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i have used these 3 mons quite a bit over the last few months and wanted to offer a few comments/suggestions
1. gastrodon (west form is unviable) - gastro usually runs earthquake over earth power to threaten heatran more, with a sassy nature, as most heatran run specially defensive sets. taunt + toxic heatran has more leeway to play riskily with taunt mindgames vs an earth power gastro because it can eat a single earth power when eq has the potential to KO outright. it also hits gking and spdef pex (which the majority of pex are), as well as normal slowking, harder
2. bronzong - more of a personal preference thing tbh but bronzong ideally should be iron head + eq / body press + rocks as first two slots alongside protox imo. having more than 8 pp to hit sub kyurem with is nice, and letting heatran and other steels in for free sucks, especially when using this thing on fat (which is the only place it should be used bc its ASS and has no niche anywhere else). press and eq also let u act as better answers to opposing steels/grounds like exca, melm
3. weezing-g - this mon is criminally underrated. i think its main niche in this meta is as a defogger w levitate, bc it switches into and beats pretty much every rocker in the tier besides heatran. it's also a solid ground/grass check until u run into sub chomp or cb kart. flamethrower / wisp is prob a team dependent thing but i like wisp more to pressure pex and other fatter things like corv / slowking, and stop grounds from coming in for free. i think strange steam as primary move is pretty bad, especially when you have wisp alongside to hit most dragons / fighters that u want to switch into and beat (this thing gets demolished by kyurem, pult, and watershifu). i would much rather use sludge bomb to hit clef primarily as well as (and dump 8 evs into spe so u outspeed most of them) fish for poisons.
Thank you for the insight. For gastro you're right, I even put EQ I initially but I didn't want to be slower then Pex for no reason, but I guess I'd need just 16 EVs or smth because sassy gastro is 103 and Pex is 106 and still get the benefits of having eq.
For weezing-g I'll trust you on sludge+wisp, I've never tried it but it does sound more useful, sucks to miss out on both stab for a move to defeat all SD garchomps and a clean OHKO on SD kart tho
On the topic of levitate defoggers, SpDef flygon is a budget chomp with defog>rocks, but most importantly momentum and recovery, I need to calc some stuff but it sounds interesting.
However for bronzong you said "iron head + press/EQ + rocks alongside protox, so I'm a bit confused by the math of this sentence. I guess if you run zong on stall you may have smth else for rocks and you can then run protox 2 attacks
EDIT: I've created my flygon - I'll include it in the original post as well - bulky defog
Why use this over the otherwise vastly superior chomp? First of all, this gets defog and not rocks, so they do different stuff. Secondly, Roost and U-turn allows flygon to consistently stay healthy and provide momentum for its teammates. It also blanks two of the most prominent stealth rockers in the tier in heatran and sd edgequake chomp, while being generally useful against zeraora (spread takes 2 CC after rocks). It also outspeeds everything up to jolly drill, including Nidoking - which is notable since it counters any non-ice beam variant and with 64 atk always OHKOs it after rocks with eq - , modest Kyurem and ofc every Heatran.
I feel that running Defog on G-Weezing without Flamethrower is questionable just because stuff like Ferrothorn/Skarm can just set up hazards repeatedly without fear (Wisp is nice but neither of those are going to forced out just by Wisp), and Heatran/Excadrill don't really care and can set up Rocks/obliterate Weezing regardless. Flamethrower is also really nice for Kartana that's not locked into/running Smart Strike, as well as Rillaboom (and the aforementioned ability to hit Ferro/Skarm/Drill). But Steam is great for Garchomp which IMO one of the biggest reasons to use (Levitate) G-Weezing in the first place, as well as hitting things like Kyurem and Dragapult on the switch in. Sludge is great too of course, but that honestly makes me feel that G-Weezing might work well defensively if it goes for 3 Attacks+Pain Split, since all 3 attacking moves mentioned are kinda important to best handle the things G-Weezing can check/counter. Wisp is great for chip, but Sludge Bomb's poison rate isn't shabby and not many physical threats switch into G-Weezing that don't care about eating a Fire/Fairy/Poison move on the way in. Toxic Spikes are also great, but Toxapex is still super common and while G-Slowking and Nidoking are less used now, they're still frequent enough and force out G-Weezing.
A good partner for Levitate G-Weezing might be SpDef Wish Jirachi (WishTect, Iron Head, U-Turn), which has pretty good type synergy and can pass Wishes (Pain Split isn't the best recovery) and then semi-safely bring in G-Weezing with U-turn. It's a good answer to Tapu Lele too - the core would still be weak to dangerous special attackers like Heatran, Volcarona, and Aegislash, but there are 4 other slots to help deal with those.
Behold, the ultimate (not really) Trick Room sweeper! Set it up a Trick Room, and Aromatisse can utilize its high-ish SpAtk to blast opponents off of the battlefield!
Or get defeated as soon as your TR users are out of the game. It depends.
Jokes aside, it's actually a pretty decent set!
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aromatisse Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 260-306 (65.9 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aromatisse Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 255-301 (79.9 - 94.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aromatisse Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 486-572 (136.1 - 160.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aromatisse Psychic (or Thunderbolt) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 198-234 (65.1 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Aromatisse Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 214-254 (53.5 - 63.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Recently Ive thought about this Set, Choice Band Swampert, with the idea to catch most things surprisingly hard in the metagame. Waterfall and Flip Turn are its Water-type STAB moves with the latter giving momentum in a very fashionable way and Waterfall hits pretty hard. Earthquake is its Ground-type STAB and this set gets rounded down with the access to Ice Punch, which is able to hit Garchomp and Landorus-T harder than Waterfall does. Ice Punch is also able to hit Tangrowth and Rillaboom, as well as Tapu Bulu and Earthquake is also able to hit Kartana and Ferrothorn decently hard due to the Choice Band boost. Furthermore with investment in Bulk and no Speed it is able to Flip Turn out slowly, meaning the teammate of Swampert will get in brought safely and Swampert has a chance to last longer.
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 178-210 (50.5 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 189-223 (72.9 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 250-296 (77.3 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Garchomp: 408-484 (97.1 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 284-336 (74.3 - 87.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 214-252 (76.1 - 89.6%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Recently Ive thought about this Set, Choice Band Swampert, with the idea to catch most things surprisingly hard in the metagame. Waterfall and Flip Turn are its Water-type STAB moves with the latter giving momentum in a very fashionable way and Waterfall hits pretty hard. Earthquake is its Ground-type STAB and this set gets rounded down with the access to Ice Punch, which is able to hit Garchomp and Landorus-T harder than Waterfall does. Ice Punch is also able to hit Tangrowth and Rillaboom, as well as Tapu Bulu and Earthquake is also able to hit Kartana and Ferrothorn decently hard due to the Choice Band boost. Furthermore with investment in Bulk and no Speed it is able to Flip Turn out slowly, meaning the teammate of Swampert will get in brought safely and Swampert has a chance to last longer.
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 178-210 (50.5 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 189-223 (72.9 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 250-296 (77.3 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Garchomp: 408-484 (97.1 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 284-336 (74.3 - 87.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 214-252 (76.1 - 89.6%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
This is actually pretty solid! Ferrothorn's a common switch in to Swampert because it doesn't care about SpDef Swampert's offensive presence and can set up hazards and at the very least incur some chip damage when SpDef Swampert Flip Turns out. Instead, nailing it with EQ on the switchin and threatening to 2HKO the standard set is really valuable damage since Ferro's forced out.
I think High Horsepower over EQ might be worth it - it's still almost a 90% shot to 2HKO that Ferro spread after Rocks (guaranteed 2HKO if it's a Spike instead), and being able to do good damage to Rillaboom despite Grassy Terrain (36-42%) and also ignore said Grassy Terrain in general is quite valuable IMO given how common it is.
Dropping a buch of fun little sets here, I had some fun today in the team builder searching for whacky sets. this is the thread for this type of things, some may be good, other may be bad. feel free to judge these, this is literally just me having 30 minutes of fun in the builder and wanting to share it
- specially defensive stealth rock
Bisharp @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Atk / 184 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
nice little pult switchin (barring fire move - feel free to run occa berry if you want), supports the team with rocks, twave and knock. psychic immunity for sights and choice lele, takes two ice beams from modest specs kyu and with 76 atk ohkos with iron head after rocks. if you don't need twave, use sucker punch. helps pult itself quite a bit by crippling the opposition by removing items, setting up rocks and powering up hex, also checks stab-locked weavile and opposing pult.
I want to try this out because it looks annoying af. 96 speed for adamant crawdaunt, rest in bulk to take hits from shifu (4hko from band), zera, rilla, kart without smart strike, sd chomp, lando-t. helmet to have them chipped, mitigating grassy terrain's generosity. very annoying set with seed to drain some health and grant good recovery alongside terrain for him and partners, toxic to cripple tang, rilla, electrics and grounds, horn leech for stab and nature's madness because it actually forces good damage on common switches like corvi, forcing them to roost
- AV heatran trap
Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 148 SpD / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Mirror Coat
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Body Press
you've probably seen this, but av zone is potentially a great tool to dispose of heatran. still traps corvi-skarm (88 spe for 4 spe skarm). 20+ requires tbolt to always ohko 252/4 skarm. 4 evs makes it so that body press always 3hko blissey, if you don't want press put those in spatk and run volt switch, i think it helps in pressuring blissey for non-safeguard volc and pult
- heatran lure (i do not own this, credits to Skypenguin, check it out here)
this is not my set, but it's worth showcasing since i'm saving it. spread takes magma storm from timid tran. stomping tantrum ohkos tran after a failed spore/sludge bomb. pretty neat once again for heatran-weak threats like volc. also useful for shifu, zera, koko
another little pult switchin, probably the single best one in the tier. speed is for mandi and 96 atk adamant play rough always 2hko 248/92+ mandi which seems to be the new wave. twave and taunt to abuse prankster, sucker punch for priority. it's mostly filler but grimm is pretty powerful so it might be useful. you can use more atk less hp if you want more power. for example 140+ ensure sucker punch kos pult after rocks.
- specially defensive defog
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 212 SpD / 48 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Defog
- Toxic
- Pain Split
nice role compressor, ground immune, switches into and grabs momentum on koko, tran, torn-t, zap. spreads toxic to ground types that try to absorb volt switch. it's sad that it can't touch drill, but if you have another defogger you can use overheat here. takes kyu's ice beam and lele's moonblast like a champ
if dnite can do it, surely salamence can? intimidate gives it immediate physical bulk even at 99%, also without ice beam it resorts to flamethrower to ohko kart, 2hko rilla and catch the two spikers ferro and skarmory (also corvi but corvi takes those easily)
- spdef hdb sticky hold
Gastrodon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Clear Smog
- Recover
roadblock for tricks and weak knock offs, takes special hits well from the likes of pult, torn-t and electrics (zeraora's cc only 3hkos even without investment), also scald cripples stuff as always and clear smog makes it somewhat check cm clef/block setup sweepers. Toxic is also a shout if you don't need clear smog. i don't really like storm drain, the only use it has is blanking shifu's surging strikes i guess so if you need it go ahead
- spdef rocks
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
- Protect
takes on lele and kyurem like a boss, also handles torn-t. rocks to do rocks things, pro-tox to annoy and scout. gyroball for damage
twave spread that can dish out good damage and deters ground and electric types from switching in, allowing for easy paralysis spread. useful typing and bulk to take on shifu, tran, volc and lando. speed is for spdef tran, hp and def to live two cb surging strikes, rest in atk to maximize damage
there is aso this bulkier spread, speed for daunt, hp and def for living 2 cb surging strikes after rocks if you lose the item, then rest in spd to bump a bit against tran and volc. whip>eq because you check a lot of water types so you want to hit them hard. rest for longevity, especially if you have a cleric.
Gyarados @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 28 SpD / 48 Spe
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Waterfall
- Power Whip
- Rest
checks grass offense (barring smart strike on kart), blanks sd chomps, great physical bulk in general against neutral targets like zeraora, weavile, dd nite. Last slot is filler, tspikes puts pressure, defog is defog, you could run wisp, taunt, haze, whatever.
Why use this over the otherwise vastly superior chomp? First of all, this gets defog and not rocks, so they do different stuff. Secondly, Roost and U-turn allows flygon to consistently stay healthy and provide momentum for its teammates. It also blanks two of the most prominent stealth rockers in the tier in heatran and sd edgequake chomp, while being generally useful against zeraora (spread takes 2 CC after rocks). It also outspeeds everything up to jolly drill, including Nidoking - which is notable since it counters any non-ice beam variant and with 64 atk always OHKOs it after rocks with eq - , modest Kyurem and ofc every Heatran.
SWORDS OF JUSTICE - choice band - bulky stealth rock pivot - bulky status-spreading pivot - work up mixed attacker
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
cb terrak is amazing with future sight support as it enhances its wallbreaking capabilities to bw levels of danger. first three slots are mandatory, eq is a very good midground move (pun intended) and the last lost goes to rock blast to deal with subkyub and random sashes (double kick is a shout for rare excadrill sash leads). you can use anything you need in the last slot, megahorn, quick attack, sacred sword for bulk up mons like corvi.
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 216 HP / 116 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Toxic
- Volt Switch
Speed for hydreigon, atk for always ohkoing kyurem after rocks, rest in hp. it's basically bad zamazenta, although with rocks, vswitch and toxic it can help make progress while checking dark spam and some 90-98 speed tier attackers. Iron head can be fit somewhere to hit lele hard. toxic is necessary to make some progress against top tier threats in chomp and lando, who otherwise laugh at cobalion's pathetic offensive presence.
Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Work Up
- Giga Drain
- Close Combat
- Nature Power
pair this with koko and/or lele and you've got yourself a nice lure. both ohko def pex, psychic terrain np hits amoonguss, electric terrain np hits metal birds. cc to hit spdef walls like bliss but if you don't care you can run focus blast and calm mind (although work up is a good bluff)
worse shifu is here to leverage its surprisingly good defensive typing for the metagame. this set in particular is a great companion to lord dragapult, by virtue of its ability to check dark spam and spread status at the same time with the combination of scald and toxic. flip turn is there for momentum, but taunt is also a shout. speed for chomp, spatk to always 2hko heatran in grassy terrain and always ohko daunt, hp and spdef to live +1 psychic from 0 spatk volc and have a chance at survival from +1 252 spa volc
Updating this with the swords of justice (imma do it like this from now on)
SWORDS OF JUSTICE - choice band - bulky stealth rock pivot - bulky status-spreading pivot - work up mixed attacker
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
cb terrak is amazing with future sight support as it enhances its wallbreaking capabilities to bw levels of danger. first three slots are mandatory, eq is a very good midground move (pun intended) and the last lost goes to rock blast to deal with subkyub and random sashes (double kick is a shout for rare excadrill sash leads). you can use anything you need in the last slot, megahorn, quick attack, sacred sword for bulk up mons like corvi.
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 216 HP / 116 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Toxic
- Volt Switch
Speed for hydreigon, atk for always ohkoing kyurem after rocks, rest in hp. it's basically bad zamazenta, although with rocks, vswitch and toxic it can help make progress while checking dark spam and some 90-98 speed tier attackers. Iron head can be fit somewhere to hit lele hard. toxic is necessary to make some progress against top tier threats in chomp and lando, who otherwise laugh at cobalion's pathetic offensive presence.
Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Work Up
- Giga Drain
- Close Combat
- Nature Power
pair this with koko and/or lele and you've got yourself a nice lure. both ohko def pex, psychic terrain np hits amoonguss, electric terrain np hits metal birds. cc to hit spdef walls like bliss but if you don't care you can run focus blast and calm mind (although work up is a good bluff)
worse shifu is here to leverage its surprisingly good defensive typing for the metagame. this set in particular is a great companion to lord dragapult, by virtue of its ability to check dark spam and spread status at the same time with the combination of scald and toxic. flip turn is there for momentum, but taunt is also a shout. speed for chomp, spatk for 2hko heatran and ohko crawdaunt, hp and spdef to live +1 psychic from 0 spatk volc after rocks and have a chance to live one from +1 252 spatk volc
This is a really cool set that totally takes advantage of ferrothorn and corviknight's existence. Charge beam is a really cool move which allows you get up +6 spa on ferrothorn and the metal birds if they lack u-turn or any phasing move like whirlwind.I've paired that with salac berry so you get the speed boost when u reach at 25% health and u would have a really good chance to sweep unless they have infiltrator pult. This set only really works if their is a ferrothorn since the metal birds usually run uturn and whirlwind. Also the reason i went with magneton over zone is because it has 10 more speed than zone which allows it to outpseed weavile and tornadus-t after salac berry.
Always removes your oppoents grounds. If none exist, then just click wild charge. Assurance bops dragapult, but you also 2HKO with wild charge anyway. Use on HO teams since this beats all defoggers. Nice with banded galar Zapdos as well, which just blast through screeched targets. Don't use specs.
Misty Seed Power Trip Corviknight ft Dragapult Dual Screens
(click the team)
Undecided about posting here or Bazaar, but who cares?
Dragapult Screens is in fact suboptimal if we consider what it can offer us offensively. But he is able to survive 1 Knock Off + another itemless Knock Off under Reflect by Zeraora, U-Turn for momentum if you are 50% + healthy and Curse is a suicidal move if you are 50% - health for momentum and still prevents Defog. Dragapult is fast and the last thing your opponent will think about doing is using Taunt against.
Blunder Policy is trying to exploit the inconsistency of Focus Miss, but even if you do get that compensation don't expect to sweep entire teams because Rillaboom exists, however, feel free to risk Focus Miss against a predictable Slowking Teleport and potentially win the game.
This Corv guy is bulky. +1 SpDef should not be underestimated and makes even possible a PP stall Thunderbolt Koko / Magnezone except Specs or RNG. The speed is just to be faster than Koko after Agility and lose the Flying-type with Roost before receiving a move.
Fini and Lando are self-explanatory and Ditto is there for lack of creativity but that does not mean that he is useless, far from it.
Difficult to play around Trick Room and Toxic Spikes but apparently these are very unusual things.
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 240-284 (63.1 - 74.7%)
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Dragapult through Reflect: 81-96 (21.3 - 25.2%)
Blaziken @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Coming back to smogon and seeing my boi blaze chicken in OU after being ubers since bw brought a tear to my eye. I've been wanting to use him for so long without ppl bitching about how OP he is. I finally get my chance and honestly, I believe the current meta trends away from Slowbro and Toxapex in favor of Slowking benefit the best fire/fighting starter. If moistshifu (s/o ox for that glorious nickname) is so good, why not try Blaziken in that role? So instead of trying to sweep through an entire team I figured I'd slap a CB on this bad boy and throw off CCs to my hearts content. And it works. Adamant CB is actually a bit stronger than Jolly shifu so the rolls are a bit better on CCs. In addition, Blaziken got U-Turn this gen so it can pivot out and maintain momentum. Flare Blitz is a super strong STAB move that hits a lot of CC resists, notably 2HKOing defensive Lando T, while Knock rounds out the coverage, having a chance to OHKO Slowking while removing items and being decent coverage in general. Speed Boost makes revenging it difficult, as scarfers aren't super common this gen and most ppl are probably gonna assume Jolly non choiced, so they probably don't wanna risk their dragapult/zeraora which can lead to some interesting interactions after a kill.
Now, it's not all bells and whistles. Unlike shifu Blaziken is neutral to rocks instead of resisting them and Flare Blitz recoil can rack up on top of all the Rocky Helmets and Rough Skins running around, so it's probably not gonna stick around for a lot of turns. On top of that, being choice locked means you're a bit prediction reliant when your opponent has something like Lando t + heatran so you can't always spam STABS willy nilly. All that being said though, its a fun mon that isn't the shitmon ppl wanna say it is and I think it's worth trying out as a breaker that has the benefit of cleaning late game.
Here's a couple replays of it in action. Nothing too fancy as it's a team I just threw together in a couple minutes on the mid ladder but hopefully it gets my point across
Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 24 SpA / 148 SpD / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Mirror Coat
- Flash Cannon
- Body Press
Toxapex @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Toxic
- Recover
- Haze
^ this Toxapex spread is just to have equal defense and special defense for fun.
the magnezone spread is explained here - if you want volt switch, remove those 4 evs from defense and put them into spatk.
If you saw my Eject core of Latios+Toxapex+Magnezone, you know I'm a fan of Eject Button Toxapex. You can all guess the interesting type sinergy at play here, but the strategy is hilarious at its core. Big disclaimer is that I have to try it, but on paper it sounds doable.
This core theoretically works like this:
-->
Rillaboom is a well-known threat and Corviknight loves switching into it, so what you want to do is immediately go for Knock Off - pretty reasonable play. That alone is a measurement stick, to evaluate the Corviknight spread - in particular, if it's a speedy one, as this Magnezone is slow. The standard Smogon spread takes 31.7 minimum. In this situation, the Corviknight user has a chance to retain momentum by going for U-turn, especially in the early game it's always a safe play to make against a Magnezone team. This is where Eject Button Toxapex kicks in: switching in on the U-turn, Eject Button activates and it prevents Corviknight from switching out (the item works this way). This is absolutely free entry for Magnezone, which cooks Corviknight with a Thunderbolt, dealing a minimum of 71%, guaranteeing the KO and freeing Rillaboom.
-->
Eject Button Toxapex + Magnezone is arguably even more effective against Heatran - which is why Volcarona is another amazing partner. Eject Button is such a cheesy item, as it breaks the holder out of trapping moves like Magma Storm. This, again, is free entry for Magnezone, which is able to trap and remove Heatran with the combination of Assault Vest, appropriate EV spread and Mirror Coat, freeing Volcarona from its biggest roadblock.
If some crazy player wants to try this, go ahead and let me know.
I had the exact same idea while building for a teamtour this week (and was surprised to see it posted here on the heat thread when I decided to check it out for some inspiration). It worked as expected but a key thing to note is that I had a rough early game because I wasn't able to get bait heatran out onto the field. Before the mon you want to trap comes out, you're essentially playing 4v6 because pex mustn't take a hit and losing hp hinders zone's ability to reliably survive Heatran's hits; and that can make early games a whole lot harder (given that it truly eases the rest of the game, though)
You could add Bulldoze to Ferro's moveset to hit Magnezone and Heatran on the switch!
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 172 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 224-268 (69.1 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Magnezone: 308-364 (109.6 - 129.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 328-388 (84.9 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 328-388 (101.5 - 120.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Nature Power is good on Ferrothorn too. Assuming my calcs are correct, Nature Power under Electric Terrain 2HKOs Skarm, Corvi and Pex and OHKOs Torn-T.
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 192-226 (57.4 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight in Electric Terrain: 234-276 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian in Electric Terrain: 402-474 (111 - 130.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 4+ Def Toxapex in Electric Terrain: 212-250 (69.7 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
Edit: Sorry for the misinformation regarding Nature Power. I forgot to switch it to Special during my calcs. Nevertheless, Nature Power under Electric Terrain (or Thunderbolt) can be used to hit the metal birds, Pex and the regenerating chicken deity of the sky super effectively.
Nature Power is good on Ferrothorn too. Assuming my calcs are correct, Nature Power under Electric Terrain 2HKOs Skarm, Corvi and Pex and OHKOs Torn-T.
I thought that since gen 6, nature power turned into special moves according to terrain? I don't think the calc displays the correct damage calcs. I am pretty sure nature power under electric terrain becomes essentially thunderbolt, which doesn't have quite the same damage output coming from a ferrothorn as the calc suggest.
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 192-226 (57.4 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-> What the calc shows
0- SpA Ferrothorn Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 124-146 (37.1 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
-> Actual damage (according to my knowledge of the move).
Can someone with more insight confirm or deny this?
I thought that since gen 6, nature power turned into special moves according to terrain? I don't think the calc displays the correct damage calcs. I am pretty sure nature power under electric terrain becomes essentially thunderbolt, which doesn't have quite the same damage output coming from a ferrothorn as the calc suggest.
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 192-226 (57.4 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-> What the calc shows
0- SpA Ferrothorn Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 124-146 (37.1 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
-> Actual damage (according to my knowledge of the move).
Can someone with more insight confirm or deny this?
Nature Power is by default set to physical in the calc (which can be seen by the 252+ Atk Choice Band written in front of ferrothorn and the 252+ Def stat in front of skarmory) , If you change it to special you'll get the same damage output as thunderbolt as shown
0- SpA Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 124-146 (37.1 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
You could add Bulldoze to Ferro's moveset to hit Magnezone and Heatran on the switch!
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 172 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 224-268 (69.1 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Magnezone: 308-364 (109.6 - 129.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 328-388 (84.9 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Bulldoze vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 328-388 (101.5 - 120.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Nature Power is good on Ferrothorn too. Assuming my calcs are correct, Nature Power under Electric Terrain 2HKOs Skarm, Corvi and Pex and OHKOs Torn-T.
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory in Electric Terrain: 192-226 (57.4 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight in Electric Terrain: 234-276 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian in Electric Terrain: 402-474 (111 - 130.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 4+ Def Toxapex in Electric Terrain: 212-250 (69.7 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
I think if you really need an electric move you could run tbolt/thunder with a brave nature. Ferro's SpA isn't really that good but it should KO after a few.
EDIT: thunder can 2HKO after rocks and tbolt 3HKOs, so not really worth it for dealing with skarm which brings me to my next heat set (arguably worse than the first).
Exploud was always known for running Specs, but with its unique HP stat, it can lure in Blissey and proceed to set up on it. It really is a great stall killer!
Exploud @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 220 HP / 84 SpA / 204 Spe
Mild Nature
- Substitute
- Work Up
- Boomburst
- Low Kick / Earthquake
HP is to tank two Seismic Tosses from Blissey, Speed is to outspeed defensive Heatran. The rest of the EVs are put into SpA for as much Boomburst power as possible. Low Kick hits Blissey, Heatran, Tyranitar, and Ferrothorn the hardest, practically luring them in. Low Kick can be replaced with Earthquake (shoutout to bigpapa0of) to hit Heatran and Glowking harder, but is worse against Blissey and Ferrothorn.
I recommend putting Magnezone on this team, as Corviknight walls Exploud with little to no Work Up Boosts.
Here's a team I stormed up a few days ago, and if played correctly it puts in work. shut up I know it's weak to lele
Mew @ Leftovers Ability: Synchronize EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Soft-Boiled - Knock Off - Night Shade - Will-O-Wisp
This Mew set is one of my favorite recent creations from this metagame. It is a more utility-oriented Mew rather than a suicide lead. Soft Boiled is somewhat slept on with Mew since it allows Mew to assume a more defensive/utility position on teams that play it like this, which I find to be a neat factor. Knock Off is utility, of course. Night Shade is probably the one that stands out the most. I chose Night Shade for forcing chip onto quite a few things since Mew's speed tier is not the worst thing in the world. It is faster than most Pokemon on bulkier teams, which lets it take advantage of them quite well. Will-O-Wisp allows Mew to beat out physical attackers, as well as force even more chip damage onto Pokemon that dislike it. Overall, really fun set that you can play around with.
(with andor ) Zoroark @ Electric Seed Ability: Illusion
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Dark Pulse / Night Daze
- Nasty Plot - Flamethrower / Extrasensory
This Zoroark set is probably the most stupidly fun thing I have ever created. Zoroark is and always was a fun Pokemon to use in both casual and competitive, and this set takes the fun to the next level. On the outside, it's just a normal Nasty Plot set, but with the right set-up, it becomes a huge threat to unprepared players and teams. This set aims to force out Hawlucha's and/or Sceptile's checks such as Corviknight, Zapdos, Tapu Koko, Tapu Fini, and Slowbro, and proceed to OHKO them with +2 Nasty Plot boosted STAB- or coverage moves. Additionally, the defense boost from Electric Seed allows Zoroark to take a hit it usually couldn't take. Here are some calcs:
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 151-178 (57.8 - 68.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Landorus-Therian U-turn vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 168-198 (64.3 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 178-211 (68.1 - 80.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Earthquake vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 214-253 (81.9 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zoroark: 123-144 (47.1 - 55.1%) -- 70.3% chance to 2HKO
0- Atk Dragapult U-turn vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark: 108-128 (41.3 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zoroark in Grassy Terrain: 240-283 (91.9 - 108.4%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
offensive calcs
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 297-351 (93.1 - 110%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Night Daze vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 315-372 (98.7 - 116.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Night Daze vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 315-372 (82.4 - 97.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 297-351 (77.7 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 283-334 (79.2 - 93.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Night Daze vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 300-354 (84 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 624-734 (196.8 - 231.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 336-396 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Night Daze vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 356-420 (90.3 - 106.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 594-698 (150.7 - 177.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 468-552 (166.5 - 196.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 270-318 (70.4 - 83%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Night Daze vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 288-339 (75.1 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 384-452 (96 - 113%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 512-604 (145.4 - 171.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Extrasensory vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 242-286 (79.6 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 498-586 (146 - 171.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 404-476 (102.5 - 120.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Zoroark Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Unaware Clefable: 204-240 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
that was long :\
Sample team:
(click me)
This is actually a team made by buayagator but with Zoroark slapped into it instead of Weavile. The general idea of the team is to force out the opponent's physical defensive wall using Zoroark disguised as Hawlucha, then try to OHKO them with your strong STAB- and coverage moves.
Hawlucha has all the moves G-Zapdos wished he had, while G-Zapdos has the stats Hawlucha wished he had. This set is me trying to cope with the fact that we don't have a bulky Flying Fighting type yet, which would be extremely cool.
Anyway, this Hawlucha set aims to be a fast physical check to Grass, Ground types and Bisharp (Weavile is out of Hawlucha's league). This is because if you want to run a full bulk set, just use Buzzwole. With this set, Hawlucha tries its best to make use of its surprisingly deep support movepool, with staple moves like Defog, Toxic, Taunt, Roost and U-turn. The combination of Fighting STAB, Ground immunity, Toxic and potentially Taunt makes it a decent Defogger that can annoy pretty much every Stealth Rock setter aside from Clefable (which it can still Taunt on the switch but still Hawlucha ain't beating Clef anyway).
Aside from that, this Hawlucha also outspeeds key threat like Kartana and with this spread it can 2HKO with Body Press while barely living a +2 Leaf Blade after rocks. It also checks Rillaboom and Bisharp with the aid of the Rocky Helmet and in general punishes predicted U-turns and Knock Offs. Its speed tier lets it be an emergency check/revenge killer to weakened Kyurem and especially Hydreigon without Draco Meteor.
You probably shouldn't use this, but it's fun as hell so I'm posting it anyway.
Please Game Freak, give me a bulky Flying Fighting type (or just give Roost to G-Zapdos ffs).
Flying Press is actually pretty decent on this type of set to also supereffectively hit Rillaboom and Urshifu-R while maintaining effectiveness on the main Fighting-weak Pokémon, but it hardly does any damage without attack investment so idk.
Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Taunt
You might have seen me talk about defensive Croak on the Discord, because I believe it actually has a small niche in this meta being one of the very few reliable Urshifu counters. While statistically Toxicroak's bulk is terrible, investment goes a long way. It also is an ok pivot into Weavile and Bisharp's Knock Off that isn't totally item-reliant thanks to STAB Drain Punch. Unlike the previous person to post about this in DLC1, I believe Knock Off is necessary so you can actually make incremental progress, and also you don't want to let Dragapult in for free. Taunt is great because it means you can come into Slowking and deny its Teleport, and it also makes Toxapex setup fodder.
(Don't run an offensive set on it though, Urshifu totally outclasses that.)
Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Taunt
You might have seen me talk about defensive Croak on the Discord, because I believe it actually has a small niche in this meta being one of the very few reliable Urshifu counters.
The issue I have with this is the same as I have with running defensive Buzzwole as a dedicated check / counter to Urshifu, it being that toxicroak gets absolutely demolished by Future Sight. It being a dedicated shifu switch-in that can... not... switch into one of its moves because of the impending threat of a 120 BP stab psychic move means that you have a dead slot on your team in many of your urshifu match ups until you've managed to get rid of slowking, at which point your team will probably be in terrible shape anyways. It also means you need another mon on your team that can reliably eat a hit from (banded) Urshifu + Future Sight while being able to reliably recover at some other time (provided you can even gain / keep the momentum to do so). And that need begs the question: why use toxicroak in the first place when finding a mon that can just soak up hits from Urshifu + future sight is mandatory as a partner and would act as a better check by itself?
Edit: I do like the idea of using toxapex as a set-up fodder with Toxicroak though.
- bulky defog
- specially defensive stealth rock
- physically defensive leech seed
- AV heatran trap
- heatran lure (i do not own this, credits to 
- twave taunt bulky support
- specially defensive defog
- bulky defog nite2.0
- spdef hdb sticky hold
- spdef rocks
- bulky twave tank
- physical wall
- choice band
- bulky stealth rock pivot
- bulky status-spreading pivot
- work up mixed attacker
Physical regileleki
Specs Dragalge
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