I'm quite new to the PU scene. I only started playing at around March and started to take it seriously during July, so it's only 5 months or so I've been playing PU. But in that time, I feel I've really improved as a player, building a few teams that have seen success on ladder and in room tours. This team I could've just dumped in the team dump and written a small paragraph about it, but as I was planning to do that I realized that this would be my 50th post on the site, so I wanted to put more effort into it. Something that also lead to this RMT is the fact that a tier shift is happening soon, so I wanted to archive a snapshot of the last pre-Crown Tundra meta before it happened, as PU will probably be changed forever. Finally, I haven't seen SS PU RMTs on here in a long time, so I thought I could revive interest in them with this one. I generally feel that a more defensive approach towards teambuilding is the most simple and risk-free, so that's why this RMT is centered around a semi-stall team.
Teambuilding
TangDino (AuGela?) is a very simple, yet effective, core. Using their great bulk and type synergy, they can wall a majority of the meta, such as Fighting types, Haunter, and Poliwrath. Regenerator is extremely useful in negating opposing progress, and as long as you can keep the opponent from stacking hazards, these two are able to consistently make progress via Toxic and Knock Off.
I quickly realized I wanted to build a stallish team, so I need some Toxic Spikes in order to pressure teams better. Enter Qwilfish, who provides great utility to the team with Rocky Helmet and a variety of status moves. Intimidate + Rocky Helmet makes sure mons like Cincinno can't break through Tangela without taking lots of chip in the process, and being able to lay and absorb TSpixes while threatening opposing Defogers with a Taunt or Waterfall chip damage is great.
Looking at the 3 mon core I built, I realized two mons were able to dismantle it: Lurantis and Drampa. All 3 of them could not stand boosted Superpowers, Leaf Storms, and Knock Offs from even a defensive Lurantis, and while Drampa is less of a threat, Audino does not like taking repeated Draco Meteors or Hyper Voice, and they lost hard to SubCM variants. Being unable to run one mon to cover both, I ran Silvally-P to cover Lurantis (and the other random Grass sweepers that low ladder loves to use) and Carbink to "beat" Drampa. Carbink also functions as an emergency Jynx check, as +2 of anything won't kill and Body Press always OHKOs.
Finally, a bulky win-con was needed to ensure victory once the opposing team was weakened sufficiently. It needed to be good against offense, demolish opposing stall, and have an easily achievable win condition. Of all of these three, Gothitelle stood out as the best, with Cosmic Power continually boosting its Defenses to unkillable levels and RestTalk making sure it can't be worn down by passive damage. Competitive is also neat in making sure you benefit from Defog if there are no Dark types on the other team (or they get lazy and slap an easily killable one). Goth in general benefits from meta trends such as Silvally-P and Miltank being popular, which act as setup fodder for Goth.
The Crew
Boots Da Bush (Tangela) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
For our first mon, we have a very standard set: PhyDef wall. All Tangela needs to really do is sit there and soak up hits while crippling switchins with either Toxic, Knock Off, or Leech Seed. Giga Drain is so it's not passive, and it has the added benefits of STAB, no immunities (Sap Sipper exists but none of them like their items being Knocked Off or being Toxiced), and combines with Leech Seed to give Tangela some pretty solid healing capabilities. Not much to else to say.
The Audacity (Audino) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Toxic
- Knock Off
- Heal Bell
The yin to Tangela's yang, Audino is the special wall of the team, being able to take mons such as Turtonator, Jolteon, and Haunter, which Tangela cannot. Wish and Heal Bell keep the team healthy since the Toxic sponges have no recovery and everyone hates being statused, as it impedes on their jobs. Toxic + Knock Off is a deadly combination previously seen on Tangela, and this cripples the things that would love to switch into Audino (such as Fighting types or Frosmoth) beyond belief. Regenerator completes the Tangela + Audino core, as regaining health each time it switches out reduces the need to Wish itself as much and allows it to forgo Protect so Heal Bell can provide for the team.
Fishy (Qwilfish) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes
- Destiny Bond
Qwilfish is pretty much necessary on any stall team, as TSpikes is one of the few ways they can make consistent progress. Although so many things wear Boots nowadays to negate this, it's not hard to bait, say, Frosmoth in, switch into Audino, and cripple it with the dreaded ToxOff combo. Qwilfish is also the go-to lead in many cases thanks to Taunt denying hazards and Destiny Bond removing itself once its usefulness has expired (it's also a great cop-out if a bulky setup sweeper gets out of control). It also serves as the primary check to the physical sweepers that can break past Tangela, such as Cinccino, thanks to Rocky Helmet. It's also great at punishing mindless U-Turns from mons like Togedemaru, and last-ditch spin attempts from Rime or Cryogonal.
Bel Biv DeVoe (Silvally-Poison) @ Poison Memory
Ability: RKS System
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Parting Shot
- Flamethrower
- Grass Pledge
Mr. Never Trust A Big Butt And A Smile himself, Silvally-Poison has always been a mainstay on my teams, either as a Work Up sweeper that dismantles opposing cores, or the currently popular Utilvally, and this one is no exception. It often sees use in practically every matchup: against offense, it chips and weakens with Parting Shot, against balance it pivots and baits common answers like Ferroseed and Quagsire to destroy with its coverage, and against stall it serves as the secondary win con if Goth somehow falls. Being a Silvally, it's also a safeguard and emergency answer to the more fringe playstyles such as Rain (can revenge kill abusers outside of rain) and random ZU mons (can take care of most of them). Why Jolly? Well, even with negative investment it hits what it needs to, 2HKOing Ferroseed, Quagsire, and Rhydon with its coverage, and running Timid gets in the way of beating Fairies and Grasses. The Speed EVs outspeed Rotom-F for a painless revenge kill.
Carmite (Carbink) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
When using this team, I found there were a few rules I ended up falling back on when I was struggling. They include "Make sure TSpikes are put down early and often", "Setup with Goth and don't get cocky", but the most important tended to be "When all else fails, fall back on Carbink". It was originally put as the mandatory Drampa "answer" and not much else, however in practice it ends up saving me more often than not, being barely able to avoid 2HKOs on stuff I forgot to cover, lay Rocks, possibly kill it or at least provide a sack to regain momentum, and do more than planned. RestTalk gives it reliable recovery, and the threat of a powerful Body Press let it check stuff like Audino and Miltank.
goth gf (Gothitelle) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
This is what I would consider the face of the team. Every action, every move, every decision is so Goth can properly sweep. Not only being at +6 in both Defenses makes it unkillable, it also makes the damage output of Stored Power insane. Even at +3 in both it's effectively 210 BP, making it a massive nuke to anything not a Steel type. If you somehow get a SpA boost via Competitive, then the game is basically over. Max Defense lets it take even stuff like Banded Dusknoir Poltergeist like nothing (+3 avoids the 2HKO and +6 shrugs it off). It's not hard to get on the field because of solid bulk and how RestTalk invalidates passive damage, and generally once Goth is setup, nothing can stop it.
Jackie Chan (Hitmonchan) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 240 HP / 68 SpD / 200 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Drain Punch
- Throat Chop
- Toxic
When playing, I found this team struggled with hazards stacking teams. Generally, what you want to do here is either bait a Defog for Goth by setting up your own hazards, or simply hard in Goth and begin to setup. However, the structure of these teams made it tricky to do that. Lazy hazards tacking teams have a Defogger, but more competent ones have Spinners, and this team lacks a spinblocker. Plus, many of these teams also have Taunt mons to stop Defog, and these tend to be Dark-types, which Gothitelle cannot hope to beat without TSpikes support. So I ended up experimenting with a way to remove these hazards and found that Boots Hitmonchan is the best way for this team to remove them. Boots over Assault Vest provides two crucial abilites: it can ignore Spikes damage, making it much harder to wear down, and the ability to use Toxic lets it bait in standard checks such as Corsola-G or Froslass (even with Boots revealed they tend to switch in anyway). The EVs are tailored to beat Miltank: the HP lives 3 Seismic Tosses from full, while it outspeeds and almost always 2HKOs with Drain Punch. The downside to running Hitmonchan over Goth is a much worse matchup against offense, and this turns to the team into full-on stall instead of semi-stall.
Threatlist
Note: I'm only counting mons with above 1% usage. There are probably a few ZU mons that can sweep this team (for example I almost got washed by Focus Punch Delibird once), but considering they probably aren't viable there's no reason to include them.
Dark-types
Seeing as Goth sweeping is the ultimate win con of this team, Dark-types are a major threat to said sweep. Dealing with each of them is different, so I'll go into detail for each of them.
-Morpeko is countered by Tangela. Even if it's TauntFang, Giga Drain 2HKOs and cleanly disposes of it. Shouldn't be a problem.
-Persian-Alola is basically a coin-flip as to how it's dealt with. If it's SubNP, barring bad luck, Carbink can beat it as it avoids the 2HKO from +2 of anything. Utilty sets get Toxiced + Knock Off unless it's Taunt, which means Carbink gets to slam Body Press against it. It's a bit annoying but shouldn't be too hard to deal with.
-Skuntank is tricky. Defensive Defog sets are easy enough to deal with: remove its item and use Carbink to chip it until it dies. NP sets are much harder to deal with. Body Press only 2HKOs on a roll after Rocks, and Carbink can be worn down with repeated +2/+4 Sludge Bombs and possible Poison damage. Silvally-P can revenge kill as a last resort option, but that means Carbink is already dead, which opens holes for more stuff.
-Sableye, like Morpeko, is countered by Audino. Even Taunt sets have to play 50/50s with Audino and being Knock Offed seriously hampers its survivability. Boots sets have it even worse considering no Lefties and Toxic Spikes becomes a death sentence if Knock Offed.
-Liepard has a bunch of sets it can run, but the general rule of thumb is that it is most often used as a lead or breaker. Switch in Silvally to scout the set. If Knock Off/U-Turn deals around 30/12, it's Band; if not, it's Boots. I suggest not staying in on a Band Knock Off since it has a chance to 3HKO and Multi-Attack won't kill from full. NP sets can be dealt with by Carbink.
-Spiritomb is the hardest to deal with. Physical sets are easy enough, however CroTomb (CM RestTalk) is basically a gg. If you switch Body Press to Moonblast on Carbink, this gives you can give you a chance at beating it. However, beating CroTomb is generally out of the question and seeing one means you have to forfeit. Luckily, CroTomb is very rare, and thus seeing Spiritomb on team preview isn't an automatic loss.
-You have a 30% chance to lose to Pawniard at any given moment. Somehow, Carbink avoids the OHKO from Iron Head from full, so it technically is a check, especially if you can read a Sucker Punch and avoid taking prior damage. However, Iron Head's flinch chance means your only Pawn check can be put out of commision like that. Silvally's Flamethrower can 2HKO, but Sucker Punch takes a massive chunk out of its health in the process.
Work Up Silvally-Poison + Frosmoth
Alone, they aren't threats. Qwilfish can handle Ice Beam variants of Silvally and chip with Waterfall or trade with DBond, while Audino and smart shuffling can take out Frosmoth. However, together they can break through the teams. Qwlifish is easy pickings for Frosmoth, and vise versa for Audino and Silvally-P. The main counterplay to this would be setting up with Goth, however Ice Scales completely invalidates this strategy and lets Frosmoth beat it 1v1. The only counterplay I can say to this is combining the strategies for Silvally-P and Frosmoth while seriously outplaying your opponent.
PerishTrap Altaria
While not the worst thing the team can deal with, it's easily the most annoying as it can dismantle the stall mons this team relies on to win. What you want to do here is scout with Silvally-P and Parting Shot out if it's PerishTrap. Unfortunately, the ones that run Protect make chipping down Silvally-P very easy. If Goth has set up though, PerishTrap Altaria is not an issue, although it does force Goth to restart a sweep.
Replays
Of course any good RMT would not be complete without replays to back it up. I don't have as many as I wanted because my only battling experience is ladder (inconsistent even at higher ELOs) and room tours, but I think I have enough to showcase how good this team is.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1239097728
Not the best replay as I made quite a few misplays (switched Carbink into Klingklang, sent Carbink in after the sac instead of Goth), but I think this showcases the gameplan of the team very well. The team was able to continually pressure the Spinner (Hitmonchan) in, forcing it to take chip damage from Rocky Helmet, Poison, and Rocks. This ended up eliminating it after 2 uses. Once Qwilfish was able to come in safely, I laid the TSpikes and it was gg. Even if Goth didn't end up sweeping, it shows how the gameplan of the team is very simple and linear.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1239102860
Better replay that showcases a Goth sweep. Although Carbink almost got haxed, it was able to dispose of the Dark-type, opening the door to a Goth sweep. Even a random crit from Shadow Claw (!) Kanga didn't stop the sweep, as it was able to remove Kanga and come back in on Altaria.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1241628239-269mwbng9xliyshcvsa57x3zyblvduipw
It took 46 turns and only one mon was killed in the process, but I think the replay shows how the team functions best with lots of bluffing and predictions. For example, the constant Parting Shots on Togedemaru and Sandaconda made it look like they were safe switchins, thus when Togedemaru when to switchin, it had to eat 2 Flamethrowers and Wish the damage off, which lead to pressuring via TSpikes and forcing Altaria in so Silvally-P could dispose on the Defogger. Winning 50/50 and predicting which mon will come in when is key to winning with this team against more defensive ones.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1239128243
This was a room tour finals with Hitmonchan instead of Gothitelle, just to show what it can do. Here, due to not expecting Heavy-Duty Boots, the Froslass choose passive options, allowing Hitmonchan to cripple it with a Toxic and chip with Throat Chop. As I said before, I think Hitmonchan was a better choice against this team due to its hazards stacking nature (at least on team preview) and Skuntank being hard to wear down.
Peak
Like I said before, I had no plans to make this a RMT at first. However, just for fun, I decided to take a snapshot of my ELO when I first decided to make this a RMT, and it ended up being my peak.
(Ignore the GXE) Personally, I can understand if 1483 isn't particularly high to people, and not being able to reach 1500 kinda sucked. However, I'm still very proud of my peak because it's the highest I've ever gotten on any permanent ladder, and I think it's high enough to prove that this team can be successful.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope you have success with the team if you plan on using it!
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