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Big Stew
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Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Spikes
- Protect
- Whirlwind

So I have been messing about with this slightly gimmicky set I made in the past couple weeks. Basically the idea of Skarmory is to switch into some physical attackers like Metagross and Salamence and tank hits from them using its relatively high base Defense stat and decent defensive typing. Leftovers gives you 6.25% of your health back at the end of each turn, making it a cool item choice for a defensively inclined Pokemon. The EV spread is custom made to give me the best odds of surviving a Magneton Thunderbolt. As for the set, Spikes is a cool little move, as it allows you to deal 12.5% damage (or more if you can manage to set up multiple layers) to opposing Pokemon that can switch in, thus providing some sometimes useful slight chip. Whirlwind is to prevent setup users from boosting against this set. However my favourite part of this cool and underrated set is the synergy between Toxic and Protect. Toxic can be used to badly poison an opposing Pokemon, thus dealing a slowly increasing amount of damage at the end of each turn. Protect allows you to defend yourself from opposing hits while racking up this damage, while also giving you a small amount of recovery from Leftovers. However this set is not without its flaws, it allows the dangerous Gengar in easily to fire off a Super Effective Thunderbolt or spread status with Will-O-Wisp. Therefore a strong partner is Blissey, as its high base HP and Special Defense allow it to soak special hits that Skarmory doesn't like. Anyway, I hope you found my little novelty invention interesting and maybe this post will tempt you to give it a go in a few more 'friendly' games.
 

Emeral

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I love Latias, one of my fav Pokemon. Here we go with a moveset that is very uncommon nowadays in early Latias DPP #freelatias

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Substitute / Roar / HP Fire / Reflect / Refresh
- Dragon Pulse​

Being timid max speed as Latias allows to outspeed Infernape, 100 bs + speed or speeed tie 350 like Gengar and allows to revenge kill them. Overall, CM latias is weak to faster sweepers and priorioty moves due to her low Defense stat, being 188evs def makes Latias a calm minder Cresselia like able to tank properly very common physical hits that Latias tends to attract and heal up with recover or switch on the appropriate pokemon. This makes Latias a very good late game cleaner since it s rly hard to one shot for the faster threads and hard to take down for the bulkier but slower pokemon that Latias outspeeds like Breloom for exemple wich can't even break substitute or Extreme Speed users.
68evs speed in order to outspeed all typical 280 speed tiers + 299 like Jirachis.

With that specific spread and nature; let me show you how usefull it can be to run this :

Uturn users

Jolly Flygon scarfed
- Outrage (82.4 - 97.2%)
- U-turn (31.8 - 37.9%)

Jolly banded Infernape
-U-turn (49.4 - 58.2%)
-Flare Blitz (31.3 - 37%)


Adamant Banded Scizor
U-turn (94.5 - 112%) -> but you better sub or HP fire
Bullet Punch (40.6 - 48%)

Extreme speed users:

Adamant Banded Dragonite
Extreme speed (36.8 - 43.4%)

Adamant Life orb Lucario
Extreme speed (27.7 - 32.6%)

Dark moves users :

Jolly scarfed Ttar :
Crunch (67.5 - 79.6%)
Pursuit (33.5 - 40.1%)

Jolly life orb Weavile
Pursuit (40.1 - 47.8%)
Ice Shard (40.1 - 47.8%)
Ice Punch (75.8 - 89.5%)

Any random physical hit Latias tends to attract and usually struggle with:

Lefties adamant Gyarados +1
Stone Edge (43.6 - 51.6% )

Gyroball Sassy 84evs atk Bronzong
Gyroball (31.3 - 37%)

Adamant max Atk Breloom -> special mention, you can free sub on it
Superpower 26.9 - 31.8%
Seed Bomb 18.1 - 21.4%


Overall that's a decent moveset, you need to give it the right supporting in order to make it work. Delete TTar and Jirachi, suprise your oponnent with that great bulkiness, stack one or two CM and sweep + recover.
 
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BW OU


Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 28 Def / 220 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Facade

Set explanation:
This Breloom is the brainchild of a building session focused upon luring Amoonguss and shredding Sand balance cores through unconventional means on a Rain team.
I was preparing for Posho for the BW Ribbon tournament finals and I knew Posho frequented Amoonguss, specifically with his famous nickname Hongo, of course. Initially, I was considering building a Sand team with Magma Storm Heatran or a Rain team with Knock Off Tornadus, a set I will get to later in this post. However, I then stumbled upon this Breloom idea when I was going through some old PO teams. Back when I was a new player, climbing the PO ladder during BW1 as a member of the IMP clan and raging at the sight of any misfortune, I used to use a Rain team with Spore, Substitute, Facade, and Focus Punch on my Breloom. I remember being so fond of the damage output from Facade, which truly is one of the best selling points of this set.

This backstory gave me the idea of trying out Facade Breloom in the modern metagame; from there, the rest of the set came pretty naturally as since it was going to be more focused on damage output than longevity, Swords Dance made a lot more sense than Bulk Up. Drain Punch was vital for hitting Steel types and I knew off-the-bat that I was not going to face Amoonguss + Jellicent, so I just decided to pair this with Toxic Spikes for the rare Jellicent and forgo coverage to hit Ghost types. The set proceeded to do exceedingly well in this game, clinching the ribbon tournament in my favor. I know others have been tinkering with it since then, but I hope someone can make it work in another big game soon!

Specific details: The attack investment is for a couple things, but the most important of those would be killing 252 / 0 Amoonguss with +2 Facade after Stealth Rocks always. It also always kills Keldeo after Stealth Rock or Sand damage, with a 75% chance to OHKO regardless. Finally, the attack investment also assures a 2HKO on all offensive Latias and Latios without a Swords Dance boost while giving you a 96% chance to 3HKO Scarf Landorus-Therian from full, which turns into a guarantee with literally any chip or residual damage. Finally, you also 1v1 BoltBeam Reuniclus if you Swords Dance on the switch or if they have to recover off any prior chip damage initially. I have also included various relevant defensve calculations in the HIDE tags as well to explain the rest of the spread.

+2 24+ Atk Breloom Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Amoonguss: 378-445 (87.5 - 103%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
+2 24+ Atk Breloom Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Keldeo: 308-363 (95.3 - 112.3%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
24+ Atk Breloom Facade (140 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latias: 154-182 (50.9 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
24+ Atk Breloom Facade (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 170-201 (56.4 - 66.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 24+ Atk Breloom Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Chople Berry Tyranitar: 420-494 (103.9 - 122.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Reuniclus Hidden Power Ice vs. 236 HP / 220 SpD Breloom: 136-162 (42.5 - 50.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Poison Heal
252 Atk Mienshao High Jump Kick vs. 236 HP / 28 Def Breloom: 240-283 (75 - 88.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Poison Heal
0 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (119 BP) vs. 236 HP / 28 Def Breloom: 142-168 (44.3 - 52.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Poison Heal
252+ Atk Fighting Gem Landorus-Therian Superpower vs. 236 HP / 28 Def Breloom: 272-320 (85 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Poison Heal


---


Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Sunny Day
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Magnet Rise

Set explanation:
While this set is not unheard of by any means, I do think that it should be used more universally. Sunny Day Magnezone has finally picked up as the main set after a majority of the playerbase lagged behind for a year or two. However, people have been using Chople on that mostly, for whatever reason. Chople is nice as it has some utility, but it really only is situationally useful as you only need to be chipped so much to be in range of Alakazam, Keldeo, or Tornadus, all of which are often accompanied by Ferrothorn, which will cost you some of your health trapping in the first place, thus rendering Chople oftentimes useless. Air Balloon + Magnet Rise means that you can always switch in to and remove Scarf Excadrill while also coming in on Earthquake, Stealth Rock, or Toic from non-Scarf and also trapping it assuming it does not outspeed and flinch you. This gives you the most utility possible out of a Pokemon like Magnezone, which is pretty much used to trap things to begin with, so you might as well go all-in on that. OH and before I forget, it also traps Bronzong, which is pretty important given how annoying it can be to some teams and how it is relied upon defensively on structures with it now that it isn't as rare as it once was.

Specific details: Just use this bad boy to trap as much as possible. The spread can be customized a million ways, but I used this recently to revenge opposing Magnezone and outrun Rotom-Wash, so I just kept it as to not reveal my other spreads that I may use in the future. Feel free to EV it to live things like 2 non-Specs Draco from Latios or 1 Scarf Politoed Hydro Pump (68 HP or 44 SDef EVs will be able to do both, but the 68 HP also assures you live Adamant LO Mach Punch from Breloom at full if that matters to ya) as it does not take substantial investment, but it is not always necessary either.

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Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost

Set explanation: So I was considering using a team similar to the one zf used vs Ojama, but then I noticed that I wanted some longevity on my Skarmory, so I tried to make this fusion Skarmory of sorts work and it has been great in practice thus far. I always pair this with Jellicent still, but this Skarmory is really cool as it can set them up earlier on in games, specifically against teams with Taunt Gliscor which are always slower than you now, and it frees up your Tyranitar set so you can have a mixed or Taunt set to do well in other specific match-ups such as the one I post below. The big selling point for me is outrunning Gliscor, which has surged in usage over the last year or so, but being able to condense the hazard game while outpacing Magnezone is also pretty huge. This all coupled with longevity to check the physical Grounds and a couple of other Pokemon makes fast Skarmory really appealing on specific builds. Will it ever be the standard? I doubt it as the SDef set is fantastic still, but a specific structure of team and its variants 100% appreciates this over the normal set.

Specific details: You don't want to cut out of HP to add into SDef because the base HP of Skarmory is pretty low and you get into dangerous territory vs SD Garchomp variants and LO Mamoswine otherwise, unfortunately, so try not to let it take many non-resisted special attacks, but that aside, the speed is virtually drawback free and it has a pretty important role in tilting the game in your favor vs opposing Sand balance. If you have another Stealth Rock setter, feel free to use Whirlwind or Brave Bird there. Additionally, you can opt to give it Shed Shell if you have it as your only Steel and are paranoid of Magnezone, but I find the set to be best when used as posted, personally.

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Landorus-Therian @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Set explanation:
Alright so back in 2016, KratosMana had a stint in BW during WCOP for Team Brazil and he came up with a really cool Landorus set that was the inspiration for this, which you can find here. I preferred Yache Berry in the modern metagame as HP Ice is ridiculously common on opposing Landorus-Therian, Jirachi, Alakazam, Mienshao, Reuniclus, and Thundurus-Therian. Anyway, that aside, it's the same set and concept. You pair it with Magnezone and it's ridiculously threatening. Personally, I used it vs FLCL, which you can find here, and I also had Scarf Garchomp to take advantage of this core it formed with Magnezone. It's really challenging to play against, especially if you do not know what the set is going in. I would strongly recommend trying it out!

Specific details: Nothing really to discuss here, but it can run +Atk or +Spe depending upon personal preference I guess.

---


Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 208 Atk / 48 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Superpower

Set explanation: I was on the fence about posting this, but I think it's different enough to warrant mention. With the rise of Taunt Gliscor, I have been searching for exploits and lures that are practical and this happened to be one. See, most of these Gliscor either run near 0 or only minimal speed, oftentimes capping out around 240 unless they're paranoid of opposing Gliscor being quicker for whatever reason when they're only trading Ice Fangs anyway. Given this, Max+ Tyranitar hitting 244 actually felt like quite the sweet spot for me. In addition to outrunning Gliscor, you can also surprise Rotom-Wash, Jellicent, Heatran, Skarmory, and SDef Excadrill. All in all, having a set dedicated more to mixed breaking with the 4a variant like this is huge -- a lot of games it not only can get a surprise kill or lots of unexpected damage off, but it can still also work towards bringing down things like Alakazam or Thundurus-T given that it still has Chople Berry. The lack of SDef presence in the longer term is indeed missed, but this can be made up through using things like Ferrothorn or Heatran alongside it often enough.

Set details: Not going to go through a million calculations as the EVs are insanely customizeable between Atk and SpA, so I'd assume most people will use different combinations. However, I will note at least that my current set is geared specifically towards taking out 244 / 0 SDef Gliscor with Ice Beam always while giving you a close enough attack stat to mirror the 64+ or 88+ you use on SDef to (almost) assure the 2HKO on opposing CM Reuniclus with Crunch. Usually, I'd run a little more SAtk to assure a kill on Scarf Garchomp after SR or a 2HKO on Max SDef Skarmory from full without Leftovers, if that means anything.

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 64 HP / 64 Atk / 240 SpD / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

I also used him vs zf, which you can see here. Taunt did not come into play much at all, only being clicked once at the end. However, it is a nice tech when you have SR elsewhere, doing quite well against opposing Spike setters, slower Pokemon in that range depending on relative creep, and Sun in general.


---


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Sleep Talk
- Gyro Ball

Set explanation: This is literally just standard Ferrothorn, but with Sleep Talk over Knock Off. On teams where you have a Trick user or another Knock Off user, this can be really cool to absorb sleep potentially. It is especially great if you take sleep prior to a burn against Rain or Rotom-Wash teams, which was the initial thought process behind the set. It first saw usage here, but I'm pretty sure Obii used it once or twice during SPL, too. While I do not like it on a majority of teams, it is definitely worth considering on some teams and against some opponents. Finally, I prefer 2A with it because if you face teams with Mienshao or Terrakion, for example, you have a 2/3 chance to nuke them as they come in, which they assume will be safe entry as you are asleep, and if that does not happen then you have a 1/3 chance to set up Spikes, which isn't too shabby either. I would not bother with Leech Seed on this set, probably.

Set details: It's legitimately standard Ferrothorn with Sleep Talk, so nothing needed here.

---


Thundurus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Agility
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute

Set explanation:
The best of both worlds, in a sense. This set is only really intended to be used with Toxic Spikes Tentacruel, but it can do great with the right support. Basically, if Tyranitar is chipped through Latios or status, then this Thundurus-T is fantastic. Couple that with the every-game goal of getting a Knock and/or burn off on Ferrothorn, and this Thundurus-T can pose as a mid-game breaker or a sweeper. Substitute 3A Thundurus-Therian was the shit for a while, but around WCOP last year Agility took over again. This set makes use of both and it's really cool how well it does in practice. It's not for every team, but there are a lot of scenarios in which you can make use of both in the match-up if you eliminate or chip away at the right things. I personally use this on about 1/3 my Thundurus-T rn and it was the set ZoroDark had vs Ojama -- he could not do a ton that game, let alone show it off much, unfortunately, but the team was strong and I plan to use it a bit myself in the future, too.

Set details: Once again, nothing special outside of the different move. That changes the way you play the whole game and the Pokemon quite a bit, but it does not merit specific spreads/items/other fundamental changes, so I'll leave it at this.

---


Tornadus @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Set explanation: Usually, the approach with Tornadus is to get into a position to where Hurricane can nuke shit in the mid-late stages of games. That is not necessarily out of the question with this Tornadus, but there's a lot more it can do if you are willing to forgo Sleep Talk on it, which is not always possible and also not always ideal admittedly given that it has Prankster. Anyway, if you have the free slot, then using Knock Off and making the Fighting move Superpower is really interesting, in my opinion. You Knock Off all of the common checks -- Jirachi, Skarmory, Tyranitar (specifically, removing a possible Chople Berry), Chansey, Rotom-Wash, etc. -- and then proceed to have their longevity significantly diminished for Tornadus and other threats such as Latios or Thundurus-T to wreck havoc in the later stages of the game. It's something I have also considered on Alakazam on Sand teams, specifically Knocking Chople from Tyranitar so you only have to land one Focus Blast if there is SR and a Spike (or two rounds of SR/any other chip) on the field, but with Tornadus it is even better as Superpower will always kill once Chople Berry is removed if it has taken SR or any other residual, which is quite nice in itself. Also, it means you do not have to worry about missing Focus Blast and can break through Rain stall with Rain offense, which is otherwise nearly impossible. Overall, I really love the concept behind this and I think it makes Tornadus Rain builds a lot more consistent than they currently are if it is executed properly in the builder and battle.

Set details: Standard approach to Sharp Beak Tornadus, but with the moves listed and a non -Atk nature for obvious reasons. Nothing special otherwise that needs to be discussed here.

---

It has been a fun time playing and building BW on a daily basis ever since WCOP pretty much. I've done pretty well, too, which is nice. I plan to keep it up during Classic, ST27, and perhaps WCOP/other tours depending on what happens, so hopefully there are more interesting sets that pop up and the metagame continues to evolve as it has been! Thanks again to my teammates and supporters throughout WCOP, ST26, and SPL!
 
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i just want more people to try this out x)

GSC:
Zapdos Shiny sprite from Gold
| team

Zapdos @ Leftovers
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute
- Swagger

i am a huge proponent of non-sleep talk zapdos sets. after some testing, i discovered that substitute + swagger has massive game presence with some yellow magic. instead of entering the battle in attempts to repeatedly tank & threaten with thunder, this set demands more surgical accuracy. there are so many instances where zapdos can threaten a kill, force a sub, and hugely menace teams. although it's risky, pokemon like snorlax can't readily sleep loop you, it can make bait of soft-checks like exeggutor, and almost anything that has been paralyzed can be beaten. it's a bit clunky to play without sleep talk zap on offenses, but it can be worthwhile.

for my team vs. conflict, i used zapdos on a fairly standard-looking offensive team, using heracross as the 6th for a sleep absorber that fit the team's structure. heracross's ability to combat nidoking and tyranitar, especially with a swagger user, is noteworthy. steelix and exeggutor supply vital para support for zapdos to function, with the snorlax set working in tandem to provide tertiary paralysis support, keep up the pressure vs. opposing snorlax via boom, and nabbing skarmory for a heracross late game if need be.
 
BW


karma police (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Reflect
- Moonlight

I used this set on my Sun Stall vs High Impulse. Reflect is a neat tech on Cress because it helps escape TTar traps, supports Tenta when spinning against TTar, and completely walls non-Gem SD Chomp and physical offenses in general. If your version of sun stall can handle Ferro and SD Glisc, Reflect should definitely be one of the options you consider because its utility is nearly unmatched.


Terrakion @ Rock Gem
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Protect

This is a dice set I brought against Finch. Protect on SD Terrak lets you scout scarfmons, particularly scarf grounds, to punish coverage or u-turns meant to gain momentum or just know they're locked into EQ and working from there. The loss of Rock Polish hurts sometimes but Terrak works best as a breaker anyway. Use Shuca RP SD for a cleaner that can still can punish scarf grounds.


Reuniclus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Acid Armor
- Recover

This is another dice innovation I brought against FLCL. When paired with Mag, this Reuni can just sit and punish most passive teams and physical offenses with Acid Armor. It also beats Gliscor, Chansey, and TTar, which no other Reuni can do effectively.


Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Trick Room
- Recover

Recover on TR Reuni is way better than Shadow Ball if you can remove opposing Reuni and Slowking/Bro (Dark Gem TTar anyone?). It makes Reuni a solid switchin to anything passive, like waters, Ferro, Amoonguss, etc. and keeps it around essentially indefinitely as an offensive threat.


Finchin' Around! (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect
- Nasty Plot

PDC came up with this one. Much like SD Terrakion, NP Celebi can also make great use of Protect to scount scarfmons (particularly scarfTar and Scarf Lando) to gain an advantage. Pair it with hazard removal and a rocky helmet mon for best success.

ADV


Jynx
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thief
- Taunt
- Lovely Kiss

Thief Jynx has can force in useful targets and steal their Lefties. On CM Spam or special offenses, it can leverage sleep to force in bulky normals to steal their lefties. On physical offenses, it can steal lefties from steels and waters to break for DDTar or any other physical sweepers. Much better than the current SubCM sets.


Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 60 HP / 80 Atk / 52 Def / 108 SpA / 8 SpD / 200 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt / Ice Punch
- Hypnosis
- Will-O-Wisp
- Explosion

This is yet another dice idea. When people see dual status on Gengar, they discount the possibility of Explosion on the same set, so it makes it very easy to sleep something like TTar, reveal Wisp, and then catch the Bliss with boom.


Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpD / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt / Ice Punch
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond

This varian of monogar plays a lot like regular SpD Gar; it abuses Spikes with WoW + Taunt and will force general chip damage around opposing squads. The real kicker here is Destiny Bond, which lets Gar trade with opposing Pursuit TTars every time, making it a great partner for mons like CM Rachi or Leech CM Celebi. Additionally, unlike Explosion, it trades with bulky sweepers like CM Suicune, Lax, and CM Rachi after they're set up, making it a neat choice on bulky sand that can struggle with them.


Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave / Thunder / Toxic
- Rain Dance
- Recover

P2 is the most reliable rain setter thanks to its bulk and reliable recovery. It still does normal P2 duties as well, trapping Dugs and just spreading status around. Pair with Heracross / CM Cune for best results.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Protect

One of the issues I always have with CM Rachi is its tendency to be worn down by Spikes and inability to set up against powerful attackers like Zapdos/ Mixmence. This set fixes those issues by giving it reliable recovery at the cost of coverage. It needs lots of support because it can't touch steels or darks but it's extremely effective if they can be removed. Pair with double trap or WoW Gar for best results.
 
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panamaxis

how many seconds in eternity?
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Now that scooters are out of SPL:

DPP

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 108 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Slam
- U-turn
- Wish
- Protect

Iron head-less jirachi. Just an extremely good glue and an amazing team supporter. Can't get trapped by magnezone and it has outs vs dugtrio too. Paralysis + being able to wish up a team-mate is generally good enough that you can get by without iron head. A lot of offensive teams have a hard time breaking it, and you can't really set up on it easily because of the paralysis threat. It does quite well against the trend of OTR zong + CB tar builds too, as long as you have a decent crunch resist.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock / Focus Punch / Protect
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch

I don't think this is an underrated set, but I am posting it because I think it is just generally better than CB pert, which seems to be common lately. I don't think the extra power from the CB makes enough of a difference, and being able to switch attacks is much better. Focus punch is just there in case you're paranoid of being walled by skarm / want the stronger hit on blissey and clefable. So yeah, drop cb pert for leftovers pert and you'll probably be glad you did.
 
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Some more DPP stuff that you may either find to be ridiculous or pretty cool:


Cresselia @ Flame Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 176 HP / 96 Def / 80 SpA / 156 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Rest
- Charge Beam
- Ice Beam

I've been experimenting quite a bit with dug-less cress builds recently, and this Cresselia actually makes for a pretty cool lead concept. Nothing wants to receive a Flame Orb, and I think Trick is just an incredibly powerful move on top of that, providing opportunities to screw with Knock Off stalls as one of many examples. This will constantly bait in Ttar early and nail it with an unexpected Flame Orb. The most powerful thing about Cress lead is that nobody will know what to do vs it in many circumstances, and the trick flame orb set does nicely vs very common leads nowadays (Metagross, Machamp, etc.). I liked pairing this with a cleric (in particular my hitmon + nite core was really fun to use with this), although Cress doesn't really need to use sleep talk with Rest as long as you pick your spots right.


Machamp @ Lum Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Ice Punch
- Payback
- Rest

This has probably been thought of and dismissed before, but often I'm finding that Bullet Punch isn't tremendously useful anymore. Many Azelf are packing colbur, and often it's better to Dynamic Punch them instead. Lum is already enough for Roserade, and usually toxic spikes aren't a huge issue for Machamp-based teams. The extra lease on life can be really cool with the Lum Berry. Clerics can pair well with this in general, though. Also, more often than not I see people using Machamps slower than Clefable. Remember to not do that.


nights are so long (Roserade) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 176 HP / 88 Def / 12 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Spikes
- Sleep Talk
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Sleep Talk Roserade is really cool, often allowing you to proactively get spikes up for potent sweepers while up against opposing Roserade and Breloom. Thought of this idea while trying to create a RoseLuc build, and I've used this set a few times since.


Latias @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 16 HP / 248 SpA / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This is my favorite way to use Offensive CM Latias. Lum Berry gives you more leverage vs opposing Breloom, T-Wave Mie, and Jirachi. Often it will match well vs more offensive Jira variants, as well as even significantly harming bulkier variants with Calm Mind pressure. It's a really good cleaner when paired with Spikes, and fits very well on most offensive builds.


Camerupt @ Custap Berry
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Brave Nature
- Endure
- Overheat/Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Camerupt's unique typing gives it a niche in the meta, boasting extremely powerful offensive stats, great STAB moves, and access to Explosion. Pairing this with CB Tar + OTR Zong is actually a really cool offensive trio.


Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature

- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect/Roar

Specially Defensive Swampert is incredible. Having more staying power vs Starmie, taking Gengar and Rotom shadow balls very well, and even doing decently vs Latias makes this Swampert even better than it was before Latias was re-introduced. This can always come in vs MixNite once and force it out, and laughs at MixFlygon. A special mention is that it goes great with Physically Defensive Skarmory (pretty obvious, but the synergy is even better). I really like protect as long as sand is up, and wish support from something like Jirachi is also very helpful. Out of all the sets here, this one should definitely be high priority to try out.


alter the world (Gyarados) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge

There's actually a lot of room for creativity with Gyarados' moves, and nothing sucks more than having a ScarfTran revenge kill a +1 Gyara. I used this with TSpikes, but it's generally a really cool move to try out.


Aggron @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Superpower
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch

Choice Banded Aggron is actually really cool with para support from pokemon like Jirachi, Celebi, and even Starmie. Rock Polish is simply not effective because Aggron never has time to set up and it's also too slow. Aggron's typing allows it to be a steel that is not weak to fire, and on top of that receives a SpD boost in sand and can come in on many variants of Jirachi. Besides Jirachi, steel typing alone allows this Aggron to come in safely at some point in the battle and threaten everything with an extremely powerful and recoil-less head smash.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 44 Def / 16 SpA / 176 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Cosmic Power
- Charge Beam
- Water Pulse

A pretty crazy Jirachi set. Water Pulse is pretty nifty in baiting + chipping Heatran and Ape, as well as using confusion shenanigans vs set-up sweepers, often leading to confusion kills. Be careful about Flygon here, but this set can actually be terrifying.


Raikou @ Leftovers/Shuca Berry
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 8 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roar

I liked pairing this with Spikes, in particular the Roserade set above. Roar on Raikou can often be devastating with Spikes as Raikou forces many switches from the opponent, so the pressure this set can inflict is pretty tremendous.


Infernape @ Expert Belt
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 56 SpA / 200 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
- Hidden Power [Ice]

A tech on Ape to lure in common switchins like Gyarados and Dragonite. Thunder Punch is the move that may cross peoples' minds when they want to switch Gyara in on Ape and be like, "yeah no apes use Thunder Punch". Well this one does.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 64 SpA / 148 Spe
Naive Nature
- Substitute
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ground]

A different take on SubFlinch Jirachi that punishes common switchins like Heatran, Skarmory, and bulky waters. If you want 308+ Spe you can add extra EVs from attack. Pairing this with Breloom is really cool, as loom will deal with Pert and the waters that this Jira doesn't. It loves the paraspreading (sub punch in particular), and because this Jira lures in Skarm and Tran, it will free up Loom to clean.
 
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mael

not the same but equal
is a Community Contributorwon the 14th Official Smogon Tournamentis a Past SPL Champion
UUPL Champion
use leftovers on mixedape. it's a lot better than any ebelt or lo stuff, bc it doesn't give stall the opportunity to "play around it" by stalling it with sand turns and bs like that. u'll more than likely want to have spikes with nape anyway and the dmg output difference is barely noticable, while the longevity wins games for me.

also bab and me have been using chesto on that machamp instead of lum, bc u don't want ur lum to be activated when u switch in on a random poison from bliss or tspikes, while u don't rly happen to get burned much in the leadspot bar the odd wow lum berry heatran.

sdef pert can use mirror coat, effectively making it a cune check and giving u a bit of a surprise move vs gengars that realize they shouldn't sub up, vs like rotom that feels entitled to shadow ball u nd stuff.
 
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use leftovers on mixedape. it's a lot better than any ebelt or lo stuff, bc it doesn't give stall the opportunity to "play around it" by stalling it with sand turns and bs like that. u'll more than likely want to have spikes with nape anyway and the dmg output difference is barely noticable, while the longevity wins games for me.

also bab and me have been using chesto on that machamp instead of lum, bc u don't want ur lum to be activated when u switch in on a random poison from bliss or tspikes, while u don't rly happen to get burned much in the leadspot bar the odd wow lum berry heatran.

sdef pert can use mirror coat, effectively making it a cune check and giving u a bit of a surprise move vs gengars that realize they shouldn't sub up, vs like rotom that feels entitled to shadow ball u nd stuff.
Those are some really cool ideas dude. I like them all a lot and I also agree that lefties on mixape is really cool. I made a post a few months ago about slack off ape to also punish stalls, but lefties sounds great as well and might be an even stronger middle ground.

For that specific ape, I had ebelt on because without it gyara can't be OHKOd after rocks. Bluffing a choice item is pretty cool too, which made the thunderpunch bait stronger situationally.
 
DPP

Mesprit @ Custap Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 100 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 44 SpD / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Stealth Rock

Custap Mesprit its a cool offensive lead that can fit well on lot of bulky offense builds, bulkier than Azelf but less passive than Uxie. Idea its to use a Stealth Rock mon that can have a different utility in next turns. Custap Berry allows to catch off guard faster threats such Flygon and Infernape. Psychic + Boltbeam its an excellent coverage, Grass Knot to hit Tyranitar while still hits Starmie and Hidden Power Fire to hit Scizor are still usable but in terms of coverage Psychic + Boltbeam its the best coverage combo and allows you to hit Fightying Types + Gyarados/Skarmory + Dragonite/Flygon/Gliscor.
 

PDC

street spirit fade out
is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Four-Time Past WCoP Champion
i didn't play this spl (or the last one) but i had a fun time building some stuff for the adv-dpp-bw trifecta while idling in team chats. below are some cool sets i came up with / tried to re-popularize.

167879

Latias @ Flame Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 164 HP / 104 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Recover
- Wish

this is a cool set that i borrowed from the bw metagame with slight alterations. i saw roscoe bring specs lati lead week 5-6 and i thought that was a good idea because of how many switches are forced. people usually default to some fat steel or ttar out of fear of a specs draco (if the lead is intimidated out). i figured i could capitalize that and use a set which spreads burn + can heal the rest of the time consistently. this set is super annoying vs teams that lack a clear way to kill it (or have it burned). real fat teams get wish passed on consistently. use this set with mons that want consistent healing and can come in cleanly on things that scare lati out. loom, jirachi, lo gon, etc etc. all things that want a wish passed forward. not a very strong offensive force, but vs slow teams it is a real pain in the ass. can run max speed (probably preferred), evs atm live ada champ payback + bullet punch.

167880

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 216 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Baton Pass
- Rest
- Toxic

pitched this idea to marcop in spl finals. sadly it didn't get use (altho it was for the best, baton pass), but this is a neat set. slow baton pass is really underrated and nobody expects it anymore on sdef zap. people usually opt for roar / ls / hp grass instead. regardless, this set does a good job of bringing out the blisseys / ttars and can pass out to a dugtrio or something else that threatens em out like cbmeta. people feel safer bringing those mons in on sdef zap as they don't anticipate an easy trap segway or whatnot. i prefer to use ada fat dug here as you can really eliminate those aforementioned mons early if you get them on a bp. also you can scout for focus punch early too!

167881

Tyranitar @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hyper Beam
- Dragon Dance

surely better evs exist for this thing, but i thought of this (again) for spl finals and me and marco both enjoyed it in theory. it's a ddtar that acts as a breaker, basically. you can do some serious damage with this early-mid-late game (whatever your preference) and ttars ability to live hits easily really makes this set worth it sometimes. hyper beam + ss isn't ridiculously strong, but it has the potential to knock of 60% perts, offensive perts, flygons from full, claydols, or other mons you just want a more accurate move to hit. in fact, with the uptick of offensive perts + claydols this set has some really good potential imo. tinker around with the spread and see what you need to get to +2 or if you want to run adamant.

some calcs:
+1 252 Atk Silk Scarf Tyranitar Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Claydol: 264-311 (81.4 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Silk Scarf Tyranitar Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Swampert: 300-354 (87.7 - 103.5%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Silk Scarf Tyranitar Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Swampert: 219-258 (54.2 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Silk Scarf Tyranitar Hyper Beam vs. 188 HP / 0 Def Flygon: 331-390 (95.1 - 112%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Silk Scarf Tyranitar Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 180-212 (44.5 - 52.4%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery

i have some other cool 'techs' i made along the road but most are things that are already obvious. ground ice elec steel jirachi, the protect np celebi set zf posted, dd fpunch ttar, endeavor lefties pert (3tks + endev), and whatever random berry mon i came up with along the way.
 
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I love the Lati set PDC posted. I personally used 80 HP / 64 Def / 112 SpA / 252 Spe, which lives ada champ payback + BP and maximizes speed. I remember the 112 SpA was important for something, but it's escaping me right now. I'll edit it in later.
 

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