Playing With Fire (1740) - An Iron Valiant HO Team
Introduction:
Hey y'all! This is my first RMT post, so why not start with a generic looking one. I wanted to share a somewhat fun team I built featuring a fun mon, Iron Valiant. For this team, I wanted to drill in the thought that this gen's metagame was full of scary mons. To bring in threat after threat, eventually breaking through opposing defenses. With the new addition of the past and future mons, combined with this gen's tera mechanic, this wasn't much of a challenge. This team heavily relies on prediction in order to force out would-be problems, and evaluating the current state of your team every turn, your wincon may even change mid-game. One little slip-up could cost you the entire game, hence the name, Playing With Fire. Not very beginner friendly. Unfortunately, tera is also an essential part of this team's success, and we're nearing it's (potential) ban. Despite that, I'm still excited to see where the metagame goes, if and when it does get banned.
~Paste is at the bottom~
Oh, and here's the proof that I got to 1740 with this:
(taken Dec 9, 2022 at 9:23PM)
(and ignore the GXE, my previous team sucked)
Without further ado, here's the team!
Team Members:
Burst (Iron Treads) @ Leftovers
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 104 Atk / 152 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
This is Burst, the Iron Treads. Surprisingly this was the first member of the team, I didn't know what I was going to build at the time. When I first saw this mon, I thought it was a better spdef Excadrill, y'know the annoying ones in ORAS that would be in almost every team without a lando. It had the stats, the ground/ice coverage, rocks, and hazard removing capabilities, so I simply made it like a better drillthat can't touch Rotom-W. Great Tusk is arguably better in every way, but then I looked at Dragapult & Gholdengo and looked at the team. Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin are self explanatory, hazards and hazard control. Earthquake is this mon's stab, hitting ground bound targets that don't resist. Ice Spinner is for coverage, doing respectable amounts of damage mainly to dragons like Dragapult, Garchomp, Dragonite, and other mons like Breloom, Meowscarada, Amoonguss, Kilowattrel. Max Spe Jolly is to speed tie with opposing Iron Treads and outspeed anything under. 104 Atk is to guarantee a 2HKO on Chien Pao and having a decent enough chance to 2HKO max max physdef Skeledirge with EQ. The rest is dumped into SpD to tank Draco Meteors and Make It Rains. Lefties is for longevity, this is a spdef drill, and Quark Drive is it's only ability. Tera water is a defensive measure to surprise and tank hits from opposing Chien-Pao, Baxcalibur, disgusting rain teams, any fire move, and retaliate with an EQ. You'd rarely use this tera unless you find removing weaknesses to fire/fighting/ground/water for this mon impotant to winning the game. Don't 1v1 Great Tusk with this.
Glimmer (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
Let's be honest, Gholdengo is annoying. So is Chi-Yu, but we'll get to that. Glimmer here is the team's main speed control and trick mon. Make It Rain and Shadow ball make up it's main stabs, either hitting something hard, or using one of the most spammable moves in the entirety of pokemon. Focus Blast rounds out the coverage, landing devastating hits on the likes of incoming King Gambit, Chi-Yu, Tyranitar, Roaring Moon, Cyclizar and Iron Treads. The sole purpose of Trick is to annoy the opponent and condition them to either switch into a mon that already has scarf, give a mon a useless scarf, or render a passive mon completely useless. Max Spe in tandem with scarf outspeeds the entirety of the metagame that doesn't have a speed boost, and max SpA is to hit as hard as possible. Good as Gold is it's only ability, giving it immunity to all status moves used against it. Tera dark is used to eat ghost and dark moves that would otherwise OHKO Gholdengo, like a faster Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, or maybe Stored Power, and retaliate with something.
Valor (Iron Valiant) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Psychic / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Zen Headbutt
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
I think it's fitting that I so happened to name my Mega Gallade back in gen 7 "Valiant". And it comes to no surprise that I wanted to use this thing the moment I saw it. Valor the Iron Valiant serves as one of this team's late-game sweepers. It has amazing coverage and access to both Swords Dance and Calm Mind. I like the idea of breaking through walls with physical moves, so I've decided to make this set physical (flashbacks to chanseys in SM lol). SD boosts Atk in order to actually dent or KO something. Close Combat is this set's main stab move. Knock Off is to hit psychic and ghosts. Zen Headbutt in tandem with tera psychic hits unsuspecting Clodsires and Amoongusses, while allowing you to get up another SD in an incoming Corviknight's face and knock it out with CC. EVs are self explanatory, max Spe to speed tie opposing Iron Valiants, and max Atk to hit as hard as possible. Booster Energy activates Quark Drive, giving you +1 Spe. This can be used as a last resort speed control option or to sweep last game. Try not to waste it unless you think it would be more helpful early game than late game. Tera fighting is another option in case you still want to retain resistances to Sucker Punch and obtain neutrality (that's not the right word, is it) to Bullet Punch, while boosting the damage output of CC.
I used an older set in some of my replays, where I had Spirit Break instead of Zen Headbutt, but this set gets walled by Amoonguss so ignore that one.
Flicker (Chi-Yu) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Beads of Ruin
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
As dumb and broken as this mon is, I really don't mind it's presence in the metagame, as long as I myself can still make use of the silly dumb-and-broken fish. Selfish, I know. This is Flicker, the Chi-Yu. As I scrolled through it's movepool when I first saw this mon, I found that it doesn't have much other than hard hitting stabs. No surprise there. But then I saw it's potential to be an annoying as hell offensive support fish and I was thrilled to see not only Will-O-Wisp, but also Taunt in it's movepool. Dark Pulse and Fire Blast are this set's main stabs. Fire Blast is preferred over Flamethrower for more damage, and 2HKOs Clodsire when using tera fire. Here's where this set gets fun. Willow can be used on incoming Roaring Moons, incoming Ting-Lus, Iron Hands, Dragonites, and Corviknights because no one expects it. Taunt can be used right after a Willow to prevent hazards from being set by Ting-Lu, and dual screens from Grimmsnarl. Just don't try to 1v1 a Glimmora with Taunt, it wont work out. Max Spe is to be as fast as possible, max SpA to hit has hard as possible. Timid is the standard set, but Modest can be run to (I think) guarantee a 2HKO on opposing Chi-Yus with Fire Blast without having to tera, just be weary, Modest is 1 point slower than max Spe Great Tusk and max Spe Baxcalibur. Heavy-Duty Boots allows you to switch in without having to worry about rocks on the field.
Limes (Breloom) @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Substitute
I love Breloom. Funny mushroom. Anyway, this is Limes, the main stall breaker of the team. Breloom is responsible for dealing with slow waters, grounds, and rocks like Dondozo, Clodsire, and Garganacl; revenge killing darks like Chien-Pao, Chi-Yu, and Roaring Moon; and putting everything to sleep. Spore is the funny sleep move you all know and love, just don't ever expect a 2 turn sleep. Bullet Seed in tandem with Loaded Dice and Technician deal massive amounts of damage to targets that don't quad resist nor have a large Def stat (and no, Gholdengo is not a safe switch in to Breloom, that thing has a good chance to get 2HKO'd). Mach Punch is boosted by Technician and is used for revenge killing. Substitute is another cool move on this set, useful against sleeping targets so you wont have to predict when they wake up. Max Spe is used to speed tie opposing Breloom, and max Atk with Adamant nature ensures you always hit very hard with Bullet Seed. Tera steel is used to tank Ice Shard from Chien-Pao and Extreme Speed from tera normal Dragonite, and revenge with something cough Spore cough.
Flight (Dragonite) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Ice Spinner
- Earthquake
Dragonite is one heck of a mon to try to beat, which is why im using it. My first encounter with this set on the OU ladder was when I was trying out my old Palafin team. It set up in my face and swept, and that's exactly the same thing I want happening to my opponent when I use this team. Flight the Dragonite is here to almost always be saved for a mid or late game sweep. Dragonite cleans up after the other members are done punching holes, and perhaps even scare some mons out early (like Chi-Yu), thus wrecking additional havoc while setting up a predicted switch, into what could be an advantage for you if you get the prediction right. This is a pretty standard set. Dragon Dance is useful for setting up. Extreme Speed in combination with tera normal allows you to land hard hits with a stab priority move. Ice Spinner and Earthquake for that sweet ground/ice coverage (+3 Ice Spinner OHKOs offensive Great Tusk). Max Spe max Atk Adamant to bolster ESpeed damage, Jolly base 80 doesn't outspeed much so there's no point in using Jolly aside from maybe outspeeding opposing Dnites. Heavy-Duty Boots are there to prevent rocks from popping Multiscale.
Notable Threats:
Since this is a HO team, it doesn't take much to threaten any team members here, but I'll list a few notable ones.
- Dragonite is an issue, despite this team having one of it's own. If this thing gets up +1 and Gholdengo is down, you're in trouble.
- Great Tusk with ice coverage is an issue and a half, you'd think I'd have a solution to this mon by now with how common it is on teams, but nope, if it can kill Breloom, and be bulky enough to tank a Fire Blast/Make It Rain, it's a problem.
- Garganacl is very much a nuisance to this team. No surprise, I'm running HO. Gholdengo and/or Breloom must be saved for this mon to go down (unless your opponent plays very recklessly).
Edit: removed Volcarona from threat list, Dragonite probably takes care of this thing.
- Edit: (forgot about this one.) Opposing Iron Valiant, especially tera ghost variants, prove very difficult to handle. If speed ties aren't won, that's ggs. In the case of tera ghost, most you can do is go Gholdengo and tera dark as a last resort in an attempt to knock it out, since the dual priority from Breloom and Dragonite wouldn't be able to affect it.
- Edit: credits to AndViet for pointing this one out, Roaring Moon is definitely a threat to this team, not only do Dragon Dance sets basically sweep, but tera is probably what makes this thing scarier since it makes it harder to revenge. Sun teams with this mon are not to be messed around with.
Replays:
Sorry if I didn't includeany many matches I lost in, just know that I probably didn't include those because past-me either forgot to save the replay, or only felt like they lost because they played terribly.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1733752687-ozsd6306kxr7e260nye3e9uwqt6atjzpw - Chi-Yu fucks with screens HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1736771964 - Chi-Yu baiting in and burning an incoming Roaring Moon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1736782991 - Breloom does annoying stuff
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1745771390-baei2qps1zrv5lygluqxd2stpsuibuspw - Removing ghosts and steels for Dnite
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1742389339-et11bztlef23ujvtzj281zsvotxqkxkpw - FOUND A LOSS (still played terribly but I mean I found one)
PokePaste:
https://pokepast.es/c0b2a2304d733465
Introduction:
Hey y'all! This is my first RMT post, so why not start with a generic looking one. I wanted to share a somewhat fun team I built featuring a fun mon, Iron Valiant. For this team, I wanted to drill in the thought that this gen's metagame was full of scary mons. To bring in threat after threat, eventually breaking through opposing defenses. With the new addition of the past and future mons, combined with this gen's tera mechanic, this wasn't much of a challenge. This team heavily relies on prediction in order to force out would-be problems, and evaluating the current state of your team every turn, your wincon may even change mid-game. One little slip-up could cost you the entire game, hence the name, Playing With Fire. Not very beginner friendly. Unfortunately, tera is also an essential part of this team's success, and we're nearing it's (potential) ban. Despite that, I'm still excited to see where the metagame goes, if and when it does get banned.
~Paste is at the bottom~
Oh, and here's the proof that I got to 1740 with this:
(taken Dec 9, 2022 at 9:23PM)
(and ignore the GXE, my previous team sucked)
Without further ado, here's the team!
Team Members:
Burst (Iron Treads) @ Leftovers
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 104 Atk / 152 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
This is Burst, the Iron Treads. Surprisingly this was the first member of the team, I didn't know what I was going to build at the time. When I first saw this mon, I thought it was a better spdef Excadrill, y'know the annoying ones in ORAS that would be in almost every team without a lando. It had the stats, the ground/ice coverage, rocks, and hazard removing capabilities, so I simply made it like a better drill
Glimmer (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
Let's be honest, Gholdengo is annoying. So is Chi-Yu, but we'll get to that. Glimmer here is the team's main speed control and trick mon. Make It Rain and Shadow ball make up it's main stabs, either hitting something hard, or using one of the most spammable moves in the entirety of pokemon. Focus Blast rounds out the coverage, landing devastating hits on the likes of incoming King Gambit, Chi-Yu, Tyranitar, Roaring Moon, Cyclizar and Iron Treads. The sole purpose of Trick is to annoy the opponent and condition them to either switch into a mon that already has scarf, give a mon a useless scarf, or render a passive mon completely useless. Max Spe in tandem with scarf outspeeds the entirety of the metagame that doesn't have a speed boost, and max SpA is to hit as hard as possible. Good as Gold is it's only ability, giving it immunity to all status moves used against it. Tera dark is used to eat ghost and dark moves that would otherwise OHKO Gholdengo, like a faster Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, or maybe Stored Power, and retaliate with something.
Valor (Iron Valiant) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Psychic / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Zen Headbutt
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
I think it's fitting that I so happened to name my Mega Gallade back in gen 7 "Valiant". And it comes to no surprise that I wanted to use this thing the moment I saw it. Valor the Iron Valiant serves as one of this team's late-game sweepers. It has amazing coverage and access to both Swords Dance and Calm Mind. I like the idea of breaking through walls with physical moves, so I've decided to make this set physical (flashbacks to chanseys in SM lol). SD boosts Atk in order to actually dent or KO something. Close Combat is this set's main stab move. Knock Off is to hit psychic and ghosts. Zen Headbutt in tandem with tera psychic hits unsuspecting Clodsires and Amoongusses, while allowing you to get up another SD in an incoming Corviknight's face and knock it out with CC. EVs are self explanatory, max Spe to speed tie opposing Iron Valiants, and max Atk to hit as hard as possible. Booster Energy activates Quark Drive, giving you +1 Spe. This can be used as a last resort speed control option or to sweep last game. Try not to waste it unless you think it would be more helpful early game than late game. Tera fighting is another option in case you still want to retain resistances to Sucker Punch and obtain neutrality (that's not the right word, is it) to Bullet Punch, while boosting the damage output of CC.
I used an older set in some of my replays, where I had Spirit Break instead of Zen Headbutt, but this set gets walled by Amoonguss so ignore that one.
Flicker (Chi-Yu) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Beads of Ruin
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
As dumb and broken as this mon is, I really don't mind it's presence in the metagame, as long as I myself can still make use of the silly dumb-and-broken fish. Selfish, I know. This is Flicker, the Chi-Yu. As I scrolled through it's movepool when I first saw this mon, I found that it doesn't have much other than hard hitting stabs. No surprise there. But then I saw it's potential to be an annoying as hell offensive support fish and I was thrilled to see not only Will-O-Wisp, but also Taunt in it's movepool. Dark Pulse and Fire Blast are this set's main stabs. Fire Blast is preferred over Flamethrower for more damage, and 2HKOs Clodsire when using tera fire. Here's where this set gets fun. Willow can be used on incoming Roaring Moons, incoming Ting-Lus, Iron Hands, Dragonites, and Corviknights because no one expects it. Taunt can be used right after a Willow to prevent hazards from being set by Ting-Lu, and dual screens from Grimmsnarl. Just don't try to 1v1 a Glimmora with Taunt, it wont work out. Max Spe is to be as fast as possible, max SpA to hit has hard as possible. Timid is the standard set, but Modest can be run to (I think) guarantee a 2HKO on opposing Chi-Yus with Fire Blast without having to tera, just be weary, Modest is 1 point slower than max Spe Great Tusk and max Spe Baxcalibur. Heavy-Duty Boots allows you to switch in without having to worry about rocks on the field.
Limes (Breloom) @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Substitute
I love Breloom. Funny mushroom. Anyway, this is Limes, the main stall breaker of the team. Breloom is responsible for dealing with slow waters, grounds, and rocks like Dondozo, Clodsire, and Garganacl; revenge killing darks like Chien-Pao, Chi-Yu, and Roaring Moon; and putting everything to sleep. Spore is the funny sleep move you all know and love, just don't ever expect a 2 turn sleep. Bullet Seed in tandem with Loaded Dice and Technician deal massive amounts of damage to targets that don't quad resist nor have a large Def stat (and no, Gholdengo is not a safe switch in to Breloom, that thing has a good chance to get 2HKO'd). Mach Punch is boosted by Technician and is used for revenge killing. Substitute is another cool move on this set, useful against sleeping targets so you wont have to predict when they wake up. Max Spe is used to speed tie opposing Breloom, and max Atk with Adamant nature ensures you always hit very hard with Bullet Seed. Tera steel is used to tank Ice Shard from Chien-Pao and Extreme Speed from tera normal Dragonite, and revenge with something cough Spore cough.
Flight (Dragonite) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Ice Spinner
- Earthquake
Dragonite is one heck of a mon to try to beat, which is why im using it. My first encounter with this set on the OU ladder was when I was trying out my old Palafin team. It set up in my face and swept, and that's exactly the same thing I want happening to my opponent when I use this team. Flight the Dragonite is here to almost always be saved for a mid or late game sweep. Dragonite cleans up after the other members are done punching holes, and perhaps even scare some mons out early (like Chi-Yu), thus wrecking additional havoc while setting up a predicted switch, into what could be an advantage for you if you get the prediction right. This is a pretty standard set. Dragon Dance is useful for setting up. Extreme Speed in combination with tera normal allows you to land hard hits with a stab priority move. Ice Spinner and Earthquake for that sweet ground/ice coverage (+3 Ice Spinner OHKOs offensive Great Tusk). Max Spe max Atk Adamant to bolster ESpeed damage, Jolly base 80 doesn't outspeed much so there's no point in using Jolly aside from maybe outspeeding opposing Dnites. Heavy-Duty Boots are there to prevent rocks from popping Multiscale.
Notable Threats:
Since this is a HO team, it doesn't take much to threaten any team members here, but I'll list a few notable ones.
Edit: removed Volcarona from threat list, Dragonite probably takes care of this thing.
Replays:
Sorry if I didn't include
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1733752687-ozsd6306kxr7e260nye3e9uwqt6atjzpw - Chi-Yu fucks with screens HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1736771964 - Chi-Yu baiting in and burning an incoming Roaring Moon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1736782991 - Breloom does annoying stuff
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1745771390-baei2qps1zrv5lygluqxd2stpsuibuspw - Removing ghosts and steels for Dnite
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1742389339-et11bztlef23ujvtzj281zsvotxqkxkpw - FOUND A LOSS (still played terribly but I mean I found one)
PokePaste:
https://pokepast.es/c0b2a2304d733465
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