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Contrary to Togkey's offensive is my defensive . This team shows off it's defensive capabilities. While it's typing is not very good it is pretty solid against certain threats. It packs rocks + volt switch here to allow a threatening teammate like or to come in and more than likely weaken something heavily. I think this team works pretty well. Hope you like it.
The deadline has passed and now it's time for voting, where the two candidates are Iron Thorns hyper offense by Togkey volt switch Iron Thorns + teleport gardevoir byForest Guardian
My vote goes to Forest Guardian
I'll share the teams I made with Thorns here. Thorns turned out to be a lot less powerful than I assumed it to be, it just gets beaten by the ground types even with tera and ice punch or pin missile for coverage. I tried building some iron thorns sets that weren't just all out dragon dance and these were the results:
here Iron thorns is a bulky attacker with dragon dance as a win condition option. It struggles because of its typing though, basically everything but salazzle and oricorio has super effective coverage for it. (If you like this one you could vote for it) Here I used Iron Thorns as a spike setter on a hazard stack team, and it does click spikes pretty well until something clicks earthquake. If you can get something other than Oricorio to tera then you sit on it and phaze it out, but otherwise the two most common tera types for oricorio beat you. The rest of the team is standard spikes compliments. Passimian for knock off and u-turn to force hazard damage, mismagius to spinblock and tatsugiri to spin and win. (Not submitted for voting because that would be cheating)
The second pokemon to drop in May and not get instantly banned is Grafaiai. While Iron Thorns had a high BST and was about all-out offense, Grafaiai is much more subtle in its power. It packs 3 strong abilities and a wide utility movepool. Grafaiai can be an annoying utility pokemon with pranbkster encore, parting shot and toxic that can just choose to not get hit, a nuisance of a status spreader with poison touch and moves like u-turn and knock off or even a niche sweeper with unburden and moves like swords dance and nasty plot (or even mirror herb swgger). However you build Grafaiai, it will be a nimble attacker and a pest to your opponent.
This round will be done over two weeks to give people more time to build and share their result, hopefully there will be more entries this way.
Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have Grafaiai on it on it.
Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Friday, May 19th, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Sunday, May 21st.
poison touch grafaiai is a pretty cool mon, able to spread to status pretty easily thanks to poison jabs with 51% poison chance and uturns and knock offs with another 30% chance. i then added subplot mismagius with hex to abuse this status spreading given by grafaiai, and helping it out with a ground immunity. coalossal was also picked due to its access to flame body to spread even more status, and after giving it spikes i decided to go full-on hazard stack mode and added a mudsdale. scarf rotom-mow gives this team some speed control, a water switchin and a better ground switchin than mismagius. in the last slot i added a sylveon just as filler lmao but it works fine, being a fighting switchin and wish passer is useful considering no mon on my team has recovery.
For this week I used a CB Poison Touch Grafaiai able to pack a punch on the all tier. For instance it straight up OHKO Tatsu with Gunk Shot and does about 50 to Krook with U-Turn. Knock off is all the more effective due to the fact that the opponent will have to use different mons to handle this Grafaiai set. You also have the option to pass the CB to a defensive mon with Switcheroo if needed. Moving on, I added a Zoroark able to disguise as Sylveon to lure steel and poison types in like Bronzong, Dragalge or Revavroom which it can take out with fthrower or psychic (it also brings more pivot to the team making it quite dynamic). These two Pokemon are here to prepare the field for Cloyster in the late game. Graf's ability to spread status and chip the opposing team coupled with Zoro's to take care of steel types are both extremely valuable for Cloyster making its job fairly easy after setting up. I then build the defensive core with Sylveon as said previously and a SpeDef Iron Thorns I wanted to use + Altaria for the hazard removal, ground immunity and extra check to Arboliva, Krook, Revavroom and Toxicroak.
This team works very well. Cloyster is a pretty good sweeper but it needs a bit of help in some areas that Grafaiai and Zoroark can provide. Overall the team is quite enjoyable to play and I had a lot of success with it.
Sorry for the delay, but I was unable to get the next post up because I was travelling. It's time for voting now though which I will stop on tuesday night. The entries this round are Poison touch grafaiai voltturn by diego_yuhhi CB grafaiai+Bulky iron thorns by RarelyEtc
My vote goes to rarelyetc
And I'll share a grafaiai team I made: A sort of volt turn team with poison touch grafaiai.You set up hazards with mudsdale, knock off items with passimian and grafaiai and use bombirdier as a slow-ish pivot to bring in bruxish and grafaiai. With slowbro gone, I don't think crunch is needed as coverage on bruxish and poison fang seems like a funny move to force passive damage. Ice fang might be better for damage on altaria though.
The winner this round is RarelyEtc's Choice band grafaiai team , thank you to everyone who participated and voted. Since the schedule is already messed up, I'll probably put the next round up after the next tier shifts to get things back to normal.
The bull is back. One of the staples of alpha RU has returned from UU to a very different metagame. Slowbro is gone now but Altaria and Dragalge still remain as pokemon that can easily take its stabs. Where will Tauros land this time and how can you best use it? Tauros' biggest strength is its versatility. It can be a solid choice band/scarfer, a sweeper with bulk up or you could even go for a bulky set with will o wisp and body press. Tauros can be a valuable glue pokemon that keeps a team together and fills whatever hole you need it to, so there are a lot of directions you could go while building.
Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have Tauros on it.
Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Friday, June 9th, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Sunday, June 11th.
I wanted to build this team on choice band Tauros, a very powerful wallbreaker, which is capable of OHKO or 2HKO most pokemon of the tier, Altaria, Musdale and Palossand being the only pokemon resistant to all its attacks.
This set is pretty classic. Intimidate is a really strong ability, which can help Tauros switch on Revavroom or other physical pokemon. Fighting tera boost Close Combat's damage. The spread is classic, max attack and max speed. Max speed allows to tie opposing Tauros and outspeed 95 base speed pokemon. Close Comabt and Raging Bull are it's stab, Raging Bull is less powerfull than Flare Blitz but don't have recoil. Wild Charge and Earthquake add coverage, and help Tauros hit its switch'ins.
Tauros really likes Spikes to weaken its switch'ins, so my first defensive pokemon was Iron Thorns. Defensive Iron Thorns is an interesting wall, being able to set Spikes and pivote with Volt Switch to bring Tauros.
Leftovers are usefull because Iron Thorns don't get a recovery move. Dragon tera gives Iron Thorns a really good defensive type, and add Water and Grass resistance, while keeping the Fire and Electric resistance. 68 defense evs allow Iron Thorns to avoid the 2HKO of choice band Weavile's Icicle Crash. Spikes are really useful for cheap Tauros's switch'ins. Rock Slide is its stab. Dragon Tail's ability to phaze is really cool to abuse Spikes. Volt Switch allow it to bring its teammates easily.
Tsareena form an excellent core with Iron Thorns, Tsareena resisting Ground, Water and Grass types that Iron Thorns fear, and Iron Thorns resisting Fire, Poison and Ice types for Tsareena. Tsareena also checks physically offensive pokemon, while Iron Thorns checks specially offensive pokemons. It's also a good hazard control core, Iron Thorns setting Spikes while Tsareena can spin to remove opposing hazard.
Heavy-Duty Boots allow Tsareena to not being cheap by hazard. Queenly Majesty allows Tsareena to being immune to Grafaiai's statuses, and Weavile's Ice Shard. Water tera gives Tsareena resistance to Fire and Ice types. 240 hp and 148 defense evs allow Tsareena to avoid the 2HKO from choice band Krookodile's Crunch, and 120 speed evs allows it to outspee max speed Adamant Brute Bonnet. Power Whip is Tsareena's stab. Rapid Spin allows Tsareena to remove opposing hazard. Synthesis is its recovery move. U-turn can bring teammates on pokemon that Tsareena attracts.
Bronzong is the perfect pokemon to complete our defensive core. It sets Stealth Rock, and add a check to Gardevoir or other Fairy types. It's also really usefull vs Snow.
Levitate gives Bronzong Ground immunity. Water tera gives Bronzong a Fire resist and helps it vs rain. A specially defensive spread is usefull for Gardevoir, and we have Iron Defense so the lack of defense evs does not matter. Stealth Rock are a mandatory move on RU teams, so i don't need to explain why i chose this move. Gyro Ball is its stab, which help vs Gardevoir or Heracross. Body Press is a godd move to take advantage of Bronzong's high defense and Iron Defense. Iron Defense is really usefull vs physical setup sweeper or strong wallbreakers.
Sylveon adds a specially offensive threat, a possible cleaner if Tauros has koed or weakened its checks and a answer to Altaria. It also brings Wish, which helps our defensive core that lacks a recovery move, except Tsareena.
Leftovers are usefull to have other recovery that Wish + Protect, that gives free turns to the opponent. Pixilate boost Hyper Voice, and make it Fairy types, which is really good offensively. Steel Tera gives Sylveon an excellent defensive type. The evs are in defe,se to help Sylveon setup on physical threats, while Calm Minde help with special defense. Calm Mind gives Sylveon special attack ad special defense boost. Hyper Voice is its stab. Wish + Protect is Sylveon's recovery.
Weavile is our main cleaner, and adds speed control, very useful vs offensive teams. It also a powerfull physically offensive pokemon that will appreciate Tauros weakening its checks, and can ko Altaria, or force it to tera, and make it unable to check Tauros.
Heavy-Duty Boots can negate Weavile's weakness to Stealth Rocks. Pressure is usefull to pp stall opposing recovery moves. Ice Tera boost its Ice stab, and Ice Shard. The spread is classic, max attack and max speed. Swords Dance boost Weavile's attack, to help it cleaning late-game. Icicle Crash and Night Slash are Weavile's stab. Ice Shard allows Weavile to revenge kill faster threats, and help it cleaning late-game.
Here is the team I build around a Trailblaze Clear Amulet Tauros. The team is made to take care of bulky Ground types and Altaria which can be hard for Tauros to deal with. I really like Scyther atm and here I chose him because it brings pivot and breaking power. It can lure Altaria and deal massive damages to it, it's also able to in pretty easily on Mudsdale and get some chip damages in. Then I chose this stack hazard core that I explained more in detail in the SV cores thread. Oricorio to round it up to add special breaking power and spinblock to an extent. Once the opposing team is weakened by hazards, constant pivot, toxic and our 2 setup Pokemon then Tauros can have a good time finishing the job being faster than everything after a Trailblaze and enjoying an immutable power.
i decided 2 try my hand at building w trailblaze tauros, since the post drops team i just made beforehand was pretty decently weak 2 it... i figured stone edge isn't absolutely necessary, since it only truly hits altaria and oricorio (and in theory, one can just boost past bb wisp alt if its weakened and forced to roost when it hits the field - 0 Atk Altaria Brave Bird vs. +2 0 HP / 0 Def Tauros-Paldea-Blaze: 96-114 (32.9 - 39.1%) - the speed boost from tb however is very good at putting tauros is v good positions vs faster paced teams, and tera grass is still useful vs vaporeon, bulky grounds, skewda, and belli.
the 1st partner that immediately came 2 mind was another new toy in samurott; it enjoys tauros bringing bulky grounds n opposing tauros on the field so it can have the opportunity 2 fire off attacks, knock off helps soften up bulky boots mons that unboosted tauros may have trouble breaking, and it can help weaken mutual checks like alt, belli, qwilfish, and vapo. i went with mystic water as the item as it nets mixed rott some pretty cool calcs, as well as giving it a decently powered ajet to help pick off fast fire types and weakened tera ground sweepers. the speed lets it outpace timid frosmoth, which seems 2 b falling out of favor lately but is still nice 2 get the jump on as u trade favorably w it if you're faster.
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Bellibolt: 220-261 (52.1 - 61.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Qwilfish: 152-179 (45.5 - 53.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mudsdale: 432-510 (106.9 - 126.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (not guaranteed w unboosted)
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Sylveon: 151-178 (38.3 - 45.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes (if you knock defensive sylvs item, it's now in range of this ko w hazards up)
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Revavroom: 175-207 (48 - 56.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Passimian: 285-336 (83.5 - 98.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes (boosted hydro + ajet kos cheeky passimian plays, as well as having a chance to just ko after a spike)
252 SpA Mystic Water Samurott Hydro Pump vs. 60 HP / 252 SpD Copperajah: 189-223 (47.2 - 55.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery
i put klefki next because i put it on almost every team i think it's top 2 mons in the tier atm. steels are necessary, twave helps rott break and helps tauros clean, and spikes pair perfectly w knock + ib samurott being able 2 threaten almost all of our hazard control. magnet rise is 1 of my favorite moves on keys atm, since it helps a lot vs the very danger krook as well as rando tera ground dudes (hi cetitan)
next i wanted 2 make sure i had a fighting resist, a rocker, a volt immune, and a backup check 2 things like arc and opposing tauros; i decided 2 go w palo instead of muds as my bulky ground rocker of choice, as it's not crippled by will-o from the various users, n the spinblocking capabilities may come in handy in situations where i can outplay my opponent well or keeping hazards up is my main path 2 winning and i dont need palos services. not much else 2 say abt it, we know what it does; i chose night shade as my second attack of choice since im using tera water instead of poison, and the consistent damage is pretty helpful for palos output.
now i wanted 2 see if i could fit some hazard control but i felt a bit weak 2 mowtom, tatsu, and ghosts. i originally tried a variation with toedscruel in this slot, but it didnt rly feel like a solid solution to what i was looking for. so i went with offensive cryogonal, which maintains a decent enough bulk even uninvested combined w solid coverage that allows it 2 check and pressure various different special attackers my team needed 2 b shored up against. it also provided me with an actual ground immunity that i can leverage vs krook, even if it's not a real switchin. tera ground grants the fabled ice/ground coverage which is even stronger w freeze dry, and also blocks volt from rotom and bellibolt if need be. shedding the fire weakness, flipping the advantage against rock, and becoming resistant 2 poison also are all pretty useful as well in situations vs the likes of lazzle, scarf tauros/krook, grafaiai, and other various mons.
last, i needed dedicated speed control. the car felt like the best choice as it gave me a more offensive out vs gardevoir and a grounded poison 4 tspikes as well as a useful pivot out of bulky grounds for rott/cryo to fire off attacks, and scarf toxic can help in a pinch vs sweepers i need to get a lid on fast. i considered scarf aiai for potential item manipulation shenanigans as well as a dedicated ghost resist, with the option 2 spread poison or abuse ultra fast prankster encoree but the frailty made me favor revavroom; if anybody wants 2 give this team a try, tho, that's definitely an option 2 use i think
keen eyed observers may notice that these last 3 picks r actually a core i used and won with in rupl and got submitted 2 an older sample team slate (https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-689962) with the other roles made a bit more offensive at the expense of a shakier but not unmanageable mu vs skewda, krook and lazzle; so i may not have replays of this exact team working but this framework is tried and true! skewda in particular is a good bit tougher w this lineup, given i dont have a dedicated water resist and tera water can force me to pick in some situations, but its very hard 2 actually position vs this team thanks to everything putting out sufficient pressure. i like the way this team came out n i hope others enjoy it too :]
The entries this week are Band tauros balance by Hyper bol Clear amulet tauros with spikes qwilfish by RarelyEtc Bulk up tauros and mixed samurott offense by cyanize
The new talk of the tier is the two rapid spinners we got. Hazard control options are limited in this tier, and so these two are very welcome additions. They also provides some very important grass type options to the tier, granting an immunity to leech seed and spore. However despite having an important move, both of them are kind of let down in other ways. Tsareena lacks good coverage moves and toedscruel has all the moves you could ever need but an inconvenient typing and ability. Both of them will require support from teammates to work well, covering their weaknesses and exploiting the hazard removal and other utility they provide.
Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have Tsareena or Toedascruel on it.
Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Friday, June 16th, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Sunday, June 18th.
Tsareena having spins can relieve Altaria of it's hazard control duties if you so please, and this team does just that! although Altaria still is the defensive set it now has Dragon Dance instead of defog so, you're not getting punished when meap comes in expecting defog, you can simply Dance, Krook acts as a revenge killer or a win-con since it's scarf moxie. Hisuian Sneasel is here because it can break opposing Altarias at +2 with Gunk Shot since it's Life Orb boosted (maybe you can run eviolite, I don't know the calcs on it...) and has taunt to stop setup sweepers, running Ice Punch Toxicroak could be used to replace Sneasel, but now it's more about prediction and you're slower now with the upside of a bit more attack.
Zoroark is here to make sure that things get silly :3
https://pokepast.es/56acb4781b0fba13
I am really liking Goodra rn especially ebelt sets. With spikes support it can really bring the pain. Tsareena makes sure that goodra isn't constantly getting chipped and is the mon we need to have, i tried toedscruel but it didn't do as well since the thing is rather passive. I have Vaporeon+ Coalossal here and Coalossal adds rocks And spikes.
Prankster + Encore Graf makes sure i don't lose to set up sweepers and scarf Garde does scarf Garde things.
Goodra is EV'd to outspeed Max speed adamant thorns. Tsareena has enough speed for Brute and florges hoping to outspeed brute while 40 attack with an adamant nature allows Tsareena to get some nasty two hit koes, like Sylveon and florges after rocks. Coalossal is EV'd to take Stab fairy attacks from stuff like garde sylv etc while also allowing it to take attacks like goodra dracos the rest was put into defense. Graf outspeeds Max speed timid Missy while being an ok fairy resist with knock support.
Hope you like the team.
Here I used Iron Thorns as a spike setter on a hazard stack team, and it does click spikes pretty well until something clicks earthquake. If you can get something other than Oricorio to tera then you sit on it and phaze it out, but otherwise the two most common tera types for oricorio beat you. The rest of the team is standard spikes compliments. Passimian for knock off and u-turn to force hazard damage, mismagius to spinblock and tatsugiri to spin and win. (Not submitted for voting because that would be cheating)
Round 10: Grafaiai 
click on the sprites for the pokepaste
- https://pokepast.es/43afeecbbca68ee5 - hyperlinking doesnt play nice on mobile so i can't make it pretty sorry
