Perfect Time - A Terrakion Lele Balance
INTRODUCTION
Hey guys! PrideMustang here, with my 2nd RMT. After my first RMT, I had little to no time to play and build, but still reading forums and PS to follow the meta and its changes with the introduction of USM. Perfect Time is a balanced team, which makes use of a solid defensive backbone with hazard stack support, two strong wallbreakers and a great cleaner. The name "Perfect Time" because of the name of the best song of OST of my favourite anime, Seven Deadly Sins, and also, I feel right now it's a Perfect Time to come back to play Pokémon, and that makes me happy, even if I'm not that good, because I'm almost always between 1500/1650 in the ladder. I hope you enjoy reading my RMT with the song and for sure, any feedback and constructive criticism is really appreciated. With nothing else to say, let's go ahead!.
Edit: Got replays!
The starting core of the team. Pretty unexplored to be honest. SubSD Rockium Z Terrakion does everything that Choice Scarf Tapu Lele could wish in its dreams. Terrakion breaks nearly any defensive core due to its almost unresisted STAB combo, tearing apart Steel and Dark-types that Tapu Lele dislikes, while it enjoys Psychic Terrain protecting it from SE priority like Water Shuriken, Bullet Punch and others like M-Pinsir's QA, which can revenge kill it. In the other hand Choice Scarf Tapu Lele cleans after Terrakion breaking dutties, and also provides a key check for many faster threats that Terrakion struggles like Greninjas, Tapu Koko, Lati@s, M-Loppuny and others, making them a very good duo to start the Perfect Time. Then, in a attempt to make a balance team, the next members were added to cover holes and threats.
Any team using a Choice Scarf Tapu Lele needs a solid answer to Volcarona, and Perfect Time isn't the exception. Mantine fits perfect here to counter it and trying to "balance-ish" the team. Our little dude serves as a counter to many dangerous special threats in OU, namely Volcarona, Blacephalon, Ash-Greninja, Heatran and the less common but powerful M-Charizard Y. Also it helps with the Rain Matchup dealing with Kingdra and with any M-Swampert lacking Stone Edge. Provides key Ground immunity, Defog support to remove hazards, mainly Toxic Spikes, which my team is vulnerable to, and also Haze support to stop those wild set-up sweepers to going crazy.
Perfect Time was really weak against many physical threats, and also was lacking a Tapu Koko answer. In this regard, Hippowdon was a great choice to handle those physical threats such as M-Charizard X, Landorus-T, Zygarde and M-Loppuny, and Electric-types like Tapu Koko and the rare M-Manectric. With its great bulk and solid typing it provides a ton of defensive utility. Also it gives Stealth Rock support for the team and helping against set-up sweepers. As a bonus, it supports Terrakion with sand, boosting its SpDef, which can be crucial to survive some special hits such as M-Diancie's Moonblast or Ash-Greninja's Water Shuriken.
Some Grass and Fairy-types were a massive threat to Perfect Time. To fix this issue, Ferrothorn was added to the team, giving the team a breath room against threats like Choice Specs Tapu Lele/Koko locked into a wrong move, provides a solid check to non HP Fire Kyurem-B and Choice Scarf Kartana, who decimates the team without Ferrothorn. Also gives the team the useful Spikes support, which is crucial for Terrakion, Tapu Lele and M-Pinsir to get some KOs, while chipping away at enemy's Pokemon's HP. The three defensive mons of this team shares amazing sinergy while giving the team a core which covers nearly the entire metagame.
Finally, I thought Perfect Time was lacking a Mega Pokémon and wallbreaking power to help Terrakion breaking cores and prepare the late game Lele's sweep. To solve this, I decided to add M-Pinsir, the best mega in the tier in my opinion. M-Pinsir gives the team a middle between a breaker and a sweeper. Depending the situation, It can wallbreak pretty well with SD to weaken walls for Terrakion or Lele to take advantage or, if its checks and counters are gone, it can sweep in late game. It enjoys Terrakion taking away its C&C with Continental Crush such as Skarmory, Zapdos and Celesteela, while M-Pinsir can use Grass and Fighting-Types that scare Terrakion away as set-up fodder. I'm aware of Psychic Terrain and QA problem, but, almost nearly have any issue since, the most games M-Pinsir was used as a mid-game breaker to put more pressure against my opponent, and also, almost never Tapu Lele enters to the battle that early in the game, giving the team a good priority move to pick off faster or weakened threats.
Latelly, I realized M-Pinsir gives me a secondary check (the primary being Tapu Lele in the revenge kill) to SD Kartana lacking BHE, because it can take any hit, and almost no SD Kartana are running Smart Strike nowadays, running Defog instead, meaning M-Pinsir can take any hit at +2 if full HP, hit it with Return and KO with Quick Attack with the minimal prior damage of 1 switch-in with Stealth Rocks in the field. This is huge considering how threatening Kartana is for Balance builds.
DETAILED_ANALYSIS
Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
The star of the Perfect Time. I always wanted to try Terrakion because of how threatening is with the introduction of Z-Moves, and I feel is really underrated threat right now in the tier. It has great offensive sinergy with Tapu Lele and M-Pinsir, breaking any Dark-type for Lele and any Steel-type for both, while having a strong defensive core to fall back with its weaknesses. The set is pretty standar to be honest, the surprise factor comes in with Substitute, when the opponent decides to sack a mon to then revenge kill it, a well timed Substitute can be game changing, while also protecting it from status and revenge killers, allowing it wallbreak more freely and effectively.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Aromatherapy
In Pefect time, the best partner for Terrakion is Tapu Lele. Choice Scarf Tapu Lele gives the team the main win condition after Terrakion and M-Pinsir's breaking dutties, while with the great speed tier it hits with the scarf, it can revenge kill many threatening mons for the team, mainly Kartana. The set is also standar, but I decided to try Aromatherapy in last slot, since it can prove be really useful for support the defensive core, especially Mantine, who can get Toxic'ed trying to Defog against Toxapex, giving me the edge in the hazard war.
Mantine (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Roost
- Defog
- Haze
Mantine is a great support Pokémon in Perfect Time. It blanket checks a neat portion of the special attackers of the tier, bar Electric-Types and some random mons, while giving the ever useful support in the form of Defog and Haze. EV spread is for guarantee the 3HKO from Choice Specs Blacephalon's Shadow Ball, and Ash-Greninja's Dark Pulse if rocks are out of field, making Mantine a very reliable counter for those threats. Moveset is standar too, Scald gives it a little offensive pressure for its nifty burn chance, Roost for reliable recovery, Defog for remove those pesky rocks, spikes and T-spikes from field, and Haze was chosen to stop some boosters mons like Volcarona, SubCM Blacephalon and SubCM Keldeo.
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind
As well as Mantine, Hippowdon is a great mon in Perfect Time's defensive triangle core. It can handle many threats which otherwise could be troublesome for the team such as M-Loppuny, Landorus-T, Zygarde, M-Charizard X, M-Pinsir and the scary Hawlucha, as well as giving me a great counter for nearly any Tapu Koko variant, which is great. Max HP with mixed defenses EV spread allows it take powerful hits such as +2 Terrakion's Close Combat or +2 M-Pinsir's Return, while Choice Specs Tapu Koko's HP Ice/Dazzling Gleam are a 3HKO, full countering it. Moveset is standar, I decided to swap out Toxic for Whirlwind since some set-up sweepers were annoying, so, Whirlwind takes cares of them while also racking hazards damage, which is great in this type of builds.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
Nowadays, every team needs a bulky Steel-type, and Perfect Time is by no means different. Ferrothorn completes my defensive triangle core and gives the team amazing utility, checking most Fairy-types like Choice locked Tapu Lele/Koko in a move different than Focus Blast/HP Fire, Scarf Kartana locked in something different than Sacred Sword, checking Electric-types and giving me a secondary check to Rain, which is good to not overwhelm Mantine. EV spread is for checking Ash-Greninja, while moveset is standar in my opinion, dual STAB with Gyro Ball to deal better with speedy threats like Tapu Koko and some speed boosters, while Leech Seed for wear down mons and recovery, and Spikes, which are crucial for this team letting the offensive members net some KOs while providing key chip damage to foes in order to prepare Lele or M-Pinsir late game sweep.
Pinsir-Mega @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake
Last, but not least, finishing the Perfect Time's Squad is M-Pinsir, the best mega in OU in my opinion . I think M-Pinsir is a great addition for the team, being able to melt through teams after Terrakion takes away its C&C, making it a pseudo Magne-Pinsir core. Also, M-Pinsir can use common revenge killers for Terrakion such as Kartana with Leaf Blade, Keldeo locked in Secret Sword, and other Grass-types and Fighting-types as a set-up fodder and bust through teams with its strong Flying-type STAB. The set is really standar, in moves, EV spread and ability. The main work of M-Pinsir in the team is further breaking after Terrakion's dutties to open more holes to Tapu Lele to clean, or, sweep itself with its strong priority in Quick Attack. I'm aware of the Psychic Terrain interaction with Quick Attack, but as I explained before, I had almost no problem with that, since the times I'm using each member is different, meaning, the terrain expired or changed for other.
Since the goal of the team is facilitate the Tapu Lele sweep, the main plain in the early game is almost always set up Spikes/Stealth Rocks and cripple switchs-ins for different mons with ailments like Leech Seed, Scald burns, sandstorm damage and racking up hazards damage in conjunction with Whirlwind, while pivoting between the triangle defensive core in order to mitigate the most damage possible for the offensive members. Towards the mid game, I try to bring in Terrakion or M-Pinsir , mainly via double switches, or after a convenient sack to get the momentum and set up Substitute or Swords Dance depending on the enemy's team and remaining threats, then the task is try to wallbreak with them to open the holes needed for late game Tapu Lele, which can be devastating with its strong Psychic and great speed equiped with scarf.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-691956205 This is my favourite one, Terrakion destroys the deffensive core of the rival, taking 3 mons down and denting KyuB, the Lele cleans up the game after its two counters, Ferrothorn and probably AV Araquanid were taken out by Terrakion with a key prediction in Turn 5-6
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-691916821 In this one, Terrakion didn't do that much, but heavily dents Mew and Landorus-T, meaning they can't check M-Pinsir anymore, the crux of the game is Hippowdon winning it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-691914813 Early forfeit of my rival because of two missplays but, anyways, I think Terrakion almost 6-0 that team played properly with my deffensive core behind it
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-691916821 In this one, Terrakion didn't do that much, but heavily dents Mew and Landorus-T, meaning they can't check M-Pinsir anymore, the crux of the game is Hippowdon winning it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-691914813 Early forfeit of my rival because of two missplays but, anyways, I think Terrakion almost 6-0 that team played properly with my deffensive core behind it
FINAL_THOUGHTS
To start, I want to say that the replays aren't the best quality in the world and they're low ladder, but I think still showing up the Terrakion performance and how does the team work in some degree.
Well, maybe this team can't be the most good or efficient in the current metagame, but I think it still can work decently well if played with brain. The most happy part of this team is my comeback to play this amazing game that I love so much. Any feedback and help will be received gratefully in order to improve the team. Feel free to change whatever you want, but trying keep the initial core :) Thanks you so much for reading this and have a nice day, Cheers!!.
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