Skill Swap/Trick Room team!

[Rickyticq]

I know you've probably faced a Trick Room team, maybe even a Skill Swap team, but have you ever faced Swap-Room team before?

It sounds odd, yes I know, but this is by far the most fun I've had with a team while still being able to get some wins under my belt. I posted a goodstuff team about a week ago on this forum, but I've put that one on hold, for a little while at least, while I tinker with this one. So without further ado, I present to you my Swap-Room team!

A first look:

doesn't look like your ordinary trick room team does it? I mean, besides the NU colossus standing at the lead, one might still question some of the choices in there. Well, VGC play is a crazy place full of unexpected strategies not seen in standard OU single play folks. And for those who commonly play VGC style anyway, I invite you to take a look and see how your team might play against this one. (For future reference, everybody on the team has minimum speed, nature, EV, and IV-wise, as would be expected on a trick room team)

1.

Regigigas "Gigas" @ Chople Berry - Slow Start
Brave (+atk, -spd) EV's: 252 atk, 152 HP, 106 Def

• Crush Grip
• Earthquake
• Drain Punch
• Substitute

THE REASON I set this up as a skill swap + Trick Room team. As you all know, Gigas' stat total is one of the best in the game, clocking in at a monstrous 670. With base 160 attack, 110,110,110 defensive spread, and 100 speed, I couldn't resist trying him out. The 100 speed was unappealing in the face of his massive bulk (getting a speed tie with Salamence is not my idea of a sweeper), so I decided to capitalize on his bulk and attack in a trick room, making him a nightmare to take down as he smashes foes with a 460 attack stat. As for his moves, Crush Grip OHKO's anybody who doesn't resist and/or have about as much bulk as Zapdos or Garchomp, terrific (plus it has no recoil!). Earthquake hit those a large majority of those who resist Crush Grip for super effective damage, and Drain Punch is for reliability and recovery, an all-around good move.


2.

Slowbro "Bubba" @ Sitrus Berry - Regenerator
Quiet; EV's: 244 HP, 156 SpA, 108 SpD (the suggested VGC spread)

• Ice Beam
• Scald
• Psychic
• Flamethrower

The other half of my attacking force. I knew I needed a slow, yet bulky special sweeper as well, Bubba fit the bill. With a large range of coverage, Bubba can hit everything from Hydreigon to Scizor to Excadrill for super effective damage all while sponging a few hits as well when OHKO's aren't possible. No Trick Room or Protect you say? Trick room lies on the shoulders of another. Protect would be nice, at the sacrifice of some coverage, I could maybe replace Scald with it, but that would leave him without a STAB attack. Suggestions here?

3.

Gyrados "Sharkbait" @ Wacan Berry - Intimidate
Brave; EV's: 252 HP, 52 atk, 140 Def, 66 SpD (again, the suggested spread)

• Waterfall
• Ice Fang
• Incinerate
• Leer

The "Intimidate Support" set with a few modifications to support my team a little better. With a trick room in play, there was no longer need for speed, so I moved his speed ev's into spD for a little more sponging power. Waterfall is STAB with a chance of flinch, nice. Ice Fang is for Thundurus, Garchomp and the likes who are weak to Ice, Incinerate removes all enemies' berries, allowing Regigigas a OHKO on an originally Chopled Tyrannitar, a burn on a Lum Metagross, or recovery stop of Sitrus Cresselia. Leer further helps the team cause by reversing effects of an Intimidate on Gigas or again, allowing a 2HKO to be a OHKO.

4.

Amoongus @ Effect Spore - Mental Herb
Calm; EV's: 252 HP, 152 Def, 106 SpD

• Spore
• Rage Powder
• Giga Drain
• Protect

Pretty standard Amoongus. Mental herb for taunt, EV spread for generalized defensive capabilities. Spore makes sleep, Rage P redirects attacks away from Trick Roomer, Giga Drain prevents Taunt from making him deadweight, protect for protection. Most everybody could agree that Amoongus is a pretty helpful supporter on any team.

5.

Cofagrigus "Rhamses" @ Mummy - Leftovers
Sassy; Ev's: 252 HP, 152 SpD, 106 Def

• Trick Room
• Will-O-Wisp
• Skill Swap
• Shadow Ball

The glue of my team. If Rhamses gets KO'd, especially in the first turn, it's a struggle from that point on (thus, the heavy emphasis on support). What most people don't know, is that Skill Swap is the most god**mn fun move in the entire game. Seriously, so many different possibilites: Removes Slow Start from Gigas, steal a Sand Veil from Garchomp, thieve a levitate so Gigas can spam Earthquake, throw around Will-O-Wisps with Thundurus' prankster, god forbid I get a Huge Power onto Gigas (whats's 460 X 2? Oh, a 920 atk stat? That's pretty good right?). If you haven't tried that shit out, please do. I promise, you will have the giddiest smile on your face when you swap Slow Start onto poor 'lil Terrakion and watch him flail about like a magikarp. Oh, and shadow ball gives me a move to use when I need it.

6.

Scrafty "Double-G" @ Life Orb - Intimidate
Brave; EV's: 252 atk, 252 HP, 6 Def

• Hi Jump Kick
• Crunch
• Fake Out
• Taunt

Oh Scrafty, what team can't your hopping hoodlum heiney hitch onto and provide some good fake-out support? Intimidate increases the longevity of my team a little bit, Hi Jump Kick and Crunch mean I don't have to immediately switch out after Cofagrigus sets up Trick Room, and Taunt stops the reversal of Trick Room, along with other undesirable non-attacks. I would've attached a recovery item, I used Leftovers and Sitrus berry on other teammates, so I guess Life Orb makes him more of a Kamikaze lead. Oh and btw, for you anti-jumpkick-ers, I've found that the mere threat of a possible hi jump kick makes people go to protect while I smash the teammate that they thought I wasn't going to hit in the mouth. Sort of a tragic irony there huh?


Some final thoughts of my own: Cofagrigus is great, he sometimes even lasts the entire match, but I know he has his flaws. Getting OHKO'd by Hydreigon's dark pulse right off the bat screws me over, a rock slide flinch screws me over, and a breloom spore screws me over. If you have any suggestions for another good trick roomer who has considerable bulk and resistance to flinching, please let me know! If you have your own skill swap team and would like to share some suggestions with me from your own experience, please do! And of course, any EV/move pointers would be greatly appreciated as this team is relatively new so I really know any counters to it that I perhaps should.

Thanks for taking a peek at my team, I greatly appreciate it!
Happy Battling Smogon Community!

 

[tlyee61]

Hi, looks like a creative team! I think you could replace either gyarados or slowbro because they're basically the same type and add weaknesses to your team. I might try Cresselia over slowbro because it can serve as a backup TR user, can use Skill Swap and give good psychic coverage. also, I might try a fire type on your team to make a nice FWG core of Gyarados, Amoonguss and whatever you choose. cress and heatran make an extremely solid combo as demonstrated by wolfey, the world champion runner-up. you can read the article about his skill swap team here: http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/eggscelent-execution/

 

[Rickyticq]

Thanks for the tips! Heatran would be a great option, except Gigas already holds my chople berry so that would make 2 weak to an incoming close combat ): But I was thinking about switching Gyrados so it's nice to see that somebody else thinks so too.