SM OU Heavenly Break- A Nidoking and Hoopa-Unbound Balance

[stuuful12]

Hello everybody, my name is Stuuful and this is my very first RMT. After lurking on this thread for a long while, I decided now is the time that I show off my very own team to the world. This team utilizes a standard defensive core with two not commonly seen together breakers with each other to demolish enemies. As for the name Heavenly Break actually has a reason for it, but that will be shown in the Team building process section


Teambuilding Process

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Ok, to start off, here is Nidoking. I originally chose him because I rolled the random pokemon dice on showdown and got it because it is a strong but not often seen balance breaker that rips through teams, and with the use of proper prediction, can pave the way for Gyarodos to sweep. With the ability to break the famed CelePex core, I knew I wanted to build a team around it.

Next up is Hoopa-Unbound who I also chose thanks to Rng, which is also why I have that name heavenly break since Rngesus gave me these two and because they are both breakers. utilizes an insanely strong Nasty Plot set to punch holes in the rest of the team, and to clean up the rest of the team after Nidoking is done with his own rampage. The two also have nice synergy since Hoopa-Unbound is immune to the Psychics aimed at Nidoking( and has a nice special defense to tank for him as well) and Nidoking manhandles all fairies not named Tapu Lele, and resists Bug to boot.

After picking up both Hoopa-Unbound and Nidoking, I decided to pick up Mega Gyarados, since it likes defensive pokemon like Ferrrothorn gone, which both Nidoking and Hoopa can supply. Thanks to its moves, it is easy to sweep opposing teams once key defensive stalwarts are gone, and also has intimidate pre-mega to scare off strong physical attackers. It also is immune pre-mega to Earthquake, and can come on in on intended Earthquakes for Nidoking. It also can bait electric types like Tapu Koko for Nidoking to come in on, and Annihilate.

At this point, I needed a Stealth Rocker, a defensive pokemon, and a full-time ground resist. Fortunately, Landorus can provide all this and more. I usually lead with it, since I like the gauranteed rocks at the beginning, and the fact that it resists or is immune to bug, fighting, and ground really helps the team in terms of synergy.

During this time, I really needed some form of speed control, and a way to pressure Ash-Greninja so I didn't have to use Gyarodos on it.

Finally, I needed some form of special defense and a good steel type, so Magearna slotted in seamlessly here.

The Team

Nidoking @ Life Orb Ability: Sheer Force EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Sludge Wave - Earth Power - Fire Blast - Ice Beam
The star of the team, Nidoking has a great penchant for breaking fat bulky teams, and can be somewhat reliable at doing that. Thanks to it's absurd movepool, I have no problem breaking through most Balance Cores with ease. I find it somewhat underrated, especially since what it does to Celepex is astounding. As for the movepool, Sludge Wave, Earth Power, and Ice Beam are all standard, but I use Fire Blast to surprise Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn who would think that they could wall me.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Fightinium Z Ability: Magician EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Nasty Plot - Dark Pulse - Psychic - Focus Blast
Hoopa-Unbound provides yet another strong breaker who can rip balance to shreds. After Nidoking is done with his rampage, Hoopa-Unbound can usually pick up the slack. With Fightinium, Hoopa can also break through fat steels, and fightinium is also useful in times where I need to hit Greninja with as much damage as I possibly can, without missing. I fully invested in HP, with some investments in Special Defense, since Hoopa-Unbound won't outspeed anything, and I prefer having full hp investements on him, especially when I need to switch him in on certain special attackers( like Charizard Y), where his bulk allows him to check it, and dent it back.

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite Ability: Mold Breaker EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Waterfall - Crunch - Dragon Dance - Substitute
Mega Gyarodos is an interesting and underrated mon, who can effectively use substitute and dragon dance to sweep teams. He fulfills the obligatory mega pokemon, and can set up on certain defensive pokemons faces. His ability to start sweeping is certainly appreciated in this team, where he often has opportunities to do this after Nidoking and Hoopa are done

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe Impish Nature - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Hidden Power [Ice] - U-turn
I needed a mon to provide all the utility that I need to effectively beat other teams, and Landorus Therian happens to be that mon. With his moveset, Landorus can check all the threatening attackers beat this team, and can provide the useful stealth rocks that go along with that.

Kartana @ Choice Scarf Ability: Beast Boost EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Leaf Blade - Sacred Sword - Knock Off - Defog
Since team is extremely slow, I needed some speed control, preferably with a mon who could pressure Ash-Greninja and Lopunny after their respective transformations, and could hopefully provide defog. Kartana fulfilled both of those niches, which is why I chose it. With knock off, Kartana can also help the team break through some annoying walls, and the rest of the set is basic.

Magearna @ Assault Vest Ability: Soul-Heart EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD Sassy Nature - Fleur Cannon - Volt Switch - Iron Head - Ice Beam
Finally, I needed an actual special defensive wall with some defense and a complimentary steel, so I chose Magearna, who could do both of those. It also had the complimentary Volt Switch to have a Voltturn core with Landorus to bring in all of my pokemons who prefer not to directly switch-in. The rest of the set is standard

Conclusion

Maybe this isn't the best team, but I love how devastating these two mons are when forming a duo, and I enjoyed this team. I am open to suggestions and look forward to see how this team can improve. Thank you, and good-bye

Importable

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam

Hoopa-Unbound @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Psychic
- Focus Blast

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam

 

[Altervisi]

Hi! Solid looking team, I agree that Nidoking is horribly underrated right now.

I would suggest possibly swapping Leftovers on Landorus-T to Rocky Helmet, passive recovery is nice but having Landorus switch in a punish U-Turn users is great because currently theres nothing to stop the opponent spamming U-Turn and racking momentum as both your main breakers are weak to it.

If you don't mind me suggesting a larger scale change, I think swapping Mega-Gyarados for DD Mega-Charizard X fits your team nicer. As you've said currently your team is pretty slow and Gyarados is susceptible to a few common Scarf users like Kartana, Lele and Greninja (Low Kick). Also most opposing sweepers are faster and threaten heavily, Zygarde, Charizard and particularly Volcarona, who is really piling on the hurt at +1. I think the Fire/Dragon STAB + EQ is more valuable than Water/Dark in this meta and it also free up your Nidoking to run Thunderbolt over Fire Blast for that nice BoltBeam coverage (also all moves are 100% accurate the, which is nice). Also you get a U-Turn and Volt Switch resist, so you can leave Leftovers on Landorus. You also don't have to worry about burns. It depends how important you feel substitute is. Either way I hope this was some help!

Set

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake

 

[stuuful12]

Hey thanks to responding to my post. Now that I think about it, Charizard X does fit my team better and I'm glad you brought it to my attention. The only problem is keeping off rocks, but Nidoking pressures all setters so it's no big deal. Either way. I'm glad you took the time to respond to my post. I also decided to change Fire Blast to Flamethrower on Nidoking, since missing Fire Blast sucks, but I really don't need Thunderbolt, since Mantine and Pelipper are the only relevant targets for Thunderbolt, as everything else gets hit by Flamethrower or by EarthPower. As for Charizard, going to opt for Roost instead of Earthquake, since between Nidoking and Landorus, ground coverage is accounted for. That being said, thanks for taking the time to rate my team.