Community Create-a-Team: SmashPass Polteageist

[cant say]

I’m surprised mine won with all the VISH hype, so I haven’t really thought out how a Polteagiest team would work. I guess we need something that can actually receive a Shell Smash boost!


Mimikyu @ Life Orb*
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak


I know this is the most vanilla nomination of all time and can be done later, but with with all the crazy strong moves being fired off all over the place this gen, Baton Passing anything, let alone -1 defences, is going to get bopped hard without heavy support. Instead, let’s just use a Pokémon that can take 1 attack guaranteed. And if we can’t do the Baton Pass thing, it’s still a Mimikyu!

* item choice is super flexible. We might want the Life Orb on something else

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I figured a good way to start up this was to try mitigate arguably the biggest weakness of smashpass polteageist, which is Mimikyu. The best way to do this traditionally is Psychic Terrain and there is only one autosetter currently in the tier. Wanted something that could at least hang with Dragapult, Rotom, Mimikyu and Excadrill lead.

Indeedee (M) @ Mind Plate
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 124 HP / 44 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Encore
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

Enough speed to outspeed Jolly Excadrill and Adamant Mimikyu, enough defence to take one Adamant LO play rough from Mimikyu. It takes everything from Dragapult except Specs Draco Meteor and Banded Dragon Darts. Forcing opposing dynamax is great since Polteageist can then just smashpass. The Former isn't really an issue, but the latter is. Think as a lead its alright against everything except Dragapult, banded can give issues due to dragon darts OHKOing Polteageist, but perhaps there can be another option in those cases such as a free SD with Mimikyu. The Coverage just hits Ferrothorn/Excadrill and Grimmsnarl hard.

Encore is for those setting up Stealth Rock like Ferrothorn or Excadrill or Hippowdon.

252+ Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Play Rough vs. 124 HP / 44 Def Indeedee: 129-152 (85.4 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
132 SpA Mind Plate Indeedee Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mimikyu in Psychic Terrain: 103-123 (79.2 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Will always KO after Disguise break and LO recoil.

 

[ethan06]

Thinking receivers. My main approach with the Webs setter last round was to bring viability to a heavy hitter with middling speed ... basically what I'm saying is that VISH HYPE ISN'T DEAD

Dracovish @ White Herb
Ability: Strong Jaw
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Substitute

This thing has the bulk and resistances to receive a dry Smash boost and proceed to outspeed and OHKO virtually everything in the game with +2 Fishious Rend. Move freedom counts for a lot compared to Dracovish's usual Choiced sets, and Substitute capitalises on any status-based response besides, like, Grimmsnarl T-Wave. Coverage is pretty redundant on this but +2 Crunch OHKOs max defense Jellicent and Psychic Fangs allows us to do slightly more to Toxapex. Setting terrain with Max Mindstorm is also nice. There's probably a better EV spread given how excessive Vish's offensive stats get with Shell Smash, and there's also the possibility of just going Choiced so that it isn't totally reliant on Shell Smash to be good.

i'm sorry what

+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 235-277 (144.1 - 169.9%)
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 204-240 (122.1 - 143.7%)
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 100-118 (63.6 - 75.1%) jesus
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 111-132 (61.3 - 72.9%) JESUS
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Jellicent: 210-248 (101.4 - 119.8%) haha nice

 

[1_TrickPhony]

Gonna go with a steel type for a mimi counter. Reserving corviknight and silvally steel, tbd which one I wanna go with atm

 

[Solerme]

@ White Herb / Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dual Chop
- Iron Tail / Shadow Claw
- Close Combat

If you have to pass stuff to something, id honestly start with this thing which i find very hard to check once it has boosts on it and honestly doesn't give a damn about Disguise.
Plus when it Dmax, it can boost even more with ITail and CC.

 

[Theorymon]

This is sorta silly, but if I don't post it I won't be able to get it off my mind lol

@ White Herb / Sharp Beak / Wacan Berry
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Iron Head
-Power Trip
-Taunt

Corviknight might seem like an unusual choice since it doesn't have a lot of power. However, Brave Bird has a high enough BP that it'll do serious damage after +2 . For example, Dynamaxed Gyarados gets 2HKOed by Brave Bird alone, so if you Dynamax, you'll win that fight. It's also rad that thanks to Mirror Armor, Intimidate cycling won't work on Corviknight, nor will annoying Max moves! Iron Head gives you the steel stab for fairies, most notably letting Max Steelspike OHKO Dynamaxed Togekiss after a boost.

The real secret sauce here is Power Trip. Thanks to Shell Smash's boosts, Power Trip straight up OHKOs Choice Scarf Rotom-W / Rotom-H, which this spread is designed to outspeed after getting passed a Shell Smash! It also 2HKOs Impish Corviknight, so if you pair it with Taunt, you even beat that thing! Taunt also deals with Galarian Corsola, who, despite taking a meaty 76% minimum from Power Trip, will be extremely irritating with Will-O-Wisp and Strength Sap otherwise.

If White Herb gets rid of the defense drops Corviknight gets from Polteageist, that sounds like the best item to me just because despite its bulk, even Mimikyu can be an issue if you have too many defense drops. If not though, I guess Sharp Beak will give it plenty of power, or Wacan can be used against bulkier rotom?

 

[PPB]

Excadrill @ White Herb
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Def / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Horn Drill
- Rock Tomb / Rock Slide / Swords Dance

Excadrill has decent bulk and is an excellent baton pass recipient to Dynamax because both of his STAB moves raise his defenses, turning him into a tanky sweeper once baton pass is received. Mold Breaker is obviously for Mimikyu. The EVs are for this calc: +4 252 Atk Jolly Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Claw vs. 92 HP / 148 Def Excadrill on a critical hit: 331-391 (84 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, and for maximizing bulk in general while still investing fully in attack. The White Herb is because Polteageist will be passing some nasty defense drops, and this item will remedy that. Swords Dance can be used in the last slot if you are not sure you will be getting baton pass off when bringing out Excadrill, but I think rock coverage is nice as well.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Ill give this another 24 hours and then we can vote, so if anyone wants to put in some nominations for R2 now is the time :]

 

[Observious]

Someone said the biggest threat to Polteageist is Mimikyu. If that's the case, then suicide lead Cloyster seems good to have in our back pocket when we see everyone's favorite ghost-fairy.

Cloyster @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard / Razor Shell
- Shell Smash
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear

This lead gets safe smashes vs. most 'mons that aren't a Dynamaxing Max Rockfall Excadrill, and the coverage hates on most birds and dragons aside from countering the Mimikyu. It uses passed smashes well if its forced out, and just having this in the team viewer may keep the Mimikyu from being picked in a 3v3 format.

EDIT: Cut the Sash for King's Rock in response to the below. Makes the 'mon a bit more risky to run, but fishing for flinches is definitely a viable plan, if not as fast as King's Rock Cinccino would be for the role (but harder hitting). Also, makes this scarier to handle off a baton pass, and gets the chance for clawing out extra damage from Ice Shard flinches when sacrificing Cloyster for a safe switch in against a faster counter.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Someone said the biggest threat to Polteageist is Mimikyu. If that's the case, then suicide lead Cloyster seems good to have in our back pocket when we see everyone's favorite ghost-fairy.

Cloyster @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard / Razor Shell
- Shell Smash
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear

This lead gets safe smashes vs. most 'mons that aren't a Dynamaxing Max Rockfall Excadrill, and the coverage hates on most birds and dragons aside from countering the Mimikyu. It uses passed smashes well if its forced out, and just having this in the team viewer may keep the Mimikyu from being picked in a 3v3 format.

Just to mention this briefly, we already have a focus sash on polteageist so Sash Cloyster is impossible, do you want to edit your nomination?

 

[1_TrickPhony]

Also you all can ignore my reserve post I was planning to do Corvi a couple days ago but Tmon beat me to it so dont wait on my end Ika

Just so I dont waste this post spot: gonna vote Corviknight anyways

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Okay, I'll call the voting now, was waiting for Observious to change his post around.

So we have options:

Cant Say's LO Mimikyu

I’m surprised mine won with all the VISH hype, so I haven’t really thought out how a Polteagiest team would work. I guess we need something that can actually receive a Shell Smash boost!


Mimikyu @ Life Orb*
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak


I know this is the most vanilla nomination of all time and can be done later, but with with all the crazy strong moves being fired off all over the place this gen, Baton Passing anything, let alone -1 defences, is going to get bopped hard without heavy support. Instead, let’s just use a Pokémon that can take 1 attack guaranteed. And if we can’t do the Baton Pass thing, it’s still a Mimikyu!

* item choice is super flexible. We might want the Life Orb on something else

Ika's Indeedee

I figured a good way to start up this was to try mitigate arguably the biggest weakness of smashpass polteageist, which is Mimikyu. The best way to do this traditionally is Psychic Terrain and there is only one autosetter currently in the tier. Wanted something that could at least hang with Dragapult, Rotom, Mimikyu and Excadrill lead.

Indeedee (M) @ Mind Plate
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 124 HP / 44 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Encore
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

Enough speed to outspeed Jolly Excadrill and Adamant Mimikyu, enough defence to take one Adamant LO play rough from Mimikyu. It takes everything from Dragapult except Specs Draco Meteor and Banded Dragon Darts. Forcing opposing dynamax is great since Polteageist can then just smashpass. The Former isn't really an issue, but the latter is. Think as a lead its alright against everything except Dragapult, banded can give issues due to dragon darts OHKOing Polteageist, but perhaps there can be another option in those cases such as a free SD with Mimikyu. The Coverage just hits Ferrothorn/Excadrill and Grimmsnarl hard.

Encore is for those setting up Stealth Rock like Ferrothorn or Excadrill or Hippowdon.

252+ Atk Life Orb Mimikyu Play Rough vs. 124 HP / 44 Def Indeedee: 129-152 (85.4 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
132 SpA Mind Plate Indeedee Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mimikyu in Psychic Terrain: 103-123 (79.2 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Will always KO after Disguise break and LO recoil.

Ethan06's White Herb Dracovish

Thinking receivers. My main approach with the Webs setter last round was to bring viability to a heavy hitter with middling speed ... basically what I'm saying is that VISH HYPE ISN'T DEAD

Dracovish @ White Herb
Ability: Strong Jaw
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Substitute

This thing has the bulk and resistances to receive a dry Smash boost and proceed to outspeed and OHKO virtually everything in the game with +2 Fishious Rend. Move freedom counts for a lot compared to Dracovish's usual Choiced sets, and Substitute capitalises on any status-based response besides, like, Grimmsnarl T-Wave. Coverage is pretty redundant on this but +2 Crunch OHKOs max defense Jellicent and Psychic Fangs allows us to do slightly more to Toxapex. Setting terrain with Max Mindstorm is also nice. There's probably a better EV spread given how excessive Vish's offensive stats get with Shell Smash, and there's also the possibility of just going Choiced so that it isn't totally reliant on Shell Smash to be good.

i'm sorry what

+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 235-277 (144.1 - 169.9%)
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 204-240 (122.1 - 143.7%)
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 100-118 (63.6 - 75.1%) jesus
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 111-132 (61.3 - 72.9%) JESUS
+2 252+ Atk Strong Jaw Dracovish Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Jellicent: 210-248 (101.4 - 119.8%) haha nice

Solerme's White Herb/Lum Haxorus

@ White Herb / Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dual Chop
- Iron Tail / Shadow Claw
- Close Combat

If you have to pass stuff to something, id honestly start with this thing which i find very hard to check once it has boosts on it and honestly doesn't give a damn about Disguise.
Plus when it Dmax, it can boost even more with ITail and CC.

Theorymon's White Herb / Smashpass recipient Corviknight

This is sorta silly, but if I don't post it I won't be able to get it off my mind lol

@ White Herb / Sharp Beak / Wacan Berry
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Iron Head
-Power Trip
-Taunt

Corviknight might seem like an unusual choice since it doesn't have a lot of power. However, Brave Bird has a high enough BP that it'll do serious damage after +2 . For example, Dynamaxed Gyarados gets 2HKOed by Brave Bird alone, so if you Dynamax, you'll win that fight. It's also rad that thanks to Mirror Armor, Intimidate cycling won't work on Corviknight, nor will annoying Max moves! Iron Head gives you the steel stab for fairies, most notably letting Max Steelspike OHKO Dynamaxed Togekiss after a boost.

The real secret sauce here is Power Trip. Thanks to Shell Smash's boosts, Power Trip straight up OHKOs Choice Scarf Rotom-W / Rotom-H, which this spread is designed to outspeed after getting passed a Shell Smash! It also 2HKOs Impish Corviknight, so if you pair it with Taunt, you even beat that thing! Taunt also deals with Galarian Corsola, who, despite taking a meaty 76% minimum from Power Trip, will be extremely irritating with Will-O-Wisp and Strength Sap otherwise.

If White Herb gets rid of the defense drops Corviknight gets from Polteageist, that sounds like the best item to me just because despite its bulk, even Mimikyu can be an issue if you have too many defense drops. If not though, I guess Sharp Beak will give it plenty of power, or Wacan can be used against bulkier rotom?

PPB's White Herb Excadrill

Excadrill @ White Herb
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Def / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Horn Drill
- Rock Tomb / Rock Slide / Swords Dance

Excadrill has decent bulk and is an excellent baton pass recipient to Dynamax because both of his STAB moves raise his defenses, turning him into a tanky sweeper once baton pass is received. Mold Breaker is obviously for Mimikyu. The EVs are for this calc: +4 252 Atk Jolly Life Orb Mimikyu Shadow Claw vs. 92 HP / 148 Def Excadrill on a critical hit: 331-391 (84 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, and for maximizing bulk in general while still investing fully in attack. The White Herb is because Polteageist will be passing some nasty defense drops, and this item will remedy that. Swords Dance can be used in the last slot if you are not sure you will be getting baton pass off when bringing out Excadrill, but I think rock coverage is nice as well.

Observious's Kings Rock Cloyster

Someone said the biggest threat to Polteageist is Mimikyu. If that's the case, then suicide lead Cloyster seems good to have in our back pocket when we see everyone's favorite ghost-fairy.

Cloyster @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard / Razor Shell
- Shell Smash
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear

This lead gets safe smashes vs. most 'mons that aren't a Dynamaxing Max Rockfall Excadrill, and the coverage hates on most birds and dragons aside from countering the Mimikyu. It uses passed smashes well if its forced out, and just having this in the team viewer may keep the Mimikyu from being picked in a 3v3 format.

EDIT: Cut the Sash for King's Rock in response to the below. Makes the 'mon a bit more risky to run, but fishing for flinches is definitely a viable plan, if not as fast as King's Rock Cinccino would be for the role (but harder hitting). Also, makes this scarier to handle off a baton pass, and gets the chance for clawing out extra damage from Ice Shard flinches when sacrificing Cloyster for a safe switch in against a faster counter.

Voting Round 2 has Started

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

As for me personally, I like quite a few of the nominations. I think that it's pretty inevitable that LO Mimikyu will be added some time or another and I think it is probably the most important overall sweeper and something that can run outside of SmashPass, but I think exploring other options is good for now.

For me, I do think all the recipients could work, but I do like the idea of Theorymon's Corviknight set so I will vote for that. Id be tempted to change the set slightly so it works outside of having polteageist though.

 

[Observious]

Indeedee M seems solid on first glance, but doubling down on ghost and dark weaknesses is probably a bad thing. Leaning on a target that has steel for the fairies running around, plus something to deal with opposing ghosts waiting to kill our favorite tea pot. Corviknight seems to have that covered with Power Trip (gets my vote), though it does mean we'll need a back-up passer to make it not a dry Taunt/STAB one-trick (plus if this team gets known, enemies will know this safely shouldn't be a lead to consider). Dracovish seems easier to add-on as well should/when we add another passer, but Corviknight gets my vote for now.

 

[ArcticBreeze]

Solerme. Although it cant come in on Mimikyu it can still kill through disguise which is notable. With its great attack stat and moves imo its the best. Although corv is nice vs mimi Haxorus does not rely on bringing Teapot which is a huge up.

 

[Reydriar]

I am all for Solermes Haxorus

 

[PPB]

Indeedee M seems solid on first glance, but doubling down on ghost and dark weaknesses is probably a bad thing.

It's actually just Dark. Indeedee is immune to ghost moves (it's Normal type too). I agree with Ika that Mimikyu is pretty much going to have to be added eventually (just too broken, that ability makes him not even care about receiving defense drops from baton pass, making him a top tier recipient, although he is broken even without baton pass), and I'd vote for him as well if I had two votes, but Corviknight has caught my eye more this round than Mimi because Mimi is just way too ResidentSleeper. Corviknights bulk and defensive typing make him a very safe recipient, and the idea of an offensive Corviknight just seems really cool to me, especially because it might actually work on this teamcomp.

 

[RoyalReloaded]

corviknight

 

[ethan06]

I agree that we need to address Mimikyu at some point. I'd vote Haxorus but I dislike that it can't come in , also not big on Corviknight so PPB's Excadrill

 

[cant say]

ika's Indeedee

I really don't like all these random White Herb suggestions. They're trying to make it a dedicated BP chain, when it's probably better to just use Polteageist as a sweeper itself, with the option to BP when faced with a threat it can't KO. That's why I nominated Mimikyu...

So in saying that, I think it's a much better idea to consider how the setup is going to begin before thinking how it ends. Therefor the lone Psychic Surge user in the meta makes sense to me.

 

[Theorymon]

I'm going with ika's indeedee

Main reason I like it is because it helps out Polteageist with Psychic Terrain (not just Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch Dragapult is also a thing lol), and hypothetically we could pass it in some situations vs the stallier teams probably.

 

[Thick Fat Azumarill]

I'm really torn between Indeedee and Corvikight, but I'm going with Indeedee for this one.

Not only does it work on its own, but Psychic Terrain support without the need to Dynamax is pretty interesting.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Ill give this another 12 hours before calling it so get your votes in :]

 

[Solerme]

Ethan's Dracomish.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Okay Im calling it there.

Vote count:

Corviknight: 4 Votes
Indeedee: 3 Votes
Dracomish: 1 Vote
Haxorus: 2 Votes
Excadrill: 1 vote

So we add Theorymon's Corviknight to Cant Say's Polteageist.

Current Team:

Hide

Solerme (Polteagiest) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Baton Pass


we’d need one HELL of a Mimikyu counter but this cracked me up when I saw the datamine so I think it would be super funny to use

This is sorta silly, but if I don't post it I won't be able to get it off my mind lol

@ White Herb / Sharp Beak / Wacan Berry
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Iron Head
-Power Trip
-Taunt

Corviknight might seem like an unusual choice since it doesn't have a lot of power. However, Brave Bird has a high enough BP that it'll do serious damage after +2 . For example, Dynamaxed Gyarados gets 2HKOed by Brave Bird alone, so if you Dynamax, you'll win that fight. It's also rad that thanks to Mirror Armor, Intimidate cycling won't work on Corviknight, nor will annoying Max moves! Iron Head gives you the steel stab for fairies, most notably letting Max Steelspike OHKO Dynamaxed Togekiss after a boost.

The real secret sauce here is Power Trip. Thanks to Shell Smash's boosts, Power Trip straight up OHKOs Choice Scarf Rotom-W / Rotom-H, which this spread is designed to outspeed after getting passed a Shell Smash! It also 2HKOs Impish Corviknight, so if you pair it with Taunt, you even beat that thing! Taunt also deals with Galarian Corsola, who, despite taking a meaty 76% minimum from Power Trip, will be extremely irritating with Will-O-Wisp and Strength Sap otherwise.

If White Herb gets rid of the defense drops Corviknight gets from Polteageist, that sounds like the best item to me just because despite its bulk, even Mimikyu can be an issue if you have too many defense drops. If not though, I guess Sharp Beak will give it plenty of power, or Wacan can be used against bulkier rotom?

Round 3 is now Open Please give your Nominations Down Below!!