Hello, I'm Gul Macet and I have the dubious distinction of having by far the worst GXE on the top 100 Gen 3 OU ladder on my alt Fly_Master_5k. A lot of those L's were due to experimentation with the Monotype and BL challenges on the ADV ladder achievements, but I’m also just bad.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about a team that I had a lot of success with and which ultimately I think is viable despite having bad pokemon. I'll admit that I'm not a very good ADV player, but it's my favorite metagame. I've really enjoyed trying the ladder challenges, and I wanted to share a part of the fun I've had over the last few months (and unlike my unpublished write-ups on monotypes, there may even be some useful information.)
I apologize if this team or similar has been discussed before, I’m not very involved in the discourse of ADV, but hopefully you’ll find it at least entertaining.
https://pokepast.es/a06ef9e57c8ba5b9
The team is essentially two cores with Dodrio as the connecting pin. Dodrio/Camerupt/Vaporeon is your main defensive core, and I know how that sounds, but I can explain. Obviously Mag/Meta/Mence is a standard physical offensive core, but Dodrio also plays a huge role in setting this up.
First off, I’ll explain “why Dodrio?” I was inspired by this video (
) on the benefits of CB/dry pass Dodrio. If you’re on the Smogon forums reading this, you already know baton is amazing, even without stat boosts. While Jim Cool recommends an Adamant Dodrio, I’m a fan of leading with Jolly HP-fighting Dodrio. You’ve got a 69% (nice) chance to OHKO even bulky Ttar, you smack a lot of gimmicky mon really hard, and you can BP away from Bulkier leads. HP-fighting does reduce your speed IV, so that kind of sucks.
Wrong!
You will always be slower than Jolly/Timid 100 speed mon, and this is vital information for my speedcrept Mence and Agil Meta. Confirming that an opposing Mence or Flygon is Jolly is very helpful for setting up your Agility, since they can’t be max attack, and often people just run Adamant/Modest mon at 270, though that is more of a gamble since some mon are run in the low-300s.
Dodrio’s worst lead matchups are Zapdos/Gengar and Metagross/Jirachi, and that’s where the other bad mon come in. Camerupt is very happy to absorb thunderbolts, ice punches, whatever, and explode on a bulky water. Vaporeon can handle steel types, wish heal your CB’ers (I did have slow BP on vaporeon, but honestly roar and toxic are more important) and absorb surfs.
Yes, Dodrio, Camerupt and Vaporeon all have critical immunities that cover each other’s weaknesses, and an early-game may involve a bit of switching between these three, until Camerupt can secure a boom or you can BP in Mag on Skarm.
Second, hiding your Mag, Meta, and Mence sets. This is the less interesting part, as I assume any good player knows about set obfuscation, but I figured I’d explain my thought process for these specific sets.
Endure Mag can sometimes completely pop off, while still retaining its role as a Skarm killer. HP grass over Ice because for physical offense, Pert is your second biggest problem behind Skarm. AgilGross is your wincon, and with Camerupt boom and Vaporeon for bulky waters, you can often get him rolling. Having a second explosion just in case you miss is nice too. CB Mence is great, and I admit I got a little cheeky with the hidden power. How does your opponent tell the difference between a Band HP-Bug and a Lum HP-Fly when it hits their bulky water? They can’t, and that means that they probably won’t be expecting the banded Double-Edge when they go for the second switch-in.
Overall, I highly recommend trying this team out. I’ve really enjoyed using it, and I honestly think that despite being made for the BL challenge, someone could hit #1 on ladder with this.
Let me know your thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed reading.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about a team that I had a lot of success with and which ultimately I think is viable despite having bad pokemon. I'll admit that I'm not a very good ADV player, but it's my favorite metagame. I've really enjoyed trying the ladder challenges, and I wanted to share a part of the fun I've had over the last few months (and unlike my unpublished write-ups on monotypes, there may even be some useful information.)
I apologize if this team or similar has been discussed before, I’m not very involved in the discourse of ADV, but hopefully you’ll find it at least entertaining.
https://pokepast.es/a06ef9e57c8ba5b9
The team is essentially two cores with Dodrio as the connecting pin. Dodrio/Camerupt/Vaporeon is your main defensive core, and I know how that sounds, but I can explain. Obviously Mag/Meta/Mence is a standard physical offensive core, but Dodrio also plays a huge role in setting this up.
First off, I’ll explain “why Dodrio?” I was inspired by this video (
Wrong!
You will always be slower than Jolly/Timid 100 speed mon, and this is vital information for my speedcrept Mence and Agil Meta. Confirming that an opposing Mence or Flygon is Jolly is very helpful for setting up your Agility, since they can’t be max attack, and often people just run Adamant/Modest mon at 270, though that is more of a gamble since some mon are run in the low-300s.
Dodrio’s worst lead matchups are Zapdos/Gengar and Metagross/Jirachi, and that’s where the other bad mon come in. Camerupt is very happy to absorb thunderbolts, ice punches, whatever, and explode on a bulky water. Vaporeon can handle steel types, wish heal your CB’ers (I did have slow BP on vaporeon, but honestly roar and toxic are more important) and absorb surfs.
Yes, Dodrio, Camerupt and Vaporeon all have critical immunities that cover each other’s weaknesses, and an early-game may involve a bit of switching between these three, until Camerupt can secure a boom or you can BP in Mag on Skarm.
Second, hiding your Mag, Meta, and Mence sets. This is the less interesting part, as I assume any good player knows about set obfuscation, but I figured I’d explain my thought process for these specific sets.
Endure Mag can sometimes completely pop off, while still retaining its role as a Skarm killer. HP grass over Ice because for physical offense, Pert is your second biggest problem behind Skarm. AgilGross is your wincon, and with Camerupt boom and Vaporeon for bulky waters, you can often get him rolling. Having a second explosion just in case you miss is nice too. CB Mence is great, and I admit I got a little cheeky with the hidden power. How does your opponent tell the difference between a Band HP-Bug and a Lum HP-Fly when it hits their bulky water? They can’t, and that means that they probably won’t be expecting the banded Double-Edge when they go for the second switch-in.
Overall, I highly recommend trying this team out. I’ve really enjoyed using it, and I honestly think that despite being made for the BL challenge, someone could hit #1 on ladder with this.
Let me know your thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed reading.