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Close one this week, but Accelgor edged out of a three-way tie by just one vote, congrats!
Week 16 - our topic this week will be new Defog users! With the addition of move tutorsin USUM, a pretty big group of relevant Pokemon can now remove hazards with Defog. Surely you've all tried em out in the past couple days, so post em here! Submissions end on Saturday!
Azumarill, Serperior, and Scolipede are allowed since they were unbanned (and not actually under suspect test).
Aight headasses lets get to the shits, this is my USUM (not USM) sheddy stall team, featuring the defensive defog Hydreigon. So obviously playing with sheddy without removal is like asking to lose the game, therefore all forms of hazard control is necessary when using shedinja based teams (Magic Bounce, Rapid Spin, and Defog). My Magic Bouncer of choice is the one and only Xatu (shoutout Cynde)... with Keys all over the place providing spike stack support for enemy teams, Xatu is a great mon to completely render those bitchass keys useless, however it being a psychic type is kinda annoying because of the weakness my team has to pursuit trappers, so Colbur Berry is the way to go so I can get a "hah I fucked up and let myself get trapped, good thing I have Colbur Berry," once a match. Now my spinner of choice on this team is going to be Tentacruel because of it's bulk, Haze, and Toxic Spikes to improve my matchup vs stall, also provides a Scizor check. Now for the defogger I needed it to be fast and bulky, and with the dragon typing and underrated 92/90/90 bulk stats, along with 98 Speed, I thought Hydreigon was easily the best pick for my defogger, and I went with evs to maximize its defensive bulk whilst having max speed, and dragonium z to provide the fire power I am lacking because of the 0 SpA investment. So now looking at this team with what we have so far, Shedinja, Tentacruel, Xatu, and Hydreigon, this team is lacking 2 things... a mega, rocks, and a cleric. So to kill 2 birds with one stone I went with the Mega Aggron as my rocker and mega evolution. Now for my cleric I originally had Umbreon, but then realized... hmm... I kinda get fucked up by fighting, I went with Sylveon. Sylveon provided MUCH NEEDED support for Aggron and the mons surrounding it, being able to keep Aggron healthy and letting it put dents in the enemy team and set up rocks at will is fun. Also, unfortunately no nicknames this week :,(.
Summary: In order to use this team, if you want to set up with Celebi, send it on a Pokemon that is weak to it. Most importantly, Serperior exists in the tier so defogging against a team with your Rotom against the opponent is going to be a bit difficult to do which is where Aerodactyl-Mega comes to the rescue, predict a switch and go to Aerodactyl and it'll revenge kill Serperior with Wing Attack, thus making defogging easier (although this is situational). Scizor + Rotom fill a tight core with each other as they check each other's weaknesses whilst using VoltTurn (one of the dominating play styles in UU) and since Rotom uses a slow VoltTurn you'll most likely safely switch into a mon. Krookidile has taunt and stealth rock so it can set up rocks much easier against Defoggers like Gliscor, Rotom, Klefki (shit defogger but a good example), Empoleon, and Mantine. Primarina helps against most of the tiers prominent mons in the tier like Infernape and can soak up special fire moves for scizor, krookodile, and probably Aerodactyl.
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 104 HP / 192 Def / 212 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 26 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
I bring to you, Lanturn stall. I used lanturn as I wanted something to help deter volt switchers, but also could heal bell since I'm not running alo and needed blissey to run wish. I went with ditto since I'm not running quagsire so it helps to deter set up sweepers. I chose azumarill as with sap sipper it straight up walls serp which can be a huge problem even with blissey(especially the sub seed sets). I went with defog gliscor with dual fangs to help ease my gliscor/scizor problems. I went with curse rocks aggron, while being an unorthodox set, it gives me a wincon and provides a nice blanket check to many physical attackers. My matchup with stall can be tricky, as I'll have to rely on a PP war, but with 2 rest mons and ditto, I should be able to handle it.
Tar Monster (Muk-Alola) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Fire Punch
This team is based around double dance terrakion a monster that hasn't been looked upon in a long time. I have magneton to trap steel types like scizor who try to get in the way of terrakion sweeping and also cleans out water types nicely. I have gliscor for fighting and ground threats to u-turn for momentum and set up rocks. My team is weak to latias so I have muk to trap it also muk is a good counter to serperior. I have alomomola as a cleric as my team can get worn down quickly and it has eject button so I can bring in one of my trappers on a scizor or lati or any weak Pokemon that can't touch muk. Serperior is there because of course its my offensive defogger also my team is weak to mega sharp and serperior lives any hit and can kill with leafstorm. Gliscor, magnezone, and eject button amomomola are great mons that help me gain momentum to go into terrakion or serperior to start sweeping.
With the rise of Kommo-o, I decided to make a team based around it, specifically with a new webs user. Originally Ribombee, Slurpuff takes this role, also able to Wish pass to teammates. It also makes a part of the Slurpuff/Scizor/Rotom defensive core. Scizor is standard bulky defog, a reliable switch-in to many physical attackers. 30 IVs to be slower than opposing Scizor, a common situation. Defog Rotom is SpD invested, with enough speed to outspeed max base 60s and neutral base 70s. Without pain split, it's main sources of recovery are Wishes from Slurpuff and leftovers.
Pidgeot-Mega, Serperior, and Kommo-o make up the offensive side of the team. They cover each other's checks well. For example, Pidgeot threatens the grass types that hold Serperior back, and Serperior stop's opposing Rotom from slowly whittling down the rest of the team. 56 HP EVs on Serperior so that Hydro Pump from 0 SpA Rotom cannot break it's sub. Kommo-o is a monster with webs up, outspeeding a large portion of the tier. 248 HP EVs for bulk, 64 SpA EVs to OHKO Latias at +1, 56 Speed EVs to hit 242, outspeeding max 60s and neutral 70s, as well as max 115s at +1. The 140 EVs left over are thrown into attack so that drain punch hits that bit harder.
Here I am just bringing some nice volt-turn offense designed to let mega sceptile clean late game. With all of the new defog running around, I decided to try and test tornadus out as a defogger to beat opposing defoggers. The +1 after defog is pretty useful, allowing it to OHKO Hydreigon, Terrakion, and possibly Blissey (50% roll) with superpower, 2HKO Bulky scizor, Gliscor, Florges and Sylveon with acrobatics. Infernape, Rotom-W, and Tornadus make a pretty cool volt-turn core, with rotom being a nice defensive pivot, infernape being a great offensive check to many threats in the meta, and tornadus being able to come in, provide defog, get an attack or two off, and get out. Mamoswine is useful for rocks and for opposing Alolan Muk, which can otherwise cause problems for this team. Freeze dry also helps with some bulky waters, usually bringing them in range of a +1 acrobatics or a giga drain from mega sceptile. Alolan muk is there to break bulky psychic types, knock off items, and pose a general annoyance to my opponent. It also helps with opposing scizor.
With the rise of Kommo-o, I decided to make a team based around it, specifically with a new webs user. Originally Ribombee, Slurpuff takes this role, also able to Wish pass to teammates. It also makes a part of the Slurpuff/Scizor/Rotom defensive core. Scizor is standard bulky defog, a reliable switch-in to many physical attackers. 30 IVs to be slower than opposing Scizor, a common situation. Defog Rotom is SpD invested, with enough speed to outspeed max base 60s and neutral base 70s. Without pain split, it's main sources of recovery are Wishes from Slurpuff and leftovers.
Pidgeot-Mega, Serperior, and Kommo-o make up the offensive side of the team. They cover each other's checks well. For example, Pidgeot threatens the grass types that hold Serperior back, and Serperior stop's opposing Rotom from slowly whittling down the rest of the team. 56 HP EVs on Serperior so that Hydro Pump from 0 SpA Rotom cannot break it's sub. Kommo-o is a monster with webs up, outspeeding a large portion of the tier. 248 HP EVs for bulk, 64 SpA EVs to OHKO Latias at +1, 56 Speed EVs to hit 242, outspeeding max 60s and neutral 70s, as well as max 115s at +1. The 140 EVs left over are thrown into attack so that drain punch hits that bit harder.
Didn't think I'd have to do this again, but I can't accept this submission. You may or may not have seen the previous post about this issue since I deleted it after the problem was resolved, but I won't be accepting teams without Stealth Rock. The move is an integral part to Smogon singles formats and you shouldn't attempt to build a serious team without them. Please revise this submission or make a new post if you want to be added to the voting list.
Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Kommo-o @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Clanging Scales
- Iron Tail
- Close Combat
- Dragon Dance
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
Hey guys. I wanted to build a team around serperior. With above base 100 speed, its faster than almost all of the tier unscarfed. And that is why this mon is the perfect mon to pair with Kommo-o. Due to its incredible speed, most people are forced to lock into certain moves. Although this may mean losing ur serperior, it means that kommo-o has a perfect place to set up. Of course, you need to accommodate for the fairies that run around in the tier. Hence, I put nidoking for offensive pressure since its a very undervalued mon and to set up rocks for role compression. With the lack of speed control on my team, I needed a consistent scarfer. imo the best scarfer in the tier would be infernape. It has great stab, a great speed tier, and access to u-turn which makes gaining momentum easy as hell. At this point, I had 2 slots left. I was scared of getting swept by belly drum azu and SD sciz. So, I put on tenta to deal with those pretty well. To add to that, I wanted to make sure that I had good ways to deal with other special attackers. Hence, i slapped on the muk.
Aight headasses lets get to the shits, this is my USUM (not USM) sheddy stall team, featuring the defensive defog Hydreigon. So obviously playing with sheddy without removal is like asking to lose the game, therefore all forms of hazard control is necessary when using shedinja based teams (Magic Bounce, Rapid Spin, and Defog). My Magic Bouncer of choice is the one and only Xatu (shoutout Cynde)... with Keys all over the place providing spike stack support for enemy teams, Xatu is a great mon to completely render those bitchass keys useless, however it being a psychic type is kinda annoying because of the weakness my team has to pursuit trappers, so Colbur Berry is the way to go so I can get a "hah I fucked up and let myself get trapped, good thing I have Colbur Berry," once a match. Now my spinner of choice on this team is going to be Tentacruel because of it's bulk, Haze, and Toxic Spikes to improve my matchup vs stall, also provides a Scizor check. Now for the defogger I needed it to be fast and bulky, and with the dragon typing and underrated 92/90/90 bulk stats, along with 98 Speed, I thought Hydreigon was easily the best pick for my defogger, and I went with evs to maximize its defensive bulk whilst having max speed, and dragonium z to provide the fire power I am lacking because of the 0 SpA investment. So now looking at this team with what we have so far, Shedinja, Tentacruel, Xatu, and Hydreigon, this team is lacking 2 things... a mega, rocks, and a cleric. So to kill 2 birds with one stone I went with the Mega Aggron as my rocker and mega evolution. Now for my cleric I originally had Umbreon, but then realized... hmm... I kinda get fucked up by fighting, I went with Sylveon. Sylveon provided MUCH NEEDED support for Aggron and the mons surrounding it, being able to keep Aggron healthy and letting it put dents in the enemy team and set up rocks at will is fun. Also, unfortunately no nicknames this week :,(.
I decided to build some balance which utilized Defog Rotom-W, for it can deal with the majority of opposing rockers while successfully maintaining its role as a bulky pivot. It also heavily complements the core of Alolan Muk and Serperior, which is the core I initially built the team around (thanks Amaroq). Alolan Muk helps to trap or check most of Serperior's annoyances while it may stick around longer due to the Leech Seed recovery Serperior provides. Mega Aerodactyl was added next, offering fantastic offensive synergy with Serperior and a much appreciated check to offensive teams. At this point the team lacked rocks, so I went with Steelium Z Cobalion which also helps to heavily dent balance breakers like Nidoking. Taunt Toxic Gliscor rounds out the team here, providing a great way to tackle slower teams while also providing to the team's general defensive synergy.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
I wanted two things:
- Use Moltres
- Slap as many potential Defoggers as I could in one team, while making sure it isn't cheesy and works vs competent players
Moltres is the star of the team, hits pretty hard (Z-Hurricane is amazing) and it's surprisingly hard to check thanks to the combination of power and U-turn. Rotom-W has amazing synergy with Moltres, as it checks some Water-types that threaten it, removes rocks, and many of the things that don't mind Volt Switch are Moltres bait. Serperior is the backup Defogger, can pull off sweeps vs some teams once the rest of the team weakens the foe's team, and it really enjoys getting free switch ins thanks to Voltturn. Scizor is standard in teams like this, checks tons of shit, wrecks shit with U-turn and has solid offensive synergy with Moltres and Rotom-W. Mega Altaria patches a bunch of holes, provides Heal Bell support (Refresh is usually the preferred option, but the team isn't based around Altaria), and if you face one of the shitty teams that rely on Scizor to not get swept by this, they pretty much can't click U-turn once against anything because Moltres is Flame Body. I wanted a SR user, soft Aerodactyl check, hard Manetric / Raikou counter, and I didn't want to use Swampert because it's easier to chip down.
Team isn't anything amazing, but it has been extremely reliable vs good players so far. ftr I like my slow Volturners to punish the mirror matchup and I don't need to speed creep with them on this team.