Intro:
I've been meaning to make a new RMT for post-home, but I didn't really have any specific teams I wanted to showcase up until then, or ladder that much. This week, I had a really nice ladder run with the new DLC moves and mons, and I felt like this team would be fun to showcase. I wanted to mess around with Scale Shot since both Baxcalibur and Koraidon got it, and the current meta seemed very susceptible to aggressive play with both Dragons. Thus, Gambler's Webs was born.
The Team:
These three are what the team is built around. Ribombee's reintroduction completely revives Webs from being a barely viable playstyle to a solid one thanks to Ribombee being able to actually threaten a large portion of the metagame. Koraidon and Baxcalibur act as a core of double dragon breaker / sweepers that work together to break past bulkier teams. Against offense you can usually get past with smart Koraidon play, but Baxcalibur opens up your play vs Skeledirge / Toxapex / other defensive Dragons, especially under Webs.
The three biggest issues for Webs are Defoggers, Rapid Spinners, and Scarf Koraidon. What mon solves this hitlist? Taunt + Wisp Arceus-Ghost. By threatening all the viable defoggers and spinners and providing me with a Fight immunity as well as a softcheck to physical sweepers like Koraidon and Zacian-C, Arceus-Ghost covers a lot of defensive holes while maintaining momentum for this offensive build.
I'd say the single required Pokemon on Webs, apart from the setter itself, is Zacian-Crowned. Being able to naturally outspeed Koraidon and Miraidon (including scarf variants of both under Webs), while also softchecking Arceus-Fairy and Flutter Mane for this teams Double Dragon core means that Zacian is invaluable here.
I wanted to round out my team with a Ground type to ease my Miraidon matchup. Great Tusk is generally a solid enough lure for Landorus-T and Rayquaza, two problematic mons for these builds, and gives me an out into Toxic Spikes and other Sticky Web teams.
Individual Mons:
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sticky Web
- Tailwind
- Stun Spore
Ribombee is the designated webs setter, and by far the best one. Max Speed lets you outspeed Taunt Arceus formes, which is probably the single best trait of Ribombee outside of being a Fairy-type. Tailwind and Stun Spore give you speed control options to play around with in case Sticky Webs aren't enough. Tera Ghost is pretty standard for giving you the ability to spinblock, though you will never Tera this mon anyways.
Koraidon @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire / Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Low Kick
After the DLC update, Koraidon's access to Scale Shot gives it a significant upgrade to its standard SD set. Loaded Dice provides a consistent form of damage with similar output to Outrage. Max Speed is required to at minimum speed tie Scarf Koraidon under webs as well as to outspeed Boots variants of Mewtwo and Eternatus. Tera Fire and Tera Ghost are both viable options, with Tera Ghost being primarily used as a softcheck to Ekiller and Tera Fire being used to brute force past Arceus-Fairy and Flutter Mane.
Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Recover
The required arc form and the spinblocker for this team. The spread outspeeds base 90s and the rest is dumped into HP and Def. Wisp lets me threaten opposing Koraidon, Tusk, and Zacian-C, while Taunt limits setup threats like DD Mirai and Toxic Spikes users. Tera Poison gives me an out into Toxic Spikes but you will also rarely Tera this pokemon.
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Play Rough
The required Zacian slot. Zacian gives me another breaker that can force in Pex / Dirge for the rest of the team to come in and create momentum, while giving me an offensive check to all the Dragons in the tier. Wild Charge helps with the Kyogre and Toxapex MU, and Tera Electric gives me another out into DD Miraidon, another threatening mon to this team and HO in general.
Baxcalibur @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
The mon this team is built around. Baxcalibur's immunity to Wisp and Ice-typing let it effectively threaten a couple of the most threatening mons to this team, specifically Groundceus and Giratina-O. New access to Scale Shot means that Baxcalibur can be a reasonably effective sweeper that can now outspeed the entire meta under webs. Tera Steel helps vs Toxapex, Fairyceus, DD Mirai, and opposing non-Koraidon Dragons.
Great Tusk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat / Play Rough
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner
I haven't really used this mon as much since HOME came out, but since this team is so focused upon taking out defoggers such as Corv and Gira-o, then Great Tusk will be a lot more free to spam fast Headlong Rushes in Sun. Ice Spinner lets you take out Rayquaza and Landorus-T, while being a source of damage for Giratina-O. Play Rough guarantees an OHKO on Koraidon, but its generally not necessary as Headlong does a large amount of damage anyways. Close Combat helps with the E-killer matchup, so its basically up to the user.
Difficult Mons to deal with:
I know this mon is incredibly difficult to deal with anyways, but DD Mirai is the only one that is immensely threatening for this build. This team isn't very Tera reliant, however, so you can generally save Tera as an out for DD Mirai. Specifically Taunt SD Koraidon is annoying for this team, especially midgame because none of my mons have real ways to take hits. You can usually deal with it using a combination of Great Tusk and Arceus-Ghost, provided you conserve a reasonable amount of health on both of them.
Yo this mon is absurd. Being immune to Sticky Webs and having no Stealth Rock on this team makes Sash Ray difficult to deal with, however you can position well with Scale Shot Koraidon and Baxcalibur to take it out. Alternatively, Arceus-Ghost can also take it out with Wisp into Judgment, but Tera Fire / Lum variants are incredibly deadly. Scale Shot variants are rare but are also tough, so smart play can get you past them.
Having only Zacian as a switch-in (that also dies to Mystical Fire) makes it tough to deal with Flutter Mane sometimes, especially the Boots variants that are starting to pop up. The best way to deal with it is figure out a way to setup Koraidon / Baxcalibur to +1 before Flutter can come in, however Tera conservation is a very safe out into Flutter as the team is primarily physically oriented. Tusk can also lure Flutter and take it out provided no Sun is up.Alternatives:
Scale Shot Rayquaza is another alternative that works in place of Baxcalibur, though they both have unique traits that make them viable. Rayquaza is likely better for ladder due to a Webs immunity and access to Extreme Speed, but Baxcalibur seems better in a Tournament setting thanks to its better MU into Arceus-Ground and Giratina-Origin.
Shoutouts:
Thanks to corvere for this
and thanks to OreoSpeedruns for giving me tests for the team.
Hope you guys stick around for Ubers more
