Singles 3v3 General Discussion

cant say

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I kinda disagree, I think with some time Blaziken will be at the top of the viability rankings. Regular Blaziken has been so good since bank dropped, and adding the mega to the mix just makes it better. +1 base 100 speed is soooo much better than 80, now you can outspeed Lele after one boost and bop it, you can run Adamant instead of Jolly and outspeed Mega Gengar / Tapu Koko. Hell, Adamant even outspeeds max speed Pheromosa after one boost! It won't break walls as well as Z move Blaziken, but it takes care of offensive teams so much better as a Mega.

If anything, I think Mega Blaziken is more threatening this gen than it was in ORAS, and it was a pain back then too.
 
I kinda disagree, I think with some time Blaziken will be at the top of the viability rankings. Regular Blaziken has been so good since bank dropped, and adding the mega to the mix just makes it better. +1 base 100 speed is soooo much better than 80, now you can outspeed Lele after one boost and bop it, you can run Adamant instead of Jolly and outspeed Mega Gengar / Tapu Koko. Hell, Adamant even outspeeds max speed Pheromosa after one boost! It won't break walls as well as Z move Blaziken, but it takes care of offensive teams so much better as a Mega.

If anything, I think Mega Blaziken is more threatening this gen than it was in ORAS, and it was a pain back then too.
I am still hesitant to give blaziken the mega spot for most of the teams I can think of. But as of the other comment, I do agree with blaziken being extremely good. As I said earlier, I do believe mega mence is better (overall) but only slightly. I don't believe the difference is that big. I just love blaziken with z move just dealing massive damage. That being said, I've been using blaziken with z move + mega mence.

edit: I recently watched a stream by a Korean player (2000+ in every season and is a popular Korean player) and he was trying to blaziken with and without mega stone for few days and was calling the mega blaziken crap. I didn't take him seriously then (not saying he's bad) because the guy usually makes hasty comments too quickly.
 
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Joeyboy

Has got the gift of gab
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I recently watched a stream by a Korean player (2000+ in every season and is a popular Korean player) and he was trying to blaziken with and without mega stone for few days and was calling the mega blaziken crap. I didn't take him seriously then (not saying he's bad) because the guy usually makes hasty comments too quickly.
I would love a link to the stream? I'm always looking to watch some high level battlespot.

I think the main reason people steer away from Mega Blaziken is that it feels a little redundant when compared to regular Blaziken. Its a heavy price(mega slot) for a simple stat boost, though cant say brought up a lot of good points, the jump in Speed tier is pretty clutch. Though I personally haven't tried Mega Blaziken this gen :)
 
I would love a link to the stream? I'm always looking to watch some high level battlespot.

I think the main reason people steer away from Mega Blaziken is that it feels a little redundant when compared to regular Blaziken. Its a heavy price(mega slot) for a simple stat boost, though cant say brought up a lot of good points, the jump in Speed tier is pretty clutch. Though I personally haven't tried Mega Blaziken this gen :)
Joeyboy, there you go with the links!

Blog: http://blog.naver.com/PostThumbnailList.nhn?blogId=jhshin329&categoryNo=47
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/jhshin329

He also has an afreeca stream, which is a Korean twitch-equivalent site but I can't seem to find it right now.
 
So, I was mixing and matching my 'Mons the other day and came up with a slightly unconventional stall core that's been surprising the absolute hell out of me. Figured I might as well share it for anybody else who's tired of seeing the same few hard-hitters on every team and wants to cockblock the lot of 'em at once.



Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Arcanine @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Morning Sun

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis

(The latter two's Speed EVs are for outpacing Base 70s, namely Breloom and Bisharp. Also, I think you can wrangle a few extra Defense points out of Venusaur by running Bold and enough Speed to hit the same benchmark, but like I said, I'm using Pokemon I already had.)

I've been swearing by Celesteela + Fire-type cores since the beginning of the gen, and this is the most unbreakable I've found so far. I hope to get some replays up of them in action, laughing off everything from Blaziken to Greninja to Mega Mence, but they've earned their nickname of The Ragequit Sisters a little too well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of course, no core is perfect in such an enormous metagame; they have no moves to hit Alolan Marowak and the rare Chandelure with, so pack something to deal with those just in case.
 

cant say

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So, I was mixing and matching my 'Mons the other day and came up with a slightly unconventional stall core that's been surprising the absolute hell out of me. Figured I might as well share it for anybody else who's tired of seeing the same few hard-hitters on every team and wants to cockblock the lot of 'em at once.



Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Arcanine @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Morning Sun

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis

(The latter two's Speed EVs are for outpacing Base 70s, namely Breloom and Bisharp. Also, I think you can wrangle a few extra Defense points out of Venusaur by running Bold and enough Speed to hit the same benchmark, but like I said, I'm using Pokemon I already had.)

I've been swearing by Celesteela + Fire-type cores since the beginning of the gen, and this is the most unbreakable I've found so far. I hope to get some replays up of them in action, laughing off everything from Blaziken to Greninja to Mega Mence, but they've earned their nickname of The Ragequit Sisters a little too well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of course, no core is perfect in such an enormous metagame; they have no moves to hit Alolan Marowak and the rare Chandelure with, so pack something to deal with those just in case.
Thought I'd work it out the difference between Bold / Timid Venu for you, first thing I noticed was that all your EVs are wrong anyway. 248 HP gives the same as 244, 8 spe is the same as 4, 192 is the same as 188, 64 is the same as 60, 96 gives the same as 92, and 160 gives the same as 156.... Might want to optimise your spreads first lol.

Anyway. Here's the comparison between yours and a Bold one:
Timid 164 Def / 92 Spe = 164 Def / 123 Spe
Bold 68 Def / 180 Spe EVs = 168 Def / 123 Spe

So yeah Bold Venu is slightly better if you can get one.
 

Joeyboy

Has got the gift of gab
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So is Smashpass no good in BSS? Just theorycrafting but Smashpass seems like it'd be quite strong as it doesn't really factor in your opponent's team. BSS has always been interesting to me because you can only bring your 3 to your opponent's 3. You have to essentially guess which 'mons your opponent will bring. With Smashpass, for the most part, you can simply play your gameplay; rather than attempt to check your opponent's chosen 3.
 
So is Smashpass no good in BSS? Just theorycrafting but Smashpass seems like it'd be quite strong as it doesn't really factor in your opponent's team. BSS has always been interesting to me because you can only bring your 3 to your opponent's 3. You have to essentially guess which 'mons your opponent will bring. With Smashpass, for the most part, you can simply play your gameplay; rather than attempt to check your opponent's chosen 3.
Smashpass hasnt got much attention in the meta but eeveepass can be a pretty strong team in some matchups. A lot of teams just flat out lose to it unless they get critical hits on the exact turns they need to.
 
I have been wrecking shop with Mega Beedril/Guts Swellow + AV Dhelmise +Eviolite Rhydon. Beedril/Swellow both are speedy and hit like a truck and can Uturn into either Dhelmise and Rhydon as needed. Dhelmise and Rhydon i found compliment each other EXCELLENTLY (well except for ice). Dhelmise is immune to special fighting (Rhydon gives zero Muks for physical fighting) and resists water and grass while Rhydon laughs at any fire and flying attacks while also utterly shrugging off physical dark attacks (although knock off sucks to be hit by it's not the end of the world depending on the rest of the foe's team) and retaliates with ERFQUAKE/megahorn. My team also includes Gyrados and Darminitan
 
I have been wrecking shop with Mega Beedril/Guts Swellow + AV Dhelmise +Eviolite Rhydon. Beedril/Swellow both are speedy and hit like a truck and can Uturn into either Dhelmise and Rhydon as needed. Dhelmise and Rhydon i found compliment each other EXCELLENTLY (well except for ice). Dhelmise is immune to special fighting (Rhydon gives zero Muks for physical fighting) and resists water and grass while Rhydon laughs at any fire and flying attacks while also utterly shrugging off physical dark attacks (although knock off sucks to be hit by it's not the end of the world depending on the rest of the foe's team) and retaliates with ERFQUAKE/megahorn. My team also includes Gyrados and Darminitan
It's always cool to see non standard teams, you should join us in the battle spot room and try your team in the daily tournaments
 
So since the PS tour has finished and I had a lot of fun I want to get into BSS for sure and hopefully do well in some later tours since my first was a success in my eyes. I thought it would be cool to do a kind of report thingy where I put all the teams I used and kind of discuss my thoughts on the sets and stuff. This may also end up being helpful for other new users like me since before this tour I'd literally played about 10 or so games in testing during BSPL but managed to do ok.

DISCLAIMER: I built none of these teams and just want to discuss where I thought I had issues and other things. A few came from Nouthuca and others from the old samples thread. I also used Jhons team once and one of mishimonos teams. Ill link to the RMT for jhons team and just a pastebin of the other teams.

R1 vs Kanon90 (2-1)
So I had no idea what to expect going into the tour and thought I'd just see how far I could get on the 3 samples I had in my builder and Jhons team. I'd played a few games on the ladder to try and get used to the samples but ended up not being able to get past 1100 elo so wasnt expecting much.

G1 (Team used) LOSS
->
VS.

Ended up getting a direct mirror match g1 which wasnt ideal. I picked Hydreigon and Thund-T as my receivers since I felt that Blaziken covered Bulu well enough that my others could focus on the rest of the team. T1 I expected either a protect or flare blitz (since I was scared of that myself) and so I flare blitzed and ended up taking a HJK. Lost the next speed tie and then blaziken ran through me. I would definitely have brought fini over hydreigon could i do it again since it deals with blaziken and hydreigon well while thund and bulu are covered well. I also felt like I couldve played the blaziken mirror better by protecting t1 as an all-round safe play.

G2 (Team used) WIN
->
VS.

Went with a sample I had been most comfortable with in the past and I really liked Mega venusaur in BSS because its super bulky and checks the tapus well. Tran was a natural pick to have a zard switchin and Koko as a more offensive check to zard and a way to reliably keep suicune low. Ended up being really scared of charizard after scouting for the focus blast and got a couple of neat misses which allowed me to keep tran around for hippowdon and sub z curse mimikyu really caused me problems but ended up being able to get a 3v1 vs hippowdon.

G3 (Team used) WIN
->
VS.

So i knew i wanted to use something that had a good matchup vs jhons team since he won with it g1. this sample was p solid with scarf chomp as a lead to outspeed blaziken at +1 which worked perfectly. Inferno overdrive flame charge tran is very cool too and outspeeding thund t saved me a lot of trouble when facing fini since gar doesnt have sludge bomb.

R2 vs Moose And Goose (2-0)
Caught moose and goose literally 5 mins after the round was posted and saw he was known in the ps room so knew i would have to be careful. i immediately decided id use the scarf chomp sample i used last round in g2 since i really liked it and just chose another team to use g1 i had in my builder. once again though i had no idea what to expect.

G1 (Team used)
->
VS.

The first time i really had a gameplan, my aim was to remove aegislash with thund t and gliscor and then set up a shell smash on lapras to win. i still need to work on the execution though as i ended up making stuff hard for myself by being scared to throw my gigavolt havoc into a kings shield and then needing to make a play with gliscor vs zapdos which ended up working well. cloyster ended up cleaning up by way of getting 2 5 hits on aegislash with icicle spear anyway.

G2 (Team used)
->
VS.

This was my first time playing stall so i was caught off guard by sets like pursuit muk-a and guillotine gliscor (which thankfully missed) but otherwise i liked the look of my matchup here, since i could trap/ko chansey with gar then go to work with toxic heatran and np thund t. muks pursuit thankfully didnt do enough to gar to kill it after rocks so i ended up trapping the chansey on a toxic and winning. but it really opened my eyes to stall being a thing in bss.

R3 vs Dogknees (2-0)
I was scared going into this set because dogknees said he needed time to prep for me and chemcoop had told me that he actually plays bss so i didnt expect much. ended up winning quite comfortably with a good matchup g2. mishi had also passed me some teams which i wanted to try out. It was at this point in the tour too that I decided to go onto Nouthuca and get a couple of teams since the japanese teams had done me well up until this point.

G1 (Team used)
->
VS.

From preview I didnt feel too uncomfortable since I knew that I had something for everything on his team. ferro seemed like a bit of a pain since i had to get celesteela in on a move that wasnt leech seed to sub up but it ended up not coming which was nice. taking out blaziken on an overpredict was big too as it meant i had hippo at full health for zapdos later in the game and celesteela was a lot safer. mimikyu was able to take down fini with curse/twinkle tackle and then curse + leech seed + sand was enough to stall out the zapdos in the end game.

G2 (Team used, thanks Mishi)
->
VS.

This game ended up being over very quickly since scarf lele caught dogknees off guard and was able to just take pretty much 2 kos. I picked zard x and thund t to deal with scizor and gyarados which were the 2 biggest threats imo. i had been told fightinium z thundurus was one of the best mons in the meta and wanted to try it out but didnt get to. i also didnt know scarf koko was a thing so it was scary to see it move before lele but after calcing i dont think wild charge ohkod anyway.

R4 vs byronthewellwell (3-0)
I had seen the name in high rounds of other tournaments so was scared to play but it was made easier by that fact that he used pretty much the same teams throughout the tour so i was able to prep effectively. It was at this point too that I realised i really liked the fini/p2 defensive style of team and tried to find teams that fit that mold.

G1 (Team used)
->
VS.

Byronthewellwell had use the same eeveepass team in every g1 up to this point so i felt comfortable bring this team with haze cm fini. my gameplan was to ko whimsi with latias so that fini could come in taunt free and haze. cm espeon surprised me and meant i wasted my waterium z but when i was able to get a boost ahead i knew i had the game. celesteela was in the back because it seemed to wall most of his team even after a pass.

G2 (Team used)
->
VS.

From preview i knew i wanted to get rocks up and then garchomp would put a lot of work in with tran beating serp and mimikyu, and gengar trapping kang. i didnt end up needing gar but i felt happy with how i played this, as i never felt uncomfortable during the game. heatran having flame charge helped here since it meant i could toxic gyarados to make sure nothing funny happened at the end of the game.

G3 (Team used)
->
VS.

This team was actually a sample that i had in my builder so it made the matchup considerably easier, as shown when i was able to switch thundurus in on the gigavolt havoc. once again i didnt need my hippowdon but it was there for the possible mega ttar/aegislash and made my matchup very nice. leading here was a bit of a pain because if i led with thund vs mtar or hippo vs primarina i was in trouble. i ended up leading with thund because i felt it was easier to switch hippo in on ttar than it was thund on primarina, and it worked out well.

Finals vs Megazard (0-3)
I was kind of glad megazard beat solerme as i did not want to have to face the setup based teams that solerme had been bringing and felt that as long as i brought solid teams i would have a chance of winning. i got a few test games before the series to get used to my teams. i wasnt really nervous going into the set since i didnt expect to be here in the first place.

G1 (Team used)
->
VS.

I started off with what i was told was a standard team as i wanted to use koko to have a solid answer to opposing breloom since id seen megazard use it. I straight up made the wrong choice bringing scarf lele over mimikyu here, and it end up going horribly wrong when i got swept by mence after it ate the ice punch from gross. i didnt account in my calcs for the fact that mence could be bulkier, which showed my inexperience in the tier.

G2 (Team used)
->
VS.

This was the first game that i really felt like my matchup was tough and i didnt know what to do. I brought p2 just because its a good overall bulky mon and could check garchomp well, landorus was faster than thundurus so i could try and catch it with a rock tomb on a switch, and magnezone could trap celesteela and try and get me some momentum sub getting a sub up. as it happened, i let landorus get burnt and then misplayed by using eq on the turn after gar protected on te switch to thundurus. while the matchup was tough i really felt like i could have played better in this game.

G3 (Team used)
->
VS.

Once again i struggled with what to bring and ended up getting beaten by LO toxic mamoswine, so p2 wasnt a check to it. I didnt bring volcarona even though there was a ferrothorn since i didnt want to be walled by charizard and let it set up since i wasnt bringing fini and it was a huge threat. I dont think i could have done much differently here except maybe bring tapu fini after all since i needed a better check to mamoswine and blocking toxic would have been nice.

So overall I learnt a lot from this tour and although it was a shame to come so close i was outclassed in the final and was happy to have even got there in the first place. i really like BSS and want to play more so that I can feel confident enough to build my own teams and hopefully use them in future tours and on cart too. Thanks to those who helped me test/translate/check teams in the later rounds it really helped.
 
I wonder, at the end of SM, if it's a good idea to try "anti-meta" in BSS. A 3vs3 format allows less pressure on team structure (but more on teambuilding lol) and strategies like Double Mega or Baton Pass. Anti-meta is just a kind of goodstuff build, with an issue on synergy, but with good answers on more playstyles.
I'm theorybuilding a team based on SpD Mence, Scarf Nihilego, Tapu Koko (I can't see what is the more suitable set for it), Venusaur, TrapTran and Tapu Fini.
 

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As the thread tag implies; this thread contains spoilers so read at your own risk.

IMPORTANT LINKS
Full Dex + Move Tutors: https://pastebin.com/j8CnVgCc

Full Dex + Egg Moves: https://pastebin.com/e65awjRH


NEW POKEMON
Naganadel .png

Naganadel - Base Stats: 73/73/73/127/73/121 (BST: 540)
Poison/Dragon
Ability: Beast Boost

Sample set:

Naganadel @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb
- Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Hidden Power Ground

Dedicated Mence check. Modest is cool for SpA Beast Boosts and most Mence are neutral speed anyway, but Timid guarantees you outspeed all Mence.

Naganadel @ Focus Sash / Draconium Z / Poisonium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb
- Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower / Hidden Power Ground

Nasty Plot is a sick move and it has the coverage to sweep.


Blacephalon  .png

Blacephalon - Base Stats: 53/127/53/151/79/107 (BST: 570)
Fire/Ghost
Ability: Beast Boost

Sample set:

Blacephalon @ Firium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Mind Blown
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute / Flame Charge / Psychic / Pain Split

this thing has a really limited movepool. at least +1 Z-Mind Blown is insane


Stakataka.png

Stakataka - Base Stats: 61/131/211/053/101/13 (BST: 570)
Rock/Steel
Abilty: Beast Boost

Sample set:

Stakataka @ Any Z move / Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge / Rock Blast / Rock Slide
- Earthquake / Superpower

This thing's Gyro Ball is insanely strong, as it hits 150BP against basically everything (sans slow defensive mons), and has a very respectable attack stat. However, its defense is so huge that you actually need to run a hindering nature on it with low IVs to ensure that its attack stat is higher so you get attack Beast Boosts. A Brave nature is totally viable as it helps max out Gyro Ball against more targets, but you'll be getting defense boosts instead.


ADDITIONS TO CURRENT POKEMON
Play Rough + Mimikium Z = Let's Snuggle Forever (190BP Fairy)

Meteor Mash as an egg move

Close Combat as a level-up move. Drain Punch, Low Kick, Stealth Rock, Endeavor, elemental punches as tutors

+
Sticky Web as an egg move

Extreme Speed as an egg move (no more event-only!!)

Iron Defense as a tutor

Synthesis as a tutor

Drain Punch as a tutor


These are just what I saw at a glance, feel free to add your own and speculate on what might be good in the metagame!
 
I think Kommo getting CC and the punches makes the z move sweeper set a lot more interesting. I can definitely see Kommo-o with rocks support being at least a viable niche pick really similar to how PZ is in the current meta.

Meteor Mash on Lucario is pretty cool. Finally a physical steel stab that isn't Iron Tail or Bullet Punch. I don't see it being super game changing for Luc but I imagine it'll see play on like 30% of Lucarios or something probably, maybe more.

Mimikyu getting a new Z-move hardly changes the way it plays but just makes it even better at what it does lol. Not that it needed it. Recently been running the SD curse set w/ fairium and I've started to run bulk on it. Main thing I didn't like about investing more in bulk was the damage output on the z-move was a little sketchy on a lot of mons without full attack investment. But with a higher base power i can see the bulky Z move sets being sooo much better, which kinda scares me honestly.

Blacephalon and Naganadel both look pretty interesting but idk if i see a lot of potential in those stats. Blacephalon has awesome spA and decent speed but it's kind of an awkward tier. The typing is fantastic offensively so definitely excited to try it out at least but i'm pretty worried its not fast enough with those defenses. Idk about naganadel, it's really fast but like slower than greninja. Dragon/Poison is weird, not sure how to feel about it. It can hit fairies but gets walled by steels. I haven't seriously looked into its moveset so it might have some stuff that changes my mind but it looks underwhelming to me on the surface. And speaking of movepools does anyone know the base power or effect of Blacephalon's blow up head move? Curious to see how strong that move is.
 

Deleted User 400951

Banned deucer.
I think Kommo getting CC and the punches makes the z move sweeper set a lot more interesting. I can definitely see Kommo-o with rocks support being at least a viable niche pick really similar to how PZ is in the current meta.

Meteor Mash on Lucario is pretty cool. Finally a physical steel stab that isn't Iron Tail or Bullet Punch. I don't see it being super game changing for Luc but I imagine it'll see play on like 30% of Lucarios or something probably, maybe more.

Mimikyu getting a new Z-move hardly changes the way it plays but just makes it even better at what it does lol. Not that it needed it. Recently been running the SD curse set w/ fairium and I've started to run bulk on it. Main thing I didn't like about investing more in bulk was the damage output on the z-move was a little sketchy on a lot of mons without full attack investment. But with a higher base power i can see the bulky Z move sets being sooo much better, which kinda scares me honestly.

Blacephalon and Naganadel both look pretty interesting but idk if i see a lot of potential in those stats. Blacephalon has awesome spA and decent speed but it's kind of an awkward tier. The typing is fantastic offensively so definitely excited to try it out at least but i'm pretty worried its not fast enough with those defenses. Idk about naganadel, it's really fast but like slower than greninja. Dragon/Poison is weird, not sure how to feel about it. It can hit fairies but gets walled by steels. I haven't seriously looked into its moveset so it might have some stuff that changes my mind but it looks underwhelming to me on the surface. And speaking of movepools does anyone know the base power or effect of Blacephalon's blow up head move? Curious to see how strong that move is.
150 BP, hits everything around it, recoil, nothing else. Not really worth it imo if you have fire blast.
 
150 BP, hits everything around it, recoil, nothing else. Not really worth it imo if you have fire blast.
Hmmmm idk 150 bp with almost no downside. That sounds really good to me, definitely gonna try it out. The damage over fire blast will be very significant. If this is special coming off that 151 SpA that could easily go 1.5 for 1 at least in a ton of games. At least in 3v3 I can see it having a lot of potential.
 
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Theorymon

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NOVED thankfully Naganadel get's Heat Wave, so that and Hidden Power Ground should handle Steel-types. TBH, beast boost on this thing has me excited, Naganadel feels lile the dragon we should have gotten at the start of this gen lol. It also gets Nasty Plot, tho that sounds hard to fit in.

Feeling sick irl right now, so Im gonna keep my observations short till I get some more sleep:

Pheromosa gets Throat Chop, so it hits Gengar now!

Hudreigon gets Belch. Im gonna be a hipster and try a sub petya set now lol

3 new sticky web users: Ribombee, Araquanid, and Slurpuff. Interesting...

For some reason, Tapu fini gets Knock Off and Trick. Knock off could be annoying, but now I sorta want to try Specs Fini outside of doubles!

Kartana also gets Knock Off, just bote z-knock off is weaker than z night slash.
 
Ribombee gets dual screens too. It still might not be that viable but this'll be a really cool mon to try out early on. I bet sticky screens offense will be a good low ladder crusher the first week or two the game is out.
 
Hmmmm idk 150 bp with almost no downside.
Reminder that Mind Blow cuts Blacephalon's health by 50% of its max health, so best case scenario you get three shots at it. Could be cool with Firium Z or Specs, but I think Scarf/Sash + Fire Blast will be the standard.
 
There are many good things, like the flame charge blacephalon+ firium set, as pointed out already. Modest and a HP ground/ice could fit very well. Also it learns WoW. I wanna try it out for the first BSS for sure.

Other thing I noticed are:

lele: ally switch, Iron defence, magic coat, gravity, skill swap. Maybe a new support for doubles?

koko also got thunder punch (no more risking HP for wild charge) sky attack (flyium z?), iron head (it can now hit nihilego harder) and iron defence (some roost set?). I got sad that it didnt learn superpower :( These moves might rise physical koko pretty well.

fini got icy wind (good for speed control), trick, gravity

pretty cool that all tapus got iron defence, it maybe helps against physical setupers like SD char, mimikyu.

Xurkitree: gravity. Maybe hypnosis set will become even more threating.

kartana: tailwind (I wasnt expecting that)

liquidation: cloyster, feraligatr

defog: landorusT and koko (more useful in 6vs6 formats)
 
Zigzagoon finally learns Extreme Speed :)

Strength Sap Vileplume, Victreebel and Jumpluff is a thing

Accelgor now gets Toxic Spikes in addition to Spikes

Power-Up Punch Lopunny is back

Noctowl gets Hurricane

EDIT: Does this existence of things like Naganadel and Blacephalon mean that Pheromosa could potentially get a suspect test to be unbanned?
 
Last edited:

Theorymon

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Zigzagoon finally learns Extreme Speed :)

Strength Sap Vileplume, Victreebel and Jumpluff is a thing

Accelgor now gets Toxic Spikes in addition to Spikes

Power-Up Punch Lopunny is back

Noctowl gets Hurricane

EDIT: Does this existence of things like Naganadel and Blacephalon mean that Pheromosa could potentially get a suspect test to be unbanned?
This is Battle Spot Singles. We don't touch the banlist of Battle Spot metagames, that's totally up to Nintendo and Gamefreak! You're probably thinking of OU, which is a different format, one controlled by Smogon.

On a side note: Thanks to a tweet from a VGCer, I have now learned that Stakataka's Gyro Ball is insanely powerful: It does stuff like almost 50% to Porygon2 with Gyro Ball o_O. I'm not saying Stakataka is going to be big (not with that typing rofl), but the fact that it learns Trick Room and has a super powerful Gyro Ball (and surprisingly ok coverage thanks to stuff like Superpower and Rock moves), means that I'll at least give it a try on some Trick Room teams in singles!

Very interested in it for Doubles too, since the tweet I mentioned was for VGC! Here's the tweet.

https://twitter.com/Seven_Poke/status/928449483565928448
 

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