Project USUM UU Research Week v2 (On a break)

Okay so before I get into my thoughts on Mega Absol and Staka, I wanna say ignore 16 of those L's cos I was trying to make this shit team work, I've never built Webs so it was a disaster lmao. Also I'll never use Togekiss again, deadass it flinched 2 / 30 times I pressed Air Slash even on Para'd targets Fck that Mon, it legit hates me lmao. Anyway I hit just over 1500 with pretty much one team before tilting so I'm gonna stop here as I won't get much chance to play for the rest of this week. I only played like 5-6 games with CB Staka on ladder but I played with it in a tour and won, so I'll still have replays. So I'm gonna talk about Staka first just cos I played less games with it, then move onto Mega Absol because I've played like 60 games using it.
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Choice Band Stakataka


<Click sprites for importable>
So this is the Staka squad I used, I pretty much yoinked it from BackAtYouBro and changed up the Zera set and Malt evs so thank you Bayb <3. My opinion on this set will be fairly short as I didn't play many games with it but I got a good enough feel for it. Lonely nature gives it the Atk Boost which is nice and all, but personally I think you are just better off using a Brave nature with standard IVs as the defense boost would be a lot nicer. The number of times Staka claimed something and I was immediatelly forced out by Krookodile, Infernape, w/e it may be was kinda annoying, so imo I see more merit behind using a Brave nature to actually eat these hits and potentially kill something else. The other two coverage moves are EQ and Superpower to hit Doublade, Kommo-o etc harder. Banded Staka actually hits like a truck tbh, like everytime it got the chance to come in it would either just claim one or drop something below 75% by pressing Gyro Ball 99% of the time. Even against Mons that 'resist' gyro ball like Tentacruel and Scizor got bopped lmao. Due to the HP investment it also still functions as a pretty good Latias check as well and can even eat hits like Drill Run from MegaBee with a -Def Nature. However, if Staka doesn't get a free switch into something it can struggle to do much as it is very easy to force out especially with its 4x weakness to Fighting and Ground even if this set is less exploitable than its other sets (Based off me using a Lonely nature). With Pokemon like Chesnaught and Kommo-o still running around in the tier it really doesn't appreciate them stopping the two moves it wants to spam being Gyro or Stone Edge. While it has the coverage to hit Kommo-o much harder with Superpower these two are pretty good and popular counters to it. I think this set still faces some competition from Curse MegaLix as well, which fulfills a similar role of setting up to break or sweep but still has the utility of setting up Stealth Rock for the team. Ofc Staka has the advantage of having more immediate power, being a better Mega-Pidgeot and Moltres check and doesn't take up a mega slot. Personally I think CB Staka is pretty good and 100% better than the defensive sets it runs which I think are pretty ass, as it struggles competing with Megalix and Mega-Aggron for this slot. Yeah idk I haven't got much else to say about it, pretty solid set tbh.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845675506 - Staka claiming lives

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845680026 - Staka OHKOing this Tenta tho I think it was offensive idk

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845765874 - Staka cleaning up
Mega Absol

Okay so I spammed the absolute shit out of this Mon lol and ended up trying 3 different sets on it which I'll give my thoughts on. So my initial opinion was that there is no merit of using this Mon especially when Bisharp can just do what it does but better. I still do think this is true to an extent, but I'd say the biggest niches it has over Bisharp is definitely its Speed tier and coverage options. It also actually invites in Pokemon like Sylveon and Togekiss which don't fear anything from it but don't enjoy their lefties being knocked. I don't think the Mon is bad to the point that it is unviable as it can have potential in some match-ups but requires a lot of team support. It also has a lot of glaring issues which I'll get into later

Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 244 Atk / 44 Def / 4 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Fire Blast
- Sucker Punch
This is the first set I used on my bad attempt at Sticky Webs where I played about 25 games and lost 16 of em (don't use that team). So I ev'd it to live a CB Bullet Punch from Scizor and OHKO it back and while it did once, it really isn't worth it. Fire Blast otherwise was just really weak, even if it could be quite spammable vs steel types. I also opted to use Play Rough because Kommo-o is everywhere and I didn't want to be walled by it or other Mons like Terrakion and Malt. Play Rough again isn't that bad on this Pokemon imo, I'd say it has more merit over Fire Blast but in the end I dropped this as it struggles to fit this unless you run an AoA set.

Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
So I pretty much swapped out Fire Blast for Pursuit as it wasn't doing much at all with the previous set, so I thought it might be able to do more if it was able to trap Gengar and Latias. Personally I prefer this over the first set as it just prefers firing off its Dark stab and brings more utility on a team. Again I still had the predicament of having to decide between Play Rough or Superpower as either way it is hard walled by a lot of Mons. I kept Play Rough again for the same reasons as above. I personally think AoA Mega Absol isn't very good even if the team I was running was hella bad lmao. Out of all of those games on low ladder it probably did something in about one or two games simply because it had very little preseence outside of spamming Knock Off. I only have one replay of the AoA set but its better than nothing.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845596766 - Absol traps Lati and got lucky and Crit SP on Zera


<Click sprites for importable>
Okay so this is the team that actually let me hit my peak where I played around 30 games (26 - 4) and I wanna shout out SilvioGuacamole for suggesting the SD Mega Absol set and helping finalize a lot of these sets. So I genuinely think if you are to run Mega Absol the SD set is definitely the way to go if you want this thing to remotely do anything useful. I had a lot of games where after this thing used SD and the team lacked a Pokemon like Malt and Kommo-o it just went in. Because of its speed tier it is actually pretty difficult for Balance and some HO teams to switch into and revenge. The amount of times I just OHKO'd MegaLix was kinda nice because I ran into DubFreaknakeeb rated team like 4 times on ladder lol. Even common fairy types in the tier don't appreciate a +2 Knock Off if weakened slightly. This set is also capable of removing Cobalion better as it will die after an SD. A boosted Sucker Punch also makes it very easy to get a decent amount of chip against Krookodile or Hydra and actually lets it deal with faster threats like Zera and Maero. Like I really enjoyed using this set but I won't glance over the fact that the other members do heavily support it being able to remotely work.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845704454 - Maero got a low role on Absol so it cleaned up

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845717658 - Absol breaks apart balance, would have swept if it wasn't colbur Slowbro

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845739456 - Absol vs Trick room gimmick thingy. Breaks through a few members
So with that I'm gonna get into the negatives of this Mon. Why the fck did this have to be Mono Dark, like bro give it the Fairy typing it deserves and I would legit use this Mon so much more. It being Mono Dark actually hurts it so much, as it is forced to rely solely on its Dark Stab in most games and the typing isn't the greatest defensive typing alongside its pitiful defensive stats. The biggest issue was probably how goddamn frail this thing is, as it just falls over to literrally anything. The next negative is its ability, I don't care what any of yall say Magic Bounce on this Mon is useless 99% of the time. Sure the idea of bouncing back hazards is nice but because of its pitiful defensive stats it falls over to any SR or hazard user in the tier, so hard switching into them is just asking for it to pointlessly die. Sure it can deter hazard setting but you still have to find the oppurtunity to Mega Evolve which is not easy against defensive walls like Hippo, MegaLix etc which will send you packing. By the time I had actually Mega evolved my opponent had usually set up Spikes and maybe SR as you can't simply lead this Mon and hope to just sit there unlike Mega Sableye in OU. The main idea was partnering it up with Talonflame to help keeping hazards off the field but this didn't really work out much and instead I just relied on Taunt. This next point is mainly focused at its AoA set which has some serious 4MSS, like it wants to be able to run Fire Blast, Superpower, Play Rough, Iron Tail and Pursuit but it can't fit all of them on, as Sucker Punch and Knock Off are mandatory imo. Either way you have to give up the ability to hit something which might be pretty common in the tier and without SpA or an SD Boost I felt it was just very weak. I'm not saying that the SD set doesn't want to be able to run Play Rough or Iron Tail for example but I felt this was at least alleviated quite a lot by compensating it with a +2 boost. This doesn't change the fact that at +2 it still doesn't do much to really bulky walls like Hippo but it can break through most other Mons. The other issue with using it, is that it takes up a Megaslot and in some cases this can be a big deal, this is more nit-picky than anything but I personally don't think this Mon can function all that well outside of HO.

Overall I'm actually pleased with Mega Absol and I genuinely think it isn't that bad if the team supports it well. I'm not a good HO player so this was kinda out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed using the Mon a fair amount. The big niche as a sort of Glass cannon Bisharp of having a base 115 Speed tier and decent coverage options can actually be beneficial as it lets it break through Steel types in the tier easily unlike Bisharp. Again I wanna reiterate by no means am I saying Mega Absol is a secret op pick, I just don't think it is as bad as I initially portrayed it to be. In almost every scenario you will probably use Bisharp over this for most of the above reasons, but I would say it is niche enough to be sightly different to Bisharp even if they perform pretty similar roles. I think Absol is definitely worth exploring especially the SD set and tbh I'd probably come back to use it again at some point.

TL;DR:

- CB Staka is pretty good tbh. It hits like an absolute truck by simply spamming Gyro Ball. It still has issues with its exploitable 4x weaknesses and with its low speed tier struggles to do much without a free switch-in. Imo this set still faces some competition with Curse MegaLix and doesn't enjoy Chesnaught and Kommo-o being popular rn as they are strong counters to it.

- I was pretty pleased with Mega Absol being a sort of Glass cannon Bisharp as its better speed stat and coverage actually allowed it to do quite a bit of work. Imo its best set is SD as AoA is just very weak. Has a lot of issues, extremely frail and because of this its ability Magic Bounce is useless as drops to every hazard setter. Has a hard time Mega Evolving vs bulky Mons which also renders Magic Bounce kinda useless. AoA suffers heavily from 4MSS, so does SD set but the boost alleviates this quite a bit. Faces competition for a Mega slot and vs Bisharp. Honestly isn't all that bad but isn't anything amazing.

Another fun week but I'll probably be participating a little less or only using one set over the next few weeks as I start university again. Thanks for reading and I look forward to try out a set again next week ^_^
 
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Ignore the L's, I got meme'd pretty hard also I tried laddering with half-baked teams lol
Didn't want to ladder too much for this week so I only played 30 games with Absol-M, 40 with Stakataka and 25 with Reuniclus. I could probably ladder more, but i don't think my opinion on them will change even after 200+ games. Anyway, let's talk about the edgelord first.​

Mega Absol :
It wasn't as bad as I first thought. I tried using AoA and SD sets, and only the SD one saw real success.
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
- Play Rough
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower

Slowbro @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off

Mienshao @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 100 HP / 156 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off

Rotom-Heat @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog
- Thunder Wave

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Trick
- Healing Wish

Don't you dare talk shit about Ferroseed >:[
Absol definitely struggles a lot, from its non-existent defensive utility (its bulk is so bad it even struggles to cme in safely on "passive" mons, and pure Dark-typing is simply not great atm with all the u-turners and fairies and fightings and shit running around) and from its lack of actual strong STAB move that makes its damage output ... well, not bad, but definitely not what you'd expect from a 'mon with a base 150 attack stat. The AoA attacker set was really weird to use for me, although the amount of customization on its moveset is pretty cool. But it simply suffers from a very strong 4MSS, as you'd like to run Knock Off as your main STAB, Sucker Punch to not get 100% screwed by faster stuff and Pursuit for ... well, trapping things. But then you also want Superpower/Fire Blast to not get walled by Steels, Play Rough to nail Fighting-types, or even Iron Tail for fairies, and you simply can't fit all of that in your moveslots and have to accept you'll get walled by common 'mons in the tier. SD was a bit better as +2 Knock Off really hurts anything that doesn't resist it, but finding a time to set-up is much harder than I thought. Also it suffers even more from the 4MSS I mentioned earlier, 'cause you can't really afford to not run Knock Off and Sucker Punch, which means that, alongside SD, you only have one moveslot to hit all the Dark resists in the tier (spoiler : you can't).
Another big problem for Absol is the existence of other Dark-types in the tier that are simply better at what they do : Krook is a much better Pursuit trapper and offers much more speed control on the scarf set, Bisharp is more effective as a SD user thanks to its Steel-typing and better bulk that gives it more set-up opportunities, and Hydra has excellent defensive utility unlike Absol-M. Also none of them take up a mega slot, which reduces the opportunity cost of using them.
God I talked way too much about the negatives. So, what does it have over its competitors that may justify using it ? Well ...
- Its Speed tier means it outspeeds most of the metagame and doesn't have to rely solely on Sucker Punch against half the meta like Bisharp does once it manages to get a boost
- Having a pure Dark-typing means there are a few mons it can try to switch into that other Dark-types can't (Krook can't switch in safely on Empoleon/Tentacruel/Celebi and Bisharp can't deal with most ground-types, for example)
-Magic Bounce means you can't get phazed away or get statused
-It doesn't need to be choiced to trap Latias, which means that a successful trapping won't always result in your opponent setting another mon up on your face (also Adrenaline Orb Latias)
And that's all I can think of.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845736894 - Absol cleans after coming on Zera's Knock Off and successfully trapping it thanks to my opponent getting scared by a potential Sucker Punch (didn't have it lul)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846151183 - Absol-M could've cleaned after getting the SD boost if I risked the speed tie
Anyway, onto Stakataka now.​
Band Staka
First off, if someone can explain me how Stakataka can use Gyro Ball when it's basically a giant cube it'd be great.
CB Stakataka was really good. Kinda annoying to build around and not as easy to play as I thought, but it still found a way to be useful in most of my matches.
Stakataka @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Superpower / Iron Head
What made this set so good is its raw power combined with a ridiculous defensive utility. To put it simply, Gyro Ball coming from CB Stakataka is probably the strongest unboosted attack in the whole metagame, meaning not a lot of 'mons can safely switch into Stakataka. It's also not as hard to bring on the field as I thought, considering how omnipresent the fairies are (and any fairy that's not Aura Sphere Togekiss or Primarina can't do much to Staka) and how any physical attacker that doesn't carry a super-effective move against stakataka will barely scratch it. With Sandstorm support, it can even tank special hits extremely well (dodges the 2HKO on Moltres' Fire Blast, takes 30% max from scarf Hydra's attacks and under half from +2 Celebi's Giga Drain ... You get the idea).
Of course, not everything is awesome about it. The main problem it faces is the way the metagames revolves around fighting-types, meaning in almost every single team there will be something that can consistently force it out, or take 70-80% of its health.Notably, Kommo-o and Chesnaught basically wall Stakataka all they want (unless you catch Kommo-o on the switch with Iron Head/Superpower twice). Also special attackers can still dent it pretty badly if sandstorm is not up.
Definitely a cool wallbreaker in the current meta that packs a great punch while providing a ton of defensive utility, try it out if you haven't yet. Great partner for scarf Hydreigon btw
Stakataka @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Iron Head

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

Moltres @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Hurricane
- Roost
- U-turn

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Toxic

Tsareena @ Lum Berry
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Synthesis

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 76 Def / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Refresh
- Return

I built 2 other squads around the Staka + Hippo core, but I didn't like using them as much
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846235530 - Staka somehow manages to get 3 kills despite the presence on Infernape and Alomomola on the opposing team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846514349 - leaving Hippowdon low on health is not a good idea btw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846524561 - One of the few matches I had where Staka downright walled Latias
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846526786 - Stakataka was 100% free to click Gyro Ball once Volcanion died, and didn't have a hard time coming in on Celebi and Hydreigon
And last but not least ...​
OTR Reuniclus
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 92 HP / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Psychic

Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Atk / 48 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Curse

Florges (Florges-Blue) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Defog
- Moonblast

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

Celebi @ Psychium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Dazzling Gleam
I actually never tried Reuniclus up until now, and it was ... decent, I guess ? Didn't like it much though. It has merits as a cleaner, but having only the five turns of Trick Room to do so makes it really hard to clean against anything remotely bulky. It could've simply been my team not allowing Reuniclus to show its full potential, who knows.
Though I have to admit, its MU against hyper offense teams is pretty ridiculous, as most of the time the only thing that prevents it from sweeping alone is the presence of Scizor/Bisharp, and Scizor isn't too hard to put into Focus Blast's range. But then you have to find a turn to set the Trick Room up, which can be hard depending on the team (taking that Froslass HO I've seen a lot on the ladder - was it Adaam's ?- as an example, the only mon Reuniclus can safely set the Trick Room on is Latias locked into Psychic or having already used Draco Meteor). Bisharp is also an extremely annoying mon for OTR Reuniclus to face as Sucker Punch has a high chance to OHKO (and you can't play mind games with it), and it's been getting really common in HO teams.
Basically, OTR Reuniclus is a set that can really struggle to come into play, and needs quite a lot of support (aka Spikes) to clean (at least a lot more than I thought). Its lack of recovery and the fact it's pretty much guaranteed to take a hit while setting the TR up means you can rarely use it before the attempt to clean. It's definitely devastating with the right team support though, and there are quite a few where I just saw my opponent's team and was like "yeah Reuni can detroy that squad alone".
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-847119389 - Reuniclus couldn't do anything 'cause Focus Blast is a meme, but it had a ridiculously good MU
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-847106837 - There was basically nothing to stop Reuni once Florges died and Suicune got slightly chipped
tl;dr
- Absol-M is decent. The other Dark-types of the tier are better overall as they have actual defensive utility, but it has enough tools to distinguish itself and be worth using. 4MSS sucks though
-CB Stakataka is kinda weird to build around and use, but it's probably statatatatata's best set atm.
-OTR Reuniclus is great with the right team support, but having only 5 turns to try to clean really sucks. Not the kind of mon I like to use sadly.
 

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dingbat

snek
is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Current status:

I'm in the process of RMTing my CB stak team so if you haven't seen it yet and are interested, it'll be posted there sometime later today.

Analysis on CB STAK:

It vaporized shit, lots of shit. In fact, I claimed probably 50+ lives with it. Anyways, CB Stak is definitely something that's really fun to use, but requires a considerable amount of support, whether that would be with sandstorm, wish (or healing wish), or pivot support. I'm also on the mindset that CB Stak is as good as, if not better than, OTR since instead of waiting until endgame to set up TR and sweep, it instead can come in mid-battle and kill anything that's not a bulky Water-type or something of that sort. As to what I ran, I opted for the standard 4 attacks on my team, but I might have to start running Toxic > EQ on it not only because Kommo/Ches are both annoying, but also because my team really gets fucked in the ass by the former and at this point I could use any chip damage possible just to help get rid of them. Also, I found EQ really useless, so there's that.
 
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OTR Reuniclus + CB Stakataka
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psyshock
- Trick Room
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

Stakataka @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 99
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Abomasnow-Mega @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Blizzard
- Grass Knot
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake

Bewear @ Assault Vest
Ability: Fluffy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Claw
- Return

Uxie @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Memento
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room
- Psyshock

Crawdaunt @ Waterium Z
Ability: Adaptability
Shiny: Yes
- Swords Dance
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
Gonna share my opinion because i want to so i dont forget. I found OTR Reuniclus to be pretty good but didnt find many oppurtunities to setup TR in the games that I played but I has no replays :(. CB Stakataka I found to be very good and something I want to use more. Every time it ate a hit I could either OHKO or 2HKO with Gyro Ball or Edge. I mostly played in low ladder tho because I am not very good. I decided to run full TR because I wanted to abuse the TR OTR Reuniclus could setup when played right. I enjoyed this research week and hope to participate again :)
 
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Cobalion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Iron Head

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

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 200 HP / 4 Atk / 228 Def / 76 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Facade
- Roost
- Fire Blast

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 12 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Quick Attack

I will preface this by saying that I'm not a good battler at all so take all of these with a heaping tablespoon of salt.

I've always been fascinated by the idea of a standalone OTR Pokemon in almost every tier that I played (Alolan Eggy in PU, OTR Aromatisse in PU) and OTR Reuniclus was actually one of its main set back in Gen 6 (IIRC). I've played around 31 games (1405 ELO with 70% GXE, impressive I know) with it and I can honestly say that it has been... okay. It has a surprising amount of bulk with only HP investments and its quite strong even unboosted. Scizor being very common was very hard for it though and Focus Blast accuracy can be a bitch to deal with. All in all, I find that OTR Reuniclus does have a very definite niche as a good end game cleaner, provided you can get rid of Scizor (and Mega Aerodactyl, to an extent)

Here are some replays that I saved where Reuniclus showed up and kicked ass.


I will continue laddering with it for the rest of the week so this might still change. It has been really fun to actually ladder with a purpose other than screwing around though.
 
I didn't play a whole lot this week because I couldn't come up with teams I was pleased with, so I'm going to keep this pretty short.

CB Stakataka does hit really damn hard but the presence of Kommo-o and Chesnaught means it can't spam its strongest moves freely. Pairing it with mons that can deal with the Bulletproof duo is a good idea. It's also possible to lure them to an extent by running Toxic as the fourth move. This helps with bulky Waters too!

OTR Reuniclus is a cool mon that's held back by somewhat lackluster defenses and lack of boosting moves. It usually can't switch into neutral moves more than once. Its only source of power is Life Orb and its base SpAtk. Those are both great, but often not enough to OHKO. Passive damage, like hazards, go a long way towards making Reuniclus do its job.

Aaaand I didn't play with Absol long enough to form an opinion one way or another :psycry:

Looking forward to next week's selections!
 
I played around 30-40 games with Absol and staka.




Absol-Mega
Absol @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch

Absol is a very interesting mon,The team that i used is the one Twilight used(shout out to him for making a really cool team) I have played around 25 games and made it to around mid 1300s. The absol set I used was the Swords Dance one because I cant figure out how to use the AoA. It was a very interesting experience, i really thought it was just garbage at first, but when you actually get your sd up,which is really hard to do btw, it is really hard to switch in on it. a +2 knock off really isnt something that u want to be hit with. I also noticed that in the late game it is where it truly shines because of its above average speed at 361 it outspeeds mons like latias, cobalion, terrak etc and sucker punch is also really nice as a priority move, finishing those weakened mons off.

Although it kinda decent offensively, it is really hard to use. It basically can not switch in on anything, it so frail frickin frail. I would rather use bisharp or crawdaunt or any other mon in the tier.


Cb Staka

Stakataka @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Superpower

As for Stakataka, I didnt really get the chance to play a lot, I prolly played around 5-8 games with it. I couldnt come up with a good team to play with cb stak. I ended stealing the teams that were posted here lol. What I experienced with cb staka is that when u click gyro ball it would always hurt, even if it is resisted. Its like a fkin hyperbeam. I think it really hits super hard but i find it difficult to use.

 
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Moutemoute

Error 404
is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Alright since I won't have nor the time and either the faith to grind even more on the Ladder, it's time to expose my thoughts on the 3 Pokemon we got this week but before that, shoutout to both Notily and dingbat, I try my best to catch you up guys but you were just too strong for me. Good luck to both of you, I’m in a hurry to see which of you will win !
On my side, I reach almost 1650 yesterday and two days ago and then I chocked and tilted pretty hard so I end this week under 1500 with 150 games (yeah that's a lot and my brain is melting). I've done around 30 games with Stakataka and 60 with Absol-Mega and Reuniclus. Like I did before, I'm gonna talk about those Pokemon starting with the worst of them and ending with the best in my opinion. Also I built quite a lot of team this week but I will only talk about the best of each of them.
RW-All.png
:psyglad:
:psynervous:
:psycry:

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Choice Band Stakataka - Welcome in RU :

Even if dingbat reached a really high Elo thanks to Choice Band Stakataka, this Pokemon is in my opinion the worst thing we got this week. I found it extremely hard to play since it needs to win some 50/50 to be effective and it can't switch its moves due to its Choice Band. Although it does hit like a freaking truck, it's also really easy to wear down and to RK since it can't setup its own Trick Room which means every Pokemon with Fighting or Ground coverage can be really dreadful to handle for Stakataka. Even if it can pressure a lot HO because almost nothing can take a hit from it, it can not handle HO either since most of them have something to pressure it (Earthquake on Sharpedo-Mega or Mamoswine, Close Combat on Cobalion, Terrakion, Zeraora or Kommo-o, Superpower on Scizor etc..). Also, it struggles vs a lot of team which includes Chesnaught or Kommo-o because both if this Pokemon are played with Bulletproof (about 3 out of 4 Kommo-o are Bulletproof if we look at Decemeber's usages) and can handle with ease Stakataka. This forces Stakataka to use Earthquake / Superpower over Gyro Ball / Stone Edge when this Pokemon are in the opponent's team.


Stakataka @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stone Edge
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Superpower

Celebi @ Psychium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Scald
- Sludge Wave

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Def / 164 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Moonblast

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
Since Choice Band Stakataka can struggle vs Water types, Ground types but also vs Chesnaught and Kommo-o, I decided to pair it with Nasty Plot Celebi which is in my opinion an amazing teammate for it. Then we have Tentacruel which is my Rapid Spinner and check to Primarina thanks to Sludge Wave and Hippowdon which is my Stealth Rocks setter. Sandstorm is also cool for Stakataka and allows it to handle with more ease Pokemon like Hydreigon, Latias, Manectric-Mega etc.. Then we have Sylveon which supports its teammates and provides to the team a good answer to Hydreigon. Last but not least, as usual, Choice Scarf Hydreigon for the Momentum and the Speed it brings. It's also pretty cool with Stakataka because Hydreigon can pivot on fairies and bring Stakataka vs them.

Replay : I don't have any replays which shows Choice Band Stakataka actually putting some work

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Absol-Mega - The underrated fallen angel :

Now time to talk about Absol-Mega which is in my opinion an underrated threat which can actually puts some work if it has enough support. Unlike as we may think, Absol-Mega is a cool Pokemon and has some advantages over Bisharp which is its first competitor. Indeed, Absol-Mega has an amazing speed which allows it to outspeed Cobalion and Terrakion which leaves it less reliant to Sucker Punch. Absol-Mega also has a great Movepool which really nice options like Fire Blast to OHKO Scizor, Play Rough to deal with Altaria-Mega, Iron Tail to punish Fairies or Superpower which is in my opinion it's best filler. Also thanks to its Dark types, Absol-Mega isn't weak to Pursuit which is useful. Its access to Sucker Punch and Knock Off allows it to pressure Latias, Starmie, Celebi and Pokemon likes Tentacruel or Empoleon which relied on their item to heal themself. However, Absol-Mega has a pitiful Bulk which does not allow it to handle a lot of attacks even from Defensive threats which sucks a lot. Due to its lack of Bulk, Absol-Mega may struggle to setup with Swords Dance which decreases its efficiency. It also has a 4 MSS (without Fire Blast it can't OHKO Scizor without a Swords Dance, without Iron Tail it can't deal with Fairies while without Superpower Pokemon like Cobalion, Hydreigon, Sharpedo-Mega, Krookodile or Bisharp just don't give a fuck about it).


Froslass @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Icy Wind

Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Scald
- Sludge Wave

Scizor @ Iron Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch

Talonflame @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Flame Charge
- Brave Bird
Froslass Hazard Stacking Offense is an archetype that I like a lot. Froslass is a great Spikes user and can prevent opponent's Pokemon to set their own Hazards or Defog its Spikes thanks to Taunt. Its Ghost type allows it to be a great Spinblocker in the beginning of the game which is great for its teammates. Absol-Mega also prevents Entry Hazards thanks to Magic Bounce and can weaken Pokemon like Rotom-Heat for its teammates. Tentacruel is my jam, I think everyone knows. On this other hand, Nidoking brings a soft check to Electric type and can set Stealth Rock. Finally, SD Scizor and Talonflame act as my Late Game Sweeper, both of them can weaken each others check like Rotom-Heat, Aerodactyl-Mega or Manectric-Mega.

Replay :

Thanks to Swords Dance, Absol-Mega was able to win on its own
Once Togekiss was K.O, Absol-Mega finds an opportunity to use Swords Dance and win
Absol-Mega KOed Hydreigon and was able to weaken Aerodactyl which open doors in the endgame for Talonflame

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OTR Reuniclus - Brain is a weapon :

Last but not least, let's talk about OTR Reuniclus which is in my opinion the most dangerous Pokemon we got so far this week. Though I had a hard time taking this Pokémon in hand, I have to admit that it's a dangerous Sweeper in the endgame. Thanks to its ability Magic Guard it can abuse of the Life Orb under Trick Room while not giving a fuck about Entry Hazards. Under Trick Room, Reuniclus is a Pokemon which forces a lot of Switch which is great in Hazard Stacking teams. There isn't a lot of Pokemon besides things like Blissey which can actually handle this beast once it's under Trick Room. Reuniclus also has a good Bulk which allows it to setup Trick Room vs common threats in Underused like Cobalion, Altaria-Mega, Tentacruel, Lucario etc.. Overall it's a cool Pokemon even it you have to be careful since it can handle some hits that its Calm Mind set would have been able to take.

I would like to digress and adress something to Darksafadao and 'sei. which host this project : if it's possible for the upcoming weeks ; give us a little bit more of freedom ! Indeed I shall have liked I can make try other attacks on OTR Reuniclus like Signal Beam because Focus Blast isn't accurate or even Hidden Power [Fire] to catch Scizor.


Froslass @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Icy Wind

Kommo-o @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Clanging Scales
- Close Combat

Scizor @ Iron Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Scald
- Sludge Wave

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
This is the most effective team I made this week. Like the Absol-Mega one, it's a Hazard Stacking but with Kommo-o instead of Nidoking. Mixed Stealth Rock Kommo-o is a Pokemon I love because it brings a ton of utility in a team by being able to handle Electric types, set Stealth Rocks and acting as a Stallbreaker thanks to Taunt. Tentacruel is here to Rapid Spin and check Primarina, Scizor, Lucario and Infernape for its teammates. Finally, we have two Cleaner : Sharpedo-Mega and Reuniclus. Both of them can weaken each other checks which is quite amazing. Indeed, Reuniclus is able to pressure Altaria-Mega, Terrakion, Cobalion or Lucario while Sharpdo-Mega can deal with Bisharp or Hydreigon to a lesser extent.

Replay :

Reuniclus breaks half of the team which allows Scizor to win in the endgame
The opponent underestimates Reuniclus
Once again, the opponent underestimates Reuniclus with its Altaria-Mega
Reuniclus claims the win in the endgame
Reuniclus did its job of midgame breaker

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tl;dr :

• Choice Band Stakataka can be effective with enough support but overall, it really struggle in the current metagame. Its typing is awful and leaves it vulnerable vs a ton of common threats.
• Absol-Mega is an underrated Pokemon which can be really dangerous with the right support. Its Attack, Speed and Movepool allow it to pressure common threats. However, due to its lack of Bulk, it kinda struggle to be as effective as we would want it to be.
• OTR Reuniclus is a really nice Late Game Sweeper which can be a pain in the ass to deal with once opponent's Pokemon are in range of its attacks. It's also a cool midgame breaker which can weaken opponent's Pokemon for its teammates. Too bad that Focus Blast isn't 100% accuracy..

That's all for this week, thanks for your time. Feel free to leave a like on this kind of post because they take me a freaking ton of time to write :psygrump:
 
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Notily

dirt rich
so i played a bunch of games this week w/ mega absol cause the team i used was super easy to click buttons with. its just cynde's old sash spam team but updated and more shitty. krook was lead kabutops for a while but having an elec immunity makes the manec mu much easier. stone edge instead of knock on krook because i needed another way to pressure toge / burds and running knock meant that i'd just be weakening absol's knock in a lot of cases.
Froslass @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Icy Wind
- Destiny Bond

Krookodile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Scizor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

Talonflame @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
- Swords Dance

Tsareena @ Lum Berry
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Rapid Spin

i wasnt expecting much from this mon but i was pleasantly surprised. sash spam is one of the few playstyles where i feel absol actually has a niche over bisharp or sharpedo. its speed tier is great for pressuring mons like starmie and lati which ho can struggle with and fighting / dark coverage is difficult to switch into if you dont have a healthy fairy. the biggest reason for using mega absol on a team like this is (obviously) magic bounce. being able to prevent late game rocks/spikes without necessarily having to burn a turn can make end games a lot more straightforward while making it harder for your opp. it also gives a little leeway in the builder as you dont have to worry as much about your spinner(s) matchup vs various hazard setters. pre mega absol can also take advantage of scarf krook / hydreigon locking into dark stab for an attack boost. usually not a great play but when the risk/reward is there it can be useful.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-845724650 absol prevents late game rocks from a potential flamethrower nidoqueen to guarantee a win w/ sash sciz. straightforward end game that wouldve been harder if i had a bish or smth instead
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846166191 absol gets 6 kills. an example of how difficult fighting / dark coverage is to handle without a fairy
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-846334948 absol nabs a +1 off a scarf krook and then proceeds to break through a toge to win

not a lot else to add to whats already been said. cool mon that has some issues but can contribute some unique qualities to ho teams.
 
1547357281782.png

My highest Elo was about 1560-ish but a combination of hax, encountering the same people 5 times, and tilting on my part caused me to dip to about 1400 before I was too tilted to continue. But as you can see by my W/L I played....Probably way too many games
Anyway, I played 82 games with nothing but Absol and Banded Staka. So I think I'm qualified to talk about the two.
HERE is the first team, a Band Staka team. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is another version of this team that opts for Florges over Alolan Muk and Scarf Hydra over Scarf Lati. It matches up better against Kommo, but the sub Gengar matchup is unwinnable. Hence why I switched to this version with an Alolan Muk.)
Bandtaka was certainly a very interesting mon to use. I used Zen headbutt here as a means of punishing Chesnaught or Kommo-o from switching in. And that tends to be a trend with bandtaka. Anything like Hippo, Aggron, bulky waters etc. that would perhaps be tempted to take a swing at the OTR set usually get dumpstered by the band version. As long as you know what button to click when, you're doing a massive amount of damage, perhaps KOing something. Another nice niche about Staka though as that despite it's wallbreaking prowess, it's still bulky. This combination of offense and defense enables it very well as it can switch in on a large slew of mons like Nihilego, Pidgeot, more standard Hydra/Lati variants, etc. This can make Staka more of a danger since it can find more ways in than most band mons with it's bulk. Speaking of it's bulk, The extra defense came in handy big time when using this set. It can take hits that would normally OHKO the OTR variants like some ground or fighting type moves. This is especially true when thinking of getting a defense boost over an attack boost. Pretty much nothing KOs +1 def Staka if it's at decent health. So unless they're checking you defensively, you might be able to take a second kill against something that would run through a less bulky Staka. I genuinely liked this set while using it, it was great! I think Bandtaka is arguably Staka's best set right now. Since it's immediate power gives it a niche over something similar like Mega Steelix but still having defensive reliability against some hot meta picks alongside that breaking power is nice.
HERE is the first team I used with Mega Absol, a weird pivoting team that's a lot better than it looks and REALLY fun to use. This team deploys Absol as a dynamic revenge killer/Pursuit trapper.
I had.....A lot of fun with Absol's All-Out-Attacking set. It's fantastic for securing kills with Pursuit and Sucker Punch in it's Arsenal. I took so many Latis and Gengars on the ladder. It's absolutely terrifying if it has pivot support to get in. There were so many times that I was able to punish my opponent for bringing in a psychic or ghost on either my Rotom-H or my Mienshao. They effectively acted as the bait for Absol pursuit traps. Absol struggled to KO things like fairies and the mega steel types, but it didn't matter very often since Absol usually didn't have to head off against those mons. It has less pressure on it than the SD set because it just takes it's kill and can live to fight another day. Having that sucker punch/pursuiter in the back can constantly make certain mons and sweepers wary of it's presence. There's been a couple times where I've been able to just sucker punch away a weakened wincon with Absol because they weren't paying attention to the fact it was there. The AoA set, the pursuit version especially, deserves more exploration. It's just fantastic at securing KOs whenever it comes in on something slower, or something that it can sucker.
HERE is the team I used with Swords Dance Mega Absol
I was less impressed with this set than most people, honestly. It suffers from a vast 4MSS that makes it struggle against a number of physical walls and mons with certain typings that it struggles hitting. There were many cases where even with certain key threats weakened, it struggled to close out the game. Not to mention that it's frail nature makes setting up against most teams a game of jumping through hoops. That isn't to say Absol did poorly on it's team. But I found more situations where it was more optimal to try and secure a KO than go for a brazzy SD. I'm glad people liked the SD set, but it's not for me.

TLDR:
Bandstaka's way to do massive damage to checks and it's unique combination of offense and defense make it a spicy pick compared to other Staka variants
AoA Absol is a good mon for just securing KOs against certain threats
SD Absol requires very careful play, but even then it's hard to justify clicking SD for a large majority of the game.
 
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avarice

greedy for love
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
RoAPL Champion
I mainly only played OTR Reuni this week, but I did give the others a try. OTR Reuni was easily the best of them this week as it has a solid surprise factor and can clean unsuspecting teams. With how dominant bulky CM is with Reuni, the unexpected power is really sick. To exploit this ability to clean I decided to go a HO route. For Absol, I mainly played with a webs team from Twilight with a couple minor changes. Absol, imo, is somewhat an inferior Bisharp. SD on Absol is incredibly difficult to set up with which leaves it to varying all out attacking sets. I had the most success using the all physical variant, since most scizor wouldn't risk the fire coverage and Steels-types in general didn't want to take a superpower either. I felt that Bisharp simply did what Absol did but better, especially since Defiant is hella valuable on the spikestack/webs teams Absol is best on. Band Staka was pretty cool with its brute force. I don't want to put the team here but Healing Wish support is greatly appreciated and Hippo is pretty much mandatory imo. The bulk that is dropped when you change the IVs for the attack boost isn't noticed until you try Band and man is it nice to be able to take the weaker EQs and such.
Absol: 4/10
Reuni: 9/10
Staka: 7/10

Reuniclus.pngSalazzle.pngFlorges (1).pngRotom_(Heat_Rotom) (1).pngMega_Sharpedo.pngCobalion (1).png
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic

Salazzle @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 24 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Florges @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic
- Synthesis

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
- Protect

Cobalion @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch


This definitely the favorite team I made this week. With OTR Reuniclus is able to slam threats thinking its about to set up as a bulky cm set or w/e and that's great. However, with no way of boosting or even fitting recovery Reuniclus doesn't do much for the stall m/u. For that reason, I added an offensive core I wanted to try for awhile-- NP lazzle + offensive Florges. NP Salazzle is massive threat to stall while Florges can lure Scizor for the two. The rest of the team is pretty standard with Rotom-H on hazard removal, Shark as a secondary cleaner, and Cobalion for rocks.
 
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And with that Week 4 is a wrap. GJ to @dingbat for grinding his way to the top of the laddering portion, with an excellent record to boot. Let's get to the research.

OTR Reuni
Mixed results on this one, but there are some points that were acknowledged across the board. Its niche as a late-game cleaner was highlighted by most everyone who used it, but its bulk as a late-game cleaner was a more of a pivotal topic this week. Some players appreciated its relative bulk (s/o Moutemoute and Lazadamn) while others pointed out the lack of bulk/sustain made it difficult to find opportunities to set up a TR --- setting up a TR >1 was out of the question (s/o Daiyaga, Rawbi, and billionbattler). All participants agreed that with the right support, OTR Reuniclus can be deadly.

Banded Stakataka
Everyone agreed that Banded Stakataka is a bop, even the people who disliked it or had issues using it. With the exception of Moutemoute, there were no complaints voiced against Stakataka's defensive utility (aside from the evident 4Xs weakness to Fighting/Ground coverage); Daiyaga, Smallsmallrose, Scizorphobic, and Twilight even mentioned its defensive utility as a positive. This week's researchers did a great job mentioning the rise of /dt Bulletproof mons, the presence of bulkier waters and ultimately how those common picks needed to be accounted for in the builder. Smallsmallrose, dingbat and Daiyaga even went as far as to say that CB Stakataka was arguably Stakataka's best set in our current meta-game, which is a fine conclusion. Overall, Banded Stakataka resonated with our researchers and showed its potential to the non-believers.

Mega-Absol
A lot of participants tried their hand at Mega-Absol, and the results were pretty surprising (for me at least). Everyone (with the exception of Rose) who used both the AoA and SD sets preferred the SD set over the AoA set, and that was a pleasant surprise to me. Those who preferred its SD set over its AoA set mentioned that the AoA set felt too weak in terms of attacking and too frail in terms of defending, also having 4MSS to worry about. Its paper thin defenses coupled with an all but useless ability (I will address this soon) in Magic Bounce put M-Absol at a disadvantage versus the tier's prominent Dark types, as they were superior in everything from Pursuit trapping to SD'ing and even being more reliable in the Speed Control department.

Daiyaga mentions some of its niches over the aforementioned Dark types --- speed as an SDer allows it to not be solely dependent on Sucker like its SDing counterpart Bisharp, and not being Choiced gives it an edge over its fellow Pursuiter, Krookodile. As for Mega-Absol's ability, Notily found that /dt Magic Bounce gave it a niche over Sharpedo & Bisharp on Sash spam teams, which was a really creative and interesting pick in my eyes. Smallsmallrose found ways of getting AoA M-Absol free turns (and lobbin' free Pursuits), pairing it with a Volt-Turn core which was a very nice touch. When effective, Absol proved to be a good breaker for other 'mons in the back and in some cases, a cleaner thanks to Sucker & its speed.

That concludes our findings, now for the Week 5 picks.


This Week's Selections



Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
- Heavy Slam / Iron Head
- Block
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Zygarde-10%
Ability: Aura Break
- Thousand Arrows
- Dragon Dance / Coil
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Bruxish
Ability: Dazzling / Strong Jaw
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-
-
-


Mega Aggron is usually a one dimensional Stealth Rock user in the tier, and such thing can make innovation on it even more effective due to the surprise factor. Block is a move that has been getting general popularity lately in the hands of Slowbro, helping from PP stalling to becoming a setup machine. With these in mind, in this week we'd like to find out what Aggron can do with this idea.

Bruxish has been hammered on since its first release out of its design. However, we believe that behind that there is something to be found: An interesting ability and coverage, access to setup, priority, and even potential defensive utility should give the researchers a good variety to work with, return it to the glory days of early SM on which it was ranked, and maybe even hand out some love for the fish.

Zydog has never truly shone in SM although its omnipotent exclusive move always triggered the curiosity of many of how it could do in the tier. With the rising of the popularity of Rotom-Heat, such curiosity has been only growing more and more and it has been making more appearances. However, it's usually packing a Choice Band and looking at its access to some setup moves we are wondering what can be done with it and what merits it can have over the standard set.​


Sign up with a fresh USMRW5 alt, post your ladder results as well as your findings on the 'mon(s) in question. Feel free to edit your sign-up post if you wanna keep that crispy post:like ratio. This week the deadline is Sunday, January 20, at 11:59 pm GMT-2. Darksafadao or I will tally up the ladder results and reveal the winner at the end of the week. Good luck to all the participants, go get it done.
 
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