With plenty of recent alterations to the format as well as a Smogon SwSh cup on the rise, it seems like a good time to finally post an introductory guide to the best generation in Draft League.
Okay, while maybe not everyone agrees with that, it is undisputable that it is the oldgen format that has undergone the most recent change, seeing a massive overhaul to the tier list, including significant price drops on underused pokemon
, and bans to over-centralizing top tiers 
. These changes have marked the transition of SwSh draft league from one that largely mandated balance playstyles and drafts with extreme role compression towards one that welcomes alternate playstyles, ranging from:
SwSh Draft's gimmick is that, well, there is no gimmick - no Z moves, no megas, no terastalization, and a reduced pokedex. Without a central gimmick, SwSh Draft matches come down to which player can claim and control the pace of the match. I want to highlight what round 1 picks are commonly seen in SwSh, and point to a few different directions successful SwSh drafts have gone with them, whilst also acknowledging that this is a meta that is still very much in flux, with plenty of innovation highly encouraged, so never feel forced to stick to one of these options.
Other (poorly organized) tips and tricks to think about!
Heavy-Duty-Boots! Boots represent the greatest shift in the SwSh metagame. While relying on boots can be restrictive, they do fundamentally change the way in which entry hazards are thought about. Grounded Poisons no longer feel mandatory on some teams if teams are composed of off-the-ground Pokemon and effective Boots users. Hell, some teams do not even need to worry about having effective removal if they feel confident they can spam Boots in multiple matchups.
Trick! Picking up at least one or two Trick or Switcheroo users is a very underrated way to disrupt any opponent’s strategy in SwSh draft league. Without Z crystals or Mega Stones, Trick and Switcheroo are unguardable moves. Thus, Tricking a Choice Item or a Sticky Barb early on can be a great way to control the pace of the early game.
Be Bold! Many people who play SwSh fall into the trap of predictable gameplay and telegraphed switch-ins. A specifically built bait or a brave double can set you up for victory early.
The Early Game is arguably the most important part of a battle, especially in this generation. To succeed in SwSh Draft League, having dedicated leads is near mandatory. Because so many drafts are so fixated on having specific roles and checks, nabbing a surprise early KO can cause the breakdown of the rest of the opponent’s build.
Think Critically about your Draft: It's easy for players to look at a type-chart and determine what is best for their draft. But consider that Slowbro is a better ground resistance than Whimsicott, because Slowbro better takes on metagame Ground-types. Consider that while you may have a pokemon on your draft that can click Stealth Rock, it may never want to ever click Rocks because a set-up set might be better. Make sure your draft has enough flexibility so that no pokemon is boxed into any one corner.
Get experimental! Some of these price drops are unprecedented, and numerous pokemon have yet to be tested. Now might be the best time to really take a chance on a pick that you think is priced very low, and bring it to the forefront of this ever-evolving metagame!
A Beginner's Guide to SWSH Draft Okay, while maybe not everyone agrees with that, it is undisputable that it is the oldgen format that has undergone the most recent change, seeing a massive overhaul to the tier list, including significant price drops on underused pokemon
, and bans to over-centralizing top tiers . These changes have marked the transition of SwSh draft league from one that largely mandated balance playstyles and drafts with extreme role compression towards one that welcomes alternate playstyles, ranging from:Hyper Offense: Hyper Offense in SwSh typically forfeits defensive synergy to frontload offensive power onto the opponent. This playstyle can be incredibly effective if you like to take risks and make many predictions in-battle. Typically, these types of drafts pull ahead when the user makes one or two bold predictions early game as a means of breaking to open up a late-game setup sweeper. These types of drafts rely on multiple hard-hitters who can double as scarfers for a means of speed control, such as Kartana 
, Galarian Darmanitan 
, or Keldeo 
, and late game setup sweepers such as Dragonite 
, Necrozma 
, or Blastoise 
. Hyper Offense drafts try to switch out as little as possible, attacking what is in front of it with either set-up or choice-boosted offense.
, Galarian Darmanitan , or Keldeo , and late game setup sweepers such as Dragonite , Necrozma , or Blastoise . Hyper Offense drafts try to switch out as little as possible, attacking what is in front of it with either set-up or choice-boosted offense.Bulky Offense: Bulky Offense in SwSh often focuses on using the combination of effective hazard control and defensive pivots to enable heavy-hitters. This playstyle can be a great place for a beginner to start, as it is the most forgiving to risk-averse players and can be the easiest to build with. Setup threats such as Garchomp 
, Landorus-Therian 
, Necrozma or Galarian Moltres 
can really thrive on Bulky Offense builds as bulky pivots can enable more set-up opportunities. Heavy hitters such as Weavile 
, Victini 
, or Melmetal 
can be enabled by defensive pivots such as Landorus-Therian, Zapdos 
, Slowbro 
, or Swampert 
. Plenty of other pokemon fit this profile too. Oftentimes it is useful to mix together a fast glass cannon such as Weavile with a fatter slower breaker like Melmetal. Pokemon such as Tapu Koko 
and Tornadus-Therian 
can also fit on these types of teams due to their natural bulk, faster speed, and pivoting abilities to enable other breakers on the draft.
, Landorus-Therian , Necrozma or Galarian Moltres can really thrive on Bulky Offense builds as bulky pivots can enable more set-up opportunities. Heavy hitters such as Weavile , Victini , or Melmetal can be enabled by defensive pivots such as Landorus-Therian, Zapdos , Slowbro , or Swampert . Plenty of other pokemon fit this profile too. Oftentimes it is useful to mix together a fast glass cannon such as Weavile with a fatter slower breaker like Melmetal. Pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Tornadus-Therian can also fit on these types of teams due to their natural bulk, faster speed, and pivoting abilities to enable other breakers on the draft.Balance: Balance in SwSh often attempts to form a perfect defensive structure that checkboxes for all resistances, and still fits in at least one offensive option as well, with some offensive flex options within the team as well. Tornadus-Therian and Tapu Koko fit well on balance teams because they can flex between offensive pieces and fast bulky pivoting pieces. Mandatory defensive pieces such as bulky waters: Rotom-Wash 
, Slowbro and Slowking 
, Fat steels such as Celesteela 
and Scizor 
, Bulky Ground Types that checkbox other roles with their secondary typing: Nidoking 
, Nidoqueen 
, Steelix 
and Krookodile 
. Teams like this then often like to slot one major offensive piece like a Kartana , Garchomp , Weavile , or Nihilego 
, which can function as mid-game breakers or late-game wincons. This playstyle also thrives with the use of regenerator pokemon, such as the aforementioned Slowbro and Slowking, Galarian Slowking 
, and low tier Grass-types such as Tangela 
or Eldegoss 
.
and Tapu Koko fit well on balance teams because they can flex between offensive pieces and fast bulky pivoting pieces. Mandatory defensive pieces such as bulky waters: Rotom-Wash , Slowbro and Slowking , Fat steels such as Celesteela and Scizor , Bulky Ground Types that checkbox other roles with their secondary typing: Nidoking , Nidoqueen , Steelix and Krookodile . Teams like this then often like to slot one major offensive piece like a Kartana , Garchomp , Weavile , or Nihilego , which can function as mid-game breakers or late-game wincons. This playstyle also thrives with the use of regenerator pokemon, such as the aforementioned Slowbro and Slowking, Galarian Slowking , and low tier Grass-types such as Tangela or Eldegoss .Stall: Stall has been a tried and true format in SwSh Draft league, specifically perfected by one player, hjkhj. It is arguably the toughest to master. Stall equally thrives on Regenerator pivots, such as Tornadus-Therian , Galarian Slowking , Slowbro , or even the low-point Audino 
to outlast the opposing team. What is noticeable about much of the top end of the SwSh tier list, is many high tier picks still like to utilize setup to break through fatter teams. Thus, Unaware pokemon such as Clefable 
or Quagsire 
are mandatory on stall drafts. Encore users also help with breaking setup too. Teams of this sort however also rely on role compression, often in their ground-types. Nidoqueen and Krookodile are common picks that thrive in this playstyle due to the multiple roles they fill on a team. SwSh stall teams however differ from ladder stall teams in that it is still nice to have bulky set-up sweepers such as Kyurem 
, Suicune 
, or Clefable as well as Bulky Offensive pivots such as Scizor and Zarude 
.
, Galarian Slowking , Slowbro , or even the low-point Audino to outlast the opposing team. What is noticeable about much of the top end of the SwSh tier list, is many high tier picks still like to utilize setup to break through fatter teams. Thus, Unaware pokemon such as Clefable or Quagsire are mandatory on stall drafts. Encore users also help with breaking setup too. Teams of this sort however also rely on role compression, often in their ground-types. Nidoqueen and Krookodile are common picks that thrive in this playstyle due to the multiple roles they fill on a team. SwSh stall teams however differ from ladder stall teams in that it is still nice to have bulky set-up sweepers such as Kyurem , Suicune , or Clefable as well as Bulky Offensive pivots such as Scizor and Zarude .Weather: Weather is largely still unexplored in SwSh draft, but has seen some promise in past team tournaments. I myself piloted an undefeated Sand Team in DCL II, which consisted of bulky pivots such as Tornadus-Therian and Rotom-Wash to enable Tyranitar-Excadrill 
sand offense. HunterZinfected takes the credit for piloting the most successful rain draft in SwSh history, utilizing water-spam and low-priced powerhouses like Dracovish 
and Barraskewda 
to offensively overwhelm his opponents. This team also utilized Tornadus-Therian, as well as Thundurus-Therian 
, as more offensive pivots that also thrived within rain. With recent price drops for virtually every weather-setter, as well as historically low price points for Excadrill, Dracozolt 
, Arctozolt 
, Arctovish 
, as well as many Swift Swim 
and Chlorophyll 
users, I am eager to see a more prominent shift to weather within the format.
and Rotom-Wash to enable Tyranitar-Excadrill sand offense. HunterZinfected takes the credit for piloting the most successful rain draft in SwSh history, utilizing water-spam and low-priced powerhouses like Dracovish and Barraskewda to offensively overwhelm his opponents. This team also utilized Tornadus-Therian, as well as Thundurus-Therian , as more offensive pivots that also thrived within rain. With recent price drops for virtually every weather-setter, as well as historically low price points for Excadrill, Dracozolt , Arctozolt , Arctovish , as well as many Swift Swim and Chlorophyll users, I am eager to see a more prominent shift to weather within the format.SwSh Draft's gimmick is that, well, there is no gimmick - no Z moves, no megas, no terastalization, and a reduced pokedex. Without a central gimmick, SwSh Draft matches come down to which player can claim and control the pace of the match. I want to highlight what round 1 picks are commonly seen in SwSh, and point to a few different directions successful SwSh drafts have gone with them, whilst also acknowledging that this is a meta that is still very much in flux, with plenty of innovation highly encouraged, so never feel forced to stick to one of these options.
Garchomp’s most successful recent draft is DUI’s DPL Season 9’s Draft piloted by 100percentpureheat. It utilizes Scizor and Zapdos’ bulky pivoting abilities to open up Garchomp offensively. The team maintains both Speed control and Hazard control through Starmie, which also balances out the team's special offense. Screen setters like Grimmsnarl help Garchomp set up Swords Dance and Scale Shot easier, and the secondary set-up option of Gyarados allows Garchomp to flex into more defensive roles.
Tornadus-Therian has had numerous successful recent drafts, and has been able to flex in multiple different ways. It has been effective on weather teams described in the weather section. It has been effective on hjkhj 's recent stall team on the reigning DCL champion team, the Infernal Armory, in which it was used as a fast distruptor with Taunt and Knock Off to help enable other stall and bulky set-up peices like Suicune and Galarian Slowking. It has been extremely effective in the most recent Draft Premier League, being used by Zero Fox Given piloted by BLAZING HAWK , GeniusX , and King L5 as an offensive pivot and even a setup sweeper, with other offensive pieces like Necrozma and Keldeo frontloaded on the team. The most successful team, however, is Pardon the Eruption's Tornadus-Therian team, piloted by Padox. This team uses speed to its advantage by also utilizing Weavile, allowing Tornadus to run, fatter and bulkier spreads without fearing the team being slow. Knock Off and Uturn, as well as fast defog help enable Weavile as an offensive piece, as well as setup sweepers like Tapu Fini and Jirachi. As one can see, there are plenty of directions successful Tornadus-Therian drafts can go!
Tapu Koko also finds most recent success on Pardon the Eruption's DPL Season 9 draft piloted by Glop. This one being a pivot offensive team centered around flexible breakers. Tapu Koko can function as a pivoting bot with U-Turn and Volt Switch, a setup sweeper with Calm Mind, or a distruptor with Nature's Madness and Taunt to flex into multiple positions while still outpacing the entire metagame. Paired with Hard-hitting pivot options such as Mienshao, Victini, and Hydreigon, and fatter slow pivot options like Corviknight and Swampert, plus reliable hazard stacking in Swampert and Golisopod gives the opponent very little breathing room to find footing.
The Most successful Landorus-Therian team is the Band Chaser's DPL Season 8 team, piloted by Glop. This team used Landorus-Therian to flex between an early game pivot with Rocks, a Choice Scarfer, or a breaker to open up Weavile and Melmetal Offensively. A reliable Stealth Rocker like Uxie ensures Landorus-Therian is not trapped into hazard setting roles every matchup. A spiker like Accelgor opens up Landorus-Therian and Keldeo as a pivoting core. Keldeo likewise takes Choice Scarf pressure off of Landorus-Therian, freeing up its options. I also want to draw attention to another successful Landorus-Therian team mainly piloted by SEA. This team also used Landorus-Therian as an enabler for offense with set-up potential in Latios, Aegislash, and Volcarona. This was supported by Vanilluxe's Aurora Veil and defensive support from Cobalion Scrafty and Lanturn. With this level of defensive support, Landorus-Therian was freed up as a sweeper in its own right with Rock Polish and Swords Dance.
Kyurem has not seen a ton of recent innovation and success but is a strong pick nonetheless. Scrappy10 piloted a strong Kyurem team which also had Kartana and Cinderace on it as additional offense. Cinderace as a pivot against bulky waters into Kyurem's Freeze Dry can be devestating on its own, even without it being paired with an offensive Grass like Kartana. Slow Pivots like Swampert and Mandibuzz can help enable Specs Kyurem. Fatter pieces like Amoonguss and Aromatisse can form a very defensive centered team. Other Kyurem teams have been paired with Corviknight for Pressure-stalling shenanigans or Zeraora for bolt-beam offense.
Some beleive Zeraora is a better pokemon than Tapu Koko. I am not one of those beleivers but it is a good pokemon nonetheless. Zeraora has fit very well on weird offense teams, stacking offense that is geared towards breaking ground types and enabling other setup sweepers like Galarian Moltres and Scizor. Zeraora has also been slotted on more balance builds, where the rest of the team fills typing holes to form a defensive core with some pivoting capabilities to bring Zeraora out and spam Knock Off. It is notable that Zeraora can have incredible matchups or terrible matchups depending on the opposing ground type. When drafting, make sure you have sufficient long-term checks for Landorus-Therian in particular. Strong hazard setters are beneficial to wear down Zeraora's checks overtime.
Kartana has functioned very successfully on both Hyper Offense builds and more balance-type builds as well. The most effective Kartana draft is my draft from DCL II, which paired with Galarian Darmanitan to overwhelm physically defensive checks. Darmanitan also functioned as a strong pivot alongside Flip Turn Blastoise into Life Orb Kartana against bulky water types. Kartana also worked as a Choice Scarf cleaner once my Setup Threats of Togekiss, Blastoise, Necrozma, and Galarian Moltres traded for key peices in the mid-game. Stealth Rocks and Static Pressure from Stunfisk was also beneficial to force as much damage as possible onto my opponent through Kartana. Beyond my hyper-offense team, Kartana used to find success on teams with Galarian Slowking and some bulky pivots, aimed at bringing Kartana in as frequently as possible.
Mew is the jack of all trades, it can set hazards, support, be a defensive wall, but where it really shines is as a setup sweeper. When drafting Mew, consider the following two successful Mew drafts, both piloted by 100percentpureheat in DCL II, which fill the hazard setting and hazard removing roles with other peices on the draft. This allows Mew to then run setup sets which take advantage of its many forms of setup and infinate coverage options. Oftertimes, when players draft Mew, some suggest to draft as is Mew is not even on the team, so that you have every role filled and Mew's potential is maxed out. However, some considerations such as strong Knock Off users, Hazard Setters, and Slow Pivots are nice to open up as many opportunities as possible for Mew to set up.
Other (poorly organized) tips and tricks to think about!
Heavy-Duty-Boots! Boots represent the greatest shift in the SwSh metagame. While relying on boots can be restrictive, they do fundamentally change the way in which entry hazards are thought about. Grounded Poisons no longer feel mandatory on some teams if teams are composed of off-the-ground Pokemon and effective Boots users. Hell, some teams do not even need to worry about having effective removal if they feel confident they can spam Boots in multiple matchups.
Trick! Picking up at least one or two Trick or Switcheroo users is a very underrated way to disrupt any opponent’s strategy in SwSh draft league. Without Z crystals or Mega Stones, Trick and Switcheroo are unguardable moves. Thus, Tricking a Choice Item or a Sticky Barb early on can be a great way to control the pace of the early game.
Be Bold! Many people who play SwSh fall into the trap of predictable gameplay and telegraphed switch-ins. A specifically built bait or a brave double can set you up for victory early.
The Early Game is arguably the most important part of a battle, especially in this generation. To succeed in SwSh Draft League, having dedicated leads is near mandatory. Because so many drafts are so fixated on having specific roles and checks, nabbing a surprise early KO can cause the breakdown of the rest of the opponent’s build.
Think Critically about your Draft: It's easy for players to look at a type-chart and determine what is best for their draft. But consider that Slowbro is a better ground resistance than Whimsicott, because Slowbro better takes on metagame Ground-types. Consider that while you may have a pokemon on your draft that can click Stealth Rock, it may never want to ever click Rocks because a set-up set might be better. Make sure your draft has enough flexibility so that no pokemon is boxed into any one corner.
Get experimental! Some of these price drops are unprecedented, and numerous pokemon have yet to be tested. Now might be the best time to really take a chance on a pick that you think is priced very low, and bring it to the forefront of this ever-evolving metagame!
