Unlike in standard play Baton Pass strategies have historically been legal in Balanced Hackmons metas. For someone not familiar with Balanced Hackmons this might seem paradoxical. When every Pokemon can learn moves like Victory Dance, Quiver Dance, Cotton Guard, Cosmic Power, Substitute etc . . . wouldn’t allowing the passing boosts be a receipt for destruction for the tier? However, there is another side to boosting in Balanced Hackmons and that is since every Pokemon can learn every move every pokemon also can access set-up control. From Unaware to outright ignore boosts, to Topsy Turvy and Parting Shot in tandem with Prankster to reverse them, and Spectral Thief to steal them there have been a myriad of ways to rein in Baton Pass chains and set-up spam strategies. At least until generation 9. With the generational shift, Malamar and Marshadow were removed which meant the two most effective ways of set-up control in Topsy Turvy and Spectral Thief no longer existed. In addition, two powerful tools for set-up were added as well in Clear Amulet to Block Parting Shot and other stat lowering moves and Victory Dance to boost Attack, Speed and Defense simultaneously. Having recognized that the balance of power between boosters and set-up control had radically shifted in favor of set-up in generation 9, I realized if there was any time for a formidable Baton Pass strategies to emerge it was generation 9.
Building the Team:
As with any Baton Pass strategy, the first thought needs to be what is the endgame? The wincon will always determine what types of boosts the chain needs to pass in order to achieve the goal of winning the game. I thought about this problem for a while and came to the conclusion the only viable endgame would likely reside with the moves Power Trip and Imprison. This was so as while set-up was still largely favored there still were a few tools left to control set-up. And those are Prankster and Haze to remove boosts before a sweeper can attack, Unaware to ignore boosts entirely and Imposter to Copy them. With Imprison however, Haze and Imposter can be easily locked as an option and Power Trip can gain enough power to easily KO through Unaware. Now with a fuzzy idea of what the wincon was to be, I constructed the Pokemon that was to win the game.
Fallacious Savior (Arceus-Poison) @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Imprison
- Victory Dance
- Power Trip
- Haze
The idea behind the above wincon is to use Imprison to lock Haze and Imposter Chansey, Clear Amulet to lock Parting Shot and Strength Sap, Victory Dance and Simple to gain power quickly, and lastly, Power Trip to do massive damage and bypass Unaware once Arceus is boosted.
Once the wincon was designed for a theoretically viable Baton Pass Chain, the rest of the team fell into place. Since the Arceus is completely a self-sufficient endgame and its only limiting factor is finding the time to set-up and avoiding status conditions, the team would just need to boost its defenses and protect it with Substitute and the win would be a certainty.
The Team:
Bloated Lies (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Recover
- Amnesia
Chansey possesses a good special defense stat of 105 and an absolutely monstrous HP stat of 250. However, even that only scratches the surface of the level of bulk Chansey possesses as it also has Eviolite to multiply its bulk by 1.5 and has the ability Ice Scales cut the power of special attacks in half. Since Chansey is so specially bulky it naturally serves as the team’s counter to special attackers like Eternatus, and Palkia-Origin. In addition to countering essentially all special threats, Chansey also makes good use of its massive HP pool to pass Substitute. Substitute essentially lends the Pokemon that it’s passed to ¼ of the HP of the Pokemon that created it and since Chansey has such high HP that means the Substitute being passed has a massive 174 health points. To make it even more difficult for special threats to break Chansey and its Substitutes, Chansey uses Amnesia to further boost its special bulk and the bulk of the rest of the team when the special boost is passed. Amnesia particularly synergizes with Dialga since its Unaware ability allows it to ignore the boosts of opposing special attackers that might try and set-up on Chansey. Chansey uses a Fire Tera-Type and a Bold Nature to survive mixed versions of Enamorous so it can pass special boosts to teammates that can take its physical moves better.
Fictitious Facade (Dondozo) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cotton Guard
- Baton Pass
- Strength Sap
- Taunt
Aside from Giratina, Dondozo is the physically bulkiest Pokemon available in Balanced Hackmons. In addition to mere bulk though, it is also blessed with the immensely useful pure water type, which means that most moves will hit it neutrally and more importantly it has a resistance to Surging Strikes. Surging Strikes is a Multi-Hit move that always inflicts critical hits so having a resist to it is of utmost importance as the team relies on passing boosts to survive. Dondozo similar to Chansey uses a specialized set designed to shut down attackers of a certain type. In Dondozo’s case, it abuses Cotton Guard to render itself effectively impervious to all physical attacks. To increase Dondozo resilience in the face of physical offense and so Dondozo can shut down Surging Strikes and Wicked users with boosting moves like Shift Gear, Dondozo uses Strength Sap to keep itself healthy. Taunt might seem strange on a Pokemon designated as the team’s physical wall, but it nonetheless is a vital part of the team’s arsenal. This is so as Scarlet and Violet introduced a move called Tidy Up that boosts attack and Speed while also clearing Substitute. This move is among one of the most commonly seen boosting moves on physical attackers so having Taunt to shut that down along with the occasional phasing move is crucial. Dondozo uses a Mental Herb and a Dark Tera typing so that if an Imposter copies it, it will more often than not will win the Taunt war and so it has mutiple chances to get predictions right with Magic Bounce Pokemon.
Fallacious Savior (Arceus-Poison) @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Imprison
- Victory Dance
- Power Trip
- Haze
Victory Dance Arceus Poison is the core that the entire team is built around and the team’s sole wincon. The idea behind Arceus is to use Imprison and Haze on the same moveset to shut down Imposter Chansey/Blissey and both non-Prankster and Prankster Haze in order to safely gather massive amounts of boosts with Victory Dance. After a few Victory Dances Arceus Poisons Power Trip’s base power reaches a massive enough base powers to cleave through Unaware and Fur Coat users that will inevitably be attempting to stop it. Arceus uses the ability Simple to accelerate the pace at which it boosts, so that way instead of spending four turns to boost enough to sweep it realistically will only need two. Clear Amulet is perhaps one of the most lethal tools that set-up has as it now stops the power reductions of Strength Sap and Parting Shot. In addition, however, it also blocks the switching effect of Parting Shot. This effectively turns the Prankster Pokemon that use Parting Shot into momentum sinks to be exploited by Arceus Poison. In addition to Clear Amulet Arceus has one last trick against Prankster and that is Tera Dark. Tera Dark gives Arceus Poison’s Power Trip a 50 % Power boost to increase its KOing power even more and more importantly makes it immune to moves that Prankster Pokemon use that target it directly. That means Arceus can block Prankster Parting Shot even in the event that the Clear Amulet is removed via Knock-Off and that Arceus is immune to the niche Prankster Heart Swap (Heart swap exchanges the boosts between two Pokemon).
Choking Despair (Dialga-Origin) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Tidy Up
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Dragon Tail
While Dialga lacks the raw bulk or boosting abilities of Chansey or Dondozo, it nonetheless has a critical defensive role. And that lies in its ability Unaware and its excellent Steel / Dragon typing. With Unaware it can ignore the boosts of foes while fully taking advantage of the Defense and Special boosts passed to it by Dondozo and Chansey to augment its own bulk. Dialga then can use Dragon Tail to reset opposing boosting Pokemon like Nasty Plot Palkia while retaining its own defensive boosts and then can Baton Pass into the next piece of the chain to keep it running smoothly. Dialga uses Tidy Up to clear Substitute in case an opposing set-up threat uses it so that way it can reliably Dragon Tail it out of the game. Tidy Up also removes hazards like Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Toxic Spikes for the team and thus can relieve much of the pressure those hazards can exert on the rest of the chain.
Distended Soul (Eternatus) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ingrain
- Strength Sap
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
Eternatus, while not being nearly as physically bulky as Giratina or Dondozo, possess a valuable immunity to Poisoning, a blazing 360 speed tier, and a massive 145 HP stat. Similar to Chansey, that HP statline translates to Subsitutes with gigantic amounts of HP. For Eternatus means Substitutes will have HP 121. Being so fast means Eternatus retains the initiative with Baton Pass more often than not even without Prankster or Speed Boosts to make Baton Pass faster. As a result of the useful traits Eternatus has with keeping up Substitutes and with keeping the initiative, Eternatus is selected as the team’s Ingrain setter. Ingrain nullifies the effects of moves like Whirlwind, Roar, Dragon Tail, and Circle-throw, which can force the chain to reset if they hit, and also gives the team an additional source of passive recovery. Enternatus uses the ability Fur Coat to make its Substitutes even more difficult to break than they already would be and so it can beat the Surging Strikes and Wicked Blow users that can use critical hits to bypass the defensive boosting of Dondozo. Strength Sap is used for the same reason as its used on Dondozo: to suppress physical offense and more importantly suppress physical offense that uses moves with guaranteed critical hit moves. A tera type of ghost is used because Ghost types are immune to trapping. This gives the team the flexibility of switching out if it gets a prediction wrong with Ingrain or Perish song is initiated while Ingrain is up.
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The Raven (Corviknight) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Amnesia
The Raven (Corviknight) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Amnesia
Corviknight serves more as a midground as opposed to a true defensive centerpiece of the team as it both lacks reliable recovery and the bulk that many of the other segments of the chain possess. However, it still has one of the most resistance-laden typings in Flying and Steel. The typing offers Corviknight an immunity to Ground a Resistance to sound moves like Boomburst as and resistances to common utility moves like Rapid Spins. All of the traits outlined prior make Corviknight excellent at keeping Substitutes up against common defensive Pokemon like Dialga-Origin and Ting-Lu. The rest of the moves fall along a similar pattern to Dondozo, Amnesia is used to strengthen Corviknights resolve against special and mixed threats like Eternatus and Enamorous, and Taunt is used to block phasing and Substitute clearing moves like Whirlwind and Tidy Up. Corviknight uses the same Tera type: Dark as Dondozo for the same reason: To win Taunt wars with Imposter Chansey and Blissey and so it can’t be punished as easily by Magic Bounce.
Optimizations For OMPL (Other Metagames Premier League):
Choking Despair (Zacian) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Dragon Tail
- Substitute
Choking Despair (Zacian) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Dragon Tail
- Substitute
Since Slaking was banned for OMPL, there wasn’t a need for a Steel-type Unaware Pokemon anymore. Unaware Zacian would replace Dialga-O since it is faster which means stronger initiative with Baton Pass, immune to its own Dragon Tail, and has a better typing for the modern meta in Fairy.
Bloated Lies (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 124 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Recover
- Amnesia
Since Miriadon had been banned by the time the OMPL had come around, the extra special bulk from Ice Scales was rendered unnecessary and so Chansey’s ability was switched to Prankster. This gave it the ability to Baton Pass out of physical and mixed threats before they can land an attack and would let the chain get started with greater haste.
Ladder Peak:
Unfortunately, the computer the had peak screenshot had to have a factory reset so the screenshot is lost. However, as can be seen in the replays the team peaked at 1740 + which is more than enough to get first place on ladder. If I’d continued laddering, I’m fairly confident It would’ve reached 1800s + since the team was so incredibly consistent. However, I also wanted to experiment with some other ideas, so I quit laddering after getting rank 1.
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-1814147734-8ea8wz0x26ofncpwbkwnjgvfjvlu3i0pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-1811246254-vi3k7pzrb8w3p2gbmsa450490gmpdgupw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-699317
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-1886211606-d3svdr0h2fq8oi869m3r8kzw5kjrbxgpw
“Threatlist”
Haze:
While Haze in theory is a threat, in reality, it’s really not. As soon as a passive Haze Pokemon is brought in to reset stat boosts, all the free turns that are needed to win the game are being handed to Arceus Poison on a silver platter.
Phasing:
“Ingrain would like to know your location” - Denisss (probably)
Boomburst:
In theory, the effect that Boomburst has of going through Substitute is helpful. In practice, Amnesia shuts that down as an option pretty much instantly. Also, the most useful Sound-move users are Pixilate users so Arceus Poison just resists that anyway.
Threatlist:
Taunt:
Taunt is perhaps the second most threatening move to this team as it shuts down boosting moves and Baton Pass. Since the team doesn’t have Magic Bounce, leveraging the mental herbs and Prankster Taunt users on the team is crucial.
Magic Bounce:
Magic Bounce in tandem with Imposter and Tidy Up is very annoying since it creates a dangerous guessing game where if Taunt is used at the wrong time by the team it just shuts down the chain. Use the Mental Herbs and Terastal Dark on Dondozo or Corviknight to play around it.
Perish Song:
Perish Song is the single greatest threat as it can shut down the entire chain if it’s used at the right time. It’s especially dangerous in tandem with phazing as if the team is caught with a Perish Song while Ingrain is up it forces a Tera- Ghost from Eternatus otherwise something dies. The best way to play around Perish Song is to use Taunt from Dondozo or Corviknight.
Zamazenta- C:
Fur Coat or Unaware Zamazenta Crowned with Cotton Guard is essentially the only Pokemon that can 1 v 1 Arceus Poison after it has been boosted. However, Arceus Poison still has decent odds vs it as Zamazenta can't do much damage back either and it can fish for a crit on Power Trip.
Bans / Additional Notes:
Unfortunately, the success of Imprison set-up made the team a victim of its own success as Baton Pass was banned, and then when it was found that essentially the same conditions that made Baton Pass a powerhouse could be somewhat replicated with support from Light Screen, Reflect, and Aurora Veil like so: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-700761, Imprison too was banned.
Initial Laddering Paste:
https://pokepast.es/afab87b8a83680b5
Tournament Paste:
https://pokepast.es/88df299e22be4299
https://pokepast.es/afab87b8a83680b5
Tournament Paste:
https://pokepast.es/88df299e22be4299
Chansey by Swadloons. Check out their DeviantArt here: https://www.deviantart.com/swadloons/art/Chansey-doodle-475377119
Dondozo by DarkraiLady. Check out their DeviantArt here:
https://www.deviantart.com/darkrailady/gallery
Arceus (by far the best artwork featured in the RMT) by Dawnglow / Daylight. Check out their Twitter and art thread here: https://twitter.com/dawnglowart , https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/but-it’s-golden-like-daylight.3696758/ .
Dialga by TamberElla. Check out their DeviantArt here:
https://www.deviantart.com/tamberella/gallery
Eternatus by Yama Neko 3. Check out their image gallery here:
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=yama_neko_3&z=1
Corviknight by Albrt Wlson. Check out their deviant art here:
https://www.deviantart.com/albrt-wlson/gallery
Zacian by Iogi, check out their PixIv here: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87124652.
Dondozo by DarkraiLady. Check out their DeviantArt here:
https://www.deviantart.com/darkrailady/gallery
Arceus (by far the best artwork featured in the RMT) by Dawnglow / Daylight. Check out their Twitter and art thread here: https://twitter.com/dawnglowart , https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/but-it’s-golden-like-daylight.3696758/ .
Dialga by TamberElla. Check out their DeviantArt here:
https://www.deviantart.com/tamberella/gallery
Eternatus by Yama Neko 3. Check out their image gallery here:
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=yama_neko_3&z=1
Corviknight by Albrt Wlson. Check out their deviant art here:
https://www.deviantart.com/albrt-wlson/gallery
Zacian by Iogi, check out their PixIv here: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87124652.
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