HO! HO! HO! (Hyper Offensive Team)

[MCBarrett]

Hello Smogon, MCBarrett here with my 3rd OU RMT! It's been a pretty boring day so I just decided to post my favorite team as of right now. My inspiration for this team came from Custap Skarmory who I had seen used to great success at the beginning of the Deoxys-D testing. I had wanted to make a team revolving around it but I took a break from Pokemon for a few months and never got around to it until recently. Anyways, this team is pretty solid and I have made more changes to it and tested it more than any other team I have made to this point, plus it's loads of fun to use so I'm pretty proud of it. I hope you all enjoy it as well and please feel free to leave a rate and try the team out for yourself! I will leave you with a couple of battle replays so you can get a feel for the team:​

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-39276262​

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-39167173​

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Skarmory @ Custap Berry​

Trait: Sturdy​

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef​

Jolly Nature​

- Brave Bird​

- Spikes​

- Stealth Rock​

- Taunt​

The best hazard setter in OU as of right now. This set has finally made me a fan of Skarmory since I generally prefer pokes that can keep the pace of the match up and keep momentum in my favor which is exactly what Custap Skarmory does. This is almost always my lead unless I see an Espeon, Xatu or Sableye on the other team. For Espeon and Xatu I will then use Lando-T as my lead and for Sableye I will use Keldeo or Gengar since they don't mind being burned as much as the rest of this team.

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Gengar @ Life Orb​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP​

Timid Nature​

- Substitute​

- Shadow Ball​

- Focus Blast​

- Pain Split​

Knowing that I wanted to build a Hyper Offensive team, Gengar was an obvious choice since I needed a spinblocker to keep up the hazards that Skarmory had set up. I had seen Destiny Bond used before to make sure Gengar would always beat Tentacruel so I thought I would try that out. At first I used a Life Orb but I didn't want to waste a chance at getting a Destiny Bond off by falling to Life Orb recoil so I decided to try out Focus Sash. This also let me beat Starmie 1v1 if my Sash was still in tact which was awesome, plus it could act as a Revenge Killer in a pinch which is really important to have on a Hyper Offensive team.

EDIT: I decided to make the change to Sub-PainSplit Gengar. Althought Focus Sash was nice, and I do miss it at times, this set is generally more effective. Gengar now has the ability to become a major annoyance to opposing teams behind a sub which this team really appreciates, as he can open up holes for my other sweepers.

Scizor @ Flying Gem​

Trait: Technician​

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP​

Jolly Nature​

-Acrobatics​

- Swords Dance​

- Superpower​

- Bullet Punch​

At first I wanted to use a Scarf Scizor set for some surprise factor, and to keep up with the fast pace of this team, however I found it to be pretty ineffective overall so I decided to use this set. Needless to say it has worked wonders, being able to set up on a variety of pokes locked into moves such as Outrage or HP Ice and wreak havoc on the opposing team. I did try out the Flying Gem Acrobatics set but it just seemed to lack the power that the Life Orb set provided, plus I found myself having to use Superpower more often leaving myself with lowered attack and defenses.

EDIT: After giving it another shot Flying Gem/ Acrobatics can still do the job that Life Orb SD did. Plus not having LO recoil is always nice and has won me a game already. A game that I should have lost I might add ( http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-40652075 ). I have still yet to try Iron Plate but that does seem like an interesting option.

Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Justified​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP​

Timid Nature​

- Hydro Pump​

- Secret Sword​

- Icy Wind​

- Hidden Power [Electric]​

From the team I had so far I knew I needed something that could take Water type moves at least decently well and I also wanted some sort of Special Sweeper to compliment Scizor. I decided Keldeo would be the perfect fit, considering it is arguably the best Choice Scarf user in OU as of right now. I decided on using Icy Wind and HP Ghost for maximum coverage since Keldeo is not my only Choice'd poke. Also, Icy Wind could help me against anything trying to setup on me as well as give me more opportunities to get off an SD with Scizor or a Spore with Breloom.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Intimidate​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP​

Adamant Nature​

- Earthquake​

- Swords Dance​

- Rock Polish​

​

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-Stone Edge​

​

Since I decided to make Scizor a setup sweeper I still wanted something to act as a U-Turn pivot to help keep the momentum in my favor. I decided Landorus-T was a great fit due to Intimidate and it's great defensive typing. I decided to give it a Scarf for a little surprise factor having two Scarf users plus I could get it in and out easier and do a little bit of sweeping if given the opportunity.​

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EDIT: Double Boosting Lando-T has been a really great addition. It gets a ton of opportunities to set up since it causes so many switches and becomes quite the sweeping powerhouse very quickly. Although I have not faced a sun team with this set yet it seems like it will help out that problem a lot. I may test out Mamoswine over Weavile in the future just to avoid the SR weakness which I really cannot afford.​

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Breloom @ Lum Berry​

Trait: Technician​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP​

Jolly Nature​

- Bullet Seed​

- Mach Punch​

- Spore​

- Swords Dance​

Breloom was the last Pokemon that I added to the team since I felt like I needed something that could help me deal with Rotom-W a little better by resisting both of its STAB moves. Breloom also matched up great with Scizor offensively, giving me a nice Priority duo, as well as providing Scizor with more setup opportunities through Spore. I decided on Fighting Gem to give myself some more longevity over Life Orb as well as give a nice boost to Mach Punch or Low Sweep. I tried out using Focus Punch over Low Sweep but I felt it didn't work as well on this team for some reason. Probably because I would rather switch out and setup with Scizor than stay in and try to get off some big damage with Focus Punch and wasting my Fighting Gem too early.

EDIT: The simple addition of Lum Berry and Swords Dance has made Breloom much more effective, acting like a wallbreaker to open up opportunities for the rest of my time to setup/ sweep on their own.

Thanks for taking the time to read my RMT! Again feel free to use it yourself and leave a rate, here is the importable:

Skarmory @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
 
Gengar @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Pain Split
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Substitute
 
Scizor @ Flying Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
 
Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]
 
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
 
Breloom @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Swords Dance

 

[Shurtugal]

Hey, this is quite a standard HO team.

I've got a few suggestions for you. First, I would use SD Acrobatics Scizor over your Bug Bite LO one. I remember you saying it's not as powerful as you would like; however, your team is really weak to sandstall teams that run the Amo + Jellicent combination. Scizor remedies this and gives you an answer to those kind of teams. What's more, Keldeo's HP Ghost is really weak and is hardly worth the lack of a better coverge move like HP Elec, which checks SubDD Gyarados. Lastly, I'd try Lum Berry over Fight Gem on Breloom so you can reliably counter Rotom-W and Jellcient. Yes, another reason why you need Acro Scizor is to have a back up check to Jellicent (as even though Bug Bite at +2 can 2HKO, it gets WoW and Scald so it's really a 50 / 50 scenario). Gengar wants Taunt over Thunderbolt; TBolt only hits Tenta and taunting it and forcing it to attack; therfore getting destiny bonded, is much better. TBolt is also really weak, as I'm sure you have noticed. It also helps keep hazards off the field in general so I'd say it's more useful.

Also, as a personal preference, I'd replace Low Sweep for Swords Dance to make stall teams that much easier to defeat as well as rain. After all, you are utilizing Lum Berry. It's much easier to set up now.

Good Luck! :)

EDIT: Glad you liked the suggestions :p

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey, this is quite a standard HO team.

I've got a few suggestions for you. First, I would use SD Acrobatics Scizor over your Bug Bite LO one. I remember you saying it's not as powerful as you would like; however, your team is really weak to sandstall teams that run the Amo + Jellicent combination. Scizor remedies this and gives you an answer to those kind of teams. What's more, Keldeo's HP Ghost is really weak and is hardly worth the lack of a better coverge move like HP Elec, which checks SubDD Gyarados. Lastly, I'd try Lum Berry over Fight Gem on Breloom so you reliable defeat counter Rotom-W and Jellcient. Yes, another reason why you need Acro Scizor is to have a back up check to Jelli. Gengar want's Taunt over Thunderbolt; TBolt only hits Tenta and taunting it and forcing it to attack; therfore getting destiny bonded, is much better. TBolt is also really weak, as I'm sure you have noticed. It also helps keep hazards off the field in general so I'd say it's more useful.

Also, as a personal preference, I'd replace Low Sweep for Swords Dance to make stall teams that much easier to defeat as well as rain. After all, you are utilizing SD. It's much easier to set up now.

Good Luck! :)

Hey thanks for the rate! I still don't know about Acrobatics since Scizor can OHKO Amoonguss and 2HKO Jellicent after SR at +2 with Bug Bite, but I guess I can give it another shot. I really like all of your other suggestions though, especially Lum SD Breloom and Taunt on Gengar so thanks a lot!

 

[Souf]

Hey there,

Nice team. Your team is rather solid at the moment, so there isn't too much that needs to be to done with it to make it better. With that said, onto the rate. First, I find your Gengar set to be a tad underwhelming. While your set is a bit unorthodox and can throw your opponent off their game, I feel that it is not using Gengar's full potential. To fix that, I urge you to use a Substitute Pain Split set with Life Orb instead. With playing this Gengar correctly, it can be quite a nuisance to the opponent and can possibly open up a hole for your team to sweep. A Life Orb boosted Shadow Ball or Focus Blast will do quite a bit to anything that wishes to combat it, while Pain Split can help you use your opponent to heal up in a pinch. Next, I think you should make Keldeo into an Expert Belt variant as opposed to your current Choice Scarf set. Running two Choice Scarf users on a team can come up as a bit redundant, especially when they are both pretty fast. The only time where you should run more than one Choice Scarfer is if you have a team with a Choice Scarf Tyranitar, since Scarf Tar is still quite slow even with a speed boost. Anyways, Expert Belt allows Keldeo to bluff a Choice Item and be able to just be an annoying Pokemon to switch into. If you feel that Gyarados can be an issue for this team, you can also run Hidden Power Electric on your Keldeo to combat that and it also hits Jellicent and Starmie for the same damage as HP Ghost. Lastly, I feel that you should use a Choice Scarf Salamence over your Landorus-T. Scarf Mence is an excellent late game sweeper for HO teams, effectively using its Moxie ability to plow through weakened opposing Pokemon. It's typically used more on HO teams because of that reason and I think it would be a better fit on this team. Moxie just makes it a phenomenal sweeper and thats its biggest draw for using it. Anyways, good team and good luck!

 

[Stone Alchemist]

Infernape @ Focus Sash
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fake Out
- Stealth Rock
- Overheat
- Close Combat

This Infernape can do a number to most of your members, Faking Out Skarm and then OHKO'ing with Overheat while you can just sit back and watch it die. Gengar, Keldeo, and Landorus-T are the only ones that can CHECK (check, not counter) it, making it quite a threat because Overheat OHKO's the rest of your team, and the respective STAB move deals big damage to the rest.

I don't really know what to suggest to help with this, however. Jellicent > Gengar maybe, but I can tell that you like Gengar as your spinblocker a lot. However, I find that Jellicent is much more reliable for the job, because the destiny bond from Gengar is easy to play around, even though it's pretty uncommon, therefore unpredictable. Starmie (if the player is smart enough) can usually win against Gengar even though it has a Focus Sash. After taking it down to the focus sash and you using Destiny Bond, the Starmie is likely to switch out into something that can kill Gengar (Scizor, etc.). From there, a Bullet Punch wins, and Starmie can spin later.

If you take my suggestion of Jellicent, a specially defensive set can help to deal with Starmie. If not, you should definitely put Hidden Power Fire over Thunderbolt. OHKO'ing Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Forretress is a lot of weight of your shoulders, because you don't have to rely on Focus Blast to do your work.

Lastly, I find that nothing on your team can take powerful Dragon type attacks from the likes of things like Dragonite or Latios. Skarmory is a suicide lead, and Scizor's 70/100/80 defensives aren't gonna hold for long, especially when it's a LO sweeper. Therefore, I suggest changing Skarmory to a Specially Defensive set, or replacing it altogether with Ferrothorn so your teammates don't have to take massive damage from such attacks.

I hope this helps ~ Hugo

 

[MCBarrett]

This Infernape can do a number to most of your members, Faking Out Skarm and then OHKO'ing with Overheat while you can just sit back and watch it die. Gengar, Keldeo, and Landorus-T are the only ones that can CHECK (check, not counter) it, making it quite a threat because Overheat OHKO's the rest of your team, and the respective STAB move deals big damage to the rest.

I don't really know what to suggest to help with this, however. Jellicent > Gengar maybe, but I can tell that you like Gengar as your spinblocker a lot. However, I find that Jellicent is much more reliable for the job, because the destiny bond from Gengar is easy to play around

Lastly, I find that nothing on your team can take powerful Dragon type attacks from the likes of things like Dragonite or Latios. Skarmory is a suicide lead, and Scizor's 70/100/80 defensives aren't gonna hold for long, especially when it's a LO sweeper. Therefore, I suggest changing Skarmory to a Specially Defensive set, or replacing it altogether with Ferrothorn so your teammates don't have to take massive damage from such attacks.

I hope this helps ~ Hugo

Hey there,

To fix that, I urge you to use a Substitute Pain Split set with Life Orb instead. With playing this Gengar correctly, it can be quite a nuisance to the opponent and can possibly open up a hole for your team to sweep. A Life Orb boosted Shadow Ball or Focus Blast will do quite a bit to anything that wishes to combat it, while Pain Split can help you use your opponent to heal up in a pinch. Next, I think you should make Keldeo into an Expert Belt variant as opposed to your current Choice Scarf set. Running two Choice Scarf users on a team can come up as a bit redundant, especially when they are both pretty fast. Lastly, I feel that you should use a Choice Scarf Salamence over your Landorus-T. Scarf Mence is an excellent late game sweeper for HO teams, effectively using its Moxie ability to plow through weakened opposing Pokemon. It's typically used more on HO teams because of that reason and I think it would be a better fit on this team. Moxie just makes it a phenomenal sweeper and thats its biggest draw for using it. Anyways, good team and good luck!

Hey guys thanks for the rates!

@Funkasaurus- I like the idea of that Gengar set so I'll definitely see how it works. Expert Belt Keldeo seems like a good idea as well, especially if I make the change to Salamence as you suggested. That would be a pretty big change but it seems like it could work out so I will definitely try it out!

@Stone Alchemist- While your suggestions make perfect sense, since Jellicent is a superior spinblocker than Gengar and my team is not good at taking Dragon type attacks, the goal of this team being a HO team is that I utilize a quick hazard setter and numerous offensive threats to put pressure on the opponent. With that said I probably won't try out Jellicent and Ferrothorn even though they are two of my favorite Pokemon to use they don't really fit within the goals of this team. Thanks again for the rate though!

 

[Shurtugal]

As a side note, since double scarfers are generally not that great, you could keep Scarf Keldeo and try Double Dancing Landorus-T. It helps vs. sun, at least. When I looked at the team before, I didn't realize LandoT was scarfed. My bad :[

Especially since DubDance LandoT is great for those pesky sun. This will be my last comment; good luck! :)

 

[Scotti]

Nice team Barret, after playing you yesterday when you were using this team the biggest weakness i saw were psychic types. One of your resist is a custap lead, so its not going to be alive for very long and the other is Scizor. Well if Scizor doesn't sweep and gets defeated psychic types have an easy time with this team. I think first you should try Double Dance Landorus, since my sun team pretty much had a not super easy, but kinda easy time against your team. Next i think you should run Hp Bug over ghost, since your only way of hitting grass types is Bug Bite on Scizor (You could count U-Turn, but if you run Double Dance Lando your probably not going to have U-Turn anymore). Also since you have Breloom and Gengar, Jellicent is probably not going to wall you anytime soon. I like the Gengar set it help you deal with psychic types mostly Alakazam. Anyway nice team Barret.

Hope i Helped =)

P.S. I am the Sun Team you played yesterday with the Magma Storm Heatran

 

[100%]

Hey MCBarrett!

This is a cool HO team and has some interesting Pokemon such as Custap Lead Skarmory, and Focus Sash Gengar. However, this team is weak to a few threats. The first is Agility or Double Booster Thundurus-T, who can sweep this team clean. Choice Scarf Keldeo fails to outpace it, and it resists Breloom's and Scizor's priority. Given it gets both boosts, there is nothing stopping it. The same is for Trick Room Reuniclus, who turns these mind games against you. As many HO teams suffer, Venusaur is a huge threat in the sun. It outpaces everything on this team and can OHKO every thing after a Growth boost. Thundurus-T can set-up on Breloom (after it has used Spore), Scizor, and Keldeo / Landorus-T depending on which move they are using. It can also set-up on Gengar if Thundurus-T hasn't taken too much prior damage. Reuniclus sets up Trick Room on Breloom (again, after it has used up Spore), Landorus-T, and Keldeo as well. It can proceed to severely damage this team with its great coverage. Venasaur actually can set-up on everything, and can cripple Breloom and Scizor with Spore before it can Low Sweep it, or spore it as well.

I'm starting to wonder what Landorus-T kills that Keldeo cannot. Landorus-T can take on Dragon-types without worrying about having to sack anything, but that's all. Keldeo can take a +1 Extremespeed for Dragonite, and considering that you'll have Stealth Rock + Spikes all the time. Icy Wind is more than enough to KO Garchomp. Trying out a Weavile over Landorus-T is definetely an option. It's ability to check Dragon-types with Ice Shard is useful and its access to Pursuit allows it to remove most of the things that counter Keldeo like Starmie. It is also really fast too. The Stealth Rock weakness won't be as major because Skarmory will lead to prevent the opponent's from getting rocks up, and Weavile shouldn't be taking any attack bar Psyshock, so it will work. While Mamoswine is great an all, Pursuit is something Keldeo loves, and also, Weavile is really fast meaning you won't have to worry about priority doing all the dirty work. Weavile is also synergizes well with your team too. Fighting-type attacks are taken care by Gengar, you have two Rock-resists, and a solid Fire-resist too, and rain is everywhere meaning it's not too much of an issue. Weavile also has fast Ice Punch meaning you don't have to deal with Yache Berry Salamence shenanigans meaning Ice Shard won't KO.Since your Scizor lacks Pursuit, the opponent will expect Weavile to be a Swords Dance variant, which is a great early game advantage. Weavile takes care of everything Landorus-T did in addition to Thundurs-T, Reuniclus, and Vensaur with SR + Spikes iirc.

Weavile @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Ice Shard
- Pursuit
- Low Kick
- Night Slash / Ice Punch

You should try out Hidden Power [Electric] over Hidden Power [Ghost] on Keldeo. It hits everything Hidden Power [Ghost] does pretty much since most things have that sub-typing like Starmie and Jellicent. It also helps with the minor Gyarados issue, so that's a pro. You can try Hidden power [Grass] since Quagsire and Gastrodon, can wall this team pretty easily, when Breloom is gone, so that's an option, though I recommend the ELctric-type kind for Gyarados.

I fell Iron Plate is the safer option on Scizor over Life Orb on SD Scizor through my experience, since it's slow, lack the utility in Roost, and also is taking lots of damage to set-up + LO too. Bug Bite is already really powerful, so there is only a little power loss from it, and Superpower is mainly for super-effective targets, so that'll OHKO almost all the time with or without Life Orb. Iron Plate is also still securing the 2HKO on Gliscor with Bullet Punch, so that won't be an issue still.

You should move your 4 HP EVs on Keldeo to its Defense. While this may seem minor, it's a tiny little free boost that lets you switch into Spikes the max amount of times, as well as taking Toxic damage. Keeping Gengar's HP odd is a good idea too, but I don' really think Gengar is going to switch into Stealth Rock 16~ times, but its useful when it's at really low health I guess.

Great Team!

 

[MCBarrett]

Wow, lots of suggestions, thanks a lot guys! I'm gonna have to take some time to test all of these and then I'll get back and update the OP with the changes and I'll leave a post as well. Btw Scotti, you are right that sun teams probably give this team more trouble than anything else so I'll have to keep that in mind while testing. Thanks again everyone!

 

[MCBarrett]

Made the current changes with additional comments to the OP and updated the importable.