Metagame Partners in Crime

[Billybobman]

I think baton pass teams may have some potential. Mons that don't normally have baton pass will now have access to it. They can also make use of abilities like regenerator and download.

Anyway here is a team I threw together:https://pokepast.es/febe646e2f2b8506

It spams spore a lot. Ingrain prevents your mons from being forced to switch. I gave vaporeon roar just as an attempt to help deal with a chansey team where chansey never dies. Watch out for crits, haze, clear smog, sacred sword, darkest lariat, unaware, and other things that can potentially ruin your baton pass chain.
Here's a replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1670619778

I dont think ingrain allows you to spam no retreat like other trapping does. Not sure.
And I'm sure someone can put together a better BP team, mine is just an example.

 

[Cuddly]

I think baton pass teams may have some potential. Mons that don't normally have baton pass will now have access to it. They can also make use of abilities like regenerator and download.

Anyway here is a team I threw together:https://pokepast.es/febe646e2f2b8506

It spams spore a lot. Ingrain prevents your mons from being forced to switch. I gave vaporeon roar just as an attempt to help deal with a chansey team where chansey never dies. Watch out for crits, haze, clear smog, sacred sword, darkest lariat, unaware, and other things that can potentially ruin your baton pass chain.
Here's a replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1670619778

I dont think ingrain allows you to spam no retreat like other trapping does. Not sure.
And I'm sure someone can put together a better BP team, mine is just an example.

Just use Psych Up. Not only is Psych Up better than Baton Pass in regular doubles, but it’s also on both Pokemon so long as one of them has Psych Up.
Also use Kommo-o and Swoobat on your team if you want to do a gimmick team like this.

And tbh this just seems more like a showcase for why Sleep is broken more so than Baton Pass being good.

 

[ImaginaryNeon]

Y'know what's worse than Truant? Truant + Slow Start. (With Defeatist as a backup plan)
Safe to say, this is likely the best team for getting your opponent to forfeit this side of Funbro.
Although, this could use some revising, which is why I'm here.

Durant @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Truant
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Entrainment
- Protect
- Toxic
- Beat Up

Regigigas @ Leftovers
Ability: Slow Start
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Press
- Darkest Lariat
- Drain Punch
- Confuse Ray

Meowstic (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Skill Swap
- Heal Bell
- Mean Look
- Psychic

Archen @ Eviolite
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 196 HP / 56 Atk / 96 Def / 156 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Roost
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Protect

Weezing-Galar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Pain Split
- Toxic
- Venom Drench

Haxorus @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Scale Shot
- First Impression
- Breaking Swipe
- Facade

 

[ImaginaryNeon]

ur mom

I've done some tweaking and was gonna remove the Weezing when I ran into a mono dark team*. It made me realize that it is actually quite useful for letting my Meowstic not be walled off as badly by Dark types.

*( https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1671024242 )

 

[Celest]

I decided to make a doubles version of my favorite Sun singles team. It’s been doing pretty well at just muscling through a lot of teams without too much setup. For some reason Pokepaste doesn’t work on my phone, so if someone could help me that would be swell.


Rocks Up (Torkoal) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Protect
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power

NormalLizard (Heliolisk) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Hyper Voice
- Volt Switch

Venuzard (Venusaur) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
- Weather Ball

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Surf
- Recover
- Ice Beam

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Moonlight
- Follow Me
- Flamethrower

Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Minus
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Discharge
- Flamethrower
- Volt Switch


Defensive Torkoal is here to set Sun, give Heliolisk Eruption/Earth Power, and switch into predicted hits. He enjoys the slow Volt Switch from Helio, Recover from Gastro, and Follow Me from Clef.

Heliolisk comes in with Torkoal turn 1 to wreak havoc. Timid with Specs and Solar Power hits 712SpAtk in Sun, giving you massive damage Eruptions at blazing speed. Hard Switch Torkoal on turn 1 into either Chlorophyll Venasaur(If the enemy might be able to outspeed with scarf or PranksterTailwind) or Minus Manectric(if the enemy is slow and extra bulky) and watch the first two mons die immediately. Then, due to the way Choice items work with partner moves, you can choose a different move for Helio the next turn. Hyper Voice is a nice neutral spam button, Volt Switch to get a kill and a switch, Dark Pulse for Ghosts, and Solar Beam for Grounds. Unaware Clef lets you hit defensive boosters, gives you Dazzling Gleam, and has Follow Me to keep you spamming worry free.

Venasaur is obvious. Growth let’s you catch up to Helio in power, and it’s often free because the enemy wants to scout with protect, or is literally already dead before Venasaur attacks. The rest is common coverage. Enjoys Solar Power from Helio and Minus from Manectric for free specs.

Gastrodon is a wild card, adding a bulky switch in, water immunity for weather wars and Recover for Torkoal. Ice Beam coverage is appreciated.

Manectric is Free Specs and speed control with Scarf. If the enemy happens to survive and get up tailwind or is Speed Boosting up Chlorophyll Scarf is the answer.

Clef is Unaware to ignore boosters, and offers a decent spread move as well as attracts attention. Thinking of swapping something for Helping Hand to bolster Helio further, but this works for now.

Team could definitely be tweaked some(Clef/Manectric) to shore up weaknesses and add more value to Heliolisk. Abilities like Flash Fire/Levitate/Sheer Force/Pixilate/Refrigerate/Download/Competitive/Mold Breaker can all give momentum if applied correctly. Also teammates with Soundproof/Telepathy and Boomburst can give Helio a massive nuke with 0 drawbacks to spam. For moves, he’ll likely want some Ice/Ground/Poison coverage and some spread moves to take advantage of the huge SpAtk.

 

[Billybobman]

Viability Suggestions:
UR->D
Thick fat is helpful against surviving sun. It has access to Belly Drum and is very bulky.
UR->D
Prankster is always going to be a strong ability due to it's versatility. Has good typing and access to spikes. Depends on the situation for whether or not you use this mon, Meowstic or Grimsnarl.
UR->D
Ice scales is a very useful ability and it provides quiver dance for mons to set up with. Flash fire can help it deal with it's fire weakness.
UR->D
Yes, Gorrila Tactics limits your moves, but it's still a 1.5* bonus. Darmanitan itself has decent stats. You can always have one of your mons make use of the boost and u-turn out darmanitan.
UR->D or C
Giant special attack and access to the discharge + volt absorb combo for healing and paralysis.
UR->D or C
Not sure why it's not on the list. Adaptability is a nice boost in power. Learns Dragon Dance for some reason.
UR->D
Has good stats, tail wind, competitive + skill swap.
UR->D or C
Multiscale is strong. Has decent support like haze, thunder wave, roost, Dragon Dance, and Tail Wind. Has good stats and move pool.

 

[Cuddly]

Viability Suggestions:
UR->D
Thick fat is helpful against surviving sun. It has access to Belly Drum and is very bulky.
UR->D
Prankster is always going to be a strong ability due to it's versatility. Has good typing and access to spikes. Depends on the situation for whether or not you use this mon, Meowstic or Grimsnarl.
UR->D
Ice scales is a very useful ability and it provides quiver dance for mons to set up with. Flash fire can help it deal with it's fire weakness.
UR->D
Yes, Gorrila Tactics limits your moves, but it's still a 1.5* bonus. Darmanitan itself has decent stats. You can always have one of your mons make use of the boost and u-turn out darmanitan.
UR->D or C
Giant special attack and access to the discharge + volt absorb combo for healing and paralysis.
UR->D or C
Not sure why it's not on the list. Adaptability is a nice boost in power. Learns Dragon Dance for some reason.
UR->D
Has good stats, tail wind, competitive + skill swap.
UR->D or C
Multiscale is strong. Has decent support like haze, thunder wave, roost, Dragon Dance, and Tail Wind. Has good stats and move pool.

D rank is for Pokemon mean to be blacklisted from discussion, not the lowest viability ranking. UR is for unviable Pokemon and D rank is for unviable Pokemon but players still bring it up.

You are also gonna need more than just a few lines and listing moves/abilities a Pokemon gets if you want to make a Pokemon in a viability ranking.

 

[yuki]

D rank is for Pokemon mean to be blacklisted from discussion, not the lowest viability ranking. UR is for unviable Pokemon and D rank is for unviable Pokemon but players still bring it up.

You are also gonna need more than just a few lines and listing moves/abilities a Pokemon gets if you want to make a Pokemon in a viability ranking.

Fwiw as we are closer to Doubles, we rank a lot more under the ideology of how Doubles and VGC rank things. In our case, D-tier is often reserved for things that can give something to their team but either are somewhat outclassed while providing a niche application, or are things you need to make serious compromises (in building or using a bad mon for something that could otherwise be impactful) to make work. If we didn't think it was any good, we'd just rank it UR

 

[a girlboss]

with PiC's time as OMotM coming to an end, I think I'll share my team.

my peak <3 i'd rather not lose my sanity trying to reach top 100

anyway here's the team!!!!

you can click here and also click them!
​

explain nation!!!!

The main attraction here! Adaptability-boosted Boomburst from Life Orb Porygon-Z decimates any non-resist. Telepathy keeps Noivern safe and lets it click Discharge, Tailwind, Ally Switch or any coverage options. Of course, if Noivern dies, it can't Boomburst any more...

...except it can! Kommo-o replaces Telepathy with Soundproof, making the mirror-match more manageable but not allowing it to click Discharge as easily. Dragon Tail is good to disrupt set-up strats. Toxtricity is a decent partner for Kommo-o, boosting Clanging Scales with Punk Rock. Porygon-Z also benefits Kommo-o by granting it Adaptability-boosted Aura Spheres and Clanging Scales.
​

These two are here to counter faster teams, and as a response to Trick Room. The idea is to click Wish with Gardevoir, then Ally Switch so Sylveon receives the healing. Moonblast obliterates opposing Kommo-o, letting everything else click a sound move. Since Gardevoir can't learn Boomburst, it has to settle for Hyper Voice. After You would be great here, but Gardevoir can't learn the move. Maybe it could be replaced with Indeedee, which would also protect the team from Triage and Fake Out.

anyway aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[lilpup800]

I finally made it to first here's the team since there's only one day left and I'm done lol.

This team is definitely broken, it maybe could be a revision of a mon or two, but otherwise Download + Neutralizing Gas(and a lesser extent Intimidate) is way too broken for a few reasons.
1. Download in general is broken, you basically get about a 50% chance to boost an attack stat of your choice(you basically gain an extra choice band/specs boost without any downsides), when combined with strong mixed coverage allows you tools to surprise and take an early kill. Similar for double Intimidate, you end up very quickly oppressing physical attackers.
2. You don't lose boosts when a Neutralizing Gas user comes into play, so most teams lose their abilities and you only serve to gain.
3. You can stack boosts with Neutralizing Gas, abilities that activate when a pokemon enters the field are refreshed with a Neutralizing Gas pokemon exits the field/or dies. This seems a bit stronger than it is in practice since you essentially give up a move with you Weezing oftentimes which isn't always worth the +1 random attacking stat on a frail or passive pokemon. This is, however, a lot more useful with Intimidate as you can guarantee a stat drop when you need it.

Overall, this team has both a really low skill floor and really high skill ceiling as it requires a strong concept of when to switch for momentum. I'd generally describe it as a giant toolbox, with a lot of powerful techs, mobility in switching, oppressive offense, and defensive pieces to slow the opponent down. That being said, outside of a couple strong mons, the team isn't running over opponents on neutral hits, but using a good combination of spread and disruption to snowball kills. The team definitely struggles with rain and Heatran the most, as removing certain members of the team allow them to be opposing "lose-conditions."

Weezing-Galar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Dazzling Gleam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Neutralizing Gas is broken and Poison + Fairy is a very strong type combination in this format due to the amount of Dragon and Fighting types in this format. Neutralizing Gas basically lets you invalidate ability setups and lets you avoid the downsides of your abilities(ex: Intimidate triggerring Defiant/Competitive). Stopping rain teams from setting up, shutting down avenues for teams to gain speed control, crippling Contrary teams, and making Storm Drain teams hurt themselves with Surf. But after it gets killed the team can get checkmated by rain should they maintain momentum. It also kind of helps people forget they don't have any abilities and end up hurting themselves in the process. Namely it has 31 Attack IVs because it will use Extreme Speed.

Genesect @ Life Orb
Ability: Download
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head
Very strong download user, has strong enough coverage and high enough speed to take super-effective kills while providing strong priority to its team members. Using double fake out + extreme speed is great for faster, but frail opposing leads. Iron Head hits fairies and the occassional Ice type. Ice Beam is great coverage in this format for hitting Dragons and Flying types and helps you take advantage of Sp. Att download boasts. U-turn is important mobility for stacking download boosts or providing allies with mobility for themselves. Life Orb just allows it to hit really hard.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 156 SpA / 64 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Electroweb
- Recover
- Icy Wind
My defensive Download user, it is incredibly bulky and can essentially take hits for when the team needs to reposition. Tri Attack might be sup-optimal but sometimes with Sp. Attack boost it can chunk opponents while having a decent chance to disrupt to setup for other allies to kill with boosted neutral hits. Electroweb+Icy Wind seems odd, but both types are offensively strong in this format and oftentimes you'll find one is super effective when the other isn't. The speed control is also very nice, but hasn't been too relevant in my experience, just the spread damage to finish off opponents and punish switches. Recover is important for self-sustainability as it is the only real tank on the team, but can also provide Weezing with a strong recovery option when it needs it, I've also used it on allies to avoid Sucker Punch kill ranges.Namely it has 31 Attack IVs because it will use Extreme Speed and can use its Attack boosts.

Zeraora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fake Out
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Discharge
Genesect + Zera is the premier lead in the format and for this team. They both provide fast and powerful mixed attackers that make incredible usage of Download. Fake Out is great in any doubles format regardless of Dmax, Psychic Terrain, etc. and double Fake Out doubly as unpredictable. Plasma Fists is just a really strong option, the extra Normal -> Electric Effect is nice because you have double Volt Absorb, but normal is such and uncommon move type(unless it has priority) so it doesn't really matter much. Knock Off is a great move, strong and disruptive, any Pokemon can use it when they get walled. Discharge is nice for chip damage, catching switches with the paralysis chance, and healing your allies who always get Volt Absorb. Allies can also use it to restore Zera's sash after it gets chipped, which I choose to use sash because it allows Zera to provide more utility than it does actual offense.

Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 28 Def / 160 SpD
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Parting Shot
If I had to replace a member of the team, it would probably be Incineroar. It suffers the most from four-moveslot syndrome the most(which is ironic given Genesect/Zera/Porygon2). Double Intimidate is great, Fire + Dark will always be strong as a typing, STAB Knock Off is good when you don't know what to do, Fake Out is great in doubles, Parting Shot is another unique switching option that furthers your stat drop onslaught, Flare Blitz is just there, I rarely need it, but the team needs good fire coverage on paper so I have no clue if I should change it.

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Breaking Swipe
- Extreme Speed
The best abuser of Weezing, Thousand Arrows will always be incredible coverage wise and Thousand Waves is great for choking opponents' options. Provides allies extreme speed and intimidate+chip damage, which are both incredibly useful for Weezing. The fact download can boost Zygarde to +1 (+2 with choice band) means Zygarde is often dealing 70% to two pokemon at once while they are unable to use abilities(it's not like Zygarde has an ability anyways). I prefer Choice Band even when I have 8 moves, because DDance isn't really worth it for it's allies, the team relies a lot on switching so immediate power is important, and it'll probably end up using a ground move anyways and never boost beyond +2.This is pretty much the teams only answer to Heatran so watch out for that I guess. This mon is a super good reason not to have 3 ground weaknesses, I pissed a guy off so bad who had 4 ground weaknesses, he followed me to my next handful of games to tell me I'm a trihard lol. Definitely the best abuser of Neutralizing Gas in this format with incredible damage output.

 

[Arkeis]

Well, the month is over. PiC was just as fun as I remembered way back in Gen 7. The team below got to #1 on the ladder and it doesn't use Protect or even any non-damaging moves at all. It's just a straight up all offense team that takes advantage of 2 broken abilities normally banned in ability-based OMs - Libero and Gorilla Tactics.

Importable


It's a very simple team to use. Just brute force your way through battles. But for a more detailed explanation, I usually lead with Dragonite and Genesect. Inner Focus blocks Intimidate and Fake Out flinches while Download could nab you an Attack boost. From there, use Extremespeed to take out faster threats or U-Turn for big chip damage. Keep putting pressure on your opponent with powerful combinations like Download + Libero, Libero + Gorilla Tactics, Download + Gorilla Tactics, etc. Rillaboom really helps out against Psychic Surge and while Zygarde has no ability to contribute, its bulk, resistance to Rock and Fire, and the amazing Thousand Arrows often comes in clutch. Focus on priority moves to bypass common speed-control strategies like Trick Room, Tailwind, or weather. Sometimes, you can even win entire battles by ONLY using Extremespeed as shown in the replay here.

 

[master oden]

As PiC comes to a close, I suppose I'll share my personal favorite team which preformed quite well on ladder (got me to around ~60th i think?)
click me!

Physical offense supported by Articuno and Dragapult to deny intimidate spamming is very nice, banded Kartana under tailwind and grassy terrain deals absolutely monstrous damage at fast speeds, Articuno with Landorus can Skill Swap for a huge boost to it's Special Attack, Dragapult uses its high speed and good stabs to set Tailwind for it's teammates, Heatran provides a valuable fire immunity to the team alongside massive Eruptions with Tailwind support. Landorus-T does disgusting spread damage with Earthquake and Explosion, as well as being quite good at setting rocks. Kartana really needs only 3 moves to function, so I slotted in Tailwind for it's own teamates to use to support it. Rillaboom is an amazing support and revenge killer, paired with Kartana late game they can clean easily or be midgame wallbreakers together.

I'm gonna miss playing this ladder on the main server, but it was fun while it lasted. Thank you for coming up with the idea for this OM and all the contributors to it. This has probably been my favorite metagame to play ever.

 

[HiZo]

Confirmed Bugs

- Incorrect Skill Swap Mechanics (Fixed)
- Not getting your partners ability if you changed your own from the same thing. (Fixed)
- items proccing before abilities are received (not yet fixed)

3 is certainly an improvement from "too many for the ladder to stay up", thanks for playing the ladder everyone! I hope to carry this momentum for Gen 9, while also praying to any deity that listens so there isn't another redevelopment that kills the OM like last time.

 

[yuki]

Hi everyone!

First and foremost, thanks for playing this meta during our time as OMotM. It's been a blast to see the tour be so active as well as people using this thread and playing on the ladder. We've loved seeing all of the ideas that you've come up with, and I think it's only right now that our time as OMotM has passed and the tour is coming to an end that I share some of the teams that I haven't revealed yet. You might recognise a few of these from certain rounds of the Kickoff Tour, and it makes me super proud as a builder to see my friends do well and advance pretty far with some of the teams that I've built.

Desc

Our decision to ban Shell Smash just before the meta launched fully on the main server dented a lot of the setup teams massively. Shell Smash Blastoise was far too easy to slot into so many teams and just have a Follow Me bot that passed Shell Smash to things like Heatran, Naganadel and such. But the one type of setup I didn't believe would disappear was Cosmic Power spam. Becoming basically unkillable is nice, and things like Metagross and Registeel are great for these ideas as boosting their defense also helps to boost Body Press as their primary attacking moves. Mew and Incineroar are responsible for neutering offensive threats with Intimidate, Parting Shot, Will-O-Wisp and Snarl, allowing for good setup opportunities for Metagross. Landorus and Naganadel provide great immediate pressure, while the latter gives much needed Tailwind support. Blastoise is a very natural final slot for this team, as Follow Me, Toxic and Fake Out are imperative to making the team work. Flip Turn gives this team extra ways to pivot, allowing for better chances to get the big threats in for free.

Desc

Sun was, and likely still is, one of the predominant archetypes especially at the beginning of the meta. With the most recent sample version looking to use After You Torkoal + Venusaur to fire off Eruptions earlier in the turn without the need for Trick Room. This idea remains as part of this team, but it ramps up the Fire elements to 100. The additional support Pokemon we used to see such as Cresselia, Latias and Porygon2 are much less needed on this version of the team as it is far more akin to a HO idea. This team just clicks Eruption a lot, while incorporating some standard sun pieces and some niche ideas like Flash Fire Mind Blown and the aforementioned After You Eruption (in the case of being stuck in Trick Room, for example). Blacephalon passes Beast Boost allowing the offensive threats to snowball very quickly. Kyurem-B is still a must-have for sun, as Flash Fire just completely ruins the team otherwise.

Desc

Stall is one of the archetypes that I wanted to champion from the get-go. Regenerator seems extremely good in this format, with Amoonguss being considered a good Pokemon but it was inevitably something that didn't fit the MO of the team. Toxapex fits this far better, with the capability to setup a few Stockpiles and basically outlast the opponent. Naturally, Stored Power CM Cresselia + Body Press Diancie both fit into this team fairly easily as they both take advantage of the same type of idea while the latter gives some much needed speed control. Celesteela was a fairly less-than-thought out addition, as it's just generally really good at playing the long game. Landorus-T is preferred over Incineroar here to remove the 4th Ground weak as well as Stealth Rock. Weezing-G is super underexplored in the current meta, but this team being able to turn abilities off is pretty good given how long the Pokemon stick on the field they don't really need their abilities.

Desc

Klinklang is a fun Pokemon as it doesn't even need Toxtricity to be considered good. Giving offensive teammates like Volcanion and Necrozma a free +1 with additional opportunities to set up via Gear Up is very good. Additionally, having both Trick Room and Ally Switch makes it even better of a support Pokemon. The rest is just standard Psyspam TR.

Desc

Fast Psyspam is a team that took a lot of theorising and thinking to actually get working. The older builds used Shell Smash Blastoise + Necrozma + Naganadel, but given the first of those is banned a new direction had to be taken. What was abundantly clear to me early on in the meta is the use of double Psychic Surge Pokemon is pretty pivotal to getting this team to work, as you always wants to be able to reset Psychic Terrain while potentially keeping an attacking teammate in.

Desc

Hazardstack has taken multiple iterations to actually get right, with the first build that I used being Crunchman's current sample team. The issue I had with it is that it's very a much a "do nothing" team, looking to get a good amount of hazards down and just outlast the opponent. It crumbles pretty easily to a lot of setup ideas as well as anything with good immediate pressure. A more offensive route had to be taken, and I called on a couple of techs I've used in Doubles OU in this manner with the Scarf Nihilego and Roar Volcanion additions. Toxic Spikes are fairly pivotal for this team as poison dwindling down the foes' HP is great for Mew being able to position itself well. Landorus, Scarf Nihilego and Life Orb Rillaboom all provide really good immediate pressure while giving Mew maximum chances to setup, with Clefable seeming like the right final addition to ignore opposing setup ideas.

 

[Eeveeto]

Fun Tier, almost won a tour of it (almost is a word that appears pretty often in my life ).

Since the Gen ends right here, I don,t need this teams, so might as well share my full fodder: https://pokepast.es/3a4a6caa6b7022dd

Now, the nominations:

D > A. Big jump, I know, but this really is one of the best support Mons. Prankster Screens are amazing and with the partner they can be put in one turn. Defensive typing is very good too, and Spirit Break further supports the more offensive teammates, especially if they boost. I used Grimmsnarl in half of the battles in the tour and it never failed me (even in the final battle I lost, Screens helped me to endure more).

Unranked > D. Didn,t use it during the tour, but did use in the ladder. Has Wow, TR, massive bulk, troll ability and fully counters Terrakion.

C>B . Didn,t work too well for me, but that dude that pairs it with Dragonite, Genesect and Galarian Darmanitan has proven me this Mon is good and should be higher.

D>C Discount Grimmsnarl. Mostly worse than it, but offers Fake Out and Screens are still good. Probably female Meowstic could be D due to having Competivive + Fake Out, but didn,t try it.

Unranked>C . Does pretty much the same things it does in Singles, its a good Screen abuser with Weakness Policy, Nasty Plot and Agility. Fiery Wrath can flinch both opponents, which is also good.

C>B . I think its actually better than I here, but well. In any case, Intimidate + Rocks + U-Turn is good. Also, destroys Electric SPAM teams (except when Kyu-B is on the field).

Unranked>B . Fake Out, Encore, Lightning Rod and even Nasty Plot with very high Speed. Works very well as a disruptor and the Discharge boosts the teammate, which helps for example the Galarian Moltres I mentioned earlier (and also Rain teams). The pikaclones have a good record at VGC tournaments, and this one is the best of them (yes, I consider him better than Alolan one in this meta too).

Unranked>C. Discount Raichu, but has Steel typing and a superior Protect. It helped me win the G2 of Semifinals:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1675985660-kxqwouzedy70yl2ltbmx5z31fjkjlsopw . Also, YoBuddy used one at level 1 with Endeavor + Shell Bell in the finals that scared me a lot, though that one game I did win.

Unranked>D. Nuzzle, Tailwind, Encore and Motor Drive. Pair that with Grimmsnarl and some strong but slow breakers, and its another good supporter, especially at providing Speed control.

Unranked>C . Intimidate + Tailwind. Hits hard with special moves.

Unranked>D. Godly typing. It hits harder than Fini and also has Encore. Unexpected Encore, helped me in G1 of Semifinals, which I was losing before that: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1675978755-rgkl4iizhdomwkb9fsaflf5f1fnatv4pw

Unranked>D. Only Refrigerate Mon. Can use Rocks, TW and also learns Encore. Could be used as Hail setter too, though not the best at that.

D>C . Even though it gets walled by Incineroar, it can get around that with a new coverage move. Or sleep it with Hypnosis. Or use Encore, which is broken.

Unranked>D. Trick Room abuser with crazy coverage. Also, fuck Terrakion and Electric SPAM.

Unranked>D. Provides Sand, Rocks, Glare and Coil for your Drill. Has less weaknesses than Tar and in weather wars resets Sand each time it gets hit (or its partner).

Unranked>D. Many people already talked about Sand Veil, but Rough Skin is a good ability too, working as a fast rocker than sometimes can sweep with SD.

Unranked>C. If you see the Replay of the Togedemaru section, you can understand what it can do.

Unranked>D. Strong TR Mon that provides Levitate and Roost.

Unranked>C. No Retreat + Defiant. Partner can use No Retreat + Defiant too. With Screens support and used well (in final match I didn,t) , this can be powerful.

Unranked>D. Another intimidate Mon that has STAB Knock Off. Paired with Falinks, can use Power Trip too.

Unranked>C. Not every team has a Fire or an Electric Mon (and even if they do, you can use Heatran and Raichu). Mirror Armor trolls Intimidate and Icy Wind fans. Under the right circunstances, Bulk Up Corviknight can be a strong win condition, as shown in the G2 of the final, which I did actually win: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8partnersincrime-1680682167-o28jmcdfd17awsv1ea7hyy499o51pq4pw

Unranked>D. Belly Drum Rain abusser.

Unranked>D. Intimidate Mon with good typing and Thunder Wave. Could provide DD too I guess.

and Unranked>B. I lost to these 2 annoying blobs, so they deserve being ranked high.


Could nominate shit like Sudowoodo or Clawitzer, but I think the above Mons are enough.

 

[YoBuddy]

This meta is really cool, the kickoff tour was really fun. I figured I should post some thoughts/teams now that it is over.

and C/Unranked -> B (or maybe even higher). These blobs invalidate so many mons and even some of the sample teams have extremely limited options when dealing with the blobs. When paired with Incineroar they make a strong defensive core that can support a number of bulky offense-styled teams. Blissey acts as more of a bulky wincon with boosting moves such as Calm Mind/Cotton Guard/Iron Defence, while Chansey's general bulk is better suited in more supporting roles.

C -> B. It's understandable that Rillaboom isn't the king of PIC like it is in DOU but C rank seems to be selling it short. Terrain control is even more important than in DOU because of the viability of Electric Terrain and Fake Out, U-Turn and Knock Off are all excellent moves to pass to any teammate. Being able to use Grassy Glide with both pokemon also allows you to pick off weakened targets from relatively high HP.

C -> B. It faces some competition from other Trick Room setters but Diancie is still super solid. Clear Body, Trick Room, Body Press and Diamond Storm can all be valuable to teammates and is just a useful mon by itself.

Super bulky mons in general feel underrated. In many of my games I had a pink fat mon (Chansey/Blissey/Mew/Cresselia) sit on the field for most of the battle and my opponent couldn't stop them. Passing healing moves to bulky allies (eg. Incineroar, Fini, Diancie, etc.) can be so valuable and the moves they receive in turn (eg. Parting Shot, U-Turn, Knock Off, extra coverage on boosting sets, etc.) help patch up their issues with being passive. Partners in Crime tends to lead to lots of really offensive teams that have really volatile matchups and I think it's hard to be consistent without running bulkier teams. This is probably true in general for most metagames but I think it is especially important in Partners in Crime.

Trick Room is extremely threatening in this meta. Being able to set Trick Room with both mons on the field at nearly all times makes it so much harder for your opponent to deny Trick Room. Stakataka even gets Wide Guard so you can't just spam spread moves and pray you KO both. You can also use Trick Room with both mons to reset Trick Room to prevent your opponent from stalling out Trick Room with Protect. Trick Room teams also tend to be bulkier because you don't need to invest in speed which is particularly good due to the above reasons.

Assault Vest feels really bad in this format. Giving up the opportunity to use an ally's Protect, healing move, speed control move (except Icy Wind), boosting move, Parting Shot, etc. is a massive drawback for most mons that want to run AV. For example in this battle I dropped AV for Misty Seed on Kyurem-Black and the combination of Roost, Fini's Calm Mind and Incineroar's Intimidate allowed it to stay on the field for the entire game while threatening to sweep. I think AV can still have a place in the meta in the right situations but I think any time you want to use AV you should ask yourself if it's really necessary.


I won't dump every team I've used, just the ones I think are interesting/worth sharing. I didn't manage to test my teams very much so there is probably significant room for improvement with most of them.

Description

I saw my opponent running bulky setup teams in prior rounds so I wanted something that would be able to beat those kind of teams. Toxic Spikes JailMew was an interesting mon that covered these bases. Chansey was added so I could get 704HP Transforms off and ideally shut out two of my opponent's mons from the game if I could Imprison + Transform with Mew and Chansey

Description

Prankster Cotton Guard Blissey is a menace. If you don't have Toxic you either crit it or lose. Kommo-o and Sylveon offer backup support with Iron Defence and Baton Pass and extra attacking moves for Blissey. Eeveeto didn't end up having many strong physical mons so I just clicked Calm Mind until I won.

Description

I wanted a team that wasn't super passive in case Eeveeto brought something to cteam my other teams. When I saw Eeveeto use Togedemaru I was somewhat surprised it wasn't Level 1 because that was the only set that has ever had success in DOU, so I decided to make my own. Encore, Spiky Shield and Endeavour make Togedemaru super tricky to play around. The rest of the team was kinda just me spamming spread moves in Trick Room to synergise with Togedemaru's Endeavour but it could probably be improved a lot. Unfortunately I missed some big opportunities during the game against Eeveeto and lost with this team but I think the idea behind it it still really solid.

Description

This is basically just a regular DOU team but I think that this team really showcases how even a 'boring' team can have interesting interactions in PIC. Passing Calm Mind and Download boosts to Kyurem-Black allows it to be both bulky and be a potent offensive threat. Kyurem-Black's Roost is also greatly appreciated by the likes of Mew, Incineroar and Tapu Fini.

 

[yuki]

Time for a ban post!

Ally Switch, Contrary and Serene Grace are now banned from Partners in Crime:

Ally Switch:

Reasoning

Ban: 100%

Ally Switch is generally an uncompetitive move in Pokemon, with it being able to make decent progress the first time that it is used, and every other time after that creating 50/50-like situations that should a player get a read wrong, it spells disaster. It recently avoided a ban in Doubles OU, but the problems it was exhibiting there are exacerbated due to Partners in Crime's mechanics. Rather than playing the simple will they-won't they game, you are now working with twice the possibilities as both Pokemon can use the move. This swings the pendulum far enough into the user's court that even if the opponent does now read the Ally Switch, there's no guarantee they make significant progress based on the attacking Pokemon. The simple shell game that is just annoying in Doubles OU creates even more annoying situations here - but it's important to note it's not inherently broken per se, as it has a chance to just do nothing. It's just incredibly uncompetitive when consecutive turns can come down to whether or not the move is clicked, and it does not have a healthy effect on the metagame.

Contrary (Credit dnagerbdager):

Reasoning

Ban: 60%

Intimidate is extremely powerful in PiC and reliable at shutting down dangerous physical attackers in the format. As a result of this, several different abilities are generally paired with those physical attackers, with one common example being Clear Body. Contrary sets itself apart from the rest by actively punishing Intimidate being used and making those same physical attackers exponentially more threatening. Contrary also still has the same upsides it's always had of turning moves that are supposed to harm you into devastating power boosts. While the Contrary passers are, frankly, underwhelming, they are by no means useless and the strength of the ability alone justifies their use.

Serene Grace (Credit Instruct):

Reasoning

Ban: 60%

While RNG is commonplace in Pokemon, Serene Grace takes it further by giving secondary effects a 2x boost on occurring. While normally this would be harmless, it’s been shown that it can alter the outcome of a game really heavily, with the move rock slide being 60% chance to flinch and hitting both foes, making it insufferable to get any sort of progress. What sends it over the top, however, is the move sharing mechanic, allowing Togekiss to click rock slide. Assuming all hit both pokemon, there is a very likely chance you won’t move at all because both pokemon have to deal with 2 60% flinch rolls. This can realistically only be stopped with inner focus, shield dust, or using any sort of priority.

Weather + Speed Boosting Ability:

Reasoning

Do Not Ban: 80%

Early into the meta, we had lengthy discussions about how weather teams could impact the format. More specifically, at the time, the focus was on Sun and Rain and how they could easily get their setters to cycle rain thanks to the mechanics of the format, and readily have access to strong dynamic speed control just by switching. As the meta has progressed, all the weathers bar hail have made some impact on the meta but a couple of conclusions have been drawn; firstly is that losing one of the integral pieces to the idea often makes the team just a normal team. A rain team losing access to its Drizzle Pokemon too early can spell the end for the team, the same goes for other weather setters. Most teams also do not have a luxury to run a second weather setter (unlike some of the Terrain ideas), and thus can struggle to regain momentum into the game. The second conclusion is that oftentimes, just the one form of speed control is not enough, and further ideas need to be explored. This has often been done via Tailwind, Icy Wind and such, but finding opportunities to both keep the weather up and get further speed control can be a tad clunky. We also believe that nobody has fallen into the trap of lazy teambuilding with weather, and that the ideas are sufficiently creative and forward thinking and generally add another dimension to the meta that would be missing without them.

Tagging Kris to implement the bans, thanks in advance :)

 

[yuki]

Just wanted to give a separate update to the above:

The VR is being voted on currently to reflect the state of the meta and the recent bans. You can see our votes in progress by using the link in the VR post.

Shortly after this we're also going to be refreshing the samples.

Stay tuned.

 

[HiZo]

Hey guys, as we prepare for next gen, the council decided to change a few mechanics that will affect the tier as a whole going forward:

1) Using PP from your partner's moves will no longer be pseudo infinite

We have decided to make them independent of each other, which means that although your partner can no longer spam moonlight, your original holder can use it as many times as it wants to without affecting your partner's ability to use the move.

2) Abilities received via PiC’s sharing mechanic that activate on switch-in will have their activation timing altered.

This is mostly to fix a few bugs regarding how some abilities interact with each other, while also having items like terrain extender and the weather rocks having some reason to be used again.

Thank you everyone for playing the tier, seeing this spike in popularity after I managed to get this up and running again is surreal and I hope that you all enjoy the metagame in gen 9 soon.