Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

Is there any poison or steel type that can take fairy hits fairly well with decent offensive capabilities that isn't Magnezone, Melmetal or Nidoking and is somewhat viable in ou? Because Magnezone is pretty meh and Melmetal doesn't fit my play style while Nidoking can't take strong fairy hits. If possible, can someone provide one pokemon for both those types?
Magearna is a good one. You can run it with Assault Vest or Specs depending on if you care more about it tanking hits like you said or maintaining a good offensive presence as you also noted. It has good natural bulk so offensive sets can take a hit or two. As for a poison type AV Galarian Slowking can take all sorts of fairy hits and has a solid offensive presence too.
 

AM

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What is currently the most popular Koko set?
Based on the usage stats currently it's the dual screens set from what is most likely IPF's Screen Team. Stats.

Tapu Koko |
+----------------------------------------+
| Raw count: 167034 |
| Avg. weight: 0.0032030800522 |
| Viability Ceiling: 87 |
+----------------------------------------+
| Abilities |
| Electric Surge 99.990% |
| Telepathy 0.010% |
+----------------------------------------+
| Items |
| Light Clay 49.085% |
| Choice Specs 24.659% |
| Heavy-Duty Boots 11.870% |
| Choice Scarf 6.801% |
| Terrain Extender 3.642% |
| Other 3.943% |
+----------------------------------------+
| Spreads |
| Timid:0/0/0/252/4/252 41.287% |
| Jolly:0/252/0/0/4/252 32.126% |
| Jolly:248/0/0/0/8/252 12.235% |
| Timid:0/0/4/252/0/252 3.101% |
| Jolly:252/0/4/0/0/252 2.659% |
| Timid:248/0/0/8/0/252 1.771% |
| Other 6.820% |
+----------------------------------------+
| Moves |
| U-turn 66.183% |
| Reflect 49.240% |
| Light Screen 49.214% |
| Dazzling Gleam 47.265% |
| Thunderbolt 41.977% |
| Volt Switch 35.377% |
| Wild Charge 32.667% |
| Grass Knot 25.742% |
| Taunt 20.146% |
| Roost 15.675% |
| Other 16.513% |
+----------------------------------------+
| Teammates |
| Hawlucha +45.616% |
| Landorus-Therian +32.981% |
| Magearna +32.222% |
| Azumarill +27.495% |
| Dragonite +25.971% |
| Magnezone +10.110% |
| Latias +4.110% |
| Cinderace +3.415% |
| Mew +2.581% |
| Mamoswine +2.487% |
| Darmanitan +1.538% |
| Kingdra +1.531%
 
Hello, I haven't played in a while (since DPP), and I am interested in the new meta game and I don't know where to start. I have an incomplete core:

Melmetal@Leftovers
Double Iron Bash
TP
IP
Substitute
Adamant - / 252 Atk / 228 Sp. Def / 28 Spe

Latios@AV
Mystical Fire
Psyshock
Thunder
Ice Beam
*Modest - 4 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Sp. Def

Latios can wall some Fini builds (with MF), 2HKO low Defense Blisseys and surprises / cripples other threats with Thunder. It also slows down CM Clefable with MF and forces a switch. Melmetal usually gets one KO because there are no safe switch ins, or I predict and substitute. I put Speed investment in there for other Melmetals.

I also use a Cloyster with Ice Beam, Surf, Rest (if I have a cleric) and Rapid Spin with Shell Armor and high Defense and HP investment. It can wall Urshifu. If it tries to CC, I will either 1HKO or 2HKO with either STAB (with a little Sp. Atk investment). I also use Shell Armor Torkoal as my Spinner for a similar purpose, but Cloyster usually works better. I equip either with Heavy Duty Boots.

I would prefer a mon to complete the core that would not make me rely on Hazards being present or non-present (for a while it was Specs Magearna, but that ended up not working). It doesn't fit my play style, and I don't like either of the viable spin blockers. I don't use Landorus. I'm having trouble with the Toxapex / Urshifu / Moltres / Spectrier core and rain teams. I would appreciate any advice! Thank you!

To the moderators: I apologize if this is the wrong place to put this. Please show me where to put it if not. Thanks!
 
What are common mons used on Electric Terrain teams offensively and defensively?
Alolan Raichu is a niche Pokemon generally but a very effective pick on electric terrain teams bc its speed doubles thanks to surge surfer and it can use a 140 BP Rising Voltage + great coverage moves that let it beat ground types

Raichu-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rising Voltage
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot / Focus Blast / Surf
- Volt Switch

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Rising Voltage
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot / Focus Blast / Surf


Hawlucha is excellent on electric terrain teams too because with electric seed its speed doubles and it becomes resistant to most priority attacks because of the +1 to its defense

Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge / Roost
 
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Red Raven

I COULD BE BANNED!
ABCZ69 it's the fastest way to play and understand the metagame. You can't join in on something you don't understand. It's pointless. You can do wifi battles against players who are willing to do smogon's rules but that wouldn't be easy considering the twenty minute timer. So, just play on showdown so you can get an understanding of the metagame. If you wanna join the discussion there here is where you post

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...n-thread-v7-usage-stats-in-post-1543.3672210/
 
Hello, relatively new player here. I would like to know what I should keep in mind for EV'ing a defensive mon. I can do so for generally offensive and fast Pokemons as they use max speed and max attack of choice, but every time I see a defensive or bulky build, I am confused as to what the EV's are for. Is it to allow them to take hits from their common checks or are surprise sets which allow them 1 v 1 some usually problematic threats ?

Also, is running band on a Jolly Cinderace good as he bags too many KO's for me but loses the ability to switch moves (Life Orb) and being locked means I have to switch out many times, which can be problems if my hazard remover is gone.

Final questions, is a suicide lead Gigalith good in OU right now ? I have been using him and he almost always does his job by setting up to rocks with sturdy and nabbing a surprise kill with priority explosion thanks to Custap Berry. But I'm still in the 1400's so I don't know what is the state of the players in that part of the ladder. (And I do keep a Bisharp to punish expected defoggers)

The build is :-

Gigalith @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion
 
Hello, relatively new player here. I would like to know what I should keep in mind for EV'ing a defensive mon.
Yo =)
I can't answer you all, but for the first question I link you some tools :
Calculator
→ Here's a quick tool that isn't perfect but can help : In the same calculator you can find "all v 1" and "1 v all" in top-right of the screen enter the set, select the meta you want to honcalkulate (OU i guess).
Here's quality control where some smogon sets are made but miss a lot of pokemons in.
OU pokemon's discussions
And you can search in the forum for more info ^^

Moderators said that they will complete the smogon info after hollidays, now all DLC are made and meta go to regulate.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Hello, relatively new player here. I would like to know what I should keep in mind for EV'ing a defensive mon. I can do so for generally offensive and fast Pokemons as they use max speed and max attack of choice, but every time I see a defensive or bulky build, I am confused as to what the EV's are for. Is it to allow them to take hits from their common checks or are surprise sets which allow them 1 v 1 some usually problematic threats ?
For your first Question: specific EV spreads on bulkier teams allow to tank some certain hits or some players just want to speed-creep a Pokemon and put the rest into the specific HP and Defense-stats. As Example: Reuniclus speed creeped Haze Toxapex, to have a setup prior to Toxapex coming in and to dish out damage first on Toxapex, before Toxapex can make use of Haze to reset the status-boosts. But speed-creeps can only come so far, as at one point it'll be unnecessary as due to more invest in speed, more and more bulk gets lost. Another example is Melmetal currently with 16 speed EVs allowing it to outrun Toxapex by 2 points, you can go 12 if you want, as it still outpaces Toxapex by 1 point exactly.

Also, is running band on a Jolly Cinderace good as he bags too many KO's for me but loses the ability to switch moves (Life Orb) and being locked means I have to switch out many times, which can be problems if my hazard remover is gone.
To the second Question: Choice Band Cinderace can act as a nice and fun offensive pivot with U-turn, Pyro Ball, Gunk Shot and Zen Headbutt, but I think you should put a decent amount of entry hazard removal on your team, or support this Set very well, to make it work in the long run. Currently the Mainsets are either Heavy-Duty Boots-variants, or Life Orb-variants, HDBs to not be prone by hazards, as example on Hyper Offensive-teams, whereas Life Orb can dish out more damage if you decide to go for the power route. Both Sets, HDB and LO alike, can work well on Hyper Offensive-teams, HDB can also work outside of Hyper Offensive-teams, but while Choice Band is more niche, it can work well too, if you support this set well, with defoggers like Hydreigon or Mandibuzz, which have Roost to ensure the longevity while Defogging.

Final questions, is a suicide lead Gigalith good in OU right now ? I have been using him and he almost always does his job by setting up to rocks with sturdy and nabbing a surprise kill with priority explosion thanks to Custap Berry. But I'm still in the 1400's so I don't know what is the state of the players in that part of the ladder. (And I do keep a Bisharp to punish expected defoggers)

The build is :-

Gigalith @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion
To the third Question: That Set of Gigalith isn't bad at all in my opinion, and can net in some surprise KOes with sturdy + custap berry in combination, it can also run something like Smooth Rock or Leftovers, Smooth Rock to guarantee more turns from 5 to 8 for Excadrill or Dracozolt as these are great partners to it. Leftovers are for more longevity. But in overall this Gigalith-set is pretty good, but another great suicide-lead on HO is Lando-T as it can do the job pretty well too with Focus Sash, Stealth Rocks, Earthquake and Explosion. It can also run Rock Tomb or Stone Edge in case you want to hit flying-types without sacking Lando-T early off, if it isn't necessary. Gigalith however can be a great alternative, but on HO builds, I personally would use Lando-T as it doesn't damage its teampartners with sand-Stream, unless it is an offensive Sand-team, which I think Gigalith can excell pretty decent on.

I hope I was able to answer your Questions :)
 
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For your first Question: specific EV spreads on bulkier teams allow to tank some certain hits or some players just want to speed-creep a Pokemon and put the rest into the specific HP and Defense-stats. As Example: Reuniclus speed creeped Haze Toxapex, to have a setup prior to Toxapex coming in and to dish out damage first on Toxapex, before Toxapex can make use of Haze to reset the status-boosts. But speed-creeps can only come so far, as at one point it'll be unnecessary as due to more invest in speed, more and more bulk gets lost. Another example is Melmetal currently with 16 speed EVs allowing it to outrun Toxapex by 2 points, you can go 12 if you want, as it still outpaces Toxapex by 1 point exactly.
Thanks for this. The examples helped a lot.


To the second Question: Choice Band Cinderace can act as a nice and fun offensive pivot with U-turn, Pyro Ball, Gunk Shot and Zen Headbutt, but I think you should put a decent amount of entry hazard removal on your team, or support this Set very well, to make it work in the long run. Currently the Mainsets are either Heavy-Duty Boots-variants, or Life Orb-variants, HDBs to not be prone by hazards, as example on Hyper Offensive-teams, whereas Life Orb can dish out more damage if you decide to go for the power route. Both Sets, HDB and LO alike, can work well on Hyper Offensive-teams, HDB can also work outside of Hyper Offensive-teams, but while Choice Band is more niche, it can work well too, if you support this set well, with defoggers like Hydreigon or Mandibuzz, which have Roost to ensure the longevity while Defogging.
While I do run Mandibuzz as a defogger and Spectrier check, I will take this into consideration. HDB might be the better item for Cinderace afterall. Thanks.

To the third Question: That Set of Gigalith isn't bad at all in my opinion, and can net in some surprise KOes with sturdy + custap berry in combination, it can also run something like Smooth Rock or Leftovers, Smooth Rock to guarantee more turns from 5 to 8 for Excadrill or Dracozolt as these are great partners to it. Leftovers are for more longevity. But in overall this Gigalith-set is pretty good, but another great suicide-lead on HO is Lando-T as it can do the job pretty well too with Focus Sash, Stealth Rocks, Earthquake and Explosion. It can also run Rock Tomb or Stone Edge in case you want to hit flying-types without sacking Lando-T early off, if it isn't necessary. Gigalith however can be a great alternative, but on HO builds, I personally would use Lando-T as it doesn't damage its teampartners with sand-Stream, unless it is an offensive Sand-team.
While Landorus may be a better suicide lead (but it would miss the priority), I just feel that would waste Landorus. He can do so many things such as switching in on physical attacks, set up rocks mid game as well, has STAB earthquake with a monstrous attack, block volt switch, both ground and electric immunity, can run scarf, rocky helmet etc. I just think suicide lead is not Landorus at it's best and feels too gimmicky to me.
 

Zneon

uh oh
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just with showdown?
Not just with Showdown no. If you want to actively participate in any metagame you can do it in the forums too. You will get a better grasp at not only just playing the metagame you want to play, but also looking at the discussions that has been going in the forums and making posts of your own on what you've been using or your opinion on the topics at hand!

There are a lot of other ways you can participate too like looking through and posting in the VRs of the metagame you want to play, looking through resources, sample teams, etc. If you are new to a metagame and you don't know how to get started, I would highly recommend you go to the sample teams and VR in order to get started with the metagame you want to play with.

Hope this helped! :blobthumbsup:
 
If there is a species clause, Is it possible to use 2 mons of the same species but diff regional variant. For eg can i carry both zapdos and gapdos on same team?
 

Zneon

uh oh
is a Community Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
If there is a species clause, Is it possible to use 2 mons of the same species but diff regional variant. For eg can i carry both zapdos and gapdos on same team?
There's species clause for regional Pokemon as well because even though they are from different regions, they are still the same species of Pokemon. It was the same last gen, where you couldn't put Exeggutor and Alolan Exeggutor on the same team for example.
 

Red Raven

I COULD BE BANNED!
Is going for modest over timid on scarf broken ghost horse a good idea? Or is there something significant that it needs to outrun and has to use timid?
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Is going for modest over timid on scarf broken ghost horse a good idea? Or is there something significant that it needs to outrun and has to use timid?
Timid is better as Modest allows opposing Spectrier and also Tapu Koko to outrun you, also Weavile will outspeed you, when you run a sub-set with Wisp, therefore Weavile will break your sub before you can cripple it with Wisp. Also Timid Tornadus-Therian will outrun you, before you are able to hit it, thus it can make use of Knock Off, which can defeat Spectrier before you are able to hit it. When you already have Grim Neigh-boosts beforehand, you will have a better chance to outpace and KO these Pokemon, instead of leaving your Spectrier vulnerable by letting it get outpaced by the aforementioned threats. I would 100% go Timid over Modest on Spectrier.

Hope this answer helped you and Merry Christmas :)
 

Red Raven

I COULD BE BANNED!
Timid is better as Modest allows opposing Spectrier and also Tapu Koko to outrun you, also Weavile will outspeed you, when you run a sub-set with Wisp, therefore Weavile will break your sub before you can cripple it with Wisp. Also Timid Tornadus-Therian will outrun you, before you are able to hit it, thus it can make use of Knock Off, which can defeat Spectrier before you are able to hit it. When you already have Grim Neigh-boosts beforehand, you will have a better chance to outpace and KO these Pokemon, instead of leaving your Spectrier vulnerable by letting it get outpaced by the aforementioned threats. I would 100% go Timid over Modest on Spectrier.

Hope this answer helped you and Merry Christmas :)
Thanks but I was asking if Spectrier itself has choice scarf and not using a different set. Is timid still worth on a scarfed Spectrier?
 

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