rental code | pokepaste
▸ Introduction
Greetings! In my latest post I talked briefly about how difficult has been for me to build teams since the Series 2 / Regulation B days, Regulation C and D been rough, lots of ups and downs but this team brought me back to life so to speak. The use of cheese always been a controversial topic in competitive Pokémon but we wont go into the topic today, I wanted to take the last 3 weeks of Regulation D as a test and for the first time try to build a baton pass team. The baton pass archetype in SV has been used by the ladder folks since the beginning, slowly developing into a solid strategy usually as one mode of a team (at least from what Ive seen from the most succesful teams of this generation) rather than a full team commitment since the metagame is well prepared for it.
▸ Construction History
It all started with Drifblim, the balloon was the axis of our squad, blistering speed thanks to unburden, a somewhat solid defensive typing, access to minimize and baton pass, this was an easy choice.
The natural partner in crime for Drifblim this generation has been the golden boy and for good reason, good as gold is almost perfect for a baton pass anchor blocking curse, toxic, whirlwind, roar, taunt, encore... You know the drill but theres one thing Gholdengos ability cant block and that is haze, a fair trade off in my opinion.
This slot was the hardest to pick and in reality this was the last change we made to the squad. The goal with this slot was to enable Drifblim unburden via terrain seeds, having a designated lead that could relaibly set up terrain for our balloon was key to the team success, we tried many different setters like H-Electrode, Meowscarada, Rillaboom, Thundurus, Iron Bundle, Mimikyu but we ended up with good old Flutter Mane.
Even tho our main selection was good the strategy was still flawed and like I said earlier many of the sucessful baton pass teams used a secondary mode, we used this approach for the beginning and while it worked, Tachi made a good point when I asked for advice and I quote "I do think you have a tendency of building teams that lack a unified vision/concept so I think deciding on an identity for your team, and focusing on figuring out how to make that one aspect work will be a lot more productive". With this in mind we were completely committed to build a full baton pass team and the main problem that needed a solution was our unaware/full stall matchup, Skeledirge and Dozo where an autoloss at team preview, for most of the team lifespan this slot was power trip pressure Corviknight even tho this mon gave us many victories it was so slow in build up and even with the evasion boosts I lost count on how many times I got fissured by a Dozo on a roost turn. Looking for a more immediate answer we look thru the stored power and power trip users, Veluza came to my attention because of his primary ability mold breaker.
Fully committed to this archetype I felt that a secondary terrain setter was needed and Klefki looked very appealing, prankster terrain, screens, broken typing, solid stats and a very important attribute, a way of self damaging (steel beam) to give Drifblim a free switch in.
The next step was to find another anchor that wouldnt drop to a dark or electric type attack like my other two and I remembered the Iron Hands set I used to run early Reg. C, the sub swords dance set, I saw that my friends Kai and Derpy play with it during the season with some sucess hence why it was recruited, finishing our squad.
▸ Individual Sets
Drifblim | Unburden
Jolly | 12 HP / 28 Atk / 52 Def / 188 SpD / 228 Spe
Minimize | Substitute | Baton Pass | Acrobatics
The key to this build, if this pokemon can function the entire team functions, if it cant then we are doomed (with some exceptions). Gameplan is very simple, after sucessfully setting terrain you start minimizing on sight, if youre infront of a Ting-Lu after you positioning yourself correctly youll be able to get only one minimize before they shook the taunt off, same thing against Mimikyu and Dragapult (the most common curse users). The ideal escenario is to setup minimize 3 times, then a substitute and if possible get a kill on the way with acrobatics before passing the baton to a sweeper.
Tera water was the choice over dark (good against ghost, dark and prankster taunt) and dragon (good against shifu, ogerpon and electric types) mainly for the stability against the big six, covering ghost, dark, fire, ice and water, we are still weak against electric types but our most used lead somewhat cover us against those more on that later on and against ogerpon we can threaten them with a comfortable 2HKO and we can minimize in their faces. Overall covering both Shifu and Pao felt more benefitial, be aware of electric Pao tho, they exist :( (they can miss tho!).
Jolly Unburden and 228 speed evs help us reach 282 speed (real number) outspeeding 252 spe EVs booster Flutter Mane that runs neutral nature and everything below that tier, having this oppressing speed is what makes Drifblim a powerful minimize user, boosting before it can get hit, before it can get tricked(faster sub), taunted, this is why we prioritize speed over bulk, if they cant hit you why worry about surviving stuff (sorta).
12 HP and 52 Def EVs with tera water allows Drifblim to always live icicle crash into sacred sword from standard jolly Chien-Pao and most of the times from adamant Pao, this also avoids a 2HKO from adamant Urshifu-RS surging strikes, this two having tools to ignore defense boosts are part of the reason to choose misty terrain and spdef boost for our strategy instead of defense boost from grassy or electric terrain. Misty terrain also has the plus of allowing Drifblim to comfortably setup substitutes against lead Garchomp since 252 Atk Garchomp Dragon Tail vs. 12 HP / 52 Def Tera Water Drifblim in Misty Terrain: 43-52 (18.9 - 22.9%) -- possible 5HKO :).
12 HP and 188 SpD evs with +1 boost from misty seed allows Drifblim to avoid a 2HKO from booster Iron Bundle freeze dry, lives a modest scarf dark pulse from Chi-Yu and a fire tera modest overheat without need to tera (not both obviously LOL). This spdef investment also avoids a 2HKO from specs sball from modest Gholdengo with the spdef boost and tera water. For most of the team lifespan we were using air slash as our attacking move since we were also using thunder wave support from our terrain setter, this was very good when an unexpected taunt hit us, 30% flinch plus the para chance was huge when stalling taunt turns, after dropping twave we look if running acrobatics had some value and this calc pop up 28 Atk Drifblim Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chi-Yu: 66-78 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO sexy isnt it? changing to this move save us a couple of times too against Volcarona trying to use Drifblim as setup fodder.
Overall impressions of this mon are that it is awesome and has become one of my personal favorites. Always prep for baton pass shenanigans or else dont complain and accept defeat.
Gholdengo | Good as Gold
Timid | 236 HP / 44 Def / 228 Spe
Nasty Plot | Substitute | Recover | Flash Cannon
Drifblim bestie, set details are more straight forward than the previous one, with Timid 228 Spe we outspeed base 80s pokemon the remaining EVs went to physical bulk. Moveset choices are also the standard for baton pass archetype, sub and recover so Gholdy can maximize his chances of sweeping (sub is specially important against dragon tail users like Dnite and Garchomp. We decided to run flash cannon over terablast like a lot of people tend to use with this builds because we value tera option on Drifblim way more. Bright Powder was the item of choice at the end because when Drifblim can only get one minimize (vs phazers and curse users) gholdengo is the receiver so having +2 evasion and bright powder is better than only having the +2 from that one minimize.
For the longest time we used tera water here too but after Ogerpon was added mid season we change to tera dragon covering most of them in one go while still protecting us from Chiyu fire and Shifus strikes and being neutral to ghost dark and ground, this change came in a tantrum but I dont regret it, was totally worth it!
Flutter Mane | Protosynthesis
Timid | 180 HP / 220 Def / 108 Spe
Misty Terrain | Taunt | Moonblast | Tera Blast / Memento
Here it is our main terrain setter, good ol Flutter Mane, a Pokemon that can truly do anything. The reasoning to use Mane over other strong options like Mimikyu was the consistency to set the terrain no matter what, even tho Mimikyu has the action guaranteed of disguise Flutter Mane is even better at it (in my opinion) thanks to booster energy speed boost, very few pokemon can challenge this speed and this pokemon is bulky enough that can live most hits from either side without a sash. Having a super fast taunt is also valuable against leads like Garchomp, Rotom, Dragapult, Thundurus-I, Chien-Pao, Chi-Yu and Meowscarada targets that can threaten our team and Mimikyu cant stopped consistently. Even tho dropping thunder wave/light ball fling could seem like a bad choice but you guys wont believe how many times I lost cuz my opponent was getting full para unintentionally stalling misty terrain turns since Mimikyu cant kill himself immediately with curse.
108 Spe EVs with timid are so we outspeed positive speed booster energy Iron Valiant and everything below that tier. 180 HP and 220 Def are for surviving adamant surging strikes from Urshifu, icicle crash from adamant Chien-Pao and play rough into shadow sneak from lifeorb adamant Mimikyu most of the times (always from non lifeorb variants).
Tera is ground in the final version and normal can be used for the consistency against Mimikyu but overall ground fills a role much needed for our team, lures in and kos/almost kos Heatran and Magnezone, two of the biggest threats to the team (they completely wall Gholdengo), this helps Mane too against Chi-Yu, getting a 2HKO against it while surviving a modest overheat from scarf sets (cant take modest tera fire overheat tho!). Tera ground is particularly strong against Thundurus-I (all electric types tbh) and opposing thunder wave users, all this pokemon can take away consistency from Drifblim thru super effective moves, fast taunt or paralisis so its better to remove them at lead with Flutter Mane. Memento is slashed over tera blast and its an option if you run tera normal allowing Mane to manually go out leaving Drifblim a free switch in with the opponent attacking stats lowered, overall I almost never clicked it. Flutter Mane was an incredible team player, never doubt the Mane.
/
Veluza | Mold Breaker
Naive | 4 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 212 SpA / 252 Spe
Fillet Away | Substitute | Tera Blast | Stored Power
I never thought I would use this Pokemon... Hate it during my first Scarlet playthru since I arrived early to the lake looking for Tatsugiri and this mofo assaulted me on sight T__T in the need to break thru unaware users (dozo im looking at you, fatass) Veluza appeared with his incredible mold breaker ability, not as soon as I would have liked but as soon as this pokemon entered our team the unaware and stall matchups became an auto-win. If they dont have an unaware mon + phazing/curse we go to town with Veluza and we win, substitute is mainly for the stall matchup same with tera fighting tera blast, this completely destroys the common core of pex + dozo + chansey thanks to this EV spread that enables a 2HKO against Chansey since tera blast becomes a physical move when you tera.
Tera fighting obviously does incredible well at removing dark types and steel types that can stop stored power, like the ruin Pokemon, Urshifu-SS, H-Goodra and Magnezone, remaining evs are put in SpA and Spe to maximize the sweeping potential of fillet away + stored power. Sitrus berry is the item of choice for the immediate healing but wiki berry can also be used getting the heal after one substitute + fillet away. An unexpected addition to our team but once added became irreplaceable.
Klefki | Prankster
Bold | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Misty Terrain | Reflect | Light Screen | Steel Beam
This slot was Mimikyu for most of the team lifespan, I talked earlier about how I felt about Mimikyu so after Flutter Mane felt consistent enough Klefki joined the party. Having a superb typing and prankster allows Klefki to set up both terrain and screens in most matchups, this becomes even more important in many of our bad matchups like Chi-Yu making Drifblim even sturdier, avoiding unexpected taunt users thanks to our almost inevitable prankster misty terrain (only stopped by other prankster users, altho we are faster than grimmsnarl the other prankster screen setter).
The addition of Klefki to our team also opened the option of a selection without Drifblim, giving us an out against opponents with too many tools to shut down our main strategy, so Klefki plus Veluza and Iron Hands became a thing.
EV spread is nothing special, just maximize bulk in both sides. Light clay is the only choice for this role, maximizing the turns of reflect and light screen, lasting even after passing the baton. Tera water was just to cover the Chi-Yu matchup, removing fire and ground weakness, dark is the other option being good against Chi-Yu too and against opposing prankster pokemon. Overall I think Flutter Mane does best against Grimmsnarl and Thundurus-I, either way Klefki dont tera often unless is facing a Chi-Yu so I wouldnt worry much about it. Key member to many of our recent victories, Klefki was awesome.
Iron Hands | Quark Drive
Impish | 84 HP / 4 Atk / 188 Def / 60 SpD / 172 Spe
Substitute | Swords Dance | Thunder Punch | Drain Punch
Iron Hands came to cover one huge hole the team was still having... the Kingambit matchup. I used this pokemon a fair bit in Regulation C and always performed incredible well, having the option to use screens and passing evasion+spdef boosts makes this already tanky pokemon into God itself, the team preview pressure is already high but if they dont have phazing plus curse and they have kingambit, Iron Hands is selected, not only against Kingambit but Iron Hands improved our matchup against opposing electric types and this set does incredible well against Wo-chien and Garganacl cycles too.
EV spread is an adaptation of my Regulation C spread, 84 HP and 188 Def with impish nature allows Iron Hands to setup infront of standard defensive Dondozo because their wave crash will always fail to break the substitute, we used to run much more spdef but since now we can get an spdef boost from Drifblim we put EVs into speed 172 Spe allows Iron Hands to act before Wo-chien, Sinistcha and Umbreon can do something evil against us.
Fairy tera is what the original set had, never felt like I needed a change, removes all of Iron Hands weaknesses while gaining a solid inmunity to dragon, improving our matchup against dragon tail users. Fairy tera is also super clutch against Urshifu Single Strike. Fire is a solid alternative, resisting fairy, fire, ice and steel but keeping the ground weakness and gaining a weakness to surging strikes could be worse overall. Like I said earlier I feel like this Pokemon has never let me down, one of my favorites from gen 9 for sho, love the hands.
▸ Typical Selections
Gholdengo anchor
+ + This is the go to if the opponent has a common phazer like Ting-Lu/Hippowdon or a common curse user like Mimikyu/Dragapult.
Electric types / Wochien Garganacl cycle
+ + if theres a no phazer, Hands is pretty safe here.
Stored Power go brrr
/ + + Selection if the opponent has an unaware user and no curse/whirlwind user.
Drifblim-less Route
+ / + The Drifblimless approach works against most Kingambit builds if they dont have a phazer and against any matchup you think is stable enough without evasion support.
VS Stall
+ any other twoYou lead Veluza, you click sub against Toxapex and then shake hands after sweeping them.
▸ Threat List
Max speed booster energy and scarf perish song, booster energy doesnt run max speed these days and is even rarer to have taunt but still a possibility, the problem with this is that most of the times Flutter is setup fodder for Drifblim so the unpredictable aspect is what makes it a bad matchup.
Can hit Veluza with super effective attacks while self-boosting, no es bueno for us.
Thundurus-I is faster than Klefkis priority, has access to taunt and can hit Drifblim supereffectively thru tera, I dont like this Pokemon.
If the opponent keeps a red card Pokemon in the back, say gg and accept defeat.
Calm mind tera electric is close to an auto-loss, specially if its paired with Ting-Lu so that im forced to pick Gholdengo.
Even with the SpDef boost this Pokemon can be difficult to play around mainly cuz our anchors matchup poorly against it, before recruiting Veluza Corviknight did super well against it so theres that.
Pokemon that can hit us. No, dont do it. Bad matchup.▸ Closing Thoughts
This became one of my favorites teams to use, definetely a fun experience overall and I would try this archetype again in future seasons for sure. Shoutouts to the BSS Discord, love the people in there yall are the best!
special thanks to my homies StarkGod and Tachipoyo for providing helpful feedback and other stuff. Best of lucks to everyone playing in Regulation E!
Last edited:
