SS OU The Dark Fantasy - Peaked #1 Multiple Times

[Mimikyu Stardust]

The Dark Spam HO


(click for team)

1. Introduction
2. Overview
3. The Team
4. Replays
5. Team Threats
6. Usage Tips
7. Importable
8. Shoutouts

1. Introduction
Hello everyone! here's another RMT of a team that i've been using and enjoying a lot, i've been playing mons a whole lot less since college has just started again but this team has been really fun to use in tournaments and ladder which makes me want to play more SS OU despite not liking the current state of the meta. This team however wasn't entirely made by me, but by Vertex and i just added a few edits to the team which made it a lot better, and he has also helped by proofreading and grammar checking the entire RMT. Both of us have made a team/RMT before which you can find here. Without further ado, heres "The Dark Fantasy".

2. Overview
Generation 8’s final metagame shift has led us to a balance centric tier– Regen cores, fat Rillaboom , sand, Protect Melmetal, etc… These teams are popular due to how safe they are to play and their lack of bad match-ups. This has resulted in a lot of mirrors in which you have 2-3 tanks that can take these stray hits with games decided by passive damage stacking. This, in my opinion, has created a vacuum in which more hyper offensive teams can flourish. Things that usually destroy offense like rain, Regieleki, and faster teams in general have dwindled significantly in usage due to these aforementioned trends. In conjunction with hazards, the majority of SS teams will be reacting to your plays 90% of the time, whether that is the use of Crawdaunt vs Stall or Scarf Blacephalon vs Offense.

To further elaborate, we have a snippet from Vertex (the original builder of the team):

From Vertex: I built this team after Mimikyu Stardust and I were talking about how disappointed we were with the direction this generation has gone, favoring fatter playstyles more than offense. The team started with Mew, as it is OU’s best suicide lead due to Generation 8 introducing a lot of broken anti-Focus Sash moves such as Double Iron Bash, Surging Strikes, Dragon Darts, and Triple Axel. I wanted to pair it with a Dark-SPAM core to overload Knock Off answers into oblivion. The original version had Bisharp but I changed it to Crawdaunt after Mimikyu Stardust enlightened me on how underrated this Pokemon can be. Garchomp and Scarf Blacephalon round off the team for their offensive utility. Overall, this is a very consistent hyper offense with very few bad match-ups. These few bad match-ups however, can feel extremely volatile but that’s more so due to the archetype being horrendous this gen than the team itself.

This was by far the most spammed hyper offense this season of OLT, which is why we decided to RMT it. In terms of statistics, it allowed Vertex to peak #1 prior to the tournament and myself to unofficially qualify during Cycle 2 and Cycle 4 as shown below.

Proof Of Peak

Vertex's Pre OLT Peak

Mimikyu Stardust's Peak During OLT (LT92PFMimikyuStarD and LT94JenPlsComeBack)

(click this button for proof of peak)


3. The Team

Mew @ Colbur Berry / Mental Herb
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp

Roles
Mew is this team’s suicide lead and most customizable member. Colbur Berry tends to be its most consistent option, but Mental Herb can have massive upside if one loads into Taunt / Encore users such as Tornadus-T, Tapu Koko, and Ninetales-A. The status move of choice is a tough decision. Thunder Wave is once again, more consistent, but Will-O-Wisp can be justified due to how popular Excadrill is as of late. Just whatever you do, please don’t drop Taunt. It is a necessity to stop Defog, Stealth Rock, lead Calm Mind Tapu Fini, and more importantly Toxic Spikes as this team does not have an absorber.

Damage Calcs

252+ Atk Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mew: 330-390 (81.6 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 360-426 (89.1 - 105.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 294-348 (72.7 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 255-301 (63.1 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mew: 312-367 (77.2 - 90.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance

Roles
SD LO Weavile is mandatory on any serious hyper offense team. After a Swords Dance, Triple Axel and Knock Off reach godly power levels.
Weavile capitalizes on a lot of common sequences players use vs lead Mew, mainly Landorus-T U-turn → Dragapult Shadow Ball. Ice Shard is an important priority move to pick off Pokemon such as Garchomp and weakened Tapu Koko. Adamant Nature is non-negotiable. Jolly Weavile will miss out on the OHKO vs Corviknight otherwise, allowing your opponent to Defog Mew’s hazards away. You can test Pickpocket > Pressure to steal Kartana’s Choice Scarf (so Blacephalon can outspeed it), but it’s usually a strange trade as Choice Scarf Weavile is not very good.

Damage Calculations

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 366-438 (91.5 - 109.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 303-363 (72.4 - 86.8%) -- approx. 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 315-375 (89.4 - 106.5%) -- approx. 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 261-312 (76.5 - 91.4%) -- approx. 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 227-269 (74.6 - 88.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

Celesteela @ Power Herb
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Meteor Beam
- Flamethrower
- Autotomize

Roles
Celesteela has a beautiful defensive profile, checking some otherwise big threats: Rillaboom, Scarf Tapu Lele, Excadrill, Scarf Kartana, Tapu Fini, Melmetal, etc… The only problem with this Pokemon is it’s pretty poor offensively, relying on Air Slash flinches to cheese through common defensive staples such as Slowking-G, Toxapex, and Thunder Wave Clefable. Most games you’ll end up playing Celesteela as an offensive pivot, coming in on a big threat and dropping a Meteor Beam to chip a Tyranitar or Heatran for Blacephalon late-game. While rare, there are instances in which Celesteela can snowball rapidly. Always ask yourself at Team Preview whether you’re going to save this Pokemon as a win condition or use it as an offensive pivot instead.

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance

Roles
Crawdaunt completes the Dark-SPAM core and is your anti-lead vs Beat Up Weavile. Always click Knock Off Turn 1 vs Beat Up Weavile because even if they stay in, it’s a win-win because you just weakened their Ghost resist. However the main reason Crawdaunt is used over alternative Dark-types is because it destroys stall teams. Mew is able to get multiple layers up with ease vs the archetype, which helps Crawdaunt force some kills. After a Swords Dance and some layers, the only common stall Pokemon that can take a hit are Quagsire and Heavy-Duty Boots Clefable. Aqua Jet rounds off the set for its nice applications vs Excadrill, Weavile, Blaziken, Volcarona, and rain teams. It also OHKO’s Tapu Koko at +2.

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Scale Shot
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance

Roles
Garchomp is this team’s Ground-type of choice because of its dangerous swords dance set and great defensive profile for a set up sweeper. Rough Skin has great utility, chipping Pokemon like Scarf Kartana and Urshifu-RS into Weavile range. Swords Dance & stabs are self-explanatory with Fire Fang being the best third move to maximize coverage. Lum Berry is the best item as it lets you set up with no fear vs the abundance of Toxic users in this tier– Heatran, Zapdos, Toxapex, Landorus-T, Rotom-W, etc… and having a chance to set up againts Toxic spikes which destroys this team if it ever got up. Life Orb and Roseli Berry are common variations we have seen, but tend to be less consistent.

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Trick
- Taunt

Roles
Choice Scarf Blacephalon glues up the team perfectly– it provides speed control, trick utility, and a secondary check to Tapu Lele. Flamethrower and Shadow Ball are spammable and accurate stabs that can snowball violently mid- to late-game. Shadow Ball is especially spammable due to its broken secondary effect. Trick + Taunt rounds off the set, being the final “fuck you” to stall / fat balance teams in case the Dark-SPAM core isn’t enough. A Timid Nature is valid for extra insurance vs Scarf Tapu Lele, but you will miss out on some common rolls:

Damage Calculations

252+ SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 177-208 (49 - 57.6%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO

252+ SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 118-141 (38.8 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

+1 252+ SpA Blacephalon Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 274-324 (76.7 - 90.7%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

252+ SpA Blacephalon Flamethrower vs. 40 HP / 148 SpD Melmetal: 422-498 (100.2 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Other Options
Here are some optional change that could be made to the team
Modest -> Timid: while i do think Modest is overall better, this team sometimes tend to be rather slow, so if you are struggling vs scarf lele and scarf shifu, you can always change blace to timid

Adamant -> Jolly: daunt's adamant is usually near mandatory for its DESTRUCTIVE damage and important aqua jet rolls, but due to how dangerous crawdaunt is, a few pokemon like to creep the speed of adamant like Rotom-Wash and the scarcity of Jolly Crawdaunt can sometimes trick people into thinking they're save when they are not

-> OR : SD Garchomp is a pokemon that can run almost any item viably, lum berry is mainly so that garchomp can set-up on mons that rely on status to beat it like rotom and zapdos, but roseli berry can be used to bait in scarf fairies like lele and fini as shown in the second replay below, while life orb is just a nice item to use for increased damage

4. Replays
heres some replays showcasing the teams againts good players using popular playstyles
(its not that much replay as of now, but we will try to collect more)

Vs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1636605134 vs. SoulWind (Stall)

Like every season of OLT, players of all skill levels spam stall because it deals with the majority of the nonsense on the ladder. This replay demonstrates how easy it is to overwhelm stall teams with the combination of hazards & Crawdaunt. Garchomp cleans up very easily due to its Lum Berry and the heavy hit Unaware Clefable had to take from Crawdaunt’s Crabhammer.

Vs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-650889 - vs. DonSalvatore (Bulky Offense)

This was from Saucisse Merguez Tour/Ojama’s Tour Round 6. Don made a great play leading Landorus-T, expecting the anti-lead Scarf Blacephalon for his own Specs Blacephalon. After trading Stealth Rock, the rest of the game highlights how valuable Celesteela is as an offensive pivot, with Crawdaunt forcing checkmate positions due to the looming threat of Scarf Blacephalon snowballing late-game. Roseli Berry, while less consistent than Lum Berry, shows its niche as it prevents Vertex from playing a possible 50/50 Turn 19.

Vs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1631963934 - vs. TJ (Offense)

I saw Weavile at Team Preview so I was scared to lead Mew against a potential Choice Band Beat Up. Despite that, I still had a feeling my opponent would try to counter-lead my own counter-lead by going Crawdaunt (which is why I went Mew anyways). Hazards went a long way here as it covered some of the unfortunate RNG present with Triple Axel and Crabhammer. Despite my Dark-SPAM core dying prematurely, I was still able to get back into the game after Blacephalon killed Rillaboom. Celesteela’s defensive utility was very useful for Dragonite. After the chip damage on Heatran, Blacephalon and Celesteela itself were able to tidy up the match.

Vs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1638140950 - vs Ewin (Balance)

This OLT ladder game was a tough match-up due to Ewin having two answers to the Dark-SPAM core in Tapu Fini & Urshifu. Blacephalon and Celesteela will be your best options here as Weavile and Crawdaunt are quite useless. Turn 6 I made a hard read (high risk, high reward play), expecting a Close Combat or U-turn. It paid off as my opponent went to Tapu Fini on my Blacephalon; I bluffed Choice Specs with the Modest Flamethrower damage. Blacephalon was then traded for the adequate chip on Melmetal so Weavile and Garchomp could clean up.

Vs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1638141758 - vs star (Hyper Offense)

I prioritized hazards early as teams like these have poor to no hazard control. Mew was quite safe as a lead because Star didn’t have Beat Up Weavile. I was lucky enough to be able to get all 4 layers which prevented my opponent from switching around safely. Because of that assurance he wasn’t going to switch, I was able to just kill what was in front of me every turn without having to predict.

5. Team Threats
Here are some of the big threats to this team.

THREAT LIST

Rain is a dishonest playstyle which i adore but there isn’t much you can change without making the team worse vs more common matchups. Prioritize hazards early so Crawdaunt can potentially sweep late-game with Aqua Jet. But if they have a Volcanion or Tapu Lele in their rain, then… tough luck.

Standard Tapu Koko is annoying but manageable as it can only check one Pokemon max before being in range of the rest of the team; whether that is priority or Scarf Blacephalon. The really dangerous set is Calm Mind as some people will decide to sweep you off lead, which is why you should always click taunt vs it. Storm Zone has told me to use Explosion on Mew to chip it but I personally have difficulty fitting it on the set.

Excadrill is annoying as our spinblocker is Blacephalon. Run Will-O-Wisp > Thunder Wave on Mew if you want to circumvent this. Celesteela, Garchomp, and Crawdaunt are great checks.

Calm Mind Tapu Fini’s usage has tanked this metagame shift due to trends such as bulky Rillaboom, Protect Melmetal, Volcanion, and Slowking-G. It is still a threat worth mentioning however. Hazards and Knock Off from one of your Dark-types can pressure it upon entry. You will have to trade Celesteela for the chip in most games, that way you can revenge kill it with Garchomp. Never let it set up on Mew.

Scarfers in general
this team doesn't have many speed control, as most of it comes from the priority moves from the dark types, and unfortunately most of the viable scarfers in OU are quite bulky so they are able to take those hits
Scarf Tapu Lele, more specifically Timid Scarf, is quite annoying for the team as it can revenge kill every member with the appropriate coverage. It can be outplayed comfortably though because Blacephalon can punish Tapu Lele locked into Moonblast. Celesteela is a great check as long as you don’t switch into Thunderbolt.

Scarf Kartana can be a pesky threat to maneuver around. Once again, Spikes go a long way here, especially when paired with Rough Skin. Celesteela can switch-in twice, which is more than enough since HO games tend to be short turns-wise.
Scarf Urshifu, while rare, is dangerous because it revenge kills Weavile before you can kill it with Triple Axel. Rough Skin paired with hazards are your best counterplay. Blacephalon can bluff Timid to scare it out as well; your opponent won’t risk it before damage calculating your first attack with it as Scarf Urshifu is a niche set that gets very few good match-ups.

6. Usage Tips

Despite being a hyper offense, this team can be daunting (no pun intended) for new players to use due to the lack of defensive utility present. Here are some usage tips:
​

1. Prioritize hazards. Hazards are critical for this team to function because a lot of your Pokemon require chip damage to secure kills. The damage calculations are the tip of the iceberg; even Stealth Rock alone can put Tapu Lele in range of Garchomp’s Earthquake and Landorus-T in range of two of Blacephalon’s Flamethrowers. This team also forces a lot of switches due to how offensive it is. Even if there isn’t a clear win condition at preview, hazards can slowly but surely pave the way for certain Pokemon to clean up late-game.

2. Know when to conserve or let a mon die. As you can tell, this team has bascally 0 defensive utility other than the immunities and natural good defensive typing, but everything (even celesteela) is quite frail so you need to have a plan. Assess the opponents team see if they have pokemon that can potentially out-offense you, if they have lele you want to safe a dark, blace and steela, if they have urshifu, safe blace and garchomp, if they have kart, safe steela and so on. If they dont have too much offensive power like on balance or stall, you can play a bit more reckless and just get as much damage as possible for 1 pokemon to clean up in the endgame, no need to double and just click buttons. Just make sure to assess the matchup and plan ahead on what mon you need to keep or sack.

3. Use your damage calculator. Pokemon is a game of inches where even 1% can matter in the long run. This may be general advice for everyone playing pokemon, but this team in particular has very little room for error. You don’t want to let Crawdaunt die to a Tapu Koko because you forgot Aqua Jet doesn't do 60%, or let Blacephalon die to Landorus-T because you forgot Shadow Ball doesn’t do 45%.

4. Analyze Risk vs. Reward. Every single member on this team bar Mew has a way to sweep your opponent. Even if you are behind, you can always come back with the right predictions and aggressive plays. Playing aggressively is definitely easier said than done, but one way to see if you need to pull the trigger is to analyze risk vs reward. Let us say post-hazards you have a Weavile vs Landorus-T. The reward of clicking Swords Dance vs a Landorus-T may not be worth it because if they stay in and Defog or U-turn, you are instantly in a bad spot. Clicking Triple Axel is 90% of the time the best play because it keeps hazards up while chipping a potential switch-in. High risk, low reward plays are rarely worth it. The only time these types of plays make sense is if you are extremely behind in a match and you need to make a sequence of hyper aggressive plays to swing momentum back in your favor. Unpredictable playing is one way to make this work (playing extremely safe for a couple of turns then making some low rationale play afterwards to throw your opponent off guard).

7. Importable

https://pokepast.es/0de3d20da11aca4b

Mew @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance

Celesteela @ Power Herb
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Meteor Beam
- Flamethrower
- Autotomize

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Scale Shot
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Trick
- Taunt

8. Shoutouts

Vertex helped practically made this team and has helped with a lot of my building right now and in the past, he also helped write and proof read this post, so shoutouts to him
Storm Zone for helping us test this team and being the only other person on ladder
Agentkeval for nothing, i just always shoutout him in all of my post, stop getting banned and get the classics trophy
clean Fusien Baloor Korkskrew georgiethefirst For using this team during OLT and helping test this team out and also to the rest of the bois
Shoutouts to the Overused Room Auths for being cool dudes ironwater pastagirl Sp0oN1oRd suwa HTCL Typhlosion4 and the rest which i am too lazy to tag, some of which used this team to ladder
to the people at PT devin Shiox fabwooloo Pais ojr Kibo lolebruh haxrme BluBirD blarghlfarghl (nvm i have been Haha'd)Revenge Killer infinitemugen99 and everyone else (im too lazy to tag everyone again) for being cool people to talk to

9. My Other Teams​

Overused Teams



ANTI-META Nidoking Super Offense (Version 1 and Version 2) PEAK TOP 8 LADDER 1938+
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...and-version-2-peak-top-8-ladder-1938.3696044/

"Grudges" A Grudge Alolan Ninetales Bulky HO (PEAK #3 2003) + OST Team Dump
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...s-bulky-ho-peak-3-2003-ost-team-dump.3698343/

"Hax Forecast" - Anti-Stall Togekiss + Druddigon + Melmetal Parahax Spam - PEAK #1 (2074 ELO, 85.3 GXE)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...arahax-spam-peak-1-2074-elo-85-3-gxe.3699903/

Ubers Teams


Rain with Cappuccino - Peaked #1, #2, #4 (Dugtrio + Barraskewda Rain)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...eaked-1-2-4-dugtrio-barraskewda-rain.3704471/

and..... thats about it! thanks to everyone who has read this post, hope it was a good read, originally vertex was meant to write and release this RMT but he gave me permission to do it, again thanks to him for helping write this post with proofreading and such, i may not play SS OU as much i used to due to the meta getting a little stale and also college, but this team has been really fun to use which makes me want to play more.

again thanks to everyone who has read this post, please leave a like and

GOODBYE EVERYONE!​

 

[Baloor]

"Rain is a dishonest playstyle"

-mimi

 

[shawk*+:)]

Don't use rain to get outta low ladder, use this team.

seriously, this is mad easy to use.

 

[Boomenheimer]

W team bro. Last time I played OU was using your hax forecast team, I guess the next time I play OU I’m using this one

 

[remetagross]

Nice team! I'v fiddled with Dark spam myself and have also ditched Bisharp in favour of Crawdaunt. I think you're the sole person behind this new Crawdaunt fad we're currently having :)

 

[devin]

proud of you mmq, keep on doing you brother. Hope to see you back in the tour scene. Also, loved this team, used it a lot myself.

 

[irobutz]

Im so glad you made this RMT because ive been using/loving this team for a while now! I actually put this together as best as i could from your replays in the viability ranking thread about crawdaunt and its easily my most used team since then.

Im quite new to comp pokemon and im proud to say that your team helped me reach my peak of 1450 :)

would you mind answering one question about the team? like you mentioned, this team struggles vs. Rain and Tapu Koko, so i figured, i could switch celeesta for tapu bulu (LO SD) and its been working quite well. Is this a good/reasonable change or does it only work because im low on the ladder? id love to hear your opinion about it

And again, thanks for the amazing team!

 

[EeveeWillEatYou]

TBH one of my favourite of your teams, and LO weavile is kinda mad

 

[Pais]

 

[Mimikyu Stardust]

Im so glad you made this RMT because ive been using/loving this team for a while now! I actually put this together as best as i could from your replays in the viability ranking thread about crawdaunt and its easily my most used team since then.

Im quite new to comp pokemon and im proud to say that your team helped me reach my peak of 1450 :)

would you mind answering one question about the team? like you mentioned, this team struggles vs. Rain and Tapu Koko, so i figured, i could switch celeesta for tapu bulu (LO SD) and its been working quite well. Is this a good/reasonable change or does it only work because im low on the ladder? id love to hear your opinion about it

And again, thanks for the amazing team!

As said in the post, celesteela is crucial for defensive utility and the ability to pivot in on threats like excadrill, scarf lele, scarf kartana, melmetal and many more. Offensively it is worse than many other pokemon, even steels, its just that defensively its so great you can't replace it
(fun fact, me and vertex have been building a lot of HO's like this, but despite not liking celesteela offensively we always go back to using it because of how great the defensive utility is)

For the rain matchup, rain will always have a good matchup againts HO since rain has higher speed and power while ho doesn't have the tools to defensively check it with few exceptions like tapu bulu, with this team just try to get as much hazard as possible to chip everyone while preventing them, let something die to a barraskewda liquidation and get crawdaunt in to scare skewda out and Swords Dance, after that you should win with knock and jet.

For the koko matchup, lead garchomp and just try to eq it, but in fear of the specs set, just lead mew as usual and immediately taunt to prevent calm mind, this will only let you get 1 hazard up most games but its still better than getting 6-0'd by calm mind koko turn 1

 

[Dead by Daylight]

gosh damn it, this team swept me on a 9-game win streak :/

 

[RaikouLover]

GOAT Crawdaunt! I’m in love! Amazing team!

Rain is dishonest he he he!

 

[Freezerman]

CAN WE GET MUGH HIGHER

very nice squad I defo like the idea of crawdaunt + weavile alongside blace as a cleaner. I see a big problem vs koko balance squds since that's a mon that just picks and modest blace makes scarf lele matchup very iffy.

 

[sh0shin]

nice to have you back on RMT. love seeing crawdaunt! thanks for the team

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Goat team

What do you usually do vs Rillaboom teams if you have the twave version? I've been leading with Steela cause Mew vs Rilla is a super weird interaction. If you put rocks and they SD then you are in a horrible position, on the other hand if you taunt to prevent this they can be banded u-turn and you get nothing out of Mew.

 

[Ehmcee]

Hey absolutely love the team.

How would you pressure a Clefable that's already in at full with this team?

 

[Dead by Daylight]

Hey absolutely love the team.

How would you pressure a Clefable that's already in at full with this team?

Crabhammer it if you can, and if it's CM, Trick it a Choice Scarf is what I think.

 

[Proseroth]

1 Shell smashed cloyster and this is history :3

 

[Mimikyu Stardust]

Goat team

What do you usually do vs Rillaboom teams if you have the twave version? I've been leading with Steela cause Mew vs Rilla is a super weird interaction. If you put rocks and they SD then you are in a horrible position, on the other hand if you taunt to prevent this they can be banded u-turn and you get nothing out of Mew.

Rilla is a weakness to this team, usually noone leads with rilla though, but if your opponent does, just lead with mew and thunder wave, if they SD you can now go to steela on the glide and prob double back into mew and set up rocks, if they u-turn, tough luck but at least steela outspeeds it now. if they dont lead with it, you can wittle it down with hazard and just revenge kill with weave or steela

1 Shell smashed cloyster and this is history :3

Yea but, cloyster can't exactly set-up on anything other than chomp and maybe weavile. if you try to set up on steela, you die, on blace, you die, on daunt, you die, on mew, you get taunted/para and now mew will stack hazards. Those same hazards will also cut into cloyster's health if its not boots. you really have to be the greatest at doubling and predicting to be able to effectively set-up with cloyster on this team

 

[Max op boy]

Amazing team but sucks against rain teams

 

[sh0shin]

Amazing team but sucks against rain teams

"Rain is a dishonest playstyle which i adore but there isn’t much you can change without making the team worse vs more common matchups. Prioritize hazards early so Crawdaunt can potentially sweep late-game with Aqua Jet. But if they have a Volcanion or Tapu Lele in their rain, then… tough luck."

 

[Red Raven]

This is probably the best and easiest to use hyper offense team I've ever seen. The team isn't too bad defensively either because the members each got a great immunity. Tried it a few times and even though ho isn't a playstyle I'm comfortable with, the team really makes it easy to get used to. For my personal use though, I use timid on Blacephalon so I don't lose to some timid scarf Lele and aqua tail over fire fang on Garchomp. Seriously, fuck Landorus. That mon is getting really old and I hope they nerf intimidate and fairy types to nothingness by gen nine