Pray for 10 seconds to our lord and savior CTC before reading any further.
Introduction
Heyo I'm bored on Christmas break so you guys get another fun HO team from ya boy. Team centers around sticky webs from Ribombee which lets powerhouses that lack speed like Tapu Lele and rockium-Lando destroy frail teams and still break holes in defensive teams using their aggressive items. A niche mon like Serperior can pull off surprising sweeps with webs since it can outspeed annoying pokemon such as Ash-gren & Tapu Koko and leech+sub stall defensive mons like Magearna & Heatran. Mimikyu prevents spin and surprise Woodhammer is used to deal with Quagsire stall (though shadow sneak is alright) and Gyara is there mostly as a Greninja check in case webs are not up.
Sidenote: Tried finding a decent Defiant mon but none were any good... Make Bisharp usable again!
The Team
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Stun Spore
Lead this pokemon unless they have a defogger with toxic (ex. zapdos), you are versus stall, or no opposing mons get crippled by webs (ex. flying spam team). For annoying defoggers lando can bluff the defensive set and nab a kill with rockium-Z, while for stall you should lead Lele in most matchups. If the enemy team does not have a lot of grounded mons, just use Ribombee as another damage threat + Stun Spore cripple. In almost all other cases, get up webs and attack or Stun Spore to weaken them for what you send in after. Attack first versus anti-leads like lead Grens and Mega-Diancies. Note that Stun Spore can let Serperior sub up with very little risk.
Serperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This set is extremely underrated and can completely dismantle unprepared teams (See replay, viewer discretion is advised). Leech + Sub lets you beat steels that might otherwise wall you like Heatran and AV-Magearna and Leaf Storm + Fire lets you knock out most frail pokemon. Note that if they defog, you can switch into Serp and try to sweep with sub + the evasion boost. One weakness of this set is the lack of PP in Leaf Storm which could lead to you getting PP stalled by Haze Toxapex. This is usually a fifty-fifty as you would leech seed them and spam HP-Fire while you try to Leaf Storm on the turn they go for recover. Serp is also this team's main answer to the threatening Kartana as it is the only thing that outspeeds it naturally (outspeeds scarf-kart under webs).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-680303280
Mimikyu @ Life Orb/Lum Berry
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer/Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance
I wanted a spin blocker and this was the only thing that had some offensive pressure and did not get one shot by Excadrill (ex. Gengar). 90% spin-blocker, 10% damage dealer that can let you prevent sweeps from Zygarde/surprise knock out Quag. I don't choose to run Shadow Sneak since Lele is on the team but it is also a decent option. Note that this team lacks priority and relies on webs for speed control.
Sidenote: Tried using Decidueye as a spin blocker which took 45% from a scart-kart Leaf Blade... Nope
Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Calm Mind
This is the best thing USUM has given to those who love HO as it is the strongest breaking tool in OU. This pokemon lets you beat stall in 3 simple steps: Lead vs Sableye, calm-mind, psyshock on their Chansey and win with Serperior. 3 attack set does great damage to every pokemon in the tier and lets nothing come in on this for free. Psychic terrain is nice as this team has no priority and the terrain shields against opposing priority like Gren's water shuriken, Pinsir's Quick Attack, and Zygarde e-speed.
Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Ada or Jolly is up to the user. Rocks gives flexibility vs teams you can't outright kill with EQ + Rockium as you can set up hazards to support other mons. Rockium is for flying types such as Celesteela + Zapdos + Skarm which are getting a little overconfident lately due to the popularity of defensive lando and Skystrike lando. Can usually get a kill when they try to prevent webs or defog.
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Dragon Dance
Open "Gyarados.standard" pokemon set. Jobs: Greninja check, intimidate opposing physical threats, look for lategame sweep potential since it is easy to get one DD off on almost any pokemon. Ice Fang over Waterfall for landos and Zygardes. Somewhat of an answer versus mega-Latis if their team isn't prepared for +1 Gyara. Rocks can be annoying for this pokemon but since you should have gotten up webs, they either defog away their own rocks + your webs or you get to play vs a slowed down team which Gyara can abuse.
Proof of ladder rank/Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-680306483
Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/gF40P4yv
Conclusion
Make the ladder HEAT again! Got to 1900+ with relative ease so it just shows fun teams can still do well versus the same repetitive ladder teams using toxapex + magearna + kart. Got people busting their nut over ladder points and complaining about hax (shoutout to my boy latioswars who got HEATED after missing a draco versus me) when pokemon is all about havin' fun and bringing HEAT.
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