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ironwater

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What are some good partners for the defensive core of Slowbro+Landorus T?
Tornadus-T works well with both, as it forms a great Regecore with Slowbro and both benefit from Lando-T Elec immunity. Torn-T also helps with Kartana who threaten both. Otherwise, a Steel type like Heatran or Ferrothorn can be a great partner for this core, helping againtTapu Lele and to some extend Kartana. In this kind of core, you want to run Colbur Berry Body Press Slowbro btw to deal with Weavile and you like to have something who benefit from Slowbro's Future Sight in your offensive core (like Urshifu-R, Weavile, Gzap...).
 
Tornadus-T works well with both, as it forms a great Regecore with Slowbro and both benefit from Lando-T Elec immunity. Torn-T also helps with Kartana who threaten both. Otherwise, a Steel type like Heatran or Ferrothorn can be a great partner for this core, helping againtTapu Lele and to some extend Kartana. In this kind of core, you want to run Colbur Berry Body Press Slowbro btw to deal with Weavile and you like to have something who benefit from Slowbro's Future Sight in your offensive core (like Urshifu-R, Weavile, Gzap...).
Thanks.
 

Red Raven

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Is jolly Bisharp now a thing or am I just running into some random ho teams that uses that nature instead of adamant for whatever reason?
 
Is jolly Bisharp now a thing or am I just running into some random ho teams that uses that nature instead of adamant for whatever reason?
If it's a trend, I suppose it is a reactionary measure to the rise of Modest Volcanions and Heatrans and, consequently, the sudden crowdedness of those Speed tiers which are above Adamant Bisharp but below Jolly.
At least, that would be my reasoning for running Jolly over Adamant.
 
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I have notifications on this thread to respond to people as quickly as I can to help retain interest in the community. Your post was not deleted until after I responded (I responded the same exact minute you posted).
ok thanks for the clarification and no I was just trying to see if that image worked
 
Anyone else feel like Flame Body Tran is underwhelming? I don't burn things anywhere near as much as i feel to justify using flame body over the utility of flash fire, as i still wall things with max defense, but can still use tran to switch into victini and volcorona fire stabs in an emergency. IDK maybe it's just my luck but it hasn't been worth the tradeoff for me so far.
 

Finchinator

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Anyone else feel like Flame Body Tran is underwhelming? I don't burn things anywhere near as much as i feel to justify using flame body over the utility of flash fire, as i still wall things with max defense, but can still use tran to switch into victini and volcorona fire stabs in an emergency. IDK maybe it's just my luck but it hasn't been worth the tradeoff for me so far.
It really depends on the team. Flame Body is a great way to punish U-turn, soft check Weavile with PDef, etc. but on the vast majority of balance and bulky offensive teams, Flash Fire offers an amazing amount of utility. You tend to see Flame Body more on select offenses, not as much in general.
 
It really depends on the team. Flame Body is a great way to punish U-turn, soft check Weavile with PDef, etc. but on the vast majority of balance and bulky offensive teams, Flash Fire offers an amazing amount of utility. You tend to see Flame Body more on select offenses, not as much in general.
i see, i was using Flame Body on balance, so you precisely diagnosed the issue!! So I guess Flame Body is better on some bulky offenses.
 
i see, i was using Flame Body on balance, so you precisely diagnosed the issue!! So I guess Flame Body is better on some bulky offenses.
I personally wouldn't put it as an archetype issue, but rather as Flame Body Heatran being a very specific fit for teams that appreciate the surprise factor and extra utility against physical threats and pivots, while not needing Heatran's usual defensive prowess against threats like Tapu Lele and Volcarona = very few teams. The threats that Flame Body Heatran is supposed to target are what makes the argument of specific archetypes sound appropriate.

Aware of the fact that Flash Fire is better most of the time, Flame Body Heatran fits any team with a structure or a specific Pokémon that appreciates it crippling U-turn spam and specific physical attackers such as Weavile, Kartana, Melmetal and - with care - Urshifu-R.
This is why you'll see Flame Body Heatran on bulky offense or offense most of the time, although you want to keep in mind that the lines between balance and bulky offense, and between bulky offense and offense are veeery thin. Once again, don't label your team an archetype and think that Flame Body Heatran doesn't fit, because this specific set fits teammates and game plan more than anything else.

Also, you are betting on a 30% chance to burn your opponent. It's technically unreliable by default.
 
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The best way I could phrase what has been stated is that Flame Body seems better when you need Heatran to threaten/scare things moreso than to repeatedly take hits from the things it is standing in the way of. For example, with Flame Body, Heatran can still take certain hits and punish the ones it does if lucky such as Weavile, but as a trade-off, it's moreso scaring Volcarona with the idea of eating its STABs while being less imposing if they find out it won't FF Volc's Fire STAB.

Heatran's presence can deter certain things from going for their bigger plays if they just assume it will stop them, but if they figure out what kind it's running they might get riskier or bolder (and the opposite can hold true on things like Weavile fearing the chance of Flame Body from your actually-Flash Fire Heatran and not clicking Triple Axel). In a way it reminds me of bluffing certain items like Expert Belts masquerading as Choice sets to Lure opponents: the number of scenarios the mon can objectively handle is decreased a bit, but it handles a few new ones while trying to contribute with what the opponent thinks its most common version is. The idea of this being more common on offense I presume is because the more defensively oriented a team style is (BO and Balance for example), the more mileage a set can get from consistency (Flash Fire's extra switch-ins) vs exploiting an occasional bluff (triggering a Burn or scaring out while actually being FB)
 
Is Choice Scarf :Nihilego: viable in Bulky Offense or Balance? Or any other non-(Meteor Beam+Power Herb) (which I think is best on Hyper Offense)?

Plus, is there a good check/counter to the dangerous Electric-types? (mainly :zeraora: and :tapu-koko:). :ferrothorn:/:slowking-galar: lose to :zeraora:, and :garchomp:/:rillaboom: lose to :tapu-koko:. :psycry:

Edit: Thank you guys for your answers! :blobthumbsup:
 
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ironwater

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Is Choice Scarf :Nihilego: viable in Bulky Offense or Balance? Or any other non Meteor Beam+Power Herb (which I think is best on Hyper Offense)?

Plus, is there a good check/counter to the dangerous Electric-types? (mainly :zeraora: and :tapu-koko:). :ferrothorn:/:slowking-galar: lose to :zeraora:, and :garchomp:/:rillaboom: lose to :tapu-koko:. :psycry:
Choice Scarf Nihilego is not really a thing because it clearly doesn't hit hard enough. If you don't want to run Meteor Beam + Power Herb you can consider running Choice Specs Nihilego (and you can adjust the EVs to boost your Speed after each kill). Here is a good team with Specs Nihilego: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-all-100-accurate-moves.3695221/#post-9062504

As for your second question, Landorus-T is a solid check to these Electric types (even if it gets worned down rather quickly). If you want a solid counter, Ground types with a recovery move like Hippowdon and Gastrodon can work, but they are rather niche.
 
Is Choice Scarf :Nihilego: viable in Bulky Offense or Balance? Or any other non Meteor Beam+Power Herb (which I think is best on Hyper Offense)?

Plus, is there a good check/counter to the dangerous Electric-types? (mainly :zeraora: and :tapu-koko:). :ferrothorn:/:slowking-galar: lose to :zeraora:, and :garchomp:/:rillaboom: lose to :tapu-koko:. :psycry:
To answer your 1st question: In balance, you obviously have some kind of powerful attacker, so yeah, Nihilego is viable imo. You can use a Stealth Rock + Toxic Spikes with Focus Sash set as a lead. But in BO, Nihilego gets outclassed by Slowking-Galar.

To answer your 2nd question: You can't really have 1 single counter for all the electric types in the game, but there are some really good counters for them and I'll list them below:

1. :landorus-therian: By far the best electric type counter imo. Great typing and decent bulk. It walls both Zera and Koko
2. :garchomp: It does lose to Koko, but is a great electric immunity for the mostpart.
3. :tangrowth: AV sets wall both Koko and Zera, as well as most other electric types.
4. :rillaboom: It doesn't necessarily lose to Koko. It can take a Dazzling Gleam, and destroy Koko with Wood Hammer or Grassy Glide.
5. :hippowdon: Walls both of the mons u mentioned.
6. :Gastrodon: Walls both as long as they don't run Grass Knot.
7. :shedinja: Definitely walls Koko, as long as it's not running Toxic. Also walls Zeraora without Knock Off and Toxic.
8. :hydreigon: Scarfed ones can switch into an electric STAB, then outspeed both Koko and Zera and deal damage with Draco or Earth Power.
9. :chansey: and :blissey: Walls Koko and if you run Counter, you can tank a hit and KO Zeraora.

There might be some more I might be forgetting. Remember, you can't counter all mons with 1 single mon and you have to build a team that works together and synergizes well.
 
Plus, is there a good check/counter to the dangerous Electric-types? (mainly :zeraora: and :tapu-koko:). :ferrothorn:/:slowking-galar: lose to :zeraora:, and :garchomp:/:rillaboom: lose to :tapu-koko:. :psycry:
If we want to get technical about this, there is actually a giant counter to both:
:ss/amoonguss:
although there's more than many reasons not to run this in OU so I wouldn't personally try to find a perfect counter. landot is the best catch-all check to these electric types that actually isnt passive. if you're looking for something more interesting, tapu bulu has strong matchup against zeraora and is still perfectly capable of checking koko once or twice if necessary, while nidoking counters koko pretty hard and can sort of put the zeraora user in a bad position where knock off is the only thing that's not giving nidoking a free switch (and you dont want to do that). chomp + ferro is a pretty good core that handles both. rillaboom is actually a good offensive check to both and can switch into either once or twice, but definitely not a reliable and durable answer.

Is there any difference between a balance and a bulky offense or are the two words used for the same team archetype?
as I said, the difference is very slim and not strict at all. the progression from most defensive to offensive is balance - bo - offense, with the slimmest of differences being between balance and bo. both team archetypes have 1 speed control, 1 primary breaker and 3-4 defensive backbone. bo takes a slightly more offensive approach with the defensive backbone with pokèmon like melmetal and zapdos compressing defensive and offensive capabilities. balance usually takes a more defensive, hazard/knock off/uturn slow approach with mons like ferrothorn, defog tornt and stuff like that. offense is more evidently attack oriented with obligatory speed control + scarf + 1/2 breaker + 2/3 bulky pivots with offensive capabilities. your typical cb beat up weavile team is a pretty solid offense build.

Is Utility Mew still ran on BO or Balance?
very much on topic, i see demon mew being more useful on more offensive teams because they need to drag their counters (weavile above all) out of the game with lures and stuff like that before they lose to it. weavile being consistently top 5 in usage and being pretty good lategame with its boots sd set makes it paramount that you remove it as soon as possibile, which is usually better achieved on offensive teams with lures like colbur slowbro, flame body heatran, yache berry garchomp and stuff like this.

Hey! Can anybody help me? I am trying to find good things to pair with specs gengar
hi! specs gengar is very difficult to support because it's weak and also usually outsped by every common offensive pokèmon (you got your scarf kartanas and leles, your dragapults, weaviles, zeraoras, etc). you definitely want a more offensive build as gengar not only is a glass cannon but its also pretty good at doubling up pressure against shared checks, which means a good start for a specs gengar build is pairing it with specs dragapult and a ghost resist and then going from there with an offensive ghost spam team. if you're asking why use gengar over blacephalon, first of all good question. secondly, gengar is that bit faster to actually matter because kartana is right in the middle of both, but gengar also requires less strict defog support and has a very handy stab sludge wave to decimate fairy types such as tapu fini and clefable which pult really appreciates.
 
I got to the late 1600s and 1700s but I need advice on laddering since I’m tilting. I’ve noticed some problems I have. I hesitate to defog after I set up hazards cuz I want to wear down the opponents team, but I end up sacking my defogger early. Another thing is I panic when Lando Toxic’s or Torn Knocks something. Lele is a pain in the ass to play around, cause if I switch into Tran or Ferro I get F-Blast’d to the face, if I don’t I risk losing a mon. I’m also scared of Ferro’s Leech Seed. If I try to go into Clef or my own Ferro, it gets spikes up for free. If I try to defog them, or I bring out something like Tran, Ferro clicks Leech Seed and Knock. So how do I deal with this mindset?

One more thing. I tried running Trick Clef with Pult or Melm but I am unsure of what Clef checks other than Pult and Buzzwole. Also what spread does Clef run these days, the Strategy Dex spread seems outdated.
 

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