Hoopa Unbound

Hoopa, The Djinn Pokémon. In its true form, it possess a huge amount of power. Legends of its avarice tell how it once carried off an entire castle to gain the treasure hidden within. It is said to be able to seize anything it desires with its six rings and six huge arms.

Overview

Hoopa is an interesting pokemon that could be described as a Pandora’s Box: You’ll never know what is inside until you see it. For starters, Hoopa has a much more powerful alternate forme known was Hoopa Unbound which grants him a huge offensive potential as a wallbreaker. Hoopa-U’s humongous offensive stats combined with a great offensive typing and movepool allows him to punch hole on teams. It’s high Special Defense stat also allowa Hoopa-U to take some powerful Special Attacks from the likes of Mega Manectric or Gengar. On the other hand, Hoopa has a low Speed stat which means that both formed will be outpaced by other opposition like Mega Charizard X and a crippling Defense stat which will simply force out Hoopa every time it meets a faster physical attacker. Also, both Hoopa forms have a terrible defensive typing granting very few resistances to switch in and crippling x4 weaknesses to Ghost (regular) and Bug (Unbound). Lastly, it should be noted that regular Hoopa is completely inferior to Unbound and hardly one can justify a niche to use it over Unbound.

Positives · Psychic/Dark is a great offensive combination that allows Hoopa to spam powerful STAB moves like Hyperspace Fury which has very few resistances.
· Base 160 Atk and 170 SpA grants Hoopa-Unbound a humongous offensive potential with access to coverage moves like Focus Blast, Gunk Shot, Thunderbolt, Fire Punch and Drain Punch.
· A base 130 SpD means that Hoopa-Unbound, if required, can switch into some Special Attacks and soft-check certain Pokemon like Latios.

Negatives
· Base 60 Def is a very mediocre stat which means that Hoopa-Unbound will be easily exploitable by strong physical attackers like Weavile and Mega Scizor.
· Psychic/Dark is a mediocre defensive typing that only grants an immunity to Psychic. This greatly limits Hoopa-U’s switching opportunities which is something detrimental for a wallbreaker.
· A low base 80 Speed means that Hoopa-Unbound will not be able to outspeed many pokemon and leaves it at the mercy of a number of faster offensive threats such as Greninja and Tapu Koko.
· A terrible x4 weakness to Bug makes it prey of U-turn, a common move found in most pokemon like Scizor, Jirachi and Tapu Koko and forces Hoopa-Unbound to give momentum to the opponent 100% of the time.

Abilities

Magician: The Pokémon steals the held item of a Pokémon it hits with a move. - Not the best ability, but can be fun when used with berries

Movesets

Things will get a little nasty over here

- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Focus Blast
Item Attached: Fightinium Z / Darkinium Z
Ability: Magician
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Hoopa Unbound’s fantastic Special Attack combined with Nasty Plot allows it to attain staggering power levels and overwhelm most of its slower checks with the right move after setting up. Dark Pulse is a strong, reliable STAB move with a 20% chance of flinching slower pokemon and with very few resistances; overall providing fantastic neutral coverage. When boosted by its Z-Crystal, it becomes a Black Hole Eclipse which will easily nuke anything that stands on Hoopa-U’s way. Psychic is a secondary solid STAB that allows Hoopa-Unbound to destroy opponents such as Keldeo and Toxapex. Psyshock could be used alternatively, but only if Hoopa-U uses a Darkinium-Z as the item of choice as otherwise, it risks on being walled to death by Chansey and Magearna. Focus Blast grants Hoopa-U almost perfect coverage on its moves and it allows to destroy Tyranitar. Also, after a Nasty Plot boost, it lets Hoopa-U use a boosted All-Out Pummeling to overwhelm pokemon like Magearna and Chansey if needed.

252 Special Attack and Speed EVs maximize Hoopa-U's attacking power and allow it to outspeed key threats such as Tapu Bulu, and Gliscor.

A Timid nature is the required nature because Hoopa-Unbound is already a strong wallbreaker and it appreciates much more the possibility being able to outspeed more key threats such as Heatran.

Gilgamesh

- Hyperspace Fury
- Gunk Shot
- Fire Punch / Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Magician
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Hoopa-Unbound makes the most of its excellent base 160 Base Atk with a Choice Band set that allows it to spam a powerful Hyperspace Fury which will 2HKO anything that doesn’t resist the move. Pokemon like Mega Sableye and Skarmory will fall like flies just by switching into the move. Gunk Shot allows Hoopa-U to destroy Tangrowth and Tapu Fini. Fire Punch let’s Hoopa-U destroy Ferrothorn and Scizor while on the other hand, Drain Punch deals with Tyranitar who would otherwise wall this set. Zen Headbutt is used on the last slot as a secondary STAB to destroy Mega Venusaur and Toxapex.

Maximum Speed and Attack investment lets Hoopa-U hit as hard as possible with its hard-hitting physical moves such as Hyperspace Fury.

A Jolly nature is the required nature because Hoopa-Unbound is already a strong wallbreaker and it appreciates much more the possibility being able to outspeed more key threats such as Heatran.

Special order

- Dark Pulse
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Trick
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs and Nature:
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Hoopa Unbound’s fantastic Special Attack combined with the raw power of a Choice Specs allows its to hit insanely hard due to its phenomenal Special Attack stat and coverage. Dark Pulse is a strong, reliable STAB move with a 20% chance of flinching slower pokemon and with very few resistances; overall providing fantastic neutral coverage. Psyshock is the preferred secondary STAB on this set as it allows it to destroy Pokemon like Chansey and Volcarona preying on their weaker Defense stat. Finally, Trick can be used on the last slot to cripple defensive pokemon such as Chansey while Thunderbolt can be used to destroy Mandibuzz, a Pokemon that would otherwise wall this set. It also has the bonus of adding coverage and hit Tapu Fini harder.

252 Special Attack and Speed EVs maximize Hoopa-U's attacking power and allows it to outspeed key threats such as Tapu Bulu, and Gliscor.

A Timid nature is the required nature because Hoopa-Unbound is already a strong wallbreaker and it appreciates much more the possibility being able to outspeed more key threats such as Heatran.

Other Options

· Hoopa-Unbound could make use of a Choice Scarf set to outspeed more relevant threats, however, even with a Choice Scarf Hoopa-U still finds itself outpaced by Pokemon like Mega Lopunny.
· Snatch and Trick are options on the Z-Nasty Plot set allowing Hoopa-U to gain a +2 boost on Speed if not used on its attacks.

VGC, & Double Battle Options

With incredibly unique moves, Hoopa-Unbound serves as a strong powerhouse for the doubles format. Nothing can evade its attack primary attacks since they break right past Protect. If you see Hoopa-Unbound, it is sure to wreak havoc.

Tricky Bypasses

-Trick Room
-Hyperspace Fury
-Hyperspace Hole
-Protect
Item Attached: Misty Seed / Psychic Seed / Sitrus Berry / Iapapa Berry
Ability: Magician
EVs and Nature:
188 HP / 224 Atk / 96 Def
IV: Spe 0
Brave Nature

Whenever the coast is clear, the use of Trick Room aids Hoopa-Unbound by turning its undesired speed stat into an asset. Hyperspace Fury provides a powerful physical attack that is only further augmented by its incredible attack stat, and the beauty of this move it that it bypasses Protect. Sadly, it drops your defenses by one stage, so use at your own discretion. Hyperspace Hole also serves great utility at bypassing Protect, and it has no further drawback. In fact, it is preferred in some cases as it is also not affected by Intimidate. Protect is self-explanatory, it eases safeguards your Pokemon while easing prediction. Misty Seed or Psychic Seed can be considered instead, depending which Tapu you have chosen as an ally. Sitrus Berry or Iapapa Berry off healing options. Magician can kick once its item is consumed and steal the opponent’s item when possible.

Other Options & Team Ideas

- Gunk Shot deters fairies from freely switching in. In can be used instead of Hyperspace Hole, or you can designate the roll of Trick Room setter to a different team mate to focus solely on offense. - Knock Off is an inferior option for Hoopa Unbound, but if you want to include it still serves plenty of utility at crippling opponents that heavily rely on their held item. - Life Orb increases power of all offensive moves at expense of some recoil. - Hoopa Unbound appreciates the redirecting talents of Amoongus or an ally that can use Fake Out to ease its set up of Trick Room.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in Game

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in Game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in Game

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in Game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in Game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in Game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in Game

Black/White:
Not in Game

Black 2/White 2:
Not in Game

X/Y:
Event Only

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Event Only

Sun/Moon:
Event Only

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Event Only