Introductions.
Hello RMT, Im Sanctus Janus, or some of you may know me as Gadget. While I am no top player, I do enjoy the teambuilding aspect quite a bit in Pokemon. One thing I tend to do is every now and then, I run into a set on ladder that has potential, and try to build my own team around it. Thats when I ran into someone running sub metronome mantine on an alt when i was on low ladder. This got me thinking, because most teams dont run a single flying resist, and the naturally good spdef, in addition to water absorb got me thinking. Thats what led me to here.
Teambuilding
Steve Irwin (Mantine) @ Metronome
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Hurricane / Air Slash
- Surf
- Roost
Mantine Was obviously where I started, initially I was 3 attacks roost, but Ice beam was almost never used, as hurricane or air slash is generally free on most teams. surf is used over scald for the stopping power it provides, allowing mantine to potentially beat bulky clef. Always sub up on a Siesmitoad, unless its on a rain team, where it could be running power whip. Water absorb makes it so that a choice locked dracovish cant beat it, and most bulky waters cant ever touch it without healing it. neat trick, water moves still heal through sub, which I did not know.
Landorus-T (Excadrill) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
After looking at the mantine set and throwing it on a couple of teams, one thing became clear. this thing need to have a check to Toxtricity to function, because noise moves get around sub. at first I was sash, but that left the team weak to spike stacking, as this wound up being the only hazard remover for the team, so I wound up throwing air balloon on it. In addition, due to mold breaker, this is a check to the rotom forms if you know they are not scarf. It is strongly recommended to not switch this in on a rotom heat in the blind. This however left the team weak to Corviknight.
Jimi Hendrix (Toxtricity) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overdrive
- Snarl / Sludge Wave
- Volt Switch
Specs Toxtricity is here to deal with Corviknight, and just punishes teams without a ghost type / normal resist. Modest is used here, because it allows us to kill physdef seismitoad With a boomburst after rocks. While that may seem like overkill, it frees up overdrive to more freely check corviknight. Snarl is preferred over sludge wave here, because boomburst hits almost as hard, and snarl gives you a way to hit a greedy dragapult play. Frequently when Toxtricity comes in, it kills a Pokemon, However this left the team Ferrothorn and Hydreigon weak.
Eipic (Conkeldurr) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
To deal with Ferrothorn and Hydreigon, I tried several mons, but settled on Conkeldurr. The speed is to outspeed uninvested Siesmitoads, although a bulky set can also function fine. The movesets are very standard, but this alone breaks the traditional Ferro Pex cores. I find myself rarely clicking tpunch except versus mandibuzz, which is checked by toxtricity. this left the team with some problems cleaning up at the end, with there being a bunch of mons left near dead but not killed.
Ichoren (Dragapult) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
Specs Dragapult is what i settled for as my late game cleaner, originally this was scarf, then life orb, but they both lacked the immediate power I wanted. Infiltrator helps beat sub NP hydreigon, and gets around the problems this team has with screens. flamethrower and tbolt are for consistancy, as we already have several corviknight and ferrothorn checks, and i like hitting my moves. This mon in particular complements mantine as its a relatively safe switch in for toxtricity, which threatens out mantine. DD could be used here, but I prefer specs.
Scarface (Haxorus) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Close Combat
- Poison Jab
Origianaly this was lum berry DD, but It wound up switching to scarf in order to revenge dragapult, who otherwise 6-0ed the team from preview. Mold breaker is great, because it allows eq to hit Hydreigon and the rotoms, making the move nearly risk free most times. this also provides a second late game cleaner, who can also be used to chip switch ins with moves like poison jab and close combat. In addition, this provides a cinderace "switch in", otherwise cinderace is fairly free versus this team.
Threats.
Importable
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1038858070 Metronome mantine goes in on this one
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1038836627 Versus Rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1038880210 This replay goes to show how weak the team is to DD pult
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1038882049 Mantine walling a hydreigon and 1v1ing a defensive clef
(the alt was from Jamvad's discord, and is not my alt)
Credits.
I would like to thank Eipic and Ichoren on discord as they helped me build and test the team, I would also like to give a shoutout to the other glaceon goons, mainly lyd for inspiring me to do this.
Haxorus with 
Mandibuzz. No disrespect to Haxorus' power, but it doesn't seem to be adding much to this team. I watched the four replays you posted and Haxorus didn't really do much in any of them. It did set-up once, but only netted one kill, which isn't really that good for the role its supposed to fill, in my opinion. Let me know if I'm missing something.