I've been building and playing ladder casually and I wanted to drop a few teams with some concepts that I feel are worth bringing up to metagame discussion. These are mainly trends I've been playing around with.
1. Rocky Helmet
Going to start small but I've been sporadically putting the item even on Pokemon like Mandibuzz and Avalugg that would normally heavily prefer boots. In an offense heavy meta I definitely feel like its a great item that lets you get the extra leg up with the chip, especially if you have priority users. It's also really nice because it trades being immune to hazards for having an opportunity cost to attack the Pokemon.
Bulky Offense
For example, this team would typically struggle against Choice Scarf Close Combat Pokemon like Sneasler and Great Tusk because Mandibuzz is overall not durable with 8 PP Roost over the course of the game, especially when it has to keep coming in on hazards after a would-be Knock Off. But with Rocky Helmet, you can still serve as a Defog user and Bloodmoon Ursaluna check while forcing chip damage on those Pokemon. For example, after 3 rounds of chip damage, Choice Band Chien-pao beats Great Tusk with Ice Shard, and after one round of chip damage Kingambit beats Sneasler after a Swords Dance.
Spikes Offense
Rocky Helmet Avalugg on this team was originally for Zamazenta since you basically 1v1 it with Iron Defense and the Rocky Helmet chip gives it repercussions if it tries to click Body Press freely. I feel like it's the main reason to be running Avalugg in this metagame since Alolan Sandslash does the spinning job way better. However, including Rocky Helmet Avalugg on this team lets it beat Fighting consistently as Alolan Ninetales and Chien-pao's Fairy and Psychic coverage basically beats everything else one way or another. I will say that I do feel like as far as glue Pokemon go, Avalugg is one of the lesser mandatory for the type its on to function and definitely one of the less consistent ones.
So basically I really have been slapping Rocky Helmet on random offense teams, especially ones with priority. Definitely feel like the item has a lot of good use when utilized correctly in terms of how in game interactions go. However, I do feel a bit iffy with putting it on Pokemon that serve a major purpose in the team, for example Clodsire on Ground and Corviknight on Flying thats more life or death in terms of the interactions. Corviknight and Clodsire having Rocky Helmet means that they suffer in certain interactions against mons like Greninja for both and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon for Clodsire. Generally speaking, 8 PP recovery sucks and it definitely means you can't just throw other items besides Leftovers onto Pokemon whenever you feel like it since the passive recovery can be game changing sometimes. It really comes down to the situations.
2. Using Strong Glue Pokemon
Honestly even though this generation has a lot of over the top Pokemon in terms of power, it also offers Pokemon that are just generally really good glue for teambuilding and cover many crucial roles at a time. Oftentimes when building SV I find that I'm strapped for slots if I ever want to build around something cool or unique. To make teambuilding more flexible I try to look for Pokemon with sets that can take up multiple roles at once to let me use the idea I had in mind more coherently. I definitely feel like maximizing the utility of these Pokemon is extremely beneficial for building, especially in this stage of the metagame.
Near the more beginning of the DLC I made a team that I feel showcases Clodsire's ability to compress roles extremely well as glue:
Anti-Water Balance
This was a teambuilding workshop request that wanted a Bloodmoon Ursaluna Ground that could consistently beat a good majority of Water teams. As far as beating Water goes, you need to include Pokemon like Great Tusk and Sandy Shocks to deal with Wellspring Mask Ogerpon and Manaphy respectively. Clodsire is the go-to Water immunity on Ground teams, but on this team it compresses a lot of the roles that are missed out on because of the additions of Sandy Shocks and Great Tusk.
For example, Clodsire can:
- Serve as a Water immunity and a Grass neutrality
- Due to not being able to fit Gliscor or Landorus, Clodsire is a Fighting resistance that can beat Zamazenta with Haze
- Without Ting-lu, Espathra is a problem but Clodsire can stop it with Haze
- Be a special wall that can wall threats like Flutter Mane, Volcarona, and Thundurus-T
- Wall Gholdengo and Hydreigon with Haze
The team's concept was not bad since Water teams are typically hard to deal with for Ground, and making a Ground team that beats it means that it's a reliable team considering Ground is typically a really consistent type in the metagame otherwise. But with Clodsire's role on this team I really feel like I utilized it pretty well in terms of compression, even going so far as to adding Haze on it to not lose to specific Pokemon that would be beatable if I had the team slots for it. Adding Haze to it, including Black Sludge over Heavy Duty Boots and trying to utilize the EV spread are things that I feel really helped it be sustainable for the rest of the team. It could typically run Spikes or Toxic Spikes over Haze, but using Haze covered up a lot of holes that were apparent in the team.
This is an example of an offensive glue in Dragapult being really good:
Spikes Bulky Offense
I'm a huge fan of Choice Scarf double status Dragapult because of the massive utility it brings to the table in one slot. Dragapult as a mon is something I feel like should be utilized to its maximum potential in Monotype considering just how good it is.
Choice Scarf double status Dragapult can fill all these roles on the team:
- Be amazing Speed control with 142 base Speed, outspeeding various mons like Choice Scarf Meowscarada ranging to Volcarona at +1 and Basculegion under rain
- Dragon typing gives it a Fire and Water resistance, making it really good against Fire and Water weather teams
- Double status gives it flexibility and the threat of basically crippling anything that it can't OHKO for the rest of the team, specifically Substitute Hisuian Zoroark. The two mons that do not care about it (Gholdengo and Gliscor) are dealt with by Flutter Mane
- U-turn means it can connect offensive mons to each other. Bringing in something like Flutter Mane for free as the opponent swaps to Mandibuzz against Dark is huge
- Infiltrator means you can beat Baxcalibur under Aurora Veil
This Dragapult set gives you the ability to outplay a lot of scenarios because of its flexibility alongside its role compression. I think it's important to note that outplaying is a valid form of counterplay, as you need to pilot every team well to be successful with it. Clicking the right buttons means that you have a slot on your team that is amazing offensive glue that can blanket check various threats in the tier via either its attacks or status while being a really consistent momentum grab granted you bring it in against the right Pokemon. Another form of speed control like scarf Flutter Mane would be stronger but wouldn't provide the same utility that Dragapult would.
Strong glue Pokemon allow room for strong team structures if utilized well.
Here are the other Pokemon I listed as examples and why I feel they're strong glue Pokemon:
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Gholdengo can decimate a lot of balance teams by itself, covering those matchups easily in the builder for Steel. The Rocky Helmet set specifically is really nice because it keeps hazards up extremely effectively which makes a lot of scenarios outplayable in combination with hazards
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Gliscor is a status sponge and defensive wall for both Ground and Flying that has great virtue in typing. Alongside that, the hazards it sets makes a lot of situations outplayable and being able to beat everything besides Orthworm + Corviknight with Toxic and Earthquake means that its really hard to remove if you don't have Ice coverage. Specifically, for Flying teams it alleviates the Electric and Rock weaknesses almost entirely and is great in a hazards centered metagame
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Empoleon sets Stealth Rock really well and its typing is really good for both Steel and Water. It makes the defensive core really hard to beat despite not being mandatory, and Roar means you can't set up on it with something like Volcarona or Spectrier
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Bloodmoon Ursaluna beats Chien-pao for Ground, which already takes a lot of pressure off from the type. It's also good in traditional "bad" matchups because of its bulk combined with Blood Moon
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Greninja's Choice Scarf set is really nice because it's just really fast and has Switcheroo and U-turn to cripple things and grab momentum. It's also a Dark and Ghost resist for Water and a Fire and Water resist for Dark, giving it some defensive utility too
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Brambleghast provides Rapid Spin, a Water and Ground resistance, and hazards for Ghost. Considering Ghost as a type is impossible to spin against and Gholdengo blocks Defog, providing hazards is really big. Infiltrator also means it can check Azumarill under screens too
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Ting-lu is lesser used nowadays but on the right teams it can really cover a lot. It's borderline unkillable and has Spikes and Stealth Rock, making it a really good hazard setter and phaser with Whirlwind
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Hydreigon gives Dark teams a Water, Fire resist and Ground immunity and can virtually break every balance type in existence with Nasty Plot. It can also set Stealth Rock. Its often overlooked but definitely a great role compression Pokemon
3. Hazards
I definitely feel like hazards are a huge part of the SV Monotype metagame because removal is just not that great especially with the power level being so high. Good Ghost types are everywhere, with Sableye, Gholdengo being the main examples and Gliscor being tough to remove against as a setter because of the threat of Toxic. Gholdengo blocking Defog makes hazards a lot more problematic too. Spikes in particular makes offensive threats 10x more dangerous, so keeping an eye on them is especially important.
In teambuilding, I've been keeping a good eye on the hazards interactions because I feel it is important to have success in the tier. Here are some tips that I've personally found helpful while building to keep in account hazards:
- Do I remove hazards?
- Can I win without removing hazards?
- Can I at least outplay hazards?
- Can I keep my hazards up?
Gholdengo Steel is a really good example of what building around hazards looks considering its the textbook definition of hazard stack.
Here is an example of a team to hypothetically take into consideration:
Hazard stack offense
Removing hazards against it could look like this:
- Using Earthquake Iron Treads on Ground to threaten it out and then using Rapid Spin
- Cinderace's Court Change on Fire
- Poltergeist Brambleghast on Grass or Ghost
- A more offensive Quaquaval to beat defensive variants on Water
Winning without removing hazards could look like this:
- Utilizing Heavy Duty Boots on virtually any type
- Trading hazards with Gliscor on Ground and Flying so Pokemon like Bloodmoon Ursaluna or Kingambit can win
- Utilizing brute force with a breaker like Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon, Hydreigon, or Chien-pao
Outplaying hazards could look like this:
- Using Taunt on Orthworm to prevent it from setting hazards
- Getting Rapid Spin turns right combined with offensive pressure
- Setting up while it's setting hazards
Keeping hazards up could look like this:
- Pokemon that can take on Iron Treads considering its the main Rapid Spin user, for example a Ghost type like Sableye or Ground types like Gliscor and Ting-lu that can set hazards and then threaten it with Earthquake
This is a team that I made around hazards:
Hazard stack balance
- Gliscor sets hazards against basically anything besides Hatterene and has Toxic to beat Rapid Spin users
- It can win against Gholdengo teams thanks to Gliscor applying its own pressure and Moltres clicking Roar to wear Steel down
- Specially Defensive Corviknight can beat Hatterene which prevents Gliscor from setting hazards
- Galarian Zapdos takes advantage of Defog users like Galarian Weezing and Corviknight to tear through teams with Defiant
This team has ways to remove hazards against the important types with Corviknight, but if it doesn't work out then Gliscor can always pressure with Galarian Zapdos while keeping hazards up. It has a good gameplan against and wich hazards in general and is why I feel like Flying is one of the best types at the moment.
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That's basically it in terms of metagame trends I've noticed in effective SV Monotype teambuilding. I hope people find this post useful and thanks for reading!