Stads here with a basic RMT, gotta flaunt the #1 peak while you can. It's a team I quite enjoy playing and hopefully will help anyone looking to play a more defensive, bulky team in this meta. It's also somewhat shamelessly ripped off an almost year-old sample team from ayevon in the wild, untamed time while Chien-Pao and Volcarona stalked the tier. I used that team for a long time (probably too long), but with the advent of Gliscor, I swapped Garchomp out for everyone's favourite spiking scorpion, played with some EVs a little bit, and presto! That said, the team also still has some clear areas for improvement, so looking forward to reading any suggestions put forward!
The Team:
I called the team 4G because it has 4 pokemon that start with the letter G. Crazy, right? Anyway, let's get into it before Gliscor is banned:
@ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Earthquake
Pretty standard set, I pump maximum special defense and dump the rest into defense to better take on Future Sight, Zapdos, and the like. With a team this slow and bulky, trying to speedcreep didn't make much sense to me. I don't have Toxic so my Gliscor doesn't pressure things like Tusk as well as it could, but removing the item is usually enough to do serious damage long-term, especially with this team having a lot of hazards.
@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
A classic Scarf Gholdengo set, which to both my delight and dismay has fallen quite out of favour as of late. Having a competitive speed tier - enough to outspeed Timid Dragapult, Zamazenta, and the like - is definitely great when you're firing off hard-hitting Shadow Balls, but the real gem of this set is Trick. Bestowing a choice scarf to the proper opponent can absolutely turnaround matchups, and is particularly great against both Stall and random tera demon mons like Clefable, Cresselia, Hatterene, and Swords Dance Gliscor. Recover as the 4th move lets Gholdengo continue to have a ton of defensive utility after it Tricks, but don't be afraid to click Recover even before you lose the Scarf! It can lure the opponent into a false sense of security and keep Gholdengo healthy enough to survive tricking later, and if you play your cards right, you won't regret being locked into a non-attacking move.
@ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Protect
The mighty mound of salt himself, Garg is a massive pain in the butt for many, many ladder teams to deal with. It's a very resilient rocker, can switch into almost any physical attacker after becoming a fairy type, and simply never dies without putting immense pressure on the other team. Fairy type is central to the team, making it a solid answer to almost every Dragapult set (yes, some people run Sub + DD), Dragonite, Waterpon, Rillaboom, and so on. Protect rounds out the team, giving precious leftovers recovery and adding onto the Salt Cure chip, while also scouting for Choice locked moves and Tera. Garg is probably the closest thing to a carry this team has, and often can be used as a sort of defensive wincon.
@ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
With no boots on my team, but still lots of hazard stacking, Tusk is almost mandatory as just about the only slightly valid spinner around. I run Knock Off to give me more ways of making progress via Boots removal, while Bulk Up makes Tusk a better Kingambit answer and can sometimes act as a surprise wincon. Tera Water also gives it lots of utility against Rain teams where making Garg a fairy type won't help as much.
@ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Surf
- Recover
- Toxic
Good old Toxapex, a solid staple of defensively-oriented balance teams for 3 gens running now. Specially defensive EVs let it comfortably handle Valiant, somewhat comfortably handle Iron Moth, and uncomfortably handle Enamorus. Haze lets it sit on IronPress Zama sets forever and also helps nip bulky wincons in the bud.
@ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
Every balance team needs a cleaner, and Specs Valiant does a fine job here. A second Trick can be an extremely potent weapon, crippling an opponent when they least expect it. This is especially nasty against stall teams, often managing to take their Toxapex out of the game. Moonblast hurts most things a lot, while Psyshock is for specially defensive poison types like Iron Moth and Clodsire. Shadow Ball isn't used too much, but is useful against Gholdengo and Slowking-Galar.
Usage Tips:
I think the most important part of using this team is to figure out a gameplan for Gholdengo as soon as possible, ideally at team preview. Ask yourself questions like:
- Is there something very annoying for Garg to deal with, like Slowking-Galar? If so, you might want to aggressively try to trick it, removing its Boots so you can wear it down with hazards and salt cure chip.
- Does Gholdengo need the scarf to check or revenge kill some offensive threat? If so, you might want to keep Gholdengo safe, making sure to preserve its scarf until the threat has been dealt with.
- Does the opponent have a potential unstoppable demon mon like Clefable, Hatterene, Cresselia, or even Sinistcha? If so, you'll want to preserve the scarf to deal with it, and make sure you don't get baited into tricking the scarf on a switch.
- Does Gholdengo need to block hazard removal? If yes, then how does the scarf play into it? For example, if you're blocking Corviknight's removal, you might want to get rid of the scarf earlier so you can block the removal and avoid getting awkwardly locked into a move. But if you're blocking a Tusk's removal, Gholden Boy's eventually just a sacrifice, so maybe you just want to trick whatever you can and then give it up to preserve hazards.
For leads, in about 70-80% of matches I lead with Garg and tera it quite early, sometimes even turn 1. Garg both sets hazards and creates pressure via Salt Cure immediately, and it's often useful to sniff out how your opponent plans on dealing with Garg long-term so you can play around that. Look for opportunities to then pivot in Gliscor to get safely poisoned, and shore up its status as a knock off and status absorber. Figure out what the long-term hazard game is going to look like, and try to figure out what your win will look like from there. Usually try to preserve Valiant for out-muscling the unexpected and/or the endgame - it's an especially great way of dealing with Kingambit late.
Threats:
- Substitute: Many setup mons with substitute can end up just 6-0ing this team. It means that mon can usually set up in Garg's face, power through Pex, and force Ghold or Valiant to die just to break the sub. If something has Sub, it usually immediately becomes priority zero to sacrifice Ghold or Valiant to trick it their choice item. Sometimes though, your opponent just plays it right, and you have to simply gg go next.
- Webs: Ghold and Valiant both become painfully slow with the speed drop and can't check/revenge kill much. Usually Webs attackers are bulky and good enough breakers to beat the defensive core of this team. Nasty Plot Gholdengo, in particular, is very, very difficult to deal with on Webs. Sometimes you can get the outplay, but against many Webs cores this team will struggle greatly.
- Cinderace: While this team has plenty of answers to Cinderace itself, the unblockable hazard removal can sometimes be really annoying when played patiently. This team relies on Knock Off + hazard chip to deal with regenerator cores like Alomomola and Slowking-Galar, and Cinderace can really slow down this team's ability to break those cores.
- Weather teams: Both sun and rain can sometimes be a bit tricky. Sun teams often have a lot of firepower, and Tera Water Choice Specs Modest Wake 2HKO's Pex after Rocks in sun. With Moon being banned, it's often a good idea to avoid teraing Garg and preserve its fire resistance, while using a timely tera on Gliscor or Tusk to flip the right matchup on its head. Rain teams can also be annoying, although a good tera on Tusk can be key to success.
Replays:
Vs a standard balance team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1985341164
Vs an offbeat balance team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1984790120
Vs rain: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1984790120
Vs webs: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1980153898
Pokepaste:
https://pokepast.es/7e8f978e723f697f
The Team:
I called the team 4G because it has 4 pokemon that start with the letter G. Crazy, right? Anyway, let's get into it before Gliscor is banned:
@ Toxic Orb Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Earthquake
Pretty standard set, I pump maximum special defense and dump the rest into defense to better take on Future Sight, Zapdos, and the like. With a team this slow and bulky, trying to speedcreep didn't make much sense to me. I don't have Toxic so my Gliscor doesn't pressure things like Tusk as well as it could, but removing the item is usually enough to do serious damage long-term, especially with this team having a lot of hazards.
@ Choice Scarf Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
A classic Scarf Gholdengo set, which to both my delight and dismay has fallen quite out of favour as of late. Having a competitive speed tier - enough to outspeed Timid Dragapult, Zamazenta, and the like - is definitely great when you're firing off hard-hitting Shadow Balls, but the real gem of this set is Trick. Bestowing a choice scarf to the proper opponent can absolutely turnaround matchups, and is particularly great against both Stall and random tera demon mons like Clefable, Cresselia, Hatterene, and Swords Dance Gliscor. Recover as the 4th move lets Gholdengo continue to have a ton of defensive utility after it Tricks, but don't be afraid to click Recover even before you lose the Scarf! It can lure the opponent into a false sense of security and keep Gholdengo healthy enough to survive tricking later, and if you play your cards right, you won't regret being locked into a non-attacking move.
@ Leftovers Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Protect
The mighty mound of salt himself, Garg is a massive pain in the butt for many, many ladder teams to deal with. It's a very resilient rocker, can switch into almost any physical attacker after becoming a fairy type, and simply never dies without putting immense pressure on the other team. Fairy type is central to the team, making it a solid answer to almost every Dragapult set (yes, some people run Sub + DD), Dragonite, Waterpon, Rillaboom, and so on. Protect rounds out the team, giving precious leftovers recovery and adding onto the Salt Cure chip, while also scouting for Choice locked moves and Tera. Garg is probably the closest thing to a carry this team has, and often can be used as a sort of defensive wincon.
@ Leftovers Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
With no boots on my team, but still lots of hazard stacking, Tusk is almost mandatory as just about the only slightly valid spinner around. I run Knock Off to give me more ways of making progress via Boots removal, while Bulk Up makes Tusk a better Kingambit answer and can sometimes act as a surprise wincon. Tera Water also gives it lots of utility against Rain teams where making Garg a fairy type won't help as much.
@ Black Sludge Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Surf
- Recover
- Toxic
Good old Toxapex, a solid staple of defensively-oriented balance teams for 3 gens running now. Specially defensive EVs let it comfortably handle Valiant, somewhat comfortably handle Iron Moth, and uncomfortably handle Enamorus. Haze lets it sit on IronPress Zama sets forever and also helps nip bulky wincons in the bud.
@ Choice Specs Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
Every balance team needs a cleaner, and Specs Valiant does a fine job here. A second Trick can be an extremely potent weapon, crippling an opponent when they least expect it. This is especially nasty against stall teams, often managing to take their Toxapex out of the game. Moonblast hurts most things a lot, while Psyshock is for specially defensive poison types like Iron Moth and Clodsire. Shadow Ball isn't used too much, but is useful against Gholdengo and Slowking-Galar.
Usage Tips:
I think the most important part of using this team is to figure out a gameplan for Gholdengo as soon as possible, ideally at team preview. Ask yourself questions like:
- Is there something very annoying for Garg to deal with, like Slowking-Galar? If so, you might want to aggressively try to trick it, removing its Boots so you can wear it down with hazards and salt cure chip.
- Does Gholdengo need the scarf to check or revenge kill some offensive threat? If so, you might want to keep Gholdengo safe, making sure to preserve its scarf until the threat has been dealt with.
- Does the opponent have a potential unstoppable demon mon like Clefable, Hatterene, Cresselia, or even Sinistcha? If so, you'll want to preserve the scarf to deal with it, and make sure you don't get baited into tricking the scarf on a switch.
- Does Gholdengo need to block hazard removal? If yes, then how does the scarf play into it? For example, if you're blocking Corviknight's removal, you might want to get rid of the scarf earlier so you can block the removal and avoid getting awkwardly locked into a move. But if you're blocking a Tusk's removal, Gholden Boy's eventually just a sacrifice, so maybe you just want to trick whatever you can and then give it up to preserve hazards.
For leads, in about 70-80% of matches I lead with Garg and tera it quite early, sometimes even turn 1. Garg both sets hazards and creates pressure via Salt Cure immediately, and it's often useful to sniff out how your opponent plans on dealing with Garg long-term so you can play around that. Look for opportunities to then pivot in Gliscor to get safely poisoned, and shore up its status as a knock off and status absorber. Figure out what the long-term hazard game is going to look like, and try to figure out what your win will look like from there. Usually try to preserve Valiant for out-muscling the unexpected and/or the endgame - it's an especially great way of dealing with Kingambit late.
Threats:
- Substitute: Many setup mons with substitute can end up just 6-0ing this team. It means that mon can usually set up in Garg's face, power through Pex, and force Ghold or Valiant to die just to break the sub. If something has Sub, it usually immediately becomes priority zero to sacrifice Ghold or Valiant to trick it their choice item. Sometimes though, your opponent just plays it right, and you have to simply gg go next.
- Webs: Ghold and Valiant both become painfully slow with the speed drop and can't check/revenge kill much. Usually Webs attackers are bulky and good enough breakers to beat the defensive core of this team. Nasty Plot Gholdengo, in particular, is very, very difficult to deal with on Webs. Sometimes you can get the outplay, but against many Webs cores this team will struggle greatly.
- Cinderace: While this team has plenty of answers to Cinderace itself, the unblockable hazard removal can sometimes be really annoying when played patiently. This team relies on Knock Off + hazard chip to deal with regenerator cores like Alomomola and Slowking-Galar, and Cinderace can really slow down this team's ability to break those cores.
- Weather teams: Both sun and rain can sometimes be a bit tricky. Sun teams often have a lot of firepower, and Tera Water Choice Specs Modest Wake 2HKO's Pex after Rocks in sun. With Moon being banned, it's often a good idea to avoid teraing Garg and preserve its fire resistance, while using a timely tera on Gliscor or Tusk to flip the right matchup on its head. Rain teams can also be annoying, although a good tera on Tusk can be key to success.
Replays:
Vs a standard balance team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1985341164
Vs an offbeat balance team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1984790120
Vs rain: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1984790120
Vs webs: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1980153898
Pokepaste:
https://pokepast.es/7e8f978e723f697f
