, why favorite fire starter, has been buffed with two incredible new tools : Scorching Sand, 70bp ground move with 30% burn chance as well as Alluring Voice, a 80bp fairy:move. DLC2 brought along 
, one of my favorite mons as well, that got two new incredible tools : Psychic Noise, 75bp :psychic: move that blocks healing (leftovers/g.terrain included) for 2 turns and Flip Turn.
gained grassy glide back a few months ago, but didn't played much DLC1 cause fuck Gambit. + + The starting point. From the get go,
shuts down most physical threats even those with EQ coverage thanks to g.terrain support (ex: 
, 
, 
, 
, etc.) while most special attackers must respect . G.Terrain also helps prolong 's longevity.They complement each other remarkably well against cheese like tera ground
/
, as if the opponent decides to commit against , will simply have to pick them up with grassy glide. + + + 
The first issue I wanted to address regards psychic and ghost types, who I had no answer against, especially the pervasive
and 
. No one better than Hammy in order to punish every switch-ins with unavoidable progress 90% of the time. However its real value lies in the fact that's its the best answer against leads, while being very efficient if scarfed against 
and 
leads. + + + + 
Four painful dead angles were physical grass that can hit
SE (
, 
, , etc.), volt switch mons (
), toxic (
) and that pesky 
's always lurking... If only a new mon was introduced that could constantly handle every one of them...Enter
. What an incredible mon. And his potential raises exponentially with g.terrain support because it starts walling and more broadly simply refuses to die. Every lazy VoltTurn pivot will get punished with a mighty +1 defense boost and the threat of an even mightier body press. God I love this mon. And bonus point, he can set SR for you. And bonus bonus point, he can phaze with dragon tail which conflates nicely with his own SR and Hammy's spikes (a hazard stack that can get semi-protected thanks to spin block and constant pressure against 
). :fairy: are immune of course, but they won't be celebrating much before getting hit by a stab steel move in the face. + + + + + 
My team utilizes lots of non-boot items, so I needed some hazard control. No one more efficient than good old Tusky. He also helps knocking off items, has a usefull immunity against electric types and serves as a second line of defense against
. He got a very handful new toy too (Temper Flare) that I was eager to try out.Team Analysis
Primarina @ Assault Vest
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic Noise
- Flip Turn
- Moonblast
- Surf
Laughs at the face of
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, and many more, while either hitting back like a truck (2hko every single one of them) or pivoting out safely another progress enablers. A big help against rain teams.Psychic Noise has been overall useless aside from blocking
(but taking care of him can enable a sweep so it is worthwhile).No recovery and no leftovers aside from g.terrain and the hazard chip stacks up fast, so each one of her entrances must be meaningful. Which isn't that difficult cause again, she hits like a truck, but setting up hazards the fastest possible is still crucial as primarina's life is on a timer and so must be the opponent's special threats.
Tera fairy primarina is my only consistent answer against special electric types, and serves as a last line of defense against
in the event that Tusk is down.Incredibly fun to play, it feels like a cute Otter shaped ressource that you have to constantly manage.
Skeledirge @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Alluring Voice
- Scorching Sands
- Torch Song
- Slack Off
The anti-snowball snowball. he puts a stop to
, , 
, 
and all physical set-up dragon types, all the while threatening to be a wincon.Alluring Voice and Scorching Sand helps him get immediate damage against the threats it checks (very handfull vs poisonning/defense drop/crit fishing and it minimizes the amounts of slack offs you must use before having enough Torch Song boosts (vs
)).Having a decently strong fairy move forces most dark types (and
) to respect Dirge as he's not a sitting duck anymore. And once all offensive poison types are taken care of, tera Fairy becomes an incredible potent wincon.Leftovers instead of boots helps minimize the number of Slack Offs used per encounter as
gets heavily solicited.Rillaboom @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
The heart of the team. Losing him means losing the game, not only because he's the key player vs the most egregious threats in the tier right now thanks to grassy glide revenge kill, his terrain enables the whole defensive gameplan : keeping the teammates healthy and halving the damage of the loathesome earthquakes.
Knock Off is great in order to enable
hazard stack + phazing wincon. And he's a solid wincon himself with Tera grass grassy glide or wood hammer spam against stall teams.Samurott-Hisui @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sharpness
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Flip Turn
- Razor Shell
- Knock Off
Usually leads the game, either by setting up spikes, by pivoting out or knocking off
's light clay. Against ghost heavy teams (), I try keeping him alive in order to have a progress enabler revenge killer, or an emergency switch-in. My go-to answer against 
and psychic types as well. It just feels nice to stop caring about what your opponent will do next cause whatever he chooses you'll be advancing your gameplan anyways. All while sniffing paint and eating loads of bananas cause oonga boonga.The exception to the Hammy=lead rule encompass sun teams (lead with
) and teams (lead with to immediate switch to if indeed Gliscor is the opponent's lead).Tera water can help net some kills in late game cleaning scenarios that involve flip turn and razor shell.
Archaludon @ Leftovers
Ability: Stamina
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Body Press
- Flash Cannon
Touched on it in the teambuild process, I LOVE how he completely obliterates
. Tera fighting boosts body press damage and leaves no room for shenanigans.He's the main wincon : either pressing or phazing the opponent's mons to death. Flash Canon punishes rude fairy types who won't get phazed as well as do non negligeable damage to
and who try to remove your stealth rocks.That's why he'll be often on the field, keeping him healthy with grassy terrain is a must.
He's also the only line of defence against
, and 
. On the flip side, he's completely helpless against ghost and poison types like special 
, and more notably .Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Temper Flare
- Headlong Rush
- Knock Off
He's here for one job, cleaning those damned hazards. Temper Flare OHKO
if he spin blocked you the previous turn. If I really want those hazards down and I'm unsure if is scarfed or not, Tera Steel is here for the rescue. Temper Flare erases and from existence too if they switch in a Headlong Rush the turn prior. The price to pay resides in a absolute worthlessness versus , though even with Ice Spinner having to play the protect/scouting game with is a loss in my book. fears you far less too, but the other teammates deal with him fine.He can function as a wincon after one rapid spin, and he's a potent
revenge killer.Threats
VS
A menace that's on everyone's mind, you must either harness its power or succumb to the depths of madness. However he doesn't give this team too much trouble as long as the ressources are managed properly. No one mon can check him by itself, none are able to revenge kill him of course, but with proper coordination he usually falls down unless the opponent outplayed me and chipped my defence plan a little too much.
None of my mons is passive against him for a start (flip turn pivot, knock off, damage, phazing, etc. even
can pull up his weight), therefore he usually doesn't have time to set-up for 2 turns, sometimes not even once. Either he uses calm mind, so and outspeed him and deal non negligeable amounts of damage that bring to grassy glide KO range, or it uses rock polish, fail to OHKO my mon who deals enough damage back before dying for to pick up the kill.Also putting up at least one layer of hazard must be a priority against teams with
because leftovers can be very troublesome if they start with full health ( flip turn's damage gets offset, gets his full health and resistance back, which means that for all intent and purposes that becomes set-up fodder).Overall and basically,
(and its grass tera) and a healthy mon need to be kept alive to deal with .VS
needs to be kept healthy with terrain, and stealth rocks must be set. Else it will be very hard to break him before your whole team succumbs to poisonning.VS
If you lose
, you lose the game, especially if the opponent has a sun teams. Do not send dirge without the grassy terrain set first (usually I send dirge, then switch back to rilla to get the terrain up while the opponent clicks earthquick, then return back to dirge).VS
/Once again,
can't die before these two pests are dead. Can't let them tera without consequences. shuts down their progress, and :archuladon: can serve as an emergency plan (if rocks are up on your side of the terrain and you can't afford to send dirge for example) by phazing them out with dragon tail. And of course, if / decide to Tera to brute force with a ground/water/whatever tera, will revenge kill them.VS
Having
or in front of a revenge killer is the most unconfortable position this team can be in. can tank a few hits, even after a +2 boost, but she can't answer back with a 2HKO herself. can only switch in once as he gets 2HKO by make it rain.That's why matches against teams with
feel like a race against the clock where I need to have worn down the opponent's team enough before my 2/3 "/ to /
" interactions ressource dries up.VS
Don't have any answers except praying to deal enough chip throughout the game to be in
body press / grassy glide / snowball range in the late game. Chip can be dealt with Dragon Tail, flip turn and hopefully a knock off prediction by .Some Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012937451
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012952279
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012944726
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012956646
VS specifically :
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012972560
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012984041
Thank you for reading!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012937451
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012952279
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012944726
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012956646
VS
specifically :https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012972560
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2012984041
Thank you for reading!
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/
/
And against :amonguss:, you can simply flipturn.
) or 
PoPiPoPoPiPoPPLIO