So there I was in Pikalytics, wondering what fun and viable teams I could make to climb the VGC ladder in both Showdown. I tried the Doubles OU team I made earlier to see if that would translate well in VGC, which it didn't. I tried using a trick room team, but got quickly bored of that. So I went to pikalytics teambuilder to see what team I could make that I would enjoy climbing with. After a bit, I was able to answer that question. Cinderace Hyper Offense, a fun team that's able to squish opponents in very few turns (that or I get squished in very few turns). With that being said, let's get to the team. (I should note that I DID say in my last RMT that I'd showcase the team I reached masterball rank with back in June, but I decided not to because it's honestly kinda outdated and not worth going over. Here's the pokepaste tho in case you're interested https://pokepast.es/2560da2af73ac5be, also a couple of those pokemon are in this team as well)
The building process
Started with this pair because Cinderace is obviously the main star of the show, and Whimsicott for speed control and support.
I then added pokemon that would work well in Tailwind and help support Cinderace at the same time. Both Vish and Dura seemed like decent candidates to fill out that role.
Finally, I added pokemon that could help check certain matchups and pokemon that would otherwise wipe the floor with me. This is where Indeedee and Gmax Lapras come in. Now to get to each member of the team individually.
Cinderace-Gmax @ Life Orb
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- High Jump Kick
Starting with the star of the team, Cinderace. Cinderace is obviously meant to be one of our main dynamaxers (hence why both Pyro Ball and High Jump Kick are here. You almost never see those moves together otherwise). Pyroball for powerful fire move, same with HIgh Jump Kick, and then Sucker Punch and Iron Head to round out the coverage and also give us good types to libero into. Cap that off with the 1.3 boost from Life Orb, and this pokemon can quickly become an OHKO machine if left unchecked.
Whimsicott @ Eject Button
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Helping Hand
- Giga Drain
- Dazzling Gleam
Of course, it can't be a hyper offense team without a Tailwind pokemon for speed control, and when it came to either Talonflame or Whimsicott to fill that role, I think Whimsicott fills the role a bit better IMO because A: it doesn't need to be full health to set up a priority Tailwind, B: it has access to other status moves such as taunt, fake tears, helping hand, and even trick room if your team desperately needs an answer against those teams, and C: Grass Type Coverage. Now I'm well aware that Giga Drain is super unpopular on Whimsicott, but I have it here for a couple reasons. for the already mentioned grass type coverage, healing, and chip damage. Whimsicott struggles to stay on the field for long, which is why I have giga drain and eject button. Giga drain to give it a bit more longevity, and Eject button so it can set up Tailwind then get out in favor of a more offensive member of the team. And before you try to recommend Rillaboom for team, I tried Rilla, but no matter who I swapped out for it, Rilla just did not work for the team, so unless there's a grass type (or at least a pokemon with grass coverage) that's able to fill a slot better than what I currently have in that slot, I'm stuck with Giga Drain. The rest of the move set is relatively standard of Whimsi. Tailwind for speed, Helping Hand for support, and Dazzling Gleam for fairy coverage.
Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Ice Fang
- Leech Life
- Crunch
What's that? A rock, ground, or fire type is threatening the field? Have no fear, Mr Fish is here! The plan with Dracovish is relatively simple. You set up Tailwind with Whimsi, Whimsi's eject button activates, then finally bring in Vish, and send your opponent to the Shadow Realm. As for moves.... Do they really matter? You're gonna be spamming Fishious Rend anyways, so the other moves don't really matter. Honestly there all just there as coverage moves for that 1% if the time where your bring Vish and spamming Rend won't win you the game. But even then, those times don't really come often enough to really warrant any move more necessary then the other. Maybe swap out one for Psychic Fangs to help give it some synergy with Indeedee, but then again when am I ever gonna use that over Fishious Rend? Rarely ever is the answer to that question.
Duraludon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Stalwart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
Duraludon's main role on the team is simply to offensively check what the rest of the team fails to check, especially Cinderace. If any of my pokemon benefit from Cinderace's Dmax secondary effects the most, it would be Duraludon. The -SpDef that Max Darkness gives can allow it to KO pokemon that it previously wouldn't be able to, and the +Def that Steelspike gives can make it a pain for non Fighting or Ground types to deal with. The set is pretty standard and not terribly out of the ordinary. Assault Vest for Bulk, Draco and Flash for STAB, Bolt and Pulse for coverage, and Stalwart to ignore Follow Me and Ally Switch.
Indeedee (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Expanding Force
- Imprison
- Trick Room
Sorry Trick Room teams, not today. That's essentially what Male Indeedee's role is in most vgc teams, and there's no exception for this team. I did originally have a specs build, but surprise surprise, my team struggled against Trick Room teams. Whenever you're up against a Trick Room Team, you almost always lead this and Cinderace. The ONLY time you can get away without it is if they lead Indeedee F and Hatterene, then you can do Cinderace and Duraludon thanks to Stalwart and the -SpDef from Max Darkness. Otherwise you'll want to lead Indeedee with Cinderace. Imprison is good not only to deny Trick Room, but to also deny Protect and Expanding Force shenanigans as well. Essentially allowing your team to just let loose while they struggle to kill a focus sashed Indeedee with protect.
Lapras-Gmax @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Protect
Last but not least, Lapras. Lapras is here mainly as a back up plan for when dynamaxing Cinderace isn't a good option. The Weakness Policy boost can allow you to absolutely smash heads, especially with powerful Max Geyser STAB, along with Max Lightning to deny sleep from Amoonguss or Milotic. Don't forget to set up that Aurora Veil, and then get to work on your opponent's team. Even if your opponent doesn't activate your Weakness Policy, you always have Giga Drain to activate it for you, which thankfully does very little to it with veil up. Not much else to say other than that. Now we'll move on to some problem pokemon for the team.
More of a nuisance than an actual threat, but still a very annoying pokemon regardless. Intimidate plus parting shot makes it difficult for Cinderace to completely let loose, and its overall bulk makes it a pain to knockout outside of dynamax.
With how many viable Dragapult sets there are, it makes it very difficult to predict, and my team is never quite sure of what it wants to do. Sometimes it'll dynamax itself and start smashing heads, other times it'll assist its ally in the head smashing.
Not only does my team lack the coverage to hit it super effectively, but if it dynamaxes, it can be a pain, especially when both of its max STABs weaken my Cinderace's power against it.
Not only can it live a Max Knuckle, but it can cause some real damage to my team if I'm not careful, especially when Max Strike can completely nullify the Tailwind.
I feel like the only reason why this is one here is because I am very bad at playing against it. I'm always scared of Thunderwave, so I'm forced to lead Indeedee to prevent it, but next thing I know it starts setting up screens on my ass. It does fall under the same place as Incin, where it's more of a nuisance than an actual threat, but it can still cause a ruckus.
Those are the only ones I can think of on the top of my head, but I'm sure I'll find more problem pokemon as I continue to use the team.
So that's the team. Make sure to let me know of your thoughts on it, and what I could do to improve it. I'll finish this thread with the record I have with this team in the making of this post. I wish you all a good day.
(Note that this record includes previous versions of the team too)
Edit:
The building process
Started with this pair because Cinderace is obviously the main star of the show, and Whimsicott for speed control and support.
I then added pokemon that would work well in Tailwind and help support Cinderace at the same time. Both Vish and Dura seemed like decent candidates to fill out that role.
Finally, I added pokemon that could help check certain matchups and pokemon that would otherwise wipe the floor with me. This is where Indeedee and Gmax Lapras come in. Now to get to each member of the team individually.
Cinderace-Gmax @ Life Orb
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- High Jump Kick
Whimsicott @ Eject Button
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Helping Hand
- Giga Drain
- Dazzling Gleam
Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Ice Fang
- Leech Life
- Crunch
What's that? A rock, ground, or fire type is threatening the field? Have no fear, Mr Fish is here! The plan with Dracovish is relatively simple. You set up Tailwind with Whimsi, Whimsi's eject button activates, then finally bring in Vish, and send your opponent to the Shadow Realm. As for moves.... Do they really matter? You're gonna be spamming Fishious Rend anyways, so the other moves don't really matter. Honestly there all just there as coverage moves for that 1% if the time where your bring Vish and spamming Rend won't win you the game. But even then, those times don't really come often enough to really warrant any move more necessary then the other. Maybe swap out one for Psychic Fangs to help give it some synergy with Indeedee, but then again when am I ever gonna use that over Fishious Rend? Rarely ever is the answer to that question.
Duraludon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Stalwart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
Duraludon's main role on the team is simply to offensively check what the rest of the team fails to check, especially Cinderace. If any of my pokemon benefit from Cinderace's Dmax secondary effects the most, it would be Duraludon. The -SpDef that Max Darkness gives can allow it to KO pokemon that it previously wouldn't be able to, and the +Def that Steelspike gives can make it a pain for non Fighting or Ground types to deal with. The set is pretty standard and not terribly out of the ordinary. Assault Vest for Bulk, Draco and Flash for STAB, Bolt and Pulse for coverage, and Stalwart to ignore Follow Me and Ally Switch.
Indeedee (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Expanding Force
- Imprison
- Trick Room
Sorry Trick Room teams, not today. That's essentially what Male Indeedee's role is in most vgc teams, and there's no exception for this team. I did originally have a specs build, but surprise surprise, my team struggled against Trick Room teams. Whenever you're up against a Trick Room Team, you almost always lead this and Cinderace. The ONLY time you can get away without it is if they lead Indeedee F and Hatterene, then you can do Cinderace and Duraludon thanks to Stalwart and the -SpDef from Max Darkness. Otherwise you'll want to lead Indeedee with Cinderace. Imprison is good not only to deny Trick Room, but to also deny Protect and Expanding Force shenanigans as well. Essentially allowing your team to just let loose while they struggle to kill a focus sashed Indeedee with protect.
Lapras-Gmax @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Protect
Last but not least, Lapras. Lapras is here mainly as a back up plan for when dynamaxing Cinderace isn't a good option. The Weakness Policy boost can allow you to absolutely smash heads, especially with powerful Max Geyser STAB, along with Max Lightning to deny sleep from Amoonguss or Milotic. Don't forget to set up that Aurora Veil, and then get to work on your opponent's team. Even if your opponent doesn't activate your Weakness Policy, you always have Giga Drain to activate it for you, which thankfully does very little to it with veil up. Not much else to say other than that. Now we'll move on to some problem pokemon for the team.
More of a nuisance than an actual threat, but still a very annoying pokemon regardless. Intimidate plus parting shot makes it difficult for Cinderace to completely let loose, and its overall bulk makes it a pain to knockout outside of dynamax.
With how many viable Dragapult sets there are, it makes it very difficult to predict, and my team is never quite sure of what it wants to do. Sometimes it'll dynamax itself and start smashing heads, other times it'll assist its ally in the head smashing.
Not only does my team lack the coverage to hit it super effectively, but if it dynamaxes, it can be a pain, especially when both of its max STABs weaken my Cinderace's power against it.
Not only can it live a Max Knuckle, but it can cause some real damage to my team if I'm not careful, especially when Max Strike can completely nullify the Tailwind.
I feel like the only reason why this is one here is because I am very bad at playing against it. I'm always scared of Thunderwave, so I'm forced to lead Indeedee to prevent it, but next thing I know it starts setting up screens on my ass. It does fall under the same place as Incin, where it's more of a nuisance than an actual threat, but it can still cause a ruckus.
Those are the only ones I can think of on the top of my head, but I'm sure I'll find more problem pokemon as I continue to use the team.
(Note that this record includes previous versions of the team too)
Edit:
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