National Dex [AG] Pet Shop (peak 1605 ELO)

[Navzyx-kun]

Hello Smogon community! In this RMT I would like to show my AG team, and changes can be made in comments! This team has helped me go to 1605 and in the near future I plan to ladder more. Coincidentally, my team is filled with Pokemon based on animals.

~~PET SHOP~~
The team

artist doggo (Smeargle) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Shell Smash
- Sticky Web
- Baton Pass

Classic SmashPass strategy. Smeargle is incredibly common on serious NatDex AG teams and for a good reason why - its unlimited movepool. Spore is used to sleep threats on the first turn. It allows Smeargle to set up safely due to its horrendous bulk. Shell Smash is used to give stat boosts to offensive stats and speed - all which excel in the team, except the last member. Sticky Web is only used sometimes when there is time to set it up. Baton Pass allows it to pass these deadly stat changes to the team. Moody rounds up, by adding some more stats.

sword doggo (Zacian-Crowned) @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Substitute
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

In a tier where Dynamax is highly abuseable, Zacian-C is indeed a good boy. B-Blade, while having low PP, is a highly spammable move. It has STAB, 100 BP (an astounding 200 BP when opp is dmaxed), and no side effects like lowering stat or low accuracy. It also hits most Pokemon neutrally. Substitute is for Zacian to not get copied by Ditto (good lord fuck that mon) and to avoid status like Will o Wisp, Spore, Paralysis or even Leech Seed, albeit less common. CC is to hit most steel-type walls. SDance is used to bring ZC's atk to astronomical levels.

edgy af (Yveltal) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Heat Wave
- Roost

Remember when I said Dynamax was really abuseable? Yeah I was damn right about that. Yveltal is my main DMaxer and also my main SRex counter. Dark Pulse is the only special dark move Yveltal gets, and it becomes stronger with Dark Aura. Oblivion Wing is going to be the most spammable move in DMax because it raises Yveltal's speed, especially after Smeargle Baton Pass. Heat Wave is to counter steel walls, and Roost is a more reliable recovery option and to not get hit by Ice, Electric or Rock attacks SE.

glow whale (Kyogre-Primal) @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Origin Pulse
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

With that astronomical 180 SpAtk stat, 150 BP Weather-boosted STAB move on full HP, this thing hits like Hiroshima's nuke. It is able to OHKO Necrozma-DM unboosted. Smeargle-boosted he is pretty much capable of doing anything. Water Spout is his most spammable move obviously, capable of nuking almost all unresisted threats. Origin Pulse is only used when he is worn down. Thunder is his main weapon against opposing Dittos, and to hit most Flying-types. Ice Beam completes the BoltBeam combo.

icy monke (Darmanitan-Galar) @ Firium Z
Ability: Gorilla Tactics
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake

Is anyone excited about the Godzilla vs Kong movie? Because honestly, I do. Sadly we are undergoing a pandemic rn and we can't go to theaters. Team Monke btw, as represented by the mon above. GTactics is such a good ability, giving him a free Choice Band. What's even crazier is that you can switch moves. If you're locked into Ice Punch, and someone sends out a Necrozma-DM, GDarm is LITERALLY ABLE TO SWITCH INTO INFERNO OVERDRIVE. LITERALLY. It's broken! Fix this!
Anyways Flare Blitz is mandatory to break through steels and going to Inferno Overdrive. U-Turn is to pivot. Ice Punch is Darm's most reliable STAB, and EQ hits stuff like Heatran.

poggers (Quagsire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Stockpile
- Earthquake
- Recover

I have MU problems with other Smashpass users, Ditto, and lastly, Marshadow. Quagsire is my favorite pokemon of all time and with Unaware, he checks a lot of things in the metagame. Toxic is to give passive damage, Stockpile to raise both defenses, EQ to hit steels, and Recover to stay healthy


Thanks for reading my RMT!
Proof I got to 1605:

 

[Geysers]

Hi! It's cool to see someone doing fairly well with smashpass, considering how underutilized of a playstyle it is overall. There is, however, quite a bit of room for improvement with this build. Generally speaking, the priority for smashpass should always be having the ability to imposter-proof most or all of your sweepers, which can be done in a few ways. The first way is to have one or two self-imposter-proof sweepers, using Pokemon like Arceush-Ghost that only has Judgment + normal or fighting moves. The second way is to have sweepers that can improof each other (an example would be Arceus-Ghost alongside zacian-c and necrozma-dm - if Ditto copies Zacian-C, and it uses Close Combat, Arceus-Ghost can stop it, while if it uses Behemoth Blade, Necrozma-DM can stop it). The third way, which you have used here, is to have a teamslot dedicated to a catch-all improofing Pokemon with unaware like Quagsire. Unfortunately, this strategy is probably the worst of the three, because it reduces the number of potential recievers, making your team overall more predictable, while also providing a passive Pokemon that can potentially be abused by setup sweepers like Xerneas. In order to improve it, I intend to utilize a mix of the first and second strategies, combining self-imposter-proof sweepers with effective imposter-proofing for the sweepers that aren't imposter-proofed. Enough talking; let's get to the team.

Major Changes

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set

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Focus Blast
- Judgment
- Stealth Rock

This is a self-imposter-proof smashpass receiver, that has the added benefit of providing hazard control, potentially letting Smeargle Baton Pass more than once, while also providing Stealth Rock to protect against the omnipresent midgame focus sashes. Unfortunately, Darmanitan is totally unviable in natdex ag, giving free momentum to a lot of common Pokemon and archetypes, while also being incredibly weak to priority. This is a straight upgrade over it, and has the added benefit of being completely immune to ditto.

-->

set

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Photon Geyser
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake

Quagsire, unfortunately, is a real momentum sink, giving opponents plenty of opportunities to set up hazards or boost, and a Necrozma-DM should help quite a bit here, helping to imposter-proof Zacian-C, should a Ditto lock into Behemoth Blade, while also being imposter-proofed by Yveltal and Zacian-C. Rock Blast is chosen over the potentially more powerful Stone Edge in order to help the matchup against standard ladder cheese and Lugia.

Minor Changes

set

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Heat Wave
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- Sucker Punch

Since you've now got a defog user in Arceus-Ghost you can afford to ditch the HDB for a Life Orb, gaining a lot of firepower. Additionally, since you'll be at -1 after receiving a smashpass, it doesn't really make sense to have Roost, so Sucker Punch should work better there, allowing you to pick off heavily chipped Dittos or threaten Calyrex-S. Sadly, this is quite a pain to imposter-proof, so pass to it sparingly in the presence of ditto.

set

Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat
- Substitute

This is a pretty minor thing, but with Shell Smash you don't really need Swords Dance, so you can pretty safely run Wild Charge to dramatically help the matchup against Ho-Oh. Also, an Adamant nature lets your Zacian-C hit even harder, but without seriously jeopardizing its speed.

set

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Taunt
- Shell Smash
- Baton Pass

If you're smashpassing, you probably won't have time to get Sticky Webs off, so I think it makes more sense to have taunt, so you can deter potential phazers like Ho-Oh from using Whirlwind before baton passing. Also, I think that moody is suboptimal on smashpass, as it can have pretty significant unintended consequences, like dropping your speed or attacking stats, and that the risks from it outweight the fairly small potential gains (how often does it really matter if you're at +4 instead of +2 with these breakers?).

I hope this rate was useful, and good luck in your future ag explorations.

Click on the sprites for an importable!

 

[Navzyx-kun]

thanks, might try team later

 

[Navzyx-kun]

ok so I tried it and it works like a charm, thanks a lot Geysers!