1. Introduction
So, after years of playing romhacks, some occasional showdown, and a longtime lurker of r/stunfisk, i came across some pinkacross videos and started to watch his livestreams, specially the natdex ones which sent my pokemon addiction into spamming NatDex.
That being said, i have been hovering around the 1600's, occasionally getting to the 1700's, using this and some other teams(from samples or tour players), and i cant seem to improve much, so i hereby request your valued opinion and counsel.
One of those streams was a Iron Hands team he used in which Pinkacross, while in the process of teambuilding, said that this team:
, might work and since i liked those mons i started using it which led to the following team.
2. Team
(click team for pokepaste)
So, the team is a fast paced offense team focused on koko and ival under eletric terrain that uses the latter incredible stats and moves to break through teams, with support from iron treads and pex as utility mons as well as swords dance scizor for cleanup and extra speed and hazard control in Landorus.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
The eletric terrain setter, and also one of my favorite mons of gen 7. i chose the specs because i wanted to pivot multiple times, it one shots common Landdorus-t defensive sets, and is overall a nuke and a very funny option to deal with disrespectful alomomolas and raging bolts players. U-turn is there instead of volt switch due to the plethora of ground types that switch into it, like Ting-Lu. I really like this set altough being choice locked is never funny.
Iron Treads @ Air Balloon
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 156 SpD / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
The spinner and rocker of the team, that also serves as a temporary ground immunity, and a solid switch into Raging bolt, lele, any choice locked mon into Earthquake with balloon intact. The EV spread is to reach 301 speed, to outspeed great tusk, and to get the booster speed under terrain, with the rest being dumped into bulk.
Ice spinner is a good option against gliscors, Lando-s and dragons, and Earthquake is just ol reliable STAB.
This set works really well as a semi-durable special spong while also being good into gliscor leads that don't run Knock Off/U-turn.
Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 AtK / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Vacuum Wave
Probably my favourite mon of the team, and one of my prefered gen 9 powercreep additions, it hits like a truck, gets coverage for everything and with moonblast/CC/T-Bolt, it does break a lot of mons, specially under E-terrain. All of the molas, moltres, ting-lus, toxapes that usually answer this are very threatened by this combination of moves. Vacuum wave is there for potent priority and because i lost to too many Kingambits and scarfed mons in the lategame.
It used to run Knock Off as its last move which was much better versus Glowking and stall but after i switched into Vacuum wave i couldnt go back.
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Roost
After playing some games with the old team i did realize i needed some priority(before adding vaccum wave to Ival), a good switch into kyurem(a problematic mon if it can enter for free), and a knock off user. So mega Scizor it is, a very reliable option that i do very much enjoy using it, that can also guarantee some late game sweeps after some swords dance. This a standard max attack set with max HP, cause i didnt see the point in investing in speed.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
The bane of every competitive player existence since gen 5, he is always there. Again, after getting wrecked myself by a scarf lando, realizing that without terrain i didnt have much speed control, and no boots team with only tusk as hazard removal, i came to the brilliant conclusion that the most used mon on the tier could be really helpful. I dont have much to say other than some games it goes crazy, others it does absolutely nothing and gets sniped by a random scarfer/Z-move.
Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Haze
- Knock Off
My beloved toxapex that i spent way too much time trying to catch on Sun and Moon. I dont have much to say about this mon, other than i needed a fire, water, grass resist and also a way to deal with bulky set-up sweepers. I like this set, altough the lack of toxic does get annoying and can prevent it from reliably checking some sweepers. The Evspread is just the smogon dex set and rocky helmet to punish contact moves and to severely damper the pesky urshifus while also being a knock absorber.
3. Threats and weaknesses:
this annoying moth, specially the subswarm set, can get very out of hand if i dont have a healthy pex nor Eterrain active.
Nothing can really switch into this demon of a mon, and it can come on pretty easily if i dont have rocks up and just nuke something. I usually have to either get a double switch prediction or it not respecting the scarf on lando, Other option is sacking something which is really not good.
This girl doing girl thing can also be a problem because neither scizor or pex can really touch it, specially if sub, and while Lando, Ival and koko can switch once and live(some are a roll), if they have some chip its also not great and it often requires sacks.
Due to me being life orb on Ival and having no wish passing, this can really be a problem if i dont get a prediction with Ival when it switches into a expected moonblast. With leech seed and knock off it can really put a damper in my team.
Scarf Tapu-Lele is a pain for this team because it outspeeds everything(removing the booster from Ival), and the two members of this team that can come in on it, scizor and Treads, can be very passive and are very passive and easy to switch into for many mons. Its not the worst but if i those are chipped, it can run away with the lategame if it wins the terrain war with koko.
This one pratically 6-0's the entire team but its usage is not really high.
4. Conclusion
I really like this team and i do think it has a good synergy but i cant get it to work consistently against higher ladder player and would like any suggestions on how to improved it or how to pilot it better.
Thank you for reading and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
So, after years of playing romhacks, some occasional showdown, and a longtime lurker of r/stunfisk, i came across some pinkacross videos and started to watch his livestreams, specially the natdex ones which sent my pokemon addiction into spamming NatDex.
That being said, i have been hovering around the 1600's, occasionally getting to the 1700's, using this and some other teams(from samples or tour players), and i cant seem to improve much, so i hereby request your valued opinion and counsel.
One of those streams was a Iron Hands team he used in which Pinkacross, while in the process of teambuilding, said that this team:
, might work and since i liked those mons i started using it which led to the following team.2. Team
(click team for pokepaste)So, the team is a fast paced offense team focused on koko and ival under eletric terrain that uses the latter incredible stats and moves to break through teams, with support from iron treads and pex as utility mons as well as swords dance scizor for cleanup and extra speed and hazard control in Landorus.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
The eletric terrain setter, and also one of my favorite mons of gen 7. i chose the specs because i wanted to pivot multiple times, it one shots common Landdorus-t defensive sets, and is overall a nuke and a very funny option to deal with disrespectful alomomolas and raging bolts players. U-turn is there instead of volt switch due to the plethora of ground types that switch into it, like Ting-Lu. I really like this set altough being choice locked is never funny.
Iron Treads @ Air Balloon
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 156 SpD / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
The spinner and rocker of the team, that also serves as a temporary ground immunity, and a solid switch into Raging bolt, lele, any choice locked mon into Earthquake with balloon intact. The EV spread is to reach 301 speed, to outspeed great tusk, and to get the booster speed under terrain, with the rest being dumped into bulk.
Ice spinner is a good option against gliscors, Lando-s and dragons, and Earthquake is just ol reliable STAB.
This set works really well as a semi-durable special spong while also being good into gliscor leads that don't run Knock Off/U-turn.
Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 AtK / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Vacuum Wave
Probably my favourite mon of the team, and one of my prefered gen 9 powercreep additions, it hits like a truck, gets coverage for everything and with moonblast/CC/T-Bolt, it does break a lot of mons, specially under E-terrain. All of the molas, moltres, ting-lus, toxapes that usually answer this are very threatened by this combination of moves. Vacuum wave is there for potent priority and because i lost to too many Kingambits and scarfed mons in the lategame.
It used to run Knock Off as its last move which was much better versus Glowking and stall but after i switched into Vacuum wave i couldnt go back.
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Roost
After playing some games with the old team i did realize i needed some priority(before adding vaccum wave to Ival), a good switch into kyurem(a problematic mon if it can enter for free), and a knock off user. So mega Scizor it is, a very reliable option that i do very much enjoy using it, that can also guarantee some late game sweeps after some swords dance. This a standard max attack set with max HP, cause i didnt see the point in investing in speed.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
The bane of every competitive player existence since gen 5, he is always there. Again, after getting wrecked myself by a scarf lando, realizing that without terrain i didnt have much speed control, and no boots team with only tusk as hazard removal, i came to the brilliant conclusion that the most used mon on the tier could be really helpful. I dont have much to say other than some games it goes crazy, others it does absolutely nothing and gets sniped by a random scarfer/Z-move.
Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Haze
- Knock Off
My beloved toxapex that i spent way too much time trying to catch on Sun and Moon. I dont have much to say about this mon, other than i needed a fire, water, grass resist and also a way to deal with bulky set-up sweepers. I like this set, altough the lack of toxic does get annoying and can prevent it from reliably checking some sweepers. The Evspread is just the smogon dex set and rocky helmet to punish contact moves and to severely damper the pesky urshifus while also being a knock absorber.
3. Threats and weaknesses:
this annoying moth, specially the subswarm set, can get very out of hand if i dont have a healthy pex nor Eterrain active.
Nothing can really switch into this demon of a mon, and it can come on pretty easily if i dont have rocks up and just nuke something. I usually have to either get a double switch prediction or it not respecting the scarf on lando, Other option is sacking something which is really not good.
This girl doing girl thing can also be a problem because neither scizor or pex can really touch it, specially if sub, and while Lando, Ival and koko can switch once and live(some are a roll), if they have some chip its also not great and it often requires sacks.
Due to me being life orb on Ival and having no wish passing, this can really be a problem if i dont get a prediction with Ival when it switches into a expected moonblast. With leech seed and knock off it can really put a damper in my team.
Scarf Tapu-Lele is a pain for this team because it outspeeds everything(removing the booster from Ival), and the two members of this team that can come in on it, scizor and Treads, can be very passive and are very passive and easy to switch into for many mons. Its not the worst but if i those are chipped, it can run away with the lategame if it wins the terrain war with koko.
This one pratically 6-0's the entire team but its usage is not really high.
4. Conclusion
I really like this team and i do think it has a good synergy but i cant get it to work consistently against higher ladder player and would like any suggestions on how to improved it or how to pilot it better.
Thank you for reading and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
