SS Ubers Ho-Oh and Zekrom-based SS Ubers team

[all_right_gentlemen]

Hello. This is my first post on this site in 8 years. I haven't been active at all but decided to play competitively again and hopefully refresh my teambuilding thinking process. I currently go as Dango_Milk on Showdown. I mostly play Gen 8 Ubers and NatDex AG, and I'm willing to play anyone.

In this case, I attempted to make a balance team.

Darth Vader (Necrozma-Dusk-Mane) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpD / 120 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
Of course the big three were going to appear in this team. Of them, I decided to make Necrozma-DM defensive because of its superior defensive typing over the other two. It forms one half of the defensive backbone of my team. I chose Knock Off over Thunder Wave for its item removal capacity, for the perk of hitting Calyrex-Shadow hard on the switch, due to Ho-Oh already having Thunder Wave, and also since I realized when building the team that Yveltal didn't have the move (more on that below). I chose the standard EV spread to have a way to always outspeed the rare Calyrex-Ice.

Nightwing (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Sucker Punch
Of the big three, I decided to make Yveltal full-on offensive. Instead of opting for the usual physical attacker, I went with a special attacker to even out the amount of physical/special attackers on my team. On the fourth slot, I chose Sucker Punch over Rock Slide since my team already has a way to deal with Ho-Oh in Zekrom, and as my go-to Calyrex-Shadow killer. This freed the third slot for Taunt, which I chose for its utility on shutting down defensive cores and stall in general.

Kingfin (Eternatus) @ Power Herb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dynamax Cannon
- Meteor Beam
- Cosmic Power
- Recover
Of the big three, I decided to make Eternatus the in-between, focusing on its "lightning bruiser" aspect. After I saw how fun the Demon (so, bulky offense) set looked and how it could act as a wincon, I chose that set, which also allowed me some degree of unpredictability as I can bluff the offensive Meteor Beam set. I went for Dynamax Cannon over Dragon Pulse for power. Other than that, everything about the Demon set is standard, EVs to outspeed Marshadow and more bulk, etc.

Robocop (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
Ferro is the other half of the defensive backbone of my team. He was one the first mon I chose that wasn't any of the big three. I chose the specially defensive set for one purpose: check Kyogre. Power Whip and Knock Off were my go-to offensive moves; the former over Gyro Ball to defeat Kyogre, and the latter for item removal. Spikes granted me an extra layer of entry hazards alongside Necrozma-DM's Stealth Rock.

Dynablade (Ho-Oh) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Atk / 52 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
To be honest, I chose Ho-Oh out of favoritism for it. However, after some inspecting, I found out that it actually fits in well on my team considering my other teammates' roles (specifically, Yveltal). I went for the bulky offensive set because I liked the utility options it could provide. I chose Sacred Fire over Flare Blitz to minimize recoil damage, which Brave Bird already inflicted. On the last slot, I went for Defog to help with hazard control, as my choice of special Yveltal meant I couldn't fit Defog in it.

Ei (Zekrom) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Dragon Claw
- Bolt Strike
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
Much like Oh-Oh, I chose Zekrom out of favoritism (and if you look at my current profile picture you may see why). Fortunately, I think it also worked in the context of my team as it allows me to support Ho-Oh and Yveltal, and while I already had a defensive check for Kyogre, I also wanted an offensive one. I thus went for the Dragon Dance set. I chose Roost on the last slot to help minimize Life Orb damage and since I already had other special attackers on my team.

That's it! I'm hoping to hear criticism on my team later. If there's any holes on my team or anything I could change,don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be checking on this later!

 

[Eledyr]

Hey, gonna give you a little review!
Overall, this team is pretty solid; Zekrom + Ho-Oh + Ferrothorn forms a very effective core, that is very good against balanced and bulky offensive teams. It might struggle a bit against hyper offensive teams, especially the ones that include Sticky Web + Choice Specs Kyogre and Weavile. But even these matchups are not unwinnable in my opinion, which is a good sight that the team is solid!
add/modify
delete

Darth Vader (Necrozma-Dusk-Mane) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 140 SpD / 120 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock​

Nothing to change here! You explained fair and square why you chose Knock Off over Thunder Wave, so here it's a pure gameplay preference. I'd have personally play Thunder Wave, even if Ho-Oh already have Thunder Wave, as Yveltal LOVES to outrun Eternatus and the opposing Yveltal, thus being able to spam paralysis is extremely positive. Oh, and I also tweak the EVs to have odd ones, it's a simple optimization to reduce chip damages from Spikes.

Nightwing (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe 184 SpA / 72 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature / Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Taunt
- Sucker Punch
​

A little tweak on the investments here, since you are a bit weak to Choice Specs Calyrex-S, 72 EVs in Special Defense ensure you'll never be 2HKO by Astral Barrage. I also slashed a Timid Nature; while it feels counterintuitive, Yveltal is susceptible to take a lot of chip damage coming from physical attacks, such as NDM's Iron Head, opposing Yveltal's Knock Off and U-turn, as well as Zygarde's Thousand Arrows. Thus, maximizing your physical bulk can be extremely useful. On the other hand, it reduces Sucker Punch's damage output, which against Calyrex-S isn't relevant since it will still be OHKO, but can be against fast and dangerous threats like Galarian Darmanitan as Yveltal will often fail to KO it after Stealth Rock damages with a Timid Nature.

calc

0- Atk Life Orb Dark Aura Yveltal Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darmanitan-Galar: 239-282 (68 - 80.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
0 Atk Life Orb Dark Aura Yveltal Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Darmanitan-Galar: 265-313 (75.4 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Kingfin (Eternatus) @ Power Herb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dynamax Cannon Dragon Pulse
- Meteor Beam
- Cosmic Power
- Recover
​

Okay on this one, you might say to me you explained why you chose Dynamax Cannon. But. As you also said, you want to use this Eternatus as a cleaner, and you definitely want Dragon Pulse here; if you can manage to fully set up Eternatus, especially once Xerneas is down, you want to get as much PP as possible, since many foe like Calm Mind Kyogre which is a setup war, Ho-Oh, Lunala, and especially Necrozma-DM can stall some hits which could lead you in a lategame scenario where you don't have any Dynamax Cannon available.

Robocop (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Power Whip Bullet Seed
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Leech Seed​

Another very little tweak, here I recommend to play Bullet Seed over Power Whip as a way to better deal with Substitute + Thunder Wave Kyogre. If you take a look at the damage dealt, specifically against Kyogre, even a 2-hits Bullet Seed is guaranteed to deal at least 25% of Kyogre's Substitute. With the added 65% chance to deal a 3+ hits, you'll outdamage Kyogre easily and reduce dramatically the chance that Kyogre break through Ferrothorn. Otherwise, I like the fact that Ferrothorn attract the main defoggers being Ho-Oh, Yveltal, and Lunala, which are punished by Knock Off. Also same comment as for Necrozma-DM, I changed the EVs to get an odd HP number and thus reduce the damage taken by Spikes.

Dynablade (Ho-Oh) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Atk / 52 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Sacred Fire Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Thunder Wave
- Defog​

Here's an other change you'll probably don't agree with me at first, but let me try to explain it. Early in the game, you'll need to find a way to break through your enemy defensive core, against which Ho-Oh will have to face Eternatus most of the time. Against it, you absolutely want to paralyze and avoid the burn at any cost, because as long as Eternatus can outrun you, Ho-Oh will have no chance to break through it. Plus, As long as Eternatus will not be paralyzed, he'll easily wall Yveltal and offensively check Zekrom, which are your best wallbreakers. All of this leads to my argument: you want to use Flare Blitz to minimize the mindgames and be sure to paralyze Eternatus. Of course, Flare Blitz has a recoil and you'll be forced out quicker, but hopefully Ho-Oh is extremely resilient thanks to Regenerator and can sustain quickly easily by switching in and out on foes like Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, and it pressures them quite hard with Flare Blitz on top of that. It also has more PP, which can be useful to not be crippled by some missed mindgames against the said Eternatus, which can drain your PPs extremely quickly otherwise thanks to Pressure and due to Sacred Fire's low PP.

Ei (Zekrom) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe or 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Naive Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Dragon Claw / Scale Shot
- Bolt Strike
- Dragon Dance / Draco Meteor
- Roost
​

Finally, I think Dragon Dance Zekrom is pretty good to break through teams that lack a true switch in or against the ones that rely on passive plays to not lose against it, like with Ferrothorn and Lunala. However, your team may have some trouble to damage Groudon other than with the surprise factor or specially offensive Yveltal and through passive damage with Spikes and Leech Seed damages, however it makes Swords Dance Groudon extremely threatening against your team, and bulky Groudon annoying to deal with thanks to its passive recovery in Leftovers. For this, I recommend you to play MixedZek, which will easily attract Groudon and other Grounds such as Landorus-T and Zygarde, which will all be heavily damaged by Draco Meteor. I think both sets are fine, as Dragon Dance Zekrom serves as a mid-late endgame cleaner while MixedZek serves as an early game wallbreaker. It's all about a personal preference again !


Finally, I'll let you a list of potential threats for your team.


Choice Specs Calyrex-S is a well known terror for balanced builds like your team. Saying it can 6-0 your team is a lie; however, saying it can blow unbearable holes in your team, leading to a sweep with one ally is true. While it's true that Ho-Oh will delay a lot the moment where Calyrex-S will became a real problem is true, it will still be your "go-to" switch-in during the early game, in order to absorb some Astral Barrage as Regenerator lets Ho-Oh be far more resilient to damage than Yveltal can be, even with the 75% drain Oblivion Wing has. Be aware of Trick with Ho-Oh though, as it will completely ruin it by making it weak to Stealth Rock and susceptible to abuse from Trick + Nasty Plot Calyrex-S.


Weavile as a whole is a PAIN for your team. Hopefully, you have a fast Eternatus that can offensively pressure it. However, Choice Band Weavile will be extremely hard to handle for your team, as your team lack a dedicated Dark-type switch-in, which means you'll have to guess which moves Weavile will use, and a missed prediction will result in a KO, as simply as that. Also as your team lack a Dark-type switch-in, your actual best switch-in to Beat Up is Eternatus, and as it is not defensive, it will take massive damages. You can really answer to it rather than keeping the pressure with Eternatus and through entry hazards (which cripple it hugely), as hopefully Weavile does not have a lot of space to come in against your team rather than through a slow pivot.


Speaking of a terror, Galarian-Darmanitan is also quite menacing for your team, as half of your team is easily OHKO by its terrifying Icicle Crash. However, compare to Weavile, I'd say you have more tools to beat it: it does not resist Sucker Punch and so it is far more sensitive to Sucker Punch, and compare to Weavile, your team is far less threatened by Darmanitan's coverages. Though, you'll have to be careful to Flare Blitz, Rock Slide, as well as U-turn spams, which can all threaten/chip Necrozma-DM and Ho-Oh, your best defensive answers to it.


Aaaaaand... That's it for my rating! In conclusion, As said in the introduction this team is pretty solid, the changes I suggested were very small and more about optimization or gameplay preference rather than a true lack in the team structure. I hope it was useful!

Here's a paste of the team with my changes, have fun!

 

[Omastar68]

To be clear, iron head is chosen over Sunsteel strike on purpose, for PP I guess? It's not, like, banned randomly right?

 

[realaccountami?]

To be clear, iron head is chosen over Sunsteel strike on purpose, for PP I guess? It's not, like, banned randomly right?

and its worth noting ho-oh has twave, so theres a chance to go for that i guess