing a lot of Risk of Rain 2 recently so this team is named after its final stage, Commencement, which I thought was fitting since I was itching to graduate into that 2000 elo placement since the start of Gen 9 OU. Nicknames are inspired by a few of the many items in my current favorite roguelike (everyone should play it!)
The Team:
https://pokepast.es/f257b2763257f0b6
Teambuilding Process:
This team was one I sort of stumbled into unintentionally. My friend Leng Loi approached me asking to build with a
The idea for Iron Defense Roar Zamazenta came to Leng from Srn, and I know MAVERICK SHOOTERS has also been playing with the idea since Finch debuted 3 attacks Roar as a concept in DLC1. I don’t know the true origin, but I wanted to shout all of these great players out.
Zamazenta
Tougher Times (Zamazenta) @ Leftovers
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Def / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Crunch
- Iron Defense
- Roar
Tougher Times (Zamazenta) @ Leftovers
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Def / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Crunch
- Iron Defense
- Roar
Zamazenta is the primary win condition of this team. With immense physical bulk that is bolstered further through its ability Dauntless Shield and move Iron Defense, it is an excellent late game cleaner and check to the many physical and/or dark type powerhouses running around in the Indigo Disk DLC, including but not limited to Weavile, Darkrai, Meowscarda, Dragonite, and Kingambit. Iron Defense Zamazenta already wins setup wars with insane ease against basically any physical threat, but the use of Roar in the last slot alongside a steel tera type allows Zamazenta to beat and bully structures relying on physical checks like Gliscor + Skarmory on balance, as it no longer fears Gliscor’s toxic after terastallization. Zamazenta also excels into current HO structures, which commonly attempt to use multiple physical sweepers such as Great Tusk, Kingambit, Roaring Moon, Rillaboom, Iron Boulder, etc., all of whom hate being forced into the battle early, and equally despise being forced out and neutralized during their setup turns. There is something so satisfying about hitting a successful Roar into setup threats attempting to beat you. I have done this to Great Tusks, Skarmorys, Kingambits, Hawluchas, and even Volcaronas. To portray the feeling one gets when successfully pulling off a Roar turn, I’ve prepared a visual aid:
Weavile
Her Biting Embrace (Weavile) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance
Her Biting Embrace (Weavile) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance
Weavile finally got back access to Triple Axel in Scarlet and Violet’s second DLC, allowing it to become a premier threat once more. Weavile serves as a great form of secondary speed control alongside Zamazenta, notably outspeeding Meowscarada in order to give you a consistent lead into balance featuring the cat. A standard max attack, max speed Swords Dance set is used in order to cleave through bulkier balances or clean up late game vs offense. Weavile is notable for beating or chunking huge damage into ghost types which Zamazenta fears, such as Dragapult and Gholdengo. It also excels at forcing progress via removing items on common switch-ins like Kingambit, Skarmory, opposing Zamazenta, and Dondozo, which can pave the way for hazard stacking and Roar/Whirlwind shenanigans in the mid/late game. An ice tera type allows for your Triple Axel to turn into a nuke while also getting more mileage out of Ice Shard, which is valuable priority against Roaring Moon, Dragapult, and Volcaronas which have used Tera Grass or Ground.
Volcanion
Shattering Justice (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power
- Fire Spin
- Taunt
Shattering Justice (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power
- Fire Spin
- Taunt
Volcanion sports my second favorite set on the team. Dropping the traditional Flamethrower for Fire Spin opens up many opportunities to catch switch-ins off guard and pick them off. Volcanion is your most immediately powerful Pokemon, and its trapping ability can set up opportunities for both Zamazenta and Corviknight as well as itself. Common Volcanion answers like Toxapex and Galar Slowking are shut down and can be subsequently removed via the use of Fire Spin and Taunt, making life much easier for your Body Press wincons. Tera ghost is a very neat tech on this set, allowing you to resist the Sludge Bombs of Galar Slowking, which can potentially 1v1 Volcanion if you get a taunt turn wrong and/or they get a lucky poison. More notably, tera ghost’s fighting immunity makes you untouchable by standard Keldeos, Dondozos, and Barraskewdas which are currently running water/fighting coverage (save for rare eq and avalanche on Dozo). It also grants immunity to Blissey's seismic toss, preserving health or outright avoiding damage. This set in general absolutely shreds a majority of Stall and Balance structures, which struggle to find a proper switch outside of tera water Gliscor or the occasional Hydrapple. The fighting immunity of tera ghost can also help in a pinch against opposing Zamazenta and give you free switches into Skarmory which commonly use Body Press as their only attacking move. Against offense, Volcanion’s naturally high bulk allows it to take a hit and trade for huge damage, burns, or kills into key threats such as Iron Valiant, Iron Boulder, opposing Weavile, and Kingambit, none of whom can OHKO you from full health without the use of a boosting tera type. 220 Speed EVs allow you to outspeed Gliscor with some wiggle room in case of slight investment. After a max special attack investment, the rest of the EVs went into HP.
The idea for this set came from a player DaVinci in the traineraid discord as well as Heileone who recently used this Volcanion alongside Specs Kyurem to remove Glowkings in his team recently featured in SV OU teams of the week.
Ting Lu
Mired Urn (Ting-Lu) @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
Mired Urn (Ting-Lu) @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
A fairly standard Ting Lu set does what Ting Lu does: check 70% of the special attackers in the tier while setting up hazards. Spikes support is very much appreciated on this team: Weavile will enjoy picking up easier KOs and both Ting Lu and Zamazenta have a field day phasing entire teams out. Ting Lu is a great blanket check to Pokemon like Gholdengo, Dragapult, Zapdos, Heatran, and most notably Raging Bolt which can otherwise wreak havoc against your remaining members. Tera poison allows you to take reduced damage from common fighting, fairy, grass, and even bug moves headed your way, the former two being extremely relevant when facing Volcarona. This Ting Lu packs Stone Edge over the more commonly seen Ruination to snipe unsuspecting Volcarona, which will otherwise give the team a hard time. Tera poison additionally allows Ting Lu to stand up to Archaludon in rain, which is difficult to handle otherwise, while additionally denying healing to Hatterene in a pinch. Max HP and special defense with leftovers give you as much special bulk as possible.
Corviknight
Safer Spaces (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Roost
- Defog
Safer Spaces (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Roost
- Defog
Corviknight is Zamazenta’s partner in crime and the team’s secondary wincon while also providing the defensive benefits of a bulky steel type and ground immunity. Corv soaks up hits from common threats such as Rillaboom, Weavile, Meowscarada, Excadrill, Great Tusk, and many more. While you may raise your eyebrows at the lack of U-turn on the Pokémon used over Skarmory almost exclusively for that move, the role compression of Iron Press alongside Defog is needed to keep Zamazenta and Ting Lu in the game for prolonged periods of time, while simultaneously checking Roaring Moon, Great Tusk, and Iron Boulder among others. Dropping any of these moves to fit U-turn in my eyes is not feasible. While the prospect of playing a team without pivoting moves is scary to many, I’ve found that the team has enough of a defensive backbone to allow safe switch-ins and pivoting without an over reliance on prediction as you might expect. Tera flying makes you even safer into CC Great Tusk variants and opposing Iron Press users, which are pretty scary for the team. Odd number HP and max defense maximize physical bulk while giving you a theoretical extra stealth rock switch-in. Rocky helmet provides valuable chip damage on contact, which is particularly good for punishing Rapid Spin.
Of course I’m talking about the merits of Defog when Corviknight has been historically oppressed by Gholdengo throughout the entirety of Gen 9, but as far as I’m concerned Corviknight is the best it's ever been. A preference towards more immediate threats on HO structures and the need for role compression alongside sturdier spikes setters on balance means that Ghold isn't the overbearing presence on the hazard metagame it once was. Corviknight gets the opportunity to defog a LOT these days even with the stack of coins running around. Against teams with Ghold, you just set up your own hazards and wear them down. You have four spikes immune Pokémon so it never feels like too terrible of a matchup, and realistically Zamazenta still gets opportunities for late game cleaning even with max layers up.
Clefable
Little Disciple (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Moonblast
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Moonlight
Little Disciple (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Moonblast
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Moonlight
Clefable rounds out the team with a SpDef Knock Off set giving you a valuable long term answer to common Pokemon such as mixed Deoxys Speed, Dragapult, Darkrai (without tera poison Sludge Bomb), Iron Valiant, Hydrapple (without Nasty Plot), and most notably Kyurem. None of Clefable’s switch-ins enjoy being Knocked Off, and those Pokemon are oftentimes obstacles in Corviknight and Zamazenta’s late game sweeps such as Toxapex, Galar Slowking, Volcarona, Clodsire, and Skeledirge. On this team, Clefable is often the engine with which you start making progress against fatter structures, whose more defensive oriented staples cannot do enough immediate damage to avoid the onslaught of Moonblasts and item removal caused by Clef, which also packs stealth rock to pressure Gliscor, Skarmory, and all the victims of its Knock Off. Clefable being a Sassy nature with reduced speed was initially an accident, but I actually came to appreciate the increased damage of Knock Off on Galar Slowking, which does around 20-25% even after item removal, enough to prevent Regenerator recovery alongside stealth rocks. Realistically you don't need to be faster than or speed tie with other Clefables or Primarinas, since with max SpDef you should beat opposing Clef anyway, and Primarina is a bit too strong for you to beat without Moonblast drops (you always lose to CM). Tera water gives you a resistance to water, fire, and ice type moves in a pinch against Kyurem, Weavile, Walking Wake, etc.
Common Threats:
- On that note:
- Tera water (and fairy for that matter)
- Just like last time: Don’t be afraid to bring in
- This team does well to force in ghost types, so use that to your advantage. For example, when you see
- Into
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2028136412-obuoij7b1zu0t6bt38u9vlusv2ppthxpw vs. Pinkacross Screens HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2030595855-wnazvvqsizpn6a7qi1v6aptl10e6n8fpw?p2 vs. Grassy Terrain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2029588238-qbw6f55zm1y741hr15sl44o2xlxxarvpw vs. NJNP rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2031083959-v96pzhllw8g9fuwubaz2zr1k0z8ezqupw?p2 vs. Xavgb Volcarona balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2028379267-ivesmwc8jyqlqx3v3ksmyxbocw9dt7cpw vs. Mimikyu Stardust HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2031087863-3ts8wk82j34e9jc3m3y6in6ukkyur2bpw?p2 how to play around Ghold/Raging Bolt
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2031076138-egkx4hw4ih2z3veylyt55usc8hwcki6pw?p2 another example vs. Raging Bolt. Probably could be cleaner.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2030473885-1qe9rvku1752h5z37tt93o7s33hemxwpw’ vs. Stall (very hard MU for Stall player)
Here's that Zama image with the whole team for giggles. Thanks for reading/using everyone!