Underrated but effective sets in the BW2 overused metagame

[EnterRAYZORS]

Genesect @ Expert Belt
Trait: Download
EVs: 72 Atk / 252 SAtk / 184 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Thunder / Bug Buzz

This is a pretty cool Genesect set that I've been toying with on rain teams. Although it's essentially just the standard EBelt set with HP [Water] slapped on, it can do things the original could only dream of - namely break apart most its standard checks, e.g. Heatran, Terrakion, Volcarona, Chandelure, etc - with only one "stone". What makes it work is the surprise value - when was the last time you expected Genesect to have a Water attack? In BW2, any surprise KO on the opponent can shift the momentum in your favour greatly.

In case you're wondering, Expert Belt HP [Water] is better than Douse Drive Techno Burst. Whilst it has 1 less BP when it hits SE (70*1.2=84), it also grants benefits to the other moves, whereas Douse Drive solely benefits Techno Burst.

U-turn and Ice Beam are obligatory. The final moveslot depends on what you're more interested in hitting harder - bulky Waters (especially Jellicent/Gyarados) or bulky things that resist Water/Electric such as Ferrothorn/Kyurem-B etc. Bug Buzz also allows you to 2HKO most Jirachi when you have an +1 boost in SAtk.

Although I haven't slashed it on this particular set, I think an EB set with U-turn/Thunder(bolt)/Ice Beam/Flash Cannon also might be viable in this metagame - especially considering Kyurem-B is quite popular at the moment due to being newly sent into the OU metagame. It also hits Terrakion very hard.

Gunna be honest when i saw HP water i instantly thought "GIMMICK!" However after thinkin about it. Water hits Rock, Ground, and Fire for SE. Basically it hits grounds harder than ice beam (in rain). It his Rock types for SE. And it his Fire Types for SE.

Its the list of counters to genesect that hate HP water. The amount of times heatran and terrakion have switched in on my genesect (i use giga so terrak is fine but still) is a huge number! And HP water will in affect have STAB in rain!

Also with Thunder on the set you can spam 100% accurate Thunders. However I would concider changing that. Personally id accept Ice Beam handels flying types. So id go giga > thunder to give you more life span whilst posing a threat still to waters aswell as killing Gastro and Quag.

But yeah i love your set.

 

[DarkBlazeR]

Thanks! I've tested HP [Ground] too, and it's just as effective. It misses coverage on Volcarona and does less to Terrakion, but can also hit Ninetales for SE damage unlike HP [Water] (with Drought considered), whilst OHKOing SDef Heatran with +1 SAtk after SR.

 

[Electrolyte]

I'd like to bring this colorful guy into play: (credit to Dusk209 for showing me this set)

Latios @ Dragon Gem
Timid / 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Draco Meteor / Memento / Light Screen / Reflect

This Latios takes the term 'Draco Spam', twists it, turns it, bites it, and sits on it, and then takes it to the extreme. The goal of this set is to come in, kill something with Draco Meteor, or at least dent something with Draco Meteor, then set up screens, and escape, or Memento. It's the perfect partner for set up pokemon- as it chases all choiced Trickers away, as well as sets up screens and sacs its own life to make sure that the target for setup doesn't the least possible damage. With Screens up, Latios can take a lot of hits- as can many set up sweepers in the tier. Here are some calcs for damage rolls and defensive capabilities: (keep in mind that Specs D-Meteor has the same power of a Dragon Gem D-Meteor, so these calcs should be generally known by the public already)

Deoxys-D (OU Fast Spiker) Draco Meteor 75 - 88.15%
Suicune (OU CroCune) Draco Meteor 75.24 - 88.61%
Hippowdon (OU Mixed Wall) Draco Meteor 79.28 - 93.57%
Amoonguss (OU Wall) Draco Meteor 67.36 - 79.39%
Tyranitar (OU Choice Band) Draco Meteor 60.26 - 71.05%

With Light Screen:
Chandelure (OU Calm Mind) Shadow Ball 44.37 - 52.31%
Tornadus (OU Hurricane [Choice Specs]) Hurricane 43.7 - 51.65%
Volcarona (OU Offensive Quiver Dance) Bug Buzz 60.26 - 72.18%
Kyurem (OU Choice [Choice Scarf]) Draco Meteor 70.19 - 83.44%
Latias (OU Life Orb Tank) Draco Meteor 83.44 - 99% (ouch barely)
Latios (OU Offensive [Expert Belt]) Draco Meteor 84.1 - 100% (stupid Ebelt)

With Reflect:
Mamoswine (OU Physical Attacker [Life Orb]) Icicle Crash 80.13 - 93.7%
Scizor (OU Choice Band) U-turn 75.49 - 89.4%
Terrakion (OU Choice Band) X-Scissor 52.31 - 61.58%
Conkeldurr (OU Status Orb) Payback 50.99 - 60.26%
Tyranitar (OU Choice Band) Crunch 88.07 - 103.97%

Awesome set, you should all try it out

 

[Dracule Mihawk]

I would rather use a light clay dual screen latios. I can understand of a Draco hitting like a nuke, but it seems the most important part of this set is dual screens, which the item light clay is better for as it increases the duration the screens are up. Dragon pulse can be used for more consistent damage as well, but I honestly prefer Draco. But anyway I would rather use light clay on that set for latios, as it outclasses the use of a gem. I would rather have the extra turns of the screens than the immediate power.

 

[Boondocker]

Wouldn't an offensive Dragonite like that prefer another coverage move, like Fire Blast? While Thunder Wave spam is very good in this metagame, Dragonite usually likes all the offensive power and coverage he can get. He also loses a lot of his wallbreaking power when Steels like Skamory/Bronzong/Jirachi can come in and tank pretty much everything he has and wall with impunity. Also a lot of the offensive threats he is going to be Thunder Waveing can most likely be OHKO'd by the appropriate coverage move spammin Draco Meteor also works. But anyways just my thoughts on the set. Wallbreaker Dragonite is incredibly potent atm.

Offensive Dragonite would indeed prefer a fire move, but the Thunderwave varient plays more of a supporter role. Sometimes paralyzing an opponent is more damaging then killing it because it allows a teammate to come in and set up a Sub. A paralyzed opponent only has a 31% chance of breaking a Sub 4 times, and only a 23% chance to do it 5 times (if you hold Lefties). Sub Keledo, Terrakoin, Machamp, Jirachi, etc are all fine partners.

 

[High28s]

I apologize if I sound butthurt considering my team just got raped but one of these but Sheer Force Choice Scarf Darmanitan in the sun is a fucking monster. It was abale to take out bth my Infernape and Salamence with over 90% of their health in one shot using Flare Blitz. I may consider using this myself.

Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd

• Earthquake
• Superpower
• U-turn
• Flare Blitz

 

[PDC]

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly (+ Speed, - Special Attack)
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Fire Punch

If there was ever a Jirachi set that was going to be called the most annoying out of all of them, this would be that set no doubt. Forget paralysis + Iron Head, this is a whole new spin on Jirachi utilizing a much less seen status ailment. This set takes annoyance to an entire new level, becoming a very deadly force against some of it's own counters. Here is how the set actually works and why. Jirachi often gets forced out by Pokemon like Rotom-W, Hippowdon, Politoed, and Landorus - T, but this set can turn all those Pokemon into a common liability in today's metagame. Oddly enough all the Pokemon that enjoy sponging an Iron Head hate being Toxic'd. Rotom-W and Hippowdon are both permanently crippled, but the annoyance does not stop there. Iron Head + Toxic racks up damage very fast, to the point where in a matter of a few turns they are useless for the rest of the game. Mission accomplished. Although it may seem silly to actually use this strategy as it may seem luck reliant and a bit to slow of a process to actually avoid getting hit, it works fantastic in process. You can just Toxic then switch out knowing that your opponent's abuser has just been crippled for the rest of the game. Substitute is an important move to get the ball rolling with switches on occasions, while also giving the ability to gain momentum and ease prediction with how you will throw your Toxic's. Fire Punch rounds out the coverage nicely, allowing it to hit opposing Jirachi and Ferrothorn. In fact Jirachi will almost always win against the Standard Specially Defensive Jirachi variant along with the the standard Ferrothorn. Behind a Substitute that they cannot break, Jirachi is free to hit them with a Super Effective Fire Punch. With a 20% burn rate, they are always in danger, especially Jirachi, or being crippled for the rest of the game.

The EVs are relatively simple and give Jirachi just what it needs to be effective. 176 Speed with a Jolly nature gives Jirachi the ability to outspeed max speed Lucario and other base 90's with ease. Attack is maximized so it can hit as hard as possible with Iron Head and Fire punch, while the remainder of EVs are dumped into HP to retain some bulk. You however can alter these EVs into different spreads as you please. Of course you can give Jirachi maximum speed, and although not needed much, it can be useful in some cases when outspeeding max speed Genesect, Kyurem-B, Haxorus and being able to speed tie with opposing Salamence. Fire Punch can do a huge amount to RP or Expert Belt Genesect, and being able to outspeed it alone makes it a fantastic option for you to have.

For teammates this Jirachi would love support from the likes of SandStorm to wear down bulky waters that it loves to wear down such as Rotom-W and Politoed. This combined with Iron Head + Toxic almost guarantee's he will be going down even faster as it nullifies Leftovers recovery from taking place. Hazards is also a great option to pair with this Jirachi, as they can help wear down it's victims even faster than it normally would. I personally like using this Jirachi on more defensive teams to kill off some of stalls problems like Stallbreaker Mew and Reuniclus. Combined with all this residual damage teams will crumble to continuously take Poison, Iron Head, hazard and weather damage at the same time. However like everything there are counters to this set. Heatran is one of them, and he does not care about anything this Jirachi can actually do. It cannot harm it in any way whatsoever and trying to flinch one to death is a stupid move. To remedy this pairing it with something like Garchomp, Rotom-W, and Starmie appreciate Rotom-W being worn down and being able to switch into Heatran and force it out or counter it. They all share pretty good synergy as well, making it a bonus as well.

 

[DarkBlazeR]

O_O I don't want to face THIS Jirachi any time soon...

I know how annoying Iron Head can be in combination with Poison, as in D/P OU I often paired Iron Head Jirachi with Toxic Spikes. I never considered running Toxic on Jirachi itself though; great job!

Obviously this set is riskier to utilise than the paraflinch set, though I really like how this set can actually wear down a team without having to necessarily get lucky.

 

[kniteowl]

Drought Kingdra

Kingdra @ Life Orb / Specs
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Fire

Yip you heard me right, Why would you use Kingdra in the sun?

It actually balances out a sun team's weakness pretty nicely. Quad resistences to water and fire and swift swim means Drizzle teams will think twice about switching in Politoed as they'd have to face the wrath of Kingdra.

If Ninetails happens to fall early against a rain team, the game is is far from over as long as you have this guy in your back pocket.

Kingdra also makes a good check to heatran which quite a few Sun teams have trouble with.

It's a pretty standard set with Dragon and Water Stabs hit everything Neutrally except Empoleon and Ferrothorn . Hidden Power Ground is there for Heatran because most of your team should be able to easily take care of Ferrothorn and other steels being a Sun team, you should have at least 2 fire types including Ninetails or have otehr team members some kind of fire type move.

You'll rarely ever be using Hydro-pump unless you're up against another weather, especially rain.

Kingdra also does well against Sand as quite a few members of a Sand team don't like Water Stab.

Life Orb gives you flexibility while Specs give you power, I personally prefer specs as most teams are rain teams and once you take out Kingdra's checks/counters, it's pretty much GG when you start the Hydro Pump spam in the rain unless you miss of course.

 

[the flying afro]

Hi i actuatly really quite like this kingdra set but there would be two changes i would personally make. I would like to personally change hydro pump to surf for it has better accuracy and would prevent some horrible hax. Also i would personally run Hp fighting as it would counter ferrothorn and heatran. Also it would hit hrader than hp fire in rain which ferrothorn is usually run with.

 

[alamaster]

@PDC

I used to use Toxic Spikes and Scarf Jirachi as a cleaner back in DP, and it was extremely effective. The fact that your set is able to hit Rotom-W is enough reason to use Toxic. Iron Head + Toxic is pretty lethal as nothing can survive past 4-5 turns. Cool set, I'm definitely going to try it out.

 

[Gimmick]

@ PDC

That set looks, simply put, awesome. Being able to stall past common checks is pretty darn useful and the surprise value it has holds merit of its own. I noticed that the EVs are the same as the BW1 Sub + 3 attacks set, but I feel BW2 brought enough change to max out the Speed. I know you mentioned that as an option, but I think it's pretty important for that to be the main EV spread. Like you said, it can outspeed and OHKO Hasty/Naive Expert Belt Genesect. If it's worth anything, you also outspeed the odd 91-99 Base Speed bechmark (Gliscor, Hydreigon, Haxorus, Kyurem, Kyurem-B, and Landorus-T).

The only thing I could find that the HP EVs did was always live a CB Terrakion Close Combat:

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs 80 HP/0 Def Jirachi: 80.89% - 95.57% (2 hits to KO)
252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs 0 HP/0 Def Jirachi: 85.63% - 101.17% (6.25% chance to OHKO)

Then again, that's a pretty miniscule chance to die. Do those HP EVs do anything in particular?

 

[Lady Alex]

It gives you a better chance to survive if you switch in on rocks. With no HP evs, you get 1hko'd 43% of the time, which can be risky.

 

[Crackstar]

@ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
Evs: 56 Hp / 252 SpA / 200 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Substitute
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Hidden Power [Ice/Grass]

I used this in a battle with Electrolyte, and we were both surprised by this set's sheer power. It OHKO'd his +1 Volcarana from 80%, something neither of us expected. People tend to forget just how strong Heatran is, as most sets are Specialy Defensive. With his titanic Special Attack stat, Heatran murders neutral threats with Fire Blast, without a Sun or Flash Fire boost. If it gets those even resisted threats can fall. Sub is the crux of this set, use it while your foe switches out to a supposed counter. Oftentimes they'll go to a pokemon that outspeeds slow Heatran, but is slower than speedy Tran (Gliscor, Politoed, Adamant DNite) and you can KO and keep up a sub to hit something else. Earth Power and Hidden Power are for coverage, which is useful. This set is good on offensive teams that need a check to Sun and Genesect that wont kill momentum and can weaken teams. The Ev's are to outspeed Politoed, max SpA and the rest are dumped in Hp.

 

[Lady Alex]

I've used that Heatran set before, and, I agree, it's scary under a sub. It mitigates heatran's biggest problem of being too slow to deal with several things by forcing the opponent to sacrifice something to get rid of the sub. The added benefit of steamrolling most sun teams is really nice, as well.

 

[StairFall]

@PDC

SubToxic Jirachi looks very solid. Theproblem with paraflinch Jirachi was that it discouraged switching, the only option was to keep trying to attack it while it kept hitting you with a weak as dirt iron head. It neither stalled out the opponent or supported the team, all it does is be obnoxious and create a stalemate where no significant damage takes place.

SubToxic encourages switching because of growing passive damage. Simply bringing in a powerful pokemon to break the sub and then do decent damage isn't as good because of iron head. Keeping your substitute because the opponent can't hit you 60% of the time (more if their attack is innaccurate) plus the extra damage is great. It let's you pseudo haze and rack up hazards, punishing switches and players who stay in alike.

Speed is a problem though. While most of your targets are slow it's no big deal but against faster offensive threats you can't iron head them without the paralysis. You could get a toxic off if you keep your sub when they switch but other than that you aren't doing much to faster threats. You also can't do that much to Genesect or scizor in the rain while he could break your sub and then go into a pokemon that could defeat you.

 

[Magma]

@PDC

I'm a big fan of your SubToxic Jirachi, it even looks good enough to have it's own analysis on the main site. The only thing would add is slashing Zen Headbutt with Iron Head.

Yeah, without Iron Head, Jirachi struggles with certain threats like Tyranitar and Reuniclus, but Zen Headbutt gives Jirachi coverage against Tentacruel and allows it to single-handedly break Rain Stall.

 

[King]

Don't know if it has already been recommended but

Breloom @ Life Orb
252 atk/252 speed/4hp
Adamant nature
Techinician ability
~Focus Punch
~Mach Punch
~Bullet Seed
~Spore

This set is underrated and completely borked. Yes/Yes?

The focus punch does a shitload to the Lati@s which usually counter breloom, and it just is borked.

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Not sure if these sets have been posted before, but here you all go.

Deoxys [Defense] @ Mental Herb | Pressure
Timid | 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | 0 Atk
Stealth Rock | Spikes | Taunt | Thunder Wave

This is my go-to Deoxys-D set whenever I build any hyper offense team. It's simple, and while the moves may not look optimal, they might just be the very best moves that Deoxys-D can use in today's metagame. The first two moveslots are dedicated to Deoxys-D's hazard setting game, and the last two are meant to stop other leads from doing the same. Taunt, in conjunction with the Mental Herb, lets Deoxys ruin the lives of Prankster Pokemon that think they can stop it from doing what it normally does. Thunder Wave ruins any set-up Pokemon that are faster than Deoxys-D that don't use subs. Its only counters are Pokemon that have Magic Bounce and / or moves that can OHKO it. However, Rapid Spinners are truly problematic for Deoxys-D to face, which leads to the use of the set below.

Gengar @ Focus Sash | Levitate
Timid | 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe | 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
Substitute | Shadow Ball | Hidden Power Fire | Destiny Bond

To quote CTC, "Starmie is pretty much the best deogar counter barring scarfgar." This set turns that statement over on its head. With a Focus Sash, Gengar can beat Starmie, and by extension, nearly every common spinner with this set. Starmie? Shadow Ball OHKOes all Starmie variants after Stealth Rock damage. Forretress? OHKOed outside of the rain by Hidden Power Fire, and 2HKOed in the rain. Donphan? 2HKOed by Shadow Ball. Tentacruel is the only common spinner in OU that isn't 2HKOed by Shadow Ball or Hidden Power Fire, but it's susceptible to Destiny Bond. It's not too specialized, seeing that this set can act as a lure for Scizor and Rock Polish Genesect, OHKOing the two of them outside of rain. It can also serve as an equalizer, thanks to Destiny Bond and its incredible speed.

It's fairly obvious that these sets work well together as a core. It makes setting up and maintaining hazards much easier than if the standard sets were used.

 

[Pocket]

Yea, I've seen that dastard Deoxys-D before. Gives Lead Terrakion the finger. It is a losing match-up when facing opposing Deoxys-D with Magic Coat, but you do have Gengar.

As for Gengar, why not Thunder over Substitute? This way Gengar would have a solid attack to severely maim Tentacruel that may otherwise burn-stall Gengar.

 

[Lavos]

Don't know if it has already been recommended but

Breloom @ Life Orb
252 atk/252 speed/4hp
Adamant nature
Techinician ability
~Focus Punch
~Mach Punch
~Bullet Seed
~Spore

This set is underrated and completely borked. Yes/Yes?

The focus punch does a shitload to the Lati@s which usually counter breloom, and it just is borked.

Despite how bad jason's sets usually are, this one actually has some merit, and I've started using it on a lot of my teams. With Stealth Rocks up, this thing has some real potential. For example, vs. standard Rain:

1. Switch in on Ferrothorn
2. Spore the Ferrothorn
3. Focus Punch as they switch to Tornadus-T / Latios
4. Focus Punch puts them in range (after SR) to be picked off with Mach Punch

I prefer to use this alongside Pokemon that really benefit from the removal of Tornadus-T and Latios in order to sweep. This generally means other Fighting-types, I like to pair it up with specially defensive Conkeldurr because a lot of teams these days only have the one answer to it in Latios, Torn-T, etc., so with that gone it's an easy sweep. Other options include things like Terrakion, Lucario, even oddities such as Feraligatr under Rain.

This set is really not half bad, give it a try.

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Yea, I've seen that dastard Deoxys-D before. Gives Lead Terrakion the finger. It is a losing match-up when facing opposing Deoxys-D with Magic Coat, but you do have Gengar.

As for Gengar, why not Thunder over Substitute? This way Gengar would have a solid attack to severely maim Tentacruel that may otherwise burn-stall Gengar.

I never really thought of that. Thanks Pocket. Also, dittoing Lavos in his praise for King's Breloom set. It's rather underrated.

 

[Lavos]

I never really thought of that. Thanks Pocket. Also, dittoing Lavos in his praise for King's Breloom set. It's rather underrated.

praise is a pretty strong word...

 

[ra02]

Dragon Dance Latios
Latios @Life Orb/Leftovers
252 SpAtt/ 252 Spe
Hasty Nature (+Spe, -Def)
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake/Psyshock
-Dragon Pulse
-Psyshock/Surf/Thunder(bolt)/HP Fire/Recover

Most people rely on one of four things to beat Latios: Mamoswine, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, and faster pokemon like Scarf Genesect, Terrakion, and Tornadus-T

This set beats all of these Pokemon. With the boost, you OHKO Jirachi with Earthquake, which ALWAYS stays in to take it. You are faster than Genesect, and can KO with rain boosted Surf or HP Fire. Terrakion falls to Psyshock. Tornadus-T loses to Dragon Pulse, and most other Pokemon are murdered by the power of a LO Dragon Pulse. All and all, a great set, which can usually net a few surprise KOs a match.

Can Latias run this set? If yes, how effective would itt be?

 

[alexwolf]

Here is a Pokemon i fell in love with the last few days:

Slowking @ Lefties
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD / 4 Spe
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Calm
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

Slowking is the best Keldeo counter in existence and the EVs are meant to reflect this. They allow Slowking to tank 2 Specs Hydro Pump in rain from Keldeo after SR, while also enabling it to survive two Hurricane from LO Torn-T after SR 90% of the time. Rest are dumped to Def to take random physical attacks better and 4 Spe EVs are speed creep for Amoonguss. Scald is obvious, Psyshock is to beat Keldeo mainly, and T-Wave to cripple all the special attackers that you wall. Slowking also handles most rain threats like a boss, namely Toxic-less Politoed, Starmie (you can easily use Slowking as a pivot to find out its set and then act accordingly, as even a LO Thunder does 60% tops), Latios, Rotom-W, and Keldeo and Torn-T, which were already mentioned. In addition, Slowking is a fantastic pivot against sun teams, and shields most of my bulky offensive teams from the beast that is called Keldeo, and rain and sun teams in general, without costing me a ton of momentum, unlike most pure walls. CBTar can be a problem from time to time so make sure you pack a secondary Keldeo check and/or some strong anti-Ttar measures such as Dugtrio or pokes that can set-up on a Pursuit locked Ttar. Regenerator users are awesome in general for bulky offensive teams (all Amoonguss users should know what i mean) as the ability to check so much stuff without the need to waste time to heal while also spreading status (burn, paralyze, or sleep) is a godsend, and Slowking is the best of the Slow family atm because of the popularity of rain offense teams.

Good partners for Slowking are those that can handle strong physical hits and the Grass and Electric types that scare Slowking. Offensive Celebi with HP Fire is awesome to deal with Ferro, Breloom and stuff, while also providing a secondary Keldeo check that is untrappable by CBTar. Physically defensive Hippo is awesome too, as it handles most physical attackers with ease, including the threatening Terrakion, Salamence, and Dragonite.