Project Your Favorite Teams of Generation 8

SetsuSetsuna

SetsuSetsuna

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Approved by the OU mod team.

With Generation 8 coming to a close we can look back at the meta throughout the years and remember a few teams. The teams we used in an important tour, to reach our peak in ladder, something we helped a friend build or even our first team for the ones that started playing during Sword and Shield. This thread is meant for you to post your favorite teams of Generation 8. Keep in mind the idea is not to post your entire builder, but to share some of the teams you remember fondly. You can take the Gen 7 thread of this project as reference.

Happy posting!
 
HydreigonTheChild

HydreigonTheChild

is a Tiering Contributor
https://pokepast.es/282d8cef200659fd got me reqs multiple times in a row... very very good team, very anti ladder bullshit, not good in tours or top 100. But best team cuz this pretty much covers everything ladder loves to spam

https://pokepast.es/ef6724033de2bb39 found this from somewhere... but i loved the idea off dd kyurem a lot and being able to take over games quickly so it became a good team to use till the ban of it
 
Connor Cadaver

Connor Cadaver

Naptime
:ss/melmetal: :ss/clefable: :ss/rillaboom: :ss/heatran: :ss/landorus-therian: :ss/dragonite:
(click sprites for team)

This is a team with Rest Melmetal paired with Aromatherapy Clefable. I really like this team because it is unique and interesting, but also functional! It is also one of the first teams I made this generation, and I think it turned out really nicely. To the future players in generations 9, 10, 11 and beyond, have fun with this team!
 
Sp0oN1oRd

Sp0oN1oRd

My most recent favorite team: https://pokepast.es/3914dcca36568670
Eleki is one of my favorite new gen 8 mons to use, so this is my best team designed to abuse its strengths.
It's definitely one of my most creative teams this gen and it's gotten me to 1900 8 separate times, it's my team for whenever I tilt.
It features a very bulky core of spdef mew, blissey, buzzwole, and tankchomp. For the last two slots, eleki gives speed, spin, and a lategame wincon.
Band bisharp + the fast taunt spikes mew gives an out vs bulkier teams, with sucker as a good emergency option.
The blissey is probably the most unique choice due to the item selection, but helmet almost single handedly reverses the boots koko and specs pult matchup for the team by punishing uturn spam.
 
clean

clean

is a Tiering Contributor
OMPL Champion
:dragapult: :urshifu_rapid_strike: :tapu_lele: :landorus_therian: :zapdos: :melmetal:

https://pokepast.es/8a503ea80d236894

This is personally one of my favorite teams of the generation - it can win almost any matchup if played properly and has defined the waning months of CG SS OU.

While this team originally was built by team Germany for WCOP, it gained a significant amount of popularity during the most recent edition of OLT. Myself and a few others used it to great success during the laddering portion of the tour - and it has since seen notable usage in livetours, as well as some appearances in SCL and the playoff portion of OLT.

s/o to felix for always making broken teams I somehow do well with
 
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pulsar512b

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
https://pokepast.es/87bb7864b71d3eea first team i built that i think is any real good/got decent ladder w. (at least post-cinderace/magearna)
https://pokepast.es/caef0f5c0b1cfd65 air balloon tran is fun
https://pokepast.es/603247d536557756 variation that's fun with choice band bulu, good synergy.
https://pokepast.es/26b12900defe6eb5 new fun cool team rotom-wash incredible pivot
meant to make rmts for all of these i think i have halfwritten/mostly written versions of a couple lying around. never finished
 
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veti

veti

Supreme Overlord
is a Pre-Contributor
https://pokepast.es/56b04389924c0020
This team is awful, but it was my first team that wasn't completely awful. I reached my peak ELO of low 1600s using this team. This team was also the start of my love for Aegislash, which I now put on a large chunk of my bulky offenses.
 
Tio Chico

Tio Chico

is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Along with the aforementioned Ox's Hail, nearly all Storm Zone + Pinkacross teams/RMTs are masterpieces. I won't mention them all because I hate Regieleki so I'll just highlight my favorites.
:Pelipper::Barraskewda::Porygon-Z::Ferrothorn::Tapu_Lele::Seismitoad:
PZ Rain - Brought a spotlight to PZ and was bold with 4 Choice users in the rain.
:Tapu_Lele::Alakazam::Moltres-Galar::Landorus-Therian::Ferrothorn::Toxapex:
PsySpam Zam - A bold offensive core with a popular defensive core and good use of the Eject Button.

My own:

HO Screens ft Encore Magearna
While I hate Regieleki and I'm not the HO guy, it was fun to abuse it while it was available.
BU Cinderace didn't have time to be exploited and Magearna even worked with Encore.
:Dragonite::Magnezone::Landorus-Therian::Toxapex::Clefable::Kartana:
CB Dragonite top 15 ladder
A team without boots, where, in the right moment of metagame development, it worked very well. Kartana Scarf was perhaps my favorite Pokémon of this generation.
:Kyurem:/:Suicune::Landorus-Therian::Tapu_Fini::Heatran::Latias::Corviknight:
Good bye Kyurem
This Kyurem set threw it into the wall, and chasing each partner was a fun journey that brought me some suspects, even when I replaced it with Suicune it still worked on Melmetal's Suspect. Tricks, Trappers, Pressure, fun.

Good bye Gen 8.
 
NeonJolteonWasUsed

NeonJolteonWasUsed

:Tapu Bulu: :Kartana: :Zapdos: :Slowbro: :Heatran: :Landorus-Therian:
https://pokepast.es/f35c4c4af9454e64
You might remember when I made a RMT on this. I still stand by this team as one of my most reliable ones to date! I have updated this slightly since then, and it has only gotten stronger with time. Still love this team to bits and use it frequently even now.


:Hydreigon: :Melmetal: :Tapu Koko: :Gastrodon: :Tornadus-Therian: :Ferrothorn:
https://pokepast.es/29dd7d5049eec97b
Hydreigon + Melmetal is genuinely one of the most nasty cores I have ever had the pleasure of using. These two dismantle so many defensive cores with such ease it's insane that Hydreigon has flown under the radar this long.

:Volcanion: :Heatran: :Weavile: :Slowbro: :Corviknight: :Hippowdon:
https://pokepast.es/3fc9574e92b91142
A Small little experiment with the concept of Fire Spam that proved to be quite effective. Volcanion and Heatran are great at overwhelming each other's checks incredibly easily, as well as absolutely crushing teams with Slowbro or Pex as their Bulky Water, and setting up Weavile for an easy Late Game Clean.

:Landorus-Therian: :Weavile: :Zapdos: :Clefable: :Ferrothorn: :Slowking:
https://pokepast.es/a5f7229dddb5a433
A team built around Swords Dance Spam between Landorus, and Weavile, in my opinion, offensive Landorus has been one of the most underrated sets in all of Gen 8 (which is very ironic considering how popular Landorus is in general). This thing puts the hurt on SO much it's actually insane, there's very little that can Hard Stop Landorus once it gets going, yes, even Corviknight, is reduced to nothing but Setup Fodder thanks to Substitute! Not even mentioning the surprise factor that comes with its use, giving it a lot more oppertunities to set up Early game than one would come to expect.
The team is Defog-less, but generally the team does not have much issues with Hazards anyway, so there isn't much of a need. This was my first time really messing around with Swords Dance Landorus in a serious setting, and the preformance of this team absolutely blew me away!

:Zapdos: :Thundurus-Therian: :Pelipper: :Barraskewda: :Seismitoad: :Ferrothorn:
https://pokepast.es/1759c2c43b58219d
Otherwise Known as "ElecSpam but good." Thundy-T essentially plays like a Zapdos you get to use more aggressively to break down checks for your "other" Zapdos. while preserving your actual Zapdos for later to blast through weakened teams, while also providing another Electric Immunity, as I found Seismitoad just wasn't surviving Long enough in a lot of cases to block Volt Switch all that well.
Thundurus Taking on Zapdos' Role as an offensive rain sweeper also allows Zapdos to cut back on its speed and invest into its bulk, to let it more reliably switch into Pokemon like Kartana, or Galarian Zapdos for the team.

:Aegislash: :Dragapult: :Buzzwole: :Clefable: :Gastrodon: :Corviknight:
https://pokepast.es/47a6d591c77ff404
A very fitting way to close out the generation of Pokemon Sword and Shield...with the literal Sword and Shield Pokemon.
Jokes aside, I knew I just had to make a definitive team around my all time favorite Pokemon now that it's finally not broken in an OU setting! This Aegislash uses a fairly intricate EV spread that I go into detail about on my VR Nom post if you are interested, but the general gist is, it is never 3HKO'd by Scarf Lele's Psychic, Outspeeds Corviknight, and OHKO's Blacephalon from full with Shadow Sneak.
Ghost Spam has always been an interesting architecture to me, and the fact my favorite Pokemon synergizes so seamlessly with the playstyle is one of the best things I could ask for!

I have so many other teams I absolutely adored using, but these are easily the ones I am most proud of, that have proved to be the most effective in a serious setting!
With that, I suppose we bid farewell to what I'd call my favorite Competitive Generation to date!
Goodbye Galar!
(I'm still gonna play this gen in RoA but uhhhh shush ignore that for now.)
 
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fly casanova

fly casanova

I have two favorites from laddering this gen

:blaziken: https://pokepast.es/4995f8685e829bca - bulky offense team which got me to ladder for the first time, peaking around 1765. sd rillaboom and helmet force damage onto would-be blaziken switches, letting it sweep with just stab cc + blitz. blaze has fallen from grace, for sure, but I feel like this team plays to its strengths and supports it enough to put in work.

:aegislash: https://pokepast.es/d124901f2bae62ec - this has been my favorite team closing out the gen. ddance pult feels so good to use right now, and aegislash is great at baiting in shared counters and forcing chip. sball + cc + sub is my favorite way to use aegi - it matches up well and gets free subs against a lot of the meta.

it wasn't perfect, but i think there was a lot to like about gen8. without megas, z-moves, or dmax, it felt like the meta developed very naturally, allowing its best mons to shine unencumbered. once tport clef fell out of favor, I thought laddering as a whole was a lot of fun.

(fuck rain tho, that shit was oppressive the whole damn time)
 
okispokis

okispokis

:Moltres: :Rillaboom: :Slowking: :Tyranitar: :Dragapult: :Excadrill:
I wasn't really that interested in OU for a while this gen, my initial interest in pre-DLC era having waned first due to the annoyance of Pex, then to how Crown Tundra made it feel largely samey compared to past gens. And then I looked at SmogDex and saw a weird defensive Molt set was being used in OU. So, I felt it only right to first commemorate the team that got me seriously playing OU again, the first OU team of the generation I really had fun with.

:Garchomp: :Magnezone: :Zeraora: :Blissey: :Tapu Fini: :Tangrowth:
I'm the kind of builder that doesn't like sticking to what everyone else is using, so to spice things up I took a bunch of OU staples and made off-beat sets with them; of those, my favorite was this team with Scarf Garchomp. Without a Steel/Flying, ScarfChomp was an absolute unit. This team also stared Sludge Bomb Tangrowth I'd come up with (can legit say I was using it before it was cool) and one of my favorite sets of the generation in CM Fini.

:Seaking: :Corviknight: :Weavile: :Blacephalon: :Landorus-Therian: :Clefable:
Remember that month or so when everyone was scared of Arctozolt? From that fear, a legend was born.

:Porygon2: :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: :Corviknight: :Landorus-Therian: :Zeraora: :Volcanion:
While the other Pory2 variant was probably better overall, I just had more fun with this team. Just a nice, solid team that I had a lot of well-played games with; I feel that my competitive skill evolved while I was using this team (also feel I got better at serious team building).

:Melmetal: :Landorus-Therian: :Volcanion: :Tapu Koko: :Weavile: :Buzzwole:
Ending off a bit more conventional, but I had to highlight at least one of the Melmetal teams I used through OU's final suspect test. And overall, this was my most successful and my favorite to use, applying that combo of pivoting and bulky offense that I really like to use. This is also the team where 3 Attacks Buzzwole overtook CM Fini as my single favorite set of the generation, becoming the surprise MVP of this team.
 
Stockings

Stockings


https://pokepast.es/f4f52aab43b8b14d

Empo's band sand was one of the most popular and consistent teams of the generation, not much to be said that hasn't already. Everyone reading this has almost certainly played either with or against this team. I'd easily consider it to be one of the format's most defining teams.
 
ninth

ninth

is a Pre-Contributor
tofa

tofa

is a Tiering Contributor
https://pokepast.es/5473de86d6e25c81- A build by airfare, I remember he posted it in a discord server in the summer of 2021. I ended up using it to get my first OU room tour win with him hyping me up. I had a really great time

https://pokepast.es/8d256f1f10f0a47c - A build of my own that I made only a couple months ago. It's not great, but it marks the point where I started to consistently play above the 1700s using my own teams & become more methodical in my teambuilding. That made me happy
 
Nichalho

Nichalho

:ninetales-alola:-:arctozolt:-:cinderace:-:magearna:-:moltres:-:garchomp:
flygonisdragon made this soon after Crown Tundra, and I thought it was awesome. It's aesthetically pleasing, used a niche playstyle at the time (hail), is mostly mons that I love, and Mag and Ace were pretty much auto win buttons. The bans nuking this team made me very sad for a while.

:pheromosa:-:zapdos:-:rillaboom:-:weezing-galar:-:swampert:-:incineroar:
I can't for the life of me find the original post I took this from, and I replaced Phero with Nidoking in my builder when it was banned, so I recreated the Phero set from memory. This is an ausma team that I loved because it was colourful and full of off meta mons. All the pivot moves and the t spikes, as well as QD Phero deleting everybody was so much fun.

:pelipper:-:barraskewda:-:zapdos:-:ferrothorn:-:garchomp:-:azumarill:
I stole this from Ahois because I like rain and Azu. I've mostly been using this team recently to practice on the ladder. It fits my playstyle perfectly and is just very comfy.

:moltres-galar:-:rotom-wash:-:crawdaunt:-:tapu bulu:-:blaziken:-:krookodile:
It'd be rude not to post one of my own teams. I made this for Rainbow League and actually had a great winrate with it on ladder. I second guessed myself and never actually used it in the tourney, but I'm proud of it as proof that I'm improving as a builder, slowly but surely.
 
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