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https://pokepast.es/7e9a534d02cd5bd1
VoltTurn offense here, you know the deal. Flamigo and Rotom represent the offensive pivoting vortex that we all know and love (read: Despise). Arcanine comes in when it doesn't quite make sense to bring in either Flamigo or Rotom and demolishes something with its great stab and excellent coverage. Primeape gets up rocks and then pivots into the offensive threats while Frosmoth does the inverse of removing hazards then pivoting into the offensive threats. Moth also has a very big offensive presence since it hits psychics with STAB Super Effective bug buzz and it has enough special attack to just generally chip stuff into range for a Flamigo or E-speed. Alomomola is soooo effing good. It deals so much chip every game with helmet, it keeps ape and moth healthy to continuously setup and remove hazards, and if you ever even think about volt switching on it without a dark type to bring in, its getting a kill vs everything not named blissey. Trick NP Rotom is nice so that you can cripple a big threat while still representing some wall-breaking potential. I find that this team doesn't actually clean that often with Flamigo but I also think the threat of it really affects how people play vs me. Mostly you finish the game off with Arcanine using e-speed if everything is sufficiently chipped or Flare blitz if everything fast is sufficiently dead. That or the last remaining offensive threats on the opposing team just thud into alo/moth.
Here we are with my second team of the meta. I will go through the process of building it, which I believe is kinda interesting, but for impatient folks here's the
This thing started when I entered few games after drednaw/lightclay bans. My team used both so I was relying on the balanced team Feli posted a few weeks back with umbreon and tatsugiri. My expectation was to find way less sweeper sets due to the bans, but I actually run into a few folks with an hyper-offensive setup, generally going like this:
(+ other 3 mons among bellydrum users and quiver dancers).
I found this set really frustrating as the only thing it does is to enter, set up, sweep/sac and repeat. Since you generally want to switch for walling one of them, they often get a setup turn for free and sooner or later balanced teams ends up out of resources.
That said I decided to copy these teams and try to enter matches to understand what was standing against them. It lead to the hyper-offensive core of my team, namely
This is often the less useful of the three, as focus sash is good but become useless after hazards. This means you often want to play Cloyster as openings, but it sometimes gets too predictable. Waterfall is added as sometimes you pray for that 20% flinch to save your sweeper.
Hari started as a meme as it ends up >2000 atk after BD, but ended up being quite good as you have priority stab as well as recovery. Also, EQ 1HKO slowbro after BD which is generally slower. Guts+FlameOrb ensure you're immune to para/sleep and allow you to play it even without BD depending on the situation. Not sure about HP EV as they make drain punch less effective, so I may try moving them somewhere else.
Toxtricity @ Life Orb
Ability: Punk Rock
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overdrive
- Sludge Bomb
- Shift Gear
No much to say on toxtricity tbh, is the usual ShiftGear setting.
Here we have to mention what is good at walling these boys and fill up the team with something to support them instead of brainless filling with other sweepers. In particular, needs an honorable mention and is way too popular. It completely stops Cloyster, and future sight can put a tight countdown on the other two. One good option you have is to switch in Toxi, when you predict a surf, but is not very reliable. This is the reason you need someone able to tank future sight and eventually put pressure on it. This leads to our next member,
Usual scarf setting with mystical fire replacing trick. Not sure about this as that move is still under-utilized, but so would be trick tbh.
Another consideration is that leading with Cloyster, its best counters are taunt/roar users. I tried to include a taunt user in my set as well, also to have an edge on the mirror Cloyster fight, but it turn out that we actually have a sick taunt user in the meta, so here it is
Primeape @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 196 HP / 252 SpD / 60 Spe
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Rage Fist
- Bulk Up
- Taunt
I really don't think it needs explanations, but I digress. Alongside with taunt support, it can be a further sweeper and gets unstoppable if it can resists a couple of hits. Also, sometimes is good as defensive pivot, as the team may face hard times switching between threats.
Final spot I reserved it to a priority user that can serve as a cleaner after you consumed your oppo's resources but can also serve as a wallbreaker with no setup.
Bruxish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Wave Crash
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Aqua Jet
I also tried tera dark on here, but atm water seems more useful.
Finally, some general comment.
The team performs pretty well imo, I did top200 with zero effort and I am definitely not an expert player (and it's also fun to play I would add). However, when I got on the top section of the ladder things started getting more complicated. In particular, more defensive teams started to pop out, highlighting some of the struggles. So far, these are some of the most popular counters I have faced - already mentioned, but I want to stress this boy is damn strong.
- rotom is great at stopping Hari as it as a perfect resistance to bullet punch, even at max attack.
- this thing can tera ground with a moxie+scarf setup and you can say very little against that (missing some levitate/flight mon prolly).
- ditto is damn annoying as it can easily steal your setup and you need to play carefully against it.
And that's it for now. I will keep experimenting with the team, but I'd like to get feedbacks from you as well. I feel I'm starting to understand the meta, and that's a rewarding process, but at the same time there is a lot left to learn as well. I hope I will evolve this team in an even more exciting one, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, GLHF on the ladder ;)
https://pokepast.es/d27e6b4e4744054e
edit: I've been thinking of using boots on Palossand due to this team being prone to hazards, something I thought worth mentioning
There's not a lot of up to date teams in this thread so I thought I'd share this one. This is essentially the same structure as the team I posted in the Teambuilding Competition thread, however easier to use for newer players. I love using Primeape due to its ability to surprisingly pull off sweeps against a lot of teams if played correctly. The great thing about Primeape is that along with its Rage Fist sweeping potential, it is able to be the hazard removal-punisher thanks to its Defiant ability. This makes Primeape a great partner to hazard stack builds, which is why Klefki is used thanks to its great typing. Palossand I felt was necessary, because it ensures Primeape doesn't have to get into any 50/50's with Toxtrcity with Tera Normal and not knowing whether to Rage Fist or Drain Punch. Rotom-Heat is always great to break down teams so that Primeape can clean and also cover the threats that outspeed Primeape (i.e. Kilowattrel). Tauros Paldea-Water is the water type check for things such as Barraskewda or Floatzel. Lastly Gardevoir is the obvious last choice as the scarfer due to its ability to Healing Wish or Trick to apply pressure to opposing teams so Primeape can sweep.
The weaknesses to this team I would say is that although there are methods to deal with Slowbro (i.e. Trick scarf, Rotom-H Tbolt, Taunt Primeape), it has to be noted that none of these mons appreciate switching in on a Slowbro. That is of course common with a lot of teams since you never know if it's going to be T-wave or CM. Flamigo is also another big threat (however a common one amongst teams), which is why I opted for Physically Defensive Klefki and Spdef Palossand (for Toxtrcity). This team is pretty good in highlighting Primeape's potential and it is a very fun mon to use if used correctly!
I feel like this thread needs some updates so it's a perfect excuse to do a bit of a team dump, nobody asked for it but here it comes:
Classic weavile balanced with Altaria perish trap to take out the keys out there that like to stay in on Altaria for some reason. Sylveon and Copperajah form a great defensive core with decent synergy, staying power and hazards setting. Grafaiai is here to knock things off, pivot and spread status to make Weavile's job easier. The team ended up very dynamic with Passimian in there able to pivot as well and being a nuke with its CB. I like to play on what people assume your mon is and Passimian is the perfect exemple for that. As people assume Passimian is scarfed you can easily play around that and so it becomes a fantastic asset in many games. It adds more pivot and provides another knock off user to the team. These mons are great to overwhelm or wear down the opposing team depending on your playstyle. Either cases, Weavile is having a blast coming in late game afterwards.
Yes, I like Weavile. This team has pretty much the same principle as the previous one but is a bit more on the offensive side. I wanted to build with Mabostiff and especially the CB set which can do like 75% to Mudsdale switching in and 95% on Altaria full def also switching in. So I thought: who could benefit from that? Well why not make this team a dark spam and pair the doggo to Weavile then. You have spikes and stealth rocks to further punish the switches. You also have in my opinion what could be the best pivot of the tier (behind Grafaiai) in Rotom-Mow which brings speed control and can cripple a defensive mon by giving it its choice scarf. And finally, the trusty Tatsugiri very valuable in spikes offense able to spin reliably and apply pressure with its powerful STABs and Nasty Plot.
I'll not go over this one too much as I already explained it in the teambuilding comp thread but I've been liking it a lot recently and people should use zoroark more this thing is insane. In this team you should use it as Sylveon to lure steel types and take them out in order to let Grafaiai poison everything and Cloyster sweep. Iron Thorns is a cool mon and this set is pretty nice.
Nothing too special and I can't share too much as open and live tours are still around but I hope more people share what they've been building recently and spruce this thread up a bit !
P standard HO. I am most excited to use Zarude so I made this team. It gets SD this gen and that just breaks everything. I decided on coba to beat oris and other birds. Torn is 3 attacks + Prankster Tailwind, which gets you out of tricky situations. Rest of the team is p standard, you can add taunt onto lycan if you want
Fun E-terrain team using alolachu. No rising voltage this gen so its kinda pathetic tho. Chople zarude is to bait other zarudes to make cleaning easier for alolachu. Can add rocks on scarf krook if u need to.
I think this - or something close to this - will be the new standard for psy terrain HOs for now. I decided to make this to enjoy some of the brokens while they last. Pretty simple to use: deny opp's rocks with either lycanroc or jugulis (in case you're facing azelf HO), get rocks up, get terrain up, win.
Have fun :)
Maybe I will be posting more teams in some days, maybe.
here's a fat team I built and cyanize suggested using horse over dog (houndstone)
idk tera dragon ttar just so I dont get owned by thundurus while resisting water / elec but you can change it to ground or fairy
also luke is a huge threat good luck
Dumping a few boring bulky offense teams that I have tested a moderate amount on day 1.
Specs noivern:
This is a team built around specs noivern as a breaker and cleaner. It's fast, it's strong, it misses a draco meteor and loses you the game... It's really weak to iron jugulis, but you can't win them all. Noivern is a surprisingly good pokemon to lead with, as it outspeeds most pokeon and can either get a free kill or scare them out, slither wing is a must-have bulky-ish fighting type for dealing with tyranitar, brambleghast keeps rocks off and provides spikes to support noivern, and the rest of the team is a bulky backbone and rotom-heat to pivot and break.
Taunt gyarados:
A basic team with 3 bulky mons and 3 busted attackers. Scarf pawmot is great, it outspeeds all other scarfers and saves your life against gyarados. Revival blessing is actually good here, allowing you to revive jugulis (an attacker that is still threatening at 50% hp) or glowbro which can regenerate back to full easily.
Chester the tank:
Tired of Tyranitar ruining your dishonest fun? Chesnaught is your new best friend. Another team with 3 fast offensive mons and 3 bulky ones, scarf gallade is great, possibly even better than scarf gardevoir if you ignore the fact it switches into nothing. Jugulis runs u-turn here to get gallade in on predicted switches. This team also super duper loses to gyarados, but you can't live in fear and if you lose just demand that gyarados get banned.
I want to share this sun team that I've had great success with on ladder and tours, and fallen in love with:
Torkoal and Hyphlosion are fairly obvious, Torkoal sets up sun and lets Hyphlosion fire off incredibly powerful Eruptions. I use scarf because specs is frankly unnecessary, a sun-boosted Eruption is going to 2HKO nearly anything not named Tyranitar anyway. And most of my opponents expect specs anyway, and there have been many times where my Hyphlosion has outsped a potential revenge killer, including common scarfers like Krookodile or Gallade. Let's just ignore that one scarf Espeon. Shadow Ball for secondary STAB against a particularly Fire-resistant team, Fire Blast does near-Eruption damage if it gets weakened (and actually surpasses it if in Blaze), and Focus Blast hits Tyranitar sometimes.
Slither Wing, Tsareena and Bellibolt form a potent VoltTurn core that can help to bring Hyphlosion in or to chip any of the walls that get in its way such as Diancie, Goodra or Vaporeon. One benefit to these three specifically is that they all benefit from sun in unique ways. Slither Wing obviously gets Protosynthesis for a free Life Orb-equivalent boost to attacks, and a sun-boosted Flare Blitz helps deal with Fighting-neutral Steels like Bronzong and Forretress, and other resists like opposing Slither Wing. Tsareena appeciates the additional healing from Synthesis and Leaf Guard is an option, though the main status you want to resist either comes from powder-based sleep moves, or Pranksters which Queenly Majesty protects from. Bellibolt uniquely uses Weather Ball, which, while not as great an option as Muddy Water or Soak against Ground types, works great as a surprise move that can hit Electric resists for big damage.
Gardevoir is the final piece, providing another scarfer for situations where Hyphlosion might not be appropriate, resistance to Flash Fire Armarogue, disruption with Trick, and most importantly Healing Wish. Hyphlosion might take chip throughout the game, be it from raw damage or entry hazards (including its weakness to Stealth Rock), which directly impedes its ability to unleash big Eruptions. Having access to Healing Wish rectifies this, alowing you to heal a damaged Hyphlosion and restore its mighty attacks.
If you're wondering where the Chlorophyll users are, they all suck. The best one in SV (excluding UUBL Hilligant) is probably Sawsbuck, which I hope says enough about the ability right now. I would love Venusaur, Victreebel or maybe even Shiftry, but this is where we are.
Been having a good old time with this. The Diancie set is so powerful, insanely tanky. Double Scarf and a fast bird to counter HO and whatnot. Dragalgus tspikes also solo a lot of teams.
Boots Spam + Hazards. Restalk Snail is a monster and walls a lot of shit, great knock spammer too. My one critique of this team is that I wish Passimian had a higher base speed stat. That, and some sets like tera ground oricorio can get weird vs this too
This is a pretty fun and consistent balance team I've been using built around hazard stack Iron Thorns with potential sweepers in Flamigo and Oricorio.
Iron Thorns is here to set up entry hazards and then pivot out into another mon. It's able to take advantage of its great bulk in this role, tanking pretty much any physical attack that comes at it and allowing for hazards to be setup. I haven't invested much attack into this mon, as it already has a monstrous base 134 attack stat, and have instead invested EVs into HP just to increase its survivability even more to any attack that comes its way. Volt Switch is for slow pivoting out into other attackers on the team, and Stone Edge provides a stab option that hits most things like a truck even uninvested. Air Ballon is to ensure that entry hazards go up, as Ground moves are severely threatening to this mon, and Tera is pretty flexible between Ghost and Water, with Tera Ghost providing immunity to Fighting and neutrality to it's weaknesses, while Tera Grass provides a resist against opposing Water, Grass, and Ground type moves and a neutrality to Fighting type moves.
The defensive core of the team is Slowbro and Toedscruel, with both complimenting each others weaknesses very well. Slowbro is the physical wall, while Toedscruel is the special one. Slowbro set is pretty standard, Calm Mind can be switched out for Twave, but Calm Mind is more helpful when dealing with endgame 1v1s with other special mons, specifically other Bros. I run Tera Steel over Tera Fairy here to help with matchups against DD Ttars, as Tera Steel shuts down most sets, and even if they do run EQ the suprise factor of tera steel can allow you to get the 3HKO on it in sand. Toedscuel is fully specially defensive to cover up for bro's initial weakness to it, and is meant to not only be a special wall, but a great disruptor to the other team with Knock Off and Toxic. Knock Off can get rid of crucial items like boots that allow the rest of the team to break a team more easily, and Toxic cripples a mon's time on the field. Tera Water allows it counterplay against threats like Salazzle that usually pressure it out with a Flamethrower, as well as ice type moves. Toedscruel is also a hard counter to Klefki and you can usually get a free toxic on the switchout.
Noivern runs a unique set on this team, acting as a supportive defogger that is able to bluff being a pivot or offensive set thanks to Toedscruel. Defog isn't used much as most of the mons on it are either wearing boots or don't really mind hazards as much, but if boots are knocked off of mons like Bro or Corio, Defog can be a nice option. Whirlwind is to stop setup sweepers, as well as rack up hazard damage to allow for late game sweeping from Flamigo or Corio. I run Super Fang on Noivern just for more chip, but Draco and Hurricane also work. Maxed EVs in SpD and HP are to increase survivability, however specing more into SpA or Speed also work.
Oricorio is as standard as it can get, running Air Slash over Hurricane for the rare Brambleghast sighting along with the flinch chance. Just a potent setup sweeper that cleans up the late game
The true star of this team though is Choice Scarfed Flamigo, who is a force to be reckoned with STAB Brave Birds and CCs being able to absolutely rip through teams, and U-turns to provide momentum. Flamigo is able to outspeed a decent chunk of scarfers in the meta and threaten back potential OHKOs, especially after a layer of Spikes or Stealth Rock go up. Flamigo runs Swords Dance on this Scarf set for one reason, to tank a Knock Off from mons like Hecidueye, Grafaiai, Hariyama and the likes, threaten them out with an OHKO from CC or Brave Bird, and then surprise them with an SD and clean up the game from there, or at least get a guaranteed KO on a mon. SD boosted CCs and Brave Birds hits anything in the meta like a truck, and threats like Gardevoir or Delphox aren't going to come out on the potential of being OHKOd by a Brave Bird after Spikes or Rocks. Tera Type on Flamigo really doesn't matter much between Fighting and Flying, as both will allow Flamigo to hit even harder.
I've personally found that Toxic on Toedscruel is great for beating most stall teams, and even allows for it to 1v1 Blissey and win. Definitely some refinements that can be made on this team but I think it's a pretty solid overall.
The idea of the team is to break early with Gallade to sweep late game with either ttar or typhosion-h. The other 3 acts as support/pivots to facilitate this. Physdef decidueye-h acts as a pivot/defogger and good backup pressure to fat cores with triple arrows; av slowbro-g acts as the special sponge of the team. The -speed nature is to not lose power on Shell Side Arm, given that it can nab strong hits on cm boosted sylveon and florges that expect sludge bomb. Krook is there to set up rocks and Intimidate mons early on.
Sub dd ttar is the star of the show, hitting absurdly hard even with no investment. Tera flying has excellent coverage outside steel types, which are quite covered by the rest of the team. scarf Typhosion-h hits really hard with eruption, while also retaining some utility in lava plume + WoW for burns.
The EV spreads could be optimized a bit better (specially krook), but I've had decent success on ladder with the team :)
This team has me sitting at 1560 at the moment, smack in the log jam right outside of the top 10 of the ladder, so I thought I'd share.
Diancie is the main wincon of the team, with this "Enamorus-T at Home" Double Dance Draining Kiss set being an unholy abomination. I posted about it in the metagame discussion thread a few days ago, and it's only proven to be more obscene as time goes on. Tera Fairy boosts Draining Kiss to 60 BP, making it 120 BP after the same-type Tera bonus, while Earth Power hits Fire/Poison/Steel types that resist Fairy. Combined with Diancie's insane bulk and natural immunity to stat drops, it's just a bear to take down without some help from RNGesus. At +2/+2/+2 and with Tera Fairy, you'll be getting back more health with Draining Kiss than pretty much any unboosted `mon can deal back. CM Wars can be a pain in the butt, but Iron Defense can at least help keep you safe from getting sniped by Psyshock.
Rotom-Heat happens to resist the Steel, Grass, and Ground attacks that Diancie hates and provides pivoting support, speed control, and trick shenanigans. 248 +Spe is enough to outrun the base 85s while underspeeding opposing scarf Heatoms to get your volt switch out second. Discharge gives you an electric attack you can click repeatedly if you have the need and offers para support. Tera Poison is just a great defensive profile with levitate, but if you're clicking it it's probably because you're in an absolute emergency.
Alomomola eats the Water type attacks that Diancie and Heatom both want to avoid and offers a general defensive pivot support into the tier's many physical attackers with Regenerator and Rocky Helmet. Whirlpool trapping eases Wish passing but works extra well with Mirror Coat to punish Volt Switches so you can just lololol at that Foretress who was just trying to escape Whirlpool + Rocky Helmet chip. 36 SpD EVs ensure you survive a Thunderbolt from 252 SpA Kilowattrel/Rotom Forms.
Taunt Krook gets up Rocks and helps keep rocks off and to slow down setup sweepers. 56 Atk EVs are enough to ensure the OHKO against...something, but now I can't remember what. Defensive EVs are a personal quirk. 112 SpD gives the same benefit as 252 HP, with the rest pumped into HP to spread the bulk around. Those Atk EVs may be better placed in HP as well, as I'm starting to think I may have calced with Timid instead of Jolly
Hariyama is a secondary wincon in certain MUs while also providing some speed control via Priority. Drain Punch can't begin to hold a candle to Draining Kiss, but it offers strong longevity in conjunction with BU. Tera Steel + Bullet Punch hurts a lot after a few boosts, with Thick Fat removing Steel's weakness to Fire and BU boosts helping against the majority of Ground/Fighting attacks. Similarly to Krook, 92 Def provides as much benefit as 252 HP. Pumped the rest into SpD this time because Hariyama's HP is so massive (and its defenses are so pitiful) that investing in HP is a waste. Also 164 SpD just survives a Scarf Gardevoir Moonblast without needing to tera, so that's straight serendipity!
Brambleghast is by far the weirdest set here. Rapid Spin + Spin Blocking support in one slot is an obvious benefit, but the rest of its kit is pretty much just designed to be as annoying as possible and/or help position Diancie. Leech Seed, Strength Sap, and Curse can all generate switches for you to get Diancie in without having to eat an attack (or, in the case of Curse, can let you sac Bramble to bring Diancie in safely) and/or put Diancie in a more beneficial situation to set up in. Infiltrator lets it do all of this nonsense even through a Sub. You could drop Leech Seed or Curse for Spikes, but the meta hasn't felt very hospitable to Brambleghast as a spiker to me, and using the tumbleweed to set up teammates has been a much more reliable plan.
The idea of the team is to break early with Gallade to sweep late game with either ttar or typhosion-h. The other 3 acts as support/pivots to facilitate this. Physdef decidueye-h acts as a pivot/defogger and good backup pressure to fat cores with triple arrows; av slowbro-g acts as the special sponge of the team. The -speed nature is to not lose power on Shell Side Arm, given that it can nab strong hits on cm boosted sylveon and florges that expect sludge bomb. Krook is there to set up rocks and Intimidate mons early on.
Sub dd ttar is the star of the show, hitting absurdly hard even with no investment. Tera flying has excellent coverage outside steel types, which are quite covered by the rest of the team. scarf Typhosion-h hits really hard with eruption, while also retaining some utility in lava plume + WoW for burns.
The EV spreads could be optimized a bit better (specially krook), but I've had decent success on ladder with the team :)
So, this team's now obsolete with ttar being one, so here's an updated version with discount ttar:
The idea of the team is very similar to the previous one: Either pave the way for Iron Thorns to sweep with Tera Blast Flying and stone edge or break early to allow scarf Typhlosion-H (replacing Gallade) to clean late game. Slowbro-g and Decidueye-H stay the same from the other team, but we have 2 new additions:
The previous version of the team lacked any form of priority or counterplay against dedicated leads and speed control for the now much faster tier. Sucker punch + taunt on bisharp cover the first part, while glare sandaconda rounds up the team defensively, while maintaining the ever crucial electric immunity from krook.
I've reached top 500 on good days with the team, but I tend to stay between 1250 and 1350 when using it casually. Give it a shot if you miss sweeper ttar or if you like your scarfer to be slower than base 100s
Just slapped some new toys for the dlc1 update. Booster thorns get hazard up and you have a bunch of threats. Fairy bd cetitan is ridic and you can set up easier with parting shot vroom. Vroom is also scarf cuz I need a scarfer, scarf inteleon is scary vs this team sort of but you can outplay and if you can set up cetitan it’s over.
You could also go tera poison on cetitan to set up on fairies, while resisting first impression and also retaining the ability to set up on choice locked fighters like flamigo.
A balance/bulky offense (I can't really tell where it lies) build around scream tail. You can keep mudsdale and copperajah healthy to always wall physical or special attackers and then you have 3 fast offensive threats with a kind of volt-turn core. Hyphlosion is pretty damn good in this new meta, especially with calm mind making you into a pretty threatening sweeper.
A dlightly different scream tail build. I thought assault vest magnezone would be interesting with wish support, the volt turn nonsense is much stronger here with 4 mons having pivot moves. volt turning with toxic spikes up from dragalge is very fun. This one kind of sucks but it's fun.
The team focuses on setting conditions for either a CM Florges late game sweep or an Iron Press Magnezone late game sweep, though the team is rounded enough for all its members to do offensive work. The most standard mons here is rocks diancie, with enough speed to oustpeed base 60's uninvested and either guarantee rocks or launch a diamond storm. I've gotten turn one sweeps with some lucky defense boosts as well . Banded krook's there to break and disrupt the opponent with Knock Off. Given that most people expect either rocks + taunt or scarf, it throws off its regular switches a bit. Scarf Azelf has been the biggest surprise I got while testing thanks to Mystical Power. It can get away with so many games if left unchecked (be wary of Mystical Power's accuracy though). Noivern is the shakiest member of the team, though being able to dent Diancie with Super Fang and pivot with U-turn has been too good in practice to change it, Though I could see Brambleghast work on the spot of hazard removal.
I can reach 1400's with the team on serious days, though i usually just float on the 1300s with it XD it's really fun to use though.
Got up to the 1400s with this set, and could probably go higher. In short, get up hazards for your sweepers to win. In longer...
I've used Iron Thorns before and it is the absolute goat when it comes to hazard setting, it has very similar tools to Forretress, however unlike Forretress it can actually do great damage. Deny any hazards with Brambleghast who got super buffed with Poltergeist over the DLC so now I can run an actual attacking move, and it can even become a sweeper in itself with a speed boost. In general, you want to keep hazards on the field at all times, and Brambleghast is just bulky enough to do just that. I think Arcanine is super underrated in the tier right now, and It's kind of the glue that holds this team together. Max bulk and intimidate makes it so that it can even "tank" attacks like Jolly EQs from Krookodile, and threaten back with a Will-o-Wisp. Max attack also means that it isn't super passive, and can threaten switches with hard Flare Blitz and E-Speeds, and Morning Sun just makes it a nuisance to kill. Rocky Helmet is also incredible at getting all that passive chip. Then we got the choiced three, Krook, Voir, and A-Pom. Scarf Krook is great, and pretty brain dead as well. If you get a Moxie boost you can pretty easily run away with games if you get enough chip prior. Specs Voir is very good at what it does, and that is deleting anything that comes within its line of sight. Moonblast is always great and does impressive damage even to resists, Mystical Fire is for steels or to stop runaway CMers, Psyshock for Chansey ig, although I haven't seen much of it on ladder, and healing wish just to get on of the other two sweepers back into the game if absolutely necessary, Healing Wish could also be replaced with Trick if so desired. Ambipom is the goat among goats, amazing speed tier, amazing attack, and an amazing movepool. All joking aside Ambipom is definitely decent at being a banded pokemon, however it is extremely frail. All that chipping is mainly for it to be able to clean late game with double hit without taking a billion damage from a neutral attack.
Ambipom: Tera Normal is here for pretty obvious reasons, just gives double hit the extra boost it might need in some situations where normal isn't doing quite enough.
Iron Thorns: I think Tera Grass is the best possible tera for a defensive Iron Thorns, it causes the vast majority of its weaknesses to become resists, and can pretty easily allow you to set up another layer of hazards, pivot out for later, or just do chip with Stone Edge.
Arcanine: Tera Normal on Arcanine is definitely debatable, I can totally understand going for Tera Water, however I really value that extra damage that it gives to E-Speed, basically being a mini unboosted Dragonite. Tera Normal also still allows it to Neutralize its weakness to things like Krook EQ, and survive most of the time even with rocks chip to allow Arcanine to get off a Morning Sun.
Krookodile: Tera Poison allows Krook to get the upper hand on Fairies like Scream Tail, giving resistances to Play Roughs and Moonblasts and giving Stab on Gunk Shot, same thing goes for the Slither Wing matchup.
Gardevoir: Pretty similar reasoning to Ambipom, Tera Fairy enables Gardevoir to hit even harder than it did before, being able to 3HKO a double resist like Revavroom with Moonblast after Teraing, just provides great wallbreaking potential in general.
Brambleghast: Tera Water to get rid of the Fire weakness and turn it into a resist. Tera water allows Brambleghast to 1v1 a Hyphlosion, which can definitely be a threat to the team if let run rampant.
This started as a hazard stack team but I got better results with non-spikes chesnaught. So now it's just a bulky offense single-hazard team with specs horoark as a breaker. Dragon tail milotic is pretty good at wearing down other waters and doing a better job of hazing stuff than haze. For a more pure hazard stack team, you can use this one with offensive spikes overqwil:
Lycanroc volt-turn. Click pivot moves, bring in lycanroc and slither wing to do big damage, switch hippo and muk into attacks and win.
I've had a lot of fun with this team on ladder, so I might as well drop it here:
The objective of the team is to create a situation where the opponent can't break either Dipplin or Bisharp, while also dealing with some of the most common archetypes of the meta.
Ttar is standard stealth rocks setter, though tera fire fire blast nails most grass types that think can switch into you while also being a nice defensive typing. Houndstone makes a nice weather core alongside ttar, being one of the main breakers on the team. Destiny Bond acts as a nice last ditch effort to remove setup opponents. Cyclizar is the main pivot of the team, removing items and hazards for the rest, specially Dipplin. The speed investment allos you to outspeed max speed 115s. Dipplin is the surprise factor, walling most ground and water types in the tier while threatening massive damage with Giga Drain or being phased out with Dragon Tail. Zoroark-h is the special breaker, and Illusion shenanigans can be very useful in certain matchups. Bisharp is the main cleaner/priority of the team.
I've had quite a lot of fun using this, though the team can definitely be optimized further.
Noivern
Built a team around - as the name suggests - Throat Spray Noivern. This set is incredibly underrated and has put in some crazy work on the ladder; Noivern with boosted special attack has high potential as either a win-condition or late-game breaker, helped further by Noivern's phenomenal speed and solid coverage. Tera Blast Steel on this set lures in and eliminates Fairy-types such as Diancie or Fezandipiti that would otherwise be effective counterplay. Luring Fairy-types is especially valuable on this team, where 4 of the 6 are weak to the type. As Noivern is not crazy strong, it functions best in the end-game as a sweeper when targets are weakened, or in the late-game to weaken targets for the rest of the team.
Azelf
The biggest problems for Noivern are hyper offensive builds - which easily outrun it - and bulkier styles that are capable of taking on repeated boosted attacks. Choice Scarf Azelf acts as strong counterplay to offensive pokemon, with it outrunning essentially every boosted set-up mon. While Azelf has an even harder time with bulky teams, it still has the ability to trick a crucial defensive target a Choice Scarf to cripple it. Finally, due to Scarf Azelf's astounding speed, it holds the same capability as Noivern to blow through weakened teams like nothing else. In this sense, Noivern can enable an Azelf sweep by creating holes in enemy teams it is unable to sweep itself.
Magnezone
To round out the three most important pokemon on this team, Choice Specs Magnezone is a massive breaker that has excellent synergy with the team. Magnezone deals huge damage, weakening or removing a ton of important targets while defensively providing crucial Fairy and Dragon resistances. Specs Flash Cannon is great for keeping Fairies in check without the need of teraing Noivern, and Magnezone is this teams greatest method of breaking through bulky Waters such as Vaporeon or Milotic. To round out the set, Tera Blast acts as an excellent midground even as a Normal-type attack, and with Tera Grass can alleviate prediction against cores of Water and Ground types. Notably, Magnezone, with its massive damage output, creates holes in the team large enough to enable Noivern or Azelf to clean up. Finally, Magnet Pull along with momentum from Cyclizar allows Magnezone to trap and kill (most notably) Tinkaton, making huge progress toward a Noivern or Azelf wincon.
The Rest Choice Band Tauros-Paldea-Aqua is an alternative breaker that finds many points of entry against physical attackers thanks to Intimidate. It gives a strong balance of offense and defense, providing an important Water resist and a form of powerful priority. Stealth Rock Krookodile creates an Intimidate core with Tauros and has solid speed along with crucial Ground STAB. As mentioned prior, Assault Vest Cyclizar lures in Tinkaton and U-Turns on it to bring in Magnezone for an easy trap to pave the way for Noivern and Azelf. Beyond this, AV Cyclizar - the hazard control of the team - has great speed and solid enough special bulk to take hits and give momentum to its teammates with ease. It also provides a Ghost immunity that - along with Knock Off and its SpDef - allows it to handle threats like Zoroark-Hisui, Typhlosion-Hisui, Chandelure and special Basculegion.
Problems
While this team is incredibly fun and has propelled me to #55 on the RU ladder (as of writing, hopefully higher soon), it is not without certain flaws.
These three are probably the most difficult Pokemon for this team to deal with in the tier. Mimikyu has a strong matchup into every Pokemon besides Magnezone without teraing Noivern or Krookodile. Magnezone is absolutely necessary to keep healthy for this thing as a Fairy resist, and it is best played around with clever pivoting: Cyclizar can switch in on Ghost attacks and break Disguise with U-Turn, and Magnezone can take any hit and Volt Switch on it. Once Disguise is gone, banded Tauros should be able to handle it. Slither Wing can be handled by Scarf Azelf nicely if it remains a Bug/Fighting type, but post-tera it becomes much harder. Tauros handles non-Acro variants, but otherwise Tera Poison Krookodile and Tera Grass Magnezone are last-ditch efforts that should be able to manage it depending on the tera type. Finishing off with the greatest threat, Iron Jugulis is so hard to play around with this 6 with its typing and coverage, especially if it has boosted speed. Get rocks up and try to waste its booster so that Noivern and Cyclizar can outrun it, as both survive any one hit. Tera Fairy Dazzling Gleam on Azelf is tech for Jugulis, as Scarf allows it to outrun even Booster Jugulis. Additionally, you can Tera Magnezone on an Earth Power if necessary, though this is telegraphed.
From a slightly older build with Rocks on Azelf and Bulk Up on Krookodile (also i kinda played around with nicknames a bit in testing, just ignore those lmao they're references to this artist i like)
Conclusion
I know it's a lot, but thanks for reading! (if you did) I'm totally open for feedback on the team if anyone has anything they think can be improved here. All in all, I hope ppl try the team out, I've been rly enjoying it (:
I've had a lot of fun with this team on ladder, so I might as well drop it here:
The objective of the team is to create a situation where the opponent can't break either Dipplin or Bisharp, while also dealing with some of the most common archetypes of the meta.
Ttar is standard stealth rocks setter, though tera fire fire blast nails most grass types that think can switch into you while also being a nice defensive typing. Houndstone makes a nice weather core alongside ttar, being one of the main breakers on the team. Destiny Bond acts as a nice last ditch effort to remove setup opponents. Cyclizar is the main pivot of the team, removing items and hazards for the rest, specially Dipplin. The speed investment allos you to outspeed max speed 115s. Dipplin is the surprise factor, walling most ground and water types in the tier while threatening massive damage with Giga Drain or being phased out with Dragon Tail. Zoroark-h is the special breaker, and Illusion shenanigans can be very useful in certain matchups. Bisharp is the main cleaner/priority of the team.
I've had quite a lot of fun using this, though the team can definitely be optimized further.
So, this team got subjected to many changes during november, reaching Ship of Theseus status XD this is how the team has evolved into something quite decent:
The idea of the team is to break early with Slither wing and Tinkaton to allow Lycanroc Dusk to clean with either close combat or accelerock, though end game situations with Slither wing are also quite common, specially against hyper offense. As for what each member does:
Ttar has been my favorite addition to the tier since Flygon, pulling its weight in most matches (though sometimes I wish he was lighter given how some pokemon like thundy are starting to run Grass Knot more frequently). He acts as the rocker for the team while also being a good pivot into neutral hits and a surprise check to steel types like lucario and Bisharp, who usually try to setup in front of this thing only to get fire blasted in return.
Tinkaton, despite having only 75 base attack, can still pack quite a punch thanks to Swords Dance and Gigaton Hammer. Given that most people seem to be running support tink, there's usually enough of an opening to setup and break a hole into the opponent's team. Tera Water allows it to like stull like Scarf krookodile's earthquake, letting it deal one more lethal blow against the opponent.
Talonflame acts as defog support and a pivot into physical attacks thanks to Flame Body, which has carried games HARD, specially against mons like Slither Wing and Maushold. Will-o-Wisp is also a life saver, and the chip damage helps lycanrock pick up KOs later on.
Slither wing acts as an offense check as well as an early breaker and pivot. First Impression is also a nice check to rain, forcing switches and wasting rain turns. I was debating between Flare Blitz and Morning Sun, but having sand makes the recovery option quite poor, so I went for the extra coverage.
Lycanrock is the main source of damage of the team, as well as the main cleaner with Accelerock. Tera fighting close combat 2HKOs most of the tier alongside Stone Edge, while Drill Run rounds up its coverage. It also works as an option for fire types if you don't want to risk Stone Edge.
Finally, vaporeon adds wish support, a water inmunity (also helping with rain) and some water coverage. This is the most volatile member yet; it used to be Tera poison with Flip turn, but this team had a VERY BAD Quagsire matchup after I replaced Dipplin, so I went with lure Tera Grass since quags feel too comfortable staying on this mon). You can replace it with the old version if you like.
Overall, this team is a LOT of fun and has kept me firmly between 1350 and 1450 on the ladder, reaching 1500s on a good day. It's worth a shot on the last days of this metagame
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