During this year's UPL Peli and crucify gave me the chance to play some post IoA SS Ubers with them and it was actually quite enjoyable. I went on a small laddering spree with a crucify Urshifu team in order to gain knowledge of what is going on in the greater metagame was was mildly successful in doing so. As someone who like using my own teams, I used the newly found information to create this based on what I thought could be strong that also happened to be underutilized at the time. The way Pokemon interact with each other in SS is very different from USUM as the threats are massive whether they dynamax or not so this experience was different and rather refreshing to me overall. I will continue to play SS Ubers (I already have a couple more teams in mind) and do my best to help drive certain things forward as I see untapped potential and things that aren't as well understood as they could be.
Expedition; August 24, 2020:
The first team I made utilizes a Volcarona and a Dugtrio as with proper support and set choices, these two can act in very flexible ways to help out their teammates or make the Volcarona piece extremely threatening. That was the idea going into this and I ended up theorizing that with U-turn and Skarmory Spikes, the team might fill itself out without too many issues given how much pressure these three Pokemon can put on balance and offense alike. I figured Stealth Rock would be coming from a Tyranitar or a Blissey, so I wanted to figure out what would be supporting Skarmory's incomplete core first in order to mitigate as much anti-synergy as possible. Eternatus's set of resistances and ability to back up Skarmory against the physical threats not called Zacian would allow me to part with Skarmory a bit more easily when it needs to fulfill its Rock Helmet / Spikes duties so I decided it should be there first and foremost and while Lunala was added when I realized how weak the team was to certain variants of Zacian. It is still weak to these types of Zacian but to a much lesser degree than before; the matchup is at least workable now. This team was built in a rather intuitive fashion so I suspect that others may have come up with the same six as well.
Dugtrio (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Memento
This Pokemon and Volcarona work very well together and it also helps create nasty pin scenarios when used saved for some of the big offensive threats to the team. If you are aware of the pressure it is exerting on your opponent, it is one if the most flexible team members being able to disrupt just about any game plan the player knows what achievable conditions it needs. It is also integral in Kyurem-B and sun Charizard matchups as dealing with them requires good planning in order to not let them set up speed boosts in unpunishable positions. Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and it are the primary anti-Zacian force (2 hits on the Helmet means Dugtrio should always KO Zacian with EQ) with Volcarona and Lunala as back up so long as they remain at full HP. Dugtrio is a threat to anything it can outspeed and hit reasonably hard with Earthquake when certain conditions are met and just being aware of what it can do in a game is very valuable.
Dugtrio is using enough speed investment to outrun +1 Volcarona and Charizard with its Choice Scarf and Reversal was chosen to give it a shot at hurting a Blissey with 100BP Max Knuckle. I think Reversal and Memento can both be changed if needed but my own testing shows that these niche moves serve the team's needs in a strong enough manner.
Volcarona (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 44 Def / 232 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- U-turn
Volcarona is strong. I may overrate it a bit but it is still strong. It applies enough pressure to defensive backbones to make the balance matchup really good for this team and U-turn really turns that potential pressure into real pressure at alarmingly pace. It and Lunala enable Skarmory and Dugtrio to do things other than lay waiting for Zacian to begin attacking as there are quite a few cases where if Zacian attacks in the wrong place and Volcarona has hammered a team backbone a time or two, the game abruptly ends when it gets to come in at full health and Quiver Dance on Zacian. I don't think many will deny that this is one of the better dynamax abusers and it will like be doing that when using this team. Knowing this, planning on where and when it can dynamax (preferably with a Quiver Dance boost) will likely dictate where you go with the game and whether or not the game is lost or won. Dugtrio can also dynamax but this is a far more rare occurrence than Volcarona using it.
The spread allows Volcarona to always live +1 Wild Charge from Crowned Zacian while maintaining its awesome Special Attack and still outrunning Urshifu and Lunala. The only real notable downsides are missing the tie with Charizard, just barely missing an 85% OHKO on Crowned Zacian with Fire Blast, and Max Mindstorm being slightly less powerful than expected. It is perfectly OK to run 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid on this team, I just personally choose to have extra assurance against adamant Zacian and do my best to avoid the what would be speed tie with Charizard. U-turn helps Volcarona and the team turn a good position into an even better one and can even allow Volcarona to Fire Blast in more positions than usual.
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Body Press
- Roost
Skarmory's role can change drastically from game to game. It does get sacrificed for helmet damage and Spikes most of the time but there are games where it generates a horrifying amount of passive damage so that Volcarona, Eternatus, Dugtrio, and Lunala have little to no trouble finishing the game afterwards. Other than Excadrill and most Dusk Mane Necrozma, all Skarmory is really here for it to make sure Spikes get up and that Zacian and other attackers using contact moves get punished by the helmet when needed.
The speed EVs and Taunt are attempting to creep Stored Power Gothitelle in the hopes that Skarmory isn't a +6 +6 opportunity for the Goth. I invested the rest of the EVs arbitrarily into defense bulk just so it can do its simple yet important tasks as effectively as possible.
Eternatus @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 104 Def / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail
It is hard to build a team with a solid defensive backbone without Eternatus. That being said, I am positive it is trying to do too much on this team to rely on effectively and I am unsure what to do about at this point in time. It serves its normal duties between switching Marshadow and Urshifu Single Strike and threatening to run their attacks out of PP, but it is also needed for dynamax fire types and that is where things get a little stretched thin. Its overlap and overall usefulness when combined with the rest of the team is phenomenal and it still performs basic Eternatus tasks well with only a few noticeable downsides thanks to it not having enough EVs to do everything I would want it to. I chose Dragon Tail as its last move to make sure Cosmic Power Gothitelle can't mess with it while also retaining the ability to apply pressure to Blissey and Tyranitar as needed with with the latter in particular not using Heavy-Duty Boots making it very weak to Skarmory's Spikes.
I have a lot of trouble picking an item and EV spread to best fit the team. It continues to evolve constantly and this particular spread isn't as well tested as I would like as a result. As it stands, Eternatus should 2HKO Choice Specs Gothitelle with Dynamax Cannon and live the one Psychic from it thanks to the berry and still has enough Defense to wipe out Marshadow Poltergeist PP when combined with the Speed investment allowing to outrun said Marshadow. There isn't really a spread I would consider best for Eternatus here and it can change from game to game and evolve with the ladder environment as I encounter different threat trends. I will leave the alternative Eternatus that I think are fine here (the only things that remain consistent is 385 Speed with a method of escaping Gothitelle):
Lunala @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Psychic
Lunala is another backstop in helping the team handle problematic defensive Eternatus sets that can apply unwanted pressure to Blissey. It has several other ways of supporting the team's backbone in a pinch as conditions change with its ability scare +1 Crowned Zacian as a big example. This can allow Dugtrio to go after damaged wall-breakers or even certain pieces of weather cores after conditions have been met without risking +3 Quick Attack though Crunch + Quick Attack is a very real threat to this team. Keeping Mewtwo away from Blissey is something Lunala + Dugtrio do well though it can force a couple of sacrifices in the process if I am not careful. With how many dangerous physical Pokemon that have become running ghost moves this set has begun to falter a bit more than usual and I encourage exploring new ways of running or even replacing Lunala while adapting Eternatus to help suit the changed needs of the team overall.
If it wasn't apparent already, as I was writing this I began to see shortcomings involving Lunala that I have yet to encounter or have encountered very little of and I know steelskitty has made an edit that changes the Lunala set and one or two other small things that help out the entire team (I hope he posts it in this thread). Lunala was really just here to help keep certain cores from overwhelming Blissey and the onsite set seems to do that in testing. I am also biased because it seemed to just win games on its own around the mid ladder. I do think it needs to be changed and will be testing other ways of running it in the future (using my bump of this thread to post results). For now it works, but I think it can be much, much better.
Blissey @ Shed Shell
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
I decided on Blissey as soon as I wanted to put a Lunala on the team as the two and Eternatus support each other extremely well with very little anti-synergy. Between the three, they make eachother very hard to break with common attacks with Dugtrio and Skarmory Spikes as well as the threat of a Volcarona looming. Blissey is the first line of defense against any special attacker not named Mewtwo or one of Charizard or Volcarona in the sun while while threatening most of them with some combination of Toxic and Seismic Toss or just using them as a Stealth Rock opportunity before using Lunala in the case of Eternatus. With Lunala and Eternatus as Trick buffers it has never been impossibly difficult to put Blissey in a winning position with Dugtrio support though Life Orb Solar Power Gmax Charizard in sun is just ridiculous enough to get through it unfortunately. Playing with Blissey can be hard and I have thought of using Thunder Wave + Teleport on it to make certain match-ups easier (Charizard and Gothitelle mostly) and with the edits I now plan on making to the team perhaps that is OK, but in this case I think Toxic is needed otherwise Lunala becomes a massive issue to the team and there isn't really much that can be done about it. While it isn't a catch all special sponge, it is pretty easy to get Blissey into a winning position against specially biased given what the rest of the team can do for it.
Big Time Threat-list (as the team stands now):
The most dangerous core to the team:
+ 
Charizard lays waste to everything when it gets a speed boost from Max Airstream due to its ability to 2HKO Blissey with Gmax Wildfire with sun and Solar Power boosting it. This is one of the bigger things that needs to be solved from the teambuilder side I think but currently Dugtrio is the only way to threaten it with a revenge kill with Stone Edge having a very strong chance to OHKO dynamaxed Charizard after its initial Solar Power damage and an attacking turn with Solar Power + Life Orb. If Charizard gets 2 speed boosts, the game abruptly ends if my opponent is smart with the Charizard attacks discounting Fire Blast accuracy.
Giant Threats:
/
/
:
Because I made the decision to make this without a Dusk Mane Necrozma, Kyurem-B is a natural threat that must be played around in very specific and deliberate ways. On a basic level, Blissey can never be on the field without Kyurem being a threat at the same time so in a way it is invalidated it from the game. Dugtrio can potentially revenge-kill it once Kyurem's dynamax has ended and Volcarona can sometimes force a defensive dynamax from Kyurem or one of its teammates. Holding positions where it can't ruin your day between Eternatus, Lunala, Volcarona, and Skarmory + Dugtrio is always the best way to play around it but this needs to be done very thoughtfully as one missed detail is game ending when facing Kyurem.
While it can have some issues with Skarmory between Spikes and Rock Helmet damage, SD + Crunch + Quick Attack + STAB Crowned Zacian is a terror to this teamwith the only real counterplay being to never let it set up freely until it is telegraphed that this isn't possible or Zacian falls.
Choice Specs Gothitelle basically means that Skarmory is only getting 1 layer or staying off the field until the Goth has been dealt with. Trick is what makes it dangerous when against Shed Shell Blissey as nothing really wants to take it but if anything it should probably be Lunala. With its Trick used, it becomes much easier to deal with but it giving the Choice Specs to Lunala or Eternatus can be game ending if Dugtrio isn't able to make up for the loss or Volcarona can't end the game soon after.
Not So Final Thoughts:
What has made this team strong is its strong not-so-passive defensive overlap when combined with Dugtrio, Skarmory, and Volcarona who will almost always be threatening to end the game on their own. It require thoughtful use of every piece in and high gamestate awareness of what you can do with the pieces you have and how your opponent can break them. This is not a team that is meant to allow someone to coast to the mid-ladder because it is simply a bit difficult to use sometimes (though while writing this I have discovered several ways to help this out that haven't been incorporated yet). Its upsides definitely outwiegh its downs though and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. I have several other teams to put here but these RMTs take a lot of work to finish so they will have to come around later.
So it turns out while writing this, despite extensive testing, there is still a bunch of work that can be done to it to make it better! This is very exciting to me and I plan on testing a few more things with it and I hope you guys as the readers do as well. It's amazing how much organizing thoughts outside of the brain can help one free up the bandwidth needed to make it better. I am still going to post this as I have it just to see where others want to take it themselves and give them a space to write about their experiences with the teams and their edits. I do think the overall structure and strategy potential is still very strong and it would be a disservice to keep it hidden for longer.
Thanks for reading!
Expedition; August 24, 2020:
The first team I made utilizes a Volcarona and a Dugtrio as with proper support and set choices, these two can act in very flexible ways to help out their teammates or make the Volcarona piece extremely threatening. That was the idea going into this and I ended up theorizing that with U-turn and Skarmory Spikes, the team might fill itself out without too many issues given how much pressure these three Pokemon can put on balance and offense alike. I figured Stealth Rock would be coming from a Tyranitar or a Blissey, so I wanted to figure out what would be supporting Skarmory's incomplete core first in order to mitigate as much anti-synergy as possible. Eternatus's set of resistances and ability to back up Skarmory against the physical threats not called Zacian would allow me to part with Skarmory a bit more easily when it needs to fulfill its Rock Helmet / Spikes duties so I decided it should be there first and foremost and while Lunala was added when I realized how weak the team was to certain variants of Zacian. It is still weak to these types of Zacian but to a much lesser degree than before; the matchup is at least workable now. This team was built in a rather intuitive fashion so I suspect that others may have come up with the same six as well.
Dugtrio (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Memento
This Pokemon and Volcarona work very well together and it also helps create nasty pin scenarios when used saved for some of the big offensive threats to the team. If you are aware of the pressure it is exerting on your opponent, it is one if the most flexible team members being able to disrupt just about any game plan the player knows what achievable conditions it needs. It is also integral in Kyurem-B and sun Charizard matchups as dealing with them requires good planning in order to not let them set up speed boosts in unpunishable positions. Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and it are the primary anti-Zacian force (2 hits on the Helmet means Dugtrio should always KO Zacian with EQ) with Volcarona and Lunala as back up so long as they remain at full HP. Dugtrio is a threat to anything it can outspeed and hit reasonably hard with Earthquake when certain conditions are met and just being aware of what it can do in a game is very valuable.
Dugtrio is using enough speed investment to outrun +1 Volcarona and Charizard with its Choice Scarf and Reversal was chosen to give it a shot at hurting a Blissey with 100BP Max Knuckle. I think Reversal and Memento can both be changed if needed but my own testing shows that these niche moves serve the team's needs in a strong enough manner.
Volcarona (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 44 Def / 232 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- U-turn
Volcarona is strong. I may overrate it a bit but it is still strong. It applies enough pressure to defensive backbones to make the balance matchup really good for this team and U-turn really turns that potential pressure into real pressure at alarmingly pace. It and Lunala enable Skarmory and Dugtrio to do things other than lay waiting for Zacian to begin attacking as there are quite a few cases where if Zacian attacks in the wrong place and Volcarona has hammered a team backbone a time or two, the game abruptly ends when it gets to come in at full health and Quiver Dance on Zacian. I don't think many will deny that this is one of the better dynamax abusers and it will like be doing that when using this team. Knowing this, planning on where and when it can dynamax (preferably with a Quiver Dance boost) will likely dictate where you go with the game and whether or not the game is lost or won. Dugtrio can also dynamax but this is a far more rare occurrence than Volcarona using it.
The spread allows Volcarona to always live +1 Wild Charge from Crowned Zacian while maintaining its awesome Special Attack and still outrunning Urshifu and Lunala. The only real notable downsides are missing the tie with Charizard, just barely missing an 85% OHKO on Crowned Zacian with Fire Blast, and Max Mindstorm being slightly less powerful than expected. It is perfectly OK to run 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid on this team, I just personally choose to have extra assurance against adamant Zacian and do my best to avoid the what would be speed tie with Charizard. U-turn helps Volcarona and the team turn a good position into an even better one and can even allow Volcarona to Fire Blast in more positions than usual.
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Body Press
- Roost
Skarmory's role can change drastically from game to game. It does get sacrificed for helmet damage and Spikes most of the time but there are games where it generates a horrifying amount of passive damage so that Volcarona, Eternatus, Dugtrio, and Lunala have little to no trouble finishing the game afterwards. Other than Excadrill and most Dusk Mane Necrozma, all Skarmory is really here for it to make sure Spikes get up and that Zacian and other attackers using contact moves get punished by the helmet when needed.
The speed EVs and Taunt are attempting to creep Stored Power Gothitelle in the hopes that Skarmory isn't a +6 +6 opportunity for the Goth. I invested the rest of the EVs arbitrarily into defense bulk just so it can do its simple yet important tasks as effectively as possible.
Eternatus @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 104 Def / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail
It is hard to build a team with a solid defensive backbone without Eternatus. That being said, I am positive it is trying to do too much on this team to rely on effectively and I am unsure what to do about at this point in time. It serves its normal duties between switching Marshadow and Urshifu Single Strike and threatening to run their attacks out of PP, but it is also needed for dynamax fire types and that is where things get a little stretched thin. Its overlap and overall usefulness when combined with the rest of the team is phenomenal and it still performs basic Eternatus tasks well with only a few noticeable downsides thanks to it not having enough EVs to do everything I would want it to. I chose Dragon Tail as its last move to make sure Cosmic Power Gothitelle can't mess with it while also retaining the ability to apply pressure to Blissey and Tyranitar as needed with with the latter in particular not using Heavy-Duty Boots making it very weak to Skarmory's Spikes.
I have a lot of trouble picking an item and EV spread to best fit the team. It continues to evolve constantly and this particular spread isn't as well tested as I would like as a result. As it stands, Eternatus should 2HKO Choice Specs Gothitelle with Dynamax Cannon and live the one Psychic from it thanks to the berry and still has enough Defense to wipe out Marshadow Poltergeist PP when combined with the Speed investment allowing to outrun said Marshadow. There isn't really a spread I would consider best for Eternatus here and it can change from game to game and evolve with the ladder environment as I encounter different threat trends. I will leave the alternative Eternatus that I think are fine here (the only things that remain consistent is 385 Speed with a method of escaping Gothitelle):
Eternatus @ Shed Shell
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Recover
- Dragon Tail
The issue with this guy is that even if Eternatus can escape Gothitelle, nothing else wants to take the Trick though a Lunala set change can help this greatly. I encourage experimentation with this Eternatus and its teammates to see what is better and what isn't. The team will probably better in the end if I had to guess.
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Recover
- Dragon Tail
The issue with this guy is that even if Eternatus can escape Gothitelle, nothing else wants to take the Trick though a Lunala set change can help this greatly. I encourage experimentation with this Eternatus and its teammates to see what is better and what isn't. The team will probably better in the end if I had to guess.
Lunala @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Psychic
Lunala is another backstop in helping the team handle problematic defensive Eternatus sets that can apply unwanted pressure to Blissey. It has several other ways of supporting the team's backbone in a pinch as conditions change with its ability scare +1 Crowned Zacian as a big example. This can allow Dugtrio to go after damaged wall-breakers or even certain pieces of weather cores after conditions have been met without risking +3 Quick Attack though Crunch + Quick Attack is a very real threat to this team. Keeping Mewtwo away from Blissey is something Lunala + Dugtrio do well though it can force a couple of sacrifices in the process if I am not careful. With how many dangerous physical Pokemon that have become running ghost moves this set has begun to falter a bit more than usual and I encourage exploring new ways of running or even replacing Lunala while adapting Eternatus to help suit the changed needs of the team overall.
If it wasn't apparent already, as I was writing this I began to see shortcomings involving Lunala that I have yet to encounter or have encountered very little of and I know steelskitty has made an edit that changes the Lunala set and one or two other small things that help out the entire team (I hope he posts it in this thread). Lunala was really just here to help keep certain cores from overwhelming Blissey and the onsite set seems to do that in testing. I am also biased because it seemed to just win games on its own around the mid ladder. I do think it needs to be changed and will be testing other ways of running it in the future (using my bump of this thread to post results). For now it works, but I think it can be much, much better.
Blissey @ Shed Shell
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
I decided on Blissey as soon as I wanted to put a Lunala on the team as the two and Eternatus support each other extremely well with very little anti-synergy. Between the three, they make eachother very hard to break with common attacks with Dugtrio and Skarmory Spikes as well as the threat of a Volcarona looming. Blissey is the first line of defense against any special attacker not named Mewtwo or one of Charizard or Volcarona in the sun while while threatening most of them with some combination of Toxic and Seismic Toss or just using them as a Stealth Rock opportunity before using Lunala in the case of Eternatus. With Lunala and Eternatus as Trick buffers it has never been impossibly difficult to put Blissey in a winning position with Dugtrio support though Life Orb Solar Power Gmax Charizard in sun is just ridiculous enough to get through it unfortunately. Playing with Blissey can be hard and I have thought of using Thunder Wave + Teleport on it to make certain match-ups easier (Charizard and Gothitelle mostly) and with the edits I now plan on making to the team perhaps that is OK, but in this case I think Toxic is needed otherwise Lunala becomes a massive issue to the team and there isn't really much that can be done about it. While it isn't a catch all special sponge, it is pretty easy to get Blissey into a winning position against specially biased given what the rest of the team can do for it.
Dugtrio (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Memento
Eternatus @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 104 Def / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail
Blissey @ Shed Shell
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
Volcarona (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 44 Def / 232 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- U-turn
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Body Press
- Roost
Lunala @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Psychic
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Memento
Eternatus @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 104 Def / 188 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dynamax Cannon
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail
Blissey @ Shed Shell
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
Volcarona (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 44 Def / 232 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- U-turn
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Body Press
- Roost
Lunala @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Psychic
Here are 4 of me being bad and 1 of squinn using the steelskitty edit of the team... and one where benbe brought and Intellion that was surprisingly threatening in the end.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ubers-515881
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1174664446
Gen8Ubers-2020-08-24-inspirited-pokapk.zip
Gen8Ubers-2020-08-24-piesmellsgood-inspirited.zip
Squinn v Byron
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ubers-519793
... and the Intellion:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1182973339
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ubers-515881
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1174664446
Gen8Ubers-2020-08-24-inspirited-pokapk.zip
Gen8Ubers-2020-08-24-piesmellsgood-inspirited.zip
Squinn v Byron
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ubers-519793
... and the Intellion:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ubers-1182973339
Big Time Threat-list (as the team stands now):
The most dangerous core to the team:
+ Charizard lays waste to everything when it gets a speed boost from Max Airstream due to its ability to 2HKO Blissey with Gmax Wildfire with sun and Solar Power boosting it. This is one of the bigger things that needs to be solved from the teambuilder side I think but currently Dugtrio is the only way to threaten it with a revenge kill with Stone Edge having a very strong chance to OHKO dynamaxed Charizard after its initial Solar Power damage and an attacking turn with Solar Power + Life Orb. If Charizard gets 2 speed boosts, the game abruptly ends if my opponent is smart with the Charizard attacks discounting Fire Blast accuracy.
Giant Threats:
//:Because I made the decision to make this without a Dusk Mane Necrozma, Kyurem-B is a natural threat that must be played around in very specific and deliberate ways. On a basic level, Blissey can never be on the field without Kyurem being a threat at the same time so in a way it is invalidated it from the game. Dugtrio can potentially revenge-kill it once Kyurem's dynamax has ended and Volcarona can sometimes force a defensive dynamax from Kyurem or one of its teammates. Holding positions where it can't ruin your day between Eternatus, Lunala, Volcarona, and Skarmory + Dugtrio is always the best way to play around it but this needs to be done very thoughtfully as one missed detail is game ending when facing Kyurem.
While it can have some issues with Skarmory between Spikes and Rock Helmet damage, SD + Crunch + Quick Attack + STAB Crowned Zacian is a terror to this teamwith the only real counterplay being to never let it set up freely until it is telegraphed that this isn't possible or Zacian falls.
Choice Specs Gothitelle basically means that Skarmory is only getting 1 layer or staying off the field until the Goth has been dealt with. Trick is what makes it dangerous when against Shed Shell Blissey as nothing really wants to take it but if anything it should probably be Lunala. With its Trick used, it becomes much easier to deal with but it giving the Choice Specs to Lunala or Eternatus can be game ending if Dugtrio isn't able to make up for the loss or Volcarona can't end the game soon after.
Not So Final Thoughts:
What has made this team strong is its strong not-so-passive defensive overlap when combined with Dugtrio, Skarmory, and Volcarona who will almost always be threatening to end the game on their own. It require thoughtful use of every piece in and high gamestate awareness of what you can do with the pieces you have and how your opponent can break them. This is not a team that is meant to allow someone to coast to the mid-ladder because it is simply a bit difficult to use sometimes (though while writing this I have discovered several ways to help this out that haven't been incorporated yet). Its upsides definitely outwiegh its downs though and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. I have several other teams to put here but these RMTs take a lot of work to finish so they will have to come around later.
So it turns out while writing this, despite extensive testing, there is still a bunch of work that can be done to it to make it better! This is very exciting to me and I plan on testing a few more things with it and I hope you guys as the readers do as well. It's amazing how much organizing thoughts outside of the brain can help one free up the bandwidth needed to make it better. I am still going to post this as I have it just to see where others want to take it themselves and give them a space to write about their experiences with the teams and their edits. I do think the overall structure and strategy potential is still very strong and it would be a disservice to keep it hidden for longer.
Thanks for reading!
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