Golden Fate; Isolate
finally some good music [:
>>click here for the team-import<<
Hi, I'm Corthius and welcome to my second RMT. SSNU is the tier I'm the most active in and know the most about as well. I played this tier since the beginning of the gen and was here for all the different metagames. While the current state isn't my favorite of this gen, I sure have a lot of fun building and playing it (As long as I don't miss Stone Edge vs Talonflame). The current state of NU has some problem children but I'm sure almost all tiers & metagames have those and it's all a matter of how well you can play around them or abuse them yourself. Without further ado, lets get into the RMT, I hope you enjoy it!
Teamexplanation>>click here for the team-import<<
Hi, I'm Corthius and welcome to my second RMT. SSNU is the tier I'm the most active in and know the most about as well. I played this tier since the beginning of the gen and was here for all the different metagames. While the current state isn't my favorite of this gen, I sure have a lot of fun building and playing it (As long as I don't miss Stone Edge vs Talonflame). The current state of NU has some problem children but I'm sure almost all tiers & metagames have those and it's all a matter of how well you can play around them or abuse them yourself. Without further ado, lets get into the RMT, I hope you enjoy it!
I started building around Choice Specs Heliolisk because (all my teams lose to Mantine
) it looks very potent as a breaker as it has a great dual stab and coverage to hit everything for at least neutral damage. Hyper Voice is great for discouraging the two most common defensive ground types, Flygon and Mudsdale, from switching in directly. I choose Dark Pulse as the last move because it hits all the common switchins, Dhelmise, Decidueye and Golurk, to Heliolisk's stabs. Dry Skin gives Heliolisk defensive utility letting it check Shell Smash Blastoise (only at +2; it can't live Earthquake/Aura Sphere tho), Vaporeon and Mantine. Getting in on those and generating momentum via Volt Switch makes it pretty easy to abuse Heliolisk as your breaker. While it doesn't matter too much on this team but being part normal and using Dark Pulse makes it a nice emergency ghost switchin if need be but I wouldn't soley rely on it.
Guzzlord was an instand pick as my second slot because it can check ghost types like Dhelmise that often switch into Heliolisk. It also soft checks a lot of pokemon like Salazzle, Xatu, Rotom-C etc etc. It just acts as a great sponge to many special pokemon. I prefer Heavy Slam on this team because Sylveon and especially Diancie is a huge pain to switch into. Defense boosts from Diamond Storm combined with Body Press make it really annoying to deal with; depending on how tough it is to deal with it, you could use steel stab on Bronzong as well to further increase the Diancie matchup. ResTalk is my prefered set because even with Vaporeon wishpassing around, I hate taking extra hazard damage notable vs Starmie which is already stupidly strong as it is. I also don't have a grounded poison making all non-boots pokemon somewhat weak against Toxic Spikes. The speed EVs allow Guzzlord to outspeed potential Adamant max speed Copperajah which can be handy if they run Superpower which hurts if Guzzlord has been chipped beforehand. Max SpD and the rest into Def increase its bulk to fulfill its role.
Harmonizing really nicely with Guzzlord, Weezing is the main fighting check of the team. Its movepool is really interchangeable, depending on what is more important for you to beat (more in the potential changes section). Sludge Bomb is an obvious stab attack which is nice for fishing for poisons. Will-O-Wisp lets you cripple physical attackers like Copperajah, Mudsdale and Flygon. I like using Pain Split to release some pressure from Vaporeon because that way I don't need to wishpass into Weezing as often. It also allows Weezing to chip down Copperajah since I don't run Flamethrower and also makes it really annoying for opposing Vaporeon because their HP stat is so high. Toxic Spikes are an amazing tool for this more defensive team to still apply a lot of pressure on pokemon that don't have reliable recovery like Mudsdale, Blastoise and Diancie. The given 44 speed EVs allow Weezing to outspeed no-speed Vaporeon which could come in handy for a weakened Vaporeon.
Being the obligatory defensive steel type, Bronzong is chosen over Copperajah to increase the matchup versus the strong fighting types in the tier, mainly Sirfetch'd. I went with Heatproof over Levitate because it, combined with Body Press, makes the Exploud matchup way easier while also making it a second soft check against Salazzle and doesn't fear as much from Sylveon/Indeedee-F who often run Mystical Fire to hit steel types. Psychic + Body Press is the most common and most effective combination of attacking moves right now, allowing it to hit the mentioned fighting types and also hitting dark types like opposing Guzzlord so youre not just a free switchin for those. Bronzong is also the rocker of the team, setting up Stealth Rock pretty reliably. The 88 +def EVs make Choice Band Tyrantrums Head Smash and Close Combat a 3HKO, allowing it to still check that monster. The rest is put into SpD to make it check the aforementioned Exploud and Salazzle better but also makes it easier to check threats like Rotom-C.
The holy grale of wishpassing and glue at the moment, Vaporeon is a natural fit on these fat teams with members that lack their own recovery. Especially Bronzong and Weezing appreciate Vaporeon's wishpassing a lot while also having good type synergy. I opted for a specially defensive Vaporeon because it makes it easier to check opponents like Salazzle, Starmie and Blastoise. Running Heal Bell as your last move is pretty standard but also quite interchangable if you feel like it. Heal Bell also helps versus teams that put a lot of pressure on Guzzlord so you can use Rest more often. Scald is well known for how spammable it is and getting a burn on something like incomming Choice Scarf Rotom-C allows Vaporeon to stall it out a lot with Protect + Wish, releasing some stress from Guzzlord.
Last but not least, Flygon adds a lot of defensive and offensive utility to the team. It provides an electric immunity, preventing opposing electric types like Rotom-C from using Volt Switch for free. It also acts sa speed control, revengekilling pokemon like Salazzle, Dragon Dance Tyrantrum, weakened Tauros and weakened Starmie. It also makes for a great offensive check to fire types like Arcanine and Earthquake + Outrage are solid wincons. Because Spikes aren't that common in the tier at the moment and only Heliolisk is really affected by Stealth Rock I figured I would be fine using Defog on Choice Scarf Flygon just as an emergency hazard remover in case I feel the need of it. It also beats the most common Spikes user Garbodor. I personally run Adamant and Outrage because Flygon can feel a bit weak sometimes and I like to compensate that as much as possible. It still outspeeds Choice Scarf Rotom-C.
List of Threats
Both Guzzlord and Vaporeon hating taking a Knock Off because of their reliance on Heavy-Duty Boots on this team. Heliolisk and Flygon obviously dislike losing their items so its left to Weezing to take them on. Luckily, Weezing is used to getting its item knocked because it switches into the fighting types a lot. Pain Split + Will-O-Wisp helps a lot as Guzzlord has such a massiv HP stat and burned Drapion being increadibly weak without a boost which opens up a double switch into Flygon. Special Guzzlord and Taunt Drapion are for sure the most tough ones but are pretty rare.
Tyrantrium is a huge threat to most teams that don't run Mudsdale and even then it's not hard to overwhelm that with breaker that share checks like Toxicroak. On this team, all Tyrantrum needs is one good prediction in using Crunch / Close Combat against Bronzong. I usually had to play really aggressive versus opposing Tyrantrum and to be honest sometimes there also was a bit of luck involved. Choice Band + a bunch of pivots is especially hard to play against.
(
)While the standard Wish + Protect Sylveon doesn't pose a big threat, Choice Specs Sylveon is really annoying to play against as Bronzong can't directly threaten it because it lacks steel stab. Weezing can take a hit but it's not that bulky on the special side and easily overwhelmed. In that matchup it's very important to keep both as healthy as possible, best case set up Toxic Spikes to chip it without hitting it and be aggressive with Guzzlord. If they're Choice Specs they shouldn't switch in directly but if you think that's their best play Heavy Slam is the best option to click.
This may seem like an odd choice because Heatproof Bronzong should be able to 1v1 even Swords Dance Talonflame, espeically with Vaporeon's wish support but I learned the hard way that Taunt Talonflame just shits on this core if Vaporeon is chipped into range of +2 Brave Bird. Bronzong can't Toxic it which is the main way of damaging it and Psychic doesn't do enough to it. It's a really annoying matchup but depending on what last move they opt for (second stab or Roost) Heliolisk can take a +2 Brave Bird ~62% of the time if it's at full HP.
Substitute + IronPress Glastrier legit 6-0es this team if I fail to get up Toxic Spikes with Weezing. Heavy-Duty Boots + Swords Dance is heavily annoying as well but between Bronzong soft checking it and Weezing chipping it down via Rocky Helmet, potential Will-O-Wisp and Pain Split it's more managable. Nonetheless, Glastrier poses a huge threat to this team (actually most teams at the moment but that shouldn't be my excuse to be so weak to it).
Independently of what teammates it can disguise itself as, Nasty Plot Zoroark can pose a huge threat being able to muscle through Guzzlord if it runs Focus Blast and out-set up Vaporeon. The fact that it can disguise as a teammate to lure pokemon it beats only makes it even more scary and requires a lot of thinking to not auto lose against it.
Potential changesPretty straight forward, the only potential changes I can think of is running U-turn over Volt Switch for guaranteed pivoting versus ground types and other electric immunities but that is usually more helpful with other breaker that abuse those. The other change looking into is changing the coverage move on Heliolisk to a different move. It has the option to run Grass Knot, Dragon Pulse and Focus Blast but if you ask me they aren't worth the effort.
In my optionon ResTalk is the most fitting moveset on this team; with how weak this team is against Toxic Spikes, giving up Heavy-Duty Boots seems suboptimal when its second best defensive set is ProTox. Running Toxic on ResTalk is an option as well but if you want to do so I would recommend running steel stab on Bronzong to not get dunked by Diancie. There are some other options if are you actually forgoing Heavy Slam like Dragon Tail for denying wishpassing and Earthquake for denting Heatproof Bronzong and still hitting Diancie for ok-ish damage.
Weezing has a bunch of options to change its moveset, allowing it to pick between what it checks better and what to give up on. Taunt over Will-O-Wisp or Toxic Spikes is really helpful to improve the Glastrier matchup while still shutting down Flygon pretty effectively. The matchup versus Swords Dance Drapion gets a lot harder if it's chosen over Will-O-Wisp tho and not beeing able to cripple Copperajah can become really annoying as well. Haze is similar useful versus the set up sweeper mentioned. Corrosive Gas removes crucial items like Leftovers from opposing Bronzong, Heavy Duty-Boots / Black Sludge from opposing Dragalge etc etc. While offering a lot of utility, I haven't found the space to run it which honestly is a shame.
Bronzong could afford to run steel stab in Heavy Slam over Toxic or Body Press (because you check opposing Copperajah and Bronzong. The combination of Flash Canon + Toxic improves the Diancie and IronPress Glastrier matchup and still being able to 1v1 Sylveon since Flash Canon does so little damage to it. The EV spread can be customized as well e.g. running some SpA investment for certain OHKOs/2HKOs I can't remember.
Honestly, the only woth change on Vaporeon's moveset would be using Roar instead of Heal Bell to help versus Glastrier and Substitute Blastoise but Toxic Spikes + Vaporeon should be enough, at least that combination has been enough for me. Otherwise, I've seen some Vaporeon that forgo Scald in order to keep up momentum with Flip Turn but I don't feel like it's all that necessary on this team.
A change that is worth mentioning is swapping Heliolisk to Choice Scarf and Flygon to Choice Band as they are a good core together and the choice of a scarfer is pretty interchangeable. If you're brave enough to drop Defog and not run any hazard control at all, Stone Edge is a fine last move for OHKOing Talonflame while not risking the burn. Dragon Claw > Outrage if you go Choice Band since you don't need to make up for the weak attack stat as much and not sacking your breaker to a bad prediction is a good thing (I guess you could say the same about your scarfer but that one isn't supposed to break and should only really use that move to clean.
Replays
click the images :]
click the images :]
Showing the potential worth of Earthquake on Bronzong
Showing that the team can do fine progress even if you (accidentally) sack your main breaker turn 1
Guzzlord working overtime versus Nasty Plot Salazzle
The god Test Techles showing how its done (opp has some weird sets but the team is still effective)
The team versus HO; Dark Pulse Heliolisk also made it easier to kill Silvally
Well, this is the end of my RMT but it's already long enough. I hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism! Have a great day :].
Enormous Shoutout to ladder warrior Test Techles who provided two amazing replays and his help with tweaking some sets!
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