Hi everyone! Welcome to my fourth RMT of the generation. After finding great success with my last VoltTurn RillaBalance team, I decided to build a similar style, but change some things around so that the team operates a bit differently. What I ended up with was a nice amalgamation of three different teams I was trying to build! So whether you're looking for a fun, solid balance or a team to get your req's with, I hope you prosper with my FlipVoltTurn RillaBalance! :)
Table of Contents:
1. Proof of Peak
2. Teambuilding Process
3. The Pokémon
4. Team Synergies
5. Threat List
6. Shoutouts
7. Conclusion
8. Importable
1. Proof of Peak
With this team I peaked at 1881 ELO, #31 in the DLC 1 meta as shown below. A new peak for me as far as rank goes! (don't mind the GXE on my test account lol)
2. Teambuilding Process
All good RillaBalance has to start somewhere, right? I've really enjoyed running these Rillaboom structures as he provides us with a cleaner, revenge killer, supportmon via Grassy Terrain and Knock Off, and momentum via U-Turn. He's too good!
The first thing I added this time was a Garganacl, notably due to its great defensive synergy with Rillaboom, nutty ability, inherent Ghost-resistance (which is hard to come by these days), sweeping potential, and synergy with Grassy Terrain. We're running a classic IronPress set to really abuse the Grassy Terrain recovery.
Next, I wanted a Dark-resist so that Kingambit does not do the digital dash on me. That is where our favorite elephant comes in. With Great Tusk on the team, we gain hazard control and a solid answer to physical attackers. We're running the Bulk Up set to gain another sweeper who abuses the Grassy Terrain.
Now, a bulky Steel and hazard setter. Heatran serves as our wallbreaker, hazard setter, and special check.
Next, Pinkacross told me (not personally, in his video lol) that we gotta have a Ground immunity. I don't disagree! Zapdos serves as our Ground-immunity, hax generator, and as a piece of our momentum team.
The last slot was a bit of an interesting pick. I wanted a third piece to add to the momentum team that had a good offensive presence of its own in order to avoid an overly passive team, and was a much-needed Water resist. In my mind, Dragapult was too squishy and too reliant on Choice Specs to do meaningful damage. Enter Heavy-Duty Boots Walking Wake. Walking Wake is the ace up this team's sleeve, forcing progress through its Choice Specs bluff into imagination. You'll see what I mean below!
3. The Pokémon
Baby Sitter (Rillaboom) (F) @
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn
is our breaker, pivot, and enabler for the team via Grassy Terrain. Grassy Glide, though nerfed, is still incredibly strong and a valid tool for late-game cleaning. In fact, I would argue that Rillaboom is a more balanced version of 
in the sense that you can easily get swept by it in the lategame if you allow your team to get chipped needlessly. Grassy Glide is very useful for revenge-killing sweepers, particularly 
, 
, 
, and weakened 
. Lategame Grassy Glide sweeping is also a primary wincon into the rain matchup. Wood Hammer provides a powerful breaking move against fat structures, doing big damage to 
, , 
, etc, and often forcing Teras from things like 
and 
. Knock Off provides item control and punishes ,
, 
, 
, and. Lastly, U-Turn provides momentum on switch-ins like .
Tera Grass was selected for maximum breaking power, especially in the stall matchup. The given EV spreads maximizes breaking power and speed.
Goin Baby (Garganacl) (F) @
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 236 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Recover
in UUBL? Yeah... no. This thing does what it has always done, and what it will continue to do in the coming months. is a fantastic mixed wall that, when Tera'd, can easily sweep through entire teams that lack preparation for it. Salt Cure synergizes with 's Stealth Rock and punishes momentum-heavy teams lacking multiple 
users. Salt Cure also takes advantage of the current meta lacking 
, ensuring that we can spread it around freely. Iron Defense + Body Press was selected over something like Curse + Earthquake in order to outpace the damage from strong physical threats like . In fact, with the help of Tera Fairy, we actually win the Iron Defense wars against all versions of 
(barring crit, but this is something you should play around with Recover after you're both at +6). Recover is the win button for Garganacl, so make sure to give it a few clicks every game for good luck.
Tera Fairy was selected to serve as a solid defensive typing to better sponge hits from things like ,, 
, and, as well as to give the team a Fairy-type in the face of 
and . The given EV spread is the standard IronPress set, which seeks to maximize special bulk for ultimate mixed-wallage, with a few EVs moved from HP to Def to maximize Grassy Terrain and recovery.
Tupac (Great Tusk) @
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Bulk Up
is our hazard controller, a secondary physical check, and one of our two sweepers. Headlong Rush is our STAB of choice and provides excellent coverage alongside Ice Spinner, while not being weakened from Grassy Terrain like Earthquake is. Ice Spinner is our coverage move, mostly notable for , 
, , and popping 
on the switch-in. While it is true that Ice Spinner ends our terrain, it also ends other teams' terrain. This tends to be more relevant since we often can catch opposing coming in, or Ice Spinner their terrain away before they can Wood Hammer. Rapid Spin boosts our Speed and clears hazards, while Bulk Up boosts to victory.
Tera Poison is quickly becoming the current meta trend for Bulk Up sets. Tera Poison allows us to avoid Toxic from, revenge-killing from , and setup in the face of 
and (unless they have Destiny Bond + Psychic which I did, in fact, lose to lol). Tera Poison also synergizes beautifully with Grassy Terrain since there are almost no Psychic moves in OU currently, leaving you with only one effective weakness. The given EV spread maximizes Grassy Terrain and recovery while ensuring a Protosynthesis Atk boost. I chose the Attack boost because most sun teams have been running a fatter structure since the 
ban, but the 12 EVs could easily be moved around to get the Attack, Defense, or Speed boost.
This set was previously running Tera Poison, but has been changed to Tera Electric following the and bans. Tera Electric is used as, although and can be valid switch-ins to , they still get worn down easily by it over time. As such, Tera Electric allows to make setup fodder out of and potentially sweep on the spot and avoid paralysis from Static all the while. It also synergizes beautifully with Grassy Terrain. The given EV spread maximizes Grassy Terrain and recovery while ensuring a Protosynthesis Atk boost. I chose the Attack boost because most sun teams have been running a fatter structure since the ban, but the 12 EVs could easily be moved around to get the Attack, Defense, or Speed boost.
As a final note, Tera Fire is also worth consideration for
and to better resist Moonblast from , but I found to be more problematic than both of these.
Carpet Burn (Heatran) @
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 212 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
is our hazard setter, wallbreaker, and primary special check. Magma Storm + Taunt allows for the trapping and removal of Regenerator stall pieces such as
and
, physical walls such as
, and special walls such as
. Earth Power is a nice secondary move to punish bad
and switch-ins, Roosts, or just to have a safe move to click. Since many things do not want to get trapped by Magma Storm, generates many of its own opportunities to set up Stealth Rock.
Flame Body was selected over Flash Fire since already sufficiently shuts down 
and since Flame Body is often a preferable punish on , , and 
over Static. Additionally, since Flash Fire is standard in current meta, just having at team preview is often sufficient to scare your opponent out of clicking their Fire moves. Finally, and very nichely, if leading into 
, you might get lucky and get your Flame Body taken away via Skill Swap on the first turn (i.e., opponent predicts Flash Fire), allowing you to OHKO with Magma Storm and avoid Sticky Webs going up.
Tera Ghost has a few purposes. Firstly, you can use it in the face of or if desired, though Tera is better for the latter. Secondly, while Ghost is not exactly a great defensive typing, it is neutral to all of ' attacks, easing the Moonblast vs. Earth Power predictions in that matchup. It also works similarly in easing the Ice Spinner vs. Headlong Rush predictions. Thirdly, Tera Ghost allows to wall and eliminate that only have Seismic Toss to attack (though using the FlipVoltTurn core to wear down is also a valid option that does not exhaust your Tera). Lastly, Tera Ghost just synergizes well with 's innate Ghost resist.
The given EV spread is the standard specially defensive set with a few EVs moved from HP to Def in order to maximize Grassy Terrain and recovery.
Deal wit It (Zapdos) @
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
serves as our Ground immunity, speed control, primary physical check, and as a member of the momentum core. Volt Switch is used to gain momentum and is a fantastic move. In particular, I would like to point out something that Pinkacross said in his recent video: "If the opposing team has no Ground-type, Volt Switch is the best move in the game." This is absolutely true, as most teams will fold to Zapdos after you eliminate their , , 
, etc. Hurricane is our 70%-accurate *cries* STAB move, and Roost and Thunder Wave are for longevity and trolling, respectively. On the real, Thunder Wave is particularly useful for paralyzing lead or , halting a sweeping (from which we live a +2 Dire Claw), or for slowing down so that our own can outspeed and eliminate.
Tera Water was selected as a generally solid defensive typing that solidifies the rain matchup, especially once the rain team's
or 
is taken care of. The standard defensive spread is run because it is goatered. It turns out this set naturally hits a Grassy Terrain number, so we gain maximum recovery from Grassy Terrain on Roosts while outspeeding 252+ Great Tusk.
Pony (Walking Wake) @
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 12 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Draco Meteor
- Knock Off
- Flip Turn
is the little bit of Shamone ™ factor that was needed on this team. I had been trying to build a team around 
with this same moveset, since Scald has no switch-in, is an OHKO on all forms of , and forces out Tera Water for and to abuse. However, I found that it was much more useful to BLUFF and use as general utility that still has a great offensive presence while not overfilling the breaker role that already fills. As such, was selected to allow to ignore all of the hazards it is weak to.
Scald is our STAB move of choice since it is very free to click in most situations. As noted above, Scald can force a Tera Water/Dragon, Knock Off, or burn on something pretty much every game. also benefits from the strongest Draco Meteor in OU, so of course we are running that for nuking power against bulky Waters like 
, , and . Knock Off was selected over Flamethrower since Knock Off/Scald are both valid punishes to , , and switch-ins. Additionally, it enables item removal from things that fails to lure in, such as and .
I never clicked Tera Steel, but it is there in case of emergency against or . Tera Fairy is also a very valid choice to for the same reason and to have additional insurance against the endgame, but I myself did not run this since I felt the team already had enough techs for this endgame. Lastly, Tera Dragon for nuking power against something like or can also be run. The given EV spread is standard and allows for to get a Protosynthesis Speed boost under the sun, but the EVs are easy to swap if you'd prefer the SpAtk boost.
4. Team Synergies
For this RMT, I wanted to create a section dedicated to the synergies that exist on this team. I added this, in part, to illustrate how the pieces play together. BUT, I also added it because I am quite proud of this team, as I think it is my best team of the generation thus far. SO, feel free to skip this section if you'd like, but I'll leave this spoiler below for a few synergies that I think are worth thinking about when using this team. I'll mostly keep it to offensive synergies, but the defensive synergies between things like and or and are also there.
+ +
Standard Water/Fire/Grass core.
+ +
FlipVoltTurn core. Additionally, Walking Wake can force Tera Waters via its bluff of Choice Specs Scald, which Zapdos and Rillaboom can abuse.
→ + →
Heatran sets rocks while Walking Wake and Rillaboom remove items. This allows Garganacl to spam Salt Cure, forcing switches and racking up Stealth Rock damage.
→ +
Similar to above, but focused on the trapping aspect. As mentioned above, Heatran traps defensive pieces that can wall Walking Wake and Rillaboom.
→
Similar to above, Heatran also traps Regenerator pieces that seek to stall out Garganacl's Salt Cure and Body Press PP.
+ +
30% hax gang.
→ +
Great Tusk provides hazard removal so that Garganacl and Heatran do not get overly worn down throughout the game.
5. Threat List
It is well-known at this point that the only dedicated switch-in to this is, and even that folds to Calm Mind + Substitute if it lacks Brave Bird. As such, counterplay to this is limited. I tend to use a combination of , , and to scout the set, then choose the course of action from there. For non-
, we can weaken with and finish the job with , or just use Stealth Rocks chip to put it in Grassy Glide range. For sets, and pretty much eat all hits and can take care of it. If it is , keep in mind that it will likely try to Healing Wish once you've weakened it sufficiently, so a paralysis could go a long way to preventing that.
will always be a wildcard due to Dire Claw shenanigans and since it only needs one good setup opportunity to wreak havoc. For Grassy Seed variants, if we can knock out early and avoid bringing in our own, we'll be sitting pretty. For Air Balloon variants, can eat a +2 Dire Claw, pray for no hax, and get a paralysis off to neutralize the threat. However, if the situation starts to get out of hand, Tera Poison might be able to eat a hit, weaken , and allow for to clean up with Grassy Glide. This may also require sacking (pray for burn!) and/or to bait out Close Combat for those Defense drops.
These two are a bit tricky due to the number of Grass and Water weaks/lack of Rock resists on the team, as well as having to play the coverage move guessing game. Given recent meta trends and my own laddering experience, I think Swords Dance is losing out to U-Turn + Knock Off/Spikes utility in the long run. Generally, is our best answer to , but the U-Turn set is hard to pin down. Paralyzing with or trying to setup with on it seem like reasonable measures of counterplay, but Ivy Cudgel's high critical hit ratio make this situation dicey. is also good into , but Sturdy makes this a bit tricky. can eat the Grass-type moves pretty well while setting up in front of it, or we can opt to fish for burns with on predicted Grass move. Perhaps the most consistent way I've found to deal with these threats is to just try and get setup with or while these two are not on the field, then knock them out whenever they come back in. Regardless, expect to take some significant damage/losses when these two threats are in team preview.
I don't consider stall to be a threat for this team, as we have tools to deal with it. BUT, I would like to call it out so that you don't have to go out sad against it. In general, use and to remove items and to set Stealth Rocks and Magma Storm + Taunt things. If can be removed (or after it is banned), is free to join the game.
As far as Tera goes, there are three notable options. Tera Poison on is valid to avoid Toxic and allow for repeated hazard removal, but don't expect it to sweep as long as is around. Tera Ghost on is a valid option to remove mono-Seismic Toss early on, but you can also Flip Turn and U-Turn around it to force out Soft-Boiled and preserve your Steel-typing. Lastly, Tera Grass on can force out a Tera Steel from or a Tera Flying from 
, but be cautious with this-- the opponent's counterplay could be to Toxic or trap you with Whirpool, so these options should be scouted for and played around. Additionally, Tera Grass is not very useful into structures that use or 
, or at least require those to be removed first.
Similar to stall, this guy is not an outright threat, but just a bit of a nuisance for this team. Good counterplay includes sacrificing health on to Salt Cure + Body Press (do not try to Recover due to Taunt) until is eliminated, get in on Magma Storm:, or to sacrifice health on to get a paralysis off so our own can finish the job.
6. Replays
test da bloc (1854) vs. pain to deal with (1693)
test da bloc (1845) vs. slowpoke/wooper (1738)
test da bloc (1865) vs. NYCMetroLife (1815)
test da bloc (1868) vs. OnGholdengo (1749)
test da bloc (1837) vs. harvardshawn (1681) 
7. Shoutouts / Conclusion
I've never really done a shoutout section in one of these, but I'd like to give a few to express my thanks for all those who have helped me in my mons journey. I just started playing OU in April and have gotten help from a lot of great people along the way! So with that, cheers to all of the following:
Below are the importables for the team. As more people read this RMT, you will likely run into issues with people knowing that you are not Flash Fire or . As such, play around with whatever combinations of these you see fit to keep the ladder guessing. ;)
FlipVoltTurn RillaBalance ft. Walking Wake + Garg (w/ nicknames)
FlipVoltTurn RillaBalance ft. Walking Wake + Garg (w/o nicknames)
Table of Contents:
1. Proof of Peak
2. Teambuilding Process
3. The Pokémon
4. Team Synergies
5. Threat List
6. Shoutouts
7. Conclusion
8. Importable
1. Proof of Peak
With this team I peaked at 1881 ELO, #31 in the DLC 1 meta as shown below. A new peak for me as far as rank goes! (don't mind the GXE on my test account lol)
2. Teambuilding Process
All good RillaBalance has to start somewhere, right? I've really enjoyed running these Rillaboom structures as he provides us with a cleaner, revenge killer, supportmon via Grassy Terrain and Knock Off, and momentum via U-Turn. He's too good!
The first thing I added this time was a Garganacl, notably due to its great defensive synergy with Rillaboom, nutty ability, inherent Ghost-resistance (which is hard to come by these days), sweeping potential, and synergy with Grassy Terrain. We're running a classic IronPress set to really abuse the Grassy Terrain recovery.
Next, I wanted a Dark-resist so that Kingambit does not do the digital dash on me. That is where our favorite elephant comes in. With Great Tusk on the team, we gain hazard control and a solid answer to physical attackers. We're running the Bulk Up set to gain another sweeper who abuses the Grassy Terrain.
Now, a bulky Steel and hazard setter. Heatran serves as our wallbreaker, hazard setter, and special check.
Next, Pinkacross told me (not personally, in his video lol) that we gotta have a Ground immunity. I don't disagree! Zapdos serves as our Ground-immunity, hax generator, and as a piece of our momentum team.
The last slot was a bit of an interesting pick. I wanted a third piece to add to the momentum team that had a good offensive presence of its own in order to avoid an overly passive team, and was a much-needed Water resist. In my mind, Dragapult was too squishy and too reliant on Choice Specs to do meaningful damage. Enter Heavy-Duty Boots Walking Wake. Walking Wake is the ace up this team's sleeve, forcing progress through its Choice Specs bluff into imagination. You'll see what I mean below!
3. The Pokémon
Baby Sitter (Rillaboom) (F) @
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn
is our breaker, pivot, and enabler for the team via Grassy Terrain. Grassy Glide, though nerfed, is still incredibly strong and a valid tool for late-game cleaning. In fact, I would argue that Rillaboom is a more balanced version of in the sense that you can easily get swept by it in the lategame if you allow your team to get chipped needlessly. Grassy Glide is very useful for revenge-killing sweepers, particularly , , , and weakened . Lategame Grassy Glide sweeping is also a primary wincon into the rain matchup. Wood Hammer provides a powerful breaking move against fat structures, doing big damage to , , , etc, and often forcing Teras from things like and . Knock Off provides item control and punishes ,, , , and. Lastly, U-Turn provides momentum on switch-ins like .Tera Grass was selected for maximum breaking power, especially in the stall matchup. The given EV spreads maximizes breaking power and speed.
Goin Baby (Garganacl) (F) @
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 236 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Recover
in UUBL? Yeah... no. This thing does what it has always done, and what it will continue to do in the coming months. is a fantastic mixed wall that, when Tera'd, can easily sweep through entire teams that lack preparation for it. Salt Cure synergizes with 's Stealth Rock and punishes momentum-heavy teams lacking multiple users. Salt Cure also takes advantage of the current meta lacking , ensuring that we can spread it around freely. Iron Defense + Body Press was selected over something like Curse + Earthquake in order to outpace the damage from strong physical threats like . In fact, with the help of Tera Fairy, we actually win the Iron Defense wars against all versions of (barring crit, but this is something you should play around with Recover after you're both at +6). Recover is the win button for Garganacl, so make sure to give it a few clicks every game for good luck.Tera Fairy was selected to serve as a solid defensive typing to better sponge hits from things like
,, , and, as well as to give the team a Fairy-type in the face of and . The given EV spread is the standard IronPress set, which seeks to maximize special bulk for ultimate mixed-wallage, with a few EVs moved from HP to Def to maximize Grassy Terrain and recovery.Tupac (Great Tusk) @
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Bulk Up
is our hazard controller, a secondary physical check, and one of our two sweepers. Headlong Rush is our STAB of choice and provides excellent coverage alongside Ice Spinner, while not being weakened from Grassy Terrain like Earthquake is. Ice Spinner is our coverage move, mostly notable for , , , and popping on the switch-in. While it is true that Ice Spinner ends our terrain, it also ends other teams' terrain. This tends to be more relevant since we often can catch opposing coming in, or Ice Spinner their terrain away before they can Wood Hammer. Rapid Spin boosts our Speed and clears hazards, while Bulk Up boosts to victory.Tera Poison is quickly becoming the current meta trend for Bulk Up sets. Tera Poison allows us to avoid Toxic from
, revenge-killing from , and setup in the face of and (unless they have Destiny Bond + Psychic which I did, in fact, lose to lol). Tera Poison also synergizes beautifully with Grassy Terrain since there are almost no Psychic moves in OU currently, leaving you with only one effective weakness. The given EV spread maximizes Grassy Terrain and recovery while ensuring a Protosynthesis Atk boost. I chose the Attack boost because most sun teams have been running a fatter structure since the ban, but the 12 EVs could easily be moved around to get the Attack, Defense, or Speed boost.This set was previously running Tera Poison, but has been changed to Tera Electric following the
and bans. Tera Electric is used as, although and can be valid switch-ins to , they still get worn down easily by it over time. As such, Tera Electric allows to make setup fodder out of and potentially sweep on the spot and avoid paralysis from Static all the while. It also synergizes beautifully with Grassy Terrain. The given EV spread maximizes Grassy Terrain and recovery while ensuring a Protosynthesis Atk boost. I chose the Attack boost because most sun teams have been running a fatter structure since the ban, but the 12 EVs could easily be moved around to get the Attack, Defense, or Speed boost. As a final note, Tera Fire is also worth consideration for
and to better resist Moonblast from , but I found to be more problematic than both of these.Carpet Burn (Heatran) @
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 212 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
is our hazard setter, wallbreaker, and primary special check. Magma Storm + Taunt allows for the trapping and removal of Regenerator stall pieces such as and, physical walls such as, and special walls such as. Earth Power is a nice secondary move to punish bad and switch-ins, Roosts, or just to have a safe move to click. Since many things do not want to get trapped by Magma Storm, generates many of its own opportunities to set up Stealth Rock.Flame Body was selected over Flash Fire since
already sufficiently shuts down and since Flame Body is often a preferable punish on , , and over Static. Additionally, since Flash Fire is standard in current meta, just having at team preview is often sufficient to scare your opponent out of clicking their Fire moves. Finally, and very nichely, if leading into , you might get lucky and get your Flame Body taken away via Skill Swap on the first turn (i.e., opponent predicts Flash Fire), allowing you to OHKO with Magma Storm and avoid Sticky Webs going up.Tera Ghost has a few purposes. Firstly, you can use it in the face of
or if desired, though Tera is better for the latter. Secondly, while Ghost is not exactly a great defensive typing, it is neutral to all of ' attacks, easing the Moonblast vs. Earth Power predictions in that matchup. It also works similarly in easing the Ice Spinner vs. Headlong Rush predictions. Thirdly, Tera Ghost allows to wall and eliminate that only have Seismic Toss to attack (though using the FlipVoltTurn core to wear down is also a valid option that does not exhaust your Tera). Lastly, Tera Ghost just synergizes well with 's innate Ghost resist.The given EV spread is the standard specially defensive set with a few EVs moved from HP to Def in order to maximize Grassy Terrain and
recovery.Deal wit It (Zapdos) @
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
serves as our Ground immunity, speed control, primary physical check, and as a member of the momentum core. Volt Switch is used to gain momentum and is a fantastic move. In particular, I would like to point out something that Pinkacross said in his recent video: "If the opposing team has no Ground-type, Volt Switch is the best move in the game." This is absolutely true, as most teams will fold to Zapdos after you eliminate their , , , etc. Hurricane is our 70%-accurate *cries* STAB move, and Roost and Thunder Wave are for longevity and trolling, respectively. On the real, Thunder Wave is particularly useful for paralyzing lead or , halting a sweeping (from which we live a +2 Dire Claw), or for slowing down so that our own can outspeed and eliminate.Tera Water was selected as a generally solid defensive typing that solidifies the rain matchup, especially once the rain team's
or is taken care of. The standard defensive spread is run because it is goatered. It turns out this set naturally hits a Grassy Terrain number, so we gain maximum recovery from Grassy Terrain on Roosts while outspeeding 252+ Great Tusk.Pony (Walking Wake) @
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 12 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Draco Meteor
- Knock Off
- Flip Turn
is the little bit of Shamone ™ factor that was needed on this team. I had been trying to build a team around with this same moveset, since Scald has no switch-in, is an OHKO on all forms of , and forces out Tera Water for and to abuse. However, I found that it was much more useful to BLUFF and use as general utility that still has a great offensive presence while not overfilling the breaker role that already fills. As such, was selected to allow to ignore all of the hazards it is weak to.Scald is our STAB move of choice since it is very free to click in most situations. As noted above, Scald can force a Tera Water/Dragon, Knock Off, or burn on something pretty much every game.
also benefits from the strongest Draco Meteor in OU, so of course we are running that for nuking power against bulky Waters like , , and . Knock Off was selected over Flamethrower since Knock Off/Scald are both valid punishes to , , and switch-ins. Additionally, it enables item removal from things that fails to lure in, such as and .I never clicked Tera Steel, but it is there in case of emergency against
or . Tera Fairy is also a very valid choice to for the same reason and to have additional insurance against the endgame, but I myself did not run this since I felt the team already had enough techs for this endgame. Lastly, Tera Dragon for nuking power against something like or can also be run. The given EV spread is standard and allows for to get a Protosynthesis Speed boost under the sun, but the EVs are easy to swap if you'd prefer the SpAtk boost.4. Team Synergies
For this RMT, I wanted to create a section dedicated to the synergies that exist on this team. I added this, in part, to illustrate how the pieces play together. BUT, I also added it because I am quite proud of this team, as I think it is my best team of the generation thus far. SO, feel free to skip this section if you'd like, but I'll leave this spoiler below for a few synergies that I think are worth thinking about when using this team. I'll mostly keep it to offensive synergies, but the defensive synergies between things like
and or and are also there. + + Standard Water/Fire/Grass core.
+ + FlipVoltTurn core. Additionally, Walking Wake can force Tera Waters via its bluff of Choice Specs Scald, which Zapdos and Rillaboom can abuse.
→ + → Heatran sets rocks while Walking Wake and Rillaboom remove items. This allows Garganacl to spam Salt Cure, forcing switches and racking up Stealth Rock damage.
→ + Similar to above, but focused on the trapping aspect. As mentioned above, Heatran traps defensive pieces that can wall Walking Wake and Rillaboom.
→ Similar to above, Heatran also traps Regenerator pieces that seek to stall out Garganacl's Salt Cure and Body Press PP.
+ + 30% hax gang.
→ + Great Tusk provides hazard removal so that Garganacl and Heatran do not get overly worn down throughout the game.
5. Threat List
It is well-known at this point that the only dedicated switch-in to this is
, and even that folds to Calm Mind + Substitute if it lacks Brave Bird. As such, counterplay to this is limited. I tend to use a combination of , , and to scout the set, then choose the course of action from there. For non-, we can weaken with and finish the job with , or just use Stealth Rocks chip to put it in Grassy Glide range. For sets, and pretty much eat all hits and can take care of it. If it is , keep in mind that it will likely try to Healing Wish once you've weakened it sufficiently, so a paralysis could go a long way to preventing that. will always be a wildcard due to Dire Claw shenanigans and since it only needs one good setup opportunity to wreak havoc. For Grassy Seed variants, if we can knock out early and avoid bringing in our own, we'll be sitting pretty. For Air Balloon variants, can eat a +2 Dire Claw, pray for no hax, and get a paralysis off to neutralize the threat. However, if the situation starts to get out of hand, Tera Poison might be able to eat a hit, weaken , and allow for to clean up with Grassy Glide. This may also require sacking (pray for burn!) and/or to bait out Close Combat for those Defense drops. These two are a bit tricky due to the number of Grass and Water weaks/lack of Rock resists on the team, as well as having to play the coverage move guessing game. Given recent meta trends and my own laddering experience, I think Swords Dance is losing out to U-Turn + Knock Off/Spikes utility in the long run. Generally,
is our best answer to , but the U-Turn set is hard to pin down. Paralyzing with or trying to setup with on it seem like reasonable measures of counterplay, but Ivy Cudgel's high critical hit ratio make this situation dicey. is also good into , but Sturdy makes this a bit tricky. can eat the Grass-type moves pretty well while setting up in front of it, or we can opt to fish for burns with on predicted Grass move. Perhaps the most consistent way I've found to deal with these threats is to just try and get setup with or while these two are not on the field, then knock them out whenever they come back in. Regardless, expect to take some significant damage/losses when these two threats are in team preview. I don't consider stall to be a threat for this team, as we have tools to deal with it. BUT, I would like to call it out so that you don't have to go out sad against it. In general, use
and to remove items and to set Stealth Rocks and Magma Storm + Taunt things. If can be removed (or after it is banned), is free to join the game.As far as Tera goes, there are three notable options. Tera Poison on
is valid to avoid Toxic and allow for repeated hazard removal, but don't expect it to sweep as long as is around. Tera Ghost on is a valid option to remove mono-Seismic Toss early on, but you can also Flip Turn and U-Turn around it to force out Soft-Boiled and preserve your Steel-typing. Lastly, Tera Grass on can force out a Tera Steel from or a Tera Flying from , but be cautious with this-- the opponent's counterplay could be to Toxic or trap you with Whirpool, so these options should be scouted for and played around. Additionally, Tera Grass is not very useful into structures that use or , or at least require those to be removed first.Similar to stall, this guy is not an outright threat, but just a bit of a nuisance for this team. Good counterplay includes sacrificing health on
to Salt Cure + Body Press (do not try to Recover due to Taunt) until is eliminated, get in on Magma Storm:, or to sacrifice health on to get a paralysis off so our own can finish the job.6. Replays
test da bloc (1854) vs. pain to deal with (1693)
test da bloc (1845) vs. slowpoke/wooper (1738)
test da bloc (1865) vs. NYCMetroLife (1815)
test da bloc (1868) vs. OnGholdengo (1749)
test da bloc (1837) vs. harvardshawn (1681)
7. Shoutouts / Conclusion
I've never really done a shoutout section in one of these, but I'd like to give a few to express my thanks for all those who have helped me in my mons journey. I just started playing OU in April and have gotten help from a lot of great people along the way! So with that, cheers to all of the following:
- Pinkacross for the excellent instructional videos on stallbreaking and team building. My biggest difficulty these path few months with mons has not been making plays in the battle, but rather understanding how to form a coherent team with a clear goal in mind. His videos really put me on the path to success with this team.
- matte and COALLA123456789 for being cool dudes to talk to and bounce ideas off of.
- Iznamakin who had a Choice Specs Iron Moth team earlier this year that was the first team I tried dedicatedly, and whose RMT style I have since stolen lol
Below are the importables for the team. As more people read this RMT, you will likely run into issues with people knowing that you are not Flash Fire
or . As such, play around with whatever combinations of these you see fit to keep the ladder guessing. ;)FlipVoltTurn RillaBalance ft. Walking Wake + Garg (w/ nicknames)
FlipVoltTurn RillaBalance ft. Walking Wake + Garg (w/o nicknames)
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