Introduction
So for context, I've always been stuck somewhere around the 1200 score and I usually drop all the way down again after a few battles. I've eventually decided that a rework of my team is what I need to start climbing even higher, especially since everyone is pointing out a lot of problems with my team. Now, I played ou for a while now, so I know which pokemon are problematic for me, so here's the current team:
Part 1: the current team
Dory (Dondozo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Waterfall
- Body Press
- Curse
- Substitute
I know substitute isn't much of a reccomended set, but for me it really makes sure dondonzo puts in at least some work into the other team. Basically, it allows dondonzo to live a lot of hits without:
A: losing momentum with rest
B: losing a valuable moveslot with rest + sleep talk
C: losing out on Leftovers with a berry
The good thing about it is that dondonzo is a pretty difficult mon to take down thanks to unaware and a high defense and hp, so leftovers can safely take you back to more reasonable health. And even if the opponent does switch into a less favorable matchup, yourself still hiding with a substitute, which can open an opportunity to do chip damage or, more ideally, a big hit on the opponent. Substitute makes dondonzo faint slower, making it very annoying for the opponent and its also a lot of fun to use. I decided on Body Press as coverage since with Outrage, I don't get locked onto one move and overall, I get a lot more coverage with a fighting move. In addition, curse can let you be a potential sweeper if the conditions are right. Finally, it definetly serves as a great anti lead against the likes of hamurott, tusks, ting lu and torkal. Overall, as long as you keep your Leftovers up (which is made easier thanks to the reduction of knock off users), sub dondonzo can surely do a least something valuable on your team.
Yang (Dragapult) (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Cursed Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
The wallbreaker of the team and drapault makes sure that i can take the last hit in. If there's a problematic pokemon on my team, dragapult can just Draco it to make my problems go away. U turn helps me get away from unfavorable matchups and Thunderbolt allows me to take care of corviknight better. In addition, it can really mess up rain teams since a lot of players, somehow, usually try to u turn out their pelipper. If a pokemkn teras into water, that's even better for it. Shadow Ball is also essential to dragapult since it Can do a lot to sweep, like gholdengo. Overall, a very loveable team member of mines thanks to its speed.
Blake (Muk-Alola) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Thunder Punch
- Drain Punch
This, along with ursaluna in the past, is one of the pokemon I instantly loved to use once home dropped and that mostly hadn't changed. With a lot of threats to my team like gjoldengo, enamorous, heatran, hamurott and dragpult always running around the meta, dragapult always shuts them down hard thanks to its high spD and its decent attack. It can also chip opponents down with poison Jab and become good support with knock off, the one great move Amuk didn't lose at least. Drain Punch is good coverage against some of the meta and is also good healing too. Overall, a pokemon I always value and cherish in my team for being one of the best team players.
Weiss Schee (Baxcalibur) (F) @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Glaive Rush
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
The bread and butter in my team. With Lando t and tusks coming along in home, I thought that baxcallibur would be a great counter to all of those big threats and a I was right. It can do a whole lot of things, being currently the only ice type in the tier, like being a counter to zapdos, Lando t, amoonguss and other ice weak pokemon. I usually keep Loaded Dice in to make bax more consistent with damage. Dragon Dance allows me to sweep easily, being the best pokemon for that job. Earthquake allows me to hit what would be checks like heatran. Overall, a very strong sweeper.
Ruby Rose (Hatterene) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Mystical Fire
- Draining Kiss
- Trick Room
- Psyshock
A pokemon that always gets me out of a pickle, thanks to its typing and Trick Room for speed control. Psyshock allows it to counter a lot of poison walls running around the meta and its fairy typing with Draining Kiss let's me counter dragons safely while making sure hatt stays alive for most of the game. Mystical fire is for coverage like gholdengo if I need to suprise them. Magic Bounce is also awesome since it let's me counter things like spore, thuder wave and whirlwind. It's another great supporter in my team.
Qrow (Corviknight) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mirror Armor
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
Since I still needed hazard removal, corviknight seemed like the best option to go to. It's steel and flying typing allow it to become something I can pivot into and helps me a lot against some very strong pokemon, like great tusks and sometimes sneasler with brave bird. Roost also keeps it very healthy.
(Yes, 5/6th of my team is a RWBY reference)
Part 2: the threats of my team
Kingambit: probably an obvious one, but I really don't have much answers to gambit apart from dondonzo, Amuk and maybe hatterene, but they're usually not very reliable, especially against sucker Punch.
Rotom wash: a very annoying pokemon to deal with since everything only hits it for neutral and Thunder wave always ruins everything for me.
Zapdos: if baxcallibur gets defeated, that's it. No other pokemon can reliably take zapdos on
Walking wake: even hatterene and Amuk fall to its hydro steams once sun is set up
Part 3: what the community has reccomended for me
However, before going here, I did seek some advice from other people and their reccomendations for pokemon we really good. I did some test runs already, so I have a bit of a taste for what these pokemon can offer to my team. Here are the reccomended pokemon:
Slowking-Galar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 120 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
Replaces: Alolan Muk
People say this is essentially Amuk, but better. A similar idea to what I was doing with Amuk already, but with 2 upside and 1
2 downside. The 2 downsides are the loss of the high poison chance and it no lower checks ghosts like gholdengo as well as before. However, it does get regenerator and it can serve as a wall better. Overall, I really like it, although Amuk will still have a place in my heart.
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Ruination
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
Replaces: hatterene
There was one person who didnt like hatterene on my team and suggested ting lu instead for support. Even though i was skeptical about it at first, i was very impressed by ting lus preformance. Whirlwind does so much for ting lu since it stops some set ups while chipping away the opponents health. It's also a pretty good spike setter and ruination guarantees big damage from any high health pokemon. Tera ghost is also insanely good since it blocks what would be devastating fighting moves. Ting lu is also insanely bulky. No special attackers can seem to break through it, which is what I love about it.
Yang (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
Replaces: dondonzo
To be honest, I was rather unenthusiastic with using rotom wash since it was pretty hard to find an opportunity to Thunder wave. Then again, I previously try to ran hex instead of protect in an attempt to be stronger against ghost types. At least hydro pump does good damage to the opponents.
Iron valiant:
Replaces: unknown
I haven't tried it out, which is why there's no set for it, but it looks pretty fun to try out and also seems like an awesome gambit check.
Enamorous + great tusks duo.
Replaces: Unknown
A pair I also wanted to try to use since the 2 do defeat a lot of the metagame by themselves and also support the Amuk rotom dragapult core, if I have to use that core.
Clodsire:
Replaces: Amuk/hatterene
Probably a stretch, but I've heard good things about it, like being a great SpA wall and setting up poison to all the opponents. I would say I like it if I did use it.
Ursaluna:
Replaces: dondonzo
This was in the original team before I settled for dondonzo instead since ursaluna didn't do much outside of Trick Room. I decided to include it here in case it helps out
Conclusion
I know this was pretty long, but I'm free to experiment to my hearts desire to make a team perfect for me. Pokemon is a pretty fun game and doing all of this research was a whole lot of fun. Thanks for your time and to all of you, have an excellent day!
So for context, I've always been stuck somewhere around the 1200 score and I usually drop all the way down again after a few battles. I've eventually decided that a rework of my team is what I need to start climbing even higher, especially since everyone is pointing out a lot of problems with my team. Now, I played ou for a while now, so I know which pokemon are problematic for me, so here's the current team:
Part 1: the current team
Dory (Dondozo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Waterfall
- Body Press
- Curse
- Substitute
I know substitute isn't much of a reccomended set, but for me it really makes sure dondonzo puts in at least some work into the other team. Basically, it allows dondonzo to live a lot of hits without:
A: losing momentum with rest
B: losing a valuable moveslot with rest + sleep talk
C: losing out on Leftovers with a berry
The good thing about it is that dondonzo is a pretty difficult mon to take down thanks to unaware and a high defense and hp, so leftovers can safely take you back to more reasonable health. And even if the opponent does switch into a less favorable matchup, yourself still hiding with a substitute, which can open an opportunity to do chip damage or, more ideally, a big hit on the opponent. Substitute makes dondonzo faint slower, making it very annoying for the opponent and its also a lot of fun to use. I decided on Body Press as coverage since with Outrage, I don't get locked onto one move and overall, I get a lot more coverage with a fighting move. In addition, curse can let you be a potential sweeper if the conditions are right. Finally, it definetly serves as a great anti lead against the likes of hamurott, tusks, ting lu and torkal. Overall, as long as you keep your Leftovers up (which is made easier thanks to the reduction of knock off users), sub dondonzo can surely do a least something valuable on your team.
Yang (Dragapult) (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Cursed Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
The wallbreaker of the team and drapault makes sure that i can take the last hit in. If there's a problematic pokemon on my team, dragapult can just Draco it to make my problems go away. U turn helps me get away from unfavorable matchups and Thunderbolt allows me to take care of corviknight better. In addition, it can really mess up rain teams since a lot of players, somehow, usually try to u turn out their pelipper. If a pokemkn teras into water, that's even better for it. Shadow Ball is also essential to dragapult since it Can do a lot to sweep, like gholdengo. Overall, a very loveable team member of mines thanks to its speed.
Blake (Muk-Alola) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Thunder Punch
- Drain Punch
This, along with ursaluna in the past, is one of the pokemon I instantly loved to use once home dropped and that mostly hadn't changed. With a lot of threats to my team like gjoldengo, enamorous, heatran, hamurott and dragpult always running around the meta, dragapult always shuts them down hard thanks to its high spD and its decent attack. It can also chip opponents down with poison Jab and become good support with knock off, the one great move Amuk didn't lose at least. Drain Punch is good coverage against some of the meta and is also good healing too. Overall, a pokemon I always value and cherish in my team for being one of the best team players.
Weiss Schee (Baxcalibur) (F) @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Glaive Rush
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
The bread and butter in my team. With Lando t and tusks coming along in home, I thought that baxcallibur would be a great counter to all of those big threats and a I was right. It can do a whole lot of things, being currently the only ice type in the tier, like being a counter to zapdos, Lando t, amoonguss and other ice weak pokemon. I usually keep Loaded Dice in to make bax more consistent with damage. Dragon Dance allows me to sweep easily, being the best pokemon for that job. Earthquake allows me to hit what would be checks like heatran. Overall, a very strong sweeper.
Ruby Rose (Hatterene) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Mystical Fire
- Draining Kiss
- Trick Room
- Psyshock
A pokemon that always gets me out of a pickle, thanks to its typing and Trick Room for speed control. Psyshock allows it to counter a lot of poison walls running around the meta and its fairy typing with Draining Kiss let's me counter dragons safely while making sure hatt stays alive for most of the game. Mystical fire is for coverage like gholdengo if I need to suprise them. Magic Bounce is also awesome since it let's me counter things like spore, thuder wave and whirlwind. It's another great supporter in my team.
Qrow (Corviknight) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mirror Armor
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
Since I still needed hazard removal, corviknight seemed like the best option to go to. It's steel and flying typing allow it to become something I can pivot into and helps me a lot against some very strong pokemon, like great tusks and sometimes sneasler with brave bird. Roost also keeps it very healthy.
(Yes, 5/6th of my team is a RWBY reference)
Part 2: the threats of my team
Kingambit: probably an obvious one, but I really don't have much answers to gambit apart from dondonzo, Amuk and maybe hatterene, but they're usually not very reliable, especially against sucker Punch.
Rotom wash: a very annoying pokemon to deal with since everything only hits it for neutral and Thunder wave always ruins everything for me.
Zapdos: if baxcallibur gets defeated, that's it. No other pokemon can reliably take zapdos on
Walking wake: even hatterene and Amuk fall to its hydro steams once sun is set up
Part 3: what the community has reccomended for me
However, before going here, I did seek some advice from other people and their reccomendations for pokemon we really good. I did some test runs already, so I have a bit of a taste for what these pokemon can offer to my team. Here are the reccomended pokemon:
Slowking-Galar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 120 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
Replaces: Alolan Muk
People say this is essentially Amuk, but better. A similar idea to what I was doing with Amuk already, but with 2 upside and 1
2 downside. The 2 downsides are the loss of the high poison chance and it no lower checks ghosts like gholdengo as well as before. However, it does get regenerator and it can serve as a wall better. Overall, I really like it, although Amuk will still have a place in my heart.
Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Ruination
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
Replaces: hatterene
There was one person who didnt like hatterene on my team and suggested ting lu instead for support. Even though i was skeptical about it at first, i was very impressed by ting lus preformance. Whirlwind does so much for ting lu since it stops some set ups while chipping away the opponents health. It's also a pretty good spike setter and ruination guarantees big damage from any high health pokemon. Tera ghost is also insanely good since it blocks what would be devastating fighting moves. Ting lu is also insanely bulky. No special attackers can seem to break through it, which is what I love about it.
Yang (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
Replaces: dondonzo
To be honest, I was rather unenthusiastic with using rotom wash since it was pretty hard to find an opportunity to Thunder wave. Then again, I previously try to ran hex instead of protect in an attempt to be stronger against ghost types. At least hydro pump does good damage to the opponents.
Iron valiant:
Replaces: unknown
I haven't tried it out, which is why there's no set for it, but it looks pretty fun to try out and also seems like an awesome gambit check.
Enamorous + great tusks duo.
Replaces: Unknown
A pair I also wanted to try to use since the 2 do defeat a lot of the metagame by themselves and also support the Amuk rotom dragapult core, if I have to use that core.
Clodsire:
Replaces: Amuk/hatterene
Probably a stretch, but I've heard good things about it, like being a great SpA wall and setting up poison to all the opponents. I would say I like it if I did use it.
Ursaluna:
Replaces: dondonzo
This was in the original team before I settled for dondonzo instead since ursaluna didn't do much outside of Trick Room. I decided to include it here in case it helps out
Conclusion
I know this was pretty long, but I'm free to experiment to my hearts desire to make a team perfect for me. Pokemon is a pretty fun game and doing all of this research was a whole lot of fun. Thanks for your time and to all of you, have an excellent day!
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