I hate Gen 9 National Dex Overused. Terastallization by itself makes the tier almost unbearable to the point where HO is one of the most consistent playstyles which is kinda sad. Whats more sad is that we still can't do anything abt it, bc smth smth tiering policy makes it so difficult for even myself as council to force any major action. Hopefully as wc rolls around we see some innovation that leads to tiering action, but until then i dont really see myself seriously playing this tier.
This team is pr fucking cool tho
TEAMBUILDING PROCESS
Hydreigon is where the team started with. Sometime near the end of February, I was trying to experiment with more niche wallbreakers. Hydreigon is one of my favourite Pokemon, Specs Hydreigon in particular, and the team was born.
Supports Hydreigon by luring in and baiting common answers - namely the dark types Mega Tyranitar, Kingambit, and Ting-Lu.
Forms a core with drei that has functioned since 2021 gen 8, pivoting out of physical walls and bringing the clicker in.
Needed a special backbone to support the rest of the team, against namely Dragapult.
The physical check of the team vs very dangerous Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Zamazenta, also acts as the hazard control.
The water resist because the rest of the team is so vulnerable to rain. Because landorus-t is forgoing rocks on this team this is the rocker instead of the spiker.
TEAM BREAKDOWN
boomer (evil) (Hydreigon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
Ngl this is where I got my inspiration for these nicks from. Anyways! When I was undergoing my quirky experimental phase mentioned before, I discovered 2 things: This tier had little actual "special answers", relying more on resists to take on threats like Tapu Lele and Iron Valiant, and this tier had a dirth of defensive fairy-types. The fall of Clefable and Tapu Fini led me to try out a set I had used last gen but never got to use to its full potential: Specs Hydreigon. Nasty Plot sets inability to set up at all inspired me to take the route of a hard breaker, using Tera Dark to 2HKO Pokemon like Heatran and Toxapex with its nearly unresisted Dark Pulses. Draco Meteor slams Landorus-T and Tornadus-T, pushing that OHKO when you need that hit as well as smacking the spdef darks super hard. Fire Blast and Flash Cannon are the coverage moves - the former hits Kingambit and - as I would later discover - Mega Mawile, while the latter hits Tyranitar, Diancie, and Clefable.
sol (cheesy) (Gholdengo) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 36 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
With the fairies being largely neutered and the fightings not switch-ins at all, I focused my drei support on the relevant type that could answer it semi-reliably. The bulky darks Mega Tyranitar, Ting-Lu, and Kingambit can all dissuade Hydreigon from thudding with Dark Pulse, and as such, I wanted an effective way to pressure them. As such, a new innovation was born (at least from my limited knowledge): FightZ Gholdengo. With Z-Focus Blast, Gholdengo cleaves through these Pokemon, allowing both it and Hydreigon to bust through defensive cores. Recover remains here for the longevity, as Gholdengo is the main sponge against weak Knock Offs from Tornadus-T, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn. The bulk investment ensures a Black-Glasses Kingambit's Sucker Punch never KOs from full, while the speed outspeeds Modest Heatran and Pokemon that try to creep it like Annihilape. The rest is dumped into Special Attack to maximise damage against Ting-Lu.
sulo (femboy) (Lopunny-Mega) (M) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Return
Lopunny serves as the speed control on this team while also acting as an offensive pivot. By forcing switchins into passive Pokemon like Landorus-T, Toxapex, and Skarmory, it can U-turn to my Hydreigon, allowing it to freely unleash its Dark Pulses, Gholdengo, who takes advantage of almost all passive Pokemon. Moveset is the same spread thats been run since Crown Tundra, nothing new here.
r8 (old) (Tornadus-Therian) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 48 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
I wanted a defensive core! Unfortunately, no defensive core can be enough to handle some of the BrokenTM ho sweepers thanks to fun BTCM lol. But holy fuck, Assault Vest Tornadus-T (The best mon in the tier) does a pretty good job. Because my Dark-type is Hydreigon, I needed really good Dragapult backup, which is covered by Tornadus-T scouting its specs STABs, then pivoting into either my Normal or Steel-types. It also helps answer broken special attackers I talked about before in Iron Valiant, Walking Wake, and Tapu Lele. Heat Wave helps the team with Mega Scizor alongside Tera Water, otherwise the team has no way to instantly threaten it. Tera Water is also helpful with Walking Wake, which got released around the time the team was built and was a massive threat back then, and still is. The other 3 moves are standard. The EVs maximise my healing from Regenerator and special bulk while outspeeding Iron Valiant.
adem (crab) (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn
- Toxic
Ngl Lando kinda does look like a crab tho...
Ah, Landorus-T. The staple of offense finds itself on NDOU again, using its classic typing to answer prominent Fighting-Types in Zamazenta (while its still legal), Medicham, and Mega Lopunny as well as Grounds in Garchomp, other Landorus-T, and pivoting around Great Tusk. Ofc its utility extends far beyond that because of Intimidate and emergency Toxic helping out against any physical attacker save for Annihilape and Defiant Kingambit, but the former is broken anws and the latter is like so rare so who care. Landorus-T is the defogger on the team so Tornadus can run the Best Set In The Game (TM) instead of midfog, and this team would rather remove them then stack to the high heavens because of how hazard-weak mons like Lop and Torn are. Tera Water comes in a pinch for getting some nice Ice and Water resistances against Weavile and Rain.
ryuji (spiky) (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn rounds out the defensive core by compressing a lot of roles onto the one team. It acts as the rocker so landorus can run defog, it disrupts teams with Knock Off, and it acts as the real water resist (drei and tera lando dont count) so the team can at least pivot into Barra and Float in rain a few times. Physdef is necessary to fulfil this role, and spdef is sorta redundant anyways with Tornadus and Gholdengo to pivot around special attackers. Tera Dragon allows Ferrothorn to stomach a Fire-type attack in a pinch against most notably Mega Charizard Y, although realistically tera doesn't get used often here.
THREATLIST
lol good luck. With no way to OHKO it ur counterplay is basically never use u-turn and try to hit it hard with Gholdengo then flinch it with hydreigon. If its tera fairy ur especially fucked.
This team doesn't have anything faster than Mega Lopunny, with only a defensive Landorus as the check. Realistically counterplay will probably boil down to winning a tie with your own lopunny, although maybe Ferrothorn can tera to act as a makeshift check.
These are both really threatening breakers that are almost impossible to pivot around. However, they definitely aren't losing immediately bc teams with them are often cooked by specs drei. Honestly, if you play offensively and don't give them too many free ins it'll probably be fine.
ho is painnnnnnnnnnnnn lol. mana and dd pult behind screens can be a pain in the ass but I haven't had too much experience with playing against them. Its probably manageable though with lop and ferro to stall out screen turns.
REPLAYS
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1836400028-kg8ptald756ss1hnq26m4xl7zb9egnjpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1830058514-8k1ilyy2avzmcsymqozhy5nyujcoq83pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1812297242-35porisbbbyihdgaz3txsetecjxs7s3pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1809159407-cb8k78166hr8fs2np8goq2bx3iorhg5pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-1808985022-zpczc6eehtl6jkdvag9fbf8lolchajepw
SHOUTOUTS
So ik I shitpost and make fun of my friends a lot, so I wanted to take this opportunity to actually properly thank ygs for everything you've done for me on this site
adem tysm for what youve done for me, idt i wouldve been as committed to the site as i was w/o u, take care man
2020 idm boomer R8 Solaros & Lunaris Sulo Ryuji ygs r also my goats, theres a reason why the nicks on the team r after ygs
vstra Mollymiltoast peap MudkipBeans nvkstall mollymiltoast peap odc MudkipBeans. Thanks for thrashing me on the gen 8 ladder in like 2021 when i was still ass lmao, it really pushed me to try to get better at the game.
pannu thanks for larping w/ me, hope ur having more fun out of nd now
anique baconeatinassassin thanks for making ndpl 3 a fun one, ill see u in 2 weeks yeah?
@rest of nd Kaede Redgoop115 Isza Jho MurderousMantyke Senko Byleth Kyo hidin ygs are awesome, thanks for welcoming me into the community so warmly and letting me be a part of this tier, even if i miss the reuni lati chans one more...
2020 idm boomer R8 Solaros & Lunaris Sulo Ryuji ygs r also my goats, theres a reason why the nicks on the team r after ygs
vstra Mollymiltoast peap MudkipBeans nvkstall mollymiltoast peap odc MudkipBeans. Thanks for thrashing me on the gen 8 ladder in like 2021 when i was still ass lmao, it really pushed me to try to get better at the game.
pannu thanks for larping w/ me, hope ur having more fun out of nd now
anique baconeatinassassin thanks for making ndpl 3 a fun one, ill see u in 2 weeks yeah?
@rest of nd Kaede Redgoop115 Isza Jho MurderousMantyke Senko Byleth Kyo hidin ygs are awesome, thanks for welcoming me into the community so warmly and letting me be a part of this tier, even if i miss the reuni lati chans one more...
if i didnt mention u its prob either bc i hate you or bc i just haven't talked to u enough. jk its def bc i hate u
ok time to stop playing this tier
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