Battle Tree Discussion and Records

I'd also point that (if you have access to UltraSM) you can change Excadrill's moveset from Earthquake to either Stomping Tantrum (with a power boosting item like LO, or sticking with Z-crystal) or Drill Run (which is inaccurate, but becomes accurate if you're using Wide Lens, which also helps with rock slide accuracy to 99%) for higher power, which'd free you from the "this would hit my partner" situation.

While hitting both enemies is nice, the situations where there's a ground immunity on enemy team is relatively common, and you only have one levitator in that setup, so the freedom of having a spammable ground stab could make the team easier to use and teambuilding easier as well.
 
I'd also point that (if you have access to UltraSM) you can change Excadrill's moveset from Earthquake to either Stomping Tantrum (with a power boosting item like LO, or sticking with Z-crystal) or Drill Run (which is inaccurate, but becomes accurate if you're using Wide Lens, which also helps with rock slide accuracy to 99%) for higher power, which'd free you from the "this would hit my partner" situation.

While hitting both enemies is nice, the situations where there's a ground immunity on enemy team is relatively common, and you only have one levitator in that setup, so the freedom of having a spammable ground stab could make the team easier to use and teambuilding easier as well.
Earthquake is one I've deliberated on for a long time to be honest and why Tyranitar is holding an Air Balloon. I like the idea of using Drill Run with Wide Lens so I'm going to try that. As Tyranitar no longer has to worry about friendly fire, Air Balloon becomes almost redundant on him but I'm unsure what else to use; Assault Vest is a no as I want Protect on him.

I think she is referring more about using Draco Meteor on Latios since it's a high risk move due to its effects after use and its unreliable accuracy. Rock Slide IMO is fine on Tyranitar and Excadrill since T-tar doesn't have access to a more accurate STAB and it's the best coverage move for Drill.
I'm going to swap Draco Meteor for Energy Ball and see how I get on. Draco Meteor was intended to be a nuke, all or nothing move on neutral Pokémon although with the set I'm running there shouldn't be much I'd need to neutrally hit if anything. Energy Ball helps me cover Gastrodon which scares me every time I see it. Thanks for the suggestion.

If you want to come far you also shouldn't rely too much on Rock Slide.
And as you think of other Mons, Gyarados might fit in the team for defensive type synergy. Not sure how it will perform offensively though and if it provides some new coverage. Just an idea
But yeah your Thundurus or something like Zapdos seem to be nice fits, too, hitting bulky waters hard, which probably cause problems to a sand team naturally.
Rock Slide has served me well so far to be fair, there's only been a handful of times where both Pokémon have been missed, albeit usually I've been using Earthquake first on Excadrill and then Rock Slide on Tyranitar unless I'm opposing a fighting Pokémon; he's been good bait so far to be fair and often allowed a second Earthquake from Excadrill to KO both opposing Pokémon if grounded.
 
Rock Slide has served me well so far to be fair, there's only been a handful of times where both Pokémon have been missed, albeit usually I've been using Earthquake first on Excadrill and then Rock Slide on Tyranitar unless I'm opposing a fighting Pokémon; he's been good bait so far to be fair and often allowed a second Earthquake from Excadrill to KO both opposing Pokémon if grounded.
The main "issue" with inaccurate moves when it comes to Tree is the fact that should you get a miss at an inappropriate time and lose due to it, there's no "retry", you start over from battle 1 even if you were at battle 900. Which is why the big win streaks avoid them whenever possible.

If you're going to try wide lens drill run on Exca, a good option would be having rockium Z on Tyranitar, which is going to provide you a one-off accurate high damage stab.

That said, mine is just a suggestion, I'm not exactly a top tier runner as I barely made it to 140 on my best days, the other veterans could probably provide you better ideas.
I will however say that I did experiment with a combo very similar to yours a lot of time (if you can notice by my streaks, I have a thing for basically-unviable weather teams). And... it's not good. Sand is very fun BUT it's not going to go far, post-50 legendary sets will often destroy or status Tyranitar before it can even attack (the 3 horsemen expecially are particularly bothersome as they threaten 1hko on both your leads, making prediction very difficult), replace/deny Sand or set trick room on you (I'd point you don't really have a reliable answer to double TR leads and even some single-TR ones, Tyranitar won't 1hko most of the ghost and psychic TR setters, and Exca doesn't 1hko aromatisse without steelium or band iirc).
You will need some better speed control options or answers to opposer Trick Room at some point.

That said, if you're not interesting in leaderboard-worthy streaks and are just looking to have fun, your team is solid and should relatively easily hit legend+ status.
 
Quick update - Sharkanine v2 has now reached a 3333 win-streak!


I remember applying full throttle late last year to clinch 3K, or die trying before SwSh launched; made it just in time, and while I did contemplate providing an update here, I chose to hold off and preserve the achievement in a Twitter post instead.

Prepared to leave the Battle Tree alone for some time, I focused my attention on Gen 8 - unfortunately in its current state, I'm not nearly as engaged in this newfangled Battle Tower as I hoped to be. I found the pull of the Tree gradually more and more attractive, during a point which 30+ battles were knocked out daily; the team itself was pretty easy to get reacquainted with as well, the various strats and familiar calcs returning like muscle memory. So.... Hey guys, Josh "3DS aficionado" C. here! Today I'm back with a bumper episode of Sharkboy and Fairygirl, where I climb the Smogon Doubles Battle Tree ladder and don't provide live commentary as I go..!

I apologize for this unkempt Battle Video compilation - it's a bloated assortment of replays that I let expand over too long a time period, and I didn't feel compelled to sort/cull/extract with the (at best) unwieldy system. However, even just watching a portion you'll see many of these are fine demonstrations of Lele/Sharpedo not exactly having their way, and many of them end with Gliscor doing what she does best - outlasting whatever the opponent has left (or at least heavy dismantlement for something else to clean up). Witnessing her induce such misery in the Doubles environment is indeed a treat, and while poor decision-making with her can be more punishable without a fast, powerful Tectonic Rage for instance, Garchomp cannot rival Gliscor in terms of pure win-con potential. Be warned, many of these battles feature Gliscor in the limelight, and are repetitive as a result; view at your own peril!

It's a fine line, but I do believe Gliscor is 'enabled' (for lack of a precise term) greatly by such hyper offensive leads, offering an excellent compromise with the Z-Crystal shifted onto a more aggressive Arcanine. I can say with certainty that this formation feels stronger than the original, and has rightfully earned the v2 moniker.
 
Previously I posted this team as a battle team in the pgl, here is the actual team that I got to 510 wins with. Just a note, but atm this is just the sets, not an actual writeup, it's still ongoing and I haven't played in months.
Kangaskhan-Mega @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 164 Atk / 52 SpD / 48 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Fake Out
- Seismic Toss
- Sucker Punch

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Tailwind
- Protect
- Sacred Sword

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Swift

Kommo-o @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Bulletproof
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Close Combat
- Clanging Scales
- Flamethrower
- Protect
 
Hello friends! It is I, StarRaikouVGC Megamite. Back here to dust off the cobwebs and report a completed streak of 287 wins in UM Super Doubles.
Loss: 99AG-WWWW-WWXD-ZKPF

suicune.png


Suicune @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 180 HP / 4 Def / 148 SpA / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind

The Pokemon that starts the team off also completed it. This was a Tapu Fini in the original version, but that didn't have the utility needed for the other three Pokemon to reach their full potential. Enter Suicune, a bulky Water type with access to Tailwind and Inner Focus. I opted for pinch berry over Sitrus because the former is considered fairly broken this gen, but I would consider Rindo if I gave the team another shot. The EVs were to outspeed Garchomp 3 with the aid of Tailwind, while also OHKOing it with Ice Beam. I'd change the speed for future uses however. While the special attack was actually very helpful, I never utilized the speed for its intended purpose. I originally thought I'd Tailwind on lead Garchomp always, but in fact just Ice Beaming it to set up KOs on Chomp4 was always my play. Besides the EVs, I also think there's room to replace Protect, but I didn't encounter any threats that would be solved with one moveslot to my knowledge.

mane.png


Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt

One of my two favorite Pokemon (you may see the other in a future write up!). The inspiration for this team, and motivation for this run was my desire to show off a traditional Manectric team. Manectric + Inner Focus makes it hard for the AI to stop a Tailwind if needed, as you present Lightning Rod (which is also Twave protection) and Intimidate all on lead. If Tailwind was not needed or beneficial, my leads could start throwing out big damage with double targets. I often picked up a KO this way to my surprise, which is why I think the SpAtk on Cune was a good investment. Having an Electric type with Fire coverage was amazing as well, considering there is no team preview for the Tree. Volt Switch is very helpful at chipping down opponents while getting a better position on board. I do not regret Overheat, but I would experiment with Flamethrower if I used the team again. Flamethrower from Manectric is notoriously weak, but after playing with the team I believe that doubling into stuff for KOs is worth the dip in power (Mawile, Metagross, etc). Thunderbolt was chosen over coverage or utility because I thought Volt Switch alone wouldn't cut it, and I was definitely right in hindsight. EVs just outspeed Tsareena4, and have the highest odds of one shotting Zard Y if needed. Mostly went with this spread because I couldn't think of good defensive calcs however.

fish.png


Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance

Garchomp is still one of the strongest Pokemon in the game, and it certainly helped out here. Garchomp manages to package a Ground type, Fire resist, and Dragon check all into one slot, while not even negative vs most bulky Waters. Protect and EQ are self-explanatory, and Ground Z was better than any other item or Z-move I could have had imo. Dragon Claw was chosen to improve my matchup vs other Dragons, while also being relatively strong as a STAB move compared to Rock Tomb. Swords Dance may seem weird, but it gave me another out to annoying Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Mega Venusaur. The team also wasn't terrible at setting up situations for Chomp to Dance and sweep a game in the first place. Spread abuses what Chomp is good at; hitting hard and hitting fast.

wincon.png


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Atk / 140 Def / 84 SpD / 36 Spe
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Wide Guard

The MVP, and admittedly the crutch of the team. Celesteela acts as a Steel type, the Ground resist, and a soft Evasion check all in one. Like Eisen before me... I have no idea what the spread does. I am sure it was made specifically for Tree at least, but that was sometime in 2018 iirc. Leftovers is usually the most consistent item with Steela, compared to Sitrus or pinch. Being on the field 4 turns to generate "one Sitrus Berry" is easy when you can alternate Protect, while Steela rarely takes hits down to 25% to pop a pinch berry. Wide Guard is the only contentious moveslot, and it felt like one at first. However I did pull back a handful of battles thanks to blocking Blizzard, so it has a place in my heart. I don't think Flamethrower would be super good either anyway, but I could be wrong.


Rotom formes: Rotom is traditionally good vs Balance teams, and this was no exception. Each of them had a unique trait that made them annoying to deal with in their own way. The common factor however was that they were Electric types that Garchomp could not immediately destroy, while not being phased by Lightning Rod too much.

Opposing Dragons: These were the next consistent annoyance for the team. Normally faster than Garchomp, it made positioning to take them out quickly tricky. It doesn't help that they're primarily special attackers, but also have some sets like DD Mega Latios/Mega Zard X. One saving grace is that after they drop a Draco, they're offensively spent and dead on the field without RNG coming to their aid.

Alakazam3: This is probably what I'd classify as the last true threat I've noticed (compared to merely running out of resources to deal with a misc. threat). I was fortunate to only play vs it a few times, but the last time I did it handily defeated me. I could never figure out a solid gameplan for it, and tbh I don't think there was for this exact version of the team. It really comes down to what the partner is on lead, as that can influence safe switches to Celesteela. I'm hoping making Suicune bulkier will allow it to survive crit Grass Knot :sweat_smile:, but if not I will be giving Rindo the old college try.


It was incredibly fun to revisit the Tree, as I had the urge to for several months prior to this run. I think I had more fun with it from not using information resources, as it allowed me to play at my own pace. That is definitely not the correct move if you're looking for a run with longevity however, but I don't regret it for just this one time.

I dearly hope Game Freak restores the Battle Facility to its rightful glory in Gen 9 (or Sword/Shield 2? :eyes:). I have heard good things about the new kid on the block, Restricted Sparring at least.

For any Tree die hards still out there, good luck with the climb!
 
Which of the streaks are usum? It looks like some are incorrectly tagged because I clicked on one that said ultra sun but in the post the person said it's sun.

I wanted to compare my rain team because I use a similar one like that poster: pelipper, tapu koko, mega swampert, kingra (instead of their celesteela). The thing is that they did not mention the threat that is scarfed aerodactyl. I've gotten flinch haxed to death since it outspeeds both starters pelipper and tapu koko. For that reason, I switched pelippers protect to wide guard. And I don't agree with using specs on koko since life orb works just as well while giving you the crucial benefit of changing move.
E.g. say you use specs thunder and the opponent switches in a weather setter. You want to be able to use volt switch to quickly get rain up again.
 

Eisenherz

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Which of the streaks are usum? It looks like some are incorrectly tagged because I clicked on one that said ultra sun but in the post the person said it's sun.

I wanted to compare my rain team because I use a similar one like that poster: pelipper, tapu koko, mega swampert, kingra (instead of their celesteela). The thing is that they did not mention the threat that is scarfed aerodactyl. I've gotten flinch haxed to death since it outspeeds both starters pelipper and tapu koko. For that reason, I switched pelippers protect to wide guard. And I don't agree with using specs on koko since life orb works just as well while giving you the crucial benefit of changing move.
E.g. say you use specs thunder and the opponent switches in a weather setter. You want to be able to use volt switch to quickly get rain up again.
Assuming you're referring to my streak, the very first version of it was done in Sun, but the team was revamped and the higher streak was done in Ultra Sun, there are several post about that team and its different streaks.

Scarf Aerodactyl is a set 1, which means it only shows in battles 1-9 (edit: it can show up on 2 rosters up to 29, but the point stands), so it's pretty inconsequential for a long streak, but even then, it shouldn't be much of a problem when M-Swampert takes little damage from Rock Slide, and Celesteela can Wide Guard these away safely as well if needed. I think having Kingdra over Celesteela isn't as small of a difference as you make it sound, Celesteela's support and typing synergy with the other 3 provides many switch-in opportunities and protects against a lot of foes.

Also, even though Wide Guard is definitely a useful support move here, I would personally not put that over Protect on Pelipper; it's too frail to afford not running Protect, it reliably baits in a variety of moves, which is useful for all 3 other members, and that's a very important part of the team.

Life Orb on Koko is probably fine, however the damage boost from Specs is significant, and the backline tend to provide good switch-in possibilities in case Koko is locked into Thunder as weather is changed. There are often other options, such as sacrificing Koko and setting up Tailwind, or resetting the weather for the Swampert endgame. If the weather is only changed once the AI's backline is revealed, it's easier to make a gameplan and decide which route to go, I personally didn't have too many issues with Koko being choice-locked.

As a small side-note, if you have questions or concerns about a team, don't be afraid to raise them, but since you appear to be a newer Tree climber, also keep in mind that teams with good results probably did something right. If you'd like to discuss ideas and attempts, feel free to join our Discord server!
 
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Thank you. I've actually been playing for over 2 years but I didn't know there was a community until recently. I only found this place because I was looking for battle tree moveset data.

I used to run protect on my pelipper and used it quite a lot because pelipper is a lightning rod, but since I dropped it I started to just switching to my swampert instead, which in many ways works even better.

Celesteel is fine and all but I don't like using defensive pokemon at the battle tree because you want to hit them before they can hit you. Otherwise there's risk of getting haxed to death like parafusion etc. But the main reason I don't use defensive pokemon is OHKO moves. There are nasty pokemon like scarfed pinsir with guillotine.

I don't think the fact that a low probability of something happening (like running into lead scarfed aerodactyl) is reason to not try to counter it. If your goal is to go far, you're gonna play thousands of matches and odds are you're gonna run into stuff sooner or later.

And im not saying kingdra is a better choice, Im sure there are lots of team combinations that do well. But in my experience, I've never faced a team I couldn't beat. And by that I mean whenever I get wrecked, I do a mock battle and I've always been able to win those with my current team.

Also, I gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised another player has realized the awesome power of brine! I switched to brine for one reason only: KOing aromatisse before it can set up trick room. Thunder + scald just doesn't cut it.
 
Also, as former Wide Guard appreciator, I'd point that Wide Guard isn't as good as it sounds regarding Rock Slide when you get to post-legend.
The tree sets have this bad habit of having combos of set 34 where one carryes Rock Slide and the other carries Stone Edge, so you have to actually predict correctly if you do not know which set you are against.
(Similar issue happens with Blizzard/Ice Beam sadly)
 

Eisenherz

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Thank you. I've actually been playing for over 2 years but I didn't know there was a community until recently. I only found this place because I was looking for battle tree moveset data.
Welcome!

I used to run protect on my pelipper and used it quite a lot because pelipper is a lightning rod, but since I dropped it I started to just switching to my swampert instead, which in many ways works even better.
Switching to Swampert is kind of a given, but Protect buys you an extra turn before the switch, which most of the time is one extra KO for Tapu Koko, which is pretty significant.

I don't think the fact that a low probability of something happening (like running into lead scarfed aerodactyl) is reason to not try to counter it. If your goal is to go far, you're gonna play thousands of matches and odds are you're gonna run into stuff sooner or later.
I never wrote that something shouldn't be planned for because of a low probability. Heck, my Tapu Koko has HP Fire just for Ferrothorn in specific circumstances, which very rarely come into play.

Scarf Aerodactyl can only be encountered in the first 29 battles. It's not low odds, it's literally impossible after you get to battle 29. There's basically no point in preparing for those sets if your goal is, as you say, thousands of wins.

Though regardless of that, lead Scarf Aero still shouldn't be that much of a problem in itself. As I pointed out already, M-Swampert takes very little, as does Celesteela, switching can be done.
 
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I don't think the fact that a low probability of something happening (like running into lead scarfed aerodactyl) is reason to not try to counter it. If your goal is to go far, you're gonna play thousands of matches and odds are you're gonna run into stuff sooner or later.
I don't mean to sound rude, but you did read about the progress that the team made in the Battle Tree before you made this comment, right?
 
Brand new here and definitely late to the party, but I’ve been using this forum a lot on my runs. So I appreciate everything you all have been posting. Just encountered this on my way to 50 wins in Super doubles. Thought I had finally caught the AI at cheating lmao, but of course it turned out to be a Zoroark. But anyways just hit 50 in doubles and singles, so I’ll post my teams if I can keep it up.
30597331-4F5D-424F-B70A-C0597B4B67DA.jpeg
 
Hi, haven't been here in a while.
It feels like so long ago I was here, didn't realise it was only June when I last posted.
I was talking with Eisen in the discord about some things and I decided to go back to my streak, although not as active as before. I'm going to play some next week when I'm home, and I'll see how active I'm going to be from there, probably just going to play a bit when at home but I'll see how it goes.
 
So I just did my first battle tree battles in months.
Did a couple, was fun to do but was definitely nervous about some things, got double flinched trying to set tailwind etc.
Will continue doing it, may make it a more usual thing instead of doing it every 2 weeks but I'll just see what I'm going to do, no guarantees yet.
At 515 wins now.
 
Does the AI read your input to counter you? I tried googling this but couldn't find any info on it.
I have a trick room team that lost to taunt. I replayed the match and every time I lead with trick room, they lead with taunt. And every time I chose to attack, they chose to attack. I tried this like 20 times.
 
Does the AI read your input to counter you? I tried googling this but couldn't find any info on it.
I have a trick room team that lost to taunt. I replayed the match and every time I lead with trick room, they lead with taunt. And every time I chose to attack, they chose to attack. I tried this like 20 times.
No, the AI doesn't read your input.
Taunt happens to be a very high priority move for the AI, and will very often use it on lower speed enemies.
 
If AI read your input, it wouldn't obsessively taunt my assault vest users LOL. As Worldie said, it's just an extremely high priority move, and thus can be reliably exploited via protect/switching.

As usual in tree, though, it's not pure 100%. As with Z-move usage, Trick Room setting, and target selection, the AI sometimes deviates from these almost guaranteed options, so always keep the worst case scenario in the back of your mind.
 
Hello! I assumed I'm a little bit late for the party. Lol.

I played Ultra Sun back when it was released but finished it just for walkthrough. Now, I found my cartridge, restarted the game and finally decided to take on the Battle Tree. Fortunately, I managed to get the elusive 100-WS with this team:

Stark the Scizor @ Scizorite
Technician/Adamant
HP 252, Atk 252, SDef 4
-Swords Dance (Set up to sweep)
-Bullet Punch (Main STAB, Priority)
-Bug Bite (Secondary STAB)
-Protect (To scout potential fire-types and status moves that would otherwise cripple Stark)

Queen the Milotic @ Leftovers
Marvel Scale/Bold
HP 252/Def 252/SDef 4
-Scald (STAB, Chance to burn)
-Recover (for stalling)
-Protect (again for stalling and scouting)
- Toxic (to stall pesky bulky water-types)

Bruce the Garchomp @ Life Orb
Rough Skin/Jolly
Atk 252, Spe 252, Sdef 4
- Earthquake (Main STAB)
- Dragon Claw (Secondary STAB)
- Fire Fang (For other Scizors, Forretress, Ferrothorn and Scarmory)
- Stone Edge (to hit Zapdos, Tornadus and Rotom Fan)

I chose Milotic over Tapu Fini as my defensive wall because I dont want to be threatened by poison weakness in case Scizor and Garchomp are killed. I put 252 on its Defense to match Fini's bulk. Besides, I dont want to have a legendary on my team to show these AIs that we can beat them with normal pokemon (breeding is tideous but its satisfying to see opponents getting destroyed by mons that you've personally bred)

I know this is in no way a perfect team. And I am expecting harder battles past the 100-mark so yeah, I am open to other suggestions.

Also, I am struggling in super doubles. Gyarados/Togedemaru tandem doesnt work for me and my streak was snapped at 24. Im considering a rain/electric terrain team tho. This time, I think I need a legendary to at least have a fighting chance. My potential team will be composed of Pelipper, Tapu Koko, M-Swampert and Rotom-W. So what do you think of this team?
 

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Eisenherz

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Anyone paying attention to the thread will have noticed already, but I was given ownership of this thread a few months ago in order to revamp and keep the first posts up to date. I'd obviously like to warmly thank NoCheese for running it for all those years, he did all the heavy work as the Battle Tree was the current facility, and did an excellent job with it!

While interest in chasing records seems to have slowly faded as one might expect after a generation ends, several people seem to still use this thread as a resource, especially when it comes to getting stamps, so I'm glad we were able to build such a rich mine of information over the years documenting the evolution of successful teams in the Tree.

When thinking of things I may be able to improve, a complaint voiced by Jumpman16 a few pages earlier came to mind: it can be frustrating to have ongoing streaks on the board for an extended period of time, and can discourage people from chasing that position, because the owner of that streak can sit on it until it's about to be beaten, at which point they can keep climbing (or just post an update they had been sitting on for a long time), becoming a "moving target" for other climbers. An objective that keeps moving just out of reach can indeed be demoralizing, especially when it comes to large streaks that demand a hefty amount of time investment.

In order to try and improve this situation, I have been testing a new rule in the Gen 8 Tower thread:
Streaks of 50 or more are eligible for the leaderboards. Ongoing streaks are accepted, but must be indicated as such. Ongoing streaks that haven't been updated with any follow-up post after 6 months will be deemed finished and closed.
This ensures ongoing streaks are actually ongoing, and have not simply been abandoned, and also forces their owners to tend to them and update the community on their progress. It's been in effect for a while now, the system has worked well, and the feedback has been positive, so I will now be implementing something similar in this thread.

One major difference will be the streak minimum for the display of an ongoing streak; in Gen 8, the leaderboards are not very crowded and few people are playing, so accepting an ongoing 50-streak for the leaderboard is no big deal. Here, we already have very crowded leaderboards, so accepting ongoing streaks of 90 (the current minimum altogether) doesn't seem productive, and yet I see no reason to keep it at such a high number as 1000 now that we have the safety net of a time limit for their completion/update, so I'm setting the number to 300 for the submission of an ongoing streak for now, and we can adjust if need be.

In light of this new rule, current ongoing streaks that have been given no updates for more than 6 months are granted a 3-month period to tend to it, after which I'll consider the streak over and mark it as such on the leaderboard.


___________________________________________________________

Since I myself have an "ongoing" streak in dire need of a public update, I'll use this opportunity to stop procrastinating and get things going:

My ZapFini streak ended at 3135 wins.

I had left it at around 3100 at the release of SwSh, and came back to it last fall... I was planning on doing 50 a day once again, but it didn't take long before it all shattered. While other losses left me disappointed, I moved on quickly, ready to start working on the next team, but this one really hurt. I was really emotionally invested in that streak, I adored the team, the way it allowed me to play, and to this day I feel like I will never be able to build a team this fun and solid again in facilities; it'll probably remain my peak achievement in Pokémon altogether, honestly.

I figured the team couldn't keep going like this forever, it had plenty of close calls before that point, but a lot of them I had learned from, and I felt like I could now recognize and handle the biggest threats reliably enough. I was convinced that if I lost, it would be to a veteran (probably Kikujiro) or a rain trainer. As it turns out, I lost to what had thus far been one of the easiest trainers I could face: the woman, the myth, the legend... Ezra.
ezra112.png


Her roster is basically only comprised of special attackers, most of which Incineroar alone simply runs through. But she showed up with a well curated roster this time around (replay: 3KHW-WWWW-WWXD-TUUZ):

Turn 1: :tapu-fini: :incineroar: vs. :latios: :porygon-z:

Porygon-Z is always a bit tricky, but it had never given me a ton of trouble. Most of the time, it targets Fini with either Thunderbolt or Charge Beam, sometimes a Breakneck Blitz happens but usually Porygon-Z4 ends up using Z-Recover instead. Latios, meanwhile, could be Specs with Thunder (somehow I encountered this set the most by far, so I expected it every time), and that set goes for Thunder into Fini without fail. Knock Off is a guaranteed KO on that Latios, so to open up Fini's options, I went for the KO on Latios right away, and Protected Fini; a fairly safe play.

Latios is indeed Specs Thunder, then Porygon-Z reveals to be Normalium and Breakneck Blitzes into Incineroar, doing about 2/3 damage (so I know it's not Adaptability), a pretty cursed damage number since it's now sitting just outside Berry range. Knock Off OHKOs Latios, 4v3, I'm feeling pretty good despite the damage on Incin.

(Side-note, I did 10 mock battles afterward, and in 9 of them, Porygon-Z Thunderbolted Fini, while in the other, it Breakneck Blitzed Fini. Because of that, I was never able to recreate the conditions of this loss to test other plays, because without damage on Incineroar the battle is very quick and easy.)


Turn 2: :tapu-fini: :incineroar: vs. :gengar: :porygon-z:

Seeing Gengar, I'm not feeling as good about the damage on Incin, since Incineroar is my best answer. However, things still don't look so bleak, I can set Tailwind to make either Incin or Metagross outspeed and OHKO it. I do have to take into consideration this could be Mega Gengar about to trap me, though, so I can't leave Fini in to be trapped, and I also want to preserve Incineroar, because under Tailwind, it should clean up whatever Ezra has in the back as well. I figured I should double-switch, and on the next turn, Metagross would bait the Shadow Ball as Zapdos Tailwinds, after which victory should be straightforward.

This is where I went very wrong. My thought process for the switch was simply: Gengar should Sludge Bomb Fini, so I switch Metagross there, and Porygon-Z will not Ice Beam the Incin slot, so that's great for Zapdos. However, what I foolishly didn't take into account, is that Incineroar was in range of both Tri Attack and Sludge Bomb for a guaranteed KO, while Fini was not in range of any attack from the AI, so it was nearly certain to double up the Incineroar slot. Metagross being immune to Sludge Bomb and resisting Tri Attack was a very safe switch in the Incin slot, especially since there was no way either of the opponents were going to Shadow Ball that slot.

As should be expected, Gengar went Mega, the Metagross slot was left entirely alone, but Zapdos caught both a Sludge Bomb and a Tri Attack on the switch, and Tri Attack froze Zapdos. I clearly switched the wrong way around.


An alternative line of thought is that against Ezra's roster, Fini is not entirely necessary, and under Tailwind, Incin/Metagross should win regardless, so my #1 priority is getting Tailwind, and as such, I shouldn't let Zapdos tank anything on the switch, but rather stay in with Fini to sacrifice it if need be and switch to Metagross, so Zapdos comes in at full and gets a guaranteed TW. This may have worked out, but becomes more awkward, because Metagross becomes trapped and if the AI refuses to target Fini, I could end up losing it before Zapdos comes in, so I think the best play was still to double-switch the other way around.

Turn 3: :metagross: :zapdos: vs. :gengar-mega: :porygon-z:

I realized at that point that I was in trouble for way more than just the freeze; Zapdos was now in range of both opponents anyway. I considered Zapdos might act as a bait that turn and I could simply attack with Mega Metagross without fearing Gengar, but Gengar had a guaranteed OHKO calc on Metagross for now because I wasn't yet Mega, so I couldn't risk that; losing both in that turn was pretty much a sure loss. I went Mega and Protected Metagross, and clicked Tailwind, just in case. Gengar did Shadow Ball the Metagross slot, so the Protect was the right play, but Porygon-Z Tri Attacked Zapdos and finished it off.

After my poor decision of turn 2, there really wasn't much I could have done better on this turn. Given I was about to be trapped, I pretty much had to go Incineroar, to Fake Out Porygon-Z; this gave me decent odds: 1. Gengar might get baited and finish off Incin while I Stomping Tantrum for the OHKO, creating a Metagross/Fini endgame, which would have been very decent (the last one was Espeon as it turns out, so pretty much a win). This was especially likely since Incin was in guaranteed range, while Metagross was a roll; 2. Gengar might target Metagross but not get the roll:

252 SpA Gengar-Mega Shadow Ball vs. 76 HP / 4 SpD Metagross-Mega: 152-182 (92.1 - 110.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

In which case, I can OHKO it back and, again, am in a pretty decent position. Stacking both of these things (of which the first weighs a lot more), my odds of winning still seemed very good.


Turn 4: :metagross-mega: :incineroar: vs. :gengar-mega: :porygon-z:

Alas, the worst-case scenario happened. Gengar targeted Metagross, and Shadow Ball got the OHKO roll. That's when the prospect of a loss started to sink in...

Turn 5: :tapu-fini: :incineroar: vs. :gengar-mega: :porygon-z:

The only reasonable way I had left of beating Gengar was Incin's Knock Off. All I could really do was pray that somehow the AI would double-target Fini and Incineroar would get to move, so I Protected Fini and Knocked Off. Of course, just like on turn 2, the AI targeted what was in guaranteed OHKO range, and doubled up Incin, who went down to Sludge Bomb.

Turn 6: :tapu-fini: vs. :gengar-mega: :porygon-z:

Almost poetically, Fini reminded me how incredible she was at tanking everything by first tanking the Sludge Bomb and eating its Berry for the last time, then actually managing to tank Porygon-Z's Thunderbolt as well, before hitting Gengar with the hottest Scald of its life, which did leave a burn. Sadly, Gengar's Sludge Bomb had poisoned Fini, and that finished her off. Things just aren't the same, without Misty Terrain...

Aftermath:

I can't say I have genuine, huge regrets; of course, I'd love to have the chance to go back and make the proper switches on turn 2. The fault for losing definitely lies on me and not the team, but it wasn't a huge, glaring misplay, and to be honest, I was probably a bit overconfidant since I was against Ezra, which was usually just a walk in the park. It's just the kind of misplay that's bound to happen among thousands of battles. After that one misplay, I did give myself the best chances to win, which I'm happy about. Doing the mock battles also made me feel better, since all of them ended in a breeze.

I've been missing this team and streak ever since. How pathetic... it's been about 5 months, and I haven't yet fully mourned my loss! The time investment needed to reach such heights with this type of team is something I'm not sure I'll ever have the patience to go through again. I had a lot of fun in the process, and it's likely that this team and streak will just remain as my fondest memory of playing Pokémon from now on.

Farewell, ZapFini, it's been real good.
 
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I'd suggest we have a separate category for streaks that technically haven't been terminated yet, but aren't being continued actively. For instance, my Super Singles streak has stalled at 2100 wins for well over a year and a half at this point, and I have no plans of returning to it within any time I can foresee (mainly due to the fact that I'm focused on gen 4 frontier whenever I do have the time to do facilities). However, I'll probably want to finish it properly at some point, so I wouldn't mark it as truly done yet.
 
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I was on my 166th battle and confident that I can go all the way into the 200th battle to get the rare berry when I suddenly I ran into this Ace Trainer who leads with a Dugtrio with Fissure. I did everything I can to avoid getting OHKOed but he was still able to hit not just one, but TWO FISSURES! FROM A FREAKIN DUGTRIO!

So yeah, screw Battle Tree.

P.S. my last mon is a Scarfedchomp that finally killed that 3 sausages but too unfortunate because AIs remaining mons are both Flying-types (Noivern, Talonflame)
 

Eisenherz

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For instance, my Super Singles streak has stalled at 2100 wins for well over a year and a half at this point, and I have no plans of returning to it within any time I can foresee (mainly due to the fact that I'm focused on gen 4 frontier whenever I do have the time to do facilities). However, I'll probably want to finish it properly at some point, so I wouldn't mark it as truly done yet.
This is a perfect example of why this rule has been added though... you say "no plans of returning to it within any time I can foresee". Even though you have the intention of one day returning to it, it's a very vague one and there is absolutely no certainty you will actually ever get to it, which means it could stay there, unfinished, for years to come; exactly what this rule is there to trying to prevent.

The idea is not to force you to play it a ton asap until you lose, but if you want to have an ongoing streak listed on the leaderboard, it only make sense that you should show a minimum of activity for it to stay listed as such. Giving an update every 6 months is not even asking for much, you don't need to have 1000 new battles played every time, I'm just asking for updates as a proof people still care and will return to it. Surely if you care enough to have it onoing and return to it someday, it's worth having a reminder in your calendar every 6 months to post with an update here? It really isn't asking for much, and it will allow us to close some of the streaks that would otherwise remain "ongoing" until smogon dies.
 
Hello there, first-time poster here. I’d like to report my completed streak of 882 wins for Ultra Sun Super Singles, using Garchomp / Mega Scizor / Tapu Fini.

First of all, I’d like to thank iVolke for this team (and by extension Hamber and Lassi, for their tweaks, records, and write-ups). This is a pretty fun team to use with its synergies and general strength against the Tree. I like that its main strategy doesn’t involve setting up for 10+ turns, and can sometimes end the battle within 4 or 5 turns, which makes the team that much better and much less grindy.

On a tangent, I’d also like to thank Eisenherz for his Dusknoir/Silvally/Snorlax/Mimikyu Doubles team. I love how unique this team and its strategies are, and it was nice to use from time to time to break up the monotony of Singles attempts. It’s definitely fun to use, though I never got especially far with it.

My Story
I first started messing with the Tree about 3 years ago in Moon, trying out my own teams to see how far I could get. Then about 2 years ago, after consistently failing to achieve 200 wins with any team I could throw together, I started looking for resources about climbing the Tree and found this thread. Hamber’s team stuck out to me as a non-grindy team with a good streak, so I started grinding with a carbon copy of the team, move-for-move and stat-for-stat. I think I got to 200 wins within a couple of months and my goal quickly shifted to 300. How much time it would take and how difficult achieving that goal would turn out to be, I couldn’t have known.

I wasn’t initially going to submit any records since my goals and achievements with the Tree have always been personal, with the caveat that ever since I learned about this thread I’ve had a standard to compare against. I finally hit my goal of 300, and wanted to play out the streak to see how far it would go if I let it die naturally (turns out the death wouldn’t be natural, I would actually murder it myself). However, once I started approaching 500 wins with this streak, I decided I wanted to submit it. After finishing near 900 it’s just slightly disappointing to me that I couldn’t hit 1000, but surpassing 300 and 500 is such a huge achievement for me and I wanted to share about my success.

The Team
Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Jolly Nature
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Substitute

Scizor-Mega
Adamant Nature
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SpD
- Bullet Punch
- Brutal Swing
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Sitrus Berry
Modest Nature
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 172 SpA / 84 Spe
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Grass Knot
- Calm Mind
Garchomp
Level 50:
183 / 182 / 116 / X / 105 / 169

Scizor (non-Mega)
Level 50:
176 / 167 / 120 / X / 132 / 85

Tapu Fini
Level 50:
177 / X / 135 / 150 / 150 / 116
Level 100:
344 / X / 266 / 295 / 296 / 227

Team Details
The Garchomp and Scizor sets are identical to Hamber’s, except at one point I moved 8 of Scizor’s HP EVs to Attack since those EVs don’t contribute to Roost’s HP gain. These are miniscule changes in stats, so they don’t matter much. Recently I’ve been wondering if there’s any merit to putting those 8 EVs in Speed and Defense instead. But an extra HP like in Hamber’s spread definitely isn’t a bad use of those EVs. Maybe someone experienced in Tree stats could give me an argument for the best spread.

Anyways, EV minutiae aside, the main difference in this team comes from Tapu Fini. At some point in my road-to-300 grind I decided that I absolutely hated getting locked into a move with Specs, and wanted to find a set that didn’t use them. I thought about swapping Fini out for another Pokémon, but its Misty Terrain and type synergy with the rest of the team were too good to pass up. So I decided on Calm Mind (CM) as a new option for the set since it replicates the functionality of Specs, with a Sp. Defense boost as a bonus. CM would replace Ice Beam, because, as Hamber wrote, it’s the least-used move, and even super-effective Ice Beams fail to KO targets. Grass Knot also has very low usage, but was still very desirable to beat Gastrodon and Swampert. To drop Specs, Fini would run a Sitrus Berry, which would boost its chances of successfully setting up CM. Fini was also already fully invested in HP, so the HP gain from the Sitrus Berry would be maximized. I went with Sitrus Berry’s instantaneous recovery over Leftovers since Leftovers would be too slow against most threatening opponents, especially in a 3v3 format where battles are short. Also, against opponents that Fini would benefit from Leftovers more, Fini can beat them just fine without turns and turns of Leftovers recovery. Finally, after an embarrassingly long time, I figured out that the EV spread could be optimized to get a few more points, and changed it to the current one. Only now when I’m writing this up did I notice turskain's comment right underneath Hamber’s first streak submission, explaining exactly this. Cool. I should read more things more often. Like with Scizor, 8 HP EVs do nothing towards Sitrus Berry recovery, and could be moved around. But Fini has also lived at 1 HP just often enough for me to never want to change that. Or maybe my sample size is too large.

There’s three main aspects that make this Fini set great in practice.
Of course, the flexibility in being able to switch between moves is the defining feature of this set, and while Fini does fine either choice’d into a single move or switching, every bad situation from getting choice’d is completely avoided. This lets Fini be more flexible in not only her choice of moves, but her choices with switching out or fainting.
Secondly, the 25% extra HP is such a boon, especially when combined with gaining Sp. Defense stages. This is great whether she uses the berry to effectively set up CM(s), or to better survive stray Electric, Grass, Poison, or strong neutral moves. It adds both to her longevity against weaker opponents, and her survivability against powerful ones.
Finally, the access to CM. While she can use CM to simply regain the power lost from Specs, she can also set up multiple CMs against many opponents that can’t hit for much damage, mostly Water-types. Honestly I have lost many streaks due to being greedy by going after too many CM boosts, but I’ve started to figure out just when to use them, even when that’s no boosts at all. Generally the number of CMs to use is the number to just barely one or two-shot the current opponent, assuming the set-up is relatively safe. It’s a balancing act to get this right, but it usually works very well.
Of course, there are a couple of downsides to this Tapu Fini set, too. The biggest one is that the instant +1 Sp. Attack from Specs is sometimes missed. This creates threats in Gyarados and Articuno-2, and increases the threats of Aerodactyl, Raikou, and Landorus. Also, since Fini uses turns setting up CM, Misty Terrain will effectively expire sooner, which mainly affects Scizor’s status protection.

As far as notes on how to play Garchomp and Scizor and why the sets are what they are, I’d like to defer to Hamber’s write-up. Those are excellent notes, and I remember that those pointers helped me out a lot early on when I first started learning this team, and continue to even now.
I would like to add one thing about Garchomp, however. At some point I realized that I hardly ever clicked on Devastating Drake, saving it for some hypothetical threat. Saving Drake’s single use isn’t inherently a bad thing, but every battle that goes by where Garchomp doesn’t use it, it’s like it’s not using an item. Additionally, using Drake to make the game a 3v2 is a fantastic position to be in with this team. After this realization I started doing calcs on certain opponents and wrote up a spreadsheet just for Devastating Drake to help figure out exactly what it can OHKO, and it turns out it’s a significant portion of the Tree. It’s very rare to have a threat that can’t be taken out simply due to Drake getting used too early.

Threat List
The majority of my losses have been when one of my team’s members is fainted, and the opponent is a Pokemon that can outspeed the entire team and has too strong of a type advantage against my remaining Pokemon, making a comeback impossible. So, many of the threats on this list are fast Pokemon. Even then, most every Pokemon on the Tree will lose if it switches into a +6 Attack Scizor or the rarer Garchomp-behind-Substitute. However, there needs to be a way to deal with whatever the Tree has when it comes out.
This list only covers sets that appear at battles 40 and higher. The threats are generally sorted from most threatening to least threatening. This order is fairly subjective, but I also roughly know what has caused me losses and scary situations, so there is some objectivity here.
Pinsir-3 (Mega)
This thing’s Thrash hits way too hard, and puts all members of the team in immediate danger since it outspeeds everything. Thankfully it can’t OHKO anything, but crits will. It does more than half HP damage on Scizor, so it’s not the best idea to try to stall to get Pinsir to hit itself in confusion. Fini can live one Thrash, but it definitely can’t switch in on it. I think the best way to beat this thing is to use Drake as soon as any Pinsir comes out, even it turns out to be the significantly less dangerous Pinsir-4.

Articuno-2
It’s hard to deal with Articuno-2. Garchomp can’t set up or use Drake without dying, so I have to swap out. Fini can’t effectively beat Articuno-2 in time before Sheer Cold is used, so the end goal is Scizor. Articuno will always use Ice Beam on the first swapping turn, which carries the 1/10 risk of a freeze on Scizor. I can try to avoid this with Misty Terrain by swapping from Garchomp into Fini into Scizor, but it’s super dangerous for Scizor if Articuno uses Lock-On on the turn that it switches in. I think I’ve had times when Articuno-2 uses something other than Lock-On during the switch from Fini to Scizor, which is good for Scizor, but seems unlikely, and my memory might be bad. If it does use Lock-On on the Fini to Scizor switch, I can always swap back to Fini and let it get KO’d, allowing Scizor get at least one Swords Dance and KO’ing Articuno with Bullet Punch before Sheer Cold gets used. But trading Fini for a +2 Scizor isn’t a trade I like to make. I’m not sure. Hence why it’s hard to deal with Articuno-2.

Gyarados, both sets
While not impressive by themselves, both Gyarados sets can set up with Dragon Dance to great effect. Also, if Gyarados has Intimidate, Garchomp can’t OHKO it with Drake, so Garchomp has to switch out, since it fears Garchomp-3’s Ice Fang. Furthermore, even if Gyarados doesn’t have Intimidate, Drake only OHKOs Mega Gyarados-4 5/16ths of the time. All of this means that Gyarados will almost always live on its first turn, and I’m pretty sure it always goes for Dragon Dance that first turn since Ice Fang can’t OHKO Garchomp. I typically switch to Fini to deal with Gyarados. CM then 2HKO Gyarados-3 with Moonblast, or just 2HKO Mega Gyarados with Moonblast If something does happen to Fini, Scizor might be able to finish off Gyarados-3, or Garchomp can deal with Gyarados-4.

Salamence-4 (Mega)
This thing is scary since it outspeeds and its Double Edge damage is terrifyingly high, although thankfully the potential Intimidate doesn’t matter too often. It carries Dragon Rush which OHKOs Garchomp, and its Double Edge does more than half of Scizor’s HP. Always switch into Tapu Fini, since it will use Dragon Rush on the first turn if it’s Salamence-4, or Fini can set up many CMs against Salamence-3. From here, Salamence-4 will use Double Edge, giving itself lots of recoil, putting itself in range for Moonblast to KO. In scenarios where it crits the Double Edge on Fini, Scizor can use one Swords Dance to have a guaranteed Bullet Punch KO after both instances of recoil. Alternatively, Misty Terrain is up so Garchomp won’t get OHKO’d by Dragon Rush. The AI accounts for this though, and will use Double Edge against a Garchomp in Misty Terrain, which Garchomp can live at full health and use Drake to KO Salamence, but will leave Garchomp at low HP. In other weird situations, Scizor can spam Roost to whittle down Mence with recoil.

Aerodactyl-3 (Mega)
This set carries both Fire AND Thunder Fang, so Scizor and Fini don’t like to stay in against it, and it also outspeeds the team. Garchomp can beat it with Drake and Rough Skin, but takes a fair amount of damage in the process. Against Garchomp, it will always use Sky Drop, against Fini, it will always use Thunder Fang, and against Scizor, it will always use Fire Fang. Aside from using Drake, one way to beat Aerodactyl-4 is first, switch to Fini, and Aerodactyl will use Sky Drop. Sky Drop will go first and Fini should use Surf. Next, swap back to Garchomp so that Thunder Fang does nothing. Next, switch to Scizor, and Aerodactyl will use Sky Drop. Scizor can either Roost or Swords Dance after Sky Drop damages it. Finally, Mega Evolve and finish Aerodactyl off with a Bullet Punch. Unfortunately this particular strategy only works when all team members are alive. On the first turn when the Aerodactyl set is unknown, Fini is still a good switch since it can just Surf against Aerodactyl-4.

Raikou, all sets
Raikou is more annoying than anything else, at least when I’m not paying attention. I like to watch streams while grinding the Tree, so if I’m not paying close attention, I’ll miss both the trainer’s name and the prompt indicating the opponent has an Air Balloon. Even without distraction from important details, Raikou has options that can make it tough to deal with. First of all, it outspeeds everything. There’s Reflect on the Air Balloon’d Raikou-4, Shuca Berry on Raikou-1, and all sets have either Extrasensory or Shadow Ball which damage Garchomp more than I’d like. Fini’s not well equipped to deal with Electric-types, but can usually survive at least one attack and do just under half of Raikou’s max HP with Moonblast if unboosted. Scizor can try to stall and set up, but Paralysis could always happen, whether from Thunder Wave, Thunder, or Thunderbolt. If the set is Raikou-4 (Air Balloon), I’ve decided that switching into Fini, back to Garchomp, to Scizor, Scizor uses Roost until Misty Terrain and Reflect expire, then Brutal Swing on the turn that Raikou uses Reflect. Swap into Garchomp, use Swords Dance and EQ. Unfortunately this means that the opponent is left with a lingering Reflect for one turn, but Garchomp is at +2 Attack. Otherwise, for Raikou 1, 2, or 3, use Earthquake and hope it doesn’t have Shuca Berry.

Gengar, both sets
Both sets outspeed the entire team, and with strong Shadow Balls, both sets having coverage that hit Fini super-effectively, and Gengar-3 having Dazzling Gleam, both sets will at least do moderate damage against any team member. Compounding the problems is there’s no way to know whether it will Mega Evolve until after a move is made. I’ve settled in on letting Garchomp just take a hit and returning an Earthquake for a KO, since it survives every attack both sets can use, assuming no crit happens. Scizor can deal with Gengar reasonably well too, and it switches into Gengar's moves that target Fini perfectly. Might as well set up 1 Swords Dance and Bullet Punch, since Brutal Swing OHKOs and a SE Brutal Swing = +2 Bullet Punch. Unfortunately Gengar is not uncommon thanks to Plumeria.

Metagross-4 (Mega)
It outspeeds everything, hits very hard, and lives Garchomp’s Earthquake. There are a couple of options to deal with it. One is to have Garchomp eat the first-turn Meteor Mash and use Earthquake, leaving both Metagross and Garchomp at low health. If Garchomp stays in it's a double-KO because of Rough Skin. Alternatively, swap to Scizor after Garchomp’s Earthquake. Unfortunately it usually uses Meteor Mash here since it usually doesn't roll high enough to prefer Bullet Punch. If Metagross didn't get an Attack boost, congrats, it's setup fodder. Against Scizor, Metagross will always spam Brick Breaks, and Scizor can then very safely use Roosts and work its way towards Swords Dances and a Bullet Punch, even if Brick Break crits. Even if Garchomp faints to a crit, Scizor can set up just the same. In the worst cases, any given Meteor Mash has an 18% chance of getting an Attack boost on the turn Garchomp uses Earthquake or when Scizor has to switch into a Meteor Mash. Scizor can still set up since +1 Brick Breaks do less than half HP damage, but the potential for crits make this situation scary. Any +2 or better Bullet Punch will KO after EQ. It's probably best to sac Garchomp and remove Metagross if it gets the turn 1 Attack boost, unfortunately. For other options, Scizor can just switch into a Metagross blindly but things can go bad if it's the Mega set and it gets the Attack boost since it's not at low health.

Alakazam-3 (Mega)
Outspeeds and hits its Focus Blasts way too often. Garchomp can return a Drake after taking a Psychic, but hopefully Garchomp hasn’t taken too much damage already. At full health, Garchomp can live most Psychic crits, so any given Psychic only has a 1.8% chance to OHKO the entire HP bar. Alternatively, Alakazam is a bit of a setup opportunity. Scizor can swap in and PP stall the Focus Blasts, then work its way towards +6 Attack. Just hope that the Focus Blasts or eventual Shadow Balls don’t drop its Sp. Defense, but fortunately Alakazam also likes to use Grass Knots once Focus Blast is done. Scizor can work around -1 Sp. Defense, but it’s better switching to Fini and back to Scizor for safety. Or, Scizor might have used a couple of Swords Dances, and can just Bullet Punch Alakazam once its Sp. Defense gets dicey. +2 Bullet Punch OHKOs Mega Alakazam.

Landorus, all sets
Landorus is surprisingly annoying. Garchomp does outspeed all sets, but the Choice Scarf’d Landorus-2 is an exception. Landorus-1 carries Bright Powder and Fissure, and Landorus-4 has Explosion. Also, any of these sets can hit moderately hard, but Landorus-3 can use Sandstorm, pushing its Earthquakes to dangerously high power, especially if team members have already taken damage. I think Garchomp should always scout Landorus with Substitute. Garchomp can easily set up against Landorus-1, and ignores the Bright Powder with Drake. Against Landorus-2, Garchomp will take an Earth Power, then use Substitute, meaning it can safely use Drake on the next turn. For Landorus-3, ideally it uses Protect, but it also lives an unboosted Drake, so be careful. Landorus-4 would ideally use Explosion, but I think it rarely goes for it turn one. Fini can do decently well against Landorus with Surf, but it can’t always OHKO, and it usually takes a good chunk of damage in the process. Not my favorite option. But at the end of the day, I can’t complain since the Tree holds off from using Landorus-Therian.

Tornadus-1
I’ve never really thought of Tornadus as much of a threat, more so an annoyance that can just get OHKO’d with Drake, until one day this set outsped and OHKO’d Garchomp with its Supersonic Skystrike. Then I started paying attention to it. Turns out this thing has an 81.3% chance to OHKO Garchomp. So if the opposing trainer can carry Tornadus-1, I think it’s best to swap in Fini and let it tank the hit. From there, Tornadus will follow up with a Hurricane, and Fini should use Moonblast. Fini will probably get KO'd by the Hurricane if it hits, so back to Garchomp to use Drake. Sometimes Hurricane will miss or Skystrike and Hurricane low roll and Fini will live, in this case Moonblast again. Either Fini will KO Tornadus, or Scizor gets a free switch. For the other sets, Garchomp can just use Drake, or use the above strategy and have Fini deal with Tornadus; she matches up a little better when she's not taking a Z move.

Togekiss, both* sets
*(Perri’s Togekiss-2 doesn’t count)
The biggest pitfall with this opponent is the idea that Scizor can swap in and set up against another Fairy-type. The 1/3 chance that Togekiss can have Serene Grace boosting its Air Slashes to a 57% flinch rate means that it’s far too dangerous for Scizor to try setting up. Even if it has one of its other abilities 2/3rds of the time, it can still get flinches just the same. Garchomp can’t touch this thing, and it outspeeds Fini, so Scizor is the main option, unless Fini has some CM boosts and doesn’t mind taking a hit or two. I like to just switch into Scizor and use two Bullet Punches to deal with Togekiss.

Arcanine, both sets
Garchomp normally deals with Arcanine with its Earthquake, but if it has Intimidate, Garchomp can’t OHKO it. As a Water and Fairy-type, Fini wants to swap in against Arcanine-4 since it’s a Fire-type that likes to use Close Combat and All-Out Pummeling, but it wants to avoid Arcanine-3 since it always goes for Sunny Day on the first turn and carries Solar Beam. I’ve found that using Swords Dance against Intimidate Arcanine works well if Garchomp is at full HP. Arcanine-4 also carries Extreme Speed, which can definitely catch me off guard if I’m not thinking about it, especially with how much damage it can do against Garchomp (23.4 - 27.8%). Also, pay attention to the trainer name since many of the sun team trainers only carry the Sunny Day set; it doesn't have to be a coin flip and Swords Dance is best for these.

Noivern, both sets
Noivern can be easily dealt with by switching into Fini and using an unboosted Moonblast, but if Fini already fainted it’s very tricky for Garchomp and Scizor to deal with. And even though Fini answers Noivern, Noivern-3 could still makes things annoying by getting one or two Air Slash flinches. Noivern outspeeds Garchomp, and both sets pack Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse. Flamethrower has a 6.3% (10.2% including crit) chance to OHKO Scizor, but it’s not like living one Flamethrower is going to do much good, because the best bet is for Scizor to use two Bullet Punches and pray that one of them crits. Dragon Pulse does (83 - 98.3%) damage against Garchomp, so hope that Garchomp hasn’t taken any damage this battle, or that a crit doesn’t happen. If Misty Terrain is still up when Garchomp switches in, then it has a much better chance to make a comeback.

Whimsicott-3
This set is more of an annoyance than a threat. But since it’s a Fairy-Grass-type, it shouldn’t even be a problem; Scizor can just set up on it, right? Sure, but it’s slow and painful to do so, since Whimsicott-3 carries priority Cotton Guard so it’s like Swords Dances do nothing against it. Throw in priority Substitutes and Leech Seed, and this thing becomes a slog to work around. It’s such a juxtaposition to how easy Whimsicott-4 is to deal with. But it turns out that Whimsicott has fairly below-average HP and Sp. Defense, and Whimsicott-3 doesn’t have an attacking Grass move, so some combination of Scizor’s Bullet Punches and Fini’s Moonblasts easily gets around this thing.

Milestone Battles
Many of the below Battle Videos had to be removed because of the arbitrary 10 upload limit. I'm happy to provide any of the removed videos upon request.

Battle 300 vs. Sina [R7DG-WWWW-WWXE-87DH]

Battle 400 vs. Cynthia [Code removed to make room]

Battle 500 vs. Gimsley [Code removed to make room]

Battle 600 vs. Cynthia [Code removed to make room]

Battle 700 vs. Grimsley [Code removed to make room]

Battle 800 vs. Sina [Code removed to make room]

Scary Battles
Battle 529: Jo – Articuno, Latias, Milotic
Unfortunately I did not save this replay since I just hit next battle out of habit and was still shaking off my nerves. I realized this right away and wrote up what happened.

Battle Summary:
Jo leads with Articuno. Swap to Scizor. Articuno uses Ice Beam, and it freezes.
Scizor doesn’t thaw out, so Articuno can Lock-On and Sheer Cold for the KO.
Swap to Garchomp because I know that certain Articuno sets have a 15/16 chance of getting one-shot by Devastating Drake, but I didn’t realize that Articuno-2 will survive it. It loses about 3/4 of its HP from Drake and KO’s Garchomp with Ice Beam.
Fini is my final Pokemon. Now I look up Articuno-2’s set and speed, and realize that Fini outspeeds. Since I know it will go into Lock-On and Sheer Cold, I CM during the Lock-On turn and Surf to KO on the next.
Latias is sent out next, which uses CM and Fini uses Moonblast, and does over half HP damage.
For about the next 5 turns, Latias uses Recover and Fini uses Moonblast, and Latias is eventually KO’d because of the damage outpace. Once I knew Latias was stuck using Recover, I thought about going for a 2nd CM, but I didn’t want Fini to take any damage in case I needed her to clutch out a potentially scary one-on-one with the last Pokemon.
Thankfully the final Pokemon is Milotic, which a +1 Fini can easily 2-shot with Grass Knot.

Battle Notes:
Please see my notes on Articuno-2 as to why I sent out Scizor and risked a freeze.
When it happened, I thought swapping Garchomp in after Scizor fainted was a brain-dead lapse in judgment since I didn’t bother to look up Articuno’s set details once I saw Ice Beam, and Drake was only able to damage Articuno without KO’ing it. However, once the battle was over, I realized that likely the only reason I won was because Fini was able to get a free CM against a damaged Articuno and proceed to win. In the other scenario where I sent out Fini after Scizor fainted, it couldn’t have two-shot Articuno without a crit, and Garchomp would have had a very tough time against Latias and especially Milotic since it likely would have had to use Drake against Articuno. I got very lucky to turn around this battle.


Battle 609: Niara – Incineroar, Swampert, Feraligatr [G39W-WWWW-WWXE-87DZ]

Battle Summary:
Niara leads with an Incineroar that doesn’t have Intimidate, so I happily KO it with Earthquake.
Next is Swampert, specifically Mega Swampert. I switch out Garchomp for Tapu Fini, and Swampert uses Earthquake, damaging Fini down to 38% health, and Sitrus Berry healing it up to 63%.
Fini uses CM, and Swampert uses Rain Dance, so Swampert now outspeeds.
Swampert uses Earthquake and damages Fini down to 8% health, and Fini uses Grass Knot for a KO.
Finally, Feraligatr. I leave in Fini since I’m at such an advantage and getting a free switch after a faint seems good. Feraligatr uses Waterfall and KO’s Fini.
I send out Scizor since Misty Terrain is still up and would weaken Garchomp’s Devastating Drake. Feraligatr uses Substitute and Scizor uses Brutal Swing, and breaks the Substitute.
Feraligatr uses Dragon Dance, and Scizor uses Brutal Swing, damaging Feraligatr for more than 3/8 of its health, leaving Feraligatr at less than 3/8 health.
Feraligatr uses Waterfall, and Scizor wins with Brutal Swing.

Battle Notes:
This battle made me nervous only because of the last Pokemon, which is surprising considering I went into it with a 3-1 lead, though Mega Swampert basically KO’d Fini. Once Feraligatr set up a Dragon Dance, I was scared of Waterfall flinches, since Scizor would only live one and not two Waterfalls. For the last turn, Feraligatr’s last bit of health wasn’t low enough where Scizor could KO Feraligatr with a Bullet Punch if the flinch occurred, so it came down to not flinching and KO’ing with Brutal Swing, or Garchomp not flinching, since Feraligatr now outspeeds everything. Granted, the chance of flinches happening were a bit lower than normal (about 13.3%) since Feraligatr can have Sheer Force. The better play would have been to switch in Garchomp after Fini fainted and Substituted to burn the last turn of terrain. What if it’s Feraligatr-3 and it Ice Punches on the Substitute turn? Drake next turn. Uses Substitute? Earthquake, then Drake. Uses Dragon Dance? Drake, since Sub is still up. There’s a few exceptions to this logic, but it would have been very free with the Rough Skin as chip damage and a Scizor in the back.


Battle 784: Poppy – Metagross, Gyarados, Kommo-o [K6HW-WWWW-WWXE-87E2]

Battle Summary:
Poppy leads with Metagross, so I swap out to Scizor to let it set up Swords Dances and use Roost to ignore damage. Unfortunately Metagross Mega evolves, and it gets the 18% chance of both hitting Scizor and getting an Attack boost.
Thankfully Scizor can still spam Roost and use the rare Swords Dance to set up against the barrage of boosted Brick Breaks, eventually KO’ing Metagross with a Brutal Swing, ending up around half health. It’s pretty lucky that Metagross never scored a crit here, which is why this was so scary.
Next is Gyarados, with Intimidate. I think I had this idea that it could Mega Evolve and resist Brutal Swing, which is an obvious mistake since Metagross already Mega Evolved. I swap to Fini and Gyarados uses Dragon Dance.
Gyarados uses Stone Edge, leaving Fini just above half health, so Sitrus Berry doesn’t get eaten, and Fini uses Moonblast, also leaving Gyarados just above half health. I want Fini to use CM since there’s little difference between going for two Moonblasts or a CM and a Moonblast. This was dumb, since Gyarados uses Dragon Dance.
Gyarados KO’s Fini with Stone Edge.
I send in Garchomp. Gyarados goes for its third Dragon Dance, and Garchomp KO’s with Devastating Drake.
Finally, Kommo-o, which Garchomp cleanly KO’s with Outrage.

Battle Notes:
I don’t have any extra notes since I put my thought process in the above paragraph, besides this one: shoutouts to the AI for overextending its set-ups sometimes (a third Dragon Dance!) and letting me get away with things that are supposed to be punished.

The Loss
Battle 883: Victor – Mesprit, Latios, Uxie [LR7G-WWWW-WWXE-87E6]

Battle Summary:
Since it’s a Mesprit lead, Garchomp uses Substitute to scout the set. Unfortunately it’s Blizzard, and it hits.
I swap out to Tapu Fini. Mesprit uses Blizzard and does marginal damage.
Fini uses CM, and Mesprit uses Thunder, leaving Fini at 69% health after Sitrus Berry.
Mesprit uses Protect, blocking Fini’s Moonblast.
Fini uses Moonblast, damaging Mesprit for over half its health, and Mesprit uses Thunder again, leaving Fini at 29%.
Fini then KO’s Mesprit.
Latios is sent out, and it uses Thunder to KO Fini.
I send out Scizor to set up on Latios. Latios uses Thunder and crits, leaving Scizor at about 25%, and Scizor uses Swords Dance.
Scizor uses Bullet Punch and leaves Latios with just a little HP, and Latios KO’s Scizor with Thunder.
I’m down to Garchomp. I use Devastating Drake to finish off Latios, but Victor switches it out for Uxie. This does a large chunk of damage, which is perfect for finishing off Uxie with Outrage, since getting stuck in Outrage against Latios isn’t bad.
Garchomp uses Outrage and Uxie is KO’d.
Latios is sent out, and KO’s Garchomp with Draco Meteor.

Battle Notes:
I think all my plays were pretty correct until Latios came out. Maybe I could have used Scizor instead of Fini against Mesprit, since it probably could have set up for a sweep, but going for Fini’s CM isn’t bad, even though Thunder can sting. Getting a free switch from Fini fainting was probably smart, since I didn’t want Scizor to take any damage from a switch, and the Mega Latios set would have been problematic for Garchomp, probably. After this, the battle went completely downhill. My fatal flaw came from not looking up the Latios set at this point, or at the very least not knowing that Latios only had one set with Thunder, and that that set was the Choice Specs set. I should have had Scizor spam Roost to deplete Thunder’s PP. Even my final turns with Garchomp should have taken all this set info about Latios into account, but I didn’t. At the very least I should have realized that Latios outsped Garchomp and gone for a desperation Substitute against Uxie after using Drake on it, since I knew that swapping out meant Latios was choice’d. But for whatever reason I just assumed Garchomp would outspeed since I know it outspeeds half of the Latios sets. Also, all my problems could have been avoided if I had just looked up Victor’s possible sets early on, since he doesn’t have access to all four Latios sets. At the very least, a little bit of luck by getting any of the opponents’ attacks to miss would have been nice. This was a very disappointing loss since I can’t just blame luck, only my own incompetence.


Thank you for reading this far. I realize this is a lot of words for this post, but I wanted to be detailed. Hopefully someone finds this interesting.

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(edited on 2022/5/15 to add final stats, comment on battle videos, and correct and update some of the threat strategies)
 
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