Project Research Projects - Garchomp @ post 44

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mon sucks.
 
Ladder Alt: CEAAApril

I've built a fair bit with Hamurott in the past, and while I think HO is obviously the best team comp for it, I've been pretty successfully able to sneak it into some more bulky offense structures.

I'm actually not entirely against RegenVest on offensive structures, it still doesn't switch in to much (max HP still dies to Scarf Latios tbolt and you can't both kill with sucker and outspeed Gambit) but if you don't have Regenerator on another mon it's perfectly valid to throw it on Hamu for some extra longevity, but I think it's a fruitless endeavor to try and use it in any other circumstance since it just doesn't have the stats to go around.

What really makes Hamu pop on more than just HO structures though is broken move Encore. Seriously just click Encore a bunch and you'll probably do well. Mixed sets are good, use those. Primordial Sea is bad, though. Dropping priority is throwing, Sacred Sword is usually throwing, Drill Run is probably valid to troll DesoLand Fires, Taunt is a broken move, use Wide Lens, tip your waitresses and goodnight
 
Samurott-Hisui @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Fluffy
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Def / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

I’m not sure if this is actually good but wp fluffy mons will always be funny
+4 252+ Atk Samurott-Hisui Sucker Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Zapdos: 379-447 (98.9 - 116.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Zamazenta Close Combat vs. 12 HP / 188 Def Fluffy Samurott-Hisui: 240-283 (74 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Samurott-Hisui Aqua Tail vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Zamazenta: 378-445 (116.3 - 136.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
To elaborate, I wanted to go all in on regenvest Hamurott and see how well it could do. Having a regenvester that can set spikes is of course the main draw, but the water/dark typing has some nice defensive properties and having a strong priority option in sucker punch is also quite nice. Here is the set I used:

:samurott_hisui: :assault_vest: :samurott_hisui: :assault_vest: :samurott_hisui: :assault_vest:
Samurott-Hisui @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Ceaseless Edge
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
:samurott_hisui: :assault_vest: :samurott_hisui: :assault_vest: :samurott_hisui: :assault_vest:

As I say, we are fully committing to the bulk here and running a max spdef, min speed spread the same as you would do on a Swampert or whatever. This actually ended up being able to tank things a bit better than I thought, for example:
252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Latios Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Samurott-Hisui in Electric Terrain: 320-378 (83.3 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I think Pokeaim posted a team with swift swim life orb Lando-I recently because I fought it a few times, and that is the type of thing you eat up with this where Swampert would be doomed to grass knot. Of course Manaphy could tank it as well but Manaphy can't set spikes. On the physical side, from full you can eat any hit from something like Moon as long as it's not banded SoR. Nothing crazy, just to say that with max hp the physical bulk is passable.

But you are saying, okay, you don't get oneshot by these things but you have no attack investment so you won't do any damage. And I say, this is fine because I set the spike. And I flip. And I set the spike. And so on. In all seriousness, this mon is often limited in what it can achieve in the long term because compared to something like Swampert you are giving up significant bulk and significant power (main stab being 65 vs 100) in order to use ceaseless edge. But the potential value from this move is high enough that I think regen bulkmaxxing in order to be able to get more chances to use it is potentially worth considering.

:samurott_hisui: :corviknight: :sinistcha: :great_tusk: :deoxys_speed: :kingambit:

Anyway, here is the team that I used on the ladder with some slight tweaks along the way. I'm not the best builder and there are definitely a couple of sketchy matchups but it works on a basic level at least. In particular I thought it was interesting to build a more defensively oriented team with Hamurott as a key member of that defensive core. It pairs well with the spdef vabs Corv to cover most threats on the special side well enough, and then on the physdef side we have Sinistcha and helmet Tusk, which can block/punish rapid spin. There's also triple knock off to get rid of as many boots as possible, as well as opposing Corv's helmet/leftovers because it's kind of annoying for the team but also not really because it's very passive, and Deo can probably kill it once you work out the set because Deo is broken. Gambit also provides some general defensive utility with its good natural bulk, and alongside Deo is the main source of damage by spamming the dark move.

I would say the main weakness of the team is just random bulky setup mons because it's mostly quite passive. For fast setup mons we have double sucker punch so they can usually be dealt with. But bulkier mons like a fairly standard wish cm Scream Tail or worse, some demon stamina cm bulky water, can be a problem. For this I would ideally like to have some phazing on the team, because obviously it pairs well in theory with spikestack anyway, but I don't know if it's too achievable here. Maybe roar Moltres could work, but it would open up other weaknesses.

Anyway, here are a few replays showing off the team. Feel free to try it out with your own changes!

 
This is so far the set I have been having the most success with, but still not super consistent:

Samurott-Hisui @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Flip Turn

All four moves have amazing utility, Sucker Punch has in particular been surprisingly useful in mid to late game. Max Attack Adamant keeps it from being too passive, and this gives it enough bulk to switch in on Ghold and weak special attacks.

The downside of course is spending the Regen slot on something that's not terribly bulky and matches up poorly into several meta threats. This is the team I have been using today and it's fine but nothing to write home about. Certainly open to feedback / improvements if anyone has them.

Looking to see if I can optimize both the Hamu set and the team around it.

Couple of replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-2444452416
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-2444441292-r8s5gwlk8ki12hi2lsftac6qrlrm2topw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-2444447425-cn28ehe91yvjddj4s2grfwaabsd9a56pw - Least this one made Bloodmoon look good
 
ceaaa the gumbler (probably not going for top score)

When this week started I had one set in particular I wanted to try, that being Prankster. Copycat is a move that very few Pokemon get this generation, and Samurott-Hisui is probably the only one that can actually use it to any decent effect. I'd been thinking of building with it for a long time now and this project gave me the perfect excuse to sit down and actually do it.

:samurott-hisui::sinistcha::manaphy::corviknight::landorus::zamazenta:

The concept of the team was pretty simple. I started with the idea of pairing it with Zamazenta; a fast beneficiary of Spikes that appreciated Hisuian Samurott's talent at chipping away at Corviknight with Encore and Flip Turn pressure. I added onto this a generic defensive core of Manaphy and VA Corviknight to blanket most of the meta, Sinistcha to block Rapid Spin attempts from Iron Treads, Excadrill, and non-Scrappy variants of Great Tusk, and finally Landorus-I, a personal favourite of mine. It sets Stealth Rock, doesn't fear Great Tusk or Physically Defensive Corviknight, and gives the team some great insurance against most variants of Iron Moth, a Pokemon the team would otherwise struggle with.

This is the best replay I have for showing off Samurott's talents but the set came in clutch suprisingly frequently. Being able to threaten out set-up sweepers like Scream Tail and Ogerpon regardless of their Speed tier is fantastic, and it led to some nasty vortex chains. I also got to click Belly Drum. On the other hand I also missed Ceaseless Edge at least once every other game and in one instance I missed five times in a row.

After this I tried Magic Guard, a set that could directly threaten Great Tusk, and came up with this team:

:samurott-hisui::landorus-therian::iron_moth::gholdengo::scream_tail::swampert:

I had a variant with my own Great Tusk that I made before this but I gave up on it after it went 0-3. I was too focused on using a traditional balance team, while this more successful version was me embracing Samurott's strengths and making a quasi-superman team with four Pokemon fully immune to opposing Spikes. This set did alright, but I don't think I'll be using it again. It's not as reliable as it used to be as Corviknight's SpDef sets are picking up traction and it was never particularly reliable to begin with. It's also reliant on Ceaseless Edge hitting in the first place - when Deoxys, Garchomp, Meowscarada or Ogerpon decide to set Spikes they don't have to contend with a 10% failure rate of missing an attack. Replay.

Next I tried Regenerator, but I came to the conclusion that it's unviable if you aren't also using Sinistcha as a partner. EE Gholdengo/Pecharunt don't compress enough roles into one slot and every variant I made ended up having no real counterplay to Primarina, Zapdos, Iron Moth, or any other number of Special Attackers. Manaphy has far better bulk and both Primarina and Swampert have a more valuable defensive typing that give them strong niches on defensive structures.

:samurott-hisui::iron-moth::gholdengo::corviknight::great-tusk::deoxys-speed:

This is the closest I came to making a good team, but you'll notice that the fire resist is switching Gholdengo in and bluffing Well-Baked Body. Interestingly this worked three out of three times.

To sum up, I don't think Regenerator is viable on it. I want to stress that this is exclusively testing Hamurott on EE Gholdengo / EE Pecharunt compositions as I felt like Sinistcha variants were already being explored enough by other users (and structures that didn't include any spinblocker at all weren't really getting enough benefit from Ceaseless Edge). I also briefly tried a funny Rocky Helmet & Rough Skin set inspired by OU Garchomp and PU Cramorant, two other Pokemon that have used Endure in very funny ways in the past. It wasn't good. :(

Prankster > Regenerator (with :sinistcha:) > Magic Guard > Regenerator (without :sinistcha:) > Rough Skin.
Nomming to C tier.

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Y'all've any replays / teams / findings to report?
Samurott-Hisui @ Life Orb
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Aqua Cutter
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
this might be worth looking into, you can easily can setup on most regenvests and force progress on any wall with +2 ceaseless while sucker kills anything faster after chip
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tinted Lens Samurott-Hisui Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Roaring Moon: 377-445 (107.4 - 126.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Samurott-Hisui Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos: 329-387 (102.4 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Tinted Lens Samurott-Hisui Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zamazenta: 252-299 (77.5 - 92%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
 
CEAAA Betti

I can't nominate a mon and not even try it out, was a bit busy w irl and fun building w natdex, was able to play a bit initially but got a bulk of my games done today.

My initial thoughts leaned towards offensive adapt with knock surf ceaseless encore, max speed atk, but found this set very underwhelming and could not get much progress done. This was mainly due to rmoon + corv just absolutely decimating it, surf didn't rlly help too much either.

These were the builds I used with this set.

:Samurott-Hisui::Pecharunt::Zamazenta::Moltres::Iron Treads::Primarina:
:Samurott-Hisui::Great Tusk::Primarina::Gholdengo::Landorus-therian::Iron Moth:

Even in the 11-1300 range these builds were struggling so I knew I had to make a pivot. I decided to give regenvest a try as o1 and UT seemed to be having the most success with it, tho I made a few changes key changes to EV spread and move set to better fit the teams needs.

:Samurott-Hisui::Zamazenta::Scream Tail::Gliscor::Gholdengo::Iron Moth:

I made the hamu 268 speed for specs ghold and had surf>flip for the tusk mu, as pivoting was not necessary on a build such as this.

I based this build off of a pretty popular OU build/comp, that was even recently brought in OLT by 3d. The idea is fat hstack that ignores hazards so you don't have to worry about fitting removal. This build would probably be better most of the time with a boots spdef Ting-Lu, but through my playing found samurott has unique traits that only it can fill. Despite the most obvious thing being spike, I really liked how much of a check it was to gholdengo, even with rocks up hamu shrugged off any hit, and could make infinite progress with knock and ceaseless. This is different from Ting as it still really struggles to take a MiR, and especially struggles into lefties scrap tusk and lefties corv, who can passively heal vs it quite easily.

Outside of hamu, I think this team has a lot of nice techs borrowed from OU to fit the AAA meta, this being: mg stail, ww moth, and tect knock glisc. Throughout my run in ssnl, I used unaware stail, but had the realization this mon is literally just clefable so decided to go the mg wish pass route with it. Can have rocks>cm, but with hamu on this build I decided to make glisc rocks so it left a free spot, can rlly be whatever this mon is never winning w cm anyway. WW moth fills the exact same role as spdef roar molt, but gives you toxic, meaning you can make much more meaningful progress than with wisp. You also become a nice wincon with fiery boosts Tect knock glisc is still an insane progress maker here, and paired with wish stail even taking a knock isn't the end of the world. Really nice synergy and I was thinking of making a post about the initial team I used these mons on (that has a much better defensive core) but idk.

I really like the synergy all these mons have together, though it still does have its problem mu's. The biggest one is no guard zap. An absolute shitter of a mon that dunks on this builds entire existence. Would just hope my opp would play worse than me or just forfeit and keep it moving. Banded moon/non-choiced zama r also a b for this team, and I got lucky in my run that I didn't really run into them, tho I think the mu's are playable to a degree (zama im not so sure). Could definitely make a build with a better mu into these mons but didn't really feel it was necessary/thought it would change team comp too much so I just decided to stay with this.

Tbh I really like regenvest hamu, it fills the role of a water regen that can make even better progress with knock and ceaseless, and has flexibility in its water move in flip/surf depending on what the structure needs. I think further exploration by borrowing OU team compositions is the best way to find the best niche for it that is successful in the AAA meta.


I also recorded myself laddering the last 100ish elo live, had a fun time with it and it made the usual boring ladder grind a bit more bearable. Also gives a bit more games than the replays shared above
 
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my goat O1V7O2X9O wins this cycle gg
This is Betticus's world and we're just living in it, another 3k to Betticus.
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For the next cycle, we tried democracy:
1759153596656.png

:sv/garchomp:
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What can the landshark do in AAA? It's on the VR with a plethora of offensive abilities, but also has seen defensive uses throughout AAA's history and this generation got Spikes for some reason?

What are Garchomp's best sets? What are the best move combinations on those sets? What teammates help it overcome its challenges? What optimizations make the best of use of its stat spread? Can ChainChomp survive in an environment with WBB Corv? Loaded Dice or Life Orb? Can Scale Shot actually hit in key moments?

Deadline for this cycle is <t:1760364000:F> and the prefix is IDGCH, happy laddering!
 
IDGCH Talon

I want to explore both setup chomp (likely mixed) and sweeper chomps. If he doesn't post it himself I will also test Giagantic's greed set but he gets first dibs.
 
UT pinged me so here is the set I concocted.
garchomp.gif.m.1754256314


Garchomp @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Scale Shot
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock
As you can note it is very greedy as I am running Stealth Rocks and trying to make the best of the 4 moveslots Garchomp has. Speed evs outspeed Zamazenta by 2. The idea is you can play around as usual such as setting up rocks and then SD and BAM, 2hko corv as it defogs. Won't say it is broken or anything but it does the job it was given albeit outspeed by faster scarfs, Deo-s, and such. If you want to not greed you can run some form of coverage such as Stone Edge, Sub, or something else I unno. Scale Shot is unpredictable however, with its less then optimal accuracy.
 
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IDGCH Horse

as any other responsible student I've been laddering on & off while in class, and while most teams have been jank at best the majority of them have included Garchomp, and currently I think it's an extremely good pokemon. The main (and best) set I've been mainly running is this:

:garchomp:
Garchomp @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Dragon's Maw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Scale Shot
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock / Spikes

Dragon's Maw (or technician if you're lame, Dragon's Maw is like a million times cooler name-wise) feels like its strongest ability on these physical sets, as Scale Shot is extremely spammable considering there are an entire two usable fairies in the tier compared to the myriad of ground-immune mons that plague the tier, and with an SD you can often run away with games versus opponents that lack reliable priority. Not to mention it's also great at getting up hazards which is always cool :) ChainChomp is also still fine but I don't like LO recoil and sometimes you run out of steam too fast but it's still probably a better spikes lead than fraud Hamurott.

Garchomp @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Dragon's Maw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Scale Shot
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Swords Dance

Alternative cook if you really fucking hate Corviknight & already have another hazard setter on your team, Neutral Scale Shot --> Fire Blast always kills physical variants. I guess it also does something into Levitate Ghold & Fluffy Great Tusk but don't count on it too much, it's mainly to snipe Corv.
 
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