Resource VGC: Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer

[zferolie]

drifblim has a niche but it's not really with flare boost
psychic seed unburden drifblim gives it a fast tailwind that lets you match the prankster tailwind users pretty easily, but the downside of course is that it has to be paired with indeedee. This isn't the worst thing if you run offensive indeedee tho

as for salazzle it's pretty underutilized right now
it's a fast fake out support mon that can't be taunted. I was running heat wave for a while but eject pack + overheat is a really good set for it, it gives you a super strong nuke and free pivot out, and intimidate can't blow the eject pack early on salazzle

so we'd be looking at drifblim+indeedee+salazzle which is already a bunch of changes to your team, but I think kingambit works reasonably well with those three at least. Then you would want a second ground immune/resist I think, so while appletun is not the best grass type it could technically work, since it's a water resist as well
personally I think hydreigon would work a bit better, but you can make appletun work

Yeah that was the set i was considering for Salazzle, Fake out, Overheat, acid spray, something else(heat wave, will-o-wisp, dragon pulse, protect)

Hmm, i only heard of that indeede combo a little, but it does seem like it could fit well in the team. Swap out pawmot for Indeedee and the rest seem to fit in with no major weaknessess

Male seems to hit a little harder and faster while female is a bit tankier. Not sure what people tend to like more honestly. It gets some decent fighting and support moves for either one. Heal pulse, Hyper voice, Psychic(Shame no expanding force), Dazzling gleem, shadow ball, helping hand, and follow me.... that does seem pretty interesting for sure.

 

[smogon account]

Male seems to hit a little harder and faster while female is a bit tankier. Not sure what people tend to like more honestly.

I swear by indeedee-M, used it in every format where tapu lele wasn't legal
The speed tier is more than a little awkward for both male and female but female doesn't die to sucker punch at the cost of like, not ohkoing volcarona or something random I'm sure
I usually go protect/psychic/dgleam/coverage (in the past it was mystical fire)
You could go with tera normal hyper voice or tera psychic to ohko stuff even resisted or tera fire tera blast to hit steels

But imo you're better off clicking psychic most of the time because of the juicy terrain boost
People better than me say always use female but they probably haven't used male

 

[zferolie]

I swear by indeedee-M, used it in every format where tapu lele wasn't legal
The speed tier is more than a little awkward for both male and female but female doesn't die to sucker punch at the cost of like, not ohkoing volcarona or something random I'm sure
I usually go protect/psychic/dgleam/coverage (in the past it was mystical fire)
You could go with tera normal hyper voice or tera psychic to ohko stuff even resisted or tera fire tera blast to hit steels

But imo you're better off clicking psychic most of the time because of the juicy terrain boost
People better than me say always use female but they probably haven't used male

does the 10 special attack more make that big of a difference damage wise? coverage wise seems like its just Shadow ball, hyper voice, or energy ball unless I'm missing something

 

[smogon account]

does the 10 special attack more make that big of a difference damage wise? coverage wise seems like its just Shadow ball, hyper voice, or energy ball unless I'm missing something

So the initial 10 SpA by itself doesn't mean a ton, it's going to increase damage by like, 8%

The main thing is indeedee has a lot of multipliers with stab, terrain, tera, and life orb that multiplies that 8% to closer to 20%

Plus the speed difference, of course. Not a ton you hit in that range but it might be worth jt

 

[zferolie]

So the initial 10 SpA by itself doesn't mean a ton, it's going to increase damage by like, 8%

The main thing is indeedee has a lot of multipliers with stab, terrain, tera, and life orb that multiplies that 8% to closer to 20%

Plus the speed difference, of course. Not a ton you hit in that range but it might be worth jt

That does sound interesting. Ive just been unlucky and havent gotten a psychic surge male yet, and ability patches are so rare i wanna save them for when i absolutely need them,like for shinys. But i will try a male on a future team for sure. Hopefully he gets expanding force back too

 

[smogon account]

That does sound interesting. Ive just been unlucky and havent gotten a psychic surge male yet, and ability patches are so rare i wanna save them for when i absolutely need them,like for shinys. But i will try a male on a future team for sure. Hopefully he gets expanding force back too

By the time it gets expanding force (if at all...) Tapu Lele will probably be available, and even without expanding force Lele is much better

But if you don't have male you can definitely stick with female for now

 

[zferolie]

By the time it gets expanding force (if at all...) Tapu Lele will probably be available, and even without expanding force Lele is much better

But if you don't have male you can definitely stick with female for now

I'll keep looking for one, so far though this team has been doing decently. I am no means an expert pokemon trainer, I suck at mindgames and whatnot, but this team, and indeedee and Drifblim, have been doing quite well.

I am not sure where to post this but man Appleton is so good once you can get it going and find a spot for it. Hell While I couldnt hit the Annialape in this fight, just leech seed, and Salazzles burn, plus all my defense boosts, made it unkillable from the apes side as well.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1609030621522796545

Games that end like this bring me such joy

 

[smogon account]

I'm glad the team is working out for you, being able to use my favorite mons is one of the best parts of VGC imo. It's just about finding what they're best at and utilizing that to its full potential

 

[ToxaWrecks]

Does anyone know of any good Amoongus teammates in Gen 9 ou

 

[Duskstalker]

I hope it isn't a faux pas to make my first post on these forums looking for advice...

So my team was doing pretty OK, I was up to Rank 7 with momentum behind me. I took a couple breaks for the holidays, and suddenly in season 2 the team just isn't clicking at all anymore. I can't really point to a particular match-up that's giving me trouble, but as I articulate this post, I think my Tera-types are breaking my team.

The team, in brief: Houndoom(Ghost), Scizor(Dragon), Espeon(Fairy), Meowscarada(Fairy), and Slowking and Amoongus(but I never really Terastalize them)

The primary offender is my Tera-Ghost Houndoom. The theory is solid, but half the reason I'm running Houndoom is it's match-ups against Gholdengo and Kingambit, and if I have Espeon in the back, it makes it really hard to switch in on anything threatening Ghost. Maybe Steel instead? On one hand, Flash Fire means I'd only be weak to Ground and Fighting, which I can switch into. On the other hand, Houndoom already resists several of the same types that Steel does, so maybe it wouldn't be that impactful?

Also, double Tera-Fairy never felt particularly good.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

What would be a good tera type for Water Paldean Tauros? Set I'm running is Aqua Jet, Close Combat, Wave Crash, and either Tera Blast or Wild Charge.

 

[Lady Bug]

Does Unaware ignore boosts from Quark Drive/Protosynthesis? Also, does Haze remove these boosts?

 

[Giokio]

Does Unaware ignore boosts from Quark Drive/Protosynthesis? Also, does Haze remove these boosts?

I don't really know myself but i consider quark drive as a worse Huge Power or Technichan, both of these abilities ignore Unaware because one boosts the stats directly and Technichan boosts the BP of the move, so imo it doesn't ignore those boosts.

 

[MyNeighborsAreArguing]

What's the viability of having one screen on two pokemon? I was thinking of having a perish trap core with Gothitelle and Scream Tail with one of each having a screen. That way Goth could set a screen while Scream peish songs or Scream screens first (it can ev to be faster and set a screen up to survive a choice specs gholdenJoe shadow ball) and some other stuff. But I was just wondering about the idea of two screens but each one on separate pokemon, is that viable or would it be shit for reasons I can't think of?

 

[Maika_Rush]

I’m trying to test out teams on showdown for in-game VGC events making it as close a simulation as realistic as possible. And I recalled that there was a “hardcore” mode that disabled the turn/battle history in the drop-down options menu.

But I do not see that option anymore. I can’t seem to find an answer from simply lurking through forums posts so I thought I’d ask here. May it have something to do with being on mobile?

 

[MissingNoL]

And I recalled that there was a “hardcore” mode that disabled the turn/battle history in the drop-down options menu.

But I do not see that option anymore. I can’t seem to find an answer from simply lurking through forums posts so I thought I’d ask here. May it have something to do with being on mobile?

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

Do you think Scream Tail could be any good in series 2? On paper it seems solid, good speed, great bulk, vast utility movepool. I was thinking of a set with Thunder Wave, Howl, Dazzling Gleam and either Protect or Helping Hand.

 

[Bacon32721]

I am currently thinking of a Goodra sap sipper team with a meowscarada petal blizzard combo. I cannot think of anything that could shut this down other than haze murkrow. Is there a mon I should add to handle other strats I am not thinking of?

 

[smogon account]

Do you think Scream Tail could be any good in series 2? On paper it seems solid, good speed, great bulk, vast utility movepool. I was thinking of a set with Thunder Wave, Howl, Dazzling Gleam and either Protect or Helping Hand.

scream tail looks like a TR setter to me

I am currently thinking of a Goodra sap sipper team with a meowscarada petal blizzard combo. I cannot think of anything that could shut this down other than haze murkrow. Is there a mon I should add to handle other strats I am not thinking of?

it won't do much damage

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

I am currently thinking of a Goodra sap sipper team with a meowscarada petal blizzard combo. I cannot think of anything that could shut this down other than haze murkrow. Is there a mon I should add to handle other strats I am not thinking of?

TL;DR - don't use Goodra.

If you really want to use Goodra, I'd say wait for Home compatibility and use its Hisuian forme. On paper that can check a lot of threatening mons like Flutter Mane, Iron Bundle, Gholdengo and Earthquake-less Roaring Moon. Present day Goodra doesn't hit hard enough, has medicore physical bulk and is just outclassed by the multitude of other Dragon types, which is about to get even worse once Roaring Moon comes out. To make matters worse, if you're going for a physical set Goodra has to use Outrage which sucks in doubles.

 

[Xufactor]

Why doesn't showdown vgc require open team sheets?

 

[smogon account]

Why doesn't showdown vgc require open team sheets?

join the vgc channel, they do room tours in there with open team sheets

 

[Perriechu]

hi besties!

since Gen 8 i've been trying to get into VGC but i was simply too uninterested in the way that d-max was almost a wincon that it really off-putting, now that SV has rolled around and has started I'm wondering what are the best resources?

I'm aware of Pikalytics, as well as the HOME update - but is there any like.. base resources - dos and donts of VGC and such? I used to be pretty into competitive back in Gen 5 (Smogon Meta) so I know the climate is different but I'm just wondering if there's anything I should know prior to team-building and so on. The way damage is calculated? Things to include on each team (Hazards being pretty mandatory for 6v6 singles but not impactful enough in VGC due to shorter lengths/doubles/not as much switching etc, things like that)

(I'm essentially treating myself as complete beginner to make sure I have all resources I need)

ty in advance!!

 

[slowbro 5]

Does anyone know if walking wake is permitted in VGC right now?

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

Does anyone know if walking wake is permitted in VGC right now?

Sadly no it’s not. It won’t be until May at the earliest.