Gen 3 My team is (NOT) weak to dug

[rico queso]

Hi, I wanted to share a p2 team with a lot of dug weak mons, p2 usually goes in special offense teams, but I wanted to take the team in another direction, the result may surprise you

teambuilding

First I just wanted a team with p2 + raikou because I like raikou and p2 support is nice for dug, but I didn't want special offense or my own dug.

In that case CBGross seemed a good way to pressure special mons.

Celebi is good cm passer for kou and ground check.

Gyarados added good extra resistance to ground and things like hera and benefitted from special partners and CBGross to remove Skarm.

Flygon seemed good to end to complement all of them.

Metagross was my lead of choice because it's really good at that.

I realized celebi kinda sucked considering there wasn't too many recipients and felt out of place, breloom fitted the weak to dug into p2 theme and playing DPP I knew Spore was broken so I went with it.

Having Flygon + Breloom + Gyara meant I had 3 weak gengar mons, so I was looking for the list of ground types and camerupt fit so well, it switches into electrics and gengar very well which makes really good synergy with Breloom and Gyara and also fits the weak to dug + p2 style.

I realized I was needing metagross in the back more and more because without it I'm too weak to bliss/lax, plus with camel I had the zap matchup more covered for loom, also sporing turn 1 is fun.

Lastly I realized CBGross didn't fit this team too well, mixed made some annoying matchups better like Refresh Pert, Forry or even Skarm, plus it compliments very well with Camel because one of the two can explode into a water and the other can do more damage because of that.

Breloom @ Leftovers
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Sky Uppercut
- Mach Punch

The loom, very good, owns most ttar leads and in the back keeps in check DDTar, early Spore helps a lot against fat teams because it gives you free momentum against them, lack of coverage can suck but it's mostly there to support teammates and sometimes go nuts in rare matchups, cool mon in this team.

Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 28 HP / 188 Atk / 136 SpA / 156 SpD
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Roar
- Explosion

Camel OP, I feel very lucky camel fit so well in this team because it's such a fun mon to use, very good check to a lot of special threats, especially Electrics, Gengar and Jirachi, Roar is very good tech against Subpass Zapdos and even can save you against annoying Jask pass. Boom is extra threatning on Camel because most Boom switching fear your stabs, don't stay against metagross you will not survive EQ unfortunately.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Earthquake
- Thunder Wave

The Gyara, amazing Dragon Dance use with even Twave as a support option, Twave mandatory because otherwise Aero matchup is just too awful, even tho I would love Taunt for Skarm, it's the main way to deal with Metagross just worry about Rock Slide.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion

The MixGross, Meta is just really good and being mixed is great in this team because it can pressure everything even those pesky waters with boom, hp fire for skarm/forry is especially good here since I don't run spinner and my team is very weak to hazards, boom is boom.

Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave

Pory2! really surprising mon, using it I totally understand why it's UUBL but still good mon, main job is obviously trapping dug but outside that checking scary threats like Salamence, Gyarados or Aero gives is extra utility + Trace allowing you to check things like Claydol, Flygon and Jolteon, while Breloom is annoyed by Natural Cure mons, p2 can heal out of that which is cool synergy, it really surprised me the ability to be the last mon and clean weakened teams.

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 160 HP / 98 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Substitute

Raikou, Raikouuuu, the only mon of my team that has EVs that are not from the sample analysis lmao, and the reason is with the classic 4/252/252, sub gets easily broken by Zapdos without boost and Celebi with +1, so I decided to move some Spa EVs to HP, also has the plus of surviving some EQs, never dropping Speed because Starmie is very annoying,

252 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 160 HP / 0 SpD Raikou: 76-90 (21 - 24.9%) -- possible 5HKO
216+ Atk Claydol Earthquake vs. 160 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 295-348 (81.7 - 96.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Swampert Earthquake vs. 160 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 297-350 (82.2 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
116+ Atk Snorlax Earthquake vs. 160 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 243-286 (67.3 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Starmie Hydro Pump vs. 160 HP / 0 SpD Raikou: 164-193 (45.4 - 53.4%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

importable

Breloom @ Leftovers
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Sky Uppercut
- Mach Punch

Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 28 HP / 188 Atk / 136 SpA / 156 SpD
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Roar
- Explosion

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Earthquake
- Thunder Wave

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion

Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 160 HP / 98 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Substitute

Final Thoughts

I wanted to share this team because it felt very creative, it had some unique mons and a unique style, mons that usually don't go together because of their dug weakness but here's p2 to save the day, maybe this can serve as an inspiration that you can be creative while also being competitive even in 20 year old metagames!

 

[McFleury]

Thanks for posting the team! I gave it a go because it has some Pokemon that I really like to use, mainly P2 and Raikou. I made a commentated Showdown Live on my YouTube page that I'll leave here (note that my play is really not impressive... especially with how I handled that Jynx game one):

Now I know this team really doesn't like Swampert, but I found there were so many cases where I was just wishing that Raikou had Hidden Power Ice over HP Grass, I would suggest looking into another way to deal with Swampert so you can run Ice on Raikou, that electric/ice coverage feels essential on that Pokemon. The team in it's original state doesn't really like Spikes either with 5 grounded mons, so it might be worth putting a Pokemon with Rapid Spin on this team. I also played around with Lum Berry on Breloom, a bit unconventional but I found it came in handy.

If something has to go, sadly I think it might be the camel (though I definitely respect trying to make Camerupt work as I myself am also a Camerupt enthusiast). I'm not expert on team building in Gen 3, but I think I'm going to play around with swapping it out with a Gengar with Giga Drain or a Charizard with Hidden Power Grass. I think Celebi or Snorlax might also be an option, but it might be worth swapping Breloom/P2 out with something else so you aren't packing 2 grass/normal types. Just some ideas I'm thinking of playing around with. Thanks again for posting the team :]

 

[rico queso]

Thanks for posting the team! I gave it a go because it has some Pokemon that I really like to use, mainly P2 and Raikou. I made a commentated Showdown Live on my YouTube page that I'll leave here (note that my play is really not impressive... especially with how I handled that Jynx game one):

Now I know this team really doesn't like Swampert, but I found there were so many cases where I was just wishing that Raikou had Hidden Power Ice over HP Grass, I would suggest looking into another way to deal with Swampert so you can run Ice on Raikou, that electric/ice coverage feels essential on that Pokemon. The team in it's original state doesn't really like Spikes either with 5 grounded mons, so it might be worth putting a Pokemon with Rapid Spin on this team. I also played around with Lum Berry on Breloom, a bit unconventional but I found it came in handy.

If something has to go, sadly I think it might be the camel (though I definitely respect trying to make Camerupt work as I myself am also a Camerupt enthusiast). I'm not expert on team building in Gen 3, but I think I'm going to play around with swapping it out with a Gengar with Giga Drain or a Charizard with Hidden Power Grass. I think Celebi or Snorlax might also be an option, but it might be worth swapping Breloom/P2 out with something else so you aren't packing 2 grass/normal types. Just some ideas I'm thinking of playing around with. Thanks again for posting the team :]

Thanks for trying the team! I just realized I got really lucky I faced 0 Jynx and I didn't realize the matchup damn, luckily is not the most common pokemon and when you run mons like P2 and Camel you gotta make some concesions, I think I made the right amount of them.

Lum can be cool but I like more the consistency of Leftovers, but I can see myself running Band actually to surprise KOs Smeargle with Mach Punch and more damage to DD Ttar with Mach, could be a cool alternative but still lefties is my goto.

No way I run HP Ice on Raikou because of what you said, HP Ice Targets are way more manageable than Pert, Pert is annoying but against offensive Gyara is your best bet and against refresh Metagross Psychic, Camel unironically helps because Pert is one of the best switch ins against non boom but then boom and get rid of a big annoyance.

Spin just doesn't fit in my team, the only one it could it is Starmie because it's offensive, Claydol and Forry just give too much momentum especially against Skarm, but I don't need Spin because I play aggresively to avoid Spikes and against those teams speed up the pace of the game so Spikes as little value as possible.

The last paragraph just doesn't make sense to me, random mons to replace others without anything coherent, I'm not getting rid of P2 when is the whole point of the team lmao, but glad you appreciate it!

 

[Two Left Legs]

Cool team!

 

[McFleury]

Thanks for trying the team! I just realized I got really lucky I faced 0 Jynx and I didn't realize the matchup damn, luckily is not the most common pokemon and when you run mons like P2 and Camel you gotta make some concesions, I think I made the right amount of them.

Lum can be cool but I like more the consistency of Leftovers, but I can see myself running Band actually to surprise KOs Smeargle with Mach Punch and more damage to DD Ttar with Mach, could be a cool alternative but still lefties is my goto.

No way I run HP Ice on Raikou because of what you said, HP Ice Targets are way more manageable than Pert, Pert is annoying but against offensive Gyara is your best bet and against refresh Metagross Psychic, Camel unironically helps because Pert is one of the best switch ins against non boom but then boom and get rid of a big annoyance.

Spin just doesn't fit in my team, the only one it could it is Starmie because it's offensive, Claydol and Forry just give too much momentum especially against Skarm, but I don't need Spin because I play aggresively to avoid Spikes and against those teams speed up the pace of the game so Spikes as little value as possible.

The last paragraph just doesn't make sense to me, random mons to replace others without anything coherent, I'm not getting rid of P2 when is the whole point of the team lmao, but glad you appreciate it!

Ahh yeah thanks for the feedback. Totally get the Lum bit, I probably just overreacted to that Jynx, and yeah last paragraph doesn't make a ton of sense but I'm really no Gen 3 expert, only been at it casually for about a year. I'd personally still try and make HP Ice Raikou work somehow but agree to disagree, I think it really comes down to set preference.

 

[Two Left Legs]

Ahh yeah thanks for the feedback. Totally get the Lum bit, I probably just overreacted to that Jynx, and yeah last paragraph doesn't make a ton of sense but I'm really no Gen 3 expert, only been at it casually for about a year. I'd personally still try and make HP Ice Raikou work somehow but agree to disagree, I think it really comes down to set preference.

: ) i'm a big fan of Camerupt. so every team with one in it. is a good team to me LOL

 

[TheDuckChris]

Certified Porygon2 team!!!

 

[JoaF]

Loom + Camel look like a ton of fun to use but will get increasingly more difficult to use as you move up ladder. While the accuracy is terrible, I could see Hypnosis Gengar taking Brelooms spot to provide a faster and more versatile sleep spreader. With Breloom out, that can open up the room for a different Grass type over Camel. A SpD Celebi will do a lot of the same things you are looking for out of Camerupt but just more consistently thanks to its various recover options but solid typing. Celebi also benefits greatly from Porygon’s support in removing Dugtrio.

 

[rico queso]

Loom + Camel look like a ton of fun to use but will get increasingly more difficult to use as you move up ladder. While the accuracy is terrible, I could see Hypnosis Gengar taking Brelooms spot to provide a faster and more versatile sleep spreader. With Breloom out, that can open up the room for a different Grass type over Camel. A SpD Celebi will do a lot of the same things you are looking for out of Camerupt but just more consistently thanks to its various recover options but solid typing. Celebi also benefits greatly from Porygon’s support in removing Dugtrio

Nice ideas! Gengar lead seems good offensive gain momentum mon and Celebi can be a more solid camel, no boom but still leech pressure and covers Swamp, with those changes tho the team is too weak to TTar so Swamp > Gyara could be an option, and I'll probably run a more physically oriented Meta set, at that point the team is completely different but looks more consistent since it's just running better mons.

That said I still like my current iteration of the team, less consistent for sure but more aggresive and with great positioning you can get solid and surprising advantages.