OU ADV OU Creative Sets, Synergistic Cores, and Concepts


CarefulMence
I've heard people discuss this on Discord, before, but I haven't seen it brought to attention in this thread. So this is a Salamence that survives 252 SpA Blissey Ice Beams in Sand. It also carries Brick Break to further put pressure on it. Here's some calcs:

252 SpA Blissey Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 176+ SpD Salamence: 261-308 (79 - 93.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
180 Atk Salamence Brick Break vs. 44 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 290-342 (43.8 - 51.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery (OU Utility Blissey)

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 Atk / 176 SpD / 152 Spe
Careful Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break

So yeah, it sounds like you should pair it with Spikes. Although I've heard people say pairing DDMence with Spikes breaks momentum. And yes, you can use Hidden Power Flying, but you have to give up either Earthquake or Rock Slide.
 

CarefulMence
I've heard people discuss this on Discord, before, but I haven't seen it brought to attention in this thread. So this is a Salamence that survives 252 SpA Blissey Ice Beams in Sand. It also carries Brick Break to further put pressure on it. Here's some calcs:

252 SpA Blissey Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 176+ SpD Salamence: 261-308 (79 - 93.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
180 Atk Salamence Brick Break vs. 44 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 290-342 (43.8 - 51.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery (OU Utility Blissey)

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 Atk / 176 SpD / 152 Spe
Careful Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break

So yeah, it sounds like you should pair it with Spikes. Although I've heard people say pairing DDMence with Spikes breaks momentum. And yes, you can use Hidden Power Flying, but you have to give up either Earthquake or Rock Slide.
Spdef mence is great and can destroy some teams. But for living bold bliss ice beam it doesn't need to be careful. For example a spread like this will reach the same speed, a similar roll vs bliss ice beam and more atk:

Salamence
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 36 HP / 80 Atk / 240 SpD / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature

But you can drop the speed to 270 to outspeed adamant heracross or 264 to outspeed aero at +1.
 
Hey, I want to talk about this core I use to remove special walls and make room for special sweepers such as Kingdra. This is a ZapDugGar that has multiple ways of taking out Blissey. See spoiler below:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 Def / 252 SpA / 32 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 116 Atk / 140 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rock Slide
- Beat Up

Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 140 SpA / 116 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Explosion
Bolded are the talking points. So a lot of the time, Zapdos invites a switch to a special wall like Blissey. If the opponent is leading Skarm, for instance, instead of doing the caveman brain thing and Tbolting T1, you can set up a sub. This allows you to BP into Dug. Another talking point is the Dug set I'm using with 140 SpD EVs. See the below damage calc:
156-184 (73.9 - 87.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes
This allows it to survive the usual 239 SpA Bliss Ice Beam. The next point is Beat Up. So, often the opponent reveals Bliss early in the game to counter your Dos. This means that you have 6 healthy Pokemon, usually. This makes it so that Beat Up does a hefty amount of damage to Bliss early on, usually around 60-70%. So you can essentially remove it from the game early on using this strategy.
The last point I want to get around to is Lonely Nature Max Atk Explosion Gar. You might think this set is very risky as it crumbles to physical attacks, and you're right, but here's a calc I'd like to share:
690-812 (104.2 - 122.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
What you can do is, if Blissey is revealed later in the game, use Gar to bait in Bliss with a "special attacking set" (this set does have 3 special attacking moves) and then boom, there goes the best special wall in the game.
I've used this core to get to 1436 on ladder, so it works. Pair it with whatever special sweeper(s) your heart desires. Cheers.
 

McMeghan

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Drattak (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Dragon Dance

DD is a pretty interesting filler move on MixMence. First of all it's pretty unexpected, and once you reveal DClaw/Flame in the early or mid-game, it will not be played around in the endgame. The main advantages is the OHKO on Ttar at +1, ability to close some endgames where things like Gengar or Aerodactyl are alive, and also a very strong hit into Blissey in the right conditions. It's also not unusual for Aero to pivot once onto MixMence, so if you hit it with DClaw on that switch, you can setup an endgame win with DD. Strongly advice for Spikes pairing with that set, will be needed to keep Pert down too.

or
+ Skarm hater

Hariyama is pretty good at finding Skarmory on Knock Off, which means any Pokemon struggling with Skarmory will now beat it long term. PhysDef Gross, Skarm, Claydol, Gyarados, Forretress, Pert are all good partners. Hariyama will still pull its weight by being a Bliss abuser or Tyranitar answer, and has the stats and ability to break through teams with Focus+Chop+coverage of choice anyway. Armaldo can work like Hariyama, but has a harder time finding Skarm imo, as it's not as threatening of a Pokémon. But it has its strenghs and will help you vs Jirachi and Celebi for example, where Hariyama just makes you weaker to them.

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Foretress (Forretress) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Zap Cannon
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Spikes
- Explosion

This Forry set is really good at pressuring Gengar and Skarmory by paralyzing them. HP Bug will beat Starmie/Claydol, while Explosion has all around utility (could still be EQ or Counter if you really wanna deal with Magneton). Claydol takes on the spinning duties and really appreciate Skarmory and Gengar paralyzed.

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Ptéra (Aerodactyl) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

Pursuit Aero doesn't really do meaningful damage, but it has two specific utilities. Finishing Pokémons that Pursuit Tyranitars often leaves at <20%. The main targets here are Gengar and Claydol, but it can have other useful applications like guaranteeing the removal of a low HP Charizard, Aerodactyl, whatever you can think of. To use with Pokémons that are completely disabled by Gengar/Claydol, such as Restalk Zapdos.


Voltali (Jolteon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 76 HP / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave / Roar / Tickle
- Wish
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Hidden Power [Ice]

Jolteon is the fastest Wish user in the tier, and it has its perks. The ability to use Wish as you get killed can set-up some interesting plays, either giving you a free boost on the follow-up Pokémon in front of an attack, or by healing it and go for Round 2. Recommended with Pokémons that often require two Pokémons to be dealt with, such as DDMence or Snorlax.

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Arcanin (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 28 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fire Blast
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic / Iron Tail / Roar / Thief
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fighting] / Hidden Power [Grass]

Jungko (Sceptile) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Pursuit
- Leaf Blade
- Leech Seed / Roar / Focus Punch / ThunderPunch
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fire]

Individually, Arcanine and Sceptile havs pretty unique niches. Arcanine is a Fire type that comes with Intimidate (though Flash Fire is useful), and a strong Attack stat if you wanna pressure Ttar/Bliss with HP Fighting. Sceptile has the ability to RK +1 Ttar and Pursuit pretty significant targets such as Claydol, Gengar or Starmie. The added layer of synergy between these two is that Arcanine through its typing will naturally bring a Dugtrio RevengeKill. On the other hand, Sceptile is one of the few somewhat viable Pokémon who can Pursuit Dugtrio without dying to EQ. The combo of Espeed + Pursuit will kill Dugtrio and also open your Tyranitar moveset on the side.
 
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Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Atk / 68 Def / 72 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Roar
- Explosion

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature (If HP Fly, you have to change evs too if Adamant)
- Hidden Power [Rock] / Hidden Power [Fly]
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt (This move is a MUST, otherwise it cant abuse of Stall or Bulky Waters to setup because it will not avoid phazers)

I think this core has been posted before, not sure if it appear on vapicuno teambuilding guide, I ve been toying with pokemon I have never used or stuff uncommon in my playstyle to explore ADV metagame, learn more about how these pokemon work and test, I found this core works very good since these have very good synergy, these 2 are not a core you can build around but the synergy they have is Steelix protect Gyarados from Aerodactyl / Phys Tyranitar + Offer Electric inmunity and can absorb Explosion while Gyarados wait for the right moment to setup and sweep or switch in agaisnt bulky water pokemon so it uses taunt vs stuff like Milotic / Swampert / Def Suicune and setup DD, for this 2 I recommend use HP Fly or HP Rock only into Gyarados, HP Fly if you want to deal dmg or HP Rock if you want to sweep and get past through Zap / Aero with a Jolly Nature needed for rock, HP Ghost not worth running these 2 because Gyarados is better abusing of Taunt to break stall.



Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: Depends if u want bulk or be fast, TBD in general.
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion

After play whole days in ladder lately with different alts, I noticed that players only use CB Gross as lead being a suicide lead and they dont explore other usages for this Pokemon, I ve been using CB lately in the back as breaker to support physical sweepers that need phys walls damaged enough and im impressed on how effective this Pokemon is, you can toy a lot with EVs being able to use it as fast breaker or make it bulk enough to live specific stuff, like live +1 setups or tank things to hit back and kill, for me this is the most powerful breaker in the tier since CB Boom just KO anything and Meteor Mash Spam always hurt to switch into, this pokemon can even abuse of Skarmory to hit Mash and fish atk boosts, Swampert and Magneton are the only Pokemons that can switch in "decently" since Swampert defensive takes 30% dmg and recover with Leftovers + Protect, while Magneton can come in into locked Meteor and remove Metagross preventing Metagross break your team.


+

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Brick Break
- Wish / Roar
- Fire Blast

Hariyama @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: TBD (Offensive Spread fits better for this role).
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Focus Punch
- Brick Break
- Hidden Power [Bug] / Knock Off (Only if you can remove Celebi so it dont wall Yama)
- Rock Slide

I was toying with Hariyama to learn how it works, take advantage of its huge HP and SpD bulk, while I was thinking on how take advantage of its offensive power I found that Salamence Mix lead was perfect for Hariyama as teammate, because Salamence Mixed lead call into game Blissey or Gengar, when the other player send one of these 2 into game you instantly switch to Hariyama and absorb the Will o Wisp or tank Ice Punch in Gengar scenario, or absorb Twave / Ice Beam agaisnt Bliss, if they status you activate Guts and you click Focus Punch + Guts activated because they will switch out most of the times, giving you free damage and allowing Hariyama take a kill / break something, I recommend run this 4 moves in this strat because with this you hit fliers, you lure Celebi and Claydol and you dont rely on Focus Punch only as STAB move.

--------------------------------------------

I have a lot of good teams tested, a bunch of cores and sets to share, but I need to wait some actual tournaments are finished and some other less important games first. Stay tunned since big dump coming soon, hope you guys enjoy
 
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vapicuno

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Some sets that I have tested and advocated for in the previous months.

:rs/roselia:
Roselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 116 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Stun Spore
- Aromatherapy
- Leech Seed

- Spikes + Aromatherapy allows you to flexibly play as a Spikes offense team or as a Spikeless mixed offense with anti-status support and Stun Spore.
- Aromatherapy allows you to play more freely with Blissey checks like OffPert, Tyranitar, and Metagross when you don't know its status yet, and to use Leftovers. Lets you heal Suicune's sleep too.
- Main and unique switch-ins compared to other Spikers are Zapdos, Suicune, MonoPert and Milotic. Try to lure these with other team members.
The water-types are quite easy to divide and conquer so even if Roselia does nothing in the game the rest of your team can be made to win those matchups (see Altina vs FOMG game below).
- Threatens Zapdos, Gengar and Salamence with Stun Spore. Survives MixMence's Fire Blast. Theoretically threatens Dugtrio too but difficult to catch because it doesn't survive Earthquake. Try to avoid Stunning Skarmory though because WoW from your own Gengar is a bigger threat.
- Leech Seed forces Blissey out, and easily chips Gengar into the range of physical attacks.
- Swampert is a good partner that deals with IceZap, and can be healed by Aromatherapy if it gets Toxic'ed.

Curse OffPert
:rs/swampert:
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 96 SpA / 32 SpD / 40 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Earthquake
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Curse

- Offpert is sometimes the only thing on an offensive team that lets Starmie spin and Suicune to set up on it. Curse mitigates that while still giving the power boost to muscle through Blissey, which is the original intent of OffPert.
- Be aggressive about anticipating the Skarmory switch-in with Hydro Pump even after Cursing.
- As bulky special-wise as standard Pert to help with Starmie/Suicune on top of usual Zapdos benchmarks.

Rock Slide AgiliGross
:rs/metagross:
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

- Pros of AgiliGross:
  1. Cannot be intimidated in end-game
  2. Is the only reasonable physical sweeper that is immune to Skarmory's Toxic.
- Pros of Rock Slide on AgiliGross:
  1. Skarmory can potentially stall out Meteor Mash. Rock Slide PP + flinch odds put AgiliGross in a good position to win that scenario.
  2. Zapdos/Moltres and sometimes Charizard/Gyarados are frequently saved for late-game.
  3. Flinch odds help endgames vs Salamence, OffMie, Gengar, Suicune, or even Tyranitar that hasn't been sufficiently damaged by Spikes.
  4. Flinch odds also help mid-games vs Skarmory especially
- Main objection to dropping Explosion is that Metagross cannot break Suicune/Milotic. This is not really true. If they can be weakened mid-game, then the chances of getting an attack boost from Meteor Mash is really high as they attempt to recover back up. All the while, Leftovers is healing. Alternatively, matchups can be divided. See second replay tab below vs Suicune/Milotic.

- Justifying Leftovers and bulk on AgiliGross
  1. Spikes is expected to be on your side. Surviving +1 Earthquake should be done with Spikes in mind. More generally, the bulk comes in useful in other scenarios like Starmie's Hydro Pump and non-boosted Earthquake as well.
  2. Leftovers really takes advantage of Milotic/Suicune trying to Recover/Rest loop Metagross, giving more opportunities to score an attack raise. Similarly, discourages opposing Metagross/Swampert from using Protect.
  3. Investing in bulk assumes though that opposing Tyranitars are chipped enough.
  4. Even if Meteor Mash misses, Metagross is usually bulky enough to survive another hit.
- Justifying lack of Lum Berry
  1. Many status inducers can be chipped and KOed first after Agility.
  2. Use TauntGar and sac.
These are a bunch of ladder games vs a fellow friend (we faced each other 4x in a day, I went 3-1). Metagross was good enough to punch through in these games.
(W) Game 1
(W) Game 2
(W) Game 3
(L) Game 4 (I could have won this too if I just clicked EQ)

The above three sets are featured in the following team https://pokepast.es/bfb22ff096bc0ddc, which was used by SEA in his CI6 games. All principles mentioned above apply to this team as well. Some comments about Zapdos: MixZap helps to chip Swampert under Spikes and weaken Pursuit Tar (I usually HPFight T1 vs Tar). MixZap is also a great defensive Zapdos lure. I am not worried about Zapdos getting TWaved in a lead mirror due to Aromatherapy.
:rs/zapdos::rs/swampert::rs/roselia::rs/gengar::rs/tyranitar::rs/metagross:

Other notable sets that I have enjoyed using:

Lead Lum DD Focus Punch Tyranitar
:rs/tyranitar:
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Focus Punch
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

- Traditionally, DD Focus Punch is seen as a slight modification to BKCTar, that is, bulky, using leftovers, playing tactical games, and using DD only opportunistically.
- Instead, this set aims to be a dedicated Skarmory breaker with Lum Berry and lots of Speed to keep the momentum.
- Unrevealed information from lead makes this set effective because
  1. Seeing max attack Focus Punch on Skarmory, the opponent is led to believe you are using BKCTar, and tries to Toxic with Skarmory. Since Skarmory usually Spikes first, it's possible to land at least 3 Focus Punches or 1+1 boosted Focus Punch. You may even be able to save the Lum Berry if you DD on Protect.
  2. Without revealing DD, it is unlikely the opponent sends in Claydol, and even if so, the opponent likely double switches out allowing you to Focus Punch again, since using Earthquake is a huge momentum sink if your own Skarmory comes in.
- Fast Earthquake + Focus Punch makes Dugtrio a very good partner. Facing Tyranitar lead and EQing T1, if you're faster, you can safely Focus Punch on T2 knowing that if the opponent takes the risk by staying in, you can revenge with Dug. If you're slower, then opposing Tyranitar is probably bulkless and is going to be KOed by Dugtrio anyway.

Used on this team: https://pokepast.es/eacf80e2f525a06a



Leech 3-Atk Celebi
:rs/celebi:
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 168 SpA / 160 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Specially offensive Pokemon are highly threatening when they have a move to force out Blissey. In this case, it doesn't even matter if Celebi can 1v1 Blissey; just the threat of healing a large chunk of HP from a powerful physical attacker is enough deterrence.
- The rest of the moves all have the potential to hit incoming Pokemon hard, but even without doing that kind of prediction, another Leech Seed is always a safe midground.
- Leech Seed is also the best way to chip Skarmory hard if it decides to Spike while taking Leech chip + HP Fire.
- SpDef EVs are going to make the most impact I think, since Celebi is mostly going to be taking damage when the opponent predicts the turn it uses Leech Seed (Swampert's Ice Beam, Gengar's Ice Punch, Zapdos' HP Ice). You also don't want to die to 2x Blissey's Ice Beams before you get a chance to seed. I could be wrong about this though.
- Although there is greater awareness now, originally, it took a lot more people by surprise because it was difficult to scout and people assumed Celebi would only carry two coverage moves and fell pray to the third.

Used on this team when I tried but fell just short of qualifying for the BP ban with speedpass: https://pokepast.es/881c7cb1e984acdc


Thanks to everyone who listened, believed, and helped. #cibct #fsc
 
Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Focus Punch
- Surf
- Hypnosis
- Dynamic Punch

a suicune switch-in, pert pivot and rock resist sturdiest against ttar, poliwrath is best thought of not as a fighter but as a squidgy alternative to swampert offering counterplay to waters.

poliwrath makes its bones as a rock resist through water stab, which, as it is pert's, is poli's most consistant means of damage output. surf smacks tar, ohko's aero and, in the event of a switch, taxes the entry of initiative stealing pokemon such as skarm, zap, dol and gar. poli's strongest offense, however, is provided by hypnosis. albeit unreliable, hypnosis threatens to incapacitate any target, oftentimes rendering it a liability for the entirety of the game. moreover, sleep enables poli to beat suicune sets that through coverage moves are able to target it and disrupt focus punch (water moves dont due to water absorb). 16 atk ev focus punch allows poli to 4hko even the bulkiest suicunes in sand. not exactly overwhelming power, i know (gamefreak did poli so dirty with its atk stat lol, a la onix), but enough to force cune to rest loop and, with a crit, ko it. dynamic punch works in tandem with fp, stacking confusion with the aforementioned crit odds, thereby decreasing the chance of suicune successfully pp stalling poli.

to the extent that poli is employed as a pert alternative, its defensive shortcomings, those are, the tasks it can't perform and pert can, need to be accounted for by its teammates. mixmence and poli form a great pair. mence's ability to check dd mence, keep ttar off the field, and even lure aero with pump is appreciated, whilst poli in turn supports mence by switching-in to the water types that threaten it. similiarly, jolteon can alleviate some of poli's frailities as a physical wall, by virtue of its speed, revenging dd tar and limiting exposure to aero, meta and ttar's focus punch.

below are two variations of a poli team i built and a few replays demonstrating how they work. against bulky mag stuff they struggle, but i figure that's more of an issue with the joltspikes playstyle in general than these teams in particular. feel free to try them out!

https://pokepast.es/48d0c157686bd66a
https://pokepast.es/99c6300137182010

update 21/06/23:
https://pokepast.es/2383af21e65accb7
the speed required to outrun skarm and get a couple of chances to hit hypnosis as it switches in, preventing spikes from being set, is worth the slight decrease in poli's bulk. in fact, an increased speed stat also gives poli better chances to outrun some of the attackers it is assigned to check, for example, pert, ttar and meta, meaning its longevity in the face of them is not neccesarily hurt. elsewhere, jolt has twave to ruin defensive jirachi, which is otherwise an issue switching-in to, and hp ice to occupy celebi, making use of the ability to switch into swampert that poli affects. finally, i went with sub over pump on mence, but i do think there is merit to both. a playing note for anyone trying the team, watch out for agility meta! typically, you want to revenge ko meta with mence, but agility circumvents this plan, so it's a huge threat.
 
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Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Focus Punch
- Surf
- Hypnosis
- Dynamic Punch

a suicune switch-in, pert pivot and rock resist sturdiest against ttar, poliwrath is best thought of not as a fighter but as a squidgy alternative to swampert offering counterplay to waters.

poliwrath makes its bones as a rock resist through water stab and, like pert, it is its most consistant means of damage output. surf smacks tar, ohko's aero and, in the event of a switch, taxes the entry of initiative stealing pokemon such as skarm, zap, dol and gar. poli's strongest offense, however, is provided by hypnosis. albeit unreliable, hypnosis threatens to incapacitate whatever enemy pokemon, oftentimes rendering it a liability for the entirty of the game. moreover, sleep enables poli to beat suicune sets that through coverage moves are able to target it and disrupt focus punch (water moves dont due to water absorb). 16 atk ev focus punch allows poli to 4hko even the bulkiest suicunes in sand. not exactly overwhelming power, i know (gamefreak did poli so dirty with its atk stat lol, a la onix), but enough to force cune to rest loop and, with a crit, ko it. dynamic punch works in tandem with fp, stacking confusion with the aforementioned crit odds, and thereby decreasing the chance of suicune successfully pp stalling poli.

to the extent that poli is employed as a pert alternative, its defensive shortcomings, those are, the tasks it can't perform and pert can, need to be accounted for by its teammates. mixmence and poli form a great pair. mence's ability to check dd mence, keep ttar off the field, and even lure aero with pump is appreciated by poli, who in turn supports mence by switching-in to the water types that threaten it. similiarly, jolteon can alleviate some of poli's frailities as a physical wall, by virtue of its speed, revenging dd tar and limiting exposure to aero, meta and ttar's focus punch.

below are two of variations of a poli team i built and a few replays demonstarting how they work. against bulky mag stuff they struggle, but i figure that's more of an issue with the joltspikes playstyle in general than these teams in particular. feel free to try them out!

https://pokepast.es/48d0c157686bd66a
https://pokepast.es/99c6300137182010
Interesting. I had always tested Damp as a hard meta swap…

thief over dpunch is where my head’s at. Gmae freak did this mon so dirty, coulda been real cool w a slightly better movepool
 
Two Sets - Registeel and Linoone.

Piggybacking off of the concept Registeel might be more viable than people think, (see BKC's latest viabilty video, about 50 minutes in):
It has that unique mono-typing and stats that make it quite bulky (base 150s in each defense). And then you notice...wow it gets Superpower and it has 75 Base for each of its attack stats.

"A 2nd Metagross"? - I heard it described as that in the video, yet I think not. (What are you actually putting Curse + HP Steel on this or something?)

More of a swiss army knife a la Dynamic Punch Jirachi + special attacks, I feel.

Though it was some time last year I experimented with Registeel on a Magneton/Linoone team.

I put an offensive twist to it, but was not going to use it as an exploder. See below screenshot. I am just damn curious (McMeghan) how others are using it more offensively nowadays compared to what I came up with here:
1681583078270.jpeg
Speed is for being faster than Swampert and Blissey, if I remember, as those are key things you might want to be faster than.
Rest of EVs are so it tanks Zapdos better but still also can have more of a sting with the two special moves on the set.

The moves:
Ice Punch to stay in blow for blow against stuff like Gengar, Zapdos (especially in Sand Environment). And to at least chip Dugtrio -- 2hko, right? Even if it gets you trapped and killed you probably are getting one Ice Punch against it. The 10% freeze chance is nice and cheesy against basically all switch-ins! Oh and best move against Salamence, duh.

HP Fire to hit Skarm and Forry, and Metagross, and... Jirachi if really needing to stay in and you got to attack it. Could be best option against Magneton and Heracross too. I found this move more appropriate as coverage to use than any other, so it stuck. (I just knew I was not going to use the old Seismic Toss set, or a Curse Rest set. God those are awful.)

Superpower if a physical attack is better (think Snorlax) and to really hit Tyranitar and Blissey. You need to have some synergy to switch out and switch back at times when relying on this move for the both of those mons, but it works. So yeah, you just basically have to throw out Superpowers and think about the negative aspect of the defense drop against Tar, and try to think of a status ailment that you can use in tandem with it to help out against Blissey to get it real low. This attack is uninvested. :( In an ideal world every Blissey should be critically hit with this. :)

Toxic
to round off hitting stuff - to have a status against Swampert/Starmie, Milotic and some other bad mono-waters (ha!), Charizard, Celebi, and Blissey (Toxic is the status ailment to help out here) to annoy them with is great!

Summing up Registeel...When the other members (fliers, waters, and whatnot) can't take Zapdos T-bolt well, I considered this as a usable sand-immune mon instead of stuff that is not Sand-immune. Yes... Sand is that centralizing, and that creates Registeel's niche.

A Linoone set I used was tweaked out on SpDef too. Who would have thought it can take a rather uninvested Zapdos T-bolt from full health and still have enough to Belly Drum, at times, with this spread? I packed a weather clearer (Rain Dance) too, to better utilize the Lefties on Linoone. Lefies also helped get it as close as it could to full health if 1 spike got down and sand just so happened to be clear when it comes out in an "end of turn" scenario, for example. See below, Linoone needs more love when you get bored and need to think what you can wipe ladder with, vapicuno inspired! But I use Alakazam Encore, rather than Gardevoir screens or Memento, with it! Skill with how you battle can get you pretty far with a Linoone! At least it was enough to get the certain high-ladder entitlement players mad!

1681583037281.jpeg
 
Salamence @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Brick Break
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast

openings involving lead salamence switching out of zapdos into swampert or, a favourite of mine, jolteon are predicated on the threat of choice band rock slide effectively limiting zapdos to using hp ice, if it were to stay in. as zapdos has become bulkier, however, so has throwing out a status move, twave or toxic, against lead mence become a more consistant play. if the worst were to happen and zapdos took a boosted rock slide, rest allows it to heal off the damage at a later point. otherwise, in the event where mence switches out, a status will almost always be preferred to hp ice versus the switch-in. lum berry, rock slide lead mixmence supplements choice band mence as a punish to lead zap that stay in without using hp ice, facilatating switches to pert and jolt. beyond zapdos, lum berry also aides mence switching-in to breloom's spore and moltres' wisp, as well as helping it beat defensive jirachi and twave starmie.

edit:

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Claw
- Toxic

figured i'd throw in another mence set i think is worthwhile. in addition to being a generally useful move, sub allows mence to play around blissey more easily. mixed offenses and other teams that lack the most robust blissey switch-ins particularly appreciate the chilling effect sub has on blissey's ability to spam twave. otherwise, toxic is prefered to brick break as the means of making sub pay, so that mence doesnt become set up bait, rest-talk cune excepted.
 
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Hey all, after perusing this thread a fair bit, I'm finally deciding to chip my own bit into this with my own set I've been using for a few weeks now, and I absolutely love: Substitute Lead Blaziken. While having a few bad lead matchups (Salamence chief among them), lead Blaziken absolutely thrashes popular Skarm/Ttar/Zapdos leads, and generally has a solid matchup across the board against the most common leads.

Of the five most common leads in the current ADV PL, Blaziken has a good matchup against 4 of them (Metagross, Tyranitar, Skarmory, Zapdos), and a poor matchup against 1 (Salamence). Metagross needs a Jolly nature to beat Blaziken (which it doesn't really like to do), and the set is EVed particularly to handle the Zapdos matchup. Here's the set:

Blaziken @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 12 Atk / 252 SpA / 44 SpD / 200 Spe
Mild Nature
- Overheat / Fire Blast
- Sky Uppercut
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Focus Punch

Overheat versus Fire Blast is a tricky one. Overheat guarantees the OHKO against Zapdos that packs a little extra bulk (101.5% min against 0/108 Zapdos), but Fire Blast has more consistency overall for obvious reasons, but even in Blaze it has a small percentage to miss the OHKo on bulkless (97.5% minimum). Sky Uppercut is non-negotiable as it's what lets Blaziken immediately threaten Tyranitar, as some Tyranitar will call the bluff and Earthquake you turn 1, and it takes a good chunk out of everything that doesn't resist it coming in. Substitute is another non-negotiable moveslot, as it's what lets Blaziken capitalize on the staggering number of switches it forces. Usually, you can Substitute as Blaziken forces out a lead it has a good matchup against, then you can Overheat the switch-in to check its set based on damage ranges, whether Leftovers activates, what move is used against Blaziken, etc etc.

HP Grass versus Focus Punch mostly comes down to personal preference. HP Grass absolutely trashes Swampert thinking they can stay in and break the sub, but Focus Punch synergizes well with Substitute and cleaves open many Water-types that want to switch in to Blaziken, as the tier's most prominent Psychic-types want nothing to do with it courtesy of Fire STAB. I neglect to mention Thunder Punch here because I think Gyarados sucks, and is a matchup that can easily be remedied with some team support. 44 SpD EVs ensure Blaziken takes just enough damage from lead Zapdos's Thunderbolt to use Substitute, then KO it back next turn with Overheat. Speed creeps 245 speed leads that aim to outpace Tyranitar, and the remaining EVs go into Attack to make Blaziken feel better about itself on bad mental health days.

Here's the team I've built around lead Blaziken to make the most of its unique talents: https://pokepast.es/5fca8b6dfb418243

If anyone has questions or concerns about the team, just let me know! I love Blaziken and want to explore it more to bring about new uses of the unique, impossible to replicate talents it can offer.
 
Here's a Regirock, meant to be used as a lead:

Regirock @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 216 HP / 180 Atk / 112 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Counter
- Explosion
- Rock Slide
- Thunder Wave

252+ SpA Suicune Hydro Pump vs. 216 HP / 112 SpD Regirock: 300-354 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 216 HP / 0 Def Regirock: 300-354 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

These calcs mean that if either of these leads stay in then you can kill them with the appropriate option. You already manhandle Zapdos, Tyranitar, and Salamence, since Regirock is known for its mighty superpower and rock STAB.

This is good on rock spam and physical offenses. Killing lead Meta and Cune is extremely useful for these teams, who tend to hate those defensive-offensive juggernauts. And those squads also appreciate luring, and sometimes even crippling, physical walls, which Regirock is good at.

My main gripe with using "specialized" Pokemon (aka. uu or uubl mons) as a lead is that they usually reveal a lot about your structure to your opponent instantly. This is the same reason I don't like Jynx as a lead, even though on paper it's quite strong. In spite of this, I think Regirock has the "instant entropy" that's required to justify a lead like this, assuming your team is solid into Skarmory. Feel free to tweek the moves or give it a band or lum berry depending on your team's needs.
 
Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rest
- Roar
- Toxic

+

jolteon

+

gengar

a lead skarm intended to stay in opposite zap t1. lum berry protects skarm from twave, whilst jolteon, switching in the following turn, accounts for all other midgrounds. furthermore, sp.def skarm always lives tbolt from neutral natured zap - 252 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 272-320 (81.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery - allowing it to be preserved and then later, finding itself against a slow, passive pokemon like swampert or blissey, sleeplessly healed with lum berry and rest. lastly, gengar forms a spinblocking core with jolteon. without lefties skarm lacks the longevity to repeatedly set spikes.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1888321903-xq5ktexuh8o6uzc6ghr0djf63jqavmqpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1888324283-805rvdzznwz3c16vff7onkthxxb6ndwpw
 
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vapicuno

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Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rest
- Roar
- Toxic

+

jolteon

+

gengar

a lead skarm intended to stay in opposite zap t1. lum berry protects skarm from twave, whilst jolteon, switching in the following turn, accounts for all other midgrounds. furthermore, sp.def skarm always lives tbolt from neutral natured zap - 252 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 272-320 (81.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery - allowing it to be preserved and then later, finding itself against a slow, passive pokemon like swampert or blissey, sleeplessly healed with lum berry and rest. lastly, gengar forms a spinblocking core with jolteon. without lefties skarm lacks the longevity to repeatedly set spikes.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1888321903-xq5ktexuh8o6uzc6ghr0djf63jqavmqpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1888324283-805rvdzznwz3c16vff7onkthxxb6ndwpw
Nice idea. I was just wondering about an alternative way of using this on slower-paced teams.

Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rest
- Roar
- Thief

possibly + Heal Bell Celebi / Blissey, but not strictly necessary as the point is just to obtain lefties to loop your conventional stally mons.

Thoughts?

Edit: seems like Hclat did it here with Chesto https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-681172
 
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Popping in here to show off some sets that catch people off guard most of the time. From order of importance imo:


Salamence @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 104 Def / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
PumpMence probably isn't something that is considered new, but I feel like we should put it on the map. SpecialMence is already a thing, and it struggles with Ground types like Steelix or Rock types like Aero when using EQ over Pump. Petaya Berry is because it's somewhat frail and the SpA boost can net some OHKOs. Pair with Blissey/Lax removal.


Charizard @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 12 HP / 92 Atk / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Mild Nature
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Focus Punch
- Sunny Day
SunnyZard is another known set. However, like PumpMence, it is often overlooked. Also, in the case of the set I posted, it favors outspeeding base 101s+ instead of nuking with Petaya Berry. This means you can get the jump on Gar/Jolt and nuke them with Blaze-boosted Fire Blast.


Flygon @ Salac Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Def / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
Not a completely new concept, but this set is meant to be used alongside SDPass, instead of with Toxic/Protect. You can sub down to 25% to get the Speed boost and then sweep with great coverage, including STAB EQ.


Magneton @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 12 HP / 252 SpA / 40 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute
- Metal Sound
Hoo boy, there's a lot to digest here. Definitely the memiest set I'm gonna post today, I promise. This set allows you to scout Mence/Gon on the switch if you are inclined to do so for whatever reason, can still land SE hits on Celebi without HP Fire, and can pressure CMers/Bliss with the combination of SubPetaya and Metal Sound. You can force a Bliss switch sometimes, which is just unheard of when it comes to Mag. Of course, you look like an idiot when MS misses.


Smeargle @ Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Flail
Yes, this is another known set; however, most use this with Explosion to take out virtually anything. This version can sub down to 51%, get the BD off, and proceed to sweep with Flail. Pair it with Mag to take out Skarm and wittle down the health of Steel types. Also needs weather clear and watch out for Gar/Aero/Jolt and Intimidate schenanigans. Easier said than done.


Zangoose @ Salac Berry
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Flail
- Shadow Ball
This set does massive amounts of damage to unprepared teams. It's like using Reversal Hera, under the right conditions it can 6-0. Pair it with Mag and weather clear, again. Also, pack BoltBeam for Mence/Gyara. Yes, it can score a clean OHKO on Aero at +2 with Flail.
 
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Spr_3e_242.png
+
File:Spr 3e 142.png

Fire/Ice/Toxic Blissey & Aerodactyl
Nowadays, Celebi is usually the special check of choice on Aerodactyl spikes teams. But an aggressive Blissey set can also work well.

It is much better than Celebi at luring in Metagross and smacking it with a Fire Blast, chunking it for Aerodactyl. This is pretty valuable given how Protect Metagross is difficult for Double Rock Teams to break. A Modest Blissey Fire Blast hits much harder than a Modest Celebi HP Fire:

252+ SpA Celebi Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 154-182 (42.3 - 50%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Blissey Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 219-258 (60.1 - 70.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Additionally, Agility Metagross is an offensive threat to Aerodactyl Spikes teams in the late game. Metagross expecting to get a free agility off on Blissey after switching in on softboiled then of course gets chunked by Fire Blast. With a Max Adamant Meteor Mash doing at most 66% to Max Defense Blissey, you can often be in decent health after taking out Metagross. Or you can try and play around a potential explosion.

Fire Blast also allows Blissey to be active in stopping Spikes from getting up on your side of the field, which can be detrimental to your spikes team's defensive backbone. The added power compared to Celebi HP Fire also means you are chunking another Aerodactyl answer harder. Fire Blast also has a burn chance that can make the endgame vs Protect Skarmory much easier.

Modest Ice Beam means that unlike Celebi, you aren't set up fodder for DDMence, another offensive threat to Aero Spikes teams

Now in dealing with an offensive threat to Aero Spikes team, Blissey can often be at low health. Softboiled offers Blissey a much more instant and reliable way to recover health than Celebi's Leech Seed. With that said, it's still going to struggle to find a way to get said soft-boiled off, so Blissey can still be picked off. This is usually fine because the pokemon that Blissey is a defensive answer to are offensively checked by Aerodactyl(+Spikes in Jirachi's Case). Things like Zapdos, Calm Mind Celebi+Jirachi, Charizard, and Moltres are forced out by Aero and fold in the endgame with prediction.

Toxic allows Blissey to still threaten non Refresh Swampert. While it's not nearly as solid against Pert as Celebi, it can still put most Swampert on a timer. Toxic also means that fire types don't switch in for free.

Threats that can be problematic for this combo that aren't as dangerous for Celebi Aero teams are SubCM and RestTalk Suicune. SubCM getting behind a substitute is very dangerous, and RestTalk switches in to Blissey without caring about Toxic. Destiny Bond Gengar makes a good teammate as it can trade with these threats as well as keep spikes up against Claydol.

In Short, Fire/Ice/Toxic Blissey is a solid alternative to Celebi on faster paced "Double Rock" Spikes Teams. It performs its job as a special check much better than Celebi thanks to its lack of a Fire and Ice weakness and access to instant recovery. It does this while still maintaining momentum through Modest Fire and Ice attacks. It can hit harder against certain kinds of defensive counterplay to such teams and is much better equipped to deal with offensive anti-AeroSpikes measures than Celebi.
 
Skarmory @ Salac Berry
Ability: Keen Eye

salac berry allows skarm to set all three spikes layers versus magneton who, lacking either magnet or max sp.atk, are unable to consistantly ohko it. due to its ability to punish the fastest, less powerful magneton sets, salac skarm also complements and is complemented by yolo skarm, a set that can punish +sp.atk magnetons but struggles against +speed variants.
 
I'm not sure if this is the right place but I'd like to propose a Tauros theorymonning set which makes it viable in OU as a wallbreaker.

Max speed + nature with max attack
Earthquake
Double Edge
Rage
Refresh

Tauros is fast and has intimidate, two great assets. Rage allows you to hit out at walls or intimidated pokemon, and if they hit you back, you get a plus one attack raise. If they don't hit you back and use a status move, you can refresh. This creates mind games and lets you sit infront of walls. Also, clicking rage doesn't lock you into it in this generation! You can click rage, get an attack boost, then click double edge or earthquake.

This gives Tauros a way to boost, sit infront of walls, and its naturally fast and powerful enough to hurt most of the tier once you clean up Skarm and ghosts, which many other mons struggle with anyway.
 
Alright folks fair warning this is a bit of a spicy team but I have been using it to some pretty solid success on the ladder. We're rocking with some Camerupt/Jumpluff spikes offense here I know it sounds insane but the typings here have excellent synergy paired alongside spikes which this team surprisingly doesn't struggle to set up (will explain below).

Camerupt @ Quick Claw
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 84 HP / 248 SpA / 176 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Rock Slide/Roar/Toxic/Earthquake
- Explosion

Camerupt is an extremely interesting mon within the context of Gen 3 OU. It has excellent matchups against Skarmory, Blissey, Gengar, Jirachi, Jolteon, and Fortress - not to mention that it more or less counters nearly every Zapdos variant in the game. Against those mons, the camel can (for the most part) reliably switch in on those mons and threaten them out. While Camerupt's unique typing helps out a lot in those matchups, it also leaves the mon weak to several extremely common moves. Even when Camerupt is forcing switches it struggles to take advantage of that momentum. Any half-decent team will have one or more of the most common Camerupt answers (Swampert, Suicune, Gyara, Milo for example), and so in many cases you just end up in situations where you have to start making predictions in order to get anything of value out of Camerupt.

This set is designed the way it is for two reasons - most importantly, I feel that Camerupt is at its best when it is doing it everything it can to maximize its offensive output. Even when Camerupt does get on the field, it's probably not going to be staying for very long. In a neutral setting, you're clicking Fire Blast 9 times out of 10 so I wanted it to hit just about as hard as possible. Now, you're probably wondering why in the hell my Camerupt 176 speed EVs - that translates out to it getting up to 160 speed, which outspeeds most non-offensive Pert variants. Swampert is an *incredibly* common switch in to Camerupt, and you get these rolls for Fire Blast & HP Grass against standard defensive Pert:
248+ SpA Camerupt Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 44 SpD Swampert: 96-113 (23.8 - 28%) -- 86.7% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
248+ SpA Camerupt Hidden Power Grass vs. 248 HP / 44 SpD Swampert: 302-356 (74.9 - 88.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
If Camerupt outspeeds Swampert and hits Fire Blast, you've got at the very least a 50% chance to OHKO on the HP grass after leftovers recovery. With any sort of chip and/or spikes, you guaranteed kill with that combo. You'll also know if you're up against offensive Pert or not based off Fire Blasts damage, and your opponent also can't rely on leftovers to determine who's faster.

Because oh yea, we are rocking the mother fuckin quick claw. I don't think there's a mon in Gen 3 that this particular item works better for than the Camel. As I previously discussed, I don't think there's much reason to dedicate any real bulk to Camerupt due to its playstyle - this includes leftovers. You just aren't going to get the opportunity to stay on the field to chip heal anything meaningful (especially if there are spikes up, for example). Even when Camerupt has done its job, it'll usually end up in a position where it it is essentially a sac against a faster threat (pretty much anything that isn't outright running min speed). Quick Claw gives you a 10% chance to potentially get in a game saving Fire Blast or Explosion. It even means that 10% of the time (well probably more like 8-9 with the Fire Blast miss chance) you actually *win* the Dug matchup. These are obviously not things that you can rely on to happen in the moment, but they invariably *will* happen when you play with this team for even a few games (I think one of my replays has a huge quick claw moment actually).

The lead slot is perfect for Camerupt here because it matches up so well against some extremely common leads (e.g. Zapdos & Skarm), and if it is up against a lead that you need to switch out on (e.g. Salamence/Tyranitar), you have an absolutely risk free entry point into your spiker (since only an insane person is clicking a fire move into Camerupt turn one even if you're up against mixed variants). In most situations, you either end up getting to fire off a huge Fire Blast turn one and find out what their switch in is to such a thing *or* you're enabled to get a layer or two of spikes up (which is absolutely essential for this team comp to win extended games). I think there are a few options for the 4th move slot depending on how you plan on playing. I previously had rock slide on because a previous iteration of this team really had problems with fire/flying. I think actually overall Roar might be the most effective option on this team structure but I haven't really thought too much into that particular move.

Flygon @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Sleep Talk

Flygon is not the most overwhelming choice band user, but I think it fits really well within this team composition. Flygon's speed also seems to "fly under the radar" at times (mostly due to I think the tendency to use it as a defensive/hybrid mon), but the 328 benchmark is huge for an offensive mon plus you still get a ton of defensive utility courtesy of its typing/ability (and the fact that we have a lot of good ice switch ins on this team). CB EQ hits like a truck and is a great late game cleaner in its own right. It also serves to force your opponent to make uncomfortable switches and adhere to the overarching theme of constantly applying pressure.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 200 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Protect/Toxic
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Forre and Camerupt have extraordinary synergy when conducting your lead matchups. Your turn one is fairly simple to play, if you are matched up against Skarmory, Zapdos, Celebi, Jolteon, Forretress, Gengar (just picking some common lead names from the probably outdated lead stat thread), then you just Fire Blast straight away into the enemy. If you are matched up against a physical threat that Camerupt can't handle (Salamence/Tyranitar/Metagross/etc.), you go hard into Forre and get a nearly guaranteed free spike. Since Camerupt absolutely dominates the two main spikers in Forre and Skarm, you can almost always find a way to get out to an early advantage in spikes stacking.

Spikes are pretty essential to accomplish what this team is setting out to do, so it's really important to try to make sure you can get up at least one layer at some point early on in the game. If you're wondering why there's no rapid spin, I don't see it as all that necessary on this team comp. I'd rather increase Forre's longevity or give it another option to make progress against the opponent. You shouldn't have much trouble keeping spikes off the field for the most part anyway - your opponent will be hesitant to blindly go Skarm/Forre and give Camerupt a completely free opportunity to get back in, and that fear gets compounded once you factor in the pressure from spikes as well.

There's a sort of fine line to toe with Forre on this team. While he really doesn't serve as the defensive backbone of your team here, it's still extremely important that spikes get up and stay up. The more info you have on your opponent's team, the better idea you'll get of how you need to manage this mon on a game to game basis. I have truly been impressed with how well it synergizes with Camerupt.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Hydro Pump

While Forre is your dedicated spiker, ole reliable here is your more dedicated physical wall that is a catch-all to anything that might otherwise overwhelm some of the more hybrid offensive/defensive mons in this build. I went with three attacks over any status because I think the more direct damage output suits this team well and the team desperately needs the additional coverage

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SpD / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Agiligross is a fantastic late game cleaner for this team. Not much else to say. You'd use it like you'd use any other agiligross basically.

Jumpluff @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 232 HP / 24 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Substitute

People treat this mon like it's a complete meme tier pokemon, but this thing is actually the devil reincarnated. This team can't really achieve all it's trying to without this little no attack using bastard. It is one of the fastest mons in the meta and it gets access to encore, leech seed, and sleep powder. Even though Jumpluff is obviously frail as hell and not capable of taking hits, it still is able to find a plethora of opportunities to get on to the field safely. Once Jumpluff does get in though, it's capable of wreaking absolute havoc on an unassuming opponent. Depending on the situation, you can pretty easily click one of encore/leech seed/sleep powder/sub and immediately start giving your opponent massive headaches.

I mean, honestly using this mon is psychological warfare. Even though it doesn't use any actual attacks, it's one of the best mons in the entire tier at forcing constant switches and otherwise handicapping your opponent. It's funny to say, but this mon is honestly the engine that keeps this team humming. Puff gets people to forfeit constantly if you're able to get them into that loop.

I laddered with variations of this team (keeping the core focus on Jumpluff/Camel), and I went a combined 25-4 with the squads - here's a few replays that exhibit some of the potential shenanigans you can get into with these two mons. I think it's a really fun concept to mess around with and I do honestly believe that quick claw Camerupt is it's most viable form in the OU context.
 

Attachments

As a person who enjoys jank sets. I wanted to highlight some bad Pokémon that are not as bad as they first appear.

I'm using these usage rate stats

https://www.smogon.com/stats/2024-02/gen3ou-1500.txt
1710903796693.png

She's gonna cry if you don't try her out

Torkoal 0.04789% Usage Rate

Torkoal (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: White Smoke
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Brave Nature
- Explosion
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Rock Slide

Torkoal has access to the best attack in ADV with Explosion/Self Destruct, almost any Pokemon with Explosion is at least somewhat viable in ADV just because of how busted the attack is. Torkoal has more Defensive bulk then Skarmory does although it is weak to Ground which is the biggest issue with its defenses. Torkoal has respectable Atk and Sp.A stats and with high base power attacks like Stab Overheat. Using HP Fighting Torkoal has a way to deal with Tyranitar, Blissey and Snorlax. Rock Slide hits flying types like Zapdos, Salamence, Gyarados, Etc. White Smoke makes Intimidate do nothing which makes super effective Rock Slides more scary against Salamence and Gyarados.

Replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2084800251

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Linoone 0.37567% Usage Rate

Linoone (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pickup
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Frustration
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Extreme Speed

Linoone is the best priority user in the format with Extreme Speed. Hp Fighting allows you to deal with Tyranitar. Linoone allows teams to be a bit more greedy with your team building because you can revenge kill with Extreme Speed. Also most of time when Linoone gets used people use the belly drum set which I think is a bit of a distraction from what Linoone actually excels at which is revenge killing and wall breaking.

Replay
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2084849721
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Jirachi @ Choice Band
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Body Slam
- Doom Desire
- Shadow Ball

While Jirachi isn’t a rare Pokemon Choice Band Jirachi sure is. Serene Grace plus Body Slam means that anything switching into Jirachi risks paralysis. Doom Desire is the most broken move in ADV in a very literal sense see link below. Ev’s are probably a mistake because of HP Fighting but idk what to set them as, I encourage you to modify them.

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/strategy-analysis-doom-desire-and-future-sight-revived.8329/

Replay
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2084884476-quttydwkbmz7ci9hou0oi1uv3kdqvyvpw
 

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