Monotype Mono Poison Team help

[Rebelpyroflame]

Ok, here’s my team and my thoughts

Hanzo (Drapion) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Taunt

He’s my go to starter, taunting, toxic and knock off is great for messing setups is great. I originally used toxic spikes but a single layer actually messes up my other toxic setters, wasting two turns often got him killed and they were too easily lost by either my opponent or me beings forced to Defog. Toxic directly worked better, and he’s my only toxic setter not weak to thunderbolt. He’s a great disruptive tank, but I keep having problem with the fourth move.

Vlad Tepes (Crobat) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- Toxic

He’s been a staple for me since I started. I know I should probably switch for Galar wheezing but I had trouble using him before. Also he’s ground immunity that isn’t wrecked by mould breaker and INFILTRATOR TOIXC IS SO GOOD. He’s a fast tank that toxic and heals faster than most and gets around substitutes.

Ursula (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

My girl is the tanking heart of the team. So many battles are just her stalling out the enemy and toxic them to hell. She’s my go to counter for almost everything

Macbeth (Scolipede) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Protect

He’s my team sword, my favourite mon and has swept so many teams. I prefer protect life orb over other variants. He’s to frail to take hits to set up a sword dance, he needs the life orb to hit hard enough to take threats out. I was running rock slide, but that was only really effective once in a blue moon, superpower takes out steel and ice better, though flyers stonewall him now

Aleister (Slowking-Galar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Future Sight

The best edition to the team sword and shield gave me. I was running leftovers slack off but I realised the utility of future sight switching. That said, the final move is tricky for me. Psyshock is great for mix attacking, but Toxapex high Defense makes it ineffective, I tried sludge wave but the amount of times it was useful was pretty low.

Charlemagne (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower

My newest addition, I was running choice gengar but he was so frail one hit took him out. I swapped to nk as he has more hitting power and swaps in on elec attacks. I just wish he was faster, so many big threats are faster and take him out before he gets a hit in


My team does well for the most part, but there’s a few snags. Normal out stalls me and Blissey is annoying as hell, any team with Hydreigon, landorus or Excadrill has the potential to sweap and steel locks out my go to toxic strategy. Any thoughts on changes or tricks would be greatly appreciated

 

[Giokio]

Hi you're the guy i fought the other day, i remember the nicknames! I won mostly because i was using a mono ground but i noticed some things i usually don't like in a mono poison. I'd give swords dance to Scolipede, so that you can setup on passive mons like the blissey you mentioned, you don't need protect that much if you play it well enough, and if you don't feel comfortable risking to be OHOed by Excadrill, you can run focus sash instead of LO.

Most Poison teams run Amoongus, because it forms an awesome wall-regenerator strat alongside toxapex , i fought a guy who beat me with those two and i was still running my mono Ground since amoongus can spore and giga drain the s**t out of the enemy and Toxapex covers him against fire and flying.

I'd consider giving nidoking a Scarf, I know it's not the best strat but if you struggle so much with his speed the only thing to do is giving him that item, in this way you can outspeed excadrill and all the threats you mentioned before but keep in mind you're gonna loose a lot of power; if you really don't want nidoking to be scarfed then consider adding Ariados as a sticky web setter and revenge killer (sucker punch) i personally like that strat but is situational and doesn't work everytime

Weezing galar is also a very good mon for poison, it has access to levitate, a very strong bulk, pain split for recovery and stalling, taunt to outstall the opponent, fire moves as a coverage for bulky steel types and very good support moves (haze, aromatherapy, will o wisp, defog), i'd consider giving it a try because in my opinion he's much better than Crobat and fits the team lore much better since it's a noble mon.

Well, I hope i gave you good advice, hope we can fight again once you have fixed the team

 

[Giokio]

and forget about the ariados part... I'm dumb and thought that Ariados was still in the Galar Dex

 

[Rebelpyroflame]

Great hearing from you. Wheezing at the time was when I first started ss team, I didn’t have any really good hitters since slowking, nidoking and scolipede weren’t released yet, but with them out now he could fit better. Defog would be a must, strange steam would hit dragons dark and fighting really well and pain split could be really good for healing. What about the fourth move, taunt would mess with setup but will o wisp would be a good move to mess with physical attackers, though an extra toxic wouldn’t go amiss. I would miss infiltrator toxic, but he didn’t bring much else to defensive types or ones immune to toxic. Wheezing would match my style of anticipation switches for a wider variety of moves as well

Amungus might be useful, but who to swap for him. I kept having problems with him since my switch in style usually meant he took hard hits, and his Defense never seemed strong enough. Maybe nidoking? While he’s good when he gets going, he’s hard to switch in, slowking makes for just as good a switch for electric attacks and with wheezing helping to wall dragon types he’s not as needed. I will miss the thunderbolt for Wall water types but with Giga Drain, sleep on command and slowking he might not be needed so much.

Most of my scollipede experiences came from sm, where he really got to work, but he does seem to wear down easier these days. The protect is there mainly to let him set up speed or wear down toxiced Pokemon to more easily ko. It was especially useful with elec teams and Regieleki, but slowking is now such a tank he can endure most of what they can dish out. The main thing I’m worried about is stealth rocks/spikes taking enough off to make the sash wasted, but I’ve actually had good luck in matches where knock off means he stays around, and it would be an answer for suckerpunch abusers.

I’ll give those a try and see how they do, though I’ll have to come up with new nicknames for the two changes ;p

 

[Rebelpyroflame]

Did some initial testing, team looks like this now

Hanzo (Drapion) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Taunt

Ursula (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

Macbeth (Scolipede) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Aleister (Slowking-Galar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Future Sight

Oberon (Amoonguss) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis

Napoleon (Weezing-Galar) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Strange Steam
- Pain Split
- Defog

You were 100% right about wheezing, this time I followed pokelytics and went full Defense and he’s been doing great! Macbeth also approves of the focus sash, an extra bonus I hadn’t realised to sword dance is the fact I can superpower twice before it cuts into my attack to much. Really helps in smacking rotem appliances down. Amoonguss is still an odd one, but he completely stonewalls Tyranitar and having spore immunity mixed in helps as well.

 

[Giokio]

Love to hear that! My showdown nick is Giokio as well, text me when you find me online and we might battle again

 

[roxie]

Introduction
Heya Rebelpyroflame, I will be rating your initial team, Its cool people are exploring Galarian Slowking as it helps incredibly with special attackers Poison generally are threatened by like Alolan Raichu, Kyurem, and Tapu Lele but I find it a little odd people are running Crobat considering its not really a Excadrill check. The team is also missing Amoonguss(better Excadrill drill check) and Galarian Weezing which offers 2 immunities and support for Poison. I will suggest some changes, here is the rate and happy holidays!

Major Changes
Crobat -> Amoonguss
->
Without Amoonguss, Swords Dance Mold Breaker Excadrill with Rock Slide and Earthquake is pretty rough. With Mega Gallade not existing in SS Monotype, there is really no need to run this over Amoonguss especially when Galarian Weezing & Galarian Slowking (STABS) and Poison as a whole helping with Fighting. Amoonguss offers useful status moves that Poison loves like Spore, Stun Spore, and Toxic that improves a number of matchups notably Water, Ground, and Rock. Amoonguss/Galarian Slowking/Toxapex is hard to break for teams and they all pair together well because they have Regenerator of course!

Scolipede -> Galarian Weezing
->
You mentioned that you struggle with Normal teams and on paper Scolipede helps with that with Superpower + Rock Slide(Braviary), but Galarian Weezing offers Defog so you won't lose to hazards and Dragon-immunity to help with your Hydreigon issue. Choice Band Urshifu-Single-Strike is a threat without Galarian Weezing on any team because it can spam Wicked Blow, you really don't have any defensive switchins without it also. It also offers a secondary Ground-type immunity and Amoonguss + Galarian Weezing together also helps with your Landorus-Therian issue. Overall Normal is a really hard matchup with Diggersby + Defensive Pokemon like Blissey and Porygon2 but I suggest playing around with Toxic Spikes + Knock Off.

Galarian Slowking

Using Psyshock on Galarian Slowking feels quite inessential, replacing it with Earthquake seems a lot better here. Heatran(another special attacking Pokemon G-Slowking deals with) is a threat to Poison with its Magma Storm + Earth Power set so I am going to suggest dropping shock for eq. Galarian Slowking also runs Sludge Bomb to spread poisons which is very nice for Poison as mentioned before and the best moveset for it to run is: Future Sight, Earthquake, Sludge Bomb, Flamethrower/Ice Beam. Ice beam helps with "Ground-type Pokemon" but looking at the overall Dragon and Flying matchup, that Pokemon is OHKOing G-Slowking with Earthquake regardless.

Minor Changes
Drapion

Spectrier is a centralizing Pokemon in the metagame right now and with its Substitute / Will-O-Wisp / Nasty Plot / Hex set, its able to break a lot of bulkier Pokemon types like Steel, Flying, and Poison. I am going to suggest running a RestTalk set on Drapion considering this is Ghost's best Poison breaker and it helps since it can use substitute on a few fat Pokemon like Toxapex or Amoonguss. Whirlwind is on the set because of the odds of Sleep Talk ofc and it phazes such setup Pokemon like Spectrier while also giving Drapion a form of recovery.

Toxapex

The Toxapex set is cool but I am going to suggest using Baneful Bunker to help with Choice Band Dracovish. Poison doesn't really have any defensive switchins to a Choice Band Fishious Rend which is also why Toxicroak is D-ranked on Poison(very small niche and can barely fit but if you are really concerned about Normal maybe this).

Conclusion

(clickable importable)
This is the final version, feel free to contact me on discord Roxiee#7869 for further questions. Good luck.​

 

[Rebelpyroflame]

Hanzo (Drapion) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Whirlwind

Ursula (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

Macbeth (Scolipede) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Aleister (Slowking-Galar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Earthquake
- Sludge Bomb
- Flamethrower
- Future Sight

Oberon (Amoonguss) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis

Napoleon (Weezing-Galar) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Strange Steam
- Pain Split
- Defog


Had a play around the last few days, my thoughts:

You were dead right about Slowking, the new moves both help out with both Heatran AND Tapu Fini (it had been giving me problems lately but having a strong poison move on a special tank helps with taking it out, every turn calm minding is another big chip off even with reducing damage)

Since the changes normal hasn’t been as bad, especially now scolipede now has a way to boost attack after a superpower and isn’t chipping himself to death, so I have to respectfully disagree with that swap. I actually dropped nidoking as his poor defences and speed aren’t as useful in taking out bigger threats. Special attack wise slowking works excellently for that as well as being easier to switch in or out, and as far as taking out bigger threats a guaranteed hit with focus sash really does wonders.

Wheezing has been a great addition, the ability to burn at will rather than relying on scald really helps. Pain split is also really fun to pull off.

I tried Baneful Bunker but I just lost too much control. Toxic is a big part of my play style and losing the ability to his special/non contact hitters at will really hurts. The only time it came close to working the way intended was urashfu but he bypasses Defense anyway.

I also tried the rest talk set for drapion but it really doesn’t help. He’s a great opener and the one time I could really use rest he just kept resting and failing while not hitting anything. You were right about whirlwind though, it’s the perfect final move and great for getting rid of setup like substitutes or buffs.

Oberon has truly earned his place on the team, he’s faced down all manner of threats and teams now. I even had one funny ohk against Dragapult who dragon danced as I hit him with play rough.

All my annoying matchups have been accounted for now. Hydreigon falls to Napoleon easily, Excadrill is beaten by Macbeth superpower, Napoleon burning him or Oberon, and landorus gets no sold and burned by napoleon.

Thanks so much for the help both of you. I initially started loving poison due to a combination of feeling that it was unappreciated type, wanting to see what it could do when used properly, and funnily enough The Pokemon card came (I played multi player games with friends at a card game club, and my first deck used scolipede and Crobat because of the broken multiple poison counters a turn, and since there were more players I could poison there guys to death before they even had a turn ;p). As I started playing showdown last gen, I settled into a style that leaned into poison wearing them down, clever switches and preferring to hit second, to have Pokemon that could take hits rather than playing the speed game with glass cannons. With all the help you’ve both given me I’ve truly come into my own and realised my full potential as a bulky trickster and I’ve only taken so long to reply due to how much fun I’ve been having over the last few days. I’ve even started raising my GxE, which I thought I would never do (side note, when did the meta turn into nothing but ghosts, I battled more ghost types in the last few days than all other times put together. Won them all too thanks to the changes).

Thank you both again so much for all your help and advice, it’s made a huge difference and I am extremely thankful, I hope to face off against you sometime and show you how far my team has come

 

[Giokio]

No problem man, hope you have fun with your team and the inexistent Ariados.
Contact me if you need help with other teams i'm Giokio#9543 on Discord