Battle Maison Discussion & Records

NoCheese

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"
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Just a note that I've been out of the country without internet access the past few days (save a brief layover earlier today). So pardon me for being a bit behind on things. I'll go through everything more carefully tomorrow and update as needed.
 
Thanks
How does this look to you

Durant@Choice scarf
Nature:Jolly
Trait:Truant
Entrainment
X-scissor
Iron head
Protect
172HP\108Def\228Spe(This is pretty much your old Durant)

Blaziken@Focus sash
Nature:Adamant
Trait:Speed boost
Hone claws
Protect
Baton pass
Fire punch
252Atk\252Spe\4Hp

Heracross@Heracronite
Nature:Adamant
Trait:Guts
Close combat
Pin missile
Rock blast
Protect
212Hp\252atk\44Spe

I, personally would rather run fire punch on blaziken then substitute. It can switch in on first turn fake outs, protect and fire punch OHKO most of em. I am a little worried about GW brave bird talonflame thoughthough for Heracrosses sake.

I totally did not know that whirlwind and roar went through protect until I ran into one! I managed to win any way just with brute force.
Be aware that even if Blaziken could switch in against every single Fake Out user and OHKO them with an unboosted Fire Punch, winning from that point would still require Durant to safely switch back in against the 2nd Pokemon and use Entrainment the following turn. The main thing is that if you're using Durant and a Baton Passer, the 3rd Pokemon is irrelevant. Whether you BP maxed-out stats to Heracross, Cloyster, Corsola, or whatever else, the team is more likely to lose to any Perish Song/Fake Out/Explosion lead than because the opponent survived the wrath of Corsola's +6 Hustle Head Smashes and managed to fire back with a critical hit or two against boosted evasion.
 
Withdrawing Slowbro from lead Serperior worked to my advantage, but it helped that again the opponent ran a pretty bad team (Victreebel/Pyroar/Serperior/Cryogonal/Raichu/Charizard) that handed me some safe switches and free kills due to being predictable.

But upon replaying the turns over, it helped all too much that Serperior passed on the opportunity to finish off Gardevoir to instead target Aron, who Protected the second turn. Pyroar didn't try to KO Garde, either, allowing it to get rid of Serperior, important because it was (just my luck) Contrary. Slowbro eventually did re-enter to activate TR, but it did little besides allowing me to KO Charizard without letting it do something.

While Helping Hand did save my streak at least twice, I'm wondering if I might like Protect over it a bit more, not that instances in which it would have done the same immediately come to mind.
 

NoCheese

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I've updated things through here. Makes me hungry to start/continue some streaks. The Dutch Plumberjack's continued triples success makes me consider trying to chase back into the top 5, while ReptoAbysmal's Camerupt team naturally makes me want to play around with more Sunny Day boosted Eruptions. Plus, there's the probably mediocre but still fun seeming singles strategy of attack + cripple Latios paired with Mega Slowbro which I've talked about and even bred for, but never actually gotten down to playing. Options, options.

Also, as a general guideline, if you're looking for theorymon on Durant teams, just search this thread for everything written by GG Unit. Much of the material isn't in his streak posts, so just the streak links won't get you everything. I've played a lot of Durant both this generation and last, and his understanding and articulation of Durant strategy and all the specific threats to it is fantastic. Even if you're not building an Entrainment team, such posts make for great reading, but if you are building such a team, they seem nearly mandatory.

Continued good luck with the streaks, everybody, and please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions!
 
Well, at least I'll have the satisfaction of beating my little randoms streak. I saved and quit after winning battle #320, so any battle I win from this point onward will just be another notch over my current placement. I have no dream of climbing many places on the leaderboard, but I'll see what I can do. When this team loses, I'll go back to randoms after a very lengthy break, during which I'll record over all my replays with video game music and dump it on youtube, since I get off to that shit. :P

As of right now, the only battles I bother to save are first-turn TR cockblocks, the few ugly lead Serperior sightings, and milestones in increments of 100 (as well as battle 316, since it's been forever since I've reached that high and failed the first time.) The former two types of battles are generally the only occasions my other teammates really get a chance to bloody their hands/paws/giant pincer.
 
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I did just beat the Super Double Battle Chatelaine on my first run on Omega Ruby and got my first trophy. This is the team that I've used. It worked beautifully...



Swampert ♂ @ Swampertite ** Sumpex
Ability: Damp => Swift Swim
Adamant Nature
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/31
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Spd
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect

>> (Mega) Swampert was the first half of my leading duo, because it has an awesome synergy with Articuno.
STAB Waterfall and Earthquake made sure that the Electric-, Fire-, Rock- and Steel-types that threaten Articuno, wouldn't be around for long.
I picked Rock Slide over the more common Ice Punch, because the Ice-type coverage would be redundant next to Articuno.
Sadly I can't remember what the EV spread was for, but I used it on Battle Spot before and it reaches some important speed tier in rain.
This Swampert moveset worked, but the EV spread could probably be optimized for the Battle Maison speed tiers.


Articuno @ Charti Berry ** Arktos
Ability: Pressure
Timid Nature
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Freeze-Dry
- Hurricane
- Rain Dance
- Protect


>> Articuno was the other half of my lead and it complimented Swampert perfectly.
The most important move on this set was Rain Dance, because it allowed Swampert to outspeed anything.
It also made sure that Hurricane wouldn't miss and boosted the power of Swampert's Waterfall and Latios' Surf.
Accurate STAB Hurricanes killed all the Grass-types for Swampert, while STAB Freeze-Dry weakened opposing Water-types and killed dragons for Latios.
The Charti Berry helped me survive random Rock-type attacks and was very useful on multiple occasions. Articuno's Flying-typing allowed Swampert to spam Earthquake.
Articuno did what I expected and needed it to do, I wouldn't change a thing about this moveset.


Latios ♂ @ Choice Specs ** Latios
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature
IVs: 31/xx/31/30/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Surf


>> Choice Specs Latios was my first backup Pokémon, because I wanted another team member that was immune to Swampert's Earthquakes and it had switch synergy with the rest of the team.
STAB Dragon Pulse and Psyshock dealt reliable damage, while Thunderbolt was for coverage against those annoying Mandibuzz and some other Pokémon.
I wasn't sure at first when I added Surf to the moveset and wanted to switch to Life Orb Latios with Protect in that moveslot at one point, but I regret nothing.
Rain-boosted Choice Specs Surf saved my @$$ in one game after both, Articuno and Swampert, were critted to death during the first turn.
I only invested 248 in SAtk, because the IV in that stat is flawed and I didn't want to waste EVs.
Life Orb as the item could be a viable option and I'll try it once I continue my streak, but for now I'm happy with this moveset.



Ferrothorn ♂ @ Leftovers ** Tentantel
Ability: Iron Barbs
Brave Nature
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/00
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect


>> This thing was a beast and acted as my "safety net". It never had to face any Fire- or Fighting-type Pokémon, because Swampert, Articuno and Latios were very effective at killing those.
It was pretty easy to create scenarios, where the opponent simply couldn't win, because he had no way to deal with Ferrothorn and was then stalled to death.
Leech Seed was my weapon of choice against weakened ghosts that tried to Destiny Bond my Pokémon and allowed me to stall to end the battle
Ferrothorn also was my answer to Trick Room teams, which otherwise could've been problematic, because the rest of my team is pretty fast.
There is nothing I would change about this Ferrothorn moveset, since I was happy with it's performance.
Too bad that neither regular, nor shiny Ferrothorn are blue... (even shiny Ferroseed is... *sadface*)


Current Super Double Battle streak: 70 wins (ongoing, I will continue this once I have all five trophies)

~ YTPG-WWWW-WWXQ-T8BF ~
 
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Durant, Cloyster, and Drapion. If you are starting from scratch and your goal for the Maison is to win 200 straight so you unlock the Starf and Lansat berries and rack up enough BP to purchase everything you need, this team offers the best combination of speed and reliability in any format. Compared to the most successful Triples teams, it's not quite as foolproof, but it only requires you to breed/obtain 3 Pokemon and battles go more quickly because you are only entering commands for one Pokemon at a time (the average pace is around 28 wins per hour: about 1:45 per normal Cloyster sweep and a little under 4 minutes if you have to set up Drapion) so you can easily put together a 200+ win streak over the course of a weekend.

Here's the finalized version of the team (complete with crappy MS Paint art):

Durant | Choice Scarf | Jolly
Ability: Truant
220 HP | 64 Def | 228 Spe
- Entrainment
- X-Scissor
- Protect
- Confide

A quick run-down of the non-Entrainment moves: X-Scissor is for Espeon only. Confide is for Yanmega leads that don't broadcast having Frisk. Protect is to PP stall if you'd really like to set Drapion up against a Curse/Rest user rather than having Cloyster take it out with Surf. Its other uses are on the first turn against leads that Trace Truant (not against Slaking because taking a little damage from Night Slash is worth knowing it isn't a disguised Zoroark) and against Manectric 4 (so any Manectric that doesn't have Air Balloon if you're after battle 40) - you can Protect, switch to Drapion, Protect, Acupressure, Protect, and switch back to Durant while Manectric Struggles to keep Durant alive. In fact, you could even use a spread that's Jolly with 188 Speed to drop down a speed tier if you're using this team after battle 40 and give Durant a little more bulk, which can absolutely make the difference between getting Entrainment off or not against something like Mienshao.




Cloyster | Focus Sash | Naughty
Ability: Skill Link
252 Atk | 94 SpA | 164 Spe
- Shell Smash
- Protect
- Icicle Spear
- Surf

The Speed EVs outrun Darmanitan4 at +2, which you may have to do if something uses Explosion early or if a lead Medicham or Mienshao KOs Durant before it can use Entrainment. The Naughty nature and Special Attack investment makes Surf a formidable attack capable of OHKOing things like Volcarona and non-Focus Sash Heatran at just +2 so you don't have to worry about a Rock Blast miss ending your streak. At +6, Surf gets guaranteed OHKOs on Pokemon as specially bulky as Weezing4 and Togekiss4, so you'll definitely find yourself sweeping battles without using Icicle Spear even once (because over a few hundred battles you don't need to watch Icicle Spear do its 5 separate hits if you don't absolutely have to). Dewgong, Walrein (Surf does more than Icicle Spear even if it doesn't have Thick Fat), Slowbro, and Regice (sets 2 and 4 are more likely than not KOed by Icicle Spear) are the only Pokemon that +6 Rock Blast would KO but Surf and Icicle Spear would not; the first three are set-up bait for Drapion even if Durant isn't available to afflict them with Truant. Aside from the 100% accuracy, Surf also KOs opponents like Cobalion and non-Sturdy versions of Probopass, Aggron, Forretress, and Bastiodon.

Despite the fact that it kicks ass and will be sweeping the vast majority of the battles, it's important to remember that Cloyster mostly just a luxury that allows you to complete battles more quickly if you think the coast is clear. If things get slightly awkward, sacrificing Cloyster to allow Durant to come in back in freely so Drapion can then set up should always be one of the first possibilities you consider. For example, let's say a lead Claydol used Explosion after Cloyster had used Shell Smash only once and the next Pokemon out is something like a +2 Cloyster could likely beat but it would take damage in the process (let's say Probopass). Since you have no idea what kind of hax could be lurking in the third Pokemon spot (maybe a Gale Wings Talonflame that picks off Cloyster and Durant with priority, maybe something with Quick Claw or an evasion item), sacrificing Cloyster is going to be the safer play.

Pokemon that can take a hit from Cloyster after 3 Shell Smashes: Unaware Quagsire, Metagross, Slowbro, Empoleon, Sturdy Aggron, Sturdy Probopass, Sturdy Forretress, Sturdy Bastiodon, Sturdy Avalugg, Registeel, Poliwrath, Walrein, Dewgong and Thick Fat Hariyama.



Drapion | Black Sludge | Adamant
Ability: Battle Armor
252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 Sp. Def
- Substitute
- Protect
- Acupressure
- Knock Off

If the lead KOs or statuses Durant, Drapion is going to be the much safer option. You can look at the trainer lineup sheet to get a general idea of how much stuff could harm Cloyster and assess your risk from there, but if it's battle #200 or one you desperately want to win obviously go with Drapion. I have lost two battles before where Cloyster set up to +6 and Durant wasn't KOed by the lead: in the first, Tyranitar came out 2nd with Sand Stream and the 3rd Pokemon was Gliscor2, which evaded 3 straight Icicle Spears with Sand Veil while boosting before counter-sweeping me (had I realized what was going on and used Protect to waste Sand turns, I'd have been fine); in the second, Cobalion 3 came out 2nd, evaded Surf, Swaggered Cloyster, set up a Substitute while Cloyster hit itself 2 turns in a row, KOed Durant, and KOed Drapion by Swaggering it and getting Drapion to hit itself 2 turns in a row after Drapion had stalled all of Cobalion's Iron Head PP. All of that to say there's still a little bit of risk to Cloyster. Drapion happens to be able to set up on many of the Pokemon that can otherwise foil Durant's attempts to use Entrainment; more about that in the section on specific leads.

I suppose Leftovers vs. Black Sludge is deserving of a brief mention. If you only have one of the two, just use that. The only time it actually makes a difference is against Weavile and Shiftry with their Hidden Ability Pickpocket. With Black Sludge, you get to pull off a funny pseudo-OHKO when you knock them down to 1 HP and they take the sludge damage at the end of the turn, and it's probably better if you were to find yourself in a situation where Drapion didn't have very many boosts when one of those came out.


Durant is this team's weak link, which sounds silly to say because it enables the entire Protect/boosting strategy, but what I mean by that is that your losses are going to be due to a lead that counters Durant through Protect, Detect, Quick Claw, Fake Out, Bright Powder, Lax Incense, or Prankster Taunt. In many of these cases Drapion is still able to set up on many of the opponents capable of blocking Entrainment, and in more desperate situations Cloyster will have to try to take a hit and Shell Smash (its moveset and EVs, though seemingly unconventional, are designed to maximize the odds of sweeping at +2 and its Focus Sash broken). Durant will be KOed without being able to use Entrainment around once every 50 battles, but most of the time there's a good back-up plan.

Besides leads, a couple Pokemon I want to mention that can turn the tables on you when you think you're on your way to a speed victory with Cloyster are Poliwrath and Entei. You can hope that Poliwrath either goes for Focus Punch or misses Circle Throw, but if it comes out 2nd and Cloyster gets phazed out you need to sacrifice Cloyster the following turn so Durant can use Entrainment safely. If Entei comes out 2nd, use Protect first. If it used Flamethrower, KO with Surf; if it used anything else, KO with Icicle Spear.

Mismagius/Lapras: Switch directly to Drapion. If they didn't use Mean Look/Block on you, try to get a Substitute up and stall until they use Perish song so Drapion can switch out on the last Perish Song turn. If you're trapped, start using Knock Off to make them easier for Cloyster to handle later on, but don't use Knock Off on the last turn of Perish Song; you just have to let Drapion faint because if it KOs the switch in, the Perish Song lead will come right back in. One other option you have is running Substitute over Protect or Confide so Durant can Sub on Lapras so it can't be trapped.

High Jump Kick: Mienshao and Medicham. My experience with Medicham has been that ones with Pure Power will go for HJK on turn 1, in which case Durant survives by changing their ability. The ones that Fake out don't have Pure Power so Durant will survive the loafing turn. Against Mienshao, it has to have Reckless and either get a critical hit on HJK or get two max damage rolls to prevent Entrainment. Either way, all you can do is set up as much as possible with Cloyster.

Kingdra: This has the possibility of using Protect and then KOing Durant with a critical hit Surf. If that happens, bring out Cloyster and Shell Smash until it faints. Kingdra will have used Draco Meteor twice and dropped its Special Attack. When Drapion comes out afterwards to set up, remember to use Substitute first rather than Protect so Kingdra can get down to -6 Special Attack and make setting up even easier.

Jynx: Switch to Drapion on Fake Out, then use Protect, then use Sub. If at this point you indeed have a Substitute up and are not asleep or frozen, use Protect and Sub as often as possible to stall out Blizzard's 5 PP. If you get to the point that Drapion will be KOed by the next Blizzard, switch in Cloyster and go back to Drapion as it Psychics. Once Blizzard's run out, Drapion sets up.

Samurott/Tentacruel: Both of these are in the same boat as Protect/Detect users that require Drapion to be on point with using Protect when setting up. For Tentacruel, use Protect on the first turn. If it used Protect as well, use Protect again on turn 2. For Samurott, use Substitute turn 2 if it Protected/Detected on the first turn. These two will use Protect just about every other turn, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to get a free Substitute. Don't worry too much about Acupressure right away; getting rid of Surf/Hydro Pump PP while remaining behind a Sub is the first priority.

Kangaskhan: Switch Drapion in on the Fake Out and spam Knock Off. You will likely be Endeavored down to 1/4 of Kanga's HP as you KO it. By then you've seen 2/3rds of the team and should know which of Drapion or Cloyster you should sacrifice to let Durant do its thing. Sure, the 2nd Pokemon could be another Protect/Detect/Fake Out lead that Drapion can no longer deal with, but that's just the risk you take.

Meganium/Venusaur/Roserade: You don't need to wait until Durant is KOed. Once it's Leech Seeded Durant, you can go ahead and switch in Drapion because the AI won't be using Leech Seed again.

Floatzel: If its first 3 turns are Protect/Waterfall/Protect, switch to Cloyster to take the incoming Waterfall then switch back to Durant. It will either use Low Kick or Protect, freeing you to try another Entrainment without worrying about an Aqua Jet KO. After that, set up Drapion.

Shuckle: Don't waste your time with Protect and Durant getting trapped with Wrap, just switch directly to Drapion and set up.

Bright Powder/Quick Claw/Lax Incense: If Walrein, Glaceon, Unfezant, Gothitelle, Tangrowth, or Dugtrio KO Durant without allowing a successful Entrainment, Drapion can set up. If Lati@s or Regigigas avoid a couple Entrainments, switch to Drapion and try to get it Knocked Off. If Zapdos2 evades Entrainment and KOs Durant with Heat Wave, it's worth a shot with Drapion first because Zapdos may give you plenty of free set-up turns by using Double Team - if something bad like getting Heat Wave burned happens, try to Knock off the Bright Powder before fainting and go for the Cloyster miracle sweep. When Walrein4 is out 2nd or 3rd against Cloyster, I alternate Protect and Surf every turn Walrein's above 50% health to waste enough PP for Drapion to easily set up without bringing Durant back in first.

Yanmega: If it broadcasts having the ability Frisk, congrats - you can probably get Entrainment off on them. Otherwise, use Confide; you should have a good shot at getting Yanmega to -2 Special Attack and setting up with Drapion. If not, switch to Cloyster. Yanmega will likely use Detect. If that happened and the Yanmega has Speed Boost, hit it with a +0 Icicle Spear to get it off the field. If Cloyster comes in on Detect and Yanmega doesn't Speed Boost, Shell Smash then Icicle Spear. If Cloyster's hit on the switch, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Go for the Icicle Spear until it faints and then hope that Entrainment works. If that fails, maybe Drapion can pull a nice Evasion or Special Defense boost out of its ass. If Drapion has to take on non-Entrained Yanmega, the same strategy for when to use Protect applies.

Prankster Taunt: This and Yanmega are the absolute worst leads this team can run into. Luckily this only comes from Thundurus4 and Tornadus4, very rare Pokemon to see, and they could possibly have Defiant or go with another attack instead. If they Taunt Durant, you just have to stay in and let Durant faint before trying to get off a Shell Smash with Cloyster. At +2 Cloyster KOs the Latis, the legendary Birds, the genies, non-Sash Heatran, non-Sturdy Regirock, Terrakion, Virizion, Raikou, and Entei while Drapion can set up against stuff like Suicune 1 (Knock Off the first turn so it will Rest) and 3, Registeel 1, 3, and4, Cresselia, and Regigigas, so all hope is certainly not lost (unless Thundurus 4 paralyzes Cloyster with Discharge as well, in which case fuck everything).


I have only lost once before battle 200 when using this team, and it was when keeping track of my battles to see how often troublesome leads for a Sash Durant would come up. From 40-53, I saw a Mismagius, Medicham, two Tornadus 2 (10.5% chance of a turn 1 self-hit from Hurricane confusion each time), and Yanmega. I lost to the Yanmega because it had Speed Boost and used Air Slash instead of Detect the turn I switched to Cloyster and then blocked Entrainment with Detect on turn 3. If I had stayed in the first turn and used Entrainment with Durant, that would have been an easy battle, but then I wouldn't have beaten 4 Speed Boost Yanmega leads that used Detect the first turn en route to a 971 win streak another time (D9GG-WWWW-WWX-SF59), my longest one with this particular team.

In that loss:

Durant got Prankster Taunted by Tornadus 4 (expected to happen at some point if you're just leading with Durant)

Cloyster Shell Smashed on the Focus Blast and KOed Tornadus and Virizion.

Regice 3 took a hit from Cloyster, Charge Beamed (got the boost) for the KO, and double Protected before attacking Drapion to recover enough HP to come out on top. The Lax Incense Cobalion (only if it avoided Cloyster's +2 Rain-boosted Surf) and the Scarf Entei (only if it locked itself into Heat Wave against Cloyster and got a burn the first turn Drapion came out) would've been the only other 3rd Pokemon that could have won.

Here's the earlier write-up from the first time I used this team and got 563 straight:
Battle 510:

What to do if you set up Cloyster and have Poliwrath come out 2nd. Cloyster's phazed out and immediately brought back in to give Durant a free Entrainment on Poliwrath. Note that if the trainer had led with Flareon instead of Gallade and OHKOed Durant with Fire Fang, you'd have wanted to set up Drapion instead of Cloyster if you're really trying to get a long streak instead of racking up BP. If the trainer can't have Quagsire as backup and the Truant Pokemon doesn't use have a means of KOing itself through Explosion, High Jump Kick, or a status orb before Drapion is all the way set up, you have a 100% assured victory.

Battle 536

Articuno 4 blocks 4 Entrainments with Protect en route to 2HKOing with Blizzard. The one nice thing about leads that use Protect this often to screw over Durant is that they're not as likely to go on the offensive. Since Articuno's Tailwind had petered out the turn before, I knew it was going to use it again and get a free Sub for Drapion its first turn out. After stalling out the 3 remaining Blizzards, Articuno can't damage it. Outside of maybe the hail Chefs, Veterans are probably the worst trainers for the Cloyster-Chomp combo to try to take on 2v3.

Battle 539

Jynx leads off here, a Pokemon that you have a good chance of running into given its presence on the smaller rosters of Hex Maniacs and the hail team Chefs - in fact, I'd seen it a couple times earlier in the streak but forgot to save the battle. Normal protocol against a Fake Out lead is to just sacrifice the non-essential team member to it so Durant can come back in and use Entrainment (you don't want to just keep Durant in on Jynx because it can put you to sleep or freeze you with Blizzard, which can 2HKO, on turn 2). While that's better than not using Entrainment at all, a 1-2 punch of Quick Claw/priority/Rock Blast miss/hax item miss/Slowbro/Empoleon from the backups can finish you off. With this team, Drapion switches in on the Fake Out, Protects against Blizzard #1, survives Blizzard #2 to set up a Sub, Protects against Blizzard #3, tries to double Protect and fails against Blizzard #4, and switches out for Jynx's last Blizzard. This can go more smoothly if Jynx misses a Blizzard/double Protect works or can require a bit more switching if Blizzard freezes Drapion, but the key is that Jynx has 5 PP worth of attacks that can damage Drapion, and after that you're in the driver's seat.

Battle 564 (loss): vs. Ace Trainer Nikita

Mienshao used Fake Out! Durant flinched!
Durant is loafing around! Mienshao used High Jump Kick! Durant fainted!

This Durant has 164 HP. Fake Out's maximum damage is 13. High Jump Kick's maximum damage is 151 (provided Mienshao has Reckless, a 1 in 3 chance).

This is where you could come in and say "That's why you need to have Durant's speed lower and more defenses!" but that's where I would say "True if I were really trying to optimize this team rather than just rack up BP, but a 4/16ths followed by a 1/16th damage roll (even with no critical hits) is less likely than having a Reckless Mienshao get a critical hit on turn 2, in which case no amount of defensive investment is going to save you."

So here comes the first time in the streak I have to say yolo and go for a Cloyster sweep against a non-Truant opponent. I catch quite a break with Mienshao missing HJK, so Cloyster takes it out at +2 with its Focus Sash intact. Note here that Mienshao and Medicham are in the same boat as Fake Out leads where switching something in and sacrificing it so Durant can use Entrainment isn't the best plan because you'll only get one turn of boosting off with your final team member before Medicham/Mienshao takes itself out by using High Jump Kick as you Protect. Also, these two are almost equally likely to HJK on turn 1 against Durant, which is why staying in is the best play.

This is where laziness in just using previously-bred stuff really kicks in. My Adamant, non-invested Cloyster's +2 Surf fails to OHKO the Volcarona that comes in second when a Naughty Surf with just 4 throwaway EVs has a 50% chance to KO. I'm hearing the "bet you wish you had Rock Blast," but Volcarona is actually one of the very Pokemon where Surf helps; even when Cloyster's +6, it has about an 8.5% chance of failing to KO 252/252+ Volcarona with Icicle Spear (factoring in damage rolls and none of the 5 hits being a crit) and a 10% chance of evading Rock Blast. The Surf KO would obviously be guaranteed at +6 and +4, and since there's no real point to a Cloyster on these types of teams having max speed when it's still outrun by Scarf Entei and Manectric at +2 and doesn't need any investment at all to outrun everything at +4 you could conceivably dump enough EVs to guarantee a +2 Surf KO. Volcarona uses Heat Wave and doesn't burn Cloyster, so the outcome to this point is identical to if Mienshao had connected with High Jump Kick and Cloyster had Rock Blast and didn't miss with it against Volcarona.

Absol comes out 3rd and you guessed it, avoids Icicle Spear with Bright Powder. If Drapion gets a Sub up without being burned, it can pull off the win since it just has to stall out Absol's 5 Punishments (even a 100 BP one is more likely than not to not break a Sub). Unfortunately, Drapion got hit by Swagger and hit itself the first turn out, and a subsequent Will-o-Wisp sealed its fate. That Absol would have played directly into a Lum Garchomp's hands provided Bright Powder didn't continue activating, but I'll take the several earlier battles Drapion pulled out. Actually, I'd rather take going thousands of battles without running into the hax that prevents Durant from using Entrainment rather than encountering it 8-10 times in 514 battles, but that's what you have to deal with in the real world.

Here's the actual team I used - it's what I'd recommend to someone who just wants to grind BP or get the Lansat/Starf Berry as quickly as possible. You have the primary "Truant Cloyster +6 lol easy" mode that takes a little under 2 minutes from the beginning of one battle to the beginning of the next, and Drapion is mostly identical to Garchomp in terms of "thing that wastes Sand Stream turns so Cloyster's Sash doesn't break," "thing that takes the last bit of health off the 3rd Pokemon if both the 2nd and 3rd mons are really bulky Ice resists," and "thing you can switch in to most Perish Song and Fake Out leads so Durant can eventually use Entrainment and Cloyster doesn't lose its Focus Sash," while also being a more guaranteed victory if the opponent's lead KOs or otherwise incapacitates Durant the turn it uses Entrainment.

Durant | Choice Scarf | Jolly
244 HP | 12 Def | 252 Spe EVs for the 971 streak: 220 HP|64 Def|228 Spe with Protect instead of Rock Slide
-Entrainment
-X-Scissor
-Rock Slide
-Iron Head

Same stuff as always. Didn't change the EVs from my Glalie team because lazy, but if you're relying on lead Durant to always be successful in using Entrainment, you don't need to outspeed any +2 Blazikens so go ahead and drop it down to outspeeding the Scarf Manectric. Since the only time you will actually be using an attack is to KO the 4x weak Exeggutor with X-Scissor, you can take a guess as to how to allocate the remaining EVs. Go crazy with what you have as the last 2 attacks. Protect is fine if the lead is Slaking or something that Traces Truant, but you can switch Drapion directly into Slaking (Night Slash) or Gardevoir (Focus Blast) and either start setting it up or go to Cloyster. Porygon2 is never on the same team as Quagsire, so you can go ahead and let Durant take the Thunder Wave or whatever and set up Drapion for the free win. Confide is another option that Turskain has mentioned before to help deal with Speed Boost Yanmega leads (both Yanmega leads I faced in this run had Frisk - that is just luck), but I was too lazy to look for the TM in Omega Ruby.

Cloyster | Focus Sash | Adamant
252 Atk | 252 Spe | 4 HP For the 971 streak: Naughty, 252 Atk| 94 SpA| 164 Spe
-Shell Smash
-Protect
-Icicle Spear
-Surf

Just want to stress again that the 4th move is very negotiable. If you're playing this team for a long streak, you should probably only set up Cloyster against teams that you can just roll through with Icicle Spear only (or if you need to set up quickly because of Explosion, of course). For example, not being able to touch Walrein or Dewgong doesn't matter because Drapion can set up on them even if they take out Cloyster - Lapras is something that could potentially take out Cloyster with Body Slam and Drapion with Perish Song, so if Durant's KOed you can set up Drapion instead if you want to be cautious. Surf gets a nice guaranteed KO on stuff like Barbaracle, Volcarona, non-Sash Entei and Heatran, and non-Sturdy Avalugg, Bastiodon, and Aggron. I know Focus Sash gives an "extra life," if Rock Blast misses, but it's already easy enough to use up that extra life elsewhere on Sand Stream, Quick Claw, Bright Powder, priority, and so on. If one of those Pokemon comes up 3rd when Cloyster has 1 HP remaining, I'd rather be guaranteed to either kill it or knock it down to 1 HP and have something else finish it off than have a 10% chance of it surviving at full health. Also, in the scheme of grinding out fast wins with Cloyster, it can be nice to KO something with a single +6 Surf rather than deal with all the "Hit 4 times! It's not very effective.... X ate its Sitrus Berry!" kind of stuff.

Regardless, I hope the replays I've posted have demonstrated that a team with Durant and two Protect sweepers is much, much more likely to lose because bad luck against a Fake Out/Protect/hax item lead preventing Durant from using Entrainment than because a +6 Cloyster with Focus Sash wasn't able to get the job done.

Here are some Special Attack EV benchmarks I've found (with a Naughty nature) that would help Cloyster guarantee certain KOs with Surf it wouldn't get normally, or if Rock Blast were to miss

76: Chandelure 4 at +2
92: Volcarona 4 at +2
124: Non-Sash Heatran at +2
220: Thick Fat Hariyama at +6

Drapion | Leftovers | Adamant
252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 SpD
-Substitute
-Protect
-Acupressure
-Knock Off

VaporeonIce's Drapion is the closest thing to a guaranteed win in the Maison when set up. Cloyster covers its vulnerability to leads that use Explosion too quickly because being able to get to to +2 or +4 with a Sash is better than something like Gyarados or Salamence getting to +2 or +1 with a Sub (even before factoring in the Sturdy, Focus Sash, or contact abilities that can screw the latter two over); it also helps make battles quicker when the lead is something like Gyarados or Swampert that can force Drapion to use Protect every other turn while setting up if it's not getting some help from evasion. Leftovers over Black Sludge because stealing a Black Sludge from one of those Grimers on the Fiery Path was too hard. Here are a few leads with Protect or Fake Out that Drapion can easily set up against if they manage to prevent Durant from Entraining: Venusaur, Meganium, Torterra, Samurott, Shiftry, Tauros, Abomasnow, Cradily, Shuckle, Roserade, Zoroark, Jynx, Tentacruel, Kingdra, Unfezant, Glaceon, Leafeon, Regice 3, Articuno 4, and Registeel 4.


Strategy against some problem leads that I didn't show in replays:
Mismagius/Lapras: Switch directly to Drapion. If they didn't use Mean Look/Block on you, try to get a Substitute up and stall until they use Perish song so Drapion can switch out on the last Perish Song turn. If you're trapped, start using Knock Off to make them easier for Cloyster to handle later on, but don't use Knock Off on the last turn of Perish Song; you just have to let Drapion faint because if it KOs the switch in, the Perish Song lead will come right back in.

Kangaskhan: Switch Drapion in on the Fake Out and spam Knock Off. You will likely be Endeavored down to 1/4 of Kanga's HP as you KO it. By then you've seen 2/3rds of the team and should know which of Drapion or Cloyster you should sacrifice to let Durant do its thing. Sure, the 2nd Pokemon could be another Protect/Detect/Fake Out lead that Drapion can no longer deal with, but that's just the risk you take.

Meganium/Venusaur/Roserade: You don't need to wait until Durant is KOed. Once it's Leech Seeded Durant, you can go ahead and switch in Drapion because the AI won't be using Leech Seed again.

Floatzel: If its first 3 turns are Protect/Waterfall/Protect, switch to Cloyster to take the incoming Waterfall then switch back to Durant. It will either use Low Kick or Protect, freeing you to try another Entrainment without worrying about an Aqua Jet KO. After that, set up Drapion.

Bright Powder/Quick Claw/Lax Incense: If Walrein, Glaceon, Unfezant, Gothitelle, or Dugtrio KO Durant without allowing a successful Entrainment, Drapion can set up. If Lati@s or Regigigas avoid a couple Entrainments, switch to Drapion and try to get it Knocked Off.

Yanmega: If it broadcasts having the ability Frisk, congrats - you can probably get Entrainment off on them. Otherwise, switch to Cloyster. Yanmega will likely use Detect. If that happened and the Yanmega has Speed Boost, hit it with a +0 Icicle Spear to get it off the field. If Cloyster comes in on Detect and Yanmega doesn't Speed Boost, Shell Smash then Icicle Spear. If Cloyster's hit on the switch, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Go for the Icicle Spear until it faints and then hope that Entrainment works. If that fails, maybe Drapion can pull a nice Evasion or Special Defense boost out of its ass.

Other than that, just pay attention to the trainers you're fighting in the event that Durant gets KOed or incapacitated to the point where it can't come in for a 2nd Entrainment. Off the top of my mind, Unaware Quagsire, Cobalion, Metagross, Slowbro, Empoleon, Aggron, Probopass, Registeel, Poliwrath and Thick Fat Hariyama can take a hit from +6 Cloyster, so if you see a lot of those Pokemon combined with Quick Claw, priority, and evasion items on the trainer's roster, you may want to take a little more time and set up Drapion. One nice thing is that Drapion just needs a Sub and +2 in Speed, Accuracy, and Attack to guarantee a win against any Hex Maniac, so it won't always take 21 Acupressure boosts.


This streak was on ORAS and eclipses my highest listed streak, but I had a 576 Super Singles streak quite a while back when using the Glalie team which I never got around to posting because it was just dumb. UNYG-WWWW-WWWY-TKGN shows the loss. It was similar to my previous 500+ loss with the Glalie team, just zoned out and on the 2nd turn out of 15,000+ during the streak in which Glalie took a hit with no Substitute, it had -2 Special Defense and +0 Evasion after 20+ turns of Moody boosts and a -2 Accuracy Alakazam 1 OHKOed it with Psychic.
 
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The team I posted earlier stands at 70 consecutive wins in Super Double Battle now, though I did change Latios' item to Life Orb.

YTPG-WWWW-WWXQ-T8BF

The AI failed hard with that first turn Bulldoze... :D
 

Lumari

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This Swampert moveset worked, but the EV spread could probably be optimized for the Battle Maison speed tiers.
Well, here is what are and aren't missing out on: (judging by Accelgor's base Speed I'm gonna take a guess your spread is for Timid Mega Sceptile in rain; there a link to the Speed tiers in the OP)
300 - Aerodactyl 1 #
258 - Manectric 4 #
250 - Entei 3 #
244 - 252 Spe Mega Swampert in rain
240 - Terrakion 2 #
231 - Garchomp 3 #
229 - Landorus 2 # (Focus Blast, Grass Knot)
228 - Staraptor 2 #, Typhlosion 3 # (Eruption)
225 - Pinsir 4 # (Guillotine)
220 - Darmanitan 4 # (Flare Blitz, Stone Edge)
218 - 148 Spe Mega Swampert in rain
216 - Accelgor (1,3,4)
Choice Scarf Aerodactyl doesn't exist after battle 40 (or probably even after battle 10 lol), but Choice Scarf Manectric (Thunder + Overheat) and Choice Scarf Entei (Eruption) are completely out of Swampert's reach, which isn't great but whatever. The fastest threat within reach is Scarf Terrakion, which would require almost max Speed; it's certainly nice to outspeed it, but I'm not sure if it's gonna be required, because if it leads you can't get up rain anyway and if it shows up later it 'should' be predictable in its targeting.
Scarfchomp would definitely be worth creeping for because you can't Protect bait and OHKO it, but on the other hand it's extremely rare (only one trainer after battle 40 can use it). Scarf Landorus is probably required to creep though because it OHKOes Swampert with Grass Knot (even though the AI is kinda stupid with that move so I'm not entirely sure if it would target Swampert, but it's unpredictable as hell otherwise so getting rid of it as soon as possible makes sense), and if you're going there you might as well add an extra 8 EVs for Scarfchomp. There are also some turn 1 benchmarks possibly worth shooting for:

112 - 252 Spe base Swampert
<...>
108 - ALL Excadrill, Regigigas 2 after Slow Start
<...>
100 - Altaria (1,4), Braviary 1, Chandelure (3,4), Dragonite (1,3), Drifblim 1, Gallade 3, ALL Goodra, Mamoswine (3,4), Mandibuzz (3,4), ALL Meganium, Regice 2, Shiftry (3,4), Togekiss 1, Venusaur (1,4)
99 - <...>, 148 Spe base Swampert
Right now you're one point below Chandelure4 and Mamoswine4 so it probably makes sense to creep them and OHKO them before they burn Swampert or wreck everything, respectively. Excadrill is also within base Swampert's reach, but that one would require almost full investment so your call on that one. Mandibuzz (Swagger) and Shiftry (Fake Out, Protect, Sucker Punch, Focus Sash) are assholes too fwiw. Excadrill is stupidly annoying too but that one would require almost full investment, and I obviously don't know how many of those 14 extra HP are coming into play right now.

(For what it's worth, Entei4 - OHKOes Articuno with Stone Edge, but it's rare and when outside of rain you should use Protect on Articuno against it regardless because the only trainers that run that one can also run the Scarf one - as well as Volcarona4 and Zapdos2 - which are just assholes - sit at 120, within Mega Swampert's reach outside of rain; however, you can't outspeed them on turn 1 anyway and they would require almost full investment, so not sure if you want to go for them)

Good luck, it's nice to see Articuno get some love ^^
 
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Well, here is what are and aren't missing out on: (judging by Accelgor's base Speed I'm gonna take a guess your spread is for Timid Mega Sceptile in rain; there a link to the Speed tiers in the OP)
Yes exactly, that spread was for outspeeding Mega Sceptile on Battle Spot. Now I remember... ^^

~ Reducing Swampert's HP to reach higher speed tiers ~
Speed creeping the Chandelure and Mamoswine is probably a good idea and I'll definitely think about modifying the EV spread to outspeed some of the faster threats you mentioned, but the extra HP points have been very useful against Eelektross.
Every single one that I've encountered in these 70 battles had Grass Knot and they failed to OHKO my Mega Swampert each time by a few HP points. Eelektross has the coverage to do a lot of damage against my team if it leads, though I'm not even sure if they appear at this point.

Good luck, it's nice to see Articuno get some love ^^
Thanks. Articuno deserves the love and the Mega Swampert/Articuno rain combo is a lot of fun to use.

PS: Your post was very helpful, thank you. :D
 

Lumari

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Speed creeping the Chandelure and Mamoswine is probably a good idea and I'll definitely think about modifying the EV spread to outspeed some of the faster threats you mentioned, but the extra HP points have been very useful against Eelektross.
Every single one that I've encountered in these 70 battles had Grass Knot and they failed to OHKO my Mega Swampert each time by a few HP points. Eelektross has the coverage to do a lot of damage against my team if it leads, though I'm not even sure if they appear at this point.
They do appear, and they do have Grass Knot, so that's certainly a thing to keep in mind (and now that you mention it, from what I remember it did always use that on the Mamoswine I used on my first triples team a year ago...) You're not gonna need a lot of investment to always survive it, though.

888 | Eelektross4 | Bold | Leftovers | Charge Beam | Grass Knot | Flamethrower | Protect | HP/SpD (the set you'll usually see)
713 | Eelektross3 | Brave | Assault Vest | Brick Break | U-turn | Grass Knot | Wild Charge | HP/Atk (Roller Skaters can run this one alongside set 4)

0 SpA Eelektross Grass Knot (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Swampert: 148-176 (84.5 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
(148, 148, 152, 152, 156, 156, 160, 160, 160, 164, 164, 168, 168, 172, 172, 176)

Uninvested Swampert has 175 HP, so 12 HP EVs are enough to always avoid the OHKO from it (as a matter of fact, so are 4 SpD EVs because then the damage caps at 172) so if it's just for Eelektross you should be fine going for Scarfchomp at least, but yeah, your call, you might notice more things where the HP matters ^^
 
I'm going to try using a endeavor Aron strategy for doubles.
How does this look?

Lv.1 Aron@Berry juice
Nature:Adamant
Trait:Sturdy
Move set:
Endeavor
Protect
Toxic
Swagger
IVs:xx\xx\xx\xx\xx\xx
Evs:None
Deadly under TR, its main use, not that everyone doesn't already know this, is to endeavor and protect, drawing in attacks and leaving the opponent with 1 or 12 HP. Toxic is useful for picking of the weakened opponents and swagger is the best option you have for the last slot.

Dusclops@Eviolite
Nature:Relaxed
Trait:Frisk
Move set:
Trick room
Night shade
Brick break
Foresight
Ivs:31\31\31\xx\31\00
Evs:252HP\124Def\132SpD
Frisk is used over pressure because it helps for predicting the sets of the opponents pokemon. Trick room is to make Aron always act first after priority moves. Night shade is for dealing that 12HP leftover after the endeavor.Brick break is for the same purpose but for normal types and can also do good damage to aggron, auroros, etc. Foresight is to allow Aron's endeavor to hit ghost types.

Charizard@Charizardite X
Nature:Brave
Trait:Blaze
Move set:
Flare blitz
Dragon claw
Protect
Roost
IVs:31\31\31\xx\31\00
Evs:252HP\252Atk\4SpD
This guy is the safety net of the team. He is decently fast allowing him to get the edge over some Pokemon out of trick room. Flare Blitz and Dragon claws are the main two STABs and Roost and protect are for longetivity.

Machamp@Assault vest
Nature:Brave
Trait:No guard
Move set:
Dynamic punch
Stone edge
Bullet punch
Knock off
Ivs:31\31\31\xx\31\00
Evs:252HP\252Atk\4SpD
No guard allows it to use very innacurate moves such as Dynamic punch and stone edge. Bullet punch is nice priority and knock off is useful against quick claws, leftovers, etc.

I would very much appreciate suggestions, especially with dusclops\charizard\machamps ev spreads.


EDIT:Okay I might switch mega charizard x for mega gyrados and macvhamp for sylveon
Thinking of this
Gyarados@Gyaradosite
Nature:Brave
Trait:Intimidate
Moveset:
Waterfall
Crunch
Substitute
Proterct
IVs:31\31\31\xx\31\00
EVs:252Hp\252Atk\4Sp.Def

Sylveon@Choice specss
Nature:Quiet
Trait:Pixilate
Moveset:
Hyper voice
Moonblast
Psyshock
Shadowball
IVs:31\xx\31\31\31\00
EVs:252HP\252SpA\4Def

Again help on the ev spreads or anything would be greatly appreciated.
 
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I've just obtained my third trophy for beating Super Triple Battle. Now all I'm missing is Super Rotation and Super Multi.
Are there any good guides for rotation battles?
I've never played them in my life and don't really have an idea of what to expect...
 
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cant say

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I've just obtained my third trophy for beating Super Triple Battle. Now all I'm missing is Super Rotation and Super Multi.
Are there any good guides for rotation battles?
I've never played them in my life and don't really have an idea of what to expect...
I find rotations really fun, it's kinda like singles on steroids. You can use lots of cool strategies that don't work as well as you'd want to in singles like Trick Room / Tailwind and Weather support. Things like clerical and screens support is really good, and Substitute is really popular (I haven't used it myself). Teams generally consist of your sweeper of choice, a cleric, something to support / bulky mon, and something reliable in the back that can clean up when something goes wrong with your first three. Just checking the top streaks in the format will shed more light on it so I highly recommend reading a few of those. Something important to note is that activation abilities will not work unless the lead Pokemon has it, so a Tyranitar cannot activate Sandstorm unless it leads (or switches in), same for Intimidate..

I'm currently rolling with a team built around Mega Steelix. I have Tyranitar in the lead spot to set up Sandstorm automatically, then on turn one I rotate to Reuniclus to set up Trick Room, then I rotate to Mega Steelix on turn two to start wrecking stuff. I'll post about it later when I actually beat the chatelaine (sitting in the 30s right now coz I've been pretty busy..)
 

turskain

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is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I've just obtained my third trophy for beating Super Triple Battle. Now all I'm missing is Super Rotation and Super Multi.
Are there any good guides for rotation battles?
I've never played them in my life and don't really have an idea of what to expect...
Rotations is weird. You're essentially playing blind, since you're facing three enemy Pokémon with no knowledge of which one will rotate in and what move they will use - you can't really outplay the AI like in other modes.

Since you have no idea what the AI is doing, Pokémon that can take hits and wall a large portion of the Maison outright without having to worry about the opponent are good - these overlap a lot with top Singles picks like Suicune and Gliscor, but there are also more Rotations-specific sets you can use such as Klefki, Wish passers, and dual screens.

Going on the defensive is generally the safe, easy approach to Rotations, but with very hard hitters, enemies that set up rapidly, Taunt, and other threats sometimes stopping your defensive strategy, you're also going to need offensive Pokémon that can start nabbing KOs right away. One-click sweepers such as Dragonite, Cloyster and Mega Kangaskhan, and Destiny Bond users like Sharpedo and Gengar usually fill these roles. Some Pokémon can also do both, such as Dragonite being able to stall using Roost/Substitute with Multiscale and also sweep after a DD, for example.
 
TIL: Because Water Pulse hits anywhere, Storm Drain will null the move FROM anywhere, despite the attacker being in the opposite corner in a triple battle.

Speaking of Storm Drain, that ability plus Sturdy, show up way too freaking much for my liking (on pokes that can only have them as their HA, though Cradily is really the only Storm Drain HA in the Maison.) I recall the discussion we had earlier, about HAs on pokes with only two abilities having said HA only about a third of the time, but it almost immediately reached the point where every battle needed to be played as though they had it, because to not do so typically resulted in bad things. I can count on one hand the number of times Regirock and Carbink actually fell to single hits, but that's also because I quickly stopped targeting them with only one poke. It's just not worth it.

My streak is coming along very nicely, better than I hoped. I've made a couple minor changes to Slowbro and Aron that have increased their effectiveness (moreso in Slowbro's case.)
 
TIL: Because Water Pulse hits anywhere, Storm Drain will null the move FROM anywhere, despite the attacker being in the opposite corner in a triple battle.
I assumed that a left-Pokemon Storm Drain would block Water Pulse if it targeted the left Pokemon or the center Pokemon, but not the right Pokemon. That is, the move's range of effect is determined by the targets, not the attacker. That would mean that if the center Pokemon targeted the right Pokemon, the left Pokemon's Storm Drain wouldn't activate. What have you found so far?
 

Lumari

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I assumed that a left-Pokemon Storm Drain would block Water Pulse if it targeted the left Pokemon or the center Pokemon, but not the right Pokemon. That is, the move's range of effect is determined by the targets, not the attacker. That would mean that if the center Pokemon targeted the right Pokemon, the left Pokemon's Storm Drain wouldn't activate. What have you found so far?
With Lightningrod, I found that if my Manectric is within the attacker's range, Lightningrod triggers. Which honestly makes sense, because that means it absorbs all attacks that theoretically could have been aimed at it. I've had some battles where my unevolved Manectric ended up in the left position and absorbed Thunderbolts from a center foe that (presumably) aimed for my Talonflame in the right position. (e.g. if I would have it Volt Switch out and later switch back in against Furisode girls, where I always keep Manectric unevolved because losing Lightningrod against an opponent that has a 6/8 chance of bringing Jolteon is pretty dumb. So the position of the target is irrelevant, the position of the attacker relative to the Storm Drain/Lightningrod mon is what matters; it would absorb the attack directly from the source rather than only after the attack reaches its target, if that makes sense) However, if a foe in the right position is aiming for my right-position Talonflame while Manectric is in the left position, Manectric's Lightningrod doesn't trigger, because it's out of the attacker's reach. I obviously can't say anything about Water Pulse because there are no cross-field Electric moves for Manectric to absorb, but it honestly makes sense that the move would be blocked from anywhere; it could theoretically have been aimed at the Storm Drain user from any position, so the Storm Drain user will absorb it from any position.
 
I assumed that a left-Pokemon Storm Drain would block Water Pulse if it targeted the left Pokemon or the center Pokemon, but not the right Pokemon. That is, the move's range of effect is determined by the targets, not the attacker. That would mean that if the center Pokemon targeted the right Pokemon, the left Pokemon's Storm Drain wouldn't activate. What have you found so far?
I was always under the impression that Storm Drain and Lightning Rod took effect if the ability was adjacent to the pokemon using the affected move; ergo, it's never safe to use those respective attacks in double battles, because they'll always be blocked.

As for my experience, well, it's easiest to explain with a diagram:

EMPTY___________



Clawitzer targeted Chandelure with Water Pulse, and "Cradily took the attack!" I am absolutely certain I didn't mistakenly target Cradily. However, because Cradily used Protect that turn, it got no SpA boost. I *believe* this only happened because of Water Pulse's attack properties, which enable it to hit anywhere on the field. The game mechanics might thusly regard it as being absorbable at all times. I'll bet this also occurs with Rage Powder used by the corner poke.

Admittedly using WP was a misplay on my part, because LO Dark Pulse will OHKO Chandelure4, and I had no reason not to play it safe. This particular battle went to hell due to a Slowbro flinch followed by an unexpected KO, so I was playing without TR. Things were messy, which is also how Camerupt wound up taking the center position at some point. Fortunately things went pretty smoothly (aside from the Storm Drain misplay) once the front line was taken down, though I did get a lucky crit.

I can upload the battle for you to watch or mock battle yourself, to try various other things with it if you like.
 

turskain

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I've had Gastrodon absorb Water Pulse from the AI's Clawitzer4 and Slowbro1 from across the field in Triples. I think redirection from Storm Drain/Lightning Rod should work similarly to Follow Me and Rage Powder - all applicable attacks that could be targeted at the redirector's position being redirected sounds sensible, like Plumberjack posted.
 
So my Mega Audino streak just ended. I'm posting a streak of 1449 wins in Omega Ruby Super Triples. The loss was my first battle that felt genuinely close, and I did learn something from it, but it was still kinda bullshit. I did just lose not that long ago, though, so I'm pretty bitter.

The team is Trick Room + Aron, which just happens to be what ReptoAbysmal has been using lately. His posts certainly helped me be more aware of what Pokemon are options for Trick Room teams, so lots of props to him for that. And, of course, thanks to R Inanimate for pioneering Aron in Triples way back in the day. This team uses similar concepts, but with a few cool tricks up its sleeve.

Here's the team:




Audino (F) @ Audinite (KawaiiEmpire)
Ability: Regenerator -> Healer
Nature: Relaxed
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
~ Dazzling Gleam
~ Trick Room
~ Flamethrower
~ Helping Hand

I asked my partner which new Megas I should use for Doubles and Triples, and she thought Mega Audino was cute, so she chose it. I groaned at the choice; I thought that Mega Audino doesn't do anything that other Pokemon can't do better. But I knew she had good bulk, mediocre speed, and could use Trick Room, so I decided to go for that. And good lord, it was mindblowing. I've run into basically none of the problems ReptoAbysmal has faced with TR setters. The AI never Taunts Audino, which is nice, and they VERY rarely target her for attacks. Dazzling Gleam is a STAB spread move, which is really valuable; the best TR setter who can boast the same is Aromatisse, but a few things in the Maison KO Aromatisse. Here's what can OHKO Mega Audino (from the post-battle 40 sets):

Without a crit:
Porygon-Z 2 Adaptability or +1 Hyper Beam (guaranteed)

...and that's it.

With a crit:
Muk 4 and Toxicroak 4 Gunk Shot (18.8% chance)
Gengar 4 Sludge Bomb (50% chance)
Tyrantrum 4 Head Smash (31.3% chance)
Archeops 3 Head Smash (37.5% chance)
Medicham 4 High Jump Kick (18.8% chance)
Escavalier 3 Iron Head (43.8% chance)
Victreebel 4 Sludge Bomb (guaranteed)
Slaking 4 Gunk Shot (50% chance)
Magnezone 3 or 4, Heatran 1, 2, or 4 Flash Cannon (31.3% chance)
Aurorus 4 Refrigerate Hyper Beam (guaranteed)

The AI pretty much never targets Audino with these moves on turn 1, because she doesn't have the Fairy type that makes her weak to these moves then. The exception is Aurorus's Hyper Beam, but even if that KOs, it's not too bad; I can go to my other TR setter.

So yeah, Mega Audino basically always gets up Trick Room, unless I choose not to have her set it up. She almost never faints (at any point in the battle), meaning she can use Helping Hand the whole time, which is awesome. I originally had Heal Bell over Flamethrower, but that was pointless and stupid. Flamethrower is really cool for coverage, letting me 2HKO stuff like Escavalier and Steelix, who would otherwise prove mildly annoying.

Dazzling Gleam gets KOs along with Aron, as well as breaking Sashes/Sturdy on middle Pokemon and 2HKOing frail Dark-types. It 3HKOs Garchomp, which is also kind of cool.

Healer is actually pretty cool. I still try to avoid Static and Flame Body Pokemon with Aron, but if attacking them is the best choice, I'll often do it and hope that Healer kicks in (in the rare event that those abilities even activate). With Healer, paralysis has a fairly low chance of actually being disruptive.




Aron (M) @ Berry Juice (HowDoIWork?)
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Naughty
IVs: Unknown
EVs: None
~ Protect
~ Endeavor
~ Toxic
~ Swagger

The team's magnet. You all know what he does. I have used all of the moves, though Toxic and Swagger generally help me end battles quicker rather than actually winning them for me. They help Aron do something against Ghosts, though, which comes up with some regularity.

Aron's typing is key for this team; with no Ground immunities, Aron often baits Earthquakes, which are helpful in having the AI KO their own Pokemon. Workers are especially good at this. The AI seems to prefer super effective KOs over non-super effective KOs, which can help to make them more predictable. That said, they still use Rock Slide fairly regularly, which can flinch Audino and cause problems. Unless...



Hariyama (M) @ Toxic Orb (E. Honda)
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/0
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 SpDef
~ Fake Out
~ Close Combat
~ Knock Off
~ Wide Guard

I didn't get what the big deal was with Trick Room at first. Sure, you have some strong attackers, but most of them either rely on Earthquake (Marowak), a Choice item, or simply aren't that much stronger than a normal-speed Pokemon. And then...I used Hariyama. This thing is ridiculous. After Toxic Orb activates, he probably OHKOs at least half of the Pokemon I face. With chip damage from Fake Out or Mega Audino's Dazzling Gleam (on the center mon), it's even more than that. Close Combat is the main KO machine, but Knock Off is almost as impressive, and works wonders against the Ghosts who cause problems for Aron. Fake Out support is awesome, smacking threats who might mess things up for Audino or OHKO Hariyama on the first turn. Not many opponents can OHKO Hariyama, but the ones that can are relatively likely to do so. This seems especially true for Flying-types and Psychic-types that lack Fighting-moves. Like I said, the AI seems to prefer super-effective OHKOs over not-very-effective KOs, so Straptor is probably going to Brave Bird Hariyama rather than going for Aron. When I can't stop that, I usually Fake Out something just for the chip damage.

After raving about his other moves, I have to say that Wide Guard is probably the best move on the set. It stops Rock Slide flinches and Blizzard freezes on Audino, which is awesome. Workers could be a bit of a problem if Aron goes down, since I don't have a ton of strategies for beating Steel-types. But with Wide Guard, I can often just let Workers KO their own Pokemon with Earthquake. Marowak gets special props, because it seems to use EQ more consistently than everything else, and hits like a truck.

I used Toxic Orb over Flame ORb because of Cofagrigus. In most battles, the damage doesn't matter one way or another, but sometimes the Toxic damage gets annoying if I'm spamming Wide Guard. It's worth it to not be totally crippled by hitting Cofagrigus, though.


Many battles end with just these three. They seem like they shouldn't, but here's how it goes:

Turn 1: Aron Protects, Hariyama attacks or uses Wide Guard, Audino mega evolves and uses Trick Room.
Turn 2: Aron uses Endeavor, Audino uses Dazzling Gleam and KOs something, Hariyama KOs something else.
Turn 3: Repeat Turn 2.
Turn 4: Repeat Turn 3. Sometimes, the Pokemon on the right is something Hariyama can't KO, so I'll have Hariyama KO the other one and have Aron use Endeavor on the one on the right, making it an easy target for the next turn.

For back-ups, I wanted a lot of power, and thought a spread attacker would help complement my primarily single-target attackers in my front line. If something goes wrong with them, I needed someone who could come in and do heavy damage quickly. This led to a popular choice:


Sylveon (M) @ Choice Specs (The Voice)
Ability: Pixilate
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpAtk
~ Hyper Voice
~ Shadow Ball
~ Psyshock
~ Swift

This thing was a pain to breed, but so worth it. Sylveon isn't super slow, but with a 0 Speed IV and a Quiet nature, he can function well in Trick Room. Obviously, Hyper Voice is the main attack, but I do use Shadow Ball fairly regularly for bulky Ghosts. Psyshock is useful for Poison-types, since bulky Poisons like Venusaur 4 can be a little hard for me to KO. Swift is for Mr. Mime (and, I guess, evasion boosters, but I always forget that it has that property); I did use it once, but it didn't really matter.

Aron is usually the first to faint but not always; sometimes Hariyama is. Audino almost never faints). Sylveon takes Aron's place, starts firing off Hyper Voices boosted by Helping Hand, and usually ends the battle pretty quickly. I'm generally a little disappointed if he has to replace Hariyama, because Hyper Voice is much less impressive without Helping Hand. It generally still works well, though.


I wanted a back-up Trick Room setter, because I'm clearly relying on Trick Room a lot at this point. Bulk was pretty important, as was a defensive typing that didn't stack weaknesses. Some offensive presence was also important. I came up with:



Cofagrigus (F) @ Lum Berry (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
Ability: Mummy
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpDef / 252 SpAtk
~ Trick Room
~ Shadow Ball
~ Energy Ball
~ Nasty Plot

Cofagrigus isn't that strong on her own, but after a Nasty Plot, she's doing fairly impressive damage. I don't breed for Hidden Power, but if I did, I would probably take HP Fighting over Energy Ball. That said, I really like that Energy Ball can hit annoyances like Whiscash 4 and Rhyperior 4 hard right off the bat. And, of course, Ghost-type coverage is helpful to hit things Aron can't. Lum Berry was primarily chosen to make her a better Cresselia 2 check, but it can come in handy against paralysis and (VERY rarely) freeze.

I wanted one last back-up who could hit hard. I also wanted some extra coverage on things Sylveon doesn't like, especially Heatran. I came up with the next Pokemon pretty early in the planning process, but wasn't sure how to make it work. Between Cofagrigus's typing and Wide Guard, though, I thought I could get away with:



Lickilicky (M) @ Life Orb (Vengaboys)
Ability: Cloud Nine
Nature: Brave
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
~ Protect
~ Explosion
~ Knock Off
~ Brick Break

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM. Lickilicky's Life Orb-boosted Explosion is clearly a one-time deal, but it can certainly come in handy against a field full of bulky Poison or Fire-types that Sylveon can't hit so hard. I thought more battles would be "KO stuff that resists Explosion and bring in Lickilicky", but Sylveon was usually more reliable due to the high number of Pokemon with Protect/Detect or a Ghost, Rock, or Steel typing. That said, when I needed Licklicky, he worked wonders. When Hariyama goes down on turn 1 to a Moltres 2 Sky Attack, it's often really useful to bring in Lickilicky and just instantly KO two legendaries.

Knock Off and Brick Break obviously hit the things Explosion can't. He doesn't hit that hard, but the coverage is useful, as is his ability to remove annoying items (Quick Claw, Bright Powder, Lax Incense). He's not awesome against Heatran, but he gets a pretty solid hit without too much trouble. I don't use Protect much, but couldn't come up with much else to use. Some options include Curse (which seems too slow for me, but outslowing something like Bastiodon 4 after a turn does sound nice...) and Sunny Day. Which brings us to our next point...

I chose Cloud Nine to help Lickilicky be an "answer" to Snow Warning (and manual Hail, but the AI never uses that). Aron hates Snow Warning, but the main reason to that Abomasnow carries Ice Shard. If it didn't, Aron could still Protect turn 1 and get a KO on turn 2 against a priority-free team, which is usually a decent trade. But with Ice Shard, Abomasnow lowers Aron's HP on turn 1 with Hail, then KOs it immediately on turn 2 with Ice Shard (it always does this over Focus Blast apparently priority KOs tend to trump super-effective KOs, unless the priority is Sucker Punch). So I often switch out Hariyama for Lickilicky on turn 1. Lickilicky isn't a great check to Hail, but he does buy at least a turn or two, which is often enough to get a huge lead and snatch the victory by witching in Sylveon when Aron faints. But my move against Snow Warning depends on the team; sometimes I'll just switch Aron out for Cofagrigus, if the AI is going to be using Fighting moves in addition to Ice Shard. Cloud Nine isn't a "counter" to Hail, it's just another tool in the toolbox.


I wanted to run Tyranitar for sand; I really did. But I didn't want to give up the power of my spread nukes, and I thought having a second TR setter was really important. Tyranitar's power is somewhat underwhelming, and it doesn't really solve any of the major issues my team has.

This team generally works really well; while it functions poorly outside of Trick Room, Trick Room pretty much always goes up on Turn 1 when I want it to (occasionally I won't set it up on Turn 1, if the AI has at least two Pokemon who are slower than Hariyama). It has failed to do so on three occasions. The first was somewhere between battles 100 and 200, when an Articuno froze Audino with Blizzard because I was busy Faking Out a Moltres who I didn't want to KO Hariyama with Sky Attack (I'm still not convinced this was a bad move; Hariyama is incredibly valuable against Veterans. It was a tough and close battle, but unfortunately, I forgot to save it). The second was a Rock Slide flinch on Mega Audino, which didn't matter, because I set it up on the next turn anyway. The third was the battle I lost.

Three of my Pokemon have base speeds of 50 and one has a base speed of 60, which isn't that slow for Trick Room. This gives it the interesting property of outspeeding almost all of Mara's team, which makes for interesting matches against her. I often set up Trick Room anyway to do some quick and easy damage with Aron, then either reverse it or let it expire after Aron faints. While this should theoretically result in Aron using Endeavor once and then fainting to three attacks, that rarely happens, because I can almost always block one of them (generally Surf or EQ) with Wide Guard. It's extremely rare for the AI to use Trick Room against me instead of attacking Aron, but if they do, it's usually not a problem. Note that having all of your Pokemon tie in speed isn't great, but a number of Pokemon sit at base 50 speed. I don't consistently want Hariyama or Audino to hit first either; sometimes I want one, sometimes the other. That said, if I try again, I'll probably give Lickilicky 8 Speed EVs, so I can make the finishing move of Helping Hand Explosion + Close Combat/Knock Off under Trick Room, which will fix some of Lickilicky's Rock/Steel/Ghost problems.

This team is kind of unusual in that it's REALLY short on resistances. Defensive switches are rare; when I do them, they're usually switching Lickilicky in on Ghost moves aimed at Aron, or Cofagrigus in on Fighting moves aimed at Aron. The most common time for me to switch is when I'm close to winning, but want to switch out Hariyama for Cofagrigus on the fourth turn of Trick Room against a last-Pokemon stall set. Then, Aron/Sylveon will attack on the fifth turn while both Audino and Cofagrigus use Trick Room. Then, even if they Protect, Trick Room is still up on the next turn.

This team does have a number of threats, but most of them aren't too hard to handle unless they appear in unusual combinations:

Almost all of these are blocked by Wide Guard, but sometimes I'm in a sticky situation where I need to decide between keeping Hariyama alive (by Faking Out Hawlucha, for example) or by ensuring TR goes up (with Wide Guard). Letting Hariyama faint is almost always the better option (and would have been the better choice in the battle I lost). OHKO users on the left can't be hit by Hariyama's Fake Out, which kind of sucks, but Walrein and Whiscash are really the only Pokemon I've seen actually go for the OHKO move. The fact that Walrein can't hit Aron means I can get away with leaving it on the field if it comes out late, but early Walreins are prime Fake Out targets.

Crobat 4 has Taunted Hariyama once or twice, but never Audino. I do Fake Out Taunt users on rare occasions.

Mandibuzz 4 is super annoying, because it will often use Swagger on turn 1, and it doesn't care who it targets. It's also a good Fake Out target. Audino has only been hit once by a (left side) Mandibuzz Swagger, and she managed to pull off TR anyway.


Most of the time, I can just leave stuff like this on the field and take out it once everything else is down. Shuckle 4 is particularly annoying, but it (hilariously) can't OHKO Aron with Wrap, so it rarely tries to. Mega Audino's Healer can be helpful for beating stall mons by keeping stuff like Sylveon healthy. Unfortunately, she can't heal herself.

Volcarona can get impressive special bulk really quickly, so I often try to take it out relatively fast. Of course, Lickilicky does a good job of wiping them off the map. Venusaur, Roserade, and Tentacruel are more annoying, because they carry Protect. Endeavor or Sylveon's Psyshock are good against them.


I had a streak of about 100 battles early on where Bright Powder and Lax Incense seemed to activate all the time. Afterward, I haven't had many problems, but I do try to avoid attacking them with Aron. Since both Endeavor and Dazzling Gleam need to connect to KO, it's best not to waste attacks doing so if I can help it. Fortunately, Hariyama can KO a lot of them, and can Knock Off ones it can't (like Zapdos 2). Quick Claw isn't that bad; it usually just means Aron loses one more life than usual. Since he generally only loses one life anyway, this isn't bad at all; he can then Protect on the next turn while Hariyama KOs something.


Priority means Aron loses more lives than it usually should, which is obviously bad. That said, he generally loses two, leaving him free to Protect next turn to be highly disruptive. If Aron and Hariyama take down two Pokemon on turn 2 and Aron blocks attacks on turn 3, the battle is pretty much over; Hariyama will KO something else and I'll e up 6-3.


Restoring health means Mega Audino often can't KO with Dazzling Gleam, which kind of sucks. Arcanine is particularly annoying because he has Extremespeed, while Rampardos can have Mold Breaker.


ThisPokemon has basically everything I hate in one pretty little package. It's slower than Hariyama and Audino, meaning it outspeeds under Trick Room and flinches with Rock Slide. It has Sitrus Berry to keep me from KOing with Endeavor + Dazzling Gleam. It has Wide Guard to stop Sylveon from doing damage. And while Hariyama does about a million percent damage with Close Combat, Bastiodon has fucking Sturdy to survive the hit. The good news is that its only attacking move (besides Metal Burst) is Rock Slide, meaning Hariyama can stop it cold. Then I can stall out Trick Room while getting KOs, and finish it off when it's slow again. Of course, that assumes Hariyama can afford to use Wide Guard against it...


Mold Breaker is generally a non-issue, because I can just KO the Mold Breaker Pokemon before the can KO me. Exceptions are right-side Pinsir (who locks itself into something with Scarf), right side Hawlucha (though Hawlucha will often target Hariyama with Sky Attack), and left-side Rampardos.

The loss, battle #1450: 59HG-WWWW-WWXR-QXNA
Butler Noah with Porygon2 4 (left), Bastiodon 4 (center), Walrein 4 (right), Rhyperior 4, Aerodactyl 4, Luxray 4

Did I mention that I hate Bastiodon? My go-to turn 1 play against Bastiodon is to use Close Combat and hope it's Soundproof. This often risks Audino flinching, but I can usually get away with that thanks to being able to use Wide Guard next turn. My go-to play against Walrein 4 is Fake Out; while this can miss, it usually hits, and there's only a 3% chance of a miss AND a OHKO hit. Plus, Walrein often targets Aron with its OHKO moves before Sturdy is revealed.

I choose to go-to strategy against Bastiodon. It's too disruptive in the middle with Rock Slide; I want the chance to OHKO.

I use Trick Room, Protect, and Close Combat. Walrein OHKOs Hariyama, Audino flinches to Rock Slide. Uh oh.

I bring in Lickilicky. The plan is to Brick Break Bastiodon and hopefully KO it next turn. Walrein OHKOs Lickilicky, Audino uses Trick Room, Aron flinches to Rock Slide.

I bring in Sylveon; I want Bastiodon dead. Aron Endeavors Bastiodon, Bastiodon uses Rock Slide, Audino uses Dazzling Gleam, Sylveon flinches, Sheer Cold misses Sylveon. Cofagrigus comes in.

Bastiodon uses Wide Guard. Cofagrigus KOs Bastiodon with Shadow Ball. Dazzling Gleam and Hyper Voice are blocked by Wide Guard; Walrein KOs Sylveon with Fissure.

The rest of the battle is irrelevant at this point; I have two Pokemon and no way of mountain a comeback. Did I mention Porygon2 is at +1, thanks to Download?

This battle was always a bad match-up, but I actually won all 10 of my mock battles against this team. I made my critical error on turn 1; the ideal play is to Wide Guard to ensure that Audino doesn't flinch to Rock Slide. But I really just didn't expect Walrein to OHKO Hariyama for some reason, and having a Bastiodon throwing Rock Slides at all three of your Pokemon every turn isn't a good arrangement at all. If the other Pokemon had been anything BUT Walrein, the risk would have been pretty low, since my back-ups are fairly hard to KO. Even when the opponent has strong attacks, spamming Wide Guard with Hariyama works extremely well against Bastiodon, because the other Pokemon's efforts are focused on Aron. Other OHKO users could also cause problems, but they really seem to strongly prefer attacking Aron rather than using OHKOs (Except Whiscash).

It's worth noting that only Set B trainers can have Bastiodon 4 and Walrein 4 together. Bastiodon is only THIS disruptive in the middle position (on the left, it couldn't stop Hariyama from Faking Out Walrein; on the right, it couldn't flinch Audino). So a Bastiodon in the middle is a 1 in 98 chance. Walrein can be a problem in either the left or the right positions. The odds of both of those Pokemon appearing in one of those two possible problematic configurations is 1 in 4753.

Obviously, I'm responsible for the loss, since this match up USUALLY results in me winning if I play properly (as evidenced by the 10 mock battles). And obviously, I learned a valuable lesson about prioritizing setting up Trick Room above anything else (in almost all cases). But between the extremely unlikely matchup, the OHKOs, and the flinches, this loss was still kinda bullshit.


I do think this team can go further, and I may try them again someday. For now, I'll take my (assuredly extremely short-lived) time in the top five and consider this a decent accomplishment for my first serious foray into Triple battles, particularly with a strategy that had yet to prove itself in this fashion (though on some level, I think ReptoAbysmal's random streaks prove how good Trick Room is in Triples). Good luck, all!
 
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^Great post, and what a great team!

Mega Audino, Aron, Hariyama, Sylveon, Cofagrigus and Lickilicky. On the surface, it sounds like some sort of joke. But the brilliant thing about this thread, is that people manage to build teams and achieve great success with such unconventional Pokémon. The downside with competitive Pokémon is that certain Pokémon dominate every discussion and the most prominent battles. In the Battle Maison (and its equivalents), however, lots of other hidden gems get to shine.

And, of course, it's the only "metagame" where the likes of Bastiodon and Walrein are feared like the plague.
 
Massive props, VaporeonIce. And while lacking TR may be a big detriment, your backup is at least defensively solid, so they're not even close to being screwed should Audino faint (and of course it also requires Cofagrigus to meet an untimely end too.)

And I don't think you'll be losing your spot on the leaderboard anytime soon, so no need to sell yourself short!

Question: since the AI doesn't consider the base stats of Megas when opening-round targeting, did you often find Audino targeted by the moves on your list? Specifically HJK and the fossils' overpowered moves, Head Smash and Hyper Beam?

I ask because in all my battles, it seems the AI still prefers trying to OHKO Aron's partners before Aron, if possible. They'll still occasionally just target Aron or, in Tyrantrum's case, use a move like Earthquake which won't KO anything, but those instances are rare. Carracosta in particular nearly always opts to Aqua Jet Camerupt the first turn, then gives up after the M-evo.

Another thing I noticed is move selection of Choice pokes based on positioning; I think the AI also consciously selects moves based on the available targets.

For example, center Armaldo4 (or rightmost Armaldo4) will open with Superpower on Aron, and targets Camerupt with it if Aron is no longer present. On the far left, when Slowbro is also a target, it'll Earthquake or X-Scissor. I've fought a ton of those things, and it makes me think it doesn't choose Superpower from that position because it's worthless against Slowbro.

I have no super concrete data to back this up, and I really only noticed it because of the sheer number of battles fought, giving me the (mis)perception of a trend.
 
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Massive props, VaporeonIce. And while lacking TR may be a big detriment, your backup is at least defensively solid, so they're not even close to being screwed should Audino faint (and of course it also requires Cofagrigus to meet an untimely end too.)

And I don't think you'll be losing your spot on the leaderboard anytime soon, so no need to sell yourself short!

Question: since the AI doesn't consider the base stats of Megas when opening-round targeting, did you often find Audino targeted by the moves on your list? Specifically HJK and the fossils' overpowered moves, Head Smash and Hyper Beam?

I ask because in all my battles, it seems the AI still prefers trying to OHKO Aron's partners before Aron, if possible. They'll still occasionally just target Aron or, in Tyrantrum's case, use a move like Earthquake which won't KO anything, but those instances are rare. Carracosta in particular nearly always opts to Aqua Jet Camerupt the first turn, then gives up after the M-evo.

Another thing I noticed is move selection of Choice pokes based on positioning; I think the AI also consciously selects moves based on the available targets.

For example, center Armaldo4 (or rightmost Armaldo4) will open with Superpower on Aron, and targets Camerupt with it if Aron is no longer present. On the far left, when Slowbro is also a target, it'll Earthquake or X-Scissor. I've fought a ton of those things, and it makes me think it doesn't choose Superpower from that position because it's worthless against Slowbro.

I have no super concrete data to back this up, and I really only noticed it because of the sheer number of battles fought, giving me the (mis)perception of a trend.
A very small minority of Pokemon will target Audino on turn 1. The only one who does so consistently is Refrigerate Aurorus, presumably because Hyper Beam KO's Audino's base form and Aron isn't weak to any of its moves. Aurorus definitely seemed to prefer targeting Audino to targeting Aron. Audino was targeted by High Jump Kick and Close Combat a couple of times, which then hilariously did 50% damage or less. I'm somewhat surprised, looking back, that she was never targeted by a Medicham 4 High Jump Kick. Tyrantrum can't KO Audino's base form without a crit, which is presumably why it's never targeted her with it.

I wonder if the AI is targeting your non-Aron leads because of their typing. I've found that Hawlucha 4 and Moltres 2 target Hariyama much more consistently than Tornadus does, which I assume is because Tornadus has a Fighting-type move that hits Aron super-effectively. Honchkrow seems to ALWAYS target Hariyama with Drill Peck (I've fought several left-side Honchkrow), which may have to do with Sucker Punch's unreliability as well. In your case with Carracosta, it might be a preference for x4 hits over x2 hits as well. But like you said, this isn't super consistent; it just seems like a bit of a trend.

That's interesting about Armaldo. It's almost always used Superpower against me, but then, it has no reason not to. Tyrantrum has used Earthquake, Crunch, and Head Smash, but it always seems to target Aron. but it also can't OHKO anything else, so it has no reason to try. The typing of my two non-Aron leads is so short on weaknesses that I can't really draw much data on Choiced sets, because almost all of them fail to KO either of my leads.

Another point regarding my team: I often leave users of inaccurate moves (Focus Blast especially) alive, because their misses often let me KO two Pokemon without taking any damage. It's hilarious.
 
Another point regarding my team: I often leave users of inaccurate moves (Focus Blast especially) alive, because their misses often let me KO two Pokemon without taking any damage. It's hilarious.
Oh, god yeah. It's gotten to the point I leave them for last, too. It's also why Aron occasionally finishes battles without being hit.

Another thing I've taken to doing is using Endeavor on a Life Orb holder but not KOing them, if they'll off themselves at the end of the turn. When Slowbro can OHKO something or finish a poke, this usually lets me clean the floor in one turn.

Sucker Punchers can fairly reliably be expected to spam it, especially under TR. It gives Aron a lot of opportunities for Sunny Day.

The 4x weak preference is probably why Medicham and Mienshao almost never use Fake Out, under TR or otherwise. Wide Guard is used often enough not to be an oddity, though. I think it's also why Clawitzer and Thundurus2 leave Slowbro alone.
 

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