Balanced Hackmons XY

[Adrian Marin]

Balanced Hackmons, usually referred to as BH is a very interesting tier where any ability or move is allowed on any Pokemon. Naturally, as suggested by the word 'balanced in the title, there are a small handful of bans placed on the Pokemon, moves, and abilities in the tier, these being Huge Power, Pure Power, Wonder Guard, Arena Trap, Shadow Tag, and OHKO moves. With these bans in place to differentiate the tier from regular Hackmons, Balanced Hackmons is a very diverse and rapidly changing metagame with creativity is at its finest. Despite the almost infinite possibilities allowed in the tier, the metagame is very stable overall, with some sets and Pokemon valued more highly than others.

Pro Tips:

- Always carry a Magic Bounce Pokemon.
- Always have a Rapid Spin / Defog user.
- Aromatherapy is good especially on Magic Bounce Pokemon, use it.
- Imposter Chansey is extremely threatening, you must be able to counter your own pokemon, this can be done by taking advantage of differences your own pokemon has with the imposter, such as status, and even items like Judgment w/ plates
- Always be able to counter your own Pokemon
- If you are having sweeper problems, use an Unaware (Cresselia) or a revenge killer (Fridge Kyu-B) or a Prankster Topsy Turvy/Destiny Bond Pokemon
- Using recovery on every Pokemon you can afford to is generally a good idea.
- Carrying a Poison Heal or Magic Guard Pokemon with a status orb helps tremendously against Spore/Dark Void based stratagies
- Arceus can be disguised as any form the player chooses, but is only really a different type if it has Multitype+Plate
- Perish Song is extremely helpful. It can force out nearly any Pokemon and is certain death for ingrained or last Pokemon
- Mail is useful on certain Pokemon because it can't be tricked away.
-Your team should have at least one Shedinja check, whether in the form of weather (Although Shedinja can be immune to weather with Safety Goggles), rocky helmet, or entry hazards. Remember that Shedinja can abuse U-turn, Baton Pass, and Volt Switch.
- Always be prepared for Poison Heal Regigigas, it's advisable to use a Magic Bouncer/Orb user that is resistant to Facade with Entrainment (if using Magic Bounce)/Worry Seed/Simple Beam/Gastro Acid to stop it from sweeping your team.

A lot of this was directly quoted from the official BH guide that my friends and I made.

Guides to BH:


Paranoid Stall Guide:


What is "Paranoid Stalling"?

Paranoid Stalling is exclusive only to BH, all Paranoid Stalling teams must carry an Imposter, and multiple volt-turners. the strategy in using this type of stall is rather simple: You need to scout before you act!

How to Paranoid Stall?:

- Never switch your status orb Pokemon in by normal means unless you know it's safe, this is because of Knock Off's prevalence, the orb must be activated safely through volt-turn.
- Always carry a Defog Pokemon, preferably a Magic Bouncer or a defensive status orb user.
- All stall teams need a good defensive structure, the paranoid stalling structure tries to counter: PH Regigigas, Aerilate Flying types, Refrigerate Ice Types, Pixilate Fairy Types, Water Spout Palkia, Eruption Reshiram, Contrary Sweepers, Imposter, Judgment Plate Pokemon.
- Don't just blindly switch Imposter against a steel type, first make sure the said steel type doesn't have Magnet Pull!
- Status Orb users often have status moves such as Spore, Dark Void, and Nuzzle and often have Knock Off, be prepared!

Fantastic Paranoid Stalling cores this generation:

Sample Core:

Purpose of this set: Anti Palkia, Reshiram, Boombursters without physical moves.

Kyogre @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Sassy Nature
- Nuzzle
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Dragon Tail

Purpose of this set: Anti-Gigas, beaten by Regigigas with Sacred Fire/Low Kick

Registeel @ Mail
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: null Atk
- Parting Shot
- Aromatherapy
- Heal Order
- Entrainment

Purpose of this set: One of the best Anti-Gigas counters lacking Crunch

Giratina @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Bold Nature
- Heal Order
- Defog
- Knock Off
- Whirlwind

Sample Core 2:

Purpose of this set: Good Anti-Gigas lacking Sacred Fire, Knock Off/Crunch and Earthquake

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Parting Shot
- Heal Order

Purpose of this set: Good Anti-Gigas lacking Earthquake, Knock Off/Crunch, Low Kick

Tyranitar-Mega @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Circle Throw
- Dark Void

Purpose of this set: Very good counter to spooky plate Judgment sweepers and many variants of Mewtwo-X

Yveltal @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Careful Nature
- Low Kick
- Nuzzle
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Purpose of this set: Very good anti-Boomburst Pokemon and Palkia/Reshiram counter, Mega Gyarados, however, cannot defeat Boomburst Xerneas.

Kyogre/Mega Gyarados @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Relaxed Nature
- Nuzzle
- Scald/Knock Off
- Volt Switch/U-Turn
- Dragon Tail/Circle Throw


Using the right lead for a Paranoid Stall team:


Sample sets:

Purpose of this set: Can KO Deoxys-S leads easily through Fake Out + ExtremeSpeed and also revenge kill very efficiently

Kyurem-Black @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- ExtremeSpeed
- Stealth Rock
- Roost

Purpose of this set: Can Taunt standard Deoxys-S leads and stop sweeps with its support moves

Xerneas @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Moonblast
- Heal Order

Scizor-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heal Order
- U-turn
- Meteor Mash/Dragon Tail


Example Replay against a high level player, ensuring victory through PP stalling: replay.pokemonshowdown.com/balancedhackmons-70282598

Conclusion:

I hope you enjoy the incredibly slow, fun, and effective variant of stall, Paranoid Stalling!

[Naminé]

Nice job,

I also think Voltabsorb or Lightingrod are good because of all the nuzzle users.
Also electrify with lightingrod can be good.
Boomburst is also really good with refridgerate, pixelerate and just as a special move.

I like your guade and it really works.

[Adrian Marin]

In BH, Mega Pokemon can be used by themselves and do not require stones. Also, I only made a guide to stall so Regigigas, Ursaring (Why use Ursaring when you have Slaking Regigigas though?) Arceus has a few good defensive sets, Groudon has no true defensive purpose atm . i'm gonna continue working on adding sets once the entire BH Guide Committee works on a new guide.

[Present]

Adrian helped me make a team, and we came up with this Arceus set:

Arceus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Whirlwind
- Boomburst
- Slack Off
- Earth Power

It is a good counter to a lot of Physical treats and is able to do a respectable amount of damage to opponents. It does especially well vs Ghost-type Judgement Pokémon and unlike Dark-types, takes no damage at all. Rocky Helmet is there to do just that bit of extra damage vs Knock Off users.

[Adrian Marin]

Mold Breaker clones are usually not ideal for Paranoid Stall teams because it's a little risky in general, PH Shuckle is honestly not ideal, sure it has good bulk but its typing isn't that great and it's also outsped by everything. Heatran, however, is quite good with Levitate this gen, Refrigerate, Pixilate and Aerilate are what Levitate Heatran walls and it walls them better than most counters. That said, Levitate Heatran usually cannot fit in a Paranoid Stall team because a Paranoid Stall Team cannot have too many dedicated counters or else other sweepers will destroy it.

EDIT: To be honest, the BH Guide Committee is working on making a new guide, it will feature more playstyles including offensive ones. Also, Multiscale is sadly not good in BH courtesy of hazards and a lack of things to wall in many occasions.