Gen 8 Offensive Skarm BO

[Webs Ho-Oh]

I like to play with gimmicks and this is one of my favourite gimmick teams.

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/07bef4fc9e1502bc


Skarmory @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Iron Head

This is my core. I used weakness policy because skarm is bulky and i chose Weak Armor so we can potentially sweep. I invested max in attack and speed for extra sweeping potential. Brave Bird is just really strong, Swords Dance boosts our otherwise low attack, Roost for longevity, and Iron Head for coverage. It gets walled by steel types and bulky pokemon so this is a late game cleaner (although it’s pretty bad at that).


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Ferro does what ferro does best. Wall physical attackers and spam hazards. This is pretty self explanitory. This is my only hazard setter and I chose spikes because I love spikes. Of course I should be using rocks instead. Another reason why I chose spikes is because skarm needs the extra chip that spikes have over rocks.


Victini @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Glaciate
- U-turn

This is bulky offense so i want pivots. Victini is a good pivot that kills steel types. Just a good offensive pivot. V-creat to nuke neutrals and steels, Bolt strike pairs well with Victory Star and V-create, Glaciate hits Lando and dragons, and U-turn is useful.


Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost

Koko has good synergy with Victini. Koko does normal koko things. Spam u-turn tbolt and dazzling gleam. Bad part is that it helps electric types kill skarm but they kill it anyways. Also skarm gets walled by electrics so… Also i hate volt switch on koko because grounds always absorb it so don’t tell me to switch to volt switch.


Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Roost

Offensive Dragonite. I get walled by corv and skarm but the rest of my team handles them no problem. I use Ice Punch over Dual Wingbeat for no real reason so you can tell me to change that (i mean it attacks grounds). Earthquake is just good and has a great type. Honestly its just here to do damage and bait corv and skarm.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Thunder Punch

Last but not least, we have Blaziken. Extra steel killing wallbreaker. Generic Blaziken. Pairs well with spikes and skarm. Im considering using earthquake instead of thunder punch because ferro and koko already destroy slow twins. This thing is honestly just really strong.

Weaknesses:
Physical Walls
The team is mostly physically attacking so teams stacking physical walls are very hard to break.

Hyper Offense
You know a team is bad when it’s weak to a whole playstyle. My team is slow and it falls apart easily from strong attacks

Ground Types
Half of my pokemon are weak to ground but at least i have ferro and nite to take care if them.
How good is this team overall? Any changes you would make?

 

[MikelaJoin]

Hello, I am writing through a translator, so I ask you to forgive any mistakes. I have a beginner's question, is it possible to put a stone helmet on Ferrothorn to increase its damage on contact. So we will reduce its vitality, but we will increase the damage, and if we throw seeds, we can live for quite a long time.

Thank you in advance for the answer

 

[awyp]

Hello there,

Cool team I like the uniqueness of Weakness Policy Skarmory and I can see it working, so I won't suggest anything in regards to it. You've stated pretty clearly it's meant to be a late game sweeper and it gets walled by Steel / Electric types.

I'll give a quick rating, for threats I see SD Life Orb Chomp giving this team an issue, Dragapult bothers this team with the speed control issue. I could also see Blacephalon also doing some terror since nothing on the team resists the combo of Shadow Ball and Flamethrower so I think a Choice Scarf variant can be difficult to play around (Dragonite needs to be healthy).

I'll make some suggestions to address some of the problems that I recommended above.

For Ferrothorn I see that you are missing Stealth Rocks which I think needs to be mandatory on teams. Regardless of preference of running spikes because SR hits both flying and ground (spikes does not). It's fine for Ferrothorn to run both, but you would have to probably drop Leech Seed, since this team is a more offensive minded team and go with Stealth Rocks > Leech Seed / Knock Off.

I think Victini is cool for this team, but I think based on all the other Pokémon it's the most replaceable because it doesn't help your HO threat issue. Most of the Pokémon's that I mentioned before give Vintini a big problem where it can't do much. I recommend going with Clefable because Clefable can take on Garchomp, and can run Flamethrower which from my knowledge was the main reason Vintini was being used (Spamming V-Create). The set below will give you a bulky Calm Mind sweeper that will have the ease taking on both Dragapult and Garchomp's dragon spam or other STAB moves.

Clefable Calm Mind set

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower

With Tapu Koko I would go with a Scarf set so you have some speed control, I do believe that would help this team dramatically since some of the threats would be taken care of (I don't know about 1HKO) but if chipped it'll be enough to take down. Also having Defog as an option could be key in certain matchups

Tapu Koko Choice Scarf set

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Defog

Both Blaziken and Dragonite look good, you can go with Dual Wingbeat but that's based on your preference and how testing goes.
Good luck with this team, and I wish you great success.

 

[Webs Ho-Oh]

Hello there,

Cool team I like the uniqueness of Weakness Policy Skarmory and I can see it working, so I won't suggest anything in regards to it. You've stated pretty clearly it's meant to be a late game sweeper and it gets walled by Steel / Electric types.

I'll give a quick rating, for threats I see SD Life Orb Chomp giving this team an issue, Dragapult bothers this team with the speed control issue. I could also see Blacephalon also doing some terror since nothing on the team resists the combo of Shadow Ball and Flamethrower so I think a Choice Scarf variant can be difficult to play around (Dragonite needs to be healthy).

I'll make some suggestions to address some of the problems that I recommended above.

For Ferrothorn I see that you are missing Stealth Rocks which I think needs to be mandatory on teams. Regardless of preference of running spikes because SR hits both flying and ground (spikes does not). It's fine for Ferrothorn to run both, but you would have to probably drop Leech Seed, since this team is a more offensive minded team and go with Stealth Rocks > Leech Seed / Knock Off.

I think Victini is cool for this team, but I think based on all the other Pokémon it's the most replaceable because it doesn't help your HO threat issue. Most of the Pokémon's that I mentioned before give Vintini a big problem where it can't do much. I recommend going with Clefable because Clefable can take on Garchomp, and can run Flamethrower which from my knowledge was the main reason Vintini was being used (Spamming V-Create). The set below will give you a bulky Calm Mind sweeper that will have the ease taking on both Dragapult and Garchomp's dragon spam or other STAB moves.

Clefable Calm Mind set

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower

With Tapu Koko I would go with a Scarf set so you have some speed control, I do believe that would help this team dramatically since some of the threats would be taken care of (I don't know about 1HKO) but if chipped it'll be enough to take down. Also having Defog as an option could be key in certain matchups

Tapu Koko Choice Scarf set

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Defog

Both Blaziken and Dragonite look good, you can go with Dual Wingbeat but that's based on your preference and how testing goes.
Good luck with this team, and I wish you great success.

I agree with everything you said here but im replacing volt switch for u-turn because i have a problem with volt switch. Thanks very much for the advice!