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I tried to build a team with Sunny Day and ran into problems, revised it and ran into even more issues lol. Before reading that it shouldn't be swift swim though I did make a rain team that felt pretty good, w/ lead Zapdos so it can easily get rain up as typically azelf wont click taunt into it, jirachi is there to support + set rain.
Suicune is a nice addition to set rain too, while it doesn't have swift swim its a good add-on to the team.
I didn't even realize Suicune could clear weather for itself.
https://pokepast.es/f91d7b5805d362eb
This team was built with Sunny Day Heatran in mind. I've been hating on sand for a minute now and wanted to build a team that got rid of it. Clearing sand is nice because there are a lot of teams who use the passive damage of sand to wear down their opponents, so halting that strategy is nice. While thinking of mons who would benefit from sand being gone, CM Raikou was the first to come to mind. I then added Roserade as a way to eliminate Tspikes without having a spinner(because I don't like spinning). Swampert completed the FWG and is a strong physical attacker that can threaten the special walls. Bronzong is my own special wall and Rocker, and Scarf Rotom is the revenger killer/Lucario check of choice because of it's fighting immunity and steel resist. Just like Raikou, Rotom also enjoys some fun in the sun. Heatran is Modest because it gives it a 74.2% chance of 2HKO Clef in the sun. Raikou can either be an early or mid-game breaker or a late game sweeper depending on the matchup.
I wanted to play sub cmind suicune which i really like, i also like water spam so i added kingdra because it can clear weather and spam hpumps so lure and weak water resistant mons. Tspikes where good with protect cune and i had to absorb opponent's tspikes so i choose roserade instead of a spinner + it has aroma to remove paras or sleeps or something (i know roserade can clear weather too and i have a weird monograss set, but you should mind your business bro). Heatran is good to lure and cheap ttar or to kill bulky waters which can stop suicune sweep.
I don't like double scarf that much but rotom-w + jirachi can rkill almost everything, i only get 1 trick tho because i prefer the option of using hwish on suicune (or kingdra) in lategame.
This team is fun to play, i tested it few weeks ago on ladder and it wasn't bad at all (not easy to pilot tho)
This was a fairly difficult theme to run without doing a standard rain set, It's otherwise difficult to fit a weather clearing in. The concept is to clear any sand for Scarf Breloom, Suicune, and Togekiss (all of whom don't really care for the residual damage) to go to work. I think Togekiss is a nifty mon that doesn't see a ton of use, and was the starter for the build. Recovering leftovers while firing off +2 Air Slash is definitely a huge luxury. Scarf Breloom ideally stalls hazards from hitting the field. Jirachi and Bronzong are here to set the rain. Both appreciate nuking fire damage, and Jirachi appreciates the accuracy bump to thunder and power boost to water pulse. Given that I don't really care about keeping the rain up beyond the isolated use cases, I don't need to run damp rocks anywhere. This also mitigates accidentally enabling someone else's team. Roserade helps keep pesky toxic spikes off the field, spreads paralysis, and can set hazards of her own -- pretty standard partner for Suicune imo. This is definitely not my finest work given the gaping Skarmory sized hole the team tends to fall into, but the sets function enough to make me comfortable submitting this.
edit -- Jirachi and Bronzong also keep sand off fairly reliably and prevent t-tar from coming right back in
I'm just kind of clicking buttons this afternoon so this was the least disastrous team I could muster. I will be revisiting togekiss in the future for something hopefully more creative.
I saw the team above and decided to adapt my preferences for nasty plot Togekiss for this challenge. I unironically think hyper beam is the better move on offensive np Togekiss over air slash. Why? On a bulkless timid Togekiss, you don’t have time to set up para support and imo air slash is way too weak if you’re not flinching, I think it’s weaker than fire blast. Fire fight coverage is already pretty good, so why not be an absolute nuke and just ohko zapdos, your biggest offensive check. You’re gonna ohko what you’d try to flinch anyway, esp w machamp no longer in the tier. What are you air slashing for damage that’s slower than you, Breloom? Barbecue it w flamethrower. Need to be an offensive check to Infernape after rocks? Hyper beam. Latias, suicune, Gyarados, swampert? Hyper beam. Togekiss is pretty naturally bulky and +2 hyper beam does stupid things like have a pretty good chance to ohko clefable. You have sciz, cune, and lati to handle threats that set up on hyper beam.
Imo it’s a such a good partner to something like bulky sd occa sciz, as you lure in and take out its arguably best defensive check in Zapdos. So the rest of the team is built around making a competent special offense. Trick + flame uxie is awesome for sciz, you do a great job getting steels (esp fp jirachi) and tyranitar, opening up the rest of your special offense. Heatran can kind of run anything if you got rocks on something else, so in the spirit of the challenge I made it sunny day. Sunny day is great for cune and Togekiss, and w trick flame uxie, lati, and heatran itself, you have an excellent shot to keep sand off vs most tar sets. Wacan toge is nice to nuke rotom-w trying to revenge you for the Cune, as you already have uxie to help you w loom. Sciz + lati glues you together against dders.
My concerns w this is maybe the sciz should be a Metagross, I don’t have a ghost, and I’m definitely on the rails at times
Voting has begun! We have five teams this round. Weather clearing is still a difficult theme to build around it appears, despite its long history and appearance in SPL over the years.
Who was able to build the best team?
The deadline for voting is next Saturday (16/02/2025), 11:00 pm GMT.
Once voting concludes and the winner is announced, they will choose the theme for the next competition.
gonna vote for Johnny, team is cool and weather clearance with cune is always useful, I rly like the 2nd team bronzong with t spikes is actually pretty good, but I don't rly see the point of weather clearance here outside of helping raiku, u usually prefer sub heatran here.
gonna vote for Johnny, team is cool and weather clearance with cune is always useful, I rly like the 2nd team bronzong with t spikes is actually pretty good, but I don't rly see the point of weather clearance here outside of helping raiku, u usually prefer sub heatran here.
Again, I am divided between two teams (2 and 5). I have always liked the teams with Roserade, the best TSpikes user. I'm missing something with Sub to take more advantage of that strategy.
I vote for team 5. It looks very cool overall, especially the Togekiss set. I had already seen something similar with Toxic Orb Uxie.
I took DriDri and Jeong's advice to add a Sub user and have been impressed with the results of the new team. Just wanted to leave this team here for them(and anyone else, but mostly them).
Team 5! Really impressed by the synergies here especially between SD Sciz and NP Toge, and the move choices on the latter are quite innovative and make a lotta sense! Was never really a fan of Air Slash on offensive NP toge, I wonder if any other mons in the tier could make use of these often overlooked recharge moves to success (Slaking comes to mind), perhaps a theme for a later week…? Sunny Day is awesome too, really love how it puts more pressure on Clef to heal and potentially get an easier boom off, opening up the Suicune in the back..
Since it is an odd numbered teambuilding competition, the next theme can be any pokemon from the top 30 of the VR (link), and will be chosen by Johnnyg2 as a reward for winning the last competition. If they don’t want to choose, or don’t choose by 17/02/25, then I’ll post a theme by 18/02/25 (GMT).
Once it's announced you win the competition, comment your choice in a new post with the new theme at the top of the message.
There are some rules as to what you are able to pick.
- For every odd teambuilding competition, you can pick any pokemon from the top 30 of the VR (link).
- For every even teambuilding competition, you can pick anything you want with no restrictions.
These rules are in place to ensure that we don’t get too many difficult mons to build with in a row, which has caused inactivity in the past.
You can also choose a set or a theme to build with instead of a pokemon. E.g., Build with banded tyranitar, or build with water spam. You can choose more difficult themes if you wish, but please exercise discretion.
Once picked, your choice can't be changed, so bear that in mind.
Since it was an odd numbered competition, the next theme could be anything from the top 30 of the VR, or a general theme. Johnnyg2 picked a general theme, and that idea was building around ways to keep a focus sash user / heavy entry hazard weak Pokémon alive outside of the lead slot.
Whether that be rapid spin users, healing wish, lunar dance, or some combination of these / doubling up on a strategy (e.g. two rapid spin users, or double healing wish), the aim of the competition this round is to enable something to come in that is normally ruined by hazards.
As usual, the winner of this competition gets to choose the next theme.
Once it's announced you win the competition, comment your choice in a new post with the new theme at the top of the message.
There are some rules as to what you are able to pick.
- For every odd teambuilding competition, you can pick any pokemon from the top 30 of the VR (link).
- For every even teambuilding competition, you can pick anything you want with no restrictions.
These rules are in place to ensure that we don’t get too many difficult mons to build with in a row, which has caused inactivity in the past.
You can also choose a set or a theme to build with instead of a pokemon. E.g., Build with banded tyranitar, or build with water spam. You can choose more difficult themes if you wish, but please exercise discretion.
Once picked, your choice can't be changed, so bear that in mind.
The deadline for team submission this week has been extended due to the late theme selection. Submissions are open now and will close on March 1, at 11:00 pm GMT. From there we'll move onto voting, which will close on March 8 at 11:00 pm GMT.
Good luck and happy building :)
This week's theme is really cool and under explored in DPP. The only team I know of that utilizes it is Pideous' Aquemini. Focus Sash Agili-Gross is the mon I have in mind, but I think that Focus Sash, Double Dance Gliscor could be really cool to see if anyone can make it work.
Smeargle denies rocks puts other lead to sleep, then provides mid game rocks and also trick which is helpful vs stall.
Gyra- I like outrage too much, being able to OHKO lati is huge. Also it has sash so if they do not have sand it has late game sweeping potential. Or if you force them to switch to scarf rotom and chip it you are free to ko it off the bat.
Gengar is here to deal serious damage and boom on stuff.
Same with shuca berry Agiligross, just put in work.
DD sash ttar, I thought this will be v nice against Scizor. No need to worry about CB BP just stay in and click fire punch like a gigachad. Also I imagine its satisfying to click eq vs incoming CC's from ape and lucario.
Agility empo is fire and I actually use it on this team like you would mixnite lol. Switch it in after spore and you already subbing +agility smacking their Jirachi with hydro pump. That's not to say you have to though this team can be played in many different ways.
After messing around with Agili Gross, I realized that it wasn't the best user of Focus Sash because its bulk is too great and lives most things any way, so I decided to go down the DDTar route after seeing Ballout's post above. It ended up working out pretty well since the team was a bit weak to Scizor and Zap.
Azelf is here to Taunt and get up SR, with U-turn to get out of bad lead matchups.
Gyara is Wacan because on the Agili Gross version, I wanted to bait and remove Scarf Rotom for Gross, and I didn't feel like changing the set for this new revision of the team. Taunt is here to also prevent hazards from going up, to batter Skarm and Tank Pert, as well as stop Breloom's Spore.
Starmie is here to Spin in case hazards do go up. I went with Colbur and Twave to guarantee the spin against Tar and to cripple it. Psychic is here for good neutral coverage and to OHKO Loom and Gar.
In this spot, I've been going back and forth between CB Scizor and Trick Iron Ball Gross. Both have their Pros and Cons, but I haven't decided which I like more for this team.
Scarf Latias is here to Drop Dracos, Trick Things, and Hwish a weakened team member.
I took the DD Sash Tar from Ballout's team and put it here because it fit nicely without me having to make too many adjustments(I was using Mixed Tar before making it DD).
So Moltres again huh.
I really wanted to play Moltres on a high-octane offense as this thing is insanely scary as soon as it's on the field with no rocks up. Insane wallbreaker that gives modern dpp stalls that don't have Blissey or Milotic tons of trouble. Clef gets obliterated on switch-in and TTar hates catching a Will O Wisp. Only Latias can consistently deal with Moltres.
So obviously Aero is needed to deny Rocks T1, lures in some steels that Moltres can abuse as well. And if you can preserve it on 1hp getting a free turn is very nice for breakneck offenses like this.
I really wanted Off-cune as it profits immensely from Moltres blowing up a special wall or spreading burns on TTar, defensive Latias or opposing bulky waters. Serves as a very nice check to Lum Gyarados as well, should it set up on Moltres on a free turn. Neither Gyara or Dnite can switch into Moltres as long as rocks are up tho, as they get 2HKO'd by Fire Blast.
Scarf Scizor to U-Turn earlygame on Latias and Starmie, which give the team a lot of trouble. Later on once you have enough information you can Pursuit them as well, just be careful not to run into some Magnets early-on. Latias survives from full and then you play against Latias with only Specsmie as your option. Really nice to catch some Ghosts, which are scary for the team as well.
Specsmie because double offensive water with Offcune is insanely threatening. Needed for speed control as well so Mixnape etc. dont 6:0 this. If you bring Starmie in early-on after Moltres is revealed chances are high they expect a spin and you can mind-control them into sending in Rotom which gets obliterated. Trick is necessary to be able to play against some bulky waters or actually well played stall. I really wanted to fit Spin but there is limited room here. Can't drop Ice Beam because Starmie needs to be able to threaten Latias after trick or catch it on the switch-in. Tbolt is kind of really nice to pressure bulky-waters or offcune which are one of the more annoying things for this team to face. If you are confident into your ability to pilot this then Spin over Tbolt is a nice option.
Mixgon for the Tbolt/Twave switch-in. Really profits from the holes Moltres creates as well and turns the stall matchup into extremely favourable. Could be Bandgon if you're confident you can outplay stall with the tools it has so far.
Overall insanely fun team, gives you tons of outplay potential and good matchups into some very common archetypes. Sadly relying on Fire Blast and Hydro Pump makes it a bit inconsistent at times but it is what it is. Just say bismillah and hope it hits.
Oh and before I forget: Don't play Scizor as your premier Dragon switch-in. Instead just dispose of something useless and then send it in safely and grab momentum or the KO! It is the mvp for this team drawing in all the good matchups for Moltres and the other breakers. And you need to preserve its HP as much as possible as it matters a lot in some endgame scenarios.
I concussed myself last week so I wasn't able to ladder much and did some major npc moves while I did. But I think you should be able to grasp the idea of how it works from the replays.
The main idea is Toxic Spikes + Sub Articuno in hail to chip down stuff. I picked Articuno cause I love hail teams and it never gets used, followed by Abomasnow who sets up hail. Two spinners felt necessary here with Abomasnow and Articuno on the team. Tentacruel was my 1st choice of spinner because of Toxic Spikes, followed by Hitmontop who provides necessary resistances and being able to hit Clefable. For the last two slots I needed a SR user and a Wish passer to give the team some longevity, that’s why I went with Jirachi and Clefable.
The main strategy failed completely and I didn’t manage to make it work a single time. I think the main reason is Toxic Spikes not being as effective as I had hoped since most of the common stuff are immune to it. The team still functioned well enough though.
I didn’t have any memorable games on ladder so I’ll just share the games from the tournament I joined.
Back in the early days of Diamond & Pearl, the Focus Sash (or Endure) + Reversal combo and its variations were decently seen for a bit on WiFi battles. So I decided to try to recreate that for this week's Teambuilding competition.
https://pokepast.es/1c312a59ee4f0530
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So Lucario is the star for this team. The immunity to Sandstorm damage, STAB Reversal, and can activate Reversal decently well with its weak bulk and common weaknesses makes it a good candidate for Focus Sash + Reversal. The only issues for Lucario is that its physical offense isn't scary without Life Orb or Swords Dance, and it's pretty slow without Agility against Ghost-types that are immune to Reversal. I've seen some Double Dance sets and thought that if it can get both Agility and Swords Dance up, it can sweep. If not, use Agility or Swords Dance depending on the opponent's team.
+2 252+ Atk Lucario Reversal (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 408-481 (97.1 - 114.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Lucario Reversal (200 BP) vs. 248 HP / 228+ Def 30 IVs Zapdos: 261-307 (68.1 - 80.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Lucario Reversal (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 360-426 (107.7 - 127.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Lucario Reversal (200 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Gyarados: 288-340 (87 - 102.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
In the DPP OU Speed Tiers, Lucario's speed becomes 558 after one Agility. That means Lucario outspeeds its counters like Scarf Latias, Scarf Flygon, Agility Metagross, and neutral Kingdra in Rain.
So the very best case scenario for Lucario would be coming in with zero entry hazards for a revenge kill on the opponent. They switch away and Lucario gets a Swords Dance or Agility boost. The opponent attacks and activates Focus Sash while Lucario gets the second stat boost. Plus, the opponent has no priority moves and Lucario gets no status infliction, and thus Lucario sweeps the opponent. Second best scenario is one stat boost.
So how will his teammates help make this dream scenario possible?
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These two have important jobs: Azelf prevents Stealth Rocks from being set-up via Taunt and Starmie spins away any rocks if they are up. Azelf's can also scout on Steel-types for Magnezone to pick them off. Setting up Stealth Rocks is also important since it helps against Flying-types that resist Reversal.
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I prefer Magnezone over Magneton for more bulk and survivability. Magnezone's job is to trap Steel-types that lay down hazards and Scizor & Metagross who will beat Lucario with Bullet Punch. Plus, it can tank any moves that can scare away Zapdos and Flygon.
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Zapdos has good bulk and can paralyze as well. Its main job is to threaten the Pokemon that uses priority moves. I prefer HP Ice for Flygon, Dragonite and Breloom but switching it to HP Grass would help immensely against Swampert who causes this team some trouble. Plus, Lucario can scare away a lot of Zapdos's counters like Clefable and Tyranitar.
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Flygon does a great job against Tyranitar and can scout into Lucario. I prefer using Dragon Claw since it doesn't get Flygon locked into Outrage and there's already two other teammates that use Thunderbolt. My overall thoughts on this team is that it's fun to use, but it's easy for something to go wrong. Stealth Rocks is easy to set-up, Starmie and Azelf can get Pursuit trapped easily, and Lucario could get attacked and not activate Reversal's 200 BP. But, when everything worked out perfectly, it was fun to see Lucario OHKO an entire team and bring back the game! I found this theme to be fun to theory craft. I contemplated with FEAR Mamoswine and Cleffa, and thought about how well Charizard could do. Overall, I had fun this week!
The deadline for voting is next Saturday (08/02/2025), 11:00 pm GMT.
Once voting concludes and the winner is announced, they will choose the theme for the next competition.
I'm gonna go with Bygone's team, another cool offensive Molt team that is a bit shaky given the lack of Heatran, but Aero (Or Azelf) is probably a necessary evil to deny Rocks.
Tell Lady Bug that I said, "Good luck on the SPL!"
