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Here's one final submission before the new games come out. It's more Trick Room action, but with a few unusual choices.
****************************************** The team
BDSP's list of viable Trick Room setters is rather short. I really wanted to give Slowking a go, having already tried Bronzong, Dusclops, and Dusknoir. The ClefChamp backline was, in many ways, a test run. Aside from the Slowking pick, there were a few questions I wanted answers to, such as:
- Does Machamp really need the Life Orb?
- Is Machamp too fast without an Iron Ball?
- Could Close Combat be better than Dynamic Punch?
- Can Machamp get away with CC's Def / SpD drops?
- Is Magic Guard + Life Orb Clefable really the way to go?
- Does Clefable deal enough damage without Life Orb?
- Is After You worth a moveslot, when paired with an Iron Ball and faster teammates?
- Is Unaware Clefable's superior ability in BDSP?
Some of the preconceptions were quickly proven wrong by the team's success. To be fair, many of the questions are far too team-dependent to have one correct answer. For example, Dynamic Punch was never tested, because Close Combat worked perfectly fine from the get-go. On the other hand, several Machamp teams on the leaderboard have found Dynamic Punch useful.
The team has quite a few anti-hax measures, despite not running Gravity. Having two Knock Off users makes removing items like Quick Claw and Focus Band (or even Bright Powder in Machamp's case) manageable, while No Guard and Unaware provide extra breathing room against evasion-based hax.
The EV spread is tailored to always survive a crit Shadow Ball from Gengar-3. This calc is the main reason to use Slowking instead of Slowbro, who sadly can't reach the same benchmark on the special side. Interestingly, this approach makes Slowking's bulk almost equal to Bronzong's. While the numbers may appear similar on paper, Bronzong has the edge in practice. Its Steel-typing combined with Heatproof makes it sturdier than Slowking, whose Water-type leaves it vulnerable to strong Electric-type attacks, in addition to nukes such as STAB Leaf Storm and Frenzy Plant. Slowking has to worry about Bug-type moves as well, the main offenders being X-Scissor and Megahorn. Much like Bronzong, Slowking should not be considered without Fake Out support. On the bright side, both Machamp and Clefable can come in on Bug- and Dark-type attacks aimed at Slowking once Trick Room is set. Slowking's resistance to Ice makes switching ever so slightly safer, since it rarely gets targeted by moves that can freeze.
Slowking has access to Oblivious, which grants it immunity to Taunt and Attract. The AI will still attempt to use these moves until the ability is revealed, and the momentum generated by any "wasted" turns is appreciated. The Taunt immunity is very useful against opposing Toxicroak-2 leads on opponents like Kennedy & Carlo, and Kennedy & Sherman. Both teams lead with Skarmory-3, whose Brave Bird is strong enough to OHKO Hariyama. Being able to use Fake Out against Skarmory saves Hariyama's life. Even better, it triggers Weak Armor, meaning that following up with a Close Combat KOs Skarmory-3 before it gets to move. Codi & Lionel is another great example, where the Taunt Toxicroak is partnered with Regigigas-2, a Substitute / Double Team / Thunder Wave / Ice Punch set. Seeing it fish for an Ice Punch freeze on Hariyama isn't uncommon, and denying any attempts of haxing helps a lot. The ability's other boon is the immunity to Attract. The only female Attract lead in the tower is Froslass, while its male colleagues, Vileplume-2 and Umbreon-2, are seen more frequently. This particular streak's Slowking was female (Slowqueen...?), while Hariyama was male. Admittedly, this part of the team could have been optimised further, but it's hard to say if there were any real improvements to be made.
What truly sets Slowking apart from Trick Room setters like Dusknoir and Bronzong is its moveset, and the playstyle difference that follows naturally. While the aforementioned two typically run Rain Dance to nerf Fire-types or enhance a backline Water-type sweeper's damage output, Slowking can take advantage of the boost by itself. The first version of the team ran a set of Trick Room / Rain Dance / Scald / Psychic, but an unceremonious loss at the hands of Palmer's Dragonite on battle #28 made it clear that Ice Beam was needed. Psychic was dropped for Ice Beam, a trade that turned out to be a net positive. The base Special Attack stat of 100 is nothing to scoff at, and both attacks deal respectable amounts of damage. Below is a list of some of the enemies that Slowking can dispatch, sometimes with a little help from its teammates. Lastly, Scald has a niche use in its ability to thaw out frozen teammates, but this tech never saw the light of day during the streak.
- Scald handles all Rhydon and Rhyperior sets (including Palmer's), at worst having 14/16 odds of OHKOing Rhyperior-3. Passho Berry Rhydon-3 gets OHKOed in rain.
- A rain-boosted Scald will OHKO all Charizard and Typhlosion sets
- Scald 2HKOs all uninvested Heatran and Entei sets (apart from the physical set with Passho Berry). Snarl can troll, though
- Almost every dragon falls to the combination of Fake Out and Ice Beam. Dragonite sets (such as Palmer's) might survive, but this can be played around.
- Ice Beam will finish off Staraptor sets after they OHKO Hariyama with Brave Birb
- Fake Out together with Ice Beam checkmate Barry's Torterra-5, since it'll faint to Wood Hammer recoil
While Bronzong and Dusknoir tend to leave the field after using Gravity and/or Rain Dance, Slowking rarely has reason to switch out. The majority of battles, including every Barry & Palmer duo, end with Slowking still in play. The simplicity of having the TR setter stay in and spam attacks is a welcome change of pace. This difference in playstyle makes Slowking extremely fun to play in BDSP. Raw damage is not all that Scald and Ice Beam have to offer, either. Scald-induced burns nerf physical attackers severely, in addition to messing with with Endure and Focus Band users. Ice Beam will occasionally leave its targets frozen, which can trivialise otherwise dangerous matchups. The same theme continues with Clefable's Moonblast (-SpA proc), and arguably Machamp's Stone Edge (increased critical rate) as well. While the secondary effects are powerful, gameplans should not be built around them.
Last but not least, Slowking sports an excellent Speed tier of 31. This lets it move before most things not called Shuckle, including threats such as Torkoal-2 (36 Speed), and a -1 Speed Snorlax-4 (33 Speed after a Curse).
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
A familiar face, and for good reason. It's basically the same Hari as team Octillery used, with Heavy Slam completing the go-to moveset for non-Gravity teams. Most of what is said in the other team's writeup applies to this squad as well.
However, the EV spread was fine-tuned a little bit. This team doesn't require Hariyama to survive two Wood Hammers from Barry's Torterra, since it gets targeted by Fake Out. This allows Hariyama to invest slightly more into Special Defense, resulting in a final spread of 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SpD. The increased special bulk is helpful against various leads, such as Latias-2 (Jaclyn & Kaila), and Abomasnow-4 (Ellis & Irene). Opposing Download users, most importantly Porygon-Z-2, still receive an Attack boost.
Machamp @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Fire Punch
Close Combat spam works well in BDSP's tower, where the vast majority of Fairy-types are nowhere to be found. It's not just the ones introduced in later generations that are absent: even Azumarill and Clefable are missing from doubles masters. This makes Hariyama and Machamp's shared weaknesses less detrimental: Psychic-types are covered by Knock Off, while Stone Edge brings down Flying-types (including Togekiss). Fire Punch rounds off the set, offering a surefire way of stopping Scizor-2 in its tracks. The move has a blessed OHKO on all Heracross sets as well.
The reasoning for running Life Orb and Close Combat is simple: Walrein-2. This monster of an opponent has very high physical bulk thanks to its Bold nature and an EV spread of 252 HP / 252 Def. It also carries Bright Powder (because why not), and has Fissure and Sheer Cold as its only damaging moves. Nothing short of a Life Orb-boosted Close Combat has enough power to guarantee an OHKO on Walrein-2. The next best thing, Black Belt CC, has around 81% odds of one-shotting it. Furthermore, No Guard negates Bright Powder's effect, which turns Life Orb CC into a near-perfect counter.
Machamp can get away with Close Combat's defensive debuffs for a couple of reasons. Firstly, most foes that can take a hit from Machamp typically have a maxed out Defense stat, like many of the Suicune and Cresselia sets. Machamp's solid 90/80/85 bulk lets it tank weaker, uninvested attacks. One of the examples is a STAB Psychic from Cresselia-5: 0 SpA Cresselia Psychic vs. -1 252 HP / 0 SpD Machamp: 138-164 (70 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Secondly, the tower's multi battle-esque ruleset for the AI works in Machamp's favour. Once a 2v1 is achieved, the remaining enemies rarely get to move before fainting. In this sense, the hyper-aggressive nature of the lead duo plays to Machamp's strengths as well.
The low-effort EV spread of 252/252/4 isn't perfect, but it's decent enough to sustain Machamp. Several miscellaneous calcs can be found below.
OFFENSIVE
The Walrein-2 ranges mentioned earlier, plus Dynamic Punch calcs for the sake of comparison 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Walrein: 226-268 (104.1 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Black Belt Machamp Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Walrein: 210-248 (96.7 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Dynamic Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Walrein: 190-226 (87.5 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Machamp Dynamic Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Walrein: 146-174 (67.2 - 80.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
A blessed Gyarados-2 one-two punch, useful vs Ellis & Barrett -1 252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 70-83 (34.6 - 41%)
-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 133-159 (65.8 - 78.7%)
Every Heracross set, including Barry's 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Fire Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Heracross: 156-185 (100 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
The dreaded Vespiquen-2 needs two Def boosts to even think about surviving Stone Edge, and No Guard nulls Double Team 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Stone Edge vs. +2 252 HP / 0 Def Vespiquen: 166-198 (93.7 - 111.8%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
Barry's Snorlax-4 after a Curse. Can be combined with Slowking's Scald for a guaranteed KO, which lets you avoid the Mago Berry 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Close Combat vs. +1 4 HP / 252 Def Snorlax: 203-242 (86 - 102.5%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
Torkoal-2, specifically the one used by Ellis & Irene as a backliner. A severe blow to Eruption's base power, letting Machamp and Clefable tank it with ease 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Torkoal: 125-148 (70.6 - 83.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
CC has enough power to 2HKO a last mon Ludicolo-2, even if its Scald burns Machamp after the first one 252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ludicolo: 133-156 (71.1 - 83.4%)
252+ Atk Life Orb burned Machamp Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ludicolo: 66-78 (35.2 - 41.7%)
*****************
DEFENSIVE
In some cases, Machamp may be forced to tank a Bullet Punch from Scizor-2 after using CC on Lapras-2 (Tavon & Harvey). The AI needs a 11/16 roll to KO after Life Orb recoil. +2 20 Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. -1 252 HP / 0 Def Machamp: 157-186 (79.6 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Quick Claw Slowbro-3, and Slowking-3 both underspeed Machamp 252+ SpA Slowbro Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Machamp: 162-192 (82.2 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Slowking Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Machamp: 162-192 (82.2 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Running Life Orb instead of an Iron Ball leaves Machamp with a Speed tier of 54, letting various foes underspeed it while Trick Room is active. However, this is less of an issue because of the final member of the team. Introducing...
Clefable @ Iron Ball
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
IVs: 0 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Grass Knot
- After You
Iron Ball Clefable. At a glance, it seems silly to not have Clefable hold the Life Orb, when it even gets Magic Guard as an ability.
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, this set was a great way of testing a few theories. Clefable's vast movepool includes basically every special attack one could hope for, and its supporting options are equally versatile. Opting to run After You on Clefable warranted an Iron Ball as the item of choice. In the end, Clefable was able to "field test" three things at once:
1) Is Clefable's damage output sufficient without Life Orb?
2) The viability of After You in BDSP (if Clefable works as an After You user, then so does Snorlax, etc.)
3) Unaware's value in BDSP's tower
Clefable is essentially playing a support role for the rest of the squad, be it aiding Machamp with After You, or dealing chip damage to opponents so that its teammates can go for the KOs. Clefable is far from passive, however. Its attacks deal respectable damage thanks to Quiet nature and 252 EVs in SpA, and Moonblast's numbers are similar to those of a rain-boosted Scald from Slowking. Flamethrower and Grass Knot were selected to bolster the team's weak spots. Some of the targets include Scizor-2 (appears as a lead on three different teams), Abomasnow-4 (Ellis & Irene), Forretress sets (Iron Ball Clefable underspeeds them), various slow Rock/Ground mons, Swampert-3, and Gastrodon-3 (Grass Knot has a blessed 2HKO through its Rindo Berry). Ice Beam was a contender for the last moveslot, but it was deemed unnecessary with Slowking already sporting it, and Machamp's combo of Stone Edge and Fire Punch covering many of the targets. The rest of the team compensates for Clefable's inability of handling Fire-types with their Water, Fighting, and Rock-type attacks.
The final move, After You, is what truly allows Machamp to get away with not using a Speed-halving item. Having Clefable hold the Iron Ball instead leaves it with an excellent Speed tier of 29. After You is an absolute lifesaver versus several slow threats. For example, the team would get swept by Ellis & Irene's backline Torkoal-2 if not for After You. Other threats include Barry's Snorlax, all Slowking and Slowbro sets, and Curse Registeel-1. While After You was used on Machamp the majority of the time, Hariyama can benefit from it as well. That being said, Hariyama rarely needs the support, since its Speed tier of 49 is much better than Machamp's.
The EV spread is classic 252/252/4 gaming, but it's likely close to optimal for this team. Clefable has to tank many miscellaneous hits, both physical and special. To give an idea, Clefable survives a Flash Cannon from Palmer's Heatran (team #3), and a critical Bullet Punch from Scizor-2 (note that Unaware lets Clefable ignore Swords Dance).
252+ SpA Heatran Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Clefable: 168-198 (83.1 - 98%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
20 Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Clefable on a critical hit: 168-198 (83.1 - 98%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Last but not least, Unaware turned out to be an exceptional ability for BDSP's tower. Defensively, it gives Clefable a better matchup against the Scizor set listed above, in addition to almost all Curse and Calm Mind users. Offensively, it allows Clefable to ignore opposing SpD boosts, as well as Double Team. Unaware has most of Gravity's benefits (although only for the user), without taking up an important moveslot. Machamp's No Guard combined with Clefable's Unaware made opposing evasion hax much more bearable.
Both of the leads are immune to Fake Out's flinch. Nothing protects Slowking from getting ganged up on, and Brave Bat and Shadow Ball together can stop Trick Room from going up. Fortunately, Crobat rarely passes on the guaranteed KO it has on Hariyama.
Pinsir's X-Scissor can OHKO Slowking with a crit, and Bright Powder can cause Fake Out to whiff. Luckily, Drapion-2 has yet to select Roar on the first turn, and seems to prefer using its other three moves.
Torterra-3's Frenzy Plant will OHKO Slowking if it crits, which warrants a Fake Out. Unfortunately, Torterra carries Bright Powder just like Pinsir-2, so teams leading with it are shaky matchups.
Torterra-3 returns, partnered with Staraptor-3. Using Fake Out on the former typically results in Hariyama immediately dying to Brave Birb. The recoil puts Staraptor in Ice Beam's KO range, however. Lastly, the backline features the dangerous Quick Claw Blastoise-3.
It's the same Torterra set as described above, but partnered with Manectric-3. The latter's Thunder can OHKO Slowking with a crit, which means both of the enemy leads threaten the Trick Room setter. Manectric is the preferred Fake Out target, since it doesn't hold Bright Powder.
Carlo & Alonso - (Carlo: Articuno-4, Glalie-2 & Alonso: Magnezone-2, Latias-2)
Fake Out must be used to stop Articuno from clicking Sheer Cold, which lets Magnezone-2 attack freely. Its Thunderbolt has 3/16 odds of OHKOing Slowking with a critical hit, which could be fixed with an alternate EV spread. However, Carlo & Alonso are the only duo to lead with Magnezone-2, so adjusting EVs did not feel necessary.
Bright Powder Slowking-3 is a poor lead matchup, and Froslass-2 gets to use Attract on Hariyama unimpeded. Swagger and Blizzard's freeze chance discourage switching, and the last mon, Quick Claw Blastoise-3, can snipe weakened targets. Things rarely go according to plan with so many coinflips involved.
Fake Out is required to stop Zapdos-4 from unleashing its powerful STAB Thunder. Unfortunately, this one has Static, so Hariyama risks paralysing itself on the first turn. It doesn't help that the other lead, Heatran-5, loves using Dark Pulse on Slowking.
Kelton & Joy - (Kelton: Skarmory-2, Slowbro-3 & Joy: Regice-1, Mr. Mime-2)
Skarmory-2 has an annoying habit of using Sand Attack on Hariyama. It might also resist switch to Slowbro-3 after Slowking's attacks, which complicates things further.
Fake Out must be used to stop any Rock Slide attempts from Irene's Bronzong-3. Slowking has enough special bulk to survive a crit Energy Ball from Abomasnow-4, which makes setting Trick Room consistent. However, not clicking Fake Out on Abomasnow lets it fish for a Blizzard freeze on Hariyama. Should that happen, Scald would be required to defrost Hariyama, instead of guaranteeing a KO on Bronzong. Its odds of surviving Knock Off are less than 1/16, so a lot of bad luck would be required for Trick Room to be reset on the second turn. There are a couple of ways of countering the backline Torkoal-2. Slowking's Rain Dance shuts it down with ease, should the TR setter still be on the field. Alternatively, Clefable's After You lets Machamp underspeed Torkoal and hit it with Stone Edge, greatly reducing Eruption's base power.
A combination of Fake Out, Ice Beam, and Close Combat results in the opposing Meganium-3 going down before it gets to move. Machamp has Walrein-2's number, too. The problem lies with Quick Claw Weezing-3, who can deny Trick Room with a Dark Pulse flinch, or 2HKO Hariyama with Sludge Bomb. Not having time to use Knock Off on Weezing right away makes the battle unpredictable.
Fake Out might not hit Walrein-2 due to its Bright Powder, which can result in Sheer Cold KOing Slowking before Trick Room goes up. If that happens, you're essentially one OHKO move away from losing: Hariyama has to pray that Sheer Cold whiffs, while hoping that CC lands on Walrein-2. No Guard Machamp has no chance of winning against Walrein-2 if Trick Room is denied.
Fissure limits gameplans severely, and Slowking-2 tends to revenge kill Hariyama after Close Combat downs Whiscash. The safest way of dealing with this duo is to ignore Slowking-2, while KOing Whiscash-2 and Hippowdon-2 first. Machamp can't contend with the opposing Slowking-2 because of the Speed difference, so Clefable and the player's Slowking will have to do most of the heavy lifting. After You is rarely a practical option against Yvette & Kendel, since Hippowdon-2's Yawn can ruin switch-ins.
Johanna & Blair (Johanna: Mamoswine-2, Tauros-3 & Blair: Gengar-3, Regirock-3)
Mamoswine binds Hariyama to using both Fake Out and Close Combat on it, leaving Gengar-3 to do as it pleases. The enemy backline will fall quickly once the leads are dealt with.
Zapdos-3 might flinch Slowking with King's Rock U-turn, while its partner Rapidash takes Fake Out priority thanks to Horn Drill. Zapdos-3 is more likely to use Drill Peck on Hariyama, however.
Both rosters are very good at punishing the teambuilding choice of running two Fighting-types. Layne & Noelle are not be underestimated, despite Yanmega-2 being a Modest special attacker with 252 EVs erroneously placed in Attack.
The strategy is similar in both cases: defeat Layne's side first in order to force a 2v1. Both Machamp-2 and Wailord-2 will get OHKOed by Hariyama's Close Combat, while Yanmega gets destroyed by Stone Edge. Cresselia-5 is unpredictable, and whether it chooses to Psychic Hariyama or Shadow Ball Slowking seems like a coinflip. To give an example, a theoretical battle versus the second team is pasted below. It assumes that Cresselia KOs Hariyama on the second turn, which is the worst thing it can do.
T1: TR, Fake Out Cress. Wailord uses Water Spout (does around 50% to Hari)
T2: Switch Slowking -> Machamp, CC Wailord (guaranteed KO). Cresselia's Psychic KOs Hari, send Clefable. Yanmega replaces Wailord.
T3: Stone Edge Yanmega, Moonblast Cress. Cress hits Machamp with Psychic (does 46-56% non-crit)
T4: Knock Off & Moonblast Cress. If Yanmega used Detect on the previous turn, KO it with Stone Edge first
T5: and onwards: finish Cresselia, set Trick Room again, and proceed to 2v1 Kanga
Yanmega has not opted to click Detect thus far, but if it does, then Cresselia gets to 2HKO Machamp before Knock Off is used. The battle is still winnable with Slowking and Clefable, though. Rain Dance halves Moonlight's HP recovery, and any Moonblast procs from Clefable will help a lot. The first team's Alakazam-2 is much more dangerous than Kangaskhan-2, but it has shown to occasionally use Future Sight. Clefable's Unaware should let it overcome potential Calm Mind boosts, as well.
Christa's side features a dual screens Meganium-3 in the back, while her lead Cresselia-2 lacks offensive investment. As such, it's safer to take Benny's side down first. Regirock-2 is easily removed by Scald and Close Combat, and the backline Slowking-2 will fall to Knock Off and Grass Knot. This duo has two main problems: firstly, Slowking-2 underspeeds Machamp (but not Hariyama). This limits the options, considering that Machamp doesn't want to tank a Psychic from it, and Knock Off alone is not enough to KO it. In most cases, Hariyama is able to land a hit on Slowking-2, which lets Clefable finish it off.
The second problem stems from Cresselia-2's moveset, Lunar Dance / Safeguard / Future Sight / Psychic. It prefers using Future Sight first, likely due to the move's greater base power. As it turns out, it can sometimes choose to target Slowking (player's) with it, even when there's a -1 SpD Hariyama on the field. With animations off, there's no way of knowing which slot Cresselia was aiming at. Additionally, Future Sight DOES NOT get redirected to the remaining slot if its primary target dies earlier during the same turn. For example:
T1: Trick Room, Fake Out Cress. Regirock-2 uses EQ
T2: Scald & CC Regi (guaranteed KO). Cress uses Safeguard. Slowking-2 replaces the fallen Regirock.
T3: Switch Slowking -> Clefable, Knock Off Slowking-2. Slowking-2's Psychic KOs Hari, Cress uses Future Sight.
In this scenario, it's impossible to tell which slot Future Sight was targeted on. This adds an infuriating element of RNG to the rest of the battle, since Machamp really doesn't want to get hit by Future Sight. For reference, a critical hit is guaranteed to KO Machamp after one round of Life Orb recoil. It's worth noting that while Cress used Safeguard in the example above, Future Sight is a more common choice on the second turn. Christa & Benny are one of the rare duos that punish Fighting-type stacking.
This is fine - the recoil from KOing Hari allows Slowking to snipe Staraptor on the next turn.
T2: Ice Beam Staraptor, Knock Off Marowak. Staraptor faints. Marowak's itemless EQ does around half to Machamp, and even less to Slowking. Ambipom comes out.
Andreas & Dalvin are the only duo where this move makes sense. Additionally, Knock Off's chip damage lets Slowking KO Marowak with Scald on the next turn.
T3: Scald Marowak, CC Ambipom. Both of them fall. Dalvin sends out his last mon, Armaldo.
Ambipom-2 is the special set without Fake Out, so it just dies.
T4: Scald & Stone Edge the Armaldo.
Armaldo-2 carries Focus Sash, but it doesn't help in a 2v1. Unlucky.
Alonso & River - (Alonso: Slowbro-2, Swampert-3 & River: Nidoking-2, Regice-3)
An exercise in patience. Going for a quick win by sending Machamp in early is tempting. However, this can backfire horribly with Slowbro-2 sporting Yawn, not to mention its better Speed tier enabling Zen Headbutt flinches on Machamp. Switching in on Regice-3's Ice Beam isn't safe, either. In the end, Slowking puts in a lot of work, as per usual.
T1: TR, Fake Out Nidoking. Slowbro Yawns Slowking.
T2: Scald Nidoking. Knock Off Slowbro. Zen Headbutt and Earth Power KO Hariyama. Lum Berry is taken by Yawn, send Clef to replace Hari
T3: Scald Nido, Grass Knot Slowbro. Both faint - Regice and Swampert come out.
T4: Scald & Grass Knot Swampert. Swampert survives with a sliver of health remaining and uses Curse. Regi's Charge Beam hits Slowking, +SpA
T5: Finish Swampert with Scald, Flamethrower Regice. Regi Ice Beams Clefable. Trick Room fades at the end of the turn.
T6: TR, Flamethrower Regi. Another Ice Beam lands on Clef, leaving it frozen.
T7: Switch Slowking -> Machamp. Clef still frozen. Charge Beam hits Machamp on the switch in, Regice is now at +2 SpA
T8: Machamp's CC is enough to KO Regice.
A comeback story with After You coming in clutch. The leads are just awful.
T1: TR, Fake Out Slowking-3. Fake Out connects, Froslass uses Attract on Hariyama.
Using Fake Out on a Bright Powder Slowking-3 is always a bit scary, but it works out this time. Froslass decides to do Froslass things - Attract is unavoidable with a male Hariyama.
T2: Scald Froslass, Knock Off Slowking-3. Hari is immobilised by love. Slowking-2 hits Hari with Psychic while Froslass's Blizzard whiffs, so Hari somehow survives on 24 HP.
Scald's chip damage lets Clefable KO Froslass later in the fight (T5). Switching anything into a Blizzard is risky, so trying to hit Slowking-3 is the safest course of action on this turn. Unfortunately, Knock Off being denied forces a more risky strategy.
T3: Switch Slowking -> Clefable, Knock Off Slowking-3. Hari is still immobilised by love, and dies to a second Psychic from Slowking. Blizzard hits Clefable. Send Machamp in
The low-HP Hariyama dying was to be expected. Having Clefable and Machamp on the field at the same time is ideal, because Machamp needs After You support to underspeed Slowking-3. The switch to Clef is justifiable for this reason, despite the risk of getting frozen.
T4: After You + Knock Off Slowking-3. It faints. Froslass uses Attract on Machamp. Moltres is sent out at the end of the turn.
The second Attract is of no consequence. Froslass will get KOed by Clef long before Machamp attempts to move - a combo made possible by the Scald on the second turn.
T5: Flamethrower Froslass, Stone Edge Moltres. Both foes bite the dust as Trick Room fades. The final enemy is a Quick Claw Blastoise-3.
Clefable is sitting on 54% HP, while Machamp is untouched apart from two rounds of Life Orb recoil. Blastoise needs a Hydro Pump crit to KO Clefable. Machamp appears to be completely outside of Hydro Pump's KO range, being able to survive even a max roll crit with 2 HP (with the previous Life Orb recoil taken into account). #blessed
T6: Grass Knot & Close Combat Blastoise. It lands a Hydro Pump on Clefable, then faints to CC.
Alas, things don't go Blastoise's way. Machamp gets the 12/16 roll required for a clean OHKO.
The gameplan is the same as before: nuke Meganium-3 and Walrein-2 down first, and worry about Weezing-3 and Skarmory-2 later.
T1: Trick Room, Fake Out Meganium. Weezing uses Sludge Bomb on Hariyama.
So far so good. Weezing not using Dark Pulse lets TR activate safely. Unfortunately, a second Sludge Bomb can now KO Hari after Close Combat's -SpD debuff.
T2: Ice Beam & CC Meganium. Quick Claw activates, and Weezing's Dark Pulse hits Slowking. No flinch, Ice Beam and CC KO Meganium. Walrein comes out at the end of the turn.
So many things could have gone wrong here. A flinch on Slowking would have allowed Meganium to use either Reflect or Light Screen. With Meganium gone, Hariyama gets a shot at OHKOing the Bright Powder Walrein with Close Combat. A QC Sludge Bomb from Weezing can deny such an attempt, though.
T3: Scald Weezing, CC Walrein. Close Combat misses, and Sludge Bomb KOs Hari. Walrein's Fissure whiffs Slowking. Send Machamp to replace Hariyama.
Fissure missing was very fortunate - Slowking dying here would have given Weezing a free Sludge Bomb on Clefable. Machamp has Walrein dead to rights with No Guard negating Bright Powder.
T4: Ice Beam Weezing, CC Walrein (guaranteed OHKO). Weezing uses Sludge Bomb on Machamp. Machamp is on 25% HP at the end of the turn.
Scald + Ice Beam + Knock Off will be enough to KO Weezing. Since Scald didn't burn Weezing earlier, it was possible to fish for a freeze on this turn. The weakened Machamp is at Quick Claw Weezing's mercy, but there really was no opportune moment to use Knock Off on it earlier.
T5: Scald & Knock Off Weezing. No Quick Claw, Weezing faints. Skarmory enters the field as Trick Room fades.
The combination of Scald + Ice Beam + Scald would've had good odds of KOing Weezing even if Machamp got sniped by Quick Claw.
T6: Trick Room, CC. Skarmory's Drill Peck KOs Machamp, and TR activates again. Send Clefable
Letting Skarmory KO Machamp is a good way of ensuring Trick Room going up again. Skarmory-2 doesn't run Steel-type attacks, which lets Slowking and Clefable win the 2v1 reliably. The battle is essentially won, unless Skarmory pulls off some extreme Sand Attack hax.
T7: Scald & Flamethrower Skarm. Occa Berry triggers, and Scald burns Skarm. Drill Peck does little to Clefable.
Flamethrower is Clefable's best option despite the Occa Berry. Nothing can stop a second Flamethrower from KOing Skarmory on the next turn.
T8: Flamethrower KOs Skarm, GGs.
Herman & Natalia team #1 - (Herman: Politoed-4, Zapdos-7 & Natalia: Kingdra-4, Scizor-5)
Herman & Natalia team #2 - (Herman: Politoed-4, Lapras-3 & Natalia: Kingdra-4, Scizor-5)
Politoed-4 is such a troll. Herman & Natalia always bring some new tricks to each rematch.
T1: TR, Fake Out Kingdra. Politoed Protects.
No complaints. The fewer times Toed attacks, the better. Ignoring the wild card Politoed is the safest strategy overall.
T2: Ice Beam & Knock Off Kingdra. Politoed Hydro Pumps Hariyama for 55%. Kingdra faints, and is replaced by Scizor.
The combination of all three attacks on Kingdra is as perfect of a calc as it gets, dealing exactly 151 damage with minimum rolls. Doing so allows Hariyama to avoid Close Combat's defensive debuffs, which normally lets it survive for longer. Unfortunately, Politoed's Hydro Pump lowers Hari's HP to a point where Choice Band Bullet Punch is a guaranteed KO. Scizor might not always go for the priority move, since its U-turn can destroy Slowking. As a result, it's best to double into Scizor just in case. Rain-boosted Scalds deal 48% minimum to Scizor, and a lucky burn can secure a 2HKO.
T3: Scald & CC Scizor. Bullet Punch KOs Hariyama, but Scald burns Scizor in return. Politoed uses Perish Song. Send Machamp
Slowking continues to impress as it scores a wonderfully timed burn on the Choice Band Scizor. Perish Song being used here means that Politoed is guaranteed to switch out on the sixth turn, which would allow for a safe Trick Room activation. However, the AI doesn't follow the pattern religiously, and will sometimes switch out before the final turn. This could create a problem if the switch occurs on the fifth turn. With Hariyama already dead, Machamp is the team's best counter to the last mon Lapras and/or Zapdos sets. However, Machamp requires Trick Room to stand a chance against either foe, since both Sheer Cold and Hurricane will demolish it otherwise.
Since there's no way of knowing when Politoed is going to switch out, keeping Machamp on the field serves as insurance against Herman's final mystery mon. The burn on Scizor is a tremendous help, because it allows Machamp to survive Bullet Punch and a Hydro Pump from Politoed. At the same time, Fire Punch can be used to KO Scizor thanks to Scald's damage. Removing Scizor grants Clefable a chance to enter the fray. Slowking struggles against Politoed, while Clefable's matchups is much better. Grass Knot only reaches a base power of 60 versus Politoed, so Moonblast is Clef's ideal attack in this scenario.
Machamp's survival on the fourth turn:
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician burned Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Machamp: 51-60 (25.8 - 30.4%)
0 SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Machamp in Rain: 99-117 (50.2 - 59.3%)
*****
Scald + Fire Punch vs Scizor-5, in rain
0 SpA Slowking Scald vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Scizor in Rain: 84-99 (48 - 56.5%)
252+ Atk Life Orb Machamp Fire Punch vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Scizor in Rain: 114-140 (65.1 - 80%)
*****
Clefable vs Politoed-4
252+ SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Politoed: 72-85 (36.5 - 43.1%)
252+ SpA Clefable Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Politoed: 62-74 (31.4 - 37.5%)
T4: Switch Slowking -> Clefable, Fire Punch Scizor. Bullet Punch hits Machamp before Fire Punch KOs Scizor. Politoed switches to Lapras.
And there it is, the instant switch out. To recap, all mons affected by Perish Song have either fainted or switched out. Choosing to keep Machamp on the field was the right call - Lapras is about to get ruined by Close Combat. In fact, it's possible to avoid CC's debuffs by using Grass Knot and Stone Edge to KO Lapras. The battle should be won, right?
...Yeah, about that. Life Orb's recoil will put Machamp into guaranteed KO range for Politoed's next Hydro Pump (even if CC is not used). Since Lapras must die on the fifth turn, Politoed will return on the sixth, which is perfect timing for Drizzle's second activation. Trick Room will be gone as well, so the first Hydro Pump can't be stopped. Politoed is sitting on full health, and its held Aguav Berry is intact, too. It may also try to use Perish Song again. A quick check-in with a Bulbapedia article confirms the move's mechanics: "if the perish count of multiple Pokémon on the field reaches 0 at the end of a turn, they will now faint in the same order they would move in". Of course, Politoed moves last while Trick Room is active. In essence, what seemed to be a battle easily won is now very throwable.
After comparing the two ways of disposing Lapras, it appears that taking the Close Combat OHKO is safer. The short version is that keeping Clefable in would risk it being 2HKOed by Hydro Pump in exchange for a single Moonblast, which is far from an ideal trade.
T5: Switch Clef -> Slowking, CC Lapras. Lapras falls, and Politoed joins the fight once again. Trick Room fades. Rain ends, but gets instantly reapplied by Drizzle.
Switching Slowking back in lets it reactivate Trick Room sooner. For the next turn, switching Machamp out is the correct play, lest Hydro Pump KOs it. Then, Slowking and Clefable can start spamming Scald and Moonblast on their lone opponent.
Dropping Psychic for Ice Beam made little difference with the majority of Slowking's matchups, but there were bound to be a few that would become worse as a result. Dalvin's Crobat-2 is one such example. It loses 44% of its total HP to recoil by OHKOing Hariyama, but only takes 50-60% in return from Slowking's Ice Beam. Normally, Hariyama's first-turn gameplan would feature clicking Knock Off on Gengar-3, in case Crobat goes for anything other than the guaranteed Brave Bat KO. This would be the case if Slowking was running Psychic, but that is no longer an option. As a reminder, both of the leads are immune to Fake Out's flinch thanks to Gengar's typing and Crobat's ability, Inner Focus. Since Hariyama is likely to perish regardless of its action, Fake Out can be used to deal chip damage to Crobat in order to secure an Ice Beam KO on the second turn. This shaky-sounding plan is made slightly safer by two factors: firstly, Crobat-2 rarely passes on the guaranteed kill it has on Hariyama. Secondly, its partner, Gengar-3, is incapable of one-shotting Slowking, and likes using Hypnosis as much as Shadow Ball. In short, using Fake Out instead of Knock Off makes the battle safer most of the time, i.e. when Crobat goes for Brave Bat on Hariyama. Conversely, if Crobat and Gengar decide to double target Slowking instead, not using Knock Off on Gengar turns an already terrible start into a nigh automatic loss.
T1: Trick Room, Fake Out Crobat. Brave Bat & Shadow Ball KO Slowking, denying TR. Send Clefable.
It is what it is. A victory is theoretically possible even with this opener, but it requires an absurd amount of luck, and plenty of throws from the AI. With Trick Room denied, there are no good plays available - only horrible, and slightly less awful ones remain. Attempting to save Hariyama for a second Fake Out eats too much momentum, and neither of the foes are susceptible to flinches anyway. Brave Bat destroys both Fighting-types, so Crobat must be dealt with first. Clefable's Flamethrower can KO Crobat with an above-average roll, but only if Crobat's recoil damage comes from KOing Hariyama, who has significantly higher HP than Machamp. As things stand, it's best to leave Hariyama in to die, and hope that Gengar's Hypnosis misses, or that it uses Shadow Ball.
T2: Flamethrower & Knock Off Crobat. Brave Bat KOs Hari, but Gengar's Hypnosis whiffs Clefable. Flamethrower KOs Crobat. Send Machamp, AI sends Pinsir.
Not the worst start...? It's too early to celebrate, though. Gengar can now get a free Hypnosis on No Guard Machamp. Meanwhile, Pinsir's Superpower deals an uncomfortable amount of damage to Machamp, and its Flail wrecks Clefable once low on HP. There's only one way of winning, and it relies on Knock Off killing Gengar somehow. Clefable's Flamethrower has 2/16 odds of OHKOing Pinsir (burn chance not included). It's yolo time.
T3: Flamethrower Pinsir, Knock Off Gengar. Pinsir Endures, no burn. Gengar's Hypnosis sends Machamp to sleep before Knock Off can be used.
Now it's truly over. Pinsir has access to boosted Flails, and unless Machamp wakes up quickly, nothing can stop Gengar from sipping on its dreams.
T4: Flamethrower Pinsir, Knock Off Gengar. Flail hits Clefable for 63%. Gengar uses Dream Eater on Machamp, who continues sleeping. Flamethrower KOs Pinsir - only Gengar's side remains.
Moonblast and Flamethrower are both 3HKOs on Gengar, so might as well fish for a -SpA drop. Perhaps there's a world in which Gengar KOs Clef first, and Machamp wakes up and returns the favour...?
T5: Moonblast, Knock Off. Dream Eater KOs the sleeping Machamp, and Cursed Body disables Moonblast.
If such a timeline existed, it certainly wasn't this one. Say goodbye, Clefable.
T6: Shadow Ball KOs Clefable.
Nadia & Dalvin claim yet another victim. With this, the final record for team Slowking is 585 wins.
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Slowking's little adventure in BDSP reached its end at a good time, with the new games right around the corner. All in all, it was a great run. See you all in Scarlet & Violet!
There is also an exciting announcement: thanks to SilverstarStream, the battle facilities calculator now has a mass calc function, to help out with optimizing EV spreads for BDSP Tower (and other formats)! Make sure to check it out at its new URL, http://eisencalc.com!
ChubbyPuppy: You had until November 3rd to provide an update. The date is close enough if you'd like to post a follow-up shortly, otherwise it will be closed and further updates won't be accepted on the board. GG Unit: You have until January 27th to provide an update. Josh C.: You have until January 28th to provide an update.
CronoGreen : Congrats on your streak! Unfortunately a video proof is required for submission, as described in the first post. Let me know if you edit this into your post, and I'll update to add you.
Anybody still running this? Im trying to see how high I can get over the course of the next few months in Singles. Currently using a 252/252 squad with Latios/Gengar/Garchomp just to learn and open to any new ideas if anyone has any!
hey man, good to see you posting here! watched both your vids and i love your thought process and production quality
i have a lot of experience with "Sirya's" team, with XS over Thief and a 252HP/252Atk/4Spe spread, and i'd recommend it because it does an excellent job if played well and can be flowcharted to victory over virtually every team
on that note, i'd really recommend using lum garchomp in the future if you use teams with it, it has such great synergy with Outrage and you don't have to worry about random burns and paralysis (you got Staticed once by Zapdos etc). plus, sub has anti synergy with Yache because you don't really want your naked chomp taking ice moves (most of which can freeze you), and if a sub is up the damage youre taking is moot (25%)
also i really want to see someone use Choice Band Entei in singles because it's so good on paper, and i'm partial to Unaware CM Clefable as well (checks setup dragons so well)
good luck THATSAplusONE , keep cranking these out, we love it
Anybody still running this? Im trying to see how high I can get over the course of the next few months in Singles. Currently using a 252/252 squad with Latios/Gengar/Garchomp just to learn and open to any new ideas if anyone has any!
loved watching the BT stream THATSAplusONE, i wish more people would stream bt. it's fun and thought provoking, and as jump mentioned above the production quality was great.
this is really an impressive streak, and rotom seems like a great fit. glad to see a return of trick scarfing. i love watching the battle videos btw, i hope you put up more of them. one question for CeroRift - worker layne seems like he can be a bit tricky, is there a specific reason you subbed with garchomp against drapion in this vid?
loved watching the BT stream THATSAplusONE, i wish more people would stream bt. it's fun and thought provoking, and as jump mentioned above the production quality was great.
this is really an impressive streak, and rotom seems like a great fit. glad to see a return of trick scarfing. i love watching the battle videos btw, i hope you put up more of them. one question for CeroRift - worker layne seems like he can be a bit tricky, is there a specific reason you subbed with garchomp against drapion in this vid?
Thanks, and yes, I'm hoping to make more once life settles down a bit in the next month. And so happy you asked about the Substitute as it's for a pretty weird reason! So Layne has a Weavile that knows both Ice Punch and Ice Shard. Ice Punch has a 10% chance of freezing. So the Subs are actually to make Garchomp's health go down!
Depending on the crit from Drapion, I might even use 2 Subs to get Garchomp in killing range for Ice Shard. Ideally, when Weavile comes out, it will opt for an Ice Shard to finish Garchomp instead of Ice Punch and thus eliminating the risk of freezing my Scizor coming in. Then I still have Rotom and Garchomp in the back for either Magmortar or Salamence too.
Thanks, and yes, I'm hoping to make more once life settles down a bit in the next month. And so happy you asked about the Substitute as it's for a pretty weird reason! So Layne has a Weavile that knows both Ice Punch and Ice Shard. Ice Punch has a 10% chance of freezing. So the Subs are actually to make Garchomp's health go down!
Depending on the crit from Drapion, I might even use 2 Subs to get Garchomp in killing range for Ice Shard. Ideally, when Weavile comes out, it will opt for an Ice Shard to finish Garchomp instead of Ice Punch and thus eliminating the risk of freezing my Scizor coming in. Then I still have Rotom and Garchomp in the back for either Magmortar or Salamence too.
Thanks. Doesn't Weavile's Ice Shard kill there regardless (even without Sub)? I might want to keep Garchomp's health as high as possible in case it needs to take another hit from EQ Salamence or something. And yeah, as far as switching in Scizor and risking the freeze, why not switch to Rotom instead?
Thanks. Doesn't Weavile's Ice Shard kill there regardless (even without Sub)? I might want to keep Garchomp's health as high as possible in case it needs to take another hit from EQ Salamence or something. And yeah, as far as switching in Scizor and risking the freeze, why not switch to Rotom instead?
So Ice Shard will actually do 72%-87% of Garchomp's health. Drapion will usually use either Night Slash or Cross Poison where both will not get Garchomp into for sure killing range unless it's a critical hit Night Slash. Even then, from my experience, it seems the trainer is programmed to "finish" you, and I don't think they know your exact EVs. Basically, Layne seems to use Ice Punch unless Garchomp's health is lower.
As for Rotom, if Rotom freezes, you rely on Scizor to finish Weavile (since Rotom is as good as finished generally in this case), and then Salamence can potentially finish Scizor leaving you with the slower Garchomp against Scarf Salamence (the other Layne with Magmortar would be okay in this scenario).
If you really wanted to try something different, you could Swords Dance against Weavile to set up against Salamence, but if Weavile gets a crit Night Slash on Scizor, you probably won't survive Salamence since a SD Bullet Punch is still not enough to 1-shot Salamence.
First, congratulations to Q8altaria for winning the race to 200 in doubles! The title remains up for grabs in singles, though I suspect some are getting close!
Second, the leaderboard has now been added to the thread!
I also added the list of rules we'll be utilizing for leaderboard submissions. I already added every streak that qualified so far in the thread (if I missed anything, let me know!), but please note that from this point onward, a screenshot of your version number will also be required.
I also kept and updated the list of sample teams, since the leaderboard is still nearly empty and a lot of people are looking for teams/sets to try.
Third, the main spreadsheet has been updated a few times since it was first posted, so if you made a copy early on, you may want to update it. Please note we just learned last night that it also appears every Pokémon is PP maxed; a 0-3 number associated with every set in the data dump seemed like it may be the number of PP Ups used, but it led to the odd conclusion that boss trainers were the ones without maxed out PP. The new theory is that this number is the Pokémon's gender, with 3 being random; this would mean boss trainers would be the ones with set genders on their Pokémon, unlike other trainers.
The calculator has also been updated, a few missing moves were added, Crush Grip and Wring Out were fixed, as well as a bug that showed a few sets in their mega forme mistakingly by default.
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Fourth, I have a submission of my own to make...!
My first streak detailed here died at 58; I played without the lookup and immediately assumed a lead Garchomp was sashed (it wasn't), tried to play around it, found out later a backline Tyranitar was sashed instead, and that threw off my entire battle plan. I took this as an occasion to grind for Raikou, though my loss wasn't Jolteon's fault at all, Raikou's additional bulk is undeniably better... point in case, 203.
I had already switched to Thunderbolt on Jolteon on the previous team, and used it a lot, it's so much safer to have in weather wars of when rain expires. The only reason the last 2 moves weren't Volt Switch / Scald is because I had no more of those TMs and couldn't find an underground vendor anytime I checked. I have now decided Shadow Ball is worth keeping though, if only for Latias, which is one of the biggest threats to the team. The Calm Mind set turns out to be unpredictable and really difficult to play around, and Shadow Ball is key there. Extrasensory is useful at times but I'll switch it to Volt Switch as soon as I get the chance. Scald, as much sense as it seems to make on a rain team, really doesn't feel necessary with Kingdra and Pelipper on the team; they've got those targets handled.
No changes to Scizor, the speed has come into play against Suicune and Rotom in several battles, so it's a no-brainer to me, but I would consider cutting attack and adding bulk, I'm not convinced 252+ is necessary.
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The team still feels a bit volatile, but Scizor really holds it together in times of need. Of course, the pre-set teams allowing to plan everything at the very start of the battle is really what's helping a more volatile team be viable. There's no doubt to me now that this + the 2v1 mechanic makes battles a lot easier if you're willing to take the time to play them properly. The counterweight of more hax items and better sets overall does matter though, as I'm semi-regularly forced to handle battles assuming the worst case scenario won't happen - which only means it eventually will, and I'll lose.
For its volatility, what rain offers is perfectly accurate Thunders and Hurricanes to work my way around evasion, and Thunder in particular comes into play a lot. This is basically the role No Guard is playing on those Trick Room teams that are also on the board, and I think it's an unfortunately necessary role for any team with hopes of a high streak in this Tower (by high, I mean 1000+). Unlike previous facilities, evasion also usually comes alongside heavy offensive pressure, and arent as passive as Tree Blissey4 or Cresselia2.
The biggest threats to the team, off the top of my head:
- Basically any Gastrodon or Cradily lead. They're all Storm Drain, require many hits to KO, and must be put out of the way first. There's one that leads alongside Heatran I'm pretty sure, and because that Heatran has Dragon Pulse and Ancient Power, it can practically sweep me while I keep targeting the partner. I think I ended up having to KOing it with Thunder every time.
- Latias-2 lead. Whether it goes for CM or Dragon Pulse is a coinflip; it OHKOs Kingdra, and Kingdra doesn't OHKO back. I usually have to sac Kingdra to it and rely on Raikou + Scizor (something prevents Scizor from helping out right away, I think it's Sunny Day Houndoom).
- The Bronzong/Abomasnow lead with Rotom-W and either Rhyperior or Torkoal in the back. My play against it is to switch to Scizor + Scald Bronzong turn 1 to get the damage I need to deny a 2nd TR. Abomasnow sometimes protects, sometimes Shadow Balls, and sometimes Blizzards. Scizor getting frozen on the switch is worst case scenario (happened once). On the next turn I double protect to stall out a turn of TR, then switch Kingdra into Pelipper to reset the weather. I used to go for SD with Scizor, but now I just BP Abomasnow for the 2HKO, because Bronzong spams Rock Slide and flinches won't stop coming. What happens next depends on the flinches, but I ensure to preserve Pelipper in case the last is Torkoal, and make sure that I deny the 2nd TR.
- Ludicolo-3, I don't remember what it shows alongside, but I remember it's been an absolute pain every time.
I recorded every set from battle 105 onward and put them on YouTube, just for archival purposes. I think the most interesting one to watch is probably 176-182, it features a lot of more challenging battles, starting off with the very one I lost my 1st streak to. Sadly, many of these sets (134-182) have bugged out audio because of my Switch's audio issue, so I strongly suggest muting them and putting music of your own if you're gonna watch any!
(opening this link on YouTube should show the entire playlist)
I'll keep this streak going as long as I can, but I have no plan on building any further teams until Home compatibility is added. I have no breeding tools right now, so getting any Pokémon I need is a huge chore, and Home will open up many new possibilities for movesets, so I'd rather wait until then.
Hi I just beat level 10 masters using rain team(Politoed+ Ludicolo) plus Garchomp and Metagross. Lost like 3 times since level 2, all by surprise high atks.
Is rain team overall the best choice? or trick room team.
Also I found that if you don't stop during the 7 fight streak and lose, you will face exactly the same 7 teams when you restart. Is that confirmed?
I initially had the idea for this team around December 2022, after several failed runs with a Shedinja team. I noticed that the highest placed streaks on the leaderboard mostly lost at least in part to evasion hax. So, I decided to build a team that was as resistant as possible to this type of RNG. This effectively left me with two strategies to use: Rain or Trick Room with gravity. I did not want to use a rain team as Eisen already proved how effective it was. So, I turned to Trick Room. Dusknoir was the obvious setter of choice with it's access to Gravity. Hariyama is probably the best Fake Out support with DPS in this facility, so my front-line was decided. Machamp had already been used to success on a few teams, and No Guard is mandatory on a team which will not accept evasion shenanigans. The last slot was more difficult to decide on. Many slow pokemon have access to Aerial Ace, Shock Wave, etc. However, the low power of these moves holds them back from being useful in more situations. Pelipper, able to provide it's own 110 base power evasion bypassing move seemed to be the correct answer.
All gendered pokemon are male to avoid attract from Vileplume-2, Umbreon-2, etc. Like others here I made flowcharts for dangerous teams. I did avoid making any for teams like Demetri + Margot, because I thought that there were to many ways for the battle to go sideways and covering them all would be impractical. In these cases, I felt that each battle should be handled individually. I also feared relying to much on flowcharts could lead to complacency when playing. With three ways to counter evasion, it may seem excessive. However Gravity is very helpful for Hariyama to counter teams like Elaine + Coby, Kendel + Jaime, and other teams with lead evasion users.
Battle 771 onward was recorded, a playlist can be found here. A few of the YouTube videos contain info on the battles in the descriptions, mostly the last two. Each video also contains the info of the game version and Switch OS version I am on, to show I'm not playing on CFW. These are all at the beginning of the videos. For those unaware I go by Pulama on discord.
EV spread stolen from other teams on the leaderboard, Special Defense investment guarantees a survival against Gengar-3 crit Shadow Ball. Night Shade is a standard move since Dusknoir is to weak to make good use of Shadow Punch. 50 damage is often enought to clean up after teammates, and deals good chip. It's static damage is especially nice against Curse and Calm Mind users, the most frequent being Venusaur-3. Ice Punch was originally placed here over the otherwise standard Brick Break, since Hariyama and Machamp already have fighting coverage, and only Ampharos-2 is much of a threat of setting reflect. Despite ice being arguably the best coverage type, Ice Punch still exceeded my expectations. The move covers the offensive weaknesses of the fighting types very well, providing good damage on the many dragon and flying types they can struggle to KO or are threatened by, and coverage against the grass poison types. Ice Punch has a good list of helpful targets, namely lead Crobat-2 (the recoil from Hariyama and fake out damage put it in range), Salamence-2, Dragonite-5, Torterra-5, and a KO against all Nido sets except Queen-3 when paired with Heavy Slam. Despite this Dusknoir is still weak, and physically bulky opponents such as Tangrowth-2 and Latias-4 have at least a chance of taking more damage from Night Shade. For example, Myron + Jane are a nice clean win thanks to Venusaur being 2HKO'd by Ice Punch after fake out. Gravity may seem excessive with Machamp and Pelipper around, but it is still extremely helpful in dealing with lead evasion users such as Scizor-2, Heatran-5, and Froslass-3. It is also an easy inclusion with Pelipper serving as weather control. Trick Room is Trick Room. With the loss of a status summary screen, PP counting has been the easiest way to keep track of remaining Trick Room turns, Just be aware of enemy Pressure. Speaking of Pressure, it is now the optimal ability in a facility with predetermied teams, being only slightly less useless than Frisk...
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Brave Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 100 Def / 156 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
- Fake Out
EV spread was adjusted from 148Def / 108Sp.Def to 100Def / 156Sp.Def around battle 910ish. Initial spread was designed to give the greatest odds of surviving Moltres-3 Sky attack and one turn on burn damage, with the rest dumped into Sp.Def to survive Slowbro/king Psychic. Near loss at 907 prompted another close look at the spread. Since there are more teams which threaten from the special side, decided to drop enough EVs to only survive Moltres-3 Sky Attack, which probably is useless in practice now, to have better odds surviving more scary special attackers such as the slow things + a turn of burn damage and the Wailord-2 + Cresselia-5 2HKO combo. Although, it is difficult to say if either spread is effectively superior overall.
Hariyama seems to be the best Trick Room fake out support by a significant margin in this facility. Close Combat is the stab of choice for dealing large damage. Knock-off for coverage against psychics and removing troublesome items like Bright Powder, Quick Claw, Chestro Berry, etc. It also has use as chip damage in cases where Close Combat will not KO and the teammate is otherwise occupied or cannot deal enough damage that turn. Gastrodon-3 is an example of this. Heavy Slam is the least used move, but is important to have for the rare fairy types, OHKOing all of them except Togekiss-2. It is also useful against lead Articuno, where Fake Out + Heavy Slam is a clean KO. It has utility against Barry + Palmer team two, where it will OHKO Heracross in the rare instances it chooses to use Close Combat. Otherwise it is used on Dragonite on turn two. The combination of Fake Out, Ice Punch, and Heavy Slam or Knock Off will KO Dragonite. Heavy Slam avoids the possible removal of Heracross's scarf if Ice Punch crits Dragonite, which complicates the battle. Fake Out is essential to setting up Trick Room. It is also helpful as insurance if Hariyama is ever switched out.
This initially ran Life orb for the first 300 or so battles before the winning streak. Eventually this changed to Power Anklet after several losses and scary battles attempting to play around the various Rhydon, Rhyperior, Armaldo, Golem, and Forretresses that underspeed life orb Pelipper. Anklet is the optimal power item for preserving ground immunity and aestetics, allowing Pelipper to hit a speed tier of 31. This also allows it to handle almost everything slower than Machamp which would present a threat to Machamp, with the notable exception of Slowbro/King being more difficult to remove. Without Life Orb pelipper loses some OHKOs such as Heatran-12 and Floatzel-2, but it still manages to OHKO most things weak to it's stabs. The lack of recoil also helps pad its meager bulk quite a lot. The EV spread is a basic 252 spread, but does have an important calc listed below. Drizzle also helps increase the effective strength of Pelipper, giving it reliable 110 and effective 120 base power stab moves to offset it's mid tier 95 base special attack. It still feels weak at times however. Drizzle also neuters Torkoal-2, which is otherwise a large threat to Trick Room teams in general. Boosting opposing water types is a significant downside against some teams, such as Ellis + Barret.
252+ SpA Slowbro Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Pelipper on a critical hit: 141-166 (84.4 - 99.4%)
This allows Pelipper to safely remove Slowbro sets with two turns of Night Shade chip.
Hurricane is a fantastic evasion bypassing move allowing Pelipper to clean up the bulky grass and fighting types such as Ludicolo, Venusaur, Hariyama, Leafeon, Heracross, and Tangrowth that can cause headaches for Hariyama and Machamp. In practice the evasion bypassing property was not used alongside Machamp in many situations, with the flying coverage itself seeming to overshadow this property. Still, being able to hit targets such as Ludicolo-2 and Torterra-3 was important. Scald is very helpful against the many physical defense inclined rock and ground types, and very good against Johanna + Clyde once Ursaring-3 is removed. The 30% burn chance can also be helpful for wearing down Cresselia sets and Barry + Palmer's Snorlax although you don't want to rely on it. Ice Beam was originally filler, but after the near loss to Barry + Palmer at battle 301, it earned its place. Ice Beam still does more damage to dragons than Hurricane, and does have a nice combo against Latias-4 with Machamp Knock-off barely ensuring a KO. Protect is largly a filler move in this tower and it was used maybe once per 50 battles on average. It had the occasional use to bait electric moves when resetting trick room or to score a KO. Ironically, the idea to replace Protect with a more frequently used move contributed to the losing battle. Protect seems like it should stay on the set, at least for this team. For teams with a different composition however, there are several good moves to consider in this slot.
Machamp @ Expert Belt
Ability: No Guard
Brave Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
I really, really dislike the anxiety inducing brightpower, double team, etc. No Guard ensures you can ignore such things, and is why Machamp is on the team. Machamp's 54 speed can be useful against Slowbro/King and Barry + Palmer Snorlax once Trick Room wears out. The EV spread is braindead, but I was unable to find anything more optimal. In theory, there is less need for the extra power of Life Orb and Close Combat as Hurricane and Gravity support means allies can assist with extra damage on evasive targets. This turned out to be true, so Expert Belt was chosen as the item. Fighting+Rock+Dark is excelent coverage and means you will usually be getting the boost. In practice I did not find any critial KOs were missed by the 10% difference in damage compared with Life Orb. Even the 30% damage difference does not seem to matter in calcs against the list of threatening teams. However, losing 10% HP per attack significantly reduces Machamp's survivability in these situations.
Dynamic Punch is a great stab move which does not debuff Machamp and has the nice guaranteed confusion infliction on what it does not KO. Life Orb and/or Close Combat would still likely be fine in this slot, although it may make some matchups more difficult, particularly anything with backline Suicune. Stone Edge covers the flying, fire, and rare bug types with it's nice 100 BP, making it generally superior to the elemental punches, particularly against the Kanto birds. Knock off is essential for hitting scary psychic types and removing annoying items like bright powder, Quick Claw, Chestro Berry, and Leftovers. Bullet Punch is ran in the fourth slot as Fire Punch is obviously bad for this team. It can also situationaly work as insurance if the battle goes south. The most important use it recieved was against the dangerous teams Kelton + Joy Mr. Mime and Aldo + Blair Weezing, where it helped guarantee victory in close matches.
Regice-1/Skarmory-2/Mr. Mime-2/Slowbro-3
Ice Beam up front with the freeze chance is not great. Skarmory also has drill peck, so it gets the fake out.
No freeze on Hariyama, turn one goes smoothly.
Turn two Skarmory goes down but so does Hariyama to another Ice Beam.
In addition to, Quick Claw slowbro is scary for less obvious reasons, namely a 1/8 chance to survive two Night Shades and Hurricane. I don't want Dusknoir taking an extra Shadow ball, not to mention the chance of calm mind, so Attacking is the best choice. Hurricane gets the low roll at 49% damage, and Pelipper dies to thunderbolt as expected. I'm now forced to bring in Machamp, and let it potentially take chip or get frozen from Regice.
Turn 4: Slowbro gets the QC activation, and thankfully shadow balls full HP Dusknoir while also getting the Special Defense drop. Slowbro falls to Bullet Punch and Night Shade. Regice hits Machamp for a mid roll Hyper Beam.
Turn 5: The KO is within reach, but Mr.Mime is in the back, and Machamp is in range of a crit Psybeam. Psybeam is also a 3HKO on weakened Dusknoir.
Fortunately, Ice Punch + Stone Edge will not KO Unless Edge crits, letting me deal chip, and letting TR expire. Regice rests from Hyper Beam.
Turn 6: Bullet Punch finishes off Regice, and I set TR again. Battle is trivial from here.
Zapdos-4/Heatran-5/Gallade-2/Rapidash-3
Go for Fake Out to get the guaranteed flinch, and trigger static. Dark Pulse flinches Dusknoir.
Turn two, Zapdos thankfully goes for Rain Dance, while Heatran used Dark Pulse on Dusknoir. Close Combat whiffs on Bright Powder, and TR gets set.
Turn three, set Gravity, and Hariyama is paralyzed. Dusknoir goes down to Dark Pulse and Hariyama takes a Thunder.
Turn four, send in Machamp to clean Zapdos, and Hariyama finally lands Close Combat on Heatran.
Turn five, Gallade-2 and Rapidash-3 are sent in. Stone Edge and Knock Off on Rapidash. Hariyama is paralyzed, Rapidash survives thanks to Focus Band.
Psycho Cut finishes Hariyama, and Rapidash uses Flare Blitz despite the rain, KOing itself.
Turn six, Gallade loses to Hurricane.
Rhyperior-10/Empoleon-5/Heatran-12/Staraptor-5
Hariyama is frozen on turn 1 and does not thaw, TR goes up,
Turn two, Hariyama still frozen, Night Shade into Empoleon protect(?)
Turn three, Hariyama still frozen, and faints. Night Shade into Empoleon
Turn four, Pelipper replaces Hariyama and scalds Rhyperior, Night Shade into empoleon.
Turn five, Pelipper Scalds Heatran, Night Shade into Empoleon. Scared of double target risking both attacks whiffing into protect.
Turn six, low HP Heatran protects on the reset TR turn, and Empoleon beats Dusknoir so I acomplish nothing.
Turn seven, Heatran flash cannons Machamp, and Empoleon flinches Machamp with Waterfall, leaving it in the red. Heatran goes down to scald.
Turn eight, Aqua Jet finishes Machamp, and Empoleon faints to Scald after a lot of chip damage.
Turn nine, Staraptor comes in, rain ends. Pelipper has 126 HP, meaning the two highest rolls or a crit from brave bird or double edge will make me lose. Pelipper survives with 11 HP and finishes Staraptor with ice Beam.
Donphan-3/Ursaring-2/Weezing-3/Entei-1
Fake Out into Ursaring to prevent some damage. Donphan helps by using Earthquake putting Ursaring into Knock Off range for turn two.
Turn two, set gravity to absolve Donphan brightpowder. Ursaring faints,
Donphan uses EQ again.
Turn three, misplay, Ice Punch into Donphan (should have been Entei),
Ice Shard takes down Hariyama.
Turn four, misplay, Sent out Machamp to avoid losing pelipper to Thunder Fang. Very bad choice since Pelipper wins against both Donphan and Entei at the same time...Night Shade + Dynamic Punch defeat Donphan. Machamp takes an Extrasensory.
Turn five, Stone Edge into Entei, Night shade into Weezing. Machamp takes an Extrasensory again and Dusknoir faints to Sludge bomb. Trick Room expires.
Turn six, Realizing things are now very bad, Target Entei with scald, and uselessly use Bullet Punch into Weezing. The AI is stupid, and Sludge Bomb goes into Machamp, with Extrasensory hitting Pelipper.
Turn seven, Pelipper is in range of crit Sludge Bomb, but the crit does not happen. Weezing faints to rain boosted Scald. Sludge Bomb into Pelipper on turn six would have made this a guaranteed loss.
252+ SpA Weezing Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Pelipper: 84-100 (50.3 - 59.9%)
Two misplays, deserved to lose this battle. Managed to pull through in part to the AI being dumb. Quite embarrasing.
Registeel-4/Porygon-Z-2/Gyarados-2/Suicune-4
Turn One, Fake out into Registeel, Shadow Ball into Dusknoir who suffers a crit and special defense drop, TR goes up.
Turn two, Close Combat into Registeel, Set Gravity, Dusknoir faints to Shadow Ball
Turn three, Gyarados replaces Registeel, Pelipper replaces Dusknoir to avoid intimidate on Machamp. Hurricane into Gyarados, Close Combat into Porygon-Z, Gyardos uses Dragon Dance.
Turn four, Suicune replaces Porygon-Z, Knock Off into Suicune, Hurricane into Suicune, Scald into Hariyama who faints. Gyarados uses Dragon Dance.
Turn five, Machamp replaces Hariyama, Stone Edge into Gyarados, Hurricane into Suicune which confuses it, Scald into Machamp who gets burned. TR wears off.
Turn six, Suicune hits itself, Dynamic Punch into Suicune, Hurricane into Suicune who faints.
If Suicune had managed to use rest on turn six, Battle still would have been in my favor with two more turns of rain.
Rhyperior-10/Empoleon-5/Heatran-12/Staraptor-5
Turn One, Fake out into Empoleon which does not use protect, Hariyama is frozen by Ice Punch, TR goes up.
Turn two, Hariyama still frozen, Night Shade into Empoleon protect, Rhyperior uses Earthquake.
Turn three, Hariyama still frozen, faints to Ice Punch, Night Shade into Empoleon, Waterfall into Dusknoir.
Turn four, Pelipper replaces Hariyama and scalds Rhyperior, Night Shade into Empoleon, Waterfall into Dusknoir who faints.
Turn five, Machamp replaces Dusknoir, Dynamic Punch into Heatran, Scald into Empoleon who survives the roll with a sliver of HP, Drill Peck into Machamp, TR wears off.
Turn six, Bullet Punch into Empoleon who faints.
Turn seven, Staraptor replaces Empoleon, Double Edge into Pelipper, Machamp Stone Edge KOs Staraptor after Double Edge Recoil.
Freeze hax is annoying, but survivable. Either opponent using protect on turn 5 would have been bad, but at least putting Empoleon into Bullet Punch range was important. A good showcase for Bullet Punch. Losing Machamp on turn six would have opened up a potential loss if Staraptor lands a crit on Pelipper next turn.
Cresselia-5/Wailord-2/Kangaskhan-2/Yanmega-2
A bunch of embarassing misplays against a team I'm not super familiar with.
Double up on Cress turn 3 was a critical mistake, looked like Knock Off was a high roll, so Machamp's should have been enough to KO. Should have beaten Wailord once Kangashan came out.
Threats:
I've chosen to only include persistent threats in this list, and not teams which can theoretically beat you with a lot of RNG, or which never recieved the one turn of RNG required to threaten a loss. Examples of these teams would be Harvey + Lyle and Jayden + Josie. I've also attached a list of how-to-play matchup notes to this post detailing some more teams than the ones listed below. It includes details on leads and evasion + healing users for those interested.
Crobat-2/Gengar-3/Pinsir-3/Milotic-3
The only AI team able to theoretically place this team in checkmate by the end of turn 1. The strategy here relies on Crobat being baited into KOing Hariyama to ensure Trick Room. This is successful during six matches in this run against this duo. Machamp is critical on turn two to bypass Bright Powder, and Pinsir is generally picked off opportunistically after the front line is KOd on turn two. This team was battled six times during this run, not including previous failed runs, where I have never seen Dusknoir get targeted by Crobat. So this strat is...relatively safe. Seeing as Sincci Lost to this exact scenario, where his Slowking takes proportionally less from Brave Bird than Dusknoir, it seems to be a result of luck. In any case, not much can be done about it without rebuilding the team from the ground up. It can also be argued that this is a "necessary" sacrifice to comfortably deal with many other evasion loving teams, reducing the overall number of bad matchups. See battle 1002 for an example.
Kingra-4/Politoed-4/Scizor-5/Zapdos-7 or Lapras-3
An unpredictable enemy rain team. Of course it would be dangerous. Kingdra and Scizor are too strong to be left alone, so removing them and avoiding the Protect game with Politoed is the usual strategy. However this still leaves Politoed to spam rain boosted Hydro Pump at will, and in a worse case scenario, the team will simply out DPS you. Politoed's protect can simply be used to stall precious TR turns, and switching out Dusknoir to Machamp once Hariyama goes down risks putting Machamp in range of Scizor's Bullet Punch. Machamp must also be preserved as it and Hariyama are the only answers to Lapras. Pelliper can barely take Bullet Punch and Hydro Pump any better than Machamp, and Hurricane calcs with Night Shade are extremely likely to trigger the Aguav. With Protect, this means it can take up to three turns to remove Politoed even if Dusknoir is switched out. Trying to preserve Dusknoir is also risky, which can leave Dusknoir vulnerable to Lapras Sheer Cold when trying to reset Trick Room. Zapdos can be checkmated even after Trick Room expires if Dusknoir is on field and Pelipper and Machamp are still available. It isn't surprising the loss was ultimately against this team.
Regice-1/Skarmory-2/Slowbro-3/Mr. Mime-2
A team with two psychic types, one with Quick Claw, and a special tank with thunderbolt. Very scary. Strategy here is to ignore Regice and deal with Skarmory and Slowbro first. Saccing Pelipper to remove Slowbro is acceptable if slowbro gets a Quick Claw activation against Hariyama, as Machamp can deal with Joy's team. Any more bad RNG and this battle can be a loss. Bullet Punch serves well against this team in particular. See battle 1005 for an example.
Donphan-3/Ursaring-2/Weezing-3/Entei-1
This team is dangerous due largely to the pressure exerted by Donphan. It's Bright Powder in combination with Thunder Fang, Ice Shard and Sturdy forces significant investment and turns to safely remove it, which allows Entei to act freely. Entei also has a set which can be unpredicatable, with Lava Plume and Extrasensory threatening burns or decent damage on Machamp which can only 2HKO back with Stone Edge. Pelipper also does not appreciate being forced to ignore Entei, with Calm Mind and Snarl removing the Scald OHKO opportunity. Finally, Weezing has good bulk and decent power with Sludge Bomb. Weezing is usually the last pokemon out, and it can hit decently hard with Sludge Bomb while tanking hits well, usually at a point where Trick Room has expired. See battle 971 for an example.
Registeel-4/Porygon-Z-2/Gyarados-2/Suicune-4
A somewhat dangerous team that can cause some issues. The key to winning here is to ensure Machamp avoids intimidate to check Gyarados with Stone Edge. This involves ensuring Registeel goes down ideally on turn two, and it is always the Fake Out target to help avoid troublesome swagger and substitute issues. Hariyama can then defeat Porygon-Z safely with gravity support after intimidate. The double Close Combat debuffs tend to incentivize Suicune to attack Hariyama. It can become more scary if the AI does not attack Hariyama, and switching risks a scald burn on Machamp. Switching to Pelipper is also not desired since rain boosts both opponents. Gyarados also tends to spam Dragon Dance while under Trick Room and needs to be removed before it expires. Removing Chesto Berry is very important for this matchup, since it significantly reduces Suicune's threat potential. See battle 809 for an example.
252+ Atk Expert Belt Machamp Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 182-216 (90.1 - 106.9%)
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Hitting the big 1000 wins, if barely, was a lot of fun, especially after the game is practically dead. Hopefully it will revitalize the community a bit and show that there are still good teams to be made for BDSP tower. I'm not optimistic about S/V DLC having a facility, so hopefully potential gen 5 remakes still have the subway. If not, I still have weather randomizer in S/S, and an idea or two for BDSP tower. Until next time!
Submitting a completed streak of 588 wins in Master Doubles! With the lack of a proper battle facility in Scarlet and Violet, I decided to return to BDSP's Battle Tower. I was partly inspired to play again after seeing cayZ5's impressive 1005 streak. I also recorded my progress starting from battle 141 all the way to the end. That playlist can be found here. It's all unedited footage so nothing too exciting. I'll be linking some highlighted battles in the Notable Battles section below. Streak Proof.
The Trick Room setter. Dusclops was chosen over Dusknoir simply because it's slower, and I needed the lower speed for the team to function well. After all, I'm using Leer and Gravity. Despite losing Eviolite, Dusclops is still quite bulky. It can still take some powerful hits and sometimes stays on the field after three or maybe four attacks sent its way. It doesn't really like a lot of super effective hits however. But it gets the job done. Night Shade is the attacking move of choice. Guaranteed 50 damage on any non-Normal type Pokemon is great chip and helps setup Tyranitar's Assurance, as well break random Sturdies and Focus Sashes. Leer is the next attack. I was originally just going to run Brick Break or Disable in this slot, until Sincci suggested Leer to support the physical attackers on the team. Lowering the Defense one or two stages on some targets sometimes allows Hariyama or Tyranitar to outright OHKO some bulky stuff. I did make a note of some Leer calcs:
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -2 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 211-249 (101.9 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -2 252 HP / 252+ Def Drapion: 214-253 (120.9 - 142.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 252 HP / 252+ Def Latias: 200-236 (107 - 126.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -1 252 HP / 252+ Def Politoed: 208-246 (105.6 - 124.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -1 236 HP / 20 Def Scizor: 234-276 (133.7 - 157.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. -1 4 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 183-216 (110.2 - 130.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Tyranitar Stomping Tantrum vs. -1 252 HP / 4 Def Lanturn: 222-262 (95.7 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO (KOd after sand)
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. -1 4 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 161-190 (102.5 - 121%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -2 252 HP / 4 Def Hippowdon: 277-327 (128.8 - 152.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. -1 252 HP / 4 Def Swampert: 258-304 (124.6 - 146.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Leer also helps when either Hariyama or Tyranitar are intimidated. It's quite good. Being able to OHKO 252/252 Bold Suicune with two Leers is still quite incredible to me. Next up, we have Gravity. This move sometimes feels like a cheat code. Enemy holding Bright Powder or Lax Incense? Set Gravity. They use Double Team? Gravity. This move also ensures the powerful attacks in Stone Edge and Focus Blast always lands. Provided the AI doesn't get too many Evasion boosts, of course. With this combination of moves, Dusclops becomes a great support that enables the teammates to guarantee hits on opponents and also bring down their defenses to the point they can't do anything. Dusclops' EV spread, along with Hariyama's, also forces Porygon-Z to get an Attack boost with Download.
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/0
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
Hariyama is hands down the best co-lead you can have with the majority of Trick Room setters in this Battle Tower. It has a lot of power thanks to Guts, and has some pretty good bulk. Hari's Fake Out is also necessary vs some duos so Dusclops can safely set Trick Room. Hariyama remains mostly unchanged from the last time I ran it except it has a little less Defense, and a bit more Special Defense. Also, it has Stone Edge instead of Heavy Slam. Without Stone Edge, Barry/Palmer Team 2 becomes incredibly dangerous as I won't have a fast way to deal with Palmer's Choice Band Dragonite. Stone Edge is also an incredibly powerful alternative to Close Combat on some targets as it saves Hariyama from losing its Defenses. I do miss Heavy Slam though as Granbull2 and 3 can be a bit of a problem to take down.
Tyranitar @ Iron Ball
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/0
Brave Nature (minted to Adamant)
- Stone Edge
- Assurance
- Stomping Tantrum
- Protect
Tyranitar is honestly a lot more common than I realized on leaderboard. But that didn't stop me from deciding to put it on this team. With Gravity and Leer support, Tyranitar is quite good. Stone Edge is the STAB of choice here as it deals more damage than Rock Slide. It also doesn't have to deal with the spread damage doing less, but I did consider it at one point. With BDSP's preset rosters, you can also set Gravity early in the battle and give Tyranitar the Leer support it needs to take down bulkier targets if it needs to Stone Edge them. Next up, one of my favourite moves, Assurance. I ran this before on a Cacturne set and had some minor success with it. The problem is, Cacturne is Cacturne and is pretty weak and frail. Tyranitar, however, is not. It can pick up surprising OHKOs on targets that have already taken damage that same turn which is pretty impressive. Stomping Tantrum is used as the coverage of choice as Tyranitar kinda lacks good coverage in this game. Another casualty of the death of transfer moves. It is, however, still quite good and has its targets. There was one instance where I even got the double damage proc from Stomping Tantrum on Lanturn3. It caught me off-guard at first! Protect is used as the last move as Tyranitar also likes to attract a lot of dangerous Water or Fighting-type attacks. Sand Stream is also great for chipping down stuff passively. It's also great for resetting the weather in my favour (screw you, Torkoal2) as well as KOing random Endure and Focus Band stuff. Finally, Tyranitar is Adamant instead of Brave. This puts Tyranitar at 33 Speed with the Iron Ball and allows Tyranitar to get double damage Assurances off of Slowbro as well as Dusclops. Sidenote: for the longest time, I thought Stone Edge was 120 BP and not 100, lol. Oops.
Slowbro @ Life Orb
Ability: Own Tempo
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/0
Quiet Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
Finally, we have Slowbro. Admittedly, this was kinda slapped on with no real thought but it honestly proved itself. Scald and Psychic are the best STAB options Slowbro has and can pack quite a punch with the Life Orb. I would have LOVED to be able to run Psyshock instead of Psychic so Slowbro can also take advantage of Dusclops' Leer but alas. Ice Beam is great for Grasses and Dragons, and Focus Blast is to hit Steels and Normals. Slowbro can also provide valuable damage to assist Tyranitar and Hariyama in taking out targets if its next to either of them. Protect isn't used on this set as I feel all four attacks are needed here. Each of them were clicked quite a bit during the streak. Own Tempo is used over Oblivious as I hate confusion and wanted to prevent it from being a problem for Bro. For the first 300 or so battles, I was using a female Slowbro also with Own Tempo, but that Slowbro ended up getting Attracted by Umbreon2 in one battle. I did briefly consider changing the ability but I decided it wasn't really worth losing the confusion immunity, so I bred a new Slowbro. Although, confusion also seems pretty rare in this Tower. I guess the ability is pretty up to personal preference if you plan on using Slowbro for your own Trick Room team.
Barry/Palmer Team 3
Torterra5 / Milotic8 / Snorlax4 / Heatran13
Every time I finished a round, I would dread what team these two would send out. If I saw Torterra and Milotic, I would worry. When I started this streak, I never actually considered how dangerous this team would be. I mean, it makes sense. Two Grass weaks in the back and I also can't use Leer since Milotic has Competitive. Joy. It took me a long time to figure out how to play this battle. I eventually did but even that method wasn't very consistent. Basically, it would depend on if Milotic used Protect or not. I would go Fake Out on Torterra and if Milotic used Protect on turn 1, I keep Dusclops in and proceed to Night Shade+Knock Off on Torterra on turn 2. If Milotic didn't Protect, then I would switch Dusclops out to Slowbro and still hit Torterra with Knock Off. The targeting of the two leads is also incredibly random. I never knew what to expect from them. Usually, if the battle went well, I would be able to safely get Slowbro in, KO Torterra and Milotic on turn 3 with Ice Beam and Close Combat, and then take out Snorlax with Close Combat and remove Heatran in two turns with two Scalds.
It can get pretty dicey though. Losing Hariyama to unlucky targeting can make Snorlax more of a pain to deal with as Focus Blast is a very close 2HKO, and also not guaranteed: 252+ SpA Life Orb Slowbro Focus Blast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Snorlax: 151-179 (64 - 75.8%) -- 90.6% chance to 2HKO after Mago Berry recovery. I never actually missed this 2HKO thankfully, but knowing it could happen filled me with dread. Milotic also became somewhat of an issue to take down without Hariyama, but its AI is pretty dumb and spams Protect a lot. It can be a problem if it gets too many Hydro Pumps on Dusclops though, as most of the time I would need to set a second Trick Room in this battle.
Herman/Natalia
Politoed4 / Kingdra4 / Zapdos7 OR Lapras3 / Scizor5
Ace Trainer duos are always pretty dangerous for many teams. They usually have pretty well-built teams and cause a lot of damage if you aren't careful. Herman and Natalia are no exception. Thankfully, Politoed is pretty stupid and plays pretty randomly. Taking too much damage from its Hydro Pumps though can cause the Scizor behind Kingdra to lock into Bullet Punch of Quick Attack and finish off your weakened mons. I had one nasty run-in with this duo which will detailed in the Notable Battles section. These two can cause real problems if you're not careful.
Sidney/Cain
Ursaring3 / Roserade2 / Sceptile3 / Shiftry3
Three pretty hard hitting Grass-types vs a team with two Grass weaks in the back can get pretty bad. Ursaring can also fire off pretty strong Guts-boosted Facades and Crunches that the team doesn't appreciate. They're pretty easy if you can get a good routine going though. Faking Out Roserade is probably the key here, I always went for Ursaring. It was only after this duo magically stopped showing up that I realized it's better to target Cain's side first.
Jess/Emilee
Whiscash2 / Manectric2 / Vaporeon2 / Luxray2
Whiscash is a terrible set but it has Fissure so it needs to be respected. However, Manectric also has Roar and can stop your Trick Room by scaring out Dusclops if it feels like it. That happened to me once as I hit Whiscash with Fake Out and I had to play the battle without Trick Room for a bit. It can be pretty hard to get Dusclops back in, especially when Whiscash can just OHKO it whenever it feels like. I started to Fake Out Manectric in this fight, as it seemed to be rare for Whiscash to actually use Fissure. It loves to use Spark or Amnesia. I know there's a chance though. Luxray also has weird bulk+Intimidate. It does a lot of damage with its Life Orb. If Hariyama is up however, Leer+Close Combat usually puts it in range of dying to its own Life Orb so there's that.
Titus/Ryne
Heatran5 / Zapdos4 / Rapidash3 / Gallade2
The Heatran set knows Dark Pulse and also has a Bright Powder, making it a difficult target for Fake Out. Outside of that, this team isn't so bad. Rapidash has Focus Band+Horn Drill though, so that's something to watch out for. Tyranitar's sand can make easy work of it though if it lives an attack on the Focus Band. Rapidash also loves to die to Flare Blitz recoil when it does get the Focus Band survival, so there's that.
Harvey/Lyle
Hypno3 / Heatran5 / Rhydon2 / Glalie3
Same Heatran set, so that's the Fake Out target here, but be aware Fake Out can miss because of Bright Powder. On top of that though, Hypno has a Quick Claw and Swagger. It does like to hit Hariyama with Zen Headbutt but the Swagger is always a possibility. Quick Claw allows it to completely ignore your Trick Room and become a problem random flinches or confusion. Glalie has Moody and can get pretty bad if it's not dealt with fast. Rhydon's not so bad as it dies to pretty much anything from Slowbro.
Tyrell/Mikel
Meganium3 / Weezing3 / Walrein2 / Skarmory2
I would LOVE to Fake Out Meganium here and prevent it from setting Reflect, but Weezing has Dark Pulse and needs to be stopped from flinching Dusclops. Of course, the Quick Claw can cause it to completely ignore your Trick Room afterward, but it usually goes down to Fake Out>Knock Off>Leer+Knock Off. Meganium loves to spam Leaf Storm after getting the Reflect up so it's not much of an issue as long as it doesn't get a crit. Walrein is a classic set. Fissure/Sheer Cold/Rest/Sleep Talk. It also holds a Bright Powder so Gravity is a must this battle. Meganium's Light Clay screens can make Walrein a bit of a nightmare to fight though, and usually by the time it comes out, Trick Room is gone so you need to try and get another one up in front of this menace. Also, if Skarmory hits you with too many Sand Attacks, that can make Gravity totally useless. But, it takes a couple of those to start becoming problematic and the Skarmory also loves to use Double Team and... Metal Sound for some reason.
Irene/Darcy
Flygon2 / Granbull3 / Nidoking2 / Articuno3
This is one of the matchups where I wish I had Heavy Slam on Hariyama. Granbull holds a Quick Claw and Flygon is annoying to take down with the Focus Sash. Intimidate also means Hariyama isn't doing too much damage if it stays in. Knocking off Granbull's Quick Claw is a priority here so you don't have to deal with surprise Crunches on Dusclops or Slowbro. Articuno also has the lovely combination of Bright Power+Double Team+Sheer Cold, so Gravity is a priority this fight.
Nadia/Dalvin
Gengar3 / Crobat2 / Milotic3 / Pinsir3
This lead is awful for Hariyama. You can't hit either with Fake Out as Crobat has Inner Focus and Gengar is, well, a Gengar. This leaves Dusclops exposed and it can easily die to a double target from the leads. Crobat is more tempted with targeting Hariyama with Brave Bird though so a quick switch to Tyranitar is the answer here. However, Gengar also has HYPNOSIS and it can put Tyranitar to sleep if it feels like it. This lead is such a nightmare but if you can get past the first two turns, you should be good for the rest of the battle. Beware of Milotic's Cute Charm as it's female and can cause issues for Hariyama and Tyranitar.
Cortney/Celina
Miltank2 / Moltres2 / Entei4 / Glalie3
I didn't consider these two problematic until Miltank hit Dusclops with a Scrappy Giga Impact. It was then I realized a crit Giga Impact could be detrimental: 252+ Atk Silk Scarf Miltank Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 84 Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 138-163 (93.9 - 110.9%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO. Miltank's targeting was pretty random though so you never know who it would hit. Easy Fake Out target, right? Wrong. Moltres holds a King's Rock and it has Heat Wave. It can potentially deny your Trick Room if it clicks that, so that's the Fake Out target here. The rest of the roster isn't that bad though and the team can easily be dealt with once Trick Room is up.
Tiffani/Kenton
Lucario2 / Lopunny2 / Victreebel3 / Arcanine2
Another case of Dark Pulse here but this time, you can't use Fake Out. Lucario2 has Inner Focus which protects it from flinching. Aside from that, this duo isn't the worst to fight. Arcanine has Endure+Reversal so that can be an issue but Tyranitar can get it KOd with Sand.
Sidney/Allie
Articuno4 / Rampardos2 / Staraptor2 / Snorlax2
Another Sheer Cold Articuno, which also has Roar. Prime Fake Out target. Rampardos, however, is very strong and can cause random flinches if it chooses to target Dusclops with Zen Headbutt. It also has a nasty Stone Edge. Taking out Articuno is usually the priority here but I wonder if it's better to remove the Rampardos first. I never actually tried that, but it could help and make these two less problematic. Roar can cause issues though especially if Hariyama or Tyranitar are forced out to Slowbro. Snorlax can also be difficult to take down if Hariyama dies.
Kelton/Anissa
Leafeon2 / Heatran5 / Cradily3 / Absol2
Heatran5 shows up again and this time it has a buddy. Leafeon2 has Bite and loves to use it on Dusclops. I still prefer to Fake Out Heatran here despite the Bright Powder as Dark Pulse hurts. Getting flinched from either feels awful though. Spoiler, this was the team I lost to in my first encounter vs them. I'll detail it below.
Battle 589: Kelton/Anissa - Leafeon2 / Heatran5 / Cradily3 / Absol2
So, first encounter vs these two and Leafeon ends up flinching Dusclops with Bite. That hurt. Turn 2, Leafeon decided to hit Hariyama with Aerial Ace instead and Heatran hit Dusclops with Dark Pulse. Clops didn't flinch this time and was able to get a Trick Room up. Hariyama also managed to KO Heatran with a Close Combat. Absol then comes in. Absol ends up clicking Sucker Punch for probably the first time ever and KOs Dusclops. It's usually Night Slash or Taunt here so I was caught off-guard pretty badly. Anyway, Close Combat brings Absol down to its Sash and Leafeon finishes off Hariyama with another Aerial Ace. Absol then goes for another Sucker Punch into Slowbro, and it was here I reminded this stupid Leafeon has Special bulk and lives Slowbro's Ice Beam. It KOs Bro with Energy Ball. Tyranitar then KOs Absol with Assurance. Thinking back on this, I could have just KOd Leafeon with Assurance and let Absol die to the Sand. Oh well. Anyway, Tyranitar finishes off Leafeon with Assurance. Cradily comes in. I don't have Gravity. Tyranitar lands one Stone Edge. Cradily uses Ingrain. Trick Room expires. Cradily then hits Ttar with Energy Ball, and Tyranitar lands a second Stone Edge. Cradily heals back with the Sitrus Berry. Cradily hits Tyranitar again with Energy Ball. Tyranitar then lands a THIRD Stone Edge without Gravity, but it fails to KO Cradily. Cradily then finishes me off with one final Energy Ball. RIP.
Battle 159: Carlo/Alonso - Articuno4 / Magnezone2 / Glalie2 / Latias2
After Faking Out Articuno, Magnezone paralyzes Hariyama with a Thunderbolt and Trick Room is set. Hariyama gets fully paralyzed and dies to Volt Switch+Aerial Ace. Magnezone switches to Latias. Dusclops set Gravity this turn. I send Tyranitar in. Dusclops uses Leer, and Tyranitar KOs Articuno with Stone Edge. Latias hits Tyranitar with Dragon Pulse. Glalie comes in, and then dies to another Stone Edge. Dusclops hits Latias with Night Shade and Latias uses a Calm Mind. It then goes down to Night Shade+Assurance. Trick Room expires as Magnezone comes back in. Tyranitar Protects from incoming Body Press and Trick Room is brought back up, but Gravity expires. I set it again and bring Mag down to Sturdy with Stomping Tantrum. It KOs Ttar with Body Press, and then dies next turn to Dusclops' Night Shade.
Battle 171: Jess/Emilee - Whiscash2 / Manectric2 / Vaporeon2 / Luxray2
This battle is why I started to Fake Out Manectric here. It Roared out Dusclops which prevented my Trick Room and I had to play without it for a long time. Tyranitar was dragged in as a result. I went for Protect on Ttar and Whiscash whiffs a Fissure into Hariyama. Yikes. Hariyama KOs Whiscash with Close Combat and Manectric Roars out Tyranitar and brings out Slowbro. Vaporeon replaces Whiscash, as Manectric surprisingly Thunderbolts Hariyama. Vaporeon sets up an Aqua Ring. Hariyama KOs Manectric with CC, and Bro hits Vaporeon with Psychic. Luxray comes in and KOs Hari with Quick Attack. Vaporeon uses Surf and Slowbro hits Vaporeon with another Psychic. Dusclops comes back out. Luxray then KOs Slowbro with Wild Charge and Vaporeon uses Surf again. Surf+Wild Charge recoil+Life Orb manages to get the KO on Luxray, which was amusing. Trick Room finally goes up. Tyranitar is sent out but Dusclops manages to finish off the Vaporeon with a Night Shade. Phew.
Battle 197: Ellis/Irene - Abomasnow4 / Bronzong3 / Rhyperior4 / Rotom-Wash2
This is the only matchup where it's okay to not use Trick Room turn 1, I think. Anyway, I target Abomasnow with Fake Out but it Protects. Bronzong uses Rock Slide but misses Dusclops and hits Hari. Dusclops then chips Bronzong with Night Shade. This allows Hariyama with then KO Bronzong with Knock Off.... except I misclicked here and hit Abomasnow with Knock Off. Abomasnow also hit Clops with Shadow Ball and Bronzong uses Body Press on Hariyama. I do get Trick Room though. Dusclops then hits Abomasnow with Night Shade and Hariyama prevents Bronzong from resetting Trick Room by KOing it with Knock Off. Abomasnow uses Blizzard here. Rotom-Wash comes out and dies to Leer+Close Combat. Dusclops then goes down to another Shadow Ball, and Hariyama dies to the Hail. As Tyranitar and Slowbro come in, Abomasnow chooses to not Protect and proceeds to go down to Psychic. Rhyperior then doesn't stand a chance as it comes in and dies to Slowbro's Scald. This probably could have been bad had Torkoal been behind the Abomasnow and not Rhyperior.
Battle 243: Herman/Natalia - Politoed4 / Kingdra4 / Zapdos7 / Scizor5
Oh boy, this battle. Hariyama hits Kingdra with Fake Out and Toed lands a Hydro Pump on Hari. Trick Room then goes up. This is where I didn't read the stupid lookup and forgot that Kingdra was holding a White Herb. Because of this, I use Leer which consumes the White Herb and Hari's Knock Off fails to KO. Politoed Protected so that blocked Leer. Kingdra hits Dusclops with Hydro Pump here. Night Shade+Knock Off then KO Kingdra as Toed then KOs Hari with Hydro Pump. I send Slowbro out as Scizor comes in. Scizor locks into Banded Bullet Punch and KOs Dusclops. Bro fails to KO Scizor with Scald and Toed lands a Pump on Bro. Tyranitar then comes in and Protects as it's not wise to take a Banded Bullet Punch now. Scizor does whiff the BP here so phew. Slowbro then finishes off the Scizor with another Scald and Toed whiffs a Pump into Ttar. Trick Room expires and I'm panicking. Toed misses a Pump on Ttar and takes an Assurance+Psychic and heals back some HP with its Aguav. Now, Ttar Protects again and Toed once again whiffs a Pump into Ttar and goes down to a Psychic. Zapdos comes in and KOs Bro with Thunder in the Sand. Yeah. But, Tyranitar lands a Stone Edge outside of Gravity and wins the battle!
Battle 270: Kendel/Jaime - Moltres4 / Ampharos2 / Regigigas5 / Bastiodon2
Yeah, this one wasn't great. Hariyama whiffs a Fake Out on Moltres and it hits Hariyama with Air Slash. Ampharos sets up a Reflect and Trick Room goes up. Moltres goes down to a Gravity+Stone Edge but Ampharos KOs Hariyama with Focus Punch. Regigigas comes in and I send out Slowbro. Ampharos gets hit by Night Shade+Psychic, and Gigas+Ampharos respond with a Crush Grip+Thunder Punch into Bro. Night Shade+Psychic again to KO Ampharos, and then Gigas KOs Bro with a Stone Edge. Bastiodon comes in as I send out Tyranitar. Leer+Stone Edge target Regigigas, but doesn't KO. Bastiodon hits Clops with a Thunder and Gigas hits Ttar with Brick Break. Trick Room expires. Protect Ttar as Gigas whiffs Brick Break. Bastiodon hits Clops again with Thunder and Trick Room is back up. Set Gravity again and Stone Edge manages to KO Gigas. Bastiodon hits both Ttar and Clops with Blizzard and then dies to Night Shade+Stomping Tantrum.
Battle 373: Mikel/Lyle - Staraptor3 / Torterra3 / Rhydon2 / Blastoise3
Staraptor get hits by Fake Out and Torterra whiffs a Leech Seed into Clops. Trick Room goes up. Set Gravity and Stone Edge KOs Staraptor, as Torterra then crits Hariyama with a Frenzy Plant. Rhydon comes in to replace Staraptor. Clops hits Torterra with Night Shade, and Rhydon hits everything with EQ. It KOs Hariyama. Torterra recharges. Afterward, I sent out Slowbro, which KOs Torterra with Ice Beam. Dusclops Night Shades Rhydon, and Rhydon uses EQ again. Blastoise comes in last. It gets Night Shaded by Duscops, and Rhydon gets KOd by Slowbro's Scald. Blastoise KOs Dusclops with Hydro Pump. Final turn, Tyranitar is sent out as Trick Room expires. Blastoise sets Rain Dance (lol) and then dies to Stone Edge+Psychic.
Battle 467: Johanna/Blair - Mamoswine2 / Gengar3 / Tauros3 / Regirock3
Gengar actually puts Hariyama to sleep! After Trick Room went up, this forced me to switch Hari out to Slowbro and hope that Mamo didn't use Fissure. It ended up using Double Team and Gengar whiffed a Dream Eater. Dusclops also set Gravity this turn. Mamo then goes down to Night Shade+Scald as Gengar puts Dusclops to sleep with Hypnosis this time, but Dusclops wakes right back up thanks to the Lum. Tauros comes in and Clops hits both opponents with Leer. Bro then KOs Gengar with Psychic and Tauros hits Bro with Facade. Regirock comes in last and dies to Night Shade+Scald. Tauros hits Clops with Iron Tail, then EQ after Trick Room expires. It goes down to a Focus Blast.
Battle 520: Daron/Jess - Latios2 / Dewgong2 / Suicune2 / Gallade2
This battle was a bit of a doozy and was almost a loss. After hitting Latios with Fake Out, Dewgong froze Hariyama with an Ice Beam which was Not Good. Anyway, I try to get Hariyama sacced but Latios ignores it and hits Dusclops with Shadow Ball, along with Dewgong Ice Beaming it. I try to get Hari sacced again but they once again both target Dusclops, this time KOing it. I send Slowbro out and KO Latios with Ice Beam. Hariyama stays frozen and gets Encored by Dewgong. Suicune comes out and I finally switch Hari out to Tyranitar. Dewgong gets hit by Psychic but heals itself with Rest, and wakes up with its Chesto Berry. Suicune hits both Slowbro and Ttar with Icy Wind. Trick Room expires. Dewgong and Suicune hit Ttar with Ice Beam+Scald, no freeze or burn. Ttar then lands a Stone Edge on Dewgong! I swear, this Ttar did not miss a single Stone Edge out of Gravity. Anyway, Dewgong goes down. Slowbro hits Suicune with Psychic this turn.
Gallade comes in to replace Dewgong. Ttar Protects itself from the incoming Close Combat, and Suicune Rests to heal back up. Slowbro hits Gallade with a Psychic. I switch Ttar out to Hariyama, which gets hit by CC and survives with 6HP. Psychic then finishes off Gallade. Now we're down to Suicune. Hariyama dies to the Sand and Ttar is sent back out. Suicune continues to snooze and gets hit by Assurance+Psychic. Suicune then wakes up and finishes off Slowbro with a Scald and.... Tyranitar lands another Stone Edge to win the battle!
I was really hoping to hit 1k with this team, but it just wasn't meant to be. I did try a second streak but that died to Barry/Palmer in the 300s. I think I might try again, maybe build something else. But for now, that's all.
So I want to start this off by going back in time to 2014, when the Battle Maison was the first time I got remotely serious about battle facility play. Of course at the time there also were older games, where I did not exactly have the time or (at the time) RNG skills to get massive rosters ready to practise with different teams but still wanted to try my hand at for the in-game rewards at least, starting with the Platinum frontier. With that in mind, finding a fun and mostly success assured goodstuff team made sense, and it should not come as a surprise that one of the gold standard teams from those days was Jumpman's Suizorus. Now of course Haxorus does not exist in Platinum (and Dragonite is still waiting for a lot of its toolkit that makes it good), so Suizorus became Suizomence. The streak (apparently; forgive me it's been 8-9 years) ended at 112, which I am sure could have been better, but I remember finding the Platinum tower difficult between old crit mechanics plus (compared to the Maison) extreme prevalence of full elemental coverage which is just as fun to face as it sounds with this team; so, between lack of leaderboard incentive plus having unlocked the Trainer star for 100 straight wins anyway, I moved on to the Maison full time battle facility wise. Suizomence also won me the Arcade and Castle gold prints later (and standard Hall Garchomp won me that one), still hoping I'll ever find the motivation to get back to the Factory at some point and finish what I started.
Anyways, enter BDSP. After gen 6 I never got into the Battle Tree because general burnout + being put off with the timesink + personal vow to never touch a metagame that allows Mega Mawile, and between having lots of other Pokemon stuff to do on here + my Omega Ruby cart also dying for 1800 hour playtime reasons I hadn't played battle facilities remotely seriously for 5 years by then, but the obvious allure of "let's see how Suizomence has stood the test of time" should be obvious. It didn't really materialise as such at the time though; Nintendo fricking up Home plus the games in general turning out to straight up not have a reason to exist over the original DPP other than Blissey dying to Close Combat less slowly meant this had already fallen off my radar by the time I even had the chance to transfer this team up, and me still having to get Bank and Home set up plus having to rebreed Salamence and not getting to use the good Suicune and Scizor sets because apparently rare old movesets are no longer worth preserving for some hecking reason made for some additional inertia barriers to get over.
It was not until the summer after that I finally got Bank for real, prompted by the eShop shutdown, which meant that I could get my old teams out of my Omega Ruby copy and go have some nostalgic fun in the Y / Alpha Sapphire Maisons. The first team I grabbed was Greninja/Mega Scizor/Gliscor, and my first streak in like six years ended up reaching ~1450, just shy of the team's PB, at the very least reassuring me that I am at least a little impervious to rust. Sorry if I come off braggy here but honestly I think it's somewhat justified lol, unfortunately it also just barely didn't warrant a post either, and of course it also meant that rather than motivation for newer and bigger things it ended up rekindling my aversion to the timesink, so the planned BDSP tower attempt once again got pushed back. Subsequent nostalgia trips did happen, with the "hey I still don't suck" results being another couple 500+ doubles streaks with WeavGarde and Greninziken, in addition to getting the Trainer Passport stamps in the Tree I guess, but ye still nothing that hadn't been done and documented before. Maybe that'll change some day when I get around to get around to breeding a reduced Special Defense IV Torchic (relevant calc: 0+ SpA Slowbro Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken (25 SpD IVs): 156-186 (100 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO; Trick Room worries mitigated? maybe?), but yea not the point right now. Just so many ideas and so little time/energy.
Onwards to the actual point then, since I finally did get around to this this autumn, and the introductory rambling has been long enough lol. For context, yes these have been moved over from Platinum (or well the Suicune and Scizor have been, Mence would have been too if not for transfer move gutting silliness); they're not the very first Suizomence that I first beat Palmer with, which weren't breed or reset for anything other than nature, but after I learned RNG I redid the entire team and used it to get the 100+ Tower streak as well as the Castle and Arcade gold prints. To put experience into perspective a bit, this is the only team I've used in the Tower; my streak in the regular battles is 301 and counting, and the total number of battles I've played in masters is just over 300, going off the last reward I've gotten, across two decent streaks and a couple short ones.
So I figure there's nothing too shocking going on here moveset wise, with the two obvious attacking moves and the obvious boosting move. I don't think there's anything useful really that Salamence gets in the way of additional coverage, and Substitute does Substitute things like always and notably also trivialises matchups like Registeel-4 that have some serious headache potential without it. Roost is the main alternative, but in general terms I think this team has enough sustainability as is with the two backups that I have, and (though I will admit I have never considered Roost seriously to the point of feeling a need to seriously think a comparison through) there's also a lot more situations where I get utility out of Substitute, between shutting down annoyers, OHKO move users, and weak attackers (e.g. Gastrodon) that actually become royal pains without it. Roost on the other hand doesn't bring too much to mind other than Roost spamming on fast Electrics, which isn't bad but hf doing that while dodging paralysis, and even if I were to do that on Rock-types Mence rly wishes it were Dragonite instead. Generally I just feel like that if I am gonna drop Substitute I just shouldn't be using Salamence at all, not to mention that not running Substitute at all in a place like this is not something that should be done lightly anyways.
While still a generic "mild Speed cut + optimised for Download users" spread, the EVs are not the same I used on Platinum, where I put 60 into HP and 180 into Speed instead, and I wish I could for the life of me remember what this got the jump on; beating out Jolteon at +1 would have been the non-negotiable benchmark, but this actually is in quite substantial excess for that. Looking at what it actually hits it appears I went for neutral-natured base 90s, for whatever it's worth, though I have no idea if I was thinking of anything specific. This time around though I ended up having to reconsider that when I was grinding the regular battles and I came across this:
which Suicune managed to beat thanks to some helpful hax but did prompt me to check if this one also existed in the master ranks, and of course it did; and while I did somehow get bailed out vs this one there wasn't really gonna be any way of stopping a similar all-out attacker Life Orb set from running right through my team with the free +2 boost. Flipping the Speed tiers around and having an Outrage that does 80% minimum suddenly trivialises this one though; get those two rounds of Life Orb recoil (either through a double Sub or a Scizor sack, depending on team composition) and just lock and load up. Beating out positive-natured base 80s is extremely convenient as well of course with Palmer sending a Jolly Dragonite my way approximately once every 7 battles and in a lot of cases the more hax-proof strat against his teams actually involving a direct Outrage and Bullet Punch revenge kill.
I've alluded to this before, but I probably should talk about other Dragon-type options real quick as well. Dragonite would run a similar DD set, except with Roost over Substitute, where the choice between those two is not really a matter of either being objectively better than the other, but rather them just being more suited to the Pokemon in general; if you want to run Roost Salamence you really probably should just be using Dragonite instead, and vice versa. Garchomp actually might just be an outright better fit on this team on account of helping a lot with this team's issues with Electric-types and keeping Sub around; inability to boost Speed is the main downside and actually does suck, see e.g. backup Latios turning from Outrage fodder into an actual pain, but I'm hesitant to comment more when the 300-ish battles I've had here aren't enough yet to actually see every threat in action properly enough to talk much about Pokemon I haven't used. I'm sure anyone with lead Garchomp experience has commented enough about it in this thread!
In the end the combination of Speed boosting + Intimidate is where Salamence's niche lies over the other two; I haven't talked about Intimidate here too much yet because genuinely it does come into play a lot less than with e.g. Gyarados + Aegislash and with Suicune's lack of Rock resistance repeated switch-stalling is only a thing versus the likes of Mamoswine and Swampert. But even with less absurd PP stalling capabilities the extra cushion helps a lot with setup and allows Salamence to support not only itself but the entire team as well, e.g. turning Mamoswine into a free setup for Suicune rather than an unboosted 2HKO that leaves it very weakened, in addition to many more examples where even a single drop makes the Rest loops so much more comfy (or possible at all, for that matter).
Pt. 1 of I hate BDSP move transfers, give me back Icy Wind. Suicune is here for great bulky sweeping capabilities and obvious defensive synergy with Salamence, notably also providing a freeze absorber thanks to Scald, which is a great upgrade to this team from Platinum that BDSP thankfully did not decide to be cheeky and take away. For those unfamiliar with this spread, the idea is that it allows Suicune to switch in on the notorious Focus Sash Garchomp, tank even a crit +2 Earthquake, and 2HKO it with Icy Wind while outspeeding by a single point after the first one, which is pretty cool with how much of an ass this one tends to be to answer. Now, this scenario is of course no longer applicable, not only because no more Icy Wind lol but also because the +2 crit EQ calc is no longer a factor on account of this Garchomp set running Outrage now plus Garchomp actually being at +1 not +2 after Intimidate; I left the investment intact though, because when I started out I wanted to change as little as possible, and "some Speed creep" isn't bad anyways. It actually worked out really nicely though, because the 112 tier has tricky foes like Magnezone, where getting to attack first is extremely convenient, plus Registeel-3, where having the initiative actually allows Suicune to set up on its Thunders without significant trouble. Maybe it should be bumped up one point further as well to avoid the tie with Metagross-3 and let Suicune set up on it much more comfortably as well, but this one ended up on my radar only recently so haven't gotten around to doing anything with it yet.
In any case, no matter how much I'd wanted to have Icy Wind, I still think Ice Beam is mandatory over something like Substitute, in no small part due to the AI being PP Maxed this time around. Situations where not getting Suicune to +6 is more desirable than risking crits or whatever are very much a thing, and the extra coverage against e.g. Dragonite or Grass-type backups is extremely welcome. Now as a disclaimer it's also entirely possible I'd just suck at using SubCune since I haven't actually used it myself before, but tmu the general idea was to get rid of low-PP moves through a single cycle of Sub down repeatedly -> Rest back up, which in tandem with Pressure would be enough to leave the enemy incapable of threatening Suicune properly. That may still hold to some extent with moves like Stone Edge, but now that moves like Earthquake have an effective 8 PP rather than 5, that means being able to hold out for longer is a lot more important. Substitute conventionally being paired with Chesto Berry rather than Leftovers is another thing here, since (especially with Intimidate increasing the effective percentage of recovery even more) the recovery is so instrumental in being able to tank attacks for longer and Rest loop more safely. As with a lot of things I don't have the same number of examples here that I would have had I had thousands of battles worth of experience rather than a couple hundreds, but Suicune having a substantial chance to not make it through stalling Lucario's Close Combat after it loses its Leftovers to Gentleman Jerrell's lead Scizor's Thief is one thing, and of course Palmer's Heatran's Earth Power is another case where Leftovers makes for an effective 30% defense boost after just a single Calm Mind and the accumulated recovery gets pretty absurd over time.
anyways um yea since I didn't actually explain the set yet too much, Suicune still does Suicune things; which is not just tank stuff with bulk + Rest, Calm Mind, kill stuff, but Pressure in general also is essential here. Exhausting strong moves twice as quickly is just as good as it sounds of course, but it also helps a lot in cases where Suicune actually can't kill the opposing Pokemon. Think opposing Suicune or Palmer / Cynthia's Milotic, which kill Salamence, Scald burn Scizor, and wall Suicune, but Suicune also walls them in return, and because we understand PP stalling better than the AI does they're sitting ducks after they've wasted all their Scald / in Suicune's case Ice Beam PP while I just sit here spamming Rest and Calm Mind.
Pt. 2 of I hate BDSP movesets, give me back Bug Bite. Thankfully it's not really Scizor's main move here, but the extra power is never a bad thing, especially in a facility with a power level like this one, where getting to +6 is not always a given. Once again no good example handy off the top of my head, but e.g. if Raikou-5 takes out Salamence with a crit Specs Thunderbolt, Bug Bite + Bullet Punch at least has a chance of taking it out in return, unlike X-Scissor + Bullet Punch, which leaves me in an autoloss position without a crit.
Back to Scizor; as usual it's here mostly for a great defensive typing with priority sweeping that allows it to react quickly and turn momentum around, setting up to +6 when it has enough of a defensive advantage but also being the go-to answer to faster, frailer threats that Salamence/Suicune can't handle as easily, such as Alakazam, Porygon-Z, and many more that aren't just the first random two that come to mind. With Scizor's go-to playstyle (i.e. tank + boost) a bulky offensive spread over a speedy one is a no-brainer, where it gets just enough Speed to get the jump on foes it might want to Roost ahead of time on or it can't finish off with Bullet Punch. In this case the spread I used on Platinum had it at 91 Speed, which I lazily reused from the Maison but gives it the jump on foes like (slow) Ludicolo, Politoed, and Lanturn. These are of course good examples of targets you can't use Bullet Punch on, but the main target that got me to reconsider the EVs actually wasn't an X-Scissor target: Shedinja. I'd honestly forgotten this one existed when I ran into Shedinja-1 in the regular mode, and if you've been following along with the attacking moves that I'm using you'll understand that I let out a chuckle att. Not that it was an actual problem, because between Intimidate + weak damaging moves + recovery on two of my Pokemon + Pressure + my notorious lack of aversion to long battles all it took was 15-20 minutes of switching back and forth until it died to Struggle, but of course I did feel the need to look up if there were more of these around, and turned out Fantina had one too. A notoriously more offensive set at that that could also make Roosting back up with Scizor annoying with repeated Shadow Claw crits, and since it would take only two more Speed points to get the initiative, it was an easy decision. Now full disclosure this was when I still thought that after clearing rank 10 you'd get random bosses rather than just Palmer over and over, so if you thought this is a rather nonexistent benchmark then yes you'd be right, but shrug "only two points" cuts both ways anyways.
The main interesting thing to talk about with Scizor is actually its item, because it's a perpetual headscratcher and I think I still haven't solved it properly. I really really wish Scizorite still existed, because with the power boost (more on that in a sec!) + bulk increase (esp special attacks Scizor is deceptively frail to, you know it's funny when it takes 40% from non-STAB Shadow Ball or 45% from resisted Adaptability Tri Attack…) it's the perfect item by a landslide, but here we'll have to figure out Something Else. On Platinum, Something Else was Occa Berry, but that was very much a panic button against the full elemental fangs / full elemental punches overload and something that I hoped I would not need here. On White 2, where I used Suizorus proper but stopped after Ingo, I can't for the life of me remember what Something Else was… with the sets being much more like the Maison Occa Berry would have been similarly pointless, and I'm like 70% sure I was using Steel Gem. Either that or Life Orb, but I feel like that would have given me too much "counterproductive" vibes. The best option would of course be Leftovers, but that one is taken here, and given the paragraphs of praise I just sung for Leftovers Suicune it's obvious I wasn't gonna change things there. If the goal of Scizor's item was gonna be sustainability, I'd sooner run Sitrus or Iapapa Berry Scizor than Chesto Berry Suicune.
Something Else ended up being Iron Plate. The reason is simple: in the Battle Maison, max Attack Adamant Mega Scizor's +6 Bullet Punch would just barely reach a ton of OHKOs on frail Fire- and Electric-types, which regular Scizor would just miss out on without a boosting item. Given that I really appreciated not having my sweep interrupted att and this team in general additionally is too soft vs. Electric-types, I figured doing what I could to emulate these rolls here should be my go-to. Charizard, Ninetales, and even max HP Magmortar are just a few examples where Iron Plate turns +6 Bullet Punch into a guaranteed OHKO, Jolteon now folds to just +4 Bullet Punch, Togekiss has a substantial chance to fall even to an unboosted one in a pinch, and so on and so forth.
Lapras-4 Water Absorb Sitrus Berry Surf Freeze-Dry Thunderbolt Sheer Cold Modest 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpAtk
Raikou-5 Inner Focus Choice Specs Thunderbolt Volt Switch Shadow Ball Scald Timid 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Rotom-Wash-1 Levitate Wiki Berry Hydro Pump Thunderbolt Volt Switch Will-O-Wisp Bold 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
Zapdos-6 Static Life Orb Thunder Hurricane Heat Wave Volt Switch Modest 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Zapdos-8 Static Magnet Discharge Volt Switch Roost Hurricane Bold 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
…etc, not remotely exhaustive but you get the idea, let's just call this "fast or bulky Electric-types or Electric coverage users"? Purely type chart wise Electric-types are an obvious threat here and the main Pokemon that can take on unboosted Scizor + Suicune together. All are handled in different ways of course, and a lot of the time they tend to be "standard plays" as well, but this is where the team's weak spots shine sometimes. See e.g. Raikou-5 being a pretty standard "DD once, Earthquake KO" situation, but if it gets a Thunderbolt crit on the setup turn then oops goodbye Mence, and I actually just straight up lose unless Scizor gets an X-Scissor crit. Zapdos tends to be in a similar boat for offensive sets, defensive sets get a lot of room to hax me between setup + Static + single boost Outrage 2HKO being the safest play here, etc you get it, and of course that one is also that can be beyond nasty as a backup. Ace Trainer Herman's Rotom-W is probably the foe I'm most scared to see atp, with bonus points for the potential Zapdos backup lol; +1 Outrage 2HKO or +2 Outrage OHKO works, but that's two turns where it gets to attack me and I can only dodge Wisp once unless I manage to use Sub at the right time which I am not fully sure yet how it works (free the VS recorder…). Faced it two times, the first time it did use Wisp but I messed up plus got crit multiple times in the remainder and lost, second time it Volt Switched out but I still won because he was using the Arcanine variant.
Of course it's not just Electric-types outright, since anything with coverage is potentially nasty. Lapras was the first example that came to mind, which idt I can beat without losing a Pokemon. The go-to is sack Salamence to use Outrage into finish it off with +2 X-Scissor, which still leaves me in a position to beat every Trainer that uses it, but you get the idea.
and other physical setup sweepers that Salamence can't handle and I generally can't hit hard. Feraligatr and Gyarados are the ones I'm most scared of and I honestly feel it's in part luck that I haven't lost to them yet; the go-to approach is go Suicune, Calm Mind once or twice, and just spam Scald to take them down gradually while relying on Suicune's bulk and the headstart from Intimidate. I don't exactly have anything better between Salamence getting blasted off the screen and Scizor not resisting Water, so the best I can do is just try to wear them down or burn them before they overpower me. So far it has actually worked, and tbh I feel it shouldn't have, but between the AI generally being Dumb Af in terms of assessing optimal boosting -> attacking plans and them also just generally bailing me out sometimes by "cleverly" switching to a Grass-type or Gastrodon after I start clicking Scald, it's worked out so far. Scizor is less bad in the sense that it at least doesn't resist Scald but can turn into a headache if it has the mindfulness to boost twice right away. Usual outcome is a weakened Suicune that has lost Leftovers to Thief, hasn't been worse than that so far.
Garchomp-3 Rough Skin Focus Sash Earthquake Outrage Rock Tomb Swords Dance Jolly 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Obvious scary demon etc, not fun to face as a backup either but at least it loses to boosted Suicune/Scizor or boosted Mence with a Sub active I guess. What I'm most scared of is it just running through my team from the lead position, which I'd absolutely be scared of if it boosts as I switch Salamence out, with Icy Wind unhelpfully no longer existing. Unpredictability really sucks here, and the main calc I was going off of was the following:
-1 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Salamence: 164-194 (94.3 - 111.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
where getting to predict the AI turns fun. Thankfully Jolly Dragonite has pretty much the same roll, so Palmer helpfully provided me with a testing sample by having his Dragonite DD on turn 1 pretty much every time, so I guess the Maison's "non-guaranteed KO" AI behaviour rule of thumb still applies. Now, I have only faced this one as a lead once so far, but yes Garchomp did the same thing and took Mence's Outrage to the face turn 1 as it set up SD and was revenge killed by Bullet Punch after, while on a team where Suicune + Scizor could handle the backups. So for all I know this might not be an actual threat and instead just a slightly more complicated than usual but ultimately entirely flowcharty matchup, but it warrants the discussion regardless.
Blaziken-5 Speed Boost Focus Sash Fire Punch Close Combat Acrobatics Swords Dance Adamant 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Rampardos-2 Mold Breaker Focus Sash Rock Polish Stone Edge Earthquake Zen Headbutt Adamant 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
etc, maybe not specifically threats per se but stuff with an offensive presence that I can't easily wall needs to be taken out quick of course, and similarly to Garchomp, Focus Sash means I have to do it through a 2HKO as well and realistically won't have room to boost. Rampardos is actually a bad example, since while idt there's a good way to avoid losing Salamence to it it's only on a single team where Suicune soloes the backups anyways, but just to prove the point of the Sash forcing me into losing a Pokemon I guess. Blaziken is in a similar boat, where it actually can't beat Salamence as it gets taken out by Earthquake + Outrage, but the backups on the teams it's on are so nasty lol and the momentum loss from having only a single option while also being forced to take multiple attacks is real. Maybe this one shouldn't actually be there and a near-loss (or actual loss?) on an earlier run has just left that much of an impression, but who knows ig, and once again threat/difficult dynamic discussion is always good.
Last one does not have any mons listed per se, but it's worth noting that this team can be outplayed by AI switching or VoltTurn, if it manages to bring in something that Suicune needs boosts to handle while it hasn't boosted yet (usually Electric-types). One such example is Pelipper-3 which I'll get to later, but there also was an early loss where I faced lead Skarmory-4 and tried to PP stall its Whirlwind to set up Suicune, but as I used Ice Beam as a pseudo-skip turn button it took that as its cue to switch in Magnezone on an unboosted Suicune the turn after. Oops, they didn't use to do that in the Maison. Note to self, avoid "chip" that a potential backup resists, and maybe in this particular case my initial idea of going for a 1v3 Suicune sweep without preserving Scizor was the way to go after all.
That'll have to do on the team desc for now, though I may write a "how to play" guide vs leads / teams at some point too. So, how actually did Suizomence pass the test of time?
(I'll send the video to Eisen in PMs after I take it + figure out how to do this without YouTube in the equation if that's allowed? Wanted to get this up though and also honestly am not keen to risk doxxing my reflection in my Switch screen so ya)
For transparency: this was not for a leaderboard run per se, I meant it when I said that I was here to see how this team in particular would fare and that I highkey don't miss the timesink required to put up notable numbers from my Maison days. All I was going for was achieve something "notable"; it was hard to know exactly where to draw that line after being away from this scene for so long, but I felt that 100 was about where it would be, going off this Tower's difficulty reputation + the numbers put up on the leaderboard so far. Roughly on par with 500 in the Maison achievement level wise was my estimate. So 100 was the pipe dream I was hoping I'd reach, and, well, "good enough" I guess.
The loss was annoying and stupid. The Trainer was Psychic Gunner (Jynx-3/Regirock-1/Skarmory-2), where Scizor was frozen on the Ice Beam switch and did not thaw while Jynx hit back-to-back Focus Blasts, then plan B of Rest looping through its Psychic PP with Calm Mind boosts was folded by a SpDef drop on the very first Psychic. Sour note to end this streak on when right after the loss I realised that going to Suicune first and bringing in Scizor on Psychic instead would have ruled this scenario out entirely and this is actually not a situation like Articuno or Porygon-Z where Scizor can't avoid risking the freeze. Maybe I should have set my personal goal at 150 or 200 after all; the contrast with my play optimisation in the 100th battle was enormous. (Ace Trainer Cortney, Zapdos-4 / Hippowdon-2 / Nidoking-2, normally a +1 Salamence sweep but not if Hippowdon's Ice Fang is a crit, still won with Suicune and notably found myself managing Suicune's HP so as to stay even out of Nidoking's crit range.) I guess I really am one of those people that need a concrete point to chase in order to peak. Or maybe I'm being too hard on myself; from what I remember of Jumpman's notes in the Maison, I think Haxorus was "hard mode" compared to e.g. Kangliscune, so it made sense that this would extent to this team too, and the sheer number of matchups that can be saved through unintuitive outs and how hard autopilot play gets punished might support this too.
This was not the first good run with this team; a couple weeks ago I actually already made it to 95, where the loss happened vs the demon Pelipper-3 / Zapdos-6 / Relicanth-2 rain team. Rain per se is not a problem (Salamence can set up on Politoed-3 until it Belly Drums, Suicune can stonewall Politoed-5 until it forces itself back out via Perish Song), but this team is different. Suicune is the only one that can even think of handling Pelipper here for obvious reasons, which it did alright the first time I faced this team, except this time it U-turned out after I got a second Calm Mind in. This actually was still enough to tank Zapdos's Thunder and take it out with Life Orb recoil but also left me in Relicanth's Head Smash range when it came out. The play here was to sacrifice Salamence for Intimidate, allowing Scizor to Roost spam Relicanth down with its own Head Smash recoil, but unfortunately turns worked out so that Pelipper could reset rain again when it came in. Scizor still managed to waste a bunch of turns and Hydro Pump PP through more Roost spam but went down in the end; Suicune now did manage to Rest back up but ended up getting confused by a Hurricane during the Rest loop, and when I tried to Rest back up again after it woke up, the self-hit put me in Hurricane range, which hit despite rain already having run out. Fun fact: Icy Wind would actually have won me this battle, because the extra round of Leftovers recovery from needing two turns to take Zapdos down would have been just enough to leave Suicune out of -1 Relicanth's Head Smash range. Oh well.
I honestly wasn't sure I'd try again at this point, because the general razor's edge in singles plus self-awareness that this team has a bunch of cases where it just loses to a singular instance of hax (see e.g. the lead specskou crit scenario) had me wonder if it was doable to get back here, or at least rewarding to take another shot at. Clearly "100" proved too much to stay away from though; attempts to grind back up after the first loss were a mixed bag, and I will say that this run was the first time in like four attempts that I got past 40 again. In one case the loss was against something genuinely insane (the aforementioned Rotom-W battle), but the two other losses went from just silly (pointlessly losing Scizor to Mamoswine-2 because "surely +2 Bullet Punch is not a KO and surely I am not in Earthquake range" into a Fissure hit on Suicune that I honestly deserved atp) to "understandable but should not happen if at full brain capacity" (sacking Salamence to defeat a lead Nidoqueen-4 into losing to a Swampert-4 that, without the Intimidate drop, Suicune could no longer outstall when an Earthquake crit happened during a Rest loop, where preserving Salamence would have been possible through using Suicune or Scizor depending on team composition for the initial chip to put Nidoqueen in EQ range). This taught me that no this really is not a facility that can be multitask grinded with this team, and the next attempt proved me right that 95 was not a fluke, but with the latest loss being in a similar category of avoidableness as the Swampert one, I guess my focus once again broke after I hit my goal.
So, what now? I do think this team can be better; between this team having reached multiple 100-ish runs now + this loss being lame I don't think it's crazy to say that I can beat or at least repeat this as my understanding of this facility gets closer to Battle Maison levels. Future attempts will be with this team and not with edits of it though. I think the Garchomp experiment is worthwhile, and similarly a friend recommended that I change Scizor around for Rotom-H, which I think giving up Scizor is too much but actually isn't a crazy idea in terms of difficult matchups that it covers; if only the set can be sorted out, TrickScarf is a given here but not even Hidden Power Fire existing anymore is just rude. However, like I said I am specifically here for Suizomence, not for an attempt at top 3, so changing up teams would kind of defeat the point entirely. Unless of course I get a hugely inspiring idea for an entirely fresh team, but I figure it was clear I wasn't talking about that anyways.
Whether I'll give it another shot is up in the air. I know for a fact that I would have let this be for good on a less unsatisfying loss or a number closer to 200, and the knowledge of the existing "one moment of hax and you lose" matchups a la lead Raikou-5 also means I really have to consider if going for higher numbers is actually a rewarding use of my time. There is also the fact that this facility is just… not always fun? The constant razor's edge with constantly having two sheets and three calculators open means I have to concentrate too hard for my own good here (for all the sh*t the Maison gets for being too easy, it actually got "pacing" right for sure imo!), and, more importantly, the additional difficulty in building a truly hax-proof goodstuff team adds a lot of variance of the bad kind here. The preset teams are of course another thing I can't not address here; I think any notion of them making things "too" difficult is overstated because bad rolls of the dice happen on randomised teams anyway and you need to handle them anyway, functionally all this changes is make them more common, and I actually think they're a necessary evil to mitigate difficulty a bit by letting you know when it's safe to sack mon x or set up sweeper y over z. It's genuinely just that at some point you have seen all the matchups and the whole thing turns scripted, which just gets well. dull lol when puzzling through matchups is the entire point here. Like, as much as part of me appreciates Palmer for essentially being a free win at the end of every set with how much I can dream those matchups atp and got to figure out "unintuitive" strats to minimise hax odds, this is how it really starts to feel before long:
Anyways! Overall though, this still lets me do what I want in battle facilities, since having a team to play with and using it to puzzle my way through matchups is what I live for, and razor's edge and repetitiveness aside of course this facility has let me do that. I have never considered myself a good builder (as should be clear from how most of my Maison teams use turskain sets or spreads and how this team started off as an edit of one by the greatest singles player to ever do it lol), and piloting is where I think my strengths are. If this is actually a "hard mode" team, then we have our worthwhile challenge right there; trying to squeeze out a team's potential to the very last drop has always been and still is super rewarding and was what made my time with team Marathon in particular such a complete joy, I hope I got at least an initial step done on this team here, and that I get something similar to do again in a future game (or well realistically remake I guess :<) if they put back the ability to turn off animations. Most of all though I'm honestly happy to well. be here, especially when I have very much been playing again on and off for a while now but the only people that know about it are myself and my friends who somehow don't seem to mind that I don't shut up about this, and it's taken way too long to finally have something to show for it again, even if it's a comparatively modest one that I'm ultimately not confident does its namesake justice. This may actually be the last time I get to do one of these, it also may not be, but either way it means a lot to be able to dance with everyone again after seven years.
What would be the best doubles team to unlock master class doubles? I wanted to try out the battle tower since I never tried a battle facility before, and use some of my favorites in it, but it takes forever to do 49 battles in it and I lost one of the last battles earlier so I want to make sure I unlock it this time.
I'm in the middle of a streak right now, so another question, will using a different team reset the streak?
What would be the best doubles team to unlock master class doubles? I wanted to try out the battle tower since I never tried a battle facility before, and use some of my favorites in it, but it takes forever to do 49 battles in it and I lost one of the last battles earlier so I want to make sure I unlock it this time.
I'm in the middle of a streak right now, so another question, will using a different team reset the streak?
I think any of the teams on the Doubles Masters leaderboard could easily get you past the Classic mode. Notably, I think Eisenherz’s Rain squad or any of the Dusknoir+Aron teams. And no, switching teams midstreak will not reset your streak.
I think any of the teams on the Doubles Masters leaderboard could easily get you past the Classic mode. Notably, I think Eisenherz’s Rain squad or any of the Dusknoir+Aron teams. And no, switching teams midstreak will not reset your streak.
*I wasn't paying attention and didn't end up recording the first battle of the 7
Hello again.
Just wanted to give an update on the streak I had. Nothing has changed with the team, but I was able to get it to 1,050. I've definitely learned a lot through this process (as far as playing "safe" and minimizing risk, being very aware of the team I'm facing, not disregarding ANY battle or getting distracted irl, etc.), but I think I've gotten everything I needed out of this Battle Tower.
Something I thought I'd mention was that I would sometimes get into loops of trainers where I would see almost identical trainers of 6 every other round. So the first 6 would be certain trainers, the next 6 would be other trainers, and then the following 6 would be the same as the first with maybe 1 or 2 different, and this staggered pattern would repeat for a couple of days. Interesting how this might relate to the "trick" I had mentioned before.
Also, since I'm taking the time to update, I thought I'd also describe some more awful matchups/close calls for those interested
Here are some trainers/teams that still give me trouble, and my solutions to facing them:
Ace Trainer Jane w/ Ninetales, Shiftry, Latios
This battle almost netted me a loss due to a crit. To have the chance of loss at 0%, I start with Volt Switch on Ninetales to Garchomp. This approach is specifically in case you're facing the other team with the Dragon Dance Dragonite. You then Swords Dance for this very reason, and Earthquake the Ninetales, and then continue to Outrage the Dragonite (switch from Garchomp if Shiftry comes out).
Sometimes, Jane will switch to Latios directly which is where this battle gets scary. You should probably Outrage immediately instead of the gut instinct to switch to Scizor. Although Garchomp will most likely faint, it's not super necessary for the rest of the battle. Better this than risk a crit against a switched-in Scizor which almost automatically earns a loss. Once Scizor is in after Garchomp faints, immediately use Thief and then Bullet Punch to kill risk of fainting. Even if you get critted here (which I did), you survive and can continue the match while most likely making it. Ninetales is next, and you can switch to Rotom-Wash. You go for Thunderbolts which most likely will down Ninetales, and then hope Scizor can finish everything with Bullet Punches.
I also had it where Ninetales used Will-O-Wisp instead of Fire Blast. This could be trouble if Ninetales decides to continue using this even after burning Rotom-Wash, but pray that you switch to Scizor while they switch to Shiftry. Finally, just Bullet Punch Shiftry and then Ninetales until Rotom-Wash eventually brings down Ninetales.
Ace Trainer Irene w/ Espeon, Blaziken, Clefable
I hate this battle. So much. Specifically, Clefable induces anxiety I can't even describe.
Strategy starts with Trick on Espeon and hope you land this at least within 2 tries (due to the dreaded Bright Powder). Most common response which I will describe is Espeon using Light Screen on Trick. Volt Switch on either Clefable or Blaziken. If Clefable, go to Scizor and Bullet Punch (and Roost) continuously and hope it works. If switches from Clefable to Blaziken, go to Garchomp and Earthquake. Once Clefable comes back out, go back to Scizor and repeat.
The worst part about this is Unaware and Minimize. If Clefable goes with Minimize early, this battle can take forever and Clefable may setup to finish Scizor. Pull every ounce of luck you might have against this thing and breathe a sigh of relief when it goes down. If you Volt Switch into Blaziken, you pretty much do the same thing as above. Also, Trick and Volt Switch should be the best way to accommodate for Irene's other team containing the scary Cloyster.
Bird Keeper Allie w/ Lapras, Aerodactly, Electivire (either team)
This might be one of the worst as far as chances of losing. Lapras specifically is really awful to take down as both Freeze-Dry and Sheer Cold can be streak-ending. The below is what I've encountered a few times against the Sheer Cold user (that doesn't have FD) and can probably be done differently (or better) against the Freeze-Dry Lapras as this is Lapras's preferred attack.
Thunderbolt until Lapras faints. This is due to Sheer Cold potentially merking whoever switches in. The problem with this strategy is that Allie will (maybe half the time? More?) switch to Electivire, taking the Thunderbolt to raise its speed with Motor Drive. This is a terrible situation. With Electivire now being faster than Garchomp and with Ice Punch, you have no choice but to limit this Electivire.
If this happens, switch to Garchomp, switch back to Rotom-Wash and hope you don't get frozen or critted since you'd probably lose then. Use Trick, switch to Garchomp for Wild Charge, then switch to Scizor and probably see Aerodactyl. Bullet Punch until Lapras, and go to Rotom-Wash and then Garchomp to take out the rest of the team.
It may be better to switch to Scizor after the first Thunderbolt (and you confirm this Lapras preferred to use Sheer Cold). Even if Scizor faints to Sheer Cold, you can switch to Garchomp and setup using Substitute and Swords Dance assuming this Lapras doesn't have Freeze-Dry. The chances of Garchomp fainting in this way are probably much lower than losing from the above method, and the rest of the strategy depends on whether Garchomp still has the Substitute after fainting Lapras. If I ever see this trainer again, I might try this instead, but the risk of Lapras setting up Double Teams on Scizor sounds just as bad. Probably best to just avoid this trainer.
Tower Tycoon Palmer w/ Dragonite, Cresselia, Heatran
Seems weird to list someone you see every round of battles, but I actually had to think carefully for a couple of battles against this team.
So I always start with using Trick on his Dragonite who will 95% of the time get stuck in Dragon Dance. When Dragonite uses Outrage, things get more interesting. Once Choiced into Outrage, immediately switch to Scizor and use Roost until at full health (2 crits won't down Scizor, but it's best to make sure something crazy doesn't happen). Then just Bullet Punch or Roost until Dragonite faints, and expect Heatran. Switch to Garchomp and use Earthquake. The problem I almost had was here.
Palmer switched from a 1 HP Heatran (Focus Sash) to Cresselia. If Heatran is taken care of, I generally just spam Outrage until Garchomp faints to minimize risk of freezing. However, you have to consider that Cresselia has Lunar Dance and can likely bring Heatran back full. I ended up spamming Outrage once and luckily brought down Cresselia without it using LD, but this is a HUGE risk. This will most likely result in a loss if done this way.
So instead, switch to Scizor, deal with either freezing or probable paralysis, and just Swords Dance/Thief until Cresselia faints. If it LDs to Heatran, try to BP since Scizor's not needed anymore and finish Heatran with Garchomp. If Heatran got switched before using its Focus Sash, repeat above, and if Scizor fails to dent Heatran before fainting due to Paralysis, Rotom-Wash can Thunderbolt Heatran before Garchomp securely finishes it which is why Rotom-Wash is saved in the first place.
As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions or comments (makes spending all of this time feel more worth it XD).
I did end up playing around a good amount with doubles teams after seeing the discussion pick up in Discord which was pretty fun, but I'm ready to start using newer-gen Pokémon again. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point to make use of my shoddy guide again or to actually flesh out the guide for others who might be interested.
Thanks for reading, and here's to hoping there's a battle facility in The Indigo Disk DLC
Wind chimes are said to bring good luck in parts of Asia, and what better way to manifest some good luck in the new year (which facilities players would greatly appreciate, no doubt) than to post a Chimecho PerishTrap team that reached 113 wins and has the tremendous honor of... being 1 away from tying with the lowest ranked team on the doubles leaderboard?
(record achieved on October 30th, 2023) pokepaste ♪ | proof video
----------------------------------------------- The Teambuilding Process (it's really not that complex of a process)
The inspiration for this team was its star, Chimecho, who is the slowest fully evolved Pokemon in BDSP that gets the combination of Trick Room + Perish Song. Combined with a trapper and BDSP's set-in-stone team rosters, I figured there was a recipe for a potentially fun, albeit potentially susceptible to misfortune archetype. A trapper was obviously necessary for the gimmick to function, and unfortunately, the relatively passive on paper Wobbuffet is the only Pokémon with Shadow Tag available in BDSP, so I had to make do (though I did briefly consider Arena Trap Trapinch - shame about its frailty!). Hariyama was an easy lead alongside Chimecho as it is by far the best enabler of Trick Room in the entire game. Nearly every Trick Room team on the leaderboard carries one, and for good reason. Originally, I had Torkoal over Empoleon for this team as a solid cleaner, but justintr sold me on Iron Ball Empoleon, and it definitely worked a whole lot better, such a great mon!
My original goal was just to reach 100 because I thought that would be a funny benchmark to hit with Chimecho, which I was gladly able to achieve!! :)
----------------------------------------------- The Team
Chimecho is a very below average Trick Room setter with barely passable 65/70/80 bulk and a rather high Speed stat compared to other setters, but if this were all Chimecho brought to the table, I wouldn't be writing about it! It's Chimecho's access to Perish Song that seperates it from the pack, giving it a move that ignores all evasion boosting opponents, allowing me to safely remove them from the field with the help of Wobbuffet's Shadow Tag. Due to BDSP's trainers being battled in a Multi Battle format, Perish Song is also fantastic in endgame scenarios as the opponent only has 2 Pokemon on each side and cannot switch out after their lead has fainted, meaning that the most common scenario in which Perish Song is clicked is after Hariyama has KOed something, often turning the fight into a 4v1 which is an unparalleled high. Protect is vital to this strategy, as it helps make up for Chimecho's middling bulk by stalling out Perish Song turns, or allowing it to survive a targeted super-effective blow that Hariyama can counter. Psychic deals surprisingly solid chip damage uninvested (did you know Chimecho has 95 base Special Attack?? I didn't!!!), providing great chip damage for its partner and helping bring many foes to KO range in a single turn.
The biggest issue with Chimecho though is definitely its Speed stat. Chimecho found itself undersped constantly in TR by a ton of threats like Rhyperior-10, Bronzong-3 and Torkoal-2, and unfortunately Lum Berry is just too vital an item for a setter to have to drop it for a power item. Overall, though, I don't think a single other Pokemon could have pulled this gimmicky strategy off better than Chimecho, who's ability to compress speed control and Perish Song into one slot is what made this entire thing possible.
Hariyama (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 10 SpA / 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
Hariyama is the man and probably the best Trick Room lead in the entire game. Everyone knows this already, so I won't go too in depth about it, but just know that this team would not have reached nearly as high as it did without Hariyama, who's ability to take on 99% of the things Chimecho fears with ease and help it get Trick Room up thanks to Fake Out is what made this team work, not even mentioning the raw power of Guts boosted Close Combat nor its ability to Knock Off problematic items like Bright Powder and Quick Claw. Also, I stole this spread from Sincci. Spoiler: This would not be the only spread I stole from Sincci.
Wobbuffet (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 18 SpA / 0 Spe
- Charm
- Counter
- Encore
- Mirror Coat
Team Rocket's very own darling son, Wobbuffet's role on this team is to sit on the field and wait until everything in front of it dies to Perish Song. That might seem like it's kind of a passive, nothing Pokemon, but Wobbuffet's actually solid! The first thing you'll notice is that Wobbuffet simply doesn't die. I actually ran Destiny Bond over Counter initially, but because Wobbuffet just would not get KOed like I'd assumed it would, it ended up being a really useless move and I don't think I got a successful Destiny Bond off a single time. It's got an enormous HP stat and with significant defensive investment there's just no killing it in one turn, which is excellent because Wobbuffet only needs to be alive for one turn! Switching it in when the perish count reaches 2 means the AI cannot switch if Wobbuffet survives the turn, even if it is KOed afterwards. This makes Wobbuffet a very reliable way to trap and remove the opponent's leads, but it's able to contribute in ways beyond that as well. Under Trick Room, nothing outspeeds Wobbuffet, allowing it to potentially Encore an opponent into Protect or a boosting move, or Charm away strong attackers to stall with Perish Song active. Counter and Mirror Coat have saved me in a pinch quite a few times and render Wobbuffet not totally passive, which is great because it's usually the target of moves like Crunch and Shadow Ball and can easily survive and retaliate if the situation calls for it (ex. Trick Room isn't active and it's currently a 2v1). In short, Wobbuffet's surprisingly awesome. There was never a time when I was using it where I felt like it wasn't pulling its weight - it does its job, and it does it well.
As stated earlier, I'd originally ran Torkoal in this slot, but Empoleon was suggested to me by justintr who'd given me a set with a spread by Sincci that renders Barry's Torterra-5's Wood Hammer a mere 3HKO on Empoleon, allowing it to switch in directly and KO it with a big Ice Beam. Being a Water-type not weak to Grass is amazing because Torterra-5 is otherwise a massive threat, so Empoleon absolutely did not disappoint in that department. Scald and Ice Beam are both self explanatory, but Grass Knot is fantastic coverage that allows Empoleon to deal with opposing Water-types. One funny thing I discovered related to this while testing Empoleon on another TR squad is that if you use Grass Knot on Milotic-8 on Barry/Palmer's third roster, there is a chance for Milotic to swap out into Heatran-13 as a resist switch (since it has Earth Power and sees that Empoleon is weak to it), allowing you to deal with it immediately with Grass Knot + Close Combat which is kind of great! Empoleon is an incredible TR abuser thanks to Iron Ball, and I'm very excited to try it out on my next TR team.
----------------------------------------------- The Loss
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and at battle #113, against the infamous Bellossom/Torkoal leading Lionel and Abby, I had lost. I already knew this team was going to end my streak from turn 0, but after making a very risky play sacrificing both Chimecho and Wobbuffet to trap and remove Bellossom and Torkoal, it was far too late and the team was utterly incapable of dealing with their powerful backline.
Now, I had thought about trying the team again with Power Anklet Pelipper over Empoleon, and sure - I do think Pelipper would patch up the holes that the team has with Lionel/Abby. But the more I thought about it, the more the cracks started to show in the team. Gengar-3, for example, can take down Chimecho with a critical hit Shadow Ball turn 1 against the infamous Nadia/Dalvin duo, and if that happens, I lose immediately. Even with max SpDef... 252 SpA Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Chimecho on a critical hit: 162-192 (89 - 105.5%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
...Chimecho's bulk just isn't good enough to take a Shadow Ball. And so, while I was sure that this team could go higher, I ultimately didn't feel very motivated to breed a Pelipper and pursue going higher when I knew it was doomed to fail due to bad luck at one point or another.
Bit embarrassing to write this much for a last place run, but I had a lot of fun playing around with Chimecho and I hope I was able to get that enthusiasm across despite the early loss! PerishTrap just rewires your brain into playing Pokemon completely differently than you otherwise would - positioning is very much key to winning individual matchups, I'd argue moreso than other archetypes. It's super addicting!
I guess if there's one thing I'd want people to take away from this, it's that BDSP is still ripe for experimentation and that if you have a dumb idea that just might do something, go for it! With its set rosters, I feel as though BDSP (barring the dex size and lack of transfer moves...) is one of the best towers to try gimmicky strategies such as this because you can prepare for individual opponents and end up finding much more success than having to play in anticipation of a random backline threat. I find it a super fun tower to build in! (...when I'm not burnt out on it)
My next streak will probably be for the singles leaderboard, where I'll hopefully get a streak I'm proud of next year starring a certain blue lagomorph that I seem to have garnered a reputation for on the facilities Discord (no, not that blue lagomorph, the other one). Hope everyone had a great year, and though The Indigo Disk left us high and dry, maybe we'll get a solid facility with the inevitable BW remake? (or maybe we'll get one in the revisit to Kitakami during the epilogue...
Submitting an ongoing streak of 1029 wins in Master Doubles. After Leer Squad, I really wanted to continue playing and make another attempt at the big 1k. I tried playing with some Murkrow stuff along with Typhlosion, Machamp, and Magnezone but that team died constantly in the 100s. Usually to the same trainer duos too, so I scrapped it. I didn't expect that to get far but it was much worse than I imagined. After that, I decided to return to Trick Room. I've been wanting to try out Bronzong again for a while but I just never got around to it. Both Sincci and myself used very similar Bronzong/Hariyama teams and got really good numbers with the duo. This time though, I took Sincci's version and decided to bench Snorlax and add Machamp, a very good Pokemon that has hit 1k before on cayZ5's team. My first attempt with this version died very early on to a silly mistake I made. This second attempt, however, has kept on going and we are now currently here. Let's begin. Streak Proof.
Bronzong has remained completely unchanged since the last attempt. I think this set is perfect as is and doesn't need much improvement. As a recap, Heatproof is used as there is a lot of scary Fire-type attacks such as Torkoal2's Eruption and Moltres3's Overheat. The spread also allows Bronzong to live Gengar3's Shadow Ball, as well as a crit Night Slash from Absol3. The moves also remain unchanged. Gyro Ball and Psychic are very good STABs that can provide valuable chip or finish off weakened targets. Rain Dance is used for helping set up Octillery's Water Spouts when needed, and to also get the weather under control if any of the other weathers are being problematic.
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/0
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
Oh, Hariyama. There really isn't anything new I can say about Hariyama. It's featured on pretty all of the non-Aron Trick Room teams. I said in my Leer Squad writeup that it's probably the best co-lead for many Trick Room setters in this Tower. It's got pretty good bulk and can hit really hard thanks to Guts+Flame Orb. I used the Leer Squad Hari spread for this team, mostly because I forgot to change back to the original spread it had on the Zong team but honestly, it has really worked out and I haven't really missed that extra physical bulk. Like Bronzong, Hariyama's moves have remained unchanged, except I switched back to Heavy Slam as there is no Gravity setter on this team, unlike Leer Squad. Hariyama doesn't really appreciate missing its attacks due to Bright Powder, Lax Incense, Double Team, etc. but the next teammate helps solve that problem.
Machamp @ Iron Ball
Ability: No Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/0
Brave Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
Enter Machamp. This Tower has a ridiculous amount of evasion BS that sometimes, it feels like you're asking to lose if you don't bring something that can ignore that. Eisenherz used Pelipper and Raikou, while cayZ5 used Pelipper, Gravity Dusknoir, AND Machamp. This tough guy really comes in clutch vs some of the more dangerous foes that like to dodge a lot. If the AI knows something like Double Team, they will use it. And some of those Double Team spammers also carry a Bright Powder! Insane! Anyway, Machamp is usually able to muscle through some of these guys thanks to No Guard allowing it to land its attacks without question. Originally, I was using Life Orb on Champ to give it a little more extra power to its attacks. However, Sincci once again decided to help me out and suggest an Iron Ball. This would allow Machamp to outslow some more stuff, namely the Slowthings and Torkoal. This also allowed Machamp to hit Bright Powder/Lax Incense holders with Knock Off, which also allowed the partners to land their attacks more easily. This makes Machamp really good at chipping some stuff down when needed and allow the partners to finish off stuff. Of course, Machamp can also still KO things on its own.
Dynamic Punch is the STAB of choice, as it has decent power and will confuse things that end up surviving. I did consider Cross Chop for a short while as the increased crit chance seemed appealing. In the end, Dynamic Punch just seemed better and the confusion can probably get me out of bad situations if I ever need to rely on it. Stone Edge is used to hit stuff like the legendary birds other Flying-types as well as Fire types not names Heatran. Finally, Fire Punch. I got the idea once again from Sincci, and it's great for dealing with Scizor2. It's also great for potentially saving me a turn if something decides to Endure. That has never come up unfortunately, but no biggie.
Octillery @ Mystic Water
Ability: Sniper
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/0
Quiet Nature
- Water Spout
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Octillery is used as the final member of the team. It's had success before on both my FEARphan team and on Sincci's 840. Octillery utilizes the incredibly powerful Water Spout! With Mystic Water, it does a lot of damage to a bunch of targets in the Tower. Some enemies that resist this can also take a considerable amount in the Rain. Of course, you do have to watch your HP which means you do have to be careful when trying to bring this guy in. If it takes too much damage, then it won't be very useful. Octillery also has great coverage in Energy Ball and Ice Beam. Protect is used over Flamethrower as the latter isn't really needed thanks to Machamp's Fire Punch. Protect allows me to buy turns when needed, whether to stall something or when I need to get another Trick Room up.
A lot of the threats in this list are mostly repeats from when I first ran Zong/Hari.
Torterra3
Good god, I hate this thing. You'd think a Torterra that knows Hyper Beam and Frenzy Plant for its attacks would be a bit of a joke, right? RIGHT? Well, it's not. It also packs a Bright Powder and Double Team, along with Leech Seed as the last move. It's a little easier to deal now that Machamp is on the team, but getting Machamp in can be a little tricky sometimes especially if you want to do it before Trick Room expires. It also has a lot of physical bulk and can take 2-3 Dynamic or Fire Punches. Octillery can OHKO it with Ice Beam but even after knocking off that Bright Powder, it can stack Double Teams and end up dodging the Ice Beam and KO Octillery back with Frenzy Plant. At least the recharge turns can give you some time.
Barry/Palmer Team 1
Empoleon5 / Rhyperior10 / Staraptor5 / Heatran12
Faking out Rhyperior is the key here as it packs a nasty Expert Belt boosted Earthquake on Bronzong. The Empoleon, however, likes to make things difficult sometimes. It knows Waterfall, and it will target Bronzong with it if it feels like it. The flinch isn't an immediate death sentence as Rhyperior sometimes doesn't click Earthquake at all, but you get the idea. Empoleon and Heatran can also sometimes stall you out with Protects. Staraptor also hurts if you don't have Trick Room up.
Tiffani/Kenton
Lucario2 / Lopunny2 / Victreebel3 / Arcanine2
Lucario packs Dark Pulse and also has Inner Focus so you can't flinch it with Fake Out. Dark Pulse, luckily, doesn't KO in two turns so you do have more than one opportunity to set up Trick Room if it does flinch you. Lopunny's Charm can also be annoying if it chooses to weaken your physical attackers.
Chester/Tiffani
Rapidash2 / Zapdos3 / Magnezone2 / Skuntank2
Zapdos loves to randomly U-turn Bronzong sometimes which could cause a flinch thanks to King's Rock. Rapidash also has the nasty combo of Horn Drill+Focus Band. The Skuntank behind Zapdos can also potentially flinch Bronzong with Dark Pulse, but it also likes to Double Team too so it can be a problem if you can't get Machamp out to deal with it. Luckily, Hariyama can easily dispatch it if you do get Trick Room up after Zapdos U-turns. Finally, Magnezone has Bright Powder but isn't too much of an issue for Machamp's Knock Off.
Kailey/Jaclyn
Zapdos3 / Whiscash2 / Weezing2 / Altaria2
Our good friend Zapdos returns. Like in the Chester/Tiffani matchup, Zapdos sometimes likes to U-turn Bronzong and potentially flinch it with King's Rock. Still can't really Fake Out Zapdos here as Whiscash has Fissure. This Whiscash very rarely clicks Fissure but it's always a possibility and I would much rather risk the flinch then be hit with an OHKO move. The rest of the team isn't too much of an issue, Weezing does have Bright Powder but it's also a Weezing. I guess burning Machamp with Wisp can be bad so watch out for that.
Nadia/Dalvin
Gengar3 / Crobat2 / Milotic3 / Pinisr3
No viable Fake Out targets thanks to Gengar's Ghost typing and Crobat's Inner Focus. It's best to just let Hariyama die to Brave Bird here. A crit from Gengar's Shadow Ball has a 6% chance to OHKO Bronzong so yikes. Luckily, if you do survive turn 1, you can just send in Machamp and deal with the leads with Psychic and Knock Off. Milotic's Cute Charm can still cause an issue as it is female and this Machamp is male.
Tyrell/Mikel
Meganium3 / Weezing3 / Walrein2 / Skarmory2
This duo is such a pain. I've talked about them before but let's recap. Weezing has Dark Pulse, which can flinch Bronzong on t1. It also has Quick Claw which can cause more flinches if it gets lucky with those. Meganium has Screens+Light Clay. It sets Reflect first most of the time (probably because of the number of physical moves on the leads). Walrein is also in the back and it's the famous Fissure/Sheer Cold set with max physical bulk along with Rest and Sleep Talk. Skarmory also packs Double Team and Sand Attack, but it isn't the biggest threat. Obviously dealing with Tyrell's side here is the play. An ideal way of approaching this would be to Fake Out Weezing and not risk the Dark Pulse, but then you give Meganium the chance to set up both screens on t1 and 2. Faking out Meganium is probably the better target here as Hariyama+Octillery can deal with Walrein after Meganium goes down to CC+Ice Beam. Walrein can dodge but as long as it doesn't land its OHKOs, you'll be fine. Machamp can be used as a last resort in dealing with Walrein thanks to No Guard but be wary as Dynamic Punch doesn't OHKO the fat lard without a crit. Basically, this duo sucks.
Herman/Natalia
Politoed4 / Kingdra4 / Zapdos7 OR Lapras3 / Scizor5
Rain, rain, go away. Politoed can be pretty stupid sometimes and likes to give you a free win. Removing Natalia's side first is the best thing here as both Kingdra and Scizor pack a punch. The Scizor holds a Choice Band too so it will ruin your day with Bullet Punches if it chooses to lock into that. Lapras is usually the preferred Pokemon to have behind the Toed but it still packs a Sheer Cold so watch out for that.
Jess/Emilee
Whiscash2 / Manectric2 / Vaporeon2 / Luxray2
Fissure Whiscash and Roar Manectric? Please no. I had one nasty run-in with these two in the Notable Battles section but basically, Manectric has a very small chance to use Roar on Bronzong and deny Trick Room. This means that Whiscash can freely Fissure after turn 1 if it's not dealt with fast. Thankfully, it is pretty dumb and also likes to use Amnesia+Spark a bunch. Luxray also packs a punch and is hard to OHKO if it Intimidates your physical attackers.
Allie/Chester
Rhyperior3 / Scizor2 / Arcanine2 / Muk3
This Rhyperior is max physical bulk with Solid Rock so it's hard to KO with Hariyama or Machamp. Scizor is also one of those sets that has a Bright Powder along with Double Team. It also has Swords Dance+Bullet Punch. Leaving it alive can be bad. Luckily, Machamp can deal with it fast thanks to Fire Punch so it's not the end of the world.
Kegan/Noelle
Staraptor2 / Togekiss2 / Raikou3 / Mismagius
The Togekiss is only major problem here. It's almost impossible to OHKO. I hate this thing. It also packs Thunder Wave, Substitute, and Double Team. I like to target it with Fake Out here as sometimes that will force an immunity switch to the Mismagius behind it. But if it doesn't, prepare to be paralyzed as it loves to spam TWave after Trick Room goes up. Ugh. I hate you, Togekiss.
Harvey/Edmund
Mr. Mime3 / Zapdos2 / Skuntank3 / Ludicolo3
The leads are mostly the issue here. Zapdos' Drill Peck has a 2HKO on Hariyama thanks to Flame Orb's burn chip which can cause issues. However, leaving Mr. Mime up can give it a free turn to set up a Screen which is not something we want. On top of that, it also has Thunder Wave so removing it is a priority. Zapdos can also sometimes use Discharge with no care for its partner and cause more paralysis for your team. Oh yeah, it also has a Focus Band so watch out for that. Knock Off can deal with that at least. Finally, Skuntank can boom but it's easy to deal with before it has a chance to.
Anissa/Kegan
Walrein2 / Steelix2 / Kingdra2 / Ludicolo2
Our good pal Walrein returns. It doesn't have any Screens to hide behind this time, so Hariyama will OHKO it with Close Combat. That is, if you survive turn 1. It can dodge Fake Out and completely deny Trick Room if it lands Sheer Cold or Fissure on Bronzong. That's exactly what happened in Sincci's loss with this lead. Steelix is also annoying as it is slower then Hariyama. However, the Steelix is Sheer Force so it can never flinch Hariyama with Fire Fang at least.
Battle 84: Barry/Palmer Team 1 - Empoleon5 / Rhyperior10 / Staraptor5 / Heatran12
Empoleon gets the flinch here with Waterfall after hitting Rhyperior with Fake Out, which means I have to try and Trick Room turn 2 while Zong is in range of Rhyp's EQ. As turn 2 begins, Empoleon Protects and my heart sinks. Rhyperior then uses.... Ice Punch into Hariyama? Yeah, that was weird. Anyway, it then dies to Hariyama's Close Combat and Trick Room then goes up. Palmer sends out his Heatran. I then switch Bronzong out to Octillery and Empoleon goes down to another Close Combat from Hari. Heatran targets Octillery with Magma Storm though which means Water Spout can no longer OHKO this Heatran. Barry sends out Staraptor which goes down to Water Spout+Close Combat. Heatran KOs Hariyama with another Magma Storm. Machamp comes in and Heatran blocks both Water Spout and Dynamic Punch. But that's not enough as it then goes down to Dynamic Punch on the next turn.
Battle 219: Herman/Natalia - Politoed4 / Kingdra4 / Zapdos7 / Scizor5
After landing Fake Out on Kingdra, Toed smacks Hariyama with a Hydro Pump and Trick Room goes up. Bronzong then whiffs a Psychic as Toed Protects, Kingdra then goes down to Close Combat. Scizor comes in. It locks into Bullet Punch and finishes off Hariyama. I was afraid of that happening, so I had Zong target Scizor with a Psychic. Toed then hits Zong with Hydro Pump. Uh-oh. I send Octillery in as Scizor hits Bronzong with BP. Zong hits Scizor with Psychic, and Scizor goes down to Water Spout. Politoed uses Perish Song this turn. With Natalia's side finished, this battle becomes a lot easier. I switch Zong out to Machamp as Toed uses Helping Hand on the empty slot next to it (lol). Energy Ball just misses the KO on Toed and it munches on its Aguav Berry. Trick Room and Rain expires. Switch Octillery out to Zong, as Toed uses Perish Song again and then goes down to Dynamic Punch. Zapdos comes in. I sac Machamp to Zapdos' Hurricane and get another Trick Room up. Bronzong uses Rain Dance and Octillery is able to KO Zapdos with Water Spout!
Battle 328: Harvey/Edmund - Mr. Mime3 / Zapdos2 / Skuntank3 / Ludicolo3
Mr. Mime flinches from the Fake Out as Zapdos uses the rare t1 Discharge and gets a paralysis on Hariyama. Oh boy. Hariyama then gets fully paralyzed on turn 2 and Bronzong is able to KO Mime with Gyro Ball. Thanks, Zapdos. Speaking of, it hits Hari with Drill Peck. Hari lives. Skuntank comes in and dies to Hariyama's Close Combat. Bronzong hits Zapdos with Psychic, and Zapdos KOs Hari with another Drill Peck. I send out Machamp as Zapdos goes down to Stone Edge+Psychic. Finally, Ludicolo comes out last. It survives Dynamic Punch+Psychic and hits Machamp with Grass Knot. Trick Room expires. Ludi then goes down to Dynamic Punch as it whiffs a Pump on Bronzong.
Battle 358: Jess/Emilee - Whiscash2 / Manectric2 / Vaporeon2 / Luxray2
Do you remember when I said Manectric has a rare chance to Roar out Bronzong on turn 1? Yeah, that happens in this battle. Trick Room denied. Octillery ends up being the one dragged. I click Protect with Octillery as Manectric whiffs a Thunderbolt but Whiscash OHKOs Hariyama with Fissure. Womp, womp. I send in Bronzong and then switch Octillery out to Machamp. Manectric uses Thunderbolt again and hits Champ as Whiscash misses Fissure on Bronzong. Phew. Trick Room is finally up. Champ KOs Manectric with Dynamic Punch and Bronzong hits Whiscash with Psychic, gets a spD drop. Whiscash then KOs Champ with Fissure. Luxray comes in as I send in Octillery. Rain Dance+Water Spout manages to get the KO on both Luxray and Whiscash, phew. That spD drop really helped in KOing Whiscash. Anyway, it's not over yet as Vaporeon comes in. It takes Psychic+Energy Ball as it munches down on its Rindo Berry. It uses Aqua Ring. Bronzong gets another spD drop from the next Psychic and Vaporeon then goes down to one last Energy Ball. I hate you, Whiscash. You too, Manectric.
Battle 515: Tiffani/Barrett - Typhlosion3 / Electrode3 / Heatran4 / Ludicolo3
Fake Out Typhlosion here as Electrode paralyzes Hariyama with Thunderbolt. Luckily, Hariyama doesn't get fully paralyzed and manages to KO Typhlosion with Close Combat after Trick Room goes up. Zong hits Electrode with Psychic and gets a spD drop, then munches on its Lum Berry as Electrode paralyzes it with Thunder Wave. Heatran comes in. Zong switched out to Champ and Hari avoids another full para and KOs Electrode with Close Combat. It takes a lot of recoil thanks to Jaboca Berry and Aftermath. Heatran hits Champ with Crunch. Ludicolo comes in. Heatran KOs Hariyama with a Quick Claw Fire Fang and then goes down to Machamp's Dynamic Punch. Ludi hits Champ with Grass Knot. Octillery is then sent out. Ludi just barely survives Dynamic Punch and Energy Ball and hits Octillery with Grass Knot. Trick Room expires and Ludi then KOs Champ with Hydro Pump. It finally goes down to another Energy Ball from Octillery.
Battle 573: Hans/Benny - Jolteon2 / Granbull3 / Froslass3 / Espeon2
Granbull flinches from Fake Out as Jolteon hits Hariyama with a Flash. Trick Room goes up. Bronzong hits Jolteon with Psychic as Hari whiffs a Heavy Slam on Granbull. Granbull then hits Hari with Ice Fang and Jolteon whiffs a Thunder Wave on Bronzong. Zong hits Jolteon again with Tbolt and Hari is now able to land Heavy Slam on Granbull and KO. Jolteon hits Zong with Twave this time, and Zong munches its Lum Berry. Espeon comes in, Zong switched out to Machamp. Hariyama misses a Knock Off on Jolteon and dies to Espeon's Psychic. Jolteon then paralyzed Champ with Thunder Wave. I send Bronzong back in. Machamp KOs Espeon with Knock Off, and Zong KOs Jolteon with a third Psychic. Trick Room expires and Froslass comes in. Zong takes a Shadow Ball as Champ is fully paralyzed. Trick Room is back up. Champ then fights through the paralysis and KOs Froslass with Knock Off.
Battle 643: Cain/Hans - Golem3 / Electrode3 / Cresselia2 / Hariyama2
Hari targets Golem with Fake Out here as Electrode decides to Thunder Wave Hariyama and paralyzes it. Trick Room goes up. Hari fights through the paralysis and KOs Golem with Close Combat. Zong then hits Electrode with Psychic and munches on its Lum as Electrode paralyzes it with Thunder Wave. Cress comes in to replace Golem. I switch Zong out to Machamp, and Hariyama is able to KO Electrode with Knock Off. Jaboca Berry and Aftermath recoil hurt. Cress uses Future Sight. Not 100% sure who it targets here as BDSP doesn't have an in-battle summary screen but Hariyama is the safe bet. Hans then sends out his own Hariyama. Its Quick Claw activates and uses EQ. My own Hari gets fully paralyzed as Champ hits enemy Hari with Dynamic Punch. Cress Future Sights again. My Hari gets fully paralyzed again as Champ knocks off Cress' Focus Band. Enemy Hari uses EQ again and Cress Safeguards. My Hari dies to the first Future Sight. Trick Room expires. Bronzong sent back out. Enemy Hariyama uses EQ again and Cress hits Champ with Psychic. Machamp hits Hariyama with another Dynamic Punch. Champ then dies to the second Future Sight. Trick Room is back up. Octillery is sent out. Rain Dance+Water Spout then finishes off both enemy Hari and Cress.
Battle 745: Tiffani/Kenton - Lucario2 / Lopunny2 / Victreebel3 / Arcanine2
Dunno what came over me in this fight but I decided to skip Fake Out this battle. Both Lopunny and Lucario hit Bronzong with Fire Punch and Dark Pulse and Hari knocks off Lop's Focus Band. Bronzong flinches. No! Zong is now in range to die to anorher Fire Punch+Dark Pulse combo, so I switch it out to Machamp. However, Lop and Lucario decide to target Hariyama with Fire Punch and Aura Sphere. Hari's Close Combat brings Lucario down to its Sash. Lopunny then KOs Hariyama with a crit Thunder Punch and Lucario hits Champ with a crit Aura Sphere. Lucario goes down to Dynamic Punch. Bronzong sent back in and Tiffani sends out Victreebel. Fire Punch+Power Herb Solar Beam KO Champ and Trick Room goes up. Octillery is sent out. Zong hits Victreebel with Psychic and Water Spout manages to finish it off and KO Lop. Arcanine is sent out. It doesn't even bother trying to stall me with Endure and promptly goes down to Rain+Spout. After this battle, I've started hitting Lop with Fake Out on turn 1.
Battle 760: Anissa/Kegan - Walrein2 / Steelix2 / Kingdra2 / Ludicolo2
Fake Out lands on Walrein as Steelix hits Hari with Fire Fang. Trick Room goes up. Bronzong hits Steelix with Psychic and Lix crits Hari with EQ and misses the Walrein next to it. Thankfully, CC connects and KOs Walrein. Kingdra comes in. Zong hits Steelix again with Psychic and Steelix uses EQ again, KOing Hariyama this time. Kingdra lands a Hurricane on Bronzong. Machamp is sent out. Dynamic Punch KOs Kingdra with a crit as Zong's Psychic is redirected back to Steelix and hits it again. Steelix then KOs Zong with Fire Fang. Octillery is sent out and Steelix dies to Dynamic Punch. Trick Room expires. Ludicolo comes in last. It Leech Seeds Champ and survives Energy Ball+Dynamic Punch. Ludicolo then Scalds Champ, but gets no burn and goes down to another round of Energy Ball+Dynamic Punch.
Battle 858: Andreas/Kristi - Hariyama3 / Umbreon2 / Probopass2 / Absol2
Enemy Hariyama usually opens with Endure in this battle but I think it's still safer to target it with Fake Out here so I do. Umbreon has Inner Focus so obviously, that's not the target. Anyway, it hits Zong with Foul Play and Trick Room goes up. Umbreon Protects itself and Zong hits enemy Hari with Psychic. My own Hari whiffs a CC into the Umbreon enemy Hari uses EQ. Next turn, Zong KOs enemy Hari with another Psychic and Hari once again whiffs a CC into Umbreon, this time thanks to Bright Powder. Umbreon KOs Zong with Foul Play. Machamp is sent out as Probopass comes in. It goes down to Dynamic Punch+CC. Umbreon then uses Foul Play again, this time on Champ. Umbreon Protects again and blocks both Knock Off and CC. Womp, womp. Trick Room expires. Umbreon hits Hari with Foul Play and then it dies to Hari's CC. Finally. Absol comes in last and KOs Hari with Night Slash. Champ's Dynamic Punch brings it down to Sash. Octillery sent out. Absol Swaggers Octillery, but it fights through the confusion and KOs Absol with Water Spout.
Battle 868: Barry/Palmer Team 1 - Empoleon5 / Rhyperior10 / Staraptor5 / Heatran12
Barry and Palmer return. Once again, Bronzong gets flinched by a Waterfall after Rhyperior gets smacked with Fake Out. On turn 2, Empoleon Protects and this time Rhyperior uses EQ! Bronzong goes down and Hariyama takes some damage. Hari KOs Rhyperior with Close Combat. Great, now I have to play this without Trick Room. Anyway, Palmer sends out Heatran and I send out Machamp. Heatran KOs Hari with Magma Storm and Empoleon hits Champ with Drill Peck. Champ fights back and KOs Empoleon with Dynamic Punch. Barry sends out Staraptor, and I send out Octillery. This turn took me a minute to figure out as Staraptor could still target Octillery with a random Brave Bird, Double-Edge, or Close Combat. Anyway, Heatran Protects and Staraptor chooses to KO Machamp with Brave Bird. The bird then dies to a Water Spout. On the final turn, Heatran hits Octillery with a Magma Storm but it isn't enough as Octillery then KOs Heatran with Water Spout. Who needs Trick Room? The targeting was quite lucky this battle but still pulling off this win without Trick Room is a great accomplishment and I just had to include this battle in the writeup.
Battle 914: Alonso/River - Slowbro2 / Nidoking2 / Swampert3 / Regice3
Nidoking gets smacked with Fake Out here as Wise Glasses, Sheer Force boosted Earth Power really hurts and can KO Zong on a crit. Slowbro hits Hari with Zen Headbutt and Trick Room goes up. Psychic+Knock Off KOs Nidoking and Slowbro finishes off Hari with another Zen Headbutt. River sends out Regice as I send out Machamp. I've been in a similar situation before with the previous Zong/Hari team so I'm incredibly worried. This could result in a loss so I have to play carefully. Anyway, Dynamic Punch+Gyro Ball fail to KO the Regice and Champ goes down to Zen Headbutt+Ice Beam. Oh no. Octillery is sent out. Regice goes down after being hit by another Gyro Ball. Slowbro takes Octillery's Energy Ball and Yawns Octillery. No. Don't do this. Psychic+Energy Ball KO Slowbro as Trick Room expires. Alonso sends out Swampert. It EQs as Zong sets Trick Room again and Octillery snoozes. It's now or never. Bronzong hits Swampert with a Psychic and.... OCTILLERY WAKES UP AND KOS SWAMPERT WITH ENERGY BALL. AHHHHHHHHHHHH. The huge sigh of relief I let out as I read the words "Octillery woke up".
This fight definitely could have resulted in a loss and would have been my retirement from BDSP for good. Imagine losing so close to 1000 again... No, I can't think about it. Anyway, we got the incredibly lucky one turn wake and KO Swampert and get passed Alonso/River. I'm still not 100% sure how to get around this matchup but I think I need to figure out what to do if Slowbro decides to Zen Headbutt twice again, because that exact scenario happened in my last loss.
Anyway, that's all for now. I've recently picked the streak back up so I thought I'd get this out before I start really grinding again.
A quick update on my streak, as I have now hit 2009 wins in Master Doubles! After a quick break after the 1029 post, I returned to grinding. I didn't expect the streak to last much longer as this Tower does eventually decide to throw a wrench or two at you if it wants you to lose. But here we are. The team has received no changes since the last update so I won't be going over it. It can be found in the previous post if you want to read about it. Streak Proof.
In my previous post, I had a really lucky win vs these two at battle 914. Both Sincci and myself discussed this duo on the Battle Facilities Discord about how to approach this so I can avoid a scenario like this. It honestly felt like a pretty obvious outcome as we both came to the conclusion that it was better to Psychic Nidoking and Knock Off Slowbro on turn 2 after Trick Room was up. Nidoking then goes for Earth Power into Bronzong and Slowbro does either a Zen Headbutt or a Yawn. If it Zen Headbutts twice, then Hariyama dies and Octillery can now be sent in to KO both opponents with Rain Dance+Water Spout. If Hariyama is still alive after turn 2, then Slowbro will faint to another Knock Off. Nidoking also goes down to a second Psychic.
The battle is pretty much in the bag once the leads are out of the picture as Swampert dies to Psychic+Close Combat or a single Energy Ball. Regice dies to a single Close Combat after or two Dynamic Punches if Champ ever has to come in. I did find it quite funny I almost lost to this duo again after my previous attempt with Bronzong/Hariyama did lose to this team. Anyway, I am relieved I have a consistent game plan vs these two now. They've surprisingly only showed up about 3 or 4 more times since the nasty 914 encounter but BDSP gonna BDSP.
We can get right into the battles. I do apologize for not recording once again, but I have more battle writeups so here goes.
Battle 1119: Clara/Cortney - Suicune1 / Dusknoir2 / Donphan2 / Tyranitar2
This was actually the first time I ran into this duo on this streak so I didn't really have a well-thought out plan for this. Obviously, we can't Fake Out Dusknoir so Suicune gets targeted and flinched. Dusknoir Night Shades Bronzong and Trick Room goes up. I then switch Zong out to Machamp and hit Suicune with Close Combat. Fun thing about Hariyama, is that it actually 2HKOs these 252 HP / 252 Def Suicunes. Anyway, Dusknoir hits the classic Double Team and Suicune hits Champ with a Scald... which burns Champ. Yikes.
Machamp Knocks Off Dusknoir's Bright Powder as Hariyama finishes off Suicune. Dusknoir once again Double Teams. Donphan then comes in to replace Suicune. Machamp uses Knock Off once again to remove Donphan's Focus Band as Hariyama lands a Knock Off on the +2 Evasion Dusknoir and it goes down! Donphan hits Champ with Counter. Tyranitar comes in and gets a Quick Claw Earthquake, which KOs Machamp. Hariyama KOs Tyranitar with a Close Combat. Donphan sets Stealth Rock and Trick Room expires. I don't mind TR going down as I send out Octillery. Donphan misses its Fire Fang on Hari and then it goes down to a Close Combat. Woohoo.
Battle 1137: Kendel/Jaime - Moltres4 / Ampharos2 / Regigigas5 / Bastiodon2
We start this battle off with a Fake Out landing on the Moltres. Ampharos sets up a Reflect, and Bronzong gets its Trick Room up. Psychic+Close Combat then leave Ampharos in the red as it Double Teams and Moltres randomly Air Slashes Bronzong. Uh, okay? Anyway, Psychic lands on Ampharos and KOs it. Hariyama then lands a Knock Off on Moltres to remove the Bright Powder and Moltres fights back with an Air Slash KO on Hariyama. I then send out Machamp. Stone Edge removes the Moltres as Bronzong breaks Bastiodon's Sturdy with a Psychic. Bastiodon hits both with a Blizzard. Regigigas comes in to replace the Moltres. I planned on hitting Gigas with a Psychic and KOing Bastiodon with Dynamic Punch. But, Bastiodon gets a Quick Claw Blizzard and gets a really cool double freeze. Bronzong munchs on its Lum Berry and immediately thaws out. It hits Gigas with a Psychic but Machamp doesn't have the luxury of an immediate thaw and stays frozen. Regigigas hits Bronzong with a Crush Grip.
I was in awe at Bastiodon getting a double freeze that I didn't notice my Trick Room expired. Gigas hits Zong with another Crush Grip as Bastiodon uses Sandstorm. Zong hits Gigas with another Psychic and Machamp thaws out and KOs Bastiodon with a Dynamic Punch. Where's your Quick Claw now, punk. Gigas now Crush Grips Champ as Dynamic Punch hits Gigas and burns the Chople Berry it was holding. Bronzong sets another Trick Room. Finally, Gigas goes down to a final Dynamic Punch.
Battle 1230: Lionel/Abbey - Bellossom2 / Torkoal2 / Rhyperior4 / Cresselia6
Hariyama hits Torkoal with Fake Out. Bellossom uses After You, but Torkoal flinches, of course. And Trick Room goes up. Bronzong then removes Torkoal's Sun with a Rain Dance. Torkoal hits Hari with a Flamethrower and Hari hits Bellossom with a Heavy Slam. Bellossom then CRITS Hariyama with a Moonblast. This brings Hari down to 4HP but it doesn't matter as the Burn finishes off our good friend. I send Machamp out and have it Stone Edge the Torkoal. Bronzong finishes off Bellossom with a Gyro Ball and Torkoal hits Zong with a Flamethrower. Rhyperior comes in to replace Bellossom. Dynamic Punch+Psychic thankfully KOs Rhyperior as Torkoal Heat Waves. No Burns, phew. Stone Edge then finishes off Torkoal as Trick Room goes down after this turn.
Cresselia comes in to replace the Torkoal. Cress lands a Psychic on Machamp as Champ Knocks Off the Wiki Berry. Zong sets up another Trick Room. Rain then expires. Psychic+Knock Off lands on Cress as Cress KOs Champ with another Psychic. Octillery then comes in to replace Champ and Cress goes down to a Rain Dance+Water Spout.
Battle 1234: Herman/Natalia - Politoed4 / Kingdra4 / Zapdos7 / Scizor5
I really don't like fighting this team as you never know what Politoed will end up clicking. Kingdra gets Faked Out as Toed lands a Hydro Pump on Bronzong. Trick Room goes up. Toed then Protects as Zong whiffs a Psychic. Kingdra goes down to Close Combat. Scizor comes in to replace Kingdra. Psychic+Close Combat KOs Scizor. Toed hits Zong with another Hydro Pump. Psychic+Close Combat fails to 2HKO Toed. It munches on its Aguav and then whiffs a Pump on Zong. Toed finally goes down to another Psychic+Close Combat. Zapdos comes in to replace Toed, both Rain and Trick Room are expired.
This is scary as Bronzong is in range of Zapdos' Thunder, but Zapdos also has a Hurricane KO on Hariyama. I sat there for a while trying to figure out scenarios in case the worst case happens. Anyway, after I click my moves, Zapdos lands a Hurricane on Hariyama and KOs it. Trick Room goes up a second time. Octillery is then sent out and it KOs the Zapdos with a Rain Dance+Water Spout combo. This isn't my usual strat vs these two. I had a major brainfart not switching out Zong to Octillery on turn 2. Ever since this battle, I've gone with Fake Out Kingdra+Trick Room on t1 and then switch Zong out to Octillery on t2. If Octillery takes no damage on the switch, it KOs Scizor with Water Spout and does just enough damage for Hariyama's CC to KO.
Battle 1313: Jess/Emilee - Whiscash2 / Manectric2 / Vaporeon2 / Luxray2
This battle turned out pretty similar to a previous encounter at battle 358. Whiscash gets Faked Out as Manectric Roars out Bronzong. Octillery is dragged in. I click Protect for Octillery as Manectric whiffs a Thunderbolt. Whiscash also whiffs a Fissure on Hariyama and then dies to Close Combat. Vaporeon comes in to replace Whiscash. Not a very dangerous Vaporeon as it's a Rindo Berry set with Surf/Baton Pass/Acid Armor/Aqua Ring. Anyway, I switch Octillery out to Machamp as Manectric Tbolts that slot again. Vaporeon clicks Aqua Ring. Manectric then dies to Close Combat. Luxray comes in and Intimidates both Hariyama and Machamp. Hari switches out to Bronzong. Luxray KOs Machamp with Play Rough and Vaporeon uses Acid Armor.
Hariyama is sent back in and Fakes Out Luxray this time. Vaporeon once again uses Acid Armor and Bronzong finally gets Trick Room up. Zong is then switched out to Octillery. Hari KOs Luxray with another CC. Vaporeon clicks Surf. Octillery's Energy Ball burns Vaporeon's Rindo and Hari hits it a CC. Vaporeon uses Surf again, which KOs Hari. Bronzong is then sent back in. Vaporeon finally goes down to Psychic+Energy Ball.
Battle 1363: Aldo/Blair - Ursaring2 / Donphan3 / Entei1 / Weezing3
Oh boy. This battle started off with a Fake Out miss on Donphan. Damn Bright Powder. This wouldn't be too bad except when Donphan attacked with Earthquake, it crit my Bronzong! Luckily, Bronzong survived and managed to get Trick Room up but I got pretty lucky: 252+ Atk Donphan Earthquake (spread) vs. 236 HP / 124 Def Bronzong on a critical hit: 158-188 (91.9 - 109.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO. Ursaring hit Hariyama with an Aerial Ace before the Trick Room finally went off. The rest of this battle is pretty much smooth sailing though as Donphan KOs Hariyama with Ice Shard and Zong breaks Donphan's Sturdy with a Psychic. Ursaring decided to Rest off the damage it took from the Donphan's Earthquake.
Octillery is sent out. Bronzong sets Rain, Octillery lands Water Spout on both Donphan and Ursaring. They go down. Weezing and Entei both come in. Psychic hits Weezing and Octillery's Water Spout finishes them both off. GG. I do believe this battle would have been a bad loss had Donphan got that crit roll on Bronzong. Ursaring is also known to randomly Facade Bronzong on turn 1 as well, so if it did that then it would be bye bye to this streak. This battle turning out to be a 4-turn Water Spout fest after Hariyama went down was such a relief.
Battle 1418: Madelyn/Josie - Aggron2 / Ambipom3 / Quagsire3 / Golem2
Ambipom is one of the few opposing Fake Out leads that exists in this Tower. It usually goes for the Fake Out to Hariyama, but this time it randomly targets Bronzong with the Fake Out and manages to deny my Trick Room! Aggron also landed an Earthquake which brought Bronzong down to 75HP. Now, I always prepared for a potential Fake Out to Bronzong so I targeted Ambipom with Close Combat on turn 1 and it paid off! Ambipom went down and now I just need Bronzong to survive turn 2. Golem comes in to replace Ambipom. This Golem is naturally slower then Hariyama so Hari goes before it and Knocks Off its Focus Band. Golem hits Hariyama with a Gyro Ball. What does Aggron do, you ask? Well, thankfully, it clicks Avalanche also into Hariyama. This gets me a safe Trick Room on turn 2. Phew.
Bronzong breaks Aggron's Sturdy with Psychic as Golem sets Sandstorm. Hariyama finishes off Aggron with a Close Combat. Quagsire comes in to replace the Aggron. Quag's Quick Claw does not activate and it goes down to a Psychic+Close Combat combo. Golem used a Defense Curl before Hari's Close Combat went off. Hari then dies to sand+burn. Octillery is sent out to replace Hariyama. Bronzong sets Rain Dance as Golem Defense Curls again. Octillery then KOs Golem with an Energy Ball. This was clicked over Water Spout as this Golem goes speed-tie with Octillery and sometimes likes to Rock Blast it. It probably wouldn't matter with Rain being up and needed 5 hits, but I think Energy Ball is safer anyway.
Battle 1497: Tyrell/Mikel - Meganium3 / Weezing3 / Walrein2 / Skarmory2
One of the fun threats for this team. Meganium is the Fake Out target of choice as I like to delay it from setting one of its Screens and Weezing doesn't usually click Dark Pulse. Well, this time, it did. And it flinched Bronzong. This denies Trick Room and I'm now in trouble. Turn 2, Meganium sets up a Reflect and Weezing uses Dark Pulse AGAIN. This one CRITS Bronzong which leaves it with around ~20ish HP. Hariyama Knocks Off Weezing's Quick Claw and Bronzong manages to not flinch and get Trick Room up. Psychic+Close Combat both hit Meganium but it's not enough as Meganium barely hangs on. Weezing KOs Bronzong with a third Dark Pulse and Meganium gets a Light Screen up.
Machamp is sent out to replace the Bronzong. Machamp crits Weezing with Stone Edge which leaves it around 50ish%. Meganium goes down to Hari's Close Combat as Weezing hits Champ with a Sludge Bomb. Walrein comes in to replace the Meganium. Oh boy. Dynamic Punch+Close Combat so have a blessed roll to KO Walrein behind a Reflect so I go for that. Machamp lands its Dynamic Punch thanks to No Guard. However, Hariyama misses the CC and Walrein hangs on. Weezing Fire Blasts Hariyama but it doesn't matter as Walrein lands the Sheer Cold on Hari and he goes down. Womp womp. Down to just Machamp and Octillery now and we have one turn of Trick Room left.
Dynamic Punch+Energy Ball both connect on Walrein and it finally goes down before it can click an OHKO move or Rest. Weezing hits Octillery with a Sludge Bomb. Trick Room is now down. This battle becomes even more stressful. Anyway, Octillery clicks Protect as Weezing randomly Destiny Bonds for some reason. Champ hits Weezing with a Stone Edge which just misses the KO, but I think this is good as losing Machamp to Destiny Bond would have been bad. The next turn, Weezing clicks Destiny Bond again but fails and then it dies to Octillery's Water Spout.
Skarmory comes in to replace Weezing. I sat there for about 5 minutes agonizing over what to do as Skarmory can do many things here. It can Drill Peck to KO Machamp, but it can also Double Team or Sand-Attack. There's also a chance it can click Drill Peck on Octillery but I think that would be a best case scenario. I click my attacks as Skarmory KOs Champ with a Drill Peck. Octillery fights back with a Water Spout. Reflect finally expires. Next turn, Octillery Protects as Skarmory whiffs a Drill Peck. Light Screen expires now. Once again, I'm staring down this Skarmory thinking about what to do. Lock in my attacks as Skarmory.... clicks Sand-Attack! Not the best, but I'll take it. Octillery..... lands the Ice Beam! It doesn't KO Skarmory but it does freeze it! On the final turn of the battle, Skarmory stays frozen and Octillery manages to land one final Ice Beam to take out the metal birb. Phew. This became my longest battle this entire streak.
Battle 1701: Barry/Palmer Team 1 - Empoleon5 / Rhyperior10 / Staraptor5 / Heatran12
This is my third time writing about this team. Hariyama lands a Fake Out on Rhyperior but Empoleon Waterfalls Bronzong and gets the flinch which denies Trick Room. On turn 2, Empoleon Protects and Rhyperior clicks Earthquake which KOs Bronzong. Hariyama avenges Zong by KOing Rhyperior with a Close Combat. Octillery comes in to replace Bronzong. No Trick Room, but I've been in this situation before (see battle 868 in the previous post). Anyway, Heatran KOs Hariyama with a Magma Storm as Empoleon Drill Pecks Octillery. This leaves Octillery with 133HP. Octillery Water Spouts which Heatran barely survives thanks to the Drill Peck chip. Emp is left with ~65%.
Machamp replaces Hariyama. Heatran and Empoleon land Magma Storm+Drill Peck on Machamp as it lives with 10HP. Octillery Spouts again and KOs Heatran. Machamp's Dynamic Punch finishes off Empoleon. Now we're down to Staraptor. Staraptor thankfully locks Brave Bird on Machamp and takes it out. The small amount of recoil seemed to just be enough as Octillery manages to take it out with a Water Spout. Octillery being at 133HP from the earlier Drill Peck was a godsend as it meant it was JUST out of range from the Brave Bird or Double-Edge KO from Staraptor. I'd probably have to rely on a Stone Edge crit had Octillery gone down the previous turn instead. Thanks for the warm welcome to 1700, guys.
Battle 1821: Bryon/Jarred - Snorlax2 / Slaking2 / Toxicroak3 / Suicune3
You'd think Slaking is the obvious choice to Fake Out here as it would skip its turn and force its Truant on the next turn. Nope. This Snorlax is an annoying Curselax set so that's our target. Besides, Slaking is a weird special set. What can it do?? Well, it can crit Hariyama with a Hyper Beam for starters. Hari lives the Hyper Beam on 15HP and Trick Room safely goes up. Turn 2, Snorlax goes down to a Hari CC. Zong hit Slaking with a Psychic. Hari is now at 2HP after burn chip. Toxicroak comes in to replace Snorlax and immediately dies to Zong's Psychic. Hariyama KOs Slaking with a CC and then goes down to the burn. Octillery is sent out to replace Hariyama as Suicune comes in to replace Slaking. Psychic hits Suicune and gets a spD drop as it takes Octillery's Energy Ball. Suicune Calm Minds. It doens't matter, however, as another round of Psychic+Energy Ball finish off this legendary beast.
Battle 1928: Codi/Lionel - Regigigas2 / Toxicroak2 / Raikou2 / Latios2
Toxicroak is Faked Out here as it has Taunt which can stop Trick Room. Regigigas clicks Double Team. Trick Room goes up. Bronzong then KOs Toxicroak with a Psychic as Hariyama misses a CC on Gigas. Gigas Double Teams again. Latios comes in to replace the Toxicroak. I switch Zong out to Machamp and Latios dies to Hari's Knock Off. I completely overlooked Gigas having Thunder Wave as it lands that on Champ, which is now paralyzed. Great. Champ gets fully paralyzed as Hari fights through Gigas' Double Teams and KOs it with a CC. Raikou comes in to replace Gigas. Champ is once again fully paralyzed, but Hariyama fights through the Lax Incense and lands the finishing blow on Raikout with CC.
Battle 1964: Daron/Jess - Latios2 / Dewgong2 / Suicune2 / Gallade2
Latios is Faked Out here, obviously. Dewgong lands an Ice Beam on Hariyama which freezes our poor friend. Trick Room goes up. Oh well. Zong targets Latios with Gyro Ball as Hari... thaws immediately! He finishes off Latios with a Knock Off. Dewgong lands another Ice Beam on Hariyama but doesn't get a second freeze. Hari is now burned by the Flame Orb. Suicune comes in to replace the Latios. Zong is switched out to Machamp as Hari lands a CC on Suicune. Dewgong now clicks Disable on Hari and locks up Close Combat. Screw you too, Dewgong. Suicune clicks Icy Wind and hits both Champ and Hari.
Dynamic Punch+Knock Off KO Suicune before it can Rest and Dewgong Ice Beams Hari again. It lives on 1HP but that doesn't mean much as Hari dies to the burn. Bronzong is sent back out. Dewgong goes down to Champ's Dynamic Punch and Zong sets a Rain Dance. Trick Room expires. Gallade comes in to replace Dewgong. Gallade Psycho Cuts Champ, which lives with 18HP. Champ lands a Knock Off on Gallade which removes its Kasib Berry. Bronzong sets up another Trick Room. Gallade then KOs Champ with a Shadow Sneak but Bronzong KOs back with a Gyro Ball.
Thanks for reading if you decided to read through all of this. Some of these battles were fun to relive, except that Tyrell/Mikel fight. As for what's happening with this streak, I'll be taking another quick break from it and will return to it at some point in the future.
In closing, I'd like to thank Level 51 for the amazing DoubleCheck which is used for set lookups as well as Eisenherz and SilverstarStream for the EisenCalc. I'd also like to thank Sincci for the team and a lot of the help he's provided throughout this streak. And finally, cayZ5 for getting me back into the BDSP grind.
I found this thread through Google and was not aware that streaking like this was a thing. Found that I had an account here from my old gen3 competetive days, and I was thrilled to see my old cringe-y posts. (yuck)
I had not played a Pokémon game since FireRed when I picked up Brilliant Diamond, and a lot of things are new to me.
Anyway, I travel through work (consultant) and had been using the BDSP doubles team and their journey through the Tower as a basis for characters for bed-time stories over the phone to Kid. Just been playing to keep my hands busy while I am watching movies/listening to music.
So, I had no idea trying for long streaks was even a thing, what the meta was or the fact that there were look-up tables or damage calculators. The work you all have put up for this is nothing short of fantastic. I have come surprisingly close with a few things.
Since I played for fun, I have probably killed lots and lots of streaks because I don't hesitate for a second to turn the game off so we can play Mario Kart if Kid wants it. I also only play with shinies, because I like them, and farming eggs/pokéradar is an even easier time sink than the battle tower when watching a movie.
My intent is to update this post with better formatting, and match up examples when I can do so through a proper keyboard rather than a phone. (if you like, I can also talk about the Pokémon's personalities and how they appear in Kid's bed time stories :p - doubt anyone is interested in that)
Blaziken - scouts and grabs quick kills. Detect is an amazingly powerful setup-move (I used it over Protect, thinking that if Imprison was a move in the tower, it would be combined with Protect). U-Turn breaks Sash, Sturdy, Multi-scale as well as leaving a parting gift for Psychic pokémon.
Rotom - used to be built heavily into Def as it ran Will-O-Wisp over Thunderbolt; with Wish-support, the goal was to put Clefable in a good position, but it seemed superfluous as I got better at playing - and the accuracy is suboptimal. Eventually got more and more offensive. Either way, the amount of ground-, water- and flying-moves Blaziken draws makes it an ideal friend. Trick does trick things when needed. Its resistances/immunities often draws dragon-attacks, which leads us to..
Clefable - use it early. Use it loud. Use it proud. It is susceptible to crits and ohko-moves, so having the two others as backup rather than using it as backup to them is the winning strategy. Wish-passing is invaluable when it needs to happen. Unaware is a cozy ability to have against the AI, as it keeps setting up anyway. Not being afraid of DD, CM or evasion is neat.
The streak is "live" at 161. Will update this post with the final result if I remember. Don't wish to take up too much unnecessary space in an old thread. This current streak is 100% a result of me finding this thread and trying the Serebii look-up tool. The record up until yesterday was 93, with the previously mentioned caveats of going in blind, and resetting randomly. Doubtful I will try many more runs of this style, I prefer the brain-dead spamming.
Comments: This is a Gastrodon team. A very, very easy team to maneuver and play if you are just starting out.
Pelipper - compared to how you all built Pelipper, this is a more defensive approach. The goal is to underspeed most other weather setters and ensure rain. If its speed had been 3 lower, it would do so to Hippowdon too - but Hippowdon has never been an issue. Torkoal, likewise, is a free win (but can post the tactic in my update). Tyranitar and Abomasnow are the nemeses I aim to underspeed. Its offenses are strong enough in rain when it needs to be used, which is rare. Tailwind is pretty much only used in tandem with Fake Out if the opponent leads a Swift Swimmer, or if Ludicolo will kill all on-screen opponents alone.
Ludicolo - my surfing and dancing pineapple friend. Has proven himself over and over. Fake Out is a strong tool in doubles, which is something I see in this thread that I don't need to tell you at this point. Giga Drain is a useful STAB given the amount of lead-water types, and can even be aimed at Gastrodon in a pinch.
EV's are simple - enough speed to outspeed +1 base 100s, like Scarf Charizard, max SpA, Life Orb-friendly HP, and enough Def to discourage Barry's Heracross to CloseCombat most of the time. An alternate spread of 92 Def / 236 SpA / 180 Spe allows to always survive non-crit Close Combat, but have not found that necessary.
Gastrodon - the point of the team, but also the weak link. Given the amount of electric-, rock- and poison-attacks the lead-buddies draw, it is an excellent switch-in, usually grabbing a Storm Drain boost on the way. Is nearly always subbed in on Pelipper's side turn 1. It is quite amusing how often it has +3 SpA at a point where it can't get a hit in, since Ludicolo sweeps most teams. Clear Smog is good for allowing the ability to ignore a foe who is setting up, as well as it itself hitting through evasion. Why Gastrodon? The in-game play through I did with Kid cemented the slug-friend with Clear Smog I found in the underground as Kid's favourite Pokémon, so obviously the team had to be built around it. :) Also, enabling Surf-spam is just fun.
Raikou - the most rotated team spot. I also have a Kingdra (specs) and Scizor (Sitrus) that is sometimes rotated in. It started off with Dragonite (Thunder/Hurricane +Scarf), then moved on to Jolteon (Thunder/VoltSwitch/ShadowBall/HelpingHand) until I could find a shiny Raikou. Raikou seems to be the most consistent of those, but the slot is also the least used 'regular' team member. Volt Switch during non-rain to set up rain is a given, but also allowing Pelipper to Surf when vSwitching to Gastrodon.
The streak is dead at 143, have not tried playing it with the look-up tools yet. Doubtful I want to try, as it's more fun as a story-telling tool with Kid.
Submitting a completed streak of 2874 wins in Master Doubles. Yeah, the dream run is over. It sucks but every story needs to end. Picked the streak back up a couple of weeks ago and started the grind again. I was hoping to reach the next milestone of 3000 but I guess it wasn't meant to be. That's okay though, as this is still a massive streak. Anyway, let's begin. Previous posts can be found here and here. Streak Proof.
Battle 2875 vs Lionel/Abbey - Bellossom2 / Torkoal2 / Lapras3 / Cresselia6
This battle started off pretty normally with Fake Out being used on Torkoal and Bellossom attempting to After You to give Torkoal a really fast Eruption. Torkoal flinches and Bronzong gets a successful Trick Room. Turn 2 also starts off pretty normally as Bronzong replaces the sun with rain and Torkoal charges up a Solar Beam. Hariyama hits Bellossom with a Heavy Slam to break the Focus Sash. Bellossom usually decides to Solar Beam here as well but this time it went for the rare Moonblast into Hari. This was unfortunate but as mentioned, it's pretty rare so while I was annoyed, I didn't think much of it. Turn 3 is where things started to get bad. I switch out Zong to Octillery and target Bellossom with another Heavy Slam. But it switches to Lapras! Why? Lapras has no reason to switch in. Well, in BDSP, it does as weather moves can sometimes trigger immunity switches and Lapras has Water Absorb. This was bad as Heavy Slam does a pitiful amount of damage. Torkoal then lands its Solar Beam on Hariyama, who is left with 43HP after that+the burn from the Flame Orb.
Turn 4 starts with Torkoal using Eruption to finish off Hariyama. I clicked Water Spout here to get a KO on Torkoal. Yes, this did heal Lapras but I was hoping I'd be able to get a Close Combat off here to KO it. Anyway, Torkoal dies and Lapras heals back up. Lapras decided to use Freeze-Dry here on Octillery which brought it down to 5HP and also froze my poor octopus. Not great! I send in Machamp as Abbey sends in Cresselia. This Cress knows Trick Room, so the odds of it clicking it seem pretty likely. Anyway, Machamp gets the very lucky damage roll and manages to KO Lapras with Dynamic Punch (252+ Atk Machamp Dynamic Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Lapras: 224-266 (94.5 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO). Octillery actually manages to thaw and gets a very sad Energy Ball off on Cresselia. I clicked that as I was worried Dynamic Punch wouldn't get the KO. Anyway, remember when I said Cress might click Trick Room? Well, it didn't as it went for the Moonblast KO on Octillery. Trick Room expires after this anyway. Oh well.
Lionel then sends in Bellossom to replace Lapras. I actually forgot this thing was still alive and my heart sank. Bellossom Moonblast+Cress Psychic has a pretty good chance to 2HKO Machamp. My only hope was for Cress to click the weaker Moonblast or Bellossom clicking Sleep Powder. Neither of those situations happened as Machamp dies to the Moonblast+Psychic combo. Bronzong gets the Trick Room off but it's looking like it's over here. Zong finishes off Bellossom with a Psychic but you can probably guess what happens now. Over the next few turns, I desperately tried to salvage this legendary run but Bronzong is just not able to break a Cresselia. Cress sat there spamming Moonblasts, slowly whittling down Zong's HP. After about 8 turns of back and forth, Bronzong finally goes down and the loss quotes came up.
Thinking back on this, I think if I went for a Close Combat on turn 3 anticipating a potential switch to Lapras, this battle could have probably been salvaged. But alas, I didn't think of that switch. It's happened before but it's so rare that I didn't even bother considering it. And it ended up being my downfall.
Battle 2046 vs Dallin Barrett - Crobat2 / Regice2 / Regirock4 / Electivire2
Fake Out was clicked on Regice as Crobat has Inner Focus which makes it immune to flinching. As expected, Crobat KOs Hariyama with Brave Bat and Trick Room is set. Machamp is sent out to replace Hariyama. Regice is KOd by Dynamic Punch and Crobat goes down to a Psychic. Regirock and Electivire come in to replace the frontline. Psychic+Dynamic Punch just miss the KO on Electivire. Regirock hits Machamp with Brick Break as Electivire also targets Machamp with a Thunder. This paralyzes Machamp. Champ breaks through the paralysis (like a champ) and finishes off Electivire with a Dynamic Punch. Zong hits Regirock with a Psychic. Regirock retaliates with a Brick Break on Zong. Turn 5 rolls around as Psychic+Dynamic Punch once again just misses the KO on Regirock. It decides to EQ. It EQs again on turn 6 but then goes down to one last Psychic.
This battle made me rethink my strategy for these two. After this, I started to switch Hariyama out to Machamp turn 1 and sac it to the obvious Brave Bird. Bronzong doesn't care what Regice goes for here so it seemed like a no-brainer. Having Hariyama for this battle made future encounters with this duo a breeze.
Battle 2107 vs Barry/Palmer Team 1 - Empoleon5 / Rhyperior10 / Staraptor5 / Heatran12
I think this is the third or fourth time this team has been mentioned in my posts. Anyway, it's not random flinch nonsense this time. In fact, Bronzong successfully gets the Trick Room off as Empoleon went for a Protect instead of Drill Peck or Waterfall. Turn 2, Bronzong is switched out to Octillery and Rhyperior goes down to a Close Combat. Empoleon targets Octillery with a Waterfall meant for Zong. Heatran comes in to replace Rhyperior. Empoleon clicks Protect again as Octillery hits Heatran with a Spout. Thanks to the earlier Waterfall, Heatran survives as it hits Hariyama with a Magma Storm. Hari ended up whiffing a CC into Empoleon. Hari ends this turn with 47HP.
Empoleon KOs Hari with an Aqua Jet as Octillery's Spout finishes off Heatran and chips Empoleon just a little bit. Machamp comes in to replace the Hariyama. Empoleon once again protects itself, womp womp. Trick Room also expires after this turn, womp womp. Turn 6, I switch Octillery back out to Bronzong as Emp hits Champ with a Drill Peck. Champ fires back with a Dynamic Punch which KOs. Barry sends out his trusty Staraptor which absolutely murders Champ with a Brave Birb. Zong sets another Trick Room. Octillery is sent back out, Zong sets Rain, and Staraptor goes down to Spout. Looks like you owe me 10 million Pokedollars, Barry.
Battle 2161 vs Gunner/Jerrell - Electrode2 / Empoleon3 / Cresselia4 / Gengar2
Another Empoleon here to ruin my day. Except this battle happened because of misplays and misremembering the proper way to fight this. Anyway, battle starts off fine with a Fake Out on Electrode and Emp Waterfalling Hariyama. Trick Room is set successfully. Turn 2 was a huge misplay as Zong targets Empoleon with a Psychic and Hari KOs Electrode with Knock Off. Empoleon then crits Hariyama with a boosted Avalanche. the combo of this+Aftermath+burn leaves Hari with 14HP. Not great. Cress comes in to replace Electrode. Empoleon removes Hari with Aqua Jet as Zong sets Rain. Another bad choice. Cress lands a Psychic on Zong.
Octillery is sent in to replace Hariyama. Zong hits Cress with a Gyro Ball. In hindsight, Psychic was probably better here to fish for a potential spD drop but eh. Anyway, Octillery gets off a Spout which leaves Cress in the red and Emp with ~50%HP. Emp Waterfalls Zong and Cress Energy Balls Octillery which leaves it at 18HP. This puts in Aqua Jet range as Empoleon does just that and KOs Octillery, womp womp. Gyro Ball was clicked again on Cress as it's left with what looks like 1HP. Cress then Shadow Balls Zong. Trick Room then expires. Champ is sent out to replace Octillery. Zong goes down to a Shadow Ball+EQ combo from Cress+Emp. Champ finishes off the Emp with a Dynamic Punch. Gengar comes in to replace Emp.
This obviously isn't looking good. I stared at my switch for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what I can do. I clicked Knock Off on Cress as I figured a physical Gengar wouldn't be much of a threat. Gengar then said "hold my beer" and decides to BOOM which KOs Cress for me. Champ survives this like the absolute CHAD it is and the battle is over. Phew.
Battle 2244 vs Kegan/Noelle - Staraptor2 / Togekiss2 / Raikou3 / Mismagius3
I've been saying this duo is the duo from hell for a while. And with good reason! I click Fake Out on Staraptor here as it flinches but Togekiss Double Teams. Trick Room goes up. Turn 2, Staraptor clicks... Endure.... for some reason. Psychic hits Kiss but Heavy Slam misses. Togekiss then Thunder Waves Bronzong, which allows Zong to munch its Lum Berry. The Psychic+Heavy Slam combo was not a KO thanks to Staraptor's Intimidate and this Togekiss' physical bulk, but I really need damage on this thing otherwise it's a pain to take out. Anyway, Psychic and Heavy Slam both hit now on turn 3, leaving Togekiss in the red. Kiss Thunder Waves Zong again and Staraptor KOs Hari with a Brave Birb. Octillery is sent out to replace Hariyama.
Zong is switched out to Machamp as Octillery clicks Spout. Staraptor goes down but ofc, Spout misses Togekiss. This gets Octillery paralyzed by Thunder Wave. Raikou comes in to replace Staraptor. Stone Edge KOs the demon as Octillery is fully paralyzed and then dies to Raikou's Thunderbolt. Trick Room expires and Zong is sent back out. Mismagius replaces Togekiss. Raikou hits Zong with a Shadow Ball as Mismagius hits Champ with Psychic. Machamp Dynamic Punches Raikou. Zong sets a second Trick room. Raikou then dies to a Psychic from Zong as Machamp Knocks Off the Spell Tag on Mismagius. Mismag hits Zong with Payback. Final turn, Mismag goes down a final Psychic.
Battle 2278 vs Aldo/Kailey - Drifblim3 / Golduck2 / Miltank3 / Entei4
We start off once again with a Fake Out, obviously on Golduck as Drifblim is immune. However, I wish I could Fake Out Drifblim here as it puts Hariyama to sleep with Hypnosis. Trick Room is set. Hariyama is switched out to Machamp as Zong targets Drifblim with a Psychic. Drifblim whiffs a Dream Eater and Golduck hits Zong with Shadow Claw. Next turn, Stone Edge KOs Drifblim and Psychic hits Golduck. The duck clicks Zen Headbutt on Champ. Miltank comes in to replace Drifblim but it's no use as it dies to Dynamic Punch. Zong then KOs Duck with a crit Psychic. Entei comes in last, but dies to Stone Edge+Psychic.
Battle 2512 vs Nadia/Dalvin - Gengar3 / Crobat2 / Milotic3 / Pinsir3
These two have been talked about before in various posts that include Hariyama on the team. They are notorious for having a lead completely immune to Fake Out as Crobat has Inner Focus and Gengar is a Ghost-type. Anyway, Hariyama is sacced to a Brave Bat from Crobat and Gengar crits Bronzong with a Shadow Ball, leaving it with 8HP. Phew. Trick Room is then set. That crit was always a scary one as it does have a chance to OHKO Bronzong: 252 SpA Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 236 HP / 148+ SpD Bronzong on a critical hit: 146-174 (84.9 - 101.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO. My heart was racing. Anyway, Machamp replaces Hariyama and KOs Gengar with a Knock Off. Crobat goes down to Zong's Psychic. Milotic and Pinsir come in to replace Crobat and Gengar. Stone Edge+Psychic hit Pinsir, but it decided to use Endure and survive the hit. Milo uses Surf which KOs Zong. Octillery is sent out to replace Zong. I click Dynamic Punch on Milotic, risking a Cute Charm which thankfully doesn't activate. Water Spout finishes off Pinsir. Milo obviously survives and uses Aqua Ring. Milo then goes down to Dynamic Punch+Energy Ball.
Battle 2596 vs Chester/Tiffani - Rapidash2 / Zapdos3 / Magnezone2 / Skuntank2
This lead sucks as Rapidash is a classic Focus Band set that packs Horn Drill and Zapdos is a King's Rock set. Obviously, I have to Fake Out Rapidash here to prevent a potential Horn Drill OHKO. Zapdos clicks U-turn on Bronzong and switches out to Skuntank. Zong.... flinches. Yep. This sucks as Rapidash can now get a free Horn Drill if it so pleases. Plus, Skuntank has Dark Pulse which it can use to get another flinch on Zong. This doesn't happen, thank god, as Rapidash Flare Blitzes Zong and Skuntank Double Teams. Hariyama manages to land a Close Combat on the Skuntank and removes it. Trick Room is set. Zapdos comes back in to replace the Skuntank. Zong hits Zapdos with Psychic as Hari's Knock Off KOs Rapidash, no Focus Band activation. Phew. Zapdos then KOs Hari with a Drill Peck. Octillery replaces Hari as Magnezone replaces Hariyama. Zong sets Rain and Spout KOs Zapdos. Spout also connected on the Bright Powder Mag, leaving it on Sturdy. Mag then KOs Octillery with a Thunderbolt. Machamp then comes in and avenges his friend and KOs Mag with a Dynamic Punch.
Battle 2607 vs Tyrell/Mikel - Meganium3 / Weezing3 / Walrein2 / Skarmory2
Tyrell and Mikel have been talked about before. They are a bit of an annoying duo as they sport a very fat dual screens Light Clay Meganium, Quick Claw Weezing, and OHKO Walrein. Oh yeah, Skarmory's there too I guess. I consider this encounter to be a pretty good one. Anyway, I change up my strategy here and choose to Fake Out Weezing. This gives Meganium a free Reflect but that's okay. Turn 2, Psychic+Heavy Slam KO the Weezing as Meganium sets Light Screen now. Skarmory replaces the Weezing. Psychic+Close Combat bring Skarmory down to the red. Meganium Leaf Storms Hari and Skarmory hits Hari with a Sand-Attack.
Next turn, Psychic chips Meganium a little as Close Combat connects and KOs Skarmory. Meganium hits Zong with a Leaf Storm. Hari is then switched out to Machamp as Zong hits Meganium with another Psychic. Meganium Leaf Storms Champ now. Trick Room expires. Meganium Leaf Storms Champ again which does pitiful damage since it's at -6 now. Dynamic Punch hits Meganium and Zong sets another Trick Room. Psychic+Dynamic Punch manage to finish off the Meganium on the next turn. Finally, Raid Boss Walrein comes in. I figured Dynamic Punch would be pretty bad here and Reflect+Light Screen are both expiring soon. So I decide to use Psychic+Knock Off Walrein's Bright Powder. Machamp is bopped by a Sheer Cold. Reflect finally wears off. Hariyama is sent back out as Walrein dies to Psychic+Close Combat. Raid Boss down.
Battle 2613 vs Alonso/Daron - Ursaring2 / Porygon2-2 / Articuno3 / Suicune1
I never really have an idea how to go about this fight. I decide to Fake Out Ursaring here as Porygon Tri-Attacks Hariyama, which freezes our poor Hari. Anyway, Zong is switched out to Machamp as Hariyama stays frozen. Tri-Attack+Facade take out Hariyama. Octillery is sent out to replace it. Dynamic Punch hits P2, Spout finishes it off as well as Ursaring. Articuno and Suicune both come in to avenge their fallen comrades. Stone Edge removes the Articuno as Energy Ball hits Suicune. Scald hits Champ, no burn. Suicune then dies on the final turn to Dynamic Punch+Energy Ball.
Battle 2633 vs Sophie/Kevon - Vileplume3 / Weavile2 / Rapidash2 / Vespiquen3
Weavile usually likes to skip Fake Out to use what I can only assume is Night Slash on Bronzong. I wouldn't know as it's usually my Fake Out target. Except this time, it actually clicks Fake Out and of course, it's on Bronzong. Hari's Fake Out just does some damage to Weavile as Vileplume also does something out of the ordinary: it uses Swords Dance. Uh-oh. A combination of crit Night Slash+Drain Punch can actually KO Bronzong now. I have to be ready. Weavile gets the crit Night Slash on Zong, who survives with 5HP. Vileplume thankfully clicks Swords Dance again. Hari Knocks Off the Quick Claw on Vileplume and Trick Room is set.
I switch out Bronzong out to Machamp, expecting an Ice Shard in that slot. Weavile does click Ice Shard.... but it targets Hariyama? What? Anyway, Heavy Slam KOs the +4 Vileplume and Champ is in safely. Rapidash comes in to replace Vileplume but dies to Dynamic Punch. No Focus Band again! Huzzah! Weavile then dies to Heavy Slam. Vesp comes in last but dies to Stone Edge.
Battle 2715 vs Christa/Demetri - Honchkrow2 / Latias1 / Suicune3 / Manectric3
Honchkrow is the Fake Out target here as Latias' Psychic never KOs Hariyama.... without a crit of course. Hari dies to the crit Psychic and the krow flinches. Trick Room is up. I'm at a bit of a loss here as I never really accounted for the Psychic crit. I choose to send in Octillery. Zong hits Latias with Gyro Ball and Octillery Spouts, KOing Krow. Latias lands an Energy Ball on Octillery, who survives with 49HP. Suicune replaces the Honchkrow. Gyro Ball finishes off Latias as Energy Ball hits Suicune. Suicune retaliates with a Scald on Zong. Manectric comes in to replace the Latias. Since Octillery is at 49HP, Spout has no chance to KO Manectric. Even in rain! I notice that Psychic+Ice Beam/Energy Ball has a chance to actually KO Mane so I go for it (Ice Beam was clicked for a potential freeze in case it lives). Manectric goes down! Here's the calcs in case you're curious:
0 SpA Bronzong Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Manectric: 64-76 (43.8 - 52.1%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Octillery Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Manectric: 73-87 (50 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Suicune ends this turn with a Calm Mind. Of course. Psychic+Energy Ball hit the Suicune as it decides to Rest and eat the Chesto to instantly wake up. Trick Room expires after this turn. I decide to Protect Octillery as Suicune Calm Minds again. Trick Room is back up. Psychic+Energy Ball both hit Suicune as it decides to KO Octillery with a Scald. Machamp comes in and Dynamic Punches Suicune, Zong hits it with a Psychic. Suicune then hits itself in confusion! This prevents the potential Rest or Scald burn. Dynamic Punch then finishes off Suicune.
Battle 2827 vs Jayden/Josie Team 1 - Manectric3 / Torterra3 / Rhydon2 / Feraligatr3
This battle was almost a loss actually. We start off with a Fake Out on Manectric as Torterra goes for the rare Leech Seed on Hariyama. Trick Room up. This isn't great as Hariyama is slowly going to lose HP faster now. Anyway, Zong is switched out to Champ as Maneis KOd by Hari's Knock Off. Torterra clicks Double Team. Rhydon comes in to replace Manectric. Champ Dynamic Punches Torterra as Rhydon clicked EQ. It missed the Torterra and does a good chunk to Machamp and Hari. Rhydon then dies to a Close Combat. Torterra Double Teams again.
Machamp Knocks Off Torterra's Bright Powder to give Hari a slightly better chance to land a CC, but it doesn't work as CC misses. Torterra then KOs Champ with a Frenzy Plant. Hariyama also dies to Leech Seed. Zong and Octillery are both sent out. Psychic connects on Tort but Ice Beam misses so it lives to fight another day. Thankfully, Torterra has to recharge. Trick Room expires but no matter. Octillery Protects itself from the incoming Frenzy Plant and Trick Room is up again. Psychic misses Tort this time but Ice Beam actually connects and KOs Torterra! Josie then sends out Gatr to replace the Torterra but it goes down to Psychic+Energy Ball.
Phew, it was tough to write all of that out. I wanted to get this written and posted while it was still fresh on my mind. It stings, but I'm proud of what I have accomplished in this Tower. I'd like to say I'm done now but who knows, maybe I'll return again. But for now, the book is closed on BDSP.