I went into the SwSh meta building a team just... trying out some new stuff and eventually tried to shape it into a team and this is what I ended up with - a team of mostly returning Pokémon.
When building this team I was trying to avoid the "hyper meta" picks but now that I'm really trying to shape it into the best set-up it can be I'm more open to the idea of including picks like Ditto and Darmanitan-G. Debatably Hatterene falls into this category but I have enjoyed using her too much not to give her a pass.
Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 116 HP / 252 Def / 140 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Counter
So let's start with the most unconventional set in the team. Kommo-o is the most recent addition to my team and the result of a long, mostly unfruitful search for a Stealth Rock user that I actually felt like worked well on the team. Obviously the set is strange. Body Press hits deceptively hard coming off of Kommo-o's 125 defense stat and is his hardest hitting option in general with this set other than Outrage. Rocks are rocks. Taunt was chosen to make it less of a set-up bait due to its low offensive presence and also because this is my go-to lead Pokémon and shutting out opponent's hazards with a surprise taunt is useful.
As for counter? Defenisve Kommo-o can take any hit from Dracovish and OHKO back with counter. It is even capable of switching into Fishious Rend in rain. Even outside of Dracovish, Counter is a powerful tool for dealing huge damage to physical attackers who fail to OHKO Kommo-o due to its large physical bulk.
Speed investment leaves it faster than Tyranitar, as well as the majority of lead Pokémon in order to get off a taunt.
The set isn't without its issues. It lacks any way of hitting ghost types, is invalidated by Hatterene and Galarian Darmanitan is a somewhat common lead that can OHKO despite Kommo-o's huge bulk. I have considered Yache berry to lure Darmanitan-G and OHKO with Counter but I am generally not of the disposition to dice roll the counter turn 1 and end up only firing off a weak counter off of a u-turn.
Hatterene-Gmax @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
Hatterene is the only truly new Pokémon on this team, if you do not count Galarian forms. She is my go-to Dynamax and is able to tear through stall teams with only setting up Trick Room. She is a powerful late-game cleaner or able to simply tear holes in the enemy teams to allow Bisharp or Hydreigon to clean. Due to how standard this set is, I don't have much to say. EVs are simply set to minimum speed, maximum offense for optimal Trick Room sweeping.
I chose to run Gmax Hatterene over standard Dmax because G-Smite's 100% chance of confusion wins games and I almost always would rather have Psychic Terrain to thwart priority like Aegislash's shadow sneak over Misty Terrain.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
- Shadow Ball
Aegislash seems like a loser in the dynamax meta, with him being a particularly poor Dynamax user due to the inability to return to Shield Form during Dynamax and with powerful wallbreakers like Dracovish just murdering him through shield form. Shadow Sneak's relatively weak power means that it is rarely powerful enough to deal with dynamaxed sweepers.
With all of that in mind, Aegislash is still Aegislash. With King's Shield to stall out Dynamax turns, a strong defensive typing and good synergy with Kommo-o defensively, Aegislash stood out as a powerful mixed attacker that would be able to deal with things that other members of the team couldn't. Despite being one of the original mons on the team, it functions as a proverbial "glue" mon - patching up the match-ups that the other 'mons on the team can't deal with.
Minimum speed is run to win fights with other Aegislash, as well as to make use of Trick Room if Hatterene falls after setting it up.
Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop
With sticky webs and stat drops from Dynamax running around, Bisharp felt like a natural inclusion due to defiant. Loss of Knock Off means that Throat Chop is his most spammable dark STAB, with Iron Head covering fairy types like Clefable. I felt as though Bisharp had a lot of options to set up in the current meta - particularly by coming in on Pokémon like Corsola-G that would check it after they have been taunted by Kommo-o or on a double switch from Hatterene. +2 Throat Chop is able to OHKO even max defense Corsola-G and 2HKO Ferrothorn. It has powerful offensive synergy with Hatterene and the two of them can dismantle most stall teams relatively easily and against bulky offense and balance teams they are often capable of killing each other's checks.
Fighting type moves are avoided to prevent ditto from revenge killing Bisharp effectively, although a +2 Max Steelsurge is capable of doing a lot of damage.
Weezing-Galar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Strange Steam
- Pain Split
I needed a defogger and I needed something that didn't have awful defensive synergy with everything else. Probably the slot that has changed the most over the course of building this team, with previous residents including Coallosoil, Cinderace, and a whole host of stuff that Showdown told me got defog but actually don't in gen 8.
Levitate is chosen because this is purely a wall/defog set and my team has limited synergy with misty terrain. Neutralizing gas might be worth a look but Levitate feels like the safe, consistent option (if not for the prevalence of Excadrill). Weezing is invested in SpD here because Kommo-o already exists as a physical wall, so patching up Weezing's lacking specially defensive side made more sense than doubling down on physical resists, especially with the ability to mitigate physical damage through spreading burns. Strange Steam is an interesting move, with the 20% chance to confuse occasionally coming in useful.
Unfortunately, Weezing-G hasn't particularly proven its worth. It struggles to check most dragon types, dying to Hydreigon's flash cannon, Dracovish/Dracozolt's respective STABs. Set-up variants of Dragapult can take a Strange Steam and hit right back with boosted Shadow Ball/Phantom Force. It does well to check the fighting types in the tier, but with them currently being few and far between Weezing feels like it might be the weak link in the team.
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
Scarfed Hydreigon is a less common set than Nasty Plot but I would argue that it is still a completely viable set, able to revenge kill a huge number of Pokémon often by surprise. Scarf severely reduces the threat of Pokémon like Scarfed Darmanitan-G and allows it to revenge kill other Hydreigon running Nasty Plot sets. It can revenge kill Gyarados with +1 speed provided it isn't healthy. Dynamaxing also allows it to break free of its choice scarf, although losing the speed boost in the process, in order to prevent something from punishing it locking into Fire Blast.
Offensively it has good synergy with Hatterene but is somewhat redundant with Bisharp. This redundancy isn't a bad thing, per se, as it often allows them to overload the opponent's dark resists with are often few in the current meta.
I want to fit Flash Cannon onto this set to hit opposing Hatterene in particular but nothing feels good to remove. Losing Draco Meteor prevents it from revenge killing other Hydreigon, losing Fire Blast leaves it walled by mons like Ferrothorn and this set already struggles against stall.
Threats:
Surprisingly, Darmanitan-G isn't a mon which has given me too much trouble with this team. The main threats I have found so far have been bulky water types such as Rotom-W and Seismitoad. Toxapex is dealt with by Hatterene but if I am unable to get that match-up it can prove challenging to take down. More offensive water types like Dracovish are usually susceptable to being revenge killed. Eiscue absolutely ran through me the one time I was faced with it but it is so uncommon that I don't see it as too large of an issue.
Gyarados can be an issue if it sets up, but has trouble setting up on anything other than Kommo-o. Dragapult is a similar situation, but is more threatening due to the variety in its sets. It is checked by Bisharp and Aegislash, but I lack a harder answer.
Success:
After a long hiatus from Pokémon I was able to take this team to around 1450 peak. Certainly nothing impressive but I am rusty as haha. I have around a 60% winrate with this team overall.
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