While we're counting down the days to DLC2, I wanted to share a team that got me moderately high on the ladder.
Barraskewda caught my eye in the days when Sneasler was running around as one of, if not the only reliable way to simply outrun and OHKO Unburden variants. But even after the ban of Sneasler, I simply found too much enjoyment in those Tera Water Liquidations, Flip Turns, and even Aqua Jets. You only really need Close Combat to smack Wogerpon and make it think twice about trying to hold off your watery assault. Of course, it being able to threaten a block Water moves and return fire with its own is a problem to begin with, but Barraskewda's other teammates can handle this issue. Pelipper is Pelipper, I don't need to explain that I think, though I do enjoy Tera Dragon to mess with the likes of Wogerpon even more.
Speaking of Wogerpon, I kinda need things to keep it from just using my rain against me, and that's where Amoonguss and Tornadus-Therian come in. Amoonguss itself serves as truly absurd role compression for rain in one slot. Woger check, Valiant check, Zama check. Rilla check, the list goes on. I like running Foul Play to keep Gambit off your back, and Tera Water is always useful, but maybe you could go for a Tera that eats up Kowtow Cleave.
Now Tornadus-T is actually the pokemon I enjoyed messing with most. The speed tier is great, for one. Outrunning Ogerpon and other things like Cinderace is an amazing boon, but what I really enjoy is the set used here. When you think of coverage options for Tornadus, you usually think Focus Blast or Heat Wave, not WEATHER BALL. But let me tell you, it's STRONG. So strong, in fact, that I chose to support it with Tera Water and didn't go for any other coverage moves. Sure, you don't snipe Gambit, but you can always mess with it via Substitute, and a fat boosted Weather Ball in the right position. What I enjoy most about this Pokemon, however, is the catch-22 it establishes with Wogerpon. Don't Tera? Get outran and eat a nasty Hurricane. Tera for the SpDef boost? Congratulations! Water attacks are no longer nullified and reduced to a resist. And resists are something Barraskewda can Tera Water and Flip Turn to high heaven on.
The choice of Zapdos over the stronger and faster Thundurus-Therian may surprise some people, but 1) Hurricane is crazy good, and 2) I noticed a glaring flaw in my team in the form of a complete lack of Draco immunities. Now of course, you can see that Ting-Lu is the final member on the team, so Specs Dragapult isn't THAT scary, but I've encountered one too many situations on ladder where I switch in my Ting-Lu on an assumed specs, only to get 2HKOd by CB Tera Dragon Dragon Darts (more common than you think). That left a bad taste in my mouth, as well as the continued irritation of Kingambit, so I elected to make use of Tera Fairy Zapdos. Now you get free reign over Draco Meteors flying around AND can stop Kingambit in a pinch.
Finally, to keep opposing Zapdos away, as well as menacing Ghost STAB from Dragapult and Gholdengo, Ting-Lu is the final member of this team as mentioned. It's standard SpDef Lu, with all the tools to round out the team. Hazards, phasing, Ruination, all that jazz. Now obviously, Kingambit is a pretty big problem, but with Aqua Jet mindgames, Foul Play Amoonguss, Sub on Torn-T, Tera Fairy Zapdos, and Ting-Lu being Ting-Lu, you definitely have outs vs. it.
All in all, I enjoyed using this team, even if the DLC1 meta is kinda shit. But hey, we won't have to deal with it for much longer.
(click image for pokepaste)
