Hello.
So at first, when the Gen 8 meta came out, I was resentful towards it especially since the Max-moves were ludicrously overpowered and Fishious Rend was broken. I never got into it all that much. Even after Dynamax was banned I never took the time to develop my sense of the metagame and just played quietly in Gen 7 OU (Where I peaked top 300's by the way). Eventually though I gave Gen 8 a shot to see what was going on and look at all the new mons that appeared in the builder. Here was my first shot at making a team for the Gen 8 meta:
___________________________________________________________________________
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
Save Ttar :(
I caught some wind saying that Tyranitar was in danger of dropping down from OU to UU after being in OU for the past six generations. I thought that was unacceptable and decided that Tyranitar would be the linchpin for this team. Stone Edge is a given, but Pursuit was removed from the game (much to my surprise) so Crunch served as a passable substitute. Fire Punch is there to help out with the breaking effort against Ferrothorn and Corviknight. And Stealth Rock is Stealth Rock. Smooth Rock is obviously there to prolong the sand that I ultimately based this team around. The given speed EVs allow me to speed-creep on 4 Spe Mandibuzz and Stone Edge them before they can Defog (I don't know if there's anything else I should invest for but Mandibuzz is annoying). Rest are sponged into attack and bulk. Tyranitar serves as a good Dragapult and Hydreigon check thanks to the sand and the Dark-typing. Looking at the builder, I noticed Hippowdown is in the Gen and is currently OU. However when the team was finished, I felt like Ttar was a much better fit than Hippo on this team for various reasons (namely checking Dragapult and blowing away Rotom). Also why did they remove Pursuit?
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Your classic metal mole, man.
I was surprised that Excadrill and Drilbur were the only available Sand Rush mons in the game (I mean obviously I would've used Drill even if there were other Sand Rushers). Of course I figured: Sand = Drill, so Excadrill was a no-brainer addition to the team. Base-135-Atk-Adamant-Life-Orb-boosted Earthquake and Iron Head blow back pretty much anything not named Corviknight. Swords Dance is dangerous move that lets Drill be less passive (especially with all the Wish + Protect running around), and Rapid Spin is now stupidly overpowered with all that +1 speed shenanigans. The gameplan with Drill is simple: get it in, start wrecking the opposing team, profit! Unfortunately for our little mole, a sweep can be harshly halted by some random Body Press Corviknight or a stray Mach Punch from Conkeldurr. But even then, Drill is pretty much guaranteed to take something and a half down with it.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
This annoying thing.
So the prospect of having weather on your team means that if you go up against a dude using the same weather, your setter becomes a double-edged sword. Basically meaning if I go up against an opposing sand team, I'd be setting sand for both of our Drills. Once one Drill goes down, the other is pretty much clear. I think it's pretty ironic how the sand core of Drill + Ttar is weak to opposing Drill, and the speed tie between Drills will pretty much determine who wins in the end. I was gonna have none of that so I added pretty much the best Excadrill counter in the game. Corviknight is just Skarmory but with U-turn, so props to GameFreak for some ludicrous creativity there. Brave Bird beats back the Conkeldurrs that immensely threaten the sand core, Roost is a staple on any defensive bird, Defog provides a more reliable and less risky form of hazard removal from the team, and U-turn provides momentum. Imprefect speed IVs allow me to underspeed other Corviknights so the U-turn momentum is in my favor. Pressure at least gives Corviknight a reason to play defensively, so Roost-spamming is a legitimate strategy you can use with this mon. I didn't really know what to do with this thing, so I just it as spdef as possible and slapped a Leftovers on it for all those stupid Clefables in the tier.
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Trick
Oh, I'm sorry, you're a spdef mon?
When I was building the team Conkeldurr was looking more and more of an issue. So why not add the most nuclear Ghost in the game? Besides dealing with Conk with that stupidly powerful Overheat, Chandy gets rid of three of the most annoying walls for Excadrill to face: Corviknight, Hippowdon and Ferrothorn. Shadow Ball and Flamethrower when Specs boosted provide some really powerful oomph to the team. And when Overheat is Specs boosted and used with the highest special attack in the tier, yeah, good luck living that. Chandelure will often be brought on poor unsuspecting Ferrothorns via Corviknight to punch a serious dent into the opposing team. Trick is there to shut down Clefable and Toxapex so stall is easier to face. Not even Mandibuzz can switch into this guy since it gets utterly melted by Flamethrower or, when it comes to it, Overheat. Flash Fire is used to provide a useful Fire immunity to the backbone, and in some cases makes the Overheat and Flamethrower absolute death sentences.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
Everybody's favorite cactus... seed... thing.
So far I was making the team when I realized:
"Oh wow! I get 6-0d by Dracovish!"
So here's Ferrothorn, ever standing as its duty as an immovable object meant to stop unstoppable forces since Gen 5. EV spread is a standard to stop that stupid fish from wrecking the team (God I hate that thing). Power Whip gives me a way to wear down Seismitoad, and by wear down I mean straight up OHKO it. Knock Off is useful for catching anything the would want to switch in on a Leech Seed. Leech Seed is Ferro's only reliable way of recovery (it has Giga Drain but Ferrothorn's spa is trash). I added Spikes to the team to capitalize on the switches that Chandy and Drill force. Also gives me a sturdy answer to rain teams and Zeraora (Ferro takes two Close Combats, unless Zera busts out Blaze Kick). Both of Ferrothorn's weaknesses are hard-walled by Chandelure, so there's some synergy going around here. Iron Barbs is an annoying as hell ability for many teams to deal with, and eases the matchup against other Sand Rush Drills.
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
Good ol' Haxorus.
So rounding out the team: I wanted a nice and reliable cleaner to capitalize on the punched holes that Drill and Chandy make. Something to take advantage of a.) Corviknight being gone b.) Clefable being gone and c.) Ferrothorn being gone. Dragon immediately comes to mind, so why not just take the most nuclear Dragon in the tier, slap a Choice Scarf on it, and call it a day? Outrage steamrolls entire teams once the Steels are weakened and the Fairies are no more. Coverage is a nice surprise factor for a Ferrothorn hoping to switch into an Outrage only to eat a vicious Close Combat, or a Hatterene looking to switch into either, only to get slapped across the room with a Poison Jab. Earthquake makes the most use of Haxorus's Mold Breaker, completely obliterating any Rotom-H with ideas of walling Drill. Often when cleaning games with this guy, I'm astonished by how many mons he can straight up OHKO with Outrage, and that's without a Band or an adamant nature. All in all Haxorus is the trooper part of the Blitzkreig, cleaning up after the initial assault of Chandy and Drill.
So that's that. Some considerations I'm making are Body Press on either/both Corviknight or Ferrothorn, or if Infiltrator would be better on Chandy to help against dual screens HO, but experimentation is needed. I haven't been playing too much Gen 8 but this team brought me some pretty good success with little losses. Ideas on how to improve the squad? Feel free to share.
Sprites taken from:
https://msikma.github.io/pokesprite/index.html
https://projectpokemon.org/docs/spriteindex_148/3d-models-generation-8-pokémon-r123/
http://sandshrewz.github.io/spritegenerator2
So at first, when the Gen 8 meta came out, I was resentful towards it especially since the Max-moves were ludicrously overpowered and Fishious Rend was broken. I never got into it all that much. Even after Dynamax was banned I never took the time to develop my sense of the metagame and just played quietly in Gen 7 OU (Where I peaked top 300's by the way). Eventually though I gave Gen 8 a shot to see what was going on and look at all the new mons that appeared in the builder. Here was my first shot at making a team for the Gen 8 meta:
___________________________________________________________________________
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
Save Ttar :(
I caught some wind saying that Tyranitar was in danger of dropping down from OU to UU after being in OU for the past six generations. I thought that was unacceptable and decided that Tyranitar would be the linchpin for this team. Stone Edge is a given, but Pursuit was removed from the game (much to my surprise) so Crunch served as a passable substitute. Fire Punch is there to help out with the breaking effort against Ferrothorn and Corviknight. And Stealth Rock is Stealth Rock. Smooth Rock is obviously there to prolong the sand that I ultimately based this team around. The given speed EVs allow me to speed-creep on 4 Spe Mandibuzz and Stone Edge them before they can Defog (I don't know if there's anything else I should invest for but Mandibuzz is annoying). Rest are sponged into attack and bulk. Tyranitar serves as a good Dragapult and Hydreigon check thanks to the sand and the Dark-typing. Looking at the builder, I noticed Hippowdown is in the Gen and is currently OU. However when the team was finished, I felt like Ttar was a much better fit than Hippo on this team for various reasons (namely checking Dragapult and blowing away Rotom). Also why did they remove Pursuit?
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Your classic metal mole, man.
I was surprised that Excadrill and Drilbur were the only available Sand Rush mons in the game (I mean obviously I would've used Drill even if there were other Sand Rushers). Of course I figured: Sand = Drill, so Excadrill was a no-brainer addition to the team. Base-135-Atk-Adamant-Life-Orb-boosted Earthquake and Iron Head blow back pretty much anything not named Corviknight. Swords Dance is dangerous move that lets Drill be less passive (especially with all the Wish + Protect running around), and Rapid Spin is now stupidly overpowered with all that +1 speed shenanigans. The gameplan with Drill is simple: get it in, start wrecking the opposing team, profit! Unfortunately for our little mole, a sweep can be harshly halted by some random Body Press Corviknight or a stray Mach Punch from Conkeldurr. But even then, Drill is pretty much guaranteed to take something and a half down with it.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
This annoying thing.
So the prospect of having weather on your team means that if you go up against a dude using the same weather, your setter becomes a double-edged sword. Basically meaning if I go up against an opposing sand team, I'd be setting sand for both of our Drills. Once one Drill goes down, the other is pretty much clear. I think it's pretty ironic how the sand core of Drill + Ttar is weak to opposing Drill, and the speed tie between Drills will pretty much determine who wins in the end. I was gonna have none of that so I added pretty much the best Excadrill counter in the game. Corviknight is just Skarmory but with U-turn, so props to GameFreak for some ludicrous creativity there. Brave Bird beats back the Conkeldurrs that immensely threaten the sand core, Roost is a staple on any defensive bird, Defog provides a more reliable and less risky form of hazard removal from the team, and U-turn provides momentum. Imprefect speed IVs allow me to underspeed other Corviknights so the U-turn momentum is in my favor. Pressure at least gives Corviknight a reason to play defensively, so Roost-spamming is a legitimate strategy you can use with this mon. I didn't really know what to do with this thing, so I just it as spdef as possible and slapped a Leftovers on it for all those stupid Clefables in the tier.
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Trick
Oh, I'm sorry, you're a spdef mon?
When I was building the team Conkeldurr was looking more and more of an issue. So why not add the most nuclear Ghost in the game? Besides dealing with Conk with that stupidly powerful Overheat, Chandy gets rid of three of the most annoying walls for Excadrill to face: Corviknight, Hippowdon and Ferrothorn. Shadow Ball and Flamethrower when Specs boosted provide some really powerful oomph to the team. And when Overheat is Specs boosted and used with the highest special attack in the tier, yeah, good luck living that. Chandelure will often be brought on poor unsuspecting Ferrothorns via Corviknight to punch a serious dent into the opposing team. Trick is there to shut down Clefable and Toxapex so stall is easier to face. Not even Mandibuzz can switch into this guy since it gets utterly melted by Flamethrower or, when it comes to it, Overheat. Flash Fire is used to provide a useful Fire immunity to the backbone, and in some cases makes the Overheat and Flamethrower absolute death sentences.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
Everybody's favorite cactus... seed... thing.
So far I was making the team when I realized:
"Oh wow! I get 6-0d by Dracovish!"
So here's Ferrothorn, ever standing as its duty as an immovable object meant to stop unstoppable forces since Gen 5. EV spread is a standard to stop that stupid fish from wrecking the team (God I hate that thing). Power Whip gives me a way to wear down Seismitoad, and by wear down I mean straight up OHKO it. Knock Off is useful for catching anything the would want to switch in on a Leech Seed. Leech Seed is Ferro's only reliable way of recovery (it has Giga Drain but Ferrothorn's spa is trash). I added Spikes to the team to capitalize on the switches that Chandy and Drill force. Also gives me a sturdy answer to rain teams and Zeraora (Ferro takes two Close Combats, unless Zera busts out Blaze Kick). Both of Ferrothorn's weaknesses are hard-walled by Chandelure, so there's some synergy going around here. Iron Barbs is an annoying as hell ability for many teams to deal with, and eases the matchup against other Sand Rush Drills.
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
Good ol' Haxorus.
So rounding out the team: I wanted a nice and reliable cleaner to capitalize on the punched holes that Drill and Chandy make. Something to take advantage of a.) Corviknight being gone b.) Clefable being gone and c.) Ferrothorn being gone. Dragon immediately comes to mind, so why not just take the most nuclear Dragon in the tier, slap a Choice Scarf on it, and call it a day? Outrage steamrolls entire teams once the Steels are weakened and the Fairies are no more. Coverage is a nice surprise factor for a Ferrothorn hoping to switch into an Outrage only to eat a vicious Close Combat, or a Hatterene looking to switch into either, only to get slapped across the room with a Poison Jab. Earthquake makes the most use of Haxorus's Mold Breaker, completely obliterating any Rotom-H with ideas of walling Drill. Often when cleaning games with this guy, I'm astonished by how many mons he can straight up OHKO with Outrage, and that's without a Band or an adamant nature. All in all Haxorus is the trooper part of the Blitzkreig, cleaning up after the initial assault of Chandy and Drill.
So that's that. Some considerations I'm making are Body Press on either/both Corviknight or Ferrothorn, or if Infiltrator would be better on Chandy to help against dual screens HO, but experimentation is needed. I haven't been playing too much Gen 8 but this team brought me some pretty good success with little losses. Ideas on how to improve the squad? Feel free to share.
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Trick
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Trick
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
Sprites taken from:
https://msikma.github.io/pokesprite/index.html
https://projectpokemon.org/docs/spriteindex_148/3d-models-generation-8-pokémon-r123/
http://sandshrewz.github.io/spritegenerator2
