Double Trouble: Gen 8 OU Zeraora Hyper Offense

Question

Gen 8 OU is a land of Regenerator cores, Heavy-Duty Boots, and bulky balance teams. What, then, could be better than hyper offense? When the opponent is overwhelmed in the first ten turns, I don’t have to waste time with actual “skill” or “good plays”. It’s just what Smogon intended.

I chose Zeraora as the team’s centerpiece for a few reasons: it’s the fastest Pokemon in OU, it has enough raw power to clean up weakened teams, and it neuters Toxapex. I hate that guy. The rest of the team is designed to address Zeraora’s shortcomings and enable a sweep.

This team takes advantage of Landorus’ ability to learn Explosion to exploit Ground types. As most Gen 8 OU teams have one Ground type at maximum, crippling their defensive backbone early is often something players can’t recover from.

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The team

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch

Plasma Fists is a highly spammable move that allows Zeraora to muscle past the tier’s bulky Water types e.g. Slowbro and Toxapex. Similarly, Knock Off chunks defensive pivots that think they can come in on a Plasma Fists, such as Landorus-Therian and Tangrowth. Close Combat helps against Steel types like Kartana that otherwise sit on Zeraora for free.

Volt Switch was chosen as the best fourth move for a couple reasons: it forms a potent VoltTurn core with Victini, and Zeraora doesn’t need Toxic — the rest of the team is supposed to address Ground types instead.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Normal Gem
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Landorus-Therian is the crux of this team. One of Zeraora’s biggest weaknesses is its inability to deal with Ground types; I chose to address this by baiting said Ground types so they can be safely removed. This is accomplished with Normal Gem Explosion Lando: the item’s extra power secures the OHKO against Garchomp and helps neuter Hippowdon and opposing Landorus.

Lando is an effective lead thanks to Stealth Rock and its ability to counterpick Heatran and opposing Lando. With Swords Dance, it can threaten nearly every lead and punch a hole through a team that the opponent can’t recover from.

Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Fire Fang

Of course, there are problems associated with nuking your Ground type just to remove the opponent’s, but most of these problems can be addressed by just adding another Ground type! Garchomp functions as a secondary wincon with Swords Dance and Scale Shot, and it’s able to snowball against deadweight like Ferrothorn.

Scale Shot lets Garchomp outspeed Pokemon like Blacephalon that would otherwise threaten the team. Fire Fang is used against the few Steel types that Zeraora doesn’t appreciate; namely, Skarmory and Ferrothorn.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt

Besides Ground types, Zeraora’s main problem is priority moves. Enter Tapu Lele: with Psychic Terrain, it blocks all priority moves (notably Weavile’s Ice Shard), which would otherwise stop Zeraora from sweeping.

Specs Lele is a special nuke that easily chunks most Pokemon. Psyshock handles Blissey and Slowking-Galar, while Psychic is stronger against most other opponents. Moonblast capitalises on Weavile’s uselessness and dents Tyranitar. I opted for Thunderbolt over Focus Blast because Zeraora’s Close Combat is much more reliable than Focus Miss can ever hope to be.

Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt

The rest of the team struggles against Rillaboom, so I brought on Victini to address it. V-Create does huge damage to everything not named Pelipper. Fortunately, Bolt Strike is an easy way to take care of the ever-present rain teams, especially when accompanied by Rillaboom’s Grassy Glide. U-turn forms a strong momentum core with Zeraora and does surprisingly high chip to fat defensive Pokemon like Slowbro.

Smogon recommends Glaciate, but I ignored this because I don’t need Victini to deal with Ground types. That said, Zen Headbutt hasn’t been particularly helpful — is there a better choice for this slot?

Rillaboom @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn

After getting my ass handed to me a couple times, I realised the team was more than a little weak against Scarfed Urshifu-Rapid. Surging Strikes 2HKOed everything on the team at worst, so I had to bring on Rillaboom to address it. Grassy Glide is greatly appreciated for speed control, while Wood Hammer is used for the pure serotonin I gain from watching Tapu Fini get obliterated from full HP.

Knock Off specifically removes Heavy-Duty Boots from Pokemon like Zapdos and Tornadus-Therian, which leaves them open to Stealth Rock chip later in the game. U-turn helps keep the pressure on people who think they can switch in their Grassy Glide resist for free.

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Main problems

There are a few notable threats to this team, and I’d appreciate some feedback on addressing them.

1. Scarfed Blacephalon lives Grassy Glide, outspeeds +1 Garchomp, and nukes everything after Beast Boost activates. I’m not sure how to safely remove this Pokemon.
2. If Rillaboom gets too heavily chipped, Scarfed Urshifu-Rapid manages to take advantage of my team. Are there any other countermeasures I can use against this?
3. I use Psychic Terrain to protect Zeraora and Grassy Terrain for Grassy Glide. This feels like an unnecessary conflict; should I remove Lele or Rillaboom? If so, how do I address the problems that crop up with that decision?

Thanks in advance for any help! This is easily one of my favourite teams — double Ground HO isn’t a common strategy and it’s super fun to pop the fattest Explosion known to mankind.

Pokepaste

Comments

Though I never played much of Gen 8 OU, Smogon recommends Custap Berry on Explosion Landorus, as Scarf Blacephalon's unboosted Fire Blast puts it in range of it. Would that help take Blacephalon down more reliably?

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Without Normal Gem, I have to use Swords Dance to get the OHKO on Garchomp. Enough Garchomp run Aqua Tail for me to be concerned about this. In other words, using Custap Berry would ease the Blacephalon matchup but make Lando worse at what I'm trying to have it do.

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- Why not BU Zeraora?
- Why Specs Lele and Band Rillaboom? Having Lele to setup terrain to stop priority for Zeraora sounds cool on paper, but much harder in practice. Tapu Lele doesn't have any pivot moves, so you have to rely on a lot of predictions a doubles to get Lele and then Zeraora on the field. Choice locked Pokemon, with certain exceptions, are not usually recommended on a HO. The point is to keep the momentum in your favour, and having Pokemon locked into an unfavourable move isn't great. I understand you have Rillaboom for Urshifu RS and rain, but Grass resists aren't lacking in OU. Besides, what good player would stay on Rillaboom with their Water-type Pokemon? They would just go to Heatran, Zapdos or Ferrothorn. Something like Life Orb Swords Dance with Superpower makes more sense on a HO.
- Victini feels underwhelming from a single glance. A VoltTurn core with Zeraora can look tempting—except you can't pivot forever. This team doesn't have any true defensive backbone whatsoever, having to rely on natural resists to take hits. A HO generally shouldn't try to extend the game, it tries to win sooner by overwhelming the opponent.
- If you're still unsure about the abovementioned, just try to think of it. You sacrifice Landorus-T to set up Stealth Rock, but if you can't even exert enough offensive pressure, they can easily Defog your hazards, or set their own.

I don't think this team can be made better without significantly swapping the team members, but I'll try to answer the questions from a general POV.

> Scarfed Blacephalon lives Grassy Glide, outspeeds +1 Garchomp, and nukes everything after Beast Boost activates. I’m not sure how to safely remove this Pokemon.

Keep Stealth Rock up at all costs. Something like Hawlucha with Terrain up can reliably force it out or KO it. Blacephalon has terrible bulk, so I believe Grassy Glide after two Stealth Rock chips i.e. at 50%~ should KO it as well.

> If Rillaboom gets too heavily chipped, Scarfed Urshifu-Rapid manages to take advantage of my team. Are there any other countermeasures I can use against this?

Try not to give it much opportunities to get in. Of course, that's impossible when Tapu Lele and Victini are food for it, but preserving Garchomp for Rocky Skin and Rillaboom to threaten it out are good options. The previously mentioned Hawlucha does a good job of threatening it too.

> I use Psychic Terrain to protect Zeraora and Grassy Terrain for Grassy Glide. This feels like an unnecessary conflict; should I remove Lele or Rillaboom? If so, how do I address the problems that crop up with that decision?

I don't think that's a real issue. If Zeraora seems like a wincon, you focus on PsyTerrain and vice versa. That said, Tapu Lele is pretty replaceable considering it brings more weaknesses than advantages. Moonblast capitalises on Weavile’s uselessness and dents Tyranitar." Running Tapu Lele to render Weavile "useless" is a stretch because non Banded sets are also very good. Lele can not take hits from Weavile comfortably.

It's also pretty easy for a decent enough player to deduce that the team is HO, because there is no possible defensive Pokemon besides Landorus-T. You also generally lead with it, which gives away even more. Weavile has a fun time exploiting the team, especially as a lead. You can start with Zeraora sure,  but they can go Landorus-T and now you're lagging behind as they get a free opportunity to set up Stealth Rock or U-turn again. Choice Scarfed Kartana also solos this by spamming Knock Off.

I would suggest you to look at the samples to have an idea of how to build an effective HO, which would surely help more than a RMT.

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Adding some of my thoughts onto Tensa's critiques (and remember, my Gen 8 OU knowledge is akin to a toddler's knowledge of nuclear warfare):

This team feels vulnerable to opposing hyper offense teams mostly because I feel like it just can't keep up. You mentioned ScarfCephalon is an issue, but in the same vein, something like +1 Dragonite and Volcarona can be really problematic for your team to review, and grabbing that +1 boost isn't difficult with two Pokemon that can choice lock themselves into resisted attacks. Something like Ice Punch and Earthquake on Dragonite easily covers most of your team, with Earthquake becoming scarier since Ice Punch removes Rillaboom, hence eliminating the Grassy Terrain setter.

I also noticed something very conflicting: you have both Grassy Terrain and a sweeping Garchomp set. Yes, you can use Tapu Lele to get rid of Grassy Terrain so Garchomp can continue spamming Earthquake, but that basically means that you have to preserve Tapu Lele if Rillaboom is still alive, which isn't easy when not having Scarf means the better half of the offensive mons easily outspeed and threaten you (not to mention a core part of your strategy relies on setting PsyTerrain up for Zerarora, meaning Lele's health is even more jeopardised)

Adding onto the previous issue, this team has no endgame pressure other than Garchomp, and even Garchomp can falter against a faster Fairy type as it cannot boost its Speed against it. Even something like Alolan Ninetales can potentially be problematic: it sets up its fast Aurora Veil for its teammates like Arctozolt against basically everything, it blocks Garchomp's Scale Shot, and it threatens Rillaboom locked out of Grassy Glide, Garchomp, and Landorus-T as well as Tapu Lele at low health thanks to its Ice typing. Additionally, let's say you lose Victini to one of the many Ground or Rock attacks flying around, and you're faced with a +1 Volcarona. You're going to have to go out of your way to bring in Garchomp with enough health to live +1 Bug Buzz, KO the Volcarona, then you probably won't have enough health to sweep with Garchomp. If the opponent has a fast Pokemon that tanks Grassy Glide, like Kartana, it's basically over.

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Holy **** lmao. Thanks @Tensa and @BananaBro for the feedback --- I will respond later when I've had a chance to properly read over this.

I guess the short answer is that I'm worse at comp than I thought! We're never making it out of the 1400s with this one let's gooo