Battle Spot Triples Metagame Discussion

Demantoid

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I made a rushed team last week to try out, and tried out Bulky Mega Blastoise with just enough speed to outspeed Mega Manectric under Tailwind (its like 36 speed evs or so).

I actually like this Mega Blastoise. Its the standard set but with Water Pulse instead of Water Spout. I understand why Water Spout is popular (if you set i up right with Tailwind, it hits hard), but atm I like Water Pulse more because it means Mega Blastoise needs less support.
Which coverage moves are you running on Blastoise?
 
I made a rushed team last week to try out, and tried out Bulky Mega Blastoise with just enough speed to outspeed Mega Manectric under Tailwind (its like 36 speed evs or so).

I actually like this Mega Blastoise. Its the standard set but with Water Pulse instead of Water Spout. I understand why Water Spout is popular (if you set i up right with Tailwind, it hits hard), but atm I like Water Pulse more because it means Mega Blastoise needs less support.
Water Pulse is pretty cool. Whenever I face one with pulse it usually screws me up. I either get donked by it when I try to wide guard against it or it hits something i wasnt expecting it to reach with a water move.
 

Theorymon

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Which coverage moves are you running on Blastoise?
Generally, Mega Blastoise runs Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse. Dark Pulse bonks Aegislash and Mega Gengar and Gothitelle, while Aura Sphere hits imporant stuff like Bisharp.

Normally, the last two moves are Fake Out and Water Spout, but I feel like these are the moves that are actually replaceable. Ive been running Fake Out lately, but you can get away with Protect. And like I said before, Ive been using Water Pulse lately since its a bit more powerful than Aura Sphere + Dark Pulse, and cam get surprise kills on important mons like Landorus-T!
 
Yo Triples! I'm in the middle of building a beat up justified gimmick team! I've got technician Hitmontop as support, with Fake Out, Mach Punch, Aerial Ace, Pursuit/ Thief, I was wondering on a reccommended EV Spread.
 
Yo Triples! I'm in the middle of building a beat up justified gimmick team! I've got technician Hitmontop as support, with Fake Out, Mach Punch, Aerial Ace, Pursuit/ Thief, I was wondering on a reccommended EV Spread.
Really not enough support that you could be using with Hitmontop. Especially for a terracott team. Wide Guard and Feint are really useful, especially feint to break Wide Guards for your Terrakion. And normally, Close Combat is used over Mach Punch and I do believe it's a lot better as the difference in damage output is really notable. You should probably use intimidate as well, it's the biggest reason you would want to use top over other fighting types like mienshao and hariyama(alternatively, if you dont care for intimidate you could use one of these pokemon lol), it's really good for dealing with kan, lando-t, any physical attacker besides bisharp and other defiant users. As for the EV spread, it can be almost anything really. Bulky spreads with Careful nature can be good, Adamant for more Close Combat power is good as well. Personally, when I run hitmontop I like to run 252 HP/252 Spe with a Jolly nature, just so you know you'll always be getting fake out off first against opposing hitmontops, or speed tie at least.
 
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Not quite Battlespot Triples but I ran into a swagger Tauros at the Battle Maison, and it used swagger on my Lucario! It really messed me up. I don't know where to fit protect in for Lucario, because I either lose one of my spread moves, or one of my STAB moves. I currently have Earthquake, Rock Slide Bullet Punch, and Brick Break/Drain Punch
 

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Not quite Battlespot Triples but I ran into a swagger Tauros at the Battle Maison, and it used swagger on my Lucario! It really messed me up. I don't know where to fit protect in for Lucario, because I either lose one of my spread moves, or one of my STAB moves. I currently have Earthquake, Rock Slide Bullet Punch, and Brick Break/Drain Punch
If you want to discuss Maison Triples, there's actually a thriving thread for that:

Battle Maison Discussion and Records
 
All right, let's chat!

How in the hell do you deal with good Terracott setups?

I've been #1 on the Showdown ladder for a bit, and last season peaked 1750-something on Wi-Fi, which I think was good for top ... 30-ish? ... worldwide, although afterward I dropped down to the low 1700s and finished there. Due, mostly, to a string of good Terracotts.

The most dangerous partners for this as far as I can see are: Mieanshao (Wide Guard, hyper-fast Fake Out and Quick Guard, Feint), Hitmontop (Intimidate to remove Scarf Lando's OHKO potential, all the same tools as Mienshao), Weavile (threatens Scarf Lando, hyper-fast Fake Out, can also use Beat Up), and Smeargle (Fake Out, Wide Guard or Quick Guard, and threatens to reroute your Fake Out with its Dark Void pressure). You can add Amoonguss to the mix too and cause absolute hell.

I've tried various combos on my own and there are certain leads that deter it, but that's kind of the problem. I don't think it's consistent enough to actually run (although it is damn consistent), but it turns a large number of its matches against other well-built teams into guessing games; it's actually pretty easy to get set up with the right support.

What have people done to get around this? How's Smogon Triples been dealing with it, since that has the sliiiiightly larger player-base on Showdown (I actually hate that that exists a bit; no reason to split this format with so few players already). I've seen some calls in the thread there to ban it, but that's not helping anyone.

EDIT -- I've now thought through what should be my best options against Mienshao or Hitmontop partners in a Bo1 setting, although it's still a little bit more of a guessing game than I'd like. Smeargle remains a problem.
 
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All right, let's chat!

How in the hell do you deal with good Terracott setups?

I've been #1 on the Showdown ladder for a bit, and last season peaked 1750-something on Wi-Fi, which I think was good for top ... 30-ish? ... worldwide, although afterward I dropped down to the low 1700s and finished there. Due, mostly, to a string of good Terracotts.

The most dangerous partners for this as far as I can see are: Mieanshao (Wide Guard, hyper-fast Fake Out and Quick Guard, Feint), Hitmontop (Intimidate to remove Scarf Lando's OHKO potential, all the same tools as Mienshao), Weavile (threatens Scarf Lando, hyper-fast Fake Out, can also use Beat Up), and Smeargle (Fake Out, Wide Guard or Quick Guard, and threatens to reroute your Fake Out with its Dark Void pressure). You can add Amoonguss to the mix too and cause absolute hell.

I've tried various combos on my own and there are certain leads that deter it, but that's kind of the problem. I don't think it's consistent enough to actually run (although it is damn consistent), but it turns a large number of its matches against other well-built teams into guessing games; it's actually pretty easy to get set up with the right support.

What have people done to get around this? How's Smogon Triples been dealing with it, since that has the sliiiiightly larger player-base on Showdown (I actually hate that that exists a bit; no reason to split this format with so few players already). I've seen some calls in the thread there to ban it, but that's not helping anyone.

EDIT -- I've now thought through what should be my best options against Mienshao or Hitmontop partners in a Bo1 setting, although it's still a little bit more of a guessing game than I'd like. Smeargle remains a problem.
Honestly terracott is a lot of 50/50s. Theres also the factor of getting lucky on the first turn by getting a good/bad matchup just based on placement.

Some ways I normally like to deal with it are Feint user + Talonflame to take out Whimsicott immediately before it can beat up. Having this and a trick room user(with lum berry) is pretty solid. Having feint+talon with lando is decent as well to threaten terrakion at the same time.

And terracott teams have ways around this as well with their own fake out. And there are ways to play around that too if you predict right or get a good placement matchup. But again, it comes down to guessing what your opponent will do. You and them have so many different plays you could make(such is the beauty of triples) and really i hate to say this but, it honestly boils down to a lot of 50/50s. Im not sure if there is some set up that totally counters it(imprison rock slide & a scarf quick guarder maybe? Not sure if there is a rock slide imprison mon faster than terrak tho lol) but even if there is some terracott proof team, its probably very hindering against other playstyles and idk if its worth it
 
Some ways I normally like to deal with it are Feint user + Talonflame to take out Whimsicott immediately before it can beat up. Having this and a trick room user(with lum berry) is pretty solid. Having feint+talon with lando is decent as well to threaten terrakion at the same time.
Oh my god. I can do that.

That, is, of course, dependent on the placement of their Fake Out-user, but in the right situation, that could work.

Actually, this is solid as hell, just thinking of the team I'm running now:

Smeargle - Feinter - Talonflame

Smeargle pressures any faster Fake Out to be used on it, and on anything slower allows Smeargle to use its own Fake Out. Meanwhile the middle Pokemon and Talonflame can go for the Whimsicott attack. I feel like that system actually works out regardless of placement, too. Worst-case scenario, Talonflame is adjacent to their Fake Out-user, in which case I can use that turn to Fake Out Whimsicott and Terrakion and wait until the following turn for the Feint/Brave Bird play.

Thank you so much for that suggestion! That's beautiful.
 
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Oh my god. I can do that.

That, is, of course, dependent on the placement of their Fake Out-user, but in the right situation, that could work.

Actually, this is solid as hell, just thinking of the team I'm running now:

Smeargle - Feinter - Talonflame

Smeargle pressures any faster Fake Out to be used on it, and on anything slower allows Smeargle to use its own Fake Out. Meanwhile the middle Pokemon and Talonflame can go for the Whimsicott attack. I feel like that system actually works out regardless of placement, too. Worst-case scenario, Talonflame is adjacent to their Fake Out-user, in which case I can use that turn to Fake Out Whimsicott and Terrakion and wait until the following turn for the Feint/Brave Bird play.

Thank you so much for that suggestion! That's beautiful.
That seems really solid. Only problem i could see is them saving terracott for later, but any way of dealing with terracott has that issue
 
That seems really solid. Only problem i could see is them saving terracott for later, but any way of dealing with terracott has that issue
That gives them the problem of needing to get both in at the same time, with another supporter, though. It's much harder to set up Terracott when it doesn't lead. I don't see that happening much in a best of one environment, to be honest.
 
That gives them the problem of needing to get both in at the same time, with another supporter, though. It's much harder to set up Terracott when it doesn't lead. I don't see that happening much in a best of one environment, to be honest.
I see it a lot actually and its not too difficult. The teams usually have smeargle and a zard, whagever other fillers they choose. Smeargles fake out/dark void can set them up pretty well for their mons to do damage and weaken your team for terracott. It's not incredibly hard to get whimsicott and terrak in position together and having smeargle with dv makes it a whole lot easier.
 
I learned something new about triples recently. This might be common knowledge for the more experienced triples players but I'm sure new players won't know about this, so I figured I'd share. If you have a pokemon with Fake Out on the left/right side of the field, you can shift the first turn out and use fake out on the next. That's a pretty cool thing to keep in mind, it could come in handy for you some games. I think it's especially cool since most people prepare for the fake out with a protect or something on the first turn so a second turn fake out could screw some people over(like myself).
 
I found current Battle Spot leader (and high-ranker every season) Choko's blog by going through Cloyster Saikyo Setsu's blog earlier, which has a small Triples page with other suggested links.

Choko's is full of both Triples and Doubles information, and provides some of the best metagame overview I've seen. The part of his blog I included in that hyperlink is a series of suggested teams for new players. I've definitely hit some of those on Battle Spot before.

Here's the Twitter too: https://twitter.com/schoko0901. Contains comments on triples and notes on other players, info about Japanese unofficial Triples events like the Eruption Cup, etc.

EDIT -- I guess I should mention that I also played top-ten PGL player ョォゥジョ♀ (yooujo♀) last night. If you run into them, watch out for Choice Scarf Abomasnow leading. I haven't gone through with the Vs. Recorder to fully check, but I believe the whole thing is set up to fake a hard TR team, despite nearly everything on it being fast (though I wouldn't be surprised if they're still running TR on Jellicent because it's such a strong move in Triples for canceling opponents' or overcoming Tail Wind).
 
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I just want to give a big merci to NOVED for hosting two Triples tournaments in a row within like, 5 hours! Really appreciate the extra exposure. I'm looking for more folks to battle on the ladder.
 
Just hit Dany (Portugal, first place season 10) on Battle Spot. Unfortunately my battle videos were full at the time, or I'd post the recording.

He was running: Terrakion (far left from host's perspective), Weavile (center), Bisharp (far right), with Charizard, Talonflame and Sylveon in the back.

I wound up losing 3-0, but I'm actually quite confident I could've taken that if I'd been more proactive about getting Trick Room up, since he had to spend Weavile's first turn using Fake Out on my Smeargle. Instead, I wasted the opportunity and was too gung-ho about trying to stop Beat Up from happening. Either way, it would've been close.

What strikes me though is that the team is quite susceptible to Trick Room as a whole, with lots of speedy Pokemon and no Wide Guard as far as I can tell. What it does do, however, is give itself a decent match-up against one of the better public Trick Room leads, pioneered by Choko and used to win the first Eruption Cup (unofficial Japanese triples tournament) earlier this year. That lead involves Choice Scarf Smeargle, Jellicent and Hitmontop. (Although Choko's Smeargle carries Fake Out, and with two Fake Outs coming from both it and Hitmontop, Jellicent still has a good chance of getting TR up; it's an incredible team). That team, by the way, can be seen in action here.

Just info from the ladder.
 
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Lately I've been using a Gravity team in Doubles, and I believe with a few adjustments, it can work in Triples. It has -some- natural inconsistency, as it involves the accuracy boost granted by Gravity. Anybody here tried Gravity in Triples??
 
I haven't personally tried it, but I have encountered a team that paired it with some slow Hypnosis 'mons and tried to set up Trick Room. It beat me the first time when I didn't know what would happen, but I've since beaten it twice. That's actually the only one I've seen. Sableye was their Gravity-setter.
 
Actually, I fought Perish Trap recently on the cart. Granted this was my very first day on the cartridge Triples ORAS ladder, so take it with a grain of salt, but as long as they don't have a full 3 team of Ghost types, you can use feint on any of the partners to get rid of Wide Guard for example. I think for a more deliberate method of beating them, have Mega Lopunny as your Fake Out user.

Personally, I ended up using Feint repeatedly on a Politoed (it was actually a half Perish-trap, half rain team,You can also try a Prankster Taunt on the turn they try to go for Perish Song...
 

Theorymon

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Actually, I fought Perish Trap recently on the cart. Granted this was my very first day on the cartridge Triples ORAS ladder, so take it with a grain of salt, but as long as they don't have a full 3 team of Ghost types, you can use feint on any of the partners to get rid of Wide Guard for example. I think for a more deliberate method of beating them, have Mega Lopunny as your Fake Out user.

Personally, I ended up using Feint repeatedly on a Politoed (it was actually a half Perish-trap, half rain team,You can also try a Prankster Taunt on the turn they try to go for Perish Song...
Something else I've personally seen quite a bit to combat Perish Song (or even on Perish Song teams to have a better match up lol) was Eject Button Pokemon. Usually, I've seen it on Hitmontop and Amoonguss, but I'm sure other Pokemon can get away with it!

The idea is to take a hit after the perish song, and ignore shadow tag thanks to Eject Button. afaik Hitmontop also uses Eject Button for other reasons (mainly so it can intimidate, take a hit then switch something dangerous in after a Fake Out). Ive even seen some clever players actually hit their own Pokemon!

Perish trap is super dangerous in triples (especially Perish Rain teams), but they are beatable!
 

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