KOKOVAL FOUND ALIVE (?!) IN THE BIG '26 (ft. Ceruledge)
(why are we suddenly doing this title stuff?)
KokoVal Z-Ceru Offense
(click on icons for paste)
Ceruledge is an amazing cleaner and with an Adamant nature, boosted Never-Ending Nightmare is almost guaranteed to secure a kill. His ability to act as a one-time offensive check to threats like Volcarona and revenge sweep against a lot of offensive structures both stood out to me as well, so I built off that. The given EV spread survives +1 Volcarona's Hidden Power Ground and unboosted Tapu Lele's Psychic after Stealth Rock, and outspeeds Choice Scarf Urshifu-Rapid-Strike at +2. It also survives Zamazenta's Crunch after Stealth Rock, and Stone Edge from full HP. The defensive typing is pretty unique too, helping answer and spinblock Terapagos, who is rather problematic for offensive builds.
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Ceruledge has very few defensive answers, most common of which are Ting-Lu, Alomomola, Tyranitar-Mega, and Landorus-T, alongside priority users like Kingambit and Raging Bolt. Tapu Koko and Iron Valiant solve the majority of the above problems, with Tapu Koko providing the team a bit of innate speed and pressuring Ground-type Pokemon like Ting-Lu and Landorus-T, as well as forcing out Alomomola and being an effective answer to Raging Bolt. Choice Specs gives Tapu Koko the power to threaten Ceruledge's checks properly, and is quite really slept on despite being nigh unwallable with adequate prediction. Iron Valiant's innate typing allows it to ward off Kingambit and Tyranitar-Mega, and in Electric Terrain, Iron Valiant can act as a pseudo speed control for the team. Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain, in tandem with Thunderbolt, also allows Iron Valiant to break through Pokemon that would commonly answer it, like Moltres or Alomomola. Tapu Koko can also pivot Ceruledge in on its non-Ground-type checks, such as Ferrothorn or Slowking-Galar, opening up potential setup opportunities.
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Being three Pokemon in and having zero defensive utility to speak of, the teambuilding process became a lot more streamlined; adding Great Tusk gave me a spinblocker as well as the ability to properly answer Raging Bolt and Kingambit, as well as entry hazards. This also lifted the Fighting-type role off Iron Valiant's nonexistent back and gave the team a more effective defensive backbone to work with. Scizor-Mega came afterwards, as the team struggled with switching into Choice Scarf variants of Tapu Lele and Urshifu-Rapid-Strike, alongside helping answer Venusaur-Mega for Tapu Koko and Iron Valiant. Scizor-Mega can also function as an effective check to all the Ground-type Pokemon in the tier, and act as a late-game wincon after Ceruledge has smashed through any bulky Water- or Fire-type Pokemon with its boosted Never-Ending Nightmare. U-turn allows Scizor-Mega to pivot in Tapu Koko, Great Tusk, or Ceruledge against any of its checks, such as Moltres, Zapdos, Corviknight, Charizard-Mega-Y, Heatran, Gholdengo, and more. Scizor-Mega and Great Tusk also work in conjunction to take on Fighting-types like Zamazenta and Lopunny-Mega for Tapu Koko and Iron Valiant as well, helping deal with threats that often placed significant pressure on this offensive duo. With a Rocky Helmet, Great Tusk can help punish Close Combat from Zamazenta and pivoting moves like U-turn from Landorus-T, helping secure chip damage for Ceruledge endgames.
Side note: You can go Knock Off on Scizor-Mega too, but I've found that to be a bit annoying for Ceruledge endgames, and U-turn was much more effective in play for the sake of retaining momentum, since you had stuff that pressured all Scizor-Mega checks.
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Dragonite is the linchpin of the team, providing everything that it still needed to be viable. Thanks to Multiscale and the valuable Dragon-Flying-typing, Dragonite provides the team with both a Ground-immunity and a defensive answer to Charizard-Mega-Y, who comes in rather freely against Scizor-Mega and Great Tusk. In return, Scizor-Mega can cover Ogerpon-Wellspring for Dragonite, allowing it to dodge the now common Play Rough. Dragonite is the standard Earthquake + Ice Spinner with Roost and Dragon Dance, letting it act as another wincon as long as the majority of bulky Flying-types have been removed from the game or taken enough chip damage, which this team accomplishes quite handily. Dragonite has more defensive utility beyond answering the tier's premier sun setter, though, with Multiscale allowing it to answer almost anything in the tier once, allowing Ceruledge to conserve its HP for an endgame sweep based on matchup, rather than exhausting itself early on in the game dealing with Pokemon like Volcarona.
Side note: Substitute > Roost is okay on the Dragonite if you wanna fish against Alomomola and Toxapex-anchored teams, but not having a Charizard-Mega-Y answer with longevity will absolutely impact the sun matchup. Tapu Koko and Ceruledge are still very strong in the sun matchup, though, so going on a fishing expedition with Substitute Dragonite has its merits.
Dual Wingbeat is absolutely worth consideration as well, as Venusaur-Mega cores can be quite annoying to break through for this team, even with Scizor-Mega.
That's the team! Enjoy. Give the other two variants that didn't make the cut some love, too; they're fun.
Thanks to trufs for reviewing all three <3
other variants (these two deserve some love too)
the zama food from hell (fun to play tho)
KokoVal Z-Ceru Hazard Stack
looks weird but it kinda works? (idk i have no words for this one)
