Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Medicham and Durant heavily pressures the team. Although having a hard time switching in, Medicham can get a kill everytime it switches in, as High Jump Kick KOes everything barring Venusaur, which can't switch into Medicham. Durant can switch into Flygon easily and also pressure the team a lot, as the only Durant check is Steelix, which falls to Superpower.
Medicham @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Thunder Punch
- Baton Pass
Durant @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Baton Pass
I know clawitzer isn't that great but damn is pressures that team A LOT. Every time you go into steelix something dies basically. Your best answer to it is venusaur who outspeeds and can kill with giga drain but it's practically forced to go for it. That's a free switchin to scarf delphox. The you find out your answer to delphox is houndoom obviously so just pull an EZ double to sash dugtrio and kill houndoom. At this point both clawitzer and delphox proceed to destroy the rest of your team with their good coverage and power.
Clawitzer @ Life Orb
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
In general you don't really have switch-ins for Hitmonlee, and when I say that you have absolutely no switch-ins. Meloetta also wrecks this team w/ Hyper Voice, and Lee also helps get rid of Houndoom and Mlix. Problem for this core is Durant but whatever WanderingWobbuffet doesnt have one either. Also just go into Mel, U-turn, and wreck more stuff! EZ
Hitmonlee @ Life Orb
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Sucker Punch
FightingSpam paired with Ice Shard Mega Glalie to kill Flygon heavily pressures the team, as you have no solid Fighting resist, meaning Hitmonlee can spam HJKs all day and weaken the team enough so Scarf Medicham can clean very easily. Mega Glalie is basically here to add another wallbreaker so Scarf Cham can clean easier, and Spikes are always nice, and it checks Scarf Flygon, which is a plus.
Elektross pressures Durant, though it can't exactly tank a boosted Superpower with a smile, and also is an acceptable answer to Steelix, Veusaur, and Houndoom. Flamethrower melts Venusaur, Durant, and Steelix; Drain Bunch is for Houndoom and general sustainability. Medicham doesn't have the bulk to comfortably eat multiple attacks, meaning it doesn't want to come in on Eelektross. It can also try to out-predict a switch from Steelix, Venusaur, or Durant into Houndoom with Drain Punch, which makes Eelektross difficult to play around if it comes in against something without a solid answer to it. This leaves Medicham and more notably Flygon as problems. U-turn is to use against Flygon, hopefully either getting a free switch against whatever comes in next, or else sending in Granbull after an Outrage to wreck its day. Thunderbolt is the basic Stab, though there isn't much Eelektross really wants to use it on within this team. The Assault Vest means Eelektross can charge right into Houndoom and Venusaur without fear, though it still needs to be wary of giving away flash fire boosts.
Granbull can come in on Medicham handily, and threatens it with a 1HKO and while it can't exactly nail Flygon due to its speed, unless U-turned in on an outrage, Flygon will deal only slight damage if it tries to turn out due to Intimidate, and Granbull's varied coverage means it can deal with anything else on the team, though it can't really beat Durant or Venusaur in a fistfight. If running fire Punch, Granbull can try to predict the Durant or Venusaur switch and win that fight that way, and it can eat a predicted Sleep Powder with its berry to go for a surprise 2HKO versus Venasaur. Granbull must be careful to not give Houndoom a flash fire boost, since that buffs Fire Blast to a OHKO. Granbull secures a guaranteed 1HKO with Play Rough, so EQ is only for Steelix, and Ice Punch is probably unnecessary, but can be a useful tool for playing around Flygon and Venasaur. Heal Bell doesn't really help against this particular team, but it is nice in general for utility, since Granbull doesn't really need more coverage. If cleric support will be handled elsewhere, Thunder Wave can be used aggressively, which cripples Houndoom, and isn't exactly appreciated by Venasaur or Durant Medicham either, making it nice to spam on predicted switches. Granbull rests much easier with Steelix dealt with, however, and can only take down one or two threats before being worn down itself, so it must choose wisely.
Spiritomb does not tremendously care about being pursuit trapped, and this team generally fears burns. In addition, it completely walls Medicham, can neuter Steelix, Medicham, Flygon, and Durant, though Durant isn't a force to be trifled with. It can't really stay in on Houndoom, mind, and Venasaur doesn't really mind a burn all that much. Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse are chosen based on whether you go with Pursuit or Shadow Sneak. Pursuit can chip away at pokemon fleeing behind Houndoom, while Shadow Sneak can chip away at Flygon and hits Medicham harder. For this specific match up, I'd say Pursuit works better, since Spiritomb's goal is wearing down things other than Houndoom, then leaving Houndooms pursuit with a smirk. Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse are for attacking, or when you predict the opponent will switch something in to Will 'O' Wisp, with Shadow Ball destroying Medicham, though that is the only real difference. Pain Split or Rest are for shrugging off damage, getting a good Pain Split off on a nice, healthy Steelix or Houndoom can really screw them over to boot. If you decide to run Rest to absorb status, swap the HP and Defense EV's. Theoretically, Spiritomb could run Psychic to better fight Venusaur, or a Hidden Power to fight off Houndoom, but would be weirdly specific to countering this team.
Overall, Durant could be handled a little better, but that is largely the case for RU anyways. Venusaur is only checked, not countered, and the team can get rather screwed over if Houndoom starts spamming Fire Blast for some reason.
Burns could also be spread by something like a Camerupt or Emboar who can predict the Houndoom switch.
Also of note: This team is also rather reliant on Houndoom being ready at a moments notice, and with Defog kept rather precariously on Flygon, Stealth Rock is a concern. It won't take a genius to figure out that Flygon is scarfed, so you only get to take rocks off once. The second time, something will probably come in and set up on the obvious defog.
Alright, it's voting time! Nominees are as follows:
Arifeen
WanderingWobuffet
FineonBae
BrandonBeast
The Sneaky Prinny
My vote goes to my good man BrandonBeast. Too be honest, Arifeens was probably just as good but it's pretty likely that durant is gonna get banned. That being said, this team is kinda invalidated when if durant is banned.
So, this is a funky stall team that's been gradually updated at time went on. It does use some kinda stereotypically corny pokemon like Gastrodon and Defog Golbat. It does feature some cool pokemon like block Registeel and CB Tomb that can cripple walls with trick as well as trap. So, let's see what can break it!
And if you don't like it, take it up with Scythe.
Spiritomb (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Trick
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Will-O-Wisp
So Toxic Spikes Drapion can just brutalize this core especially because it can outspeed and taunt Golbat before it can remove tspikes. Drapion whirlwinds and spreads toxicity and 3/6 mons are looking to get crippled with 2 out of the remaining 3 not wanting to take a knock off. To top it off, SD Aboma provides a finishing touch and complements the lefties knock off and toxic damage with its hail ability. Abomasnow sets up a SD and either OHKOs or 2hkos the rest of the team. A lot of those 2hkoes become OHKO after toxic+hail damage+no lefties and stuff like Golbat lose its walling capability when their precious Eviolite is knocked off by Drapion.
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 346-408 (95 - 112%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 315-372 (86.5 - 102.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Golbat: 164-195 (46.4 - 55.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and hail damage
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Golbat: 242-289 (68.5 - 81.8%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Golbat: 265-315 (75 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Uxie: 177-211 (50 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, hail damage, and Leftovers recovery
Hoopa @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heal Bell
- Play Rough
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
This duo isn't really a "core", I guess, but Hoopa obliterates this team once Spiritomb is gone, netting an OHKO or 2HKO on everything, so I added Granbull to force Spiritomb out and mitigate toxic spikes damage.
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Spiritomb: 192-227 (63.3 - 74.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Spiritomb: 146-172 (48.1 - 56.7%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Spiritomb: 146-172 (48.1 - 56.7%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Alomomola: 575-676 (107.8 - 126.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Alomomola: 382-450 (71.6 - 84.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Alomomola: 575-676 (107.8 - 126.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Alomomola: 382-450 (71.6 - 84.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel: 224-265 (61.7 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel: 42-49 (11.5 - 13.4%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel: 84-100 (23.1 - 27.5%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel: 113-134 (31.1 - 36.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Uxie: 125-147 (35.4 - 41.6%) -- 77.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Uxie: 82-97 (23.2 - 27.4%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Uxie: 125-147 (35.4 - 41.6%) -- 77.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Uxie: 330-390 (93.4 - 110.4%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Golbat: 32-38 (9 - 10.7%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Golbat: 43-51 (12.1 - 14.4%) -- possible 7HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Golbat: 263-309 (74.5 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Golbat: 175-207 (49.5 - 58.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Energy Ball vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 510-603 (120 - 141.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 169-200 (39.7 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Hoopa Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 169-200 (39.7 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Bolded the most relevant ones.
Granbull's main job is to scare out Spiritomb, so I'm only going to be calcing the most relevant one:
252+ Atk Granbull Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Spiritomb: 288-338 (95 - 111.5%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
This team is old as bricks and still vulnerable to the same things. So, may as well bring something that goes way back as well to break this team in half:
Still an extremely disgusting core to face when you are using stall. The only thing that basically stops exploud from pressing boomburst and decimating everything is registeel, dugtrio traps registeel and the game ends from there. Just gotta watch out for that spiritomb since banded hits extremely hard but banded sucker punch is really easy to take advantage of.
Houndoom @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Both Fire Resists are OHKOed at +2, sets up for free on a sleeping Registeel, or Spiritomb locked into any move (except trick), preferably sucker punch. Ideally a threatening Psychic type such as Sigilyph or Meloetta would be paired with this in order to lure in Tomber. The only thing that even has a chance of taking a hit from this at +2 is Golbat and if it has taken literally any damage that chance falls from 12.5% to 0% (+2 252 SpA Life Orb Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Golbat: 348-411 (98.5 - 116.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO). So yeah Houndoom + anything that requires Spiritomb to come in or Registeel to rest (which is a lot of things) pretty much wins vs this team if they are using HP Grass rather than Sucker Punch. Alternatively even with sucker punch, if Gastrodon falls below 57% Dark Pulse is all you need, as Dark Pulse does 57-68% at +2.
Can We please use cores instead of single pokemon? Just a reminder, llamas is still good for votes this week. Anyway, I already Have the team chosen for next week, which is basically a first. But for now, my vote goes to Aldo, because, well, this team just keels to exploud once Registeel is gone, and even a little if it's still there. Sorry for the old team, next week I'll have a good one.
Here we have a fat balance squad made by the very capable EonX. Diancie and Alomomola, as bread and butter as they are, still make an excellent defensive core. Garbodor gives the team spikes support and is an important stop to Venusaur as well as setup sweepers with haze. Tangrowth can cripple opposing defensive mons with knock off and can scare out bulky water types. It also forms a solid regenerator core with Alomomola. Sigilyph is a reasonably speedy win condition and status spreader. Finally, Flygon rounds off the team with speed control and another method of cleaning late game.
Gale Slash (Sigilyph) (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psycho Shift
- Roost
- Air Slash
Shadow Stitch (Tangrowth) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- Aerial Ace
Just throw 2 wallbreakers and a balance breaker together and gg. Banded Rhyperior alone can potentially kill something every time it comes in it it predicts right. Flash Cannon Sigilyph lures out you're diancie and kills it. lastly specs rotom cut takes on that sigilyph set with ease and also kinda kills something every time it comes it. Not gonna lie the type synergy on that team is kinda mediocre being very vulnerable to so many wallbreakers.
Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
Swords dance drapion gives this team hell. Grabbing a lot of setup opportunities against garbodor, who cant haze it without risking getting worn down or just killed, diancie and tangrowth and proceeding to basically kill everything from there. Of course drapion cant do that by itself so life orb tangrowth literally destroys alomomola, flygon and if sigilyph dares to switch it can knock off the flame orb making it much easier.
Breaking my own team. To be fair, I made some modifications to it post Durant meta, but figured it would just be easier for cruton to post the RMT. Anyway, Rock-type wallbreakers in general give this team hell on their own. Choice Band Tyrantrum is an absolute monster for this team to switch into. Head Smash 2HKOes everything and while it has a hard time coming in on multiple Pokemon on this team it still is ridiculously strong considering the only Rock resistance is Flygon. Not exactly sure how Rotom-C breaks this team considering its only way around Tangrowth is Trick and it has to be very careful with Electric moves with Flygon around. Sigilyph is an issue I addressed later, but that's not relevant here. It does do work against this team construction.
Tyrantrum @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant or Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Earthquake / Dragon Claw
Aggron can literally get a kill or 2HKO everytime he's sent in if predicted correctly, and this isn't good considering Diancie and Garbodor gives it free switchins. Add a Ice Shard Sneasel to pick off Flygon and also clean up the team late-game when Aggron's done it's job, and you've got a really nice core to break this team.
