Smeargle spikes offense is one of many archetypes in the format with a heavily polarized matchup spread, but also quite inflexible in the builder.
I wanted to provide a new take on a thoroughly explored core; mainly to see how best I could adjust it to beat spikesless offense and opposing fast spikes builds - styles that have seen a renewed interest for interesting reasons beyond the scope of this post.
Smeargle @ Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Spore
- Whirlwind
- Explosion
Lead Smeargle has exactly two good lead matchups: Suicune and Zapdos. Both result in at least one mon slept and one spike in the most commonly taken lines. Salamence is the worst outright but can be recovered from; Tyranitar is a complete coinflip dependent on whether it has a Lum Berry or not (with the wrong flip meaning often a game loss). Metagross is fine as lead lum Meta is officially an endangered species.
Smeargle aims to get into salac range from special attackers or spore physical attackers, playing on sleep variance to set up as many spikes as is practical. Explosion is the quickest way to remove Smeargle once it has no use and should be prioritized over more spikes when faced with a vital roadblock (Claydol, Blissey, Milotic, Snorlax, or Tyranitar / Salamence to prevent DD setup). Whirlwind is primarily to avoid losing to substitute Zapdos from lead. Nothing about the set is new other than a few Attack evs added for a moderate increase to boom damage.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 68 Atk / 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Punch
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]
The most necessary partner of Spikes HO. One successful spin on the opponent's part often causes a game loss; these teams can't generate enough momentum without Spikes and Gengar is more than happy to help. I run Hasty primarily because of higher damage to most blobs (Snorlax, Blissey, and defensive / pass Celebi), and near ohkoing Claydol / Zapdos when Gengar is forced to trade after eating one hit. One can make the argument for Ice Punch over Thunderbolt to ease the massive DD Salamence weakness and for Twave Zap, but Explosion ends up doing what ice punch would have done anyway and I value having a little more edge vs the fire birds that would cause the main breakers (tar mie) to get worn down quicker. Fire Punch + HP Grass are mandatory as the only direct threat to Pert, and to get enough chip to directly threaten Metagross with one of many revengers.
Metagross @ Salac Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Endure
- Explosion
The lack of a bulky water type on the squad makes this otherwise rare Metagross set necessary. End + salac is not there to provide easier trades, but rather acting as a one-time save to avoid a checkmate after bad positioning. It does a very good job of targeting the main mixed walls on physical offense and endure ensures you will always trade positively vs special offense and defensive Dug squads (which are still a pretty bad MU). It helps a lot vs fighters as well. Being Jolly has little impact on its offensive capabilities, but it can prevent huge hits from mixtar and score unsuspecting Magneton KOs at minimum. Endure itself rarely finds utility after being first clicked, but can scout CB on rare occasions. It is a big boon to play games with the popular cleaners on spikes balance (Molt, Zap, Mie, Mixmence) but you can rarely afford to do so unless pressured into it.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 136 HP / 128 Atk / 76 Def / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Counter
- Dragon Dance
I am still strongly considering HP Grass in the Counter slot, but it will stay here for novelty's sake. Tyranitar is often the only thing on the team capable of tanking special hits and status and thus serves a crucial role with no ground type pivot for electric moves and thunder wave. Sand is an absolute necessity to not lose to bulky waters and Snorlax on any HO. The upshot of Counter is scoring surprise KOs on Dol / defensive Flygon, but has to be precisely timed or it will whiff completely. Given this will never be at full health, it doesn't work that often vs Metagross / Salamence. It is the only thing on the team capable of hitting SkarmBliss without fear and often should be preserved for midgame. The lack of the more conventional HP grass gives the team a much harder matchup into Defpert, and by extension standard tss (Bliss Pert or worse Bliss Pert Spin) but Counter notably makes it better into spikesless Skarm Beatdown, where you can potentially save your Gengar for trading into Lax and target mixmeta / dol instead if needed.
Starmie @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 12 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
The main innovation on this team is Sub + Petaya Starmie, a set I've tried to make work since my first months playing the game to no avail - until now. It is unique in its ability to mess with people's sequencing and still act as the main sweeper vs opposing offense. Substitute itself gives you free 2hkos vs Celespikes, Gar spikes offense, and the emerging new breeds of mixoff, turning a pretty good one-mon singular matchup into nigh unloseable. It also makes it easier to bait explosions midgame without sacrificing momentum by going Tar / Meta. Petaya serves the purpose of blasting through blobs, calm mind Suicune, Agility Metagross, Recover spammers, and turning what the opponent thinks is a 2hko into a 1hko (Zapdos, Jolteon after 1 spike + sand, etc).
The elephant in the room is completely falling off the bed vs Blissey, which is why you don't want to expend it early but rather pivot it in and then out to scout for the pink blob (it becomes much easier to break around Blissey when you know it exists). In this way it fulfills the same niche as offmie on spikes offense - doubling switching to keep momentum and force Blissey to take chip, though here with Hasty Gengar that step can be made quicker.
I love this set a ton, but I acknowledge it's not splashable at all. I selfishly still want it to see the light of day, like people did 3 years ago, but without bothering with Dugtrio (where it stinks).
Aerodactyl @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Substitute
Finally we arrive at the primary cleaner for the team. Sub Aero is very common on spikes HO by merit of its ability to preserve momentum without a choice lock. I intentionally run Rock Head on it, even with no Double-Edge, because I like bluffing that it's banded and introducing doubt to the opponent early on (even if that isn't very plausible on Smeargle teams, it has a good ladder success rate). Part of that includes not giving it away when switching in on Earthquakes or scouting miscellaneous weak attacks. Hidden Power Flying is used because of a more pronounced fighting / Heracross weakness on the team, which either force Gengar / Metagross to trade or reveal themselves once these two have already done so. It also doubles as the main way to revenge Celebi.
Paste / importable:
https://pokepast.es/0f672cb2d6b44add
I wanted to provide a new take on a thoroughly explored core; mainly to see how best I could adjust it to beat spikesless offense and opposing fast spikes builds - styles that have seen a renewed interest for interesting reasons beyond the scope of this post.
Smeargle @ Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Spore
- Whirlwind
- Explosion
Lead Smeargle has exactly two good lead matchups: Suicune and Zapdos. Both result in at least one mon slept and one spike in the most commonly taken lines. Salamence is the worst outright but can be recovered from; Tyranitar is a complete coinflip dependent on whether it has a Lum Berry or not (with the wrong flip meaning often a game loss). Metagross is fine as lead lum Meta is officially an endangered species.
Smeargle aims to get into salac range from special attackers or spore physical attackers, playing on sleep variance to set up as many spikes as is practical. Explosion is the quickest way to remove Smeargle once it has no use and should be prioritized over more spikes when faced with a vital roadblock (Claydol, Blissey, Milotic, Snorlax, or Tyranitar / Salamence to prevent DD setup). Whirlwind is primarily to avoid losing to substitute Zapdos from lead. Nothing about the set is new other than a few Attack evs added for a moderate increase to boom damage.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 68 Atk / 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Punch
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]
The most necessary partner of Spikes HO. One successful spin on the opponent's part often causes a game loss; these teams can't generate enough momentum without Spikes and Gengar is more than happy to help. I run Hasty primarily because of higher damage to most blobs (Snorlax, Blissey, and defensive / pass Celebi), and near ohkoing Claydol / Zapdos when Gengar is forced to trade after eating one hit. One can make the argument for Ice Punch over Thunderbolt to ease the massive DD Salamence weakness and for Twave Zap, but Explosion ends up doing what ice punch would have done anyway and I value having a little more edge vs the fire birds that would cause the main breakers (tar mie) to get worn down quicker. Fire Punch + HP Grass are mandatory as the only direct threat to Pert, and to get enough chip to directly threaten Metagross with one of many revengers.
Metagross @ Salac Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Endure
- Explosion
The lack of a bulky water type on the squad makes this otherwise rare Metagross set necessary. End + salac is not there to provide easier trades, but rather acting as a one-time save to avoid a checkmate after bad positioning. It does a very good job of targeting the main mixed walls on physical offense and endure ensures you will always trade positively vs special offense and defensive Dug squads (which are still a pretty bad MU). It helps a lot vs fighters as well. Being Jolly has little impact on its offensive capabilities, but it can prevent huge hits from mixtar and score unsuspecting Magneton KOs at minimum. Endure itself rarely finds utility after being first clicked, but can scout CB on rare occasions. It is a big boon to play games with the popular cleaners on spikes balance (Molt, Zap, Mie, Mixmence) but you can rarely afford to do so unless pressured into it.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 136 HP / 128 Atk / 76 Def / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Counter
- Dragon Dance
I am still strongly considering HP Grass in the Counter slot, but it will stay here for novelty's sake. Tyranitar is often the only thing on the team capable of tanking special hits and status and thus serves a crucial role with no ground type pivot for electric moves and thunder wave. Sand is an absolute necessity to not lose to bulky waters and Snorlax on any HO. The upshot of Counter is scoring surprise KOs on Dol / defensive Flygon, but has to be precisely timed or it will whiff completely. Given this will never be at full health, it doesn't work that often vs Metagross / Salamence. It is the only thing on the team capable of hitting SkarmBliss without fear and often should be preserved for midgame. The lack of the more conventional HP grass gives the team a much harder matchup into Defpert, and by extension standard tss (Bliss Pert or worse Bliss Pert Spin) but Counter notably makes it better into spikesless Skarm Beatdown, where you can potentially save your Gengar for trading into Lax and target mixmeta / dol instead if needed.
Starmie @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 12 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
The main innovation on this team is Sub + Petaya Starmie, a set I've tried to make work since my first months playing the game to no avail - until now. It is unique in its ability to mess with people's sequencing and still act as the main sweeper vs opposing offense. Substitute itself gives you free 2hkos vs Celespikes, Gar spikes offense, and the emerging new breeds of mixoff, turning a pretty good one-mon singular matchup into nigh unloseable. It also makes it easier to bait explosions midgame without sacrificing momentum by going Tar / Meta. Petaya serves the purpose of blasting through blobs, calm mind Suicune, Agility Metagross, Recover spammers, and turning what the opponent thinks is a 2hko into a 1hko (Zapdos, Jolteon after 1 spike + sand, etc).
The elephant in the room is completely falling off the bed vs Blissey, which is why you don't want to expend it early but rather pivot it in and then out to scout for the pink blob (it becomes much easier to break around Blissey when you know it exists). In this way it fulfills the same niche as offmie on spikes offense - doubling switching to keep momentum and force Blissey to take chip, though here with Hasty Gengar that step can be made quicker.
I love this set a ton, but I acknowledge it's not splashable at all. I selfishly still want it to see the light of day, like people did 3 years ago, but without bothering with Dugtrio (where it stinks).
Aerodactyl @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Substitute
Finally we arrive at the primary cleaner for the team. Sub Aero is very common on spikes HO by merit of its ability to preserve momentum without a choice lock. I intentionally run Rock Head on it, even with no Double-Edge, because I like bluffing that it's banded and introducing doubt to the opponent early on (even if that isn't very plausible on Smeargle teams, it has a good ladder success rate). Part of that includes not giving it away when switching in on Earthquakes or scouting miscellaneous weak attacks. Hidden Power Flying is used because of a more pronounced fighting / Heracross weakness on the team, which either force Gengar / Metagross to trade or reveal themselves once these two have already done so. It also doubles as the main way to revenge Celebi.
Paste / importable:
https://pokepast.es/0f672cb2d6b44add
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