[MANDATORY] TEAM BUILDING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

[RebornFX]

I have decided to use the pokemon that were used in Miguel Marti de La Torre's team. It has more pokemon I really don't know the sets for.


Gastrodon-East @ Earth Plate
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Protect
- Scald
- Surf


Gastrodon can set up rain dance if needed which can help out other members of the team. Scald and surf are for STAB and protect is well, protect. Storm drain basically gives it a water immunity and it has an electric immunity which is really nice. I wanted to make him very bulky but with high special attack to dish out a brutal scald and surf.





Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect



Thunder is 100% accurate under rain which is very nice and helps a lot. Volt switch is so I can get some damage but being able to switch out into a better mon for the current situation. Dazzling gleam is STAB and is good against dragon types. I chose life orb because I want koko to hit hard. I chose special attack so koko can be strong and speed so it could also be very fast.




Gigalith @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Protect
- Stealth Rock




Gigalith could set up sand storm if needed. He is very bulky which can be good. That is why I invested 252 in HP and 252 in Def. Earthquake is a good move that can hit both of the enemies. Stealth rock is good for damage build up and stone edge is good as well.



Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Flash Cannon


Celesteela is another tank. The ultimate tank. Heavy slam can do a lot of damage. Leech seed can do damage over time while giving celesteela back health. Flash canon is a good stab




Garchomp @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- Flamethrower



Garchomp is the bulky physical sweeper. That is why I gave him the Assault Vest. 252 for more health and 252 for better attack.
Draco meteor is a good STAB move. Swords dance is great for boosting attack. Rockslide is helpful for hitting multiple enemies and flamethrower is good as well for grass types.





Arcanine
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Heat Wave
- Body Slam



Arcanine is another bulky sweeper. Intimidate is useful because it lowers the attack of the opposing mons. I wanted it to be a little bulkier but still pack a punch. Heat wave is good STAB and hits both mons.

Just letting you know. Surf is a spread move, which hits both of your opponent's Pokemon and your partner. There is pretty much no reason for you to run Surf on this Gastrodon, as the damage from Surf will be minimal especially with the damage reduction from spread moves, it doesn't have a burn chance and it requires you to Protect with your partner. Ice Beam would allow you to hit opposing Garchomp and Mence. Rain dance also seems random here. It weakens your Arcanine's fire STAB and makes it take more damage from water moves, clashes with Gigalith's sand and besides Thunder Koko (which to my knowledge doesn't pick up many KOs that Thunderbolt doesn't). You probably want to run min speed to have at least one mon that functions well if an opponent sets up trick room, though that is up to you.

I'm pretty sure the main reasoning behind running double ground is to give Koko partners that it can freely Discharge next to in order to hit Celesteela, Gyarados, Pelipper and general waters without worrying about Marowak/Togedemaru switch ins. I would personally replace Thunder with Discharge and Volt switch with Thunderbolt, as I find Volt Switch works better on Choice Specs and AV sets, though again that is kind of down to personal preference.

Stealth Rock is unviable in VGC and for the most part in doubles formats in general. Your best bet for replacements are Wide Guard (protecting Koko from EQ's, the team from Blizzards and other potential spread moves) or Heavy Slam for taking on Tapu lele and other fairies. I would say Wide Guard is probably preferred though.

There is no reason to run Flash Cannon on Celesteela. Replace this with either Substitute to punish passive play and protect you from burns and just general sub-leech seed shenanigans, or Wide Guard if you decide to run Heavy Slam on Gigalith.

Swords Dance AV Garchomp doesn't work. I also wouldn't recommend mixed Garchomp. I would say replace Flamethrower with Fire Fang and SD with Poison Jab for Tapu Bulu.

And finally, your Arcanine set is very strange. Like reeeeaaaally strange. It has a plethora of great moves and basically you haven't picked any of them (except E speed). Flare Blitz is viable, but is susceptible to Intimidate and has unnecessary recoil. Heat wave has some uses, but the reduced damage from spread, the susceptibility to wide guard and the inaccuracy make it generally worse than Flamethrower, Burn Up or Overheat. Moves to consider on Arcanine are one of those 3 STAB options, a long with Snarl, Will-o-wisp, Protect, Toxic, Extremespeed, Morning Sun, Roar, Helping Hand and Wild Charge. If you're not sure about the uses for some of these moves feel free to ask.

The spreads for the most part are unoptimised, though it's hard to give spread suggestions without knowing which set suggestions you've taken.

 

[Bnellis02]

For my team, I decided to use the team of Yeray Arrivi, because it lacks both Celesteela and Alolan Marowak, two mons which are way overused in the tier. It also has aspects of speed and bulk, which I like. Also, I know nothing about VGC besides what I picked up from Shady so don't judge too much.


Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot
- Protect

Tapu Koko is here to just be a nuke. It runs the standard STAB Thunderbolt to hit Celesteela and provide neutral coverage, over Discharge since no Pokemon on this team are immune. It also helps deal with Gyrados too. Dazzling Gleam hits Garchomp and Salamence very well, two very problematic Pokemon in the meta. Dazzling Gleam also hits another problematic intimidater, Krookodile. Grass Knot is mainly for Gastrodon and Gigalith, who take its other two moves very well. Lastly, Protect is for when Lolo is doubled down, because other teams prioritize it frequently. Marowak is a large problem for Koko though, which is covered by the Araquanid. Koko of course has the Electrc Terrain, allowing its Thunderbolt to punch even bigger holes in opposing teams. It does make Raichu a bigger threat, but from what I know it isn't that highly used. Koko is also ridiculously fast, allowing it to give out its hard and fast.

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Protect

Kartana is the physical alternative to Koko, just a full fledged attacker. Leaf Blade is amazing when run by Kartama, using its monstrous attack stat to help destroy opposing Pokemon. It helps Kartana take out Gigalith, Krookodile, Gastrodon, Politoed, and Golduck, all of which were seen on multiple teams in the European International. Smart Strike is less than perfect, but it is the best steel STAB Katana gets. Luckily, things like Minimize muck and the Tapus are far less of a problem then they would be. Sacred Sword is the most powerful coverage move Kartana gets, although it doesn't provide much that steel and grass coverage don't besides the ability to hit P2 and fire types for neutral damage. And again, Protect is used to help Kartana when it is targeted down. Oddly enough, both of the main attackers have huge problems with one of the most common Pokemon in the meta right now, Marowak.

Muk-Alola @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Power of Alchemy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Sneak
- Rock Slide
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off

Muk is used for when this team takes advantage of Trick Room, or whenever Porygon 2 arrives. It also has the very nice poison/dark typing, able to take on the ever so powerful Tapus and being weak to only ground. Shadow Sneak is utilized by Muk in order for this team to have some priority, or for when the trick room isn't up and I just need some damage. Rock Slide hits both Pokemon on the opposite side, which is extremely nice, along with allowing Muk to hit many Pokemon such as Torkoal, Gyrados, Arcanine, and Salamence super effectively. Poison Jab is super effective against every Tapu and Whimsicott, is more reliable than Gunk Shot, and is STAB. Celesteela and Kartana are both immune though, which is a large problem for Muk. For these Pokemon, Muk can attempt to cripple them with Knock Off, or switch out. Knock Off removes opponents items, which is especially helpful when dealing with Porygon 2. It is also good for scouting under trick room, allowing me to analyze what set the opponent may be running based of their held item. It also cripples Alola Marowak, a large problem to the team. The Power of Alchemy is there for Muk to hopefully pick up an ability such as Beast Boost, Intimidate, or Download to make it more f a threat.

Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Poison Jab
- Crunch

Araquanid is the other bulky trick room user on this team. Araquanid carries four attacks along with a choice band in order to absolutely destroy many threats. Water Bubble choice banded STAB Liquidation does ridiculously high damage from an invested Araquanid. It also carries Leech Life for STAB, allowing Araquanid to hit Psychic, Dark, and Grass types well. It also restores Araquanids HP, which can be very annoying, as Araquanid is naturally bulky. Water Bubble, aside from boosting water type moves, is also useful in the fact that Araquanid cannot be burned, which allows it to completely shut down Arcanine.
Poision Jab and Crunch are both run for coverage, hitting threats like the Tapus which it could not hit as well otherwise. With having a brave nature and 0 speed IVs, Araquanid outspeeds any Alolan Marowak under Trick Room, which is vital to Trick Room's success. I know how much this team is focused on Marowak, but it's just such a huge threat to this team and it is so common right now.

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower
- Rock Slide
- Zen Headbutt

Salamence is this team's Intimidater, which from what I know is from what I know very important in VGC. Dragon Claw is for standard STAB, as Outrage is not viable in VGC. It also helps hit opposing Salamences and Garchomps, which are both prominent. Flamethrower is standard coverage on Salamence, hitting the troublesome Celesteela, Kartana, and Alolan Ninetales. Rock Slide and Leftovers are both here because mega Pokemon are illegal in 2017 and I'm not sure what else to run. I considered Earthquake to hit harder, but no other Pokemon on this team are immune to it. Maybe Protect, idk. Zen Headbutt is mainly on Salamence to mess with people. It's not run very often, but it's a very strong move and my team needed some psychic coverage. People may think that they can safely switch in their Haryiama, but Salamence can deal a suprising chunk of damage. Salamance can also force some switches with Intimidate, crippling some attackers, useful if I need to switch in. Alolan Ninetales absolutely destroys Salamence, but Kartana and Muk patch that up well.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball

One of the core components of this team. The main job of Porygon2 is to set up trick room and take hits. Trick Room allows this team to truly shine, allowing Muk and Araquanid to be viable. Porygon2 is ridiculously bulky with the eviolite, which is annoying enough on its own. Couple that with Recover, and you have just struck gold. It also carries Ice Beam to hit Salamence and Garchomp, and Shadow Ball for Alolan Marowak. Porygon is extremely susceptible to Knock Off, which removes all use from Porygon 2. For this, Muk can safely switch in for resisted damage, with no consequences due to utilizing a Z crystal. For its ability it has the standard download, in hopes of raising its special attack to hit harder.


So this is my edited team, can I post now lol. Leave some advice if you will though, as I have never done any VGC things before. I have a few questions coming out of this, like Rock Slide on Salamance and Rock Slide on Muk. Rock Slide should basically be a question mark here. Anyways, I plan on trying to ladder with this team and get a feel for VGC, so all advice is appreciated while not all may be taken.

(Note: Rock Slide was switched on both Pokemon, to Protect on Salamence because I need more protect mons, and to taunt on Muk to shut down shenanigans from the other team)

 

[SpectivTechVGC]

Just letting you know. Surf is a spread move, which hits both of your opponent's Pokemon and your partner. There is pretty much no reason for you to run Surf on this Gastrodon, as the damage from Surf will be minimal especially with the damage reduction from spread moves, it doesn't have a burn chance and it requires you to Protect with your partner. Ice Beam would allow you to hit opposing Garchomp and Mence. Rain dance also seems random here. It weakens your Arcanine's fire STAB and makes it take more damage from water moves, clashes with Gigalith's sand and besides Thunder Koko (which to my knowledge doesn't pick up many KOs that Thunderbolt doesn't). You probably want to run min speed to have at least one mon that functions well if an opponent sets up trick room, though that is up to you.

I'm pretty sure the main reasoning behind running double ground is to give Koko partners that it can freely Discharge next to in order to hit Celesteela, Gyarados, Pelipper and general waters without worrying about Marowak/Togedemaru switch ins. I would personally replace Thunder with Discharge and Volt switch with Thunderbolt, as I find Volt Switch works better on Choice Specs and AV sets, though again that is kind of down to personal preference.

Stealth Rock is unviable in VGC and for the most part in doubles formats in general. Your best bet for replacements are Wide Guard (protecting Koko from EQ's, the team from Blizzards and other potential spread moves) or Heavy Slam for taking on Tapu lele and other fairies. I would say Wide Guard is probably preferred though.

There is no reason to run Flash Cannon on Celesteela. Replace this with either Substitute to punish passive play and protect you from burns and just general sub-leech seed shenanigans, or Wide Guard if you decide to run Heavy Slam on Gigalith.

Swords Dance AV Garchomp doesn't work. I also wouldn't recommend mixed Garchomp. I would say replace Flamethrower with Fire Fang and SD with Poison Jab for Tapu Bulu.

And finally, your Arcanine set is very strange. Like reeeeaaaally strange. It has a plethora of great moves and basically you haven't picked any of them (except E speed). Flare Blitz is viable, but is susceptible to Intimidate and has unnecessary recoil. Heat wave has some uses, but the reduced damage from spread, the susceptibility to wide guard and the inaccuracy make it generally worse than Flamethrower, Burn Up or Overheat. Moves to consider on Arcanine are one of those 3 STAB options, a long with Snarl, Will-o-wisp, Protect, Toxic, Extremespeed, Morning Sun, Roar, Helping Hand and Wild Charge. If you're not sure about the uses for some of these moves feel free to ask.

The spreads for the most part are unoptimised, though it's hard to give spread suggestions without knowing which set suggestions you've taken.

Well yeah.
I've never done much with these guys before i tried to use them.. so sorry if they're kinda horrible the way I set it up. I just tried to do this to the best of my ability and do what made sense but of course I don't know how to set everything up in a way that makes sense. I just wanted to try to do what i could on my own so i could make a post about my team and get some help.

 

[ShadowRkaiser]

Well, I choose Oliver Reilly's team because it has the core i have been wanting to use, but obviously better.

At first glance it looks like a Trick Room team with the potential to work under sun as well, so let's get to it:
let's start with what I think is one of the cores of the team, Trevenant:

Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Atk / 76 Def / 84 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Horn Leech
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Trick Room

Working as a Trick Room setter while also supporting the team with WoW and leech seed. Harvest is a great ability that increases its potential bulk. The EV spread allows him to 2HKO a Milotic who hasn't invested much in hp, while surviving with high odds the likes of Krookodile's crunch and Pelipper's Hurricane. He synergizes perfectly wiht the 2 following ones.
EDIT: I just learnt about the berries like Figy being buffed, so it will probably be better using that than sitrus on this guy, like way better.

Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 116 HP / 252 SpA / 140 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Torkoal serves as a Sun setter and a special sweeper under sun, this is not a surprise. Also, while under sun, Trevenant has 100% chance of recycling his sitrus at the end of the turn, and can cover Torkoal's ground and water weaknesses. Running charcoal to boost furthermore his moves, with eruption being the main source of damage, heat wave in case he gets badly damage and flamethrower to bypass wide guard. I considered Solar Beam, but there is already a lto of Grass type coverage in the team with Trevenant and the last pokemon in the team.
Let's talk about another partner for Trevenant:

Incineroar @ Incinium Z
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Darkest Lariat
- Flare Blitz
- Protect
- Fake Out

This guy will get even better when we can get our hands in its HA, but for now it is pretty good. He can lead with Trevenant to make sure he can set the Trick Room by supporting him with Fake out, while being a physical sweeper under said move. EV spread to get as much bulk and damage as possible and Incinium Z to take down threats. Darkest Lariat and Flare Blitz as STAB moves that will hurt really hard. I considered Life Orb, but i find out that I was killing myself more often than killing them with Flare Blitz and Life Orb added recoil damage.

At this point the team looks really bulky but also very dependant of Trick Room, so I think Porygon2 was here as a secondary Trick Room user like this:

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 36 SpA / 60 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick Room

Standard Porygon2, with Ice Beam and Thunderbolt as coverage moves that this team desperately needs to be able to hit some threats like Garchomp or Salamence. Recover to stall out and Trick Room in case bringin Trevenant is a bad matchup or he gets wiped out.EV spread is there to give him extra bulk while still being able to hit back.
Now the last 2 picks in my opinion are there as secondary sweepers/coverage mons, like Mudsdale.

Mudsdale @ Assault Vest
Ability: Stamina
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Close Combat
- High Horsepower
- Rock Slide
- Heavy Slam

Running Assault Vest, along with his ability, makes him really bulky. He is able to handle both Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele, as well as A-Marowak and Arcanine. Running Close Combat instead of earthquake for extra coverage, as I don't have any levitate user or flying mon, it could hurt me more than them. Rock Slide for double damage, High Horsepower as the STAB of choice and Heavy Slam as coverage.

And the one that rounds up the team

Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 116 Atk / 140 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Wood Hammer
- Substitute
- Protect

Bulu is a great addition here, as he provide even more tankiness with his Grassy terrain, supporting those who cant heal themselves and lowering the recoil damage Incineroar can take from using Flare blitz, for example. It also weaknes EQ spam which both Incineroar and Torkoal are weak too, while also offering coverage against water and ground types. Running leftover+sub allows him to stay in the field for large amounts of time, while also healing back with horn leech or dealing serious damage with wood hammer.

Overall, I think the problem it may have is that it needs Trick Room to be effective and that's the reason it can run 2 setters for it, as it is made with almost only slow Pokemon. In the near(I hope) future, this will improve with Incineroar getting Intimidate, and maybe switching him more to a support role kinda like Arcanine, but for now I'm having fun with this team and I haven't foudn a really hard matchup for the comp, just me being bad at it made it hard.

 

[Project_Mars]

For my team, I decided to use the team of Yeray Arrivi, because it lacks both Celesteela and Alolan Marowak, two mons which are way overused in the tier. It also has aspects of speed and bulk, which I like. Also, I know nothing about VGC besides what I picked up from Shady so don't judge too much.


Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot
- Protect

Tapu Koko is here to just be a nuke. It runs the standard STAB Thunderbolt to hit Celesteela and provide neutral coverage, over Discharge since no Pokemon on this team are immune. It also helps deal with Gyrados too. Dazzling Gleam hits Garchomp and Salamence very well, two very problematic Pokemon in the meta. Dazzling Gleam also hits another problematic intimidater, Krookodile. Grass Knot is mainly for Gastrodon and Gigalith, who take its other two moves very well. Lastly, Protect is for when Lolo is doubled down, because other teams prioritize it frequently. Marowak is a large problem for Koko though, which is covered by the Araquanid. Koko of course has the Electrc Terrain, allowing its Thunderbolt to punch even bigger holes in opposing teams. It does make Raichu a bigger threat, but from what I know it isn't that highly used. Koko is also ridiculously fast, allowing it to give out its hard and fast.

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Protect

Kartana is the physical alternative to Koko, just a full fledged attacker. Leaf Blade is amazing when run by Kartama, using its monstrous attack stat to help destroy opposing Pokemon. It helps Kartana take out Gigalith, Krookodile, Gastrodon, Politoed, and Golduck, all of which were seen on multiple teams in the European International. Smart Strike is less than perfect, but it is the best steel STAB Katana gets. Luckily, things like Minimize muck and the Tapus are far less of a problem then they would be. Sacred Sword is the most powerful coverage move Kartana gets, although it doesn't provide much that steel and grass coverage don't besides the ability to hit P2 and fire types for neutral damage. And again, Protect is used to help Kartana when it is targeted down. Oddly enough, both of the main attackers have huge problems with one of the most common Pokemon in the meta right now, Marowak.

Muk-Alola @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Power of Alchemy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Sneak
- Rock Slide
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off

Muk is used for when this team takes advantage of Trick Room, or whenever Porygon 2 arrives. It also has the very nice poison/dark typing, able to take on the ever so powerful Tapus and being weak to only ground. Shadow Sneak is utilized by Muk in order for this team to have some priority, or for when the trick room isn't up and I just need some damage. Rock Slide hits both Pokemon on the opposite side, which is extremely nice, along with allowing Muk to hit many Pokemon such as Torkoal, Gyrados, Arcanine, and Salamence super effectively. Poison Jab is super effective against every Tapu and Whimsicott, is more reliable than Gunk Shot, and is STAB. Celesteela and Kartana are both immune though, which is a large problem for Muk. For these Pokemon, Muk can attempt to cripple them with Knock Off, or switch out. Knock Off removes opponents items, which is especially helpful when dealing with Porygon 2. It is also good for scouting under trick room, allowing me to analyze what set the opponent may be running based of their held item. It also cripples Alola Marowak, a large problem to the team. The Power of Alchemy is there for Muk to hopefully pick up an ability such as Beast Boost, Intimidate, or Download to make it more f a threat.

Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Poison Jab
- Crunch

Araquanid is the other bulky trick room user on this team. Araquanid carries four attacks along with a choice band in order to absolutely destroy many threats. Water Bubble choice banded STAB Liquidation does ridiculously high damage from an invested Araquanid. It also carries Leech Life for STAB, allowing Araquanid to hit Psychic, Dark, and Grass types well. It also restores Araquanids HP, which can be very annoying, as Araquanid is naturally bulky. Water Bubble, aside from boosting water type moves, is also useful in the fact that Araquanid cannot be burned, which allows it to completely shut down Arcanine.
Poision Jab and Crunch are both run for coverage, hitting threats like the Tapus which it could not hit as well otherwise. With having a brave nature and 0 speed IVs, Araquanid outspeeds any Alolan Marowak under Trick Room, which is vital to Trick Room's success. I know how much this team is focused on Marowak, but it's just such a huge threat to this team and it is so common right now.

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower
- Rock Slide
- Zen Headbutt

Salamence is this team's Intimidater, which from what I know is from what I know very important in VGC. Dragon Claw is for standard STAB, as Outrage is not viable in VGC. It also helps hit opposing Salamences and Garchomps, which are both prominent. Flamethrower is standard coverage on Salamence, hitting the troublesome Celesteela, Kartana, and Alolan Ninetales. Rock Slide and Leftovers are both here because mega Pokemon are illegal in 2017 and I'm not sure what else to run. I considered Earthquake to hit harder, but no other Pokemon on this team are immune to it. Maybe Protect, idk. Zen Headbutt is mainly on Salamence to mess with people. It's not run very often, but it's a very strong move and my team needed some psychic coverage. People may think that they can safely switch in their Haryiama, but Salamence can deal a suprising chunk of damage. Salamance can also force some switches with Intimidate, crippling some attackers, useful if I need to switch in. Alolan Ninetales absolutely destroys Salamence, but Kartana and Muk patch that up well.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball

One of the core components of this team. The main job of Porygon2 is to set up trick room and take hits. Trick Room allows this team to truly shine, allowing Muk and Araquanid to be viable. Porygon2 is ridiculously bulky with the eviolite, which is annoying enough on its own. Couple that with Recover, and you have just struck gold. It also carries Ice Beam to hit Salamence and Garchomp, and Shadow Ball for Alolan Marowak. Porygon is extremely susceptible to Knock Off, which removes all use from Porygon 2. For this, Muk can safely switch in for resisted damage, with no consequences due to utilizing a Z crystal. For its ability it has the standard download, in hopes of raising its special attack to hit harder.


So this is my edited team, can I post now lol. Leave some advice if you will though, as I have never done any VGC things before. I have a few questions coming out of this, like Rock Slide on Salamance and Rock Slide on Muk. Rock Slide should basically be a question mark here. Anyways, I plan on trying to ladder with this team and get a feel for VGC, so all advice is appreciated while not all may be taken.

(Note: Rock Slide was switched on both Pokemon, to Protect on Salamence because I need more protect mons, and to taunt on Muk to shut down shenanigans from the other team)

Don't downplay Protect too much, as you have noted it does indeed help keep pokemon from being double targeted down. I would probably give it to Muk (replacing taunt) since there may be times when KOing either Pokemon is the only chance your opponent has at victory.

Power of Alchemy is alright, and you do have a few abilities you could want to copy over so it may do okay. That said, the fact that you have to rely on losing a Pokemon to get it does mean that you would be losing Kartana, Salamence, or Pory2 (and download could always troll you with a SpA boost) to get that ability on Muk, and sometimes it probably may not be worth it. A lot Muks run Gluttony with a Figy Berry (50% heal that would normally trigger at 25% health but triggers at 50% health with Gluttony. And the fact that it confuses Pokemon with a -Atk nature is a non-issue on an Adamant Pokemon) for greater survivability, although if you want to keep the Poison Z-Crystal, Poison Touch adding a Poison chance to Shadow Sneak and Knock Off isn't bad, since you aren't trying to specifically spread status around.

Don't let Liquidation's massive damage fool you, Araquanid has a pretty measly base 70 attack, so outside of Liquidation it doesn't do a ton of damage. Choice Band could help with that, but I would want to run calcs on how much damage its other Choiced attacks do. A lot of people do run it with a Water Z-Crystal, since Water Bubble makes Hydro Vortex deal obscene damage. If you do that, the i would definitely swap Poison Jab and Crunch for Wide Guard and Protect.

Physical or Mixed Salamence is only really good when it can Mega Evolve, as the movepool is generally lacking on the Physical-side. Plus even with the lower Special Attack compared to the Attack, Draco Meteor far outdamages Dragon Claw. Make it special and swap out Zen Headbutt for Hydro Pump. A lot of people, from what I've seen, run 'mence with a Dragon Z-Crystal, making this a second alternative to Poison Z-Crystal Muk. Araquanid and Salamence should hit harder than Muk with a Z-move, however, and should probably be considered over Muk. (Unless you give Muk Gunk Shot for the really high powered Poison Z-move.) Other than that, Scarf 'Mence was popular before Mega 'Mence, which could possibly work now. (Rock Slide could fit, mostly as filler to fish for flinches.)

 

[Bnellis02]

Thanks for the advice, because if you couldn't tell I had the most trouble with Salamence and Araquanid lol. As for Muk, I think I'm going to make the switch to Protect with a little bit of a bulkier EV spread, and run Gluttony Figy berry. It doesn't really need the z move like some of my other Pokemon do, and added bulk always helps. Araquanid is going to lose the band and switch to a Waterium Z set, with the above moves. Also, it is running much bulkier EVs Now Salamence is going to go a bit of a different route, and run a specs set with draco, flamethrower, hydro pump, and heat wave. I think these changes will help the team function better, thank you for the help!

 

[I.care.0]

Let me have a go at this because I'm bored. I'm taking Roberto Porretti's team because why not.

The team seems seems to work around the Torkoal/Oranguru/Liligant/Lele core, with Mimikyu and Goodra as a backup against common pokemon that would trouble the core.

The first thing that should be noted is that, while the team has two potential TR setters, it shouldn't be played as TR team, but as a team with a TR option. This is so because the average base speed is way too high. The only pokemon here that underspeed the omnipresent Brave Marowak-A is Torkoal, so setting TR mindlessly is a risky proposal. The team, therefore, will revolve around key lead pairings composed of one nuker and a support using different sinergies as needed.

The Sets

Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower

The first nuker of the team. Min Speed Torkoal is the slowest weather setter in the game so you will always win the weather war on turn 1. That allows you to fire boosted spread moves that will hit hard even when resisted. Eruption when at high HP, and then spam Heat Wave. The last slot is there to circumvent Wide Guard users, and because there's nothing better to run, because Earth Power isn't legal. Most of the time, you'll either Eruption or Heat Wave.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Moonblast
- Protect

Specs Lele is a monster. The combo of Specs, Psychic Terrain, Base 130 SpA and STAB allows Lele to kill everything in sight:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Marowak-Alola in Psychic Terrain: 229-270 (137.1 - 161.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 217-256 (118.5 - 139.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 76+ SpD Eviolite Porygon2 in Psychic Terrain: 111-132 (57.8 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Psychic Terrain: 163-193 (83.5 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Since Dark Types are very rare in VGC 2017, and the most common, Krookodile, is OHKO by Dazzling Gleam anyway, Lele is free to fire Psychics without fear. Dazzling Gleam gives some spread power and is the best mve against most dark-types, to both OHKO them and also damage the partner. Moonblast is Lele's best move to damage Muk-A and gives you a Fairy STAB not stopped by Wide Guard. 252 speed is run because base 95 speed is too high alrealdy to be used with trick room in Alola.

Lilligant @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- After You
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect

Lilligant has amazing sinergy with Torkoal and is in the team to abuse Chlorophyll. The speed investment allows Lilligant to outspeed Scarf Salamence under the sun, and Xerkutree and Timid Politoad without sun, and the rest of the evs are thwon into defenses. High speed Sleep Powder is self-explanatory. After You allows Torkoal to move before frail speedsters and fry them:

252+ SpA Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Koko in Sun: 150-177 (102.7 - 121.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Giga drain is there to prevent liligant from being complete Taunt bait and deal some damage against water-types, but will almost never be used. Hidden Power Ice can be used instead of Giga Drain, but even with maxed SpA it doesn't have a garanteed OHKO on univested Salamence nor Garchomp.

252+ SpA Lilligant Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 156-184 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Lilligant Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 160-192 (93.5 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO


Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Instruct
- Trick Room
- Protect

Oranguru is the secret star of the team. While Liligant has amazing sinergy with Torkoal, but not much with the rest of the team, Oranguru works amazing with anyone. Instruct allows Torkoal and Tapu Lele to fire their nukes twice a turn OHKO'ing or 2HKO'ing most of the metagame. Even when the nukes aren't around, Oranguru is still able to salvage the offensive investment and coverage of both Mimikyu and Goodra to deal good damage, while investing purely on bulk himself. Trick Room allows Torkoal to move first. Psychic for STAB and Taunt coverage. Mental Herb garantees at least one trick room or instruct.

Mimikyu @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect

Mimikyu works here as a Marowak-A Counter, since he would, otherwise, trouble the team. He also deals with opposing Lele and Metagross.

252+ Atk Mimikyu Never-Ending Nightmare (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Marowak-Alola: 188-224 (112.5 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Mimikyu Never-Ending Nightmare (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele: 186-218 (105 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

The most notable thing in this set is the lack of Trick Room. As stated before, most of the team is quite speedy: half of the pokemon have more than base 90 speed, and only torkoal really benefits from trick room. As is, there are too few situations in which you'll find yourself trick rooming with Mimikyu. The team benefits more from the priority in Shadow Sneak, to deal with speedier threats, such as Kartana, Raichu-A and Pheromosa, while also helping against opposing trick room.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is a catch-all fix against many, many threats. Ice beam deals with Salamence, while Z Draco Meteor fails to OHKO. 252+ Thunderbolt 2HKO celesteela regardless of weather, and takes care of Gyara and Pelliper. Sludge bomb deal great damage against all Tapus. If it exists and is used chances are Goodra can deal with it. Goodra job is to kill key threats so that you main nukes can sweep.

252+ SpA Salamence Devastating Drake (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 152-182 (77.1 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra in Electric Terrain: 56-66 (28.4 - 33.5%) -- 0.5% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 84-102 (42.6 - 51.7%) -- 4.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Celesteela Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Goodra: 127-150 (64.4 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Goodra Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 102-120 (50 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Project_Mars]

Thanks for the advice, because if you couldn't tell I had the most trouble with Salamence and Araquanid lol. As for Muk, I think I'm going to make the switch to Protect with a little bit of a bulkier EV spread, and run Gluttony Figy berry. It doesn't really need the z move like some of my other Pokemon do, and added bulk always helps. Araquanid is going to lose the band and switch to a Waterium Z set, with the above moves. Also, it is running much bulkier EVs Now Salamence is going to go a bit of a different route, and run a specs set with draco, flamethrower, hydro pump, and heat wave. I think these changes will help the team function better, thank you for the help!

Heat Wave appears to be a tutor move, so it is likely currently ineligible for usage.

 

[Mystical]

Let me have a go at this because I'm bored. I'm taking Roberto Porretti's team because why not.

The team seems seems to work around the Torkoal/Oranguru/Liligant/Lele core, with Mimikyu and Goodra as a backup against common pokemon that would trouble the core.

The first thing that should be noted is that, while the team has two potential TR setters, it shouldn't be played as TR team, but as a team with a TR option. This is so because the average base speed is way too high. The only pokemon here that underspeed the omnipresent Brave Marowak-A is Torkoal, so setting TR mindlessly is a risky proposal. The team, therefore, will revolve around key lead pairings composed of one nuker and a support using different sinergies as needed.

The Sets

Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower

The first nuker of the team. Min Speed Torkoal is the slowest weather setter in the game so you will always win the weather war on turn 1. That allows you to fire boosted spread moves that will hit hard even when resisted. Eruption when at high HP, and then spam Heat Wave. The last slot is there to circumvent Wide Guard users, and because there's nothing better to run, because Earth Power isn't legal. Most of the time, you'll either Eruption or Heat Wave.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Moonblast
- Protect

Specs Lele is a monster. The combo of Specs, Psychic Terrain, Base 130 SpA and STAB allows Lele to kill everything in sight:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Marowak-Alola in Psychic Terrain: 229-270 (137.1 - 161.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 217-256 (118.5 - 139.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 76+ SpD Eviolite Porygon2 in Psychic Terrain: 111-132 (57.8 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Psychic Terrain: 163-193 (83.5 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Since Dark Types are very rare in VGC 2017, and the most common, Krookodile, is OHKO by Dazzling Gleam anyway, Lele is free to fire Psychics without fear. Dazzling Gleam gives some spread power and is the best mve against most dark-types, to both OHKO them and also damage the partner. Moonblast is Lele's best move to damage Muk-A and gives you a Fairy STAB not stopped by Wide Guard. 252 speed is run because base 95 speed is too high alrealdy to be used with trick room in Alola.

Lilligant @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- After You
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect

Lilligant has amazing sinergy with Torkoal and is in the team to abuse Chlorophyll. The speed investment allows Lilligant to outspeed Scarf Salamence under the sun, and Xerkutree and Timid Politoad without sun, and the rest of the evs are thwon into defenses. High speed Sleep Powder is self-explanatory. After You allows Torkoal to move before frail speedsters and fry them:

252+ SpA Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Koko in Sun: 150-177 (102.7 - 121.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Giga drain is there to prevent liligant from being complete Taunt bait and deal some damage against water-types, but will almost never be used. Hidden Power Ice can be used instead of Giga Drain, but even with maxed SpA it doesn't have a garanteed OHKO on univested Salamence nor Garchomp.

252+ SpA Lilligant Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 156-184 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Lilligant Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 160-192 (93.5 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO


Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Instruct
- Trick Room
- Protect

Oranguru is the secret star of the team. While Liligant has amazing sinergy with Torkoal, but not much with the rest of the team, Oranguru works amazing with anyone. Instruct allows Torkoal and Tapu Lele to fire their nukes twice a turn OHKO'ing or 2HKO'ing most of the metagame. Even when the nukes aren't around, Oranguru is still able to salvage the offensive investment and coverage of both Mimikyu and Goodra to deal good damage, while investing purely on bulk himself. Trick Room allows Torkoal to move first. Psychic for STAB and Taunt coverage. Mental Herb garantees at least one trick room or instruct.

Mimikyu @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect

Mimikyu works here as a Marowak-A Counter, since he would, otherwise, trouble the team. He also deals with opposing Lele and Metagross.

252+ Atk Mimikyu Never-Ending Nightmare (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Marowak-Alola: 188-224 (112.5 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Mimikyu Never-Ending Nightmare (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele: 186-218 (105 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

The most notable thing in this set is the lack of Trick Room. As stated before, most of the team is quite speedy: half of the pokemon have more than base 90 speed, and only torkoal really benefits from trick room. As is, there are too few situations in which you'll find yourself trick rooming with Mimikyu. The team benefits more from the priority in Z-Shadow Sneak, to deal with speedier threats, such as Kartana, Raichu-A and Pheromosa, while also helping against opposing trick room.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is a catch-all fix against many, many threats. Ice beam deals with Salamence, while Z Draco Meteor fails to OHKO. 252+ Thunderbolt 2HKO celesteela regardless of weather, and takes care of Gyara and Pelliper. Sludge bomb deal great damage against all Tapus. If it exists and is used chances are Goodra can deal with it. Goodra job is to kill key threats so that you main nukes can sweep.

252+ SpA Salamence Devastating Drake (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 152-182 (77.1 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra in Electric Terrain: 56-66 (28.4 - 33.5%) -- 0.5% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 84-102 (42.6 - 51.7%) -- 4.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Celesteela Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Goodra: 127-150 (64.4 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Goodra Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Celesteela: 102-120 (50 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Damaging Z-moves don't retain the effects of their base move, so the Z-Shadow Sneak on your Mimikyu doesn't actually have priority.

 

[I.care.0]

Damaging Z-moves don't retain the effects of their base move, so the Z-Shadow Sneak on your Mimikyu doesn't actually have priority.

TIL.

In any case, the team still benefits more from Shadow Sneak than from Trick room.

 

[Naruto0408]

40th. Roberto Porretti i chose his team because i like Lilligant Torkoal and Oranguru. The team had Lele and that's my favorite Tapu. I never used Mimikyu and Goodra but i want to try them out

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball
- Protect

Lele has good Sp.Atk and a good Spe compared to other pokemon in Gen 7, so i decided to to go for a Life orb set. Psychic is a move Lele should always run so there is my reason for that. Dazzling Gleam is here because of spread damage. Energy Ball is used to beat Gastrodon so that i don't have to bring Lilligant if it is not needed, and Protect is last because the only reason you should have it is if you have Sub, AV, or a choice item. the spread survives wood hammer outside of psychic terrain and hydro pumps from Fini with the max Sp.Atk to get the most damage possible and the last 12 EVs in speed because that was leftover so now i can out Lele with 0 EVs in speed
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Energy Ball vs. 244 HP / 88 SpD Gastrodon: 244-288 (112.4 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 188 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele: 142-168 (84 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Fini Hydro Pump vs. 188 HP / 52 SpD Tapu Lele: 70-84 (41.4 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Mimikyu @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Protect

Mimikyu has Trick Room so i can set it against faster mons or against slower teams set it again so that i can go back to outspeeding them. Shadow Sneak gives me a priority option just incase i can finish off a mon while psychic terrain is down. Play Rough is a stab option, and protect is to keep Mimikyu safe.

Lilligant @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- After You
- Protect

Lilligant is on the team because it can put other pokemon to sleep and it is faster than both Lele and Mimikyu so it can help them out with After You. Lilligant can also OHKO Gastrodon if i don't bring Lele.
252+ SpA Lilligant Giga Drain vs. 244 HP / 88 SpD Gastrodon: 268-316 (123.5 - 145.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Torkoal sets the Sun for Lilligant and can function as a great Trick Room attacker so it fits perfectly on the team. Eruption hits both of the opponents pokemon for big damage. Heat Wave is good for once Torkoal is on low health, and Flamethrower is for mons that use Wide Guard.

Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Instruct
- Psychic
- Protect

Oranguru is here for Instruct because with Instruct you can spam Heat Wave or Eruption. The spread survive Wood Hammer from Bulu.
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 180 Def Oranguru in Grassy Terrain: 165-195 (83.7 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast
- Blizzard

Goodra has Sludge Bomb for Tapus. Fire Blast for when it's in the Sun, and Blizzard for the Hail matchup.

 

[coolmodean]

Here's my attempt:

19th Place: Melvin Keh

Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 92 Def / 252 SpA
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Moonblast
- Protect


Bulky spread because of tailwind, lives chomp EQ. Shadow ball hits Marowak/ other Tapu Leles.


Xurkitree @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Discharge
– Hidden Power [Ice]
–Energy Ball


Might be balloon. Tailwind makes him pretty quick and he OKHO’s celesteela with LO which is why I picked it. Energy ball for Gastro which is kind of a problem.


Krookodile @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Crunch
– Taunt
– Protect


Taunt stops Porygons from setting trick room although orangus carry herb often but you can just crunch them. You can open double intimidate with Arcainine which works well vs chomp + celesteela leads. The HP helps live some stuff and hes not a relevant speed tie usually.


Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Spe / 108 Def
Timid Nature
– Encore/ Taunt
– Moonblast
– Tailwind
– Protect


This speed outspeeds Garchomp and Moonblast guarantee 2KHO’s. Takes very little damage from EQ’s with this spread. Tailwind lets all the medium speed stuff on here go first. Encore locks dragon dances and other stuff. This could Also be bold with max hp/ def and no speed because prankster works anyways but I figured chomp is popular enough to warrant some speed if you cant setup.


Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 36 SpA / 60 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Ice Beam
– Shadow Ball
– Recover
– Discharge


The special attack OKHO’s Garchomp. Not sure if it’s a trick room set because there aren’t any real abusers in here. Might as well run low speed anyways to match an enemy trick room cause hes slow anyways.


Arcanine @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 180 Atk / 48 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Wild Charge
– Crunch
– Protect


Sitrus makes him pretty bulky overall. Extreemspeed is cool but hits too weak and I think Crunch for the Marowak is superior (Also the psychic terrain). Close combat is also cool but you already have a fire move for the steel types and I don’t see anything super meta that it hits.




-Its possible to run a slow nature and 0 speed iv on Xurkitree or krook or something in combination with the Porygon2 but this kills the value of tailwind which is the main draw of Whimsicott I assume.

 

[Sardus21]

Hello everyone! I really like the idea of analysing teams, I think it's really useful especially for new players.
That said, let's go!

26th. Arash Ommati:

This is my team of choice. At a glance, you can clearly see that this is a Semi-Trick Room team, a playstyle that I personally love, and it uses Incineroar too.Also, Lele+Pheromosa is a core that I'm currently testing on Battle Spot.
Now the sets:

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 188 Def / 248 SpA / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Dazzling Gleam
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Thunderbolt

The first pokemon on the list is Lele. I imagined a wallbreaking-like set for it in order to kill things in Icy Wind against slower teams and in Trick Room against faster ones. Tapu Lele sets Psychic Terrain, really important for the rest of the team to not be picked by priority moves and to power-up Psychic-type moves. The defensive evs are just for this calc:

-1 252+ Atk Celesteela Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 60 HP / 188 Def Tapu Lele: 128-152 (83.6 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If I can Lunge a Celesteela with my Araquanid, I can easily survive and kill something else. The moves are really straightforward, Dazzling Gleam+Moonblast are the Fairy STABs of choice (and also for a bit of spread damage), Psychic hits crazy hard in general, let alone in Psychic Terrain+Choice Specs.HP Fire is a little tech of mine against most Steels (especially Scizor), but Specs Thunderbolt can be a really nasty surprise for opposing Celesteelas, especially with that defensive ev spread.
LO could be another interesting option if you don't like being locked on a move.

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam
- Protect

1. Pheromosa outespeeds Tapu Koko by one point, max SpA and leftovers in Atk. Pheromosa is really powerful, and if played well can quickly reach a +1 SpA in no time, making snowballing easier for her. Pheromosa is really useful to erase opposing Orangurus and Porygon2 that could dangerously set up TR if I'm not bringing any of my slow mons or if I cannot bring any of them. She also helps a lot with Celesteela, Steels in general and Dragons with High Jump Kick and Ice Beam. Bug Buzz is also really nice for Dark Types, especially the Intimidating ones, that can pose a threat to Lele if is locked on Psychic. Specially based because I don't like Intimidate.
2. 20 Atk Pheromosa High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 94-112 (46 - 54.9%) -- 64.8% chance to 2HKO
3. 20 Atk Pheromosa High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Porygon2: 144-170 (75 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4. 252+ SpA Pheromosa Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Oranguru: 120-144 (60.9 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I didn't list Ice Beam calcs for mons like Garchomp or Salamence for obvious reasons.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Icy Wind
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Here there's the first method of speed (and in this case, weather and defense too) control of the team.
Ninetales makes opposing teams slower with Icy Wind and strenghtens a bit the defenses of my team with Aurora Veil (Pheromosa is a different story, but whatever).
Furthermore she can slaughter opposing Water-types with Freeze-Dry, especially Pelipper, Gyarados, Gastrodon that can pose a threat with their different attributes.
Light Clay is here to make Aurora Veil last a bit more, of course.

252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Gastrodon: 204-244 (93.5 - 111.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

I don't know how much SpDef Gastrodons usually run, but Freeze-Dry can at least chunk them by more than half HP.

252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 180-216 (105.8 - 127%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Ninetales-Alola Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Pelipper: 232-280 (138.9 - 167.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Darkest Lariat
- Flare Blitz
- Snarl

Now, this is one of the main reasons for picking this team <3
(Incineroar should better get Intimidate as soon as possible, because this particular set would benefit sooo amazingly on this team)
The tiger offers so much utility to the team, being bulky as hell because of Assault Vest+Snarl, and also killing opposing Celesteelas and Marowaks with Flare Blitz and Darkest Lariat respectively. I imagine an Adamant one in order to work well both in Icy Wind and TR.
Fake Out is gold if you need to get a TR off or just to chip one opponent, especially the Sashed ones. Snarl also makes the team even more resistant to special attacks.
Also, Assault Vest lets Incineroar take these in a necessity:

60+ SpA Milotic Scald vs. 220 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar: 78-92 (39.3 - 46.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 220 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar: 64-76 (32.3 - 38.3%) -- 96.3% chance to 3HKO

252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 220 HP / 4 Def Incineroar: 158-188 (79.7 - 94.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

While offensively:

252+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 204-240 (100 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 186-218 (105 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Incineroar Darkest Lariat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Alolan Marowak: 134-162 (80.2 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Lunge
- Wide Guard
- Protect

Araquanid hurts.Thats'it.
Jokes apart, this Araquanid works really well in TR with Oranguru slaughtering nearly everything factoring also in a possible Defense drop by Liquidation.With a Waterium Z, Araquanid can do a lot of pleasantful things like this:

252+ Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celesteela: 196-232 (96 - 113.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

Not that is any bad with basic Liquidation too:

-1 252+ Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Arcanine: 170-204 (102.4 - 122.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Alolan Marowak: 198-234 (118.5 - 140.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

I think that Lunge is really useful for the team, Araquanid is really strong with Water moves, so Lunge acts like a damaging Intimidate (do you remember my Lele spread?), since the team sadly lacks a real one.
Wide Guard and Protect are in the final moveslot to protect the team from spread moves and to protect Araquanid itself.

Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 24 SpA / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Instruct
- Protect

Oranguru is the second and last speed control option, really works well in tandem with Araquanid for a full TR mode but can also reverse the speed should I need it against Tailwind teams.
Instruct does the same things ever. Instruct+Liquidation= Enjoy a free KO on something, especially if the first Liquidation had a Defense drop.
Protect is mainly because Oranguru is often double targeted, especially if he is leading, and Psychic is just to not let him be a Taunt bait.

Now, the most relevant calc ever:

20 SpA Oranguru Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Salazzle: 144-170 (100 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Could be something after January and Salazzle gets Fake Out, but for now meh.

What are useful are instead this defensive calcs:

252+ Atk Thick Club Alolan Marowak Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Oranguru: 166-196 (84.2 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Krookodile Crunch vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Oranguru: 144-170 (73 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The first is relevant if you set TR and the opponent has a Marowak in the back, the second is when you want to set up TR and Krookodile just tries to attack you.


I hope you all appreciate this, I may also analyze something else since I found it enjoyable and interesting!

 

[Raagentreg]

Alright, my turn to finally hand in homework, not as pleased as I could be with it, but the team wasn't as good after looking into the detail. I took the team as it had Whimsicott and I was curious as to how to best use it.

10th Place Team - Alessio Yuri Boschetto

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
- Protect

On this team I start with Marowak, as it has a very simple setup that combines well with both Tapu Koko and Celesteela on the team. Thick Club is a “free” item that is simply absurd on Marowak for obvious reasons, therefore we build the moves accordingly. Also Lightning Rod is perfect to avoid our own Tapu Koko’s Discharge (if we run it) and block any thunderbolts headed Celesteela’s way. On moves, Rock Slide, Stone Edge and Earthquake are available, but we’ll leave them out for now as only Celesteela avoids EQ and Bonemerang can break substitutes and focus sashes, both very common on certain pokemon. 252HP as this guy is not fast, he needs some bulk, so Hp is maxed out, then 68 SpD is done to survive Psychic Tapu Lele in Psychic Terrain with 252SpA and Modest Nature, we don’t have to worry about fake out damage, but will worry about about weather as it can lead to OHKOs in that case. If Tapu Lele has life orb with modest, then it’ll OHKO our marowak (and very likely to KO if Timid), but as the common set at the time of writing is the Psychicium Z set, it’s ok to let this slide for now. The remaining attack is enough to OHKO a fully invested defensive Celesteela (without intimidate) and is 87.5% sure to OHKO a solely 252Hp invested Celesteela under 1 intimidate. As most Celesteela run the SpD setup with leech seed at the moment, I’m fine with this chance (Side note, if Celesteela is run with a trick room setup, with negative speed and 0IVs, then it will be outsped by this Marowak). The other pair of 4s is to maximize the remaining stats by adding a point in each.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Discharge
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect

Next, Tapu KoKo, the set is very simplistic, but very effective. This provides Terrain war capabilities which are important but if we need to fight terrain we cannot lead with him, due to mechanics of speed / terrain on the first turn. Moves are simple as well. This is about as standard as it comes, Discharge for times when Lightning Rod users are there, T-Bolt when not. As the Calcs turn out, so long as electric terrain is in play, we have a small chance to ohko Celesteela if it’s fully invested in SpD with Tbolt and a guaranteed 2HKO with Discharge and leftovers recovery. Other notable hits are Pelipper, which is always an OHKO with discharge and Gyarados which is the same (and the timid set always outspeeds one dragon dance). As for Politoed, if it’s univested in defense it always is ohko’d by discharge and if it is fully invested, we only have a small chance to ohko on TBolt, but guarantee a 2HKO on discharge again. Unfortunately we do not OHKO garchomp with dazzling gleam and he will ohko us with EQ back (if it’s the common jolly chomp) and an univested Salamence will not get OHKO’d either by that or probably not TBolt (18.8% chance to OHKO on tbolt in electric terrain).

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 108 SpA / 112 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Substitute

Celesteela now, I’ll go for a Bulky ‘Steela setup, with Leftovers, Substitute and Leech seed at the backbone of the set. Backing that setup will be Heavy slam for a solid STAB move and Flamethrower for opposing Celesteela, an incoming Magnezone and Kartana deletion. Next EVs I will concede the speedtie with other Celesteelas by going Sassy and ignoring Speed Evs, this is in favour of adding 36Atk which guarantees an OHKO on Tapu Lele with 252Hp invested, next I add 108 SpA to guarantee a 2HKO on opposing Magnezone, while this isn’t the ideal situation and while it will 2HKOs back I’d like to have the chance to contest it if I predict a switch in or have tailwind up. These EVs also break other Celesteela’s substitutes if fully invested in SpD which is a welcome bonus.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Rock Slide

Garchomp, While Life Orb has been taken by Koko, this leaves us with the option of a choice item or a focus sash on Garchomp. With Whimsicott on the team, I’d rather give it the focus sash and go for a Choice item ‘Chomp. Looking up the speed tiers, we want a Scarfchomp with 108Spe in order to beat all unboosted pokes in the format (surge surfer Raichu aside, that’s irrelevant to the ‘chomp). This pushes the rest of the EVs into atk and then HP for a bit of bulk. The bulk will mean anyone set up to exactly OHKO ‘Chomp with specific moves will fail, but he will still fall to a stray ice beam. The moveset meanwhile leaves us with good coverage, Rock slide for Flinch Hax if we’re desperate, Poison Jab to OHKO Tapu Bulu, EQ to destroy most things vulnerable to it, and Dragon claw for Salamence, if we hit it without intimidate, it’s an OHKO, otherwise not (we still die to Draco Meteor sadly). Also Rough Skin is taken as we are not a Sand Team.

Milotic @ Assault Vest
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpD
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Hydro Pump

Milotic – I know that Scald and Ice Beam are instantly on the list of moves of this ‘mon, as well as Competitive to counter all the intimidate threats in the metagame, (bar Stoutland and Masquerain, but who uses those?) It does however fall prey to Gyarados unless we add HP: Electric to the set and with our reliance on Koko for delivering those KOs, I’d like to have a backup plan for that. The last move will be up for debate after a bit more analysis, as Sitrus berry and Assault Vest are both possibilities for Milotic. Firstly the EVs, always 252Hp, no question about that. If we want to OHKO Garchomp, either we invest 80 and Modest into Milotic, or 176 into SpA. Seeing as the rest will be invested in SpD either way, this makes no difference, therefore the Spread is as above. This also KO’s Gyrardos with the +2 boost, or 2HKOs without (on HP Electric). At the moment, without any item, we have a 25% chance to be OHKO’d by Tapu Koko, therefore in order to avoid a free KO, I’ll put an Assault Vest on it in order to tank those hits much better and add Hydro Pump as the final move to use if the risk needs it.

Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Encore
- Tailwind
- Protect

Lastly, Whimsicott - Prankster is the obligatory choice here, and focus sash too. The moves however are very difficult to choose. Giga drain is a must to check Gastrodon, which our team lacks badly at the moment (Unless Celesteela is left alone with it), along with 252 SpA and Spe and Timid to be give us the best chance to leave a solid dent in it. This leaves us with many moves to choose from to be abused by the prankster. Tailwind is the first choice that sticks out like a sore thumb, followed by the choice between taunt, encore and Protect, helping hand is not necessary as most calcs have been done to avoid that necessity. Despite Mental Herb Oranguru being so prevalent for trick room teams, Taunt is the move of choice here, shutting down protect, substitute strategies (see Wolfe Glick’s team from London) and non mental herb based TR teams. That leaves us with protect to round out the set. It must be said however that Tapu Lele is a gigantic problem for this guy, not so much dark types though, as you won’t be taunting them anyway (asides Sableye if it becomes relevant and Muk, which is much more of a problem).

The team has huge synergy between Celesteela, Garchomp, Marowak and Tapu Koko, while Whimsicott and Milotic are mostly there to counter specific strategies (Intimidate and Trick Room / Subtitute abuse) This team does feel like it’s missing a special something, with huge weaknesses to the common Oranguru Trick Room team, and with no way to counteract or abuse weather. However the team does feel like it has solid potential overall.

 

[blarajan]

Mystical

I like how you you tried to reconcile possible item problems between Tapu Koko and Aerodactyl by giving Tapu Koko Assault Vest. I think that Nature's Madness is probably non-negotiable on Assault Vest Tapu Koko, so I would highly recommend finding room for it on the set. You can also consider Sky Drop. Do you have room for Protect on Aerodactyl? There's a lot of other possible options in that slot; but if protect is what's working, that's good! I don't know how I feel about Substitute on Milotic, but I like how it gets around Toxic from Gastrodon. I think your Silvally is very interesting and I don't know how that works at all because I don't understand that Pokemon, but hey! Also, the Z-Explosion doesn't bypass Protect, it just does 25% damage through a Pokemon using Protect. It's different.

NECH

I don't think I agree with your LO Tapu Koko set at all; U-Turn doesn't really accomplish all that much in VGC without a specific purpose, and I don't think you're utilizing a reason for U-Turn. I would probably prefer something else on it. You specified Taunt on Gyarados, but you have Roar. Is Gyarados that effective with Waterium-Z without Dragon Dance? Maybe consider giving up Ice Fang instead of Dragon Dance if you want Roar or Taunt. I don't think that many things actually OHKO Garchomp, and if you're using four attacks anyways I would recommend using Assault Vest instead. Tapu Bulu + Gyarados conflict with Z-stones but as long as you're aware of that when playing that's fine. I don't think you need both Zen Headbutt and Stone Edge...the only Poison-type Pokemon I can think of on the top of my head are like Muk, which is immune to Zen Headbutt, or like...Toxapex? Which gets hit by Wood Hammer anyways. I'd probably recommend dropping it for Horn Leech.

y2zipper

I think the Firium-Z + Burn Up Arcanine is clever; I don't want to dismiss it without trying it, I'm just not sure how effective it might be trying to be a weird combination of offense and defense. Gastrodon seems a little too weak to not have Toxic imo...Ice Beam for example doesn't even do that much damage to anything not 4x weak to it. Is scarf Salamence actually good at all? I don't want you to feel like you need to have particular roles; leads, scarfs, etc. Nothing in particular is necessary. Vest Gigalith might be fine, but it sounds horrible to be. Either way, nice effort but try to remember you can be flexible in your building.

Fufu

I don't know how effective Assault Vest Araquanid is. Besides Water moves, it's not very useful. Poison Jab, let alone Crunch, are extremely weak, and I think you really need Protect on it. I would probably reevaluate this set. I also don't know how much I agree with Perish Song on Gengar if it's so fast and so frail; it might be more effective on Marowak > Bonemerang. Good effort!

cheshirecat1917

Everything seems fairly standard except Krookodile and Porygon2. Regarding the latter, I don't know how much I feel about Porygon2 without Trick Room, even as an option to remove other Trick Room. I think I would drop Protect for that. Choice Band Krookodile seems a little difficult to play with on your own team especially if you have to use Earthquake as, outside of Celesteela, you have to either blow your Protect or switch to Celesteela in order to use Earthquake.

oceanking33

The best thing Ninetales does is Aurora Veil. Moonblast doesn't offer particularly helpful coverage outside of like, hitting Tapu Fini neutrally, whereas Aurora Veil is extremely important. Choice Scarf Kartana seems like it's less useful than other items, like Assault Vest or Focus Sash. Getting locked into a move with a Pokemon like Kartana doesn't seem all that good. Scald and Hydro Pump on Milotic is particularly ineffective; I would drop one of the two for Ice Beam. If you're not using Adrenaline Orb, probably Hydro Pump. Shadow Bone >>> Iron Head on Marowak. Oranguru is basically fine but as another poster commented, it seems fairly easy to block it from setting up Trick Room. Since you don't have attacks on your team that damage Oranguru, I would make it Inner Focus. Mental Herb might be better so Oranguru can pretty much always set up TR. Also, Flame Orb + Guts > Thick Fat + Choice Band on Hariyama. It lets you use Fake Out and is just as strong, but you can change moves.

CalmBatRadio

You don't have an EV spread on Gyarados. Psychic isn't something that should be slashed on Raichu, it's pretty much mandatory. It lets you do damage to Marowak, and that's really important. I don't know how much I like Earthquake on Gigalith. Maybe Wide Guard would be more helpful. You might consider Night Slash on Kartana or Shadow Ball on Porygon2 for Marowak as well.

Garrus01

There's a lot going on here that I don't think is particularly optimal. Tapu Bulu should not use Terrain Extender; it's not effective in VGC and really there's no point if your opponent's Tapu can change the Terrain. You probably want Wood Hammer as well on Assault Vest Tapu Bulu; Zen Headbutt isn't very helpful coverage. You are actively reducing Earthquake's power on Salamence with Tapu Bulu. I don't know how helpful Hydro Pump is; similarly, since you have so many Pokemon weak to Celesteela, you probably want a Fire-type move on Salamence. Protect is also pretty important. You don't have a Z-move on this team so you might want Dragonium-Z on Salamence; that way, you can use two really strong Dragon-type moves. I don't really see the point of the Substitute on Politoed. It seems you're trying to be really bulky, but then you added Damp Rock on it when you don't really abuse that with anything else on the team. Politoed is also a little slow to use Substitute / Toxic, especially without Protect. Magnezone is theoretically possibly okay but I don't think it looks that good...but if it works, it works! Muk's best usage comes from Figy Berry Gluttony. It instantly heals 50% when at half health or less. It would take Muk being on the field for 9 turns to get more healing than Figy Berry with Black Sludge. Your Porygon2 would probably appreciate Trick Room > one of the attacks, and maybe Shadow Ball to help with the Alola Marowak problem.

tigertomd

Mm..I had to actively look up what a Mago Berry is. I don't think it's that helpful on Tapu Koko; it would probably just prefer a Focus Sash or a Life Orb or even Assault Vest. Gyarados using four attacks isn't very effective. Without Protect, you can't use Discharge next to it if necessary, or guard itself. Without Dragon Dance, Waterium-Z isn't very useful since Gyarados is extremely slow. +1 Jolly Gyarados outruns Tapu Koko and can then kill it. Crunch is kind of useless coverage. Earthquake is similarly weak as heck. The Raichu set seems off for the same reasons the Tapu Koko does. It's just too frail of a Pokemon to utilize a Sitrus Berry or something similar. Psychic is better than Psyshock so you do more damage to Marowak. Nuzzle is probably okay; other options like Fake Out or Encore or something should be considered. Yache Berry doesn't seem that useful on Garchomp. If you want 4 attacks, I think Assault Vest would be better. Aerodactyl, I don't think, is being used in the most effective way. The only moves I would keep on this set are Rock Slide. There are so many other support options that can help, like Taunt, Whirlwind, Tailwind, Sky Drop...

GreenNinjask

Life Orb Kartana is scary to play against, but I feel like LO + Hail + Kartana's overall frailty might be a little hard to reconcile. Also, Sacred Sword > Brick Break. Milotic seems interesting but possibly not very good; I'm not sure. I don't hate it, at least. Reflect on top of Aurora Veil seems interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about Oranguru being 100% contingent on a partner to do damage though, especially without a Mental Herb.

SpectivTechVGC

So...this is horrible, there's really truly no other way to say this. The Gastrodon set makes absolutely no sense. I don't get why there's Earth Plate when there's no ground moves. Rain Dance on Gastrodon isn't very effective, and then you don't have Recover or any useful moves. Thunder on Tapu Koko to abuse Rain Dance from your Gastrodon is extremely situational and would never actually happen, especially when you have Sandstream Gigalith. Thunderbolt > Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Protect are fine, I would use a better fourth move than Volt Switch. Gigalith needs Rock Slide; that's a spread move and is really useful in VGC. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, is not. You can make a case for Earthquake but I don't actually know what I would want to hit with it that Rock Slide doesn't. It's not like it does actual damage to Ground-types. Heavy Slam and Flash Cannon in tandem is silly. Use a better move than Flash Cannon. You have Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You can't use Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You don't have a physical move on this set than Rock Slide, even if Swords Dance worked. The Arcanine doesn't have an item, Body Slam is useless, isn't a useful support Pokemon, nor does it hit hard at all. I need you to lurk more before posting teams or trying to learn how Pokemon works in general, as this team showed a demonstrable misunderstanding of how the game is played.

Bnellis02

I think Grass Knot on Tapu Koko can be smart. I don't think the Muk, Araquanid, or Salamence are very good. 4 move without Protect Muk is pretty meh, and I don't see the need for Rock Slide. Figy Berry + Gluttony is just 100% better than Power of Alchemy, and Z-Move Muk isn't that useful when Poison Jab is just consistent damage anyways. CB Araquanid is probably not that useful when Liquidation does so much damage anyways. Poison Jab and Crunch aren't really that helpful, though admittedly Poison Jab can hit Tapu Bulu. Mixed Salamence with weak coverage moves and no Protect doesn't really seem like it would be that good.

ShadowRkaiser

I don't hate any of this. I might suggest Overheat > Flamethrower on Torkoal but that's preference. Super strong Fire-type moves might not be needed on both Torkoal and Incineroar, but I get why you don't want Assault Vest on Incineroar (since it's on Mudsdale). You could try Incineroarium instead. I think Mudsdale is fine. I don't really know how effective Tapu Bulu is with Substitute, without Leech Seed.

I.care.0

Why do you have Protect on Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Really, why do you have Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Maybe Life Orb would be better, or Psychium Z. I would probably use a stronger move than Giga Drain on Lilligant, like Leaf Storm. I get that you have a lot of fast Pokemon, but you also have a Torkoal. A neat set is Trick Room / Destiny Bond / Shadow Claw / Protect @ Ghostium-Z, because then you can decide to use Never-Ending Nightmare or Z-Bond. Play Rough is viable as well. I don't think Shadow Sneak is that great, personally. Ice Beam seems redundant on the Goodra. Maybe even consider mixed Goodra with Power Whip to get around Gastrodon.

Naruto0408

I don't think Energy Ball offers that much on Tapu Lele compared to Thunderbolt or even Moonblast. I still think a stronger move like Leaf Storm is probably better on Lilligant than Giga Drain. I reallllllllllllly don't see the point of Blizzard on Goodra. Goodra also stays on the field for a while so maybe Dragon Pulse > Draco Meteor so you can stay in and sponge hits.

coolmodean

How is Shadow Ball for Marowak and Tapu Lele useful when you have Psychic for Marowak and Moonblast for Tapu Lele? I would probably use a better move, like Thunderbolt or Dazzling Gleam. Xurkitree without Protect doesn't seem that good especially when its coverage options aren't going to see much play. Krookodile I don't dislike. Whimsicott seems fine. Probably wouldn't have Discharge on the Porygon2...would replace it with Trick Room. Crunch seems kind of shitty on Arcanine, Snarl seems better.

Sardus21

I still don't get the point of Choice Specs on Tapu Lele, but that's just me. It might work with this build, but I think I would probably prefer Choice Scarf since you have a lot of solid damage. Not really sure. Pheromosa kind of blows in general, but it's on this squad so that's fine. I like the Ninetales. I like the Incineroar, but I think U-Turn is probably better than Snarl is you already have Aurora Veil. Araquanid and Oranguru are fine. You did a really good job!

Raagentreg

The Pokemon seem objectively fine, I think Scarf Garchomp is horrible and wouldn't personally use it but if it works for you it works for you. I don't really get Assault Vest on Milotic as opposed to a Recover set.

Good job everyone!

 

[Sardus21]

Mystical

I like how you you tried to reconcile possible item problems between Tapu Koko and Aerodactyl by giving Tapu Koko Assault Vest. I think that Nature's Madness is probably non-negotiable on Assault Vest Tapu Koko, so I would highly recommend finding room for it on the set. You can also consider Sky Drop. Do you have room for Protect on Aerodactyl? There's a lot of other possible options in that slot; but if protect is what's working, that's good! I don't know how I feel about Substitute on Milotic, but I like how it gets around Toxic from Gastrodon. I think your Silvally is very interesting and I don't know how that works at all because I don't understand that Pokemon, but hey! Also, the Z-Explosion doesn't bypass Protect, it just does 25% damage through a Pokemon using Protect. It's different.

NECH

I don't think I agree with your LO Tapu Koko set at all; U-Turn doesn't really accomplish all that much in VGC without a specific purpose, and I don't think you're utilizing a reason for U-Turn. I would probably prefer something else on it. You specified Taunt on Gyarados, but you have Roar. Is Gyarados that effective with Waterium-Z without Dragon Dance? Maybe consider giving up Ice Fang instead of Dragon Dance if you want Roar or Taunt. I don't think that many things actually OHKO Garchomp, and if you're using four attacks anyways I would recommend using Assault Vest instead. Tapu Bulu + Gyarados conflict with Z-stones but as long as you're aware of that when playing that's fine. I don't think you need both Zen Headbutt and Stone Edge...the only Poison-type Pokemon I can think of on the top of my head are like Muk, which is immune to Zen Headbutt, or like...Toxapex? Which gets hit by Wood Hammer anyways. I'd probably recommend dropping it for Horn Leech.

y2zipper

I think the Firium-Z + Burn Up Arcanine is clever; I don't want to dismiss it without trying it, I'm just not sure how effective it might be trying to be a weird combination of offense and defense. Gastrodon seems a little too weak to not have Toxic imo...Ice Beam for example doesn't even do that much damage to anything not 4x weak to it. Is scarf Salamence actually good at all? I don't want you to feel like you need to have particular roles; leads, scarfs, etc. Nothing in particular is necessary. Vest Gigalith might be fine, but it sounds horrible to be. Either way, nice effort but try to remember you can be flexible in your building.

Fufu

I don't know how effective Assault Vest Araquanid is. Besides Water moves, it's not very useful. Poison Jab, let alone Crunch, are extremely weak, and I think you really need Protect on it. I would probably reevaluate this set. I also don't know how much I agree with Perish Song on Gengar if it's so fast and so frail; it might be more effective on Marowak > Bonemerang. Good effort!

cheshirecat1917

Everything seems fairly standard except Krookodile and Porygon2. Regarding the latter, I don't know how much I feel about Porygon2 without Trick Room, even as an option to remove other Trick Room. I think I would drop Protect for that. Choice Band Krookodile seems a little difficult to play with on your own team especially if you have to use Earthquake as, outside of Celesteela, you have to either blow your Protect or switch to Celesteela in order to use Earthquake.

oceanking33

The best thing Ninetales does is Aurora Veil. Moonblast doesn't offer particularly helpful coverage outside of like, hitting Tapu Fini neutrally, whereas Aurora Veil is extremely important. Choice Scarf Kartana seems like it's less useful than other items, like Assault Vest or Focus Sash. Getting locked into a move with a Pokemon like Kartana doesn't seem all that good. Scald and Hydro Pump on Milotic is particularly ineffective; I would drop one of the two for Ice Beam. If you're not using Adrenaline Orb, probably Hydro Pump. Shadow Bone >>> Iron Head on Marowak. Oranguru is basically fine but as another poster commented, it seems fairly easy to block it from setting up Trick Room. Since you don't have attacks on your team that damage Oranguru, I would make it Inner Focus. Mental Herb might be better so Oranguru can pretty much always set up TR. Also, Flame Orb + Guts > Thick Fat + Choice Band on Hariyama. It lets you use Fake Out and is just as strong, but you can change moves.

CalmBatRadio

You don't have an EV spread on Gyarados. Psychic isn't something that should be slashed on Raichu, it's pretty much mandatory. It lets you do damage to Marowak, and that's really important. I don't know how much I like Earthquake on Gigalith. Maybe Wide Guard would be more helpful. You might consider Night Slash on Kartana or Shadow Ball on Porygon2 for Marowak as well.

Garrus01

There's a lot going on here that I don't think is particularly optimal. Tapu Bulu should not use Terrain Extender; it's not effective in VGC and really there's no point if your opponent's Tapu can change the Terrain. You probably want Wood Hammer as well on Assault Vest Tapu Bulu; Zen Headbutt isn't very helpful coverage. You are actively reducing Earthquake's power on Salamence with Tapu Bulu. I don't know how helpful Hydro Pump is; similarly, since you have so many Pokemon weak to Celesteela, you probably want a Fire-type move on Salamence. Protect is also pretty important. You don't have a Z-move on this team so you might want Dragonium-Z on Salamence; that way, you can use two really strong Dragon-type moves. I don't really see the point of the Substitute on Politoed. It seems you're trying to be really bulky, but then you added Damp Rock on it when you don't really abuse that with anything else on the team. Politoed is also a little slow to use Substitute / Toxic, especially without Protect. Magnezone is theoretically possibly okay but I don't think it looks that good...but if it works, it works! Muk's best usage comes from Figy Berry Gluttony. It instantly heals 50% when at half health or less. It would take Muk being on the field for 9 turns to get more healing than Figy Berry with Black Sludge. Your Porygon2 would probably appreciate Trick Room > one of the attacks, and maybe Shadow Ball to help with the Alola Marowak problem.

tigertomd

Mm..I had to actively look up what a Mago Berry is. I don't think it's that helpful on Tapu Koko; it would probably just prefer a Focus Sash or a Life Orb or even Assault Vest. Gyarados using four attacks isn't very effective. Without Protect, you can't use Discharge next to it if necessary, or guard itself. Without Dragon Dance, Waterium-Z isn't very useful since Gyarados is extremely slow. +1 Jolly Gyarados outruns Tapu Koko and can then kill it. Crunch is kind of useless coverage. Earthquake is similarly weak as heck. The Raichu set seems off for the same reasons the Tapu Koko does. It's just too frail of a Pokemon to utilize a Sitrus Berry or something similar. Psychic is better than Psyshock so you do more damage to Marowak. Nuzzle is probably okay; other options like Fake Out or Encore or something should be considered. Yache Berry doesn't seem that useful on Garchomp. If you want 4 attacks, I think Assault Vest would be better. Aerodactyl, I don't think, is being used in the most effective way. The only moves I would keep on this set are Rock Slide. There are so many other support options that can help, like Taunt, Whirlwind, Tailwind, Sky Drop...

GreenNinjask

Life Orb Kartana is scary to play against, but I feel like LO + Hail + Kartana's overall frailty might be a little hard to reconcile. Also, Sacred Sword > Brick Break. Milotic seems interesting but possibly not very good; I'm not sure. I don't hate it, at least. Reflect on top of Aurora Veil seems interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about Oranguru being 100% contingent on a partner to do damage though, especially without a Mental Herb.

SpectivTechVGC

So...this is horrible, there's really truly no other way to say this. The Gastrodon set makes absolutely no sense. I don't get why there's Earth Plate when there's no ground moves. Rain Dance on Gastrodon isn't very effective, and then you don't have Recover or any useful moves. Thunder on Tapu Koko to abuse Rain Dance from your Gastrodon is extremely situational and would never actually happen, especially when you have Sandstream Gigalith. Thunderbolt > Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Protect are fine, I would use a better fourth move than Volt Switch. Gigalith needs Rock Slide; that's a spread move and is really useful in VGC. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, is not. You can make a case for Earthquake but I don't actually know what I would want to hit with it that Rock Slide doesn't. It's not like it does actual damage to Ground-types. Heavy Slam and Flash Cannon in tandem is silly. Use a better move than Flash Cannon. You have Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You can't use Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You don't have a physical move on this set than Rock Slide, even if Swords Dance worked. The Arcanine doesn't have an item, Body Slam is useless, isn't a useful support Pokemon, nor does it hit hard at all. I need you to lurk more before posting teams or trying to learn how Pokemon works in general, as this team showed a demonstrable misunderstanding of how the game is played.

Bnellis02

I think Grass Knot on Tapu Koko can be smart. I don't think the Muk, Araquanid, or Salamence are very good. 4 move without Protect Muk is pretty meh, and I don't see the need for Rock Slide. Figy Berry + Gluttony is just 100% better than Power of Alchemy, and Z-Move Muk isn't that useful when Poison Jab is just consistent damage anyways. CB Araquanid is probably not that useful when Liquidation does so much damage anyways. Poison Jab and Crunch aren't really that helpful, though admittedly Poison Jab can hit Tapu Bulu. Mixed Salamence with weak coverage moves and no Protect doesn't really seem like it would be that good.

ShadowRkaiser

I don't hate any of this. I might suggest Overheat > Flamethrower on Torkoal but that's preference. Super strong Fire-type moves might not be needed on both Torkoal and Incineroar, but I get why you don't want Assault Vest on Incineroar (since it's on Mudsdale). You could try Incineroarium instead. I think Mudsdale is fine. I don't really know how effective Tapu Bulu is with Substitute, without Leech Seed.

I.care.0

Why do you have Protect on Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Really, why do you have Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Maybe Life Orb would be better, or Psychium Z. I would probably use a stronger move than Giga Drain on Lilligant, like Leaf Storm. I get that you have a lot of fast Pokemon, but you also have a Torkoal. A neat set is Trick Room / Destiny Bond / Shadow Claw / Protect @ Ghostium-Z, because then you can decide to use Never-Ending Nightmare or Z-Bond. Play Rough is viable as well. I don't think Shadow Sneak is that great, personally. Ice Beam seems redundant on the Goodra. Maybe even consider mixed Goodra with Power Whip to get around Gastrodon.

Naruto0408

I don't think Energy Ball offers that much on Tapu Lele compared to Thunderbolt or even Moonblast. I still think a stronger move like Leaf Storm is probably better on Lilligant than Giga Drain. I reallllllllllllly don't see the point of Blizzard on Goodra. Goodra also stays on the field for a while so maybe Dragon Pulse > Draco Meteor so you can stay in and sponge hits.

coolmodean

How is Shadow Ball for Marowak and Tapu Lele useful when you have Psychic for Marowak and Moonblast for Tapu Lele? I would probably use a better move, like Thunderbolt or Dazzling Gleam. Xurkitree without Protect doesn't seem that good especially when its coverage options aren't going to see much play. Krookodile I don't dislike. Whimsicott seems fine. Probably wouldn't have Discharge on the Porygon2...would replace it with Trick Room. Crunch seems kind of shitty on Arcanine, Snarl seems better.

Sardus21

I still don't get the point of Choice Specs on Tapu Lele, but that's just me. It might work with this build, but I think I would probably prefer Choice Scarf since you have a lot of solid damage. Not really sure. Pheromosa kind of blows in general, but it's on this squad so that's fine. I like the Ninetales. I like the Incineroar, but I think U-Turn is probably better than Snarl is you already have Aurora Veil. Araquanid and Oranguru are fine. You did a really good job!

Raagentreg

The Pokemon seem objectively fine, I think Scarf Garchomp is horrible and wouldn't personally use it but if it works for you it works for you. I don't really get Assault Vest on Milotic as opposed to a Recover set.

Good job everyone!

Thanks!
Yes, I am actually not finding myself really well using pheromosa in general but It could just be me.
I didn't think about Scarf on Lele because of TR in the team so I just went for the middle way.LO could be used too imo in place of Specs if you don't want to be locked on one move.
U-turn on Incineroar is actually pretty neat, I will test it in other teams too.
Thanks for your rate man.

 

[Fufu]

I don't know how effective Assault Vest Araquanid is. Besides Water moves, it's not very useful. Poison Jab, let alone Crunch, are extremely weak, and I think you really need Protect on it. I would probably reevaluate this set. I also don't know how much I agree with Perish Song on Gengar if it's so fast and so frail; it might be more effective on Marowak > Bonemerang. Good effort!

Yes, after using him for a while, AV Araquanid isn't that good, especially for that set. I think I was high on Perish Song and I wanted to be fancy with Gengar, but I agree, it doesn't work as nearly as well. Thank you for taking the time to look at it and approving.

 

[ShadowRkaiser]

Mystical

I like how you you tried to reconcile possible item problems between Tapu Koko and Aerodactyl by giving Tapu Koko Assault Vest. I think that Nature's Madness is probably non-negotiable on Assault Vest Tapu Koko, so I would highly recommend finding room for it on the set. You can also consider Sky Drop. Do you have room for Protect on Aerodactyl? There's a lot of other possible options in that slot; but if protect is what's working, that's good! I don't know how I feel about Substitute on Milotic, but I like how it gets around Toxic from Gastrodon. I think your Silvally is very interesting and I don't know how that works at all because I don't understand that Pokemon, but hey! Also, the Z-Explosion doesn't bypass Protect, it just does 25% damage through a Pokemon using Protect. It's different.

NECH

I don't think I agree with your LO Tapu Koko set at all; U-Turn doesn't really accomplish all that much in VGC without a specific purpose, and I don't think you're utilizing a reason for U-Turn. I would probably prefer something else on it. You specified Taunt on Gyarados, but you have Roar. Is Gyarados that effective with Waterium-Z without Dragon Dance? Maybe consider giving up Ice Fang instead of Dragon Dance if you want Roar or Taunt. I don't think that many things actually OHKO Garchomp, and if you're using four attacks anyways I would recommend using Assault Vest instead. Tapu Bulu + Gyarados conflict with Z-stones but as long as you're aware of that when playing that's fine. I don't think you need both Zen Headbutt and Stone Edge...the only Poison-type Pokemon I can think of on the top of my head are like Muk, which is immune to Zen Headbutt, or like...Toxapex? Which gets hit by Wood Hammer anyways. I'd probably recommend dropping it for Horn Leech.

y2zipper

I think the Firium-Z + Burn Up Arcanine is clever; I don't want to dismiss it without trying it, I'm just not sure how effective it might be trying to be a weird combination of offense and defense. Gastrodon seems a little too weak to not have Toxic imo...Ice Beam for example doesn't even do that much damage to anything not 4x weak to it. Is scarf Salamence actually good at all? I don't want you to feel like you need to have particular roles; leads, scarfs, etc. Nothing in particular is necessary. Vest Gigalith might be fine, but it sounds horrible to be. Either way, nice effort but try to remember you can be flexible in your building.

Fufu

I don't know how effective Assault Vest Araquanid is. Besides Water moves, it's not very useful. Poison Jab, let alone Crunch, are extremely weak, and I think you really need Protect on it. I would probably reevaluate this set. I also don't know how much I agree with Perish Song on Gengar if it's so fast and so frail; it might be more effective on Marowak > Bonemerang. Good effort!

cheshirecat1917

Everything seems fairly standard except Krookodile and Porygon2. Regarding the latter, I don't know how much I feel about Porygon2 without Trick Room, even as an option to remove other Trick Room. I think I would drop Protect for that. Choice Band Krookodile seems a little difficult to play with on your own team especially if you have to use Earthquake as, outside of Celesteela, you have to either blow your Protect or switch to Celesteela in order to use Earthquake.

oceanking33

The best thing Ninetales does is Aurora Veil. Moonblast doesn't offer particularly helpful coverage outside of like, hitting Tapu Fini neutrally, whereas Aurora Veil is extremely important. Choice Scarf Kartana seems like it's less useful than other items, like Assault Vest or Focus Sash. Getting locked into a move with a Pokemon like Kartana doesn't seem all that good. Scald and Hydro Pump on Milotic is particularly ineffective; I would drop one of the two for Ice Beam. If you're not using Adrenaline Orb, probably Hydro Pump. Shadow Bone >>> Iron Head on Marowak. Oranguru is basically fine but as another poster commented, it seems fairly easy to block it from setting up Trick Room. Since you don't have attacks on your team that damage Oranguru, I would make it Inner Focus. Mental Herb might be better so Oranguru can pretty much always set up TR. Also, Flame Orb + Guts > Thick Fat + Choice Band on Hariyama. It lets you use Fake Out and is just as strong, but you can change moves.

CalmBatRadio

You don't have an EV spread on Gyarados. Psychic isn't something that should be slashed on Raichu, it's pretty much mandatory. It lets you do damage to Marowak, and that's really important. I don't know how much I like Earthquake on Gigalith. Maybe Wide Guard would be more helpful. You might consider Night Slash on Kartana or Shadow Ball on Porygon2 for Marowak as well.

Garrus01

There's a lot going on here that I don't think is particularly optimal. Tapu Bulu should not use Terrain Extender; it's not effective in VGC and really there's no point if your opponent's Tapu can change the Terrain. You probably want Wood Hammer as well on Assault Vest Tapu Bulu; Zen Headbutt isn't very helpful coverage. You are actively reducing Earthquake's power on Salamence with Tapu Bulu. I don't know how helpful Hydro Pump is; similarly, since you have so many Pokemon weak to Celesteela, you probably want a Fire-type move on Salamence. Protect is also pretty important. You don't have a Z-move on this team so you might want Dragonium-Z on Salamence; that way, you can use two really strong Dragon-type moves. I don't really see the point of the Substitute on Politoed. It seems you're trying to be really bulky, but then you added Damp Rock on it when you don't really abuse that with anything else on the team. Politoed is also a little slow to use Substitute / Toxic, especially without Protect. Magnezone is theoretically possibly okay but I don't think it looks that good...but if it works, it works! Muk's best usage comes from Figy Berry Gluttony. It instantly heals 50% when at half health or less. It would take Muk being on the field for 9 turns to get more healing than Figy Berry with Black Sludge. Your Porygon2 would probably appreciate Trick Room > one of the attacks, and maybe Shadow Ball to help with the Alola Marowak problem.

tigertomd

Mm..I had to actively look up what a Mago Berry is. I don't think it's that helpful on Tapu Koko; it would probably just prefer a Focus Sash or a Life Orb or even Assault Vest. Gyarados using four attacks isn't very effective. Without Protect, you can't use Discharge next to it if necessary, or guard itself. Without Dragon Dance, Waterium-Z isn't very useful since Gyarados is extremely slow. +1 Jolly Gyarados outruns Tapu Koko and can then kill it. Crunch is kind of useless coverage. Earthquake is similarly weak as heck. The Raichu set seems off for the same reasons the Tapu Koko does. It's just too frail of a Pokemon to utilize a Sitrus Berry or something similar. Psychic is better than Psyshock so you do more damage to Marowak. Nuzzle is probably okay; other options like Fake Out or Encore or something should be considered. Yache Berry doesn't seem that useful on Garchomp. If you want 4 attacks, I think Assault Vest would be better. Aerodactyl, I don't think, is being used in the most effective way. The only moves I would keep on this set are Rock Slide. There are so many other support options that can help, like Taunt, Whirlwind, Tailwind, Sky Drop...

GreenNinjask

Life Orb Kartana is scary to play against, but I feel like LO + Hail + Kartana's overall frailty might be a little hard to reconcile. Also, Sacred Sword > Brick Break. Milotic seems interesting but possibly not very good; I'm not sure. I don't hate it, at least. Reflect on top of Aurora Veil seems interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about Oranguru being 100% contingent on a partner to do damage though, especially without a Mental Herb.

SpectivTechVGC

So...this is horrible, there's really truly no other way to say this. The Gastrodon set makes absolutely no sense. I don't get why there's Earth Plate when there's no ground moves. Rain Dance on Gastrodon isn't very effective, and then you don't have Recover or any useful moves. Thunder on Tapu Koko to abuse Rain Dance from your Gastrodon is extremely situational and would never actually happen, especially when you have Sandstream Gigalith. Thunderbolt > Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Protect are fine, I would use a better fourth move than Volt Switch. Gigalith needs Rock Slide; that's a spread move and is really useful in VGC. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, is not. You can make a case for Earthquake but I don't actually know what I would want to hit with it that Rock Slide doesn't. It's not like it does actual damage to Ground-types. Heavy Slam and Flash Cannon in tandem is silly. Use a better move than Flash Cannon. You have Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You can't use Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You don't have a physical move on this set than Rock Slide, even if Swords Dance worked. The Arcanine doesn't have an item, Body Slam is useless, isn't a useful support Pokemon, nor does it hit hard at all. I need you to lurk more before posting teams or trying to learn how Pokemon works in general, as this team showed a demonstrable misunderstanding of how the game is played.

Bnellis02

I think Grass Knot on Tapu Koko can be smart. I don't think the Muk, Araquanid, or Salamence are very good. 4 move without Protect Muk is pretty meh, and I don't see the need for Rock Slide. Figy Berry + Gluttony is just 100% better than Power of Alchemy, and Z-Move Muk isn't that useful when Poison Jab is just consistent damage anyways. CB Araquanid is probably not that useful when Liquidation does so much damage anyways. Poison Jab and Crunch aren't really that helpful, though admittedly Poison Jab can hit Tapu Bulu. Mixed Salamence with weak coverage moves and no Protect doesn't really seem like it would be that good.

ShadowRkaiser

I don't hate any of this. I might suggest Overheat > Flamethrower on Torkoal but that's preference. Super strong Fire-type moves might not be needed on both Torkoal and Incineroar, but I get why you don't want Assault Vest on Incineroar (since it's on Mudsdale). You could try Incineroarium instead. I think Mudsdale is fine. I don't really know how effective Tapu Bulu is with Substitute, without Leech Seed.

I.care.0

Why do you have Protect on Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Really, why do you have Choice Specs Tapu Lele? Maybe Life Orb would be better, or Psychium Z. I would probably use a stronger move than Giga Drain on Lilligant, like Leaf Storm. I get that you have a lot of fast Pokemon, but you also have a Torkoal. A neat set is Trick Room / Destiny Bond / Shadow Claw / Protect @ Ghostium-Z, because then you can decide to use Never-Ending Nightmare or Z-Bond. Play Rough is viable as well. I don't think Shadow Sneak is that great, personally. Ice Beam seems redundant on the Goodra. Maybe even consider mixed Goodra with Power Whip to get around Gastrodon.

Naruto0408

I don't think Energy Ball offers that much on Tapu Lele compared to Thunderbolt or even Moonblast. I still think a stronger move like Leaf Storm is probably better on Lilligant than Giga Drain. I reallllllllllllly don't see the point of Blizzard on Goodra. Goodra also stays on the field for a while so maybe Dragon Pulse > Draco Meteor so you can stay in and sponge hits.

coolmodean

How is Shadow Ball for Marowak and Tapu Lele useful when you have Psychic for Marowak and Moonblast for Tapu Lele? I would probably use a better move, like Thunderbolt or Dazzling Gleam. Xurkitree without Protect doesn't seem that good especially when its coverage options aren't going to see much play. Krookodile I don't dislike. Whimsicott seems fine. Probably wouldn't have Discharge on the Porygon2...would replace it with Trick Room. Crunch seems kind of shitty on Arcanine, Snarl seems better.

Sardus21

I still don't get the point of Choice Specs on Tapu Lele, but that's just me. It might work with this build, but I think I would probably prefer Choice Scarf since you have a lot of solid damage. Not really sure. Pheromosa kind of blows in general, but it's on this squad so that's fine. I like the Ninetales. I like the Incineroar, but I think U-Turn is probably better than Snarl is you already have Aurora Veil. Araquanid and Oranguru are fine. You did a really good job!

Raagentreg

The Pokemon seem objectively fine, I think Scarf Garchomp is horrible and wouldn't personally use it but if it works for you it works for you. I don't really get Assault Vest on Milotic as opposed to a Recover set.

Good job everyone!

Do you mean using his own z crystal? because thats what I am using on him, buy maybe using the fire one instead of that could be better? Anyway thanks for the response, I think i'll go and make a prlper RMT now.

 

[Chouru]

Okay, I want to get into VGC this year but have no idea what I'm doing getting into a format I haven't played before. Obviously team building is going to be a challenge, as its not something I'm really good at to begin with. I've heard that the Oranguru/Torkoal combo is relatively simple to play so I figured I'd go with #15, Conan Thompson's team from the European International Championships. His team is as follows:

Conan Thompson's team

Tapu Lele
Celesteela
Krookodile
Garchomp
Torkoal
Oranguru

Okay so instead of trying to figure out whatever it is that Conan Thompson did with his team, I tried to make it work for me. And I tested this team out on Showdown with some mixed results. Here's the export:

Chouru's Take on Conan's Team

Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Instruct
- Protect
- Psychic

Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Solar Beam

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt

Garchomp @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Protect

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Stone Edge

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang
- Stone Edge

Okay so the obvious thing here is trying to pull off the Oranguru/Torkoal Trick Room/Instruct/Eruption combo for maximum destruction early in the game. I noticed that three of the members were actually good for Trick Room and the other three were actually too fast to properly work in Trick Room, so I went with a double mode team, one Hyper Slow Trick Room mode, and one Hyper Fast Mode.

The only special spread I used for anyone was Oranguru's, because I wanted him to be physically bulky since my only Intimidate user is Krookodile, and I actually didn't bring him much. I honestly didn't understand why Conan used both Garchomp and Krookodile, but I tried to make it work. They both have very similar weaknesses that I think are very common to face.

Just realized as I was writing this that I forgot to put EVs onto my Celesteela, and that probably affected a few things, but everytime I used him, the performance was good anyway. I guess it was a lesson to be very thorough and QC things before starting matches.

Celesteela was built mostly just to annoy the crap out of the opponent, surviving enough hits and with Stone Edge to hit Pelliper, since there's not really a good Electric attack on the team. And Heavy Slam hits most Tapus hard even without investing into Atk. Krookodile has Choice Scarf to be as fast as possible and I didn't mind having to switch him back and forth for the Intimidate. Tried to do this to Araquanid but of course Liquidation stops that from being effective.

I chose to put specs onto Lele, because I wanted to hit as hard as I could with him, and honestly didn't mind switching him a couple times as it reset the terrain anyway.

The z-crystal on Garchomp was to hopefully hit opposing Tapus for some good damage before they can kill him. I chose Sand Veil over Rough Skin, because I figured he could be sort of anti-sand team if that ever came up, and I feel like Rough Skin is geared more towards a tanky set, and I wanted Garchomp to be part of the "fast mode"

I originally had Torkoal with Eruption, Heat Wave, and Flamethrower just in case there was any Wide Gaurd issue, but my first game was against Politoed and though I still won I wished I had Solar Beam to take him down because I had to keep switching Torkoal around to prevent his Rain sweep. So I immediately switched him to Solar Beam and I didn't regret it. I don't think anyone expected to see a Solar Beam on Torkoal, there were actually quite a few games where as soon as I used it, the other player forfeit.

I chose Psychic on Oranguru as opposed to Foul Play for two reasons: One, there was enough Dark type damage with Krookodile and I really didn't think I would need it so much as a coverage move. And two, to take advantage of Tapu Lele's terrain so Oranguru could at least do some damage if he managed to outlive Torkoal, which actually did happen a few times.

I don't think I missed anybody. The basic simple spreads that I used are because I'm pretty new to team building and not really sure what to calculate EV spreads to achieve. I understand that looks lazy on my part but I'd rather just try it out this way at first and see what comes of it.

I hope I didn't miss any part of the explanation. Thank you.

 

[Nighty]

I too chose Alessio Yuri Boschetto's team, due to it having my favorite my Pokemon in Whimsicott, and me wanting to figure out how to use it as effectively as possible along relevant Pokemon.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 60 Def / 216 SpA / 92 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Discharge
- Protect

Decided to go with a standard Koko set, with an EV spread that helps me survive standard Garchomp's Earthquake and 2HKO in return. The speed EVs let it outspeed Kartana under regular circumstances, but since this team relies on Tailwind support for speed control many other threats above in the speed tiers are less of a concern.

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect

Went with a rather generic Garchomp build, with Rock Slide over Poison Jab to allow for double spread attacking next to Koko and for the occasional lucky flinches, I gave it a Focus Sash because while bulky, the amount of very hard hitting attacks flying around in thie meta does scare me quite a bit, this way I can deal with a possible Devastating Drake Shattered Psyche and hit back. I...really don't know what else I can say here, other than how Garchomp can threaten unprepared opposing Koko, Magnezone and Metagross, while also landing hard damage on Goodra and making a solid natural core with Koko.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 SpA
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

The standard Adamant Celesteela set, but instead of Substitute or Wide Guard I brought Flamethrower along to surprise other Celesteela, Kartana and Tapu Bulu. The EV spread let's it 2HKO incoming Magnezone too, while retaining those terrifying Heavy Slams to put on the pressure on the enemy.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Earthquake
- Protect

Hey look, it's Celesteela's trusty partner in meta defining! Marowak's Lightning Rod provides natural synergy with not only Cele, but also Koko, absorbing dangerous electric attacks to protect Cele, while letting Koko Discharge with abandon. Earthquake is chosen over Bonemerang due to having two partners that let it use it with freedom. The standard EV spread let's it tank the usual stuff and murders steel types and Tapu Bulu with little worry.

Milotic @ Adrenaline Orb
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Protect

Not gonna lie, I got very excited at the prospect of Adrenaline Orb Milotic, and with Leftovers taken by Celesteela, who overall does a great job already as tanky force of pressure, Milotic gets the orb. The combination of Competitive and Adrenaline Orb turn Milotic into a dangerous foe in this Intimidate happy meta, Scald is used instead of Hydro Pump for the safer accuracy, plus burning certain switch ins like Bulu of Celesteela is nice, Ice Beam is the mandatory coverage option and....I was going to use Recover, but then I noticed this team has little in the way of handling Porygon-2 and Gastrodon, so I sacrificed recovery on an admittely already compromised bulky water type for Toxic, which gives me a way to wear down those two tanks, especialy towards endgame.

Whimsicott @ Grassium Z
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Protect
- Energy Ball

Yes, I know, what is this? Being honest, I was planning to use the generic full speed sash build I see usually brought up, but when I realized I could pack a more secure measure against Gastrodon, I got a flash of inspiration, with Bloom Doom being a secure OHKO even on a fully invested Gastrodon, this also gives me in other scenarios a surprise way to get rid of Krookodile if they try to block Taunt with it's Dark type. Since we're not using Sash, all of the investment goes to Defense and HP and we add Protect to avoid unnecessary early death, you do have to play it more carefully with this build and thus it is gimmicky, but it has the potential to surprise the opponent and shift momentum off that surprise. Tailwind is the obvious best move Whimsicott can support with, giving great help to all of it's teammates, and Taunt let's it stop Trick Room from screwing it all.

I actually tested it a bit on the lower ladder, for all it's worth, here are two replays.

In this one, the choice of Toxic over Recovery comes through versus a weird Oricorio/Ribombee team:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2017-503640914

In this one Milotic completely savors fighting a team with 3 Intimidate users (which I figure is overkill in a good team), and Whimsicott gets to use the surprise Bloom Doom, but I quickly find out the generic speed and attack set in the damage calculator doesn't tell the true story, so Whimsicott could use some SpAtk EVs:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2017-503645742

Overall I feel the team is....ok? it could use a lot more thorough EV optimization, but the Pokemon themselves are too good to be bogged down and they seem to cover most of the relevant individual threats. Porygon-2 still feels like a big problem and it has no answer to weather and trick room if they manage to set up, though.

 

[Mystical]

Mystical

I like how you you tried to reconcile possible item problems between Tapu Koko and Aerodactyl by giving Tapu Koko Assault Vest. I think that Nature's Madness is probably non-negotiable on Assault Vest Tapu Koko, so I would highly recommend finding room for it on the set. You can also consider Sky Drop. Do you have room for Protect on Aerodactyl? There's a lot of other possible options in that slot; but if protect is what's working, that's good! I don't know how I feel about Substitute on Milotic, but I like how it gets around Toxic from Gastrodon. I think your Silvally is very interesting and I don't know how that works at all because I don't understand that Pokemon, but hey! Also, the Z-Explosion doesn't bypass Protect, it just does 25% damage through a Pokemon using Protect. It's different.

I didn't even think about Nature's Madness on Tapu Koko, but I definitely see the utility of setting up a 2HKO on literally anything. I'll put it over Discharge, which I've found to be super niche (and usually bad...). I like Protect on Aerodactyl because it lets me survive long enough to set up a second Tailwind without absolutely having to switch out and switch back in. Yeah, Sub Milotic was a weird choice, but I think it's my best bet at making sure that Toxic Gastrodon doesn't ruin a boosted Milotic run. The thing about Z-Explosion was mostly just weird wording on my part, so that's my b there. I use it to KO low health or frail mons through Protect a lot, so I figured that was important to mention.
Thanks for the feedback. As soon as I get a proper team together I'll post my own RMT, so I'd really appreciate if you looked at that, too!

 

[SpectivTechVGC]

SpectivTechVGC

So...this is horrible, there's really truly no other way to say this. The Gastrodon set makes absolutely no sense. I don't get why there's Earth Plate when there's no ground moves. Rain Dance on Gastrodon isn't very effective, and then you don't have Recover or any useful moves. Thunder on Tapu Koko to abuse Rain Dance from your Gastrodon is extremely situational and would never actually happen, especially when you have Sandstream Gigalith. Thunderbolt > Thunder / Dazzling Gleam / Protect are fine, I would use a better fourth move than Volt Switch. Gigalith needs Rock Slide; that's a spread move and is really useful in VGC. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, is not. You can make a case for Earthquake but I don't actually know what I would want to hit with it that Rock Slide doesn't. It's not like it does actual damage to Ground-types. Heavy Slam and Flash Cannon in tandem is silly. Use a better move than Flash Cannon. You have Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You can't use Swords Dance on a Pokemon with Assault Vest. You don't have a physical move on this set than Rock Slide, even if Swords Dance worked. The Arcanine doesn't have an item, Body Slam is useless, isn't a useful support Pokemon, nor does it hit hard at all. I need you to lurk more before posting teams or trying to learn how Pokemon works in general, as this team showed a demonstrable misunderstanding of how the game is played.

I know a lot more than it seems. i just never used these ones before and havent worked with them much.

 

[blubobebabi]

I've chosen Tobias Koschitzki's team from the European International Championships because I thought of some interesting sets:
(I've played a bit of VGC 2016 but never got too much into it so I'm still new to the VGC scene, hence most of the EV spreads will be 252/252/4)

Tapu Bulu @ Grassium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Wood Hammer
- Swords Dance
- Protect

This team would be pretty much walled by Gastrodon, so even though any attack from Tapu Bulu would probably OHKO a Gastrodon (without a Rindo Berry), Bloom Doom can do a huge chunk of damage to resistant mons and may even OHKO frailer ones. This is a pretty standard moveset with Swords Dance because I saw this on stream during the International and thought it would be a nice turn to gain a huge advantage on an unsuspecting opponent.

Salamence @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Hydro Pump
- Protect

Special Salamence seems to be growing in popularity because it hits hard and fast, and with Hydro Pump in the rain, it can easily KO mons weak to water. It was probably chosen over Garchomp because the team needed an Intimidate user, for the team I've "built" is more specially defensive than physically. The other two moves are standard and Dragon Pulse was chosen over Flamethrower/Fire Blast (to deal with Celesteela) because Politoed indicates a rain team; it's also a great alternative to Draco Meteor since it doesn't lower its Special Attack but is significantly less powerful.

Politoed @ Eject Button
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Encore
- Perish Song
- Protect

Politoed is essential for setting up the rain and is more suitable for this team than Pelipper because this team seems to be more oriented towards Trick Room than Tailwind. The EVs can survive a Thunderbolt from a Modest, non-Life Orb Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain and the rest was put into Defense for more bulk. I honestly have no idea what item would be best for Politoed so I thought Eject Button would be nice to switch into another mon to gain a more favorable position, bring Salamence in for Intimidate, or to reset the weather. Scald and Protect are essential while Encore is an interesting move that can shut down an opposing mon and Perish Song can be used to KO bulkier mons without excessive frustration and instead, a few turns of Protects and favorable positioning (switching).

Magnezone @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 60 SpA / 196 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
- Protect

There is one resistance and one immunity to ground on this team, but the rest of the team is still vulnerable to Ground-type attacks and Magnezone would be OHKO'ed easily without a Shuca Berry. I see Magnezone as a great counter to Celesteela because Magnet Pull traps it in, and Thunderbolt will always be a 2HKO even if it was max Special Defense with a boosting nature. Flash Cannon is good for all the fairies running around (mainly the Guardian Deities), Substitute can be used before Celesteela can set up a Leech Seed, and Protect is a staple. Overall, Magnezone doesn't seem to fit a choiced item on this team because although that would significantly increase its damage output, it would become incredibly vulnerable to being KO'ed in a few turns; Choice Scarf is not fit for Trick Room and Choice Specs restrains it too much in my opinion. However, Expert Belt can be run on Magnezone if the player doesn't mind the Ground weakness.

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off

Hariyama is one of the best Fighting types to use this year with access to pretty diverse movepool, complimented by bulk and power that can truly be seen under Trick Room. Its ability, Guts, is superior to Sheer Force since there are still many Will-o-Wisp users running around and Sheer Force would only boost Rock Slide. Alternatively, Bullet Punch could be run over Rock Slide and it would be like a standard Assault Vest Hariyama under Trick Room from VGC 2015. The main reason I didn't put Bullet Punch was the fear of Tapu Lele, but realistically, you probably wouldn't bring Hariyama into a battle with Tapu Lele, and Bullet Punch is a weak move in terms of its damage output (as Hariyama is no Metagross and gains no STAB), even on mons it's super-effective against.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 152 Def / 12 SpA / 100 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

This is one of the bulkiest Trick Room setters around with access to moves that are super-effective against many common mons. Many attacks won't even take away 1/3 of its health, but I haven't seen many Fighting types or Fighting-type so I gave it a Special Defense boosting nature while splitting its EVs between physical and special defense, although it can put more EVs into Special Attack since Eviolite boosts its defenses so much anyway. Recover does what its name implies and can be used to stall out other bulkier mons with a more offensive attacker by its side so it can perhaps set up Trick Room again. Ice Beam or Thunderbolt could be replaced with Tri Attack for STAB, but having a super-effective attack is better than an attack that isn't super-effective against anything; additionally, these two were the most common offensive moves I've seen on Porygon2. One of the two could also be replaced with Protect, but I believe it doesn't need it given its defense stats.

This team is overall more bulkier and defensive for Trick Room, but doesn't lack too much offense. Tapu Bulu, Salamence, and Hariyama are the main attackers while the rest are more supportive and defensive. The two physical attackers are complete powerhouses as the rest of the team uses special moves; Salamence's Intimidate, Tapu Bulu's original high Defense stat, and Porygon2's bulk can help the team tank more physical hits since the other mons are more specially defensive.

**Alternatively, Salamence could have Tailwind over Dragon Pulse since Tapu Bulu & Magnezone (Choice Scarf) can be invested in speed and he probably didn't get into top cut relying only on Trick Room**

 

[Project_Mars]

**Alternatively, Salamence could have Tailwind over Dragon Pulse since Tapu Bulu & Magnezone (Choice Scarf) can be invested in speed and he probably didn't get into top cut relying only on Trick Room**

Tailwind is a Tutor Move on Salamence though, so not legal for usage in VGC this year

 

[blubobebabi]

Tailwind is a Tutor Move on Salamence though, so not legal for usage in VGC this year

Ohhh good point! Didn't realize that since I never used it this year haha