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Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
SPL is a time for the most skilled and creative players to show off their inventions in an all-out brawl for the coveted red trophy. Due to the prestige of this tour, most players bring their A-Game every week (heh, just kidding!) and put in a ton of effort to surprise and outsmart their opponent with their builds.
This is a thread to show off what creativity you or your teammates has employed throughout the tour. Post in the format of:
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Earth Power
- Roost
I think hydreigon has a solid niche in this metagame, although its useful qualities were more relevant in the earlier weeks of SPL. Offensively, this thing is quite dangerous to switch into as always and it has the fairly spammable dark pulse to help get past shaky checks. Clefable and other similar fairies that were problematic for hydreigon in ORAS have fallen off in favor of fairies that can't take hydreigon on as solidly on the defensive end. Hydreigon has a somewhat nice typing that offers a ghost/dark resist, which is something a lot of ppl have not been covering as much. A lot of gengars are also dropping focus blast nowadays so that helps. But perhaps more important is how well it is able to check stuff like magma storm bloom doom heatran (which kind of fell off later on) as well as DD Lando (edges can be roosted off, and Hydreigon can ohko lando whereas lando needs both boosts to win the exchange), and tbh a variety of other stuff like even tang or something. Earth Power is a neat option to nail Tapu Koko, Heatran, Toxapex, Magearna, etc. but you can definitely run a fire move especially if u wanna hit celesteela hard and also cover bulu.
Replays: vs TDK (Hydreigon couldn't do anything useful cuz blissey x_x)
Tapu Koko @ Mago Berry
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 28 SpA / 12 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Nature's Madness
The stallbreaker koko set that I used twice this SPL (once vs ABR, again vs LCans). Koko itself can't dismantle stall completely but you can definitely pair it with stuff to take advantage of how much trouble it gives to the standard stall build. The speed EVs are purposefully reduced to still outrun Weavile, but underspeed opposing Tapu Koko since you can easily absorb their hits and pivot to a more favorable position. Max HP maximizes the bulk and the super sitrus berry by ensuring it activates after nature's madness 2x (or nature's madness followed by two rocks switchins), and the satk and sdef evs do something i think related to keldeo and magearna. The Mago Berry is a really neat option that was suggested to me by ben gay as it really improves Koko's longevity for the stall mu, and it can also be quite useful in regular games to just keep koko around to keep pissing off the opponent. For example, in my game vs Lcans, I was able to live a flash cannon and recover almost all my health back to dish out some extra attacks, or pivot to a more favorable position if I elected to make a hard read with U-Turn. In some situations it could help you check multihit moves like Water Shuriken from ninja since the berry will activate mid-hit. I general NM + Taunt + U-Turn can be quite annoying and unexpected, and help u gain a lot of momentum like it did in my game vs ABR. The downside to this set is you might get really annoyed you can't finish off that weakened defensive lando-t, so it's not something to slap on every team willy nilly, but it is quite effective overall.
I think this was the first use of ghostium gengar in SPL (week 3 vs ABR), where previously all gengars were either choice scarf or specs. Gingy, Pearl, and I thought this set could be really nice to bluff a choice set but still retain its great wallbreaking power with the neverending nightmare, and Sub could be used to punish opponents who think they are switching out of a scarf gengar. The Z-move really boosts gengar's damage output and can let you grab some really unexpected kills, and you still maintain the freedom to switch up moves and nail stuff like av tang thinking they can eat sballs. I think sub may be less effective now that set has seen more use, so taunt is probably the best filler since it can make you a serious danger to stall if played well.
This is moreso a unique mon choice rather than a unique set, but Primarina is a really solid choice, especially when your team aims to break water checks for an accompanying sweeper (like Mega Sharpedo). Primarina is used over Fini here for the much greater power and better movepool options. Pump and Moonblast have insane power (like Moonblast can 2hko metagross tangrowth etc. power). You can use Primarina's signature water attack that has surf level power if you don't care about curing burns and want perfect accuracy + hitting through subs, but damn pump is strong (i think you 2hko sdef celesteela). HP Fire nails Ferrothorn which would otherwise wall, and Psychic can snack on Toxapex and grasses like Mega Venu or Amoonguss. Max Speed lets you get the jump on stuff like slower rotoms, meaning you can nuke them for a super strong moonblast and only take like 30ish damage from volt. Primarina has insane special bulk so its especially useful to counter stuff like Special (QD) Mosa or Keld, but its low physdef means u probably want to have alternate plans around strong grounds or fighting types. With the rise of toxapex you might want to pair this thing with some good hazards especially so you can really prevent your opponent from just scouting your attack with regenerator, but that might not even be necessary.
252 SpA Choice Specs Primarina Psychic vs. 252 HP / 104+ SpD Toxapex: 180-212 (59.2 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
Muk-Alola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 224 HP / 216 Atk / 48 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Rock Slide
Muk is a really useful mon atm, absorbing tspikes is super important with toxapex running rampant, and the dark-poison typing is insanely good defensively, allowing you to really shut down stuff like gengar, lele, zam, etc. Assault Vest restricts some of the super useful 4th moves Muk could use, and black sludge should also be quite good, but it would necessitate investment in special defense which isn't always ideal depending on the team (an offensive one would want the attack). Due to Muk's great typing and bulk as well as poison point, this thing almost always finds something useful to do, even if its just pursuiting things for small chip and poisons or removing lefties or throwing it into a mosa to scout out the set/damage/attack. I definitely wasn't the first to use Muk in SPL, whats key here is rock slide, which allows you to check Volcarona without using Gunk Shot + Sneak (which I think is the set KratosMana used vs ben gay), which lets you keep PJab which has a >50% chance to psn and is 100% accurate. EVs are for Volc and maybe something with Mosa.
Replay: vs Tricking (didn't need to use it cuz of how good the next two mons are)
Aight hear me out here, I know what you're thinking: EBelt ninja? But that's a noob set! But actually if you just try it out, you will realize how much of a difference it makes to not be taking LO Recoil. Without that constant 10% getting cut from Ninja's health, you have a lot more time to fire off attacks and keep pivoting greninja in on stuff, especially when facing balance teams where Ninja shines. I really don't know how else to explain it, but you honestly should try it. Not to say that EBelt is clearly better than LO, sometimes you really want the extra damage that gets you, but you'll also find in a lot of situations EBelt will provide much more mileage in the long haul. As for moveslot choices, it really is quite customizable. My team wanted spikes, and I also really needed to be able to pressure Toxapex and also Mega Venu, so Extrasensory was a must for me. I honestly think ESens is very very good rn since Tapu Fini is really dropping off in usage and u can still chip with ESens anyway, whereas vs Toxapex you are absolute deadweight without Esens. HP Fire is a really solid coverage option with ESens to nail all the steels like Scizor, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, Magearna, Meta, etc. etc. In the last slot I chose pump which probably seems weird with EBelt, but I really wanted to hit Heatran since that was rising in usage on Toxapex offense teams, and it also lets me get the damage I need on poisoned MSab (for my stall mu) and denies Volc any set-up opportunities. Ibeam is definitely fair though, as you see in my SPL game if I had that over Pump my ninja would have literally killed 5 mons and stolen the spotlight from the the next mon...
Azumarill @ Normalium Z
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
Probably the best set I used this SPL, Z-Belly Drum azumarill is simply a greatly underlooked threat that is capable of completely dismantling a lot of teams. What makes Z-Belly Drum so great is that since you heal up completely for the BDrum, it becomes much much harder for the opponent to actually prevent a belly drum. If your opponent is faster but cannot ohko you, that belly drum is going through (oh Z-BD also ignores taunt, which is great). For example, you can set up on Mega Metagross of all things, even if it is tpunch (in that case you need to be at full, or u need to intimidate the meta first). You can feel more free to throw azu into attacks if you know you will be healthy enough to belly drum later (for example, coming in on a defensive zygarde to scare it out, and then later setting up on the same zygarde). As the meta is rn, a +6 Azumarill is pretty tough to stop and its not too difficult to create the conditions for it to sweep. Another great value of Z-BD is that you can regular BD initially, and then Z-BD later on (either after u switch out and come back in, or you can use it again and simply restore your health to full provided you stay at +6 atk before the Z-BD). This can add a lot of interesting use to azumarill and give it another dimension in how you choose to play it. The HP Evs allow you to live a max satk neutral moonblast from tapu fini, which can be occasionally useful, and speed lets you still outrun most skarmory. Feel free to creep as you wish x_x. I might actually RMT my team with thing cuz I'm really happy with my build so stay tuned :D
aye, i used / came up with a ton of cool shit this spl and the metagame developed a ton over the 10 or so weeks the tournament has been running. gonna share a large majority of them and just include the rest in words at the bottom.
garchomp @ dragonium z | rough skin
jolly nature | 252 atk / 4 spd / 252 spe
swords dance | stealth rock | outrage | earthquake
so, in sm currently, people are resorting to defensive staples such as landorus-t and tangrowth to manage m-metagross, zygarde, m-mawile, you know the drift. this set exploits this trend (see: calcs below) with dragonium z outrage dismantling switchins at +2 or weaken heavily neutrally to free up a sweeper such as the ones mentioned above along with dd landorus-t, scarf terrakion, scarf keldeo; just mons that appreciate common garchomp switchins being removed. another bonus is not being locked in which is extremely important, meaning getting rocks + a kill is more than enough. very good and consistent set atm that should be used more, in my opinion.
+1 252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 370-436 (96.8 - 114.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 212+ Def Tangrowth: 394-465 (97.7 - 115.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 301-354 (75.6 - 88.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
replay 1:chomp pressured a big threat in kyurem-b to my team early, without getting locked in (normal dclaw doesn't kill and outrage locks in which would've been a tough situatuon for me). it was later on capable of pressuring scizor, tran, and fini enough for my scarf latios to pick off the remains of his team.
pretty much same sd fightinium bulu, just with taunt > zen / seeds / whatever ppl run. although i did not get a chance to use this, i made a couple of teams with it seeing as i did not want to seem to stall prone for future opponents. aside from the typical stuff bulu accomplishes like weakening lando-t, steela, metagross + having a fantastic defensive typing, i realized that taunt + sd pretty much broke down the standard stall going around by itself. taunt 1v1s unaware clefable, completely messes with skarmory, and has sd in its arsenal to break down everything else. lum is a good alternative for feeling a bit safer around mons like toxapex and rotom-w if you need.
dd + coil zygarde. this was like 1 of 5 mons i was considering basing my team around for this week against eternal spirit. i recognized a trend in his teams which is some variant of landorus-t essentially every time used to blanket check the majority of the physical meta, so i decided pairing this alongside a couple of lures to stuff like land-t + tang or something that shares similar checks would be ideal. also, his offensive nature often struggled with boosting priority mons. zygarde fit the bill quite perfectly, its natural bulk + sitrus + defensive typing allows it to earn a ton of setup opportunities and be a menace late game under the right circumstances. there's a ton of spreads possible with this, so keep that in mind.
mega sableye @ sablenite | prankster / magic bounce
bold nature | 248 hp / 100 def / 160 spd
calm mind | shadow ball | will-o-wisp | recover
bringing my man cm msableye back. this idea sparked in my brain when looking through spl replays and trying to get a feel for common trends / what people seemed to be ignoring. due to m-meta / power creep, clefable plummeted in usage a ton, keldeo shifting from specs to scarf to help with greninja / good cleaner in general vs. most teams, a ton of ferro / steela stuff, and in general just teams that relied on pressure to break down mega sableye, which is where cm + wisp along with teammates helps. get this money, rey's week 7 opponent this spl fell under some of the same trends so i whipped up a team in like 3 mins; badaboom badabing the creation of one of if not my favourite teams this spl. there's a more physdef variation of this spread to help with m-meta, off lando-t, etc a bit better but this is fine.
replay 1:cm msab pulled through to keep rey's perfect record alive despite being forced to waste recovers due to crits + poison from mega venusaur, which can be an issue occasionally considering its forced to stay in until its at a good enough health range.
rotom-heat @ leftovers | levitate
bold nature | 240 hp / 180 def / 28 spd / 60 spe
will-o-wisp | overheat | volt switch | pain split
best sm mon rn you heard it here first. so, the idea of rotom-h sparked when my friend and i were discussing some stuff after mega mawile would be allowed in spl which was making me shit my pants at the time. after some ideas were thrown around (wisp tran, qd roost volc, etc), we realized rotom-h blanket checks some of the most insane sm mons currently, including but not limited to mega mawile, mega meta, tapu koko and magearna, although the first two were the biggest problems. rotom-h is tough to fit into some teams due to hazard removal being a priority for it, but if you pressure setters well + have spin / fog this mon can fit the bill on occasion.
subtox gliscor was a strong consideration of mine in the early weeks of spl seeing how well it did vs the common land-t / tang / tran stuff, just weakening teams in the long run for a scarfer / some type of sweeper in the back. thanks to the speed investment, you can essentially stall out jolly max spe lando-t because rockium edge does far less under tect + edge pp / accuracy in your favour. tangrowth being constantly chipped at for a metagross, ash gren, koko, zygarde is also super nice. its best to run this with zone considering ferro getting all spikes on you and steela just abusing you. cool set, think snou ran it one week so props to him o: thts all from me, l8r.
so ye, there's a lot more where this came from i'm just a lazy fuck + busy atm so i'll just list some of the last stuff. lots of creative shit went around this spl and it was super enjoyable to watch a new meta develop, ty for making this tournament gr8 everyone n_n
• np tr cofagrigus: i've been wanting to use this motherfucker since week 2 of spl (tdk can attest to this, lol). ghosts are fantastic in sm as well all know and from gengar to mismagius, they've been experimented with. this mon dismantles every single offense with the correct support, it rly just needs stuff like steela / magearna weakened and practical shit. cool and fun mon to use, sad i didn't get a chance ):
• groundium taunt wisp tran: set here would be magma / epower / wisp / taunt. came up with this during mega mawile's release into sumou, i knew i wanted both wisp and taunt for mawile / zygarde and fatter teams respectively, but also the ability to break down toxapex and shit. groundium does stuff like this:
252 SpA Heatran Tectonic Rage (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Toxapex: 276-326 (90.7 - 107.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Heatran Tectonic Rage (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Quagsire: 268-316 (68.1 - 80.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (magma + z epower)
• guardian of alola tapu lele: used this thing with cm m-sab for reyscarface vs gtm, it immediately weakens pkmn such as magearna, mega meta, celesteela, tran which is super lit. fun set but outclassed by like specs / taunt / cm most of the time.
• electrium gengar that posho posted above, i ran that vs johnyiu as he often ran pex and/or steela in his builds. paired it with autotomize steela + offensive sd mega sciz which is also a decent set but can be annoying in certain matchups.
fun ass set that came up with an flcl joke. This thing turns fat lando-t from a hard wall to setup fodder, makes tapu bulu get 1v1d, and annoy the shit out of offense just with stab espeed. I wouldn't say this is the best set ever but u should definetly give it a try
abuses metagame having lack of ghost resist, fsr z move spirit shackle is busted as fuck (252 Atk Decidueye Spirit Shackle vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 109-129 (33.7 - 39.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO | 252+ Atk Decidueye Sinister Arrow Raid vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 268-316 (82.9 - 97.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO damage diff) so it's most likely able to grab a kill like every game, but yeah its also a koko check of sorts(not exactly but still) and super annoying to stall. Spirit Shackle in general is just a super good move that enables a lot of smart playing
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 200 HP / 76 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hydro Pump / Hidden Power [fire]
- Protect / Taunt
- Calm Mind
One of my favorites, cm fini is slept on, and it's actually extremely annoying for like any team without like pex(can run taunt for) or thorn(can run hp fire for). Protect was rly nice to keep it healthy for things like pheromosa and just being hard to kill in general, it kind of works like the famous Vincune, except it abuses of terrain to avoid status instead of using sub.
same function as gar on offensive teams, check phero and shit and just break through fat stuff, difference is it has levitate and is also way more annoyin than gar to stall due to nasty plot
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
used it vs abr cuz i noticed he liked fat volc a lot and i'm a fan as well considering its one of the few things actually able to check most of the mawile sets, rock coverage was actually not bad at all in general in tests but i'd say this is more of a matchup related one
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 140 SpD / 120 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled
taunt mew is still goat, it's actually rly good in the meta rn. Nothing innovative but uncommon atm, speed is to outspeed modest lele mamoswine cb zygarde etc but u can run less(i like it this way though)
fat zap with a twist. Had heat wave at first but it was quite useless so i tried agility and it ended up pretty good, it's actually extremely annoying for a lot of teams and is able to pressure stall stuff/roost on paras through discharge
Never got to use Him but it basically beats both scizor and physdef tangrowth who are, at least to me, the best(and like, only reliable) metagross checks in the meta rn. So yea sbomb fucks tang hp fire fucks sciz, more of a fun set though
I originally thought of this set because it beats every other scarfer that exists (or existed) at the time of conception, and is also a great revenge killer. Scarf Chomp, Lele, Lando, Keld, Gengar or whatever just get outpaced and ohko'd while +1 Volc/Mence also lose to it. IB is pretty much necessary for all the grounds and it just has great coverage; U-turn so it can act as a switchin to other Gren and not lose momentum, Gunk to 1v1 Lele/Koko and not be hard walled by AV Tang / Fini; Last slot depends on if you want to hit +1 Volc or scarf Keld/Gengar. I used this vs Ciele week 2 and I know NJNP/Cryos in particular took a liking to this set so they probably have replays with it as well.
Metagross and Lando-T were both immensely popular when I made this (they still are), and this particular set was a cool anti-meta choice I wanted to use (also remembered FLCL and roroyurem using sash TW clef in the past). Sash pretty much makes it a great lead vs offense, as Twave into SR is generally quite free. In particular, IB 1v1s the grounds (Lando-T mostly) that you can't Twave, while Twave itself just lets you cripple something like MMeta before laying up the rocks. This set probably still fares decently well and Counter can potentially be slotted over something but it did great work in my game. I used this vs Sabella, and it did exactly what I wanted it to: Twave a threat like MMeta for a breaker like Nido to abuse.
Scarf was always the traditional Nihilego set, but I wanted to try out a more breaking-oriented one. This set still has the great defensive utility of checking fires like Zard-Y, but uses specs instead of scarf for a much greater damage output. Since you aren't out-speeding scarf Chomp or anything, HP Fire is way nicer than Ice in order to hit the omnipresent steels like MMeta/Ferro. Once you drop Ice you lose the ability to hit most grounds, so GKnot is generally appreciated but TBolt can be used to hit Celesteela and Toxapex harder. The given EVs are actually quite interesting - they firstly allow Nihilego to gain speed boosts, which is very useful for helping specs sweep, and secondly, they allow Nihilego to check QD HP Ground Volcarona: +1 252 SpA Volcarona Hidden Power Ground vs. 0 HP / 80 SpD Nihilego: 300-356 (83.5 - 99.1%). This set was used vs Zamrock and it was pretty damn useful when stuff like Keldeo got worn down so I definitely recommend using it.
When Mawile was released, I wanted to find a cool way to abuse its immediate usage, and this was the result. Specs Magnezone might OHKO Mawile, but it can still fall to +2 Sucker so I realized Substitute was the only way. And, with Substitute, Z-Tbolt was a great way to just outright OHKO Maw. This set still traps the traditional Ferro/Skarm/Sciz, but Z is a huge help vs Celesteela. Normally Celes users assume a weaker AV Tbolt or something and just Leech/Flame, but this set removes that nonsense. You can Sub on a Leech or just outright OHKO it if you don't expect protect, and additionally you can Sub up on a Ferrothorn trying to Leech you. I definitely would use this set any time I don't need AV's utility, and I even got to 1v1 a Mawile in my game vs KratosMana.
This set I feel in love with when I first saw it. The standard set was usually just boltbeam but I didn't like how quickly PZ died without posing much as a threat. Recover is so nice after a z conversion as it is able to keep itself alive so it continues spamming shadow ball, which honestly is one of the best offensive typing moves you can use since so many teams pack no ghost resist and it basically 2hkos if not ohko the entire metagame after it gets its boosts and type change. Discharge is cool cuz it still hits greninja and you can fish for hax if needed while doing around the same damage as tbolt so I figured it would be a great benefit for it since pz is still kind of slow after a z conversion. I used this vs Snowy and it swept so... Kek.
Standard tana with a bit of a twist. This was more to CT GTM but I never got a chance to use it. Adrenaline Orb gives you a plus one speed boost after getting intimidated pretty much, so basically this takes advantage of any lando-t that doesn't pack HP fire. I noticed GTM used scarf lando and helm lando a lot and, like most players, relies on it heavily for physical sweepers. The goal was to force him to bring the lando in while i SD on the switch, afterwards I basically get a free dragon dance. And because of beast boost, kartana becomes a lethal sweeper. Night slash is mainly for metagross for those who are wondering, but using sacred sword is fine too for popping heatrans and ferros.
I used this in a game vs Nedor and it actually was quite useful. This is all credited to NJNP and I was skeptical at first cuz I thought this looked whack on paper, but in tests it performed incredibly well so I figured why not use it. Specs pelipper is great vs players that don't pack the best flying resists, as hurricane chunks a bunch of fatties that we have in the meta like fini, ferro, mola (lol), etc. Hydro pump is its main source of power to 2hko shit like celesteela as rain boost + STAB isnt something you want to disregard from this pelican. Uturn is obviously for momentum and knock off is to lure in chansey. If you want to run scald over knock I don't see an issue with that if you're not stall weak.
I think I used scarf gren in like 3-4 SPL games and i never regretted using it. It does seem very weak on paper but it can get so much work done if you play it correctly. Uturn is great momentum grabber and hits opposing grens hard as hell cuz of the protean STAB and works even better if gren is your opponents only source of water resist. Coverage is dependent on what you're weak to. Rock slide is very fucking nice vs volcarona and smacking charY turn 1 as a nice lure. Spikes I would only use if you're an aggressive player as it is an risk/reward move on a scarf set. Hydro/ice beam/gunk are straightforward moves for it in terms of coverage.
SIGH ABR u dick i was gonna post scarf gren first rofl oh well.
+
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Some dumbass IVs if using reversal
- Stealth Rock
- Screech
- Earthquake
- Pursuit / Reversal
Okay yes this is a standard stall core but I wanna talk about the item on pex: Eject Button. This is such a useful move on anything with regen paired with dug. The main idea is to make shit like heatran feel it's safe to atk ur team without risk (magma storm), and as soon as he hits you, you have a free switch to dug and u instantly remove it. Great core of u wanna use win cons like volcarona, scizor, or anything that hates heatran that can sweep after its removal.
I'll leave the rest of the stuff for njnp if he is interested in posting anything. These are all great mons to use so I hope you test them out... Zamrockin.
Ok! I'm gonna post sets I used or I planned to use in my spl games! As PDC said, in a new metagame, create new sets and new ideas for what is supposed to be a high-level match is rly important and then I had to think out of the box... Here sum set/mon i used/planned to use.
This is a Mega Absol set I used against Leftiez in an unfortunate game. This absol set is absol-utely underrated, especially when you think you're going to face a Fini-Lando-Ferrothorn core. Infact, while Ferrothorn takes around 85 % from a Fire Blast, Ice Beam Kills offensive landos or chomps, although is not ohko on the defensive ones (and a OHKO on them would require almost 252 evs in spatk). Knock Off takes off Fini's only way to recover hps, Leftovers. Absol speed is actually not that bad (115 base) and while sucker punch is now weaker than before, it's still a strong priority stab.
drowning in blood (Greninja-Ash) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
While this set is not as powerful as the specs one, Splash Plate Ninja is a rly good mon rn. I used it in one of my last games, against Enki and it ended up being rly helpful. The worst part is when you're not ash-evoed yet, since Greninja won't be able to hit as the specs one, but being not locked is absolutely awesome in lategame. While testing the team, I noticed how many times ppl send out Pheromosa in order to rkill Greninja locked into Dark Pulse and then being killed by shurikens. It's a really cool set against offensive teams.
This thing is lethal af. I used it in my last game (against zOmOG) and even tho I didn't even send her during the match, but just in a final phase in order to be safe, this thing was meant to sweep everything in his team. The main idea of the set is to nuke a mon with the powerful z fairy attack, get a spatk boost and then you can use a Fleur Cannon with +1 and get another kill. Then you'll be +0 and you can use another Fleur Cannon for a total of 3 powerful fairy moves without drops. Hp grounds hits Marowak, Heatran, other Magearnas and Metagrosses. Since it's not Focus Blast or Hp Fire, mons like Ferrothorn or Scizor could be a problem for her, so a way to deal with them is highly suggested. Last move is Thunderbolt and hits Toxapex, Celesteela, Finish. While the modest set is powerful af and outspeeds Pheromosa, the timid one outspeeds Scarf Chompers so... it's up to you.
A set i Used against Destiny Device in the first game I played. Nothing to say bout it since it's literally one of the dumbest sets ever made. Just click Freeze Shock Z with the correct timing and you'll get a free kill. Fusion bolt with max atk is able to hurt fat water mons like fini and toxapex, that would have been a "safe" switchin on Freeze Shock. I preferred DClaw over Earth Power 'cause no evs in spatk and so it hits poorly. The set is overall cool against balanced teams.
passione (Heatran) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast/Magma Storm
This was meant for my last game agaisnt zOmOG but then i preferred another team. The set is still amazing and my mates liked it when I had the idea. In a Metagame where most Heatrans are Blood Doom, when you see a non-lefties Heatran with rocks you'll never send Fini on it anymore. On the contrary, Pokémons like Garchomp and Zygarde are good switchins and so I created this Dragonium Z set, able to kill offensive dragons (CB Zyg, Chomp, Latios) with a click (or 2, since you have to hit the z slot too) and to hit hard defensive ones (like spdef zyg, that takes like 80 % from a z dpulse).
this set is also freaking epic, i use it with zygarde+happy hour rachi and it be fun :~D
edit: also heres the john yiu bisharp cuz i doubt he gonna post it
Bisharp (M) @ Steelium Z
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 32 HP / 248 Atk / 12 SpD / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Iron Head
it was more fun when fini was the 2nd most popular mon usage wise and u could switch in on the defog, setup an rp, and sweep but it works like 1/4th of the time i told him it was a joke set
Volcanion @ Groundium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Only played one game this SPL so I'll save most of my teccs for WCoP, but I did misuse this thing while I had the chance to. With the popularity of Toxapex, Lando-T and Tangrowth + 3 at the time (>implying that has changed), I was trying to think of stuff that was able to break through that core. I noticed that Volcanion handily blows past the three of them, so I knew it'd be a genius move to bring that to my game. Naturally I had to face a Chansey in my game, which meant PDC was able to comfortably play around it, but this thing is actually pretty damn threatening otherwise.
The Speed EVs allow it to outspeed a bunch of relevant targets, but Metagross-Mega after a Speed drop from Hammer Arm and defensive Lando-T are the big ones. The HP EVs might not seem significant, but they limit Metagross-Mega to only KOing 25% of the same with EQ after SR damage, while Thunder Punch has a mere 12,5% chance to.
i feel this is dugtrios most effective set in the meta right now since it achieves the absolute impossible and traps pex, bait it in with something easy like phero/sciz uturns or just hard switch like a man and go to town. extremely effective at handling pex since nobody runs shell atm
weird set from week5, i felt like abr was gonna take some stallish nonsense but shed shell lele was getting boring so i tried to spice it up a little. victini is pretty cool and usually harasses fat builds well and theres no pursuit in this meta so theres no way to rlly stop it. i also thought it does well enough vs offense which slacks a little on fire resists (this was before zyg became rlly good too) so it was mainly just chomper and lando. good thing bengay showed me the light and i took some zydog team instead bc abr was 1 of 1000000 people to run a ttar.
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Aerial Ace
really simple, punish special / qd pheros and bop em w/ ace. also puts some hurt on buzzwole, which im honestly surprised i seen so little of during spl.
Mimikyu @ Red Card
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Sneak
fuck baton pass, fuck phero, fuck scizor. not much to say, phazes annoying stuff and spreads burns easily due to the stuff it baits in (mostly bulky steels)
ppl know what this does know, breaks a lot of stuff, mainly pex. only thing i'd change about the game i played w/ this was 32 def evs > 32 spd, ensured i lived scarf lando eq but what can u do
big fan of this, it punishes common methods of revenge killing volc through scarfers w/ rock coverage (chomp/nihi/keld), also lives other things like tang rock slide
Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
me and Nedor both came up with the idea of cm sab separately around the time of week6, but i ramped it up and wanted to cursepass into cm sab for an unkillable mon lol.
litnite himself. people dont really use good flying resists and using an uncommon mon w/ the option + lots of coverage seemed pretty good. baits in lando-ts and tears em a new one. ssss is surprisingly strong from dnite regardless, very nice option imo.
trapper fini, baits a lot of things and just straight up removes em from the game. mainly pex and chansey though.
Ferrothorn @ Occa Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
i used occa berry in week1+8, it baits things like lele and other oddballs running fire coverage. it also ensures you get damage vs gren or get hazards up.
another qd mosa who woulda expected that. i wanted to use this vs poek but i changed my mind, icium was a good call vs the mimikyu fetish the cryos had but i ended up using hp rock+z-fight bc i was feelin zard/volc weak :(
underrated set, punishes pursuit, serves as a catch-all vs a ton of physical attackers. really nice
Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 116 Atk / 140 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Work Up
- Extrasensory
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
oml. work up gren is beast, abuses passive switchins and makes it harder to play around because stuff can't really sponge a hit anymore for the sake of scouting. really nice for stallbreaking too, puts a ton of pressure on chansey switches.
i wanted to use this guy vs rey, but others wanted to help me prep for him and ended up giving me a squad that near autolost lol, week was decided so w/e. ditto is v antimeta in such a setup-heavy based meta, idk why it gets hate.
firium torn-t was kinda used with the main intention of ripping steels apart and abusing common flying resists like cele or koko, it does a billion to em etc
Schleimi (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 122 Def / 138 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Slack Off
- Toxic
Miene (Heatran) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Solar Beam
Afro Ben (Tangrowth) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Slide
I don't know if you guys want or need them, but I want to post my teams somewhere. Have fun if you give them a shot, no guarantee, because usually I am the only person who can play the teams.
too lazy to make a nice post so i'll just dump most of my sm builder (keeping some things for myself), there are a lot of unfinished / untested teams that others can use as drafts. also some teams are john's / thorn's. hope you guys get something out of it
