First time writing one of these, and first time making a more defensive team so any advice on both the team and the writeup will be much appreciated.
The team: is this good (pokepast.es)
I wanted to make a team that 1. was more defensive since I've been playing HO pretty exclusively since the DLC dropped, and 2. uses specs Dragapult, sub Zamazenta, and AV Hoopa-U. I'm aware that sub Zamazenta has somewhat fallen out of favor and I'm willing to change the set if it really doesn't work out, but in the games I've played with this team I feel this Zamazenta set has been fairly good since I have answers to ghost types in Dragapult and Hoopa-U. That established, let's talk about the sets.
@ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- Flamethrower
Specs is a set that I somehow have never really used -- I've played dual screens and the sub/hex sets but not specs, so I wanted to give it a shot as the main wallbreaker/revenge killer. This is definitely the most straightforward set of the six, wall breaking with Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball for STAB, Hydro pump and Flamethrower for coverage. EV spread is standard max SpA max Speed. Tera Fairy is there to eat counter-meteors and dark type attacks (read: Knock Off).
@ Assault Vest
Ability: Magician
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 80 HP / 120 Atk / 216 SpA / 92 Spe
Mild Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Hoopa-U is another mon I haven't used a lot of, and I wanted to see how the AV sets hold up compared to Band/Specs. This set is made to eat the special attacks and pressure most of the types that
isn't suited to face -- Psychic to deal with poison types, Knock Off to deal with ghosts, and T-Bolt to deal with flying. Drain Punch is for some incidental recovery and for dealing with dark types like 
that (before Tera) wall the other moves on this set. Tera Fighting is to survive at least one Sucker Punch from lategame 
, and even though can't always kill with Drain Punch I still have the option to make a read with Thunderbolt on Tera Flying for about 80-85%.
@ Leftovers
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Protect
- Substitute
Sub is a pet favorite of mine, I just really appreciate how straightforward yet powerful it can be. I went for max HP over max Def to give me much better odds against stray special hits, and to maximize value of leftovers + 's high base defenses. Tera Fire is to resist Fairy hits and eat Will-o-Wisps, which are the two worst enemies to this set. Move set is a standard ID + Body Press + Sub, Leftovers for regen and Protect to stall for said regen. Besides stalling out Choice Band sweepers like 
or 
, we can also use to switch into physical attacks that threaten , and in turn can switch out to when faced with special attackers.
@ Covert Cloak
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake
- Curse
- Recover
I said I wanted to make a defensive team, and what better way to do so than with the one and only salt block mon? I usually play this guy with ID + Body Press too, but given I have for that, I went for the classic Curse set instead. 16 EVs in defense is just to take advantage of the +Def nature, the rest in SpD and HP for that good mixed durability. Covert Cloak is to avoid losing to RNG but most importantly to hard win the Salt Cure mirror match, especially given we're Tera Water.
@ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Smack Down
I was considering
for this team but then it got banned so here we are with utility ! Intimidate is great to further slow down physical attackers before setting up with other mons, and pretty much everyone on the team appreciates the relative increase in durability. Running max HP for durability, with Rocky Helmet for easy chip against 
U-Turns (and to counter the rare 
Population Bomb). No attack investment means EQ hits only modestly hard, but most times the chip damage is all needs to give. U-Turn is standard for pivoting, Stealth Rock for a bit more chip damage when I can afford to get them up, and lastly Smack Down to do a good chunk to flying mons, as well as to give and EQs a bit more use.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Pain Split
- Strange Steam
This is the mon I'm the least attached to in the list, but it fills a couple roles I felt needed filling: hazard removal, and a Fairy type switch-in. Being a poison type is a nice bonus against
trying to snipe too. This is the mon I Tera the least, but I pick Steel to resist, well, Steel attacks and add a ton of other resists, taking advantage of Levitate to avoid ground weakness. 176 Speed EVs brings us up just ahead of Adamant so we can get the Will-o-Wisp off. Finishing off the set we have Defog for Hazard removal, Pain Split for draining stall mons and general sustain, and Strange Steam for a bit of nice STAB to scare mons like and 
, or the rarer 
and 
.
Biggest single threat to this team that I know of is by far Choice
, the standard Enamorus moveset hits hard against most of this team and if is down it's hard to find a good opportunity to get any sort of damage in without burning Tera. is also pretty scary if the opponent can preserve their Tera to the end of the game, but as long as I have it's pretty safe. Webs are also a pretty tough matchup, since losing the speed initiative on and really hurts.
Overall I like the team, but there are definitely times where I feel Hoopa and Landorus could maybe be adjusted or swapped out for something different. I'm down to try new sets, new EV spreads, or new mons, so any advice is appreciated!
The team: is this good (pokepast.es)
I wanted to make a team that 1. was more defensive since I've been playing HO pretty exclusively since the DLC dropped, and 2. uses specs Dragapult, sub Zamazenta, and AV Hoopa-U. I'm aware that sub Zamazenta has somewhat fallen out of favor and I'm willing to change the set if it really doesn't work out, but in the games I've played with this team I feel this Zamazenta set has been fairly good since I have answers to ghost types in Dragapult and Hoopa-U. That established, let's talk about the sets.
@ Choice Specs Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- Flamethrower
Specs
is a set that I somehow have never really used -- I've played dual screens and the sub/hex sets but not specs, so I wanted to give it a shot as the main wallbreaker/revenge killer. This is definitely the most straightforward set of the six, wall breaking with Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball for STAB, Hydro pump and Flamethrower for coverage. EV spread is standard max SpA max Speed. Tera Fairy is there to eat counter-meteors and dark type attacks (read: Knock Off). @ Assault Vest Ability: Magician
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 80 HP / 120 Atk / 216 SpA / 92 Spe
Mild Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Hoopa-U is another mon I haven't used a lot of, and I wanted to see how the AV sets hold up compared to Band/Specs. This set is made to eat the special attacks and pressure most of the types that
isn't suited to face -- Psychic to deal with poison types, Knock Off to deal with ghosts, and T-Bolt to deal with flying. Drain Punch is for some incidental recovery and for dealing with dark types like that (before Tera) wall the other moves on this set. Tera Fighting is to survive at least one Sucker Punch from lategame , and even though can't always kill with Drain Punch I still have the option to make a read with Thunderbolt on Tera Flying for about 80-85%. @ Leftovers Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Protect
- Substitute
Sub
is a pet favorite of mine, I just really appreciate how straightforward yet powerful it can be. I went for max HP over max Def to give me much better odds against stray special hits, and to maximize value of leftovers + 's high base defenses. Tera Fire is to resist Fairy hits and eat Will-o-Wisps, which are the two worst enemies to this set. Move set is a standard ID + Body Press + Sub, Leftovers for regen and Protect to stall for said regen. Besides stalling out Choice Band sweepers like or , we can also use to switch into physical attacks that threaten , and in turn can switch out to when faced with special attackers. @ Covert Cloak Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake
- Curse
- Recover
I said I wanted to make a defensive team, and what better way to do so than with the one and only salt block mon? I usually play this guy with ID + Body Press too, but given I have
for that, I went for the classic Curse set instead. 16 EVs in defense is just to take advantage of the +Def nature, the rest in SpD and HP for that good mixed durability. Covert Cloak is to avoid losing to RNG but most importantly to hard win the Salt Cure mirror match, especially given we're Tera Water. @ Rocky Helmet Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Smack Down
I was considering
for this team but then it got banned so here we are with utility ! Intimidate is great to further slow down physical attackers before setting up with other mons, and pretty much everyone on the team appreciates the relative increase in durability. Running max HP for durability, with Rocky Helmet for easy chip against U-Turns (and to counter the rare Population Bomb). No attack investment means EQ hits only modestly hard, but most times the chip damage is all needs to give. U-Turn is standard for pivoting, Stealth Rock for a bit more chip damage when I can afford to get them up, and lastly Smack Down to do a good chunk to flying mons, as well as to give and EQs a bit more use. @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 236 HP / 96 Def / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Pain Split
- Strange Steam
This is the mon I'm the least attached to in the list, but it fills a couple roles I felt needed filling: hazard removal, and a Fairy type switch-in. Being a poison type is a nice bonus against
trying to snipe too. This is the mon I Tera the least, but I pick Steel to resist, well, Steel attacks and add a ton of other resists, taking advantage of Levitate to avoid ground weakness. 176 Speed EVs brings us up just ahead of Adamant so we can get the Will-o-Wisp off. Finishing off the set we have Defog for Hazard removal, Pain Split for draining stall mons and general sustain, and Strange Steam for a bit of nice STAB to scare mons like and , or the rarer and .Biggest single threat to this team that I know of is by far Choice
, the standard Enamorus moveset hits hard against most of this team and if is down it's hard to find a good opportunity to get any sort of damage in without burning Tera. is also pretty scary if the opponent can preserve their Tera to the end of the game, but as long as I have it's pretty safe. Webs are also a pretty tough matchup, since losing the speed initiative on and really hurts.Overall I like the team, but there are definitely times where I feel Hoopa and Landorus could maybe be adjusted or swapped out for something different. I'm down to try new sets, new EV spreads, or new mons, so any advice is appreciated!
