AAA Almost Any Ability (Sample teams @ post #337!)

[UT]

art by Senko

What is Almost Any Ability?​

Almost Any Ability (AAA) is a metagame that lives up to its name. Pokemon in this meta have access to "almost every ability" with the exception of a few that me, the council and the community deem broken or unhealthy for this metagame. With new abilities at Pokemon's disposal, new, old and even some unanticipated threats emerge from unexpected places!

Council Members
UT (Co-Leader)
Isaiah (Co-Leader)
Atha
DeepFriedMagikarp
Quantum Tesseract
Jrdn

Banlist & Clauses

Pokemon

Annihilape
Dragapult
Flutter Mane
Iron Bundle
Iron Valiant
Koraidon
Miraidon
Slaking

Abilities

Arena Trap
Comatose
Contrary
Fur Coat
Gorilla Tactics
Huge Power
Ice Scales
Illusion
Imposter
Innards Out
Magic Bounce
Magnet Pull
Moody
Neutralizing Gas
Parental Bond
Poison Heal
Pure Power
Shadow Tag
Simple
Speed Boost
Unburden
Water Bubble
Wonder Guard

Items: King’s Rock

Moves: Baton Pass, Revival Blessing

Clauses

• Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokemon with the same National Pokédex number on a team.
• Ability Clause = 1: A player cannot have two Pokemon with the same Ability on a team.
• OHKO Clause: A Pokemon may not have the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold in its moveset.
• Evasion Clause: A Pokemon may not have either Double Team or Minimize in its moveset.
• Sleep Moves Clause: Bans all moves that induce sleep as a primary effect, such as Hypnosis. (also bans Yawn)
• Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot intentionally prevent an opponent from being able to end the game without forfeiting.
• Terastal Clause: Players may not Terastalize.

Current Watchlist
Dragonite
Orichalcum Pulse
Iron Hands
Houndstone

Tiering History

2022-11-17: meta created with initial banlist
2022-11-18: Slaking quickbanned
2022-11-21: Annihilape quickbanned
2022-11-22: Terastal Clause implemented by council vote, suspect test for it begins
2022-12-06: Revival Blessing and Unburden quickbanned
2022-12-07: Terastal Clause suspect results in keep banned
2022-12-09: Poison Heal and Magic Bounce quickbanned
2022-12-29: Flutter Mane quickbanned
2023-01-08: Stakeout quickbanned
2023-01-08: Fur Coat + Ice Scales suspect begins
2023-01-23: Fur Coat and Ice Scales banned by suspect test
2023-01-25: Dragapult, Iron Bundle, and Iron Valiant quickbanned

Resources:
> Sample Teams (coming soon! maybe!)
> Almost Any Ability Resources Thread
> Almost Any Ability Old Gens Hub
> Viability List

FAQ:
Q: "Why can't I use abilities on Pokemon that get them naturally in standard play?"
A: "Native Users" don't exactly exist in AAA

Q: Why doesn't Triage affect Bitter Blade?
A: Ask GameFreak, but that is the correct implementation. Triage does not boost Bitter Blade.

 

[UT]

Sample Teams!
Last updated: 1/28/2023​

- TheCoastsOfToast's CB Primordial Sea Barraskwda Balance
- UT's Triple Weather Balance
- DeepFriedMagikarp's Double Weather Bulky Offense
- Isaiah's Tablets of Ruin Polteageist Hazard Stack
- Isaiah's webs + Atha removed Iron Thorns because it's awful and replaced it with Baxcalibur
- Atha's MGO Gholdengo + 3A Iron Moth BalanceI have this but it's not great
- Isaiah's Lead Sandy Shocks Offense
- Jrdn's Scrappy Iron Hands Balance

Old Samples

Atha Ground Spam Balance
Isaiah Dual Screens Balance
Tea Guzzler Fire Spam Offense
LordBox Fur Coat Great Tusk Balance
BugGoBrrrrrr Eject Button Offense
aesf Surge Surfer Iron Hands
aesf Fur Coat Oricorio Balance

​

 

[Isaiah]

(155/110/130/50/80/45)
Ting-Lu @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sand Tomb
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Protect

This mon's bulk is unbelievable. I just played a battle where it took only 88% from a +2 Life Orb Drednaw's Waterfall and clicked Whirlwind to yeet it out. I definitely think it'll continue to be a really good candidate for the PHealer on a lot of teams. As for the moveset, it still has plenty of room for stuff like Regenerator, Ruination, Taunt, and Body Press if you really want, so make sure to try everything!

 

[Nait02]

After a week Triage Bitter Blade still doesn't work. Don't know if it's supposed to at this point but it really seems like it should...

Ceruledge @ Life Orb
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

Somebody down below pointed out that 252 HP is better that 252 Def. I am not sure about the math behind that, but Bitter Blade restoring HP based on Damage makes it feel like more Defense seems better, but felt like I should mention it nonetheless.

 

[anaconja]

first impressions:
- slaking is fuckin dumb ban it already
- flutter mane is not as dumb but still pretty dumb and it should be suspected/qb'd
- furscales is surprisingly not very overpowered in the meta cause as think said its pretty damn powercrept and as i said furscales helps shore up the halved recovery pp
- maushold is a noobtrap, ladder bozos try to use it but you run 1 helmet and it instantly dies. or you run pads/mg and do like 30 max to corv lol
- tera might be broken (252 SpA Choice Specs Water Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey in Rain: 332-392 (47.2 - 55.7%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO) or maybe its just iron bundle lol

Annihilape @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Close Combat
- Rage Fist
- Poison Jab
- U-turn
this guy is fuckin awesome, rage fist apparently has no bp cap but im sure it does its just very high. with regen you get to pivot the hell around everything from uturns to special attacks that arent ghost/fairy when youre not poison yet. at 4 hits you 2hko max def corv with NO attack investment. its hard to imagine the potential of this mon with scarf/band regen or bulk up ph.

Iron Hands @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Protect
- Volt Switch
theorymonned this with Isaiah. its tinglu but with pivoting. idef is so you beat slaking 1v1 but when it inevitably disappears you can run like actual electric stab there maybe

as usual predlc is a shitshow because there are 0 good hazard removal mons besides corv (when you encounter a stall team with a 55/70/70 bulk spinner you know its fuckin bad) and 0.5 pivoters. when moves are better distributed and we get more mons this meta sounds like itll be pretty fun

 

[smellslikememe]

initial thoughts, rambly:

iron valiant

Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Fairy / Electric
EVs: 68 Atk / 216 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Moonblast
- Poison Jab / Knock Off
- Thunderbolt

sflo breaker set that as far as i can tell utterly dismantles balance and has a strong matchup against a lot of common defensive mons as well as a decent speed tier at >112 base. 224+ spe outspeeds jolly lycanroc and fast scream tail, 216 spa ohko's 252/4 corv after rocks with tbolt. less speed is fine and can be moved into attack based on your priorities

with 116 speed it outspeeds a good amount of stuff but given the amount of faster stuff that's going around the meta i.e. chien-pao, iron bundle, flutter mane, etc. it's kind of in an awkward position given how frail it is, it's hard to play against faster offensive teams because it gets outsped and ohko'd by nearly everything but it does very well vs balance/stall due to its naturally good stabs and fairly wide array of coverage. sd/cm sets look good on paper but i don't see them being too viable in the current meta with the unaware, furscales, prank going around.

roaring moon

Roaring Moon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel / Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Dragon Tail
- U-turn
- Iron Head / Earthquake

i saw that roaring moon had u-turn for whatever reason and my first thoughts were to try out regenvest and i'm happy to say that with tera it's actually fairly decent. it can provide important pivoting opportunities vs stuff like iron bundle, flutter mane, noivern, and special attackers in general. pretty passive but it does what it needs to do and tera improves its utility tremendously because tera allows it to check stuff it normally wouldn't, especially flutter mane.

iron bundle

Iron Bundle @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability / Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Flip Turn
- Freeze Dry

mostly self-explanatory set, has an insanely strong hydro backed by adapt/psea and specs. calcs for reference:
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera-Water Adaptability Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Blissey: 291-343 (44.6 - 52.6%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera-Water Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Blissey in Heavy Rain: 328-386 (50.3 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

quick thoughts on other stuff:
- maushold is noob bait, not viable in the current meta, don't use unless you like flinch fishing ig
- iron hands is really scary, its bdrum triage/unburden sets can be a pain to deal with, it can also run bulky regen/pheal sets no problem bc of access to pivoting and its massive bulk
- flutter mane is scary which is prolly why there's so much chansey/blissey going around, disgusting statline and insanely strong w/ any boosting ability
- ting-lu has very consistent hazardsetting and astronomical bulk, pheal and regen probably both viable
- fast scarfers like flutter mane are viable and should be taken into account at team preview
- corv/pex as difficult to break as ever
- noivern is cool w/ tera flying boomburst
- defensive ruin abilities are useless, use furscales
- tough claws and special adapt are outclassed by sword/beads of ruin

other stuff that other people are prolly saying already:
ban slaking, suspect tera (a lot of stuff is unreasonably strong/versatile with tera and this should honestly be the first suspect/qb after slaking), speed tiers are fucked until the meta starts to settle

 

[UT]

Well, I did promise we would actively tier...

Slaking has been quick banned!​

Quick ban...	UT	Isaiah	beauts	The Number Man	Total
Slaking	BAN	BAN	BAN	ABS	3-0-1 BAN

Well we wanted to see what it looked like with Fur Coat free, and we saw quickly. Incredible bulk, power, and near-perfect synergy with Poison Heal. Not a lot to say about this one, but hey, we tried.

Tagging Kris to implement.

Also, avyrie has officially stepped down from AAA council; their contributions were invaluable, and we sincerely thank them for all their hard work!

 

[Isaiah]

Scream Tail @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Protect

So even though this is almost as terrible as it actually looks, Boomburst is damage-amped enough to actually be relatively strong, and it doesn't take many Calm Mind boosts to live Shadow Balls and whatnot from [broken Pokemon like] Flutter Mane. It's like running STABmons Sylveon, except not because it only has 65 Special Attack...

E:

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Initially I was putting Fur Coat Corviknight on all my teams, but it highkey sucks at checking any of the physical guys and seemingly handles special attackers (Dragapult, Flutter Mane) much more reliably. GGs if you run into random Good as Gold, though.

 

[UT]

Sets that have been putting in work for me so far:



Noivern @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Aerilate
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Super Fang
- Taunt
- Roost

It's still Noivern. It still dumps on Ice Scales by just using Taunt / Super Fang until they're dead.


Flutter Mane @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Pain Split

It's SFLO Chandelure, but like, fast.

Iron Hands @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Protect
- Volt Switch

Slaking was better, but this is good. And you can pivot.

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Iron Bundle @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability / Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Flip Turn
- Freeze Dry

Seconding these two. SpD Corv and PSea Iron Bundle are dumb.


I don't even know the full set yet but:
The opposing Dragonite used Extreme Speed!
It's not very effective...
(Corviknight lost 43.1% of its health!)

Day 1 team (your milage may vary): https://pokepast.es/9a73918e911ecb4c

 

[Instruct]

Here’s a fun screens lead I've been enjoying so far. If you attack the pult you get punished, and if you don't attack it you still get punished. It has the added bonus of being able to annoy stall too as Toxic Spikes can make it hard for stall to react to both something clicking belly drum/shell smash AND trying to defog everything away.


Dragapult @ Light Clay
Ability: Toxic Debris
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- U-turn
- Filler (wisp? hex?)

 

[Isaiah]

Nobody has been bold enough to post teams yet, so I will:


https://pokepast.es/1b705f4b1a8e3ac7
Thought it would be cool to build around Specs PrimSea Delibundle + PixiBurst Scream Puff + PHeal Flutter Mane, so I did. Hydro Pump SUCKS, btw. You will play plenty of games where you tera the delibundle and still lose to misses.


https://pokepast.es/3e0a621b3e355cce
Wanted to use Fairy-type Avalugg + Scarf Pult, so I decorated the team with a bunch of fat stuff around them. Always try to tera the Avalugg asap; it's a nice physdef fairy type in a meta where good defensive fairy types are scarce.

 

[Tranquility]

Did a little bit of laddering for the start of this gen since I wanted to try out some of the new abilities/pokemon, and have to say I've been having a pretty good time so far. Lot of cool new offensive pokemon as well as cool utility I've never would've thought of (ie: Good as Gold blocking defog!). Anyways, just wanted to give some quick thoughts;


- Specs Primordial Sea Iron Bundle is kinda a menace, with hydro pump (especially under tera) doing huge damage to just about anything. It also having freeze-dry and flip turn makes it a very good offensive threat in combination with it's speed tier and is just pretty fun to use right now with tera legal.

Fun Interaction with Iron Bundle

Iron Bundle has Terastallized into the Water-type!

Iron Bundle used Hydro Pump!
(The opposing Chansey lost 50% of its health!)

- The team I was using was one of Isaiah's teams that had the wish scream-tail set, and it actually put in work. Boom burst is ridiculous with pixilate boost and it definitely has the bulk to be a setup sweeper in some situations. Wish was also helpful for healing other offensive pokemon like the aforementioned Iron-Bundle, and overall was a fun set to use.

/ - Fur Coat and Ice Scales are very very good, pretty simple there. They can just help so much in a pinch vs setup threats, and they frankly make some pokemon really hard to kill, what a shock!

Personally think tera should be banned first, and then the Fur Scales abilities from what I've seen so far. After that, should be a pretty fun (and probably still broken) meta.

 

[Giagantic]

Here are two pokemon I've found to be effective in the chaotic metagame currently.

Kingambit is a legit monster in AAA with it's high 135 attack, good offensive with it typing and the ability to run several different abilities that each boost it's deadliness further. It also possesses decent defensive stats at 100/120/85 meaning that it's 50 speed isn't as much of liability when considering it can both tank hits and sucker punch stuff.

Kingambit @ Life Orb
Ability: Sharpness / Adaptability / Tough Claws
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

Iron Treads possesses the great typing of Steel, Ground and access to a great movepool that let's it act as a pivot, hazard remover and tank in AAA. It is also a check to the immensely threatening Flutter Mane with an AV Regen set. The set below compresses multiple roles into one but I can see many other sets being viable in the future considering the elimination of certain elements in the metagame but for now I've had the most success with this.

Iron Treads @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch

Hide

0 Atk Iron Treads Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Fluttermane: 306-362 (117.2 - 138.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Gengar Mystical Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus: 146-174 (38.2 - 45.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Gengar Mystical Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus: 250-294 (65.4 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Mystical Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus: 190-226 (49.7 - 59.1%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

It ain't an amazing check after it sets up but it can tank a hit and KO regardless.

 

[UT]

In honor of my first-ever time topping the AAA ladder, I am going to talk about the team I used more in depth.

Paste:


Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Aerilate
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Roost
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake

As you may guess from the name of the paste, I wanted to build around Dragonite, and let me tell you Tera Aerilate Extreme Speed hits hard. This is the primary cleaner, revenge killer, and can also take a decent number of hits thanks to its good typing, bulk, and what passes these days for reliable recovery.


Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Rush
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Blast

It's broken when you don't miss a key Dragon Rush. Especially in the era of FurScales, being a credible mixed attacker is a huge blessing, doubly so when you also have wide coverage to pick up key targets like a weakened Corv. Great Speed tier too, getting the jump on Iron Bundle, Flutter Mane, and a host of other weirdly-fast threats. This is also the second most likely Tera option, after Dragonite.


Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Roost
- U-turn
- Defog

I swear this is the only thing holding the meta together rn. Scales Corv eats a wide range of attacks it has no business eating, provides slow pivoting and reliable removal screw Good as Gold more like Annoying as Hell, and checks some of the more concerning brokens like Flutter Mane and non-Tera-Water Iron Bundle.


Palossand @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Skill Swap
- Shore Up
- Stealth Rock

I eagerly await the day we ban Poison Heal and I don't need random Skill Swap mons. Nothing too fancy here, checks Poison Heal, checks Fightings, sets Rocks, generally stays healthy. This is, interesting, the only viable defensive Tera on this team, if you need to eat a key Dark move to get a Skill Swap off (Tera mindgames are annoying, I wonder if we can learn to cope).


Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Sludge Wave
- Morning Sun
- U-turn

All of my teams have been hilariously weak to Iron Bundle, so I tried to find a viable Desolate Land mon. After getting over the initial disappointment that this doesn't get Quiver Dance, I realized the bones are still good. You can run Morning Sun without lamenting it only has 8 PP since, well, that's life now. Has great power, can occasionally snowball with Fiery Dance, pivoting, recovery, and is just neat. Loves the fact that Knock Off basically does not exist.


Dudunsparce-Three-Segment @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Facade
- Coil
- Bite
- Protect

I'll be honest, this is the slot I am least happy with. This will probably be an Iron Hands soon, but I had built with that a lot already and wanted to branch out. Does the standard Poison Heal bullshit.

Replays!
Pult being broken
Dragonite being broken
Dragonite being broken and Corv eating some stuff
Iron Moth gets a turn and Corv eating some stuff

Paste again if you missed it at the top: Paste:
That's the team, thanks for reading, hope to see more teams soon!

 

[Ducky]

hi aaa players, i dont often post teams but since slaking got banned I thought i'd share the team ive been using
https://pokepast.es/76d26aed80672456

Kinda similar to UT's team but with a different breaker core and the banned Slaking

Iron Bundle is super super strong and should be watched carefully IMO, it's only flaw is Hydro Miss. Lot's of very exciting mons that im looking forward to using and im very pleased with SAC + freed abilities and find it a lot more fun.

 

[FiboDoesPokemon]

Not a big AAA player, but I distinctly remember Victini being a bit of a menace last gen. I now present to you, the Beta version of Victini

Armarouge @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Armor Cannon
- Solar Beam
- Psyshock
- Focus blast/shadow ball/terra blast

Outspeed Flutter mane, Maushold, and practically any lead to just melt them with 120bp fire close combat.

Switch into Iron Bundle and mash solar beam on the unsuspecting fool.


Idk, terra type for coverage or smth

 

[UT]

Hello friends, what a busy first 24 hours. We’ve already had a quick ban and seen a heck of a lot of new stuff on ladder, and even some old stuff again.

We’ve updated the watchlist, seen below. Anything you disagree with? Think is missing? Show us replays and calcs! Anything on here you think needs to get out of the tier rfn? Or is totally fine? Same thing!

Updated Watchlist
TERA
Flutter Mane
Iron Bundle
Dragapult
Dragonite
Poison Heal
Sword of Ruin
Beads of Ruin
Orichalcum Pulse
Hadron Engine

We would also love to hear thoughts on both Single Ability Clause and some of the freed abilities like FurScales; thanks again for playing and posting!

 

[FiboDoesPokemon]

Hello friends, what a busy first 24 hours. We’ve already had a quick ban and seen a heck of a lot of new stuff on ladder, and even some old stuff again.

We’ve updated the watchlist, seen below. Anything you disagree with? Think is missing? Show us replays and calcs! Anything on here you think needs to get out of the tier rfn? Or is totally fine? Same thing!

Updated Watchlist
TERA
Flutter Mane
Iron Bundle
Dragapult
Dragonite
Poison Heal
Sword of Ruin
Beads of Ruin
Orichalcum Pulse
Hadron Engine

We would also love to hear thoughts on both Single Ability Clause and some of the freed abilities like FurScales; thanks again for playing and posting!

imo Hadron engine seems fine itself, the issue probably comes when people use unburden/quark drive to abuse it.

Also iron bundle pls needs to stop existing, literally the only counter is playing hot potato with desolate land when it 2hkos blissey

 

[CaptMicrowave]

First to 1400! Here is my team: https://pokepast.es/62d2cc71ed9f4c6f

My tweaks to known mons: a trapping set for Bowl Head Guy, Rock Corv for opposing fires, I had to run iron defense Avalugg today because of slaking but ice move should be fine afterward.

I ran Baxcalibur cause it looks cool, basically a discount Kyub, it goes hard if you can DD. I think moldy is underrated right now, with Fur Coat free. Nevermeltice + Icicle Crash is probably better, but I wanted to use the new item. I'm really glad they made Loaded Dice not terrible.

If you want to use my team, keep the pressure on with BowlHeadGuy and Tspikes (the speed EVs let you taunt Corv to prevent defog).

Also, really evaluate the enemy team before spending your tera change. Many of my losses came from flinches from Bisharp/Kingambit/FlamingNemo. If I had saved my tera I might have avoided those by not being weak to iron head on Avalugg, or dark pulse on Corv/Jiggly.

I'm hoping I can slot covert cloak somewhere to avoid flinches and stuff. Another item I want to try.

 

[DeepFriedMagikarp]

Fun team ive been using lately and laddering with, the first one im actually pretty happy with


Meta is still pretty unformed so nothing sticks out too much to me, id like to see Dragonite be the next to go. Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle are kinda okay i think, but are too suffocating on the meta/builder.

 

[avyrie]

hi i have some thoughts i dont think ill keep playing after the new toy syndrome dies out tho. i didn't play around with tera much as i assume it'll get banned sooner or later, so the sets below could be optimized with tera

Annihilape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rage Fist
- U-turn
- Poison Jab

i dont know why people are all using regenvest when it takes literally nothing especially because of tera lol, i think scarf is a much better abuser of rage fist as you can hit a LOT of new offensive threats with fighting/ghost coverage. idk why exactly i have tera poison but all my teams are naturally 6 mons weak to fairy so i guess thats why. i have speed to outspeed dragapult

Iron Bundle @ Choice Specs
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Flip Turn
- U-turn

this guy is stupid like many people said already, i just tera water t1 and kill every single foe & lose its rocks weakness in every single game. 114 def is insane btw u tank a lot of physical hits pretty well. u-turn is very underutilized and lets you pivot out of desoland guys, not like you needed another attack

Flutter Mane @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Moonblast
- Substitute
- Pain Split

this isn't faster and better chandelure because it gets walled by every single ice scales steel and has 0 bulk, its coverage isn't really helpful except tbolt for ice scales corv (takes 41 max). definitely would still put on the watchlist tho

Roaring Moon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Rush
- Iron Head
- Crunch

i really like dragon dark --> steel, you can tera and dd on a flutter mane moonblast and sweep literally everything lol, this is like twice as strong as pult at +1, if you land dragon rush you 2hko ting-lu and stuff like fc palossand that people have been running

Great Tusk @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Knock Off

i think there are many abusers for sword of ruin but tusk is definitely among the better ones, its stab combination is insanely strong

Corviknight @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

i've seen a lot of gameplans involving straight up overwhelming corv because of 8pp roost, many things like pult flutter mane iron bundle etc will do like 40 to it and its just forced to roost. i have tera dragon because tera water iron bundle 2hkos corv lol shit is broken

Ting-Lu @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Ruination
- Whirlwind

honestly the deer wasn't what i thought it would be, it's definitely exploitable by all the fighting types running around and especially from the special side, though it walls things like pult really well. i'd also like to remind you that magic bounce exists now and this guy can't do much except using ruination, which also isn't that good with such a support moveset & slow


Cyclizar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shed Tail
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor

standard lizard! i have not seen a single one on ladder yet, definitely under utilized

Houndstone
Ability: Supreme Overlord
- Last Respects

wat da dog doin (ive never tried this)

has anyone tried out good as gold btw? and how good is it to just slap it on random mons

 

[SonOfDusk]

Edit: Just now realized MGLO is way better than Boots Tough Claws on Chien-Pao so please use that instead if you don't already have a MG user. LO Claws is still a risky but strong alternative tho.

Honestly, I don't think Orichalcum Pulse is that good rn. With PrimSea everywhere and even Snow Warning showing up, it's hard to use. More importantly, the only good abuser is Talonflame, who can also use MGLO which gives the same 1.3x boost with LO (only doing noticeably less with Flare Blitz), doesn't get it's life ended by Knock, and doesn't take any recoil or Toxic damage. You can always use Band+Pulse for way higher damage compared to MGLO, but then you auto die to Rocks and recoil. Post-Home, Victini and Cinderace will be menaces though. Knowing me, in a week someone will break this ability and I'll look like an idiot

Pulse Talonflame

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Quick Attack/Roost

Dies to rocks.

In all seriousness, this DOES hit very hard with Blitz in particular, and if you build around it and have say a Defogger and Spinner on your team, this can be quite strong. I think the weaknesses are exploitable enough to keep it in check though. It's like NatDex Zard Y in that regard.

On another note, I wanna share a dumb core that I am way too reckless using but when I use it wisely, near guarantees me a win especially with screens support:

Regen Orth + Triage Hands + Corv

Orthworm @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator/Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Body Press
- Shed Tail
- Stealth Rock

Iron Hands @ Punching Glove/Life Orb
Ability: Triage
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Belly Drum

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 HP /4 Def / 252 SpD
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

It's probably obvious but setting up Belly Drum is very easy when you have Shed Tail support. I haven't seen anyone using Triage Hands, but it's pretty unbelievable when it goes off. The main things you have to worry about are Flutter, Pult, and Fur Coat Palosand, though all but Tech Darts Pult can be beaten if you setup before they can attack the sub, but if there's multiple of these on the team then you can't sweep. Ofc, the possibility of a ban on said ghosts is looming, and if that happens there will be little to check this and I could see it being overwhelming enough to get a suspect considering it functions a lot like Triage Buzz but with way better STAB. Good partners include a good fire resist or PrimSea/Baked user to not get bodied by DesoLand assuming you use (the generally more useful) Regen Orth, as well as a way of taking down the fast ghosts like Tough Claws Chien-Pao, which can also revenge kill Bundle, OHKO Moth, and (kinda) hurt Ting-Lu, a very common partner to those ghost types that while it's easily defeated with Hands, can be frustrating in conjunction with said ghosts. You can run Unburden Sitrus too, but it loses quite a bit of power as you need Jolly to outspeed Flutter and faster.

Other sets with potential and memes (some copied from the OM mega thread post I made before realizing this thread was live):

Tough Claws Chien-Pao

*Again, TC Boots is outclassed by MGLO*

Chien-Pao @ Heavy-Duty Boots/Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Ice/Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Spinner
- Sucker Punch
- Psychic Fangs/Crunch/Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword/Crunch/Swords Dance

Hey look, I foreshadowed a set. As mentioned, this thing is very powerful. I ran the calcs, it has a 48% chance to OHKO Flutter with Sucker (100 with Spinner if you wanna risk the tie) doing 90.8 min, always OHKOs Pult, always OHKOs Moth with Fangs, always OHKOs Chi-Yu with Sword, and yeah it does 38-45 to PH Max Def Ting-Lu. Not the most impressive calc considering it's an SE STAB. You can always Tera Ice to get a 2HKO (57 min) assuming no protect. Life Orb on the other hand, is totally different, getting 49-58 no Tera, but your survivability is significantly cut. SD is another option to shred everything, but ofc you lose out on some immediate checking power vs specific threats.

Hadron Jolteon

Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Tera Blast

Not my set, but it was used against me and I was wholly unprepared. If you have no Electric immunities or very specially bulky mons not weak to electric, this will tear through you.

MG/SFLO Gholdengo

Gholdengo @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard/Sheer Force
Tera Type: Steel/Ghost (if SF)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steel Beam/Flash Cannon (if SF)
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast/Nasty Plot
- Recover/Nasty Plot

I mean, what is there to say? This absolutely DEMOLISHES bulkier teams especially with Nasty Plot and is incredibly difficult to switch into unless you're Scales Corv, and even that can be overwhelmed. Blissey? Easiest setup bait, it can't even Toss you! Again, fast ghosts make this mon's life hard, but as soon as those are gone I can't see this thing being ignored. SFLO with Flash Cannon is also a thing and hits even harder with it's non-steel moves. No matter how you slice it, this is a threat and yet I haven't seen a single person using it with either ability. It does face competition from Gengar even if the other ghosts left, but it has more bulk, better typing, and recovery.

Good as Gold Abusers

Umbreon @ Light Clay/Leftovers
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Moonlight/Wish
- Reflect/Thunder Wave
- Light Screen/Skill Swap

GaG Umbreon was something I encountered on ladder, so not my idea either. I was appalled, DISGUSTED by the fact that it blocks Trick! I think that plus blocking Defog and even Haze gives this ability a solid niche over MBounce. I don't know if Umbreon is the best bulky pick, and you can totally go PhysDef instead, but this ability has potential and Umbreon can go Tera Poison to resist all its weaknesses and be immune to Toxic, tho pure defensive Tera is usually not worth unless you're desperate.

Roaring Moon @ Life Orb/Leftovers
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Dark/Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Could also be DClaw Dragonite or Mence, but Moon is a little stronger and much faster. Can't be Taunted prior to setup, can't be Hazed, blocks Defog, can't be Tricked, can't be Wisped or Toxic'd, you get the idea.

Regen Treads

Iron Treads @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Ground/Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake/Body Press
- Volt Switch
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

I think Orthworm is overall better, especially on offense, but this is a solid bulky mon with the ability to set up and remove hazards consistently throughout a game, and is not dependent on HP to pivot out.

Ice Scales Moth

Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower/Fiery Dance
- Whirlwind/Discharge
- Toxic Spikes
- Morning Sun

I used this for a bit and decided it's currently a bit hard to use with Bundle going nuts. HOWEVER, if that gets booted and FurScales stays, then this will be a great fast special tank that can nearly always make progress. You can set up Tspikes, para or kill Corv, threaten KOs on most foggers and spinners, and eat up opposing hits from special DesoLanders and Flutter. If something sets up on you, just Whirl it away if you run that. Speed EVs let it out speed Treads, but if you want more bulk feel free to reallocate. It's a bit spent on moveslots and has clear exploitable weaknesses, but it's still a neat mon with an interesting niche.

Baked AF Avalugg

Avalugg @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Ice Spinner
- Body Press
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Pretty hilarious mon. Tera Fight Press does dumb damage, and people genuinely do not expect Baked Body on this for some reason. I guess Fur Coat IS the more obvious pick. Baked lets it get the jump on Moth and other Fire types. Can run coverage over Rapid Spin if it's not needed.

Psychic Surge Espathra

Espathra @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Lumina Crash
- Shadow Ball
- U-turn
- Trick

Gonna be honest, I genuinely thought this would be good but right now it is IMPOSSIBLE to use with Scales Corv and Scarf Pult running amok. Again, if Scales and Pult get booted then this has genuine use as a decent revenge killer with Psy Terrain support that is relatively difficult to switch into given the -2 SpDef on every hit. It's... Honestly just worse Gen 7/8 Azelf and once that's released, this Mon is gone, and even now it has soggy bread defenses.

Triage/Pulse Ceruledge

Ceruledge @ Life Orb
Ability: Triage/Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fighting/Ghost/Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

I know this was like, the literal 2nd set posted here (and yes I am sad someone posted this before me) BUT, I'm here to expand on it. Dude wasn't running CC and was using 252 Def and Atk, which I think is BLASPHEMOUS. Anyways, literal perfect coverage here along with dual priority STAB that has awesome neutral coverage. It's outclassed by Hands, but if that ever gets booted then we have this as a solid contender for best Triage user and I think even now it has potential thanks to +2 sneak beating Flutter and Pult, which is something Hands genuinely cannot do without getting hit first. Can ALSO use Orichalcum Pulse! But again with the fast ghosts, Ting-Lu, and Bundle everywhere, it's fairly difficult to justify rn.

Supreme Houndstone

Houndstone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Last Respects
- Play Rough/Shadow Sneak
- Destiny Bond
- Trick

This is a great meme, but even with Scarf it only reaches 387 speed, not outspeeding the top ghosts. If they get banned however Supreme Overdoggo is gonna reverse 6-0 teams not carrying Ting Lu, because it still only does 35-42 to Ting at 300 BP and +1 Atk (representing max Overlord) lol.

That's about all I got for now. Hopefully some of these are useful or at least interesting!

 

[LordBox]

Seen no sets for my poor boy Sandy Shocks so I might as well post one here.

Sandy Shocks @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tera Blast
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt

I've ran both Specs and Scarf, and Scarf is probably the more viable of the two as it allows Sandy to shore up its honestly mediocre or even bad speed as an offensive mons with how fast af everything is currently and also allows it to serve a purpose as a fast revenge killer when you're potentially walled. Overall it can be nice but is limited, its power is alright but honestly not spectacular, with Specs it can potentially blast through AV mons like Annihilape, Tinkaton (if anyone even uses AV regen Tinkaton anymore) or Iron Treads with some Chip, or gain momentum on them with easy Volt Switches and is threatening against IceScales Corv (although like Choice mons is prediction reliant). Tera Ice here is mainly to blast through Ground and Grass types which may want to soak its STABs, although it's almost kind of reliant on it when facing them which can be annoying, but can absolutely nuke unsuspecting Ground types. Not particularly great but hey its something and is definitely usable.

While I bring up Iron Treads, I'll also say this mon as a AV regen mon is really problematic and personally kinda bad, at least for now. Its weaknesses to both Water and Fire means its forced out and loses to Iron Bundle and DLand Chi-Yu/Iron Moth, which isnt too great. Even as an answer to Flutter is kinda eh as Tera Shadow Ball packs a chance to 2HKO and Mystical Fire also has a chance to 2HKO it if it chooses to bring it. Don't really see too much in it as a tank specially but it does have some nice utility, so hey, maybe I should give it more of a chance.

Since everyone is also sharing their teams here, I might as share my own main team here, although I've been trying a bunch of stuff.
https://pokepast.es/cc63617f7a2a6642

As some notes on the team, Aerilate Dragonite is nasty, as always. That reliable power and priority is just really nice and has saved my ass more times than I'd like to admit. Running mixed I like for the ability to eviscerate non-Tera'd Avalugg and some other bulky defensive Steels which like to usually wall me. Great Tusk I put in there, well, really because I didn't have much of a clue what else but it's worked surprisingly well for me with good power, ability to put hazards down, and the extra option to keep hazards off (although that's replaceable with Protect or Knock). Flutter is well Flutter and IceScales Corv is just a really nice defensive glue. I've tried Iron Bundle, Valiant and even some wacky stuff like Protean Banded Roaring Moon/Specs Iron Juglius but always keeping the defensive mons and Dragonite (that priority and power is just too nice). I've also found that PHeal Ting-Lu, Fur Coat Palo and IceScales Corv (or Regenvest Ting-Lu, Icescales Corv + Fur Coat Avalugg) can work nicely as defensive cores as well.

Also, I'd rather actually see Tera go first rather than some of the current broken stuff like Flutter and Iron Bundle. Granted they are still very powerful, especially Flutter, without Tera but Tera is really a big reason why some of the broken mons are so broken. Sure defensive Tera is cool and can always have people clamoring about not banning the main generations mechanics but really its just pushing some offense threats really over the edge imo.

 

[Isaiah]

I took a couple of teams astralydia made in other tiers and turned them into AAA teams:


https://pokepast.es/44b9124c4741802c

Fairy Tera Kingambit is CRAZY. There's no hazard control or anything; the main idea is just to try and chip things down enough for Fairy Tera Kingambit to come in, SD, and win. Since people are opting for Fur coat Avalugg/Palossand, you can cook those guys pretty easily by farming SDs on the former and Kowtow Cleaving the latter.



https://pokepast.es/68f78c4d92aa5d22

Same idea but Dragonite > Kingambit. I think this team is a lot weaker to FurScales without Kingambit, but who knows.

 

[Giagantic]

Okay, after laddering for a while, going through hurdles with the random kinks in the team that arise whilst laddering in this chaos... I have finally surpassed 70 GXE and reached my goal and care not to ladder further despite just barely being outside of top 10 (#12 at the moment of posting):

Here is the team that got me there, it ain't perfect mine you Iron Bundle is still a major threat especially Specs variants.

Link to Pokepaste Here!

Corviknight @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Body Press

Primary check to Flutter Mane, and other fairies. Core alongside Ting-Lu and Avalugg.

Ting-Lu @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Core alongside Avalugg and Corviknight. Able to tank a wide range of hits and fire back or set up SR.

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tera Blast
- Body Press
- Curse
- Recover

Fur Coat Avalugg is silly, 808 defense off of 395 health, the special defense investment allows it to at the very least tank some stray special attacks. It can also sweep teams with curse which works out quite well in practice.

Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Sludge Wave
- U-turn
- Morning Sun

Keep it healthy when facing Iron Bundle, it is also not a fool proof check as variants of Iron Bundle such as specs Tinted Lens can break through it's resistence.

Dragonite @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Body Slam
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Power to wreck teams without strong defensive mons is enscapsulated by Dnite.

Iron Treads @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch

Tips for the team include:
-Tera Avalugg ASAP
-Unaware Scarfed Iron Treads is there for emergencies such as random setup pokemons like Polteageist though the ability can be altered to your liking using other stuff works as well. I just had a bad experience with a Polteageist and this saved the day as Ting-Lu wasn't healthy enough to tank a Giga-drain
-Desolate Sun iron moth is your primary check to Specs Iron Bundle, try to keep it healthy as possible as otherwise that stupid Delibird Knock off ravages everything
-Another thing to watchout for is Gholdengo, it can put in work under the right scenario versus this team (2 of my losses were from that stupid thing walling my team with fire immunity / earth immunity)