how to beat slaking
whenever adv gets any traction it always gets shut down with the usual claim of "just run 6 slak" or "slak ohkoes everything at +6 it's unplayable zomg where's my stall!?!!" there are a lot of ways to beat slak, pre- and post-setup. i decided to make a comprehensive list of all slak answers in order to dispel misinformation. also, there's increasing interest in adv recently, so i'd like to make this kind of a guide as well for new players
so what are we dealing with here? there are 2 main slak sets. both are very good and you need to be ready for both of them. of course there are other slak sets you can use, but there is a huge gap between these 2 sets and other sets, to the point where you're really only gonna see these
Slaking @ Lum Berry
Ability: No Ability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant / Impish Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
- Spore / Shadow Ball / Hidden Power [Ghost] / Recover
everyone knows bd slak. but few know exactly what the pieces here are doing. the lack of understanding regarding bd slak is usually why people get swept, because they aren't able to identify their counterplay options or because their team has a lack of options. so ultimately, bd slak needs to be broken down to its purest form
- belly drum: you may wonder why slak runs bd and not another boosting move like dd or sd. after all, shouldn't you want to preserve your HP? there are a few simple reasons for that. first off, there is no general post-setup speed control like impostor, prankster, or sash. once slak clicks bd, it almost always forces a sack. +6 is a very important range for it, as that's the range where espeed has a 75% chance to ohko other slak. in addition, most of the options that can beat bd will also beat sd or dd, making their use redundant. finally, bd's loss of HP isn't a big deal – slak is very tanky because all fighting moves are physical in adv, and most teams have multiple slak, meaning it's expendable
- extreme speed: espeed is a swiss army knife. you can use it to sweep, of course, but that probably won't be your primary use of it. instead, it can be used to revenge kill, chip, and clean up endgames. it's also one of your best tools against post-setup slak, not because it's the most effective option, but because it's very easy to add slak to your team. slak's espeed is also one of your best options to combat speed pass, because it's one of the only pokemon that can punish protect > bp line from jask and it can also revenge kill speed boosted pokemon
- superpower: this move's main use comes at +0 because it has a 75% chance to disable slak (term for dealing 50% or more to slak, because it disables bd for the game). it also ohkoes every non-resist in the game at +6, except for don. despite this fact, you really want to avoid using superpower unless necessary, since going to +5 atk allows some bulkier pokemon to survive espeed (notably slak) and going to -1 def makes opposing espeed do way more damage to you
- spore: slak is a great spore user because it can turn mons into setup fodder without needing outside support. generally you should spam this earlygame to delete lums, giving you bd chances down the road. spore slak is the biggest reason that mons run lum, even if they have talk, because the free turn against slak can be used to disable it or set up. this is why it's better to use spore earlygame, so you can use other spore sweepers later on to set up on pokemon whose lum has been eaten already
- shadow ball: this move's main purpose is to prevent gar from switching in, but it has use outside of that. it picks up an important 2hko on latios at +0 and also improves the lugia matchup. the main reason sball isn't the primary option in this slot is that gar can beat sball variants anyway, so the only relevant pokemon this move beats post-setup is banette. its utility pre-setup is usually what lands it the slot
- hidden power ghost: this move is able to beat imprison sball gar, one of the biggest problems for slak. so why not run this all the time? the power drop seems miniscule, but it means latios only has a 35.5% chance to be 2hkoed and lugia is 5hkoed, making the matchup against those two a lot worse. it also does nothing to help with any other variant of gar, and gar can always run hp ghost imprison if it wants, so hp ghost slak isn't even a reliable imprison gar answer
- recover: not a common slot by any means; even i barely run this. nonetheless, it's a powerful option on hyper offense to combat sand and spikes chip, and it also lets slak try again if it gets disabled. most importantly, since no espeed in the game ohkoes slak at +0, it can recover on opposing espeed and deny that as an answer. the reason it's barely run is because not having spore or ghost coverage makes slak's pre-setup utility really lacking. this is why you can only really run it on hyper offense, because you want other slak with pre-setup utility
- lum berry: why run this item over lefties? if slak's HP gets cut into by bd so much, shouldn't lefties be better to heal the damage off? lefties slak certainly isn't unviable, since it can deal with spikes much better and is harder to disable. however, i didn't list it because without lum, slak is terrible against opposing spore and will find much less opportunity to set up. it also doesn't help much with post-bd in the majority of situations, since post-bd slak answers are about constantly dealing damage to slak. lefties is too slow to heal it off fast enough. lefties talk slak is a really bad idea because you lose the priority from espeed when asleep, making you much less threatening
- 248 HP: i add 248 HP to everything to minimize chip, but it's especially important on slak to bd twice and be left at 1 HP
- jolly: jolly is the best slak nature because it outspeeds other slak, letting you not only spore them first but also ohko them with +6 espeed before they can act. it also ensures that slak will outspeed timid kyogre, making its matchup against kyogre a lot better than other natures. jolly is a surefire way that you will have at least some post-bd slak counterplay, making it the easiest nature to add
- adamant: adamant hits some very important ranges, such as guaranteeing an ohko on slak and having a 68.8% chance to ohko don, both with espeed. this improves your matchup against counterplay based on tanking hits. however, being outsped by jolly slak and timid kyogre is really bad and makes ada slak an inconsistent sweeper. it also means that ada slak can never revenge kill post-setup jolly slak, making it a difficult add, but worthwhile with proper support
- impish: an often overlooked nature on slak, impish is a surprisingly strong choice. it turns +6 slak espeed from a 75% chance to ohko to a 25% chance, letting it reliably survive and ko back with superpower. it also guarantees slak will not be disabled by don superpower and it also only has a 25% chance to be disabled by opposing slak superpower. this nature combines counterplay against opposing slak and don with answering post-setup slak. however, like adamant, it still retains its speed tier issues, and it also does poorly into opposing adamant slak. the natures are somewhat like a triangle where jolly > ada > impish > jolly
this is about everything you need to know about bd slak. it generally has ways to work around its counterplay, but it can only choose one or two options to answer at a time, and will lose to the rest. this means you must pack a variety of slak answers, ensuring you have ways to beat each variant. luckily, many of the forms of counterplay can answer multiple slak variants at a time, making this not too difficult in practice
Slaking @ Choice Band
Ability: No Ability
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant / Impish Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion
band slak is arguably just as good as bd slak. one of the huge benefits of band slak is that it can ignore all counterplay based around disabling it – without bd, there's nothing to disable. instead, band slak acts as a catalyst for consistency, as its espeed is one of the best tools to stop sweeps in the game. it's really difficult to prep for this mon, since the stuff it loses to will usually lose to bd. often your gameplan against band slak is to spore it or boom on it. some moves also require further explanation
- shadow ball: unlike on bd, hidden power ghost is a huge downgrade compared to sball, which is why it's not listed. jolly slak is unable to 2hko lugia and only has a 37.5% chance to ohko gar, and ada slak fails to ohko banette and still only has a 17.6% chance to 2hko lugia. it also just isn't a good imprison gar answer in general because it has no spore counterplay.
- explosion: do not use trick in this slot. you are never going to click trick when you can ko everything, and boom ohkoes literally every non-ghost in the game. also the majority of slak counterplay still works even after trick
that's about everything you need to know about slak. with this information, we now have a reference for counterplay. so what can we do?
gengar
Gengar @
Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
-
Imprison /
Encore
- Water Spout / Eruption
-
Shadow Ball /
Hidden Power [Ghost] /
...
- Spore
gar is basically the best slak answer you could ask for. slak has no way to stop a healthy gar from ending its sweep. keeping gar unrevealed and baiting slak into an early bd is one of the best ways to deal with it. the most important way to use gar is to play safe. i see lots of people take needless risks with gar, like switching it directly into slak or clicking imprison on a post-setup slak whose 4th move is unrevealed. gar should never switch into anything, ever. it is vitally important to keep it at max HP so that rain water spout / sun eruption can disable slak. note that anything that disables slak will also ko it post-setup. this means when you are facing a post-setup slak as gar, your priority is to ko it with water spout or eruption. only click imprison or encore if there's no weather up or gar isn't at max hp. also, make sure not to run two elements with different colors on the same set
extreme speed
opposing extreme speed, either from other slak or from faster pokemon, are able to chip slak down post-setup and eventually revenge kill it. this strategy will usually take several pokemon, as no espeed in the game can ko slak post-setup. however, this is one of the most consistent methods to prevent slak sweeps, as there's nothing slak can do to stop it. note that this strategy won't work if slak has any speed boosts and recover slak is able to outplay opposing espeed as well. in the case of the latter, if recover has been revealed, you can punish it with superpower if you're willing to hard call it
kyogre
Kyogre @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Surf
- Ice Beam / Thunder
- Spore / Thunder / Sleep Talk
kyogre is one of the only pokemon that can disable slak at +0 with surf. this lets it trade with slak freely, completely controlling the pace of the game against hyper offense teams which tend to load up on slaks. it's also very difficult to tank across the board, which often forces opponents to sacrifice their slak in order to get damage on kyogre. just don't get too careless against slak, as band slak can lure kyogre in and boom on it, which is usually a bad trade for the kyogre
passive chip
passive chip – typically in the form of sand and spikes – is one of the most effective ways to pressure slak, although it's a bit exclusive sometimes. sand and spikes massively debilitate both pre-setup slak (wants to have high hp to use its neutral bulk and still threaten bd) and post-setup slak (sweep is put on a timer). it's worth noting that running sand means using ttar, who is able to force lots of extra chip on post-setup slak with protect and espeed. although it's slower than slak, slak is unable to ko it with espeed, meaning ttar will always be able to get an espeed off
sun latios
Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Dragon Claw
- Sacred Fire
- Sleep Talk
lati sfire in sun is another move that disables slak at +0. in addition, sfire's 50% chance to burn makes it extremely risky to send slak without a lum in front of it, even if sun isn't up. the best answer to sun, kyogre, is naturally countered by lati. this means that, similar to kyogre, sun lati is incredible against hyper offense. the main problem with lati as a slak answer is that sball + espeed does huge damage to it, meaning it can't trade as freely as kyogre. if it can find an opportunity to tg it's much better vs slak since it can ohko with +2 sfire. note that lati is able to perform a similar strat in rain with surf, but it's noticeably worse than sun
explosion
most pokemon can't disable slak with superpower, but almost every pokemon can disable it with boom. even blissey can disable slak with boom after a round of spikes. it's recommended to put boom on any pokemon that invites slak in without being able to punish it. the trade will always be worth it, as you're often sacrificing a pokemon who is less of a threat to their team than slak is to your team
aerodactyl
Aerodactyl @ Lum Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rock Blast
- Spikes
- Spore
- Haze / Explosion
one of the biggest reasons to run lead aero is the fact that it can survive post-setup slak espeed and click haze or boom, ending its sweep. it is able to outspeed most of the meta even without a speed boosting nature, allowing it to run impish to make sure ada slak only has a 12.5% chance to ohko aero with espeed. with its immunity to sand and spikes, it's incredibly good at dodging chip. this makes aero a surprisingly consistent backbone against post-setup slak
groudon
Groudon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Superpower
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion
there's a lot of different ways to run don, but dd is the most common because its speed is actually kinda bad in this meta. the main draw of don is that you can survive +6 slak espeed and superpower, which no other mon in the game can do. unfortunately this mon requires support and luck to work. don only reliably works against jolly slak, as it has a 62.5% chance to be ohkoed by boosted ada slak espeed and its superpower will never disable impish slak. don has to set spikes or have sand up, as otherwise its superpower only has a 48.4% chance to disable slak, forcing it to explode. it also must keep spikes off its side, as even one round of spikes gives jolly slak a 87.5% chance to ohko don. because of this, don's primary purpose is not to beat post-setup slak, but instead to set sun and use its high neutral bulk to set up and break early. however, it does have the option to be a slak check when necessary
banette
Banette @ Spell Tag / ...
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion
- Dragon Dance / Imprison
- Baton Pass
bane is a weird mon because it has bad stats, so it has to run odd sets like this to do something. its usage comes down to its very lucky traits: the combination of a ghost type and insomnia, which let it hard wall some of the common slak sets. this gives you free opportunities to dd, but you can also sub or even heal bell. the set listed here is not the only set you should use, it's just the one i like the most. the green elements should only be ran in the lead and the red elements should only be ran in the back
intimidate
your pickings for intim are pretty slim (the best one is tauros...) but it can be used to lower slak's attack on a sack. as mentioned earlier, slak uses bd because it misses some crucial kills when it's not fully boosted. intim causes it to miss some crucial kos, most notably failing to ohko other slak with espeed at +5. if you use intim, then check to make sure that the pokemon on your team who you want to follow up the intim user with can actually survive a hit at +5
omastar
Omastar @ Mystic Water
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Surf
- Spore / Thunder
- Sleep Talk / Substitute
oma is one of the most effective post-setup slak answers, as it's able to survive even an ada slak espeed with ease and ko back with surf. its surf also disables slak at +0 thanks to modest and mystic water, making it a threat vs slak at all points in the game. however, because it cannot run lum, it's risky to switch it in on slak. it also only really fits on offense with kyogre, as it needs rain support and also lots of spore users to create setup opportunities for it. this makes it a pretty exclusive pokemon, despite its effectiveness
lugia
Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP /
252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly /
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-
Dragon Dance /
Psychic
-
Drill Peck /
Sacred Fire /
Toxic
- Recover
- Taunt
lugia is useless against post-setup slak, but it's very effective against pre-setup slak. this is because it carries a fast taunt and the bulk to stomach any of slak's unboosted moves, including sball. with pressure and recover's massive 32 pp, lugia can easily stall slak. it can also pressure slak not to switch out with either setup or status. lugia's main issue is having no post-setup utility and also being difficult to fit on teams, since it's a pretty abstract answer to the stuff it's answering. again, make sure not to use differently colored elements on the same set
skarmory
Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Recover
- Whirlwind
- Sleep Talk
skarm is another mon that is mainly used to answer pre-setup slak. in this case, skarm specifically wants to answer band users, including band slak. it's one of the best switchins to band slak in the whole game, tanking everything easily except for boom, which is a bad trade for the slak. skarm is one of the best spike setters as well, because band slak will be forced to switch out and lose momentum. despite being ohkoed by superpower at +6, skarm has some utility against post-setup slak, as it forces slak to lower its atk/def and become much easier to answer. similar to aero, its immunity to spikes and sand makes it amazing at dodging chip. its only issue is that it invites lots of threatening pokemon in for free, like kyogre and lati
conclusion
there's tons of counterplay to slak out there, way more than meets the eye. there's so many ways to approach a seemingly impossible task, which makes teambuilding in adv really comfortable once you get the hang of it. i hope you learned something new from this post 
DPP Pure Hackmons 
SWSH Pure Hackmons 
B -> C
UR -> D
