While I've been messing around in the Battle Tree for a while now, I've yet to tackle the Super line. I've just been testing teams out in the easier normal lines first. For now I've just been focusing on Singles, though once that starts getting boring I might try Doubles.
As you might expect I don't have anything impressive to write about. However, I'm finding this team to be really fun for some reason, and as such I thought I'd write about it and see if anyone has any suggestions to make it a little better. It's currently holding a streak of 7 in the normal Singles line, though I'm probably going to take it to Super Singles once I'm done optimizing it.
Claw (Persian-Alola)
Ability: Fur Coat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Parting Shot
- Switcheroo
First on the list is Alolan Persian, which I was drawn to for its potential to open up setup opportunities for sweepers (a poor man's Durant, if you will). The idea is to eventually give it a Choice Scarf, but for now I am indeed running it without an item. That way, Switcheroo becomes a poor man's Knock Off, allowing me to remove annoying items from enemy Pokemon without giving them something potentially helpful in return (whether they help Persian is a different matter, but that's what lookups are for). Taunt further helps Persian disrupt defensive Pokemon, and Parting Shot coupled with Persian's high speed makes it easier for the other two members to do their jobs. Foul Play is mostly filler, but in a pinch it could help me stop an out-of-control enemy sweeper.
The EV spread is simple. Max speed lets Persian outrun everything it can and max HP lets it take hits better. I might invest a little more in Defense to make Persian capable of surviving stronger physical hits coupled with Fur Coat, though.
Besides Choice Scarf I suppose I could give it Darknium-Z for Z-Parting Shot and replace Switcheroo with something else, but the ability to get rid of annoying hax items is just too appealing for me. On the other hand, all the Z-Crystals and Mega Stones in Super Singles might put a bit of a damper on using Switcheroo. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Shelter (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Haze
- Recover
The next member is Toxapex, which a bunch of people have used before me. The moves are all standard, and I opted for a physically defensive EV spread largely because that's what seemed standard at the time. It's working well enough for this team, at any rate. A never-missing Toxic and Haze are excellent for stopping evasion users, Haze is good for shutting down setup Pokemon in general, massive natural bulk and Recover makes it easy for it to wall things, and Scald is there so Toxapex isn't complete Taunt bait.
Persian having access to Taunt itself makes it easier for Toxapex to avoid getting Taunted, and Parting Shot helps it take less damage and thus wall things easier. It also has excellent defensive synergy with the last member of this team.
Shinrin (Tapu Bulu) @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Horn Leech
- Brick Break
Tapu Bulu is the setup sweeper of choice for this team, chosen for its defensive synergy with Toxapex. I believe Flying is the only typing not resisted between the two, and Toxapex is usually bulky enough to wall those anyway. I've used Bulu on a few test teams before this one, and I've found it to be pretty good at what it does (though take my words with a grain of salt, because again I've yet to tackle Super Singles). Substitute blocks status, OHKO moves, and weaker attacking moves, and Bulk Up is the boosting move of choice for its increase to defense in addition to attack, making Bulu even bulkier.
The high amounts of passive recovery from the Leftovers and Grassy Terrain combo give Bulu more Substitutes and quite a bit of longevity, and Horn Leech gives it even more healing. I thought about using Leech Seed to make it even more ridiculous, but I ultimately felt the additional coverage provided by Brick Break was more important. Grassy Terrain affecting everything on the field has been a bit of a pain sometimes, but you win some you lose some.
The EV spread lets Bulu outrun max speed neutral nature base 65s and hit a jump point in attack, with the rest in HP for general bulk. I've thought about allocating some EVs to Special Defense to make setting up on specially-oriented attackers easier, though I'm not sure if I really want to drop speed further for that. For better or worse I'm stuck with the Adamant nature, unless somebody's feeling generous enough to give me a Careful Bulu.
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As far as this team's normal run goes, I had an...interesting fight on Battle 5. I lead Persian against a Wishiwashi1. What I should had done was either used Foul Play or Parting Shot to Toxapex. What I actually did was Switcheroo'd the Sitrus Berry away. My reward was a critical Ice Beam that froze Persian. I wound up saccing Persian in an attempt to unfreeze it, going to Toxapex, and stalling it out.
Up next was Excadrill1. I should had gone to Bulu right away, but I dumbly left Toxapex in thinking "Oh, it doesn't have Earthquake." Word to the wise: Drill Run still freaking hurts. Thankfully I didn't lose Toxapex, and I promptly switched to Bulu on the next turn. I set up a few Bulk Ups, and knock the Excadrill out afterwards, though I didn't have a Substitute up.
The final Pokemon is Toxapex1. I try setting up a Substitute, but Bulu being x4 weak to Poison put a damper on that plan. So I went to my own Toxapex, thinking I could burn it and outlast it from there. What followed was a ridiculous stall fight in which I ran out of Scalds before burning the opposing Toxapex (meanwhile it burnt mine somewhere around the fifth/sixth Scald; even if the Battle Tree doesn't manipulate the hax rates it sure feels like it sometimes), and they didn't do enough damage to knock it out. The next plan was to sack my Toxapex to the Venoshocks, bring Bulu in, and knock out the last bit of health from it. Then it ran out of Venoshocks first. At that point I brought Bulu in and knocked it out.
It wasn't catastrophic or anything, but that could have gone a lot smoother. After the fight I opted to use PP Ups on Toxapex's moves to help prevent something like that from ever happening again. I didn't save the replay since it was a normal Singles fight and I wasn't thinking of it at the time.
And that's all I have to say for now. I'll probably report more about it once I get to Super Singles, but I was having fun with it in normal Singles and that drove me to post about it here. Comments and constructive criticism is appreciated.
