OU Cores in the BW2 Metagame

[Rigel]

Rather than Ferrothorn and Jellicent, I use Ferrothorn and Chandelure as my core.
Standard sets, and they have PERFECT type synergy

[Ricky Horror]

Anyone use an offensive FWG core? I've used Breloom,Volcarona,Starmie to some success as it can keep pressure on your opponent while also being able to balance each other off. Yea it's not a perfect core, or even close lol. It's something I prefer myself.

[Superpowerdude]

We meet again, but this time with a full description of the core, which still shows me how little it really walls, meaning a good offensive team will tear it apart. It's all right against stall teams, but even then they'll just set up hazards and go to town on forretress and heatran. Also, if you want a healing move on forretress, pain split over protect one hundred percent. That also gives it a way to actually hurt things, in a way. I still can't emphasize enough how almost any sweeper i can think of has his way with this core, which ironically is made up of 3 very bulky, usually used on stall team pokemon.

I fail to see how you think this core walls nothing. First of all between Lava Plume,Scald and Will-o-wisp Physical sweepers will get crippled completely! Heatran can Roar out set up sweepers and Jellicent can taunt them. Also HOW IN THE HELL CAN STALL TEAM SET UP ON THIS!!! most Entry hazard setters are steel types that get forced out by Heatran because of its fire attacks. Foretress has proven time and time again to be one of the best rapid spinners in OU and Jeliient can taunt Entry hazards layers. The only offensive mons that give this core trouble is Mixmence with eq and Thunderous-T two pokemon that can get revenged by ABomasnows Ice shard while ABomasnow brings up hail the best stalling weather possible dude to only ice types resisting it.

ALso I didnt know Foretress could get pain split I will have to try that

[Zarco]

I generally use something of an offensive core and a defensive core in tandem on many of my teams. My most recent team uses SubCM Raikou and BU Breloom, which have amazing synergy and both crush rain. Pair it with Banded Landy-T to crush walls and punish sun/sand hard, and you have a cool offensive core (also has two tiger Pokemon, so I get a kick out of calling it twin tigers). I back it up with a simple anti-weather core of Vaporeon/Spdef Heatran and to a lesser extent Breloom. My last team member is Scarf Latios who complements both by revenging dragons and whatnot.

[tehy]

My comments in bold.

Originally Posted by Fat Superpowerdude

I fail to see how you think this core walls nothing.
Pick a sweeper. Any sweeper. Then explain to me how you wall it. Let me get you started. Cm virizion demolishes everything in your core, so does Hp fire EP giga drain NP celebi, they both switch in on almost everything you have. AND SD virizion. Lum DDnite demolishes this core, so does DDmence. You have not much to do about SDcario with crunch, although ice punch is increasingly popular, same thing with conkeldurr. I get the feeling that SubSDscor could crush you also. DDtar also pwns, and i have seen lum versions. Since you lack Night shade, which is far better than scald on jellicent unless you REALLY hate gliscor, CMkeldeo also roflstomps you. Do i have to explain exactly HOW they take you apart? Or list more sweepers?
First of all between Lava Plume,Scald and Will-o-wisp Physical sweepers will get crippled completely!
If you manage to hit anyone with them. Physical sweepers don't exactly switch in on burning moves. Any of the above sweepers can tear you apart if they get a free switch, which forry will probably give them.
Heatran can Roar out set up sweepers and Jellicent can taunt them.
I also run roar heatran. Have fun trying to roar something that might have a choice item and EQ, while you don't know. If you protect he gets a DD and an eq on the switch. Jellicent cannot taunt any setup sweeper i can think of that i have seen commonly besides conkeldurr, and either he hard-walls it(Ice punch), or he can't do much without risking a burn and thus roflpwnage. I guess CMclus counts, but i haven't seen that for a while and you can barely damage it anyhow at plus one. Assuming a hit from psychic and psyshock both do under 50% at plus one.
Also HOW IN THE HELL CAN STALL TEAM SET UP ON THIS!!! most Entry hazard setters are steel types that get forced out by Heatran because of its fire attacks. Foretress has proven time and time again to be one of the best rapid spinners in OU and Jeliient can taunt Entry hazards layers.
Blissey sets up SR with ease, tenta T-spikes. Skarm can outspeed jellicent a lot of the time, then either take a burn and 2 layers, or a taunt and one. Also, roserade is a thing. Since you mention abomasnow below, all those steel types say hello. Ferro can set up a layer of spikes by underspeeding forry, then going to its spinblocker. Not to mention you mentioned abomasnow with ice shard, the only commonly used set with that attack is setup bait for all the steels you just mentioned.
The only offensive mons that give this core trouble is Mixmence with eq and Thunderous-T two pokemon that can get revenged by ABomasnows Ice shard while ABomasnow brings up hail the best stalling weather possible dude to only ice types resisting it.
I love it when 2/3ds of my stall core now has no way to recover. That is conducive to stall!!!!!!!!
Hail might theoretically be the best stall weather, debatably, but in your case it's clearly not. Also, unless it's CB or heavily invested in attack abomasnow, it might not be able to revenge thundurus-T.


ALso I didnt know Foretress could get pain split I will have to try that

Many people don't. I ran it back in gen 4 when blisseys and swamperts would try to wear down forry as he set up. Then BAM.
Not sure how effective it is now, but it's got to be better than 6% recover with you possibly having hail.

[joshaka1]

Would a techniloom and mixmence core work? With either one going putting dents in the opponents team while the other one cleans ups the mess, with hazard support and a decent choice scarfer I believe this would be somewhat effective with them almost covering eachothers weaknesses offensively

[Scarfwynaut]

Originally Posted by Fat joshaka1

Would a techniloom and mixmence core work? With either one going putting dents in the opponents team while the other one cleans ups the mess, with hazard support and a decent choice scarfer I believe this would be somewhat effective with them almost covering eachothers weaknesses offensively

To be honest I don't think Salamence synergizes that well at all with Breloom.

Mix-mence can lure and kill / cripple:
-Defensive Gyarados
-Hippowdon
-Slowbro
-Gliscor
-Landorus-T
-Donphan

Remember no sane steel type is switching in fearing a fire blast. All of those pokemon are pokemon that can't deal with Breloom outside of maybe Landorus-T.

[joshaka1]

So what pokemon would be good with breloom ?

[GatoDelFuego]

Probably something that can take out landorus, gliscor, gengar, and celebi all at once.

...Signal Beam Starmie? Zapdos worked well as a core last gen...U-turn zapdos?

[nob]

Here is my favourite defensive core.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Knock Off

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 168 Def / 88 SDef / 252 HP
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes
- Power Whip

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Spd / 180 Def
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Toxic

This works best is rain. Tentacruel can spin and set up Tspikes, while also surprising some wall pokemon with knock off (It's awesome when I use it on a chansey). Ferrothorn can set up spikes, while also using Leech Seed + Rocky Helmet + Iron Barbs do to a crazy amount of passive damage on any physical opponent, with Power Whip to do even more damage.
Gliscor can take on half the pokemon in the game and come out unscathed because of protect + substitute. With 76 speed evs it can out-speed other cookie-cutter gliscors off smogon's database, although it can't touch poison heal sets.

[DuncanDomino]

Originally Posted by Fat Asek

Since most of the cores posted are defensive, I thought I would post an offensive core I've had much success with on the ladder

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant I Clear Body
EV's: 252HP / 220Atk / 36Spd
Meteor Mash/ Zen Headbutt/ Bullet Punch/ Earthquake

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid I Natural Cure
EV's: 4Def/ 252SpA/ 252Spd
Rapid Spin/ Surf/ Ice Beam/ Thunderbolt

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Adamant I Multiscale
EV's: 8HP/ 248Atk/ 252Spd
ExtremeSpeed/ Fire Punch / Superpower/ Outrage

Would Salamence work here just as well due to the faster speed and ability to hit harder from the special side too?

[Kiyo]

Originally Posted by Fat DuncanDomino

Would Salamence work here just as well due to the faster speed and ability to hit harder from the special side too?

In a way yes, this set is cb so its more about punching huge holes in threats when you can. hence definitely can work as a special counterpart because it shares the same synergy but it lacks a base 80 +2 priority moves. also the abilities can be a deciding factor, multi scale or intimidate/moxie. The two are really played differently so its up to you. but simply put, yes it can work.

[Kiyo]

Originally Posted by Fat joshaka1

So what pokemon would be good with breloom ?

Heatran has decent defensive synergy with breloom and also hits from the special side which creates a pretty solid offensive core.

[nob]

Originally Posted by Fat Ricky Horror

Anyone use an offensive FWG core? I've used Breloom,Volcarona,Starmie to some success as it can keep pressure on your opponent while also being able to balance each other off. Yea it's not a perfect core, or even close lol. It's something I prefer myself.

FWG is a basic, but reliable core. In UU, my favourite core is Physically Defensive Arcanine, Amoongus, and Slowbro.

[Electrolyte]

Originally Posted by Fat Ricky Horror

Anyone use an offensive FWG core? I've used Breloom,Volcarona,Starmie to some success as it can keep pressure on your opponent while also being able to balance each other off. Yea it's not a perfect core, or even close lol. It's something I prefer myself.

Amoonguss/Slowbro/Heatran are a very effective and common defensive core. They tend to force switches a lot, and Heatran's SR can be used to stack up passive damage. Amoonguss can Spore, and Slowbro can burn with Scald. It's a great core that I used in my Stall team.

[Finchinator]

Tornadus-T (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Grass Knot



Mamoswine (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower

The power of this mamoswine alogn with tornadus-t beign fast and a force to be reckon with is just amazing, other possible team members would be Politoed, Starmie, Lucario(if your running them alongside hazards), ferrothorn, dragonite, salemence, rotom-w, and thundurus-t

[FaceFaceFace]

I've been trying to find a good core for sand, and I've found specially defensive Tar+Dusclops to work rather well - Dusclops has immunity to Ttar's fighting weakness and can burn most physical attackers, and Ttar can take on most Ghost/Dark types that threaten Dusclops. It's not perfect coverage, but having massive defenses mean they don't take much damage from neutral attacks.

Gastrodon is a problem for this duo, as it destroys Ttar and can out stall Dusclops with Toxic.


Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Taunt/Superpower


Dusclops (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Seismic Toss
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

[Poke Trainer]

By spamming Relic Song, Meloetta can become a core all on its own and can work effeciently in Rain, the most common weather atm.

[J.V.]

Originally Posted by Fat Bribery

I usually reduce the ATK IVs of special attackers to 0 since it minimizes the damage you take from confusion. Not a big deal but it could help.

The extra damage on your U-Turns will come up a lot more often than less damage from hit yourself in confusion...

[Fantom0]

Originally Posted by Fat Poke Trainer

By spamming Relic Song, Meloetta can become a core all on its own and can work effeciently in Rain, the most common weather atm.

Wait what? Surely Meloetta is better off simply using its diverse movepool to deal with threats as they switch in or simply set up rather than having to waste a turn and a move slot changing types with a move that, if it succeeds in putting your opponent to sleep, is going to make them really annoyed.
To put this into context, let's assume that your opponent is forced out by Meloetta and goes to one of the most popular rain abusers as of now, Tornadus-T. If you Relic Song, no matter what form you're in, Tornadus will probably win by spamming Hurricane and then switch to heal as though it were never there. There's no way you're going to rely on Relic Song's sleep chance, so you're forced to switch, risking something against a Hurricane, and you haven't done anything to the mighty pigeon. Alternatively, you could Thunderbolt it for decent damage in Normal form, or U-Turn in Step form for some excellent momentum. There just is no reason to have Relic Song.

[alkinesthetase]

^ while I don't think one mon can be considered a core, i'm not sure you were aware of the set being referred to. he's not talking about spamming relic song ad infinitum, that's dumb for obvious reasons. he's referring to meloetta's forme switching sets, which seek to use relic song with a mixed moveset (usually close combat/hp ice/tbolt, or thunder if in rain) and swap formes repeatedly. counters and checks to one forme are usually threatened or outright destroyed by the other so you can cycle relic song to force your opponent to switch repeatedly and effectively threaten as both a bulky special attacker and a high-speed physical one at the same time.

moreover, i don't see tornadus having an easy win against meloetta-A, who has a whopping 128 base spdef. uninvested, it takes maximum 64% from LO hurricane and deals min 87% with uninvested thunder (to naive), 1/8th chance of OHKO and definite OHKO after stealth rock.

EDIT: in fact, if we look at shrang's set, meloetta-P's thunderbolt (yes, the physical form) deals minimum 78% to naive tornadus-t which is always KO after sr. ofc with your 77 spdef and flying weakness, you're not gonna be taking hurricanes any time soon, but you can outspeed tornadus-T (meloetta is one of the few mons who can do so lol) with 200+ speed EVs, switching formes as tornadus comes in and smashing it out with a thunderbolt immediately afterward. if your opponent's primary flying resists are out of play you can potentially even sweep with cc thanks to your titanic speed.

[Ambicrow3]

I've been using an offensive core around an odd offensive type trio that I thought would work (and has), Ground, Electric, and Flying. When I first started out I was theorymoning. I was coming up with cores that I could utilize in my upcoming teams. I was thinking about type resists on defense, and offensive coverage through the STAB type alone, and I realized that Ground, Electric, and Flying would work. I was going to make a defensive core when I realized how well this worked, but Electric pokemon aren't that bulky, and prefer to be more offensive. So, naturally I went with a more offensive route. This was a core based around around sand, where it works the best.



Sandslash@Life Orb
252 Atk/ 252 Speed/ 4 hp
Trait-Jolly
Ability-Sand Rush
Moves
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-X-Scissor

The main reason I use this team in a sandstorm. He takes apart so many enemies at low hp at +0 and commits so many sweeps at +2. His natural defensive stats allows the mouse pokemon to set up its swords dance with impudence. He has access to the EdgeQuake, but only has STAB in the Earthquake. He resists Stealth Rocks, allowing many switch ins, so he can revenge kill very well at an automatic +2 speed in sand. Fortunately, this little bundle of joy out speeds the likes of Adamant Scarf Terrakion, and any other pokemon that have +1 speed and base 113 with a neutral nature or less. Also, it can take an Adamant Choice Scarf Terrakion's Close Combat and KO, and has about a 50% chance of surviving a Jolly Choice Band Terrakion's Close Combat w/o Stealth Rocks on the field, and a small shimmer of a chance with Stealth Rocks up.



Rotom-W@Leftovers
36hp/252SpAtk/220 Speed
Trait-Modest
Ability-Levitate
Moves
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Hidden Power Grass/Flying
-Thunderbolt

Not much special about this set. It increases my weakness to grass(none of this core can take grass attacks, they just 1HKO the grass attackers). It also kills Gastrdon with HP grass, since Gastrodon walls this whole core pretty hard, so nothing like an hp to cover that up. Volt Switch is there to start a Volt-Turn with my next pokemon, while thunderbolt is there for an elongated sweep. The ice weakness falls on this guys shoulders, since the defensive Ground, Electric, Flying core hates ice attacks, and he absorbs them pretty well, and recovers with leftovers, while also taking out some of the common ice attack users, like Mamoswine, Cloyster, Landorus, Tornadus-T, and Thundorus-T(only on the switch). Now, another option you can go with is to opt out Hp Grass for Hp Flying. This, with the speed spread allows you to out speed and 1HKO Max Speed Jolly Techniloom, one of this cores biggest offensive threats.



Archeops@Sitrus Berry
4HP/252Atk/252Spd
Trait-Jolly
Ability-Defeatist :(
Moves
-Acrobatics
-Head Smash
-U-turn
-Hidden Power Ice

Now after you see this pokemon, you may start to think the core is a gimmick. A pokemon with defeatist? Come on bro, stop wasting my time. But this pokemon has gotten many great niches in the arrival of BW2. Taking out the new top tier defensive threat Amoongus with Acrobatics. Also taking out Politoed, Tornadus, Thundorus-T, Keldeo, Breloom, and Virizion with Head Smash and Acrobatics. These pokemon have all had their usages rise in the metagame even further by the increased potential of rain teams. U-turn completes the Volt-Turn combination, and boy does it hit pretty decent for an attack who's main purpose is for switch advantage. This also allows me to whither down Reuniclus, which is usually a threat for most sand teams in which this core thrives upon. Hidden Power ice is mainly for Gliscor, and Landorus, or sometimes just a more accurate alternative to take down Dragonite and Salamance.


Ok, that sums up most of my details on my new Ground, Electric, Flying offensive core (kind of sucks for a defensive core due to the ice weakness, but maybe Skarmory, Rotom-W, Donphan? I don't know).

[Fantom0]

Originally Posted by Fat alkinesthetase

^ while I don't think one mon can be considered a core, i'm not sure you were aware of the set being referred to. he's not talking about spamming relic song ad infinitum, that's dumb for obvious reasons. he's referring to meloetta's forme switching sets, which seek to use relic song with a mixed moveset (usually close combat/hp ice/tbolt, or thunder if in rain) and swap formes repeatedly. counters and checks to one forme are usually threatened or outright destroyed by the other so you can cycle relic song to force your opponent to switch repeatedly and effectively threaten as both a bulky special attacker and a high-speed physical one at the same time.

moreover, i don't see tornadus having an easy win against meloetta-A, who has a whopping 128 base spdef. uninvested, it takes maximum 64% from LO hurricane and deals min 87% with uninvested thunder (to naive), 1/8th chance of OHKO and definite OHKO after stealth rock.

EDIT: in fact, if we look at shrang's set, meloetta-P's thunderbolt (yes, the physical form) deals minimum 78% to naive tornadus-t which is always KO after sr. ofc with your 77 spdef and flying weakness, you're not gonna be taking hurricanes any time soon, but you can outspeed tornadus-T (meloetta is one of the few mons who can do so lol) with 200+ speed EVs, switching formes as tornadus comes in and smashing it out with a thunderbolt immediately afterward. if your opponent's primary flying resists are out of play you can potentially even sweep with cc thanks to your titanic speed.

Sorry, my mistake. I have a habit of being a bit narrow-minded and then yelling about it. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Poke Trainer]

Originally Posted by Fat Fantom0

Wait what? Surely Meloetta is better off simply using its diverse movepool to deal with threats as they switch in or simply set up rather than having to waste a turn and a move slot changing types with a move that, if it succeeds in putting your opponent to sleep, is going to make them really annoyed.
To put this into context, let's assume that your opponent is forced out by Meloetta and goes to one of the most popular rain abusers as of now, Tornadus-T. If you Relic Song, no matter what form you're in, Tornadus will probably win by spamming Hurricane and then switch to heal as though it were never there. There's no way you're going to rely on Relic Song's sleep chance, so you're forced to switch, risking something against a Hurricane, and you haven't done anything to the mighty pigeon. Alternatively, you could Thunderbolt it for decent damage in Normal form, or U-Turn in Step form for some excellent momentum. There just is no reason to have Relic Song.

With the set I use Meloetta-P out speeds and OHKO's Tornadus T with Ice Punch after rocks. Alkinesthetase pretty much summed up what I meant in my original post.

[DrunkDemon]

Came up with this one last night, and I've been really happy with how it's worked so far.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 100 Atk / 176 SAtk / 232 Spd
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Roost

Sandslash @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin

Sandslash is a powerful rapid-spinner and sweeper, but it gets walled by several Pokemon such as Skarmory, Hippowdon, Forretress, Rotom-W, Slowbro, Celebi, Landorus-T, and Tangrowth. MixMence makes a great partner for Sandslash, as it beats every single one of them. In addition, Sandslash's ability to spin, and even defeat spinblockers, makes it great for Salamence, who despises Stealth Rock. Classic MixMence is preferable to New Mixmence, as Outrage doesn't help it beat anything that walls Sandslash, and it really needs Roost considering it will be taking damage from it's Life Orb and sandstorm. In terms of support, the only things it needs are a Sand Stream user, preferably Tyranitar to prevent typing redundancy, and a solid answer to Mamoswine.