Battle Tree Discussion and Records

I got my 50 streak first go with this M-Salamence/Scarf Lele/Toxapex setup. And I completely agree about how good Toxapex is. M-Salamence punches holes through most things, but does not like going toe to toe with a lot of the ice/rock/fairy-based teams. That's when Toxapex comes in with outstalling any ice/rock-based counters as well as some fairies. It is seriously immortal. The only time I lost Toxapex was sheer cold shenanigans and when I misplayed against Red's Lapras-4 and ate a Psychic Z-Move to the face.

Scarf Lele was the most situational member - I really only used it for quick revenge kills and as a safe switch-in to fairies carrying Psychic that I don't want Toxapex to tank. Having said that, there were times where it's come in clutch with the terrain-boosted Psychic spam. It's just that I sometimes underestimated its special bulk and was surprised at how much damage it took from special sweepers. Not having it Hyper-Trained probably didn't help either.
This lol. It really is inmortal and have great synergy with Salamance. Tapu Lele is there to spam Psychic in "late game" and for those Scarf Chomps or Latios that are annoying for Sala and as we know, the AI always goes for the kill so its safe to switch in Lele because its inmune to Dragon.
 
Anyone tried a Toxapex in here yet? I bred a flawless Regenerator Mareanie last night but I'm unsure on what EV spread to use.
 

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Anyway, thinking about covering those weaknesses almost has me wondering why nobody's tried Shedinja on a previous generation's team (obviously would have to wait until Bank now). It could be a great PP staller - imagine having it as the lead and using Protect + Spite to get rid of an opponent's Stone Edge PP to make it easy for a teammate to set up, while still having the ability to come back in and completely wall something else. I doubt the AI would be smart enough to try setting up against it if it has a super-effective attack it could use.
Doesn't exactly count due to it being the Wi-Fi Tower...but someone actually has.
 
Ouch... My team was just killed on Super Singles at battle 27. I used the two UB team by annimon, thank you very much for this team!

I have the video here, maybe you'd like to give me some advice? That would be great! The code is:

ESMW-WWWW-WWW2-B7GE
 
Anyone tried a Toxapex in here yet? I bred a flawless Regenerator Mareanie last night but I'm unsure on what EV spread to use.
What nature? +252 HP for sure to get the most mixed bulk from it's high defenses. Mine is Bold with +180 Def / +76 SpD, but it is in no way optimized for Battle Tree.
 
I think that is going to have to be the way to play Durant this generation; as a lead with one set-up sweeper and 3rd Pokemon that can stall out a lot of evasion item, Protect/Detect, Explosion users, etc. I was thinking Chansey as another one, but Toxapex has the benefit of absorbing Toxic Spikes if the sweeper is weak to those.

If Durant's not the lead you'll run into the problem of Blaziken 4 (mega) outspeeding it after turn 2, and you obviously can't switch it in on a Flare Blitz.
The reason why I enjoy Mega Kang is the ability to break Sash and Sturdy users. Part of me wants to say a multihit move, just in case.


Have you run into any alolan raichus?
I vaguely recall one or two.
 
I just built tried out this team and pretty easily made it to 49 wins in super doubles... (miss clicked instruct on the other team...) -- I am leading Xurkitree and Oranguru, then depending on their lead using one of its multi attacks (and in a few rare instances energy ball) and instruct. Or I am attacking and setting up TR on turn 1. Turn 2 if Xurkitree is still alive almost always results in a KO (I can instruct with Oranguru to hit first with Xurkitree in TR, instruct to hit again when TR is not up, or set up TR). Most battles are face rolled by just the Xurkitree Oranguru combo, however sometimes I need to bring out Torkoal. When this happens, due to a lucky crit or my sacking or Xurkitree my plan is pretty obviously to just eruption and instruct (if TR is up) or to protect and set up TR (obviously solar beam is a option for a few of the bulkiest ground/water types).

I don't use Garchomp that often on this team, but definitely appreciate it every once in a while. It is a pretty solid mon along with Xurkitree for when I can't have TR up and also provides nice damage when I make a mistake (the other 7-10 times I accidentally misclicked on the enemy with instruct... seriously, who thought it was a good idea to have the cursor automatically select the enemy when you click on instruct????) and generally outspends everything. That said, if I were to change a mon I would probably get rid of chomp -- I just don't know what I would want to take its place.


Xurkitree @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 19 HP / 9 Atk / 2 Def / 3 SpD
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Discharge
- Volt Switch


Oranguru @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Atk / 7 Spe
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Instruct
- Psychic


Torkoal @ Firium Z
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 14 Spe
- Protect
- Solar Beam
- Heat Wave
- Eruption


Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 27 SpA
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw

Obviously I still need to train Xurkitree to lvl 100 and hyper train it up as well as work on getting some 0 sp
 
So, what are the different personalities anyone recommends for Celesteela, since we can get 2?

Right now, I caught one Adamant, because I am looking at a set like this as an offensive bulky sweeper:

Celesteela @ Orb/Leftovers

Adamant - 84/252/4/0/12/156(101 base speed, 202 after auto)

- Autotomize
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge/Return/Stone Edge

I'm generally wary of Stone Edge, though, admittedly, it is likely the best typing coverage option. Anything with below 100% accuracy for the maison, in my opinion, will eventually miss when you absolutely need it. Theoretically, most of your hardest counters will show up when you are at +1 Attack as Celesteela.

Most of the serious threats to Heavy Slam/Earthquake are Fires and Electrics that are immune to ground attacks. The rotoms and Birds/Genies come to mind some. Those pokemon still take 80% from Double-edge at +1 and are guarantee KOs at +2 with Life Orb. When using lefties, none of the thunderbolts are guaranteed KOs, strangely enough. In that situation, return might be better to prevent recoil from getting the best of you, since you won't have the immediate power to KO that life orb has.

As a result, Stone Edge seems like the answer that is more likely to be inspired by desperation KOs, rather than having your team be the dominant force for long streaks.

Anyway, I digress...what other sets do you think would be good for Celesteela besides Adamant based ones?
 
Somehow I got incredibly lucky and, without trying, managed to land a jolly pheromosa with outstanding iv's.

Now the question is how to put it to good use.
I'm sticking with lunge, low kick and poison jab for coverage.
The last option is a little more open. Unfortunately it doesn't get rock tomb. Not sure about rock slide and I'm definitely not relying on stone edge.
So I'm leaning toward ice beam, because even with a -spa nature, I think it'll prove useful against flyers, dragons and the multitude of things with a 4x weakness to ice.

Not sure about the item either. I'm torn between life orb or sash. Ideally, I'd like to lead with this guy.
I haven't thought through the evs yet but he's so fast that full speed investment seems silly. I might even give some spa for ice beam. We'll see.
 
So, what are the different personalities anyone recommends for Celesteela, since we can get 2?

Right now, I caught one Adamant, because I am looking at a set like this as an offensive bulky sweeper:

Celesteela @ Orb/Leftovers

Adamant - 84/252/4/0/12/156(101 base speed, 202 after auto)

- Autotomize
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge/Return/Stone Edge

I'm generally wary of Stone Edge, though, admittedly, it is likely the best typing coverage option. Anything with below 100% accuracy for the maison, in my opinion, will eventually miss when you absolutely need it. Theoretically, most of your hardest counters will show up when you are at +1 Attack as Celesteela.

Most of the serious threats to Heavy Slam/Earthquake are Fires and Electrics that are immune to ground attacks. The rotoms and Birds/Genies come to mind some. Those pokemon still take 80% from Double-edge at +1 and are guarantee KOs at +2 with Life Orb. When using lefties, none of the thunderbolts are guaranteed KOs, strangely enough. In that situation, return might be better to prevent recoil from getting the best of you, since you won't have the immediate power to KO that life orb has.

As a result, Stone Edge seems like the answer that is more likely to be inspired by desperation KOs, rather than having your team be the dominant force for long streaks.

Anyway, I digress...what other sets do you think would be good for Celesteela besides Adamant based ones?
i think a sassy celesteela with leech seed & heavy slam is pretty popular
 
i think a sassy celesteela with leech seed & heavy slam is pretty popular
Yeah, that feels like a good option. My only concern with leech seed is the one I have with stone edge, it will eventually miss in a critical moment. And the defensive Celesteela's seem to be an OU staple which take more advantage of the typing and bulk to defend than offensively, which, generally, wastes the abilities potential.

I'd consider a modest set, but I also have that fear of air slash as well. Maybe 95% and the haxxor factor could be enough with autotomize.
 
So, as I said before, I tried my hardest to build a singles team around Nihilego and well... I managed to reach 70 wins in the Battle Tree Super Singles before losing to absurd hax (Thunder paralysis + full paralysis + Thunder crit... make of it what you want). This is the team:


Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Jolly nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Psycho Cut

This Pokemon is absolutely murderous. It must be seen in practice to be believed. If the opponent leads with something Kartana can OHKO, it's generally GG right there. The only problem is that (as I'll explain below) I really depend on Kartana's Focus Sash in order to survive certain threats.

As far as the moveset goes, Leaf Blade is its strongest STAB and its most spammable move. It does incredible damage, even to neutral targets. Smart Strike is its best Steel STAB attack. It has a mere 70 BP before the STAB bonus, but it never misses and it is useful to nail Fairy-types and a variety of Pokemon which resist Grass-type moves (such as Dragon/Flying Pokemon). Sacred Sword is Kartana's best coverage move: it has a solid 90 BP and hits a wide array of Pokemon for supereffective damage. The last slot was more of a toss-up between Psycho Cut and Night Slash (I've never been sold much on X-Scissor), but I eventually opted for the former because I liked being able to hit Poison and Fighting types supereffectively (and most of Night Slash targets tend to be quite frail to begin with).


Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed
Timid nature
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot

Due to Kartana's tendency to draw Fire-type moves, Nihilego has plenty of opportunities to switch in. It may be very frail physically, but its special bulk is superb: even Megazard Y in the sun does 35% roughly with Heat Wave. Unfortunately, Kartana is not as easy to switch into Nihilego's weaknesses (as I generally want to preserve Kartana's sash when possible), but since Nihilego's not leading (and when I switch it, it almost always gets the Beast Boost kill) it's less of an issue.

Power Gem and Sludge Wave are its obligatory STAB. Hidden Power [Ice] nails Nidoking/Nidoqueen, Flygon/Garchomp, and Gliscor. Grass Knot is for Ground-types who would resist Nihilego's STABs. Unfortunately this moveset is fully walled by Steel-types, but no matter which HP Nihilego picks, something will wall it regardless (hopefully it'll get Earth Power in a future game).


Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP/180 Defense/76 Sp. Defense
Bold nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Here I wanted something to switch into Fighting-type attacks (as they're commonly physical and neither UB takes them well), as well as random Earthquakes. I also wanted something which could sweep in its own right when needed, since UBs are hard to switch into attacks too often. Finally, since Nihilego is specially bulky, I would've preferred something with an impressive physical bulk.

Slowbro fit all the checks. It walls most Fighting-types and eats Earthquakes with ease. It can set up and sweep on its own, thanks to its immunity to critical strikes and superb defenses. And, of course, it's nearly invulnerable to physical blows.

The moveset is self explainatory. Rest and Calm Mind allow it to set up even in the face of Toxic users, while Scald and Psychic are its basic STABs (with Scald carrying a nifty Burn chance which saved my ass a few times).





So, this is the team. It can often sweep unhindered, and it's very fun to use. Unfortunately, though, it has some serious weaknesses (one of which has been my latest downfall):

1) Espeon: In particular, Espeon-4 (Timid @ Expert Belt - Psychic/Shadow Ball/Grass Knot/Dazzling Gleam). The fact it outspeeds Kartana is what makes it so dangerous. Psychic nearly OHKOes Nihilego (doing 78.9 - 94.5%), while Grass Knot hits Slowbro so hard it does not even have time to use Calm Mind (73.7 - 88.1%). Kartana can OHKO it with Leaf Blade, but to do so, it obviously needs its Focus Sash intact. I did lose to this thing once, and since then, I've learned to try and preserve KArtana's Sash against any trainer which could have Espeon (as well as trying to set up Slowbro as early as possible against such trainers).

2) Mega Salamence: Also known as Salamence-4 (Jolly @ Salamencite - Double-edge/Earthquake/Dragon Rush/Crunch). It hits ridiculously hard and is incredibly fast. Even Slowbro is 3HKOed by Double-edge. The only time I met it, I managed to finish it off through recoil dmg + Kartana's sash, but if a trainer has both this and Espeon, there's no way in hell I can win. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything not named Celesteela or Skarmory which can sponge hits from this monster (and both have awful sinergy with Kartana).

3) Fast Electric-types: Jolteon, Raikou, and Zapdos in particular. The former two can outspeed everything I have, and even Nihilego is hardly a safe switch in (my latest loss was caused by a Raikou's Thunder paralyzing and then critting Nihilego). Zapdos is slower, but the problem is that Kartana can hardly do any dmg to it (so, unless Nihilego is still around, I'm generally fucked).

Now, technically, most of these weaknesses can be played around, but Salamence in particular is extremely dangerous. I would love to try and cover it somehow, but I can't think of anything which can replace Slowbro and cover these things without leaving me exposed to all the mons (such as, say, Conkeldurr, Metagross, etc.) which Slowbro checks. At worst, I'd be willing to consider replacing Kartana for the sake of sinergy (as in, if you can suggest a good partner for a Celesteela + Nihilego setup), but I'd love to keep Nihilego if possible.


P.S.: As you might guess after having read all this... Togekiss is not a good choice for the 3rd slot.
 
So, as I said before, I tried my hardest to build a singles team around Nihilego and well... I managed to reach 70 wins in the Battle Tree Super Singles before losing to absurd hax (Thunder paralysis + full paralysis + Thunder crit... make of it what you want). This is the team:


Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Jolly nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Psycho Cut

This Pokemon is absolutely murderous. It must be seen in practice to be believed. If the opponent leads with something Kartana can OHKO, it's generally GG right there. The only problem is that (as I'll explain below) I really depend on Kartana's Focus Sash in order to survive certain threats.

As far as the moveset goes, Leaf Blade is its strongest STAB and its most spammable move. It does incredible damage, even to neutral targets. Smart Strike is its best Steel STAB attack. It has a mere 70 BP before the STAB bonus, but it never misses and it is useful to nail Fairy-types and a variety of Pokemon which resist Grass-type moves (such as Dragon/Flying Pokemon). Sacred Sword is Kartana's best coverage move: it has a solid 90 BP and hits a wide array of Pokemon for supereffective damage. The last slot was more of a toss-up between Psycho Cut and Night Slash (I've never been sold much on X-Scissor), but I eventually opted for the former because I liked being able to hit Poison and Fighting types supereffectively (and most of Night Slash targets tend to be quite frail to begin with).


Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed
Timid nature
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot

Due to Kartana's tendency to draw Fire-type moves, Nihilego has plenty of opportunities to switch in. It may be very frail physically, but its special bulk is superb: even Megazard Y in the sun does 35% roughly with Heat Wave. Unfortunately, Kartana is not as easy to switch into Nihilego's weaknesses (as I generally want to preserve Kartana's sash when possible), but since Nihilego's not leading (and when I switch it, it almost always gets the Beast Boost kill) it's less of an issue.

Power Gem and Sludge Wave are its obligatory STAB. Hidden Power [Ice] nails Nidoking/Nidoqueen, Flygon/Garchomp, and Gliscor. Grass Knot is for Ground-types who would resist Nihilego's STABs. Unfortunately this moveset is fully walled by Steel-types, but no matter which HP Nihilego picks, something will wall it regardless (hopefully it'll get Earth Power in a future game).


Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP/180 Defense/76 Sp. Defense
Bold nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Here I wanted something to switch into Fighting-type attacks (as they're commonly physical and neither UB takes them well), as well as random Earthquakes. I also wanted something which could sweep in its own right when needed, since UBs are hard to switch into attacks too often. Finally, since Nihilego is specially bulky, I would've preferred something with an impressive physical bulk.

Slowbro fit all the checks. It walls most Fighting-types and eats Earthquakes with ease. It can set up and sweep on its own, thanks to its immunity to critical strikes and superb defenses. And, of course, it's nearly invulnerable to physical blows.

The moveset is self explainatory. Rest and Calm Mind allow it to set up even in the face of Toxic users, while Scald and Psychic are its basic STABs (with Scald carrying a nifty Burn chance which saved my ass a few times).





So, this is the team. It can often sweep unhindered, and it's very fun to use. Unfortunately, though, it has some serious weaknesses (one of which has been my latest downfall):

1) Espeon: In particular, Espeon-4 (Timid @ Expert Belt - Psychic/Shadow Ball/Grass Knot/Dazzling Gleam). The fact it outspeeds Kartana is what makes it so dangerous. Psychic nearly OHKOes Nihilego (doing 78.9 - 94.5%), while Grass Knot hits Slowbro so hard it does not even have time to use Calm Mind (73.7 - 88.1%). Kartana can OHKO it with Leaf Blade, but to do so, it obviously needs its Focus Sash intact. I did lose to this thing once, and since then, I've learned to try and preserve KArtana's Sash against any trainer which could have Espeon (as well as trying to set up Slowbro as early as possible against such trainers).

2) Mega Salamence: Also known as Salamence-4 (Jolly @ Salamencite - Double-edge/Earthquake/Dragon Rush/Crunch). It hits ridiculously hard and is incredibly fast. Even Slowbro is 3HKOed by Double-edge. The only time I met it, I managed to finish it off through recoil dmg + Kartana's sash, but if a trainer has both this and Espeon, there's no way in hell I can win. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything not named Celesteela or Skarmory which can sponge hits from this monster (and both have awful sinergy with Kartana).

3) Fast Electric-types: Jolteon, Raikou, and Zapdos in particular. The former two can outspeed everything I have, and even Nihilego is hardly a safe switch in (my latest loss was caused by a Raikou's Thunder paralyzing and then critting Nihilego). Zapdos is slower, but the problem is that Kartana can hardly do any dmg to it (so, unless Nihilego is still around, I'm generally fucked).

Now, technically, most of these weaknesses can be played around, but Salamence in particular is extremely dangerous. I would love to try and cover it somehow, but I can't think of anything which can replace Slowbro and cover these things without leaving me exposed to all the mons (such as, say, Conkeldurr, Metagross, etc.) which Slowbro checks. At worst, I'd be willing to consider replacing Kartana for the sake of sinergy (as in, if you can suggest a good partner for a Celesteela + Nihilego setup), but I'd love to keep Nihilego if possible.


P.S.: As you might guess after having read all this... Togekiss is not a good choice for the 3rd slot.
Have you considered Buzzwole or Pheromosa over Kartana? One can be a mean tank with Lunge to support that awesome Defense, and the other can solve all your speed issues while maintaining ridiculous offense.
 
iVolke: I might actually try Pheromosa and see how it goes, thanks for the suggestion. I just hope I won't miss that 181 base Atk though...

EDIT: Actually it just dawned to me that, if I made Pheromosa max speed, Beast Boost would boost speed, which would make it kinda moot. That's too bad.

EDIT2: Actually, if I make Pheromosa Adamant (or Naughty, or Modest, or Rash...) I can put enough EVs to reach 201 speed (outspeed anything up to Timid Jolteon) and still have higher Atk (or SpA)... so it's worth consideration
 
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iVolke: I might actually try Pheromosa and see how it goes, thanks for the suggestion. I just hope I won't miss that 181 base Atk though...

EDIT: Actually it just dawned to me that, if I made Pheromosa max speed, Beast Boost would boost speed, which would make it kinda moot. That's too bad.

EDIT2: Actually, if I make Pheromosa Adamant (or Naughty, or Modest, or Rash...) I can put enough EVs to reach 201 speed (outspeed anything up to Timid Jolteon) and still have higher Atk (or SpA)... so it's worth consideration
I'd go Naughty so you can run Ice Beam.
 
Somehow I got incredibly lucky and, without trying, managed to land a jolly pheromosa with outstanding iv's.

Now the question is how to put it to good use.
I'm sticking with lunge, low kick and poison jab for coverage.
The last option is a little more open. Unfortunately it doesn't get rock tomb. Not sure about rock slide and I'm definitely not relying on stone edge.
So I'm leaning toward ice beam, because even with a -spa nature, I think it'll prove useful against flyers, dragons and the multitude of things with a 4x weakness to ice.

Not sure about the item either. I'm torn between life orb or sash. Ideally, I'd like to lead with this guy.
I haven't thought through the evs yet but he's so fast that full speed investment seems silly. I might even give some spa for ice beam. We'll see.
consider rockium z + stone edge. i know you said no to stone edge, but the z move is 100% accuracy and should be strong enough to overpower even at neutral effective. you get the beast boost after using it which sets you up on all your other moves, and you can avoid using stone edge afterwards while gaining a 1 pp rock nuke.
 
in hindsight: first turn should have been a switch to nihilego, to avoid the camerupt eruption weakening golisopod (camerupt will not predict your switch), so that it can survive arcanine's overheat in the end, switch out via emergency exit to lose the intimidate debuff, and have aqua jet available in the end for the narrow 1-0
Thank you very much! I never thought about switching out Golisopod. I always waited for Emergency Exit to take place. Maybe I'll try the team you introduced in your post!
 
So, as I said before, I tried my hardest to build a singles team around Nihilego and well... I managed to reach 70 wins in the Battle Tree Super Singles before losing to absurd hax (Thunder paralysis + full paralysis + Thunder crit... make of it what you want). This is the team:


Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Jolly nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Psycho Cut

This Pokemon is absolutely murderous. It must be seen in practice to be believed. If the opponent leads with something Kartana can OHKO, it's generally GG right there. The only problem is that (as I'll explain below) I really depend on Kartana's Focus Sash in order to survive certain threats.

As far as the moveset goes, Leaf Blade is its strongest STAB and its most spammable move. It does incredible damage, even to neutral targets. Smart Strike is its best Steel STAB attack. It has a mere 70 BP before the STAB bonus, but it never misses and it is useful to nail Fairy-types and a variety of Pokemon which resist Grass-type moves (such as Dragon/Flying Pokemon). Sacred Sword is Kartana's best coverage move: it has a solid 90 BP and hits a wide array of Pokemon for supereffective damage. The last slot was more of a toss-up between Psycho Cut and Night Slash (I've never been sold much on X-Scissor), but I eventually opted for the former because I liked being able to hit Poison and Fighting types supereffectively (and most of Night Slash targets tend to be quite frail to begin with).


Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed
Timid nature
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot

Due to Kartana's tendency to draw Fire-type moves, Nihilego has plenty of opportunities to switch in. It may be very frail physically, but its special bulk is superb: even Megazard Y in the sun does 35% roughly with Heat Wave. Unfortunately, Kartana is not as easy to switch into Nihilego's weaknesses (as I generally want to preserve Kartana's sash when possible), but since Nihilego's not leading (and when I switch it, it almost always gets the Beast Boost kill) it's less of an issue.

Power Gem and Sludge Wave are its obligatory STAB. Hidden Power [Ice] nails Nidoking/Nidoqueen, Flygon/Garchomp, and Gliscor. Grass Knot is for Ground-types who would resist Nihilego's STABs. Unfortunately this moveset is fully walled by Steel-types, but no matter which HP Nihilego picks, something will wall it regardless (hopefully it'll get Earth Power in a future game).


Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP/180 Defense/76 Sp. Defense
Bold nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Here I wanted something to switch into Fighting-type attacks (as they're commonly physical and neither UB takes them well), as well as random Earthquakes. I also wanted something which could sweep in its own right when needed, since UBs are hard to switch into attacks too often. Finally, since Nihilego is specially bulky, I would've preferred something with an impressive physical bulk.

Slowbro fit all the checks. It walls most Fighting-types and eats Earthquakes with ease. It can set up and sweep on its own, thanks to its immunity to critical strikes and superb defenses. And, of course, it's nearly invulnerable to physical blows.

The moveset is self explainatory. Rest and Calm Mind allow it to set up even in the face of Toxic users, while Scald and Psychic are its basic STABs (with Scald carrying a nifty Burn chance which saved my ass a few times).





So, this is the team. It can often sweep unhindered, and it's very fun to use. Unfortunately, though, it has some serious weaknesses (one of which has been my latest downfall):

1) Espeon: In particular, Espeon-4 (Timid @ Expert Belt - Psychic/Shadow Ball/Grass Knot/Dazzling Gleam). The fact it outspeeds Kartana is what makes it so dangerous. Psychic nearly OHKOes Nihilego (doing 78.9 - 94.5%), while Grass Knot hits Slowbro so hard it does not even have time to use Calm Mind (73.7 - 88.1%). Kartana can OHKO it with Leaf Blade, but to do so, it obviously needs its Focus Sash intact. I did lose to this thing once, and since then, I've learned to try and preserve KArtana's Sash against any trainer which could have Espeon (as well as trying to set up Slowbro as early as possible against such trainers).

2) Mega Salamence: Also known as Salamence-4 (Jolly @ Salamencite - Double-edge/Earthquake/Dragon Rush/Crunch). It hits ridiculously hard and is incredibly fast. Even Slowbro is 3HKOed by Double-edge. The only time I met it, I managed to finish it off through recoil dmg + Kartana's sash, but if a trainer has both this and Espeon, there's no way in hell I can win. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything not named Celesteela or Skarmory which can sponge hits from this monster (and both have awful sinergy with Kartana).

3) Fast Electric-types: Jolteon, Raikou, and Zapdos in particular. The former two can outspeed everything I have, and even Nihilego is hardly a safe switch in (my latest loss was caused by a Raikou's Thunder paralyzing and then critting Nihilego). Zapdos is slower, but the problem is that Kartana can hardly do any dmg to it (so, unless Nihilego is still around, I'm generally fucked).

Now, technically, most of these weaknesses can be played around, but Salamence in particular is extremely dangerous. I would love to try and cover it somehow, but I can't think of anything which can replace Slowbro and cover these things without leaving me exposed to all the mons (such as, say, Conkeldurr, Metagross, etc.) which Slowbro checks. At worst, I'd be willing to consider replacing Kartana for the sake of sinergy (as in, if you can suggest a good partner for a Celesteela + Nihilego setup), but I'd love to keep Nihilego if possible.


P.S.: As you might guess after having read all this... Togekiss is not a good choice for the 3rd slot.
Bro, you dont need to use a single EV in defense on Slowbro and neither a bold nature. I would suggest 252 in spdef and a modest nature so you can Ice beam (maybe for calm mind).
 
consider rockium z + stone edge. i know you said no to stone edge, but the z move is 100% accuracy and should be strong enough to overpower even at neutral effective. you get the beast boost after using it which sets you up on all your other moves, and you can avoid using stone edge afterwards while gaining a 1 pp rock nuke.
That's an interesting idea, I might try it. The only issue is that I lose my sash... which I kind of rely on like a crutch, lol.
 
i have this hunch that misty terrain disables self-confusion from outrage; i've seen it once so far, i think, but can't confirm for sure. that said it also weakens outrage, so mind the timing and the steps (the randomness of outrage's confusion counter doesn't help with planning) -- status prevention makes up for the impediment, though
From Bulbapedia, regarding Misty Terrain in Gen 7:
Pokémon affected by Misty Terrain can no longer become confused.
 

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