Battle Spot Singles Teambuilding Competition - Diggersby :: BUILDING

voting for DragonWhale. I like the idea of that team and those are some of my favorite 'mons. I really should've submitted a team :/... I think togekiss fits well with scrafty, was kinda dissappointed no team had one.
 

ethan06

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Voting is CLOSED! Thanks to all six of you that voted. The winner of the first teambuilding competition is... me. That's awkward. Oh well, my team will be added to the hall of fame and will feature on 6tennis' PS! stream. Here's the final vote tally:

cant say - 1
ethan06 - 2
aniravjain - 1
NOVED - 1
DragonWhale - 1

~~~~

Week 2:


Mega Aerodactyl
is a huge anti-meta threat in Battle Spot Singles that doesn't see that much action despite having a great matchup against threats like Talonflame, Gengar, Garchomp and Mega Kangaskhan thanks to its interesting Rock / Flying typing and blisteringly fast 150 Speed. However, it has it's problems with Suicune, Mamoswine and Thundurus, among other things, and it lacks a strong, reliable STAB, having to settle for Aerial Ace's 60 base power and Stone Edge's 80% accuracy. Thankfully, it has a wide arsenal of coverage moves that are nearly boosted by its ability, Tough Claws, which allows it to score KOs on a diverse range of threats in the meta. Don't let me win this week - show me your best!

Building period: Now until this time on the 8th Feb (5 days)
Voting period: 8th Feb - 10th Feb (2 days)
 
I can't help but wonder what the point of this if there is no feedback coming out of it...

I mean it's a really fun idea (would be more fun for Triples or something) but it could be a useful learning tool. Because I know I suck at teambuilding but I would like try and improve that.
 
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Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP/ 44 Atk/ 100 Def/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Fang
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Aerial Ace

Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Slack Off

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Atk/ 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Protect
- Leech Seed

Suicune @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Gallade @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 56 HP/ 252 Atk/ 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Leaf Blade
- Substitute

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP/ 12 Def/ 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower


The EVs on Aerodactyl are pretty crazy, so I'll start w/ those. The Atk EVs OHKO Mega Blaziken w/ Aerial Ace, the Def makes it very unlikely Megamence will 2HKO w/ DE, and the rest in Spe w/ 4 leftover I put in SpD. I can be more specific w/ what the set accomplishes, such as by posting calcs, but just trust me on it. I decided Adamant because that extra power helps a ton, and you still outspeed a giant portion of the meta.

Hippowdon can handle the base 135s Adamant Aerodactyl cannot outspeed, and Toxic is nice for Pokes like Cress, and forces switches like Yawn does, at least to an extent. EVs are really plain, but that's how Hippo is supposed to be, I think. The main reason I chose Hippo is Sandstorm can benefit Aerodactyl, making it quite bulky on the special side.

Ferrothorn is great for forcing switches to rack up entry hazard damage, and it's nice to have a switch in to Spore, though I also have Goodra. Set is pretty boring. Ferro also helps vs Rotom-W, which I don't like at all.

Suicune is another physically bulky mon, and it synergizes well w/ my team, resisting ice, steel, fire, and water, while its two weaknesses are covered. The set seems basic enough-max physical bulk since you're boosting SpD.

Goodra is an odd choice, but my team could use some special bulk, and it resists important types in Fire, Water, and Electric. Boosting attack by switching in on a grass move is nice, and is why I'm not going purely special, though that may be a better idea since EQ doesn't do too much. EVs are odd again. Max SpA to do as much as possible, and the rest is to survive a CB Talon's BB, while reducing he chance of certain things like Mega Blaziken getting a KO. I decided no Ice Beam since I have lots of Ice coverage already, and appreciate the raw power of Draco Meteor.

Gallade seems like a reasonable choice since I don't struggle w/ Talonflame or Gengar, and it can outspeed and 2HKO Rotom-W. Substitute will block any status, and Drain Punch OHKOs Kang if it uses DE to break my Sub-w/ a small chance to OHKO non-bulky variants anyways. I decided I need Ice Punch-was gonna use SD, but +2 Drain Punch actually doesn't OHKO standard Garchomp very often. I would like to run Adamant, but unfortunately that'd mean I'm slower than Garchomp, so I went Jolly and took some speed out instead. Speed tying base 110s isn't that important, and the next really important benchmark is Chomp, which I'm ofc outspeeding. Ignore the W
 
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cant say

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I can't help but wonder what the point of this if there is no feedback coming out of it...

I mean it's a really fun idea (would be more fun for Triples or something) but it could be a useful learning tool. Because I know I suck at teambuilding but I would like try and improve that.
This is a competition thread. We have the help thread, and people are always in the PS room to talk to if you wanna learn. If we use this thread it will get horribly cluttered. But if you'd like comments and I see something glaringly bad I'm more than happy to point it out :)
 

Psynergy

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So Aerodactyl is actually pretty cool, used it for a restricted OU tourney and it was a ton of fun. This team started with the same core I used there, Mega Aero + Serperior.


Wild Wing (Aerodactyl-Mega) @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
Level: 50
EVs: 236 Atk / 44 Def / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Nozuchi (Serperior) @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 248 SpA / 12 SpD / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
- Taunt

Dinotyrant (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Outrage
- Dual Chop

Cursed Knight (Aegislash) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
- Sacred Sword

Origin Bud (Blaziken) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Protect / Substitute
- Baton Pass
- High Jump Kick

Silver Sentinel (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Mega Aerodactyl is pretty basic, hit things hard before they can hit you. As such, an offensive approach makes sense. The moveset covers both STAB moves, Stone Edge is cool and I don't miss my Stone Edges, Aerial Ace is also neat for the perfect accuracy. Ice Fang hits Garchomp, Lando-T and friends while Earthquake rounds out coverage, hitting Steels like Heatran and Aegislash. The core I started with was Aero + Serperior, with the latter helping out against Suicune and other bulky Water-types. In return Mega Aero deals with stuff like Talonflame for Serperior, so I made sure to EV Mega Aerodactyl to almost never be 2HKOed by Adamant Banded Brave Bird (like less than 5%) while still outspeeding everything up to Timid Mega Sceptile and positive base 80 Scarf users. Serperior's moveset is a standard offensive one, I used Taunt in the last slot because I know I'll want an answer to annoying bulky stuff like Cresselia just in case Serperior is to weak to win by itself.


Next I decided to add Garchomp. Because, you know, it always fits. I really wanted Rocks here because Mega Aerodactyl really likes the chip damage but Scarf Chomp helps out more against Greninja (bar Sash) who gives this team some trouble. I think Yache Berry with Rocks is still good here though, this team already ~kinda~ has a revenge killer in Aerodactyl so this doesn't need to be Scarf Chomp. It can also chip at Talonflame a bit with Rough Skin which is always nice in case something happens to Aerodactyl. As you can see this makes me kind of weak to HP Ice Thundurus even though Aerodactyl wins unless I miss (but I don't so we're good), but being Thunder Waved is never a good thing. Adamant Scarf helps out here though since it can OHKO Thundurus more reliably, but switching into Thundurus (and Ice moves in general) is risky. That's what the next Pokemon helps with though.


This team isn't necessarily weak to Thundurus, but Ice-type moves. Thankfully they're aren't many common Ice-type move users and most of them don't get STAB, so Aegislash can deal with these hits pretty well. It also gives me another good wallbreaker that beats Mamoswine 1v1 thanks to Shadow Sneak, but Ice type moves are generally not too big of a deal. Even Greninja can't OHKO with Dark Pulse but flinches can suck. But that's okay because we have other outs against Greninja. Aegislash can switch into a lot of things in general so he's a cool guy here.


Here the team is starting to look cool, but at this point I want Aerodactyl to be a possible win condition in certain matchups, so here's where we add a fun partner. Baton Pass Blaziken is a really cool partner for Aerodactyl for avoiding scary Earthquake situations and you aren't likely to hit Blaziken with an Ice move, but really BP Blaziken is good with any physical attacker. With a Speed Boost nothing is outspeeding you and a +2 Aerodactyl can just end games. I thought about Substitute but that's counter-intuitive with Sash, but it's useful for stuff like Thunder Wave and avoiding Sleep Powder Mega Venusaur because that's kind of annoying for this team to beat outside of Aegislash. It works but I'm not really paranoid about Mega Venusaur since it's not super common and Aerodactyl can scare it already. While Blaziken is meant to pass to Aerodactyl, it can still pass a Speed Boost to Serperior which is useful because of the great defensive synergy and Garchomp can be just as good of a win condition.


Now to round things off we've got our friend Rotom-W, this thing is good for just spreading burns and taking hits from stuff in general, so it's kind of a cushion against stuff and gives me a second Ground immunity while also beating Mamoswine much more reliably, which this team could really use. Seems redundant with Mega Aero but it's a really safe option and I hate Mamoswine so yeah. It also provides slow Volt Switch utility which is cool for getting Aero or even Blaziken in safely, which is the main reason I used it. Also I guess it makes a FWG core but not really because Blaziken doesn't even have Blaze Kick.



So yeah I think this team turned out pretty cool, might actually use this team more except now you'll all know the tricks. Really the biggest things this team wants to watch out for are Greninja and Mega Venusaur, but I have ways to deal with them if I play carefully. Also Thundurus is rude but it always is so that's fine. Wish I could have a replay or two but my internet is so bad right now I can't even stay connected long enough to find a battle. Maybe another time. Also petitioning to make the Aegislash analysis specify 0 Speed IV on sets because that has made me sad before.
 
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ethan06

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Well, I would turn this over to the Voting stage at this point but there are literally two teams so there isn't much point... therefore, I'm leaving this open for another week, after which we'll hopefully have more teams to vote for! The voting phase will begin on Monday the 15th.
 
I already had a team prepared but I completely forgot to post it. Mega Aerodactyl was kinda tough to build around because it's movepool imo isn't great (wish it got brave bird) so it can't really take advantage of tough claws. Anyways, it was challenging but it was fun building this team so here's the team basically :-

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Rock Head
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Substitute
- Rock Slide

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flash Cannon

Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Rock Slide

Blaziken-Mega @ Blazikenite
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Protect
- Thunder Punch
- High Jump Kick

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Lunar Dance
- Moonlight


DESCRIPTION

Obviously, I started out with mega aerodactyl. From the beginning, I wanted to use a set which could take advantage of its speed and improve its frailty. This is why I decided to opt for substitute. Substitute is used on a predicted switch so it allows mega aerodactyl to safely fire off two attacks since almost nothing is gonna outspeed it. Earthquake and rock slide are great moves since the former provides coverage and the latter is STAB. Taunt is basically used to stop pokemon from setting up. Aerodactyl is best later in the game when all your opponents have reduced health.


Next, I added choice specs magnezone to cover all off aerodactyl's weaknesses except water and to have a pokemon with the ability to nuke the opposing team. Thunderbolt and flash cannon are a must on magnezone since they are reliable stab moves. Hidden power ice is there for more coverage and the ability to hit lando, mence and chomp. I initially tried an analytic magnezone but I didn't like how it kept getting KO'ed and strudy also is kind of a surprise factor since most people expect analytic.

Then, I added assault vest azumarill since it resists water, has great special bulk, and has the power to hit hard. The EV spread is straight from the smog dex and so are the moves. I went for knock off over superpower because I dont like the defense and attack drop and knock off gets rid of useful items which can be detrimental for the opponent.

Next, I added the king of battle spot and the most versatile pokemon in the game imo. I went for garchomp because it is immune to electric, can set up rocks which makes it easier for aerodactyl to finish opposing pokemon, and has so much power. There is nothing much to explain here besides that.

Now I needed a fast pokemon that could deal with gengar and kangaskhan and a mega that could be used in place of aerodactyl since it's not always the best option so I went for Blaziken. Blaziken is fast, strong and deals with certain pokemon like p2, ferro, sylveon, lucario, hera etc. quite nicely. The moves are pretty standard and I went for thunder punch to deal with pesky water types like suicune, azumarill etc. I felt blaziken was a must for the team.

Finally, I decided I lacked a strong physically defense presence on my team since my team was most offense. Also, cress is immune to ground attacks which were a problem for my team. Cress provides lunar dance support, can cripple opposing pokemon with t-wave, and is just one of the best walls in the meta.

REPLAYS

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battlespotsingles-328147295

This replay is a great battle because it shows what aerodactyl is best at which is abusing it's speed stat. Despite being unlucky by losing the speed tie before mega evolving with gengar and the hypnosis hitting, it bounced back and was able to take care of the team. The best thing about this replay is that it shows that mega aero outspeeds blaziken even at +1.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battlespotsingles-328149819

This replay doesn't prove much but it was pretty fun so I'm posting it. It was basically a hax war where azu got burned by scald on the switch and missed two play roughs in a row. I thought it was over for me but then RNGesus decided it was time to switch to my side and I got really lucky with two consecutive rock slide flinches.
 
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ethan06

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Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
- Crunch

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Force Palm

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Protect

Garchomp @ Salac Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Knock Off


Aerodactyl is the focus mon. I went with four attacks for the greatest amount of coverage on things - Stone Edge for Talon, Ice Fang for Garchomp and Mence, Aerial Ace for Serp and Heracross and Crunch for Aegis and Gengar. After this, I went with something that gave me an easier time against Suicune, and landed on Breloom. Because I had Aerodactyl to deal with Talonflame I went with Force Palm over Rock Tomb. With my Sash used up, when I added Gengar to the team as a more solid Khan check I used LO Destiny Bond. After this, I added SpDef Heatran, one of my favourite Heatran sets for its ability to sit in front of things and stall for free damage. It's my best Thundurus check, and it eases the matchup against Talonflame in games where Aero isn't as welcome. SubSalac was an interesting thing that I decided to try in an effort to bring some more speed onto the team (didn't really want Scarf) and it's actually a really cool wincon - you can set up on hits that do about 80% and completely turn the game around. It's not fantastic against most Electrics (gets a free setup against Manectric at full though!) but it switches in on Thunder Waves, which is all you can really ask for. I chucked CB Azumarill into the last slot for defensive type coverage purposes and because I wanted a little more priority. Tried Belly Drum for a bit but I'm not a fan of that set :(

Anyways, Aerodactyl is a cool anti-meta pick. It gets surprise kills on a lot of things but also struggles mightily to muster the power to get the kills it needs to. A lot of the time I found myself relying on Stone Edge more than I should have done, which lost me a couple of games. Slight flaws aside, though, this is a fun mon and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to use something fun on the Battle Spot ^.^
 
aniravjain

I think his team deals the best with answers to Aerodactyl, mainly Thundurus and Mamoswine. Also pretty original-you don't see Magnezone too often, and aniravjain's team is also the only one without any green in it. Too bad Tough Claws doesn't apply to either attack on Dactyl though. Shame on you people for pretty much only using 252/252/4 spreads! I'm somewhat guilty of that too, but Ferro, Hippo, and Suicune typically run max HP and Def so that's different!
 
Voting for Omastar68. I was initially drawn to anirav's team because I like the idea of Aerodactyl running substitute, and I it was an interesting team in general. But after trying both teams a bit I did better with Omastar's. Aerodactyl is a frail sweeper and it really needs tanks and walls as teammates more so than other sweepers to perform well. Omastars steam uses Aerodactly as an all out attacker, and has a good variety of bulky teammates to switch to on an unfavorable matchup. The other sweeper on this team is another mega with different strengths so this team is pretty flexible.

Omastar does get one demerit though, for an un-importable team :P . The mega's have their post-mega abilities but are in pre-mega form which PS's team builder doesn't seem to like. Also the like lack of white space in 'pokemon@item' vs 'pokemon @ item' caused a bit of trouble.
 
Voting for Omastar68. I was initially drawn to anirav's team because I like the idea of Aerodactyl running substitute, and I it was an interesting team in general. But after trying both teams a bit I did better with Omastar's. Aerodactyl is a frail sweeper and it really needs tanks and walls as teammates more so than other sweepers to perform well. Omastars steam uses Aerodactly as an all out attacker, and has a good variety of bulky teammates to switch to on an unfavorable matchup. The other sweeper on this team is another mega with different strengths so this team is pretty flexible.

Omastar does get one demerit though, for an un-importable team :P . The mega's have their post-mega abilities but are in pre-mega form which PS's team builder doesn't seem to like. Also the like lack of white space in 'pokemon@item' vs 'pokemon @ item' caused a bit of trouble.
Oops. Should've known to make the team an importable. Besides everyone's team saying that, it makes it make sense that people are indicating the lefel(I was wondering about that.) I'll fix it, and start putting a space before moves.
 

cant say

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Voting for Psynergy pretty much because his is the only team with a solid Thundurus check in ScarfChomp, which is a big threat to Aero. aniravjain's team looks ok but Aero, Blaziken, Azumarill and Magnezone (Focus Blast) are all beaten pretty easily by Thund.
 

kamikaze

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Really tough choice as I am all about the HO life, but going with Psynergy here.

sash sd baton pass blaziken into Aero or Garchomp sounds quite scary. I like the Aegislash and Rotom-W choices which are both able to threathen scarf lando-t up front, which could be annoying for the rest of the team. WP aegislash is also used in dou and its fun since it takes the lando earthquake and responds back with a +2 shadow ball ohko. Rotom-W and garchomp can switch into lando-t quite nicely but the latter may fear losing its scarf to a knock off.

I really liked ethan's team as well, but a secondary thundurus check other than the Aero(which will be neutered by twave) that everyone has would be nice just as cant say mentioned above. Main outs seem to be dodging focus blast with Heatran, using your focus sash to put it to sleep with Breloom, and somehow sneaking garchomp behind a sub before thundurus can come in.
 

ethan06

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Aight calling it here because I forgot last night >.<

Votes are as follows:

Omastar68 - 1
Psynergy - 2
aniravjain - 1
ethan06 - 0 ;(

Our winner is Psynergy with his Aerodactyl + Serperior team! It will be featured on 6tennis's Showdown stream when next it airs.

~~~~

Week 3:



Volcarona is a potent but surprisingly unexpected setup sweeper that many teams are underprepared for. With a very unique spread of STAB moves and a ridiculous setup move in Quiver Dance, a lot of the time Volcarona only needs one boost to completely run through an opponent's team. However, while it is easy to use and easy to net wins with, it's also very easy to check and neutralise. Bug + Fire STAB coverage is unsurprisingly poor and fails to do significant damage to common threats like Blaziken, Azumarill, Salamence, Heatran and Talonflame, not to mention more niche picks like Chandelure. Also, while it can run a Hidden Power or some other coverage move to alleviate some of these issues, it essentially has to pick what walls it. However, it's ability to set up on and completely demolish virtually everything else after a boost makes it a potent threat to contend with.

Building period: Now until around this time on the 25th Feb (5 days)
Voting period: 25th Feb - 27th Feb (2 days)
 
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Psynergy

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Battle Stadium Head
ethan06 - 0 ;(
If it makes you feel better I was going to vote for you but forgot to post :'(

But I'll start things off here, Volcarona is really cool and feels really undervalued for how high it is in usage. Or at least, it feels like something that's never on people's minds until they run into one, but that's probably because it's actually not that hard to cover it. I've actually wanted to make a team with Volcarona for awhile now and this gave me reason to do that.


Moth Lord (Volcarona) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain

The End (Salamence-Mega) @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Of Raging Winds (Suicune) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roar
- Mirror Coat

Rampart (Conkeldurr) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch

Muskoid (Thundurus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot

Ancient Keeper (Aegislash) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
- Flash Cannon

Volcarona is actually a little annoying to figure out since it has several subtly different approaches but I went for a simple setup sweeper spread. Volcarona has a great Speed tier so Modest is fine, most appear to use it as well and you outspeed stuff like Adamant Scarf Landorus-T at +1 anyway. I'm not afraid of missing so Fire Blast is okay with me, while Bug Buzz is a useful secondary STAB for stuff like Hydreigon and Cresselia. The coverage slot is tough since there's a ton of useful Hidden Powers, so I initially put HP Ice to cover Mega Salamence. I ultimately settled on Giga Drain to hit Water-types, in particular for Azumarill and Suicune. I wasn't sure if I wanted Lum Berry or Focus Sash but Lum Berry lets me sweep through Thundurus and avoid random Toxic users which is cool. Realizing that I want to cover Azumarill more readily, I added Suicune which checks both Azumarill and Fire-types, which Volcarona struggles against outside of coverage options that only really hit one or two of the relevant Fire-types each. In return Volcarona handles stuff like Ferrothorn and Serperior. I opted for Rocky Helmet to check the physical Fire-types better and because I didn't really need a second special setup sweeper. Scald is Scald, Ice Beam covers Dragons like Salamence which walls my Volcarona, while Roar lets it punish stuff from trying to set up in front of it, namely Azumarill and Mega Charizard X. Mirror Coat is also the best and lets you surprise KO stuff like Thundurus and Mega Charizard Y because Suicune is a god and doesn't get OHKOed by anything except Specs Magnezone.


Next I wanted to round things out with a physical attacker and noticed Mega Salamence synergizes well with this duo, serving as a secondary Fire check while also offering useful Intimidate support. The other two also cover Salamence's Ice weakness while Volcarona resists Fairy. A typical Dragon Dance set works here, with Double-Edge because power is good. This also makes Roost a good option to heal off damage and preserve a sweep if I need it. I went with Adamant because Double-Edge can potentially OHKO Azumarill depending on how bulky they are, and again, power is good. You beat +6 Azumarill regardless though. Adamant Mega Salamence also still outspeeds Garchomp before boosts as well as Scarf Garchomp at +1 so that's fine. Latios becomes annoying but that can be handled by Volcarona and others I'll get to later.


So Thundurus sucks, and I obviously can't rely on Lum Berry Volcarona to handle that all the time. Furthermore Greninja is a pain so at this point I want something that beats both reliably. Assault Conkeldurr fits nicely here, sponging Thunder Waves for a Guts boost and tanking special hits while threatening Thundurus and Greninja with Ice Punch and Drain/Mach Punch respectively. This also gives me something to threaten Mega Kangaskhan more directly though Flame Body from Volcarona, Rocky Helment from Suicune and Intimidate from Salamence all help there. Volcarona also checks Fairies while the Rock resist is really useful for Volcarona and Salamence. Chansey and especially Porygon2 are also kinda rude to the Volcarona/Suicune/Salamence core so Conkeldurr is just a really solid fit here.


Now that I've got a nice answer to my Thundurus and Greninja problem I decide to add a Thundurus of my own. The reason for this is because Thunder Wave is broken and all of my team really appreciates that Thunder Wave support. In particular, this checks Blaziken who can be very scary for this team depending on the set it runs (physical Mega with HP Ice looks brutal), so simply having this at team preview can make the opponent think twice about bringing it along. This also checks bulky Water-types which this is something this team lacks. More importantly, this gives me another Talonflame check (and Flying-types in general such as Salamence), which I really need because I have two Talonflame-weak Pokemon and Suicune alone isn't always a perfect answer even with Rocky Helmet. Mega Salamence can possibly beat Talonflame 1v1 but Will-O-Wisp sucks, so Thundurus is just a good fit to give me extra options. The last coverage slot honestly doesn't feel like it makes a huge different here, but I went with Grass Knot here to nail stuff like Mamoswine and Hippowdon to make the best of otherwise awkward matchups. Focus Blast doesn't really seem necessary when I have Conkeldurr and Volcarona too, though Taunt probably works here too.


At this point I wasn't sure what to put here because this team looks relatively well-rounded. At first I considered Bisharp because I don't really like my Landorus-T situation here and I wanted another physical attacker, but that can't switch in at all without using up a Focus Sash. I decided to place Swords Dance + 3 Attacks Aegislash here but I don't really want something that functions mostly as a late-game sweeper because I already have two of those, so I defaulted to what I'm noticing as my go-to option when I don't know what else to use, Weakness Policy Aegislash. The god-like typing is really nice here and makes dealing with Scarfchomp less obnoxious since I have no good Outrage switch-ins otherwise, other than Suicune I guess. It's also really good for luring and beating Ground-types 1v1, which generally tend to be annoying for this team. This gives me a good switch-in to a ton of stuff but it's also good for handling Fairy-types better and Latios who as mentioned earlier can be a little annoying. Basically spooky sword is good.



This team looks a lot more like a standard offense team but that's probably because Volcarona itself is much more standard than Mega Aerodactyl or Scrafty were. That being said Volcarona/Suicune/Salamence is cool, I only stumbled across that core while building this and they cover each other pretty nicely other than the obvious Thundurus and Greninja problem that I always seem to have. But there you go.
 
I'm new to this and still figuring out BSS / battling in general, but here's my entry.



Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance

Klefki @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Thunder Wave
- Foul Play

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Taunt

Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn
- Slack Off

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond

I’m a fan of dual screen + setup sweeper teams, so for a starting point I used a standard max-coverage setup sweeper Volcarona and dual screen Klefki. Thunder Wave seems like the best status move to punish stuff that tries to set up while Klefki drops screens. I’m tempted to use a less bulky EV set since sometimes Klefki just takes too long to die, wasting screen turns. Maxing special attack on Klefki doesn’t really seem worthwhile, though.

Even a boosted Volcarona often doesn’t perform well against Fire or Dragon-types, making Mega Gyarados sound like a great partner. It can even swap in on Earthquakes before Mega-evolving! Speaking of Earthquake, I chose it over Waterfall to let Gyarados hit Rotom-W too, though it might be better to just let Volcarona Giga Drain those and take advantage of Waterfall’s STAB + flinch instead. Volcarona handles grass and fighting stuff in return. Dragon Dance users do really well behind Klefki’s screens, too.

The above trio can have issues dealing with a handful of common things like paralysis spam, Greninja, Talonflame, Breloom, and Trick Room. Thundurus helps with all of those (though only situationally with the latter two) and provides Taunt for various forms of stall and hax nonsense. Nasty Plot over Taunt (and having Gengar run it instead) to create a Thunder Wave-proof setup sweeper sounds good, too.

Hippowdon is here to more solidly brick Talonflame. It also makes a decent alternative to Klefki as a lead for the setup sweepers, with Yawn to create setup opportunities and sandstorm and/or Stealth Rock to prevent Focus Sashes from interrupting sweeps.

Gengar is just a powerful, flexible catch-all. Klefki’s screens let it swap into almost anything and live long enough to Destiny Bond the victim or just conventionally brawl for longer. Sludge Bomb is particularly nice for blasting Fairy-types.
 
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Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Cloyster @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Ice Shard
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Roost

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Tomb
- Knock Off

Thundurus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 36 Def / 148 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic



Somewhat standard Volcarona set here. The goal of this Volcarona here is to set up and hit hard or finish off weakened teams. Modest for power, Hidden Power Ground to deal with those pesky Heatrans who try to wall you, and Lum Berry to ignore statuses for one turn.


Even though it's not really common, I was afraid of common Stealth Rock setters like Garchomp, Lando-T and Hippowdon since Stealth Rock really ruins Volcarona's day. I knew I needed an ice move somewhere to deal with these three. Mamoswine was the painfully obvious choice here, but I wanted a secondary wincon as well against matchups that Volcarona may not be the best in. I thought of various wincons that could use Ice moves and Cloyster was one I thought would be cool and synergize somewhat well with Volcarona. Cloyster deals with the aforementioned three pretty well and can manage to set up in front of them in most cases. Standard set here as well, with Ice Shard for priority and King's Rock for the clutch flinches (Volcarona needed the Lum Berry more as well and I didn't see much use for Sash).


The rock weakness really glared to me at this moment, and bulky waters are pretty annoying to both my wincons. Ferrothorn resists Rock and beats bulky waters so I quickly added it as the third member. Stealth Rock really neuters Talonflame, whom I've still haven't really dealt with yet, but will leave until later. The rest is pretty standard, Rocky Helmet mostly there to piss off Mega Kangaskhan and Thunder Wave to help out my sweepers.


At this point I really needed a mega. It was already common knowledge to me that Mega Salamence and Volcarona have great synergy, so I chose Mega Mence as my mega. Mega Salamence also deals with Blaziken relatively well, which was a problem to the trio before. Over here I really didn't feel like a Dragon Dance set was necessary, so I decided to run a SubToxic set to catch walls off-guard and still OHKO the things I need to with Double-Edge. Max HP and Speed for fast Subs and survivability.


Talonflame is still a problem here, but I left that to the last slot of the team. I noticed that I had a small problem with Electric types such as Raikou and Mega Manectric. I also wanted a somewhat slow U-Turn user to get my wincons in safely. So I decided to go with Landorus-Therian. I wanted to run an Assualt Vest variant because I thought I could use the extra bulk on this team and there was no need to outspeed things with Choice Scarf. Typical set here: Knock Off for utility, U-Turn for reasons mentioned above and Rock Tomb to take out Charizard, opposing Volcaronas and Talonflames, while getting the nice lowering of the opposing mon's speed.


Obviously enough, this last slot was dedicated to take out Talonflame. Thundurus-I would seem like the obvious addition here, but I already had a T-Waver in Ferrothorn and I thought I could use a bit more power on this team. Thundurus-T looked like an interesting choice to add on here and it actually synergizes decently with the rest of the team, barring the Ice weakness I have (both of which my wincons resist). I wanted to go with Life Orb here but I thought the extra speed with Choice Scarf to outrun Talonflame would be incredibly useful if it ever wishes to fulfill its job in this team. Volt Absorb is also a great ability for it, allowing it to benefit from switch ins into Thunder Waves from opposing Thundurus-I, which it ironically checks pretty well. Standard set here(got the EVs from a Japanese blog, not sure what they do), Modest Nature for more power and Psychic to hit Mega Gengar hard.
 
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ethan06

⋖(☼┆☼)⋗
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
okay, time for a modification to the rules: due to severe lack of interest, rounds will continue either for two weeks or until four teams have been posted. I'll stick up a Volcarona team when I get the opportunity and then finally open this up to voting.
 


i made this team a while ago, i figured i could post it for this.

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Double-Edge
- Roost
- Earthquake

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpA / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Mamoswine @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 188 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Fissure

Sylveon @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 92 SpA / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Yawn
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Hyper Voice


DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE VERY DESCRIPTIVE CAUSE I MADE THIS A WHILE AGO AND KINDA FORGOT MY THOUGHT PROCESS

well, volc and mence are pretty sick together, having two totally different setup sweepers is pretty cool, you have two go-to wincons and they even work well together in some matchups. having one setup guy with lum helps a lot too. i have ferro as my rock setter, works well with mence, and i like rocks a lot with set up sweepers. rotom-w is cool here cause it counters stuff that threatens both my main sweepers. it counters mamos for salamence and talonbirds for volcarona. i chose to run specs because i like to hit hard af. rotom actually gets pretty nice damage off with specs v switches, which is rlly nice for volc and mence, v switching into those two also gives you a lot of momentum so thats sick. mamo is a cool thund check. thund is a no fun guy when you're using sweepers, even tho i have lum, it wont always be useful in certain situations. sylveon is another back up sweeper kinda, its something that works in certain matchups, and it doesnt care about thund as much as my other sweepers. yawn on it can help itself or potentially my other two guys.

sorry this is just a long paragraph of me rambling 8-)
 

ethan06

⋖(☼┆☼)⋗
is a Community Contributor Alumnus


Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Substitute
- Calm Mind

Serperior @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 116 HP / 220 Def / 172 Spe
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Glare
- Synthesis
- Leaf Storm

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash

Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance


k I wanna wrap up the comp so I'll keep this brief. originally based this squad around subcm mega gardevoir, which btw is a really fucking cool stallbreaker that can set up on a whole bunch of slower special attackers and roll through a team. It beats Glalie with Hyper Voice which is nice unless evasion happens early. Volcarona is a good partner for Gardevoir as a setup core as Garde has an easier time against Dragons and bulky Waters like Garchomp, Suicune and Rotom-W if it has a Sub up, whereas Volc can breeze through most steels and bulky Psychics without breaking a sweat, and also sets up easily on Fairies such as Sylveon that Gardevoir has trouble tanking hits from while it's setting up. The supporting cast aims to deal with Pokémon that trouble the dual set-up core: Serperior deals with Azumarill and Kangaskhan and provides added assurance against Garchomp and Rotom-Wash, while Weavile helps against Talonflame, Gengar, Salamence, Garchomp and Thundurus. Specs Rotom doubles with Weavile and improves the Thundurus and Talonflame matchup further, adding flexibility to the team and ending any potential birdspam issues. Garchomp is just an Electric switch-in that can cope with Thundurus in a 1v1 scenario and gives me a backup wincon with Swords Dance, as well as Stealth Rock to ward off Flying types. Garde and Volc really hate Flying-types so I filled the team with as much bird hate as possible :]

garchomp: weavile, garde if sub, chomp, rotom, serp. well covered :]
gengar: weavile, garde if sub, chomp if mega, rotom...? help
khan: serp. maybe volc burn. weavile chip damage. fuck khan
thund: weavile. rotom. garde if sub (or if slow thund - trace prankster and sub before twave, then laugh). garchomp if sash. volc if lum
blaziken: chomp. rotom. garde if sub, volc if boosted. risky
talon: rotom hard-walls. weavile can fake out+ice shard. chomp if sash. watch this one
mence: weavile. chomp if sash. rotom. garde if sub or speed tie.
cress: weavile. rotom trick. garde sets up, serp sets up.
rotom-w: serp, always serp. garde sets up on wow. weavile can sometimes pick it off with knock off
aegi: volc. chomp. rotom. weavile maybe.
mawile: volc. chomp. rotom. serp maybe.
mamo: serp. rotom. weavile fake+knock. volc if boosted. garde if sub.


and with that, voting is OPEN! I'll close it when we have enough votes for a clear winner, I'm done with strict time limits for now

Vote for one of these fine and upstanding users:

Psynergy
jroxas
GateCreeper
NOVED
ethan06
 
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Voting for ethan06, Fiery Dance Volcarona is best Volcarona.
I don't understand the Volc + MegaMence cores, they're both fucked by <insert bulky water with Ice move>, Rotom-H, Heatran, and TTar. NOVED has it good with Rotom-W but I feel the team is too weak to Khan, Ferrothorn only lasts so long against Fire Punch / Fire Blast / Low Kick variants.
 

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