This is it. It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to gen 8 ou. Gen 8 was the generation where I learnt a lot more about teambuilding and battling, which allowed me to build around all sorts of gimmicky mons but still work on ladder. As a final hurrah to this generation, I spent the last 2 weeks building teams around pokemon that I've always wanted to try building around like emolga and qwilfish (I actually really liked the qwilfish one). I really wanted to write a rmt for one of these teams, so I have chosen an entei team that I built!
Hentei (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stone Edge
I wanted to use entei for one reason only - choice band sacred fire. Choice band entei is able to spam sacred fires, with switch ins like lando-t, garchomp, gastrodon and more risking getting burnt. The buff to inner focus has also helped it immensely as lando-t can no longer switch in and intimidate it. Choice band should definitely be used over heavy-duty boots as non banded entei lacks power and cannot 2ko a lot of things. Stone edge and stomping tantrum provide good coverage against other mons like heatran and pelipper, and extreme speed gives you a strong revenge killing option. Entei also has decent bulk and can eat some hits and do stuff like revenge killing volcarona.
Dragapult @ Spell Tag
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp
- Draco Meteor
Hex dragapult was a pretty common set in very early gen 8 ou, but is rarely seen now. However, with sacred fire spreading burns everywhere, i thought hex dragapult would be a fun partner! Spell tag provides a boost to hex, u-turn lets you get out of situations where you can't do anything like against a blissey, and will-o-wisp lets you start spamming hex without entei spread burns already. Although dragon darts is an option to hit blissey, I personally prefer draco meteor so I can focus solely on the special attacking side and not have a -def or -spdef nature.
Melmetal @ Protective Pads
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
One of the child abuse dragon's best friends is melmetal, which serves as a great fairy killer with immediate power. Protective pads lets it spam moves against zapdos, ferrothorn, garchomp, helmet pex and more without the fear of getting punished by their items and abilities. Move choices are very obvious, and evs are put into special defense instead of hp because of melmetal's naturally high hp, and the speed is for outspeeding toxapex. The team is pretty weak to weavile, so its very important to keep melmetal healthy when theres a weavile present.
Mantine @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Scald
The team really needed a defogger and a water type, so naturally tapu fini is the best choice. Sadly, I am running a sacred fire entei and hex dragapult team, which does not benefit from misty terrain at all. I mean you can run flare blitz on entei, change the dragapult set, and then use tapu fini so you don't get destroyed by dragonite + weavile - however, I am simply built different. Although mantine lacks tapu fini's fairy typing, its longevity in roost as well as spammable stabs are still good qualities. It is arguably an even better switch in to offensive water types like urshifu and volcanion, and has a naturally high special defense.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Toxic
With a lack of hazards and electric type switch in, I decided to use lando-t. It is a great tanky pivot with u-turn, and can also help deal with threats like heatran and garchomp. Toxic spreads even more status around, and cripples pokemon that try to switch into lando-t like buzzwole, zapdos and tornadus-t.
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Scald
Calm mind raikou ends the team off in a poetic way, starting and ending both in legendary dogs. I thought to myself, what is a pokemon that would appreciate ground types and everyone else getting chipped with status and stuff? Since it received scald this generation, calm mind raikou was also a pokemon I really wanted to try using, so I decided to use it. Raikou's speed allows it to outspeed non scarf kartana, while the 48 hp still gives it an odd number of hp to set up substitutes. Calm mind and substitute lets it set up, while thunderbolt and scald complement each other well as coverage moves. The combination still gets walled by certain mons, but they can be chipped down with status from your other pokemon.
This team is definitely one of the most fun teams in all the teams I built in the past 2 weeks. There are ways to use the team in a better way, as I have suggested, but this is what I ultimatedly enjoyed using the most. Hope you all enjoyed reading this rmt! With the end of this rmt comes the start of a new generation of ou, and I wholeheartedly wish everyone in the pokemon community will have fun with this new generation!
Hentei (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stone Edge
I wanted to use entei for one reason only - choice band sacred fire. Choice band entei is able to spam sacred fires, with switch ins like lando-t, garchomp, gastrodon and more risking getting burnt. The buff to inner focus has also helped it immensely as lando-t can no longer switch in and intimidate it. Choice band should definitely be used over heavy-duty boots as non banded entei lacks power and cannot 2ko a lot of things. Stone edge and stomping tantrum provide good coverage against other mons like heatran and pelipper, and extreme speed gives you a strong revenge killing option. Entei also has decent bulk and can eat some hits and do stuff like revenge killing volcarona.
Dragapult @ Spell Tag
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp
- Draco Meteor
Hex dragapult was a pretty common set in very early gen 8 ou, but is rarely seen now. However, with sacred fire spreading burns everywhere, i thought hex dragapult would be a fun partner! Spell tag provides a boost to hex, u-turn lets you get out of situations where you can't do anything like against a blissey, and will-o-wisp lets you start spamming hex without entei spread burns already. Although dragon darts is an option to hit blissey, I personally prefer draco meteor so I can focus solely on the special attacking side and not have a -def or -spdef nature.
Melmetal @ Protective Pads
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
One of the child abuse dragon's best friends is melmetal, which serves as a great fairy killer with immediate power. Protective pads lets it spam moves against zapdos, ferrothorn, garchomp, helmet pex and more without the fear of getting punished by their items and abilities. Move choices are very obvious, and evs are put into special defense instead of hp because of melmetal's naturally high hp, and the speed is for outspeeding toxapex. The team is pretty weak to weavile, so its very important to keep melmetal healthy when theres a weavile present.
Mantine @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Scald
The team really needed a defogger and a water type, so naturally tapu fini is the best choice. Sadly, I am running a sacred fire entei and hex dragapult team, which does not benefit from misty terrain at all. I mean you can run flare blitz on entei, change the dragapult set, and then use tapu fini so you don't get destroyed by dragonite + weavile - however, I am simply built different. Although mantine lacks tapu fini's fairy typing, its longevity in roost as well as spammable stabs are still good qualities. It is arguably an even better switch in to offensive water types like urshifu and volcanion, and has a naturally high special defense.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Toxic
With a lack of hazards and electric type switch in, I decided to use lando-t. It is a great tanky pivot with u-turn, and can also help deal with threats like heatran and garchomp. Toxic spreads even more status around, and cripples pokemon that try to switch into lando-t like buzzwole, zapdos and tornadus-t.
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Scald
Calm mind raikou ends the team off in a poetic way, starting and ending both in legendary dogs. I thought to myself, what is a pokemon that would appreciate ground types and everyone else getting chipped with status and stuff? Since it received scald this generation, calm mind raikou was also a pokemon I really wanted to try using, so I decided to use it. Raikou's speed allows it to outspeed non scarf kartana, while the 48 hp still gives it an odd number of hp to set up substitutes. Calm mind and substitute lets it set up, while thunderbolt and scald complement each other well as coverage moves. The combination still gets walled by certain mons, but they can be chipped down with status from your other pokemon.
This team is definitely one of the most fun teams in all the teams I built in the past 2 weeks. There are ways to use the team in a better way, as I have suggested, but this is what I ultimatedly enjoyed using the most. Hope you all enjoyed reading this rmt! With the end of this rmt comes the start of a new generation of ou, and I wholeheartedly wish everyone in the pokemon community will have fun with this new generation!
