Metagame Metagame Discussion

Diglett @ Focus Sash/Air Balloon
Ability: Arena Trap
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Naive Nature
- Mud Shot
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
the anti-diglett diglett
has the benefits of
-revenge killing other diglett
but also has the downsides of
-not working with rocks up
-needing to sacrifice a moveslot
works well with things like sd pawn and scarf glimmet
also you essentially need rapid spin/defog support so that's sad
bad but yknow it sure is a counter to dig
also you can use air balloon +shed shell bait if you really want to
 

NotJackewu

Banned deucer.
I've seen a couple people talking about the possibility of Rest Greavard and thought I would give it a try.
I already made a post about Yawn Greavard before and with all those stats and calcs in the back of my mind I had a general idea of how I could make it work.

The set is quite similar to the Yawn set, the only difference is Rest for Yawn (duh).
THE DAWG (Greavard) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Fluffy
Level: 5
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 116 HP / 188 Atk / 196 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Shadow Sneak
- Ice Fang
- Stomping Tantrum

I've made a post with a lot of calcs for Greavard before so I recommend you to that one if you're interested in them, but to summarize: Greavard does a phenomenal job at taking care of all the rapid spinners and is able to deal with several pokemon that are currently popular, really well.

What's the general idea?
Rest Greavard does what Yawn Greavard does (take care of rapid spinners) and is able to Rest to keep around half health. With that extra HP it's able to keep its ability to wall physical attackers. That can be useful later in the game when your opponent brings out another physical attacker.
With some support it can come back relatively safely later and wall another physical attacker. I personally use Wish Giraf to do that, but I am sure some screens will give you the same results especially since Greavards Ghost typing helps it block Brick Break.

Because it's able to stay into the game even longer its able to do even more damage to the opponents team, especially because they often expect Yawn instead of Rest.

What are it's weaknesses?
If the opponent suspects the Greavard to be Rest they could bring in a special attacker and set up or even bring in their Rufflet and set that up.
Both of those options Greavard has little to no options for except praying Ice Fang freezes your opponent for 6 turns.
Had you brought the Yawn variant instead, this wouldnt have been a problem.

What about the REST of the team (hihi)?
I have personally had a lot of success combining Greavard with Glimmet and Rufflet.
Glimmet @ Eviolite
Ability: Toxic Debris
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 20 Def / 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Mud Shot
- Power Gem
Ruff (Rufflet) @ Eviolite
Ability: Hustle
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 116 HP / 12 Atk / 116 Def / 196 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Agility
- Bulk Up
- Roost

Glimmet helps Greavard by setting up hazards and is probably a must have teammate if you do run Greavard due to the value the combo brings.

Rufflet was a bit of an odd idea I had, but turned out to be a great partner for this specific Greavard set.
That's because Greavard actually does fairly well versus several Rufflet answers.
Using Stomping Tantrum it can deal with Glimmet, Magnemite, Voltorb and Tinkatink. And thanks to Ice Fang it also deals with Wattrel.
Getting rid of these pokemon gives Rufflet the ability to set up and sweep through your opponent's team especially when the rest of their team has been hurt by hazards and Greavard.

Is this set better than the Yawn set?
Yes and no. I think they both have their niche. The Yawn set forces your opponent to take huge amounts of hazards while the Rest set is able to kill 2 pokemon and do about 50% to another before it dies. Like I mentioned before, it deals with Rufflet answers really well.
If Rufflet goes away, I see this set having a lot less impact unless someone finds another similar pokemon to it.

Greavard is super fun, if that doesnt convince you to give it a try I dont know what will!
If you want to see a perfect example of a game where I used it check this replay:


If anyone wants to use the team I used to test Rest Greavard here you go:
 
Last edited:

Fiend

someguy
is a Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
LC Leader
I am so sorry to the contributors of the secret santa project (and clickers alike):

1671314290826.png
@ashleyDeluxe drew great art to celebrate​

The LC Council has quickbanned Rufflet. Rufflet is incredibly strong due to its stock Flying/Fighting coverage backed by Hustle. Aerial Ace helps Rufflet remain a strong and reliable enough Choice Scarf user, and has been the most common and nearly uncontested best user since day one. If this had been the only set Rufflet had, perhaps Rufflet would have been fine despite the tier's few Flying-type resists. However, slowly more and more people have began using Bulk Up + Agility Rufflet which can quickly become devastatingly strong and difficult to revenge kill. With a few more tricks in Choice Band Brave Bird OHKOing neutrals and Tera-type Ground picking apart dedicated counterplay, Rufflet has steadily grown more and more limiting as it became more flexible itself.

Kris to implement - thank you.
 
So I was writing this when the council quickbanned Rufflet, and I'm too petty to just delete it.
ezgif-1-e7cbb35b98.gif

BAN THE BIRD


I'm just gonna get straight to the point: I want this guy gone. As soon as possible. Rufflet is one of the best pokes in LC right now, and the meta is just barely keeping it in check. Here's why I think the bird is broken.

The Scarfer
Name: Choice Scarf
Move 1: Brave Bird
Move 2: Close Combat
Move 3: U-turn
Move 4: Aerial Ace
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Hustle
Nature: Jolly
Tera Type: Flying / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 36 SpDef / 196 Speed
Set from Shandeur
This is the more common set from my experience due to its requiring less support on teams. It is the best late game cleaner right now in my opinion, and a potent revenge-killer as well. The idea is to fix its mediocre speed with scarf and throw out Brave Bird nukes at the opposing team, which can force sacrifices and put huge pressure on resists like Pawniard for teammates to capitalize on. With Hustle it reaches an incredible 27 attack, only rivialed by Meditite which was quickbanned early in the meta. Pawniard and Glimmet are the main checks with Magnemite sometimes being run as well, but they are easily taken advantage of with Close Combat and U-turn. The true counter to Rufflet is Stealth Rock, as they limit the amount of times it can come in and throw off Brave Birds. However, removing the sneaky pebbles is not a huge problem, since with the ban of Misdreavus spin-blocking has become significantly more difficult. It also doesn't not change the fact that rocks don't stop it from throwing out BB's; even if Stealth Rocks are up, if your flying resist is low and the bird comes in, you are still in trouble. I also have to mention that if the only things limiting a mon is Stealth Rocks and its own recoil, it doesn't sound healthy for the meta.

This is all without mentioning the fact it can Tera Flying, which boosts its Brave Bird to truly ludicrous levels:

+1 252 Atk Rufflet Brave Bird vs. +1 36 HP / 76 Def Girafarig: 22-28 (91.6 - 116.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Rufflet Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Pawniard: 11-14 (52.3 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Rufflet Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 20 Def Eviolite Glimmet: 15-18 (71.4 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

So in short, this thing is impossible to switch into with Tera Flying. Even so, I believe this is the lesser of two evils, as it can't just win games outright.

The Dancer
Move 1: Aerial Ace
Move 2: Agility
Move 3: Bulk Up
Move 4: Roost
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Hustle
Nature: Careful
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 36 HP / 12 Atk / 196 Def / 116 SpDef / 36 Speed
created by Merritt... I think?
This set is seen significantly less than Scarf due to requiring more support, but with the right mons this is, in my opinion, the scariest thing to face in Little Cup at the moment. Bulk Up makes it impossible to break through physically, and Agility means Rufflet can outspeed and kill most Special Attackers before they can break through it. With Tera Ground it sheds its weaknesses to Electric and Rock, instead weak to Water, Ice and Grass. Grasses obviously don't want to stay in on it, and I have found Ice coverage to be relatively rare. Thus, Water is Tera Rufflet's only weakness, which means Rain Teams are its biggest counter. Rain counters pretty much all Rufflet sets, which is part of the strategy's appeal. However, you have to commit to running a rain team, so if you don't want that your best options are Magenmite (who can quadruple resist Ace and can break through with Flash Cannon), Fuecoco (who uses Unaware to tank Rufflet's hits and cripples it with Will-o) and Mareanie (who survives through sheer bulk and can Haze Rufflet's boosts away)

Note that the main checks to Scarf Ruff, Pawn and Glimmet, DO NOT check BU Ruff. This allows for the BU Ruff user to bluff a Scarf set to lure in those pokes in order for free turns of set up. After that it becomes impossible to stop UNLESS you have those three mons listed above, which limits building as I consider only Mag to be a good mon out of the three.

These are the two main sets I feel make Rufflet broken, but there are other options like Tera Ground and Choice Band to specifically counter the already limited counterplay available. Speaking of limiting counterplay...
050Diglett(1).jpg

The Trapper

I think what really pushes Rufflet over the edge is the fact that Diglett exists, and it is an amazing partner to every Rufflet set. As you may have noticed, pretty much every single check is Diglett weak, which puts the opponent in a lose-lose situation. They can just let you KO their Rufflet checks, allowing the bird to go uncontested, or Tera to escape the trap, which means they do not resist flying anymore or wasted their Tera on a Defensive mon. For example, someone using Tera on Mareanie to escape Diglett means they can't Tera one of their offensive mons to overwhelm the other team before Rufflet overwhelms them. And that's assuming that the Rufflet has revealed it's set. If the Rufflet turns out to be Scarf, they just wasted their Tera for nothing since Marenie can not check Scarf Rufflet. Forcing people into these incredibly punishing scenarios is not fun to fight against and very unhealthy. At that point the only factor limiting the Rufflet user is how unlucky they are, which is as fair as it sounds.

In short, Bird is broken, and Bird should go away.

Edit: Thank God it did.
 

Berks

has a Calm Mind
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I've just this morning built my first couple teams and played my first couple games of SVLC, and I'm having a lot of fun! My early thoughts are that, now that all the quickbans are through, the meta feels diverse, interesting, and surprisingly balanced. An upcoming Girafarig suspect could go either way, in my opinion, and I'm underwhelmed by Terastalization in LC. Not that it isn't good, but I came in expecting it to be fully broken, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many neat interactions it adds to the game.
 
Every time that I see Chewtle not ranked in the lowest of viable tiers, a part of me screams for joy.

To not make this a one liner;

:toedscool: gamer time (Toedscool) @ Eviolite
Ability: Mycelium Might
Level: 5
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 36 HP / 196 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off

Been experimenting with the Toed recently and I've really started liking 4 attacks. Spore isn't as relevant to my team, and the utility of bopping Quaxly, Pawniard, and still being able to spin & remove Toedscool and Girafarig's Eviolite has been more than enough. Spooking people with 17 speed is endlessly funny to me, esp since after you see 3 attacks you're SURE that Giga/Knock/Spin/Spore is the moveset only to get bonked by Earth Power.
 
View attachment 480265

vr opinion 2

also if giraffe was a sandwitch at a restaurant it would aView attachment 480266
Ayo that's my country's food! (I'm Vietnamese)
Anyways I find this Pawniard set quite fun:
Pawniard @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 196 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Night Slash
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
You beat Brick Break Pawniard, the rising Mankey and... Idk, not many things it can beat. I find it pretty fun to use tho. Getting rid of that weakness to Diglett while still resisting Sucker Punch is quite a nice niche in my opinion. - oops i accidentally post. Also I found Nymble revenge killing me quite hard and found this an awesome way of countering. It's probably not as good as Ghost, but I still use it.
Also this is a more accurate representation of what it would be in our country:
1673059000930.png
1673059049721.png
 
Last edited:
Spurred by the heart of innovation and stealing concepts of others, I am here to introduce the most criminal, absolutely diabolical, SINISTER COMPLETELY EVIL THING THAT I'VE EVER SEEN.
1673487510085.png

standing here (Shroodle) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
Tera Type: Poison / Dark / Fighting
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Copycat
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off / Tera Blast
- Swords Dance

This set is exactly what it looks like, a gimmick, but what's behind this gimmick is an absolutely lethal monster whose only prerequisite for killing everything in front of you use getting rid of Pawniard.

With Eviolite, Shroodle goes from a mon who gets OHKO'd by a stray breeze like it does on rain setups to a genuinely reasonable bulk mon who comes with the convenient trait of having 18 speed. Freeing yourself from the constraints of Rain Dance or Sunny Day, or even Parting Shot allows you to truly flex the creative muscles of the funny tongue mon... and thus it appears.

Copycat.

Remember this move? It's the move that you only remember exists because A) Clefairy almost always comes with it at levels it's caught at in most Pokemon games, or B) You found the 2 remaining Riolu players huffing their copium in the corner. It's a frankly awful move, even with how Riolu uses it, as a sort of diet revenge killer. But, to flex our artistic muscles within our brain, we must click the boost button. With a single Swords Dance, Shroodle's respectable Attack stat, extremely powerful STAB Gunk Shot and coverage of Knock Off will annihilate almost everything in front of you, with Tera Blast Fighting providing the utility of specifically killing Pawniard extremely hard. Tera Dark gives you a way to tank a Girafarig hit, while Tera Poison gives you the strongest STAB possible.

Shroodle has 3 MASSIVE benefits compared to SD Riolu in this respect:
- Players who see Shroodle will almost exclusively expect a utility set, or expect the meme Mirror Herb Swagger set if you're low ladder.
- 18 Speed is infinitely more helpful than 16 speed, notably beating a massive number of mons (and the few who are faster don't want to eat a Copycat Gunk Shot.)
- Knock Off, which lets you harass even defensive answers like Fuecoco or Pawniard before setting up late-game, and doesn't give your opponent a hint on what set you are.

If you really hate Pawniard, you can run a lure set with Tera Blast Fighting or explore other options, but personally you're probably just better off trapping it with Maggy, Diglett, or baiting it with a Tera on Girafarig, your own Pawniard, killing with Croagunk, etcetcetc.

Of note is that Diglett is an absolute problem, as is most Sucker Punch users who are faster than you like Scarf Scorbunny, since they will interrupt your Copycat chain. You will have to guess right several times in a row to not instantly lose, BUT it's better than being a non-Copycat Shroodle and just getting OHKO'd!


LAST THING TO NOTE: Team synergy and neat counterplay! If you're a based memelord who is utterly confident in their strategies, Copycat Shroodle with HP investment can Final Gambit into whatever's in front of you if you just knocked out a mon with Final Gambit! (or your opponent's final gambit, for that matter!) If your opponent just used Brave Bird with Quaxly and is low HP, send in Shroodle and Copycat to ignore its +1 Speed from the Rapid Spin it surely got off! If Nymble tries pivoting out of you and sends in Girafarig, send them to fucking kingdom come with a priority Swords Dance boosted U-Turn!

and most importantly, just have fun with it!





You want calcs? You want replays?

You got it!

+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Girafarig: 22-27 (95.6 - 117.3%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 140 HP / 124 Def Eviolite Unaware Fuecoco: 10-13 (40 - 52%) -- 9% chance to 2HKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Tera Flying Pawniard: 19-24 (90.4 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 76 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Quaxly: 19-24 (82.6 - 104.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 140 HP / 124 Def Unaware Fuecoco: 15-18 (60 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 36 HP / 156 Def Eviolite Toedscool: 24-28 (114.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 116 HP / 180+ Def Eviolite Mareanie: 10-12 (43.4 - 52.1%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock


+2 236 Atk Shroodle Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Pawniard: 5-6 (23.8 - 28.5%) -- 93.8% chance to 4HKO (and this is why we kill pawn early)
 

Bella

Not a furry
is an official Team Rateris a Social Media Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
So uh.... Giraffe is gone now, lets talk about this a bit.
Who Gets Better?
:Gastly: :Crabrawler:
I think these 2 are the biggest winners of the ban. In general, Poisons (Gast, Gunk, Foong, Mare, etc.) and Fighting-types (Mankey and Crab) all likely see a massive jump considering the best psychic now is fucking gothita lol. I think gastly is borderline gonna become unplayable for some teams and i wouldnt be surprised to see a Ban or a Suspect within a few weeks. Crab now has an easier time to set up without having to force a tera and gets to break easier.

:Foongus:
Yeah this thing is probably the best poison now lol. Doesnt lose to dig, the psychics are shit, fighters rise so this will to, wins the 1v1 vs toed, and still spores. if this thing had tspikes i would honestly consider it a top 3 mon lol.

:Wingull:
Honestly im interested to see how this mon can rise. I felt what held this mon back alot is giraffe being a pretty good switch into it and OHKing it if it wins the tie. 19 Speed in a meta where the only 2 outspeeds are stop pretty well in their tracks by toedscool assuming they dont tera, Knock + an alright SpA stat could make it a really interesting mon now, as the 19 tier is now just Wingull, Meowth, and Buizel.

Who Loses?
:Nymble:
Ngl i think has been overrated since the Rufflet meta. Losing its biggest target does not give it favors. Def takes a massive notch down and loses alot of its niche.
:Toedscool:
I think it takes a very small drop. Still will do its thing just kinda loses one of the main things its trying to check and now some of its checks (like foongus) will be on the rise now.
:Zorua:
I dont know to like or dislike this mon. I feel like its kinda has lost its "surprise factor" of scarf dpulsing / knocking a giraffe now and now has issues breaking through pawn if you dont want to waste the tera. Itll be niche but useable imo.

Some Others Quick thoughts about the Metas Delevopment:
:Froakie:
I think this mons looks pretty interesting to play around with. Though i feel like its just gonna become C-Tier Fodder but a Water type that uturns and spikes is cool.
:Gothita:
I wonder how this mon will preform as its taking Giraffes place as "LCs best psychic" until Abra comes back ig. Isnt as splashable on teams as Giraffe was but could be cool.

:Pawniard:
Fighters will rise but this mon will probably be the best thing in the tier bar maybe gastly or dig. Its just the perfect Glue now and fits on pretty much every playstyle. Still think itll nearly be a must use on every team imo.
 

NotJackewu

Banned deucer.
Its been a while since someone posted here, let me bring the thread to life once more.
In order to make ladder even worse for people trying to get reqs, I want to inform the people about everything Shellder can do!

https://pokepast.es/53c6c258418c6abd
:Gastly: :Shellder: :Pawniard: :Toedscool: :Diglett: :Crabrawler:

So... What does Shellder do?
The main idea is setting up Shell Smash and sweeping the team. By combining its natural bulk and its ability Skill Link its able to set up pretty safely, then fire of 5 very strong Tera boosted Rock Blasts. Any pokemon that dares come in when this demon has set up Shell Smash is sure to take a minimum of 50% to the face.

But... What Pokemon do I bring?
You have a lot of options on your team when you wanna use Shellder, but a few mons are, in my opinion, required.

:Gastly: is an essential part of the team as its clearly the best mon in the tier right now. Once its inevitably gone, you can opt for Drifloon or even Larvesta/Fuecoco. Since most of this tier exists of physical attackers, Will-O-Wisp is always a good bring. Its main goal is to weaken mons like Toedscool , Pawniard and Crabrawler.
These pokemon can give your Shellder some trouble but are also just generally big threats.
I opted to use scarf Gastly on my team as higher ladders had a Gastly and Shellder on 90% of my matches.
Though an Eviolite variant with Hex and Will-O-Wisp is probably the best option to go for.

:Toedscool: is another essential part of the team as it gets Knock Off. The few mons that are able to take on Shellder after it has Shell Smashed tend to die once their Eviolite is Knocked Off. It also helps with Gastly and is probably the best Rapid Spinner in the tier right now.

The other pokemon are really up to you although I do think that adding Pawniard and Diglett helps you enable shellder a lot easier. Ive dabbled around with scarf/memento Zorua and also Gothita to trap pokemon like Foongus, Crabrawler and Mareanie. It's really up to you and your playstyle how the final result of the team takes shape!


Surely there is stuff to look out for?
Mareanie is able to tank 1 Rock Blast most of the time as long as it hasnt been knocked off or hurt by hazards.
Its pretty hard for your opponent to not have their Mareanie weakened when you have your Shellder in though. A good Shellder player will first make sure Mareanie is weakened before even trying to attempt to Shell Smash up.

+2 236+ Atk Tera Rock Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 116 HP / 180+ Def Eviolite Mareanie: 20-30 (86.9 - 130.4%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

12 SpA Mareanie Sludge Bomb vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 12-15 (60 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Crabrawler is a demon and thanks to its fighting type it can resist the incoming Rock Blasts.

+2 236+ Atk Tera Rock Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Eviolite Crabrawler: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Eviolite Crabrawler: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

20 Atk Iron Fist Crabrawler Drain Punch vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 9-12 (45 - 60%) -- 68.4% chance to 2HKO
This mon gets access to low sweep which lowers your speed stat by 1. This way you can later be stopped by your opponents scarfer.

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Pawniard: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

156 Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 7-10 (35 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

This matchup becomes more iffy since you could technically play mindgames with your opponent by using Ice Shard when they try to Sucker Punch you.
Remember this mon gets Storm Drain, boosting its special attack by 1 when being hit by a water move.
With the use of tera ground this mon can weaken Shellder and have it die to a priority move later.
If you manage to get it in vs Shellder at full HP it could even kill in two turns.

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 68 HP / 212+ Def Eviolite Tera Ground Shellos: 10-10 (40 - 40%) -- approx. 3HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 68 HP / 212+ Def Eviolite Tera Ground Shellos: 10-12 (40 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

60 SpA Tera Ground Shellos Earth Power vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 15-18 (75 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 60 SpA Shellos Earth Power vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 14-17 (70 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Toedscool forces you to play a silly mindgame where the opponent could tera predicting a Ice Shard while becoming weak to Rock Blast or Liquidation based on its tera type (steel/water)

116 Atk Toedscool Power Whip vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 20-26 (100 - 130%) -- guaranteed OHKO
116 SpA Toedscool Giga Drain vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 24-30 (120 - 150%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Toedscool: 32-40 (152.3 - 190.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 4-5 (19 - 23.8%) -- possible 5HKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Toedscool: 10-15 (47.6 - 71.4%) -- approx. 99.6% chance to 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 25-35 (119 - 166.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 12-14 (57.1 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Steel Toedscool: 24-28 (114.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

These mindgames are annoying for both players, I find it Toedscool favored.
(Got tired of calcs just trust me)
Gastly stops you from setting up properly with Will-O-Wisp. The scarf variant is able to outspeed you and do some big damage to kill you with a priority move later.
Mudbray can switch into your shellder, predicting a rock blast, and get a massive defense boost. Thanks to its ability to learn rest and sleep talk its able to use that defense boost to its full potential.
Greavard is probably the strongest physical wall, so its not suprising it can do a little bit vs shellder. It does have one problem... Its not able to make use of its Fluffy ability when it gets hit by Shellders Rock Blast as Rock Blast is not a contact move.
Despite that, its able to do 60/70% when its full hp by shadow sneaking twice as it does live one Shell Smash + Tera boosted Rock Blast (6.3% of the time).

Does this post ever end?
Sorry... I'll end it here.
Ive had people mention tera is broken, someone said Shell Smash should be banned and some people are running 3 anti-Shellder mons on one team just to snipe Shellder abusers on the ladder.
Me? I think Shellder is worth looking into if another suspect happens as it has a pretty easy time setting up a sweep.
The amount of damage it can put out thanks to tera is phenomenal, it doesnt even need a Shell Smash to be usefull as it can take on most physical attackers with ease and the lack of pokemon that can resist both its Liquidation and Rock Blasts after Shell Smashing makes it banworthy to me.

I wish everyone on the ladder the best of luck with this demon running around, lets hope your opponent misses a Rock Blast!

Not the team mentioned in the post, but should still give you a good insight on how Shellder can take over games.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-1807107387-fk2ozfkesmpvbvq0eyj1xh4xtwutca3pw
 
Last edited:
Its been a while since someone posted here, let me bring the thread to life once more.
In order to make ladder even worse for people trying to get reqs, I want to inform the people about everything Shellder can do!

https://pokepast.es/53c6c258418c6abd
:Gastly: :Shellder: :Pawniard: :Toedscool: :Diglett: :Crabrawler:

So... What does Shellder do?
The main idea is setting up Shell Smash and sweeping the team. By combining its natural bulk and its ability Skill Link its able to set up pretty safely, then fire of 5 very strong Tera boosted Rock Blasts. Any pokemon that dares come in when this demon has set up Shell Smash is sure to take a minimum of 50% to the face.

But... What Pokemon do I bring?
You have a lot of options on your team when you wanna use Shellder, but a few mons are, in my opinion, required.

:Gastly: is an essential part of the team as its clearly the best mon in the tier right now. Once its inevitably gone, you can opt for Drifloon or even Larvesta/Fuecoco. Since most of this tier exists of physical attackers, Will-O-Wisp is always a good bring. Its main goal is to weaken mons like Toedscool , Pawniard and Crabrawler.
These pokemon can give your Shellder some trouble but are also just generally big threats.
I opted to use scarf Gastly on my team as higher ladders had a Gastly and Shellder on 90% of my matches.
Though an Eviolite variant with Hex and Will-O-Wisp is probably the best option to go for.

:Toedscool: is another essential part of the team as it gets Knock Off. The few mons that are able to take on Shellder after it has Shell Smashed tend to die once their Eviolite is Knocked Off. It also helps with Gastly and is probably the best Rapid Spinner in the tier right now.

The other pokemon are really up to you although I do think that adding Pawniard and Diglett helps you enable shellder a lot easier. Ive dabbled around with scarf/memento Zorua and also Gothita to trap pokemon like Foongus, Crabrawler and Mareanie. It's really up to you and your playstyle how the final result of the team takes shape!


Surely there is stuff to look out for?
Mareanie is able to tank 1 Rock Blast most of the time as long as it hasnt been knocked off or hurt by hazards.
Its pretty hard for your opponent to not have their Mareanie weakened when you have your Shellder in though. A good Shellder player will first make sure Mareanie is weakened before even trying to attempt to Shell Smash up.

+2 236+ Atk Tera Rock Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 116 HP / 180+ Def Eviolite Mareanie: 20-30 (86.9 - 130.4%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

12 SpA Mareanie Sludge Bomb vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 12-15 (60 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Crabrawler is a demon and thanks to its fighting type it can resist the incoming Rock Blasts.

+2 236+ Atk Tera Rock Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Eviolite Crabrawler: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Eviolite Crabrawler: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

20 Atk Iron Fist Crabrawler Drain Punch vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 9-12 (45 - 60%) -- 68.4% chance to 2HKO
This mon gets access to low sweep which lowers your speed stat by 1. This way you can later be stopped by your opponents scarfer.

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Pawniard: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

156 Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 7-10 (35 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

This matchup becomes more iffy since you could technically play mindgames with your opponent by using Ice Shard when they try to Sucker Punch you.
Remember this mon gets Storm Drain, boosting its special attack by 1 when being hit by a water move.
With the use of tera ground this mon can weaken Shellder and have it die to a priority move later.
If you manage to get it in vs Shellder at full HP it could even kill in two turns.

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 68 HP / 212+ Def Eviolite Tera Ground Shellos: 10-10 (40 - 40%) -- approx. 3HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 68 HP / 212+ Def Eviolite Tera Ground Shellos: 10-12 (40 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

60 SpA Tera Ground Shellos Earth Power vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 15-18 (75 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 60 SpA Shellos Earth Power vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 14-17 (70 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Toedscool forces you to play a silly mindgame where the opponent could tera predicting a Ice Shard while becoming weak to Rock Blast or Liquidation based on its tera type (steel/water)

116 Atk Toedscool Power Whip vs. -1 36 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Shellder: 20-26 (100 - 130%) -- guaranteed OHKO
116 SpA Toedscool Giga Drain vs. -1 36 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Shellder: 24-30 (120 - 150%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Toedscool: 32-40 (152.3 - 190.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Ice Shard vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 4-5 (19 - 23.8%) -- possible 5HKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Toedscool: 10-15 (47.6 - 71.4%) -- approx. 99.6% chance to 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 25-35 (119 - 166.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Water Toedscool: 12-14 (57.1 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236+ Atk Shellder Liquidation vs. 36 HP / 0- Def Eviolite Tera Steel Toedscool: 24-28 (114.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

These mindgames are annoying for both players, I find it Toedscool favored.
(Got tired of calcs just trust me)
Gastly stops you from setting up properly with Will-O-Wisp. The scarf variant is able to outspeed you and do some big damage to kill you with a priority move later.
Mudbray can switch into your shellder, predicting a rock blast, and get a massive defense boost. Thanks to its ability to learn rest and sleep talk its able to use that defense boost to its full potential.
Greavard is probably the strongest physical wall, so its not suprising it can do a little bit vs shellder. It does have one problem... Its not able to make use of its Fluffy ability when it gets hit by Shellders Rock Blast as Rock Blast is not a contact move.
Despite that, its able to do 60/70% when its full hp by shadow sneaking twice as it does live one Shell Smash + Tera boosted Rock Blast (6.3% of the time).

Does this post ever end?
Sorry... I'll end it here.
Ive had people mention tera is broken, someone said Shell Smash should be banned and some people are running 3 anti-Shellder mons on one team just to snipe Shellder abusers on the ladder.
Me? I think Shellder is worth looking into if another suspect happens as it has a pretty easy time setting up a sweep.
The amount of damage it can put out thanks to tera is phenomenal, it doesnt even need a Shell Smash to be usefull as it can take on most physical attackers with ease and the lack of pokemon that can resist both its Liquidation and Rock Blasts after Shell Smashing makes it banworthy to me.

I wish everyone on the ladder the best of luck with this demon running around, lets hope your opponent misses a Rock Blast!

Not the team mentioned in the post, but should still give you a good insight on how Shellder can take over games.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-1807107387-fk2ozfkesmpvbvq0eyj1xh4xtwutca3pw
I'm just going to add a few points that are not mentioned in your post.
Gastly stops you from setting up properly with Will-O-Wisp. The scarf variant is able to outspeed you and do some big damage to kill you with a priority move later.
This is exactly why Shellder should, in my opinion, ALWAYS be Jolly in a meta with Gastly at the Number 1 spot. Adamant was used in Giraf meta since Gast was quite rare so the extra power had no draw back. Now Gastly is on like 90% of teams and Scarf is a very common set, making Adamant kind of unviable. Plus, changing to Jolly doesn't seem to change that many damage rolls. The only mons I could find ( with my 2 seconds of calcing so I might be missing some mons) that have their damage rolls reduced are Pawniard, Toedscool, and Shellos, but the first two are pretty minor. +2 jolly Liquation into pawn does a whopping 2 HP less damage, and max defense Toedscool now avoids a +2 Ice Shard KO 94% of the time which does not matter since it will be switching into Stealth Rocks at least once because of its role of a Rapid Spinner. Shellos unfortunately takes 20% less damage from Rock Blast, and a Tera Rock Rock Blast now doing 90%. That's actually pretty significant, but my reasoning is that you are far more likely to encounter a scarf Gastly then a Shellos, and it is much easier to chip Shellos or knock off its evo than to KO a scarf Gastly. Adamant is still fine on HO or if you are really confident that you can eliminate Gastly, but my take is that Jolly should be run on pretty much all Shellders if Gastly is in the tier.

Nymble is probably the best answer to Shellder, so all the more reasons to bring a Will-o Gastly and Diglett on your team with Shellder. Nymble is a lot less common with the Giraf ban but still something to be noted and prepared for when building with Shellder.

Pawniard is a great answer like you mentioned, which is why you should be setting up on it 80% of the time, even without it being burned. It needs 4 HP of chip to be in range of +2 Liquation into Ice Shard, and Shellder survives any move Pawniard runs into -1 defense Sucker Punch reliably (barring crit). The only thing you have to worry about is SD Pawn, but Shellder can survive a +2 Sucker punch even with -1 Defense. However, Stealth Rock damage will put Shellder in range of SD Pawn so having a mon like Marenie and Crabrawler who can safely scout Pawniard's set is crucial to have. One of reasons that Shellder is so powerful right now is that it can use one of the most common mons as set-up fodder reliably.

Crabrawler should be noted as a great partner to Shellder, since it scouts Pawniard safely and also puts pressure on Toedscool and Marenie, two common Shellder checks.

An unorthodox partner that I have found to be surprising effective is Prankster Pivot Shroodle with Encore. With Toedscool it can Knock Off entire defensive cores, making them easy pickings for Shellder later. Parting Shot weakens offensive mons to providing safer set-up and Encore can lock a mon into a move to provide more opportunities to set-up with Shellder. It also happens to be a underrated Gastly check since it doesn't it doesn't really care about Will-o (I don't use Gunk Shot, and Knock Off still knocks items off when burned) and you can still threaten Gast when burnt with Encore, locking Gastly into a move so you can safely go to your Gastly or Pawniard or whatever you want to force the opposing Gastly out.

In short: Chewtle gang, you people are delusional.
 
Last edited:
Gastly being gone will probably shape the metagame quite a bit. People in the winter league tournament have already built for a metagame without Gastly beforehand so they already have some experience.

Here are some of my predictions for metagame development:

Potential drops:

Stunky, Shroodle, Sandile and Nacli are all otherwise relatively unremarkable mons that found some use thanks to resisting Gastly's stab combination (though Shroodle's Rain Dance set will still be notable), and it seems likely that these mons are worse now that Gastly is gone.

Potential rises:
Crabrawler is a menace for a lot of mons to face, and it can sweep with Bulk Up. Gastly was one of its biggest roadblocks and now it's gone.

Nymble is definitely going to feel less bad to use when Eviolite Gastly isn't constantly switching into its First Impression and generating momentum.

Drifloon, the worse ghost, is now a Gastly replacement to some extent.

Wattrel is another mon that's annoying to face for a lot of mons, and Gastly used to threaten it fairly well.

Webs no longer have to deal with Gastly being on every team, and it's definitely going to help a lot.

All of these mons bar Nymble reach 17 speed which I think is funny.
On another note, Zorua-Hisui Hisuian Formjust arrived in the metagame and it's looking really solid with its typing and toolkit. If it's actually meta-defining, then Stunky might still be a solid mon.
 

Altariel von Sweep

They Who Laugh Last
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
1677604415117.png

my god hisuian zorua is so fun to use. the combination of illusion along with a godlike typing to face off rising pokemon like drifloon and crabrawler, and to be able to run away from diglett makes it a really solid addition, as it can use those traits to run a cooler version of will-o-hex gastly able to provide a ridiculous amount of utility, burning pokemon like quaxly and pawniard, and cripple defensive pokemon like mareanie or toedscool, while also providing momentum for the team. thanks to its really high special attack, it can also decide to run nasty plot with stab combo of tera blast + shadow ball, coupled with dark pulse, giving it perfect coverage against most of the metagame if not terastallized, using fighting tera to blast pawniard who would otherwise counter it, leaving stunky as a posible viable check. it means while it might be a little worse when speaking about stats, the mindgames this little buddy forces are incredible (even more than its unovian counterpart), meaning you have to guess which set is running. that said, we really needed a ghost-type able to face off against the other ghost-types in the metagame, as i mentioned before, drifloon is making waves as a solid defogger and overall better ghost type after gastly's departure.

1677605594457.png

i know drifloon is working much better as a defogger with gastly gone, but hisuian zorua existing is a pain for it and has to be careful. regardless, acro + tera blast fighting gives it what needs to provide decent hazard removal while burning pokemon and spinblocking, with the plus of bonking pawniard if needed. in fact, it's the go-to pokemon in webs, as it can easily run acro only along with both will-o-wisp and thunder wave, nailing the set with dbond to pick up certain threats for webs teams, providing a lot of utility in the long run and taking at least a pokemon out.

1677604902088.png

i can still see it giving hisuian-zorua hell, since it can check will-o-hex zorua, but it can have some trouble guessing the illusion mindgame with nasty plot on the back. in any case, this pokemon is still a solid one able to face important meta threats and check them while absorbing tspikes and having a great speed tier.

1677605276893.png

no way, jose. crabrawler has improved a lot with gastly gone, but have for sure tera fire stays on LMAO, risks too much against both drifloon and hisuian zorua without it. standard set right now should consider running earthquake/rock slide to deal with mareanie or larvesta, depending on what gives you more trouble.

1677605759197.png

no gastly means more flexibility for webs teams to work. hisuian zorua and drifloon put so much work together by spinblocking, making webs hard to deal with. only drawback is the aforementioned drifloon defogging, but the sheer pressure webs can now put make it really powerful.

1677605789335.png

i would be happy for greavard since gastly is now gone, but sike! hisuian zorua shits a ton on it. still going to be really solid as a spinblocker in webs though.

1677606127887.png

i am having a lot of fun with this bastard. so much fun i sometimes decided to run substitute over ice shard to get one shell smash safely against slower pokemon that may want to status it or switch out, being able to snowball sweep entire unprepared teams with just rock blast + liquidation. thanks to its huge Defense it can set substitute very comfortably against some physical attackers. gastly being gone lifts a heavy weight off shellder, and can only see it getting better.

i still have to keep playing this new metagame, but i will keep posting my thoughts once in a while.
 
With Pokemon Home support coming to Scarlet and Violet in the near future, I wanted to share my thoughts on all the mons that will be transferable, and I'll also share thoughts on the notable DLC mons revealed.

:oshawott: Oshawott will be.. probably terrible. I don't really know what it can offer since it lacks Ceaseless Edge like Samurott has. I think there was talk that it has Knock Off so maybe it can do a little something in LC, even though home should give Knock Off to all the mons that used to have it.

:chespin: Chespin, the Gastly answer we were promised. Sadly Gastly is gone before Chespin could save us but there's still hope for this little guy. Typing + Bulletproof makes it a really effective Foongus check, while Chespin can also deal with Shellder. Big ups for this man.

:fennekin: This thing looks totally ass LOL. Rocks weakness, can't beat Water types except if it uses Grass Knot, idk. Solar Beam is a cool option if you wanted to use a Sun team along the incoming Vulpix in DLC, but it seems pretty bad.

:rowlet: Rowlet honestly looks pretty cool. It's a physical attacker that won't activate Glimmet's Toxic Debris thanks to Long Reach, and has access to Knock Off and other really strong moves like Brave Bird. Priority in Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak is also really cool, but this mon does look eternally walled by Pawniard.

:grookey: The terrorist of Sword and Shield is coming soon, and thankfully to some it looks a little worse than in last gen. It lost access to Grassy Glide, so it loses out on it's super good priority move that was also STAB boosted and terrain boosted. Eviolite SD sets with Wood Hammer could be a really interesting option as a wallbreaker.

:sobble: Useless, next.

:diglett-alola: Alolan Diglett unfortunately is owned by the Kanto counterpart due to being a 19 speeder. Don't think highly of him.

:mehowth: Tried to put regular Meowth sprite but this is an emote..?? This mon will suck but whatever.

:growlithe-hisui: This mon looks really good. Rock Head mon with a really good Speed stat to be a Choice Scarfer, especially with it's crazy strong recoil moves. The 4x Water and Ground weaknesses obviously suck, but this mon will still be good. You can even put this on Webs and be a silly Life Orb sweeper or something. This mon looks great.

:slowpoke-galar: This thing wasn't good before and it likely won't be good now.

:grimer-alola: Losing Pursuit from the SM games really sucks, but this thing could still bully any Psychic types that come from Home or DLC or whatever.

:voltorb-hisui: Great mon, extremely fast Electric type mon that can beat Grounds without Tera bar like Toedscool, and it still won't like facing this guy down. This could replace regular Voltorb on rain teams to not get fucked by Grounds so hard.

:cyndaquil: This mon could do something with Scarf Eruption or something.

:qwilfish-hisui: This thing is probably not touching LC, or will touch LC very briefly. I don't think I have to go into much detail, but Qwil's stats are very good for LC.

:zorua-hisui: This mon just got to LC and already looks really good. NP, Wow Hex, look at the baby Gastly go!

:yanma: I never played in an LC meta with Yanma, but allegedly this thing isn't setting a weird leg thing in LC.

:vulpix: Sun teams obviously get a big upgrade with an auto-setter. Loses Weather Ball so you may have to run the inconsistent Fire Blast. (Also there's no Trapinch to trap Scarf variants)

:cottonee: Cool Prankster haver that doesn't set stupid screens, instead sets stupid Memento.
 
Last edited:
after analyzing the current metagame, i have realized something that people that are smarter than me have probably realized but haven't made a post about it yet - Litleo is looking pretty good at the moment.

Litleo @ Eviolite
Ability: Moxie
Level: 5
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 20 HP / 196 Atk / 84 SpD / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Flame Charge
- Body Slam
- Will-O-Wisp

this thing can't be burned and is immune to hex, which makes it a quite decent check to eviolite zorua-hisui
it's physical to take advantage of moxie which is extremely busted with flame charge
body slam can hit neutral targets pretty well, ngl you can use anything in that slot
this thing usually comes in on weakened targets that the opp wants to sack, then they either do sack it and give you a speed boost from flame charge and an attack boost from moxie, and if they know what is going on they switch out but still have to deal with a +1 speed litleo
thx for reading this, kinda informal and lazy but whatever
 
:voltorb-hisui: Great mon, extremely fast Electric type mon that can beat Grounds without Tera bar like Toedscool, and it still won't like facing this guy down. This could replace regular Voltorb on rain teams to not get fucked by Grounds so hard.
In general I think Voltorb-Hisui is almost a complete upgrade to regular Orb; it keeps all of the utility moves it would reasonably want (Rain Dance, Taunt) but doesn't need to burn Tera early just to dent Mudbray. Not being pure Electric also means Diglett actually has to think about trapping you, especially since you still have 20 speed. If you aren't using a utility option, you could also swap in Tera Blast Fire or Ice to bonk mons like Toeds, Dragons, or opposing Orbs. Grass is also a nice resist for mons like Buizel or Psyduck, and you can also run Solarbeam on Sun teams once Vulpix shows up. Lots of nice traits for any team to have.

The worst weaknesses are Nymble (just run protect to scout for scarfs/zorua lol), Ice Shard (literally just Shellder, except thats really not a good weakness to have), and Ice/Fire Punch (mostly just Crab, to my knowledge.) You also still can't hit Dragons neutrally, but there's no Dragons commonly roaming around right now, and Dragon is not a popular Tera type, and you can just run Tera Ice.





basically,

image-1.png - 2023-03-02T132114.701.png

i may be looking forward to him.
 
I honestly can't wait for Vulpix to come back to the tier. Sun's my favorite teamstyle, and while sun abuse can be pretty powerful, we can achieve some horrendous numbers if we throw tera into the mix.

For example:

196 SpA Solar Power Tera Fire Charmander Overheat over 2 turns vs. 116 HP / 180 SpD Eviolite Mareanie in Sun: 20-25 (86.9 - 108.6%) -- 93.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
196 SpA Solar Power Tera Fire Charmander Overheat vs. 76 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Quaxly in Sun: 17-21 (73.9 - 91.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
196 SpA Solar Power Tera Fire Charmander Overheat over 2 turns vs. 140 HP / 196+ SpD Eviolite Fuecoco in Sun: 20-25 (80 - 100%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after Stealth Rock
 
Last edited:
I honestly can't wait for Vulpix to come back to the tier. Sun's my favorite teamstyle, and while sun abuse can be pretty powerful, we can achieve some horrendous numbers if we throw tera into the mix.
I don't really know how powerful Drought Sun is going to be in Scarlet Violet, but looking at past generations i assume something will be done against it which is unfortunate. Depending on how it all works out we could end up with a Vulpix ban, a Chlorophyll ban or banning certain sun sweepers which is unlikely but who knows.
 
:crabrawler:
Crabrawler @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 5
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 180 Atk / 60 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Tera Blast
- Ice Punch / Earthquake / Gunk Shot

Crabrawler is pretty good as it's own. But Tera Dark solves a lot of problem. Main reasoning behind this is beating Zorua-H which is pretty common and even without new toy syndrome it will be decent due to it's typing. Also being immune to psychic is a nice bonus.
Offensively Scarf is kinda unexpected since Bulk Up variations are fairly common and works. Even if you lose this element of surprise this set just covers a lot. This hits everything neutrally and is super effective against TWELVE types.
EQ is just good in general but main problem with that is most of the time you can just Drain Punch instead and Gunk Shot is usable if you want that sweet Fairy counter. Both feels okay-ish in various match-up's but definetly a lot riskier. Especially considering Toedscool is one the best mon out there and dropping Ice Punch is kind of problematic if you don't have any other ice coverage.
 
:crabrawler:
Crabrawler @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 5
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 180 Atk / 60 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Tera Blast
- Ice Punch / Earthquake / Gunk Shot

Crabrawler is pretty good as it's own. But Tera Dark solves a lot of problem. Main reasoning behind this is beating Zorua-H which is pretty common and even without new toy syndrome it will be decent due to it's typing. Also being immune to psychic is a nice bonus.
Offensively Scarf is kinda unexpected since Bulk Up variations are fairly common and works. Even if you lose this element of surprise this set just covers a lot. This hits everything neutrally and is super effective against TWELVE types.
EQ is just good in general but main problem with that is most of the time you can just Drain Punch instead and Gunk Shot is usable if you want that sweet Fairy counter. Both feels okay-ish in various match-up's but definetly a lot riskier. Especially considering Toedscool is one the best mon out there and dropping Ice Punch is kind of problematic if you don't have any other ice coverage.
The problem here is that Crabrawler hates getting locked into a move, being a huge momentum sink and requiring extreme prediction when running Choice Scarf. You should run Mankey instead, as it has U-turn for pivoting. Mankey also has access to Night Slash/Assurance, making it slightly more capable of dealing with Zorua-Hisui.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top