SS OU Blaziken+ Tapu Lele Balance

[Lord Xen III]

Importable

Blaziken @ Soft Sand
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Earthquake

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Future Sight

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

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 28 Spe
- Toxic
- Defog
- U-turn
- Earthquake

Mantine @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Haze
- Scald
- Roost

https://pokepast.es/48cf39278a2dfb6a

This team was in part inspired by Pinkacross Zapdos-Galar hazard stack team and Semi-rain teams with Scarf Lele.
Breakdown of each Pokemon choice:

+

I wanted to build around Blaziken as a breaker/sweeper (set is still experimental ).

Looking at Blaziken's list of checks and counters, I noticed that Tapu Lele checked a lot of the dragons and Water Types Blaziken can has issues with, including Aqua Jet Urshifu, Toxpaex, Dragonite, Dragapult, Garchomp, while in return Blaziken can check many steel-types that Tapu Lele detests. Tapu Lele is Scarfed for Speed Control and uses Future Sight for enhanced wall-breaking prowess to help weaken Blaziken's bulkier checks. I've considered adding Focus Blast here, but so far in testing I like Future Sight. Tapu Lele also is a greate late game cleaner

Next, I added a Bulk up Zeraora for added speed control and as an additional late game sweeper, while being able to scare away bulky waters like Slowtwins and Toxapex for Blaziken and some steel types for Tapu lele. This rounds out the offensive trio for the balance team.

Next, I wanted a Ferrothorn for rocks and to provide another check to bulky waters, in addition to fairies, namely tapu fini. Standard set, with power whip to help with Tapu Fini matchup. Physically defensive is what I went with, but can be subject to change.

Next , I wanted to have Defog , a status inducer, and some momentum-generation added to the team, so I chose mixed defensive Landorus as an all-purpose defensive pivot. Pretty standard I think

Lastly, I wanted an additional Volcarona and Urshifu check on the defensive side that wasn't weak to ground, but wasn't sure of what else to put, so chose a niche Mantine for now. I originally had Toxapex here, but didn't necessarily like how it gave me three pokemon weak to ground and also doesn't check Psychic Volcarona that well. A hypothetical replacement for this could be something like defensive Dragonite, or even a more offensive variant to make the team more bulky offense than balance. Hurricane I think helps with Mantine's natural passivity, and felt it was worth trying since I already had Toxic and Defog on Landorus. Fully defensive and I find that Mantine's naturally high special bulk makes it a decent mixed wall, and it was useful switching it in to Future Sights.



Some possible other changes are perhaps adding Defog to Mantine, putting spikes on Ferrothorn over Rocks, and Rocks over Defog on Landorus.

Overall, Blaziken+Tapu Lele is the core I want to build around, the other 4 mons are subject to change as appropriate.

I'm open to any and all feedback.

 

[Lord Xen III]

Bump

 

[Vroxxz]

Nice team here and its great to see that you built around a Blaziken.

Major Changes:
1. I've only got one major change. Mantine is a unique pick here, and it works very well and helps out with rain teams. But it's not so viable in the current meta, so I think you should try , , or .
All 3 of them completely wall Urshifu and help out against rain. Here are a few sets you can try out:

Slowking, Slowbro, Amoonguss sets

Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off / Dragon Tail
- Teleport

Dragon Tail is cool tech which helps out against setup sweeps where you can use dragon tail and force switch them, however its your personal taste if whether you want to deal with setup sweepers or be able to have a reliable healing option.



Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Future Sight
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Teleport



Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Toxic / Stun Spore

I'm not actually sure what this EV spread does...I just got it from smogon lmao.

Minor Changes:
1. Soft Sand on Blaziken is a very weird choice. I'd say you should give it an Expert Belt.
2. Since Scarf Lele is already very fast, running Modest is useful for the extra power.
3. Not running Focus Blast on Lele completely walls it against steels, so Focus Blast is much too valuable. Since you already have Zeraora and Blaziken for Corviknight, you could drop TBolt on Lele and run Focus Blast instead.

Weaknesses:

Your team is very very prone to Dragapult, as there are no Shadow Ball immunities or resists. Dragapult comes in and 2HKOs most your mons with Shadow Ball or heavily damages something, so you are forced to sack something to bring in Lele. Mantine and Ferrothorn are also defensive checks, however most Pults tend to run Flamethrower and/or Thunderbolt.

That's all from me. Just a few minor changes to attempt to make the team better!

 

[Lord Xen III]

Your team is very very prone to Dragapult, as there are no Shadow Ball immunities or resists. Dragapult comes in and 2HKOs most your mons with Shadow Ball or heavily damages something, so you are forced to sack something to bring in Lele. Mantine and Ferrothorn are also defensive checks, however most Pults tend to run Flamethrower and/or Thunderbolt.

That's all from me. Just a few minor changes to attempt to make the team better!

Thanks very much for the RMT !
Someone recommended i use blissey over mantine for Dragapult. If I did that then perhaps could replace Ferrrothorn with Amoongus ?

Thanks for pointing out Modest Scarf Lele, just realized it still outspeeds pult and Zeraora!

Lastly softsand blaziken was an idea I got from the "lure that threat" thread, it's mainly for toxapex but expert belt would work well too as serves the same function and more!

 

[Vroxxz]

Thanks very much for the RMT !
Someone recommended i use blissey over mantine for Dragapult. If I did that then perhaps could replace Ferrrothorn with Amoongus ?

Thanks for pointing out Modest Scarf Lele, just realized it still outspeeds pult and Zeraora!

Lastly softsand blaziken was an idea I got from the "lure that threat" thread, it's mainly for toxapex but expert belt would work well too as serves the same function and more!

Hey there again,

No don't change Ferrothorn. I think Ferrothorn does a great job in the team as primarily a Tapu-Lele check. I completely forgot about Blissey and Chansey lol. You could change Mantine for Blissey or Chansey, whichever you prefer. This does leave both your walls Ferro and Blissey/Chansey weak to Urshifu's Close Combat, but you could switch into Lele safely as it is 4x resistant to Fighting, then fire off a Moonblast or Psyshock for some nice damage.

If you want, you could run a Chople Berry Blissey with Counter for Urshifu or in general any physical attacker. Or the normal OU Blissey works too. Remember to run Toxic on it so you are able to touch Dragapult, otherwise Seismic Toss won't do anything to Pult.

At the end of the day, it's what you like and are comfortable with using the best, so you could try Amoonguss or the Slow Twins and see if you like them more than Ferrothorn.

 

[Lord Xen III]

Hey there again,

No don't change Ferrothorn. I think Ferrothorn does a great job in the team as primarily a Tapu-Lele check. I completely forgot about Blissey and Chansey lol. You could change Mantine for Blissey or Chansey, whichever you prefer. This does leave both your walls Ferro and Blissey/Chansey weak to Urshifu's Close Combat, but you could switch into Lele safely as it is 4x resistant to Fighting, then fire off a Moonblast or Psyshock for some nice damage.

If you want, you could run a Chople Berry Blissey with Counter for Urshifu or in general any physical attacker. Or the normal OU Blissey works too. Remember to run Toxic on it so you are able to touch Dragapult, otherwise Seismic Toss won't do anything to Pult.

At the end of the day, it's what you like and are comfortable with using the best, so you could try Amoonguss or the Slow Twins and see if you like them more than Ferrothorn.

I tried Amoongus before you replied lol. It was decent as it humilated Urshifu and generally made the rain matchup easier , but made me weak to Dragonite.

So trying to figure out the best way for dealing with urshifu. Could run chople berry Ferro and Chople Berry Bliss

Could run Slowking to deal with urshifu and opposing lele also over ferro.

What do you think?

 

[Vroxxz]

I tried Amoongus before you replied lol. It was decent as it humilated Urshifu and generally made the rain matchup easier , but made me weak to Dragonite.

So trying to figure out the best way for dealing with urshifu. Could run chople berry Ferro and Chople Berry Bliss

Could run Slowking to deal with urshifu and opposing lele also over ferro.

What do you think?

As I said, it all comes down to your taste.

If you want, here are interesting bulky sets you could try out to check , , and better:
AV Melmetal - Walls Pult and Lele
AV Tangrowth - Walls all 3
AV Tornadus-T - Walls all 3
AV Slowking-Galar - Walls Lele and Urshifu, and can take a hit from Pult and fire back with Ice Beam
Chople Berry Blissey - Walls Pult and Lele and kind of walls Urshifu
Slowbro & Slowking - Walls Lele and Urshifu.

Again, it's ur choice on what to do. Hope I helped

 

[Lord Xen III]

As I said, it all comes down to your taste.

If you want, here are interesting bulky sets you could try out to check , , and better:
AV Melmetal - Walls Pult and Lele
AV Tangrowth - Walls all 3
AV Tornadus-T - Walls all 3
AV Slowking-Galar - Walls Lele and Urshifu, and can take a hit from Pult and fire back with Ice Beam
Chople Berry Blissey - Walls Pult and Lele and kind of walls Urshifu
Slowbro & Slowking - Walls Lele and Urshifu.

Again, it's ur choice on what to do. Hope I helped

yeah I'm going to make several variants to test more with all the options you have listed in mind.