Resource SV RU Good Cores

[Rarelyme]

approved by Feliburn and OP mostly stolen from Milo's version

art by ぽけもん
​

Welcome to the SV RU Good Cores thread! A strong core is one of the single most valuable things to form when creating a new team. Cores are typically made up of a group of Pokémon that, when used together, work excellently toward accomplishing a specific goal. The majority of cores have varying characteristics that allow them to triumph in different areas, and depending on your team, cores can be built to succeed offensively or defensively. An offensive core is a group of Pokémon that are both focused towards and designed to enable the team to break through most other team styles while being balanced for general play. A defensive core is a group of Pokémon chosen to give a team a solid set of resistances and the ability to switch into many of the common and threatening attacks in the metagame, allowing it to stick around long enough to win the match. Overall, cores function as a fantastic base or starting point for a wide range of teams and they are commonly used while teambuilding to achieve a specific goal.

Posting Guidelines:

• Any person can post a core in this thread. The cores are broken down into four categories: offensive cores, balanced cores, defensive cores, and weather cores. When posting your core, please make sure to state which one of these categories your core falls under.
• Although the way your core works may be obvious to you, this may not be the case for others. As such, when posting a core, please make sure to explain how the core operates and any other details you think are important to include. The explanations don't have to be essays; as long as your post has some substance and conveys the main idea behind the core, it's all good.
• Please do not post a core that has more than 3 Pokemon because cores bigger than this can restrict building immensely.
• Please be respectful of the cores people post in this thread. If someone posts a core that you think is ineffective or just plain bad, there is no need to jump at their throats. With that said, questions and constructive criticism are welcome and encouraged - simply be nice!

Cores will be added to the archive if deemed viable enough, and follow the guidelines above.

 

[Rarelyme]

Core Pool

Offensive Cores

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Psychic Terrain
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Trick Room
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Weather Cores

Rain
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Sun
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Mixed Cores

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Defensive Cores

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[FlamingoPokeman]

Update 1 - 2/7/2024: More updates to follow, posting one of each Offensive and Defensive Cores...

There are, at the time of this first update, 88 mons tagged RU and plenty more in NUBL or lower that are viable in the tier; while the meta heading into February and beyond is very offensively-oriented, below are a few cores and sample sets/teams that I believe can work:

Offensive Cores:​

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These two have already been on my radar as ban-worthy and work incredibly well together as an offensive volt/turn core that punishes attempts at conservative play. The only shared weakness between the two is Ice and they have a combined 6 resistances (bug, dark, fighting, flying, grass and steel) and 2 immunities (ground and electric). Both of these have decent natural bulk as well, with Thundy hitting 79/70/80 and Gapdos hitting 90/90/90, which really helps with enabling their pivoting shenanigans.

Set 1: Thundy runs with Gapdos opting for a to maintain health over the course of a game in this set. Tera Water for defensive utility on Thundy and, similarly, Tera Dark on Gapdos for both defensive purposes and potentially boosted Knock Off.
Set 2: Thundy this time runs a Nasty Plot set capable of dealing enormous damage when coupled with Gapdos. This type of set works well with a Sticky Webs setter such as or to ensure you can outrun and blow up whatever is in front of you.

Team 1: Using Set 1's core, I built this sample with the goal of capitalizing on multiple pivot options with hazard stack and status that forces opponents to play from behind the entire game. Cyclizar runs here to ensure any hazard stack can be managed, Gengar has more of a utility set with both Toxic Spikes and Wisp, Hippowdon rocks a to punish opposing physical attackers and attempts at pivoting and Slowking is a nice pivot that can force bad matchups with the combination of Chilly Reception and Future Sight.
(Side note: Hippowdon/Slowking is a really nice defensive core that I won't post about below because it's used here, but please use this core more)
Team 2: Using Set 2's core, this team is very much a Hyper Offense built to win games quick. Shell Smash Blastoise can be a real problem for teams, Iron Jugulis with Booster Energy outruns most of the tier - especially with webs support, Revavroom always does well with the normal Shift Gear + 3 attacks set and Smeargle can both stack hazards without fear of Magic Bounce and hinder opponents with Burning Bulwark.

Defensive Cores:​

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This core has been unexplored but offers potentially great upside in my opinion. Cresselia has immense upside as a Calm Mind Stored Power abuser while Quagsire remains the best option defensively for opposing setup sweepers (bar opposing Stored Power sets). I really like this kind of core that has a ground immune and volt immune while also having the tools to capitalize on the free switch.

Set 1: Calm Mind Cresselia with a pretty classic Moonblast/Moonlight/Stored Power set. Tera Poison to prevent Toxic stalling and Bold Max Defense to hopefully eat hits well enough to get rolling. Quagsire running both Toxic and Toxic Spikes was an awesome set last month and I believe it'll be great again; I originally opted for Tera Poison or Steel but Dark feels fine as an answer to potential Stored Power / Psychic Terrain teams.
Set 2: This version opts for a SpDef invested Cresselia with Thunder Wave to annoy opponents while Quagsire runs Body Press over Toxic Spikes to 1v1 stuff like Revavroom and punish spin attempts from Cyclizar. Tera Ghost on Quagsire is kind of a funny idea to beat Maushold as well but could easily be Tera Poison like normal.

Team 1: Bisharp is always a great mon on bulkier teams, Mienshao offers speed control and is generally very good because of knock/turn on Regenerator, Rotom-Heat remains a great mon in this newer meta and Tsareena is an okay spinner that can prevent Comfey from abusing Triage.
Team 2: Cobalion functions as the teams primary switch into Knock Off while also getting up rocks and pivoting, Hoopa-U is a very tanky breaker capable of dunking on whatever is in front of it, Maushold is a combination of hazard control, encore support and setup cheese and Zarude's Tera Fire set remains very good in the meta.

 

[Elec-ant1234]

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OFFENSIVE CORE

An old core, but still pretty solid. Fits best on HO teams, as Mimikyu tends to do. The way you pilot this is that Mimikyu either revenge kills or uses it's disguise to take out important targets, and Iron Jug comes in to clean up. You pretty much use Mimikyu to take out things before they spiral out of control, and use Jugulis to come in either immediately after or in the endgame to outspeed, miss hit hurricanes, and generally just win vs. most final mons that people save (minus comfey but comfey beats everything). Click charge beam as a finisher to a low HP mon, and when you know that you can handle whatever could switch in to take it, or as a way to muscle past walls (although in theory with the conkeldurr below you should have taken em out by now)

I would also heavily recommend Conkeldurr with this core as well, as it's a fantastic wallbreaker in this meta
conkeldurr set for thee

and for those who are interested, I did indeed get in first before F. Pokeman

 

[Rarelyme]

Alright so I have been using a lot of weather teams lately in order to stay sane in this early meta so I will be giving some basic weather cores for all the usable weathers in the tier. You can click on the sprites for the suggested sets.

Snow Core:

In my opinion the more pleasant one to use right now: snow. Indeed thanks to the February shifts we got Slowking which learns the move Chilly Reception therefore is able to set up snow. Thanks to its very low Speed, it is extremely easy to position snow abusers with Slowking's pivot. The rest of the movepool is pretty classic and could be adjusted based on the need of your team. However, I will say that Thunder Wave doesn't seem good to me on Slowking because you really want to be the slowest Pokemon on the field which could be altered if an opposing defensive threat gets paralysed. Icy Rock can probably be changed especially with Choice Band Cetitan but I would suggest keeping it if you prefer Life Orb or Belly Drum sets.
So yeah about the abusers, to me Cetitan is the best one thanks to its immediate raw power, overall good bulk and access to priority which is highly valuable at the moment. If you want to go hard snow, other abusers like Frosmoth, Thundurus and Kilowattrel (Weather Ball) are good partners. Back on the whale, I have tested all three previously mentioned sets and would rank them as following: Choice Band > Life Orb > Belly Drum. To me Belly Drum is significantly worse than the two others because it's simply too tera reliant in this meta full of priority moves able to KO it after it sets up. Without Aurora Veil, setting up becomes quite harder and staying alive afterwards is also harder hence it being 3rd. Choice Band and Life Orb are both really good and easy to use to break the opposing team. Ice type is famously very good offensively but because of the high amount of bulky Waters in the tier Knock Off and Earthquake are nice coverage moves. 220 Speed EVs are just enough to outspeed Booster Energy Iron Jugulis with snow.

Rain Core:

Rain is a bit more difficult to use right now again because of all the bulky Waters but it is still manageable especially thanks to Overqwil. Again si this a core composed of a weather setter and one abuser. Politoed does Politoed things nothing special here. Encore is to annoy defensive Pokemon trying to heal up against it or punishing greedy setups and Rest is to gain more longevity. The Speed EVs are customizable, in the paste this Politoed will outspeed every Enamorus-Therian and most defensive Pokemon for instance. Now the good stuff: Overqwil. In my opinion, Overqwil is mandatory in rain because it is the only Swift Swim user that can boost its damage thanks to Swords Dance making it one of the biggest threat out there. Its STABs give him a really good matchup against most of the bulky Waters such as Slowbro and Slowking that can make rain struggle otherwise. Life Orb is to maximize damage output and Waterfall + Tera Water can take advantage of rain's boost and muscle through Pokemon such as Hippowdon.
If you want to go hard rain, other abusers such as Basculegion-F, Kilowattrel and Kingdra are good teammates.

Sun Core:

Basic stuff again here with the Sun Core. Ninetales sets sun up then Venusaur and Hilligant can sweep. Unlike Politoed and Slowking, Ninetales is a setter oriented towards offense which explains the EV spread. Flamethrower and Solar Beam cover a wide portion of the tier to take advantage of Ninetales fire power. Energy Ball can be used instead of Solar Beam to avoid counter weather shenanigans with Hippowdon for example. Encore serves more or less the same purpose as with Politoed and Healing Wish allows you to play more recklessly and aggressively with your breakers because you will be able to fully heal one of them.
Venusaur is the main special sweeper in sun teams wheareas Hilligant is the main physical sweeper. They are both able to set up thanks to Growth and Swords Dance respectfully while being faster than any other Pokemon in the battle thanks to Chlorophyll. Venusaur has two different EV spread possible, basically Modest or Timid. If you go Modest, the damage boost will come to the cost of Iron Jugulis being faster than you because of its Energy Booster. If you want to outspeed Iron Jugulis then you have to go Timid, and therefore you only need 164 Speed EVs which means you can use the rest (92 EVs) in bulk (keep in mind that Hurricane is only 50% accuracy in sun). On the other hand, I think Hilligant should be full Speed to keep its valuable Speed tier even outside of sun (although nature stays Adamant). Hilligant 4th move can be customized, I like Ice Spinner to hit Flying types such as Enamorus or Salamence but Tera Blast paired with Tera Rock can also be good to add Moltres in the pool of Flying types that you destroy and Tera Fire to benefit from sun and resist Fairy moves. I am sure there are other good options. Solar Blade can be used over Leaf Blade to maximise damage output with sun, I don't personally think it is necessary (at least in this meta) especially after a boost.
Slither Wing and Volcanion are other good slots in sun teams.

 

[Hyper bol]

I didn't build much after the bans, but i got some pretty classic cores to share you guys :

Offensive Core :


Mienshao is a really good Offensive Pivot thanks to it's good Attack and Speed, it's STAB Close Combat and insane coverage coupled with Regenerator which allows it to play Life Orb to have more immediate power. Gengar pairs very well with it, being able to threaten Physically Defensive Pokemon that Mienshao will attract and while Mienshao will threaten Specially Defensive Walls and Dark-Types. This synergy can be further improved with Toxic Spikes on Gengar, which will weaken Physical Walls that Mienshao will Knock like Hippowdon, Slowbro, etc.... Energy Ball is an option to lure Hippowdon and Quagsire.

Offensive Core :


A pretty old Core but it's still very good actually. Gardevoir is an insane Revenge Killer thanks to its Ability Trace that allows it to destroy Weather-based teams, and has a fantastic STAB in Moonblast paired with an excellent SpAtk Stat and Tera. Magnezone can trap and destroy Steel-Types that counter Gardevoir and threaten Slowking, an other counter to Gardevoir. Magnezone can run a lot of different Items / Tera depending of what you need. If you want to also lure opposing Magnezone or Alolan-Muk, you can play Tera Blast with Tera Ground. These two Pokemon are very good at the moment, but pretty underrated in my opinion. Enjoy playing them !

Defensive Core :


One of the most classic Defensive Core at the moment that has almost no counter. Hippowdon is back and is the best Physically Defensive Wall, being able to counter almost every Physically-based Pokemon of the Tier. Slowking is one of the best Specially Defensive Walls avalaible, and Cyclizar add Hazard Control, a counter to Thundurus-Therian, Gengar and Venusaur and form a good Volturn Core with Slowking. The set are pretty basic here : Rocky Helmet Hippo is incredible to counter Mausold and punish opposing U-turn and Knock Off, Whirlwind is great to counter Setup Sweeper that can threaten this Core and Tera Water helps against Rain with a Physical abuser. Slowking's set is very basic. 168 Speed EVs on Cyclizar allows it to outspeed Pokemon with 110 in Speed like Gengar, while adding some bulk to better take Attacks from Thundurus-Therian or Gengar. It likes being slower than Azelf so it wins the 1v1 against the Lead set and has the slow U-turn against the Pivot set. Cyclizar's first slot can be whatever you want : Draco Meteor, Facade, Overheat, etc....

 

[TsuShirogane]

I have cooked up a nice utility Mence set which alot of people said they liked so I'm posting it here after fitting it into a solid, two mon defensive core:

(click!)

These two cover each other's weakness perfectly, Salamence eats the fire, ground, and fighting attacks for Cobalion. And Cobalion tank the dragon, ice, rock attacks that threaten Mence, in addition to a fairy neutrality and the ability to eat knock offs for Mence so it doesn't lose its boots. I really love utility Mence, and intimidate allows you to switch on many of the tier's physical attackers, add on breaking swipe and you can sit on so much stuff while still threatening with powerful hurricanes and earthquakes thanks to Salamence's great mixed offensive stats. In terms of stats, I opted for max HP, 208 speed EVs to let it outrun +spe 80s and slither wing, and dumped the rest of it into defense, but you can always sacrifice some speed (outrunning adamant/modest 80s for example) for more physical bulk.

Cobalion provides a really nice speed tier, acting as a strong, fast defensive pivot thanks to volt switch. It also has the ability to set up rocks which is always appreciated, and can even iron defense late game to clean up using STAB body press coming off an amazing defense stat of 129. For the stats, I opted for max speed, 72 HP and 184 defense to maximize Cobalion's physical bulk.

Coupled together, these two form a really solid physically defensive core that's strong into the tier's plethora of physical attackers, while also providing the utility to pivot around and set rocks.

However,
(click!)

Moltres also makes a fantastic partner for Cobalion and can easily replace Salamence on this core, while it lacks the immediate physical bulk that intimidate Mence provides, it makes up for it with will o wisp and flame body procs, greatly crippling any physical attacker unfortunate enough to hit it. It eats up the same fighting, ground, and fighting attacks for Cobalion, but Moltres gets access to u-turn, turning it into yet another nice defensive pivot to go along nicely with Cobalion's volt switch. I went with the same speed investment to let it outrun max +spe 80s and slither wing, 248 hp and the rest is dumped into defense. In this case however, I personally prefer running a bold nature to make up for Moltres' lack of immediate bulk that Mence provides, while still outrunning adamant/jolly 80s.

 

[FlamingoPokeman]

I think the commonfolk of RU understand the regular cores at this point so let me lay down some top-shelf secret cores that will cause your opponent to forfeit in preview...

https://pokepast.es/1eb6658b286a029c​

Psychic Terrain is a fantastic team structure in this meta given the handful of potent abusers available; stuff like , , and could reasonably see usage on this type of team while and provide dangerous physical sweeping options.
Expanding Force is one of the best moves in the game when paired with Pyschic Terrain and the options to use it are plentiful:

The main benefit of Psychic Terrain is not the boosted power provided, though, with all forms of priority and prankster shenanigans being stopped completely - this means Weakness Policy Endure Armarouge can really take advantage of unprepared teams if given a chance to spam +6 Stored Powers and +2 Armor Cannons. While Indeedee itself is lacking in strength and offensive prowess, it still hits fairly hard when boosted and can Healing Wish late-game to provide a full recovery + terrain for a team member in need.

https://pokepast.es/ef556e5db4bace3a​

Another member of Smogon (fyzmelm) has been cooking ladder with a Trick Room team during RULT. While TR was very strong in January with abusers like , , and available, this month provided the best mixed-attacker for this team structure in , who provides an insane mixed attacking set capable of stealing multiple kills every time it comes in.
I won't provide too many specifics about the team structure or sets because fyz is still working on RULT (and will likely post an RMT from what I hear?), but just know this - they cooked.

https://pokepast.es/4ff41ffbd50add82​

Rarelyme has already posted above about weather cores but this trio in particular seems fantastic to me; has always had one fault and it's the 30% of the time Hurricane misses... but in Rain, it can't miss, so Jugs has NO faults. can outrun anything in the tier when Swift Swim is active and can hit hard with mixed sets (yeah, you read that right, I'm preaching MIXED Kingdra). Draco Meteor / Hurricane / Wave Crash / Weather Ball is among the hardest hitting movesets granted to anything in the tier and 95/95 Atk/SpAtk is nothing to scoff at when boosted by Life Orb AND Rain. remains a funny little guy, setting up Rain and clicking stuff like Perish Song to annoy potential setup sweepers.
Other beneficiaries of rain include, but are not limited to;

 

[carbonlifeform]

So, it's not that hard to find good offensive cores right now, but I really want to share one that I've found to be particularly ridiculous:

+

You could probably use more standard sets as well (Trail Blaze Mamo, BU Dogi), but the raw power of Band Dogi and Dice Mamo together creates insane pressure, offering hard-htting SE coverage against literally everything except water types with zero need for setup. You'll want TWave support on more BO structures or Webs on more HO structures to help mitigate the lack of speed into more offensive teams, but this duo provides so much built-in power and utility that there are a bunch of ways to build around them.

 

[Hyper bol]

As you probably know the tier shift happened yesterday and we gained Deoxys-Defense, Cinccino and Amoonguss, and lost Slowking, Tinkaton, Rotom-Wash, Mamoswine, Donphan, Indeedee and Blissey. We didn't gain a lot of cool mons but Deoxys-Defense seems pretty good in the tier. I will share you some cores I have built with it.


Defensive Core :
click on the sprites for the importable

With a 50 / 160 Bulk, Deoxys-D is a very good Physically Defensive Wall, being able to switch in most of the physical threat of the tier and then pivot with Teleport. With Cobalion, they form an almost unbreakable Physically Defensive Core, Cobalion countering Dark-Types, Mimikyu and other Setup Sweepers thanks to its typing and Iron Defense coupled with Teracristal. It can also absorb Knock Off for Deoxys, that don't like loosing its Heavy-Duty Boots. This core can also Stack Hazard easily if you play Stealth Rock and Tera Ghost on Cobalion, or Pivot. or Hoopa if you play Volt Switch on Cobalion.
With 70 on both Offense, Deoxys needs Night Shade, otherwise it is too passive. Knock Off can be used if you want some additional utility. 232 Speed EVs allows Cobalion to outspeed Max Speed Zarude, so we can invest it a bit in HP.
Good teammates for this core are Specially Defensive Walls like Empoleon or Assault Vest Cyclizar, that can also remove hazard that are very annoying for this Core.


Balanced Core :


Choice Band Crawdaunt is an insane Wallbreaker, no Pokemon in the tier can really switch on its attacks. It's main problem is that it is too slow and not bulky enough to be a Top Tier. Deoxys-Defense fills these weaknesses very well, thanks to its very good bulk that allows it to check the Pokemon that want to Revenge Kill Crawdaunt, and can bring Crawdaunt safely thanks to Teleport that has a negative priority. Spikes support also helps Mr.Craw a lot, as it will chip Pokemon that Crawdaunt will Knock.
Other Pokemon can be used on Crawdaunt's slot, like Conkeldurr or Hoopa-Unbound, that are very similar to Crawdaunt, as they hits very hard but have issues to enter the field safely.
Good teammates for this Core are Fast Pokemon that can easily clean the game after Crawdaunt did its Wallbreaking job, like Choice Scarf Gengar, Zoroark-Hisui (its Illusion also pressure your opponent more) or Trailblaze Zarude.

 

[THE_CHUNGLER]

I’ve been working on building some teams for rult and just general ladder usage, and I stumbled on a core, or at least the start of a core that I think could be explored more.

I was looking for a pokemon that could handle some of the special set-up threats in the tier, and I was really struggling to make a moveset I really liked with Empoleon. I love having a good steel types, and even though it doesn’t resist fire, it still has some good qualities of a water like an ice and water resist. Despite the amazing typing, I felt that I needed too many slots to check the special set up threats in the tier like CM reuniclus, NP mew, SS Blastoise, and CM Enamorus.

Well, if I couldnt find a steel type I liked for these roles, what about something with just a great spdef stat? I scrolled through the water types we have, and tried working with Milotic. Scald is so much better than empo’s surf as a free click, has flip, recovery, and other good support moves. So, what set can we use to cover the most special threats in the tier possible in one slot? I started with flip turn cause of course I did


Milotic @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Marvel Scale
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 116 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Mirror Coat
- Recover
- Flip Turn

The problem I had though, was that CMers like suicune or enamorus can just keep boosting in front of you if they see or expect mirror coat, and you have to guess the correct turn they’re going to attack while they’re taking less and less from scald. I decided to drop flip turn then for haze. Dtail sounded good for phasing and shuffling mons like volcanion, but is walled by Tera fairy setup sweepers.


Milotic @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Marvel Scale
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 116 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Mirror Coat
- Recover
- Haze

Speed evs to creep crawdaunt and some slower Bisharps and volcanion. Milo is much faster than empoleon which is great! It also has comparable special attack though a bit lower, but better special bulk and comparable physical bulk. I like investing a few evs in def just to take stuff like hippo’s eq better.

The important part about this set, now with mirror coat AND haze, is you’re no longer putting the game in your opponent’s hands. You choose whether you think you’re getting attacked and can kill with mirror coat, or choose if your opponent will get greedy and keep boosting so you can haze. You also have Tera as an option in a really dire situation, and tera steel lets you avoid a super effective attack while still mirror coating enough damage back to kill.

Here’s an example of what the spdef can do:

252+ SpA Enamorus-Therian Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Empoleon: 158-188 (42.4 - 50.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Enamorus-Therian Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 116+ SpD Milotic: 120-142 (30.4 - 36%) -- 48.8% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 116+ SpD Milotic: 218-258 (55.3 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 116+ SpD Milotic: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO

Ok so maybe trying to check thundurus is a bit ambitious, but you can at the very least threaten mirror coat on volt/tbolt/grass knot, and you won’t be so low you can’t heal it off ever again. That’s another great way the speed on milo is helpful, if it’s low, being faster means you’re more likely to find an opposing target to heal on. Pairing milo with cyclizar will also help deal with thundurus as a pair, while milo deals with the threats that are too strong or bulky for bike.

Milo does not provide the resistances that empoleon does, but it’s so bulky that it can still help considerably with the types of attacks aimed at cyclizar.

The ability could be marvel scale OR competitive, both with different but useful applications. Marvel scale is obvious, but I wouldn’t sleep on competitive either. This thing is switching in on moonblasts, earth powers, shadow balls, probably some other moves I’m forgetting that all have stat drop effects. Moonblast in particular from enamorus and gard can be annoying if your scalds are doing less and less each time, but that’s not an issue with competitive.

Tera steel on milo helps you fake being an empoleon when that’s really needed, like against Tera normal zoroark’s hyper voice, regidrago’s dragon energy, or specs enamorus’ Moonblast.

Ok, now who do we partner with this? Milo hates losing its boots, that’s for sure. Definitely a knock off absorber. We also need to cover physical attackers generally, as well as something that comes in on bike, because all Milo can do is burn it. Hippo doesn’t seem like the ideal partner due to chipping milo with sand over empoleon, but sand isn’t the end of the world for 5 turns and it’s hippo. Fezandipiti Cobalion, and Okidogi resist knock, and the latter 2 appreciate Milo’s ability to take moonblasts, scalds, etc. they’re also good progress makers.

I’m partial to Okidogi, it’s walled by fewer pokemon than Coba and Fez, and while milo threatens burn on poison immune targets, Dogi and Fez threaten toxic chain on, well, everything else. Cobalion has the added benefit of speed, so I totally think that can work.They’re also all toxic immunes, so Milo loves that, while dogi and coba love that Milo eats burns like a feast.

(Speaking of Fez as an aside, Milo and Fez have some scarily similar stats… 95/79/125 defenses for Snake vs. 88/82/125. for Fez)

I believe this is the premier dogi set right now. Even when the opponent knows what’s coming, it just doesn’t matter. Psychic fangs is great for opposing Okidogi, as it takes a lot of pressure off hippo or another physical check to deal with it. Now that Zarude has been banned, you can also run knock off which is quite strong as well. You will have a harder time bullying something like a Tera poison quagsire on stall.


Okidogi @ Leftovers
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Atk / 112 SpD / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Psychic Fangs / Knock Off
- Bulk Up
- Gunk Shot

Evs are super customizable based on speed tier, but I just went with creeping max speed +att base 60s. As much as I hate relying on funk shot, you can’t be taking helmet chip and risking flame body on moltres with poison jab. I mean maybe if we actually had heal bell.

In my opinion you also need a bike with this core, and another physical sponge. The typings don’t cover each other perfectly, but I think these 2 are so big and fat (Milo wears the weight well) that you can get away with it.

And lastly, if you got this far in this way longer than I intended post, you deserve something for your trouble. Here’s a team I cooked up for you to try out if you just want to start battling:

https://pokepast.es/e1796c89279799cf

 

[HoopsspooH]

I’m going to update this thread with a core that I have used and experimented with a lot in this meta, as well as seen with other teams during RULT.

Hippo/Cyc/Hoopa-U
​

This was by far my favorite core to work with during the early days of the February meta, but I still think that it’s pretty decent in the current meta, if not even better with the recent removal of Zarude. Hippowdon blanket checks essentially all physical attackers in the tier with its incredible bulk, being able to reliably get up rocks and Sandstorm for very nice chip damage, and roar to deny said physical or even potential special attackers from setting up. Cyclizar is cyclizar, however, with the incredible special bulk of the last member of the core however, you can pretty easily forego the use of AV if so desired, freeing up options like Taunt to deny setup against your presumed passivity. HBD also means that you can reliably regain health with regenerator, something not entirely guarenteed for AV against hazard stacking structures, albeit not incredibly hard for that set either. Finally, because this core would like some resistance to the few, but incredibly potent, special breakers in the tier, we have AV Hoopa-U, which is probably my personal favorite set for it. You’ll want to run Psychic Noise, Knock Off, Drain Punch, and Gunk Shot, all of which provide very decent coverage into the tier. Psychic Noise can prevent defensive mons like Hippo from healing off damage and allow for your physical attackers to break through it, Knock Off grants a great way to disrupt mons that really desire their items, Drain Punch allows for recovery, and Gunk Shot covers fairies. I like using Max Attack and Max SpDef for both great breaking power and Special Bulk. Lonely nature is also my preference on this core just because you really desire the Attack boost to threaten to OHKO Thundurus-T from full with a Knock Off, and your already dropping to essentially any stray hit in the first place. EVs are definitely customizable for all of these however, and I encourage you to alter them to fit your team comp better. Anyways, here is a replay that I think really shows the strength of the core, especially into HO matchups.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2062447146

While this was a little while ago and most lead Kleavors run SD now to my knowledge, I still think that it shows how powerful the Hippo, Cyc, Hoopa-U core can be, especially Hoopa-U who was able to single-handedly take down both Thundurus-T and Iron Jugulis without even fainting. Overall, I think that this core definitely has a pretty good place in this meta on more balanced builds. Also, since somehow no one has suggested this core yet, I’m nominating the core as well, just because that has been seen almost everywhere this last month. Pretty simple and from my understanding built to try and counter most of the physical attackers in the tier through passive damage. AV Cyclizar on this core to cover for the slight lack in Special Bulk.

 

[Rarelyme]

Let's register here one of the most used defensive core in balanced builds at the moment:

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Hippowdon is a top tier able to hard check most if not every physical threat in the tier while being a good progress maker thanks to sand and Rocky Helmet chip. It synergizes very well with Empoleon which is one of the few usable real Steel types in RU right now (looking at you Cobalion). Empoleon provides a special wall with good longevity and access to several good options in its movepool. The first of these is Stealth Rock which can be ran on both our Pokemon in this core to keep the opponent guessing on which one has coverage. In my opinion, Empoleon is the one that should run them to allow Hippowdon some coverage in Stone Edge (Body Press and Heavy Slam are other decent options), which makes it less passive and threatening for offensive archetypes. Empoleon has to run Roost for longevity and then it'll depend on your team. If you have a powerful breaker in the back then you might want Flip Turn to get it in safely. Otherwise, you will prefer coverage like Ice Beam to keep opposing Cyclizar to spin your rocks out for free or Grass Knot to chip Volcanion and hit the Water types that want to switch in on Empoleon. Surf as a STAB is also a good option if you lack Water coverage in your team. Empoleon can also have Knock Off as a strong utility move to make the Stealth Rocks more impactful. Roar can also be a good alternative to phaze out opposing setup sweepers and especially Calm Mind ones. Keep in mind that Hippowdon also commonly runs a phazing move in Whirlwind so this option can be redundant in the context of this core. Cyclizar rounds the core up as usual by providing Electric and Grass resistances while being able to remove the hazards thanks to Rapid Spin. Hazards can be a pain for Hippowdon and Empoleon, so Cyclizar is more than just the mandatory removal option like in most team, here it truly is part of this core.

 

[Hyper bol]

I will share here 2 cores that I loved using this month.

Balanced Core : Bellibolt + Breloom Para-Spam Core :


Poison Heal + Facade Breloom is a very threatening Wallbreaker that doesn't have a lot of Switch'ins, but it's main problem is that it's too slow, so easier to counter with a fast Pokemon. This is where paralysis comes in. With Stun Spore, Breloom is able to Paralyse stuff like Moltres, Salamence and Gengar that won't be able to outspeed it later (if it's not Choice Scarf Gengar) and will get 2HKO'd. With Static, Bellibolt will be able to paralyse a lot of Physical threats like Zapdos-Galar, Slither Wing, Terrakium, etc... that will allow Breloom to outspeed and KO them. The synergy can go even further, with Bellibolt being able to bring Breloom safely with Volt Switch, on Pokemon like Cyclizar that will absorb it. Breloom can easily take advantage of Ground-Types that Bellibolt will lure, and will be able to switch more times on Ground-Types thanks to Poison Heal. This Core will thus be insanely strong against teams with Hippo / Cycl / Moltres backbone, while the Hyper Offense match'up will be hard.

Some examples : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2076546450-0yfhfwkj56whoof93ug3aii8myzq4dkpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2082243499-7n6l7s894h9obnk0zlu8w4dxyvssao5pw?p2
These two examples show perfectly well how the Core work, with Breloom doing big holes once Moltres is paralysed and Bellibolt's very good utility.


Defensive Core : Palossand + Overqwil Hazards Stack Core :


With the bans of Zarude and Hoopa-Unbound, Palossand has a really cool niche as a Physical Wall and Spinblocker, being able to counter Pokemon like Revavroom, Cobalion, and much more and completely blocking Cyclizar. Overqwil really appreciate its capacity to Spinblock as it will stack Spikes, and will help Palossand against threats like Iron Leaves and Mimikyu, while Palossand block Cobalion, Overqwil's bigest counter. This core has almost no counter on the Physically Offensive side and can be really annoying to deal with, but will like teammates like Empoleon, Cyclizar and Amoonguss to counter Specially Offensives threats such as Thundurus-Therian, Zoroark-Hisui and more. Cyclizar can also use Rapid Spin to remove Hazards. Fighting-Types and Physical threats such as Zapdos-Galar, Okidogi or Bisharp really appreciate the Hazards that will weaken Hippowdon to help them clean.

 

[HoopsspooH]

Here’s an offensive core that I’ve had a lot of fun with so far with the drop of Jirachi into the tier.

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Jirachi/Volcanion/Gapdos
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The main idea behind Volcanion and Gapdos is that they’re both extremely powerful breakers, but suffer immensely from a lack of recovery. Jirachi pactches this hole extremely well, allowing them to become much more powerful for much longer periods of time, and not being so hesitant to stay in and deal major damage with the fear they won’t be able to recover that health later on. Jirachi also helps out these two’s issue with speed by spreading paralysis through body spam or thunder wave, making them even more threatening as you might not outspeed and risk potential full paras whenever you’re in on them. U-turn pivoting for Gapdos also makes it so that you can get into either Rachi for more wish passing or Volc to target physical walls trying to chip down Gapdos via Brave Bird recoil.