Introduction
In-depth analysis
Sandaconda @ LeftoversAbility: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Rest
The star of the team itself! Despite being only a support pokemon, Sandaconda is actually the mon I tried to build this around, by adding mons that really benefit from the paralysis it spreads and from the mons it checks being... checked. Despite having a better natural physical bulk, I found conda does best when investing EVs in spdef, as its type poorly matches up against most common strong physical attackers of the tier such as Kartana, Rillaboom or Weavile. Because of its amazing ability Shed Skin conda sits allll day on common status spreaders like Lando, Pex, Gastro and others, effectively acting as a status absorber. Thanks to the amazing move Glare, not only does it absorb status, but it also cripples back enemy mons, even ground-types, thus opening the way for its teammates. This also allows it to set up rocks in the face of Corv, Torn or Skarm, as they will eventually get full-parad should they try to spam defog, and are unable to kill Conda by going for attacks thanks to the combination of Rest, Shed skin and Paralysis giving them bad odds. Even though it shines most versus teams with lots of defensive/passive mons, it also pulls its weight against more offensive oriented builds by stopping sweepers and crippling breakers trying to switch in on it if you are able to predict correctly. It's EQ, even univested, hits decently hard thanks to Sandaconda's base 107 attack and is strong enough to 2HKO spdef pexes and 3HKO offensive chomps. Overall, a very, very solid mon that I recommend everyone should try at least once.Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane / Heat Wave
- Defog
Out of all the defensive pivots in the game, defensive Zapdos is by far my favorite. This mon checks an ungodly amount of threats by itself: Melmetal, Excadrill, Urshifu, Kartana, GZapdos, Rillaboom, etc... I'm running max defense with no speed investment to make sure this can keep checking the things it should even when worn down or if its boots get knocked off. The speed is almost never worth it anyways, and we want the slow volt switch most times. Speaking of volt switch, this pokemon is able to generate an ungodly amount of momentum by clicking it, so much so that any game where the enemy Electric immune goes down almost feels like it's single handedly won by Zapdos after. Despite not running any Spatk investment, this thing's Hurricane is still very threatening. Wish I could run Heat Wave as this team often has a hard time dealing with ferro, but Hurricane guarantees that we're able to hit Chomps and Landos switching in, which would otherwise might be troublesome. A very great mon, I often think of it as the glue that holds the team together. Static also ends up fitting nicely with this team's paralysis oriented goals lol.
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Moonblast
- Psychic
AV prim is just something I wanted to try in conjonction with Sandaconda, kind off on a whim. It's almost a surprise that it ended up being such a perfect fit on the team. This thing's scalds and moonblasts pack an enormous amount of power, even without the more commonly held Specs, being able to 2HKO Urshifu-rapid with a RESISTED SCALD. AV helps it shrug off strong hits with ease, even from mons like specs lele or sludge wave from Nihilego or Nidoking, even after rocks. This counters blaceph (and most other special breakers) like nobody's buisness, and is also great versus some physical mons like shifu thanks to its wonderul Water/Fairy typing. It is simply absurdly tanky and absurdly strong at the same time, kind off like a special oriented Melmetal. Flip turn also helps keep up the team's momentum against mons that hardwall this such as Ferros, Blisseys or GKing. This really benefits from the team's para spreading, especially against mons like Urshifu. Overall an incredibly useful mon that puts in work in every single matchup, and the big Star of this team along with Sandaconda.
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Nothing special to say about this, this set is as standard as it gets. The team badly needed some speed control and pult just seemed like a great fit. It also likes Conda's presence to paralyse mons like Heatran, Clef and Ferro as they give this more chances to break through. U-turn is honestly the move I click the most often, as the team's theme is really just building momentum to either go and dish out strong hits with Prim and Melm or get rocks and para up with Sandaconda. Sometimes I'll run timid, sometimes I'll run modest, which I can afford to do as Conda deals perfectly with Koko on it's own, so I don't really worry about needing to outspeed it with Pult.
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 104 SpD / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Superpower
- Thunder Punch / Ice Punch
- Thunder Wave
Once again, a pretty standard pads Melm set. This baits common Double Iron Bash switch-ins like Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Tangrowth or Heatran into a thunderwave and then forces past them anyways through the power of paraflinch. Of course, this also applies to mons previously paralysed by Conda or Zapdos. This is honestly like 5 breakers in one, and often just makes holes in enemy teams all by itself simply by clicking DIB repeatedly. This is also the team's main lele switchin, which it then uses to apply offensive pressure in return. Just like prim, it's incredibly bulky, and incredibly strong, which makes it good in all matchups, but more so vs hyper offense or very slow teams (basically vs anything that strays too far from balance) where it can often get 2 or 3 kills by itself. Ice punch is nice to help versus Zapdos which this team can struggle a little bit with, but I most often run thunderpunch to get past Corv, Pex and Slowbro more smoothly and without using 5 billion DIB pp.
Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Low Kick
- Swords Dance
I'll be dead before I'm caught running Ice Shard on a SD set. Low kick is just an extremely useful move and why having priority sometimes comes in handy, there is no game I'm not thankful I was running low kick, especially with how annoying Ferro can be. The team just needed a set-up sweeper that beats Zapdos to round it off and help it get past the more defensive opposition. Having a resist to shadow ball + a psychic immunity is also very good for a team such as this one, so weavile seemed to be the perfect choice. Knock off is also very useful on its own, and often I will just throw this away to get rid of a particular mons' item. This can still sweep easily through teams left crippled by Melm and Prim's unparalleled power in conjunction with all of Conda's paras. More speed control also helps, as all the other mons in the team are really slow apart from Pult.
Threat list
Ferrothorn: Very, very annoying to deal with. Usually I try to para or burn it first, and then just go right into melm and pray to not get knocked to beat it, which is hardly a solid plan, but usually works well enough. Sometimes I just sit on it with conda until they decide to switch out by themselves.Victini (banded): Very hard to face, as neither zap nor melm can deal with it at all. Must keep rocks at all times to keep it at bay.
Tapu Lele (specs): Not as hard as victini, but has to be played around carefully. Melm can only switch into moonblast once, but Prim can sometimes just beat it 1v1 as the presence of Weavile and Melm on the team usually dissuades them from clicking psyshock when staring it down. Still, has to be predicted correctly or it can just floor the whole team, although it is revenge killed by pult.
Urshifu (banded): Again, not as hard as the previous two, but can be kinda troublesome as zap does not eat well, and despite resisting, Prim and Pult can only switch in once on Surging Strikes. Still, this is usually not the worst, but can get out of hand sometimes.
Life Orb Chomp: Way way scarier than the Lefties sd variant. Can be tough as it will ohko melm even wih no boosts, usually have to sac prim to prevent it from clicking scale shot and sweeping.
Apart from that, this team is really quite solid and fares well in most matchup, which is how I was able to take it so high on the ladder.
Replays
vs. Pyukumuku Guru (Storm Zone)
vs. Steez Ibaneez
vs. SetsuStsna
vs. balerion75
vs. brrr
vs Bunch24
vs Livai
vs. Lord Zamazuu
vs. ohio boy
vs. triple se7en
vs. gaenisalbino
vs. Amane Misa
vs. GeniusX
vs. leyushengfan
vs. NASA*09
vs. Chaud74
vs. SiriCelebi
vs. Pyukumuku Guru (Storm Zone)
vs. Steez Ibaneez
vs. SetsuStsna
vs. balerion75
vs. brrr
vs Bunch24
vs Livai
vs. Lord Zamazuu
vs. ohio boy
vs. triple se7en
vs. gaenisalbino
vs. Amane Misa
vs. GeniusX
vs. leyushengfan
vs. NASA*09
vs. Chaud74
vs. SiriCelebi
That's it for this one, hope you had fun reading, and for those of you looking to try out the team, here's the Pokepaste !
Last edited:
