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I am just started to play with durant team and have a question.
What do you do against wishiwashi as a lead?
The sets 3 and 4 have the berries for grass and thunder attacks so i can not simply use one of this types.
At the moment i am using tsareena with acupressure play rough protect and sub and need +6 atk to onehit wishiwashi.
I play play rough over trop kick because of the 4x resistance of ferrothorn and scizor and sap zipper.
Yep, that's pretty much why I used the team I used. You switch in Mimikyu and kick out a problem lead, and then the odds of the opponent having a 2nd Pokemon that can't be Entrained (or set up on by something with Moody that doesn't need to take up a moveslot to boost its stats) even after Mimikyu cripples it are extremely low.
Actually, let this be my preliminary guide for Durant teams.
The best Durant teams last generation used a lead that could Taunt things with Protect/Detect and nullify the effects of Quick Claw or evasion items. That's a waste now because of Pokemon like Wishiwashi, Komala, Minior, and Mimikyu whose abilities can't be changed. The two ways around this are either to come up with a lead that can KO or phaze all of them, in addition to anything that can have Protect/Detect, Fake Out, or hax item, or to have a back-up defensive Pokemon that can switch in for Durant and do the same. I tend towards the latter option because of the possible Speed Boost leads (Sharpedo, Yanmega, Blaziken) that can outspeed and KO Durant if they aren't disposed of within two turns.
So if you need two Pokemon such as Durant and Mimikyu, that pretty much guarantees that your sweeper has to have some form of HP recovery (otherwise it'll get weakened by some Z move hitting through Protect and then picked off by priority or Quick Claw or Sturdy/Focus Sash).
That likely necessitates a sweeper that can boost all its stats (either through Acupressure or Moody) in order to not be screwed over by hax items, and that cuts down your options enough that it'd be easy enough try something new out. Here are some possible solutions (all holding Leftovers/Black Sludge where applicable).
I admire everyone who aims for really long streaks, but I really just wanna to get the prints and ribbons. Maybe someday I'll try something to get at least 200 wins.
My team for Super Singles is:
Tapu Koko + @ Weakness Policy (maybe I should've used Shuca berry, I don't know)
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
31/??/31/[HT]/[HT]/31
Nature: Timid
Ability: Eletric Surge
* U-Turn
* Thunderbolt
* Taunt
* Dazzling Gleam
Tapu Koko is fast and it hits hards with Eletric Terrain boosted Thunderbolt. Taunt is for the ones that try to set up, Dazzling Gleam is for the dark and fighting pokemon. U-Turn is a safe switch against ground types (it doesn't hurt them so much though).
This standard Dragonite uses Dragon Dance on first time and attacks on next turn. Multiscale helps her survive most attacks, enough to smash the enemies. This Dragonite needs to use DD to be effective or it won't be killing much.
Kangaskhan
@ Kangaskhanite
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
31/31/31/31/31/[HT]
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Scrappy / Parental Bond
* Power-Up Punch
* Crunch
* Fake Out
* Double-Edge
This Kangaskhan I bred on ORAS uses Fake Out on first turn (I don't mega evolve if I'm facing ghosts) and then proceeds to destroy everything on her path. Double-Edge bc I didn't bother to make her like me. Power-Up Punch was a move I should've replaced with Drain Punch but when I noticed it I already had transfered to Gen7. Crunch is coverage against ghosts (I don't really like Sucker Punch). I must say the Parental Bond is pretty visible as some attacks that OHKO before now need more hits to KO.
With an all-attacking team, the battles were very fast paced. It took me a few days and two tries to get at the 50th battle. When I got there, I replaced Kangaskhan with ribbon-Empoleon but the battle ran smoothly (ESGW-WWWW-WWW5-KC3P as a prove)
Here are 2 battles I think are worth a video:
46th Battle I almost lost bc I completely forgot Aurorus has Refrigerator. 7E7G-WWWW-WWW5-KCAR
48th Battle aka the first Veteran I met: 9MSG-WWWW-WWW5-KC7U
Just lost on 50 with the classic team of Greninja, Scizor, Gliscor.
Cruised to 50 without a problem. Greninja is a great lead still. I lost because of a Cutsap Berry Blastoise hitting my now grass type greninja with Blizzard. If Grass Knot had hit again I could have gotten Lapras mostly dead to another Grass Knot, then sent in Scizor to clean up and would have had M Scizor and Gliscor against his 3rd, which I think I win.
Hi everyone, I’m new here. This is actually the first generation that I’ve paid any attention to IVs, EVs, and natures. It’s also the first time that I’ve attempted any of these post-game competitive battles (maison, subway, tower). Also, I’m still learning all of the posting conventions, formats, and rules here so please bear with me.
Anyway, I reached 103 in super singles the other day. Video proof is sat EYMW-WWWW-WWW5-KR9A.
My team building thought process was basically, what ubers can I use in the tree to get those crazy berries lol.
Blaziken @ Wide Lens
Adamant Nature
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Protect
- Hi Jump Kick
- Fire Blitz
- Stone Edge
Usually I protect on the first turn to (i) get the speed boost, (ii) let them waste their z move, and/or (iii) scout movesets, unless I know I can OHKO and fear some sort of set up. Wide Lens gives me a 130 BP move with 99% accuracy in Hi Jump Kick, and an 88% accurate Stone Edge for coverage. When you’re playing 100+ matches in a row, and already have a pokemon with high attack and high BP moves, accuracy is a lot more important than damage, so I have no plans to ever use Life Orb or Swords Dance/Focus Sash on this guy. It sweeps so many teams in the trees as a lead and is also good for late game clean up when you just need to switch out because you’re no match for your opponent’s lead.
First of all, the double ground weakness is 100% intentional. I want AI to try to hit me with as many Earthquake users as it can, and anecdotally-speaking, I think doubling up on a weakness baits that. AI is usually smart in team generation but dumb in move selection, so baiting Earthquake users lets me switch between Aegislash and Salamence to stack Intimidates (and if lucky, King’s Shields that cause attack drops), and then set up Salamence to sweep behind a Substitute (see below). Aegislash can almost always sponge an attack intended for Salamence.
Anyway, as for Aegislash, I tried a Leftovers set, Swords Dance set, and even all special set, but settled – for now – on this mixed Weakness Policy set. Not married to it, but it won me a handful of matches. It is really hard to OHKO this thing when it is in Shield Forme so it’s not that hard to activate the Weakness Policy. After you do so, assuming you have decent HP left, you can usually get one really strong Shadow Ball or Sacred Sword off and one really strong Shadow Sneak. Since it’s 3-on-3, KO’ing even 1 pokemon is obviously a huge deal, so I think this set is ok.
As alluded to above, the idea is to bait Earthquake users until I can Intimidate their attack down enough, then I’ll mega evolve and set up a few Dragon Dances behind a Substitute to sweep. Even without the switching carousel, Substitute works wonders because AI loves to try to hit this guy with status moves. If you can predict one of those moves and get a free Substitute, you get a free Dragon Dance too, and can usually sweep after that. I prefer Earthquake over Roost for coverage and for the ability to use this guy as a revenge killer sometimes (e.g., Heatrans and stuff) rather than as always a set up sweeper.
Weaknesses / Threats
With only one special attacking move on this whole team (Shadow Ball), bulky waters/ices are the typical threats. Suicunes and Slowbros are the worst. A triple water team with Suicune in the back is what eventually did me in. I beat a couple of Suicunes before that loss but I had already set up my Salamence.
Things that are bulky and slower than Aegislash also threaten this team. You obviously never want to take a hit in Blade Forme, but something like Avalugg is going to do that to you and OHKO you with an Earthquake.
The Loss
For some reason I thought the Wash Rotom was scarfed, so I was scared to try to sacrifice my Blaziken by just going for a HJK after a Protect. I switched after one Protect because thought I’d be able to PP stall the Hydro Pumps with Aegislash, set up Mega Salamence, and sweep. The Wash Rotom wasn’t scarfed, and then it started spamming me with Hydro Pumps and Thunders, connecting on all of them, killing both my Aegislash and Salamence. Then it was Blaziken versus Politoed and Suicune lol. Blaziken thankfully OHKOs Politoed with HJK, but barring a critical or Suicune using Calm Mind instead of Surf, I was going to lose to Suicune. Then I did.
Next Time?
I’m really interested in trying doubles, but I might try this team one more time and actually make the effort to get the 4 extra EVs for a third stat (I never looked up how but assume it’s easy). I’ll also probably more consistently check the Serebii battle tree sets so I can know if I’m actually up against a scarfed Rotom-W, etc. next time. Maybe I’ll try a damage calculator too, because I’ve mainly just been predicting damage from experience. Thanks for reading.
Can I get on the leaderboard? If not, please let me know what I’m missing.
Just out of curiosity when people are playing in the tree do you have a database of pokemon with you to check on every time you face a new opponent?
I don't normally check all the time but I am at the moment with my current doubles run and it's making my life very easy in knowing which opponent to target. I could argue that this is because I'm inexperienced in the tree and with more play I'd get to know the sets and therefore wouldn't need to refer to the database. However I wonder if some people are this as an unfair advantage. Would anybody argue one streak was 'better' than another because one player did not use the database whereas another player did?
I should note that my streak is still very low at the moment and not even my personal best so it may transpire I'm no better using the database than when I don't but I was just looking for feedback.
This post does lead to my thoughts on the questionable, probably fabricated streak posted a couple of days ago. The damage calcs posted for pheromosa against arcanine did not apply any of the arcanine spreads to the damage calculator. One would assume that if you had a streak well in to the 800s you would have suitable experience and knowledge of possible sets to give an accurate damage calculation.
Just out of curiosity when people are playing in the tree do you have a database of pokemon with you to check on every time you face a new opponent?
I don't normally check all the time but I am at the moment with my current doubles run and it's making my life very easy in knowing which opponent to target. I could argue that this is because I'm inexperienced in the tree and with more play I'd get to know the sets and therefore wouldn't need to refer to the database. However I wonder if some people are this as an unfair advantage. Would anybody argue one streak was 'better' than another because one player did not use the database whereas another player did?
I should note that my streak is still very low at the moment and not even my personal best so it may transpire I'm no better using the database than when I don't but I was just looking for feedback.
This post does lead to my thoughts on the questionable, probably fabricated streak posted a couple of days ago. The damage calcs posted for pheromosa against arcanine did not apply any of the arcanine spreads to the damage calculator. One would assume that if you had a streak well in to the 800s you would have suitable experience and knowledge of possible sets to give an accurate damage calculation.
I did come across one person at Gfaqs who actually claimed (in the same breath claiming the AI cheated) that it was cheating to look up movesets and run calcs. I found it preposterous. You're going to learn one way or another, and no one sane would argue that looking up specific sets/calcs when team building is cheating. You're doing the same thing albeit with a little more urgency.
Regardless of the minority opinion you're all but expected to do this while playing if you plan to maintain any streak.
Just out of curiosity when people are playing in the tree do you have a database of pokemon with you to check on every time you face a new opponent?
I don't normally check all the time but I am at the moment with my current doubles run and it's making my life very easy in knowing which opponent to target. I could argue that this is because I'm inexperienced in the tree and with more play I'd get to know the sets and therefore wouldn't need to refer to the database. However I wonder if some people are this as an unfair advantage. Would anybody argue one streak was 'better' than another because one player did not use the database whereas another player did?
If you and your friend were scheduled to take a chemistry exam and your friend got a higher grade because they studied and you didn't, you could still argue that you know more about chemistry than they do. However, a lot of people would probably question why you'd consider it important to be perceived as knowledgeable about chemistry if you didn't care about it enough to study.
I think the terracott and terravile beat up teams are really not viable for a long run.
I've used whimsicott over weavile in my most recent attempt and I really liked it's support compared to weavile. The addition of prankster tailwind is great and energy ball hits well. It is also a better tank than I was expecting and focus sash is perhaps not necessary.
I have run protect as the fourth moveon whimsicott, which may have ultimately led to my downfall. I can across a lead match up vs musharna and mienshao. Mienshao could fake out so I double protected. As expected mienshao did fake out so good play there. Musharna sets up trick room. Bad play for me. From there I was on to a losing battle. My mega blastoise and tapu koko couldn't rescue me. Primarina and alolan marowak finished the job.
I don't know how I could have better dealt with the lead matchup. I know I've not given full sets here but terrakion was the same as the previous post on this type of team.
Still not convinced with the back line up.
The other streak with the same leads as here was ended by a sun team of charizard y and shiftry with fake out. That prompted me to stick protect on the whimsicott. And I added tapu koko over lele.
I could look at alola muk. Perhaps. I've really thought about this a lot now but am struggling for a team. I know I'm better at playing with the leads now. I've stuck follow me tailwind bulky togekiss and araquanid in back for now but I think I'm over complicating it now.
As I say I think the team is too difficult to run but I'd love to get the gimmick on the leaderboard. I just think the demand of the back row are too much
Just out of curiosity when people are playing in the tree do you have a database of pokemon with you to check on every time you face a new opponent?
I don't normally check all the time but I am at the moment with my current doubles run and it's making my life very easy in knowing which opponent to target. I could argue that this is because I'm inexperienced in the tree and with more play I'd get to know the sets and therefore wouldn't need to refer to the database. However I wonder if some people are this as an unfair advantage. Would anybody argue one streak was 'better' than another because one player did not use the database whereas another player did?
I should note that my streak is still very low at the moment and not even my personal best so it may transpire I'm no better using the database than when I don't but I was just looking for feedback.
This post does lead to my thoughts on the questionable, probably fabricated streak posted a couple of days ago. The damage calcs posted for pheromosa against arcanine did not apply any of the arcanine spreads to the damage calculator. One would assume that if you had a streak well in to the 800s you would have suitable experience and knowledge of possible sets to give an accurate damage calculation.
I personally prefer to play without checking the trainers and sets because it feels more like a battle against real opponents where you don't know what surprise moves they may be running. I enjoy the experience of learning what I can about possible movesets on the go. I have streaks at 170something in Maison Doubles and 151 in Tree Doubles while playing this way BUT I can totally understand the urgency of checking these things properly when you are aiming for crazy high numbers (500+); you would be mad not to at that point.
Posting a streak of 243 wins on super doubles with a team of Pheromosa /Tapu Lele / Celesteela/ Tapu Fini. (First post too, hello everyone!)
Loss UHWW-WWWW-WWW4-EK3W (Battle 244) (Mawile Gyarados Incineroar Tauros)
After a gruesome encounter with veteran Xio on battle 185 I had a feeling my lost would be at the hands of mega Mawile, turns out my intuition was (sadly) right.
With no instant answer to mega Mawile, and the threat of both mega Gyarados and the regular dragon dance one (In hindsight I should have assumed it couldn’t mega and psychic It instantly, but that still leaves mega Mawile intact) I knew the run was over save a lucky play rough miss (which gave me the win on the previous match against it). I’ll do some mockup battles to see if an instant switch into Celesteela could help but honestly, no offensive pressure against it and no physical defense investment meant it would have died to pretty much anything on the team except for Tauros.
Not that I can complain since I knew I had to find a way to deal with it beforehand and in some way I guess it’s a fitting punishment for not running earthquake or flamethrower on Celesteela : (.
0 Atk Celesteela Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 64-76 (40.7 - 48.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 76-90 (48.4 - 57.3%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO
Nevermind Mega Mawile is gross.
In any case this is the team in detail:
Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- Lunge
- Low Kick
- Ice Beam
Credits go to both turskain and Level 51 in both move set and nature. Phero is a pretty common mon so I don’t think she needs much explanation. However some observations made during the streak is that Protect is shakier than I thought it would be, in part due to z-moves. So most of the time I ended going full agro with her or just plain switching since things like weathers statuses trick room etc all kinda diminished her value at 1hp. It’s still a very good move though, and makes dealing with some scarfers easier than it would be without it.
Not being able to touch ghost is annoying but fortunately not deadly thanks to the rest of the team.
Also considering changing Protect to HP fire if just for Mega Mawile to be honest, even if it means scarfers are be trickier to deal with.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Another super common set, and the choice of scarf > z-move was mostly convenience since I just wanted a fast 50 streak team. Well turns out scarf modest Lele sits at a comfortable speed tier where only Mega- zam and scarfers that the team is prepared for are. So she kinda nukes everything else before they move. Dropping some evs for hp or defenses could be worth but I’ll need to check some calcs to verify.
Psychic is the go to move most of the time and even used above moonblast against some matchups were being locked into moonblast could be worse despite the type advantage against the lead.
Hp fire is a mixed bag to be honest, but while disappointing in some aspects It’s still a necessary move.
So far shadow ball has been used almost exclusively for Metagross but that niche is enough to justify the slot.
Celesteela @ Lum Berry
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
Celesteela didn’t disappoint at all, she’s a really solid glue and secondary wincon. I’m guilty of over relying on leech seed but the move is so clutch against bulkier team lele phero can’t nuke it’s hard to not abuse. Heavy slam 1hkoing Mimikyu and various mons is also pretty neat since she pretty much never fears sand or trick room. Hell, even non stab thunder users lose once leech seed hits. Really solid mon that also has wide guard to cover many annoying sets from scarfers like typhlosion 3, terrakion, or even set up mons that rely on spread moves like Pelipper and Gastrodon, or even trolly sets like that bronzong and regigigas.
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 18 SpA
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Misty surge alone would warrant a spot for Fini regardless of her stats imo, covers a multitude of would be threats and negates a lot of rng without even using a slot. Thankfully her stats are also solid so she can double as a secondary wincon too against bulkier teams, especially trick room and weaker psychic teams where calm mind has done a lot of work. Calm mind still could be replaced by another move like haze and whatnot. Her support moveset is pretty rich and has a lot of interesting niche options like soak for a debuff that bypass critical hit cheese etc.
Other than mega Mawile (and maybe quiver dance Volcarona) though, the team usually has no other insta lose mon (that I have met yet) and in fact breezed through an uncanny amount of fights (like I could say more than half of the fights were over under 4-5 turns, a good deal even 2 turns). Trick room could be awkward at times but Celesteela / Fini usually deals with all the variations surprisingly well baring some shenanigans (as seen in one replay below with Audino 4).
That’s not to say the teams doesn’t have noteworthy threats, it definitively has a good number of them being pretty different due to the team composition (two cores of contrasting styles slapped together).
MAWILE 3-4 outright beats everyone on the team and will provoke major loses regardless of teammates. If possible it’s better to just ignore its partner and soften with lunge for Celesteela to take on. One thing to note is that the three times I faced it during the run it went straight for Lele, so that’s something to apply for next encounters. Honestly I wish I had a solid plan against it but it’s usually partnered with threatening mons :/
MIMIKYU* is another of the few mons that has always targeted Lele so far on sight, with shadow claw having a very present crit rate. Since it can spawn with Mawile with veteran Xio fun times can ensue (Mawile-4 Mimikyu-4 is a combination I haven’t found a reliable answer and was sparred by a play rough miss).
VOLCARONA I feel is a big threat to the team that I got lucky on all the three encounters I had with it, with Lele being the only one who can 2hko it. Since it comes often in sun or legendary only teams, Fini has a lot of trouble damaging it despite type advantage (In fact during my first match against I let it quiver dance and if it not were for the fact that the rest of the team was still healthy and that it decided to quiver dance again I could have lost there).
HEATRAN will cause massive damage and breaks Phero sash and burn too if not double targeted on sight, after trying to 1hko it a couple of times and losing both Lele and Phero to sashed Heatran I’ve learnt to just assume it’s sashed.
ZAPDOS – 2 Is a set I’ve been lucky to never see double team on the first turn yet, brightpowder misses can also cost a lot when paired with
CHANDELURE I’ll admit I might be paranoid about since I faced it at least a dozen of times, I kinda have PTSD from oras maison rotations maybe, the life orb variant can put a dent on everyone but Fini so if it’s sent as last poke with Lele out it could get out of hand.
TRICK ROOM usually means trying to double on a koable target or just double swtich
ELECTRIC SPECIALISTS are most of the time harmless but turn quickly into losing matches if they target and paralyze or crit Lele over Phero (had it happen a few times).
Rotom forms in general are deadly for the backline with their coverage (Specially wash and heat which should be double targeted asap and also appears in many varied teams).
FIRE ESPECIALISTS are not an specific weakness of the team, but things like scarf Entei, Typhlosion or Darmanitan are all potentially fatal if the member of the team that dispose them is not healthy.
(Or if you’re dumb like me and forget Celesteela has wide guard)
PSYCHIC SPECIALISTS can get out of hand if Lele is not conserved properly, especially if you get a mega Cham or Mega Metagross without Lele. Mega Gardevoir is annoying and possibly deadly if Celesteela gets knocked by a critical or something.
VETERAN XIO is probably the only specific trainer I remember the team fear facing as both Mimikyu and Gardevoir are tricky to play around and can come alongside the dreaded Mawile.
Not a specific mon, but very bulky mons like Porygon2 -4 or Mega Aggron can be tricky when partnered with threatening mons (especially if they can threaten the bulky backline) since they won’t die to a double targeting ever. Maybe I’m overstating it but I almost had a lost on battle 135 due to overestimating the power of Lele and Phero against Pory2 :s.
PUNKS are usually free wins unless unless they carry Gyarados or Mawile as I learnt harshly on battle 244. (I’ll probably check the pool of pokemon each can have later).
There’s also things I Thought would have more trouble dealing with, but played properly really shouldn’t cause much trouble such as:
Typhlosion-3 should be dead with a switch into celeestala, of course the cost of the swtich or if it better to just double on it from the start changes from match to match.
Mega Metagross is not threatening as long as Lele on reserve when it comes out or at turn 1.
And notable threats I never had the pleasure to meet on this streak:
Walrein – 4 Im both thankful and sad I didn’t meet it, as despite being an over 200 wins streak the amount of 1hko moves I received was minimal (mostly due to doubling on any potential 1hko user when possible)
The team is thankfully pretty autopilot when no threats are present so the grind was very smooth. The only thing to keep in mind is not overestimating Phero/Lele’s power and try to go for a double ko and not koing anything at all. Most of the time just doubling on a target is safer (even accounting for protect) and reliable. Unless it’s pretty clear the leads can be 1hkoed.
Here’s also a few replays showcasing some matchups (and how I luck out after horrible plays lol)
Sadly due to the patch the replays from battle 204 and before are unavailable but I did write some notes on the matches that were noteworthy.
(Rip like 20 other replays)
Battle 135 vs Aether Foundation Harvey Porygon-2 4/ Goodra 4/ Avalugg 4/Tauros 4, lasted 18 turns.
- It should have been a smooth battle but I underestimated P2’s bulk with eviolite on turn 1 and from there things went downhill with some unfortunate crits that ended in a stalemate between Fini and Tauros 4, run probs should have ended there but Fini managed to hit tauros through a Double Team boost.
- The battle that made start doubling on every Heatran ever. Should I have not switched Lele instantly after the mistake I wouldn’t have had the firepower to nuke latias with Fini later. Leeching Cress asap was also vital to force it to rest and not get calm minds off.
- While I had faced Mega Mawile before, it was as last poke with a full health team so I went a bit under my radar. This time though Xio led with it and things went badly from the start. Doubling into Togekiss at the start might not have been the right play but considering the threat of serene grace air slash against Celesteela I don’t really regret it. Still, we’re it not for a miss from play rough that let me heavy slam Mimikyu safely and Sylveon-1 of all things being the last mon I would (and should) have lost that match as I truly had no answer
Battle 192 vs Scientis Cal (Bronzong Jellicent 4 Steelix Komala) 10 turns
- The match that conviced me that double switching is indeed an option sometimes, as Bronzong Jellicent cannot be overpowered and neither posed a threat on the switch- in to either Celesteela or Fini. The fight was smooth other than losing Pheromosa for free to a scald + burn on turn 1. And not foreseeing (Again lack of awareness and not having the spreadsheet open) Komala having wood hammer, fortunately did not crit Fini.
- Would have gone much smoother if I had used wide guard, which I forgot about until Typhlosion died, unfortunate crit happened but in hindsight I shouldn’t have mattered as much as I made it matter.
- Didn’t apply the knowledge of Audino not being mega and switched into a much telegraphed Fire Z-move, probably would have gone better if I doubled on Audino from the start but the shell smash threat deterred me from doing so.
- Two games with terrakion and Entei, and somehow none with a scarfed either, still debating if switching into Celeestala and wide guarding is the best play in the case Terrakion is scarfed.
Sorry about the length of the post, I kinda wanted to document as much as possible for future streaks (500 wins dream) since it’s my first big streak and was a fun learning experience about doubles but I think I might have taken enough space for now haha. I’ll probably have to brainstorm solutions to Mawile that doesn’t give the team new weaknesses :s.
Celesteela > Mega Venusaur after bank, Protect > Hp fire on Phero or maybe a fini change all would be interesting to try methinks.
Thanks for reading!
Been lurking since the maison thread since the last year I hoped my first post would be about a cool rotation streak writeup on the ORAS maison but the farthest I got to was 108, maybe I’ll give it a try with a less gimmicky team than Aron memes lol.
iVolke I'll try to write a better answer later, but the most important thing imo to consider is that with only 12/16 moves available you really want to blanket check as many things as possible and by nature some moves such as haze while great in utility they'll still probably leave a blank in coverage that will cost again [specific type specialist.
Maybe it's because I've just played doubles lately but I know that I'd rather double target a possible set up mon than reactively haze/taunt/etc. Or why misty surge/ lum berry it's more valuable than a mon learning safeguard and so on.
I remenber trying to build a team with good defensive synergy in mind too but with the wide coverage options some sets can have it's probably better to know which threats you can take preemtively by offensive means while keeping a defensive core for threats you can't just remove by brute force (Obviously easier said than done mega mawileeeeee).
Posting a streak of 243 wins on super doubles with a team of Pheromosa /Tapu Lele / Celesteela/ Tapu Fini. (First post too, hello everyone!)
Loss UHWW-WWWW-WWW4-EK3W (Battle 244) (Mawile Gyarados Incineroar Tauros)
After a gruesome encounter with veteran Xio on battle 185 I had a feeling my lost would be at the hands of mega Mawile, turns out my intuition was (sadly) right.
With no instant answer to mega Mawile, and the threat of both mega Gyarados and the regular dragon dance one (In hindsight I should have assumed it couldn’t mega and psychic It instantly, but that still leaves mega Mawile intact) I knew the run was over save a lucky play rough miss (which gave me the win on the previous match against it). I’ll do some mockup battles to see if an instant switch into Celesteela could help but honestly, no offensive pressure against it and no physical defense investment meant it would have died to pretty much anything on the team except for Tauros.
Not that I can complain since I knew I had to find a way to deal with it beforehand and in some way I guess it’s a fitting punishment for not running earthquake or flamethrower on Celesteela : (.
0 Atk Celesteela Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega: 64-76 (40.7 - 48.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 76-90 (48.4 - 57.3%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO
Nevermind Mega Mawile is gross.
In any case this is the team in detail:
Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- Lunge
- Low Kick
- Ice Beam
Credits go to both turskain and Level 51 in both move set and nature. Phero is a pretty common mon so I don’t think she needs much explanation. However some observations made during the streak is that Protect is shakier than I thought it would be, in part due to z-moves. So most of the time I ended going full agro with her or just plain switching since things like weathers statuses trick room etc all kinda diminished her value at 1hp. It’s still a very good move though, and makes dealing with some scarfers easier than it would be without it.
Not being able to touch ghost is annoying but fortunately not deadly thanks to the rest of the team.
Also considering changing Protect to HP fire if just for Mega Mawile to be honest, even if it means scarfers are be trickier to deal with.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Another super common set, and the choice of scarf > z-move was mostly convenience since I just wanted a fast 50 streak team. Well turns out scarf modest Lele sits at a comfortable speed tier where only Mega- zam and scarfers that the team is prepared for are. So she kinda nukes everything else before they move. Dropping some evs for hp or defenses could be worth but I’ll need to check some calcs to verify.
Psychic is the go to move most of the time and even used above moonblast against some matchups were being locked into moonblast could be worse despite the type advantage against the lead.
Hp fire is a mixed bag to be honest, but while disappointing in some aspects It’s still a necessary move.
So far shadow ball has been used almost exclusively for Metagross but that niche is enough to justify the slot.
Celesteela @ Lum Berry
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
Celesteela didn’t disappoint at all, she’s a really solid glue and secondary wincon. I’m guilty of over relying on leech seed but the move is so clutch against bulkier team lele phero can’t nuke it’s hard to not abuse. Heavy slam 1hkoing Mimikyu and various mons is also pretty neat since she pretty much never fears sand or trick room. Hell, even non stab thunder users lose once leech seed hits. Really solid mon that also has wide guard to cover many annoying sets from scarfers like typhlosion 3, terrakion, or even set up mons that rely on spread moves like Pelipper and Gastrodon, or even trolly sets like that bronzong and regigigas.
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 18 SpA
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Misty surge alone would warrant a spot for Fini regardless of her stats imo, covers a multitude of would be threats and negates a lot of rng without even using a slot. Thankfully her stats are also solid so she can double as a secondary wincon too against bulkier teams, especially trick room and weaker psychic teams where calm mind has done a lot of work. Calm mind still could be replaced by another move like haze and whatnot. Her support moveset is pretty rich and has a lot of interesting niche options like soak for a debuff that bypass critical hit cheese etc.
Other than mega Mawile (and maybe quiver dance Volcarona) though, the team usually has no other insta lose mon (that I have met yet) and in fact breezed through an uncanny amount of fights (like I could say more than half of the fights were over under 4-5 turns, a good deal even 2 turns). Trick room could be awkward at times but Celesteela / Fini usually deals with all the variations surprisingly well baring some shenanigans (as seen in one replay below with Audino 4).
That’s not to say the teams doesn’t have noteworthy threats, it definitively has a good number of them being pretty different due to the team composition (two cores of contrasting styles slapped together).
MAWILE 3-4 outright beats everyone on the team and will provoke major loses regardless of teammates. If possible it’s better to just ignore its partner and soften with lunge for Celesteela to take on. One thing to note is that the three times I faced it during the run it went straight for Lele, so that’s something to apply for next encounters. Honestly I wish I had a solid plan against it but it’s usually partnered with threatening mons :/
MIMIKYU* is another of the few mons that has always targeted Lele so far on sight, with shadow claw having a very present crit rate. Since it can spawn with Mawile with veteran Xio fun times can ensue (Mawile-4 Mimikyu-4 is a combination I haven’t found a reliable answer and was sparred by a play rough miss).
VOLCARONA I feel is a big threat to the team that I got lucky on all the three encounters I had with it, with Lele being the only one who can 2hko it. Since it comes often in sun or legendary only teams, Fini has a lot of trouble damaging it despite type advantage (In fact during my first match against I let it quiver dance and if it not were for the fact that the rest of the team was still healthy and that it decided to quiver dance again I could have lost there).
HEATRAN will cause massive damage and breaks Phero sash and burn too if not double targeted on sight, after trying to 1hko it a couple of times and losing both Lele and Phero to sashed Heatran I’ve learnt to just assume it’s sashed.
ZAPDOS – 2 Is a set I’ve been lucky to never see double team on the first turn yet, brightpowder misses can also cost a lot when paired with
CHANDELURE I’ll admit I might be paranoid about since I faced it at least a dozen of times, I kinda have PTSD from oras maison rotations maybe, the life orb variant can put a dent on everyone but Fini so if it’s sent as last poke with Lele out it could get out of hand.
TRICK ROOM usually means trying to double on a koable target or just double swtich
ELECTRIC SPECIALISTS are most of the time harmless but turn quickly into losing matches if they target and paralyze or crit Lele over Phero (had it happen a few times).
Rotom forms in general are deadly for the backline with their coverage (Specially wash and heat which should be double targeted asap and also appears in many varied teams).
FIRE ESPECIALISTS are not an specific weakness of the team, but things like scarf Entei, Typhlosion or Darmanitan are all potentially fatal if the member of the team that dispose them is not healthy.
(Or if you’re dumb like me and forget Celesteela has wide guard)
PSYCHIC SPECIALISTS can get out of hand if Lele is not conserved properly, especially if you get a mega Cham or Mega Metagross without Lele. Mega Gardevoir is annoying and possibly deadly if Celesteela gets knocked by a critical or something.
VETERAN XIO is probably the only specific trainer I remember the team fear facing as both Mimikyu and Gardevoir are tricky to play around and can come alongside the dreaded Mawile.
Not a specific mon, but very bulky mons like Porygon2 -4 or Mega Aggron can be tricky when partnered with threatening mons (especially if they can threaten the bulky backline) since they won’t die to a double targeting ever. Maybe I’m overstating it but I almost had a lost on battle 135 due to overestimating the power of Lele and Phero against Pory2 :s.
PUNKS are usually free wins unless unless they carry Gyarados or Mawile as I learnt harshly on battle 244. (I’ll probably check the pool of pokemon each can have later).
There’s also things I Thought would have more trouble dealing with, but played properly really shouldn’t cause much trouble such as:
Typhlosion-3 should be dead with a switch into celeestala, of course the cost of the swtich or if it better to just double on it from the start changes from match to match.
Mega Metagross is not threatening as long as Lele on reserve when it comes out or at turn 1.
And notable threats I never had the pleasure to meet on this streak:
Walrein – 4 Im both thankful and sad I didn’t meet it, as despite being an over 200 wins streak the amount of 1hko moves I received was minimal (mostly due to doubling on any potential 1hko user when possible)
The team is thankfully pretty autopilot when no threats are present so the grind was very smooth. The only thing to keep in mind is not overestimating Phero/Lele’s power and try to go for a double ko and not koing anything at all. Most of the time just doubling on a target is safer (even accounting for protect) and reliable. Unless it’s pretty clear the leads can be 1hkoed.
Here’s also a few replays showcasing some matchups (and how I luck out after horrible plays lol)
Sadly due to the patch the replays from battle 204 and before are unavailable but I did write some notes on the matches that were noteworthy.
(Rip like 20 other replays)
Battle 135 vs Aether Foundation Harvey Porygon-2 4/ Goodra 4/ Avalugg 4/Tauros 4, lasted 18 turns.
- It should have been a smooth battle but I underestimated P2’s bulk with eviolite on turn 1 and from there things went downhill with some unfortunate crits that ended in a stalemate between Fini and Tauros 4, run probs should have ended there but Fini managed to hit tauros through a Double Team boost.
- The battle that made start doubling on every Heatran ever. Should I have not switched Lele instantly after the mistake I wouldn’t have had the firepower to nuke latias with Fini later. Leeching Cress asap was also vital to force it to rest and not get calm minds off.
- While I had faced Mega Mawile before, it was as last poke with a full health team so I went a bit under my radar. This time though Xio led with it and things went badly from the start. Doubling into Togekiss at the start might not have been the right play but considering the threat of serene grace air slash against Celesteela I don’t really regret it. Still, we’re it not for a miss from play rough that let me heavy slam Mimikyu safely and Sylveon-1 of all things being the last mon I would (and should) have lost that match as I truly had no answer
Battle 192 vs Scientis Cal (Bronzong Jellicent 4 Steelix Komala) 10 turns
- The match that conviced me that double switching is indeed an option sometimes, as Bronzong Jellicent cannot be overpowered and neither posed a threat on the switch- in to either Celesteela or Fini. The fight was smooth other than losing Pheromosa for free to a scald + burn on turn 1. And not foreseeing (Again lack of awareness and not having the spreadsheet open) Komala having wood hammer, fortunately did not crit Fini.
- Would have gone much smoother if I had used wide guard, which I forgot about until Typhlosion died, unfortunate crit happened but in hindsight I shouldn’t have mattered as much as I made it matter.
- Didn’t apply the knowledge of Audino not being mega and switched into a much telegraphed Fire Z-move, probably would have gone better if I doubled on Audino from the start but the shell smash threat deterred me from doing so.
- Two games with terrakion and Entei, and somehow none with a scarfed either, still debating if switching into Celeestala and wide guarding is the best play in the case Terrakion is scarfed.
Sorry about the length of the post, I kinda wanted to document as much as possible for future streaks (500 wins dream) since it’s my first big streak and was a fun learning experience about doubles but I think I might have taken enough space for now haha. I’ll probably have to brainstorm solutions to Mawile that doesn’t give the team new weaknesses :s.
Celesteela > Mega Venusaur after bank, Protect > Hp fire on Phero or maybe a fini change all would be interesting to try methinks.
Thanks for reading!
Been lurking since the maison thread since the last year I hoped my first post would be about a cool rotation streak writeup on the ORAS maison but the farthest I got to was 108, maybe I’ll give it a try with a less gimmicky team than Aron memes lol.
iVolke I'll try to write a better answer later, but the most important thing imo to consider is that with only 12/16 moves available you really want to blanket check as many things as possible and by nature some moves such as haze while great in utility they'll still probably leave a blank in coverage that will cost again [specific type specialist.
Maybe it's because I've just played doubles lately but I know that I'd rather double target a possible set up mon than reactively haze/taunt/etc. Or why misty surge/ lum berry it's more valuable than a mon learning safeguard and so on.
I remenber trying to build a team with good defensive synergy in mind too but with the wide coverage options some sets can have it's probably better to know which threats you can take preemtively by offensive means while keeping a defensive core for threats you can't just remove by brute force (Obviously easier said than done mega mawileeeeee).
call me stupid but whats the point of having scald on tapu fini when misty surge is up? you could keep moonblast for stab and swap scald for something else
Misty Terrain isn't up forever. Especially if you Calm Mind a few times the terrain is over faster than you think. And when there is no terrain, Scald is better then Surf or any other water STAB, espcially in doubles because you won't hit your mate with it. I would even recommend Scald in Singles, if you want to run dual attack on CM Fini.
I wonder what a good Super Doubles Mega Slowbro EV spread would be. The idea I have is to take advantage of Oblivious to set up Trick Room, and then Mega Evolve on the second turn for the defensive and offensive boost (or the first turn if their leads don't have Taunt). This would be in case I wanted to run Amoonguss or something in the lead spot instead of Hariyama.
Also, what partners might go well with Dusclops besides the obvious Fake Out user? Dusclops has Frisk, which can scout for movesets.
Edit: I forgot that Alolan Exeggutor gets Frisk and Trick Room too, and can use either a Z-Trick Room for Sleep Powder, or a Z-Draco Meteor or Z-Leaf Storm. But then again, it'll fare very badly against the Ice teams, among others. Dusclops is probably safer.
Edit the 2nd: Gravity seems to be more useful than Will-O-Wisp on Dusclops so far. It was funny making Wally KO his own Altaria with Garchomp-4's Earthquake, and it makes Gigalith's moves more accurate.
ReallyDumb (Ludicolo) @ Life Orb/Absorb Bulb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/31
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Fake Out
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
Most of you who have been around since Subway can imagine what these leads do by now. Set rain on the field, let Ludicolo rain on these hos. Politoed is there for chip damage and coverage on some Water resists, hence Hydro Pump-->Psychic. Ludicolo gets Grass Knot-->Giga Drain due to initially holding LO. Three-and-three-fourths hours of searching yielded the Absorb Bulb, which comes in handy for when it's time to ditch Surf and focus on single targets who he has to trade shots with. Politoed is nicknamed due to being the second frog I've Banked over from OR; Ludicolo is nicknamed after the idiotic Ludicolo3, who is way too passive and random with its move selection to be much of a threat.
BlizzmarckII (Bisharp) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 140 Spe
IVs: 31/31/xx/31/31/31
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Protect
Focus Sash Bisharp. Trick Room check, Item breaker. I felt like my team needed a Steel-type. I decided to go with Bisharp for this one, instead of a Scizor that I used in 5th gen. This was partially because Scizor's go-to item was already taken up by Kingdra here, and Bisharp has a better match against Trick Room setters. The moveset isn't anything groundbreaking, and the EV spread was just to have about 108 Speed so that Bisharp can have a slight amount more bulk. Knock Off is pretty helpful against some of the more annoying stall/setup Pokemon. Removing their Leftovers/Chesto Berry/etc. definitely makes life easier for me. Sash Bisharp is pretty helpful as it can draw away Fighting-type moves and stall with Protect. And if it gets hit to 1HP, it can draw away everyone's moves similar to a L1 Aron.
Like R says. Bolded parts are the parts pertinent to my situation. To this day, I don't know what he was trying to survive shots from with that EV spread. The EVs could probably be changed slightly to accommodate my imperfect Defense IVs. Nicknamed due to this being the second excellent Dream Ball Sucker Punch Bisharp I've raised.
BM812 (Floatzel) @ Waterium-Z
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/xx/31/31/31
Hasty Nature
- Waterfall
- Low Kick
- Aqua Jet
- Protect
This was originally an Imperfect Floatzel4, a breedject of the process to create my star from Phase B. No real function on the team, although it being so frail made it your typical super-frail Focus Sash bait, and it could exploit rain fairly well. Since my Z-slot was open, I gave it Waterium-Z to give it some semblance of a powerful move.
The main issue this team has run into is that, without Kingdra on hand to outpseed Ludicolo and activate its Absorb Bulb, the duck has to wait for Politoed to hit Surf, and Politoed on its own doesn't hit particularly hard even under rain, so Turn 1 lacks the immediate punch that this same team enjoys in Triples. Certain threats also outrun Scarfed Politoed (Electrode, Accelgor, opposing non-Trace Swift Swimmers), which half-defeats the purpose of it being Scarfed. It doesn't help matters that Doubles gives you less room then Triples to bounce back from unfavorable lead matchups and immediate hax, and Tree Doubles is overall tougher than Maison Doubles, so having Floatzel take up a slot is a bigger liability than was last gen (I would need the Subway vets on here to tell me how much of a liability Floatzel would have been back then, and I assume carrying it around in Gen IV Frontier would have been a death sentence).
At a loss at what to do, I was graced with Josh C. posting his current Doubles team. Outside of Bruxish being better able to exploit Psychic Surge than Floatzel could exploit rain, I felt the two were similar enough, and the rest of the team good enough, that Floatzel could shoehorn itself in and ride the coattails of the core to get where it needed to go. So, I went and acquired the necessary pieces to make a near-copy of the team:
Nature: Modest
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 31/16-17/31/31/31/31
EVs: 228 HP / 156 Def / 36 SpA / 20 SpD / 68 Spe
- Burn Up
- Helping Hand
- Protect
- Toxic
BM812 (Floatzel) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/xx/31/31/31
Hasty Nature
- Waterfall
- Low Kick
- Crunch
- Protect
I would refer people to Josh's writeup of his team to understand how to properly wield it. The Garchomp is "nicknamed" as such due to it being a breedject I received when first starting Wonder Trade on Sun, hence the incredible SDef IVs and the need for Hyper Training; I simply used the first worthwhile Gible I had on hand. The Lele is nicknamed after the Unique helmet from Diablo I. The Arcanine is basically a tribute to Josh "giving birth" to this idea; go play some Chrono Trigger sometime to see where I got it from. Floatzel was re-tooled to resemble his Bruxish as much as I could get it, hence the item and Aqua Jet changes.
This team managed streaks of 43, 11, 49, and 71. The first two were basically me feeling my way around the concept and trying to learn how to drive it; the last two were my first two serious attempts. This was my first foray with Tapu Lele, and I was extremely pleased with the results (probably my second-favorite Tapu now, after Bulu). With the above set, Arcanine became quite bulky and gave me a newfound appreciation for it (only Festive Feud has given birth to bulkier Arcanines that I've experienced first-hand). I found that the team was strong enough to blow through The First 30 with virtually no trouble, but after that, some skill was required to continue. Paralysis was kind of an issue, as most T-Wave launchers would be paired up with a more immediate threat and would be allowed to cause chaos as a result. While most TR setters could be handled, Bronzong14, Slowbro4, & Slowking14 would often manage to get it up due to just being bulky enough to require a Arcanine switch-in, or in Bronzong's case, the guessing game of its Ability making it tricky to respond appropriately. Unfamiliarity with new Tailwind setters, as well as Mandibuzz3's bulk, meant a couple of awful struggles (and one loss) when Tailwind got up. I kinda played stupidly a few times against Veteran Xio, Wishiwashi sets with Ice Beam, and Protect users. I'm more panicky than Josh in difficult Turn 1 situations and switched way more than I should have. Alakazam34, the opppsing Psychic-type with the best ability to turn Psychic Surge against me, was a constant threat and eventually (in concert with Dugtrio2) ended my best attempt with this team: S7QG-WWWW-WWW5-M56E
It's exhausting to try and keep up this struggle--the Tree is becoming more like work, which should never be the case with a battle facility. So, I'm retiring this concept for the time being. As stated before, once the Masion leaderboard is next updated, Phase B will insure that Floatzel makes its place in history anyways. This most recent loss does hurt a bit, though: though this was a struggle, Phase A did achieve a small victory in the form of this 71-win streak, and if we were still working under the old streak eligibility minimum, Phase A would have officially been completed. Knowing this, and the increased difficulty of the Tree compared to the Maison, is a sobering thought.
I will next take on the Tree when the new global mission gets underway: I now have a couple of teams on the docket to contribute to completing this, I have received a boon from someone on here that may allow me to make more new teams for this purpose, and maybe shooting for this goal might motivate me to crack the 3000 BP mark soon.
Longer-term, I'm willing to listen to ideas to try out any Pokémon not currently on any facility leaderboards, as a way to do with them what I have done with Pyroar & Floatzel. Though I'm currently leaning towards Lanturn, Miltank, or Throh, any suggestions/recommendations are welcome.
I’ve been lurking since the beginning of Sun and Moon and finally have a streak worth mentioning. I would like to report a Doubles streak of 120. This team is heavily based on one used by Laevus and Pav A Nice Day with a few minor edits, and i believe that it could go much farther.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Grass Knot
-Volt Switch
Standard Koko set but with volt switch instead of HP ice. Volt switch is surprisingly useful in many situations, most notably when the opponent leads with a ground type/earthquake user and a bulky TR setter.
Alolan Raichu @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA
Modest Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic
-Fake out
-Protect
I swapped grass knot for fake out because I wanted a way to deal with opposing fake out/sucker punch users. I kept protect over grass knot because I felt that it was more useful to be able to earthquake next to Raichu than pick up a few extra KO’s.
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate/Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Waterfall
-Crunch
-Ice Fang
-Protect
I originally started using jolly because that is what I had and I was too lazy to breed another one, however I decided to keep it because the extra speed allows me to out speed and OHKO quite a few Pokémon. Having an intimidator that is immune to earthquake was invaluable against bulky ground types such as Mega Steelix.
Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
-Poison Jab
I decided that the ground z move was more important than the fire one after Blissey-4 set up on me and killed me during one of my earlier attempts. I found that the ability to OHKO/chunk TR setters and ground types was more valuable than the ability to OHKO ferrothorn.
I feel that this team has the potential for long streaks. I lost my streak in what is perhaps the dumbest possible way; I accidently turned off my 3DS during battle 129. Since I hadn’t saved since battle 120, that is what my streak shows up as when checked, so that is what I will report it as. Most battles ended in less than 5 turns, and battles seemed to get easier the farther I got in the tree. It may be placebo, but it seemed like I saw more teams that used legendary Pokémon than TR, which was the biggest threat to the team.
Steelix-4: While any ground type that doesn’t die to psychic + grass knot can be a threat, Mega Steelix is perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch. I would usually swap Koko, volt switch if possible, into Garchomp and sack Raichu by using psychic on Steelix to put it in Techtonic Rage range.
Oranguru 3: Only a threat when paired with another possible TR setter or earthquake user, and even then only a problem if it has inner focus to stop fake out. When paired with an earthquake user I usually had to just accept that both of my leads were going to take an earthquake to prevent trick room. If it’s partner is a TR setter that doesn’t get OHKO’d by Koko then I just needed to guess which pokemon would use TR while doubling the other, or hope for a crit, because without a little luck there is nothing I could do.
Sucker punch: Most users OHKO Raichu, so I try to fake out/protect while targeting with Koko.
Blissey: I lost my first attempt to Blissey-4, so naturally I made edits to deal with it. It still usually warrants fake out + volt switch into Garchomp then Techtonic Rage, but at least I have a reliable way to deal with it now. Blissey-3 can ice beam that can crit the incoming Garchomp and OHKO it, which is why I use fake out also.
Frost Rotom + Abomasnow: Lead needs to double target to KO either, and both can carry blizzard. While not always a problem, the potential for double freeze is a major threat. There are several possible partners to Abomasnow that have similar problems, but Frost Rotom is unique in its OHKO both of my possible switch-ins.
Ok, because I want to show off a match I definitely should not have won and because yesterday I wrote a bit about my team in Discord, I want to do a (small?) writeup of the team I use in Singles at the moment. It sits at 166 wins, which is decent enough for the first real run with it I would say.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 60 SpD / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rock Tomb
- Confide
With Jolly, 228 Spe and Choice Scarf it hits 231 speed stat, which is enough to outspeed everything but Terrakion-2, Entei-3, Garchomp-3 and Manectric-4, the rest of the EVs aren't optimal and need some kind of fine tuning (at least I should change them to something like 196 HP, 84 SpD, 228 Spe so Download users won't get the SpA boost). Earthquake is for KOing some scary stuff I can't really setup Mence on and the other 3 moves are straight up support, so I can get Mence in a situation to fully setup. Knock Off really comes in handy vs. opposing Pokémon who carry Life Orb or Choice items, because they lose power/speed and won't kill themselves anymore with LO or won't switchout when out of PP with Choice item. Rock Tomb is to drop the speed, so Mence can substitute before it has to tank a move, which is important so I won't get untimely critted and can avoid attacks and secondary effects, which could cripple Mence or fuck me up otherwise (Rock Slides flinches, Tbolts paras, Psychic and Shadow Balls SpD drops, Swaggers, and other moves). Confide does a really good job in allowing Mence to setup on a lot of special attackers. And together with Landos high speed and Choice Scarf it basically means that Landorus has never take a hit at full damage, if I don't want it to, since Intimidate lowers the opponents attack and I can lower the SpA with Confide, which is nice.
12 Spe to hit 57 speed stat, which is an empty speed tier. The rest is just to have a lot of physical defense. Had a more special defense based Toxapex before, but since it needs to tank a lot of strong physical moves like Head Smash, Stone Edge, Outrage and Explosion I went with this more physical defense based approach. Attacks are pretty standard too and it does its role really good, which is Toxic stalling stuff Mence can't setup on or PP stalling things like boost moves or strong attacks, so Mence can later come in and setup himself. EVs could use some fine tuning too btw, like maybe going for 61 speed stat, so it is faster then Hippowdon-4, Rhyperior-3, Gastrodon-4 and Exeguttor-A-2 and distributing a few more EVs in SpD.
The best Mon to use in Battle Tree Singles IMO. It has great bulk, speed, attack, typing, ability, movepool... it's pretty ridiculous. And if you can setup to +6 you won't need more then Adamant 4 EVs and Frustration. It can OHKO everyhthing but ~50 sets, only 12 sets can't get 2HKOd and 6 of the 12 are some Set-1 or Set-2 Mons. No need for Earthquake or more offensive EVs at all. 44 Speed EVs to outspeed base 80 with positive speed nature and 252 EVs (like Blaziken-3, Gardevoir-3, Glalie-3, Medicham-3, Togekiss-3). It speedties with Gyarados-34, but that don't matter since I Toxic stall them anyways. Used 244 HP EVs so I can Substitute 4 times and still have 1 HP and because I had 8 EVs to give out in the end I dumped them into HP to make it max. For the defensive EVs I'll just show a bunch of damage calcs for you to get an overall idea on what Mence can set up on, highlighting some more important benchmarks.
-1 252+ SpA Sheer Force Camerupt-Mega Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%) -2 0 SpA Aromatisse Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Cresselia Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Electivire Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 39-46 (19.3 - 22.7%)
-2 252 SpA Gengar-Mega Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 43-52 (21.2 - 25.7%)
-2 252 SpA Jolteon Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 39-46 (19.3 - 22.7%)
-2 252 Atk Medicham Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%)
-2 252 SpA Raikou Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Rotom-Wash Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-49 (20.7 - 24.2%)
-2 252+ Atk Snorlax Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252 SpA Zapdos Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-51 (20.7 - 25.2%) -3 0 Atk Abomasnow-Mega Ice Shard vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 36-48 (17.8 - 23.7%)
-3 252 Atk Bruxish Ice Fang vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%) -3 252 SpA Comfey Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 38-48 (18.8 - 23.7%)
-3 252+ Atk Mimikyu Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-3 252 Atk Terrakion Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-4 252+ Atk Exeggutor-Alola Dragon Hammer vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 38-48 (18.8 - 23.7%)
-4 252+ Atk Flygon Dragon Rush vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%) -4 252 SpA Gardevoir Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-5 252+ Atk Feraligatr Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%) -6 252+ Atk Druddigon Outrage vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50
-6 252+ Atk Electivire Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
As you can see, some attacks do 50 or more damage at most and could knock out the Substitute in one hit, but usually thats just only the max roll out of all 16 and I feel confident enough, that the opponents won't get max rolls or crits like 5 times in a row to kill Mence lol.
Unfortunately the team has some serious weaknesses, which will end the streak sooner or later. Infiltrator, Flame Body, Static, Effect Spore are annoying abilities, while Defiant, Contrary and Competitive are really threatening . Taunt and some boosting moves on strong Pokémon (Swords Dance and Nasty Plot especially) and some strong Z-Moves can do real damage aswell (Hydreigon-3 comes to mind, which has Z-Draco Meteor AND Taunt). Some individual Pokémon could also fuck me up really badly if they lead (Articuno-2, Glalie-3 especially with Moody, Porygon-Z-34 especially with Download). So I'll see how much further I can push the streak this week and will do an update post, if/when I finally lose, so the streak can be put on the leaderbord.
But I think I won't be that sad, when I lose, because this was the first real thought out team I created for any Battle Facility and I think I got a lot of experience, which I can use for future teams and runs. Already have something in mind around a different Toxapex moveset and I would like to try out some variation of GG Units Entraintment team.
For the end of this post I'll share 3 battle videos of the team in action:
#104 (33 turns) vs Donna HY9W-WWWW-WWW5-MFUB
Kind of a typical battle, because I knew from the beginning that I just could setup with Salamence and win. But also a bit different since Barbaracle-4 crit OHKOd my Toxapex due to Sniper and getting a defense drop on the switchin (which I failed to notice), so I couldn't completely stall out the Stone Edge PP with Toxa and had to finish that with Mence. But after that I just DD'd, subbed and roosted until +6/+6 behind a Substitute with a lot of HP and just sweeped afterwards.
#143 (35 turns) vs Tamah YTTG-WWWW-WWW5-MFPM
An example of a match, where I didn't need to setup Mence. Lickylicky-4 lead, so I switched to Toxa and waited until it exploded. In comes Mamoswine-3, so I had to switchstall its attacking PP and wait for it to switch out, last mon is Sylveon, which can't do anything in the 1v3
#166 (34 turns) vs Inez PT8W-WWWW-WWW5-MFND
The match I should have lost. Articuno lead so I switched to Toxa in hope it is Articuno-1 to tank the Blizzard, but it is Articuno-2, so I knew I was in a lot of trouble. Sacked Toxa to get Lando in safe so I can Confide once (or maybe even twice, since Lando has a chance to live the -1 Ice Beam + -2 Ice Shard combo) and after that Salamence was in a 1v3 vs -3 Atk -1 SpA Articuno-2 lead. I subbed fishing for a Sheer Cold miss, roosted when I got around 50HP so Ice Shard couldn't finish me off and somehow managed to set up 5 DDs and win the battle. Pretty crazy, that Ice Beam never freezed or critted me and it didn't Sheer Cold, when I was roosting without a Substitute up.
Just lost on 66 with Greninja, M Salamence, and Aegislash. That was a pretty fun team. I have no IV investment on this team which is likely what ended the run. I made a play mistake by getting greedy with my lead and not just finishing off their Incineroar. Ninja would have had a bit of life left to Ice Beam an opposing Salamance, and then I would have had Mega Mence and Slash against M Gyarados, which I win by switching 6 times then Mega Evolving.
Hey guys, new poster but long time lurker here. I just lost battle #155 in Super Singles.
For the first 50 battles I used a Golisopod/Megagross/Garchomp team to get through it fast, then switched to the 'real' team. I used two members of GG-Units team, the Salamence and Aegislash.
Instead of a Chansey I used Gliscor. I don't really like Chansey and I wanted to try something slightly different. I started this streak right after pokebank came out so I looked through the Maison thread for a different 3rd poke. I found Gliscor was used a lot, and even though it makes my team very weak to ice, I figured Aegislash would be able to beat most ice attackers. The Gliscor I used is copied from The Dutch Plumberjack
This thing is a beast, and can beat so many things while remaining at 100% hp. If Mence + Aegislash couldn't setup, this guy was usually able to take care of it, and many times toxic-stall all 3 pokemon.
BWYG-WWWW-WWW5-N2AQ is battle 155. Looking back, I obviously should've switched when Articuno used Mind-reader. I wasn't sure if it would always use Sheer Cold after Mind-reader (does it? Or can it use Ice Beam instead?), and was afraid of switching Gliscor or Salamence into their deaths needlessly. Without Aegislash I couldn't beat the Articuno, so my priority should've been to keep it alive.
I'm curious how other people feel about Gliscor in the Tree, considering there are only two Gliscors currently in the leaderboard. Its typing and ability are amazing, and there are just so many things it can pp stall/kill by itself.
I'm also wondering if a tankier Mence set might be better. The 252 attack let it just barely KO a lot of stuff without setting up too much, but since the goal of this team is to find ways to set up, a tankier EV spread may help with that. I feel like this team can get a lot farther than this, but I'm not sure how hax-proof it is.
I would've liked to hit 200 for the berry but this was my first run past 70~, so I'm not too surprised a stupid misplay ended my streak before my goal. Anyway, here's the proof.
I’ve been lurking since the beginning of Sun and Moon and finally have a streak worth mentioning. I would like to report a Doubles streak of 120. This team is heavily based on one used by Laevus and Pav A Nice Day with a few minor edits, and i believe that it could go much farther.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Grass Knot
-Volt Switch
Standard Koko set but with volt switch instead of HP ice. Volt switch is surprisingly useful in many situations, most notably when the opponent leads with a ground type/earthquake user and a bulky TR setter.
Alolan Raichu @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA
Modest Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic
-Fake out
-Protect
I swapped grass knot for fake out because I wanted a way to deal with opposing fake out/sucker punch users. I kept protect over grass knot because I felt that it was more useful to be able to earthquake next to Raichu than pick up a few extra KO’s.
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate/Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Waterfall
-Crunch
-Ice Fang
-Protect
I originally started using jolly because that is what I had and I was too lazy to breed another one, however I decided to keep it because the extra speed allows me to out speed and OHKO quite a few Pokémon. Having an intimidator that is immune to earthquake was invaluable against bulky ground types such as Mega Steelix.
Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
-Poison Jab
I decided that the ground z move was more important than the fire one after Blissey-4 set up on me and killed me during one of my earlier attempts. I found that the ability to OHKO/chunk TR setters and ground types was more valuable than the ability to OHKO ferrothorn.
I feel that this team has the potential for long streaks. I lost my streak in what is perhaps the dumbest possible way; I accidently turned off my 3DS during battle 129. Since I hadn’t saved since battle 120, that is what my streak shows up as when checked, so that is what I will report it as. Most battles ended in less than 5 turns, and battles seemed to get easier the farther I got in the tree. It may be placebo, but it seemed like I saw more teams that used legendary Pokémon than TR, which was the biggest threat to the team.
Steelix-4: While any ground type that doesn’t die to psychic + grass knot can be a threat, Mega Steelix is perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch. I would usually swap Koko, volt switch if possible, into Garchomp and sack Raichu by using psychic on Steelix to put it in Techtonic Rage range.
Oranguru 3: Only a threat when paired with another possible TR setter or earthquake user, and even then only a problem if it has inner focus to stop fake out. When paired with an earthquake user I usually had to just accept that both of my leads were going to take an earthquake to prevent trick room. If it’s partner is a TR setter that doesn’t get OHKO’d by Koko then I just needed to guess which pokemon would use TR while doubling the other, or hope for a crit, because without a little luck there is nothing I could do.
Sucker punch: Most users OHKO Raichu, so I try to fake out/protect while targeting with Koko.
Blissey: I lost my first attempt to Blissey-4, so naturally I made edits to deal with it. It still usually warrants fake out + volt switch into Garchomp then Techtonic Rage, but at least I have a reliable way to deal with it now. Blissey-3 can ice beam that can crit the incoming Garchomp and OHKO it, which is why I use fake out also.
Frost Rotom + Abomasnow: Lead needs to double target to KO either, and both can carry blizzard. While not always a problem, the potential for double freeze is a major threat. There are several possible partners to Abomasnow that have similar problems, but Frost Rotom is unique in its OHKO both of my possible switch-ins.
Cool to see someone else use this team and try out some of the changes I was going to get around to eventually.
Fake Out on Raichu and Volt Switch on Tapu Koko are definitely things I'm going to try on a 2nd run with that team. Gotta check the speed tiers on Jolly v Adamant Gyarados to see if there's any particular threats that Jolly outspeeds. Looking at switching Garchomp out though; thinking of trying Kartana, Landorus or Buzzwole off the top of my head.
As for me I reached a streak of #101 in Super Singles with this team that I do NOT recommend in any way shape or form even though I doubt anyone would think it's worth copying anyway.
First off, the problem is obviously not Salamence and Aegislash; they're beasts and we all know it and they have great synergy. Suicune is also an amazing beast which can set up easily, but it just ruins the synergy of the team. The idea of this team is that all 3 can set up to +6 on the first mon you see and then sweep by themselves. But Suicune adds a glaring weakness to Electric types that I noticed after about 20 battles and just thought "Ah well I've made the team now let's just see how far it goes". Until I eventually lose to a Jolteon because I thought Thunder had 5 PP so I could stall it...I couldn't.
At least this has been a good lesson for me as to why 2 of the highest Singles streaks are Mence, Slash, Chansey. Chansey perfectly covers the things Suicune is let down by without losing anything else. But there's no need for me to just completely copy that team when it's been done. I see there's a run a few posts up that has Gliscor over Suicune, I considered that myself but was worried about the double 4x Ice weakness in the team.
I'm off back to Doubles and Multis. Singles just has too much "Set up and sweep" for me. Hiding behind subs or Kings Shield just isn't as fun for me personally as going all out ultra-aggro which as we all know is just not efficient in the long run in Singles.
Ok, because I want to show off a match I definitely should not have won and because yesterday I wrote a bit about my team in Discord, I want to do a (small?) writeup of the team I use in Singles at the moment. It sits at 166 wins, which is decent enough for the first real run with it I would say.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 60 SpD / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rock Tomb
- Confide
With Jolly, 228 Spe and Choice Scarf it hits 231 speed stat, which is enough to outspeed everything but Terrakion-2, Entei-3, Garchomp-3 and Manectric-4, the rest of the EVs aren't optimal and need some kind of fine tuning (at least I should change them to something like 196 HP, 84 SpD, 228 Spe so Download users won't get the SpA boost). Earthquake is for KOing some scary stuff I can't really setup Mence on and the other 3 moves are straight up support, so I can get Mence in a situation to fully setup. Knock Off really comes in handy vs. opposing Pokémon who carry Life Orb or Choice items, because they lose power/speed and won't kill themselves anymore with LO or won't switchout when out of PP with Choice item. Rock Tomb is to drop the speed, so Mence can substitute before it has to tank a move, which is important so I won't get untimely critted and can avoid attacks and secondary effects, which could cripple Mence or fuck me up otherwise (Rock Slides flinches, Tbolts paras, Psychic and Shadow Balls SpD drops, Swaggers, and other moves). Confide does a really good job in allowing Mence to setup on a lot of special attackers. And together with Landos high speed and Choice Scarf it basically means that Landorus has never take a hit at full damage, if I don't want it to, since Intimidate lowers the opponents attack and I can lower the SpA with Confide, which is nice.
12 Spe to hit 57 speed stat, which is an empty speed tier. The rest is just to have a lot of physical defense. Had a more special defense based Toxapex before, but since it needs to tank a lot of strong physical moves like Head Smash, Stone Edge, Outrage and Explosion I went with this more physical defense based approach. Attacks are pretty standard too and it does its role really good, which is Toxic stalling stuff Mence can't setup on or PP stalling things like boost moves or strong attacks, so Mence can later come in and setup himself. EVs could use some fine tuning too btw, like maybe going for 61 speed stat, so it is faster then Hippowdon-4, Rhyperior-3, Gastrodon-4 and Exeguttor-A-2 and distributing a few more EVs in SpD.
The best Mon to use in Battle Tree Singles IMO. It has great bulk, speed, attack, typing, ability, movepool... it's pretty ridiculous. And if you can setup to +6 you won't need more then Adamant 4 EVs and Frustration. It can OHKO everyhthing but ~50 sets, only 12 sets can't get 2HKOd and 6 of the 12 are some Set-1 or Set-2 Mons. No need for Earthquake or more offensive EVs at all. 44 Speed EVs to outspeed base 80 with positive speed nature and 252 EVs (like Blaziken-3, Gardevoir-3, Glalie-3, Medicham-3, Togekiss-3). It speedties with Gyarados-34, but that don't matter since I Toxic stall them anyways. Used 244 HP EVs so I can Substitute 4 times and still have 1 HP and because I had 8 EVs to give out in the end I dumped them into HP to make it max. For the defensive EVs I'll just show a bunch of damage calcs for you to get an overall idea on what Mence can set up on, highlighting some more important benchmarks.
-1 252+ SpA Sheer Force Camerupt-Mega Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%) -2 0 SpA Aromatisse Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Cresselia Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Electivire Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 39-46 (19.3 - 22.7%)
-2 252 SpA Gengar-Mega Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 43-52 (21.2 - 25.7%)
-2 252 SpA Jolteon Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 39-46 (19.3 - 22.7%)
-2 252 Atk Medicham Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%)
-2 252 SpA Raikou Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252+ SpA Rotom-Wash Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-49 (20.7 - 24.2%)
-2 252+ Atk Snorlax Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
-2 252 SpA Zapdos Thunder vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-51 (20.7 - 25.2%) -3 0 Atk Abomasnow-Mega Ice Shard vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 36-48 (17.8 - 23.7%)
-3 252 Atk Bruxish Ice Fang vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 44-52 (21.7 - 25.7%) -3 252 SpA Comfey Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 38-48 (18.8 - 23.7%)
-3 252+ Atk Mimikyu Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-3 252 Atk Terrakion Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-4 252+ Atk Exeggutor-Alola Dragon Hammer vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 38-48 (18.8 - 23.7%)
-4 252+ Atk Flygon Dragon Rush vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%) -4 252 SpA Gardevoir Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Salamence-Mega: 42-50 (20.7 - 24.7%)
-5 252+ Atk Feraligatr Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%) -6 252+ Atk Druddigon Outrage vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 42-50
-6 252+ Atk Electivire Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Salamence-Mega: 40-48 (19.8 - 23.7%)
As you can see, some attacks do 50 or more damage at most and could knock out the Substitute in one hit, but usually thats just only the max roll out of all 16 and I feel confident enough, that the opponents won't get max rolls or crits like 5 times in a row to kill Mence lol.
Unfortunately the team has some serious weaknesses, which will end the streak sooner or later. Infiltrator, Flame Body, Static, Effect Spore are annoying abilities, while Defiant, Contrary and Competitive are really threatening . Taunt and some boosting moves on strong Pokémon (Swords Dance and Nasty Plot especially) and some strong Z-Moves can do real damage aswell (Hydreigon-3 comes to mind, which has Z-Draco Meteor AND Taunt). Some individual Pokémon could also fuck me up really badly if they lead (Articuno-2, Glalie-3 especially with Moody, Porygon-Z-34 especially with Download). So I'll see how much further I can push the streak this week and will do an update post, if/when I finally lose, so the streak can be put on the leaderbord.
But I think I won't be that sad, when I lose, because this was the first real thought out team I created for any Battle Facility and I think I got a lot of experience, which I can use for future teams and runs. Already have something in mind around a different Toxapex moveset and I would like to try out some variation of GG Units Entraintment team.
For the end of this post I'll share 3 battle videos of the team in action:
#104 (33 turns) vs Donna HY9W-WWWW-WWW5-MFUB
Kind of a typical battle, because I knew from the beginning that I just could setup with Salamence and win. But also a bit different since Barbaracle-4 crit OHKOd my Toxapex due to Sniper and getting a defense drop on the switchin (which I failed to notice), so I couldn't completely stall out the Stone Edge PP with Toxa and had to finish that with Mence. But after that I just DD'd, subbed and roosted until +6/+6 behind a Substitute with a lot of HP and just sweeped afterwards.
#143 (35 turns) vs Tamah YTTG-WWWW-WWW5-MFPM
An example of a match, where I didn't need to setup Mence. Lickylicky-4 lead, so I switched to Toxa and waited until it exploded. In comes Mamoswine-3, so I had to switchstall its attacking PP and wait for it to switch out, last mon is Sylveon, which can't do anything in the 1v3
#166 (34 turns) vs Inez PT8W-WWWW-WWW5-MFND
The match I should have lost. Articuno lead so I switched to Toxa in hope it is Articuno-1 to tank the Blizzard, but it is Articuno-2, so I knew I was in a lot of trouble. Sacked Toxa to get Lando in safe so I can Confide once (or maybe even twice, since Lando has a chance to live the -1 Ice Beam + -2 Ice Shard combo) and after that Salamence was in a 1v3 vs -3 Atk -1 SpA Articuno-2 lead. I subbed fishing for a Sheer Cold miss, roosted when I got around 50HP so Ice Shard couldn't finish me off and somehow managed to set up 5 DDs and win the battle. Pretty crazy, that Ice Beam never freezed or critted me and it didn't Sheer Cold, when I was roosting without a Substitute up.
Cool team, even better write-up! Nasty Plot Azelf was one of my main reasons for using a faster Mence set, but Landorus seems to have that covered on your team. There are a bunch of Curse and Dragon Dance users where the extra Attack or Speed allows Mence to set up on its own, but with Toxapex you don't have to risk that very often either. That mostly leaves the opponents with Sheer Cold + another Ice move, which are rare in the first place and require something on the level of Substitute Chansey + Aegislash to be reasonably safe against them if your lead can be OHKOed by the non-Sheer Cold attack.
When I was thinking about using a bulkier Salamence spread with Confide support, my greater concern was how often I'd be attacking at less than +6 rather than what could/couldn't be OHKOed once I got to that point. You could probably look into Facade over Frustration, which I'm guessing would mostly be a trade-off between how often you need to 2HKO Magnezone4 at +6 (pretty much just if it comes out 2nd and Landorus is already KOed) and how often you'd appreciate the protection against status - either on the switch or when it comes to going for the KO on opponents with the contact abilities rather than trying to force them out by PP stalling.
Friendly reminder that the BP-collecting Global Mission is officially underway.
We are probably the best hope the PGL community has to reach the 250,000 Battle Point goal, so let's rack up that money BP and put these AI sets in body bags back in their Poke Balls!
Friendly reminder that the BP-collecting Global Mission is officially underway.
We are probably the best hope the PGL community has to reach the 250,000 BP goal, so let's rack up that money BP and put these AI sets in body bags back to their Poke Balls!
Friendly reminder that the BP-collecting Global Mission is officially underway.
We are probably the best hope the PGL community has to reach the 250,000 Battle Point goal, so let's rack up that money BP and put these AI sets in body bags back in their Poke Balls!
I just noticed, as I was trying to use the replay function and got the alert the moment I connected. Altissimo & Gentlemen... let us utterly fucking dominate this "challenge" like we crushed the GTS one (or at least I paticipated, heh... bred a shitload of Dream Ball Magnemites and did a buncha random back-n-forth trades. Did a little over 170 trades IIRC)
Speaking of which, a small querie: do unobtainable Megas still trip the replay upload function? I have a battle with nothing unobtainable post-bank aside from an enemy Mega Latias and the server refuses to let me upload it. My VGC battles with the same pokemon are not flagged, leading me to believe the server doesn't like the AI's Latiasite.
