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0 votes

Hoopa is now officially released to the public, and with every new Pokémon comes a new moveset question! Can't wait to see what movesets you guys come up with!

Hoopa learnset



edited by
Rip ;-;
Rip in pepperoni
That was probably because there was already one for it
Correction: Hoopa-U is OU, Hoopa-C is UU.

7 Answers

5 votes


Hoopa / Hoopa-Unbound is a great Special sweeper with sky-high Sp. Atk and a great Sp. Def to compliment it. It's unique typing also has a great offensive potential. Its useful STABs in Psychic / Psyshock / Hyperspace Hole and Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse, enabling it to check top-tier threats (such as [email protected], Venusaur, Slowbro).

Unfortunately, Hoopa's typing comes with a cost. It is easy to Pursuit trap and is vulnerable to Knock Off, two of which are common moves. Hoopa-Unbound is also weak to Bug-types and Fairy-types, which can pose hinder its ability to perform its role successfully. Although its speed / typing is a big hinderance, Hoopa / Hoopa-Unbound still has the capability to break through walls under certain circumstances.

Here is a set for each form....

[email protected] Orb

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Role: Trick Room Sweeper
Ability: Magician
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 56 Sp. Def
Quiet Nature (+ Sp. Atk, - Speed)

  • Trick Room
  • Hyperspace Hole / Psychic / Psyshock
  • Shadow Ball / Focus Blast
  • Substitute / Shadow Ball


Hoopa doesn't necessarily have the speed to perform a fast sweep, while using Choice Scarf doesn't boost its speed by much and Hoopa is locked into that move (unless if you switch out).

One thing Hoopa is great at is setting up Trick Room. By doing so, it can outspeed threats with a higher speed stat (which Hoopa generally lures in) and easily land the OHKO with its powerful STABs and coverage options.

Hyperspace Hole is good for breaking through Substitutes and bypassing Protect. Psychic is a more powerful alternative, while Psyshock nails Sp. Def walls.

Shadow Ball is great STAB, while Focus Blast deals with Steel-types and Rock-types that can wall this set. Substitute is used only when Hoopa is facing against Sp. Atk sweepers or to take advantage of the switches that Hoopa forces.

Note: I didn't invest 0 IVs in Speed because, when Trick Room is over, it would (theoretically) have beaten the faster targets, leaving only the slower Pokemon left.

[email protected] Orb / Leftovers

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Role: Substitute + Nasty Plot Sweeper
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Timid Nature (- Atk, + Speed)

  • Substitute
  • Nasty Plot
  • Dark Pulse / Focus Blast
  • Hyperspace Hole


Hoopa-Unbound has a usable speed stat and a sky-high Sp. Atk! This enables it to successfully pull of a Substitute + Nasty Plot sweep.

Dark Pulse gets good STAB, while Focus Blast has decent coverage against Steel-types that try to wall it.

Hyperspace Hole is used primarily to break through Subsitute / Protect, although Psychic can be used as a slightly more powerful alternative.

Other Options


Although Hoopa can run a mixed set or even a physical set, Hoopa prefers to abuse its higher Sp. Atk. A Substitute + Calm Mind set can be run, but Hoopa generally doesn't have the bulk or speed to pull it off.


Hoopa-Unbound, unlike its Confined form, can run a physical set successfully. With options like Hyperspace Fury, Gunk Shot, and Focus Punch in its arsenal, it can break through tanks / walls. This set also prefers Substitute in order for it to set up Focus Punch.
Hoopa-Unbound can also run a Trick Room set with Hyper Space Fury / Brick Break / Gunk Shot, although Hoopa is more successful in performing a Trick Room set.



Note: Update is needed for the tier change.

Dark-types / Ghost-types Confined Hoopa is extremely vulnerable to dark and ghost-type moves, making it vulnerable to Knock Off and Shadow Ball spam.

Pursuit Trappers Hoopa's typing is once again its major flaw. Because of Pyschic / Ghost dual typing, many Pokemon, such as Tyranitar, Bisharp, and Scizor, are able to Pursuit trap Hoopa, which leaves it unable to switch out and completely vulnerable.

Sp. Def Walls / Tanks Sp. Def walls, such as Chansey, can wall Hoopa if it isn't carrying Focus Blast / Psyshock.

Faster Sweepers If Hoopa isn't played correctly and doesn't set up Trick Room, faster Ghost-type sweepers, such as Gengar, can OHKO Hoopa with its STABs. Slower Pokemon that also take advantage of Trick Room can also threaten Hoopa.


Bug-types Hoopa-Unbound faces similar problems, except it has a 4x weakness to Bug-types. This makes it vulnerable to U-turn and Bug-types in general (one such example is Scizor).

Fairy-types Hoopa-Unbound also has a 2x weakness to Fairy-types, which is especially bad because of the rise of Fairy-types. This means that Fairy-types, like Clefable, can pose a threat to Hoopa-Unbound.

edited by
Just fixing some things up :P
What did you change? I can't tell :/
1 vote

Guys, you forgot about how much power choice sets can dish out!

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[email protected] Band
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature

-Hyperspace fury/Knock off
-Gunk Shot
-Drain Punch
-Zen Headbutt

This is the sole reason as to why stall is on the decline. Sitting at a nice base 80 speed, Hoopa-Unbound can outspeed any stall Pokemon with ease. Its monstrous attack stat with a choice band 2hko's most Pokemon.
Some Calcs:
252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-U Hyperspace Fury vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 415-490 (58.9 - 69.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-U Hyperspace Fury vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 138-162 (35 - 41.1%) -- 71.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-U Hyperspace Fury vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 178-211 (53.2 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-U Hyperspace Fury vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Sableye: 195-229 (64.1 - 75.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Alternatively, knock off can be used for more utility and a little less power (97.5 vs 100) and no defense drop. Gunk Shot can be used to cover fairies, but who needs that. Drain Punch and Zen Headbutt round off the coverage, allowing Hoopa-Unbound to hit anything at least neutrally.
EVs yield maximum power and speed, with a choice between +Atk or +Spe nature. I'd suggest +Spe because you're killing everything anyways.

As for glaring weaknesses, the 4X bug weakness and low defense stat screams Scizor. With bullet punch and u-turn, (mega) scizor is a hard check to hoopa unbound. Other checks include anything that outspeeds or has priority. This includes Pokemon like azumarill, mega lopunny, dragonite, etc.

Did I mention that this thing has ZERO counters?

edited by
Which calculator are these calcs coming from? From my calculator (https://pokemonshowdown.com/damagecalc/):




huh, i guess my calc is broken

i'll edit that
Dude, Hoopa just became available in Australia and I was actually thinking of running this exact set before I saw this post. You read my mind.
1 vote

My competitive Hoopa Unbound set
Item: iron ball
Nature: Atk+, SPD-
EVs: 252HP, 100ATK, 100DEF, 52sp.DEF
-hyperspace fury
-trick room
-fire punch

Explanation: the combo makes use of its magician ability, the idea is to use hoopa U's natural fear factor to force a swap, in which you set up the trick room, then you use fling to send the iron ball at them dealing a large chunk of damage, which activates the magician ability to steal their item, if you don't like the item you steal then you can fling it back at them to inflict damage, this strategy is extremely good for removing any bulky Pokemon of their leftovers or taking the bite out of any choice users by removing their items, hyperspace fury is it's main STAB but can be replaced by Zen headbutt if you don't want to deal with that one stage defense drop, the fire punch is for coverage to deal with any bug types that decide to swap in, the trick room is to take advantage of hoopa's naturally low speed to allow it to steal an item quickly, it also can act as a good utility for assisting your slower Pokemon to move first.

0 votes

I have an idea...

Hoopa-Unbound @Life Orb
Trait: Magician
Hasty Nature
EVs: 156 SpA, 252 Spe, 100 Atk
- Hyperspace Fury; Obviously
- Hidden Power Fire; For covering Bug weakness
- Psyshock; STAB
- Thunderbolt/Shadow ball; Coverage

edited by
Hyperspace Fury is physical, might wanna change the Timid nature for that.
Hyperspace Fury is Special...
On Showdown, it says that Hyperspace Fury is Physical, but on here, it says that it is Special.
Hyperspace fury is Physical. Hyperspace Hole is special
Hyperspace Fury is physical. I checked on my own Hoopa and it  is indeed Physical.
Crap (filler)
Oh, another thing, might as well run Fire Punch over HP Fire if you're going mixed
0 votes

I've used this set on Showdown! and in-game extensively with Sticky Web support, and it is amazing.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Substitute
- Focus Punch / Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Hyperspace Fury

Hoopa-U is a threatening beast that's sure to force a lot of switches. So why not take advantage of those switches to set up Substitute?

It can set on loads of stuff in OU, including but not limited to: Chansey, Bulky Heatran trying to Will-o-Wisp or Stealth Rock, Bulky Rotom-W trying to Will-o-Wisp or Volt Switch, unboosted Suicune, virtually anything Ferrothorn does, etc. Its natural special bulk allows its Substitute to tank some weak special hits.

Focus Punch works like a charm with Substitute, breaking bulky mons like Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Chansey. In addition, it hits after Skarmory uses Roost, hitting it super-effectively and allowing you to KO next turn with Hyperspace Fury. You can run Drain Punch if you're not about that riskiness, but the power loss is noticeable. Like, really noticeable. (Personal opinion: Drain Punch isn't really worth it.)

Gunk Shot is excellent coverage against Fairies, and is overall just a really good move to use if you don't want your defense dropped. The accuracy kinda sucks, but it's a necessary evil for the benefits it provides.

Last, but definitely not least, Hyperspace Fury. This move is ridiculous. It breaks through Substitutes and Protect, taking care of SubSD Gliscor and any wall that tries to Protect. If you're not too worried about the Defense drop, it's a fairly spammable move.

All in all, this Hoopa set is high risk, extremely high reward. If any of you would like, I can post a few replays on this answer that display its might.

edited by
0 votes

Unbound Form

Hoopa-Unbound @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Punch
- Brick Break

Confined Form

Hoopa @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Psybeam
- Nasty Plot
- Safeguard

Any reason for Psybeam over Psychic / Psyshock?
@Radiocool21 Confusion. Just trying to be a bit different.
Ah. Whatever works for you.
0 votes

Defensive Hoopa-U

Hoopa-U @ Leftovers
Ability: Magician
Relaxed Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Dark Pulse
- Zen Headbutt

ayy lmao paraflinch shenanigans