Hi there! I'm a bit of a beginner, and this is a humble RMT thread I'm making just to get teambuilding advice. I've been on a Pokémon fixation as of very recently and decided to try competitive battling again ; I've done past attempts (I remember playing PU sometime in gen 6 or 7?) but the difference is that I'm relying on Smogon's resources now instead of just winging it, and it's been less overwhelming.
I started by putting together a sort of bulky offense team (might post it as an RMT later, if I'm doing this right) and it's been going alright, but I found I was getting outsped a lot of things. So I thought I'd try something different, and instead of abandoning attack or defense for speed, I'd just force everyone to be slower than me. Plus, I like the idea of playing with more unique tools, and with 'mons people might expect less. Hence, a Trick Room team! It's not necessarily super creative as it's mostly based on sets and ideas I found by searching around. What I want to know is what weaknesses I can expect, how I can patch them and how can I myself play this team better.
My understanding of Trick Room is that it's ideal to build very offensive, since you're trying to fit a lot of damage into a small number of turns. I don't know if what I've got really qualifies as hyper offense but I've certainly tried to have a lot of heavy hitters, with various ways to wallbreak and eventually start a sweep.
Hatterene is my usual lead, with a set I took directly from Smogon's SV OU suggestions. Its goal is to set Trick Room up safely from turn 1, and disrupt setup for the opponent.. Magic Bounce is effective at dealing with other lead utilities such as Ferrothorn and Gliscor, and Psychic Noise seems effective at shutting down stallers (Chansey, Blissey, Alomomola, Gliscor) or Leftover users (the power on this move seems insane for the utility it provides). Dazzling Gleam brings Fairy coverage and hits really hard with STAB, which lets it check a number of threats others can't deal with and clean up well if it lives to the endgame, and Healing Wish serves to give Ursaluna or Kingambit a second wind if they take a beating to check something since they can't heal themselves otherwise.
I'm curious whether these EVs are good or if I could muster more survivability; and whether there might be something more interesting I could give it for coverage. I'm also not fully certain about the value of Healing Wish: Magic Bounce can be incredibly valuable to have throughout the game against certain teams.
Second Trick Room setter. Whereas Hatterene is the lead, Porygon2 is meant to be bulky with Eviolite, hit hard to wallbreak, provide coverage with its large moveset and be cool beans. Tri Attack gives it strong STAB damage and has a decent chance to dish out status in longer fights.
It's an effective mon but I worry the coverage it provides isn't appropriate for my team. Shadow Ball is supposed to let it check Ghosts extra hard, but I realize now that the one Ghost in OU is Gholdengo, which I can already kill with one Knock Off from Kingambit; and Thunderbolt is supposed to cover Flying and Water, but threats like Moltres and Alomomola aren't too vulnerable to it. I'm wondering what I should give it.
Kingambit seems like a given on a team like this. It hits STUPID hard, Knock Off gives me an edge and I get an unmatched surge of dopamine every time I catch a switch-in with Pursuit. Its usual weakness is speed, so on a Trick Room team, it can go crazy. Kingambit serves as a strong physical wallbreaker that doesn't need setup. The one thing I'm mixed about is Iron Head versus Sucker Punch; I went for Iron Head since I thought priority would be less useful to Trick Room, but if I can't switch into a Trick Room setter safely, a strong priority move can be a boon.
I really like the idea of Facade/Flame Orb/Guts sweeping (it's why I was playing PU before, long ago; Ursaring seemed fun) and it happens it works well with Trick Room. This is the suggested set from Smogon for this purpose and it works well; and because Ursaluna is so bulky, I can even switch it in to deal with various threats with Headlong Rush. I don't really know what Fire Punch is supposed to cover, specifically, so maybe something else is ideal. What I've found is that, even though it's not always needed to deal insane damage, I don't often see opportunities to use Swords Dance; it often seems better to just start spamming attacks considering what's in front of me.
I'm not very confident in Cresselia. I wanted a third Trick Room setter and she was suggested in some threads I saw on the topic, but I don't really see what role she fills aside from this. I swapped out Lunar Dance from the Smogon set for Energy Ball because I wasn't hot on the idea of sacrificing *two* mons to heal others and thought Grass coverage would bring more value, but I am starting to see the point of having two Healing Wish/Lunar Dance users. I'm taking any suggestions as to how to play Cresselia.
I thought the team was missing specially defensive mons to switch into, so I went looking for one that could also deal damage to stay in the market of offense; it seemed like OU didn't have anything fitting, but I came across Goodra-Hisui in UU and it seemed to fit the bill. Insane typing and just the sort of stats I need, with speed being its dump stat. I knew I wanted it on my team but I wasn't sure what set to give it, so I just tried building it as a second, bulky sweeper using Acid Armor and Body Press. It's not easy to get the sweep going, but Goodra-Hisui is also nice for providing a great switch-in akin to Dragonite thanks to its good special defense and incredible typing.
Other mons I considered were:
I'd be glad to hear any thoughts about what I could do different. Thanks in advance!
I started by putting together a sort of bulky offense team (might post it as an RMT later, if I'm doing this right) and it's been going alright, but I found I was getting outsped a lot of things. So I thought I'd try something different, and instead of abandoning attack or defense for speed, I'd just force everyone to be slower than me. Plus, I like the idea of playing with more unique tools, and with 'mons people might expect less. Hence, a Trick Room team! It's not necessarily super creative as it's mostly based on sets and ideas I found by searching around. What I want to know is what weaknesses I can expect, how I can patch them and how can I myself play this team better.
My understanding of Trick Room is that it's ideal to build very offensive, since you're trying to fit a lot of damage into a small number of turns. I don't know if what I've got really qualifies as hyper offense but I've certainly tried to have a lot of heavy hitters, with various ways to wallbreak and eventually start a sweep.
Code:
Hatterene @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic Noise
- Healing WishHatterene is my usual lead, with a set I took directly from Smogon's SV OU suggestions. Its goal is to set Trick Room up safely from turn 1, and disrupt setup for the opponent.. Magic Bounce is effective at dealing with other lead utilities such as Ferrothorn and Gliscor, and Psychic Noise seems effective at shutting down stallers (Chansey, Blissey, Alomomola, Gliscor) or Leftover users (the power on this move seems insane for the utility it provides). Dazzling Gleam brings Fairy coverage and hits really hard with STAB, which lets it check a number of threats others can't deal with and clean up well if it lives to the endgame, and Healing Wish serves to give Ursaluna or Kingambit a second wind if they take a beating to check something since they can't heal themselves otherwise.
I'm curious whether these EVs are good or if I could muster more survivability; and whether there might be something more interesting I could give it for coverage. I'm also not fully certain about the value of Healing Wish: Magic Bounce can be incredibly valuable to have throughout the game against certain teams.
Code:
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Tri Attack
- Shadow Ball
- ThunderboltIt's an effective mon but I worry the coverage it provides isn't appropriate for my team. Shadow Ball is supposed to let it check Ghosts extra hard, but I realize now that the one Ghost in OU is Gholdengo, which I can already kill with one Knock Off from Kingambit; and Thunderbolt is supposed to cover Flying and Water, but threats like Moltres and Alomomola aren't too vulnerable to it. I'm wondering what I should give it.
Code:
Kingambit (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Low Kick
- Pursuit
Code:
Ursaluna (F) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 72 Def / 56 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Headlong Rush
- Facade
- Fire Punch
- Swords Dance
Code:
Cresselia (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Moonlight
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Energy Ball
Code:
Goodra-Hisui @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Shell Armor
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Heavy Slam
- Acid Armor
- Body Press
- RestOther mons I considered were:
- (Mega-)Scizor with Technician, to deal with Protect users using Feint, Assurance and U-turn. But it seems like it can't kill that much.
- Diancie, since it's cute as a button, fairly slow, and has attack and defense on lock; but there's already a lot of Fairy coverage
- Amoonguss. Hear me out: the main reason my previous team's Amoonguss struggles was speed. It couldn't get Spore or Clear Smog off before getting hit and killed by the sweeper in front of them. But here, it's fast. It can take hits, sleep or end a sweep with Clear Smog ang get out for Regenerator
I'd be glad to hear any thoughts about what I could do different. Thanks in advance!
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