Cores are a major fundamental aspect of teambuilding, that regularly become the determining factor for the success or failure of a team. The reliance on great cores for a thriving team comes from how cores act as the main basis for how a team gets progress in a match. What I mean by this is; a core is the utilization of a combination of 2 Pokemon to achieve a specific objective. This is not conjecture either, all teams at the top of competitive play have combinations of 2 to 3 Pokemon that lay the groundwork for how the team gains progress. This progress can be as simple as dealing great damage through the use of strong coverage between 2 Pokemon, or 2 bulky Pokemon whos typing's complement each other well. However, cores are complex and have more to their value than just the surface level combinations of type that fit well together. Offensive cores prime objective is to use a combination of offensive pressure through either utility moves, raw damage, or baits in order to break opposing team compositions. Defensive cores central game plan is to use longevity, raw bulk, and type resistance combinations in hopes of outliving the opponent and win long term with gradual damage. Cores are not set to be strictly offensive or defensive in their workings, generally any viable option to net progress in a match can be formed into a specific core (EX: Rain). Generally, cores are the foundation of all competitively viable teams and as such consciously forming great cores to net sufficient enough progress for victory is necessary for any team to make sufficient enough progress for victory.
Posting Guidelines- Everyone is allowed to post a core in this thread, but be sure to put your core into it's specific category. The main 4 categories include: Offensive, Defensive, Balanced, Weather. Please be sure to include what category your core falls under, within your post.
- Regardless of how obvious a core may work to you, other players may not understand why it works. When posting a core it is imperative to properly explain the functions of your core and other important details within that post. The explanation is not an essay, so long as the main idea of the core along with other details you deem important are conveyed and well explained it'll do. Here are some added guidelines that may help you better explain your core:
- Offensive Core's: An example of a offensive core may be Zapdos + Cinderace, you could explain how they cooperate by checking each others counters while being able to safely go into one another on those counters through Volt Switch + U-Turn. You could mention other added details such as hazard control through Cinderace for Zapdos. Lastly you could mention the weaknesses the core faces and then suggest potential partner Pokemon that compliment the core well.
- For a more direct example of what we value in a offensive core post, visit Cheryl's Post taken from the ORAS iteration
- Defensive Core's: An example of a Defensive core may be Heatran + Amoonguss, you could explain how they cooperate by Countering each others weaknesses while being able to threaten status with burn and sleep in return. You could mention other added details such as Will-O-Wisp helping special defense Amoonguss survive more physical attacks. Lastly you could mention the weaknesses the core faces and then suggest potential partner Pokemon that compliment the core well.
- For a more direct example of what we value in a defensive core post, visit Fly Casanova's Post taken from the SV Pre-Home iteration
- This is self explanatory but be sure to include the sets in your core post, and any EV deviations from the usual 252/252 need direct explanations.
- If you have replays utilizing the core in your post, we highly suggest including them into your post!
- Please refrain from posting cores larger than 3 Pokemon, any core bigger than 3 leaves little room for any additional teambuilding.
- Constructive criticism is allowed in this thread, however remaining respectful is above all else. If you disagree with a particular statement or the overall viability of a posted core and want to voice this opinion, do so without hostility.
Core Selection Process- This thread is being run by Foufakirby. I'll be throughly reviewing the cores submitted, and discuss certain cores with the OU Moderation team as well as other contributing members. Once discussion is done we will decide on what cores to add to the great cores archive in this thread.
- Understandably the process of selecting great cores can be subjective so in pursuit of further consistency regarding the submitted cores, we will be looking at more than just the Pokemon themselves. These other factors we'll be reviewing include the effectiveness of the core in the current metagame, the explanation given for the core, and much more for the sake of maintaining quality assurance.
- When the submitted cores have been decided on for archive, we will publicly announce the cores that were chosen for the great cores archive. We will provide explanation for the reasons of the archived cores, as well as the reasons for why certain cores were rejected within this announcement. We are hoping this feedback can give posters a better idea of what we value in a core.
- If a core was initially rejected from being added to the archive, we can give critique on how to better optimize your core to better meet the quality standards we look for in a core.
- If you have any concerns with our post or the selected cores for archive, please let us know! However, we do rather simple question or problem be asked directly to us in a PM for convenience.
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covers 
and balloon 
is appreciated when dealing with 
and in general against any contact moves.
allows you to avoid a burn/sleep/poison or a para if you did not tera.
tera fairy, Future Sight allow him to get a free kill. 
and 
or 
+ 
lacking encore and roost, 
, mixed 
(which normally doesn’t run knock off), and 
because of poison touch, although if you need something to take a poison touch knock off 
, 
impressively well. This said its usual issue is that unless you run rest your bulk is non-renewable, while if you run rest it’s very hard to burn sleep turns without getting setup on since you no longer threaten whirlwind. This issue is demonstrably circumventable when you have wishes coming your way from 
etc. However lando in current meta uses Grass knot to hit dozo but we have got terra Grass for it and after a few curse, nothing can kill this mon. This pokemon however is weak to :meowscarda: but tera grass + body press counters it too.
and magic bounce.
, 
+ 
, can provide safe switch-in opportunities via Volt Switch/U-turn, and can (occasionally) spread Paralysis to faster mons. This core fits best on bulky offense and balance teams, which the type of team often dictates the sets. 
+ 
(rocks)
because it has Ice spinner which OHKO 
to name a few. Curse lets it set up its defense to make it harder to ko you and allowing you to survive a crits by taking less damage on no crits so that when you do get crit you have extra HP to heal up. The damaging move can either be body press to take advantage of the great defensive stat or waterfall to take advantage of stab. Waterfall is run over liquidation as it has 8 more pp and the extra 5 power is not very relavent. Rest and sleep talk are necessary for its health recovery and to make it useful while asleep. The ev spread is pretty normal with dondozo have 248 HP evs instead of 252 so that burn, rocks, or any percentage damage rounds down. Tera fighting is used to provide a tera that resists dark but is not weak to any of 
, and any store power users as well as non set up special attackers like 
core is a great way utilize the regenerator ability to recover health. Cyclizar is often run as a mini special wall holding assault vest while pex can act as both. 
, and 
. It is also able to take on many physical attackers such as 
, 
, 
, and some 
, and rocky helmet users such as 
, 
, 
