Resource SS OU Good Cores

:ss/latios: + :ss/bisharp:

Latios and Bisharp have excellent offensive and defensive synergy with one another. Bisharp is able to soft-check weavile and dragapult for latios, its two biggest offensive checks, while also taking advantage of defensive switchins such as slowking, glowking, blissey, tyranitar, etc. In turn, latios can pivot into various offensive and defensive checks to bisharp such as garchomp, toxapex, urshifu, buzzwole, zapdos, heatran, etc. and threaten massive damage in turn, beginning the cycle again.

This core pairs especially well with spikes support, as most of latios's checks in OU are weak to spikes, while bisharp appreciates their ability to put the opponent into range of its attacks, especially in the case of pokemon like toxapex and heatran who often fall just short of a KO. Bisharp can also use its defiant ability to deter defog attempts from corvknight, tornadus-t, etc.

Here is a team I recently made showcasing this core, designed to take advantage of mew's ability to consistently set and maintain spikes due to its good bulk, speed, and taunt to block defog.
 
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:tyranitar: + :ferrothorn:

Tyranitar checks fire types like heatran and volcarona for ferrothorn, while ferrothorn switches into water types pretty decently, and sets up spikes, which help tyranitar out, since most of its switchins are grounded, and ttar's ability to force alot of switches, it will force alot of spikes damage, which makes this a pretty effective core
 
A-Ninetales.gif
+
Arctozolt.gif


OLT has recently shown how much of a menace the Alolan Ninetales + Arctozolt core is and why both of these are in the A rank in the viability rankings at the point of me writing this. With Alolan Ninetales setting up the hail and Aurora Veil, Arctozolt can come in and claim a few KOs with its incredible BoltBeam STAB coverage and Slush Rush ability. Have Arctozolt set up a Substitute on the switch and watch out.


Ninetales-Alola @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Hail
- Encore/Hypnosis

Arctozolt @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Substitute
- Bolt Beak
- Blizzard
- Low Kick

Partners:

The Hail duo hates having to face Heatran as it hard walls Ninetales and outspeeds Arctozolt outside of hail. Checks to Heatran such as SpDef Landorus-Therian and Garchomp can help remedy this. Scizor also is rough for this core to handle as well. Checks such as Corviknight or a Heatran of your own can help mitigate the Scizor weakness. Other weather setters such as Pelipper and Tyranitar can hinder Ninetales's ability to set up Aurora Veil and help Arctozolt sweep. While Ninetales can set up the hail manually, other checks to rain and sand can help. Volcanion (as seen by Ox The Fox) is an interesting case to cover both of these weathers with its Water Absorb ability, Fire typing to deal with Ferrothorn which is common on rain teams, and good natural bulk giving it the ability to turn the tables on rain teams while threatening Tyranitar with Steam Eruption and its 30% chance to burn (Volcanion can also deal with the not as common in the meta sun playstyle so hey, a pretty good anti-weather check all around). Complimentary wallbreakers or sweepers can also synergize well with Ninetales's Aurora Veil. Tapu Lele and the aforementioned Garchomp are good examples of these types of teammates. The former breaking with Psychic Terrain boosted Psychics/Psyshocks and the latter packing the ability to sweep with SD + Scale Shot.
 
Hello everyone! Today I’ve got a fun core for u guys. I’ve been using it a decent amount lately so I wanted to share it here

:SS/dragapult: :SS/ferrothorn:
Core Description
This core fits very well on hazard stack teams as ferrothorn can easily set spikes and pult is a prime spikes abuser as most of its checks don’t like spikes such as Toxapex, Tapu Fini, and Heatran. All of them can be overpressured by spikes and pult’s strong attacks throughout the game and it helps that the latter two have no reliable recovery. However, there are a few pult checks which don’t mind spikes much such as clefable and blissey. Ferrothorn can provide a lot of things for pult outside of spikes as well. Ferrothorn can help pult vs a lot of offensive threats which can threaten pult such as scarf Tapu Lele, opposing dragapult, healthy Tapu Koko, and weavile, Ferro can also help pult vs mons like Clefable,heatran, and Tapu Fini which don’t like losing their leftovers to Ferro's knock off pult also appreciates the fact ferro can chip blissey with its body press. Meanwhile, dragapult can use the defensive support given to it by ferrothorn into opportunities to come on to the field (usually by a double switch from Ferro or another pivot on the team) and throw out powerful and difficult to eat up shadow balls which can be a problem for most teams especially with the aforementioned spikes and it can also help ferrothorn to not get overwhelmed by the threats it has to check by providing offensive pressure to make progress vs teams with those threats.

Threat List
Like every core, this one is not perfect and has its fair share of flaws so I wanted to include a few of those threats to help u guys out if u wanted to build around it.

:clefable:CM variants of Clef can cause major problems to this core as CM Clef can carry flamethrower and thus can dumpster ferro after a boost.Using iron head on Ferro can help with this mu but it will still be quite a difficult one.
:volcarona: Volc is kind of impossible for this core to deal with on it’s own as it can freely come in on ferro and grab a qd while also being able to eat a dragapult draco If it needs to.
:heatran: Heatran can be a problem for these two so paring them with a heatran swap in is key but heatran can be overpressured by dragapult offensively especially when spikes are on the field which can help vs it.
:kartana: Kart can be a very problematic mon to this core as it can threaten out pult if it’s scarf if not it can limit swap in opportunities into pult by pressuring the team with offense. Both of the mons in the core can’t switch in on it safely as it can fire off powerful knock offs and sacred swords on the switch which both pult and ferro fear
:magnezone: Zone teams can be a problem for these two as zone can trap ferro and let their team’s offensive threats which are walled by Ferro go ham on the rest of the team.

Partners
i wanted to also list some partners which could work well with this core to make building around it easier as well.

Defensive Partners
:SS/toxapex:
This mon is quite a good defensive partner for this core.Pex can help relief some pressure off of ferrothorn as it can help check weavile and dragapult while ferro can help pex by being a good sponge for future sight. Pex can also help vs urshifu and rain teams which dragapult can easily get overwhelmed by. Pex can also provide toxic spikes/toxic for the team to

Offensive Partners
:SS/Tapu lele:
Tapu Lele is a common sight to see on hazard stack teams due to it loving it’s checks such as ferro and heatran being worn down by spikes and it’s own powerful attacks. Pult and lele compliment each other well as pult can’t break past bulkier teams but does well vs more offensive or bulky offensive teams while it’s the opposite for Tapu Lele it has immense wall breaking power and can threaten a lot of bulkier teams but it doesn’t like offensive teams as it’s generally low speed vs those types of teams lets it get revenge killed easily. Tapu lele also appreciates that pult can carry flamethrower/thunderbolt to help vs corvikinght and other steels lele has a tough time beating. Dragapult also appreciates the psychic terrain Tapu Lele provides so it can be safe vs weavile’s ice shard.

That’s all I have to say for now I hope u all have fun with this core!

Edit:Ah yea ty Ruft I didn’t realize the spread was a little bit wrong mb I changed up the paste ty for informing me.​
 
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Ruft

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Hello everyone! Today I’ve got a fun core for u guys. I’ve been using it a decent amount lately so I wanted to share it here

:SS/dragapult: :SS/ferrothorn:
Core Description
This core fits very well on hazard stack teams as ferrothorn can easily set spikes and pult is a prime spikes abuser as most of its checks don’t like spikes such as Toxapex, Tapu Fini, and Heatran. All of them can be overpressured by spikes and pult’s strong attacks throughout the game and it helps that the latter two have no reliable recovery. However, there are a few pult checks which don’t mind spikes much such as clefable and blissey. Ferrothorn can provide a lot of things for pult outside of spikes as well. Ferrothorn can help pult vs a lot of offensive threats which can threaten pult such as scarf Tapu Lele, opposing dragapult, healthy Tapu Koko, and weavile, Ferro can also help pult vs mons like Clefable,heatran, and Tapu Fini which don’t like losing their leftovers to Ferro's knock off pult also appreciates the fact ferro can chip blissey with its body press. Meanwhile, dragapult can use the defensive support given to it by ferrothorn into opportunities to come on to the field (usually by a double switch from Ferro or another pivot on the team) and throw out powerful and difficult to eat up shadow balls which can be a problem for most teams especially with the aforementioned spikes and it can also help ferrothorn to not get overwhelmed by the threats it has to check by providing offensive pressure to make progress vs teams with those threats.

Threat List
Like every core, this one is not perfect and has its fair share of flaws so I wanted to include a few of those threats to help u guys out if u wanted to build around it.

:clefable:CM variants of Clef can cause major problems to this core as CM Clef can carry flamethrower and thus can dumpster ferro after a boost.Using iron head on Ferro can help with this mu but it will still be quite a difficult one.
:volcarona: Volc is kind of impossible for this core to deal with on it’s own as it can freely come in on ferro and grab a qd while also being able to eat a dragapult draco If it needs to.
:heatran: Heatran can be a problem for these two so paring them with a heatran swap in is key but heatran can be overpressured by dragapult offensively especially when spikes are on the field which can help vs it.
:kartana: Kart can be a very problematic mon to this core as it can threaten out pult if it’s scarf if not it can limit swap in opportunities into pult by pressuring the team with offense. Both of the mons in the core can’t switch in on it safely as it can fire off powerful knock offs and sacred swords on the switch which both pult and ferro fear
:magnezone: Zone teams can be a problem for these two as zone can trap ferro and let their team’s offensive threats which are walled by Ferro go ham on the rest of the team.

Partners
i wanted to also list some partners which could work well with this core to make building around it easier as well.

Defensive Partners
:SS/toxapex:
This mon is quite a good defensive partner for this core.Pex can help relief some pressure off of ferrothorn as it can help check weavile and dragapult while ferro can help pex by being a good sponge for future sight. Pex can also help vs urshifu and rain teams which dragapult can easily get overwhelmed by. Pex can also provide toxic spikes/toxic for the team to

Offensive Partners
:SS/Tapu lele:
Tapu Lele is a common sight to see on hazard stack teams due to it loving it’s checks such as ferro and heatran being worn down by spikes and it’s own powerful attacks. Pult and lele compliment each other well as pult can’t break past bulkier teams but does well vs more offensive or bulky offensive teams while it’s the opposite for Tapu Lele it has immense wall breaking power and can threaten a lot of bulkier teams but it doesn’t like offensive teams as it’s generally low speed vs those types of teams lets it get revenge killed easily. Tapu lele also appreciates that pult can carry flamethrower/thunderbolt to help vs corvikinght and other steels lele has a tough time beating. Dragapult also appreciates the psychic terrain Tapu Lele provides so it can be safe vs weavile’s ice shard.

That’s all I have to say for now I hope u all have fun with this core!​
Your Ferrothorn EV spread is suboptimal, as the Def and SpD EVs are not divisible by 4. 122 Def and 134 SpD EVs result in the same stats as 120 Def and 132 SpD, so you should run 124 Def / 132 SpD or 120 Def / 136 SpD instead.
 
:SS/Dragapult::SS/Volcarona:
Very simple, yet effective core. Most teams I've run across on the ladder typically run the same Pokemon to check both Volcarona and Dragapult (think Heatran, Tapu Fini, Tyrnaitar, Toxapex, etc.). Dragapult is really nice since it baits in and softens up these threats, letting Volcarona sweep later in the match. There is some other synergy here, like Dragapult being able to kinda check Urshifu, and Volcarona doing well against some Clefable variants, but the amount of times I've actually made use of that in a match has been fairly slim.

Guts Heracross has been a nice offensive partner I've been running with this core. It completely destroys Blissey (which both mons have some issues with), can switch into some random status moves like Toxic, and does big damage to Lando / Toxapex with Facade.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
some cores atm which are poppin!​

:blacephalon: & :weavile:
that core has an amazing strength with weavile pressuring ground-types and flying-types such as specially defensive landorus-t, assault vest tornadus-t, and corviknight. both can just push through a lot of staple pokemon in the current metagame with blacephalon being able to pressure melmetal and both can handle heatran pretty well, as they're able to overwhelm it rather quickly. the same mention goes for iron defense magnezone, with blacephalons help weavile gets the way paved to clean lategame.

:blacephalon: & :tapu fini:
blacephalon and tapu fini saw alot of usage together as a core and they're a great core, as blacephalon offers a valuable tool to break midgame and tapu fini can punish pokemon such as galarian slowking, heatran, and toxapex with tricking the scarf onto them, which in itself turns blacephalon into a deadly lategame cleaner. both can pressure offensively a great amount of cores.

:blacephalon: & :ferrothorn:
blacephalon and ferrothorn should never be underestimated. ferrothorn can stack spikes to help out blacephalon wallbreaking and to ensure with 1 or 2 layers of spikes guaranteed OHKO or 2HKOes on opponents such as heatran, tapu fini, and toxapex.

:weavile: & :tapu fini:
at the moment also a great core, weavile likes that tapu fini is able to check dangerous threats for it such as heatran and urshifu-r, it can also check opposing weavile pretty well. weavile appreciates this fact and can capitalize from tapu finis ability to weaken such threats to enable its own potential with an lategame swords dance boost and subsequent sweep.

:weavile: & :magnezone:
magnezone can trap corviknight, skarmory, weaken heatran with body press and weaken melmetal for weavile. weavile likes this a lot, as it can handle the rest lategame. magnezone and weavile pair pretty well together also, as they are able to overwhelm staple pokemon such as landorus-t, tapu fini, and scizor.

:magnezone: & :kyurem:
basically the same, trap and rewmove corviknight and weaken opposing steel-types such as heatran and melmetal with magnezone to give kyurem a safe ground to just fire off its dangerous choice specs boosted ice beams / freeze-drys, this turns kyurem into a deadly wincon in the later aspect of the game.

:scizor: & :kyurem:
kyurem fears pokemon such as tapu lele, galarian slowking, and specially defensive clefable, therefore scizor gives it a valuable partner with being able to handle tapu lele, also opposing kyurem, it can knock galarian slowkings assault vest off, and it can pressure clefable, which kyurem really appreciates.

:victini: & :tapu fini:
victini and tapu fini are a great core and help each other out with tapu fini handling dragapult, weavile, urshifu-r, and hydreigon for victini, as victini might have trouble with them, tapu fini also handles heatran, whereas victini can easily handle scizor, corviknight, and galarian slowking due to ist sheer power with v-create and bolt strike. victini can also check kyurem along with tapu fini and pressure it offensively.

:victini: & :landorus-therian:
victini and landorus-therian are a great couple as victini gets enabled by landorus-t due to landorus-t's ability to pressure pokemon with knock off / toxic, which makes it easier for victini to act in the mid- and lategame-aspect. landorus-t can also set stealth rocks which victini really likes and appreciates, as its breaking power only gets increased by it.

:victini: & :weavile:
victini and weavile are a deadly core due to their sheer strength and the ability to break down alot of common pokemon in the metagame such as corviknight, heatran, tornadus-t, garchomp, tapu fini, ferrothorn, scizor and the slowtwins. victini is also able to bring weavile in safely with u-turn and weavile in return can pressure ground-types such as landorus-t for it. in general this core is a massive threat to many common ou staple pokemon, as they cover each others weaknesses with pure power.

hope y'all like these cores and have a great day :)​
 


I haven't seen this in the archive so I think it's time to post this core. chomp + lele share a lot of sinergy offensively, with lele preventing weavile and the rare mamoswine from revengekilling garchomp and allowing it to run leftovers (although yache berry is still valuable for the rising ice beam slowbro and for situations where psychic terrain isnt up). its psychic terrain also combats grassy and misty terrains, which garchomp doesn't particularly like because they weaken its stabs. when equipped with a choice scarf, lele also becomes a scary cleaner and can revengekill pult, weavile, tapu koko and arctozolt under hail, all of which outspeed and threaten big damage / ohko against unboosted chomp. lele has some interesting options in the last slot as well, with nature's madness forcing chip on steel types like tran, melmetal and corviknight to help itself clean afterwards. corvi is especially noteworthy because it can be brought into +2 ffang range by pressuring it with scarf lele, especially with nature's madness. tbolt/thunder also achieve the same thing while also being a much safer neutral click against corvi+pex or heatran cores. aromatherapy heals chomp from burns and toxics, allowing it to play more risky vs toxic heatran or scald burns throughout a game. chomp on the other hand takes advantage of steel types like tran for setup opportunities and smashes them with the combination of sd and ground stab + fire coverage. its wallbreaking capabilities also allow tapu lele to clean battered teams and also may occasionally provide tough mindgames when your boosted chomp is staring down a weavile looking to revenge kill it with ice shard, which is obviously deterred by the presence of scarf lele in the back.
overall, this core offers powerful offense, speed control and deadly late-game sweeping vs different archetypes. shed stall with unaware quag or clef are tough opponents for this core, but you have the rest of your team (for example, heatran or toxic melmetal) to break through them. most balance / bo builds are heavily pressured by these two even before the sets are fully revealed.
 

ausma

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For transparency's sake: I'm planning on updating this over the next couple weeks to accommodate for OLT/SCL developments. If you have any core suggestions, I'd like to ask that you put them into a Pokepaste and accompany them with a description explaining their purpose, so that way I can update the OP faster if we choose to add your core.

Thank you, and happy posting!
 
+

Dragapult+Blacephalon
Ghostspam is a very solid offensive core in the current metagame, and sees tournament usage to show. They are able to wear down their shared checks with absolute ease, the main check coming to mind being Heatran. The duo benefits from many trends in the current metagame, (Hail, Double Steel Bulky Offenses, Specially Defensive Landorus-T, Specially Defensive Heatran, the best bulky water in Tapu Fini having no recovery, as well as the offenses offenses and balances that either have Weavile as their sole ghost resist or have no ghost resist altogether). Dragapult also aids Blacephalon with U-Turn, chipping down the opponents defensive structure, as well as allowing the clown to come in relatively safely. Good partners include slow U-Turn pivots such as Corviknight and Landorus-T, as well as good cleaners to abuse the holes made by ghostspam, such as Tapu Lele, Swords Dance Garchomp, Swords Dance Weavile, Calm Mind Clefable, and Bulk Up Zeraora. Spikes support from the likes of Ferrothorn is also hugely valuable for this core.
 
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nidoking (1).gifezgif.com-gif-maker.gif
LO Nidoking + Sub Aegislash

This core focusses on patching up one of the main weaknesses of LO Nido which is that it often lets in other powerful faster wallbreakers after a kill that can easily revenge kill Nido and deal huge damage back, especially Specs Kyurem and Tapu Lele, the tiers current monster. This core works best when Nido is being played as offensively as possible to make up for their shared .

Sub Aegi provides the best blank check to Lele possible based on typing, as long as Specs Lele's isn't packing shadow ball. Aegi can also tank a few Ice Beams or Freeze Dry from Kyurem, although I recommend you have a ground immune too as both Nido and Aegi share a ground weakness. This core also relies on having another mon to check Urshifu, such as Pex or Slowbro. Ice beam Slowbro works particularly well as it also checks Garchomp, another common mon that can force out Nido.

Aegi can either run Toxic for chipping Torn, Lando, and beating Volcarona, or CC for Heatran, Blissey, Tyranitar, Bisharp and Hydreigon. Some sets can potentially drop Sub for both these moves, although I personally wouldn't recommend it as it makes Aegi much more prediction reliant, and makes it harder to keep in. Sub can however be run on Nido over Icebeam if Aegi packs toxic to better chip Lando.

Aegi can also be EV'd with more Special defense for more reliable checking throughout the game. Aegi can also run 44 Speed EVs to outspeed Scizor and potentially set up on it, although its not recomended.

Aegi switches into Blissey almost for free (one of Nido's only true counters), only fearing a possible Twave, and sets up a sub for free as well. With CC Aegi still does up to 53% even with Modest, whilst with Toxic Blissey is forced out eventually, however the advantage can be nulled if they have Teleport, making CC the superior option. Aegi also notable sets up on Corviknight and Toxapex, and cannot be trapped by Magnezone. This thing even beats Ferro if you get an attack drop from kings shield, seriously this thing is awesome.

Thank you SLDR for the notes :)

P.S. Spite/Block is a fun option for Aegi on more fat/stall/stall cteams
 
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View attachment 374711View attachment 374717
LO Nidoking + SubTox Aegislash

This core focusses on patching up one of the main weaknesses of LO Nido which is that it often lets in other powerful faster wallbreakers after a kill that can easily revenge kill Nido and deal huge damage back, especially Specs Kyurem and Tapu Lele, the tiers current monster. This core works best when Nido is being played as offensively as possible.

Subtox Aegi provides the best blank check to Lele possible based on typing, just pray that no Specs Lele's are running around with shadow ball. Aegi can also tank a few Ice Beams or Freeze Dry from Kyurem, although I recommend you have a ground immune too as both Nido and Aegi share a ground weakness. This core also relies on having another mon to check Urshifu, such as Pex or Slowbro. Ice beam Slowbro works particularly well as it also checks Garchomp, another common mon that can force out Nido.

Aegi also switches into Blissey almost for free (one of Nido's only true checks), only fearing a possible Twave, and sets up a sub for free as well. Whilst not technically able to beat it in a 1v1, it can still toxic it and force it out to your advantage if they don't have Teleport. Aegi also notable sets up on Corviknight, and cannot be trapped by Magnezone. This thing even beats Ferro if you get an attack drop from kings shield, seriously this thing is awesome.

I recommend Timid on Nido as many wallbreakers are currently running Modest, and it may be able to take advantage of that by outspeed them in certain scenarios. Toxic could potentially dropped on Aegi for CC for Heatran, Blissey and Hydreigon, however you risk being set up on by Volcarona. Aegi can also be EV'd with more Special defense for more reliable checking for the late game.
Just my feedback on this core: aegislash happens to help matchup against lele and kyurem, two of the mons that made you go for timid nature on nido. since aegislash can come in on their stabs, you should be pretty safe running modest and deal noticeably more damage to everything else. going timid can also backfire because if you happen to find timid kyurem or - more likely - timid lele, you lose anyway and you sacrificed power for no reason.

second tip, aegislash's main offensive niche in my opinion is being a shadow ball spammer that beats blissey and tyranitar thanks to close combat, so use close combat. I'd honestly drop substitute and use a protox shadow ball cc set. even with negative nature and no investment, cc deals pretty comfortably with blissey (pretty good news for Nido), ttar and does good damage to tran as well. you also still keep protect/king's shield for recovery - scouting - switching back to bulky stance. toxic is paramount for crippling shared checks in av torn and bulkarona.
 

agslash23

Banned deucer.
Coming at you with some Mind Shattering Psychic cores :


:Slowking-Galar: + :Buzzwole:

This core is the definition of blanket checking and progress. As we all know, G-Slowking walls most special attackers, and Buzzwole walls physical ones. So, what happens when you combine both? You wall most of the meta. Not only that, this defensive core, unlike traditional defensive cores like Clef-Pex, Bliss-Skarm is far from passive. Both hit hard enough. Further, their synergy ensures progress - Glowking can set up Future Sight while inviting in a physical attacker like Weavile. Then, Buzzwole switches in to wall the Glowking check. Now, with FS looming, Buzzwole is free to click any of its moves. This means that the opponent either loses Weavile, or a Buzzwole check like Toxapex or Tapu Fini is debilitated/eliminated with FS. This is my favorite and arguably is the best defensive core on Bulky Offensive teams in current meta. This core struggles vs Tapu Lele, Dragonite and Rain, so Ferrothorn is a great partner, who additionally provides Spikes for even more progress. It would be a real crime to ignore this core - ausma :eyes: on you

:Tapu Lele: + :Hawlucha:

Next one is a Heat Core on HO. Scarf Lele is a Rising Force in OU, that can clean up weakened teams. Hawlucha does the same. So, both together use their insane speed to out-offense opponent offensive teams (HO's only way to beat HO) by themselves. They can also clean up fat with the help of early-game wallbreakers. Tapu Lele's Future Sight gives Hawlucha easy setup opportunities vs Dark types like Hydreigon. Further, Lele avenges Lucha if its sweep is cut short by Weavile's Ice Shard, Unaware Clef or Slowtwin's Future Sight. In return, Hawlucha weakens up Clefable, Steel Birds etc. for Tapu Lele to clean late game. Specs Lele also works with Hawlucha, but as a early game breaker that dents Steel Birds and Clefable for Hawlucha to clean late game. This core needs wallbreakers and setup sweepers to punch holes early in the game so teammates like Weavile, Garchomp (SLDR Lele-Chomp nom is great to say the least), Heatran, Urshifu-R are remarkable teammates.

:Tapu Lele: + :Magnezone:

Tapu Lele is a monster in OU, be it using Scarf or Specs. It has few safe switch-ins and almost no counter-play. However, some of the main Lele disruptors are Steel types like Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Scizor. Magnezone does what it does, traps, weakens and possibly kills Steels to make pivoting around Lele even more difficult. If running Specs, Zone can also guarantee chip on slower Heatran by trapping it and using Volt Switch. This core works great with Hazard support, so Hazard stackers on HO like Mew and Lando-T, as well as Ferrothon on Bulky Offense are great partners. Setup sweepers who love Zone support such as Weavile, Garchomp, Kartana can setup and sweep, which enables Scarf Lele to clean weakened teams late-game.
 
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ironwater

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Hello there! Wanted to submit some offensive cores I’m enjoying. Have fun reading. (There are Pokepast links on the Minisprites with short descriptions of the cores included, also sorry if some of these have been posted in the past, I only checked the first post and the recent cores. Especially, Tapu Lele + Magnezone is just above, but I already had the write up so sorry if it's a bit redundant.)


1632860564524.png + 1632860572116.png

This is a very efficient offensive core right now. Choice Scarf Kartana is an amazing sweeper and cleaner while the Choice Band one is an extremely dangerous wallbreaker. Corviknight (and Skarmory, but Skarmory is way less common than Corviknight) is by the far the best check to this beast and as it can’t be as pressured by Stealth Rocks as other Flying types that may annoy Kartana, it’s actually a pain to beat. Indeed, things like Tornadus-T are easy Knock Off targets for Kartana and can then be pressured by Rocks + Banded Smart Strike or double Scarfed Smart Strike. However, Corviknight is almost impossible to beat without some previous chip damage and if the Banded variants can try forcing it to take Rocks enough time to have it in range of a 2HKO, Choice Scarf Kartana will almost never get through. This is where Magnezone comes in play. Magnezone has an easy time trapping Corviknight as Shed Shell is super rare and can get Knocked Off anyway. Even without Spa investment, Magnezone deals enough damage to put the Steel Bird in range of Kartana. Kartana can’t pivot into Magnezone, but most people will still switch-in Corviknight against Kartana even if you have a Magnezone (when they have no other good answers) so that you can get an easy double. You don’t even have to double most of the time as, knowing Magnezone can come in and trap them, they will almost always click U-turn when they still have more than 50% health which means you can stay in with Kartana and hit them two times. Then you can just switch Magnezone every time they come, and they are forced to not heal or click Roost and get trapped. You don’t even have to fear a Body Press as it can’t 2HKO full Def Magnezone. Once Corviknight is removed, Banded Kartana can claim kills super easily and Scarf Kartana can attempt to sweep as even with a Scarf this thing is super hard to switch into. Magnezone is also useful to remove another annoying Pokemon for Kartana, which is Ferrothorn. Technically, Kartana can beat Ferrothorn with Sacred Sword. However, it’s often not the best move to click as there are plenty of switch-ins, and if you guess wrong against Ferrothorn you will get chipped for nothing. Iron Defense Magnezone is super good at eliminating Ferrothorn, and even though this is way less interesting than eliminating Corviknight, it’s still something to notice.


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This core works the same way as the previous one. Tapu Lele is a deadly breaker with a Choice Specs and a threatening cleaner and revenge killer with a Choice Scarf. It can struggle a bit against Steel types as Focus Blast is a big commitment and is rather unreliable. This time, the big targets you want to remove are Ferrothorn and SpD Scizor, but removing Corviknight is also huge, especially for the Scarf Set that can really beat it (or need to remove something for Thunderbolt and predict right). Against Corviknight you can use the same process than with Kartana: forcing it to click U-turn without healing or to Roost and get trapped by Magnezone. You can even consider using the spicy Magnezone set that trap and remove Heatran with an Assault Vest and Mirror Coat, as Heatran is one of the most annoying Pokemon to beat for Tapu Lele. Tapu Lele can also act as a Fighting Resistance when needed (even though it should be switched in wisely).


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To be fair, I really think that you can use all these three Pokemon at once with for instance Choice Specs Tapu Lele and Choice Scarf Kartana as they both love to see Magnezone remove their best counters, and the first one can wallbreak through almost anything while the second one is one of the best Speed Control option in the game and is extremely efficient as a cleaner thanks to Beast Boost. This ability and the extra Speed Kartana has over Tapu Lele justify, in my opinion, to use a Choice Scarf Kartana in this core and not a Choice Scarf Tapu Lele.

I made a team with these three and tested it a bit (actually a lot). Here are some replays against different archetypes of teams:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1425314020-rnifmyl9orszkgf5k82cab1l34dq73bpw

Against Stall. Skarmory was Shed Shell, but once it got Knocked Off Kartana and Tapu Lele were winning the game easily.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1425347393-t79ooiy2p5lsqtjlr51e2nfcbmaoaispw

Against HO. Manage to beat Mew without having hazards on my side, but almost lost to Garchomp as I may have underestimated it a bit.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1425351523-6amg6bp7dldbex6ns4h4tziaq6r12bfpw

Against a Balance team. Being able to remove Corviknight (and handling Garchomp) allowed Kartana to just autowin.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1425354747-aeopqkf99nfs324xoxtwpect0o7laz0pw

Against Rain. Being able to remove Ferrothorn while having Magnezone behind a Sub and boosted in Defense is amazing against rain even though Zapdos is a threat.


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The last good partner I would like to mention for Magnezone is Melmetal. It’s probably less threatening than Kartana or Tapu Lele as a Zone teammates but can still be a gigantic threat with Magnezone eliminating its best checks and avoiding it to rely on predictions in most matchups. Indeed, Melmetal has a lot of trouble beating Corviknight and Skarmory, especially for the Choice Band set, as even if they come on a Thunder Punch (which is your best move against them), they can just spam Roost and negate their Electric Weakness to beat you in one vs one. Ferrothorn is also annoying as, even if you can run Superpower, you always need to be careful with your predictions to avoid clicking Double Iron Bash and losing a quarter of your health without doing much damage. Magnezone is extremely good at beating these three Pokemon and can thus make Melmetal’s job way easier. However, using this core implies that you will have two slow physically bulky Steel types and finding space for both in a team can be hard as they need to be paired up with faster teammates and they have a very similar defensive utility.


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These two are probably the two best breakers in the tier right now. Dragapult is not the strongest Special wallbreaker but equipped with a Choice Specs and a very spammable STAB in Shadow Ball it’s still hard to check repeatedly for a lot of teams. It’s even deadlier when paired up with Weavile as it can U-turn on an incoming check and send its weasel friend to threaten it. Indeed, most common Dragapult answers include SpD Landorus-T and Assault Vest Tornadus-T who are easy target for Weavile Triple Axel, Assault Vest Galarian Slowking (who can take 2 Specs Shadow Ball) and Blissey who let him Knock Off freely or Swords Dance as they switch back. You can also use Dragapult as a Fighting immunity to come on predicted Fighting moves and dealing with things Like Body Press Corviknight that often comes in against Weavile. This duo is also able to overwhelm shared checks or “pseudo checks” rather easily. Pokemon like Heatran, Tapu Fini, and Assault Vest Melmetal hate to repeatedly switch-in on them. Some Mixed walls such as mixed Toxapex can be annoying for this core though.


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Standard VoltTurn (or rather double Turn) duo with Urshifu-R beating Ground types, Slowking Galar and Ferrothorn for Tapu Koko, while Tapu Koko threaten bulky Water types and some fast Flying types like Tornadus-T for him. Both can pivot into their checks to keep momentum while weakening them. As most teams rely on Landorus-T and Garchomp to have an Electric immunity, you can even run a nasty Specs Tapu Koko that threaten them with Dazzling Gleam while having a very powerful Volt Switch to form a true VoltTurn core. You can also use Koko’s terrain with Urshifu as you can run Thunder Punch over Aqua Jet to immediately threaten things like Toxapex or Slowbro that both get 2HKO under Electric terrain. Terrain Punch can also catch Tapu Fini even though Tapu Fini removes Electric Terrain to set its own.


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This core is very similar to the previous one. Victini can also form a VoltTurn (or here again double Turn) core with Tapu Koko and can threaten Ground types with Glaciate or even V-Create against a weakened Landorus-T. It also loves Tapu Koko terrains to boost it Bolt Strike and annihilate Pokemon like Toxapex. Being able to weaken Landorus-T by forcing him to switch into V-Create when the Water type is too low to risk a Bolt Strike helps Tapu Koko a lot, as with Landorus-T gone, Tapu Koko becomes hard to deal with for a lot of teams. Victini has a notable advantage over Urshifu-R which is that it can threaten Water types like Toxapex and Tapu Fini without being lock it (Electric Terrain is enough to give him the 2HKO on Toxapex) and it can thus abuse its extremely powerful V-Create while still threatening V-Create best answers.


Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
 
First time submitting a core to this thread. I'd like to share this offensive core of mine that has shown me a lot of success this generation. I haven't seen this specific trio featured here yet all together (unless I missed it further up the thread), so I figured I'd throw it in along with some of my own insight.

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Modest Specs Tapu Lele + SD Garchomp + Volcarona

Raw paste link: https://pokepast.es/b83a0927c97d965d

Explanation:

This offense scheme is a great way to overwhelm common checks and aim for late game sweeps. It's a very brute force approach, but has smart ways of achieving its power.

Tapu Lele and Garchomp can overpower shared checks such as Corviknight over time, and Modest Choice Specs Tapu Lele in particular can even 2HKO the common Defog Corviknight with a bit of prior damage, especially if it doesn't have Leftovers due to allied Knock Off or preferring Rocky Helmet, since Corviknight is one of Garchomp's most annoying adversaries. Tapu Lele and Garchomp also do a good job of overpowering Ferrothorn, as Tapu Lele can lure it in while it stays away from Volcarona enough for Garchomp to set up on it and kill it in one hit after enough battering, thanks to Ferrothorn's lack of true hard recovery. Volcarona can sometimes miss an OHKO or be afraid to Quiver Dance when a healthy Corviknight uses Brave Bird; this way Volcarona can just click Flamethrower and kill if the situation calls for it via Tapu Lele weakening it enough. In some instances, Garchomp can set up Swords Dance enough (depending on the opposing Corviknight spread) to gamble a 2HKO with Stone Edge's poor accuracy; an option which is less desirable because of low PP + Pressure stall and sees viability as a last ditch effort in most cases. Choice Specs Tapu Lele can also 2HKO Melmetal in many situations, especially more offensive variants. This Tapu Lele can also OHKO common Defensive Landorus-T with much more consistency than its Timid counterpart to eliminate counterplay for Garchomp.

Garchomp in particular helps the other two by actively being one of the best Heatran checks in the game. Tapu Lele can gamble a Focus Blast vs a Heatran with prior damage and kill it, but Garchomp serves as insurance. Garchomp and Tapu Lele together do a good job of ridding Heatran from the opposing team, which Volcarona loves, among other things as well such as handling Galarian Slowking via use of Psyshock + Earthquake, forcing it in enough, eliminating another annoying mon for Volcarona so that it doesn't have to worry too much about Sludge Bomb hax gimping its longevity over time as it sets up. I generally like Fire Fang on Garchomp for the sake of overpowering its own checks such as Corviknight and even Buzzwole in certain situations, if you have to, but Stone Edge can be opted for if you need to remove things like Zapdos and Tornadus-T quickly, if the team calls for the classic Edge/Quake combo. Usually, Fire Fang is the best choice here.

The bulky Volcarona set serves as a check to a lot of common switch ins to both Garchomp and Tapu Lele in itself, punishing Grassy Glide from Rillaboom and Double Iron Bash from Melmetal, respectively, with Flame Body's burn chance. This one is only barely different from the one currently posted in the Smogon article, only adjusted to outspeed base 80 Speed opponents that show up sometimes, such as the occasional Choice Scarf Mamoswine that knows Volcarona is the bulky spread and attempts to revenge kill after a Quiver Dance, for example. Volcarona also helps against Kartana, which can provide free setup for Volcarona to sweep in many cases and is a menace to the other two mons in the core across its possible sets, provided it has not set up a prior Swords Dance ahead of time. Another mon that Garchomp dislikes is Buzzwole, which Volcarona punishes quite well, and Tapu Lele outright beats offensively. This Volcarona also functions well as a Kyurem answer, something which is in short supply in today's metagame, thus making it even more valuable especially given that Kyurem runs Draco Meteor a lot less these days than it has in the past.

Teambuilding considerations:

Stealth Rock is obviously really important to ensure this core's success, as seen in the calcs below. This core also appreciates mons that can bring them in safely, especially Teleport users such as Rocky Helmet Slowbro, who likes to run Ice Beam to relieve pressure from opposing offensive Garchomp and Landorus-T, two mons that can take advantage of the core and set up/sweep. Slowbro in particular really alleviates pressure off of Volcarona to check Choice Band Melmetal, who can 2HKO Volcarona if Flame Body does not activate and is healthy enough to have a chance to survive Flamethrower in return. The core also appreciates solid answers to Dragapult, which can give these three a lot of trouble by either spamming Shadow Ball with the Choice Specs set or setting up on Volcarona with the Dragon Dance set; one such mon I've used to help vs Dragapult is an allied Mandibuzz kept healthy enough to force it out or kill. Blacephalon can also be a massive problem for this core, especially if holding Choice Specs. Crawdaunt, when it shows up, is also difficult to manage, but Tapu Lele offers some counterplay against it via Psychic Terrain, provided the player is wise about bringing Tapu Lele in at the right time vs Crawdaunt. One more massive threat to this core is Weavile, which usually has to be played around smartly. Volcarona's spread has a small chance to live vs Swords Dance Weavile's Knock Off, enabling a kill in return, so this helps a little bit, making the spread important in a last ditch effort. Buzzwole helps to answer opposing Weavile well, and is a consideration as a team partner to this core, while still handling offensive Landorus-T and Garchomp as the aforementioned Slowbro would.

Relevant damage calcs:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 248 HP / 92 SpD Corviknight in Psychic Terrain: 162-191 (40.6 - 47.8%) -- 59% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 40 HP / 104 SpD Melmetal in Psychic Terrain: 193-228 (45.8 - 54.1%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 209-246 (52.3 - 61.6%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+4 252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 244-288 (61.1 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Fire Fang vs. 248 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 214-252 (53.6 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ferrothorn: 258-304 (73.2 - 86.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 195-229 (55.3 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian in Psychic Terrain: 379-447 (99.2 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Melmetal Double Iron Bash (2 hits) vs. 248 HP / 148 Def Volcarona: 240-284 (64.3 - 76.1%) -- approx. 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 56+ SpD Clefable in Psychic Terrain: 294-346 (74.6 - 87.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable in Psychic Terrain: 342-403 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 12 Def Slowking-Galar in Psychic Terrain: 331-391 (84 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

16 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Buzzwole: 422-500 (100.9 - 119.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 148 Def Volcarona: 348-411 (93.2 - 110.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

I hope this was insightful enough, and that someone out there can enjoy this as much as I have!

UPDATE: NEXT CORE

Hello once again! I enjoyed doing my first core analysis so much that I decided to do another one. This is a defensive core that I haven't seen on here at all yet, with two mons that nonetheless keep showing up in this thread as parts of other cores. I've been loving this core a lot recently due to its ability to compliment the rest of its team and mesh well with a wide array of builds. Click the images for the paste.


Rotom-Wash + Galarian Slowking

Explanation:

This core has a very effective synergy to it; it handles most things and is adaptable to the team around it. It's a defensive core that isn't passive and gives you a few different options for what your team may need from it. For this reason, I almost called it a balanced core, but defensive is still the most apt description.

Physically defensive Rotom-Wash is a quite underrated mon in today's metagame, despite being one of the most storied threats throughout previous OU metagames. It's a great check to a huge number of opposing physical threats with its own ways of punishing them. It handles things like lead Landorus-T and its offensive variants as well, along with Garchomp and things like Melmetal via resists and especially gimping them long-term with Will-O-Wisp. Rotom-Wash also serves as a great check to Scizor thanks to the given speed investment creeping up above Scizor's Adamant 252 Speed variants. It can even take on super overwhelming offensive waters you'll encounter such as Urshifu-RS and Barraskewda, especially if Pain Split is chosen or if played wisely. If kept healthy, Rotom-Wash beats Hawlucha, even surviving +2 Close Combat and killing in return with Volt Switch, providing momentum in the same turn, since Close Combat is Hawlucha's only situational chance of beating Rotom-Wash. Rotom-Wash often ends up being the Defogger of choice on the team, so Pain Split ends up becoming the first choice in what to scrap in favor of hazard removal, since it can still be plenty effective this way if you're careful with budgeting its HP and evaluating its role in any given matchup, especially on offense builds.

Galarian Slowking appreciates all of these things that Rotom-Wash beats and handles a great number of things that it struggles against. Galarian Slowking can lead the way in beating Kyurem with the help of its teammates, and provides ample counterplay to powerful threats such as Tapu Koko, Calm Mind + Draining Kiss Tapu Fini, and Magnezone. Future Sight is a way that Galarian Slowking supports more offensive members of its team that can be built outside of this core, but if this move isn't required due to lack of Future Sight abusers, Psychic is a great option to have more immediate Psychic STAB vs things like Toxapex who commonly assume they have a few turns to cause trouble for you, or against mons who are choice locked into fighting type moves, hilariously struggling to damage the physically frail Galarian Slowking despite all that physical power, thanks to its double resist typing. It's worthy to note that this spread will always survive against Jolly Choice Band Surging Strikes from full health (provided there is no rain) and OHKO in return with Psychic. This is another good reason to consider Psychic over Future Sight if you have no need for Future Sight on your team; this helps Rotom-Wash to keep from being overwhelmed by opposing physical threats, especially if it opts out of Pain Split. Shoutout to whoever came up with the current sample spread on Galarian Slowking's strategy dex article where I got it from; that's great thinking. Another cool tech I've seen on Galarian Slowking before is Eerie Spell, but this is generally less effective in the long run due to its own low PP. If your team ends up lacking a hard Heatran check, the last move slot can be Earthquake. If this is opted for, run a Sassy nature and 31 Attack IVs. It is always advisable to run another Heatran check, however, as Galarian Slowking only barely wins on the switch in vs Magma Storm + Earth Power SpDef Heatran, and can lose quite often as well; reasons why it should only be used as a Heatran check if you absolutely need to use it that way.

Teambuilding considerations:

There are few things that this core is weak to that are easily patched up by the rest of its team. For example, Tapu Lele can spam Psyshock on it and beat it quite easily, so a solid answer to Tapu Lele is paramount. A good steel type works well. Corviknight is one such example, since it can handle most variants of Tapu Lele and also defeat Mold Breaker Excadrill and Kartana, both of which this core hard loses to on its own. Bisharp is a noteworthy partner for this core to cross check Tapu Lele alongside Galarian Slowking, as it also helps against threats such as Weavile lacking Low Kick, and alleviates pressure from typical Ghost spam dished out by mons like Choice Specs Dragapult. Additionally, a form of speed control is advisable on balance and offense teams that utilize this core, as some of the faster mons in the tier, when paired together, can overwhelm. Common choice scarf users such as Tapu Lele, Kartana, and even Choice Scarfed Kyurem are good options to achieve this goal. Since Galarian Slowking loves to use Future Sight, and Rotom-Wash is a fantastic Volt Switch user, both can support setup mons such as Garchomp, Swords Dance Weavile, Dragonite, Dragon Dance Dragapult, and Volcarona who appreciate what this core can do otherwise, especially if paired with the aforementioned speed control. Blacephalon can be tricky to play against, since it's usually choiced, making its counterplay prediction reliant and it can use trick to disrupt the core. Urshifu-RS can overwhelm and easily 2HKO Rotom-Wash while rain is active, so a plan to whittle it down and keep Rotom-Wash healthy in this scenario is of utmost importance, since Volt Switch doesn't OHKO from full. Catching it with a Will-O-Wisp if you can effectively do so helps with this situation quite a lot, obviously. All of these things are points to consider when building counterplay for the tier alongside this core.

Relevant damage calcs:

+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Rotom-Wash: 250-295 (82.2 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. -1 0 HP / 132 SpD Hawlucha: 288-338 (96.9 - 113.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Melmetal Double Iron Bash (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Rotom-Wash: 76-90 (25 - 29.6%) -- approx. 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 12 Def Slowking-Galar on a critical hit: 327-390 (82.9 - 98.9%) -- approx. 2HKO

124 SpA Slowking-Galar Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 356-422 (104.3 - 123.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Assault Vest Slowking-Galar: 117-138 (29.6 - 35%) -- 13.4% chance to 3HKO

0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barraskewda: 272-324 (103.4 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Rotom-Wash in Rain: 122-144 (40.1 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 SpA Rotom-Wash Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 236-282 (69.2 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
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:bw/landorus-therian::bw/scizor:

Landorus-Therian and Scizor form an excellent pivoting core that provides fantastic type synergy and the ability to check many dangerous threats. Special Defense investment allows Landorus to take on Fire types like Heatran and Volcarona, which Scizor appreciates because of its Fire weakness. In return, Scizor is able to handle Ice types like Weavile and Kyurem that would otherwise irritate Landorus. Intimidate also helps Scizor soak up physical attacks better. Together, they provide valuable immunities to Ground, Electric, and Poison. Despite being a balanced/defensive core, these two function best on more offensively oriented teams as demonstrated by agslash23's Zeraora/Garchomp offense. They fill valuable defensive roles for more offensive teams, Landorus offers Stealth Rock support, and both can bring in frailer threats safely through a slow U-turn
 
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:ss/Heatran::ss/Magnezone:
Heatran and Magnezone

Heatran @ Air Balloon :air balloon:
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpD / 120 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic / Stealth Rock

Magnezone @ Leftovers :leftovers: / Chople Berry :Chople berry:
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Def / 156 SpA / 100 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Flash Cannon / Toxic
- Thunderbolt
- Iron Defense
- Body Press

(WARNING, INFORMATION POSSIBLY OUTDATED DUE TO METAGAME CHANGES)

:Heatran: Explanation: :Magnezone:

Heatran and Magnezone make for an excellent offensive trapping core that compliment each other well in offensively inclined teams. Heatran aims to remove walls such as Toxapex :toxapex:, Blissey :blissey:, Clefable :clefable:, Scizor :scizor:, and Skarmory :skarmory:, Corviknight :corviknight:, and Ferrothorn :ferrothorn:, which it shares in common with Magnezone. Aside from the aforementioned Skarmory, Corviknight, and Ferrothorn, Magnezone can also offensively switch into resisted hits from, or RK, the likes of choice locked Melmetal :melmetal: and Kartana :kartana:.

Both Heatran and Magnezone share checks in defensive Ground types such as Landorus :landorus-therian:, Garchomp :garchomp:, and Hippowdon :hippowdon:. Landorus and Garchomp can be overwhelmed gradually through the use of Toxic, hazards, and chip such as Magma Storm from Heatran or the optional Flash Cannon from Magnezone. Hippowdon can be difficult to wear down throughout a match as it has consistent recovery from Slack Off, however, Heatran can switch into it consistently so long as its Air Balloon is not popped.

Individually, Heatran is defensively walled by Tapu Fini :tapu fini:, whose variants threaten it with a variety of effects. Magnezone helps to break down Fini, as its Electric/Steel typing lends it a defensive and offensive advantage. However, Magnezone's lack of non-passive recovery means that between hazards, Scald burns, or high power STABs such as Hydro Pump, it cannot do this often.

Heatran and Magnezone share an effort to offensively check Aegislash:aegislash:. While the former of the two is primarily intended to remove Aegislash alongside the latter, due to its limited recovery switching can be risky as Heatran cannot come in on Aegislash more than once or twice due to its high power STABs and Close Combat. Against Aegislash, it is important to preserve offensive momentum and scout its set so as to avoid unnecessary risks and tradeoffs.

Other notable mentions such as Slowbro :slowbro:, Tornadus :tornadus-therian:, and Volcarona :volcarona: are easily outmatched by Heatran and Magnezone. Slowbro and Tornadus have difficulty pivoting around Heatran's Magma Storm and Magnezone's Thunderbolt, and while Volcarona uses Magnezone as setup fodder, a healthy Heatran will easily wall it.

Optional items on Magnezone such as Chople Berry act as a means to remove threats with greater ease. It allows Magnezone to better switch into, or RK, the likes of Melmetal, Kartana, and various other Fighting coverage steels. Additionally, this surprises offensive breakers like Urshifu-R that would otherwise take advantage of Magnezone's low speed and general inability to check Urshifu-R (or other Fighting type breakers).

:adrenaline orb: Threats: :adrenaline orb:

A High SpD wall such as Slowking-Galar :slowking-galar: is not easy foe for this pair to overwhelm. It resists Magnezone's STABs and Body Press, while taking minimal damage from Heatran's Earth Power and STAB Magma Storm. Its large move pool gives it access to coverage for both Heatran and Magnezone, including Scald, Flamethrower, Earthquake, and Hydro Pump. Additionally, Slowking-Galar is immune to Toxic, whereby hazards are the only reliable way for Heatran and Magnezone to chip it down.

Once its Assault Vest is removed it can no longer check Heatran and Magnezone as effectively, albeit successfully. Heatran is also capable of trapping it if healthy, but this risks its Air Balloon.

Likewise, bulky physical attackers like Dragonite :dragonite: prove to be an uneasy adversary for Heatran and Magnezone. It is immune to Earth Power and resists Heatran and Magnezone's STABs. Moreover, Dragonite turns both into setup fodder with its coverage and bulk. It commonly utilizes Heavy-Duty Boots to preserve its Multiscale, which when paired with its access to Roost makes it difficult to chip.

Dragonite does not fair well against Toxic from Heatran or Magnezone. It prevents its Multiscale ability from activating, and limits the turns that Dragonite can remain in. When its Heavy-Duty Boots are removed, its Multiscale ability is further detrimented by hazards.

Water/Ground types such as Gastrodon :gastrodon:, Quagsire :quagsire:, Seismitoad :seismitoad:, and Swampert :swampert: all present their unique issues for Heatran and Magnezone. Gastrodon and Quagsire are the most threatening of the 4, having access to consistent recovery and dual resistances / type effectiveness. Seismitoad and Swampert pose the same threat, where both trade recovery for hazards, and unlike the former, Swampert receives Flip Turn.

Gastrodon and Quagsire are nigh unbeatable as walls, the only real option is to status them with Toxic and attempt to limit their turns in. Seismitoad and Swampert have no non-passive recovery, which means that Toxic, hazards, and item removal are effective ways of putting them on a timer.

:Heatran: Teambuilding Examples: :Magnezone:

Partners that bolster Heatran and Magnezone's ability to trap while creating synergy are appreciated. For instance, both Heatran and Magnezone stack weaknesses to Ground and Fighting, so a member such as Landorus :landorus-therian: is desirable. Adding hazards, hazard removal, and momentum as well as a prized type pairing and Intimidate, Landorus acts as great glue for Heatran and Magnezone.

Tapu Fini :Tapu Fini: is another great partner for Heatran and Magnezone, as it resists high base-power STABs from the likes of Urshifu-R :Urshifu-rapid-strike:, Weavile :weavile:, and Bisharp :bisharp. It provides speed and hazard control via its Scarf variant, which also offers an additional way to cripple walls by tricking its Choice Scarf onto them. Tapu Fini's STAB Moonblast and Hydro Pump / Surf allows it to offensively threaten the aforementioned Urshifu-R, Weavile, Bisharp, and Buzzwole, as well as Blacephalon :blacephalon:, Dragapult :Dragapult:, and Dragonite :Dragonite:.

Calm Mind Tapu Fini also pairs well with the two, as they remove its checks and allow Fini to become a dangerous late-game win condition.

Weavile is also worth mentioning as a partner for Heatran and Magnezone. It's high speed tier and offensive tools allow it to check walls such as Landorus :landorus-therian:, Garchomp :garchomp:, Hippowdon :hippowdon:, Slowking-Galar :Slowking-galar:, and Dragonite:dragonite: for Heatran and Magnezone. In return, Toxapex :Toxapex:, Clefable :clefable:, Scizor :scizor:, Skarmory :skarmory:, Corviknight :corviknight:, and Ferrothorn :ferrothorn: are removed or pressured for Weavile, as well as Melmetal :melmetal: and Kartana :kartana:.

:room service: Thank you for reading! :room service:
 
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Zeno420

Banned deucer.
:ss/mew: + :ss/heatran:
:mew:+:heatran:
I really don’t know why this core isn’t gaining much attention, at first glance these 2 really don’t have much synergy outside of mew providing a fighting resist for tran but oh boy let’s show the sets.
:ss/mew:
(Mew) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Soft-Boiled
:ss/heatran:
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 12 SpA / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press

Cosmic mew has been gaining a lot of traction on ladder lately just destroying certain archetypes. If you don’t have a faster toxic user (which literally is just tornadus) or a dark type mew can 6-0 from lead. That is where the physdef tran comes in, the only dark types in the tier are weavile, bisharp, and ttar with the latter 2 really suffering in usage lately. This tran is also a great ttar bait. Once you burn the weavile whether it’s outplaying and coming in on axel or just surprising them with physdef and living certain hits. But when it’s burned mew can clean up very easily. Mew is also just very bulky in general especially after +1/2, it is the bane of stall and fatter builds. But it can still have a lot of success vs offensive teams
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 218-260 (53.9 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 4 Def Mew: 200-236 (49.5 - 58.4%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew in Electric Terrain: 103-123 (25.4 - 30.4%) -- 0.9% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 156-184 (38.6 - 45.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
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:ss/volcarona: :ss/magnezone: (suggested partner: :tapu koko:)

bulky offensive core formed by toxic volcarona (s/o Firest0rm for the idea) and specs magnezone. these two are really good at pressuring each other's checks, with toxic volc putting grounds and dragons on a timer to help itself sweep later on and magnezone break stuff, while volc itself feasts on ferrothorn and grass types. magnezone, on the other hand, can put some serious dent in spdef grounds - even hippo - alongside volc's toxic and can easily force chip damage on heatran by trapping it, outspeeding it and hitting it with volt switch.
this heatran trapping strat is especially powerful when coupled with tapu koko and when using rising voltage > thunderbolt. specs mag as a whole is much better in electric terrain spamming rising voltage, especially with this volc helping out against grounds with toxic and appreciating a double electric core pressuring opposing bulky waters.

speaking of magnezone, rising voltage deals ridiculous amounts of damage to anything not immune to it and you should try it asap

252 SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Rising Voltage (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatran in Electric Terrain: 307-363 (79.5 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Rising Voltage (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 132+ SpD Ferrothorn in Electric Terrain: 159-187 (45.1 - 53.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Rising Voltage (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey in Electric Terrain: 342-403 (47.8 - 56.4%) -- 86.7% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Rising Voltage (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Assault Vest Slowking-Galar in Electric Terrain: 213-252 (54 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

these are calcs with TIMID zone btw, but they are enough for teammates volcarona and tapu koko to plow through their checks. running timid because lando and tran have lowered their speed tiers but they should always keep some to outspeed modest zone (especially lando) so timid is safer. if you dont care, just run modest and watch stuff die even quicker.
 
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:SS/slowbro: :SS/landorus-therian:

Slowbro @ Colbur Berry (or Rocky Helmet / Heavy-Duty Boots)
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Teleport
- Body Press (or Ice Beam / Scald)
- Slack Off

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 224 HP / 252 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock / Defog
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off / Toxic​

With the recent ramifications of the long awaited Kyurem ban, these two have become considerably easier to slap on any kind of balance or bulky offensive team due to their defensive typing and support capabilities. It may sounds wierd at first considering Landorus-T was comfortably #1 in usage already, but the freedom of having both and only needing a Steel type for a functional defensive backbone, without worrying about Kyurem, has made this core extremely easy to use in the builder.

Slowbro acts as a physically defensive pivot with Teleport and Regenerator, checking dangerous physical attackers even without resisting STABs and helping the team with Future Sight. Landorus-T runs its common specially defensive spread to check electric and fire types, provides either Stealth Rock or Defog support and has the always useful U-turn + Knock Off combination to force easy progress on pretty much anything.

Sets on both can vary depending on the team and imo Slowbro has the biggest amount of options to choose from. If the team handles Weavile very well it can forgo ColburPress and run more preferable items and moves such as those listed in brackets. Slack Off can be removed entirely on more offensive teams and be reserved for something less passive like Toxic or a third attack like Flamethrower.
Landorus-T may run a mixed defense spread (so does Slowbro btw) and beside the 50/50 of Knock Off or Toxic, it may only need to run a Rock move if the rest of the team can't handle Volcarona well.
 
CB Gapdos + Bulk Up Zeraora
:ss/zeraora: :ss/zapdos-galar:
https://pokepast.es/0f16efc24ea0241a

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Stomping Tantrum

This core is in my opinion even stronger than the pinkacross regieleki/gapdos core. It follows a similar premise, to lure in Landorus-T with Zeraora and double into Zapdos, hitting it with a nuclear +1 Brave Bird. Even if Lando comes in on Zeraora safely via U-Turn or something, Zapdos is a comfortable switch in on Earthquake or Defog from Landorus. In general, Gap is very strong against ground types as it is immune to their stabs and can hit them with an incredibly powerful Close Combat. For instance:

:hippowdon: :swampert: :garchomp:
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Hippowdon: 202-238 (48 - 56.6%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Swampert: 310-366 (76.7 - 90.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 136 Def Garchomp: 259-306 (61.6 - 72.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Zapdos is also very strong against Buzzwole, who is another extremely prominent Zeraora answer. When these pokemon are chipped, Zeraora can often sweep. The main counterplay to Gapdos is to use Toxapex to scout and then switch into a better answer, or to outspeed it. Zeraora takes care of both by being the fastest pokemon in the tier and thus outspeeding popular revenge killers like Dragapult, Weavile, and Torn-T, even using them as setup fodder in some cases. These pokemon cover each others' defensive answers and generally overwhelm teams with offensive pressure.
 
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Dragapult + Nidoking
:ss/dragapult: :ss/nidoking:

The setup(s):
https://pokepast.es/e10fb32b18f0163b

The breakdown:
These two mons synergise absurdly well together, to the point where (after using it on the ladder for a bit) I am slightly surprised that these two haven't seen themselves listed as an offensive core, the general idea with these two is pretty simple:
Dragapult's most reliable walls (particularly to dd) are bulky fairy types such as clefable and tapu fini.
Nidoking destroys aforementioned fairy types (with the exclusion of scarf fini, which can be scouted for by replacing a move from nidoking's 4 with protect, which I do not recommend, or by putting fini in a situation where it needs to trick it's scarf away and running a timid nidoking rather than modest).

Something you may notice is that all pult sets listed, even dd, run u-turn, and an item that isn't life orb, this is due to the piece of synergy that pult shares with nidoking when it's walls aren't present: pivoting.
Pult is surprisingly bulky, and ridiculously fast, and u-turn lacks immunities, which means that - against a more defensive team/mon - pult can bring in nidoking, something which sorely lacks switch-ins due to it's insane movepool.

Conclusion:
An absurdly simple offensive core that allows one of OU's top dogs to wreak havoc upon teams unable to kill it's teammate, the (admittedly fragile) contender for most powerful special attacker in the tier, the ever versatile king of the reptiles.
 

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