SS PU Chasing Daybreak

[Hera]

(skip to 2:15 if you really want to chase daybreak)
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Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to look at this RMT! Honestly, it's a bit late (I think). I was debating on whether to release this before or after shifts because this team contains Xatu, which was projected to rise after shifts, and I wanted to grab one more replay before finishing it up. Luckily, Drud pulled through and graciously allowed me to play him for a replay. This team is yet another culmination of 3 months of teambuilding, playing, and learning more about the tier and how to play better. It's something I'm very proud of, or at least proud enough to write this whole thing. Sorry if this intro kinda sucks, I'm bad at writing them. This is also my 250th post, so that's cool I guess.

Recruiting The Students
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The very first version of this team looked widely different in terms of the Pokemon used, but the structure was the same: an offensive Water-Grass core supported by a solid defensive backbone, removal, and a revenge killer to force out what the team could not take repeatedly of, such as Charizard's Hurricanes and Archeops' Earthquakes. Kingler was the Water-type sweeper here, with Whimsicott able to deal with bulky Water-types with a powerful Energy Ball or pivot it in on obvious Zard switch-ins (Kingler had just enough bulk to live an Air Slash, which is what offensive Charizards were running before Hurricane became popular). Druddigon and Togedemaru consisted of the defensive backbone, with Druddigon providing Rocks while Togedemaru was the obligatory Steel that checked Whimsicott, Ribombee, and Frosmoth among others. Hitmontop was the removal of the team, capable of threatening the most popular Fighting resists with a powerful Triple Axel. Lycanroc rounded out the team as a revenge killer capable of dealing with strong Screens threats such as Charizard and Omastar.



After the bans of Virizion, Kingler, Clawitzer, and Omastar, the team went through a restructuring to better stack up against the changing meta. Before Arctovish dropped, I used Basculin on the team to replicate the success I found with Kingler, but its power was lacking even with Adaptability Liquidation and its bulk/speed tier simply wasn't enough. With Arctovish however, the team took a new direction, banking on a powerful Fishious Rend to check pretty much everything slower than Arctovish. Sandaconda and Gigalith replaced Druddigon and Togedemaru as the defensive backbone, with Gigalith being the Rocker while Sandaconda took a more SpDef route with its defensive Coil set. Xatu was now the removal, as it was able to take advantage of common Rockers such as Claydol, Regirock, and Sandaconda. Finally, Passimian replaced Lycanroc, as Screens was banned and revenge killing Charizard, while still useful, was no longer as necessary due to Gigalith checking it.



Throughout the weeks after the changes, very few more have taken place. However, there are two major ones of note. The first is replacing Sandaconda with Ferroseed, as Sandaconda easily invited in Alolan Exeggutor and forced undesirable 50/50s between a Gigalith switch-in and a Xatu switch-in. Ferroseed was able to scout whatever Eggy clicked while providing in other ways such as hazards support and a secondary Ribombee check. The second was removing Xatu's item. While this may sound odd, between this change and the addition of Ferroseed, Froslass is no longer allowed to just spam Poltergeist and is forced to click either Triple Axel (and take 3/8ths of it health away while being forced out by Ferroseed) or Trick (which makes it much easier to deal with via Gigalith).

The Strike Force​

i will break you (Arctovish) @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Icicle Crash
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs

I tend to be easily drawn to big numbers when building. The capabilities of a massive nuke are not only fun to use, but also requires a specific teambuilding mindset that I love. Arctovish is a prime example of a niche nuke that requires dedicated team support but does wonders once it is on the field. Everyone in PU talks about the lack of Ghost resists in the tier, however, another issue is the lack of Water resists in the tier. And conveniently, the ones that do, for the most part, fold to Arctovish's coverage and/or just Fishious Rend. Lanturn is cleanly 2HKOed unless running the unviable Water Absorb, Jellicent either wastes its Colbur Berry on Water Absorb sets after a Crunch and can't switch in again or, more often than not, is 2HKOed after Rocks on Cursed Body sets by Rend (if it's Boots Crunch 2HKOs anyway), Poliwrath is 2HKOed by Psychic Fangs, all Grass and Dragon types like Tangela or Druddigon do not want to take an Icicle Crash, and offensive resists like Croak or Lisk get nuked by coverage. The only 100% safe options in the tier are opposing Arctovish (uncommon, weak to Rocks) and Pyukumuku. Basically, Vish is good at nuking things.

pure grit (Ferroseed) @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Knock Off / Gyro Ball

Ferroseed is the first half of the defensive backbone in this team, providing its important Steel typing to check Faries, as well as Spikes to help chip down Arctovish checks. Rocks alone only go so far in being able to wear down Arctovish checks, and with a hazard stacking core, this provides the ability to deal with bulkier teams easier, as you can remove their items and continue to apply pressure. The spread allows Ferroseed to take 2 Specs Bug Buzzes from Ribombee, which, while rare, allows it to scout and pivot into Gigalith. This is mandatory if you're running Gyro Ball over Knock Off as I did at first, as you can check Ribombee with it, instead of sitting there and watching as it gets to +6, although Knock is more useful in a variety of matchups, from pressuring Zard to making sure Boots Jellicent can't try to proc Cursed Body on Arctovish.
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stay away (Whimsicott) (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Energy Ball
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- U-turn

Whimsicott is the perfect partner for Arctovish. It's an offensive Grass-type that can cover physically bulky mons and bulky Water-types, while Arctovish demolishes Fire and Steel types. Not on that, but U-turn allows it to pivot out of bad matchups, and bad matchups for Whimsicott are generally good matchups for Arctovish. Even outside of Arctovish, Whimsicott fills in many mandatory roles on the team. It checks Scrafty due to being a Fairy type, it revenge kills the scary offensive mons that sit between base 100-110 speed without being as committal as Passimian, it chips Steels along with Vish and Ferroseed, and its most important role is as a general breaker, capable of wearing down shared checks with Passimian and Arctovish.​

ready or not (Gigalith) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Protect
- Toxic

Behold, the best mon in the tier. Yes, Charizard sits atop the PU Viability Rankings and is clearly a top 3 mon, but in my opinion, Gigalith is the best because of its sheer splashablility and Sand's ability to dictate the pace of games. Gigalith can work on almost any playstyle barring hyper offense, and is the cornerstone of balance Rockers in the tier, right along with Sandaconda. You can seldom go wrong putting Gigalith on your team, and the fact that it is influencing meta trends such as the rise of SD Silvally-Steel, which completely trashes Gigalith, shows how influential Gigalith is. As for the set itself, it's quite standard, with my patented ToxTect still catching teams off guard. It pairs well with Ferroseed because, despite their awful Fighting-type weakness, they run Protect to scout what the Fighting types are going to click, and with Xatu in the back, you can take advantage of the fact every Passimian has to lock into U-turn or else you get a free turn. Toxicroak can be offensively pressured by either Xatu (if SD) or Whimsicott.

making me work (Passimian) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Earthquake

The other S Tier mon on the team, Passimian provides essential offensive glue, and demands respect on every team, lest Close Combat picks up the pieces after Arctovish and Whimsicott are done breaking everything. There isn't much to explain here because Passimian is very straightforward. CC, Knock, and U-turn are pretty much mandatory on every Passimian, but the 4th move is quite malleable depending on the team. Here, I chose Earthquake because revenge killing Zard and Ribombee with Rock Slide is not as important since Gigalith switches into both, and Gunk Shot to hit Fairies isn't important either because you just U-turn into Vish and OHKO Aromatisse after Rocks and U-turn chip. Meanwhile, Earthquake allows Passimian to hit Garbodor, who is otherwise unfazed by anything Passimian has.
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ill have your head (Xatu)
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Psychic
- Roost
- Teleport / Defog

And finally, we have Xatu, the obligatory hazards removal, but in this case, it's not running Defog, but rather an array of utility moves because Magic Bounce already blocks hazards. Xatu is great glue, and if you're lacking an idea of what to put into your last team slot, Xatu will not disappoint. Toxic lets it 1v1 every Rocker it can safely come in on, so Gigalith, Regirock, and Uxie. Teleport allows Arctovish or Passimian to get in for free and start claiming lives. Defog is something I run sometimes if I know my opponent likes offensive Rockers or I'm laddering, but often, Teleport is the better choice. Xatu is a very flexible mon in general due to its malleable bulk and speed tier, so I chose just enough to outspeed stuff like Adamant Flapple and put the rest into physical bulk. Something you may notice is that Xatu lacks any item. This is actually on purpose due to the popularity of Poltergeist breakers such as Froslass, Gourgeist forms, and Trevenant. Without an item, it can switch into the latter two safely at least once, while forcing Froslass to Triple Axel, which Ferroseed heavily punishes.
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Threatlist​

Rockers that beat Xatu

This is pretty obvious. The team lacks Defog and Xatu is your only way of stopping hazards, so basically any Rocker that beats Xatu is almost always going to get Rocks up. Since nothing here is running Boots and the main wallbreaker of this team is Arctovish, who is weak to Rocks, this is a big deal. HO Lead Archeops has an extremely powerful Head Smash to stop any attempt at blocking Rocks, Aggron does as well, and Rhydon has to take a Toxic but Stone Edge always OHKOs. Luckily, these are all uncommon Pokemon, especially at higher levels of play, so these shouldn't be major issues. Lycanroc should be here but you beat it since its only Rock STAB is Accelerock, which doesn't hit particularly hard.


Sticky Webs

Same deal as above. The most common Sticky Web setters, Galvantula and Vikavolt, both beat Xatu and can easily lay Webs. Again, since nothing is running Boots and your Scarfer is grounded, this makes it hard to play around. Webs aren't the most uncommon thing in the world, especially on ladder, but to make it easier to manage, Defog on Xatu is always an option. You beat Shuckle because it's mega passive and can't actually do anything to you beyond Final Gambit, but then the team is just 5 random breakers, which makes it easier to overwhelm.


Miracle Seed/Life Orb + Leaf Storm Exeggutor-A

Broken and banned mon, but while it was around, this specific variant just broke through the team. Specs could be dealt with because Protect was on 2 out of the 3 mons of the defensive core, and a resist to each of the moves it commonly runs was on the team. However, Miracle Seed and Life Orb completely threw this counterplay out of the window because it could just...switch moves. This made it very hard to work around. Something important to note is that it must have Leaf Storm (because Giga Drain doesn't 2HKO in Sand after Leftovers and Protect), and Gigalith can actually 1v1 the LO TR variant because it's usually running Draco Meteor as the nuke over Leaf Storm, although this isn't always the case,

Replays



I'm not going to hyper analyze all of these replays and painstakingly go through each turn (the EviGaro and bb skarm matches were for PU Seasonal btw). I just think these are neat replays against good players that shows off how the team takes advantage of common meta trends and smart play to do well. 3 out of 4 of these teams had a defensive Water resist (Guzzlord, Lanturn, utility Whimsicott), and seeing Arctovish cleanly 2HKOing Lanturn and doing around 75% to Whimsicott with only minor prediction is quite stunning. There are quite a few double switches and easy pivots from Whimsicott against Charizard to bring Arctovish in, which is probably the best way to get an Arctovish in. Despite half of these teams having Palossand, which directly threatens Xatu, Rocks were not a major factor for my side, as smart play meant that Arctovish was able to pressure the opposing Rockers (the crit against EviGaro was pure luck though) and rarely take hazards damage. I found it important to play aggressively and to constantly force options with Arctovish or Whimsicott, but this team could easily play the patient game, such as against bb skarm.

Importable


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Bonus: Really good Three Houses songs

Thanks for reading!