Project PU Matchmaking! Season 3, Week 5: Rotom-Frost! (Submission phase)

[avarice]

Omastar @ Groundium Z
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 92 SpD / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Recover
- Frost Breath
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Omastar and Cryogonal are pretty nice together. Cryogonal is able to keep hazards off reliably and keep omastar in good condition to set up. Omastar abusing fire is nice too. Frost Breath Cryogonal puts less pressure on Omastar to deal with Oricorio.

 

[orangebeedrill]

Carracosta @ Rockium Z
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Shell Smash
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Hydro Pump

Cryogonal @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]

A more offensive variant of our favorite snowflake, I found choice specs cryo to be a pretty neat set that pairs well with carracosta. Cryo can break through many checks that try to stop carra like Quagsire, Tangela, and Froslass. Carracosta can then provide some defensive utility in the form of being generally unaffected by priority thanks to solid rock, and a nice shell smasher that does wonders in capitalizing on the holes cryo can punch through unprepared teams.

 

[Violet Raichu]

So my first thought for this one was to run Cryogonal with physically defensive ground/water types. But, seeing how that's been done (and done well!) I wanted to take this submission to a different place.

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 100 SpD / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Toxic
- Freeze-Dry

Combusken @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Sky Uppercut
- Protect

In addition to doing a decent job of ridding the field of hazards, Cryogonal is also a nightmare for bulky water types like Jellicent. Freeze-dry means that it essentially can't come on on them without taking decent damage, and other walls can't come in to Cryogonal for fear of being Toxic'd.

So, what's a Pokemon that *hates* bulky waters like Jelli? Combusken of course! The idea with this pair is to weaken Combusken's checks with Cryogonal and bring Combusken in late game to finish the job. The 160+ speed on Cryo also outspeeds Oricorio, another potentially annoying Pokemon for Combusken to deal with unweakened.

 

[rudyr1]

Jellicent @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp /Toxic
- Taunt

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 104 SpD / 156 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Freeze-Dry
- Toxic / Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Recover​

This is a cool physical/special wall core that covers each others weaknesses nicely. Jellicent can handle fighting and fire moves as well as any strong physical attackers that pressure Cryogonal. Cryogonal can threaten grass types for Jellicent and tank electric attacks as well. Both have Recover to repeatedly switch in and heal off any damage taken, making for a very durable core that can spread status to the enemy team. Gurdurr can be annoying to deal with for this core, so a good check to him, like Victreebel, is greatly appreciated.

Cryogonal is speced to maximize special bulk while outspeeding base 80s like Stoutland. There is no need to run Hidden Power [Fighting] on Cryogonal to hit Sandslash-Alola when Jellicent hard stops Slash, but if you want Hidden Power to hit ice types you can run Toxic on Jellicent instead to stall out enemy mons. Rocky Helmet is nice on Jellicent to punish U-Turn users which are free to U-Turn on Cryogonal, but leftovers is better to reliably check strong physical attackers.

 

[Oathkeeper]

Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Fire
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 100 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Recover
- Rapid Spin / Defog

First off, I'm not sure on the Cryogonal EV spread and this was the one I know I saw somewhere on PS and that's what I'm going with since it's the only one I know of. Anyway:

Nothing wrong with a wall-wall core here. They do both do lose to Simisear (or any Fire-type for that matter) but the rest of the team can make up for that of course. They can both cover up for each others problems. Most fighting, steel and rock moves are physical and Tangela just eats them right up. Cryogonal on the other hand, can eat up the ice moves, Hurricanes from the Oricorios, Sludge Bombs from the Victreebels, etc.​

 

[Squash]

Reserving gastrodon

Cryogonal @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Flash Cannon

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Recover

Gastro work perfectly with cryo. He easily tank primeape and all scarfer, and lycan as well. The grass type which is effective on gastro is destroy by cryo

 

[Leni]

Cryogonal @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Flash Cannon
- Freeze-Dry
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

<3

Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

I'm forced to do this, help

Alright, Abomasnow + Cryo makes together prettttttty healthy lock 'nd loaded core of physical+special. Abomasnow with scarf outspeeding all Lycanrocks, scythers, oriocios, etc basically everything that is 112base and breaks with hail sturdy and sash. Cryo with its movepool has access to bop its checks like other cryo, a-slash without hail, aggron, frostom, aurorus, abomasnow, regirock (2hko with flash) etc so far your prediction game is on point. Thanks to Abomasnows hail, it can safely click stab 120 blizzard and "just casually chip opponent down" as well

 

[ishtar]

Voting phase

I wasnt sure how this week was gonna go considering how new this Pokemon is but I was pleasantly surprised! We got the peak in numbers of submissions this week and I just wanna thank everyone who submitted! It was really cool to see so many options in sets and partners for this mon and I think the experimentation will definitely pay off in how this Pokemon shapes up the tier. While some went for some defensive synergy between Cryo and its partner, other people decided to use more offensive sets and pair em with other wallbreakers. At the end of the day, a lot of creative options came out of this but only one Mon can share its love w Cryo <3

and...?

by gum

by royesk

by Scizorphobic

by orangebeedrill

by Violet Riachu

by rudyr1

by Oathkeepre

by Squash17 ^_^

by tlenit1

You can vote for two! Great submissions, everyone! :)​

 

[gum]

costa and muds

 

[Axia]

Cryogonal and Abomasnow/Tangela

 

[avarice]

Lanturn muds

 

[Squash]

Lanturn And aboma

 

[Leni]

Jelli <3 Gastro

 

[rudyr1]

Lanturn and Abomasnow

 

[rien]

lanturn, busken

 

[Stealthbomber16]

combusken and mudsdale

 

[Lost Soul]

Jellicent, Mudsdale.

 

[Greybaum]

lanturn/abomasnow

 

[Rav3]

lanturn/busken

 

[ishtar]

Results!

<3

Congrats to gum for winning last weeks PU Matchmaking with her Lanturn + Cryogonal pair. I myself tried out that core after she had initially suggested it to me personally and definitely notice a great amount of synergy, covering for most, if not all special attackers in the tier! Also congrats to tlenit1 and royesk for achieving runner up with their respective Abomasnow and Mudsdale submissions! Appreciate everyone who submitted and voted, this one was a lot of fun!

Leaderboard

gum -6
Oathkeepre - 6
Scizorphobic -5
jonago - 4
j0gurt - 2
orangebeedrill - 1
PhantomHurious -1
uhuhuhu7 - 1
royesk - 1
tlenit - 1

And with that now we have gum and Oathkeepre tied for first place in the leaderboards with a series of users really close behind!

Week 9!

With a plethora of utility up its sleeve in Intimidate, Spikes and Taunt, as well as a functional niche in rain teams, Qwilfish has been a staple Spike setter in the tier that, thanks to its great physical bulk and speed, is able to reliably check a number of physical attackers in the tier. Despite this, a low Special Defense and a plethora of weaknesses to common types such as Psychic, Electric and Ground make it susceptible to strong wallbreaker or just regular threats. This hasnt stopped it from achieving great amounts of use in PUPL and to great sucess, but can it be as succesful in the love department?
•ᴥ•

You have till Friday to post! The winner of this week gets 4 points while the runner up gets 2! GOOD LUCK! ​

 

[gum]

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Scald
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes

Golurk @ Yache Berry
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch

Qwilfish and Golurk form a very interesting entry hazard stacking core for a couple of reasons. First of all, Qwilfish can set both Spikes and Toxic Spikes while Golurk can set Stealth Rocks. Secondly, while Qwilfish can prevent the use of Defog with Taunt, Golurk can spinblock threats like Hitmonchan and even Alolan Sandslash. Thirdly, they both cover each other's weakness quite well; Golurk takes advantage of Electric-types Qwilfish invites in and pressures Psychic-types while Qwilfish can switch into Kabutops, a Rapid Spin user that Golurk fails to spinblock. Lastly, while Qwilfish is more of an utility Pokémon, Golurk is an offensive behemoths, which makes up for Qwilfish's passivity. Pokémon like Kangaskhan and Oricorio-E that appreciate these setting entry hazards up make for good partners. Another good partner is Hitmonchan, as it can take on Guzzlord and it can Rapid Spin entry hazards on its side of the field away. thanks for reading nwn

 

[rien]

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet / Black Sludge
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid / Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Scald / Waterfall
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes / Thunder Wave

Claydol @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock / Toxic
- Psychic
- Earth Power
​

Qwilfish and Claydol form a solid Balance hazard-stacking/support core together thanks to their excellent role compression, with the duo being able to set up Rocks, Spikes, spread status, and remove hazards. Moreover, the duo can support each other defensively; Qwilfish appreciates Claydol covering up its main weaknesses thanks to its immunity to Ground and Electric and resistance to Psychic, notably helping Qwil switch out of unfavorable checks like Lycanroc, Mudsdale, non-Grass Knot Alolan Raichu, and Mesprit. Conversely, while Claydol's solid defenses mean it doesn't benefit much from Qwil's Intimidate and Rocky Helmet, it still punishes most U-turn users (except for Primeape) and it can prevent Claydol from being hit with Toxic.

While the duo deals well with most defoggers thanks to Qwil's fast Taunt, using a Ghost-type like Sableye or Froslass to block spins will greatly aide them in their attempts to keep hazards on the opponent's field. The pair is notably weak to Jellicent and Victreebel, so pairing it with an Ice-type special wall like Articuno or Cryogonal that can handle both will also be of great help.

 

[avarice]

xd

Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Scald
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes

Mesprit has so many sets and can support any Qwilfish set, including SD/Rain. Their typings work well together too, and covered by Mesprit's Levitate. im too lazy to list all the combinations but yeah its a p solid pair that can fit on various teams

 

[Oathkeeper]

Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Knock Off / Drain Punch

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes / Destiny Bond

Eel and Qwil just form a nice partnership here. Since Qwilfish is not really fond of taking special hits, especially in the Psychic, Electric, and Ground departments, Eelektross just seemed like a slam dunk to partner up with it since Eelektross resists Electric, absorbs Ground and can eat up Psychic moves. If I had to choose a set for Qwilfish in particular, I'd choose Scald > a physical water move to potentially burn the physical breakers that can give Eelektross a hard time and ruin its chances of living its longest. In return, Qwilfish can setup hazards and wear down opposing threats that allow Eel's wallbreaking capabilities to work better.​

 

[rudyr1]

Guzzlord @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Outrage
- Heavy Slam
- Drain Punch

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Scald
- Thunder Wave

This is a cool core because Qwilfish provides the support that really sets Guzzlord up for success. Qwilfish can tank nasty Fighting, Bug and Fairy type attacks aimed at Guzzlord while Guzzlord can pressure Psychic types or other mons that come in for free on Qwilfish. When Guzzlord enters the field he forces switches, so Qwilfish's spike support really takes full advantage of the pressure Guzzlord exerts. I really like Banded Guzzlord as Knock Off is really spamable, and once the physical set is revealed it can often force another switch on the opponent, racking up more spike damage. The icing on the cake is the paralysis support Qwilfish provides. It allows Guzzlord to outspeed and KO many frailer mons that would normally force Guzzlord out. With enough chip damage and paralysis on the enemy team, Guzzlord can even be in a position to sweep with beast boost. Just be careful of Psychic types with Dazzling Gleam!​