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For those keeping score at home, I just got to 500 with Gliscor / Chansey / Mega Slowbro. I do so love the Chansey / Slowbro core, and so far, I've found Gliscor a better fit for Tree play (with more uncertainty as to what you are facing, thanks to most trainers being sets 3/4) than Dragonite. The big tradeoff is that against opposing leads where one of the possible sets is sufficiently threatening that the best play is to just attack, Gliscor is less good at muscling through things than Dragonite. But the incredible scouting, the ability to full stall many threats, the option to partial stall things to set up easier/safer Slowbro and Chansey switches, the added switch stall options (especially useful against Ghost-type foes with Electric-type attacks), and the ability to come back in later in a battle without having to deal with hassles like losing multiscale mean I think the trade off is a good one.
Definitely still some big threats (Virizion4 stands out), but the team has nice climbing potential, and I feel it has a shot at the 4-digit promised land. Mind you, I have had some good luck, most notably on battle 413 when I punted horribly and really should have lost to Thundurus1, but that was more my fault than the team's. Still, a reminder that no matter how solid the team, sloppiness is always waiting to punish you!
I've tried to take notes and save videos as I've climbed, so I can go into more detail whenever I sit down to do a full writeup, but figured I'd give a little progress report for now. I'll be traveling out of the country for a few weeks starting this weekend, so I'll try to get the leaderboard updated before then, since I doubt I'll be able to update while on the road.
Not so much a report of a streak (yet) as a report of progress of two old players trying their hand at this new fangled "multi doubles" in this here "battle tree" with my partner Irrational. At this point we're happy to take any advice on how to push further and further up the tree.
Our attempt at supers with this team was very short lived and ended at 7. My partners inability to remember she had a megastone on tyranitar (last time we played a pokemon game a gameboy would rip your pants in the attempt to put it in your pocket) combined with the general lack of training
We went through the normal multi battle relatively easily with a team of Tyrantitar/Serperior on her side and Tapu Fini/Aegis Lash on my end.
on her mons had us switch the team around. Well, not much to say here other than we got to 20 before captain kiawe's Salazzle crushed us.
It was at this point that things got real. We decided to put together a real team and make some honest attempts at the tree with better trained and equipped mons. With this team we got to 26 wins before a poor decision on my part cost us the game.
On my side (UltraBOY)
Incineroar @ Incinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 212 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Fake Out
- Low Kick
One of the things we realized in our short streaks with the last teajm was that everytime serperior came out he'd clear out team after team. Once a turn or two passed and a few leafstorms landed even resisted giga drains and storms would pick up easy KO's. I felt that serperior needed a good partner to help it get the murder ball rolling. Incineroar debuffed a lot of meaty attackers and checked a lot of threats to serperior letting Irrational keep it in and maintain momentum. Incinium Z was taken over assault vest so I could eliminate a threat immediately even if no good fake out targets present themselves.
Tapu Fini @ Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 92 Def / 132 SpA / 20 SpD / 28 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Muddy Water
Straight up sweepy fini with choice specs. I feel like I should have switched into her more often to take more advantage of terrain and fake out opportunities. I somewhat regret specs on fini as I felt locked into potentially bad moves when/if incineroar went down. That said this moveset proved really useful to check things that out sped serperior or to finish the last beat up mons up. I often switched into fini to tank hits on particularly bad match ups or to deal with pokemon insisting on dumping out status effects. She also checked flying threats to serperior, again without having to switch it out to keep up serperiors momentum.
The star of the show. Grass isn't great but contrary leafstorm was the gift that kept on giving over and over again as it got anywhere between 2 to 4 KO's a game. Really the set up was all about keeping the momentum going as much as possible without switching out. Substitute proved a better choice than protect at times as it absorbed Z-Moves that would easily score a ko through a protect. Aditionally even when an attack didn't come the sub would stay to absorb a hit later The one move I wanted to change was leech seed in exchange for some kind of coverage move. But, she wanted to keep it as insurance against stall so it stayed.
We've played with some dieas to try and abuse contrary more but they all seemed to be more set up than they're worth. Even soemthing as simple as an Eerie impulse really means little as serperior hits max damage relatively fast and wastes a turn that could be used on a KO.
If Serperior was MVP than Elektross was LVP. Irrational liked having something to switch into that could eat pretty much all moves neutral to resist. But once it was out it did relatively little outside of flamethrower a couple of things if incineroar went down. It hit relatively hard but it often came out either too late to matter much or just long enough to absorb a hit and volt switch out. This is the pokemon getting replaced in our next iteration of the team.
Our last fight that ended our biggest streak so far. I should have switched out turn 1 but Rotom-W landed the crit. :( Mega Banette is a jerk.
5UQW-WWWW-WWWZ-YB7P
Before we pop into the tree again for another set of failures and weird AI behavior as a gourgeist hits trick room and then immediately explodes taking its partner with it we're looking at adjusting the team again to remove any weak links. At the moment we're considering replacing Eelektross with this.
Pretty straight forward Mega Sal. Much more reasonable switch in that can absorb hits and even push attack scores even lower. When we get it bred it will be running a mixed attacker EV set. This gives us an immediate presence that, while not as strong as 4-6 stage leaf storm serperior is plenty strong enough to keep momentum up even in a bad match up. Only real disadvantage is the ice match up isnt favorable but I'm pretty sure that salamence will outspeed pretty much all the ice mon in the tree.
I'm likely going to switch Incineroar to Assault vest and switch lariat to knock off to punch berries off mons. That would move Tapu Fini to Waterium-Z duty as I feel at least one Z move is very important. Any advice on this is welcome as we're looking to push past the 30's soon as we get our next team set.
Not so much a report of a streak (yet) as a report of progress of two old players trying their hand at this new fangled "multi doubles" in this here "battle tree" with my partner Irrational. At this point we're happy to take any advice on how to push further and further up the tree.
Our attempt at supers with this team was very short lived and ended at 7. My partners inability to remember she had a megastone on tyranitar (last time we played a pokemon game a gameboy would rip your pants in the attempt to put it in your pocket) combined with the general lack of training
We went through the normal multi battle relatively easily with a team of Tyrantitar/Serperior on her side and Tapu Fini/Aegis Lash on my end.
Now, for the advice: the way Multis work greatly encourages you to use a very aggressive lead (strong megas / fast mons) and try to murder the 2 mons of a single opponent to turn the match in essentially a 2v1.
For this purpose, I would recommend essentially ditching the slow mons (I know they might be your favourite mons or similar, but if you want to hit 50 without relying on luck, you'll need to use something better, expecially to pass sets after battle 40 where legendaryes and strong megas might start to show :) ) and going full yolo.
Mega Salamence is obviously a great plan, not only it's very strong but its 120 speed does often allow it to murder whatever on the line.
Serperior could definitely be usable but instead of using a "sub seed" set you're probably better off at least trying to have some coverage, you're likely not going to have the time to setup like ever anyway, and 99% accuracy from Leaf Storm is .... something you can work with if you're not looking at 500+ streaks obviously.
I'd personally just add another Z-move user and/or strong fast mega to the backlines just to further nuke down things. If you want to maintain fake out, you could use mega lopunny for example, or mega medicham.
Just really happy right now. I've been trying since release to get that elusive 200 and I finally did it. When I got to 170 I was like "holy omg I might actually do it" and put 100% concentration into it. I don't think I'll get to 300 and beyond since I can't keep up that intensity and my team isn't all that consistent against things like Blizzard Freezes. Not gonna do this super duper detailed writeup, I'm just posting because I'm super happy right now.
R-66Y (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
I don't quite remember Kommo-o's EV spread, but it was one of these mixed spreads that's more focused on SpAtk. The point of the team is basically to just click buttons with Kommo-o and have it sweep. Backrow is basically a way to switch into Blizzard Spam. Gross generally combos well with Kommo-o, covering its weaknesses very well. Incineroar basically gives you another way to let Kommo-o set up if Clefairy has a bad matchup.
I have a lot of awkward matchups such as Volcarona, which could take 3 Clangs to kill. This could be really bad depending on Volc's teammates. Mega Zam is awkward too as it could trace Soundproof. A lot of these weird matchups that I can deal with, but it can go sour if they have the perfect teammate. That's why, while I think this team's good, it's not consistent enough to get to 500 or even 300. To be honest, I feel more comfortable bringing this team to Battle Spot than BT, but now atleast I know this team is capable of 200 and netting me that delicious Starf Berry
Just really happy right now. I've been trying since release to get that elusive 200 and I finally did it. When I got to 170 I was like "holy omg I might actually do it" and put 100% concentration into it. I don't think I'll get to 300 and beyond since I can't keep up that intensity and my team isn't all that consistent against things like Blizzard Freezes. Not gonna do this super duper detailed writeup, I'm just posting because I'm super happy right now.
R-66Y (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
I don't quite remember Kommo-o's EV spread, but it was one of these mixed spreads that's more focused on SpAtk. The point of the team is basically to just click buttons with Kommo-o and have it sweep. Backrow is basically a way to switch into Blizzard Spam. Gross generally combos well with Kommo-o, covering its weaknesses very well. Incineroar basically gives you another way to let Kommo-o set up if Clefairy has a bad matchup.
I have a lot of awkward matchups such as Volcarona, which could take 3 Clangs to kill. This could be really bad depending on Volc's teammates. Mega Zam is awkward too as it could trace Soundproof. A lot of these weird matchups that I can deal with, but it can go sour if they have the perfect teammate. That's why, while I think this team's good, it's not consistent enough to get to 500 or even 300. To be honest, I feel more comfortable bringing this team to Battle Spot than BT, but now atleast I know this team is capable of 200 and netting me that delicious Starf Berry
Cool team! I love Clefairy and sweep teams. How often do you actually use Minimize and Toxic? I never use either, but I like the idea of Toxic. Realistically you never do anything other than redirect or heal, so moves 3 and 4 don't matter as much. Have you considered Protect or After You? I like Protect to eat stray moves and After You as a desperation answer to Trick Room (Min Speed is 36, which usually is enough to stay relevant in Trick Room) since in my experience TR is terrible to deal with in these teams. Even Heal Pulse might be worth thinking about. Stick with whatever works for your style of course, just things to think about!
Just really happy right now. I've been trying since release to get that elusive 200 and I finally did it. When I got to 170 I was like "holy omg I might actually do it" and put 100% concentration into it. I don't think I'll get to 300 and beyond since I can't keep up that intensity and my team isn't all that consistent against things like Blizzard Freezes. Not gonna do this super duper detailed writeup, I'm just posting because I'm super happy right now.
R-66Y (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
I don't quite remember Kommo-o's EV spread, but it was one of these mixed spreads that's more focused on SpAtk. The point of the team is basically to just click buttons with Kommo-o and have it sweep. Backrow is basically a way to switch into Blizzard Spam. Gross generally combos well with Kommo-o, covering its weaknesses very well. Incineroar basically gives you another way to let Kommo-o set up if Clefairy has a bad matchup.
I have a lot of awkward matchups such as Volcarona, which could take 3 Clangs to kill. This could be really bad depending on Volc's teammates. Mega Zam is awkward too as it could trace Soundproof. A lot of these weird matchups that I can deal with, but it can go sour if they have the perfect teammate. That's why, while I think this team's good, it's not consistent enough to get to 500 or even 300. To be honest, I feel more comfortable bringing this team to Battle Spot than BT, but now atleast I know this team is capable of 200 and netting me that delicious Starf Berry
Love the team, clefairy is amazing with Kommo-o. Have you considered helping hand on clefairy though? It powers up kommo to obscene levels and absolutely shreds through battles.
Good suggestions. Toxic is a filler move. I've used it a few times on bulky things like Slowbro and Cress, though it's kinda so-so because it misses, especially if it's the Double Team Cress or Zapdos sets. It's a decent enough stall option. Let's say T1, I can't stop Trick Room and they can't kill Kommo-o. I'll Toxic and Clang T1. Then I'll alternate between Follow Me+Attack and Moonlight+Protect. It works decently, though not necessary
Minimize is more of a win-more move. I haven't found it to be especially useful, especially in BT when you KNOW they're going to crit you through +6 evasion eventually. It's basically a move that gives Clef something to do when Kommo-o is about to grab a double knockout, though in those situations I tend to prefer either using Moonlight or switching to Incineroar to get the Fake Out on whatever comes out next
I've found situations where I could use the Protect. For example if I'm facing a Fairy+something that threatens Clef. I might switch to Gross and Protect to get better positioning. Most of the time though, losing Clef means I get Incineroar in so it's not too bad
Helping Hand is an excellent idea. I've had so many situations where 1 mon takes tons of damage, and the other mon takes around 45% and I needed just a little bit of extra juice to grab the KO. I'd change Minimize to Helping Hand right now if I wasn't stupid and superstitious and think that it's bad luck to change things in the middle of a good run
Love the team, clefairy is amazing with Kommo-o. Have you considered helping hand on clefairy though? It powers up kommo to obscene levels and absolutely shreds through battles.
Since i have a something to say, i'm trying a run with the starter unovaon the battle tree I almost failed to battle N°25, however i could have gone further to 50 win Streak or more with this team. I know i did that 24 win streak will not be ranked and it stays for fun. :/
Hi guys, the people in discord might remember that about a few months back (maybe even half a year) I posted about a weird team of mine, consisting of Life Orb Tapu Lele, Adamant Whimsicott, Celesteela and Kommo-o. I have stopped playing this team for quite a while now, so I figured it is time to post the team.
Reporting a streak of 456 in Super Doubles in Ultra Sun
I simply cannot talk about these two pokemon individually as they just work so well together. Tapu Lele’s Psychic Surge summoning the Psychic Terrain allows Whimsicott to set up Tailwind 100% of the time if I want it, which would give the whole team a big speed advantage. However, there is one strategy that completely invalidates Tailwind: Trick Room. This is where the unconventional physical Whimsicott with Knock Off comes in. Together with Life Orb Tapu Lele, these two Pokemon can KO just about every Trick Room setter. Here is a small reference list for all possible Trick Room setters and how to KO them:
Set 1 or 2 (Very rare, or even only show up before 50):
Gourgeist 2: Psychic (Also 3/4)
Slowking 1: Knock Off + Shadow Ball
Reuniclus 2: Knock Off + Shadow Ball (Also 3 and 4)
Dusknoir 2: Knock Off + Psychic
Bronzong 1: Knock Off + Shadow Ball has a good chance, Endeavor + SB only 1/16 (which you use against Bronzong 4)
Musharna 2: Endeavor + Shadow Ball (7/16 to KO 4)
Chance to KO:
Bronzong4: Endeavor + Shadow ball (87.5 to KO) (Same for 3)
Dusknoir 4: Knock Off + Psychic (87% to KO) (KO on 3) Cresselia 4: Endeavor + Shadow ball (1/4 to KO)
As can be seen from this list, only Cresselia 4 has a decent chance to survive a combination of attacks from Tapu Lele and Whimsicott. Bronzong and Dusknoir als have small chance (~13%) to survive. Whimsicott has an HP IV of 0, to maximize the damage output from a full HP Endeavor, which can drop the opposing Pokemon to 120 HP. This is especially hilarious against Blissey, against which it does about 2/3s of its HP, but also useful against other big HP mons like Cresselia and Aromatisse (as can be seen from the list above). When Whimsicott is hit to its Focus Sash, it can even bring other Pokemon to 1HP, which is easy pickings for the rest of the team. As a minor note, as Whimsicott was supposed to be a bait Pokemon, I should have used Lonely or Naughty instead of Adamant. However, I completely blanked when breeding this mon and I was too lazy to change it when I realized it. The difference is almost negligible anyways, but it really should be either Lonely or Naughty.
The star of the show. Kommo-o is completely busted when set-up. By coming in while Tailwind is active, getting the Clangorious Soulblaze off is a pace of cake as he outspeeds everything under Tailwind, even without the boosts. This allows it to fire of its Z-move and obtain the boosts, while often KOing two opponents in the process, or at least put some heavy damage on the board. Whimsicott (and even Tapu Lele) often doesn’t stand on the field much longer than two turns, meaning Kommo-o can very easily come in and destroy the opposition while Tailwind is still up. I must say that I am very amazed that no one is using Kommo-o with a Tailwind team as it really feels like the strongest option to use Kommo-o. In past generation, Tailwind teams were very reliant on the temporary Speed Boost. This is obviously not the case with Kommo-O as after setting up it will outspeed most of the opposition, even without Tailwind. One thing to note is that this Kommo-O has Bulletproof as ability. For this team at least, Sky Drop was a pretty big threat, but I didn't have Totem Kommo-O at the time, forcing me to use this instead. Bulletproof, although a good ability in it's own right, was hardly ever triggered, and never really useful as I never switched Kommo-O in remotely (always waiting for something to get KOd, allowing it a free switch). Thus, if Totem-Kommo-O is available to you and you want to use this team, use Totem instead of this one.
Celesteela @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Protect
The fairy killer. This used to be Mega Metagross as I didn’t have a Mega yet. After playing with it, I noticed that the team was very hard to use when Trick Room was set-up. Even though I can most of the time stop Trick Room, I am obviously not always able to prevent it and thus I needed a way to beat it. This is when I turned to Celesteela. This moveset is also very unconventional, but the team is super offensive already so I didn’t want to play with a slow Celesteela that would slow down the momentum of the team. Psychic Seed gave Celesteela a very hard hitting move (Acrobatics) and a sharp increase in its special bulk, which was exactly what I was looking for. I decided to maximize its attack to let it hit as hard as possible. The Speed EVs give it 101 speed, allowing it to outspeed base 130. Consequently, this also allows it to outspeed Heatran outside of Tailwind (except for the Scarf set of course) and hit it hard with an Earthquake.
So that’s the team. It’s probably one of the stranger teams that I have used, but it worked pretty well, peaking at 456. I probably played a bit over 1000 matches with the team, often stranding between 200 and 400 mark, almost always because I wasn’t paying attention and misplayed because of it (not noticing a Moltres had set-up Agility, forgetting that I had not set-up Tailwind, etc.). I eventually fell to completely forgetting that Alola-Raichu got the speed boost from Electric Terrain, which was set-up by Togedemaru earlier in the battle, outspeeding my Kommo-o and KOing it with a Psychic, leading to my demise.
Battle 362 (Loss): BFVW-WWWW-WWWK-SMU6 (Regirock, Moltres, Registeel, Heatran).
Didn’t look at the screen when Moltres used Agility and realized too late what was going on. Simply a stupid mistake.
Battle 284: KD6W-WWWW-WWWK-SMTJ (Suicune, Thundurus, Zapdos, Uxie)
Battle 457 (Loss): 3ZPG-WWWW-WWWK-SMT5 (Manectric, Togedemaru, Electivire, A-Raichu)
As I said, forgot that A-Raichu would outspeed Kommo-o With the Surge Surfer ability. Would have been a difficult battle regardless, but winnable nonetheless.
Closing remarks:
This report was long overdue, but I really wanted to post this team report as I believe the team deserved (lol). However it would probably be kinda moot and get overshadowed if I would post this in a few weeks, because….ehm...reasons… You will see what I mean when you see it (Don’t you love this mystery?)! Until next time, and I promise that it won’t be very long this time!
I'll be honest, while this isn't a huge update in terms of wins, it is for me in terms of time. I'm pretty sure that out there, there are some people who wondered what happened to my streak after nearly half a year of no updates. To put it simply, college happened. I lost the free time to spend in-game a lot (well, aside from fooling around with SS frontier in class, but that's a story for another day), and I simply stopped doing tree altogether for a while. I also found it very difficult to get back into a tree-healthy mindset. I'd constantly come up with excuses for myself to put off Tree play, thinking that I was too hungry or that it wasn't the right time of day to be concentrated. And, to be fair, I do have my reasons to not continue large streaks when I'm not in a good IRL condition, mainly because my 3 biggest streaks ended to sub-optimal play: late at night, when I was slightly sleep-deprived (ironically from staying up late to extend my Maison streak), and right before a super-late lunch.
Several weeks ago, I looked at my Ultra Moon cart, still stuck at 1020 wins, and said "Enough is enough. I'm going to get to 2000 before the next games are released or lose trying." And while progress has been slow (around 15 to 20 battles a day, averaging 100 a week), it has been consistent. Summer also helped my motivation considerably. I'm still using my trusty old team of Salamence/Gliscor/Suicune, and I still maintain my claim that it is one of the best non-Durant teams for Tree play.
To everyone here who's managed to reach 1000 wins, and especially GG Unit, keep on trucking. Lack of motivation kills as many streaks as bad luck.
me and a friend are considering doing Super Multi battles with human partner, seems to be underplayed and theres not much discussion on what team or Pokemon are optimal. Considering the USUM changes and that you can both use a Mega and Z-move, does anyone have any ideas theyd like to share?
Double Mega is always a classic. Mainly you want to construct a (semi)normal Super Doubles team and then split the backups according to which has better type synergy with the leads. For instance, pairing a Celesteela backup with like Garchomp or Raichu leads. Aside from that and the ability to use double megas, there isn't really much difference between human Multis and Doubles.
You can tecnically also use duplicated items or pokemon if you please, though I can't really think of a situation where you'd want 2 of the same mons aside from memein with 2 mega salamence
me and a friend are considering doing Super Multi battles with human partner, seems to be underplayed and theres not much discussion on what team or Pokemon are optimal. Considering the USUM changes and that you can both use a Mega and Z-move, does anyone have any ideas theyd like to share?
What about Mega Charizard Y + Mega Houndoom in the front? A fun mode that is otherwise impossible to use. Sun will always activate even against weather ability opponents, and it provides you with a quick win mode. Maybe pair with a chlorophyll mon + something else. Alternatively, something like sash Shiftry with fakeout+ tailwind charizard can be in the lead (if only to help against scarf Aerodactyl), with houndoom in the back. :)
What about Mega Charizard Y + Mega Houndoom in the front? A fun mode that is otherwise impossible to use. Sun will always activate even against weather ability opponents, and it provides you with a quick win mode. Maybe pair with a chlorophyll mon + something else. Alternatively, something like sash Shiftry with fakeout+ tailwind charizard can be in the lead (if only to help against scarf Aerodactyl), with houndoom in the back. :)
also on side note, don't get fooled, Tailwind on Chari-Y is not a option. Well, it is, except it's too squishy even with bulk investment to survive basically anything with Rock anywhere close to its name, or phisical electric attacks.
On top of already suffering of 4MSS as it is with 3 attacks.
Yes, and so does manual weather. Protect and Mega turn 2 can somewhat help against this, though.
Obviously, if the guy wants a streak in the thousands, he shouldn't go for this. But it would be fun to try out if he just wants to mess with some cool dual mega combos. And it could easily get a few hundred wins, or more with some luck :)
That damn Haxorus! Ended my run with this team at 91 wins in Sun. Grats on the nice streak.
I top cut a small but super competitive VGC special event here in Auckland today (most of the field had travelled in from Oz and Asia to try and secure day two invites), and with that VGC is done for the year for me - it's time to turn to Tree once again. Need those Ultra Moon stamps...
I've been trying some things involving lead Cloyster in singles and have some decent results to report.
Pokemon Ultra Sun Super Singles streak: 123
Pokemon Moon Super Singles streak: 407
I have a little bit of history with lead Cloyster from the Subway days, although my attempts back then were dwarfed by Peterko's much better run. I first became interested in trying it again in the Tree back in Junuary or so when I found out it received Liquidation from the USUM move tutor. I ultimately dismissed the idea at the time because I felt that the various changes that had occurred between the Subway and the Tree, such as the introduction of Megas and Rotom as opponents, made lead Cloyster somewhat impractical.
Time went on and I started trying some other gimmicks, and eventually I came back to Cloyster. I not sure exactly why I went back to it, although DougJustDoug posting his Durant/Cloyster/Drapion team may have weighed heavily into my decision! From there I just played around with some ideas for back-ups and optimising Cloyster's move set and EVs, ultimately achieving the best streak with a fairly standard pair of back-ups: Gliscor and Aegislash.
I actually made my first few attempts with Cloyster/Gliscor/Aegislash in Ultra Sun. This was purely out of convenience since I needed Ultra Sun to get Liquidation on Cloyster and everything I needed for my streak was in that file. However, after losing at 123 wins to Haxorus after making one of the worst mis-clicks in the universe, I decided that I would stand a better chance on success in my Moon cart. Plumeria and Kiawe both carry Pokemon that I'd like to avoid as leads as much as possible, whereas Mallow is pretty much free for Cloyster, and Guzma and Dexio are usually more manageable than Plumeria, Kiawe and Sina. This makes this team something of a "trade-back" team since the streak was attained in an older game using a move exclusive to USUM.
I don't consider this team to be as effective/reliable as other teams with higher streak counts - I was only hoping for 200 wins but managed to double that number with a bit of good fortune. The appeal of Cloyster in the lead position would be the occasional fast 4-turn battles, where it can set up safely and OHKO the entire team. This didn't happen often enough for my liking but it is a nice feeling when you get several battles like this consecutively.
--------------------------------
Team
Cloyster @
Naughty Skill Link
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 0/236/0/28/0/244
Shell Smash
Icicle Spear
Liquidation
Surf
Set Details
Cloyster is pretty simple to understand in terms of function: set up and sweep as much as possible. However, I think it requires substantial knowledge of Pokemon sets and AI behavior, as well as an appreciation for any potential risks that could ruin Cloyster (secondary paralysis, burn, flinch, priority, etc), to get the most out of it. Being able to recognise when Cloyster can safely set up, and more importantly when it's better to just attack immediately or switch out, is crucial to having success with lead Cloyster. So before I started using Cloyster I actually went through the entire roster of post-40 opponents and analysed which Pokemon were set-up bait for Cloyster, and which ones requires different means to beat. It was time-consuming to do this (normally I just play first and figure out each match-up as I encounter them) but I'm glad I did because it made things quicker and easier in the long run.
Much of its power comes from STAB Skill Link Icicle Spear, hitting like a truck after one Shell Smash and not being stopped by Focus Sash or Sturdy, although it does trigger Sitrus Berry early which sucks against stuff like Turtonator. Disregarding things like abilities, items and post-40 existance of sets, 2+ Icicle Spear is a guaranteed OHKO on 612 of the Tree sets.
Liquidation is a significant buff to Cloyster. In the past, Cloyster only had Razor Shell (slightly weaker and less accurate) and Surf (more reliable than Razor Shell but works of Cloyster's lower Special Attack) for primary Water STAB, but Liquidation is so much better for it than Razor Shell ever was. The accuracy is greatly appreciated, and being able to consistently OHKO Flareon without boosting (where Razor Shell was only an admittedly favourable damage roll) so Cloyster can avoid being burned by it is just so good.
I'm not using Rock Blast. I discuss Rock Blast and other alternate 4th move options for Cloyster a little bit more below, but the 90 accuracy is simply an immediate turn-off for me. Given that Liquidation exists, Surf with a Naughty nature might seem like a strange choice, but there are still a few situations where Surf is slightly more appealing than Liquidation:
Steelix: 2+ Surf always OHKOes Mega Steelix whereas Liquidation can't. Surf also OHKOes Steelix3 where Liquidation relies on a damage roll, although Sturdy and Quick Claw can complicate this.
Magmortar: one of the main downsides to Liquidation is that it is a contact move and can trigger Flame Body. Cloyster can actually set up on Magmortar consistently due to its move choice preferences and Surf lets Cloyster OHKO it safely. Unfortunately it cannot be used a effectively against Volcarona, Chandelure and Heatran due to their better bulk and Focus Sash on Heatran1 and usually Liquidation is "better" against those, although 2+ Surf has a OHKO damage range on many of them (e.g. 62.5% on OHKO on both Volcarona sets).
Arcanine: my strategy with Arcanine is to hit it with a Water move and then get Aegislash in to revenge KO it with Shadow Sneak. I need Surf to be able to do this against Intimidate variants (other variants are handled with Liquidation)
Regirock: assuming no Sturdy, 2+ Surf OHKOes Regirock4 and has a 75% chance to do the same on sets 2 and 3.
Durant: 2+ Surf OHKOes set 3. Not a huge deal because that set is extremely rare after 40 wins and set 4 has Focus Sash, but still exists.
Aggron: 2+ Surf OHKOes the non-mega set if it isn't Sturdy. More powerful on Mega Aggron too although obviously it won't come close to OHKOing.
More generally, in a situation where Cloyster is burned but still able to attack, Surf's power obviously isn't going to be cut like the other moves are, and in these situations it would be my strongest attack.
Some of those are obviously trivial given my back-ups, but I like the hit on Arcanine and Magmortar, and in any case the other non-Rock Blast alternatives are just as situational. Cloyster will be using Icicle Spear and Liquidation most of the time anyway, even if Rock Blast were used.
Focus Sash is non-negotiable since it's too vulnerable without it to set up with any sort of consistency.
Nature and EVs
Attack-boosting nature is a given, and the inclusion of Surf made Naughty the nature of choice since Cloysters Special Defense is dreadful not matter what, whereas its Defense is actually great and would benefit from not being dropped with a Lonely nature.
When I started using Cloyster in Ultra Sun, I started with a basic 252 Atk/4 SpA/252 Speed spread, but after 50 wins of the best streak I did on that file, I came across lead Intimidate Arcanine. Extreme Speed makes it too risky for Cloyster to attempts to set up on Arcanine, so my strategy is to hit it with an un-boosted Water attack and then finish it off with Shadow Sneak. In this instance I was able to beat it but when I did some calculations:
-1 252+ Atk Cloyster Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arcanine: 104-126 (63 - 76.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Cloyster Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arcanine: 108-128 (65.4 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arcanine: 51-61 (30.9 - 36.9%) -- 72.9% chance to 3HKO
Arcanine3/4 has 165 HP. If I had rolled <114 damage with Surf and then gotten a low damage roll from Shadow Sneak, Arcanine would have survived and probably KOed Aegislash. But with a slightly boost in SpA EVs:
28 SpA Cloyster Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arcanine: 114-134 (69 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The Shadow Sneak KO is assured.
EDIT: Note that none of this matters if Arcanine4 uses Close Combat or Flare Blitz since the side effects of those moves would compensate for an unfavourable roll from 4 SpA Surf, but that set could use Z-Close Combat instead to get around those side effects.
To make these EVs available, I decided to shift 8 EVs out of Speed, since there's no difference between 244 and 252 at 2+ and the impact at 0+ is minimal (speed advantage on Landorus1/4 is now a Speed tie). I couldn't afford to drop Speed any lower since I'd lose the speed advantage on Scarf Terrakion at 2+ and would drop into the bloated 120 Speed tier that contains Volcarona and slower Entei sets. The remaining EVs therefore came out of Attack, with little impact on Cloysters KO ability (no longer have a guaranteed OHKO at 2+ on Drapion4 and a few other sets). The final spread was 236 Atk/28 SpA/244 Speed.
Potential changes
The only point of move variation would be replacing Surf. Surf has its uses but there are actually a number of alternatives that can let Cloyster beat selected targets. Obviously the usefulness of these will also depend on the back-ups and that should be considered, assuming anyone else wants to try lead Cloyster with different back-ups. Also note that most of the follow assumes Adamant/Naughty is being used.
To address the elephant in the room, Rock Blast is the option that provides Cloyster with by far the best "coverage", letting Cloyster beat the Ice and Water types that usually cause it issues and also providing it with an option to avoid Flame Body from Volcarona and Chandelure. But the 90 accuracy is not compatible with Tree play. For what it's worth, I still think Rock Blast is a viable option since it can be used in emergency one-on-one situations where it can change a 0% chance of winning into a 90% chance of winning, but generally if I needed to use Rock Blast to beat an opponent one-on-one I'd be more inclined to either switch out or use one of my other moves to get some chip damage on said opponent to make life easier for Gliscor/Aegislash.
I experimented with Substitute for a little while. It's gimmicky with the Focus Sash but it can be effective for status-happy opoponents like Weezing, Dusknoir and Pressure Spiritomb. I believe turskain also suggested Explosion in the Tree Discord as an option just to land a big blow on something that stops Cloyster mid-sweep, although I found myself preferring to switch out manually to keep Cloyster as death fodder or even to revenge something slower.
Poison Jab is probably the option I'd most be inclined to try next. It only really covers 2 Pokemon, but one of those is very important: Primarina. Primarina4 is a huge threat to this team since Cloyster can't beat it and Gliscor can't stall it well when it can start hitting through Substitutes with Sparkling Aria. With this current line up I often rely on Aegislash taking at least 2 Arias in Shield forme to beat it and a single critical hit would be awful in this situation. Kebia Berry on set 3 and Aqua Jet on set 4 would prevent Cloyster from actually beating Primarina one-on-one but the extra damage would ease the pressure on Aegislash. Poison Jab also hits Alolan Ninetales but this isn't as important for this team.
Cloyster received Smart Strike in this generation and it's notable for its accuracy and its ability to Ice-types super-effectively. The low base power of the move and the lack of STAB prevents it from OHKOing many of the ones that aren't already covered by Liquidation/Icicle Spear, but it's still a solid option and does help in a few match-ups:
Crabominable: 2+ Smart Strike will OHKO both sets IF it uses Close Combat to lower its defenses first. Liquidation is able to do this on set 3 but this is a damage roll on the slightly more common set 4.
Alolan Ninetales: 2+ Smart Strike OHKOes obviously. A bit risky because if set 2 gets a critical hit Dazzling Gleam or uses Shattered Psyche it can KO Cloyster with Ice Shard after it boosts, but otherwise Cloyster will beat it. Set 1 could also use Hypnosis. I probably wouldn't recommend this one but it's worth noting regardless.
Beartic: OHKOes set 4 at 2+ unless it rolls absolute bottom damage. It won't OHKO sets 2 and 3, although set 2 is a rare sight after 40 wins and set 3 might go for Swords Dance and give you a free turn to get another boost.
Vanilluxe: OHKOes the rare set 2 at 2+ and has a 50% chance on the more common sets 3 and 4. Cloyster could probably beat Vanilluxe4 fairly reliably either way since it's passive and anecdotally speaking, it like to Taunt. Set 3 will probably beat you if you miss the damage roll though.
Glalie: OHKOes sets 2 and 4 (mega or not) at 2+. It doesn't OHKO set 3, but that set is rather passive and might use Substitute or Protect or even Sheer Cold (the AI still acts as if it works on Ice-types). The never-miss effect of Smart Strike is also useful if Glalie rolls Moody and gets an evasion boost.
While it doesn't OHKO things like Glaceon and Regice, it can still leave a lot of damage on them and that might make them easier to pick off depending on the back-ups.
Cloyster has Spike Cannon as the only other move that benefits from Skill Link. It offers no super-effective coverage but is notable for it very high OHKO chance at 2+ on Greninja and Mega Sharpedo and the guaranteed chance on Sharpedo4, among the most threatening leads for this team. The possibility of being flinched by Dark Pulse from Greninja4 and Sharpedo4 makes this a bit risky, but generally this team has no choice but to go for Shell Smash against those two so it could be useful there. Mega Sharpedo has Aqua Jet priority and Greninja3 has Water Shuriken too, although Cloyster's high defense should allow it to set up on Mega Sharpedo as long as it doesn't get a critical hit Crunch. Spike Cannon is also the best option against Focus Sash Weavile, but good luck boosting against Taunt and Fake Out. Twineedle can be used for hitting the same targets slightly less effectively, but adds Bruxish3 as a potential target (75% OHKO chance at 2+, watch out for Aqua Jet here too). Probably terrible though.
Hidden Power [Grass] is exceptionally gimmicky and I wouldn't actually recommend it, but it is the only way that Cloyster will be able to set up on and beat Barbaracle. It can also be used against Carracosta, but you'll have to Liquidation it and then KO it with Hidden Power because of Sturdy, Weakness Policy and Aqua Jet (i.e. you'll beat it but receive no boosts) and even then it could land a critical hit Rock Slide on the Liquidation turn and beat you with Aqua Jet anyway. Hidden Power [Electric] can be used to OHKO all Pelipper sets at 2+ but it's hard to set up on that one so I wouldn't advise using it either.
Other than that I don't think there's much else to mention unless you want to throw Icy Wind/Mud Shot or Confide as a filler crippler move, but that seems like a stupid idea. If running a physical move over Surf, I'd probably just run a simple 252/252 EV spread to regain the speed advantage on Landorus1/4 at 0+ and secure the OHKOes on Drapion4, Bewear and the few other things that 236 misses out on. I haven't really explored the possibility of using a Speed-boosting nature over Adamant/Naughty; a Jolly/Naive nature with 228 Speed EVs would let Cloyster out-speed all Scarfers and 1+ Mega Charizard X after 1 Shell Smash and might allow for more SpA investment if a mixed set is used, but I imagine the drop in Attack would be pretty noticeable.
Set Details
Not much to say here since it's the standard stalling set that most have used. It's a PP stalling god, staying alive forever with Poison Heal, Protect and Substitute, and stalling out dangerous moves to nullify otherwise threatening Pokemon. Having something to absorb incoming Electric attacks against Cloyster is essential. Peterko used ScarfChomp for that purpose but Gliscor does a better job at stalling most Rotoms. It also does well stalling slower Water-types out of Blizzard and Hydro Pump PP.
Nature and EVs
This shiny Gliscor was one I transferred from GSC and trained ages ago. There's nothing about it that is specifically gen 2 exclusive. I went with Careful over a Speed-boosting nature, but I don't really remember why I EVed it the way I did and it wasn't optimised for this team specifically. 20 Speed EVs does put it in an empty Speed tier (118) and 1 point ahead of Alolan Sandslash2, and then I guess I just copied the HP from another spread and shoved the rest into defenses. I don't know if that's optimal for Careful but it worked so whatever.
Potential changes
No need to change the move set outside of something like Bulldoze over Earthquake (it has more PP and lowering Speed could be nice at times, but it's significantly weaker). Variation would focus on EVs: maybe some extra Speed to beat uninvested base 100s like Tentacruel and Entei could be considered.
Set Details
This is also a standard set so I don't think I need to say much. Just having something to counter Metagross4 is alone good reason to use it, but it can set up on Golisopod and many Fighting Pokemon that Cloyster prefers to avoid. It also checks a lot of Ice-types.
Nature and EVs
Spread is also standard for Aegislash. I'm using a 79 Speed Aegislash to under-speed Magnezone and some other 80 Speed Pokemon. This isn't of vital importance for this team but it was occasionally useful.
Potential changes
No need to change any moves. Only variation for this set would be 81 vs. 79 Speed. 81 Speed would allow Aegislash to out-speed Porygon2 which could be useful - Porygon2 is kind of annoying for this team and it's by far the most threatening of Colress' Pokemon.
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Threats
The following list contains everything that I consider to be "relatively safe" for Cloyster to beat.
Absol – Just use Icicle Spear, Icicle Spear OHKOes both sets un-boosted, Focus Sash will be lost, the mega set is walled by Aegislash if it doesn't attack though since it only has Sucker Punch for STAB
Accelgor - Smash and attack, don't use Smash more than once if it misses Focus Blast because you might get Encored, beware of U-turn into something more dangerous
Alakazam - Smash and attack, could potentially use Trick but have only seen it use Focus Blast and I'd rather have Cloyster take it than Gliscor/Aegislash
Alolan Dugtrio - Smash and attack
Alolan Exeggutor - Smash and attack
Alolan Golem - Smash and attack, Icicle Spear will barely OHKO it at 2+ to avoid Sturdy problems
Altaria - Either switch or just use Icicle Spear, OHKOes both sets unboosted, Sing from set 4 makes setting up risky, set 3 could potentially flinch with Dragon Rush on turn 1 but I've only ever seen it go straight for Dragon Dance
Armaldo - Smash and attack
Articuno - Smash and attack, generally passive and generates free turns, worst it could do is Reflect or U-turn
Beedrill - Smash and attack
Blaziken - Smash and attack, risk of burn is low because of preference for High Jump Kick or Stone Edge, 2+ Naughty Cloyster out-speeds even if it has Speed Boost
Bouffalant - Smash and attack, slight risk against set 3 because of Sitrus Berry but often favours Swords Dance
Braviary - Smash and attack, Cloyster will always set up and beat set 4, set 3 only appears on Dexio and Kukui's teams and provides a slight Rock Slide risk but would become set-up bait for Aegislash if it flinches, set 3 doesn't appear at all post-40 in Sun so this is complete safe there
Breloom (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 is fastera and can Spore so only go for it against set 4 trainers
Camerupt - KO with Liquidation/Surf, high risk of burn so don't try to set up
Carbink - Smash and attack, Icicle Spear will get past Sturdy, will still beat set 3 if it uses Trick Room but better to let Aegislash stall out the Trick Room turns in that case
Chesnaught - Smash and attack
Comfey - Smash and attack, could be confused by Sweet Kiss but can just switch to Aegislash with no penalty in that case
Cradily - Smash and attack
Decidueye - Icicle Spear is safer than setting up, set 3 has Sucker Punch and set 4 has Bright Powder, Cloyster out-speeds set 4 so would need 2 Bright Power misses to lose
Delphox (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 is usually safe but will occasionally use Fire Blast over Solar Beam
Dhelmise - Smash and attack, feel free to boost further if it goes for Phantom Force but this is highly unlikely
Drampa - Icicle Spear immediately, Quick Claw can punish set-up attempts, it might activate as Icicle Spear comes out but Cloyster should beat it and survive for another turn
Drapion - Smash and attack, set 4 can survive 2+ Icicle Spear with a minimum damage roll but odds are in your favour and it might try Swords Dance anyway
Druddigon (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Quick Claw to punish this
Eelektross - Smash and attack
Emboar (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Quick Claw
Espeon - Smash and attack, set 3 sometimes likes to use Hyper Beam which will allow for a second Shell Smash
Excadrill (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Bright Powder
Exeggutor - Smash and attack
Exploud - Smash and attack
Flareon - Liquidation for the OHKO, burn risk isn't high but just safer to KO it immediately
Florges - Smash and attack
Flygon - Smash and attack, minor risk of Dragon Rush flinch or Fire Blast burn but seems to prefer other moves so should be safe
Garchomp - Icicle Spear or try Smash and attack, Icicle Spear will always KO it, the Scarf set out-speeds Cloyster at 2+ but it'll lock into Outrage and can be capitalised on by a Steel-type so Smashing to scout is also viable
Gardevoir - Smash and attack, be wary of Thunderbolt from set 2 (only used by Pokemon Centre Lady Perri after 40 wins)
Gastrodon (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 4 is too passive to be a danger, set 3 is only a problem due to accuracy drops from Mud Bomb
Gliscor - Smash and attack, might U-turn to something more dangerous
Gogoat - Smash and attack
Golem - Smash and attack
Golurk - Smash and attack
Goodra - Icicle Spear, Cloyster will out-speed and OHKO both sets, setting up puts it at risk of paralysis from Thunder
Gourgeist - Smash and attack
Hawlucha - Smash and attack, just be wary of an unlikely Power Herb Sky Attack and Unburden, or a flinch
Haxorus - Smash and attack, minor flinch risk from set 3 but seems to prefer Outrage/Z-move
Heracross - Smash and attack, the Mega set could potentially KO through Focus Sash with a Skill Linked multi-hit but the AI is terrible at recognising the true power of multi-hits and will likely prefer Close Combat
Hippowdon (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 will Yawn
Honchkrow - Icicle Spear for the OHKO, set 3 has Swagger and set 4 has Sucker Punch so better not to risk setting up
Kingdra - Smash and attack
Kommo-o - Smash and attack, the main "risk" is Dragon Tail from set 1 removing your boosts and eliminating your Focus Sash protection but otherwise this should be fine, Kommo-o1 is too slow for Taunt to matter
Leafeon - Icicle Spear, OHKOes un-boosted and prevents Quick Claw from punishing a set up attempt
Lilligant - Smash and attack, set 4 might Teeter Dance but it's slower so you can switch out with little penalty if it does, Charm is also a minor nuisance and you can OHKO set 4 unboosted anyway
Lurantis - Icicle Spear, Quick Claw chance makes setting up unsafe but Icicle Spear will always beat it, feel free to switch to something else if you'd rather not risk it (Aegislash walls it)
Machamp (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Dynamic Punch and potentially No Guard as well
Magmortar - Smash and Surf to avoid the Flame Body risk, generally prefers Flame Charge or Focus Blast
Malamar - Smash and attack
Mamoswine (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, this usually works on set 3 but it has Lax Incense
Marowak - Smash and attack
Meganium - Smash and attack, should be able to get multiple boosts against set 4, set 3 can set up Reflect/Light Screen but that gives you another boosting turn
Mimikyu - Smash and attack, Shadow Sneak shouldn't matter since it doesn't do enough damage against Cloyster's base 180 Defense, just watch out for priority mid-sweep when at 1 HP
Minior - Smash and attack
Mow Rotom - Icicle Spear to OHKO it immediately, slight status risk discourages setting up although it'll probably use Leaf Storm most of the time
Mudsdale - Smash and attack, don't worry about Yache Berry or Stamina
Nidoqueen - Icicle Spear is safest, setting up is risky because of Sludge Bomb poison chance but Cloyster out-speeds and OHKOes both sets unboosted
Noivern (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 can flinch with Razor Claw but is otherwise possible
Palossand - Smash and attack
Passimian - Smash and attack
Pinsir - Smash and attack
Pyroar - Smash and attack
Rampardos - Smash and attack
Ribombee - Smash and attack
Sandslash - Smash and attack or just attack right away, boosting could be punished by Sand Veil if it goes for Sandstorm, un-boosted Icicle Spear OHKOes 93.4% of the time
Sceptile - Smash and attack
Scrafty - Smash and attack, Cloyster is strong enough to beat it even if it starts boosting alongside with Bulk Up
Serperior (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Bright Powder
Shiftry - Try smash and attack, it might fail if set 4 goes for Fake Out but sometimes it doesn't and Cloyster can OHKO with un-boosted Icicle Spear anyway, don't try setting up against if it uses Fake Out first because Leaf Blade can KO after the defense drop
Shiinotic - Attack with Icicle Spear rather than setting up, Icicle Spear will OHKO set 4 and has a 93.4% chance on set 4
Shuckle (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, passive and will allow multiple boosts, set 3 can evade but is also possible
Slaking - Smash and attack, Truant lets Cloyster beat it
Staraptor - Smash and attack, don't forget about Intimidate when sweeping though
Steelix (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 can have Sturdy and Quick Claw
Swampert (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, will usually beat set 3 as well but depends on it selecting Rain Dance turn 1
Sylveon - Smash and attack, might be able to get multiple boosts, don't forget about Baby-Doll Eyes reducing your boosts when sweeping
Tangrowth - Smash and attack
Terrakion (set 1/2 only) - Smash and attack, set 4 has King's Rock but it and set 3 can also be beaten
Throh - Smash and attack, 93.4% chance to OHKO set 3 at 2+ but odds are in Cloyster's favour given that set 4 is the more common set
Torterra - Smash and attack
Toucannon - Smash and attack, multi-hits from set 3 shouldn't matter due to AI limitations with multi-hit moves
Trevenant - Icicle Spear for the immediate OHKO, set 4 has Trick Room
Tsareena - Smash and attack
Tyrantrum - Smash and attack
Unfezant - Smash and attack
Vespiquen (set 4 only) - Smash and attack, set 3 has Sitrus Berry to survive un-boosted and Confuse Ray but is slower so no real penalty in attempting it against set 3/4 trainers either
Virizion - Smash and attack, set 1 might Taunt but Cloyster can still beat it un-boosted and it's walled by Aegislash anyway
There other situations where staying with Cloyster and trying to boost is still the best play, if not to beat the lead but to damage them as much as possible and scout the set. Broadly speaking, the following tend to bother this team the most:
Fire-types and burn: Cloyster dislikes trying to set up on Pokemon that can burn it (directly or indirectly) and I have nothing on this team that can switch into Fire moves safely. Quite often I'm forced to just leave Cloyster in and try to do as much damage to these leads, if not KO them outright, often leaving Cloyster without a Sash or boosts, or possible KOed if something like Fire Blast burns and KOes it at the end of the turn:
Arcanine can burn and also has Extreme Speed to prevent safe set ups. Having Surf and being EVed to deal with it allows me to remove it consistently with relatively little cost. I do know that Arcanine can be a bit unpredictable at times with Extreme Speed though.
Ninetales isn't normally a huge problem but Drought-boosted Fire Blasts sting.
Salazzle is fast and sometimes sashed. I usually have to attack it and revenge KO with Shadow Sneak, much like with Arcanine.
Charizard is a big threat. I'm usually forced to attack it outright rather than boost and lower my defenses because that prevents Dragon Rush from being tempting for it after it boosts, but can still die to Flare Blitz burning at the end of the turn.
Scarf Darmanitan usually prefers Superpower but if it uses Flare Blitz and is able to KO through Focus Sash with burn then this team is in trouble.
Turtonator3 isn't bad but set 4 pretty much always beats Cloyster on its own.
Incineroar is usually manageable but can easily get multiple Quick Claw activations to make me vulnerable.
Entei is often a threat as a lead due to set ambiguity and the Scarf set in particular still out-speeds 2+ Cloyster.
Heatran isn't as dangerous as Entei but can have Flame Body
Alolan Marowak, Chandelure, Volcarona, Houndoom, Delphox, Infernape, Emboar and Moltres are some other Fire-types that are mildly threatening, especially with set ambiguity.
Statusing ghosts: Banette, Cofagrigus, Sableye, Dusknoir and Spiritomb can be annoying although Cloyster can sometimes beat a few of these on its own just because they tend to be passive.
Water-types: most Waters are somewhat manageable just by stalling with Gliscor or setting up Aegislash. Cloyster can beat a few of them as well. But some of them require a bit of good luck (or rather lack of hax) to beat without being left in an unfavourable position:
Primarina is bulky and always stops Cloyster. Gliscor can PP stall set 3 but set 4 will eventually start hitting through subs with Arias once Blizzard has run dry. Aegislash often has to survive multiple Arias and possibly Z-Aria and a single crit can ruin it.
Greninja and Sharpedo are both fast and have STAB flinching Dark moves that I can't really switch into very well. Beating them in the lead position often comes down to not flinching more than once, and if I do I'm very likely to lose.
Mega Slowbro can be a nightmare if it sets Trick Room and it's hard to stop this in the lead position. Generally have to stall it and try to set a sub up when Trick Room ends.
Suicune is usually manageable but set ambiguity can make this tricky to deal with until the set is determined. Thankfully none of the Calm Mind sets have Shadow Ball and most of them are slow enough to be stalled.
Other Dark-types: Most Dark-types are fine but at the same time I lack a resist and Aegislash doesn't enjoy them:
Bisharp is a difficult match-up for Cloyster and one set out-speeds Gliscor, has Chople Berry and can flinch or Night Slash crit at a bad time. I find playing aggressively tends to work OK for this though - having Earthquake is helpful.
Liepard has some nasty tricks including Foul Play on Aegislash, Thunder Wave/Sand-Attack, and Nasty Plot on the Focus Sash set.
Tyranitar has set ambiguity on its side and I lack a great option that protects me from all possibilities. Direct course of action is trainer dependant - I find a switch to Gliscor is a decent play against set 3/4 trainers with lead Tyranitar.
(As you can imagine I hate Grimsley - he has all of those AND Sharpedo).
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Videos
Moon
Battle 408 (loss): NACG-WWWW-WWWP-5XZB vs.
I won't give a play-by-play but basically had Mega Gyarados come out via Golisopod's Emergency Exit against Aegislash in Blade form after setting up and it proceeded to demolish me.
Notes:
In the past I've had no problem just attacking Golisopod and activating Emergency Exit, but given that this also contributed to my lose by allowing my opponent to retain its priority moves, this battle makes me think it would be way safer to try and KO it outright, possibly by weakening it slightly (enough to ensure a OHKO at 6+ without triggering EE) and THEN boosting. The last Pokemon was Crobat so doing that here would have given me a chance to make a comeback. I think overall this was the most decisive thing about this battle given what the back-ups were.
Using King's Shield on Gyarados' first turn was possibly reckless and resulted in me conceding a free Dragon Dance, but Mega Gyarados OHKOes Blade Aegislash un-boosted with Crunch and the default form has a 50% chance to do the same, while Gyarados3 also OHKOes with un-boosted Earthquake, so I assumed it would attack and figured going back into Shield forme to scout was a good idea.
Not using Shadow Sneak the next turn was also foolish but I'm not sure it would have mattered beyond ensuring that Cloyster survived against it instead of having to hope for a miss from a Stone Edge like it did in the final battle, but with a Golisopod with priority moves in the back, the first Stone Edge was enough to seal the deal. Had Golisopod already been dead AND had I gone for Shadow Sneak here, I would probably have won with Cloyster.
Switching Gliscor in instead of Cloyster was also a mistake. There was no reason to do that when 1+ Waterfall KOes it, and expecting it to Dragon Dance again to ensure a free sub was optimistic. The last Pokemon being Crobat (immune to Toxic and Earthquake, and possibly having Taunt) would have made it difficult to win had I gone to Cloyster first though.
Battle 347: RTBG-WWWW-WWWP-526K vs.
Jellicent3 popping up and being an annoying lead. Thankfully the back-ups are pretty tame.
Battle 263: C4AW-WWWW-WWWP-52BY vs.
Lead Protean Greninja4 getting the Dark Pulse flinch on Cloyster and then Mega Salamence coming out after I managed to remove it with Aegislash.
Ultra Sun
Battle 124 (loss): NACG-WWWW-WWWP-5XZB vs.
A battle I should have won but then I absentmindedly clicked Sacred Sword instead of Shadow Sneak against last Pokemon Haxorus and lost in a flash. This did give me an excuse to change games though!
Battle 100: DMDW-WWWW-WWWZ-JSLU vs.
Nothing special about this one aside from being a relatively easy battle with Kiawe, but I already had this one uploaded.
Bonus
Prior to the above streak I did another run in Ultra Sun using Cloyster and Aegislash, but with something entirely different over Gliscor.
Pokemon Ultra Sun Super Singles streak: 92
Cloyster @
Naughty Skill Link
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 0/252/0/4/0/252
Belly Drum Linoone, with Extreme Speed that is now obtainable as an egg move in USUM and therefore more accessible to use. This team is obviously absurd but it was fun overwhelming opponents with the Cloyster+Linoone combination. 6+ Extreme Speeds are even stronger than 2+ Icicle Spears. Strategy is just to Drum and recover with Gluttony and Iapapa Berry. Seed Bomb isn't the best coverage with Extreme Speed but it hits Waters that Cloyster dislikes. Substitute can block status moves sometimes but if I did this again I'd just use Stomping Tantrum or Throat Chop for more coverage.
Since Extreme Speed does most of the work, I EVed it with a focus on power and bulk. The defenses started from the maximising app but then I played around with the damage calculator and found that focusing more on physical bulk was slightly more beneficial. Basically went with close to but not max power since I felt that the KOes I was missing weren't too important and 12 Speed avoids a speed tie with Landorus 1/4.
Battle 93 (loss): CMRW-WWWW-WWWP-53UA vs.
Landorus is normally "safe" for Cloyster but in this case it U-turned immediately into Scarf Entei. Not much I could do about it.
Hmmm. Considering a mon to build around for Singles Tree in UM, and like I did with Buzzwole I'd like to use one of my shinies. Does anyone think Xurkitree can work in Singles Tree? I'd like to make it work, however I'm not really sure it can. It seems like it has too much going against it. Not only fairly frail, but slow, meaning it needs a lot of support. Bulu seems a solid pairing, buttressing the ground weakness and having some synergy both offensively and defensively in terms of switch-in potential (the main problem there being that Xurkitrees bulk means it doesn't want to switch in very much, even on 'resisted' hits). Xurkitree lacks the kind of setup sweeping potential Buzzwole had. Where Buzzwole could switch into a huge number of physical attackers and set up with relative impunity due to its defenses and Sub/Bulk Up and STAB recovery moves, Xurkitrees set up just isn't as reliable. Z-Electric Terrain, Z-Rain Dance and Z-Hypnosis sets allow the speed boost you want, but Hypnosis is far too inaccurate and the others don't buy you the time to Tailglow by incapacitating the opponent (Z-Rain Dance at least would be appreciated by Bulu, I suppose). Choice Scarf is possible, however I think too problematic given amount of mons with either immunity to the main move you'd like to lock into, the fact that even with Scarf the speed tier leaves some threats that outspeed Xurk, and sturdy mons (doubly problematic given many of those will carry ground coverage). Grassy Seed/Calm Mind is an option, I suppose, with grassy terrain providing a little recovery and between the Seed and Calm Mind Xurks bulk is padded out a bit, but seems a bit janky. Any ideas folks? Abandon ship and select a different shiny to build around, or is there some startling tech that can salvage Xurk? Xurk more doable in doubles, so can perhaps use there...
scarfed Xurki is probably usable, exp as lead as you can volt turn out of most bad stuff.
Xurki is also deceptively bulky due to the solid defensive typing.
I mean, you're not really going for a 500 streak, but it's definitely not completely usable expecially if you pair it with a ground immunity swap in (say, m-sala :P )
