3v3 Singles Metagame Discussion Thread

remember how everyone is so prepared for talonflame now its kind of bad

GOOOOOODRA!!!

this thing's been kicking ass, almost every team carries rotom-w and if you have talonflame you can force them to bring it. i bring talonflame anyway now because goodra is just a shutdown answer to talonflame counters, including: bulky waters/rotom-form/manectric???/etc

i would really suggest bringing your assault vest special single goodras to the singles ladder, we've ignored it due to the presence of so many high powered physical attackers like chomp/blaziken/etc but it just lets you completely soak hits and take advantage of the special weaknesses your mons have. so goodra is definitely getting my recommendation for singles
 
I think I might try sableye. I've been needing something bulky and that would work. I would use goodra, but I already have a dragon type (Garchomp) on my team. I'll have to try looking around for a HA sableye.
 
I am seeing a crapton of BellySitrus Azumarills. What threats are they trying to beat? They get crippled by WoW all the same. It's also hilarious to OHKO them with Foul play.
 
they are probably about to spam aqua jet, but since they are destroyed by sableye they can't. all the same they are not much of a threat. I battled a belly drum surpluff once. pretty easy to beat.
 
Uggghhh, I dunno what to do with Klefki. My Sableye isn't fast enough to Taunt it first, and for some reason every Kelfki I've faced so far has outsped my MBanette even though I should be speed tied with them. It's gotten so bad that I'm running Lum Berry Magician Delphox (out of the mons I have, lol Delphox) to deal with the key-jingling menace.

Also is it just me, or does every Japanese player I run into have Substitute of freaking every mon they have? I've encountered Japanese Garchomps, Gardevoirs, Kangaskhans, Klefki and even Gyarados (just to name a few) that run Substitute. It's making me second guess myself whenever I use MBanette. Should I Protect, or Taunt, DB, or attack? The mindgames are giving me a headache.

And since everyone and their mother seem to run both Rotom-W and MVenusaur togther, I'm seriously considering using Lum Berry Harvest Trevenant to deal with these bastards.
 
Played a few rounds of Rating at mid 1600~, and I see Mega Kangaskhans everywhere. Got whooped back to mid 1500s, and I made a new team.

It goes something like -

Heliolisk w/ Choice Scarf/Specs (Doesn't care about Rotom-W, can also mess up standard Aegislash set w/ Volt Switch & that Ghost immunity)
Skarmory w/ Rocky Helmet & Taunt (I don't think Mega Kangaskhan can actually do anything to this set)
Garchomp w/ Lum Berry (Mainly for Parafusion Klefki)
Aegislash w/ Weakness Policy (Mixed, no King's Shield, no SD)
Breloom w/ Life Orb (Jolly, Focus Punch, Mach Punch, Spore, Bullet Seed)
Talonflame w/ Sharp Beak (Packing Tailwind support mainly for Breloom)

It's been doing fairly well in the few matches that had most of the common FOTM Pokemon in them.
 
You need to put some speed onto Banette because you don't get the Mega version's speed on the turn you change so you're still at 65 Speed against Klefki's 75 on that first turn. 92 EVs with a neutral nature should put you just above a 4 Speed EV Bold Klefki.

Also, just because something is banned on Smogon doesn't mean it's a foolproof win if you use it.
 
You need to put some speed onto Banette because you don't get the Mega version's speed on the turn you change so you're still at 65 Speed against Klefki's 75 on that first turn. 92 EVs with a neutral nature should put you just above a 4 Speed EV Bold Klefki.

Also, just because something is banned on Smogon doesn't mean it's a foolproof win if you use it.
I know that Mbanette doesn't have 75 speed when it MEvolves, which is why I run Protect. However, it's after I'm MEvolved that every Klefki still seems to beat me in speed, which confuses me to no end.
 
So just ties? I would assume any Klefki to have 4 Speed EVs at most so you could always go 12 EVs and speed creep them out I guess.

On topic, I'm noticing a handful of M-Blaziken at higher ratings now with the usual Rotom-W to fight off Talonflame.
 
So just ties? I would assume any Klefki to have 4 Speed EVs at most so you could always go 12 EVs and speed creep them out I guess.

On topic, I'm noticing a handful of M-Blaziken at higher ratings now with the usual Rotom-W to fight off Talonflame.
I might actually try that, putting it at least 12 Speed EVs and seeing how well it works.

I think I'm the only person using Sableye constantly on the BS, no team I'm fought out of 40ish 70ish (I can't count) battles has one. I know I said it before, but this thing is amazing. Shuts down at least 80% of teams I come across. Hates enemy physical Fire types, though, like Talonflame, Fairy Types that don't care about burn like Togekiss or Gardevoir, or walls with reliable recovery (Damn Regenerator Slowbro...). Also if WoW misses even once against an enemy physical attacker it's usually doom for Sableye, but that's an unavoidable risk, I suppose. Sableye lols at Mega Kangaskhan though, which is getting quite popular lately instead of Mega Mawile.

Edit: I'm seriously considering running a defensive Golurk with Lum Berry to deal with Klefki instead of lol Delphox. It'd also be able to help deal with Talonflame somewhat (I hope).
 
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CoolStoryBrobat

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Why isnt people playing Evasion or Moody?
Far as evasion goes, I got smashed down by a Japanese chick who used a Drifblim...Minimize/Baton Pass/Substitute/Calm Mind? Can't remember if it was that or not...forgot the last move but it held some consumable item with Unburden. I hit it like once and then it kind of just passed to a (Mega) Manectric who kind of took a big one on my team afterward
 
Evasion is certainly a thing to watch out for. I've encountered Ninjask with Double Team/Baton pass and also some random mons like Jolteon packing Double Team. It's always handy to pack a Taunt user for that.
 
Evasion is certainly a thing to watch out for. I've encountered Ninjask with Double Team/Baton pass and also some random mons like Jolteon packing Double Team. It's always handy to pack a Taunt user for that.
Or No-guard users as well. Some keen eye users would be handy, too. It's a different metagame.

I'd keep a Keen-Eye pokemon in my team just to beat the **** out of these evasion-abusers, if I suspect one in the team preview. I wouldn't use it in any other matches, though.


I like the idea of keeping one or two narrow but effective pokemon that could end games pretty quickly, along with your core build.

Rivalry Pyroar/Haxorus would be nice to use against a team with 4 or more pokémon of the opposite gender of your Rivalry user. You can check their gender in the team preview, before the battle starts.
 
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Or No-guard users as well. Some keen eye users would be handy, too. It's a different metagame.

I'd keep a Keen-Eye pokemon in my team just to beat the **** out of these evasion-abusers, if I suspect one in the team preview. I wouldn't use it in any other matches, though.


I like the idea of keeping one or two narrow but effective pokemon that could end games pretty quickly, along with your core build.

Rivalry Pyroar/Haxorus would be nice to use against a team with 4 or more pokémon of the opposite gender of your Rivalry user. You can check their gender in the team preview, before the battle starts.
Ugh, and here I was happy with my Iron Fist Golett I just bred. Oh well, I pack two Taunt abusers on my team so whatever.

Also Keen Eye mons either suck or have better abilities they could be using. I know Keen Eye is somewhat useful now, but it still isn't really the go-to ability.
 
i dont play singles but on the subject of evasion on cart, you could simply focus on killing ONE of their pokemon and then start stalling the timer by taking 1-minute turn selections while they (probably) can't immediately kill you since they rely on you not being able to hit them to win. obviously it isn't ideal but its an easy way to win against minimize teams (albiet physically painful).
 

Jibaku

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Quick Claw costed me a win in the JAA. I'll forever grudge that item.

On a more on-topic side of things, with stall becoming a bit more prevalent as you go up the ladder, I feel that Gengar can be a valuable member to have. Carefully using Levitate and/or Shadow Tag allows it to take down some of the key defensive Pokemon such as Gliscor, Slowbro, Chansey (to an extent), and sometimes even Rotom-W. With the toned down pace of the metagame Gengar should be able to find itself a number of switch in opportunities (or you can U-turn/Volt Switch into it), and use the Ghost buffs to actually pose a real damaging threat.

If nothing else, the mere presence of it in your team can scare people away from using stall.
 
I've met at least 3 people using Sheer Cold Lapras. They missed every single time. WHY.

Also, is it just me or is it really hard to bring six mons that can deal with any threat? I've been experimenting on and off with various combinations, and while certain combinations can easily go through some enemy teams there are others that give them huge trouble. Also if you predict wrong on what 3 mons they'll bring, you'll often be screwed. Does anyone have any advice on what to consider when judging what mons the opponent will bring?

I am so glad I started to use Mixed Aegislash though. People switch in their physical walls and such, or try to burn me with WoW, and Aegislash's 252+SpA Shadow Ball puts them in their place.

And I love losing because of WoW (which is my team's lifeblood) missing. But that's life, I guess.

Edit: I have found a decently good (not perfect, however) answer to Klefki: Magic Bounce Espeon. Unless the Klefki is running Foul Play (which many aren't for some reason) Klefki can't do jack to Espeon. Fought a few players with Klefki, and once their answer to Espeon was gone and they still had Klefki, they forfeited.
 
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Laddered for a while today while I was watching some streams to dabble in the meta, put together a team based on the discussion in this thread. Did alright, went 21-8 and hit 1737, so I'm not super good but I got some experience so I think it's OK. So far the teams I have the most trouble against are the "tanky" or stall-esque teams, I guess is how I would describe them. I think I lost to a Hippowdown team with some other tanky Pokemon, a team with Sableye / Assault Vest Goodra / something that I can't remember, and maybe one other tanky team like Ghost/Grass Tree-guy / Gliscor / Drifblim (baton passing minimize to either for a leech seed / sub / stall or protect / toxic stall or something). Other losses were oversights that I tried to patch up. I'm just abusing Mega-Kangaskhan since it seems to be OP right now, or at least has the easiest time smacking other Pokemon.

Team is: Klefki / Mega-Kangaskhan / Rotom-W / Talonflame / Greninja / Aegislash

Aegislash is probably my least used Pokemon, I'm running the Mixed Varient with it. Seems to be pretty good but I don't know how to use it to its full potential yet, especially since I'm still learning speed tiers. Rotom-W I use when it looks like WoW will come in handy, its also good as a last mon with WoW and ChestoRest -- it's come in handy twice so far but I'm not sure if its optimal yet. Still experimenting with that. Klefki I use like Liepard, seems to be helpful if I don't think I'll be able to force a win in with Kanga / Talonflame / Greninja (my go-to-core if it looks like I'll have an easy match-up). I want to try out Mandibuzz / Klefki / Rotom-W core, it seems like it would work out but I'm not convinced about it. Variety of status to inflict and Volt-Switch / U-turn if prediction works out for me letting me keep some momentum. I'll give it a shot tomorrow I think since the ladder is acting funny on showdown (5 of my last wins left me in the same place, so I stopped laddering until tomorrow).

I think Talonflame is probably the most centralizing threat so far, priority Brave Bird is so useful and keeps so much in check, especially since it's so fast it outspeeds other priority. Outside of that Kangaskhan and Garchomp (Megas) seem to be everywhere and harder to deal with. I'm going to try out a sand 3s team to see how it works, although I don't know how useful it will be given the nerf to weather. I'm still interested in trying out weather teams or at least seeing if there is any use to them -- Mega Charizard Y and Excadrill look fun to use as well.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Diggersby? I played with one a few times but I felt like I was just using him to go 1 for 1 against their lead, although I only ran the CB set. I haven't seen any in my ~30 games so I'm not sure how great he is, although I'd like to experiment with him as well, or Azumarill. Huge Power Aqua Jet / Quick Attack seems like it's good combination with Talonflame for just cleaning up.

I am so glad I started to use Mixed Aegislash though. People switch in their physical walls and such, or try to burn me with WoW, and Aegislash's 252+SpA Shadow Ball puts them in their place.
Whats your mixed set? I just kind of made one up -- I think it's 16 HP / 244 Atk / 248 SpA Quiet -- Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak / Swords Dance / the move that ignores boosts but is fighting (I use that move to try and beat evasion teams, although I've only run into one and it wasn't useful (Drifblim)). I'm not sure that that's how I should be using it and feel like it's maybe the reason I'm finding it underwhelming. I'm not sure about running a King's Shield set in this meta, since it seems like it might not work. Although since I haven't used it I'm not one to speak on it.
 
Sigh...

4 wins were taken from me because the opponent DCed AFTER I just landed the killing blow. And 3 of them were Mega Ampharos Sweeps. Like that will happen ever again...
 
Whats your mixed set? I just kind of made one up -- I think it's 16 HP / 244 Atk / 248 SpA Quiet -- Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak / Swords Dance / the move that ignores boosts but is fighting (I use that move to try and beat evasion teams, although I've only run into one and it wasn't useful (Drifblim)). I'm not sure that that's how I should be using it and feel like it's maybe the reason I'm finding it underwhelming. I'm not sure about running a King's Shield set in this meta, since it seems like it might not work. Although since I haven't used it I'm not one to speak on it.
The one I run is 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SpA with Quiet nature and Shadow Ball/Flash Cannon/Sacred Sword/King's Shield. Basically comes in and starts swinging hard from the get-go, since everyone seems to love switching in physical walls on me. Sacred Sword is for if I predict a Tyranitar switch-in. Lack of Shadow Sneak is a bit troublesome, but tbh without Swords Dance I don't think it'd be worth running. I used to run Air Balloon to give Garchomp and other Earthquakers trouble, but it gets popped so easily I might just run Weakness Policy instead with Dual Screen Magic Bounce Espeon as support.

Also I really feel like I need to re-EV my Talonflame (or at least breed a new one, the one I run has imperfect SpD) because I'm running 4HP/252Atk/252Spe with Adamant because I love getting the surprise KO on enemy Talonflames, but the recoil damage often adds up when I'm against teams with good defensive cores and I often die quickly. I'm not sure what to re-EV it in, though, because like I said it's cool to kill Talonflames with my own.

Edit: also, I believe Sacred Sword only ignores Defense boosts, not Evasion boosts. I think.
 

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