you know it's true
when i saw this clusterfuck of a tier with all of its apparently broken mons i decided that i wanted to try to stall my way to victory as it seemed like a nice challenge. surprisingly, despite the team being made in about 2 minutes on the first day the tier was created, it works pretty well, and i am currently sitting at #1 with 1293 points (considering how new the ladder is, it's not that large of an accomplishment, but whatever). having said that, it is by no means perfect and there are some really obvious flaws to the team that i'd like to fix before i go further.
Team At A Glance:
Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 220 HP / 212 Def / 76 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
Drapion leads because it's the first thing I threw into the teambuilder. Lays out Toxic Spikes which really helps against weather themed teams who have to waste time sending out Snover / setting up Rain Dance. It also very rarely gets absorbed because the only common poison type is Venomoth. Usually messes up Cresselia pretty badly. There seems to be a ton of random Eviolite shit running around so Knock Off helps with stuff like Golbat and Murkrow and whatever. I had Earthquake over Rock Slide but I really hate not hitting Honchkrow / fliers / bugs etc. which are everywhere so I replaced it with RS. Dunno if that's gonna be useful I haven't tested it yet.
Claydol @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Def / 232 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
Needed a spinner because of Entei and the fact that my team hates Spikes, so I figured I'd go with Claydol because I also wanted a Stealth Rocker and it seemed practical. So far it's been a pretty weak link in my team, all it really does is set up Rocks (which I do admit is handy) and very occasionally spin. I'd rather be safe than sorry though. Ice Beam > Psychic to hit birds (mostly just Honchkrow) harder and for the Ice/Ground coverage with EP. Theoretically this is a Rhyperior counter but all of them just Megahorn me so screw that. Usually ends up being Trick fodder.
Poliwrath (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Circle Throw
- Toxic
Unfortunately I failed to use the mighty Poliwrath enough in UU so it dropped down to here. Phazes and poisons stuff. Since Zapdos and Slowbro and whatever are not everywhere, Toxic is probably not the greatest move, maybe Ice Punch / Waterfall over it, I'm undecided (like I said I was pretty lazy with teambuilding). It's pretty much a perfect counter to the likes of Durant and Sharpedo and really gives Rain Dance teams a run for their money if I get tspikes out quickly.
Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 176 HP / 216 Def / 20 SAtk / 96 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Haze
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
Generic spinblocker. It burns stuff and stops Fighting types from giving me hell (though stuff like Gallade is still frustrating to deal with). Is a bit specially defensive because there are very few spinners that are not Blastoise or Cryogonal (though they usually end up poisoning me...). Hex > Shadow Ball because Hex does flat 100 damage on Smogon's server regardless of status conditions. Haze helps if stat boosters get out of hand at any point, it was mainly there for Venomoth / Smashpass but I handle the first well and the latter isn't common at all. HP Fighting is just kind of there, I believe I replaced it with Toxic at some point but changed it back for some reason, idk.
Ferroseed (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
Ferroseed is a surprisingly reliable spiker that resists fucking everything and pairs well with Poliwrath when taking on Rain teams. Lays out Spikes and dicks around with Leech Seed + Protect for healing. It somehow only has 22 Speed and so in spite of its rather pathetic 136 Attack it can actually do a fair amount of damage with Gyro Ball to some of the more frail mons. Dunno if max Def / SDef is more efficient than what I currently have, I haven't ran any calcs (it probably is!).
Entei @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP / 48 SAtk / 216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Lava Plume
- Roar
This Entei is built to counter stuff like Venomoth / Yanmega and also pretty much singlehandedly destroys Hail teams. I wasn't sure what to run or if I was even going to stick with this thing so I started off with Restalk for recovery then saw it got Lava Plume which pretty much sealed it for me. Needs heavy SDef investment as it's not really fantastic but 434 / 264 is pretty damn decent. Roar helps if Venomoth decides it wants to passy passy and just to get rid of boosts in general (and also to be a dick and abuse hazards). I ran like 80 SAtk when laddering but upon revising the team it really needs the SDef more. Looks like a pretty dodgy set but it ended up being my MVP.
aaaand that's the team. what should be incredibly obvious is that i am really, really weak to Honchkrow. it is the worst pokemon ever. i wanted to run something like steelix but it means that i would probably ditch claydol and so have to include another spinner somewhere. also heat wave. Rhyperior also bashes me around if it gets up a sub as its stupid ability prevents me from doing much back to it, i pretty much have to rely on toxic spikes and prediction.
finally, i really don't like the fact that i don't have any sort of powerful offence at all. everything is geared towards stalling and taking hits and as such random trick users like the rotoms can put me in a really awkward position as nothing likes being given a random scarf. this also means that, sadly enough, i have trouble with spinners who toxic cofagrigus (like cryogonal and blastoise) as i can't immediately threaten them. i also don't really have anything that can properly clean up. i'm not sure how to fix this as every team member has a specific role, i guess it's just something i like to have on a team.
really though the tier is ok I GUESS. it's kind of like gen 4 UU with every single broken mon except hera / froslass / raikou, and a bunch of other shit... so yeah.
thanks for reading this stupid wall of text (though you probably didn't).
when i saw this clusterfuck of a tier with all of its apparently broken mons i decided that i wanted to try to stall my way to victory as it seemed like a nice challenge. surprisingly, despite the team being made in about 2 minutes on the first day the tier was created, it works pretty well, and i am currently sitting at #1 with 1293 points (considering how new the ladder is, it's not that large of an accomplishment, but whatever). having said that, it is by no means perfect and there are some really obvious flaws to the team that i'd like to fix before i go further.
Team At A Glance:
Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 220 HP / 212 Def / 76 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
Drapion leads because it's the first thing I threw into the teambuilder. Lays out Toxic Spikes which really helps against weather themed teams who have to waste time sending out Snover / setting up Rain Dance. It also very rarely gets absorbed because the only common poison type is Venomoth. Usually messes up Cresselia pretty badly. There seems to be a ton of random Eviolite shit running around so Knock Off helps with stuff like Golbat and Murkrow and whatever. I had Earthquake over Rock Slide but I really hate not hitting Honchkrow / fliers / bugs etc. which are everywhere so I replaced it with RS. Dunno if that's gonna be useful I haven't tested it yet.
Claydol @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Def / 232 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
Needed a spinner because of Entei and the fact that my team hates Spikes, so I figured I'd go with Claydol because I also wanted a Stealth Rocker and it seemed practical. So far it's been a pretty weak link in my team, all it really does is set up Rocks (which I do admit is handy) and very occasionally spin. I'd rather be safe than sorry though. Ice Beam > Psychic to hit birds (mostly just Honchkrow) harder and for the Ice/Ground coverage with EP. Theoretically this is a Rhyperior counter but all of them just Megahorn me so screw that. Usually ends up being Trick fodder.
Poliwrath (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Circle Throw
- Toxic
Unfortunately I failed to use the mighty Poliwrath enough in UU so it dropped down to here. Phazes and poisons stuff. Since Zapdos and Slowbro and whatever are not everywhere, Toxic is probably not the greatest move, maybe Ice Punch / Waterfall over it, I'm undecided (like I said I was pretty lazy with teambuilding). It's pretty much a perfect counter to the likes of Durant and Sharpedo and really gives Rain Dance teams a run for their money if I get tspikes out quickly.
Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 176 HP / 216 Def / 20 SAtk / 96 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Haze
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
Generic spinblocker. It burns stuff and stops Fighting types from giving me hell (though stuff like Gallade is still frustrating to deal with). Is a bit specially defensive because there are very few spinners that are not Blastoise or Cryogonal (though they usually end up poisoning me...). Hex > Shadow Ball because Hex does flat 100 damage on Smogon's server regardless of status conditions. Haze helps if stat boosters get out of hand at any point, it was mainly there for Venomoth / Smashpass but I handle the first well and the latter isn't common at all. HP Fighting is just kind of there, I believe I replaced it with Toxic at some point but changed it back for some reason, idk.
Ferroseed (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
Ferroseed is a surprisingly reliable spiker that resists fucking everything and pairs well with Poliwrath when taking on Rain teams. Lays out Spikes and dicks around with Leech Seed + Protect for healing. It somehow only has 22 Speed and so in spite of its rather pathetic 136 Attack it can actually do a fair amount of damage with Gyro Ball to some of the more frail mons. Dunno if max Def / SDef is more efficient than what I currently have, I haven't ran any calcs (it probably is!).
Entei @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP / 48 SAtk / 216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Lava Plume
- Roar
This Entei is built to counter stuff like Venomoth / Yanmega and also pretty much singlehandedly destroys Hail teams. I wasn't sure what to run or if I was even going to stick with this thing so I started off with Restalk for recovery then saw it got Lava Plume which pretty much sealed it for me. Needs heavy SDef investment as it's not really fantastic but 434 / 264 is pretty damn decent. Roar helps if Venomoth decides it wants to passy passy and just to get rid of boosts in general (and also to be a dick and abuse hazards). I ran like 80 SAtk when laddering but upon revising the team it really needs the SDef more. Looks like a pretty dodgy set but it ended up being my MVP.
aaaand that's the team. what should be incredibly obvious is that i am really, really weak to Honchkrow. it is the worst pokemon ever. i wanted to run something like steelix but it means that i would probably ditch claydol and so have to include another spinner somewhere. also heat wave. Rhyperior also bashes me around if it gets up a sub as its stupid ability prevents me from doing much back to it, i pretty much have to rely on toxic spikes and prediction.
finally, i really don't like the fact that i don't have any sort of powerful offence at all. everything is geared towards stalling and taking hits and as such random trick users like the rotoms can put me in a really awkward position as nothing likes being given a random scarf. this also means that, sadly enough, i have trouble with spinners who toxic cofagrigus (like cryogonal and blastoise) as i can't immediately threaten them. i also don't really have anything that can properly clean up. i'm not sure how to fix this as every team member has a specific role, i guess it's just something i like to have on a team.
really though the tier is ok I GUESS. it's kind of like gen 4 UU with every single broken mon except hera / froslass / raikou, and a bunch of other shit... so yeah.
thanks for reading this stupid wall of text (though you probably didn't).
