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Metagame Scarlet and Violet CAP Metagame Discussion

The Chromera Post

I used to think quziel was crazy, but I understand now. I have been inflicted with the same mind virus.

If you've heard me talk about SV CAP recently, you've probably heard me talk about Chromera. I've seen other people try to load the mon recently (to mixed results) so I figured it would be helpful if I shared my own experience with the Pokemon and how best to use it. Chromera is very fun to build with because of the incredibly unique strengths and weaknesses it presents in the builder, and it's very fun to use because you can click the funny button and kill things. I do not claim to be an expert, because frankly it's hard to get high-quality games in this tier and some things you can only really find out by testing. However, with that said, here are my thoughts.

For the rest of this post I will be referring only to the Silk Scarf set unless stated otherwise.
Silk Scarf (Chromera) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Color Change
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Boomburst
- Dark Pulse
- Recover

Why use Chromera?

The reason you use Chromera is because it beats down fat teams. The fatter the team, the better the matchup it has. Stall can be a little tricky because of Tera Steel Toxapex, but this matchup is still pretty doable for the lion, and non-Toxapex (or Clodsire) stalls likely just fold on preview. Non-stall fat balances have even fewer responses. Common special walls and/or Normal resists like Equilibra, Slowking-G, Garganacl, and Ting-Lu just get overwhelmed by Chromera's sheer firepower because they cannot meaningfully threaten you in return. Cresceidon is probably the most annoying, since it has the chance to Encore you into setup or trade its life for a Thunder Wave to neuter you (not a bad trade all things considered), but in general you steamroll most defensive mons with ease.

This is what makes Chromera effective: it is amazing at repeatedly trading for positive material. You largely shrug off attacks like Garganacl's Salt Cure or Equilibra's Earth Power because you can recover off the damage and/or boost through it, on top of incredible natural bulk and few weaknesses (once Tera'd). Chromera ends up being a check to these walls more than they are checks to Chromera. Because you cover bulkier matchups almost all by yourself (not much else does this in SV), you have four to five slots to dedicate to beating offense.

The best analogues to Chromera are Hoopa-U and Ursaluna, two other awkward fat breakers that excel at trading. What makes Chromera different is its better STABs, better Speed, and access to recovery and boosting. Hoopa-U is easily revenged on its physical side, easily outsped, is scared of even the weakest U-turns, vulnerable to status, and has imperfect STABs; Ursaluna is on a timer, terribly slow, has to activate its item to be of any use, takes contact damage, and has STABs with common immunities. A common strategy to dealing with these mons is pivoting around them into immunities or resists, slowly chipping them down and trying to get in something that can force them out. Chromera doesn't really care about that. You can pivot around it all you want, it won't work. Boomburst kills anything that isn't immune to it, and if the opponent does successfully get in a Ghost-type, you can often just keep clicking BB without risk because A) half of the Ghosts can't do anything back, and B) your health is more expendable since you can heal yourself. The opponent bears almost all of the risk, between letting their Ghost-type die to Dark Pulse, letting their Dark resist die to Boomburst, or letting you heal as they go into a midground—not that good midgrounds really exist. While you will never see Hoopa-U and Ursaluna straight up 6-0ing teams, Chromera has very real 6-0 potential into some builds. Some teams just do not have the speed or initial firepower to ever force it out.

A lesser benefit of Chromera, though one that I think is still worth mentioning, is that it's helpful versus two Pokemon that are very difficult for bulkier teams to answer: Gliscor and Kyurem. You outspeed both of them (this is why I prefer Timid), OHKO Kyurem through Substitute after Tera—assuming Kyurem isn't at full health if it has a sub up—and you can chew Facades from Gliscor reasonably well (Facade/Knock doesn't even change your typing!) while Tera Normal Boomburst is almost a flat OHKO back. This also applies to other Substitute sweepers like Hatterene and Primarina that are really awkward for balance/fat to deal with.

Where's the catch?

Chromera is not perfect, much as it pains me to say.
  • Color Change sucks, and by extension, Chromera is a Tera hog
  • It demands very specific partners and team structures
  • Revenankh
  • 100 base Speed still isn't great
  • Very little defensive utility
  • It's poor vs faster tempo playstyles
The first one is the big one. Chromera is the kind of mon that often wants to lead and Tera turn 1. Having your most valuable resource be telegraphed, gatekept, and expended so early in the match is really bad, especially when what makes Tera such an important tool to begin with is its flexibility and unpredictability. However, Chromera is so strong once Tera'd that the upside is frankly still worth it. There are some interesting endgame scenarios where Color Change is actually useful—I'll include some replays of this—but for the most part, Chromera needs Tera to function.

I'll come back to the second and third bullets, the third bullet is fairly obvious, and the last two I will group together here. I think the easiest way to talk about the last two points is to once again draw comparisons between Chromera and Hoopa/Ursaluna. Despite Hoopa's atrocious defensive typing, its bulk is so insane that you can actually switch into stuff with AV. It's a great mon into fat, but it's also a competent check vs HO threats like Iron Moth and Chuggalong. This can make building with it a little more forgiving. Ursaluna, too, has more defensive utility than Chromera due to its Ground typing. While Chromera pretty much needs to Tera in order to force positive trades, Ursaluna is strong even in its base state. There are pros and cons to using any of these fat breakers.

How to use Chromera

The second and third bullet points from before are now relevant. At least four of Chromera's team partners are going to be hyper-focused on shoring up its specific bad matchups. Revenankh is the major one to worry about; if Chromera is your team's primary progress maker (it will be), you need something that can repeatedly switch into Revenankh and, ideally, actively convert it into other means of progress. HO in general is going to be a difficult matchup to account for in the builder because you're basically starting off with a dead slot.

In my experience, the best partner for Chromera is Alomomola. Despite Chromera's ability to recover its own health, having a wishpasser makes it infinitely easier to trade into the opposing team, which is what Chromera's best at. You can do greedy shit like stay in and attack on Zama's Body Press, Tera-boosted Ivy Cudgels, even Darkrai's +2 Dark Pulse, because you can just be back at full health in a few turns. The fewer turns you spend recovering, the more turns you spend clicking the best move in the game, and the fewer chances you give your opponent to regain lost ground. Alo is also decent into some Pokemon that annoy Chomera like Revenankh, Cresceidon, and can be teched to help against HO with options like Red Card.

Starting off with Chromera + Alo admittedly makes the HO matchup a bit awkward to figure out. There are ways around it, but that will be the primary challenge in the last four slots. If you use Chromera on HO, Hatterene and Cresceidon are both cool partners since Chromera loves the Healing Wish support. You also want a few pivots to get Chromera in as often as possible—Meow, Woger, Pecharunt, Cinderace, Corv, Dragapult, etc. are all good picks.

Other options

88HP evs are an option to live Zama's +1 Body Press. Modest improves some rolls like going from a 12% chance at OHKOing Slowking-G to a 68% chance at +1, 2HKOing Steel Pex at +1, and having a better roll to OHKO Gliscor, but the Pokemon you lose out on outspeeding are actually pretty important. Covert Cloak is an option to deal with Garganacl better, but the damage drop without Silk Scarf is noticeable. Tera Ghost + Shadow Ball is a good tech into Revenankh and Zamazenta, but of course leaves you more revengable by other Pokemon like Kitsunoh, Kingambit, Darkrai, and so on. Covert Cloak goes quite well with Tera Ghost since you're not going to have the nuke option of Tera Normal BB anyways. This set can also run an EV spread of 252 HP / 228 Def / 8 SpA / 20 Spe with a Bold nature to just be a total fatass, unkillable except by status or Knock Off + Salt Cure. Taunt completely shuts down status users, which is especially nice into stall, although you're more reliant on Wish support now. Psychic Noise is another tech vs Revenankh that combines some of the utility of Taunt. Trailblaze is an interesting option on HO that lets you function as a sort of dual-dance mon; you can CM to break fat, or TB to clean opposing offense. Specs is also not bad.

Replays and teams

A lot of these games aren't the best quality; most are either casual tests I played with friends, unofficial tournament games, or early-round tour matches. I've cherry-picked replays where Chromera wins, but I think these games should get the point across regardless.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2408829308-ampsuxcpjyqqlfm3jkqwdrsjkbqj5gopw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2399975140-ctlxt1yjwmwbcmoesgpqf8bymgdl182pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2399980968-tsx2h2aw0wojx6367ks98gwlh4yqt1wpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2407953005-hlv3cinb83ly6l441pdygecq6avt2hdpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2407946980-kxipgdo1025v3b4jdokx7bcihikpok2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2433306353-ydrqtwijdnnefpmil51k3m4adk754v7pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2436993136-yh92fhbwpr5p6wcbmp3khsjpave0wu7pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2399821347-c0imowxxvhx0fjak8r0xjav54g6u388pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9cap-2460317115-e1r8ww66dnw9tdddfraskhgv97eqq1vpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9cap-871578
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9cap-874241 ignore this one

Finally a few teams, some better than others. The second to last two are fun but not very serious. Do not use the last team under any circumstances.
:Chromera::Mollux::Alomomola::Equilibra::Revenankh::Meowscarada:
:Tornadus-Therian::Alomomola::Mollux::Zamazenta::Chromera::Equilibra:
:Tornadus-Therian::Alomomola::Weezing-Galar::Revenankh::Chromera::Ting-Lu:
:Chromera::Revenankh::Corviknight::Alomomola::Ting-Lu::Cresceidon:
:Chromera::Cinderace::Corviknight::Cresceidon::Ting-Lu::Pecharunt:
:Zapdos::Alomomola::Great Tusk::Mollux::Dragapult::Chromera:
:Chromera::Alomomola::Great Tusk::Kitsunoh::Moltres::Raging Bolt:
:Chromera::Hatterene::Landorus-Therian::Revenankh::Iron Moth::Dragonite:
:Chromera::Cresceidon::Landorus-Therian::Revenankh::Iron Moth::Stratagem:
:Zamazenta::Stratagem::Cinderace::Chromera::Landorus-Therian::Cresceidon:
:Chromera::Alomomola::Blissey::Chesnaught::Talonflame::Iron Treads:
:Ninetales-Alola::Revenankh::Exeggutor::Gliscor::Volcanion::Chromera:
 
+2 252 Atk Galvanize Tera Electric Caribolt Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 124 Def Iron Moth in Electric Terrain: 296-350 (98.3 - 116.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

I was thinking Caribolt on eTerrain could be funny so here's an attempt at a team:

Caribolt / Pinurchin / Hawlucha / Iron Treads / Iron Valiant / Iron Boulder
https://pokepast.es/70d853442e8f1045

I've barely tested it and any suggested improvements welcome! Have fun with the cheese :-p :-)

(PS: a bunch of Iron Moth teams don't actually run Tera Blast Ground on it, in case ppl are not aware of this.)

Team Edits: Replace Knock Off with Double-Edge - the potential to OHKO a chipped Hemo is too good to drop (while +0, no tera, and active terrain). Perhaps put KO on Valiant somewhere.
 
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After placing really well in the Summer Seasonal mostly using teams I found in CAPPL builder dumps, I wanted to share the ones I felt were the best/most fun to use and also share some meta insight. Some of these teams I've edited a bit from the original as well so uh watch out for that cause they might be #Ass.

ChromRevTorn with the Red Card Mola by spoo: https://pokepast.es/8835cca681f48772 I definitely used the most teams from Spoo's builder cause they simply had the most fun-looking builds, especially with Chromera who really came into its own during this tour. Mon is not just a fad and is actually a really nice breaker. It helped me out throughout multiple rounds and this is my favorite build with it that used the normal Calm Mind set. The core of ChromRevTorn is pretty unfair for bulkier structures to deal with and they help break stuff down for each other very efficiently. The next three slots are almost always going to be some bulkier blanket mons to make the team defensively sound, the only real highlight is Red Card Mola which will grant you a one-time emergency button into scary setup guys on HOs which this team could struggle against otherwise. Overall a really good and fun squad albeit a bit slow.

Tera Ground Hemogoblin BO by spoo: https://pokepast.es/9fd66853982c20ff Hemogoblin is broken but is walled to death by a few specific mons like Mollux and Heatran. Tera Ground Blast is a tech that was used more often when Hemo first dropped and was even more stupid but has fallen off in usage recently because it is a big commitment. However, that means if you land the right matchup the lure is going to go absolutely crazy. I brought this and proceeded to load into stall where Hemo couldn't do much, but luckily the rest of the team pulled their weight with Torn clicking the Knock Off button and being a Regen bot and Garg being fat aaaand 300+ turn 6-0 win. Good team but I definitely want to try it into more normal structures...

Dual SD Poison Heal by Spoo: https://pokepast.es/6bd7a73fe29b9eb6 Using this team makes your heart a little colder each time you bring it. But goddamn sometimes the double Poison Heal setup hits.

Bulky Sun by Spoo: https://pokepast.es/0aacf81d7881ce12 Cool spin on a Sun team with more of a defensive core behind it than most Sun builds. Tusk was made dual STABs + Stone Edge cause I felt luring Snael for Wake (and luring Moltres or Zapdos for Gambit) would go stupid and it worked well against a Snael in one of the games I loaded this in. CC is because its just the best move on Tusk in this meta, running a Tusk that's best move into Equilibra is Knock Off or Ice Spinner is about as unviable as you could get imo. Of course, this means the team becomes a bit weaker into demon Gliscor but I was confident in the rest of the team to be able to take it (and if I use a Tera Normal then Tusk just beats it with CC). I think the team's weakest link is into a well-played Arghonaut, but most other mons are workable.

Brazy Ass Sun Offense by wolfgame.mp3: https://pokepast.es/e1a6312970c804b9 This one I tried to copy the best I could from the replay I found of it, you know a team is flames when just a replay makes you want to try it out. I don't really know how good Sun is in this tier but man is it fun to just click buttons with Raging Bolt without caring about Equilibra at all. Ramnarok on Sun is also really cool for the defensive utility it provides and it landed the greatest matchup of all time in the game I brought this in after Brigtel popped Tera on Garg. Tera Electric is definitely the way to go on that mon. Tera Fire on Wake is because Hemogoblin is broken and scares me.

FairySpam HO by Mada: https://pokepast.es/80a78922c35d4c6d The best-feeling HO I used in the tour. Hemo on HO is underused for how broken it is when you can click PixieBoom and melt anything you want for your teammates which is exactly what happened in the game I used this in. Pretty simple team to pick up and click buttons with.

AV Rott Balance ft. JUMBAO by Joeshh/Brigtel: https://pokepast.es/34989550e600eff2 Came across this beauty when looking for teams that used Gholdengo cause that mon kept beating my ass. Saw the Drought Jumbao paired with Attack boosting Tusk for repeated Proto activations and knew this was going to be dope. Jumbao in general feels underrated, feel like more teams could utilize cores with it like this one did with the WishPassing and whatnot.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'll share some of my builds that I used as well, I'm not a great builder but I think these teams have concepts that better builders could make some gold out of.

ChromRevTorn but its a Scarf Chromera wtf: https://pokepast.es/be2044f3f16f2119 yeah. I thought the idea of potentially beating down an offense team with Tera Normal Boomburst sounded hilarious so Scarf Chrom it is. Luckily the mon gets Switcheroo so it's actually pretty flexible into fatter cores. Paired it with the usual + Aura Sphere Equilibra to slowly beat down opposing Equilibras making it easier for Chrom to do its thing. AV Torn instead of Boots I guess is unusual but I wasn't trying to lose to a Specs Darkrai or something. This team is okay but I only won the game I brought it because Chromera dodged TWave like a boss setting up a shiest endgame. Other people brought Scarf Chromera as well and it did well, I think generally Specs/CM are the best way to use the mon but in a tournament setting sniping unsuspecting foes with Scarf and Switcheroo is perfectly viable.

Grassy Seed Raging Goat: https://pokepast.es/d0e06e2cb88d4558 saw a Raging Bolt with this exact set destroy a tournament on a Blunder stream and was like "I need to use this". Of course using Bolt outside of Sun in CAP means you gotta make sure the anti-Equil answers are on point so the rest of the team either murders that mon or clicks Knock and effectively kills it in the case of Colossoil. This is a pretty standard GTerrain BO outside of the Bolt set tbh, I think the GSeed Bolt idea might've been better used on a more offensive build though. Team is okay but misplayed in the end and Venomicon proved that it should probably be D rank.

Screens Deo + 4 CAPs and a Valiant: https://pokepast.es/e76964bc10363987 Screens HO was starting to really cook in OLT and CAP has even more disgusting sweepers so its probably going to murk this meta. Hemo behind Screens sounded about as broken as you think it'd be. Chuggalong is dumb, Caribolt is one of the only offensive mons who doesnt care too much about TWave Cresceidon without burning a Tera, and Naviathan is just cool and provides an ESpeed resist and a decent check to Hatterene. The last slot I deadass decided in the last 2 minutes before my set with Spammernoob and I decided Booster Speed Val sounded good so I could revenge dangerous stuff like boosted Chugg, went amazing in the match I loaded this in with. Coincidentally loaded it into Deo-S Screens too :totodiLUL:

The DNite team I loaded in my set with Tempo was another creation of mine but it was bad and I deleted it after losing lmao. It was a TBlast Flying DNite which I think is still a HUGE gigathreat even with Equilibra around. Unfortunately couldn't goob with my Thunder Wave lure, Tera Electric IDef Zama, but that set is still cool especially with Cresc confirmed having kept TWave and no longer having the threat of Encore into it. Next time I'll look for a good team with TBlast DNite though, I'm real bad at building with Tera-reliant sweepers like that lmao.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quick mon thoughts cause I wrote too much:

chromera.png.m.1753797560
Not just a fad and would consider it better than its contemporary fat breakers like Hoopa-U and Ursaluna. Being able to sustain itself with Recover is absolutely huge and the speed tier is also great. Solid B/B+ tier mon.

ramnarok-radiant.png.m.1753797560
I still don't completely enjoy this mon's gameplan but it's very fun to use. The Grass Knot buff should help some teams using it into Garg but honestly the standard set of Polar Flare/Inferno/Thunder/Blizzard really pressures shit hard especially with Tera Electric Thunder.

cresceidon.png.m.1753797560
Was going to write an angry rant about how aids TWave Cresc is, how CAP really does not have good TWave-immune mons for offense (Caribolt, Gholdengo are about the only ones that fit onto heavy offense. Maybe I should use Krilowatt and Rotom-Wash more...), and prolly some other random angry BS, then I see the nerf post and oh it kept TWave. Either way not having to deal with the TWave/Encore 50/50 is a step in the right direction but man I hope the next CAP is an Electric-type.

smokomodo.png.m.1753797560
naviathan.png.m.1753797560
Should probably be ranked. They're niche but they have real applications as offensive pieces with unique defensive utility through their typings. They're also both REALLY hard to switch into which is a plus.

revenankh.png.m.1753797560
hemogoblin.png.m.1753797560
These mons are definitely a bit unhealthy with how influential their strong prio + setup is but there's not a good way to nerf them without completely nuking them out of the metagame. Rev started feeling more reasonable to me as I started building and playing with it more, seeing the flaws with it especially on teams that use Shadow Claw over the more powerful Poltergeist, but its still pretty obnoxious with Tera and has a ton of random techs it can unleash to snipe checks, Earthquake sets being a notable example but Glare also definitely could cheese some wins. Hemo has always been strong and is only limited by EVERY team needing to pack multiple checks and Fairy-resistant Teras for it, I think if more people tried exploiting soft checks with Explosion it would really become a problem.

tornadus-therian.png.m.1753797560
great-tusk.png.m.1753797560
gliscor.png.m.1753797560
zapdos.png.m.1753797560
kyurem.png.m.1753797560
Non-CAP guys that I feel are standouts. Torn feels even better here than in standard OU, being a fast Drain Punch resist is such a godsend and it spreads Knock and annoys fat cores like no other unless they bring a Shox. Great Tusk is obviously the goat but in CAP I think using super offensive sets with it is definitely the play, a lot of teams get uncomfy dealing with Tusk that's packing dual STABs and invested moves especially if you're Booster Attack. Mon put in a CRAZY amount of work for me. Gliscor is cheap but I don't really mind it as much as some of the CAPs, wouldn't mind if you guys nuked it though LOL. Zapdos I don't think I brought but I definitely realized its usefulness, it deals with stuff like TornRev cores really well and is a real bitch to switch into unless you packed your SpD Gliscor (stuff like Shox isn't real to this cause it can't block the pivoting...), will definitely be using it more. Kyurem I also never brought but after doing building I've gotta say the way that you have to build in CAP to deal with specific threats makes teams so extremely Kyurem-weak its not even funny. Like if you're not building HO what do you even do when bro pulls up with the right set :tymp:
 
Grassy Seed Raging Goat: https://pokepast.es/d0e06e2cb88d4558 saw a Raging Bolt with this exact set destroy a tournament on a Blunder stream and was like "I need to use this". Of course using Bolt outside of Sun in CAP means you gotta make sure the anti-Equil answers are on point so the rest of the team either murders that mon or clicks Knock and effectively kills it in the case of Colossoil.


Have you considered that Raging Bolt learns Body Press.
 
After placing really well in the Summer Seasonal mostly using teams I found in CAPPL builder dumps, I wanted to share the ones I felt were the best/most fun to use and also share some meta insight. Some of these teams I've edited a bit from the original as well so uh watch out for that cause they might be #Ass.

Thank you so much, this is very kind of you to contribute your time like this and share with us.
 
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