Metagame SV Pokebilities AAA

[Miss Crisis]

I don’t believe this is intended or not but I recently made a team featuring 2 Protean users and a Cinderace which obviously has Libero without realizing it and was playing on ladder with it. If I’m not mistaken, you are only allowed 2 users of the same ability, correct? It might have just been an oversight since they’re reskins of the same ability. I’ve already replaced one of the Protean users so I won’t care if it gets limited to 2. I hope no one tries to cheese this with 4 protean/Libero users right now…

2 Ability Clause works by checking to see if there are more than two of the same ability in the ability slot of the teambuilder. This mechanic does not check native abilities that will only be present in the game, with the exception of Regenerator, which is specifically limited to two Regenerator Pokemon per team. As far as I can tell, you can get 5 Libero/Protean Pokemon on your team (Cinderace/Greninja/Meowscarada+ 2 AAA users) without issue

 

[adriancosmoem]

Just finished off a combined 9-7 in AAAPL and TPP, not bad. I already posted my AAAPL teams, thought I'd dump the TPP ones here. I've already written a lot for a lot of tours so I'm just gonna leave the teams. I'd say of all tours this was definitely the one I had the best building in, so I'd recommend you try these out on ladder if you wanna
Click sprites for paste!

Butterfly - Specs prima balance
Rainbow - Electric surge ho
Caution - Mglo cinder balance
Rid Of Me - Talon stack
Blackout - Lokix stack
B'Day - Sd hands stack

A lot of these are stack because it's the best playstyle rn and I was trying to win, the cinder team can also become stack if lu is knocked. I didn't wanna highlight the builds completely, but I wanted to showcase them somewhere and I don't see any kind of post-tour thread. Main reason I wanted to make this post was to show some mons that I haven't seen talked about a lot. After months of being in poke chamber I have some big examples ranging from p normal to crazy


Hitmonlee (M) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- Substitute / Blaze Kick / Knock Off
I was gonna use this in AAAPL but we discovered nat unburden was bugged and wouldn't trigger, we were gonna file a report but didn't wanna make other team guess abt what we were bringing so #sorry but yea it doesn't work right now. If this ever gets working then it's a screens demon and only stopped by peach and fluffcorv. Even dirge falls with a light screen up cause you can sub on wisp and they can't break sub at +0 so you just double edge for kill. If you have a team that overloads the phys walls then lee can easily clean


Samurott-Hisui @ Life Orb / Black Glasses
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ceaseless Edge
- Aqua Cutter
- Sucker Punch
+2 hsam kills sooo much shit and sets its own spikes, if you get the sd off you'll feel like jesus. You're only walling this with double resist or water resist fluffy and +2 sucker kills almost everything faster, including max hp torn-t, meow, gren, and offensive stail. Only issue is getting it in can be tough cause speed isn't the highest. I'd recommend pairing with strong pivots, potentially ones that can force passive mons to come in, like slow/glow, moth, and torn


Torkoal @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Weather Ball
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam
Torkoal hits 456 speed with no setup—enough to outpace zama—and eruption is eruption. Ninetales is totally better but torkoal is a lot funnier and more surprising. I didn't love this mon in practice since it's pretty weak, your main use case is to lead and lure something like band meow or np torn


Haxorus @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Dragon's Maw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
I wanted to throw this guy on a screens but never fit it. Mold sounds cool but usually it sucks cause you beat fluffy anyway and mold doesn't bypass intim/tablets. Rivalry is also mega rng. Pretty impossible to have this work well


Cinderace @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- High Jump Kick
- Gunk Shot
- U-turn / Court Change / Will-O-Wisp / Sucker Punch / Bulk Up
No dirge and no intim peach = cinder sweep. Intim just feels so useless to run cause power level is too high to not have fluffy. Maybe we should just bring furscales back cause I'm over mons like this, talon, hands forcing the same 2 mons


Abomasnow @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Spear
- Bullet Seed
- Earthquake
I'd laugh if this was brought to tour, but it can beat fluffy corv sometimes so don't sleep! Aboma has a surprisingly wide moveset but no stats to take adv of it. Still this mon is really fun to fuck around with on ladder so I recommend it even though it's kinda mid


Barraskewda @ Mystic Water / Choice Band
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Def / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Drill Run
- Flip Turn
- Aqua Jet / Poison Jab
This mon is not good to me but I think if you're running it you want to do this. Drill run is the only coverage you need, hits all of your problems and what it doesn't hit, barra isn't beating anyway. Your irrelevant 4th is between jet to never lose to prio (esp talon) and pjab to nail wellspring and wabs hatt on switch. Speed is for +2 moth


Meowscarada @ Sticky Barb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Flower Trick / U-turn
- Spikes
- Trick
Lures corv and tran & mollywhops with a trick, takes lefties which is nice. Protean means taxel can be your main attack after, a lot of stuff drops to taxel without corv backup. Knockless since you don't wanna knock their barb after all, your whole team should prob go knockless if you run this


Rillaboom @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Def / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer / High Horsepower
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Rilla in general is crazy underrated, I think a lot of people see it as a worse meow or smth. But the damage output of this mon is unbelievable and key difference from meow is the self-healing from terrain and bulk + not being 4x uturn weak lets you remain healthy easy. Bulky rilla can shine cause of how many hits it can take and stay standing from pure longevity. It's also one of the best enablers in this tier, making free progress on everyone. There are other ones I like such as sor sd, and even crazier ones like galv boomburst and regenvest can be good, but this is my fave


Slowking @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 52 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic Noise
- Psyshock
- Scald
Ultimate fat killer, insanely powerful and has the longevity to break many times in a match. Resists are often desos who can't outdamage it. Scald also prevents mons like regen hsam and meow from trying to get free ins


Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 16 HP / 24 Def / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Weather Ball
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Knock Off
Fast and surprisingly powerful special breaker, gets auto heals from rain dish and is self sufficient with knock. Can get past waters / water immunities with secondary stab, can check other weatherspeeds nicely with grass type, ludi is the all-around package


Overqwil @ Life Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Gunk Shot
- Crunch / Throat Chop
- Liquidation / Destiny Bond / Pain Split
I maintain that you ALL are sleeping on the qwil. No further comment

 

[Miss Crisis]

Tornadus-Therian is broken. it's an insidious presence looming across the metagame, stifling the presence of other types of offense and outliving pretty much anything you try to throw at it. it paradoxically serves as a fast offensive Regenerator user that still complements your defensive Regenerator core. while Tornadus-Therian is alive, the tier's special walls will know no true peace.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Nasty Plot
- Knock Off
the optimal set, in my opinion. Primordial Sea turns Tornadus into a valued member of your team's defensive profile while granting it the ability to blow through Ting-Lu with Rain-boosted Weather Ball. i cannot stress enough how good a pure Flying Regenerator user with a Fire immunity is good into the metagame, especially given the presence of Weatherspeed. notably, Knock Off crucially removes items from special Pokemon like Regenvest Alomomola and Iron Hands, but most importantly takes away Shadow Shield Slowking's Heavy-Duty Boots. Tornadus, also packing Regenerator, will be able to shrug off their weak hits while dealing more chip damage than they can heal off. the unique mechanics of PokeAAA means Nasty Plot Tornadus-Therian can beat every special wall in the tier bar Goodra-Hisui.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bleakwind Storm
- Focus Blast
- Heat Wave / Knock Off
- Nasty Plot
remember that exception of Goodra-Hisui?
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Tornadus-Therian Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 283-335 (77.9 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
this set is far less consistent than the weather sets, imo mostly because of the immunity/weather control over the accuracy, but importantly blows up the things you were trying to check it with including all of the niche Bulletproof users. notably, that calc includes Assault Vest, but Tornadus-Therian is absolutely able to slot in Knock Off to remove it and the aforementioned Heavy-Duty Boots from Slowking.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Primordial Sea / Desolate Land / Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Hurricane / Bleakwind Storm
- Weather Ball / Focus Blast / Heat Wave
Tornadus-Therian's most splashable set thanks to its afforementioned defensive qualities. i have been having a lot of fun with Desolate Land lately, as it absolutely stifles Keldeo and provides a much better matchup into opposing Overqwil and Ludicolo, while retaining the weather control. Primordial Sea will always be consistent and powerful, and retains the dominance over Ting-Lu that the other two sets lack. Magic Guard is somewhat of a fish ability in my opinion, i find that Tornadus-Therian's bulk and healing make the hazard and chip immunity significantly less relevant than the sheer control Weather abilities exert over a match.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Bleakwind Storm
the most niche set i've seen so far, Shadow Shield enables Tornadus-Therian to tank any hit once, and make progress no matter what. Tornadus-Therian is totally able to part with the immunities from Weather in exchange for this massive upside. this set specifically rounds out the other four by ensuring you can't just slap it down with some fast Pokemon like Deoxys-Speed and Choice Scarfers, butmost importantly Priority from Talonflame and Lokix.

tldr: Tornadus-Therian can do anything, beat anything, and has enough set variety to fit into nearly every team without a pre-existing Regenerator core. i would personally push for a suspect test if there wasn't a lukewarm opinion from most of the public and council, but until then adriancosmoem and i will continue to push our agenda that the tier would be better without the bird.

 

[Lavender Vice]

Tornadus-Therian is broken. it's an insidious presence looming across the metagame, stifling the presence of other types of offense and outliving pretty much anything you try to throw at it. it paradoxically serves as a fast offensive Regenerator user that still complements your defensive Regenerator core. while Tornadus-Therian is alive, the tier's special walls will know no true peace.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Nasty Plot
- Knock Off
the optimal set, in my opinion. Primordial Sea turns Tornadus into a valued member of your team's defensive profile while granting it the ability to blow through Ting-Lu with Rain-boosted Weather Ball. i cannot stress enough how good a pure Flying Regenerator user with a Fire immunity is good into the metagame, especially given the presence of Weatherspeed. notably, Knock Off crucially removes items from special Pokemon like Regenvest Alomomola and Iron Hands, but most importantly takes away Shadow Shield Slowking's Heavy-Duty Boots. Tornadus, also packing Regenerator, will be able to shrug off their weak hits while dealing more chip damage than they can heal off. the unique mechanics of PokeAAA means Nasty Plot Tornadus-Therian can beat every special wall in the tier bar Goodra-Hisui.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bleakwind Storm
- Focus Blast
- Heat Wave / Knock Off
- Nasty Plot
remember that exception of Goodra-Hisui?
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Tornadus-Therian Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 283-335 (77.9 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
this set is far less consistent than the weather sets, imo mostly because of the immunity/weather control over the accuracy, but importantly blows up the things you were trying to check it with including all of the niche Bulletproof users. notably, that calc includes Assault Vest, but Tornadus-Therian is absolutely able to slot in Knock Off to remove it and the aforementioned Heavy-Duty Boots from Slowking.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Primordial Sea / Desolate Land / Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Hurricane / Bleakwind Storm
- Weather Ball / Focus Blast / Heat Wave
Tornadus-Therian's most splashable set thanks to its afforementioned defensive qualities. i have been having a lot of fun with Desolate Land lately, as it absolutely stifles Keldeo and provides a much better matchup into opposing Overqwil and Ludicolo, while retaining the weather control. Primordial Sea will always be consistent and powerful, and retains the dominance over Ting-Lu that the other two sets lack. Magic Guard is somewhat of a fish ability in my opinion, i find that Tornadus-Therian's bulk and healing make the hazard and chip immunity significantly less relevant than the sheer control Weather abilities exert over a match.

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Bleakwind Storm
the most niche set i've seen so far, Shadow Shield enables Tornadus-Therian to tank any hit once, and make progress no matter what. Tornadus-Therian is totally able to part with the immunities from Weather in exchange for this massive upside. this set specifically rounds out the other four by ensuring you can't just slap it down with some fast Pokemon like Deoxys-Speed and Choice Scarfers, butmost importantly Priority from Talonflame and Lokix.

tldr: Tornadus-Therian can do anything, beat anything, and has enough set variety to fit into nearly every team without a pre-existing Regenerator core. i would personally push for a suspect test if there wasn't a lukewarm opinion from most of the public and council, but until then adriancosmoem and i will continue to push our agenda that the tier would be better without the bird.

The humble Wind Rider Clodsire being a decent mon as-is and quite literally hard-walling every single one of these sets alongside Zapdos, Kilowattrel, Pelipper, and even checking Jugulis.

252 Atk Choice Band Adaptability Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 340-400 (113.7 - 133.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Sword of Ruin Zamazenta Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 330-390 (110.3 - 130.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252 SpA Tornadus-Therian Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 196 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Heavy Rain: 362-428 (72.4 - 85.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

60 Atk Ting-Lu Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 150-177 (50.1 - 59.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 156-184 (52.1 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Protean Deoxys-Speed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 369-437 (101.9 - 120.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+6 252 SpA Tornadus-Therian Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 72 HP / 184 SpD Alomomola in Heavy Rain: 398-468 (81.3 - 95.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Wind Rider is an underrated as fuck ability and I'm sick of people dismissing it).

252 Atk Sword of Ruin Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 282-334 (77.9 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

+2 252 SpA Tornadus-Therian Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Iron Hands: 321-378 (71.4 - 84.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Iron Hands Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 342-404 (94.4 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO



Like, saying this thing serves as a strong defensive regen core when it has no bulk investment is just a complete flat out lie from my experience, and I'm tired of hearing about it. Yeah, assuming literally EVERYTHING goes right in Torn's favor, it never gets knocked, it knocks off the entire enemy team, gets free turns to setup, never worries about the choice of Uturn vs Knock vs Coverage, gambles on 70% accurate moves when its non-Prim Sea, doesn't ever run into Ditto which literally reverse sweeps you, has hazards up on the field and a lot of them, never gets chipped, need I go on-

White-room yeah, Torn is broken but if you're giving Torn all of these free turns to run circles around you no wonder you're losing. We have quite a few mons that are both faster than Torn and one tap its offensive sets, many also one-tap its max HP sets, a good few walls that can either take a hit and one shot it back or just hard wall it, especially if you get creative such as with Wind Rider, Sticky Hold or Bulletproof. I'm not saying it isn't a potent threat and one of the strongest progress-makers in the tier, but just because it can force progress doesn't mean it is broken.

It tears apart many of the most popular cores, and as such I think instead of banning one of the few actually good special attackers in the tier capable of breaking through Ting, we should instead focus on the bigger issue of hazard stack being such an overly dominant archetype in the meta at large (and has been for too long now imo). If anything, I'd argue we should suspect Ting-Lu more than Torn-T, as it allows way too many teams to just shit out hazards for basically free while serving as an all-purpose both physical and special wall in one, while forcing progress with Ruination and hitting hard with its strangely solid movepool.