Bulky Offense Archetypes
Bulky Offense in essence is an offensive team. However, instead of relying on setup moves and frail Pokemon, they have a lot of bulk that allows it to cycle for positive matchup, leading to attacks that the opponent cannot absorb. The bulk also allows them to win head-to-head matchups more easily, forcing switches if they need to preserve a Pokemon. They use slower hit-and-run attackers effectively, as they need a defensive cushion to truly trade favorably.
Hippo-Mence Bulky Offense
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Hippowdon sets Stealth Rock and earns Salamence a setup turn with Yawn. Toxic Aegislash beats defensive Salamence checks such as Porygon2, Cresselia and Metagross. Salamence provides the team a check to Fire-types and a Ground-type immunity. While the core is quite complete on its own, it has a very poor matchup against Calm Mind Tapu Fini, which can easily set up Calm Minds against the core, and only needs some chip damage on Aegislash in order to beat it. As a result, Tapu Koko and Kartana are common sights on this team. The team also likes having ways to check opposing setup sweepers such as Naganadel and Volcarona, with Mimikyu, Snorlax, and Focus Sash users such as Breloom and Greninja.
Hippo-Zard Bulky Offense
Charizard and Tapu Lele has great offensive synergy as Charizard gets a free Overheat against Steel-types, while Tapu Lele provides a speed safety net and forces in the Steel-types for Charizard to take advantage of. Rocky Helmet Hippowdon affords this team a cushion against strong physical attackers. Most common partners include Mimikyu to stop sweeps from likes of Naganadel and Volcarona which can clean up easily against the team. Pokemon such as Greninja and Tapu Fini is also common due to the team's crippling weakness to Heatran. Steel-type like Aegislash, and Celesteela, also patch up defensive synergy. Pokemon like Xurkitree and Breloom can also be used to patch up weak matchups against stall. Because of how common this core is, be mindful of lure sets such as Rock Tomb + Grass Knot Metagross and other tech moves designed to counter it. While Mega Charizard Y is the better and more popular choice, keep in mind the possibility of the other Charizard Mega Evolution when facing it, as some trainers try to take advantage of such assumptions.
Metagross Bulky Offense
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Rotom-Heat, Tapu Fini, and Mega Metagross has great type synergy. Rotom-Heat acts as a Ground immunity and uses Volt Switch to set up advantages matchups for Metagross and Tapu Fini. Tapu Fini covers Fire-types and Greninja for Mega Metagross, while Zen Headbutt Metagross takes care of Pokemon such as Venusaur and Toxapex that Tapu Fini invites. Landorus-T is a common partner for its ability to use U-turn and provide Speed safety net, as the team is otherwise weak to fast attackers such as Mega Gengar or Tapu Koko. The core is usually to be paired with Pokemon that can act as a defensive stop such as Focus Sash Mimikyu or Snorlax, as well as stallbreakers such as Z-move Tyranitar, Nasty Plot Porygon-Z, or Tail Glow Xurkitree.
Salamence Double Steel Bulky Offense
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Mixed Salamence puts a lot of pressure on the opponent, and there are very few Pokemon that can actually outspeed and OHKO it, or switch in safely. Heatran checks Fire-types, Ferrothorn checks Water-types, and both check Fairy-types. It is prone to common Fighting-type move users such as Blaziken and Hammer Arm Mega Metagross.
Mawile-Latias Bulky Offense
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Mawile and Latias have great type synergy as they cover each other's weaknesses very well. Latias is either able to break defensive Steel-type Pokemon for Mawile with an appropriate Z-move, or is able to act as a pivot and spread chip and Thunder Wave for Mawile to outspeed the opponent. This core employs multiple pivots to get Mawile in safely on favorable matchup.
Metagross + Hydreigon Bulky Offense
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Metagross's weakness to Ghost, Ground, Fire, and Dark are perfectly covered by Hydreigon, which gives Metagross safe switches with U-turn. It can also flinch the hell out of you. It is imperative to add Pokemon that can act as a stop to coverage attackers such as Blaziken and Greninja that nullify the supposed type synergy.
Balanced Archetypes
Balanced teams have offensive tools similar to bulky offense teams, but have a clearly defined defensive backbone to fall back to, and often have full-fledged defensive win conditions in addition to offensive ones. This allows flexibility in their gameplan. For instance, their offensive pressure can make it difficult to preserve the check to a defensive win condition. Or, they have a lot of ways to do chip damage and whittle the opponent playing defensively, which allows some weaker, faster offensive Pokemon to clean up.
Mega Kangaskhan Balance
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Fake Out Mega Kangaskhan is commonly paired with a defensive pivot such as Rocky Helmet Landorus-T in order to quickly rack up chip damage against most physical attackers. Pokemon such as Greninja can easily take advantage of U-turn from Landorus-T to safely get a free switch against physically defensive Pokemon. If it is able to safely remove a threat with a Z-move, it allows Kangaskhan to wreak havoc with Fake Out. Toxic Aegislash has great type synergy and spreads more chip damage. Tapu Fini can be used over Greninja as a Water-type and Fighting-type sponge for the team. While the priority from Greninja and Mega Kangaskhan reduces a need for a revenge killer, the core needs a solution to defensive teams, such as Xurkitree or Mega Gengar.
Mega Gengar Balance
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There are multiple ways to complement a Mega Gengar fairly well. Skarmory gets up guaranteed hazards most of the time while taunting other hazard leads. Snorlax abuses Yawn+Whirlwind to rack up hazard damage and force a Pokemon to fall asleep. They form a fairly good defensive duo while Mega Gengar checks Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko that nullify the pressure from Yawn, and cleans with Hex against Pokemon that falls asleep when Snorlax goes down. A slow pivot Pokemon such as Rocky Helmet Landorus-T or Assault Vest Incineroar can safely let Gengar switch in and KO an offensive threat without taking any damage. Tapu Fini is also a common choice for its ability to stop Mega Blaziken, Mega Charizard X, and provide a valuable Water-type resist. While it is possible to divide up the archetype into Gengar + Lax + Skarm and Gengar + Lando + Fini, these team options often bleed into each other.
Celesteela + Tapu Fini Balance
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Steel-types are broken, Water-types are broken, terrain control is obligatory. Celesteela and Tapu Fini don't really have a common goal in mind, but hits all the right notes together that they simply cover a huge chunk of the metagame on their own. Their weakness to Electric mandates a Ground-type partner. This duo are appropriately listed with cores featuring Mega Lopunny, Blaziken, Gengar, etc., but I believe with Bulky Will-O-Wisp Charizard-X it really shines. It takes care of Fire-types and Electric types that can pressure the core, and softens hits with Will-O-Wisp, and beats Steel-types for the core.
Mega Lopunny Balance
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Lopunny makes its way on many semi-stall teams for its ability to outspeed most wallbreakers, apply offensive pressure, and spread chip damage with Fake Out. Snorlax and Skarmory is a defensive core can spread chip damage with Yawn + Stealth Rock, but Celesteela is a more independent Steel-type that does not rely on Yawn support. Tapu Fini is a common choice as the team can be vulnerable to Fighting- and Fire-types. While it is also possible to divide up the archetype into Lopunny+ Lax + Skarm and Lopunny + Celesteela + Fini, these team options often bleed into each other. Again, it is worth noting that Snorlax + Skarmory and Celesteela + Tapu Fini individually is a versatile core that can be perfectly fine on this.
Metagross Defensive Balance
Offensive Metagross is the primary progress maker for the team. Porygon2 and Toxapex safely switch into Greninja, Toxapex checks Fire-types for Metagross, and Gliscor gets free switches on Earthquake aimed at Metagross. The defensive core chips down the opponent and spreads status for Mega Metagross to clean up. The core tends to be weak to Electric-types such as Z-move Tapu Koko.
Mega Venusaur Balance
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Venusaur's weakness to Flying-types and Psychic-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Metagross are covered by Celesteela fairly well. Heatran provides a check to likes of Charizard-Y, Volcarona, and Naganadel.
Blaziken + Zapdos + Ferrothorn Balance
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Mega Blaziken is a strong attacker but is hard-stopped by certain threats like Mimikyu and Tapu Fini and such. This core takes a more defensive approach with the defensive core of Zapdos and Ferrothorn, which can repeatedly switch into Water-types, Salamence, and Mimikyu for Blaziken. Blaziken acts as the cleaner. However, these teams generally have a more offensive secondary options despite the main core being defensive.
Manectric Balance
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This is another iteration of the Tapu Fini + Celesteela core. Manectric provides an interesting package with Electric immunity, Intimidate, Volt Switch pivot, and a fast revenge killer.
Bulu-Pex Balance
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Tapu Bulu's Grassy terrain helps Toxapex, Heatran, and Mega Tyranitar that love to switch around but need help staying healthy. Sees minimal use as the core can be too slow and passive, and Bulu isn't that good on its own.
Mega Heracross Trick Room Balance
Classic Heracross core from Gen 6. Cannot be picked in any consistent fashion due to Mimikyu, and thus failed to see consistent success in recent past.
Hyper Offense Archetypes
Hyper Offense is all about dictating the flow of the game. They often use dedicated leads that force the opponent to react defensively, often setting hazards or using status moves for a setup opportunity, or in rare cases, putting field effects such as Weather or Trick Room in play. They have multiple setup sweepers that complement each other, either by overloading on a defensive threat, or ensuring the next Pokemon on deck has easy setup opportunity against whatever that just switched in to counter the first attacker.
Mega Gengar Offense
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Gengar is excellent at removing checks to Pokemon like Landorus-T and Mimikyu due to its ability to guarantee a KO on a physically defensive Pokemon. It is also able to trap and remove Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, which does well for Pokemon like Greninja. The team also tends to have at least one Water-type for their ability to beat Hippowdon, check Fire-types and deny Volcarona setup turns. The team has multiple options: it can opt for defensive pivots such as Celesteela and Porygon2 as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and other attackers can be a problem. Setup sweepers such as Volcarona or even Vivillon can take advantage Shadow Tag from Gengar, combined with the multiple speed control options available on this team.
Meta-Zard Offense
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Charizard and Metagross are such versatile Mega Evolutions that they make a great backbone for hyper offensive teams. Tapu Lele invites in Steel-types for Charizard and Landorus-T. Landorus-T can be a defensive pivot set, in which case it is meant to be used with Greninja and Metagross which provide fast offensive pressure, or it can be a SD Z-move set which absolutely obliterates defensive cores in tandem with Swords Dance Charizard X. It is commonly used with Mimikyu, or Water-type checks such as Snorlax, Primarina, Kartana, and others. While Mega Charizard mindgame is always present even on other cores, this core accentuates the problem because both Charizard Mega Evolutions have seen high level success and thus must be kept in mind when facing it.
Gyara-Naga Offense
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Mega Gyarados and Naganadel forms a very straightforward but potent hyper offensive setup duo. The team is commonly paired with Focus Sash Landorus-T that sets Stealth Rock for Gyarados to beat Mimikyu. Non-Mimikyu Naganadel checks such as Aegislash and Tyranitar only concede setup turns to Gyarados. As with most hyper offensive teams, this core can be vulnerable to a combination of hard counters to the sweepers. Combination of Mimikyu + Gyarados check such as Tapu Fini / Ferrothorn, or Heatran + Ferrothorn will leave the core with no way out. As a result, it is mandatory to pair this with secondary modes that can beat them, such as Tapu Koko or Mega Scizor.
Mega Scizor Offense
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This core overlaps very heavily with the above Gyara-Naga core, as these two Mega Evolutions tend to go together on Naganadel teams. However, it is not unheard of to use a U-turn Scizor instead of an hyper offensive SD one to apply some kind of volt-turn pressure with Naganadel, Tapu Koko, or Latios.
Mawile + Porygon 2 Trick Room
Mawile + Porygon 2 is one of the better Trick Room cores remaining in the metagame thanks to Porygon 2 being a very independently strong attacker. It tends to let Z-move Mimikyu clean up after Mawile breaks defensive Pokemon in Trick Room, or take advantage of Mimikyu and Breloom's 1v1 capabilities to trade favorably. Suropoke's team pairs with Mega Gyarados + Naganadel. It is generally good to pair it with other Pokemon that could take advantage of Celesteela, which can be overwhelmed alone, but can turn into an auto-loss paired with more threats to the core.
Mega Blaziken Offense
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Mega Blaziken provides a lot of sweeping potential with an SD set or a simple 3 attacks set. It can also Baton Pass out of tough matchups and pass Speed boosts to slower offensive Pokemon. Mixed Blaziken often gets supported by Stealth Rock from Landorus-T. The team commonly carries multiple ways to resist Water-type and Ground-type moves, either to Baton Pass safely, or to let the next Pokemon get a setup turn.
Mega Swampert Rain Offense
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A straightforward rain core with Pelipper setting Rain and U-turning out to Mega Swampert. It is mandatory to use it with checks to Water-types like Tapu Fini, or Grass-types like Ferrothorn, though Pelipper helps a bit against Grass-types already. Popular options for anti-Water types are listed above. Instead of just trying to complement the rain mode with Pokemon that beat rain counters, which leaves your strategy fairly one-note, it is also good to take advantage of the fact that Rain scares out Pokemon like Metagross or non-Grass Knot Tapu Koko / Thundurus, and use Pokemon like Mega Salamence alongside it.
Lele + Volcarona Offense
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A riff on the Fire-type + Tapu Lele combo similar to Meta-Zard offense. Volcarona is more vulnerable to defensive teams, but is better suited to sweep bulky offensive teams with its coverage. It is also compatible with a Z-move and can be brought alongside Mega Metagross. Metagross can use Zen Headbutt for synergy, but so can Volcarona with Shattered Psyche. 3 Psychic moves are rarely needed on a team, and Metagross values its moveslots very much.
Mega Tyranitar Offense
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Mega Tyranitar has little trouble setting up Dragon Dance or trading favorably due to its obscene stats. Tyranitar's numerous weaknesses are well covered by Tapu Fini, Celesteela, and Landorus-T. Tyranitar also safeguards the core against the likes of Bulky Volcarona and Naganadel without being forced to bleed momentum.
The Hippo-Luke Offense
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A straightforward hyper offensive core with Hippowdon setting Stealth Rock and Yawn for setup turns for Lucario and Thundurus-T. As these Pokemon are prone to being revenge killed, it is also often paired with speed boosting sweepers such as Dragonite (which has good type synergy with Lucario) or Mega Charizards. It is especially tough to figure out the Lucario and Charizard variants on this team.
Japan Sand
An old sand core. Salamence has good type synergy with both Tyranitar and Excadrill, resisting their weaknesses.
Psychic-spam Offense
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Tapu Lele powers up Mega Alakazam, chips down Steel-types in KO range, and protects it from priority attacks.
Sun Offense
Torkoal sets sun and Stealth Rock + Yawn combination can earn Venusaur a free Growth turn.
Webs Offense
Shuckle sets Stealth Rock + Sticky Webs. Gyara and Kartana are strong sweepers that very much invalidate Mimikyu as a stopper.
Stall Archetypes:
Stall is defined by its ability to react to as many offensive threats as possible. Using hard walls such as Chansey and Skarmory allows them to take hits from the strongest attackers in the format. They often rely on residual damage to make progress, but often have offensive win conditions like trapping in order to have outs against offensive setup that they cannot deal with.
Mega Gengar Standard Stall
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Mega Gengar provides a much needed offensive mode for most Stall teams, and its ability to trap and remove offensive threats is invaluable. Mega Gengar trades favorably against common wallbreakers, and takes advantage of status and chip damage spread by defensive cores. While other Defensive Pokemon such as Quagsire, Toxapex, Gliscor, etc. are needed to cover physical attackers, Chansey is near mandatory for its ability to stuff nearly all special attacker in the game.
Mega Gengar Semi-Stall
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As Stall faces more and more challenges, stall has adapted. Now it carries far more offensive win conditions than ever, with Pokemon such as Greninja, Mimikyu, and more. While it is usually still paired with stall staples from the above list such as Chansey, it is not rare to see more bulky-offense type Pokemon like Celesteela and Porygon2, which can dish out damage when necessary and is not completely helpless to opposing setup or Mega Gengar.
Mega Sableye Stall
Stall teams can use Shedinja to bypass certain wallbreakers. Mega Sableye keeps the field clear of hazards. In exchange for offensive win condition of Mega Gengar, it employs a unique win condition of Shedinja instead, enabled by Sableye.
Mega Aerodactyl Stall
Stall teams can use Mega Aerodactyl to act as a defensive Fire-type check and a cleaner in one in addition to Pursuit trapping Gengar.
Miscellaneous:
These teams really defy categorization into other archetypes as they are rather unique. Gimmicky teams are placed here.
STAG
Mega Gengar and Wobbuffet are terrifying to many Defensive Pokemon that are completely helpless as they strategically remove the necessary defensive Pokemon to stop their sweeper. It is weak to Ghost-types like Mimikyu, but they tend to thrive on playing the team preview mindgame, baiting out the Mimikyu and countering it with their secondary, defensive mode well-equipped to deal with Mimikyu, such as defensive Porygon2 and Landorus-T.
Kangaskhan + Cresselia Moody Setup
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Classic Kangaskhan core from Gen 6. While standard options like Heatran are still available, It has failed to see recent success playing it straight. It now revolves around Glalie instead, which relies on the Thunder Wave support.
Moody Setup
Use Glare Serperior to paralyze something so Glalie can spam Substitute and get Moody evasion boosts. Serperior is generally favored as the
Don't phaze me bro
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Straightforward Eevee pass. Clefable is common, too, as Curse Mimikyu otherwise beats the core. Scolipede exists in a similar vein.
