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I think it’s always one step forward and two back like always. I think the intention of getting free items like mints and bottle caps every ten wins or so was supposed to offset, except they aren’t the reason we grind bp anyways.
On teams though, I’m liking my Corviknight/Dragapult core. Leading with Dragapult and U turn to Corviknight has won me quite a few battles when Dragapult is disadvantaged. But I need a third mon. My current one isn’t cutting it. Ideas?
My main problem with this iteration of the Battle Tower is that the amount of BP you can get at a reasonable rate is essentially finite. The rewards you get from levelling up are big, and the base rewards for competing a battle are negligible and never increase, meaning that people probably won't play much casually because the grind is prohibitively annoying.
I mean, you have to complete 33 battles in total to get to Master Ball rank. After that, you have to do almost that many over again to get enough BP for *one item*.
I personally really like this Battle Tower as it's no longer a battle between you and RNG... but the BP rate is certainly a problem that can't be overlooked.
IMO it should take more wins to reach Master Ball Rank, and at the same time get more BP per battle once you reach that point. I mean, just to max a Pokémon's EVs you need to do 27 battles.
I personally really like this Battle Tower as it's no longer a battle between you and RNG... but the BP rate is certainly a problem that can't be overlooked.
IMO it should take more wins to reach Master Ball Rank, and at the same time get more BP per battle once you reach that point. I mean, just to max a Pokémon's EVs you need to do 27 battles.
Team of stuff I like is doing well so far in a "No Legendaries, No Dynamax" streak, 66 wins and counting:
Larkin (Obstagoon) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Bulk Up
- Facade
- Parting Shot
- Knock Off
Simple, relatively speedy smacking. Both non-direct damage moves work well in multiple situations; one Bulk Up is often enough to OHKO whole teams when combined with Guts, and you can make yourself unstoppable on passive 'Mons if you need to. When it's faster, Parting Shot softens any blow Togekiss has to take, often to the point where I can set up paraflinch with little risk, and if Obstagoon is slower, it's a safe pivot into Cloyster if the matchup looks favorable. Facade is a nuke after the burn kicks in, and Knock Off can scout sets in a handful of situations where no other option is a comfortable one. For Leon, the strategy is generally to give Cloyster a chance to Shell Smash safely, and Parting Shot does that well against certain leads. Likely the most replaceable 'Mon here, but speeding through a number of teams without much thought is a good time. I was running Close Combat over Parting Shot initially, but Parting Shot has been useful for me more often, and a boosted Knock Off has been enough for most of the targets it seemed intended for.
Stabscotch (Cloyster) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naughty nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Surf
Bog standard. Sash, Smash, and sweep. Icicle Spear and Rock Blast are incredible coverage, and you may be surprised at how many resists still drop to a +2 Icicle Spear, even without a boost from something like Life Orb. Presumably because Singles and Doubles sets coexist on AI teams (or maybe because Dynamax is a thing now?), Protect and its clones are everywhere, and this can often win games by virtue of the AI's propensity to Protect anytime they get the chance. Surf over Hydro Pump because accuracy is very important, and many of the 'Mons it's meant to hit still drop to +2 Surf regardless of my lack of SpA investment (notably Cinderace). Might eventually do some calcs to see about moving some Speed EVs to SpA to boost Surf a bit. Cinderace-5/9 outspeeds me post-Shell Smash regardless, and the next fastest 'Mons aren't even close to 244 Speed, but retaining 183 Speed after an Icy Wind might be useful, as well as being decently fast if I get paralyzed. +2 Icicle Spear OHKOs Leon's Charizard, and in a 1v1, G-Max Charizard seems really keen on hitting me with Max Overgrowth, so I can set up in its face if I trade on Obstagoon due to burn or something. Have to worry about Cinderace-9 (Choice Scarf) and priority, but, Leon is very keen on sending in Charizard second, so the rest of my party have been able to adequately handle those problems well enough.
Besitos (Togekiss) @ Leftovers
Ability: Super Luck
128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spd
Timid nature
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave
- Morning Sun
The safe switch-in and hax machine. A valuable Fighting resist, and it can live for ages after the enemy's suffered a Parting Shot, enough to feel comfortable with the less-than-ideal accuracy on Air Slash and Thunder Wave. Togekiss doesn't get Roost this time around, but Morning Sun usually gets the job done just fine. Paraflinch combined with Leftovers and Morning Sun means I can often KO with full health even when the matchup isn't fantastic. Flamethrower helps hurt the Steels that can often be annoying for my team, and if Leon's G-Max Charizard has spent a turn KOing a teammates because the previous 'Mon was difficult to play around, Thunder Wave -> Morning Sun spam can stall out Dynamax and survive until paralysis kicks in, though relying on a Thunder Wave hit isn't especially comfortable. Has a nice matchup against most of the other D-Max 'Mons sprinkled around the Tower. Just a great catch-all. The EV spread is generic and could be optimized better, but it's struck a nice balance between bulk and power so far, and max Speed has definitely paid off when I don't have the luxury of using Thunder Wave first.
I'd be glad for suggestions! Here's a Team ID in case someone is interested in giving it a shot: 0000 0000 P1NF X7
So this is super easy to use and quick to slaughter everything in sight. Gyarados is a snowbally monster with dynamax, so always go for it straight out of the gate. Reading around here and Reddit put Gyarados on my radar, so I bred one to see just how monstrous it is. DDing while also killing is too much. So lead with weavile and Gyarados, fake out and fling appropriately to lock down the thing gyarados isn't looking at, and aim to click either max geyser or max airstream. Max overgrowth is really just coverage when you want a moxie boost and are staring at a potential water absorber. I've found ideally I'll grab 2 airstreams and 1 geyser in just about any order, prioritizing 1 airstream first if possible to get faster than... Well, everything.
Click fake out on weavile. Then click fling. Kill the thing that didn't flinch. Be aware of inner focus Pokemon. Tbh, a lot of them are dexit victims. When Gyarados is able to ko a thing without help, snowball that advantage into sashbreaking and ejection scouting the other mon. When you can't flinch things any more, dick around, have fun, get hit to steal quick claws and bright powders and fling em back (suck it hax tower).
So in those first 2-3 turns, you set speed and weather control, start boosting, and the opponent doesn't really get much opportunity to fuck you up. Sometimes they do. Fortunately, electric Pokemon don't have inner focus and are mostly frail and all get outsped at +1 ...as far as I've seen. I haven't really looked at speed tiers or set lists for this facility, and I hate that. More commonly, weavile will get 1 shot by fighting or steel moves. Nbd.
That's what zacian is for. Or occasionally eternatus. But mostly zacian. Because his coverage is great even without a fairy stab, and he 1 shots nearly everything and doesn't really get 1 shot in return except for... sneaky high horsepowers. Weird. So he's a revenge killer, avenging weavile. Same for eternatus. Generally, when weavile dies, pick the one with a supereffective move (wow this game even tells you wats supereffective so easy!).
Um that's about it.
A few threats to watch for:
Trick room. I wasn't expecting the trick room jellicent and that match was almost close, with a cursing Snorlax that could've done better by not cursing. Lock down and prioritize the users.
Anything electric. Lock that shit down if Gyarados can't ohko, you've generally got more than enough wiggle room. a non stab thunderbolt crit from a randommon will kill, but seriously just pay attention.
Tailwind. Sometimes. Depends on timing, but pelipper and whimsicott aren't just magikarps despite how much I underestimate them.
Intimidate. I mean I clicked dragon Dance once in 198(?) battles to counter an opening intimidate... I think I should take crunch instead though. But yeah. Weavile don't care, but Gyarados does not like.
Nonscaling rewards. I got my starf berry, but wow the tower rewards suck this gen. Really a motivation killer. There's literally nothing but 2bp/battle from win 100-200. At least I can't do that again, because they also fucked up the tracking.
Things that could prolly still be improved about this team? Dragon Dance and Throat Chop need another look. Eternatus is filler, maybe I'll think of something better.
I still miss triples. At least this team gives me the feel of strong hyperoffense that I've always been fond of. The role compression from dynamaxing is silly. Bulk, power, antiflinch, speed and weather control, suction cups... Deserves a ban.
Zacian and Gyarados should be self explanatory at this point. I lead Zacian, and 95% of the time, you can get a SD off, and win from there. Against stronger threats that can OHKO (or limber ditto), you can attack first, and +1 still KOs a ton with a neutral CC/Behemoth Blade. I run crunch over Fairy stab for OHKOs against Aegi, Pex, and Jellicent especially, as +3 BB/CC doesn't OHKO. Jolly outspeeds everything except scarf cinderaces and Scarf Ninjask, neither can 2HKO. You definitely can get para/burn/TR in the first turn, which makes it tough, but even then you generally can still sweep with just Zacian.
On Gyarados I run intimidate over Moxie, because in singles there's not time nor really a need to snowball, and intimidate+lum can help you get a DD off safely. After a DD, I'll generally try to get a Max Airstream as well, as at +2 you outspeed the whole unboosted tower.
Pyuku is 100% needed for an imposter Ditto answer. Imposter ditto lead will be a +2 Zacian, and if you win the speed tie, your +1 Zacian has 56% chance to OHKO, otherwise the Ditto will OHKO. I feel safer switching into Pyuku, where you can stall/set up toxic, as CC does 37% max.
There's probably a safer team out there a la entrainment/moody shenanigans, but this team is super simple and fast for going through the tower.
I'm looking for some suggestions on how to build a proper Battle Tower team around Polteageist as its one of my favorites from this gen. Full disclosure: I haven't played competitively since RSE when people were still using Netbattle lol so I'm quite rusty. I have the following build:
Polteageist @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Giga Drain
I thought Dual Screens Grimmsnarl would be a good partner to help setup for a sweep, but I'm not sure if the general idea is to lead with Grimm and then switch immediately. I had some luck with a SD Bisharp/Calm Mind Hatterene/Bold Rotom-W but my main issue was that Bisharp is so frail that it was difficult to find opportunities to set up. Maybe Rotom-W was not the best choice for a 3rd mon but I got a lot of mileage out of it. So I'm not sure how to properly go about using Polteageist as even with screens up, it's so frail that I wouldn't be surprised to get 2HKO'd. Also, suggestions for a 3rd mon to round out the team?
Blkmage0253 I would recommend bringing another setup sweeper who can also abuse the screens made by Grimmsnarl. In addition, you could drop Stored Power for Baton Pass- this would allow you to pass Polteageist's boosts in case it encounters Sucker Punch or a Pokemon it can't defeat. Gyarados might be a good candidate, as it's generally a great dynamax abuser, and can either use Moxie to keep the ball rolling or Intimidate to offset Defense drops passed from Polteageist's Weak Armor.
Stored Power is useful because of Dynamax. Stored Power uses the maximum Max Mindstorm and sets Psychic Terrain, preventing Sucker Punch, Shadow Sneak, Prankster etc.
I made a team using Polteageist, Pangoro and Gyarados. Grimmsnarl probably is better than Pangoro though, I just wanted Parting Shot. Worth noting that the big, big problem for Polteageist is Dark types like Umbreon or Mandibuzz, so you probably want something that can deal with those. If you're Grimmsnarl you can't actually use Prankster to attack them (ie status them, reduce their stats) but I think Screens would work.
A very simple Screen Screen Play Rough (or Spirit Break if you want the accuracy) and filler (most likely Foul Play, but T-wave is nice to cripple) would work and actually allow you to dent or flat out kill said dark types :)
Actually something I was considering is that if you do make use of Max Mindstorm to set Psychic Terrain, Prankster Grimmsnarl won't actually be able to use anything Prankster affects, will it? I think that's how Prankster+Psychic Terrain interacts.
Actually something I was considering is that if you do make use of Max Mindstorm to set Psychic Terrain, Prankster Grimmsnarl won't actually be able to use anything Prankster affects, will it? I think that's how Prankster+Psychic Terrain interacts.
Actually something I was considering is that if you do make use of Max Mindstorm to set Psychic Terrain, Prankster Grimmsnarl won't actually be able to use anything Prankster affects, will it? I think that's how Prankster+Psychic Terrain interacts.
Dark type against Prankster / Psychic Terrain / abilities like Dazzling and Queenly Majestic only block *offensive* priority moves. They do not block priority moves used on self.
Screens tecnically are cast on yourself so do not get blocked (kind of like those abilities don't block Protect)
Random fun related fact: if you use Prankster Metronome under Psychic Terrain, any offensive move called by Metronome will fail, but defensive ones will work as normal.
Totally didn't witness this in a Metronome battle.
I really want to make a misty terrain team work in doubles in the tower and I would really appreciate your guys help.
I tested a bit in showdown before commiting to breeding and I ended with something like this:
The Weezing worked much better than expected but maybe it is because the other players didn't know what to expect. And I usually don't like to leave things up to chance, like using quick claw, but every time it worked it made a big difference, like hazing before a dragon dancer could attack.
The Dragapult works realy well and it can take some dragon types hits thanks to the terrain.
The Grimmsnarl is really good sometimes and terrible sometimes but a helping hand that lasts more than one turn and that stacks is something I really like. The draining kiss is only to use when dynamaxed to reapply the terrain in battles that last longer, but I basically never used it.
The Mimikyu is good but it doesn't feel like it works great with the rest of the team, althoung it is really nice that it can't be crippled by paralysis and burn in the misty terrain.
The Bisharp never has chances to sword dance and feels too slow but the team need to pressure fairy and poison types somehow, and competitive is great against Intimidate.
The Arcanine is there to Intimidate and to roar probable trick room setters but the build is deffinetly not ideal.
Any help will be very appreciated, except telling me not play misty terrain xD I know it is definetely worse trading Tapu Fini for Weezing, a pokemon that basically was made to cause status conditions, but is something I want to make work.
Team of stuff I like is doing well so far in a "No Legendaries, No Dynamax" streak, 66 wins and counting:
Stabscotch (Cloyster) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naughty nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Surf
Bog standard. Sash, Smash, and sweep. Icicle Spear and Rock Blast are incredible coverage, and you may be surprised at how many resists still drop to a +2 Icicle Spear, even without a boost from something like Life Orb. Presumably because Singles and Doubles sets coexist on AI teams (or maybe because Dynamax is a thing now?), Protect and its clones are everywhere, and this can often win games by virtue of the AI's propensity to Protect anytime they get the chance. Surf over Hydro Pump because accuracy is very important, and many of the 'Mons it's meant to hit still drop to +2 Surf regardless of my lack of SpA investment (notably Cinderace). Might eventually do some calcs to see about moving some Speed EVs to SpA to boost Surf a bit. Cinderace-5/9 outspeeds me post-Shell Smash regardless, and the next fastest 'Mons aren't even close to 244 Speed, but retaining 183 Speed after an Icy Wind might be useful, as well as being decently fast if I get paralyzed. +2 Icicle Spear OHKOs Leon's Charizard, and in a 1v1, G-Max Charizard seems really keen on hitting me with Max Overgrowth, so I can set up in its face if I trade on Obstagoon due to burn or something. Have to worry about Cinderace-9 (Choice Scarf) and priority, but, Leon is very keen on sending in Charizard second, so the rest of my party have been able to adequately handle those problems well enough.
I really want to make a misty terrain team work in doubles in the tower and I would really appreciate your guys help.
I tested a bit in showdown before commiting to breeding and I ended with something like this:
The Weezing worked much better than expected but maybe it is because the other players didn't know what to expect. And I usually don't like to leave things up to chance, like using quick claw, but every time it worked it made a big difference, like hazing before a dragon dancer could attack.
The Dragapult works realy well and it can take some dragon types hits thanks to the terrain.
The Grimmsnarl is really good sometimes and terrible sometimes but a helping hand that lasts more than one turn and that stacks is something I really like. The draining kiss is only to use when dynamaxed to reapply the terrain in battles that last longer, but I basically never used it.
The Mimikyu is good but it doesn't feel like it works great with the rest of the team, althoung it is really nice that it can't be crippled by paralysis and burn in the misty terrain.
The Bisharp never has chances to sword dance and feels too slow but the team need to pressure fairy and poison types somehow, and competitive is great against Intimidate.
The Arcanine is there to Intimidate and to roar probable trick room setters but the build is deffinetly not ideal.
Any help will be very appreciated, except telling me not play misty terrain xD I know it is definetely worse trading Tapu Fini for Weezing, a pokemon that basically was made to cause status conditions, but is something I want to make work.
Well for one, if you're gonna play in the Battle Tower, you only have 4 Pokemon you can work with, not the full 6, so you'd have to reduce your team down from there. Secondly, especially for Doubles, in my opinion, this team lacks quite a bit of Protect. It's a fairly good move for doubles, especially for your frailer things like Dragapult and Bisharp, being the first thoughts.
However, I think the bigger problem is just how your team struggles against a bunch of types, the main ones I can see being Ground and Fairy. Any decently fast Ground type like Excadrill can kinda just run through this team, with no resistances and three Pokemon weak to Ground types. The extra Steel typing on Excadrill also hits two Pokemon for super effective damage, and you don't really have any move besides Scald on Dragapult that can hit those Ground types. Fairy types aren't as bad for you, having one resist and one way of hitting it super effectively, but even then it's not that great for you.
As for the sets, starting with Weezing-G, having both Haze and Clear Smog is fairly redundant, since they both kinda do the same thing. Sludge Bomb gives you far better damage if that's what you're going for. Quick Claw isn't that great for it either, if you want you can play for the better bulky route with a berry of some kind, probably Sitrus or Wiki Berry, something to that effect.
Grimmsnarl is another weird one. I understand the synergy you're going for, with either Flatter or Swagger into yourself with Misty Terrain, but your other moves are kinda questionable. Draining Kiss is odd, maybe you want the recovery that badly, but you play off of your worse Special Attack when you have moves like Spirit Break or Play Rough for generally better damage. This also kinda applies to Foul Play, there's little reason to run it when you have moves like Sucker Punch or Darkest Lariat, to name a few, using your own Attack stat which is likely higher than your opponent's.
The other Pokemon can probably use some work as well, but without a general plan besides using Misty Terrain, I don't want to comment on too much more, because the sets for them aren't the greatest, but those ones are more functional than the others, in my opinion.
Well for one, if you're gonna play in the Battle Tower, you only have 4 Pokemon you can work with, not the full 6, so you'd have to reduce your team down from there. Secondly, especially for Doubles, in my opinion, this team lacks quite a bit of Protect. It's a fairly good move for doubles, especially for your frailer things like Dragapult and Bisharp, being the first thoughts.
However, I think the bigger problem is just how your team struggles against a bunch of types, the main ones I can see being Ground and Fairy. Any decently fast Ground type like Excadrill can kinda just run through this team, with no resistances and three Pokemon weak to Ground types. The extra Steel typing on Excadrill also hits two Pokemon for super effective damage, and you don't really have any move besides Scald on Dragapult that can hit those Ground types. Fairy types aren't as bad for you, having one resist and one way of hitting it super effectively, but even then it's not that great for you.
As for the sets, starting with Weezing-G, having both Haze and Clear Smog is fairly redundant, since they both kinda do the same thing. Sludge Bomb gives you far better damage if that's what you're going for. Quick Claw isn't that great for it either, if you want you can play for the better bulky route with a berry of some kind, probably Sitrus or Wiki Berry, something to that effect.
Grimmsnarl is another weird one. I understand the synergy you're going for, with either Flatter or Swagger into yourself with Misty Terrain, but your other moves are kinda questionable. Draining Kiss is odd, maybe you want the recovery that badly, but you play off of your worse Special Attack when you have moves like Spirit Break or Play Rough for generally better damage. This also kinda applies to Foul Play, there's little reason to run it when you have moves like Sucker Punch or Darkest Lariat, to name a few, using your own Attack stat which is likely higher than your opponent's.
The other Pokemon can probably use some work as well, but without a general plan besides using Misty Terrain, I don't want to comment on too much more, because the sets for them aren't the greatest, but those ones are more functional than the others, in my opinion.
Your comment was extremely helpful! I don't want to abuse, but I would be very grateful if you could continue helping me.
I made some changes to the team and now it looks like this:
I would probably use Weezing, Whimsicott, Dracovish and Bisharp at the tower.
I can change the Whimsicott to modest, since it will still outspeed every gastrodon and excadrill in the tower, and besides energy ball, every other move is a priority move.
I will miss the intimidate on the Arcanine, but it is hard to fit everything in the team.
I'm not in love with Bisharp but I do need a steel-type.
The team is working much better. Thank you for the help.
The initial thought was that it would be better against certain physically bulky enemies running Defense EVs, such as Weezing, Avalugg, various Rocks and Steels, etc. Surf also has the advantage of not being a contact move. Liquidation is probably more valuable on average (so as not to rely on a 90% accuracy Rock Blast in certain matchups, such as bulky Fire-types and Frosmoth, especially with the fear of the latter's Dynamax), but I should do calcs in the near future. Gonna try it with an Adamant nature and see what happens, as Surf has felt fairly underwhelming in that regard, though I don't expect the extra SpDef to be valuable on Cloyster, much less Sashed.
I ended up losing my aforementioned run at 76 wins due to a misplay around priority and bad luck against Leon's Charizard (Togekiss Thunder Wave missed twice). Heavily considering Wide Lens due to the nature of streaks being unpredictable, even though it leaves a bad taste in my mouth compared to the potent Leftovers healing. Morning Sun to stall for full paralysis is often enough, I guess.
Thinking Obstruct over Parting Shot does more for this team. Focus Sash Cloyster doesn't really benefit from Parting Shot much, and there's a lot of pressure on Togekiss to cover certain switches that sometimes can't be done from a Parting Shot due to lower speed. Having the time to let Flame Orb activate is invaluable in certain matchups where the Guts boost is enough to OHKO, swinging those from necessary switches to easy wins for Obstagoon. It also definitely alleviates the difficulty of playing around Leon's Charizard, as potentially stalling out 2+ turns of Dynamax helps if I'm unlucky on the initial matchup(s), whereas Obstagoon previously just died in one turn since I can't afford to switch and can't outspeed for Parting Shot.
As such, here's the culmination of that for now:
Larkin (Obstagoon) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Bulk Up
- Obstruct
- Facade
- Knock Off
Stabscotch (Cloyster) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Liquidation
Besitos (Togekiss) @ Wide Lens
Ability: Super Luck
128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spd
Timid nature
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave
- Morning Sun
EDIT: At a glance, this gets demolished by Tyranitar. Hmm...
Your comment was extremely helpful! I don't want to abuse, but I would be very grateful if you could continue helping me.
I made some changes to the team and now it looks like this:
I would probably use Weezing, Whimsicott, Dracovish and Bisharp at the tower.
I can change the Whimsicott to modest, since it will still outspeed every gastrodon and excadrill in the tower, and besides energy ball, every other move is a priority move.
I will miss the intimidate on the Arcanine, but it is hard to fit everything in the team.
I'm not in love with Bisharp but I do need a steel-type.
The team is working much better. Thank you for the help.
I could see those four working decently in Tower, though personally I'd still be worried about the lack of Protect. Besides that, Dracovish is a weird one for you, at least in the front. With no reliable way to make it go first for Fishous Rend immediately, something like replacing Whimsicott in the lead for Weezing-G could do decently. This of course assumes you're leading with Weezing-G and Dracovish, based on your order.
The four are still kinda weak to Ground defensively, with your one resistance having a Focus Sash, but maybe Dracovish fixes that problem more in practice.
Item choices could possibly be improved too. It would depend a lot on how you actually use the Pokemon, but Dracovish and Bisharp might have better options for items, like Choice Band and Life Orb, respectively, though there are many other options as well. It would depend mostly on what you plan to use each Pokemon for, and how you would go about doing that.
I'm honestly not too sure about how to use Misty Terrain effectively in this game, since Weezing-G doesn't quite have the same offensive power or typing Tapu Fini has, the little it may have over Weezing-G. The only ideas I've had are pretty generic, like Misty Seed, Unburden, or as a defensive pivot to negate status conditions from your opponent. However, the four you chose do make up a decent defensive core, being Dragon/Fairy/Steel. I'd just be worried about what those secondary types do to it, and what job they do for everyone else in the long run.
I could see those four working decently in Tower, though personally I'd still be worried about the lack of Protect. Besides that, Dracovish is a weird one for you, at least in the front. With no reliable way to make it go first for Fishous Rend immediately, something like replacing Whimsicott in the lead for Weezing-G could do decently. This of course assumes you're leading with Weezing-G and Dracovish, based on your order.
The four are still kinda weak to Ground defensively, with your one resistance having a Focus Sash, but maybe Dracovish fixes that problem more in practice.
Item choices could possibly be improved too. It would depend a lot on how you actually use the Pokemon, but Dracovish and Bisharp might have better options for items, like Choice Band and Life Orb, respectively, though there are many other options as well. It would depend mostly on what you plan to use each Pokemon for, and how you would go about doing that.
I'm honestly not too sure about how to use Misty Terrain effectively in this game, since Weezing-G doesn't quite have the same offensive power or typing Tapu Fini has, the little it may have over Weezing-G. The only ideas I've had are pretty generic, like Misty Seed, Unburden, or as a defensive pivot to negate status conditions from your opponent. However, the four you chose do make up a decent defensive core, being Dragon/Fairy/Steel. I'd just be worried about what those secondary types do to it, and what job they do for everyone else in the long run.
I should've changed the order because I plan to lead with Weezing and Whisimcott for tailwind.
I'm kinda of scared of choice items in any pokemon that is not using a move without immunities (like Sylveon), but the possibilitie to dynamax makes the possibility more appealing. The bisharp should deffinitely be using life orb.
Thank you very much for the help.
Do note that Dynamaxing a pokemon removes the Choice lock. So aside Dracovish (which honestly is going to click Fishious Rend against anything that isn't water immune or 4x resist), you always have the option to just Dynamax when locked in a bad move.
Just made it to 50 in doubles with this sand team and though I'm dissappointed with the lack of different formats, the BP payout, and lack of boss characters like in the Battle Tree, I'm having a lot of fun with the game and this team. Dynamax doesn't feel nearly as broken in doubles as in singles, and though I had no idea the restricted pokémon were allowed when I theorymonned this team, I don't think I'd swap out either for any of the legendaries.
Tyranitar (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Stream
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant nature
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Protect
Excadrill (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- High Horsepower
Usually the games are just these two wailing on the opponents. Protect has been super-useful for scouting for things like Fake Out which otherwise has constituted a couple of sweaty games where I've almost OHKO'd my own Tyranitar on turn one. Otherwise it's obvious stuff. High Horsepower is very much a filler move on Excadrill, I haven't yet used it, but I'm not sure what would be better. I'm also thinking about replacing Earthquake on Tyranitar with some coverage like Ice Punch. The EV:s are likely not optimal, especially not on Tyranitar. I'd love some input on these two matters.
Togekiss (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid nature
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Follow Me
- Protect
The back line consists of two bulky switch-ins to solve various issues I might run into. Nasty Plot on Rotom is harder to pull off than expected, but it is doable with Togekiss' Follow Me support, and often it's enough to come in, Dynamax and just spam Max Lightning/Geyser. Protect on Togekiss to not get wrecked by Discharge from Rotom in case they end up together.
I don't think the EV:s are even close to optimal, but I've yet to invest enough of my time and energy (read: get a streak long enough for me to be afraid of losing) to go so far as to look up sets, do damage calcs, etc. It's been thus far a rather casual and enjoyable run up until 50. That said, I'd love some input on the finer details of the team, specifically the EV:s and the moves mentioned above.
EDIT: I just finished reading the non-OP posts in the thread, I didn't know there were no downsides to losing. Well, so much for a post game, right?
Welp, that's basically the exact same team I have been breeding up :D
My idea was to have Excadrill as the Dynamax mon, with Brick Break on there to boost attack. Earthquake and Iron Head provide defence boosts as Max moves.
I was thinking Rotom Mow might be a decent idea because I really don't want to put up with Hydro Pump's accuracy.
I have also been thinking about Life Dew on Togekiss to keep healing the main attackers, and doing a fully defensive build.
I took advantage of the great resources in this thread to make a very, very consistent and quick Battle Tower team, purely intended for BP grinding as fast as possible. You can see more details in this video, but here's the rental code / paste:
Rotom-Heat @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Ally Switch
- Helping Hand
This team is heavily influenced by Magicxgame's rental team, who Jibaku had also been using a variant of to great effect. The Rotom-Heat here is just intended for people who want to get Master Rank in doubles; singles with Zacian/Gyarados/Eternatus is much faster (typically I could do a set of 10 single battles in 15-16 minutes, where doubles would take more than 18 minutes).
Zacian probably wins more than half of the battles by itself, since the tower isn't really equipped to deal with it. I opted not to be max Speed for situations against non-Scarf Ditto. If Zacian is faster than Gyarados at +1, you'll just lose if you happen to encounter an Imposter variant. While losses only give up time, time is still valuable imo. The only things you don't outspeed are Scarf Xatu (which can't hardly touch you) and Scarf Flygon (which you can't outspeed without giving up the counterplay to Ditto with Gyarados). One important thing of note is that against Leon, you want to try to get a Swords Dance in versus his lead if possible (you can't versus Haxorus / Cinderace / risky vs Inteleon), so that you can OHKO his Gmax Charizard with Behemoth Blade.
Gyarados is Jolly max Speed with Earthquake because of the Zacian counterplay (use Max Bounce -> Max Earthquake and you can reverse sweep), and because I rarely used Power Whip or Max Overgrowth in my runs. You don't have to run max Speed, but it lets you outspeed some stuff at neutral that you wouldn't otherwise, and I didn't know any purpose for the extra HP gained other than generic bulk.
Eternatus is very straightforward, since you'll be using Specs Dynamax Cannon like 80% of the time. The only thing I switched from Magicxgame was Draco Meteor -> Eternabeam, since the only time you click the stronger Dragon move is to save a turn in the endgame versus a final 3rd Pokemon, and Eternabeam gets KOs on stuff like Gastrodon where Draco Meteor doesn't.
Rotom-Heat is good filler in doubles, since it can OHKO Aegislash and Ditto-Zacian, Helping Hand in theory helps to grab KOs that would be just out of reach otherwise (e.g. Behemoth Blade vs Leon's Charizard), and since the AI never predicts Ally Switch, it's basically like a free Follow Me in some cases.
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For some reason, Pickup will generate items after wins in the Battle Tower. I would strongly encourage anyone grinding in the tower to take advantage of the free potential PP Ups, Rare Candies, Bottle Caps, money items, etc. and use a team of 6 Pickup Pokemon in your party while doing your 10 battle win streaks.
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Since I know most people are dissatisfied with the new rules in the Battle Tower ending a true concept of streaks, I propose a new category that may entice some people in a new way: speedrunning 10-game streaks. Rather than try to build a team that lets you endure 100s of battles, what's the team you can build that completes 10 battles the fastest? Some proposed ground rules:
While there's surely some luck involved in such a category, I think that it could be an extremely fun category too, since runs should always take less than 20 minutes to complete, and it would encourage developing strategies that allow players to amass wins more quickly. If this is popular enough, perhaps you could even make a nolegendary% category for those who don't want to use legends as they play. Just a thought!
Since I know most people are dissatisfied with the new rules in the Battle Tower ending a true concept of streaks, I propose a new category that may entice some people in a new way: speedrunning 10-game streaks. Rather than try to build a team that lets you endure 100s of battles, what's the team you can build that completes 10 battles the fastest? Some proposed ground rules:
While there's surely some luck involved in such a category, I think that it could be an extremely fun category too, since runs should always take less than 20 minutes to complete, and it would encourage developing strategies that allow players to amass wins more quickly. If this is popular enough, perhaps you could even make a nolegendary% category for those who don't want to use legends as they play. Just a thought!
I figure the most natural way to treat this is as an extention of the old Battle Institute from generations 5-6. That was a turn-based challenge, not a real-time challenge, so there were factors like "squeeze out every bit of performance by button-mashing perfectly through text boxes" that didn't get to apply there but can be worth something here, and most notably you can read the names of the trainers that show up at every battle in the Institute, and take time to look up what can be on their team without penalty. But the scoring system of battle tests was structured to prevent you from farming points over a long battle, as the penalty for each passing turn exceeded what you could get from the marginal effects that took place during that turn, forcing you to go for quick battles anyway if you wanted the highest scores.