Metagame USUM AG Metagame Discussion Thread

Geysers

not round
is a Community Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Goth cant switchin to ogre or else its just gonna get 2kod, and i mentioned max def ogre cause i was talking about mons that could replace support arcs.

if u read what i wrote, ive already mentioned ur second point in my post

for ur last point, what good will yveltal do? goth will just trap one your support mons, kill it and switch out when yveltal comes in. there are a lot of mons that can shit on goth, but almost none of them stop it from trapping bulkier ones
Quick note about your second point. Your post had very little explanation about the different uses of the mray sets, and no calcs. I was extending your earlier point, and true, goth will switch out on yveltal, but that is an advantage of Yveltal. It can drive away goth. You can then bait Goth back out and go to mray. Also, I misread the post about not being able to switch in, and am sorry that I did so. My point was that special Pogre has significantly more firepower than defensive Pogre, and is more useful against other opponents, such as possible switchins to replace the Gothitelle that is being threatened by your pogre switchin. Another neglected goth check is a move: roar. If you give roar to your support arceus, you can easily force gothitelle to switch out, letting your arceus escape. Set:
Arceus Poison @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Multitype
Evs: Whatever
-Poison Jab
-Recover
-Roar
-Defog/Toxic/Filler
 

Fardin

Tournament Banned
Quick note about your second point. Your post had very little explanation about the different uses of the mray sets, and no calcs. I was extending your earlier point, and true, goth will switch out on yveltal, but that is an advantage of Yveltal. It can drive away goth. You can then bait Goth back out and go to mray. Also, I misread the post about not being able to switch in, and am sorry that I did so. My point was that special Pogre has significantly more firepower than defensive Pogre, and is more useful against other opponents, such as possible switchins to replace the Gothitelle that is being threatened by your pogre switchin. Another neglected goth check is a move: roar. If you give roar to your support arceus, you can easily force gothitelle to switch out, letting your arceus escape. Set:
Arceus Poison @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Multitype
Evs: Whatever
-Poison Jab
-Recover
-Roar
-Defog/Toxic/Filler
Mray is just one example out of many, and I didn't feel the need to post calc cause I thought it was self-explanatory. A fuxk ton of mons can force out goth so yveltal isn't special. The idea is that u get a support mon that can still handle goth.(on second thought, ig u can use yveltal as that support mon)
Also idk why ur keep bringing up Max sp a pogre. Defensive set is just as good if not better, and it just dumb to compare em. It's like me saying why not just run max attack zmove ground ceus instead of support one, since it deals with goth. They do different things and the goal is to find a replacement for support arceus. Also idk about roar especially on poison ceus. Goth has taunt anyways and ur losing out on valuable support moves, but ig u can force it out once with zmove after it rests? But then again, if played right, goth can come in again eventually... But it definitely helps.
 
Mray is just one example out of many, and I didn't feel the need to post calc cause I thought it was self-explanatory. A fuxk ton of mons can force out goth so yveltal isn't special. The idea is that u get a support mon that can still handle goth.(on second thought, ig u can use yveltal as that support mon)
Also idk why ur keep bringing up Max sp a pogre. Defensive set is just as good if not better, and it just dumb to compare em. It's like me saying why not just run max attack zmove ground ceus instead of support one, since it deals with goth. They do different things and the goal is to find a replacement for support arceus. Also idk about roar especially on poison ceus. Goth has taunt anyways and ur losing out on valuable support moves, but ig u can force it out once with zmove after it rests? But then again, if played right, goth can come in again eventually... But it definitely helps.
Not saying it really helps with goth especially reliably but I think roar kinda fits nicely on Arceus Poison as it helps with xern after the z-move might have been burned earlier and it just helps phazing out threats that could otherwise set up easily on it like CM Arceus Steel or sub Zygarde. Z-Jab Recover WoW and Roar is a set Id use anyday on Poison. In some occasions especially early in the charm/confide game or when you get a crit at the right time roar might help with goth.
 

Wuul

Banned deucer.
About the Goth problem, Personally, Arceus-dark needs to see some light. Its an effective counter to deo spam(sorta, and once lele is gone) it shows promise in countering ultra necrozma, and hard counters goth. This mon shows great promise with the shifting meta, so i really think it should be used more often. Perhaps judgement, toxic, recover, and ice beam? A calm mind set could also be run.
 
About the Goth problem, Personally, Arceus-dark needs to see some light. Its an effective counter to deo spam(sorta, and once lele is gone) it shows promise in countering ultra necrozma, and hard counters goth. This mon shows great promise with the shifting meta, so i really think it should be used more often. Perhaps judgement, toxic, recover, and ice beam? A calm mind set could also be run.
i do think dark arc is also pretty nice and should be run more but that set at lest to me seems meh. I would either do judgement,wisp,recover,defog or just the CM set (like u said).
 

RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
I found out some stuff about Ultra Necrozma in-game:

In order for Necrozma to transform into its Ultra forme, it must enter the battle as Dusk Mane Necrozma or Dawn Wings Necrozma and has to hold Ultranecromium Z (or whatever the Z-crystal that is exclusive to itself). In the battle, there will be a checkbox of "Ultra Burst" and if you check it, the same turn you execute a move, Necrozma will transform into its Ultra forme, changing to Psychic / Dragon type while gaining Neuroforce in the process.

When you attempt to make either Dusk Mane or Dawn Wings, Necrozma will forget one of its moves to learn Sunsteel Strike / Moongeist Beam, respectively. That means Necrozma with both of those moves will not be legal, as far as I know.

So what are your thoughts about this unpredictability factor from Necrozma and how will it affect the AG?
 

RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
So far I really like the role compression Dusk Mane provides. It simultaneously checks Xerneas, Fairyceus, and multiple Arceus formes while being able to set up Stealth Rock. Unlike other Xern checks like Magearna and Pdon, it has access to Morning Sun, and this lets Dusk Mane set rocks and switch into threats it is tasked to handle consistently throughout the match. I personally don't like setup variants but it works well too thanks to Photon Geyser that hits Arceus formes like a truck (most of them heavily invest in Defense afaik)

Of course the level of utility isn't really comparable to Pdon which can phaze / spread status better or w/e but I feel like Dusk Mane and Pdon are the only relevant Xern checks at this moment. Why use Magearna when you have a better Steel-type with better offensive presence, ability to set Stealth Rock, and has reliable form of recovery?

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Atk / 184 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Morning Sun

This set checks Xerneas really well (surviving anything at +2 around 60% or so) while surviving two Shadow Ball from Mega Gengar with Leftovers recovery. 76 Attack lets it OHKO standard Xerneas in Ubers tier after Stealth Rock but this is AG and Xerneas will run variety of EV spreads, but it still helps Dusk Mane to keep good offensive presence. This is p dope 'mon and I won't be surprised if this guy's VR ends up at level of Pdon or somewhere (doesn't mean I will nom recklessly).
 

lotiasite

undedgy
is a Forum Moderatoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Hi :) We're like 2-3 days into the USM meta right now, and Ultra Necrozma has been really fun to use so far. It has a great matchup against so many teams as a sweeper and its movepool and stats are both great. Dusk Mane Necrozma is pretty much inarguably the better forme to use, since Necrozma's physical movepool is better, it's harder to break through special walls, and access to Swords Dance is really nice. I think this thing has potential to be really good with different sets, but so far I've been using this one:

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Photon Geyser
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Rock Polish

It kind of sucks that it has to hold an item, but at least this item is really good in that it gives two things. Necrozma is kind of strapped for moveslots considering it has a bunch of moves it wants to run: Photon Geyser and Swords Dance are given, Stone Edge is nice for Lugia, Ho-Oh, (sort of) Celesteela, and Yveltal, X-Scissor can be cool for Arceus-Dark (bit niche though), and Rock Polish allows Necrozma to not get revenge killed by Mega Gengar and Choice Scarf users like Yveltal and Xerneas. I personally like using Rock Polish because a lot of people don't expect it and rely on Mega Gengar or their Choice Scarf user to be able to revenge kill it, but it's all preference. You can also run Earthquake to hit other Steel-types like Arceus-Steel, Dusk Mane Necrozma, and I guess Magearna. Knock Off is also a decent option to snipe Lugia, Lunala, and Dawn Wings Necrozma and can have decent utility in general. This set is a really nice late-game cleaner, because setting up an SD is really easy on a lot of Pokemon, such as Arceus-Poison, Arceus-Fairy, etc. You can also force mindgames with people with Necrozma's typing changes, i.e you can choose to stay Psychic / Steel (which is a really good typing) or go to Psychic / Dragon and change your weaknesses/resistances. Photon Geyser is a really solid STAB move, but it only has 8 PP. Neuroforce is an okay ability, but you're probably OHKOing everything you hit with a +2 super effective move anyway, so it doesn't change that much, and the boost isn't significant. You can pair this up with Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza, which is a nice fit with any offensive Pokemon and can weaken mons like Arceus-Fairy, or Mega Gengar, which traps Lugia nicely and revenge kills other Pokemon. Ho-Oh can also be nice because it sponges attacks from Scarf Yveltal and Xerneas, which both look to revenge kill a boosted Necrozma. Ultra Bursting can also make you a bit more vulnerable to priority, because 1) you lose Prism Armor and 2) no more resistance to Extreme Speed.

There's also been talk about Ultra Necrozma with Dawn Wings (which I haven't actually tried yet because it's pretty underwhelming according to others), which works as a decent special sweeper with Calm Mind.

I'm guessing the set is something like this:

Necrozma-Dawn-Wings @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Moongeist Beam
- Earth Power

Necrozma's special movepool isn't all that great, so this is all I could come up with. Calm Mind is nice to set up against weak support Arceus formes (be wary of Toxic, though) or other Pokemon. Moongeist Beam doesn't hit that much but it does hit Lugia through Multiscale, which is really nice. Earth Power is good for Steel-types and SpDef Primal Groudon. You can be walled by Ho-Oh and Whirlwinded if you don't have your Z-Move anymore, so be careful of wasting it. Again you have the option for Rock Polish to not be revenge killed by Scarfers and Mega Gengar, but I think coverage is nicer with Dawn Wings. Unlike with Dusk Mane, Dawn Wings has a pretty bad defensive typing before Bursting in Psychic / Ghost, which doesn't grant many useful resistances and has 4x weakness to Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch. Specially defensive Zygarde-C can also take a hit. Special walls are also a huge nuisance; Chansey blobs everything and sucks to go up against, Primal Kyogre doesn't really count as a special wall but has nice bulk and is really hard to OHKO outside of the Z-Move, Ho-Oh as mentioned before, specially defensive Celesteela can suck, etc. I think this thing won't have that much of an impact on the metagame, because it's pretty hard to justify when Dusk Mane is a lot better, and Dawn Wings might even be worse than Lunala thanks to no Shadow Shield.

I haven't tried Dusk Mane Necrozma without Ultra yet, but RNG's set above is ok and access to Stealth Rock is really cool. I won't talk much about it but I think it could be around A- to A rank. Dawn Wings Necrozma without Ultra just sounds like a worse Lunala, and Lunala isn't that great to begin with.

So yeah, those are my thoughts on the new Necrozma formes. I wanted to make a metagame post to showcase different move and set options and stuff, but I'll definitely try Ultra Dawn Wings Necrozma and regular Dusk Mane Necrozma soon. Have a good day! :}
 
I will be sharing Dusk-mane sets and will try to explain some points why i am going for those moves

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

This one is offensive set with SD,Photon,Rock Blast and EQ.SD is there for setting up and photon geyser main move for Z and then Rock Blast i like this move over SE cuz of more chances of hitting(i mean times like 2-3 times hit) and then at +2 attack with 1.2x boost with neuroforce it hits really good imo lastly Eq for steelceus,pdon and rest.EVs spread is basically max 252 attack and 252+ speed to get max 392 speed after it turns into U-necrozma.
 
After using the above set, I've found more consistent success with this set (although I miss wrecking Lugias)

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake

There are just enough fairies running around for me to justify keeping Sunsteel Strike on it and not transforming the first turn. This thing can tank a Geomancy Xerneas' attacks and KO back with SsS, then transform the following turn. You can sneak in some suprise KO's when they don't know which way to attack, Steel form or Dragon. It's enough utility for me to justify keeping it this way.
Although I hardly ever get to actually use Swords Dance with a Marshadow on virtually every opponent's team, if you can manage to take out their Marshadow, it can then dependably force a switch-out and sweep.
 
Last edited:

Deleted User 410139

Banned deucer.
Lead (Deoxys-Speed) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Skill Swap

Bambi (Xerneas) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Fairy Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Moonblast

Shimmer (Ho-Oh) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Recover

Marshadow @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Spectral Thief
- Shadow Sneak
- Rock Tomb

Excadrill (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide

Snorlax (M) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 188 HP / 176 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recycle
- Facade
- Earthquake



Massively OP team....
 

DoW

formally Death on Wings
Lead (Deoxys-Speed) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Skill Swap

Bambi (Xerneas) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Fairy Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Moonblast

Shimmer (Ho-Oh) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Recover

Marshadow @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Spectral Thief
- Shadow Sneak
- Rock Tomb

Excadrill (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide

Snorlax (M) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 188 HP / 176 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recycle
- Facade
- Earthquake



Massively OP team....
The first 4 mons look like a decent start to a team. While I'm not quite sure where you're going with a dedicated lead and then a slower (i.e. takes more turns) xern set, I can see you're trying to do the right kind of thing - get rocks up no matter what, then sweep, with some solid offensive mons to support that (although ho-oh might be tricky to run without a solid way of getting rid of rocks).

The last two mons are bad. Use something else instead. If you need something to get rid of rocks that badly, use a defogger, in which case I recommend not running a suicide lead. It's probably a better idea, though, to either keep rocks off via offensive pressure, or not to run ho-oh on this kind of team.
Neither Snorlax nor offensive excadrill are at all usable in a tier where arceus is something of a default mon. If you want to make this team good with minimal effort I'd change to power herb xern, and run arceus-ground over excadrill and z-refresh extremespeed arceus over snorlax. That's the absolute minimum changes you'd have to make to end up with a usable team.
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
After using the above set, I've found more consistent success with this set (although I miss wrecking Lugias)

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake

There are just enough fairies running around for me to justify keeping Sunsteel Strike on it and not transforming the first turn. This thing can tank a Geomancy Xerneas' attacks and KO back with SsS, then transform the following turn. You can sneak in some suprise KO's when they don't know which way to attack, Steel form or Dragon. It's enough utility for me to justify keeping it this way.
Although I hardly ever get to actually use Swords Dance with a Marshadow on virtually every opponent's team, if you can manage to take out their Marshadow, it can then dependably force a switch-out and sweep.
This is the set I'm using:


Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Stone Edge

Imo dusk mane is too good of a fairy check to not run sunsteel strike. The 8 SpD EVs allow it to dodge an OHKO from +2 Xerneas Focus Blast after rocks, and Sunsteel can bring it in KO range of another priority user. The last slot depends entirely on what you wanna hit, but Stone Edge hits Yveltal on the switch and also KOs Ho-Oh without setup. IF for some reason you don't care much about checking fairies you could run EQ over sunsteel strike for some perfect juicy coverage but I like it too much to not run it tbh. checking fairies is too good.

You can mostly choose what to be walled by with the 4th slot. Photon/Sunsteel/Stone Edge lets you get walled by steelceus and ferrothorn though, which does suck, but you can go to +4 vs ferrothorn and KO with light that burns the sky or 2hko with normal DM form, but I found not hitting steelceus slightly annoying.
 

Pigeons

pidge pidge
is a Tiering Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Well USUM has been out for almost a month now so here are some thoughts on the new mons and current meta


Ultra Necrozma

This was the addition most people (myself included) were most excited about, and while it's certainly a solid addition Ultra Necrozma hasn't really blown me away so far. It's definitely a powerful addition to the tier, Neuroforce combined with a decent variety of coverage moves can make it hard to check and a 200 base power z-move is no joke either. In my experience Ultra Necrozma's biggest flaw is how reliant it tends to be on 50/50 predictions to work properly compared to other sweepers. While the unique mechanics of Ultra Burst are part of why Ultra Necrozma is so strong, it also puts a lot of pressure on the Necrozma user to get the timing right, bursting too soon can result in Necrozma getting knocked out but delaying Ultra Burst can leave Necrozma without its z-move for a turn which effective ruins its chances at breaking past bulkier threats. Its reliance on Light the Burns the Sky to break past things like Celesteela and Arceus forms also forces 50/50 scenarios in which the Necrozma user must avoid using its z-move into a Protect in the case of Celesteela or into the face of one of the many Dark-types that have become increasingly common in the meta. I've personally found picking coverage moves difficult, currently I've been liking Sunsteel Strike + Stone Edge in addition to Photon Geyser and Swords Dance but I've had many games where I wish I had Brick Break for Ferrothorn and Arceus-Dark or Earthquake for Steels and Primal Groudon. Overall, I think Ultra Necrozma will thrive once people stop overpreparing for it and start using 1 or 2 checks like Celesteela or Yveltal, at which point it can better take advantage of its z-move and coverage.


Dusk Mane Necrozma

Dusk Mane Necrozma has exceeded my expectations, I was sceptical at first due to how 'meh' Solgaleo ended up being, but Dusk Mane Necrozma has really become what Solgaleo wishes it could've been. Offensively Dusk Mane has several options, it's most often used as a base for Ultra Necrozma but can work on its own as well. It's universally accepted at this point that Dusk Mane is the better base for Ultra Necrozma due to its better defensive typing, which allows it to set up on Fairy-types that could threaten it in Ultra form. Besides the obvious Ultra sets, Dusk Mane has some fun options of its own like Dual Dance, Automize + Weakness Policy, Swords Dance + Z-move and Substitute + Swords Dance. Personally I've enjoyed defensive sets the most, which can take on basically every Fairy in the meta thanks to reliable recovery, Stealth Rock is always nice too. Prism Armour helps this thing loads and doesn't get enough recognition for how good it is, for example it lives an Adamant Mega Rayquaza V-create or an Adamant Primal Groudon Precipice Blades from full with max HP investment, on the more practical side it takes less than half from a supereffective Hidden Power from +2 Xerneas and roughly 40% from any coverage move a Calm Mind Arceus can run at +1. Overall I'm really happy with this Pokemon and expect it to have a lot of influence on the meta in the future.


Dawn Wings Necrozma

Basically a worse Lunala due to lower Speed and lack of Shadow Shield. Its only niche is transforming into Ultra Necrozma but even there it's not nearly as good as Dusk Mane. Don't really have much to say about this, it's just not that good.


Yveltal

If there's one clear winner from the current metagame shifts it's Dark-types, Yveltal probably takes the cake for being the best one in the current metagame though. Defensive Yveltal sets are great on balance at the moment as blanket checks to a lot of physical attackers, Defog was a great addition to its support movepool that gives balance teams more flexibility in terms of how they use support Arceus forms. Choice Scarf sets and Life Orb sets are very good too, finding more opportunities to come in thanks to the prevalence of the new Necrozma forms. Whether Yveltal remains a top choice remains to be seen, when Necrozma usage drops down a bit I suspect Yveltal usage will drop as well, similarly to what happened in early SM when SD Arceus-Ghost was being hyped up.


Magearna

While it gained competition as a Xerneas check with the introduction of Dusk Mane Necrozma, Magearna is in a really solid place in the meta right now. Its main niche over Dusk Mane Necrozma is being able to take on the Dark-types that are currently everywhere in addition to Fairies, and given just how prevalent things like Yveltal are at the moment that's very much a niche worth considering. Magearna functions essentially the same as it did pre-USUM, but it did get one notable addition to its movepool in Heal Bell. Heal Bell is great on balance teams that otherwise are annoyed by Toxic Primal Groudon or Toxic Ho-Oh, though it can be difficult to find a spot for it in Magerna's moveset. I've also been experimenting with Z-Heal Bell, though I've found that the ability to only recover once in a match is a huge detriment against opposing balance teams. Overall I think Magearna benefitted from the meta shifts that occurred in USUM despite having new competition as a Xerneas check.

I'd say overall the meta is tending towards offensive teams as it tends to at the start of a generation. When the new toy syndrome wears off for the new threats I think the meta will be fairly diverse, though it's difficult to say exactly what threats will remain on top or which ones will rise. I'm interested to hear what other people think about the current meta and what some of the other winners or losers are after the USUM metagame shifts.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Amusingly enough, Celesteela can't quite check SD Ultra Necrozma.

+2 252 Atk Necrozma-Ultra Light That Burns the Sky vs. 242 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 307-362 (77.7 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
 

cromagnet

I pledge allegiance to the grind
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Amusingly enough, Celesteela can't quite check SD Ultra Necrozma.

+2 252 Atk Necrozma-Ultra Light That Burns the Sky vs. 242 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 307-362 (77.7 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Most steelas run max defense
 
Amusingly enough, Celesteela can't quite check SD Ultra Necrozma.

+2 252 Atk Necrozma-Ultra Light That Burns the Sky vs. 242 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 307-362 (77.7 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Necrozma-Ultra Light That Burns the Sky vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Celesteela: 277-327 (69.5 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery thats its 200 BP STAB Z-Move all Celesteela sets run Protect so thats one of the 50:50 Pigeons was talking about.
+2 252 Atk Necrozma-Ultra Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Celesteela: 186-219 (46.7 - 55%) -- 13.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery here you have a chance of missing + leech seed is a thing, anything else does less than 42% at +2 to Celesteela.

Also CM Darkceus gained alot of popularity I am wondering why you didnt mention it Pigeons. This makes Magearna even more viable as I doesnt lose to Mega Gengar (Volt Switch) which is often paired up with Darkceus while Heal Bell also helps with the typical Hex Gar Teams.
 
Last edited:

DoW

formally Death on Wings

Chloe

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
NUPL Champion
are sample team submissions open?
They're always open but I suppose I should make a proactive effort to obtain submissions for the USUM metagame.

If anyone has a team they believe is sample worthy, please submit it here. I would appreciate it if you could use this format: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/anything-goes.3587441/page-3#post-7470337; however, I'll accept any importable with a basic description. I'm judging team quality, not your post.

Thank you in advance.
 

pichus

is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
OMPL Champion
CM Darkceus + Mega Gengar balance by Arushii
This is a pretty straightforward team built around my favourite Mega Gengar + Calm Mind Arceus-Dark core. They both go pretty hand in hand because Mega Gengar traps opposing Arceus-Fairy, Xerneas and Clefable which can trouble Arceus-Dark. In return, Arceus-Dark acts as a switch in to opposing Arceus-Dark and Yveltal. Next, I have a Zygarde-Complete which deals with pretty much every physical attacker you can think of. The idea of Haze on it is to haze Calm Mind Arceus's stats and sometimes also helps vs Sub Ekiller, Z-Geomancy Xerneas, if it is asleep, and DDance Ray so that Mega Gengar can outspeed and revenge kill. Primal-Groudon acts as my Xerneas and Primal-Kyogre check and also gets up Stealth Rock and badly poisons supportceus (and later Mega Gengar kills it with Hex after a bit of Poison Damage). I added in Arceus-Fairy which has Max Defense evs to tank a +1 Dragon Ascent (incase I lose Zygarde, or if it isnt 100%). It's also my primary defogger. Now, I was left with a free slot and I decided to add in Dusk Mane Necrozma because it pretty much works on every type of team and has almost 0 drawbacks. The set is pretty fun. It acts like a normal defensive Dusk Mane for the most part, while in the late game it can become your Bulky Sweeper with Swords Dance boosts and Morning Sun for recovery. I'd say it's a pretty easy and fun team to use and mostly doesn't require a lot of predictions to work.
Havananana (Gengar-Mega) @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Hex

Camila (Arceus-Dark) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Toxic
- Defog

Zygarde-Complete @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Haze
- Dragon Tail
- Glare
- Rest

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Fire Punch
- Rest

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Solganium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sunsteel Strike
- Photon Geyser
- Morning Sun
 
Last edited:
Ultra Necroz + Ray balance by Zesty

This team is extremely standard and easy to use, I first built it to take onto ladder as I find that when it comes to having constant success on the ladder it is often best to just use what everyone else is using. So thats where I started with the building process. One of my favorite mons in the current meta is yveltal due to its great typing and versatility. The set I chose to roll with here was scarf due to the teams need for speed control and to act as a revenge killer. Scarf yveltal is also great at gathering momentum with u-turn. Next I added ultra Necro, ultra necro has a great speed tier and is extremely powerful you might be wondering why brick break, this is only to hit arc dark as well as to break through screens but x- scissor is another good option. ultra necros biggest pitfalls are its horrendous typing and weakness to priority. That being said the support arcs I've chosen, help to combat those weaknesses as well as many of the other threats in the meta game. arc fairy helps to check marsh yveltal and arc dark, which are three of the scariest mons in the meta in my opinion. with perish song you don't need to fear arc dark cm'ing up on you while simultaneously checking bp and smash pass. Then you have arc ground, and poison your p-don and xern checks which every team needs, and finally dd mega ray with v-create and eq because there are no counters to that with rocks up besides priority.

team: https://pastebin.com/yA4A1cMa

Mag + cm arc dark balance

This team is a little more difficult to use than the last one that I posted as it is important that you don't lose too much momentum. The team us built around arc dark or ray ultimately sweeping with arc ground, pdon, and mag as the backbone. Mag and p-don act as your Xern checks and with heal bell on mag dons longevity is greatly increased with rest. after making the team i realized it was a bit weak to support arc ground so I took out what was once another races and replaced it with celesteela. Overall the team is rather fun to use and is super solid just try to keep as much offensive pressure as possible with doubles and such.

team: https://pastebin.com/J9DeAWGp

mega ttar semi stall

this team was built because I like the idea of mega Ttar in the CCAT but i couldn't build an offensive team with it to save my life. So I made this, the teams ultimate function is to widdle down the opps team without revealing arc ghost and then sweeping with it late game. I have flamethrower on steela because ferrothorn is actually kinda annoying for the team but you can change that depending on you experience when using it.

team: https://pastebin.com/Nfh8XTZk

ditto balance

While I would consider this team balance it for sure leans a little more on the offensive side. I think this team is most affective if you determine your win con in the team preview, as the team was setup with a lot of mons capable of revenge killing while at the same time giving ample switch ins. the Ekiller in the back with facade is one of my favorite sets ever because facade is dumb broken when it gets statused.

team: https://pastebin.com/d6P10XSg

TR mane + msab

accidentally deleted the first post so heres the synopsis TR dusk mane is broken, Moab walls defensive dusk mane and checks ultra necro and arc fairy takes care of the rest.

team: https://pastebin.com/C8pVDeYd

specs lunala + unaware clef

In the current meta I think that lunala is extremely under used especially with how strong it is. This particular set is modes specs which 2hko's pretty much everything that switches in including things like ferro even after a protect and leftovers recovery. the clefable is to check arc dark which is kind of a glaring weakness for the team shed shell is so it cannot be trapped obviously although I've been back and forth with it and leftovers. overall the teams very fun to use.

team: https://pokepast.es/b058a69acb59a0ad

thunder arc steel and rest sleep told dd zyg

idk this teams p cool I just hate celesteela with everything in me so I made this team to lure it, it also hit ho-oh which is pretty cool and the zyg set is rather wavy anyway here ya go.

team: https://pokepast.es/6fc10182b25a7a4e

Deo screens HO

lead deo get those phat screens up don't let your opp defog go into preferably xern or necroz setup wave on his team and clean up with ray and ekiller.

team: https://pokepast.es/b17146dca5e6f35c
 
Last edited:
I got rejected last time, and I'm literally posting the same team with the same description, but hey, there's not much to lose here so I might as well try.

Also it's cringey watching noobs use baton pass teams with Dodrio so we might as well give them a more decent team to work with.

Baton Pass Team
by Xynix


Scolipede @ Mental Herb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 80 HP / 240 Def / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Protect
- Iron Defense

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Def / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Baton Pass
- Spore
- Ingrain
- Spectral Thief

Drifblim @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Def / 60 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Minimize
- Substitute
- Defog

Mr. Mime @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 204 HP / 244 Def / 32 SpD / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Taunt

Vaporeon @ Normalium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Def / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Aqua Ring
- Acid Armor
- Roar

Espeon @ Shell Bell
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 8 HP / 208 Def / 68 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Stored Power
- Dazzling Gleam
- Substitute


This team contains six Pokemon with Baton Pass. It features Scolipede, which is a defensively bulky Speed Boost passer that can tank many offensive threats like Arceus, Smeargle, which has Moody and has a pivotal role in defeating Marshadow, Drifblim, which passes Evasion, Mr. Mime, which defeats Perish Song, Vaporeon as a defense passer, and Espeon, which sweeps.

The skill required to play the team is debatable. Baton Pass has been remarked to be a very easy to use strategy; however, I have found that not many have actually been able to use it properly.

More details can be found on my RMT:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/anything-goes-just-another-baton-pass-team.3612381/
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top