Fast AV Slowking Balance
(click above for team)
Intro
Hello everyone, this is my second RMT of Gen 9, i haven't really posted much mostly because i had taken a break from mons during the end of febuary and majority of march. Getting high ranking on ladder does get boring overtime with no real end goal. Only thing i do with mons is only watching my friends ladder, help with one or two test games or just hang out in chatrooms. But since WCOP was coming up i decided to come back to mons so i can help my friends over at Team Asia as we have an entirely new roster of players so we were excited about it and to practice, i decided to sign up to ADPL discord tournament. but when i was laddering to practice i realized that i had only really used and build HO teams this gen and havent touched balance at all. So i decided to spend 3-4 weeks dedicated to only using and building balance teams. At first it really didn't go well, all of my builds were either entirely too passive or has so many holes a swiss cheese would be jealous. I was hard stuck in 1700 and had lost 3 rounds of ADPL with my balance builds. After that i decided to look at the popular mons in OU and some more niche picks, i noticed a lot of the walls in OU rely on chipping the opponent slowly and all of the Offensive pokemon gets lured in very easily. So i decided to make a team with the standards of balance but also Offensive Slowking as a means to beat opposing balance. To my surprise, this has become my most consistent team by far, and finally helped me got the hang of using balance and peaking twice on ladder! (unfortunately i only have screenshots for one of them).
>>Proof of Peak<<
(Theres supposed to be a second one here where i peaked number 1 again but at 2074 but i only have the replay)
The TEAM
Heres my teambuilding procress
For starters, kingambit and great-tusk are always great. Both have great defensive profile, both have great offensive utility, both can be used in many ways.
I added dragapult as my main damage dealer, it has a great speed tier which beats every other offensive mon and also a great defensive typing for mons like iron moth, dragonite and rotom-wash. At first i was using hex-pult but it was too passive for this team and so i changed it to specs.
Now i am looking for a special wall, a pivot and also a good balance breaker. I decided to add a Slowking, but it was too passive, even with chilly reception. So i decided to change it into a speedy offensive assault vest set, which sounds preposterous at first, but upon using it it genuinely became the star of the team. Still having the ability to pivot into special offense, but now you also are able to threaten things offensively with respectable amounts of damage. The rise of pex/dozo/tinglu balance recently makes slowking a perfect balance breaker.
Now, set-up pokemon are always a trouble for balance, since i also want something for garganacl and extra help with iron moth, i decided to go for sub-skeledirge.
At this point the balance of this team has been made. I added corviknight as last pokemon to help better with Roaring Moon, Dragonite and general pivoting. Corviknight also adds a much needed ground immunity.
Now, lets get into the team.
Slowking @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 196 HP / 252 SpA / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Psyshock / Future Sight
- Ice Beam / Flamethrower
- Psychic / Future Sight
Lets get into the star of the team first, Speedy AV Slowking. Unlike previous gens, The bulkier mons of this tier mostly deals damage through residual chip damage, and looking at all of them, theyre all weak to the coverage moves
Slowking Has if it chooses to carry them all, using a standard slowking would leave it suffering without enough utility, damage and moveslot, so i decided to make it go all out offensive and using an assault vest. Surprisingly this makes be the best of both worlds, a specially defensive wall that can pivot in and a bulky balance breaker that doesn't care about chip damage. Slowking has 100 Special Attack so its no weak mon, able to 2hko +1 Bulky 
Volcarona with surf, 2hko 
AV Pex with Psychic, OHKO clod after hazard with psyshock, OHKO pult with ice beam after hazard and always OHKO-ing special sweepers like iron moth and iron valiant. Even without max hp it is still able to tank a lot of hits, like Specs Pult Shadow Ball or +2 thunderbolt from 
Iron Valiant. 60 speed seems like a lot but it makes it so that slowking outspeeds gargnacl that is trying to outspeed pex. For its other options, Future sight is a great option to pair with Kingambit and Flamethrower is nice to have for 1v1-ing corviknight or gholdengo in the endgame. While the set seems silly at first, it is truly a hidden gem.Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
Kingambit is here as both a late game cleaner and also a check to ghosts and dragons. Kingambit does a lot of damage naturally so it will also help with breaking walls. Nowadays, the Kingambit/
Azumarill/Skeledirge speed creep wars has evolved so much to the point where people are giving up on it and just run max hp kingambit, however, besides dragapult this team is incredibly slow, so i went for max attack max speed for the evs and adamant so i still do maximum damage. Tera Flying is here for late game cleaning.
Kingambit does a lot of damage naturally so it will also help with breaking walls. Nowadays, the Kingambit/Azumarill/Skeledirge speed creep wars has evolved so much to the point where people are giving up on it and just run max hp kingambit, however, besides dragapult this team is incredibly slow, so i went for max attack max speed for the evs and adamant so i still do maximum damage. Tera Flying is here for late game cleaning.Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Great tusk is one of the most consistent stealth rocker and spinner by far and can pretty much be slapped on to most teams. This also helps with checking physical threats like kingambit, knocking off items to support its teammate, and also as the main rain counter with tera water.
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Dragapult is this teams main damage dealer and also speed control. Its typing pairs well with other pokemon of this team resisting
Rotom-Wash's moves and also Iron Moth which could be problematic once they set up. I decided to go for tera ghost, strong ghost type attacks are much more spammable than dragon with the support of its teammate. Even tho there arent any viable pokemon faster than modest dragapult, i went for timid as most offensive dragapult are now either Adamant or Modest so i can safely stay in and kill them with shadow ball. While more support oriented dragapult like hexpult still run max speed, it is usually easy for you to scout what kind of dragapult is run based on its teammates.Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Torch Song
- Shadow Ball
- Slack Off
As for most balance teams, set up sweepers are a hassle for this team. At first glance dondozo might have looked like it would be a better fit here as it hard counters ALL of the physical sweepers and can still reliably check some special ones with the help of Slowking. However,
Garganacl was a big annoyance for this team and dondozo folds to most garg sets, so thats why i went for Sub Skeledirge Instead. It is still able to check most physical sweepers aside from Roaring Moon, Mold Breaker mons (which also beats 
Dondozo) and extremely lucky icicle crash baxcalibur players. The 8 speed is used for outspeeding opposing skeledirge. Tera Fairy lets it check Garganacl, Baxcalibur and 
Dragonite much better.Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
Corviknight is the team's ground immunity and main pivot for the team. It is able to check physical attackers that
Skeledirge and Great Tusk might struggle againts like Dragonite, Great Tusk, 
Roaring Moon and Future Sight + Physical Attacker combos before chipping them down and pivoting into a revenge killer. It's great bulk also lets it take emergency hits from mons like Iron Valiant, Dragapult and Gholdengo. Tera Flying is here so it can deal heavier damage with Brave Bird and snipe Sweepers like dragonite and roaring moon that are greedy after seeing 2 brave bird wouldnt kill them. You will most likely never terastalize corviknight as the other member of this team has much more valuable utility than it.Threats
Sandy Shocks
Sandy shocks is notorious for having unwallable STAB moves and being one of the best balance breakers. It is probably the best pokemon to use againts this team, be it Specs, Lead, Booster, Under sun or even bulky leftovers. Your best bet is to try and snipe it with
slowking as it sets up hazard and chip it down. You can also use Dragapult to bait out tera fairy and slowly try to chip it down into being able to be killed by shadow ball. Another way is to force its teammate to terastalize so that revenge killing it wont be as much as a hassle with dragapult.
/
+ Nasty Plot + Toxic Spikes
Nasty Plot sweepers, mainly these two when paired with toxic spikes is a hassle to fight. You need to be conservative on when you want to switch in
slowking as it is definetly the pokemon that will help the most againts these teams and you will most likely will always terastalize it to water. Always try to prevent tspikes at all cost by predicting toxapex by switching in slowking into it. Another way to beat it is with Kingambit as it walls most gholdengo and can bait hydreigon's earthpower with tera flying and hit it back.
Choice Specs Sylveon and Choice Specs Pelipper
Seems rather silly as in any serious match you will almost never fight these two, but
Choice Specs Fairy Sylveon and Choice Specs Flying Pelipper are some of the hardest matchup for this team. Hyper Voice and Hurricane both 2hko everything on this team, and only 1 member of the team can ohko both respectively. So just try to get up rocks and try to kill it early, and double around it making sure it doesn't get a free turn.How To Use The Team
Heres a small guide on how you can use this team:
1. What to switch into.
Upon using this team you will face a dilemma of not having safe walls to certain mons, For example Dragapult and Rotom-Wash doesn't really have a switch in, once a kingmabit terastalize into flying you don't have anything that can safely check it anymore. Slowking and Kingambit are your combo of special walls, every special attacker (that includes rotom) that isnt a choiced ghost or dark should be checked by slowking, after it terastalizes into water everything should and could be checked by slowking, for choiced ghost or dark you should always switch in Kingambit.
For physical attackers, you should switch in corviknight, great tusk and skeledirge depending on the coverage they have. For example switch in corv for roaring moon and switch in tusk for kingambit.
For kingambit, Your check will always be great tusk but if it terastalizes into flying, you should save your own kingambit as you are faster and their kingambit no longer resist dark move. Low Kick kingambit can be tricky but they almost never have iron head so switch in skeledirge and use tera fairy.
2. Offensive Power.
The offensive power of this team mainly comes from Dragapult and Slowking. Againts offense you should be able to wall most threats while Dragapult and Kingambit can help revenge killing. Your main Balance Breaker is slowking, use it aggressive and use it as a lure. A lot of pokemon that thinks it can 1v1 like dragapult (that isnt band), hydreigon, skeledirge, garganacl, gholdengo will be easily neutered with offensive AV slowking. However, your other pokemon are still important for additional offensive power, skeledirge can beat Iron Valiant + Volcarona + Dragonite HO and snowball with torch song, Great Tusk helps removes leftovers from walls for its teammates. Your late game cleaner will most likely be kingambit or dragapult so make sure to support them as best as you can.
3. Rain, Stall and Cheese.
This team was built to counter the current popular meta, however there are teams that exist just outside the meta and stays consistent, these teams can be problematic but isnt impossible to beat.
Rain
Rain is a fixture of every generation in pokemon in which fast and strong water types would want to clear your team as quick as possible. You will need to rely on Tera Water Great Tusk to beat rain as it is your best floatzel switch in. You should lead dragapult always and click draco meteor or shadow ball if they have a hatterene, but if they have a mon with strong special walling capability like toedscruel or amoonguss, lead slowking and click ice beam into psychic/psyshock. Try to find an opportunity where you can pivot in great tusk in and Terastalize it into water as soon as possible so you will have a safe pokemon to switch into floatzel. In the endgame you will most likely be cleaning with Kingambit as it can oneshot everything with sucker punch after a few Fallen but is too frail to brawl with strong aqua jets, dragapult will be your main breaker alongside slowking.
Stall
Stall isn't the most popular or the best playstyle this gen, but it will always exist. Your main breaker for it will be Psyshock Slowking and your cleaner will be Tera Ghost Dragapult. The first thing to keep in mind is DO NOT get your slowking toxic'd or PP stalled, if you want to claim a kill on toxapex make sure it WILL kill even after tera, if you want to claim a kill on clodsire make sure you either kill it or make it terastalize into psychic which will make dragapult's job much easier. Alomomola, with no drops can pp stall slowking out of psychic so be wary of your pp. Great tusk and Skeledirge will probably be the 2 mons that will do the least work so they can be the status absorbers, make sure tusk knocks alomomola so it can be 2hko'd by psychic after rocks. Try to lure in blissey with slowking and hit it hard with psyshock. Once blissey dies, tera ghost Dragapult will just clean the game. However if blissey stays persistent you can always try to chip down alomomola with kingambit and later clean with it aswell.
Cheese
There are many types of cheese. A cheese team is a team with unconventional mons that has very specific counters for certain mons and only that. Do not be fooled by cheese teams, they are some of the most inconsistent teams out there. You should be able to spot cheese teams from preview, Weird pokemon choices, pokemon that at first glance do not fit well with each other, or some weird version of a set up spam team. Before the game even starts you need to go to the teambuilder and look at these pokemon and see what they can do. For example if you see a Tinkaton and Sandaconda, look at their movesets, this could be a paraspam team or an HO with stallbreaker tinkaton and try to think of ways to not get cheesed or lured by them. If you see any type of cheese, the Teambuilder is your friend, scout out every possibility.
Replays
LADDER PEAKING GAME #1 vs Storm Zone
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1848158770-6zgcvbk34gmcgffm36fcx6o2dr7klfvpw
LADDER PEAKING GAME #2 vs Sylveon Used Calm Mind
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1848172762-ry0trfyu3rfkjevwvqe09h3yc2g236vpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-688773 SmogTour Week Round 2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1848063861-whzo0ngtj246lwxqo168ijz26169m20pw vs Toxtricity + Slowking
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1843931299-ajdl2d51vh2njym2emh8wctzoaf4hakpw vs Volcarona Hard Stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1843379474-sz9uww2gi3ptk3pnrljou1xwqvq1hj0pw vs Moth Spikestack
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1844657581-zg1z220r80kvfxjrj29ixa5g45b138kpw Vs Revival Rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1851006967-a2v2by9inox3cxlyw85ks97erh5rwq3pw Vs Flinch-a-rona
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1850987970 Vs Cyclizar Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1850864919 Vs Meowscarada balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1850461708 Vs Bax Moth
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1850438436 Vs Sun
Team Paste
https://pokepast.es/91cfa8f834efbfe2 - AV Slowking Balance
OTHER TEAMS
SV Overused Teams
Battle Against a True Samurai - Kingambit HO Peak #1 2064 ELO (OUTDATED DUE TO BANS)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...samurai-kingambit-ho-peak-1-2064-elo.3713408/
SS Overused Teams
ANTI-META Nidoking Super Offense (Version 1 and Version 2) PEAK TOP 8 LADDER 1938+
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...and-version-2-peak-top-8-ladder-1938.3696044/
"Grudges" A Grudge Alolan Ninetales Bulky HO (PEAK #3 2003) + OST Team Dump
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...s-bulky-ho-peak-3-2003-ost-team-dump.3698343/
"Hax Forecast" - Anti-Stall Togekiss + Druddigon + Melmetal Parahax Spam - PEAK #1 (2074 ELO, 85.3 GXE) (OUTDATED DUE TO METAGAME)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...arahax-spam-peak-1-2074-elo-85-3-gxe.3699903/
"The Dark Fantasy - Peaked #1 Multiple Times"
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-dark-fantasy-peaked-1-multiple-times.3708519/
SS Ubers Teams
Rain with Cappuccino - Peaked #1, #2, #4 (Dugtrio + Barraskewda Rain)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...eaked-1-2-4-dugtrio-barraskewda-rain.3704471/
Shoutouts
Vert njnp thank you to the both of you for helping me build this entire generation and also helping me build earlier versions of this teams, you guys are the goats
Baloor please dont hurt me
MAVERICK SHOOTERS and Highv0ltag3 for being great rmt posters
Agentkeval nerd
The Friends over at PT Empo devin infinitemugen99 fakenagol Shiox Kibo clean nuts lolebruh ojr IPF Pais Seasons Blazenix fabwooloo you guys are very cool people to talk to, sorry for the rest that i couldn't tag
The Friends over at the bois... all of you fucking quit mons LOL and most of you dont even remember your smogons, only Fusien sufys12 and Scywave are the ones who still play
The PS Nerds Coolcodename Dorron SetsuSetsuna Typhlosion4 (when are u getting a name change) Aqua Jet mushamu 3d and also everyone else i forgot to tag
of course TEAM ASIA 2022 and 2033, and their beautiful captains devin Analytic (i should be here since i am acting as a 3rd captain for the team)
Baloor please dont hurt me
MAVERICK SHOOTERS and Highv0ltag3 for being great rmt posters
Agentkeval nerd
The Friends over at PT Empo devin infinitemugen99 fakenagol Shiox Kibo clean nuts lolebruh ojr IPF Pais Seasons Blazenix fabwooloo you guys are very cool people to talk to, sorry for the rest that i couldn't tag
The Friends over at the bois... all of you fucking quit mons LOL and most of you dont even remember your smogons, only Fusien sufys12 and Scywave are the ones who still play
The PS Nerds Coolcodename Dorron SetsuSetsuna Typhlosion4 (when are u getting a name change) Aqua Jet mushamu 3d and also everyone else i forgot to tag
of course TEAM ASIA 2022 and 2033, and their beautiful captains devin Analytic (i should be here since i am acting as a 3rd captain for the team)
And thats about it, This is my first success using a balance team and i hope everyone reading this will have fun using it. I tried not to stray to far from the known standards of balance but i still want to add my own twist to it and i think it worked great. With home coming soon i will be excited to come back to mons and see what it has to offer since a lot of the new mons are really great to use when playing with friends. This meta is probably the most divided ive seen on people saying "its good" "its bad", personally i do like the faster pace of this gen and love the addition of tera, but i do hate the anoyying fat mons like Dondozo and Garganacl, but not everything has to be made for me. Other than that, thank you for reading and...
GOODBYE EVERYONE!Attachments
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