Metagame SM NU Alpha Discussion (read post #153)

[shiloh]

some of my fav sets :3

Whimsicott @ Normalium Z
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Nature Power
- Moonblast
- Psychic / Giga Drain

this cott set is actually really fun to use bc offensive whims is already a great set as it is and this just lets it be even better. if you find a way to deal w/ steel types this set will be at its most potent, and can usually sweep in late game situations. in case you didnt know the mechanic, nature power becomes a priority move when used by prankster mons, so you essentially have a prankster tri attack, or prankster breakneck blitz with 160 base power. however i find myself clicking z growth more which gives you +2 spa instead and still gives you a priority tri attack to prevent revenge kills from faster mons / scarfers. overall a really fun take on offensive whims imo and something i really like using.

Lycanroc @ Life Orb / Fightinium Z
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Accelerock
- Stone Edge
- Brick Break

in a meta with a ton of good fire types like typh / moltres having a strong prio move able to ohko both of them is nice. lycanroc fits this as accelrock is able to revenge moltres / charizard / typhlosion / ribombee and a bunch of other fast mons which makes it really useful on offensive teams. sd gives it breaking power and brick break is the best coverage it can fit. fightinium is nice to deal with things like steelix / rhydon if you can afford to fit it on your team. not the biggest threat / close to the best mon but still fun to use

Ninjask @ Groundium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Aerial Ace
- Dig

cbb told me about how in bwnu dig sash ninjask was a thing and i figured it would be fun to try something similar to it with z dig as you just hit way harder and are able to actually deal with things like steelix / rhydon / regirock. speed boost allows you to avoid the revenge kill from things like hitmonlee / rain dance mons and others, and you can even afford to run adamant as you dont really miss anything with it opposed to timid. works really nicely when pairing with mons that appreciate bulky rocks / steels being removed, like the next mon on the list.

Drapion @ Salac Berry
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Substitute

sub salac drapion is something i used in oras ru and i thought it would probably be even better here when paired with z move lure mons. sub allows you to avoid status, lets you wall sableye even harder than before, and allows you to activate salac to avoid being revenge killed by things like ribombee / tyrantrum / emboar which can revenge normal sd sets. the lack of aqua tail / eq isnt that big because you can still knock them off on the switch then in combo with hazards or something like z dig ninjask you can lure them in for a late game drapion sweep.

Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Receiver
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head / Toxic

passimian is a good combo of primeape / sawk that i really like using. u-turn + 120 attack + cc is a killer combination, but the lack of knock off hurts it a lot. it also has decent bulk with 100 / 90 / 60 defenses which allows it to pivot into attackers nicely. paired with hazards it gets even better at racking up damage vs an opp and can allow you to pivot to pursuit trappers / ghosts really easily. it will become a lot better when defiant is released on it, but even until then i think it'll have a nice place in the tier even if it isnt at the top.

overall this tier is really busted but i think once we get some shit sorted in beta this tier will be a lot of fun so i hope to see you all there n_n

 

[poh]

Posted this a while ago but i thought it could be useful since alpha is out

Boosting Sweepers

Swords Dance:

Calm Mind:

Nasty Plot:

Quiver Dance:

Shell Smash:

Rock Polish:

Belly Drum:

Dragon Dance:

Bulk Up:

Curse:

Other:

Weather Setters:

Rain:

Sun:

Hail:

Let me know if i missed something

 

[dk]

Is RP Aggron viable at all? Sounds relatively difficult to set up but Head Smash hurts x_x

 

[erisia]

Is RP Aggron viable at all? Sounds relatively difficult to set up but Head Smash hurts x_x

Tyrantrum just straight up outclasses it though, due to higher Speed, less weakness to Mach Punch / Aqua Jet, and the option of running Dragonium-Z STAB Outrage for getting past things like Seismitoad.

 

[Jarii]

Posted this a while ago but i thought it could be useful since alpha is out

Boosting Sweepers

Swords Dance:

Calm Mind:

Nasty Plot:

Quiver Dance:

Shell Smash:

Rock Polish:

Belly Drum:

Dragon Dance:

Bulk Up:

Curse:

Other:

Weather Setters:

Rain:

Sun:

Hail:

Let me know if i missed something

Love this, amazing job. Only thing more to it is that kingdra can be a rain setter on his own. For the rest amazing!

 

[Quint_]

Posted this a while ago but i thought it could be useful since alpha is out

Boosting Sweepers

Swords Dance:

Calm Mind:

Nasty Plot:

Quiver Dance:

Shell Smash:

Rock Polish:

Belly Drum:

Dragon Dance:

Bulk Up:

Curse:

Other:

Weather Setters:

Rain:

Sun:

Hail:

Let me know if i missed something

Nice list. Might have some additions:
1) Sableye to Rain setters & Sun setters. Basically does the same as Liepard.
2) Kingdra to Rain setters. Been testing it out and it can easily set up the rain for itself
3) Poliwrath to Belly Drum, Since I think it is a viable option as a BDer in Rain

 

[poh]

Love this, amazing job. Only thing more to it is that kingdra can be a rain setter on his own. For the rest amazing!

Nice list. Might have some additions:
1) Sableye to Rain setters & Sun setters. Basically does the same as Liepard.
2) Kingdra to Rain setters. Been testing it out and it can easily set up the rain for itself
3) Poliwrath to Belly Drum, Since I think it is a viable option as a BDer in Rain

I decided to leave selfsetting weather abusers out of the list since there's already a list for those in the mini role compendium on the first page of the thread. Thanks for the feedback tho, much appreciated!

 

[Quite Quiet]

Time for something completely different. We were joking around in chat a little earlier about Z-Sleep Talk boosting critical hit ratio of Pokemon. Stealing from Crit-Dra, but thanks to how Z-Sleep Talk will call a Z-Move on it's own after being used you can get some hilarious results from this. Komala is the obvious abuser of this since it's always in a state where Z-Sleep Talk is usable and you don't have to get it sleeping somehow first. It's just touch and go. It's a bit slow to sweep teams in the current metagame, but it still has some potential further down the line when things calm down too and it can function is a decently strong wallbreaker as it is.

Komala @ Normalium Z
Ability: Comatose
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sleep Talk
- Return
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance / Shadow Claw / Something else I guess?

 

[Jarii]

Vikavolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

Or

Vikavolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

I haven't seen people talk about this mon at all and in my opinion it's way better than people give it credit for. Being able to 2HKO steelix (which is by far the most common SR user) with very small prior damage is amazing. Also, vikavolt is able to just set up an agility on most bulkier mons in the tier since its amazing movepool and insanse SpA forces a lot of pokes to switch out. The low speed isn't much of an issue; after an agility it's able to outspeed almost every non-scarfer, modest is just for straight power but you miss out on outpacing noivern and ribombee if you do so, so you have to choose what nature you prefer. Vikavolt has some issues with porygon 2 and dragalge so i suggest mons that can deal with those if you want to try Vikavolt out.


Also something completely different from my playstyle, stall:

or

(no idea where to find a better pyku one ;;)

Team

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Recover
- Toxic
- Magic Coat

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Aromatisse @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 244 HP / 136 Atk / 128 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 SpD / 84 Spe
Careful Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Toxic

Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Toxic
- Soak
- Counter

Team with Necro

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Recover
- Toxic
- Magic Coat

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Aromatisse @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 SpD / 84 Spe
Careful Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Toxic

Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Toxic
- Soak
- Counter

Necrozma @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Moonlight

First off huge shoutout to erisia for the Porygon 2 set, because of that set I decided to make a stall team. Hardest section in a tier with all the massive threats is stall, with that in mind I tried to check at least everything once and I think I did a pretty good job at that. P2 is basicly a sponge for every special attacker in the tier and so the team does not lose to Moltres. Spiritomb is the wincon on this team and helps P2 out with the huge fighting weakness with the likes of Medicham / machamp / hariyama and lesser extent pangoro. Aromatisse is the secondary fighting check which also gives the team Wish and Aromatherapy which was amazing. Steelix is one of the best rockers in the tier right now and is able to deal with the fairy typing and volt switchers in the tier so i'm not getting in the voltturn fortex. Golbat amazing defogger, I used a different set then Evann because I don't know where the speed is for and my spread give Golbat a jump point at 176. Pykumuku really glues this team together as a whole with being able to deal with major of the sweeper in the tier. Another thing to note is that you can use Type:null (soulgazer set look at that post for more information) over Porygon 2 as a spD glue and another wincon which is does pretty well. If you have any suggestions or questions about the team feel free to ask!

P.S After talking with Sir Kay and the considerable weakness to some fighting types like Pangoro, I'll added a second team with Necrozma over Steelix. If you have issues with the fighting types use the one with Necrozma!

 

[ojr]

Posted this a while ago but i thought it could be useful since alpha is out

Boosting Sweepers

Swords Dance:

Calm Mind:

Nasty Plot:

Quiver Dance:

Shell Smash:

Rock Polish:

Belly Drum:

Dragon Dance:

Bulk Up:

Curse:

Other:

Weather Setters:

Rain:

Sun:

Hail:

Let me know if i missed something

Maybe ad Trick Room for example:
Porygon2, Slowbro/king, Cofagrigus

 

[Drapionswing]

Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower/Taunt
- Roost

I think this Noivern is easily one of the best pokemon right now. Noiverns speed and allows it to outspeed majority of the unboosted metagame and just fire away stab attacks as you please. What I like about Noivern particularly in this metagame is that it's typing and coverage allows it to take advantage of a wide variety of threats that it resists and just either revenge kill them or switch into a resisted move(which isn't really recommended). Hurricane switchins are already few and from and when paired with Draco Meteor for rock types and Flamethrower for steels Noiver finds itself tearing up slower teams. Taunt can be used if you want to tear apart fatter teams, and I have a theory that Dragonium Z may also do a good job at that too, however I have no experience with it. Unfortunately ribombee outspeeds by 1 basepoint which means a lot and Ice Shard from the likes of Sneasel or Pilloswine will do a ton.

Drap a Draco

Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
- Roost

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Vacuum Wave

Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Toxic

Drapion @ Waterium Z
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Aqua Tail

Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Superpower
- Outrage
- Earthquake

My check to kingdra is 1 of 3 things:
1.) The x button
2.) Revenging as long as it's not speedboosted
3.) Hopes and Dreams

 

[VCrakeV]

Any ideas for knock off switch ins? I'm running sun with harvest, and all the knock off mons make it difficult. Not to mention it's hard not to run an Eviolite mon...

Z crystal mons? Sticky hold gastrodon?

 

[banks]

Posted this a while ago but i thought it could be useful since alpha is out

Boosting Sweepers

Swords Dance:

Calm Mind:

Nasty Plot:

Quiver Dance:

Shell Smash:

Rock Polish:

Belly Drum:

Dragon Dance:

Bulk Up:

Curse:

Other:

Weather Setters:

Rain:

Sun:

Hail:

Let me know if i missed something

• Mention Vallinuxe in 'Other' for autotomize
• Xatu may be worth a mention for Rain Dance and Sunny Day
• Should probably mention Shiftry for NP
• I'd mention curse for Cradily
• Also, maybe a section for eviolite users? There are so many viable NFE mons this 'alpha'.

 

[erisia]

Any ideas for knock off switch ins? I'm running sun with harvest, and all the knock off mons make it difficult. Not to mention it's hard not to run an Eviolite mon...

Z crystal mons? Sticky hold gastrodon?

Leafeon @ Normalium-Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge

This is probably one of the most reliable ones (you could run Heal Bell over something if you wanted Z-Heal Bell to give you one turn of recovery). You could also try Houndoom with a Z-crystal, or something like Aromatisse with Z-Heal Bell if you wanted something more defensive. Physically defensive Necrozma can also take weak Knock Offs decently well with a Z-crystal, and can capitalise on Sun with a buffed Moonlight/Morning Sun.

 

[Jarii]

Any ideas for knock off switch ins? I'm running sun with harvest, and all the knock off mons make it difficult. Not to mention it's hard not to run an Eviolite mon...

Z crystal mons? Sticky hold gastrodon?

If you are using sun I suggest this set:

Shiftry @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Leaf Blade
This with the Leafeon set Erisia already said are the best ones when you are using sun.

 

[HJAD]

hi lads,

I've been having a tonne of fun in this new SM NU meta, and in this post, I would like to explain my thoughts on the current metagame and show the teams I've built so far which I've found to be particularly effective.

So my thoughts on this current meta; and all I can be thinking constantly is how much power creep there is down here. The likes of Necrozma, P2, Slowbro, Dragalge, Whimsicott, Slurpuff, Pangoro, just off the top of my head, all of these things, none of us could have expected to drop. It's extremely cool and nervewracking at the same time having all of these mons down here, since it could lead to a clusterfuck of AutoBans, but in return we could have a fresh metagame that differentiates itself quite nicely from the older NU metagames. In my personal opinion, a tonne of mons won't make it past the next usage update in RU, so it will be equally interesting to see if the meta balances itself out in the next usage update or gets worse. My personal experiences on the most part since I've become accustomed to how the tier plays is quite positive, with no playstyle really finding itself to be hugely advantageous. My only qualms have been how inconsistent the game feels, with match-ups being hugely influential in some cases. This was something we knew was gonna happen though, especially at the beginning of a new tier shift. Teams are going to find it super hard to check everything reliably at first, so if your oppo carries something you didnt take into account such as an elaborate z move lure, or a different pokemon which has been shrouded from the spot light, it will be really hard to win. Overall though, I'm really quite happy with the state of the tier in its given infancy, and I will be paying close attention to how it develops in the coming days, weeks and months.

So onto some cool things I've been trying out; with the meta literally days old, there is a lot of room to be cool and innovative.

set

Lilligant @ Psychium Z
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Dream Eater

This Lilligant set uses the new Z Move characteristics as a way to bypass old checks, which used to be bulky Poison types. Now you essentially limit your checks after a quiver dance to literally skuntank, drapion, shiftry and mons literally faster than it . Its especially helpful since some bulky pokemon such as moltres, magmortars and the like, don't enjoy taking a +1 180 bp move from a lilligant, leading it being a much more consistent late game cleaner than it used to be, when it had to rely on hidden powers. With the spikes presence in the tier too, there are plenty of oppurtuinities to use this lure as well as setting up.

set

Uxie @ Normalium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic / Knock Off
- Heal Bell
- U-turn

This is a uxie set i've really been enjoying using, especially on balance teams which require uxie to check a multitude of teams. heal bell frees up a tonne of slots on other pokemon such as vaporeon and audino, the 2 premier wish passers, as well as use z move heal bell, which can heal uxies HP back to 100%, which used to be huge sticking point about it. Nomalium Z also holds a dual purpose; because Uxie is a really bulky psychic type, it tends to bait more knock offs than your standard fat thing, and since normalium z can't be knocked off, its BP is only 65, meaning it can be quite a nice pivot switch in for likes of sawk and gallade, with its pure typeing more than enough to deal with stuff like medicham.

set

Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Earthquake

Pokemons really hate touching this thingy physically, and it functions so nicely when paired with Garbodor on a good hazards stack team. It weakens anything and everything so well, given a spike is already up. Drudd has kinda been overlooked in this current iteration of the meta, but i have no doubts it will be a top tier threat come the following shifts, its typing gives it many resists that are nice like fire and water which are easy to overlook, and even if it doesn't when a poke takes like 30% from touching this thing, it really kills momentum if something trys to attack this physically.

set

Gallade @ Psychium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Hypnosis
- Zen Headbutt / Knock Off
- Close Combat

I remember being super excited for this thing with Z moves coming out. It had such an incredible support movepool which was almost never utilised properly, so i made it one of my priorities to find if it had a set that included the z moves which could possibly use its support movepool to a much more effective extent and this is what i came up with. Z hypnosis is super fun since it gives you a 60% (yes it is 60, i wanted 100 ;-;) chance to render something as settup fodder, and adds +1 to your speed, allowing it to be much much more difficult to revenge kill. I enjoy pairing this up with good sableye / spiritomb lures to give this the best possible chance of cleaning late game. Psychium z gives the double effect of being super powerful if you don't really need the speed from z hypnosis. Its a fun set, not the most reliable, but certainly effective if you can land the hypnosis and get a swords dance under your belt, a big threat for teams to face.

These are some of the teams i've been using when playing with friends and on the ladder:

full stall importable

Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soak
- Recover
- Toxic
- Counter

Bronzor @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psywave
- Rest
- Toxic

Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Fire Punch / Filler

Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic

Audino @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Knock Off

Hitmontop @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Earthquake / Foresight
- Close Combat

This is my take on stall, and its been hugely reliable, allowing me to go 20-0 on the nu alpha ladder (also highest gxe, proof of record: https://gyazo.com/c8e1899d44d80339f9da9f4eb8e2a94f). Key features of this stall team is its capability to take on the entirety of the offensive meta, putting a stranglehold on the common threat stack offense you see on the ladder nowadays. What inspired me to build this is how disgustingly bulky pyukumuku is, and the fact it gets unaware, meaning that, although it looks like it has no offensive presence, it doesnt need one, since nothing can really settup on it without somehow getting toxic'd that soak. The team is really based on toxic everything, be bulky, and recover. Other editions of my own stalls, or built by others in the NU room have been super super hazards weak. I decided to invest in a really solid spinner in hitmontop, which beats the likes of qwilfish and garbodor with eq, when previously they would have been annoying to deal with. This team doesn't really have a toxic spikes immunity, so it can be difficult to play a toxic spikes team + spinblocker, its also hard to play around fire types like nasty plot ninetales, nasty plot houndoom, or any fire type really that can beat audino, and then also beat pyuku. Pyuku has a custom spread, allowing it to eat jolly stone edges from life orb jolly kabutops, but also deal with pretty much every non grass z move fire type. Enough spdef to eat a life orb psychic from delphox and not be 2hkoed. Other features is its ability to take on dodrio reliably, and others such as any samurott variant tbh. This team is far from perfect, since its a kinda of "do nothing" type of team, it really struggles vs well constructed balance cores with wish and heal bell (game plan would be to get ur oppo to waste all heal bells and win that way), but I feel its the best representation of stall teams at the moment, and what people should be really doing to combat it right now. (run hazards, and run good lures that can take away key checks like pyuku, like ninetales, like zgrass houndoom.)

importable scarf medicham balance

Whimsicott @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Encore
- Moonblast
- U-turn
- Knock Off / Giga Drain

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Seed Bomb
- Gunk Shot

Medicham @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Zen Headbutt

Regirock @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 196 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Wave

Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

Seismitoad @ Groundium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Rain Dance

This is one of the more reliable teams I've built that isn't full stall. It utilises the annoying taunt sableye + encore whimsicott core, with hazards stack and a rain dance seismitoad / scarf medicham to clean up in the late game. It's very effective vs offense teams, since they often take tonnes of damage from hazards setters, can't settup easily thanks to whimsicott, cant spin effectively thanks to sableye, and often are super weak to either rain dance toad or the scarf medicham since they dont usually have the devices to tank either of those mons. I chose toad over kingdra because i wanted the volt immunity, and rock resist, which i found to be super annoying in test games when i used kingdra variant. This team also struggles with some pokemons, like zgrass fires, slowbro/king and other bulky spike stack, but it combats the rest of meta pretty effectively so i do end up enjoying using this team.

importable z hypnosis gallade spike stack

Xatu @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Seed Bomb

Spiritomb @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Trick
- Shadow Sneak

Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Earthquake

Gallade @ Psychium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Hypnosis
- Zen Headbutt
- Close Combat

This is what i came up with to utilise the gallade set i was speaking about earlier. I knew that i wanted to try out xatu, to see if the mindgame magic bounce aspect was just as busted as it was in oras and previously before that xy (spoiler: it is), and i knew i wanted to try out this fancy new gallade set. I decided to go with a standard hazards stacking core of seis garbodor, allowing you to check a large portion of the metagame. This is where scarf tyrantrum comes in, filling in the holes like a fire resist and a flying resist. Finally i added cb spiritomb because i was weak to stuff like crotomb, which i could trick, but primarily to trap those pesky pure psychic types which tend to make gallade struggle a little bit. I ran dazzling gleam on xatu as an attempt to lure sableye and other variants of spiritomb which put a huge cockblock around what i wanted to achieve, but overall, ive found this team to be quite good, gallade is a good cleaner, but i often find tyrantrum, being the busted shit it is, finding cleaning oppurtuinities way faster with spikestack core.

tl;dr, meta is kinda fun; if a little busted, try some fun sets before the meta really settles down, stall is a viable playstyle, hazards are really good (still), and ttrum is borked get rid asap plz :3

 

[Spencario]

Two of the things I've been noticing is the prominence of fighting types (Namely Hitmonlee and Pangoro) in the tier, as well as the constant spam Specs Yanmega can put out, so I wanted to work on a team that addressed some of these mons:

Hide

Drampa @ Assault Vest
Ability: Berserk
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpA / 96 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Surf
- Thunderbolt

Pangoro @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 244 HP / 128 Atk / 132 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Xatu @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- U-turn
- Night Shade

Aromatisse @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Oricorio-Sensu @ Salac Berry
Ability: Dancer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Revelation Dance
- Hurricane

Drampa can def take hits from Yanmega, with Air Slash and Bug Buzz doing 36-43% respectively. I've also noticed it's able to eat hits from other special mons like CM Slowking and NP Houndoom. The great thing about Berserk is that it adds to its trading potential, allowing it to not only eat a hit but secure a KO with +1 SpA.

Most things on the defensive end want to cripple Pangoro, so I figured Lum would be nice to absorb the common will-o's/t-waves.

The Steelix set I think is probably the safest I've run thus far, as even without Def investment we can tank a Drain Punch from BD Slurpuff (~70-75%) and KO cleanly with the Heavy Slam. Same principle applies to Minior.

I've seen a fair amount of hazards stacking, toxic spikes in particular, so I thought I'd give Xatu a try. Still working out the set, but it's handy to be able to eat a knock off and roost off the damage. Speed investment helps to match up with neutral base 85's.

Aromatisse pairs very nicely with the rest of the team, again helping to respond to fighting types as well as provided much needed healing for the likes of Pangoro/Drampa.

I'm very surprised with how well Oricoro has done, not only as a decent offensive spin blocker, but the speed tier it hits (493 w/Timid) after we get down to Salac Berry puts us ahead of many of the offensive weather sweepers at +2 (Neutral Ludicolo, Neutral Victreebell, Neutral Sandslash-A). Ghost/Flying coverage is also no joke.

Some mons that scares are Pangoro with Gunk Shot, as well as Offensive Dragalge's coverage. Otherwise I've been enjoying it so far.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

Since we're set sharing.

Guzzlord @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Tail

I thought Guzzlord would be crap, but actually it's been surprisingly good. This set can check a lot of dangerous attackers, like Moltres, Necrozma, CM Slowbro, Sigilyph that lack Dazzling Gleam, Raichu-A, Victreebel, Delphox, Typhlosion etc. Dark Pulse is the reliable STAB; Draco Meteor's there when you need the extra power. Fire Blast has great coverage with Guzzlord's STABs, only resisted by lol Carbink. Dragon Tail stops the opponent setting up on you. Special Attack is maximised for optimum power. The rest is in Special Defence, as Guzzlord's HP is already so high it doesn't need investment. Still not convinced? Here are some calcs:

252 SpA Life Orb Moltres Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 175-208 (29.8 - 35.4%) -- 24.7% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sigilyph Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 296-354 (50.4 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+6 0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 132-156 (22.4 - 26.5%) -- 19.7% chance to 4HKO
+2 252+ SpA Omastar Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 304-358 (51.7 - 60.9%)
+4 252 SpA Mismagius Hidden Power Fighting vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 260-308 (44.2 - 52.4%) -- 18.4% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Victreebel Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 269-317 (45.8 - 54%) -- 47.7% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Victreebel Acid Downpour (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Guzzlord: 402-474 (68.4 - 80.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Soviet15]

This guy's a pretty fun wallbreaker, probably not very good but very fun.

Machamp @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Thanks to the burn nerf, flame orb only deals 6% damage to Machamp who now has the equivalent of a CB with 130 attack. Struggles a bit with fairies, but it's definitely worth some mention, if not this set, then just Machamp in general.

 

[FatBagel]

I got you guys something pretty.

Golem-Alola @ Firium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch

This is basically solely to beat Steelix - I was using Specs Ribombee and Steelix was a problem. Tried Trapinch to kill Steelix but he didn't win 1v1.

Inferno Overdrive does 90%+ to Steelix and he can't get away due to Magnet Pull.

It's pretty niche but as a partner to Ribombee/Alolan-Raichu or something he's pretty powerful.

If there's no Steelix, you basically just use this to set up SR and grab momentum with volt switch.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

I loved using Raichu-A in my Sun game, and I'm happy to say it's good here too.

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot

Nasty Plot gives you massive Special Attack, letting you 2HKO at worst almost everything. Thunderbolt is the main STAB. Psyshock hits special walls hard. I prefer it over Psychic as it lets you break though specially defensive stuff. Grass Knot hits the Ground types that would otherwise wall you, OHKOing Seismitoad, Gastrodon and Rhydon. You could also run Focus Blast if you want to hit Steelix (and Guzzlord I guess), but I find its accuracy too disappointing. Life Orb gives you a nice power boost - Raichu's so frail anyway it doesn't mind the recoil. Psychium Z or Alorachinium Z are valid choices as well. EVs are self explanator.

 

[Natan]

This guy's a pretty fun wallbreaker, probably not very good but very fun.

Machamp @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Thanks to the burn nerf, flame orb only deals 6% damage to Machamp who now has the equivalent of a CB with 130 attack. Struggles a bit with fairies, but it's definitely worth some mention, if not this set, then just Machamp in general.

You could consider Heavy Slam on this set, with Heavy Slam Machamp will OHKO Aromatisse most of the time, it's also the best option against Togetic and is the strongest thing against Granbull, btw I'm not sure if this set is really worth (it's probably viable, but with Pangoro in the tier I think most times it's a better option with: Gunk Shot, Drain Punch, Knock Off, great abilities and access to Swords Dance, it learn Bullet Punch as well, is slightly weaker and faster, and the best thing : STAB Dark moves and immunity to Psychic).
Pangoro is almost impossible to switch in and it have great options such a Swords Dance, All-out Attacker set with Choice Band / Life Orb (with Drain Punch to compensate Life Orb's recoil) or even Z-Snatch, it's really slow and this is a problem, but Machamp is even slower anyway.

 

[Soviet15]

You could consider Heavy Slam on this set, with Heavy Slam Machamp will OHKO Aromatisse most of the time, it's also the best option against Togetic and is the strongest thing against Granbull, btw I'm not sure if this set is really worth (it's probably viable, but with Pangoro in the tier I think most times it's a better option with: Gunk Shot, Drain Punch, Knock Off, great abilities and access to Swords Dance, it learn Bullet Punch as well, is slightly weaker and faster, and the best thing : STAB Dark moves and immunity to Psychic).
Pangoro is almost impossible to switch in and it have great options such a Swords Dance, All-out Attacker set with Choice Band / Life Orb (with Drain Punch to compensate Life Orb's recoil) or even Z-Snatch, it's really slow and this is a problem, but Machamp is even slower anyway.

Yeah Pangoro is definitely superior, but I think Machamp deserves a shout considering Pandaboy will probably be gone eventually.

 

[Natan]

Well, I'm gonna share I set I've been using with success:

/

Drapion @ Waterium Z / Groundium Z
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Aqua Tail / Earthquake
Drapion is a very nice mon: it have a decent 95 speed that allows it to outspeed things like Meloetta and Moltres and tie with things like Yanmega and Houndoom. Only 1 weakness and a respectable bulk (70/110/75) mainly in the physical side will allow it to find a lot of oportunities to setup, mainly with Necrozma being very common right now. After a Swords Dance this thing get very strong and will threaten almost everything that is slower, with STAB Knock Off and access to Aqua Tail or Earthquake as coverage, Waterium Z is a good option that allows you to OHKO no PhysDef Steelix at +2 (most of the time) and Rhydon (Drapion only need some prior damage to be able to beat Rhydon witha +2 Aqua Tail or a +0 Hydro Vortex). I caught a lot of Pokémon off guard with that Z-Move (mainly Steelix and Rhydon, but Piloswine and Shuckle are also targets to it), but Groundium Z is also a very good option that allows you to have a higher chance of OHKOing SpD Steelix (obviously, not counting Sturdy), also helps against Toxicroak, Garbodor, Dragalge and most of Rock-, Steel- and Fire-types, it also have a better Base Power and a slightly higher Z-Power.

Some Calcs

Waterium Z
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 322-380 (91.4 - 107.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 680-800 (164.2 - 193.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 220 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 476-562 (120.2 - 141.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Shuckle: 228-270 (93.4 - 110.6%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Moltres: 324-382 (100.9 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Minior: 296-350 (113.4 - 134%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Weezing: 204-240 (61 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery (obviously this will only be a thing once Weezing is weakened enough, but this min damage is higher than max damage from Knock Off)

Groundium Z
+2 252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 200+ Def Garbodor: 522-616 (143.4 - 169.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 330-390 (93.7 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 348-410 (84 - 99%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Dragalge: 334-394 (100 - 117.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Drapion Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Toxicroak: 242-286 (78.8 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tyrantrum: 262-310 (85.9 - 101.6%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Seismitoad: 264-311 (63.7 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery(obviously this will only be a thing once Weezing is weakened enough, but this min damage is higher than max damage from Knock Off)

 

[Evan.]

Well, I'm gonna share I set I've been using with success:

Drapion @ Waterium Z
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Aqua Tail
Drapion is a very nice mon: it have a decent 95 speed that allows it to outspeed things like Meloetta and Moltres and tie with things like Yanmega and Houndoom. Only 1 weakness and a respectable bulk (70/110/75) mainly in the physical side will allow it to find a lot of oportunities to setup, mainly with Necrozma being very common right now. After a Swords Dance this thing get very strong and will threaten almost everything that is slower, with STAB Knock Off and access to Aqua Tail as coverage, the reason why I think Waterium Z is the best item option is because it can OHKO no PhysDef Steelix at +2 and Rhydon (Drapion only need some prior damage to be able to beat Rhydon witha +2 Aqua Tail or a +0 Hydro Vortex). I caught a lot of Pokémon off guard with that Z-Move (mainly Steelix and Rhydon, but Piloswine and Shuckle are also targets to it).

Some Calcs

+2 252 Atk Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Prism Armor Necrozma: 292-343 (73.3 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 322-380 (91.4 - 107.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 680-800 (164.2 - 193.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 220 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 476-562 (120.2 - 141.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Shuckle: 228-270 (93.4 - 110.6%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Drapion Hydro Vortex (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Moltres: 324-382 (100.9 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO

i'm really not sure why people are using aqua tail over earthquake, it hits literally all of the same things coverage wise that aqua tail does while guaranteeing the OHKO on steelix, not being walled by toxicroak (and other poisons) and not missing when youre not using the z-move. if anyone can give me a reasonable answer i'm all for it, i just can't see why aqua tail would be better in the slightest