Resource SS ZU Sample Teams

S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

aka Ho3nConfirm3d
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Art by the amazing Kolohe. Format from last last gen's thread by 5gen

Welcome to ZU Sample Teams! Here you will find a collection of solid, successful teams intended to help new players get acclimated to the metagame and different playstyles found within the tier. Everyone is welcome to submit a team, but in order to maintain a good quality archive, your team will be subject to approval from the council before its addition. You may use any team in this archive as you see fit. Teams are updated in the OP.

An Importable of the team is required.
A brief explanation of how the team works and what each member does. You may also include any success the team had on ladder or in tournament play, and if you want, some replays.
Teams must be tested and fine tuned as much as possible. If your team has glaring flaws and has to be touched up, it likely will not be added.
A submitted team will be added if deemed up to par.
In the same vein, teams should utilize Pokemon mostly from S to B+ to better reflect the metagame. Teams may showcase lower-ranked Pokemon, so just be mindful that the goal of this thread is to show newer players what's most common and effective in ZU. Also, we encourage you to submit teams you've build on your own.
No memes
(optional but helpful) mini sprites

After you’ve submitted your team, the council will look it over and either add it or post here explaining why we will not.

Sample Teams:
(click on sprites for the Pokepaste)

TangDash Balance 2.0 by Corthius
:tangela: :rapidash: :skuntank: :rotom: :rhydon: :altaria:

Sableye Semistall by 5Dots
:sableye: :klinklang: :gurdurr: :type-null: :altaria: :stunfisk:

CB Klinklang + DoubleDance Alcremie by Tuthur
:alcremie: :cramorant: :klinklang: :miltank: :sawk::stunfisk:

Sun HO by Tuthur + Corthius
:uxie: :liepard: :shiftry: :ivysaur: :rapidash: :froslass:

Stall 3.0 by kay
:stunfisk: :pyukumuku: :tangela: :clefairy: :articuno: :spiritomb:

NP Skuntank+Hex Rotom Offense by hiss
:skuntank::rotom::thwackey::rhydon::wishiwashi-school::rapidash:
Skuntank's stallbreaking capabilities with Corrosive Gas, Nasty Plot, and a fantastic dual STAB, make it a top tier threat. While it typically runs Taunt, Corrosive Gas is a fantastic way to cripple defensive switch-ins like Rhydon and Stunfisk. Although it has some notable checks and counters, major assistance is provided to Skuntank via its teammates. Rotom is an offensive pivot that lures in Ground-types like Rhydon and Piloswine, just to cripple them with Wisp and Hex. Thwackey not only revenge kills faster opponents, but Grassy Terrain provides recovery alongside a weakening of Earthquake for Skuntank. Rhydon blocks Volt Switch and sets up hazards, and has the bulk & firepower to check otherwise troublesome Pokémon like Altaria, Stunfisk, and Rapidash. Wishiwashi is a defensive teammate that soft checks a lot of threats, and its slow U-Turn lets Skuntank or another Pokémon come in safely. Rapidash is also a generally good check to many Pokémon, and its easily-spammed Toxic allows Skuntank's checks to be worn down.

Thievul VoltTurn by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:thievul: :thwackey: :uxie: :wishiwashI: :rotom: :silvally:(Poison)
Thievul is a great special wallbreaker on VoltTurn because it gets in on slower, vulnerable targets to punish them or switch-ins with Stakeout-Choice Specs boosted attacks. Thwackey, Silvally-Poison, and Uxie, and Wishiwashi all help get Thievul in and form the defensive backbone of the team. Rotom is the revenge killer and completes the team as all 6 Pokemon are able to pivot and get eachother in. Use Thwackey as a Volt Switch check, and even though Thwackey won't stop pivoting, there's enough support on the team to regain that momentum later. Also, watch out for

TangDash Balance by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:tangela: :rapidash: :rhydon: :articuno: :rotom: :cinccino:
Tangela + Rapidash is a well known defensive core capable of checking virtually every physical attacker with the combination of resistances, recovery, and multiple status options. For example, even wallbreakers like Centiskorch and Choice Band Sawk cannot break this core on their own thanks to Toxic, Sleep Powder, and Knock Off making it too hard for them to consistently wallbreak. On the specially defensive side of things, there's Rhydon and Articuno. They handle both setting and removing entry hazards, and Swords Dance Rhydon is especially notable for stallbreaking and blocking Volt Switch. Nasty Plot Rotom is the better stallbreaker, though, and is a viable wincon versus defensive teams. Against offensive teams, there's arguably the best Choice Scarfer for the matchup in Cinccino, which also is utilized as a Ghost switch-in. Watch pout for Knock Off; while Tangela often makes a good switch-in, it loses its Eviolite in the process and jeopardizes some of its sizable bulk. More so, it's the only teammate that can afford Knock Off usually, unless you pressure the opposing entry hazard setters well enough-Freeze-Dry Articuno somewhat does this well vs Qwilfish, at least.
KangaSpikes 2.0 by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:kangaskhan: :qwilfish: :sandslash-alola: :eldegoss: :throh: :rotom:
Kangaskhan is always a great offensive threat to pair with Spikes. Fake Out + Spikes chip damage adds up so that Kangaskhan take out more walls with Double-Edge or revenge kill offensive threats by following with Sucker Punch. Qwilfish provides Spikes, and Alolan Sandslash is a great defensive partner that also adds Stealth Rock. For both removal and for a Ground-type switch-in, there's Eldegoss. Throh completes the defensive core as a much needed special wall with recovery, and its Knock Off + Circle Throw combo is also awesome here. Rotom finally is a spinblocker and it uses its extra speed as a Choice Scarf user to clean.
Stall 2.0 by kay
:stunfisk: :audino: :pyukumuku: :spiritomb: :articuno: :rapidash:
NA

ThwackTank by czim
:thwackey: :skuntank: :stunfisk: :articuno: :jellicent: :sawk:
NA


NP Frostom BO by Tuthur
:altaria: :manectric: :rotom-frost: :sandslash-alola: :wishiwashi: :silvally:(Poison)
NA
Future Sight VoltTurn by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:uxie: :rotom-fan: :kangaskhan: :sawk: :wishiwashi-school: :silvally: (Ground)
VoltTurn is a dominate playstyle in the current metagame. The simple strategy of 2 defensive pivoting cores, 2 offensive pivoting cores, and 2 revenge killers goes a long way for a good mix of offensive and defensive pressure. The defensive core of Uxie + Wishiwashi handles most threats together with their huge bulk. Silvally-Ground and Rotom-S are the offensive examples, with again more pivoting and complementing eachother with decent Speed tiers and nailing eachother's checks. Lastly, Choice Scarf Sawk and Kangaskhan are the revenge killers, which use the constant pivoting to get in safely and offensively check a ton of threats. As the name of the team implies, Future Sight is ran on Uxie, and it's a great compliment for the offensive teammates. For example, Sawk's Close Combat is hard to check if the opposing Garbodor or Qwilfish can't afford to take a Future Sight, as well as Silvally-Ground's Multi-Attack to specially frail walls like Tangela and Gurdurr. So wall the VoltTurn lacks a traditional Choice Specs / Choice Band wallbreaker, Uxie's support goes a long way to make up for the missing damage output.

Kanga Haz Stack by czim
:kangaskhan: :ferroseed: :piloswine: :centiskorch: :qwilfish: :rotom:
This team aims to wear the opponent down with residual damage from hazards and the contact chip from Ferroseed and Qwilfish while paving the way for a Kangaskhan sweep. Centiskorch and Kangaskhan complement each other well with Kangaskhan pressuring common Centiskorch checks like Qwilfish and Garbodor while Centi pressures other physical blanket checks like Tangela and Palossand for Kang, while also removing boots from Pokemon like Altaria and Rotom-fan, helping to keep hazards up. Rotom is a spinblocker and revenge killer and helps Kang revenge faster threats and helps stallbreak with Trick.

Rain by kay
:uxie: :liepard: :qwilfish: :ludicolo: :kabutops: :garbodor:
Rain is a pretty straightforward play style so the team ends up being very straight forward. Uxie and Liepard are the best rain setters in the tier because of the speed at which they're able to set rain on top of their added utility such as rocks and u-turn in Uxie's case or priority rain/encore in Liepards. Ludicolo is the teams go to breaker and win condition for when rains up because its stab + coverage can break almost any cores and its speed tier in unmatched in rain. Qwilfish was chosen next for its ability to win the stall match ups that might otherwise wall out the team which gives you a much better overall match up spread into the meta. Kabutops was chosen as the last rain abuser as it can lure in things like Feroseed and nail them with a super power to clear the way for Ludicolo to sweep later as well as just being a general menace. Garbodor was picked up for the last glue slot as its able to punish priority users like Kangaskan that might otherwise try to pick off your rain sweepers. Spikes are also a huge benefit to rain and greatly increases your ability to clean sweep teams.


Frosmoth VoltTurn by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:frosmoth: :persian-alola: :clefairy: :basculin: :cinccino: :silvally: (Ground)
Another perk of VoltTurn that was missing in the previous team but present here is bringing in setup sweepers. Frosmoth needs a safe opportunity to Quiver Dance and Substitute, so pivots can be a great way to facilitate setup opportunities for it. More so, the constant pivoting and residual damage this team offers is a great way for Frosmoth's checks to be worn down so that it is much more likely to pull off a sweep. Alolan Persian and Clefairy are a good defensive core wearing down targets. Clefairy is the main special wall but has 96 Defense EVs to avoid a 2HKO from Choice Band Sawk's Close Combat. Choice Specs Basculin is the wallbreaker + another offensive pivot, and Choice Scarf Cinccino is a perfect revenge killer, especially against playstyles like rain and HO. Silvally-Ground is again a great offensive pivot, although its sweeping potential is forfeited for Defog; half of the team is already immune to entry hazards, but a Defogger + Electric immunity is still warranted on VoltTurn. The main goal of the team is to sweep with Frosmoth, so take trades when appropriate. Clefairy and Alolan Persian can take attacks from Centiskorch and Magneton if it means they by Toxic or Knock Off, respectively, in the process.

Mawile Stall by kay
:mawile: :audino: :spiritomb: :pyukumuku: :altaria: :tangela:
Audino and Pyukumuku make up the classic stall cores you see on most stall teams. Audino providing a special pivot, wish, and heal bell helps keep your team from being broken down. Pyukumuku offers the role of blanket set up sweeper answer with unaware and Spite to drain out the PP of sub set up sweepers. Tangela combos well with Audino to make up a regen core as well as giving your team a blanket answer to most physical threats. Altaria is the team status sponge, defogger, and answer to Centiskorch and Rapidash who can otherwise break the rest of the team. Spiritomb offers the role of main fighting resist and Cofa answer while also being the teams main win condition be it through pressure stalling or just by CM sweeping. Mawile ends up rounding out the team by offering rocks as well as answers back a few key stall breakers such as Shiftry, draco Flapple, taunt NP skuntank, and Appletun

Ninetales Balance by S1nn0hC0nfirm3d
:ninetales: :rhydon: :tangela: :wishiwashi-school: :rotom-fan: :sawk:
Ninetales is the star sweeper of this Fire-Water-Grass balance. It's decently fast with good good coverage to offensively pressure checks + wallbreak / clean after the rest of the balance wears down checks or gets Ninetales in safely. Tangela + Wishiwashi work great together as a physical-special wall core. Tangela sponges attacks and spreads Knock Off + status, while Wishiwashi may absorb status thanks to rest and use its U-turn helps proc Tangela's Regenerator. Rhydon completes the defensive core as a Normal resistance and Electric immunity while also providing Stealth Rock. Rotom-S is a needed Fighting resistance and Defogger, and Choice Scarf Sawk is a great revenge killer in this meta. The team revolves heavily around spreading status and wearing down opposing teams for Ninetales and / or Sawk to clean, but it's also entirely possible that the reverse is true and the offensive support breaks down teams so it's easier for Tangela + Wishiwashi to outstall.
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
hi there! i have a team that i made & really love using. i originally had alcremie on this team, but after getting some advice, i decided to replace them with wishiwashi. i’m not a great zu player, but i hope this team interests you guys :)

Specs Thievul (Balance?) Offense:
:thievul::uxie::lycanroc::rotom-fan::kangaskhan::wishiwashi:

with the ability stakeout, thievul become a powerhouse that becomes extremely difficult to endure once it gets the right opportunity to come in. many of the best pokémon in the metagame ~ silvally-ghost, cofagrigus, and uxie, get absolutely obliterated by a specs dark pulse. thus, it’s easy to see why it would be encouraging to build a team around thievul.

uxie and wishiwashi is a solid defensive core that can absorb hits from a variety of offensive threats, and they provide good team utility with the ability to spread status & hazards. this allows thievul to prey on progressively weakened opponents, as the threat of stakeout makes most opponents too scared to switch out. uxie has 16 speed ev’s to make it faster than base 65 speed pokémon like adamant centiskorch.

as a balance between defensive utility and offensive damage output, rotom-fan is a decent defog user. its solid defensive typing lets it absorb fighting type and ground type attacks, and it has pain split, which allows it to weaken opponents while recovering health. then, it can have mild damage/utility with air slash’s dumb RNG and volt switch’s pivoting ability.

kangaskhan is a great revenge killer, as its priority in fake out & sucker punch makes it not care about faster opponents. in situations where thievul isn't fast enough, kangaskhan can get the job done well. last but not least, lycanroc can function as both a revenge killer with stab accelerock, and as a win condition with swords dance setups. even though i’m still a low ladder player at heart, lycanroc has honestly played a major role in a good percentage of my wins.

overall, the focus of this team is to wear the opponent down with a solid core of defensive pivots, and with thievul being an important wallbreaker. then, lycanroc and kangaskhan can clean things up with their fast offensive prowess.

edit: i forgot to mention that Temporal Totodile was the one who helped me with replacing alcremie with wishiwashi. ty totooooo
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
UPDATED specs thievul voltturn offense!
:thievul::uxie::rotom-fan::kangaskhan::wishiwashi::silvally-ground:

shoutouts to Dr Ya Yeet for recommending silvally-ground for this team. it doesn’t have the priority that lycanroc has, but it can be a devastating wallbreaker (or setup sweeper if one opts for flame charge over u-turn). you can also run knock off over yawn on uxie, if you prefer removing items over forcing switches. the team still functions like it used to, just with the trade-off of having less potency at revenge killing, in exchange for a more threatening potential to wallbreaker or sweep.
 

S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

aka Ho3nConfirm3d
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a defending SCL Champion
Update time!
UPDATED specs thievul voltturn offense!
:thievul::uxie::rotom-fan::kangaskhan::wishiwashi::silvally-ground:

shoutouts to Dr Ya Yeet for recommending silvally-ground for this team. it doesn’t have the priority that lycanroc has, but it can be a devastating wallbreaker (or setup sweeper if one opts for flame charge over u-turn). you can also run knock off over yawn on uxie, if you prefer removing items over forcing switches. the team still functions like it used to, just with the trade-off of having less potency at revenge killing, in exchange for a more threatening potential to wallbreaker or sweep.
Unfortunately council did not approve your team due to it being too similar to an existing sample team, the Future Sight VoltTurn. The two teams share 5/6 of the same Pokemon, and while multiple VoltTurn teams isn't out of the question for sample teams, there's simply not enough variance to include your version. Also, sample teams should not have slashes, and I apologize if that wasn't written anywhere before now.

I included a new Ninetales balance team I used in this weak of ZU seasonal. Admittedly, this team also shares 3 mons with the already existing Volturn, but it plays distinctly different enough to warrant its inclusion; for example, Tangela + Rhydon offer much more defensive support to Wishiwashi rather than just relying on Uxie.

I also archived my second VoltTurn team because it isn't as successful in the recent meta. Feel free to still check it out and tinker with it if you want, it'll be in the archive.
 

viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Update time!

Unfortunately council did not approve your team due to it being too similar to an existing sample team, the Future Sight VoltTurn. The two teams share 5/6 of the same Pokemon, and while multiple VoltTurn teams isn't out of the question for sample teams, there's simply not enough variance to include your version. Also, sample teams should not have slashes, and I apologize if that wasn't written anywhere before now.

I included a new Ninetales balance team I used in this weak of ZU seasonal. Admittedly, this team also shares 3 mons with the already existing Volturn, but it plays distinctly different enough to warrant its inclusion; for example, Tangela + Rhydon offer much more defensive support to Wishiwashi rather than just relying on Uxie.

I also archived my second VoltTurn team because it isn't as successful in the recent meta. Feel free to still check it out and tinker with it if you want, it'll be in the archive.
if i’m being completely honest, when i first made that team like a month ago, i had no idea about this sample team thread. that’s tuff :c

i PROMISE i’ll eventually make a sample team that gets approved tho
 

5Dots

Chairs
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
https://pokepast.es/da475cd6a38ec7a3
:uxie: :Centiskorch: :kangaskhan: :Gurdurr: :Ferroseed: :Appletun:
I’ve had the idea of creating a weather discouraging team, given how prominent they are.

I’ve tended to use Uxie in the lead to pressure opponents, using knock off turn 1 on most threats. I put future sight to put pressure early game, though I feel psychic is probably better mid-game.

Centiskorch is there to put a halt to Leafeon’s boosted sun sweeps and unboosted Shiftry. For example,

+2 252+ Atk Leafeon Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Centiskorch: 291-343 (72 - 84.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Shiftry Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Centiskorch: 266-316 (65.8 - 78.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Beware, Centi will seriously struggle against rain. Centi is primarily there to check sun.

kangaskhan will be present to provide strong priority, and Gurdurr will be able to stomach strong physical hits with eviolite while also possessing priority to weaken threats.

Despite Ferroseed and Appletun both sharing Grass, they’re quite synergistic with each other. Ferroseed puts a momentum stop towards Ludicolo, while providing causing qwilfish to struggle making process against it. Appletun stomachs all the fire, grass, and water hits from common sun abusers like Rapidash and Leafeon.
 
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Unleash the monster

Hi, i'm here to introduce you a team than i made recently for ZU ssnl.

1620748330043.png1620748348954.png1620748373301.png1620748398580.png1620748424079.png1620748435991.png

so, 1st, i wanted something original, with glaceon who can break so many mons with only its stabs, a bit of coverage for slow waters and psychics like uxie.

252 SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Audino: 175-207 (42.6 - 50.4%) -- 43.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Ferroseed: 117-138 (40 - 47.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

However i wanted a specs to break so i decided to add uxie with thunder wave to help glaceon to break opponents walls.

I added a bulky skuntank because it has a great synergy with uxie, it has the speed to kill shiftry 252 speed and flapple 252+ (maybe dark pulse on flamethro, it's possible for the foe's grounds who are dangerous) and it can defog to remove hazards

Alcremie is here to set up and clean with his bulk, that's also the sawk and dragons check so, it must be kept alive.

Another fun mon than i wanted in this team is regigigas, it completes the main idea to help glaceon because it can body slam and para the ground enemies, that's also a great answer to a lot of mons, it can sub and protect in order to :
- stall (usually weathers but also whatever you feel necessary to do)
- get passive recovery (leftovers)
- become an unleashed beast able to clean games at the higher level when the countdown drops to 0.

To finish, sandslash for the elec immunity, it can koff and spin to remove rocks for glaceon.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1337294840

Here the replay of round 9 ZU ssnl vs Hitmonstars

1621276776048.png


and my current elo + w/l in ZU with this team.

In conclusion, i think the team is original and cool to play because she's offensive, but i think silvally ground is one of the biggest threats with sd flame charge set, rain isn't really easy to check also but glaceon + t wave + regigigas can be good vs these teams. (nice ban with damp rock now) I see it now but i'm also very weak at basculin, we're force to koff and t wave him if we don't want to be destroyed. I would like to add that the double hazard control may not be necessary and skuntank would possibly be better with nasty plot
 

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5Dots

Chairs
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
Defensive FWG + DFS Core (Fire/Water/Grass/Dragon/Fairy/Steel)
Had this idea to make a defensive core using fundamental synergy between the most well known types, but more defensively oriented.
https://pokepast.es/539fcab1bd190f7c
:Alcremie: Alcremie acts as a bulky wincon as a special wall that can easily dismantle teams if there's a lack of physical attackers, while also providing a glue to common fighting types like Sawk and Gurdurr.
:Ferroseed: Ferroseed is to provide spikes and to wear down teams weak to hazards with leech seed/protect. Knock off is chosen rather than Gyro ball as a way to cripple pokemon like articuno (making them more vulnerable to hazards) or kangaskhan (reducing their power).
:Stunfisk-Galar: G-Stunfisk provides an important electric immunity to halt Voltturn momentum, while also fufilling the role of a SR setter with excellent SlideQuake coverage.
:Altaria: Altaria is important for defogging away any hazards that come by, while also crippling passive opponents with Toxic.
:Wishiwashi: Wishiwashi acts as a strong, yet bulky defensive pivot that can tank physical hits and pivot out of bad matchups with u-turn. Resttalk discourages switchins with the threats of a burn via scald or pivoting into another teammate with u-turn.
:Centiskorch: Lastly, Centi lends itself as a great setup sweeper with its surprisingly nice special bulk. Coil makes the already difficult prospect of switching even more difficult.
Edit: :Runerigus: can be used in place of :Stunfisk-Galar:if the team is in need of more power while also setting up stealth rock, whether it is through an immediate surprise through band or leftovers or acting as a wincon with amnesia + iron defense and body press.
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Specs Jynx Balanced Offense
:jynx::skuntank::uxie::altaria::cinccino::silvally:(Ground)
BRIEF EXPLANATION (the one to use if this gets approved somehow):
This team is built around the prowess of Jynx, a powerful special wallbreaker with fantastic coverage. Its teammates help wear down the opposing team, as Skuntank can dispose of almost any defensive threat. Uxie acts as a sponge that can handle many physical threats, while keeping Stealth Rock up, removing items, and preserving the momentum. Keeping Uxie healthy is a priority on this team, which is why Altaria’s ability to remove opposing hazards and tank other attacks is so valuable. Cinccino is a revenge killer that can also pivot into its defensive teammates quickly, while Silvally-Ground acts as both a switchin against Volt Switch users and a potent breaker. With the support of bulky Pokémon that can tire out the opponent, Jynx and its teammates are enabled to wreak havoc.
LONG EXPLANATION:
this team is built around the prowess of jynx, a pokémon that’s recently been hyped up a lot by zu community members. with specs-boosted attacks alongside a great speed tier, jynx becomes quite good. it’s both a great revenge killer for slower targets (centiskorch, garbodor, cb sawk, and more) and an amazing wallbreaker that’s very difficult to switch into. walls that resist ice beam, like jellicent, will get 2hko’d by psychic after stealth rock. walls that resist psychic, like ferroseed, get picked off by focus blast. overall, jynx is a really dangerous threat that can wreak havoc on teams, and i wanted to build off of that.

skuntank is a great stallbreaker for the walls that the rest of this team may sometimes struggle against. with nasty plot + taunt, it has the potential to sweep stall and put major damage against any team with a defensive core. with 144 speed ev’s and a timid nature, this allows it to be faster than adamant thwackey and jolly flapple. there aren’t any notable pokémon faster than these two threats before skuntank, so having max speed isn’t entirely necessary. with 80 hp ev’s and 32 spdef ev’s, skuntank can survive a +4 heat wave from max spatk swoobat. this makes it more reliable at checking grassy terrain teams.

uxie is your typical stealth rock setter, but on this team, keeping it alive is pretty important. its pivoting capabilities, alongside its ability to sponge many physical attacks from the likes of silvally-ground and sawk, make it very important outside of its obvious stealth rock value. 16 speed is ran so that uxie can uturn instead of dying to centiskorch’s leech life.

altaria is also a staple on many teams, as it removes the hazards that jynx hates. it runs 136 speed to have a winning matchup against centiskorch, as its hurricane is still strong. toxic is ran over flamethrower to wear down opposing threats, that can then be more easily disposed of by teammates.

cinccino’s speed tier allows it to be a solid revenge killer, and even when it’s slower than a scarf user, it can switch into its defensive teammates like uxie and altaria. knock off provides great utility alongside its power, and bullet seed is important coverage against rock types and water types. instead of a choice item, which would give some linearity to cinccino, protective pads are worn to prevent potential burns from coalossal and massive chip damage from ferroseed. with this, cinccino has a surprising amount of longevity.

lastly, silvally-ground provides physical wallbreaker potential alongside defensive utility in its bulk and immunities. it help tie the team together nicely, with it standing as both a volt switch sponge and a threat in and of itself. pokémon like tangela, which give silvally-ground a hard time, can be knocked out by jynx.

the focus of this team is to use the wallbreaking power of jynx and silvally-ground to its maximum potential, with the help of good team support from its partners.
 
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:ss/liepard: :ss/uxie: :ss/rapidash: :ss/shiftry: :ss/ivysaur: :ss/exeggutor:
Let the ZUnshine in! These six Pokémon will ensure nobody will escape from the summer heat!

Looking cool hot, Joker! Liepard's high Speed allows it to reliably use KnockOff, and U-Turn will let it vanish like a phantom, stealing some of your hearts like a thief. Thanks to Prankster, Liepard will reliably pull off its schemes as usual, setting 8-turn long SunnyDays thanks to its HeatRock, and locking enemies into uncomfortable moves with Encore - your opponents will never see it coming!
It's big brain time! Uxie's massive noggin lets it summon Stealthy Rocks out of nothing, as well as controlling the weather for elongated amounts of time thanks to the HeatRock. It of course can utilize its big brain to attack with strong Psychic impacts, as well as forseeing danger and escaping with U-Turn.
juan. Rapidash's majestic flames and gallops have always been a thing of beauty and awe for friend and foe alike, and now it's here to show its HighHorsepower, literally. With Heavy-DutyBoots, Rapidash gracefully gallops over any hazards that cover its road to success. FlareBlitz gives Rapidash a powerful blend of beauty and strength, especially under the sun! Apparently Rapidash's horn is very sharp, as it can wield stupendously strong SolarBlades that slice any Rock,Water or Ground type foolish enough to stop its rapid show of ashes and dashes.
Don't cut down trees, or the trees will cut down you! Shiftry has wicked intentions to cut down anyone who threatens its precious sun with SolarBlades of equally wicked strength. It will KnockOff anything that would help its opponents in destroying its sunny home, and with RockSlide, any flame seeking to incinerate Shiftry during the intense sunlight, as well as any irritating insect intending on infecting Shiftry, will be brutally halted.
It's bulky, it's strong and it's terrible terrifying - Ivysaur has some great qualities. Thanks to Eviolite, Ivysaur will be able to tank several neutral hits, and potentially even one super effective attack, unless in its home playground of harsh sunlight, in which it not only has doubled speed, but also could fire off Fiery WeatherBalls that will fry a lot of Pokémon, and its SolarBeam will cut through almost everything that doesn't resist it. Ivysaur the Terrible is terrible not in a bad way, yet in the way it will leave your teammates after the battle.
Snooping as usual, I see? Exeggutor does not look for the chaos emerald this time, yet with SleepPowder, it can send its opponent to tranquil fields of greenery and golden rings. With CalmMind, its evil plans to capture Sonic victory will more likely be successful, mwahahaha! Who needs robots when you can attack your opponents with Psyshock, a left hook when the right is expected? And of course, SolarBeam will cut through every foolish opponent and hedgehog foolish enough to stand in its way.

As you can see, this team is full of personality and power, and will be sure to LIGHT your way to victory!
“Quickness is the essence of the war.” -Sun tZU.
 
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:ss/Shiftry: :ss/Leafeon: :ss/Maractus: :ss/Liepard: :ss/Exeggutor: :ss/Dugtrio:
--------------( The Sunlight Is Strong ........ !!! )
Have been using different variants of this team since march and have been editing it from time to time.

:Shiftry: It's the regular sunset on Miami. Throw mons here and there with fire grass dark stabs at +2 and don't care about tangela in the least bit.

:Leafeon: The speed on this set is basically to creep any opposing sun shiftry with +speed for whatever reason, but if you aren't worried about that(which you should be) then just take it to 260 and outspeed +atk shiftry, rest in hp too. As I mentioned earlier, I have been using some or the other version of these team for months, I have also experimented a lot with this Mon in particular. The last move slot is very flexible. The options for it are x scissor/leaf blade/knock off/weather ball/sunny day. Now, I don't really see the point of leaf blade unless other weather's become super popular or heat rock gets banned so eliminated. X scissor hits opposing grass but tbf de deals with them unless it's ferro or tang or leaf, mons that are supposed to be taken care of by the remaining team members so scissor eliminated. As for knock its basically only for ferro and tang which are better off being dealt by shiftry and mar. Weather ball is same case as knock. So considering the above points and no uxie a pinch setter is what I found to be best.

:Maractus: So this particular slot has seen a lot of experimentation as well. It has had ivy and couple sets of bellosom and well I replaced ivy because at times it was outstanding and at times not strong enough. This inconsistency was kinda bugging me so I went ith Bello hoping it's sleep powder would help but meh it was worse. Also it reduced a ferro answer. So finally I decided to gamble and use my fav sun sweeper from last year august or something aka maractus the sunlight! Actually I also had rapidash for a very long time on this slot but ngl it was underwhelming. So mar speed is to creep scarf rotom because you don't outspeed scarf basc and above even with Max speed and scarf jynx goes down to sucker. Well sucker is there especially for jynx that it ohkos and for basc mane that at +2 takes 64.7-76.1 which is good enough Imo. +2 solar beam and weather ball nuke most of the tier which is really nice. +2 lo weather ball all guaranteed 2hko alt whose only counter answer to mar is a 50% acc hurricane. Besides its an end game cleaner and filler so don't pressure my dear cactus to sweep right from start OwO

:Liepard: Mostly standard set here. Attack investment + copycat because it's a great revenge killer during like last 1 or 2 turns of sun (solar blade X) )and a good emerceny cleaner.

:Exeggutor: Theres not much to tell here right? Ig I will just tell about reasons for it's moveset. It mostly just spams solar beam and psychic move is for grass resist. So I aimed to hit audino and cuno with psyshock. Is a nuke at +1 and giga is recovery + out of sun boom.

:Dugtrio:Hmm so yeah I have dug a ur bad and meme mon over uxie one of the best utility mons. Why ? Well it's not about what the mon is like in general but about what mon serves my purpose best. What dug offers is forcing mons like skun to keep away while it is on field. Did you notice that all my abusers are setup and most are frail? Well that isn't an issue because memento greatly weakens the mon in front which means either that mon will do low damage or switch. I both the cases you get the 1 turn of setup after which leafeon and shiftry ohko near about anything and everything.
Dugtrio also tanks 1 sball and overheat from scarf rotom and mane and 1 freeze dry from defog cuno and 1 ice shard from pilo due to max hp.
 
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:ss/Sandslash-alola: :ss/Ninetales: :ss/Jellicent: :ss/Rhydon: :ss/Rotom-fan: :ss/Sawk:
The main idea behind this balance team was pairing offensive breaker slash with flash fire and jelli for the two new ice + fighting(Originally i had centiskorch since it resist fighting as well but later realised team was too slow ).

:Sandslash-alola: Team is built around this guy as the breaker. Got iron head over knock for better alc mu, cuno and to avoid taxel miss chance whenever possible.

:Ninetales: Acts as the non scarf speed control and coverage against stuff like gvally.

:Jellicent: Acts as an answer towards a lot many threats(ssap) and doesn't need much team support to keep itself healthy. How you use it has a major impact on how the game proceeds. Speed creep for max speed rhydon.

:Rhydon: Rocker +tank+ elec immunity. Toxic helps cripple switch in like tang/uxie. Speed creep for tang.

:Rotom-fan: Hazard removal that maintains momentum and aids with wisp.

:Sawk: Speed control + revenge killer that works great as end game cleaner.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1369326850 vs Tuthur
Probably the most important game I played with this team so far.
Would have honestly won without that taxel hit on gourg in the end ;_; . I mean look at the calc below:
0 Atk Qwilfish Liquidation vs. 84 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 204-240 (54.8 - 64.5%)

Note: Has a little bit rough mu against jelli and sawk.
 

S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

aka Ho3nConfirm3d
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a defending SCL Champion
Sample teams are updated! We removed the old stall and balance for new ones–correspondingly, kay and I made these again.

We also reviewed the sample team submissions outside of council members, but unfortunately the council did not see any of the submissions fit to be samples.
5Dots we found your Coil Centiskorch set a little too unreliable, and both teams were a little too passive and lacked good opportunities to bring in Centiskorch for wallbreaking. I suggest trying to stick to a solid 2/3 mon defensive core and supplementing Centiskorch with more VoltTurn partners with it, or try the BO heavy entry hazard route of the existing Centiskorch defensive team.
Lizardu'' Sandslash is now PU ;_;
Fifty Shades of Rez Sun teams have not performed too well in ZU recently. Your sun team isn't bad in the context of sun teams, it's just that sun teams as a whole aren't worth promoting as sample teams in the current meta because they're unreliable. Compare this to the dominance of rain teams a while ago before the Damp Rock ban. Essentially, sun is far from rain's power, and likely won't be on the samples for the foreseeable future.
risin_glory See above about sun teams. As for the Alolan Sandslash team, we found that it was weak to a lot of common threats; Centiskorch and Silvally-Ground punish hard here. Rotom-S feels out of place as the team needs more defensive integrity for support than it needs an offensive pivot.
hiss The Uxie-Jynx team lacks a Choice Scarfer or any form of speed control, so Frosmoth and Flame Charge Silvally formes look very dangerous here. The team probably only needs a few edits to turn it into an effective VoltTurn or balance, so I'd try experimenting with difference Choice Scarfers and defensive cores to build around Choice Specs Jynx.
 

viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
hiss The Uxie-Jynx team lacks a Choice Scarfer or any form of speed control, so Frosmoth and Flame Charge Silvally formes look very dangerous here. The team probably only needs a few edits to turn it into an effective VoltTurn or balance, so I'd try experimenting with difference Choice Scarfers and defensive cores to build around Choice Specs Jynx.
last week i actually updated my team to make jynx choice scarf, and it honestly improved the team a lot. tricking a scarf is more consistently crippling, and jynx can use its power as a great revenge killer against silvally forms and setup sweepers like np rotom. is it okay if i resubmit my team but with scarf jynx + a minor tweak?
 
Fifty Shades of Rez Sun teams have not performed too well in ZU recently. Your sun team isn't bad in the context of sun teams, it's just that sun teams as a whole aren't worth promoting as sample teams in the current meta because they're unreliable. Compare this to the dominance of rain teams a while ago before the Damp Rock ban. Essentially, sun is far from rain's power, and likely won't be on the samples for the foreseeable future.
I won't lie, this does sucks to hear, ~~especially because it took me like 3 hours to come up with the jokes in my suggestion~~, but I appreciate the feedback; I do think sun teams are pretty strong, given the great options for setters and abusers, but I'm nowhere as experienced in this metagame [or any other tbh] as you, so who am I to judge?
Also I'm glad to hear that my sun team isn't bad in context of sun teams [whatever that means], because I absolutely suck in building teams that are actually considered meta, mainly because of my tendency to prefer using unpopular and thus sometimes less effective Pokémon [I have a Liepard in each and every single team I've ever made], but hearing that has made me feel happy that I at least managed to build a competitively viable team.
"Practice makes perfect, not to mention some wounds and bruises" (Brigitte, Overwatch) So I'll just keep on improvising, and hopefully it will pay off in the future.
 

viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Banded Basculin VoltTurn
:basculin::rotom-frost::ninetales::tangela::stunfisk::persian-alola:
This team focuses on Basculin’s prowess as a fantastic physical wallbreaker. Basculin is capable of dishing out copious amounts of damage with Water-type attacks, revenge killing with Aqua Jet, and generating momentum with Flip Turn. The rest of the team is built to take advantage of these strengths, while also supporting Basculin when it struggles. Rotom-Frost is a fantastic offensive pivot with BoltBeam coverage, and it double as a solid Defog user when the opponent expects an attack. Ninetales has wide varieties of coverage, making its Nasty Plot boost all the more scary. Tangela is a physical behemoth, most notably checking Kangaskhan, Silvally-Ground, and Sawk. Stunfisk is an underrated special wall that blocks off opposing Volt Switch users, and consistently sets up hazards and punishes contact moves. Finally, Alolan Persian is a physical wall that has stallbreaking utility and momentum gaining with Parting Shot. This defensive core serves as a backbone for the team when pivoting is done, and helps Basculin and its teammates wreak havoc.
This team focuses on Basculin’s prowess as a fantastic physical wallbreaker that can easily dispose of the majority of special walls in the metagame. Basculin is capable of generating overwhelming amounts of momentum with Flip Turn, dishing out copious amounts of damage with its Water-type attacks. This makes it a great early-game breaker, and a great late-game cleaner with Aqua Jet revenge killing threats like Silvally-Ground and Rotom. Superpower can also be used as great coverage against Steel-types such as Alolan Sandslash and Ferroseed. The rest of the team is built to take advantage of these strengths, while also supporting Basculin when it struggles. Rotom-Frost is a fantastic offensive pivot that can threaten bulky Water-types that can absorb Basculin’s attacks, and this threatening power makes it double as a solid Defog user when the opponent expects an attack. Ninetales is a fast and strong special wallbreaker, as its wide variety of coverage makes its Nasty Plot boost all the more scary. Fire Blast takes care of the rest of bulky Grass-types like Tangela and the Gourgeist forms. Scorching Sands is extra coverage against Fire-types like Coalossal and Rapidash looking to switch into a Fire Blast. Energy Ball is a threat to the bulky Water-types of the tier. Overall, this offensive core is very powerful and generates lots of momentum. However, these breakers alone wouldn’t thrive without the reliable defensive backbone that can take hits when needed the most. Tangela is essentially a ZU poster-child, being able to absorb almost any attack. It most notably checks Kangaskhan, Silvally-Ground, and Sawk. Stunfisk is an underrated special wall that blocks off opposing Volt Switch users, and consistently sets up hazards while still having longevity in Pain Split. Furthermore, its ability Static punishes opposing U-Turn users. Alolan Persian is a physical wall that has the utility of both using an opponent’s firepower against them, and cripple an opponent’s defensive core with Taunt and Knock Off. It also has the pivoting of Parting Shot, which allows its teammates to very safely switch in. This defensive core serves as a backbone for the team when pivoting is done, and helps Basculin and its teammates wreak havoc.
 
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JELLISLASH BALANCE
:Jellicent::Sandslash-Alola::Rhydon::Kangaskhan::Rotom::Sawk:

https://pokepast.es/00d107d86767491c

Short explanation -

The team is built around the core of Jellicent and Alolaslash, they check prominent threats as well as disrupt the opposing team with entry hazard removal, status and taunt. Jellicent also doubles as a spin blocker. Rhydon acts as the rocker as well as a check to Electric types, Kangaskhan, Rapidash and Alcremie. Kangaskhan, Rotom and Sawk form a formidable offensive core, with Sawk knocking Tangela for Kangaskhan, and Rotom soft checking Groundvally. Scarf Sawk also gives much needed speed control. Weak matchups for the team are Ninetales ( which will have to be checked offensively), Double Dance Alcremie and Tangela can be really annoying.


Even if my stuff doesn't get selected, I'll know I tried :blobtriumph:

Have a good day everyone :blobwizard:

Lmao Gvally got banned so deleting the first two teams, I think I'll still have the 3rd one tho.
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Calm Mind Alcremie Bulky Offense
:alcremie::thievul::cramorant::gourgeist::rhydon::kangaskhan:

With it functioning as both a mixed wall and a bulky Fairy-type special attacker, Alcremie is one of the best Pokémon to build around in the metagame. Alcremie is great versus the plethora of Grass-types, Fighting-types, and Dark-types in the tier. One of its main teammates is Thievul, as this duo becomes capable of mauling through many of the walls and breakers of the tier. Cramorant functions as a mixed wall that can chip the opponent, with EV’s that outspeed slow breakers while maximizing on Defense. Gourgeist-Small is an all-around offensive threat with longevity, and it compensates for this team’s lack of a Knock Off user. Rhydon is the team’s Volt Switch immunity, and with Swords Dance scaring opposing threats, Rhydon can keep Stealth Rocks up for a long time. Finally, Kangaskhan helps bring this team together with its status as a very consistent wallbreaker and revenge killer. Alcremie’s capabilities as a mixed wall and special attacker are overall complemented well by the long-lasting support that its teammates bring.
With it functioning as both a mixed wall and a bulky Fairy-type special attacker, Alcremie is one of the best Pokémon to build around in the metagame. After a Calm Mind boost, Alcremie becomes quite difficult to take down, alongside dealing solid damage. Dazzling Gleam and Mystical Fire are two fantastic moves that provide coverage against the plethora of Grass-types, Fighting-types, and Dark-types in the tier. It also covers Steel-type Pokémon that would otherwise counter Alcremie. One of its main teammates is Thievul, which threatens the walls that want to inflict Toxic onto Alcremie, like Audino. This duo is capable of mauling through a very large portion of the metagame, as even special walls can have trouble with Thievul. Cramorant also functions as a mixed wall, with EV’s that outspeed Perrserker and other slow breakers, while maximizing on Defense. Cramorant is quite useful for removing hazards, alongside chipping the opponent with Gulp Missile. The ability to Paralyze opponents is also great for Speed control, assisting in Thievul’s potential. Gourgeist-Small is a fast offensive threat with a surprising amount of bulk. Life Orb gives it the versatility of picking different moves at a time compared to a Choice item, while still having the increase in power. Gourgeist-Small compensates for this team’s lack of a Knock Off user, as its Poltergeist is strong enough to break many opponents regardless of their item status. Synthesis works well with Life Orb, as it makes up for the recoil damage by increasing its longevity. This gives it more opportunities to switch into physical attacks in the future. Rhydon is the team’s Volt Switch immunity, and with its immense bulk, it can be difficult to defeat. With Swords Dance scaring opposing threats, Rhydon can be counted on to keep Stealth Rocks up for as long as possible. Finally, Kangaskhan helps bring this team together with its status as a very consistent physical wallbreaker. It can help this team push through walls like Clefairy and bulky Rapidash, and get revenge on fast threats like Cinccino and Choice Scarf Rotom. Alcremie’s capabilities as a mixed wall and special attacker are overall complemented well by the long-lasting support that its teammates bring, consistently being a threat the with strong attacks while absorbing opposing hits.
 
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Behind the substitute
Nasty tom + scarf sawk balanced



this team is based around nasty plot rotom which can sub on a lot of defensive mons because of its type, or locked mons like sawk cincinno or others mons locked on ground moves.

- scarf sawk is here to get a bit of speed control + ghost fight combo which is offensively excellent. It nottably beat darks faster than rotom like dark vally, A-persian and liepard.

-Tangela is the base of the team's defensive core, it check a majority of physical pokemons of zu. I play sludge bomb to hit other tangelas and help sawk to do bigger damages + its grass type is a pretty useful feature..

-Snowlash can, outspeed max speed rhydon when invested to cripple it w/ koff, help for hazards control or weaken it. It's also a check to butterfree and frosmoth, 2 pokemons which easily take advantage of tangela.

-To complete this defensive core, rhydon adds an elec immunity, 1 other check to butterfree, one of best sr setters in this tier which benefits from spikes support of snowlash by using roar to weaken opponent's team.

-The last one is wishiwashi which adds a pivot in this team but especially the basculin check which is terrifying without it. Wishi can toxic jellicent and others wishi + switch in fire types like ninetales or rapidash if it doesn't take energy ball or wild charge.


To conclude, this team has threats like alcremie, accelgor which destroy snowlash with focus blast and wishi with energy ball, but I find it solid as a conclusion of my ladder/ roomtour tests, and not boring to play even if there are only 2 offensively oriented mons.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1396422139-onelkby92ieti6sf01pcymm7tuyo377pw

I have this replay vs toto to show you the team in game and how i played it.

s/o weakermaker to help me for the translation on my posts here
 
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Duo of legends
Grassy terrain combu + electivire offense




Hey, a new post is coming with this time a team based around combusken.

-I decided to use a special cleaner combusken to 1st :
~Destroy tangela
~And 2nd, to clean late game, if the opponent's team is weakenned.
It has a great typing but a poor coverage so i decided to just play stabs and protect to win more speed. With its priority + speed boost, combusken can also revenge kill a lot of mons in the meta. I also thought of toxic over vacuum wave to cripple wishiwashi, jellicent and stunfisk for example.

-The next mon is specs electivire because it has an excellent coverage to catch grass types with flamethrower and rhydon/audino with focus blast while being able to beat water types for combusken. It stays faster than rotom + can boost its speed with motor drive and even if it has a lower speed and spatk than manec, electivire has a better bulk to take more hits.

-Uxie is here for ground immunity, it outspeeds neutral 252 alcremie to toxic it, uxie also checks sawk and can toxic waters to help the combusken sweep late game.

-Thwackey adds an answer for ground types with its eviolite, we have drain punch here to beat A-slash easily because it's really strong in zu atm + koff to hit a bit altaria.

-Being very weak to accelgor made me add poison vally to come on accelgor, my spread outspeeds adamant thwackey/shiftry and vally also check alcremie while keeping momentum.

-Rhydon is the last mon, it has high horsepower for grassy terrain. Double dance set to beat altaria because I was scared to not break it and rhydon is also a good in to butterfree when sleep clause is activated.

To finish, this team turn a lot around grassy terrain with 4 ground weaknesses and 2 mons (rhydon and poison vally) which would like to have leftovers, what the grassy terrain gives them.


https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1403477101-2bx14lm1vijso9jyaqm8rmk1anjivxzpw

(I have this replay where you can see the team in action.)

:blobokhand: to Ho3n btw​
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Kangaskhan Balance
:kangaskhan::skuntank::tangela::sawk::rhydon::altaria:
As one of the most prominent physical wallbreakers in ZU, Kangaskhan is a fantastic juggernaut to build around. This team focuses on compensating for Kangaskhan’s weak points, creating a balanced team that brings out the best in both Kangaskhan and its teammates. A great partner of it is Skuntank, whose access to Taunt and a fantastic offensive typing makes it the premier check to walls such as Tangela, Miltank, and more. Tangela is a prime example of a defensive partner to Kangaskhan, with copious amounts of bulk and lots of utility. This is more likely than not the most commonly seen Pokémon on the field. Sawk functions as another revenge killer, but it’s able to dish out a surprising amount of Knock Offs. When in the late game, if Kangaskhan is down, Sawk is just as capable of performing a clean sweep. Rhydon is the best Stealth Rock user in the tier, and the best Volt Switch immunity in addition. With its amazing longevity, it can consistently set up rocks and threaten opposing users of Defog. Finally, it is important to have a wall that can soak up Special attacks solidly, and that’s why Altaria is the last member of the team. In finality, Kangaskhan is brought to its fullest potential with a supportive cast that provides a lot of team chemistry.
As one of the most prominent physical wallbreakers in ZU, Kangaskhan is a fantastic juggernaut to build around. Priority from Fake Out and Sucker Punch give Kangaskhan lots of flexibility, as it can successfully revenge kill faster opponents such as Rotom and Rapidash after chip. Double Edge’s boosted power from the Silk Scarf makes it quite difficult to switch into, especially since Steel-types like Alolan Sandslash cannot afford to switch into an Earthquake. Thus, a plethora of staples in ZU are threatened by Kangaskhan’s presence. Kangaskhan is not always as dominant as it can be, though. As a result, this team focuses on compensating for Kangaskhan’s weak points, creating an offensively and defensively sound team that brings out the best in both Kangaskhan and its teammates. A great partner of it is Skuntank, whose access to Taunt and a fantastic offensive typing makes it the premier check to walls such as Tangela, Miltank, and more. With 144 Speed and a Timid nature, Skuntank is still faster than wallbreakers like Adamant Thwackey and Jolly Flapple, while not losing out on any significant Speed tiers. This lets it invest in bulk, as 112 HP ensures that Skuntank never gets 2HKO’d by a +2 Grassy Glide from Thwackey, and never gets OHKO’d by Sawk’s Earthquake. Another fantastic partner to Kangaskhan is someone that can consistently absorb the hits from Pokémon attempting to KO Kangaskhan. Tangela is a prime example of a defensive partner to Kangaskhan, with copious amounts of bulk and lots of utility. This is more likely than not the most commonly seen Pokémon on the field. It easily recovers health due to Regenerator and Synthesis, takes hits from almost any physical attacks, and annoys opponents with utility attacks such as the Poison-inducing Sludge Bomb and the item-removing Knock Off. Another great user of Knock Off is Sawk, who functions as another form of Speed control on the team. It functions as the team’s revenge killer, but since Sawk is often immediately able to threaten a KO, it’s able to dish out a surprising amount of Knock Offs on opponents switching into it. When in the late game, if Kangaskhan is down, Sawk is just as capable of performing a clean sweep. With Sawk’s ability to either cripple or outright eliminate opposing threats, this makes it easier not just for Kangaskhan to shine, but for Stealth Rocks to be set. Rhydon is the best Stealth Rock user in the tier, and the best Volt Switch immunity in addition. Because of its monstrous bulk, high power even without investment, and access to utility moves, Rhydon is an essential teammate. With its amazing longevity, it can consistently set up rocks and threaten opposing users of Defog. Roar is used over Swords Dance or Toxic in order to harm the opponent’s momentum, and to prevent setup sweepers like Alcremie from causing too much havoc. Finally, it is important to have a wall that can soak up Special attacks solidly, and that’s why Altaria is the last member of the team. Defog and Roost are obvious choices for this top tier hazard remover, but Hurricane is opted for over Flamethrower due to its power in tandem with STAB. Furthermore, Steel types are already threatened by Kangaskhan, Sawk, and Rhydon, so the coverage from Hurricane is more valuable against bulky Fighting-types and Grass-types. Toxic is its final move, wearing down opponents in range of a revenge kill by either Kangaskhan or Sawk. In finality, by providing Kangaskhan a defensive core that prevents attempts to KO it, as well as an offensive core that thwarts attempts to wall it out, Kangaskhan is brought to its fullest potential alongside its teammates.
 
Alolaslash Spikestack HO
v1: :pawniard::sandslash-alola::gourgeist::silvally-poison::thwackey::alcremie:
v2: :rhydon::sandslash-alola::gourgeist::silvally::thwackey::alcremie:
While playing ZU, I've noticed a huge lack of hyper offense teams. This got me motivated to build one, and I'm happy to say that it does work in a fat meta like this. This team is built around spike stacking with Alolaslash and then setup sweeping through the opp's team with the other 5 mons. The goal of this team is to either immediately set up spikes with Alolaslash or lead off with Thwackey to set up grassterrain and then pivot into Alolaslash with Uturn. After that, the 5 set up sweepers take advantage of the spikes wearing down the opp's mons and deterring switch outs. These mons work very well together, and even though it's HO, they do function differently. While making this team, I wanted to make sure the mons themselves are easy to use in conjunction to each other, since HO is a largely straightforward playstyle. Now onto the individual mons...

There are 2 options for the first slot. The first option is :ss/pawniard:. Pawniard serves as a knocker and an SD sweeper, but most importantly as Defog deterrent. Mons like Articuno who try to Defog the Spikes away will be in for a brutal awakening, giving Pawniard a +2 right off the bat. Pawn's definitely the most unconventional pick for this team because it's currently unranked, but there isn't a better Defiant mon who staves off Defog in the tier. Pawn's running Adamant instead of Jolly so it can dish out more damage, which is all that matters for this mon anyway. SD+Knock is gonna pack a punch against any mon, and Sucker for priority against any mon who would outspeed and revenge it, because SD+Sucker is a combo straight from the depths of the netherworld. Underrated mon, hopefully this team encourages more people to use it.

The second option for this slot is :ss/rhydon:. Physdef Rhydon is a check to Rapidash, a mon who poses a big threat to this team, as well as other fires that roam the tier. Rhydon sports rocks, which is great on a spike stacking team to add another layer of hazards, making it more threatening. SD is so Rhydon has more of an offensive presence instead of just being a fire check. Its ground typing also gives it a volt immunity, which v1 of this team lacks. The EVs are a bit weird, so let me explain. Rhydon's running Eviolite, max HP investment, and 144 physdef so it guarantees avoiding a 2hko from Rapidash's High Horsepower at +2. It runs 84 speed to outspeed the base 50 mons like Audino and Piloswine. Finally, the last 28 EVs went into attack, along with an adamant nature, to give Rhydon more power, which is needed on a team like this.

:ss/sandslash-alola: is the main mon this team's built around. Spdef Alolaslash is the Spikes setter who also removes the opp's hazards, making it so the opp can't pull the same shenanigans Alolaslash can. Toxic is to wear down potential checks to the team who may try to stand in Alolaslash's way of setting up spikes, such as Articuno, Flamethrower-less Altaria, and Coalossal. Alolaslash is a suitable to check to offensive ices and elecs, being able to stomach Ice Beams and Volt Switches from mons like Rotom and Frosmoth and Rotom. One thing it lacks is reliable recovery, coming in the form of Leftovers, but when paired with Thwackey, who sets up grassterrain on switch in, can not only serve as more passive recovery for it, but also reduce damage from EQ, covering one of Alolaslash's major weaknesses.

:ss/gourgeist: is my NP sweeper and spinblocker. Opps might often try to Defog the hazards away, which Pawn covers, but in order to deal with Rapid Spin, I had to recruit Gourgeist-Small. I could've gone for any of the Gourgeist forms, but the quality about Small it has that appealed to me was its speed tier. Ghost typing+NP+base 99 speed is amazing, outspeeding Rotom and the Silvally forms is the best form of speed control I could've asked for in a ghost type. NP is for setting up spat, Sball is the ghost stab, Giga Drain's the grass stab, and Focus Blast is for hitting Audino and the steels who would otherwise love switching into it.

:ss/silvally: is another SD sweeper who functions as an Alcremie and fighting check. During the initial stages of testing this team, I actually had Thievul on this team, and it wasn't working out. The team was severely weak to Alcremie, and that's where Poisonvally comes in. Being able to hit it super effectively on the physical end with reliable poison stab is life saving, and having Uturn to pivot and Flame Charge to hit steels are much appreciated added bonuses (Flame Charge gets you to +1, which means Poisonvally outspeeds the rest of the meta!). Poisonvally's another form of speed control, outspeeding Band Sawk and Rotom while also checking other fighting mons such as Gurdurr. You could also opt for Ice Fang > Uturn if you really wanna hit Rhydon harder.

:ss/thwackey: is ANOTHER SD sweeper who functions as a priority abuser, knocker, pivot, and passive healing support for the team. Because of the lack of flying mons, Thwackey with Eviolite helps alleviate stress from ground mons, most notably Rhydon, being able to tank repeated EQs thanks to Eviolite, grass typing, and grassterrain. You could argue Thwackey is more utility and support than it is offensive, with 2 utility moves and grassterrain being extremely helpful at healing Alolaslash and Poisonvally, both of whom appreciate the support. I'd say it's a sweeper with perks that naturally synergize with the rest of the team. The grassterrain also boosts the power of Smallgeist's Giga Drain, which can make it even more threatening on top of the NP+LO damage.

:ss/alcremie: is the final mon on the team. Arguably the scariest mon on the team, Alcremie can decide games through whether or not the opp's team is too passive to break through repeated CMs. Full physdef investment allows it to check fighting mons like Sawk and Gurdurr, and covers for the on e side of the spectrum Alcremie's lacking in; CM covers its special bulk. Its naturally great special bulk allows for it to safely switch into mons like Scarf Rotom and Cramorant, both of whom would love this team if it weren't for her. I opted for Recover > Rest because it's much more reliable as a form of recovery, and Aromatherapy is how it covers for status conditions the team may become inflicted with. One thing Alcremie may struggle with is steel types, but luckily steels don't exactly like this team either, with Smallgeist's Focus Blast being able to blow past them and Alolaslash being able to setup in their face.

Overall, I really love this team as it's gotten me to the top 500 on ladder, and it's relatively simple to use. The great thing about this team is that it's a HO team with a solid defensive backbone, meaning you can play this team differently depending on who you're facing, and not entirely dependent on spike stacking to win. Finally, the Thwackey+Alolaslash core ensures that Alolaslash is provided with vital recovery while spike stacking, and if it's forced out, it can come back in later to start the whole process up again, with the setup sweepers making immense progress in-between.
EDIT: Big thanks to sexywooper and risin_glory for pointing out to me that this team is weak to Rapidash. I insisted on using Pawniard but then realized that this is supposed to be a sample team, meaning it's supposed to be easy to use, not a team that requires playing around with to be successful. I've decided to keep both versions of the team because I really like both of them, and are worthy of staying in this post. Super sorry for not editing this sooner.
 
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wooper

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Alolaslash Spikestack HO
:pawniard::sandslash-alola::gourgeist::silvally-poison::thwackey::alcremie:
While playing ZU, I've noticed a huge lack of hyper offense teams. This got me motivated to build one, and I'm happy to say that it does work in a fat meta like this. This team is built around spike stacking with Alolaslash and then setup sweeping through the opp's team with the other 5 mons. The goal of this team is to either immediately set up spikes with Alolaslash or lead off with Thwackey to set up grassterrain and then pivot into Alolaslash with Uturn. After that, the 5 set up sweepers take advantage of the spikes wearing down the opp's mons and deterring switch outs. These mons work very well together, and even though it's HO, they do function differently. While making this team, I wanted to make sure the mons themselves are easy to use in conjunction to each other, since HO is a largely straightforward playstyle. Now onto the individual mons...

:ss/pawniard: serves as a knocker and a SD sweeper, but most importantly as Defog deterrent. Mons like Articuno who try to Defog the Spikes away will be in for a brutal awakening, giving Pawniard a +2 right off the bat. Pawn's definitely the most unconventional pick for this team because it's currently unranked, but there isn't a better Defiant mon who staves off Defog in the tier. Pawn's running Adamant instead of Jolly so it can dish out more damage, which is all that matters for this mon anyway. SD+Knock is gonna pack a punch against any mon, and Sucker for priority against any mon who would outspeed and revenge it, because SD+Sucker is a combo straight from the depths of the netherworld. Underrated mon, hopefully this team encourages more people to use it.

:ss/sandslash-alola: is the main mon this team's built around. Spdef Alolaslash is the Spikes setter who also removes the opp's hazards, making it so the opp can't pull the same shenanigans Alolaslash can. Toxic is to wear down potential checks to the team who may try to stand in Alolaslash's way of setting up spikes, such as Articuno, Flamethrower-less Altaria, and Coalossal. Alolaslash is a suitable to check to offensive ices and elecs, being able to stomach Ice Beams and Volt Switches from mons like Rotom and Frosmoth and Rotom. One thing it lacks is reliable recovery, coming in the form of Leftovers, but when paired with Thwackey, who sets up grassterrain on switch in, can not only serve as more passive recovery for it, but also reduce damage from EQ, covering one of Alolaslash's major weaknesses.

:ss/gourgeist: is my NP sweeper and spinblocker. Opps might often try to Defog the hazards away, which Pawn covers, but in order to deal with Rapid Spin, I had to recruit Gourgeist-Small. I could've gone for any of the Gourgeist forms, but the quality about Small it has that appealed to me was its speed tier. Ghost typing+NP+base 99 speed is amazing, outspeeding Rotom and the Silvally forms is the best form of speed control I could've asked for in a ghost type. NP is for setting up spat, Sball is the ghost stab, Giga Drain's the grass stab, and Focus Blast is for hitting Audino and the steels who would otherwise love switching into it.

:ss/silvally: is another SD sweeper who functions as an Alcremie and fighting check. During the initial stages of testing this team, I actually had Thievul on this team, and it wasn't working out. The team was severely weak to Alcremie, and that's where Poisonvally comes in. Being able to hit it super effectively on the physical end with reliable poison stab is life saving, and having Uturn to pivot and Flame Charge to hit steels are much appreciated added bonuses (Flame Charge gets you to +1, which means Poisonvally outspeeds the rest of the meta!). Poisonvally's another form of speed control, outspeeding Band Sawk and Rotom while also checking other fighting mons such as Gurdurr. You could also opt for Ice Fang > Uturn if you really wanna hit Rhydon harder.

:ss/thwackey: is ANOTHER SD sweeper who functions as a priority abuser, knocker, pivot, and passive healing support for the team. Because of the lack of flying mons, Thwackey with Eviolite helps alleviate stress from ground mons, most notably Rhydon, being able to tank repeated EQs thanks to Eviolite, grass typing, and grassterrain. You could argue Thwackey is more utility and support than it is offensive, with 2 utility moves and grassterrain being extremely helpful at healing Alolaslash and Poisonvally, both of whom appreciate the support. I'd say it's a sweeper with perks that naturally synergize with the rest of the team. The grassterrain also boosts the power of Smallgeist's Giga Drain, which can make it even more threatening on top of the NP+LO damage.

:ss/alcremie: is the final mon on the team. Arguably the scariest mon on the team, Alcremie can decide games through whether or not the opp's team is too passive to break through repeated CMs. Full physdef investment allows it to check fighting mons like Sawk and Gurdurr, and covers for the on e side of the spectrum Alcremie's lacking in; CM covers its special bulk. Its naturally great special bulk allows for it to safely switch into mons like Scarf Rotom and Cramorant, both of whom would love this team if it weren't for her. I opted for Recover > Rest because it's much more reliable as a form of recovery, and Aromatherapy is how it covers for status conditions the team may become inflicted with. One thing Alcremie may struggle with is steel types, but luckily steels don't exactly like this team either, with Smallgeist's Focus Blast being able to blow past them and Alolaslash being able to setup in their face.

Overall, I really love this team as it's gotten me to the top 500 on ladder, and it's relatively simple to use. The great thing about this team is that it's a HO team with a solid defensive backbone, meaning you can play this team differently depending on who you're facing, and not entirely dependent on spike stacking to win. Finally, the Thwackey+Alolaslash core ensures that Alolaslash is provided with vital recovery while spike stacking, and if it's forced out, it can come back in later to start the whole process up again, with the setup sweepers making immense progress in-between.
seems kinda weak to rapidash and ninetales honestly. what have you done to deal with these mons during testing and such?
 
seems kinda weak to rapidash and ninetales honestly. what have you done to deal with these mons during testing and such?
Good question. Fast fires are going to be a big problem for this team, so the way I deal with them is Poisonvally+priority users. They can't handle Multi Attack+Grassy Glide from Thwackey or Sucker Punch from Pawniard. Defensive Rapidash is much much easier to deal with because Alcremie can freely set up on it as much as it pleases. Offensive fires will require some playing around though.

EDIT: Some of my friends suggested spdef Rhydon over Pawniard, which can be a great answer to Rapidash and Skuntank, so if you don't feel like playing around them, I'd also highly suggest it. It has SD so it isn't too passive and functions as a setup sweeper just like the others.
 
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