With the Sandshrew-Alola ban, I may as well present two of my teams that really appreciated it as a team member - 6 Steel Beam Spam and Trick Room!
Managed to get 2nd place on The Loser's Game ladder at one point, mostly on the backs of these two teams:
6 Steel Beam Spam
Importable: https://pokepast.es/c4f5a361cb4e2e87
I've been refining this team since the Loser's Game got a Gen 8 incarnation, with the latest team member swap being Klink replacing Zamazenta after Calyrex-Shadow was revealed to outspeed Zamazenta and have Taunt and Heal Pulse. This team prioritizes OHKOing as few Steel Beam sac fodder mons as possible by trying to ensure that each mon who can OHKO another mon with Steel Beam (read: every mon but Sandshrew-Alola) only ever has to Steel Beam once per game. Fast speed and Magic Coat aim to pull that off. The team has two Trick fodders in Sandshrew-Alola and Klink, although Klink is a bit powerful for that role.
Team Members:
Note that all members have their HP set to be divisible by 8 for the easy Substitute-into-Steel Beam self-2HKO and are Jolly to maximize Speed and minimize Steel Beam damage.
Zacian @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Protect
Zacian is one of the fastest mons with Steel Beam, and Imprison makes it a great tool against other Steel Beam users to boot. Protect is the 4th move to stall out Taunt, item manipulation such as Trick and Knock Off, Heal Pulse, Tailwind, and more. Shame Zacian has nothing better to use - it would have loved something to patch up its Calyrex-Shadow weakness.
Zacian's 3 required perfect IVs are in Speed (awesome), Defense (Zacian takes Struggle too well, anyway), and Attack (may it never have to Struggle).
Silvally @ Black Sludge
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 4 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Roar
- Substitute
- Magic Coat
Silvally is completely invaluable to this team as the team's only phazer, kicking out opposing Imprison Steel Beam users this way. It's the only mon with phazing, Steel Beam, and Magic Coat, thus trying its hardest to only ever Steel Beam once. Conserve this guy against Imprison Steel Beam users until all such opposing users are KOed, and Roar on predicted Imprisons on Steel Beam.
Klefki @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Defog
With Prankster, Klefki has the fastest Substitute among all mons that learn Steel Beam, maximizing the chances that it only ever has to Steel Beam once per game. It also has the fastest Imprison that locks out Steel Beam in the game, making it invaluable against other Steel Beam users.
With no room elsewhere on the team, Klefki is stuck being the Defogger instead of being able to use Magic Coat to fend off faster Pranksters. This can result in a weakness to Court Change teams with at least one Dark-type, although conserving Klefki until all their hazard setters are gone is a wise strategy, and Steel Beaming the Dark-type is a shockingly good strat.
Jirachi @ Black Sludge
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Encore
Jirachi is the fastest non-Prankster mon with both Steel Beam and Magic Coat, thus helping it get off only one Steel Beam per game. Encore is the 4th move to lock Imprison Steel Beam users into Imprison, thus easing Silvally's entry so it can Roar them out. Encore can also lock Belly Drummers, especially Oblivious ones, into a move they'd rather not use twice (although Kommo-O can dodge this by using Clangorous Soul again and self-2HKOing itself after it is switched in).
I tend to lead with Jirachi, as it has some of the best options regardless of what the opponent leads with. Taunt? Magic Coat it. Imprison? Encore it. Sticky Web? Magic Coat it, too! Your opponent can also (misplay and) opt to throw their weak Steel Beam fodder at Jirachi instead of their stronger fodder that Jirachi still OHKOs with one Steel Beam. Just make sure to switch out to a mon with a much weaker Steel Beam against predicted item manipulation.
Klink @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Magic Coat
- Thunder Wave
Among mons with Steel Beam and Magic Coat, Klink has the lowest base Special Attack at 45, thus ensuring its niche. Thunder Wave disrupts Imprison Steel Beam users in the hopes that they get full para'd. Again, Klink having such a low base Special Attack makes it decent Trick fodder, although its ability to OHKO weak mons is worrying.
Clear Body prevents Sticky Web from affecting it...like that helps much, especially since Klink has only 30 base Speed.
Sandshrew-Alola @ Black Sludge
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Knock Off
- Attract / Substitute
- Protect
With the weakest Steel Beam in the meta - so weak it cannot OHKO anything - Sandshrew-Alola is a great switch-in to Taunt, item manipulation, and more. If your opponent does successfully land a Taunt on one of your mons too early, Sandshrew-Alola is a good dedicated switch-in for that scenario.
Knock Off punishes Imprison Steel Beam users like Klefki and Zacian by forcing them to either Substitute or Steel Beam more times than they may like. Protect stalls out Taunt, item manipulation, etc. Truth is, rather like with Gen 7 Smeargle, I haven't really found Substitute on Sandshrew-Alola to be essential - it's at its best when Sandshrew-Alola actually outspeeds something, and it's yet another move that cannot be selected against Imprison Steel Beam users. I often prefer Attract instead to ease the Imprison Steel Beam matchup by letting you stay in, deal no damage, dare the opponent to Steel Beam this guy, and have a higher chance of disrupting the opponent than many other moves do in this slot. (I did use Safeguard earlier in my ladder run, though.) Against Heal Pulse/Floral Healing users, especially Imprison ones, you're often still fine using a combination of Steel Beam and Protect.
Sandshrew-Alola has Slush Rush because it might outspeed something in Hail one day, and Snow Cloak's evasion-granting can backfire when you want this guy to be Steel Beam sac fodder.
I advise replacing this guy with Pawniard - that mon eases the match-up against Prankster users by being a Dark-type that is immune to their shenanigans, including Trick and Switcheroo. A stronger Steel Beam will hurt, though, and Pawniard can be matchup-dependent - Magnemite or Stakataka aren't bad options instead, as they at least have Magic Coat and not-quite-as-strong Special Attack.
Replays:
Trick Room
Importable: https://pokepast.es/0a98f78a80af4ee6
Trick Room takes advantage of everyone on the ladder using Sticky Web and Tailwind by making both of those advantageous for me while Trick Room is active. This is actually more of a SemiRoom build, with some team members not needing Trick Room to be good. Truth is, I find this team less reliable on the ladder than my 6 Steel Beam Spam team, mainly because this team's Xatu is fairly horrifically weak to item manipulation (e.g. Trick, Switcheroo, Knock Off) and exposes itself often.
Team Members:
Klefki @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Magic Coat
Klefki is more here to hose opposing Steel Beamers than to be a centerpiece of the team, although its ability to self-2HKO is very tempting, as always. With a different mon - thank goodness, without Prankster - Defogging, Klefki is free to run Magic Coat on this team to fend off Pranksters of all stripes. Klefki is meant to be good outside of Trick Room, so it keeps max Speed Jolly to always speed tie with other Klefkis instead of sometimes losing the speed tie guaranteed.
Sandshrew-Alola @ Black Sludge
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 24 HP
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Knock Off
- Protect
With Sandshrew-Alola getting Trick Room support, it can finally use Substitute to its advantage so it can deal even less damage to opposing mons. Sandshrew-Alola doesn't need Trick Room to be good - it can always Steel Beam twice - but it abuses Trick Room quite well.
Sandshrew-Alola has Snow Cloak to avoid increasing its Speed and going second in Trick Room. It is Impish because it decreases its Special Attack (thus easing the matchup against Heal Pulsers further) and increases a stat it finds hard to take advantage of - its Defense. The 24 HP EVs both make Sandshrew-Alola have HP divisible by 8 and prevent the teambuilder from complaining.
This team is notably quite balls-to-the-wall, with more opportunities for quick self-KOs and worse disruption. Purrloin was in earlier builds of this team as a Dark-type Prankster user and decent Steel Beam fodder with Taunt and Encore, so I like replacing Sandshrew-Alola with Purrloin in this new meta. Feel free to use Bronzor instead as Trick Room's version of Zacian if you like, though.
Pawniard @ Black Sludge
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 1 Atk
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Sandstorm
Pawniard is a fairly slow Steel Beam user - thus a good abuser of Trick Room - that is immune to Prankster shenanigans due to being a Dark-type. This helps it switch into more threats, thus giving it more utility than other Trick Room-abusing Steel Beam users can.
Taunt is a great 3rd move to prevent nasty stuff like Imprison, Taunt, Encore, Trick, Switcheroo, and Heal Pulse from affecting it while in Trick Room (and at least disrupt Imprison Steel Beam users and switch-ins outside of Trick Room). Sandstorm acts as team support by providing valuable chip to unfortunately Tricked/Switcherooed/Knock Offed mons.
Pawniard has Pressure to hopefully make opponents burn up Heal Pulse PP faster. It is Adamant to minimize Special Attack and increase a stat it hopefully never has to use. It has Adamant instead of Brave because Adamant min speed Pawniard actually manages to be slower than max speed, positive Speed nature Trapinch - which has 10 base Speed. The 1 Attack EV raises no stats and is so the teambuilder will not complain.
Xatu @ Black Sludge
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Defog
- Teleport
- Substitute
- Trick Room
Xatu is one of the most reliable setters of anything in the meta, including Trick Room and Defog. Due to Magic Bounce, not much is stopping Xatu from doing its job. Due to how reliable Xatu is and how much like SemiRoom this team actually is, this team can afford to have Xatu be the only Trick Room setter.
Teleport gets Trick Room abusers in without them getting hit by disruption. Substitute is especially important on Xatu to help it KO itself faster.
Due to this Xatu's pivot-heavy playstyle, Black Sludge is used instead of Toxic Orb. Xatu is max speed Naive to take more damage from Steel Beam, be more likely to outspeed Imprison users outside of Trick Room, and have a very slow Teleport in Trick Room. Hasty can be viable to increase the chance it gets KOed by Knock Off, though.
Gothita @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Magic Coat
- Heal Pulse
Gothita is supreme at abusing Trick Room, with a suddenly lightning-fast Taunt and Heal Pulse along with the ability to trap opponents and be KOed by them quickly. Magic Coat helps it be good outside of Trick Room.
Gothita can stay in play for several turns straight, so it prefers Toxic Orb. It is Mild to lower Defense and raise its unused Special Attack so it can take Struggle and Knock Off even worse without raising its Speed. The 4 HP EVs both prevent the teambuilder from complaining and make its HP not divisible by 4 so it can use Substitute more often.
Abra @ Black Sludge
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 1 HP
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Taunt
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Encore
Abra helps this team abuse Trick Room by being great Struggle/Knock Off fodder and decent Steel Beam fodder. Just Taunt something with too-strong offences with Gothita and then switch Abra in!
Taunt and Encore both disrupt opponents if it cannot be foddered off immediately, while Magic Coat makes it decent outside of Trick Room. Encore is notably one of this team's only ways to disrupt Oblivious Belly Drummers.
Abra always loses out on either the guaranteed OHKO after Black Sludge from base 70 Attack Timid Struggle (e.g. Accelgor) or Zacian's Steel Beam. I've picked a Mild nature to not lose out on the base 70 Attack Timid Struggle OHKO along with not raising Speed and raising useless Special Attack instead, though Rash is viable if you predict more Zacians. The 1 HP EV raises no stats and prevents the teambuilder from complaining.
Replays:
Managed to get 2nd place on The Loser's Game ladder at one point, mostly on the backs of these two teams:
6 Steel Beam Spam
Importable: https://pokepast.es/c4f5a361cb4e2e87
I've been refining this team since the Loser's Game got a Gen 8 incarnation, with the latest team member swap being Klink replacing Zamazenta after Calyrex-Shadow was revealed to outspeed Zamazenta and have Taunt and Heal Pulse. This team prioritizes OHKOing as few Steel Beam sac fodder mons as possible by trying to ensure that each mon who can OHKO another mon with Steel Beam (read: every mon but Sandshrew-Alola) only ever has to Steel Beam once per game. Fast speed and Magic Coat aim to pull that off. The team has two Trick fodders in Sandshrew-Alola and Klink, although Klink is a bit powerful for that role.
Team Members:
Note that all members have their HP set to be divisible by 8 for the easy Substitute-into-Steel Beam self-2HKO and are Jolly to maximize Speed and minimize Steel Beam damage.
Zacian @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intrepid Sword
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Protect
Zacian is one of the fastest mons with Steel Beam, and Imprison makes it a great tool against other Steel Beam users to boot. Protect is the 4th move to stall out Taunt, item manipulation such as Trick and Knock Off, Heal Pulse, Tailwind, and more. Shame Zacian has nothing better to use - it would have loved something to patch up its Calyrex-Shadow weakness.
Zacian's 3 required perfect IVs are in Speed (awesome), Defense (Zacian takes Struggle too well, anyway), and Attack (may it never have to Struggle).
Silvally @ Black Sludge
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 4 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Roar
- Substitute
- Magic Coat
Silvally is completely invaluable to this team as the team's only phazer, kicking out opposing Imprison Steel Beam users this way. It's the only mon with phazing, Steel Beam, and Magic Coat, thus trying its hardest to only ever Steel Beam once. Conserve this guy against Imprison Steel Beam users until all such opposing users are KOed, and Roar on predicted Imprisons on Steel Beam.
Klefki @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Defog
With Prankster, Klefki has the fastest Substitute among all mons that learn Steel Beam, maximizing the chances that it only ever has to Steel Beam once per game. It also has the fastest Imprison that locks out Steel Beam in the game, making it invaluable against other Steel Beam users.
With no room elsewhere on the team, Klefki is stuck being the Defogger instead of being able to use Magic Coat to fend off faster Pranksters. This can result in a weakness to Court Change teams with at least one Dark-type, although conserving Klefki until all their hazard setters are gone is a wise strategy, and Steel Beaming the Dark-type is a shockingly good strat.
Jirachi @ Black Sludge
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Encore
Jirachi is the fastest non-Prankster mon with both Steel Beam and Magic Coat, thus helping it get off only one Steel Beam per game. Encore is the 4th move to lock Imprison Steel Beam users into Imprison, thus easing Silvally's entry so it can Roar them out. Encore can also lock Belly Drummers, especially Oblivious ones, into a move they'd rather not use twice (although Kommo-O can dodge this by using Clangorous Soul again and self-2HKOing itself after it is switched in).
I tend to lead with Jirachi, as it has some of the best options regardless of what the opponent leads with. Taunt? Magic Coat it. Imprison? Encore it. Sticky Web? Magic Coat it, too! Your opponent can also (misplay and) opt to throw their weak Steel Beam fodder at Jirachi instead of their stronger fodder that Jirachi still OHKOs with one Steel Beam. Just make sure to switch out to a mon with a much weaker Steel Beam against predicted item manipulation.
Klink @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 2 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Magic Coat
- Thunder Wave
Among mons with Steel Beam and Magic Coat, Klink has the lowest base Special Attack at 45, thus ensuring its niche. Thunder Wave disrupts Imprison Steel Beam users in the hopes that they get full para'd. Again, Klink having such a low base Special Attack makes it decent Trick fodder, although its ability to OHKO weak mons is worrying.
Clear Body prevents Sticky Web from affecting it...like that helps much, especially since Klink has only 30 base Speed.
Sandshrew-Alola @ Black Sludge
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Knock Off
- Attract / Substitute
- Protect
With the weakest Steel Beam in the meta - so weak it cannot OHKO anything - Sandshrew-Alola is a great switch-in to Taunt, item manipulation, and more. If your opponent does successfully land a Taunt on one of your mons too early, Sandshrew-Alola is a good dedicated switch-in for that scenario.
Knock Off punishes Imprison Steel Beam users like Klefki and Zacian by forcing them to either Substitute or Steel Beam more times than they may like. Protect stalls out Taunt, item manipulation, etc. Truth is, rather like with Gen 7 Smeargle, I haven't really found Substitute on Sandshrew-Alola to be essential - it's at its best when Sandshrew-Alola actually outspeeds something, and it's yet another move that cannot be selected against Imprison Steel Beam users. I often prefer Attract instead to ease the Imprison Steel Beam matchup by letting you stay in, deal no damage, dare the opponent to Steel Beam this guy, and have a higher chance of disrupting the opponent than many other moves do in this slot. (I did use Safeguard earlier in my ladder run, though.) Against Heal Pulse/Floral Healing users, especially Imprison ones, you're often still fine using a combination of Steel Beam and Protect.
Sandshrew-Alola has Slush Rush because it might outspeed something in Hail one day, and Snow Cloak's evasion-granting can backfire when you want this guy to be Steel Beam sac fodder.
I advise replacing this guy with Pawniard - that mon eases the match-up against Prankster users by being a Dark-type that is immune to their shenanigans, including Trick and Switcheroo. A stronger Steel Beam will hurt, though, and Pawniard can be matchup-dependent - Magnemite or Stakataka aren't bad options instead, as they at least have Magic Coat and not-quite-as-strong Special Attack.
Replays:
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1301916317: A close win in high ladder against a great opponent.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1301533193: Won a Loser's Game roomtour with only this team with this game as the finals.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1297800882: 6 Steel Beams are better than 4.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1295400181: No really, 6 Steel Beams are better than 4.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1297446755: Just because their team looks prepared for Steel Beam Spam doesn't mean they can always pull off a win in time.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1301664640: Guess this team isn't that weak to Sticky Web. Managed to win this with Sticky Web on my side of the field.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1303087227: Managed to win this despite Silvally getting Tricked Leftovers (which is often otherwise game over in their favour).
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1300883332: Managed to win this despite a few mons getting Tricked Leftovers, including Zacian.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1303468504: Perhaps the team's weakness to Court Change teams with a Dark-type isn't so bad after all.
Trick Room
Importable: https://pokepast.es/0a98f78a80af4ee6
Trick Room takes advantage of everyone on the ladder using Sticky Web and Tailwind by making both of those advantageous for me while Trick Room is active. This is actually more of a SemiRoom build, with some team members not needing Trick Room to be good. Truth is, I find this team less reliable on the ladder than my 6 Steel Beam Spam team, mainly because this team's Xatu is fairly horrifically weak to item manipulation (e.g. Trick, Switcheroo, Knock Off) and exposes itself often.
Team Members:
Klefki @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Imprison
- Magic Coat
Klefki is more here to hose opposing Steel Beamers than to be a centerpiece of the team, although its ability to self-2HKO is very tempting, as always. With a different mon - thank goodness, without Prankster - Defogging, Klefki is free to run Magic Coat on this team to fend off Pranksters of all stripes. Klefki is meant to be good outside of Trick Room, so it keeps max Speed Jolly to always speed tie with other Klefkis instead of sometimes losing the speed tie guaranteed.
Sandshrew-Alola @ Black Sludge
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 24 HP
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Knock Off
- Protect
With Sandshrew-Alola getting Trick Room support, it can finally use Substitute to its advantage so it can deal even less damage to opposing mons. Sandshrew-Alola doesn't need Trick Room to be good - it can always Steel Beam twice - but it abuses Trick Room quite well.
Sandshrew-Alola has Snow Cloak to avoid increasing its Speed and going second in Trick Room. It is Impish because it decreases its Special Attack (thus easing the matchup against Heal Pulsers further) and increases a stat it finds hard to take advantage of - its Defense. The 24 HP EVs both make Sandshrew-Alola have HP divisible by 8 and prevent the teambuilder from complaining.
This team is notably quite balls-to-the-wall, with more opportunities for quick self-KOs and worse disruption. Purrloin was in earlier builds of this team as a Dark-type Prankster user and decent Steel Beam fodder with Taunt and Encore, so I like replacing Sandshrew-Alola with Purrloin in this new meta. Feel free to use Bronzor instead as Trick Room's version of Zacian if you like, though.
Pawniard @ Black Sludge
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 1 Atk
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Steel Beam
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Sandstorm
Pawniard is a fairly slow Steel Beam user - thus a good abuser of Trick Room - that is immune to Prankster shenanigans due to being a Dark-type. This helps it switch into more threats, thus giving it more utility than other Trick Room-abusing Steel Beam users can.
Taunt is a great 3rd move to prevent nasty stuff like Imprison, Taunt, Encore, Trick, Switcheroo, and Heal Pulse from affecting it while in Trick Room (and at least disrupt Imprison Steel Beam users and switch-ins outside of Trick Room). Sandstorm acts as team support by providing valuable chip to unfortunately Tricked/Switcherooed/Knock Offed mons.
Pawniard has Pressure to hopefully make opponents burn up Heal Pulse PP faster. It is Adamant to minimize Special Attack and increase a stat it hopefully never has to use. It has Adamant instead of Brave because Adamant min speed Pawniard actually manages to be slower than max speed, positive Speed nature Trapinch - which has 10 base Speed. The 1 Attack EV raises no stats and is so the teambuilder will not complain.
Xatu @ Black Sludge
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD
- Defog
- Teleport
- Substitute
- Trick Room
Xatu is one of the most reliable setters of anything in the meta, including Trick Room and Defog. Due to Magic Bounce, not much is stopping Xatu from doing its job. Due to how reliable Xatu is and how much like SemiRoom this team actually is, this team can afford to have Xatu be the only Trick Room setter.
Teleport gets Trick Room abusers in without them getting hit by disruption. Substitute is especially important on Xatu to help it KO itself faster.
Due to this Xatu's pivot-heavy playstyle, Black Sludge is used instead of Toxic Orb. Xatu is max speed Naive to take more damage from Steel Beam, be more likely to outspeed Imprison users outside of Trick Room, and have a very slow Teleport in Trick Room. Hasty can be viable to increase the chance it gets KOed by Knock Off, though.
Gothita @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Magic Coat
- Heal Pulse
Gothita is supreme at abusing Trick Room, with a suddenly lightning-fast Taunt and Heal Pulse along with the ability to trap opponents and be KOed by them quickly. Magic Coat helps it be good outside of Trick Room.
Gothita can stay in play for several turns straight, so it prefers Toxic Orb. It is Mild to lower Defense and raise its unused Special Attack so it can take Struggle and Knock Off even worse without raising its Speed. The 4 HP EVs both prevent the teambuilder from complaining and make its HP not divisible by 4 so it can use Substitute more often.
Abra @ Black Sludge
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 1 HP
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Taunt
- Magic Coat
- Substitute
- Encore
Abra helps this team abuse Trick Room by being great Struggle/Knock Off fodder and decent Steel Beam fodder. Just Taunt something with too-strong offences with Gothita and then switch Abra in!
Taunt and Encore both disrupt opponents if it cannot be foddered off immediately, while Magic Coat makes it decent outside of Trick Room. Encore is notably one of this team's only ways to disrupt Oblivious Belly Drummers.
Abra always loses out on either the guaranteed OHKO after Black Sludge from base 70 Attack Timid Struggle (e.g. Accelgor) or Zacian's Steel Beam. I've picked a Mild nature to not lose out on the base 70 Attack Timid Struggle OHKO along with not raising Speed and raising useless Special Attack instead, though Rash is viable if you predict more Zacians. The 1 HP EV raises no stats and prevents the teambuilder from complaining.
Replays:
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1292684796: An example win.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1295512042: Another example win.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8thelosersgame-1302908253: Somehow managed to win this one despite Xatu getting Tricked Leftovers. Granted, my opponent's play might have been a bit sub-optimal.
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