Battle Maison Discussion & Records

I have an ongoing streak with my new team. The team should look pretty familiar to some of you. I'm currently at 1000 wins in Super Singles.

My previous attempt (Sableye/Durant/Smeargle) got me thinking of how to best capitalize on Entrainment. After seeing how good Moody (usually) is, I realized that Acupressure is just mind-bogglingly good. All the boosts of Moody with none of the annoying drawbacks? Yes please. Without further ado, I present Team Plaguarism:


Whimsicott (M) @ Focus Sash (Fluffy Bunny)
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Timid
EVs: 44 HP / 244 Def / 220 Speed
~ Taunt
~ Encore
~ Switcheroo
~ Memento

I needed to choose a nickname that accurately captured the vicious and aggressive powers on my lead; Fluffy Bunny it is! Whimsicott is still amazing. As turskain mentioned, having Switcheroo as an egg move only makes it better. Whimsicott's job isn't just to make sure Durant gets to use Entrainment; it wants to keep Durant as healthy as possible. I don't always do this (for example, using Encore on Nidoking 4's Poison Jab will keep Durant at 100% health, but unless I'm up against a Worker, I usually use Memento instead), but when I know the opponent's team might have Quagsire, I do. Keeping Durant healthy almost never matters, but when you want to win 1000 battles, "almost" isn't good enough. Whimsicott has a lot of cool tricks, and the fact that Drapion can often set up without Truant just by using Memento makes Whimsicott work perfectly with the other two Pokemon. The EVs let it outspeed Thundurus 4 and Tornadus 4 by one point, meaning that Whimsicott always goes first against opponents with +1 priority or less (except, like Floatzel's Aqua Jet, which it never uses). The rest of the EVs maximize his physical bulk, which I actually use fairly regularly. Once it steals Tyrantrum's Choice Band, Tyrantrum actually only has a 6.3% chance to OHKO with Head Smash unless it crits. That lets me use Memento to help preserve Durant's health. Special bulk doesn't help much, because most special attacks have annoying secondary effects and will 2HKO through the Sash anyway (Fire and Ice moves in particular).


Durant (F) @ Choice Scarf (The Bug Life)
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 Speed
~ Entrainment
~ Protect
~ X-Scissor
~ Iron Head

"I didn't choose the bug life; the bug life chose me." -Tupac Shakur (Pixar version)

Durant does what it's always done, but with a twist. Using the Moody team made me realize how helpful it is to keep Durant alive and healthy in case anything goes wrong. Of course, when you use Drapion instead of a Moody sweeper, there's a much smaller set of things that can go wrong, so you know which opponents have them and how to prepare for them. I added Protect to help with PP stalling Umbreon (I think there was something else I've PP stalled, but I don't remember what; maybe Hippowdon 4?). After you give them Truant, you can switch out to Drapion on the loafing turn, then bring Durant back in on the loafing turn and use Protect to waste their attacking PP. I've only done this once and I didn't save the battle video, but I was glad I had it. Entrainment is the whole point of the set; X-Scissor OHKOs Espeon. I used to try to use Taunt against Espeon and only switched in Durant when it was Magic Bounce, but I didn't like both Whimsicott and Durant taking a bunch of damage, so now I just go straight to Durant and use X-Scissor against lead Espeon. I've never used Iron Head; in theory I could replace it with Dig for more PP stalling. In practice, I don't think it will ever matter. As I mentioned with the Moody team, the EVs maximize physical bulk, which is particularly important for Quagsire on this team. But because Durant has crappy HP, maximizing physical bulk also gives a nice boost to special bulk as well. Durant usually survives the Entrainment turn with 50% of its health or more unless it has to take a crit.


Drapion (M) @ Black Sludge (Plaguarism)
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
~ Substitute
~ Protect
~ Acupressure
~ Knock Off

The big boss. Given that this entire team is ripped off of other people's ideas, I thought the name was only fitting. Thanks to GG Unit for reminding me that it gets Knock Off as a level-up move, not a BW2 tutor move, meaning I could use it without jumping through a ton of hoops that would ultimately end up with some imperfect IVs. The Adamant nature and the Attack EVs are crucial. I knew they were important before I started running the team, but I didn't know how essential they were to breaking through Drapion's old "flaws" until I really got into it. With the given spread, Knock Off has a 62.5% chance to OHKO Terrakion, which is awesome. I don't know its exact odds of getting a 2HKO on Cobalion 2, but it's better than 50%, and I've 2HKO'd Cobalion 2 every time it's showed up. Perhaps most importantly, Knock Off will usually 3HKO Quagsire 4 if it doesn't use Curse (three minimum damage rolls falls just 10 HP short of a KO), so if Quagsire 3 spams EQ (which does 62.1% max, but it has to break the Sub first), it will almost always lose. I haven't run the calculations if it does use Curse, but basically, the extra turns you get while it doesn't attack should make up for the reduced damage. Obviously, the reason this works is because Knock Off gets rid of its Leftovers. I've only fought Cobalion 3 once (and it used Iron Head...), but if it DID use Psych Up, hitting it with Knock Off first will get rid of its Lax Incense, meaning you'll still always hit it even after it copies your Evasion boosts.

Knock Off does other cool things too, particularly against Sturdy Pokemon. Donphan 4 can survive a hit with Sturdy and break your Sub, but since you Knock Off its Quick Claw, it doesn't matter at all; just set up another one. Probopass 4 can survive a hit with Sturdy and break your Sub (if the Sub has really low HP, which it sometimes does), but because you Knocked Off its Life Orb, it doesn't kill itself and you can set up another one.

I changed up the strategy depending on the opponent; as I mentioned, I sometimes used Memento and skipped Durant entirely to keep Durant at full health if I knew Drapion would be safe. You need to be careful when doing so, though; if you forget about Spiritomb's Infiltrator and try to set up without using Truant, you'll have a burned (and dead) Drapion, which pretty much means an instant loss for the team.

I originally had the 4 EVs in Speed (which did nothing), but I realized that Mismagius 4 didn't always break my Sub with Power Gem. The extra SpDef brings its odds of breaking the Sub from 9/16 to 7/16, which is nifty. Coincidentally, Skuntank's Fire Blast has the same odds of breaking the Sub, so the EVs are useful there too, since I always bring in Drapion against both of those leads.

Threats: Dropping the 3DS and having the cartridge fall out in the middle of a battle, running out of battery, accidentally selecting the "forfeit" button.

Oh, you wanted real threats? Fiiiine. I'll put most of them behind Hide tags, because I have plenty to say about each one.

Unaware Quagsire:
As I mentioned, Quagsire is one of the few Pokemon who can actually do something about Drapion when it's fully set up. You want to keep Durant as healthy as possible in case you need to switch out and use Entrainment on it again. Fortunately, Quagsire does really poor damage to Durant, so Durant doesn't need much health to do so. It also has an odd tendency to use Amnesia against Drapion, which makes it very easy to KO. I've fought Unaware Quagsire four times in this streak; the one time it DID spam EQ, it was the third Pokemon, meaning Durant could have just come in and taken it out if Drapion has failed to 3HKO. Because my "back-up plan" against Quagsire involves setting up Drapion again, opposing leads that can force me to waste all of Protect's PP (which are really just Pokemon with Taunt) could cause problems. I actually fought a lead Sawk 4 (I used all of my Protect PP setting up against it) followed by a second Pokemon Unaware Quagsire in battle 885, but Drapion 3HKO'd it, so it didn't matter. In theory, I could have lost if the third Pokemon was a Donphan 4 who activated its Quick Claw and hit with Fissure, but that three-Pokemon combination is basically a one in a million chance. I've faced a second or third Pokemon Unaware Quagsire four times in my streak; the biggest problem it ever caused was leaving Drapion without a Sub and at ~1/3 health against a mystery third Pokemon. Quick Claw Donphan is really the only Pokemon who can actually capitalize on that situation.


Cobalion 3:
Cobalion 3 could theoretically be a threat, but as I mentioned, I've only fought it once and the AI was really dumb with it. That said, Drapion has a few options against it. With 252 Adamant, Knock Off actually has a 50% chance of doing 75% damage or more. This means that, in the event that the AI uses Psych Up and I've done 75% damage or more, its only choice is to use Iron Head (because I have a Sub up to block Swagger). If I Protect against its first Iron Head, I can actually completely stall out its Iron Head PP by alternating Sub and Protect (I ran the numbers several times to be sure); Drapion's HP gets too low to make another Sub RIGHT as Cobalion uses its last Iron Head. Then it can't hit you, meaning you can just KO it.


Taunt leads have never been a problem for me. I always give them Truant and I can just use Protect every other turn until I run out. I put up a Sub first, so that gives me 15 turns of Acupressure before they can actually hit me. By then, I have a ton of boosts, and I often have enough Evasion to dodge Taunt and get the rest of my Acupressures (especially because the AI doesn't always use Taunt and will sometimes use weak attacking moves that will either miss or fail to break the Sub). Life Orb leads also aren't a problem, because I manage to start dodging their attacks early enough to finish setting up. Even if I didn't, I could just Protect every other turn once their health gets too low.

High Jump Kick:
This is barely worth mentioning; Medicham and Mienshao will use Fake Out first, so I can use Encore on the next turn, give them Truant, bring in Drapion, and Protect as they KO themselves. If Medicham uses Detect, I just Encore that and go straight to Drapion, setting up a Sub on its last Detect turn. The reason I mention it is because the one truly close call I had was the result of a lead Mienshao. It was battle #91 or something like that (so super early on). It used High Jump Kick on turn 1 instead of Fake Out. I hadn't expected that at all. I used Memento on it and brought in Drapion, letting it KO itself. I was hoping the next Pokemon would be something I could bring in Durant against, but it was Arcanine 4. Fuuuuck. I was forced to try to set up Acupressure while it attacked with Flare Blitz while I had no Sub. I didn't get a boost I wanted and Drapion was down to the red. I used Protect (for no particularly good reason) and it used...EXTREME SPEED. Apparently, a quirk in the AI makes them really like to use Extreme Speed on weakened opponents. Next turn, I switched Durant in on Extreme Speed, used Entrainment, and managed to fully recover and set up Drapion and win.


Explosion is a minor problem, particularly if you don't know the AI lead well enough. Here's how I play against Explosion Pokemon:
Bronzong 3: I've never fought this thing, but I'd probably go to Durant and use Entrainment. If it Explodes on turn 1, good; if not, it will probably use Iron Head or Zen Headbutt; those moves + EQ doesn't even come close to KOing Durant. It will probably use EQ against Drapion and not Explode, so nothing to worry about there. Even if it does, Whimsicott and Durant are still alive.
Carbink 4: Go to Durant and use Entrainment. If it uses Power Gem on turn 1 (which does less to Whimsicott than Moonblast, but it will use it anyway), it will 2HKO Durant. The first two times I fought this thing, it didn't Explode until I was almost fully set up (or didn't Explode at all). The third time, it Exploded early, which led to a very close call (battle video below). So be sure to Protect every other turn against it, or it can break your Sub with Explosion and leave you in a bad spot. Full health Whimsicott and Drapion behind a Sub with few boosts sounds bad, but it's actually pretty good; Drapion can PP stall certain dangerous attacks (or use bait stuff like Overheat) and Whimsicott can Encore EQs to waste their PP before using Memento. It's not super hard to fully set up Drapion against the new switch-in.
Claydol 4: From what I've seen, it will use a different move (typically ZH on turn 1), but it might Explode on turn 2. Encore the first attack, Memento, bring in Durant, Entrainment. Once you bring in Drapion, Claydol will switch to using EQ, so you can set up without problems.
Claydol 2: Taunt, switch to Durant as it kills itself.
Cryogonal 4: It will Explode early. Bring in Durant, Entrainment, set up Drapion until it Explodes. The rest of the team should have plenty of health, so it's easy to switch out and set up again.
Exeggutor 4: Used Trick Room; Encore it, give it Truant, go to Drapion. Whimsicott and Durant are at full health, so if it Explodes against Drapion, you can switch out and set up again.
Ferrothorn 3: Ace Trainer Bunny can have this. I've never fought it. Just use Taunt -> Entrainment. It will probably Explode before too long, but Whimsicott and Durant will be alive, so it doesn't matter.
Forretress 3: Hex Maniac Mara led with this against me once. I predicted it would Explode on turn 1, so I switched to Durant. I was right.
Forretress 4: Taunt (it will use hazards), go to Durant as it KOs itself.
Gigalith 3: Worker Rasmus? See Claydol 4. Super rare.
Golem 3 and 4: See Claydol 4.
Gourgeist 2: Switch to Durant.
Landorus 4: I've actually never fought a lead Landorus 4. I expect it would either use U-Turn or Explosion on turn 1. I would just use Taunt on the first turn; if it uses Hammer Arm or EQ, use Encore, Memento, then see Claydol 4 for the rest.
Lickilicky 4: I've fought this thing as a lead twice. I didn't record what it did the first time; I think it Exploded on turn 1. The second time, it Exploded on turn 1. I just switch to Durant now, expecting it to Explode. If it doesn't, use Entrainment and bring in Drapion; it should prefer EQ to Explosion, but I'm not sure.
Metagross 3: I've never fought this as a lead, but it would actually kind of suck, since you want to Taunt turn 1 against Metagross 4. I would use Taunt, then switch to Durant (it should Bullet Punch on the second turn). After that, it will probably EQ>Explosion on Drapion.
Muk 4: Switch to Durant (it will use Gunk Shot). It will Explode early against Drapion, but it doesn't matter.
Probopass 3: See Claydol 4 (but Whimsicott with faint and you won't be able to Memento).
Regirock 2: See Claydol 4. Clear Body is an asshole, but use Memento anyway (if possible) to avoid the switch-in damage on Durant.
Regirock 4: If Alfie or Eleanor, use Encore turn 1 (wasting a turn). Regirock 4 should use Rock Polish, so Encore that and bring in Durant for free.
Reuniclus 2: Laugh because it sucks. Then Encore its Trick Room and bring in Durant.
Shiftry 3: Taunt, switch to Drapion. Drapion resists its other moves and this Shiftry has no Atk EVs, so Drapion should tank Explosion just fine.
Skuntank 4: Switch to Drapion on the Poison Jab. Set up a Sub (it's slower than Drapion) and just set up on it until it Explodes. Fire Blast is the only move that can break the Sub.


Perish Song
Mismagius and Lapras are the only users. Against Missy, I use Taunt (which could theoretically miss, but hasn't yet), switch to Drapion, and set up a Sub. Then I just Sub+Protect stall until it uses Perish Song and switch in Whimsicott on the last turn. Against Lapras, I use Encore and then spam Switcheroo until it uses Block or Perish Song. If Block, I Encore it until it runs out of PP. Then I spam Switcheroo until it uses Perish Song and use Memento on the last turn of it (try to avoid leaving Lapras with Focus Sash, or it will be able to Perish Song Drapion). If it uses Perish Song, I encore that and switch out on the last turn. This isn't perfect (Body Slam often paralyzes and I could get parahaxed; it might not decide to switch out), but it's worked alright thusfar. The one time it didn't use Perish Song, I just brought in Drapion after Whimsicott fainted, set up until I had to switch out of Perish Song, and had Durant used Entrainment on the next Pokemon. This introduces some risk. I fought a lead Lapras 4 five times in my streak; the only time it caused a potential problem was when it never used Perish Song against Whimsicott. I had to stall with Drapion until it used Perish Song and brought in Durant on the last Perish Song turn. The AI sent out Abomasnow (which is bad, because it has Protect), but it didn't use Protect. Even if it had, Drapion's good against Abomasnow (Aboma has low PP on its moves and wastes turns with Protect).


Breloom 4:
I only fought a lead Breloom 4 once during my streak and it didn't have Poison Heal, but it was still a tremendous pain. If you use Switcheroo, it can get a free Sub; if you use Taunt, it gets Poisoned. If you use Entrainment, it dies to the Poison. I ended up using Taunt on turn 1 (blocking its Sub), using Encore on turn 2 (it did nothing), switched in Drapion (it took like 70% damage from Focus Punch), switched back to Whimsicott hoping it would use a non-attacking move (it used Sub), and Encored the Sub until it died of Poison. Against Poison Heal, I would probably Taunt, Encore (does nothing), Encore the Focus Punch, Memento, Entrainment, go to Drapion and watch it die. At least Drapion would have a Sub and Durant would be at roughly 2/3 health at worst (barring a crit). But yeah, lead Breloom 4 is a really bad opponent to face.


Static: I don't see this as a threat, because nothing except OHKO users can really beat Drapion when it's fully set-up, even if it's paralyzed. OHKO users have to hit twice while Drapion is fully paralyzed both times. I guess Static Zapdos could be a problem if the third Pokemon is a musketeer, but usually the AI will send out the musketeer before they send out Zapdos.

Flame Body: No hide tag for this one, because I think this is what will actually cause me to lose. A burned fully set-up Drapion can beat most Pokemon, but there are a few Pokemon it can't get past, specifically Umbreon 4 (and set 1, but that won't be on a team with a Flame Body Pokemon), Scrafty 4 (the other Scrafty sets won't be on a team with a Flame Body Pokemon), Mandibuzz 4 (unless it has Weak Armor), certain musketeers sets. Umbreon and Scrafty are common partners for Flame Body Pokemon on Punk Guy/Girl sets (except Puck), and, in Scrafty's case, the numerous Fire + Fighting trainers. I have been known to stall out the Fire-type PP of a Pokemon that might have Flame Body (in Rapidash's case, I stalled out Protect as well) so I could bring Durant in and use Entrainment again, just to avoid the possibility of Flame Body. This works fine for Magmortar, is mediocre for Rapidash (it has a lot of PP), sucks against Chandelure (but it's usually on Psychic/Hex Maniac teams anyway, so it doesn't matter), sucks against Volcarona, sucks against Talonflame, and is pretty good against Moltres. Moltres also telegraphs Pressure, so I know immediately if it has Flame Body or not. Heatran is a real problem, especially Heatran 1. Heatran 2 doesn't have too many PP and Heatran 4 has Choice Scarf (so not many PP at all), but Heatran 1 has a ton of PP, will use Earth Power before Lava Plume, and can OHKO a full-health Durant with a crit Earth Power (note that I did once switch in a full health Durant against a Heatran that used Earth Power, risking the crit, but it was Heatran 3 and used Sunny Day on the switch-in turn). Oh, and Heatran 1 has Focus Sash, so it has two chances to burn. That's fine if the next Pokemon is a Regi, a genie, Raikou, Entei, Cresselia, a legendary bird, or Lati@s, but it puts me in a really bad spot against some Suicune sets and most of the musketeers. And because Heatran's Earth Power is so good against Drapion, the AI is likely to send in Heatran before the musketeer. So yeah; I'm placing my bets that, when my team does lose, it will be because of a second Pokemon Heatran (probably Heatran 1) followed by a third Pokemon musketeer.

Here are a couple of battle videos:

The "close call," #607: GFDW-WWWW-WWW8-GRHA: Vs. Battle Girl Rei, Carbink 4, Tyrantrum 4, Throh 4
As I mentioned above, Carbink Exploded WAY earlier than I expected it to, breaking my Sub. Tyrantrum 4 comes in; I know I have to stall it out of Head Smashes and lower its attack to reduce Struggle's damage. I Protect, go to Whimsicott, Memento, Drapion. The miss is really lucky; even at -2, CB Head Smash hits like a truck. I manage to get some boosts and it faints while I still have a Sub. Fortunately, the next opponent is Throh, who burns himself. I stall it out until it has really low health and KO it with +2 Knock Off. Note that, because of the +2, I might have still been able to win without the miss, because +2 Knock Off does between 40 and 50% damage, so I wouldn't have had to stall for too long. Of course, now I know to Protect every other turn against Carbink. If I had had a Sub up against Tyrantrum, I could have stalled out Head Smash, let it weaken itself with Struggle, and KO'd with Knock Off, leaving Whimsicott alive to cripple (or in this case Encore) Throh.


Battle #1000: HYRG-WWWW-WWW8-GRHE: Vs. Worker Rasmus, Dugtrio 1, Hippowdon 2 or 3, Ferrothorn 1
The big battle, and surprisingly, it was something different! Worker Rasmus sent out Dugtrio; its Protect reveals it to be set 1. This is actually somewhat of an annoyance; Dig lets it dodge Entrainment pretty well. Drapion clearly destroys it thanks to Protect blocking Dig, but I'd rather not waste that many Protect PP. I try to Memento, only to learn that the move doesn't faint your Pokemon if you use it on Dig's charge-up turn. I Encore Dig to waste some PP and use Taunt for a while, then take out Dugtrio with Memento (mainly to weaken Reversal on the turn I break Dugtrio's Sash so that it won't break my Sub...if it actually hits). I set up fully and take out Dugtrio (Reversal missed), Hippowdon, and Ferrothorn. I turned on the battle animations on my game just for this battle. Don't do it, guys; Acupressure's animation behind a Sub is SO SLOW. That said, Drapion's Knock Off looks freaking awesome.


Beginning after battle #126, I started recording who each of my opponents were. Because Knock Off reveals the opponent's item, you can usually figure out what set a Pokemon is when Drapion KOs it. So for those who are interested, I recorded some random stats about my opponents:

My most frequent opponents were Pokemon Ranger Tanner (18 battles), Black Belt Wystan and Tourist Ibiza (15 battles each), and Tourist Geneva, Veteran Isabella, and Hex Maniac Mara at 14 battles each. The opponent I battled the least was Veteran Eleanor, at a mere 2 battles in the 875 I recorded.

The most common leads were Chesnaught 4 and Gengar 4 at 10 battles a piece, with Carracosta 4 third at 9 and Victreebel 4 in fourth at 8. I was struck at how low that number was; there really is a huge variety of opponents in the Battle Maison. There were a ton of leads I only faced once, but among set 4 non-legendary Pokemon, I only faced Abomasnow, Ambipom, Breloom, Escavalier, Flygon, Gliscor, Gogoat, Goodra, Hariyama, Kangaskhan, Lilligant, Pinsir, Roserade, Skuntank, Tauros, Unfezant, Vanilluxe, and Yanmega once each. I have faced all four sets of Jolteon, Krookodile, Raikou, Regirock, Registeel, Terrakion, and Zapdos as leads. Krookodile is particularly striking, since Punk Guy Puck is literally the only trainer who can run Krookodile 1, 2, or 3 after battle 40.

Demonstrating the AI's tendency to select whichever of their remaining Pokemon is best (or at least is "good enough" against yours), here are the most frequent second Pokemon I faced, all at 10 battles a piece unless otherwise stated: Carracosta 4 (11), Claydol 4 (9), Dugtrio 4, Electivire 4, Gigalith 4, Hippowdon 4 (11), Jolteon 4, Metagross 4 (9), Muk 4 (9), Nidoking 4, Nidoqueen 4, Poliwrath 4, Skuntank 4, Tyranitar 4, and Tyrantrum 4 (9). That's a ton of Earthquake, but I was particularly surprised by the number of Explosion Pokemon. The AI seems to think that Explosion is the best move ever and will KO anything; I've actually seen the AI send out Carbink 4 (which has base 50 Atk/SpAtk and no super-effective moves on Drapion) ahead of Tyrantrum 4 (is fucking jacked, has EQ and Head Smash), so apparently the AI just thinks Explosion is a really good choice against a fully set-up Drapion.

Similarly, the most common third Pokemon reads like a list of "Pokemon who are awful against Drapion": Barbaracle 4 (10), Bronzong 4 (9), Carracosta 4 (9), Cradily 4 (10), Mienshao 4 (10), Mr. Mime 4 (10), Venusaur 4 (11), and Vileplume 4 (10). The exception to the rule is Carracosta 4, who made all three lists and is apparently just extremely common. It makes sense, though; Battle Girls and Black Belts run Fire/Fighting/Rock, Hikers run Rock/Ground/Fighting, Pokemon Rangers run Water/Grass/Ground, some Beauties and Chefs run Water/Ice, Scientists run fossil Pokemon in addition to their normal types, and Workers run Rock/Ground/Steel. Carracosta can even have Swift Swim, putting in Beauty Claire's team. So many trainers run either Water or Rock that a Water/Rock type is bound to be really common.


I was expecting to break the old record by a huge margin if I got to 1000, so I was really surprised to see StarKO all the way up at 991. It's awesome to know that different kinds of teams can get up to 1000 wins (which StarKO's team definitely can, but it's easier to misplay when you're already at the top of the leaderboard). I'll be playing the Maison on and off; I'll update with my progress periodically. Building up the streak is slow, though; the average battle takes a little over five minutes if I'm paying attention (which I need to be; using Protect when I should have used Sub can lead to a crippling burn that ends my streak).

Good luck, everyone!

EDIT: Got Whimsicott's Speed EVs wrong. They're fixed now.
 
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turskain

activated its Quick Claw!
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Amazing streak! I can definitely see Drapion making 1000 if Quagsire were solved, and I did know that Switcheroo to remove its Leftovers shut it down nicely... but the thought of Max Atk Knock Off never occurred to me (I even had a Max Atk Drapion bred that I initially used for the team, before switching to a max defense one after a close call with Explosion/EQ. Yeah...). Still, Drapion was the single-core sweeper I found most promising in my shitty Durant venture, so at least I got something right.

For Cobalion, I recall max Def Drapion beating it when I met it by virtue of having max Def - though I never met the Psych Up one, that would probably screw up any non-Max Atk Drapion.

50 wins on Durant/Gyarados/Drapion now, though the motivation dropped a bit now since the Durant case has finally been cracked, and in a rather spectacular way. But I'll see if I can get something out of it, at least.
 
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I have an ongoing streak with my new team. The team should look pretty familiar to some of you. I'm currently at 1000 wins in Super Singles.

My previous attempt (Sableye/Durant/Smeargle) got me thinking of how to best capitalize on Entrainment. After seeing how good Moody (usually) is, I realized that Acupressure is just mind-bogglingly good. All the boosts of Moody with none of the annoying drawbacks? Yes please. Without further ado, I present Team Plaguarism:

Whimsicott (M) @ Focus Sash (Fluffy Bunny)
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Timid
EVs: 44 HP / 244 Def / 208 Speed
~ Taunt
~ Encore
~ Switcheroo
~ Memento

I needed to choose a nickname that accurately captured the vicious and aggressive powers on my lead; Fluffy Bunny it is! Whimsicott is still amazing. As turskain mentioned, having Switcheroo as an egg move only makes it better. Whimsicott's job isn't just to make sure Durant gets to use Entrainment; it wants to keep Durant as healthy as possible. I don't always do this (for example, using Encore on Nidoking 4's Poison Jab will keep Durant at 100% health, but unless I'm up against a Worker, I usually use Memento instead), but when I know the opponent's team might have Quagsire, I do. Keeping Durant healthy almost never matters, but when you want to win 1000 battles, "almost" isn't good enough. Whimsicott has a lot of cool tricks, and the fact that Drapion can often set up without Truant just by using Memento makes Whimsicott work perfectly with the other two Pokemon. The EVs let it outspeed Thundurus 4 and Tornadus 4 by one point, meaning that Whimsicott always goes first against opponents with +1 priority or less (except, like Floatzel's Aqua Jet, which it never uses). The rest of the EVs maximize his physical bulk, which I actually use fairly regularly. Once it steals Tyrantrum's Choice Band, Tyrantrum actually only has a 6.3% chance to OHKO with Head Smash unless it crits. That lets me use Memento to help preserve Durant's health. Special bulk doesn't help much, because most special attacks have annoying secondary effects and will 2HKO through the Sash anyway (Fire and Ice moves in particular).

Durant (F) @ Choice Scarf (The Bug Life)
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 Speed
~ Entrainment
~ Protect
~ X-Scissor
~ Iron Head

"I didn't choose the bug life; the bug life chose me." -Tupac Shakur (Pixar version)

Durant does what it's always done, but with a twist. Using the Moody team made me realize how helpful it is to keep Durant alive and healthy in case anything goes wrong. Of course, when you use Drapion instead of a Moody sweeper, there's a much smaller set of things that can go wrong, so you know which opponents have them and how to prepare for them. I added Protect to help with PP stalling Umbreon (I think there was something else I've PP stalled, but I don't remember what; maybe Hippowdon 4?). After you give them Truant, you can switch out to Drapion on the loafing turn, then bring Durant back in on the loafing turn and use Protect to waste their attacking PP. I've only done this once and I didn't save the battle video, but I was glad I had it. Entrainment is the whole point of the set; X-Scissor OHKOs Espeon. I used to try to use Taunt against Espeon and only switched in Durant when it was Magic Bounce, but I didn't like both Whimsicott and Durant taking a bunch of damage, so now I just go straight to Durant and use X-Scissor against lead Espeon. I've never used Iron Head; in theory I could replace it with Dig for more PP stalling. In practice, I don't think it will ever matter. As I mentioned with the Moody team, the EVs maximize physical bulk, which is particularly important for Quagsire on this team. But because Durant has crappy HP, maximizing physical bulk also gives a nice boost to special bulk as well. Durant usually survives the Entrainment turn with 50% of its health or more unless it has to take a crit.

Drapion (M) @ Black Sludge (Plaguarism)
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
~ Substitute
~ Protect
~ Acupressure
~ Knock Off

The big boss. Given that this entire team is ripped off of other people's ideas, I thought the name was only fitting. Thanks to GG Unit for reminding me that it gets Knock Off as a level-up move, not a BW2 tutor move, meaning I could use it without jumping through a ton of hoops that would ultimately end up with some imperfect IVs. The Adamant nature and the Attack EVs are crucial. I knew they were important before I started running the team, but I didn't know how essential they were to breaking through Drapion's old "flaws" until I really got into it. With the given spread, Knock Off has a 62.5% chance to OHKO Terrakion, which is awesome. I don't know its exact odds of getting a 2HKO on Cobalion 2, but it's better than 50%, and I've 2HKO'd Cobalion 2 every time it's showed up. Perhaps most importantly, Knock Off will usually 3HKO Quagsire 4 if it doesn't use Curse (three minimum damage rolls falls just 10 HP short of a KO), so if Quagsire 3 spams EQ (which does 62.1% max, but it has to break the Sub first), it will almost always lose. I haven't run the calculations if it does use Curse, but basically, the extra turns you get while it doesn't attack should make up for the reduced damage. Obviously, the reason this works is because Knock Off gets rid of its Leftovers. I've only fought Cobalion 3 once (and it used Iron Head...), but if it DID use Psych Up, hitting it with Knock Off first will get rid of its Lax Incense, meaning you'll still always hit it even after it copies your Evasion boosts.

Knock Off does other cool things too, particularly against Sturdy Pokemon. Donphan 4 can survive a hit with Sturdy and break your Sub, but since you Knock Off its Quick Claw, it doesn't matter at all; just set up another one. Probopass 4 can survive a hit with Sturdy and break your Sub (if the Sub has really low HP, which it sometimes does), but because you Knocked Off its Life Orb, it doesn't kill itself and you can set up another one.

I changed up the strategy depending on the opponent; as I mentioned, I sometimes used Memento and skipped Durant entirely to keep Durant at full health if I knew Drapion would be safe. You need to be careful when doing so, though; if you forget about Spiritomb's Infiltrator and try to set up without using Truant, you'll have a burned (and dead) Drapion, which pretty much means an instant loss for the team.

I originally had the 4 EVs in Speed (which did nothing), but I realized that Mismagius 4 didn't always break my Sub with Power Gem. The extra SpDef brings its odds of breaking the Sub from 9/16 to 7/16, which is nifty. Coincidentally, Skuntank's Fire Blast has the same odds of breaking the Sub, so the EVs are useful there too, since I always bring in Drapion against both of those leads.

Threats: Dropping the 3DS and having the cartridge fall out in the middle of a battle, running out of battery, accidentally selecting the "forfeit" button.

Oh, you wanted real threats? Fiiiine. I'll put most of them behind Hide tags, because I have plenty to say about each one.

Unaware Quagsire:
As I mentioned, Quagsire is one of the few Pokemon who can actually do something about Drapion when it's fully set up. You want to keep Durant as healthy as possible in case you need to switch out and use Entrainment on it again. Fortunately, Quagsire does really poor damage to Durant, so Durant doesn't need much health to do so. It also has an odd tendency to use Amnesia against Drapion, which makes it very easy to KO. I've fought Unaware Quagsire four times in this streak; the one time it DID spam EQ, it was the third Pokemon, meaning Durant could have just come in and taken it out if Drapion has failed to 3HKO. Because my "back-up plan" against Quagsire involves setting up Drapion again, opposing leads that can force me to waste all of Protect's PP (which are really just Pokemon with Taunt) could cause problems. I actually fought a lead Sawk 4 (I used all of my Protect PP setting up against it) followed by a second Pokemon Unaware Quagsire in battle 885, but Drapion 3HKO'd it, so it didn't matter. In theory, I could have lost if the third Pokemon was a Donphan 4 who activated its Quick Claw and hit with Fissure, but that three-Pokemon combination is basically a one in a million chance.


Cobalion 3:
Cobalion 3 could theoretically be a threat, but as I mentioned, I've only fought it once and the AI was really dumb with it. That said, Drapion has a few options against it. With 252 Adamant, Knock Off actually has a 50% chance of doing 75% damage or more. This means that, in the event that the AI uses Psych Up and I've done 75% damage or more, its only choice is to use Iron Head (because I have a Sub up to block Swagger). If I Protect against its first Iron Head, I can actually completely stall out its Iron Head PP by alternating Sub and Protect (I ran the numbers several times to be sure); Drapion's HP gets too low to make another Sub RIGHT as Cobalion uses its last Iron Head. Then it can't hit you, meaning you can just KO it.


Taunt leads have never been a problem for me. I always give them Truant and I can just use Protect every other turn until I run out. I put up a Sub first, so that gives me 15 turns of Acupressure before they can actually hit me. By then, I have a ton of boosts, and I often have enough Evasion to dodge Taunt and get the rest of my Acupressures (especially because the AI doesn't always use Taunt and will sometimes use weak attacking moves that will either miss or fail to break the Sub). Life Orb leads also aren't a problem, because I manage to start dodging their attacks early enough to finish setting up. Even if I didn't, I could just Protect every other turn once their health gets too low.

High Jump Kick:
This is barely worth mentioning; Medicham and Mienshao will use Fake Out first, so I can use Encore on the next turn, give them Truant, bring in Drapion, and Protect as they KO themselves. If Medicham uses Detect, I just Encore that and go straight to Drapion, setting up a Sub on its last Detect turn. The reason I mention it is because the one truly close call I had was the result of a lead Mienshao. It was battle #91 or something like that (so super early on). It used High Jump Kick on turn 1 instead of Fake Out. I hadn't expected that at all. I used Memento on it and brought in Drapion, letting it KO itself. I was hoping the next Pokemon would be something I could bring in Durant against, but it was Arcanine 4. Fuuuuck. I was forced to try to set up Acupressure while it attacked with Flare Blitz while I had no Sub. I didn't get a boost I wanted and Drapion was down to the red. I used Protect (for no particularly good reason) and it used...EXTREME SPEED. Apparently, a quirk in the AI makes them really like to use Extreme Speed on weakened opponents. Next turn, I switched Durant in on Extreme Speed, used Entrainment, and managed to fully recover and set up Drapion and win.


Explosion is a minor problem, particularly if you don't know the AI lead well enough. Here's how I play against Explosion Pokemon:
Bronzong 3: I've never fought this thing, but I'd probably go to Durant and use Entrainment. If it Explodes on turn 1, good; if not, it will probably use Iron Head or Zen Headbutt; those moves + EQ don't even come close to KOing Durant. It will probably use EQ against Drapion and not Explode, so nothing to worry about there.
Carbink 4: Go to Durant and use Entrainment. If it uses Power Gem on turn 1 (which does less to Whimsicott than Moonblast, but it will use it anyway), it will 2HKO Durant. The first two times I fought this thing, it didn't Explode until I was almost fully set up (or didn't Explode at all). The third time, it Exploded early, which led to a very close call (battle video below). So be sure to Protect every other turn against it, or it can break your Sub with Explosion and leave you in a bad spot. Full health Whimsicott and Drapion behind a Sub with few boosts sounds bad, but it's actually pretty good; Drapion can PP stall certain dangerous attacks (or use bait stuff like Overheat) and Whimsicott can Encore EQs to waste their PP before using Explosion. It's not super hard to fully set up Drapion against the new switch-in.
Claydol 4: From what I've seen, it will ue a different move (typically ZH on turn 1, but it might Explode on turn 2. Encore the first attack, Memento, bring in Durant, Entrainment. Once you bring in Drapion, Claydol will switch to using EQ, so you can set up without problems.
Claydol 2: Taunt, switch to Durant as it kills itself.
Cryogonal 4: It will Explode early. Bring in Durant, Entrainment, set up Drapion until it Explodes. The rest of the team should have plenty of health, so it's easy to switch out and set up again.
Exeggutor 4: Used Trick Room; Encore it, give it Truant, go to Drapion. Whimsicott and Durant are at full health, so if it Explodes against Drapion, you can switch out and set up again.
Ferrothorn 3: Ace Trainer Bunny can have this. I've never fought it. Just use Taunt -> Entrainment. It will probably Explode before too long, but Whimsicott and Durant will be alive, so it doesn't matter.
Forretress 3: Hex Maniac Mara led with this against me once. I predicted it would Explode on turn 1, so I switched to Durant. I was right.
Forretress 4: Taunt (it will use hazards), go to Durant as it KOs itself.
Gigalith 3: Worker Rasmus? See Claydol 4. Super rare.
Golem 3 and 4: See Claydol 4.
Gourgeist 2: Switch to Durant.
Landorus 4: I've actually never fought a lead Landorus 4. I expect it would either use U-Turn or Explosion on turn 1. I would just use Taunt on the first turn; if it uses Hammer Arm or EQ, use Encore, Memento, then see Claydol 4 for the rest.
Lickilicky 4: I've fought this thing as a lead twice. I didn't record what it did the first time; I think it Exploded on turn 1. The second time, it Exploded on turn 1. I just switch to Durant now, expecting it to Explode. If it doesn't, use Entrainment and bring in Drapion; it should prefer EQ to Explosion, but I'm not sure.
Metagross 3: I've never fought this as a lead, but it would actually kind of suck, since you want to Taunt turn 1 against Metagross 4. I would use Taunt, then switch to Durant (it should Bullet Punch). After that, it will probably EQ>Explosion on Drapion.
Muk 4: Switch to Durant (it will use Gunk Shot). It will Explode early against Drapion, but it doesn't matter.
Probopass 3: See Claydol 4 (but Whimsicott with faint and you won't be able to Memento).
Regirock 2: See Claydol 4. Clear Body is an asshole, but use Memento anyway (if possible) to avoid the switch-in damage on Durant.
Regirock 4: If Alfie or Eleanor, use Encore turn 1 (wasting a turn). Regirock 4 should use Rock Polish, so Encore that and bring in Durant for free.
Reuniclus 2: Laugh because it sucks. Then Encore its Trick Room and bring in Durant.
Shiftry 3: Taunt, switch to Drapion. Drapion resists its other moves and this Shiftry has no Atk EVs, so Drapion should tank Explosion just fine.
Skuntank 4: Switch to Drapion on the Poison Jab. Set up a Sub (it's slower than Drapion) and just set up on it until it Explodes. Fire Blast is the only move that can break the Sub.


Perish Song
Mismagius and Lapras are the only users. Against Missy, I use Taunt (which could theoretically miss, but hasn't yet), switch to Drapion, and set up a Sub. Then i Just Sub+Protect stall until it uses Perish Song and switch in Whimsicott on the last turn. Against Lapras, I use Encore and then spam Switcheroo until it uses Block or Perish Song. If Block, I Encore it until it runs out of PP. Then I spam Switcheroo until it uses Perish Song and use Memento on the last turn of it (try to avoid leaving Lapras with Focus Sash, or it will be able to Perish Song Drapion). If it uses Perish Song, I encore that and switch out on the last turn. This isn't perfect (Body Slam often paralyzes and I could get parahaxed; it might not decide to switch out), but it's worked alright thusfar. The one time it didn't use Perish Song, I just brought in Drapion after Whimsicott fainted, set up until I had to switch out of Perish Song, and had Durant used Entrainment on the next Pokemon. This introduces some risk.


Breloom 4:
I only fought a lead Breloom 4 once during my streak and it didn't have Poison Heal, but it was still a tremendous pain. If you use Switcheroo, it can get a free Sub; if you use Taunt, it gets Poisoned. If you use Entrainment, it dies to the Poison. I ended up using Taunt on turn 1 (blocking its Sub), using Encore on turn 2 (it did nothing), switched in Drapion (it took like 70% damage from Focus Punch), switched back to Whimsicott hoping it would use a non-attacking move (it used Sub), and Encored the Sub until it died of Poison. Against Poison Heal, I would probably Taun, Encore (does nothing), Encore the Focus Punch, Memento, Entrainment, go to Drapion and watch it die. At least Drapion would have a sub and Durant would be at roughly 2/3 health at worst (barring a crit). But yeah, lead Breloom 4 is a really bad opponent to face.


Static: I don't see this as a threat, because nothing except OHKO users can really beat Drapion when it's fully set-up, even if it's paralyzed. OHKO users have to hit twice while Drapion is fully paralyzed both times. I guess Static Zapdos could be a problem if the third Pokemon is a musketeer, but usually the AI will send out the musketeer before they send out Zapdos.

Flame Body: No hide tag for this one, because I think this is what will actually cause me to lose. A burned fully set-up Drapion can beat most Pokemon, but there are a few Pokemon it can't get past, specifically Umbreon 4 (and set 1, but that won't be on a team with a Flame Body Pokemon), Scrafty 4 (the other Scrafty sets won't be on a team with a Flame Body Pokemon), Mandibuzz 4 (unless it has Weak Armor), certain musketeers sets. Umbreon and Scrafty are common partners for Flame Body Pokemon on Punk Guy/Girl sets (except Puck), and, in Scrafty's case, the numerous Fire + Fighting trainers. I have been known to stall out the Fire-type PP of a Pokemon that might have Flame Body (in Rapidash's case, I stalled out Protect as well) so I could bring Durant in and use Entrainment again, just to avoid the possibility of Flame Body. This works fine for Magmortar, is mediocre for Rapidash (it has a lot of PP), sucks against Chandelure (but it's usually on Psychic/Hex Maniac teams anyway, so it doesn't matter), sucks against Volcarona, sucks against Talonflame, and is pretty good against Moltres. Moltres also telegraphs Pressure, so I know immediately if it has Flame Body or not. Heatran is a real problem, especially Heatran 1. Heatran 2 doesn't have too many PP and Heatran 4 has Choice Scarf (so not many PP at all), but Heatran 1 has a ton of PP, will use Earth Power before Lava Plume, and can OHKO a full-health Durant with a crit Earth Power (note that I did once switch in a full health Durant against a Heatran that used Earth Power, risking the crit, but it was Heatran 3 and used Sunny Day on the switch-in turn). Oh, and Heatran 1 has Focus Sash, so it has two chances to burn. That's fine if the next Pokemon is a Regi, a genie, Raikou, Entei, Cresselia, a legendary bird, or Lati@s, but it puts me in a really bad spot against some Suicune sets and most of the musketeers. And because Heatran's Earth Power is so good against Drapion, the AI is likely to send in Heatran before the musketeer. So yeah; I'm placing my bets that, when my team does lose, it will be because of a second Pokemon Heatran (probably Heatran 1) followed by a third Pokemon musketeer.

Here are a couple of battle videos:

The "close call," #607: GFDW-WWWW-WWW8-GRHA: Vs. Battle Girl Rei, Carbink 4, Tyrantrum 4, Throh 4
As I mentioned above, Carbink Exploded WAY earlier than I expected it to, breaking my Sub. Tyrantrum 4 comes in; I know I have to stall it out of Head Smashes and lower its attack to reduce Struggle's damage. I Protect, go to Whimsicott, Memento, Drapion. The miss is really lucky; even at -2, CB Head Smash hits like a truck. I manage to get some boosts and it faints while I still have a Sub. Fortunately, the next opponent is Throh, who burns himself. I stall it out until it has really low health and KO it with +2 Knock Off. Note that, because of the +2, I might have still been able to win without the miss, because +2 Knock Off does between 40 and 50% damage, so I wouldn't have had to stall for too long. Of course, now I know to Protect every other turn against Carbink. If I had had a Sub up against Tyrantrum, I could have stalled out Head Smash, let it weaken itself with Struggle, and KO'd with Knock Off, leaving Whimsicott alive to cripple (or in this case Encore) Throh.


Battle #1000: HYRG-WWWW-WWW8-GRHE: Vs. Worker Rasmus, Dugtrio 1, Hippowdon 2 or 3, Ferrothorn 1
The big battle, and surprisingly, it was something different! Worker Rasmus sent out Dugtrio; its Protect reveals it to be set 1. This is actually somewhat of an annoyance; Dig lets it dodge Entrainment pretty well. Drapion clearly destroys it thanks to Protect blocking Dig, but I'd rather not waste that many Protect PP. I try to Memento, only to learn that the move doesn't faint your Pokemon if you use it on Dig's charge-up turn. I Encore Dig to waste some PP and use Taunt for a while, then take out Dugtrio with Memento (mainly to weaken Reversal on the turn I break Dugtrio's Sash so that it won't break my Sub...if it actually hits). I set up fully and take out Dugtrio (Reversal missed), Hippowdon, and Ferrothorn. I turned on the battle animations on my game just for this battle. Don't do it, guys; Acupressure's animation behind a Sub is SO SLOW. That said, Drapion's Knock Off looks freaking awesome.


Beginning after battle #126, I started recording who each of my opponents were. Because Knock Off reveals the opponent's item, you can usually figure out what set a Pokemon is when Drapion KOs it. So for those who are interested, I recorded some random stats about my opponents:

My most frequent opponents were Pokemon Ranger Tanner (18 battles), Black Belt Wystan and Tourist Ibiza (15 battles each), and Tourist Geneva, Veteran Isabella, and Hex Maniac Mara at 14 battles each. The opponent I battled the least was Veteran Eleanor, at a mere 2 battles in the 875 I recorded.

The most common leads were Chesnaught 4 and Gengar 4 at 10 battles a piece, with Carracosta 4 third at 9 and Victreebel 4 in fourth at 8. I was struck at how low that number was; there really is a huge variety of opponents in the Battle Maison. There were a ton of leads I only faced once, but among set 4 non-legendary Pokemon, I only faced Abomasnow, Ambipom, Breloom, Escavalier, Flygon, Gliscor, Gogoat, Goodra, Hariyama, Kangaskhan, Lilligant, Pinsir, Roserade, Skuntank, Tauros, Unfezant, Vanilluxe, and Yanmega once each. I have faced all four sets of Jolteon, Krookodile, Raikou, Regirock, Registeel, Terrakion, and Zapdos as leads. Krookodile is particularly striking, since Punk Guy Puck is literally the only trainer who can run Krookodile 1, 2, or 3 after battle 40.

Demonstrating the AI's tendency to select whichever of their remaining Pokemon is best (or at least is "good enough" against yours, here are the most frequent second Pokemon I faced, all at 10 battles a piece unless otherwise stated: Carracosta 4 (11), Claydol 4 (9), Dugtrio 4, Electivire 4, Gigalith 4, Hippowdon 4 (11), Jolteon 4, Metagross 4 (9), Muk 4 (9), Nidoking 4, Nidoqueen 4, Poliwrath 4, Skuntank 4, Tyranitar 4, and Tyrantrum 4 (9). That's a ton of Earthquake, but I was particularly surprised by the number of Explosion Pokemon. The AI seems to think that Explosion is the best move ever and will KO anything; I've actually seen the AI send out Carbink 4 (which has base 50 Atk/SpAtk and no super-effective moves on Drapion) ahead of Tyrantrum 4 (is fucking jacked, has EQ and Head Smash), so apparently the AI just thinks Explosion is a really good choice against a fully set-up Drapion.

Similarly, the most common third Pokemon reads like a list of "pokemon who are awful against Drapion": Barbaracle 4 (10), Bronzong 4 (9), Carracosta 4 (9), Cradily 4 (10), Mienshao 4 (10), Mr. Mime 4 (10), Venusaur 4 (11), and Vileplume 4 (10). The exception to the rule is Carracosta 4, who made all three lists and is apparently just extremely common. It makes sense, though; Battle Girls and Black Belts run Fire/Fighting/Rock, Hikers run Rock/Ground/Fighting, Pokemon Rangers run Water/Grass/Ground, some Beauties and Chefs run Water/Ice, and Workers run Rock/Ground/Steel. Carracosta can even have Swift Swim, putting in Beauty Claire's team. So many trainers run either Water or Rock. That a Water/Rock type is bound to be really common.


I was expecting to break the old record by a huge margin if I got to 1000, so I was really surprised to see StarKO all the way up at 991. It's awesome to know that different kinds of teams can get up to 1000 wins (which StarKO's team definitely can, but it's easier to misplay when you're already at the top of the leaderboard). I'll be playing the Maison on and off; I'll update with my progress periodically. Building up the streak is slow, though; the average battle takes a little over five minutes if I'm paying attention (which I need to be; using Protect when I should have used Sub can lead to a crippling burn that ends my streak).

Good luck, everyone!
Haha, damn. Looking at your recent posts, I thought you might be on to something with a new team, but I didn't expect this so soon. Congrats dude! I think it's doubly impressive to get to 1000 with a slow strategy because it requires so many more hours of avoiding a crucial misplay. Now to 2000! :P

Kinda more bummed that I lost my streak now :( lol it would've been fun to directly compete for the top spot for a while.. but yeah I can say for the time being I won't be trying again. I can barely do 5 battles in a row without getting bored to death at this point and when that happens it's impossible to keep constant concentration. Also, I actually think my team punched above its weight a bit getting 991. I know everything about it by now and along the way I found a number of potential opposing teams that it loses to (with reasonable amounts of hax against me).

Grats again, time to go check out the vids.
 
Haha, damn. Looking at your recent posts, I thought you might be on to something with a new team, but I didn't expect this so soon. Congrats dude! I think it's doubly impressive to get to 1000 with a slow strategy because it requires so many more hours of avoiding a crucial misplay. Now to 2000! :P

Kinda more bummed that I lost my streak now :( lol it would've been fun to directly compete for the top spot for a while.. but yeah I can say for the time being I won't be trying again. I can barely do 5 battles in a row without getting bored to death at this point and when that happens it's impossible to keep constant concentration. Also, I actually think my team punched above its weight a bit getting 991. I know everything about it by now and along the way I found a number of potential opposing teams that it loses to (with reasonable amounts of hax against me).

Grats again, time to go check out the vids.
I definitely understand being bummed about losing your spot; I was riding high at 881 wins when you posted your streak! I kinda freaked about going from having the top spot by over 200 wins (in my mind) to possibly losing both the shot at 1000 AND the top spot. But Drapion is super reliable and, quite honestly, super easy to use. I frequently play while I'm on the phone or on the train, because many battles are just autopilot at this point. It's just the fact that the autopilot involves "keep Durant healthy" rather than "sacrifice everything to get Drapion in against a Truant opponent" that makes the team consistent.

I'm the kind of person who can tolerate doing the same thing over and over again pretty well, but even I found the battles getting pretty boring sometimes. I'd think your team would be a bit more exciting, but when you've won over 1500 battles, I can imagine even a more "diverse" team would get dull. At this point, I'll probably just play when I'm on the train (I have some long flights coming up next week, so I'll probably play there too). I'd love to see just how high this team can go, but it's hard to justify putting in multiple hours a day when I'm already at 1000 and there's no "cool benchmarks" closely ahead of me. Of course, now I'll have to come up with something else to do in my free time :P
 
Made it to 101 wins now in Super Doubles. Feel like I am punching way above my weight. But Beartic is still putting in the work in battle after battle. May even be able to challenge some of the other records in Doubles. Most battles have been smooth though there was one where Mega-Gyarados had to kill 3 Pokes by itself.

More or less, so far so good. :)
 
Wow, awesome streaks, StarKO and VaporeonIce! Congratulations! Someday I will be as good as you two, haha.
About my Triples streak, it's currently paused at 328 wins, because I want to get the other trophies first. I'm at 29 wins in Rotations now, and going very well. The screens/set-up strategy is really effective!
 
I just hit win 50 for the 2nd time and feel set for a deep run in Super Doubles. And I'm cleaning house, have only been threatened once. Maybe I can crack the list. Here's what I'm wielding:

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpA
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Perish Song
-Protect

Beartic @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Def
-Icicle Crash
-Brick Break
-Rock Slide
-Shadow Claw

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate (Mold Breaker)
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 SpD
-Waterfall
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance

Raikou @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Rash
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spd, 4 HP
-Thunder
-Weather Ball
-Aura Sphere
-Extremespeed

Basically, get the rain going and exploit it to win. Beartic bashes through many with a STAB Icicle Crash with a Choice Band plus can net KOs on other Pokes with her other moves. Just about everything she faces is either OHKOed or 2HKOed. With rain and Swift Swim, 9 times out of 10 she is the fastest Poke on the field.

Gyarados is usually my final win condition and I decide whether to Mega-Evolve or not depending on what's on the field. The Intimidate works nicely against physical threats.

Raikou is from a HG/SS event and is practically designed to function in the rain, let alone any weather with its Weather Ball move. Ground types can't beat Raikou unless they outrun it.

Edit: Took out Beartic's Aqua Jet and replaced with Brick Break.
Well I had one hell of a run. 134 wins in Super Double Battles. I'll have to go back and see what happened, but I know I played it bad. Here's the video as proof.

VTEG-WWWW-WWW8-HVEF

If anything, what I loved about this run was being able to show off the sheer, sheer power of a Choice Banded Swift Swim Beartic. A good chunk of the time, one Poke was taken down once per turn. Like 'Seek and Destroy'.
 
Well I had one hell of a run. 134 wins in Super Double Battles. I'll have to go back and see what happened, but I know I played it bad. Here's the video as proof.

VTEG-WWWW-WWW8-HVEF

If anything, what I loved about this run was being able to show off the sheer, sheer power of a Choice Banded Swift Swim Beartic. A good chunk of the time, one Poke was taken down once per turn. Like 'Seek and Destroy'.
You probably underestimated Volcarona's bulk; at 252 HP/252 Def with a Bold nature, it's insanely bulky, while Quiver Dance and Hurricane make it dangerous. If you had targeted Volcarona with Politoed, it would have fainted. Then you probably would have been up against Bouffalant and Weavile, which isn't very good either, because Weavile probably would have used Fake Out on Beartic. You could've switched out Beartic for Gyarados for the Intimidate on both mons, making them easier to handle, but it would likely still take a fair amount of damage from Bouffalant's attack. Beartic could have come in later and done some good damage to Weavile or Bouffalant with Brick Break, especially if you'd had Politoed break Weavile's Sash. I'm not 100% sure you would have won, but it seems like it would have given you decent odds.

When I played Doubles, I learned to have my slower Pokemon target a big threat on the opponent's team, even if I were 100% sure my faster Pokemon would KO it (as long as that threat didn't have Protect). That way, if the faster Pokemon (in this case, Beartic) gets the KO on the big threat, the slower Pokemon switches to the other target anyway. But if the faster Pokemon fails for whatever reason, you still manage to take out the big threat with your slower Pokemon.

Good job anyway! It's cool to see Beartic doing some damage :)
 
You probably underestimated Volcarona's bulk; at 252 HP/252 Def with a Bold nature, it's insanely bulky, while Quiver Dance and Hurricane make it dangerous. If you had targeted Volcarona with Politoed, it would have fainted. Then you probably would have been up against Bouffalant and Weavile, which isn't very good either, because Weavile probably would have used Fake Out on Beartic. You could've switched out Beartic for Gyarados for the Intimidate on both mons, making them easier to handle, but it would likely still take a fair amount of damage from Bouffalant's attack. Beartic could have come in later and done some good damage to Weavile or Bouffalant with Brick Break, especially if you'd had Politoed break Weavile's Sash. I'm not 100% sure you would have won, but it seems like it would have given you decent odds.

When I played Doubles, I learned to have my slower Pokemon target a big threat on the opponent's team, even if I were 100% sure my faster Pokemon would KO it (as long as that threat didn't have Protect). That way, if the faster Pokemon (in this case, Beartic) gets the KO on the big threat, the slower Pokemon switches to the other target anyway. But if the faster Pokemon fails for whatever reason, you still manage to take out the big threat with your slower Pokemon.

Good job anyway! It's cool to see Beartic doing some damage :)
I did my share of double targeting with Politoed and Beartic. Gave me fits when the target used Protect though. :)

I'm fairly sure I panicked when Volcarona tanked my attack. I was honestly expecting a kill and assumed I would lose Beartic to Bouffalant on the ensuing attack and then bring in Gyarados. But that didn't happen and I found myself behind the 8-ball.

And once again, I'm gonna be happy to see Beartic get a mention on the Super Doubles leader board.
 
Good job, JGTheGamer! Too bad your streak ended like that, I know your team can go even further!
On another note, I got my Super Rotations trophy!:D
Battle #50: CGEG-WWWW-WWW8-HVV9
Now, I only need the Super Multis Trophy!
I have an AI partner with Latios3 and Hydreigon3, and I'm going with my Gyarados and Gliscor:)
 

McMeghan

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Big Chungus Winner
Replayed some Maison to get the Starf Berry, which I've got thanks to a 200 win streak in Super Singles.



I might try to keep playing just to see how far the team can go. I almost lost at trainer >195 because of a damned Confuse Ray/Double Team Regigigas.

This is what I used:

@ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua-Jet
- Superpower
- Play Rough

@ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpDef / 92 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Thief
- Roost

@ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake

A really solid and enjoyable team. Scizor was the MVP all along and pretty much won all the games by itself. The bulk really helped to set-up and tank some strong hits like a Head Smash from CB Tyrantrum. It could get to +6 all the time and then sweep. Now that I think about it, I'm glad I haven't faced a Curse Unaware Quagsire because it has the ability to destroy me.
 
A little update on the Slacking/Gardevoir team in Triples: Up to 56 wins on my second run; switched out Iron head for Sword Dance on the Garchomp, since it's a bit more accurate than Rock slide. So far, so good...
 
I'm trying to get the last Super Masion trophy for Multi, and I'm at my wit's end. I don't have very many good AI options to choose from. The best I have leads with Hydreigon 3 (Timid White Herb w/ Draco Meteor, Flamethrower, Earth Power, and Taunt) with Volcarona3 (Bold Sitrus Berry w/ Protect, Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz, and Overheat.)

I feel like it has the capability to work, but the AI is so so very unreliable, especially with Taunt. Draco Meteor is good to KO quite a bit and put a dent in everything else. Later game, Hydreigon keeps on spamming Draco Meteor and can quickly weaken.

First, I tried a basic support Mega-Kangaskhan with Fake Out, Return, Earthquake, and Sucker Punch with Azumarril backup. The plan was to Fake Out a threat, let Hydreigon deal with the other, and then clean up. This got me to 37 before some terrible AI combined with Kanga's inability to deal with both Pokemon at once did me in.

Then I tried Mega-Lucario, but I realized that it doesn't outspeed Hydreigon before the mega-evolve, so Hydreigon frequently targets the same Pokemon, leaving the remaining Pokemon fully healthy to kill Luke. I tried using Starmie to support the rear, but even with Life Orb it wasn't hitting hard enough.

What I want is either something which can reliably outspeed Hydreigon and reliably KO most foes with coverage, or something with a good spread attack. I was thinking maybe Garchomp would be a good teammate, but then I have a double weakness to ice and fairy (and I look like a fool when Earthquake does ~2/3 to both and Hydreigon uses Taunt).

Any ideas?
 
LO Metagross with Bullet Punch/Protect/Explosion/coverage and Mega Gyarados with DD/Waterfall/Return/Protect in the back for Intimidate support? Maybe a Sash Gengar with Destiny Bond and Sludge Bomb.

Otherwise I'd say that Mega-Kanga is good enough that you could just keep plugging away with the same team and eventually get the matchups/luck you need to reach 50 - you only need it once for the trophy!
 
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Well I got the triples trophy, so that's two down. Not gonna post because it's pretty blatantly copying ~Mercury~'s 2000 streak team (with a minor moveset edit here and there). Was surprised on how many Veteren (i.e. all legendary) trainers I ran into before the Chatelaine fight, four in a row at one point.

Oddly, they were a bit easier than the others because they insisted on spamming electrical attacks at Gyarados and Talonflame, despite Manectric and lightningrod just chilling there. Ended up spamming Overheat back at them with essentially no drawback because of this.

Final thoughts on Triples: while the longest to play, I also think it is one of the more fun ones. 6 on 6 really cuts the randomness and "wrecking ball strategy"* down. Might go back and go for the 100/200 berries after beating the others.

*wrecking ball strategy: one where if you don't shut it down early it becomes impossible later. Like not taunting the boosting 'mon.
 
me again.
this time Im with a friend, doing multi battles! we actually never lost sorta... we lost connection in the middle of battle 109..
so, we dont have a battle video.. and we never bothered to save a video during the streak. so, yeah we are out of proof except the attached pic showing our max streaks. I have posted my 120 rotation and 458 battles, as well as all trophies, so obviously I have the pokemon and maison experience to do this.. other than that, I'm not sure how to prove. (actually here is my double battle loss at 72 with a gardevoir over charizard, since it isnt good non-mega qeuw-wwww-www8-jz3r )

anyway, here's our team. (all pokes provided by me)
Friend:
Greninja @ focus sash, protean, timid 252spatk 252 speed
- dark pulse, extrasensory, ice beam, mat block
kangaskhan @ kangaskanite, scrappy -> parental bond, jolly, 252 atk 252 spe
- fake out, giga impact, crunch, power up punch
me:
Azumarill @ sitrus berry, huge power, adamant 252 hp 252 atk
- aqua jet, superpower, play rough, belly drum
charizard @ charizardite Y, blaze -> drought, timid 252 spatk 252 spe
- heat wave, solarbeam, air slash, ancientpower

So here's a bit on strategy and what we learned.
mat block/ belly drum first turn 99% of the time. dactyl and jolteon always hit sashed ninja, and could be taken out with aqua jet next turn.
actually, almost everything would attack greninja over azumarill since the AI saw it as an easier kill or something. was really nice since the team revolves around azumarill. so once ninja dies, kanga comes out and fake out whichever azumarill cant aqua jet that turn. charizard was a good backup for azumarill since it could take out grass, steel, and water types easily.

problems: storm drain (gastrodon, cradily) gave us a little trouble, but both were slow and could be killed with superpower/play rough. water absorb wasn't as much of a problem since it doesn't attract all water attacks. trick room teams with the fairly slow azumarill, as well as the aqua jet, were actually pretty fun to deal with. (mostly because i'm used to a tailwinded triples team vs trick room, which is not so fun)
 

Attachments

So, my Super Doubles winning streak that had me so pround met it's end at early 317. Reason: misplay. On that last turn, I should've used drain punch on Crawitzer instead of Weavile, since it was going to KO and Weavile couldn't do much to Conkeldurr but oh well.

Proof: CRMW-WWWW-WWW8-KHBS

Team:


Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature (It used to have U-turn)
- Mat Block
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Water Shuriken

Aron (M) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 0
Bashful Nature
- Endeavor
- Protect
- Toxic
- Iron Head

Conkeldurr (M) @ Assault Best
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Aerial Ice
- Sucker Punch
- Power-Up Punch

Now to keep my on going 101 winning streak at Rotation
 
I just had an 30 Battle Streak on my first attempt on the Battle Manison Super Multi Battle (with A.I.):

I had:

Blaziken@Blazikenite, Adamant, Speed Boost
(not flawless, was the one from event)
4/252/0/0/0/252
Protect
Hone Claws (I like the priority on HJK)
High Jump Kick
Flare Blitz

Greninja@Life Orb, Timid, Protean
31/x/31/31/31/31
4/0/0/252/0/252
Surf
Ice Beam
Dark Pulse
Grass Knot

My A.I.-allies team, which I think is kinda good:

Alakazam@Wise Glasses, Magic Guard (Y U NO Life Orb)
130/63/65/187/115/189 (guess it's timid then)
Psychic
Focus Blast
Signal Beam
Grass Knot (which he never used, not even when I played vs Quagsire + Swampert...)

Sucune@Leftovers, Water Absorb
207/85/183/135/105
Surf
Blizzard
Calm Mind
Protect



Any tips on how to improve my team to get those precious 50? I have to admit that Blaziken and Greninja were not a planned team just the things I had trained already and I thought would fit. But Blaziken + Suicune-Surf = not good combo. Mega-Blaziken has a hard time to set up a single boost.
Greninja gets 2HKOed by unboosted surfs of Suicune as well and 3HKOed when it has water type. Not the best at all.

I was thinking about a Roost/DD-Dragonite as a lead and probably something like sp-defensive Water Absorb - Jellicient so Suicune and Jellicent can abuse each other's Water Absorb with Surf. I'd might train some other Water Absorb Pokémon as well.

What do you think of my partner's team?

Any other suggestions how to improve my team are welcome.
 

cant say

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I just had an 30 Battle Streak on my first attempt on the Battle Manison Super Multi Battle (with A.I.):

I had:

Blaziken@Blazikenite, Adamant, Speed Boost
(not flawless, was the one from event)
4/252/0/0/0/252
Protect
Hone Claws (I like the priority on HJK)
High Jump Kick
Flare Blitz

Greninja@Life Orb, Timid, Protean
31/x/31/31/31/31
4/0/0/252/0/252
Surf
Ice Beam
Dark Pulse
Grass Knot

My A.I.-allies team, which I think is kinda good:

Alakazam@Wise Glasses, Magic Guard (Y U NO Life Orb)
130/63/65/187/115/189 (guess it's timid then)
Psychic
Focus Blast
Signal Beam
Grass Knot (which he never used, not even when I played vs Quagsire + Swampert...)

Sucune@Leftovers, Water Absorb
207/85/183/135/105
Surf
Blizzard
Calm Mind
Protect



Any tips on how to improve my team to get those precious 50? I have to admit that Blaziken and Greninja were not a planned team just the things I had trained already and I thought would fit. But Blaziken + Suicune-Surf = not good combo. Mega-Blaziken has a hard time to set up a single boost.
Greninja gets 2HKOed by unboosted surfs of Suicune as well and 3HKOed when it has water type. Not the best at all.

I was thinking about a Roost/DD-Dragonite as a lead and probably something like sp-defensive Water Absorb - Jellicient so Suicune and Jellicent can abuse each other's Water Absorb with Surf. I'd might train some other Water Absorb Pokémon as well.

What do you think of my partner's team?

Any other suggestions how to improve my team are welcome.
Did your partner tend to use Focus Blast or Blizzard much? The accuracy of those moves could be annoying. I kinda like Ferrothorn as a lead here, it can set up Gravity to help with that + improves Power Whip's accuracy. Alakazam can also deal with the fighting types that threaten Ferro, and Suicune will get rid of any fire types in the back (lead fire types will be annoying). He also takes nothing from Suicune's Surf (especially with the special defence spread). Maybe something like this:

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Relaxed / Sassy
252 HP / 252 def or Sdef (depending on nature, can be tinkered with to get great mixed bulk too)
- Protect
- Gravity
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

As for your own backup, it sounds like Suicune's Surf could be annoying, especially if it gets a Calm Mind or two in. The easiest way to stop it would be with your own Water Absorb / Dry Skin 'mon but most of those will leave you with a big grass weakness in the back. Dry Skin Toxicroak or Helioptile could work, Helio also gets Surf which can help heal Suicune if needed, they are both really frail though so even if Suicune isn't hurting them they are probably still gonna die pretty quick anyway. I think you should probably go with a 4x resist instead, something like Ludicolo or Kingdra and give them an Absorb Bulb. What I'm thinking..

Ludicolo @ Absorb Bulb
Ability: Swift Swim
Timid
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed
- Fake Out
- Giga Drain
- Surf
- Ice Beam / Rain Dance / Protect

Kingdra @ Absorb Bulb
Ability: Swift Swim / Sniper
Timid
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam / Signal Beam / Flash Cannon
- Rain Dance / Protect

This is a kinda tricky AI team to work around as Suicune threatens it's own team mates and can have untimely misses with Blizzard, and Alakazam is pretty frail. Hopefully you can get it to work, good luck!
 
My A.I.-allies team, which I think is kinda good:

Alakazam@Wise Glasses, Magic Guard (Y U NO Life Orb)
130/63/65/187/115/189 (guess it's timid then)
Psychic
Focus Blast
Signal Beam
Grass Knot (which he never used, not even when I played vs Quagsire + Swampert...)

Sucune@Leftovers, Water Absorb
207/85/183/135/105
Surf
Blizzard
Calm Mind
Protect
Mega Kangaskhan is easy mode on its own, but would be even better with Alakazam killing Fighting types. Fake Out, Sucker Punch, Power-up Punch, and Return and have Scrappy so you can use Fake Out on Ghosts that are obviously going to target your partner. Greninja would still be good in the back not only for Speed and restoring Suicune's health, but also because it will draw Grass/Electric moves away from Suicune, which you can abuse by using Grass Knot to survive the now-resisted hits.
 

Lumari

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Hi guys, I've got a new question :) can anybody tell me if each AI pokemon has a set ability, or is the ability randomly determined every time you face it?
I've swapped out Zapdos for Taunt Talonflame on my triples team on the utility attacker position, as extra insurance against Trick Room. It's working out pretty well (now at 130, just defeated a team that probably had SIX trick room setters), but I find it pretty risky to Taunt Slowbro/Slowking, for pretty ob(li)vious reasons. Thus, it would be pretty reassuring to know for sure that I cannot Taunt Slowbro4 (dies to Grass Knot+Earthquake anyway, so it can be handled) and that I can Taunt Slowking4 (survives that combo :p don't think I've faced Slowking1 yet, I have faced Aromatisse4 in the stupid battle against the 6 setters but then the opponent was down to her last 3 whereas I still had five or six so I figured it would be better to just attack it and kill as much as possible, I had enough left to win even in TR). I always thought the abilities were not preset (judging by the rather large amount of non-Poison Heal Toxic Orb Breloom I faced, figured the AI would not be so stupid as to give a Toxic Orb to a Breloom of which they knew it had Effect Spore) and because the document in the OP didn't list any abilities (although that could also be because those are usually hard to determine anyway). Now I really need to know for sure though, because I don't want to lose at 199 after trying to Taunt an Oblivious Slowking.

Wait, come to think of it, iirc it wasn't Slowbro4 that I failed to Taunt but just some non-TR Slowbro. W/e, just need to know the abilities for Slowbro4 (not the most necessary because I can handle it without taunting), Slowking1/4, and Aromatisse4 (if those are preset ofc. Slowbro3, Aroma3 and the other Slowking would be nice too).
Edit: wait a minute, in the battle against the six I faced Slowking1, and I THINK I faced Slowking4 a couple of battles later (iirc, that team had Meganium4, and Slowking didn't have a Sitrus Berry. Didn't save that one though :\ ). In any case, succesfully taunted them both :p
 
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turskain

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Hi guys, I've got a new question :) can anybody tell me if each AI pokemon has a set ability, or is the ability randomly determined every time you face it?
I've swapped out Zapdos for Taunt Talonflame on my triples team on the utility attacker position, as extra insurance against Trick Room. It's working out pretty well (now at 130, just defeated a team that probably had SIX trick room setters), but I find it pretty risky to Taunt Slowbro/Slowking, for pretty ob(li)vious reasons. Thus, it would be pretty reassuring to know for sure that I cannot Taunt Slowbro4 (dies to Grass Knot+Earthquake anyway, so it can be handled) and that I can Taunt Slowking4 (survives that combo :p don't think I've faced Slowking1 yet, I have faced Aromatisse4 in the stupid battle against the 6 setters but then the opponent was down to her last 3 whereas I still had five or six so I figured it would be better to just attack it and kill as much as possible, I had enough left to win even in TR). I always thought the abilities were not preset (judging by the rather large amount of non-Poison Heal Toxic Orb Breloom I faced, figured the AI would not be so stupid as to give a Toxic Orb to a Breloom of which they knew it had Effect Spore) and because the document in the OP didn't list any abilities (although that could also be because those are usually hard to determine anyway). Now I really need to know for sure though, because I don't want to lose at 199 after trying to Taunt an Oblivious Slowking.

Wait, come to think of it, iirc it wasn't Slowbro4 that I failed to Taunt but just some non-TR Slowbro. W/e, just need to know the abilities for Slowbro4 (not the most necessary because I can handle it without taunting), Slowking1/4, and Aromatisse4 (if those are preset ofc. Slowbro3, Aroma3 and the other Slowking would be nice too).
AI Pokémon Abilities are random with all Hidden Abilities available, even unreleased ones like Water Absorb Suicune and Snow Warning Aurorus. Aroma Veil Aromatisse could be an even larger threat than Oblivious Slowking/Slowbro, as it protects the entire enemy field in Triples if Mara sends it out.
 

Lumari

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AI Pokémon Abilities are random with all Hidden Abilities available, even unreleased ones like Water Absorb Suicune and Snow Warning Aurorus. Aroma Veil Aromatisse could be an even larger threat than Oblivious Slowking/Slowbro, as it protects the entire enemy field in Triples if Mara sends it out.
So if I were to face the exact same teams another time, both Slowkings just might be Oblivious? That stinks :\ oh well, at least I can handle stuff like Cresselia and Dusknoir without any trouble now, and it's not exactly possible to fit a reliable mold breaker taunt tailwind setter on my team :p
 
Okay everyone, I've been attempting to get a long singles streak for a while now, but I always feel my team isn't built right. So if someone who is a good team builder in this kind of metagame(I think its a metagame of its own) PM so we could work on a team?

Have lots of pokemon at my disposal, don't know how they fit together
 

Lumari

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Alright, I'm back (again :s) to resolve what's hopefully the final issue of my triples team. I just lost somewhere in the 160s in a rather strange battle against a lot of surprisingly bulky legendaries, which featured more untimely misses than usual (and some weird AI predictions, e.g. Latios who attacked Rotom rather than Blaziken), the most untimely miss of which was at the end: Blaziken went 1 on 1 against Suicune, who was in Sky Uppercut's KO range (maybe even in Flare Blitz's :..( I just didn't wanna risk it because it really wasn't that clear), missed SU, causing me to lose. I think this team really should be able to win the Starf Berry; the Trick Room problem has been solved as much as possible by adding Taunt Talonflame, the remaining issue is that I tend to rely on moves with imperfect accuracy a little too much.

I can think up two changes to remedy this:
-Greninja: Scald (or Dark Pulse?) over Hydro Pump. Problem is, I already surrendered some firepower when swapping out Zapdos for Talonflame (didn't matter at the time because Talon is 'only' the utility attacker), but that means I shouldn't be neglecting Greninja's and Mamo's power, which I feel I would be doing if I were to take out Hydro Pump. On the other hand, I've found I'm using Hydro Pump not that much anymore because I can now use Grass Knot on Rock types, and if I just need a reliable STAB I usually go with Ice Beam. I really need a Water-type move to hit Fire-types though because they resist both Ice Beam and GK. Maaaybe Dark Pulse could also work, offensively it wouldn't matter I guess but I think a Water-type move is better because it screws Fire-types over defensively as well (because Protean).
-Blaziken: Low Kick over Sky Uppercut. It's getting really annoying that Blaziken has only one perfectly accurate move (Flare Blitz), so I think SU just doesn't cut it anymore. I didn't consider Low Kick at first at all because I thought it was unreliable (using GK on Greninja has convinced me otherwise) and because I thought it was a tutor move -.- I'm a lot less reluctant to making this change (only thing is it would require me to breed a new Torchic), because it hits most stuff for 80BP or more (i.e. neglegibly weaker or clearly stronger than SU).
The only problem here is, I don't know for sure if there are any relevant targets where Low Kick is too weak. So far I've only noticed Blissey (60BP, which is annoying but I've also got Talon's Taunt and Gross's Hammer Arm), but I don't know if there are more.

This would leave me with the following inaccurate STABs: Mamo's Icicle Crash (unremediable), Rotom's Hydro Pump (unremediable), and Metagross's Meteor Mash (same), as well as some coverage moves. That SHOULD work, because Mamo and Rotom have more spammable STABs (Earthquake and T'bolt) and Metagross's job is more not dying than actually killing stuff lol (aside from applying some pressure with EQ and sniping some stuff with BP).

For reference, this is the team in its current form, should be pretty clear how it works:


Greninja @ Lum Berry
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/19/19/31/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Mat Block
-Hydro Pump -> Scald/Dark Pulse?
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot



Bob (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/nobody cares/31/31
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 60 Spe
-Brave Bird
-Tailwind
-Taunt
-Protect


Manny (Mamoswine) @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Naive
IVs: 1/31/17/31/31/31
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Icicle Crash
-Freeze-Dry
-Ice Shard



Blaziken @ Blazikenite
Ability: Speed Boost -> Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/27/13/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Sky Uppercut -> Low Kick?
-Rock Slide
-Protect


Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/10/18/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Hammer Arm
-Bullet Punch



Rotom-W @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
IVs: 31/15/31/31/11/31
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 240 SpA / 8 SpD
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Will-O-Wisp
-Protect


tl;dr: need advise over power vs. accuracy in order to reach the consistency necessary for 200 wins, because it's a tad frustrating getting close again but seeing it slipping through my fingers because I gave the RNG a little too much room. Halp.
If anybody could help me with these two small issues, I'd really appreciate it ^.^
 
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