Some shitmons I used a bit lately that didn't wind up working out.
Tatsugiri (Tatsugiri-Droopy) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Storm Drain
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 156 HP / 108 Def / 36 SpA / 208 Spe
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Rapid Spin
- Nasty Plot
I wanted this mon to work so bad. In theory it has all the tools to work: Nasty Plot, Spin, good STAB Combo. It should in theory beat those brainless GKing + Mola cores roaming around with Tera Steel Nasty Plot and the EV Spread letting it live some important attacks (Gliscor's EQ in particular) while also outspeeding Raging bolt. Unfortunately, this set just never performed well. Tatsugiri's stats are simply too low for it to do much and give it a lot of annoying match-ups. Namely, it can't really setup safely on most Pokemon without commiting Tera (which is still bad since Tusk will now KO you no matter what) or losing all its health. Roaring Moon and Kingambit in particular just eat this mon for breakfast, though it can do OK against Ogerpon-W with Tera Steel. Its not a great spinner except against, like, glimmora leads. Against Webs its basically GG. Its also lame that most GKing are Thunder Wave, since it performs fine against Toxic GKing. There were a few teams Tatsugiri did well vs. There was one GKing + Mola team where tatsu threatened a KO every turn and it did extremely well against every Trick Room team I fought, which is awesome since I usually struggle against that playstyle. Its a shame its so mediocre though- I think Tatsugiri is a really cool Pokemon and is really close to being decent too. Hoping it gets decent stat buff next generation - nothing too fancy, just a +10 points to its Defense and HP - and several new moves like Flip Turn.
Tauros-Paldea-Aqua @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Close Combat
- Raging Bull
- Tera Blast
This mon had more potential than Tatsugiri since it has more good meta traits - a Gambit beating typing, Intimidate, and a good speed tier. Sadly it fell just a bit short, though this was moreso due to teambuilding gaps rather than the Pokemon itself being completely terrible. When it shone, it could perform very well. In particular, an interaction I enjoyed was cycling intimidates with Landorus-T against Roaring Moon to prevent it from sweeping. It also paired extremely well with Galarian Slowking or Iron Crown - Both Pokemon could setup a Future sight for it as it attacked with Close Combat, which has a limited number of switch-ins. Sadly, this Pokemon just got mauled by hazards, and there is very little you can do against that and fat in general. Additionally, Raging Bolt is an extremely obnoxious MU that Tauros-P had no hope of success against, even with a partner like Lando-T or Iron Treads, as all Bolt had to do is make the simplest Draco Read ever to sweep (though in most cases you don't need to make reads against EP Lando - it just sets up on it for free. In general, getting all the correct teambuilding stipulations for it to work, between a Future Sighter, good speed control, good hazard control, a bulky Water Killer, and Lando-T, was difficult and created structures that were very easily to exploit by the likes of opposing Gking, Roaring Moon, Webs, Primarina, Gholdengo, etc.
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on sun teams as well, but more testing is needed before I post about that.
