Posting here to report my streak of
250 in Super Singles.
The Team:
Gyarados@Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate (Mold Breaker)
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Hp
31/31/31/x/31/31
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Substitute
Aegislash@Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 Hp, 252 Atk, 6 Sp. Def
31/31/31/x/31/27
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- King’s Shield
Garchomp@Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Sp. Def
31/31/31/2x/31/31
- Flamethrower
- Poison Jab
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Strategy:
This team draws some inspiration from
The Dutch Plumberjack ’s Battle Maison team, and it continues to work well in the tree. The lack of Gliscor really hurts, and while Garchomp provides similar type synergy to the team, the two are quite different in the sort of roles they play, and I’m not really sure he’s as reliable.
Gyarados leads, and ideally is able to Sub down and set up for a clean sweep. This does not happen nearly as often as one might hope, and shuffling Gyarados and Aegislash in order to stack Intimidates and PP stall tends to be the norm, especially against the myriad of Pokemon that pack both Earthquake and a rock move. Often these Pokemon have no other means of attacking Aegislash effectively once they run out of EQs, so Aegislash is able to setup freely. As such, it is important not to Mega Evolve Gyarados until it is necessary or I feel confident enough to set up and sweep. Electric leads are buried or scared off by an immediate Garchomp switch.
Substitute is necessary on Gyarados to deflect status that might otherwise interrupt a setup, and the AI is only all too happy to spam them if Sub is not up. Waterfall and Crunch provide decent coverage together, although Crunch’s damage output is quite low without the mega evolution.
Aegislash’s coverage blows with only Iron Head and Shadow Sneak, but he doesn’t really need it. There are so many Pokemon in the tree Aegislash can set up on and get three SDs with little to no risk, and nothing is immune to Iron Head. Watching a Pokemon Choice-locked in to Stone Edge run out of PP and switch out only for the switch in to eat a +4/+6 Iron Head is…amusing to say the least.
Ideally Garchomp never even has to come in; Gyarados and Aegislash are usually sufficient to PP stall out troublesome opponents and set up. However, he’s important for absorbing electric attacks, which otherwise give the other two problems. Earthquake and Outrage are the go-to moves, although I really hate using Outrage early for obvious reasons. Dragon Claw was an option I considered, but the loss in power is too significant. Poison Jab is niche, and was only used against Whimsicott, Shiinotic, and weakened Grasses in situations I didn’t feel comfortable firing off an Outrage. Flamethrower may seem like a weird choice, but without it this team is completely walled by Ferrothorn-4, who would otherwise be able to Curse up and sweep.
Speaking of Curse, that move seems to be one of the biggest weaknesses of this team, and was a contributing factor to how I lost. Another general weakness of this team is that none of the members can absorb a burn. Gyarados can sub against slower Will-o-wisp users (and doesn’t have to worry about Prankster in mega form), and if one of them absolutely has to take a burn, it will usually be Aegislash.
Threats:
Ninetales-1: Only an issue if it leads. It can outspeed and burn Gyarados, and it packs Hex so Aegislash can’t really deal with it either. The “safest” play is probably just to eat the burn with Gyarados, sub, mega evolve, and try to get in as many DD as possible.
Alakazam-4: I pretty much have to just mega evolve immediately and hopefully take a Psychic instead of Grass Knot, and go for the knockout with Crunch. Grass Knot is survivable, but puts me in the reds.
Gyarados-4: It’s Jolly so it outpaces my own Gyarados, and will eventually beat it down and sweep the rest of my team. Switching in Garchomp immediately would be a “safe” option if Gyarados-3 didn’t exist, who has Ice Fang.
Gardevoir-4: Was initially pretty troublesome to deal with, especially since it has an annoying tendency to Shadow Ball in to an Aegislash switch, which I cannot figure out at all. Surely Hyper Beam or Psychic would be better options to use against the lead Gyarados? I later found out I can just mega evolve and Sub, as I can be reasonably sure Focus Blast isn’t coming out, and if either of the other attacks are used I get a free DD next turn and can freely knock it out on the next.
Gastrodon-4: The Pokemon that contributed to this team’s loss at battle 251. Same sort of deal as Ferrothorn-4, except Garchomp can’t switch in immediately and dispatch it.
Regigigas-1/2: Mostly minor annoyances, but can be dangerous if you have bad luck hitting through 1’s Double Teams. Regigigas-2 involves a Garchomp switch in, Outrage until confused, then hopefully Aegislash can finish it off.
Ferrothorn-4: I mentioned this already, and this is the Pokemon that handed this team its first loss at battle 49 before this streak was obtained. If Seed Bomb was a contact move Aegislash could probably wall it if its Curse use got out of control, but alas.
Primarina-all: Primarina is just frustrating to deal with in general. It hits like a truck, resists both Gyarados’s STABs, Aegislash can’t wall it well, and switching in Garchomp is dicey. If nothing is set up, my only option is to weaken it, and have Garchomp revenge kill with Poison Jab.
Drampa-3: Similar to Gardevoir in that it was a big problem until I figured out how to properly deal with it. Hyper Voice goes through Sub, as I was reminded a couple times throughout my run, and Quick Claw shenanigans can put an end to a Garchomp or Aegislash kill. I figured out I could just PP stall out Fire Blast with King’s Shield and Gyarados switch ins, and set up with Aegislash once that was done. If it’s Drampa-4, Aegislash can deal with that too.
Note that these are mostly only threatening if they lead, as I’ll often have either Gyarados or Aegislash set up by the time the second and third of my opponent’s Pokemon show up. Also, these are only the threats that I actually encountered and gave me a hard time; I’m sure there are many more that I did not run in to as leads (or at all), or have forgotten about.
How I lost:
Unfortunately, it won’t let me upload the Battle Video for some reason.
Battle 251 was against Scientist Cadel, who specializes in slow Pokemon, many of which have Trick Room. Trick Room itself isn’t really a huge problem for this team, as Aegislash can easily play around it, but I made an unfortunate misplay with Garchomp that costed me the game.
Gyarados leads, while Cadel leads with Gastrodon-4. Sub to scout the moveset, and I knew that this battle was going to be a problem as soon as it started using Curse. I have little choice but to keep pace with its boosts. It takes a break from Curse to break my sub with two Waterfalls, and I play scared and sub again, when I probably should have just DD’d again. After five boosts, I mega evolve and go for Crunch, sub breaks again from EQ, and the second Crunch leaves it with just a sliver of health (thx lefties), and Gyarados is down.
Garchomp comes in, and this is the turn that ultimately lost me the match. For some reason, I did not think EQ would be sufficient in finishing it with its +4 Def, so I Outrage instead. Doing the calcs after the fact, it turns out EQ would have been enough. It picks up the knockout, but in comes Slowking-4, who survives an Outrage and sets up Trick Room. Probably the one of the few times I wished Outrage-lock ended after the second turn. Garchomp is felled by an Ice Beam, and Aegislash comes in to finish off Slowking with Shadow Sneak. Cadel’s last Pokemon winds up being Turtonator-4, who mops up Aegislash in short order.
It’s really frustrating to lose when it was completely preventable like that, but it was probably overdue for me at that point. Overall I’m happy I managed to get to 200 pre-bank, and can take a break for now. Unfortunately, I could not fulfill my secondary objective during this streak, and that was to find a Multis partner I was satisfied with. I wanted someone who led with either Mega Metagross or Gyarados with Intimidate + a decent mon in as a secondary. Failing that, any two powerful Pokemon that use accurate moves. I wanted Guzma too for novelty purposes, but I have yet to run in to him. I fight Kiawe, Cynthia, and Colress more times than I care to count, yet never Guzma and Dexio, and only fought Anabel once. I want to think it’s coincidence, but maybe they have different probabilities of showing up.
Replays:
CRSG-WWWW-WWW4-3GXL: Another example of Outrage causing me problems.
P8ZG-WWWW-WWW4-3GXF: Battle 200, otherwise nothing special about it.
F4MW-WWWW-WWW4-3GWC: Example of Gardevoir-4 using Shadow Ball into Aegislash switch in. If my opponent had Primarina, I probably would have lost this.
ZUKW-WWWW-WWW4-3FRS: Battle 230 Drampa-3 nonsense. The run should have ended here.