SS OU Zapdos-Galar Balance, looking to improve

[Lord Xen III]

Importable

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Throat Chop

Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Teleport
- Future Sight
- Scald

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm
- Toxic

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Wish

Breakdown of each pokemon choice, in order from top to bottom as listed in importable:

1)
Zapdos Galar was the first pokemon I chose because I simply wanted to use a Choice Banded wallbreaker set, seeing its incredible wall-breaking potential, capable of 2hkoing many of the defensive behemoths in the tier with one of its stabs so long as it is unresisted:


252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 153-181 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 162-192 (48.5 - 57.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

+1 252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 376-444 (98.4 - 116.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO (+1 comes from a presumed intimidate overturned by Defiant.

252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 199-235 (47 - 55.5%) -- 75.8% chance to 2HKO


Aside from using Intimidate against Lando T, its access to Defiant gave me the idea of using some kind of hazard stacking bulky offense or balance team with it.


This mon is irreplaceable, as it is the mon I wished to have on this team no matter what, as I wanted to test and see if I could effectively build around it. Throat chop hits Aegislash hard on the switch (and Defiant ignores King Shield drop) and hits Slowtwins pretty hard too.

S

2) After choosing Galar as a breaker, I wanted a pivot for it. I chose the standard Futureport SlowBro set with Teleport, since it has some synergy with Galar's CC spam, taking advantage of any dark type switch-ins on Future Sight. They also have some type synergy, though not perfect, too. I wanted this pivot to check physical attackers


3) Next I wanted to include spikes ( as part of hazard stacking) and an answer to fairy times like Tapu Koko or Fini, So that gave birth to Ferrothorn, who is also a pretty good mixed wall and pivot. Ideally, I need power whip to be a good check to bulky waters like Tapu Fini and Swampert. Knock off is just too good to leave out, I need to remove those Heavy Duty Boots and also punish any Zapdos switch-ins ( as my team at this point is also pretty weak to Zapdos as well). So that left Gyro ball vs leech seed. Still experimenting. Ferrothorn normally appreciates lefties and leech seed for some recovery, but I've found punishing physical threats to the team has been useful thus far. Ev spread is standard. A possible alternative to Ferrothorn could spikes Skarmory or even Mew, and those would require more shifting around to fit, but I am open to testing it!


4) I added Heatran to complete the FWG core with Ferrothorn and Slowbro, and as a primary stallbreaker. Heatran keeps Volcorona in check and the trapper set allows me a fighting chance against stall teams and several bulky threats in the tier. Specially defensive to help check Dragapult, Tornadus, Zapdos, and Tapu Lele etc as well. Pretty straightforward addition here.

5) I wanted Rocks and a ground type so as to not suffer from Volt Switch Abuse, but I also wanted speed control. I preferred this role to be a Sweeper role too, but my team was simply too weak to Kartana and other fast threats, so I decided to use Choice Scarf Garchomp, allowing me to outspeed and KO Tapu Koko, Zeraora, revenge kill Dragapult, and especially revenge kills SD Kartana (the - investment flamethrower kills it) which 6-0s my team after an SD. This slot, and slot 6 are probably the most open to adjustment without necessarily forcing replacement of the previous 4 mons.

6) I chose Clefable firstly because I really wanted Wish support to allow many opportunities for Galar to do its wall-breaking job given the recoil it suffers from Brave Bird, and especially to help with Ferrothorns lack of recovery ( and to lesser extent, heatran's). I wanted knock-off to help with removing HDBs, but teleport has been desirable in my testing for general pivoting and allowing me to actually wish pass to a frail mon like Galar. So I chose Clefable over something like Blissey given its also a check to things like Kyurem and and Dragapult and is generally a good pokemon and doesn't make my team too weak to things like Urshifu or Buzzwole. The moveset is 4mss-ish though unfortunately. EV spread allows me to check Dragapult and Kyurem Decently, and I feel the physical bulk has helped a bit too, but open to suggestions.


Threatlist thus far:

Kartana (pretty much need to outplay with rocky helmet Ferro and revenge with chomp; 1v1 Galar has normally scared it out, but Galar isn't a direct switch in)

SD Scale shot Garchomp can sweep with decent preparation, and my revenge-killing option isn't reliable since it's a 50/50 speed tie.

Choice Band Rillabloom with fighting move coverage can be a huge problem, so normally have to make good predictions on what move they will choice lock into; Galar can revenge kill if its healthy and threaten it out. if it's SD Rillabloom with LO and fighting coverage, even harder to play around.

CM Suicune was also a bit of a problem, beat one and lost to one, pretty much had to rely on a combination of power-whip and Taunt on Heatran to stop it from getting out of control. Calm Mind Fini was troublesome too as mentioned above.

Nasty plot Tornadus is also a problem, as well as Nidoking, Gengar, and Bisharp and Weavile too.



I greatly appreciate any feedback you all have!

 

[HISELOISOVER9000]

Scarf garchomp should be replaced with lando t, it has better attack, intimidate, and better typing. It’s understandable if you want garchomp for the fire blast/dragon moves but overall lando is a much better scarfer

 

[Lord Xen III]

Scarf garchomp should be replaced with lando t, it has better attack, intimidate, and better typing. It’s understandable if you want garchomp for the fire blast/dragon moves but overall lando is a much better scarfer

Thanks for your comment. I did consider Scarf Landorus too. What set would you recommend?

 

[HISELOISOVER9000]

Thanks for your comment. I did consider Scarf Landorus too. What set would you recommend?

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Level: 100
Jolly Nature
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog
Earthquake is your main powerful stab, u turn is for pivoting out, stone edge is to hurt the birds, defog because you need a hazard remover

 

[TailGlowVM]

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Level: 100
Jolly Nature
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog
Earthquake is your main powerful stab, u turn is for pivoting out, stone edge is to hurt the birds, defog because you need a hazard remover

The 12 Def is outdated in this meta, use 4 Def and 252 Spe. You could also consider Stomping Tantrum over Throat Chop on Zapdos - hits Aegislash almost as hard while also covering Tapu Koko on the switch.

 

[Lord Xen III]

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Level: 100
Jolly Nature
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog
Earthquake is your main powerful stab, u-turn is for pivoting out, stone edge is to hurt the birds, defog because you need a hazard remover
If I run Defog, then I need SR on another mon. Heatran, Ferro, or Clefable can run it, but not sure what's best. I guess I could drop knock off from Clefable to run Rocks.

If I run Defog, then I need SR on another mon. Heatran, Ferro, or Clefable can run it, but not sure what's best. I guess I could drop knock off from Clefable to run Rocks.

The 12 Def is outdated in this meta, use 4 Def and 252 Spe. You could also consider Stomping Tantrum over Throat Chop on Zapdos - hits Aegislash almost as hard while also covering Tapu Koko on the switch.

Ah so that's why people run Tantrum.

252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 163-192 (58 - 68.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I overlooked Tantrum because CC already hits pretty hard, but now I realize Tantrum OHKOS

252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 192-226 (59.2 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Stomping Tantrum vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 180-212 (55.5 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

And tantrum practically does the same damage to Aegislash too.

Thanks for the suggestion.
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Stomping Tantrum vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 272-322 (96.7 - 114.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

 

[Ravenna]

I really like the concept of zapdos-galar + fs and hazards stacking, my recommendation would be that perhaps lando-t over chomp scarf can be more useful and seeing that we do not have a sr setup it could be the sr + toxic set, but also I am worried that having 4 mons that eat chips of rocks, 2 even of spikes, we will not have a defoger in the team.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic

Maybe here you could use a set of lando counting with rocks + defog to be able to have an emergency defoger instead of having the field too mined with hazards, since any team with hazards + knock users can easily beat the pressure game and easily win the game

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn

or as they say above, lando scarf is also a good option in case you are looking for something more offensive to put pressure in addition to a speed control, although in the current meta I feel that it is a bit useless having so many corvi, skarm, slowbro, slowking , etc.
In my opinion it is better to use the defensive toxic, maybe I would even use it with defog over u-turn to have a way to control chomp sd and not give up so much pressure vs zeraora.

Good team bro!

 

[Lord Xen III]

I really like the concept of zapdos-galar + fs and hazards stacking, my recommendation would be that perhaps lando-t over chomp scarf can be more useful and seeing that we do not have a sr setup it could be the sr + toxic set, but also I am worried that having 4 mons that eat chips of rocks, 2 even of spikes, we will not have a defoger in the team.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic

Maybe here you could use a set of lando counting with rocks + defog to be able to have an emergency defoger instead of having the field too mined with hazards, since any team with hazards + knock users can easily beat the pressure game and easily win the game

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn

or as they say above, lando scarf is also a good option in case you are looking for something more offensive to put pressure in addition to a speed control, although in the current meta I feel that it is a bit useless having so many corvi, skarm, slowbro, slowking , etc.
In my opinion it is better to use the defensive toxic, maybe I would even use it with defog over u-turn to have a way to control chomp sd and not give up so much pressure vs zeraora.

Good team bro!

Thanks for the rate. I have added Lando to the team, but I think the speed control is a must, otherwise it's hard to keep fast breakers like Kartana under control, and my fastest mon will be Galar which only hits base 100 without Scarf on Lando

 

[Lord Xen III]

bump

 

[Clone]

I'd put Stealth rocks on Clefable over wish. I understand wishpassing is nice but imma be honest it's hard to pull off with clef sometimes. Giving it rocks gives it more utility and frees up a slot on garchomp.

Speaking of garchomp I think scarf Lando is a better fit. I'm not a fan of scarf garchomp given that it's a momentum sink against any team with a steel bird. U turn and Intimidate let lando pivot around much better than chomp can, and you can throw defog on there if hazards get dicey such as spike stacking or pex t Spikes. Alternatively, if you wanna keep garchomp, an SD set could work, but you lose a lot of speed before scale shot which makes the match-up vs things like weavile, koko, and zeraora and pult a bit more difficult. I'd play around with that slot a bit and see what's best to your liking. Moveset on chomp would be SD/ EQ / Scale Shot / Fire Fang or stone edge with Leftovers. Scarf Lando would be EQ / U-Turn / Knock Off | Stone Edge / Defog

Finally, I'd consider a little more speed on Heatran. You got spdef clef and Ferro to tank hits from koko and pult, so you can sacrifice a bit of Bulk for speed, as your current set loses to standard heatran spreads. Something to consider would be hitting 240 speed to outspeed Bisharp, as that think looks to be a pretty big threat. Your dark resist is Gapdos, which doesn't wanna switch in on Knock Off as the choice band is what makes it such a good breaker. 200 speed EVs on heatran hit that benchmark.

Another thing to consider would be to go slowking > Slowbro and make Ferro a full physdef set with the moveset Spikes / Body Press / Leech Seed / Knock Off. Whether or not you make this change is up to you, but it cushions the blow against kyurem, which can click ice beam against your team without much fear. You're weaker to shifu with that change, so I don't think it's the most necessary change to make. It does, however, make weavile and bisharp less threatening as their Knock offs won't be as free like they are currently. Either way though, I would definitely go Leech Seed over Gyro ball regardless. Otherwise Ferro won't be sticking around very long.