https://pokepast.es/f94ae1e51c5ec8be
Hey everyone, this is my first RMT post after playing on the OU ladder on and off for around a year. While I am not an expert on the tier and teambuilding by any means as we'll see on the threat list, I feel that I have enough of an understanding that with some of the right adjustments this concept could become a genuine meta-threat. This team helped me make it to the high 1400s.
Table of Context
- Team + Description
- Threat List
- Potential Set/Mon Changes
- Replays
- Closing
Team + Description
The Mad Hatter (Tapu Koko) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Nature's Madness
- U-turn
- Roost
Nature's Madness is the reason for the creation of this team. After seeing the work it puts in on Whirlpool Tapu Fini, and on Gen 7 VGC Kokos funnily enough, I wanted to have my own run with it. For those who don't know, Nature's Madness is the special version of Super Fang, cutting your opponent's HP in half. This is great for getting huge damage onto mons that normally wouldn't take so much from Koko's standard STABs, like Lando, Melmetal, Ferrothorn, Blissy, Heatran, and more. NM is crucial for getting the necessary chip so that our 2 set up mons can clean up games. TBolt is for the consistent STAB damage as NM is taking the move slot of Dazzling Gleam. U-turn, Roost, and Heavy Duty Boots make Koko an amazing offensive pivot, allowing it to stay immune to hazard damage and heal off weaker hits.
Alice (Weavile) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
Weavile has cemented itself as one of the tier's scariest mons, with its raw power and speed being a huge problem for teams without answers to it. With no hazard removal on this team, I opted to run the Swords Dance set with HDB so that Weavile can stay at 100% for as long as possible as it goes for its sweep. Even without being +2, Weavile still hits hard so sacking it haphazardly is a risky choice, especially when we look at some of the mons that cause this team trouble.
Cheshire Clef (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder
With Koko's NM support knocking off huge chunks of opposing fat mons and/or Steel types, Calm Mind Clefable has even more potential to run away with games. Since I'm running 60 SpD rather than 60 Spe, I chose Thunder over Tbolt as the increased para chance allows Clefable to become either faster than a mon sitting on it with Taunt like Heatran, or for it to beat out other Calm Mind users that boosted up alongside it. Leftovers are used over Life Orb to help keep our pink friend alive more often, as I have the (bad) habit of switching it into weaker moves to help alleviate pressure from our more defensively oriented mons on the team.
Queen of Hearts (Heatran) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Toxic
Heatran is one of the 2 glues holding this team together, with this specially defensive set allowing it to more easily take hits from demons like Tapu Lele and Dragapult while completely shutting down Volcarona. With Stealth Rocks on Lando, Protect + Toxic are run to not only get more passive damage onto whatever switches into Heatran but to allow for more Leftovers recovery to happen in order to stay healthy. 28 Spe is one point higher than the sample set on Smogon but for the most part in the mirror matchup, ours is going to be slower.
King of Hearts (Buzzwole) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 140 HP / 24 Atk / 152 Def / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Roost
- Earthquake
In Wonderland, the Queen needs her king to help reign over the opposition. Buzzwole protects her majesty from physical attacking threats like Rillaboom, Weavile, and Kartana. Rocky Helmet is used over HDB to make all the multi-hit using mons take serious damage when clicking them. 192 Spe lets us hit 242, speed creeping all the 241 Landos that want to be faster than max speed Timd Magnezone (240). 24 Atk + Adamant makes it that whenever Buzzwole gets a kill, its Attack is boosted instead of its Defense, giving it possible snowball potential. CC, EQ, and Ice Punch are run to hit the steels types, the fire types, and Lando, and Roost helps keep Buzzwole alive.
Bandersnatch (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 44 SpD / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
(For those who don't know what the Bandersnatch is, it's the name of the giant spotted dog from the live-action Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.)
Not much has to be said about Lando, it's good at whatever its job is. With 2 immunities, access to Stealth Rocks, strong STAB in EQ, and great support moves like Knock Off and U-turn, Lando will always be there for you when the going gets tough. Our Lando is more defensively oriented to help out Heatran and Buzzwole in keeping the team alive.
Threat List
While offensively this team can put on immense pressure, defensively this team can get severely punished purely because of my hindsight. While I've already got some ideas on how to handle some of these threats via different sets or switching mons, I wanted to post the original team with all its flaws so that I can look back at it and (hopefully) see the improvement in my teambuilding.
- The Big 3 Mega Threats: Urshifu-Rapid Strike, Nidoking, and Melmetal - Honestly I've never seen a team that gets 6-0'd by so many different things, so knowing I'm the one who built it makes the sting that much worse. Banded Urshifu 2HKOs Buzzwole and the Protective Pads set comes close as well. Nidoking, depending on moveset, has supereffective coverage for every member on our team. Melmetal threatens everything but Buzzwole with 1HKOs, and if it's the Toxic + Protect set then Buzzwole can quickly die as well. Finally, all 3 of them resist Stealth Rocks. Dealing with Mel and URS comes down to baiting their multi-hit moves with Heatran/Landorus or Clefable respectively to get Helmet chip on them with Buzzwole (assuming no Pads). Nidoking on the other hand is a sack fest. Weavile is the only mon that can revenge kill it, so keeping Weavile in that matchup is the only saving grace.
- All the Other Water Types - While URS is the most threatening of the bunch, the rest of the water tribe isn't that far off. With no water resist, Rain teams have a field day clicking Flip Turn, Liquidation, and Hydro Pump. Specs Volcanion clicks Steam Eruption without punishment. Calm Mind Fini sets that are faster than our Clefable with Taunt will take over the game unless Thunder para or Heatran Toxic when Misty Terrain drop. Even against Toxapex, nothing wants to switch hard into it and risk getting burnt or losing their item.
- Speed Control - While Koko and Weavile are both naturally very fast, the lack of a Choice Scarfer means that certain setup mons can get out of control. I ran into a Chople Berry 0- Atk Kartana once that got to+4 on my Buzzwole which would then go on to win the game. D-Dancers like Dragapult and Dragonite that are faster than Koko at+1 also have the potential to win assuming that Weavile is dead. If Heatran dies, then Volcarona also just wins the game. Keep your revenge killers and your walls alive.
- Shadow Ball - With the fakest dark resist known to man, Specs Blacephalon and Dragapult take massive chunks of HP off of Heatran. If a SpD drop happens then the game is kinda just over. Get rocks up over Blace and keep Weavile alive to scare out Pult.
Potential Set/Mon Changes
Now that we've seen the absolute amount of things that just have a field day against this team, I wanted to put all the changes that I either think people will suggest making or the ones that I'm testing out for the 2.0 version of this team. I'll start with the sets first then move to mons.
- Buzzwole: More Defensive - Changing Buzzwole's nature to Impish then moving the 24 Atk EVs to HP would allow for Buzz to take hits slightly easier. Dropping some of the large investment of Spe to stay faster than the Defensive Landos that aren't 241 and putting those into HP would have the same result.
- Heatran: Stealth Rocks and/or Taunt - Having Stealth Rocks on Heatran would allow for my Landorus to run Defog, which would help the survivability of our defensive mons. Taunt would make trapping mons like Blissey and Toxapex more successful as they won't be able to recover 50% of their health.
- Landorus: Defog - No hazard control on a more balanced team is a mistake, and this will 100% be changed in 2.0. Toxic could be used over Knock Off but I find the item removal more useful. If you wanted to be really crazy a with more support-based Lando however, running no EQ (so U-turn, Knock Off, Toxic, and SR/Defog) on a double-ground team seems like a potential way to go.
- Weavile: Choice Band - So assuming you added Defog on Lando or just added another new mon with hazard control, Banded Weavile would make it so our team now has an immediate way to deal big damage. Swords Dance would get swapped out for either Low Kick or Poison Jab, depending if you want to hit the Steels or the Fairys harder.
- Tapu Koko: Dazzling Gleam - Yes Nature's Madness Koko is the big highlight of the team, so ideally I'd want to keep that. Looking at the rest of its move, however, the only one that I would maybe drop to keep NM is U-turn, but even that is questionable as U-turn is insanely useful. The personal reason I would want Gleam back is to actually kill all the Landos that switch into you. Calm Mind Koko with NM to beat other Calm Mind users seems good on paper, but what would you drop to use it, TBolt? Roost? That set while doable has 4 moveslot syndrome. Finally, a Choice Specs set with Tbolt Gleam NM and U-turn seems that it would also put in work.
- Tapu Fini for Clefable - Another defensive Fairy type with multiple great sets, Tapu Fini would instantly help with the water type matchup. Any of its 3 sets help out with some of the addressed problems with this team. Scarf gives us speed control. NM + Whirlpool not only gives the team even more madness but helps break down bulky walls. Calm Mind is the one I'm currently using in 2.0 and it works very well.
- Tornadus/Zapdos/Corviknight for Landous/Buzzwole - Depending on what you're looking for, any of these 3 mons could be swapped in for Lando or Buzz. All 3 have Defog and U-turn, making them suitable defensive pivots. Corviknight and Zapdos can sit on Kart and Rillaboom. Tornadus gives us a mon with Regenator and the speed to be faster than non-scarf Blace and Kart and threatens them with knockouts. These 3 are more suited to take Lando's slot due to the emphasis on getting hazard removal, but removing Buzz for a very defensive version of any of those 3 seems like it would work.
- Slowbro/Toxapex/Ferrothorn for Buzzwole - Are Water and Fighting types causing you problems (because they should be)? Then Slowbro is a great replacement. Resisting both types that are extremely problematic for this team, and having Future Sight + Teleport + Regenerator make for a great pairing. Toxapex is if you want to make this team more passive damage reliant, as it's famously annoying with Knock Off, multiple ways to inflict multiple statuses, and Regenerator. Ferrpthorn while weak to Fighting, is extremely rewarding to those who get their defensive predictions correct. With all the moves it could ever want for both its Def and SpD sets like Leech Seed, Rocks, Spikes, Body Press, Knock Off, etc., Ferrothorn poses to be a great swap in (would also have a nick ready for it called Roses). Finally, however, all 3 can help mitigate the strength of URS and Melmetal into this team, making them have to get their predictions correct every time or else they risk Scald burn or massive Iron Barbs/Rocky Helmet damage.
- Tyranitar/Blissey for Heatran - I'll be honest neither of these swaps I like as much as the rest of the suggestions I've made so far, but each covers some of the weaknesses this team had earlier. TTar is if you really want to shut down Blace, with it SpD maximizing on the boost Rock types get to their SpD in sandstorm. TTar still sits on non-Bug Buzz Volcaronas if that was also a matchup you were worried about. But what about Nidoking, the mon that would still 6-0 this team even with all the suggested switches? Tweedledum the Blissey has us covered. Taking max 28% from max SpA Modest Nido Sludge Wave and even less from its other moves, Blissey is the biggest way to keep him at bay. The Ghost immunity helps immensely as well.
- Scarf Mon for ??? - This team probably needs the speed control, but I'm not entirely sure who you would swap out to get it. My 3 favorite scarfers to use are Tapu Lele, Kartana, and Blacephalon, so depending on which supporting mons you decide to run any of these 3 seem up to the task.
Replays
Nature Madness Koko vs Clef: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1635939066
Hyper Offense with Nidoking and Crawdaunt: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1635956839
Leftovers Melmetal and Taunt Heatran: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1635970912
Galarian Zapdos and Physical Dragapult: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1637052134
Closing
Besides a couple of problems I had with making this RMT (lost all my progress once because no clue how to load saved drafts), making this post was insightful on how the tier works and how much I can improve as both a builder and a player. I'm planning on making a 2.0 version in 2-3 weeks before I leave for Air Force basic training so hopefully, that will show some growth on both fronts. Thank you to everyone that ends up reading this because making posts is WAY harder than I thought, so I hope you all enjoy the team.
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