Monotype eYe's - A Mono Bug Team [Peak #1]

[Teggun Burcs]

eYe's

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Hello everyone! With the recent exciting changes to the Monotype tier (Dynamax has been unbanned!), I decided to give a bug team a go on the ladder, and I had quite a bit of success. The theme and title that I have chosen for this RMT is eYe's, as I feel like a new set of eyes has been opened for me as the Monotype metagame continues to evolve. I have decided to use inspiration from MYTH & ROID's Album eYe's, and you will notice that the members of the team have each been named after a song appearing on the album. I will link the songs that each Pokemon is named after as a hyperlink on their nicknames in section labeled "The Members" on this post. I encourage you all to listen to the full album because it is very good: Spotify / Apple Music

Enough introduction, let's get into the team itself!

Teambuilding Process
(Detailed set analysis will be in the next section)
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One of the things that makes bug teams potentially deadly is their access to Sticky Web. There are quite a few options for which Pokemon to use for the dedicated web setter, but I decided to go with Araquanid. I don't really like Blipbug, Charjabug, Cutiefly, Dewpider, Dottler, Grubbin, Orbeetle, Ribombee, Shuckle, or Vikavolt, so my remaining options were Galvantula and Araquanid. I didn't really want Galvantula to be a dedicated lead for the team, as it can offer great offensive pressure against water and flying teams, as well as great momentum from U-Turn. Therefore, I decided to go with Araquanid for my web setter.

From here I wanted to add a few sweepers to the team. The first addition I went with is Swords Dance Scizor, which is able to help with pesky Rock types thanks to Bullet Punch. It also provides a rock resist with its steel type, which is very helpful to the team.

Of course, if we're adding set-up sweepers to a Bug team, we have to add Volcarona. Not only does it offer the team a fire resist, but it can offensively threaten many teams that have been chipped down.

I decided to put Buzzwole here as another rock answer, as well as a bulky set-up sweeper. Buzzwole is able to offer the team a very solid Physical Wall, which is very helpful on the otherwise quite frail team. Fighting STAB helps the team break through things like Steel and Rock, and it looks cool.

Next I wanted a Pokemon to help with Flying and Water types, so of course I decided to go with Galvantula. Galvantula is very neat, which allows it to defeat many Pokemon that the team otherwise loses to.

Finally, I wanted to add some speed control to the team. While bug has quite a few options when it comes to scarfers, I decided to go with Heracross. Fighting STAB helps the team break through things like Steel and Rock, and it looks cool. Moxie also helps it snowball effectively late-game, and it has quite a few good coverage options.

The Members

- A beginning - (Araquanid) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Atk / 156 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Magic Coat
- Toxic​

"Reflected in a mirror, his own eye, too, gleamed with the colors of the rainbow."
- MYTH & ROID, "- A beginning -"​

As its name suggests, Araquanid is usually going to be the lead for the team. It is able to set up Sticky Web, which is the main engine for the team to provide offensive pressure against Pokemon that might otherwise outspeed its threats. Focus Sash guarantees Araquanid at least one turn to survive to place down the Sticky Web for the team. Liquidation is a very strong STAB move for Araquanid, especially thanks to its Water Bubble ability doubling its base power. Magic Coat is a cheeky move that can reflect opponents' leads' hazards back onto their side of the field, and it can also deflect a Taunt that might try to prevent Araquanid from doing its job. Toxic is here to whittle down some of the more defensive Pokemon that Liquidation can't break through, to chip down the opponent's team for the offensive sweepers later in the game. 104+ Attack allows Araquanid to 2HKO Garchomp, and the rest of the EVs are put into maximizing its Special Bulk, in case you need it as a special wall against Fire or Water teams.

L.L.L. (Scizor) @ Metal Coat
Ability: Technician
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Dual Wingbeat / Roost​

"Believe in love, even though there're borders and disturbance and more."
- MYTH & ROID, "L.L.L."
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Fans of the hit Japanese animated series Overlord will likely recognize the song that is Scizor's namesake, as it was the ending theme for this epic Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Game, Magic, Supernatural show. Indeed Scizor is very similar to an overlord due to its fierce offensive pressure against many teams. Metal Coat allows Scizor's favorite move, Bullet Punch, to be stronger than it otherwise would, without taking excess damage from a Life Orb. This puts its Bullet Punch at a whopping 72 Base Power after Technician and Metal Coat boosts are applied, almost double what the STAB priority move would normally be. Scizor wants to run max attack EVs to maximize the damage that it can be doing, 180 speed to be faster than base 108 Pokemon after webs and uninvested base 97s before webs. The rest of the EVs are put into HP, with 4 into Defense. Swords Dance is obviously to allow Scizor to become a big threat against many teams, and Bullet Punch its main stab that it will be attacking with most of the time. Knock off allows Scizor to remove items from opposing Pokemon, which is helpful in many situations. It also allows Scizor to hit things like Aegislash and Jirachi. Dual Wingbeat can be run to help with the Fighting or Bug mirror matchups, or Roost is always a good option to help preserve Scizor for as long as possible.

TRAGEDY:ETERNITY (Volcarona) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 192 HP / 64 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Safeguard / Psychic
- Roost​

"Don't give me an eternity, even if that's all I can believe."
- MYTH & ROID, "TRAGEDY:ETERNITY"
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Volcarona is possibly the strongest and most consistent member of this team. It doesn't usually take much for this monster to get going; many teams struggle to find any answer to it once it has began Quiver Dancing. Heavy-Duty Boots are a must for this Pokemon, allowing it to come in on any hazards with no concern whatsoever. Flame Body is chosen here since I am not running a Bug move, and it can also be useful for scoring clutch burns to save the team from an opposing physical sweeper. The HP EVs allow Volcarona to set up on Tapu Koko. Max speed is always good for Volcarona, and the remaining EVs are put into Special Attack. Safeguard + Roost allows Volcarona to set up on almost all passive walls while not being statused by something like Clefable or Toxapex. Psychic can be run instead of Safeguard, but I have found that it can usually just continue setting up Quiver Dances until Flamethrower is strong enough to hit something that Psychic would have otherwise.

STYX HELIX (Buzzwole) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Earthquake​

"Oh, please don't let me die, waiting for your touch."
- MYTH & ROID, "STYX HELIX"
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Buzzwole is a cool guy. Similar to Quiver Dance Volcarona, Sub Buzzwole is able to overcome lots of threats that might try to stop it from setting up, like Toxapex or Aegislash. The speed EVs on Buzzwole are to outspeed modest Aegislash, and then max HP with the rest put into attack. Drain Punch is here to allow Buzzwole to recover its HP since I am opting not to run Roost, and Bulk Up helps make it even bulkier while also increasing its attacking potential. Earthquake helps Buzzwole win vs most Steel teams, with the combination of Drain Punch and Earthquake hitting most things, aside from a flier which can be easily taken care of by Galvantula or another teammate. Buzzwole is a pretty cool dude.

ANGER/ANGER (Galvantula) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz / Thunder Wave
- Energy Ball
- Volt Switch​

"We all abandoned sadness, we all abandoned kindness; the world is full of hatred, there's no hope."
- MYTH & ROID, "ANGER/ANGER"
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Just as Azuma from Studio SANZIGEN's original Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, Mecha Japanese animated television series BBK/BRNK, also known as Bubuki Buranki, found himself attacked by dozens of heavily armed people and taken as their prisoner, Galvantula often finds itself as the target of the enemy Pokemon team's onslaught of attacks. Similarly, in the same way that Azuma is able to wield the power of the Bubuki to fight off his enemies in times of peril, Galvantula is able to utilize its decent Special Attack stat, good speed tier and strong Electric and Grass attacks to fire off relatively powerful attacks at its enemies. Perhaps the most important lesson that Azuma learned, however, is that no matter how strong your weapons are, what matters most in the end is the companions with whom you surround yourself. Just as Kogane Asabuki, Hiiragi Nono, Kinoa Ōgi and Shizuru Taneomi must work together to seek and revive the lost Oubu, and discover the hidden truths behind the Buranki and the mysterious Reoko Banryū's tyranny over the post-apocalyptic Japan, Galvantula must join forces with Araquanid, Scizor, Volcarona, Buzzwole and Heracross in order to overcome the dangers that they might face on the Monotype ladder. While many Galvantulas like to run Focus Sash, I decided that for this Galvantula in particular, Heavy-Duty Boots would be more efficient, due to Galvantula's role as a pivot on the team. In addition, because I am not running any hazard removal on the team, it is important that Galvantula can come in without worrying about taking too much damage on the switch. Indeed, similarly to the way in which Azuma is able to master the power of the Bubuki, Galvantula can utilize the Heavy-Duty Boots to fully bring out the maximum potential of the power within him. Thanks to its ability Compound Eyes, which multiplies the accuracy of all of its moves by 1.3x, Galvantula is able to use the strong Electric type move Thunder with 91% accuracy, which is able to help make up for the lackluster 97 base Special Attack. As MYTH & ROID sang in their song entitled ANGER/ANGER, the song after which I have named my Galvantula, "We all abandoned sadness, we all abandoned kindness." What this means to Galvantula is that he is forced into a position where he must choose between two useful moves: Bug Buzz and Thunder Wave. Bug Buzz, representing kindness in this metaphor, offers Galvantula another STAB Bug attack move, which can help hit things such as Grass types and Dark types. On the other hand, representing the sadness, is Thunder Wave, which can cripple opponents' fast offensive Pokemon, allowing sweepers on the team to have a better time of cleaning up opponents' Pokemon. Following the aforementioned quote, Mayu Maeshima, the lead singer of the band MYTH & ROID goes on to say that "The world is full of hatred." Indeed, this is representative of the move Energy Ball for Galvantula. Specifically, Energy Ball represents the hatred that Galvantula feels towards ground types who would otherwise switch into its strong Electric type attack moves, and so to absolve itself of the hatred in its heart, Galvantula can fire off Energy Balls towards Gastrodons or Swamperts who might try to switch in to save a Pelipper from impending Thunders or Volt Switches. The last line of the quote from Mayu Maeshima, "There is no hope," can be interpreted as the thoughts that are going through Galvantula's mind when it uses Volt Switch. While Galvantula may sometimes be in a situation in which it is unable to effectively provide offensive pressure against the opponent's team, using Volt Switch allows Galvantula to retreat to the bench and let one of its teammates handle a situation that Galvantula would be unable to handle.

- An ending - (Heracross) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off​

"Why do we desire emotions, even though we have forbidden such human weakness?"
- MYTH & ROID, "- An ending -"
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Scarf Heracross provides the team with much needed immediate speed control, being able to revenge kill many Pokemon that might otherwise sweep the team. In addition, it also provides another Fighting type, which helps against Steel and Rock types. Stone Edge helps it threaten most Flying types, and Knock Off can usually sweep Psychic or Ghost teams with little support needed. Moxie allows Heracross to snowball and continue getting more threatening as it KOs opposing Pokemon.

Threatlist​

As is inevitably the case with all Pokemon teams, there are some things that this team struggles to deal with. Here are some of the more common ones I ran into while using this team.

Stealth Rocks

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As you might expect from a Bug team, Stealth Rocks can prove to be very annoying if you don't play around them correctly. Thanks to the addition of Heavy-Duty Boots in Generation 8, they have become much easier to manage, however this specific team does not run any removal, and so under the wrong circumstances they can become quite threatening.

Peak Proof

#1 Mono Ladder

Alt Proof

Importable
(Click the sprites)

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Thanks everyone for checking out this team! I'm looking forward to this new Dynamax Era of Monotype, I'm sure it will last a while and the community will all agree that Dynamax is a good and healthy thing for Monotype!

Happy April Fools' Day everyone :]

 

[smashmallow101]

i have a very different volcarona set that i think acts as a better snowball sweeper.

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

fiery dance has a 50% chance to raise SpA, which i think is far more preferable over +10 BP and 10% Burn chance. Giga drain not only allows for recovery (which is usually big when boosted), but also helps cover rock and water types. These two moves help let you stay in much longer, and i find that it squeezes every last bit of power out of volcarona (especially if you run modest over timid.) Bug Buzz also ignores substitutes, due to being a sound move. (all sound moves ignore substitutes)