Other Good Cores

[Sheriff_K]

I really like the concept of Swagger Klefki with a Scarfed Imposter Ditto. Klefki annoys, sets up, plays foul, and if it dies to something you can just bring in Ditto to revenge kill and copy the +2 from Swagger.

 

[Copes]

So I'll admit this is closer to a team than a core, but seeing as how there are just so many options for additional teammates and since the metagame is still in its infancy therefore I'm having to predict threats from last gen/obvious threats from this gen (Greninja, Aegislash) I've got a core four I feel really good going forward with

Mega Charizard Y Charizardite Y
Naïve Nature
252SPA/252 SPEED/6ATT
Fire Blast
Solar Beam
Focus Blast
Flamecharge

YZard suffers badly from 4MSS, so its very important to decide what threats you will be build around and which threats you want him to take care off. I decided that Dragons would be the type I'd trade off for a speed boosting move (Flamecharge) and I'd risk Focus Miss to hit Heatran and Tyranitar.

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Chlorophyll
252SPA/252SPEED/6SPD
Leaf Storm
Growth
Sludge Bomb
Sleep Powder

Covers YZards weakness' well, being able to remove Water and Rock types as well as being resistant to Electric. The idea is simple. Saur can either revenge kill w.e knocked out YZard, or hit TTar or the other weather inducers hard with LO Leaf Storm. Ideally he'd have a turn or two of Drought leftover to ensure either a +2 Growth or at least to outspeed w.e. comes in. If something Saur struggles with comes in, try to predict it with Sleep Powder and bring someone else in.

Snorlax @ Choice Band
Thick Fat
252ATT/252SPD/6HP
Earthquake
Pursuit
Return
Wild Charge/Thunder Punch
With Thick Fat, he resist two things that Saur is weak to, Fire and Ice. The EV spread ensures he can tank some heavy special attacks from Psychic types that also hurt Saur and then Pursuit trap them. EQ is there as coverage for Heatran if YZards Focus Miss doesn't do the trick, and just to generally remove opposing Fires. Wild Charge is just to round out coverage for Water and Flying types, although this is more of a last resort type of move since I can't get the Psuedo STAB Fire Punch until Pokebank (Note, Thunderpunch is also an option that can be added after pokebank).

Klefki Leftovers
Prankster
252HP/252SPD/6DEF
0ATT IV's
Thunder Wave
Substitute
Swagger/Draining Kiss
Foul Play
By far, my favorite monster of Gen 6. This guy is as hilarious as he is effective. I slashed the Swag set, partly because as fun as SwagKi is, it's entirely luck based, and Draining Kiss, while weak, does recover good bits of health when it SE hits Dragons. This guy is mostly here for said Dragons, as well as to help slow down potential sweeps. Until I'm entirely positive who else will round out the team, I will continue to alternate between SwagKi and StallKi.

I've mostly battled over WiFi and not on Showdown so the core isn't tested against quality opponents, but I'm fairly confident in this core as long as I round out the remaining weakness'.
Moving onto said weakness', the PinkBlobs and Special Walls will give this core some trouble, as well as entry hazards. For spinners, I've had a tough time deciding between Donphan, Starmie, or Tentacruel. Out of the three, Phan is in the lead due to being able to hit Ghost types with Assurance, resisting Rock, and additional EQ support which is always nice, although with the weather nerf, his weakness to Water is highlighted since Drought won't keep that at bay. As for the other entry remove option, Defog, I don't have any idea who would be a good teammate for this core that has access to that move, so input on that end would be appreciated.
For physical attackers, I'm pretty much in the same boat of lack of ideas. Conkeldurr seems like a solid choice, but he really only serves to remove the two blobs and doesn't add much from there. Any ideas on that end would also be appreciated.

I've been working with a very similar core, using Char-Y, Snorlax and Growth-Breloom. Been struggling to deal with Multiscale Dragonite though, Ice Punch on Snorlax just isn't enough. Klefki may just be what I need, but my concern is the Earthquakes and Fire Blasts as mentioned above. Could you elaborate on how you deal with those?

I have also been experimenting with Galvantula and Sticky Web with this group. I'm not blown away, but its worth discussing.

 

[KOTR]

Loving the Kyu-B Zygarde combo. Personally, I'd run it with SpAtk or Mixed Aegislash. Aegi can take the Special attacks that Zygarde struggles with and that Kyu-B can't handle, like Focus Blasts from Alakazam, and it offers powerful its powerful STABs.

Also handles Latias, Latios, Hydreigon, Metagross, Jirachi, and Mamoswine, spinblocks, and can serve as a pivot.

 

[SpinningB]

Here's one I came up with for my stall team and it's really good defensively
Skarmory @ sturdy
252 hp 226 def 36 spe
Leftovers
Stealth rock
Spikes
Whirlwind
Roost

Togekiss @ serene grace
252 hp 252 def 4 Spe
Leftovers
Roost
Air slash
Dazzling gleam
Flamethrower

Gastrodon @ storm drain
252 hp 252 Spd 4 def
Leftovers
Scald
Recover
Toxic
Clear smog

This core works really we'll together as it walls so much of the meta game and phases pretty we'll. all this and the fact that gastrodons immune to the electric weakness and neutral to all ice attacks aimed at them makes it pretty awesome while both skarmory and Rogelio's ressistance the grass attacks aimed at gastrodon (especially in skarmorys case) and can take almost any powerful psychical attack aimed at them. I got the idea for this core after people were saying garchomp has got to run stone edge for togekiss but then he gets walled by skatmory so this core is the ultimate garchomp defeater and can beat any dragon in the tier (if it's not named kyurem-b) and wall nearly every poke in the tier

 

[silversurfer718]

I've been working with a very similar core, using Char-Y, Snorlax and Growth-Breloom. Been struggling to deal with Multiscale Dragonite though, Ice Punch on Snorlax just isn't enough. Klefki may just be what I need, but my concern is the Earthquakes and Fire Blasts as mentioned above. Could you elaborate on how you deal with those?

I have also been experimenting with Galvantula and Sticky Web with this group. I'm not blown away, but its worth discussing.

Well firstly, its important to understand that Klefkis main job on this team is two things; pivot and or interupt. Being that Dragons, especially Dragonite run so many different sets, sending Klef out to sub helps scout what your opponent has without forcing you to take heavy damage on your offensive mons. It would suck to anticipate a specially oriented Dnite and bring in Lax for him to eat an Outrage and die. Klef helps you take some of the mystery out, with the added benefit of locking in scarfers and maybe even lucking out and KOing someone.

As for Dnite, as long as Lax gets the jump on him Laxs Ice Punch is a 2HKO on every single Dnite set that was popular last gen and figures to be popular this gen. Assuming your CB of course, which Lax absolutely has to be to really excel on this team.

In all honesty, if played right the only Dragon that really gives this core four trouble is Garchomp which is why Donphan appears to be the spinner this team needs.

 

[Ballofire]

THIS IS A PRE-BANK CORE

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Nature: Impish
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpDef / 72 Def
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt

------------------------

These three cover each other's weaknesses so flawlessly it's crazy, Lucario is the star here- able to force anything out in fear of taking a CC, even unboosted it's deadly, but at +2 it's pretty much over unless they have any form of resistance left. With a defensive core to back him up, covering each of his weaknesses so easily it is so easy to get a sweep going.

 

[Tribute]

Mega-aggron + Florges for the best defensive core for 2013-2014

Bring in nasty plot Toxicroak on Florges

Game, set, match.

 

[IWrestledABearticOnce]

Here's a core I've been playing around with recently. Any suggestions for the rest of the team would be awesome.

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- DDance
- Flare Blitz
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SpD
Nature: Adamant
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Superpower

Trevenant @ Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Att / 132 SpD / 120 Spe
Nature: Careful
- Horn Leech
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Rest

 

[DudeBro420]

Here's a core I've been playing around with recently. Any suggestions for the rest of the team would be awesome.

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- DDance
- Flare Blitz
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SpD
Nature: Adamant
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Superpower

Trevenant @ Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Att / 132 SpD / 120 Spe
Nature: Careful
- Horn Leech
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Rest

I always love FWG cores, and I like this one a lot, but consider Ferrothorn for the dragon/fairy/steel synergy. Or maybe even Roserade or Venusuar for dragon/fairy/poison. You definitely need a fairy killer for CharX, as they will resist your STABs.

You could add something Electric or add an Electric coverage move to take out the two common Fairy types, Togekiss and Azumerill. Consider Rotom-C (gasp), as it provides the Grass status immunities, a useful ground immunity to cover CharX's ground weakness, a reliable way to eliminate Togekiss/Azumerill, and Azu covers the Ice weakness while both CharX and Azu cover the Fire weakness extremely well.

You need a defogger or a rapid spinner to effectively use CharX. I suggest Excadrill or Gliscor. I would ditch hazards and use Gliscor with your core, personally.

 

[SkaterTrainer]

I always love FWG cores, and I like this one a lot, but consider Ferrothorn for the dragon/fairy/steel synergy. Or maybe even Roserade or Venusuar for dragon/fairy/poison. You definitely need a fairy killer for CharX, as they will resist your STABs.

You could add something Electric or add an Electric coverage move to take out the two common Fairy types, Togekiss and Azumerill. Consider Rotom-C (gasp), as it provides the Grass status immunities, a useful ground immunity to cover CharX's ground weakness, a reliable way to eliminate Togekiss/Azumerill, and Azu covers the Ice weakness while both CharX and Azu cover the Fire weakness extremely well.

You need a defogger or a rapid spinner to effectively use CharX. I suggest Excadrill or Gliscor. I would ditch hazards and use Gliscor with your core, personally.

Charizard X's flare blitz kills any fairy not named Azumaril.

 

[Subject 18]

Here is a core I've been playing with recently.

Blaziken (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 80 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- High Jump Kick
- Overheat / Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake
- Return
- Power-Up Punch

The idea is to use Blaziken to wallbreak Mega Kangaskhan's usual checks/counter being Gliscor's, Skarmory, Landorus-T (Pokebank) thus clearing the way for Mega Kangaskhan. Blaziken's EV spread is to allow you to outspeed Jolly Breloom before a Speed Boost to OHKO with HP Ice. With Max SpA you can always OHKO Mega Gengar with Overheat. However, if you have a way to beat Mega Gengar, Fire Blast can be use instead. As for Mega Kangaskhan, everything is standard. Power-Up Punch to boost your attack and deal damage, Return as your main STAB, Earthquake hits Aegislash, and Sucker Punch is for faster threats. Scrappy is the prefered ability before you mega evolve as you can lure in Ghost types and still be able wear them down.

Rotom-W / Tyranitar can also be added as check for Talonflame since Blaziken absolutely fears it and needs it gone for it to operate freely.

 

[Littha]

I have been using Mega Mawlie, Salamance and Flash Fire Arcanine (With Assault Vest) as my core with some success. Everyone seems to want to flamethrower my Mawlie off the field or Play rough/etc the Salamence and while my two main pokemon do resist each others weaknesses its nice to be able to completely eat a fire attack rather than let it hit my Salamence for some damage. (my Salamence has rather poor Sdef IVs).

It does help that my team also contains a skarmory which leaves arcanine a lot of opportunities to switch in and eat a fire blast.

Extreme Speed and Flare blitz have also got me a surprising amount of victories despite the EV investment on my Arcanine being HP/Def/SDef.

Obviously this is pre pokebank as I am actually playing on my DS but I think I will swap out Arcanine for heatran when its available or maybe Flash Fire Ninetails for the time being seeing as it has slightly better bulk and most people will assume its running drought.

 

[avsimone]

I have been using Mega Mawlie, Salamance and Flash Fire Arcanine (With Assault Vest) as my core with some success. Everyone seems to want to flamethrower my Mawlie off the field or Play rough/etc the Salamence and while my two main pokemon do resist each others weaknesses its nice to be able to completely eat a fire attack rather than let it hit my Salamence for some damage. (my Salamence has rather poor Sdef IVs).

It does help that my team also contains a skarmory which leaves arcanine a lot of opportunities to switch in and eat a fire blast.

Extreme Speed and Flare blitz have also got me a surprising amount of victories despite the EV investment on my Arcanine being HP/Def/SDef.

Obviously this is pre pokebank as I am actually playing on my DS but I think I will swap out Arcanine for heatran when its available or maybe Flash Fire Ninetails for the time being seeing as it has slightly better bulk and most people will assume its running drought.

When pokebank opens Heatran would probably be the better option. It both destroys fairies and demolishes and fire types not named blaziken. but even then salamence with intimidate could probably take out a blaziken pretty easily.Not only that but it could easily take and ice type attack thrown at salamence as well. the only issue is lack of speed which a choice scarf can fix... or you could go for a bulkier set.
ninetales isn't that great of a pokemon (unfortunately, I love ninetales), so even feining drought isn't worth it ('cause I asusme that they'll use charizard for droughts.) and you're left with a not so great pokemon

 

[BlackSIlk90]

Once again I've been working on a offensive core that helps Kyurem-B, and I found his perfect partner: Tentacruel. Tentacruel takes the Fighting, Steel, and Fairy moves aimed at Kyurem and eats them for Breakfast, add in quick recovery through Black Sludge+Rain Dish. Then after some fiddling I found that Bulky Landorus-T was an awesome pivot, using his natural physical bulk and Intimidate to take o the electric and ground type attacks aimed at Tentacruel.

Kyurem-B@Life Orb
Lonely:Teravolt
56 JP 80 Atk 140 Sp.Atk 236 Speed
- Dragon Claw
- Fusion Bolt/Freeze Dry
- Ice Beam/Earth Power
- Roost

Tentacruel@Black Sludge
Calm:Rain Dish
252 HP / 240 SDef / 16 Spd
- Sludge Bomb
- Rapid Spin
- Protect/Toxic Spikes
- Scald/ Surf

Landorus-T@Leftovers
Naive/Jolly:Intimidate
248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- HP Ice/Stone Edge

Still looking for 2 Swift Swimmers and trying to decide whether to auto-induce rain w/ Politoed, or set it up manually with Thundurus-I. I will say the rain nerf made me have to put a lot more thought into my rain team, and I can't say I'm completely upset with that.

 

[GeneralMLD]

Mega Tyranitar with Assault Vest Ryperior with SpD/HP EV training.

Ryperior has the ground typing Tyranitar lacks, and the sand/vest makes it a pure wall in all regards. Its a good pairing in theory.

 

[S0L1D G0LD]

Mega Tyranitar with Assault Vest Ryperior with SpD/HP EV training.

Ryperior has the ground typing Tyranitar lacks, and the sand/vest makes it a pure wall in all regards. Its a good pairing in theory.

You cannot have both mega and a vest. Plus the two you mentioned have horrible synergy.

 

[avsimone]

Mega Tyranitar with Assault Vest Ryperior with SpD/HP EV training.

Ryperior has the ground typing Tyranitar lacks, and the sand/vest makes it a pure wall in all regards. Its a good pairing in theory.

Though their defenses line up pretty well and both have great defenses, their weaknesses line up. so something like keldeo, azumarill, rotom-W, breloom, and if we're going low enough feraligatr will wreck this team. any water/ grass type will go through this core effortlessly. Though with the addition of assault vest, Rhyperior's viability has increased because it is no longer wrecked by special attackers (though it still does have a lot of weaknesses)

 

[GeneralMLD]

You cannot have both mega and a vest. Plus the two you mentioned have horrible synergy.

Maybe you misread but it was Mega tyranitar with the ryperior holding the vest. Unless your telling me the game bans the use of a team consisting of a mega stone and another holding a vest? :P

 

[S0L1D G0LD]

Maybe you misread but it was Mega tyranitar with the ryperior holding the vest. Unless your telling me the game bans the use of a team consisting of a mega stone and another holding a vest? :P

No, what happened was I interpreted it as:

Mega tyranitar with assault vest

Rhyperior with Hp sdef Evs.

Simple misunderstanding, that's all.

 

[PikaPi]

Maybe you misread but it was Mega tyranitar with the ryperior holding the vest. Unless your telling me the game bans the use of a team consisting of a mega stone and another holding a vest? :P

That's definitely allowed, but it's still not a very strong core since they share way too many weaknesses, including Fighting, Grass, Water, Steel, and Ground. Another note is that even with Assault Vest, Specially Defensive investment, and Solid Rock, Rhyperior will still be OHKO'd from some special attacks (Starmie and Greninja come to mind), so that vest isn't doing a whole lot to cover his main weaknesses, while also putting him at more risk from physical attacks that may punch his other weaknesses.

 

[Indytotof]

Kyurem-B
Lonely:Teravolt
56 JP 80 Atk 140 Sp.Atk 236 Speed
- Dragon Claw
- Fusion Bolt/Freeze Dry
- Ice Beam/Earth Power
- Roost

Kyurem can learn Freeze Dry or it's hypothetic ?

 

[Volkamar]

I would rather do something like:

Assault Vest Tyranitar + Defensive Mega Aggron + Defensive(?) Clefable.

Between Tyranitar and Aggron, their respective defenses become absolutely monstrous, and they have the attacking stats to back it up unlike Shuckle and Carbink. This isn't entirely flawless, as you can imagine, as they will share Fighting and Ground Weaknesses. Aggron perhaps to a lesser extent since, yeah it's S/E, but with its defenses and Filter it still won't do a whole lot. But the Fighting attacks will definitely be a problem, especially with Tyranitar's 4x Weakness to it, get caught on the wrong side of the defensive spectrum, and it's goodbye Tyranitar. That's where Clefable comes in. Acting as the Cleric to give the two the recovery they need, it also resists and scares the Fighting-types that threaten the defensive core. Moonblast, even with mostly defensive stats, will put the hurtin' on the Fighting-types that try to ruin your day.

The Ground-type Weakness is still a thing, and that's what worried me perhaps the most. I have also considered running Gliscor instead of Mega-Aggron. Which would free-up a Mega Evo, but nothing within the core would be able to resist the Ice-type moves that will no doubt be thrown Gliscors way. You could always throw it in and make a four-way core, which is something I am deeply considering doing.

 

[WashedLaundry]

With those weaknesses I'd just add Gliscor regardless. The bat handles those moves very well and thrives in the type of conditions you've listed. You'd struggle with water types in general afterwards but that's a very solid starting point.

 

[S0L1D G0LD]

I would rather do something like:

Assault Vest Tyranitar + Defensive Mega Aggron + Defensive(?) Clefable.

Between Tyranitar and Aggron, their respective defenses become absolutely monstrous, and they have the attacking stats to back it up unlike Shuckle and Carbink. This isn't entirely flawless, as you can imagine, as they will share Fighting and Ground Weaknesses. Aggron perhaps to a lesser extent since, yeah it's S/E, but with its defenses and Filter it still won't do a whole lot. But the Fighting attacks will definitely be a problem, especially with Tyranitar's 4x Weakness to it, get caught on the wrong side of the defensive spectrum, and it's goodbye Tyranitar. That's where Clefable comes in. Acting as the Cleric to give the two the recovery they need, it also resists and scares the Fighting-types that threaten the defensive core. Moonblast, even with mostly defensive stats, will put the hurtin' on the Fighting-types that try to ruin your day.

The Ground-type Weakness is still a thing, and that's what worried me perhaps the most. I have also considered running Gliscor instead of Mega-Aggron. Which would free-up a Mega Evo, but nothing within the core would be able to resist the Ice-type moves that will no doubt be thrown Gliscors way. You could always throw it in and make a four-way core, which is something I am deeply considering doing.

The problems being that Ttar and aggron stack way too many weaknesses together, and clefable is a bad Pokemon in ou, where the other two have to be used.

 

[Volkamar]

Exactly, and is pretty much one of the only things stopping this from being really potent, but it would need a larger core or the help on an entire team in order to make work effectively. The reason I thought up the idea to begin with was because I wanted something with Stealth Rocks whilst keeping Tyranitar free to use the Assault Vest to take those Special Attacks. But it's looking more and more like I will need to find a Stealth Rocks user outside of whatever defensive core I come up with or wait until Pokebank comes out. Which may present it's own problems (like difficulty in obtaining 5-6 IV Pokemon in Gen 5 without the use of RNG). Is there a way to further develop this into something that could possibly work?