Other Metagames BH: Crooked Steps; Peaked #2

[aki0s]

(Click the image to listen to some music while reading)

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Hiya. So the gen-7 BH meta has been out for awhile now & while it has been a bit rocky thus far I think the meta is beginning to stabilize. It started off a bit chaotically (ay lmao evoboost) and there's still a bit of iffyness in the tier (ComaPhaze, z-move Deo-A spam), but besides that the tier has taken on some semblance of settling. I've been using this team for awhile & it has probably been my most successful team while laddering. But, I think it's outlived it's usefulness for now. I'm not getting the same results I used to as people have been wising up on some things & adjusting their teams accordingly. Nevertheless, this team is still quite good. But like every team, it's not perfect. This team outright loses to many thing, is very pilot dependent and forces you to take many risks that, if they don't pay off, can lose you the game. Because of the nature of BH as well, it's never possible to fully prepare for everything you might meet, but this team does a good enough job (all things considered) in the current meta.
Anyhow, let's take a look at the team.
Teambuilding process

I started off with Pheromosa. Pheromosa hits decently hard and has the great niche of being able to single-handedly beat any deo-a spam team (provided you don't miss any pin-missle). It's a nice fast pivot and can revenge kill most normal type sweepers with some prior damage (Stealth rocks or u-turn dmg).

A logical tactic in BH is to imposter-proof your own threats so that you are not swept by it should a Chansey imposter it. Aegislash does that for Pheromosa while providing a slew of good resistances for the team, a slow pivot, a Shedinja check, a spinblocker and many other things which I will touch upon later. It forms then first half of my defensive / pivot core on this team.

I needed another offensive threat that hit hard, was preferably fast and very unpredictable. I don't usually use MMy, but I wanted to try it out with this team. It threatens many teams right now pretty nicely and hits very, very hard while leaving the opponent guessing.

Once again, I added a mon to imposter my offensive threat. Spdef M-Gyara imposter-proofs my MMy perfectly, provides a nice pivot versus opposing teams and gives my team a way to answer water-bubble based threats. M-gyara forms the second part of my defensive-pivot core.

Physical threats were looking pretty annoying for the team. I added Zygod to blanket check most of them and be a slow pivot for the team. Zygod forms the last part of my defensive-pivot core.

Lastly I added imposter Chansey. It rounds out the team and provides unparalleled role-compression & is a good tool to use for scouting the enemy team as well as doing normal imposter Chansey things.


Team

费洛美螂 (Pheromosa) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Frost Breath
- Twineedle
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Scarf Pheromosa bodies Deo-a spam. That was the original reason for adding it and the basis for building this team. This set underwent a lot of changes. I originally had it as a skill link pokemon, but eventually I changed it to dazzling with CC & Frost breath. Close combat is nice as it has a pretty high chance of ohKO'ing Regigigas. Scarf and u-turn allows Pheromosa to act as a fast pivot. Together with M-Gyara they allow me to trap a Chansey that has impostered my MMy & chip-away at it (provided they are adamant at staying in). There isn't much more to say about Pheromosa except that dazzling is nice for the odd priority spammer you may find and that Scarf-Pheromosa will always outspeed most shift-gear PH users.

堅盾劍怪 (Aegislash) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Parting Shot
- Roost

Aegislash was originally added to imposter-proof my own Pheromosa - however I noticed that with Magic-bounce, it has the neat effect of being able to check ComaPhaze teams. This set has undergone a lot of changes, but the two moves that have remained constant are roost & parting shot. This set originally had leftovers, but I found that Darkinium-Z parting shot was nice for my team as it allowed me to escape sticky situations where my Zygod or sweeper was at such a low hp that it couldn't do much (Z-Parting shot is a healing wish, for those of you that don't know). I opted for spikes over stealth rock so that MMy could threaten defensive teams better. Rapid spin is there to get rid of hazards and was originally defog - but I found that it often didn't help when it was defog as an imposter could come in and get rid of my hazards. Rapid spin is therefore better as it still allows Aegi to clear hazards while protecting my own hazards & acting as a method to pp stall mons that can't touch Aegi. The one problem with this current set is that it is is set-up fodder if you reveal too much of your set. There isn't much you can do about this besides taking off spikes perhaps for Whirlwind (but that makes you a lot weaker to Shedinja). All-in-all, Aegi is a nice glue-mon for the team.

超梦 (Mewtwo-Mega-Y) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Moongeist Beam / King's Shield / Nasty Plot

MMy is a really nice pokemon to break apart most of the defensive cores running around right now (or that was running around), namely: Zygod, Solgaleo, Audino, Giratina etc. based cores. It does this very well with its sheer-force set. When you're running 4-attacks you can easily bluff that you are specs - leading you opponent to make some game-losing misplays. My 4th move on this set has changed a lot. Usually I opt for the 4 attack version, but I did run King's shield for awhile and even nasty plot now and then. Yes, yes, before you say anything: I know tail glow exists and I know Shell Smash exists. Why then did I use Nasty plot? Nasty plot makes this thing easier to deal with if it is impostered. M-Gyara cannot easily handle +6 MMy, but it can still handle +4. +2 MMy also got me all the kills I wanted (roll wise versus certain walls), so I saw no need to make my matchup versus my own impostered MMy harder. I also chose Nasty plot over SS because MMy is very important & I don't want to lose it to random priority. There isn't much to say about the set in itself. Psychic is stab that is boosted by sheer-force and hits quite hard. Ice beam nails Yveltal / Zygod etc. Earth power nails P-Groudon / Solgaleo / Registeel etc. I think that's all I have to say about this. Sometimes it needs a spike layer up to break a team, but that's easily done with Aegi.

暴鲤龙 (Gyarados-Mega) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Spectral Thief
- Sunsteel Strike / Nuzzle
- U-turn

Defensive M-Gyara is surprisingly quite good right now. It's also one of the only Regen-vest mons that can check my MMy while providing very, very good defensive role compression. It can check most opposing MMy's, Deo-A that have not yet set up or lack physical based electric moves, power trip dark types and most importantly it can check water-bubble sweepers. Being immune to prankster based priority is really nice too. The move-set is pretty simple. Knock off lets you get rid of items, spectral thief ensures that you are not set-up fodder (except for normal types). Sunsteel strike lets you deal better with Shedinja - but nuzzle lets you handle normal set-up sweepers. The choice is yours, I change it up often. U-turn with min speed is nice to act as a slow pivot to get my threats in safely and to chip walls / sweepers for my own sweepers.

基格尔德 (Zygarde-Complete) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Def / 148 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metal Burst
- U-turn
- Whirlwind
- Roost

Zygod is really good. It provides a nice blanket check to most of the meta. The set has changed up a lot and I've finally settled upon Fur Coat, this is because of the rise of physical based ice coverage (for Zygod) and because of stakeout P-Groudon. It handles most physical threats really well and is just a good mon overall. Metal burst lets you make use of Zygod's great HP stat while a slow u-turn lets it pivot nicely. Whirlwind ensures you are not set-up fodder and lets you rack up hazard damage if you have some spike layers. Roost is for recovery and safety goggles are nice to not be spored. The ev spread is weird & is not made to live anything really. I went for 600hp as a benchmark and max def with a decent amount of spdef. This gives zygod great mixed bulk and lets it handle both sides of the spectrum.

??? (Chansey) @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Fake Out
- Whirlpool
- Metal Burst
- Soft Boiled / Stealth Rock

Lastly I added Chansey to act as both an offensive and a defensive threat. My team was very weak to M-Gengar so I opted for Spooky plate - which sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't - but it's nice to have overall. Chansey really just acts as a back-up oh shit button to most offensive threats and helps to stall out recovery on defensive threats. Chansey is a good mon.

Threats

Contrary mons
(these can be handled, but you have to identify them and take them out early - if not they become problematic)
Well played Water-bubble threats
Certain variants of comphaze
(Ex: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-495629245)
Trappers in general
(Ex: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-495503932)
Skill-Link variants of Kyurem-B or phsyical set-up threats with special ice coverage
Psychic types that carry Electric coverage
Special Normal sweepers
Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-494944553 (Harrison j)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-495064771 (Shedmiddlefinga)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-495643973
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-500376759 (Awailofatail)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-497151295

Proof of peak

peak

If you've read everything, thanks you. ^_^
S/O to sodass, VoltDarkrai & the multitude of other people I meet on the ladder all the time and give me a good battle or are just friendly in general.
Kthxbai

import

??? (Chansey) @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Fake Out
- Whirlpool
- Metal Burst
- Stealth Rock

超梦 (Mewtwo-Mega-Y) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Moongeist Beam

费洛美螂 (Pheromosa) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Frost Breath
- Twineedle
- Close Combat
- U-turn

暴鲤龙 (Gyarados-Mega) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Spectral Thief
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn

堅盾劍怪 (Aegislash) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Parting Shot
- Roost

基格尔德 (Zygarde-Complete) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Def / 148 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metal Burst
- U-turn
- Whirlwind
- Roost

 

[Ren]

Hey, aki0s! Nice team :)

-One minor nitpicky thing that I would recommend (and this wasn't my own idea but E4 Flint's) is that you use Twineedle over Pin Missile on Pheromosa. The reason is that while Pin Missile hits Deoxys-S as well if you manage to get three-four hits, it has the chance of missing. Twineedle counters Deoxys-A spam, but you also have the added perk of not missing any attacks. Aside from that, nice team!

-I particularly like the idea of using Aegislash to Imposterproof Pheromosa - It's easily one of the best walls in the game and somehow complements the Imposterproofing job in a way that walls like Zygarde-100% and Registeel could only dream of achieving.

-I can testify to the Specs bluff being effective, as during the time I was battling this team I was only attacked by Earth Power and Ice Beam, two of the top choices for a Specs 'mon. One tip I'd have is to refrain from reveal Psychic from the beginning, as that's generally a dead giveaway to being a Life Orb variant as most people use Psystrike in favor of more damage.

-The Spooky Plate is really clever even if it can be situational. Prior to Gen 7, I've easily lost to teams that ran Gengar solely due to there not being enough bulk on my team, but I'm sure that your team is bulky enough to make up for the loss of Eviolite.

 

[aki0s]

Hey, aki0s! Nice team :)

-One minor nitpicky thing that I would recommend (and this wasn't my own idea but E4 Flint's) is that you use Twineedle over Pin Missile on Pheromosa. The reason is that while Pin Missile hits Deoxys-S as well if you manage to get three-four hits, it has the chance of missing. Twineedle counters Deoxys-A spam, but you also have the added perk of not missing any attacks. Aside from that, nice team!

-I particularly like the idea of using Aegislash to Imposterproof Pheromosa - It's easily one of the best walls in the game and somehow complements the Imposterproofing job in a way that walls like Zygarde-100% and Registeel could only dream of achieving.

-I can testify to the Specs bluff being effective, as during the time I was battling this team I was only attacked by Earth Power and Ice Beam, two of the top choices for a Specs 'mon. One tip I'd have is to refrain from reveal Psychic from the beginning, as that's generally a dead giveaway to being a Life Orb variant as most people use Psystrike in favor of more damage.

-The Spooky Plate is really clever even if it can be situational. Prior to Gen 7, I've easily lost to teams that ran Gengar solely due to there not being enough bulk on my team, but I'm sure that your team is bulky enough to make up for the loss of Eviolite.

(I actually forgot twineedle existed) - I'll add it on later. True about the psychic thing & yeah, even with spooky plate Gengar is still a problem. Just one of those things I guess. I don't really notice too much of a bulk loss so it's w/e. :)

 

[Funbot28]

This team looks very good and well thought out. I just however saw in issue with the Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon matchup with Icicle Crash. As you can see,

252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Icicle Crash vs. 108 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Zygarde-Complete: 492-580 (82 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This can become an issue as the rest of your team really struggles against Choice Band Primal Groudon especially since your Chansey is not carrying an Eviolite. Unfortunately, not much can be done about this without changing up the structure of your team a bit, however you can try out a Fur Coat Giratina set that I still feel can work well on your team:

Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Metal Burst
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- U-turn / Parting Shot

I feel this helps with the Stakeout Primal Groudon matchup a bit better as the calc is not as disadvantageous compared to with Zygarde-C:

252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Giratina: 247-291 (49 - 57.7%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Giratina: 195-231 (38.6 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Now of course Giratina still has the chance to be 2HKOed by the Icicle Crash, but at least its not as guaranteed as with Zygarde-C. There might be a better option than this but this is what I came up with so far.

Great team and gratz on peak!

 

[aki0s]

This team looks very good and well thought out. I just however saw in issue with the Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon matchup with Icicle Crash. As you can see,

252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Icicle Crash vs. 108 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Zygarde-Complete: 492-580 (82 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This can become an issue as the rest of your team really struggles against Choice Band Primal Groudon especially since your Chansey is not carrying an Eviolite. Unfortunately, not much can be done about this without changing up the structure of your team a bit, however you can try out a Fur Coat Giratina set that I still feel can work well on your team:

Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Metal Burst
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- U-turn / Parting Shot

I feel this helps with the Stakeout Primal Groudon matchup a bit better as the calc is not as disadvantageous compared to with Zygarde-C:

252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Giratina: 247-291 (49 - 57.7%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Stakeout Primal Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Giratina: 195-231 (38.6 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Now of course Giratina still has the chance to be 2HKOed by the Icicle Crash, but at least its not as guaranteed as with Zygarde-C. There might be a better option than this but this is what I came up with so far.

Great team and gratz on peak!

Giratina actually seems like a really cool way to handle Stakeout Groudon. I'll give it a try, thanks for the suggestion ^_^

 

[motherlove]

Ohey I just noticed this exists, well it's a bit outdated and I don't really know if it's good or not, probably is. So good job on making a cool team, lol.

It's quite funny reading through this and being remembered of all the garbage there was in the meta before. Deo-a spam, Water bubble, Comaphaze lmao.

Btw good job showcasing my glorious Comaphaze garbage team here, that was me who dtailed you to death <3

Also worth noting that you used the word "team" like 30 times, it was especially painful in the first few paragraphs.

The art looks real nice thought.

Grats on peak too, when are you planning on peaking again?

 

[aki0s]

Ohey I just noticed this exists, well it's a bit outdated and I don't really know if it's good or not, probably is. So good job on making a cool team, lol.

It's quite funny reading through this and being remembered of all the garbage there was in the meta before. Deo-a spam, Water bubble, Comaphaze lmao.

Btw good job showcasing my glorious Comaphaze garbage team here, that was me who dtailed you to death <3

Also worth noting that you used the word "team" like 30 times, it was especially painful in the first few paragraphs.

The art looks real nice thought.

Grats on peak too, when are you planning on peaking again?

Thanks.
There really was a lot of no-bueno stuff running around. I tend to use words too much to be honest. I need to work on it. I still have PTSD from that team if I'm gonna be honest. Thanks you.
Mhm, I have a 4 week break coming up soon in the next month or so. Will probably try then since I'll have oodles of time. Atm university is killing me slowly.