Quick context for this RMT, I am relatively new to VGC, thought I'd get into it and try playing it during quarantine after talking to a couple of friends. Used to play USUM UU a lot and dabbled in the other singles tiers (primarily OU and LC). Preferred play-style is Bulky Offense, which does not seem as "well-defined" in VGC as it is in singles. First time RMT.
So the idea for this team was to build around G-max Lapras because I thought the G-max move was super cool and I'm a fan of the pokemon. Peaked around 1550 on the ladder. I try to play this team relatively aggressively, usually trying to decide games by the time my aurora veil wears off.
Lapras-Gmax @ Light Clay
Ability: Shell Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Perish Song
- Thunderbolt
Free-dry, hydro pump, and thunderbolt are relatively self-explanatory (stab plus electricity coverage). I thought perish song would be a cool tech tho, especially if I can knock out two of their pokemon while I still have three or four, and the put a timer on them. It's definitely caught a lot of people off guard and won me a few games, especially because the majority of my other pokemon can take some hits and last it out.
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Next pokemon is conkeldurr. I choose guts flame orb to hit a bit harder. This was added on a newer version of the team, when I felt like i had some trouble with some bulky threats, especially tyranitarr. Drain and mach self-explanatory, protect if i think they can attack me and sometimes to wait for lapras to g-max. Rockslide helps with the flying types, and breaking any potential sashes, as well as a flinch chance. Max hp max attack to just be bulky and hit hard.
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- High Horsepower
Next pokemon was excadrill. This started out as Lucario, but I felt like excadrill had a better second typing while keeping the steel (and conkeldurr was added to the team so fighting was made redundant). Very standard set from what i can see, helps against the overwhelming presence of fairy types I see. Sash can help eat a hit, and I commonly like to lead with this and lapras because I feel like it counters/checks many things people like to lead off into lapras (rock types, electric types).
Mimikyu @ Choice Band
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Trick
- Taunt
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
Mimikyu went through a few iterations, but started out more bulky, but I eventually figured through playing that the speed would be nice, and I felt like it would be more useful, especially disguise already eats a hit. Current iteration has it running band with trick to help counter trick room, and in other matches if I bring this, I keep the band often to hit hard. This is the main trick room answer on the team, it isn't the best, but it feels playable to me.
Duraludon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Light Metal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Duraludon replaced toxtricity on an earlier version of the team for me, I wanted a nice special attacker with a bit of speed, and I felt like duraludon had nice coverage and a decent speed stat. Dark pulse helps against ghost types which the team felt weak against before, and dual stab helps. Lum berry helps against sleep spam, and I used to just insta-lose to that (mainly venusaur with drought). Protect as this often seems to be the target of many attacks trying to one shot it.
Gyarados @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 140 HP / 196 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Power Whip
- Stone Edge
Last pokemon is AV gyrados. I fee like the last two moves (power whip and stone edge) catch many people off guard and helps me get rid of things like charizard and gastrodon. It brings intimidate which helps against some physical attackers, and obviously has AV. I don't bring this as often, but when I do, it feels really useful and one of my favorite pokemon on the team.
Weaknesses:
Trick Room: My main (and kind of only) answer to trick room is mimikyu with band trick taunt, and it puts in work sometimes, but not always. I used to have toxtricity for another taunt which made facing trick room really easy, but I replaced that for duraladon.
Longer Games: I feel like this team excels at shorter games, but when I get into some longer games, especially stuff like parting shot spam and heal spam, I feel like I just bleed out and can't break through as often. Often requires finding an opportunity for excadrill to SD up to win. I mentioned up in the beginning that usually the game is decided before/when veil drops.
Heal Spam/Ally Switch: Mentioned a bit in the last bullet, but I feel like this does not go well for me when I run into some of these teams, and I feel like I just can't break through some pokemon, and sometimes it just feels like if I lose a 50/50 with ally swap, the games over early. This very well could just be my inexperience with VGC as a prior singles player.
Sun: This team often has trouble dealing with sun teams, especially ones with sleep powder spam. The first turn often feels really bad, as charizard almost one shots lapras, or venusaur puts something to sleep.
Sableye: I added this as an edit, I forgot to mention that I usually don't know how to play against sableye and it usually messes me up with too wide of an array of supportive moves (trick eject button is a common problem), and I can't kill it fast enough for it not to be a severe annoyance most times.
Direction of team: I welcome any feedback/constructive criticism about this team, whether it's big or small.
Thank you for reading and potentially responding to this post, I appreciate any suggestions! Have a nice day!
So the idea for this team was to build around G-max Lapras because I thought the G-max move was super cool and I'm a fan of the pokemon. Peaked around 1550 on the ladder. I try to play this team relatively aggressively, usually trying to decide games by the time my aurora veil wears off.
Lapras-Gmax @ Light Clay
Ability: Shell Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Perish Song
- Thunderbolt
Free-dry, hydro pump, and thunderbolt are relatively self-explanatory (stab plus electricity coverage). I thought perish song would be a cool tech tho, especially if I can knock out two of their pokemon while I still have three or four, and the put a timer on them. It's definitely caught a lot of people off guard and won me a few games, especially because the majority of my other pokemon can take some hits and last it out.
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Next pokemon is conkeldurr. I choose guts flame orb to hit a bit harder. This was added on a newer version of the team, when I felt like i had some trouble with some bulky threats, especially tyranitarr. Drain and mach self-explanatory, protect if i think they can attack me and sometimes to wait for lapras to g-max. Rockslide helps with the flying types, and breaking any potential sashes, as well as a flinch chance. Max hp max attack to just be bulky and hit hard.
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- High Horsepower
Next pokemon was excadrill. This started out as Lucario, but I felt like excadrill had a better second typing while keeping the steel (and conkeldurr was added to the team so fighting was made redundant). Very standard set from what i can see, helps against the overwhelming presence of fairy types I see. Sash can help eat a hit, and I commonly like to lead with this and lapras because I feel like it counters/checks many things people like to lead off into lapras (rock types, electric types).
Mimikyu @ Choice Band
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Trick
- Taunt
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
Mimikyu went through a few iterations, but started out more bulky, but I eventually figured through playing that the speed would be nice, and I felt like it would be more useful, especially disguise already eats a hit. Current iteration has it running band with trick to help counter trick room, and in other matches if I bring this, I keep the band often to hit hard. This is the main trick room answer on the team, it isn't the best, but it feels playable to me.
Duraludon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Light Metal
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
Duraludon replaced toxtricity on an earlier version of the team for me, I wanted a nice special attacker with a bit of speed, and I felt like duraludon had nice coverage and a decent speed stat. Dark pulse helps against ghost types which the team felt weak against before, and dual stab helps. Lum berry helps against sleep spam, and I used to just insta-lose to that (mainly venusaur with drought). Protect as this often seems to be the target of many attacks trying to one shot it.
Gyarados @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 140 HP / 196 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Power Whip
- Stone Edge
Last pokemon is AV gyrados. I fee like the last two moves (power whip and stone edge) catch many people off guard and helps me get rid of things like charizard and gastrodon. It brings intimidate which helps against some physical attackers, and obviously has AV. I don't bring this as often, but when I do, it feels really useful and one of my favorite pokemon on the team.
Weaknesses:
Trick Room: My main (and kind of only) answer to trick room is mimikyu with band trick taunt, and it puts in work sometimes, but not always. I used to have toxtricity for another taunt which made facing trick room really easy, but I replaced that for duraladon.
Longer Games: I feel like this team excels at shorter games, but when I get into some longer games, especially stuff like parting shot spam and heal spam, I feel like I just bleed out and can't break through as often. Often requires finding an opportunity for excadrill to SD up to win. I mentioned up in the beginning that usually the game is decided before/when veil drops.
Heal Spam/Ally Switch: Mentioned a bit in the last bullet, but I feel like this does not go well for me when I run into some of these teams, and I feel like I just can't break through some pokemon, and sometimes it just feels like if I lose a 50/50 with ally swap, the games over early. This very well could just be my inexperience with VGC as a prior singles player.
Sun: This team often has trouble dealing with sun teams, especially ones with sleep powder spam. The first turn often feels really bad, as charizard almost one shots lapras, or venusaur puts something to sleep.
Sableye: I added this as an edit, I forgot to mention that I usually don't know how to play against sableye and it usually messes me up with too wide of an array of supportive moves (trick eject button is a common problem), and I can't kill it fast enough for it not to be a severe annoyance most times.
Direction of team: I welcome any feedback/constructive criticism about this team, whether it's big or small.
Thank you for reading and potentially responding to this post, I appreciate any suggestions! Have a nice day!
Last edited: