VGC Kit Kats

Adamant Zoroark

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VGC18 RMT by Adamant Zoroark

Hey everyone! Been a while since I posted a team. Anyway, I hadn't been having a particularly good VGC18 season; my prior teams had netted me a total of two wins out of 10 best-of-three rounds played in tournaments. I was about to just retire for the whole season.

Then Intimidate Incineroar was randomly released. And I just had to go to a local PC so I could use it. And boy, I can say for sure I do not regret that decision. Anyway! Less about me, more about how I built this team:

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The team started out looking like this. The idea behind it was pretty simple - Run the Lando-T + Kartana + Char-Y + Koko core, with Tyranitar on the team to handle Zapdos and Cresselia and Milotic to turn Landorus-T into a liability. This form of the team was okay, but one Pokemon in particular managed to let me down: Milotic. On paper, it was a perfect way of answering Landorus-T. The set I used had Adrenaline Orb, a Timid nature, and enough speed investment to always outspeed Adamant Scarf Landorus-T with the Adrenaline Orb boost. In practice, however, it was a major letdown. Its efficacy depended way too largely on whether or not I correctly called whether or not the opponent would bring Landorus.

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With Milotic being a thorough disappointment, Tapu Fini made the cut in its place. With this change, I also added Nature Power on Tapu Koko in order to compress Electric and Fairy coverage into one slot, allowing it to run both Volt Switch and Taunt. I used this at Costa Mesa, but still couldn't seem to make it work, even though it seemed pretty good on paper.

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Just as I was losing hope in ever building a VGC18 team I was comfortable with, my boy INTIMIROAR got released. Immediately, I swapped Tyranitar for it. That is a decision I will never regret. Fake Out for disruption? Check. A second Intimidate to nullify opposing physical attackers even more? Check. I then edited some movesets slightly - Kartana dropped Smart Strike for Sacred Sword, with the team now worrying much less about Tapu Bulu thanks to Incineroar's addition. Although my Tyranitar used Darkinium Z, I wasn't too sure if I wanted to use Incinium Z on this team, so I made Tapu Koko my Z-Move user instead. Additionally, Tapu Fini's set was changed from Choice Specs to Calm Mind - I had thought that Specs would be better given the team's offensive nature, but its longevity was too poor to allow me to be comfortable against Landorus-T.


The Team


Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

You probably saw this one coming from a thousand miles away. There are very few teams in VGC 2018 that can excuse not running Landorus-T. This team is not one of them. Need to weaken an opponent's physical attacker? Landorus-T is your guy. Need something to pivot with U-turn? Again, look no further. An opponent's giving you the blues and you don't know what to do? Maybe just click Rock Slide and hope to flinch it. That always works, right?

An Assault Vest set is used over the vastly more popular Choice Scarf set for one simple reason: This team's lack of other Ground resistances outside of Charizard. This makes Earthquake an extremely poor move to be Choice-locked into on this team. Additionally, I was using this team prior to Intimidate Incineroar's release and wanted Knock Off for its utility - another poor move to be Choice-locked into.


Incineroar @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 28 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Taunt

IT'S. FINALLY. HEEEEEEERE! Goodness, this thing is as good as I hoped it would be, and then some. It puts on the Fake Out pressure, which makes it far, far easier for Kartana to set up Tailwind and for Tapu Fini to set up Calm Mind. Plus, having that second Intimidate assists this team massively - for one, all of the Attack drops make it almost laughable how easily Tapu Fini can set up Calm Mind. Even outside of assisting setup, it has the potential to make opposing physical attackers - sometimes even the opponent's own Landorus-T - borderline useless.

Now, to explain two seemingly unusual choices: The Speed EVs and Taunt. The Speed EVs allow Incineroar to outspeed any variant of Zapdos under Tailwind; this usually isn't too useful, since the Zapdos matchup usually results in us matching Tailwinds, but I figured that I would go ahead and run the extra Speed since it may be useful in some extremely situational circumstance, while the lost Attack points are borderline negligible. Taunt is used on Incineroar over another generally more useful move (e.g. Low Kick or Snarl) due to Trick Room, which can be incredibly painful if setup is not stopped.


Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Tailwind
- Detect

I'd really like to know who at Game Freak decided it would be a good idea to give Tailwind to Kartana. I mean, come on; the thing is so fast that it usually sets it up very easily, plus, Beast Boost in combination with its absurd Attack stat allows it to also function as a win condition. Obviously, there isn't much to say about Kartana, so I'll delve very briefly into certain, major decisions for it. Flyinium Z was very tempting for those guaranteed Leaf Blade crits, but I chose to opt for Focus Sash instead in order to allow Tailwind to be set up with much greater consistency. As I mentioned before, this team originally ran Smart Strike in order to reduce the team's dependence on Charizard to beat Tapu Bulu, but with the addition of Incineroar, this was no longer necessary, so Sacred Sword replaced it in order to help against opposing Snorlax, Kangaskhan, and Incineroar.


Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze -> Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect

Boy, do I love this powerhouse. Heat Wave functions as a very powerful spread attack that can be used without worrying about hitting an ally (much unlike Landorus's Earthquake), and if there's some opponent you find very threatening, Overheat in Drought can probably nuke it. Water-types, you say? Not if Solar Beam has anything to say about it. Oh, what's that? Landorus can Rock Slide it to oblivion, you say? Well, you just have to remove its Scarf with Knock Off (this team has two users, so something I often find myself doing is having Incineroar use Fake Out on Landorus while my own Landorus removes its item) and nuke it!

Quickly, I want to address one thing that can become problematic: The fact that I'm using both Charizard and Tapu Fini. Thankfully, Drought is not indefinite like it was in Gen V and earlier, so bringing both Charizard and Fini to a match is not necessarily out of the question. However, I do often find myself having to stall out Drought turns when I do bring in Tapu Fini (though, in between Calm Mind and Protect, this generally doesn't prove to be too difficult.)


Tapu Koko @ Normalium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nature Power
- Volt Switch
- Taunt
- Protect

Tapu Koko is pretty great. It gives this team a solid way to answer Mega Charizard Y (Landorus isn't terribly consistent at it and I will laugh in your face if you even dare to call Tapu Fini an answer), a reliable Volt Switch to be able to pivot even more (which works especially well with this team's double Intimidate), and another Taunt user in order to make this team able to stop Trick Room more consistently.

Being able to compress all of this into just Tapu Koko is largely thanks to Tapu Fini - without it, Nature Power wouldn't even be an option, which would force me to choose either Volt Switch or Taunt. Plus, Z-Nature Power is pretty damn great; in most (I'd say 75%) of situations, you'd want to use it in Electric Terrain, but there absolutely are situations in which you may choose to use it in Misty Terrain - one such example being to lure in and KO a worn-down Landorus-T (I wanna say at around 50-60%?) with Twinkle Tackle.


Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 108 Def / 132 SpA / 28 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Protect

Hoooooo boy. While I'd call Incineroar the MVP of this team, Tapu Fini is a very close second. Between the team's double Intimidate and Incineroar's Fake Out, the ease at which Tapu Fini can set up Calm Mind(s) is insane. Basically, unless I play like a complete moron (which, I won't lie, I do sometimes), or get critted, or flinched, or flinch-critted, you can count on Tapu Fini setting up a Calm Mind or two very easily. Plus, Muddy Water can very easily troll with accuracy drops (you mean you wanted to switch Kartana in? Not if I drop your accuracy!) and Wiki Berry in combination with there being very few moves that can OHKO Tapu Fini means it's going to be sticking around for a while.

Conclusion

Intimidate Incineroar op plz nerf Sakurai

Okay, bad meme aside, Intimidate Incineroar is great. Did a fantastic job of reigniting my interest in VGC 2018. I do not regret making the decision to use it.

Threat List

Landorus-T: Ordinarily, between some combination of double Intimidate, Knock Off, Fake Out, Kartana, Charizard, and Tapu Fini, Scarf and AV variants of Landorus-T tend to be very manageable. However, I have rated Landorus-T as a Red due to one set in particular: Groundium Z. This one can be very annoying thanks to its ability to do an insane amount of damage to Tapu Fini, my team's most consistent answer to Landorus-T. Plus, if it happens to be carrying Swords Dance, it really does not care about my team's double Intimidate, so you can kiss your hopes of winning good-bye.

Zapdos: Still very much manageable, but can be a real pain in the ass. Generally, the best route is to match Tailwinds, Knock Off its Berry, and then just keep wailing on it until it drops dead. This is the only area in which I preferred having Tyranitar on the team.

Trick Room: In between having Fake Out, two Taunt users, and the powerhouse that is Charizard, this team tends to have no issues cockblocking Trick Room. However, if Trick Room does somehow manage to get up, you can kiss your ass good-bye.

Milotic: While it is rare and you can likely count on not seeing it, this does look threatening on paper due to the fact that my team has two Intimidate users. However, I am listing it here to establish one thing: This team is not even remotely threatened by Milotic. It has Kartana and Tapu Koko to just outspeed and pulverize it, as well as Drought and Solar Beam on Charizard. However, an extremely well-played and well-supported Milotic could really put a wrench into this team's strategy.


Possible Changes

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze -> Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature -> Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect

I mention this for one primary reason: Timid has missed some crucial KOs for me. First, Overheat missed the KO on Stakataka at Costa Mesa, then on a Mega Gardevoir at the PC. Had I been Modest instead, I would most likely have gotten those KOs and they would not have been able to set up Trick Room.

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature -> Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Much like the proposed Charizard change, this is also based on tournament experiences. The Adamant nature has done me absolutely zero favors against things like Charizard and Timid Tapu Lele. With a Jolly Nature, I would be able to outspeed Modest Charizard and not have to worry about getting Psychium'd by Timid Lele.


Importable

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Incineroar @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 28 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Taunt

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Tailwind
- Detect

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect

Tapu Koko @ Normalium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nature Power
- Volt Switch
- Taunt
- Protect

Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 108 Def / 132 SpA / 28 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Protect
 

Adamant Zoroark

catchy catchphrase
is a Contributor Alumnus
Using my bump.

While thinking of ways to improve this team's matchup against Landorus-T and Zapdos, I've been toying with the idea of running a Mega other than Charizard-Y. Mega Latias comes to mind as one possibility to help alleviate both matchups (being weak to Landorus's U-turn isn't neat, but it's still better than Char-Y in that matchup in any sense) and it would also give Landorus-T a sturdier partner to safely use Earthquake next to. What's keeping me from hopping on that right away is knowing that it will worsen some matchups against Steel-types (specifically: Aegislash, Ferrothorn, and Mega Metagross). If possible, I'd like raters to help me out with this idea.
 

Level 51

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Hi Adamant Zoroark! I'm sorry for the super late reply, but I've actually been pondering this team for the last few days since you posted it. The interesting thing about this team is that it doesn't really have any obvious flaws or unwinnable matchups, but it definitely has poorer-than-average matchups against some common threats, at least in my opinion. For example, you correctly mentioned that your Landorus-T matchup was problematic, and in addition I'd like to point out a slight vulnerabilities to other threats like Mega Metagross and Tapu Koko, especially in combination.

First up, I think it might be profitable to switch Landorus-T to a mixed AV set. There's a few reasons this change:
  • With HP Ice, Landorus-T can act as your check to opposing Landorus-T
  • Landorus-T can use its Ground STAB more easily (ie without having to be next to a Protect or Charizard)
  • Landorus-T can still perform its role as a Charizard-Y check with Stone Edge
The next thing I'll point out is that against a Metagross / Koko lead, the only lead you have which doesn't result in you taking big losses is something like Incineroar + Kartana, where you can safely Fake Out Tapu Koko, get a Tailwind up, and then play from there. In order to make this lead play more consistently, I'd like to suggest a few changes to Incineroar's EV spread.

Incineroar @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 180 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 4 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature

What these EVs do:
  • Outrun Mega Metagross under Tailwind, giving you another way to pressure it
    • With your current slower spread, it's easier to play around Incineroar because it's so slow it doesn't exert much pressure
  • Survive 252+ Landorus-T Earthquake (vanilla physdef benchmark)
The last change I'd like to suggest is to revert Tapu Koko to a standard Electrium Z set. Some boons this set brings with it:
  • More consistent ways to deal big damage to threats like Tapu Fini, Charizard-Y, and Mega Metagross, regardless of Terrain
  • Makes your play more flexible, since you don't have to switch out the ally just to use a Fairy-type move
  • Helps avoid lategame scenarios where you don't have a strong STAB move to use because your Terrain ran out / was replaced
  • You don't miss many important Pokemon by dropping a Fairy-type move—most notable is Landorus-T, which beats you anyway
    • (if you really wanted you could replace Volt Switch or Taunt with Dazzling Gleam I guess)
Regarding your Latias suggestion: I guess this would ease your Landorus-T situation, but I don't think it's worth making it that much harder to hit bulky Steels like Ferrothorn, Bronzong, or to some extent Mega Metagross (remember that you can't really bring Charizard and Latias to the same battle, so you basically only have Incineroar to hit Steels, and that tends to get chipped easily).

Those were just my preliminary observations, since I obviously haven't had a ton of experience playing in the ""new Intimiroar meta"", but I hope they were of some use at least! Good luck with the team, let me know how it goes~
 

Adamant Zoroark

catchy catchphrase
is a Contributor Alumnus
Level 51 thanks for the suggestions; I'll be sure to try all of those out!

btw, what nature should the mixed AV Landorus be? It's a bit new to me, so I'm not really sure what I should be using, haha
 

Level 51

the orchestra plays the prettiest themes
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
btw, what nature should the mixed AV Landorus be?
Modest probably works, you OHKO every Charizard-Y ever with Stone Edge anyway.

Here's a spread I just came up with:
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Def / 156 SpA / 12 SpD / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
  • Outruns Jolly max speed Tyranitar
  • Survives +2 Modest max SpA Fini Muddy Water (or two Muddy Waters from unboosted Fini)
  • 2HKOs most AV Landorus-T with HP Ice
A faster spread could work too, but I think you want the bulk for ease of pivoting / better checking Charizard / better getting through TR turns
 
I personally don't think normalium Z Tapu Koko is to go for the simple reason that Tapu switching is extremely prevalent, like Z moon blast against say a Tapu Lele metagross lead sucks for you I'd suggest changing it for a electrium Z Koko since I just prefer it but your choice about that also on Inciniroar I'd suggest a more bulky version here is a sample set with the spread I'm using it allows it to live an electrium Z from a koko without the AV

♂Billy Herrington♂ (Incineroar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Low Kick

besides that I can't really see anything "Negative!" hope it helped a little bit :)
 

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