Battle Tree Discussion and Records

[iVolke]

The issue is less Close Combat vs Aura Sphere and more Bullet Punch vs Flash Cannon. There are a lot of bulky ghosts in the tree, including several that aren't weak to Crunch or Shadow Claw, namely Sableye and Spiritomb. Sableye has Prankster, so can screw you with Will-o-Wisp or Confuse Ray, and M-Sableye should easily tank even a boosted Bullet Punch. If you are running CC/BP/SD then you pick between having a super effective move against all of the other ghosts or having Sub to beat Status- I don't love those options. With a special set, burn is a non-issue, and Flash Cannon gets a much stroger nneutral hit on ghosts and fliers that are slower than you. Also, on the specific team under discussion, all of the pokemon were physical attackers, so nothing was really able to tank burn. I think swapping to special Lucario makes a lot of sense, given that context.

Flash Cannon is much better than Bullet Punch for M-Sableye because it invests in Defense, but Spiritomb134 run SpD, so even Flash Cannon has a 2% to 2HKO. Both 3HKO Spiritomb, so hardly makes a difference here. Note a +2 Flash Cannon has a 0% chance to OHKO Spirotmb as well, so even boosted, both score a 2HKO. Subjectively though, I'll agree that Special Lucario and Physical Salamence is better than the other way around, though I would just use M-Salamence and find a new Steel type because Lucario is too frail for my liking.

 

[Black Flame]

The issue is less Close Combat vs Aura Sphere and more Bullet Punch vs Flash Cannon. There are a lot of bulky ghosts in the tree, including several that aren't weak to Crunch or Shadow Claw, namely Sableye and Spiritomb. Sableye has Prankster, so can screw you with Will-o-Wisp or Confuse Ray, and M-Sableye should easily tank even a boosted Bullet Punch. If you are running CC/BP/SD then you pick between having a super effective move against all of the other ghosts or having Sub to beat Status- I don't love those options. With a special set, burn is a non-issue, and Flash Cannon gets a much stronger neutral hit on ghosts and fliers that are slower than you. Also, on the specific team under discussion, all of the pokemon were physical attackers, so nothing was really able to tank burn. I think swapping to special Lucario makes a lot of sense, given that context.

#1168 The team I was using used a physical M-Lucario, a special Salamence with Hydro Pump, and a physical SD Mimikyu. I did use Hydro Pump vs Heatran and Smack Down Landorous since I could set up a 2 hit Substitute. For Spirit Tomb I usually switched out to Salamence to avoid WoW or if that wasn't an option switch in and SD up with Mimikyu. For Sableye it's the same strategy as Devestating Drake one shots or a double Draco does the same. It's much more important to know which pokemon you can't one shot with M-Lucario and to switch to one that can or is bulky enough that it doesn't need to instead of using non-free turns to SD or Nasty Plot or having weak coverage options for more neutral hits because usually you wouldn't want to be using those moves anyway. I had Earthquake on it and it was useful vs Delphox as it one shots while Shadow Claw or Crunch doesn't, it was also useful vs Alolan Muk since Close Combat weakens defenses and vs the Minimize version its Snarls would do more damage, finally it was useful vs Toxapex as only Toxapex-3 isn't invested in special defense so you need a physical attacker to do it.

Special M-Lucario is good, but because of the loss in power, it needs a stronger team to support it and that's not what you want to have to do with your mega.

 

[Lazskini]

Here's the team I used to get to battle 99, so sad. Lost to a QC Drampa of all things, complete misplay on my behalf.
Team is the same as iVolke (so all credit goes to them) but when I saw their team of two of my favorite mons, I knew this was the one for me.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EV: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords Dance

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EV: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD (recommended)
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EV: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Amazing synergy between them all with the classic D/S/F defensive core, Garchomp and Scizor both appreciate a quick pivot to Fini for the status immunity, allowing them to setup a lot safer.
I'm definitely going to reattempt this team, as nothing irks me more than a loss on battle 99..

 

[iVolke]

Here's the team I used to get to battle 99, so sad. Lost to a QC Drampa of all things, complete misplay on my behalf.
Team is the same as iVolke (so all credit goes to them) but when I saw their team of two of my favorite mons, I knew this was the one for me.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EV: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords Dance

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EV: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD (recommended)
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EV: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Amazing synergy between them all with the classic D/S/F defensive core, Garchomp and Scizor both appreciate a quick pivot to Fini for the status immunity, allowing them to setup a lot safer.
I'm definitely going to reattempt this team, as nothing irks me more than a loss on battle 99..

What happened exactly? Hard to imagine a QC Drampa alone being enough to unravel the team.

You can definitely do better than 99!

 

[Lazskini]

What happened exactly? Hard to imagine a QC Drampa alone being enough to unravel the team.

You can definitely do better than 99!

I definitely can, the QC activated first turn. Should have pivoted to Fini off the bat to eat the incomming Dragon move (which I've done countless times).

But guess I just got greedy being so close to 100 wins, anyway..
QC Dragon Pulse one shots Chomp.
Send out Fini who Moonblasts which leaves Drampa on a fraction of health, while taking me down to just under 50% with Hyper Voice.
QC activates again and takes out Fini, Scizor comes in and takes out the Drampa and following Latios without much issues, but Volcorona takes him out with 1 Overheat.

Switching to Fini first would have preserved Chomp, the Drampa has access to Fire Blast so leaving Fini in would have been the best option there, leaving Chomp to easily take the Volcorona.

 

[iVolke]

I definitely can, the QC activated first turn. Should have pivoted to Fini off the bat to eat the incomming Dragon move (which I've done countless times).

But guess I just got greedy being so close to 100 wins, anyway..
QC Dragon Pulse one shots Chomp.
Send out Fini who Moonblasts which leaves Drampa on a fraction of health, while taking me down to just under 50% with Hyper Voice.
QC activates again and takes out Fini, Scizor comes in and takes out the Drampa and following Latios without much issues, but Volcorona takes him out with 1 Overheat.

Switching to Fini first would have preserved Chomp, the Drampa has access to Fire Blast so leaving Fini in would have been the best option there, leaving Chomp to easily take the Volcorona.

Yeah, Fini would have been the right play, especially since it gets in for free on the Dragon Pulse. I've learned not to take chances like that after a few almost losses on my way to my current 200. Damn Volcarona though. After Scizor put in all that work to almost bring home the W...

If Scizor is able to clean up Drampa with a +0 Bullet Punch after 1 Moonblast from Fini, I suggest switching to him after the Fini Moonblast to prevent the potential QC Hyper Voice from taking out Fini. Hyper Voice shouldn't do too much to Scizor, even non-mega form, and as I'm sure you noticed, he gets plenty of opportunity to Roost off damage thanks to the physical and special bulk of that set and his awesome defensive typing.

 

[Big Snorlax]

I'll probably get some crap for asking this (or ignored), but:

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EV: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD (recommended)
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Swords Dance
Met
Why U-turn? X-Scissors hits a little harder, plus since Scizor is slow, you will almost certainly get hit before switching out, instead of switching into something that resists or ignores the foes hit.
I'm also going to try and get a Brave Aegislash since it seems to work a lot better than what I got. Probably a Jolly Dragonite too.

 

[insanemaniac]

As an aside, I'm also open to the idea creating an "informational" category in the OP for interesting or useful streaks that may not be leaderboard eligible, either due to length or possible hacking. Listings could include things like Smuckem's streaks using PokeGened Pokemon with identical sets and stats as those used by the AI, or research into how the AI evaluates certain situations which might be easiest with a customized and possibly illegal team.

If you have particularly strong feelings about this, please let me know, especially if you've been involved in our Tower/Subway/Maison/Tree leaderboards for multiple generations. I think this is a fair response that maintains our general precedents, but as always appreciate constructive input even if you disagree with me!

personally i feel that analyzing ai behavior is prolly the most important kind of thing we can do to start extending our streak lengths. as long as we fall short of venerating hacking, doing things "for science" in a repeatable way to help disseminate correct information efficiently and accurately isnt something we should suppress.

especially with bank coming soon(tm) and the obvious ai changes this gen, it would be nice to know more specifically how the ai reacts to aron and company! (although admittedly, im currently back on AS working on my triples streak cuz the tree just doesnt reward the playstyle i like... and doubles is laggy to boot.)

 

[iVolke]

I'll probably get some crap for asking this (or ignored), but:

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EV: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD (recommended)
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Swords Dance
Met
Why U-turn? X-Scissors hits a little harder, plus since Scizor is slow, you will almost certainly get hit before switching out, instead of switching into something that resists or ignores the foes hit.
I'm also going to try and get a Brave Aegislash since it seems to work a lot better than what I got. Probably a Jolly Dragonite too.

Many reasons...
1. Slow U-turn is a good way to bring a more frail Pokémon into the battle without it having to take a hit or sacrificing something to bring it in. This team doesn't really have a frail member, but Garchomp and Fini lack recovery, while Scizor is bulky and has Roost, so I generally don't mind him taking hits. I like to have Garchomp be able to use Substitute as many times as possible, so I try not to direct switch in except for Electric attacks.

2. Scizor is faster than Magnezone and U-turn lets Scizor switch out against Magnet Pull so Garchomp can make an easy EQ KO.

3. For Pokémon Scizor is faster than but doesn't want to stay in, I can get some chip damage with U-turn while switching to another Pokémon. This can be the difference between needing to use Outrage/Devastating Drake to OHKO something and being able to do it with EQ. An example is my strategy agaist Porygon2 with Ice Beam/TBolt(set 3 I think) which Garchomp cannot take out in one hit from 100% health. I switch from Garchomp to Fini on the Ice Beam to set Misty Terrain and prevent freeze, switch to Garchomp on the TBolt, switch to Scizor on the Ice Beam again, Swords Dance while taking a TBolt, fast U-turn to Garchomp on the second TBolt and OHKO with Devastating Drake. Without U-turn, Porygon2 would be harder to take down since he carries Ice Beam and TBolt for Garchomp and Fini, and even has TWave if I try to set up Scizor.

4. U-turn allows you to mega evolve and switch out on the same turn so the next time Scizor switches in, it has the higher base defenses of the mega form.

5. There are very few things that I would even use X-Scissor on instead of Bullet Punch. Scizor can set up to +6 vs most foes I need it for, at which point Bullet Punch can OHKO most things. Even if you can't OHKO with BP, a BP 2HKO is still better than a X-Scissor OHKO. Scizor is slow, so X-Scissor would likely hit last, meaning Scizor could get hit by a critical and KOed or paralyzed by a TBolt or whatever and not even get off the X-Scissor. BP at least guarantees damage first. For reference, this set has a 37.5% chance to OHKO M-Charizard Y when you are at +6 Atk, and Fire resists Steel!

6. U-turn can be used to break a Focus Sash or Sturdy while switching.

 

[eric7223]

I'm currently taking a break from The Tree to breed a shiny competitive Scizor (because why not?). But I am contemplating changing my Garchomp/Fini/Scizor team around a bit. Right now I have Bold Normalium Z Fini, and Life Orb Garchomp. I pretty much am stuck with the bulkier Fini, but do you think Life Orb Garchomp should still run Outrage and Sub? Right now I'm using the EQ/Dragon Claw/Fire Fang/Swords Dance set.

 

[milkmimo]

Has anyone used an Arcanine + Tapu Fini core for Doubles?

Edit: I meant Fini.

 

[Ames]

Just hit 100 wins in Super Doubles last night and streak is ongoing, not something I thought I would be able to achieve before getting my bank babies transferred over so I feel like I've already satisfied more than I was hoping to with the current team - Will see how much further I can get for the leaderboards now :)

 

[boxofkangaroos]

It's nothing particularly impressive, but I just recently got a 64 streak in Super Singles. The team:

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch

Dragonite is the lead, and it can sweep many teams single-handedly with Outrage and fantastic coverage in Earthquake and Fire Punch. With Lum Berry and Multiscale, it is pretty much guaranteed a Dragon Dance first turn.

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm
- Bullet Punch

Metagross is a second strong physical attacker that provides valuable coverage against mons Dragonite can't beat. If the opponent leads with a threatening Ice-, Fairy-, Rock-, or Dragon-type, Metagross can easily switch in and hit back very hard. Metagross also provides priority for the team.

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball

A poor man's Tapu Koko. To be fair, if I had soft reset for Koko instead of catching it right away, I'd be using that instead. Regardless, Jolteon is a very fast attacker that is decently strong with Life Orb. BoltBeam coverage is very useful for handling Pokemon that Dragonite and Metagross might not be able to beat.

This decent streak was ended by a scarf Arcanine with Flare Blitz. Other threats include Weavile and Mega Steelix. If anyone has any thoughts on how to improve this team (besides replacing Jolteon with Tapu Koko), feel free to let me know.

 

[Adamant_Torterra]

It's nothing particularly impressive, but I just recently got a 64 streak in Super Singles.

snip

So Koko is out, but do you have a good Xurkitree? Scarf Xurk hits about as hard as LO Jolteon but with a better ability, higher speed, and no recoil. Obviously you can't switch moves, but with an all-attack set I don't think that's a huge drawback. HP Ice is harder to get on Xurk, but Dazzling Gleam and Energy Ball cover Dragons and Grounds respectively, which just leaves a handful of electric and grass types that dodge neutral coverage (Rotom-H and the Grass/Poisons mostly).

(Or if you don't want to mess with that, Specs on Jolteon might be better than LO, especially since it's more of a revenge killer/quick hitter than a sweeper).

Edit: also, out of curiosity I looked up the set and the only arcanine with FB actually has Fightinium Z and speed of 161. Checked the calcs on matchups and Modest Xurk's Dazzling Gleam is a likely OHKO on Weavile. M-Steelix you are just going to have to switch stall against though, fortunately Stone Edge only has 5 PP so you should be able to run him out of it fairly .

Though actually, if you swapped Fire Punch out for Roost you could stall it out with just Dragonite. It might be worth figuring out what specific things Fire Punch covers (Togekiss and the Fairy/Grasses?) and deciding if they matter enough or if you trust that Metagross can take them out when they show up.

 

[iVolke]

I'm currently taking a break from The Tree to breed a shiny competitive Scizor (because why not?). But I am contemplating changing my Garchomp/Fini/Scizor team around a bit. Right now I have Bold Normalium Z Fini, and Life Orb Garchomp. I pretty much am stuck with the bulkier Fini, but do you think Life Orb Garchomp should still run Outrage and Sub? Right now I'm using the EQ/Dragon Claw/Fire Fang/Swords Dance set.

I would definitely use Outrage over Dragon Claw for Singles. You want to be able to OHKO as many things as possible to avoid taking hits. The extra 50% power from Outrage helps a lot. Substitute is up to you. I usually use Substitute 2 times at most, and Garchomp attacks at most 4 times per battle, usually without getting hit(thanks to scoring OHKOs), so that would be 90% damage. Means LO Garchomp should be able to hold out okay. You'd be missing out on the 100% accurate Z-move which is great for getting around Bright Powder and Double Team hax, but I think it would still work.

 

[Torqan]

Screw multi's with the AI I'm recruiting my 9 year old little bro for this one. Any suggestions on a fun combo team that can reach 50? Gonna be fun with 2 Megas and no AI EQing levitate and flying pokemon.

 

[Miezunder]

Could somebody help me building a Team around Hydreigon? Currently I'm using

Hydreigon@ Firium-z
Modest
252spa/252spe
Dark Pulse
Draco
Surf
Flamethrower

My partners are M-Scizor and Tapu Koko. The team performed OK but I found myself relying too much in Hydreigon against Fire- and Steelmons.
I lost the streak at 43 because of Double Team Zapdos.

 

[Lassi]

Hello, a newbie here who finally signed up to post a streak of 200 wins in super singles. Well actually, I'm here to thank iVolke for sharing his marvelous team.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords Dance

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Atk / 4 Def / 180 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Full credit for the team goes to iVolke. The only change I made was Brick Break over U-Turn for Scizor. The first attempt with this team came to an end at 130~140 wins, as I was destroyed by Ferrothorn4. It came out against non-boosted Scizor, and I tried maxing out Scizor while it spammed Curse. +6 Bullet Punch couldn't do much damage against +3 Ferrothorn, so I switched my strategy; I went for PP stalling Seed Bomb and Gyro Ball. Well, to my horror, Gyro Ball with +6 Atk, -6 Spd was too much for Scizor to withstand. After Scizor was down, it was pretty much over. I might have completely misplayed the game, perhaps should have went for Garchomp as soon as I saw Ferrothorn.

After the loss, I thought Brick Break might have been the answer. +6 Brick Break wrecks +3 Ferrothorn (and other non-boosted bulky steels, obviously). The change proved worthy to me, as Scizor became able to set up against most steels and sweep through (whether it curses or not).

As iVolke and Lazskini mentioned, the typing synergy is amazing. Safe pivots are almost always available although non of them are 'classic tanks'. With the absence of PP stalling and intimidating, battles end like a breeze. The streak is still alive, and I would like iVolke to know that his team is capable of 200+ streaks and deserves true spotlight.

 

[Ames]

Hello, a newbie here who finally signed up to post a streak of 200 wins in super singles. Well actually, I'm here to thank iVolke for sharing his marvelous team.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords Dance

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Atk / 4 Def / 180 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Full credit for the team goes to iVolke. The only change I made was Brick Break over U-Turn for Scizor. The first attempt with this team came to an end at 130~140 wins, as I was destroyed by Ferrothorn4. It came out against non-boosted Scizor, and I tried maxing out Scizor while it spammed Curse. +6 Bullet Punch couldn't do much damage against +3 Ferrothorn, so I switched my strategy; I went for PP stalling Seed Bomb and Gyro Ball. Well, to my horror, Gyro Ball with +6 Atk, -6 Spd was too much for Scizor to withstand. After Scizor was down, it was pretty much over. I might have completely misplayed the game, perhaps should have went for Garchomp as soon as I saw Ferrothorn.

After the loss, I thought Brick Break might have been the answer. +6 Brick Break wrecks +3 Ferrothorn (and other non-boosted bulky steels, obviously). The change proved worthy to me, as Scizor became able to set up against most steels and sweep through (whether it curses or not).

As iVolke and Lazskini mentioned, the typing synergy is amazing. Safe pivots are almost always available although non of them are 'classic tanks'. With the absence of PP stalling and intimidating, battles end like a breeze. The streak is still alive, and I would like iVolke to know that his team is capable of 200+ streaks and deserves true spotlight.

Great stuff! I had been thinking of moving on to Singles soon an had been trying to remember this team from when it was originally posted. Unfortunately my Fini is Bold however :(

Could somebody help me building a Team around Hydreigon? Currently I'm using

Hydreigon@ Firium-z
Modest
252spa/252spe
Dark Pulse
Draco
Surf
Flamethrower

My partners are M-Scizor and Tapu Koko. The team performed OK but I found myself relying too much in Hydreigon against Fire- and Steelmons.
I lost the streak at 43 because of Double Team Zapdos.

I would either try Brave Aegislash (SD Set with Sacred Sword to prevent Hax) in place of Scizor OR you could try swapping Koko for a Scarf Tapu Lele and Scizor for Justified Mega-Lucario.

 

[Miezunder]

I would either try Brave Aegislash (SD Set with Sacred Sword to prevent Hax) in place of Scizor OR you could try swapping Koko for a Scarf Tapu Lele and Scizor for Justified Mega-Lucario.

Thanks I think I will use Aegi as the Team would be very weak to bulky water with the other change

 

[Ames]

Thanks I think I will use Aegi as the Team would be very weak to bulky water with the other change

Good point, my bad!

 

[Psynergy]

So I've been doing Battle Tree stuff for awhile and managed to get my way up to a 255 streak using the classic Salamence/Aegislash/Chansey setup, pretty similar to a setup I saw used by VaporeonIce in Maison utilizing Growl Chansey.

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Roost

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Brave Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Swords Dance
- King's Shield
- Sacred Sword

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Minimize
- Soft-Boiled
- Growl

I actually started this before noticing that GG Unit used the same Pokemon and this is mostly the same, I don't really care about the defensive investment for Salamence and just a simple set hasn't failed me yet, I use Adamant because I don't trust Jolly Mence at all this gen. Aegislash is pretty standard and the spread is technically inefficient, but it was the easiest way for me to get 79 Speed, since this was Brave with a 31 Speed IV. The 7 less HP hasn't been a problem at all though so I don't really have a reason to fix that. Chansey is crazy good and having a high PP move to burn turns with is super nice, I haven't even PP Up'ed Growl and it's worked just fine. Steels are still a pain to deal with especially with the lack of Seismic Toss pre-bank but you can PP Stall those most of the time, and those you can't stall just lose to Salamence and Aegislash. Minimize is otherwise good for burning PP without forcing you to heal as frequently.

Stuff like DD leads are still the most annoying, especially Tyranitar-3 with that Chople Berry which ended my previous streak at 150, but I've been able to deal with most DD leads with proper positioning (i.e. Return the Charizard since Y dies and X will DD and be in range of Shadow Sneak next turn, which is an easy switch bc Zard X will Dragon Rush Mence). NP Azelf is also turbo rude as a lead since Chansey can't wall that one, but thankfully that's not bad to beat with Aegislash provided I can break the Sash first.

Still going with this streak and I'm definitely aiming to go as far as I can with this, but with 200 I'm satisfied so I don't mind a loss too much at this point. I've got an excellent Multi teammate in Ace Trainer Poppy with Metagross-4 and Hydreigon-3, which is pretty much a perfect setup with a good Mega and good Z-Move user with essentially perfect type synergy. Really don't think I could ask for a better AI teammate so I do want to continue from my 50 streak at some point (I've learned from previous Multi attempts that the AI knows when Bullet Punch is guaranteed to kill so that's cool). I also managed to get Anabel with Raikou-4 and Latios-2 which is a potentially cool option with Reflect and Air Balloon lead. Would've preferred Latios-2 as a lead with Snorlax-3 but given how rare Anabel apparently is I can't be too picky, and she's honestly probably not as good as Poppy regardless.

 

[Josh C.]

Excellent to see some solid streaks coming about, keep it up dudes. I also am posting to share a Doubles streak with a new team I recently put together, currently at 200 wins.

Speed control is by and large the most important factor to take into account when building any sort of team; considering the slow yet dangerous trend many of our new Alola mons follow, settling for a Trick Room setup wasn't a particularly difficult decision. However, having a team entirely dependent on the twisted dimensions didn't seem like a sound strategy; how would I keep up with the Tree if all hell breaks loose (which should be expected to happen), I'm denied TR and all my mons are subsequently outsped? I was therefore looking for some sort of balance in bulk, power and speed that would allow the team to function well both inside and outside of TR. The main questions at hand were - which setter would give me the most bang for my buck, and which powerhouse(s) should I pair with it?

Oranguru (M) ("Maurice") @ Mental Herb
Nature: Sassy
Ability: Inner Focus
IVs: 31/5/31/31/31/0
- Trick Room
- Instruct
- Psychic
- Protect
252 HP / 140 Def / 20 SpA / 96 SpD

This wise ape certainly fit the bill for the first piece of the puzzle; respectable enough bulk, few weaknesses, unaffected by flinching moves, one-time immunity to Taunt and to a lesser extent Attract grants him very favourable odds of setting up Trick Room when required. The signature move Instruct is arguably his main selling point, enabling my teammates to launch two attacks in the same turn. There's a great deal of strategy involved with this as I soon discovered, since the Instructed move will always target the same Pokemon from the last turn. With Magnezone especially, you can do things like attack something you outspeed Turn 1 while TR goes up, then Instruct Magnezone Turn 2 to finish the mon off thanks to Oranguru's lower Speed. This also offers synergy with Mimikyu; being able to get a double Shadow Sneak or Play Rough off is a huge boon, or even an immediate +4 Attack behind the safety of Disguise. Telepathy is obviously a viable choice for avoiding self-spread damage from the likes of Surf, Earthquake and Discharge, but just so happens to be useless for this particular team. The EV's were taken from the Trainer Tower's VGC '17 sample section, with the SpA investment allowing you to OHKO Salazzle with Psychic. I can't detail specific defensive or other offensive benchmarks at the moment unfortunately, but this monkey doesn't often go down in one hit, that's the important thing.

Magnezone ("Magneto") @ Air Balloon
Nature: Modest
Ability: Sturdy
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Protect
172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe

A pretty unconventional mon to have in the second slot alongside my TR setter you might think, Magnezone however plays a pivotal role in shaping how battles play out to my favour. I wanted to aim for a middling Speed stat that would allow me to get hits on common slow-ish threats first turn (bulky Waters, Veteran classes with Regirock, Regice etc.), either Instructing right off the bat to eliminate them or taking a more long term approach with TR. 91 Spe gets the jump on stuff like Barbaracle4, Bisharp4, Politoed4 and Breloom4, yet still enabling Magnezone to deal with faster mons in TR. Air Balloon with Sturdy is a fantastic combination as it forces threatening Ground leads to first break the Balloon with a much weaker, often resisted attack; the opponent also has to double up on Magnezone (save for Mold Breaker) if they wish to take it out, relieving pressure on Oranguru if needed. Something I've noticed is you need to be careful with when you choose to Protect; it's a good move to make if you're up against two Fire or Fighting leads for example, but attacking from the beginning and not preserving Sturdy is often a more rewarding play. TR turns won't last forever, and sometimes setting it up twice in one battle is a tough ask, so you need to make the most of it. Yeah, couldn't be bothered breeding for a HP Fire/Ice variant; I realize the former would help out greatly against Ferrothorn, but thankfully it can't do a whole lot back to Magnezone. Volt Switch has proven to be useful a few times anyway, allowing me to pivot with Sturdy and/or the Balloon still intact.

Araquanid (M) ("BubbleO'Bill") @ Waterium Z
Nature: Brave
Ability: Water Bubble
IVs: 31/31/31/4/31/0
- Liquidation {Hydro Vortex}
- Leech Life
- Substitute
- Protect
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

The star TR abuser, I'd always wanted try out the Z-move variant of this spider of doom after witnessing it destroy lives in the current VGC '17 metagame. Thankfully he hasn't disappointed in the Tree, either. I don't think much of an explanation is needed here; Hydro Vortex hits like a truck, and is great for annoyances like Double Team Regigigas, Zapdos and Blissey, since Z-moves ignore evasion modifiers. Leech Life is fairly weak coming off Araquanid's modest Attack stat and lack of a boosting item, but still definitely worth running for healing and Water-resists. It often won't take out something weak to Bug if they're reasonably bulky, but Instruct can solve that issue. I didn't feel Wide Guard was necessary since Magnezone has the Balloon, resists Rock Slide and can take on Blizzard users comfortably, plus Heat Wave isn't all that common. Substitute has proven quite useful towards the end game of certain battles, usually to shield/stall against something like Cresselia/Milotic/Toxapex which I can't deal much damage to, but they can't really hurt me behind a Sub, either.

Mimikyu (F) ("Winky") @ Wide Lens
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Disguise
IVs: 31/31/31/11/31/31
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Taunt
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Last but not least I wanted a decent Dragon answer, and Magnezone doesn't count since it can't hit them super effectively, and many carry Ground/Fire coverage. I guess Mimikyu's often seen as a TR setter itself, but I didn't want another one of those; this max Speed variant often comes out late in the battle after some TR devastation has been dealt, to set up a Swords Dance or two thanks to Disguise and begin the clean-up process. I initially ran Life Orb, but after missing Play Rough on a Salamence twice in one battle and losing as a result in the early 50s, Wide Lens was the fix I wanted. There's probably a couple notable OHKO's/2HKO's that LO grants, but ultimately I'd much rather have near-100% faith that Play Rough will connect when I need it to. I felt Taunt was more useful over Protect to stop status in general from hampering my attempts to wreak havoc, which works well against the aforementioned stallish mons that take a long time to wear down.


So there you go, certainly some interesting dynamics at play here; for example, I often leave Magnezone in against a Fighting type rather than switching to Mimikyu, enabling a safe switch in to Araquanid to start murdering stuff. Admittedly I had my doubts during the teambuilding process if this could even achieve the 50 wins, but as time has passed I've grown more and more confident. There's definitely a bit of a learning curve involved with this team, as I butchered a fair few early streak attempts; it's all about getting the most out of your TR turns and preserving your win condition. Having the Trainer + movesets spreadsheet open for reference is a must, since you'll likely get punished for making a bad move. There's also naturally even less room for error in Doubles, since two Pokemon are often out on the field on each side. I often ask myself: what's the worst possible circumstance that could happen from a combination of two moves this turn? I then obviously do my best to prevent that, which over time provides invaluable experience. Sorry, probably got a bit too carried away with this write-up, but I do plan to post some quality Battle Videos in a future post (provided my streak continues for hopefully a little while longer). Thanks for reading! Level 51

 

[iVolke]

Hello, a newbie here who finally signed up to post a streak of 200 wins in super singles. Well actually, I'm here to thank iVolke for sharing his marvelous team.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords Dance

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Atk / 4 Def / 180 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Full credit for the team goes to iVolke. The only change I made was Brick Break over U-Turn for Scizor. The first attempt with this team came to an end at 130~140 wins, as I was destroyed by Ferrothorn4. It came out against non-boosted Scizor, and I tried maxing out Scizor while it spammed Curse. +6 Bullet Punch couldn't do much damage against +3 Ferrothorn, so I switched my strategy; I went for PP stalling Seed Bomb and Gyro Ball. Well, to my horror, Gyro Ball with +6 Atk, -6 Spd was too much for Scizor to withstand. After Scizor was down, it was pretty much over. I might have completely misplayed the game, perhaps should have went for Garchomp as soon as I saw Ferrothorn.

After the loss, I thought Brick Break might have been the answer. +6 Brick Break wrecks +3 Ferrothorn (and other non-boosted bulky steels, obviously). The change proved worthy to me, as Scizor became able to set up against most steels and sweep through (whether it curses or not).

As iVolke and Lazskini mentioned, the typing synergy is amazing. Safe pivots are almost always available although non of them are 'classic tanks'. With the absence of PP stalling and intimidating, battles end like a breeze. The streak is still alive, and I would like iVolke to know that his team is capable of 200+ streaks and deserves true spotlight.

Congratulations on your streak!

I have an active streak at 200 as well, but I haven't played in a few days. I'm trying to figure out a Doubles team I like. Feeling lazy and I don't have much experience with Doubles, so considering just adding a Flying/Levitate user with Fire/Fighting and Electric moves to lead along with Garchomp. Post-Bank I would probably use Timid 252 SpA/Spe Azelf with Flamethrower/TBolt/Psychic/Protect. Flamethrower covers all the annoying Steels that the team doesn't like, and TBolt takes out the ever annoying bulky Water types.

Ferrothorn4 is a bit of a pain in that situation. It's a little easier if you have Rough Skin Garchomp. Best play would have been to U-turn turn 1 doing a minimum of 28% and switch to Garchomp on what I will guess was Curse. Set up a Substitute. If it breaks it, set up another. You can repeat this 4 times to stall 4/5 Gyro Ball PP. Swords Dance/EQ if the Substitute is still up. Once Gyro Ball PP is spent, it is walled by Scizor, even if it gets to +6 Atk and you can set up basically for free and take it out at your own pace. Once Garchomp is out of Substitute, you can either sack it to spend the last Gyro Ball PP and get some Rough Skin damage or switch to Scizor directly depending on how boosted Ferrothorn4 is.

 

[BlueEew]

I'm currently taking a break from The Tree to breed a shiny competitive Scizor (because why not?).

Wouldn't you be better waiting for Bank so you can breed one with Bug Buzz or alternatively breed one on XY/ORAS ready for transfer?