I'm back yet again. Since last time I have posted, I have made three more teams that I would recommend to people who want to try out some new team styles or certain CAP mons that don't see much of a spotlight in the current meta.
Smokomodo + Sub Drige Offense
This team attempts to make Smokomodo into a threatening wallbreaker / sweeper. In the advent of SV, many players have been making use of the new Loaded Dice item on mons like Breloom and Iron Throns, and Smokomodo is another of these lucky few. The combination of Technician, Loaded Dice, and Bone Rush gives Smokomodo a
minimum 150 bp STAB ground type move, which is a massive upgrade from Earthquake. This allows it to shred common defensive mons, while being able to threaten faster teams after a Technician boosted Flame Charge speed boost. With smart play, Smokomodo getting off a Bulk Up and a Flame Charge can end games just like that. Substitute Skeledirge and Hex Dragapult are here to take away enemy resources needed to deal with Smokomodo, while also having natural synergy with each other. Washtom is here to exert pressure and keep momentum with Dragapult, while Equilibra and Venomicon form a solid defensive core that is hard to break through (Grass tera on Venomicon is used to serve as an emergency check to Krilowatt, which this team struggles with unless Smokomodo gets a speed boost). Pretty standard team for what it wants to accomplish.
Krilowatt + AV Toxapex Balance
"Ew! Gross! A Toxapex in 2023?!" You might be saying these things to yourself upon seeing this team. Given time, however, I think this team can grow on you, Toxapex and all. Firstly, I wanted to make a team that utilized Krilowatt that wasn't pivot focused like the sample team provided above. Aside from pivot offense, I believe Krilowatt functions great on balance teams, being able to provide immediate damage with great coverage, as well as generating momentum with Volt Switch. Assault Vest Toxapex is here to be a special sponge with Regenerator, while also being able to trap with Infestation. The real kicker comes with the 236 SpA investment with a modest nature. This lets its STABs chip for surprisingly good damage, with things like Ice Beam chunking cocky Dragapult hard and Sludge Bomb straight up OHKOing unsuspecting Jumbao. Dark tera is good at stoping things like Psyshock from Iron Valiant, but Toxapex isn't reliant on tera to do its job. Bulk Up Great Tusk is here to check physical sweepers like Dragonite, Kingambit, and Revenaknh (Until Poltergeist gets removed from showdown). Ting-Lu and Corviknight create a defensive hazard-based core that Krilowatt and Toxapex can capitalize off of well. Kingambit ties the team together, serving as a standard late-game cleaner, using Tera Fairy Tera Blast to muscle through its major check, Great Tusk. This team is really fun and satisfying to use well, and I'd recommend it to players that are tired of offense but don't want to turn to stall.
Bulky Naviathan + VoltTurn Offense
Naviathan is in a pretty weird spot right now. The introduction of Wave Crash as water STAB is great, but it cuts its already middling longevity greatly. The required Flame Orb on the standard sweeper set is also a major hinderance, and even though its power is truly a sight to behold, I find it ends up being dead weight in most games if it can't set up. I was determined to make this mon work, however, so I tried running a Specially Defensive Dragon Dance set (courtesy of Brigtel on the Victim of the Week thread for Walking Wake) with Leftovers to make use of its improved bulk. Guts is still run on this set to be a counter to standard Skeledirge, but Facade can no longer be run due to consistency issues, so Icicle Crash is here to smack Grass and Dragon types that like to switch in on Wave Crash. This set has a much easier time switching in throughout a game, allowing it multiple opportunities to threaten a sweep. The rest of this team is structured around VoltTurn, with staples like Meowscarada and Washtom here to provide constant pressure and allow Naviathan as many switch-in opportunities as possible. Scarf Volkraken is here as well, contributing to the momentum-heavy core with its own U-Turn, while also threatening massive damage with Analytic boosted Hydro Pumps and Flamethrowers (Flamethrower over Fire Blast to not lose to Cawmodore over a miss). Tera Ground Tera Blast rounds out this set, making up for the loss of Scorching Sands, while having the uniquely great quality of OHKOing Krilowatt on its "safe" switch, or 2HKOing while absorbing a Thunderbolt as an offensive check. Finally, the Venomicon + Equilibra core returns to reliably wall most of the tier, with Venomicon running Tera Dragon since Volkraken can deal with Krilowatt pretty well. If you've ever felt like using Naviathan but don't want to because its standard set isn't great right now, I cannot recommend this team enough.
That's all I have this time, pretty good batch if I do say so myself. I think making these posts helps to develop my teambuilding skills, so that's pretty cool I guess.
