HARDSTONE WEBS
POKEPASTE: https://pokepast.es/844cefd3d7c3ac71
This team was something i built by hand, through hours of testing and figuring out how to play with webs because i never liked it. I got inspired to use ceruledge after playing pokemon scarlet and beating every battle with just weak armor SD. the idea of the team is to be webs that never loses to stall. I don't like stall, and this team destroys it. It also performs well against all other archetypes, as seen by my ability to push to number one on ladder with this team. There is customizability with this team. you can change certain moves to fit your playstyle, such as poltergeist over bitter blade on ceruledge. i had success with both, but hit number 1 with bitter blade. I believe this is the most powerful team in the metagame. If you want to sit there and dish out massive attacks all game, this team is for you!
THE TEAM
NEW DROP (Ribombee) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- Psychic Noise
- Skill Swap
Ribombee is the preferred webber for my team. the main appeal is skill swap, so that it does not get thwarted by hatterene. fast moonblast comes into play a lot as well, in matchups where webs may not be useful, or the opponent has a lead that can one shot you, such as weavile or meowscarada. for leads such as those, leading ceruledge is the preferred option, as you threaten a one hit ko, and most of the time they will switch, allowing you to click swords dance for free. psychic noise really helps against stall as well. this team was designed to be an effective webs team that had a good stall matchup. using psychic noise and skill swap can really mess up the likes of gliscor and toxapex, while also allowing you to chip blissey or clodsire.
KRYPTONITE (Gholdengo) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
Webs is simply not complete without a government mandated air balloon gholdengo. this pokemon provides a ton of utility in one spot. in general, this will serve as a check to most forms of hazard removal other than weezing. the synergy of this team really shines when gholdengo is allowed to attack and setup, as it generally baits in the ting-lu, gloking, or clodsire from the opponent. a modest +2 focus blast will do a minimum of 70% to ting-lu, if it is has maximum special defense investment, which isn't always the case. clodsire will be one shot if it is water absorb, or 63-74 against unaware. blissey will usually spam calm mind on you as you nasty plot. +6 psyshock is a guaranteed one shot on blissey. if they decide to tera dark, +6 focus blast will also kill, and is a 2hko up to to special defense boosts. tera fighting can be activated here if the stall team they are using loses to gholdengo from there, as it will allow you to totally decimate blissey. finally, gholdengo is the primary fairy resist on the team, being able to 1v1 all of them under webs except for non choice enamorous, who is a big threat. Vs. enamorous, it is best to just attack with shadow ball and finish it off with another member of the team. the worst set to see is specs enamorous.
BANDIT (Great Tusk) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
Great tusk is the spinner of choice on this team. a team with three focus sashes needs this kind of support, but tusk is no slouch either. with booster energy you are threatening one hit ko's against non-defensive gliscor, and a 2hko against non-leftovers corviknight. this pokemon has the potential to sweep teams off the rip after a single rapid spin. close combat is used to hit annoying pokemon like air balloon iron treads and kingambit, catching them off guard most of the time. it also helps against stall, as it gives you more attacks to threaten the opponent with. ice spinner is mandatory for pokemon like landorus, gliscor, dragonite, air balloon gholengo and pecharunt, and is just excellent coverage all around. tusk is usually the check to opposing great tusks, after gholdengo has been sent out to block spin and deal damage. if the opposing tusk is boots, you would rather go into ogerpon, or ceruledge if there are no hazards up. tusk is mainly here to remove spikes and rocks so that ceruledge can totally destroy the enemy team.
TORE UP (Ceruledge) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
This is the real show stopper right here. this pokemon is overpowered. if the opponent is unable to get hazards on the field this pokemon will get a free swords dance, combined with weak armor and an adamant nature this pokemon is threatening insane damage. one of the key interactions here is vs non-defensive ting-lu, +2 close combat will OHKO. this is huge for gholdengo and raging bolt. if ting-lu lives, he will either whirlwind or stealth rock, neither of which is dealing any damage. if they do attack you just heal it up with bitter blade. there are situations where ceruledge will do nothing, and that is vs teams with lots of hazards, bulky water types like dondozo and toxapex, and dragonite. dragonite is usually forced in by this guy, however, and you are able to break scale and beat it later in the game. this guy is best used as a late game sweeper, but certain teams will just be 6-0'd from turn one by this guy. the only major change i have ever made to this team was switching from poltergeist to bitter blade. it is ultimately up to preference, but bitter blade got me to my highest peak.
GREAT NECK (Raging Bolt) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Thunderclap
- Dragon Pulse
- Calm Mind
this is simply the standard raging bolt set, paired with webs. this pokemon struggles most with ting-lu and clodsire, but any ground type who doesn't care about webs will give bolt a hard time. that is why we have pokemon like gholdengo and ceruledge designed to bait ting-lu, who is the most common counter to raging bolt. raging bolt can be used in one of two ways: a late game sweeper; or a one for one trade. if used as a one for one, you want to use this pokemon to ideally get 1 ko and some more damage after. the goal will be to setup your next pokemon to do damage after this goes down. as a late game cleaner, this pokemon is very deadly. with tera bug, you get the jump on key pokemon like zamazenta, landorous, boots great tusk, enamorous, and dragonite. calm mind is there if you can afford to go for it, as it guarantees a lot of one hit ko's. raging bolt is a generally powerful pokemon when paired with web support, so when using the team try to bait in those ground types and get them down, as teams usually rely on just their grounds to beat raging bolt.
BROTHER STONE (Ogerpon) (F) @ Cornerstone Mask
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Low Kick
- Power Whip
- Taunt
adamant ogerpon-c is a total powerhouse. it's roll on the team is to be another sturdy pokemon that is able to at least take one pokemon from the opponent. the coverage provided is able to threaten everything except gholdengo, and iron crown can be an issue as well. pokemon like zapdos, moltres, corvinknight, and skarmory get beat down by this. the other reason this guy is here is to beat down on fat/stall teams. i really hate stall, so i never leave the house without this guy on the team. it is best combined with gholdengo. one of them is meant to bait the tera for the other to sweep. adamant tera rock ogerpon will cleanly 2hko anything on stall that hasn't used a tera steel. gliscor with maximum defense is the only pokemon that can withstand two ivy cudgels, so that is where taunt comes in. taunt prevents them from using toxic or protect, as most stall gliscors who are fully defensive don't have earthquake. corvinknight will get cleanly two shot, and taunt prevents them from using roost or iron defense. ogerpon will also two shot dondozo if they don't tera with power whip, even after leftovers, and taunt will prevent them from resting. this can allow ceruledge to clean up the stall team.
BIGGEST THREATS!!!
cinderace is obviously a big threat for any webs team. generally, you are going to have to throw out the tusk to rapid spin away the webs and just try to win without webs unless you were able to preserve ribombee. ideally they just stay in to burn or attack you and you just kill them with great tusk. in a late game situation, ogerpon can be used to tera and destroy ace even after burn. raging bolt is also a great answer in general, as long as you don't switch into an attack with hazards up. if hazards are not up, ceruledge uses this guy as setup fodder. pyro ball and u-turn will only give you a boost, so normally they hard switch out on swords dance and depending on their team, just lose a pokemon. if you really want to try and make plays, you can use focus blast with gholdengo as they use libero court change, which will blow up cinderace, but this is very risky. this can serve as a way to get ceruledge in for free however, as if they go for court change on SD, they can face serious consequences.
Darkrai is a pain in the ass to be honest. the biggest threat is boots, since it ignores webs outspeeds everything and threatens the whole team. gholdengo has been given 72 hp evs to maximize the odds of living a dark pulse from full, while also outspeeding opposing raging bolt outside of web. you simply live dark pulse and hit focus blast. its not great but there are other options. ogerpon c can threaten a one shot with power whip 68.8% of the time, and raging bolt lives one of anything and can fire back with thunderclap. tusk has tera ice, partly for this to avoid dying to ice beam. ceruledge can also live dark pulse and one shot with cc. overall this is one of the biggest threats you will face with this team. specs and scarf sets can be dealt with after they lock into a move, and miscelaneous sets like life orb or leftovers can be dealt with under webs, but become very threatening without the webs. always try to get webs vs darkrai, never assume they are boots unless you know 100% sure.
this is a bad dog. this pokemon can seriously mess this team up, it is probably the biggest threat after to the team. the most problematic sets are the iron defense and either roar or substitue sets. it is a big pain trying to guess what this thing is going to do. the best way to deal with it is to get the webs up first. generally, ogerpon-c will force this guy in. the idea is to taunt and power whip. sacrificing the ogerpon is ok to prevent this thing from setting up. from there you can finish it off. gholdengo is a half check, because if they are attack invested or lower your defense with crunch, its over. crunch only has a 1.2% chance to 2hko if they are using the standard set, so ideally gholdengo can attack twice and you can finish it off with either a spin or ceruledge can setup if no hazards. rest is also a big threat. if you identify a rest set, the best answer is tera bug bolt. it is worth it to tera to guarantee a kill if you fear this thing getting out of hand. tera bug bolt can avoid a 2hko from +3 body press and cleanly 2hko with thunderbolt. if there is any previous chip, thunderbolt + thunderclap will do at least 89% to the standard max hp set. any type of high rolls from either attack threatens a kill from full. in general this pokemon is a massive issue to deal with. you will have to outplay the opponent to prevent them from getting ahead.
ting-lu represents all hazard stack structures as a whole. if you are unable to remove the hazards from the field, the game is going to be difficult. the team is built to bait in and remove ting-lu, but if you are unable to, this pokemon does beat the two special attackers, and setsup hazards that ruins ceruledge and ogerpon. when dealing with these structures, you need to be proactive, and make plays to constantly put pressure on their hazard setters. the lead matchup will be key here. sometimes it is best to lead with ceruledge to threaten pokemon like tinkaton and iron treads right away. specifically iron treads can be taken advantage of, if they are using earthquake or they don't attack you turn one. ogerpon is a good answer to bulkier hazard stack teams with tera, as there is no immunity to rock and its coverage threatens a lot.
weavile can be a threat in a similar way to darkrai, mainly with boots. the big issue with weavile is they can lead it and use triple axel to one shot ribombee. this also applies to scarf meowscarada, which is less common but does the same thing. the way to counter this is to lead ceruledge. this will threaten a bitter blade turn one and most smart players won't risk that. they will likely switch into either a helmet pokemon or a ting-lu, which you take advantage of with sash SD. in the late game, gholdengo can be a check if the balloon is broken, but you will likely have to tera to beat a boots weavile in the late game. tera rock and ice are your best bets here.
finally, dragonite can be a big threat to this team if played properly. the issue with dragonite is its ability to setup very easily in the late game, and predicting the set can be a big pain. the team generally has good answers, like tusk, balloon gold, and ogerpon-c, but if hazards are up and dragonite is a tera fairy or ground dd, the game can be flipped just like that. vs dragonite teams, you need to keep one of tusk or bolt healthy, and likely have to use the tera to finish off the dragonite. if the opponents tera is exhausted, ogerpon becomes a big threat to the dragonite as long as you prevent them from using dragon dance. beating dragonite jsut comes down to positioning and not letting it setup for free.
Darkrai is a pain in the ass to be honest. the biggest threat is boots, since it ignores webs outspeeds everything and threatens the whole team. gholdengo has been given 72 hp evs to maximize the odds of living a dark pulse from full, while also outspeeding opposing raging bolt outside of web. you simply live dark pulse and hit focus blast. its not great but there are other options. ogerpon c can threaten a one shot with power whip 68.8% of the time, and raging bolt lives one of anything and can fire back with thunderclap. tusk has tera ice, partly for this to avoid dying to ice beam. ceruledge can also live dark pulse and one shot with cc. overall this is one of the biggest threats you will face with this team. specs and scarf sets can be dealt with after they lock into a move, and miscelaneous sets like life orb or leftovers can be dealt with under webs, but become very threatening without the webs. always try to get webs vs darkrai, never assume they are boots unless you know 100% sure.
this is a bad dog. this pokemon can seriously mess this team up, it is probably the biggest threat after to the team. the most problematic sets are the iron defense and either roar or substitue sets. it is a big pain trying to guess what this thing is going to do. the best way to deal with it is to get the webs up first. generally, ogerpon-c will force this guy in. the idea is to taunt and power whip. sacrificing the ogerpon is ok to prevent this thing from setting up. from there you can finish it off. gholdengo is a half check, because if they are attack invested or lower your defense with crunch, its over. crunch only has a 1.2% chance to 2hko if they are using the standard set, so ideally gholdengo can attack twice and you can finish it off with either a spin or ceruledge can setup if no hazards. rest is also a big threat. if you identify a rest set, the best answer is tera bug bolt. it is worth it to tera to guarantee a kill if you fear this thing getting out of hand. tera bug bolt can avoid a 2hko from +3 body press and cleanly 2hko with thunderbolt. if there is any previous chip, thunderbolt + thunderclap will do at least 89% to the standard max hp set. any type of high rolls from either attack threatens a kill from full. in general this pokemon is a massive issue to deal with. you will have to outplay the opponent to prevent them from getting ahead.
ting-lu represents all hazard stack structures as a whole. if you are unable to remove the hazards from the field, the game is going to be difficult. the team is built to bait in and remove ting-lu, but if you are unable to, this pokemon does beat the two special attackers, and setsup hazards that ruins ceruledge and ogerpon. when dealing with these structures, you need to be proactive, and make plays to constantly put pressure on their hazard setters. the lead matchup will be key here. sometimes it is best to lead with ceruledge to threaten pokemon like tinkaton and iron treads right away. specifically iron treads can be taken advantage of, if they are using earthquake or they don't attack you turn one. ogerpon is a good answer to bulkier hazard stack teams with tera, as there is no immunity to rock and its coverage threatens a lot.
weavile can be a threat in a similar way to darkrai, mainly with boots. the big issue with weavile is they can lead it and use triple axel to one shot ribombee. this also applies to scarf meowscarada, which is less common but does the same thing. the way to counter this is to lead ceruledge. this will threaten a bitter blade turn one and most smart players won't risk that. they will likely switch into either a helmet pokemon or a ting-lu, which you take advantage of with sash SD. in the late game, gholdengo can be a check if the balloon is broken, but you will likely have to tera to beat a boots weavile in the late game. tera rock and ice are your best bets here.
finally, dragonite can be a big threat to this team if played properly. the issue with dragonite is its ability to setup very easily in the late game, and predicting the set can be a big pain. the team generally has good answers, like tusk, balloon gold, and ogerpon-c, but if hazards are up and dragonite is a tera fairy or ground dd, the game can be flipped just like that. vs dragonite teams, you need to keep one of tusk or bolt healthy, and likely have to use the tera to finish off the dragonite. if the opponents tera is exhausted, ogerpon becomes a big threat to the dragonite as long as you prevent them from using dragon dance. beating dragonite jsut comes down to positioning and not letting it setup for free.
PROOF OF NUMBER ONE AND REPLAYS
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2342135126
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2341514986
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2340086698
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2344239639-rj9yn135sewl09phs764jfhh3arjm87pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2333838717?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2333833403-ntdds88wd7p8vwynrg5nv7rc6ob69ispw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2322551181?p2 (i crash out)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2302540006?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2286727970-m4jv3k7c5djquggjl71lcy0skg3p6n8pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2276833683-0tsoks773bx08ngjlrzo91l15zyrmukpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2258615189-xo3kprbzvrxsird21m23glx64am4o7jpw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2252175370-616busbo6tbsci1t519anokajawe1h0pw?p2
