SM OU Gengar+Lopunny Hyper Offense

[Dazzling Gleamstar]

Hey, so I've been really out of the scene for a while, at least in terms of gen 7. But recently I've been getting kind of back into playing. I played with a bunch of premades to try to adjust to the meta, and then once I felt semi-comfortable I decided to try my hand back at teambuilding since building has always been my favorite part of playing competitively. And I ended up surprising myself: typically a Balance player who would dabble in semistall and bulky offense, I came up with a finished product that was much more offensive that I had previously been used to. But I've been having a lot of fun with it, especially since I've been able to use my favourite mon: Gengar the eternal OU gem. Given that I'm trying to get back into playing at high levels of play, I know the team will have plenty of flaws. So I was hoping I could get some feedback on how to patch some of the holes the team has.

Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/HPdMNEQ8

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

As I mentioned, I made this team with the original thought being I wanted to focus the team around Gengar. I played around with the idea of ghostium but at the end of the day, life orb 3 attacks has always been my favorite set so it was what I stuck with. The only condition I have for this team is I don't want to use choiced gengar. The coverage is pretty self-explanetary, STABs are amazing and focus blast beats down big Ttar. Taunt eases up matchup versus bulkier teams and lets me pressure Toxapex, which is pretty nice considering Gengar absorbs Tspikes. Taunt Gengar is also an excellent lead versus webs offense, as in addition to leading well versus smeargle it leads well versus mons that webs players would try to lead off versus a lopunny lead.

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Frustration
- Ice Punch

I haven't used a lot of Mega Lopunny, even in gen 6. I've been wishing I had power up punch in a lot of situations but it's hard for me to fit it on. The priority has been super important and I get to ice punch landorus every other game. Lopunny checks the majority of mons that give Gengar issues: Ttar, Greninja, Ferrothorn and Heatran to name a few, as well as things that rely on sucker punch like Bisharp or Mawile. In turn, Gengar breaks through most defensive checks to Lopunny, most notably Toxapex, Clefable, Mew and Tangrowth.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Trick

I added scarf Latios next as an emergency check to things like Volcarona and Ash Gren in case their speed gets out of hand. Latios also has good match ups versus opposing scarfed threats to the team like Kartana or Tapu Lele while speed typing with other scarf Latios. Trick has proved to me to be super useful versus more defensive oriented teams, and defog gives me a safety net versus both spikes and webs offense.

Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- U-turn

When I originally envisioned the idea for a Gengar team, Greninja was the very first mon that came to my mind as a partner. It has every tool Gengar needs to excel. Greninjas typing compliments Gengar and Lopunny extremely well, both offensively and defensively. U-turn baits in a lot of mons for Gengar or Lopunny to take advantage of, which is why I'm running that over ice beam. The rest of the set is just standard specs gren.

Tapu Bulu @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

I added Bulu next as kind of what seemed to me might be the best way to patch some of the weaknesses the team had. The team was looking pretty weak to Tapu Koko, Ash-Gren, a Ttar with enough evasion EVs, Zygarde and a well played Landorus. So Bulu was meant to be my premier answer to a lot of these threats. All out Pummeling is meant to catch Heatran on the switch, finish off a weakened Scizor (which the team is super weak to ;-;), or beat down a Ferrothorn. Swords dance is here to break through bulkier toxapex/Skarmory teams, as well as weaken things like Celestella or Magearna who the team struggles to wear down. The speed outpaces 16 speed landorus, and the hp dodges the 2hko grom scarf Greninja ice beam as well as non-specs Tapu Koko dazzling gleam. Bulu also gives me a bit better of a match up against rain.

Landorus-Therian @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

I looked at the team I'd built, and I realized it had a surprising lack of Landorus. So to fix that problem, I added a Landorus. I'm happy to report with this change, the team now includes 100% more Landorus. I normally hate focus sash pokemon and despise the idea of a dedicated lead, but I've been having a lot of success with the set. Landorus leads and gets rocks+a kill if played correctly versus stuff like ferrothorn and effectively keeps rocks up versus defoggers like Zapdos and Tapu Fini. What I kind of like with the team however, is that while Landorus is generally a really safe lead in most cases, I have alternative lead options if I need to: Greninja and Lopunny both function effectively as leads against certain matchups, and overall I have favourable match up versus stuff like webs or veil.

Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-657290512
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656836764
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656615526
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656600394


Threatlist:

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Frustration
- Ice Punch
scizor, stall, greninja, tornadus, hawlucha, tyranitar, pinsir, tapu bulu

 

[temp]

Hello Dazzling Gleamstar! I love HO, as it's so fast paced. But, I feel that some of the Pokemon (Bulu and Scarf Lati to some extent) are more suited for BO and Offense given their movesets.

OVERVIEW

Like I said, I feel that some of these Pokemon aren't the best for HO given their sets. I'll attempt to fix your weaknesses that were posted in the threatlist. But, I'll also touch on some others that weren't mentioned.
A majority of the threats that you listed were Pokemon that you cannot switch in to. Heatran puts in massive work against you in terms of switching in. Your two Fire resists, Latios and Greninja, don't appreciate a Magma Storm. If your Latios gets trapped by a Z-move variant, you can't Trick it a Choice Scarf. Greninja does not consistently switch into Magma Storms at all, either. However, you shouldn't be making that many switches on HO anyways, so many of those threats on the threatlist are invalidated if you simply keep up momentum. I will stress the importance of momentum throughout this rate. Your team lacks a Flying-resist, so that's why Mega Pinsir and Hawlucha are so threatening to you. Your team also lacks counterplay to Scizor as you put in the threatlist, which is only close to being stopped by Ash Greninja's Hydro Pump to an Earthquake or Gengar's Shadow Ball.

[Power-up-Punch > Fake Out] - Power-up-Punch will definitely help Lopunny beat its traditional counters like Mew or Clefable (not Unaware). At +1, HJK will also do massive damage, over 50%, to Scizor.
See: +1 252 Atk Lopunny-Mega High Jump Kick vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Scizor-Mega: 187-222 (54.5 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'd imagine that the Mega Tyranitar match-up is only threatening if your Lopunny / Ash Gren are dead or it gets +2 somehow, so keep this thing alive to revenge kill or likely force out with HJK. Predicting a switch, you can always PuP to keep up pressure.

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- I like Scarf Lele on this build a lot more than Latios. It shreds a large amount of the original threats on your threatlist. Scizor cannot Bullet Punch Tapu Lele under Psychic-terrain, its powerful STABs pressure stall, it outspeeds non-Scarf Gren while also preventing Water Shurikens for it and its teammates, etc. The only notable downside is that its own terrain can hurt Ash Greninja, but don't set yourself up in a position where the terrain will make you lose.

[Spikes > U-turn] - Handicap Greninja, or U-turn Gren, is honestly not that great. It nets you momentum vs. its traditional switch ins like Fini or Chansey, but I feel that this team would much rather Spike up to weaken those switch ins every time. This will severely help Mega Lopunny break past Mew, Scizor, etc. and also help Gengar against AV Magearna or Toxapex. Specs Spikes sounds questionable on paper, but it works nicely with how many switches that Ash Gren forces.

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- Shift Gear Magearna abuses Spikes from Greninja and all of the chip damage from Lopunny, Landorus-T's explosions and even Gengar's ability to stallbreak. I feel that this Pokemon will greatly benefit you, as it answers almost every Pokemon listed in your threatlist in a 1v1 scenario (as in it checks them). It provides a solid Flying-resist, though it should not be acting as a dedicated counter to practically anything. Don't set up with Magearna if its checks are still on the field, as you'll lose offensive momentum in the long run—momentum is what HO thrives on, so you'll want to keep up as much as possible. Speaking of momentum, Magearna is a key abuser of it. After so many Spikes go up and after so many switches are forced, Magearna can easily come in on a prediction and set up. If it's in against something it beats, it'll likely force another switch, maintaining offensive momentum and giving more Spikes damage to help in its ability to snowball.

Hopefully, I addressed most of the weaknesses. Heatran, in terms of switching in, is just as threatening as before, but again, if you maintain offensive momentum, forcing it out with your Gengar, Mega Lop, Tapu Lele, Ash Gren, AND Lando-T, it shouldn't be problematic. Against rain, try to get Magearna in to Shift Gear and catch Ferrothorn off guard with HP Fire (outside of rain). This, combined with Fairium Z, should allow you to clean unless their Pelipper AND/OR their Gren / Kingdra is still alive + they have a Koko and Hawlucha.

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original team:
rated team:

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changes (tl;dr)

- PuP > Fake Out
(scarf)

>

- Spikes > U-turn
(shift gear fairium)

>

I like the team, and I like the rated variant I made as well! Hopefully you enjoyed the rate and can have fun using my version. Good luck!