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Hello everyone! I'm very happy to be posting my first-ever RMT, and I'm doing it because I've finally made what I consider to be a great Celebi team in Sword and Shield UnderUsed. The inspiration for this team came from reading through old Black and White metagame threads (specifically the BW OU Good Cores thread) as well as BKC's "Building BW Sand" video, both of which mention Celebi and Excadrill as good partners. The idea behind this pairing is that one of Celebi's biggest weaknesses is its vulnerability to hazards, and Excadrill is extremely consistent at removing them. Let's get into it!
The Team
: The reason for building the team, so naturally I'll be writing the most about it! Let's start off with the EVs: this Celebi is always able to OHKO Guts Conkeldurr with Psychic, with 4 Evs put into Speed to creep other uninvested base 100 Speed Pokemon, and then the rest put into HP and Defense to maximize Celebi's bulk. Physical defense is give priority over special since I wanted Celebi to be able to take U-Turns and Knock Offs as well as possible if needed. With that out of the way, Celebi has a number of very useful traits that make it an excellent support Pokemon for the team:
Celebi is the team's answer to Thundurus-Therian, acting as a very sturdy check by resisting Thundurus-Therian's STAB and common coverage moves in Psychic and Focus Blast, and by threatening it with a guaranteed 2HKO from Psychic in return. Celebi also has Recover to allow it to check Thundurus-Therian throughout a match, even if it loses its Leftovers to Knock Off from the pivot Thundurus-Therian set.
Celebi provides the team with Stealth Rock, and by doing so removes the need for Excadrill to carry the move, freeing up a moveslot on Excadrill. Celebi's great natural bulk allows it to get up Stealth Rock in the face of many Pokemon in the current meta without fearing an OHKO - even Pokemon able to hit it super effectively with STAB moves often cannot OHKO it from full health. To illustrate this, none of the following (unboosted) Pokemon can OHKO Celebi with their common sets, meaning Celebi can set up Stealth Rock in their face and pivot out to another team member to deal with the threat, or simply threaten them itself with Psychic or Leaf Storm:
In fact, the only (unboosted) Pokemon that are UU by usage that can OHKO Celebi with their common sets are Choice Specs Aegislash, Choice Band Azumarill, Crawdaunt, Choice Specs Hydreigon, Life Orb Mamoswine, and Nidoking. Now, I am not saying you should attempt to get Stealth Rocks up on all of the Pokemon in the above list, but I am saying that Celebi safely can, and that is a powerful option for it to have.
Celebi maintains a great offensive presence while acting as a support Pokemon thanks to Leaf Storm and Psychic. This Celebi reaches 303 SpA and threatens heavy damage or OHKOs on many important UU Pokemon.
Celebi has a great natural Speed tier, outspeeding many other common support Pokemon without investing in its Speed, allowing it to invest strongly in SpA and bulk.
Unlike many other support Pokemon, Celebi is relatively unbothered by status thanks to Natural Cure. This in combination with Recover gives it great longevity throughout a match, which in turn means that Stealth Rocks are easier to keep up and Celebi's offensive and defensive qualities are easier to preserve.
: The secondary reason for building this team, and what makes Celebi a viable addition to it, since despite its numerous benefits I've listed above, Celebi obviously has many weaknesses as well (and not just typing-wise). As mentioned above, Celebi is very vulnerable to hazards, and Excadrill keeps them off the field consistently for Celebi with Rapid Spin. Since Excadrill doesn't need to run Stealth Rock on this team, I opted to give it Swords Dance in order to pressure Chansey harder, since the team otherwise lacks a strong physical attacker. Finally, alongside the mandatory Earthquake, I gave Excadrill Rock Tomb to hit Flying-type switch-ins for some decent damage and to slow them down, allowing Excadrill to threaten a KO with another Rock Tomb, or pivot out to a teammate that can deal with the slowed Flying-type. Finally, Excadrill really appreciates Celebi as a partner since it can take the Ground, Water, and Fighting-type attacks that Excadrill is weak to.
: Celesteela was added to the team as a check to Dragon Dance Salamence, but Celesteela is fantastic in the current meta in checking a variety of threats and spreading damage with Leech Seed. Celesteela importantly also completely blanks opposing Excadrill, aiding this team in maintaining hazards against other teams while keeping them off its own. Finally, if Celesteela is able to get a KO, it becomes quite bulky on the special side, making it difficult to break for even strong special attackers like Hydreigon in combination with Leech Seed + Protect.
: Moltres was added to the team to pressure opposing Grass-types and Flying/Steel-types, which the Celebi/Excadrill core notably opens this team up to. Moltres acts as a great offensive pivot for the team thanks to its access to U-Turn, recovery in Roost, and Fire/Flying STABs - this combination is resisted only by Rock types (Diancie, Lycanroc-Dusk, Nihilego, and Rhyperior) and the Rotom formes. Even Pokemon that are not weak to Moltres' STABs like Salamence and Gyarados often take large amounts of damage from Hurricane, ensuring Moltres cannot be switched into easily. Moltres is also one of the team's two Fire resists, which are sorely needed considering 3/6 members are weak to Fire, and Sun teams have only been getting more and more prominent. Finally, Moltres aids the team against opposing U-Turn spam by way of Flame Body spreading burns.
: Choice Scarf Rotom-Wash acts as the team's Speed control and provides another offensive pivot to complement Moltres. Since Excadrill handles hazard removal for the team, Rotom-Wash is able to run Pain Split, allowing it to keep itself healthy throughout a match, especially if it Tricks its Choice Scarf away. Beyond that, Rotom-Wash makes a great lead for the team thanks to Hydro Pump heavily damaging Ground-types that might try to block its Volt Switch. Maximum Speed was given so that Rotom can be as good of an offensive pivot as possible after it Tricks its Choice Scarf away and to allow it revenge KOing capabilities against boosting threats, such as Dragon Dance Gyarados. Lastly, Rotom-Wash acts as the team's second Fire resist, helping to stave off powerful hits like Moltres' Flamethrower, Azelf's Fire Blast, and Darmanitan's Flare Blitz.
: The final member of the team is physically defensive Mandibuzz, which provides the team with Knock Off support, checks physical attackers (including boosting threats) thanks to Foul Play, and provides the team with a defensive pivot. Mandibuzz is the team's Dark and Ghost resist, ensuring that it doesn't get run over by Aegislash and Zarude (among others), and is bulky enough to take some strong special hits like Modest Hydreigon Draco Meteor in a pinch. Mandibuzz's great bulk and access to Roost allows it to pivot into many attacks and stay healthy throughout a game, respectively, making it a key piece in allowing the rest of the team to function.
So that's all! Thank you very much for reading my first-ever RMT! I am so happy I've been able to have a lot of success with a Celebi team in SS UU (even making it close to Top 50 on ladder with it!), and I hope you enjoyed reading about it and will enjoy perhaps using it in the future!
Hey Celebii, congrats on making top 50, that's awesome! The team looks quite solid. I did some play testing and it worked very well, though I made a few very minor changes.
I made a super small adjustment to the EVs here which allows you to get a slightly higher return from Leftovers. 240 EVs in HP puts your stat at 401. 400 is divisible by 16 (the amount Leftovers recovers by) and the additional one point puts you back to an add number to decrease hazard damage.
Because Rapid Spin already boosts speed and your team is quite balanced I felt that Rock Tomb was a missed opportunity along side Swords Dance. I changed to Rock Slide which helps break down threats a bit better along with a small flinch chance. Another option here is to go more utility and add Toxic instead of Swords Dance and keep Rock Tomb.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
(Note: If you go Swords Dance you may want to consider adding your SpD EVs into Atk to better pressure Flying types with Rock Slide)
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
When looking to optimize this slot I actually went to Smogons posts about it and I think the small investment of 88 EVs into HP could make a difference for you to live 2 Darkest Lariats from Zarude. Because you're using Moltres to spread burns it's quite important to be able to tank some of the common coverage of people trying to predict your switch in. I also took a few EVs from Speed to minimize what had to be taken from SpA. Moltres is at 303 Spe, just faster than Excadrill.
I fully support the idea of not letting the opponent set up against you by keeping Foul Play (it's a staple in Monotype, my main tier), but because of the pivot ability and balance of your team I think you could benefit more from Toxic. This still cripples opposing set up Pokemon by putting them on a clock but also helps dismantle some of the slower cores that your team make struggle with. I'm assuming the Speed EVs are for Azumarill, so I left them to be able to Knock Off their Sitrus Berry before they can set up Belly Drum.
Hopefully these suggestions can help you make it out of the top 50 and maybe even into the top 10 on ladder. Let me know how the continued testing goes and congrats on your first RMT!
