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I created this team as a fairy gym leader. When I first sent in my original version of this team for approval, the founder of our league made a comment saying that "my team looked like I was shaping up to be this League's Whitney-like gym leader", and that gave me the idea to go back and edit my team. In the editing, I focused on making my team bulky and difficult to beat. And, given that gym leaders in our league were very strongly encouraged not to use standard Smogon sets and to be a little unique, I tried to do just that, trying to give my mons sets that strayed a little from the norm.
Now, I know that this team can't really be a genuine monotype gen 7 fairy team without one of the Tapus. But in the league i'm in, the Tapus, Diancie, and Magearna are banned for some reason. Something about them being OP. As much as I would love to put a Tapu Lele on my team and have psychic terrain f*** over bullet punch users, I sadly cannot.
Now, I know that everyone took one look at Klefki and immediately started slamming onto their keyboard that Alolan Ninetales with aurora veil is better than Klefki. I did have A-Ninetales in this spot. However, there were several things about A-Ninetales that I didn't like: 4x weakness to steel, hail literally benefiting only Ninetales, fragile as f***. Ninetales got no battle time except for the 1 turn used to set up Aurora veil and the turn I would switch it in as death fodder. Klefki has proven far more useful and beneficial for the rest of my team. it serves as a switch in to poison type moves, prankster screens + thunderwave allows me to bulk up my team and cripple opponents, and especially with screens set up, Klefki actually survives more than 2 hits. further more, Klefki's screens firmly solidify my ace, Primarina, as a bulky wall that's hard to take down.
If only Primarina had a reliable recovery move, she would undoubtedly be the strongest member on my team. Psychic and ice beam serve as coverage for her two main weaknesses, being poison and grass, while moonblast and sparkling aria serve as stab moves. I use sparkling aria over scald for a number of reasons, the main reason relating back to the strong encouragement gym leaders face to be unique in terms of moves and sets. Secondly, even though sparkling aria cures burns rather than causes burns like scald, sparkling aria has a 90 base power as opposed to scald's 80. Furthermore, sparkling aria is a sound based move, therefore it can break past subs, something that has proven useful a number of times. Putting max EVs into Primarina's defense over special defense makes up for it's otherwise sub par physical defenses, and the assault vest helps make up for the special defense loss without good investments. Admittedly, a max sp.def primarina seems more practical, but this particular spread has proven useful as it allows primarina to take both physical and special hits easier, especially when coupled with Klefki's screens. Primarina is build to dish out hits while being able to take a few.
Togeflinch (Togekiss) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Ancient Power
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
Really, not the best set for a Togekiss, and the creation of this set is highly influenced by the strong encouragement to be unique, but it's also not the worst. Tri Attack is there to throw around 40% status ailments, ancient power is there to serve as a coverage against types such as fire and flying in case other members of the team have fallen and to boost Togekiss's stats, flamethrower is for coverage and burns, and air slash is there for the obvious 60% flinch chance. Max sp.A and speed plus a choice scarf ensure that Togekiss hits first and hits hard. This set works best if Klefki has gotten a t-wave up on the mon before Togekiss comes in, because between paralysis and a 60% flinch chance, it's nearly impossible for the opponent to get a hit in. Admittedly, there are many flaws with this set, and i am heavily considering swapping it out for a more defensive Togekiss, and swap t-wave for toxic on Klefki, but I'm not 100% sure. This different deffensive set would be as follows:
Togeflinch (Togekiss) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack/Heal Bell
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Air Slash
Opinions and suggestions as to which set would be best for this team are very much appreciated.
Another scummy prankster user, though admittedly not the most successful mon on my team. CottonEyedJoe is purely a stall mon, setting up toxic, leech seed, and substitute, then gaining health back with giga drain. prankster ensures that Whimsicott gets whatever annoying stall tool up first, though with its 4x weakness to poison on a fairy team, Whimsicott seems to be suffering the same as A-Ninetales did, as it doesn't see much battle time and often only gets a toxic up before getting knocked out. Whimsicott has only ever seen battle time under specific circumstances where all of the opponents pokemon that either wall it or destroy it have been knocked out, and even then, i usually have a mon left that it a better option to clean up than Whimsicott. I have considered switching whimsicott out with a pokemon such as Clefable or Comfey, so suggestions as to whether or not i should swap Whimsicott out, who to switch it out for, or how to change Whimsicott's set to make it better would be very appreciated.
Pika F-U certainly lives up to its name, often times, it's like I'm holding up a giant middle finger to my opponent when I send it out. As many of you know, Disguise ensures I get a free switch in, substitute, or swords dance set up. Max attack ensures Mimikyu hits hard even without a swords dance, and max speed helps it get its substitute or swords dance up before the opponent can hit it. Considering 6 times out of 10, the opponent is able to break Mimikyu's sub on the turn its set up, i have considered switching out Sub for another move of coverage, perhaps leech life for health, shadow sneak for priority, or wood hammer for power and a super effective attack against bulky water types (something that otherwise, my team lacks. water types alone are no big deal, but bulky water types *cough cough*Toxapex*cough* have been an issue recently.), but I'm not entirely sold on the idea. I have also considered switching to a red card set, or life orb set. Advice on this would be appreciated.
Angery Doggo (Granbull) (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
I used to have Silvally-Fairy in this final spot, carrying multi-attack, swords dance, iron head (to hit bulky fairy types), and either u-turn or crunch. But that set was lacking at best, so a friend suggested i use Granbull, which was a far better physical attacker and carried far better overall coverage that the rest of my team seemed to lack. well, he wasn't wrong, and Granbull did 20x better than Silvally on ALL of my test battles, so I added Angery Doggo to my team. Play rough for stab, and fire punch, equake, and close combat all for coverage that my team lacked. choice band and max attack ensure this b***h hits hard. and it's been a rather important part of my team.
Conclusion
so yee. this is my fairy Gym team. definitely could use some adjusting, but what do i post it here for anyway, am i right? advice on any mon listed above, even those i didn't ask for advice on, would be greatly appreciated!
Hi! Before I start, you probably shouldn't post teams and then give absurdly limiting restrictions for limiting. It makes teams much harder to rate and optimize.
On Klefki, Foul Play > Play Rough. It helps you deal with scizor and other physical boosters. Belly Drum Azumarill > Primarina. Azu benefits a lot more from the Dual Screens support and is a nice wincon against a lot of types. Here's a set:
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe (Creeps uninvested base 70s)
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
On Togekiss, Trick and Dazzling Gleam > Tri Attack and Ancient Power. Trick helps you cripple defensive pokemon, specifically chansey which hates losing its eviolite.
SubLeech Whimsicott is a terrible set. I would recommend changing this to Tapu Bulu but since that's against your rules for whatever reason, I reccomend changing this for a Clefable. Using clef lets you set rocks and twave threats like mega metagross. Here's a set:
Clefable @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
On mimikyu, Ghostium-Z > Leftovers and Shadow Sneak > Substitute. Ghostium-Z gives you a lot more immediate power to deal with things that would normally wall it, Shadow Sneak makes up for its speed tier and also gives it priority.
I wouldn't recommend granbull either but once again, the options are limited so there isn't much that I can suggest.
Like I stated above, the next time you post an RMT, don't use silly restrictions. Hope I could help.
After reading over your RMT, ShinyJettStar, I've reached a bit of an impasse. The restrictions revolving around your team's composition make it ridiculous difficult to rate, so I'm not quite sure how to go about doing this. I wouldn't normally do this, but because this team has to follow a specific set of guidelines, I will be giving more of a review than a rate. Much of this response will be divided into separate sections, so try to bare with me. I may discuss some standard or generic things as well, just because these restrictions are so limiting. Well then, let's get to it.
Overview:
I want to clear up any misconceptions and such first, before moving into this much further. Most of this will just be corrections, so nothing crazy.
Tapu Lele is banned in Monotype. As much as you would like to use Psychic Terrain, your league and the community saw it as too powerful.
Whoever tried telling you that Alolan Ninetales is better than Klefki is sadly mistaken. A-Tales provides no outright benefits to Fairy teams other than Aurora Veil, which thanks to its dependence on hail being up, is already much worse than dual screens Klefki. Plus, STAB Ice coverage doesn't provide anything to Fairy that another Pokemon can't already manage. Additionally, Klefki's use a utility Pokemon + what is the best defensive typing in Pokemon (neutral to Steel and immune to Poison) gives it immense strength on Fairy. Your choice of utilizing Klefki was by far the better option.
Tri Attack has a 20% chance to status a target with either burn, freeze, or paralysis.
Your Importable doesn't have the same sets as the Pokemon displayed, so if you decide to make changes or not, you will need to fix this.
Team:
- The only change I would suggest for Klefki is to change Play Rough -> Foul Play. Your team currently has no way to manage set-up sweepers and physical threats to Fairy such as Mega Scizor, Mega Metagross, and Jirachi, beyond Thunder Wave. Adding Foul Play into the mix gives you the ability to cripple many of these threats while giving you additional type coverage as well. Plus, you'r using your opponents attack rather than being forced to rely on Klefki's poor attack stat.
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or
- Usually there would be something about how Primarina is widely outclassed by Tapu Fini with its greater bulk, Misty Terrain, access to Defog, and other utilities here, but alas, your league has an ill-defined grudge against the Guardians of Alola. Realistically, Primarina is horribly limited in what it can do overall and can thoroughly prevent a team from succeeding. Now, what exactly does Sylveon bring to the table that Primarina cannot? When considering defensive options, they both possess a similar distribution of stats, but a large defining point for Sylveon is its access to both Heal Bell and Wish. However, you would be sacrificing your neutrality to Steel-type attacks, which is something you would need to consider when adjusting other Pokemon on your team. On the point of offense, Gardevoir comes in with comparable offensive capabilities as Primarina in regards to special attack; however, it boasts a base 80 speed stat, offering a wider range of uses than Primarina. With Trace being the ability of choice, you now have the ability to counteract weather, trapping, and other ability dependent Pokemon. You give up Water and Ice attack coverage to gain Fighting and Electric attack coverage, as well as various utility options in Will-o-Wisp, Trick, Healing Wish, etc. With Gardevoir, you also gain STAB Psychic which could aid in alleviating any issues you have had with Poison while heightening your advantage against Fighting-types. Gardevoir would also help you with handling those annoying Toxapexs. Thus, the decision all comes down to if you want a defensive or an offensive Pokemon to fill Primarina's spot on your team. I would recommend trying out Gardevoir, but either can work effectively.
- Now we come to Togekiss. I can see how deciding between Choice Scarf and defensive builds can be quite bothersome, but overall I would suggest running defensive Babiri berry Togekiss. Togekiss is an incredibly useful on Fairy teams as it boasts good bulk and overall stats, excellent coverage, and typing. Making use of these benefits with Babiri berry lets you check major steel threats while also having the ability to dish out important damage and KOs where needed against Pokemon like Mega Scizor, Mega Metagross, Magearna, Excadrill, etc. Although having the flinch-sweeping capabilities of Scarf Togekiss can be fun to abuse, running this defensive variant is much more useful in a wider array of matchups and gives you more survivability as well as more opportunities to utilize Togekiss throughout the match.
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- Running into problems with finding ways to use Whimsicott effectively isn't that surprising. Pure leech stall Whimsicott is such a situational Pokemon that relies heavily on matchups that itself isn't weak to. It also used to thrive in matchups like Water, Fighting, and Dragon, the only problem with this being Fighting's drop in both viability and usage and the additions that Water and Dragon gained in Sun and Moon. With the added nerf of Prankster, it's safe to say that this type of strategy is no where near as good as it once was. In exchange, you could look into running Clefable as an extremely capable replacement. The benefits of upgrading to Clefable run deep as you gain access to entry hazards, status options, additional Fire-type coverage and reliable recovery. You're also granted the choice of running either Magic Guard for mitigating status or Unaware for containing opposing set-up Pokemon. Personally, I would suggest running Unaware as it helps to alleviate a lot of stress placed upon Klefki and Togekiss (and Sylveon if you decide on using it) for managing offensive threats, but the choice is up to you.
- For Mimikyu, the only suggestions I have are to change Leftovers -> Ghostium Z and Substitute -> Shadow Sneak. Ghostium Z allots you an opportunity for one, 140 base power move in a match, which is honestly just better than any other item available for Swords Dance Mimikyu on Fairy. Shadow Sneak obviously offers a priority attack option, but it also lets Mimikyu damage threats that outspeed it once its Disguise has been blown. Paired with an SD, Shadow Sneak can truly come in handy for important percentages in matches.
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- I know exactly why you're using Granbull. It has amazing coverage moves for Fairy that no other Pokemon has that you are actually allowed to use, but the harsh reality is, it's just awful. Granbull's dauntingly low speed stat and poor pool of ability choices holds it back so much that finding ways to utilize it effectively in matches, especially in this speed heavy meta, is nearly impossible. Even if you in Trick Room Fairy, it's still a let down. With that said, I would definitely change Granbull ->Azumarill because you would be gaining one of Fairy's best Pokemon available in regards to physical wallbreaking. In the coverage lost by adding Azumarill, you gain access to a Pokemon 5 base speed faster that hits harder thanks to Huge Power, and has the capability of sweeping opposing teams with Belly Drum. Azumarill brings your STAB Water coverage back onto the table in the form of priority Aqua Jet, Dark-type coverage in Knock Off or Fighting-type coverage in Superpower, and your best physical Fairy move in Play Rough on your strongest physical attacker. With an added neutrality to Steel-type attacks as well, it's excruciatingly difficult to pass up on such a great Pokemon.
Many sets in the Importable below will come with multiple options to choose from that could benefit your team. I'll explain the EVs, moves, items, etc. that I haven't touched on for each of the changes now:
Wish Sylveon can use a wide array of moves in its final slot. Heal Bell is for managing status, obviously. Toxic helps pressure opposing walls without being forced to rely on Mimikyu and Azumarill to be able to break them or not. It also comes in handy when having to face stall as well as stalling opposing threats. Baton Pass may seem strange, but it enables to Wish-Pass, meaning you can take hits with Sylveon and pass health to Pokemon in need or even scout your opponents switches to get favorable matchups and gain momentum.
Gardevoir is the basic Scarf spread, which I understand may go against your league's "uniqueness" philosophy, but it can be incredibly useful in outspeeding Pokemon and getting important damage, tricks, or healing wishes off. Its a fast attacker and great support for keeping your main wallbreakers healthy.
Togekiss is EVed to outspeed all the way up to max invest base 70s and to be able to take physical hits reliably thanks to its invest in health and defense. Air Slash is your reliable STAB coverage that lets you hit Grass Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and Bug Pokemon for some nice super effective damage, and you keep your 60% flinch chance. Fire Blast lets you get clutch KOs on Steel-types and additional type coverage. Aura Sphere and Dazzling Gleam are both good options as Aura lets you hit Heatran for some decent damage and Dazzling Gleam lets you hit Dark and Dragon-types super effectively. Roost keeps your Togekiss healthy, especially if hazards are out. Defog is another option that you could use if you'd rather be able to manage hazards than have coverage.
Clefable gives you Stealth Rock to pressure opposing teams and Moonblast is reliable STAB. The item on Clefable is pretty much either Leftovers or Babiri Berry for Magic Guard and Babiri Berry for Unaware. Thunder Wave gives you a nice status option in containing speedy threats, while Fire Blast gives you additional Steel-type coverage.
Azumarill has its EVs set-up to outspeed standard 24 invest Skarmory with a couple extra invest to keep your health denominable by 4 for the sake of Sitrus Berry. Knock Off and Superpower are both pretty reasonable attack options where Knock Off let's you hit a vast majority of the metagame for neutral damage and to hit both Ghost and Psychic super effectively. Plus, you can manage opposing items this way. Superpower let's you hit Ice, Normal, Rock, and Steel super effectively which brings its own merits.
