I've recently started a new project on the Singles Battle Tower: a 17-streak monotype challenge, in which I am only allowed to use Pokémon that have a type in common for all 17 different types. Additionally, I will not be using the same Pokémon in the entire challenge (so I can't use Tyranitar in both the Rock and Dark teams for example).
Many of these teams will have the classic Crippler / Glue / Sweeper (further referred to as CGS) format, as I believe that's the way to optimize battle tower strategies anyway. The immense search for the right Pokémon and moves brought me a great deal of pleasure, although I'm far from satisfied for some of the types so far.
In the Dark-, Dragon- and Electric-type department I feel quite pleased already, but most of the other monotypes need more work and testing before I attempt to stream the challenge on YouTube. Here's what I got so far (descriptions a little less extensive than what you're used to):
Mono Dark:
Scrolling through the list of available Dark-types, Tyranitar is certainly the most powerful sweeper and generally the best Pokémon as well. Cacturne could then SubStall or take advantage of Sand Stream in a different way, possibly with Houndoom or Umbreon as a "high quality" Pokémon. This is certainly the "powerhouse approach", but it would be far too situational. Moreover, not using Tyranitar here allows me to use it on the mono Rock team, on which Sand Stream seems more fitting anyway. Following the CGS formula, here's the team I eventually came up with, interestingly utilizing some Pokémon we would never consider for a common Battle Tower team (or even an ingame team, lol):
Mightyena (M) @ Lum Berry ** EGG SUCKER
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 24 SpD / 84 Spe
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Yawn
- Sand-Attack
- Scary Face
- Roar
Umbreon (F) @ Leftovers ** BAD NEWS
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 236 HP / 12 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Curse (1 PP UP)
- Substitute
- Moonlight
- Baton Pass (No PP UPs)
Sneasel (M) @ White Herb ** HEY PORTER
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Aerial Ace
Umbreon's great bulk and lack of Special weaknesses inspired me to build a CursePass + White Herb team around it. Since Fighting and Bug physical attackers seem problematic, I first considered to run Murkrow, which has acces to Featherdance as well, while (possibly CB) Drill Peck would take care of problematic Fighting- and Bug-types. Murkrow has a problem with breeding move accessibility though and is generally too frail. Turns out that Mightyena is far more dependable because of Intimidate, which allows me to run a fully Specially bulky set on Umbreon so it needs no assistance against Special sweepers. Mightyena also gets the very useful Yawn, the 100%-accurate Sand-Attack, Roars away dangerous set up Pokémon such as Dragon Dancers (the moment it turns out they have that set) or Swords Dancers and is able to lower the target's Speed so Umbreon can outspeed it during crucial turns. Oh yeah, it's EV'ed to survive Heracross' non-crit Megahorn and therefore survives all moves in general, bar crazy hard special hits such as Moltres' Overheat (but Umbreon should be able to set up on that).
Umbreon is an amazing tank whose Substitute is broken by Modest Starmie's Surf only 50% of the time, to give an indication of its bulk. This means it freely sets up on nearly every non-boosting Specially-based Pokémon (and those that carry weak physical moves, such as the mixed Lati@s sets).
The moveset fits it perfectly and once it 'outslows' Quick Claw users, I can safely use Substitute when the previous one will break, making me only vulnerable to two successive crits in a row (or OHKO moves that hit twice in a row), but that's a risk I have to take using only one type. Moonlight is fantastic for both stalling out moves and letting Umbreon get all its boosts in a safe way, although I'd love to use Roar too, so I can Roar away fellow setuppers. The reason for the divergent PP UP use here is that I want to be able to get to +6 precisely twice (should I have to pass back to Mightyena first in order to Roar out another setupper) and not having extra Baton Passes, because then I get to Struggle earlier, should the match come down to that. This is where the Attack EVs come from. Putting more than 4 EVs into Defense doesn't seem to help any defensive calculations anyway.
When Umbreon succesfully passes a +6 Atk / +6 Def / -6 Spe Substitute to Sneasel (which hopefully doesn't break during the pass turn because of a crit), the opponent will face +6 / +6 Sneasel (note that White Herb cancels ALL speed drops) that outspeeds everything bar the Timid Jolteon (whose Tbolt it survives). If Substitute is still up, I have a wild card against Quick Claw Pokémon or Pokémon that I can't OHKO.
The last group consists of Pokémon such as Armaldo, Forretress, Scizor and Regirock, and luckily they attack with physical attacks, many of which Sneasel actually TANKS like a boss with +6 Defense.
In first test runs, I didn't have Aerial Ace but Swords Dance as a filler move (also tried Brick Break but that wasn't really necessary), in case Umbreon can't get a decent pass off (possibly could be used with Yawn still). But then I lost to Evasion Focus Punch spammers, i.e. Golem, Regirock and Machamp, which Aerial Ace prevents. Furthermore, Aerial Ace has a 50% chance to OHKO non-bulky Heracross in the tower, which is at least a (meager) last resort should Heracross crit Mightyena on turn 1. Then still, pray it's not the EndSalac set...
The following is a promising and unique alternative to Sneasel:
Sharpedo @ White Herb ** BIG RIVER
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Agility
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Sharpedo can afford to put some EVs into HP, which lets it use Double-Edge three times against most opposing teams. Furthermore, it has a guaranteed KO on Heracross, every variant of which it outspeeds at 154 (the 100 neutral BS tier) as well. The EndSalac version dies when it uses Reversal due to Rough Skin, so in that scenario I can at least hope for Umbreon to outstall + sweep with Struggle. Earthquake and more Attack than Sneasel make sure the aforementioned Pokémon don't live anymore either at +6. Sharpedo can make up for the lack of Speed compared to Sneasel with Agility, but it might need to sacrifize its Substitute for that (i.e. only use Agility when you don't already the opponent in front of you). Hidden Power [Flying] also OHKOes Gengar and 2HKOes Dusclops at +6, but Dusclops can't really do anything back. The reason I think Sneasel is still marginally better than Sharpedo is that Sharpedo is OHKOed by Jolteon and Raikou or loses its Substitute (if it even still has that), and all it takes to lose after that is an unlucky Quick Claw / Brightpowder / Focus Band activation. That extra turn to use Agility costs much.
Problems:
Sample streak with Mono Dark team
… and tomorrow, I'll SHOCK you with another monotype!
Many of these teams will have the classic Crippler / Glue / Sweeper (further referred to as CGS) format, as I believe that's the way to optimize battle tower strategies anyway. The immense search for the right Pokémon and moves brought me a great deal of pleasure, although I'm far from satisfied for some of the types so far.
In the Dark-, Dragon- and Electric-type department I feel quite pleased already, but most of the other monotypes need more work and testing before I attempt to stream the challenge on YouTube. Here's what I got so far (descriptions a little less extensive than what you're used to):
Mono Dark:
Scrolling through the list of available Dark-types, Tyranitar is certainly the most powerful sweeper and generally the best Pokémon as well. Cacturne could then SubStall or take advantage of Sand Stream in a different way, possibly with Houndoom or Umbreon as a "high quality" Pokémon. This is certainly the "powerhouse approach", but it would be far too situational. Moreover, not using Tyranitar here allows me to use it on the mono Rock team, on which Sand Stream seems more fitting anyway. Following the CGS formula, here's the team I eventually came up with, interestingly utilizing some Pokémon we would never consider for a common Battle Tower team (or even an ingame team, lol):
Mightyena (M) @ Lum Berry ** EGG SUCKER
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 24 SpD / 84 Spe
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Yawn
- Sand-Attack
- Scary Face
- Roar
Umbreon (F) @ Leftovers ** BAD NEWS
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 236 HP / 12 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Curse (1 PP UP)
- Substitute
- Moonlight
- Baton Pass (No PP UPs)
Sneasel (M) @ White Herb ** HEY PORTER
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Aerial Ace
Umbreon's great bulk and lack of Special weaknesses inspired me to build a CursePass + White Herb team around it. Since Fighting and Bug physical attackers seem problematic, I first considered to run Murkrow, which has acces to Featherdance as well, while (possibly CB) Drill Peck would take care of problematic Fighting- and Bug-types. Murkrow has a problem with breeding move accessibility though and is generally too frail. Turns out that Mightyena is far more dependable because of Intimidate, which allows me to run a fully Specially bulky set on Umbreon so it needs no assistance against Special sweepers. Mightyena also gets the very useful Yawn, the 100%-accurate Sand-Attack, Roars away dangerous set up Pokémon such as Dragon Dancers (the moment it turns out they have that set) or Swords Dancers and is able to lower the target's Speed so Umbreon can outspeed it during crucial turns. Oh yeah, it's EV'ed to survive Heracross' non-crit Megahorn and therefore survives all moves in general, bar crazy hard special hits such as Moltres' Overheat (but Umbreon should be able to set up on that).
Umbreon is an amazing tank whose Substitute is broken by Modest Starmie's Surf only 50% of the time, to give an indication of its bulk. This means it freely sets up on nearly every non-boosting Specially-based Pokémon (and those that carry weak physical moves, such as the mixed Lati@s sets).
The moveset fits it perfectly and once it 'outslows' Quick Claw users, I can safely use Substitute when the previous one will break, making me only vulnerable to two successive crits in a row (or OHKO moves that hit twice in a row), but that's a risk I have to take using only one type. Moonlight is fantastic for both stalling out moves and letting Umbreon get all its boosts in a safe way, although I'd love to use Roar too, so I can Roar away fellow setuppers. The reason for the divergent PP UP use here is that I want to be able to get to +6 precisely twice (should I have to pass back to Mightyena first in order to Roar out another setupper) and not having extra Baton Passes, because then I get to Struggle earlier, should the match come down to that. This is where the Attack EVs come from. Putting more than 4 EVs into Defense doesn't seem to help any defensive calculations anyway.
When Umbreon succesfully passes a +6 Atk / +6 Def / -6 Spe Substitute to Sneasel (which hopefully doesn't break during the pass turn because of a crit), the opponent will face +6 / +6 Sneasel (note that White Herb cancels ALL speed drops) that outspeeds everything bar the Timid Jolteon (whose Tbolt it survives). If Substitute is still up, I have a wild card against Quick Claw Pokémon or Pokémon that I can't OHKO.
The last group consists of Pokémon such as Armaldo, Forretress, Scizor and Regirock, and luckily they attack with physical attacks, many of which Sneasel actually TANKS like a boss with +6 Defense.
In first test runs, I didn't have Aerial Ace but Swords Dance as a filler move (also tried Brick Break but that wasn't really necessary), in case Umbreon can't get a decent pass off (possibly could be used with Yawn still). But then I lost to Evasion Focus Punch spammers, i.e. Golem, Regirock and Machamp, which Aerial Ace prevents. Furthermore, Aerial Ace has a 50% chance to OHKO non-bulky Heracross in the tower, which is at least a (meager) last resort should Heracross crit Mightyena on turn 1. Then still, pray it's not the EndSalac set...
The following is a promising and unique alternative to Sneasel:
Sharpedo @ White Herb ** BIG RIVER
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Agility
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Sharpedo can afford to put some EVs into HP, which lets it use Double-Edge three times against most opposing teams. Furthermore, it has a guaranteed KO on Heracross, every variant of which it outspeeds at 154 (the 100 neutral BS tier) as well. The EndSalac version dies when it uses Reversal due to Rough Skin, so in that scenario I can at least hope for Umbreon to outstall + sweep with Struggle. Earthquake and more Attack than Sneasel make sure the aforementioned Pokémon don't live anymore either at +6. Sharpedo can make up for the lack of Speed compared to Sneasel with Agility, but it might need to sacrifize its Substitute for that (i.e. only use Agility when you don't already the opponent in front of you). Hidden Power [Flying] also OHKOes Gengar and 2HKOes Dusclops at +6, but Dusclops can't really do anything back. The reason I think Sneasel is still marginally better than Sharpedo is that Sharpedo is OHKOed by Jolteon and Raikou or loses its Substitute (if it even still has that), and all it takes to lose after that is an unlucky Quick Claw / Brightpowder / Focus Band activation. That extra turn to use Agility costs much.
Problems:
- Heracross: Ideally, Mightyena does not get crit and uses Scary Face. The moment I find out it has no Lum Berry, I use Yawn, otherwise Sand-Attack, after which faster Umbreon tries to stall out Megahorn before using Curse. At -1 Attack, its Brick Break is not powerful enough so I can get off at least one boost, allowing Sneasel to OHKO with Aerial Ace. If things go well, I can actually get to +6. Another way to fight Heracross is simply to use Roar on turn 1, although the priviliges from Intimidate will not be present.
- Metagross: Can't lower its stats, sadly. But Mightyena can put it to sleep after which Umbreon should be able to set up, unless it gets untimely crits or (way) too many Attack boosts. Also a candidate to put asleep with Yawn, then Roar it out.
- Calm Mind sweepers: most Psychic-types can't really touch Umbreon or Mightyena without too many boosts. Dogs and Lati@s are more dangerous, although they either have only one Attacking move (which can be stalled out by Umbreon if they have been Scary Faced and/or Sand-Attacked), or are Suicune. I've never lost against it, but it sure looks threatening on paper. I guess I must have been lucky with misses against Umbreon, can't really remember tbh.
- Set-up in general: If I can't time the Roar correctly, it could get dangerous very quickly. In such a way I've lost against Marowak, for example. Best to Roar it out immediately, when it's still at -1 Attack from Intimidate.
Sample streak with Mono Dark team
… and tomorrow, I'll SHOCK you with another monotype!
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