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Battle Tree Discussion and Records
- Thread starter Eisenherz
- Start date
Hai bois.
Reporting second streak dropping at 99 to Grimsley.
Actually surprised this one got so far considering the comp, which will be picked up again once HA starters are available (if it ever happens).
The original team idea featured both HA Incineroar and HA Primarina, which obviously cannot happen, but would have for example made a lot of matchups on the way and including the one I lost with much easier.
The same comp might be picked up again later on if they become available.
Composition:
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 106 Def / 116 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Heavy Slam
Oranguru @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 110 SpD / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe, 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Protect
- Instruct
Abomasnow @ Abomasnowite
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Protect
- Hidden Power Ground
Drampa @ Life Orb
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe / 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Flamethrower
I would tecnically be open for ideas to replace Drampa with to attempt again this setup, but aside from using Iron Ball on something (which... I'm not sure is worth the power drop). The spot would want a strong spread move user that doesn't stack Fighting weakness and is not a mega.
As far as matches go, the main big threats were overally Rhyperior and Escavalier. Rhyperior is near unkillable for my lead, though is a almost clean 1hko for Abomasnow, but the main issue is that one set outspeeds Oranguru while the other doesn't, so I'm at risk if facing unknown set.
Escavalier34 on other hand, underspeeds everything I have, near guaranteed 1hkos Oranguru and Abomasnow even without Sword Dance buffs, threatens 1hko on Drampa as well even though Drampa 1hkos back, and is only 2hkod by Hariyama while 2-3kod by HP Ground.
I went as far as considering HP fire on Obama instead for literally only that matchup, though that'd have made it walled very hard by Fire types and expecially Heatran, so wasn't worth it.
A few battle videos:
Now to the plans for next Ice type, I wonder if I can make Articuno work....
Reporting second streak dropping at 99 to Grimsley.
Actually surprised this one got so far considering the comp, which will be picked up again once HA starters are available (if it ever happens).
The original team idea featured both HA Incineroar and HA Primarina, which obviously cannot happen, but would have for example made a lot of matchups on the way and including the one I lost with much easier.
The same comp might be picked up again later on if they become available.
Composition:
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 106 Def / 116 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Heavy Slam
This is basically the same Hariyama I used in the other TR streak. Not much to say about it
Oranguru @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 110 SpD / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe, 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Protect
- Instruct
This is also a quite standard Oranguru, EV spread optimized to survive some specific stuff, and the 8 speed EV... because originally the composition featured Incineroar as lead and not Hariyama, so the EVs could make Oranguru faster in TR, and HA incineroar would realistically work way better, but without HA it really just stacks fighting weakness which I didn't want.
Yes I know simply breeding a 1 IV speed Oranguru would have been better, but considering I wasn't even taking the comp seriously due to the lack of the other 2 key components, for now that'll do.
Besides, iirc there's like only a handful of pokes on the Tree that step from 58 to 59 speed, and none of them is a threat for this composition.
I could consider gearing Oranguru to survive the threat that ended the streak (more below) but... we'll see.
Yes I know simply breeding a 1 IV speed Oranguru would have been better, but considering I wasn't even taking the comp seriously due to the lack of the other 2 key components, for now that'll do.
Besides, iirc there's like only a handful of pokes on the Tree that step from 58 to 59 speed, and none of them is a threat for this composition.
I could consider gearing Oranguru to survive the threat that ended the streak (more below) but... we'll see.
Abomasnow @ Abomasnowite
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Protect
- Hidden Power Ground
That's the thing I built the team around, as my current "Project" is to just get Ice types on the board. The main reason for Oranguru as setter is that both the backline mons are very efficient spread moves + Instruct users. Double Blizzard which gets the guaranteed accuracy from Snow Warning is actually... well... how many times we have lost to Glaceon already? Decent damage, 20% freeze chance on both enemyes, plenty of weak mons, STAB and coming from a significant spatk. Most matches that the lead couldnt delete were usually cleaned up by Obama getting on and firing Blizzards.
It's worth noting that having a Hail setter has the added benefit of removing opposer weathers, something that expecially for Sand is quite important as it makes bulky rock types like Tyranitar much easier to kill.
I originally used Stomping Tantrum as coverage against fire and steel types, eventually rebred Abomasnow to get a HP ground one as it's slightly more damage due to the investment and not affected by intimidates.
It's worth noting that having a Hail setter has the added benefit of removing opposer weathers, something that expecially for Sand is quite important as it makes bulky rock types like Tyranitar much easier to kill.
I originally used Stomping Tantrum as coverage against fire and steel types, eventually rebred Abomasnow to get a HP ground one as it's slightly more damage due to the investment and not affected by intimidates.
Drampa @ Life Orb
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe / 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Drampa which we all hate was the only other spread move user that I considered worth using. I tried Sylveon, but it's relatively too fast for a fully dedicated TR comp.
Ultimately, the stack of a Fighting weakness and Fairy weakness wasn't a good deal as I expected. I mentioned this spot would have just been better with HA primarina, because the typing/bulk would have perfectly fit the other 3 (remember, originally this had Incineroar as Fake Outer), while providing a spread Water move that is accurate, and a strong fairy stab, while also having a pretty significant bulk.
Ultimately, the stack of a Fighting weakness and Fairy weakness wasn't a good deal as I expected. I mentioned this spot would have just been better with HA primarina, because the typing/bulk would have perfectly fit the other 3 (remember, originally this had Incineroar as Fake Outer), while providing a spread Water move that is accurate, and a strong fairy stab, while also having a pretty significant bulk.
As far as matches go, the main big threats were overally Rhyperior and Escavalier. Rhyperior is near unkillable for my lead, though is a almost clean 1hko for Abomasnow, but the main issue is that one set outspeeds Oranguru while the other doesn't, so I'm at risk if facing unknown set.
Escavalier34 on other hand, underspeeds everything I have, near guaranteed 1hkos Oranguru and Abomasnow even without Sword Dance buffs, threatens 1hko on Drampa as well even though Drampa 1hkos back, and is only 2hkod by Hariyama while 2-3kod by HP Ground.
I went as far as considering HP fire on Obama instead for literally only that matchup, though that'd have made it walled very hard by Fire types and expecially Heatran, so wasn't worth it.
A few battle videos:
Realistically... I don't think I could have played this better outside of simply taking risks.
Both leads were capable of 1hkoing Oranguru without a crit (Crunch from Mega-Sharpedo, and Z-move from Honchkrow). I've tried to get Oranguru then Hariyama in safely to setup TR later on by saccing Abomasnow, which would have allowed Hariyama to KO both enemies, but the AI going for Bulk Up instead of finishing off Drampa essentially killed every hope to win that match. If the double protect worked, I'd have also won, but that was literally praying RNG already.
Both leads were capable of 1hkoing Oranguru without a crit (Crunch from Mega-Sharpedo, and Z-move from Honchkrow). I've tried to get Oranguru then Hariyama in safely to setup TR later on by saccing Abomasnow, which would have allowed Hariyama to KO both enemies, but the AI going for Bulk Up instead of finishing off Drampa essentially killed every hope to win that match. If the double protect worked, I'd have also won, but that was literally praying RNG already.
Just showcasing a "Press Blizzard to Victory" which is the main core of the composition.
Realistically A-ninetales2 is a nuisance more than a problem, but in same fashion as it happened at some other point vs Lapras, I completely forgot it has Ice Shard to that made the match way more difficult than it should have been.
With Snorlax being quite threatening on its own and Ninetales not even remotely able to 1hko Hariyama even with Z-move, I figured the best deal is to flat out Snorlax right away I didn't want to Instruct CC turn 2 as there was the risk of Snorlax if it was 3 protecting and completely wasting the turn, but also did not want to hit Ninetales instead since Snorlax is slower than Oranguru so there was the chance Hariyama would have got KOd by a crit or Fissure and i'd have wasted the turn.
Then Obama happened and things died as expected.
With Snorlax being quite threatening on its own and Ninetales not even remotely able to 1hko Hariyama even with Z-move, I figured the best deal is to flat out Snorlax right away I didn't want to Instruct CC turn 2 as there was the risk of Snorlax if it was 3 protecting and completely wasting the turn, but also did not want to hit Ninetales instead since Snorlax is slower than Oranguru so there was the chance Hariyama would have got KOd by a crit or Fissure and i'd have wasted the turn.
Then Obama happened and things died as expected.
A example of shit lead and why I hate Escavalier. Raichu has sash and can 1hko Hariyama, Escavalier textbook oneshots Oranguru. I can't realistically set TR against Escavalier as it threatens to run me over, so I resorted to play this match without it.
I was blessed this time for a almost irrelevant backline at least.
I was blessed this time for a almost irrelevant backline at least.
Now to the plans for next Ice type, I wonder if I can make Articuno work....
Worldie Escavalier3 is the one you don't want to face; Set 4 is always outsped and only has a Custap Berry. Set3 is LO and hits 36 speed, unfortunately the same as minimalist Drampa. Not sure where Rhyperior poses that big lead threat, as Guts CC easily OHKOs Set 4 if not Solid Rock. The problem comes from treating it passively and letting it use Hammer Arm for the speed drops. Rhyperior3 is largely the same way, and when it leads I almost never see it do anything besides Payback versus Oranguru. Our teams are extremely similar.
You make your fellow setters proud, well done for that. Had I been around during your Grimsley struggle I would have offered some different advice but unfortunately I never got Smuck's call for support until it was far too late :P
You make your fellow setters proud, well done for that. Had I been around during your Grimsley struggle I would have offered some different advice but unfortunately I never got Smuck's call for support until it was far too late :P
Eeeh, I feel just Drampa doesn't fit that comp.
But I can't think of any other replacement that would work.
I actually thought of using Escavalier myself but i'm bothered by the fact it has a hard time dealing with fire and steel types outside of Drill Run, and is quite vulnerable outside of TR.
But I can't think of any other replacement that would work.
I actually thought of using Escavalier myself but i'm bothered by the fact it has a hard time dealing with fire and steel types outside of Drill Run, and is quite vulnerable outside of TR.
Reporting a completed streak of 186.
Sun and Moon introduced a lot of new tools for taking on the Tree, such as the Tapus and Ultra Beasts, Z-Moves, and more. Some of these new tools and playstyles have been completely ignore for all of this gen, so I tried to fix that. Now it's time to unveil my latest team;
Team "All Hail Kommo-O":
Australis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Aurora Veil
- Protect
- Freeze Dry
Pachelbel (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Fake Out
Fortissimo (Kommo-o) @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
Rash Nature
- Clanging Scales (Clangorous Soulblaze)
- Close Combat
- Flamethrower
- Protect
Myxozoa (Nihilego) @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
QR code for anyone who wants to try the team
Special Thanks to all the folks over at the Discord Channel!
Sun and Moon introduced a lot of new tools for taking on the Tree, such as the Tapus and Ultra Beasts, Z-Moves, and more. Some of these new tools and playstyles have been completely ignore for all of this gen, so I tried to fix that. Now it's time to unveil my latest team;
Team "All Hail Kommo-O":
Australis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Aurora Veil
- Protect
- Freeze Dry
The most important part of the team. Once Aurora Veil is set up, Blastiose's already formidable bulk becomes obscene, Kommo-O can take super effective attacks and retaliate, and Nihilego becomes insanely bulky on the special side, and even lives some physical attacks! And don't let the pitiful 81 spA fool you, Ninetales can soften stuff up with it's stabs, allowing Kommo-o, Blastoise, and Nihilego to KO pokemon they could not otherwise, and Ninetales can even take on powerful dragon types such as Salamence, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Latias, Latios, and Kommo-o that the rest of the team struggles with. Ninetales also takes on many rain teams with freeze dry and can also function as some nice bait for attacks with protect at 1HP
Pachelbel (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Fake Out
I was unsure about which fake out user to use in order to ensure Veil would go up. Kangaskhan, Lopunny, even Togedemaru crossed my mind, but none of them could stop Trick Room from going up on enemy teams, and they didn't have enough coverage to satisfy me. I settled on Blastoise for the ability to KO most sand teams with Water Pulse, which overwrite my weather and make it so I cannot set Veil, hit steel types hard with Aura Sphere, and hit TR setters and power psychic types with Dark Pulse. Under Veil, Blastoise can eat up super effective hits such as Thunderbolt and Leaf Storm and hit back hard. 68 speed outspeeds the Rotoms, 164 HP EVs puts him at 175 HP, minimizing hail damage
Fortissimo (Kommo-o) @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
Rash Nature
- Clanging Scales (Clangorous Soulblaze)
- Close Combat
- Flamethrower
- Protect
Kommo-o got a major buff in USUM, earning it usage on many teams it would never have gotten before. Under veil, Kommo-o can safely Clangorous Soulblaze and gain an omniboost. This move can really tip the scales of battle, because once she gets this boost, the game is almost certainly won. Kommo-o can switch into some attacks that even Blastoise cannot take, such as Exeggutor2's Bloom Doom and Raikou3's Gigavolt Havoc. While Clanging Scales and Clangorous Soulblaze are the most spammable moves, Close Combat is essential for Blissey, Snorlax, Bastiodon, and more, and Flamethrower hits stuff like Metagross, Mawile, Rotom-Mow, and Shiinotic. 228 speed allows Kommo-o to outspeed base 130s after a boost, 68 hp and 4 defense allow it to survive Crobat3's brave bird.
Myxozoa (Nihilego) @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
I was initially unsure of Nihilego. It stacked a psychic weakness, took a lot of chip through LO and hail, and was frail on the physical side. However, Nihilego is amazing at what it does. It is perhaps one of the only viable counters to Volcarona and Charizard, being able to KO both forms. Rock coverage is something nearly every Tree team lacks due to accuracy, and having it on this team was amazing. Sludge Bomb and the poison typing allow this otherwordly jellyfish parasite to take on fairies that Kommo-o struggles with, grass types that Blastoise struggles with, and after a beast boost, Nihilego can sweep through teams just as well as Kommo-o. Thunderbolt is there to hit bulky water types in case freeze dry isn't enough.
The most prominent threats to the team:
Gardevoir: Deals heavy damage with Psychic and is unreliable about when it uses it, making a switch to Nihilego unsafe, also is annoyingly bulky.
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gardevoir-Mega: 151-182 (86.2 - 104%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
Alakazam: Oh boy this guy is an asshole to fight. Smacks Kommo-o and Nihilego HARD, can trace beast boost as well so be sure to get Nihil the fuck outta there if you see this guy. Grass Knot makes Blastoise take quite a bit of damage, so try to find a safe opportunity for a Dark Pulse.
Metagross: Fuck this guy as well. Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash hit most of my team for a lot of damage, and Brick Break can shatter my Veil. Generally, Fake Out Metagross and set up Veil, then Dark Pulse the next turn. If you just Dark Pulse turn one there's a chance it won't KO, but waiting a turn lets hail set up a guaranteed KO.
Mawile: This hits HARD with huge power, OHKOing or 2HKOing the whole team, even under Veil. Water Pulse from blastoise does about 60%, so try to get at least one off so Kommo-o can finish the job with flamethrower (Or just water pulse twice if you can)
Gallade: Close Combat does a crapload of damage, psycho cut hits Kommo-o and Nihilego, Rock Slide can flinch, and Destiny Bond can be very annoying. Also cannot be faked out, so treat with caution.
Thundurus: Outspeeds Ninetales so it can hit Blastoise before Veil goes up, has a scary specs set, and set 4 has a prankster taunt that forces me to fake it out every time I see it.
Slaking: Slaking sort of depends on it's allies to be threatening. If it is paired with a weather changer or something that demands a switch, something will die. This mon is manageable with Veil up and protect plays, but makes any switches unsafe.
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ninetales-Alola: 310-366 (209.4 - 247.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 164 HP / 4 Def Blastoise-Mega: 210-247 (120 - 141.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Kommo-o: 202-238 (127 - 149.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Nihilego: 219-258 (118.3 - 139.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
TLDR: Get veil up vs Slaking.
Kommo-o: Not a threat as a frontline due to Ninetales OHKOing it, but if it comes out after Ninetales is dead, it can be very threatening. It can wall Blastoise through typing, which leaves the backline to deal with it. The problem is that if you see it take hail damage, it isn't overcoat and is therefore immune to either Sludge Bomb or Clanging Scales. This can be very scary because you cannot afford to waste a move. If a trainer has Kommo-o, try not to lose Ninetales until it is revealed to not be on the team.
Tyranitar: Sets up sand, nullifying Veil. Both set 3 and set 4 can live Aura Sphere, and set 3 can boost up with DDance, while set 4 can hit Kommo-o with ice fang. Try to get in an Aura Sphere or something so Kommo-o can finish it with Clangorous Soulblaze.
Tornadus: While this mon loses to Nihilego, it can taunt Ninetales, forcing a fake out from Blastoise to prevent that. That can be problematic with another taunt lead, or something else that demands Fake Out.
Honorable Mentions: Latios, Latias, Salamence, Raikou, Ninetales, Electrode, Escavlier, Blissey, Florges, Dusknoir, Togekiss.
Gardevoir: Deals heavy damage with Psychic and is unreliable about when it uses it, making a switch to Nihilego unsafe, also is annoyingly bulky.
252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gardevoir-Mega: 151-182 (86.2 - 104%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
Alakazam: Oh boy this guy is an asshole to fight. Smacks Kommo-o and Nihilego HARD, can trace beast boost as well so be sure to get Nihil the fuck outta there if you see this guy. Grass Knot makes Blastoise take quite a bit of damage, so try to find a safe opportunity for a Dark Pulse.
Metagross: Fuck this guy as well. Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash hit most of my team for a lot of damage, and Brick Break can shatter my Veil. Generally, Fake Out Metagross and set up Veil, then Dark Pulse the next turn. If you just Dark Pulse turn one there's a chance it won't KO, but waiting a turn lets hail set up a guaranteed KO.
Mawile: This hits HARD with huge power, OHKOing or 2HKOing the whole team, even under Veil. Water Pulse from blastoise does about 60%, so try to get at least one off so Kommo-o can finish the job with flamethrower (Or just water pulse twice if you can)
Gallade: Close Combat does a crapload of damage, psycho cut hits Kommo-o and Nihilego, Rock Slide can flinch, and Destiny Bond can be very annoying. Also cannot be faked out, so treat with caution.
Thundurus: Outspeeds Ninetales so it can hit Blastoise before Veil goes up, has a scary specs set, and set 4 has a prankster taunt that forces me to fake it out every time I see it.
Slaking: Slaking sort of depends on it's allies to be threatening. If it is paired with a weather changer or something that demands a switch, something will die. This mon is manageable with Veil up and protect plays, but makes any switches unsafe.
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ninetales-Alola: 310-366 (209.4 - 247.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 164 HP / 4 Def Blastoise-Mega: 210-247 (120 - 141.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Kommo-o: 202-238 (127 - 149.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Giga Impact vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Nihilego: 219-258 (118.3 - 139.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
TLDR: Get veil up vs Slaking.
Kommo-o: Not a threat as a frontline due to Ninetales OHKOing it, but if it comes out after Ninetales is dead, it can be very threatening. It can wall Blastoise through typing, which leaves the backline to deal with it. The problem is that if you see it take hail damage, it isn't overcoat and is therefore immune to either Sludge Bomb or Clanging Scales. This can be very scary because you cannot afford to waste a move. If a trainer has Kommo-o, try not to lose Ninetales until it is revealed to not be on the team.
Tyranitar: Sets up sand, nullifying Veil. Both set 3 and set 4 can live Aura Sphere, and set 3 can boost up with DDance, while set 4 can hit Kommo-o with ice fang. Try to get in an Aura Sphere or something so Kommo-o can finish it with Clangorous Soulblaze.
Tornadus: While this mon loses to Nihilego, it can taunt Ninetales, forcing a fake out from Blastoise to prevent that. That can be problematic with another taunt lead, or something else that demands Fake Out.
Honorable Mentions: Latios, Latias, Salamence, Raikou, Ninetales, Electrode, Escavlier, Blissey, Florges, Dusknoir, Togekiss.
The Loss: UZ2W-WWWW-WWWG-2SM7 (Battle 187 vs Sightseer Ezra) (Taking down this video to upload more for another writeup)
T1: She led Vikavolt/Volcarona, which prompted a Nihilego switch to tank Vikavolt's hit and OHKO Volcarona with Power Gem before it boosted to uncontrollable levels. I use Veil and switch Blastoise for Nihilego. Vikavolt revealed Vikavolt4 by using Thunder, which made me afraid of mud shot fucking me up. Volcarona reveals set 4 by healing with leftovers.
T2: Nihilego is at around 60%, and I made a very stupid play by attacking Vikavolt with Power Gem and not Volcarona, who was getting far too many boosts. Volcarona quiver dances again, and Ezra sends in Alakazam, a huge threat to the team.
T3: I made a misclick. I meant to switch Nihilego for Blastoise so I wouldn't go down to psychic, but I ended up hitting Sludge Bomb instead. Alakazam traces beast boost and gets a free +1 from killing Nihilego, Volcarona uses Heat Wave and brings Ninetales to it's sash. Ninetales hits Alakazam for ~50% when combined with hail.
T4: I thought Alakazam would go for Grass Knot on Blastoise and Volcarona would Heat Wave, so I used Fake out on Volcarona and tried to kill Alakazam with Moonblast+Hail. Alakazam was not cooperative and instead finished off Ninetales, giving it another free +1.
T5: I knew it would take a miracle to not die versus a +2 SpA Mega Alakazam and a Volcarona with 2 Quiver Dances up. I should have protected Kommo-o and Water Pulsed Alakazam, but I didn't. Volcarona goes for a 3rd Dance, I stupidly tried to Soulblaze, and got rewarded for my efforts with a Psychic OHKOing Kommo-o. At least I killed Alakazam with Water Pulse right afterwards.
T6: Veil wears off, Porygon-Z comes out, Volcarona mutilates Blastoise with a +3 Bug Buzz. A brutal, deserved, and easily prevented loss.
T1: She led Vikavolt/Volcarona, which prompted a Nihilego switch to tank Vikavolt's hit and OHKO Volcarona with Power Gem before it boosted to uncontrollable levels. I use Veil and switch Blastoise for Nihilego. Vikavolt revealed Vikavolt4 by using Thunder, which made me afraid of mud shot fucking me up. Volcarona reveals set 4 by healing with leftovers.
T2: Nihilego is at around 60%, and I made a very stupid play by attacking Vikavolt with Power Gem and not Volcarona, who was getting far too many boosts. Volcarona quiver dances again, and Ezra sends in Alakazam, a huge threat to the team.
T3: I made a misclick. I meant to switch Nihilego for Blastoise so I wouldn't go down to psychic, but I ended up hitting Sludge Bomb instead. Alakazam traces beast boost and gets a free +1 from killing Nihilego, Volcarona uses Heat Wave and brings Ninetales to it's sash. Ninetales hits Alakazam for ~50% when combined with hail.
T4: I thought Alakazam would go for Grass Knot on Blastoise and Volcarona would Heat Wave, so I used Fake out on Volcarona and tried to kill Alakazam with Moonblast+Hail. Alakazam was not cooperative and instead finished off Ninetales, giving it another free +1.
T5: I knew it would take a miracle to not die versus a +2 SpA Mega Alakazam and a Volcarona with 2 Quiver Dances up. I should have protected Kommo-o and Water Pulsed Alakazam, but I didn't. Volcarona goes for a 3rd Dance, I stupidly tried to Soulblaze, and got rewarded for my efforts with a Psychic OHKOing Kommo-o. At least I killed Alakazam with Water Pulse right afterwards.
T6: Veil wears off, Porygon-Z comes out, Volcarona mutilates Blastoise with a +3 Bug Buzz. A brutal, deserved, and easily prevented loss.
Special Thanks to all the folks over at the Discord Channel!
Last edited:
Hai bois.
Reporting second streak dropping at 99 to Grimsley.
Actually surprised this one got so far considering the comp, which will be picked up again once HA starters are available (if it ever happens).
The original team idea featured both HA Incineroar and HA Primarina, which obviously cannot happen, but would have for example made a lot of matchups on the way and including the one I lost with much easier.
The same comp might be picked up again later on if they become available.
Composition:
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 106 Def / 116 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Heavy Slam
This is basically the same Hariyama I used in the other TR streak. Not much to say about it
Oranguru @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 110 SpD / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe, 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Protect
- Instruct
This is also a quite standard Oranguru, EV spread optimized to survive some specific stuff, and the 8 speed EV... because originally the composition featured Incineroar as lead and not Hariyama, so the EVs could make Oranguru faster in TR, and HA incineroar would realistically work way better, but without HA it really just stacks fighting weakness which I didn't want.
Yes I know simply breeding a 1 IV speed Oranguru would have been better, but considering I wasn't even taking the comp seriously due to the lack of the other 2 key components, for now that'll do.
Besides, iirc there's like only a handful of pokes on the Tree that step from 58 to 59 speed, and none of them is a threat for this composition.
I could consider gearing Oranguru to survive the threat that ended the streak (more below) but... we'll see.
Abomasnow @ Abomasnowite
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Protect
- Hidden Power Ground
That's the thing I built the team around, as my current "Project" is to just get Ice types on the board. The main reason for Oranguru as setter is that both the backline mons are very efficient spread moves + Instruct users. Double Blizzard which gets the guaranteed accuracy from Snow Warning is actually... well... how many times we have lost to Glaceon already? Decent damage, 20% freeze chance on both enemyes, plenty of weak mons, STAB and coming from a significant spatk. Most matches that the lead couldnt delete were usually cleaned up by Obama getting on and firing Blizzards.
It's worth noting that having a Hail setter has the added benefit of removing opposer weathers, something that expecially for Sand is quite important as it makes bulky rock types like Tyranitar much easier to kill.
I originally used Stomping Tantrum as coverage against fire and steel types, eventually rebred Abomasnow to get a HP ground one as it's slightly more damage due to the investment and not affected by intimidates.
Drampa @ Life Orb
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 252 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe / 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Flamethrower
I would tecnically be open for ideas to replace Drampa with to attempt again this setup, but aside from using Iron Ball on something (which... I'm not sure is worth the power drop). The spot would want a strong spread move user that doesn't stack Fighting weakness and is not a mega.Drampa which we all hate was the only other spread move user that I considered worth using. I tried Sylveon, but it's relatively too fast for a fully dedicated TR comp.
Ultimately, the stack of a Fighting weakness and Fairy weakness wasn't a good deal as I expected. I mentioned this spot would have just been better with HA primarina, because the typing/bulk would have perfectly fit the other 3 (remember, originally this had Incineroar as Fake Outer), while providing a spread Water move that is accurate, and a strong fairy stab, while also having a pretty significant bulk.
As far as matches go, the main big threats were overally Rhyperior and Escavalier. Rhyperior is near unkillable for my lead, though is a almost clean 1hko for Abomasnow, but the main issue is that one set outspeeds Oranguru while the other doesn't, so I'm at risk if facing unknown set.
Escavalier34 on other hand, underspeeds everything I have, near guaranteed 1hkos Oranguru and Abomasnow even without Sword Dance buffs, threatens 1hko on Drampa as well even though Drampa 1hkos back, and is only 2hkod by Hariyama while 2-3kod by HP Ground.
I went as far as considering HP fire on Obama instead for literally only that matchup, though that'd have made it walled very hard by Fire types and expecially Heatran, so wasn't worth it.
A few battle videos:
Realistically... I don't think I could have played this better outside of simply taking risks.
Both leads were capable of 1hkoing Oranguru without a crit (Crunch from Mega-Sharpedo, and Z-move from Honchkrow). I've tried to get Oranguru then Hariyama in safely to setup TR later on by saccing Abomasnow, which would have allowed Hariyama to KO both enemies, but the AI going for Bulk Up instead of finishing off Drampa essentially killed every hope to win that match. If the double protect worked, I'd have also won, but that was literally praying RNG already.Just showcasing a "Press Blizzard to Victory" which is the main core of the composition.Realistically A-ninetales2 is a nuisance more than a problem, but in same fashion as it happened at some other point vs Lapras, I completely forgot it has Ice Shard to that made the match way more difficult than it should have been.
With Snorlax being quite threatening on its own and Ninetales not even remotely able to 1hko Hariyama even with Z-move, I figured the best deal is to flat out Snorlax right away I didn't want to Instruct CC turn 2 as there was the risk of Snorlax if it was 3 protecting and completely wasting the turn, but also did not want to hit Ninetales instead since Snorlax is slower than Oranguru so there was the chance Hariyama would have got KOd by a crit or Fissure and i'd have wasted the turn.
Then Obama happened and things died as expected.A example of shit lead and why I hate Escavalier. Raichu has sash and can 1hko Hariyama, Escavalier textbook oneshots Oranguru. I can't realistically set TR against Escavalier as it threatens to run me over, so I resorted to play this match without it.
I was blessed this time for a almost irrelevant backline at least.
Now to the plans for next Ice type, I wonder if I can make Articuno work....
For Drampa, I typically use Draco meteor with dragonium z over dragon pulse with life orb, so I have that one time, perfectly accurate nuke if I need it. I also found that, most of the time, hyper voice and flamethrower still had good enough power to do the things that I needed. Also, if you want to somewhat mitigate your fighting and fairy weakness, you could use a TR Chandelure. I’ve been using this set to decent success (in doubles with Hariyama):
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 HP, 4 SpD (0 speed IVs)
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Energy Ball
Chandelure may not be the slowest Pokemon ever, but it’s ‘speed’ can be handy sometimes, especially against other TR teams. It’s typing works well with your team as well; every weakness is covered by a teammate. It also has a strong spread move, and it isn’t weak offensively like Oranguru is (to an extent anyway)
It feels quite unrealistic to use Chandelure as setter for tree: the lack of bulk and worse defensive typing (expecially weakness to rock = rock slides) means it has much more scenarios where it won't set TR.
Unfortunately tree almost forces you in a passive setter because fake out alone can't prevent EVERY attack, and full defensive investment is a necessity.
Now, Chandelure can still be used as TR sweeper with Iron Ball, though.
Unfortunately tree almost forces you in a passive setter because fake out alone can't prevent EVERY attack, and full defensive investment is a necessity.
Now, Chandelure can still be used as TR sweeper with Iron Ball, though.
and all this time i was certain you didnt believe chandelure could serve that purpose, im not sure what to make of your remark lol
You asked Smucks earlier if he possessed or recalled “something I did with speed tiers” and I honestly have no clue what you mean. Otherwise I would have gotten it for you myself. I was only skimming the discord so I didn’t have time to ask. *shrug*
Just got my 50 win stamp in UM Super Singles today and I figured I could post the team I used here for the record. I made it quickly and so it has its problems, but it worked well enough to sweep most early teams I encountered. Playing a battle facility with an actual prepared team was a fun new experience. Looking forward to trying Doubles, seems like it'll take more thought.
Kartana @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
Kartana carried the team with its accurate and strong moves. It could sweep with +Attack Beast Boosts most of the time and had a lot of coverage. Fightinium Z was also helpful to score kills that barely worked otherwise. I think I got this kartana from a Smogon giveaway so it probably wouldn't be eligible for a leaderboard run.
Azumarill (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
- Superpower
Azumarill is one of my favorite pokemon and it fills the role of another sweeper here. I wasn't sure if the Belly Drum strat would work well in Tree but it did save me sometimes when I got the opportunity to use it. The EVs in HP get it to 200 HP which seemed like a nice number. Azumarill can also revenge kill stuff with Aqua Jet.
Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Surf
- Psyshock
Mega Latias takes hits, recovers, and Calm Minds. It takes longer to set up but against stuff like scarf Garchomp that gets baited into Fire Fang from the Kartana lead it can do it without pressure. [/team]
I didn't think 3 "sweepers" would work at first and it probably wouldn't in the really late streaks, but these mons had a good synergy and allowed me to bounce back from bad luck multiple times. Grass/Electric/Bug types/moves are hard to deal with sometimes.
This team had a failed run that got to round 48, which is pretty close. An earlier version had my ingame Decidium Z Decidueye and Scarf on Kartana but they were replaced with Azumarill and Fightinium Z.
Videos:
NDHW-WWWW-WWWG-7SSV - The winning Red battle
547G-WWWW-WWWG-7SU6 - The finakdefeat (Battle 59), I did feel like I could have played better here.
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Leaf Blade
Kartana carried the team with its accurate and strong moves. It could sweep with +Attack Beast Boosts most of the time and had a lot of coverage. Fightinium Z was also helpful to score kills that barely worked otherwise. I think I got this kartana from a Smogon giveaway so it probably wouldn't be eligible for a leaderboard run.
Azumarill (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
- Superpower
Azumarill is one of my favorite pokemon and it fills the role of another sweeper here. I wasn't sure if the Belly Drum strat would work well in Tree but it did save me sometimes when I got the opportunity to use it. The EVs in HP get it to 200 HP which seemed like a nice number. Azumarill can also revenge kill stuff with Aqua Jet.
Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Surf
- Psyshock
Mega Latias takes hits, recovers, and Calm Minds. It takes longer to set up but against stuff like scarf Garchomp that gets baited into Fire Fang from the Kartana lead it can do it without pressure. [/team]
I didn't think 3 "sweepers" would work at first and it probably wouldn't in the really late streaks, but these mons had a good synergy and allowed me to bounce back from bad luck multiple times. Grass/Electric/Bug types/moves are hard to deal with sometimes.
This team had a failed run that got to round 48, which is pretty close. An earlier version had my ingame Decidium Z Decidueye and Scarf on Kartana but they were replaced with Azumarill and Fightinium Z.
Videos:
NDHW-WWWW-WWWG-7SSV - The winning Red battle
547G-WWWW-WWWG-7SU6 - The finakdefeat (Battle 59), I did feel like I could have played better here.
Last edited:
Submitting a streak of 861 in Super Doubles for Sun/Moon. QR Code with the exact same Pokémon used for the streak available here for SM and here for an updated USUM version.
The losing battle: XERG-WWWW-WWWG-55XG vs. Preschooler Niara.
Oh, how bittersweet!
Bitter, because quite obviously, I was hoping to reach 1000 at this point... actually, I was quite confident I would, because my usage of the team had been improving a lot.
But sweet, because firstly, getting so high with this team was not something I remotely had in mind when I started climbing, and secondly, I will admit I was kind of impatient for the streak to end, as weird as it might sound. The main reason I wanted to reach 1000, by now, was just so that I could officially post this streak here and move on. More about this in "The story"... long post warning!
The team:
@ Focus Sash
Modest | Drizzle
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Tailwind / Hurricane / Brine / Protect
I've always loved Pelipper, it looks like such friendly Pokémon! I was really glad (and surprised) when I found out about the buffs it received in Gen 7. And though every member of the team is, in my opinion, essential for it to function well, I would pick Pelipper if I had to pick one all-star member because it helps in more ways than any other member. Tailwind's place on the moveset is very straightforward. Speed control might not appear like much of a priority on a team that features fast sweeper, but with Pelipper's middling speed tier, he is the one benefitting from it the most (though in weather wars, Swampert loves a Tailwind as well). Hurricane also needs no explanation, it's Pelipper's strongest attack, doesn't miss in rain (that's information I learned along the way - I thought the accuracy was just 100% in rain, but it turns out it genuinely never misses, despite evasion boosts/Bright Powder, which is AMAZING in the Tree), and if, like me, you have low expectations on how hard Pelipper can hit, Modest 252 SpAtk Hurricane will surprise you more than once. Most importantly, it's the team's most reliable way of dealing with Grass types, which are otherwise one of the scariest things to face. Confusion is pretty nice, too.
Brine is where I feel I need to make a plea, because I know so many people are prejudiced in favour of Scald. For those unfamiliar, Brine is a weak 65 BP Water move (to be fair, that's only 15 BP less than Scald) that gets boosted to a monstrous 130 BP when the foe's HP is under 50%. I honestly just wanted to try it out and see how useful it would be, with the idea that it may help dealing with very bulky threats that Tapu Koko can only bring down to half (especially Trick Room setters). The more I advanced through my streak, and the least I considered switching to Scald; by now, I would argue with confidence that for this team, Brine is just a superior choice. As I had thought, it's amazing at dealing with the bulkiest threats of the Tree (I'm thinking Cresselia, Uxie, Regigigas, Umbreon, Musharna, etc. They can all be dealt with in a single turn by Tapu Koko + Pelipper thanks to Brine - see KTGG-WWWW-WWWG-568W if you have doubts). But it's also much better than I expected at just dealing damage; the only time where you would pick the Water move over Hurricane is when Water is super-effective, and in those cases, Brine in the rain gets the job done anyway. It OHKOs Incineroar, Arcanine, Entei, Dugtrio, Sandslash, Rhyperior, etc. from full. The only relevant threat that always seemed to live a Brine from full (it's actually a roll, but not in Pelipper's favour) is Magmortar, and since it only ever goes for a Flame Charge into Tapu Koko, it never was a big deal (Koko still outspeeds on the next turn). I genuinely don't think I could have gotten such a high streak without Brine.
And finally, the best of Pelipper's moves (no kidding)... Protect! I mean, let's be real, Protect is there because this is Doubles and it should be there if you're going to be serious about it anyway. But on Pelipper, it's so much more. I don't know what it is about Pelipper, maybe it's those quizzical eyes, or the mystery of what lies inside that oversized beak, but the opponents are just obsessed with it. You may be fooled into thinking Pelipper is just an early-game Pokémon from Gen 3, annoying you on water routes, but the trainers of the Tree, they know. They know he's about to mess up their plans, and they're not willing to let it happen. That Island Guardian shooting Thunders from the sky next to it? Eh, let him be... JUST KILL THE BIRD!
For an unknown reason, Pelipper is a magnet for the opponents' attacks. Not only Electric- and Rock-types attacks, which will definitely go into it if they have that coverage, but also neutral hits that could very well be targeted at Koko. This is not a strict rule, as the AI will sometimes target Koko, but there is a very clear tendency to go after Pelipper, which is why Protect is its best move. In a vast majority of games, I could simply cheese a win by protecting Pelipper turn 1 while Tapu Koko scores a KO, then switch into Swampert turn 2 to tank whatever was targeted at Pelipper (the typing synergy there is amazing), and get another free KO with Koko. Then finish things off with a 3rd Thunder and a Waterfall.
The Focus Sash is necessary because sometimes, you don't have a good switch-in, and you need to ask Pelipper to do his best and hang on to that weird ribbon he's got stored in his beak, just this once. Since Pelipper is a team player, he'll do it, further infuriating the opponent who just wanted to KILL THE BIRD.
@ Choice Specs
Timid | Electric Surge
IVs: 31/4/31/30(HT)/31/30(HT)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power Fire / Volt Switch
As mentioned in the team's history (below), I used to lead with my rain sweeper next to Pelipper, but quickly realized this was not optimal, as the shared Water typing could lead to awkward matchups, so I decided spamming Thunder would be another good way to instantly profit from the rain. I did look at other options but with his speed tier and the opponents' lack of Terrain control, Tapu Koko decided that in the battle facility of his native land, he wasn't going to let any Electric-type rivals stand a chance.
So there we go, Tapu Koko is there to spam Choice Specs Thunders. And I will say, he's been doing a very fine job at it. Like Pelipper's Hurricanes, Thunder never misses in the rain, despite evasion boosts or Bright Powder, which is amazing for the Tree. I could probably stop here, because for 90% of the battles, that's the only relevant information one needs. But since they're here, let's talk about the 3 other moves. Dazzling Gleam, or as I like to call it, Grimsley's Nightmare (see 7MZW-WWWW-WWWG-57BB), is a move you may be familiar with on Tapu Koko. It's famous for not doing much damage at all, because Tapu Koko doesn't have very high Special Attack, and it's not boosted by the Terrain. However, the Choice Specs ensure that if for some reason (you need one) you decide to lock yourself into Dazzling Gleam, the damage will actually not be that bad at all, usually scoring a 2HKO when neutral. Good reasons include: Lightning Rod, Electric/Grass types, Dragon-type trainers, Grimsley.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: yes, that's HP Fire on a rain team. Yes, it's voluntary. The fact is, in the 50-100 stretch, I almost lost to Ferrothorn not once, not twice, but thrice! My Tapu Koko, at the time, was running Grass Knot because I was scared of Gastrodon (turns out I had good reasons to be, since little did I know, Gastrodon-4 actually tanks a Specs Grass Knot anyway - don't run it on this team, it's actually useless). My last near-loss to Ferrothorn was at battle #93, which I forgot to save, but the only reason I won is because Celesteela got a Critical Hit Heavy Slam - who said hax only goes the Tree's way? I realized my team had very few tools to deal with Ferrothorn and was convinced I would lose to it very soon (can't blame me after the trauma of these battles), and yet I wasn't ready to give up Ice Punch on Swampert for Superpower, because in almost all other circumstances, it's a lot worse in the Tree and would hinder me in other battles. Seriously, don't drop Ice Punch, you need it, Grass types will mess you up, and Latios, Latias, Salamence and Dragonite will mock you. The common trend of my Ferrothorn near-losses was that they drrrrraaaaggggggeeedddddd out for a lot of turns, because all I could do was chip damage. Had I had HP Fire on Tapu Koko, I could easily have positioned myself to use it once rain expired. The only problem was, my Tapu Koko didn't have HP Fire. Thankfully, Game Freak heard my prayers and gave us a shiny Tapu Koko event at that very time, so I got myself a nice HP Fire Tapu Koko and never looked back. I haven't encountered many Ferrothorn since, and I used HP Fire on it only once, but knowing it's there makes me sleep better at night, and you can't underestimate the importance of quality sleep time. It's not like there are better uses for this moveslot anyway, whatever you put in there, you're probably almost never going to use it.
Volt Switch is really not as good as I thought it would be in the Tree. Originally, my plan was to click Volt Switch more often than Thunder to go into Swampert, but I soon realized it was way more optimal to stay in and Thunder stuff. Now, the only time I use Volt Switch is if I want to reset the weather instantly (switch out Pelipper + Volt Switch back into Pelipper right away), best used against Mega Charizard Y which is about to Mega and mess up with your rain. It can be useful in a handful of other occasions, for example to Volt Switch into Celesteela if you're about to get Sludge Bombed by Salazzle, or if you expect inaccurate Thunders due to a change in weather or Cloud Nine. All in all, worth having, but rarely worth clicking.
@ Swampertite
Adamant | Torrent -> Swift Swim
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spe
Waterfall / Earthquake / Ice Punch / Protect
Mega Swampert is really fun to use; Waterfall is just so powerful in the rain, and being paired with both Pelipper and Celesteela, he will find plenty of occasions to go for Earthquake when necessary. And while that kind of offensive power usually comes at the cost of either bulk or speed, Mega Swampert knows no such compromise. Mega Swampert biggest enemy in VGC, Intimidate, is pretty rare in the Tree, which makes it an ideal location for him to thrive and drown foes in full-powered streams of rain water.
As a Swampert trainer, you will soon realize, however, that Grass-types are the incarnation of evil. And while you can Ice Punch them or ask your buddy Pelipper to Hurricane them, they will inevitably end up striking fear in your heart, because they're just that malicious. Along with the greatest weapon in their arsenal, Sunny Day, they will force to you switch, Protect, sacrifice your Pokémon, only to find the right position where you can catch them Solar Beaming in the rain. Because of this, I cannot stress enough how necessary having Protect is (I feel I need to say this, as someone I know decided to run Mega Swampert without Protect on a similar team against my advice, and it didn't end well).
Unfortunately, my Swampert is not of the Damp variety, and this is something I would change about this team without hesitation. While it generally doesn't make much of a difference, Explosion is common enough in the Tree to be a big deal, especially since the turn the AI goes for Explosion can usually be predicted, and while some Explosion users do pitiful damage with it, others can clean up the field (hi, Metagross!), and if you can avoid it just by not having Torrent (which will never ever come into play), it's 100% worth.
Another note is that the EVs are very generic and could surely be customized for the Tree much better. I never really felt the need for it because Swampert did a very fine job as it was, and while the maximum speed is absolutely not needed in rain, situations where Swampert is outside of rain are still relatively common, and outspeeding threats on that occasion can be a deal-breaker. I haven't taken the time to look at the Tree's speed tiers and figure out if 252 was really needed in speed, but I'd bet it would be safe to remove a bit for some extra bulk. If I was to start another streak with this team, I'd have a look at that for sure.
@ Leftovers
IVs: 31/30(HT)/31/30(HT)/31/31
Careful | Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 124 Def / 52 SpDef
Heavy Slam / Leech Seed / Wide Guard / Protect
Celesteela, to this team, is like a parent watching the kids play in the rain. They're having their fun, Waterfalling, Thundering, Hurricaning (that's totally a word) through everything and everyone, but sometimes, they'll get a little too enthusiastic and stumble, fall, and things won't be as fun anymore. This is where Celesteela steps in, plants its seeds, and says "hold back, kids, I got this". In the face of the pure evil that is Grass-types, Celesteela will stand tall and say "nope".
The moveset could barely be more standard, but I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. Heavy Slam deals massive damage at all times with minimal investment, because let's face it, Celesteela is a little overweight (I mean, you have big steel beams by design, I'm not criticizing your eating habits Cely). Huge bonus, if the opponent uses Minimize (hi, Blissey and Muk-A!), Heavy Slam never misses and its power doubles (bye, Blissey and Muk-A!). This turns the moment you see "x used Minimize" on your screen from "oh no..." to "lol, you don't know what's coming for you later on". Leech Seed is good because... it can basically 1v4 some teams? Though I will admit, that move gives me anxiety; it can miss, and moves that can miss are not the best in the Tree. Fortunately, thanks tothat chubby layer those thick steel beams, Celesteela can usually afford to miss, maybe even a couple of times, and still be fine.
In the third moveslot, some crazy trainers opt for Flamethrower (I know, I know, outside the Tree, Kartana is a thing), but I decided to give Wide Guard a try, because why not? Actually, my main intent was to counter Hail teams that spammed Blizzard and froze everything in sight. However, I wasn't prepared for how amazingly useful that move would be; it's a life-changer. First, as intended, it does deal with Blizzard spam amazingly well, but I didn't realize how handy it would be to protect Tapu Koko from Earthquakes, protect Pelipper from Rock Slide, and most importantly, block Mega Charizard Y's only Fire-type attack in the Tree, Heat Wave! This is huge, it means this Celesteela can 1v1 Mega Charizard Y and stall it out of PP if necessary. Considering how HUGE of a threat that Pokémon is to the team, this makes Wide Guard all the more valuable. The best part is that the AI doesn't care if you just used Wide Guard; they'll try the spread move again, and again, and again.
Protect is there because it's like Leech Seed's twin sibling, they should never be separated, that's just cruel. Also, this is Doubles, you want Protect anyway (at least, I do).
In general, Celesteela has amazing type synergy with the rest of the team, 4x resisting Grass and being immune to Ground and Poison (Tapu Koko's perfect pairing). Granted, the weakness to Electric-type attacks (which are usually boosted by my own Electric Terrain..... oops?) is unfortunate, but Mega Swampert covers that pretty well. The EV spread was made for the VGC 17 format and I don't recall what my calcs were for (it might take a Koko's Thunderbolt and an Arcanine's Flare Blitz?), but I'm pretty sure they're irrelevant for the Tree. I didn't really care, since it has mixed bulk with a SpDef Beast Boost, which is exactly what I was after. A more optimal defensive spread could probably be created specifically for the Tree, and maybe 80 in Attack isn't actually necessary, but I haven't found myself feeling the need to change it during the streak because it worked as intended.
Because of how my teambuilding process went, I hadn't realized how unoriginal/standard-ish my team was, and I was a little disappointed to find similar ones on the leaderboard already. Oh well, it definitely goes to show how good of a core rain can be in the Tree!
Thank you for reading!
The losing battle: XERG-WWWW-WWWG-55XG vs. Preschooler Niara.
Oh, how bittersweet!
Bitter, because quite obviously, I was hoping to reach 1000 at this point... actually, I was quite confident I would, because my usage of the team had been improving a lot.
But sweet, because firstly, getting so high with this team was not something I remotely had in mind when I started climbing, and secondly, I will admit I was kind of impatient for the streak to end, as weird as it might sound. The main reason I wanted to reach 1000, by now, was just so that I could officially post this streak here and move on. More about this in "The story"... long post warning!
The team:
Modest | Drizzle
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Tailwind / Hurricane / Brine / Protect
I've always loved Pelipper, it looks like such friendly Pokémon! I was really glad (and surprised) when I found out about the buffs it received in Gen 7. And though every member of the team is, in my opinion, essential for it to function well, I would pick Pelipper if I had to pick one all-star member because it helps in more ways than any other member. Tailwind's place on the moveset is very straightforward. Speed control might not appear like much of a priority on a team that features fast sweeper, but with Pelipper's middling speed tier, he is the one benefitting from it the most (though in weather wars, Swampert loves a Tailwind as well). Hurricane also needs no explanation, it's Pelipper's strongest attack, doesn't miss in rain (that's information I learned along the way - I thought the accuracy was just 100% in rain, but it turns out it genuinely never misses, despite evasion boosts/Bright Powder, which is AMAZING in the Tree), and if, like me, you have low expectations on how hard Pelipper can hit, Modest 252 SpAtk Hurricane will surprise you more than once. Most importantly, it's the team's most reliable way of dealing with Grass types, which are otherwise one of the scariest things to face. Confusion is pretty nice, too.
Brine is where I feel I need to make a plea, because I know so many people are prejudiced in favour of Scald. For those unfamiliar, Brine is a weak 65 BP Water move (to be fair, that's only 15 BP less than Scald) that gets boosted to a monstrous 130 BP when the foe's HP is under 50%. I honestly just wanted to try it out and see how useful it would be, with the idea that it may help dealing with very bulky threats that Tapu Koko can only bring down to half (especially Trick Room setters). The more I advanced through my streak, and the least I considered switching to Scald; by now, I would argue with confidence that for this team, Brine is just a superior choice. As I had thought, it's amazing at dealing with the bulkiest threats of the Tree (I'm thinking Cresselia, Uxie, Regigigas, Umbreon, Musharna, etc. They can all be dealt with in a single turn by Tapu Koko + Pelipper thanks to Brine - see KTGG-WWWW-WWWG-568W if you have doubts). But it's also much better than I expected at just dealing damage; the only time where you would pick the Water move over Hurricane is when Water is super-effective, and in those cases, Brine in the rain gets the job done anyway. It OHKOs Incineroar, Arcanine, Entei, Dugtrio, Sandslash, Rhyperior, etc. from full. The only relevant threat that always seemed to live a Brine from full (it's actually a roll, but not in Pelipper's favour) is Magmortar, and since it only ever goes for a Flame Charge into Tapu Koko, it never was a big deal (Koko still outspeeds on the next turn). I genuinely don't think I could have gotten such a high streak without Brine.
And finally, the best of Pelipper's moves (no kidding)... Protect! I mean, let's be real, Protect is there because this is Doubles and it should be there if you're going to be serious about it anyway. But on Pelipper, it's so much more. I don't know what it is about Pelipper, maybe it's those quizzical eyes, or the mystery of what lies inside that oversized beak, but the opponents are just obsessed with it. You may be fooled into thinking Pelipper is just an early-game Pokémon from Gen 3, annoying you on water routes, but the trainers of the Tree, they know. They know he's about to mess up their plans, and they're not willing to let it happen. That Island Guardian shooting Thunders from the sky next to it? Eh, let him be... JUST KILL THE BIRD!
For an unknown reason, Pelipper is a magnet for the opponents' attacks. Not only Electric- and Rock-types attacks, which will definitely go into it if they have that coverage, but also neutral hits that could very well be targeted at Koko. This is not a strict rule, as the AI will sometimes target Koko, but there is a very clear tendency to go after Pelipper, which is why Protect is its best move. In a vast majority of games, I could simply cheese a win by protecting Pelipper turn 1 while Tapu Koko scores a KO, then switch into Swampert turn 2 to tank whatever was targeted at Pelipper (the typing synergy there is amazing), and get another free KO with Koko. Then finish things off with a 3rd Thunder and a Waterfall.
The Focus Sash is necessary because sometimes, you don't have a good switch-in, and you need to ask Pelipper to do his best and hang on to that weird ribbon he's got stored in his beak, just this once. Since Pelipper is a team player, he'll do it, further infuriating the opponent who just wanted to KILL THE BIRD.
Timid | Electric Surge
IVs: 31/4/31/30(HT)/31/30(HT)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power Fire / Volt Switch
As mentioned in the team's history (below), I used to lead with my rain sweeper next to Pelipper, but quickly realized this was not optimal, as the shared Water typing could lead to awkward matchups, so I decided spamming Thunder would be another good way to instantly profit from the rain. I did look at other options but with his speed tier and the opponents' lack of Terrain control, Tapu Koko decided that in the battle facility of his native land, he wasn't going to let any Electric-type rivals stand a chance.
So there we go, Tapu Koko is there to spam Choice Specs Thunders. And I will say, he's been doing a very fine job at it. Like Pelipper's Hurricanes, Thunder never misses in the rain, despite evasion boosts or Bright Powder, which is amazing for the Tree. I could probably stop here, because for 90% of the battles, that's the only relevant information one needs. But since they're here, let's talk about the 3 other moves. Dazzling Gleam, or as I like to call it, Grimsley's Nightmare (see 7MZW-WWWW-WWWG-57BB), is a move you may be familiar with on Tapu Koko. It's famous for not doing much damage at all, because Tapu Koko doesn't have very high Special Attack, and it's not boosted by the Terrain. However, the Choice Specs ensure that if for some reason (you need one) you decide to lock yourself into Dazzling Gleam, the damage will actually not be that bad at all, usually scoring a 2HKO when neutral. Good reasons include: Lightning Rod, Electric/Grass types, Dragon-type trainers, Grimsley.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: yes, that's HP Fire on a rain team. Yes, it's voluntary. The fact is, in the 50-100 stretch, I almost lost to Ferrothorn not once, not twice, but thrice! My Tapu Koko, at the time, was running Grass Knot because I was scared of Gastrodon (turns out I had good reasons to be, since little did I know, Gastrodon-4 actually tanks a Specs Grass Knot anyway - don't run it on this team, it's actually useless). My last near-loss to Ferrothorn was at battle #93, which I forgot to save, but the only reason I won is because Celesteela got a Critical Hit Heavy Slam - who said hax only goes the Tree's way? I realized my team had very few tools to deal with Ferrothorn and was convinced I would lose to it very soon (can't blame me after the trauma of these battles), and yet I wasn't ready to give up Ice Punch on Swampert for Superpower, because in almost all other circumstances, it's a lot worse in the Tree and would hinder me in other battles. Seriously, don't drop Ice Punch, you need it, Grass types will mess you up, and Latios, Latias, Salamence and Dragonite will mock you. The common trend of my Ferrothorn near-losses was that they drrrrraaaaggggggeeedddddd out for a lot of turns, because all I could do was chip damage. Had I had HP Fire on Tapu Koko, I could easily have positioned myself to use it once rain expired. The only problem was, my Tapu Koko didn't have HP Fire. Thankfully, Game Freak heard my prayers and gave us a shiny Tapu Koko event at that very time, so I got myself a nice HP Fire Tapu Koko and never looked back. I haven't encountered many Ferrothorn since, and I used HP Fire on it only once, but knowing it's there makes me sleep better at night, and you can't underestimate the importance of quality sleep time. It's not like there are better uses for this moveslot anyway, whatever you put in there, you're probably almost never going to use it.
Volt Switch is really not as good as I thought it would be in the Tree. Originally, my plan was to click Volt Switch more often than Thunder to go into Swampert, but I soon realized it was way more optimal to stay in and Thunder stuff. Now, the only time I use Volt Switch is if I want to reset the weather instantly (switch out Pelipper + Volt Switch back into Pelipper right away), best used against Mega Charizard Y which is about to Mega and mess up with your rain. It can be useful in a handful of other occasions, for example to Volt Switch into Celesteela if you're about to get Sludge Bombed by Salazzle, or if you expect inaccurate Thunders due to a change in weather or Cloud Nine. All in all, worth having, but rarely worth clicking.
Adamant | Torrent -> Swift Swim
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spe
Waterfall / Earthquake / Ice Punch / Protect
Mega Swampert is really fun to use; Waterfall is just so powerful in the rain, and being paired with both Pelipper and Celesteela, he will find plenty of occasions to go for Earthquake when necessary. And while that kind of offensive power usually comes at the cost of either bulk or speed, Mega Swampert knows no such compromise. Mega Swampert biggest enemy in VGC, Intimidate, is pretty rare in the Tree, which makes it an ideal location for him to thrive and drown foes in full-powered streams of rain water.
As a Swampert trainer, you will soon realize, however, that Grass-types are the incarnation of evil. And while you can Ice Punch them or ask your buddy Pelipper to Hurricane them, they will inevitably end up striking fear in your heart, because they're just that malicious. Along with the greatest weapon in their arsenal, Sunny Day, they will force to you switch, Protect, sacrifice your Pokémon, only to find the right position where you can catch them Solar Beaming in the rain. Because of this, I cannot stress enough how necessary having Protect is (I feel I need to say this, as someone I know decided to run Mega Swampert without Protect on a similar team against my advice, and it didn't end well).
Unfortunately, my Swampert is not of the Damp variety, and this is something I would change about this team without hesitation. While it generally doesn't make much of a difference, Explosion is common enough in the Tree to be a big deal, especially since the turn the AI goes for Explosion can usually be predicted, and while some Explosion users do pitiful damage with it, others can clean up the field (hi, Metagross!), and if you can avoid it just by not having Torrent (which will never ever come into play), it's 100% worth.
Another note is that the EVs are very generic and could surely be customized for the Tree much better. I never really felt the need for it because Swampert did a very fine job as it was, and while the maximum speed is absolutely not needed in rain, situations where Swampert is outside of rain are still relatively common, and outspeeding threats on that occasion can be a deal-breaker. I haven't taken the time to look at the Tree's speed tiers and figure out if 252 was really needed in speed, but I'd bet it would be safe to remove a bit for some extra bulk. If I was to start another streak with this team, I'd have a look at that for sure.
IVs: 31/30(HT)/31/30(HT)/31/31
Careful | Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 124 Def / 52 SpDef
Heavy Slam / Leech Seed / Wide Guard / Protect
Celesteela, to this team, is like a parent watching the kids play in the rain. They're having their fun, Waterfalling, Thundering, Hurricaning (that's totally a word) through everything and everyone, but sometimes, they'll get a little too enthusiastic and stumble, fall, and things won't be as fun anymore. This is where Celesteela steps in, plants its seeds, and says "hold back, kids, I got this". In the face of the pure evil that is Grass-types, Celesteela will stand tall and say "nope".
The moveset could barely be more standard, but I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. Heavy Slam deals massive damage at all times with minimal investment, because let's face it, Celesteela is a little overweight (I mean, you have big steel beams by design, I'm not criticizing your eating habits Cely). Huge bonus, if the opponent uses Minimize (hi, Blissey and Muk-A!), Heavy Slam never misses and its power doubles (bye, Blissey and Muk-A!). This turns the moment you see "x used Minimize" on your screen from "oh no..." to "lol, you don't know what's coming for you later on". Leech Seed is good because... it can basically 1v4 some teams? Though I will admit, that move gives me anxiety; it can miss, and moves that can miss are not the best in the Tree. Fortunately, thanks to
In the third moveslot, some crazy trainers opt for Flamethrower (I know, I know, outside the Tree, Kartana is a thing), but I decided to give Wide Guard a try, because why not? Actually, my main intent was to counter Hail teams that spammed Blizzard and froze everything in sight. However, I wasn't prepared for how amazingly useful that move would be; it's a life-changer. First, as intended, it does deal with Blizzard spam amazingly well, but I didn't realize how handy it would be to protect Tapu Koko from Earthquakes, protect Pelipper from Rock Slide, and most importantly, block Mega Charizard Y's only Fire-type attack in the Tree, Heat Wave! This is huge, it means this Celesteela can 1v1 Mega Charizard Y and stall it out of PP if necessary. Considering how HUGE of a threat that Pokémon is to the team, this makes Wide Guard all the more valuable. The best part is that the AI doesn't care if you just used Wide Guard; they'll try the spread move again, and again, and again.
Protect is there because it's like Leech Seed's twin sibling, they should never be separated, that's just cruel. Also, this is Doubles, you want Protect anyway (at least, I do).
In general, Celesteela has amazing type synergy with the rest of the team, 4x resisting Grass and being immune to Ground and Poison (Tapu Koko's perfect pairing). Granted, the weakness to Electric-type attacks (which are usually boosted by my own Electric Terrain..... oops?) is unfortunate, but Mega Swampert covers that pretty well. The EV spread was made for the VGC 17 format and I don't recall what my calcs were for (it might take a Koko's Thunderbolt and an Arcanine's Flare Blitz?), but I'm pretty sure they're irrelevant for the Tree. I didn't really care, since it has mixed bulk with a SpDef Beast Boost, which is exactly what I was after. A more optimal defensive spread could probably be created specifically for the Tree, and maybe 80 in Attack isn't actually necessary, but I haven't found myself feeling the need to change it during the streak because it worked as intended.
This streak has been in the works for several months; if I remember properly, I started it somewhere around May or June 2017. While I was very invested into it at first, I took breaks of several months because I found doing that amount of battles extremely tedious.
From Double Duck to... a debatable amount of Ducks
What I love the most about the Tree is grabbing Pokémon from my boxes and trying out a lot of totally different strategies, and this is how this team was born. At the time, I had recently opened my VGC Factory giveaway and my boxes were bursting with Battle-Ready VGC Pokémon, which was amazing for me to test stuff in the Tree.
Among the many things I tried, I tested what was popularly known as "Double Duck" at the time, a lead comprised of Pelipper + Golduck. While fully aware Golduck was probably not the best Swift Swim user I could use in the Tree, I wanted to see how far this would take me. I doubled down on the rain strategy with a Water Spout Mega Blastoise in the back, and Clefairy for redirection (I still had fond memories of how well it served me on my 248 streak with Eevee).
Surprisingly, the team was doing great, and it was a ton of fun to use! Though I quickly found Grass-types to be trouble (who would have thought?). Blastoise wasn't adding much to the team the others couldn't already handle and I desperately needed a physical attacker, so I replaced it with Snorlax to improve my Trick Room matchup. The team did really well for something I put together a bit randomly, I reached 70-something with it.
When the streak came to an end, I knew I wanted to try a more serious version of it for a true streak. I had a ton of ideas but had a really hard time deciding on what to focus on: the Pelipper + Golduck combo, or the Clefairy + Snorlax combo? Those 2 modes to the team were very potent on their own, but didn't support each other with much synergy at all. Since I really wanted Pelipper to be the star, I went with rain, and my first tweak was replacing Golduck with Mega Swampert, which I assumed was a much better Swift Swim user. I tried to create some more synergy in the back by adding Landorus-T to the team for Intimidate and a second partner to Earthquake next to. Lastly, I added Kartana with Fightinium Z since I had a lot of experience using it, it 4x resisted Grass, and the team had an overkill amount of ways to handle Fire-types, so I figured it made sense.
That team felt a lot more solid, and I breezed through until battle 60 against Sina, in which her Abomasnow just destroyed my entire team. The amount of hax in that battle was incredible (3 freezes), and I was definitely upset about losing to hax so early when I felt the team was doing great in general. But after reflecting upon my defeat, I realized that even without hax, Abomasnow was a huge threat to the team that I would always have trouble handling, which signified to me I still had work to do. I wasn't comfortable with Lando's 4x weakness to Ice anymore, so I decided to drop it; at the same time, I also didn't like how many times I started on the backfoot with a Pelipper-Swampert lead; this should have been a lead that allowed me to get quick momentum, not force me to switch around immediately. This is when I realized something to spam Thunder would fit really well on the team, and Tapu Koko pretty much imposed itself as the best option.
Still having Abomasnow nightmares, I wasn't entirely satisfied with that change, since Tapu Koko doesn't help Blizzard spam at all, and my dedicated Steel-type, Kartana, can't handle Blizzard either. After much debate and an exhaustive list of my options, I decided Kartana should either be replaced with Scizor, Aegislash or Celesteela. I first tested with Aegislash because I had one on hand, but it didn't fit that well, being weak to Ground and not appreciating Tailwind that much.
This is about the time I finally was able to catch my first Celesteela in-game for my giveaway, and still being hyped up about that, I added it straight to my team, and never felt the need to even test Scizor after that. Celesteela fit like a glove, it filled every aspect of the team that needed to be covered, and in practice, it was working so well. Finally, I was able to see Snow Warning activate from Abomasnow without breaking a sweat!
After a ton of transformations of which only Pelipper remained, the random Double Duck team was thus turned into what I would at times feel was an invincible rain team. The only change to happen after that point was switching Tapu Koko from my regular one to the shiny one with HP Fire after battle 102; details about this are in Tapu Koko's description.
The grind to the top
After finalizing the team members, I rushed through to 80. I always consider the first 50 a test I should be able to breeze through if my team is good enough, no need for much careful play. Since the highest I had gone with Pelipper was 70-something, I set 80 as my goal before taking the streak seriously.
From that point, I aimed at 100, since it's such a nice number to reach, and I was hoping to get the team on the leaderboard. When I take a streak seriously, I climb up the Tree very slowly, as I research every moveset my opponent has, run calcs whenever I have the slightest doubt, and try to prepare myself for all potential hax that could happen on that turn.
After reaching 100, I set (what I thought to be) my final sight to 250, since my personal record was 248, and I was really hoping to beat it. I didn't have that much hope, having nearly lost to just Ferrothorn several times recently, but to my surprise, Ferrothorn didn't show up too much anymore. The grind to 250 took forever. I would try to never take any chance, research everything, calc everything. It started to get old pretty fast, but the closer I got, the more determined I was to finally beat my record. The 240-250 stretch was really challenging, which I thought was surely not a coincidence. With my Eevee team, I was breezing through, and suddenly, from 240, every single battle was a huge struggle, facing everything the team really didn't like dealing with; it felt scripted. I remember saving every replay because each battle in that stretch was crazy. And what do you know, the very same happened with this team! I saved a ton of replays from 240-250 again, most of them were sun teams (what I eventually learned to fear the most), and after the first couple, I was convinced I would lose again somewhere along that stretch. But I didn't!
Anyway, I ended up reaching 250, which brought a huge feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. But this was only the end of my personal goal. Since I could keep going, I rode the wave of motivation this gave me, until about 325, when I realized this could go on for a long time, and that I wasn't actually so thrilled about it anymore. As I said, what I find the most fun in the Tree is testing all sorts of strategies to see how far they can take me. At that point, I had about 10 different ideas of totally different teams I wanted to test, but couldn't because selecting Super Doubles meant continuing this streak. I started trying it out stuff in regular Doubles, which was less than challenging, but better than nothing.
Months passed, and I was only rarely working on my streak anymore, since I found it tedious. The VGC World Championship came at the end of August, and at that point I was around battle 400. Sam Pandelis' team inspired me to try out a Light Clay Ninetales-A + bulky Xurkitree combination to see if that could be viable at all; as usual, I set to test it in regular Doubles, but paying little attention, I actually selected Super Doubles, probably out of habit. In it throws me, at battle 421, with a completely untested Ninetales + Xurkitree team (with Mandibuzz and Snorlax in the back), putting my streak on the line. The worst part is, I didn't notice the number at all and thought I was just starting a regular Doubles streak, not even noticing the trainers had better Pokémon than they should. On I went until battle 423, where I caught a glimpse of the battle number, realized my mistake, and got a sinking feeling as I had already accepted to move on to the next one (I just mash the button between battles). So I fought 423 with extreme care, praying my streak would not end with the dumb mistake of bringing a random test team. Thankfully, I won, saved the replay for posterity (9X8W-WWWW-WWWG-7TJ8), and couldn't believe how lucky I was my streak hadn't gotten ruined. Thank you Ninetales-A, Xurkitree, Mandibuzz and Snorlax for your contribution to this streak!
This kind of sparked my fire to actually move on with this streak and at least take it to 500 since I was pretty close at that point, so I started working on it more regularly again. I was elated when I actually reached 500, I could barely believe I had doubled my initial goal and was already in the higher parts of the leaderboard. But I didn't want to think about 1000. With the time it took me to get to 500, I had no interest at all in pushing to 1000, it seemed light years away. But at the same time, I didn't want to willingly stop or lose. So I kept going, 10 battles at a time here and there, but slowed down more and more, until USUM came out, and I was somewhere in the 600s. At that point, I decided I had to do something about the streak, otherwise it would remain untouched forever in SM and it would have all been for nothing, as I couldn't even submit that streak here. So I went in, full-aggro mode, only researching trainers or doing calcs when I felt it to be relevant (which is very rarely, as it turns out). By that point, I knew what the threats were, I knew by heart most of the trainers' names, what they can possibly use, and all the different maneuvers I could do around given situations with my team.
So many situations that I would have earlier felt were threatening to my team I now had plans on how to handle, and the team genuinely felt invincible when well-played. I was fully aware that feeling too confident is precisely how streaks come to an end in the Tree, but at the same time, I kind of wanted the streak to end, so I was ok with that. When I passed 823 to take over the 3rd spot on the leaderboard, however, I started to care a little more about not losing, since 1000 started to feel like it was actually in sight, and I knew I could submit my streak and never touch it again at that point without having to lose. And for sure, an ongoing streak of 1000 was a lot nicer than a loss to have on record. But obviously, it wasn't meant to be. I knew my loss, if it ever came, would be to a sun team because they were the only ones I found myself having to play carefully around at that point.
Even on the turn I lost, I still thought I would pull through by Leech Seeding Charizard and stalling out the rest of the game. It was so weird, after overcoming so many close calls, to see it end just like that, because I played a little too carelessly in a very threatening matchup. I pulled through in every other tough situation, surely I will pull through this time as well, right? Nope.
As bummed out as I was, I let out a huge sigh of relief; it's finally over, after so many months. Not that I need to experiment anything anymore in Super Doubles there; I've moved on to the USUM Tree for that by now!
And thus, for me, the end of an era. After my 248 streak, I was fed up with the Tree and wanted to do other stuff, but this one leaves me wanting to make up for the tens of strategies I couldn't test in the last months: I'm inspired to make a ton of runs with new Pokémon! Hopefully, runs that don't go for too long, because as I now found, these long streaks take their toll... though in hindsight, I'm really happy of the accomplishment!
From Double Duck to... a debatable amount of Ducks
What I love the most about the Tree is grabbing Pokémon from my boxes and trying out a lot of totally different strategies, and this is how this team was born. At the time, I had recently opened my VGC Factory giveaway and my boxes were bursting with Battle-Ready VGC Pokémon, which was amazing for me to test stuff in the Tree.
Among the many things I tried, I tested what was popularly known as "Double Duck" at the time, a lead comprised of Pelipper + Golduck. While fully aware Golduck was probably not the best Swift Swim user I could use in the Tree, I wanted to see how far this would take me. I doubled down on the rain strategy with a Water Spout Mega Blastoise in the back, and Clefairy for redirection (I still had fond memories of how well it served me on my 248 streak with Eevee).
Surprisingly, the team was doing great, and it was a ton of fun to use! Though I quickly found Grass-types to be trouble (who would have thought?). Blastoise wasn't adding much to the team the others couldn't already handle and I desperately needed a physical attacker, so I replaced it with Snorlax to improve my Trick Room matchup. The team did really well for something I put together a bit randomly, I reached 70-something with it.
When the streak came to an end, I knew I wanted to try a more serious version of it for a true streak. I had a ton of ideas but had a really hard time deciding on what to focus on: the Pelipper + Golduck combo, or the Clefairy + Snorlax combo? Those 2 modes to the team were very potent on their own, but didn't support each other with much synergy at all. Since I really wanted Pelipper to be the star, I went with rain, and my first tweak was replacing Golduck with Mega Swampert, which I assumed was a much better Swift Swim user. I tried to create some more synergy in the back by adding Landorus-T to the team for Intimidate and a second partner to Earthquake next to. Lastly, I added Kartana with Fightinium Z since I had a lot of experience using it, it 4x resisted Grass, and the team had an overkill amount of ways to handle Fire-types, so I figured it made sense.
That team felt a lot more solid, and I breezed through until battle 60 against Sina, in which her Abomasnow just destroyed my entire team. The amount of hax in that battle was incredible (3 freezes), and I was definitely upset about losing to hax so early when I felt the team was doing great in general. But after reflecting upon my defeat, I realized that even without hax, Abomasnow was a huge threat to the team that I would always have trouble handling, which signified to me I still had work to do. I wasn't comfortable with Lando's 4x weakness to Ice anymore, so I decided to drop it; at the same time, I also didn't like how many times I started on the backfoot with a Pelipper-Swampert lead; this should have been a lead that allowed me to get quick momentum, not force me to switch around immediately. This is when I realized something to spam Thunder would fit really well on the team, and Tapu Koko pretty much imposed itself as the best option.
Still having Abomasnow nightmares, I wasn't entirely satisfied with that change, since Tapu Koko doesn't help Blizzard spam at all, and my dedicated Steel-type, Kartana, can't handle Blizzard either. After much debate and an exhaustive list of my options, I decided Kartana should either be replaced with Scizor, Aegislash or Celesteela. I first tested with Aegislash because I had one on hand, but it didn't fit that well, being weak to Ground and not appreciating Tailwind that much.
This is about the time I finally was able to catch my first Celesteela in-game for my giveaway, and still being hyped up about that, I added it straight to my team, and never felt the need to even test Scizor after that. Celesteela fit like a glove, it filled every aspect of the team that needed to be covered, and in practice, it was working so well. Finally, I was able to see Snow Warning activate from Abomasnow without breaking a sweat!
After a ton of transformations of which only Pelipper remained, the random Double Duck team was thus turned into what I would at times feel was an invincible rain team. The only change to happen after that point was switching Tapu Koko from my regular one to the shiny one with HP Fire after battle 102; details about this are in Tapu Koko's description.
The grind to the top
After finalizing the team members, I rushed through to 80. I always consider the first 50 a test I should be able to breeze through if my team is good enough, no need for much careful play. Since the highest I had gone with Pelipper was 70-something, I set 80 as my goal before taking the streak seriously.
From that point, I aimed at 100, since it's such a nice number to reach, and I was hoping to get the team on the leaderboard. When I take a streak seriously, I climb up the Tree very slowly, as I research every moveset my opponent has, run calcs whenever I have the slightest doubt, and try to prepare myself for all potential hax that could happen on that turn.
After reaching 100, I set (what I thought to be) my final sight to 250, since my personal record was 248, and I was really hoping to beat it. I didn't have that much hope, having nearly lost to just Ferrothorn several times recently, but to my surprise, Ferrothorn didn't show up too much anymore. The grind to 250 took forever. I would try to never take any chance, research everything, calc everything. It started to get old pretty fast, but the closer I got, the more determined I was to finally beat my record. The 240-250 stretch was really challenging, which I thought was surely not a coincidence. With my Eevee team, I was breezing through, and suddenly, from 240, every single battle was a huge struggle, facing everything the team really didn't like dealing with; it felt scripted. I remember saving every replay because each battle in that stretch was crazy. And what do you know, the very same happened with this team! I saved a ton of replays from 240-250 again, most of them were sun teams (what I eventually learned to fear the most), and after the first couple, I was convinced I would lose again somewhere along that stretch. But I didn't!
Looking back, I'm curious about that stretch of threats. I felt that pattern to repeat itself throughout the climb, I would go tens, sometimes hundreds of battles without a problem, and suddenly, about 10 battles in a row would just be the most challenging stuff for my team precisely. It could be coincidence, I'd be curious to hear whether others have had that feeling. If anything, the game may be saving data on what does well against your team (gets more KOs, brings you down to the least amount of HP in total, or something like that) and throw these at you more systematically at times to test you. I don't mean to start any conspiracy thing, I know there's plenty already and most (probably all) are plain superstition, but I'd be interested to see if I'm the only one who had that feeling during a long streak.
Months passed, and I was only rarely working on my streak anymore, since I found it tedious. The VGC World Championship came at the end of August, and at that point I was around battle 400. Sam Pandelis' team inspired me to try out a Light Clay Ninetales-A + bulky Xurkitree combination to see if that could be viable at all; as usual, I set to test it in regular Doubles, but paying little attention, I actually selected Super Doubles, probably out of habit. In it throws me, at battle 421, with a completely untested Ninetales + Xurkitree team (with Mandibuzz and Snorlax in the back), putting my streak on the line. The worst part is, I didn't notice the number at all and thought I was just starting a regular Doubles streak, not even noticing the trainers had better Pokémon than they should. On I went until battle 423, where I caught a glimpse of the battle number, realized my mistake, and got a sinking feeling as I had already accepted to move on to the next one (I just mash the button between battles). So I fought 423 with extreme care, praying my streak would not end with the dumb mistake of bringing a random test team. Thankfully, I won, saved the replay for posterity (9X8W-WWWW-WWWG-7TJ8), and couldn't believe how lucky I was my streak hadn't gotten ruined. Thank you Ninetales-A, Xurkitree, Mandibuzz and Snorlax for your contribution to this streak!
This kind of sparked my fire to actually move on with this streak and at least take it to 500 since I was pretty close at that point, so I started working on it more regularly again. I was elated when I actually reached 500, I could barely believe I had doubled my initial goal and was already in the higher parts of the leaderboard. But I didn't want to think about 1000. With the time it took me to get to 500, I had no interest at all in pushing to 1000, it seemed light years away. But at the same time, I didn't want to willingly stop or lose. So I kept going, 10 battles at a time here and there, but slowed down more and more, until USUM came out, and I was somewhere in the 600s. At that point, I decided I had to do something about the streak, otherwise it would remain untouched forever in SM and it would have all been for nothing, as I couldn't even submit that streak here. So I went in, full-aggro mode, only researching trainers or doing calcs when I felt it to be relevant (which is very rarely, as it turns out). By that point, I knew what the threats were, I knew by heart most of the trainers' names, what they can possibly use, and all the different maneuvers I could do around given situations with my team.
So many situations that I would have earlier felt were threatening to my team I now had plans on how to handle, and the team genuinely felt invincible when well-played. I was fully aware that feeling too confident is precisely how streaks come to an end in the Tree, but at the same time, I kind of wanted the streak to end, so I was ok with that. When I passed 823 to take over the 3rd spot on the leaderboard, however, I started to care a little more about not losing, since 1000 started to feel like it was actually in sight, and I knew I could submit my streak and never touch it again at that point without having to lose. And for sure, an ongoing streak of 1000 was a lot nicer than a loss to have on record. But obviously, it wasn't meant to be. I knew my loss, if it ever came, would be to a sun team because they were the only ones I found myself having to play carefully around at that point.
Even on the turn I lost, I still thought I would pull through by Leech Seeding Charizard and stalling out the rest of the game. It was so weird, after overcoming so many close calls, to see it end just like that, because I played a little too carelessly in a very threatening matchup. I pulled through in every other tough situation, surely I will pull through this time as well, right? Nope.
As bummed out as I was, I let out a huge sigh of relief; it's finally over, after so many months. Not that I need to experiment anything anymore in Super Doubles there; I've moved on to the USUM Tree for that by now!
And thus, for me, the end of an era. After my 248 streak, I was fed up with the Tree and wanted to do other stuff, but this one leaves me wanting to make up for the tens of strategies I couldn't test in the last months: I'm inspired to make a ton of runs with new Pokémon! Hopefully, runs that don't go for too long, because as I now found, these long streaks take their toll... though in hindsight, I'm really happy of the accomplishment!
I never took proper notes of the major threats, so I might edit this section sometimes as they come back to mind, but the major ones should be here:
- It's a bit ironic that the #1 threat to a rain team be something it should run over by design. Yes, Water beats Fire. In the early days of the team, I had no fear at all of the sun, and I thought seeing Kiawe was the sign of a easy win (don't get me wrong, it *can* be). But sun teams are not just Fire, they're Fire + Grass, and that's a potent combo. Not only do many Fire Pokémon carry Solar Beam (Delphox, Arcanine, Ninetales, there's a bunch), but they're often accompanied by Grass-types that really couldn't care less about the rain, or 50% accurate Hurricanes. Worse, if you didn't see the sun coming, and you're in with Pelipper and locked into Thunder with Tapu Koko, prepare to suffer your way to victory, because every move you make will need planning. Thankfully, Celesteela can switch in on any Grass move. Oh, wait... it's weak to Fire. The first thing to note about sun teams are these doomed names: Erix, Marianne and Kiawe. Memorize their names and condition yourself to be struck by fear when they appear on your screen. Then accept the challenge and figure things out. Any Pokémon that *may* carry Sunny Day (learn the movesets of the Tree) NEEDS TO BE ELIMINATED BEFORE THEY EVEN MOVE. Sure, there may be other threatening things around, like something that wants to set up Trick Room, or a Salazzle that could OHKO Tapu Koko, but it doesn't matter, take care of the potential Sunny Day user, or you may regret it. If there are 2 of them, see if there's a possibility to KO both, if not, deal with the one most likely to go for Sunny Day. If you have a suspicion that the sun will go up despite your best efforts, don't bother trying your best, switch Pelipper out, usually into Celesteela because you're not trying to catch some Grass-type attack with Swampert, ready to reset the weather. Also, you might want to Volt Switch or Dazzling Gleam to not be caught Thundering in the sun (but go for Thunder if it means eliminating the Sunny Day user!). Drought users are uncommon; but Charizard Y is the most common you'll face. As a lead, you can easily deal with it with Volt Switch, but if it comes from the back while Tapu Koko is locked in Thunder, switch out Pelipper instantly and be ready to sacrifice Koko while fishing for a bit of luck with 50% Thunders. You have no switch-ins, so don't bother saving Koko, and who knows, sometimes you do get lucky. Over time, one learns ways to play the sun matchup and it's not as bad, but the threat always looms.
- Lurantis-4: This could have been part of the "sun" bullet point, but it deserves its own, because this is the single most threatening Pokémon in the entire Tree. Its Quick Claw is ready to pop whenever it will screw you over the most, and change the weather you worked so hard on resetting, making your attacks pretty useless for that turn as well. With the right partner (some Fire type), and with enough Quick Claw bad luck, I don't think one can do much against it, it could just win.
- Venusaur and Leafeon are very threatening as well, but the absence of Quick Claw makes them more manageable. Make sure to Hurricane them on the very first occasion you get.
- Rotom-Mow is a pain since it has coverage to destroy the entire team, but unless it catches you in a bad position, it can be dealt with by baiting attacks. It goes for the 4x super-effective attack it can find, so bait that attack and Protect, and focus on it with the partner, then switch into Celesteela or Swampert depending on what you expect, and repeat. Ice Punch + Hurricane takes care of it. Just be careful of Protecting with Swampert when baiting the Grass move, because one of the sets has Grassium Z, and that hurts a lot.
- Ferrothorn; you may have seen my little story about Ferrothorn in Tapu Koko's description. The few times I faced it post-100 didn't go too bad, but I also made sure to focus on it very early on, because PTSD. Hurricane does a very good chunk of damage, even Thunder does a good amount, so chip it down quickly and it won't be too much of a problem, just don't ignore it while it's using Curse. Or save HP Fire for the end.
- Hail can be bad if you don't have Celesteela to prevent Blizzard spam, make sure to get it in as soon as possible when facing Hail. Something to note is that Abomasnow doesn't carry Grass moves (in the upper Tree anyway, it probably does in the early sets, but they lose their relevance very quickly), so Swampert doesn't mind that matchup so much.
- Sand is.... uh... not threatening. As a matter of fact, both Swampert and Celesteela usually have a field day against sand teams, with or without the rain. Just get Tapu Koko and Pelipper out of there, because they don't like it as much.
- Opposing rain teams are pretty scary. Kingdra can put in work in theory, but it always ended up going for weird move choices against me (Draco/Dragon Pulse/Protect) instead of rain boosted hits. Opposing Mega Swampert underspeed yours and are 2HKOed by Waterfall, so you have the advantage there. Swift Swim Carracosta and Beartic are fairly common but they... uh... still underspeed Tapu Koko in rain... I know, that's embarrassing, don't shame them, that's mean (to be fair, Beartic-4 doesn't, but I have yet to see it on a rain team).
- Any Water-type that benefits from the rain. Swampert, Tapu Koko and Celesteela all take neutral damage from Water attacks, and they don't like receiving boosted ones. Fortunately, Tapu Koko deals with them pretty easily most of them time.
- Trick Room is obviously bad for such a fast team, so I always try to prevent it by doubling into the Trick Room setter. Slowbro/king are especially scary, because they also benefit from the rain. Celesteela is really good not only at stalling out Trick Room but also in general at handling most Trick Room teams matchup-wise.
- Wishiwashi-3 sometimes lives a Thunder thanks to its Wacan Berry, and hits like a truck in the rain. Just be ready for it.
- Eelektross's coverage is really good against the entire team, and you can't OHKO it with anything, so you need the proper positioning to double into it with Waterfall + something else. Really scary to play around if it has a partner that requires your attention as well.
- Fake Out can really ruin your day. Especially if it's paired with a partner that may set up the sun as it often is when facing Kiawe (sometimes Plumeria, too). Kangkashan + Arcanine/Salazzle/Marowak leads are super scary, because it's very unpredictable and picking the wrong moves can punish you very quickly. Just make sure you give privilege to preventing Sunny Day. Against Fake Out users in general, protecting Pelipper is usually best, not only is it their favourite Fake Out target, but preserving the Sash is helpful.
- Gengar: not knowing whether it's Mega or not makes it really tough to handle. Do you switch out Tapu Koko for safety or risk the potential speed tie with Volt Switch? Can you afford Pelipper getting trapped, or will you need to reset the weather? What if it's regular Gengar and you can just KO it with Thunder? You need to use your judgement depending on the situation. In case of doubt, Celesteela and Swampert are pretty safe switches, and Swampert outspeeds and KOs with EQ, but be careful, Mega Gengar has Thunderbolt... boosted by Terrain.
- Raikou-3 has an Electrium Z; don't play the bait game with Pelipper, just switch straight into Swampert.
- Air Balloons. Earthquaking a Pokémon on a Balloon because you missed the message that warned you is really embarassing and flips the tables on you if you're not in a very comfortable position. Gotta pay attention!
- Lightning Rod (from Rhyperior/Marowak/M-Sceptile). The most annoying part is knowing that most of the time, you can just Thunder anyway because they don't even have Lightning Rod. But what if...? Depending on the situation, it may be worth testing it out, but it's usually better not to take a chance.
- Togekiss; it has Grass Knot. Remember it, because I forgot at least 3 times, and I can assure you Swampert remembers.
- Cloud Nine: pay attention to it activating (Drampa and Lickilicky often have it). It nullifies all of your rain benefits, so you might want to do something about it.
- OHKO moves (Fissure, Sheer Cold...). Obvious reasons.
- Scarfed stuff like Darmanitan, Landorus, Terrakion or Garchomp. In case of doubt, and if you can't tank the hit, just switch out Tapu Koko into Celeteela. If they went for Earthquake, they'll withdraw next turn since both of your Pokémon are Flying-types; stunt out on that trainer and bring Tapu Koko back as they switch it out... gottem! In Garchomp's case specifically, you never know if it's scarfed or Mega right away. While Mega isn't scary, because it's slow and handled by your entire team, take no chance and just switch out Koko to scout. If you handle it well, it's a complete non-threat (see replay WTJW-WWWW-WWW5-57MY, lol), but if you don't, it can be annoying.
- Toxapex. Just kidding :P
- It's a bit ironic that the #1 threat to a rain team be something it should run over by design. Yes, Water beats Fire. In the early days of the team, I had no fear at all of the sun, and I thought seeing Kiawe was the sign of a easy win (don't get me wrong, it *can* be). But sun teams are not just Fire, they're Fire + Grass, and that's a potent combo. Not only do many Fire Pokémon carry Solar Beam (Delphox, Arcanine, Ninetales, there's a bunch), but they're often accompanied by Grass-types that really couldn't care less about the rain, or 50% accurate Hurricanes. Worse, if you didn't see the sun coming, and you're in with Pelipper and locked into Thunder with Tapu Koko, prepare to suffer your way to victory, because every move you make will need planning. Thankfully, Celesteela can switch in on any Grass move. Oh, wait... it's weak to Fire. The first thing to note about sun teams are these doomed names: Erix, Marianne and Kiawe. Memorize their names and condition yourself to be struck by fear when they appear on your screen. Then accept the challenge and figure things out. Any Pokémon that *may* carry Sunny Day (learn the movesets of the Tree) NEEDS TO BE ELIMINATED BEFORE THEY EVEN MOVE. Sure, there may be other threatening things around, like something that wants to set up Trick Room, or a Salazzle that could OHKO Tapu Koko, but it doesn't matter, take care of the potential Sunny Day user, or you may regret it. If there are 2 of them, see if there's a possibility to KO both, if not, deal with the one most likely to go for Sunny Day. If you have a suspicion that the sun will go up despite your best efforts, don't bother trying your best, switch Pelipper out, usually into Celesteela because you're not trying to catch some Grass-type attack with Swampert, ready to reset the weather. Also, you might want to Volt Switch or Dazzling Gleam to not be caught Thundering in the sun (but go for Thunder if it means eliminating the Sunny Day user!). Drought users are uncommon; but Charizard Y is the most common you'll face. As a lead, you can easily deal with it with Volt Switch, but if it comes from the back while Tapu Koko is locked in Thunder, switch out Pelipper instantly and be ready to sacrifice Koko while fishing for a bit of luck with 50% Thunders. You have no switch-ins, so don't bother saving Koko, and who knows, sometimes you do get lucky. Over time, one learns ways to play the sun matchup and it's not as bad, but the threat always looms.
- Lurantis-4: This could have been part of the "sun" bullet point, but it deserves its own, because this is the single most threatening Pokémon in the entire Tree. Its Quick Claw is ready to pop whenever it will screw you over the most, and change the weather you worked so hard on resetting, making your attacks pretty useless for that turn as well. With the right partner (some Fire type), and with enough Quick Claw bad luck, I don't think one can do much against it, it could just win.
- Venusaur and Leafeon are very threatening as well, but the absence of Quick Claw makes them more manageable. Make sure to Hurricane them on the very first occasion you get.
- Rotom-Mow is a pain since it has coverage to destroy the entire team, but unless it catches you in a bad position, it can be dealt with by baiting attacks. It goes for the 4x super-effective attack it can find, so bait that attack and Protect, and focus on it with the partner, then switch into Celesteela or Swampert depending on what you expect, and repeat. Ice Punch + Hurricane takes care of it. Just be careful of Protecting with Swampert when baiting the Grass move, because one of the sets has Grassium Z, and that hurts a lot.
- Ferrothorn; you may have seen my little story about Ferrothorn in Tapu Koko's description. The few times I faced it post-100 didn't go too bad, but I also made sure to focus on it very early on, because PTSD. Hurricane does a very good chunk of damage, even Thunder does a good amount, so chip it down quickly and it won't be too much of a problem, just don't ignore it while it's using Curse. Or save HP Fire for the end.
- Hail can be bad if you don't have Celesteela to prevent Blizzard spam, make sure to get it in as soon as possible when facing Hail. Something to note is that Abomasnow doesn't carry Grass moves (in the upper Tree anyway, it probably does in the early sets, but they lose their relevance very quickly), so Swampert doesn't mind that matchup so much.
- Sand is.... uh... not threatening. As a matter of fact, both Swampert and Celesteela usually have a field day against sand teams, with or without the rain. Just get Tapu Koko and Pelipper out of there, because they don't like it as much.
- Opposing rain teams are pretty scary. Kingdra can put in work in theory, but it always ended up going for weird move choices against me (Draco/Dragon Pulse/Protect) instead of rain boosted hits. Opposing Mega Swampert underspeed yours and are 2HKOed by Waterfall, so you have the advantage there. Swift Swim Carracosta and Beartic are fairly common but they... uh... still underspeed Tapu Koko in rain... I know, that's embarrassing, don't shame them, that's mean (to be fair, Beartic-4 doesn't, but I have yet to see it on a rain team).
- Any Water-type that benefits from the rain. Swampert, Tapu Koko and Celesteela all take neutral damage from Water attacks, and they don't like receiving boosted ones. Fortunately, Tapu Koko deals with them pretty easily most of them time.
- Trick Room is obviously bad for such a fast team, so I always try to prevent it by doubling into the Trick Room setter. Slowbro/king are especially scary, because they also benefit from the rain. Celesteela is really good not only at stalling out Trick Room but also in general at handling most Trick Room teams matchup-wise.
- Wishiwashi-3 sometimes lives a Thunder thanks to its Wacan Berry, and hits like a truck in the rain. Just be ready for it.
- Eelektross's coverage is really good against the entire team, and you can't OHKO it with anything, so you need the proper positioning to double into it with Waterfall + something else. Really scary to play around if it has a partner that requires your attention as well.
- Fake Out can really ruin your day. Especially if it's paired with a partner that may set up the sun as it often is when facing Kiawe (sometimes Plumeria, too). Kangkashan + Arcanine/Salazzle/Marowak leads are super scary, because it's very unpredictable and picking the wrong moves can punish you very quickly. Just make sure you give privilege to preventing Sunny Day. Against Fake Out users in general, protecting Pelipper is usually best, not only is it their favourite Fake Out target, but preserving the Sash is helpful.
- Gengar: not knowing whether it's Mega or not makes it really tough to handle. Do you switch out Tapu Koko for safety or risk the potential speed tie with Volt Switch? Can you afford Pelipper getting trapped, or will you need to reset the weather? What if it's regular Gengar and you can just KO it with Thunder? You need to use your judgement depending on the situation. In case of doubt, Celesteela and Swampert are pretty safe switches, and Swampert outspeeds and KOs with EQ, but be careful, Mega Gengar has Thunderbolt... boosted by Terrain.
- Raikou-3 has an Electrium Z; don't play the bait game with Pelipper, just switch straight into Swampert.
- Air Balloons. Earthquaking a Pokémon on a Balloon because you missed the message that warned you is really embarassing and flips the tables on you if you're not in a very comfortable position. Gotta pay attention!
- Lightning Rod (from Rhyperior/Marowak/M-Sceptile). The most annoying part is knowing that most of the time, you can just Thunder anyway because they don't even have Lightning Rod. But what if...? Depending on the situation, it may be worth testing it out, but it's usually better not to take a chance.
- Togekiss; it has Grass Knot. Remember it, because I forgot at least 3 times, and I can assure you Swampert remembers.
- Cloud Nine: pay attention to it activating (Drampa and Lickilicky often have it). It nullifies all of your rain benefits, so you might want to do something about it.
- OHKO moves (Fissure, Sheer Cold...). Obvious reasons.
- Scarfed stuff like Darmanitan, Landorus, Terrakion or Garchomp. In case of doubt, and if you can't tank the hit, just switch out Tapu Koko into Celeteela. If they went for Earthquake, they'll withdraw next turn since both of your Pokémon are Flying-types; stunt out on that trainer and bring Tapu Koko back as they switch it out... gottem! In Garchomp's case specifically, you never know if it's scarfed or Mega right away. While Mega isn't scary, because it's slow and handled by your entire team, take no chance and just switch out Koko to scout. If you handle it well, it's a complete non-threat (see replay WTJW-WWWW-WWW5-57MY, lol), but if you don't, it can be annoying.
- Toxapex. Just kidding :P
- The most important thing with this team is learning to use those 4x weaknesses to your advantage. The AI pretty much always goes for their 4x super-effective move if they have it over any other option, so baiting attacks and protecting with Pelipper or Swampert hands you free turns, and with the very offensive nature of the team, a free turn should usually be a KO. Learning to do this efficiently will allow you to climb really fast with the team, just be careful of Z-moves that break through Protect.
- When Pelipper doesn't outspeed whatever you'd like to attack with it, consider setting up a Tailwind instead of attacking, since there it no drawback (unless the foe has a priority move).
- I know this was mentioned in the Threats section, but I will reiterate it because it's really important: if an opponent's Pokémon could have Sunny Day (you can check the Battle Tree Pokémon list for that), make it your #1 priority to KO it at all times.
- Even though you have several tools to deal with evasion-boosting/Bright Powder/Lax Incense Pokémon, make it a priority, don't take a chance. Your lead has 2 attacks that can never miss, make good use of that power while you have it at hand.
- Don't be afraid to Thunder Pokémon that resist it, it's almost always a 2HKO anyway, and that 30% paralysis chance comes into play too! The same goes with Brine; if they're under 50% HP, resisting Water won't save them.
- Celesteela won't hit the field in most of the games, and that's perfectly fine. Use it as a switch-in for Grass moves, or when the matchup calls for it (vs. Sand, Hail or Trick Room). Otherwise, it slows down the pace of the game a lot, and extending it leads to more opportunities for hax or mispredictions.
- The team has no Z-move, and it doesn't need one. The only Pokémon that could potentially run it, Tapu Koko, benefits a lot more from the Choice Specs, since the extra damage of the Z-move is almost always meaningless (you OHKO stuff anyway), while the lessened damage of the turns where you're not using the Z-move makes a very big difference. If you were using this team in VGC, I would surely advise considering the Z-move on Koko, if only to be able to Protect, but for the Tree, Specs is hands down the better item on this team.
- When Pelipper doesn't outspeed whatever you'd like to attack with it, consider setting up a Tailwind instead of attacking, since there it no drawback (unless the foe has a priority move).
- I know this was mentioned in the Threats section, but I will reiterate it because it's really important: if an opponent's Pokémon could have Sunny Day (you can check the Battle Tree Pokémon list for that), make it your #1 priority to KO it at all times.
- Even though you have several tools to deal with evasion-boosting/Bright Powder/Lax Incense Pokémon, make it a priority, don't take a chance. Your lead has 2 attacks that can never miss, make good use of that power while you have it at hand.
- Don't be afraid to Thunder Pokémon that resist it, it's almost always a 2HKO anyway, and that 30% paralysis chance comes into play too! The same goes with Brine; if they're under 50% HP, resisting Water won't save them.
- Celesteela won't hit the field in most of the games, and that's perfectly fine. Use it as a switch-in for Grass moves, or when the matchup calls for it (vs. Sand, Hail or Trick Room). Otherwise, it slows down the pace of the game a lot, and extending it leads to more opportunities for hax or mispredictions.
- The team has no Z-move, and it doesn't need one. The only Pokémon that could potentially run it, Tapu Koko, benefits a lot more from the Choice Specs, since the extra damage of the Z-move is almost always meaningless (you OHKO stuff anyway), while the lessened damage of the turns where you're not using the Z-move makes a very big difference. If you were using this team in VGC, I would surely advise considering the Z-move on Koko, if only to be able to Protect, but for the Tree, Specs is hands down the better item on this team.
I have more than 60 Battle Videos saved from this streak, and so many good ones I'd love to share, but I had to limit myself to 10 (that's the maximum the PGL allows to upload), so here's my selection:
WMHW-WWWW-WWWG-5DHG (Battle 155): This was a really scary game, in which a surprise Bullet Punch from Metagross really messed up my plans. It comes down to the wire, with Celesteela saving the day.
ZMSG-WWWW-WWWG-7UWS (Battle 244): A really fun battle where a lot of the team's tricks and options get showcased: the power of Thunder + Brine, using Pelipper as bait, using Wide Guard, etc.
WTJW-WWWW-WWW5-57MY (Battle 400): This is a funny one, as well as an example of how to best handle Scarfed Pokémon that lock themselves into Earthquake on turn 1.
DAAW-WWWW-WWWG-57J9 (Battle 420): This one is all but funny, and rather shows how scary facing Kiawe is. The combination of Fake Out + a potential Sunny Day user puts a ton of pressure on me right away. Looking back, I don't think I played it too well, I should have switched into Celesteela before switching it again into Pelipper, instead of going straight Pelipper. Old replays make me realize how much I've improved with using the team!
9X8W-WWWW-WWWG-7TJ8 (Battle 423): As explained in "The story" section, I used a random Ninetales team for 3 games without realizing I was putting my streak on the line. This is the last game I played with that team after realizing my mistake, it was insanely stressful, because the matchup was actually very tough. Dodged an immense bullet, but in hindsight, it's pretty funny this happened.
7MZW-WWWW-WWWG-57BB (Battle 490): Sorry, Grimsley. I swear this happened 80% of the times I faced him. I feel bad for the man.
CXXW-WWWW-WWWG-7TQJ (Battle 673): I should have lost right there. I was playing very carelessly at the time, and after missing the text for Raikou's Air Balloon, I end up switching into Tapu Koko on the same turn I go for Earthquake with Swampert. I was saving Tapu Koko for the very purpose of OHKOing Rotom-W with Thunder, and with Tapu Koko gone, things go downhill very quickly. I get insanely lucky at the end, I 100% deserved to lose this.
KTGG-WWWW-WWWG-568W (Battle 686): This is just to show how amazing Brine is. Yup, that's a Brine doing the same amount of neutral damage as a Specs Thunder.
CLAW-WWWW-WWWG-556Z (Battle 856): I thought I should include one replay of a classic battle against my #1 rival, Erix and his sun team. I hate him and that smug look on his face. The replay shows pretty well how I handled sun by the end of the streak (I adjusted a lot since the early days with the team).
XERG-WWWW-WWWG-55XG (Battle 862): RIP. I don't think this game was an autoloss, but it was a really tough one. When I saw Serperior, I wanted to take care of it right away in case it was Contrary, but somehow forgot I could get Faked Out in the process, which happened (first misplay). Much later on, and after finding out I was in a very tough spot for the endgame, I attempted to double protect with Pelipper, but this was not on purpose, I actually forgot I had just protected... I'm not sure how much this mattered, though. I think the biggest problem and what it came down to, is that I kept trying to switch around to position myself properly while playing around Blastoise's attacks by predicting them. However, it kept switching up its attacks and I ended up mispredicting every single one of them; I think this is what cost me the game. Despite my misplays, I really tried my best with the circumstances and just failed, it happens, I have no regrets other than that double protect. Also, I knew that if I ever lost, it would be to a sun team, so I can't say I was entirely surprised by this outcome. Oh well!
WMHW-WWWW-WWWG-5DHG (Battle 155): This was a really scary game, in which a surprise Bullet Punch from Metagross really messed up my plans. It comes down to the wire, with Celesteela saving the day.
ZMSG-WWWW-WWWG-7UWS (Battle 244): A really fun battle where a lot of the team's tricks and options get showcased: the power of Thunder + Brine, using Pelipper as bait, using Wide Guard, etc.
WTJW-WWWW-WWW5-57MY (Battle 400): This is a funny one, as well as an example of how to best handle Scarfed Pokémon that lock themselves into Earthquake on turn 1.
DAAW-WWWW-WWWG-57J9 (Battle 420): This one is all but funny, and rather shows how scary facing Kiawe is. The combination of Fake Out + a potential Sunny Day user puts a ton of pressure on me right away. Looking back, I don't think I played it too well, I should have switched into Celesteela before switching it again into Pelipper, instead of going straight Pelipper. Old replays make me realize how much I've improved with using the team!
9X8W-WWWW-WWWG-7TJ8 (Battle 423): As explained in "The story" section, I used a random Ninetales team for 3 games without realizing I was putting my streak on the line. This is the last game I played with that team after realizing my mistake, it was insanely stressful, because the matchup was actually very tough. Dodged an immense bullet, but in hindsight, it's pretty funny this happened.
7MZW-WWWW-WWWG-57BB (Battle 490): Sorry, Grimsley. I swear this happened 80% of the times I faced him. I feel bad for the man.
CXXW-WWWW-WWWG-7TQJ (Battle 673): I should have lost right there. I was playing very carelessly at the time, and after missing the text for Raikou's Air Balloon, I end up switching into Tapu Koko on the same turn I go for Earthquake with Swampert. I was saving Tapu Koko for the very purpose of OHKOing Rotom-W with Thunder, and with Tapu Koko gone, things go downhill very quickly. I get insanely lucky at the end, I 100% deserved to lose this.
KTGG-WWWW-WWWG-568W (Battle 686): This is just to show how amazing Brine is. Yup, that's a Brine doing the same amount of neutral damage as a Specs Thunder.
CLAW-WWWW-WWWG-556Z (Battle 856): I thought I should include one replay of a classic battle against my #1 rival, Erix and his sun team. I hate him and that smug look on his face. The replay shows pretty well how I handled sun by the end of the streak (I adjusted a lot since the early days with the team).
XERG-WWWW-WWWG-55XG (Battle 862): RIP. I don't think this game was an autoloss, but it was a really tough one. When I saw Serperior, I wanted to take care of it right away in case it was Contrary, but somehow forgot I could get Faked Out in the process, which happened (first misplay). Much later on, and after finding out I was in a very tough spot for the endgame, I attempted to double protect with Pelipper, but this was not on purpose, I actually forgot I had just protected... I'm not sure how much this mattered, though. I think the biggest problem and what it came down to, is that I kept trying to switch around to position myself properly while playing around Blastoise's attacks by predicting them. However, it kept switching up its attacks and I ended up mispredicting every single one of them; I think this is what cost me the game. Despite my misplays, I really tried my best with the circumstances and just failed, it happens, I have no regrets other than that double protect. Also, I knew that if I ever lost, it would be to a sun team, so I can't say I was entirely surprised by this outcome. Oh well!
Because of how my teambuilding process went, I hadn't realized how unoriginal/standard-ish my team was, and I was a little disappointed to find similar ones on the leaderboard already. Oh well, it definitely goes to show how good of a core rain can be in the Tree!
Thank you for reading!
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doipy hooves posting his Sinlges stamp run motivated me to get off my ass and get back to updating things--I has missed numerous streaks in the interim, but the S.R.C. is now back up to date. On top of this, Eisen's most recent streak has given me an excuse to update and fix a couple things on the QR3.
I apologize to everyone for being kinda a bum on keeping up with these listings lately, but I have been wholly engrossed in VC Crystal and haven't been engaging in battle facilities at all. With that said, the whole point of me playing Crystal now will end up looping back around to Tree, eventually...
I apologize to everyone for being kinda a bum on keeping up with these listings lately, but I have been wholly engrossed in VC Crystal and haven't been engaging in battle facilities at all. With that said, the whole point of me playing Crystal now will end up looping back around to Tree, eventually...
Finally made enough progress in Ulta Sun to start running the long-promised Gliscor / Chansey / Mega Slowbro. Got through 50 without much difficulty, but I'm learning a bit with Gliscor, since I've never actually played one in a streak before. Haven't needed to make any clever switch stall plays yet, and I'm sometimes still a bit too eager to just take the easy Toxic KO when granting a set-up to Chansey or Slowbro is the safer (if slower) play, but I do feel my play tightening up as I go, which is good.
Chansey and Mega Slowbro are the same ones I've previously used, while Gliscor is the standard Protect / Substitute / Earthquake / Toxic set, with the big change being its Jolly nature. Careful with Special Defense investment seems to have been the most successful to date, but I love the smoother play that going first provides Substitute users, so I'm giving Jolly a shot, especially since as a lead, Gliscor doesn't have to switch into as many attacks, making the reduced Special bulk (hopefully) less of an issue.
Note, however, that unlike Timid Chansey, my previous Speed-for-bulk tradeoff build, I have NOT yet heavily theorymoned Gliscor. I'm sure as I go I'll get a better feel for whether or not Jolly helps or hurts lead Gliscor, but at the moment I'm in play-to-learn mode. Fun to be back climbing the tree though!
Chansey and Mega Slowbro are the same ones I've previously used, while Gliscor is the standard Protect / Substitute / Earthquake / Toxic set, with the big change being its Jolly nature. Careful with Special Defense investment seems to have been the most successful to date, but I love the smoother play that going first provides Substitute users, so I'm giving Jolly a shot, especially since as a lead, Gliscor doesn't have to switch into as many attacks, making the reduced Special bulk (hopefully) less of an issue.
Note, however, that unlike Timid Chansey, my previous Speed-for-bulk tradeoff build, I have NOT yet heavily theorymoned Gliscor. I'm sure as I go I'll get a better feel for whether or not Jolly helps or hurts lead Gliscor, but at the moment I'm in play-to-learn mode. Fun to be back climbing the tree though!
Hey there,
into this reverent silence i want to ask one question about my team. I posted it on page 98 some months ago, changed some things and updated this post many times. I claim it to be the best team i ever created (by whatever that means... ).
Tapu Koko
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid
-Discharge
-Dazzling Gleam
-Grass Knot
-HP Ground --> HP Water (fulfills same role against A-Marowak, but helps against Camerupt and Rotom-Heat)
Raichu
Item: Focus sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid (Naive/Hasty)
-Fake Out
-Discharge
-Helping Hand
-HP Ice
Landorus
Item: Life-Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 20HP/ 4Def/ 228SAtk/ 4SDef/ 252Spd
Timid
-Earthpower
-Sludgebomb
-HP Ice
-Protect
Celesteela
Item: Leftovers (Electric Seed?)
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 156 HP/28 Atk/212 Def/110 SDef/4Spd
Impish
-Leech Seed
-Heavy Slam
-Wide Guard
-Protect
My last battle experience was in the subway. However i didn't ever spent closely as much time theorizing a team than on this one. That's probably because i don't have a 3ds nor these Pokemon, so simply playing it isn't possible ^^ From time to time i found myself figuring tiniest details out - for example gives Naive/Hasty Raichu's Fake Out Chip damage together with other attacks certain KOs over a Timid one, etc.
In short, it's haunting me...
So other than in the previous post where i vaguely mentioned that anyone willed may try it out, this time i ask directly and as the only purpose of this post: Is there anyone willing to try this team?
(I exaggerated a bit; my salvation doesn't depend the whole on it, although it'd be very glad.)
Since i noticed Surf from Raichu is an illegal move, this Raichu turned into a Pokemon easier to achieve (which means: easier than impossible). The other Mons are somehow standard.
Eisenherz : Your description of Steela as a parent watching the kids play really covers what i felt about my own one, haha
So yeah, that's it. Won't revive this team again, don't worry.
Keep battling!
into this reverent silence i want to ask one question about my team. I posted it on page 98 some months ago, changed some things and updated this post many times. I claim it to be the best team i ever created (by whatever that means... ).
Tapu Koko
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid
-Discharge
-Dazzling Gleam
-Grass Knot
-
Raichu
Item: Focus sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid (Naive/Hasty)
-Fake Out
-Discharge
-Helping Hand
-HP Ice
Landorus
Item: Life-Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 20HP/ 4Def/ 228SAtk/ 4SDef/ 252Spd
Timid
-Earthpower
-Sludgebomb
-HP Ice
-Protect
Celesteela
Item: Leftovers (Electric Seed?)
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 156 HP/28 Atk/212 Def/110 SDef/4Spd
Impish
-Leech Seed
-Heavy Slam
-Wide Guard
-Protect
My last battle experience was in the subway. However i didn't ever spent closely as much time theorizing a team than on this one. That's probably because i don't have a 3ds nor these Pokemon, so simply playing it isn't possible ^^ From time to time i found myself figuring tiniest details out - for example gives Naive/Hasty Raichu's Fake Out Chip damage together with other attacks certain KOs over a Timid one, etc.
In short, it's haunting me...
So other than in the previous post where i vaguely mentioned that anyone willed may try it out, this time i ask directly and as the only purpose of this post: Is there anyone willing to try this team?
(I exaggerated a bit; my salvation doesn't depend the whole on it, although it'd be very glad.)
Since i noticed Surf from Raichu is an illegal move, this Raichu turned into a Pokemon easier to achieve (which means: easier than impossible). The other Mons are somehow standard.
Eisenherz : Your description of Steela as a parent watching the kids play really covers what i felt about my own one, haha
So yeah, that's it. Won't revive this team again, don't worry.
Keep battling!
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As note, you'd be surprised to know that Surf on Raichu is actually a legal move... but only with Static, and no egg moves.
Unfortunately, several of us have experimented with Discharge Tapu Koko only to just realize it's... "meh". It really lacks raw damage + forces you to build around it.
Sadly purely looking at it, that comp is very vulnerable to TR and fast mon specialists. A double TR lead can definitely put you in a bad situation, expecially if it's ghost types which aside from Jellicent Koko cannot always 1hko.
Unfortunately, several of us have experimented with Discharge Tapu Koko only to just realize it's... "meh". It really lacks raw damage + forces you to build around it.
Sadly purely looking at it, that comp is very vulnerable to TR and fast mon specialists. A double TR lead can definitely put you in a bad situation, expecially if it's ghost types which aside from Jellicent Koko cannot always 1hko.
Thanks for your comment!
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Well, it is clear that the lack of Tree experience is a issue, because tree actually has A LOT of sand and TR specialists, so the chances of double TR leads or double / even triple ground type is a issue, on top of hail/sand also breaking sash istantly and removing your Lightning rod turn 1.
And since tree runs megas and stuff, for example a Mega-Alakazam tracing Lightning Rod can result in a pretty big disaster.
Mega-kazam is often a big problem for Fake out leads because you are in a situation where if it's Specs Alakazam and is Inner focus, you might waste fake out completely, but if you don't fake out and it's Mega, it can trace one of your abilities, expecially dangerous on things like immunities to your stab or Beast Boost / Speed Boost.
High speed specialists sport several > 120 speed mons on top of 130+ ones and scarfed mons, which as well can cause pretty big problems on a team that has only one fast attackers, and Celesteela who is weak to your own stab.
And since tree runs megas and stuff, for example a Mega-Alakazam tracing Lightning Rod can result in a pretty big disaster.
Mega-kazam is often a big problem for Fake out leads because you are in a situation where if it's Specs Alakazam and is Inner focus, you might waste fake out completely, but if you don't fake out and it's Mega, it can trace one of your abilities, expecially dangerous on things like immunities to your stab or Beast Boost / Speed Boost.
High speed specialists sport several > 120 speed mons on top of 130+ ones and scarfed mons, which as well can cause pretty big problems on a team that has only one fast attackers, and Celesteela who is weak to your own stab.
Hey there,
into this reverent silence i want to ask one question about my team. I posted it on page 98 some months ago, changed some things and updated this post many times. I claim it to be the best team i ever created (by whatever that means... ).
Tapu Koko
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid
-Discharge
-Dazzling Gleam
-Grass Knot
-HP Ground
Raichu
Item: Focus sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SAtk/252Spd
Timid (Naive/Hasty)
-Fake Out
-Discharge
-Helping Hand
-HP Ice
Landorus
Item: Life-Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 20HP/ 4Def/ 228SAtk/ 4SDef/ 252Spd
Timid
-Earthpower
-Sludgebomb
-HP Ice
-Protect
Celesteela
Item: Leftovers (Electric Seed?)
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 156 HP/28 Atk/212 Def/110 SDef/4Spd
Impish
-Leech Seed
-Heavy Slam
-Wide Guard
-Protect
My last battle experience was in the subway. However i didn't ever spent closely as much time theorizing a team than on this one. That's probably because i don't have a 3ds nor these Pokemon, so simply playing it isn't possible ^^ From time to time i found myself figuring tiniest details out - for example gives Naive/Hasty Raichu's Fake Out Chip damage together with other attacks certain KOs over a Timid one, etc.
In short, it's haunting me...
So other than in the previous post where i vaguely mentioned that anyone willed may try it out, this time i ask directly and as the only purpose of this post: Is there anyone willing to try this team?
(I exaggerated a bit; my salvation doesn't depend the whole on it, although it'd be very glad.)
Since i noticed Surf from Raichu is an illegal move, this Raichu turned into a Pokemon easier to achieve (which means: easier than impossible). The other Mons are somehow standard.
Eisenherz : Your description of Steela as a parent watching the kids play really covers what i felt about my own one, haha
So yeah, that's it. Won't revive this team again, don't worry.
Keep battling!
Since your team is using 2 of the Pokémon I've been using a ton recently, I thought I could give my comments on this. First, I think the team looks really fun to use, and I'd be totally willing to try it out. However, I don't have a Tapu Koko with HP Ground, nor an Impish Celesteela. I'm not sure how big of a deal that is, at least for testing, because from my understanding, my Careful Celesteela could be fine there, and I'd be kind of curious to hear what HP Ground on Koko is for specifically?
One thing I've noticed from using Specs Koko is that locking yourself into anything else than your 2 STABs to OHKO a threat in front of you can be very detrimental if using that move again on the following turn doesn't score you another OHKO. If you lack a switch-in for what's coming, it's really awkward and makes the quick KO not worth it. That's something I noticed from having Grass Knot in the first 100 battles, and every time I actually used it, I instantly regretted it on the following turn. Personally, I would probably never run Grass Knot on Specs Koko again, at least not in Doubles. If anything, I feel like Volt Switch could have more utility than both Grass Knot and HP Ground, but I'm not sure exactly what both aim at accomplishing for the team other than offer coverage, so maybe I'm wrong.
I don't doubt Raichu's damage output if it can get a couple of Lightning Rod boosts, but as you mention, Ground-types are scary, and teams that feature a lot of them at once are extremely common (Hikers tend to have that a lot). They tend to be very bulky, so despite having Grass Knot / HP Ice in your lead, the lead would still lose to them in most occasions. Landorus and Celesteela are both great against these teams offensively, but my biggest concern would be the lack of Rock resist, since a lot of them have EdgeQuake coverage, and Sand Force boosted Stone Edge is no joke even for Celesteela. If I didn't have Swampert to tank Rock-type moves, I don't think my team could have gone that far, I feel like it was a crucial necessity - but since I had rain this is different, and I shouldn't compare the 2 teams too much.
As Worldie pointed out, I would also be concerned about Trick Room (especially when paired with Ground/Rock spam, which is fairly common), but Trick Room trainers might be manageable depending on the situation.
In any case, just from the fact it looks like a lot of fun, I'd gladly give that team a try if you don't mind me having a few different things on it.
Edit: One last comment, I think Leftovers > Electric Seed on Celesteela, because 1. Electric Seed almost forces you to stay in, otherwise your item is just wasted, while Leftovers is good at any time and 2. You can get boosts from Beast Boost anyway to become really tanky. The instant extra bulk is very useful at times I'm sure, but Celesteela is such a useful pivot, I'd value the possibility of switching around more.
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Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nature's Madness
Tapu Lele @ Assault Vest
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
- Moonblast
Kangaskhan-Mega (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Strength
- Power-Up Punch
So this is my team, I've reached ~50 wins with it. Any help?
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nature's Madness
Tapu Lele @ Assault Vest
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
- Moonblast
Kangaskhan-Mega (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Strength
- Power-Up Punch
So this is my team, I've reached ~50 wins with it. Any help?
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With respect to Tapu Koko, both Thunder and Nature's Madness seem questionable. Thunder gives you 10 more base power on Gigavolt Havoc, but leaves you with a pretty dead move afterwards, since Thunder's accuracy makes it a huge liability outside of a dedicated rain team. And HP halving effects like Nature's Madness are difficult to take advantage of, since they don't speed any KOs until you turn a hypotehtical 4HKO into a 3HKO. (The 3HKO being 1. Madness, 2. Madness, 3. move that normally only 4HKOs and can do the final 1/4). This is a narrow situation. I guess Koko can set things up for its partners too, but the situations where a partner can only win if Koko has previously halved the foe's HP with Nature's Madness, rather than hitting it with one of its other moves that turn or just straight switching, are also limited, especially with a well-built team. I'd suggest going with Thunderbolt over Thunder, and accepting the slightly weaker Z-move for the greater overall reliability. Grass Knot seems like a good option to replace Nature's Madness, since it can do a lot of damage to big Ground-types that your Electric-type attacks can't touch.
Your Mega Kanga looks reasonably standard, except for Strength. Max happiness and Return is strictly better. Alternatively, Double-Edge hits like an absolute tank, nabbing some extra OHKOs, but the recoil can be an issue. But either way, Strength just seems wrong.
Finally, with no Substitute and no Rest, your team is extremely vulnerable to status (and OHKO users too). It's difficult to sustain a long streak with such a vulnerability.
Hey guys. Long time lurker, first time poster, reporting in with a super singles streak of 162 thanks to my triple swords dance team. This was a while ago and my team has since been changed a bunch thanks to some help from the discord server, but I thought I might as well post it since it's gotten me my highest streak so far.
Battle no. 100: KSTW-WWWW-WWWG-JKBW
Nothing too special here. Just an easy win against Kiawe. I always save my 100th win
Battle no. 163: YEWG-WWWW-WWWG-JH3H
Trick room was this team's biggest enemy. I believe I could have made it through if mimikyu carried ghostium z rather than mimikium z, allowing kartana to KO heatran and then go into uxie at +1. I later added suicune to my team to absolutely destroy trick room teams like this one.
Anyways, here's team triple D
Ragnir (Garchomp) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Garchy is a well-established lead that often 3-0's if given the slightest chance to set up. Lum berry was my only line of defense against status, letting him get to at least +2 against status users, sometimes even +3 if moves like WoW missed. If the opposing lead is an ice type, I could not risk breaking kartana's sash or mimikyu's disguise and would instead click an appropriate attack to weaken it as much as possible for kartana to come in and start snowballing. In fact, I would never switch chompy out at all unless I knew a poison or dragon type move was incoming. Fire fang was there for little reason in hindsight, mainly to have a way to hit a certain smiling mushroom fairy while also not sacrificing coverage on ferrothorn and the like.
Boot Leg (Mimikyu) @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance
As my failsafe against opposing setup and dragons faster than garchomp, mimikyu was used sparingly. I chose the exclusive Z move over Z-shadow claw due to its higher power against neutral targets and ability to kill opposing dragons without risking a miss. This did ultimately lead to my loss due to not being able to hit a heatran hard enough, but that's in the past now. Mimikyu's role as a boosting priority user was later taken on by the fatter and stronger mega scizor, since its power aside from the Z-move was consistently disappointing.
CartéBlanche (Kartana) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Swords Dance
Kartana functioned as a great stop to evasiveness spam due to the combination of smart strike and sacred sword, while also being able to semi-reliably weaken/KO opposing fire types thanks to sash. It also set up very easily against opposing grass types that had no way to hit it. If garchomp went down, kartana would keep the sweep going, and if it could not KO something important, it would instead be weakened enough for mimikyu to come in and pick it off with an unboosted shadow claw or LSF. Even faster, frail special attackers fell to its mighty, papery edge. It fared poorly against WoW users that it could not immediately KO (many rotom formes), and stuff with priority that took it out after being knocked down to 1 HP.
Battle no. 100: KSTW-WWWW-WWWG-JKBW
Nothing too special here. Just an easy win against Kiawe. I always save my 100th win
Battle no. 163: YEWG-WWWW-WWWG-JH3H
Trick room was this team's biggest enemy. I believe I could have made it through if mimikyu carried ghostium z rather than mimikium z, allowing kartana to KO heatran and then go into uxie at +1. I later added suicune to my team to absolutely destroy trick room teams like this one.
Anyways, here's team triple D
Ragnir (Garchomp) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Garchy is a well-established lead that often 3-0's if given the slightest chance to set up. Lum berry was my only line of defense against status, letting him get to at least +2 against status users, sometimes even +3 if moves like WoW missed. If the opposing lead is an ice type, I could not risk breaking kartana's sash or mimikyu's disguise and would instead click an appropriate attack to weaken it as much as possible for kartana to come in and start snowballing. In fact, I would never switch chompy out at all unless I knew a poison or dragon type move was incoming. Fire fang was there for little reason in hindsight, mainly to have a way to hit a certain smiling mushroom fairy while also not sacrificing coverage on ferrothorn and the like.
Boot Leg (Mimikyu) @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance
As my failsafe against opposing setup and dragons faster than garchomp, mimikyu was used sparingly. I chose the exclusive Z move over Z-shadow claw due to its higher power against neutral targets and ability to kill opposing dragons without risking a miss. This did ultimately lead to my loss due to not being able to hit a heatran hard enough, but that's in the past now. Mimikyu's role as a boosting priority user was later taken on by the fatter and stronger mega scizor, since its power aside from the Z-move was consistently disappointing.
CartéBlanche (Kartana) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Swords Dance
Kartana functioned as a great stop to evasiveness spam due to the combination of smart strike and sacred sword, while also being able to semi-reliably weaken/KO opposing fire types thanks to sash. It also set up very easily against opposing grass types that had no way to hit it. If garchomp went down, kartana would keep the sweep going, and if it could not KO something important, it would instead be weakened enough for mimikyu to come in and pick it off with an unboosted shadow claw or LSF. Even faster, frail special attackers fell to its mighty, papery edge. It fared poorly against WoW users that it could not immediately KO (many rotom formes), and stuff with priority that took it out after being knocked down to 1 HP.
Posting an ongoing streak of 1000 wins in USUM Singles in spite of the epic counterteam from Kukui. JK, he led with non-Defiant Braviary4, which is the best thing he could have led with aside from Snorlax. Surprisingly, I don't feel much of a sense of accomplishment at this milestone. Oh well, that only means I have to keep going until I lose.
March 2019 edit: I have to take some of these BVs down to upload more, so I'm starting with the least important one.
Battle videos:
TBFG WWWW WWWB S8SR - Battle 330. Colress brings the worst possible lineup he can
HQ4G WWWW WWWD NGL5 - Battle 500. Dexio brings Defiant Braviary and Alolan Ninetales
B3FG WWWW WWWF KESA - Battle 794. In the closest battle in the entire run, Rotom-Cut3 Volt Switches out to Moody Glalie3, inducing panic.
N9YW WWWW WWWG LHNW - Battle 854. Reuniclus4.
LFGG WWWW WWWG DJBQ - Battle 900. Colress brings a lineup with a last-mon Metagross4
GE7W WWWW WWWG LH79 - Battle 1,000. An otherwise completely nondescript battle that I wouldn't have even saved if not for the milestone.
This is Team Stalwart. It has not changed since the last time I used it.
Threats:
Freeze-Dry: Freeze Dry hits my entire team for super-effective damage, often OHKOing Salamence and 2HKOing my reserves. If a Freeze-Dry mon shows up as the lead, Mence is often getting sacced. Against Aurorus2, you’ll have to pray that it uses its weather moves instead. Thankfully the Pokemon that have Freeze-Dry are all rare, with the most common(Ninetales4-Alola) also being the least threatening.
Glalie3: OHKOes Salamence and is bulky enough to avoid being OHKOed by return? Check. Outspeeds and heavily damages Gliscor? Check. Has an OHKO move preventing me from lowering its speed with Suicune? Check. Moody is just the icing on the cake here. The one time I faced this in 1600 battles, things went horribly right for me and I escaped defeat.
Metagross4: Still extremely scary to face, but it needs a significant amount of hax in order to blow my team wide open.
Salamence4: Needs substantially less hax to blow a hole in my team, but I have viable backup strategies in case of crits.
Pelipper4: If this comes out and Suicune is not healthy enough, I straight up lose thanks to its bulk, speed investment, and Ice Beam. It also has Hurricane for more hax.
Infiltrator: This team relies heavily on Substitute, and with Infiltrator nullifying one of my best defensive options, my safe strategies are more limited. Noivern4 is the big threat here thanks to Hurricane.
Certain pokes are not overtly threatening by themselves, but instead they can force me into a position that their backups are capable of exploiting. I call these “threat enablers”.
Volt Switch: Often does enough damage to break Salamence’s substitute, leaving me at 75% health with the foe at +0 attack. Some of these pokes also have moves that prevent me from going to Gliscor to block the Volt Switch (for example Rotom-Heat4’s Will-o-Wisp).
Explosion: Gets rid of any debuffs the user has sustained, deals massive damage to Gliscor in all likelihood, and brings in a fresh new poke that could be very nasty. Metagross3 is the biggest threat among Exploders, as it can’t be debuffed and has a very high attack stat (also metagross4 is the bigger threat overall so I have to plan for that instead).
Alakazam34: Set 4 has a 5/16 chance to OHKO Salamence with Dazzling Gleam, but I can’t switch Mence out in fear of set 3 running through my team with powerful Psychics. If set 4 gets a high roll I have to improvise based on what the trainer can use.
Pokemon that force me to immediately evolve Mence and OHKO without any setup: If something that I need Intimidate for comes out next, that’s a bad spot to be in.
March 2019 edit: I have to take some of these BVs down to upload more, so I'm starting with the least important one.
Battle videos:
HQ4G WWWW WWWD NGL5 - Battle 500. Dexio brings Defiant Braviary and Alolan Ninetales
B3FG WWWW WWWF KESA - Battle 794. In the closest battle in the entire run, Rotom-Cut3 Volt Switches out to Moody Glalie3, inducing panic.
N9YW WWWW WWWG LHNW - Battle 854. Reuniclus4.
LFGG WWWW WWWG DJBQ - Battle 900. Colress brings a lineup with a last-mon Metagross4
GE7W WWWW WWWG LH79 - Battle 1,000. An otherwise completely nondescript battle that I wouldn't have even saved if not for the milestone.
This is Team Stalwart. It has not changed since the last time I used it.
Salamence (F) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Substitute
- Roost
- Dragon Dance
I'm not sure what I can say for this other than a direct quote from GG Unit: "This is not a 'Dragon Dance once or twice then sweep' mon. If you want that or are wondering how this beats Rocks or Steels, use Dragonite instead." Usually when you decide to set Mence up, you're aiming for a sweep, and you want to go all the way, or at least as much as feasible. There is a lot you want to set Salamence up against: Non-Rock type physical attackers, anything with a status-inducing move that can't OHKO you, weak Special attackers, Draco Meteor/Overheat/Leaf Storm users (although they may need to be coaxed into using that move). Half the time I can just stay in and set up on their lead, subbing when necessary. In spite of Mence's sweeping capability, it is the mon you will be sacrificing a lot of the time if you can't avoid losing a mon. The EVs outspeed Haxorus non-mega, Salazzle after mega evolving, and outspeed +1 Tyranitar3 at +0 after Mega evolving, while giving Downloaders an Attack boost.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 13 SpA (Hyper Trained)
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
This Suicune may have Calm Mind, but make no mistake: It is a PP staller first and a sweeper second. Scald's burn chance is not something you want to rely on either. It can (and probably will) fail you at the most crucial times. Suicune is my only Ice resist, and is thus the most valuable member of the team. Never leave it in to get killed by a potential Sheer Cold, even if it means that you'll lose Salamence in the process. I say that Suicune is not a sweeper, but at +6 you'll be able to take on the remaining 2 foes. Just don't leave it in to potentially get crit by Thunder and faint with a mystery mon left in the back. The EVs were originally meant to outspeed the Maison's Garchomp4 at -1 while surviving a +2 crit Earthquake from the same Mon, and I left them as is. The speed outspeeds the Tree's Garchomp4, meaning that you won't have to take a Sand-boosted Earthquake for half your health if it comes in as the second mon.
Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 15 SpA
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
Unlike Suicune, this juggernaut doesn't try to hide what it does. It can PP stall nearly any move by itself. While it is best used in conjunction with Suicune to stall out certain move combos from faster Pokemon (Ice Beam/Thunderbolt from Starmie4, for example), it can usually do the same by itself, which helps with keeping Suicune's health high. Often stalling an Ice move out of all its PP is all Salamence needs to find a setup opportunity. However, should you be in a pinch against the lead, you can attempt a Gliscor sweep(which consists of PP stalling their lead until it gives you an opportunity to finish it off with a sub up, then Toxic stalling their backups). As Gliscor shares a 4x Ice weakness with Salamence, you would think it contributes less to the team's defensive synergy than something like Chansey. However, Gliscor provokes leads into using their Ice moves first, leading to less PP stalling required for Mence to set up, and thus, faster battles.
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Substitute
- Roost
- Dragon Dance
I'm not sure what I can say for this other than a direct quote from GG Unit: "This is not a 'Dragon Dance once or twice then sweep' mon. If you want that or are wondering how this beats Rocks or Steels, use Dragonite instead." Usually when you decide to set Mence up, you're aiming for a sweep, and you want to go all the way, or at least as much as feasible. There is a lot you want to set Salamence up against: Non-Rock type physical attackers, anything with a status-inducing move that can't OHKO you, weak Special attackers, Draco Meteor/Overheat/Leaf Storm users (although they may need to be coaxed into using that move). Half the time I can just stay in and set up on their lead, subbing when necessary. In spite of Mence's sweeping capability, it is the mon you will be sacrificing a lot of the time if you can't avoid losing a mon. The EVs outspeed Haxorus non-mega, Salazzle after mega evolving, and outspeed +1 Tyranitar3 at +0 after Mega evolving, while giving Downloaders an Attack boost.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 13 SpA (Hyper Trained)
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
This Suicune may have Calm Mind, but make no mistake: It is a PP staller first and a sweeper second. Scald's burn chance is not something you want to rely on either. It can (and probably will) fail you at the most crucial times. Suicune is my only Ice resist, and is thus the most valuable member of the team. Never leave it in to get killed by a potential Sheer Cold, even if it means that you'll lose Salamence in the process. I say that Suicune is not a sweeper, but at +6 you'll be able to take on the remaining 2 foes. Just don't leave it in to potentially get crit by Thunder and faint with a mystery mon left in the back. The EVs were originally meant to outspeed the Maison's Garchomp4 at -1 while surviving a +2 crit Earthquake from the same Mon, and I left them as is. The speed outspeeds the Tree's Garchomp4, meaning that you won't have to take a Sand-boosted Earthquake for half your health if it comes in as the second mon.
Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 15 SpA
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
Unlike Suicune, this juggernaut doesn't try to hide what it does. It can PP stall nearly any move by itself. While it is best used in conjunction with Suicune to stall out certain move combos from faster Pokemon (Ice Beam/Thunderbolt from Starmie4, for example), it can usually do the same by itself, which helps with keeping Suicune's health high. Often stalling an Ice move out of all its PP is all Salamence needs to find a setup opportunity. However, should you be in a pinch against the lead, you can attempt a Gliscor sweep(which consists of PP stalling their lead until it gives you an opportunity to finish it off with a sub up, then Toxic stalling their backups). As Gliscor shares a 4x Ice weakness with Salamence, you would think it contributes less to the team's defensive synergy than something like Chansey. However, Gliscor provokes leads into using their Ice moves first, leading to less PP stalling required for Mence to set up, and thus, faster battles.
Freeze-Dry: Freeze Dry hits my entire team for super-effective damage, often OHKOing Salamence and 2HKOing my reserves. If a Freeze-Dry mon shows up as the lead, Mence is often getting sacced. Against Aurorus2, you’ll have to pray that it uses its weather moves instead. Thankfully the Pokemon that have Freeze-Dry are all rare, with the most common(Ninetales4-Alola) also being the least threatening.
Glalie3: OHKOes Salamence and is bulky enough to avoid being OHKOed by return? Check. Outspeeds and heavily damages Gliscor? Check. Has an OHKO move preventing me from lowering its speed with Suicune? Check. Moody is just the icing on the cake here. The one time I faced this in 1600 battles, things went horribly right for me and I escaped defeat.
Metagross4: Still extremely scary to face, but it needs a significant amount of hax in order to blow my team wide open.
Salamence4: Needs substantially less hax to blow a hole in my team, but I have viable backup strategies in case of crits.
Pelipper4: If this comes out and Suicune is not healthy enough, I straight up lose thanks to its bulk, speed investment, and Ice Beam. It also has Hurricane for more hax.
Infiltrator: This team relies heavily on Substitute, and with Infiltrator nullifying one of my best defensive options, my safe strategies are more limited. Noivern4 is the big threat here thanks to Hurricane.
Certain pokes are not overtly threatening by themselves, but instead they can force me into a position that their backups are capable of exploiting. I call these “threat enablers”.
Volt Switch: Often does enough damage to break Salamence’s substitute, leaving me at 75% health with the foe at +0 attack. Some of these pokes also have moves that prevent me from going to Gliscor to block the Volt Switch (for example Rotom-Heat4’s Will-o-Wisp).
Explosion: Gets rid of any debuffs the user has sustained, deals massive damage to Gliscor in all likelihood, and brings in a fresh new poke that could be very nasty. Metagross3 is the biggest threat among Exploders, as it can’t be debuffed and has a very high attack stat (also metagross4 is the bigger threat overall so I have to plan for that instead).
Alakazam34: Set 4 has a 5/16 chance to OHKO Salamence with Dazzling Gleam, but I can’t switch Mence out in fear of set 3 running through my team with powerful Psychics. If set 4 gets a high roll I have to improvise based on what the trainer can use.
Pokemon that force me to immediately evolve Mence and OHKO without any setup: If something that I need Intimidate for comes out next, that’s a bad spot to be in.
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Just got my Super Multi Battle stamp for 50 wins after about a week. I'd like to thank Torqan for the general team setup, since it was convenient as I already had Wally, Thundurus, and I could breed a Magikarp up. I used his Thundurus-T/Mega-Gyarados sets as they were (with subpar IVs). Wally had a Garchomp-3 and Magnezone-4. This was really a very tedious challenge to go through, and it involves a ton of luck, so I'm glad it's over. Not much info to talk about since it's almost the same team, most of the problems can be identified at first glance, and most is already known, but I'll do my best.
This has been an interesting learning experience, Tree is serious stuff. Also used a QR Rental Team by Level 51 from here for the Super Doubles stamp so thanks!
BRUH (Thundurus-Therian) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 17 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
Torqan summarized this Thundurus-T well in the original post. He is a powerful nuke that hits a lot super effectively and doesn't get hit by EQ. Garchomp's Earthquake damage lets Thundurus get easy kills most of the time. I leveled and hyper trained his SpA and Spe before the winning run, as I was tired of barely missing KOs on Ice types with Flash Cannon, and found that the extra 7 SpA and 1 Speed would make enough of a difference. Volt Absorb shenanigans with Gyarados were cool to use. I did notice that Alolan Golem-1 would keep ramming into me with Galvanized Double-Edges when it popped up, so I guess the AI doesn't understand that specific interaction.
Mr. fish (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
This Gyarados has some bad IVs that I didn't really care to fix at. Ice Fang is nice for taking down other dragons. I don't have the specific Mega Gallade synergy that Torqan talked about, but Magnezone did take some pressure off Mr. fish sometimes. Mega evolving at the right time is something to keep in mind. The worst is when there's an enemy about to use Rock Slide or Stone Edge and Garchomp's busy Earthquaking.
Wally's team:
Garchomp-3 @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch
Solid guy, does great damage sets up a lot of kills with Earthquake. Usually uses Earthquake which is fine, but he seldom switches out if the enemy is immune. He has done it sometimes and even acknowledged Levitate, so who knows. Seems to use Fire Fang against 4x effective mons and Outrage if there's a dragon or EQ isn't the best choice according to its AI decisions. I've seen this guy use Crunch once. Sand Veil can be fun against a sand team opponent.
Magnezone-4 @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Tri Attack
- Volt Switch
This is where my team diverges from the strat I took, featuring this magnet guy instead of Mega Gallade. I'll take a mon with 4 attacking moves any day. I'd prefer Sturdy but Magnezone is actually pretty durable with its HP investment and Assault Vest. It even survives some Earthquakes if spread. Pretty good bait and hits hard too. Magnezone is the most likely to be in the situation where the AI has to win on its own. It has always lost.
Some pains included Dragon-types that I couldn't OHKO, Garchomp would try to target with Outrage, and end up with a coin flip. I found that some Ice types like Beartic/Glaceon/Glalie/Froslass barely survived Flash Cannon/would just outspeed Thundurus and usually retaliate with Blizzards or Ice Beams. Rotom-Frost basically gets a free Blizzard. Fairies at least tended to use Dazzling Gleam which never KOed Garchomp thanks to spread damage.
Rock types were another underlooked threat that were relevant if EQ didn't take them out. They can easily take out Thundurus and Gyarados, and usually pack a ground move that destroys Magnezone. Also Fake Outters and Trick Room teams just put a wrench in strategies in general. Also, Porygon2's bulky Ice Beam/Blizzards suck, Rotom forms other than Mow can be annoying, Mega Tyranitar survives an EQ/Flash Cannon, Tauros Giga Impacts hit hard, Wacan Braviary exists, and other Garchomp-3s add even more RNG.
Miscellaneous stuff: Sometimes Garchomp triggers a Marowak's Red Card and the Marowak slams Magnezone with Bone Rush. Landorus-2 getting locked into Earth Power can be fun thanks to my team being both Flying-types so Gyarados can set up once the other trainer is dealt with. A specific example of Magnezone "baiting" was a Mega Sceptile opting to Earthquake instead of finish off low HP Thundurus, allowing Thundurus to Sludge Bomb and Magnezone narrowly surviving.
Videos: 8YBG-WWWW-WWWG-QVMS - Winning battle. Easy Red/Blue sets to deal with
3MPG-WWWW-WWWG-QVPM - Battle 49, just surprisingly simple compared to everything else. The rest of the stuff I saved was losses and I ended up filling up my videos so eh.
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 17 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
Torqan summarized this Thundurus-T well in the original post. He is a powerful nuke that hits a lot super effectively and doesn't get hit by EQ. Garchomp's Earthquake damage lets Thundurus get easy kills most of the time. I leveled and hyper trained his SpA and Spe before the winning run, as I was tired of barely missing KOs on Ice types with Flash Cannon, and found that the extra 7 SpA and 1 Speed would make enough of a difference. Volt Absorb shenanigans with Gyarados were cool to use. I did notice that Alolan Golem-1 would keep ramming into me with Galvanized Double-Edges when it popped up, so I guess the AI doesn't understand that specific interaction.
Mr. fish (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
This Gyarados has some bad IVs that I didn't really care to fix at. Ice Fang is nice for taking down other dragons. I don't have the specific Mega Gallade synergy that Torqan talked about, but Magnezone did take some pressure off Mr. fish sometimes. Mega evolving at the right time is something to keep in mind. The worst is when there's an enemy about to use Rock Slide or Stone Edge and Garchomp's busy Earthquaking.
Wally's team:
Garchomp-3 @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch
Solid guy, does great damage sets up a lot of kills with Earthquake. Usually uses Earthquake which is fine, but he seldom switches out if the enemy is immune. He has done it sometimes and even acknowledged Levitate, so who knows. Seems to use Fire Fang against 4x effective mons and Outrage if there's a dragon or EQ isn't the best choice according to its AI decisions. I've seen this guy use Crunch once. Sand Veil can be fun against a sand team opponent.
Magnezone-4 @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Tri Attack
- Volt Switch
This is where my team diverges from the strat I took, featuring this magnet guy instead of Mega Gallade. I'll take a mon with 4 attacking moves any day. I'd prefer Sturdy but Magnezone is actually pretty durable with its HP investment and Assault Vest. It even survives some Earthquakes if spread. Pretty good bait and hits hard too. Magnezone is the most likely to be in the situation where the AI has to win on its own. It has always lost.
Some pains included Dragon-types that I couldn't OHKO, Garchomp would try to target with Outrage, and end up with a coin flip. I found that some Ice types like Beartic/Glaceon/Glalie/Froslass barely survived Flash Cannon/would just outspeed Thundurus and usually retaliate with Blizzards or Ice Beams. Rotom-Frost basically gets a free Blizzard. Fairies at least tended to use Dazzling Gleam which never KOed Garchomp thanks to spread damage.
Rock types were another underlooked threat that were relevant if EQ didn't take them out. They can easily take out Thundurus and Gyarados, and usually pack a ground move that destroys Magnezone. Also Fake Outters and Trick Room teams just put a wrench in strategies in general. Also, Porygon2's bulky Ice Beam/Blizzards suck, Rotom forms other than Mow can be annoying, Mega Tyranitar survives an EQ/Flash Cannon, Tauros Giga Impacts hit hard, Wacan Braviary exists, and other Garchomp-3s add even more RNG.
Miscellaneous stuff: Sometimes Garchomp triggers a Marowak's Red Card and the Marowak slams Magnezone with Bone Rush. Landorus-2 getting locked into Earth Power can be fun thanks to my team being both Flying-types so Gyarados can set up once the other trainer is dealt with. A specific example of Magnezone "baiting" was a Mega Sceptile opting to Earthquake instead of finish off low HP Thundurus, allowing Thundurus to Sludge Bomb and Magnezone narrowly surviving.
Videos: 8YBG-WWWW-WWWG-QVMS - Winning battle. Easy Red/Blue sets to deal with
3MPG-WWWW-WWWG-QVPM - Battle 49, just surprisingly simple compared to everything else. The rest of the stuff I saved was losses and I ended up filling up my videos so eh.
This has been an interesting learning experience, Tree is serious stuff. Also used a QR Rental Team by Level 51 from here for the Super Doubles stamp so thanks!
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