For some reason the Espathra ban hasn't been announced, but it is implemented.thank you guys so much for the input!
final gambit was 100% just a filler move on basc, i'm going to replace double-edge and gambit with psychic fangs and jet now
also espathra ban when
I can see the point for Double Edge for this standpoint, but Ice Fang is far from useless. Yes, Head Smash hits Dragonite and Mence harder already, but another huge factor is accuracy and the ability to have that extra 20 power in comparison to Wave Crash against Garchomp isn't completely obsolete as you're making it out to be. Head Smash is definitely better overall for harder smacks on Azu, Dozo, the Slowtwins, and Roaring Moon, but that doesn't mean Ice Fang doesn't have a place at all. The 1/5 chance to miss Head Smash is still huge and sometimes it's simply better to not play into numbers games, especially with a playstyle as fast as rain where one single miss can completely destroy a game. You have convinced me about Aqua Jet being an overall better move choice for Basculin, but calling Ice Fang useless on Basculin is just silly.In fact options such as Ice Fang and Double-Edge are so useless that I would argue Final Gambit, as risky and situational as it is, still ends up being a notch above them, despite being still clearly overshadowed by Aqua Jet.
Yet another reason why Psychic Fangs is invaluable on BasculinDid you know that Ability Shield protects the Pokemon from effects that ignore Abilities such as Mold Breaker?
https://pokepast.es/7120b8d9d6f16237I've never played this format before today (lol) but I was playing around with some initial ideas and one that I've had some success with (unless there is a clodsire) is this Kilowattrel set:
this (Kilowattrel) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wind Power
Tera Type: Water (for anything besides Clod) / Ground (for Clod)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Air Slash
- Tera Blast
I tried tera Water initially for Garg, but that set gets completely walled by Clod, so Ground is a decent alternative but is still walled by Clod. Decent for momentum thanks to Volt Switch. I've been pairing it with mixed Pult for more momentum and a decent answer to Clod, but it's kinda risky. I've also been thinking about a rain team featuring Floatzel and Basculin as well, but I have yet to actually make that team lmao. Overall, probably not too worth using since Clod exists and is fucking broken in this format but I like Kilowattrel, so sue me.
You can run Tera Poison or Electric and Tera Blast so you can deal some real damage to Azumarill.Prepare to make your opponent vomit in frustration. gluttony makes berry activate at 50% and ripen makes it restore 2/3 health every time. thick fat adds a few resistances. ive never needed to tera so i left it as grass but fairy would be decent or water. apple acid flips a lot of 1v1s on their head.
View attachment 506740
Appletun @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Ripen
Tera Type: water/fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Leech Seed
- Apple Acid
- Dragon Pulse/ tera blast/ substitute
dragon pulse can be swapped if you need to hit azumarill but you lose 1v1 anyway so i think its the best choice
Encountered my first Ability Shield Gastrodon today, that was deeply traumatic.Tired of Psychic Terrain teams with the buffed Hawlucha? New Clodsire set that walls it.
Clodsire @ Ability Shield
Ability: Poison Point
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Recover
- Stealth Rock/Spikes
252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 176 Def Clodsire: 184-217 (39.6 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
Clod already had good reason to run Ability Shield for Basculin, but Hawlucha's rising meta relevancy, it gives Clod even more reason to run Ability Shield. It is definitely a sacrifice as you're sacrificing the Spikes immunity from Boots, Salt Cure and Fake Out immunity from Covert Cloak, and residual recovery and Trick dissuasion of Black Sludge, but with just how common Lucha and Basculin are, being allowed another outlet to assist in playing around the two is amazing
Edit: Tested a team with this set out and so far undefeated with it. For some more relevant matchups, one example is it only taking 26% one game against an Azu's Play Rough. And in the provided image is how it fared against a Kingambit with no boosts and one fallen teammate. From the testing, this is definitely not just a gimmick set. EV spread may seem a bit weird, but wanted to confirm Hawlucha was walled with max attack Adamant itemless Acrobatics. Ability Shield is just an amazing item for Clod in order to bypass Mold Breaker and such. If the Weezings come back through DLC, I could definitely see Ability Shield getting used far more often.View attachment 507033
cool team, but just a couple notes:This is my favorite team to use.
https://pokepast.es/86437d3b7dae1b3f
Basculin removes life privilidges from a lot of pokemon, Azumarill tanks and hits hard, Heracross deletes things, Perrserker spams Steely Spirit Tough Claws Iron Head, Mudsdale is an amazing defensive counter to a lot of pokemon, and Rotom Mow bullies Dondozo.
Good thing that when Basculegion returns, it is most likely going to be Last Respects that gets banned and Houndstone will be unbanned along with Basculegion not getting the ban hammer. Female Basculin will still be a huge threat with Adaptability+Swift Swim+Mold Breaker being able to easily spam Shadow Ball and rain boosted Surf along with Ice Beam, but the male has rather poor ghost stab options for its significantly better physical attack and it's special attack is a measly base 80, so female will definitely be better if the Last Respects prophecy comes trueprobably isn't the place but i thought of how basculegion got buffed in radical red.
Basculegion-Male @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless / Adaptability / Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wave Crash
- Head Smash
- Crunch
- Last Respects
use this under rain, and you have something that just turns into a OHKO machine
Definitely agree with your point. Ground Tera Blast is good if you want to hit all of Toxapex and Clodsire super effectively and Amoongus neutrally instead of Clod and Amoongus super effectively and Toxapex for not very effective damagei might just not know how to use it, but why use bulldoze on azu? it seems more useful to run a move like liquidation so you have a stronger water move than aqua jet - bulldoze only really offers speed control, which aqua jet already ignores.
pincurchin is also surprisingly good at dealing with basc!Obviously Pincurchin is the terrain setter here. Tera Water to abuse Lightning Rod, Discharge to cover both a status move and electric stab in the same slot to not have to take up multiple moveslots, Spikes and T Spikes because I need some sort of hazard pressure and for some reason, chose not to add Rocks to the team because I'm dumb, and finally, Recover for longevity so it can set terrain multiple times and it will last longer.
Actually, yes, many have started using a spread with 176 defense EVs and Ability Shield.Is it me or people are putting physical defense on clod, maybe calcs are wrong, but this thing just doesn't die
Venoshock is usually more reliable if you're planning to abuse Merciless. It doesn't poison opponents itself, but there's no chance of missing unless you use it on a steel type and the meta, with the exception of Clod and Slowking, is much more physically defensive than specially defensive52 ATTACK GUNK SHOT PEX IS FINALLY VIABLE LADYS AND GENTLEMEN, LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO