All Gens Underrated Sets

shiloh

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oras stuff :O

i didnt actually play this spl but i ended up making most of the oras squads for chill so ill post some of the fun mons / sets i came up with and wanted him to use


Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpD / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

bit of an odd zor spread because you are running a +def nature w/ no def evs but its probably one of the better ones to use atm. the speed is to hit modest specs zone to escape the trap w/ enough spdef to avoid the 2hko from megazams focus blast after rocks. other moves are standard so you can escape zone w/ u-turn and sd up late game. it works great bc a lot of zone teams only really use zone as the zor answer making it fairly easy to win late game once you get some hazards up. this set works best on teams that rely zor as the only dragon check since drag / mag is an issue that other zor teams would have trouble against.


Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk

we ended up going w/ a diff cress set in game, but i feel this set is a lot better at doing what we wanted it to do vs gtm. cress is prob the best megacham check w/ sableye gone since not a lot can beat it atm. this spread works great w/ dug so you can trap ttar / bisharp and then go for a late game cleanup.


Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 228 Atk / 28 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

sees a lot more usage in sm / bw, but i think hp ice is still really good in oras esp on scarf sets so you can win the lando mirror. this allows you to free up things like ice punch on meta as well as lets you check garchomp & lando better. the last coverage move is pretty up in the air anyway between knock / boom so i think ice is a good fit on some teams.


Scolipede @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Endeavor
- Toxic Spikes
- Megahorn

chill never actually used a team w/ this on it even tho i had a lot of fun testing / building with it. hazards are super fun to play w/ in oras and w/ sableye banned its really nice vs defensive teams since the only good magic bouncer is diancie. you can usually guarantee 1 hazard + endeavor or both hazards which is really nice vs both offensive and defensive teams. pairing it with things like bisharp / gengar to take advantage of hazard removal is also really nice. nobody really uses tspikes / grounded poisons aside from megavenu so it isnt hard to keep up your layers.

overall i had a lot of fun building in oras & didnt really use to much weird shit so here you go n_n
 

panamaxis

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Togekiss @ Charti Berry / lum berry
Ability: Serene Grace
Modest
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
- Air Slash
- Fire Blast
- Aura Sphere
- Body Slam / Twave

DPP lead that can 1v1 quite a few things. charti berry means you can safely stay in on lead aero/ttar to fish for a para / nuke it respectively, as well as never being OHKOed by random CB ape / cb gyara leads, but lum is great for stuff like rade / azelf / uxie / jirachi because you can pretty reliably stay in to scout without being destroyed from getting paraed (or slept). Body slam gives it a shot at denying SR to taunt leads, but twave is also good for the guaranteed para. The other nice thing about leading with a non-lefties togekiss is you can potentially bluff scarf. If you don't want to take your chances with ttar, you can drop a little speed for more bulk and then safely run lum since you will always survive stuff like lead aero SE and CB ape SE with a little more HP or def investment.
 

Century Express

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ORAS


Landorus-Therian @ Normal Gem
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: EVs: 24 HP / 236 Atk / 16 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

I don't know if anyone posted this set here before, but it's amazing to pair it with something like Mega Lopunny / Metagross / Pinsir. The main reason to use Explosion is to bait Rotom-Wash, but i felt that Explosion without SD is kinda pivoted too easily (especially vs. Lando-T dittos), and that's where SD + Boom kicks in. You get a clean OHKO before the opposing Lando-T's U-Turn (or Stealth Rock), and you get an amazing threat factor vs. some defensive-inclined stuff like Alomomola / Slowbro / Tangrowth / Suicune. Spread minimizes rolls from Mega Lopunny's Ice Punch, Mega Aero's Ice Fang, Latias' Draco Meteor and Timid Garde's Hyper Voice (without rocks), and HP + Def spread avoids the OHKO from +1 Dragonite | +2 non-LO Excadrill (after SR damage). I prefer Jolly over Adamant so you can outpace Excadrill, Adamant Medicham | Garde, giving him a better consistency before setupping Swords Dance vs. offensive teams.


Jirachi @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 112 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
- Iron Head
- Icy Wind
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Nothing special, just a good all-around Rachi capable of baiting Lando-T without losing her duties checking Fairies / Latis, and Energy Ball is definitively the most unorthodox choice, but think of scenarios vs. Balanced / Bulky offense where Rotom-W or Hippowdon are trying to pivot out your ass. It's obviously a deadweight vs. Heatran, so it's a wise idea to pair it with something capable of keeping the offensive momentum (Keldeo, Rotom-W), or something designed to break defensive cores featuring Tran as the conventional Fairy-resist / Dragon-resist (think of Specs Surf Latios, Mega Diancie, Mega Gardevoir, Mixed Altaria). Speed helps vs. Adamant Gyarados / Dragonite / Heracross, and although Modest + Iron Head sounds redundant a f, but both defenses are important for Rachi, because without Lefties you can't switch-in everyday vs. Mega Diancie and Kyu-B, but you can actually give the luxury of a slighty weaker Iron Head.


Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 64 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off

Extra SpD over Slowbro helps Slowking checking CM Clefable, and unlike CM, with Nasty Plot you can play more agressively around Amoonguss. It's a fun option if you want a good role compression (soft checks Latis; Keld hard counter, and helps with opposing bulky set-up mons in Balanced teams), although losing bulk vs. Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny sucks a lot. SpD avoids the 2HKO from Latios' DM, and Tornadus-T's Hurricane after SR damage.
 
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Deleted User 108547

Banned deucer.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Def / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot

My favourite Infernape's version. In the Smogon website is proposed a similar version, but with significant less power since the above version runs modest nature. With 192 EVs on speed reaches 300 speed, enough to pass neutral nature 100 base. The remaining EVs are moved to physical defense in order to get a little bulk and get less damage for the most common priority moves (mainly mach punch, fake out, extremespeed). Some calcs of his raw power:

Fire Blast
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Swampert: 249-294 (61.6 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Suicune: 211-249 (52.2 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Blissey: 370-436 (51.8 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 156 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 238-281 (64.3 - 75.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 238-281 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Starmie: 273-321 (84.2 - 99%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 144 HP / 40 SpD Kingdra: 119-140 (36.3 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Flygon: 285-336 (94.6 - 111.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Grass Knot
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Grass Knot (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Suicune: 472-556 (116.8 - 137.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 156 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 318-375 (85.9 - 101.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Starmie: 486-572 (150 - 176.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Grass Knot (100 BP) vs. 144 HP / 40 SpD Kingdra: 266-313 (81.3 - 95.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Vacuum Wave
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Vacuum Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 302-356 (93.4 - 110.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Infernape Vacuum Wave vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 640-756 (187.1 - 221%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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Jorgen

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GSC:
Hitmonlee @ Quick Claw
-substitute
-reversal
-endure
-hidden power ghost

hitmonlee learns reversal by level up so it can legally be traded back to rby for substitute & still have access to the move. endure gives it added flexibility in achieving 1hp. hidden powers are for messing with reversal resistors - ghost hits ghosts which are immune & therefore the biggest hurdle, but with pursuit support I could see bug (exeggutor) or even flying (heracross) being useful.

the real funny thing (which endrev heracross can do too fyi) is quick claw. did a weakened zapdos switch into your reversal knowing you can't crit & expecting to outspeed & rest up next turn? quick claw gives you a 23% shot of ruining its day.
 
Here's some ADV stuff I used in Cup, nothing too wild


Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunder
- Toxic
- Rain Dance
- Rest

I believe this is an Ojama set but I'm posting it here because I think it's pretty cool and I used it in both my ADV Cup finals sets. Its spread / coverage basically means it plays just like a standard SpD Zap does but Thunder gives it roughly the same power as offensive sets using Thunderbolt (0 SpA Zapdos Thunder vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gengar: 198-234 (75.8 - 89.6%) vs 176+ SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gengar: 199-235 (76.2 - 90%)). This makes Zap much harder to deal with for offensive teams using mons like Regice / Snorlax as primary checks; Zap will simply outlast them or force boom in many cases. Rain Dance is the other major boon of this set; clearing sand can very helpful for many mons (ie Heracross / Curselax) and neuters hazardless sand offenses once TTar goes down. Additionally, it gives Thunder much more reliability. Dugtrio is probably the best partner for this set since it traps TTar and annoying Natural Cure mons (Celebi / Bliss).


Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 56 Def / 136 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Explosion

Neither of these "innovations" are particularly new but they're never really mentioned anywhere, despite seeing tour usage. I made this CBGross spread for teams that need a reliable DDTar switch in and don't need Gross to pressure waters / Skarm as much as it usually does (Mag + Cloy, Starmie offenses forgoing Pert, etc). It lives +1 EQ from TTar after 1 layer of Spikes, outspeeds most TTar at +0, and OHKOs all TTar, making it a reliable offensive TTar check that still performs its standard roles (pressures Curselax / Bliss, no great switch ins, etc). HP [Bug] is good on CBGross in general, since it makes it a good Celebi check (without it, Gross must boom / fish for attack raises to beat Defensive Leech Bi). Gross also doesn't lose much by choosing to run it, since Rock Slide only has 1 real target in Zapdos.


Claydol @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 224 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Psychic
- Refresh
- Rapid Spin

I think Claydol is pretty shit in general, but if it's being used defensively, this should be the go-to set (if I'm gonna use Mag to support it I'd rather toss on Pursuit TTar and use Donphan instead). The combo of Psy / Refresh lets Claydol beat the common core of Skarm + Gar, making it the single most reliable counter to Skarmory. Yeah, Clay loses Ice Beam (for Mence) or Boom (general utility) but I think it's well worth it since now it can at least beat 1 of the 3 major hazard setters consistently.


Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 16 HP / 84 Atk / 120 Def / 112 SpA / 176 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Dragon Dance

This set does a number of things compared to standard DD / Mix TTar. Firstly, it pressures / lures both Skarm and Pert more than any other DD set; once DD is revealed, neither FBlast or HP [Grass] are really expected and both 2HKO their respective targets on the switch. Conversely, once revealed as MixTar, DD is unexpected and people will fail to respect it as an potential option. Both these qualities make this TTar a great Aero partner, allowing it to lure and weaken most of Aero's potential checks. Basically takes the offense usefulness of both Mix and DD at the cost of defensive utility (less SpD, no Pursuit / HP Bug).


Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
252 HP / 224 SpA / 32 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Toxic

Toxic allows Suicune to check opposing RoarCune when you can't afford losing bulk / SpA to creep enough to beat it with your own RoarCune. It also forces Bliss to lower HP than standard offensive CM for Dug traps on CM spam teams. It's a really niche pick but some teams want it.

other stuff: wish mixmence, toxtect SpD jirachi
 

Finchinator

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OU Leader
I'll start with some of my own sets and techs, but then I will also add in some unconventional things that I did not create myself, but I have used recently.


Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 152 Def / 100 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Superpower / Toxic / Stealth Rock
- Protect

Sadly, I did not get to break this bad-boy out in WCOP as Heist was the only opponent of mine who frequented Excadrill, none of my opponents consistently used heavy physical offensive teams, and I had many other ideas, but I have used this set on numerous other teams in various tournaments and I feel like it makes use of Landorus-Therian's niche in the tier in a fashion that has not fully been looked-into in the past. Inspired by the SM OU set, this Landorus-Therian is meant to have an extra layer of longevity in order for it to hang around and check numerous things. The first thing that came up that really provoked me coming up with this in BW was the presence of Excadrill and how much of a threat it posed to normal bulky-offensive Sand teams. Obviously, you can defensively check it with Skarmory, but this is not a full-stop if it is Sand Force or you are Taunt and lack Rocky Helmet as it just continuously Spins on you and you do not make any progress, or you can pivot in once or twice with normal Landorus-Therian sets, especially if it has Rocky Helmet on the SR set (which is rightfully seeing more usage as of late), but this set sort of takes advantage of how common Air Balloon is when you use Superpower, as it picks it off for a guaranteed kill, and keeps Landorus-Therian alive for obnoxiously long periods of time. Personally, I pair it with a Toxic variant of Heatran or Tyranitar fairly often, but it can also make use of Toxic in that Superpower slot if you are willing to break the Balloon of Excadrill with Hidden Power Ice or something else like a normal Landorus-Therian would and you do not mind being incapable of OHKOing non-Chople Tyranitar. Overall, the combination of Protect, Sandstream, Toxic damage, and hazards is really irksome to pretty much anything that normally combats Landorus-Therian besides Skarmory, which you obviously have to heavily account for with your remaining team members, and I feel this set fits incredibly well on to your generic Sand builds. It is worth noting that, assuming you bypass Stealth Rock in the third slot, you do need another Stealth Rock user. However, Tyranitar often fits onto these type of teams as a Stealth Rock user and, of course, there are countless other options such as Heatran, Garchomp, Jirachi, etc. Finally, the EV spread assures that you OHKO Excadrill with Superpower while giving you the ability to outrun Jolly Breloom, but you can opt to run a more defensive spread that takes out of speed EVs if you find outrunning Breloom to not be important on your team (i.e: if you have a Sleep Talk Amoonguss on your team).

4 Atk Landorus-Therian Superpower vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Excadrill: 362-426 (100 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 Atk Landorus-Therian Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 440-520 (108.9 - 128.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 276-326 (80.9 - 95.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO



Tyranitar @ Passho Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Atk / 72 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Fire Blast / Ice Beam / Superpower / Toxic / etc.
- Pursuit

Honestly, there are a million moveset combinations and EV spreads for this set and Tyranitar in general. I personally used this spread on a fair amount of my non-Chople Stealth Rock Tyranitar and I will show calculations later on to elaborate on this matter, but I did initially make this spread for Passho Berry Tyranitar, so I guess it is best to showcase for the time being. The main purpose of posting the set is to simply raise awareness of Passho Berry Tyranitar in BW to begin with though. It is incredibly useful given the amount of Water moves being thrown around and I find it being consumed as much as Chople Berry, if not more, but it obviously is aimed towards a totally different base of Pokemon (i.e: Chople Berry is ideal for Alakazam, Reuniclus, sometimes Hydreigon, etc. whereas Passho Berry is ideal for Latios, Politoed, Starmie, etc.). I am pretty sure I discussed this set with zf, dice, and a few members of team Central ever since BW Cup started and I thought it up. I believe it has seen a small handful of uses since then, but I feel it is much better than that amount of usage might make it seem and it should actually be among the more common items on Tyranitar alongside Chople (definitely find myself using it more than Lum and Shuca while novelty items like Custap, Expert Belt, and Sitrus that you see once in a blue moon on Stealth Rock Tyranitar are not even in the same discussion). Overall, it is most important for having an easy switch-in to Specs Latios Surf while not having to run Max SDef and still be wary of taking two with Stealth Rocks, but it is almost always going to be helpful when facing Rain teams and there are so many Water types floating around that you never know what else might come up, so it surely has a lot of utility.

252 SpA Alakazam Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 336-396 (83.3 - 98.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Gengar Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 324-384 (80.3 - 95.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
184+ Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Politoed: 178-210 (46.3 - 54.6%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO after sandstorm damage
184+ Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Starmie: 320-380 (99 - 117.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO (100% with Sand)
184+ Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Slowking: 270-320 (68.5 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery - Crunch + Pursuit always kills
184+ Atk Tyranitar Pursuit vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Slowking: 134-162 (34 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery - Crunch + Pursuit always kills
184+ Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 188-224 (47.7 - 56.8%) -- 89.5% chance to 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Tornadus Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 316-376 (78.4 - 93.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Surf vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Passho Berry Tyranitar in Sand: 96-114 (23.8 - 28.2%) -- 95.1% chance to 4HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Surf vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 192-228 (47.6 - 56.5%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Surf vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Passho Berry Tyranitar in Sand: 84-100 (20.8 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO - aka 0
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Surf vs. 248 HP / 72 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 169-200 (41.9 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
184+ Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Amoonguss: 189-223 (43.7 - 51.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Black Sludge recovery



Magnezone @ Chople Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 136 HP / 252 SpA / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic / Thunder Wave / Flash Cannon
- Sunny Day

I think somebody posted a team with this or this set outright after SPL, so maybe some people are familiar with this set, but I came up with this set a long time ago and then it came back to my mind when I was preparing for Vinc2612 during week two of SPL (I am not trying to take special dibs or ownership of this set because that is pretty irrelevant to me personally -- I am merely justifying my own posting of it so I can give my explanation and spread the word). Sadly, I pussied out of using DragMag against him and resorted to a fairly standard Sand team -- shocker, I know! Thankfully, I finally got to bring this set out on the big stage against Tokyo Tom this WCOP. I also used it in STour and HPL, for what it's worth -- all of these uses being on weatherless Offense teams that are DragMag-ish. Essentially, the goal of this Magnezone is to do what Magnezone normally does, in trapping opposing Steel types, while also doing a better job against Ferrothorn in Rain and generally making Rain teams far less bothersome to weatherless Offense that this Magnezone finds itself on. Over the years, I have generally been shy when it came to using DragMag sort of teams because they often match-up poorly with the generic Scarf Keldeo or LO Starmie sort of Rain teams that have equal or greater longevity, but also far more effective, unchecked offensive presences on their teams, making the match-up an uphill climb for DragMag teams more often than not. When using this Magnezone set over Specs or other Chople variants, it becomes much more of an level, perhaps even favorable, playing field, in my opinion. Ferrothorn finds itself on Rain teams more often than not and it is almost guaranteed that you will get your Magnezone in on it using Leech Seed if they predict you or Spikes otherwise, but you normally struggle to muscle past it if Rain is up as HP Fire is weakened. With this set, you are able to OHKO it after setting up Sunny Day and turn the momentum in your favor as once you get a kill, they absolutely have to go Politoed and if Politoed died early, which happens often seeing as people relegate it as their first Pokemon to fodder when they see no opposing weather, they can be totally screwed out of Rain for the remainder of the game, which gives you a big advantage either way. Magnezone is always going to be a situationally effective Pokemon in any metagame no matter how it is used, but this is especially the case in BW OU given the consistent niche of trapping Steel types being upheld. This set simply makes the most of Magnezone's effectiveness on weatherless teams in the context of the metagame and I feel like Sunny Day is easily one of the best options here because of that. Unfortunately, I did not get to reveal this against Tokyo Tom and I did not emerge victorious in that match due to various other factors -- well played game on his behalf, by the way -- but I hope to use this set again in the future and I hope a lot of other people try it out as it really is either not thought of or criminally underrated when thinking of how to make use of Magnezone in the current metagame, I feel. Finally, the EVs on this specific Magnezone are simply to creep almost all Skarmory that my opponents have used over the years, but you can opt to creep more in case you feel picking off 0 speed Heatran or generally outrunning slow Rotom-Wash is worthwhile. The moves are pretty straightforward outside of the third slot -- I used Toxic against Tokyo Tom to give my team insurance against Gastrodon and Mew as I only had Kyurem-Black and Tyranitar vulnerable Latios for them, otherwise, which meant that I was a Pursuit and Burn away from just losing had I lacked Toxic, but Flash Cannon is cool for STAB and coverage while Thunder Wave always has utility and can slow the opponent down for fellow team members, so feel free to use either of these two options depending on your team.


Politoed (M) @ Fighting Gem
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 192 HP / 252 SpA / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Hypnosis / Hidden Power [Grass]

Hey, it's Finch back with his millionth novelty Politoed set that will give you a heart attack via move accuracy every other game! The main objective of this specific variant is to eliminate Ferrothorn to allow LO Starmie to do work in the mid-late game or even Keldeo clean with a Water move instead of potentially having to make a prediction or wait it out a bit longer, risking things. Obviously, some people prefer Specs and that is even rising a bit in popularity, as of late, but I used this set against Jayde and it synergized incredibly well with my team that game, providing everything I needed in terms of offensive presence and utility without going too far over the top. The spread just allows me to creep Skarmory, 0 speed Heatran, and Jellicent while maximizing damage output and throwing the rest into HP. There are dozens of other spreads I have used and even posted, so feel free to get creative here, but you very much do need the special attack EVs in order to kill Ferrothorn with Hydro Pump -> Focus Blast assuming both hit (haha). This set is pretty straightforward and I will not ramble on much more beyond this, but calcs below!

252+ SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn in Rain: 96-113 (27.2 - 32.1%) -- 97.6% chance to 4HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Fighting Gem Politoed Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 256-302 (72.7 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery -- 27.2+72.7=99.9, which is about as close as you get. I used this spread in calculations as it is probably the most common Ferrothorn spread and I had an import of my opponent using it/something very similar to it, so that's why it has 40 less SDef EVs than the standard calc spread has. Additionally, Stealth Rock normally negate leftovers, but if you do not have hazards up, there is a slight chance it can live both, but they almost always Spike up or Knock Off, if they have the latter, as I have my own Ferrothorn in the back and there is no way they click Leech Seed or Power Whip, seeing as it would kill what seems to be a free turn to them as I bluff Scarf/utility that cannot threaten Ferrothorn, seemingly.



Thundurus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Hidden Power [Ice]*
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot
*don't forget to adjust IVs accordingly

I honest to god thought this was used at least once before, if not multiple times, but I apparently recalled incorrectly after asking a few people over the last few days and I figured it might be nice to share this general approach that includes this set in case it opens any eyes. Basically, instead of using Double Dance or even Agility with three attacks, I wanted to use Thundurus-Therian as more of a hole puncher than a win condition, also for Jayde week three of SPL, in order to set up for Scarf Keldeo or LO Starmie to clean up. Moreover, utilizing four attacks with Leftovers, to bluff being a Double Dance set and give me some added longevity, was the optimal way to go and after using this set a bit, I notice it totally picks apart Sand balance teams with ease. It obviously is strong to begin with, but when making full use of coverage, nothing truly walls it and not many people have a direct answer/switch-in to it while it finds itself coming in at least once, if not multiple times, safely every early/mid game, meaning that if you predict wisely or simply have an opponent with a slower-paced team, then you're going to be in a very advantageous position. The EVs and set are pretty self-explanatory, I suppose, and I hardly find this creative, but this is the "underrated" sets thread and I could not find anyone else who used this or anyone else who had posted it, so in case it has truly been under the radar and not considered due to the general favor for set-up or substitute variants, here it is. For the record, I think ZoroDark mentioned this to me during SPL week 3 before I or anyone else thought of adding it to my team, so any credit goes to him, not me.


Terrakion @ Ice Gem
Ability: Justified
EVs: 200 Atk / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Swords Dance

Another set that really is not a creation of mine, but I did get to make use of it in SPL, even if it did not necessarily accomplish much (this time, against LuckOverSkill during week four of SPL). Obviously, the main point of this set is to lure Landorus-Therian (calcs below), but it can also hit Garchomp and Landorus-Therian. There is a bluff element to it that is two-fold, letting you grab a Swords Dance at surprising times when they think you might be Scarf, and letting you get the HP Ice off on the otherwise problematic aforementioned Pokemon. Sadly, HP Ice is still sort of weak and Scarf Terrakion is not nearly common enough to make the bluff as consistently effective, but this set still has some appeal to me and I am not opposed to bringing it in the future once more, even if it does not get as high praise for me as some of the above sets do.

56 SpA Ice Gem Terrakion Hidden Power Ice vs. 248 HP / 0- SpD Landorus-Therian: 336-396 (88.1 - 103.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
56 SpA Ice Gem Terrakion Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Landorus-Therian: 336-396 (105.3 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
56 SpA Ice Gem Terrakion Hidden Power Ice vs. 244 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 316-372 (89.7 - 105.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
56 SpA Ice Gem Terrakion Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 288-340 (80.4 - 94.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock



Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Atk / 68 Def / 100 Spe
Naive Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Smack Down / Gravity

Honestly, not going to elaborate too much on this one, but I feel like bulky Swords Dance Landorus-Therian and just generally bulky Landorus-Therian that is not the conventional Stealth Rock set is some unexplored territory that offers a lot of utility (like the first set I posted, so I will not keep going as I do not want to be a broken record). This specific set is cool as it can have some defensive presence and it is not expected to be a mid-game breaker/swords dance user, but it is able to pull it off anyway and it poses quite a threat if used well. As for the EV spread, it is similar to the last one, with speed for Breloom and then defense invested for an assortment of things leaving the leftover EVs for attack investment. Smack Down vs Gravity depends on team and, if you're preparing for someone specific, your opponent. I find Smack Down to be a generally underrated move in competitive Pokemon with so many practical uses that are simple never used as much as they deserve to be, but there are many times where Gravity is more reliable/useful and I will be the first one to acknowledge that. This set is not something too off-the-wall, again, but it is something that I find myself throwing on to teams a lot nowadays to help break through cores and make progress in games when it is otherwise not-too-easy to do so, so give it a try and I am positive it will give you some results if used properly.


Keldeo @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Last one for the road, boys! This is the Keldeo set I used against Heist (for all of those wondering why I used Calm Mind, it was because I did not think he would be Leaf Storm and I figured he very well might use Sleep Powder, so yea, now I can cover my ass for that turn, I suppose, but he got me anyway that turn). This set absolutely dismantles a lot of the stalls he used and it generally does well against Tentacruel Rain or Jellicent Sand that lacks Amoonguss. Lum Berry on Keldeo is generally underrated as it lets it take a Toxic or a Scald without being overly worried in the long haul and this coverage on the CM set is pretty perfect if you factor in Pursuit support (I mean, so is every Keldeo, but this one specifically needs the Latis gone, yea). I actually used this with Rocky Helmet (therefore, non-Shed Shell) Skarmory on purpose to try to get him (Heist) to trap that with his fetishmon, Scarf Gothitelle, so I could trade Skarmory for Gothitelle with my Tyranitar and then have my surprise Keldeo set 6-0 all of his stalls, but he did not stall me and he did not use Gothitelle, so it is funny how that worked out. But anyway, this set is cool in the various scenarios I mentioned above and generally has sweeping potential if supported well and CM Keldeo, especially CM 3a, is not too common, nor prepared for nowadays, so I guess it is worth giving a go every now and then considering you cannot go too wrong with Keldeo to begin with.
 

NightFox

Banned deucer.
Ok now that Wcop is over i wanna share some of my favorite "custom" DPP sets:


Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 120 HP / 212 SpA / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]/Fire
- Thunder Wave/Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Celebi is one of my favorite mons because it represents my celtic and medieval tastes. Here is a set i've been working on for 3 years and finally feel completely satisfied with its performance. This offensive Stealth Rock Celebi is ideal for those teams who doesn't have a SR lead or if their Tyranitar/Heatran/Swampert/Bronzong etc. wanna run another set other that SR setter. With 120 hp Celebi can take a Crunch from non Choice Band Tyranitar even after rocks, Hydro Pump + Ice Beam from non LO Starmie and things like Choice Scarf Flygon's Outrage most of the time. Timid nature and 176 speed evs makes him faster that offensive Suicune, offensive Rotom, offensive Roserade and Specs Kingra which can be crucial in certain situations. The rest goes for special atk.

Speaking about the moves, offensive Celebi doesn't need Recover, not with those Scarf Tyranitar/Heatrans and U-turn spammers like Flygon and Infernape. He can still check waters and Breloom however. Leaf Strom is his main STAB attack, hitting everything who doesn't resist it particulary hard and it's preffered over Grass Knot and Energy Ball so he can nuke Rotom and +1 Suicune. Hidden Power Ice is for luring Dragonite (dies after SR damage), Flygon and making Celebi a good switch in for physically defensive Zapdos. Hidden Powe Fire can be used instead for those Scizors and Forretress who doesn't show respect to the fairy king. Thunder Wave is the second support move of this set to stop some threats like Dragonite, Gyarados, Metagross, Kingdra, Empoleon and Tyranitar who think they can setup freely on a helpless Celebi, especially after the Leaf Strom drop and can catch Infernape, Jirachi and Heatran on the switch. Finally, Earth Power can be used to hit Heatran.


Starmie @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin

The common offensive Stamie but holding Colbur Berry for some specific reasons. With Colbur Berry Starmie can take a Crunch for Choice Scarf Tyranitar and either paralyze, spin or kill if weakened, something Choice Scarf Heatran and Rotom/Gengar aprecciate since they can now spam their attacks more freely and wander around without the fear of being trapped respectively. As a lead, Starmie can still 2HKO Metragross 98% of the time and Occa Berry Jirachi 87% of the time (Starmie will surivive now since there's no LO recoil). Starmie can now beat Machamp without using Psychic+Life Orb since he can't KO with Payback and then get 2HKOed back by Hydro Pump. Having a bad lead matchup vs those three is never a good thing imo.

Thunder Wave can rekt Agility Empoleon, Rain Dance Kingdra and Wacan Berry DD Gyarados while providing paralisis support for slow things like Choice Band Tyranitar and Mixed Dragonite but Thunderbolt can be used to hit other water types. This set paired with the above Thunder Wave Celebi can make a nice offensive paraspam duo who can be a good option for those offensive teams who can't fit a fast scarfer.


Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Call me a madman but this guy really gets his job done. In fact, he has 3 jobs: SR support, revenge kill and luring stuff. Heatran is a pokemon that forces a lot of switches making him a good SR setter but what if you need him for revenge killing as well? With this set everyone will think you're shuca or whatever but they will never spect a scarf. If your Jirachi can't affrod to carry rocks or your Tyranitar must be a banded/ dragon dancer, try this set and have fun surprise killing Lucario, Gengar, Earth Power Celebi/Shaymin and mixed/band Flygon.
 
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Misdreavus @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
- Mean Look
- Hypnosis
- Pain Split
- Curse

Sleep Trap isn't banned in GSC and this set takes advantage of that. Recently Sleep was fixed on PS (went from 1-4 turns to 1-6) making this much more viable. Misdreavus typically baits in Roar users who can't use Restalk making this very effective at taking out phazers. It can also take on just about anything from behind screens. Basically you Mean Look, Hypnosis, Curse, Pain Split, then just sit there until they die, or you can switch out when they're almost dead which is often good enough. Pain Split is really good and underrated in general - it is often not too hard to recover from low HP. You also need Pain Split to kill Rest users since it will allow you to do damage. I used this with screen and bell support vs VIL (replay dies sorry) but he unfortunately had a Sub Jynx which is one of the few reliable answers to this. If this became meta it would probably result in Restalkers coming in which could be an issue, although they'd probably lose to Perish Trap versions behind screens. Screen support stall is usually inferior to regular stall because your offensive efforts can still typically be thwarted and you die to CHs in the long run, but this set overcomes that issue by beating just about anything.


Alakazam @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
- Psychic
- Fire Punch
- Encore
- Dynamic Punch

I never see anyone use Alakazam except like one guy. The normal set gets walled by Tyranitar which is pretty bad when it can Pursuit you and Tyranitar is really popular. This doesn't, but you are still going to want to make aggressive predictions because he only has 50 base atk. I used this alongside Gengar because it can often be used to weaken/remove Alakazam counters. If Spikes are up this doesn't really have any good switches (edit: Starmie/Umbreon are pretty good switches regardless of Spikes actually). Encore is also a very strong move with correct reads and can allow you to break through a defensive lineup. I also don't think Recover is really missed too much. It is not like Alakazam has much defensive use. Zam is particularly threatening to offensive teams but is often scary for stall too, just watch out for status.
 
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Foggi

Banned deucer.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 24 SpA / 32 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Fire Punch

Cousin of the known 'Astarachi'. Protox Wish Jirachi was known before but people used it with Specially defensive spread mostly. One day i was discussing about that set with Fear and he told me to maybe go Phys Def, so i gave it a try and it worked amazingly so shoutouts to him for the idea, Basically this Jirachi checks Swampert and gets an easy toxic off on it wich can be crucial for rock types like Tyranitar or Aerodactyl and on top of that it checks things like Aerodactyl, Gengar and can help offensive teams with the wish support.
In general it is a really good underrated set but you have to run the right spread because specially defensive one really sucks on this set so i defo recommend everyone to give it a try.
 
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BW:

Ninetales @ Eject Button
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Rest

Hello guys today i want to show you this ninetales set, that is really cool in my opinion, it works like evey eject button user, mainly switch on heatran and then switch with the button on the dug and trap it, another really cool thing is the fact that with this set you can even trap a ttar after you burnt it with wisp and then win the weather war having sun for all the game. This doesnt just work like a support item for trap mons like ttar,tran etc... but can also help you get momentum and give to example you the chance to switch on the field a mon you need like a spinner or can give you the chance to pick a mon that can set-up such a volcarona.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5ou-185337 - pocl replay, button let me earn momentum and take advantage fast for win the match.
Hope you enjoy!
 
Gen 5 OU

The reason why I never lose in BO7s (This is used in 3 gens)

GIN (Mew) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 36 SpD / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind / Nasty Plot
- Psyshock
- Will-O-Wisp / Aura Sphere

Mew's abilities ain't like anyone else's. "We'll be careful of Synchronise," you say? Nope, that ain't enough. "We'll be careful of the odd WOW set, then," you say? Nope, that still ain't enough. Be it the sky fallin' or the earth crackin' open, you could be ready for misfortune out there, but y'all will never be ready for what Mew brings..
 

UD

BeerLover
This post has been a long time coming. Here is an ADV Blissey set I came up with a while ago when chatting with my boys BKC and Astamatitos . Basically I had the realization that Blissey only needs 252 EVs in Defense to do its job as the best Special Wall in the tier. The remaining 256 EVs are essentially free. So I thought, why not make it fast AF? Like, faster than Skarmory, Metagross, and MixTar fast. Well, what couples excellently with a Blissey that outspeeds Skarmory / Metagross? A Fire move! You not only deter two otherwise excellent switch ins from coming in (Metagross and Heracross), but you'll outspeed almost all Skarmory and Metagross and can Fire away to your heart's content. Pun intended. Here is the set:

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 112 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled

144 Speed gives it 182 stat, which is near guaranteed to outspeed every Skarmory and Metagross, particularly MixMeta or any sort of bulky versions. If Skarmory outspeeds, then it's likely done so at great cost of its own SpDef stat, to which point you'll come closer and closer to that 2HKO.

112+ SpA Blissey Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 156-184 (46.7 - 55%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
112+ SpA Blissey Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 228+ SpD Skarmory: 159-188 (47.6 - 56.2%) -- 30.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(This is the absolute best case scenario for a Skarmory who outspeeds your 182 Speed Blissey. In reality, it will likely creep even more if it's gone up to 183, which means you'll be doing even greater damage.)

112+ SpA Blissey Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 188-222 (51.6 - 60.9%) -- 94.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
This is the moneymaker. And the beauty of it is that let's say it's a MixMeta with HP Fire that invested in Speed all the way to 180 to outspeed standard full SpDef Skarmory. Well, that's a pretty frail Metagross that you likely still outspeed. Standard bulky physical Meta almost never run this much speed either, so you're probably gonna get to hit those twice as well. The only Metagross that consistently outspeeds this set is Agility Gross.

112+ SpA Blissey Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Heracross: 180-212 (49.4 - 58.2%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
This is just a random bulky Heracross that some people use (no idea why). You obviously do a ton more to regular SD or CB sets. Basically a guaranteed 2HKO on all Heracross.

A 0 HP / 0 SpDef Blissey with Toxic still walls almost every Special based threat in the tier. You are only realistically losing out against Sub Suicune, which is rare and has tremendous longevity issues of its own, and Sub Raikou, which is even rarer. You already lost to most Wish CM Jirachi barring hax anyway. At least this Blissey can Fire Blast CH Jirachi to beat it. Ice Beam technically allows it to keep its status as a Salamence / Flygon counter, plus it just increases the difficulty of switching into this set.

The only Pokes that really switch in to this with absolutely nothing to lose whatsoever are Rest Snorlax (you could Burn utility versions!), SpDef Zapdos (still kind of sketchy with Ice Beam crits or Freezes or whatever), and... opposing Blissey kind of? A fully defensive Starmie with Recover walls this infinitely as well. Dugtrio has an easier time trapping sometimes, since you've cut into the SpA quite a bit and no longer OHKO them.

Sorry to do this to dice, but this game is a perfect example of how effective the set can be. Ironically his Skarmory was probably that worst case scenario I mentioned above, which ended up being pretty important. I think he was probably like 182 or 183 Speed lol.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-292290

Just from Jump Street, you can see that the Blissey severely threatened everything on his team. Though you could argue he was fairly Blissey weak to begin with, but the point remains.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-290400

Here's another game that shows both the pluses and minuses of the set. Fire Blast against Celebi / Jirachi is great obviously, but you'll see that I wasn't even strong enough to OHKO a Dugtrio that stepped on one Spike.

I really think this set should be the new standard. It is the absolute perfect partner on the standard Skarm / Bliss / Pert / Tar / Gar / Filler team, as that team is actually rather Skarm / Forry weak itself, and it in general really hates giving CB Metagross and Heracross free switch ins, if you assume that your Skarmory got Magneton'd already. It's actually an extremely common scenario I've had happen where my lead Skarmory gets Magneton'd Turn 2 against a Physical Offense team, and then later in the match I get Blissey in on, say the Water type, and Fire Blast an incoming Meta / Hera.

I've seen some people using Flamethrower on this set and I just can't agree at all. You give up on all those crucial 2HKOs. If I were to use Flamethrower, then I'd probably drop the speed and use 252+ SpA just to make it hurt as much as possible.

Anyway, hope you all try this out sometime! It's really an awesome way to utilize such a defensive Pokemon such as Blissey. She's actually an underrated offensive threat herself; might as well try to take advantage of it as much as possible. Enjoy!

:toast::toast::toast:
 
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GSC

Note I did not invent these... duh. They were merely lesser used things I brought that I happen to like and would like to bring some attention to.


Perun (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
IVs: 26 Def
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
- Rest

Simply throwing out a TWave with Zap can be devastating. All too often I see Zaps run low on Thunder PP from flailing against Snorlax or trying to paralyze Raikou; this is the best lure in the game for that Pokemon and from there there's a whole host of things you can go to town with. Getting a guaranteed para on Snorlax certainly isn't bad either. Another great thing it does is paralyze opposing Zap without touching it so it can't Rest and that makes it infinitely easier to deal with while opening up Pokemon like Machamp, Marowak, Rhydon and Vaporeon. You'll definitely want to make sure you can handle Nidoking in particular when packing this set, which can't be the eternal prick it is with Restalk but is pretty easy to wake up if you play well and you should be abusing the paralysis it's spread beforehand.


Mikula (Machamp) @ Leftovers
- Cross Chop
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Extra coverage is great for those games when you're never really getting a chance to Curse and just want to hit things hard. Earthquake nails Nidoking and Gengar with ease, and the harder hit against Raikou is lovely. You'll hit the former most often and that is one Pokemon you'll really like the damage on. Even if you don't get the hit off, you limit their Champ answers and that can be exploited with switches. Fire Blast gets a big hit on Skarm while still hurting Egg. Namely, it disposes of Forretress which is one of the most potentially annoying Pokemon for your average Cloyster offense; most of the time it'll Spin + boom on Champ and that's super bad. I didn't want that to happen so I gave this a shot and it's really solid for keeping up pressure. Even gets a surprise KO now and again.

Needs support against Zapdos because you won't be breaking through with unboosted Rock Slide. It doesn't have the same potential to force a sweep that Curse does unless it's very late in the game and you win pretty much by having a Machamp, but it can make things happen very effectively. Stinging Heracross is nice too so you force it to Rest rather than hit your shit hard, and it actually hits Meganium harder than HP Bug. Make sure you have a plan for what you're going to do against Suicune.


Triglav (Exeggutor) @ Leftovers
IVs: 6 HP / 28 Atk / 24 Def
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic / Giga Drain
- Stun Spore
- Explosion

I first came up with this set in SPL 6 (not that I invented it ex nihilo, just that it came into my head naturally without having seen it before; it's been used since GSC's heyday, I'm pretty sure) when making a Marowak offense team for Picollo to use vs. Colchonero; in turn, I used it against New Breed this year.

It originally had Giga over Psychic; being walled by Zapdos didn't concern me because the plan was to Stun and not touch it so Wak could blow right through it, and I thought I needed Giga because it's good against Tyranitar if you land para on it. However when Earthworm used the team against VIL this season he ran Psychic and I think it's probably more useful. My Tar Pursuit paranoia from my 3 main gens led me to Giga Drain immediately but after EW-VIL I realized paralyzing it on the switch and getting out of the way is a better plan. From the Tar user's perspective, trying to Pursuit a healthy Egg without its set revealed is usually a silly move, so there's that to consider as well. Odds are your team appreciates the hell out of a paralyzed Tyranitar anyway - even something like Marowak/Machamp enjoys having one less thing that can revenge kill at low health and Champ can actually switch into it much more safely now. Your other mons will abuse it in all kinds of ways - Lax can do all sorts of stuff, helps out Electrics/Gengar, Steelix can actually threaten it, the whole nine yards. Not that Egg will be useless beyond paralyzing Tar - the fact it lures in Tar so hard can easily be abused, especially because of Egg's ever-threatening Explosion. Psych gives you a move to actually hit Snorlax and Raikou decently which can be very crucial. It'd also suck to not be able to kill a 20% paralyzed Zapdos without Exploding, or like Nidoking/Gengar and such. Not that I completely renounce GD or anything, it's still a perfectly good option.

Anyway the reason HP Fire is so crucial here is because I noticed that Stun Egg in particular has a tendency to lure in Forretress, who you do not want fucking with your team. Being able to actually hurt a paralyzed Skarm can be incredibly useful as well. Those are the main uses but having a move to put pressure on opposing Egg is also really nice and you hit Steelix very, very hard as well. This is all kinds of useful but most notably can draw them into Exploding much earlier than they'd like which you can take advantage of.

TL;DR version: Stun Spore + HP Fire Exeggutor is very cool, good and hip.


Morana (Jynx) @ Leftovers
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Substitute / Nightmare

Standard Jynx, it's pretty great. I was really skeptical at first because of how damn frail it is but Cased kept telling me how great this thing was against boom offense and he was very much right. It is an utter terror against Zap/Lax/Cloy/Egg/Lix/filler (usually Machamp). Its Ice Beam is sooo strong... Vaporeon on that team (ST variants mostly) can get on its nerves but Jynx rattles those other Pokemon so hard it's still dangerous and Vappy isn't an immediate threat. It almost straight up sweeps the more common Machamp variants. Plus, if you run Nightmare as is standard and as Cased wanted me to (which makes it good against more defensive teams; Raikou, Suicune, a sleeping Snorlax on any team) it can annoy Vap as well.

I wanted Sub because I was still wary of Jynx's frailty, although it turns out Sub doesn't really help with this so its main purpose was easing my mind for that game. However it really locks those Explosion teams down because it's so easy to get one up against so many of their Pokemon that you scare; it makes it much likelier you'll get to pick your target with LK and from there you're really cruising cause it's so hard to stop its attacks with a Sub up. It's kind of a luxury so overall Nightmare is better against a wider variety of teams (and it's not like you lose against the teams you're meant to beat, you still throttle them) but with the prevalence of (Explosion) offense in the meta it's definitely going to be very useful very often. Another pro of Substitute is against a non-HP Fire Exeggutor out of IB range; Giga Drain doesn't work against Subs so you just stuff it and it has to bomb. Both options are great, it really depends on the user/team. But yeah, Jynx is terrific, it's been seeing a LOT of use lately. Thief sets are cool too.


Zeme (Golem) @ Leftovers
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion

I've been a fan of Golem for a while but could never really fit it on teams and I think it's because with the standard EQ/FB/Spin/Boom set I always ended up with teams where I could never fit in everything I wanted to. It was always great when I used it though because spin is something your average offensive team can't afford and it makes dealing with both electrics so much easier. This was another Cased recommendation - using it with Roar instead of Steelix on my Jynx team was all his idea and I love it to death. Golem itself has been talked about but Roar on it not so much. Obviously it is not going to be your only method of stopping Lax but it is much better than not being able to phaze it at all while it slowly destroys your team. Dropping Fire Blast sucks and obviously I'd love to be able to run 5 moves on it just like I'd love Sub + Nightmare Jynx. However I think it's well worth the tradeoff. Golem's a beast.


who's your friend (Forretress) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Protect

My biggest fear when using Forretress is having it worn down by Spikes (Roars, Tyranitar's Pursuit on occasion) and (or in conjunction with) attacks from Cloy/Nido/Egg and the like. It can be a real hassle before you get that Spin off and if a Steelix player is really on his game he can wear you down to where Cloy just lays em back down. This aims to solve that. It can also help you scout movesets (nice try, FB Nido) and it works beautifully with Protect of course. Fucks with Missy too. Needs Gengar Pursuited obv.


Mati-syra-zemla / Frankie why (Suicune) @ Leftovers
- Surf
- Toxic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

This is the furthest thing away from an original set but I don't recall the last time I saw one apart from a Mount Silver RMT. The standard ST Suicune packs Ice Beam for absolutely crushing Nido/Wak no matter what and the most common set overall is Toxic/Roar or ST Roar (haven't seen shit like Mirror Coat/Curse ever used in a serious match). Not that these aren't all great sets but man I never leave home without this thing. Toxic is so good for forcing Rest from just about everything which lets your stall team get the momentum back to where it wants it. You still dump on grounds. I don't like being helpless while asleep though and ST is essential to continue to be a threat AND reinforce Cune's unkillability. It's such a perfect set of attributes that when I was making my first stall team and wanted to use the benefits of Cune it struck me that this was the only way to do it. Toxic Roar can be pretty nasty and I will try him more but being threatening while asleep is, to me, so crucial for letting the stall team remain aggressive and really choke the opponent out.


Murder (Gengar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
- Thunder
- Ice Punch
- Dynamic Punch
- Explosion

I feel a lot more secure clicking DP against a paralyzed target and this Gar spreads the love. I'm not quite insane enough to run Zap Cannon. It's also another tool at your disposal regarding gameplan because you can para shit like Kou and Umb without having to Explode on them to help your sweepers out. It's nice having more than one thing to aim at Kou cause people tend to burn through Zap's Thunders pretty fast and this Gar can leave Umb with a para so that divide-and-conquer strategy isn't as useful (parad Umb is pretty awful). Increased damage is nice in a variety of scenarios. Of course Gar's frailty has me clutching my nuts a lot when hitting even like Skarm but I really like the extra depth it gives the teams it's on.

ADV


Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Focus Punch

Nothing revolutionary, it's basically the classic SubPuncher (viltar?) with EQ over Sub. Alternatively, it's physical RoarTar with Focus Punch over Roar. With SubPunch, I loved smacking the hell out of Pert and friends but I always disliked being out of Dug range and still dying to it, plus not being able to significantly hurt Pert without a Sub sucked; that doesn't happen with EQ. Conversely, with RoarTar I loved DD's coverage of RS/EQ/Bug without much care about paralysis from Snorlax/Jirachi/Blissey/Porygon2/Regice/even Zapdos that'd utterly ruin an actual DD set since it doesn't need speed and Roar to lay down the hurt on its switchins with Spikes, but making no progress against Flygon really sucked. Not being able to really put the hurt on Skarmory bugged me as well. So... combine them. With Focus Punch you smash Flygon and utterly maul Swampert (especially with Spikes). Plus, with EQ you can actually follow it up for decent damage instead of relying on HP Bug and/or Rock Slide flinches. FPing the shit out of Skarmory never gets old either. It doesn't reinvent the meta but it's a damn solid set. Having this much bulk and this much attack on Tar without being ruined by paralysis makes it a threat to every team, especially cause you can't capitalize on lack of coverage.


Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 72 SpA / 120 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Leech Seed
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Light Screen

Fear's SpDef Celebi but with Light Screen (and some different EVs). Incredible team player. Skarmory takes shit from Magneton and shit like Regice/MixGross are laughable, MixMence has to waste a turn using Brick Break so you can Leech Seed safely, Swampert doesn't fear HP Grass from Tyranitar... I could go on forever but it generally assists immensely in stopping a specially offensive onslaught. LS also helps a lot by forcing switches with Spikes and healing teammates with recovery from... the other LS.


Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Light Screen
- Toxic
- Rest

I really, really like Light Screen. Toxic Zap is amazing in general. LS makes it a phenomenal team player and is so nice with Pressure. Roar (over Toxic) and Thunder are good alternatives as well, preference/team dependent etc.

Another good Zapdos is Thunder on offensive sets (over TBolt, but I used both on my old Regirock team and it worked great; Tbolt the Tar switch, they think they're safe, drop em). Power difference is huge (even when you're hitting Blissey) and the option of paralysis alongside extra damage is huge for breaking down walls (Cele, Jira). TWave is great at this too of course but it takes up a moveslot and Thunder does (a lot of) damage while going for the para. Think GSC Zap minus the resilience to status (free restalk!!!) but with much more average damage dealt out. You've gotta play real heads up to make the most use out of it but it's really good and the strength is just orgasmic.


Lada (Blissey) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam

Inspired by UD/BeerLover, who was the first to have success with Fire Blast Blissey. He didn't even run max spatk, instead opting for a lot of speed and Toxic, but even with less investment it stroked Metagross hard and didn't let Skarm get away unscathed. TWave Bliss is very underrated but against more defensive teams it can be annoyingly Skarm bait despite para being nice. So, I combined the two, and maxed spatk (54-64 aka guaranteed 2HKO with Lefties on max/max Skarm, 60-70 against max HP Gross). It's not great in a longer 1v1 against Swampert like most Bliss are so keep that in mind for your team but most things get paralyzed or hit really, really hard. Pairs beautifully with Choice Banders, especially when you slow down faster CM Pokes.

DPP


Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Thunder Fang

Monstrous sweeper. Cleaves through Skarmory like nobody's business without being on a timer thanks to its sand and Spikes immunity; it's very hard to take a continuous onslaught from this thing. Good defensive value too like with any Gliscor thanks to its ability to check Lucario, Flygon and Tyranitar. Adamant can be worth it if you know what you're doing with the team. Make sure you can handle Bronzong.

BW


Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Mild Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- Extreme Speed

Literally Standard DPP MixNite is extremely good in BW thanks to Multiscale letting it lead off against most shit, plus there's the incredible surprise factor and lack of SpDef Hippowdon to get in its way (should he show his face, that's Breloom entry). Outside of being a dangerous lead it rips shit up except unlike Hydreigon it's got a powerful priority move to use against offense and checks the Incredibly Broken Volcarona. I had an SR Jirachi that I'd switch to on the team this was on because early rocks/uturn = good so I didn't bother investing for Latios but you could definitely do that if you wanted, the attack investment doesn't do a ton in practice. Feel free to make it faster as well.


Landorus-Therian (M) @ Custap Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 44 SpA / 212 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Hidden Power [Ice]

For insurance against Excadrill. Custap is useful in a variety of situations of course (stopping a rampaging ScarfChomp/Keld/Shao being my favorite in particular) and offensive Lando is always great. Nice hit on Ferrothorn real nice as well, surprises BalloonTran and can pick off a weakened Skarmory / Rotom-W. Normally I hate +Speed Lando but it's actually useful here because Superpower eats Hydreigon and Kyurem, Naughty is viable as well of course and usually I prefer it. 44 SpA is surprisingly useful.

ORAS


Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard

We've all seen a million games where Weav hits Sciz/Clef coming in and then switches as they heal up. Taunt stops that since their recovery move is absolutely necessary and it's easy to see how this can be incredibly useful. LO is also nice since CB has become so prominent that people often dance around a Weav weakness by predicting it. Taunt shits on Skarm as well which can help against a lot of really annoying teams, and preventing Mega Slowbro from Slacking Off is really good for those times endgame where it's ready to sweep. Nice against shit like Suicune, Alomola and Quagsire as well.


Svetovid (Landorus-Therian) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rock Polish

DD Lando is absolutely incredible in ORAS but I never see it (which is understandable given the importance of its other sets). It doesn't take much for it to be a serious threat in any given match and of course it's a Lando so you'll get use out of it almost no matter what.

The item choice keeps me up at night. I like MB since I want the EQ jacked up (Ferro/Clef/Mew/Cune/Bro/MZor/Keld (for an RP sweep)) but any boost to SE is good against shit like Rotom, Skarm, Lati, Tang, Serp, other Land. Even if 10% doesn't seem like a lot in practice I've found it very useful. Earth Plate is a great option of course and blows through attempts to stop it via Unaware, plus Keldeo really gets crushed by it so a lot of offensive teams are at risk of getting swept almost from the word go. If you go with EP I would consider Smack Down over SE so you're getting the most out of your boost. Life Orb could work if you like to live life on the edge! Leftovers is always a good option as it gives longevity to your setup and helps defensively. Lum Berry is also something I've considered for burns from weak Scalds at high health/Mew/Talonflame/making your setup against Tran free.

This Lando also turns Gliscor into setup fodder and we all know how nasty Glis can be. It's even nastier if you can fit Healing Wish - I had it on the bulky SR/Uturn Jira that was on my team which is imo this thing's best friend.


Berstuk (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Iron Head

The moveset can be whatever, this is just what I used on my Medicham team. Max defense Ferrothorn is awesome though. I was getting really sick of Weavile and Bisharp so I devised this and it really works. Those are its main uses but overall it just tanks the shit out of everything physical - CBtar Superpower, LO Chomp Fire Fang bounces off, Landorus Earthquakes are laughable, Pinsir's Close Combat doesn't even break 60%, Lopunny's HJK does 75 to 89, Metagross Hammer Arm is pitiful, it's much improved against behemoths like Crawdaunt and Diggersby, it even comfortably lives Natural Gift Fire Azumarill. Best part: SpecsKeld Secret Sword is a mere 70.6-83.7% which is ridiculous.

You get the gist; increased physical bulk can be a lifesaver and the decreased SpDef, while something to keep in mind, shouldn't be a detriment to how you handle things. It still tanks Latios more than well enough for you to play your game unless your game was to use it as your sole switch into Specs Meteor 8 times. It can still Leech + Protect if you're worried about health of course and I'd probably do that on most teams to make as much use out of the incredible bulk it has to stay in range for it to live against those targets (notable against shit that's hitting it in the 50-60 range so it can actually switch in and still do something rather than just rack up Iron Barbs (which, don't get me wrong, can still be incredibly useful in dancing around big threats)) unless my team really needs it to do something else; for example, on the first one I wanted SR Spikes so the rest of my team could be offensive as hell and on another I wanted Knock to help wear down Tran/other Ferro. Tect is also nice for the always dangerous Cham/Lop. Lastly, it has a 12.5% chance to survive 252 Atk Talonflame Flare Blitz (lmao)


Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
- Air Slash

This is kinda silly but any Tornadus user will tell you how infuriating it can be to have to rely on Hurricane. Some players use Wide Lens, which is pretty fun, but sometimes you still want AV's bulk. I aimed to fix that with this - you're familiar with Torn's confuse antics but you haven't seen anything until you give it a 30% flinch move on top of Hurricane. It's a nice safe move to use against Keld and shit. It's also cool cause it can flinch something like a weakened Knocked Clef into Hurricane range. It has a veritable smorgasboard of applications. The 4th slot on Torn is home to a lot of stuff to try and I think you could definitely do worse.
 
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Century Express

melodies of life
is a Tutoris a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
World Defender
ORAS:


Gastrodon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 164 HP / 92 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Earth Power
- Toxic

This Gastrodon set is a beast for role compression, being quite anti-meta, especially against some offensive line-ups. When you use SpD Gastrodon, it's usually designed to Curse, but this set takes a purely defensive route.

It hard counters Mega Diancie, helps against the Rain matchup, takes hits from dangerous attackers such as Kyurem-B | Mega Alakazam | Nidoking | Tornadus-T | Hydreigon like a champ, and spreads status. Thanks to Toxic, you can play the hazard game more comfortably vs. Recover Lati@s, Zapdos, while Scald aims for burns vs. Ferrothorn and Amoonguss (this is super important, because both are immune to Toxic), giving a very efficient support for Mega Diancie and Mega Metagross, although the main flaw of this set is the inability to put Clefable or Reuniclus under a timer. Toxic is often overlooked, but the purpose of the move is extremely important, because you can't give the luxury of letting a BU Talonflame or CM Slowbro | Mega Latias | Suicune set-up on your team so easily. Unlike the Curse variant, you don't need to worry to much vs. status (think of Rotom-W and Heatran), but now you're using a Gastrodon with a poor physical defense, so it's very important to bring some backup vs. Keldeo, Bisharp, Excadrill and Mega Metagross.

The 92 Defense EVs allows Gastrodon to tank a +1 Dragon Claw from Jolly Zard-X, Scarf Keldeo's Scret Sword (after SR), and Mega Metagross' Hammer Arm (there's a low chance to 2HKO it unfortunately).
 
GSC

@Lightball
~Thunder
~Hidden Power (fire)
~Agility
~Substitute/Surf

Do you know to get owned by Pikachu? This is how you get owned by Pikachu. Seriously, not the most threatening thing, but if you predict right, hilarity can ensue.


Leftovers
~Sleep Powder
~Growth
~Giga Drain
~Hidden Power (ice)

I use to run HP Fire, but most often a fire resist would come out, like Zapdos. Even Zapdos doesn't want a +2 HP ice in the face.


Charcoal
~Dynamic Punch
~Sunny Day
~Crunch
~Fire Blast

Probably the dumbest set I've ever made, so I don't know about underrated, but the times it's worked for me made for some funny matches.
 
Venusaur I guess is fine, but that Charizard is not. Crunch does absolutely nothing for Charizard except hit Starmie, and if you're setting up Sunny Day, Solar Beam takes care of it and other Waters, as well as providing a reliable attack against Rock-types. Agility Pikachu I don't really see the purpose of. Light Ball Pikachu does have higher SpA than Zapdos, but I don't see any meaningful changes in KOs making Pikachu's non-existant bulk worth it. Now an Encore or Sing set I could get behind, atleast those moves let Pikachu do something Raikou and Zapdos can't.
 
Venusaur I guess is fine, but that Charizard is not. Crunch does absolutely nothing for Charizard except hit Starmie, and if you're setting up Sunny Day, Solar Beam takes care of it and other Waters, as well as providing a reliable attack against Rock-types. Agility Pikachu I don't really see the purpose of. Light Ball Pikachu does have higher SpA than Zapdos, but I don't see any meaningful changes in KOs making Pikachu's non-existant bulk worth it. Now an Encore or Sing set I could get behind, atleast those moves let Pikachu do something Raikou and Zapdos can't.
For Pikachu, you may like the set by borat (I think), which is Sing, Thunderbolt, Surf, hp fire.

For Charizard, it was just a funny thing to deal with uncommon things like Slowbro on the switch.
 
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Now some gsc sets not by me, which are really old sets from early 2000.


~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Counter

Zapdos used Hidden Power! It's super effective!
Sandslash used Counter! Zapdos is toast!


~Sunny Day
~Fire Blast
~Safeguard
~Reflect
@ Charcoal

Kills everything not named Blissey, Suicune or Kingdra


~Earthquake
~Protect
~Belly Drum
~Sludge Bomb/HP Rock
@ Leftovers

I forgot who made this, but it's pretty neat.


~Double-Edge
~Double Team
~Substitute
~Mirror-move
@ Leftovers

Talon's Pidgeot wtf!?! If DT were allowed. Sand Attack would make it legal but not as good.
 
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Some stuff I recently used on the ADV ladder:

Swampert (M) @ Salac Berry
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Endeavor
- Substitute
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Swagger

When facing defensively inclined teams Endeavor Swampert frequently struggles against bulky users of 50% recovery moves such as Blissey, Celebi, Milotic, Porygon2 or (slow) Starmie. Roar has been proposed in the past to solve that problem by forcing them out of the battle and killing or severely hurting something else. With Swagger however, you have the chance of a) reaching 1% with your Substitute still up and b) killing more than 1 Pokémon due to confusion preventing them from recovering or attacking back.


Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 176 Atk / 160 SDef / 172 Spd
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SDef / 30 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Double-Edge / Taunt / Roar / Thunder Wave
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Rock]

Due to Aerodactyl's popularity, the current Jolteon fad and a recent surge in Zapdos usage, Gyarados is hard-pressed to cause any damage at all, as it is usually stopped cold after the first Dragon Dance. Jolly Gyarados with 264 Spd narrowly outruns both Aerodactyl and Jolteon, guaranteeing the death of the former with HP Rock from +1 330 Atk. With the SpDef investment, timid offensive Starmie "only" has a 50% chance of killing Gyarados with Thunderbolt.


Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Protect
- Toxic

I think a physically defensive Toxic/Earthquake Metagross has already been mentioned here or in a similar thread, but the addition of Protect adds another layer of cancer to it. It can find its way through Refresh-less Milotic and even heavily pressure Swampert, which needs 3 Earthquake to finish it off. 364HP/394Def also survives +2 Tyranitar's Earthquake anytime. It won't come close to K.O.ing back though. Since opposing Steel types (especially Magneton) are a major obstacle, Dugtrio and a Magneton of your own provide great synergy.


Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 144 HP / 56 Atk / 136 Def / 156 SDef / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Self-Destruct

Even though Rest and Self-Destruct on the very same Snorlax might seem tremendously stupid at first sight, the strategic versatility makes up for the loss of a move slot. You usually start off feigning a regular Curse Snorlax to see whether you can slowly muscle through your opponent's team. If so, fine. If not, either keep Snorlax for defensive purposes if you need to or play on for a while as if you think you could, and blow up in an unexpected moment to remove a major obstacle. Use with Pursuit. 16 Spd will outrun paralyzed Aerodactyl.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Protect / Substitute / Toxic / Reflect / Cosmic Power
- Psychic / Fire Punch / Ice Punch
- Wish

Mono Attack Jirachi is not quite as threating as regular Calm Mind Jirachi with two or even three attacks, but often has multiple shots at dishing out damage and is much harder to revenge kill. The Protect variant is very similar to Danilo's famous (Body Slam/Toxic)/Fire Punch/Wish/Protect variant minus the status, but with an additional late game threat. You could even go for 328 Def in which case it can Wish/Protect versus Swampert's Earthquake, barring a critical hit. 404 HP Substitutes in conjuction with Wish are even better for PP stalling Earthquakes, but impair its ability to switch into common threats. Toxic slowly wears down Tyranitar, whereas both Reflect and Cosmic Power strengthen its physical defense. Psychic may be the most powerful move at its disposal, but comes with low PP and a bad attacking type. Fire Punch has much higher PP, a 20% chance of causing burn and can severely damage Skarmory. Ice Punch is between Psychic and Fire Punch PP-wise, is the single move most likely to cause the nastiest status condition that isn't even claused anymore (tied with Serene Grace Blissey's Ice Beam) and threatens Rest/Roar Zapdos. The Psychic variant usually relies on both Magneton and Dugtrio to pose a threat. These Jirachi work best against offensive teams vulnerable to status and tend to fizzle out against bulky Rest/Roar or Rest/Calm Mind users.
 
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Lavos

Banned deucer.
Some GSC stuff I've been using on ladder and in friendlies. I think it's very rare that anyone can lay claim to a particular set, but these are all pretty uncommon and deserve some more use.


Raikou @ Leftovers
- Rest
- Toxic
- Roar
- Thunderbolt

Extra utility against opposing Raikou, Snorlax, and other tanky shit in exchange for being walled by Nidoking and Steelix. That's a good tradeoff when you have something that can reliably switch into grounds such as STalk Cune, which pairs nicely with this Raikou by running Surf/IBeam combo. I tried dropping Roar for Hidden Power Ice/Water but it doesn't feel good when you want to pair this with a Roar-less Cune anyways. Then you get Skarm and maybe Ttar as your phazers which can be weak to the same shit.


Nidoking @ Leftovers
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Counter

Thunder and LK are overprepared for. Fire Blast gives some extra power against Egg and Lix, ohkos Forretress which is commonly a safe switch, toasts Heracross, and hits Skarm more reliably. Counter fucking rules when you don't use it poorly i.e. lead Nido t1 IBeam the Zap t2 click Counter and hope your opponent sucks. It's much better at surprising Lax among others. Makes your opponent think twice before clicking DEdge. Pair this with Powder Egg, LK Jynx, LK Lax, or anything else with a sleeping move for maximum effectiveness. Don't reveal your other sleeper too soon or they'll expect Counter.


Gengar @ Leftovers
- Hypnosis
- Ice Punch
- Giga Drain
- Thunderbolt / Explosion

This set goes back to the future with the classic ADV 3 attacks + hypnosis. Rhydon and Golem have both picked up in usage, and Tyranitar is still everywhere, so why not run a Gengar set that usually isn't checked by them? Giga Drain doesn't ohko the first two but it does 80% min, all you need is a little chip that's easily obtained when they switch into your Curselax. Tyranitar gets constantly put to sleep, and it can't ohko you so just spam Giga after it pursuits you for 35 and heal back up. Hypnosis is also a nice check to Lax which otherwise isn't scared of Gar. BoltBeam coverage is the superior choice imo but you could theoretically drop Tbolt for boom if you feel like you're getting walled by Raikou too often. Tends to thrive on teams that already have multiple booms so Raikou can be consistently put down. Egg and Forry are good baits for that. If you choose the boom variant it pairs nicely with Firelax.


Exeggutor @ MiracleBerry
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Psychic
- Explosion

Ok I think I did invent this one. sulcata was using something similar but I told him about MiracleBerry so I'm claiming it. Suicide leads see zero play in GSC and that's definitely unjustified given the power of sleep and Explosion. Egg can put down dual status, spam an extremely powerful STAB move with decent coverage, and blow up to instantly give you the tempo advantage. MiracleBerry gives you the upper hand against lead Nidos that want to LK you, lead Lax which often sports LK, and even Smeargle's Spore. It also protects against errant Thunder paras slowing down your boom, which is key in gaining an early advantage. This set is made to prep for a hard-hitting offensive core of 4atks Lax, Curse Machamp, Marowak, Vaporeon, etc. Could even try it with AgiliPass Jolteon or Growth+HP Water to protect against hard Steelix. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this set goes well with any boom team, so give it a try.

Will probably post more GSC sets after my POCL adventures.
 

Posho

local gaymer weeb
is a Tiering Contributoris the Smogon Tour Season 23 Championis a Past SCL Champion
Ok so now my Smogon Tour run is over, I wanted to share some nice stuff I've been using, this time I'll make a serious post and not just add a bunch of random sets such as "Poshothorn" and kek kuk kok whatever :)

BW

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 136 HP / 120 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald
- Toxic

Maybe it's a bit underrated, but I do find Alomomola a pretty good mon in the current metagame, can easily threaten out almost every mon with toxic, with the evident exception of Ferrothorn and Magic Guard mons, nothing really appreciates getting toxic'd by it. Also noting that there is basically no viable Wish user in OU besides Chansey, which is honestly a bit trash currently, and mons such as Tyranitar or Heatran which only come in once against Latios' DM or Surf really appreciate it. The given spread helps me take threats such as Alakazam and Keldeo comfortably, as well as Volcarona but that one is a bit harder given the huge plethora of sets that it can run.

Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice] / [Grass]
- Thunder/Thunderbolt
- Sleep Talk

Raikou may seem a bit unviable, but the reason why I like it is because it can check rain threats such as Tornadus and Thundurus therian, whereas it posseses a fast and strong electric stab given that there aren't many good electric checks besides like Gastrodon which isn't that common and Tyranitar, which you just volt switch out against.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 108 SpD / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch

This is a common ORAS set which I found pretty nice in bw, given the prevalence of spikes, mons such as Heatran can't do much work against it because it will be worn down eventually, as well mons that are faster than it such as Keldeo or Garchomp just get crippled by Toxic. Also note that I'd usually pair it with something that wileds the so loved move Thunder Wave for it to put in much better work.

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Dragon Tail
- Recover

All the credit goes to dice for this set. In a metagame where sleep and spikes are so broken, what better mon to abuse these traits than Milotic; hypnosis + dragon tail basically means that you've lost a mon, whereas your opponent's team is getting worn down by hazards.

ORAS:

Thundurus @ Choice Specs
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Focus Blast

Looks like I random electric specs mons. I do find them pretty underrated, but it's a fact that there aren't many effective electric checks except for like Gastrodon in ORAS, so it's pretty easy for it to mindlessly click volt switch and allow some other huge threat to come in, while also dealing decent damage against the opponet's mons.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 172 SpA / 84 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon

There isn't much to say about this set, evidently inspired from this new trend of running scarf SR mons in SM. Oftenly while building teams you may find yourself in a position where you probably have a check for stuff such as Talonflame, so running Stone Edge on it becomes a little redundant, that's why running sr on it can be effective as you pretty much save up 2 slots for a scarfer and a sr user, and thus you're allowed to run more threats on your team, if that makes sense. Another cool thing about this set is that as you initially used SR, they probably never expect you to be Scarf and thus they leave their pinsirs or mega gardevoirs in front of it, allowing you to defeat them, in the case of Mega Gardevoir it just leaves it pretty low and easy to revenge kill.

Diggersby (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

The forgotten one. In a passive-like metagame where slowness is common, Diggersby can be pretty damn effective. It usually puts in a lot of work, even if it's not allowed to get many kills, it leaves your opponent's team pretty weakened for another mon to finish the job, which is why I like it a lot.

Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Rain Dance

A less bulky version of Crocune, but this one doesn't depend that much on Sleep Talk rolls, its downfall is probably the fact that it relies so much on getting rain up and if there's any Zard-Y or Ttar/Hippo around they can make it useless during the rest of the match, so its a matter of using it carefully if your opponent is carrying said threats.
 
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Wouldn't Jolteon be better than Raikou? It's a little weaker and has less special bulk but I think the extra speed that lets it beat Alakazam (and other stuff like Scarftar, Dugtrio or +1 Adamant Gyara/Nite, even Weavile I guess) makes it worth it. It'd definitely make a difference more often on average. Volt Absorb is also huge since 1) Thundurus-T's Thunders can paralyze Kou which is obviously super bad and 2) it gives you a Pokemon that blocks Rotom's Volt Switch.

Great stuff otherwise though, especially that Milotic. Leave it to dice to come up with such a filthy Pokemon. Classic Quint.
 

Posho

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Wouldn't Jolteon be better than Raikou? It's a little weaker and has less special bulk but I think the extra speed that lets it beat Alakazam (and other stuff like Scarftar, Dugtrio or +1 Adamant Gyara/Nite, even Weavile I guess) makes it worth it. It'd definitely make a difference more often on average. Volt Absorb is also huge since 1) Thundurus-T's Thunders can paralyze Kou which is obviously super bad and 2) it gives you a Pokemon that blocks Rotom's Volt Switch.

Great stuff otherwise though, especially that Milotic. Leave it to dice to come up with such a filthy Pokemon. Classic Quint.
It is true that Jolteon probably outclasses Raikou in that regard, but reason why I picked it over Jolteon is basically to fullfil a bulky role; evidently, Jolteon is kinda fragile and it hardly comes in against either Tornadus or Thundurus' attacks, the latter though, being a 5050 on whether it goes for a non-electric move. I'm not saying that Raikou will come in every time, probably one or two times at most, where it'd be able to threaten those out, mainly preventing Thund from performing an Agility late game sweep, hence why my interest on it. I might probably play a bit with its evs though for it to take on those much easier :P
 
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Dusknoir @ Expert Belt
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
-Shadow Sneak
-Earthquake / Focus Punch

252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature

Tried, tested for about 5 months now. Excellent Pokemon, not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. This works best against balance / bulky offense.

You come in on fatmie rapid spin, earthquake as they bring either heatran or tyranitar. If starmie stays in you still finish it off with sneak. This Mon is great vs flygon / starmie / breloom / heatran etc once something else is sleeping hence I use sleep talk band gyara
 

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