Battle Maison Discussion & Records

[turskain]

Well, I gots a decision to make, a decision which requires more breeding, but could pay off in the end.

Having cleared another 48 battles (bringing Aron to 108), I decided to compile a list of things that can prevent a first-turn TR by offing Slowbro:

148/108/252+ Sassy Slowbro checks:

Choiced: Porygon-Z 2, Slaking3, Tyrantrum4, Archeops3, Armaldo4, Thundurus2, Haxorus3 (requires Rivalry, female)

Megahorn: Escavalier 1,3,4, Heracross 3,4

Solarbeam: Vileplume2, Tangrowth3, Victreebel4, Vileplume4 (must lead with Drought Ninetales or follow enemy Sunny Day)

Leaf Storm: Victreebel2, Roserade3, Exeggutor3, Serperior4

Guess: Landorus1, Articuno2, Tyrantrum3, Bastiodon3, Mamoswine3, Vanilluxe3, Cryogonal3, Pinsir4, Whiscash4, Wailord4, Walrein4, Donphan4

Now, by switching the nature to Bold, it takes the Tyrantrum4 and Heracross OHKOs off the table, meaning under the circumstances we've come to expect by leading with Aron, the AI will not target Slowbro with their respective strongest moves.

The only OHKO I noticed it immediately added was Ampharos4, giving its Thunder a 50% chance to do the job, and I can confirm that the possibility of a OHKO, even a 25% chance, is enough that the AI will go for it. I used Magnzeone4 as a barometer of what can and can't do the job (Thunderbolt from Modest 252+ does 98% max) with Chandelure and Volcarona to test their best SE STAB move of their types also. Surprisingly, Latios3 with its Specs Draco Meteor still doesn't come as close as those three could.

Escavalier is still bad news, having just enough attack over Heracross to keep the odds for a OHKO.

The main thing making me hesitate is the fact that I've fought a *lot* of Ampharos4 up to this point, and with my current spread, that 50% is higher odds than most unguaranteed OHKOs aside from the choice users (87% chance for Thundurus with the Sassy build) and it also turns the Thundurus and Vileplume into guaranteed OHKOs. Neither of those two pokemon are particularly rare, and while Vileplume relies on sunlight to be in effect by the time it attacks, it's gotta happen at some point, right?

So, while the Bold nature takes two Set4 OHKOs away, it also ensures Slowbro'll always be killed by at least two more should they target it, plus adds Amphy to the group of threats. As it stands, the odds of Heracross4 and Tyrantrum4 getting a OHKO on Sassybro are not very good (25% and 31% respectively) but hell, I was critted by a fucking male Rivalry Haxorus, so that doesn't really mean shit, does it.

Opinions, anyone?

Clawitzer4 should also OHKO Slowbro with Dark Pulse. What's the reasoning for the 148 HP / 108 Def / 252 SDef EV spread? Running 148 EVs in HP instead of 252 on Slowbro doesn't seem optimal.

I'm not a fan of Slowbro as a setter in general for the reasons you state - with the Dark/Ghost/Bug weaknesses of Psychic and an Electric/Grass weakness from its Water-typing, it has a lot of weaknesses to common-ish strong attacks - way more than you'd like on a TR setter. A type resist berry could alleviate one of its weaknesses (maybe a Bug-resist berry with Sassy to cut out Armaldo, Escavalier and Heracross?), but that's an expensive item and only alleviates a few threats.

 

[Timey]

Got a long car trip this week, so I decided why not get through triples in OR? Looking for a bit help of with my team though, which is a sandstorm team this time around.

Tyranitar @ Chople berry (might run something else?)
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Modest
Evs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Standard weather setting Tyranitar, just sp. atk based. Though I may have to switch back to an atk based Tyranitar depending on the rest of my team, as right now it's leaning heavily toward sp. atk. Could also run Timid and/or Choice Scarf to see if I can get rid of some threats, but then I would drop Protect.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Force
Nature: Timid
Evs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Sludge Bomb
- HP Ice
Meant to cover some of Tyranitar's big weaknesses and deal out some damage in general. I'm not so sure about this one.

Gastrodon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Modest
Evs: 180 HP/108 Def/220 Sp. Atk
- Earth Power
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect/HP Grass (?)
Water magnet, as unsurprisingly I've got a bit of a water weakness. Usual stab/Ice Beam, but I'm thinking about running HP Grass to counter other water types. Means I do lose out on Protect though, which means an unsuspected grass move could pop up and destroy Gastrodon easily.

Goodra @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Sap Sipper
Nature: Modest
Evs: 240 HP/252 Sp. Atk/16 Spe
- Dragon Pulse
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
Gastrodon's partner in crime. Counters his grass weakness and hits back hard against grass types. Do I need Safety Goggles?


This is what I've got so far, trying to think up two others/switch around some. I did have an Aegislash planned but mine is sp. atk based and so far I'm at 4 sp. attackers, which seems like a bit overkill. Definitely looking for moveset/mon critique or anything else in general.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Clawitzer4 should also OHKO Slowbro with Dark Pulse. What's the reasoning for the 148 HP / 108 Def / 252 SDef EV spread? Running 148 EVs in HP instead of 252 on Slowbro doesn't seem optimal.

I'm not a fan of Slowbro as a setter in general for the reasons you state - with the Dark/Ghost/Bug weaknesses of Psychic and an Electric/Grass weakness from its Water-typing, it has a lot of weaknesses to common-ish strong attacks - way more than you'd like on a TR setter. A type resist berry could alleviate one of its weaknesses (maybe a Bug-resist berry with Sassy to cut out Armaldo, Escavalier and Heracross?), but that's an expensive item and only alleviates a few threats.

The spread was actually lifted from my randoms Slowbro, nature and all. The reasoning behind the original spread was to try to balance its bulk somewhat. Without Aron, the enemies target much more freely, and so I wanted Slowbro to be able to take a nicely proportioned amount of hits. It's also why the original had Regenerator, because it served to give Slowbro a second chance after flinches. That said, I've never actually gone so far as to "optimize" any spreads or tailor them around specific things, and it of course shows. I'm glad you mentioned maxing HP instead, because Landorus Intimidate will still prevent the bugs from OHKOing Slowbro barring a crit, and it further reduces the odds of a OHKO from some special users, drastically in the case of Clawitzer (down to 25%.)

As for the typing, that's much less an issue. The beauty of Aron teams is the effect it has on the AI. The AI doesn't select its moves around its team, but individually, which is why Protect baiting works as well as it does. Magnezone4 hitting Slowbro for 98% damage with Thunderbolt is largely irrelevant- the AI acknowledges that it won't OHKO, whereas Aron can't survive it, making it the preferred target. That also means the AI doesn't acknowledge that Slowbro can be hit by pretty much anything before or after Magnezone to finish it off, which just piles more attacks onto Aron.

As such, I only care about things that can OHKO Slowbro. The Ghost and Dark weaknesses are excellent to that end because only Clawitzer has enough power to do that, and 2/3rds of the time it'll go after Aron or Camerupt instead; no Ghost should target Slowbro. Ditto Electric, with only Specs Thundurus having enough power. Slowbro has incredible natural bulk, which is why the list of threats is limited to STAB high-end attacks, OHKO spammers and choice items. Only a few of them exceed 125 offense, relevant because it means the myriad Energy Ball/Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/etc users at base 130 and up like Specs Latios3 won't be targeting Slowbro with those things, at least not until Aron is gone.

Unfortunately, the hold item all but has to be a Lum Berry, for insurance. Bad experiences are also why I rebred one to have Oblivious. During my measly 108 battles thus far, Slowbro has been Flattered by Gothitelle4, Thunder Waved by Luxray4, frozen by Blizzards intended to kill Aron, and Taunted more times than I can count by Electrode4 (IIRC it has never attacked turn one. It Taunts in failure or uses Light Screen, only resorting to Thunder from turn 2 onward. Some AI scripts are just hellbent on opening with support I guess.)

While my reasons for not wanting to use Eviolite Dusclops are less related to reliability, not having to worry about status or Taunt has saved me some aggravation. At this point really, the choice between setters is mostly a matter of choosing my destiny, as in how I'd like to meet my untimely demise. Both of them can be destroyed by Fissure and Sheer Cold, one is ruined by status, the other is ruined by excessive force. The teams can have a horrible run at any time. Again, I'm glad you suggested maxing HP, because I think that ultimately it'll do more, especially if I make use of Intimidate. If I'm just critted, well, it happens.

Thank you for reminding me about Clawitzer4 being able to OHKO Slowbro. I can't believe that I could forget that, considering offing Slowbro4 is usually one of the first things I say when singing praises of Clawitzer.

Edit: I dunno why I keep saying 108, as I went to 110 before saving and quitting. I'll probably work on re-EVing Slowbro after I've gotten the poke itch back, and once Mewtwo is released for Smash Bros I'll likely play even less.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

Modest thundurus has max163 spe which outspeeds lots of things. Are there any specific things that threaten the thundurus\landorus-t\greninja trio? adamant landorus-t max speed is 143 any threats there either?

 

[SimicCombine]

You can find the speed tiers here.

 

[faith_grins]

Got a long car trip this week, so I decided why not get through triples in OR? Looking for a bit help of with my team though, which is a sandstorm team this time around.

Tyranitar @ Chople berry (might run something else?)
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Modest
Evs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Standard weather setting Tyranitar, just sp. atk based. Though I may have to switch back to an atk based Tyranitar depending on the rest of my team, as right now it's leaning heavily toward sp. atk. Could also run Timid and/or Choice Scarf to see if I can get rid of some threats, but then I would drop Protect.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Force
Nature: Timid
Evs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Sludge Bomb
- HP Ice
Meant to cover some of Tyranitar's big weaknesses and deal out some damage in general. I'm not so sure about this one.

Gastrodon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Modest
Evs: 180 HP/108 Def/220 Sp. Atk
- Earth Power
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect/HP Grass (?)
Water magnet, as unsurprisingly I've got a bit of a water weakness. Usual stab/Ice Beam, but I'm thinking about running HP Grass to counter other water types. Means I do lose out on Protect though, which means an unsuspected grass move could pop up and destroy Gastrodon easily.

Goodra @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Sap Sipper
Nature: Modest
Evs: 240 HP/252 Sp. Atk/16 Spe
- Dragon Pulse
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
Gastrodon's partner in crime. Counters his grass weakness and hits back hard against grass types. Do I need Safety Goggles?


This is what I've got so far, trying to think up two others/switch around some. I did have an Aegislash planned but mine is sp. atk based and so far I'm at 4 sp. attackers, which seems like a bit overkill. Definitely looking for moveset/mon critique or anything else in general.

Just off the top of my head:
- Leftovers and Assault Vest are both going to prolong Goodra's life a lot more than Safety Goggles will.
- If you believe this team would benefit from a physical Aegislash, then you should breed a physical Aegislash. I just recently got a Ditto to level 100 just from time spent in the Day Care. You can spend 15 minutes breeding a new Aegislash.
- Keep protect on Gastrodon. Earth Power hits harder than HP Grass unless HP Grass is 4x effective, and I just can't imagine Swampert or Quagsire being a serious threat to your streak.
- If you're running Sand Stream and you need a physical attacker, Garchomp is a no-brainer, here. Put him far left with Landorus in the middle and bask in that sweet, sweet STAB Earthquake. Bonus points for being able to put your Mega slot there, if you can't find a better use for it.
- Honestly, I wouldn't run Rock Slide on a Modest set. It's unimpressive damage in Doubles/Triples in the first place on top of being inaccurate - hindering nature and no investment isn't doing it any favors.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

Decided to give up on triples and try Durant singles. I do have two questions. Does knock off break through sashes? Mold breaker goes through sturdy and I'm pretty sure it doesn't go through sashes but I just wanted to ask.

 

[cant say]

Decided to give up on triples and try Durant singles. I do have two questions. Does knock off break through sashes? Mold breaker goes through sturdy and I'm pretty sure it doesn't go through sashes but I just wanted to ask.

No, the item gets knocked off after the damage has been dealt, so you would bring the target down to its Sash (1HP) and then it would be knocked off... Same goes for using Knock Off against a Weakness Policy Aegislash, it gets the boost before the item is taken away

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

I was thinking about
Mandibuzz@Mental herb(to block opposing taunts)
Relaxed
Overcoat
Taunt
Brave bird
U-turn
Substitute\roost
252hp\36def\220sdef
Ivs31\31\31\xx\31\25(to be as slow as possible while outspeeding manectric at plus4)

Durant@Choice scarf
Jolly
Truant
Entrainment
Xscissor
Aerial ace
Ironhead
172 hp\108def\228spe

Medicham @Medichamite
Adamant
Pure power
Ice punch
Acupressure
Baton pass
Protect
252hp\252atk\4spdef
Medicham can stay in and sweep with enough accupreessure boosts or baton pass to Durant or mandibuzz if can't handle the opponent well

 

[GG Unit]

I was thinking about
Mandibuzz@Mental herb(to block opposing taunts)
Relaxed
Overcoat
Taunt
Brave bird
U-turn
Substitute\roost
252hp\36def\220sdef
Ivs31\31\31\xx\31\25(to be as slow as possible while outspeeding manectric at plus4)

Durant@Choice scarf
Jolly
Truant
Entrainment
Xscissor
Aerial ace
Ironhead
172 hp\108def\228spe

Medicham @Medichamite
Adamant
Pure power
Ice punch
Acupressure
Baton pass
Protect
252hp\252atk\4spdef
Medicham can stay in and sweep with enough accupreessure boosts or baton pass to Durant or mandibuzz if can't handle the opponent well

I've tried a similar team before (Sylveon was the lead with a slow Baton Pass and Moody Smeargle was the sweeper that boosted all of its stats and BPed away when it was in trouble). Tyrantrum screws these kinds of teams over because you can't set up on it - it KOs itself after the 2nd Head Smash. Leads that use Sandstorm/Hail will also prevent Medicham from setting up all the way. I also think you'd get more mileage out of a Lum Berry because you can probably just slow U-turn against anything with Taunt.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

Thanks I'll try lum. I'm also gonna switch bravew bird for knock off cuz recoil goes through sub. Actually I might run relaxed 0 speed ivs . The only Pokemon slower than mandibuzzes 76spe with fire moves are flareon and emboar i think which tie at 76. I'm no expert at the Maison does anyone no what flareon3 and emboar2 use most of the time. Whiscash3 is the only thing 1\3 of the time that can be immune to taunt and protect from entrainment. Any thoughts about how to counter it? I'm thinking of running rock slide over ice punch on medicham. Is this wise anyone
I could switch mandfibuzz out for pangoro whose less bulky but can parting shot and scrappy drain punch

 

[xcfrisco]

Got all 5 trophies in X & Y and now ORAS. I used a combination of Latios, Suicune, Heatran, Terrakion, Mega-Mence, and Mega-Gross for the singles, doubles, and triples trophy (all caught or bred in-game). Rotation and Multi was as haxy as ever and I couldn't get by on brute force alone. I'd like to thank all the Sharpedo record holders for showing me how AWESOME he is in the Maison. I used a similar strategy to VaporeonIce of Focus Sash+Destiny Bond Sharpedo using Steven as my partner in Multi. Mega-Gross makes it SIGNIFICANTLY less hard than X & Y to rely on the AI in Multi (also the ability to use two Megas where the enemy AI can't use any is super OP lol, I used special Mega-Mence as Sharpedo's backup).

Thanks to Steven's prowess, Rotation is the hardest, most random trophy to get. This one took the longest and I really had to think outside the box considering I only had access to ORAS (my X & Y game with all my dope Maison standards like Aegislash, Dragonite, and Greninja is in another country lol). Water/Dragon/Steel is an amazing core for every trophy, so I stuck with that:

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine/Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Return
- Heal Bell

This set would sweep 2/3 of my Rotation matches all by herself. The 4 Speed EVs are to make me faster than base 130s after 2 DDs. Heal Bell was the least used move and sometimes I wish I had EQ instead, but the piece of mind knowing I could rotate or take on random status (my most loathed aspect of Rotation) was reassuring. My partners all helped against stuff Altaria can't handle until she's boosted: Focus Sash Sharpedo, Heatran, and Suicune as backup. Two water-types on the same team might seem redundant, but Sharpedo doesn't really count as a water pokemon cause it dies to all non resisted hits lol. You can use Perish Song (I did for a little bit until I found it even more situational than Heal Bell) over Dragon Dance to set up another sweeper on your team and as insurance against enemy AI set-up sweepers (particularly Water-type Curse users). Here are my MVPs for each mode:

Singles: DD Mega-Mence (sweeps by himself if he can get off T1 Dragon Dance with near full-health, which happened a lot)
Doubles: CM Suicune (co-MVP for Singles as well)
Triples: Scarf Terrakion
Multi: DBond Sharpedo
Rotation: Bulky DDD Mega-Altaria


Battle Maison is so much fun. But honestly being able to use Megas while the AI can't takes off some of the challenge factor compared to the Battle Subway and Tower of old. It would be really, really interesting if, let's say after Battle 40, enemy pokes could start using their Mega-Stones as alternate items >=)

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

Ive finished making my team. Its changed slightly but heres the final version
Mandibuzz@Lum berry
Relaxed Overcoat
Knock off
Taunt
Substitute
U-turn
31\31\31\xx\31\0
252hp\36def\220sp.def

Durant@Choce scarf
Jolly truant
Aerial ace
Entrainment
Protect
X-scissor
220hp\4atk\108def\84sp.def\92spe

Medicham@Medichamite
Adamant pure power
Ice punch
Acupressure
Protect
Baton pass
252hp\252atk\4sp.def
I've started to use this team and its been working well so far. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be happy to take them.

 

[GG Unit]

Ive finished making my team. Its changed slightly but heres the final version
Mandibuzz@Lum berry
Relaxed Overcoat
Knock off
Taunt
Substitute
U-turn
31\31\31\xx\31\0
252hp\36def\220sp.def

Durant@Choce scarf
Jolly truant
Aerial ace
Entrainment
Protect
X-scissor
220hp\4atk\108def\84sp.def\92spe

Medicham@Medichamite
Adamant pure power
Ice punch
Acupressure
Protect
Baton pass
252hp\252atk\4sp.def
I've started to use this team and its been working well so far. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be happy to take them.

I do like the use of Mandibuzz as something that can do a lot of what Sableye or Whimsicott can do while also being able to stay alive and do some damage of its own if need be, but that Medicham will lose to a lot of stuff even if it could get fully set up every battle. Rock Slide is gonna be better than Ice Punch as a non-STAB move that hits everything because it doesn't make physical contact, can flinch, and can do damage to Walrein.

Also consider that while BPing to Mandibuzz may help you get out of a bad matchup, Mandibuzz would have to take a hit or two from the lead and another one on the Baton Pass. Replacing BP with another attack would allow Medicham to just KO most of the opponents that would otherwise cause it to run. Drain Punch can recover HP lost from a priority move or passive damage, Dynamic Punch does as much damage as a super-effective Ice Punch/Rock Slide and can cut your chances of taking a hit in half, and High Jump Kick just needs one accuracy boost to hit every time and guarantees obscene OHKOs like Crobat and Slowbro at +4.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

I do like the use of Mandibuzz as something that can do a lot of what Sableye or Whimsicott can do while also being able to stay alive and do some damage of its own if need be, but that Medicham will lose to a lot of stuff even if it could get fully set up every battle. Rock Slide is gonna be better than Ice Punch as a non-STAB move that hits everything because it doesn't make physical contact, can flinch, and can do damage to Walrein.

Also consider that while BPing to Mandibuzz may help you get out of a bad matchup, Mandibuzz would have to take a hit or two from the lead and another one on the Baton Pass. Replacing BP with another attack would allow Medicham to just KO most of the opponents that would otherwise cause it to run. Drain Punch can recover HP lost from a priority move or passive damage, Dynamic Punch does as much damage as a super-effective Ice Punch/Rock Slide and can cut your chances of taking a hit in half, and High Jump Kick just needs one accuracy boost to hit every time and guarantees obscene OHKOs like Crobat and Slowbro at +4.

Medicham might not be worth using as It does not have battle armor like drapion. I only used it cuz it was the only Baton pass acupressure user. Does it have anything over drapion? I could also give mandibuzz roost over substitute to recover from the hits taken. I often find that mandibuzz does not have enough hp to make a substitute anyway. I feel like getting rid of baton pass for another move would make medicham easy to kill. It could be killed by a focus sash or sturdy pokemon carrying a super effective crit which brings me back to drapion. Part of me also doesn't wanna use drapioncuz that's what vaporeonice used.

 

[Champion Jim]

I would give Medicham bullet punch or substitute in place of Baton Pass. Just keep in mind a Talonflame and other quick birds won't be nice to him, and if you get in the habit of Baton passing to a Durant with Truant, or a Mandibuzz using Knockout, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

I would give Medicham bullet punch or substitute in place of Baton Pass. Just keep in mind a Talonflame and other quick birds won't be nice to him, and if you get in the habit of Baton passing to a Durant with Truant, or a Mandibuzz using Knockout, you're gonna have a bad time.

I am a personal fan of substitute as it allows medicham to take a crit without being totally wiped out but with also more power than drapion.
How about this set?
Medicham@Medichamite
Adamant pure power
Substitute
Rock slide
Protect
Acupressure
252hp\252atk\4sp.def
Without BP mandibuzz should run roost over sub I believe is more advantageous. This makes mandibuzz useful being able to knock of items and completely wall some Pokemon, slowly beating them with knock of and keep momentum with u-turn

 

[GG Unit]

I am a personal fan of substitute as it allows medicham to take a crit without being totally wiped out but with also more power than drapion.
How about this set?
Medicham@Medichamite
Adamant pure power
Substitute
Rock slide
Protect
Acupressure
252hp\252atk\4sp.def
Without BP mandibuzz should run roost over sub I believe is more advantageous. This makes mandibuzz useful being able to knock of items and completely wall some Pokemon, slowly beating them with knock of and keep momentum with u-turn

With this set you're better off with Leftovers and probably making Medicham faster at the expense of some HP investment. Without Battle Armor and with a worse defensive typing, Medicham can never take hits as well as Drapion, so you can go the other way and make it faster, harder-hitting against neutral targets, and less susceptible to the contact abilities. Even then, if you can get fully boosted an opponent is only going to have a 10% chance to hit Medicham with an attack between the evasion and Rock Slide's flinch chance. On balance it's not as good as Drapion, but you could get on the leaderboard with the team depending on how well Mandibuzz can solo certain Explosion leads.

If you were to stay with Medichamite over Leftovers, the optimal set for it would have two attacks because as you noted, anything without Substitute or a Focus Sash will have limited survivability regardless of its moveset. In that case, the only niche it would have over Drapion would be the ability to do a bunch of damage with minimal boosts.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

With this set you're better off with Leftovers and probably making Medicham faster at the expense of some HP investment. Without Battle Armor and with a worse defensive typing, Medicham can never take hits as well as Drapion, so you can go the other way and make it faster, harder-hitting against neutral targets, and less susceptible to the contact abilities. On balance it's not as good as Drapion, but you could get on the leaderboard with the team depending on how well Mandibuzz can solo certain Explosion leads.

If you were to stay with Medichamite over Leftovers, the optimal set for it would have two attacks because as you noted, anything without Substitute or a Focus Sash will have limited survivability regardless of its moveset. In that case, the only niche it would have over Drapion would be the ability to do a bunch of damage with minimal boosts.

I'd rather go for leftovers for longetivity. I am also susceptible to toxic sdpikes but the only one is forrestres 4 which I can taunt luckily. Thanks for the recommendation. Im currently on battle 15 but I'll switch it to leftovers right after. BTW do 1 sets appear after battle 10?

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Man, I dunno how you guys are able to stand playing with your teams for so long. Is it the drive to get into the top five on the leaderboards that keeps you going?

I had to stop at 150 several days ago because the monotony had set in and made me sick of looking at my pokes for a bit. I picked the game back up this morning and played to 200 over the course of the day (lots of flights cancelled at work heh) and I'm back to having no drive. I guess I was too used to changing things up all the time.

Having said that, I did meet Slowbro's worst nightmare during... battle #179 I want to say, and was almost certain my streak was done for; Serperior, the only poke with a guaranteed OHKO on Slowbro that can't be neutered by Intimidate. The only reason I won is because of said Intimidate, a lucky freeze on a particular poke, and most importantly, Sylveon4's incredibly bad moveset- Misty Terrain/Draining Kiss/Baby-Doll Eyes/Psyshock. Lemme tell ya, that was probably the best possible enemy for me to face with a battered team, because that moveset cleans up about as well as Shuckle4 defeats Steel types. I have the replay saved of course, but I won't post it until I really do lose. Had I lost, I would have regretted taking the time to post a detailed writeup, since it couldn't even beat 315.

The very next battle, a Tyrantrum critted my Slowbro with Crunch, but the Black Belt's team was so bad that only Slowbro fainted, and a healthy diet of Protect and Moonblast/Earth Power finished everything off. The road to 200 from there was otherwise uneventful. Still, I have my doubts that this team can even beat my randoms streak, though I don't honestly think I even have the patience.

With that in mind, you 2000ers have awed me further. Especially turskain with that freaking 6k.

 

[GG Unit]

I'd rather go for leftovers for longetivity. I am also susceptible to toxic sdpikes but the only one is forrestres 4 which I can taunt luckily. Thanks for the recommendation. Im currently on battle 15 but I'll switch it to leftovers right after. BTW do 1 sets appear after battle 10?

Exactly. Forretress is the only Toxic Spiker you'll see and you can just taunt and switch to Durant or whatever. I'm not sure what the progression looks like for the first battles, but once you hit like battle 40 you're always facing the same pool of trainers where pretty much everything is set 4.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

Thanks I just wanted to make sure cuz there are a couple other Toxic spikers but there set 1s. Ill try this team and hope I make it on the leaderboards. And I guess that's 1 reason I'm willing to play for hundreds of hours, and with a Durant team which take like forever comparatively.

 

[VaporeonIce]

Man, I dunno how you guys are able to stand playing with your teams for so long. Is it the drive to get into the top five on the leaderboards that keeps you going?

For me, the leaderboards is part of it, but some of it is just wanting to see the team play out to its fullest potential. I want to find out just how good the team I've put together is. I feel a little bit sad when I think that a team I've put together has a reasonable chance of making it to, say, 1500 wins, but that I only played until 500 wins, then stopped. This is true for mind-blowingly good teams I've used (like Whimsicott/Durant/Drapion) and teams I've used that are only moderately good (Mega Lopunny). Plus, each battle plays out a little differently. Whimsicott/Durant/Drapion is the most boring team I've used, because most of the battles are exactly the same after the first three turns. But especially in Triples, there's so much variety that there's always something new and interesting that MIGHT cause a problem.

I also find the monotony kind of soothing at times. Whenever I want, I can just bust open my 3DS and win five battles with Whimsicott/Durant/Drapion. It takes me out of the world and lets me recharge for a bit. It's not exciting, but sometimes I'm looking for simple relaxation, not excitement.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

While I agree with you on all counts, I think it's both my lack of a true desire to reach a giant milestone, plus being so used to the aspect of always very different, all the time. 6v6 randoms meant I'd often have to use every poke on my team, whereas with Aron, most battles were finished by my frontline alone.

Agree especially with the relaxation bit, though, as I still liked to just put on some music and grind through 5-15 battles at a time. So long as I keep my eyes on the screen for alerts, of course.

 

[sunzet-therian forme]

I tried switching leftover +sub medicham to the mega with 2 attacks but that didn't turn out so good. Most of it was my stupidity. The AI led with chloraphyl victreebell and set up sunny day first turn as I uturned to Durant. I had just assumed durant would ber faster but i was wrong. It OHKO'd with weatherball. I might try another Durant team but I realized on my LOOOOOONG 25 matches that Durant teams are boring.

Before I joined smogon I had been playing the Maison for awhile. I tried an Aron team with aron\dusclops\mega scizor\conkeldurr. It got me to 136 wins and was pretty fun. One of my more fun teams I tried was a perish trapping team. I made two. One doubles and ones triples. The double one completely failed on the first match. The triples one had a decent amount of wins( I can't remember) but consisted of azumarill\scizor\greninja\mega aggron\klefki\mesprit. Even though this team didn't get me to a significant amount of wins it was fun playing.
So yeah I'd have to agree, part of it is also just being fun to play, which is why I probably won't continue Durant singles