Creative Sets in Smogon Doubles (Updated for ORAS @ Post #83)

[Nollan]

Approved by Pocket, credit to whoever came up with this (not sure who tbh), and a special thanks to Bummer for the great art :)

​

With the ORAS games recently released, Smogon Doubles has had a lot of new threats thrown into the mix. The general purpose of this thread is to serve as a place for people to share and discuss innovative sets that have had consistent success in the current metagame.

What is a good creative moveset?

• It fulfills a role that sets it apart from others
• It is not incredibly common (i.e. don't post things like Substitute Heatran, Dragon Dance Salamence-Mega, etc)
• It has had some success. It is recommended that you post replays or logs to strengthen your case in a given set's viability.

Remember, this is a thread for both posting and reviewing.

What are some things that constitute a bad gimmick?

• Movesets that are not practical or are extremely outclassed by another Pokemon.
• Movesets that have a lack of consistency, e.g. Prankster Swagger spam, excessive use of set-up moves (Acid Armor + Calm Mind for instance), etc
• Tactics/Combos that revolve completely around one partner assisting another and are hence too difficult to pull off in most matches (Skill Swap + Slaking, Beat Up + Justified, etc)
• Usually sets involving stalling will be considered gimmicks, since there isn't enough time to pull stalling off in Doubles matches due to the fast-paced nature of the metagame
• No banned Pokemon, moves, or items should be posted in a set.
• As a last note, a good way to check whether a set is gimmicky if you aren't sure is to consider A) whether Taunt would shut your strategy down, and B) will this strategy take more than one turn to put into effect? If either of these are true it is likely (there are some exceptions to this) your set is in fact a gimmick

All posts are subject to moderation.​

Creative Sets Hall of Fame
~Nothing yet~​

For those not aware, the Hall of Fame keeps track of well built and effective innovative movesets for people to look at if they are searching for some unique ideas or just some simple inspiration.

 

[BlankZero]

I'll start this one off with Bulky Offensive Support Talonflame.

Talonflame @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / enough speed to creep either Garchomp(non Mega) or max Speed Tornadus / Rest in HP
Jolly Nature (needs it to creep Tornadus and still keep the bulk)
-Will-O'-Wisp
-Brave Bird
-Protect
-Flare Blitz

You could put Tailwind in there somewhere too if you need it, but that's not what this set is for. This is a fast WoW spreader I use on many teams if I'm not running Choice Band. It creeps common Rock Slide spammers and pairs very well with Itimidate users. After a WoW and Sitrus, you'll live MegaKanga's Double Edge as well, which is pretty funny after you burn it, then nuke it with Brave Bird the next turn (or let it take chip damage from the Burn then follow up).

*The reason you would creep Tornadus is on an Intimidate-reliant team, so as to not give it a ton of free boosts while trying to weaken other physical threats. By burning it, you can force it out, even if you run a Scrafty/TF lead against it.

Edit:

Also adding my baby.

Gastrodon @ Rindo Berry
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk (or Def)
Calm Nature
-Stockpile
-Recover
-Scald / Muddy Water
-Toxic / Ice Beam

Either you love or hate this set. Stockpile Gastrodon has won me so many games (except against kingofkongs cuz crits happen) just because nothing can break it and Toxic Stall doesn't exist in Dubz for some reason. As for attacking moves, I prefer mono attacking Scald over Muddy Water (just see my Doubles Doubles final where it missed like 11000 times) with Toxic to break other walls, while Ice Beam can give you excellent coverage (only pure water types resist it for the most part). Yes it needs setup. Yes Crits can happen. But right now it is a stupidly Anti-Meta Pokemon that cockblocks a ton of things that are popular right now (Rotom, TTar, Lando-T) and the Rindo Berry lets you live Modest CharY's Solarbeam. I generally run this set with Intimdate and WoW users, so the SDef is infinitely more useful.

 

[Mr. Blinky]

I suppose I'll submit my favorite set, one that I am actually proud of.

Goodra @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Calm Nature
- Acid Armor
- Rest
- Infestation
- Muddy Water/coverage attacking move

This came to be after some trial and error once Acid Armor was released as an egg move for Goodra. I felt that its stats really complimented a defense boosting move, and it has been a fun ride. There are a lot of things that this set can accomplish. One of the best advantages of this set is trapping weather setters. It can comfortably handle anything that T-tar, CharY, and Politoed can dish out (except for maybe specs Ice Beam Politoed), and prevent them from switching out to set up weather again. Basically anything that has a tough time killing Goodra is vulnerable to it, because you can trap them and switch out Goodra's partner into a counter. And the residual Infestation damage is very noticeable, especially when combined with a burn/toxic.

Sap Sipper because of Leech Seed, and although Gooey looks nice on paper, any benefits of it in practice were rare and inconsequential. Chesto Resto was the healing option I found to work the most consistently, shrugging off the random burn or rare Toxic. Muddy Water is actually pretty great with this, accuracy drops can be nice, but really Goodra has plenty of options for the attacking slot.
Replays:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogondoubles-73153417

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogondoubles-73159354

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogondoubles-73162167

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogondoubles-73187338

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogondoubles-73737970

A lot of games I am wishing for a 5th moveslot with this set, so there are probably variations on this that would work nicely. I haven't been successful with trying to implement different things like Protect, Toxic, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Leftovers, but I am willing for now to attribute that to my relative inexperience with doubles teambuilding, so I bet some of you could find great partners/teams for this. As for this avoiding just being a bad gimmick, I cannot think of anything that directly outclasses this as a tank/Infestation trapper.

 

[Audiosurfer]

Ok, figured I'd share a set that started in 5th gen but that I now use in 6th as well. Used to use Substitute Landorus-I w/ Sand support but with the reduced Sand length that seemed p. lame so I switched it to Substitute Landorus-T. Has some benefits such as Intimidate drops making it easier to set up a Substitute and Substitute letting you scout your opponent's moves and block burns. Once behind a sub Landorus is significantly harder to deal with and can be a real pain for the opponent. Substitute also shields you from priority and lets you screw Bisharp who think they can mess you up w/ Sucker Punch. Rock slide is cool for spread but Stone Edge means that Wide Guard can't mess with you, plus its alot stronger.

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Protect

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oriserver-smogondoubles-66713

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Meet Trick Room based MixTar!
Reptar (Tyranitar) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Protect

This set is cool because it capitalizes on the surprise value of Ice Beam on Tyranitar. Typically, Pokemon like Garchomp and Landorus will feel comfortable switching into or staying in on a Tyranitar 132+ guarantees an OHKO on both of them provided they are 4 / 0 spreads and not carrying Yache. It is also viable to run Fire Blast somewhere if your team lacks Fire-type coverage. Rock Slide and Crunch are the obligatory physical STABs which hit pretty hard coming off TTars monstorous attack stat. The item choice depends really though I think Chople Berry works best to soak up a Fighting-type attack.

 

[Deoxymoron]

Meet Trick Room based MixTar!
Reptar (Tyranitar) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Protect

This set is cool because it capitalizes on the surprise value of Ice Beam on Tyranitar. Typically, Pokemon like Garchomp and Landorus will feel comfortable switching into or staying in on a Tyranitar 132+ guarantees an OHKO on both of them provided they are 4 / 0 spreads and not carrying Yache. It is also viable to run Fire Blast somewhere if your team lacks Fire-type coverage. Rock Slide and Crunch are the obligatory physical STABs which hit pretty hard coming off TTars monstorous attack stat. The item choice depends really though I think Chople Berry works best to soak up a Fighting-type attack.

Is there any reason not to run Ice Punch? The only advantage of Ice Beam I can see is hitting Lando-T through Intimidate, but I'm not sure that's worth it considering how it splits the EVs.

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Deoxymoron it's pretty much just to OHKO Landorus-T through intimidate but I feel that's significant enough to be worth it, TTar's bulk is just fine with the re routed EVs imo.

 

[MudcrabDL]

Meganium @ Leftovers
Careful Nature
252hp/252sp. Def/4def

Leech Seed
Protect
Heal Pulse
Petal Blizzard

While normally awful, Meganium makes a surprisingly potent doubles cleric. Leech seed can restore you upwards of 25%hp a turn if on both opponents, a boon which can be passed to a switch in. It is bulky enough to keep its partner alive with heal pulse and attracts a lot of fireby being goddamn annoying, which you can nullify with protect. Petal blizzard isn't very strong but can surprise some low healthed attackers and annoy bulky waters. I like to use it alongside Goodra for sap sipper boosts but that is by no means obligatory, meganium supports a wide range of teammates.

 

[Hashtag]

Heliophile (Heliolisk) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse

While admittedly it doesn't have great stats, it is enough to OHKO Charizard after it sets up the sun, and before it attacks with volt switch
meaning you get to send out a better pokemon to deal with the second pokemon, and whatever they switch in.
it also beats the likes of Landorus-T and Garchomp granted that they are not choice scarved,
Talonflame doesn't have the power to kill it before it hits back with a super-effective attack
it can volt switch terrakion for more than 50% damage before it uses earthquake
Thunderbolt is mainly used late-game to hit bulkier pokemon
Dark pulse is pretty much a filler because this guy has a terrible movepool: the only other options are surf and focus blast, but dark pulse helps hit trick room setters, and cresselia
also dark pulse is decent for Aegislash (who can't damage Heliolisk with his priority move) it does a little more than 50%, meaning that you should swich out if that's an option, because anything that gets to hit Heliolisk can probably kill him.

you want to pair him with something with fake out, i've been using him with Weavile, but Hitmontop, Kangaskhan, and Scrafty could all probably work.

all-in-all, i think Heliolisk is a great anti-metagame pokemon

 

[Nollan]

Mr. Blinky, Goodra is pretty solid in Doubles, but that set is pretty gimmicky imo (sorry if this is offensive, but this is my opinion on it). I think an Assault Vest set is your best bet. Stalling has proven unreliable in Doubles (against the top level players) because you just don't have enough time in matches to pull it off. I do appreciate the posting of replays to support your case a lot, though (something not very many people have taken the time to do).

MudcrabDL, Meganium isn't really all that effective in practice. Follow Me Togekiss will ruin the Heal Pulse support, Leech Seed is easily remedied by switching out, and Petal Blizzard has very weak damage output and its only real utility is alongside Sap Sipper. It can do a little, but it is outclassed imo by Ferrothorn, who has a much better typing as well as Thunder Wave (loses out on Heal Pulse and Petal Blizzard, but what it gains in exchange is more than worth it). This will mean it really is a gimmick at best.

CowLaser, I'm not so sure on Heliolisk, as it can OHKO Charizard which is nice, but so can Terrakion, LO Thundurus-T, and Garchomp among others, all of which are (imo) better choices that are easier to make use of and synergize better with most teams. Thundurus-T in particular is a pretty good example of something that overshadows Heliolisk, as it has better stats overall (particularly a better typing defensively and 79 / 70 / 80 defenses). I suppose if you're aiming for raw power, Heliolisk could work, but it needs Solar Power to hit harder than Thundurus-T, making this situational at best.

As a final note, to help make this thread a bit easier to look over, I am replacing the Hall of Fame with a list of Creative Sets (I will still be keeping track of stellar posts and awarding Leaderboard points for them). I will be using likes and discussion to determine whether to put a set up there, so please make sure to "like" sets you think are effective and also discuss ideas/changes/opinions on sets presented. I have added Audiosurfer's Substitute Landorus-T and BlankZero's Gastrodon and Talonflame to the creative sets list. I would really like to see some discussion on sets as discussion can help improve the quality of the sets presented. Note that you can still make suggestions/comments on sets in the OP, just because they are there does not mean they cannot be improved.

 

[Pocket]

/

Rotom-W @ Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 136 SpA / 124 SpD
Modest Nautre
- Charge Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Protect

Standard Rotom-W, but it foregoes its standard utility moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Electro Web, and Light Screen for an offensive alternative: Charge Beam :o Basically with 1 Charge Beam boost, it hits hard like the Specs set, but without being locked into a move and freeing the item slot. It naturally pairs well with Togekiss, which can support it through Follow Me, Tailwind, Rain Dance, Helping Hand, etc.

 

[Hashtag]

Thundurus-T in particular is a pretty good example of something that overshadows Heliolisk, as it has better stats overall

Thundurus-T does have better stats, but it isn't as fast, and in those 8 points of speed, we miss out on the ability to knock out garchomp, and to damage/switch from terrakion, which will likely earthquake
this extra speed means that it can hit thundurus-t first, but not with its stab, meaning it requires team support

i wouldn't say it was a really solid pokemon, xD, but it just kills/cripples a huge chunk of the metagame

also in response to pocket, you definitely need a partner that can take down opposing rotom-- and gastrodons, possibly by running hp grass on togekiss?

 

[Bughouse]

Trick Room greatly appreciates a way to get in Sylveon (or whatever sweeper of choice) efficiently for maximum spammage of Hyper Voice. To that effect, I've used the following set:

Gourgeist-Super (M) @ Normal Gem
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Explosion

Trick Room, naturally, haha. And then kaboom! I paired this with 4 teammates who had Protect (2 of whom resisted Explosion anyway), and a Specs Sylveon. Explosion enables Sylveon to come in freely the next turn and have the maximum time available to spam its Hyper Voice. Essentially, Protect is there so, if I need to, I can bring in Gourgeist when there's still 1 turn left of Trick Room after something has fainted. Sometimes that's the best opportunity to safely get it in, since if you bring in something that can't set up Trick Room again, it'll be stuck out there after Trick Room wears off and it will be very slow. So Protect lets me wait that extra turn to re-set it up. Will-o-Wisp and the defensive EV spread are there for added insurance against Kanga among other physical threats, though the primary function is just TR and Boom. It must be noted that it's not a particularly strong Explosion, even with Normal Gem. You won't be taking much of anything down, though it'll at least weaken them. The idea is just to get Sylveon out for free with the most turns left possible.

This idea could be done too with Bronzong too. But overall I felt like Gourgeist was the better option because Gourgeist is immune to Fake Out from everything but un-Megaed Kanga, almost ensuring the success of reapplying TR and Exploding. If you prefer not having to deal with how Explosion hits your teammate, you could do this with a Lunar Dance Cresselia or a Healing Wish Musharna or a Memento Cofagrigus, etc.

 

[Lolk]

Talonflame @ Shuca Berry
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe (or watever speed it runs nowadays)
nature: Adamant
ability: Gale Wings
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Natural Gift
-Protect

This thing is great at luring Heatran. Natural Gift does like 90%. That is literally all this does, but for some teams, that is worth it.

Stupid Pokemon creating attacks that start with the same letter. How confusing

 

[risenreturn]

Don't quite know if this should qualify as a gimmick or not, but I think it would be a kind-of type thing. anyway, might as well, right? Also, I don't know if I can bump this 3 weeks late...

Simisage/Simipour/Simisear@Focus Sash
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
Role Play
Seed Bomb/Waterfall OR Aqua Tail/Fire Punch OR Flame Charge
Rock Slide
Acrobatics/Crunch/Shadow Claw/Superpower/Protect/whatever

So yeah, Monkeys, please don't laugh. Surprisingly, the monkeys are actually fulfilling a great spot here. It is one of the fastest pokemon in this group, and has the highest physical attack.

But, mainly, this is about the wonders of Role Play. Use Role Play in alignment with a M-Mawile or Medicham, and sweep away with double attack stat awesomeness from that base 98 attack. Or Role Play can work with things like the plethora of Protean Greninjas or I'm sure some other things that will turn Simisage into a fearsome sweeper with its respectable 101 Speed and Not absolutely horrible defenses. The issue is its majorly weak to Talonflame and priority, and faster pokemon altogether, which is where the Focus Sash comes in, because you should be able to OHKO after taking a hit (hopefully) And The Last move is kind of whatever else you can find. Acrobatics will do ****tons of damage if you can get down to your Sash, while the rest is just more coverage, Crunch/Shadow Claw deals with Ghosts and Psychics (shadow claw will deal with Gardevoir handily while Crunch will only do neutral) and Superpower can deal with Tyranitar/Heatran, although it limits your staying power.

There are a bunch of (Arguably) better pokemon that also learn role play, however those that are faster (Alakazam, Greninja, Delphox, Meowstic) are Special-Based, or have better abilities. And Those that are slower (Mr. Mime, Hypno) Suck. Simisear is by far the worst pokemon to put in this spot, because its stuck relying with Flame Chare or Fire Punch.

 

[Level 51]

But, mainly, this is about the wonders of Role Play. Use Role Play in alignment with a M-Mawile or Medicham, and sweep away with double attack stat awesomeness from that base 98 attack. Or Role Play can work with things like the plethora of Protean Greninjas or I'm sure some other things that will turn Simisage into a fearsome sweeper with its respectable 101 Speed and Not absolutely horrible defenses. The issue is its majorly weak to Talonflame and priority, and faster pokemon altogether, which is where the Focus Sash comes in, because you should be able to OHKO after taking a hit (hopefully) And The Last move is kind of whatever else you can find. Acrobatics will do ****tons of damage if you can get down to your Sash, while the rest is just more coverage, Crunch/Shadow Claw deals with Ghosts and Psychics (shadow claw will deal with Gardevoir handily while Crunch will only do neutral) and Superpower can deal with Tyranitar/Heatran, although it limits your staying power.

As one of Smogon Doubles' greater purveyors of gimmicks, I can tell you that Role Play Huge Power is hardly worth it when you can just use Swords Dance instead. And the distribution of Swords Dance is much better than Role Play's, so... yeah ;/ also if you do try to Role Play Protean chances are you (or a team member) will be dead before you can do much, since Greninja hits fairly hard. Try Entrainment Moxie onto Lando-T or something.

 

[Speedholes]

I think I like Simisage the best for that set - you can lure in and cockblock Heatran by Role Playing Flash Fire. Too bad Talonflame outspeeds, otherwise you could steal Gale Wings and hit back with Acrobatics after your Sash gets broken. It is overall pretty unreliable and gimmicky, but I still like the idea of using an opponent's Huge Power or Parental bond against them (or doubling up on your own), given how common these abilities are now. Or resetting your own weather or something. Honestly Role Play is a really cool move, but I feel like you would be better off with a better user - maybe Deoxys-A?

Anyway, here have a set:

Gallade @ Sitrus Berry / Black Belt
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 232 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spe)
IVs: 0 Spe
- Close Combat
- Feint / Psycho Cut / Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick Room

The main thing to note here are the EVs. The Attack EVs and Brave Nature let you OHKO 0/0 MegaKhan 100% of the time. With a Black Belt you also OHKO 180/0 Heatran and 252/0 Scrafty 100% of the time too. The Defense EVs let you always survive a Play Rough from a burned MegaMawile using the standard spread of +180 Atk from full HP. Not sure but I think it also survives Brave Bird from -1 Talonflame too. Other than that Gallade does pretty dang well against most anything, able to take reasonably strong hits, strike back with CC, spread burn or set up TR more reliably. I like Feint, it's such a good support option for TR since it stops people from just spamming Protect to stall out turns. You could run your other coverage move there if you want to hit Amoonguss or something though. This set works on dedicated TR or semi TR teams who don't want to be too weak to common Dark-Types like Bisharp and TTar, who otherwise wreck most other TR setters.

 

[Qazoo306]

Use Role Play in alignment with a M-Mawile or Medicham, and sweep away with double attack stat awesomeness from that base 98 attack.

Couldn't you use an Azumaril, maim something with Aqua Jet or something, and use Role Play on your own Azumaril for Huge Power, and not rely on your opponent to bring something with an ability you want to copy? That would make it a lot less gimmicky.

Can Role Play be baton passed? If it can, that could lead to some neat, but gimmicky, strategies.

Talonflame @ Shuca Berry
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe (or watever speed it runs nowadays)
nature: Adamant
ability: Gale Wings
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Natural Gift
-Protect

Could you run Acrobatics over Brave Bird? After using natural gift, it is almost the same base power, but with drastically increased longevity

 

[Level 51]

Couldn't you use an Azumaril, maim something with Aqua Jet or something, and use Role Play on your own Azumaril for Huge Power, and not rely on your opponent to bring something with an ability you want to copy? That would make it a lot less gimmicky.

that's what he meant... also a little-known side effect of huge power is that the boost only becomes 1.5x when role play'd or skill swap'd, meaning that it is literally completely outclassed by swords dance editor's note: this was apparently debunked >_> (unless you role play pure power, in which case it's still the same thing unless you're fighting unaware 'mons)

Can Role Play be baton passed? If it can, that could lead to some neat, but gimmicky, strategies.

no, it can't.

Could you run Acrobatics over Brave Bird? After using natural gift, it is almost the same base power, but with drastically increased longevity

this would require you to use natural gift first, when talonflame often wants to nuke stuff with a flying-type attack straightaway. also it's not as if talonflame will be living long anyway...

 

[BlankZero]

also a little-known side effect of huge power is that the boost only becomes 1.5x when role play'd or skill swap'd,

Source?

 

[Arcticblast]

There is no source, it was debunked a lot.

 

[Jimmy Johns]

I'd like to present sets to ya'll that'll get teams killed pretty quick

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Beat Up
- Ice Shard
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick

Terrakion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Substitute
Basically,use beat up on terrakion(does like 33~% damage,not much at all),and terrakion should achieve a godlike attack stat of 1408,way more than enough to kill things with its 2 main moves,rock slide and earthquake.Sub is so that terrakion doesnt get thrashed after it gets beat up by weavile

 

[BlankZero]

I'd like to present sets to ya'll that'll get teams killed pretty quick

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Beat Up
- Ice Shard
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick

Terrakion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Substitute
Basically,use beat up on terrakion(does like 33~% damage,not much at all),and terrakion should achieve a godlike attack stat of 1408,way more than enough to kill things with its 2 main moves,rock slide and earthquake.Sub is so that terrakion doesnt get thrashed after it gets beat up by weavile

No gimmicks pls

Her's a real set for you though, one which I've actually seen others start to use.

Not Charizard (Heatran) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 176 HP / 80 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Protect

Shuca AP Tran is something I came up with to help any team I built completely stomp all over CharY's stupid face. It laughs off anything it can throw its way (including EQ) and OHKOs with Ancientpower. Why AP? Well, it has the same power as HP Rock, but with that little chance to give yourself +1 to ALL STATS. While it's only a 10% chance, it's worth it to feel that little tingly in your lower bits when Heatran is suddenly +1 All. I've had a game, in fact, where I picked up the Flash Fire Boost, then killed CharY and got the +1 boost, then got a second boost the next turn. The results were hilarious.

While AP is optional, the setup here, between the EVs and the Item, is pretty set in stone. 80 Speed EVs creeps 4 Speed Rotom, with max SpAtk and the rest dumped into HP for bulk. Here's some Calcs for you numbers people.

252+ SpA Heatran Ancient Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 256-304 (85.9 - 102%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Heatran Ancient Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 392-464 (131.5 - 155.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
*What it counters*

252 Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 176 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Heatran: 338-398 (92 - 108.4%) -- 50% chance to OHKO (Jolly/Scarf Lando)
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 176 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Heatran: 312-368 (85 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
*Only the beefiest STAB Ground Attacks scare you*

252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Earthquake vs. 176 HP / 0 Def Shuca Berry Heatran: 272-320 (74.1 - 87.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Shaymin-S Earth Power vs. 176 HP / 0 SpD Shuca Berry Heatran: 178-210 (48.5 - 57.2%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO
*Non-STAB EQs don't kill you*

252+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 176 HP / 0 SpD Shuca Berry Heatran: 206-244 (56.1 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 412-488 (106.7 - 126.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
*You win the Mirror Match*

 

[Arcticblast]

Any variant of TerraCott is clutch in a tight spot but should never be your game plan going into a battle, it's too easy to stop turn 1.

(Also no Fake Out on Weavile or Protect on Terrakion, you are straight up doing it wrong smh)

 

[Pocket]

I'd probably add more bulk to that ShucaTran. If it's dying to Adamant Landorus-T's Earthquake more than half of the time, it's not worth it imo. A more better usage of Shuca Tran is with HP Ice. This move lets it kill off Landorus-T and Garchomp that Heatran baits in. Pair it with a Pokemon that enjoy seeing Landorus-T and Garchomp gone to make this worthwhile.