Polteageist @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Giga Drain
Polteageist's niche is as a ghost type shell smasher, boasting a strong shadow ball with few meta-relevant resists. It suffers however from a shallow coverage movepool, inability to hit dark types and poor defensive stats. The rest of the team exists to deal with what polteageist cannot and facilitate a polteageist sweep.
Shadow ball is very spammable and can ohko many opponents except for dark types and a handful of defensively invested mons. Stored power is stronger than shadow ball after shell smash and is necessary for some specific kills such as toxapex, however it cannot deal with either steel or dark types. Polteageist has pretty poor coverage so we are left with giga drain which helps with rotom-w, gastrodon and quagsire and can potentially recover off hazard/weather chip if necessary. Weak armor is preferred over cursed body as it has the potential to boost speed, increasing the BP of stored power. This turns 2hkos on some defensive Pokémon like landorus, clefable and rotom into guaranteed ohkos or ohkos with stealth rock. Focus sash gives a free set up turn on a lot of pokemon. Timid allows polteageist to outspeed a couple of extra threats at +2, such as scarf blace, +1 volcarona, scarf urshifu and certain kartana sets. Modest is also an option, trading the need to chip walls more for the need to fully remove certain fast threats.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
Psychic terrain synergizes quite well with polteageist in two ways. Firstly it blocks priority moves which is important when polteageist is at 1hp. Secondly it boosts the damage from stored power, again for guaranteed ohkos on a greater range of pokemon. Specs Tapu Lele acts here as a special wallbreaker focussed on removing or chipping anything that can survive a hit from polteageist. Psyshock is STAB which can take out blissey. Moonblast is STAB which hits dark types. Thunderbolt is for corviknight. Focus blast is for dark and steel types such as heatran, ferro, melmetal etc.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Protective Pads
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet
- U-turn
Polteageist appreciates fighting types to deal with dark types and with the many bulky steel types who resist stored power. My choice here was urshifu as it deals with heatran (both lefties or air balloon) incredibly well, being able to threaten 2 super effective moves and forcing 50/50s as opposed to just forcing a switch to a fighting resist. Protective pads makes teams with ferrothorn and rocky helmet users a lot safer while still allowing urshifu to get the chip and ko's that it's supposed to on blissey, melmetal, landorus etc.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 23 Spe
- Defog
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
The team needs good hazard control as hazards can take away polteageists free set up turn and appreciates an electric immunity as regieleki outspeeds polteageist. Landorus fills both of these and provides some additional utility. Stealth rocks can turn some rolls into guaranteed ko's for polteageist so it is appreciated if not always strictly necessary. Slow U-turn lets landorus pivot out into a wallbreaker or directly into polteageist after removing hazards. Longevity is important for Landorus as it often wants to remove or set hazards in the late game so leftovers was chosen over rocky helmet. EV spread is specially defensive
Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
A secondary option for late-game cleaner with swords dance with additional function as a wallbreaker. Triple axel helps vs a number of pokemon such as dragonite and tornadus. Knock off is strong STAB and is very valuable against a lot of assault vest users, especially those with regenerator, making them susceptible to ohko shadow balls from poltegeist. Ice shard can be used to revenge kill or as a last bit of chip when being sacrificed.
Scizor @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Hazard control is again very important on this team so a second defogger is necessary. Scizor can also be very helpful in dealing with Rillaboom with its resistance to glide and strong U-turn. Bullet punch is scizor's bread and butter and is especially appreciated vs clefable and weavile. Knock off again helps with assault vest users and makes scizor very useful against physical dragapult. EV spread is primarily physically defensive to compliment SpDef landorus
I believe scizor is very useful to this team but the set may not be the best. I have considered switching knock off for either roost, improving longevity or superpower for damage on steel types e.g. heatran trying to switch in.
Threats:
Terrain setters + priority: In isolation neither pose a particularly large problem but teams with both a terrain setter and a priority move can stop a polteageist sweep. The most threatening of these is Rillaboom as it fills both roles. Either the terrain setter or the priority user must be removed before bringing in polteageist.
Dragapult: Specs and other special dragapult sets are outsped and killed by polteageist after shell smash. A dragapult at +1 speed because of either a scarf or dragon dance outspeeds and can negate focus sash even at max health using dragon darts or u-turn. These sets are less common however and can be outplayed once the set is revealed.
Hazards: Hazards take away polteageist's free set up turn. Defog is often important late game so it is important to know when to preserve landorus or scizor.
Hail/sand: Similarly to hazards, hail and sand can remove polteageist's free set up turn. Either the weather setter must be removed or polteageist must set up with full health.
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Giga Drain
Polteageist's niche is as a ghost type shell smasher, boasting a strong shadow ball with few meta-relevant resists. It suffers however from a shallow coverage movepool, inability to hit dark types and poor defensive stats. The rest of the team exists to deal with what polteageist cannot and facilitate a polteageist sweep.
Shadow ball is very spammable and can ohko many opponents except for dark types and a handful of defensively invested mons. Stored power is stronger than shadow ball after shell smash and is necessary for some specific kills such as toxapex, however it cannot deal with either steel or dark types. Polteageist has pretty poor coverage so we are left with giga drain which helps with rotom-w, gastrodon and quagsire and can potentially recover off hazard/weather chip if necessary. Weak armor is preferred over cursed body as it has the potential to boost speed, increasing the BP of stored power. This turns 2hkos on some defensive Pokémon like landorus, clefable and rotom into guaranteed ohkos or ohkos with stealth rock. Focus sash gives a free set up turn on a lot of pokemon. Timid allows polteageist to outspeed a couple of extra threats at +2, such as scarf blace, +1 volcarona, scarf urshifu and certain kartana sets. Modest is also an option, trading the need to chip walls more for the need to fully remove certain fast threats.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
Psychic terrain synergizes quite well with polteageist in two ways. Firstly it blocks priority moves which is important when polteageist is at 1hp. Secondly it boosts the damage from stored power, again for guaranteed ohkos on a greater range of pokemon. Specs Tapu Lele acts here as a special wallbreaker focussed on removing or chipping anything that can survive a hit from polteageist. Psyshock is STAB which can take out blissey. Moonblast is STAB which hits dark types. Thunderbolt is for corviknight. Focus blast is for dark and steel types such as heatran, ferro, melmetal etc.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Protective Pads
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet
- U-turn
Polteageist appreciates fighting types to deal with dark types and with the many bulky steel types who resist stored power. My choice here was urshifu as it deals with heatran (both lefties or air balloon) incredibly well, being able to threaten 2 super effective moves and forcing 50/50s as opposed to just forcing a switch to a fighting resist. Protective pads makes teams with ferrothorn and rocky helmet users a lot safer while still allowing urshifu to get the chip and ko's that it's supposed to on blissey, melmetal, landorus etc.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 23 Spe
- Defog
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
The team needs good hazard control as hazards can take away polteageists free set up turn and appreciates an electric immunity as regieleki outspeeds polteageist. Landorus fills both of these and provides some additional utility. Stealth rocks can turn some rolls into guaranteed ko's for polteageist so it is appreciated if not always strictly necessary. Slow U-turn lets landorus pivot out into a wallbreaker or directly into polteageist after removing hazards. Longevity is important for Landorus as it often wants to remove or set hazards in the late game so leftovers was chosen over rocky helmet. EV spread is specially defensive
Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
A secondary option for late-game cleaner with swords dance with additional function as a wallbreaker. Triple axel helps vs a number of pokemon such as dragonite and tornadus. Knock off is strong STAB and is very valuable against a lot of assault vest users, especially those with regenerator, making them susceptible to ohko shadow balls from poltegeist. Ice shard can be used to revenge kill or as a last bit of chip when being sacrificed.
Scizor @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Hazard control is again very important on this team so a second defogger is necessary. Scizor can also be very helpful in dealing with Rillaboom with its resistance to glide and strong U-turn. Bullet punch is scizor's bread and butter and is especially appreciated vs clefable and weavile. Knock off again helps with assault vest users and makes scizor very useful against physical dragapult. EV spread is primarily physically defensive to compliment SpDef landorus
I believe scizor is very useful to this team but the set may not be the best. I have considered switching knock off for either roost, improving longevity or superpower for damage on steel types e.g. heatran trying to switch in.
Threats:
Terrain setters + priority: In isolation neither pose a particularly large problem but teams with both a terrain setter and a priority move can stop a polteageist sweep. The most threatening of these is Rillaboom as it fills both roles. Either the terrain setter or the priority user must be removed before bringing in polteageist.
Dragapult: Specs and other special dragapult sets are outsped and killed by polteageist after shell smash. A dragapult at +1 speed because of either a scarf or dragon dance outspeeds and can negate focus sash even at max health using dragon darts or u-turn. These sets are less common however and can be outplayed once the set is revealed.
Hazards: Hazards take away polteageist's free set up turn. Defog is often important late game so it is important to know when to preserve landorus or scizor.
Hail/sand: Similarly to hazards, hail and sand can remove polteageist's free set up turn. Either the weather setter must be removed or polteageist must set up with full health.
