I’m not particularly good at this game, having peaked around the 1600s. I wanted to get some more thoughts on one of the teams I’ve been using a lot, maybe some tweaks might help me get a little higher on the ladder.
I’ve been enamoured with Fezandipiti since the DLC dropped, something about this mon that is almost really good, but not quite there made me want to try put its best qualities on display.
The paste for the team is here: pokepast.es/a6292c24edc7f7d4
Fezandipiti @ Leftovers
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm/Careful Nature
- U-turn
- Roost
- Acid Spray/Taunt
- Moonblast/Play Rough/Gunk Shot
The most consistent use I could find for Fez was as a specially defensive pivot. The speed EVs allow you to outspeed base 60 mons, and the rest is stuffed into bulk. U-Turn lets you pivot so you aren’t deadweight into steels, and roost is necessary for longevity. There are a lot of options for the last two slots, but I’ve been enjoying Acid Spray and Moonblast. Acid spray makes you hit surprisingly hard, even with Fez’s miserable SpA, and makes pivoting into a special attacking teammate like Walking wake even scarier. Taunt is also nice for shutting down slower set-up pokemon, and denying Kingambit an SD if you’re into that. Moonblast synergises well with Acid Spray’s SpD drop, but if you aren’t running that then Play Rough or Gunk Shot are better, as they deal more to your targets without the drop. Toxic Chain is just the icing on the cake really, being able to pivot while spreading toxic, or halving SpD lets Fez exert a lot of pressure onto pretty much any non-steel type. This set is a fantastic switch into a bunch of the scary special attackers in the tier, such as Walking Wake, Iron Valiant, or Greninja, and in a pinch you can switch into a Bloodmoon Earth Power and Acid Spray it to remove Spd boosts.
Overall I really love big bird, I wish it was ranked on the OU viability list.
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Steel Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
Magnezone is the most monkey brain inclusion next to Fezandipiti. Fez can’t touch steels, zone traps and removes steels. Yeah, no specs means Zone can’t 1-shot any of the steels, but with so many of them being faster than base 60 scarf means you can force damage on most of them, and getting chip isn’t too hard to claim KOs anyway. Volt and Tbolt are mandatory - Volt letting you pivot out of things you cant ohko with Tbolt, and Tbolt for claiming Kos. Scarf Steel Beam is a nice way to surprise KO things like Great Tusk or Ninetales-A, and it can also put a big dent into a Bloodmoon who thinks you’re free entry. Flash Cannon is honestly filler, I’ve never wanted nor had to click it. Tera Steel for if you need the OHKO on bloodmoon, and makes flash cannon a good move. Zona is also nice for help against Ogerpon-Wellspring, as it can barely outspeed Jolly Oger, and tbolt/volt to a good chunk to it.
Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
Great Tusk is full of utility. 12 Atk EVs let you pretend to be an offensive tusk if you’re facing sun, max speed to get the jump on Ghold, Glimmora, and to tie other Tusks. 244 HP lets you take hits from opposing gambit more comfortably, and ice/ground coverage lets you hit it regardless if it is Tera Flying or not. Tusk really appreciates Fez, as Fez will often bring in Gholdengo, which gets it’s balloon broken by U-turn, letting you threaten to spin more reliably.
Tusk Also really enjoys Zone removing Corv, which otherwise hard walls and removes your rocks forever. In turn, Tusk can deal with the poison types that are also immune to Fez. Boots over lefties because I lost to webs a lot on ladder and I hate them, but lefties is way better if you’re more comfortable in the webs matchup.
Walking Wake @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Surf / Scald
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
At this point, I noticed that Barraskewda and Sun HO would tear me a new one, so I added Wake to ease these matchups. Wake naturally threatens out a lot of the tier, so Sub allows you to capitalise on these switches while easing prediction. Sub is also a go-to button to block sucker punch from Gambit, status from Gliscor and Blood Moon from Ursaluna. Sub also tends to bring in Dragapults, which get eaten alive by Fez. Tera water to force KOs with water move of choice. 244 SpA gives Proto speed when facing sun, so you can at worst tie their Wake. Surf over Hydro because outside of sun it hits 2HKOs that Hydro Steam cannot, and is generally more consistent damage. Scald is also an option but not for me I wish scald never came back.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Knock Off
Gliscor is absurd, I’m glad he took gen 8 off because he would ruin that tier. Phys Def Gliscor is a nice complement to Fezandipiti, it handles all the earthquakes and psyshocks that scare Fez, and in return Fez eats up all the specially offensive mons that threaten Glisc. EQ, Knock and Toxic allow Gliscor to threaten every pokemon in the tier apart from Corviknight, which you can lay Spikes on, and then trap as it defogs with Magnezone. Eq hits Gambit before Tera and Toxic hits it after. Ghold switches fear EQ and Knock. Zamazenta hates Toxic. You live an offensive tusk Ice Spinner and can toxic it, or if you don’t need your tera elsewhere, you can tera water and stall it out forever. If there is one mon on this team I am least attached to though, it is Gliscor – In practise it just doesn’t feel like it works super well with the rest of the squad, despite its on paper synergies.
Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Encore
- Psyshock
Iron Valiant was a last minute addition, as otherwise the team is very slow and would probably get run over by Iron Moth or something. Val again appreciates steels being removed by Zone and is one of the best ways to force them in and chip them for Zone. Psyshock helps you deal with poisons so you can spam Moonblast/CC. Encore punishes recovery or set up attempts, you don’t need Tbolt for Corv thanks to Zone. Moonblast is exceptionally strong and spammable, and CC helps deal with Bloodmoon and random Tera Steels.
Overall I’ve really enjoyed laddering with this team, I feel like there’s a lot of outplay potential and no matchup feels entirely dead. The stuff I have the most trouble with is probably Glowking stuff and Webs, but I’m not sure if that’s the team or my poor play.
I would be really keen to know what you all think of the team, and am interested in any improvements I could make to it!
Please use Fez more, I swear it can be good
I’ve been enamoured with Fezandipiti since the DLC dropped, something about this mon that is almost really good, but not quite there made me want to try put its best qualities on display.
The paste for the team is here: pokepast.es/a6292c24edc7f7d4
Fezandipiti @ Leftovers
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm/Careful Nature
- U-turn
- Roost
- Acid Spray/Taunt
- Moonblast/Play Rough/Gunk Shot
The most consistent use I could find for Fez was as a specially defensive pivot. The speed EVs allow you to outspeed base 60 mons, and the rest is stuffed into bulk. U-Turn lets you pivot so you aren’t deadweight into steels, and roost is necessary for longevity. There are a lot of options for the last two slots, but I’ve been enjoying Acid Spray and Moonblast. Acid spray makes you hit surprisingly hard, even with Fez’s miserable SpA, and makes pivoting into a special attacking teammate like Walking wake even scarier. Taunt is also nice for shutting down slower set-up pokemon, and denying Kingambit an SD if you’re into that. Moonblast synergises well with Acid Spray’s SpD drop, but if you aren’t running that then Play Rough or Gunk Shot are better, as they deal more to your targets without the drop. Toxic Chain is just the icing on the cake really, being able to pivot while spreading toxic, or halving SpD lets Fez exert a lot of pressure onto pretty much any non-steel type. This set is a fantastic switch into a bunch of the scary special attackers in the tier, such as Walking Wake, Iron Valiant, or Greninja, and in a pinch you can switch into a Bloodmoon Earth Power and Acid Spray it to remove Spd boosts.
Overall I really love big bird, I wish it was ranked on the OU viability list.
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Steel Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
Magnezone is the most monkey brain inclusion next to Fezandipiti. Fez can’t touch steels, zone traps and removes steels. Yeah, no specs means Zone can’t 1-shot any of the steels, but with so many of them being faster than base 60 scarf means you can force damage on most of them, and getting chip isn’t too hard to claim KOs anyway. Volt and Tbolt are mandatory - Volt letting you pivot out of things you cant ohko with Tbolt, and Tbolt for claiming Kos. Scarf Steel Beam is a nice way to surprise KO things like Great Tusk or Ninetales-A, and it can also put a big dent into a Bloodmoon who thinks you’re free entry. Flash Cannon is honestly filler, I’ve never wanted nor had to click it. Tera Steel for if you need the OHKO on bloodmoon, and makes flash cannon a good move. Zona is also nice for help against Ogerpon-Wellspring, as it can barely outspeed Jolly Oger, and tbolt/volt to a good chunk to it.
Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
Great Tusk is full of utility. 12 Atk EVs let you pretend to be an offensive tusk if you’re facing sun, max speed to get the jump on Ghold, Glimmora, and to tie other Tusks. 244 HP lets you take hits from opposing gambit more comfortably, and ice/ground coverage lets you hit it regardless if it is Tera Flying or not. Tusk really appreciates Fez, as Fez will often bring in Gholdengo, which gets it’s balloon broken by U-turn, letting you threaten to spin more reliably.
Tusk Also really enjoys Zone removing Corv, which otherwise hard walls and removes your rocks forever. In turn, Tusk can deal with the poison types that are also immune to Fez. Boots over lefties because I lost to webs a lot on ladder and I hate them, but lefties is way better if you’re more comfortable in the webs matchup.
Walking Wake @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Surf / Scald
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
At this point, I noticed that Barraskewda and Sun HO would tear me a new one, so I added Wake to ease these matchups. Wake naturally threatens out a lot of the tier, so Sub allows you to capitalise on these switches while easing prediction. Sub is also a go-to button to block sucker punch from Gambit, status from Gliscor and Blood Moon from Ursaluna. Sub also tends to bring in Dragapults, which get eaten alive by Fez. Tera water to force KOs with water move of choice. 244 SpA gives Proto speed when facing sun, so you can at worst tie their Wake. Surf over Hydro because outside of sun it hits 2HKOs that Hydro Steam cannot, and is generally more consistent damage. Scald is also an option but not for me I wish scald never came back.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Knock Off
Gliscor is absurd, I’m glad he took gen 8 off because he would ruin that tier. Phys Def Gliscor is a nice complement to Fezandipiti, it handles all the earthquakes and psyshocks that scare Fez, and in return Fez eats up all the specially offensive mons that threaten Glisc. EQ, Knock and Toxic allow Gliscor to threaten every pokemon in the tier apart from Corviknight, which you can lay Spikes on, and then trap as it defogs with Magnezone. Eq hits Gambit before Tera and Toxic hits it after. Ghold switches fear EQ and Knock. Zamazenta hates Toxic. You live an offensive tusk Ice Spinner and can toxic it, or if you don’t need your tera elsewhere, you can tera water and stall it out forever. If there is one mon on this team I am least attached to though, it is Gliscor – In practise it just doesn’t feel like it works super well with the rest of the squad, despite its on paper synergies.
Iron Valiant @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Encore
- Psyshock
Iron Valiant was a last minute addition, as otherwise the team is very slow and would probably get run over by Iron Moth or something. Val again appreciates steels being removed by Zone and is one of the best ways to force them in and chip them for Zone. Psyshock helps you deal with poisons so you can spam Moonblast/CC. Encore punishes recovery or set up attempts, you don’t need Tbolt for Corv thanks to Zone. Moonblast is exceptionally strong and spammable, and CC helps deal with Bloodmoon and random Tera Steels.
Overall I’ve really enjoyed laddering with this team, I feel like there’s a lot of outplay potential and no matchup feels entirely dead. The stuff I have the most trouble with is probably Glowking stuff and Webs, but I’m not sure if that’s the team or my poor play.
I would be really keen to know what you all think of the team, and am interested in any improvements I could make to it!
Please use Fez more, I swear it can be good
