Format Discussion Metronome Battle

[Ivy]

Go 0 IV 0 EVs in speed if you really want to be a slow bro imo
I saw a guy use Flower Veil and it seemed pretty effective to me so I'm going to try it out myself and see if it's worth it. Too bad Grass isn't that great of a defensive type though.

The best "veil"-type ability is probably Aroma Veil to completely stop Taunt and the like for both partners (letting the other mon use another ability and also not need to be Grass-type). Still largely outclassed by mbounce I'd say.

 

[doipy hooves]

The best "veil"-type ability is probably Aroma Veil to completely stop Taunt and the like for both partners (letting the other mon use another ability and also not need to be Grass-type). Still largely outclassed by mbounce I'd say.

Flower Veil actually works for both mons, so you can have one Flower Veiler and one with another ability. Taunt/friends may be more threatening but there's less of them than debuffs/status so I figure it's still a solid choice.

 

[Alex Rose]

I'm doing quite well (just peaked!) with Flame Body steel types, which I haven't seen a whole lot of. It doesn't always proc, but an early-ish burn doing 40-60% and -2ing attack is such a massive advantage it's probably worth the variance.

Steel (Magearna) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome

Burning (Magearna-Original) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome

Full specially defensive since burns will often be neutering physical hits. I'm using Magearna because Magearna OP, but Registeel or Celesteela are fine substitutes if/when Mag is banned. I've been using Weakness Policy, though I've been meaning to test Maranga Berry (SpD on special hit) for an even more defensive build.

Also when are we enforcing the nickname rule? We can be lenient for new players, but if you're past 1300 your mons should have nicknames!

 

[Ivy]

Also when are we enforcing the nickname rule? We can be lenient for new players, but if you're past 1300 your mons should have nicknames!

Nickname rule was hard-coded earlier but deleted due to popular demand by the noobs :(

 

[Alex Rose]

Awww. Can the validation check peek at the user's ELO? If so we could do "1300+ needs to have nicknames", or some other threshold where the player is serious (or as seriously as metronome battles get) and has been grinding for a bit.

 

[heartscales]

Fun team I've been using. a slight twist on the classic Mews, as they are instead Manaphy.

Hide

50% WEED (Manaphy) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Metronome

50% SEA (Manaphy) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Metronome

Defiant, Competitive, and Weakness Policy really stack up boosts a lot of the time.

also with every post in this thread I'm gonna keep calling out ridaz for copying my Linked text verbatim!

Very fun to use indeed. I am just wondering, is Manaphy really the best for these sets? Why did you choose Manaphy?

 

[doipy hooves]

Just a nitpick but Ash Greninja has over 600 BST so Battle Bond should be banned under the main rule (although it's not really that great anyway)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-735264260 (activates and faints Turn 3)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-735267028 (activates turn 1)

 

[Ridaz]

Regarding the whole "we should ban Torment and Taunt" situation, I hope you know how banning stuff works because...

SMOGON DOES NOT BAN BATTLE MECHANICS.
You're here to play a gambling game, on whatever Metronome rolls.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get into the real problem. That ghost prop that keeps popping up in every battle. Since everyone gets beaten up by that thing and has some annoying resists, Magearna is now banned

Oh and Battle Bond too.

 

[DJSkrelp]

Regarding the whole "we should ban Torment and Taunt" situation, I hope you know how banning stuff works because...

SMOGON DOES NOT BAN BATTLE MECHANICS.
You're here to play a gambling game, on whatever Metronome rolls.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get into the real problem. That ghost prop that keeps popping up in every battle. Since everyone gets beaten up by that thing and has some annoying resists, Magearna is now banned After the hotpatch.

Oh and Battle Bond too.

I am so glad Magearna is getting banned. I think Pokestar Spirit should get banned too. I got pretty high on the ladder with both of them.

Pokestarspirit has too many options. Download, Defiant, or Magic Bounce are all broken if used with the right partner which compliments the ability it chooses to run. (By the way, I'm UmbrionKnight).

 

[Ivy]

That ghost prop that keeps popping up in every battle. Since everyone gets beaten up by that thing and has some annoying resists, Magearna is now banned After the hotpatch.
Oh and Battle Bond too.

is this post supposed to be indecipherable on purpose lmao. first the ghost tease but instead magearna ban, interesting!

 

[Raidx]

Idk if I'd say Pokestar Spirit is broken, but it's definitely overcentralizing. You run into one atleast one every 2 or 3 games and like the user above posted, it has numerous ability options to choose from. Personally I don't really struggle with it at all since I main Scrappy Marshadow, but yeah, it's definitely a controversial mon (if you can even call Pokestar mons "mons" in the first place). Glad to see Magearna getting banned. I'm tired of facing dual Mag/Mag+Spirit every other game.

Anyways, here are a few teams that I've had decent success with on the ladder. I'm currently 29th on the ladder at 1484 ELO using Marshadow + Mega Kang, though that's bound to change ofc due to how volatile the format is and how you can lose to literally anything and your opponent will Imprison you.

marshadow+magnezone

Marshadow @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Metronome

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome

Magnezone has a great typing with a plethora of resistances and Poison immunity, and a high ass SpA stat, which pairs well with Competitive. I've been swapping between Choice Specs and Weakness Policy, but I prefer Specs overall. Also -Speed so that you don't lose to faster mons in the event of Perish Song.

marshadow+mega kang

Marshadow @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Metronome

Kangaskhan-Mega @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Metronome


This is mostly a test team, but it's done me a lot of good since using Kang. The only reason I chose Kang was because of it's fantastic bulk and Normal typing, which gives which trades resistances for only 1 weakness. I've been experimenting with lot's of abilities and I feel Defiant is the superior option, since you can potentially punish random stat drops. Magic Bounce is a solid option as well.

jirachi+zapdos

Jirachi @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome

Zapdos @ Choice Specs
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Metronome


Weakness Policy Jirachi is a nice mon from my experience, being able to comfortably take super effective hits thanks to it's solid bulk as well as being immune to poison which is huge. -Speed is probably better because of Perish Song, but I'm liking max speed Naive. Teravolt Zapdos is interesting because it lets you bypass those Flash Fire M-Scizors/Genesects/Magearnas as well as Lightning Rod Celesteela and such if you get some lucky rolls. Originally I had Moltres instead, but I quickly realized Moltres isn't that great in this compared to other mons (though I'm still gonna do some Moltres testing). Zapdos's great typing with Ground immunity (having ANY immunity in this format is a huge boon imo), great bulk and solid SpA lets it fire off some powerful special attacks if called in, and with Specs, M-Scizor and Genesect go down to most special Fire attacks because of their 4x weakness.

 

[DJSkrelp]

Heatran is very underrated in the current meta, not sure if that is gonna change. It is also very versatile, but in my opinion, not close to broken. Has great bulk and attacks. Though it can run many abilities, I do think Levitate is good. If you run Levitate, it is more of a support mon, and goes well with a weakness policy user. You can even pair it with storm drain camerupt and they seem to do well.

Another low-key amazing mon is Mega Slowbro. Can run many abilities and also do well, and has great synergy with many mons.

 

[urkerab]

I had a quick look to see how many attacks there were of each type. Bear in mind that this includes attacks that are not allowed to be called by Metronome, or will always fail (e.g. Sucker Punch).

18% of attacks are Normal type, which is why Ghost and Steel types are so popular. Ghost is even more popular because 8% of attacks are fighting type, so they're immune to over one quarter of attacks, while only being weak to 9% of attacks. On the other hand Steel resists 58% and is immune to Poison (3%), although it is weak to 20% of attacks, so you would want to consider a secondary type with a Fighting or maybe Fire resistance. At the other end of the scale, only 2% of attacks are Fairy type, which only helps Pokestar Spirit to be viable, as Fairy is its only weakness and it's also immune to Psychic, which takes it up to almost one third immunity. This assumes you're not up against Scrappy or Pixilate of course.

If you decide to use Abilities to give yourself more immunities, then the best single choice is Flash Fire, as 7% of attacks are Fire type, but of course Storm Drain (6%) and Lightning Rod (5%) also protect your ally from single-target moves, except Water Pledge. Of the other Abilities, Sap Sipper covers 6% and Levitate a mere 4% of attacks, so you would probably only want to use them if you have a double weakness.

Of the Abilities that reduce damage, Delta Stream halves damage from 13% of attacks, and protects both allies if they are both Flying type, but also protects your Flying type opponents, while Thick Fat halves damage from 11% of attacks and still allows a Weakness Policy to activate if appropriate.

Speaking of which, you might wonder how easy it is to trigger a Weakness Policy. In this case the best selection would seem to be Terrakion, which is weak to 36% of attacks, although usefully is actually resistant to 42% of attacks. (Perhaps paired with Prism Armor?) Another interesting possibility is Blacephalon, as its Fire typing's 15% weaknesses and 28% resists have no defensive synergy with its Ghost typing.

On the other hand, you could choose your typing to get as much STAB as possible for that juicy 50% extra damage. Scrappy Lopunny-Mega would seem to be a good fit, getting STAB 26% of the time. Perhaps you could run Aerilate Moltres, getting 60% combined STAB + Aerilate on 18% of hits and 50% STAB on 7% of hits. I know it's doubly weak to Rock but you don't have to worry about Stealth Rock and only 3% of attacks are Rock type.

 

[DJSkrelp]

I had a quick look to see how many attacks there were of each type. Bear in mind that this includes attacks that are not allowed to be called by Metronome, or will always fail (e.g. Sucker Punch).

18% of attacks are Normal type, which is why Ghost and Steel types are so popular. Ghost is even more popular because 8% of attacks are fighting type, so they're immune to over one quarter of attacks, while only being weak to 9% of attacks. On the other hand Steel resists 58% and is immune to Poison (3%), although it is weak to 20% of attacks, so you would want to consider a secondary type with a Fighting or maybe Fire resistance. At the other end of the scale, only 2% of attacks are Fairy type, which only helps Pokestar Spirit to be viable, as Fairy is its only weakness and it's also immune to Psychic, which takes it up to almost one third immunity. This assumes you're not up against Scrappy or Pixilate of course.

If you decide to use Abilities to give yourself more immunities, then the best single choice is Flash Fire, as 7% of attacks are Fire type, but of course Storm Drain (6%) and Lightning Rod (5%) also protect your ally from single-target moves, except Water Pledge. Of the other Abilities, Sap Sipper covers 6% and Levitate a mere 4% of attacks, so you would probably only want to use them if you have a double weakness.

Of the Abilities that reduce damage, Delta Stream halves damage from 13% of attacks, and protects both allies if they are both Flying type, but also protects your Flying type opponents, while Thick Fat halves damage from 11% of attacks and still allows a Weakness Policy to activate if appropriate.

Speaking of which, you might wonder how easy it is to trigger a Weakness Policy. In this case the best selection would seem to be Terrakion, which is weak to 36% of attacks, although usefully is actually resistant to 42% of attacks. (Perhaps paired with Prism Armor?) Another interesting possibility is Blacephalon, as its Fire typing's 15% weaknesses and 28% resists have no defensive synergy with its Ghost typing.

On the other hand, you could choose your typing to get as much STAB as possible for that juicy 50% extra damage. Scrappy Lopunny-Mega would seem to be a good fit, getting STAB 26% of the time. Perhaps you could run Aerilate Moltres, getting 60% combined STAB + Aerilate on 18% of hits and 50% STAB on 7% of hits. I know it's doubly weak to Rock but you don't have to worry about Stealth Rock and only 3% of attacks are Rock type.

How big is your brain, son?
Just joking, but yeah, that's a lot of good points :) .

 

[Raidx]

I had a quick look to see how many attacks there were of each type. Bear in mind that this includes attacks that are not allowed to be called by Metronome, or will always fail (e.g. Sucker Punch).

18% of attacks are Normal type, which is why Ghost and Steel types are so popular. Ghost is even more popular because 8% of attacks are fighting type, so they're immune to over one quarter of attacks, while only being weak to 9% of attacks. On the other hand Steel resists 58% and is immune to Poison (3%), although it is weak to 20% of attacks, so you would want to consider a secondary type with a Fighting or maybe Fire resistance. At the other end of the scale, only 2% of attacks are Fairy type, which only helps Pokestar Spirit to be viable, as Fairy is its only weakness and it's also immune to Psychic, which takes it up to almost one third immunity. This assumes you're not up against Scrappy or Pixilate of course.

If you decide to use Abilities to give yourself more immunities, then the best single choice is Flash Fire, as 7% of attacks are Fire type, but of course Storm Drain (6%) and Lightning Rod (5%) also protect your ally from single-target moves, except Water Pledge. Of the other Abilities, Sap Sipper covers 6% and Levitate a mere 4% of attacks, so you would probably only want to use them if you have a double weakness.

Of the Abilities that reduce damage, Delta Stream halves damage from 13% of attacks, and protects both allies if they are both Flying type, but also protects your Flying type opponents, while Thick Fat halves damage from 11% of attacks and still allows a Weakness Policy to activate if appropriate.

Speaking of which, you might wonder how easy it is to trigger a Weakness Policy. In this case the best selection would seem to be Terrakion, which is weak to 36% of attacks, although usefully is actually resistant to 42% of attacks. (Perhaps paired with Prism Armor?) Another interesting possibility is Blacephalon, as its Fire typing's 15% weaknesses and 28% resists have no defensive synergy with its Ghost typing.

On the other hand, you could choose your typing to get as much STAB as possible for that juicy 50% extra damage. Scrappy Lopunny-Mega would seem to be a good fit, getting STAB 26% of the time. Perhaps you could run Aerilate Moltres, getting 60% combined STAB + Aerilate on 18% of hits and 50% STAB on 7% of hits. I know it's doubly weak to Rock but you don't have to worry about Stealth Rock and only 3% of attacks are Rock type.

That's some amazing info you got there. Looking at the numbers, Moltres doesn't seem that bad. When I first used Moltres I felt it was underwhelming and inferior, but this post gives me even more reason to experiment with it some more. I really appreciate you for making this post since it truly puts things into perspective. :)

 

[doipy hooves]

Nice sumup, I assume these are for actual attacking moves only since most of the time status types doesn't matter except for abilities.

Perhaps you could run Aerilate Moltres, getting 60% combined STAB + Aerilate on 18% of hits and 50% STAB on 7% of hits.

I think Moltres has slightly more STAB percentages than what you've laid out. Normal type attacks apparently make up 18% of hits and Fire makes up 7%, so what about Flying moves? Either way I'm not as sold on STAB Moltres as the last poster is, STAB can only go so far and steels are everywhere.

 

[ModernGamer]

Came up with a cool defensive combo:


Shaymin-Sky @ Choice Band
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Metronome

Shaymin-Sky @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Metronome


It's definitely no double steel/top tier set-up, but it covers for a lot.

 

[Zifhael]

Came up with a cool defensive combo:


Shaymin-Sky @ Choice Band
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Metronome

Shaymin-Sky @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Metronome


It's definitely no double steel/top tier set-up, but it covers for a lot.

I tried this shortly after mentioning it to you (if you were the delta stream celesteela/landorus player) and it felt alright but the Shaymins still felt really squishy overall. Just not enough outright resistances. I've had a lot more overall success with Flower veil (Shaymin/Celebi/Shaymin-Sky) + Flash Fire Abomasnow.

(I'm Salisbury Snake / DownsideUp2018)

 

[doipy hooves]

This is the standard Shaymin + Skymin Flower Veil set I've been using. Protection against most debuffs is really helpful. I prefer Weakness Policy over Choice items to take advantage of grass's weaknesses and the Shaymins' bulk (they survive a lot of stuff), and be able to use 2 turn moves. Solar moves really do a lot.

4/20 blaze it (Shaymin) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Flower Veil
Happiness: 128
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome

Aerosmith (Shaymin-Sky) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Tinted Lens
Happiness: 128
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
- Metronome

I've tried different abilities on Skymin since I can do whatever thanks to Shaymin's hax protection, and Tinted Lens seems most consistent for getting some more reliable damage against all the steels and heavy resistances in the meta. Not sure if it's the best though.

Other options: Simple gives huge boosts, Aerilate lets it get STAB and hit ghosts with normal moves, and Thick Fat might help overall survivability. Even Magic Bounce or another Flower Veil could work in theory to be more defensively focused.

Fun fact, Metronome (item) does boost Metronome on PS over the 5 uses but in the end it's basically a Weakness Policy boost and you lose it if you click a move other than Metronome (2 turn move/struggle)

 

[Swagodile]

Perish Song is basically an instant win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-736669129

 

[doipy hooves]

Perish Song is basically an instant win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-736669129

Yeah but it was only because he had a Slowbro. If you run min speed you can faint last more often and win. It's not an instant win for the guy who uses it if that's what you meant.

 

[urkerab]

I think Moltres has slightly more STAB percentages than what you've laid out. Normal type attacks apparently make up 18% of hits and Fire makes up 7%, so what about Flying moves? Either way I'm not as sold on STAB Moltres as the last poster is, STAB can only go so far and steels are everywhere.

Good point; Flying moves were about 4% as I recall.

Perish Song is basically an instant win.

Last time I got Perish Song, I rolled Trick Room to go with it! (But I KO'd my opponent anyway, so it didn't matter either way.)

 

[Raidx]

I was thinking about using the Power items to get the guaranteed -speed on some mons. Power items cut speed in half so it's useful to potentially avoid losing to Perish Song. Replacing an item with a Power item seems better than replacing an ability with Soundproof imo, as abilities are huge in this and you don't want to give those up.

 

[TrainerX493]

Lagging Tail makes you go last every time.

 

[Ivy]

Soon Baneful Bunker, Spotlight, Instruct, Beak Blast, Shell Trap, Fleur Cannon, Spectral Thief, Mind Blown, Plasma Fists, and Photon Geyser will all be removed from the Metronome pool to more accurately simulate USM. The lack of Mind Blown and Shell Trap especially, two super huge nukes, will be pretty nice for mons weak to fire.

Also wtf don't sacrifice your item or ability for perish song-proofing por favor. Just run min speed and pray. Not worth being so paranoid about tbh