Hello everyone. About 6 months ago I learned that competitive Pokemon was a thing, and being a lover of the games I of course had to jump headfirst into it. So I played around for a while with some friends casually as I got a hold of the metagame, and about a month ago I set out to create my first actual competitive team, and this is what I have come to after a month of tuning and consideration. I now present for you guys to tear apart: Utility SmashPass.
The basic idea is that I'm going to be leading with Smeargle (Breloom in rare circumstances) and SmashPassing into the right sweeper for the situation as many times as possible by using Chansey and Healing wish to reset him. So let's talk about the individual choices.
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 80 HP / 96 Def / 80 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Spore
- Ingrain
- Baton Pass
This guy is the main man. The original BasedGod, if you will. The entire strat hinges on him being able to learn whatever move you want him to. Shell Smash, spore, and Baton Pass are all pretty core, but Ingrain could easily be Taunt. I prefer Ingrain for this set because I have another way to counter Taunt users and because 2 of the sweepers are carrying Life Orbs, which had a tendency to make them die faster than I wanted them to. Lead with him unless you suspect a Fake-Out user who can 2HKO you (most of them can) in which case lead with Breloom instead. Immediately Spore unless you suspect a Magic-Bounce switch-in, in which case you simply get to the Shell Smashing. It usually isn't necessary to ingrain, but you'll have to judge for yourself when you'll need that extra bit of tankiness for your sweepers. Make sure to use it if they have any common Dragon Tail or Roar users.
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
My personal favorite of the sweepers, and your secondary lead. Send this little guy out first if you suspect taunt or fake out. Bullet Seed can break through the Sash that many Taunt users carry, and most Fake-Out users are Fighting-Types whom you can sometimes one-shot with Mach Punch/Bullet Seed or just grind them out with Spore and Drain Punch. He earns his spot because he is a soft counter to many Pokemon who can disrupt a SmashPass, because the team has a weakness toward fighting types, which a Shell Smashed Breloom can almost always OHKO, and because Bullet Seed has a Base Power of between 150 and 375 on him before SmashPassing (25 x2 from Technician x1.5 from STAB x2-5 hits) that can break a Sash.
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Greninja earns his place because he boasts a wide variety of STAB type coverage moves and because Protean is just a completely unfair ability. Additionally, the team needed a Special Attacker to break through physical walls like Gliscor. STAB-boosted Ice Beam OHKO's him without a SmashPass. Send him out any time your opponent has a wide variety of physical threats, but never if they have a Chansey or Blissey because he will just get walled to death. Also, My apologies on the crappy sprite it was literally the only one I could find on Google Images that would show up in the preview.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge
Swords Dance Mega-Mawile is already terrifying. SmashPassing is even better, because it brings her lagging speed up to far, and she's bulky enough to not worry too much about the falling defenses. Her immunity to Dragon and Poison moves (notably Toxic) earn her a spot on the team, as we were lacking bulk amongst our sweepers and lacked a way to deal with blisteringly fast Dragons. Additionally, Life Orbs were already nibbling away at our sweepers, making Toxic even more crippling as it killed them incredibly quickly. Mawile avoids that problem by not getting posioned in the first place. It's possible that Knock Off belongs here, but I'm not sure where I would put it.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Thunder
- Healing Wish
- Zen Headbutt
- Iron Head
Everyone knows Jirachi can function as a bulky semi-sweeper by way of perma-stunning the opposing Pokemon. While that is impressive in it's own right, it isn't' what earns it a spot on the team. Healing Wish, a move usually only seen on supports, allows Jirachi to be the ultimate utility Pokemon- An Ingrain combined with his Leftovers and his 70% chance to earn a free protect give him incredibly sustain as he paralyzes and/or KO's a few Pokemon. By the time he is low on HP, you can use Healing Wish to get just a little more value out of him by resetting your injured Smeargle (or barring that another injured Sweeper or Chansey). It certainly looks out of place, but after a few weeks of testing it I can account to it's effectiveness. It it entirely possible that Zen Headbutt or Iron Head should be Stealth Rock to break Sashes, or that Thunder should be Thunder Wave for the 100% chance to paralyze, but the Psychic STAB was needed because the team has a pretty prevalent weakness to fighting type moves and because I already have an effective method of breaking Sashes in Breloom. Maybe Iron Head should be Stealth Rock, but we have to remember that we plan on SmashPassing into him, so he needs to be able to sweep at least somewhat efficiently, which means he needs a wide variety of offensive moves. The same principle applies to Thunder vs. Thunder Wave. It's probably correct for one of them to be the utility move as opposed to damage, but I'm not sure yet. To be honest, Jirachi is the Pokemon I could use the most assistance with in deciding these things.
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
-Heal Bell
-Toxic
-Wish
-Softboiled
This is our reset button. Heal Bell and Wish keep our Smeargle and sweepers healthy so we can SmashPass multiple times, while Toxic and Softboiled allow us to stall out pesky (usually fire type) Pokemon that the rest of our team might have trouble with. This spot was originally held by Blissey, but I feel Chansey is better in this lineup. The way I understand it, Blissey is better at stalling them out with Toxic due to her leftovers, while Chansey's higher stats make her better at taking burst damage and give her a better chance of being able to use one or two key moves. While Chansey is definitely capable of stalling out, her main purpose here is to heal Smeargle, so she gets the nod over Blissey. If anyone has a reason why they think this decision is wrong, I'd be interested in hearing it, as I'm not 100% settled on the issue. Also, it might be correct for Toxic to be an actual attacking move like Seismic Toss/Blizzard/Fire Blast so she cannot be taunted, but I am ignoring that for 2 reasons. Firstly, she still isn't able to get her job done if she is taunted, so there isn't really a point in still trying to be effective in the situation. Secondly, the team has a glaring weakness to Fire types, and in my experience poisoning them and them grinding them out is a much more effective strategy against them than trying to beat them with damage.
Thanks a lot to anybody who has read this far, and I appreciate any criticism you guys would be willing to give me. If it helps at all, I know that some particular things I've had trouble with are Infernape (team is weak to both types), Talonflame (that ability is completely unfair), and Scolipede Baton Pass Strategies. Maybe Taunt is the better choice on the Smearlge, but I would much rather have it on another pokemon to make room for Ingrain. Anyway, tell me what you guys think, and i hope you enjoyed my first RMT.
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