Other Metagames [Godly Gift] Echo of Heroes

[longhiep341]

(click the sprites above for team)

Introduction and teambuilding​

To preface, I always thought I should build around some kinds of gimmick but I would somehow elevate it to as close to being competitive as possible. Then I saw someone getting swept by Pixilate Echoed Voice Tapu Koko on high AAA ladder. That inspired me to build a serious team revolving this, and what better place than my favorite OM, Godly Gift?
Building process:

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Ok, so Echoed Voice has a unique mechanic: its power boost is similar to Fury Cutter, however its power boost can be passed to another Pokemon, so long as it was executed last turn, and this keeps going even if it fails but still is still executed (like hitting into Protect is still fine, but getting flinched or Throat Chop is not). With that in mind, clearly the goal is to keep the chain going on at all cost. Which means, fast Pokemon are preferred so that they can get an Echoed Voice off even if they sacrifice themselves in the process. Echoed Voice sadly is a Normal-type move, which means any Ghost can just sit there and wait until all PPs run out to break the streak. Miltank and Sylveon therefore were chosen first, as they have Scrappy and Pixilate to circumvent this weakness. It also makes the most sense, since others that fit the bill run into some problems. Exploud and Aurorus both compete for Speed slot, and they lack the power or in SpA slot, Speed to outrun base 130.

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Pheromosa seemed like an obvious choice as the god, as it provides good SpA and the fastest Speed for Sylveon to just spam Echoed Voice. It also learns Echoed Voice itself, meaning it can start the deadly reaction.

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Liepard was chosen next thanks to Prankster, allowing it to get a Copycat Echoed Voice. Atk slot is also admittedly not very useful since the aim is a special move, so it doesn't really matter if this slot can't make full use of it.

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The last two slots were much trickier. At this stage, there are 4 main issues: Steel-types, Ho-Oh, fast Scarfers and priority. Unfortunately, I accept that Ho-oh will always beat this no matter what, but since it's rather not popular as a god, at least I can just forfeit whenever I see a glimpse of it. Fast scarfers are probably the largest problem by KOing Echoed Voice Pokemon before they can kick things up, so I decided to tackle this by adding Slurpuff with Web, making sure that others can move first. Slurpuff also can utilize Pheromosa's Def by making Unburden easier to activate.

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Priority is similar to Scarfers, and Rayquaza is especially threatening. With only one slot left to fill the remaining holes and Steel-types not being the biggest roadblock, Tapu Lele was the last piece of the puzzle to complete the team. Doesn't get much HP benefit but not really important to its job.

Side note: Is it just me or this team seems to have a feminine vibe?

Members​

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast

As sad as it is, you usually want to send this Pokemon out for it to faint immediately so that you maximize Psychic Terrain duration. While Tapu Lele does learn Echoed Voice, it won't help when a faster Pokemon just KO it, so better to maximize coverage to wear down foes for others. Taunt prevents hazards, Focus Blast hopefully weakens Ferrothorn and Heatran. Since this team has 3 Sashes, you really want to prevent hazards of all kinds.

Liepard @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Echoed Voice
- Copycat
- Knock Off
- Taunt

Liepard's role is basically to kick off the chain. Echoed Voice can be used twice even against faster foes thanks to Prankster Copycat. Speaking of Copycat, it can also do funny things like taking care of setup sweepers that might go out of control, which is shown in a replay below. Knock Off is there to utilize the Atk boost. I swapped between Taunt and Encore many times, but ultimately decided that denying hazard is more important, since Pheromosa is usually used as backup to keep Echoed Voice going.


Slurpuff @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Magic Coat
- Sticky Web
- Misty Explosion
- Endeavor

Setting Web and hopefully weakening something is Slurpuff's role in most metas, and no exception here. Magic Coat helps beat Taunt, although one very annoying mon to face is Taunt + Magma Storm Heatran which forces 50/50. Yawn is unfortunately banned so Endeavor is the most useful move to replace it, Misty Explosion prevents Spin and Defog, pretty self-explanatory. One thing to note: DO NOT lead with this if your opponent has Weavile or any other multihit move.


Miltank (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Echoed Voice
- Focus Blast
- Surf
- Stealth Rock

Imma be honest, I have never clicked any move besides Echoed Voice on this, but no reason not to have some options. Miltank's special movepool is sadly also complete trash, so I filled its moveset with whatever that can help. Focus Blast targets Steel on paper, Surf for Ho-Oh and other Fire (which still deals zero and outdamaged by 4 stack Echoed Voice), Rock because I don't think there's anything else to run. I guess you can run Rock Slide (again, still 0 to Ho-Oh) or maybe Toxic, but really you can't afford to click something else most of the time. Miltank does outspeed most Scarfers though which is nice, but for fastest threats (Eleki, Scarf Kartana, weather abusers) Web is still required.


Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Echoed Voice
- Ice Beam
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin

The god, which also serves as a Spinner. I had no idea which moves to run on Phero besides Echoed Voice and Spin. In the end, I settled with Ice Beam for Defog Lando-T and Close Combat for Steel in general. Then came another hard part. Should this be special or physical spread? Ice Beam already OHKOs 252 HP / 0 SpD Lando-T, but a fair number of them have SpD donation so I figured 252 SpA would help more. In an emergency, this can also be used as the last Echoed Voice user once the other 2 faint, so there are more merits to running SpA.


Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Echoed Voice
- Hyper Voice
- Mystical Fire
- Shadow Ball

Win or loss is usually decided by Sylveon. The strongest Echoed Voice to boot, alongside Phero's Speed, this should be aimed to get at least 2 KOs or damage key targets. Hyper Voice provides immediate damage, Mystical Fire for Ferro and Skarm, Shadow Ball is basically filler, I don't know what else to add, it targets Victini at least so that's useful enough in my eyes.

Honorable mention:

Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Discharge
- Magnet Rise

I went through some variants, of those including UT's favorite Pokemon. So when the team was first made, I expected Steel to be much more annoying than I do now. It still kinda is, but forgoing either Lele or Slurpuff really hurt when I got wrecked by Rayquaza without Lele and Scarf Kartana without Slurpuff, so this one took the cut. (It's ok, Magnezone is still in half my teams)

Threats​

Ho-Oh: Specially bulky, can disrupt the chain with Whirlwind, not to mention its SpDef receiver, Ho-Oh really is the bane of this team. At least if lucky enough, another mon with Echoed Voice might be swapped in. Or Knock Off + Rock from Miltank... somehow.
Steel-types: I hate Steel-types. All my homies hate Steel-types. Heatran is by far the worst, especially Protect variants. Sylveon and Miltank might break them if you are willing to break the chain but then risk a switch. Pheromosa helps a bit but honestly, for some frailer Steel you might break with max stack Echoed Voice as well.
Rillaboom: If your opponent misplays and Grassy Glide into Slurpuff then there might be some hope but Lele can't switch into this. Relying on Sash from Liepard and Pheromosa can help though.
Cloyster: One Shell Smash can spell doom immediately, Liepard is the best shot to revenge it if it's brought down to 1 HP.
Ditto: Hey, at least you can proudly show your team and claim you got an Echoed Voice sweep.
Knock Off: If Sylveon or Miltank has to take Knock Off, they will be much weaker/slower, making it easier to break the streak. For Miltank especially, no Scarf means getting outsped by weather abusers and Scarf Kartana even with Web.
Soundproof Kommo-o: Uninstall
Throat Chop: Report your opponent for hacking into your teambuilder and deliberately cteaming.

Replays:
Vs dex - World Cup of OM
Vs kennukem - ladder

 

[Caurnio Gemesa]

This is art. No question about it. Seeing a terrible team concept being turned into a legit threat is something I love to see.

 

[EeveeWillEatYou]

do you have a chart of when it caps of and also if it doubles or adds 40 each turn

 

[longhiep341]

It adds 40 each turn! So 40 on turn 1, 80 on 2 and so on until 200 on turn 5.

Also if you have a really jank idea, give it to me and I might just make it work.
Also I'm glad I get the support for this. What do you want me to make a RMT of next? Cat, dog, horse, dinosaur, 6 Regen, 6 Pressure, Degenerate trap, Drum Spam, Raboot, or something else? My vast trash teambuilder will surely not disappoint.

 

[SpaceSpeakers]

6 regens pls

It adds 40 each turn! So 40 on turn 1, 80 on 2 and so on until 200 on turn 5.

Also if you have a really jank idea, give it to me and I might just make it work.
Also I'm glad I get the support for this. What do you want me to make a RMT of next? Cat, dog, horse, dinosaur, 6 Regen, 6 Pressure, Degenerate trap, Drum Spam, Raboot, or something else? My vast trash teambuilder will surely not disappoint.