SS PU Future Sight Galarcuno + Pads Axeltop Balance Hazards

[Indecrestent]

https://pokepast.es/d460dfa7c53c5dd7

Future Sight Galarticuno

Articuno-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Hurricane
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Garticuno is a Special wallbreaker and its job is to switch in on passive Mons like Weezing, Ferroseed and Quagsire to spam Future Sight and Hurricane to pressure incoming threats. Life Orb to maximize damage on its Future Sight attacks. Ability "Competitive" discourages or punishes use of Defog from the enemy, allowing you to stack hazards more effectively in the absence of Rapid Spin.
Hurricane is there as a STAB move and to kill Assault Vest Tsareena after Stealth Rock or 1 layer of Spikes. All other Tsareena variants die outright.
Shadow Ball is for coverage and consistency, to chunk (not kill) Mespirit and Life Orb allows it to 2HKO Defensive Jellicent, even after Leftovers.
Recover is used as a way to sustain yourself, as your Life Orb will chip away at your health just as bad as the passive Mons will.

Galarticuno calcs

252 SpA Life Orb Articuno-Galar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Jellicent: 213-252 (52.7 - 62.3%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Articuno-Galar Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tsareena: 307-367 (88.2 - 105.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Articuno-Galar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mesprit: 213-252 (70.7 - 83.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Triple Axel Hitmontop

Hitmontop @ Protective Pads
Ability: Technician
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- Triple Axel
Hitmontop is a bulky Physical wallbreaker and its job is to soak hits from Dark- and Rock-type attacks that threaten Galarticuno and also clear hazards for the team.
The max Atk EVs and Adamant nature give it 317 Attack. The 244 Spe EVs give it 237 Speed, which allows it to outrun and OHKO Jolly Scrafty (without Chople Berry), Aggron and Perrserker. After one Rapid Spin, it will also outspeed threats like Charizard, Tsareena, +1/252+ Scrafty, Archeops, Whimsicott, even Lycanroc.
This is where Close Combat and Triple Axel come into play. Close Combat is a 120-base STAB nuke button. Ability "Technician" boosts all 3 hits of Triple Axel, providing super-effective coverage to most of the aforementioned threats, especially after +1 Speed boost from Rapid Spin. Here is a Charizard calc for Triple Axel if you were to trade into it:

Hitmontop vs. Charizard calcs

252+ Atk Technician Hitmontop Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard: 216-255 (72.7 - 85.8%)

Mach Punch smacks things with Priority. Rapid Spin clears hazards if you need it and boosts Hitmontop's speed by 1 stage.
This set specifically outspeeds Jolly Scrafty and can kill any unboosted set EXCEPT for Chople Berry + Close Combat sets.

Hitmontop vs. Scrafty calcs

Protective Pads prevents Hitmontop from killing itself on Iron Barbs, Rough Skin, and Rocky Helmet mons.
In the case of Scrafty, Chople Berry + Close Combat has an 87.5% chance to kill a full-health Hitmontop.
252+ Atk Hitmontop Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Chople Berry Scrafty: 153-181 (56.4 - 66.7%)
252 Atk Scrafty Close Combat vs. -1 12 HP / 0 Def Hitmontop: 240-283 (98.3 - 115.9%) ( 87.5% chance to OHKO )

He is, however, very weak to Jellicent and Froslass. So is Galarticuno... so you know what we do about that?

Ferroseed + Gigalith

Ferroseed and Gigalith form a defensive core for the team. Gigalith and Ferroseed provide entry hazard spam with Stealth Rock and Spike support, respectively.

Ferroseed

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
Ferroseed is the Physical wall. Ability "Iron Barbs" is used for chip damage on contact moves. It has Leech Seed for chip and sustain and to force switches against more passive Mons. Toxic prevents threats like Archeops from setting up on it for free because I do not run Gyro Ball. Knock Off is used to hamper Mons that are dependent on their item like Quagsire.

Gigalith

Gigalith @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 200 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Heavy Slam
- Protect
Gigalith is the Special wall and covers Ferroseed's glaring weakness to Fire-type attacks; it also provides Sand support to help whittle things down. Rock Miss Blast gives STAB chip and Heavy Slam provides pressure against Fairy-types and lighter Pokemon that resist Rock Blast. Protect helps Gigalith to scout out enemy moves and Choice items as well as to stall for Sand chip/Toxic damage.
Gigalith has 52+ Atk EVS because its Special Bulk in Sand is already impressive, so this allows the option to click an attack button to surprise opponents who expect you to switch out or be fully invested in SpD bulk. The 4 Spe EVs allow it to speedcreep opposing Gigalith.

QD Cleric Ribombee

Ribombee @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 8 HP / 48 Def / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aromatherapy
- Roost
- Quiver Dance
- Moonblast
Ribombee runs a special EV spread that allows it to live a Stone Edge from full HP from Sandaconda and Sandslash.

Sandaconda Stone Edge

0 Atk Sandaconda Stone Edge vs. 8 HP / 48 Def Ribombee: 214-254 (81.3 - 96.5%)

This should help the Sand matchup. The rest of the EVs are placed in SpA and maxed Spe EVs.
Heavy-Duty Boots protects it from entry hazards. Aromatherapy keeps the team healthy! Roost keeps Ribombee healthy and Quiver Dance threatens to setup sweep against passive Mons. Moonblast is its strongest STAB attack.

Curse Quagsire

Quagsire @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Toxic
- Recover
- Waterfall
Quagsire is a blanket check to things like Sandaconda and Archeops. Heavy-Duty Boots protects it from entry hazards and it is dependent on this item. Recover provides sustain and Toxic provides a way for it to hamper Mons that resist its STAB Waterfall. Curse prevents passive mons from sitting on you without consequence.

Thoughts?! Thanks!

 

[avarice]

Hey Indecrestent, this is a pretty solid bulky offense as is, but I think you can still make some improvements. Galarian Articuno is a top tier Pokemon right now so it a nice pick. Hitmontop is underrated and works well as it is difficult to fit removal onto these type of teams.

Major Changes
->

set

Weezing @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 120 SpA / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast
- Toxic Spikes
- Pain Split

Weezing is a valuable Fighting-resist that compliments the Gigalith and Ferroseed core well. An Electric-type immunity is not too needed in PU rn and offensive Weezing lets you keep up pressure against Wish Togedemaru cores more easily as it can be pretty annoying with the Future Sight support. It also generally is less of a momentum drain than Quagsire and goes with the pace of Hitmontop.

Minor Changes

sets

Articuno-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Future Sight
- Hurricane
- Recover
- U-turn

Gigalith @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Protect

Heavy-Duty Boots is much safer than Life Orb on Galarian Articuno with all the different Stealth Rock setters in PU. Shadow Ball has decent coverage but is not really necessary, making U-turn a reliable pick to get Hitmontop in on foes like Audino. Gigalith's coverage with Earthquake is much more valuable than Heavy Slam, otherwise, it gets into "why isn't this Aggron" territory etc. I also made it the standard spdef spread to more reliably switch into foes like Ribombee.


happy holidays

 

[Indecrestent]

Hey Indecrestent, this is a pretty solid bulky offense as is, but I think you can still make some improvements. Galarian Articuno is a top tier Pokemon right now so it a nice pick. Hitmontop is underrated and works well as it is difficult to fit removal onto these type of teams.

Major Changes
->
Weezing is a valuable Fighting-resist that compliments the Gigalith and Ferroseed core well. An Electric-type immunity is not too needed in PU rn and offensive Weezing lets you keep up pressure against Wish Togedemaru cores more easily as it can be pretty annoying with the Future Sight support. It also generally is less of a momentum drain than Quagsire and goes with the pace of Hitmontop.

Heavy-Duty Boots is much safer than Life Orb on Galarian Articuno with all the different Stealth Rock setters in PU. Shadow Ball has decent coverage but is not really necessary, making U-turn a reliable pick to get Hitmontop in on foes like Audino. Gigalith's coverage with Earthquake is much more valuable than Heavy Slam, otherwise, it gets into "why isn't this Aggron" territory etc. I also made it the standard spdef spread to more reliably switch into foes like Ribombee.


happy holidays

Hopefully I can climb higher than 1400 in the ladder with the switch to Weezing. I noted that I had a fighting- and ground-type weakness, and that Quagsire often killed my momentum. I opted to replace it with a Scarfed physical Gapidash, but I think Weezing might fit the bill better. Also, the Heavy-Duty Boots is a game changer I think.

I did have a question that I could not find an answer to on the viability thread: what's with the 120 SpAtk and Fire Blast on Weezing? Is that for it to be able to O/2HKO something specific?

Thanks for the reply and the advice! See y'all at the top!