Idk what we're doing team/set dump wise and with tags, but I'm going to assume we're using this thread for the time being.
I'm going to post all of the teams I built that got used by me/my teammates sometime next week, but I have a lot of sets that I want to share and it's going to be way too long if it's all in one post, so I'll just start with the sets while I have time now.
sets I did not get to use:
Zapdos @ Electrium Z
Ability: Pressure / Static
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-
Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
This set appealed to me because it cleaned generic offense and cheese HO with ridiculous efficiency. The first thing is that you have to acknowledge that you need to detach yourself from most of the defensive merit and utility that normal Zapdos has in building, but from there if you can fit it, it's a great pick against certain opponents. I personally considered this initially for the OLT ladder given how many lousy HOs were being spammed, but then I looked back at it again when I was thinking of what to use against Robopoke and I knew it was one of my ideas for the Nagas if I ever played Sacri or Updated Kanto. Anyway, this set excels against offensive teams and it is largely due to the fact that these teams often give it a free turn mid-late game after something dies or it comes in on something that it normally handles like a Scarf Kartana; it is worth noting that because they do not suspect a speed boosting win condition Zapdos that opposing teams are more inclined to give it a free turn as they pivot around/position, thus leading to a potential blowout win against generic Excadrill HO if 1-2 things get chipped or are exhausted earlier on in games. Besides from that, it is also cool to have a nuke against things like Clefable, Mew, Toxapex, Heatran, etc. with offensive Z-Thunderbolt.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
-
Confide
Honestly, this set is mainly a band-aid, but it is a means of shutting down a Reuncilus sweep in a pinch if your balance team lacks an answer to it; if anything, it just gives you a reason to not use Ash Greninja on every single team for AA Reuniclus. Anyway, it has some other practical applications and can just generally be a nice method of slowing down special attackers making progress against generic balances, but I feel like the only reason I started using this on select builds was to cover Reuniclus. For those that do not know, Confide has 32 PP and drops SAtk by 1 stage, so it is great for opposing CM boosters.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
-
Seismic Toss
This Clefable is far more interesting to me than the one above, however. Having a consistent, high PP method of doing reliable damage is great. I've almost entertained the idea of using this over Moonblast on some teams that require another 4th move, but always opted for Moonblast due to damage output vs specific problematic targets. Regardless, if your team can fit it, this is really cool in drawn out games or when you want to wear out Z Heatran, AV Magearna, Celesteela, etc. It also forces Recovers from a lot of things that gives you free turns and honestly is just quite useful in longer games.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 244 HP / 248 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Soft-Boiled
Was debating between including this or not, but I felt it would be nice to show off. This set was relevant back in ORAS/long ago, but honestly I think it still has quite the niche rn. I would advise trying it out, but yea it is nothing too special or unique.
Heatran @
Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 8 HP / 64 Def / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Taunt
Cool set to slap onto bulky-offenses that want to nab surprise kills or lack a great Magma Tran pivot. Very situational and sacrifices Leftovers, but if you are expecting a shorter game/using a faster paced team, then the difference it can make when it is useful is pretty huge tbh. Can also use +Speed on it if you want, but I like Modest for the damage output when you know you're going to survive opposing Heatran attacks anyway given Shuca Berry.
Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Nature Power / Hidden Power [Ice] / Flash Cannon
-
Flame Charge
A bit idealistic, but similar to Agility Zapdos it goes nuts against opposing offensive teams and it gets ample opportunity to boost up. Additionally, it's still a viable set without Flame Charge due to Z Fire Heatran being a fucking beast to begin with, but yea on top of that, the surprise sweeping potential is really underrated I feel. I only have one team with this and it is paired with Tapu Bulu, so Nature Power was super appealing, but obviously you can go with different moves in that slot depending upon your team.
Tapu Lele @
Assault Vest
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 76 SpD / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Nature's Madness
A bit of a spin on the AV Tapu Lele set ABR used during SPL, but something I nearly rolled with during the first stages of the tournament until I noticed a flaw with the build I had with it. Anyway, AV Lele is very niche, but some teams it fits on and it can be legitimately effective, so don't sleep on it fully.
Magearna @
Weakness Policy
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 32 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shift Gear
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire]
Been trying to show this bad boy off for a while, but on Screens/Veil this is the best Magearna without a doubt imo. Weakness Policy gets triggered ridiculously often -- even more than WP Zygarde probably. Unfortunately, Magearna needs more support to eat super effective moves consistently, but regardless this set is super underrated and wins a ridiculous amount of games in my experience.
Toxicroak @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Gunk Shot
Super niche here, but it wins against a ton of balance cores and comes in comfortably on Toxapex time after time while also taking advantage of Tapu Bulu, sorta Clefable, and a couple other bulkier pivots. It forces kills against generic balances and can come in a number of times if you face one of the specific Pokemon I listed above pretty much. Still, it's niche and I probably am too hesitant to use it myself in a big game, but there is some potential/viability to be found here.
Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast
The only viable Gengar set imo. It requires some status support from other team members, but that's pretty simple. Anyway, this thing is cool and is ridiculously threatening to some teams, but with Tornadus-T all over, Focus Blast being a bitch, and certain pivots still being irksome, it is hard for Gengar to be too consistent in a Greninja tier. There is some niche, but not one worth getting too hyped up about.
Zygarde @ Groundium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
-
Toxic
- Substitute
Nothing too radical here, but I love that this Zygarde pretty much always makes some sort of "progress". This can be through crippling a Grass type with Toxic or being a pretty direct threat to most other things offensively, especially with Thousand Arrows into Z-Thousand Arrows. Overall, Substitute + Toxic is great, especially if you have a teammate that benefits from weakened Grasses, but it also lets you take advantage of things like Toxapex and other common status spreading checks. I feel minimal need for other moves, so this just works out well.
Greninja-Ash @
Choice Scarf
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Spikes
- U-turn
Seems kinda crazy, but I REALLY wanted to use this against Robopoke. It does ridiculously well against the silly HO cheese stuff and it is not hard at all to pick off a kill. It's not even too bad in general, but the drop in power is so noteworthy that it just did not feel right using when Specs Ash Greninja is absurdly good. Ultimately, it just wasn't meant to be and I went with the Buzzwole squad I ended up using instead. One day I will wake up to a replay of Scarf Ash Greninja cleaning out some lousy offense though, I swear.
sets I did get to use:
Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-
Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
vs Tricking. Another one that is nothing really too crazy, but Rock Polish sorta disappeared a year+ ago and I feel like it has some merit rn. I used it against Tricking and it didn't specifically do much there, but in some test games it helped clean games out or get surprise kills in certain positions.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 244 HP / 248 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
-
Stored Power
vs Lavos. Another one that isn't necessarily a huge innovation or even unheard of, but before Mega Aggron stall came around, this bad boy did very well against stall, especially the ABR/Bro Fist WCOP finals stall. I expected something like that from Lavos and knew it also did well vs opposing CM Clef, so I went with this. It's got a lot of utility, so I'm glad I got to use it, but it is still pretty situational in terms of when Stored Power goes in.
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 80 HP / 244 SpD / 184 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Soft-Boiled
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
vs Ramboss and Hayburner. This is the best Mew to pair with PDef Zapdos on stall. I went off on multiple tangents about this
here, but anyway this spread is great. You pretty much counter Lele, eating 2 Specs Moonblast almost always, and you hard counter Z Heatran, thus preventing SR from being set. It has great synergy with Zapdos and even Mega Sableye. These EVs let you maximize special bulk for all practical intents and purposes while also outrunning Heatran and adamant SD LandoT. Would highly recommend this on stall teams, especially those similar to the ones I outlined in the post I hyperlinked.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 116 HP / 240 SpD / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Toxic / U-turn
vs Lavos. Loved this spread because it trades like 4% PDef for 4% SDef roughly, give or take 1%. But anyway it helps you take Z Heatran better, living more of the time from full, and it also lets HP Ice and other moves bounce off easier. Closer to the "omg it never dies" ORAS Gliscor feel, if you will. Since the later stages of Snake, I've been using the ABR spread more that's geared towards being an answer to Zygarde, but earlier in Snake when Z Tran was more common, I loved this spread and nobody considered dropping HP for more SDef beforehand afaik so I figured I'd share it for those interested -- it definitely still has some niche, but it's not as universally splashable onto Gliscor as it once was in terms of optimal spreads.
Zygarde @
Steelium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Iron Tail
- Extreme Speed
vs Kickasser. Underrated lure set just showing another one of the crazy things Zygarde can do, which can be added to the pretty much neverending list tbh. Anyway, tl;dr is French spam BuluTran, I expected a Bulu/Clef, and I brought this bad boy knowing he wouldn't be useless anyway as Kick didn't use much Tang, too. Pretty sure I was not the first dude to use this, but I swear I came up with it on my own and it wasn't used in any important tournaments before this, but it was used in Gama vs ABR afterwards, so yea I guess this is a bit of a 'starter' for the set, but it's still not too widespread anyway, so doesn't matter a ton.
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 88 SpA / 20 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Slack Off
- Toxic
vs Kickasser. Cool pivot and shuts down a lot of physical attackers while being surprisingly annoying to pivot into if you lack a Clefable/Toxapex. I think MBro should be explored with a ton more, be it as a pivot or a CM wincon.
Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Atk / 196 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Protect
vs Hayburner. I LOVE THIS THING. See
this post for more, but pretty much it's a great option for stall teams and it provides pressure, SR, checks to a number of things (most notably Mega Mawile), etc. Love the utility it provides and it's a solid fit on non-MSab stall.
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
-
Toxic
- Roost
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
vs Hayburner. Idk why stall Buzzwole ran BU for all this time. Toxic is better for actually beating MHeracross, which otherwise 6-0s stall pretty much. Toxic also makes you insanely less passive and you never are sweeping anyway (plus you should be able to beat DD Zygarde, SD Kartana, etc. without having to BU anyway if you're smart about it and don't give it too many opportunities+forfeit hazards).
Buzzwole @
Icium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Atk / 176 Def / 20 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
vs Robopoke. It can run EQ > Drain Punch if you have something else for SD Kartana reliably, but anyway this set is a cool lure combined with a great defensive presence that blanket checks the tiers common physical win conditions/hitters (Zygarde, Kartana, Lopunny, Bulu, etc.) and Robopoke had absurd Zygarde usage, high Kartana usage, and a lot of these physical attacker stacked cheesy HOs, so I knew this would be a good pick. I turned out to be very correct and had the perfect MU, but then I got haxed to absurd proportions and lost a game that Buzz had 2 free kills taken away bc of FPs ;____; Either way, one of my best picks for an opponent and a cool general option that should be explored more imo.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt / Toxic
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
-
Substitute
vs Dundies. Substitute on Heatran is really cool in some MUs and Dundies had poor Heatran checks in most of his replays (Tar, Keldeo being the main ones on teams that lacked MLati of some sort, which wasn't an issue as I had this paired with MTar on that team). Anyway, it's really cool what this set can do and how often you can get a substitute up while being threatening still. This is a unique application of an already potent Pokemon and I love seeing how much more effective it can make it when it gets a free turn or two vs the right balance structure that isn't the most durable against Heatran. Sadly, ES built some shit that hard lost to stall, but dicked what I brought and Dundies brought it. It had Gliscor, too, so this thing was pretty useless. I'll never wrap my head fully around the team choice given what I used prior, but it worked and it worked damn well, so that was that. Hopefully this bad boy will shine some day. Really underrated.
Tangrowth (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
-
Payback
vs Dundies. I have a million teams with him and it's my goto whenever I have Knock on specific targets covered sufficiently over a team and do not feel overly-safe vs MZam/MLati, which is a pretty recurring position to be in building wise given personal trends and synergy schemes that run common in balanced builds. Anyway, more on this one
here, but pretty much you usually surprise kill greedy MZam trying to get a Regen trace off if you have any prior damage (i.e: SR) on it, you do over half on average to MLati so it cannot sit forever and spam recover as it eventually chips you down, and you also get LOLs in the smogtours lobby, so it's a pretty cool option imo!
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