Chapter 1 (Introduction):
Hello. Ever since the dlc dropped, i got excited to try out all the new pokemon coming into the dlc. Unfortunately, a ton of them have faced power creep, like mandibuzz that I really wanted to use, so I scrambled to try to find a new balance team with no luck. A ton of better pokemon, however few, came into the meta and that was enough to bring down a lot of the old pokemon too, like sneasler and garganacl. Alas, defeated as I was, I was still determined to find a brand new team best suited for me. The closest I ever gotten to a team that I'm comfortable with was this team:
Chapter 2 (The team):
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Swords Dance
- Protect
I immedietly fell in love with gliscor once I first experimented with it and I haven't removed it from my team ever since. It's typing is phenomenal and let's me take hits from almost anything. And to keep it from becoming passive, Swords dance let's me sweep the metagame that's not prepared for gliscor, especially after the baxcallibur ban. Facade also serves as a good coverage move. Finally, protect helps me stall out turns when needed and allows me to heal for quite a lot. Overall, the bread and butter of my team.
Corviknight @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mirror Armor
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Careful Nature
- Roost
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- U-turn
I always loved corviknight and I realized I could pair it with gliscor since even though they're both flying types, they don't share any weaknesses, making me have a ln easier time with all the ground types running around the meta. Corviknight was originally my hazard removal before someone suggested tusk being a more optimal pick for that job. Nevertheless, I still love how bulky corviknight can get and with all of its utility and coverage against gambit, it just seems to never leave my side.
Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
While experimenting, I went to the smogon resources for help and I saw that gambit pairs well with gliscor. I decided to take this opportunity to use it, given how much variety I can use with this thing. I choose Iron Head to deal with some potential fairies in the tier and a Tera fairy since it's overall a nice typing to have. Finally, Leftovers helps me recover if I ever need to, helping it stay healthy for the end game.
Iron Valiant @ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aura Sphere
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
Iron Valiant is always a pokemon I loved experimenting with, so once I saw it in the resources page with corviknight, I decided to pair the duo up. Im always fond of the band set with destiny bond as an emergency button for any potential sweepers. This time, however, I went with the specs set with Thunderbolt since I needed coverage for water types and I also needed a special attack user. With its high speed and overall good typing, Iron valiant has always done something awesome for my team. (And no, I'm not fond at all of the booster energy sets).
Slowking-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Future Sight
- Chilly Reception
A rather new addition to my team, galarian slowking serves as the special wall in my team, spreading a bit of poison with toxic spikes and threatening pokemon with future sight. Sludge Bomb helps it to not be a purely passive pokemon and Chilly reception helps me bring out the more glassy mons out easier.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Body Press
- Earthquake
Tusks is the premier support in my team, putting up easy Stealth Rocks and then Rapid spinning away any potential set ups. It can also help deal with gholdengo too, given its typing. Overall, an easy and solid choice to always have
Chapter 3 (potential replacements that I tried to fit in, but couldn't. Would probably help when rating my team):
Of course, while experimenting, there have been some great pokemon I love using that just didn't make the cut. However, I thought I'd share them to possibly make modifying my team easier and to see what pokemon I'm more fond of using too and also too see if there could possibly be better cores as well. So here's the list:
Dragapult
Dragapult has always been a good pal to me, even after the dlc dropped. At that time, I did try to experiment with both Val and pult on the same team, one with band and the other with specs. If I could, I would definetly look forward to using this again to dish out a ton of damage at a high speed.
Sneasler
I always imagined sneasler being a good potential fast counter to ogrepon as it's poison and fighting typing helps deal with all forms of it. It also has some good traits going for it too, like it's acrobatics set and it's banded sets. Overall, a pretty good pokemon that I loved to consider for my team to more reliably check the ogrepon meta.
Toxapex
This used to me a member of my team before I replaced it with the better glowking. However, it does has some traits going for it. Water typing. Baleful bunker to poison and able to spread even more toxic with toxic spikes makes it a choice I once considered.
Heatran
There were some times where i thought gambitin my team felt a bit iffy. I once considered revolving my team around gliscor, corviknight and heatran since heatran doesn't have any weaknesses corviknight has while also being another great steel type pokemon. Tera Grass helps it out a lot and it's sheer bulk combined with its decent speed and awesome SpA and we got ourselves an awesome pokemon.
Zapdos, Moltres, clodsire and Hamurott
These were some good potential pokemon that I considered one time, but sadly didn't make the cut for my team since there roles have probably been fulfilled now by other pokemon.
Chapter 4 (Conclusion):
These past few days with the dlc drop have definitely been a learning experience for me. Not only am I starting to get a slightly better grasp for the meta right now, I also learned some important and valuable lessons on teambuilding in general, thanks to the wonderful community. I may not be the best at team building, but I sure do love doing it anyways (thanks defensive support kingambit). I don't mind any changes to any of my team as long as it stays as balance since im most comfortable with that team format. Have a nice day everyone and hope you too enjoy the dlc experience!
Hello. Ever since the dlc dropped, i got excited to try out all the new pokemon coming into the dlc. Unfortunately, a ton of them have faced power creep, like mandibuzz that I really wanted to use, so I scrambled to try to find a new balance team with no luck. A ton of better pokemon, however few, came into the meta and that was enough to bring down a lot of the old pokemon too, like sneasler and garganacl. Alas, defeated as I was, I was still determined to find a brand new team best suited for me. The closest I ever gotten to a team that I'm comfortable with was this team:
Chapter 2 (The team):
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Swords Dance
- Protect
I immedietly fell in love with gliscor once I first experimented with it and I haven't removed it from my team ever since. It's typing is phenomenal and let's me take hits from almost anything. And to keep it from becoming passive, Swords dance let's me sweep the metagame that's not prepared for gliscor, especially after the baxcallibur ban. Facade also serves as a good coverage move. Finally, protect helps me stall out turns when needed and allows me to heal for quite a lot. Overall, the bread and butter of my team.
Corviknight @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mirror Armor
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Careful Nature
- Roost
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- U-turn
I always loved corviknight and I realized I could pair it with gliscor since even though they're both flying types, they don't share any weaknesses, making me have a ln easier time with all the ground types running around the meta. Corviknight was originally my hazard removal before someone suggested tusk being a more optimal pick for that job. Nevertheless, I still love how bulky corviknight can get and with all of its utility and coverage against gambit, it just seems to never leave my side.
Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
While experimenting, I went to the smogon resources for help and I saw that gambit pairs well with gliscor. I decided to take this opportunity to use it, given how much variety I can use with this thing. I choose Iron Head to deal with some potential fairies in the tier and a Tera fairy since it's overall a nice typing to have. Finally, Leftovers helps me recover if I ever need to, helping it stay healthy for the end game.
Iron Valiant @ Choice Specs
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aura Sphere
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
Iron Valiant is always a pokemon I loved experimenting with, so once I saw it in the resources page with corviknight, I decided to pair the duo up. Im always fond of the band set with destiny bond as an emergency button for any potential sweepers. This time, however, I went with the specs set with Thunderbolt since I needed coverage for water types and I also needed a special attack user. With its high speed and overall good typing, Iron valiant has always done something awesome for my team. (And no, I'm not fond at all of the booster energy sets).
Slowking-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Future Sight
- Chilly Reception
A rather new addition to my team, galarian slowking serves as the special wall in my team, spreading a bit of poison with toxic spikes and threatening pokemon with future sight. Sludge Bomb helps it to not be a purely passive pokemon and Chilly reception helps me bring out the more glassy mons out easier.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Body Press
- Earthquake
Tusks is the premier support in my team, putting up easy Stealth Rocks and then Rapid spinning away any potential set ups. It can also help deal with gholdengo too, given its typing. Overall, an easy and solid choice to always have
Chapter 3 (potential replacements that I tried to fit in, but couldn't. Would probably help when rating my team):
Of course, while experimenting, there have been some great pokemon I love using that just didn't make the cut. However, I thought I'd share them to possibly make modifying my team easier and to see what pokemon I'm more fond of using too and also too see if there could possibly be better cores as well. So here's the list:
Dragapult
Dragapult has always been a good pal to me, even after the dlc dropped. At that time, I did try to experiment with both Val and pult on the same team, one with band and the other with specs. If I could, I would definetly look forward to using this again to dish out a ton of damage at a high speed.
Sneasler
I always imagined sneasler being a good potential fast counter to ogrepon as it's poison and fighting typing helps deal with all forms of it. It also has some good traits going for it too, like it's acrobatics set and it's banded sets. Overall, a pretty good pokemon that I loved to consider for my team to more reliably check the ogrepon meta.
Toxapex
This used to me a member of my team before I replaced it with the better glowking. However, it does has some traits going for it. Water typing. Baleful bunker to poison and able to spread even more toxic with toxic spikes makes it a choice I once considered.
Heatran
There were some times where i thought gambitin my team felt a bit iffy. I once considered revolving my team around gliscor, corviknight and heatran since heatran doesn't have any weaknesses corviknight has while also being another great steel type pokemon. Tera Grass helps it out a lot and it's sheer bulk combined with its decent speed and awesome SpA and we got ourselves an awesome pokemon.
Zapdos, Moltres, clodsire and Hamurott
These were some good potential pokemon that I considered one time, but sadly didn't make the cut for my team since there roles have probably been fulfilled now by other pokemon.
Chapter 4 (Conclusion):
These past few days with the dlc drop have definitely been a learning experience for me. Not only am I starting to get a slightly better grasp for the meta right now, I also learned some important and valuable lessons on teambuilding in general, thanks to the wonderful community. I may not be the best at team building, but I sure do love doing it anyways (thanks defensive support kingambit). I don't mind any changes to any of my team as long as it stays as balance since im most comfortable with that team format. Have a nice day everyone and hope you too enjoy the dlc experience!
