This Is Halloween (TyraniGeist)

[Lord Wallace]

This is Halloween​

This is a team I've been working on for quite some time on Showdown, ironing out every last detail with battle testing and now that I've pretty much gotten a variation that I like, I am starting to make it on cartridge.

Team Building:

Hide

The team's conception was first born on a post I made in Uncharted Territory about Tyranitar and Gourgeist as a defensive core, so naturally I started out with those two.

I didnt quite know it at the time, but Gourgeist was to become my favorite Gen.6 Pokemon, so really this is a team centered around making Gourgeist successful in its role.

After getting a reply in to my post on the New Cores thread, I decided to go with the suggestion of adding a Gyarados, and I went with the bulky Sub Dragon Dance set

Afterwards I decided I needed a good special attacker on my team and decided to try out Specs Noivern on the team.

Even with my Tyranitar on the team, I felt vulnerable to Talonflame and to status moves, plus I needed a revenge killer that could put a full stop to Scizor, so I added Rotom-H to the posse.

And to top it off, since I did pack 3 SR weaknesses I needed a reliable Rapid Spinner, and bulky Mold Breaker Excadrill fit the bill perfectly.

So it seems I had the ideal balanced offense team in my hands right? Wrong.

(If I were to try and describe step by step all of the alterations this team went through I'd hit a character limit for sure.
I tried all sorts of things to improve the team, from Greninja to Gastrodon to Mega Aerodactyl, from Forretress to Mega Pinsir to Weakness Policy Dragonite. And most of these little experiments had only mild success at best.

However, they did lead to some of the more constructive observations I made about the team.)

First of all, I quickly figured out that Defensive Rotom-W was the way to go after all, as Rotom-H was too hampered by SR and the side effect of Overheat, in addition to compounding my Azumarril weakness.

Gyarados and Noivern were also just not pulling their weight. Gyarados lacked the coverage, and speed to pull of very many sweeps, and lacked the immediate power to do anything significant to the things it switched into. Even with Specs, I found Noivern to be disappointingly weak, and often took away momentum from the team instead of adding to it.

After going through several of the modifications described earlier, I eventually settled on Mixed Moxie Salamence and Sylveon, marking the conversion of my team from balanced to a more BO or even semi-stall style. With the addition of a WishPasser I also decided to try MegaTyranitar.

Further testing showed I had a massive weakness to status moves, I was getting Wisp-ed and Toxic-ed left and right, and since Sylveon doesn't get access to Heal Bell yet, I decided to settle for an Aromatherapy Florges. Even with Life Orb I found Mixed Salamence a bit underwhelming, mostly due to his over reliance on his Dragon STABs and then having no access to Outrage yet, and getting outsped was also a constant issue. Tyranitar's Mega also really didn't contribute anything that normal Tyranitar couldn't already do.
So I decided to add the all-mighty Charizard X as my late game sweeper, eventually deciding on a Mixed Dragon Dance set.

This rendition of the team worked very well for a while, and although I never did any serious laddering on Showdown with the team, it was cool for Wifi matches.

Then at the advice from a rater on Serebii, I decided to steer the team into the direction of a more traditional stall style (goodness how far have we come). Goodra would replace Charizard X as the Dragon type on the squad and Skarmory will cover Excadrill's spot on the team, completing the transition from bulky offense to full blown stall.

Soon, I made even more replacements. Certain boosting sweepers were giving me a hard time and Florges' wishes were ultimately underwhelming, so I replaced her with Unaware Clefable as my cleric. The lack of a spinner was also hampering me against opposing stall, so I replaced Rotom-W with Tentacruel.

The completed team can be viewed below.

Closer Look:

Tyranitar@Tyranitarite
Sassy
252 HP/252 SDef/4 SAtk
Sand Stream

- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
​

Tyranitar is essentially my main special wall, with full investment even super effective special blows do not faze him as he reliably sets up Stealth Rock and proceeds to trap and dispose of any interfering Espeon, Gengar or Starmie in his way.
Stone Edge is Tyranitar's main STAB and is necessary to exterminate Talonflame and also prevents him from being set up on by common Dragon/Flying types weak to it.
Finally, Fire Blast destroys Scizor and stops Ferrothorn's Spike stacking cold while giving Tyranitar an option to hit Breloom with.
Although his main purpose is really to just set up Stealth Rock, he can be preserved for later due to his great synergy with the MVP, Gourgeist, as well as being the only team member capable of repeatedly switching in and tanking some of the enormous special attacks in the OU tier, such as from Gengar, Volcarona and Reuniclus.
Having Clefable as a Wish passer on the team influenced me to opt for Tyranitar's Mega Form in order to have access to that huge Attack and Defense boost to help secure KOs on bulkier enemies such as Latias and become a better check to Talonflame, as well as a little more immediate Special Defense. Having an XY team without a Mega is also just lame.

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Gourgeist-Super@Leftovers
252 HP/152 Def/104 SDef
Impish
Frisk

- Will o Wisp
- Seed Bomb
- Shadow Sneak
-Leech Seed
​

The Halloween is here! The behemoth that is Gourgeist is one of my physically oriented walls with some SDef EVs to better take special Water-type moves and still have enough physical bulk to avoid the 2HKO by M-Kangaskhan's Crunch.
Gourgeist also plays the important role of being, in my humble opinion, the best spinblocker in Standard right now, it truly doesn't give a damn about Excadrill or Starmie, the premier spinners in the tier and also doesn't rely on gimmicky Harvest shenanigans like its competitor Trevenant (but it does suck to not have Natural Cure like Trevenant, though Frisk does have its uses) as well as having better overall bulk and STAB priority over it.
Shadow Sneak and Seed Bomb are mandatory STABs, one granting invaluable STAB priority off of a decent base 100 Atk, the other nails Rotom-W, Blastoise, and Donphan.
Leech Seed is very important for stalling out a more defensive opponent or predicting a switch then using the move to heal a teammate.
And finally Will o Wisp cripples physical attackers looking to set up on Gourgeist and checks massive physical threats.

Goodra@Leftovers
252 HP/252 SDef/4 Def
Careful
Gooey

-Infestation
-Outrage
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
​

The main "annoyance" Pokemon on the team akin to Sableye or Gliscor on other teams, Goodra supports the team as a special wall that can come in on attacks Tyranitar would be more reluctant to, namely STAB Water and Grass attacks, and proceed to Infestation trap something thinking they can off Goodra with weak-sauce HP Ices or non-STAB Fairy moves.
With the mechanics of Sleep being reverted to the Gen. IV mechanics, Goodra can make effective use of Rest + Sleep Talk in order to sponge pretty much any special attack that the opposition throws at it while they lose 1/8 of their health via Infestation while Leftovers increases Goodra's survivability while its asleep.

Having Sleep Talk is also handy for switching into the likes of Breloom, Smeargle and Venusaur if having Sleep Clause activated is convenient at the time rather than being forced to switch Gourgeist in.
A STAB option in Outrage is chosen over Toxic to further take advantage of Sleep Talk's mechanics and to pose a more immediate threat against frailer sweepers looking to set up, or to inflict chip damage on Pokemon that may have been immune to Toxic (which is a substantial amount of the XY metagame, especially what Goodra will often encounter, making Toxic surprisingly useless most of the time).
Assuming full entry hazards are in play, a Pokemon hoping to switch in and threaten Goodra will be usually be disappointed to find themselves losing most of their health over 4-5 turns as I switch out into an appropriate physical wall.
The EVs and Nature maximize Goodra's amazing special bulk, and Gooey punishes opposing physical attackers with a drop in speed, making Goodra the perfect death fodder. In addition, this Goodra has little use for its other two abilities, Hydration and Sap Sipper.

​

Clefable@Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold
Unaware

-Moonblast
-Protect
-Wish
-Aromatherapy
​

While I do like to claim that Gourgeist is the MVP of this team, in reality Clefable is what holds this team together. At first glance Sylveon seems to outclass Clefable in the role of a cleric, but the utility it offers in the form of Aromatherapy and Unaware is absolutely invaluable to a team that otherwise hates certain boosting sweepers and Toxic. Wishes coming off of 95 base HP sounds only okay but considering two of my main walls have average HP at best themselves, it still gets the job done. In addition, Clefable pulls its weight just fine in the defensive department just like Sylveon but with a slightly lower SAtk to work those STAB Moonblasts.
Also unlike Sylveon, Moonblast will always be Clefable's main STAB, and because of its secondary effect, Clefable can afford to focus on maximizing its physical bulk to take on the likes of Mega Absol, Garchomp and Dragonite better (and uninvested base 90 SDef is still decent). Despite getting access to Softboiled, Wish + Protect is fantastic on Clefable in order to not only pass Wishes and heal itself, but also to scout sets and disrupt the opponent's momentum.

​

Tentacruel@Black Sludge
252 HP/240 Def/16 SDef
Bold
Liquid Ooze

-Scald
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic
-Ice Beam
​

Tentacruel is yet another bulky Pokemon and a great team player, this time in the form of a reliable bulky Water-type that can still check Talonflame and provide insurance against other stall teams in the form of Rapid Spin. Scald is the obligatory STAB that can discourage physical attackers from staying in as it may burn them and add on to the pressure from other residual damage, such as Stealth Rocks, Spikes and possibly Leech Seed.
Toxic is great for crippling incoming spinblockers such as Gourgeist, Trevenant and Jellicent as well as being Tentacruel's most reliable way of dealing damage in general due to its poor Special Attack.

Tentacruel's typing and ability does so much for this team, such as by being a major nuisance to Harvest Trevenant, a Pokemon I hate with a passion.
Even an uninvested Ice Beam will always break the Substitutes of all but the most specially bulky Trevenants (and even 252/252+ Trev sometimes get their sub broken, and for those Trevenants that usually also like to run Curse, I have Skarmory to Whirlwind it away) and Liquid Ooze makes Horn Leech and Leech Seed counterproductive.
The best Trevenant can do back is burn it with Will o Wisp or do pitiful damage with an uninvested Phantom Force. Ice Beam also hits Dragon types, Landorus and Gliscor super effectively and is a good coverage move to have in general.
Thanks to its Poison typing, Tentacruel rids the field of the rare but bothersome Toxic Spikes and can also switch into Toxic itself due to being immune to it, lifting a little bit of pressure off of Clefable's cleric duties.
Liquid Ooze also helps me combat other Leech Seeders such as Venusaur and Ferrothorn, as Grass STAB is only neutral on Tentacruel and he resists their Poison and Steel STABs respectively while I can sit there and fish for Scald Burns or use Rapid Spin, then switch out if my health gets too low.

Even with Tentacruel's mediocre Defense, the EVs and nature help me take the aforemented attacks from the likes of Trevenant and Ferrothorn well, and it allows me to switch in on resisted Steel and Fighting type moves from the likes of Lucario and Aegislash better.
Despite the minimal investment given, Tentacruel still has great Special Defense and it generally doesnt care about any of Greninja's moves as well as resisting U-turn, helping me check another otherwise big threat to my team.

Skarmory@Leftovers
224 HP/252 Def/32 SDef
Impish
Sturdy

-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird
-Spikes
-Roost
​

Skarmory may just look like another physical wall on the team (which is justified anyway due to the priority-drunk physical metagame we currently have) but Skarmory fills the role of setting up Spikes on the opponent's defensive Pokemon to rack up residual damage from forcing switches. Skarmory is also my go to Pokemon for set up physical sweepers such as Lucario and Kangaskhan, as he is the only team member capable of phazing them out with a timely Whirlwind.
Whirlwind is also very useful for brushing off annoying threats with Substitute that used to give this team hell (as well as forcing them to eat hazard damage), most notably Gliscor and Trevenant. Roost is obviously for reliable recovery and losing that Flying typing to take slower Volt Switches from the likes of Forretress and the rare Ampharos (also anyone stupid enough to not run Speed on Magnezone).

Brave Bird gives me a reliable and high BP STAB option to nail Breloom and other frail attackers, as well as giving me something to do if I am at risk of getting Taunted.
I have chosen last gen's standard EV spread to regain Sturdy after two turns of Leftovers should I switch in on Stealth Rocks (and obviously to optimize physical bulk).


Thanks for giving the team a look and please either rate or leave a like!

​

 

[tcr]

However well thought out as it may be, there are multiple threats that are reaalllly troublesome. Charizard x is onr such threat, able to set up on florges, rotom-w, and gorgeist, and after one boost really does numbers to your team. Mega gengar also puts some holes in your team.since both of those can be easily fixed by a few move and ability changes. Simply switch excadrill to Stealth Rock>Toxic and give it Sand Rush>Mold Breaker. Since this frees up a slot for tyranitar, give it an Assault Vest and Crunch>Stealth rock. I understand rotom-w needs taken out, but mold breaker exca is honestly a poor lure in my opinion, simply because it needs only a little prior damage and hydro pump koes, or WoW cripples it temporarily. Sand rish gives you a secondary sweeper and also a neat revenge killer to things like +1 gyarados, or +1 charizard x. Assault vest ttars lack of leftovers is negate by wish florges, and it helps get rid of mega gengar. Besides whih, rotom w isnt a problem anyway, as charizard sets up easily on it! Its also easily wondown by stealth rocks, sandstorm, and walled by florges, gorgeist, and rotom to an extent. Good luck on your team im curious as to any peaks you may have had as well!

 

[Lord Wallace]

However well thought out as it may be, there are multiple threats that are reaalllly troublesome. Charizard x is onr such threat, able to set up on florges, rotom-w, and gorgeist, and after one boost really does numbers to your team. Mega gengar also puts some holes in your team.since both of those can be easily fixed by a few move and ability changes. Simply switch excadrill to Stealth Rock>Toxic and give it Sand Rush>Mold Breaker. Since this frees up a slot for tyranitar, give it an Assault Vest and Crunch>Stealth rock. I understand rotom-w needs taken out, but mold breaker exca is honestly a poor lure in my opinion, simply because it needs only a little prior damage and hydro pump koes, or WoW cripples it temporarily. Sand rish gives you a secondary sweeper and also a neat revenge killer to things like +1 gyarados, or +1 charizard x. Assault vest ttars lack of leftovers is negate by wish florges, and it helps get rid of mega gengar. Besides whih, rotom w isnt a problem anyway, as charizard sets up easily on it! Its also easily wondown by stealth rocks, sandstorm, and walled by florges, gorgeist, and rotom to an extent. Good luck on your team im curious as to any peaks you may have had as well!

Thanks! I do have a Sand Rush Excadrill on hand so I'll test these changes out, but isnt SR on Exca only available after PokeBank? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also if you could recommend a set for me that would be cool (like if I should run Jolly or Adamant, what item, EVs etc.)

 

[tcr]

Ah my bad. I assumed this was for pokebank ou. No it is not released, but considering it'll be out very soon...

Here's what i came up, i'd check my poor math though:

Excadrill Air Balloon
Sand Rush
Adamant
112 HP/ 252 Atk / 140 Spe
- Stealth Rocks
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

140 spe evs should outpace +1 charizard x in sand. The rest of the evs are simply filler, im sure you can play around with to make it bulky enough to survive hits (such as a +SpD/-SpA nature and enough investment to survive hydro pump from rotom) but thats just something quick i came up with. Stealth rocks has been shoved onto exca now with the addition of AV Tyranitar (If you choose to use it). Rock Slide is the edge part of edgequake, and earthquake is standard STAB. You can also run Iron Head, to KO florges or other...thingies. Rapid Spin is obviously essential to your team.

 

[Lord Wallace]

Bump

 

[Rofellos]

Hello dark my old friend! Its been a long while since weve spoken glad to see you're still around. I like the new team and wanted to ask about florges. Have you tried out it's symbiosis ability? Considering its meant to switch items with a team mate, I have been trying to theorize using symbiosis on a florges to switch its held item with a mega evolution. Doing so would allow the mega to actually hold something beneficial beyond its own stone. Like for instance if you switch a life orb from florges onto charizard or an assault vest, it could make for a fun trick and deadly at that. Not sure if the symbiosis ability has been tested but its a good theory I think!

 

[Lord Wallace]

Hello dark my old friend! Its been a long while since weve spoken glad to see you're still around. I like the new team and wanted to ask about florges. Have you tried out it's symbiosis ability? Considering its meant to switch items with a team mate, I have been trying to theorize using symbiosis on a florges to switch its held item with a mega evolution. Doing so would allow the mega to actually hold something beneficial beyond its own stone. Like for instance if you switch a life orb from florges onto charizard or an assault vest, it could make for a fun trick and deadly at that. Not sure if the symbiosis ability has been tested but its a good theory I think!

Hey Rofellos yeah I'm back cuz I got myself a copy of X. Oh and I believe Symbiosis is also no good in singles unfortunately :/

 

[Lord Wallace]

I have made drastic changes to the team and it is now completely stall. Please rate!

 

[dwarfstar]

I'm not the best with stall teams, but I'll give this a shot.

The first thing I notice is that you really should be running Leftovers instead of Shed Shell, since Magnezone is not common nowadays and Leftovers helps against pretty much everything (if you're trying to replicate this team in-game, then grind a Pickup user to LV100 and just keep checking what items it finds until you have Leftovers). I recommend swapping Thunderbolt out for Volt Switch on Rotom - yes, there's a power drop, but Rotom isn't very strong without offensive investment anyway, so I think the momentum would serve you better. Lastly, as soon as Pokebank goes live in-game (and sooner if you play this in PB OU), Togekiss will be a good replacement for Florges, with the following set:
Togekiss @ Leftovers
248 HP / 32 SpA / 216 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm nature
Serene Grace
-Wish
-Protect / Thunder Wave
-Heal Bell
-Air Slash

 

[bwebber]

From my own experience that Florges set is better handled by Clefable. Better physical bulk, better ability in Unaware, better Wishes.

 

[Lord Wallace]

From my own experience that Florges set is better handled by Clefable. Better physical bulk, better ability in Unaware, better Wishes.

Ahh good catch, may be even better than Sylveon, Unaware is an excellent ability indeed! And I can get Aromatherapy and Wish through breeding.

I'm not the best with stall teams, but I'll give this a shot.

The first thing I notice is that you really should be running Leftovers instead of Shed Shell, since Magnezone is not common nowadays and Leftovers helps against pretty much everything (if you're trying to replicate this team in-game, then grind a Pickup user to LV100 and just keep checking what items it finds until you have Leftovers). I recommend swapping Thunderbolt out for Volt Switch on Rotom - yes, there's a power drop, but Rotom isn't very strong without offensive investment anyway, so I think the momentum would serve you better. Lastly, as soon as Pokebank goes live in-game (and sooner if you play this in PB OU), Togekiss will be a good replacement for Florges, with the following set:
Togekiss @ Leftovers
248 HP / 32 SpA / 216 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm nature
Serene Grace
-Wish
-Protect / Thunder Wave
-Heal Bell
-Air Slash

I'll try your changes. Thanks! And yeah I do have a lvl 100 Gourgeist with Pickup but suddenly he wont pick up items anymore :(

Togekiss is unfortunatley weak to SR and I do not carry Defog or a Spinner, I think Clefable is a better choice.

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Hi there, I got the request so I'm here to rate your team

So by the looks of it, this is a very nice stall team that has pretty decent synergy. Tyranitar sets up Stealth Rock and checks most special attackers. Gourgeist is your spin blocker and spreads status with Will-O-Wisp and Leech Seed, which forces switches and racks up residual damage. Skarmory is your main physical wall and phazer, while also providing Spikes for your team. Rotom-W is your bulky Water type, which is also really nice as it gains momentum for your team and checks several threats. Florges supports the team by healing any status problems with Heal Bell and also provides Wish. And Finally, Goodra is a nice special tank for your team. Awesome.

However, there are a few key threats that I think you're weak to. Lucario is a huge threat to your team, as with a Swords Dance under it's belt (which is easily obtained as it sets up on Florges and Goodra) it OHKOs everything on your team bar Gourgeist. The Nasty Plot set can also be very dangerous, as it lures in Gourgeist nicely for the easy OHKO. Charizard X is also a pretty big problem for you, as your best way to check Dragon types is with Skarmory and Florges, both of which lose to Charizard X. Aegislash can be a problem with the mixed sets, as it 2HKOs Skarmory, while you can't really do too much back to it. Mega Absol is also a pretty big problem, as with Magic Bounce you can't phaze it or burn it, meaning it can freely set up a Swords Dance and potentially sweep.

So, here are my suggestions to help fix your team.

1) Replace Rotom-W with Quagsire. Quagsire does so much for your team, as it ignores stats boots with it'a ability Unaware. What this means is that regardless of boosts, Quagsire will also be able to check Lucario, Absol, and Charizard X. It still checks Talonflame really nicely, and also helps out with your Aegislash weakness somewhat.

2) Change Goodra set to the standard SpDef set. I'll be honest, I haven't had much experience with this Infestation set, but in general it just doesn't seem to be doing too much for your team. It doesn't really lure in troublesome threats, and I think you're better off just going with a standard set, which can be found here.

Here are the sets

Hide

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic

Well, there's my rate, I hope I helped in some way.

 

[Lord Wallace]

Hi there, I got the request so I'm here to rate your team

So by the looks of it, this is a very nice stall team that has pretty decent synergy. Tyranitar sets up Stealth Rock and checks most special attackers. Gourgeist is your spin blocker and spreads status with Will-O-Wisp and Leech Seed, which forces switches and racks up residual damage. Skarmory is your main physical wall and phazer, while also providing Spikes for your team. Rotom-W is your bulky Water type, which is also really nice as it gains momentum for your team and checks several threats. Florges supports the team by healing any status problems with Heal Bell and also provides Wish. And Finally, Goodra is a nice special tank for your team. Awesome.

However, there are a few key threats that I think you're weak to. Lucario is a huge threat to your team, as with a Swords Dance under it's belt (which is easily obtained as it sets up on Florges and Goodra) it OHKOs everything on your team bar Gourgeist. The Nasty Plot set can also be very dangerous, as it lures in Gourgeist nicely for the easy OHKO. Charizard X is also a pretty big problem for you, as your best way to check Dragon types is with Skarmory and Florges, both of which lose to Charizard X. Aegislash can be a problem with the mixed sets, as it 2HKOs Skarmory, while you can't really do too much back to it. Mega Absol is also a pretty big problem, as with Magic Bounce you can't phaze it or burn it, meaning it can freely set up a Swords Dance and potentially sweep.

So, here are my suggestions to help fix your team.

1) Replace Rotom-W with Quagsire. Quagsire does so much for your team, as it ignores stats boots with it'a ability Unaware. What this means is that regardless of boosts, Quagsire will also be able to check Lucario, Absol, and Charizard X. It still checks Talonflame really nicely, and also helps out with your Aegislash weakness somewhat.

2) Change Florges set to the standard SpDef set. I'll be honest, I haven't had much experience with this Infestation set, but in general it just doesn't seem to be doing too much for your team. It doesn't really lure in troublesome threats, and I think you're better off just going with a standard set, which can be found here.

Here are the sets

Hide

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic

Well, there's my rate, I hope I helped in some way.

Thanks! This rate helped a lot. I'll definitely give Quagsire a try, Rotom was coming up a little weak anyway.

Just one question, on point 2 there are you referring to Florges or Goodra (or both)? If you're referring to Goodra I guess I could give Assault Vest a try but so far I'm really liking Infestation (Toxic isnt being as useful though). I was planning to replace Florges anyway, and was thinking about Unaware Clefable, which could lessen the need for Quagsire. What are your thoughts on it?

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Well Florges is often compared to Sylevon and Clefable, so if you think they could be potentially better for your team, I see no harm is testing them out.