My inspiration for this team was this really cool Chi-Yu team that I found for OU. It already had 3 dark types and I figured I could replace the other 3 mons and make a strong team for Monotype. I eventually realized Chi-Yu was banned and so I replaced it with houndoom not expecting it to be as good anymore. However, turns out houndoom really pulled its weight and more. It might even be better than Chi-Yu because of flash fire. When I played with the team, I found it quite easy to play positive and neutral matchups and the team felt quite strong in these situations. Against negative matchups (bug, fighting, fairy), I did have to make some aggressive predictions, but I found that I was still able to win or if not come close.
Anyways, here's the team:
Paste: https://pokepast.es/eb65d73ab1cbfb58
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Ruination
The first two mons I basically copied from the OU team. Ting-Lu is a lead mon that's there to set up rocks or spikes or both. I realized that monotype doesn't have too many defoggers or spinners available (e.g. mono-dark has none). So hazard stacking is a good strategy, especially in mirror matchups. Earthquake and ruination ensure that Ting-Lu isn't just a sitting duck against more offensive foes. While playing, I tend to prefer using EQ because of its higher accuracy and its damage output is decent considering ting-lu's respectable attack stat.
Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Def / 184 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Kingambit is a strong wallbreaker. It's basically a bulkier bisharp. It's exremely useful in the mono-fairy matchup. I found that scarf / specs flutter mane is quite common and sucker punch (after a few supreme overlord boosts) really helps with that. It can also force switches for which iron head and kowtow cleave are very useful. Swords dance is for particularly bulky mons / teams that are quite passive. I copied the EV spread from the OU team. This spread + leftovers makes it extremely bulky and helps its longevity, which is quite important since I often depend on it to counter multiple threats. I've never felt the lack of attack investment to be a bother since it base attack is quite high and I usually bring it out after a few of its teammates have fainted.
Houndoom @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Flame Charge
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Houndoom is the unexpected GOAT for quite a few matchups. This thing can steamroll the fire- and bug-matchups on its own.
Flame charge helps it set up its speed against more offensive teams so that it can sweep with flamethrower and dark pulse. It's also useful for picking off weakened pokemon. At +1 speed, it outspeeds many threats like non-scarf flutter mane, dragapult, chien-pao and scarf gholdengo. After a flame charge, if either of its STABs are super effective against the opponent's type, it will either sweep or tear massive holes in the opponent's team. Heavy duty boots allows it to come in multiple times without worrying about stealth rocks or sticky web in the case of the bug matchup.
Flash fire is extremely useful and helps houndoom come in on will-o-wisp, and torch song. The former is quite common since the rest of the pokemon on this team are all physical attackers. The latter is useful to stop a skeledirge sweep and weaken it to be picked off by the rest of the team.
Protect is probably the most replaceable move. I added it here so that houndoom has a better time against first impression lokix, which would otherwise give this team some problems. The other option is nasty plot, but houndoom is very frail and it's difficult to find opportunities to set it up.
Roaring Moon @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 220 Atk / 36 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Iron Head
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt
Roaring moon is another set up sweeper that can wallbreak / steamroll a lot of teams. Crunch is its STAB move of choice since I find dragon to be quite rare in this meta. Iron head provides good coverage against fairies that resist crunch. For the last moveslot, I initially had roost for longevity, but I found that I was either sacing or sweeping with this thing and so roost wasn't very useful. Instead, I went with zen headbutt, which has been quite useful since it helps roaring moon against fighting teams and bulky poison type mons (expecially toxapex). Its EVd so that when protosynthesis is activated, it gets a speed boost. This is not a very common situation, but is important for when it does happen. Specifically, Chien-Pao gives this team a lot of problems and I found the best way to deal with it is to set up sunny day with sableye so that roaring moon can outspeed it. It also has the bonus effect of outspeeding chlorophyll scovillain although I only came across that once.
Sableye @ Eject Button
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Foul Play
Sableye is quite essential to this team. Without it, fighting matchups would be an auto lose. Even with it, fighting matchups can be a bit of a prediction game, but it gives the team a fighting chance.
Encore is my most used move. Often times, Sableye's teammates bait in fighting moves. Sableye comes in on them for free and with encore it can lock them into being pretty much useless against it. It also helps against set up sweepers, pairing well with foul play if they increase their attack. Will-o-wisp can nail switch ins after encore forces them out. This also helps the rest of the team against fighting- matchups since fighting types are primarily physical.
I put sunny day as the last move to help support houndoom and roaring moon.
I use eject button on this set to gain momentum. This allows sableye to switch into many more threats without prediction. For example, if it were to come in on a scizor, if scizor swords dances, it can encore that but if scizor bullet punches it gives me a free switch into houndoom. In other situations, it allows sableye to get a prankster attack off and switch into a more threatening pokemon in the same turn.
It's EVs are maxed out for special defence so that with burn it can comfortably take hits on both sides.
Meowscarada @ Choice Band
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flower Trick
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Trick
I put choice band meowscarada here as an additional wallbreaker. Flower trick is its best STAB move. It's extremely useful against bulky ground and water teams. It also helps against screens, since crits ignore the damage reduction. U-turn is for momentum, knock off is a good secondary STAB and trick is there to help break particularly bulky teams. I haven't found trick super useful and I'm considering replacing it with sucker punch / play rough.
Choice band is here over scarf, since that helps more with bulky water and ground teams which meowscarada is there to counter. An argument can also be made for scarf, since that helps fight against faster threats like chien pao, flutter mane and dragapult, but I think the rest of the team handles them decently well.
Overgrow is used on this set over protean since I found myself using flower trick more often than U-turn. Overgrow flower trick hits like a truck whenever I get into that range, and I don't really miss the additional damage to U-turn. Perhaps it might be more appropriate if I added play rough.
Threats to the team
Out of the three type weaknesses, fighting is the worst. The team is fairly covered against fairy and bug types, both defensively and offensively, but for fighting it's pretty much just sableye. Here are the three largest threats to the team in my opinion (in order):
Quaquaval - This thing has the potential to snowball any game even with type-diverse teams in OU. A team full of dark types finds the combination of aqua step + moxie hard to handle. Sableye provides the best counterplay to this since it's immune to cc and can burn & encore quaquaval, but even then I've found it difficult to deal with. You can't even sac something for a free switch in since that activates moxie.
Chien pao - Sacred sword on chien pao hits the whole team really hard except sableye and ting-lu. Ting-lu is usually weakened early in the game because hazards are quite effective against ice and dark teams. The best counterplay is to sacrifice something for a free switch in to sableye, use prankster sunny day and eject out into roaring moon that will now outspeed because of protosynthesis.
Breloom - This is less of a threat since sableye switches into mach punch and meowscarada switches into spore, but it's still prediction reliant since breloom can bullet seed on a predicted sableye or mach punch a predicted meowscarada.
Replays
Anyways, here's the team:
Paste: https://pokepast.es/eb65d73ab1cbfb58
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Ruination
The first two mons I basically copied from the OU team. Ting-Lu is a lead mon that's there to set up rocks or spikes or both. I realized that monotype doesn't have too many defoggers or spinners available (e.g. mono-dark has none). So hazard stacking is a good strategy, especially in mirror matchups. Earthquake and ruination ensure that Ting-Lu isn't just a sitting duck against more offensive foes. While playing, I tend to prefer using EQ because of its higher accuracy and its damage output is decent considering ting-lu's respectable attack stat.
Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Def / 184 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Kingambit is a strong wallbreaker. It's basically a bulkier bisharp. It's exremely useful in the mono-fairy matchup. I found that scarf / specs flutter mane is quite common and sucker punch (after a few supreme overlord boosts) really helps with that. It can also force switches for which iron head and kowtow cleave are very useful. Swords dance is for particularly bulky mons / teams that are quite passive. I copied the EV spread from the OU team. This spread + leftovers makes it extremely bulky and helps its longevity, which is quite important since I often depend on it to counter multiple threats. I've never felt the lack of attack investment to be a bother since it base attack is quite high and I usually bring it out after a few of its teammates have fainted.
Houndoom @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Flame Charge
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Houndoom is the unexpected GOAT for quite a few matchups. This thing can steamroll the fire- and bug-matchups on its own.
Flame charge helps it set up its speed against more offensive teams so that it can sweep with flamethrower and dark pulse. It's also useful for picking off weakened pokemon. At +1 speed, it outspeeds many threats like non-scarf flutter mane, dragapult, chien-pao and scarf gholdengo. After a flame charge, if either of its STABs are super effective against the opponent's type, it will either sweep or tear massive holes in the opponent's team. Heavy duty boots allows it to come in multiple times without worrying about stealth rocks or sticky web in the case of the bug matchup.
Flash fire is extremely useful and helps houndoom come in on will-o-wisp, and torch song. The former is quite common since the rest of the pokemon on this team are all physical attackers. The latter is useful to stop a skeledirge sweep and weaken it to be picked off by the rest of the team.
Protect is probably the most replaceable move. I added it here so that houndoom has a better time against first impression lokix, which would otherwise give this team some problems. The other option is nasty plot, but houndoom is very frail and it's difficult to find opportunities to set it up.
Roaring Moon @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 220 Atk / 36 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Iron Head
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt
Roaring moon is another set up sweeper that can wallbreak / steamroll a lot of teams. Crunch is its STAB move of choice since I find dragon to be quite rare in this meta. Iron head provides good coverage against fairies that resist crunch. For the last moveslot, I initially had roost for longevity, but I found that I was either sacing or sweeping with this thing and so roost wasn't very useful. Instead, I went with zen headbutt, which has been quite useful since it helps roaring moon against fighting teams and bulky poison type mons (expecially toxapex). Its EVd so that when protosynthesis is activated, it gets a speed boost. This is not a very common situation, but is important for when it does happen. Specifically, Chien-Pao gives this team a lot of problems and I found the best way to deal with it is to set up sunny day with sableye so that roaring moon can outspeed it. It also has the bonus effect of outspeeding chlorophyll scovillain although I only came across that once.
Sableye @ Eject Button
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Foul Play
Sableye is quite essential to this team. Without it, fighting matchups would be an auto lose. Even with it, fighting matchups can be a bit of a prediction game, but it gives the team a fighting chance.
Encore is my most used move. Often times, Sableye's teammates bait in fighting moves. Sableye comes in on them for free and with encore it can lock them into being pretty much useless against it. It also helps against set up sweepers, pairing well with foul play if they increase their attack. Will-o-wisp can nail switch ins after encore forces them out. This also helps the rest of the team against fighting- matchups since fighting types are primarily physical.
I put sunny day as the last move to help support houndoom and roaring moon.
I use eject button on this set to gain momentum. This allows sableye to switch into many more threats without prediction. For example, if it were to come in on a scizor, if scizor swords dances, it can encore that but if scizor bullet punches it gives me a free switch into houndoom. In other situations, it allows sableye to get a prankster attack off and switch into a more threatening pokemon in the same turn.
It's EVs are maxed out for special defence so that with burn it can comfortably take hits on both sides.
Meowscarada @ Choice Band
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flower Trick
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Trick
I put choice band meowscarada here as an additional wallbreaker. Flower trick is its best STAB move. It's extremely useful against bulky ground and water teams. It also helps against screens, since crits ignore the damage reduction. U-turn is for momentum, knock off is a good secondary STAB and trick is there to help break particularly bulky teams. I haven't found trick super useful and I'm considering replacing it with sucker punch / play rough.
Choice band is here over scarf, since that helps more with bulky water and ground teams which meowscarada is there to counter. An argument can also be made for scarf, since that helps fight against faster threats like chien pao, flutter mane and dragapult, but I think the rest of the team handles them decently well.
Overgrow is used on this set over protean since I found myself using flower trick more often than U-turn. Overgrow flower trick hits like a truck whenever I get into that range, and I don't really miss the additional damage to U-turn. Perhaps it might be more appropriate if I added play rough.
Threats to the team
Out of the three type weaknesses, fighting is the worst. The team is fairly covered against fairy and bug types, both defensively and offensively, but for fighting it's pretty much just sableye. Here are the three largest threats to the team in my opinion (in order):
Quaquaval - This thing has the potential to snowball any game even with type-diverse teams in OU. A team full of dark types finds the combination of aqua step + moxie hard to handle. Sableye provides the best counterplay to this since it's immune to cc and can burn & encore quaquaval, but even then I've found it difficult to deal with. You can't even sac something for a free switch in since that activates moxie.
Chien pao - Sacred sword on chien pao hits the whole team really hard except sableye and ting-lu. Ting-lu is usually weakened early in the game because hazards are quite effective against ice and dark teams. The best counterplay is to sacrifice something for a free switch in to sableye, use prankster sunny day and eject out into roaring moon that will now outspeed because of protosynthesis.
Breloom - This is less of a threat since sableye switches into mach punch and meowscarada switches into spore, but it's still prediction reliant since breloom can bullet seed on a predicted sableye or mach punch a predicted meowscarada.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1754444152 against poison
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1753461427 against fighting
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751374995 against flying
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751717418 against ground
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1752337960 against flying
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751739808 against dragon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751663459 against dragon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751687784 against dark
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1753461427 against fighting
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751374995 against flying
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751717418 against ground
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1752337960 against flying
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751739808 against dragon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751663459 against dragon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-1751687784 against dark
