SM OU Back Garde-ians

Next Suspect?

  • Lando-T

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • Toxapex

    Votes: 8 23.5%
  • Magearna

    Votes: 11 32.4%
  • Greninja-Ash

    Votes: 11 32.4%
  • Heatran

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • Total voters
    34

Hey there!
So, after returning to OU after a fairly long hiatus (used to be Good Dogg, now Paintophobia), I'm struggling again. I managed to pull together this team, but I know it can be improved and I need help doing that. Anyway, here is the team!

TEAMBUILDING:

So I started with this core, as I thought it was a really cool idea. It uses the pure power strength of two of the strongest breakers in the game to overwhelm fat mons like Defensive Lando, Celesteela and Mew, and no defensive core can really wall these two. I made it all by myself I did steal it, from user Riddikulusness, but I thought it was a very robust core that would be fun to make a team around.


Tapu Koko came next, it was an obvious choice as not only does it benefit from Medi being a Lando counter, but it also kills potential team weaknesses, such as bulky water types like Kingdra, Pelliper and the ever so occasional Fini. It also helps bring the core breakers in with U-Turn, and sets Hawlucha up for a sweep. Speaking of Hawlucha, the thing is a MONSTER. It really appreciates the breaking support of the team, and can easily sweep in most games.


Next up: Lando-T. I kinda wanted a rocker more than anything else, but with a Z-Fly set, it also helped beat bulky grass types, like Tang a problem if Lucha couldn't set up right away. It was also nice to have an intimidate ground immunity, and either way it takes hits better than Hawlucha can.


Lastly, this team needed two thing to round it off: A water resist, and bulk. Luckily for me, this came all in one with Ferro. Also has good hazard support, which Lucha appreciates. Its a good switch in for many things, and can also be used to weaken stally things, if nothing else. The team also really appreciates the fact that this gets knock off, like any other team does I guess.



THE TEAM:


Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch

Medicham is a great breaker, and this set is here to maximise that. It is just the standard set, max speed to make the most out of what it has, and attack for obvious reasons. High Jump Kick and Zen Headbutt are nice STAB moves, both have the cost of a little accuracy, but both are definately worth having. Ice Punch is for Landos and Chomps mainly, but is just nice coverage to have. Fake Out is pretty nice to have, it does nice chip and it can even help pick off kills, especially with a lot of hazards on the field.


Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic

Zygarde is another great breaker, slap on a band and its gonna put in work. Thousand Arrows is an IMMENSE move, it is incredibly good and limited only to this mon, all the more reason to use it. Outrage is nice STAB move, being locked into a it doesn't matter as you're banded anyway. Toxic to, well, toxic things - this guy's gonna live a hit from most stallmons. Extreme Speed is great as with band it can do huge amounts of damage, picking up easy kills. Adamant > Jolly to milk his attack to the max.


Tapu Koko @ Zap Plate
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt

Koko's set is pretty self-explanatory here, max speed to outspeed nearly everything, Tbolt for a nice STAB move + it kills Pex and Cele, U-turn for a guaranteed pivot, HP Ice for Landy. Since it outspeeds most things, a taunt is nearly guaranteed every time you use it. Not really much else to say, really.


Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge

Ahh, Hawlucha. Man I love this thing. Max attack is self-explanatory, 152 speed outspeeds +2 Lando T after unburden, rest in HP to help it nearly always get off a SD. I run Stone Edge and HJK > Drain Punch as I prefer the coverage and pure damage output that you get from them, rather than the health recovery. The loss of accuracy can be a little bit annoying, but overall is not really that bad, especially with a move like acrobatics on the side.


Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Stealth Rock
- Gravity/U-turn

Standard offensive Lando-T, not really much to say about it. Gravity is cool to have, and is really great when you predict the switch to something like a Zapdos, but is not really needed here because of Thousand Arrows. It is, however, nice to have, but U-Turn is just as good an option to run, it helps bring Medi or Garde out. No HP Ice, which is a shame I guess, but this is not really needed as often I can just pull a Z-Fly against fellow Landos.


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Ferrothorn. The bulk. Lives a +2 Drain Punch from Lucha, tanks most hits from Garde and Mega Mawile, like a +2 LO Garchomp EQ (only really useful if they're not running fire fang, but just putting it into context). 172 SpD lets it live a +1 Magearna HP Fire most of the time, and overall this mon is just incredibly bulky. Moveset needs no explanation, spikes for extra hazards, Gyro Ball for a lot of damage, Leech Seed for Leech Seeding, and Power Whip for the damage, alternatively you can run Knock in its place if you want.

CONCLUSION:

To conclude, this team works quite well, but has many weaknesses, including:
  • BIG ice weakness
  • No hazard removal (I couldn't find any suitable defogger/spinner that can replace something in this team)
  • Anything else you can find.
If you have any more threats, please tell me but it would be more helpful if you could suggest counters to them yourselves. If you want to see more (or any) calcs let me know specifically which ones and I'll happily add them.
If you have ANY changes/suggestions for the team, please leave them down below. I will try out every one for sure.
Thank you all for reading and I'll leave you with an importable:
Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic

Tapu Koko @ Zap Plate
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt

Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Stealth Rock
- Gravity

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip



CHANGELOG:

 
Last edited:
well one thing i can say is the main point of kokocham core is it for to abuse electric terrain boosted tpunch(maybe use thunder punch over zen headbutt/fake out/ice punch).
second, Ferrothorn doesn't need the 248 hp benchmark so make it max hp and 168 spd. you don't really need a defogger since this is hazard stack+offensive breakers. other than that your team is fine.
 
well one thing i can say is the main point of kokocham core is it for to abuse electric terrain boosted tpunch(maybe use thunder punch over zen headbutt/fake out/ice punch).
second, Ferrothorn doesn't need the 248 hp benchmark so make it max hp and 168 spd. you don't really need a defogger since this is hazard stack+offensive breakers. other than that your team is fine.
OK, thanks a lot. It's getting kinda late now so Ill add those changes in the morning.
Thanks a lot my friend. :)
 

Breezy

formerly Quaze
is a Top Tiering Contributoris a Tutor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Hello OliSTDS
as user Msteey already said, your team is completely fine. I don’t see any change that could improve further your team. maybe give 4 evs more on speed on hawlucha to outspeed opposing hawluchas.
also hazards aren’t a problem imo, your opponent will get rid of them for you if you make more pressure with your hazards.
not having an ice resistance isn’t that much for a problem, especially in this kind of offensive teams.
you really did a good job covering the major threats in the meta keeping this offensive approach.


i tried the team on the ladder and had a lot of fun with it. i also peaked 1800 :)!
 
Last edited:
Your team has potential, but i'm here to make a few changes.
Tapu Koko would really appreciate a Volt Switch since it makes great VoltTurn core with Lando-T.
I think Zygarde shouldn't have Toxic, since you will get stuck on that move once you used it, and it'll force you to switch allowing the opponent to set up or something with being healthy. The Toxic job should go to Ferro since it is a massive tank. I think you should replace toxic with earthquake and Zygarde to have coverage against other Tapu Kokos without having to swtich to Lando to take more damage. Plus, most Tapu Kokos are gonna have HP Ice that will kill Zygarde and Lando.
You should also consider replacing Gyro Ball with Toxic or Knock Off since Gyro Ball does not do much damage.
Tapu Koko should have Specs or Scarf for speed control and power. Scarf is useful paired with Taunt and Volt Switch.
Overall your team is great, hope you consider my suggestions!
 
Hello OliSTDS
as user Msteey already said, your team is completely fine. I don’t see any change that could improve further your team. maybe give 4 evs more on speed on hawlucha to outspeed opposing hawluchas.
also hazards aren’t a problem imo, your opponent will get rid of them for you if you make more pressure with your hazards.
not having an ice resistance isn’t that much for a problem, especially in this kind of offensive teams.
you really did a good job covering the major threats in the meta keeping this offensive approach.


i tried the team on the ladder and had a lot of fun with it. i also peaked 1800 :)!
Ok Thank You! Thanks for trying the team on the ladder as well.
 
Your team has potential, but i'm here to make a few changes.
Tapu Koko would really appreciate a Volt Switch since it makes great VoltTurn core with Lando-T.
I think Zygarde shouldn't have Toxic, since you will get stuck on that move once you used it, and it'll force you to switch allowing the opponent to set up or something with being healthy. The Toxic job should go to Ferro since it is a massive tank. I think you should replace toxic with earthquake and Zygarde to have coverage against other Tapu Kokos without having to swtich to Lando to take more damage. Plus, most Tapu Kokos are gonna have HP Ice that will kill Zygarde and Lando.
You should also consider replacing Gyro Ball with Toxic or Knock Off since Gyro Ball does not do much damage.
Tapu Koko should have Specs or Scarf for speed control and power. Scarf is useful paired with Taunt and Volt Switch.
Overall your team is great, hope you consider my suggestions!
While I appreciate your suggestions, I do not think that any of them will work.
1.) Koko already has Uturn, it does not need volt switch as well.
2.) Toxic is mainly filler on Zygatde, and anyway I don't need Earthquake as I have Thousand Arrows.
3.) Gyro Ball does a LOT of damage, and I prefer it over Knock Off, but I already mentioned in the post that Knock is a good option as well.
4.) While scarf and specs are good options for Koko, in this case being able to use any move at any time much better for Koko. I do not really need specs as this Koko is not all about damage, and Koko is mentally fast anyway so I don't need scarf either. I also already have speed control to some extent on Hawlucha.
Thank you so much anyway for taking the time to read and comment on my post, but I do not think I will make the changes you suggest.
 
Hello, I'm going to rate your team.

I've got a very similar build and have 2 suggestions for your team, I've noticed that your team has a bad time with Mew. Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Hawlucha, Lando-T all don't beat Mew as it's not uncommon for Mew to run 310 Speed.

->

Consider replacing Hawlucha with AshNinja. Medicham can destroy most bulk Grasses that can check AshNinja for it serve as a nice wincon. As for the 4th move since you have Spikes on Ferrothorn, Surf is an option for more accurate Water STAB, Extrasensory can catch Venusaur & Toxapex and Ice Beam for Zygarde & Lando-T etc. w/o needing to risk Pump.

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Surf / Extrasensory / Ice Beam

->

Consider replacing Zap Plate on Koko to Scarf since now you don't have speed control. It's a pretty good albeit unconventional Scarfer, will help with Rain matchups, easing pressure on Ferrothorn.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Dazzling Gleam
- Brave Bird

Downsides to my rate is you have a worse matchup vs. Stall, but looking at this team the way it is, I'm not sure if you can beat stall with just a Zap Plate Koko. Hope it helps.
 
Hello, I'm going to rate your team.

I've got a very similar build and have 2 suggestions for your team, I've noticed that your team has a bad time with Mew. Zygarde, Mega Medicham, Hawlucha, Lando-T all don't beat Mew as it's not uncommon for Mew to run 310 Speed.

->

Consider replacing Hawlucha with AshNinja. Medicham can destroy most bulk Grasses that can check AshNinja for it serve as a nice wincon. As for the 4th move since you have Spikes on Ferrothorn, Surf is an option for more accurate Water STAB, Extrasensory can catch Venusaur & Toxapex and Ice Beam for Zygarde & Lando-T etc. w/o needing to risk Pump.

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Surf / Extrasensory / Ice Beam

->

Consider replacing Zap Plate on Koko to Scarf since now you don't have speed control. It's a pretty good albeit unconventional Scarfer, will help with Rain matchups, easing pressure on Ferrothorn.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Dazzling Gleam
- Brave Bird

Downsides to my rate is you have a worse matchup vs. Stall, but looking at this team the way it is, I'm not sure if you can beat stall with just a Zap Plate Koko. Hope it helps.
OK, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I was a bit sceptical about your changes at first as I kinda liked Lucha, but now, after an intense laddering sesh, I am enlightened :). Thank you very much for your changes, they are great.
 

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