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Iron Crown is an incredibly flexible head, capable of running many possible sets. The tandems have great synergy with most of the common ones, while forming strong offensive and defensive cores between each other. Iron Crown and these tandems have amazing longevity, allowing them to weather attacks while dishing out good damage.
Sandy Shocks covers against water types which could otherwise sweep the rest of the team. It sets up reflect and helps ttar, garganacl and great tusk's bulk, plus can deal high damage with earth power.
Pokemon: Tyranitar Ability: Sand Stream Item: Smooth Rock Tera Types: Ghost, Flying Moves: Stone Edge, Shore Up, Knock-Off, Dragon Dance
Knock-Off helps against Heavy-Duty Boots users. Dragon dance also threatens mons tryna switch out, and also sand stream helps this entire team, with the special defense boost and the extra chip damage.
Pokemon: Great Tusk Ability:Sand Rush Item: Life Orb Tera Types: Ground, Steel Moves: High Horsepower, Brick Break, Knock-Off, Rapid Spin, Ice Spinner
Sand Rush makes this pokemon a demon, as it can launch off very powerful STAB before the opponent can move. Plus knock-off to get rid of heavy duty boots users, rapid spin for hazard removal, ice spinner for flying coverage and roar to cycle hazard damage. I did make sure to give it some of its weakest STABs because I'm kinda scared of this being too strong.
Pokemon: Garganacl Ability:Sand Stream Item: Leftovers Tera Types: Ghost, Poison Moves: Salt Cure, Stealth Rock, Recover, Body Press
As another sand stream user, it lets garganacl tank big special attacks which it couldn't before, plus gives extra chip damage. It also sets up stealth rock, which synergises well with gholdengo blocking most hazard removal. Plus salt cure to get more chip damage and get the opponent to switch out and take more hazard damage.
Pokemon: Ting Lu Ability: Vessel Of Ruin Item: Red Card Tera Type: Flying Moves: Ceaseless Edge, Ruination, Earthquake, Stealth Rock, Whirlwind
Ting-Lu sets up dual hazards with ceaseless edge and stealth rock, using its very good bulk. Ceaseless edge is very good, as it can break through hazard-blockers like gholdengo or hatterene.
Pokemon: Ogerpon-Wellspring Ability: Embody Aspect (Teal) Item: Wellspring Mask Tera Type: Water Moves: Ivy Cudgel, Power Whip, Knock Off, Swords Dance, Play Rough
Ogerpon has Knock Off to deal with heavy-duty boots users, plus it can threaten things trying to switch with swords dance. Embody aspect makes it deadly, as it effectively has a base speed stat of 165 (I think that's how it works), which when combined with a swords dance, allows it to get easy sweeps.
Similar to Ogerpon this is another knock-off user, who can set-up with nasty plot/calm mind. Dark Aura lets it get very high power dark pulses off, plus a naturally high speed stat which lets it sweep well. Also some good coverage.
Pokemon: Iron Moth Ability: Quark Drive Item: Booster Energy Tera Type: Electric, Steel Moves:Mortal Spin, Fiery Dance, Sludge Bomb, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Whirlwind, U-Turn
Mortal Spin is good as, despite gholdengo being able to block most hazards, the opponent still can get them up - which is bad for iron moth, ogerpon and darkrai. Plus booster energy for a free SpAtk/Spe buff, and also good coverage.
I thought this was broken but.... ting lu is prob the strongest thing u can roll
"if (pokemon.baseSpecies.name === 'Ogerpon-Teal-Tera' && pokemon.terastallized &&" So yeah... you cannot use teal on other pokemon (it would be very broken if you can insta get +1 speed
The first 2 moves are the ones ur guaranteed to roll. soo your darkrai is NP + CM and can low roll knock off + ice beam
Iron moth also cant learn sludge bomb, so u can only have mortal spin or sludge bomb
I thought this was broken but.... ting lu is prob the strongest thing u can roll
"if (pokemon.baseSpecies.name === 'Ogerpon-Teal-Tera' && pokemon.terastallized &&" So yeah... you cannot use teal on other pokemon (it would be very broken if you can insta get +1 speed
The first 2 moves are the ones ur guaranteed to roll. soo your darkrai is NP + CM and can low roll knock off + ice beam
Iron moth also cant learn sludge bomb, so u can only have mortal spin or sludge bomb
My best attempt at making the Illusion gimmick good. RandTand subverts the biggest downside of team preview, by making it difficult for the opponent to fully predict if you brought one of your Illusion mons, and if you did, which one it was (or both). This makes it much more possible to try and believably fool the opponent, and at the very least, makes them play with the possibility that the Illusion mons are on the team until proven otherwise.
Two of these mons, Talonflame and Zoroark-Hisui, try to capitalize on Kingambit's weaknesses. Each baits the opponent's Ground and Fighting moves, attempting to use the free turn generated to set up with SD/NP and start blowing holes in the enemy's HP bars.
The other two, Iron Moth and Primarina, do the opposite. Both of them utilize Kingambit's facade as a bluff, covering some of their weaknesses by using Kingambit's immunities as a shield. They ward off enemy Psychic and Poison attacks with the possibility that if it is Kingambit, you can hard punish them with Kingambit's SD or powerful attacks.
Additionally, 3/4 of these mons resist Fire, the last of Kingambit's weaknesses.
The items here are a little tricky, since quite a few of these mons want Heavy Duty Boots, while Kingambit doesn't really need to run those. However, since Kingambit is pretty flexible with its item slot, it absolutely can run them now in an attempt to ensure the illusion maintains even when you can't avoid hazards on the field. Even without it, though, smart play makes it possible to keep up the ruse and only abuse the HDB once the mirage is already broken, and the frequency of HDB lets you use Illusion to have tandems cover for other tandems too. Same thing with Air Balloon - while it does announce on entry, it has the possibility of being multiple possible tandems, and unlike HDB is an item that Kingambit does want to run already, and will even more so now.
Pokemon: Ting Lu Ability: Vessel Of Ruin Item: Red Card Tera Type: Flying Moves: Ceaseless Edge, Ruination, Earthquake, Stealth Rock, Whirlwind
Ting-Lu sets up dual hazards with ceaseless edge and stealth rock, using its very good bulk. Ceaseless edge is very good, as it can break through hazard-blockers like gholdengo or hatterene.
Pokemon: Ogerpon-Wellspring Ability: Embody Aspect (Teal) Item: Wellspring Mask Tera Type: Water Moves: Ivy Cudgel, Power Whip, Knock Off, Swords Dance, Play Rough
Ogerpon has Knock Off to deal with heavy-duty boots users, plus it can threaten things trying to switch with swords dance. Embody aspect makes it deadly, as it effectively has a base speed stat of 165 (I think that's how it works), which when combined with a swords dance, allows it to get easy sweeps.
Similar to Ogerpon this is another knock-off user, who can set-up with nasty plot/calm mind. Dark Aura lets it get very high power dark pulses off, plus a naturally high speed stat which lets it sweep well. Also some good coverage.
Pokemon: Iron Moth Ability: Quark Drive Item: Booster Energy Tera Type: Electric, Steel Moves:Mortal Spin, Fiery Dance, Sludge Bomb, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Whirlwind, U-Turn
Mortal Spin is good as, despite gholdengo being able to block most hazards, the opponent still can get them up - which is bad for iron moth, ogerpon and darkrai. Plus booster energy for a free SpAtk/Spe buff, and also good coverage.
What the fuck is this. I say this as respectfully as I possibly can: what the fuck is this? This feels like something made by someone who wanted to make their sub as broken as they could, but in between their computer and Showdown's servers a Rotom decided to enact divine intervention by taking a crowbar and shattering all of their kneecaps. This is like Superman if he had a kidney stone made of Kryptonite that he didn't have the strength to pass, due to said Kryptonite, but it was embedded deep enough inside him that he kept the iron skin which prevented doctors from cutting it out surgically.
Gholdengo is cringe mon that doesn't deserve to be a head in the first place. You can plausibly use Gholdengo as a tandem due to the ability to limit the set how you want, which gives you the potential to actually make it a cool mon. (There are two different Poison Heal mons in the meta. Pecha Berry Trick, anyone?) Now, this is isn't necessarily indicative of the issue I was talking about before, but it is a pretty glaring red flag before even moving on to the real issues.
Ogrepon-Wellspring with Teal Embody Aspect doesn't work. And you should be glad that it doesn't work, because it would be broken as shit. SD (or 66% chance to be SD) Ogrepon-Wellspring that gets a free speed boost just for existing and doesn't have to commit its Tera to do so? Eat your heart out, Zacian, this bitch has got Intrepid Jordan's. I bet you didn't even think what would happen when it terastalized, either. The Embody Aspect abilities are inherent to Ogrepon. Did you think nothing would happen? Did you think it would apply Teal, but again? Did you think it would now shift to Wellspring? Did you think?
Did you bother to think through how Iron Moth would play out? Because, from here, it looks like you saw "Fire/Poison", and then scrolled through the list of Fire and Poison moves until you saw the first one that looked cool, and slapped it on without regard for context. Why would you put your hazard removal on the only mon that is WEAK to Rocks?? You have a whole ass Ting-Lu on this sub and instead of trying to do something cool with it (I'll get to that later) you give it to Iron Moth. WITHOUT BOOTS. IT'S A FIRE TYPE WITHOUT BOOTS. You just ran the standard Quark Drive/Booster Energy set, and yet you are expecting this frail Fire type to be a hazard-clearing U-Turn pivot?? And if you were committing to that, you didn't even give it Overheat, which would have been perfect for trying to make this work.
I'm only going to spend a few words on the elephant in the room (no, not your mother). Obviously, Nasty Plot and Calm Mind on the same set is atrocious. I really don't think I need to go into that. No, what I want to focus on is something that I personally find far more egregious: a complete and utter lack of style. You took a Dark type and slapped Dark Aura on it. Cool, a power boost to its STABs. But, redeemably, that STAB in question is Dark. One of, if not THE, type with the coolest and most versatile STABs available. When people think about moves that combine offensive pressure with utility, they think of Dark. Knock Off, Throat Chop, Pursuit, Sucker Punch, Ceaseless Edge (I'll get to that in a moment), Baddy Bad, Fling, Foul Play, Jaw Lock, Lash Out. You could have made an entire set focusing on a versatile, utility-focused monotype Dark attacker. Hell, double down and have it run Black Glasses on top of Dark Aura. But what Dark moves does it have? DARK PULSE AND KNOCK OFF. The most generic do-nothing Dark STAB that you could have picked, and the most common Dark move in the entire game. Knock Off would have been fine paired with other utility, but paired with a generic STAB instead only adds insult to energy. And as the cherry on top to this mess, NEITHER of them are in the mon's core moves. NEITHER. You chose Nasty Plot AND Calm Mind for those, and gave it FOUR options for secondary moves. This Dark Aura Darkrai has a 50% chance to NOT HAVE A DARK MOVE. 50% chance for no STAB and a useless ability. But at least it has both Nasty Plot and Calm Mind!
There's nothing tremendously wrong with Ting-Lu. The set isn't messed up. It just makes me sad. You could have made this your backup hazard clearer. It resists Rocks, instead of being weak to them. You could have given Darkrai Ceaseless Edge instead. It's a cringe move, but at least it would have fit a cool gimmick there. But no. Generic fatmon with double hazards. This thing has a giant ass bowl for a head and you still couldn't bother to put a DROP of sauce in that unholy grail. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
Don't take this personally. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days. But I would get a VPN that bypasses meddling Rotom next time. xoxo
I find it very interesting. Grounds are solid, but nowhere near as ubiquitous as they are in OU, at least not to a certain extent, and they can be played around, so Okidogi isn't shit from a butt as a Head. I also really like this Pokemon on a whole and I think it's great here. As a unit, it's solid. It follows the at this point typical offense tandem structure - flexible head 3 offensive guys 1 bulky guy. But I am a big fan of the execution. Should note that it's particularly Ground apprehensive though.
I am a big fan of utility Magearna, so I really have no major quams or arguments here, I think this is a very solid dude and really helps bolster and justifies the choice of running Okidogi in this metagame.
Astral Barrage backed by Specs does alot of heavy lifting to secure this guy's position in the metagame, as otherwise Zoroark-hisui is kind of pathetic. But like as I said, Astral Barrage is HUGE, so I think this addition will be useful in letting this Pokemon be a strong pick if loaded.
Another good wallbreaker with good Speed Control in Prankster TWave. While this isn't as strong in Gen 9 as it was in its hayday in Gen 6, I think Thundy will be a very good pick, as its dual STAB is rather potent. Most importantly, it adds a **crucial** Ground switch in on the team, which this team was sorely lacking otherwise.
Another strong ass wallbreaker, Manaphy can help force alot of progress for the team thanks to Tail Glow bolstering it's sets. Motor Drive is also very clutch for it, blocking not only SE Electric moves but notorious momentum killer Thunder Wave, making it really good glue.
Not sure what the idea behind this head choice and the tandem as a whole is here. Calling a spade a spade, Eelektross is a mediocre Mon. In a post Ting-Lu metagame I'm hard pressed to reason why I'd ever load this as a Pokemon itself. So naturally if the Mon sucks, then it should be loading a very strong tandem list, but I don't think it does. I think as specifically a Rain centered Tandem, it's probably the weakest attempt I've seen submitted or pitched here.
I think this is fine. Bleakwind Storm is a very strange addition, which only feels like a attempt at justifying Rain as a concept, but it feels very niche here, I don't think I'd ever click this move unless I'm in a losing position against CM Sinistcha. But Serperior in my opinion is a cool option for this metagame. I think Dragon Pulse is a dud though, that is not a serious Serperior move and rightfully hasn't seen any usage. Better moves exist, or just eliminate it so I can guarantee loading Steel coverage.
Not much to say, Pelipper brings the Rain and it isn't running some weird awkw ard set. It's just Pelipper. Do whatever with that what you will.
I'd say this is a very strange Rain abuser, out of all the Pokemon to pick. But ok, there is precedent. But why *this* particular set? No Swords Dance means this Pokemon is extremely weak, and is like really bad if no Rain is up. In addition to needing SD imo, Noxious isn't the right call. Qwil has a 120 BP Poison STAB in its arsenal, it definitely needs a better Dark STAB since Crunch kinda sucks. Finally, it's a Rain set but no Tera Water? Genuinely 90% of the reason to run a non Water guy is to patch weaknesses then Tera into the Water to clean
This is really solid my only "gripes", is that I think Terrakion should get some additional Tera types outside of Rock, and that Life Orb *may* be in my opinion a good additional option here. (Idk what this has to do about Rain though).
NGL idk why but I can't make much thoughts on this, I like the fact that a Tandem made the brave choice of Great Tusk here, we do need spinners. Technically a good submission, very competent and solid, but I'm not feeling it.
Very interesting. Adds a head as hazard removal, which is genuinely very clutch and gives it a large leg up, and adds unique Tandems in my opinion. This also diversifies the bulky Ground regime that the metagame is surprisingly lacking in. Otherwise, similar to what I said about Hydrei, it's a standard flexible head, 3 offensive tandems, 1 bulky one.
Adaptability does alot of heavy lifting for Tatsu here, which is good as it's otherwise rather mediocre. I like that it also adds an additional potential form of hazard control, can't hurt.
AV Hamurott is clutch, but is there a reason why you made Knock AMD Ceaseless mandatory? I get it in theory, but the idea of a non Water STAB Hamurott sounds nuts.
Honestly, not a bad mon. I feel like it's typing + ability allows it to be very solid glue into a lot of answers for Iron Treads and Hammurott, so I see it forming a very solid glue option.
It feels like it's the most tacked on option, but I don't think it's too awful, Thundurus-T imo has a great spread for Tandem so the classic 4 attacks set seems good. I think, Volt Switch being the mandatory move is alot better than TBolt imo, just like it runs in standard, dude hits hard enough and the guaranteed pivoting is pretty good.
I think I said it before, but Hoopa-U is a funny but very effective Pokemon in RanTan mechanically speaking. Id say it's not as effective competitively as it was in the past, but I think you still get a lot of it as a force. Since this is a TR Tandem though, I can only help but compare it to previous TR Tandem that Yoshi subbed, and ngl this feels not as good. Hoopa doesn't feel like the good TR setter / abuser that this wants it to be.
Conk is fine, but I am not sure what Headlong Rush specifically was given to it here ngl. I am not aware of what this actually does for matchups, Knock Off just seems so much better for the obvious Ghost matchup.
Solid TR setter imo, but Wish feels very antithetical to the fast pace that TR teams demand. Otherwise it pairs very well with Hoopa.
Porygon2 is a very traditionally great TR setter. Just to let you know Teleport is not learned by Pory2, so you can't have both it and Regenerator
Very heater pick for TR, I love it. However I note your team has ZERO means of stopping hazards from going up, which given how removal is in the tier, might be a problem for you if you load this guy since it's whole gimmick relies upon being at full health to maintain its full power.
Secret Sand Tandem! I will be very honest. Gholdengo is a tough sell. In a restricted metagame that is low-key kind of struggling with hazard control, being able to guarantee a powerful full strength like Gholdengo makes it a brutal squad to face. I'll be frank, I don't think a Gholdengo head should be allowed any hazard setting tandems, very particularly non SR ones. It's too easy to reward hazard stack in this tier otherwise. Which is a problem given the the fact that that's your team's whole idea lol. As a weather Tandem though, I think it does the job very well. Two seperate and unique ways to set up weather, one very powerful abuser that isn't a sitting duck if you don't roll the weather (which is unlikely).
Not much to say, I am very anti Spikes + Ghold, and Ting in particular just feels so greedy here as well, since it technically gets no benefit from Sand. To me it just feels like a cheap way to shore up a weakness and to bolster an already potent head in Ghold. Not a fan at all tbh.
Tyranitar is cool, Ceaseless Edge is not. Roar + Dragon Dance feels very contradictory imo, and TTarwould much rather benefit from one or the other. Ofc it sets weather well enough, and handles Psychic and Ghost types for Great Tusk. But yes, imo the moveset needs a reshuffle here in my opinion, it's all over the place.
This is genuinely hilarious and I'd like it to remain exactly how it is. Great Tusk is an incredible Mon to face, especially if it's under Sand now that it has Sand Rush. But the idea that Great Tusk has a very good chance into loading SR + Roar is very funny to me, and that's enough to imo justify why this can be potentially balanced.
Not much to say, it's a Garg that is overall less good but is much better at supporting Sand. I would personally make it's Tera types better, but I kind of get why Tera Poison specifically makes sense.
Espeon is a really funny guy, especially since nowadays the best hazard setter is just THE Espeon wall. Never the less, Magic Bounce is a pretty useful tool in this metagame, even if it's on a Mon that is if we are being honest pretty butt cheeks. I actually think the tandems could afford to be a bit stronger.
Solid speed tier + Scarf means this is more or less guaranteed Speed Control is nice. I definitely feel the vibes of rolling Overheat but Flare Blitz imo def deserves a spotlight as a straight nuke option that Infernape could run as well when backed by Ochi.
I love this guy, this with Recovery sounds fun as hell. My only line of thinking is that I really think that somewhere Calm Mind should find a way to be on this Mon, helps legitimize Espeon as a true blue pick imo.
I'm partial to SD Tinkaton myself, but Tinkaton is always a cool utility pick, with Adaptability helping it not be a passive threat. Pretty solid overall.
I am not understanding the choices made for Galarian Molt here. Why Springtide Storm lol. It's dual STAB feels a lot more effective overall. Another thing, even if you decided yeah Fairy coverage is what you want isn't Moonblast just better than Springtide? Perfect Acc, no random immunity to Wind Rider. I don't get it.
Kingambit is funny but imo by this point is probably manageable. The whole Illusion gimmick is interesting but I won't lie I am not 100% on exactly how this will play out in practice. It seems like a Tandem set with a high skill ceiling, and there definitely a big appeal to such a case, flexing how good of a battler you are with. I actually think forcing your own Gambit to run Boots or Air Balloon to meaningfully carry on the facade to its full potential is very funny and valid here, jolly good show.
Not much to say, I assume Talonflame is mainly here as the only Pokémon that can bait out alot of the weaknesses that Kingambit faces while knowing Swords Dance to carry on the facade, to ultimately kill Gambit's checks, to me it's the most apparent example of what people expect when they present Illusion. All at the small price of being forced to deadass be running worse Talonflame than in standard.
Shockingly imo the weakest link imo, mainly because Zoro kinda sucks as a Mon, even if it is designed here to exploit Illusion with Gambit well. Problem imo is that Talonflame kinda takes the concept of crappy Mon that abuses Illusion to take advantage of great mon's perceived flaws much better. I think this guy might need to try and get a super strong STAB move so it can do something outside of bluffing Tera and then probably dying. Maybe if you can argue why Secret Sword can be justified over said strong STAB options (Boomburst, Tera Starstorm [idk how this works with Tera], Astral Barrage, Moongeist Beam) I'd feel this Mon justifies itself better.
Assuming this is a mistake, but you gotta put a Fire STAB as being mandatory here man, I am NOT running this guy to get walled by a damn Steel type bro. Anyways this is a fun mon even it's been used twice at this point, thought I'd say this is unique in that it can do things like U-turn or set Tspikes. I like the Illusion facade but Iron Moth almost feels like it's above the gimmick, and would rather just be a strong attacker, which does work with Gambit just being a generic supergood™ Mon.
I don't know what to think of this guy yet but I feel you get a lot more mileage out of it when paired with other guys. ATM it's just a really good Mon that happens to be a very good defensive foil to Gambit, so even if it's Illusion gimmick kinda runs dry at this point, you get the benefit of Choice Specs Primarina. It's like inverse Talonflame.
Hatterene is a great head, I'll always be fond of teams using it, and it's hilarious how at this point it's by fair the most submitted Head in the entire tier. Whenever this guy does win it will be deserved, especially in such a hazard pilled metagame.
I think this is a great example of a weaker Head with strong tandems behind it. Pawmot isn't even good awful. Ground types are not a guarantee to face on a team anymore, and it does a funny job at being a decent offensive support mon. I'd honestly argue that this guy could use somewhat stronger teammates as well, but let's get back in later.
Big fan of Enamorus as a Pokémon, great speed control or an overall strong offensive threat. Enamorus-Therian to me is a great Pokémon for this meta so I am glad this is being utilized here on this squad. Also a nice Ground immunity which an Electric definitely appreciates.
Love the guy. Genuinely how does this work on such an offensively geared team
I like the guy, Bitter Blade is such a clutch addition on this guy, really so you don't lose to stuff like Skarm but also with some SD you can heal off the chip from Flame Orb. Very solid guy for the team.
I like the guy, but I am of the firm belief that non SD doesn't work for Rockerpon. I'd be bold, and say a hot take - I think Hearthflame Pon with this set would be cool (I think you would need Horn Leech over PWhip). Still, I think Ogerpon is somewhat solid of a pick here overall.
Lots of great subs here ngl. I have more than 3 picks for the eventual votes and this isn't even counting my own sub (low-key forgot the guy, goated amirite).
NGL idk why but I can't make much thoughts on this, I like the fact that a Tandem made the brave choice of Great Tusk here, we do need spinners. Technically a good submission, very competent and solid, but I'm not feeling it.
Hoopa is prob fine? But it definitely feels a bit awkward since it doesnt commonly run TR (but it can run 0 iv's which actually makes it quite slow in TR by comparison as compared to most tandems at 84 ev's u can be max hp max attack brave. Conk with espeed feels intersting but u want tera normal for sure. P2 is prob fine. I think rapid spin is just bad on magearna, if you want removal you just should have hatt or something here. You prob want flamethrower > weather ball
I think shadow ball is very bad on blissey especially when you have unaware clod, gliscor, and dondozo can prob do enough vs tandem gholdengo. OU gholdengo prob runs over stall anyway and it isnt consistent to be rolled so toxic > shadow ball. You prob want to drop poison jab and just have mortal spin as a poison move as it poisons as well and does all functions of poison jab (aside from a bit of BP). I think guaranteeing SD on gliscor as protect + SD and 2 moves from there is far better than rolling 3 attacks. Low rolling will be such a bummer. Weezing g is prob fine
A lot of random stuff. Bleakwind doesnt solve any of serperior's issues , dragon pulse hasnt been used much at all in the past gens. I think giving it something to work with like overheat or draco meteor would do more for it like a set of leaf storm, draco meteor, tera blast ground, glare / synthesis. Overqwil is still very weak, and terrakion might work with a better head. eelektross is just a horrible head and with mediocre tandems make it so this is so bad in the meta. Also low rolling overqwil + no rain is bad
Its usable for sure. I alr commented on this a while ago. I think tera fairy is better than fire for zarude. I think scrappy is a bit of an odd roll considering ghost spinblockers dont really exist but it makes it so it doesnt have to guess
iron treads is definitely nice to have spin in this tier. Samu h definitely wants water stab (probabaly razor shell as most things dont have helmet / flame body). I think having Thundy t be pure pivot instead of potentially rolling NP + Volt switch
I feel gholdengo if a head shouldnt be a hazard stacking one, we dont have the removal and even in random battles hazards are stupid strong. I think its just to strong to hazard stack, it should be different maybe a meteor beam glimmora / shore up tyranitar maybe can be stuff to work with. Rolling no recover garganacl is bad, in addition I think you should trim down the fat on great tusk moves as roar is is odd, and LO tusk wants to click buttons not rocks and roar.
Quite a weak head but has pretty good tandems, intersting esp with magic bounce it walls skarmory. I think dropping sub is gonna make darkrai more viable as rolling nothing for fairies would suck (or make it pure tera poison to at least be able to setup on stuff like clef)
I am unsure how to feel on this... very few mons actually load air balloon and would be a big tell on the illusion. In addition chip damage would be something people would look out for. Either way iron moth definitely doesnt want fiery dance + overheat, remember that only the first 2 moves guarantee to get rolled while the other ones are randomly dealt. Dropping overheat makes it roll better options. Illusion is prob legit but i have my doubts
Not really a veto, but like many were expressing, Eelektross needs a lot stronger support in order to justify running on the team. Don't be afraid to experiment with Ubers or stronger moves/abilities!
Iron Crown is an incredibly flexible head, capable of running many possible sets. The tandems have great synergy with most of the common ones, while forming strong offensive and defensive cores between each other. Iron Crown and these tandems have amazing longevity, allowing them to weather attacks while dishing out good damage.
Iron Crown is an incredibly flexible head, capable of running many possible sets. The tandems have great synergy with most of the common ones, while forming strong offensive and defensive cores between each other. Iron Crown and these tandems have amazing longevity, allowing them to weather attacks while dishing out good damage.
Sandy Shocks covers against water types which could otherwise sweep the rest of the team. It sets up reflect and helps ttar, garganacl and great tusk's bulk, plus can deal high damage with earth power.
Pokemon: Tyranitar Ability: Sand Stream Item: Smooth Rock Tera Types: Ghost, Flying Moves: Stone Edge, Shore Up, Knock-Off, Dragon Dance
Knock-Off helps against Heavy-Duty Boots users. Dragon dance also threatens mons tryna switch out, and also sand stream helps this entire team, with the special defense boost and the extra chip damage.
Pokemon: Great Tusk Ability:Sand Rush Item: Life Orb Tera Types: Ground, Steel Moves: High Horsepower, Brick Break, Knock-Off, Rapid Spin, Ice Spinner
Sand Rush makes this pokemon a demon, as it can launch off very powerful STAB before the opponent can move. Plus knock-off to get rid of heavy duty boots users, rapid spin for hazard removal, ice spinner for flying coverage and roar to cycle hazard damage. I did make sure to give it some of its weakest STABs because I'm kinda scared of this being too strong.
Pokemon: Garganacl Ability:Sand Stream Item: Leftovers Tera Types: Ghost, Poison Moves: Salt Cure, Stealth Rock, Recover, Body Press
As another sand stream user, it lets garganacl tank big special attacks which it couldn't before, plus gives extra chip damage. It also sets up stealth rock, which synergises well with gholdengo blocking most hazard removal. Plus salt cure to get more chip damage and get the opponent to switch out and take more hazard damage.
My best attempt at making the Illusion gimmick good. RandTand subverts the biggest downside of team preview, by making it difficult for the opponent to fully predict if you brought one of your Illusion mons, and if you did, which one it was (or both). This makes it much more possible to try and believably fool the opponent, and at the very least, makes them play with the possibility that the Illusion mons are on the team until proven otherwise.
Two of these mons, Talonflame and Zoroark-Hisui, try to capitalize on Kingambit's weaknesses. Each baits the opponent's Ground and Fighting moves, attempting to use the free turn generated to set up with SD/NP and start blowing holes in the enemy's HP bars.
The other two, Iron Moth and Primarina, do the opposite. Both of them utilize Kingambit's facade as a bluff, covering some of their weaknesses by using Kingambit's immunities as a shield. They ward off enemy Psychic and Poison attacks with the possibility that if it is Kingambit, you can hard punish them with Kingambit's SD or powerful attacks.
Additionally, 3/4 of these mons resist Fire, the last of Kingambit's weaknesses.
The items here are a little tricky, since quite a few of these mons want Heavy Duty Boots, while Kingambit doesn't really need to run those. However, since Kingambit is pretty flexible with its item slot, it absolutely can run them now in an attempt to ensure the illusion maintains even when you can't avoid hazards on the field. Even without it, though, smart play makes it possible to keep up the ruse and only abuse the HDB once the mirage is already broken, and the frequency of HDB lets you use Illusion to have tandems cover for other tandems too. Same thing with Air Balloon - while it does announce on entry, it has the possibility of being multiple possible tandems, and unlike HDB is an item that Kingambit does want to run already, and will even more so now.
Another good wallbreaker with good Speed Control in Prankster TWave. While this isn't as strong in Gen 9 as it was in its hayday in Gen 6, I think Thundy will be a very good pick, as its dual STAB is rather potent. Most importantly, it adds a **crucial** Ground switch in on the team, which this team was sorely lacking otherwise.
Another strong ass wallbreaker, Manaphy can help force alot of progress for the team thanks to Tail Glow bolstering it's sets. Motor Drive is also very clutch for it, blocking not only SE Electric moves but notorious momentum killer Thunder Wave, making it really good glue.
I am not understanding the choices made for Galarian Molt here. Why Springtide Storm lol. It's dual STAB feels a lot more effective overall. Another thing, even if you decided yeah Fairy coverage is what you want isn't Moonblast just better than Springtide? Perfect Acc, no random immunity to Wind Rider. I don't get it.
G-Luke's Dondozo
flareth13's Eelektross
AthenaStrive9's Iron Crown
Beaf Cultist's Iron Treads
PileOfTrubbish's Gholdengo
zxgzxg's Espeon
Seito Chinchou's Kingambit
StarGN's Pawmot