Project OU Next Best Thing - Cycle Last: Mega Latias (Voting)

Originally I wanted to see if I could make inferno work, but even with a wide lens, the accuracy only goes up to 60% hahaha.

So here's Charge Beam Victini

View attachment 187469

Victini @ Psychium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Charge Beam
- Thunder
- Fire Blast
- Psychic

A fun little gimmick in charge beam gives Victini a boost to its special attack without having to use a z move slot while also allowing it to switch moves. This set breaks a few of the traditional checks and counters that Victini has.

It's best match-up is against bulky Water types, expecting at worst, a choice band bolt strike. These are unpleasantly surprised by a charge beam to the face, and then even more unpleasantly surprised by a +1 thunder, psychic or shattered psyche. Most of the ground types that threaten Victini are slower than it, so with a bit of chip, popping the Z-Move or even just raw fire blasting allows Victini to kill, or at least deal a ton of damage for other threats to follow through. This Victini set really enjoys an advantage against strong cores seen on ladder (especially with all the OLT stuff happening atm). Celepex is a good example of a classic core that gets destroyed by this Victini in all situations.

There are obviously a few issues with this set. Dragon types, in particular the rising M-Latias, M-Latios and Garchomp all pressure this set and force it out. Victini's speed, will ideal for breaking fatter pokemon, leaves it outsped by a large variety of common threats in the metagame. This set is also Greninja, Scarf Lando-T and Heatran food. So having adequate measures for dragons, and these common metagame threats is crucial.
Might be worth slashing Glaciate over Psychic to yeet the dragons, I think even bulky Mega Latias will be 2HKOd by +1 Glaciate and unless it has Surf it can't do much back. Also Blue Flare or Searing Shot are good options instead of Fire Blast.
 
Might be worth slashing Glaciate over Psychic to yeet the dragons, I think even bulky Mega Latias will be 2HKOd by +1 Glaciate and unless it has Surf it can't do much back. Also Blue Flare or Searing Shot are good options instead of Fire Blast.
Edited accordingly, thanks JTD. I think Glaciate is preference based on what your team needs, but it's certainly a very viable option, I just like what Shattered Psyche does personally. Fire Blast is definitely outclassed by both Blue Flare and Searing Shot, again personal preference tells me to make the most use of Victory Star, so Blue Flare for me..
 

MANNAT

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Victini @ Electrium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Work Up
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Glaciate

Work Up Mixtini is an absolute menace against a ton of teams, having the power of CB Victini at +1 while also having a super strong glaciate to use as well as the ability to switch moves. It's a really cool balance breaker that can tear apart some builds very quickly. The main issue with this set is that a lot of mons require a bit of chip for it to work to its fullest potential (Heatran comes to mind), but it's still pretty fun regardless
+1 252 Atk Victini Gigavolt Havoc (195 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 251-296 (77.7 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Victini Gigavolt Havoc (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 64+ Def Toxapex: 320-378 (105.2 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Victini Gigavolt Havoc (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Wash: 250-295 (82.2 - 97%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 4 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 324-384 (77.1 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 4 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 340-400 (89 - 104.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 4 SpA Victini Glaciate vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 324-384 (92 - 109%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
 

Egor

нет, товарищ генерал, это вы даёте
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Ah no I missed this week.

AV is best set

had a set I was sitting on waiting for tini, so I'll share even if you can't vote for it.

Ring Target Victini
Victini @ Ring Target
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Strike
- V-create
- U-turn
- Trick

Yeah had to look that up didn't you? Well you just click trick if they have a ground type on their team and then you mindlessly click boltstrike or specs Koko thunderbolt. Also dump it on ttar for your psyspam.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-952577276
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-952579631
 
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Egor

нет, товарищ генерал, это вы даёте
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Ok, the voting is over! By its results, the winner of the Cycle 10 is Mixed Work Up by Mannat . Congratulations! Your submission will be added to the Hall of Fame soon. Let's move straight to the...

Cycle Eleven - Kartana


Here is the paper sword! Boasting a sky-high Attack, good Speed tier, and decent coverage options, Kartana is an effective hole-puncher and sweeper which rose quite a lot during the last SPL, being nigh impossible to consistently switch into and quickly snowballing out of control thanks to Beast Boost. Various Z-Moves or Choice Band can further improve Kartana's wallbreaking potential, while Choice Scarf makes Kartana an amazing revenge killer and late-game cleaner. Can you guys show what other hot sets Kartana can run?

Banned Sets
no items cuz from mobile

The deadline is Thursday 1st of August. Good luck!
 
Speed boosting Kartana

Kartana @ Expert Belt
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 19 Atk
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off


General idea
Kartana is a good cleaner despite the abysmal SpD and the high-but-not-110 base Spe to work with.
This variation uses a lot of EVs in order to increase the bulk (in particular the defensive side of the spectrum that is already nice) of this Ultra Beast to avoid using the Focus Sash and can set-up a Swords Dance in order to clean the opposite team.
With this extra bulk you can even set-up twice if you are in the front of physical attackers with neutral coverage towards Kartana.

EVs (spread) and item
With this EVs, nature and IVs we have a Kartana with 347 Atk and 348 Spe, so when Beast Boost activates we'll have a +1 Spe boost when Kartana kills something.
Expert Belt is here in order to make up for the lack of Atk EVs and a neutral nature.

Defensive calcs:
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kartana in Electric Terrain: 273-321 (85 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kartana: 195-231 (60.7 - 71.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Magearna Flash Cannon vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kartana: 127-150 (39.5 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Latias-Mega Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kartana: 204-240 (63.5 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Teravolt Kyurem-Black Freeze Shock vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 222-262 (69.1 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Teravolt Kyurem-Black Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Kartana: 268-316 (83.4 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 130-154 (40.4 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Metronome (5th time) Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 260-308 (80.9 - 95.9%) -- not a KO

Team(mates) support
Some hazards support can be really useful in order to turn some 3HKOs into 2HKOs and some 2HKOs into OHKOs.
Screens support is really nice and helps to find extra set-up opportunities.
 
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Katy

Banned deucer.
toxic kartana

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

Toxic Kartana lures in threats like Zapdos and Tangrowth which are capable of defensively checking Kartana so in the long run they can get whittled down with the Toxic-turns.
Same mention goes to Volcarona, which is a huge threat to a decent amount of teams, the Toxic can help to whittle it down and make it less of a threat when it tries to setup with QD.
It can also help against very bulky teams with the help of Knock off, when Leftovers or a similiar item is getting knocked and later or beforehand the pokemon got poisoned it can
wear down fatter mons as well with ease. Leaf Blade is the necessary STAB option and Sacred Swords a good coverage option here.​
 
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Solaros & Lunaris

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Kartana @ Grassium Z / Flyinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance / Smart Strike / Night Slash
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Tailwind

“But Solaros! You can’t run non-choice Kart without Swords Dance!” Shhh I’ll get to that. Kartana’s been a long standing threat in OU, but I’ve always a severe issue with SD sets—they’re often so easily revenge killed. Behold the solution to my issue: Tailwind. For four turns, my Kartana has essentially set up an Agility to outspeed Mega Lopunny, Mega Alakazam, Ash-Greninja and Tapu Koko. Those latter two mentions, as well as outspeeding Pert under rain (catching Jolly too!) make it fantastic against Rain HOs that are rising with OLT. Onto the set itself, there are two different variations you can run here: Double Dance or Z-Tailwind. The former with Grassy Terrain pretty much will take one or two kills should the conditions be set up correctly—that being said, it’s extremely hard to pull this off unless you’re facing the most passive stall ever. The latter set I find far more interesting, dropping Swords Dance for a third coverage slot and gaining a +2 crit rate upon using Z-Tailwind. The +2 crit rate is essentially giving Kart a Grassy/Band boost to Leaf Blade which already puts a dent into resists, but once it gets a kill the crit rate and Beast Boost raise stack multiplicatively, which is just insane. The crit rate also ignores stat drops, so Kart is guaranteed to land at least a +1 strike, which hurts a lot of things. Overall, Tailwind is a fun option on Kartana that teams can take advantage of it (SR MegaTar benefits from the Tailwind boost while Rocking and annoying Zap/Torn) and willing to give it support.
 
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Kartana @ Leftovers / Fightinium z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 144 HP / 72 Atk / 40 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Synthesis
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword

In case you feel your kartana gets chipped into priority range too easily, you can simply take advantage of the many switches this pokemon forces to heal out of said range, as well as avoid Mawile's sucker punch. EVs let you tank Z kyurem-B ice beam from full (and probably a bunch of other stuff) while having the exact minimum attack to OHKO garchomp and ferrothorn at +2.

There are of course other options on this set over swords dance, like defog and toxic, but I feel if you give up SD you're basically doing some other mon's job but worse.
 
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Kartana @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off

Trades the power/speed lost from Choice Band/Scarf for the ability to vary your moves.
 
Kartana @ Fightinium Z / Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 152 HP / 104 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance/Synthesis/Toxic
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute

(fight Z if SD otherwise leftovers)

Break though bulky grasses and can get often times can get kill with out getting revenged by magnezone or other checks hp ev's are so that tangroth cant break sub with earthquake and lando's earthquake doesnt 2 hit ko after rocks.

You could pair this set with something like scarf serp or something else that has a hard time dealing with bulky grasses
 

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