Oh, chansey & dusclops are better than mega sableye? I guess their defensive prowess makes up for the lack of an extra immunity then.
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Format Discussion Metronome Battle
- Thread starter Ivy
- Start date
This may be a new forum and a new page, but it's still the same Metronome Battles thread. Let's bring it back with February's usage stats.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-02/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-02/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
We're at 69215 battles, which has lowered to a more typical amount. I wasn't expecting the spike to last, but it's nice to see the bots still around, though not all the time now. Personally I played quite a bit from early-mid February and things seemed generally active enough, though I tend to multitask so I'm not that focused on the time to find a game.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Type: Null (no change)
#3: Blissey (no change)
#4: Necturna (#5)
#5: Mega Heracross (#4)
#6: Mega Ampharos (#18)
#7: Mega Sableye (#6)
#8: Mega Slowbro (no change)
#9: Dusclops (#12)
#10: Dragapult (#16)
Though Venusaur and Type: Null still rule the top 10, there's still change going on. Bot influence has fallen a bit, and we can see some classic mons like Dusclops and Dragapult returning, though Heracross has still fallen from its former glory. Even in raw usage, it's come 3rd to Blissey. Not that I'm asking for a Heracross bot to carry it back up, but it's all interesting how the meta has changed with not just the power of bots, but also human trends still leaving an impact. Another rising star is Mega Ampharos, who was found to be a strong counter to stall through the results of fwqef's winrate post (or at least how I interpreted it). Because of this, I ended up rolling up with Ampharos early on in the month and noticed a few others doing the same. Getting the win relies on getting special moves before you die, and it's definitely a powerful nuke when it works out. One boon about this team is that you're at maximum power on turn 1 and don't have to rely on setup like Defiant/Competitive/Weakness Policy do, which can be slightly more reliable.
An honorable mention goes to Silvally-Ghost making it to #20 with less than 1000 uses. I believe my Mummy team helped carry Silvally up there, since my Protective Pads set has the highest weighting and my Glicko rating was consistently around 1630 when I was laddering. Why Mummy? To be honest I was getting tilted at all the Unaware teams ignoring Weakness Policy and other teams, so in a meta dominated with abilities I figured I would try Mummy to carry on Neutralizing Gas's legacy. Overall I achieved some new personal peaks and filled in some high ladder replays against the MetronomerBot, so I'm happy with this team's performance.
I played around with a few ideas like Dauntless Shield for the boost, but ended up running with a Magic Bounce set most of the time since it's just that helpful to have most of the time. Here's the final team:
Valiant (Silvally-Ghost) @ Protective Pads
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
Nullifier (Type: Null) @ Eviolite
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Right now I haven't been too thorough so don't have much to say moveset-wise (might edit later), other than the top 10 viability ceilings have all kind of fallen compared to last time, but somehow Sableye has the 2nd highest viability ceiling at 81 (Marshadow at 80 and Slowbro at 82). Venusaur's Friend Guard is still the highest weighted ability, probably still from that bot. My Mummy Type: Null is in 2nd at least, though its 4% is a far cry from the 84% Unaware. The weightings probably helped me there to be honest. Also randomly noticed Toxapex's highest item in the stats is a Toxic Orb.
Some interesting news, poke-env supports Metronome Battles now. It actually worked well enough for testing purposes by just inputting "/choose default", but now it's slightly easier to work with since you can use its native move choosing functions. This is personally the most convenient method to set up and run a bot with that I've seen.
In other news, Pokemon made a couple announcements the other day, and on the surface there isn't much to go off of on in terms of developing Metronome Battles. Arceus: Pokemon Legends is a single player game and so there probably won't be any new additions to Showdown from it. As for Sinnoh remakes, without an obvious sign like new legendary formes it doesn't seem like the new games will add anything new to the table for Metronome Battles, but we'll just have to wait and see. Overall I was very disappointed they didn't announce a Metronome Cup for Gen 8 like they did for Gen 7 with Metronome Season, though we are approaching its anniversary so there's a chance.
I may have mentioned this idea before of seeing Sableye as the most noob-friendly Pokemon in this format or something like that. Of course, the clear reason is the unparalleled typing on top of bulk as said above, but that's not why Sableye is consistently top 10 in the weighted AND raw stats. One of the simpler reasons is that Sableye actually learns Metronome in the games. Most people who have no idea that Metronome Battle allows anything will probably choose mons like Alakazam or Mew who learn Metronome naturally. As for why a newbie would pick Sableye specifically, I do not know (YouTube fame?) but it probably comes down to its typing again. Secondly is that Sableye comes with a top tier ability when you click it in the teambuilder, and it isn't desperate for a Choice Band or Weakness Policy to succeed. Last but not least is relative performance and efficiency. So what you end up getting from the teambuilder with 4 clicks (Add Pokemon -> Sableye -> Move -> Metronome) is a simple Sableye set, but one that has a decent chance of surviving. If you want to go a bit further, the teambuilder gives you full EVs and a Naughty nature with two extra clicks, which is not great but I guess Sableye has alright attack to work with. If you paste another Sableye before checking, Showdown suggests a Lax nature which doesn't seem to be as popular judging from the stats.
You may ask if people would really forgo EVs just to use Sableye. Well, it's probably true and you wouldn't even be able to tell in most cases. In making this post I learned something that was surprising, but also made sense. If you copy this Sableye set:
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-02/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-02/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
We're at 69215 battles, which has lowered to a more typical amount. I wasn't expecting the spike to last, but it's nice to see the bots still around, though not all the time now. Personally I played quite a bit from early-mid February and things seemed generally active enough, though I tend to multitask so I'm not that focused on the time to find a game.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Type: Null (no change)
#3: Blissey (no change)
#4: Necturna (#5)
#5: Mega Heracross (#4)
#6: Mega Ampharos (#18)
#7: Mega Sableye (#6)
#8: Mega Slowbro (no change)
#9: Dusclops (#12)
#10: Dragapult (#16)
Though Venusaur and Type: Null still rule the top 10, there's still change going on. Bot influence has fallen a bit, and we can see some classic mons like Dusclops and Dragapult returning, though Heracross has still fallen from its former glory. Even in raw usage, it's come 3rd to Blissey. Not that I'm asking for a Heracross bot to carry it back up, but it's all interesting how the meta has changed with not just the power of bots, but also human trends still leaving an impact. Another rising star is Mega Ampharos, who was found to be a strong counter to stall through the results of fwqef's winrate post (or at least how I interpreted it). Because of this, I ended up rolling up with Ampharos early on in the month and noticed a few others doing the same. Getting the win relies on getting special moves before you die, and it's definitely a powerful nuke when it works out. One boon about this team is that you're at maximum power on turn 1 and don't have to rely on setup like Defiant/Competitive/Weakness Policy do, which can be slightly more reliable.
An honorable mention goes to Silvally-Ghost making it to #20 with less than 1000 uses. I believe my Mummy team helped carry Silvally up there, since my Protective Pads set has the highest weighting and my Glicko rating was consistently around 1630 when I was laddering. Why Mummy? To be honest I was getting tilted at all the Unaware teams ignoring Weakness Policy and other teams, so in a meta dominated with abilities I figured I would try Mummy to carry on Neutralizing Gas's legacy. Overall I achieved some new personal peaks and filled in some high ladder replays against the MetronomerBot, so I'm happy with this team's performance.
I played around with a few ideas like Dauntless Shield for the boost, but ended up running with a Magic Bounce set most of the time since it's just that helpful to have most of the time. Here's the final team:
Valiant (Silvally-Ghost) @ Protective Pads
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
Nullifier (Type: Null) @ Eviolite
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Right now I haven't been too thorough so don't have much to say moveset-wise (might edit later), other than the top 10 viability ceilings have all kind of fallen compared to last time, but somehow Sableye has the 2nd highest viability ceiling at 81 (Marshadow at 80 and Slowbro at 82). Venusaur's Friend Guard is still the highest weighted ability, probably still from that bot. My Mummy Type: Null is in 2nd at least, though its 4% is a far cry from the 84% Unaware. The weightings probably helped me there to be honest. Also randomly noticed Toxapex's highest item in the stats is a Toxic Orb.
Some interesting news, poke-env supports Metronome Battles now. It actually worked well enough for testing purposes by just inputting "/choose default", but now it's slightly easier to work with since you can use its native move choosing functions. This is personally the most convenient method to set up and run a bot with that I've seen.
In other news, Pokemon made a couple announcements the other day, and on the surface there isn't much to go off of on in terms of developing Metronome Battles. Arceus: Pokemon Legends is a single player game and so there probably won't be any new additions to Showdown from it. As for Sinnoh remakes, without an obvious sign like new legendary formes it doesn't seem like the new games will add anything new to the table for Metronome Battles, but we'll just have to wait and see. Overall I was very disappointed they didn't announce a Metronome Cup for Gen 8 like they did for Gen 7 with Metronome Season, though we are approaching its anniversary so there's a chance.
On the surface Chansey is pretty passive and some Dusclops do run Magic Bounce. Though they do have advantages like being able to dynamax, Mega Sableye is probably still better in my opinion. The #1 reason for me is just having one of the best typings in the game that's been historically proven to be banworthy on something with 600 BST (RIP Pokestar Spirit). Ivy is pretty much right about Sableye coming good straight from the teambuilder and I want to expand on that idea.
I may have mentioned this idea before of seeing Sableye as the most noob-friendly Pokemon in this format or something like that. Of course, the clear reason is the unparalleled typing on top of bulk as said above, but that's not why Sableye is consistently top 10 in the weighted AND raw stats. One of the simpler reasons is that Sableye actually learns Metronome in the games. Most people who have no idea that Metronome Battle allows anything will probably choose mons like Alakazam or Mew who learn Metronome naturally. As for why a newbie would pick Sableye specifically, I do not know (YouTube fame?) but it probably comes down to its typing again. Secondly is that Sableye comes with a top tier ability when you click it in the teambuilder, and it isn't desperate for a Choice Band or Weakness Policy to succeed. Last but not least is relative performance and efficiency. So what you end up getting from the teambuilder with 4 clicks (Add Pokemon -> Sableye -> Move -> Metronome) is a simple Sableye set, but one that has a decent chance of surviving. If you want to go a bit further, the teambuilder gives you full EVs and a Naughty nature with two extra clicks, which is not great but I guess Sableye has alright attack to work with. If you paste another Sableye before checking, Showdown suggests a Lax nature which doesn't seem to be as popular judging from the stats.
You may ask if people would really forgo EVs just to use Sableye. Well, it's probably true and you wouldn't even be able to tell in most cases. In making this post I learned something that was surprising, but also made sense. If you copy this Sableye set:
and go into battle with it, Showdown will set you to 252 EVs across the board regardless. I think this is pretty great because even in Gen 7 before the teambuilder change low ladder would just be full of 0 EV mons, so now everyone's on the same level even if they don't know how to do so. This is arguably even better than clicking into the EV section of the teambuilder since you get a neutral nature, also explaining the 12% Hardy sets. This is why I believe Sableye is truly the most efficient mon in this meta in terms of performance per time/thought investment. Any other Pokemon requires a held item to multiply its strength and would prefer a non-default ability to thrive. Sableye is a rare example of a mon that proves BST isn't everything in this metagame, and succeeds purely on its own vanilla traits.Teambuilder said:
Attachments
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Today may be April Fools, but this thread is still the place for serious [Gen 8] Metronome Battle discussion, the only place for pure Metronome gameplay other than (No Obtainable Abilities or Obtainable Moves) Two vs Two [Gen 8] Doubles Ubers (Only Metronome). As we come up to the 3rd anniversary of the format, let's look back to March's usage stats.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-03/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-03/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The battle count has shot back up to 78781. At this point I think it's safe to say that Metronome Battles are in a secure position for the future.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Type: Null (no change)
#3: Blissey (no change)
#4: Necturna (no change)
#5: Mega Heracross (no change)
#6: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#7: Mega Sableye (no change)
#8: Glastrier (#11)
#9: Dragapult (#10)
#10: Mega Camerupt (#14)
This is no joke; not much has changed for the top 10 since last month. Even so, there's always more variety in the actual mons you see in battle than these weighted rankings, but it's a good measure of what's doing well. In this case, balanced bulk seems to be the way to go, with bots lending their contributions as always. The dark horse of the month in my opinion is Alolan Marowak at #26 with 678 raw uses, though #32 Incineroar with 470 is also surprising.
I didn't really play as much this month, but I managed to raise my rating quite a bit with Magic Guard, using the same solid Silvally-Ghost (#19) and Type: Null core. I feel this ability is pretty underrated. It's one of the abilities people recognize for its effect but in practice don't choose it because there are other abilities with more active effects (Intrepid Sword, Magic Bounce). Passive damage doesn't always come into play, but when it happens it can often be a deciding factor/win condition, especially when Dynamax is available. I had Life Orb on Silvally, which can hurt when you lose your ability, but is actually a decently powerful multiplier that is especially noticeable on super effective hits. All the passive damage avoided adds up over time and you can really appreciate the fights that you would've lost without it. Hail and Sandstorm become 25% for the enemy, Leech Seed is nullified, recoil is avoided, crash damage is of no concern, and poison becomes useless (unless you get Toxic into Venom Drench into Gastro Acid). All in all I feel Magic Guard can definitely be a useful ability for most mons but not for everyone, like if you already have a natural status immunity or would rather invest into full offense.
In general news, with the new "instant Elo change display after battle" update, saving replays with displayed ranking is much more reliable. Probably only I care about this but the top 50 replays on the replay site (search for gen8metronomebattle and sort by rank) are now all 1400+. In more relevant news, Smogon is making a new CAP. As always, thanks for your reading.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-03/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-03/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
The battle count has shot back up to 78781. At this point I think it's safe to say that Metronome Battles are in a secure position for the future.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Type: Null (no change)
#3: Blissey (no change)
#4: Necturna (no change)
#5: Mega Heracross (no change)
#6: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#7: Mega Sableye (no change)
#8: Glastrier (#11)
#9: Dragapult (#10)
#10: Mega Camerupt (#14)
This is no joke; not much has changed for the top 10 since last month. Even so, there's always more variety in the actual mons you see in battle than these weighted rankings, but it's a good measure of what's doing well. In this case, balanced bulk seems to be the way to go, with bots lending their contributions as always. The dark horse of the month in my opinion is Alolan Marowak at #26 with 678 raw uses, though #32 Incineroar with 470 is also surprising.
I didn't really play as much this month, but I managed to raise my rating quite a bit with Magic Guard, using the same solid Silvally-Ghost (#19) and Type: Null core. I feel this ability is pretty underrated. It's one of the abilities people recognize for its effect but in practice don't choose it because there are other abilities with more active effects (Intrepid Sword, Magic Bounce). Passive damage doesn't always come into play, but when it happens it can often be a deciding factor/win condition, especially when Dynamax is available. I had Life Orb on Silvally, which can hurt when you lose your ability, but is actually a decently powerful multiplier that is especially noticeable on super effective hits. All the passive damage avoided adds up over time and you can really appreciate the fights that you would've lost without it. Hail and Sandstorm become 25% for the enemy, Leech Seed is nullified, recoil is avoided, crash damage is of no concern, and poison becomes useless (unless you get Toxic into Venom Drench into Gastro Acid). All in all I feel Magic Guard can definitely be a useful ability for most mons but not for everyone, like if you already have a natural status immunity or would rather invest into full offense.
In general news, with the new "instant Elo change display after battle" update, saving replays with displayed ranking is much more reliable. Probably only I care about this but the top 50 replays on the replay site (search for gen8metronomebattle and sort by rank) are now all 1400+. In more relevant news, Smogon is making a new CAP. As always, thanks for your reading.
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Since metronome battles are a luck based metagame, the best way to improve is almost always going to be the team. I would recommend using sample teams such as bonk's stall, imposter blissey, (or mega heracross). I've also attached some teams on this post that I like using as well.Damn, just tilted from ~1300 (I think) to 1183. Sorry about the double post, but this needs to be said now. How can I get myself better at this game
View attachment 332807
^ pissed off about this. people who use this double heracross-mega strat really need to stop using it
View attachment 332808
https://pokepast.es/97dcc9e7c4bd1b48 FV Necturna + Simple Mega-Venu
https://pokepast.es/7cd3fec2b1d810a4 Mega Amphy and Mega Banette
https://pokepast.es/7445b1cf241ac54f Delta Stream stuff (meme but i seriously think tomahawk should be used some more)
https://pokepast.es/ab731f453573de0e More Delta Stream
https://pokepast.es/3d9493a7bd4b9483 Anti Mega-Hera
These teams should work well, and all the teams in the samples on the first post work well. Let me know if you have any questions.
Suggestion: Ban the ability Receiver / Power of Alchemy
as we all know, Sturdinja [Shedinja with Sturdy] is banned in Metronome, however there is a very easy method to bypass this: Receiver / Power of Alchemy.
Both of these abilities function the same: they copy the ability of a fainted mon, and let's say you bring Shedinja with one of these two abilities, alongside a lvl 1 different Pokémon with Sturdy, and...
Of course, you'll probably need to Dynamax Shedinja to receive Max Guard to protect until the other mon faints, which could be tricky, but the thing is, that's a Sturdinja with extra steps.
And as such, I hereby ask for Shedinja to not be allowed to have Receiver / Power of Alchemy.
as we all know, Sturdinja [Shedinja with Sturdy] is banned in Metronome, however there is a very easy method to bypass this: Receiver / Power of Alchemy.
Both of these abilities function the same: they copy the ability of a fainted mon, and let's say you bring Shedinja with one of these two abilities, alongside a lvl 1 different Pokémon with Sturdy, and...
Of course, you'll probably need to Dynamax Shedinja to receive Max Guard to protect until the other mon faints, which could be tricky, but the thing is, that's a Sturdinja with extra steps.
And as such, I hereby ask for Shedinja to not be allowed to have Receiver / Power of Alchemy.
I want to be clear, I did NOT post it as a kind of a whine or something, because my team deals well with this trick already
Although while we're on it, something I think should be suspected is Mega Heracross; Ridiculously high Attack stat with Intrepid Sword and also even more ridiculous usage rates; I know there is a banlist for Metronome tournaments, so I suggest Mega Heracross should go buy a house there
Although while we're on it, something I think should be suspected is Mega Heracross; Ridiculously high Attack stat with Intrepid Sword and also even more ridiculous usage rates; I know there is a banlist for Metronome tournaments, so I suggest Mega Heracross should go buy a house there
It is very easily countered by Imposter Blissey. Ghost type pokemon have a slightly favorable matchup as well. Just learn the game.
Band Intrepid Hera vs Leppa Imposter Blissey - Blissey DESTROYS Heracross
player2 won 810 / 1000 battles against player1 [this took 73.321968 seconds]
Band Intrepid Hera vs Eviolite N-gas Dusclops + Band Comatose MBanette (Ivy's team) -
player2 won 5175 / 10000 battles against player1 [this took 1025.641572 seconds]
UnawareDuscStall won 2604 / 5000 against BandIntrepidHera
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Is there a matchup where Mega Heracross does better than Mega Ampharos? I honestly doubt it.
Hey kids! Are you ready for a long post? Well I am, because today I'm going to dump my 75 Metronome Battle teams here, with description of course. You may ask "Why did you build 75 Metronome Battle teams?" Because it's a good time killer. I'm gonna be putting them in categories. Also, note that a lot of these teams suck, and were mostly just efforts to build creative stuff. Let's get started!
Offense
Ah, offense. The standard team format, offense is just when you have two offensive Pokemon. Simple as that.
I already talked about these teams in an earlier post, and it still rings true, except for two things. One, Mega Lopunny is Bewear now because Bewear is a lot slower and bulkier, and only has a little less power. Two, don't make these Pokemon fast. They don't want to be fast. But besides that, everything else I said in that post is true.
This team uses Air Lock Glastrier to counter weather teams. Volcanion is a really underrated mon in this format; it's a very good teammate to Glastrier, being able to take Fire- and Steel-type attacks, while also using Competitive to defeat bulkier threats.
Glastrier also makes a good teammate with itself. Here we see two Glastrier, with the main feature of the team being that one is Analytic. Water Bubble Glastrier has one IV point in Speed so that the Analytic Glastrier will always move after it. The selling point of Analytic is that it causes Glastrier to hit extremely hard, giving it a 1.3x boost to all of its moves.
This Mega Heracross is Defiant, an ability that is usually not used in place of Intrepid Sword. Defiant Mega Heracross is exceptionally good against stall teams with Ice Scales, as it accrues boosts incredibly quickly. This team also uses a tech in Leppa Mega Camerupt, which is used for two purposes: to outlast stall, and to outslow Glastrier while still hitting hard.
Definitely one of the more interesting things you'll see on this post, Electric Surge + Galvanize Mega Ampharos is designed to hit incredibly hard onto Pokemon that don't resist it. Camerupt was chosen as the Electric Surge setter due to his Electric immunity and the ability to Mega Evolve, allowing Mega Camerupt to use Sheer Force, a much better ability than Electric Surge.
Flare Boost Hoopa hits incredibly hard, shredding stall teams with special moves. Friend Guard Mega Heracross is able to protect Hoopa from excessive damage, as Flame Orb chips away at its health each time. Another option is Healer Mega Heracross, which may sound strange, but at the end of every turn, if Healer activates, Flame Orb activates right afterwards, so Hoopa will retain its status immunity without taking any chip damage at the end of the turn. Friend Guard is better though due to Healer's inconsistency.
A unique team, Krilowatt and Guzzlord both wield Innards Out and aim to counter an opponent's nuke with it. They both have incredibly high HP, and Krilowatt offers some key resistances in a pinch as well.
Not much to note here, just two incredibly strong wallbreakers able to hit both physical and special attackers. It's very standard as far as this post goes.
This team makes use of some rare Pokemon, including a Pokestar! Pokestar UFO is very bulky, powerful with both physical and special attacks, and has a strong Electric/Flying type to boot with only two weaknesses. This makes it a prime candidate to use the Life Orb + Magic Guard combo. Assisting it is Mega Sharpedo, who synergizes well offensively with Pokestar UFO and is able to provide some firepower, though it wants to run Prism Armor for some added defense.
Two users of Minus will give both of the Mega Ampharos 1.5x Special Attack, making them incredibly deadly especially if they get their Weakness Policy activated. Even without it, any special attack they use will hit very hard.
Hey look at that, another Pokestar! Pokestar Humanoid is usually overlooked but this time it was chosen because of its stats of 100 across the board and its pure Normal-typing, giving it only one weakness and STAB on Normalize. Pokestar Giant could also be considered, but Pokestar Humanoid is so exceedingly rare in Metronome Battle that it would be impossible to figure out its set until late in the battle, making it all the sweeter. Besides that, Mega Heracross is just a generic breaker I guess.
Mega Altaria is an attempt to counter the extremely high usage of Mega Sableye on ladder (it isn't that good, is it?) and is also just a powerful Pokemon, able to utilize both physical and special moves and having an extremely good defensive typing, with a total of 7 resistances as well as a Dragon immunity.
This is like the other team, but instead of having Weakness Policy, these Mega Ampharos are armed with Choice Specs. Moving on.
The only time when I can use Pangoro with a reason, the panda's claim to fame over Urshifu is not being really fast. Instead of being an unholy 97 speed outspeeding everything meta, funny panda is instead 58 speed, not even touched by the majority of offense and Flower Veil teams. Oh yeah and Prism Armor Glastrier is cool too, it does what you would expect.
Featuring an unorthodox Mega and Intrepid Sword user, Mega Lopunny is able to hit for strong damage with its Scrappy STABs. It's paired with Defiant Glastrier in order to cause as much damage as possible. Anything that isn't Unaware will probably take a big chunk of damage.
The only three types weak to both Fire and Water are Ice / Ground, Bug / Ground, and Steel / Ground. Steel-types are banned, and the only Bug / Ground types are Wormadam-Sandy and Nincada, leaving us with Mamoswine. It's a slow wallbreaker, until you hit it with a Fire- or Water-type move. Then suddenly it's at +2 Attack, +2 Special Attack, and +6 Speed, ready to claim some kills. Even if it doesn't get the Steam Engine boost, it's still powerful with Weakness Policy on its own.
Last time we had Aerilate Thundurus, but this time we have crit god Thundurus. It was chosen because of its high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stat without being a frail mess. It also only has two weaknesses. Due to the power of crits, Thundurus is actually an incredibly fierce wallbreaker, and will deal a ton of damage every hit without fail.
An attempt to make Surge Surfer do something, Electric Surge is here to give Mega Banette a big Speed buff and also power up Mega Ampharos's moves. The speed lets Mega Banette outslow Pheromosa in terrain. Mega Banette's high Attack power usually helps out here.
This team uses a strange Mold Breaker user in Mega Abomasnow. He's mainly for the stall matchup, being able to easily proc a Weakness Policy off of weak attacks and then ignore abilities like Unaware and Ice Scales while firing off powerful attacks. Decided not to use Flower Veil here because it doesn't have enough reward for Mono-Grass to be worth it.
This is a standard team, which utilizes Unaware Mega Ampharos to ignore the Defense boosts on the opponent. Not much more to say.
Unburden Mega Heracross, using the same benchmark of 220 Speed to achieve exactly what Mega Banette did. Well, it kinda does what Mamoswine did more. It's a slow breaker until you activate its Weakness Policy, and then suddenly it's at +2 Attack, +2 Special Attack, and +2 Speed, and with the help of Choice Band Mega Heracross, it can put some serious dents in teams.
This team is very standard offense, using two common Pokemon with mostly standard sets. Nothing to talk about here.
Stall
Stall is going to be mostly made up of Type: Null and Dusclops; they are the two best Pokemon on stall, without a doubt. However, there are certainly other Pokemon that are viable on stall, and we're going to look at some of them.
Anger Point is a really good ability on stall, basically Dusclops can take a weak crit attack and then get to +6, reaching about 950 Attack, and then he is not only very bulky but he hits incredibly hard, giving stall options against their bad matchups. Friend Guard Type: Null lets Dusclops take more attacks to make it more likely that he gets crit. This team is actually good and I feel it might even be able to peak the ladder (or at least get close).
The Color Change ability allows Type: Null to be very fluid in his advantages and his disadvantages, making him unpredictable. Unaware Dusclops is there to beat boosted attackers, like Mega Heracross and Glastrier. Simple enough.
Contrary Type: Null takes advantage of all of the stat drops and makes them stat raises instead, while Dusclops helps out with special attackers due to its Ice Scales ability.
It may not seem like it, but Damp is a very good ability on stall. One of the biggest reasons why stall loses is because one of the team members randomly explodes, taking out the stall team's entire advantage. However, Damp prevents anyone from using Explosion, so that means once your walls are set up, they stay set up. Unaware Type: Null is also even more useful when supported by Damp than on a regular stall team.
Flarelm is a very underrated Pokemon on stall teams. It's nearly as bulky as Type: Null while having a different typing that gives it four resistances instead of just one immunity to Ghost. Flarelm is combined with Flame Body Mega Slowbro to infinitely wall physical attackers. Also, even though Shedinja ++ Sturdy has been banned, Flame Body Mega Slowbro is still useful to burn strong physical attackers like Mega Heracross.
This is just bonk stall, but I have it in my builder anyways. Next!
An attempt to use Starf Berry + Harvest, Mega Audino seemed to be a good candidate here due to its several immunities and incredibly strong bulk allowing it to stay alive while using the Starf Berry + Harvest combo. I truly think Mega Audino is one of stall's best Pokemon, as it's basically Type: Null when you need to hold an item. Anyway, the Type: Null is just generic stall support.
A rare Blissey stall, Healer Type: Null support allows the Blissey to take advantage of Mega Heracross and other Intrepid Sword users, as it usually does, without the fear of status which is one of Blissey's biggest threats. This stall shines as an anti-meta stall, able to fight back against regular stall's bad matchups.
Yes, Eiscue. Eiscue is able to always take a physical hit due to Ice Face, which then allows it to proc its Kee Berry giving it 393 Defense (equal to about 130 Defense) which can allow it to live a lot of physical hits. It doesn't run 0 EV 0 IV Speed because Eiscue-Noice is actually quite fast at 130, so once it gets set up, it is able to use its speed to quickly deal damage or spread status.
Very standard stall, nothing to see here.
Intimidate is a nice ability on stall, being able to cut down the strength of physical attackers is very useful since physical attackers are the most common type of attacker. Unaware Type: Null is to beat the Defiant and Competitive users that would otherwise counter this strategy.
Pretty standard stall, everything does what you would expect it to do.
Another stall team with Flarelm, this team features Misty Surge, which alongside the normal effects turns Type: Null into a Fairy-type for 5 turns due to Mimicry. This team doesn't really have utility aside from Misty Surge, but the Pokemon are just very fat so you can use that to win.
Another Misty Surge team, this team uses Mega Audino which is a very good partner to Dusclops. There is no Mimicry on this team, but similar to the previous team, this team just uses its huge bulk to win games.
This team utilizes the Dauntless Shield + Misty Seed combo, which gives Mega Audino +1 Defense and +1 Special Defense, alongside status immunity for 5 turns. Although Type: Null doesn't like not being able to have an ability of its own, it can still get by.
Mummy is a niche ability on stall which can get rid of many dangerous abilities. It is chosen over Wandering Spirit because if you hit the Wandering Spirit target again, you can give them their ability back.
Balance
I put balance after stall because honestly, balance gets really weird. These are where all of the jankiest teams are going. Have fun!
Type: Null's Power Spot buffs Zeraora's attacks by 1.3x, making him a very strong wallbreaker with Life Orb + Magic Guard adding an additional 1.3x boost and an immunity to passive damage. Zeraora was chosen due to his high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, his one weakness, and his decent bulk. This all makes him a good candidate for the Life Orb + Magic Guard combo.
Berserk is a nice ability, not too good since you have to damage yourself but it isn't bad. Volcanion has a good typing to use this, and Zygarde is a good partner able to take Rock- and Electric-type attacks for Volcanion (and also Ground moves since it's not weak to those) and can use Friend Guard to help Volcanion stay in Berserk longer.
Bulletproof is a very niche ability which doesn't absorb all moves of one type like Sap Sipper would, but it can remove the threat of moves of several types at a time like Energy Ball Focus Blast, and Octazooka. Rhydon is a good Bulletproof user because it's very bulky and weak to a lot of these moves as well, so Bulletproof can protect Rhydon.
Similar to Eiscue, Mimikyu is able to take a hit with Disguise and then activate its Kee Berry, reaching around 145 Defense. Although Disguise can also be broken by special attacks, Mimikyu is by far superior to Eiscue due to its better defensive typing and stats in comparison to Eiscue-Noice.
This is a big meme lol. Luxray was chosen as the Galvanize user because he had only one weakness, high Attack, decent bulk, good Special Attack and not particularly high Speed. Then I chose Mega Camerupt as a partner because... I don't know. Mega Camerupt's pretty cool tho.
Cramorant has been talked about a bunch of times but basically when Cramorant is hit by a physical attack for the first time you get to use Gulping Missile and do 25% damage and -1 Def to the attacker. A lot of people like running Jaboca Cramorant for extra damage but I run Kee Berry because Cramorant is pretty physically frail, and Kee Berry brings him to about 107 Defense, giving him good overall bulk. With Volcanion to deal damage from the special side, this is a threatening pair.
Mega Slowbro is able to steal Weakness Policy from the opponent, or other items like Choice Specs. Grimmsnarl is a very good defensive partner to Mega Slowbro, with a Lightning Rod ability to redirect threatening Electric-type moves and make him a stronger mixed attacker, and a good defensive typing that takes a lot of hits that Mega Slowbro doesn't want to take.
This team was made because of an idea I had with Pickup, basically the Jaboca Berry should proc before the Weakness Policy most of the time, and if that happens, once the Lightning Rod Mega Slowbro uses Weakness Policy the Pickup Mega Slowbro gets it too, and allows for a little more damage. Gimmicky, but not the worst.
Sap Sipper Swampert is infuriatingly bulky. No weaknesses and strong stats with 110 HP and 90 Defense and Special Defense. Of course I also have to give it a Bright Powder now... I pair it up with Honchkrow for similar reasons why I picked Luxray. In addition, it also synergizes well with Swampert.
This team is pretty standard, nothing to see here.
Prism Armor Glastrier allows it to not take so much damage while activating Weakness Policy. Eelektross was chosen as a partner to this set due to high Attack and Special Attack, decent bulk, low Speed, and only one weakness. Of course this means it must run Bright Powder instead of Weakness Policy, but it doesn't need Weakness Policy to not be passive.
Deciding to build around Mega Camerupt, I added Galarian Moltres, who is immune to Ground-type attacks and adds some much-needed firepower to this team. Galarian Moltres is a really underrated Pokemon in general honestly.
Once Glastrier uses up its Weakness Policy, Mega Audino gives it another Weakness Policy. If that doesn't work out, you'll have two Pokemon at +2 Attack and +2 Special Attack, so it'll work out anyways.
Flower Veil
Flower Veil is a very common strategy on ladder which consists of using two Grass-type Pokemon on your team and giving one Flower Veil, which will protect your team from stat drops and status. While running mono-Grass isn't always optimal and so the playstyle isn't great, it is a legitimate type of team and it has even peaked the ladder before. Because Flower Veil can come in the form of any of the previous playstyles, I will mark the team with a Z-Crystal that indicates offense, (
) balance, (
) or stall. (
)
Opening up with a very unused mon, Lileep with Eviolite is about as bulky as its partner, Mega Venusaur, and has a strong Rock / Grass typing that synergizes with Grass / Poison very well. Lileep uses Aroma Veil in order to protect the team from Taunt, Torment, and Disable, moves that can easily break apart a stall team. Kee Berry Mega Venusaur also helps to be physically bulkier than Weakness Policy Mega Venusaur.
A very standard Flower Veil, nothing to see here.
Featuring Lileep yet again, this time it's the Flower Veil user. Malaconda was chosen because it has a variety of weakness, allowing it to activate its Weakness Policy easier, while also having a very good stat spread for Metronome Battle. Dauntless Shield is to patch up its main weakness in its poor Defense.
Another very standard team, it's the other team with Abomasnow but with Flash Fire instead of Competitive.
Necturna is a super good Pokemon on Flower Veil teams, since it has such a good stat spread and a Ghost-typing. It's used here with an anti-stall / anti-Blissey tech. Mega Venusaur is standard.
Gogoat is the highest HP Grass-type Pokemon, so if Imposter fails somehow, the team still has a Grass-type to go back on. However usually Gogoat will not be a Grass-type. However the team aims to be a Flower Veil with a better matchup against offense than standard, so Gogoat can transform into a strong offensive Pokemon with a powerful wall by its side.
I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the upcoming weather section, but I decided to put it here. Anyway, Mega Abomasnow's Primordial Sea prevents both Pokemon from being hit by powerful Fire-type moves that could spell both of their demise. Other than that, the team is standard.
Very standard. I don't really have to say anything about it tbh.
Zarude has a ton of weaknesses, letting it activate its Weakness Policy easier than other offensive Grass-types, and uses Shadow Shield to activate Weakness Policy easier, though usually it won't activate its Weakness Policy at full health.
Mega Venusaur is not Flower Veil, but is instead Soundproof, protecting it from threatening moves like Boomburst, Overdrive, and Eerie Spell. Ludicolo is chosen as the Flower Veil user because it synergizes well with Soundproof Mega Venusaur.
This team uses standard Venusaur with Dauntless Shield -> Thick Fat to become an incredibly threatening wall under Flower veil.
Tinted Lens Alolan Exeggutor is a force to be reckoned with, dealing very high amounts of damage while having very low Speed and good bulk. This is also one of the only teams on this post without the Flower Veil user being Mega Venusaur or even having a Mega Venusaur on their team. The Flower Veil user is instead Mega Abomasnow, who can combat Alolan Exeggutor's Ice weakness while Alolan Exeggutor covers Mega Abomasnow's Fire weakness.
Weather
There are actually three different types of weather teams. Sun can patch up weaknesses to Water, strengthen Fire moves, and activate sun-based abilities. Rain is used for the opposite effect. Finally, Delta Stream is able to remove a Flying-type's weaknesses, making for very sturdy walls and powerful balance attackers.
Delta Stream makes Toucannon's bulk much better, as it removes all weaknesses that Toucannon has. This, combined with its Attack and Bright Powder, lets it be an effective mon on Delta Stream.
Basically just read this post and go to the second team and pretend it's about this team.
"this is because normally, stream users would miss out on a self-support ability, but not aerodactyl. after mega camerupt dies, or whatever other time you feel is necessary, aerodactyl can mega evolve and gain tough claws, being able to support itself after mega camerupt's death."
This is a basic team, using rain in order to remove Glastrier's Fire weakness while still having it activate its Weakness Policy.
Armaldo, in sun, only has weaknesses to the uncommon types Rock and Steel. It also has high Attack, low speed, and good bulk. This makes it a good choice for a Drought user. Emboar is incredibly powerful under sun and after a boost can do some serious damage.
This team uses Desolate Land Coalossal in order to activate Flower Gift Cherrim, which will reward both Pokemon with a lot more Attack and Special Defense. This also makes Cherrim a good Weakness Policy user since it can take special attacks.
This team is very similar to the double Glastrier team from earlier, but this time it uses Primordial Sea and a wall in Mega Venusaur to turn the previous offense team into a balance team.
This is another team that utilizes Coalossal's Desolate Land in order to gain an ability out of the other Pokemon. Namely, Solar Power Chandelure will do a ton of damage with special attacks. Bright Powder Chandelure is another option for more longevity, but it comes at the cost of power.
This team uses Swift Swim Snaelstrom for a fast Weakness Policy user. If Mega Venusaur dies, Snaelstrom will then become as slow as possible due to its careful Speed investment.
Bonus - Viability Rankings!
This is entirely a personal thing but I wanted to do it anyways. This VR is ordered alphabetically, and also note that a Pokemon doesn't have to be on this VR to be useful in Metronome Battle; a lot of Pokemon that I didn't rank here are on my teams. Here it is!
S Rank
Glastrier
Mega Heracross
Type: Null
Mega Venusaur
A+ Rank
Mega Ampharos
Mega Camerupt
Dusclops
Mega Slowbro
A Rank
Mega Abomasnow
Ampharos
Mega Audino
Necturna
Volcanion
B+ Rank
Mega Aerodactyl
Cramorant-Gulping
Galarian Moltres
Thundurus
B Rank
Aerodactyl
Blissey
Cramorant-Gorging
Emboar
Flarelm
C Rank
Absol
Chomera
Lileep
Ludicolo
Pyroak
Shaymin-Sky
Toucannon
D Rank
Eelektross
Mega Gengar
Landorus-Therian
Mamoswine
Mega Pidgeot
Mega Sharpedo
Offense
Ah, offense. The standard team format, offense is just when you have two offensive Pokemon. Simple as that.
I already talked about these teams in an earlier post, and it still rings true, except for two things. One, Mega Lopunny is Bewear now because Bewear is a lot slower and bulkier, and only has a little less power. Two, don't make these Pokemon fast. They don't want to be fast. But besides that, everything else I said in that post is true.
This team uses Air Lock Glastrier to counter weather teams. Volcanion is a really underrated mon in this format; it's a very good teammate to Glastrier, being able to take Fire- and Steel-type attacks, while also using Competitive to defeat bulkier threats.
Glastrier also makes a good teammate with itself. Here we see two Glastrier, with the main feature of the team being that one is Analytic. Water Bubble Glastrier has one IV point in Speed so that the Analytic Glastrier will always move after it. The selling point of Analytic is that it causes Glastrier to hit extremely hard, giving it a 1.3x boost to all of its moves.
This Mega Heracross is Defiant, an ability that is usually not used in place of Intrepid Sword. Defiant Mega Heracross is exceptionally good against stall teams with Ice Scales, as it accrues boosts incredibly quickly. This team also uses a tech in Leppa Mega Camerupt, which is used for two purposes: to outlast stall, and to outslow Glastrier while still hitting hard.
Definitely one of the more interesting things you'll see on this post, Electric Surge + Galvanize Mega Ampharos is designed to hit incredibly hard onto Pokemon that don't resist it. Camerupt was chosen as the Electric Surge setter due to his Electric immunity and the ability to Mega Evolve, allowing Mega Camerupt to use Sheer Force, a much better ability than Electric Surge.
Flare Boost Hoopa hits incredibly hard, shredding stall teams with special moves. Friend Guard Mega Heracross is able to protect Hoopa from excessive damage, as Flame Orb chips away at its health each time. Another option is Healer Mega Heracross, which may sound strange, but at the end of every turn, if Healer activates, Flame Orb activates right afterwards, so Hoopa will retain its status immunity without taking any chip damage at the end of the turn. Friend Guard is better though due to Healer's inconsistency.
A unique team, Krilowatt and Guzzlord both wield Innards Out and aim to counter an opponent's nuke with it. They both have incredibly high HP, and Krilowatt offers some key resistances in a pinch as well.
Not much to note here, just two incredibly strong wallbreakers able to hit both physical and special attackers. It's very standard as far as this post goes.
This team makes use of some rare Pokemon, including a Pokestar! Pokestar UFO is very bulky, powerful with both physical and special attacks, and has a strong Electric/Flying type to boot with only two weaknesses. This makes it a prime candidate to use the Life Orb + Magic Guard combo. Assisting it is Mega Sharpedo, who synergizes well offensively with Pokestar UFO and is able to provide some firepower, though it wants to run Prism Armor for some added defense.
Two users of Minus will give both of the Mega Ampharos 1.5x Special Attack, making them incredibly deadly especially if they get their Weakness Policy activated. Even without it, any special attack they use will hit very hard.
Hey look at that, another Pokestar! Pokestar Humanoid is usually overlooked but this time it was chosen because of its stats of 100 across the board and its pure Normal-typing, giving it only one weakness and STAB on Normalize. Pokestar Giant could also be considered, but Pokestar Humanoid is so exceedingly rare in Metronome Battle that it would be impossible to figure out its set until late in the battle, making it all the sweeter. Besides that, Mega Heracross is just a generic breaker I guess.
Mega Altaria is an attempt to counter the extremely high usage of Mega Sableye on ladder (it isn't that good, is it?) and is also just a powerful Pokemon, able to utilize both physical and special moves and having an extremely good defensive typing, with a total of 7 resistances as well as a Dragon immunity.
This is like the other team, but instead of having Weakness Policy, these Mega Ampharos are armed with Choice Specs. Moving on.
The only time when I can use Pangoro with a reason, the panda's claim to fame over Urshifu is not being really fast. Instead of being an unholy 97 speed outspeeding everything meta, funny panda is instead 58 speed, not even touched by the majority of offense and Flower Veil teams. Oh yeah and Prism Armor Glastrier is cool too, it does what you would expect.
Featuring an unorthodox Mega and Intrepid Sword user, Mega Lopunny is able to hit for strong damage with its Scrappy STABs. It's paired with Defiant Glastrier in order to cause as much damage as possible. Anything that isn't Unaware will probably take a big chunk of damage.
The only three types weak to both Fire and Water are Ice / Ground, Bug / Ground, and Steel / Ground. Steel-types are banned, and the only Bug / Ground types are Wormadam-Sandy and Nincada, leaving us with Mamoswine. It's a slow wallbreaker, until you hit it with a Fire- or Water-type move. Then suddenly it's at +2 Attack, +2 Special Attack, and +6 Speed, ready to claim some kills. Even if it doesn't get the Steam Engine boost, it's still powerful with Weakness Policy on its own.
Last time we had Aerilate Thundurus, but this time we have crit god Thundurus. It was chosen because of its high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stat without being a frail mess. It also only has two weaknesses. Due to the power of crits, Thundurus is actually an incredibly fierce wallbreaker, and will deal a ton of damage every hit without fail.
An attempt to make Surge Surfer do something, Electric Surge is here to give Mega Banette a big Speed buff and also power up Mega Ampharos's moves. The speed lets Mega Banette outslow Pheromosa in terrain. Mega Banette's high Attack power usually helps out here.
This team uses a strange Mold Breaker user in Mega Abomasnow. He's mainly for the stall matchup, being able to easily proc a Weakness Policy off of weak attacks and then ignore abilities like Unaware and Ice Scales while firing off powerful attacks. Decided not to use Flower Veil here because it doesn't have enough reward for Mono-Grass to be worth it.
This is a standard team, which utilizes Unaware Mega Ampharos to ignore the Defense boosts on the opponent. Not much more to say.
Unburden Mega Heracross, using the same benchmark of 220 Speed to achieve exactly what Mega Banette did. Well, it kinda does what Mamoswine did more. It's a slow breaker until you activate its Weakness Policy, and then suddenly it's at +2 Attack, +2 Special Attack, and +2 Speed, and with the help of Choice Band Mega Heracross, it can put some serious dents in teams.
This team is very standard offense, using two common Pokemon with mostly standard sets. Nothing to talk about here.
Stall
Stall is going to be mostly made up of Type: Null and Dusclops; they are the two best Pokemon on stall, without a doubt. However, there are certainly other Pokemon that are viable on stall, and we're going to look at some of them.
Anger Point is a really good ability on stall, basically Dusclops can take a weak crit attack and then get to +6, reaching about 950 Attack, and then he is not only very bulky but he hits incredibly hard, giving stall options against their bad matchups. Friend Guard Type: Null lets Dusclops take more attacks to make it more likely that he gets crit. This team is actually good and I feel it might even be able to peak the ladder (or at least get close).
The Color Change ability allows Type: Null to be very fluid in his advantages and his disadvantages, making him unpredictable. Unaware Dusclops is there to beat boosted attackers, like Mega Heracross and Glastrier. Simple enough.
Contrary Type: Null takes advantage of all of the stat drops and makes them stat raises instead, while Dusclops helps out with special attackers due to its Ice Scales ability.
It may not seem like it, but Damp is a very good ability on stall. One of the biggest reasons why stall loses is because one of the team members randomly explodes, taking out the stall team's entire advantage. However, Damp prevents anyone from using Explosion, so that means once your walls are set up, they stay set up. Unaware Type: Null is also even more useful when supported by Damp than on a regular stall team.
Flarelm is a very underrated Pokemon on stall teams. It's nearly as bulky as Type: Null while having a different typing that gives it four resistances instead of just one immunity to Ghost. Flarelm is combined with Flame Body Mega Slowbro to infinitely wall physical attackers. Also, even though Shedinja ++ Sturdy has been banned, Flame Body Mega Slowbro is still useful to burn strong physical attackers like Mega Heracross.
This is just bonk stall, but I have it in my builder anyways. Next!
An attempt to use Starf Berry + Harvest, Mega Audino seemed to be a good candidate here due to its several immunities and incredibly strong bulk allowing it to stay alive while using the Starf Berry + Harvest combo. I truly think Mega Audino is one of stall's best Pokemon, as it's basically Type: Null when you need to hold an item. Anyway, the Type: Null is just generic stall support.
A rare Blissey stall, Healer Type: Null support allows the Blissey to take advantage of Mega Heracross and other Intrepid Sword users, as it usually does, without the fear of status which is one of Blissey's biggest threats. This stall shines as an anti-meta stall, able to fight back against regular stall's bad matchups.
Yes, Eiscue. Eiscue is able to always take a physical hit due to Ice Face, which then allows it to proc its Kee Berry giving it 393 Defense (equal to about 130 Defense) which can allow it to live a lot of physical hits. It doesn't run 0 EV 0 IV Speed because Eiscue-Noice is actually quite fast at 130, so once it gets set up, it is able to use its speed to quickly deal damage or spread status.
Very standard stall, nothing to see here.
Intimidate is a nice ability on stall, being able to cut down the strength of physical attackers is very useful since physical attackers are the most common type of attacker. Unaware Type: Null is to beat the Defiant and Competitive users that would otherwise counter this strategy.
Pretty standard stall, everything does what you would expect it to do.
Another stall team with Flarelm, this team features Misty Surge, which alongside the normal effects turns Type: Null into a Fairy-type for 5 turns due to Mimicry. This team doesn't really have utility aside from Misty Surge, but the Pokemon are just very fat so you can use that to win.
Another Misty Surge team, this team uses Mega Audino which is a very good partner to Dusclops. There is no Mimicry on this team, but similar to the previous team, this team just uses its huge bulk to win games.
This team utilizes the Dauntless Shield + Misty Seed combo, which gives Mega Audino +1 Defense and +1 Special Defense, alongside status immunity for 5 turns. Although Type: Null doesn't like not being able to have an ability of its own, it can still get by.
Mummy is a niche ability on stall which can get rid of many dangerous abilities. It is chosen over Wandering Spirit because if you hit the Wandering Spirit target again, you can give them their ability back.
Balance
I put balance after stall because honestly, balance gets really weird. These are where all of the jankiest teams are going. Have fun!
Type: Null's Power Spot buffs Zeraora's attacks by 1.3x, making him a very strong wallbreaker with Life Orb + Magic Guard adding an additional 1.3x boost and an immunity to passive damage. Zeraora was chosen due to his high Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, his one weakness, and his decent bulk. This all makes him a good candidate for the Life Orb + Magic Guard combo.
Berserk is a nice ability, not too good since you have to damage yourself but it isn't bad. Volcanion has a good typing to use this, and Zygarde is a good partner able to take Rock- and Electric-type attacks for Volcanion (and also Ground moves since it's not weak to those) and can use Friend Guard to help Volcanion stay in Berserk longer.
Bulletproof is a very niche ability which doesn't absorb all moves of one type like Sap Sipper would, but it can remove the threat of moves of several types at a time like Energy Ball Focus Blast, and Octazooka. Rhydon is a good Bulletproof user because it's very bulky and weak to a lot of these moves as well, so Bulletproof can protect Rhydon.
Similar to Eiscue, Mimikyu is able to take a hit with Disguise and then activate its Kee Berry, reaching around 145 Defense. Although Disguise can also be broken by special attacks, Mimikyu is by far superior to Eiscue due to its better defensive typing and stats in comparison to Eiscue-Noice.
This is a big meme lol. Luxray was chosen as the Galvanize user because he had only one weakness, high Attack, decent bulk, good Special Attack and not particularly high Speed. Then I chose Mega Camerupt as a partner because... I don't know. Mega Camerupt's pretty cool tho.
Cramorant has been talked about a bunch of times but basically when Cramorant is hit by a physical attack for the first time you get to use Gulping Missile and do 25% damage and -1 Def to the attacker. A lot of people like running Jaboca Cramorant for extra damage but I run Kee Berry because Cramorant is pretty physically frail, and Kee Berry brings him to about 107 Defense, giving him good overall bulk. With Volcanion to deal damage from the special side, this is a threatening pair.
Mega Slowbro is able to steal Weakness Policy from the opponent, or other items like Choice Specs. Grimmsnarl is a very good defensive partner to Mega Slowbro, with a Lightning Rod ability to redirect threatening Electric-type moves and make him a stronger mixed attacker, and a good defensive typing that takes a lot of hits that Mega Slowbro doesn't want to take.
This team was made because of an idea I had with Pickup, basically the Jaboca Berry should proc before the Weakness Policy most of the time, and if that happens, once the Lightning Rod Mega Slowbro uses Weakness Policy the Pickup Mega Slowbro gets it too, and allows for a little more damage. Gimmicky, but not the worst.
Sap Sipper Swampert is infuriatingly bulky. No weaknesses and strong stats with 110 HP and 90 Defense and Special Defense. Of course I also have to give it a Bright Powder now... I pair it up with Honchkrow for similar reasons why I picked Luxray. In addition, it also synergizes well with Swampert.
This team is pretty standard, nothing to see here.
Prism Armor Glastrier allows it to not take so much damage while activating Weakness Policy. Eelektross was chosen as a partner to this set due to high Attack and Special Attack, decent bulk, low Speed, and only one weakness. Of course this means it must run Bright Powder instead of Weakness Policy, but it doesn't need Weakness Policy to not be passive.
Deciding to build around Mega Camerupt, I added Galarian Moltres, who is immune to Ground-type attacks and adds some much-needed firepower to this team. Galarian Moltres is a really underrated Pokemon in general honestly.
Once Glastrier uses up its Weakness Policy, Mega Audino gives it another Weakness Policy. If that doesn't work out, you'll have two Pokemon at +2 Attack and +2 Special Attack, so it'll work out anyways.
Flower Veil
Flower Veil is a very common strategy on ladder which consists of using two Grass-type Pokemon on your team and giving one Flower Veil, which will protect your team from stat drops and status. While running mono-Grass isn't always optimal and so the playstyle isn't great, it is a legitimate type of team and it has even peaked the ladder before. Because Flower Veil can come in the form of any of the previous playstyles, I will mark the team with a Z-Crystal that indicates offense, (
) balance, () or stall. () Opening up with a very unused mon, Lileep with Eviolite is about as bulky as its partner, Mega Venusaur, and has a strong Rock / Grass typing that synergizes with Grass / Poison very well. Lileep uses Aroma Veil in order to protect the team from Taunt, Torment, and Disable, moves that can easily break apart a stall team. Kee Berry Mega Venusaur also helps to be physically bulkier than Weakness Policy Mega Venusaur.
A very standard Flower Veil, nothing to see here.
Featuring Lileep yet again, this time it's the Flower Veil user. Malaconda was chosen because it has a variety of weakness, allowing it to activate its Weakness Policy easier, while also having a very good stat spread for Metronome Battle. Dauntless Shield is to patch up its main weakness in its poor Defense.
Another very standard team, it's the other team with Abomasnow but with Flash Fire instead of Competitive.
Necturna is a super good Pokemon on Flower Veil teams, since it has such a good stat spread and a Ghost-typing. It's used here with an anti-stall / anti-Blissey tech. Mega Venusaur is standard.
Gogoat is the highest HP Grass-type Pokemon, so if Imposter fails somehow, the team still has a Grass-type to go back on. However usually Gogoat will not be a Grass-type. However the team aims to be a Flower Veil with a better matchup against offense than standard, so Gogoat can transform into a strong offensive Pokemon with a powerful wall by its side.
I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the upcoming weather section, but I decided to put it here. Anyway, Mega Abomasnow's Primordial Sea prevents both Pokemon from being hit by powerful Fire-type moves that could spell both of their demise. Other than that, the team is standard.
Very standard. I don't really have to say anything about it tbh.
Zarude has a ton of weaknesses, letting it activate its Weakness Policy easier than other offensive Grass-types, and uses Shadow Shield to activate Weakness Policy easier, though usually it won't activate its Weakness Policy at full health.
Mega Venusaur is not Flower Veil, but is instead Soundproof, protecting it from threatening moves like Boomburst, Overdrive, and Eerie Spell. Ludicolo is chosen as the Flower Veil user because it synergizes well with Soundproof Mega Venusaur.
This team uses standard Venusaur with Dauntless Shield -> Thick Fat to become an incredibly threatening wall under Flower veil.
Tinted Lens Alolan Exeggutor is a force to be reckoned with, dealing very high amounts of damage while having very low Speed and good bulk. This is also one of the only teams on this post without the Flower Veil user being Mega Venusaur or even having a Mega Venusaur on their team. The Flower Veil user is instead Mega Abomasnow, who can combat Alolan Exeggutor's Ice weakness while Alolan Exeggutor covers Mega Abomasnow's Fire weakness.
Weather
There are actually three different types of weather teams. Sun can patch up weaknesses to Water, strengthen Fire moves, and activate sun-based abilities. Rain is used for the opposite effect. Finally, Delta Stream is able to remove a Flying-type's weaknesses, making for very sturdy walls and powerful balance attackers.
Delta Stream makes Toucannon's bulk much better, as it removes all weaknesses that Toucannon has. This, combined with its Attack and Bright Powder, lets it be an effective mon on Delta Stream.
Basically just read this post and go to the second team and pretend it's about this team.
"this is because normally, stream users would miss out on a self-support ability, but not aerodactyl. after mega camerupt dies, or whatever other time you feel is necessary, aerodactyl can mega evolve and gain tough claws, being able to support itself after mega camerupt's death."
This is a basic team, using rain in order to remove Glastrier's Fire weakness while still having it activate its Weakness Policy.
Armaldo, in sun, only has weaknesses to the uncommon types Rock and Steel. It also has high Attack, low speed, and good bulk. This makes it a good choice for a Drought user. Emboar is incredibly powerful under sun and after a boost can do some serious damage.
This team uses Desolate Land Coalossal in order to activate Flower Gift Cherrim, which will reward both Pokemon with a lot more Attack and Special Defense. This also makes Cherrim a good Weakness Policy user since it can take special attacks.
This team is very similar to the double Glastrier team from earlier, but this time it uses Primordial Sea and a wall in Mega Venusaur to turn the previous offense team into a balance team.
This is another team that utilizes Coalossal's Desolate Land in order to gain an ability out of the other Pokemon. Namely, Solar Power Chandelure will do a ton of damage with special attacks. Bright Powder Chandelure is another option for more longevity, but it comes at the cost of power.
This team uses Swift Swim Snaelstrom for a fast Weakness Policy user. If Mega Venusaur dies, Snaelstrom will then become as slow as possible due to its careful Speed investment.
Bonus - Viability Rankings!
This is entirely a personal thing but I wanted to do it anyways. This VR is ordered alphabetically, and also note that a Pokemon doesn't have to be on this VR to be useful in Metronome Battle; a lot of Pokemon that I didn't rank here are on my teams. Here it is!
S Rank
Glastrier Mega Heracross Type: Null Mega VenusaurA+ Rank
Mega Ampharos Mega Camerupt Dusclops Mega SlowbroA Rank
Mega Abomasnow Ampharos Mega Audino Necturna VolcanionB+ Rank
Mega Aerodactyl Cramorant-Gulping Galarian Moltres ThundurusB Rank
Aerodactyl Blissey Cramorant-Gorging Emboar FlarelmC Rank
Absol
Lileep Ludicolo Pyroak Shaymin-Sky ToucannonD Rank
Eelektross Mega Gengar Landorus-Therian Mamoswine Mega Pidgeot Mega Sharpedo
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Yo, I FINALLY have another team for y'all! I wanted to make a team that could help me climb back to the leaderboards, as I was losing my ELO very quickly. Tilting freaking sucks if you aren't prepared.
I originally went with this team with Imposter Blissey and Friend Guard Venusaur-Mega, but I tilted even more due to me being a bit... salty.
I decided to take out Blissey, and I wanted to use a strong attacker that could tank hits well.
I decided to use Glastrier. It's S rank in AV Cosmoem's tier list, and it had big attack and defense stats. Glastrier originally had Huge Power and Choice Band, but Huge Power was banned so I used a Life Orb-Download combo. I wanted to design a bulky-offensive team.
The Team itself:
/ F L Y T R A P / (Venusaur-Mega) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
Simply just a Friend Guard set. The reason why I went with Choice Specs is because of special attacking nonsense. Venusaur-Mega could tank a LOT of hits, due to its high defense and special defense, and it can do a lot of damage back. Go to the replays list in this post for further details. It's a pretty bulky tank overall.
/ H O R S E / (Glastrier) @ Life Orb
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Metronome
Another really good physical attacker with high defense and special defense overall. Due to this synergizing with Friend Guard, it allows it to tank some hits and get more attacks done. This team went on versus a double heracross team btw. Life Orb and Download so it can (probably) check some threats. It allows it to sweep some teams with some ease, and companying Friend Guard Venusaur-Mega helps the two take down some bois.
A weakness I found is Mega-Ampharos, since I run into them a bit frequently. They keep tanking my hits and do big damage back... Feel free to let me know if this needs changes!
I originally went with this team with Imposter Blissey and Friend Guard Venusaur-Mega, but I tilted even more due to me being a bit... salty.
I decided to take out Blissey, and I wanted to use a strong attacker that could tank hits well.
I decided to use Glastrier. It's S rank in AV Cosmoem's tier list, and it had big attack and defense stats. Glastrier originally had Huge Power and Choice Band, but Huge Power was banned so I used a Life Orb-Download combo. I wanted to design a bulky-offensive team.
The Team itself:
/ F L Y T R A P / (Venusaur-Mega) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
Simply just a Friend Guard set. The reason why I went with Choice Specs is because of special attacking nonsense. Venusaur-Mega could tank a LOT of hits, due to its high defense and special defense, and it can do a lot of damage back. Go to the replays list in this post for further details. It's a pretty bulky tank overall.
/ H O R S E / (Glastrier) @ Life Orb
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Metronome
Another really good physical attacker with high defense and special defense overall. Due to this synergizing with Friend Guard, it allows it to tank some hits and get more attacks done. This team went on versus a double heracross team btw. Life Orb and Download so it can (probably) check some threats. It allows it to sweep some teams with some ease, and companying Friend Guard Venusaur-Mega helps the two take down some bois.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328796167
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328802274
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328804357-owf451s9ch8zjy7tdoryuz6x9sortiypw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328806143-sq1u7d27ewpu2gt4z3aymd4hhtr5vp5pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329120523 (it suprises me that this team could take down two mega heracrosses)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329121610
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328802274
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328804357-owf451s9ch8zjy7tdoryuz6x9sortiypw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1328806143-sq1u7d27ewpu2gt4z3aymd4hhtr5vp5pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329120523 (it suprises me that this team could take down two mega heracrosses)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329121610
A weakness I found is Mega-Ampharos, since I run into them a bit frequently. They keep tanking my hits and do big damage back... Feel free to let me know if this needs changes!
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Just in case you all didn't see this, I will be talking about the latest addition to the metronome battles meta, in the form of the new CAP Pokemon, Chromera!
Now this is an addition that I feel will really shake up the meta to some extent, as this mon is gonna be good. With an super bulky stat spread with 85/115/100 defenses, along with a 115 base special attack, this mon is going to be great on stall teams. Its Dark/Poison typing gives it only 1 weakness, 4 resistances, and an immunity. I feel that it will mostly be used as a substitute for other mons in stall teams, so likewise the team I'm going to attach is simply that. Stealing from AV Cosmoem's second to last stall team.
Chromera @ Misty Seed
Ability: Dauntless Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Audino-Mega @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
After just a few games, I can tell already that this mon is strong. Starting every game with +1 in its defenses is great, and it can tank many hits throughout the match. Some other good teams that I can see Chromera fitting on are going to be friend guard and unaware teams, and can also fit with many balance teams as well. There is also an option to run a more offensive set, but due to the lower attack stat I feel that these bulky sets will eventually prevail.
EDIT: Here is a good replay showcasing the bulk of Chromera as it wins a 2v1 that goes down to struggle turns. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329359606
Now this is an addition that I feel will really shake up the meta to some extent, as this mon is gonna be good. With an super bulky stat spread with 85/115/100 defenses, along with a 115 base special attack, this mon is going to be great on stall teams. Its Dark/Poison typing gives it only 1 weakness, 4 resistances, and an immunity. I feel that it will mostly be used as a substitute for other mons in stall teams, so likewise the team I'm going to attach is simply that. Stealing from AV Cosmoem's second to last stall team.
Chromera @ Misty Seed
Ability: Dauntless Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Audino-Mega @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
After just a few games, I can tell already that this mon is strong. Starting every game with +1 in its defenses is great, and it can tank many hits throughout the match. Some other good teams that I can see Chromera fitting on are going to be friend guard and unaware teams, and can also fit with many balance teams as well. There is also an option to run a more offensive set, but due to the lower attack stat I feel that these bulky sets will eventually prevail.
EDIT: Here is a good replay showcasing the bulk of Chromera as it wins a 2v1 that goes down to struggle turns. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1329359606
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New CAP released, here are my thoughts on Chomera.
Realistically, it's a better version of Eelektross, with the only downside being higher Speed. It has superior bulk and an immunity to poison, which can be very helpful.
I'll put it in C rank and drop Eelektross to D.
Realistically, it's a better version of Eelektross, with the only downside being higher Speed. It has superior bulk and an immunity to poison, which can be very helpful.
I'll put it in C rank and drop Eelektross to D.
New mon time! I made this team just so I could test it out. Because Chromera's only weakness is ground, we have a new mon to company Swampert + Sap Sipper.
THE LION (Chromera) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
YankeeWithNoBrim (Venusaur-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
This is a mixed offensive team I made. Chromera gets Levitate due to its only weakness, Ground, and Venusaur-Mega is self explanatory. Now Chromera joins the boat with Swampert for no type weaknesses if a hacked ability is used. Chromera is a special attacker, and Venusaur-Mega is a psychical attacker.
THE LION (Chromera) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
YankeeWithNoBrim (Venusaur-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Metronome
This is a mixed offensive team I made. Chromera gets Levitate due to its only weakness, Ground, and Venusaur-Mega is self explanatory. Now Chromera joins the boat with Swampert for no type weaknesses if a hacked ability is used. Chromera is a special attacker, and Venusaur-Mega is a psychical attacker.
Yo, I'm loving the amount of activity here. I recently decided to pull out the poke_env again and test UnzipsCrogre's theory:
Here are the all the teams used: https://pokepast.es/e080cf46f9927381
Winning Benchmark = 1045/2000 wins (~5% chance for any side to be 1045 wins or more if each side is equal strength)
Which means Losing Benchmark = 955/2000 wins
--------------------
BandIntrepidHera won 1007 / 2000 against SpecsMinusAmphy [this took 156.40647864341736 seconds] - Inconclusive
BandIntrepidHera won 1080 / 2000 against SpecsCompetitiveAmphy [this took 293.4769673347473 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 937 / 2000 against SpecsDownloadAmphy [this took 410.1853938102722 seconds] - Amphy wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1010 / 2000 against SpecsMBounceAmphy [this took 545.0327889919281 seconds] - Inconclusive
BandIntrepidHera won 1150 / 2000 against SpecsAnalyticAmphy [this took 688.3201687335968 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1087 / 2000 against WPMinusAmphy [this took 816.616947889328 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1133 / 2000 against WPCompetitiveAmphy [this took 950.8991897106171 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1076 / 2000 against WPDownloadAmphy [this took 1076.4866478443146 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1070 / 2000 against WPMBounceAmphy [this took 1217.223785161972 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1166 / 2000 against WPAnalyticAmphy [this took 1353.5578067302704 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1184 / 2000 against BandDefiantAmphy [this took 1469.1472690105438 seconds] - Hera wins
--------------------
Some observations:
1. Ampharos only had a winning matchup against Heracross with Specs Download set. Keep in mind Heracross has a lower special defense stat which means Ampharos gets a special attack boost. Ampharos went toe to toe with Heracross with the Specs Minus set and the Specs Magic Bounce set.
2. Heracross had a winning matchup vs all of the Weakness Policy sets while the matchups were more even with the Specs set. It could be the case that Specs is the superior choice against HO while weakness policy is the superior choice against bulky teams.
SpecsMinusAmphy won 2903 / 5000 battles against Bonkstall [this took 373.540063 seconds]
WPMinusAmphy won 2868 / 5000 battles against Bonkstall [this took 326.732424 seconds]
...nvm, I guess Specs is the strictly better choice.
3. Analytic sucks. Heracross got a crushing matchup against both the Specs and WP sets.
4. Don't use choice band defiant on Ampharos lol
Soo yeah... Heracross is better off in general against Mega Ampharos actually.
I made a bunch of Mega Ampharos teams and pitted them against Band Intrepid Mega Heracross.
Here are the all the teams used: https://pokepast.es/e080cf46f9927381
Winning Benchmark = 1045/2000 wins (~5% chance for any side to be 1045 wins or more if each side is equal strength)
Which means Losing Benchmark = 955/2000 wins
--------------------
BandIntrepidHera won 1007 / 2000 against SpecsMinusAmphy [this took 156.40647864341736 seconds] - Inconclusive
BandIntrepidHera won 1080 / 2000 against SpecsCompetitiveAmphy [this took 293.4769673347473 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 937 / 2000 against SpecsDownloadAmphy [this took 410.1853938102722 seconds] - Amphy wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1010 / 2000 against SpecsMBounceAmphy [this took 545.0327889919281 seconds] - Inconclusive
BandIntrepidHera won 1150 / 2000 against SpecsAnalyticAmphy [this took 688.3201687335968 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1087 / 2000 against WPMinusAmphy [this took 816.616947889328 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1133 / 2000 against WPCompetitiveAmphy [this took 950.8991897106171 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1076 / 2000 against WPDownloadAmphy [this took 1076.4866478443146 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1070 / 2000 against WPMBounceAmphy [this took 1217.223785161972 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1166 / 2000 against WPAnalyticAmphy [this took 1353.5578067302704 seconds] - Hera wins
BandIntrepidHera won 1184 / 2000 against BandDefiantAmphy [this took 1469.1472690105438 seconds] - Hera wins
--------------------
Some observations:
1. Ampharos only had a winning matchup against Heracross with Specs Download set. Keep in mind Heracross has a lower special defense stat which means Ampharos gets a special attack boost. Ampharos went toe to toe with Heracross with the Specs Minus set and the Specs Magic Bounce set.
2. Heracross had a winning matchup vs all of the Weakness Policy sets while the matchups were more even with the Specs set. It could be the case that Specs is the superior choice against HO while weakness policy is the superior choice against bulky teams.
SpecsMinusAmphy won 2903 / 5000 battles against Bonkstall [this took 373.540063 seconds]
WPMinusAmphy won 2868 / 5000 battles against Bonkstall [this took 326.732424 seconds]
...nvm, I guess Specs is the strictly better choice.
3. Analytic sucks. Heracross got a crushing matchup against both the Specs and WP sets.
4. Don't use choice band defiant on Ampharos lol
Soo yeah... Heracross is better off in general against Mega Ampharos actually.
I think the question was more about matchups against other teams and which Pokémon has more of an advantage against the meta in general. Also, I’m pretty sure you didn’t use Analytic right; it can only ever benefit one Pokémon per turn, so you would want to make only one Ampharos have Analytic and either give the other one some extra speed investment or Prankster.
Oh yeah, you're right about Analytic. Thanks for pointing that out.
I don't think any team is particularly better. From my previous tests, Mega Heracross seemed to struggle against ghost types, especially Unaware Dusclops, while Mega Ampharos has a great matchup against ghosts, possibly because there are a lot of normal and fighting type physical moves in the game. Mega Heracross also has an extremely bad matchup against Imposter Blissey. But besides those 2 matchups, Mega Heracross does better than Mega Ampharos. The best mon to bring is up to whoever is currently playing on the ladder.
If you guys want any matchups tested, feel free to ask.
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Mellow1004
Banned deucer.
This the Current World Record of Metronome Glitchless in 1 Turn by Mellow1004
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1330948633
After 1500 Metronome match, I had never managed to equalize my 2-lap record, I really did not expect it and I am very happy that it is finally happening. A record surely to equal one day but to this day I have never seen anyone achieve such a record. I am very happy to have obtained this World Record and I think I will keep it for a long time ! 
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Hey Mellow! I’ve seen you around on ladder from time to time, do you remember me?This the Current World Record of Metronome Glitchless in 1 Turn by Mellow1004
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1330948633
Sorry to break it to you, but I already had the world record from 2 years ago
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-841195995
Mellow1004
Banned deucer.
Yes I remember you,Hey Mellow! I’ve seen you around on ladder from time to time, do you remember me?
Sorry to break it to you, but I already had the world record from 2 years ago
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-841195995
I suspected that this feat had already been achieved in the past. If we base ourselves on the rules of the world record, we both have the World Record. Especially since this feat must not have happened a lot of times. I'm still happy to have my turn to achieve this feat ^^ Well let's cut the pear in half and say that you have the World Record Turn 1 for the boys and I have the World Record Turn 1 for the girls. 
Nice to see the thread active. Here's my turn 1 Shaymin win! https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7metronomebattle-803496604
Before we hit page 29, here are April's usage stats.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-04/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-04/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
We are staying relatively high with 71876 battles, though dropping a bit. I think we're almost at a year since these battle counts have mattered.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Blissey (#3)
#3: Type: Null (#2)
#4: Mega Heracross (#5)
#5: Necturna (#4)
#6: Dusclops (#13)
#7: Mega Sableye (no change)
#8: Pokestar UFO (#15)
#9: Mega Ampharos (#6)
#10: Dragapult (#9)
The rankings have been shuffled quite a bit, with Pokestar UFO making a surprise entrance into the top 10. From my understanding there was a French ladder tournament event that led to some shakeups in top ladder (ALT1SU people), so that might have contributed to some of these changes as well as the relatively high average weight per team of 0.101. If anything I can see it giving Heracross its 82 viability ceiling, the only mon this month to break the 80 benchmark. Mega Venusaur still reigns at the top though, even in raw usage.
I don't have much else to say here since I did not personally play that much this month. The moveset data hasn't really changed, though there are still some facts to point out like about ~85% of Necturna are Ivy's sample set. Bonk's tall Dusclops is most used, but Unaware Type: Null eclipses Friend Guard, probably due to MetronomerBot. The recent King's Rock/Quick Claw/rng item talk over in Policy Review inspired me to bring out the King's Rock Serene Grace Dragapult team again, and I tried Quick Claw Ampharos but it wasn't that great.
As for a unique team, I tried out a glitch reported today from the bug reports thread, where Ripen + weakness berry halves all damage for the rest of the match. The team I used was Chromera + Chilan Berry. Chilan Berry can activate on any normal move, and Chromera is new/defensive/can afford to sacrifice its item and ability/can get hit by normal moves/is the kind of mon that doesn't really have many weaknesses to the point that Weakness Policy would be better. Quartering damage from an initial normal attack can be nice too. I would not call this reliable to activate or banworthy, but it can be a fun option while it lasts and surprisingly tanky when it works. Here are some replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332940902 - z move
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332927785 - explosion
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332947123 - Early Thrash
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332949108 - Turn 6: +3 skull bash vs -1 chromera
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1333039087-qjf2vrq4r7cw6bfwuzb5xaz9n4cc0chpw - the 1v2 comeback
EDIT: Also this damage reduction only takes effect as long as you have the ability. Still, it's like a reverse Weakness Policy and could be a lot better if it could activate on any weakness.
Before we hit page 29, here are April's usage stats.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-04/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-04/moveset/gen8metronomebattle-1630.txt
We are staying relatively high with 71876 battles, though dropping a bit. I think we're almost at a year since these battle counts have mattered.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Venusaur (no change)
#2: Blissey (#3)
#3: Type: Null (#2)
#4: Mega Heracross (#5)
#5: Necturna (#4)
#6: Dusclops (#13)
#7: Mega Sableye (no change)
#8: Pokestar UFO (#15)
#9: Mega Ampharos (#6)
#10: Dragapult (#9)
The rankings have been shuffled quite a bit, with Pokestar UFO making a surprise entrance into the top 10. From my understanding there was a French ladder tournament event that led to some shakeups in top ladder (ALT1SU people), so that might have contributed to some of these changes as well as the relatively high average weight per team of 0.101. If anything I can see it giving Heracross its 82 viability ceiling, the only mon this month to break the 80 benchmark. Mega Venusaur still reigns at the top though, even in raw usage.
I don't have much else to say here since I did not personally play that much this month. The moveset data hasn't really changed, though there are still some facts to point out like about ~85% of Necturna are Ivy's sample set. Bonk's tall Dusclops is most used, but Unaware Type: Null eclipses Friend Guard, probably due to MetronomerBot. The recent King's Rock/Quick Claw/rng item talk over in Policy Review inspired me to bring out the King's Rock Serene Grace Dragapult team again, and I tried Quick Claw Ampharos but it wasn't that great.
As for a unique team, I tried out a glitch reported today from the bug reports thread, where Ripen + weakness berry halves all damage for the rest of the match. The team I used was Chromera + Chilan Berry. Chilan Berry can activate on any normal move, and Chromera is new/defensive/can afford to sacrifice its item and ability/can get hit by normal moves/is the kind of mon that doesn't really have many weaknesses to the point that Weakness Policy would be better. Quartering damage from an initial normal attack can be nice too. I would not call this reliable to activate or banworthy, but it can be a fun option while it lasts and surprisingly tanky when it works. Here are some replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332940902 - z move
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332927785 - explosion
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332947123 - Early Thrash
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1332949108 - Turn 6: +3 skull bash vs -1 chromera
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8metronomebattle-1333039087-qjf2vrq4r7cw6bfwuzb5xaz9n4cc0chpw - the 1v2 comeback
EDIT: Also this damage reduction only takes effect as long as you have the ability. Still, it's like a reverse Weakness Policy and could be a lot better if it could activate on any weakness.
The phrase "get myself better" is not that applicable to Metronome to be honest. You are dissatisfied with what happened, losing, imperfection of a craft. However, as mentioned, metronome battles is 99% teambuilding/metagaming and so you can always grind rank with a tried and true strat or do your own thing, or both. Either way it's all a gambling game and it should be fun however you find fun in it. When you stop getting angry after losing, you've started winning. There's always a chance that anything can happen and there's always another game to play, never settle on a single loss. Thanks for your reading.Damn, just tilted from ~1300 (I think) to 1183. Sorry about the double post, but this needs to be said now. How can I get myself better at this game
^ pissed off about this. people who use this double heracross-mega strat really need to stop using it
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Hey there! I was playing quite a bunch recently and i hit top 50. Wanted to share my team and see what i can change for the better.
Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Venusaur-Mega @ Bright Powder
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
My idea was to bring up an offensive team with the well known simple + weakness policy combo. Tyranitar is pretty good at this due to its 7 weaknesses, great bulk and even greater mixed offenses. What I tried to do with M-Venu is make sure that Ttar is alive as long as possible. Friend Guard boosting ttar defences by 25% not only makes ttar able to tank super effective moves pretty well and even survive strong fighting moves but also makes ttar pretty healthy so that it can stay in the match as long as possible to dish out damage after taking a super effective hit. Brightpowder makes Venusaur stay around for a bit more time. Without M Venu taking hits and making Ttar Bulkier with Friend Guard, Ttar cant stay in for that many turns.
I choose Venu over a ghost type because of its immunity to poison and Powder moves, but not being able to Dynamax it is a bit annoying sometimes. I also seem to struggle against intrpepid sword + choice band teams, sometimes they bring ttar very low with ease forcing me to D-max or risk it being killed (sometimes i prefeer D-Max since venusaur can handle offensive teams while Ttar sponge hits with Max guard).
Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Venusaur-Mega @ Bright Powder
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
My idea was to bring up an offensive team with the well known simple + weakness policy combo. Tyranitar is pretty good at this due to its 7 weaknesses, great bulk and even greater mixed offenses. What I tried to do with M-Venu is make sure that Ttar is alive as long as possible. Friend Guard boosting ttar defences by 25% not only makes ttar able to tank super effective moves pretty well and even survive strong fighting moves but also makes ttar pretty healthy so that it can stay in the match as long as possible to dish out damage after taking a super effective hit. Brightpowder makes Venusaur stay around for a bit more time. Without M Venu taking hits and making Ttar Bulkier with Friend Guard, Ttar cant stay in for that many turns.
I choose Venu over a ghost type because of its immunity to poison and Powder moves, but not being able to Dynamax it is a bit annoying sometimes. I also seem to struggle against intrpepid sword + choice band teams, sometimes they bring ttar very low with ease forcing me to D-max or risk it being killed (sometimes i prefeer D-Max since venusaur can handle offensive teams while Ttar sponge hits with Max guard).