Specs Toxtricity Balance (Peaked #234, 1458 ELO)
Ended up making an RMT for the team I made in my last post, and got a semi decent peak. Let me know what you guys think!
Intro
Seeing all the NU tier shifts, and it being my favourite of the lower tiers, I decided to take a crack at trying to place higher on the NU ladder, and I really enjoyed the experience, with also playing the tier a lot Pre-Home when Sandaconda mainly dominated the tier. Full disclosure, I played with an older team to start, and got completely rolled by a Choice Specs Toxtricity team on lower ladder, which is what made me want to build around Toxtricity. I hope y'all enjoy the naming theme as well, it's a classic album.
Building Process
So we start of with the guy himself, AKA Mr. damn near 0 switch ins. In building around a Specs set, first thing to consider is Defensive core, since I want to build around balance, which led me to the next two guys.
Copperajah and Gligar form a really great defensive Hazard-Stacking centric core which works really well with this team. Having to force those switches from Toxtricity and stack up on Hazards works great together. Going with a Specially Defensive Copperajah and Physically Defensive round out the defensive backbone of this team
Next, the team needed some form of hazard control, and Tsareena fit the team pretty well, balancing out the 2 ground weak Pokemon already on the team, and served as great support, a pivot move, and strong STAB move. I went with an offesnive set, but I'm sure a more optimized defesnive set could work well
Along with all the new tier shifts, Tauros-Aqua fits the team really well as a form of priority and strong physical wallbreaker
With the infamous Oricorio trio dropping to NU as well, they do what they always do. Not running a scarfer on this team instead made me keep this guy at Max HP, to usually catch opponents off gaurd, get a Quiver Dance off and clean up
The Team
ASTROTHUNDERBOLT @
Ability: Punk Rock
Tera Type: Normal
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Sludge Bomb
- Overdrive
- Volt Switch
Looking at the Viability Rankings alone (granted, they are now a little outdated with the shifts but still relevant), nothing in the S or A+ tier can safely swtich in on this mon.
gets obliterated by Tera Normal Boomburst, and even a Specially Defesne invested set fails to safely take two Boombursts, and gets OHKO'd after Stealth Rocks.
also gets 2HKO'd barring a Tera Steel, to which it cannot do much back either, and
and
get 2HKO'd by Overdrive and Tera Normal Boomburst respectively. This mon is an excellent wallbreaker, and synergizes greatly with the hazard stacking defensive core and Knock Off spam to force switches and remove
. It gets hard walled by a
at full HP, but the switches into
are usually very predictable and Volt Switch on those more Stall-centric teams punish heavily with the combined breaking power of
.
COPPERAJOUSEL @
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Poison
248 HP / 232 SpD / 28 Spe, Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
usually just gets up rocks, Knock's Off one or two mons and faints, and it does this job rather excellently. There isn't much I can say about this staple mon other than that it does what it's been doing since it's been in the tier and is a great glue mon.
EVIOLITE EFFECT @
Ability: Immunity
Tera Type: Water
252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe, Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Toxic
The same can be said for
, but perhaps the only "controversial" decision I made was to forego U-Turn and put Toxic over that moveslot. I found Toxic just worked better, and U-Turn feels like a waste of a slot in some games, although it would give
and
much more entry points.
5% SPIN @
Ability: Queenly Majesty
Tera Type: Ghost
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- U-Turn
is a great addition to the tier, adding to the bracket of great support mons that can carry their own weight with strong STAB, great utility and hazard removal all in one. Tera Ghost acts a Spin block to opposing
and in the
MU keeping up a Spike and Stealth Rocks can be pivotal in winning the game, and shedding its Ice Spinner weakness.
PALDEAFORNICATION @
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
, in combination with
, in my opinion form the strongest breaking core in the NU tier. Even the Likes of
struggle to switch into a Close Combat or Tera Water Wave Crash, and Tera Water Aqua Jet works great in the late game to pick up weakened mons as a result of that hazard stacking core.
R.I.P. SENSU @
Ability: Dancer
Tera Type: Fighting
252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe, Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Revelation Dance
- Hurricane
- Roost
Bulky
works great in the late game, where it can live most strong unresisted moves from Scarfers, and outpaces most scarfers, namely
(by one base point lol), which can poke wholes in the team in the late game without that. Along with the Bulky Set, Roost works great for longevity and Tera Fight allows you to use the Tera Blast LARP of Revelation Dance really effectively.
Final Notes & Paste
Overall, the team doesn't have any huge threats that require delicate counter play, it takes on the new and ever-evolving metagame pretty well in my opinion, and I think that is reflected in the peak I managed to achieve. I'll definitely keep laddering with this team, and update the peak if I do any better, but the team is really solid, let me know if you guys have any notes though, peace
https://pokepast.es/d87c294fc70c75b1