Resource PU Team Dump

:weezing::talonflame::scrafty::ferroseed::vaporeon::virizion:
i made a scrafty stall team that ended up getting me #1 on ladder so i thought it'd be cool to share. the team is centered around tspike + sr stacking against fairies that scrafty cant break though. flame is there to taunt/wisp slower mons and can revenge kill things like virizion. vaporeon is just the classic cleric set and helps against opposing talonflames. i added virizion as another wincon since the team does so well against the mons it cant break through (feel free to change the set i didnt experiment too much with it). overall the main goal is to just wall everything and open up paths that allow for one of the fighting types to win.
 

Chloe

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
NUPL Champion
as my team was knocked out of ltpl today i wanna post the teams i used / built throughout the tour. click on sprites for importables!

unused december meta teams



built a few things for expulso/drud/sensei to use in early rounds but they all wanted to bring their own stuff, so y'all can have my useless teams, you can't use them anymore!

week 3 - termi - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1259697519

wanted to build around banded guzz because at the time i thought it was broken, another idea zs threw around was mystic water basculin to bait band for croak, which was something termi was very vocal about wanting to suspect/ban. ended up getting excellent matchup where i could play very very safe and seal the win.

week 4 - kink - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8pu-537391

omastar looked so good in the current meta, teams without vapo / lanturn / av guzz were just dropping, with the former two still beatable given the oma player gets good predictions. generally think omastar is a top tier mon that i will be nomming higher on the vr / supporting the rise of. excellent set up sweeper with very little drawback, that appreciates the expansive usage of talon at the moment. in game i had alright matchup, omastar just needed to smash and it basically won. scarf arch was scary, kingler was too with how limited my defensive counterplay was, but i ended up getting the win.

in between times / week 5

was on vacation during week 5 so expulso was playing pu for my team, i gave him the idea of dd scrafty. i built this while away on my phone and passed to him, but he went with one of his teams anyway. still a fun team.


built this for easy reqs because the ladder was annoying me :blobsad:, ended up working rly well, posted in my team discord and a few people got reqs with it. hs even won with it the following week against mncmt. idef cofa works wonders, especially against ladder. submitted as a sample here if you want more info.

week 6 - trixx - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1273476178

meri had the idea of bringing arch eggy-a, i was set on it since eggy-a was powerful as fuck and arch baited in whatever eggy-a could reasonably beat anyway. didn't get to use this core much in the process of the match due to trixx bringing memes (his team was already out), but regardless a solid team, with a few minor weaknesses, that i genuinely think works well.

week 7 - tj - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8pu-541354

looking at tj's earlier teams we decided that kingler would be an apt threat to all but 1 of his teams (the one with jellicent), it looked unlikely he'd bring another. unfortunately, he loaded up a jellicent. np croak had amazing matchup and so did scarf tsareena. him close combating into my talonflame with major threat lycanroc allowed me to take this game. a nice team overall that i'm quite happy with other than that crippling lycan weakness.

playoffs - punny - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8pu-542662

brought this, i thought his teams looked a little passive so it'd be easy to set up with alcremie. what i dreaded happened and he loaded up a guzz, i really really just wish i had gleam over stored because that would've won on matchup, but alas, it was not meant to be. generally destroyed everyone in tests, just got unlucky matchup. first loss of the tour :psysad:

other teams

tried building around centi, this team is generally solid but without a recovery fire type or a steel it struggles against repeated ribombee / whims attacks, which are popping up everywhere now.


initial team i was gonna bring against tj but decided to go for something a little more reliable / something i was used to, as this seemed unnecessary. i generally didn't like how it felt too much.

unused sets / ideas
:ss/ribombee:
Ribombee @ Flame Orb
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Moonblast
- Charm
- Roost

i rly wanted to bring this all second half of the tour but i was too chicken. after a single quiver dance it beats defensive talonflame, non-encore toge, and a bunch of other regular checks. flame orb prevents toxic and other status stopping.
-2 8 Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 228 Def Ribombee: 122-146 (37.7 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after burn damage
-2 252 Atk Togedemaru Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 228 Def Ribombee: 120-144 (37.1 - 44.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after burn damage

:ss/trevenant:
Trevenant @ Choice Band
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor

hardly my idea for a set since it's been used for months but banded trevenant is really good rn and i was tempted to bring it on multiple occassions. x-scissor instead of drain punch, horn leech or whatever else it could opt to run, allows it to hit guzzlord, an otherwise competent switchin for massive damage. more people should use trevenant, that's basically all this point is, i didn't invent anything here!

conclusion
i had a really fun time in this tour, i really enjoy ss pu atm, it's so fun to play and it feels like a good meta. s/o lily and martha for drafting me and slotting me into a format that was virtually brand new at the time, i really enjoyed playing it. thanks to all the cinccinos that made this tour super enjoyable. ty to meri, drud and zs for helping throughout the tour and coming up with new ideas. thank you to everyone who helped me test teams throughout the tour: gum lst specs termi tj and anyone i may have forgotten (rly sorry!). special thanks to meri again for being super epic and really helpful, and lily again for naming almost all my mons which carried me through.
 

INSANE CARZY GUY

Banned deucer.
These 3 teams have let me grind from 1000-1440's range each a number of times and have a solid win rating and have just been my favorites, I hope some else enjoys


This team enraged someone so badly they hacked my account and temp banned me, You bet I'm proud
Screenshot (18)_LI.jpg

Not enough people run enough rock coverage and I don't blame them and when it does hit hard enough You're going to run hard into sand/poli and create openings on on choice users and most of the team isn't passive enough to set up on so a lot of doubles to frosmoth or guzz are wide open and while not bad at all Char isn't always useful, but I do think it should still run speed, nuke a lot because they're only bulky and often I rather have speed to prevent a 1-2 hit ko over being bulkier to take resisted and weak neutral hits.

Don't hate on Poli, often ends up being a win con and Yes this mon is hot trash and unexpected cheese and generally outclassed but I really enjoy this role compression in this very niche team needing both a water and fighting type
252 Atk Passimian Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sandaconda: 115-136 (33 - 39%)
252+ Atk Poliwrath Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sandaconda: 152-182 (43.6 - 52.2%)


Frosmoth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 204 HP / 20 Def / 32 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Giga Drain



Charizard @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 200 Def / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Defog



Sandaconda @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Shed Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 64 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rest
- Glare



Wuzzlord (Guzzlord) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 192 Atk / 252 SpD / 64 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
- Drain Punch
- Dragon Tail



Froslass @ Choice Band
Ability: Cursed Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poltergeist
- Icicle Crash
- Spikes
- Switcheroo



Poliwrath @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 Def / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Toxic
- Ice Punch

Basically Don't let them do anything You can't recover from, I've subbed out 4th slot on giga repeatedly and it really just doesn't matter if it's rest or anything else. I wanted to do E-quake gravity to duggy on a double first team build
252 Atk Life Orb Sand Force Dugtrio Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Weezing in Sand: 291-346 (87.1 - 103.5%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
But in practice it just never happened or they'd just be very boots heavy and spikes add nothing in gravity situations. Cool move but idk


Dugtrio @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Stealth Rock



Vaporeon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Flip Turn
- Wish
- Toxic
- Heal Bell



Sandslash @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 220 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Super Fang
- Knock Off



Gigalith @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Rest /Filler
- Stone Edge
- Protect



Frosmoth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Quiver Dance
- Ice Beam
- Air Slash



Whimsicott @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- U-turn
- Encore
- Leech Seed

Everyone wants to see a Pinsir Beatle whoop a team like that Frenchman who ate a couch and dozens of light bulbs.

Facts
252+ SpA Choice Specs Basculin Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Regirock: 426-504 (117 - 138.4%)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Mold Breaker Basculin Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Frosmoth: 232-274 (82.5 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Mold Breaker Basculin Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Toxicroak: 301-355 (98 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Mold Breaker Basculin Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Tangela: 316-372 (94.6 - 111.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
Mold Breaker is neat tech that that really just opens up the candy store and You can pivot in on a few weak hits, outspeed and flip/pump.

Talon is just glue and baits out a lot of stuff to be U-turned on while beating other stuff. kind of a win more mon if anything needs subbed on this team imo


Talonflame @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- Roost
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz



Pinsir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Toxic



Basculin-Blue-Striped @ Choice Specs
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Rash Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Flip Turn
- Aqua Jet



Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 76 SpD / 180 Spe
Careful Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Poltergeist



Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed



Whimsicott @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 128 HP / 172 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Defog
 
Last edited:

Specs

Getting in your own way
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
UUPL Champion
Wont be playing or prepping for PUPL so figured id drop some teamz:

:passimian::scyther::lanturn::charizard::regirock::oranguru:

Was in call with StarBlim and wanted to use a funny mon, Oranguru came to mind fsr and went with it. Volt turn is pretty solid, Scyther especially does good against the ladder cuz you can get more turns right. Zard is one of (of not the) most viable mons in the tier and fit on for some fog. Regirock was there cuz I wanted a flying resist to cover Scyther and Pass's weakness. Gigalith fit too but idk I didnt like the idea of having sand cancel lefties on Lanturn and Oranguru (especially Lanturn if they have Focus Zard) Oranguru looked cool as a Psychic that is immune to ghost, while also being surprisingly hard to OKO. Utility with knock is cool and you also threaten a good portion of the tier with Psychic + Focus (can also be shock). Not the most serious team out there but got to maybe the 1400s before I got bored, enjoy!

:charizard::guzzlord::silvally-fairy::palossand::xatu::passimian:

A more serious team than the last, this has been my go to for awhile if I don't really know what to use. Specs Guzz is incredibly fun to click with, it has the ability to kill most of the tier while also having seriously good defensive utility because of its ability to resist water grass fire, the psychic immune can come in clutch too. I decided to give it some momentum gainers in Xatu and Passimian. This Xatu set at the time had shot up a ton in usage and I think this team shows off why pretty well. Silvally-Fairy is one of the strongest breakers in the tier, and can be an early game breaker punching holes for Zard/Pass to clean up with, or a late game Win-Con that you can set up for with the rest of the team. Everything else doesn't really need much of an explanation, I simped enough for Zard in the description of the first team. Heads up, if you're thinking of using this team I'd do it fast because we're most likely losing Guzz and Xatu to NU come July
 
Shifts are about to happen so here's a really fun and solid team I've been playing with:



Annoying offensive pivoters in Scyther and Morpeko supported by a defensive backbone with tspikes and Future Sight spice. Scyther has a fast STAB U-turn and free Brave Bird while crippling all its own checks with Knock Off, Morpeko chips, spins and pivots early game and cleans late game. It's really cool with tspikes support since it's a rare offensive mon that runs protect. Stunfisk-G which everyone still hates for some reason brings rocks, saps enemy momentum with yawn and snap trap and walls basically the entire special meta outside of Charizard, along with being a Head Smash eater, SD silv fairy/steel answer etc. Lunatone then slots in as an answer to zard and the bulky grounds that threaten Gunfisk and throws out Future Sights, letting the team pressure defensive cores very easily. On the physical side Neutralizing Gas Weezing provides a fighting answer and unblockable tspikes along with a bunch of other cool interactions its ability facilitates. Resttalk Poliwrath is a suprisingly good blanket phys wall right now and patches up the gaps well enough - dark switchin, beats all our rock types, phases out bulk up scrafty, gobbles up water moves. Oh, and Future Sight + Circle Throw is a really hilarious way to abuse RNG to kill stuff.

Obviously this is a weird set of mons so here's some replays to outline how it plays:
 

Specs

Getting in your own way
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
UUPL Champion
:articuno-galar::silvally-ghost::lanturn::stunfisk-galar::whimsicott::passimian: click sprites 4 the paste

oh my god I made a team without Charizard! Decided to start with Guno from the new drops. This set feels the best to me, sometimes I do miss not being able to hit Regirock immediately but this combination of moves puts in work. Idk the rest of the team doesn't need too much of an explanation. I have Stunfisk cuz Ayo bb has shown me the light finally ^^ It's actually stupid how good it is against the ladder. Jolteon Scyther get dunked on by it and you can lead Fisk to trap Galvantula so they can only get up webs once. I actually have an okay replay to show this off, didn't find many great games https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1371077339-gpz77tcke6oel8os94xg9wqe9y7mzcwpw I for sure miss played but Guno & Pass did a good chunk of the work for me. I wouldn't use this team for tours, but if you're too lazy to build w new stuff try it out
 


This team is pretty sick and super intuitive to use. All you do is pressure the whole metagame with your volt turn core in pass, whim, and silvally-steel, and switch out to weezing and gigalith as appropriate. The wildcard of the team here is drampa which despite being difficult to use can be effective with just one good read. As far as sets go, everything is standard outside of specially offensive silvally-steel which throws offs alot of weezings. There's also grass knot on whim to get lucky kills on palo and no item on weezing which can avoid big dmg from weird stuff like poltergeist.
 

Kazeiyuu

formerly Be Like Bisharp
Hey guys, here's the team I used w1 for PLPL (replay here : Rodyrodounet vs. P. Otaku) (french ttour), kinda proud of it so I share it.

Fsight + Roar by Rodigou w/ Lambovino
:scrafty::articuno-galar::stunfisk-galar::jellicent::scyther::whimsicott:
(click sprites for the paste)
Roar + Fsight has become very popular with the arrival of Galarian Articuno in the tier. The pokémon is doing so much damage with this attack, which has become a staple of the 8th generation, that any team outside of HO has to play a Pokémon with SpD + Protect, such as Gigalith, Audino or even Ferroseed to name a few. The principle of pairing Roar with Fsight may not seem very instinctive, but is in fact very simple: Roar goes through Protect. Thus, in addition to offering a quality status absorber to the team and a very good phazer, Scrafty Roar allows Articuno to put nukes with impunity, forcing most of the usual in to do protect and thus to get out of the field, leaving another slot of the team to be weakened. To accompany these two Pokémon, I opted for a Scyther which, in addition to taking advantage of the pressure brought by fsight, can make an excellent win condition with SD and its Dual Wingbeat stab, as powerful as Brave Bird but without recoil damage. Whimsicott brings offensive support, in addition to offering a nice defoger to the team. The set plays 3 attacks + infiltrator because Prankster is more of a liability now that Tsareena is even more ubiquitous (its talent preventing the use of priorities), and the Pokémon thus benefits much more from fsight and can be used as a late game cleaner. For the defensive core, I opted for a Defensive Jellicent with a lot of speed, dual status with Scald and taunt, in order to facilitate the MU Stall in particular, as well as the MU Zard. Colbur is played especially for the MU Sneasel which, without it, is really difficult. Stunfisk-G is here to counter Galarian Articuno among other things, in addition to offering a sr setter that doesn't fear Toxic and can trade with Zard (Stone Edge with 4 Evs in attack guaranteeing OHKO on the beast).
Speaking of EVs, here are the explanations of my splits (when they are special):
- Scrafty's speed allows him to outspeed Drampa, as well as most of the defensive Aggron. The rest is in SpD to allow him to come especially on Drampa without risking the 50/50 with Stunfisk, and also allows him to tank a Hurricane of Zard and to punish him by depriving him of his hdb for example.
- 136+ in speed on Galarian Articuno allows him to exceed the 80 base stat 252+, the defensive repart allows him to win the duel against Tsareena without Triple Axel (very rare at the moment anyway), since whether it's spin + koff doesn't OHKO, and Koff without item doesn't take the 2HKO. Without that the MU would be much more complicated.
- As said above, Stunfisk plays 4 EVs in attack in order to guarantee the OHKO on Zard (without it he doesn't have it), the SpD allows Stunfisk to take a Fire Blast from this same Pokemon and thus OHKO behind.
- Jellicent plays 182 in speed to overtake Carracosta, Rhydon and Sandaconda in particular, as well as Weezing Taunt being spreaded to handle these same Pokémon (181).
- Scyther rather classic, Jolly 252/4/252, simple and efficient
- Whimiscott plays 4 Evs in def to get the 50% chance to tank Ice Shard from Sneasel at +2.
 
Last edited:

(Click the sprites above for the paste!)

Centiskorch (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Lash
- Leech Life
- Knock Off
- Power Whip

Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect

Tsareena @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Queenly Majesty
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Rapid Spin

Weezing (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Gigalith (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Protect

Silvally-Ghost @ Ghost Memory
Ability: RKS System
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Multi-Attack
- Flame Charge
- Explosion

I built this team with the idea of using an adaptive tempo. With one layer to pressure offense and two layers to pressure defense, Toxic Spikes are a natural fit for such a method. Stealth Rock support from Gigalith is helpful, too. Silvally-Ghost can switch in to block opposing Rapid Spin attempts, and Tsareena's Queenly Majesty can block Whimsicott's Defog. The team's Knock Off users, Centiskorch and Tsareena, promote progress through passive damage by removing opposing Leftovers, Berries, and Heavy-Duty Boots. Protect is used on both Gigalith and Quagsire for racking up additional chip damage via status + Sand.

:Centiskorch:
Centiskorch can be troublesome for many would-be walls. Fire Lash + Knock Off is taxing for defensive foes, especially in conjunction with status + Sand. Also, Centiskorch's Power Whip frightens the tier's prominent bulky Water-types: Jellicent, Lanturn, and Quagsire. Charizard could be used in place of Centiskorch, but unboosted Charizard's power can be underwhelming. Charizard also lacks Knock Off, and its Choice Specs set can leave a lot to be desired defensively, i.e. no Heavy-Duty Boots. Additionally, Charizard's Dragon Dance and Belly Drum sets lack immediate offensive pressure. Overall, I enjoy Centiskorch's power and consistency, particularly versus bulkier builds. Flash Fire is nice to discourage opposing Fire-type moves, and burn immunity is an exceptional trait for a physical attacker.

:Quagsire:
Quagsire is an outstanding glue Pokémon. It reliably counters many of the tier's dangerous physical attackers, such as Aggron, Archeops, Scrafty, Scyther, et cetera. Quagsire can also sit on various boosting threats, thanks to Unaware. Protect is useful for scouting Choice Items, gaining Leftovers recovery in Sand, and checking for the occasional stray Toxic. If Protect is too passive for your taste, Haze is a fine replacement. However, at that point, Heavy-Duty Boots would likely carry more value than Leftovers, so be sure to adjust things accordingly.

:Tsareena:
Tsareena's offensive presence makes her an effective Rapid Spinner. The Speed boost from Rapid Spin can turn Tsareena into a lethal late game sweeper once her counters have been significantly weakened or removed. Although U-turn is a common choice, Triple Axel is a worthy alternative. Triple Axel allows Tsareena to threaten several of her proposed checks with super-effective damage. It also gives Tsareena a chance to OHKO opposing Tsareena.

:Weezing:
Weezing is the team's Toxic Spiker. Will-O-Wisp + Pain Split is annoying for offensive and defensive teams alike. Black Sludge is a popular Item, but I like using Rocky Helmet on this team because it is another source of passive damage.

:Gigalith:
Gigalith sets up Stealth Rock and Sand for the team. Protect + Leftovers can give Gigalith a chance to escape lethal damage range. Protect can also be used to waste the opponent's low PP moves, like Focus Blast and Close Combat.

:Silvally-Ghost:
Silvally-Ghost can block Rapid Spin and use most of the tier's Rapid Spinners as setup fodder. With Swords Dance + Flame Charge, Silvally-Ghost appreciates free turns. Explosion allows Silvally-Ghost to annihilate bulky threats that it could not otherwise overcome, such as Audino, Miltank, and Scrafty.

Enjoy! :Go-Goggles:
 
Last edited:
This team peaked at 1564 rating at #17. It was the highest I could take it, since there are more skilled players than I. There are some certain weaknesses in my team which I will explain later. I'll let you guys have fun with it and experiment with it to see if you can make it better. I have had a lot of fun using it and am happy to let you all copy paste it now.

Here's what the team looks first:




pu rank.png

Druddigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Crunch
- Iron Head
- Thunder Punch/Toxic

Scyther @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Swords Dance

Vikavolt @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Volt Switch
- Roost

Gigalith @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast

Whimsicott @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball
- U-turn
- Defog/Memento

Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Toxic Spikes

The general idea of the game is to use Vikavolt and Scyther to poke and bust holes in the enemy team in the early game and pivot to Druddigon to surprise the enemy and get some kills or huge damage. Whimsicott is a glue mon that is also used as a pivot midgame, and cleans up lategame against frail offensive mons with its high speed. Gigalith is your typical rocker special wall, and synergises defensively with the offensive mons. Weezing throws Toxic Spikes, walls some common physical threats, and gets some burns off to help my offensive core, has obvious synergy with Gigalith.


Druddigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Crunch
- Iron Head
- Thunder Punch/Toxic

This is the fun mon of this team. He ohkoes or 2hit ko's a ton of mons in this tier with his amazing physical coverage and Sheer Force LO. Most people don't expect the power of this guy until it's too late, since most expect defensive sets. Very reliable 100% moves with a ton of power behind them, use whichever move is Super Effective, and predict switches as needed. Try to pivot him in or switch into weak attacks, he has limited hard switch-ins before getting worn down too much. Thunder Punch helps you beat Water type walls like Colbur Jellicent, and lets you OHKO Charizard and win the 1v1 if you are healthy.


Scyther @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Swords Dance

Flying STAB is really good and so is U-Turn. Scyther is strong and creates a lot of progress every game. He can sweep lategame too with Swords Dance, it's happened a few times but he mostly pivots around, especially against grass and psychics.


Vikavolt @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Volt Switch
- Roost

One of my favourites in the tier. Enormous power with almost unresisted coverage in the metagame, basically just Palossand and Togedemaru, both of which lose to this bug over a few turns. Roost is really important to stay healthy, since he is quite good at switching in defensively against a lot of walls and Ground attacks. Thunderbolt instead of Energy Ball so you can stay in and smash with Electric coverage on walls, Bug Buzz annihilates most Ground type mons. An excellent pivot due to his defensive and offensive abilities. Recommend you keep it healthy, since if it leaves the field below 70% HP you're gonna be sweating against faster threats. 144 Speed EV's to speed creep Weezing, and also outspeed Jellicent, Bulk Up Scrafty, SPDef Aggron. Rest into HP for defensive utility.


Gigalith @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast

Standard special wall, used as a pivot and is especially useful nowadays with Snow Warning back. Use as required against special threats that counter/check your offensive mons. Protect over toxic to scout and get additional chip, important for this team.


Whimsicott @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball
- U-turn
- Defog/Memento

Pixie Plate instead of specs so you can pivot with U-Turn after they switch in something like Charizard or Audino into it. Defog and Memento is filler, depends if you want some removal vs a neat little wincon with Swords Dance Scyther lategame. For whatever it's worth, Defog wasn't used much in my climb since this team pressures hazard setters so hard.


Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Toxic Spikes

Rounds out the defensive core. No pain split since the purpose isn't longevity, just a way to neutralize some physical threats and support the offensive mons. Serves as another pivot. Synergises defensively with Gigalith vs Grass/Fighting/Ground if you run Levitate. Neutralizing Gas is a fine alternative if Tspikes bother you.

Weaknesses:

Audino. This fat mon is tough to break with no Fighting coverage. I lost one game to Toxic Stall lategame. I added Toxic to Drud late in my climb to help deal with it, since Thunder Punch isn't critical to Drud's breaking power. Consider Toxic on Drud if you see this mon a lot.

Specs Jellicent. If this thing gets a free switch-in, something will die. Gigalith is fantastic bait for Jellicent if you can pull off the double switch. Hard game to play since you have to play paranoid around it the entire game. Whimsicott can tank one full power Water Spout in a pinch if you get outplayed.

Banded Perrserker. Another huge threat, with zero switch-ins. Outspeeds all the mons on your team that can ohko it. Earthquake with Gigalith if you predict the switch-in so you can hopefully punch it into Knock Off range with Scyther. Try your best not to let it switch in for free, and choose which mon is most useless as death fodder.

Banded Aggron. See above.

Have fun!
 
1638281788164.png
Silvally sprites gallery | Pokémon Database
Shuckle sprites gallery | Pokémon Database
Ferroseed sprites gallery | Pokémon Database
Manectric sprites gallery | Pokémon Database
Audino sprites gallery | Pokémon Database


https://pokepast.es/5d41a43dd86e0379
It is my best performing team that I have made and lets break it down bit by bit. The first member Galarian Arti is a set I been using since I started PU, battles its specs so it hits like a truck, it also has max special atk so it can kill anything that is not resit to both flying or pyschic its two main stabs.
Silvally... Ghost to be correct its really just a silvally set you see on most teams swordsdance, multi attack, flame charge etc.... Shuckle is here because I kept getting tired of having to always switch to Galvantula to just get a sticky web off, so why not run something with both as a bonus when ever someone defogs me they boost my evasion neat right? also ts is a semi toxic staller. Ferroseed mini Ferrothorn its a leech seed spikes gyro ball set might replace energy ball for toxic to ruin some ones day. Manectrik before I was using Jolteon to be a fast hard hitting special but it just wasn't working out really so Manectrik did that so much better and switcharoo gives the target a surprise!!! The last one is Audino I dont know why its not used more hah please laugh but seriously I just wanted to use Blissey without having to use Blissey....
I hope you like my team I had fun making it and using it I love PU and will continue playing it anyway Im going to go lay own now
 
  • Like
Reactions: PTF
I wanted to try hail in PU, so I built a team utilizing hail and slush rush. This team has been getting consistent wins on mid ladder on my second account against opponents in the 1300s-1400s. I don't think this is the BEST team, but I do think that it is a very fun team and I'm pretty proud of it. Let's get into the team breakdown and my thought process when building this team.

:ss/Abomasnow:
If I'm using hail, obviously I will need a hail setter. My options outside of Abomasnow were Vanilluxe and Aurorus. I opted for Abomasnow over those two because I valued how it can handle one of the hail setters' biggest obstacles, GIGALITH. Gigalith and Sand Stream can do a good job of shutting down hail. So, to combat this I threw Wood Hammer on this mon with 28 attack EVs which is a guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery on SpDef Gigalith. The rest of the EVs were thrown into HP and SpDef which helps it switch freely into Volt-Switches, and its other resistances to set up hail. Avalanche rounds out this mon's dual stab and usually hits with 120 base power due to this mon being so slow. I run EQ in order to hit ground and steel types which this mon would usually not be able to hit, and then Aurora Veil is here to help these next two mons set up. I lead with this mon to get hail and MAYBE Aurora Veil up almost every game. The speed EVs on this mon allow it to outspeed uninvested Sandaconda.

:ss/Sandslash-Alola: :ss/Beartic:
So, these are both the mons in PU with Slush Rush. The ability doubles speed under hail, so both these mons become speed demons. Coupled with Swords Dance and Aurora Veil these mons have good breaking and sweeping potential.

On Sandslash we have Icicle Crash as its main attack. EQ rounds out the coverage, and Rapid Spin is there so that we can outspeed mons outside of Hail. Jolly is important so we can outspeed scarfers like Togedemaru under hail and OHKO with EQ.

On Beartic we have Icicle Crash as the main attack. We have Superpower and Liquidation for coverage. I run adamant so that this thing can hit like a truck with its 130 base attack. On things it can't outspeed, it can usually stomach a decent amount of attacks off of its natural bulk anyways. Jolly may have its uses also, I haven't tested with it though because I've been happy with Adamant. If anyone tries it, feel free to let me know how it goes for ya.

:ss/Jellicent: :ss/Silvally-Fighting: :ss/Claydol:
These three mons form a defensive backbone and utility for the team. Here was my process choosing these three mons to round off the team:

With the first three mons, this team was extremely weak to fire, fighting, rock, and steel. Jellicent performs well against all of those typings and has access to reliable recovery through Recover. Wil-O-Wisp is another great move on this mon, which cripples physical attackers, which can help create set-up opportunities for Sandslash and Beartic. Scald is used over Hex to help combat Charizard. Jellicent greatly appreciates Abomasnow's ability to switch into grass and electric moves.

Looking at the team thus far with four mons, I saw how vulnerable this team was to Knock Off. I wanted a good Knock Off absorber, and dark type check in general. My first instinct was to look at Silvally-Fairy because it provided those things alongside Defog. But, the team was very steel and Togedemaru weak already, so I figured that Silvally-Fairy wasn't the best option for this team. This led me to Silvally-Fighting. This mon eats Knock Offs and dark type attacks with ease, it checks Togedemaru, It checks Scrafty, it can Defog, and it can help our ice-types in with Parting Shot support. The speed EVs allow it to outspeed mons with base 65 speed max such as Centiskorch while threatening it with Rock Slide.

The last mon I added to this team was Claydol. I wanted a hazard setter. I went with this mon over things like Gigalith, Aggron, and Froslass because they shared a lot of weaknesses with the other mons on the team. Claydol can check fighting types, set up rocks, break Weezing, and bring in our ice types safely via Teleport. This mon and Jellicent both heavily rely on Silvally's ability to eat Knock Offs and dark type attacks for them since neither are holding a Colbur Berry.

So, that's the team. It is ghost and Toxic-Zard weak. Ghosts can cause this team some issues due to the weaknesses and no resistances. You can lure in the physical ghosts with Jellicent and hit it with a wisp on the switch-in, and then from there Hex or switch. Zard with no toxic gets walled by Jellicent, but Zard WITH Toxic + Fire Blast + Hurricane can rip this team apart. You have to beat it using Jellicent's Scald and Beartic's Liquidation. I hope you guys have fun and success using this team.

Here's the paste: hail by miikeyraw
 
Last edited:
First time posting on Smogon so hopefully I get this one down.

I'm a bit new to PU still, but I've been having a lot of fun with this team and after a lot of revisions, it feels betters than ever at the moment. I also don't ladder as frequently as I probably should, but I still think the team is pretty cool. I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but I'll go with Qwilfish Balance given that I set out to have a team with Qwilfish in the first place.

Paste: Qwilfish Balance

The general gameplan is pretty straightforward. Get Spikes up (not always necessary based on the matchup), and use the general defensive options of all the mons on the team to comfortably switch into anything and win most trades. While I don't have Knock Off, and have dropped any previous spin blockers and Galarticuno, the threat of Spikes still forces the opponent into awkward positions and pushes more chip in my favor.

1642478264217.png

Qwilfish was the first pokemon I made, and back when Tsareena was in the tier, was the primary thing I used it for, as a pokemon that would beat Tsareena less effectively than Weezing, but would also beat Weezing in the process. I've since dropped Poison Jab for Destiny Bond, since being able to take any pokemon down with you is so, so amazing. Taunt and a poison typing help with beating other passive mons trying to beat my team in the long game, and of course, Spikes are always nice to have. I chose Liquidation over Waterfall because I wanted to squeeze as much damage out of Qwilfish as possible, and the chance of getting a defense drop could save me an interaction in a pinch. With 96 attack EVs, I can 2HKO a Gigalith a majority of the time after a defense drop, 2HKO offensive Espeon that tried to bounce Spikes, and generally smack most physical offense threats for good damage. 120 speed and a jolly nature makes sure that I can outspeed minimum speed Espeon with a bit of wiggle room, just to make sure I can pressure opposing Wish Espeon better. The 40 defense EVs are mostly tacked on, but they do allow me to take 2 Earthquakes from a Quagsire, and generally give myself good math if I feel the need to DBond it. If you couldn't tell, this is who I put the most thought into. This gives me a nice check to Glastrier, Hitmontop, and physical Silvally forms. It also acts as a nice stop gap to things like Scyther, Weezing, Ninjask, Glastrier, and Gallade, putting good chip damage onto them at the very least, or in Weezing's case, turning it into free pressure with Spikes and/or Taunt. Combined with Sandaconda and somewhat Eldegoss, I feel prepared for most physical threats.

1642479126381.png


I think Gigalith is absolutely insane, particularly with Tsareena being gone and the new drops added into the tier. While it won't stonewall things forever, the offensive pressure it puts out, combined with sandstorm and toxic chip, feels incredible on a team like this. It almost always feels more worth it than not to trade Toxics with a Jellicent or something, and when it can so easily block most of the tier's special attackers and sweepers, like Zard, Ribombee, Galarcuno, Galvantula, and somewhat pokemon like Whimsicott and Espeon, as well as having a good typing to deal with mons like Ninjask and sort of Scyther, I think it does so much. I elected to not run Rocks on it, or anywhere on my team, because I think Protect is super important on it, but getting Rocks up is never a bad option to have.

1642479575886.png


I elected to go with Wish Espeon here, since most of the pokemon that would normally scare it, such as Ninjask, will hate staring down the pokemon it passes to, and I'm finding more and more often that Espeon's damage output is still totally serviceable. It gives a lot of longevity to the team, and bounces back annoying will-o-wisps and hazards. Sometimes I even get cheeky and switch it into a webs lead after having led Gigalith (Do not do this), which turns one of the team's bigger weaknesses (overall lower speed) into less of an issue. There's not much to say besides that it sits on Ferroseed all day since the poor thing won't heal and never does significant damage, and isn't afraid of most setters besides Druddigon and the Webs bug types. I opted for DGleam as the fourth move just because Scrafty can give this team problems sometimes, particularly when you don't know the set, though it also helps for hitting things like Absol that try to come in.
1642480179875.png


Do not put Boots on your Glastrier, you lose out on so much potential from it. AV Glastrier, when paired with Wishpeon and hazard removal, becomes an amazing physical tank capable of 1v1 several mons it has no business beating, namely Charizard. I opted to run HP investment over speed, capitalizing on bulk, but some speed could do this thing some good. Icicle Crash + HH and CC give me basically all the coverage I'd need, with Crunch adding some bigger chip damage to Jellicent, sometimes forcing it into passive positions on the defensive set, and outright nailing it on Specs sets. Please run AV Glastrier it's so much fun having this thing come in so easily and fire off big damage.
1642480466047.png


Up until recently, this was a Morpeko, with the logic being that I was a spinner that threatened Jellicent, instead of inviting it in. While I lose offense and a better Espeon matchup with Goss, I now get access to a strong spdef Regenerator mon that can provide the rest of the team healing and beat Jellicent with much less stress. This also helps me beat Sandslash much more easily, as well as generally scout against things. The fourth move could change, but I like Aromatherapy just to make sure I don't have to play perfectly around opposing status, and give myself a bit of breathing room. Otherwise I'd suggest a powder move to spread some annoying status, or Leaf Storm if you think the nuke option can help edge out a game. I wouldn't personally recommend Pollen Puff, but it could be nice for dealing with Espeon.
1642480856308.png


Finally, Sandaconda. I think it's the best physical wall right now, since Regirock and Aggron still despise status, the former hating poison chip and the latter having a lot of bad weaknesses. With Coil, this gives me a good way out from DDance Scrafty, while DGleam gives me an answer to Bulk Up Scrafty. I also keep pokemon like Lycanroc, Togedemaru, Gigalith, and Aggron from posing a major threat to me. Coil sets up for strong end game positions and gives me a way to clean up and potentially check certain setup options. Rest keeps me healthy, and Stone Edge gives me a coverage option in a pinch.

Weaknesses: This team does not have a steel type, and on occasion, you can feel that. It struggles a lot against Magneton, as well as a lot of setup options. The team can have issues into teams with much more offense too, though that might be that anyone could run 6 Choice Bands into me and I would have no hope of winning.

Sorry that this was a lot to go through, but yeah, I think the team is pretty neat. No one pokemon feels like it's taking the majority of the weight defensively, and I never feel like I'm stuck playing too passively.
 

Hera

Make a move before they can make an act on you
is a Social Media Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
PUPL Champion
Hey there! This is my 500th post! I can't believe it's been that long already, I seriously need to touch some grass. For 500 posts, I was wondering what I wanted to do and realized that this thread is heavily neglected. It gets like one team a month and the OP hasn't been updated since before the first DLC came out (I think). So, what I decided to do is post every single team I built in 2021. Some are godawful and I never brought them to games, others I used on and off for a bit, and some really good ones I ended up using consistently. Irregardless, I have been enjoying PU for nearly 2 years at this point, so I would feel remiss if I didn't do something PU related for 500 posts. (Disclaimer: Not all of these teams are mine, I just dumped my builder with little discretion.)

Here's the link.

Bold = personal favorite of mine

Buncha' Brokens without Exploud or Golurk
I Swear It's Not Stall
Sun
#BanTerrain
I Swear It's Balance
Totally not a Secret Santa Team
Old Balance But Haunter
Winter Wonderland
Rhydon Webs
Random Lapras Team
Good Balance
Pyukumuku Stall
Balance
TalEezTisse Balance
TalEezTisse Balance But Orbeetle
Hazards Stacking Malamar
Gravity Flapple VoltTurn BO
Gravity Flapple VoltTurn BO V2
Old Balance But Haunter V2
TalEezTisse Balance V2
TalEezTisse Balance But Orbeetle V2
Seed Stall
TR Eggy-A Team
Poison Team
Mesprit Cheese Team
Band Eggy-A TR
Setup Spam BO ft. Lillie
Band Scyther Offense
TalEezTisse Balance But Omastar V2
super hidden ability
Double Win Con Semi-Stall
Aromatisse Semi-Stall
All-Sinnoh
Hitmonlee Team
Six-course Meal
Toxi + Double Rat Offense
Setup Spam BO ft. Lillie V2
Sual Dcreens
This Is Minion Turf!
Accelgor Hazards Stacking Team
Chasing Daybreak (old)
Trick Room post-shifts
Belly Drum Charizard
Stall
Grass Spam
EggyPass Hazard Stack
Per Team
Chasing Daybreak
Sand
Pivoting Bulky Offense
Hyper Voice Dino
Duggy-A Team W Helio
Fighting Spam
Rain Rain Go Away
Scrafty Team
Semi-Stall
VoltTurn
KangaSpikes
Scarf Scrafty
SpecsLord
Offensive Spikes Team
Zolt Team w Giga
Old Meta Stall
Duggy-A Team
Good Old Dramps
CatBat Balance
Thievul Team
Hazard Stack
Brand New Reality
SubPress Regirock
Wishiwashi Team
Bandaconda
FS + Roar
PJab Scrafty
Altaria Stall
Centi + Dramps Team
KangaSpikes v2
Regular Scrafty Balance
Chasing Daybreak (with Hattrem)
New Haunter Balance
Lunatone Team
Offensive Weezing
SOM Stall
SD Rapidash
Magneton Time
Gallade Team
PU AAA Balance
PU AAA HO
Regi Team
Grassy Terrain Balance
Band Scyther Offense V2
Phone Stall
Scarf Malamar
SFLO Drud
Tree Team
Hazard Stack v2
CB Togedemaru
Really Boring Fat with Big Boy Breaker
Vanniluxe Team
2021 Secret Santa
Top 6 PUWC
Webs
Torna ~ The Golden Country
Torna ~ The Golden Country (Gourg)

Shoutouts to the entire PU and AAA community, everyone I've have the pleasure of interacting with on this site have been great people. Here's to 500 more posts (and me touching grass)!
 
Here's a really fun and solid team I used for suspect and being a non-participant during PULT time

:weezing::comfey::gourgeist::gigalith::sandslash::flapple:

This team started with the Comfey/Gigalith/Gourg-XL core that I'd played around with a on a few other teams. It wasn't an intentionally built core, rather a trio I found worked well together through the accidents of building and testing. I post-rationalised its weird strength as coming from strong priority + significant innate fatness, which I decided to double down on through this team - adding fellow prio nuke Flapple, the fast fatmon that is Sandslash in Sand, and then some tspikes support to take advantage of Gourg being an incredible spinblocker. I find it matches up really strongly against most meta teams right now - just be really careful (ie aggressive) vs the nuke steels like Perrserker and Magneton. As usual, I'll run through some of the more unconventional mons and sets in detail:


Comfey @ Choice Specs
Ability: Triage
EVs: 96 HP / 160 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Draining Kiss
- Heal Bell
- Calm Mind

This set looks really bizarre but I honestly love it and it's by far the most successful Comfey set I've used. TrickSpecs is such a useful tool, giving you immediate strong priority + heal to threaten in more offensive matchups while also allowing you to quickly dump the specs in fatter matchups to cripple your own answers or something else. But of course, the issue is that Comfey on this team and in most builds will be your Knock Off answer, which means you're likely to lose your specs on switchin and the whole strategy is ruined! But consider that Comfey's answers - zard and steel types primarily - hate losing their item to an itemless trick too! Comfey's considerably higher bulk + pure Fairy typing + no rock weakness lets it abuse trick more consistently than its obvious comparison in Rimbombee imo, and its not unusual to cripple multiple mons in a match via an initial trickspecs, switching into a knock and then removing another item with trick.

Once you've had fun with Trick you work like a normal Comfey with really annoying recovering prio, set up and cleric abilities. All of which becomes even more annoying after trick shenanigans!


Gourgeist-Super
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- Poltergeist
- Shadow Sneak
- Synthesis

Not really unusual but as ever this thing is perpetually underrated. Stupid strong STABs and stupidly bulky with basically unresisted prio. Itemless makes you a poltergeist switchin and lets you take 0 from knock - people love switching Scrafty into this but any set but fast bulk up will lose the ensuing 1v1 regardless of what they switched in on. It beats literally everything in the A ranks 1v1 except Guno, Specs Jelli and Aggron, and gets completely free switches on 9 of the mons in said A ranks. "But itemless Toge!" I hear you cry! Power Whip does 39% min - it's as much of an answer to Geist as it was to Vanilluxe. It easily spinblocks the only two relevant spinners in Eldegoss and Sandslash. You'd think gigalith sand would be annoying for synthesis but the chip actually secures polt-sneak kills vs the likes of Charizard without a boosting item, so it's an even trade imo.

This thing is just straight up really really good! Please come around to it before the gen ends I beg.

Anyway replays, and lots of em - much easier to find when ladder is full of good players thanks to PULT!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1644600329 - vs Gigaslash balance. Trickspecs onto gigalith led to some easy flapple and slash switches to break through the team.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1646153856 - vs one of the common HO teams used in PULT. Combination of the natural bulk of the mons on my team + strong prio makes it a really good matchup for me.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1644633829 - this one is mainly cool because gourg just gobbles up a crit absol knock off when not even at full hp lol

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1644589805 - pretty straight plays working through a centi balance

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1644245097 - vs fat balance without a solid gourg answer, takes down a ferro and silv-ghost and still would have been able to come in late game to Sneak the Centi.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1644189451 - vs a different PULT HO incarnation

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1657876155 - vs the more standard PULT HO again. Gourg taking down 2 mons immediately and chipping another with sneak gives me an immediate leg up.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1658310678 - vs stall. Screwed up letting my comfey's specs get knocked off but drew it back with pressure from Gourg letting Flapple break the team.
 
PU Rain team

https://pokepast.es/1dc9215778f55a3a


:ferroseed::liepard: :Ludicolo: :Jolteon: :Poliwrath: :drifblim:

A simple rain team, Ferro for rocks and rains DMG reduction from fire attacks, liepard the rain setter, Ludicolo and Poli for swift swim (you have both physical and special rain abusers with SS) and Jolteon for fast thunder and weather ball response, with drifblim being a defogger that also benefits with it's special flame orb set, but i admit that drifblim set could be better.
 
With Gen 9 coming around Gen 8 is effectively dead and buried for a ladder scrub like me! It's been an... acceptable PU imo. I preferred Gen 7 a lot but it's not that bad overall, and still better than 6 for me (unpopular opinion I know but god I hated that meta). Most disappointing for me is that ladder has been kinda dead this gen, especially in terms of stronger players. A lot of really good players laddered much more regularly in past gens, and it made it a much more enjoyable and useful place for testing. I often see complaints about the quality of play on ladder, but the truth is the only way that improves is by experienced players laddering more - particularly visible during PULT! I of course can't force people who don't enjoy the experience onto ladder, but I do hope next gen is more active in that realm :heart:

Anyway, here's the team that I was running around with for these last few weeks to celebrate our imminent death:

:gourgeist::comfey::lunatone::togedemaru::charizard::Scrafty: / :bellossom:

There's a version with Scrafty and Bellossom! The Scrafty edition came first and is ostensibly better but Bellossom is cooler and fun and actually I think maybe underexplored? Here's an elaborate run through mon by mon if you're interested:


Gourgeist-Super
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Power Whip
- Shadow Sneak
- Synthesis


Comfey @ Life Orb
Ability: Triage
EVs: 116 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draining Kiss
- Calm Mind
- Heal Bell
- Giga Drain

I've been addicted to building with these two these last few months of the gen, since as a starting point they cover a lot of our physical threats while still providing strong offensive presence, prio and utility. Helps that both have strong matchups vs Gigaslash and Grassy Terrain. I've talked about Gourgeist a lot, in this very thread at that, so I won't labour the point but it's an incredibly solid mon that more people should try out. This Comfey set meanwhile is a potent wincon that beats Gigalith, Zard and Quag, narrowing down the pool of answers to near enough exclusively Steel types which simplifies the path to win condition vs the comparable QD bee. Unlike bee it can't wear down its own checks too well due to lower initial power, but it's still so so good at its role and +3 prio Drain and Giga is so so useful against the common HO builds rn.


Lunatone @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonlight
- Future Sight
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem

My tradition was to run Gigalith with these two but the sand was annoying for Gourg and I wanted to try out this ol' thing that I hadn't used in a while. It's still pretty good! It has decent special bulk but unlike Gigalith it relies primarily on it's good spread of resists to check special threats rather than neutral tanking. This means comparatively you're sacrificing the ability to soft-check stuff like our fairy, electric and ice types. Ow! It provides some nice tools in return: recovery, ground and spike immunity and special attacking (basically for risk-free weezing switchins), but the real reason you use it is Future Sight. As it has proved throughout this gen the move is a perpetually strong way to make progress and through Lunatone's resists and longevity you can throw them out a lot. Unfortunately you're a free Scrafty switch, but with Comfey you can force a steel type in to get chipped by Draining Kiss and chunked by Future Sight, which goes a long way to clearing the path for a Comfey sweep when the premier steel is Doublade.


Togedemaru @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- U-turn
- Spiky Shield
- Iron Head

This has fallen out of fashion but still does what it needs to do well - check fairy/psychic/ice/electric attackers. Here particularly it covers everything important on the special side that Lunatone doesn't. I like Iron Barbs for chip, particularly on Steel types for comfey!


Charizard @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Defog

Needed a defogger and Doub check. Does Zard things! Went for hurricane over toxic as this team doesn't really care about Gigalith across the board and so hitting stuff like centi and water types is much more valuable.


Scrafty @ Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Roar / Dragon Dance
- Rest

Who else in the last slot besides the one true future sight abuser? Great bulk, few weaknesses and status immunity makes it so easy for this to come in and make progress. Particularly, it gets easy switches on the Gigaliths, Audinos and Eldegosses people bring in on Lunatone. I went for roar to abuse Audinos trying to protect through a Future Sight but I think in most non-stall matchups you're better with Dragon Dance and max speed, as in that case you can just DD twice on cheeky protecting Audinos and sweep. I always thought this mon was broken but just as the movement is catching on I started to accept it's presence... sad!

OR


Bellossom @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Strength Sap

Funny mon lol. Not much speed as it's really easy to get to +2 with Bellossom's great bulk and Strength Sap, this just outspeeds Cinc at +2. Weakness Policy is cool mainly for Zard, because Hurricane won't kill at +1, so you QD again and then it dies to a +4 Sludge Bomb. You also get value from catching random u-turns, sludge bombs etc. Its checks overlap with Comfey's which means they help each other sweep p well! Giga Drain keeps you healthy while still attacking, helping counteract getting toxic'd. Has other tools in its kit like sleep powder, sub and safeguard that I think have potential... Idk it's fun and does work!


Overall the concept is a bunch of tanky fat offensive mons with longevity that compensate for slowness with strong prio and future sight tempering enemy team aggression, with the key goal of wearing down enemy steel types for Comfey to sweep. Fun to use and nice matchups with common archetypes rn!

A selective spread of replays:

w/ scrafty
vs g terrain HO - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1705617476 - strong neutral bulk of the team lets it eat hits and ko back from the hard hitting mons here. Lunatone walls herb archeops after it has meteor beam'd which is nice.

vs g terrain HO - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1707633558 - after Future Sight wears down Doublade comfey 6-0s.

w/ Bellossom

vs Sugar Ovens tangela balance - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1711378056-zl4man0memhw84znc169ghmerpb6noapw - beelzebubsom claims 6 innocent souls


Cya all around next gen! :woop:
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top