Project ORAS OU Core-Building Competition (Round 12 - Setup Spam - Results)

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Bendiving

Bendiving


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Now co-hosted by gamer boy and -Magic-!
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A core is a pair or group of Pokemon which work well together. They can be great offensively - covering each others' checks and counters, pressuring shared checks and counters, or supporting each other for a potential sweep - or defensively, covering each others' weaknesses and forming a strong defensive backbone. The goal of this project is to provide the community with strong and innovative cores, hopefully finding some new cores in the process and inspiring teambuilding.

At the start of each week I will post a requirement for the core - it could be a specific Pokemon to build around, a concept or theme (such as darkspam, trick room etc), or a type core (such as fire-water-grass). You have 5 days to post your cores. At the end of the 5 days a 2-day voting period will commence, where you can vote for two of your favourite cores from the round. At the end of the voting phase the winner and runner-up's names and cores will be posted in the hall of fame and the next week of building will start.

If you have an idea you'd like to see covered in the competition, please PM me, gamer boy and -Magic- . We're open to suggestions!

Rules
1. Please post sprites (makes the thread easier to read!), sets, and a brief description of how the core works. See my post below for an example. You can very easily get sprites here.
2. Cores must be effective in the current meta.
3. Cores must be original, as part of the point of this thread is to discover new cores. If it's in the Good Cores thread it's not yours.
4. We reserve the right to reject unoriginal or unviable cores. If your core has been rejected you may resubmit a new core. Giving helpful feedback is fine but do not call for someone else's core to be rejected - if it breaks the rules we will handle it.
5. Don't vote for yourself.
6. Have fun!
 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

Hall of Fame - Winners

Week 1: Type Spam
MrAldo with fire spam


Week 2: Weather
hey yal with M-Garde sand balance

Chatter with CharY-Venu sun offence


Week 3: Ground-Steel-Water
SlaySlenderDragon XD with Glisc/Bro bulky offence


Week 4 - Momentum
MrAldo with M-Zor VoltTurn


Week 5 - Fire-Water-Grass
Drop with CharX Offence


Week 6 - Natural Gift
Analytic with Ganlon Talon + M-Lop


Week 7 - Regenerator
Physical Tyranitar with CharX balance


Week 8 - Fairy/Steel/Dragon
KidMagic with M-Scizor offence


Week 9 - Trapping
littlelucario with Keldeo + pursuit M-Meta


Week 10 - Trick Room
Bendiving with BD Azu offensive TR


Week 11 - E Rank
p2 with Roselia hazard-stack stall

-Magic- with Stunfisk + M-Pinsir


Week 12 - Setup Spam
NotFalse with Steel/priority spam

CrystalRam with M-Latias DSF balance

 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

Hall of Fame - Runners Up

Week 1: Type Spam
Analytic with Water spam

Drop with Dark spam

gamer boy with Fairy spam
/


Week 2: Weather
Infernal with Fabio rain


Week 3: Ground-Steel-Water
fleggumfl with Lando/Keld spike stack


Week 4 - Momentum
SlaySlenderDragon XD with Spikes VoltTurn


Week 5 - Fire-Water-Grass
Infernal with M-Bro Balance


Week 6 - Natural Gift
Infernal with Cheri Gyara + M-Tar


Week 7 - Regenerator
Dr Ciel with Alo/Amoon/Tran semistall

Infernal with Reun/M-Lop balance


Week 8 - Fairy/Steel/Dragon
ksr15 with M-Garde bulky offence


Week 9 - Trapping
psVoltage with MAltZone

Bendiving with BD Azu + magmaTran


Week 10 - Trick Room
Hot dog pizza with M-Camerupt bulky TR


Week 11 - E Rank
koista12 with PorygonZ offence


Week 12 - Setup Spam
littlelucario with Water spam
 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

This week's theme will be:

Type Spam!

At least two members of the core must share a common typing.

Edit: Just to clarify due to confusion: to avoid excessive restriction the optional third member can be a different type

Went for a broad theme to kick things off which should bring a lot of variety in the submissions, but will also be quite challenging to build. The idea behind type spam is to overwhelm common checks and counters, as many checks/counters are only prepared to deal with one major threat, and can be overwhelmed. The downside is obviously shared weaknesses which can be difficult to cover when teambuilding. Have fun and good luck!
 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

Example:


Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Foul Play
As a fairy type which is neutral to steel, Azumarill forms a powerful fairy spam core with Mega-Gardevoir. Not much can withstand a pixillate-boosted hyper voice followed by a choice band huge power-boosted play rough, allowing the pair to easily force their way through their checks and counters. Azumarill also brings powerful priority to improve the matchup vs offence which Gardevoir struggles with, has waterfall to bop Heatran which quad-resists fairy, and superpower to lure other problematic steels such as Ferrothorn. Klefki provides spikes and T-wave support which both members of the core love - spikes wear down bulky walls making wallbreaking even easier and prankster T-wave slows down faster threats. Toxic further wears down walls and foul play for coverage / punishing set-up sweepers. Klefki also covers the core's poison weakness with an immunity, resists grass for Azumarill and in turn has its own fire weakness covered by Azu, without stacking any weaknesses. Max def for better synergy with Garde's low defence. The core also has great shinies which is important.
 
Analytic

Analytic

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WATER SPAM

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Earthquake

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Play Rough


So here's a core that Tom Bus used in his WCoP game vs Tokyo Tom. The idea of this core is pretty simple, M-Gyarados weakens Azumarill's checks like Rotom-W while BD Azumarill weakens Ferro, Amoonguss, and Skarmory to such a great extent that M-Gyarados can clean up later on.
 
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yuruuu

yuruuu

reservations are for scrubs ; typing this in one go


Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast

Raikou @ Zap Plate
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]


So basically Electric spam goes like this: You lure Hippo and bust through the team with offensive pressure. GK Thundurus is the one I chose for this one, but Toxic Raikou/Manectric would work fine too. Not much to say. You could run two electric types if you want, but I like having three just in case they have 2 stops.


Edit: 1. Cores must have 3 Pokemon
This looks a bit limiting for this round, since most type spam cores would be two mons: Talonflame + Mega Pinsir, Weavile + Mega Gyarados, etc.
 
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Taliheim

Taliheim


Pinsir (Pinsir-Mega) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

The original XY Typespam core, Birdspam is a Hyper-offensive core that breaks through opposing Birdspam checks + counters with Talonflame and sweeping it up with Mega Pinsir later. Both have powerful priority, and Talonflame has a way to regain the health it suicides off with its recoil STABs to start breaking through things again. There is no team out there that enjoys facing this core, bar ones running something dumb like tankchomp + defensive landog + rotom-wash. Talonflame is traditionally Banded, but with Rocky Helmet Garchomp + Landog gaining popularity in ORAS and the decrease of offensive teams, a generic Swords Dance offensive set has taken its place, allowing it to still terrorize Offense while being able to break through Balance builds as well. Latios is in the core as an extremely reliable Rocks remover, as Talonflame is 4x weak to them and Pinsir is weak prevo, 4x weak mevo, meaning that the Defog support is greatly appreciated. Might not be the most creative, but easily one of the most effective and defining... or at least used to be.

The core is usually seen with an extremely reliable Rocks remover such as the Latis, as Talonflame is 4x weak to them and Pinsir is weak prevo, 4x weak mevo. I left out a Lati in the core because the thread specifically wanted a typespam core, which the Lati did not fit into - it's more of an extremely good partner than part of the core, since it just supports it and doesn't contribute much else to synergy with the two.

edit: sorry I'm dumb and didn't read everything through.
 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

yuruuu said:
Edit: 1. Cores must have 3 Pokemon
This looks a bit limiting for this round, since most type spam cores would be two mons: Talonflame + Mega Pinsir, Weavile + Mega Gyarados, etc.
Click to expand...
True, but that's why I said only two of the three have to share the same typing, the third is there to support either offensively or defensively. However I can remove that rule if people prefer, I guess it doesn't really serve much purpose, other than to flesh out the cores a bit - what do others think?

Edit: Ok I'll remove that rule. No point restricting things further than needed
 
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SketchUp

SketchUp

Don't let your memes be dreams
Thundurus @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Flying / Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Wave / Focus Blast

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Substitute

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
- Facade / Mach Punch
Many slashes but this core is pretty versatile so you can use this diffrent ways. The main idea behind this core is to exploit many electric-weak teams to accomplish a Raikou or Thundurus sweep. Many teams only have 1 pokemon such as Hippowdon, SpDef Heatran or Latias to stop a Thundurus / Raikou sweep. In many matches, either Raikou or Thundurus can set up, fire off a powerful attack and leave the Hippow / Lati / Tran whatever at low HP. After that, one of the other teammates can force this pokemon out (Breloom forces out Heatran and Hippowdon for example) so they can't recover up. After this, they are too weak to check the other electric type.
Breloom has an important role as a switchin to electric resists that can take HP Ice, such as Quagsire, Gastrodon and Ferrothorn. The PH set is awesome against stall teams, which often have multiple answers to offensive electric types (like Chansey + Unaware Clef) and is only stopped by a few mons such as Mega Venusaur and Skarmory. The former can be weakened by SD Facade or lured in by Thundurus' HP Flying, so Raikou can sweep easier, while the latter gives both Raikou and Thundy a free switchin.
Mach Punch can be useful on Breloom to revengekill pokemon such as Excadrill, Heatran, Weavile and Mega Lopunny, but the lack of Facade gives the core a more difficult time against Unaware Clefable, SD Talonflame, Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss. HP Flying on Thundurus lures in Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss to support Breloom, while it still does enough damage to hurt Hippowdon and Latias. It also hits Gastrodon and Quagsire harder. Thunder Wave can be used to have a nice back-up check to setup sweepers such as Zard-X and MLopunny, but Focus Blast is sometimes prefered to hit Ferrothorn, Excadrill and Chansey.

Of course there are some things that really give this core troubles such as Weavile, Zard-X, Kyurem-B, Lati@s, Sand Rush Exca, Unaware Clefable and Mega Venusaur, but there are still 3 slots left and you have an amazing matchup against most teams with this offensive core.
 
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MANNAT

MANNAT

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WaterSpam.png

This is a pretty effective core that I've been using for a while that can really break down opposing teams well, and I really like it because the sets of the mons can really be changed around based on the team, and the sets that I have listed are just one group of sets that you can use. Azumarill and Starmie both do really well vs offense while manaphy is supposed to beat slower and more defensive teams, all three members of the core hitting hard with water STAB and their coverage options. Azumarill can sweep most offensive teams if it can get a boost some time in the middle of a game, but a banded set can break offense as well as some common walls even better because it doesn't require a boost to hit super hard, and you can even run an assault vest set if it fits your team better, although banded and belly drum Azu usually work best with this core. Starmie has so many coverage options that it can use, and its ability to use boltbeampump coverage can absolutely ravage most offensive teams and it generally has very few switch ins, and said switch ins can almost always be dispatched with the right coverage moves, and Starmie even provides hazard removal, being able to spin vs things that it usually forces out or can't do much damage to it like Heatran. Lastly, Manaphy is an amazing sweeper that can dispatch defensive teams quite easily. If Gothitelle is removed, and you have chosen to run ice beam or psychic on Manaphy, it can quite easily 6-0 ABR stall with little to no effort, and most balanced or slow offensive teams lack an answer to manaphy, making it an excellent sweeper vs those teams as well. All in all, the combined offensive pressure that these three mons put on opposing teams is enormous, and each mon of this core can win games by itself if you play well, so all three of them together put intense strain on the opposing team to make aggressive plays and keep their walls healthy so that one of these mons don't beat them.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off/Filler based on team

Manaphy @ Leftovers/Shed Shell (if your team has a hard time breaking stall, you can run this+scarf ttar to beat goth)
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Rain Dance
- Scald/Surf
- Energy Ball/Ice Beam/Psychic/Rest

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt/Psyshock/Recover
- Ice Beam/Hidden Power [Fire]/Recover
 
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Drop

Drop

Dark spam (sort of stolen from CBB's offense)


Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance / Low Kick

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog
Dark spam is incredibly good because many teams have limited switch-ins to knock off. This is more of a hyper offense core, as are most type-spam cores. Bisharp and Weavile, being some of the most powerful offensive dark-types roaming OU, form a potent core that can break apart many cores.

The core's best checks include Keldeo and M-Scizor. Latios solves this problem by being able to switch into the majority of Keldeo's moves (with the exception of Specs Icy Wind) and also lures in the M-Scizor with HP Fire. It also checks M-Venusaur which checks Bisharp and Weavile (barring flinches).

Other potential teammates might include something to check fairies in general--for instance, this core has no way to switch into M-Diancie and M-Altaria. Having a Talonflame check is useful, keeping in mind that both bulky wisp and offensive SD variants threaten this team. Something to break past fatter builds is useful, as M-Sableye and SpDef Skarm can really give this core trouble. Finally, packing a secondary Keldeo check could be useful since Lati is your primary way of forcing Rotom-W out as well and it can get worn down really quickly.
 
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Martin

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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dammit ninja'd on muh darkspam :[ -_-

/
Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Rock Polish / Protect

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD OR 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Shadow Ball

Magnezone / Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
With fairy being a completely broken type, I decided to take one which deals huge damage to each of the dominant playstyles (offense and stall) and pair them together. By bringing Sylve, stall is forced to switch in either Chansey, Tran or Skarm out every time that it comes out. It is able to take advantage of this with its access to Baton Pass, which allows it to scout to see how stall opps react to Sylve and catch any habits they have. If you run HP Ground, you are able to catch Tran switch-ins with a greater success ratio than you would otherwise, and this is useful with good moveset hiding/bluffing. However, the real magic of Baton Pass comes from its ability to catch Ferro and Skarm and trap them with Mag (unless they're shell, in which case f*ck shell lol). Diancie, on the other hand, is able to tear apart offense with its Rock Polish set (although any set other than max speed is bad IMO because its got such an important pre-polish speed tier and it allows it to function better before it can polish) while also being far from a slouch v.s. offense with its Protect set - making your choice of set team-dependent. HP Fire isn't really needed 'cause Mag, although it is an option over Tect to act as insurance against Shed Shell (EP is too important for fairyspam to give up), but honestly I don't recommend it because it is stupidly situational and makes Diancie lose to base 110s. It also benefits greatly from the Mag support.

Dugtrio support is recommended for this core because it allows you to trap and KO Heatran, Raikou and Manectric, taking advantage of Baton Pass well, freeing up the option to run Shadow Ball on Sylve and making it easier for Diancie to function effectively due to no longer being forced out by them every time they come in. In addition, Gothitelle support is also highly recommended to deal with Chansey - who walls both fairies thoroughly. For an example of triple trappers, I direct you to the sample team I have posted below:
Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Rock Polish

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD OR 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Memento
- Stealth Rock

Gothitelle @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Rest
- Psychic
- Energy Ball

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic / Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
 
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Ramses

Ramses

DRAGON SPAM

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

So this core is pretty awesome in what it does. Latios provides Defog Support, a Keldeo Check, and Ground immunity for Mega Charizard X. It also drops massively powerful Draco's on Mega Charizard X's would be checks like Hippowdon, Slowbro, Lando, Suicune, etc by smacking their lower SpD side. It also softens up other checks like Heatran and Tyranitar who Charizard can pick off with Earthquake. Mega Charizard X on the other hand kills off troublesome things like Klefki, Mega Metagross, Magnezone, and Bisharp to give Latios more opportunities to heavily dent the opposing team and open the way for a Charizard Sweep.
 
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Kav

Kav

Dragon Spam:



Hydreigon-Metagross is a classic wallbreaking core stretching back to the days when pokemon online let the both into UU for some reason. CB Kyu is another wallbreaker that has an uncanny ability to kill everything with less than 70% health. This core mainly focuses on taking out faries and steels, getting a bit of prior damage on other physical walls, and then sweeping with kyurem. Tailwind makes all three of these guys extremely dangerous though, and there are opportunities to sweep with all of them really. Bulky teams also dont stand a chance.

All three of these mons have nice resists and decent bulk, so they can very easily shuffle around to support each other. Hazard support is pretty much a must on this core because of how easily it forces switches and how nobody can boost their damage.

Replays (2nd ones lame af though dont look at it):
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-291842941
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-290772710

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Band
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 20 SpA / 236 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Tailwind

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm
- Ice Punch
 
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Bendiving

Bendiving

Some great submissions so far :] just a heads-up that voting will end approximately this time tomorrow, still time for some last-minute cores!

Fire spam anyone?

AM Edit: Gross
 
MrAldo

MrAldo

Hey
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Bendiving said:
Fire spam anyone?
Click to expand...
YES



Somebody said Fire Spam?! Here it is. Entei + Mega Charizard X pressure their traditional checks stupidly well thanks to sacred fire being an easy move to spam on entei, with a 50% chance to burn and with every char X check despising getting burned this, broken, mon takes advantage of that enabling easier setup opportunities and plowing through their checks much more easily. Starmie is here to provide reliable hazard removal, wont invite scarf tyranitar for free unless it wants to take an analytic boosted hydro pump, etc, etc. Boltbeam starmie cause with this much fire, psychic isnt needed for mega venu and thunderbolt helps a lot against opposing water types like slowbro.
Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulldoze
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
 
Bendiving

Bendiving

Huge thanks to everyone who submitted a core. Great mix - a couple of solid classics and some really fun-looking new cores that I can't wait to try out!

Voting begins now - you can vote for one or two cores. Please bold your vote(s). Roughly 2 days from now the votes will be counted and winner and runner up placed in the hall of fame!


Core 1:
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Earthquake

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
So here's a core that Tom Bus used in his WCoP game vs Tokyo Tom. The idea of this core is pretty simple, M-Gyarados weakens Azumarill's checks like Rotom-W while BD Azumarill weakens Ferro, Amoonguss, and Skarmory to such a great extent that M-Gyarados can clean up later on.



Core 2:
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast

Raikou @ Zap Plate
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]
So basically Electric spam goes like this: You lure Hippo and bust through the team with offensive pressure. GK Thundurus is the one I chose for this one, but Toxic Raikou/Manectric would work fine too. Not much to say. You could run two electric types if you want, but I like having three just in case they have 2 stops.



Core 3:
Pinsir (Pinsir-Mega) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog
The original XY Typespam core, Birdspam is a Hyper-offensive core that breaks through opposing Birdspam checks + counters with Talonflame and sweeping it up with Mega Pinsir later. Both have powerful priority, and Talonflame has a way to regain the health it suicides off with its recoil STABs to start breaking through things again. There is no team out there that enjoys facing this core, bar ones running something dumb like tankchomp + defensive landog + rotom-wash. Talonflame is traditionally Banded, but with Rocky Helmet Garchomp + Landog gaining popularity in ORAS and the decrease of offensive teams, a generic Swords Dance offensive set has taken its place, allowing it to still terrorize Offense while being able to break through Balance builds as well. Latios is in the core as an extremely reliable Rocks remover, as Talonflame is 4x weak to them and Pinsir is weak prevo, 4x weak mevo, meaning that the Defog support is greatly appreciated. Might not be the most creative, but easily one of the most effective and defining... or at least used to be.



Core 4:

Thundurus @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Flying / Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Wave / Focus Blast

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Substitute

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
- Facade / Mach Punch
Many slashes but this core is pretty versatile so you can use this diffrent ways. The main idea behind this core is to exploit many electric-weak teams to accomplish a Raikou or Thundurus sweep. Many teams only have 1 pokemon such as Hippowdon, SpDef Heatran or Latias to stop a Thundurus / Raikou sweep. In many matches, either Raikou or Thundurus can set up, fire off a powerful attack and leave the Hippow / Lati / Tran whatever at low HP. After that, one of the other teammates can force this pokemon out (Breloom forces out Heatran and Hippowdon for example) so they can't recover up. After this, they are too weak to check the other electric type.
Breloom has an important role as a switchin to electric resists that can take HP Ice, such as Quagsire, Gastrodon and Ferrothorn. The PH set is awesome against stall teams, which often have multiple answers to offensive electric types (like Chansey + Unaware Clef) and is only stopped by a few mons such as Mega Venusaur and Skarmory. The former can be weakened by SD Facade or lured in by Thundurus' HP Flying, so Raikou can sweep easier, while the latter gives both Raikou and Thundy a free switchin.
Mach Punch can be useful on Breloom to revengekill pokemon such as Excadrill, Heatran, Weavile and Mega Lopunny, but the lack of Facade gives the core a more difficult time against Unaware Clefable, SD Talonflame, Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss. HP Flying on Thundurus lures in Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss to support Breloom, while it still does enough damage to hurt Hippowdon and Latias. It also hits Gastrodon and Quagsire harder. Thunder Wave can be used to have a nice back-up check to setup sweepers such as Zard-X and MLopunny, but Focus Blast is sometimes prefered to hit Ferrothorn, Excadrill and Chansey.

Of course there are some things that really give this core troubles such as Weavile, Zard-X, Kyurem-B, Lati@s, Sand Rush Exca, Unaware Clefable and Mega Venusaur, but there are still 3 slots left and you have an amazing matchup against most teams with this offensive core.



Core 5:

This is a pretty effective core that I've been using for a while that can really break down opposing teams well, and I really like it because the sets of the mons can really be changed around based on the team, and the sets that I have listed are just one group of sets that you can use. Azumarill and Starmie both do really well vs offense while manaphy is supposed to beat slower and more defensive teams, all three members of the core hitting hard with water STAB and their coverage options. Azumarill can sweep most offensive teams if it can get a boost some time in the middle of a game, but a banded set can break offense as well as some common walls even better because it doesn't require a boost to hit super hard, and you can even run an assault vest set if it fits your team better, although banded and belly drum Azu usually work best with this core. Starmie has so many coverage options that it can use, and its ability to use boltbeampump coverage can absolutely ravage most offensive teams and it generally has very few switch ins, and said switch ins can almost always be dispatched with the right coverage moves, and Starmie even provides hazard removal, being able to spin vs things that it usually forces out or can't do much damage to it like Heatran. Lastly, Manaphy is an amazing sweeper that can dispatch defensive teams quite easily. If Gothitelle is removed, and you have chosen to run ice beam or psychic on Manaphy, it can quite easily 6-0 ABR stall with little to no effort, and most balanced or slow offensive teams lack an answer to manaphy, making it an excellent sweeper vs those teams as well. All in all, the combined offensive pressure that these three mons put on opposing teams is enormous, and each mon of this core can win games by itself if you play well, so all three of them together put intense strain on the opposing team to make aggressive plays and keep their walls healthy so that one of these mons don't beat them.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off/Filler based on team

Manaphy @ Leftovers/Shed Shell (if your team has a hard time breaking stall, you can run this+scarf ttar to beat goth)
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Rain Dance
- Scald/Surf
- Energy Ball/Ice Beam/Psychic/Rest

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt/Psyshock/Recover
- Ice Beam/Hidden Power [Fire]/Recover



Core 6:

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance / Low Kick

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog
Dark spam is incredibly good because many teams have limited switch-ins to knock off. This is more of a hyper offense core, as are most type-spam cores. Bisharp and Weavile, being some of the most powerful offensive dark-types roaming OU, form a potent core that can break apart many cores.

The core's best checks include Keldeo and M-Scizor. Latios solves this problem by being able to switch into the majority of Keldeo's moves (with the exception of Specs Icy Wind) and also lures in the M-Scizor with HP Fire. It also checks M-Venusaur which checks Bisharp and Weavile (barring flinches).

Other potential teammates might include something to check fairies in general--for instance, this core has no way to switch into M-Diancie and M-Altaria. Having a Talonflame check is useful, keeping in mind that both bulky wisp and offensive SD variants threaten this team. Something to break past fatter builds is useful, as M-Sableye and SpDef Skarm can really give this core trouble. Finally, packing a secondary Keldeo check could be useful since Lati is your primary way of forcing Rotom-W out as well and it can get worn down really quickly.


Core 7:

/
Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Rock Polish / Protect

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD OR 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Shadow Ball

Magnezone / Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
With fairy being a completely broken type, I decided to take one which deals huge damage to each of the dominant playstyles (offense and stall) and pair them together. By bringing Sylve, stall is forced to switch in either Chansey, Tran or Skarm out every time that it comes out. It is able to take advantage of this with its access to Baton Pass, which allows it to scout to see how stall opps react to Sylve and catch any habits they have. If you run HP Ground, you are able to catch Tran switch-ins with a greater success ratio than you would otherwise, and this is useful with good moveset hiding/bluffing. However, the real magic of Baton Pass comes from its ability to catch Ferro and Skarm and trap them with Mag (unless they're shell, in which case f*ck shell lol). Diancie, on the other hand, is able to tear apart offense with its Rock Polish set (although any set other than max speed is bad IMO because its got such an important pre-polish speed tier and it allows it to function better before it can polish) while also being far from a slouch v.s. offense with its Protect set - making your choice of set team-dependent. HP Fire isn't really needed 'cause Mag, although it is an option over Tect to act as insurance against Shed Shell (EP is too important for fairyspam to give up), but honestly I don't recommend it because it is stupidly situational and makes Diancie lose to base 110s. It also benefits greatly from the Mag support.

Dugtrio support is recommended for this core because it allows you to trap and KO Heatran, Raikou and Manectric, taking advantage of Baton Pass well, freeing up the option to run Shadow Ball on Sylve and making it easier for Diancie to function effectively due to no longer being forced out by them every time they come in. In addition, Gothitelle support is also highly recommended to deal with Chansey - who walls both fairies thoroughly. For an example of triple trappers, I direct you to the sample team I have posted below:
Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Rock Polish

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD OR 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Memento
- Stealth Rock

Gothitelle @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Rest
- Psychic
- Energy Ball

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic / Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam



Core 8:

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
So this core is pretty awesome in what it does. Latios provides Defog Support, a Keldeo Check, and Ground immunity for Mega Charizard X. It also drops massively powerful Draco's on Mega Charizard X's would be checks like Hippowdon, Slowbro, Lando, Suicune, etc by smacking their lower SpD side. It also softens up other checks like Heatran and Tyranitar who Charizard can pick off with Earthquake. Mega Charizard X on the other hand kills off troublesome things like Klefki, Mega Metagross, Magnezone, and Bisharp to give Latios more opportunities to heavily dent the opposing team and open the way for a Charizard Sweep.


Core 9:
Hydreigon-Metagross is a classic wallbreaking core stretching back to the days when pokemon online let the both into UU for some reason. CB Kyu is another wallbreaker that has an uncanny ability to kill everything with less than 70% health. This core mainly focuses on taking out faries and steels, getting a bit of prior damage on other physical walls, and then sweeping with kyurem. Tailwind makes all three of these guys extremely dangerous though, and there are opportunities to sweep with all of them really. Bulky teams also dont stand a chance.

All three of these mons have nice resists and decent bulk, so they can very easily shuffle around to support each other. Hazard support is pretty much a must on this core because of how easily it forces switches and how nobody can boost their damage.

Replays (2nd ones lame af though dont look at it):
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-291842941
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-290772710
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Band
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 20 SpA / 236 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Tailwind

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm
- Ice Punch



Core 10:
Somebody said Fire Spam?! Here it is. Entei + Mega Charizard X pressure their traditional checks stupidly well thanks to sacred fire being an easy move to spam on entei, with a 50% chance to burn and with every char X check despising getting burned this, broken, mon takes advantage of that enabling easier setup opportunities and plowing through their checks much more easily. Starmie is here to provide reliable hazard removal, wont invite scarf tyranitar for free unless it wants to take an analytic boosted hydro pump, etc, etc. Boltbeam starmie cause with this much fire, psychic isnt needed for mega venu and thunderbolt helps a lot against opposing water types like slowbro.
Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulldoze
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
 
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