The Team
The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yet the Arcana are the means by which all is revealed... Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are... Death awaits you. Let's get this rmt started.
Teambuilding
I started with Oranguru and Erupt Torkoal. Eruption is able to 2HKO a healthy amount of the meta and Oranguru underspeeds a lot of threats.
Next was Carracosta. It has slightly more going for it then you probably think. At base 32 speed, it takes advantage of trick room, 4x resists fire, and hits on the physical side with
This being vgc, I liked the idea of creating a bit of a speedier mode. Tapu Lele was added because Garchomp is an absolute monster. Honestly, I still don't like my match up against it even with Lele, but of the Tapu it seems to have the best match up without being Tapu Fini.
Salamence brings a lot to the table by providing my team some intimidate support. Really proud of this pick actually. A lot of people probably didn't know what intimidate did before I started to use it against them. Awesome much needed coverage. Great Poke.
Honestly, I saw those offensive stats on Kartana and thought, what a crap mon, just throw it on the team for luls but suprisingly it can do a little work every now and then when I leave my trick room mode on the bench.
The Fool (Oranguru) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Instruct
- Protect
- Psychic
252 Atk Tapu Koko Wild Charge vs 252 HP \ 164 Def+ Oranguru in Electric Terrain : 106 - 126 ( 53.8% - 63.9% ) - 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
252 Atk+ Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs 252 Hp \ 164 Def+ Oranguru in Grassy Terrain : 169 -199 ( 85.7% - 101% ) - 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk+ Krookodile Knock Off vs 252 HP \ 164 Def+ Oranguru :168 - 200 ( 85.2% - 101.5% ) - 12.5% chance to OHKO
As you can see, this spread gives Oranguru some respectable physical bulk. The most impressive calc is vs Adamant Krookodile considering Knock Off isn't legal until pokebank.
These EVs came straight from one of Wolfey's guides. Psychic to do some damage if it cannot do anything else. Instruct to wreck shit with Eruption on Torkoal or Rock Slide with Carracosta. Protect is the best move in doubles. It let's Oranguru stay on the field even longer, stall out field conditions, etc. Trick room to make use of my turtles. If I decide to bring my trick room mode this is usually my lead with Salamence. Taunt pretty much shuts this thing down, so I don't leave it in on anything that can threaten it. So I decided to go with sitrus as it is more likely to proc in a match than mental herb.
Death (Torkoal) @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Solar Beam
- Flamethrower
- Protect
The ev spread is simple, max attack to do as much damage to anything that resists it as possible. It has gotten a bit predictable so I put flamethrower over heat wave because wide guard destroys those sets. Protect to conserve those previous hit points. Eruption because it sounds powerful. I hardly use it, so I wouldn't know, but it's spread damage so that's cool. Solar Beam for random water/rock types. Ev's could probably be optimized, but torkoal becomes less useful as he gets worn down so max damage and 252 HP seemed good enough to do what it needs to do.
The World (Carracosta) @ Choice Band
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Rock Slide
- Liquidation
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
Now, is Carracosta the world's best pokemon? Of course not. Is Choice Band a silly item? Most definitely. It doesn't really pick up any notable OHKOs. The biggest thing it has going for it is slow rock slide, though it does survive max attack Garchomp and 2HKOs with Liquidation. Not like picking up the OHKO would mean much with so many running sash. It has kinda crap coverage and araquanid hasn't seen to much use from my perspective so I through in some spammable moves. Liquidation has the chance to lower def and 2HKOs Mudsdale. Knock off 2HKOs Oranguru.
The Magician (Tapu Lele) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt
- Protect
Ripped from a guide Kyle Cole made. Always survives 2 Earthquakes from max attack Jolly Garchomp. Thunderbolt for much needed coverage. Protect because doubles. The ol' razzle dazzle for killing Garchomp. Psychic with max attack to reap souls. Oh, and one point in speed creep. Psychic seed is nice. Lele's special bulk is really good even when it's not invested which I really appreciate as that phisical bulk that that allows me to allocate is very handy with or without intimidate support.
Judgement (Salamence) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Protect
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
I love inaccurate moves. Salamence has wonderful coverage at the cost of it. I have lost some games because of each of these moves missing. When it does hit, though. Useful for killing Alolan Marowak with Hydro Miss. It can nuke things with Draco Miss or take advantage of the sun with Fire miss. I wish there was an inaccurate version of protect. Intimidate is really just for my 2 specially defensive mons as everything else winded up being really physically bulky. I can bring it on my trick room or slightly speedy option. Usually a lead. Not much to say about it other than that actually. It's hard making EV spreads.
Justice (Kartana) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Detect
Detect because protect is so boring. Useful, but boring. This little beast has actually got some pretty underwhelming moves to choose from so I just went with dual stab. Smart strike at least bypasses accuracy. X-Scissor because everyone else seems to run it.
That's the team. I've noticed it autoloses to Araquanid when it does pop up. Alolan Marowak is never fun to see. Garchomp destroys me 9/10 times, especially Swords Dance varients. It seems like a bad team, and it probably is. I kinda suck at this meta.
