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Here's a repost of Abejas' core plus a description and importable. Give it a try on the ladder and drop your thoughts in the Metagame Discussion thread! (dark) (small)
Pretty fun core built around Silvally-Dark. Since this mon is usually a late game sweeper and really appreciates Spikes support, Garbodor functions as a great partner. This pokemon doesnt only provide spikes and toxic spikes support, but it also works as a great Fighting-type resist, being able to check pokemon like Sawk and Toxicroak, that can hit Silvally-Dark for super effective damage. The final member of the core is Gourgeist-Small which provides a secondary fighting resist while also having great synchrony with Garbodor. This is due to the ability of prevent rapid spin users by removing hazards and also being a great switch in to ground type pokemon such as Rhydon and Sandaconda. Gourgeist also keeps in check psychic and ghost type pokemon with Shadow Sneak, same as Silvally-Dark with its STAB Multi-Attack.
This core is designed to support Ice-types, which have a poor defensive typing but great offensive power, as well as possible.
Ice-types struggle to break through Steel and Fire types, and are weak to Steel, Fire, and Rock-type attacks. Ground types are able to hit all three of those types super effectively, and the Grass types that annoy them are hit super effectively by Ice attacks. However, Ground-types add a weakness to Water, which also resists Ice-type attacks, and do not address Ice-types' weakness to Fighting. Since Fighting types seem to me to be more common than Water types, I decided to make the third type of this core Ghost, which walls fighting types. However, it also adds weaknesses to Dark and Ghost-type attacks that are not addressed by the other typings provided.
Each of these types have tons of potential in NU, but you'll need to find a way to work around their unaddressed weaknesses to Dark, Ghost, and Water-type attacks.
To aid your team-building, I have put together a list of viable NU/PU/NFE Pokemon for each type, although you are not limited to this list!
:
:
: (LOL i forgot haunter ... my bad)
(note: each Pokemon can only check off one slot. for example, I could count Piloswine as my ice type or my ground type, but not both).
Good luck! Check the rules in the OP before posting.
Submit your cores by Wednesday at 11:59 PM EST, and voting will begin on Thursday.
Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 240 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Toxic
Gourgeist-Small @ Life Orb
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
Pretty simple idea here: Rotom-F is supported well by Rhydon and Gourgeist-S due to their offensive and defensive synergy. Gourgeist-S is helpful for pressuring stuff like Lanturn, Clefairy, and Piloswine, and Rhydon can poison Piloswine with Toxic and beat on Flareon. These factors enable Rotom-F to have an easier time sweeping late-game.
Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Toxic Spikes
Mostly offensive core here, save for Cofagrigus. Banded Sneasel is my favorite (and most likely the best) Sneasel going around right now and it just hits stuff hard. Offensive Rhydon gives the team rocks and I threw in Toxic to deal with opposing Dubwool & Cofagrigus so they aren't as much of a problem. Speaking of Cofagrigus, it rounds out this core with Hex + T-Spikes support to help out Sneasel. It's arguably the best Fighting check in the meta next to Garbodor and even halts opposing setup sweeping Dubwool in their tracks. Shadow Ball could be replaced over Hex, but I feel it helps with the Toxic Spikes in this case.
Abomasnow brings the Ice to the Ice-ghost-ground with Snow Warning and Aurora Veil. Opting for life orb the set can both successfully set hail to get aurora veil up, and also still hurt things with LO boosted blizzards. Giga drain rounds out the set for hitting waters and getting health back, while ice shard helps pick off weakened enemies. Abom can get free switch ins from incoming water and grass moves aimed at sanda.
Sandaconda will act as the ground component to switch into rock for Aboma, and likes to take resisted hits to damage back with rocky helmet. This set was one I used in the recent NU teambuilding comp with Dubwool, and although it lacks packing stone edge to have edge-quake coverage, it makes up for this in ability to soak up status for the team and stay alive with rest+shedskin, meanwhile allowing rocky helmet damage to continue to rack up and spreading paralysis with glare.
Cofagrigus is a defensive king in NU and able to switch into most moves that commonly threaten Abomasnow. While Sandaconda can take care of incoming rock, Cofag abuses switches into fighting, and brushes off most other physical moves with ease. Will-o-wisp shuts down opposing physical threats and hex can be used in conjunction to do some decent damage. Meanwhile body press hits things quite hard coming from 427 def. Haze rounds the set out by allowing cofag to take advantage of his bulk to stop setup sweepers in their tracks.
Pretty straight forward, Arctovish's roll is to wallbreak/clean in the lategame. I've chosen Choice Scarf-AOA over some Sub-Set 'cause I feel this one makes the most use out of broken Fishious Rend, while giving the best opportunities to clean at the end of the match. Arctovish gives the core a really good ice-resist that isn't weak to Freeze-Dry and a water-immunity.
The moves are pretty self-explanatory:
Fishious Rend is the move to spam, especially when the opponent doesn't have any good answer to it. Icicle Crash is your second, physical STAB-Attack that hits (most) of the grass-types and dragon-types, that culd tank a Fishious Rend. Freeze-Dry hits water-types for super effective damage, which would otherwise wall your STABs. Stone Edge is more of a filler move. It can be changed to Facade to not be completely dead weight, when you get burned. Psychic Fangs is just for killing Toxicroak 100% if you dont want to risk missing ICrash; I guess it also hits fighting-types but you don't really want to klick anything different that Fishious Rend most of the time. Body Slam is really saucy; get a 30% paralysis on something that would outspeed you (that only really matters, when your Choice Scarf got knocked off, cause the only thing faster that you with scarf are either scarf- Toge or Haunter that don't care about Body Slam or stuff like Sneasel thats not switching in on you anyway.
Imagine not listing Haunter as a viable ghost
My second pick for my core is Haunter, more specifically SubDisable-Haunter. Since Hunter is my only way of checking fighting-types, I don't wanted to lose to some Hitmontop using Brutal Swing / Sucker Punch. With SubDisable I can scout for those attacks and disable them in the following turn to wall most fighting-types. Black Sludge gives you a little more recovery to use Sub more often. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave are your STABs of choice (using SWave over Sbomb for more power and a lesser chance to poison to have more mons you can paralyze). Substitute gives a nice way of sauce and scout for potential moves like Knock Off or Sucker Punch and lets you avoid status.
Haunter in general gives a resist to grass-attacks since my other mates are weak to it, even tho it doesn't really wanna switch directly in.
Finally Sandaconda gives an immunity to electric-attacks and a resist against rock-attacks that helps Arctovish. It can also act as a soft check against fighting types. For the item I've chosen Yache Berry to take one attack from e.g. Sneasel or Abomasnow (keep in mind that the opponent may prefer clicking a grass-attack, cause it would hit two of the core-members) and paralyse them in return / killing them with Stone Edge (if you don't miss). Sandaconda also has the purpose of getting up Steal Rock for chipping down the opposing team while forcing switches with Scarf-Arctovish and SubDisable-Haunter. Glare is used to spread paralysis all over the enemies team to makes sure Arctovish outspeeds as much as possible and adding some extra sauce for Sub-Paralysis shenanigans. Earthquake is your STAB-attack of choice.
Overall not a flawless core, but a pretty funny and saucy one!
Thanks for reading, stay healthy
Sneasel @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Brick Break
Gourgeist-Small @ Life Orb
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Power Whip
- Shadow Sneak
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
Explanation:
Behold, the Sneasel Sandaconda Gourgeist combo. This core is made specifically to maximize the potential of the late game banded Sneasel sweep. Due to the low speed tiers in NU, Sneasel is basically uncheckable speedwise (Jolteon is the main exception here) without a choice scarf. In addition, banded knock-off does ridiculous damage to even opposing Mons that resist dark, and is your go-to spam option. You have big damage ice stab in Icicle Crash, and a great revenging option in Ice Shard (my most use with this move comes against quiver dance Butterfree, as the chumps that use it are generally unsuspecting of a tech). However, the main problem holding Sneasel back from ascending from the NU tier is its weakness to fighting, rocks, and u-turn. Things like Scarf Togedemaru can be a real nuisance to the pokemon, as a scarf u-turn outspeeds and deals massive damage, which when coupled with stealth rocks, can easily cripple Sneasel. That's where the supporting cast of Gourgeist and Sandaconda come in. Gourgeist is hand picked to specifically deal with things holding Sneasel back - namely fighting types. With an immunity to fighting types, Gourgeist is the premier switch in to something threatening Sneasel with fighting type stab - especially if the opponent is exploiting the choice band. Life Orb Shadow Sneak deals massive damage to anything that switches in, even killing scarf Haunter, a big threat to the core otherwise. Power Whip is there for your damage dealing grass stab, and fire blast is to deal massive damage to threatening pokemon such as Dubwool, or annoying pokemon such as Eldegoss. Explosion is a great last resort if you are up in Pokemon and are looking to close out the game. Finally, Sandaconda is the big defensive sponge to eat big hits that the less bulky Gour and Sneasel cannot take. Namely, it's your scarf Toge check. Sandaconda boasts a monstrous 383 defense stat, only rivaled by Cofagrigus and eviolite Rhydon (which it has the edge against due to it being able to recovery in leftovers due to it not being forced into eviolite). Ground is a great typing offensively as well, and stab earthquakes will be doing the reliable damage you need to close the game with Sneasel. Rest + Shed Skin is a broken great defensive tool that helps you turn the tides of a battle if you're lucky.
While this core seems foolproof, and you definitely should vote for me, there are a few threats in the tier holding it back from utter domination.
Nasty Plot Toxicroak - This is by far the biggest threat to the core. Unlike with physical Croak sets, Sandaconda cannot come in and sponge attacks vs this threat - as focus blast + sludge wave always KOs without a boost. In addition, 2 Sludge Waves invalidates Gourgeist, and Sneasel dies in 1 vacuum wave :(. This is why you run 6 pokemon, and maybe include a special wall in spdef Garbodor or Flareon.
Scarf Togedemaru - Despite being quad weak to Sandaconda's earthquake, this nuisance to the core cannot be touched if it u-turns every time it comes in. This thing is much less of a threat in 1v1 scenarios (flinch hax is still a possibility with iron head/zing zap). However, the good news is it cannot come in on knock off spam from Sneasel without losing its scarf, significantly reducing the threat level.
Specs Silvally Dragon/Specs Drampa - This one isn't as big. You have Sneasel to icicle crash it for the KO, but you can miss icicle crash. Additionally, nothing on the team particularly likes taking a specs Draco Meteor. This is something you have to play around, but the core still has ways to deal with it.
Haunter - This thing is kinda threatening, as it's a 50/50 between sub disable and scarf. Gourgeist can beat scarf and Sneasel can beat sub disable, but they both lose to the other set. You'll have to judge which Haunter set you are playing against during lead matchup (something I've liked to do in playing with this team is run a spdef payback Garbodor to invalidate scarf Haunter, since you normally would have to take a pretty big hit otherwise).
Hazard Stack - None of these pokemon have hazard removal, and Sneasel is especially susceptible. Due to the lack of viable rapid spinners with the core (Eldegoss and Mr. Rime adds another fire weak, ig you can add the Hitmons if you want but I prefer using a defogger like Rotom-Fan due to it having better synergy with the core). This makes getting your own rocks up in general only a good idea if you have momentum, but trading rocks almost always works in the opponent's favor.
Fire types - Fire is SE against Sneasel and Gourgeist, and Sandaconda doesn't resist. This would in theory make fire types a huge threat to the core, but NU does not have any prevalent ones aside from Flareon, which gets defeated by Sandaconda in a 1v1, and Silvally Fire, which is not the best Silvally so it does not see much use.
In conclusion, this core is extremely threatening in the current meta, and one of the best current ways to highlight the menace of the tier, Sneasel. In my opinion, the existence of specs croak single-handedly prevents this core from shaping the meta. I hope you enjoy.
When voting, try to consider the core that worked the best overall in the meta that was around when the cores were submitted. (by this, i mean don't rule out rabia / oathkeepre just because rhydon rose to RU).
Voting will end 8 hours from the time of this post (at midnight EST) so that we can quickly begin experimenting with cores in the new meta!
Congratulations to Oathkeepre for winning Week 2's Archetype Core contest with 6 votes! He will be added to the Hall of Fame.
The final vote count (including Corthius' votes, no worries about the deadline):
Oathkeepre 6
Rabia (small) 4
xerovis 4
Hematemesis (small) 3
Corthius 1
Here's a repost of Oathkeepre's core plus a description and importable. Give it a try on the ladder (with a replacement for Rhydon, I guess) and share your thoughts in the Metagame Discussion thread!
Mostly offensive core here, save for Cofagrigus. Banded Sneasel is my favorite (and most likely the best) Sneasel going around right now and it just hits stuff hard. Offensive Rhydon gives the team rocks and I threw in Toxic to deal with opposing Dubwool & Cofagrigus so they aren't as much of a problem. Speaking of Cofagrigus, it rounds out this core with Hex + T-Spikes support to help out Sneasel. It's arguably the best Fighting check in the meta next to Garbodor and even halts opposing setup sweeping Dubwool in their tracks. Shadow Ball could be replaced over Hex, but I feel it helps with the Toxic Spikes in this case.
What Stealth Rocker should you use over Rhydon now that it's gone? Well, it's up to you, but here are a few ideas:
- Piloswine and Golurk are both Ground types with good offensive presence and SR + Toxic, although their secondary typings overlap with other members of Oathkeepre's core.
- Sandaconda gets SR but not Toxic, meaning opposing Cofag + Dubwool may be an issue.
- Clefairy, Ferroseed, and Mawile all get Stealth Rock + Toxic, although they are not Ground types and also provide way less offensive presence than Rhydon.
(this doesn't even have "Psychic" in the title or anything! I'm just obsessed with these slowed + reverb mixes, plus the video's aesthetic works for Psychic-type i guess)
To celebrate NU's new additions Indeedee-F and Mr. Rime, this week's core is designed to support Psychic types! Psychic-types are weak to Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type attacks and struggle to break through Steel types. Fighting types can hit Dark and Steel types super effectively while also resisting Bug-type attacks. Steel types cover for all of Fighting-types' weaknesses: Fairy, Flying, and Psychic-type attacks.
Although this core won't be able to cover for all the weaknesses of its respective members, such as Steel-types' weakness to Fire and Ground attacks and Psychic-types' weakness to Ghost, it should ideally be able to provide great offensive pressure and team support while having a few weaknesses that can be covered for by the other 3 teammates.
As usual, to help with teambuilding, here is a list of some viable NU/PU/NFE Pokemon for each type (although you are not limited to this list!):
Read the OP for rules.
A quick summary: Using the types provided for this week, submit a core of 3 Pokemon containing one Pokemon (or more!) from each of the 3 types provided for this week. Provide an explanation for how your core works and what makes it useful in this meta!
Submissions are due Friday, April 10th at 11:59 PM GMT -4. You can reserve a core, but please complete anything you reserve within ~24 hours if you reserve something.
Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
This core has a very good synergy on it's own having indeedee spreading damage all over with a very good speed tier is phenomenal, not only that but it also provides healing wish support which is actually very good to help the next pokemon have some sustain other than drain punch; toxicroak one of the best pokemon in the tier rn and arguably banworthy has little to no switch-ins but if we add up the fact that indeedee can kill or chip them enough so toxicroak can deal easier with them in order to make the sweep easier is a plus; but this two pokemons by their own are kinda frail and doesn't really add up any defensive synergy, fast mons such as sneasel or scarfer users such as togedemaru are a headache for them, in addition to that busted haunter exist so adding pawniard here helps a lot vs all that since it gains an actually decent bulk and provides rocks which help the other two to break easier.
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Nuzzle
Offensive-oriented core here. Went Specs Indeedee to increase that Psychic Terrain STAB damage and threw in the usual Gleam and Mystical Fire for Darks and Steels respectively. I threw in Trick to catch walls off guard of course. Went special Croak since it's really nice right now with all the Cofagrigus and Dubwool running around. Lastly, the core is rounded out with scarf Toge. It functions as 2 types of speed control with it being a scarfer itself and running Nuzzle to slow down the threats faster than Indeedee and Croak while also functioning as a pivot to bring either of them in!
Ferroseed is the Steel-type of the core. Its purpose is hazard-stacking and only hazard-stacking (i guess you can call it chipping the opposing team). With Stealth Rock and Spikes you can choose which one you prefer depending on the opposing team. Leech Seed is your only way of recovery that comes from yourself (dont count wish-support). If you have problems with dealing with fairies I'd recommend running Gyro Ball with a Sassy nature to better deal damage to them. Knock Off is generel more utility to support your team/core. The SpD investment lets you better check opposing Indeedee-F's (be aware of Mystical Fire), Jolteon's, Rotom-Fan's and non SubDisable Haunter's.
Sawk's redneck cousin Throh serves a great good job at phasing. While being the Fighting-type of the core, its supposed to switch into Dark- and Bug-types. While most Dark-types hit physical I chose a more physically defensive EV spread that lets you take on Sneasel, Silvally-Dark, Malamar, Pawniard and physical Skuntank (if this still exists). RestTalk is well known and self explanatory. Knock Off lets you hit Psychic- and Ghost-types while removing their item. Circle Throh (you see what i did there?) phases the opponent out, so they take more chip from the hazards that Ferroseed lays out. Also a pretty cool way to punish greedy players that want to set up on you (if they aren't ghosts). Guts is the perfect ability for RestTalk since it boosts your attack when you are asleep so you dont need to invest much into attack.
Like most of the people, I was pretty hyped about this mon to drop. I chose a Choice Scarf-set that appreciates the the other two core members chipping down the opposing team. It also gives a great way to let Haunter think twice what move it looks into, since this core contains one immunity to one of its STABs. Choice Scarf and Psychics, boosted from Psychic Terrain, allow Indeedee-F to be a pretty good revenge killer to common threats in Choice Specs Haunter, SD/NP Toxicroak /Terrain prevents priority), Dubwool, Sneasel (obviously with Dazzling Gleam) and some other that Im to lazy to look up. The moves give you pretty much perfect coverage against the two types that will mainy switch into your Psychics. Trick is a nice way to cripple opposing walls, while giving up your revenge killing potential.
Typical hazard-stacking core. Mr Rime removes opposing hazards so that they dont harm Sawk. Ferroseed sets hazards for valuable chip damage and is a good defensive pokemon in general, being able to take attacks for both Mr Rime and Sawk. Sawk covers the weaknesses of both Mr Rime and Ferroseed and can deal a lot of damage with the good old Sub+Focus Punch combo.
Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Sawk (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Offensive Psychic-Fighting-Steel core for sure. Kling and Malamar need a bit of setting up however Sawk is immediately threatening as usual. Klingklang does a good job of checking bug/fairy for Malamar and Psychic/flying/fairy for sawk. Unfortunately because of malamar's unique typing it can't check fighting for Kling, however this can be mitigated with proper team support.