Project Old Gen Hackmons Megathread

[Rose]

Latios to S rank for that gen 5 VR imo.
Latios is by far i find the most threatening sweeper in the tier. Even tho it usually runs the 1 mold breaker spore,spacial rend, stored power, shell smash set it can run some other coverage if it wants and can also run shadow tag. But generally it sticks to its sweeping set due to its pure speed and power. After 1 smash nothing besides steels is living stored power and spacial rend together and even some steels take a ton from even just 1 smash due to the insane power that soul dew holds such as scizor +2 252+ SpA Soul Dew Mold Breaker Latios Spacial Rend vs. 248 HP / 252 SpD Scizor: 245-288 (71.4 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. However registeel manages to tank +2 252+ SpA Soul Dew Mold Breaker Latios Spacial Rend vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel: 144-171 (39.5 - 46.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery. Its speed teir unmatched after a smash and with spore and mold breaker your able to put to sleep just about everything. You gonna need magic coat and some heavy bulk like registeel has to be able to block or manage somewhat with that kind of speed and power. Either this or your forced into having scarf imposter. I find myself needing to run multiple checks even if soft ones on every single team and the first thing that seems to come to mind when building and thinking of sweepers is none other then this monster latios. Even if this is somewhat manageable due to steels and scarf imposter the fact your forced into running so much to check him really indicates to me its S rank. Similarly to how deo-s is by far the most or 1 of the most well known things to always prep for the fact you have to prep so hard makes it S rank. And even if you do prep you can still end up getting trampled on if your opp manages to dismantle or get rid of your checks. Latios truely a insane beast. And standing true as a master dragon. Also the VR overall looking good tho. Well be interesting to see how it develops

While the lati@s are definitely meta defining and very powerful they have several drawbacks that I feel don’t make them s rank worthy. (To be honest I don’t think deoxys or pokestar even deserve s). Latios runs almost always the same coverage, making it liable to be walled by prankster registeel and easily revenged by scarf imposter, prankster don or espeed meloetta-p/arceus unless behind a substitute which it can often not afford to run (spore is just so useful, stored power is amazing STAB and of course spacial rend hits prank tina and wondertombs).

 

[POKEBOSSS]

While the lati@s are definitely meta defining and very powerful they have several drawbacks that I feel don’t make them s rank worthy. (To be honest I don’t think deoxys or pokestar even deserve s). Latios runs almost always the same coverage, making it liable to be walled by prankster registeel and easily revenged by scarf imposter, prankster don or espeed meloetta-p/arceus unless behind a substitute which it can often not afford to run (spore is just so useful, stored power is amazing STAB and of course spacial rend hits prank tina and wondertombs).

I agree, another downpoint about Lati@s imo is that they can't have the items other sweepers can. I'm sure Soul Dew makes them the most powerful sweepers, but they are sometimes outclassed by other dangerous sweepers in the formes of Groudon, Regigigas and Slaking. Since 2 of these sweepers have reliable priority, and one has almost just as much firepower as the Lati@s with soul dew physically. The best thing about these is that they DON'T get crippled by offensive wonder guards like pokestar spirit when it carries safety goggles, which they usually do. Another benefit these sweepers have over Lati@s is that they get a free item slot, which allows them to carry something like their OWN safety goggles or even ring target for trick shenanigans. So it rly depends on what you need for your team and therefore, I too, think it should stay in A+ and not be brought to S-rank.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the Lati@s also easily get crippled down by the likes of prankster and coverage for it. They nearly always carry the same sets, which makes them more predictable then other sweepers where you really only know their STAB move, and have no idea what their coverage might be. This usually invites coverage for it, and makes it very easy to play around them.

 

[Rose]

I agree, another downpoint about Lati@s imo is that they can't have the items other sweepers can. I'm sure Soul Dew makes them the most powerful sweepers, but they are sometimes outclassed by other dangerous sweepers in the formes of Groudon, Regigigas and Slaking. Since 2 of these sweepers have reliable priority, and one has almost just as much firepower as the Lati@s with soul dew physically. The best thing about these is that they DON'T get crippled by offensive wonder guards like pokestar spirit when it carries safety goggles, which they usually do. Another benefit these sweepers have over Lati@s is that they get a free item slot, which allows them to carry something like their OWN safety goggles or even ring target for trick shenanigans. So it rly depends on what you need for your team and therefore, I too, think it should stay in A+ and not be brought to S-rank.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the Lati@s also easily get crippled down by the likes of prankster and coverage for it. They nearly always carry the same sets, which makes them more predictable then other sweepers where you really only know their STAB move, and have no idea what their coverage might be. This usually invites coverage for it, and makes it very easy to play around them.

I’m not saying that they’re not top tier it’s just there’s no really absolutely meta defining, must have or your team is bad pokemon in gen 5 in my opinion.

Edit: with some input from dramlamb I have decided to remove S rank and just put pokestar and deoxys speed in A+ rank, also registeel has moved up to A proving to be arguably the best defensive steel type in the meta. I will refrain from making any further changes until I do a full revision and hopefully move out of beta phase! Thank you all for your nominations and support.

Edit 2: After more consideration I have decided that deoxys-speed is enough of a threat to warrant s. It appreciates the difficulty of hazard removal this gen, and the sleep turns resetting upon switchin making it much harder for wonder guards to continuously shuffle to avoid being hit by a sheer cold. While magic bounce is standard on every viable team, switching your bouncer in is a very risky move.

 

[POKEBOSSS]

I’m not saying that they’re not top tier it’s just there’s no really absolutely meta defining, must have or your team is bad pokemon in gen 5 in my opinion.

Edit: with some input from dramlamb I have decided to remove S rank and just put pokestar and deoxys speed in A+ rank, also registeel has moved up to A proving to be arguably the best defensive steel type in the meta. I will refrain from making any further changes until I do a full revision and hopefully move out of beta phase! Thank you all for your nominations and support.

I didn’t say they weren’t top tier, I said they have some drawbacks and that bcs of those you sometimes want other sweepers depending on your team...

 

[Ransei]

Alexgrizz has once again became leaderboard champion! Congratulations on him having the most points on March's leaderboard.
Also give a hand to BahamutLagoon for being able to play in 151 tours and supreeee for being able to play in 100. Whew you guys are wild.​

 

[dramlamb]

This would be my suggestion on the tier list

S Rank




A+ Rank
pokestar-spirit







A Rank






A- Rank




B+ Rank




B Rank






B- Rank





C Rank

 

[POKEBOSSS]

This would be my suggestion on the tier list

S Rank




A+ Rank
:pokestar-spirit:







A Rank






A- Rank





B+ Rank





B Rank






B- Rank






C Rank





:pokestar-ufo:

Awesome! I do recommend putting Lati@s in A+, since it’s a solid sweeper almost every team has.

 

[Rose]

This would be my suggestion on the tier list

S Rank




A+ Rank
:pokestar-spirit:







A Rank






A- Rank





B+ Rank





B Rank






B- Rank






C Rank





:pokestar-ufo:

Thank you for your feedback. I have taken this into consideration and updated the VR appropriately.

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-hackmons-megathread.3649618/post-8409722

Requesting for Ransei to link the updated VR to the intro in the Gen 5 Resources section.

 

[ArcticBreeze]

https://pokepast.es/0eae1cd65f514687 Sample Submission for BW made by Me Dram and I Love PH (who i was told is ransei)

https://pokepast.es/12d9818bd19acb20 Sample Submission for BW made by Me

(Potential edit to these teams could be making Pokestar Spirit 0- speed and maybe some other stuff)


My opinion of the BW VR (These are not nominations just my opinion I say they are not nominations due to some of them already being ranked the way I want them i think, I'd just want them to stay that way, also bc im lazy and did not look at Shovel Cat's VR when writing this just Drams which much easier to access)

Latios should be S/A+ and Latias A/A+

Smash latios can legit kill 6 mons, ive done this way 2 many times to not think this is S worthy, all u need is a sub passer. People also need to consider

Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (or modest)
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Spore/Spikes
- Spacial Rend
- Recover

more sets than they do, psystrike is nice also but eh... doesnt hit steels hard enough.

Pokestar Spirit is easily S, its super splashable and such a great pivot.

Comparing Slaking and Regigigas's bulk

252+ Atk Regigigas Return vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slaking: 214-253 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Slaking Return vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Regigigas: 196-232 (46.2 - 54.7%) -- 62.1% chance to 2HKO


Here i modified it so they had the same SPA (130)

252 SpA Regigigas Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slaking: 325-384 (64.4 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Slaking Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Regigigas: 211-249 (49.7 - 58.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

Regigigas ranked high B / A

I may edit this post (probably not) to make it less bad

 

[AV Cosmoem]

Wait... Then who's Wrath Of The Leopard on Smogon??????? But ayyyy I'm glad ppl use my set for wg offense teams haha.

it's not your set you stole it from him

 

[Rose]

it's not your set you stole it from him

Scizor-Mega @ Fire Memory
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- Multi-attack
- Filler

I got the idea from Ransei first so technically not mine either.

 

[POKEBOSSS]

Scizor-Mega @ Fire Memory
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash Shift Gear
- Sunsteel Strike
- Multi-attack
- Filler

I got the idea from Ransei first so technically not mine either.

But wait... I told Ransei it would be a cool idea LOL, Idk if this was before or after he spoke to you tho

 

[Ransei]

But wait... I told Ransei it would be a cool idea LOL, Idk if this was before or after he spoke to you tho

It's a set I used to run a while back but at the time my main filler move was U-Turn. A Shell Smash Mega Scizor can have several better options for fillers rather than a pivot move. Stuff like Attack Order, Play Rough, Roost, Sleep Talk, Magic Coat would all be more suitable and the list goes on.

 

[POKEBOSSS]

It's a set I used to run a while back but at the time my main filler move was U-Turn. A Shell Smash Mega Scizor can have several better options for fillers rather than a pivot move. Stuff like Attack Order, Play Rough, Roost, Sleep Talk, Magic Coat would all be more suitable and the list goes on.

Roost Shore Up, but isn't Shift Gear better for it btw?

 

[Ransei]

Pokemon can run either just fine in this format, but sand is never or hardly ever present in the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons metagame and does not justify always having to run Shore Up over Roost/Recover/Softboiled. In Gen 7 Shore Up has been discovered to heal less HP than its other 50% recovery counterparts when utilizing an odd number of raw HP due to it rounding down while the other recovery moves round up and most Pokemon desire to reach that odd HP number limit to lessen constant passive hazard, curse, and status condition damage.

You're editing your post so ig I'll edit mine to answer your question.

Shift Gear and Shell Smash both have their ups and downs. Shell Smash gives you the strong x2 Attack boost while Shift Gear doesn't drop your defenses. Personally I wouldn't worry very much about Shell Smash defense drops because Mega Scizor is a Wonder Guard only weak to fire. Under many conditions if it's getting hit it's also getting OHKOed. Otherwise the only thing Shell Smash users have to worry about are the presence of moldy moves. Specifically Moongeist Beam and anything from Mega Mewtwo X.

 

[POKEBOSSS]

Pokemon can run either just fine in this format, but sand is never or hardly ever present in the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons metagame and does not justify always having to run Shore Up over Roost/Recover/Softboiled. In Gen 7 Shore Up has been discovered to heal less HP than its other 50% recovery counterparts when utilizing an odd number of raw HP due to it rounding down while the other recovery moves round up and most Pokemon desire to reach that odd HP number limit to lessen constant passive hazard, curse, and status condition damage.

You're editing your post so ig I'll edit mine to answer your question.

Shift Gear and Shell Smash both have their ups and downs. Shell Smash gives you the strong x2 Attack boost while Shift Gear doesn't drop your defenses. Personally I wouldn't worry very much about Shell Smash defense drops because Mega Scizor is a Wonder Guard only weak to fire. Under many conditions if it's getting hit it's also getting OHKOed. Otherwise the only thing Shell Smash users have to worry about are the presence of moldy moves. Specifically Moongeist Beam and anything from Mega Mewtwo X.

Ah I see, Thanks!

 

[AV Cosmoem]

I've made a lot of strange sets in the past, so why not dump them?

Gen 3

Kabutops @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Belly Drum
- Protect

This is on the rain sample. While it may be the worst member on that team, the second it gets a Belly Drum up, it wins. Pretty much nothing can tank it and you can use Protect to disregard Slaking as a revenge killer. Machamp destroys this so watch out.

Groudon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Sacred Fire

Standard DDon but now you can use Sacred Fire to beat Skarm. This is huge because people often use Skarm to blanket DDon, so being able to bypass it means that Groudon often ends up sweeping the rest of the team.

Shiftry @ Lum Berry
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Leaf Blade
- Crunch
- Sacred Fire

Second best sun abuser, Dark STAB helps out with the Latis but you would probably want to use Victreebel for those. Anti-Deoxys support is always nice too. This is basically just the Ludicolo of sun, it has a lot of issues that Ludicolo has too.

Latias (F) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Claw
- Recover
- Refresh

This is just a set from Ubers but it's so good I had to use it. This set destroys fat and balance alike, becoming so bulky that no one can touch it. Yes, it might be stopped by a Deoxys-Attack's Explosion, but that mon only really appears on Offense and Hyper Offense. This should be paired with Banette to be an Explosion switch-in.

Gen 6

Palkia @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Volt Switch
- Whirlwind
- Entrainment

It's just a rain setter, you know? Entrainment re-sets rain so that's pretty cool. Nothing else to say.

Palkia @ Draco Plate
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Rain Dance
- Judgment
- Magic Coat

Palkia again! This one is a rain setter that is also self-improof and can remove hazards, and it's the reason why you can auto-win against Desertlovania with rain.

Kyogre-Primal @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Steam Eruption
- Bug Buzz
- Heart Swap

Probably my most infamous set. My WG Palkia is super good at taking out hazards to keep Kyogre's sash up. Heart Swap + Focus Sash combines a Mold Breaker and a setup check in one. Bug Buzz hits behind Substitute and also hits Mega Mewtwo Y super effectively, because doing this while they're behind a Substitute just defeats the whole purpose as they can just set up again. Kyogre also has Shell Smash to provide boosts on its own. This mon is super wild and I suggest you try it out.

Sceptile-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sheer Cold
- Blue Flare
- Grass Whistle
- Gastro Acid

No Guard Mega Sceptile is basically just No Guard MMY with a Spore immunity. Yeah some people like using Dark Void but the ones who don't can't play around Mega Sceptile with sleep turns. Also it's faster than MLop so it beats that too.

I can basically include every mon in this team so I'm just gonna post the team.


Gen 7

Greninja-Ash (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Thousand Arrows
- U-turn

Ashgren has a great WG type and shares it with MGyara. Band lets you kill stuff. That's the set.

Necrozma-Ultra @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Photon Geyser
- Rapid Spin
- Quiver Dance
- Baton Pass

This is a nice support set, clear hazards and boost up to OHKO something with a Z-Move and then pass the boosts over. You can pivot into status to get in easily, giving you opportunities to Rapid Spin or Quiver Dance. Maybe you'll just click Baton Pass to pivot. This set is really flexible so you can do whatever.

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moongeist Beam
- Secret Sword
- Rapid Spin
- Metal Burst

A set I use on Hyper Offense. You can trick them into being Gengarite and then snag a kill with Metal Burst. Magic Guard Rapid Spin is obvious, and Gengar scares away ghosts so you can't really spinblock it unless you have like Giratina. Gengar is chosen over Mega Gengar to be slower than Mega Mewtwo X so it can get the kill when Mega Mewtwo X is unboosted and save the Innards Out user for later.

Emboar @ Mago Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shell Smash
- V-create
- Close Combat
- Photon Geyser

An offensive Innards Out set. Unlike Chansey who uses methods such as Magic Coat, Final Gambit, and Encore to deal with status, Emboar uses offensive prowess to force opponents to kill it. All of its moves lower both defenses except for Photon Geyser, guaranteeing a kill. Its HP is higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y's HP, allowing it to always take them down. Its main stop is Alolan Muk, as Emboar cannot hit it and resists Dark.

Here's another team where I could have submit every single member.

Bisharp (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shore Up
- Baton Pass
- Spectral Thief

It's Bisharp! After bugging Ransei until he ranked Bisharp I can finally say that it is viable. Whenever you would consider Bisharp, you would probably end up using Alolan Muk or Mega Gyarados instead. However, Bisharp does two things over those.

1. It is immune to Play Rough and U-turn. (Mega Gyarados doesn't do this)
2. It resists all of the Moldy moves. (Alolan Muk doesn't do this)

The Sacred Fire weakness is big but this is definitely better than stuff like Mega Diancie.

Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Photon Geyser
- Drain Punch
- Ice Hammer
- Sacred Fire

Standard MMX but it destroys Complete Zygarde, a common switch-in, with Ice Hammer. This is a true set and everyone should be using it.

Lopunny-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Sunsteel Strike

WG MLop is a god set. Along with claiming a guaranteed kill due to random WG, it is also a great Wonder Guard defensively. Struggles with PDon and Giratina but doesn't everything struggle with Giratina?

I'd post sets from my FEAR team but I can never show my FEAR team or else everything I worked for will be revealed to the public.

Manectric-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fissure
- Sing
- Zap Cannon
- Soak

lol rip wg megabro

Rayquaza-Mega (M) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Baneful Bunker
- Aromatherapy
- Wish
- U-turn

This was supposed to improof the MManectric but this is actually a good set cause you wall like every passive mon ever. Flying is very cool and good and also you can use grassium to heal and stuff.

And that's the set dump! Use these because they're funny

 

[Rose]

View attachment 234167

Two extremely common pokemon in gen 5. These are definitely two of the first threats you add methods of dealing with when teambuilding.

Latios is a very threatening sweeper and the best mold breaker when holding its signature item, soul dew. After one shell smash it can one hit knock out most if not all non resists (especially if modest nature) with its STABs stored power or spacial rend paired with coverage such as flamethrower. Its habit of being prone to being revenge killed via priority can be negated with substitute, and spore can be used to muscle through anything that would otherwise ‘wall’ it (e.g. prankster steels without magic coat).

Pokestar spirit is an amazing pivot with its ability wonder guard and lack of fairy typing makes it unable to be hit by anything not coming from a pokemon with the ability mold breaker or scrappy. It has the added benefit of having access to the full effects of curse.

I think that this warrants them to rise to S or S- rank on the viability rankings.

 

[dramlamb]

The problem with Latios being S rank is that it, by your own admition, need to hold Soul Dew to supposedly outclass all the other Mold Breakers. But holding an item that invites Prankster Spore precludes it from outclassing a Mold Breaker who are able to also carry a Lum Berry. Dialga hits hard enough to perform just as well as a sweeper, but doesn't need to give up it's item slot to do so. If anything I would promote moving the Lati's down, not up. Prankster Spore is better in gen 5 than it is in more recent versions of hackmons, and a sweeper who is so blatantly weak to it doesn't deserve S rank.

 

[Rose]

I am +6
You mega evolved lol

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6customgame-1091597889

There is nothing to imposterproof gyarados one it mega evolves, so don’t setup if in mega form and your opponent has a chansey.

This replay showcases my dumbest moment yet and how not to use this team.

 

[Ransei]

While I'm not a known expert of Generation 5 Pure Hackmons, I've played it enough to get a good grasp of how the metagame functions. While trying to reflect what I've seen on the viability rankings to how the metagame is generally built to play out I came to a belief that there is a Pokemon currently in A+ rank that's heavily deserving of a higher rank. This is a Pokemon I believe could definitely fit into into S- rank. There's no way this Pokemon isn't any more meta-defining than all of the other A+ ranks but perhaps it's not on the level of Deoxys-Speed and Giratina.

Behold the almighty behemoth!

Groudon
Nominating for A+ -> S- rank

There isn't much to say about Groudon's variety. Sure it's Hackmons and there's a lot of different moves and abilities it could possibly run. However, it's just one ability in particular that turns this beast into an absolute monster.

Everyone knows how great Prankster could be in competitive play. Being able to give all status moves +1 priority could any team immensely, keeping them safe from lots of different sweepers and breakers. Some of the most well-known features Prankster offers to give are being able to spam recover before the opponent is able to land a KO and being able to use Haze after the opponent has their Pokemon set up and ready to sweep. However, those features aren't what makes Prankster so terrifying.

In Generation 5, Prankster is able to copy Copycat and Copycat is able to receive Whirlwind if it's been used prior. This means Pokemon have easy access to +1 priority Whirlwind and there has to either be a dedicated Magic Bouncer, a couple dedicated Magic Coat users, or a couple dedicated Ingrain users in order to prevent teams from getting swung around like they're in a carousel. If Stealth Rock or Spikes are up beforehand Prankster users could make the ride through the carousel terribly painful and cause an overabundance of chip damage with little to no opportunity to recover back from it. This +1 priority Whirlwind strategy can also immensely help No Guard Deoxys-Speed, the best Pokemon in the metagame by constantly resetting the sleep counters it inflicts and breaking sashes for OHKO moves. Outside of benefiting No Guard Deoxys-Speed It also pushes Substitute out along with the target Pokemon so it becomes easier for sleep to be inflicted on the next turn.

Ok so why is Groudon so special? How does it benefit from having Prankster more than most if not any other Pokemon to deserve this rank? Well, did you know Prankster also gives Nature Power +1 priority? Nature Power is a status move that triggers a specific attack based on the terrain on the battlefield. In Gen 5 Nature decided to choose Earthquake as its default attack in link battles and now Groudon can go haywire.

So to give you a broad image in your head imagine Prankster + Copycat + Whirlwind Groudon also being able to use priority Earthquake. It's the bulkiest and most powerful Earthquake user in the metagame overall so it also reaps the most benefit in Nature Power priority. Prankster Pokemon don't typically carry strong attack moves but this is the exception and this is the most powerful priority move in the metagame. Coming from a Pokemon with base 150 Attack it could give Shell Smash sweepers, Wonder Guard Electric-types, and Deoxys-Speed a run for its money after enough chipping from other Pokemon.

252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Latios: 238-281 (65.5 - 77.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. -1 248 HP / 252 Def Latios: 355-419 (97.7 - 115.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Deoxys-Speed: 220-259 (72.6 - 85.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Dialga: 361-429 (89.5 - 106.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock [Before it even gets -1 from Shell Smash]
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Jolteon: 562-663 (168.7 - 199%) -- guaranteed OHKO [Keep in mind Air Balloon has to be popped or Gravity has to be up]
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Electrode: 510-603 (157.8 - 186.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO [Keep in mind Air Balloon has to be popped or Gravity has to be up]

Groudon doesn't even always have to be Copycat + Whirlwind with Prankster. With this attack alone you can set up Gravity and/or Swords Dance to wreak havoc and do even more damage to opposing Pokemon, all while almost ensuring you outspeed everything.


These are the most prominent Prankster Haze users:

252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Registeel: 307-367 (84.5 - 101.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock [Unboosted]
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Registeel: 616-725 (169.6 - 199.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 329-387 (65.4 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 165-195 (32.8 - 38.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock [Assuming the scenario plays out like this: Giratina uses Haze after getting hit by a +2 Earthquake, then Groudon has been given another chance to attack either through winning a speed tie or being faster in general. 98.2 - 115.6% is the combined damage, making the +2 Atk Nature Power and +0 Atk strategy a guaranteed KO after rocks]

Here is Deoxys-Speed again:

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Deoxys-Speed: 438-516 (144.5 - 170.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Here are some Flying-types for gravity:

252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Rayquaza: 220-259 (53.2 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Aerodactyl: 533-632 (146.8 - 174.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Ho-Oh: 439-517 (105.7 - 124.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

and finally, here are some more sweepers to revenge:

252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. -1 248 HP / 252 Def Kyurem-White: 329-387 (72.6 - 85.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. -1 248 HP / 252 Def Regigigas: 289-341 (68.3 - 80.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. -1 248 HP / 252 Def Slaking: 308-363 (61.2 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Terrakion: 439-517 (114 - 134.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO [Before it even gets -1 from Shell Smash]

I know all of these are Life Orb and it seems a little unusual but the calculations prove it can be very useful for many of these good and admittedly tight rolls. It can also run band and if it's either more passive or in need of more recovery it can run lefties.

Several of these Pokemon get 2HKOed by Earthquake, which may bring the question of whether or not Groudon is able to take an attack from them back before hitting them a second time.

- If you know anything about No Guard Deoxys-Speed, you know Groudon taking an attack back from it is already not going to be the case. Deoxys-Speed is just too good, sorry

252 SpA Soul Dew Latios Spacial Rend vs. 248 HP / 252 SpD Groudon: 207-244 (51.3 - 60.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Rayquaza Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 252 SpD Groudon: 281-331 (69.7 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Regigigas Return vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Groudon: 265-313 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Slaking Return vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Groudon: 265-313 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Yep, it's good in the defense department too

To put things all together this is a noticeably more difficult mon to face off against than your average Pokemon in this format and its demands for preparation are beyond the other Pokemon who currently sit at A+ rank. Needing a dedicated bouncer to deal with its signature strategy while making sure you don't lose the bouncer to a priority Earthquake and it being able to deal with an extraordinary amount of situations from other Pokemon just by running the combination of Nature Power and Prankster Copycat + Whirlwind just makes its presence pretty overwhelming a lot of the time. Not to mention it's a very difficult Pokemon to revenge since you can no longer really rely on your No Guard Deoxys-Speed or many of your Pranksters. I was going to nominate this Pokemon for S rank but I took some deep thoughts and realized there are only a few selective mons who can hope to reach Deoxys-Speed's level. No Guard is only just the beginning of a list of strategies that beast could run to dictate this format. Aside from the Imposter Chansey whose rank is mostly in an undetermined spot at the moment, Giratina is perhaps the only Pokemon who could remotely compare and even that's closer to Groudon than it is to Deoxys-Speed.

 

[dramlamb]

Ransei you make a very good case. The only issue with it is that Prankster Groudon is essentially useless against Magic Bounce Giratina, which is an incredibly common pokemon. At least Deoxys-Speed has ways of dealing with Wonder Guard cores and can break though them if there are hazards in place. Prankster Groudon on the onther hand is completely walled by Magic Bounce Giratina. Groudon is unquestionably one of the biggest threats in the metagame, but it's a threat that you can pretty easily prepare for.

 

[AV Cosmoem]

AV Cosmoem Team Ranking

hi i wanted to rank all my ph teams in a tier list cause those are funny

S RANK

spam - the best team i've ever made in ph, sashspam psyspam is super great and you tear teams down, mzam is an excellent anti hazard and anti chansey, pdon kills muk and is a bulky blanket, pb mmy cleans other sashspam and revenges, wg mmy is another blanket, mgarde is an offensive bouncer and with moonblast chunks down the darks that pdon isn't targeting

baton pass - baton pass is broken in gen 3 because of taunt, you can blanket every matchup except like shadow ball deo-a especially with don taking care of lead rock blast mu

ng mmane - mane is broken, aerilate ray is broken especially with moongeist to bait and kill megabro, mguard gar is broken, rip chansey, bounce ray destroys every defensive mon ever, then the wg core of maudino and megabro is super solid and only loses to like freeze dry xern and moongeist mmx. imp chansey can't even win because everything is fully improofed

triple moldy fullpass - you pass subs and smash to stuff then win. and yes there is triple moldy but can we really count gyara as a full moldy? it's more like 0.5 moldy.

A RANK

kingdra bo - it's a gen 3 sample just go to my sample submission post

ho - the famed emboar team, sceptile is a super good suicide lead and mguard mgar keeps hazards away, then we have a bunch of standard breakers with mb and then a no guard sweeper, then emboar of course the best innards user in the game

psyspam - psychic types in gen 3 are broken, quad priority is also pretty broken and machamp is cool too, sf ddon is also cool cause skarm is bad amirite

ng spam - there are 4 no guards on this team. i don't have to say anything else

gen 3 rain - there's like a thousand resources for this team

fear - Have you ever met someone and knew right away that they were the best thing that's ever happened to you? It feels strange because you've lived your entire life without even knowing they existed, but you wonder how you survived for this long without them in your life. I can honestly say that I've just felt true love for the first, and probably last, time in my life. For the longest time, you've listened to songs singing about love and romance, but you were never able to relate to them. All of the sudden, you are able to connect with nearly every single word you hear on an emotional level. You think about them literally all the time and can't imagine a future without them. It's funny how the tiniest chance encounter can have such profound effects. I feel really terrible and heartbroken now because I have to come to terms with the fact that my one true love may soon be gone for some time. The worst thing in the world is finding out that they don't share your feelings back. I know that this may seem like a lot of work just to express my feelings, but trust me, I would do so much more to show my love if I could.

I am, of course, referring to FEAR!

That is why it's about time I give my one true love, FEAR the affection it deserves. Ever since I was introduced to FEAR, I became an entirely new person. I was just a kid hopelessly in love with something I knew would never return my feelings.

I feel confident in saying that FEAR truly is the greatest team of all time. I don't think anything will ever make me believe otherwise (except for FEAR 2, of course). Not only is Mega Venusaur, the multi-hit FEAR mon, the greatest mon ever put to teambuilder, he is also the most powerful (dare I say, "flowerful?") broken and oppressive mon I have ever seen. I praise GameFAQs for effectively being able to make me care so much about a mon that I would not normally give the time of day. FEAR has made me a better person because it taught me that there are always more ways to build it. FEAR has the amazing message that it is OK to be yourself in an oppressive world that arbitrarily forces you to run serious teams. I have so much newfound respect for all FEAR mons now, especially Mega Venusaur. The concept of FEAR is too precious, unpredictable, creative, intelligent, entertaining, and enthralling to spoil for you here, but I will say it will have you on the edge of your seat for the entire game no matter how many times you've already played it. Every time I see it in games I buy a popcorn, but never even touch it because I am too focused on FEAR to notice anything going on outside of that screen. Teams like FEAR are so special, they offer great educational value to children of all ages AND they offer a great, engaging, intense PH experience; something that sad excuse of a team, spam, couldn't offer. When I first walked out of my first FEAR game, I was shaking because I had just been on the greatest emotional roller coaster of my life.

People may try and use memes, comparisons, and circlejerks as a credible source to justify why they think this masterpiece is bad. I am more than happy that FEAR is receiving rocky reviews from the start. Obviously it deserves the highest form of praise everywhere and from everyone, but some of the greatest teams of the past were all miserably misunderstood at the time of their initial release. Like wg mlop, many people who lack the brain capacity necessary to comprehend such important, life-changing plays presented in wg mlop walked out of the theater. no status, which is no longer considered the greatest film of all time since the release of FEAR, was widely panned by audiences for being too off-meta for its time. I will be waiting for the day when team raters all around the world show their students FEAR as an example of how to thematically, technically, and cinematically make a perfect team.

Don't even get me started on the comedy aspect of it! FEAR is also the funniest team ever! It has non-stop humor that makes me laugh every time I see it. Sometimes, I laugh so hard that I almost choke or pass out. Somehow, I was laughing for 106 minutes straight even though the game was only 86 minutes! Some of the sets just stick with you long after the game ends and you burst out laughing whenever you think of them.

If you didn't notice, I tried to keep my FEAR usage here to a minimum. You may be wondering why I am doing this if I am such a big fan of FEAR. Well, that is because I learned from FEAR that not all FEAR mons were made to fit into only one team. I prefer to understand FEAR mons' deeper sets and tech that may be contrary to the assumed sets they are stereotyped to represent. I seriously pity anyone who uses wishpass when they haven't seen FEAR because they can't understand the deeper tech the FEAR mons experience like us FEAR fans can. Those people can only take FEAR at face value.

B RANK

banette ho - i updated this team there's alolan raticate over deo-a and bane is just mega bane with prank now but this team is still cool and good, rat improofs bane fully as well and aerilate is still broken

wg mlop - wg mlop is the best set of 2020 and i will hear no objections, pixilate is even more broken than aerilate but diancie is a worse mon, dual stag is broken too and lets mlop sweep despite it sucking against wg

gen 6 rain - this could go higher because the mold breaker pogre set alone wins at preview 95% of the time and the wg palkia is neat too but its basically matchup fishing since wg palkia is camping like every time just waiting for a chance to go into a mold breaker

hail - the only team in my builder that was a group effort, this was created via a collaboration between me, dramlamb, BahamutLagoon, mc56556, WrathoftheLeopard, and Alexgrizz on PS but with regice over piloswine, i personally added the piloswine cause i thought it fit better

stag xern - stag xern is super neat, its role is to trap dark types so that mgar can sweep. bonemerang also breaks sashes cause deo-a sucks amirite, refrigerate is broken and prankster isn't nerfed yet

doubles - obviously this is for doubles. follow me + wonder guard is broken because you can use follow me every turn so if they don't have a moldy move you win

explosion spam - gen 3 explosion is good, rock blast duggy lead + two shadow ball deo-a is super sexy and makes the bp matchup easy, then you just spam explosion and sweep with something, wobb makes last mon not a hassle and also traps defensive stuff so you don't waste explosion, taunt notably targets skarm cause it's gonna try and ww you

cresselia - wg cress is super bad so i went out of my way to add kartana as a second wg and use fc cress instead, kart is also good cause the team sucked cause it was too passive, now it's much better because of the added offense

C RANK

sun with 4 fire weaks - it's sun with 4 fire weaks, run merely for the activation of shiftry's chlorophyll. you can guess why this is here.

scizor subpass - idk i never win with this, raikou is cool tho. also i removed scizor so the name doesn't make sense now

bisharp - there's something about this, maybe it's cause ray doesn't have haze, maybe it's cause bisharp has a bunch of flaws, maybe it's cause meloetta isn't bulky enough, maybe it's because there are 3 photon users, idk there's just something that makes this team underperform

subpass - my only gen 5 team i made all by myself, virizion was chosen over terrakion for the ground resist and mewtwo can beat every wonder guard given the time

ferrothorn - this team is just too passive, also despite being some bulky balance type team it isn't improofed

gen 7 rain - just look at it

D RANK

comaphase - no prank and no fast offensive mons that can actually break, i replaced celesteela with maudino but even then it's too passive but it's not the right kind of passive

baton pass - any hazer means you lose, imprison haze just means you can pass through haze, doesn't mean you can sweep through it

assist - assist sucks cause it's back and forth between wg and big tanky mon

no status - there are no status moves on the team also heliolisk is on it

also here are the teams
https://pokepast.es/b7de1141e4fafc61

bye

 

[Bahamut]

as we need to change and get rid of some of our samples i decided to post a new team i made as a sample:
https://pokepast.es/b24cb0ef99a29c68

 

[AV Cosmoem]

Monotype in PH, Part 1

Monotype is an interesting team style in PH because you can get very creative due to the different roles. For example, the two Wonder Guards on a team must synergize well, and they must cover the team's weaknesses perfectly as well. There will be a section for how each type does with offense and balance. Every Pokemon will be put in order of tallest to shortest. Expect to see more niche Pokemon in the low tier types such as Rock and Bug, and even in the high tier types such as Water. Do note this post is for Gen 7 Pure Hackmons. Anyway, let's get started!

Normal is probably the best type, having the best Pokemon and the best Wonder Guard in the meta coupled with its ability to fulfill everything a team needs makes it worthy of this name.
Offense


Normal offense is super good. Slaking and Regigigas serve as Huge Power, Wonder Guard, Mold Breaker, or even Stealth Rock Pokemon, and their high 160 attack makes them very capable of running coverage spam. Arceus will likely be the go-to Wonder Guard due to its high speed and HP, allowing it to pass Substitutes to other Pokemon quickly and efficiently. Mega Audino and Meloetta are alternative Wonder Guards usable for various purposes, such as hazards, Defog, pivoting, and Aromatherapy. Any combination of these three Wonder Guards will perfectly balance out weaknesses, only missing out on a Sunsteel Strike resist. Meloetta can also be run offensively due to its access to STAB Photon Geyser. Mega Lopunny is the go-to suicide lead as well as the best Huge Power due to its blistering 135 speed, allowing it to outrun Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Gengar. Both Imposter Chansey and Innards Out Chansey are huge boons to offense as they are able to blanket the matchups against other offense not using Magic Guard. Alolan Raticate is an option as an offensive Wonder Guard who can pass Shell Smash to other Pokemon, and it can balance out its weaknesses perfectly when paired with Mega Audino.

Balance


Slaking and Regigigas can be used mainly as Wonder Guard or Prankster Pokemon, with Slaking having less Special Defense but being a better Innards Out user. Arceus is again a standard Wonder Guard Pokemon, and is a faster version of other Wonder Guards. Mega Audino is the best Wonder Guard on Normal and should be used on almost all teams, since it can perfectly cover weaknesses with every other viable Wonder Guard, only missing out on a Sunsteel Strike resist. Pyroar is a usable Wonder Guard to resist Sunsteel Strike and when paired with Meloetta perfectly covers weaknesses and moldy move resists as well. Mega Lopunny is the best Huge Power user once again, Chansey is a blanket to offense again, and Alolan Raticate is again a viable option as an offensive Wonder Guard, but must be paired with Mega Audino.

Fire is kind of bad, they're forced to run Volcarona a lot and Volcarona dies to every moldy user so that sucks. Also their offensive options are good but not really enough, I'd say low tier because even though some of their mons are really good it has almost nothing to work with
Offense


Primal Groudon is the best Pokemon on Fire and offers offensive sets with Magic Guard, Huge Power, and Mold Breaker, or defensive ones with Wonder Guard or Prankster. Reshiram is an excellent special attacker and can also be used as a Wonder Guard with a neutrality to Water. Mega Mega Blaziken is a strong Huge Power user and it can also run a Magic Guard set with Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick. Blacephalon is a secondary Huge Power user with the ability to use Moongeist Beam effectively as well. It can also run a Magic Guard set featuring Mind Blown along with STAB Moongeist Beam. Emboar is used as an offensive Innards Out user, with the ability to drop its defenses to very low levels using V-create and Close Combat. Volcarona is the premier Wonder Guard on Offense due to its neutrality to Ground, blanketing the ever-feared Thousand Arrows matchup. Darmanitan is used as a speedy Innards Out user, able to set hazards and then take an opponent down with it. Talonflame is the fastest Pokemon that Fire has, and so naturally it is the No Guard user. Victini is a viable Huge Power user for its STAB Photon Geyser.

Balance



Primal Groudon is once again an excellent offensive and defensive Pokemon. I didn't go into potential Reshiram sets but you could run Mold Breaker, Magic Guard, Contrary, and even Protean. Mega Blaziken is once again a strong offensive Pokemon, and it is also the strongest priority user available to Fire. Blacephalon retains its ability as a mixed Huge Power or special attacker. Mega Houndoom is a Wonder Guard with a resistance to Moongeist Beam and an immunity to Photon Geyser. This is a huge boon for the rest of the Wonder Guard core, as they no longer have to fear these moves. Emboar, Volcarona, Darmanitan, Talonflame, and Victini retain their previously mentioned roles.

Another top tier type, Water is brimming with strong offensive and defensive threats. It is incredibly easy to make a powerful Wonder Guard core and Water has the right tools to take advantage of both archetypes.
Offense



Wailord is the primary Innards Out user in Water Offense due to his incredible HP and very low defenses. Primal Kyogre can be either an offensive Mold Breaker or a very tanky Wonder Guard. Gyarados's role is already obvious, it's a Wonder Guard and a Mold Breaker in one. Mega Gyarados is used for the Dark typing, which is very useful against Photon Geyser and Moongeist Beam. Palkia is the go-to Wonder Guard for Offense due to its neutrality to Grass and Electric. Ash Greninja is Water's most useful offensive tool, used as a Huge Power, No Guard, or even Innards Out user. Starmie is useful for its Photon Geyser STAB, allowing it to run an offensive No Guard set.

Balance



Innards Out is useful on Balance as well, and Wailord is an excellent user of it. It is also Water's form of Imposter. Primal Kyogre and Mega Gyarados are secondary Wonder Guards that both help in specific matchups. Gyarados is once again role compression of Mold Breaker and Wonder Guard. Palkia is the main Wonder Guard due to its Grass and Electric neutrality. Mega Slowbro can be either Fur Coat or Wonder Guard. The Fur Coat set aims to wall the opposing Huge Power, except for some outliers like Blacephalon, and the Wonder Guard set aims to do what Mega Gyarados does, but trades a Moongeist Beam weakness for a Fairy neutrality. Ash Greninja is once again Water's best offensive threat.

Weakness to ground sucks but it has ways to get around it. Its WG cores are good and it has a bunch of cool offensive threats too. Sadly all their mons have low stats. It's a pretty mid tier type as far as monotype goes.
Offense



Thundurus Therian Forme is a very powerful special attacker, due to its Flying type allowing it to use an extremely powerful STAB combo. Zekrom is the best Pokemon on Electric and can be used as an offensive threat with Huge Power, Magic Guard, or Galvanize, or as a Wonder Guard due to its high defensive stats, a rarity on Electric. Mega Manectric can be an offensive threat, mainly with No Guard, and it can also be a Wonderloon with a very powerful Volt Switch. Zeraora is a quick Innards Out user, being the second fastest Pokemon on Electric. He is chosen over Electrode due to his higher HP. Ampharos is used to combine a Wonder Guard with a Mold Breaker. Electrode is the main No Guard and is also a good Wonder Guard because of its high speed. Lanturn is the main Innards Out user due to its high HP and low defenses. Galvantula is probably the best Wonder Guard on Electric Offense due to his Thousand Arrows neutrality. Finally, Togedemaru is a viable Huge Power user due to its STAB Sunsteel Strike.

Balance



Zekrom is the best Pokemon on Electric and resumes its usual role as a catch-all offensive or defensive threat. Vikavolt is chosen over Galvantula for its low speed to set hazards, remove hazards, and pivot last. Offense preferred the extra speed granted by Galvantula to keep momentum up, but in Balance slow pivots make better Wonder Guards to keep offensive threats safer. Mega Manectric resumes its role as a Wonder Guard and No Guard user with a high Special Attack stat. Ampharos resumes its role as a Wonder Guard and Mold Breaker combination, and Electrode resumes its role as a No Guard or a speedy Wonder Guard. Lanturn is also an Innards Out user again, and Charjabug can be used over Vikavolt for extra bulk if you are willing to give up the item slot.

Grass is bottom tier even though Kartana carries it hard, it has a ton of weaknesses including one to Ice so WG cores are overwhelmed and I don't have to tell you that offensive threats on Grass are lacking.
Offense

Mega Abomasnow is a useful offensive Prankster, abusing Prankster Copycat and Spore very well. Mega Venusaur is a more defensive Prankster, sporting higher bulk and a useful Poison typing. Mega Sceptile is the speediest Pokemon on Grass, so naturally it is the No Guard user, but it can also run a variety of other sets such as Shadow Tag and Wonder Guard. Celebi has STAB Photon Geyser, so it is a viable Huge Power. Shaymin-Sky is the type's Innards Out user and is also capable of running Shadow Tag. Kartana is required on all Grass Offense teams due to its amazing Wonder Guard typing and its capability to save Grass in many matchups, though it can also run Huge Power and nuke teams with Sunsteel Strike.

Balance



Mega Abomasnow continues to be a useful offensive Prankster and Mega Venusaur a defensive one. In addition, Mega Abomasnow serves as a Sheer Cold immunity. A notable new addition is Ferrothorn, who is now usable and superior in a defensive role to Kartana due to its much higher Special Defense stat and much lower speed. It pairs with Ludicolo or Alolan Exeggutor to form a near perfect defensive core, only missing out on a Moongeist Beam resist. Ludicolo is preferable due to the neutrality to Ice. Celebi and Kartana reprise their usual roles.

Will be continued in Part 2!