#hoopa-unbound

[ask-halflight]

[ask-halflight]

to be continued

[spinoone]

[pokemon-strategy-dex]

Hoppa-Undbound has been banned from OU!

[crystalelemental]

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-oras-ou-suspect-process-round-6-purple-haze.3568442/

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I was so worried.  I was so worried that we’d be done with this generation, but Smogon delivers one last suspect of, of all things, Hoopa-Unbound.  Now, I haven’t been in competitive for a while.  I just haven’t worked up the nerve since getting completely pissed off with Showdown.  But Hoopa-U?  It’s slow and frail as shit.  I get that it hits hard and is basically the ultimate wallbreaker that denies even protect-stall, but I’m just so stunned that it’s considered good enough to be removed.  Well...okay, no I’m not.  I just don’t necessarily agree with the decision.  I’m not as opposed as I have been in ages past, but it still doesn’t quite sit right with me.

[maskedkitsune]

It’s suspect test time

[pokemon-strategy-dex]

Hoopa-Unbound (OU)

Hoopa-Unbound @Life Orb -Psychic -Hyperspace Fury -Gunk Shot -Hidden Power Ice Ability: Magician Nature: Hasty EVs: 160 atk, 96 spatk, 252 spe

Moves: For the first move on this set we’ve got Psychic. Psychic is Hoopa’s strongest Psychic stab move and one of the moves you will likely be spamming. Its best features is ohkoing Mega-Venusaur. The second move on this set is Hyperspace Fury. You will most likely be spamming this move the most as dark is an extremely spam-able type and it is very powerful. Hyperspace Fury also has the additional effect of going through Substitute and Protect making it very good against clerics that rely on Wish. The third move on this set is Gunk Shot. Gunk Shot is a very important coverage move that hits Fairy types that will often try to come in on a Hyperspace Fury. In fact you can even ohko Clefable with this which is amazing. The final move on this set is Hidden Power Ice which is here because it will ohko Defensive Garchomp which is a staple on Hyper Offense. Basically it actually gives Hoopa-U some use against offense other than death-fodder. Now there are several other moves you can run on Hoopa-Unbound that are just as viable as the ones I’ve already listed. One of those moves is Dark Pulse if you are wanting to go more on the special side of things. You can also run Knock Off if you want the utility of the move. Fire Punch is a very popular move on Hoopa as it allows you to take out Ferrothorn and Scizor which are very common pokemon. Drain Punch is also a very common move as it has very good coverage with Hyperspace Fury and Gunk Shot. Finally if you want to go all physical you can run Zen Headbutt instead of Psychic if you so wish however mixed is generally just better. 

Spread: Max speed with a Hasty nature is used so that you are as fast as possible because Hoopa-U needs as much help to its speed as it can get. 96 special attack EVs are used so that you can ohko defensive Venusaur with Psychic. The remaining 160 evs are put into attack and just happen to work out so that you can ohko Clefable with Gunk Shot. Now if you are runing purely Phsyical obviously you will want to go Jolly with max attack investment as you won’t need the special attack EVs. If you go with Dark Pulse then I would recommend adding on some special attack EVs to what this set already has so that your stab moves are stronger however it is not completely necessary. Life Orb is the chosen item as it boosts your damage output without locking you into any move. Magician is the only ability that Hoopa-Unbound gets. 

Team Support/Usage: Hoopa can fit on most balance and offense teams and is best used as an early to mid game wallbreaker. It can even preform well as a lead in some situations. Hoopa-Unbound is incredibly strong, but it is also incredibly frail on the physical side(it is actually quite bulky on the special side by even taking a Latios’s Draco Meteor) and will die to most moves. This coupled with its poor speed make it terrible in matches against offense and is only decent at taking out things like Garchomp and maybe if you can live a special hit weakening something. This in turn is opposite against slower balance teams and stall teams which it can absolutely destroy with its fantastic wall breaking skills and its great coverage. Hoopa-U is best paired up with pokemon that can take advantage of its wallbreaking capabilities such as Mega Gyarados and Mega Charizard who will then set up and sweep the opponents. Hoopa-U also likes to be paired up with slow Volt-turners such as Scizor and Rotom-W as Hoopa-U can’t switch in to most any attacks by itself that isn’t a free switch. Finally pokemon like Keldeo are very nice as they can easily deal with Pursuit trappers that would otherwise give Hoopa-U trouble. 

Thanks everyone for reading! If anyone has any quesitons, comments, concerns, or requests then don’t hesitate to leave me an ask and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!

Source for art: http://icaro382.deviantart.com/art/Hoopa-Unbound-499347986