Other Metagames Full Coverage, Full Defense, I guess... (Almost Any Ability)

https://pokepast.es/99e57884d5b81186

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https://pokepast.es/99e57884d5b81186


So, this is an Almost Any Ability team. I created this team with the goal of having at least two Mons or two moves that could exploit each type weaknesses and hence, having full coverage. Besides, I've created a team to deal with the most used Mons on AAA: Noivern, Corviknight, Dragonite, Houndstone and Garganacl. This team is working very well on AAA, but would be nice to have some ratings on it.


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Ceruledge (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse

Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 140 Atk / 96 Def / 16 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Solar Blade
- Flame Charge
- Close Combat

I love the idea of having a Speed-boosting move that deals damage. But I love even more a HP draining move. With a Orichalum Pulse Ceruledge I can have it all and also having a GREAT coverage, which is the purpose of this team. Orichalum Pulse brings Sunny Day, so I don't have to charge before Solar Blading, which is great. Besides, I have a great boost on my Fire attacks, and most of the time I open up with Flame Charge, giving me a nice Speed and building the way to create a sweeper (that's why I used 252 EV on Speed).

Bitter Blade compensates for some attacks I may receive while Flame Charging, giving me back HP. With Orichalum Pulse, my attack also increases, so the amount of HP I recover is higher.

Finally, Solar Blade gives me full coverage on Water/Rock/Ground too. And at last but not least, I go with Close Combat to deal with Dark-types. My Tera is also Fighting to boost this move and also to avoid super-effective attacks from some scarfed Dragapults and their Shadow Balls. There is very few Mons that I would be afraid of with that, and I believe I can cover 95% of the field with this Mon and this moveset here.

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Flutter Mane @ Electric Seed
Ability: Hadron Engine

Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 36 HP / 164 Def / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball

Flutter Mane is one of the best Special sweepers. Period. But not only that, with this moveset and Tera type she covers me for the most annoying Pokemons on AAA, which are Noivern with Aerilate and Boomburst and Choice Specs (pretty much a sweeper) Corviknight (a very annoying tank) and the banded Dragonite with Aerilate and Extreme Speed, all of them are Flying type.

So this is why I Teralized Flutter Mane with Electric type AND putted Hadron Engine as ability. It brings Electric Terrain, boosting Thunderbolt to attack or even OHKO those Flying sweepers and it also halves Flying type damages. I chose to boost her Defense and give her and Electric Seed, bulking her Defense against Shadow Sneak too. Hadron Engine also boost her SP. ATK but to kill a stubborn bulked-up Corviknight that may not be enough. That's why I run Calm Mind on her. After one use she already has 580 SpA. The other moves are STAB's and strategically against Dragons and, of course, Houndstone and his Last Respects.

In case I see a Steel-type or a Poison-type I just Teralize and cut my losses with the Electric type. If I happen to Calm Mind twice, I have a very good sweeper in my hands.

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Sandy Shocks @ Assault Vest
Ability: Fur Coat

Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 40 Def / 252 SpA / 216 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Tera Blast

Remember when I said that I HATE Noivern and Dragonite with Aerilate and I VERY MUCH HATE bulked-up Corviknights? Well... I REALLY hate them and they really gave me a hard time, but not anymore. In case they are strong enough to outcross my Flutter Mane, they won't go past my Fur Coat Sandy Shocks with 480 Def and 390 SpD.

It may seem a little neat, but on Almost Any Ability, LOTS of players use the Flying type sweepers. With this Mon, not only the damage will be halved, but he also has a very, very good coverage overall... Flash Cannon deals with Ice, Thunderbolt deals with Water, and my Ice-type Tera Blast deals with Grass and Ground. As it is pretty much unlikely any Pokemon will kill this tank with only one hit, his 375 SpA makes sure he can kill his weaknesses AND deal with those Flying sweepers I hate.

He is also very strong with other types, dealing well with bulky Garganacls, and I made sure I putted two STAB moves as well. Also, this Mon covers me against Electric type, since he is the only one in my team with a ground-type attack. So he plays a very, very strategical role.

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Quaquaval (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Adaptability

Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 236 Atk / 16 Def / 60 SpD / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Wave Crash

Gen 9 brought me something I wanted for a long time: a Water/Fighting type Pokemon with strong ATK. That being said, Quaquaval is my choice because he fills the absence of Water-types in the rest of my team. His amazing ATK stat with Adaptability makes him a beast. Also, Adaptability here boosts two very powerful moves: Wave Crash and Close Combat, which can OHKO a lot of Mons. Other thing is Aqua Step, which boosts his Speed. With two Aqua Steps I can act first 95% of the time without ever doing status moves.

Ice Spinner is here for Grass/Flying coverage, I also have the option of Teralizing it and use Adaptability on this move to OHKO a Flying or Grass type. It also can end Electric Terrains. That being said, with this Mon, the only weaknesses I could possibly have would be a combination of Psychic/Electric, Ghost/Electric, Fairy/Electric, which is VERY rare. In all other cases I think I am doing pretty good.

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Gholdengo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Guard

Tera Type: Water
EVs: 216 Def / 204 SpA / 88 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steel Beam
- Tera Blast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball

So, I mentioned Noivern, Dragonite and Corviknight but I also mentioned Garganacl, haven't I?? Garganacl and his Salt Cure is the new annoying Blissey on Gen 9 and to have success on AAA I must have a SpA beast to cover for it. Magic Guard Gholdengo does that coverage and way more. First of all, with Magic Guard, Salt Cure woud be pretty much useless, second, Magic Guard will allow me to use a 140 point attack (Steel Beam) without having any recoil damage. On top of that, Gholdengo has a very good SpA (388). Combined with his STAB, it can kill Garganacls and Baxcaliburs easily.

I chose Water as my Tera because I needed another Mon with Water attacks and because it covers me against Fire and Ground, which is great. Dazzling Gleam comes to deal with Dark-types too, and Shadow Ball comes to use my STAB, since Gholdengo doesn't have a lot of SpA attacking options. Nevertheless, if I ever come across a faster Flutter Mane, I Tera up and Shadow Ball her, the same applies to Houndstones, that's why I invested on his Defense.

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Chien-Pao @ Focus Sash
Ability: Strong Jaw

Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Tera Blast
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang

So long, Weavile! You were really amazing, but now I fell in love with the Strong Jaw Chien-Pao. This Mon covers my absence of Dark-type moves, put me in a good position against fast Dragapults and have an absolutely killing Attack. She is my physical sweeper. She is also strategically sashed for those times I come across faster Mons, since her Def and SpD are very weak.

I only chose moves that Strong Jaw could boost and I also chose Psychic Fangs for Fighting coverage, and it covers me very well on that. Her Tera is Steel to deal against Rocks and Fairies. If I ever come across a Fire-type, may I remind you that on Gen 9 almost every single Fire-type Mon is either Fire/Psychic or Fire/Ghost so I have a decent coverage with my STAB Crunch. If I come across a Bug-type or a Fire-type I may consider a switch to my Ceruledge or my Quaquaval, since if I switch, I will have time to Aqua Step or Flame Charge when the Bug or the FireMon switch it too.

Only real weakness that I sense in her is when my opponent Stealth Rocks, nulifing my Focus Sash when I switch in. Also, this Sash covers me against Houndstones and his Last Respects too.


Suggestions are very well accepted. Thank you very much!
 
Last edited:

Isaiah

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Hey, nice team!

Just a few general comments to begin with:
- Can you please explain what your EV spreads are for? Without explanations, it's hard to determine if they're actually worthwhile or not.
- Running an Assault Vest on multiple Pokemon is generally not great in AAA, as there are better sets for tanky Pokemon.
- Without any entry hazard control, your team is extremely susceptible to every form of entry hazard, which isn't the best.
- It seems like you were going for a Bulky Offense build of sorts with this team, so that theme of trying to have full coverage while retaining offensive can probably be achieved without limiting your Pokemon so much using Assault Vests, and here are some suggestions as to how:


:ss/Ceruledge:
Ceruledge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire or Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flame Charge / Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Solar Blade
- Close Combat

For an All Out Attacker Ceruledge, a full-on offensive EV spread will probably do you much more good. You'll want to maximize your damage output on a set that doesn't have Swords Dance, after all--and with Heavy-Duty Boots, you aren't weak to entry hazards anymore. You can also consider a Water Tera here to transform against something like a Primordial Sea Iron Bundle and take them by surprise with Close Combat.


:ss/Flutter Mane:
Flutter Mane @ Electric Seed
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball

I actually get the intent of trying to run Electric Seed + Electric type to be able to more easily set up against Ice Scales Corviknight (and also resist Aerilate Extreme Speed from Dragonite), which otherwise blows you away with Brave Bird. The only change I made here was just running offensive investment, since there's no clear reason not to invest in its high 135 SpA.


:ss/Sandy Shocks:
Sandy Shocks @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 40 Def / 252 SpA / 216 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon

Sandy Shocks isn't really properly equipped to answer both Noivern and Dragonite due to the latter regularly running Earthquake, and a Fur Coat Assault Vest set definitely can't switch into them more than once or twice, which isn't ideal; so, I made it RegenVest for Noivern instead. Also, on a team with so much offense like yours, being able to Volt Switch to a teammate is extremely valuable and generally not worth skipping out on. Dragon Tera could be helpful against something like Desolate Land Iron Moth if need be: you change type as they go for the Fire-type move and get your OHKO with Earth power.


:ss/Quaquaval:
Quaquaval (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability / Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wave Crash
- Close Combat
- Aqua Step / Aqua Jet
- U-turn / Ice Spinner

I'll say it outright: Not running full offensive investment on this kind of set is an absolute waste. It's already Adaptability and running extremely high power moves like Wave Crash and Close Combat, so you might as well finish the job with a Choice Band. I think Aqua Jet is worth considering because Choice Band + Adaptability makes it nice at securing KOs against weakened foes and also threatens faster foes like Great Tusk with a really strong priority attack. U-turn lets you pivot out into another teammate to both maintain momentum and creates a VoltTurn core with your Sandy Shocks. If your feel your team lacks counterplay against Fire-types still, Primordial Sea instead of Adaptability could help with that.


:sv/Gholdengo:
Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Nasty Plot
- Recover

So this is quite a big change from the original set, but hear me out. With Fur Coat, you're able to properly check Dragonite and still serve as a secondary answer to Noivern if need be (shouldn't be necessary with RegenVest Sandy Shocks, however), while firing off respectably powerful 120 BP Make it Rains. As for the incurred entry hazard weakness, it seemed like this was something inevitable based on the team structure, so I think it's good to just go for the ability to check physical attackers while you can. Fur Coat also means you're bulky enough to Nasty Plot multiple times in front of would-be threats, which is really convenient.


:ss/Chien-Pao:
Chien-Pao @ Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Tera Blast / Swords Dance
- Crunch
- Ice Spinner
- Sucker Punch

I don't have much to suggest as a change here except perhaps making the Chien-Pao a Magic Guard user. You can either opt for Magic Guard Life Orb or just Magic Guard Focus Sash, but I thought this would make more sense than the existing set, and here's why. On a team like this (with no entry hazard control), you want your Focus Sash Pokemon to actually be able to keep its sash even if it isn't being used as a lead, and Magic Guard is perfect for that. For something that's meant to weaken opposing Pokemon and score KOs against fast threat, a priority move like Sucker Punch seemed to make the most sense in the last slot. You could also consider something like Swords Dance instead of Tera Blast Steel to give Chien-Pao potential as a lead setup user.


I know I suggested quite a few changes here, but I wanted to give some perspective on how simply trying to achieve "maximum coverage" using Terastallization and moveslots can often just leave your team extremely vulnerable to metagame threats without actually being any better at achieving a win. Almost Any Ability gives you a lot of flexibility and [recovery] options to work with, so don't limit yourself :]

I am interested in seeing where else your building endeavors take you; happy laddering!
 
Isaiah Hey man! Sorry it took me so long to answer you! Working 9-to-5 and playing makes us sometimes way too frenetic to check the forum.

Anyways, thank you very much for your contribution! You rate teams very well and with kindness to explain. I partly followed your advice on Chien-Pao and putted some Heavy-Duty Boots on her along with Sturdy and added Swords Dance to increase attack instead of using Strong Jaw, also, with this setup, now the "Sash Effect" works everytime, thanks to your insight on the hazards, which I did not have something to counter-balance it, so it was very helpful.

On Gholdengo, Fur Coat would be great, yes, but the main reason for Magic Guard was to defend against Salt Cure, so I could not change that, even tho would be a nice thing to do. I also thank for your insight on Sandy Shocks as I really needed something like Volt Switch, I kept Fur Coat, but added Volt Switch and it worked greatly.

Please, keep doing rates like that. If there is somewhere I can vote for you on the Rate Of The Month, please, let me know.

Kind regards.
 

Ducky

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is a Contributor to Smogon
I partly followed your advice on Chien-Pao and putted some Heavy-Duty Boots on her along with Sturdy, so now the "Sash Effect" works everytime, thanks to your insight on the hazards, which I did not have something to counter-balance it, so it was very helpful.
Magic Guard + Focus Sash is better than Sturdy + HDB imo. This is because of the fact that Magic Bounce, Fur Coat, and Ice Scales are all unbanned in AAA, so seeing Mold Breaker Pokemon to get around these abilities isn't uncommon. Mold Breaker also ignores Sturdy, but obviously doesn't ignore Magic Guard, so I would suggest you use Magic Guard and a Focus Sash.
 

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