Shuckle + Eruption Groudon HO Team Report
https://pokepast.es/250714009339231b
I wasn't too serious when I made this team but it's very fun and I'm currently at 1720 on the ladder with it. I really just wanted to make a team that has both max special attack Water Spout Kyogre and Eruption Groudon. My original plan for the team was to have everything able to OHKO or at least set up on Ho-Oh (https://pokepast.es/72b8fda4316a7c29). Dropped HP ice on Groudon because I almost never used it and it didn't OHKO most Zygardes anyway. Overheat is a great move for this set. Dropped Stone Edge on Arceus because I found myself getting destroyed by Groudon and steel types way more than it was able to actually prevent defog attempts from Ho-Oh. The Mewtwo set was just bad and I never found myself doing much of anything with it. +2 Modest 252 Psystrike has a chance to OHKO standard physdef Ho-Oh but it's not good. I experimented a bit with Agility Calyrex-Ice but it was too inconsistent.
I'm very happy with the current version of the team. Mega Salamence is a midgame wallbreaker and late game cleaner that doesn't need webs to function, but still benefits from them slowing down opponents so it can run Adamant. Frustration over Double Edge to prevent Dittos from effectively reverse sweeping. I've never actually clicked Facade with it. Defog might be better against certain teams, but the only other moves I'd really consider are that and Roost. I still like the insurance against getting burned by Sacred Fire. Adamant lorb Marshadow is only slightly weaker than jolly Choice Band (105% vs. 108% minimum against Ho-Oh with Rock Tomb) and synergizes well with webs. If Shuckle gets rocks and webs up, then it beats every opposing Marshadow with Sneak unless they terastalize Normal. Spectral Thief over Poltergeist primarily because the accuracy, ability to steal boosts, and going through Substitute are still very valuable. This wasn't against a high ladder player, but in one game my opponent lead Xerneas against Shuckle, got encored into Geomancy, had Marshadow steal 3 Geomancy boosts, and forfeited. I think most of what the team does is clear enough from looking at the paste. It's Shuckle and 5 things with 252+ spatk or attack. Tera Dark on Shuckle is to survive more attacks from Yveltal, but tera Water might be better against Kyogre and Groudon counterleads.
The Arceus EV spread hits 307 speed (1 more than 252+ base 90s) and 409 HP to take less damage from Life Orb. Everything else other than the requisite 252+ attack was put into defense. The ability to outspeed and OHKO Giratina at +2 with tera is great and comes into play quite often. Groudon's attack EVs give it a 56.3% chance to KO 248 HP 252+ defense Ho-Oh with Stone Edge, and the speed lets it move before -1 fully invested base 130s. Marshadow's lower HP IV is so it takes less damage from Life Orb.
Strengths:
-Encore is an amazing move on Shuckle. Forces a lot of switches and allows for Shuckle to set up another layer of hazards or get a free switch into something else. If they switch into Groudon for one reason or another and you double switch into Kyogre, Groudon's ability will trigger first and then they'll be forced to switch something into a rain boosted Water Spout.
-If Ho-Oh uses tera Grass to survive Stone Edge, then it gets OHKO'd by Overheat/Eruption
-Final Gambit can do surprising damage and even if it doesn't, it's great for momentum
-Other than Magic Bounce, Sturdy + Mental Herb guarantees nothing can prevent at least one layer of hazards from getting up
-Enough priority to not lose instantly to Geomancy Xerneas, U-Necrozma, opposing Mega Salamence, etc.
-Forces so many switches. One bad read can instantly lose your opponent the game, especially if they don't anticipate Eruption/Overheat.
Weaknesses:
-Groudon having a -def nature hurts it a lot against Arceus, Necrozma, Calyrex-Ice, and other Groudon. I still think it's preferable to -spdef because then it'd get 2hko'd by Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, and preferable to a fully neutral nature because it needs the ability to do as much damage to neutral targets with Overheat and Eruption as possible.
-Origin Pulse, Stone Edge, or Overheat missing can swing entire games
-Water Spout and Eruption can be dependent on hard reads against targets that are faster/have priority. I honestly barely use Eruption so any suggestions for a different move would be appreciated
-With Magic Coat Deo-S leads, Shuckle doesn't have a good way to ensure that webs don't get up on both sides
-No member of the team can OHKO bulky Yveltal. It's honestly better at removing hazards than Ho-Oh is against this team. Also has no dark resistance
-Salamence is the only thing immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes
-Bad against Melmetal trick room teams because there are only two Steel resistances, one of which is -def with no bulk
-Absolutely terrible against stall
Some calcs:
252+ Atk Life Orb Marshadow Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyogre-Primal: 298-351 (87.3 - 102.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Groudon-Primal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Harsh Sunshine: 382-451 (86 - 101.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 248+ Atk Aerilate Salamence-Mega Frustration vs. 248 HP / 220+ Def Ho-Oh: 280-331 (67.4 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 248+ Atk Salamence-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Groudon-Primal: 220-260 (54.4 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre-Primal Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Heavy Rain: 442-522 (99.5 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
Two replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2007855850 (incredibly odd team but he was 1791 elo)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2005000762 (Showcase of the setup opportunities that Encore gives)
I had more but they aren't available because of the replay data issue going on currently.
https://pokepast.es/250714009339231b
I wasn't too serious when I made this team but it's very fun and I'm currently at 1720 on the ladder with it. I really just wanted to make a team that has both max special attack Water Spout Kyogre and Eruption Groudon. My original plan for the team was to have everything able to OHKO or at least set up on Ho-Oh (https://pokepast.es/72b8fda4316a7c29). Dropped HP ice on Groudon because I almost never used it and it didn't OHKO most Zygardes anyway. Overheat is a great move for this set. Dropped Stone Edge on Arceus because I found myself getting destroyed by Groudon and steel types way more than it was able to actually prevent defog attempts from Ho-Oh. The Mewtwo set was just bad and I never found myself doing much of anything with it. +2 Modest 252 Psystrike has a chance to OHKO standard physdef Ho-Oh but it's not good. I experimented a bit with Agility Calyrex-Ice but it was too inconsistent.
I'm very happy with the current version of the team. Mega Salamence is a midgame wallbreaker and late game cleaner that doesn't need webs to function, but still benefits from them slowing down opponents so it can run Adamant. Frustration over Double Edge to prevent Dittos from effectively reverse sweeping. I've never actually clicked Facade with it. Defog might be better against certain teams, but the only other moves I'd really consider are that and Roost. I still like the insurance against getting burned by Sacred Fire. Adamant lorb Marshadow is only slightly weaker than jolly Choice Band (105% vs. 108% minimum against Ho-Oh with Rock Tomb) and synergizes well with webs. If Shuckle gets rocks and webs up, then it beats every opposing Marshadow with Sneak unless they terastalize Normal. Spectral Thief over Poltergeist primarily because the accuracy, ability to steal boosts, and going through Substitute are still very valuable. This wasn't against a high ladder player, but in one game my opponent lead Xerneas against Shuckle, got encored into Geomancy, had Marshadow steal 3 Geomancy boosts, and forfeited. I think most of what the team does is clear enough from looking at the paste. It's Shuckle and 5 things with 252+ spatk or attack. Tera Dark on Shuckle is to survive more attacks from Yveltal, but tera Water might be better against Kyogre and Groudon counterleads.
The Arceus EV spread hits 307 speed (1 more than 252+ base 90s) and 409 HP to take less damage from Life Orb. Everything else other than the requisite 252+ attack was put into defense. The ability to outspeed and OHKO Giratina at +2 with tera is great and comes into play quite often. Groudon's attack EVs give it a 56.3% chance to KO 248 HP 252+ defense Ho-Oh with Stone Edge, and the speed lets it move before -1 fully invested base 130s. Marshadow's lower HP IV is so it takes less damage from Life Orb.
Strengths:
-Encore is an amazing move on Shuckle. Forces a lot of switches and allows for Shuckle to set up another layer of hazards or get a free switch into something else. If they switch into Groudon for one reason or another and you double switch into Kyogre, Groudon's ability will trigger first and then they'll be forced to switch something into a rain boosted Water Spout.
-If Ho-Oh uses tera Grass to survive Stone Edge, then it gets OHKO'd by Overheat/Eruption
-Final Gambit can do surprising damage and even if it doesn't, it's great for momentum
-Other than Magic Bounce, Sturdy + Mental Herb guarantees nothing can prevent at least one layer of hazards from getting up
-Enough priority to not lose instantly to Geomancy Xerneas, U-Necrozma, opposing Mega Salamence, etc.
-Forces so many switches. One bad read can instantly lose your opponent the game, especially if they don't anticipate Eruption/Overheat.
Weaknesses:
-Groudon having a -def nature hurts it a lot against Arceus, Necrozma, Calyrex-Ice, and other Groudon. I still think it's preferable to -spdef because then it'd get 2hko'd by Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, and preferable to a fully neutral nature because it needs the ability to do as much damage to neutral targets with Overheat and Eruption as possible.
-Origin Pulse, Stone Edge, or Overheat missing can swing entire games
-Water Spout and Eruption can be dependent on hard reads against targets that are faster/have priority. I honestly barely use Eruption so any suggestions for a different move would be appreciated
-With Magic Coat Deo-S leads, Shuckle doesn't have a good way to ensure that webs don't get up on both sides
-No member of the team can OHKO bulky Yveltal. It's honestly better at removing hazards than Ho-Oh is against this team. Also has no dark resistance
-Salamence is the only thing immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes
-Bad against Melmetal trick room teams because there are only two Steel resistances, one of which is -def with no bulk
-Absolutely terrible against stall
Some calcs:
252+ Atk Life Orb Marshadow Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyogre-Primal: 298-351 (87.3 - 102.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Groudon-Primal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Harsh Sunshine: 382-451 (86 - 101.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 248+ Atk Aerilate Salamence-Mega Frustration vs. 248 HP / 220+ Def Ho-Oh: 280-331 (67.4 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 248+ Atk Salamence-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Groudon-Primal: 220-260 (54.4 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre-Primal Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Heavy Rain: 442-522 (99.5 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
Two replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2007855850 (incredibly odd team but he was 1791 elo)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2005000762 (Showcase of the setup opportunities that Encore gives)
I had more but they aren't available because of the replay data issue going on currently.
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