Project USM TEAMBUILDING: Week 17: Golisopod

[zizalith]

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Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake

Salazzle @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Liquidation
- Superpower
- Aqua Jet

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Volt Switch
- Trick / Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog

Swellow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
- U-turn

i didnt really get to test with this team a lot so it probably sucks but i wanted to make a team around this anyways so here it is!!! ok so swords dance mega abomasnow was the center of the team. i decided to add nidoqueen and feraligatr for rocks and to form a wallbreaking core so other teammates could clean. salazzle, feraligatr and mega abomasnow also make a fwg core which is appreciated by all three of them. i knew i needed hazard control, as well as a switch in to fighting types so i went with regular rotom, which ive been wanting to use for a while now. hp fire is for durant but its gonna be useless when it gets banned so just use trick lol. swellow and salazzle are useful cleaners and very helpful against offense, which mega abomasnow struggles immensely with despite ice shard.

 

[aVocado]

importable

Abomasnow-Mega @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 92 Atk / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Rash Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Ice Shard

Kingdra @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Energy
- Agility
- Draco Meteor
- Surf

Florges-Orange (F) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpA / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Synthesis
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 248 HP / 180 Def / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Refresh
- Recover

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

Dodrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Pursuit
- Quick Attack

special mega snow w/ ice shard, crit/agility kingdra with surf for efficient sweeping, offensive defog florges as a shaky yanmega check which handles mandibuzz and other stuff and in general packs a punch, defensive milotic with a bit of spdef as glue, rocks queen w/ toxic so cress doesnt wall the shit out of this team, and BANDED DODRIO with quick attack which can sweep late game. so overall this team has 3 wincons: ice shard mega snow, agility kingdra, and quick attack dodrio with kinda 3 glue mons.

 

[KW]

The voting stage begins now! Vote for your favorite Mega Abomasnow team.

 

[zizalith]

harpp

 

[Master Chief]

Harpp

 

[HypnoEmpire]

tyrantytar

 

[roman]

queen vados

 

[mofro5]

Arikado

 

[Bongi]

Arikado <3

 

[KW]

The voting stage is now over, thanks to Harpp, tyrantytar, and avocado for their submissions. This weeks winner is Avocado, congrats! Next week's challenge up shortly.

 

[KW]

Week 12: Virizion

After being very mediocre in early SM, due to being eclipsed by other newfound threats and the extreme prevalence of a hard counter in Doublade's presence in the tier, Virizion is now finding its moment in the meta. The increasing popularity of Milotic and Mandibuzz, along with the introduction of Mega Steelix fairly recently, has caused Doublade's usage to go downward. Meanwhile, Virizion is able to take advantage of the prevalence of Milotic and the newly introduced Mandibuzz (assuming its not a rare Brave Bird Variant), causing its viable in the meta to soar. Still, Virizion can be a challenge to build with, as a remotely healthy Doublade on the other side can crush Virizion's momentum, and Virizion often struggles versus more offensive teams, which fail to give it a chance to setup in order to rectify its mediocre attack. Can this week's builders build a team that can account for Virzion's flaws, and allow it to best showcase its offensive traits?

 

[cyanize]

importable

the heat (Moltres) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Air Slash

gunshot sonata (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

miss you (Virizion) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

knowhow (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 188 HP / 128 Def / 192 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

all this time (Cresselia) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Moonlight

sandblast (Diancie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Power Gem
- Earth Power

i started off with a pretty simple fwg core, moltres / megastoise / viriz has really solid anti-balance synergy and molt can u-turn on stuff like umbreon, lax, and milo to give viriz setup opportunities. i opted for toxic on stoise in order to pressure refresh milo to give out more free turns and trivialize weakening toxic/ibeam variants. toxicing milo also allows curselax to beat it 1v1 should it not have refresh which is quite nice. next i added a defensive backbone of snorlax + cress; curselax to take on special attackers that the original core struggled with, and cress takes on fighting types that threaten lax. i went hp fire in the third slot on cress to get a slightly better matchup vs mega aboma, since i can't aurasphere it with mega blastoise which would prevent it from coming on on all the members on my team and also to chip doublade for viriz. last slot is an interesting pick, i've been wanting to try out offensive rocks diancie as it takes on mandi comfortably without being boned by foul play variants like sd rhyp is, and it also lures doublade and megalix for viriz and lax respecitvely, as well as providing an actual dragon and flying resist so stuff like taunt noivern, honchkrow and drag don't just click attacks all over my team. originally i only planned to outspeed min speed chesnaught with diancie but umbreon is only like 12 extra evs from that so i said why not.

 

[mofro5]

importable

Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Curse

Florges @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpA / 240 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Synthesis

Moltres @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Araquanid @ Splash Plate
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 96 HP / 220 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Toxic
- Spider Web
- Rest

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
- Roost

Wanted to try an offensive team with a couple things I normally can't fit into my teams (cuz I suck lol). Moltres obviously synergizes well with Virizion being able to u-turn out of checks that give setup opportunities i.e milo, umb, lax, etc. HP grass because this team appreciates a "reliable" way to revenge DD Gatr with enough prior chip to not necessitate having to risk the game on a single hurricane. Steelix is a dependable rocker for teams that don't commit their mega slot to toise and its resistances let it check threats that are often awkward to cover such as Tyrantrum, Linoone, and Swellow. The speed EVs on it outpace uninvested Doublade (could probably afford more speed to win creep wars).

Florges handles special threats like toise while providing defog. Offensive Pixie Plate lets it do things such as always OHKOing Machamp/Bewear (outside of ladder AV variants ) and 2HKOing all Mandi variants or stuff like Garde while speed EVs let it outpace the Krow/Tsareena/196 Mandi tier. Aroma over a coverage option like Psychic since a large portion of the team's win con hinges on Viriz setting up on fat mons which inevitably involves exposing it to status from scald/toxic. Araquanid is an under the radar threat rn as the amount of safe switch ins to this bug is simply not high (even resists like rotom-m and toise get chunked and even lose if switching in on a healthy spider). Often times the best switch in for many teams will be refresh milo (refresh-less milos straight up lose) which when combined with spider web and toxic/liquidation def drops, allows Virizion the safest possible switch in not even exposing it to scald. Aero is also a very cool mon rn that provides an amount of role compression that's rare for a mon with its offensive prowess. It's a good check to Salazzle which would ravage a lot of this team otherwise as well as being a safety net against a smorgasbord of other offensive mons (noivern, moltres, yanmega, etc). At the same time, taunt and roost let it pester defensive mons, most notably Cress, and let it stay healthy to be able to check the aforementioned threats throughout the match.

 

[Harpp]

Virizion Offense

Team

Necrozma @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Toxic

Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- U-turn

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Fang
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Description

I ended up building an offensive team with Virizion, Necrozma is the offensive stealth rock setter of the team which has a strong photon geyser that allows it to pressure common opposing leads such as nidoquen, it has toxic to cripples walls such as cresselia and miltoic which makes it easier to deal with such pokemon, Virizion has works great with FWG core and hence it is accompanied here by mega Blastoise that not only provides hazard control in rapid spin but it also breaks down walls such as Gliscor for virizion and therefore providing good synergy, I added Rotom-heat to deter moltres and to complete the FWG core, it also brings in Virizion via volt switch allowing to pressure teams more and have easier time setting up swords dance. Next I added Choice Scarf Flygon to provide the team with necessary speed control and a check to salazzle. It also brings U-turn pivot to the team completing the volt-turn strat. Lastly life orb aerodactyl is an amazing cleaner and pursuit trap threats such as salazzle and espeon, It appreciates Rotom-heat checking pokemon such as Bronzong and Steelix-Mega for it to clean.

 

[KW]

it's time to....

 

[cyanize]

mofro 3:

 

[zizalith]

mofro

 

[aVocado]

cyan

 

[Gorechomp]

mofro5

 

[BelmontGabriel]

cyan

 

[HypnoEmpire]

mofro5, love the team

 

[KW]

Voting stage is now over! Thanks to cyanize, mofro5, and Harpp for their entries. This week's winner is mofro5, congrats.

 

[KW]

Week 13: Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl has been laying low in the RU tier for a while now, with some niche uses on offense. As the meta has settled, however, Aerodactyl has found itself as a more prominent force, being one of the best offensive checks to Salazzle, and providing fast offensive control. Chesnaught falling out of favor has made Aerodactyl's job even easier, no longer being required to carry a Flying-type attack, and adding to the diversity of its options. Aerodcatyl, however, still struggles to muscle its way past bulky Steel-types like Steelix, and often has trouble picking up unboosted knock-outs, while getting knocked out in return. In addition, even with a Z move, the tier's most common wall in Milotic can be difficult for Aerodactyl to bypass. Can this week's builders build a team that weakens Aerodcatyl's counters and allows it to shine best?

 

[MrAldo]

Thankfully Im in time for this one since I really like aerodactyl.

Team

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
- Superpower

Espeon @ Psychium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Morning Sun

Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam

Goodra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Shaymin @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Seed Flare

Pretty straightforward team consisting of swords dance feraligatr in conjunction of psychium Z calm mind which is a pretty fun set that I really like to use. Mega Steelix is pretty standard and I believe it doesnt need much introduction, Toxic is nice to soften certain defensive mons for Espeon and Gatr. Goodra is a pretty niche pick but the defensive value it provides alongside passable offensive power is pretty valuable. The Grass immunity allow me to play around most grass types pretty reliably which I believe is an underrated quality in building. And it helping soft checking stuff like Scarf Moltres which can be rather problematic.

Next we have the mon of the week, Aerodactyl. Decided to try out Taunt + Roost in order to provide a way of luring some passive things trying to take advantage of aerodactyl and preventing defog from some things and what not. I believe having jet on gatr allow me some freedom against Salazzle so the need of pursuit isnt as aggravating. Scarf Shaymin is able to round up pretty much every team tbh, HP Ice is nice for Noivern which can be a pretty big threat. Beastly mon.

More or a fun build than anything but I liked the result. Specs Garde is super dangerous so play around carefully.

 

[mofro5]

Importable

Shaymin @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Healing Wish
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Air Slash

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Roost

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 84 SpD / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Roost

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Water Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Tyrantrum @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rock Head
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Rock Polish
- Stealth Rock

Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Trick

For better or worse, I didn't want to just make another BO team that needed Aero as a Salazzle/fast mon check like my team last week but rather something more fun that at least attempted to incorporate it more in the team's win con either by weakening its checks so it can clean late game or enable its taunt roost strategy with toxic support.

Scarf Shaymin is a sort of glue that revenges problem mons like Gatr/Viriz/Flygon while providing good natural bulk with key resistances for things like Zydoge and Healing Wish is always nice when it works. Everyone knows what toise does by now: spin and pressure hazard setters while toxic allows Moltres and Aero to better deal with defensive mons. Now because this team doesn't have a true defensive core to fall back on, I feel that roost on Aero is even more important in order to sustain longevity for the late game due to the mass role compression of still checking the salazzle/swellow like threats along with the pressuring of certain fat cores. With the added toxic support, taunt roost on defensive mons without super effective coverage becomes especially annoying (looking at you regi/cress/lax).

Specs Garde is a major threat rn with "-2 switch ins" that overpowers some of the more specially defensive mons with just its stabs alone (especially those damn Umbreon that clear my toxics). Yes Focus Blast sux but the fact that it can do upwards of 50% - 60% to lax/registeel/escav or minimum 90% to lix, all things normally used to soak up MB, is absurd and basically puts them in range for Aero and Moltres to push through late game. Speaking of Moltres, subtoxic gives the team another way to fight against fats that's not entirely made of glass like a lot of the team already is (can even check Yanmega in a pinch if you're sure it won't Air Slash), especially ones Aero would have trouble with such as Gligar or zong while still enabling taunt roost with toxic. The 84 SpDef EVs let its subs survive a hit against Cress which I feel is more important than outspeeding rotom-a even though those things are always annoying to face. This Ttrum should probably be a Rhyperior but SR RP ttrum is a set I've always wanted to use but never found a way to fit on teams. Ttrum dgaf about Mandi which is always a good quality to have as a rocker and honestly the last coverage option, mostly EQ, is very underwhelming without attack boosts anyways to the point where it only does upwards of 30% to its main targets in lix and Doublade. Cleaning a team late game on the other hand is a real possibility against offensive teams as the only scarfer that outspeeds ttrum at +2 is Salazzle which is probably the least common of all the scarfers. Ttrum also shares a lot of similar checks with Aero and can weaken said checks with its considerably stronger rock stab or one time dragon nuke so Aero can better clean late game with its speed as well. Finally although ttrum is not the bulkiest mon in the game and it may be too much to ask it to tank hits setting up rocks and rp in the same game normally, that very reason makes it a great and unexpected candidate for Healing Wish as well.