tl;dr
Introduction
Hello,
Here's a quick hyper offensive team featuring the unique gimmick of Gravity and Sticky Webs. Both of these moves are unsung this generation because of the prevalence of heavy duty boots. Nonetheless, I think it's still very possible to make these strategies work. Here's the team:
This is a very fun style to play, with quick games and angry opponents. It's not half bad either -- I got pretty high up the ladder, and I think I can keep pushing to top 10, unless there's tons of sand being run. There are a few terrible matchups, but otherwise, I think there are lines of play into all team archetypes. I'll touch on the sets, synergies and how it plays, and finally make a note of the bad matchups. I won't go into teambuilding, but I'll mention a few of the other options I explored as well. I welcome all feedback and I hope you enjoy!
https://pokepast.es/18abbb704d3759b5
https://pokepast.es/fa130b10da5f96f2 (Fat Puff + Gravity Lele)
-----
Sets
Slurpuff @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Misty Explosion
- Sticky Web
- Yawn
- Magic Coat
First we have our sticky webs setter, Slurpuff. Compared to shuckle and that bee thing, slurpuff is the best at setting, and keeping webs up thanks to yawn, magic coat, and a self destructing move. There's not a whole bunch of ways to play it. You lead it into all matchups, expect when you see a urshifu R. The worst thing you can do with slurpuff is get u-turned on while you magic coat, so use magic coat only if you expect a Taunt, otherwise, Webs is the best turn 1. Usually, you do not need to preserve slurpuff, but vs some slow teams where the webs don't matter, you keep it alive to bother them with bounce and sleep. There may be an EV spread that lets you live banded urshifu rapid strikes, but that's a very niche use.
Note: on further inspection, there IS a spread that will live banded surging strikes and triple axel. You can use 252/208 Bold, with the same moves.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gravity
- Explosion
- Earthquake / Imprison
Monsieur Gravity. Just click gravity then go boom. Or go rocks, then gravity, then boom. The sole purpose of this thing is to gravity and prevent defog. Mew can do the same thing, but faster, though landorus can make better use of its own gravity with earthquake, along with luring in very annoying stuff like AV Torn T. Keep this alive if they have a koko. Imprison may also be worth using, simply to stop rocks from going up. In some matchups, preserving the sashes is how you win. All in all, this is a pretty simple pokemon on this team and the best offensive gravity setter than I can find.
Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Moonblast / Magic Room / Gravity
- Psychic
- Nature's Madness
A bit of a funky Lele set, but this is the optimal build for this team. This does a few things: keep terrain terrain up to protect the sweepers, taunt defoggers, put BIG holes in special wall like Blissey and heatran, and finally cleanup a lot of unprepared teams by itself...remember this is still a 130 SpA terrain boosted breaker! With Taunt, this does a real number on teams reliant on immunities or heavy psychic resists to wall a choice lele. You'll want to keep lele alive in cases where unaware clefable, rillaboom, or random fat stuff is on the other side. I've tested using magic room over moonblast...I think this has merits, since some matchups like boots koko, torn, or zeraora become a million times easier. Jury's still out on this slot. Lastly, thanks to some suggestions in the comments, I'd also consider Gravity as a viable choice over moonblast.
Blacephalon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Expanding Force
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
Blacephalon is the single most threatening pokemon in OU, in my opinion, having only 2 real switch-ins. On this team, we are using a Special Attack-boosting set, with a secret weapon: Hypnosis. Under terrain, hypnosis won't miss, so you can get some really cheesy and angry sweeps with this. Expanding force is a fantastic move on blacephalon. Under psychic terrain, it will hit neutral targets harder than either of the STAB moves, killing things like garchomp, toxapex, zapdos, etc. it's very strong. Focus sash is used to take better advantage of Sticky Webs. There are very few pokemon that are faster than blacephalon at "+1", and most those that are cannot take a hit from it. If the sash is up and blacephalon is at +1 SpA with Webs, you've probably won. Also an obligatory spin-blocking ghost for the team.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Like Blacephalon, Gengar is another sweeper. Under gravity, it too has 100% accurate hypnosis and focus blast. We're not using sludge bomb because it's much more important to break blobs, steels, and tyranitar. This has many shared checks with blacephalon, so sometimes it's best to let one do some damage, so that the other can sweep. Rarely, cursed body will be useful, but it's not something to count on. The biggest benefit gengar provides to this team is being faster than scarf kartana while webs are up. Great speed tier. Surprisingly, there's not much else that gets hypnosis.
Regieleki @ Life Orb
Ability: Transistor
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Extreme Speed / Volt Switch / Assurance
- Wild Charge
Regieleki is the last slot, largely in a supporting role. Rapid spin keeps rocks away if needed, which is almost always guaranteed thanks to its speed. It's also helpful to stop defog vs all defoggers -- it can do this by virtue of its crazy strong wild charge and explosion. Wild Charge is used so that torn-t always dies, while doing a fat chunk to blissey as well; damage to blissey is always great when you have a blacephalon. Extreme speed is the 4th move, but I think there are several options for this slot. Volt Switch can be used to 2KHO scarf kartana. other choices like assurance or protect are there to mess with ghosts or weather teams, respectively. As for items, life orb is for the biggest booms. Boots would only be useful if you're encountering other sticky webs teams (lol). Generally, you can play loose with Regieleki -- don't feel bad about just going boom vs lando. That can help to setup a sweep for blacephalon. I've also tried taunt
, taunt 
, and 
in this slot; they both helped to soften some of the below poor matchups, but really the most important factor is rapid spin. If zeraora had spin, I wouldn't be using regi. On EV's: this goes faster than +1 kartana. I think there is a slightly modified spread with more Def and less HP that alos lives bisharp sucker punch and dragonite +1 extreme speed, but you have psychic terrain, so I didn't bother worrying about that.
-----
Synergies and Team Dynamics
+
+
Everything that isn't Heavy-duty boots gets a speed drop. Balloons and Levitate begone!
Gravity + Hypnosis
Go boom with lando or regieleki and now there's a weakened corviknight, hippowdon, garchomp, ferrothorn, landorus or AV melmetal. These are all juicy targets for blacephalon to commence a sweep.
(Focus Sash)
There are four focus sashes on this team. That's four free turns if we keep rocks off. These are really key to cheat our way around those filthy boots users.
How to Play (super basic)
Tyranitar breaks all the sashes, hardwalls blacephalon, and usually comes with an
, which is going to make keeping webs up a pain. It's a very difficult matchup, but not unplayable. Gravity+Hypnosis is key. I have had games where blacephalon 1v1'd non-SpD TTar!
+ Defog
If this has boots and defog, you should probably concede. It removes webs, stops the sleep, and probably wont be dumb enough to die to a ghost. Thankfully, defog koko has been rare.
+ 
Annoying, but not as bad as koko. It is always faster than the ghosts, and can remove hazards pretty easily. You have to do some fancy reads with regieleki or lando so that this doesn't get in for free. This is one of the cases where magic room on lele is a very nice alternative to Moonblast.
+ 
Clear body dragapult can click dragon darts with impunity and doesn't care about sashes, intimidate, or webs. Don't throw lele away if you think dragapult will be a physical set.
Edit: After further play, especially higher on ladder where people will counter team, clear body dragapult is easily the biggest threat to the team, so much so that I've needed to make modifications to the sweeper slots, namely --> ; Assurance Regieleki alone does not cut it.
The rare scarf ditto will counter sweep if you don't clear rocks.
-----
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1608252125-6ag4wio0z8lmiv4g2xw47jlkkqy4kgqpw
A few other replays...
vs another Cheese HO
vs a Cresselia Stall (this is with gravity+focus blast lele. no nature's madness hurts)
vs (another!?) webs
Pure hypnosis cheese vs balance w/ a cool weavile
vs Excadrill + Ditto Stall
vs Double "arcto" Hail
So that's the team...I hope you like it!
Hello,
Here's a quick hyper offensive team featuring the unique gimmick of Gravity and Sticky Webs. Both of these moves are unsung this generation because of the prevalence of heavy duty boots. Nonetheless, I think it's still very possible to make these strategies work. Here's the team:
GRAVITY WEBS
This is a very fun style to play, with quick games and angry opponents. It's not half bad either -- I got pretty high up the ladder, and I think I can keep pushing to top 10, unless there's tons of sand being run. There are a few terrible matchups, but otherwise, I think there are lines of play into all team archetypes. I'll touch on the sets, synergies and how it plays, and finally make a note of the bad matchups. I won't go into teambuilding, but I'll mention a few of the other options I explored as well. I welcome all feedback and I hope you enjoy!
https://pokepast.es/18abbb704d3759b5
https://pokepast.es/fa130b10da5f96f2 (Fat Puff + Gravity Lele)
-----
Sets
Slurpuff @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Misty Explosion
- Sticky Web
- Yawn
- Magic Coat
First we have our sticky webs setter, Slurpuff. Compared to shuckle and that bee thing, slurpuff is the best at setting, and keeping webs up thanks to yawn, magic coat, and a self destructing move. There's not a whole bunch of ways to play it. You lead it into all matchups, expect when you see a urshifu R. The worst thing you can do with slurpuff is get u-turned on while you magic coat, so use magic coat only if you expect a Taunt, otherwise, Webs is the best turn 1. Usually, you do not need to preserve slurpuff, but vs some slow teams where the webs don't matter, you keep it alive to bother them with bounce and sleep. There may be an EV spread that lets you live banded urshifu rapid strikes, but that's a very niche use.
Note: on further inspection, there IS a spread that will live banded surging strikes and triple axel. You can use 252/208 Bold, with the same moves.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gravity
- Explosion
- Earthquake / Imprison
Monsieur Gravity. Just click gravity then go boom. Or go rocks, then gravity, then boom. The sole purpose of this thing is to gravity and prevent defog. Mew can do the same thing, but faster, though landorus can make better use of its own gravity with earthquake, along with luring in very annoying stuff like AV Torn T. Keep this alive if they have a koko. Imprison may also be worth using, simply to stop rocks from going up. In some matchups, preserving the sashes is how you win. All in all, this is a pretty simple pokemon on this team and the best offensive gravity setter than I can find.
Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Moonblast / Magic Room / Gravity
- Psychic
- Nature's Madness
A bit of a funky Lele set, but this is the optimal build for this team. This does a few things: keep terrain terrain up to protect the sweepers, taunt defoggers, put BIG holes in special wall like Blissey and heatran, and finally cleanup a lot of unprepared teams by itself...remember this is still a 130 SpA terrain boosted breaker! With Taunt, this does a real number on teams reliant on immunities or heavy psychic resists to wall a choice lele. You'll want to keep lele alive in cases where unaware clefable, rillaboom, or random fat stuff is on the other side. I've tested using magic room over moonblast...I think this has merits, since some matchups like boots koko, torn, or zeraora become a million times easier. Jury's still out on this slot. Lastly, thanks to some suggestions in the comments, I'd also consider Gravity as a viable choice over moonblast.
Blacephalon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Expanding Force
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
Blacephalon is the single most threatening pokemon in OU, in my opinion, having only 2 real switch-ins. On this team, we are using a Special Attack-boosting set, with a secret weapon: Hypnosis. Under terrain, hypnosis won't miss, so you can get some really cheesy and angry sweeps with this. Expanding force is a fantastic move on blacephalon. Under psychic terrain, it will hit neutral targets harder than either of the STAB moves, killing things like garchomp, toxapex, zapdos, etc. it's very strong. Focus sash is used to take better advantage of Sticky Webs. There are very few pokemon that are faster than blacephalon at "+1", and most those that are cannot take a hit from it. If the sash is up and blacephalon is at +1 SpA with Webs, you've probably won. Also an obligatory spin-blocking ghost for the team.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Like Blacephalon, Gengar is another sweeper. Under gravity, it too has 100% accurate hypnosis and focus blast. We're not using sludge bomb because it's much more important to break blobs, steels, and tyranitar. This has many shared checks with blacephalon, so sometimes it's best to let one do some damage, so that the other can sweep. Rarely, cursed body will be useful, but it's not something to count on. The biggest benefit gengar provides to this team is being faster than scarf kartana while webs are up. Great speed tier. Surprisingly, there's not much else that gets hypnosis.
Regieleki @ Life Orb
Ability: Transistor
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Extreme Speed / Volt Switch / Assurance
- Wild Charge
Regieleki is the last slot, largely in a supporting role. Rapid spin keeps rocks away if needed, which is almost always guaranteed thanks to its speed. It's also helpful to stop defog vs all defoggers -- it can do this by virtue of its crazy strong wild charge and explosion. Wild Charge is used so that torn-t always dies, while doing a fat chunk to blissey as well; damage to blissey is always great when you have a blacephalon. Extreme speed is the 4th move, but I think there are several options for this slot. Volt Switch can be used to 2KHO scarf kartana. other choices like assurance or protect are there to mess with ghosts or weather teams, respectively. As for items, life orb is for the biggest booms. Boots would only be useful if you're encountering other sticky webs teams (lol). Generally, you can play loose with Regieleki -- don't feel bad about just going boom vs lando. That can help to setup a sweep for blacephalon. I've also tried taunt
, taunt , and in this slot; they both helped to soften some of the below poor matchups, but really the most important factor is rapid spin. If zeraora had spin, I wouldn't be using regi. On EV's: this goes faster than +1 kartana. I think there is a slightly modified spread with more Def and less HP that alos lives bisharp sucker punch and dragonite +1 extreme speed, but you have psychic terrain, so I didn't bother worrying about that.-----
+- Lele pulls in steels and puts holes in special walls
- Psychic terrain protects balcephalon
- Blacephalon revenges and threatens a sweep vs anything that kills lele
+ - Blacephalon WILL sweep all offensive teams lacking a scarf kartana
- Gengar beats the few things that go faster than blacephalon
- very very few teams can stomach 4 (thanks to sash) powerful shadow balls
Everything that isn't Heavy-duty boots gets a speed drop. Balloons and Levitate begone!
Gravity + Hypnosis
- Sleep destroys non-dedicated walls to blacephalon and gengar
- Free turns for gengar is gg
- I think this is borderline uncompetitive...there's very little counterplay in OU, outside of koko and Fini, neither of which want to chance eating a shadow ball. We have fini, so we can control terrain too
- Even if you think you're out of it, go for that hypnosis cheese
Go boom with lando or regieleki and now there's a weakened corviknight, hippowdon, garchomp, ferrothorn, landorus or AV melmetal. These are all juicy targets for blacephalon to commence a sweep.
(Focus Sash)There are four focus sashes on this team. That's four free turns if we keep rocks off. These are really key to cheat our way around those filthy boots users.
How to Play (super basic)
- Lead slurpuff and click webs. If they have urshifu, lead regieleki. Magic coat or yawn as appropriate. Then go boom
- Go landorus and click gravity. Or rocks then gravity. Then go boom
- Go Lele and Click Taunt if they still trying to defog. Otherwise, natures madness and hit that heatran/blissey
- Get a ghost in safe and win
- Regi eleki is there to remove rocks
-----
Weaknesses
Tyranitar breaks all the sashes, hardwalls blacephalon, and usually comes with an
, which is going to make keeping webs up a pain. It's a very difficult matchup, but not unplayable. Gravity+Hypnosis is key. I have had games where blacephalon 1v1'd non-SpD TTar! + DefogIf this has boots and defog, you should probably concede. It removes webs, stops the sleep, and probably wont be dumb enough to die to a ghost. Thankfully, defog koko has been rare.
+ Annoying, but not as bad as koko. It is always faster than the ghosts, and can remove hazards pretty easily. You have to do some fancy reads with regieleki or lando so that this doesn't get in for free. This is one of the cases where magic room on lele is a very nice alternative to Moonblast.
+ Clear body dragapult can click dragon darts with impunity and doesn't care about sashes, intimidate, or webs. Don't throw lele away if you think dragapult will be a physical set.
Edit: After further play, especially higher on ladder where people will counter team, clear body dragapult is easily the biggest threat to the team, so much so that I've needed to make modifications to the sweeper slots, namely
--> ; Assurance Regieleki alone does not cut it.The rare scarf ditto will counter sweep if you don't clear rocks.
-----
Here's a funny replay vs sand for the road:https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1608252125-6ag4wio0z8lmiv4g2xw47jlkkqy4kgqpw
A few other replays...
vs another Cheese HO
vs a Cresselia Stall (this is with gravity+focus blast lele. no nature's madness hurts)
vs (another!?) webs
Pure hypnosis cheese vs balance w/ a cool weavile
vs Excadrill + Ditto Stall
vs Double "arcto" Hail
-----
So that's the team...I hope you like it!
Last edited:
