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there's definitely a case to free ice scales but i don't think you're looking at it correctly. expecting one mon to effortlessly cover every single special attacker in the meta is a bad idea from a building perspective. the reality is that you'll be giving up matchups whenever you choose your regenvest, and you can't or shouldn't really change that.
Ok, while it shouldn't be the case that the special defensive mon you have should not counter every single special attacker, there's still combinations like Sandy Shocks + Walking Wake or Latios + Iron Moth that can straight-up beat Empoleon, Swampert, and Manaphy, and if Ice Scales existed, this wouldn't be a problem.
a. most teams don't have more than 2 special attackers, so you can often get away with just running a regenvest + double immunity to special attackers you're specifically scared of (e.g regenvest mana + air balloon va emp)
It is usually very tough to fit in double immunity on a team since you always want a phys def mon, a speed control mon, and 2 wall breakers, so at most you're typically only fitting in one immunity mon. Also, RegenVest Manaphy and VA Empoleon isn't a good pairing, plus Air Balloon is rarely ever used on Empoleon.
Just also gonna say that the post I made was filled with not good reasoning, but I still do think its worth it to bring Ice Scales back.
Ok, while it shouldn't be the case that the special defensive mon you have should not counter every single special attacker, there's still combinations like Sandy Shocks + Walking Wake or Latios + Iron Moth that can straight-up beat Empoleon, Swampert, and Manaphy, and if Ice Scales existed, this wouldn't be a problem.
It is usually very tough to fit in double immunity on a team since you always want a phys def mon, a speed control mon, and 2 wall breakers, so at most you're typically only fitting in one immunity mon. Also, RegenVest Manaphy and VA Empoleon isn't a good pairing, plus Air Balloon is rarely ever used on Empoleon.
Just also gonna say that the post I made was filled with not good reasoning, but I still do think its worth it to bring Ice Scales back.
i think you're viewing teambuilding too linearly. the only mandatory slot rn for balance teams in a phydef mon; you can definitely get away with little or no speed control on fatter builds and the wallbreakers don't have to be the standard aaa omega juiced choiced mon with damage amp ability, they can be more utility focused stuff like tspikes uturn moth or slower wincons like roost moon that offer defensive utility while still retaining the offensive utility these mons are known for. even just the 1 immunity ability mon when paired with another natural immunity mon can still create those 50/50s breakers like wake and latios dread. speaking to regenvest mana + air baloon va emp specifically i have used this core quite a bit and found decent success with it, it may help to experiment with some unorthodox picks like this if you're finding yourself weak to specific breakers or cores.
and yeah there will always be cores into the best special checks, but if you're struggling with those, you can always just pick different mons; no one's forcing you to use regenvest swamp/mana or spdef emp on every team. regenvest melo/hands/prima/hands/hamurott are perfectly servicable mons and you can pair those with other immunity mons, like wa heatran, psea zappy, or whatever ghold immunity you want, and still find yourself safe vs a majority of special attackers. and if you still wanna use them, there are definitely outs you can give youself in builder that aren't hard checks. like that shocks + wake example: something like tusk + corvid + regenvest pert + desoland moth (which are all very good mons and create a good base 4 by themselves) can let you play around these two long enough for your own breakers to win. tunnel visioning yourself into hard counters to stuff is a bad idea in aaa; it looks enticing in builder but in practice gamestates can vary and your "hard counter" will either get chipped overtime or be rendered useless if it doesn't load into the specifc mu you're prepping for.
Hi, I'm back with a proposition. Please free Ice Scales. I feel like the special attackers we have in the current metagame are a lot to handle, and I think that this might help the problem. Here's why I think we should free Ice Scales:
Swampert is currently the most popular way of dealing with special attacker thanks to its solid natural bulk and the Assault Vest it always holds. However, it can sometimes struggle against Walking Wake. This is because Walking Wake can freely Weather Ball against Swampert, allowing it to almost always 2HKO Swampert. In addition to that, Walking Wake is also able to Knock Off Swampert's Assault Vest, making it even more vulnerable to Weather Ball, as well as Draco Meteor.
So, if Walking Wake is the problem, why not just use Manaphy? It has even higher bulk, also uses an Assault Vest, and is able to resist Weather Ball from Walking Wake. Well, the issue with using Manaphy is that you are now vulnerable to Electric-types like Zapdos, which can 3HKO with Thunder and threaten paralysis, and Sandy Shocks, which 2HKOs with Thunderbolt.
If the problem is Electric-types, then why not Volt Absorb Empoleon? It easily switch ins to Zapdos and can't get punished by Knock Off from Walking Wake, as well as the fact that it resists both of Wake's STABs. Unfortunately, it gets 2HKOed by Earth Power from Sandy Shocks.
Loses to Latios, Azelf, Deoxys-Speed, Sandy Shocks, and Scream Tail.
Loses to Zapdos, Sandy Shocks, SFLO Gengar (if Sludge Bomb).
Loses to Scream Tail, Primarina, and doesn't switch in to most physical attackers like most special defensive mons can.
Scream Tail, Primarina, Deoxys-Speed, Walking Wake.
Beats pretty much every special attacker ig, but loses to Trick and is easy setup fodder for physical attackers and also can't pivot.
This mon actually seems pretty good, but U-turn chips it down quite a bit.
But why?
Struggles with Walking Wake and Primarina and can't pivot.
I don't know what to say here but I think Ice Scales should be added back. Also, I would keep on eye on Sandy Shocks cause I find that it seems really, really good right now.
I don't even really need to read this the argument to deny this. Regardless of the argument that Ice Scales would maybe make the meta better (if even, which I don't think is true reading other arguments).
The main issue is, why? Large forced meta shifts occur because people are dissatisfied with the current state of a meta, enough so that they are willing to take large steps to change it. We are arguably on the complete opposite side of the coin at this moment. The latest survey results indicate a large level of satisfaction with the enjoyability of the meta (7.34) and competitiveness (7.13) and arguably this has gotten even better post Gouging-ban. The meta is diverse, competitiveness and has tons of neat experimentation to play around with. Everyone I have asked have admitted that the meta is in a great state.
So why would we then risk it all on a massive meta change? At the very least this would have to be a suspect given we suspected it out of the tier and the massive implications it could have and I doubt it could ever garner enough support. Even in far more stale and less enjoyed metas did Ice Scales see near enough support, or even 2AC. There is just no need, or even want, to make such a massive change and I would recommend you follow Hera's and Greybaums advice.
You definitely should be building the rest of the team out in resists. That's why I majorly prefer my attackers to have useful resistances, and pick them for that reason over perhaps higher damage options. Starting from which regen(vest) you pick, you should analyze which mons/types/strategies take advantage of it, and fill the rest of the team out from there (ie swampert teams losing to water types, manaphy losing to electrics).
Some of the mons I really like for this role include primal weather mons ( , +more) for obvious reasons. Any immunity ability can go far and these are often the best.
Some others include (compresses alot of resistances, fire/water/grass/will usually live any neutral hit and can always espeed). (fire/water/grass/elec/psychic/ghost, generally will switch into and beat pretty much every special attacker atleast one time) (x4 water resist) (psychic, dragon, ghost, steel) (water, dragon) (psychic, dragon) (fairy, psychic, dragon. This Mon can viably run any ability whilst still being highly viable, and thus can compress a lot with water absorb/bulletproof/volt absorb/well baked body/hadron engine (for expanding force)/etc.) (can check no weather ball Zapdos) (earth eater) (both will check )
-And many more examples
Incorporating more of these kind of mons over others like azelf/gengar/chien pao/etc can go a long way, choose between these for what your team is otherwise weak to. Of course there is still the entire defensive Mon pool to play around with as well.
And really the same goes for physical attackers, if you notice alot of these mons also help out vs those as well. I don't find special attackers to be too tough at the moment, and honestly physical ones can be scarier (cuz ogerpon is broken like fr fr). As for ice scales I would be okay with unbanning it but only if fur coat as well because I think it's a bit silly to do one without the other. Well anyways this is just my opinion, as others have def found success doing other stuff.
2 problems I've been having trouble building against, would appreciate some thoughts on these and how to handle them:
So the first one is probably something not considered a large threat but it's corrosion (typically on the newer mon but also sometimes on . If I switch into an offensive counter like then they get a toxic that can wear me down throughout the game and the opponent can still just switch into something else. If I bring in something like I can try to knock them but even if they stay in, the item removal doesn't mean much. It's hard to keep constant offensive pressure when can come in so easily on something like a 's defog. Sure once I get a pokemon poisoned I can keep switching into that so it's not like my whole team gets poisoned, but even something like a that's constantly pivoting will get worn down quickly by the poison in addition to something like hex . Aside from (which I'm not going to throw in my team exclusively for heal bells) and random psalts, the main way to deal with it is MG mons, but and aren't too splashable and running an immunity (wabs, volt abs, ee, wbb) on is hard to pass up on and my team ends up with some uncovered holes. So if I wanted to be able to run MG on ghold then I'd have to find a way to build a core without running an immunity ability on ghold to patch up. Notably against , :hisuian electrode:, solar beam desolanders, and is there any other good support building around a fluffy corv/regen pert core?
tldr what do I do against corrosion if I want to run corvpert with an immunity ghold
The second problem is sadly also on but this time it's destiny bond. One can't really do destiny bond prediction shit because it has a prankster recover and absurd physical bulk. In a worst case scenario it can trade with pretty much anything even if it's conveniently scouted which isn't fun because if I have a breaker in front of it then I'd rather click a strong move than switch and risk getting corrosion poisoned. Even on the prankster set it's hard to constantly switch in tanks because even a wall like or can get poisoned by a prediction ligma chain. A double priority like would seem appealing to take out pecharunt before it can dbond but that's just wishful thinking considering that an espeed does <40% max and you can hardly set up due to parting shot.
tldr is there anything that beats prankster dbond pecha well because it's a pain in the ass and seems to always guarantee a trade and still a lot of value before it dies
Help with these 2 much appreciated, even pointing to one of the sample teams and showing its ways to deal with these is great. Almost 1/5 of people are using pecharunt in the counterteam tour and i dont want my deo and rmoon to die sob
ps mixed pecha is also a menace. sure it requires prediction wins to get big damage but you can't wear it down and it gets free switches into lots of things due to its bulk.. that set in addition to prank dbond and corrosion just make scouting pecharunt a nightmare
Hello it's me here to spread propoganda for another unviable Steel-type and also pretend it's still SS AAA. Without further ado, I present Terrakion + Jirachi!
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Terrakion's main niche over the other broken Fighting-types in the tier (namely Zamazenta and Gapdos) is a flagrant disregard for Fluffy Corviknight, as Stone Edge cleanly 2HKOes. With no Dauntless Shield and less Intimidate thanks to Fluffy, Terrakion can load well into a decent number of teams, really only being flumoxed by Earth Eater Gholdengo and Stone Edge's accuracy.
I honestly have no clue what to run in the last slot, the best attacking options seem to be Quick Attack, Iron Head, and Poison Jab, but meh. Close Combat + Stone Edge does numbers into most of the meta threats however.
Jirachi @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- U-turn
- Psychic Noise
- Thunderbolt
What better way to accent a Fighting-type wallbreaker than Future Sight + U-turn? Also checks the broken Psychic-types Terrakion invites in why are there so many of them.
Iron Moth switches into Primordial Sea Walking Wake + Toxic Spikes are broken, Corv is Corv, Pecharunt gives me a Fire immunity + I am WAY too afraid of Ceruledge, and Moon is a fast guy that hits Ghosts because this team does not like Ghosts (they are spooky) and it can clean up once Terrakion has placed their physical wall in the bin.
TL;DR: Terrakion is funny and hard to switch into without Earth Eater Ghold but we can pretend that guy doesn't exist right?
The major issue with Ice Scales, and we've seen this with play out with both Fur Coat and Ice Scales for years, is it's not about having a nice special wall that can play its role super well. It's about offensive or set-up mons who use Ice Scales to make it unbearably difficult to revenge kill. And literally any set-up mon would benefit from it, and use it to lure and kill some special attacker. Wellspring living Iron Moth Sludge Wave? Great Tusk getting to get a spin for extra speed to enable a sweep where it otherwise would die? Iron Boulder takes less than half from a Primarina's surf with 252SpA, etc etc etc
Frankly, Fighting-types are fucking broken in AAA, and it's not hard to understand why. There are relatively few bulky Fighting-resists in the tier, mostly limited to Ghosts and Psychic-types like Scream Tail and Deoxys-D (Bug is wholy irrelevant, other Fairy-types are mostly limited to Primarina, most defensive Flying-types are still only neutral to Fighting, and the only particularly relevant Poison that isn't also a Ghost is Iron Moth which...has suspect physical bulk). Close Combat is an obscene move, boasting 120 Base Power, perfect accuracy, and relatively limited drawbacks (no one cares about reduced defenses if you OHKO the mon in front of you). AAA boosts their power even further, usually with Sword of Ruin which asks no questions (okay one question, is the other mon also SoR?), but also with other options like Scrappy, Adaptability, and Tough Claws, or even utility focused options like Magic Guard. Oh did I mention most of them have 120+ Attack?
With so many broken Fighting-types running around, you may be asking, which one is best for you and your needs? Well, here is a needlessly long piece to explain what they do best and why you should use them (they are broken).
Zamazenta Reason to use: Cleaner as well as wallbreaker
There are 412 reasons to use Zamazenta as your broken Fighting-type. It outspeeds almost every relevant unboosted mon in the tier, falling short only of Regieleki, Deoxys-S, and Hisuian Electrode, giving it numerous opprotunitites to come in against slower threats and click the funny Fighting move. It can also serve as a cleaner, finishing up a weakened team once the wall has been broken down by something else, meaning it has excellent synergy with other, slower wallbreakers and slow pivots. Zamazenta will usually find its home on bulk offense teams that can get it in multiple times and use its Speed tier to the full extent.
On the other hand, Zamazenta is the only relevant mon on this list without a secondary STAB move, leaving it more limited in trying to break through its checks. It has fine coverage moves (Heavy Slam for Scream Tail, Crunch for the scary Ghosts, Stone Edge for...Zapdos? Fluffy Corv?), but its coverage moves are very weak into the wrong targets making it heavily prediction reliant when playing against its checks.
What sets does it use?
Sword of Ruin Choice Band. That's the main deal. By far the most power on Close Combat, enough power to OHKO Scream Tail with Heavy Slam, and can even 2HKO Pecharunt...sometimes...maybe...with Crunch. It can technically do IronPress sets, but don't. Its other setup options and ability choices are very limited. It's the most linear mon on this list, it does one thing (fast Close Combat), but does it very, very well.
What team should I use it on?
Offensive and bulky offense teams that have complimentary wallbreakers and are looking for some speed control.
Why have one 120 BP STAB move when you can have two? Brave Bird gives it a second attack with obscene power, letting it hit Scream Tail and mosts Ghost-types on the switch while still covering if the mon in front of it stays in. It also has the coveted Knock Off, which is a roll to OHKO Boldengo with Adamant Sword of Ruin Choice Band (and still chunks it otherwise). Knock Off + U-turn also lets it, with the help of a rocker, make progress against even Fluffy Corviknight, as it can U-turn on the switch and force it to take chip without recovering.
In addition to its nuclear options, it also has tech options like Thunderous Kick, Taunt, and Magic Guard + Life Orb, which trade the immediate "something dies now" damage for more longevity and wearing down fatter teams. In terms of hazards, Gapdos is in a weird spot where it is one of the only Fighting-types that takes neutral damage from Rocks, but at the same time is immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
What sets does it use?
Sword of Ruin Choice Band is the obvious option, with Close Combat / Brave Bird / Knock Off / U-turn being the standard fair. Adamant is a very notable option here, as the Speed tier is not very crowded and it picks up the OHKO chance on Gholdengo and 2HKO chance on Intimidate Corviknight. The other main set is Magic Guard + Life Orb, which always carries Brave Brid and then some combination of Taunt, Thunderous Kick, Close Combat, Knock Off, U-turn, and Bulk Up, depending on if you want to preserve power, troll stall, or set up. It also has a tech Agility option for hyper offense teams.
What team should I use it on?
The Choice Band set fits well on balance and bulky offensive teams that already have some Speed and are looking for that wallbreaking power; this set competes heavily with Terrakion, but has the better midground move and Knock Off. The Magic Gaurd set fits better on balance teams that are looking to force progress over time against other fat teams.
Close Combat + Stone Edge has near-perfect coverage, but the main selling point is that Stone Edge bypasses the ever-common Fluffy Corviknight. Commonly boasting a, you guessed it, Choice Band Sword of Ruin set, Terrakion threatens to OHKO most of the tier and 2HKO most of the physical walls...with the right move. Earthquake is its best coverage move, nailing non-Ground immune Gholdengo and Pecharunt, and the last move is...anyone's guess. Poison Jab, Iron Head, Quick Attack, X-scissor, and Stealth Rock are all options, but if you're using anything other than the STAB moves, that's a bad sign.
Terrakion also has Swords Dance, letting it get to +2 on a predicted switch and ease predictions against slower foes, at the cost of not nuking what is immediately in front of you. Terrakion can run Adaptability if needed, but since it relies on two non-contact moves it has higher priority on the Sword of Ruin slot.
What sets does it use?
Sword of Ruin Choice Band is by far the best set, boasting absurd power and great two-move coverage. Swords Dance is also an option if you really want more power.
What team should I use it on?
Balance and pivot-heavy teams give it the best chance to get in and do damage mulitple times per match; it competes heavily with Galarian Zapdos in this role, but has a better matchup into Fluffy and a better Speed tier, especially if Jolly, getting extra entry points agains Zapdos and offensive Garchomp and Manaphy.
Terrakion also faces still compition from Ogerpon-C and Iron Boulder, both of which boast better Speed tiers, more reliable Rock moves, and their own set of advantages. A quick rundown of what they do well relative to each other:
Terrakion: Boasts the overall strongest turn-one move in Choice Band Close Combat, and Choice Band Stone Edge is still about 10% stronger than Rocky Payload Ivy Cudgle. Strongest one-button clicker.
Iron Boulder: By far the fastest, getting the jump on important mons like Roaring Moon, and has really nice coverage options in Psycho Cut, Sacred Sword, Throat Chop, and Earthquake. Is the most troubled by Fluffy though, as Might Cleave is contact. Fastest while still being very strong into non-Fluffy.
Ogerpon-C: has the least immediate power due to being locked out of Choice Band, but is arguable the best Swords Dance variant due to its wide range of coverage moves including Wood Hammer, Knock Off, Play Rough, and Horn Leech and ability to boost Speed with Trailblaze. Most versitile.
Iron Hands Reason to use: Dummy physical bulk + versatility
Unlike the above threats, Iron Hands is less of a classic "just click the button" wallbreaker but leverages its absurd bulk to gain a lot of defensive utility and setup chances as well. With 154 / 108 physical bulk, it can comfortably live some absurd hits like Choice Band Desolate Land Cinderace Pyro Ball. This gives it tremendous freedom to use Swords Dance and set up on teams that cannot reliably one shot it, which is most teams without a strong special Psychic-type. It has a very versitle movepool, often using some combination of Drain Punch, Close Combat, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and Earthquake to cover what its team needs covered. It can even funciton as a pivot thanks to Volt Switch.
Iron Hands really sets itself apart with its variability and defensive utility; espeically with Regenerator or an immunity ability, or Fluffy if you are feeling really spicy, it can fill a wide range of defensive niches while still threatening teams with its base 140 Attack. It's very hard to write about susinctly due to its versatilty lol.
What sets does it use?
Whatever you need it too lol. The most "standard" set carries Swords Dance, Drain Punch, and two coverage moves of choice with a defensive ability and significant investment. It can also run RegenVest sets, more offensive sets even sporting Close Combat, and Surge Surfer is a funny niche option to pair with a Hadron Engine teammate.
What team should I use it on?
Iron Hands is usually found on fat teams, where its tremendous bulk and longevity and ability to still hit back hard make it right at home. It can be tailored to fit most gaps a team has while still maintaining significant offensive pressure after a Swords Dance or three...
Access to the extremely limited Rapid Spin gives Great Tusk a wide range of applications, letting it reliably remove entry hazards especially in conjunction with Scrappy. It can also be a reliable entry hazard setter in its own right, using Taunt to set up Rocks in Corviknight's face. Taunt also lets it muscle through Fluffy Corviknight, denying it Roost and wearing it down over time. Great Tusk also has that bonus 120 BP STAB move in Headlong Rush, in addition to Knock Off, Body Press, Earthquake, and Ice Spinner, giving it tremenodus set flexiblity. Bulk Up is a final option to let it use its tremendous bulk and potentially Rapid Spin to run away with endgames.
In addition to its utility, a recurring theme so far has been "struggles agains Pecharunt" which Great Tusk can blow out of the water with Earthquake or Headlong Rush; even Earth Eater Pecharunt is not save, as Choice Band Mold Breaker sets are a viable option to also explode through Fluffy. Great Tusk's abilities are also vary varied, from Regenerator to Scrappy to Sword of Ruin to Mold Breaker to Water Absorb.
What sets does it use?
The main sets are physically defensive sets that aim to keep Rocks off while using Regenerator or Scrappy, but it can also pull off Bulk Up, Taunt + Stealth Rock, Choice Band Sword of Ruin or Mold Breaker, and even RegenVest sets to give it fantastic mixed bulk. Similar to Iron Hands, it can largely be tailored to fill a gap on your team, be it offensive or defensive gap, while providing Rapid Spin.
What team should I use it on?
Great Tusk fits on virtually every playstyle; RegenVest is a nice entry hazard remover on stall, the vast majority of its sets fit on balance and offense, and it can even do stuff like Eject Pack on hyper offensive to get a powerful hit and rapid momentum.
Slither Wing Reason to use: Priority, pivoting, and Fire coverage
Slither Wing's main niches are priority and actually doing meaningful damage with U-turn. Most pivots are giving up the opportunity to do meaningful damage when pivoting, but 135 Attack STAB U-turn often boosted by an ability means business. Sure, you're still not doing much to Corviknight with it, but most Slither Wing carry Flare Blitz to make that a risky proposition. First Impression is also a powerful tool, especially when boosted by Tinted Lens, letting Slither Wing revenge kill a wide range of threats.
Rather than using its secondary STAB moves to provide extra coverage like Terrakion and Gapdos, Slither Wing still relies mostly on Close Combat for direct damage but uses priority + actual damage on U-turn to set itself apart. It has even more options as well, boasting Will-O-Wisp to cripple potential switch-ins and Morning Sun for longevity. It makes great use of Tinted Lens to add damage to First Impression and U-turn, but of course can still use everyone's favorite Sword of Ruin or even MGLO to switch and Flare Blitz freely.
What sets does it use?
Slither Wing mostly runs Choice Band sets featuring First Impression / U-turn / Close Combat / Flare Blitz alongside Tinted Lens or Sword of Ruin, giving it a nice combination of power, priority, pivoting, and annoying Fluffy users. Choice Band First Impression has some very obvious drawbacks, so other options like Heavy-Duty Boots or Magic Guard Life Orb are well worth mentioning; they also pair very well with Will-O-Wisp sets to punish switch ins.
What team should I use it on?
Slither Wing is a great choice for offensive teams that want powerful momentum generators and revenge killers; its ability to actually do meaningful damage on a pivot makes it a great partner for other physical attackers as they seek to overwhelm the opposing walls. It is not your best option for straight damage, espeically as it often relies on Tinted Lens.
Lucario Reason to use: Powerful mixed coverage and priority
Steel Beam + Close Combat is funny. There are surprisingly few things that can comfortable eat both attacks, namely Iron Hands and Gholdengo, making it very hard to wall with the right opprotunities and factoring it its other two moveslots. Extreme Speed is also funny, who doesn't love going fast, esepcially after Swords Dance? Lucario also boasts a wide range of coverage moves alongside both Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, making it very unpredictable.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows for Lucario though, as it has a poor Speed tier and paper-thin bulk. For some reason, it is also limited to four moves, meaning it cannot run everything it wants in one set.
What sets does it use?
The main set is Magic Guard Life Orb with Close Combat, Steel Beam, and then two moves of your choice, usually one setup move and one coverage move. The priciple idea is to setup and wallbreak on one side while still nailing walls with a powerful STAB move on the other side. Alternatively, Swords Dance + Extreme Speed sets with an amp ability are also an option.
What team should I use it on?
Lucario is generally found on offensive teams where it's utter lack of defensive value is less of an issue. It still enjoys slow pivoting to get it in, or maybe dual screens support to help it set up, but mainly it is aiming to get in and do damage once or maybe twice.
Cobalion Reason to use: Role compression and mixed coverage
Cobalion has a very distinct niche on offensive teams: set Rocks, pivot with Volt Switch, prevent Roaring Moon and Chien-Pao from just clicking their STAB moves to win, and do all of that without being passive. Covered above, but Close Combat + Steel Beam is annoyingly hard to switch into, especially when it can also just Volt Switch away.
What sets does it use?
It does one thing but it does it well; Magic Guard + Life Orb with Close Combat, Steel Beam, Stealth Rock, and Volt Switch. EVs to taste.
What team should I use it on?
Cobalion should solely be used on offensive teams looking for a non-passive Rocker and some insurance against Roaring Moon and Chien-Pao.
Look, I am as surprised as you are this is viable, but it is a Fighting-type with recovery and Spikes. You can run Flame Body on it for a 30% chance to ruin your opponent's day, set Spikes to do something productive in pretty much all cases, and Iron Defense + Body Press lets you set up alongside things setting up faster.
What sets does it use?
IronPress with Synthesis and Spikes. Usually Flame Body cause that one team had it and burning Roaring Moon on a U-turn is really funny, but can probably do some other stuff like Well-Baked Body.
What team should I use it on?
Stall. More changes to activate Flame Body, can cover its multitude of weaknesses, likes Spikes.
Quaquaval Reason to use: Typing + Recovery + Utility
I will be honest I am not sure anyone still uses this guy, but it has some versatility. Roost, U-turn, and resisting both of Chien-Pao's STAB moves isn't nothing, although you still need Intimidate to handle it reliably. It has snowballing potetntial with Swords Dance and Aqua Step. It has utility with Rapid Spin. MGLO Wave Crash does some damage to some things. Honestly the more I type the more I am convinced this is just a "I need one very specific combination of four things and that means Quacker."
What sets does it use?
The main ideas are MGLO with some combination of Swords Dance, Wave Crash, Close Combat, Aqua Step, Ice Spinner, and Knock Off, and defensive sets featuring usually Intimidate and some combination of Roost, U-turn, Rapid Spin, and a move that does some damage.
What team should I use it on?
Probably some flavor of balance-to-offensive team where you forgot removal or a check to Chien-Pao, or both.
Kommo-o Reason to use: Mixed setup
This is on here for Galvanize Boomburst because I think it is funny. Also, Close Combat + Boomburst + Earthquake has insane coverage.
What sets does it use?
Galvanize Boomburst / Close Combat / Earthquake; Dragon Dance if you're on a normal team, Throat Spray Clangorous Soul if you're on a screens ladder team.
What team should I use it on?
Offense to hyper offense.
Zamazenta-Crowned Reason to use: Do not use Zama-C
An ode to the actually broken Fighting-types
Fun fact, these are the broken guys after we already banned half a dozen. Iron Valiant had silly mixed coverage and a great Speed tier, Keldeo had silly "mixed" two move coverage, Annihilape had Rage Fist + Regenerator, both Urshifu formes had their dummy auto-crit signature moves, and Sneasler wasn't actually broken but people were afraid of Dire Claw. Hariyama, of course, is not broken, but is there to represent Triage Belly Drum, which was a major discussion element for the first year or so of the generation. Koraidon and Arceus-Fighting are also banned, but fsr were never given a chance in the tier.
Okay I have my broken Fighting-type, what might annoy it?
Pecharunt is the single most annoying mon for most of the broken Fighting-types; it is immune to their broken STAB move, has recovery, tremendous bulk, and pivoting. It can't even be beat with Scrappy, as it still resists Close Combat. Many of them have at least one move to annoy it with, be it Knock Off or Earthquake or Crunch, but it is still very hard to break past without help, so make sure to get it that help.
Also immune to the broken STAB move (unless Scrappy), Gholdengo is also a major nuisance. It's much more meager bulk means coverage moves are a more legitimate route by it, but you still have the fun "Colbur or maybe immunity ability" roulette game to play.
Scream Tail outspeeds everyone but Zamazenta, quad resists Close Combat, can scout with Protect, has recovery in Wish, and might just straight-up delete you with Pixilate Boomburst.
(these guys are standing in for Fluffy) Most Fighting-types rely nearly-exclusively on contact moves, making Fluffy a major pain, especially since it can be found on unexpected users. Definitely make sure you have a plan for at least Corv though!
Fighting-types are, shockingly, very vunerable to being revenge killed by faster Psychic-types. While none of these guys want to switch in, you'd better make sure you have a plan for when they come in after a KO.
How do I support my broken Fighting-type?
This varries wildly by which one you're using, or even which set, but mainly get them in, have a plan for the relevant checks (mostly Ghosts, Psychics, and Fluffies), and if you're feeling really nice give them hazard and Future Sight support.
TL;DR: Fighting-types are broken and you should use more of them.
Hamurott is a mediocre mixed wallbreaker that is able to make immense progress off of forced switches by clicking the button that deals damage and sets spikes. Low base power on its moves necessitate Life Orb + Adaptability, Stealth Rock and pivot support for maximum effectiveness. If you are not using Ceaseless Edge, you should use another Pokemon instead. Sucker Punch is fairly strong priority, and is able to pick off many attempted revenge killers, especially after hazards. Knock Off allows Ham to at least do passable damage, KOing frail neutral targets and picking off weakened defensive mons. Water STAB lets the otter pretend it's one of the fancy new mixed breakers, OHKOing tusk and neatly 2HKOing any steel birds trying to play hazards or slap you with Body Press.
This thing needs to be babied so hard. Spinblock & taunt support are necessary to keep Spikesup, as they are a limited resource thanks to Life Orb and poor bulk/typing. It's fun to use but I doubt it will see above C rank without another dexit-level event. would love feedback on this team as i keep getting mulched by dnite and can't quite get pecha's set right
(I know images aren't loading... Bulbapedia damnit)
In Almost Any Ability there is a lot of potential for mixed attackers, more so then standard tiers and even most OMs due to the nature of being able to create synergy between the ability and the moves of a Pokemon. If a comparison had to be drawn, mixed attackers in AAA are similar to Hidden Power tech in earlier gens such as Landorus-Therian running Hidden Power Ice for other Landos but is at even greater potency in this OM. This post will cover the more common abusers and the strange and peculiar ones (or as I like to put it, the "Gia" sets).
The Common Abusers Keep in mind that these sets aren't all necessary in common play at the moment of this post but have seen some amount of usage over the course of Gen 9.
Magic Guard + Life Orb Abusers
Heatran & Volcanion
The following are only potential sets, and you shouldn't blindly follow them but consider what your team needs.
Heatran @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 164 Atk / 92 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Power Gem / Stealth Rock
Volcanion @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
Of all the potential abusers of Magic Guard + Life Orb these two in particular epitomize the concept of mixed attacking for both have ran Flare Blitz. What is important to note is the synergy between Magic Guard, Life Orb, and recoil moves as Magic Guard negates the downsides of both LO and the recoil itself. Now the question is, why, and this is an important question to ask when considering mixed attackers as one of the core concepts to consider is why should you go mixed, and the answer is always to target specific checks and counters to standard special or physical sets.
In this case, Flare Blitz allowed both Heatran and Volcanion to more easily break past various special walls and regenvesters such as Chansey, Blissey, Goodra-Hisui, and Meloetta to name a few. These checks folded to the stab empowered physical Flare Blitzs of Heatran and Volcanion
Volcanion:
0 Atk Life Orb Volcanion Flare Blitz vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 360-425 (55.2 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Life Orb Volcanion Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Goodra-Hisui: 181-214 (49.7 - 58.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Life Orb Volcanion Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Meloetta: 226-266 (55.9 - 65.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Heatran:
120 Atk Life Orb Heatran Flare Blitz vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 347-409 (53.2 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
164 Atk Life Orb Heatran Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Goodra-Hisui: 183-216 (50.2 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
56 Atk Life Orb Heatran Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Meloetta: 203-239 (50.2 - 59.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Despite saying all this, both have fallen out of favor due to the release of various Pokemon with Home, DLC 1 and 2 namely with the rise of Manaphy and Swampert as regenvesters.
Cobalion @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 168 SpA / 88 Spe
Naive Nature
- Steel Beam
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
Both of these Pokemon have seen play as mixed attackers and work similarly to the aforementioned Heatran and Volcanion but instead of Flare Blitz and standard special moves they instead run a combination of Steel Beam and Close Combat. Close Combats great damage even uninvested allows them to break would be checks to Steel Beam thus making them extremely difficult to switch into and though they aren't common, they also aren't something to take lightly. Whereas Lucario is all out offense, Cobalion can pivot and set up Stealth Rocks giving it a combination of utility and momentum and offensive presence.
Lucarion:
4 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 8 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 484-572 (75.2 - 88.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 351-413 (90.9 - 106.9%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
4 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Swampert: 199-235 (49.2 - 58.1%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO
Cobalion:
252 Atk Life Orb Cobalion Close Combat vs. 8 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 525-619 (81.6 - 96.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Cobalion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 377-447 (97.6 - 115.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Cobalion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Swampert: 216-255 (53.4 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Walking Wake @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Scald
- Knock Off
- Flip Turn
As can be seen from this selection, their mixed nature primarily comes down to Knock Off utility , pivoting, and in the case of Deoxys-Speed, nuking stuff like Blissey/Chansey. There are a lot of these types of mixed sets as the power of Knock Off is massive, letting you diminish regenvesters ability to handle your offensive special attacks. In many ways, some of these sets are at best mixed only by technicality as their physical attackers are being used for what they provide beyond simply damage (momentum and item removal for Thundurus for example).
Despite Garchomps relatively low special attack, Chainchomp and in general mixed chomps have seen success both in OMs and in standard tiers. The key is that they allow it to break down the physcial walls that would otherwise prevent Garchomp from doing much such as Corviknight and Great Tusk both of which are 2hko'd by Fire Blast and Draco Meteor respectively if defensive. This mixed nature let's it set up hazards more readily and break down opposing teams whilst sacrificing relatively little in the grand scheme of things. The above set isn't even the only route one has to go, simply going bulk spdef / def with flamethrower can let it harass and wear down Corviknights, heavily damaging Fluffy variants.
124 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 434-515 (100 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after Leftovers recovery
124 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 226-268 (56.5 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Giagantic's Mixed Maddness
This section will outline the successful attempts to create mixed sets with the principle purpose of breaking down checks (usually 2hko-ing). It will also outline the less effective, and the outright bad ones too.
This set has been a hallmark of mine as of late, and it breaks or at least heavily dents basically the vast majority of pokemon baring a few such as Kingambit, Ting-Lu, and so forth. Empoleon, 2hko'd by Poltergeist, Swampert, 2hko'd, Manaphy, dependent on whether it is physically defensive regen as if not it gets 2hko'd, Corviknight, 2hko'd by Shadow Ball vast majority of the time and simply can't do anything in return regardless. Point is it is a strong set, and I am happy to be the one proclaiming it's greatness.
In similar vein to Pecharunt this set seeks to break down common counter play through mixed investment and the power of Ghost stab. Poltegeist can 2hko many regenvesters which have proven an effective way of pivoting into something that bullies Gholdengo out. It does still struggle with darks but STAB Make it rain still hits like a truck.
252+ Atk Spell Tag Adaptability Gholdengo Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Empoleon: 214-252 (57.5 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Spell Tag Adaptability Gholdengo Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Swampert: 210-248 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Spell Tag Adaptability Gholdengo Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Manaphy: 192-228 (47.5 - 56.4%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO
Roaring Moon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 184 Atk / 72 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Crunch
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower (if you invest 176 SPA you 2hko)
- U-turn
- Roost
As a theme continues, it is clear this set seeks to break fluffy / Intimidate Corviknights ability to Prevent Roaring Moon from doing stuff and does so fairly effecvtively at that, some will definitely cringe at the recoil incurring U-Turn but in tandem with Roost lets it get away with the self-inflicted chip. This set pairs well with either of the aforementioned sets as it isn't anti-synergistic unlike regular Knock Off running SoR / Adapt sets.
Idea was 2hko's Swampert hits hard with U-Turn and though it does this, it really misses 100% accurate Hurricanes and Thunders or Weather Balls especially the hax the 2 aforementioned bring to the table. It also doesn't have the sheer haxing ability of No Guard Zap Cannon, it isn't bad just kinda middling.
Idea for both is running Hydro Pump in tandem Mystic Water and Primordial Sea to break past Corviknight and though both can do this, they just aren't all that great at the moment regardless especially with Manaphy being so popular meaning it is often wasted efforted and team slot even beyond the gimmick addition of a special move.
The Memes
Idea was originally Grass Knot Life Orb Tough Claws to break past Great Tusks but with the rise of Fluffy variants this kinda falters and still fails to beat Fluffy Corviknights, and is always at risk of Body Press Corv + Iron Hands being complete deadend for it. Tried other variants such as MGLO, Steelworker, Adapt, all with stuff like Steel Beam or Flash Cannon but honestly there is too much sacrifice to make it worthwile and most of the time it is just a once in blue moon occurence when you get it work as intended.
Final one, I've tried Hadron, MGLO, steelworker, and in general they can "work" but often aren't worth the effort to KO or heavily damage the likes of Great Tusk, Corviknight and so forth.
But wait there is one last Mixed Mon I will cover.... the Ultimate SET:
Great Tusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Psyshock
- Close Combat
In summary, Mixed sets are all about targeting meta specific stuff in order to break them down as usually you want to focus on your best stats (Offensive stat + Speed) and for some it works, for others it doesn't but don't let a low stat fool you into think they can't run a mixed set.
Congrats to Kinetic on winning in our Cteam game. I thought I would explain my numerous poor decisions in both the selection and teambuilding phase.
-Selection - Great choice that I blundered in execution - A top meta pokemon that I could have handled better - Possibly my best choice - An empty threat I enjoyed leveraging - Another empty threat meant for a different type of team - A rash pick I over-relied on - I don’t exactly know why exactly I chose them, but having them as my sole special attacker was not just a blunder but what I think lost me the game. Latios would likely have benefited me far more. - My largest regret is that I brought Ogerpon over Iron Moth. Nearly all of my complications when teambuilding were caused by Ogerpon.
The Real Deal https://pokepast.es/e3e726e9d2928bb0
This team is riddled with flaws mostly stemming from my inability to hit desolate land Iron Moth. I relied heavily on Garchomp for minimal gain. Ogerpon hearthflame did nothing in the face of Well baked body steels, but I thought that obviously wbb would be less valuable than earth eater. I was very, very wrong. My choices were riddled with a fairy weakness meowscarada wanted to exploit with play rough, and I was forced to bring all resistances.
The game https://smogtours.psim.us/battle-gen9almostanyability-756346
Despite Kinetic bringing a selection of mons I entirely predicted, I still lost in a very convincing manner. I deserve this loss because my picks for teambuilding should be described as no less than horrendous. But anyways look 2 scarf tusks
Stall In AAA (100th Post)
Disclaimer: As of writing this, stall is unviable. Use at your own discretion.
Stall is in a weird spot in the meta right now. It is a playstyle that prides itself on consistency, yet struggles to handle all the offensive threats, Knock Off , and passive damage flying around, each of which requires specific counterplay that compete with each other for slots on a team. Not only that, stall has to find a way to exert meaningful pressure, usually dedicating at least one ability slot such as Flame Body or Earth Eater Pecharunt on hazard stack. Regardless, the following is a list of all the mons that could potentially be have a niche on stall. *ordered by viability imo Regenerator Almost every stall team begins with the regen mon. This is the slot that provides the most for the team, whether it covers a lot of holes, provides valuable utility, or simply being a massive nuisance to deal with. Unlike balance and bulky offense teams, stall does not utilize classic regenvests like Manaphy, Swampert or Meloetta as the team does not require pivots, and their bulk is relatively middling. Most of these are specially defensive with Assault Vest, since special breakers are much harder to check, and Assault Vest is such a high value item.
Great Tusk
Spin and Knock Off are almost mandatory on every stall team, and Tusk is one of the two options for the former (unless you wanna run a lot of boots). It matches up pretty well into most hazard setters like Shocks, Garchomp, and Empoleon, and can outspeed and threaten Heatran while taking about 50% from Magma Storm. Unfortunately, its typing leaves it is weak to just about every common special attacker including Psychics, Walking Wake, and Zapdos, especially since things are running grass coverage for Manaphy and Swampert. Physdef could also be an option to cover Roaring Moon, Fighting, and Fires, plus it gets the option of running Body Press to pressure other regens. Both sets are excellent midgrounds, being able to live every neutral attack, and even some weaker supereffective ones like Zapdos hurricane or Helectrode Chloroblast.
Iron Treads
The second Rapid Spin Option. Iron Treads basically does the same thing as Tusk, but with a different array of strengths and weaknesses. Although it loses to almost all of the common Rockers, the one advantage it has over Tusk is completely dominating Scream Tail, which has been rising in usage. Its typing lets it be a pretty good special wall and Trick absorber, walling all the Psychic, Electrics, and Gholdengo. It also gets Volt Switch to annoy Corv, and a higher speed tier for things that are eved to outspeed Tusk.
Iron Hands
Although it doesn't provide any utility, Hands is an excellent blanket physical wall for the most common threats to stall. This includes Magic Guard breakers, most notably Galarian Zapdos, which would be a pain to deal with otherwise. It also completely shuts down Chien Pao and Cornerpon, while also scouting Roaring Moon, Fightings, and Fires. Hands can make progress with Swords Dance, although it really wishes it had a move that lets it beat Water and Firepon. An option is to run Custap Berry with 224 Hp to guarantee the proc from +2 Ivy Cudgel with Close Combat to 2hko back.
Ting Lu
Ting Lu enables hazard stack, while also annoying Corviknight with Ruination and Taunt. As a spdef wall, Ting Lu is almost identical to Iron Treads, although it can't run Assault Vest and doesn't really want to get tricked. On the physical side, its typing leaves it weak to all of the strong Fighting Types, Chien Pao, Ogerpon Formes, and Uturn. Cinderace, Ceruledge, and Iron Boulder all carry Fighting coverage, so ultimately, the only thing Physdef checks is Scarf Moon, which isnt that big of a priority.
Tentacruel
Has a lot of excellent traits, such as being a water type, utility in Rapid Spin, and great bulk. It's typing lets it handle Walking Wake, Manaphy, Heatran, and Stail, some of the most annoying mons for stall, although it has to cope with Mud Shot to hit Heatran and Moth. It is weak to the Psychic and Zappy, although this can be remedied with Volt Absorb Mandibuzz, which also defogs on Sandy Shocks. Tentacruel does has 4mss, wanting all of Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Mud Shot, Sludge Bomb, Surf, and Mirror Coat. More testing needed.
Hisuian Goodra
Hoodra has massive bulk and great typing that lets it beat almost every special attacker in the tier when paired with Regenerator and Assault Vest. This frees up slots for the team, letting you run more utility or specific counters to certain threats. It does has 4mss, being able to run any combination of coverage moves for specific mons. Knock Off and Dtail are almost mandatory for utility and phasing. Sludge Bomb spreads poisons, greatly helping against other RegenVests that Hoodra would normally not be able to make progress against. Flamethrower can spread burns, and Heavy Slam lets it beat Ogerpon Cornerstone.
Primarina
Primarina's niche is carried by its great typing, letting it scout dangerous attackers, most notably resisting all the moves of Chien Pao and Walking Wake. Unfortunately, it cannot counter both at the same time, as investing in either physdef or spdef will leave it too frail on the other side. This means that Prim should only use to scout, and requires backup answers. It also struggles to make progress against Regenvests, as Energy Ball only does 20% to Manaphy. Pretty subpar mon overall.
General Walls
Pink Blobs
One of these are mandatory on every stall team, being a great blanket spdef wall and providing very much needed Heal Bells. It is impossible to justify not including them, as what they do is impossible to replicate. It can run lots of different abilities to fit the needs of the team, some of the most common being Unaware and Magic Guard. I personally also like Pressure, as it messes with the low pp moves of many special attackers, notably Heatran and Zapdos. Chansey is slightly bulkier due to Eviolite, taking nothing from random U-turns, although it means that its has an item restriction and absolutely hates getting knocked. Blissey can run a vast array of items, including HDB and Leftovers, and Utility Umbrella in conjunction with Pressure helps alot with Heatran, Zapdos, and Iron Moth. Blissey also does significantly more damage with Shadow Ball, although it is usually only run on Unaware sets to beat Gengar and Gholdengo. Other options are Stealth Rocks or Calm Mind.
Metal Birds
Steel/Flying isn't as good of a type as a normally is, only giving them a neutrality to most physical attackers, plus a 4x weakness to random fire coverage when paired with Fluffy. However, they have decent bulk and rare, valuable utility, which gives them a slot on a team. Corv is one of the two defog users, and can be paired with WBB to beat the most annoying setter Heatran, although this is usually pretty hard to fit on a team. Skarm is the preferred spiker on hazard stack, with taunt to deny Defog from Corv and Mandibuzz, or whirlwind to shuffle and rack up hazard damage. Both can also run Iron Defense and Body Press to setup alongside Dragonite and Zamazenta, and pressure defensive walls. They generally prefer to run Intimidate or Fluffy to better to be a blanket wall, but can also run WBB for the fires or Delta Stream for Chien-Pao, Walking Wake, and Cornerpon, although you still lose to Iron Boulder due to Sacred Sword ignoring defense drops.
Pecharunt
88/160 is insane even by stall standards, and it actually has a usable typing to go along with it. Like the blobs, its bulk is good enough to not need an ability to check stuff, so it can run almost any to fit the needs of the team. Intimidate and Fluffy lets it be a better general wall and as a hard counter to the fighting, Well Baked Body lets it beat all the fires, Earth Eater and Flame Body lets it spinblock Tusk in conjuction with Wish support, and Corrosion Toxic+ Hex let it be a very annoying progress maker that doesn't really have an answer outside of Magic Guard Mandibuzz and Blobs. Prankster is also an option, although I don't thinks its viable as 1) it relies on surprise factor, 2) you lose to dark types even harder, and 3) its usually just a cope answer to cover up a team's holes. Some other notes are that Pecharunt can run Venoshock on Corrosion sets to beat Mandibuzz and Regen Moon, and Utility Umbrella + Intimidate lets Pecha live two Ivy Cudgels from Water and Firepon after a swords dance.
Empoleon
Empoleon is alot like Primarina, but with an arguably even better typing that allows it to fully invest into spdef and be an excellent Pyschic answer. However, just like Primarina its bulk isn't nearly good enough to hard counter stuff, especially Walking Wake, which still does 40% with Weather Ball after the resist. Empoleon is mainly used for role compression, as it also carries useful utility moves in Knock Off and Stealth Rocks. Empoleon usually runs Volt Absorb for Zapdos, Bulletproof for the Ghosts, and Sticky Hold which greatly helps against Wake and absorbs Tricks from the Psychics.
Mandibuzz
Mandbuzz is the other Defog option besides Corviknight, and has access to helpful utility moves in Knock Off, Toxic, and Foul Play. It's main problem is that it's typing doesn't give it any helpful resistances, and it's basically weak to Knock Off due to having a Stealth Rock weakness. Although Magic Guard is an option, Mandibuzz is reliant on having a defensive ability to check stuff, so it most commonly runs Well Baked Body. It could also run Unaware, but there's better options for anti setup such as prankpex.
Chesnaught
Chesnaught has a useful typing, above average bulk, and lots of helpful utility moves. It is one of the rare grass types, which helps a lot when trying to keep spikes up against Tusk and checking the Ogerpon forms and Iron Hands. It's fighting typing means that it resists the omnipresent Knock Offs, resists Cornerpon's Ivy Cudgel, and gets STAB on Body Press. These traits afford it the luxury of running Flame Body, which it uses to great effect on Roaring Moon Uturn/Knock and Tusk rapid spins. WBB lets it role compress all the Ogerpon Formes into one slot, although it does have to run Knock Off over the standard Iron Defense to hit Ceruledge and make progress.
Scream Tail
Scream Tail's Fairy-type in conjunction with Water absorb, lets it be one of the best Walking Wake answers, plus a Psychic typing that lets it handle the most dangerous Psychic Types like Latios and Deoxys Speed. However, it still lose to Manaphy, which is the other main appeal of running Water absorb, and gets crippled by Trick from Azelf. Relying on Wish recovery in general is very abusable, along with the fact that it takes up two move slots. This means that Scream Tail is very passive, being forced to run Stealth Rock to make progress and Dazzling Gleam as a subpar attacking move.
Toxapex
The options for bulky waters are pretty limited, with Pex being one of the better ones, although it still wishes it could drop it's Poison-typing. The water typing allows Pex to check Chien-Pao and the Fires without WBB, allowing it to instead run prankster to get priority recovers and stifle setup attempts. This is especially helpful with Chien-Pao, as Pex can take 50% from crunch and heal it right back, while having Rocky Helmet to punish. Without prankster, Pex also loses to Firepon, as +2 Power Whip easily 2hkos. Pex also checks other physical water types like Barraskewda and Waterpon, and Calm Mind Stored Power psychics.
Hippowdon / Palossand
Hippowdon is much bulkier than Palossand, notably being guaranteeing to survive 2 Brave Birds from MGLO Gapdos, but the Ghost typing allows Palossand to spinblock tusk and give an immunity to all the Fighting types. Palossand can also spread burns with Scorching Sands, and isn't walled by Corviknight. Both are usually outclassed by Pecharunt, but they have the advantage or providing hazards and dealing with Iron Boulder, which is normally a nuisance for defensive cores lacking Fluffy metal bird.
Deoxys Defense
Psychic just isn't a great defensive type. Although it does have resistances to Fighting and Psychic, many the mons Deod wants to check have coverage for it, especially the most common and spammable moves Knock Off and U-turn. Although it's bulk may look good on paper, it can only invest into one of its 160 defense stats and is still left with 50 Hp. It does have a great movepool with Knock Off, Spikes, Taunt, and Night Shade, but just doesnt get enough chances to use these moves.
Clodsire / Fezandipiti
Both run Water Absorb for Walking Wake and Manaphy, although Clodsire makes up for not having a dragon immunity with its pure bulk. Clodsire has both Stealth Rocks and Spikes and counters Zapdos, although it has no way to touch Corv at all. Fezendipiti has Heat Wave, although lacks any resistances or useful utility outside of Toxic, so it loses to Iron Moth, and basically isn't worth using.
Flawed Defensive Walls
Walls need three things to fit on stall: utility, bulk, and typing. Without utility, they sit on the field doing nothing, unable to make progress against regenvests. Without bulk or typing, they rely have a hard time actually checking stuff, meaning they rarely get turns to come on the field, and are hard to fit on teams. Having healing is also really helpful, although that can somewhat be circumvented by Regenerator is the mon exceeds in all the other criteras.
Threats to Stall
Manaphy
This mon being so common and good is why stall is in such a bad state. It is very annoying, spreading burns with scald and knocking, while also being unkillable for most defensive mons thanks to regen. To deal with it, teams need a dedicate Water Absorb mon that can actually do stuff back, while also being a Fairy- or Steel-Type so it can check Wake. This means stall has to give up a slot to handle two mons, which just isn't feasible. A regenvest thats not weak to water could also work, but they would get burned and Knocked, and would still have to make progress in return with something like Sludge Bomb poisons.
Heatran
Another mon rising in usage that can spread lots of passive damage through Magma Storm, burns, and rocks. An optimal Stall team would like to have a hazard remover that matches up into every setter, but Heatran needs a dedicated defogger in WBB Mandibuzz or Corviknight. Although Regen Tusk could work short term, it gets burned and is unable to OHKO with earthquake, while getting 2hkoed by Magma Storm.
Gapdos
MGLO breakers in general are problematic, and Gapdos happens to be strongest and the most common. (Playing stall in a MGLO Volcanion and Heatran meta was not fun.) MGLO denies all the normal ways of handling offensive threats, including Hazards, Status, and Rocky Helmet. If played perfectly, Gapdos can eventually break through all of it's checks outside of regen, simply due to it having more damaging moves than recovery, and being able to knock items. This necessitates Flame Body, as burning it nullifies it completely.
Flame Body
Flame Body is a funny ability. For the cost of a real defensive ability, any mon is able to spread burns on the best and most common mon in the tier like Roaring Moon, Corv, Swampert and everything else with a contact move. Although it's only a 30% chance on paper, that just the minimum, as Flame Body mons get multiple chances to proc it by just healing. U-turn and Knock Off are also the best, most spammable moves ever, so it helps to have a way to punish them. I've been comparing this to Chien-Pao Icicle Crash flinches, but theres plenty of differences that make Flame Body a lot more consistent. Pao only get one chance to flinch, otherwise it risks dying, and often has to chain multiple flinches without also missing Icicle Crash to break through its checks. Pao is also weak to rocks and very frail, so it doesn't get many opportunities to come in to try to flinch hax. On the other hand, there's plenty of chances to proc Flame Body, as the user can simply heal off damage and try again. One burn is enough to cripple most defensive wall, and unlike poison or paralysis, completely shuts down every physical attacker. At two attempts it's a 51% chance, and then 65%, etc.
Conclusion
I wasn't expecting this post to be so long, but I just kept adding more stuff. Ultimately, what I learned writing this is that special walls usually rely on typing and bulk to get the most out of Regenerator whereas physical walls can have more utility since they can make up their bulk with Intimidate and Fluffy. Also Tentacruel is a good mon and Utility Umbrella is a good item. Use them.
Shoutouts to matte. Sorry I missed your birthday and sorry this took so long. Please think before making rash decisions.
Since I'm out of AAA Open already and I'm going to take a break from AAA for a short period, here's some of the teams I made for open. I was very invested in this tour, making a bunch of teams per week and filling top 50 with about 12+ alts. Needless to say I was quite disapointed in my performance, not even cracking in semi-finals. I didn't get matched vs Atha and despite Ivar being a incredibly strong player, it's still not an excuse for my run to end so early. I will try to improve my playing skill for the next OMPL. Anyways, after a long introduction, here's some teams:
I believe this is the first team I made in preparing for open. Ceru had seen a quite resurgence at the time and I thought I would also revive a Ceru-Eject Hoodra BO that I made a while ago. I didn't end up bringing this team tho cause there was quite a lot of flaws and the flow of the team didn't play like how I wanted. I still like Ceru tho so I ended up making another version of the team.
This is one I'm more happy about. The flow of the team was very smooth and I was getting consistent wins with this team. Some cool techs I want to point out like eject regen empo with roar cause I don't like clicking roost with empo and would rather click the pivoting move. If you are wondering, yes it was supposed to be av regen but a Scream Tail incident has made me change it to eject with roar. Hydreigon is weird cause I want RMoon for that slot but don't want to pair it with Ceru so I just choose Hydreigon ig. Dark typing is good for psyspam and Hydrei is just a confusing mon in general, your opponent might think it's specs or smth. I still didn't bring this team tho cause I didn't like ceru that much and at the time, people were prepping for ceru like crazy.
This could also very well be might first team for open, Idr. It's for round 1, I was cocky, I wanted to use smth funny, that's it. At the time, I was being brainwashed and converted to a Pecharunt believer by 2 players but at the last moment I snapped out of the illusion. I could see Pecha for what it actually is: A cheap copycat of my one and true love - Revavroom. I mean maybe Pecha has Prank Dbond and massive bulk but it can't beat the very valuable prank taunt + tspike that Revavroom offer. Like come on, do you guys actually think that virgin Pecharunt could beat the true GOAT Revavroom? (It's named Siamoto in memory of Siamato fyi)
I have some guilt about this team. It is definitely not my fineness work, in fact far from it. It's just that stall was popping up at the time and I want a hard anti-stall team. This team is very good into stall with a bunch of tech like taunt ws deod (taking inspiration from psynoise deod from pannu), subs ee hands, mglo taunt moon,... However, this team sucks ass into everything else. I had some success with this team while laddering and ended up giving it to Osake (which I still feel guilty about, sorry). I still don't know why tf did I make this team so anti-stall that it just loses to everything else.
Won't talk too much about this one cause it is weird and bad af. I just thought Volcanion could clear Empo, Pert, Mana for Wake to sweep. Ended up not working out too well in practice.
This was when I reached nirvana and came to understand that Scream Tail is literally one of the best mon in the metagame and cm set is very hard to stop. I put it into a team with a very strong regenvest moon + empo core and some good progress makers like moldy tusk (white herb for intim corv and cc drop) and Iron Moth. Not very happy with the team but I still feel like it has a lot of potential so I made a second version of it.
Less pivoting but I feel like I can make more progress with this team and the flow just feels nice overall. Atha still hates this Dnite set to this day but I like it. It's just very nice to have a way of pressuring Corv and Skarm without giving up your defensive capabilities like with Naughty LO.
My ugly first attempt of trying to make regenvest Jirachi works. Not much to say other than don't use this team.
Another attempt but this time with the boots spam structure that Atha has on his Jirachi team. Still don't like this one.
Made this for pannu. It was closed to the match time so I didn't have the chance to fix a few holes but pannu still brought this and won so ig he's just goated. BoR Wake is pretty cool tho cause you pressure Empoleon better than you would with the standard PrimSea set.
I was spamming one of my terrible Jirachi team on the ladder at the time when I ran into this game. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-2085194578-fr1zja3kqkdcbd5v16v62y2lpbz19r0pw
That's when I learned psynoise is the most broken move ever. I scurried to find the best abuser of this move (it's stail btw) and found Latios. Latios is scary for its ability to threaten regenvest with psyshock and steel type with tinted but with psynoise, you no longer need tinted lens. All you have to do is smack your opponent's regenvest with psyshock the first time then click psynoise vs your checks like Stail, Empo, Gholdengo,... the next time. Can also trick away specs if you don't like mind game. Ignore the lando set.
Wanted to test the stail set that I saw from (redacted) but this team is horrible cause it has two fakest mons - corv and swampert. I should've deleted it but I ended up keeping to as a self-reminder of why I shouldn't use swampert.
So, I caved in and tried Pecharunt. It's a solid mon but not the magic solution to all of your problems in teambuilding. Idr why I didn't bring this to open despite it being quite solid. I got to say tho that after this team, I just stop using hydreigon because I realised it sucks at revenge killing. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-2085977660-6b8m7dedtptj9mat5lg8ioygzd5lfwupw
I don't know how far the powercreep has gone but back in my days, scarf Hydrei used to be able to destroy everything from Quaquaval to Zapdos with one hit but now, it is only able to do 76% to Zama which is pathetic. Maybe that's just a sign of Zama being stupid. (I'm still mad about Hydreigon not killing that Zama to this day)
My last Jirachi team cause I was somewhat satisfied with this team and also cause I'm done with Jirachi, that mon is way too annoying to build with. As Atha has pointed out but I didn't listen, Dnite is not a weather ball switch in. Got punished by that when I decided to bring this to open. The redeeming quality of this team, tho, is Kingambit. It is a super underrated mon right now. With Corv having to run Brave Bird for tusk, you have a good chance of sweeping your opponent's team if you position right. The only real check to gambit is Tusk which has no recovery and is normally tasked with dealing a bunch of things in a game. You can easily chip tusk down and set up and sweep with gambit.
If you have been paying attention, you might have noticed that I use my trusty Scarf Adapt Ghold a lot and for a period of time, I was sweeping teams with Garchomp + Empoleon structure left and right. That made me came to a realisation that ghost type is quite broken in the current meta. Spamming shadow ball feels illegally free right now and since both ghost have a way of removing av from regenvesters, you can quickly overloaded your opponents just by spamming shadow ball. I wanted to try out chomp + empo structure with this team too despite me talking shit about it just right now. It is hard to go wrong with Empo + Spd dragon you know. I don't like eject chomp that much in hindsight so you could probably change it to rocky helmets. I brought this team to open and won with it but I still feel like it has more potential than just winning one game so I decided to make another ghost spam team.
As you may have figure out from the name of the team, this team is an edit of my ceru team. I just replaced ceru with gengar, wake with ghold and Hydreigon with Roaring Moon. And although the team doesn't have as much fire power as before, it just feels way better. I knew I hit a jackpot with this team and decided to save it for a strong opponent. It ended up being the only team that brought me a win vs Ivar.
I wanted to use Archaludon so I just put it in a team with solid mons, also bring back the Mana + Lightning rod Gholdengo core. With the declining usage of Swampert as people have probably realised it sucks, Arch feels very nice in the current meta. It is very good at punishing people's main go-to for dealing with electric type (Garchomp, Moon, Moth,....) while being very hard to remove from the field. I don't have enough trust in Archaludon to bring it vs Ivar tho but one day Archa will get the fame it deserve.
The reason for this team's name is that I hadn't got a chance to use moldy tusk for quite a while at that time. Ever since Zama is legal, I feels forced to use fluffy tusk as the other zama checks like stail or dnite all die to its coverage. You might also notice that I haven't used mana that much despite it being very strong. It is because since I have to use fluffy tusk, removing hazard become quite a pain and mana just sucks a lot into hazard. Thankfully there's still the best zama checks to ever be aka Pecharunt. With it on the team, I can finally use the strongest mons in the metagame without the fear of losing to zama.
As the name might suggest this is just a team I made after scouting for my game vs Ivar. As such, it is a pretty boring team with not much to talk about. Shocks ended up being quite terrible in the match cause Ivar brought Swampert which is not a mon he usually used. Not recommend using this team unless you are also playing against Ivar.
This is the only HO team I had for open. One day, the legend cotta showed me a very cool looking lead stail set with throat spray and I just had the urge to make a HO team with it. It is a pretty cool lead that can be quite annoying for some teams to deal with. The rest of the team is just standard screens HO. Normally I don't like using cheese so I try to fit non-cheese breakers that put in value every game like Chien or Iron Hands. I brought this vs Ivar in g3 and had an amazing mu where Volc just swept the whole teams but I ended up playing too safe (not wanting to risk Tbolt para or crit from shocks) and Ivar made some necessary risky plays. Still a fun team to try out.
And that conclude my team dump for this AAA Open (still have some teams I can't share for legal reasons). Initially I wanted to share my thoughts on some of the mon in the meta (like why I hate Corv and Swampert so much) but it's nearly 5 am and I need to sleep. Quick s/o to everyone who has helped me in this tour AthapannuIvar57SammyCe123 you guys are the best.
I am also out of the aaa open so i will post a team. I have been quite a bit busy these past weeks and didnt find the energy to really make much. Perhaps ompl will go over better (if i get drafted) In any case, i feel its pretty good.
Initially i wanted to use Dragonite again as i have not in a while. It remains good! Does what it does in being an offensive check to everything. However, it does not solo as many games for free anymore (still can though!). Will have to ponder on the mon more.
Following that, i went with standard corv + pert. I perfer swampert to manaphy in a lot of builds as its relevantly slower (getting the slow pivot on pecharunt, mandibuzz, iron hands), beating empoleon outright instead of losing momentum to it. The mon also has a lot better matchup into twave gholdengo, and zapdos/sandy shocks. It's weaknesses are really overblown.
When building these kind of pivot balances (compared to the fatter ones), you need a strong wallbreaker/immediate damage to do something with the momentum and force the games into more endgame scenarios. Ogerpon forms are really the only mons in the tier that can threathen a full HP Manaphy from full (run power whip horn leech is too cutesy), along with other common mons. They are also broken and get every offensive option one could need. in particular was chosen as it could x4 resist water, supporting Swampert. I chose not to run rain myself, as to not boost up any beads/adapt/dmaw/etc Walking Wake's i run into. This set is very effective if you can get your reads right, which i usually can esp when the mon makes the opp play scared. The unexpectedness of the set is also very good, many easy snipes on very good targets. Stomping Tantrum and Play Rough are unexpectedly much more helpful than just hitting thier obvious targets as well (Desolate Lands/Roaring moon/Dnite). Sor play rough in particular beats through Iron Hands, Mandibuzz, Chesnaught, etc. is a tech mon i feel is very nice right now. It feasts on common defensive trends rn, especially the rise of pecharunt and brave bird corviknight. Even the Skarmory's run brave bird more often now. Its typing is also just obviously very good, and sucker punch soft checks everything. Between it and Dragonite and Gholdengo, i felt very safe vs the overall field, being able to outplay any offensive threat. It and Dragonite can also position themselves to sweep once you get into more of the endgame, very solid as it gets closer to there.I think every team mandatory needs a dark type right now, and i went with kingambit. Mine is ev'd to underspeed Corviknight, as even if you can setup on brave birds it doesnt mean anything if the Fluffy Corviknight takes 30% for a free uturn. When they uturn for the first time they are put into a very scary position of if you attack, which attack, or more sd's. This keeps it from being passive. My rational was if they are body press corv, that makes them a lot worse into dnite and wogerpon. is here as another glue mon, scarf ghold is one of the best glue mons rn, checking everything, tricking everything, doing a lot. Lightning Rod is a cool tech for blanking most Iron Hands sets, which is very key for Kingambit. This mon especially carries vs Regen Iron Hands Fats, cuz those are kind of super reliant on Iron Hands to just win (which is a bit unreliable imo with people prepping for it but it does happen).
Maybe this isnt the optimal 6, but sold on some of the indiviual mons and ideas here.
https://pokepast.es/b07f61c63c850587
This is a team i just threw together in like 15 minutes before the game, idk if theres much deep synergies thought of here
Will edit in/post thoughts on the metagame later, or maybe after open ends
Hello I am here to talk about some teams I have been having fun with on the ladder and they have had enough success they may be passable,
The first team is built around Terrakion + Jirachi. Jirachi is a less conventional RegenVest, but it offers some unique advantages that pair well with Terrakion, namely switching into all the Psychic-types that want to revenge it and providing Future Sight support. Future Sight makes Terrakion harder to midground, as some of its better switch-ins to at least one move (Pecharunt, Great Tusk, and Iron Hands) really do not want to take a Future Sight at the same time. It also puts Fluffy Corviknight and Skarmory in danger of being 2HKOed by Close Combat, to say nothing of Stone Edge.
Terrakion is mainly here for single-slot wallbreaking. Stone Edge bypasses the Fluffy birds, and Close Combat bypasses almost everything else. Ground-immune Ghost-types like Gholdengo and Pecharunt are some of the only reliable switch-ins, but they will not enjoy handling the Roaring Moon in the back.
Iron Moth slows down Primordial Sea users, namely Walking Wake, and its Toxic Spikes put a tremendous amount of pressure on opposing teams, espeically as Jirachi, Pecharunt, and Terrakion annoy most removers. Corv is Corv, Pecharunt is there to soft check everything this team does not handle + trade against runaway setup threats, and Roaring Moon is speed control + wincon once Terrakion has punched enough holes.
Wait a second this is four paradox mons, a ruin mon, and a random gen2 mon
This team was built around the idea of aggressive hazards stack (and no removal as a result) and trying to bully passive teams with Psychic Noise Scream Tail. Rocks Ting-Lu (with Taunt to block min Speed Corv's Defog), Spikes Skarmory (with Whirlwind for setup control + trying to poison random things), and Toxic Spikes Iron Moth aim to win the hazard war. Magic Guard Knock Off Roaring Moon fits into that perfectly, not caring about its own hazards, removing boots, and wearing down teams over time. Walking Wake is a more classic breaker (yes I greed Modest) to force progress if they don't bring a Water immunity and also patch up the weather wars.
Scream Tail I think is the true highlight of this team though; Pixilate Boomburst forces out a myriad of threats in the crowded 110 Speed tier, and Psychic Noise endlessly frustrates non-RegenVest methods of handling it (RegenVests will hopefully be getting chewed up by the hazards). It can also Wish pass for an emergency boost. Protect is a broken move and punishes almost any Choice-item breaker that attempts to force it out.
This is probably the least consistent for ladder of the three teams; it lacks classic speed control, Skarmory is the only classic setup control, and the walls rely heavily on immunities to check special threats. With the bulk on almost all of these guys it still has a decent number of outs, espeically if it can get Toxic Spikes down, but it is more geared to punishing opposing fat and balance than dealing with the ladder's bullshit. I think it may be the most fun team to play against competent players, and I still want to feature it, but it did have the worst ladder performance mostly due to random losses to setup.
As the team name implies, and I allude to heavily at the end of the last section, I got really tired of losing to random setup. Hence, this team got built backwards of how I normally build, starting with the defensive core (Unaware Mandibuzz, then two basic as hell picks in Manaphy and Corviknight). Toxic Mandibuzz handles the vast majority of setup threats, and most special ones that still heavily threaten it can be handled by Manaphy pivoting into one of the physical wallbreakers.
Moldy Great Tusk is something I have been meaning to build with for a while now, as Fluffy has heavily overtaken Intimidate as the most common defensive ability on ladder and it 2HKOes Fluffy Corviknight. It also bypasses Earth Eater / Levitate Ghost-types that often try to wall Great Tusk. As a result of beating Fluffy, it pairs exceptionally well with Iron Boulder, who mightily cleaves through most teams without Fluffy or with their Fluffy mon crippled. It also posses a great Speed tier, notably outpacing Roaring Moon.
With the final slot I wanted a cleaner that can also get the physical wallbreakers in, and who better then Electrode-Hisui. The normal sequence would be slow pivot to Electrode, Volt Switch as they bring in their special wall, then click a funny damage button. It is also tremendously helpful to have a non-Choice locked fast cleaner.
In contrary to the previous team, I feel like this is the best of the three for laddering (it was what I was using when I peaked), but the worst against competent players. All three offensive guys rely heavily on 8 PP moves, making them prone to getting stalled out in longer games, and without hazards it has minimal ways to make progress against teams that can manage the breakers (which to be fair, not a lot can handle all three). But, it's great for ladder and fun to click with.
Hello, today I am here to talk about a team I made it to Rank 1 with. Its still a work in progress since there are still plenty of things wrong with it, but it's certainly not bad. (First time I've ever gotten Rank 1 as well, so that's pretty cool.)
It's the premier physically defensive wall what can I say?
At some point in time, I was looking through the index of stats to see what was popular at the moment. When I passed by Manaphy, I was a bit surprised to see that Manaphy was more commonly invested into defense than special defense. I then decided to try it out, and it was actually pretty good! The phys def investment came in quite handy when up against mixed attackers like Dragonite and Garchomp since Corviknight can't wall them.
Before I used Pecharunt, I was using Prim Sea Zapdos, which later changed to Deso Land Iron Moth. With the first team, I realized I lacked a way to reliably soak Toxic Spikes after battling UT, (your team is very good btw) so I switched to Iron Moth. However, I later battled cat, who was running Cinderace, and then made me realize that I needed counterplay for Fire-types. That's when I finally switched to Well-Baked Body Pecharunt, and it was very good. It was quite helpful since I also was a bit weak to Iron Moth, and Pecharunt gave me the counterplay I needed.
A very solid cleaner and just a strong mon in general. I ran Fire Blast over Flamethrower because I felt that the extra power would be nice. (I pretty much never clicked Fire Blast) Knock Off was also rising in popularity on ladder so I decided I wanted to give that a try, and it was pretty good. I also didn't run a negative attack nature cause I liked the extra damage and the negative special defense nature wasn't even that bad cause its not like Azelf switches in on anything anyways.
The rising popularity of Ting-Lu made me want to give Ting-Lu a try and its a very good mon. Protect is just such an incredible move on Ting-Lu since the majority of breakers that beat Ting-Lu are choiced. It was also incredible when Pokemon like Terrakion and Zamazenta clicked Close Combat cause that's just a free switch in to Ceruledge. Ruination is also a very spammable move that forced Corviknight to repeatably Roost. In hindsight, I wish I ran 29 Speed IVs on Ting-Lu so I could be slower than Corviknight but oh well.
Last and certainly farthest from the least, there's Ceruledge. This mon is just impossible to switch in on, unless every single mon on the opposing team is running Protect, (I hate you cat) but it's still very good regardless. Just remember, if your ever running Ceruledge, please, please, PLEASE, run Shadow Claw over Shadow Sneak. Shadow Claw was super helpful when playing on ladder cause so many people are running Eject Button Well-Baked Body Pecharunt. It's also very nice cause it allows you to pair Ceruledge with Knock Off users. Also, in earlier attempts with Ceruledge, I never once clicked Shadow Sneak since it just wasn't very helpful.
In conclusion, I'm pretty happy I got to Rank 1, even though most of the people here have done that before. Also, I'm pretty sure I went undefeated with this team, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyways, I hope that yall have a great day/night.
After getting knocked out of AAA Open wanted to dump a few teams and give a few thoughts on the meta rn, because I doubt I'll be playing it for the next few months. So, teams:
(probably ass)
In R1 vs Gimmicky, loaded this team with the SpDef core of AV Pert and Water Absorb Fezan, which has a relatively serious weakness to Azelf, however, that can be played around to a certain extent with the help of WBB Ghold and Intim Corv, which makes up a PhysDef core dealing with pretty much everything, while Ghold can also output offensive pressure, although, on a rock-less team, Mold Breaker fire-types put on a lot of pressure and force guessing games, usually leading to a Ghold sac and Azelf revenge kill. Now the star of the team, Oger-H is a unique breaker that has the benefit of forcing out Corv and feeding on any Fluffy mons, giving it massive breaking power. When paired with Azelf, this also allows it to 1v1 Dnite with Psyterrain blocking priority. Generally, the way to play with this team is to get Azelf to force in steels, then come in on a U-turn with Oger-H.
(pretty fire)
Loaded this R3 vs MZ, team requires mixdef Regen Chomp to provide support to the main defensive core of Intim Corv and Vessel Empo, EVs are to turn Ogerpon's Play Rough into a 3hko (i think). Offensively, the team relies on keeping opponents in the vortex, threatening KO's and keeping momentum, because with this team, when you lose momentum, you lose the game. MG Thundurus-T in my opinion, is just a nice touch, providing reliable offensive pressure and damage output.
Sample Submission:
Also loaded this R3 vs MZ, team was meant to be a more unique take compared to how I normally build, with a non-SpDef Regen mon and no real specific breakers, however, this is made up for with taunt spam, allowing more pressure to be put onto defensive structures, especially by MGLO, 0 EV Attack RMoon. The team has specific weaknesses, mainly to Sandy Shocks and sometimes other electrics like No Guard Zap, however, these are definitely be able to be played around, mainly using RMoon, Rocks, and Tusk to force prediction. The main wincon with this team is a mix of Ghold and Azelf, however, general defensive pressure can also overwhelm an opponent with Taunt on Tusk and Moon disrupting the opponent's defenses.
Sample Submission:(pretty fire) Used this team R4 vs Isaiah, it's a very solid balance team with DesoLando acting as the main breaker, while also setting up rocks for more offensive pressure, also benefitting from Azelf forcing in steels like Empoleon, allowing it to grab momentum in the battle and threaten KO's. Defensively, team is very solid as Regenvest RMoon walls a large amount of the meta, making a very strong core with Vessel Empo which is the mandatory Wake check. This is also one of the first teams where I used our Lord and Saviour, Pecharunt, but I'll talk about them more later.
Here, none of the other teams I made I liked that much, but I'll leave them to see if anyone else wants to pick them up. MGLO Volc X DMaw Wake Balance (this one's pretty interesting) DesoTran X PrimSea Wake Balance Regen Ting-Lu Balance
Quick shoutouts here to matte, my dawg, a true goat of AAA and pannu for donating me free ELO on ladder :)
Now, onto how I see the meta right now.
So I want to start by talking about two mons that I think are extremely underrated and underused right now Pecharunt and Empoleon.
These two dawgs can act as tremendous walls right now, with Empoleon offering insane role compression with Rocks, Knock Off, phazing and pivoting, while stonewalling or softchecking a significant portion of the meta right now (especially Wake).
Pecharunt, on the other hand, is perfection in a Pokémon. With this goat, you don't need Fluffy or immunity abilities, or even an item. All you need is Intimidate and Toxic, and suddenly you check the entire meta. For example, the goat doesn't need Earth Eater to beat Tusk, or WBB to beat Ceruledge.
TLDR: Use Pecharunt, (and Empoleon too I guess)
Will be adding a part on how I see Walking Wake and Ceruledge in the tier right now later (spoiler: they're broken (sometimes))
I'm very relieved to finally have a reason to make this post. Ladder is incredibly painful—especially for someone who refuses to use balance—so reaching the finish line, no matter how long it took, feels very good. Shoutout to Isaiah and Geysers for keeping me sane throughout this whole ordeal. And yes, I am going to keep pushing because I'm a fucking masochist.
At one point I got to 89.8 GXE before loading into an unwinnable matchup and getting sent back 10 game's worth. This was so miserable.
This was the main team I used for most of the last thirty or so games. Scarf Gholdengo is just such a phenomenal mon with a great combination of offensive prowess and defensive utility. Dazzling Gleam is very nice for Roaring Moon and revenge killing Walking Wake after minimal chip, but you can also run Hex in that slot since the team has three different ways to status the special walls. Ceruledge has some really good synergy with Gholdengo since they both put immense pressure on each other's checks, and can wear down Ghost resists together; Adaptability instead of SoR because it lowers the threshold for picking off opposing SoR mons with Shadow Sneak. Iron Moth is another great offensive pick with a lot of defensive use, with Overheat instead of Fiery Dance because the immediate damage is more important for such a fast-paced team (OHKOing Zapdos is especially nice.) Great Tusk, PhysDef Manaphy, and Water Absorb Heatran is great core for bulky offense and it's frankly criminal that I haven't seen anyone else using it. Heart Swap on Manaphy greatly improves the team's matchup into dual screens HO and can take advantage of slow Calm Mind users like Primarina and Ursaluna-BM. Power Gem on Heatran turns it from a Zapdos liability into a check, and by running Lava Plume it's still be able to dish out burns without Will-O-Wisp.
No replays because I never save them.
Other Teams
Chien-Pao + Zapdos is a really powerful combo, and the rest of the team plays to letting these two do their thing. You can run Manaphy over Swampert to ease Corviknight's burden against Chien-Pao and to make Walking Wake less of a pain, but you'll then need to rely on Latios and Chien-Pao threatening the special electrics enough so that they don't run through the team.
Just some good old physical spam. Roaring Moon and Dragonite have some nice synergy, beating each other's checks and covering weaknesses well. Ceruledge is just a strong, self-sufficient wallbreaker; that slot is flexible and can be Barraskewda, Kingambit, Walking Wake, or whatever threat you want, as long as it has some defensive or revenge killing use. Three attacks + Roost Dragonite is better than Dragon Dance because you don't have to compromise for coverage and can just focus on blowing shit up.
Boots SD Chien-Pao is actually really potent as it gets around two of the typical forms of counterplay in pivoting around the choice lock and limiting its opportunities with hazards. Paired with MGLO Roaring Moon and hazards, you can easily wear down most checks and sweep in the endgame, especially since a lot of the best scarfers are weak to Ice Shard.
Nasty Plot Gholdengo and Specs Wake are stupidly strong special breakers with great synergy while still not being reliant on each other to make progress. Meowscarada is a very underrated mon that threatens many of the top threats with a lot of utility to boot. It can run Spikes here because you don't mind Corviknight using Defog because that's just another opening for the special breakers.
Metagame Thoughts
For the love of god stop using Desolate Land so you can actually check the threats you're supposed to. Losing Solar Beam does not matter when Manaphy can't touch you and Swampert becomes passive as hell once burned, and having weaker Fire-type attacks is a non-issue because you can still mucle through a ton of mons with Magma Storm and burn damage. And unlike Desolate Land, the mere presence of Water Absorb is often enough to stop any Water moves from being used as it actively undoes progress instead of just blanking the move.
Chien-Pao is so broken once you stop having a skill issue. People massively overstate the difficulty of getting turns right when so many moves are absolutely forced when staring it down. You can easily play the numbers game when most of Pao's checks only barely hang on against it; for example, if Intimidate Corviknight switches in with rocks up, there is next to no risk in gunning for an Icicle Crash flinch when they're forced to Roost for fear of no longer being able switch in later. Boots and MGLO sets, though much more specific in terms of what structures they fit on, are also incredibly effective at wearing down its checks while itself staying healthy. This mon is actually so ridiculous once you stop letting it die to hazards without doing anything.
A lot of what I said for Chien-Pao applies to Wake as well, it's stupidly good at creating openings for itself and it truly does force plays, making it incredibly straightfoward to position it properly. When most of its checks need to stay very healthy to not just get 2HKOed by a resisted move, you need to admit how insane it is.
Hyper Offense - Dual Screens Hyper Offense by cumps - Screens Hyper Offense by cat
Balance or bulky offense they're really the same thing but whichever you'd rather call it - Terrakion + Jirachi Bulky Offense by UT - Double Choice Band Pivot Spam by UT - Ting-Lu Balance by Atha - Dragonite Balance by Gimmicky - Dragonite + Kingambit Balance by DeepFriedMagikarp - DesoLando Pivot Spam by BijouMode - Ghost Spam Bulky Offense by ghostlike - Ghost and Immunities Balance by Glory - Pao-Zap Bulky Offense by Glory
Stall or semi-stall - Iron Hands Semi-Stall by cumps
If you have any more you think should be considered, let us know! If you think any of these could be improved, let us know!
Enamorus deserves a proper suspect test. SFLO having few switchins is the main reason it was banned but that was a while ago in a different meta. Walking Wake was banned back then for the same reasons. If you look at the sample teams in the post right above, Enamorus doesn't seem that hard to play against for most of them (small fixes can sometimes make the matchup more than playable).
Hyper Offense - Dual Screens Hyper Offense HO doesn't care - Screens Hyper Offense
Balance or bulky offense - Terrakion + Jirachi Bulky Offense Regenvest Jirachi - Double Choice Band Pivot Spam This one can struggle but Manaphy deals decently - Ting-Lu Balance Make Empoleon EE - Dragonite Balance AV Primarina (similar to Manaphy) - Dragonite + Kingambit Balance AV Swampert + Intim Corv + the team doesn't let it in easily - DesoLando Pivot Spam VoR Empoleon - Ghost Spam Bulky Offense RegenVest Empoleon - Ghost and Immunities Balance Weird team but I'd just make Tran EE instead of Tusk - Pao-Zap Bulky Offense AV Swampert + Intim Corv already makes it playable
Stall or semi-stall - Iron Hands Semi-Stall stall
Enamorus is weak to rocks and has a terrible speed tier, being outsped by most breakers. Wouldn't be the first "no switchins" mon that end up being fine (I'm thinking of Thundurus, Gengar/Zoroark-h, Dnite). I would also definitely not say no to another viable Fairy-type and Flying-type for more diversity in team structures.
I am out of AAA Open, I am so happy with my run, my goal was to get to r2 (and I ended up getting a bye r1 lmao), but I made it all the way to semis. I faced really great opponents that really pushed me in the builder and in game. Getting to semis in my second tourney ever I think is great and am excited for what's to come. I haven't made a team post/meta thoughts in a month and I unfortunately missed sample submission but I am still gonna post anyway as these teams are great.
Gotta give shoutouts to Ivar57, Isaiah, cumps, and UT, they are the actual goats and I def would not have gotten as far as I did without their help. So truly, thank you :)
I want to give my thoughts about the meta first as I think this would better inform why some of my teams are built the way they are, I also noticed people kept saying they would post their thoughts on the meta but then never would >:( so I want to get it out of the way before showing off the teams.
These are the big 5 threats on the physical side imo, one has to have a solid game plan against these mons and usually more than one way of dealing with these mons otherwise they are able to muscle past. Obviously there are other phys threats such as ogers, gambit, zam, hands, etc. but I feel you can get away with being more lax against them/there is overlap in ways of handling them with these five in builder. If a team didn't have a way of consistently handling these mons I usually tossed it or reworked it significantly so that it did.
I have said earlier boulder is a mon that feels mid when I use it and broken when I am facing it. 381 speed for a mon that gets SD + sharpness boosted STAB rock move that goes through protect + non contact psychic move is crazy and it can put in so much work against fatter teams that don't have proper speed control. Roaring Moon set diversity feels slept on. I used boots, lo, band, and scarf each to great success and it always felt like it put in work. I even built multiple regenvest moon teams that were solid but I just wasn't clicking with. This mon is so much more than CB/CS sor, it can have the longevity it wants with roost/mg/boots. Moon also does not really care about fluffy mons, since most of the time it is clicking uturn to keep momentum up and pivot in the mons that threaten the fluffs that are usually forced in by it. Dnite is an amazing mon, this thing being in B+ (although recently moved to A-, which still feels a bit low to me...) below things like barra and gar felt like a huge undervalue of what it actually does during a game and forces on teams. Mixed dnite is insanely good, it can pick and choose what it wants to beat and how it wants to do it, and with the right teammates to take out what dnite can't it becomes even easier for it to clean/sweep. Although Ceru is the most exploitable amongst the five, dedicating a whole team slot to a WBB consumable, having multiple resists + a consumable, or otherwise it blows ur whole team every time it comes in makes me feel its inclusion is warranted. Chien is the same it has always been, my opinion on it has changed with the addition of zama and hands into the meta, but it is still an insane threat in builder and I think you can get away with running non-CB with success. These mons are the main reason I usually ran phys def regen mana, as it is one of the easiest/safest checks to fit onto many team structures that actually allowed me to still have a reliable regenvester that didn't immediately lose to these mons (excluding ceru if it got the reads right). Trying to beat all these mons while keeping the team fresh and new was a bit of struggle towards the end I am not going to lie, it did feel like a pick your poison of which mon you wanted to have a weaker mu into. There were so many times where I would build a team, realize it had a weakness to one of these guys, change it, and then realize I made myself weaker to another.
The special side is a bit more hazy, there are so many things to check that it can be a bit difficult to pinpoint what exactly I wanted to get out of my spdef cores, but I think as the rounds went on it became clear to me what I was most afraid of:
This thing is a beast. Why does it get knock? Why does it get pivot? Why does specs wb do 40% to full hp/spdef emp? Too many mysteries with this mon. This thing is able to muscle past even wabs steels with team support/chip or provide great speed control with scarf. Upon reflection I think respected it in builder as much as the 5 above, and this is evident by the teams either having hard counters or spreads that are there specifically for specs wake. My general game plan against it if I did not have the aforementioned was to not give it opportunities to come in or play the weather ball/draco 50/50 w my fairy/mana.
The other notable spatk mon for me was scream tail. This thing getting psychic noise is an insanely huge buff to its toolkit, it finally has a way of making meaningful progress + ways to threaten its would be checks such as corv, moth, and emp.
Besides these two the biggest thing was probably psychics in general, due to this I found myself wanting a dark on every team. This was because I did not want to play the 50/50 with lati/other psychics on if it was adapt or tinted, and dark usually allowed me to shut out the option for tinted psy spam completely, or at the very least make it a bit more difficult for the opp. Electrics also frightened me, as I made sure to have a VA and/or a bulky ground somewhere on the team in order to take them on, as otherwise they could keep momentum up or just claim a kill every time they're in. Primsea and desoland answers/ways of dealing with them was also mandatory. These ones have always been consistent AAA team building considerations but it's at least worth mentioning.
Overall the meta feels pretty good rn, It's fast paced, fun, and feels like there is new tech everyday. I don't think there should be immediate action on anything and I think the meta still needs more time to develop/mature before we see if things become too much. I don't think any unbans are necessary atm, the meta is still evolving/adapting at a good rate and I don't think throwing in more mons will help with that, esp w more tourneys in the near future. Even though the above mons put great pressure in the builder I still think there are ways to create diverse teams, and this is evident not only from the teams I am going to share, but what has been used by everyone else during the open. It was so cool to see what people made and I definitely incorporated it into my own building. Although I wouldn't be opposed to any suspects as I am one more test away from the tiering badge so...
A goal of mine during each round was to use different cores/mons in order to keep team building fresh and hopefully make it a bit harder to pinpoint exactly what I would bring. I think I did this successfully. My favorite part of team building was actually revisiting cores I felt were weaker/not fully realized the previous week and expanding on/improving them, which I also think I did for the most part successfully. I really focused on building 3 really good teams per week, I was mostly successful with this, though I feel my stamina ran out during r4, due to general building fatigue and finals season approaching, although I am still content w my output. With that here are the teams + fun puns on what I listened to during the games.
Round 2: Teams in the Key of AAA
This team I had built with the idea of it being able to handle most threats in the meta, with mixed meow clearing for scarf zam. The phys def fezy and spdef ghold were mons that were cooler in theory but did not work out in actual play as well. Unfortunately I got paired against Cumps who I had shared the most with about this team/tested with. I made a last minute change to the most bum rmoon set known to man because I wanted to keep the spirit of mixed meow without actually revealing it since cumps knew about it and we made a pact the other would bring it to r3. It sucked, don't use it, honestly a little embarrassed by it but I overthought it heavy and got all freaked out about not having teams.
I had actually built this team to ladder/chill with so I didn't have to worry about team leaks via that way (I was much more cautious after my tspikes team got scouted by Isaiah), but after I got paired with Cumps found myself wanting to bring this as this was the one team I had not shared/tested with him and I got very high on the ladder very quickly. The iron crown was chosen over zelf because I lost to a set-up florges and realized the team needed a better answer to fairy types; I had also played against Glalie on ladder who was using it and thought it was cool/fit what I needed so I nabbed it ngl. Lash out on the moon was because in tourney it feels like its a 50/50 on whether corv will be intim or fluff, and I decided that since the 4th slot is rarely used I could slap lash out in case it is intim as fluff im just gonna be pivoting on no matter what and band is the only moon variant that can possibly 2HKO w lash so why not go for that chance.
The first team I built for open and one I think is super cool. Flamebolt dnite was to get rid of the guess work against wbb/va flyings, and espeed is really the only phys move needed as things such as emp still take 40% from it and don't want to come in on a potential eq. Hadron ghold is mainly there to clear out opposing pterrain to enable dnite further. Although ting lu is really only thought of for phys def regen, I think it makes a great spdef partner for mana with mg. If one doesn't let it get knocked it tanks nearly any hit and can slowly recover and be a general nuisance. At this point I was not underspeeding for corv but it should be 124, but I gotta post what I used. A great example of its longevity tho can be seen in my g2 with Atha, where it comes back from the brink multiple times. Great Tusk was originally banded but I had a game where despite winning, I didn't like the 50/50s I was put into with it and thought why not just win after a spin and bulk up. EV'd to be faster than stail after +1 and to 2HKO a corv after a bu. Set gets walled by balloon ghosts but that can be handled by popping before tusk comes in as headlong could then deal with them p well.
Round 3: Teamage Dream
Revisiting my g1 team from last week and honoring the pact with Cumps, I used the mixed meow and improved the core to allow for more pivots into zam + meow. I wanted a special dark to clear out the ghosts/psychics for zam. I had initially tried adapt chi yu, but since it had no meaningful way of threatening regenvesters outside of will-o meow was thought of because ftrick + knock + dpulse covered corv, mana, pert, and the aforementioned ghosts/psychics. The meow lures in corv and can pick up the 2HKO after rocks or minimal chip. Scarf on the zam was because I found myself losing to random scarfers/setup, and since meow was the breaker of the team, zam could instead be the cleaner. Prough is mainly for moon but works against other dragons/fightings. The mixed meow worked exactly how it was envisioned and put in so much work during the game. Unfort it isn't too consistent of a mon as once you know what it is it can be played around a bit easier, but atp it did the damage it needed to enable zam. I tested this team and many variations on multiple different alts and I kept running into swolewheattoast who did talk ab it in the disc, but there was no way to know it was me so I was cruisin.
I liked the spdef core of this team, but knew the team had a pretty big weakness into dnite, but I was more scared of ceruledge so I kept it to this version. Here is the version I made that better handles dnite but is weaker into ceru: https://pokepast.es/1ae026a669b6dc68
DFM brought a dnite and gambit which exerted a lot of pressure on the team unless I played the health on my skarm and stail amazingly but even then after +1 it would've been basically over and it obviously did not work out.
An Offensive boots spam team. This team is able to do the damage it needs to without any boosting items and that is why I think it is so cool. The defensive core of corv + phys def regen mana is basic and exploitable but the idea of this team was to keep the momentum with the offensive threats of moon, gar, and deos. The corv was originally fluffy but the fire mu was super shaky so I switched to WBB. The gar set is particularly cool imo, inspired by a similar set in Isaiah's AAALT team dump, I decided on tspike over twave because of the presence of pert/its utility in spreading status to further facilitate hex spam. Knock over sludge wave also let me break would be regenvest checks much better. Further, it has amazing synergy w scald mana, which could allow one to not waste turns on using wisp. Deoxys-Speed felt mandatory on a team like this esp w my weakness to dnite/priority in general, the reasoning for the 462 speed was because I knew that many (including DFM) were EVing their dnite's to outspeed a modest deos after +2, and doing a +spe nature allowed more investment in attack. This team readily handled dnite, one of its biggest hurdles, with the combo of rocky helmet corv, phys def mana, and deos. This worked out for me as DFM brought the same team that featured espeed and sucker, and I had a bit better of a woger answer in emp + was able to get my reads right.
Round 4: Tourn This Way
This week I had really lost the juice I'm ngl. I had built some exceptionally bad teams in the beginning of the week and felt pretty lost in what I wanted to accomplish. By Saturday I had some teams I felt were good but not amazing, and getting the extra day actually helped me completely revamp the teams to become a lot better. Here are my original teams I was gonna use Sat.
Prankster gar is something I've been using since its unban and find better than sflo tbh. I wanted to use double priority but due to that felt I needed a pterrain refresher in shocks. Struggles vs EE hands but it's a solid team and the gar stops set-up or allows for trading on things that have gotten a bit out of control or the team has a bad mu against.
I wanted to try and make the regenvest moon team work again so this is what I landed on, it felt... fine. Idk like I said the team is good but the physdef core of the team just felt off/something I couldn't get right.
Now for the teams I ended up using:
This team felt like the culmination of what I had been working on throughout the past two weeks, I had tried to make regen hands work but just couldn't get the rest of the team right, but after finally realizing I wasn't getting anywhere with regen moon I decided to let it go. Moth is EV'd to live a specs Draco from full and hands has enough spdef invest to survive a weather ball after rocks from full just in case it needs to come in on it for whatever reason. Outside of the wake calc it allows for hands to have some needed spdef while not giving up any 2HKO's on the phys side, which came in handy vs Sammy's zap.
I really liked ghostlike's posts with fluffy tusk, and wanted to give it a go and this is the team I ended up with. The zap was there as a fire answer/another fighting resist but made me weaker into chien pao. I brought setup mixed dnite as I had never used ddance before so I knew it would be a bit unexpected. Spatk is there to allow for guaranteed 2HKO on corv, with the rest invested in atk + bulk. I tunnel visioned way too heavy on getting the stail knocked/into range of an espeed from dnite since I knew after +1 I could sweep. I also wanted the tusk in range of espeed and should have played my tusk much better as I wasted health on it despite there being a Chien Pao that would 6-0 me if it were gone. I knew I messed up heavy when I saw it was regen but even then it didn't matter as I had already wasted the health. It caused me to put everything on the 50/50 of the espeed killing the chien, which it luckily did, but I should not have put myself in that position to begin with.
Didn't build any other teams this week, was just gonna reuse the flamebolt dnite team from r2 as I hadn't revealed what the ghold or dnite were atp and it still put in work.
Round 5: That's Lyfë
Moon + Wake is a great drag spam offensive core that has excellent synergy. Scarf roost moon allows for one to be a knock absorber against fatter teams as well as have better longevity since ur clicking knock + uturn 99% of the time anyway to allow wake in. Although sor would have benefited me better against the HO, I still like mg scarf because it has so much more longevity against fatter/hazard stack builds and can freely pivot without fear of getting worn down by chip.
wake, moth, tail core is an amazing offensive core and paired with another great defensive core in corv, mana, ting it feels really clean. I hadn't play tested this team that much but I knew these cores were already great so I wasn't too worried about it, and in my game vs atha it showed how annoying it can rlly be. Ting lu def investment is there so I could use it as a ceru sponge in a pinch (It's a CC calc I can't remember exactly).
This one I built most recently and I think if it had more time in the oven I could make it a lot better. I think VA zap is cool and could have real applications. I think paired with better boulder + chien checks it could be an annoying mon to take on.
it helps patch up the teams helectrode + shocks weakness, beats nearly every other electric (besides some variant sets such as ice punch hands, refrig leki, and wb zap which the team has answers in in stail, mana, and chien respectively), can freely pivot on them and keep momentum (also is not as much of a momentum sink as va corv since it can actually do damage with hurricane + discharge), and primsea isn't needed as much cuz of wbb pech. Also cancels out a pretty common way of dealing w zap which is neutral electric attacks, and ice/rock can be covered by teammates.
I believe in my games against atha I had accounted for boulder decently, but not webs + boulder. I also kind of just floundered against the HO esp after Atha made good reads/plays on me. Upon further reflection I think that even though I accounted for it, I didn't respect boulder enough when building my g1 & 3 teams and should not have had the attitude of 'oh maybe he won't bring it, and if he does I should be fine', not a good mentality at all esp to feel shaky on a mon I knew was a huge threat and one I knew atha liked/used it a bit. There were other threats on the team that put immense pressure on me but boulder felt most significant in that it was faster than my whole team after the webs went down. I also just need to get better vs HO in general and should have expected that I would eventually run into a diff playstyle besides bulky/offensive balance. I am including this section as a mini analysis of what I did wrong and how I think I can improve for the future for my own sake if I ever come back to this post. GGs to him they were some really good games and gl with the rest of the tourney!
Another metric I used for the teams was how well I was able to climb ladder with them, good teams I was able to get to the mid/high 1500s but could easily tumble to the 1490s, with teams that I clicked with/knew were great were the ones I was able to get in top 10. I even hit #1 twice! I also was able to raise my GXE significantly which I think is another indicator of my improvement during this time. I know ladder is not the best metric for tourney teams, but it really did help me iron out some of the fundamentals of my teams/how I can deal with unexpected/cheese situations.
Again, super happy with my run, was expecting to get out r2 but made it to semi's, I improved not only in AAA but in general, and was able to connect with some really great people during this time. Prob gonna take a short break from AAA and try and get higher on the randbats ladder but this is by far my favorite meta AAA has had and the most enjoyable period for me when it comes to playing. GGs to everyone I played y'all are beasts! Goodluck to those still left in the tourney its gonna be some great games!
There are a lot of teams in here of varying viability, so I'll just out a few with elements I'm particularly proud of.
1. Immunity Spam
Of all the teams I built for this tour, this is the one I'm most proud of by far. At face value, it's nearly impossible to 100% predict what all of the abilities are here, and that's exactly what I intended. There are three type immunity abilities on this team (Water Absorb Skarmory, Well-Baked Body Gholdengo, Volt Absorb Blissey), and the goal is to lean extremely heavily into anti-meta and either shut down or severely limit common Pokemon on the opposing team. I feel pretty confident saying that outside of getting outplayed, most teams are gonna struggle to break this.
2. Superman
I saw stresh use an SV OU team with similar vibes during SPL and wanted to try out a version of it in AAA. There are probably some optimizations that could be made here (e.g. accounting for new techs like MGLO Primarina), but overall it's a pretty cool team and really opened my brain to playing around threats a lot differently than I have been. For anyone that saw this team in test games, I'm sure you recall me using Iron Moth + Toxic as a Regen Manaphy answer, which doesn't sound like it should work but is somehow fully functional in practice.
3. Who dyin'
I don't think these two teams have kept up with metagame trends super well (and that's why I decided not to reuse them in semis despite starting the week out thinking I would), so I'll pick and choose what I like about them. Choice Specs fully offensive Gholdengo is a disgusting Pokemon that shreds everything in its path, and it's so easy to knock regenvesters that they can't be considered real switch-ins. Also, before everyone started putting Pecharunt on their team, I felt like Slither Wing kinda fried all the guys and forces enough switches that U-turn into Ghold should be neat. As for the other team, I just think CB Tusk is a crazy mon and as you can tell by the way the team is built, the gameplan is literally find a way to switch Tusk onto the field every other turn so you can click broken moves :P
Shoutout to Greybaum, UT, Glory, Betticus IV for the combination of teambuilding support, test game spam, and generally just listening to my ramblings and paranoia every week LOL. Although I'm honestly pretty bummed about not getting further in the Open, I feel like I've learned a lot about teambuilding and playing, and you've all taught me so much about mindset (even if I don't show it when malding). I look forward to signing up for OMPL and generally trying to improve as a player :D
Metagame thoughts
General thoughts: Offense still feels terribly inconsistent, and I'm not sure if that's because we haven't found good builds yet or if it's just the way the meta is trending. It's very strange too, because we have a preponderance of fast Pokemon now, and a lot of damage guys are immediately threatening (Fighting-types, Gholdengo, the physical Dark-types, The Weather Ball spammers, etc.). Otherwise though, it feels like there are a lot of cool balance builds and every now and then, someone thinks of a new way to spice things up (e.g. MGLO Primarina).
Initially, I couldn't figure out how to organize this next part of my post, but I eventually settled on just taking the mons I think are most crucial to my teambuilding rn and organizing them by perceived viability. You'll find that this is NOT in alphabetical order, and that's no accident--this is meant to be a projection of what the tier looks like inside of my brain whenever I talk about it or build for it.
Tier
Abilities
Elucidation
S Rank
A central theme you will find while reading this is that I tend to put more value into how a Pokemon might force the opponent to play than what that Pokemon is "supposed" to do or "actually" does if you only look at the numbers. For example, I value Scream Tail more than any other Pokemon in the tier not because I think it beats everything, but because I think it encourages the opponent to "reset" their own advantage states. For example, if they get their Choiced breaker in vs my Scream Tail, now they have to decide if they want to thunk into Protect or double into [insert spdef wall] and start their whole positioning plan from scratch. The more chances I get to put the game back into an even or beneficial position for myself, the happier I am.
Pixilate, Unaware
Protect is a broken move, and all of the offensive guys either die to Boomburst or get farmed by Wish spam. Even when they have a "hard" wall like Heatran, Empoleon, or some Regenvester, the opponent is forced to play around your utility moves like Wish, Stealth Rock, and Calm Mind--which can now be joined by Psychic Noise to be even more annoying, and a surprising variety of teams can be built around Scream Tail as a glue.
Magic Guard, Regenerator
I will just say it: I think Sword of Ruin Roaring Moon is an underutilization of its potential, and most teams will account for it even without specifically trying to. On the other hand, MGLO is a nasty set that puts ridiculous amounts of pressure on everything. Fluffy Corviknight "walls" it, but in practice all that amounts to is getting farmed by U-turn into free turn(s). This is extremely valuable, because it means you can 1) try to build your team in such a way that you take advantage of the fact that the opponent is constantly forced to go into their Corviknight (or in some cases, their Great Tusk) and 2) You get to use "Sword of Ruin" Roaring Moon without having to play around rocks, status, or helmet chip, giving you a lot more access to greedy plays like switching into offensive Gholdengo, capitalizing on Pecharunts, and even intentionally staying in vs stuff like Empoleon, Manaphy, and Swampert to knock an item. It also just lasts longer, so even if you're forced to take an Ice Beam or weak U-turn, chances are you're gonna get a chance to Roost later on. Regen is like, cool on offense, but honestly not as easy to use as MGLO.
Regenerator
The offensive sets still exist, but I have zero interest in them because I don't build offense unless I'm trying to do goofy stuff (see: suspect tests and trying to cheese on ladder). To me, Regenvest Manaphy is the ultimate enabler: it switches into almost all the guys, it's incredibly difficult to choke away (because of typing + bulk + regen), and most importantly (to me), it's extremely easy to use.
Desolate Land
I think of Iron Moth as a weird Pokemon that probably isn't going to actually kill anything in your battle unless it's basically handed to you, but puts in overtime with U-turn + Toxic. I don't even think I use anything except max spatk, max speed with Fiery Dance/Flamethrower / U-turn / Toxic / Morning Sun, and I'm not convinced that there's sufficient reason to use anything else. It feels like those four moves are all that's needed to push a gameplan. You poison all the Regenvesters, pivot out on hard wall attempts, and Desolate Land + fire move in AAA should be self-explanatory. It's also cool because it adds a wildcard to your gameplan against Primordial Sea mons: Walking Wake is still going to blow this up with Draco Meteor, but it's not guaranteed because you can set up mindgames between something like Scream Tail + Iron Moth and really make them work for the 50/50.
A Rank
Intimidate
Don't be mistaken, I hate Corviknight. I hate putting it on teams, I hate using it on teams, and I hate seeing it on teams. Every polished team is armed to the teeth with ways to make Corviknight seem unviable, whether it's Taunt or taking advantage of the fact that Corviknight is probably the opponent's main/only switch-in to [insert physical attacker] to double and bring in your Choice Specs Adaptability Primordial Sea Tinted Lens Water Bubble Walking Wake and kill something to death. Even when I bring a Corv and win, it feels like the entire game is me eyeballing "Roost" and hoping that somehow, they don't realize that I'm planning to click the only move this Pokemon ever uses because it's worthless when below 90% HP. All of that being said, sometimes you just have to use what's available, and Corviknight is unfortunately gonna be "what's available" unless we go ballistic and start banning physical attackers left and right. And no, I've never heard of Fluffy. I pretty much never use it because I prefer Intimidate's utility of making my entire team artificially more bulky, there are insane physical attackers like Chien-Pao and Ogerpon that become 100x stronger into Fluffy, and I really value being able to make plays like switching my intim corv into Fire-types like Ceruledge or Cinderace to help a teammate tank a hit.
Earth Eater, Well-Baked Body, Hadron Engine
An ongoing meme is that Gholdengo can be just about any ability, which is totally true, but I'm pretty sold on EE and WBB being The Truth when it comes to defensive Ghold sets. In particular, I prefer EE to Levitate on a decent amount of teams because it's a harsher punish. Clicking your ground move against Levitate Gholdengo sucks, but healing a Gholdengo that you previously managed to get good chip damage on really sucks. Hadron Engine is explained earlier in this post under the "Who dyin'" section.
Mold Breaker, Regenerator
Offensive Tusk kills all the guys, and defensive Tusk is a switch-in to all the guys. In practice, not having a Regenvester sucks, but I find that immunity ability spam is becoming increasingly effective as a workaround. Also, I never run anything except max Speed because there are just too many situations where it's amazing to outspeed the guys (see: Gholdengo and Ceruledge).
Volt Absorb, Fluffy?, Bulletproof?
I haven't actually figured out what abilities I'm supposed used on Empoleon yet, but I value its ability to operate like a fake Manaphy featuring Stealth Rock, most notably on teams where I'm using an unconventional regen like Ting-Lu or Great Tusk. Over time, my opinion on Empoleon has deteriorated somewhat because I've been noticing Water immunities crop up more and more, but it hasn't fallen so much that I don't still use it a bunch.
B Rank
Regenerator
Protect is still broken. It feels like Ting-Lu is like having a rigged lottery slot in that it either walls all the guys or makes most of them annoyed and have to switch around to deal with it. I'm personally a huge fan of physically defensive because it guarantees security against Roaring Moon, and being able to somewhat ppstall things like non-CB Great Tusk is pretty cool.
C Rank
All of these mons are like, the same thing or just sidegrades.
Everything else
I don't put other Pokemon on this list because frankly, outside of arbitrarily deciding which one I want to try out or specifically consider counterplay for, they're all kind of jumbled up as the same thing in my head. For example, in practice, there's not a huge difference between CB Zamazenta/Zapdos-Galar/Terrakion/whatever, because I'm running the same mons and strategies to beat all or most of those guys anyway (or just praying for the best).
Anyway, participating in AAALT/AAA Open gave me the push of stress maintenance practice I needed to consider signing up to play in OMPL again, so hopefully I get drafted and can see you all there :]
Hi, small post just now after I got knocked out of Opens (idk how I made semis but we take it) to spread the word: Use Scream Tail and Deoxys-Speed more, they are extremely good at the moment.
These type of sets literally bring so much to the table at the moment; it serves as a good glue and helps softcheck stuff like Iron Hands, Roaring Moon, Great Tusk, and can even switch into Walking Wake's Draco Meteor, albeit a bit risky. This isn't even the best part, as Calm Mind + Wishtect can easily set up on most special walls, and isn't easily revenge-killed thanks to the solid bulk + typing. Hell, even just Rocks sets or BBurst + Psychic Noise are problematic enough, as you can now pressure defensive structures very easily with the added benefit from wishpassing. Protect-scouting is also really good in a meta with a lot of Choice-locked breakers, and since you can often tank U-turns from most things you can easily fish for advantages. There's a lot of more good things with it, but overall I think this mon's insane right now and more people should both use it and account for it more, especially Calm Mind sets, those go really hard in my opinion.
Deoxys-Speed @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam / Literally whatever the fuck you want
- Trick / Knock Off
or
Deoxys-Speed @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam / also whatever you want
- Knock Off / Superpower
Another mon I think is criminally underused right now. Almost all offensive sets are really troublesome for most teams, be it offensive teams that struggle to outpace it or fatter team structures that can't handle all of its coverage moves, this is one of the best special wallbreakers. You even have the option to run Trick / Knock Off to fuck over special walls even more or running Superpower on SFLO to lure Empoleon / Blissey. It might not have much to offer defensively barring utility from Psychic Surge, but I think this is really troublesome for almost all team structures, and my biggest gripe is probably that no one's using it, like if you're looking for a special wallbreaker that's neither Choice-locked or slow this is the pick in my opinion.
Just for good measure, I'll dump some of my teams I used in opens, idk if they're sample-worthy or anything but most of them felt pretty good to use so enjoy:
Sticky Webs:
Flame Body Pecha Stall:
Tinted Latios BO:
Specs Deo-S Balance-esque:
with that said, I'm probably gonna play a bit less, I've been having really low motivation when it comes to building (mostly because I always do it solo) so I'm probably gonna kick back and build less tryhard teams and just try to have fun.
Irregularly scheduled boing posting, have been forced to build because of AAA counterteaming and really started to appreciated two Pokemon in particular:
Ok so this one's more of a meme, but with an immunity ability like Earth Eater or Water Absorb, this thing provides decent damage and general defensive utility, matching up well into Regenvesters, Empoleon, Roaring Moon, Chien-Pao, etc etc. It also gets Rocks
actual cat (Meowscarada) @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 32 Atk / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
This is a really fun set that feels insanely good into the current meta. It does a great job at handling common walls: thanks to Flower Trick always critting, you can't slow it down with Corv, and you can't really switch Corv in anyway since Dark Pulse 2hkos the guy. Flower Trick and Knock Off forms surprisingly good offensive coverage into the metagame, and this cat is EV'd to outspeed non-Scarf Moon and bop it with a Play Rough. I actually think this is better outside of CTeaming because I won't get bopped by random Sap Sippers :(
Also start using ID Corv guys it's good trust me
Teamdump
These two teams are essentially functioning the same, with the idea of having the strong breaking core of Roaring Moon and Meowscarada. In retrospect, this team is REALLY slow without scarf Moon, so you could make it that if you want. The first team was the counterteaming build, but I edited it so it's worse you can use it on ladder! I just really like Regenerator Manaphy, if you can't tell. Diancie is Water Absorb to hard wall Walking Wakes and also provide utility into most Manaphy and Empoleons, and also serves as the Rocker of the team. I actually prefer Wandering Spirit Tusk: it bullies Regenerator Tusk, but it isn't useful into most other matchups, so you could make it a Fluffy thing instead.
Same sorta deal. The EV's need fixing if you want to take this thing onto ladder
The idea is that Twisted Spoon Deoxys-Speed is capable of 2hko'ing non-Vested Manaphy on a roll or with a little bit of chip (Rocks). Unfortunately, it did not come off in my game because Atha speedcrept his Regenvest Manaphy to outspeed mine
Since there was no Corv here, the gloves came off my bipedal cat and it went full Adaptability mode!!1!!1! Sword of Ruin is probably a better ability for ladder to boost U-Turn and Play Rough, but I didn't feel as if I needed it at the time. I can't remember why the Tusk is WBB, and Fluffy Corv got baited by the SFLO Moon. But hey, at least the Roaring Moon set is complete garbage! The idea is that I wanted it to be the ultimate anti-Pecharunt mon, being very stronk and fairly bulky. In retrospect, Taunt -> Lash Out and this is a much better set, but it was close to deadweight in the match.
Ok so there are a few issues with this team: Swampert feels aggressively out of place in this metagame, the Iron Moth EV's are complete dog, the team has no Dragonite answers, and Tinted Dengo sucks. HOWEVER, the key ideas are probably fine. Dengo is an extremely strong breaker, on further testing and watching you'd probably prefer Adaptability or an immunity ability, but it's an extremely funny breaker. I haven't seen a lot of Electrode-H recently but it's still an extremely strong pivot and breaker, and T-Wave support is always nice. Don't ask me what the Zapdos EV's are for, I can't remember. Iron Moth should really be Toxic now that Pecharunt is everywhere and Iron Moth itself is having a renaissance, but this was built at the start of Open.
Final thoughts Where's this guy gone, I want him back
Swampert is currently the most popular way of dealing with special attacker thanks to its solid natural bulk and the Assault Vest it always holds. However, it can sometimes struggle against Walking Wake. This is because Walking Wake can freely Weather Ball against Swampert, allowing it to almost always 2HKO Swampert. In addition to that, Walking Wake is also able to Knock Off Swampert's Assault Vest, making it even more vulnerable to Weather Ball, as well as Draco Meteor.
So, if Walking Wake is the problem, why not just use Manaphy? It has even higher bulk, also uses an Assault Vest, and is able to resist Weather Ball from Walking Wake. Well, the issue with using Manaphy is that you are now vulnerable to Electric-types like Zapdos, which can 3HKO with Thunder and threaten paralysis, and Sandy Shocks, which 2HKOs with Thunderbolt.
If the problem is Electric-types, then why not Volt Absorb Empoleon? It easily switch ins to Zapdos and can't get punished by Knock Off from Walking Wake, as well as the fact that it resists both of Wake's STABs. Unfortunately, it gets 2HKOed by Earth Power from Sandy Shocks.
Loses to Latios, Azelf, Deoxys-Speed, Sandy Shocks, and Scream Tail.
Loses to Zapdos, Sandy Shocks, SFLO Gengar (if Sludge Bomb).
Loses to Scream Tail, Primarina, and doesn't switch in to most physical attackers like most special defensive mons can.
Scream Tail, Primarina, Deoxys-Speed, Walking Wake.
Beats pretty much every special attacker ig, but loses to Trick and is easy setup fodder for physical attackers and also can't pivot.
This mon actually seems pretty good, but U-turn chips it down quite a bit.
But why?
Struggles with Walking Wake and Primarina and can't pivot.
, 
+more) for obvious reasons. Any immunity ability can go far and these are often the best. 
(compresses alot of resistances, fire/water/grass/will usually live any neutral hit and can always espeed). 
(psychic, dragon, ghost, steel)
(psychic, dragon)
(fairy, psychic, dragon. This Mon can viably run any ability whilst still being highly viable, and thus can compress a lot with water absorb/bulletproof/volt absorb/well baked body/hadron engine (for expanding force)/etc.)
(can check no weather ball Zapdos)
(both will check 
but also sometimes on 
. If I switch into an offensive counter like 
's defog. Sure once I get a pokemon poisoned I can keep switching into that so it's not like my whole team gets poisoned, but even something like a 
and 
aren't too splashable and running an immunity (wabs, volt abs, ee, wbb) on 
- A top meta pokemon that I could have handled better
- An empty threat I enjoyed leveraging
Ok so this one's more of a meme, but with an immunity ability like Earth Eater or Water Absorb, this thing provides decent damage and general defensive utility, matching up well into Regenvesters, Empoleon, Roaring Moon, Chien-Pao, etc etc. It also gets Rocks
Where's this guy gone, I want him back