Battle Maison Discussion & Records

[turskain]

cocomunga, very nice Infernape set. It looks very interesting - with its speed and HP Ice it can even beat the dreaded Garchomp4 every time, and do well against a lot of stuff. I kinda want one myself now, too. I think your streak definitely qualifies for #17 due to the Infernape lead with the "extra slots for interesting teams and write-ups" rule.

Cool teams on everyone else as well. I abandoned the Durant/Gyarados/Drapion quest in favor of pursuing other modes, and am currently building a Rotations streak (at 120 wins right now) with a cute 4-sweeper team.

 

[VaporeonIce]

sb879 I don't care if your triples team only got 55 wins when there's an ongoing streak of 2000. The fact that you used an Eviolite Clefairy (and used dual Boomburst as your main strategy) is amazing. Also, I had to look up what Symbiosis actually does, so your Doubles team is also amazing. Funny that the first thing I thought when viewing the team was "Flame Body Chandelure/Heatran weakness"; it's nice to know that, after several thousand battles in the Maison, I've developed SOME intuition (or just have a mortal fear of Flame Body).

cocomunga a +2 Mega Kangaskhan isn't a very good set-up against Veterans. They can only run 20 different species of Pokemon, so the odds of them having Terrakion/Cobalion/Virizion as one of their remaining two Pokemon are pretty high. There's also the risk of Flame Body Moltres or Static Zapdos, who have a good chance of hitting Khan with status (especially since Khan will usually have to hit them twice to KO). I was able to make it work some of the time with my 543 team simply because Khan would often escape with no damage (thanks to Yawn) and I could dodge status with Safeguard, but most of the time it worked was because Aegislash destroys most Pokemon a Veteran can run. Cobalion and Virizion can't touch Aegislash, and Aegislash can switch in on Terrakion's Fighting move and force it out (if it has Choice Scarf) or set up one Swords Dance and KO with Sacred Sword. But when I had the choice (which I often did), I preferred to set up Aegislash against Veterans rather than setting up Mega Kangaskhan. Unfortunately, Garchomp has problems against Veterans too (outsped by most musketeers, most Thundurus/Tornadus, many Lati@s, can't KO Articuno or Regice without setting up or, in this case, even if it has set up), making it hard for it to cover all the potential bad match-ups created by an Infernape lead + Mega Khan back-up (such as lead Lati@s, Flame Body Moltres 1 with Tailwind, Tornadus 1, Articuno 2 (survives Flamethrower, uses Sheer Cold, uses Ice Shard; you risk Sheer Cold if you try to set up Garchomp or Khan)).

I'm glad you made it as far as you did; well done!

Mulan15262 The problem with that strategy is that it's screwed if you run into something that OHKOs Drapion (which is rare, but possible) or any grounded Poison-type. I was going to recommend putting Red Card on Drapion so it would force out anything, even Pokemon that KO it (does Red Card work that way?), but ultimately, the Poison-type problem is still there. Anything with Mold Breaker also instantly KOs Aron. You'd need a Pokemon that can deal with both of those problems reliably, as well as taking out any Ghost, Steel, and Poison-types. Drapion itself is fairly good against Ghosts and the Hex Maniac teams that have so many of them, but even with Earthquake, it doesn't want to be going face-to-face with Excadrill and Nidoking. Even reliable mega-sweepers like Mega Kangaskhan, Dragonite, and Suicune can't handle EVERYTHING your first two Pokemon can't (Suicune doesn't like Grass/Poison or Mold Breaker Haxorus/Sawk/Druddigon; Dragonite doesn't like Haxorus either; Mega Khan doesn't like Cofagrigus and doesn't want to switch into a Life Orb Excadrill EQ and Sawk might decide to use Close Combat on Aron, which would be even worse). I think this is a really cool idea, but ultimately, I think it just has too many holes to beat the wide range of threats that can stop the strategy. If I had to pick a third Pokemon, I'd start with Suicune (it's pretty good against most Poison types and Drapion should be able to handle Gengar, though it might die to Destiny Bond doing so).

 

[Alphanex20]

Alright, I need help with the multi battles, I have 4 trophies and this multi one has been trolling me for MONTHS now. Does anyone have any idea which AI sets are useable? (Do not say the Typholsion, I have collected plenty of Friend Codes and have not gotten a partner with it). So far all I know is that they will always go for the kill no matter what and if they have a choiced poke they will always lead with it. Beyond that I know nothing...

 

[Lumari]

Alright, I need help with the multi battles, I have 4 trophies and this multi one has been trolling me for MONTHS now. Does anyone have any idea which AI sets are useable? (Do not say the Typholsion, I have collected plenty of Friend Codes and have not gotten a partner with it). So far all I know is that they will always go for the kill no matter what and if they have a choiced poke they will always lead with it. Beyond that I know nothing...

Uh not too much experience with those myself (just gonna win it with a friend in a couple of weeks I hope, if we ever get round to it, only did the regulars with AI), but from what I've heard, the best partners are pokemon that simply use four attacking moves, because they can't screw up with unnecessary use of status moves etc. (Crobat, Scizor, Porygon-Z, etc. Serebii has a list of all movesets of the AI partners). Then it is best to use Fake Out support yourself, and Fake Out the opponent your partner is most likely not gonna attack. The main thing was, try to support the AI rather than try to have them support you.
My best least bad AI partner has LO all-out attacking Scizor and Specs Slowking, I used Reuniclus and Scrafty to give them TR support and the regular battles were easy. This team could probably pull some weight in the supers (by that I mean, get to the mid-20s/early 30s or so), maaaybe it could also get to 50 if I were to use better partners myself :p but there are much better partners available, i.e. faster and not choiced.

Somebody else can probably give you some more specific advice, but this was the generalised gist of the information mentioned in this thread so far.

 

[GG Unit]

Th

For my Singles Maison team, I am trying to do a Drapion/Aron/something team where Drapion lays down Toxic Spikes and roars out the foe, and then Aron sweeps the AIs team. If Aron encounters a Steel, Poison, or Ghost type, or somehow gets KOed, switch to the last pokemon and defeat it.

Which pokemon would work best in the last spot, and what EVs should I give Drapion?

The main problem's gonna be that there's a ton of stuff immune to Toxic Spikes (don't forget Flying/Levitate/Lum Berry) and no one Pokemon's gonna be able to handle that diverse an array.

 

[cocomunga]

cocomunga, very nice Infernape set. It looks very interesting - with its speed and HP Ice it can even beat the dreaded Garchomp4 every time, and do well against a lot of stuff. I kinda want one myself now, too. I think your streak definitely qualifies for #17 due to the Infernape lead with the "extra slots for interesting teams and write-ups" rule.

Thank you. That Infernape was a great asset. The only problem with him is if he is up against something faster, uses special attacks, and he can't KO even with Blaze. Water Type leads usually mean switch, or sacrifice him to do two Flamethrowers. Physical water types can be Countered. Counter is very useful on him. I did press my luck a little bit with trying to Counter Waterfall a few times. His greatest moment was Countering a Fissure from a Whiscash, lol. If you use him, have something that can switch into Special Water attacks, and Psychic. That was my team's main flaw. They also led with Jolteon a lot. First switching to Garchomp worked. Then they started using Fake Tears on the turn I switched, and then Hyper Beam. I had to switch again to avoid a KO. Mega Kangaskhan usually took this opportunity to Power-Up Punch, and then sweep.

 

[NoCheese]

I started a super triples streak last night using a supposedly Specs Pixilate Hyper Voice Sylveon

Having just realized I haven't yet RNGed the hidden ability Eevee given out in Castelia City in my copy of Black 2, this sounds like something very fun to play around with. Pity it's forced male though, which means I've only got one chance to get it right if I want it to have Hyper Voice (a tutor move unavailable in X/Y). Accordingly, I'm interested in your choice of nature. Standard Modest (presumably with Mat Block support) for maximum firepower, or Timid to outrun more stuff? My gut tells me that Modest is correct, but I figure I might as well hear your views before locking in.

And while less important (since EVs are easy to fix), have you maxed Speed, or are you playing a more bulky Specs set like OU Specs Sylveon?

 

[Lumari]

(Alright, please ignore the overload of enthusiasm, long-windedness and strange emotions in this post. I still can't really believe I've done this, so I'm in a slightly odd mood.)

Holy guacamole this was unexpected. As some of you might have noticed, during the past time I've been trying to win the Starf Berry in Triples. To recap, my original team of Greninja / Zapdos / Mamoswine / Mega Blaziken / Rotom-W / Metagross reached 166 on a good run, where I didn't run into much Trick Room, its main weakness. After losing to TR Cresselia, I wanted to try again, but I realised I was very lucky to have run into so little TR and that this weakness needed patching if I really wanted to get to 200. Therefore, I swapped out Zapdos for Taunt Talonflame and taught Greninja Grass Knot over Extrasensory in order to patch up my newly gained water weakness. This did give me a much better fighting chance against TR (including easily beating Hex Maniac Mara and her six setters), but eventually I lost in the early 160s, courtesy of my overload of low accuracy moves. This in turn I patched up by teaching Greninja Dark Pulse over Hydro Pump and Blaziken Low Kick over Sky Uppercut (seriously, if only I had known this was an egg move, I never would have bothered with SU), but alas, again I lost in the early 160s in a battle where everything simply didn't work out, no strange hax involved or anything. I then realised I had promised myself not to make the Starf Berry an explicit goal (what it was starting to look like) and that I simply wanted to see what my team's limit was (losing three times in a row in the 160s ought to ring a bell in this regard). Therefore, I decided to abandon triples and only continue that one streak I still had remaining, just to see how far I could get, no restarting. Then, oddly, instead of winning the Starf Berry with a well-polished team in an easy format I thought I had somewhat figured out, I won it in the hardest (not counting multi) format of all, on my first run, using a team I had thrown together on gut instinct, still without any idea as to what I was doing.
Posting a 214 win streak in Super Rotations.

muh four gladiators

Anubis (Lucario) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus -> Adaptability
Nature: Timid
IVs: 15/13/31/31/23/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Nasty Plot
-Aura Sphere
-Flash Cannon
-Dark Pulse

When building this team, I knew basically nothing about Rotations, so I just winged it and went with literally everything I did know, which was 'setup sweepers rule' and 'screens work'. As my first setup sweeper, I chose a Pokemon that I really, really like and wanted to give some time in the limelight as well, but can't use on WiFi in good conscience: special Mega Lucario. Adaptability and 140 SpAtk makes him hit so hard at +2 that it's not even funny. He is, however, quite frail, but this is mitigated by the screens; for instance, he can set up on Terrakion's unboosted Sacred Sword, and by extension even weak/non-STAB super effective attacks. Aura Sphere and Flash Cannon are STABs, Dark Pulse is the only coverage move one should consider (aside from Vacuum Wave), as super effective coverage moves hit exactly as hard as neutral STABs, courtesy of Adaptability. Therefore, one should only consider a coverage move that's super effective against opponents that resist both STABs, such as Starmie, Slowbro, and Delphox. Too bad this thing doesn't get Power Gem.

Mittens (Meowstic-M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
IVs: 31/31/31/11/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SpD
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Safeguard
-Thunder Wave

As I was going to build a screens team, I needed a screener of course. Naturally, Prankster screeners are extremely reliable, so I chose this cute kitty. I know everybody and their mother use Klefki for this role, but I hate that thing. Fortunately, Klefki has terrible defensive synergy with Luke, so I could use that as a more credible excuse (their bulk is pretty much the same also, and Klefki's much better defensive typing is offset by this terrible defensive synergy, so there was no reason not to run Mittens ^.^) The screens are obvious, just make my entire team much more bulky for eight whopping turns. I also ran Safeguard in order to ignore stuff like Swagger Mandibuzz and parafusion Regigigas, and I ran Thunder Wave in the last slot because I had nothing better to do anyway. During my streak, I realised I could also have run something situational like Trick for giving back choice items (I bred in Trick for lulz, so I could have retaught it easily) or Sunny Day for shitting on opposing weather teams, but w/e, TW proved useful on a rare occasion too.

Glaedr (Dragonite) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/18/31/31
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw
-Extreme Speed
-Earthquake

I had my special sweeper in Luke, so now I needed a physical sweeper. For this role, I looked no further than Dragonite. I really like him and he just happens to be one of the most reliable Maison mons altogether, so he was an easy pick. Multiscale, screens, and good natural bulk make him quite hard to break through with neutral/unboosted hits, and he hits very hard after one DD (or two, if I was facing Aerodactyl or Jolteon and might just as well set up a second because I get outrun with one DD anyway). DClaw and Earthquake have excellent neutral coverage together, and ESpeed came in handy as a panic button when finishing off really fast foes/quick claw users and when under Trick Room.

Tingle (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Nature: Bold
IVs: 31/26/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
-Moonblast
-Flamethrower
-Calm Mind
-Moonlight

This thing. Oh my Azelf, this thing. After deciding on my starting lineup, I needed a good glue Pokemon as backup. I figured the main weakness of my team was the four/five turns of setup I needed, which would obviously allow my opponent to set up as well. What better way to counter this than using a Pokemon that simply doesn't give a fuck about their boosts? Unaware Clefable is just absolutely amazing. With screen support, he's almost impossible to break, boosts in the face of everything that doesn't carry Toxic or Swagger, getting harder and harder to break, getting stronger and stronger, while there's absolutely nothing the opponent can do to keep up. He doesn't have nearly as much immediate power as Anubis or Glaedr, but allows almost everything to use him as a punching bag while he keeps on setting up and reaching enormous bulk and power, and simply never dies. This is simply one of those things that work in theory, but exceed all expectations in practice. The moveset should be self-explanatory. Calm Mind is the obligatory boosting move, Moonlight gives Clefable even more longevity, Moonblast is STAB, and Flamethrower is coverage, leaving Clefable only walled by Fire-types, which he can simply boost against. In hindsight, Stored Power might have been better, but when I first bred this Clefable, it was for wifi singles, and the Clefable analysis considered Flamethrower to be the superior coverage move then, for reasons I agreed with, so ya.

In battle, I usually just set up the required screens, also Safeguard if necessary, boosted, and swept. As for the details, I usually just go with the lowest-risk move. I.e. if there are two electric-types and one Flying-type on the opposing team, I'd click Dragon Claw rather than Earthquake. If there's a Darmanitan on the opposing team, I'd hold off on setting up with Luke until Darmanitan is dead. In case of bad matchups, of course I was sometimes forced to make riskier plays or skip setting up (e.g. the mono-Ground replay). I never tried predicting the opponent's rotations, I only did this a few times in the first few battles and failed so horribly I decided it was less dangerous to just spam the lowest-risk move. (For instance, there's no reason to assume the AI will take your current active pokemon in account, as every pokemon in game is potentially active next turn - when trying to predict, there's just nothing to go with.) For all my other teams I stole certain pokemon from others (e.g. Cloyster in singles, a Greninja/Mega Blaze lead in doubles, stolen from some youtuber) - this is the only team where I came up with every pokemon myself, and apparently it worked. This team was not only good, but also really fun to play with, and, not unimportantly, uses Pokemon that I like (well, Clefable is kind of creepy, but he's earned my respect). Karen would be so proud :p

There were still many ways I could conceive in which this team could lose. Crits are of course the main weakness of a screens team, but basically, any disruptive strategy could work. Mittens could be Taunted or Encored or Tricked a Choice item (all of which happened at some point, you may have read my post in Stupid things the AI has done), Luke or Glaedr could be Encored or (in Glaedr's case) Tricked, all of which have happened as well, or Clefable could get Toxiced, or I could get beaten by Heatran, who threatens the fuck out of Luke and stonewalls Clefable. I managed to play around all disruptive strategies; in the end though, it was just good old crits that brought me down. I was facing a team with Carracosta, Tyranitar, and Banded Aerodactyl. I set up muh screenz and then proceeded to set up with Luke because I find it risky to set up with Dragonite against banded Aerodactyl, for obvious reasons. Upon setting up, Carracosta took half Luke's health with Earthquake, then Tyranitar (which was sashed???) took down Luke completely. Then Aerodactyl took down Clefable with a crit + a non-crit Stone Edge, and critted Dragonite as well, leaving only Mittens and forcing me to forfeit. Stone Edge critted three times in this battle. Mathematically not that unlikely in 214 battles I suppose. I'm a bit sad it had to end in such a non-heroic way, but it could have been far more cruel. This could have been battle 200. Plus, I'm totally fine with this streak; I'm really, really proud of it actually, as I also would have been fine with losing at 53; when I created this team I thought 'meh, mid-30s, early 40s tops, then I'll just ask the internet for advice'. Two more wins would've been nice though ^.^ Still, it's kind of crazy. When I first came to this place, I would have been happy to win one trophy. Just one. Now I'm only the seventh person here to break 200 wins in rotations (yeah, I know, officially, and nobody cares about rotations, etc. The statistic still sounds cool :p). I already hit 200 two days ago, so I have been able to let it sink in, but still. Damn. All that's left is the multi trophy, then I've completely beaten this place. Hopefully I won't need much longer to bully a friend into teaming up with me.

Seriously guys, how do you do it? It's just so nerve-wracking. You're just playing, hoping the AI doesn't outrotate you, you're getting further and further, you're surpassing one guy after another on the leaderboards, you're getting closer and closer to 200, but you're just not allowed to think about that damn berry because that'll only lead you to choke. And if you lose prematurely, you've just lost twenty hours of life. And I've only reached 214. That's far from 2000 or 1000 or even 500. Good luck to all of you guys, now I've really felt something of that pressure myself :]

I have lots of replays and a warstory.

scrapbook

Yes these are probably very bad, but as I said, idek what I'm doing. Don't ask me to predict one rotation, not even one. I just set up screens and boosted from there, obviously not taking any more risks than necessary though.
50: Z9PG-WWWW-WWW7-HNG3 Vs. Morgan, obviously. Luke would have swept viciously if that Terrakion didn't set up, now it got a liiittle more convoluted :p
100: HV8W-WWWW-WWW8-PYGV Just here for being no.100 obviously, but still featured some of the more nasty disruptive tactics I've encountered.
105: UMRG-WWWW-WWW8-PYGE Mittens (!) delivering the final blow. Once in a lifetime.
110: 3YFG-WWWW-WWW8-PYSK What kind of opponents are problematic for a Dragonite/Lucario lead? Mono-Ground ft. Mamoswine, of course. Fortunately, the AI helped and Clefable was once again heroic.
131: ET7G-WWWW-WWW8-PYSG Vs. Hex Maniac Mara. Three TR setters AND a Brick Breaker. Fuck me, right?
165: F9FW-WWWW-WWW8-PY9Y Sometimes, in an unfortunate matchup, it's best to be opportunistic with something that's just gonna be dead weight anyway otherwise. Whether there are two or three super effective opponents, Luke is not gonna be able to safely set up, so it's better to just wing it; if setting up succeeds, hurrah for that, if it fails, Clefable gets in, who can handle these opponents far better anyway.
189: YCFW-WWWW-WWW8-ZCBC I totally should have lost this one.
200: 22WG-WWWW-WWW8-PY8U No. 200, nothing special except for the nerves.
215: 4ZQG-WWWW-WWW8-PHUQ rip

added bonus

Alright, so I'm just gonna tell a little story about what was easily the closest battle in this streak, considering the OP states warstories are appreciated and I figured I might as well try to entertain you if you're reading this wall of text. I suck as a narrator though.
Getting unnervingly close to the daunting benchmark of 200 wins, I ran into a Veteran. That could be bad news, and judging by her lineup, it was indeed. Virizion, Heatran, Regice. If only this were singles, my team would eat those alive, but unfortunately it doesn't work this way. Regice threatens the fuck out of Dragonite, Virizion and Heatran threaten the fuck out of Lucario, and Heatran stonewalls Clefable. Like it or not, I'm gonna have to take some risks here. In this case, that would involve setting up with Dragonite and praying Regice doesn't attack him, as Dragonite is more bulky than Luke and less threatened by this lineup anyway. First things first though, I start with Mittens and click Light Screen. Virizion rotates in and uses... Taunt. Damn. Guess that means no Reflect for me. Just gonna have to make the most of these eight turns of Light Screen, and maybe Mittens will make some nice death fodder later in the match. Anyway, so Dragonite rotates in, uses Dragon Dance after taking Virizion's Sacred Sword to the face, doing little damage but breaking Multiscale. Knowing very well my first priority is to get rid of that damn Heatran, I click Earthquake, only to see Regice rotate in and kill Dragonite through Light Screen. Apparently that thing can get strong if you really want it to. In comes Clefable, and I'm in some kind of predicament already. I know very well Clefable will have to get to +5 or +6 before even thinking of defeating that Heatran, but he also desperately requires some SpDef boosts, because Light Screen won't last forever and he has to be able to tank those Flash Cannons. I set up three Calm Minds, and I take a Flash Cannon to the face, which does very manageable damage. So I figure it's time to test the waters and throw out a Moonblast. In rotates Regice once again, takes solid damage from Moonblast, and uses... Toxic. At this point, it's basically over. Clefable's been put on a timer and will never be able to boost enough to muscle through Heatran, and Lucario faces two opponents that can and probably will OHKO him, one of which even outspeeds his base forme. If only Mittens hadn't been Taunted, then I would have clicked Safeguard a long time ago. In any case, leave Clefable in and I will suffer a slow and painful loss. Switch in Lucario and I will either lose faster or maaaybe pull of some miraculous escape. So I click 'rotate', 'mega evolve' and 'nasty plot'. I see Virizion rotate in, bow my head in defeat... and thank Azelf, it uses Leaf Blade. Still standing guys, but we're gonna need some more miracles, as Luke doesn't OHKO Virizion at +2, and I don't know her fourth Pokemon's identity. I cross my fingers, click 'aura sphere', and see Regice fall to the ground in agony. Totally deserved it, nobody mocks muh Clefable. Still, Heatran's around so Clefable can't do anything. The fourth Pokemon reveals herself to be Cresselia. Well, damn. The thing doesn't hit too hard, but it's not like Luke can take much either. Anyway, Heatran must die before Clefable can even dream of doing something in this game. I click Aura Sphere again, hope Virizion stays away, and fortunately Heatran chose to walk straight to its death. Alright, so now there are two opponents remaining that are manageable for Lucario, but only if they're somewhat dented. That means, rotate in Clefable, spam Moonblast and hope you actually hurt stuff. I rotate in Clefable, in rotates Cresselia, who uses... Double Team. This is seriously the best thing that could happen at this point, as this means it's Cresselia2, who cannot touch Luke at all and is cleanly 2HKOed by +6 Aura Sphere. Virizion then takes the second Moonblast, and falls, unable to stomach the +3 ball of light. Lucario easily finishes the job, and I really have to sit down and let this sink in, before continuing this streak. Never give up, never surrender, and if you do give up, as I did, don't act on it. Fantina sucks but at least she's from Sinnoh so that's cool. I mean, so is Lucario.

Random facts:
-First team to reach to Rotations leaderboards with Mega Lucario. First team to reach the leaderboards altogether with Meowstic-M (fuck Keys imo) or Clefable.
-This was this team's only run.
-Outside of the final battle, Clefable never died in this run.

Of course, I will report again when I get the multi trophy. (Just gonna use my doubles team that got to 105, I also did a test run to Evelyn keeping the couples Greninja/Garchomp and Blaziken/Rotom separate, thereby simulating the restrictions of multi battles. It just should work.) Right now though I've got absolutely nothing left to accomplish here. I'm just gonna look forward to something relaxing like the hopeful return of the battle factory in ORAS ^.^

 

[VaporeonIce]

The Dutch Plumberjack , awesome job! Meowstic-M is boss. I totally went through the same experience regarding the emotions of leaderboard climbing in my first big streak, but at least that was Singles, so I had a lot of control over the outcome. But yes, you can get VERY tense and anxious as you approach your goals. I've had less of that feeling since I've had more good streaks, but it can definitely still be there. I think I was somewhat less nervous with my Rotations streak because I already had a huge Singles streak (and the Starf Berry) and my original goal was just to get the trophy. Even if I lost, I felt like getting as many wins as I did with Pokemon who hadn't successfully been used before in Rotations was a pretty solid consolation prize. That said, I certainly got more nervous whenever I got close to passing another player on the leaderboard, especially when there was a big gap between the previous player and the one I was approaching. For me, what worked best was reminding myself that I would lose at some point, and that I was pretty awesome for getting as far as I had (even when that was "just" 200 wins in Singles or like, 100 wins in Rotations) with a team of my own design.

I loved the warstory. Sometimes it really pays to never give up unless there's absolutely NOTHING you can do. My Rotations team had a battle that came down to Chansey vs. Walrein 4. I should have been completely fucked; Walrein can Rest off Seismic Toss damage and get more PP for its OHKO moves by using Sleep Talk at the same time. But I kept spamming Seismic Toss; Walrein missed every single time and, for some insane reason, never used Rest, allowing me to win the battle. I think I mentioned elsewhere that I won a battle that came down to my Gliscor vs. the AI's Gengar even though Gliscor can't hit Gengar. My Togekiss/MegaKhan/Aegislash team once came down to a Zapdos 2 that required me getting a three-turn sleep with Yawn, hitting it with Shadow Sneak through +2 Evasion AND Bright Powder, and having the AI's second and third Pokemon be ones that I could beat with Aegislash, and all of those things actually happened. Battles when your odds of losing are so high that you've basically accepted it, but then you come back to win anyway, are the best. Some say that you don't "deserve" those wins, but I think that you do, especially if you continue to think strategically and create the best odds for yourself possible despite the clearly awful situation. In the last example I gave, I needed to realize that winning was possible (if unlikely) and that my odds were best if I relied on Zapdos staying asleep for three turns. Bad situations often cause people to panic and make misplays (or make even more misplays if they already made some); improving your odds by playing as well as possible always deserves some credit, even if it could (or "should") have turned out worse.

 

[Lumari]

The Dutch Plumberjack , awesome job! Meowstic-M is boss. I totally went through the same experience regarding the emotions of leaderboard climbing in my first big streak, but at least that was Singles, so I had a lot of control over the outcome. But yes, you can get VERY tense and anxious as you approach your goals. I've had less of that feeling since I've had more good streaks, but it can definitely still be there. I think I was somewhat less nervous with my Rotations streak because I already had a huge Singles streak (and the Starf Berry) and my original goal was just to get the trophy. Even if I lost, I felt like getting as many wins as I did with Pokemon who hadn't successfully been used before in Rotations was a pretty solid consolation prize. That said, I certainly got more nervous whenever I got close to passing another player on the leaderboard, especially when there was a big gap between the previous player and the one I was approaching. For me, what worked best was reminding myself that I would lose at some point, and that I was pretty awesome for getting as far as I had (even when that was "just" 200 wins in Singles or like, 100 wins in Rotations) with a team of my own design.

I loved the warstory. Sometimes it really pays to never give up unless there's absolutely NOTHING you can do. My Rotations team had a battle that came down to Chansey vs. Walrein 4. I should have been completely fucked; Walrein can Rest off Seismic Toss damage and get more PP for its OHKO moves by using Sleep Talk at the same time. But I kept spamming Seismic Toss; Walrein missed every single time and, for some insane reason, never used Rest, allowing me to win the battle. I think I mentioned elsewhere that I won a battle that came down to my Gliscor vs. the AI's Gengar even though Gliscor can't hit Gengar. My Togekiss/MegaKhan/Aegislash team once came down to a Zapdos 2 that required me getting a three-turn sleep with Yawn, hitting it with Shadow Sneak through +2 Evasion AND Bright Powder, and having the AI's second and third Pokemon be ones that I could beat with Aegislash, and all of those things actually happened. Battles when your odds of losing are so high that you've basically accepted it, but then you come back to win anyway, are the best. Some say that you don't "deserve" those wins, but I think that you do, especially if you continue to think strategically and create the best odds for yourself possible despite the clearly awful situation. In the last example I gave, I needed to realize that winning was possible (if unlikely) and that my odds were best if I relied on Zapdos staying asleep for three turns. Bad situations often cause people to panic and make misplays (or make even more misplays if they already made some); improving your odds by playing as well as possible always deserves some credit, even if it could (or "should") have turned out worse.

Yeah, I remember you posting some of those. It's even more nervewracking having to stall for so many turns, at least I would know within one or two turns if it was really over. I guess it will get better if I get more long streaks, judging by how much less nervous I was this time when I was getting to 100. The lower rankings were really inflated so it felt good to just make some quick progress there, but after I had caught up on the current no.7, the next benchmark was the Starf Berry after more than 40 battles, and I had to get through the 160s, which had proven themselves to be a real minefield in triples (and still were actually).
and thanks! glad you enjoyed it. I do agree you still deserve it in a way if you keep calm and do the least bad thing in such a tight spot, it's just kind of awful to be at the AI's mercy like that. At least I would still make some kind of splash with some as of yet unused Pokemon and a team that's my brainchild for the most part, so I had that going for me regardless. That's also why I'm so glad I got to achieve a long streak with this team, rather than my triples team :)

 

[Stellar]

Having just realized I haven't yet RNGed the hidden ability Eevee given out in Castelia City in my copy of Black 2, this sounds like something very fun to play around with. Pity it's forced male though, which means I've only got one chance to get it right if I want it to have Hyper Voice (a tutor move unavailable in X/Y). Accordingly, I'm interested in your choice of nature. Standard Modest (presumably with Mat Block support) for maximum firepower, or Timid to outrun more stuff? My gut tells me that Modest is correct, but I figure I might as well hear your views before locking in.

And while less important (since EVs are easy to fix), have you maxed Speed, or are you playing a more bulky Specs set like OU Specs Sylveon?

The one I RNG'd was Modest with Hidden Power Ground. The one I used wasn't EVed specifically for the Maison, but it had enough Speed at level 100 to outspeed Heatran who run 4-8 Speed EVs, I think. The three Pokémon I led in triples were Talonflame / Sylveon / Greninja, with the first turn always being Tailwind / Hyper Voice / Mat Block.

 

[pidj]

Posting a streak of 216 in Super Triples.

I think I misplayed in my last battle. I've not re-watched it to analyse it yet. I'm a little bit annoyed the streak is over as I wanted to get into the top 15 but never mind. It was getting tiring and long. Rotations and Multi left to go.

The team, as posted in the spoiler, is nothing really special. I just pulled together some things I liked from other posts here and stuck some odd items on them. At first they didn't even all have optimum moves. For example Talonflame had Flame Charge over Flare Blitz. I changed it after battle 50 as I thought I'd see how far the streak would go. I didn't even expect to get to 50 when I first threw it together as I'd never done triples before. Anyway, ramble over the team and some videos are below:

the team

Greninja Focus sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4HP/252SpA/252Spe
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/31
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Mat Block

Breloom @Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/31
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Protect

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/31
Adamant nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Protect

Rotom-W Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252HP/248SpA/4SpD/4Spe
IVs: 31/2/31/30/31/31
Modest nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect

Aegislash Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252HP/252Atk/4SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/00
Brave nature
- Iron Head
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
- Kings Shield

Kangaskhan-M @Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy --> Parental Bond
EVs: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/31
Adamant nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Power Up Punch
- Crunch

team commentary

Not much really to say about the team as they've all been used before so people know what they do. I wanted to have a FWG front line and felt like all three of my choices were well suited to triples as the ycould support each other. Like Mercury's team this isn't a dedicated tailwind team but the option was nice. Likewise I didn't always Mat Block turn 1 but that was normally completely dependent on what I was planning to do with Breloom, or the threats I could see.

The Rotom-W was RNG'd in BW because I had trouble with water/ground types in the Subway. The back line were bulkier and could operate on their own. Being able to bring in Mega-Kanga for a fake out late game was often nice too.

Running a low accuracy move like Hydro Pump was a risk I knew I was taking but I was happy to do so. The effects of running it can be seen in the videos below. Particularly battle 119 if I remember correctly.

videos and proof of streak

Battle 217: QSXW-WWWW-WWW8-QDM2 The loss
Battle 176: 949G-WWWW-WWW8-QDMC A close call
Battle 119: K84W-WWWW-WWW8-QDMN A clsoe call again and Aegislash getting an unlikely win

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Excellent job on Rotations, Plumberjack. And I couldn't agree more on the "never give up." I continue selecting moves until someone soundly loses, unless it's just mathematically impossible to win (as it was in your case.) Crits come out of nowhere.

This has resulted in some pretty retarded comebacks on my part, which is why it annoys me to no end when people cry about how broken and rigged the battle facilities are. Too many players fail to acknowledge when they do something to their opponent over a number of turns that was very, very unlikely.

Multis is by and far the most frequent format in which I experience this, though unfortunately most of them were ultimately doomed streaks regardless. During one, for which I still have the replay, my Quick Claw Escavalier got three procs in a row, as well as three crits, OHKOing each opponent and leaving it pitted against a final poke, Venusaur IIRC, which could do basically nothing to it. This came about after I made an idiotic turn one decision that got my Hydreigon killed and my partner's two pokes pretty much immediately followed suit.

In each game from Emerald onward I have at least one replay during which a goofy team of mine including at least one OHKO spammer annihilates the majority of the opponents with that move. In Emerald, this was done in the Battle Palace, where I can't select my moves, with a Quick Claw Lapras; two of the opponents were a Machamp and Heracross. For this iteration, X, the offender in question is my own Rest-Talking Walrein, who of course holds a Quick Claw and chose the move via Sleep Talk for added insult.

Long streaks mean especially much to me since my preference for random selection means I almost never even break 100. My average seems to be 55-75 wins before lack of synergy spells my doom, though it typically takes at least one bad decision or miss/crit to get the ball rolling. While breaking 300 in triples felt insane, admittedly it was largely because two of the most cooperative and functional teams I've ever been dealt were used for 100 battles apiece.

I've only got two trophies right now, Triples and Multis, but in my defense they're the only Supers I've even played.

 

[pasak1987]

I just defeated all 5 modes in super.

Single: 235 consecutive victory - (I don't have the video of lost game. Only the record)
Double: 50 Victory - on-going
Triple: 50 victory - on-going
Rotation: 50 victory - on-going
Multi battle with AI: 69 consecutive victory - 56HW-WWWW-WWW8-QZD4 (lost game Battle No. 70)



Single Team:

Mega Kangaskhan - Amy Chua
Scrappy - Parental Bond
Kangaskhanite
Jolly, 4 hp 252 attack 252 speed
Fakeout
Return
Earthquake
Crunch

Gengar - G
Levitate
Focus Sash
timid, 4 hp 252 spatk 252 speed
Shadowball
Destiny Bond
remaining two skills were just fillers. I honestly rarely ever used last 2 skills.
But, I would normally choose thunderbolt / sludgebomb. If I had hidden power ice, I would've chose that over sludgebomb.
(Don't use focus blast in battle maison. )

Garchomp - Insurance
Rough Skin
Choice Scarf
Naive, 4 hp 252 atk 252 speed
Earthquake
Outrage
Flamethrower
Poison Jab

Strategy for super single is very simple.

I lead with mega kang, fake out -> return into opponent. Opponent is most likely fainted from those two attacks, proceed to sweep opponent's 2nd pokemon with return. If second pokemon doesn't die from kangaskhan's return and ends up revenge killing my kangaskhan, gengar would revenge kill opponent's 2nd pokemon and destiny bond into their 3rd. So, Garchomp was RARELY used in my super single. (just as his name suggests, he was just a back up plan)

When you are up against faster fighting type pokemons such as Blaziken, Infernape, Mienshao on turn 1, strategy changes. Use your fake out against the opponent on the first turn, then switch out your kanga and swap in your Gengar into opponent's fighting type pokemon.

If enemy used the fighting type move, then game is pretty much over. If they haven't, use your destiny bond to take him out. (and hope that enemy don't carry 3 fighting type pokemons who are faster than mega kangaskhan. )

Against speed boost Blaziken, you will have to fake out -> switch to gengar -> if enemy uses fighting type move, gengar will finish him off without dying due to focus sash, if enemy uses non-fighting move, you will have to fodder your gengar and finish it with mega kangaskhan's fake out.

That pretty much sums up everything about the super single. Just make sure that you take out enemy with destiny bond. you are less likely to lose.

How I lost:

I was watching some hearthstone stuff off of youtube, and misclicked into shadowball instead of destiny bond. Then, enemy cheated by dodging my outrage(without any doubleteam etc) and finished my Garchomp with ice beam crit.

Double:
I used aaron + trick room strat from Quanyails So, not going to post something that is not original.
Triple:
I used atsync's rain team with slight change, but since the idea is practically the same, not gonna post it just like doubles.


Rotation:
Mega Kangaskhan - Amy Chua
same setting as above

Aegislash - Bangum
Stance Change
leftover
Quiet - 252 hp, 4 atk, 252 spatk
Flash Cannon
Shadow Ball
King's Shield
Shadow Sneak / Sacred Sword

Dragonite - Dragu
Multiscale
Lum Berry
Adamant - 4 atk, 252, atk, 252 speed
Dragon Claw
Fire Punch
Earthquake
Dragon Dance

Garchomp - Insurance
Same setting as above

Strategy: Really really simple. if you see incoming fighting move, switch off your mega kangaskhan to aegislash, if you see potential in BOTH earthquake and fighting move, switch to dragonite and do the dance.

I mean, that literally was it.

Only thing was that, I had to swap out team to a random trick room team against Morgan due to their weaknesses against fightin doggies + latias. (Garchomp's outrage did 8~90% of Latias's hp. I think she is either cheating or 252hp / 252 def bold Latias)


Multi Battle with AI

My Pokemon:

Garchomp
Rough Skin
Choice Scarf - Adamant - 4 hp 252 atk, 252 speed
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Fang
Poison Jab

Mega Kangaskhan - Amy Chua
Scrappy - Parental Bond
Kangaskhanite - Jolly - 4 hp 252 atk, 252 speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Brick Break
Shadow Claw

I changed the settings on Kangaskhan. I am using sucker punch instead of fake out due to the fear of focus blast from faster opponents, such as Alakazam, Gengar, etc, Shadow claw over Crunch is for ghost type coverage. Break Brick over Earthquake is simply because Brick Break would deal more damage against likes of Tyranitar, Bisharp, Aurorus. Earthquake don't get its damage boost from Parental Bond ability in double. So, its damage isn't all that great. Also, Brick Break would finish all 3 of those pokemons, which Earthquake fails to do. Also, it allows Kangaskhan to do more damage against Ferrothorn. As for Heatran, he usually comes with shuca berry or air balloon, so Brick Break is better choice against him. As for steel/psychic pokemons such as Bronzong and Metagross, Metagross is another common user of Shuca Berry, and unlike past generation, shadow / dark type moves are super effective against steel / psychic. So, considering all the facts, there is no point in using Earthquake in AI multi battle.

AI pokemon

Latias
Levitate
Choice Specs
Draco Meteor
Trick
Psychic
Thunderbolt

Bouffalant
Reckless
Adamant - 252 hp / 252 atk
Sitrus Berry
Head Charge
Earthquake
Payback
Sword Dance

Multi battle with AI...was the only mode that took multiple attempts to reach 50+ wins. I think I tried 15~ different times to break through 50 wins. Well, with this team, I got through 50 and reached 69 on first attempt.

Before I explain my one-shot strategy with Latias and Bouffalant, let me tell you guys what happened before those two.

The hardest part of multi battle was finding a suitable AI partner.

Originally, I tried to clear this mode with AI partner who had Latias and Hydreigon.

Two 600 base stat pokemons, seems VERY good right?

nope, not really. Hydreigon was just nothing but a huge pain and burden. It's not because Hydreigon is a bad pokemon, it has good stats, nice list of attacks. (draco meteor, earth power, flame thrower, taunt) Under different circumstances, I don't think Hydreigon would be a bad partner as I claim it to be. (Well, it's random use of Taunt gets REALLY aggravating. It would even taunt against opponent who are choice-locked into attacking move.)

But, here is the problem with my old team. Latias and Hydreigon shares MANY weaknesses. (Bug, Ice, Fairy, Dragon) So, whenever Latias falls, it is very much likely that Hydreigon would fall against the same pokemon who just took Latias out.

Also, because they share same weakness, if enemy has 3~ pokemons with those types, it is really tough to win against them. (especially when my own second pokemon is another dragon with ice, fairy, dragon weakness)

So, after 12~ attempts with Latias + Hydreigon getting shut down by Armaldo and likes at 30~40 consecutive victories, I decided to change my AI partner.

After adding many new people on my friend list, I have found few other suitable partners.

One was one with Volcarona and Togekiss, and the other had Garchomp and Sceptile.

The biggest problem with Volcarona was its addiction to Quiver Dance. Instead of finishing off of enemy's pokemon with bug buzz, it would continuously stack its quiver dance even after 2 stacks. After seeing that, I just gave up on this team and moved on to the next.

Garchomp + Sceptile team wasn't too bad. I reached 48 victories with them. Only problem was its shared weakness of Ice and me not having suitable partner for AI's Garchomp. (If I had Latios/Latias of my own, I think I would've beaten 50 wins with Garchomp + Sceptile)

After 3~4 attempts with those two teams, I finally found my perfect team. Latias and Bouffalant

Strategy for Super Multi with AI Partner.

I basically lead with Garchomp + Latias. Both of them are faster than most other pokemons in battle maison, and they have enough fire power to bring at least one of the opponent before they make any move.

So, my strategy basically was 'do as much damage as you can before you die'. The choice between Earthquake and Outrage is pretty simple. Pick one that can take out as many Pokemons as possible.

If enemies are using pokemons that can both be one shotted by Garchomp's Outrage and Latias' Draco Meteor, I would use Outrage.

If enemies are using pokemons that can be one shotted by Draco Meteor, but can't be one shotted by outrage, use Earthquake. (Latias would pick 'weakened' target on turn 2. So, damage form EQ would allow Latias to finish 2nd opponent despite the power drop)
If both of enemies are using pokemons that cannot be one shotted both Draco Meteor and Outrage, but Draco Meteor can be finish off either one of them after EQ damage, use Earthquake. (as long as they are not immune / resistant to EQ damage)

If both of enemies are not going to get finished by Earthquake-> Draco Meteor and Outrage would do more damage, choose outrage.

You are suspecting a focus sash on one of the pokemon, Earthquake
You can finish something off with Earthquake, Earthquake

You are up against a potential threat that can take out Latias and Earthquake cannot one shot it, Outrage.(or any other coverage moves that would one shot that opponent)

You are up against opponents that can be taken out with fire fang / poison jab more effectively, use either one of those two.

So, just as I stated above, the goal is 'take out as much as possible'.

Both Mega Kanga and Bouffalant has enough beefiness and power to win most match up.

This would allow Mega Kangaskhan and Bouffalant to finish off remaining opponent with ease.

Just like rotation battle, I had to swap out my Kangaskhan and bought in Jolly Mega Blaziken for Sisters boss fight. Mega Kanga can't do much against fighting doggies + scarfed focus blast. Jolly over Adamant, because Landorous is scarfed with atk or sp atk boosted nature. (speed tie with my adamant garchomp)

Example of 'Battle Maison Cheats', and how you lose your game w/o control. # 1
2KCG-WWWW-WWW8-QZC5

turn 1. Outrage dodge with bright powder + Latias randomly derping with trick

This pretty much ruined me. But, Bouffalant's beefiness carried me through this game.

Example of 'Battle Maison Cheats', and how you lose your game w/o control. #2 (and actually lost)
56HW-WWWW-WWW8-QZD4

Turn 1. Draco Meteor MISS, allowing Cofarigus to survive, allowing it to set up TRICK ROOM.
Turn 2. DOUBLE HEAT WAVE BURN HEX, shutting down Garchomp
Turn 5. Zapdos dodges Head Charge
Turn 7. Thunderous comes in at the END of the Trick Room turn. (if zapdos didn't dodge the head charge, thunderous would've came in on turn 5, and dead on turn 6 before making his move.)
Turn 8. Focus Miss doesn't miss!

Yeap, nothing much I could do here =(

 

[pasak1987]

Alright, I need help with the multi battles, I have 4 trophies and this multi one has been trolling me for MONTHS now. Does anyone have any idea which AI sets are useable? (Do not say the Typholsion, I have collected plenty of Friend Codes and have not gotten a partner with it). So far all I know is that they will always go for the kill no matter what and if they have a choiced poke they will always lead with it. Beyond that I know nothing...

go to reddit friend safari, and add random people from there until you find something sutiable. that's what I did.

 

[VaporeonIce]

pasak1987 Congrats on the trophies! For the record, accusing the Maison of cheating really isn't well-received on this thread. Hax is a part of the game, and, to some extent, the only thing that makes the Maison actually challenging. Recognizing that, accepting it, and planning for it, is a big part of why people on this thread achieve really high streaks where people on other threads usually don't. It's fine to be frustrated at bad hax; we all are sometimes. But there's a difference between "damn, hax finally got me" and "the Maison is a cheating sack of shit."

I like your Singles team; I haven't seen Gengar used effectively as a back-up, but it does seem like it would work really well with MegaKhan as a lead. Garchomp is a great choice to deal with Thunder Waves/risky paralysis from Electric-types too. My main concern would be burns. I'd love to see how far it could go if you (or someone else) stayed focused and played their best with them.

 

[pasak1987]

pasak1987 Congrats on the trophies! For the record, accusing the Maison of cheating really isn't well-received on this thread. Hax is a part of the game, and, to some extent, the only thing that makes the Maison actually challenging. Recognizing that, accepting it, and planning for it, is a big part of why people on this thread achieve really high streaks where people on other threads usually don't. It's fine to be frustrated at bad hax; we all are sometimes. But there's a difference between "damn, hax finally got me" and "the Maison is a cheating sack of shit."

I like your Singles team; I haven't seen Gengar used effectively as a back-up, but it does seem like it would work really well with MegaKhan as a lead. Garchomp is a great choice to deal with Thunder Waves/risky paralysis from Electric-types too. My main concern would be burns. I'd love to see how far it could go if you (or someone else) stayed focused and played their best with them.

thanks =)

oh, I know they weren't really *cheating*. Considering the number of battles we play on battle maison, it is mathematically inevitable for those RNG hexes to happen. I'm just..being a drama queen I guess?

As for burn/ para hex, I actually managed to ignore those problems with sheer power + bulkiness of Mega Kangaskhan.

Most pokemons with statics can be avoided by spamming super effective Earthquake (same goes for flame body)

and those without static but thunder wave are within 1 shot range of fake out -> return. So, it kind of wasn't much problem.

Only problem was the bulky ghost types (especially cofarigus), but I managed to win against them simply by spamming fake out w/o mega evolve -> turn 2 mega evolve + spam crunch.

In this scenario, It is very much likely for Mega Kangaskhan to win that match up by out damaging them. (yawn from first pokemon and parafusions are only RNG clause that I would switch out )

Instead of switching in and out trying to dodge those RNG hex, I would grind through the first pokemon with mega kangaskhan, do as much damage as possible on second one, then have Gengar/ Garchomp sweep second pokemon and proceed to sweep 3rd one.

My decision would change depending on who the 2nd pokemon is, but in most cases that's how scenario went out. Take out the first guy, do as much damage on the 2nd guy, then let Gengar take out 2nd and 3rd pokemon.

In worst case scenario, I can take out 2nd pokemon by swaping out Mega Kangaskhan, then take it out with Gengar's Destiny Bond spam. Afterword, Mega Kangaskhan will do some damage on 3rd pokemon with fake out -> follow up, then Garchomp can pretty much sweep

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Some pieces of advice I can give for Multis partner selection:

-Always be wary of partner pokes with non-attacking moves, especially Protect. They can and will spend turns doing "nothing" where you absolutely NEEDED them to attack.

-Do not pair yourself with Choice Band users that know Earthquake unless your own pokes are immune to it. They will use it even if your poke is the only combatant that takes 2x damage from it, and there are statistically better options, including another of its moves being more effective and so on.

-Because of the frequent AI preference for the most powerful move it can KO an opponent with, be aware that it will try to KO foes at 3 HP with Focus Blast, or finish off a Sturdy poke with Leaf Storm after eating its White Herb, and so on.

-In my experience, speed is always better than bulk if the set contains four attacks, even if that "speed" is just a positive-natured base 80. One of my most reliable partners on many doomed streaks was Gardevoir 3.

I mentioned this much earlier in the thread (when NoCheese detailed his experiences with Multis) but the team with which I finally conquered Multis was Rotom-W and Charizard-Y paired with Slaking 3 (CB Giga Impact) and Chandelure 3 (Overheat.)

Giga Impact Slaking is strongly discouraged in competitive play for good reason, but during this challenge, it did me a lot of good because nearly all the pokes it couldn't OHKO were rather easily dispatched by my own two pokes. The AI liked to begin with that move the overwhelming majority of battles, naturally. I did have a lot of good fortune in that Rotom didn't meet too many bad leads, and Hydro Pump nearly screwed me just once.

Apart from the ridiculous power of Adamant Banded Slaking, I attribute the (relative) ease in reaching 50 to Zard Y, with its phenomenal type coverage and strength.

Edit: In hindsight my "advice" should be extremely common knowledge by now through failed attempts alone, but I do want to hype the viability of 252 Offense/252 Speed partner pokes that are really not fast at all, such as the Gardevoir I mentioned. That speed group still got the jump on a large number of opponents and I was usually able to target and destroy the things that threatened them. Playing it enough, you do get a pretty good idea of what the AI will try to do, including their turns spent uselessly.

 

[pasak1987]

-Because of the frequent AI preference for the most powerful move it can KO an opponent with, be aware that it will try to KO foes at 3 HP with Focus Blast, or finish off a Sturdy poke with Leaf Storm after eating its White Herb, and so on.

-Because of the frequent AI preference for the most powerful move it can KO an opponent with, be aware that it will try to KO foes at 3 HP with Focus Blast, or finish off a Sturdy poke with Leaf Storm after eating its White Herb, and so on.

I couldn't agree more. I've seen my AI partner Latias using her precios Draco Meteor on a focus sashed target. This was one of primary reason why I changed my order and used scarfed Garchomp as lead over Mega Kanga with fake out.

1. Having latias using draco meteor on a target that was hit by kanga's fake out was waste of good damage.
2. Earthquake from Garchomp can take care of 'focus sash crisis'.

 

[Meleeace1478]

Long time lurker of this thread. I managed to get all the statues. All of my teams were just goodstuff stolen from the first post. I tried to use Mega Absol in triple battles, figuring that Mat Block and Magic Bounce would allow for a free Swords Dance. It did, but it still didn't do enough damage to be useful. I used Terrakion or Blastoise as the middle poke for the rest of the 50.

For multi battles, I paired up with Ampharos3 and Entei3. I used LO Greninja and Charizard Y, hoping to have the sun up for Entei. Ampharos was a pretty good partner, 90% of the time it would use Thunder Wave the first two turns, and then try to Hyper Beam things down after that.

 

[turskain]

Posting an ongoing Super Rotations streak of 444 wins, claiming the top spot on the leaderboard - not a very exciting feat given no one wants to play Rotations since the mode is a bit underwhelming, but here goes...

Battle video: 7F6G-WWWW-WWW8-RNRB - #444 vs. Raichu/Armaldo/Electivire/Weezing



The team is the 4-sweeper one I hinted at before:

Klefki @ Leftovers ** Mint-O-Ship
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP, 252 Def, 28 SDef
-Dazzling Gleam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Protect

Here lies the key to Super Rotations, the Keeper of the Seven Keys, the key to the city, and one hell of a piece of metal: Klefki. Wait, what? How can CM SubProtect Klefki possibly sweep in a Maison format where a massive amount of Pokémon have moves to break its sub?

But first, why Klefki? It's got Prankster, which makes Quick Claw, enemies that boost their speed, and all priority except for Talonflame4's Gale Wings SD Brave Birds a non-issue. It also has stellar defensive typing, good stats, and uses Calm Mind to boost quickly, and gets great coverage with just one attacking move.

What enables it to work is the Super Rotations AI's stupidity and large array of moves. Most Rotations teams fear the AI's 12 possible moves and run stall-focused Pokémon, screens, and Toxic stall to somewhat cope with it - this squad welcomes the AI's increased movepool, as it gives the AI more ways to make the mind-boggingly stupid plays it's famous for. While many Pokémon have moves to break Klefki's sub, few of them will actually use them repeatedly - and a few unbroken subs are all Klefki needs to get 2-6 Calm Minds in and start sweeping. It's not that easy, of course - while the AI in Super Rotations usually is really stupid, it needs a little push in the right direction to really force it into outright madness and make it start throwing battles to sweeper Klefki. What could possibly drive it to such lengths? Well...

Gengar @ Focus Sash ** Dread-Not
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk, 252 Spe, 4HP
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Destiny Bond
-Protect

Dragonite @ Lum Berry ** Nosedrip
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 196 Spe, 52 HP, 12 Def
-Outrage
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Dance

Meet the assistant sweepers, and take particular note of their typing. Out of the types they are weak to - Dark, Ghost, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Fairy and Rock - Klefki resists all but Ghost. Because of this, any SE move aimed at these two will not break Klefki's sub unless it's a particularly powerful attack. Additionally, they are both immune to Ground, which makes the AI more reluctant to spam Earthquake, and allows setting up Dragonite for free if the AI insists on using EQ repeatedly anyway. Better still, Dragonite resists Klefki's other weakness, Fire, allowing it to set up against nearly all Flare Blitz users. The typing is the most important part of these guys - without the fantastic defensive synergy, Klefki would not be able to become invincible with only Sub/Protect.

Gengar is straightforward; Protect may seem useless outside Doubles/Triples, but it's very useful for scouting what move Aerodactyl, Armaldo, Manectric, Alakazam and the like are locking into while conserving Klefki's Sub/Protect PP and HP, and stalling out TR and weather if needed. Coverage moves are also generally risky and of little value in Super Rotations, and Klefki does very well against Water types so there is no need for Thunderbolt on Gengar in the first place. It also destroys fairies, which is important since Dragonite has no way to hit them. Destiny Bond in addition to being generally good in Super Rotations is extremely useful with Klefki, as I will often let enemy setup sweepers get to +6 freely while killing the rest of their team; Destiny Bond allows any +6 Pokémon, even Unaware Quagsire, to be taken down with no risk (outside things like Hurricane confusion, burns, etc, which can be alleviated by PP stalling the offending moves).

Dragonite's moveset might surprise some with exchanging Earthquake for Substitute. While SubNite is not as outrageous at abusing the brain-dead Super Rotations AI as Klefki, it can still often freely set up a Sub, several DDs, and get back to full HP before going to sweep with zero risk. Also, as I said before, coverage moves are a bad idea in Super Rotations - EQ is just too risky and weak to be throwing around most of the time. With Substitute, Nite can even sometimes set up safely against slower Ice Beam users by fishing for an Earthquake or other weak move with Sub, and getting a free safe DD if it works. It also allows PP stalling +6 Curse users and the like with Sub/Roost - while Klefki does this better, there is only so much Sub/Protect PP to go around and Dragonite's stalling aid has been enormously useful in these cases. Outrage is preferred over Dragon Claw for battles where you must have maximum power right away or after one DD. Dragonite's got something of a bad reputation as a Rotations sweeper, and before switching to Substitute I'd have agreed with it; but the SubRoostDD set (reminiscent of Subway Durant Nite), with the right team, makes Dragonite the second-best Rotations sweeper in my opinion, losing only to Klefki's Sub/Protect abuse.

With Klefki's absurd strength, PP stalling options with SubProtect Klefki and SubRoost Dragonite, and the universal murder provided by Destiny Bond Gengar, there's no need to bother with trifle like Toxic stall for the back-up slot. Instead, since we've got a shiny free Mega slot and a thirst for more sweepers, we use the biggest Maison sweeping star outside Dragonite instead:

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite ** Stalker-C
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
-Double-Edge
-Earthquake
-Sucker Punch
-Fake Out

Mega Kangaskhan, rounding out the team with a fast, powerful cleaner with Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and a massive Double Edge. There's not much to say about it; Fake Out is preferred over PuP as the team already has two set-up sweepers, and MegaKhan's role is mostly to pick up the pieces, which Scrappy Fake Out is useful for. I prefer Double-Edge for a Super Rotations back-up Khan for the extra power; it's unneeded a lot of the time, but it has secured some useful KOs along the way and the recoil dama isn't too big of a deal. Its greatest advantage is perhaps dealing more damage to Steel- and Rock-types: in Rotations you don't have to luxury of picking your opponents, and Double Edge is the safest move a lot of the time; the extra punch to get that Skarmory4 or Metagross4 off the field faster is quite useful. Jolly is definitely best for Super Rotations; you don't get the luxury of choosing your fights, and more Speed lets you have more Double-Edge and less Sucker Punch.



Battle videos, threats and the rest to be written once I have a final streak to post, as usual.

 

[Lumari]

turskain Congratulations! Like the team, really clever.
jw, did you never have any problems being locked into Outrage? Or did you usually boost so much it obliterated everything except fairies regardless? (In my streak, whenever an opposing pokemon used Outrage, I just thought 'yay setup bait', but those were resisted, usually unboosted, and behind Reflect, so I reckon yours hit a lot harder, but still).
Klefki still sucks though :p

 

[VaporeonIce]

Posting an ongoing Super Rotations streak of 444 wins, claiming the top spot on the leaderboard - not a very exciting feat given no one wants to play Rotations since the mode is a bit underwhelming, but here goes...

Battle video: 7F6G-WWWW-WWW8-RNRB - #444 vs. Raichu/Armaldo/Electivire/Weezing



The team is the 4-sweeper one I hinted at before:

Klefki @ Leftovers ** Mint-O-Ship
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP, 252 Def, 28 SDef
-Dazzling Gleam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Protect

Here lies the key to Super Rotations, the Keeper of the Seven Keys, the key to the city, and one hell of a piece of metal: Klefki. Wait, what? How can CM SubProtect Klefki possibly sweep in a Maison format where a massive amount of Pokémon have moves to break its sub?

But first, why Klefki? It's got Prankster, which makes Quick Claw, enemies that boost their speed, and all priority except for Talonflame4's Gale Wings SD Brave Birds a non-issue. It also has stellar defensive typing, good stats, and uses Calm Mind to boost quickly, and gets great coverage with just one attacking move.

What enables it to work is the Super Rotations AI's stupidity and large array of moves. Most Rotations teams fear the AI's 12 possible moves and run stall-focused Pokémon, screens, and Toxic stall to somewhat cope with it - this squad welcomes the AI's increased movepool, as it gives the AI more ways to make the mind-boggingly stupid plays it's famous for. While many Pokémon have moves to break Klefki's sub, few of them will actually use them repeatedly - and a few unbroken subs are all Klefki needs to get 2-6 Calm Minds in and start sweeping. It's not that easy, of course - while the AI in Super Rotations usually is really stupid, it needs a little push in the right direction to really force it into outright madness and make it start throwing battles to sweeper Klefki. What could possibly drive it to such lengths? Well...

Gengar @ Focus Sash ** Dread-Not
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk, 252 Spe, 4HP
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Destiny Bond
-Protect

Dragonite @ Lum Berry ** Nosedrip
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 196 Spe, 52 HP, 12 Def
-Outrage
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Dance

Meet the assistant sweepers, and take particular note of their typing. Out of the types they are weak to - Dark, Ghost, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Fairy and Rock - Klefki resists all but Ghost. Because of this, any SE move aimed at these two will not break Klefki's sub unless it's a particularly powerful attack. Additionally, they are both immune to Ground, which makes the AI more reluctant to spam Earthquake, and allows setting up Dragonite for free if the AI insists on using EQ repeatedly anyway. Better still, Dragonite resists Klefki's other weakness, Fire, allowing it to set up against nearly all Flare Blitz users. The typing is the most important part of these guys - without the fantastic defensive synergy, Klefki would not be able to become invincible with only Sub/Protect.

Gengar is straightforward; Protect may seem useless outside Doubles/Triples, but it's very useful for scouting what move Aerodactyl, Armaldo, Manectric, Alakazam and the like are locking into while conserving Klefki's Sub/Protect PP and HP, and stalling out TR and weather if needed. Coverage moves are also generally risky and of little value in Super Rotations, and Klefki does very well against Water types so there is no need for Thunderbolt on Gengar in the first place. It also destroys fairies, which is important since Dragonite has no way to hit them. Destiny Bond in addition to being generally good in Super Rotations is extremely useful with Klefki, as I will often let enemy setup sweepers get to +6 freely while killing the rest of their team; Destiny Bond allows any +6 Pokémon, even Unaware Quagsire, to be taken down with no risk (outside things like Hurricane confusion, burns, etc, which can be alleviated by PP stalling the offending moves).

Dragonite's moveset might surprise some with exchanging Earthquake for Substitute. While SubNite is not as outrageous at abusing the brain-dead Super Rotations AI as Klefki, it can still often freely set up a Sub, several DDs, and get back to full HP before going to sweep with zero risk. Also, as I said before, coverage moves are a bad idea in Super Rotations - EQ is just too risky and weak to be throwing around most of the time. With Substitute, Nite can even sometimes set up safely against slower Ice Beam users by fishing for an Earthquake or other weak move with Sub, and getting a free safe DD if it works. It also allows PP stalling +6 Curse users and the like with Sub/Roost - while Klefki does this better, there is only so much Sub/Protect PP to go around and Dragonite's stalling aid has been enormously useful in these cases. Outrage is preferred over Dragon Claw for battles where you must have maximum power right away or after one DD. Dragonite's got something of a bad reputation as a Rotations sweeper, and before switching to Substitute I'd have agreed with it; but the SubRoostDD set (reminiscent of Subway Durant Nite), with the right team, makes Dragonite the second-best Rotations sweeper in my opinion, losing only to Klefki's Sub/Protect abuse.

With Klefki's absurd strength, PP stalling options with SubProtect Klefki and SubRoost Dragonite, and the universal murder provided by Destiny Bond Gengar, there's no need to bother with trifle like Toxic stall for the back-up slot. Instead, since we've got a shiny free Mega slot and a thirst for more sweepers, we use the biggest Maison sweeping star outside Dragonite instead:

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite ** Stalker-C
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
-Double-Edge
-Earthquake
-Sucker Punch
-Fake Out

Mega Kangaskhan, rounding out the team with a fast, powerful cleaner with Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and a massive Double Edge. There's not much to say about it; Fake Out is preferred over PuP as the team already has two set-up sweepers, and MegaKhan's role is mostly to pick up the pieces, which Scrappy Fake Out is useful for. I prefer Double-Edge for a Super Rotations back-up Khan for the extra power; it's unneeded a lot of the time, but it has secured some useful KOs along the way and the recoil dama isn't too big of a deal. Its greatest advantage is perhaps dealing more damage to Steel- and Rock-types: in Rotations you don't have to luxury of picking your opponents, and Double Edge is the safest move a lot of the time; the extra punch to get that Skarmory4 or Metagross4 off the field faster is quite useful. Jolly is definitely best for Super Rotations; you don't get the luxury of choosing your fights, and more Speed lets you have more Double-Edge and less Sucker Punch.



Battle videos, threats and the rest to be written once I have a final streak to post, as usual.

This is awesome. I LOVE the use of Klefki for something other than its bog standard Rotations role, and using Sub to counteract the AI's good moves and capitalize on bad moves is brilliant. Teams that use this format (focus on abusing Substitute to make bad plays you can capitalize on and using type combinations that make those and plays likely) should, IMO, be the go-to approach to developing Rotations teams that are aiming for high streaks. I feel like every other good Rotations streak (my own included) has relied on a healthy dose of good luck (especially against OHKO users); teams like yours are much better designed for consistency. Well done!

 

[turskain]

This is awesome. I LOVE the use of Klefki for something other than its bog standard Rotations role, and using Sub to counteract the AI's good moves and capitalize on bad moves is brilliant. Teams that use this format (focus on abusing Substitute to make bad plays you can capitalize on and using type combinations that make those and plays likely) should, IMO, be the go-to approach to developing Rotations teams that are aiming for high streaks. I feel like every other good Rotations streak (my own included) has relied on a healthy dose of good luck (especially against OHKO users); teams like yours are much better designed for consistency. Well done!

OHKO moves were exactly what drove me into Substitute in the first place, after I tried out various bad ideas (like Aron/Sharpedo/Mega Gengar) and screens, and lost a couple of non-streaks, and finally got killed by Snow Cloak Mamoswine3 in battle 34 in a way that no existing Rotations team could possibly do anything against and was replicable by the usual Donphan/Walrein fun post-battle 40. After cursing Rotations into the ground for a day or two, Substitute was the only thing that I thought could possibly work in the mode, which it turned out to do brilliantly when I finally took it out for a spin. Initially, I tried Drapion and Speed Boost Blaziken and Subbed up Dragonite, but realized quickly that Klefki was the real deal for the role, and that's what led to this streak.

The Dutch Plumberjack: locking into Outrage isn't much of a problem - having to use Outrage in the first place opens you to bad things before being locked into it even comes into play. If Outrage manages to take out the threat it's being fired off for, Dragonite dying afterwards is a pretty decent situation to be in, as the rest will be able to clean up very nicely, since most Steels/Fairies that would take Outrage are food for Klefki.

 

[NoCheese]

A couple of things. First, I've updated the leaderboard up to here. Note that I don't always post when I update (though I do change the last update date in the OP) but if there's been any sort of lengthy delay, or if I can couple an update with another post, seems best to do so. As always, please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.

turskain, I haven't added your very cool rotations streak since it is still ongoing, but the top spot will be waiting for you as a consolation when you finally lose.

I've also done little bit of Super Triples lately, as I was inspired by Stellar's suggestion of Specs Pixilate Hyper Voice Sylveon. Conveniently, I played up to battle 50 with the "turbo" leads of Greninja / Mega Blastoise / Talonflame, so it was trivial to swap in Specs Sylveon for battles 51-100 and get a pretty nice direct comparison of Mat Block / Tailwind / hard hitting central spread attack spamming teams.

So far, I am VERY impressed with Sylveon, and like it much better than Mega Blastoise. Power for power, Sylveon's Specs Pixilate Hyper Voice is just slightly weaker than Mega Blastoise's full health Water Spout, but the difference is very small. While Sylveon is slightly slower, that's not a big issue under Tailwind, especially since I chose to run Modest with 244 Speed EVs, which lets me outrun almost everything in the Maison once the wind is at my back. (Pinsir4, Landorous2, Terrakion2, Entei3, and Manectric4 are the only faster things regularly encountered after battle 40). More importantly, Hyper Voice isn't crippled by Sylveon taking a lot of damage the way Water Spout is, and with Sylveon's big bulk, there's not a lot that OHKOs it, meaning that Sylveon can take take a hard hit and keep on doing work. While Soundproof Pokemon are of course immune to Hyper Voice, it's still a safer move to spam than Water Spout, since nothing boosts or heals from it the way Storm Drain and Water Absorb Pokemon do from Water-type moves. The additional PP on Hyper Voice are also a blessing on rare occasion when facing multiple Pokemon with Pressure. Perhaps best of all, Sylveon doesn't take my Mega slot, which is huge.

The front three have cut through battles remarkably quickly, usually with very little thought required, and I've rarely needed to use the back row at all. I'm currently running a reserve corps of Mega Kangaskhan / Aron / Aegislash, which has very strong "good stuff" characteristics while also providing a ton of resiliency to Trick Room, with powerful priority on Kanga and Aegislash and Aron being so slow that he out-Trick Rooms the Trick Room teams. I'm sure careful theorymoning could do better, but so far, especially since this run has been more for fun than in full earnest, I haven't felt like spending the time. Even left as is, I suspect this squad is quite capable of a lengthy streak, and certainly makes for an easy way to rack up fast wins and BP. While I haven't faced anything that's felt like a horrible threat, Heatran is pretty annoying for my lead threesome, though it's yet to cause any serious problems.

Continued good luck on the steaks, and keep up the great discussion/theorymoning!!