Battle Tree Discussion and Records

[phoenix0wright]

Im sad no one made a Lopunny team yet. I sadly died on the 47th battle, so its not noteworthy to put my team here yet, but Ive been working on something and it worked for a quick run up to 40. I just didnt calc mega blazikens speed with +1 after the fake out and was sadly outsped which lead to stupid decisions and in the end a loss for my team. But once I'm back and over 50 wins Ill put my team here. I'll make a replay every 10 battles, to show how the team goes against the special trainers (which usually put up more of a fight. At least they usually gave me more trouble than the other trainers aside from that 47th....) Only trouble my team had was against Blaziken and Shuckle. So Im gonna get more priority into my team. Expect an update with a Bunny soon

I think part of the problem with Lopunny is the lack of powerful fighting moves outside of HJK, which is obviously unreliable. Most popular Battle Tree mons have 100% accurate STABs, and unless Lopunny wants to use the unreliable BP Low Kick, you're risking a crucial miss (that doubly punishes you if using HJK), and all it takes is one to end a streak. Lopunny can't use its Mega Stone and a Z-Crystal at the same time either, which is how lots of pokemon (such as Azumarril) get around the accuracy problem. I had similar issues trying to run Infernape; Flamethrower was too weak, and Overheat/Fire Blast misses cost me more than one run.

EDIT: I guess you can run Drain Punch, but it's fairly weak meaning you can't take out a number of bulkier mons.

 

[Worldie]

M-Lopunny does get Low Kick as egg move and tutored move, which is reliable enough since anything you can't hit with Normal stab is usually heavy enough for Low kick to hit for 100 or 120 power (bar maybe Scizor, Aerodactyl, Archeops, Skarmory, Carbink and Shuckle, which aren't particularly threatening I'd guess) to cover the lack of reliability of HJK. Remember Fighting + Normal is perfect coverage with Scrappy, so shouldn't need extra coverage.

The other big issue M-lopunny has in facilities is that despite it having a great speed tier, it's not top tier. It gets outspeed by significant threats who can 1hko it (M-Alakazam, M-Gengar to mention two, plus lots of Scarf users) and the only priority combination it has access to is Fake out + Quick attack, which despite being Stab and backed by Scrappy, do not 2hko said threat, definitely do not 2hko most scarf users, leaving it open to be deleted after turn 1 or even on turn 1 itself. And obviously, being a Mega, it's vulnerable to Paralysis and Burn.

That said, I believe there's a couple people trying to sort up a comp with M-Lopunny in discord lately. We came up with some ideas, so far, featuring a certain sword/shield mon as backup.
It came evident there needs to be a ghost or dark priority user (Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch) to 1hko a MegaAlakazam, SpecsAlakazam or MegaGengar lead.

 

[phoenix0wright]

Well aware of the perfect neutral coverage, but good point about Low Kick. It's also worth noting that Low Kick is only 60 BP against Porygon2, which means Lopunny has some issues breaking through it. Here's calcs for that:

252 Atk Lopunny-Mega Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Porygon2: 150-176 (40.1 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Lopunny-Mega Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 104-126 (27.8 - 33.6%) -- 0.2% chance to 3HKO

So, it seems like that's another pokemon that might give Lopunny teams problems, especially given that you probably wouldn't run another Fighting type (not that it's not annoying for most teams).

Just looking through some calcs, it seems like Lopunny has issues breaking through some bulkier pokemon, such as Reuniclus/Swampert/Escavalier that can give headaches. Not saying that it can't work, but I still feel like there's better Mega candidates. I think I have a Low Kick Buneary somewhere, maybe I'll give it a few runs and provide more concrete feedback.

 

[Darth_Scorpion]

Regarding M-Lopunny, I know it had some success in VGC as a supportive Mega (Teeter Dance) but aside from unresisted STAB it does lack raw power...

I actually did try Noivern at some point in past, I guarantee you Boomburst without having a ghost or soundproof partner in doubles causes troubles, and Noivern unfortunately as mentioned does not have that impressive power without running specs. Even a Z-Draco meteor isn't particularly impressive. (I was running a specs set myself, and Boomburst non-stab was nearly deleting my own partner)

So no, i'd not recommend that.

You could however run something like Whimsicott (who gets Prankster Tailwind and resists electric), or Gliscor which also gets Tailwind and is immune to Discharge (also providing ground coverage for opposer electric types, status immunity if poison heal, and works expecially well if you run Zapdos with him. Plus, he's pink, what else would you want? ;)

Only problem with that is that you'd be playing roulette with Discharge paralysis by using Whimsicott.

Zapdos (and Pom-Pom Oricorio) need not worry about paralysis when using Tailwind, but they won't take Discharge spamming too well.

Telepathy Noivern and Gliscor are, unfortunately, the only Tailwind users that wouldn't be affected by Discharge spam but they're deadweight in doubles beyond that fact...

 

[PlatinumLord]

Hey guys! I'm new in Smogon and the Battle Tree is giving me problems and making me discouraged. I'm doing Super Multi Battle and I scouted Cynthia. She has a Milotic and Mega Lucario while I tried many Pokemon such as Landorus, Mega Charizard X, and Aegislash but I keep losing no matter what Pokemon I use to team up with her because I worry about what Pokemon will be sent by the other Pokémon trainers and I keep changing my Pokémon as soon as after I lose. Are there any recommendations for me to get consistent with Cynthia on my side and what Pokémon I can use?

 

[Thessbmzocker]

I actually run HJK and during the 47 battles only missed when the opponent went for protect... Not even Pidgeot with its sand-attack made Lopunny miss it. But maybe I was just suuuuper lucky in that run and will rip my hair out the next time. But I like to run HJK over any other fighting type move Lopunny can learn. If it hits it does enough damage to defeat most opponents after fake out damage. And if it misses it misses. I still have 2 more pokemon to get the momentum back that was lost with Lopunnys KO, if it gets KOed. In all the Duel Tower facilities throughout the Pokemon series I usually went for more RNG based approaches. Sure it can suck, but if it hits its amazing. And its not Focus Miss, it hasn't let me down as much as Focus Miss....

 

[CTNC]

Worldie and Darth_Scorpion - Thanks for the advice, but I'm not thinking about Trick Room/Tailwind Discharge Spam, I guess I should have made that more clear. I was asking about Trick Room and Tail Wind in general because Sun and Rain have way more Nuclear options than Electric Terrain. Tailwind Sun would be hilarious with Choice Specs Typhlosion or Trick Room Sun with Torkal, Mega Camerupt, and Solar Power Sunflora. What interests me most though is Trick Room Rain with Water Spout Jellicent and Wishiwashi... Wait, after abusing Drought last generation, if I go with Rain this one, does that make me a more successful version of Teams Aqua and Magma?


Thessbmzoker - Trust me, High Jump Kick will miss when you need it to hit most and it will screw you over.

 

[phoenix0wright]

I actually run HJK and during the 47 battles only missed when the opponent went for protect... Not even Pidgeot with its sand-attack made Lopunny miss it. But maybe I was just suuuuper lucky in that run and will rip my hair out the next time. But I like to run HJK over any other fighting type move Lopunny can learn. If it hits it does enough damage to defeat most opponents after fake out damage. And if it misses it misses. I still have 2 more pokemon to get the momentum back that was lost with Lopunnys KO, if it gets KOed. In all the Duel Tower facilities throughout the Pokemon series I usually went for more RNG based approaches. Sure it can suck, but if it hits its amazing. And its not Focus Miss, it hasn't let me down as much as Focus Miss....

Sure, If HJK hits every time then it's amazing. However, in reality eventually you'll miss and there's a good chance it'll cost you a run. Battle Tree differs a lot from traditional battles in that consistency is much more important. In a laddering format, some risk is acceptable because extra power will usually get you more wins than you lose due to misses (E.G. Fire Blast over Flamethrower). In Battle Tree, however, you need to win a bunch of times in a row, so 100% accuracy is much more important since one loss means you have to start all over. Inaccurate moves/RNG strats can only get you so far in the tree because statistically, you'll get screwed and lose eventually.

To talk about something else, has anyone else found success with Alolan Marowak in singles? I've been running it in a few different teams alongside Mega Salamence or Mega Gyarados. It covers their weaknesses -excepting Rock for 'Mence and pre-Mega Gyara -pretty well (and has super unique resists -Ice, Electric Fire, and Grass all in one), and immunity to Thunder Wave is always a plus. The AI is stupid enough to spam Electric moves into it too, giving it a free kill against most Electric types. And of course, it hits like a fucking truck. I see some HoF teams have used it in doubles, but I wasn't so sure what the consensus was for Singles.

 

[Marowak2000]

Hey all! First time poster, long time lurker here.

Update: Decided to play a bit more Super Multi today and got up to 60 on my latest run. I've edit my post to avoid double posting.

I'm here to report a 51-win (stamp) run in Battle Tree Super Multi to help give others a better idea on tackling this format.

Videos (Run #2):
Battle 61 (loss) vs. Ace Trainer Hashim and Pokemon Breeder Danby: TZYG-WWWW-WWW6-AB72
Battle 60 vs. Pokemon Trainers Grimsley and Dexio: U7ZW-WWWW-WWW6-AB6R
Battle 53 vs. Pokemon Breeder Lori and Veteran Demiathema (feat. Slowbro-3): A9AG-WWWW-WWW6-AB65
Battle 50 vs. Battle Legends Red and Blue: ND8W-WWWW-WWW6-AB5S

Videos (Run #1):
Battle 52 (loss) vs. Youth Athlete Leena and Black Belt Boris: SAVW-WWWW-WWW6-9N4P
Battle 50 vs. Battle Legends Red and Blue: QULG-WWWW-WWW6-93ND
Battle 43 vs. Veteran Priya and Scientist Tivon (feat. Cresselia-2): VTQG-WWWW-WWW6-9N62

Team:

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 31/4/31/HT/31/HT
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] Shadow Ball

Sets up Psychic Terrain for herself and Mega Gallade while hitting hard and fast. First two moves are standard while Psyshock is invaluable against specially defensive sets. It OHKOs the likes of Jolteon, Sylveon and Florges for example. The last move was a toss up between HP Fire and Shadow Ball for Steel-Bugs and Psychics respectively. I didn't think too much into it but I went with HP Fire if only because it has more potential for OHKOs and many frailer Psychics are still 2HKOed with either Moonblast or Shadow Ball. Switched to Shadow Ball from second run onward because it's safer to lock into.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost [Atk]
EVs: 228 HP / 44 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 4 Spe
IVs: HT/31/HT/31/HT/31
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Mixed wall with attack-raising Beast Boost. I used a common VGC spread but it worked well here. This thing is incredible and can stall out most non-Fire/Electric-types by itself. It's the go-to for bulky Psychics which can stall out Wally by themselves. Cresselia-2 especially needed to be PP or Leech stalled. It use all its stats well and Flamethrower still does what it needs to even with a negative SpA nature.

Partner (Pokemon Trainer Wally):

Gallade-4 (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Steadfast -> Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Psycho Cut
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Destiny Bond

Mega Gallade is an excellent partner when paired with Tapu Lele. Psychic Terrain lets Psycho Cut do passable damage and Close Combat destroys many Steel-types that threatens Lele. It use the first two moves predictably enough which often leaves Lele/Celesteela free to target Sableye, Spiritomb, Psychics and the like. It does use Rock Slide against quad-weak Fire-types or if only Fighting/Psychic-resistant 'mons are left. It will begin to spam Destiny Bond if its health or defense if low enough or during late game where it can't OHKO something. It's not very useful but it did clean up Blue's Mega Pidgeot so there's that at least.

Garchomp-3 (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch

This guy works brilliantly as Celesteela's partner by handling the Fire/Electric-types it dreads. Tapu Lele will die if she gets hit by Earthquake at around half HP so you'd have be careful if you want to preserve her. Not much to say really, it's Scarf Chomp and can make or break your run depending on what moves it's locked into and when.

Threats:
Psychic, Fairy and Ghost-types in general. Psychic teams are really obnoxious. More so if they carry Trick Room. Don't let Fire/Electric-types live before Celesteela comes out.

Loss (Run #2):
I was greedy and misread the AI. Having Lele on full HP vs. 2 'mons left was too good to resist. I expected Wally's Garchomp to finish off both weakened Wishiwashi (Schooling with ~26% HP) and Mega-Camerupt with Earthquake when he was sent out so I switched out Lele for Celesteela. It used Outrage on Camerupt and got OHKOed by Wishi's Ice Beam. All went down from here because both my 'mons can't survive Dhelmise and Primarina's combined assault.

Loss (Run #1):
Okay, I played really dumb after having got the stamp and didn't bother using a lookup sheet or damage calculator. I clearly should have attacked Florges-3 with Psyshock, which would have knocked it out, because it threatens both of Wally's Pokemon but I really wanted Weavile dead for some reason (and because I didn't think Psyshock would kill). Turns out this one was Weavile-3 and Protected first turn. I should've just left it alone as both the 3 and 4 variant had Focus Sash and Gallade would just spam Close Combat against it. My last hope was on Celesteela against 4 Pokemon. Talonflame came out, spammed Flare Blitz and bam.

252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Florges in Psychic Terrain: 156-184 (101.9 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

After 2 runs I'm surprised how stable this team is though a bit of luck is needed to avoid encountering Fairy/Psychic-centric teams. I'll probably play Super Multi more because it's somewhat enjoyable but I'll refrain from posting unless I extend my streak by a greater amount haha.

I've got the same pairing as you with wally, did you find that m-gallade preferred psycho cut over other moves due to it being on psychic terrain or do u not think the ai took much notice of the terrain?


Re: mega lopunny
... (on a different note I'm working with mega lopunny but she's not the easiest as shes got all the ingredients for greatness but falls just short,... I think VaporeonIce tried her in the maison but in singles)

 

[Worldie]

PlatinumLord : essentially, the issue is probably in the Milotic. When paired with AI, you should look to scout a version of the trainer with a pure offensive moveset.
If a poke has utility/defensive tools, there's a pretty decent chance the AI will use them in wrong moments because they are coded in a certain way, or even kill your own pokes with spread moves.
It's general consensus that if you are playing multi with AI (and well, even with another person), the best idea is to run 2 hyperaggressive sets and just aim at nuking down the 2 pokes of a trainer istantly, making the match 2v1 and way easier.
This is even more important when paired with AI, because with another player or yourself you can sort out tactics, while you can't 100% predict what the AI will go for.
So TLDR: try to look for a different Cynthia version, or just another trainer at all. The best Cynthia version you can find is possibly a combination of Scarfchomp (will require you to have Flying pokemon, Telepathy or Levitate user to not die to Earthquake), Expert Belt Togekiss and MegaLucario.

Thessbmzocker : I recommend you to give a read to the AI tendencies and recommended movesets posts. It's common consensus you want to avoid non-100% moves at all costs, unless you want to use them for one time Z-moves. Non-100% moves can with a bit of luck get you to 30-40 wins, but once you start stacking games the RNG *will* eventually come into play, a miss or unpredicted swap will happen and you will regret it. Moreso considering there's enemy pokemon who run Lax Incense/Bright Powder, Sand/Snow Veil or Double Team/Minimize which will just amplify that miss chance further.

CTNC : If you are looking for Trick Room users, Oranguru/Hariyama is the most common and easiest to use lead, since it packs damage, coverage and Inner Focus + Lum Berry or Mental Herb makes Oranguru extremely hard to prevent from setting up. Porygon2 and Mimikyu also work well as setters, but Pory2 is vulnerable to status, flinch and taunt, while Mimikyu is immune to Fake out and is essentially impossible to 1hko in turn 1 if you run fake out support, and provides decent options for offensive threat on top of it.
Besides, I'm known on the Discord for... *INTERESTING* Trick Room approaches, including my current iteration of "Scrafty's Trick Room", featuring Scrafty, Aromatisse, M-Mawile and Arcanine, currently closing onto 70 wins. We'll see how that one goes.

 

[kneeshoeshoe]

For Tailwind setters, there aren't any opposing prankster-taunt users in the battle tree so Whimsicott and Talonflame are probably the best setters (don't quote me on that though, I've never played much with Tailwind). Whimsicott provides larger support capability while Talonflame has some offensive presence + access to priority Z-Brave bird. The VGC17 Drifblim (Unburden with terrain seed) is also another good option for setting up Tailwind, since it's immune to Fake Out and almost guaranteed to get Tailwind up due to its speed.

 

[PikaAbuser]

Sure, If HJK hits every time then it's amazing. However, in reality eventually you'll miss and there's a good chance it'll cost you a run. Battle Tree differs a lot from traditional battles in that consistency is much more important. In a laddering format, some risk is acceptable because extra power will usually get you more wins than you lose due to misses (E.G. Fire Blast over Flamethrower). In Battle Tree, however, you need to win a bunch of times in a row, so 100% accuracy is much more important since one loss means you have to start all over. Inaccurate moves/RNG strats can only get you so far in the tree because statistically, you'll get screwed and lose eventually.

To talk about something else, has anyone else found success with Alolan Marowak in singles? I've been running it in a few different teams alongside Mega Salamence or Mega Gyarados. It covers their weaknesses -excepting Rock for 'Mence and pre-Mega Gyara -pretty well (and has super unique resists -Ice, Electric Fire, and Grass all in one), and immunity to Thunder Wave is always a plus. The AI is stupid enough to spam Electric moves into it too, giving it a free kill against most Electric types. And of course, it hits like a fucking truck. I see some HoF teams have used it in doubles, but I wasn't so sure what the consensus was for Singles.

If it were me, I would use Drain Punch instead of HJK and use Return as M-Lopunny preferred move, at least that's what I did when I used M-Medicham to 50+ wins with Drain Punch and Zen Headbutt. You could also let another Pokemon lead and use M-Lopunny as strictly a revenge killer

 

[Worldie]

The issue with Talonflame in B-tree is that outside of using *one* priority move, it tends to istadie the turn after. Expecially for doubles with the very common rock slide coverage. It's overally not a good plan to bother with outside of for the guaranteed Z-move turn 1, if you want a prankster tailwind user, Tornadus is probably a better option.

 

[paperquagsire]

The issue with Talonflame in B-tree is that outside of using *one* priority move, it tends to istadie the turn after. Expecially for doubles with the very common rock slide coverage. It's overally not a good plan to bother with outside of for the guaranteed Z-move turn 1, if you want a prankster tailwind user, Tornadus is probably a better option.

Thing about Tornadus is it's only stab is hurricane, which is complete trash in tree, so you would probably have to use your z-slot on it, but even then it isn't ideal. Another tailwind setter that could work is hawlucha with a terrain seed, paired with a tapu, because that easily outspeeds the entire tree.

Edit: just remembered Tornadus gets acrobatics, that could work as well

 

[theyen]

Im sad no one made a Lopunny team yet. I sadly died on the 47th battle, so its not noteworthy to put my team here yet, but Ive been working on something and it worked for a quick run up to 40. I just didnt calc mega blazikens speed with +1 after the fake out and was sadly outsped which lead to stupid decisions and in the end a loss for my team. But once I'm back and over 50 wins Ill put my team here. I'll make a replay every 10 battles, to show how the team goes against the special trainers (which usually put up more of a fight. At least they usually gave me more trouble than the other trainers aside from that 47th....) Only trouble my team had was against Blaziken and Shuckle. So Im gonna get more priority into my team. Expect an update with a Bunny soon

The problem with Lopunny is that in terms of the Trees, whether Singles or Doubles, M-Kanga prob offers a more consistent experience and it's because Lopuuny's only options for consistent STAB Fighting coverage, which is the only differentiating factor from Kanga, is Low Kick, which Kanga also knows. If Lopunny also knew Close Combat, maybe we can talk. But everytime i thought of using Lopunny when teambuilding, every conclusion basically came down to "Kanga can do it better/more consistent". Hard hitting priority.? Kanga also knows Fake Out and has Sucker Punch too. Is Fighting/Normal some delicious coverage, especially for Ghost types? Kanga can use Crunch, as well as the afore-mentioned Sucker Punch too. Really, the only Ghost that Kanga can't hit for neutral coverage which Lopunny can is Marshadow, which of course u don't see in the Maison. Lastly, Kanga can boost with PuP better and has substiantially mroe bulk. Lopunny is simply outclassed by Kanga in terms of what it brings to the table

As an Aside, these are some of my ramblings back in the Maison days when i was trying to build a Lopunny team and was comparing the damage done between Low Kick and HJK. While the sets have been updated and you have to contend with some new Megas, i think quite a bit still holds true.

Maison Ramblings

 

[OrderEX]

I've got the same pairing as you with wally, did you find that m-gallade preferred psycho cut over other moves due to it being on psychic terrain or do u not think the ai took much notice of the terrain?

I find that it spams Close Combat most of the time just because it's still a bit stronger than terrain boosted Psycho Cut when neutrally effective. It will use CC even in an overkill situation because it seems the AI doesn't care about defense drops or PP conservation. Confuse moves on Misty Terrain aside, I think the AI does know how terrain works when calculating damage. They seem to pick the strongest moves in Rain/Sun at least.

 

[-Snorlax-]

Hi everybody! First post in this great thread to submit an ended streak of 80 wins in Super Multi with my friend Deynon. While not an impressive streak, I found it worth posting because our team features a couple of Pokemon that are very rarely included in Battle Tree teams - actually, one of them has never appeared in a leaderboard since its introduction in bw.

Here's the team:

Deynon: Golisopod and Throh
-Snorlax-: Raichu and Aegislash

Limulus (Golisopod) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Emergency Exit
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- First Impression
- Aqua Jet
- Leech Life
- Liquidation

Raichu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Fake Out
- Protect

Buccha (Throh) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: ???*
EVs: ???* HP / ???* Def / ???* SpDef
- Storm Throw
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
- Rest

*Note: my friend kindly asked me not to reveal too many details about his Throh. I think it's a fair request, since he spends a lot of time working on the EV spreads of his defensive Pokemon.

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Swords Dance
- King's Shield

Team's write-up

Let's start with the frontline: Raichu + Golisopod

There's no doubt that Golisopod is the MVP of our team. Its spectacular combination of power and bulk allows it to effortlessly smash through teams with just a little support from Raichu. First Impression is maybe its most valuable tool: getting rid of otherwise troublesome opponents like (mega)Alakazam, (mega)Latios, Azelf and mega Sharpedo without breaking a sweat is simply amazing. It also deals severe damage to frail electric-types like Jolteon and Electrode. Aqua Jet is a nice, reliable priority attack that takes a sizable chunk out of most fire-types and provides a way to land the final blow to all those annoying Sturdy/Focus Sash users. It's also the best move to use in those situations when it's hard to predict whether Emergency Exit will be activated during the following turn. Leech Life is an absolute must on any Golisopod, since its buffed base power combined with its recovery effect makes Golisopod really hard to take down. If you're confident that Golisopod won't be sent out by Emergency Exit, it's usually the safer move to use in order to keep Golisopod's health at high levels and to delay the moment of the inevitable switch out. The last slot goes to Liquidation, which proves very useful to get rid of bulky rock- and ground-types that can easily tank Aqua Jets (Hippowdon, Rhyperior, Gliscor, Gigalith...). However, it's easily the most expendable move, so it can be replaced with another priority attack (Sucker Punch) or a coverage move, depending on the team's need.
Golisopod's EV spread is very simple: max HP + Assault Vest give our bug friend well rounded bulk, while an adamant nature with max attack allows it to deal as much damage as possible.
There's not much else to say about Golisopod: my friend and I consider this colossal bug one of the best additions gen VII brought to us, it will probably be featured in our future teams too.

While Golisopod is more than capable of demolishing entire teams on is own, it'd surely have a harder time sweeping if it wasn't for its partner in crime, Raichu. Raichu's purpose in life is to keep Golisopod alive as long as possible. Lightning Rod is what makes Raichu so effective at doing its job, redirecting the electric attacks that scare Golisopod. It's also extremely useful to absorb stray Thunder Waves. Thunderbolt is Raichu's main attacking option, as it becomes decently strong after a Lightning Rod boost and futher supports Golisopod by dealing heavy damage to most flying-types. Hidden Power Ice offers good coverage alongside Thunderbolt and, while a bit on the weak side, it's still necessary to handle some dragon-types, which can cause Golisopod huge issues (Salamence and its mega, Dragonite, mega Altaria). Everybody knows what Fake Out does, and it proves particularly useful to block an opponent that must be targeted by Liquidation, since Golisopod is very slow when not using its priority moves. The last slot goes to Protect, which is mandatory on something as frail as Raichu. It works especially well after The Focus Sash has been activated, since at that point the AI will usually try to take Raichu out.
For Raichu, we have another very simple EV spread: max SpA and Spe to deal as much damage as possible, with a Hasty nature to leave Raichu's attack intact. Investing in bulk would be a waste, since Raichu's defenses are really terrible.

While Golisopod and Raichu worked very well together, they both have their flaws. Golisopod's biggest problem lies in the necessity to run two bug-type moves: there are 7 types that resist bug, and covering them all with just two moves is almost impossible. Also, while having Liquidation and Aqua Jet on the last two slots means that you can't touch dangerous things like (mega) Salamence, Dragonite and Gyarados, giving up one of them isn't optimal either. Without Aqua Jet you're left without a reliable priority move, while the lack of Liquidation makes breaking through bulky rock- and ground-types much harder. I feel that putting a physical ice-type move over Liquidation would be an acceptable compromise...if only Golisopod learned such a move. Maybe UltraSuMo tutors will bestow Ice Punch upon Golisopod, who knows...Another minor source of concern for Golisopod is its Emergency Exit ability. Although it proves sometimes useful to save Golisopod from a fatal double targeting, being forced to switch it out when you still need it on the field can be a bit annoying.
As for Raichu, its limit are even more evident. It sure has an amazing ability and very good speed, but the rest of its stats are mediocre at best. Its horrible defenses more or less force you to give it a Focus Sash, and its average Special Attack makes Thunderbolt unable to OHKO many electric-weak targets. Raichu also wishes it had a stronger ice-type move. All in all, although I enjoyed playing Raichu, I'd gladly swap it for something stronger or bulkier, but Lightning Rod is a very, very badly distributed ability...The only viable alternatives I can think of are Mega Sceptile and Togedemaru, but the former doesn't learn Fake Out and can't hold a Focus Sash, while the latter is much slower than Raichu and can't take advantage of Lightning Rod's SpA boosts.

And now the rearguard, Aegislash and Throh. To be honest, there hasn't been much reasoning behind the choice of these guys. We simply checked what we had at disposal and took two strong, reliable backups.

I'm not going to spend much time discussing Aegislash's qualities. Everybody knows how good this Pokemon is, and all of its moves are pretty standard. I put Iron Head over the more common Sacred Sword because it covers both rocks and fairies, thus supporting both Golisopod and Throh. Shadow Sneak, especially when backed up by Swords Dance, allows Aegislash to quickly eliminate the psychic-types that Throh despises so much. However, I tend to use it only when it's absolutely necessary, and only if I'm sure it will KO its target, as leaving Aegislash in its Blade form for the rest of the turn isn't exactly ideal. King's Shield and Swords Dance really need no explanation.
As a last note, playing Aegislash during this streak made me realize how many Tree sets are completely walled by this Pokemon. Now I fully understand why it's so common in the leaderboard.

Last but not least, we have Throh. Although it's a very unusual and underrated Pokemon, it's been a staple in our teams since XY, and so far it's never disappointed us. 120/85/85 defenses with a fully defensive investment and Bulk Up are really solid, and its base 100 attack means that at +1 Throh already deals respectable damage. It also has a useful rock resistance, which helps dealing with monsters such as Tyrantrum-4, Archeops-3 and Rampardos-3 (I'm a bit paranoid about these disgustingly powerful Head Smash users). Throh's abilities all prove very useful in the right circumstances. At the very beginning, we used to run Guts in order to take advantage of status ailments; however, we soon realized that these conditions (especially Toxic Poison and Paraysis) must be healed as quickly as possible, thus limiting the possibilities to benefit from Guts attack boost. One the other hand, it became more and more evident that flinching moves (mainly the ever-present Fake Out and Rock Slide) were a huge issue, especially considering that we tend to use slowish Pokemon, so in the end we agreed that Inner Focus was the best option.
Stats and ability aside, Throh's best asset is probably its semi-exclusive STAB move, Storm Throw. Storm Throw's ability to always land a critical hit allow Throh to boost with Bulk Up alongside other physical attacker, and then to effortlessly hit through their boosted defense. This is very important because, without a strong special attackers, Bulk Up and Curse users would pose a huge threat (Conkeldurr-3, Scrafty-4, Ferrothorn-4, Swampert-4, Hippowdon-4 are just a few examples). Throh's second attacking options is Knock Off, with its well-known synergy with fighting-type attacks and its ability to remove items. For this slot, we considered various rock-type moves, as they retain good coverage alongside fighting and would give Throh a mean to deal some damage to fairies. In the end, though, Aegislash can easily defeat most fairies, and Knock Off's secondary effect is too good to pass up (who doesn't want a move that can remove all those pesky Bright Powders and Lax Incenses?). The last two slots go to Bulk Up and Rest, which, in conjunction with a Chesto Berry, gives Throh a one-turn full healing. Rest is also super useful to beat annoying toxic stallers like Cresselia and Regigigas.
Like every other Pokemon, Throh obviously has its flaws. Fairies are Throh's biggest nemesis, as they take very little damage from its attacks and can retaliate with their super effective STAB moves. Flying-types are also a huge concern, especially strong Brave Bird users, as they can usually outspeed Throh and hit it before it can boost its defense. The fact that it shares this weakness with Golisopod doesn't help either. Being a slow, defensive Pokemon, Throh also fears Taunt.
Despite its weaknesses, Throh has always pulled its weight in battle, and both Deynon and I are very satisfied with it. My only regret is that right now I have no videos showcasing Throh's full potential. I hope I can remedy this in the near future.

Battle videos

70 - VR5W-WWWW-WWW7-Q5PA

Pretty ordinary battle. Raichu and Golisopod destroying everything.

81 - FZWG-WWWW-WWW7-Q5PC

The loss. While playing, I thought this was an undeserved loss, caused mainly by an unlucky matchup. However, after watching the video, I must admit in all honesty that we played somewhat poorly. Landorus and Moltres were handled correctly, but with Dragonite with made a couple of fatal, yet easily avoidable mistakes. First of all, after realizing we were facing Dragonite-3, we should have immediately removed its Choice Band. This would have caused it to a) change move, leaving Aegislash more time to setup and regain health, or b) deal less damage with Earthquake, allowing Aegislash to survive longer. In that moment, however, we thought something like "well, Throh can comfortably tank Earthquakes and use Dragonite as setup fodder. Why should we give it the possibility to change move?". Eh, a really wonderful idea! Who cares if Aegislash dies in the process? The second mistake was made after Aegislash fainted. At that point, we should have followed the original plan, i.e. taking advantage of Dragonite to fully setup Throh. Suddenly, however, we both remembered that Critical Hits exist, and God knows how many times we lost to an untimely CH, so we thought "let's take Dragonite down before it lands a CH, after all, a +3/+3 Throh can handle almost anything, right?". Wrong. And when the last Pokemon made its appearance, it was immediately clear that neither Throh nor Golisopod had a single chance to win.

Threat List

It's blue. It's fat. It's evil. It's WALREIN-4. Everybody hates this thing, and everybody has scary tales to tell about streaks ended by this lovely walrus. And of course, when it outspeeds 3 Pokemon out of 4 in your team, it looks even scarier. The fact that Throh must be at +3 and Aegislash at +4 to OHKO it doesn't help either. Luckily, we met it only once in 80 battles (I think), but if it shows up when Raichu has already fainted and Throh/Aegislash have no boosts...
Honestly, I always wonder why GF keeps including this fiend in every single battle facility. I'd suggest adding a Walreinite to the mix, just to make things even funnier.

Because it's less bulky than Walrein and doesn't dodge random attacks, it doesn't deserve the title of Public Enemy No.1. However, it comes very, very close. It's faster than our whole team, can soundly OHKO both Golisopod and Throh with Double-Edge, and can heavily damage Raichu and Aegislash with Earthquake. On top of that, regular Salamence's Intimidate makes it even harder to take down. The best course of action is to attack it straight away with HP Ice and First Impression, but above average damage rolls are still needed to take it down (absolute max damage is needed if Golisopod gets Intimidated). This is of course assuming an optimal turn 1 situation, when Raichu still has its Focus Sash intact and Salamence isn't paired with something that is either faster than Raichu or that can block it with Fake Out. If one of these conditions isn't fulfilled, or if Salamence shows up in the middle of the battle, when everything has already been damaged, we can start praying.
Long story short, if Mega Salamence appears, something will die.

Another very tough opponent. Intimidate as pre-mega ability, monstrous attack, great defensive typing, and ability to outspeed everything bar Raichu despite its awful speed (what a shame...) make Mega Mawile one the most fearsome Pokemon to face. Golisopod deals less than 50% with Liquidation, while Mawile activates Emergency Exit with both Play Rough and Stone Edge (if it doesn't outright OHKO Golisopod); Throh gets murdered by Play Rough (it must be at least at +2 to be sure to survive); Raichu gets brutally destroyed by everything Mawile can throw at it (even Iron Head has a chance to OHKO...); finally, Aegislash takes heavy damage from Fire Fang and Sucker Punch, and trying to lower Mawile's attack via King's Shield can be counter-productive, as Mawile-3 has Swords Dance.

Not as dangerous as the first three, as it can't outspeed Raichu and Thunderbolt does heavy enough damage for Golisopod/Aegislash to finish it off with a priority move. However, with Raichu already down, it can give huge troubles to the rest of the team: Air Slash 2HKOes Golisopod, and Charizard can easily survive a Liquidation thanks to Drought; Throh gets 2HKOed by Air Slash too, and has even more troubles dealing any meaningful damage in return; finally, a sun-boosted Heat Wave effortlessly OHKOes Aegislash while also dealing heavy damage to its teammate. If all this wasn't enough, Drought also gives a considerable power boost to other fire-types, which is not good news when you have a team with no fire resistances.

I think that's enough for now. At the moment I'm working on a Doubles streak with a team featuring the Raichu-Golisopod duo. Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading and see you soon ;)

 

[PlatinumLord]

PlatinumLord : essentially, the issue is probably in the Milotic. When paired with AI, you should look to scout a version of the trainer with a pure offensive moveset.
If a poke has utility/defensive tools, there's a pretty decent chance the AI will use them in wrong moments because they are coded in a certain way, or even kill your own pokes with spread moves.
It's general consensus that if you are playing multi with AI (and well, even with another person), the best idea is to run 2 hyperaggressive sets and just aim at nuking down the 2 pokes of a trainer istantly, making the match 2v1 and way easier.
This is even more important when paired with AI, because with another player or yourself you can sort out tactics, while you can't 100% predict what the AI will go for.
So TLDR: try to look for a different Cynthia version, or just another trainer at all. The best Cynthia version you can find is possibly a combination of Scarfchomp (will require you to have Flying pokemon, Telepathy or Levitate user to not die to Earthquake), Expert Belt Togekiss and MegaLucario.

Thessbmzocker : I recommend you to give a read to the AI tendencies and recommended movesets posts. It's common consensus you want to avoid non-100% moves at all costs, unless you want to use them for one time Z-moves. Non-100% moves can with a bit of luck get you to 30-40 wins, but once you start stacking games the RNG *will* eventually come into play, a miss or unpredicted swap will happen and you will regret it. Moreso considering there's enemy pokemon who run Lax Incense/Bright Powder, Sand/Snow Veil or Double Team/Minimize which will just amplify that miss chance further.

CTNC : If you are looking for Trick Room users, Oranguru/Hariyama is the most common and easiest to use lead, since it packs damage, coverage and Inner Focus + Lum Berry or Mental Herb makes Oranguru extremely hard to prevent from setting up. Porygon2 and Mimikyu also work well as setters, but Pory2 is vulnerable to status, flinch and taunt, while Mimikyu is immune to Fake out and is essentially impossible to 1hko in turn 1 if you run fake out support, and provides decent options for offensive threat on top of it.
Besides, I'm known on the Discord for... *INTERESTING* Trick Room approaches, including my current iteration of "Scrafty's Trick Room", featuring Scrafty, Aromatisse, M-Mawile and Arcanine, currently closing onto 70 wins. We'll see how that one goes.

Thank you! I just rescouted Cynthia and coincidentally. she now has ScarfChomp and Expert Belt Togekiss! I have some Levitiating, Telepathy, and Flying types, but what would you recommend out of those options and do you know if Mega Scizor is a good partner? If so, what set should I give my Mega Scizor?

 

[Worldie]

-Snorlax- I wonder, seeing you have 4 pokemon weak to spread moves (2 weak to Earthquake, 1 weak to rock slide, 1 weak to fairy, have you considered the possibility of getting Wide Guard support on any of your poke? Wide Guard is a insanely good move on aegislash, possibly way better than running Sword Dance in doubles, and the AI has proved several times to not react consistently to Wide Guard usage and possibly spamming spread moves into it.
For knowledge, all your pokes except Raichu can learn it as egg move, or in their actual moveset.
Besides, congratz on making a good entry on the list with actual non-common pokemon.

PlatinumLord Depends on what you got access to. Mega Scizor doesn't look like partnering well with Chomp/Togekiss, as it takes neutral damage from Earthquake, and doesn't really cover anything on the Togekiss.
Considering Togekiss and Garchomp both share a scary weakness to Ice, Flyers should not be the best idea. Nor should be Lati or Flygon, as they will double into fairy or ice weakness as well.
Gardevoir pairs well with Garchomp due to Telepathy and typing balancing out Garchomp's missing coverage with Thunderbolt on fliers, and still being on a good speed tier.
Alternatively, you can run Instruct Oranguru to not risk of being completely screwed by Trick Room.
Speaking of levitaters, you can run most Rotom Formes who cover this or that Garchomp's weaknesses, providing decent coverage and bulk, Mismagius would allow you to run poison moves to kill opposer Fairy types and has a great speed tier and a wide move pool to back it up, Uxie/Azelf/Mesprit/Cresselia if you rather add a Psychic type.
As for your second poke, you can either run 2 from the mentioned pokes, or instead use something that has access to Protect (in case Garchomp is still alive and spamming Earthquake) but can cover Togekiss' lack of coverage an typing. Incidentally, a ground type or ground coverage would pair very well with Togekiss, as it can hit both fire, steel, rock and poison types supereffectively which give troubles to Togekiss.
As mentioned for Snorlax, due to the wide weakness to spread moves of your comp, having a Wide Guard user (cough cough Aegislash) would not only be good, but would allow you also to defend yourself from Garchomp's Earthquake if it's locked into it without needing to Protect.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Worldie and Darth_Scorpion - Thanks for the advice, but I'm not thinking about Trick Room/Tailwind Discharge Spam, I guess I should have made that more clear. I was asking about Trick Room and Tail Wind in general because Sun and Rain have way more Nuclear options than Electric Terrain. Tailwind Sun would be hilarious with Choice Specs Typhlosion or Trick Room Sun with Torkal, Mega Camerupt, and Solar Power Sunflora. What interests me most though is Trick Room Rain with Water Spout Jellicent and Wishiwashi... Wait, after abusing Drought last generation, if I go with Rain this one, does that make me a more successful version of Teams Aqua and Magma?

The main thing to keep in mind with S/M Trick Room is that a lot of the new enemies/megas that appear on these Scientist/Breeder teams run negative natures and dip to 45 speed or below, which matters because this is slower than some otherwise high-end sweepers can get, such as 49 for Hariyama and Mawile. For this reason I wouldn't use Jellicent, as it'll be checked too easily by surprises once TR is up.

I was able to reach 200 with Oranguru/Hariyama/Araquanid/Drampa before adding Mawile to the team, but I now know that was overwhelmingly due to luck because the same team has not been able to venture far past 100 wins during multiple subsequent attempts (however it's worth noting that these failures all included Mawile and not Araquanid, who had a few gigantic benefits, particularly zero fear of burns and the most reliable drawback-less OHKO available to me.)

Your lead alongside Oranguru should be able to destroy lead Escavalier in one or two hits and preferably have an answer to the dark types that can OHKO Oranguru or come close to it. For what little it brings to the table, one of the most annoying enemies I can face tends to be Shiinotic. They run almost all bulk and have Spore, and usually come in at the most inopportune times. Part of the reason I liked Mawile over Araquanid was having a good answer to that piece of shit, because unless it leads, Hariyama is more than likely a goner the moment it appears. Mawile is also phenomenal against Conkeldurr4, a menace.

I know I haven't actually posted anything by way of ideas but that's because when you get down to it, so much shit works in fun and unique combinations. Just cover your bases. Fake Out does a lot of that, though being able to OHKO Aromatisse and Shiinotic as leads is very helpful, as you don't want them to have TR in play. There are enough dedicated AI TR teams that you'll have plenty of instances where you'll need to kill everything or at least expose the back line before considering activating it yourself. Have at least one special sweeper, and a good Z-nuke that isn't fighting type.

 

[Milhau5]

So, thanks to the wonderful QR team from turskain of Hitmonlee/Tapu Koko/Latios/Scizor-Mega, I reached a streak of 138 wins in Super Doubles. Edit: now with more definitive video proof:

Hide

Before I post the replay video of me losing, I want to share some things I learned about the AI that I couldn't seem to find online (skip to "HOW I LOST" if you know all of it or don't care):

• There is a big reason Hitmonlee should ALWAYS be in the first slot: to attract paralyzing moves (Thunder Wave, Glare) and Fake Out. The PAR user will enter an endless loop of spamming the status move into him, because it can't recognize his ability; it just does a check for "ifParalyzed" every turn, and will keep using the move until that gets flagged as 'true'. So, you get free turns a lot :). Fake Out users will always go to him, so Protect to keep the Sash intact.
• There is no consistent behavior with how Earthquake is used. A lot of times, the user is paired with a bird or levitator so it doesn't matter. Sometimes, the non-EQ partner will actually protect. Sometimes, the EQ user will just kill their own partner; I witness a veteran EQ his own Entei to death.
• There's no consistent behavior with Protect either. You might just waste your Z-Move. Trust me, they're not predicting you.
• Pokemon with boosting moves will always go for that move first, foregoing Super-Effective attacks. might go for the move twice in a row (possibly more) before launching an attack. I don't know if that's consistent or not because every boosting Pokemon I KO'd immediately or just after the first boost. The exception is the battle video below. If I had a greater sample size, or knew how it works beforehand, I might have managed that last fight better.
• In the Subway and Maison, a Choice-locked Pokemon would switch if it was locked into a move doing no damage. This applies to doubles as well, in a weird way. They have an intended target, rather than trying to just blindly hit both Pokemon. How do we know this? If you switch that chosen target out and bring in a Levitator to a Choice-locked EQ user, for example, the scarfed mon will switch out, even if it can do damage to the Levitator's partner.

HOW I LOST
Battle Video: 3TRW-WWWW-WWW8-W9DT
Trainer: Black Belt Arnold
Team:

• Nidoking 4 (Earthquake/Poison Jab/Megahorn/Protect @ Buginium Z)
• Volcarona 4 (Hurricane/Quiver Dance/Bug Buzz/Heat Wave @ Leftovers)
• Golurk 4 (Hammer Arm/Earthquake/Shadow Punch/Fling @ Iron Ball)
• Escavalier 4 (Megahorn/Iron Head/Swagger/Reversal @ Custap Berry)

I lost so bad that I didn't even see the last two, so any conjecture involving hindsight knowledge of the rest of the team is totally useless. Volcarona was always a problem for this team...nothing that couldn't be handled by double-targeting. Sure, Volcarona 4 is one of the few that does not die to Fake Out + Specs Thunderbolt, but it can be killed on the next turn while it sets up. Actually, it can be knocked out ONLY if both attacks hit max damage roll...so, no guarantee at all, assume the team up won't kill.
However, I did not count on it having as dangerous a partner as Nidoking. This changes things. Knowing that Koko is going to be targeted (in addition to already being walled by Nidoking), and that Volcarona won't go down this turn, do I risk losing one of my powerhouses right away? Based on the above analysis that the AI can recklessly use Earthquake, I decide to fake out Nidoking to give Koko a chance to land as much damage as possible with Tbolt, with the intent of (possibly) killing Volc next turn with Sucker Punch.
Next I switch into Latios, and eat a Poison Jab to the face (did a lot so I'm assuming Sheer Force). And then, the worst thing happens...Suck Punch fails. That can only mean...yep...Volc not only got up a second Quiver Dance, but got two turns of Leftovers recovery.
I now protect Latios in case of Bug Buzz, because the way I see it: Sucker Punch Volc, survive at 1 HP, and then kill with Sucker Punch next turn so Latios gets a free Psychic on Nidoking. Even if Lee got ganged up on that turn, Volcarona would still be in kill range for Mega Scizor Bullet Punch (based on eyeballing it). Instead, the turns after bringing Latios in plays out as such:
Latios Protects
Nidoking Protects
Hitmonlee uses Sucker Punch
Volcarona hits with Hurricane, and gets the confusion on Lee
Probability dictates that this match was still winnable even after two boosts. But, once Lee hit himself in his confusion, it was over, I didn't keep trying after that.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE: Double up into Volcarona, but with Volt Switch instead of Tbolt. Bring Latios in and accept the damage. Have Latios kill Volcarona since Lee couldn't, and just accept that Latios dies to either Megahorn or Savage Spin-Out. Just play it from there. No matter what, one of my special attackers is going to have to die just to kill Volcarona. This was truly a counter-lead. Feel free to critique my playing and make suggestions, but I feel like no matter what there would be a heavy cost just to dismantle the lead.

 

[Worldie]

Your lead alongside Oranguru should be able to destroy lead Escavalier in one or two hits and preferably have an answer to the dark types that can OHKO Oranguru or come close to it. For what little it brings to the table, one of the most annoying enemies I can face tends to be Shiinotic. They run almost all bulk and have Spore, and usually come in at the most inopportune times.

Doubling on this Shiinotic hate, I have noticed so far that for most Trick Room comps, having a lead which features double status / taunt user, and Effect Spore users like Shiinotic are the most nightmarous thing to have against as lead.
You are forced to take a pretty big gamble, either risk the status on the setter, potentially denying TR to go up in first place, or get the status on your fake outer. A real Loss/loss situation where you need to have a backup plan.

My personal experience has shown that status on fake outer is usually less troublesome than status on the setter, unless you run a comp capable of dealing with TR not going up. When my Scrafty gets statused, I usually just leave it to die since expecially if Burned it completely denies its damage and has not much point in staying in, outside of shuffling it in for another Intimidate/Fake out and get a free swap in after it dies.

Also re- on TR dedicated AI pokemon: it's worth reminding that even the TR dedicated mons have 31 speed IVs despite -nature and 0 EVs. Thus your pokes will 0 IV will underspeed equivalent TR dedicated AI pokemon, but you need to be mindful of the existence of several Iron Ball holders.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Also re- on TR dedicated AI pokemon: it's worth reminding that even the TR dedicated mons have 31 speed IVs despite -nature and 0 EVs. Thus your pokes will 0 IV will underspeed equivalent TR dedicated AI pokemon, but you need to be mindful of the existence of several Iron Ball holders.

Correct, and while this is really helpful for those instances (such as Mega Steelix, an adamant base 30, who hits 50 speed and thus can be outsped by 0IV negative-natured 50s, who hit 49 speed) there were a lot of new additions or revamped sets. These made many pokemon I considered viable offensive teammates during 6th gen into much less reliable flunkies. Base 50 is nowhere near as safe as it was last gen, though it's still quite good.

It matters a little more for Oranguru (58 lowest attainable and strategically feasible speed) because the discrepancies allow enemies to move before it can Instruct, which gets to be problematic for it or your sweeper, if it needed that second attack just to net the KO. This is one of the main reasons I hate Shiinotic, because I'm practically guaranteed to eat a Spore or Moonblast if circumstances are not perfect.

I also raised that particular point because he showed interest in specifically Jellicent, who was phenomenal last gen but sits at the same speed as Oranguru and suffers the same problems. While leading allows it to deal with some of those, its lack of power will become very apparent. Without sand, Gigaliith is guaranteed to survive doubles Water Spout, for instance. You will be meeting many things it simply cannot punch through, and needing to set up rain is asking for more trouble.

The Iron Ball holders are less of a threat this gen than before IMO. Fling is pretty easily predicted and the move is wasted on Protect. I care about Conkeldurr for other reasons.

But like I said, these are more considerations than a testament of what does and doesn't work. Last gen I broke over a thousand wins with a fucking Iron Ball Gardevoir of all things. This gen, Vikavolt/Crabominable/Guzzlord lasted well over 100 battles before getting stomped into the ground as anticipated. Jellicent has enough coverage moves to 2HKO most setters and as a lead, dual Water Spouts are enough to remove crud like Steelix/Gigalith/Hippowdon/etc. However, for reliability's sake this means Jellicent would need 4 speed EVs to ensure the jump on Oranguru, and with TR up Instruct would precede it. Then there's just the fact that it's too squishy for consistent Water Spouts. Primarina has the same speed as Jellicent and is much stronger at the cost of immunities, and I enjoy using mine on TR teams. I still wouldn't want to lead with it, though. If pairing water types, I would run Araquanid before Wishiwashi because of Entrainment (weather changes too often as it is.)

Man, I really hope triples comes back soon. I have just too many guys to play with, and triples was my incentive to train/use most of them.

 

[Thessbmzocker]

I did it! I made 50 wins with my trusty Lopunny! And her two bodyguards. My run isnt over yet, Ill update how far Ive come once I get defeated but I wanted to get my Lopunny out there!

It was a long and hard battle. But I still did it because I like Lopunny so much and just wanted her to have a 50win streak. Even if it wouldve meant for me to replay the battle tree over and over and over again. In the end, it only costed me 5 replays, as they all ended in the 40 battle range, but mostly not due to HJK miss but rather unexperience with the opponents Pokemon. I must admit that maybe I shouldnt have used Lopunny. I wouldve gotten a 50 streak much much faster with other Pokemon, but copying other peoples stuff just isnt my thing. And I love to play with my favorite Pokemon. Anyway, lets get to my team:

My Team

Kiara (Lopunny) (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Ice Punch

Entei @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 26 Def / 6 SpD / 6 Spe
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head

Brisingr (Aegislash) (F) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
- King's Shield
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak

If you recall I said I would change something about the team. And what I did was Aegislash. It used to be a special attacker, but I instead took my physical one for all the tries that came after my first attempt. Because it has a way to set itself up and attack with a priority. Which helped quite a lot. My Entei is a Soulsilver event Entei. It is hyper trained, as its IVs are rather bad. The other two are from ORAS and are 31 IVs. Threats to this team were a Hippodown, usually Blazikens and Togekiss. I didn't run into any other threats but Im sure there are more. This team is far from being actually good but I like it. And thats what counts for me the most. (Also that custap berry from Reds Blastoise took me by surprise....)

My 10th win: UK9W-WWWW-WWW8-WPSX
My 20th win is sadly missing.... so instead you get the 29th win. 3Z4G-WWWW-WWW8-WPSQ
My 30th win: HPTW-WWWW-WWW8-WPTX
My 40th win: Y2GW-WWWW-WWW8-WPT9
And finally my win over Red : VDZW-WWWW-WWW8-WPTK

So yeah, will give another update once I will be defeated. (Probably in the next 10 matches lol)

 

[Worldie]

Congratulations on making it to 50s with your favourite pokemon!
Don't be unoptimistic though: with USUM coming and the very likely return of Tutors, maybe we could see M-Lopunny get her hands ( ? ) on some other Stabs or priority that would allow it to actually be a competitive pick over the bigger brother Mega Kangaskhan.

Besides, remember, there's a few very nonconventional pokemon in the top 10 streaks, both in singles and doubles.
It's not necessarly impossible to make an apparently inferior poke to work.

And anyway, if someone won VGC with a Pachirisu, how hard can it be to win Battle Tree with a M-Lopunny? ;)