C>G>H>E>F=D>A>B
-
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.
Project SS OU Teambuilding Competition - Not hosted anymore
- Thread starter SLDR
- Start date
- Status
me and Gomi (and tigers jaw for the latter half) deliberated together for a WHOLE HOUR so this can count for 2 votes (even tho it should be more like 5 bc of how FAT gomi is))
A - no steel = losing to pult lele kyurem etc etc. this gking set feels weird and out of place, making u unnecessarily much more weak to fini/kyu/other shit that ud otherwise check. no steel resist means cb kart and melm are problematic... rain mu is pretty much nonexistent. a steel (ferrothorn?) > fini would probs be ideal here to help ur matchups vs these mons while not impacting ur speed control and not losing anything as trick p much does nothing here
B - i don't like fini as ur only water on this fatter team bc it is so easily worn down by everything in this tier and you don't rly have the offenses to really "win first"... especially when hindered by sand. i would either rework this team to be a trapping-based offense while keeping weav + fini + aegi or eliminate the whole trapping aspect and make pex > fini and koko > weav or something to make use of what aegi and fs can do here
C - what's the point of colbur gking without flame? u eat a hit from weav or bish or w/e and then do 35 with scald. id either make this shuca/another item or just put flame so u have a way to pressure the darks. tran counterplay is p much nonexistent, zera looks rough with bulu as ur only real check here. weav also smashes. kind of weird offensive synergy bc nothing adequately pressures a typical fatter build w something like pex + corv + tran check
D - basic bo build, zera mu is dire + there's a random scarf fini
E - heatran 6-0s, weav smacks after fini's knocked, zone as only steel means stuff like lele pult become annoying af. tang feels kind of weird on this more offensive build where you'd want to keep ur momentum aaaaand ferro owns. i would personally bird > tang and probably do a normal fini with id zone
F - basic bo structure, looks fine + cool gking pex trap thing. tbolt pult kind of unnecessary if u plan to trap pex
G - this team would appreciate something like weav/bish/ddpult to stop the incredibly likely pult 6-0 and break through steels for ur multiple setup sweepers that would otherwise kinda just lose. zera/koko look super obnoxious as well with chomp fastest mon. idrk how this gking set is useful realistically when u would rather be using a normal cm or np set or w/e. there's very little offensive presence here without boosts, making breaking thru fat shit near impossible
H - another basic bo - cant really break clef, struggles against tran, pult kinda scary. we are bored so sorry if u wanted more feedback or something
A - no steel = losing to pult lele kyurem etc etc. this gking set feels weird and out of place, making u unnecessarily much more weak to fini/kyu/other shit that ud otherwise check. no steel resist means cb kart and melm are problematic... rain mu is pretty much nonexistent. a steel (ferrothorn?) > fini would probs be ideal here to help ur matchups vs these mons while not impacting ur speed control and not losing anything as trick p much does nothing here
B - i don't like fini as ur only water on this fatter team bc it is so easily worn down by everything in this tier and you don't rly have the offenses to really "win first"... especially when hindered by sand. i would either rework this team to be a trapping-based offense while keeping weav + fini + aegi or eliminate the whole trapping aspect and make pex > fini and koko > weav or something to make use of what aegi and fs can do here
C - what's the point of colbur gking without flame? u eat a hit from weav or bish or w/e and then do 35 with scald. id either make this shuca/another item or just put flame so u have a way to pressure the darks. tran counterplay is p much nonexistent, zera looks rough with bulu as ur only real check here. weav also smashes. kind of weird offensive synergy bc nothing adequately pressures a typical fatter build w something like pex + corv + tran check
D - basic bo build, zera mu is dire + there's a random scarf fini
E - heatran 6-0s, weav smacks after fini's knocked, zone as only steel means stuff like lele pult become annoying af. tang feels kind of weird on this more offensive build where you'd want to keep ur momentum aaaaand ferro owns. i would personally bird > tang and probably do a normal fini with id zone
F - basic bo structure, looks fine + cool gking pex trap thing. tbolt pult kind of unnecessary if u plan to trap pex
G - this team would appreciate something like weav/bish/ddpult to stop the incredibly likely pult 6-0 and break through steels for ur multiple setup sweepers that would otherwise kinda just lose. zera/koko look super obnoxious as well with chomp fastest mon. idrk how this gking set is useful realistically when u would rather be using a normal cm or np set or w/e. there's very little offensive presence here without boosts, making breaking thru fat shit near impossible
H - another basic bo - cant really break clef, struggles against tran, pult kinda scary. we are bored so sorry if u wanted more feedback or something
F > D > H > E > B > C > A > G
E > C > A > B > H > G > F
Thanks for voting this week, here are your results.
after entering the votes here, the winner is zeno420! congrats, your submission will be added to the archive.
Week 40: Zapdos-Galar
![145-g[1].png](https://www.smogon.com/forums/attachments/145-g-1-png.358937/ "145-g[1].png")
Galarian Zapdos has been an underutilized but incredibly potent offensive threat for a good while now, punishing teams for utilitizing more offensive bulky waters very hard with its powerful stab combination and spammable u-turn. While it does dislike Toxapex being the behemoth it always has been, there are plenty of ways to circvument this, which is up to u to decide upon.
You have until Monday to build around Zapdos-Galar
C>G>H>E>F=D>A>B
C>E>D>F>G>H=A
F > D > H > E > B > C > A > G (my vote as well)
F>everything else
E > C > A > B > H > G > F
F > D > H > E > B > C > A > G
C>E>D>F>G>H=A
F > D > H > E > B > C > A > G (my vote as well)
F>everything else
E > C > A > B > H > G > F
F > D > H > E > B > C > A > G
Week 40: Zapdos-Galar
Galarian Zapdos has been an underutilized but incredibly potent offensive threat for a good while now, punishing teams for utilitizing more offensive bulky waters very hard with its powerful stab combination and spammable u-turn. While it does dislike Toxapex being the behemoth it always has been, there are plenty of ways to circvument this, which is up to u to decide upon.
You have until Monday to build around Zapdos-Galar
Last edited:
Double Galar Bird HO
click on sprite for importable
I went with the sub bu zapdos variant for this build, definitely less consistent compared to band zapdos-g in terms of overall damage output but it can beat clef, skarm, corv, and usual checks without having to lock into a move. I’ll show some notable calcs towards the end. Next I went with garchomp as the suicide rocks lead, IMO more consistent than lando in most situations putting a heavy dent into pex+corv cores with lo eq+fireblast. Zeraora for speed control, the bulk up variant can handle a lot of HO single handily while proving to be a decent pult check. Next I wanted to improve upon the stall/fat matchup while maintaining the core focus of ho. Pads twave melmetal and sd wood hammer are great fits here. The melmetal spread let’s it outspeed 4 speed hippo allowing for it to flinch it down and the rest into spdef. Unaware clef is also a huge pain for ho like this. Life orb wood hammer is a easy 2hko into it while grassy glide isn’t. No knock doesn’t really matter much in this meta since the only thing that super power+glide doesn’t cover is zapdos/moltres which are rare sights. +2 glide also ohkos pult after rocks. Moltres-g is also very underrated right now. It’s ability to clean up late game after one agility is very impressive. While common balance cores such as slowking, corv, and clef have a hard time handling it alone. The spread allows it to outspeed the most notable scarfer right now in kartana. Nothing else faster than kartana really runs scarf atm.
niko if you see this I swear I didn’t rip off your ho
Enjoy the team!
click on sprite for importable
I went with the sub bu zapdos variant for this build, definitely less consistent compared to band zapdos-g in terms of overall damage output but it can beat clef, skarm, corv, and usual checks without having to lock into a move. I’ll show some notable calcs towards the end. Next I went with garchomp as the suicide rocks lead, IMO more consistent than lando in most situations putting a heavy dent into pex+corv cores with lo eq+fireblast. Zeraora for speed control, the bulk up variant can handle a lot of HO single handily while proving to be a decent pult check. Next I wanted to improve upon the stall/fat matchup while maintaining the core focus of ho. Pads twave melmetal and sd wood hammer are great fits here. The melmetal spread let’s it outspeed 4 speed hippo allowing for it to flinch it down and the rest into spdef. Unaware clef is also a huge pain for ho like this. Life orb wood hammer is a easy 2hko into it while grassy glide isn’t. No knock doesn’t really matter much in this meta since the only thing that super power+glide doesn’t cover is zapdos/moltres which are rare sights. +2 glide also ohkos pult after rocks. Moltres-g is also very underrated right now. It’s ability to clean up late game after one agility is very impressive. While common balance cores such as slowking, corv, and clef have a hard time handling it alone. The spread allows it to outspeed the most notable scarfer right now in kartana. Nothing else faster than kartana really runs scarf atm.
niko if you see this I swear I didn’t rip off your ho
Enjoy the team!
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Thunderous Kick vs. -1 252 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 160-190 (40 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Thunderous Kick vs. -1 252 HP / 156+ Def Skarmory: 130-154 (38.9 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Grassy Terrain: 376-445 (123.6 - 146.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable in Grassy Terrain: 309-367 (78.4 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 234-276 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult in Grassy Terrain: 261-308 (82.3 - 97.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Thunderous Kick vs. -1 252 HP / 156+ Def Skarmory: 130-154 (38.9 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Grassy Terrain: 376-445 (123.6 - 146.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable in Grassy Terrain: 309-367 (78.4 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 234-276 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult in Grassy Terrain: 261-308 (82.3 - 97.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Last edited:
Band SAnd
Click on the mons for the pokepaste
Choice Band Gapdos serves as a great wallbreaker on this team, able to pressure physical walls such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Slowbro, and Hippowdon for its teammates. Its ability to punish the omnipresent Landorus-T with timely double switches is also welcomed. As for the rest of the team, Tyranitar and Excadrill form the extremely threatening Band Sand core, which was the focus of the team. Landorus-T provides stealth rocks and a strong explosion that can be used to gain momentum and/or remove something for the rest of the team. Kartana is another strong breaker with a decent speed tier, allowing it to revenge kill threats as well as pressure defensive switch-ins. Finally, Zeraora acts as speed control outside of sand, most notably to check Dragapult.
Click on the mons for the pokepaste
Choice Band Gapdos serves as a great wallbreaker on this team, able to pressure physical walls such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Slowbro, and Hippowdon for its teammates. Its ability to punish the omnipresent Landorus-T with timely double switches is also welcomed. As for the rest of the team, Tyranitar and Excadrill form the extremely threatening Band Sand core, which was the focus of the team. Landorus-T provides stealth rocks and a strong explosion that can be used to gain momentum and/or remove something for the rest of the team. Kartana is another strong breaker with a decent speed tier, allowing it to revenge kill threats as well as pressure defensive switch-ins. Finally, Zeraora acts as speed control outside of sand, most notably to check Dragapult.
Replay where Gapdos did some things: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1377829775-2w4f32yezmhybfjqwi12qunpcuy3flgpw
Not that high up on ladder, but still
**Using aerial ace over smart strike on Kart is better so the buzzwole mu gets a bit easier, so ye change it if you use the team**
Last edited:
Galarian-Zapdos + Aegislash Bulky Offense
Something I put together to contribute to thread seeing as I haven't been posting a lot lately due to life and phases of interest. I'm not quite sure I like it that much even if it feels okay in tests because hyper offense with the right positioning can be annoying but better than nothing I suppose. Originally I wanted to pair G-Zap with Future Sight similar to an old build I had but it felt like a knock off version of the usual Ursh/GKing builds roaming around so I decided against it. I went with Band G-Zap + Specs Aegi because for the most part they break each others defensive checks, which are a small pool already. Trapper combo of Offensive Heatran/Whirpool Fini with Lando providing pivoting, ground, defog support and Toxic for Dragonite, Lando, flyers not named Corv/Skarm. At first I didn't want to put Defog but dropping it meant I autolose to any Spikes/TSpikes build. Last slot needed to be speed control and something that can threaten the offensive staples so I just went Scarf Lele.
Things like no ghost resist requires good positioning and trades because most things on this team can take a hit but not repeatedly. The bigger choice I had to make was whether I was gonna use Spdef Heatran or Offensive Heatran which I decided on latter so that it doesnt feel so passive and I can threaten opposing ones if need be. SD Chomp a bit annoying as well because you'll have to keep Fini/Lele alive to deny scale shot and possibly trade worst case scenario. Torn-T too, the Nasty Plot sets the other ones are whatever.
Something I put together to contribute to thread seeing as I haven't been posting a lot lately due to life and phases of interest. I'm not quite sure I like it that much even if it feels okay in tests because hyper offense with the right positioning can be annoying but better than nothing I suppose. Originally I wanted to pair G-Zap with Future Sight similar to an old build I had but it felt like a knock off version of the usual Ursh/GKing builds roaming around so I decided against it. I went with Band G-Zap + Specs Aegi because for the most part they break each others defensive checks, which are a small pool already. Trapper combo of Offensive Heatran/Whirpool Fini with Lando providing pivoting, ground, defog support and Toxic for Dragonite, Lando, flyers not named Corv/Skarm. At first I didn't want to put Defog but dropping it meant I autolose to any Spikes/TSpikes build. Last slot needed to be speed control and something that can threaten the offensive staples so I just went Scarf Lele.
Things like no ghost resist requires good positioning and trades because most things on this team can take a hit but not repeatedly. The bigger choice I had to make was whether I was gonna use Spdef Heatran or Offensive Heatran which I decided on latter so that it doesnt feel so passive and I can threaten opposing ones if need be. SD Chomp a bit annoying as well because you'll have to keep Fini/Lele alive to deny scale shot and possibly trade worst case scenario. Torn-T too, the Nasty Plot sets the other ones are whatever.
I built this team with TailGlowVM , the idea behind it is to take full advantage of cb zapdos's terrifying wallbreaking potential, taken even further with support from skarmory's spikes and galarian slowking's future sight which alongside hippowdon form this team's defensive backbone, it ensures that galarian zapdos would be able to break holes in the short time zapdos stays on the field, holes that can be taken advantage of by zapdos's main partner in crime Tapu bulu, who appretiates zapdos weakening Corviknight and skarmory for it, while spikes serve to wear down ferrothorn and buzzwole while dragapult rounds this offensive core for speed control .
Last edited:
fixed now
in the future we'd like to remind you guys to submit at least 1 replay included with every submission to help ensure that all these teams are at least somewhat tested and to avoid mix-ups like the above in the future
while this isn’t mandatory, we strongly recommend including a replay alongside your team’s submission to make sure that your team is functioning as intended
while this isn’t mandatory, we strongly recommend including a replay alongside your team’s submission to make sure that your team is functioning as intended
Last edited by a moderator:
Bulk Up-Galarian Zapdos Bulky Offense feat Scarf Modest Tapu Lele!
standard stealth rock + defog core with landorus-t and corviknight. landorus-t is able to check volcarona whereas corviknight can check a wide amount of pokemon such as tapu bulu, rillaboom, and kartana, both can also check dragonite and are able to check opposing dragapult in a pinch with modest choice scarf tapu lele, which acts as forme of speed control and it can help its own teampartner dragapult with its psychic terrain to not get ice sharded by weavile, so dragapult can defeat that pretty comfortably. tapu koko checks tornadus-t, and it can help vs tapu fini and toxapex as well. zapdos galar has its two stabs in its arsenal alongside blaze kick to hit ferrothorn and aegislash comfortably without close combat drops for the former and without recoil for the latter.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 152 SpD / 88 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost
Zapdos-Galar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Blaze Kick
- Bulk Up
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 152 SpD / 88 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost
Zapdos-Galar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Blaze Kick
- Bulk Up
standard stealth rock + defog core with landorus-t and corviknight. landorus-t is able to check volcarona whereas corviknight can check a wide amount of pokemon such as tapu bulu, rillaboom, and kartana, both can also check dragonite and are able to check opposing dragapult in a pinch with modest choice scarf tapu lele, which acts as forme of speed control and it can help its own teampartner dragapult with its psychic terrain to not get ice sharded by weavile, so dragapult can defeat that pretty comfortably. tapu koko checks tornadus-t, and it can help vs tapu fini and toxapex as well. zapdos galar has its two stabs in its arsenal alongside blaze kick to hit ferrothorn and aegislash comfortably without close combat drops for the former and without recoil for the latter.
click on the sprites for the importable
- I started with Choice Band Zapdos-G, because nothing can safely switch into it, except its close relative... Zapdos.
- Trapping Zapdos didn't seem feasible because of U-turn and Volt Switch, so i decided to lure him in with Ferrothorn, Knock Off its Boots and try to pressure him with Stealth Rock. Ferrothorn is obviously great alongside Zapdos-G because it lets me stack hazards and the bird punishes defoggers hard.
- I wanted a Stealth Rocker which beats the defoggers Zapdos-G can't switch into, so i settled on Nihilego. Timid nature and max speed increase the chances of a late game sweep against weakened opponents.
- Landorus-T gives me Defog and a much needed check to Garchomp and Zeraora, Calm Mind Fini is a great wincon and helps agains a ton of the meta, and Heatran checks Swords Dance Scizor (160 Speed EVs let Heatran outspeed max speed neutral Scizor), occasionally traps Blissey to facilitate Fini's sweep and gives me a second line of defence against Tapu Lele.
- Trapping Zapdos didn't seem feasible because of U-turn and Volt Switch, so i decided to lure him in with Ferrothorn, Knock Off its Boots and try to pressure him with Stealth Rock. Ferrothorn is obviously great alongside Zapdos-G because it lets me stack hazards and the bird punishes defoggers hard.
- I wanted a Stealth Rocker which beats the defoggers Zapdos-G can't switch into, so i settled on Nihilego. Timid nature and max speed increase the chances of a late game sweep against weakened opponents.
- Landorus-T gives me Defog and a much needed check to Garchomp and Zeraora, Calm Mind Fini is a great wincon and helps agains a ton of the meta, and Heatran checks Swords Dance Scizor (160 Speed EVs let Heatran outspeed max speed neutral Scizor), occasionally traps Blissey to facilitate Fini's sweep and gives me a second line of defence against Tapu Lele.
I just realized that Zeraora learns Fire Punch, so you could use it over Heatran to check Scizor and have some speed control. Zeraora also lures Landorus-T in, giving you the chance to double to Zapdos and smash.
Last edited:
Zapdos-G + Dragalge w/ Healing Wish support
https://pokepast.es/384f695aff8272c4
Zapdos-G is a bad bird. Dragalge is a pretty fancy partner for it that kills all the zapdos stops, or otherwise just flip turn on the steels. Break stuff and wear the enemy team down with these two and weavile. Zapdos will almost always kill something in a game, but due to brave bird, rocky helmet, and status, it usually ends up at <20% and paralyzed. Healing wish from blissey is an easy fix to that. After all that's done the enemy is probably left with none of the usual stops to the always OP SD garchomp. Come in and cleanup easily, without a worry about fat birds, rillaboom, grasses or whatever. Acid armor melmetal looks really jank, but it's actually a great win condition and acts as a nice anti cheese pokemon. It 6-0s a lot of common offenses.
Lots of fun. Don't be afraid to use garchomp or melmetal aggressively. They both love the healing wish.
https://pokepast.es/384f695aff8272c4
Zapdos-G is a bad bird. Dragalge is a pretty fancy partner for it that kills all the zapdos stops, or otherwise just flip turn on the steels. Break stuff and wear the enemy team down with these two and weavile. Zapdos will almost always kill something in a game, but due to brave bird, rocky helmet, and status, it usually ends up at <20% and paralyzed. Healing wish from blissey is an easy fix to that. After all that's done the enemy is probably left with none of the usual stops to the always OP SD garchomp. Come in and cleanup easily, without a worry about fat birds, rillaboom, grasses or whatever. Acid armor melmetal looks really jank, but it's actually a great win condition and acts as a nice anti cheese pokemon. It 6-0s a lot of common offenses.
Lots of fun. Don't be afraid to use garchomp or melmetal aggressively. They both love the healing wish.
Zapdos-G
Use this aggressively to hard switch into most ground. Usually thunderous kick or bravebird is the move of choice.
Dragalge
Despite the typing, this is NOT an urshifu wall. Dont give that thing free turns. You can also run toxic spikes over thunderbolt, which allows you to drop some speed for bulk. The current speed is only to beat corviknight on the switch.
Weavile
Despite the temptation, dont go band, you need boots. Don't need lowkick. Melmetal deals with that stuff. Lead with this most games, unless they have melmetal.
Blissey
Rocky Helmet blissey is a hot potato. This is your buffer vs dragapult, volcarona, and pretty much everything lol. Don't worry that you don't have teleport. Healing wish for when you need to pivot, or just go hard to melm or zapdos. Rocks here instead of garchomp because this comes in for free more easily. Don't forget that healing wish carries over across turns!
Garchomp
There's pretty much nothing that walls this after birds are dead. Melmetal handles the offensive checks. I'm not in love with any particular option for fourth slot. Stone Edge, Fire Fang, Endure, even Rest (thanks to blissey) are things you can do
Melmetal
The Absolute Unit itself. Toxic or Protect preferred to rock slide most games. You sometimes just smack volcarona on the switch, though. Power Trip corviknight is also something you can do here, since pretty much only zapdos stops that, but then you leave yourself a lot weaker to weavile, cloyster, specs fini
Use this aggressively to hard switch into most ground. Usually thunderous kick or bravebird is the move of choice.
Dragalge
Despite the typing, this is NOT an urshifu wall. Dont give that thing free turns. You can also run toxic spikes over thunderbolt, which allows you to drop some speed for bulk. The current speed is only to beat corviknight on the switch.
Weavile
Despite the temptation, dont go band, you need boots. Don't need lowkick. Melmetal deals with that stuff. Lead with this most games, unless they have melmetal.
Blissey
Rocky Helmet blissey is a hot potato. This is your buffer vs dragapult, volcarona, and pretty much everything lol. Don't worry that you don't have teleport. Healing wish for when you need to pivot, or just go hard to melm or zapdos. Rocks here instead of garchomp because this comes in for free more easily. Don't forget that healing wish carries over across turns!
Garchomp
There's pretty much nothing that walls this after birds are dead. Melmetal handles the offensive checks. I'm not in love with any particular option for fourth slot. Stone Edge, Fire Fang, Endure, even Rest (thanks to blissey) are things you can do
Melmetal
The Absolute Unit itself. Toxic or Protect preferred to rock slide most games. You sometimes just smack volcarona on the switch, though. Power Trip corviknight is also something you can do here, since pretty much only zapdos stops that, but then you leave yourself a lot weaker to weavile, cloyster, specs fini
Sorry none of these will be better than low 1500s. I absolutely tanked after trying to force a magic room team.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379437545
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379427382
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379440987-19pilpr3osr7n9h11t5ssskpdtjwr4bpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379437545
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379427382
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379440987-19pilpr3osr7n9h11t5ssskpdtjwr4bpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
Last edited:
Thank you for all the submissions this week! It's time to vote!
Reminder: the voting system used is the Ranked Pairs format (the same as CAP uses). To vote you basically order your options like this: C>B>A>D, like this A>B=C>D, or like this D>C, assuming there are 4 team options (A, B, C, and D). If you choose not to vote for all teams, the last team(s) will be assumed to be last and valued equally if more than one got left out. Additionally, don't vote for your own submission. If you have any questions, by all means, contact me.
Team A by zeno420
Team B by Lacks
Team C by AM
Team D by Shadesan
Team E by Katy
Team F by neuro
Team G by Veez
You have 2 days to vote.
Reminder: the voting system used is the Ranked Pairs format (the same as CAP uses). To vote you basically order your options like this: C>B>A>D, like this A>B=C>D, or like this D>C, assuming there are 4 team options (A, B, C, and D). If you choose not to vote for all teams, the last team(s) will be assumed to be last and valued equally if more than one got left out. Additionally, don't vote for your own submission. If you have any questions, by all means, contact me.
Team A by zeno420
Double Galar Bird HO
click on sprite for importable
I went with the sub bu zapdos variant for this build, definitely less consistent compared to band zapdos-g in terms of overall damage output but it can beat clef, skarm, corv, and usual checks without having to lock into a move. I’ll show some notable calcs towards the end. Next I went with garchomp as the suicide rocks lead, IMO more consistent than lando in most situations putting a heavy dent into pex+corv cores with lo eq+fireblast. Zeraora for speed control, the bulk up variant can handle a lot of HO single handily while proving to be a decent pult check. Next I wanted to improve upon the stall/fat matchup while maintaining the core focus of ho. Pads twave melmetal and sd wood hammer are great fits here. The melmetal spread let’s it outspeed 4 speed hippo allowing for it to flinch it down and the rest into spdef. Unaware clef is also a huge pain for ho like this. Life orb wood hammer is a easy 2hko into it while grassy glide isn’t. No knock doesn’t really matter much in this meta since the only thing that super power+glide doesn’t cover is zapdos/moltres which are rare sights. +2 glide also ohkos pult after rocks. Moltres-g is also very underrated right now. It’s ability to clean up late game after one agility is very impressive. While common balance cores such as slowking, corv, and clef have a hard time handling it alone. The spread allows it to outspeed the most notable scarfer right now in kartana. Nothing else faster than kartana really runs scarf atm.
niko if you see this I swear I didn’t rip off your ho
Enjoy the team!
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Thunderous Kick vs. -1 252 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 160-190 (40 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Thunderous Kick vs. -1 252 HP / 156+ Def Skarmory: 130-154 (38.9 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex in Grassy Terrain: 376-445 (123.6 - 146.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable in Grassy Terrain: 309-367 (78.4 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 234-276 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult in Grassy Terrain: 261-308 (82.3 - 97.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Team B by Lacks
Band SAnd
Click on the mons for the pokepaste
Choice Band Gapdos serves as a great wallbreaker on this team, able to pressure physical walls such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Slowbro, and Hippowdon for its teammates. Its ability to punish the omnipresent Landorus-T with timely double switches is also welcomed. As for the rest of the team, Tyranitar and Excadrill form the extremely threatening Band Sand core, which was the focus of the team. Landorus-T provides stealth rocks and a strong explosion that can be used to gain momentum and/or remove something for the rest of the team. Kartana is another strong breaker with a decent speed tier, allowing it to revenge kill threats as well as pressure defensive switch-ins. Finally, Zeraora acts as speed control outside of sand, most notably to check Dragapult.
Replay where Gapdos did some things: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1377829775-2w4f32yezmhybfjqwi12qunpcuy3flgpw
Not that high up on ladder, but still
**Using aerial ace over smart strike on Kart is better so the buzzwole mu gets a bit easier, so ye change it if you use the team**
Team C by AM
Galarian-Zapdos + Aegislash Bulky Offense
Something I put together to contribute to thread seeing as I haven't been posting a lot lately due to life and phases of interest. I'm not quite sure I like it that much even if it feels okay in tests because hyper offense with the right positioning can be annoying but better than nothing I suppose. Originally I wanted to pair G-Zap with Future Sight similar to an old build I had but it felt like a knock off version of the usual Ursh/GKing builds roaming around so I decided against it. I went with Band G-Zap + Specs Aegi because for the most part they break each others defensive checks, which are a small pool already. Trapper combo of Offensive Heatran/Whirpool Fini with Lando providing pivoting, ground, defog support and Toxic for Dragonite, Lando, flyers not named Corv/Skarm. At first I didn't want to put Defog but dropping it meant I autolose to any Spikes/TSpikes build. Last slot needed to be speed control and something that can threaten the offensive staples so I just went Scarf Lele.
Things like no ghost resist requires good positioning and trades because most things on this team can take a hit but not repeatedly. The bigger choice I had to make was whether I was gonna use Spdef Heatran or Offensive Heatran which I decided on latter so that it doesnt feel so passive and I can threaten opposing ones if need be. SD Chomp a bit annoying as well because you'll have to keep Fini/Lele alive to deny scale shot and possibly trade worst case scenario. Torn-T too, the Nasty Plot sets the other ones are whatever.
Team D by Shadesan
Team E by Katy
Bulk Up-Galarian Zapdos Bulky Offense feat Scarf Modest Tapu Lele!
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 152 SpD / 88 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost
Zapdos-Galar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Blaze Kick
- Bulk Up
standard stealth rock + defog core with landorus-t and corviknight. landorus-t is able to check volcarona whereas corviknight can check a wide amount of pokemon such as tapu bulu, rillaboom, and kartana, both can also check dragonite and are able to check opposing dragapult in a pinch with modest choice scarf tapu lele, which acts as forme of speed control and it can help its own teampartner dragapult with its psychic terrain to not get ice sharded by weavile, so dragapult can defeat that pretty comfortably. tapu koko checks tornadus-t, and it can help vs tapu fini and toxapex as well. zapdos galar has its two stabs in its arsenal alongside blaze kick to hit ferrothorn and aegislash comfortably without close combat drops for the former and without recoil for the latter.
Team F by neuro
click on the sprites for the importable
- I started with Choice Band Zapdos-G, because nothing can safely switch into it, except its close relative... Zapdos.
- Trapping Zapdos didn't seem feasible because of U-turn and Volt Switch, so i decided to lure him in with Ferrothorn, Knock Off its Boots and try to pressure him with Stealth Rock. Ferrothorn is obviously great alongside Zapdos-G because it lets me stack hazards and the bird punishes defoggers hard.
- I wanted a Stealth Rocker which beats the defoggers Zapdos-G can't switch into, so i settled on Nihilego. Timid nature and max speed increase the chances of a late game sweep against weakened opponents.
- Landorus-T gives me Defog and a much needed check to Garchomp and Zeraora, Calm Mind Fini is a great wincon and helps agains a ton of the meta, and Heatran checks Swords Dance Scizor (160 Speed EVs let Heatran outspeed max speed neutral Scizor), occasionally traps Blissey to facilitate Fini's sweep and gives me a second line of defence against Tapu Lele.
I just realized that Zeraora learns Fire Punch, so you could use it over Heatran to check Scizor and have some speed control. Zeraora also lures Landorus-T in, giving you the chance to double to Zapdos and smash.
Team G by Veez
Zapdos-G + Dragalge w/ Healing Wish support
https://pokepast.es/384f695aff8272c4
Zapdos-G is a bad bird. Dragalge is a pretty fancy partner for it that kills all the zapdos stops, or otherwise just flip turn on the steels. Break stuff and wear the enemy team down with these two and weavile. Zapdos will almost always kill something in a game, but due to brave bird, rocky helmet, and status, it usually ends up at <20% and paralyzed. Healing wish from blissey is an easy fix to that. After all that's done the enemy is probably left with none of the usual stops to the always OP SD garchomp. Come in and cleanup easily, without a worry about fat birds, rillaboom, grasses or whatever. Acid armor melmetal looks really jank, but it's actually a great win condition and acts as a nice anti cheese pokemon. It 6-0s a lot of common offenses.
Lots of fun. Don't be afraid to use garchomp or melmetal aggressively. They both love the healing wish.
Zapdos-G
Use this aggressively to hard switch into most ground. Usually thunderous kick or bravebird is the move of choice.
Dragalge
Despite the typing, this is NOT an urshifu wall. Dont give that thing free turns. You can also run toxic spikes over thunderbolt, which allows you to drop some speed for bulk. The current speed is only to beat corviknight on the switch.
Weavile
Despite the temptation, dont go band, you need boots. Don't need lowkick. Melmetal deals with that stuff. Lead with this most games, unless they have melmetal.
Blissey
Rocky Helmet blissey is a hot potato. This is your buffer vs dragapult, volcarona, and pretty much everything lol. Don't worry that you don't have teleport. Healing wish for when you need to pivot, or just go hard to melm or zapdos. Rocks here instead of garchomp because this comes in for free more easily. Don't forget that healing wish carries over across turns!
Garchomp
There's pretty much nothing that walls this after birds are dead. Melmetal handles the offensive checks. I'm not in love with any particular option for fourth slot. Stone Edge, Fire Fang, Endure, even Rest (thanks to blissey) are things you can do
Melmetal
The Absolute Unit itself. Toxic or Protect preferred to rock slide most games. You sometimes just smack volcarona on the switch, though. Power Trip corviknight is also something you can do here, since pretty much only zapdos stops that, but then you leave yourself a lot weaker to weavile, cloyster, specs finiSorry none of these will be better than low 1500s. I absolutely tanked after trying to force a magic room team.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379437545
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379427382
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379440987-19pilpr3osr7n9h11t5ssskpdtjwr4bpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1379430828-psbq5famvv766dl3lbchqlm46anasy2pw
You have 2 days to vote.
C>A>B>E>F>G
- Status