Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

Hello, I noticed in the OLT discussion page that there were multiple posts referencing a team used by Tricking/Rexus for their top finishes but I have been unable to find much info on moves/EVs. Not sure if it is bad manners to ask if someone would be able to share a pokepaste of the team(s)? I know the poke’s are the following:
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Hey dudes

how to build a sand team that isnt that much weak to Rain, Mega Zam and Ash Greninja?
I see some teams running CelePexGrowth as backbone, but i feel that kind of teams are too passive to wear down opposition to enable excadrill clean, or i missing something?
 
Hey dudes

how to build a sand team that isnt that much weak to Rain, Mega Zam and Ash Greninja?
I see some teams running CelePexGrowth as backbone, but i feel that kind of teams are too passive to wear down opposition to enable excadrill clean, or i missing something?
You don't have to run passive walls, you could just as well run more offensive defensive checks such as rotom-w for rain and magearna for alakazam/psychic types in general. You can use this sand team by me for reference.

Side note: Alakazam is not the threat to sand you'd believe it to be as it already get's checked by t-tar and needs to hit focus blast to both kill it and revenge kill excadrill making it inconsistent at handling the playstyle.
 
Would some of you say that sun is a viable weather team template or is it hopelessly outclassed by rain and sand?
Sun is definitely the most offensive weather archetype, as its abusers provide practically 0 defensive utility, so it's harder to use and not as viable. I suppose you could say rain outclasses sun, but i wouldn't say sand outclasses as full sand teams don't exist.

That said, sun has an amazing matchup against rain, which is very common on the ladder, and it's a lot of fun to use, also. Here's a team if you wanna play around with it (you can pm me if you have questions about the sets).
 
Since you guys seem to know a ton about the game, maybe you can help me out.
First Question:
The movepool for ash greninja on Smogon is only the first one, using Hydro Pump/Surf, Dark Pulse, Water Shuriken, Spikes.

Why does it even use Water Shuriken, only becaues of it's increased Priority (I am aware of Grens ability)? I am just a bit surprised because it only has a base power of 60 once it turns into Ash Greninja and it's already a very fast Pokemon, so it seems to me that Surf instead of Water Shuriken could be of more use? That way you have 2 water attacks but one is more powerful if you know Surf is not enough, but Surf is the safe choice if you know it is enough.

Second Question:
Would you ever think it's viable to use 2 Mega Pokemon? I am aware you can only evolve one, but for example Mawile-Mega and Alakazam-Mega could offer you a powerhouse in either Special Attack or Attack, depending on what you need more. And if you notice you need one over the other you use them, but both are still very strong in their normal form. Of course you could just use another physical attacker, but the Mega-Evolution makes them insanely strong, so I am just wondering if that would be worth to consider.
 

Heika

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Why does it even use Water Shuriken, only becaues of it's increased Priority (I am aware of Grens ability)?
Water shuriken allows gren to revenge kill/ clean against faster pokemon like M alakazam, scarf landorus, hawlucha or mawile for instant that.
More over ash gren water shuriken is one of the strongest priority moves in the game, it is as strong as a stab 90 bp move from a 100 bs pokémon.

Would you ever think it's viable to use 2 Mega Pokemon?
I wouldn’t, very few pokemon that are viable while mega are viable while non mega, and even those who are viable while non mega need their held item to be effective.
For instance in your exemple, regular alakazam needs his sash/LO to hope to be viable (and still not be that great) while regular mawile is like PU(?) with an held item, and even though I know tier doesn’t exactly reflect viability, there is no way a pokemon that is PU with an item is viable in Ou without.
Maybe you could consider some, like those who can synergize with weither but I’ll even doubt it.
 
Since you guys seem to know a ton about the game, maybe you can help me out.
First Question:
The movepool for ash greninja on Smogon is only the first one, using Hydro Pump/Surf, Dark Pulse, Water Shuriken, Spikes.

Why does it even use Water Shuriken, only becaues of it's increased Priority (I am aware of Grens ability)? I am just a bit surprised because it only has a base power of 60 once it turns into Ash Greninja and it's already a very fast Pokemon, so it seems to me that Surf instead of Water Shuriken could be of more use? That way you have 2 water attacks but one is more powerful if you know Surf is not enough, but Surf is the safe choice if you know it is enough.

Second Question:
Would you ever think it's viable to use 2 Mega Pokemon? I am aware you can only evolve one, but for example Mawile-Mega and Alakazam-Mega could offer you a powerhouse in either Special Attack or Attack, depending on what you need more. And if you notice you need one over the other you use them, but both are still very strong in their normal form. Of course you could just use another physical attacker, but the Mega-Evolution makes them insanely strong, so I am just wondering if that would be worth to consider.
Let's see if I can help:

1) Yes, Ash-Greninja uses (and greatly enjoys) Water Shuriken because of its priority. While, as you have correctly stated, it's an already fast mon, sometimes you need the extra priority to pick off weakened, faster targets like Tapu Koko (pre Battle-Bond) or Choice Scarf users, and the "offensive water move of choice" role is already covered by either Surf or Hydro Pump. As an added bonus, the fact that Water Shuriken becomes effectively a 60 BP priority move before STAB means that you can abuse Choice Specs Ash-Gren's insane SpA to finish off weakened teams and completely invalidate mons like Choice Scarf Landorus (whom gets 1HKOed iirc).

2) While it's a legitimate idea in theory, it's not that good in practice, especially since only a few select mons are still usable without their Mega (Alakazam and Garchomp for example), and those who are would rather have an actually useful item like a Z-Crystal or a LO instead of "Trick and KO immunity". Too many mons become complete liabilities without their Mega form (Mawile and Lopunny are pathetic, Venusaur loses its defensive utility etc...) and it's just better to work around a single Mega and build from there.
Basically, "forcing" your opponent to have to guess what Mega you have isn't worth gimping your team and losing consistency in the long run.

Hope it helps!
 
A scenario where I can see double megas maybe sorta kinda working is on a sun team with Solar Power Zard Y and Chlorophyll Venusaur. Power up Zard for a second sun setter that isn't hurt by its ability in exchange for a bit of power, or power up Venu for extra bulk and power in exchange for speed. However, this sounds like an incredibly gimmicky strategy on an incredibly niche playstyle.
 
Uxie: a lot of people prefer magic coat over u-turn on this set but in the current meta I find u-turn to be much more useful, it’s inclusion eases the mu vs sash drill leads, gren leads and the slightly rare but still relevant hoopa-u. The idea is to trick room up vs these and then forgo clicking memento and press u-turn for the chip or the ko in hoopa’s case as it will consistently fall after a hyperspace fury def drop, leaving uxie alive also offers potential momentum later in the match as you’ll have a free mon to sac.
Im sry im rly confused about memento, how its good using a skill to lower enemies stats if u die and then he just needs to swap pokemons??
 
Im sry im rly confused about memento, how its good using a skill to lower enemies stats if u die and then he just needs to swap pokemons??
The fact that it'll force your opponent to switch is exactly why it's an appealing option for Trick Room teams; it makes setting up/breaking with 1 of your Pokemon much easier. Keep in mind that Trick Room isn't in a good spot right now, though.
 
Is Sun an unviable playstyle right now? I myself have almost never ran a Sun team, as I consider them "hot garbage", but if I plan on doing just that, what does a standard Sun team consist of?
 

Ruft

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Is Sun an unviable playstyle right now? I myself have almost never ran a Sun team, as I consider them "hot garbage", but if I plan on doing just that, what does a standard Sun team consist of?
I wouldn't say sun is stralght-up unviable, just niche and inconsistent. Sun teams generally consist of a sun setter (generally Torkoal which doubles as a rocker and spinner), Chlorophyll sweeper (generally Venusaur) and one or more Fire-type wallbreakers (generally Mega Charizard X, Victini, Heatran, etc. or sometimes also Mega Charizard Y which doubles as a secondary sun setter). The rest of the team is pretty variable but more often than not consists of a defogger and speed control out of sun.

You should ask Zaza about it who is the expert on sun and knows a lot more about it than me.
 
Why is speed-boosting Kartana a meme, while speed-boosting Blacephalon is good?
Speed boosting Kartana has to give up a huge amount of its power to get it and it gets absolutely stonewalled by its checks while not really offering anything functionally different from its standard SD sets (which can get past its checks). Speed boosting Blacephalon doesn't forego much power, has a much better offensive typing that basically slaughters everything but Tyranitar, has reliable setup options that give it a serious offensive presence versus Stall, and has a much more crucial Speed tier that it would really love to overcome so it can actually outpace Lati@s, Keldeo, Scarf Magnezone, Tornadus-Therian, Greninja, and the like. Most importantly, Speed boosting Sub+CM Blacephalon can kinda reach a middle ground between the immediate power of Specs (though it needs a boost or two to rival it) and the important Speed stat Scarf reaches while still being able to switch its moves at will.

Is Sun an unviable playstyle right now? I myself have almost never ran a Sun team, as I consider them "hot garbage", but if I plan on doing just that, what does a standard Sun team consist of?
Full Sun (Chlorophyll sweepers and dedicated setters like Ninetales and Torkoal) is an extremely awkward archetype to run at the moment, but Torkoal is almost fringe viable because it compresses a lot of roles into one setter though it would be far better suited for the lower power levels of a lower tier than OU (though Drought got banned in UU). If you're running a full-on Sun team you want a dedicated setter like Torkoal plus some wallbreakers plus something like Growth Venusaur (which is the only truly good Chlorophyll abuser). It's an archetype that requires a lot of support because you're using a lot of stuff that requires extremely specific support to even function.

The best "Sun" team I've seen recently isn't technically a dedicated, full-on Sun team: it's mostly just utilizing the dual-wallbreaking core of Zard Y and Choice Band Victini to delete stuff from the game since Victini does such a good job at pressuring the things that can check Zard Y (and in general V-create fucks everything it touches up). I remember seeing an RMT that utilized this core reaching the highest rungs of the OU ladder pretty recently.

If you want to try a full Sun team, I echo Ruft's suggestion that you ask Zaza about how the playstyle works since that guy knows the ins and outs of Sun. This team of his broke 1960 on the ladder and utilizes both Torkoal and Venusaur although Weavile is the star of the show in this post.
 
Ive got a question regarding Chansay aka pink blob. Is it better to run max hp max def or max both def and spdev and ignore the hp? Seeing it both ways nowadays and too lazy to calc or think about it by myself.
 
Ive got a question regarding Chansay aka pink blob. Is it better to run max hp max def or max both def and spdev and ignore the hp? Seeing it both ways nowadays and too lazy to calc or think about it by myself.
Max HP so physical attackers have a harder time breaking through you. Chansey's SpD with Evolite is insane anyway so you don't need to run heavy SpD investment.
 
What would be good team options to pair with a Victini + Mega Charizard Y wallbreaking core?
Darkinium-Z Hydreigon is also a phenomenal teammate for this core as it checks Ash-Gren, who greatly pressures both Zard Y and Choice Band Victini. With the extra Water resistance granted by Zard Y's sunlight Hydreigon can consistently keep even a transformed one in check whilst simultaneously pressuring Heatran - another Sun check - with Earth Power.
 
Hello,
week 3 of Snake Draft is currently in process, so no usage stats yet. u have to wait until the week 3 ends completly :)
Week3 just started so it will take some time tho.
greetings
He is asking for the usage stats of week 1&2 of the 3rd smogon snake draft (current edition).
I also have no clue where to find these tbh
 
Can anyone link me to the usage stats of the Smogon Snake Draft 3? I can't find it anywhere.
Here are the usage stats for week 1 and week 2:

Week 1

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |   17 |  42.50% |  47.06% |
| 2    | Magearna           |   13 |  32.50% |  53.85% |
| 3    | Landorus-Therian   |   12 |  30.00% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Kartana            |   12 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Rotom-Wash         |   12 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Tornadus-Therian   |   11 |  27.50% |  54.55% |
| 7    | Heatran            |   10 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 8    | Greninja           |    9 |  22.50% |  77.78% |
| 9    | Victini            |    7 |  17.50% |  57.14% |
| 9    | Toxapex            |    7 |  17.50% |  57.14% |
| 9    | Tyranitar          |    7 |  17.50% |  57.14% |
| 12   | Latias             |    6 |  15.00% |  83.33% |
| 12   | Ferrothorn         |    6 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Mawile             |    6 |  15.00% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Celesteela         |    6 |  15.00% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Lopunny            |    6 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 17   | Magnezone          |    5 |  12.50% |  80.00% |
| 17   | Gastrodon          |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Excadrill          |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Kommo-o            |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 17   | Chansey            |    5 |  12.50% |  20.00% |
| 22   | Reuniclus          |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 22   | Tapu Bulu          |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 22   | Tapu Lele          |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 22   | Garchomp           |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 26   | Tapu Fini          |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Zapdos             |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Skarmory           |    3 |   7.50% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Clefable           |    3 |   7.50% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Diancie            |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Tapu Koko          |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 32   | Scizor             |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 32   | Mew                |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Sableye            |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Amoonguss          |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Alakazam           |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Volcarona          |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Slowbro            |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Weavile            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Thundurus-Therian  |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Bisharp            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Tangrowth          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Pelipper           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Swampert           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Manaphy            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Latios             |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Hawlucha           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Hydreigon          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Ditto              |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Charizard          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Scolipede          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Shedinja           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Venusaur           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Krookodile         |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Gyarados           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
Week 2

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |   17 |  42.50% |  41.18% |
| 2    | Tornadus-Therian   |   15 |  37.50% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Magearna           |   12 |  30.00% |  58.33% |
| 4    | Ferrothorn         |   11 |  27.50% |  63.64% |
| 4    | Toxapex            |   11 |  27.50% |  36.36% |
| 6    | Landorus-Therian   |   10 |  25.00% |  70.00% |
| 6    | Tapu Fini          |   10 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 8    | Rotom-Wash         |    8 |  20.00% |  75.00% |
| 8    | Greninja           |    8 |  20.00% |  62.50% |
| 10   | Heatran            |    7 |  17.50% |  57.14% |
| 10   | Kartana            |    7 |  17.50% |  42.86% |
| 12   | Zapdos             |    6 |  15.00% |  83.33% |
| 12   | Garchomp           |    6 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Weavile            |    6 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 15   | Mawile             |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 15   | Lopunny            |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 15   | Victini            |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 15   | Celesteela         |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 15   | Tangrowth          |    5 |  12.50% |  20.00% |
| 15   | Tyranitar          |    5 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Scizor             |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Pelipper           |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Swampert           |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Manaphy            |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Excadrill          |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Tapu Koko          |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 27   | Diancie            |    3 |   7.50% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Tapu Bulu          |    3 |   7.50% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Alakazam           |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Serperior          |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Kyurem             |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Clefable           |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Ditto              |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Charizard          |    3 |   7.50% |  33.33% |
| 27   | Magnezone          |    3 |   7.50% |  33.33% |
| 36   | Suicune            |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Gastrodon          |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Venusaur           |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Kommo-o            |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Latias             |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Latios             |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Kyurem-Black       |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Hawlucha           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Keldeo             |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Reuniclus          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Skarmory           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Sableye            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Chansey            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Mew                |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Amoonguss          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Marowak-Alola      |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Jirachi            |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
 
Who would be a good trick room setter for a bulky but slow team? Im using Cresselia after the switch from Magearna, simply because of Garchomp killing Magearna consistently.
 
Who would be a good trick room setter for a bulky but slow team? Im using Cresselia after the switch from Magearna, simply because of Garchomp killing Magearna consistently.
Mag and Cresselia are pretty different Trick Room setters. Magearna uses Trick Room primarily for itself to sweep with team support secondary (and is pretty damn good at it, all things considered, and has one of the few actually viable TR sets), whereas Cresselia uses Trick Room as a support for the rest of the team. If you want a middle ground, you could try Reuniculus. Bronzong is a pretty decent alternative to Cresselia and gives you hazards (Rocks, Explosion, Trick Room and Gyro Ball/Toxic). But Trick Room isn't great, and if your team is just 'bulky but slow' then you should probably just add a mon to cover your remaining weaknesses, and go more for balance or semi-stall than full on trick room which is really hyper offence.
 

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