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Okay so this is pretty much a glass cannon matchmaking w/ Life Orb Alakazam and Mega Beedrill, both hit insanely hard but have defenses the size of paper. But besides that downside, this is a pretty good match! It's pretty basic on how it works, Mega Beedrill comes in, and U-turns out on whatever comes in.. for example a Cobalion could come in on the Beedrill U-turn and then get blown away by a Life Orb Focus Blast. After Bee U-turns out, Life Orb Zam can pretty much come in easily and get a free hard hit off on any kind of Physical Wall that tries to counter Beedrill. I personally would prolly go with the 84 def set onbut I can't change the set NV posted ~_~. But yeah, this is a really cool core w/ legit no defense at all!
Let's be real, this kind of duo can make stall shit their pants and will probably ruin somebody's day against balanced and offensive teams. Hitting from very different sides of the spectrum, only certain Dragons are safe from the wrath of twin boosters, and running a Fairy isn't hard in this day and age. However, what makes this pair stick out is the ability to completely ignore a lot of status, with Alakazam and Absol both having a useful ability making it difficult to simply 'stall them out'.
Being able to boost it's attack to sky-high levels with Swords Dance, Absol can come in on almost any status move due to Magic Bounce and oftentimes force a switch. However, he tends to lure bulky Faeries out, so he has a surprise in his arsenal for them in the (wildly inaccurate) Iron Tail, mixed with his ability to simply neuter a good deal of walls with hugely powerful Knock Offs. Add that to having a very strong priority and decent speed tier, and this thing is a nightmare for teams.
Add an Alakazam into the mix, and things get terrifying. See, most things that would stop Absol are really bulky on the physical side. Like, Obscenely so. So Alakazam decides to come around and calm things down, and simply smash through anything in his way, either with a boost or with a high-power attack.
Ebony and Ivory, right here. And both of them are f*#%ing scary against any kind of team.
Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
Yet another wallbreaking core...
Krookodile makes Alakazams wallbreaking prowess even more threatening. Band Krook easily breaks through special walls like Umbreon, Blissey and Porygon2. Yes, Alakazam can break through the aforementioned Pokémon on its own, but that is only the case if you click Focus Blast on the switch and actually hit twice in a row (we alll know that this is impossible). Additionally, Krookodile can threaten bulky Psychics (especially Cress is troublesome for Zam because after 1 Calm Mind Shadow Ball does "0") and Steels with Knock Off and Earthquake respectively. It can also deal with priority users like Entei, (physical) Lucario and Doublade, due to Intimidate.
Besides being insanely strong, Krookodile's Knock Off provides important item removal for Alakazam. For example: The loss of Eviolite makes the difference between a 3HKO and a 2HKO on SpDef Gligar. Knock Off also negates passive recovery with Leftovers, which is always helpful for a wallbreaker. Besides being extremely threatening to defensive builds, the only Mon that can somewhat reliably switch into Band Krook on offense is Hydreigon, which loses its item in the process and therefore can't revenge kill Zam anymore (if it was holding a Scarf that is).
Stone Edge is standard coverage, and is useful to hit Mandibuzz and Crobat. Mandibuzz is generally a "check" to both Krook and Zam, but Banded Stone Edge easily 2HKOs. Crobat on the other hand can't come in on Zam, but outspeeds and threatens it with an OHKO. If Crobat switches into Krook (either prediciting Rocks or EQ), a well-timed Stone Edge can OHKO the bat and get rid off an option to revenge kill Zam.
Last but not least, Pursuit is a great tool for Krook to abuse, because Banded Krook can somewhat reliably reverse trap the #1 Pursuit trapper that threatens Alakazam, Mega Aerodactyl. Thanks to Intimidate, Krook can come in on Mega Aerodactyl (nobody runs Aqua Tail anymore), and deal approximately 75% with Pursuit as Aerodactyl switches out (if you didn't reveal Band yet, click Edge). With Rocks up that equals a dead Aero. Pursuit is also useful to weaken stuff for Zam to break through, or to reliably finish off stuff that was weakened by Zam.
Hydreigon is a pretty solid partner to Alakazam, since Alakazam runs te Life Orb Set, Hydreigon doesn't need to run the Stallbreaker/Mixed LO Set, so Choice Scarf is a good Item to it. Alakazam can defeat the most defensive 'mons in the Tier, like Sableye, Suicune, Blissey and Florges, so, Hydreigon can break fast attackers, like Mega-Beedrill, Mega-Sceptile and Mega-Aerodactyl. Hydreigon can defeat stuff that Alakazam can't defeat too, like Escavalier, Forretress, Bronzong, Crawdaunt and Milotic (if it is Psyshock). Hydreigon pressures Psychic- and Steel-Types, what it is good to Alakazam. In return, Alakazam can KO Fighting-Types and Dragon-Types with ease, aside of pressure out some Pokémon.
PSA: And I also want to state that if you reserving a Pokemon, but don't edit the post and rather do it in another post, I am totally ok with that, but can you please delete the post that you reserved so as to not clutter up the thread. Thank you guys and keep up the great work... ignore the fact that I forgot about my own schedule which means we will be doing a core this upcoming week instead of this week as intended...
With a small amount of votes, Shiba manages to coast ahead for the victory this week. Congratulations!
This week is going to be Core Week since I screwed up and didn't stick to my own schedule which means I am going to be posting a core + their sets and you guys do the same as you would in a normal week by posting the best partner for the core! The featured core is going to be...
Cobalion @ Shuca Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance / Volt Switch
- Stone Edge / Stealth Rock
+
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Roost
- Defog
Cobalion + Salamence have very good offensive and defensive synergy with Cobalion being able to take on the likes of Mamoswine and Krookodile for Salamence as well as threatening Florges with STAB Iron Head while Salamence provides a solid check to Fire- and Fighting-types such as Infernape and Heracross.
This set allows for Cobalion to be on the more offensive side, as Swampert can act as a tank and act as a pivot. Cobalion will no longer have to waste a slot for rocks as Swampert can be the usual lead for the team. Roar is for forcing switch outs while Scald is used for the 100% 30% chances to burn. This also allows the core to follow up and strengthen its defenses against the core's listed threats.
I find that Cobalion and Salamence, when together, often struggle with a variety of defensive cores, and sometimes lack the power to really do lasting damage in a match. The missing link in this core is Krookodile, a surprisingly versatile Pokemon that does a good job breaking down walls, especially the bulky Psychic-types that neither Salamence nor Cobalion can really take down. Knock Off is the main tool here, and it can remove recovery from defensive 'mons and critical items from offensive ones. Like I said, this especially hurts stuff like Reuniclus, Slowking, and Cresselia, which can be a serious pain to the Cobalion+Salamence core otherwise. Krookodile can also set up Stealth Rock, which needs no introduction and wears down threats even more. It can also beat some of the special walls that check Salamence and Pursuit trap or defeat the Ghost-types that Cobalion hates so much. In general, its STAB moves are very spammable and can be used with few consequences. You can run Choice Band to maximize wallbreaking power, Choice Scarf to revenge kill threats like Alakazam, or the more standard offensive support set, which I find works best in the current metagame anyway.
The obvious limitations of this core come from Krookodile's shared weaknesses with the other members. Namely, it shares a Fighting weakness with Cobalion and weaknesses to Fairy and Ice with Salamence. However, these types aren't that hard to handle, and the offensive pressure that Krookodile can exert is worth paying the price. The core is also somewhat weak to Water-types, but in this metagame they have many checks to choose from.
Mega Houndoom is a pretty great partner for this core. Not only does it function as an excellent way of breaking down bulky Psychic-types such as Cresselia and Reuniclus, it also helps this core out tremendously with the likes of more balanced or stall teams with it's access to Nasty Plot and excellent STAB combination + adding a form of priority to the trio through Sucker Punch which allows it to snag an easy KO off of Alakazam, a huge threat to this core. It however does stack a nasty Fighting and Ground weakness with Cobalion, which pressures Salamence even more and it doesn't entirely assist with the core's weakness to Water-types.
Houndoom @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EV: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Sucker Punch
Whimsicott is the legit best partner for this core though
Whimsicott is actually the best partner to both Coba and Mence. As Salamence and Cobalion can't defeat Bulky Waters, Setup Walls and DD Mence, Whimsicott can trap or just kill'em, thanks to Encore. Encore allows Whimsicott to trap DD Mence, DD Gyra, CM Cress, CM Cune, CM Reuniclus (you can't defeat CM Slowking anyway xD) and other stuff like SD Gatr and SD Daunt. Whimsicott can simply give you/retain the momentum, and be used to support your core while Cobalion takes care of Fairy- and Ice-Types and Salamence takes care of the Bulkiest Walls. Anyway, this core really needs a Knock Off partner to defeat Slowking, Reuniclus and Cresselia, or you will struggle to them, so Krookodile (how Cactrune said), Crawdaunt and other powerful Knock Off users are always welcome. Heracross is a nice option too, as Fight-Spam is a godlike strategy actually and he still defeat Bulky-Psychic Walls. Taunt users are great too, so Stallbreaker Hydreigon is a good partner too.
