Battle Tree Discussion and Records

Okay, I need some advice. I've had three near leaderboard Super Singles runs (all ending from 81-87) using Salamence and Steelix, along with three different final members. I'm looking for a third member that ties the team together, since I've felt like whoever I try has been mostly dead weight. Here are the sets for Mence and Steelix:

Salamence@Salamencite
Adamant Nature, Intimidate, 252 Att/4 Def/252 Spe


Dragon Claw
Return
Dragon Dance
Earthquake

Steelix@Leftovers
Relaxed Nature, Sturdy, 252 HP/200 Def/56 SpD

Toxic
Protect
Earthquake
Heavy Slam

The pokemon I've tried in their places have been AV Slowking, Grassium Z Delphox (0/10 would not recommend), and Sub Petaya Empoleon. Slowking paired well type and statwise for the most part, but running AV meant if lost to many CM users, and Slowking AND Steelix on the same team was asking for poor flinch luck, which of course ended up happening. Delphox seemed like a good idea for like, 5 rounds, but ultimately just lacked the raw power to muscle through what it had to (thought it got much farther than I thought). Empoleon was suprisingly awful, mostly because it has no good way past other water types, and the run only got as far as it did due to dumb luck. Anyways, does anyone have suggestions for a final team member? I really am set on using Steelix, because it's really shone every time I've used it and I think it has potential for a good run with the right third teammate. I'm leaning towards a Water or Fire type, but am open to any suggestion really.
One suggestion I'd make is to alter your M-Salamence set to the following: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/battle-tree-discussion-and-records.3587215/page-31#post-7154747

It's generally safer to set up behind a Sub to avoid status and I've personally found the extra bulk of this set very useful. The coverage isn't as important if you can get up to +6, as Aerilate Return will KO almost everything at this point.

As to a third, as said above Chansey can work really well here...
 
Hello everyone! I need some advice for a Battle Tree Doubles team I've (in part, to be absolutely honest) made, which is similar in game plan to the eruption spam team that was posted a page ago.

Cofagrigus (F) @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Mummy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 18 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Fake Tears
- Trick Room
- Disable

Cofa and Torkoal are my standard lead. The strategy it's really simple: you protect turn one with Torkoal and TR up with Cofa, then proceed to Fake Tears and Eruption.
Disable is for utility, shuts down random EQ's and annoying coverage moves.
This mon is bulky enough to take multiple hits and set up Trick Room up reliably and multiple times throughout the battle thanks to his sheer bulk and the berry.
The evs are so-so, it was meant to be used in BS Doubles, so I've enough bulk to survive a Groundium Z from Lando and a Crunch from Kanga, one Shadow Ball from Aegi at full, so they're not really calc'd for the Battle Tree, but most of the times Cofa sets up TR.

Torkoal (M) @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Protect

You can say this is the star of the team, or at least the mon that does most of the damage. As I said already, first you protect, then erupt once trick room is up and most of the times get two kills thanks to sun and fake tears.
I prefer Charcoal to Specs since Water-types and Rock-types are generally dealt with with Fake Tears + Solar Beam.
When the rock-types are two or either sand is up, the fourth member comes in.

Mawile (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Fire Fang
- Protect

There's not really much to say to this mon, it just sweeps thanks to the speed control given by TR and helps with priority sucker punch. The only annoying fact is Mummy shenanigans, which are somewhat easy to deal with.

Tapu Fini @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 60
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 228 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protecr
- Moonblast
- Muddy Water
- Calm Mind

My one and only counter to a double Rock-type lead, since Mawile lacks Iron Head over Fire Fang. The fact that it's rather fast makes it an akward choice for a TR team, so I may have to remove it if Torkoal gets knocked out. Except the fact that Muddy Water never hits and the sun does hinder hits power, I have to say that it saved me a lot of the times.
Too bad the CPU always crits it.

I pretty much suffer the same weaknesses of the previously posted Eruption team, which are Sand, sometimes opposing Sun and an unexpected Rain Dance. Generally the latter is dealt with by Fini, but against sand since everyone of my mons is grounded I generally have to sack Torkoal to get it in.
I got to 46 wins with this team and to 41 with a variation of the team, in which I replaced Torkoal with Firium Z Heatran.
Hope I explained what it had to be explained. The team is very very fun! Hope you guys give it a shot if you have at least the first two mons avaiable.
Thank you for any future suggestion!
 
have you tried chansey? its insane special bulk makes it a good choice for tree especially when paired with a physical wall like steelix. mega mence handles fighting types well enough too
Thanks (also to Dark_Scorpion). Probably should have thought of Chansey, but I tunneled on the Fire/Water types. I'll also try the bulky Mence set, and I'll post an update once I get to try the team.
 
That spread is designed to set up on special attackers who have already been crippled. Without that, you're better off with more of a sweeper spread. Changing Dragon Claw to Substitute, Roost, or really anything else (I could see Double-Edge, Flamethrower, Outrage, or even Giga Impact being more useful than Dragon Claw, which doesn't even KO a decently bulky Dragon type and just barely outdamages a not-very-effective Double-Edge) will be a more substantial improvement to Salamence than tweaking the EV spread.

There must be some YouTuber or someone recommending Dragon Claw Mega Salamence for the Battle Tree, because the amount of new players I see using it is way out of whack compared to how good it actually is.
 
That spread is designed to set up on special attackers who have already been crippled. Without that, you're better off with more of a sweeper spread. Changing Dragon Claw to Substitute, Roost, or really anything else (I could see Double-Edge, Flamethrower, Outrage, or even Giga Impact being more useful than Dragon Claw, which doesn't even KO a decently bulky Dragon type and just barely outdamages a not-very-effective Double-Edge) will be a more substantial improvement to Salamence than tweaking the EV spread.

There must be some YouTuber or someone recommending Dragon Claw Mega Salamence for the Battle Tree, because the amount of new players I see using it is way out of whack compared to how good it actually is.
My sets are so stupid they call'em Verlisfy
 

Smuckem

Resident Facility Bot Wannabe
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
well now im a little butthurt that ive never been slandered for being innovative on a verlis level

guess im back to using iron ball gardevoir until someone notices me
Done, I've actually convinced someone on the Discord channel to keep that in their back pocket as a future TR idea once they've developed their roster.

The idea of Power Weight Volcarona has also been batted around, and of course you can't forget about Power Bracer Landorus-T.
 

CTNC

Doesn't know how to attack
well now im a little butthurt that ive never been slandered for being innovative on a verlis level

guess im back to using iron ball gardevoir until someone notices me
Now I feel like I should feel insulted that I haven't made fun of for using a team that had a Non-Mega Salamence and a Mega Blaziken that was Mega just for Speed Boost...

But then again, you had more success than me and Iron Ball Gardevoir is more insane, so you deserve to be insulted first, you mad yet successful idiot.

(In before this thread becomes an all out insult war. :P)


Edit: You used what... I AM NOTHING!
 
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Done, I've actually convinced someone on the Discord channel to keep that in their back pocket as a future TR idea once they've developed their roster.

The idea of Power Weight Volcarona has also been batted around, and of course you can't forget about Power Bracer Landorus-T.
IBG is not a toy. I haven't used Volcarona much but I liked the idea at the time
Now I feel like I should feel insulted that I haven't made fun of for using a team that had a Non-Mega Salamence
non mega mence? how about moxie hone claws/iron tail/stone edge/dragon rush non mega mence (0 speed power item no less lol)

Sigh... the options I had when triples was a thing
 
Alright, I’m here to report another streak of 569. Since the last streak, I decided to do another run with the same Trick Room team except with a few changes (which I will go over below). The final battle (which will also be detailed below) was against Guzma and I ended up making so many dumb, little mistakes in that battle, it’s almost embarrassing. But anyway…

QR code for team / Proof photo

Like I said, I didn’t really make any changes to the team except for two moves. Aromatisse and Araquanid are the same Pokemon that I used in the previous run. I decided to re-breed for a new Camerupt, this time with Hidden Power Ice and a new Hariyama so I can use ORAS tutors to get Thunder Punch, instead of Ice Punch. EVs are the same. Sets look a little like this:


Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Def / 116 SpD
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/31/0
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Thunder Punch

Alright, so I know Heavy Slam is the obvious best choice here but I still wanted to use an elemental punch move, and like I said in my last post, this team was very weak to Water-type Pokemon. A lot of them. Especially Pelipper and Gyarados. So, the first thing I decided to do was breed for a new Hariyama in ORAS and get Thunder Punch instead of Ice Punch, so I can take care of those two plus a few other Water-types. Of course, Heavy Slam is still the best fourth move for Hariyama, but I wanted to make this work, dammit. Anyway, it worked out a lot better than Ice Punch did so I kept it. Of course, it made some other Pokemon harder to deal with – Dragonite and Salamence in particular. But, it wasn’t too much of an issue as Aromatisse’s Helping Hand + Knock Off or M-Camerupt’s HP Ice helped a bit more vs those guys.

-->

Camerupt @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock --> Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
IVs: 31/xx/HT/31/31/1
Quiet Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Ice
- Protect

And here we have a completely new Camerupt. With the loss of Ice Punch, I needed some sort of answer for a lot of those annoying Dragons like Dragonite and Salamence. So, I figured finally re-breeding Camerupt was probably the right call, so I went ahead with that. Fortunately, I got lucky and got the Camerupt I needed right away and went to work with that. Pretty much the same thing, Flamethrower and Earth Power hit really, really hard thanks to Sheer Force and M-Camerupt’s amazing base 145 Special Attack. Again, with the 1 Speed IV, Camerupt hits 22 Speed after Mega Evolving and will out-speed everything under Trick Room except for Shuckle-3, Shuckle-4, and Avalugg-4. But those are still not threats so it really doesn’t matter.


Battle 570 vs Pokemon Trainer Guzma (loss): SP5W-WWWW-WWW8-DW5U
Honchkrow-?
/ Toxicroak-3 / Golisopod-3 / Toxapex-4
Okay, this battle was really bad. It only got so bad because I was too stubborn to just take out Toxicroak. Also, I ended up doubling on Toxapex as it used Baneful Bunker, which honestly, I should have been more careful with since it uses Baneful Bunker pretty randomly. Ended up losing because of some very dumb misplays and I was unable to bring back Trick Room after it expired. I had a big thing written about this loss, but ultimately decided to just scrap it and point out I played really, really poorly and the loss came from said poor play.

Other battles:
Battle 482 vs Firefighter Presta: ZSTW-WWWW-WWW8-DW64
Wishiwashi-4
/ Golisopod-4 / Jellicent-4 / Politoed-3
I won’t go too much into detail about this one, but I chose this battle to show the AI constantly using Will-O-Wisp into Araquanid instead of just going for Hex or Scald. I noted this on the Discord server and was told by Smuckem that it probably kept using Will-O-Wisp because it recognized Hex does more damage with the burn and it needed that burn. Still, kinda strange it would keep using it after Water Bubble was revealed. I also recklessly use Hydro Vortex into the Jellicent, hoping it didn’t have Water Absorb (it had Cursed Body).

Battle 420 vs Pokemon Trainer Grimsley: R7GW-WWWW-WWW8-DW6C
Bisharp-3
/ Drapion-? / Sharpedo-3 / Houndoom-3
Alright, the dreaded Bisharp/Drapion lead. So, for this one, I didn’t really want to risk Aromatisse going down to a Sniper crit or get Iron Head flinched, so I switched her out for Camerupt and used Fake Out on Drapion. Bisharp goes for Iron Head on Camerupt. Next turn, Drapion goes for Cross Poison on Camerupt and Bisharp uses Night Slash on Camerupt, revealing itself to be Bisharp-3. Hariyama’s CC takes out, and Camerupt’s Earth Power takes out Drapion. Sharpedo-3 and Houndoom-3 are up next. Sharpedo mega evolves and uses Aqua Jet to take out Camerupt, and Houndoom uses Shadow Ball on Hariyama. Hariyama goes for CC on Sharpedo and it goes down, and I decided Araquanid will come out to finish this battle. Houndoom goes for Flamethrower and takes out Hariyama, and I decided to just use Hydro Vortex on Houndoom to finish the battle. Didn’t even need Trick Room, haha.

Battle 270 vs Pokemon Trainer Anabel: VA7W-WWWW-WWW8-DW6K
Snorlax-4
/ Latios-1 / Entei-4 / Lucario-3
Anabel leads with Snorlax and Latios. Fake Out into Latios, and Snorlax reveals itself to be Snorlax-4 since it didn’t take any Life Orb recoil from EQ. Aromatisse goes for Dazzling Gleam on the next turn, and Hariyama finishes off Latios with Knock Off, ends up being Latios-1. Snorlax uses EQ again. Lucario-3 is up. Aromatisse uses Dazzling Gleam again, and Hariyama’s CC takes out Snorlax. Lucario uses CC into Hariyama and takes it out. Araquanid is up next, and Anabel sends out Entei, turns out to be Entei-4 as it protects from the Dazzling Gleam. Araquanid’s Hydro Vortex goes into the protecting Entei and Lucario uses Rock Slide. Aromatisse uses Dazzling Gleam, takes out Lucario and Araquanid’s Liquidation finishes the battle.


Not too many battles this time, but probably the better ones (also most of them were vs the special trainers, oh well). This team has so many 5-turn wins, it’s hard to find exciting ones! Anyway, since I’ve been doing non-stop Battle Tree for the past month, this is probably my last serious streak for a while (probably won’t go for another one until USUM is out). But I'll still be around on the Discord server.
 
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im here to report a 501 streak in super singles
proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/emmklmb7cf2vyhn/20170817_115659[1].jpg?dl=0

ok before i get into the team details i just would like to thank guan123 and gg unit for the inspiration behind this team.

team:

DURANT (choice scarf)

jolly
evs speed: 228
spedef: 28
hp:252

moves:
entrainment
thunderfang
iron head
x scissor

MEGA GYARADOS (gyaradosite)
adamant
evs att: 252
spe:252

moves:
crunch
protect
sunstitute
dragon dance

MIMIKYU (red card)
adamant
evs att:252
spe:252

moves:
protect
honeclaws
play rough
shadow sneak

i can not stress how incredibly broken this team is. i have only used this team twice first streak... 319 wins, second.... 501 wins. and both losses were entirely down to laziness because i just go so bored with how good this team was lol. it takes very little strategy to use and is a run off the mill antrainment team so i would definitely recommend anyone who is struggling to get 200 wins for the starf berry or whatever to use this.

step 1: entrain, opponent may use protect, fake out, prankster with sub there are some situations where you wont get a clean entrainment because they spam protect every second turn like a grade-a douche so you will probably switch in mimikyu and force the switch with red card. some opponents like venusaur3 are ok to stay in i found also dont know why but when u entrain a mega it counts as them having a turn so stay in the next turn just to fodder their attack for a safe switch to gyarados.

step 2: switch in to gyarados and protect the next turn while they attack. as for mega evolving, i found mega evolving on the first turn wasnt always the smartest option in the case of tsareena and medicham for example, as M gyarados is a dark type they will go for high jump kick which means you wont be able to safely max out DD since they will recoil to death b4 you can do so when you use protect. in these cases mega evolve on the last turn before taking them out. when theyre truanting set up a sub. and when they attack next turn use protect, then when they truant use DD and rinse, repeat until +6 in speed and attack. on some rare occasions i didnt want to risk fully amxing out because they were hail/sandstorm users and they would wear out gyarados's hp far too much before i could start sweeping but those cases are few and far between.

step 3: sweep like you just dont care about life mate. mold breaker has some use as it nullifies sturdy so you wont have to worry about some asshole skarmory and
i think i lost gyarados on less than 10 occassions throughout 501 wins which goes to show how risk safe this team is.

worthy mentions. mimkyu is also a back up sweeper with protect, sub and shadow sneak and although gyarados should always be the first option sometimes its better to set up with mimikyu example in the case of grimsley and his scrafty4 which the oversized shrimp struggles with.
 
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Are you sure that 224 speed on Durant is accurate? Normally it runs 228--224 is no different than 220, and causes it to speed-tie (ugh) with scarf Manectric, which you really don't want to lose a tie against.
 
Are you sure that 224 speed on Durant is accurate? Normally it runs 228--224 is no different than 220, and causes it to speed-tie (ugh) with scarf Manectric, which you really don't want to lose a tie against.
changed it. youre right definitely dont want that thing using overheat. 228 makes it able to outspeed literally everything except aerodactyl1 if im correct
 
So I got Super Singles on my 7th try or so, finally caved and went with the tried and true Mega-Salamence/Aegislash/Chansey team. Thanks to those who came up with this, it's a ridiculously good Battle Tree team. On the way there only had a couple of mildly scary games between 46 and 50, whereas my last run of 46 with Pelipper/Mega-Swampert/Koko was much more fraught. Now, on to the mountain that is Multis!

Thinking about Multis, is anyone able to clarify some things on scouting for me? Regards scouting, there is a limit of 6 trainers you can scout for, is that right? If you scout new trainers, does it replace an existing one? There is the option to scout trainers in Super Singles, how does that work? Usually in doubles you get whatever they led, I think, so for Singles you wouldn't necessarily know what the other mon is that you're getting? Asking because obviously I'll be able to scout better trainers at 50+ in Super Singles Vs starting another doubles run.
 
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So I got Super Singles on my 7th try or so, finally caved and went with the tried and true Mega-Salamence/Aegislash/Chansey team. Thanks to those who came up with this, it's a ridiculously good Battle Tree team. On the way there only had a couple of mildly scary games between 46 and 50, whereas my last run of 46 with Pelipper/Mega-Swampert/Koko was much more fraught. Now, on to the mountain that is Multis!

Thinking about Multis, is anyone able to clarify some things on scouting for me? Regards scouting, there is a limit of 6 trainers you can scout for, is that right? If you scout new trainers, does it replace an existing one? There is the option to scout trainers in Super Singles, how does that work? Usually in doubles you get whatever they led, I think, so for Singles you wouldn't necessarily know what the other mon is that you're getting? Asking because obviously I'll be able to scout better trainers at 50+ in Super Singles Vs starting another doubles run.
The lead Pokemon is whoever is led, and the back can be one of the other two Pokemon that the trainer has. And you can scout as many trainers as you want, but only one of each trainer name. So, for example, you can only have one Cynthia at a time. Scouting another Cynthia overwrites the original one.
 
The lead Pokemon is whoever is led, and the back can be one of the other two Pokemon that the trainer has. And you can scout as many trainers as you want, but only one of each trainer name. So, for example, you can only have one Cynthia at a time. Scouting another Cynthia overwrites the original one.
Gotcha, cheers. Had Cynthia twice, but no good for scouting. Will continue my singles run and see what comes up.
 
Haven't posted here in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy with Tree-related endeavours! Quite the opposite in fact - I've been meaning to provide a simultaneous update on three completed streaks, one of which I've created a Battle Video compilation for. But my current Internet speed is way too slow to actually upload it effectively, however I should be getting much faster Broadband installed next week. So look out for that.

For now though, I thought I should share my newest Doubles team, which for the moment is sitting at 300 wins. It's fairly different to anything else I've dabbled in before, but one I've also found very enjoyable to pilot once I managed to grasp the moderate learning curve. This time I've done away with Psychic Terrain in favour of being able to utilize a Fake Out supporter of my own, with Misty Terrain in the backline instead for widespread status protection.



Mega Lopunny / Landorus / Tapu Fini / Aegislash
Lopunny (F) ("Bella") @ Lopunnite
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Limber --> Scrappy
IVs: 16/31/31/31/31/31, Hyper Trained to 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Fake Out
- Low Kick
- Return
- Encore

Landorus (M) ("Nutrigenie") @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Sheer Force
IVs: 31/0/x/31/31/31, Hyper Trained to 31/0/31/31/31/31 [thanks again to das_eisenherz ]
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
- HP Ice
- Protect

Tapu Fini ("H2 Oh No") @ Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Ability: Misty Surge
IVs: 31/19/12/6/31/31, Hyper Trained to 31/19/31/31/31/31
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 188 SpA / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Taunt

Aegislash (M) ("Tin Soldier") @ Ghostium Z
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Stance Change
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpA / 36 SpD
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball {Never-Ending Nightmare}
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
As is often the trend when trying to theorize Doubles strategies I have not yet explored, I was reminded of my soft spot for Lopunny when it was announced that her Mega Stone (among others) would be distributed soon to SM players. I knew that with her high base 136 Speed, perfect coverage afforded by Scrappy and access to Fake Out would automatically give her some viability with whoever she was paired up with.

Before deciding on said partner in crime, I'd plugged in Fake Out, Low Kick and Return as definite moves. Ice Punch/Thunder Punch to hit their respective x4-weak foes didn't sound too appealing, especially with M-Lopunny not being that strong to begin with, the necessary Jolly nature and Gyarados/Salamence to potentially weaken them even more with Intimidate. Protect was the safe option but sounded boring at the same time; Encore however really caught my eye as a way to disrupt the AI's strategy further on top of Fake Out, punishing my opponent for using non-attacking moves not called Trick Room and alleviating pressure situations on my team. Mega Lopunny has the speed to make use of it well; she can do cool things like Encore a +1 Volcarona or Feraligatr into their setup move, or render a Mega Venusaur virtually useless as it tries to hide behind the safety of a Substitute or heal up with Synthesis. I think this last move choice was a much-needed one too, as a means of justifying using Lopunny for the Mega slot over something like Kangaskhan; Encore gives her an additional niche that warrants her stay on the team, I feel.

Bulky Azumarill was initially Lopunny's partner, with Fairium-Z to turn Play Rough into a perfectly accurate, Huge Powered, Twinkle Tackle nuke, with Landorus for a much-valued Electric immunity and Leftovers Aegislash in the back. The double rabbit lead novelty was fun while it lasted but overall I wasn't super impressed with the performance; with Azumarill being quite slow the frontline was vulnerable to hyper offensive leads and status, often forcing me to switch out one or both slots and give up any form of momentum. Even with cycling Landorus to the front which was arguably better, the status problem was still there; I'd always be risking Effect Spore triggering as Lopunny Fakes Out, a Thunder Wave going into the non-Landorus slot, or perhaps worse an Ice Beam/Blizzard freeze on Azumarill/Aegislash. The latter I'd also found to be somewhat underwhelming holding Leftovers - times where he's slower than the foe you're targeting and can only 2HKO in return, necessitating KS usage and slowing down the flow of battle - and other times where he's faster than [insert TR setter/abuser here] but you can't OHKO with a regular Shadow Ball or Flash Cannon, meaning either TR is going up or he'll be KO'd in Blade form before being able to do anything else.

So, I'd identified two main issues concerning status vulnerability and Aegislash being kinda AegiTrash on the team. The solution? Have paperquagsire suggest Tapu Fini, the other Water/Fairy mon that hadn't crossed my mind for whatever reason, which auto-generates Misty Terrain for my team, has superior bulk over Azumarill, has 100% accurate STAB attacks, is faster, can still make good use of Leftovers and isn't a write-off offensively either. When I sat down at the time and ran through all these perks and the general quality boost to the team the Tapu could offer me, benching Azumarill was a no-brainer. Not to mention a loss somewhere in the 100s due to a full para Thunderbolt from Latios, that was the final nail in the coffin. With the Z-crystal slot now unoccupied and Leftovers taken away from Aegislash, what better option to boost his OHKO potential and limit reliance on passive play than Ghostium Z?
Lopunny:
Pretty self-explanatory set with the added boon from Encore I outlined earlier. The AI heavily favours switching out of any non-attacking move they've been Encored into that is not Protect, even stat-boosting ones. This is obviously a great advantage, as you can render one side of the field incapable of doing much of anything for a couple turns. There are rare occasions where a switch won't happen - I assume because said switch-in fares poorly against whatever attack was used on that slot prior, or something along those lines. I still haven't encountered enough of these situations to properly test, so if anyone has additional thoughts on the matter I'd love to hear them.

Limber is the not entirely worthless base Ability that may prove useful from time to time; if there's a possibility of Thunder Wave but you don't want to switch in Fini immediately, or if you want to Fake Out an Electrode without the chance of Static triggering, for instance. It's fine to try this if you don't require any of the Mega form perks in Scrappy, more oomph behind Fake Out, additional Fighting type, or +10 to Defense straight away.

Landorus:
As you might have noticed, this team was quite similarly modeled after turskain 's Golisopod squad, especially with the early Azumarill version and now with an identical Z-Aegislash. After seeing his success with the Incarnate forme in the Maison and consequent solid performance crossing over to Tree, I wanted to try him out for myself. He ticks a fair few boxes - two immunities in Electric and Ground, excellent power thanks to Sheer Force, solid coverage options, Earth Power doesn't require teambuilding around EQ synergy and perhaps most importantly, 101 base Speed. That could be viewed as a trollish tier, but I'm certainly not complaining. HP Ice seemed a bit too good to pass up on, the last moveslot was up in the air between Sludge Bomb, Grass Knot and Psychic. Grass Knot appeared to be very mediocre after running calcs on what I needed to hit with it, while Psychic seemed a tad unnecessary with having two Fighting resists and an immunity already, and Fini threatening with Moonblast as well. I settled with the Poison coverage and have been very happy with my decision; it OHKO's all Whimsicott/Shiinotic without making contact, which is great since Landorus does not have the luxury of Misty Terrain protection due to being airborne. It also fills the previous void of not being able to hit the Rotom forms (apart from Mow) for any types of damage, with a 90% chance of 2HKO'ing the HP-invested variants.

Tapu Fini:
Scald and Moonblast for reliable STAB attacks that don't harm my allies. Protect in this instance was entirely worthy of a moveslot, but it took me a while to decide on the last; Ice Beam sounded OK to kill x4-weak things that wouldn't die to Moonblast, despite being redundant coverage otherwise. Heal Pulse, Haze, Calm Mind I also considered, but none sounded like they would translate well to Tree Doubles. I settled for Taunt in the end to further cut the usefulness of sets relying on passive strategies, and as a secondary TR stop against mons not called Aroma Veil Aromatisse or Oblivious Slowbro/King. Taunt and Encore also form the OP 'TaunCore' disruption strategy - the rare scenario where you have nothing better to do than force something to start Struggling to death rather than attacking. I've only used this once so far against a Blissey, which did actually die quicker thanks to Struggle.

The HP investment maximizes Leftovers recovery, and along with the SpD EVs enables Fini to tank strong special hits like M-Alakazam/Specs Alakazam Psychic, Sheer Force Earth Power from Landorus-2, Tornadus' Hurricane etc., all of which are 3HKOs after said recovery. Don't have to worry about Hurricane confusion either! Modest and 188 SpA means Fini can OHKO frail mons like Noivern, Infernape, Talonflame etc. 100% of the time with its respective STAB attack; the cut from max SpA didn't appear to alter anything important, at least not for this particular team. 12 Spe sits Fini at 107 Speed, one point above all the uninvested Rotom forms.

Aegislash:
I copied turskain's set for this - survives Landorus-2's Sheer Force Earth Power from full HP barring no CH. Ghost/Steel is pretty good coverage, only missing out on a couple things neutrally. I don't need to explain much here, but Wide Guard is really, really, really good. Aegislash can just sit there spamming the move while the AI adamantly Blizzards/Surfs/EQs/Rock Slides to no avail, shielding himself and his ally from harm in the process. There's been times where I leave a Milotic or Garchomp alive on purpose as it repeatedly goes for the spread move, just to witness the AI's team gradually get destroyed by friendly fire. Never-Ending Nightmare provides great onetime power and is a significant improvement over Leftovers; OHKO'ing a Slowking/Bro or other TR setter before they're able to set it up is a pretty good feeling.

I'll just mention at the end here that not only are Fini and Aegislash fantastic switch-ins for Lopunny and Landorus, they also synergize very capably with each other, forming this stellar defensive backline that is difficult to break through. There's been a handful of battles already where my leads are immediately switched out for Fini/Aegi, and the AI simply does not have enough firepower to break through the core, with or without Wide Guard's help. The learning curve I mentioned earlier revolves around playing smartly with Lopunny and Landorus though, with neither having impressive bulk to take hits; especially with the bunny, preserving in the back for a second Fake Out or more Encore shenanigans is often key to getting the most mileage out of her.
Mainly showcasing the effectiveness of Lopunny and Landorus as leads, and utility of Encore/Wide Guard; safe wins come at the cost of dragging out battles for longer, but I'd take that any day of the week.

#119 vs Hiker Vivek: HWNW-WWWW-WWW8-DQP3 [Probopass/Regirock/Aggron/Tyranitar]

#204 vs Pokemon Breeder Lori: HC9W-WWWW-WWW8-DQKJ [Cofagrigus/Aromatisse/Avalugg/Ferrothorn]

#240 vs Cynthia: 5M2W-WWWW-WWW8-DQJZ [Garchomp/Milotic/Spiritomb/Togekiss]

#280 vs Grimsley: WABW-WWWW-WWW8-DQHN [Drapion/Sharpedo/Houndoom/Bisharp]

#294 vs Pokemon Breeder Lori: NVKG-WWWW-WWW8-DQHX [Ferrothorn/Cofagrigus/Reuniclus/Escavalier]

#300 vs Colress: GD9W-WWWW-WWW8-DQGW [Klinklang/Magnezone/Electrode/Metagross] - Look Mum, no damage!

 
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Hello y'all! Been a while since I posted here. Between college eating up a lot of my time, graduating, and a lot of other jazz I fell out of the loop with the game for a while. But not before trying to make this team work:

Toxapex @ Black Sludge (M)
Ability: Regenerator
EVS: 252 HP / 216 Def / 36 Sp Def
0 Attack IV
Nature: Bold
Scald
Recover
Toxic
Haze

Chansey @ Eviolite (F)
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Nature: Bold
SoftBoiled
Confide
Growl
Seismic Toss

Salamance @ Salamancite (F)
Ability: Intimidate -> Aerialate
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Speed
-Return
-Dragon Dance
-Substitute
-Roost

This team was my attempt at putting a more original twist on the tried and true M-Mence/Chansey/Aegislash core with Toxapex being the main difference. In forfeiting Aegislash's King Shield, Offensive Presence, and better overall type synergy, I gain a defensive that recovers health for switching, shuts down set up sweepers, being able to burn, counters freeze hax, and gives me a 100% accurate Toxic. On my second try with the team, I managed to get a streak of 137 wins.

http://imgur.com/E2W5f7v

Part of why I didn't post this sooner is because well...I wasn't too happy with the loss. After playing dillegently for so long I made some major screwups against a Malamar. I probably wasn't thinking straight. What happened was that I led Salamence and activated its Contrary. Raising its Attack made me panick so I tried to set up DD to one shot. I end up dieing to a +1 Rock Slide. From there, it bopped Toxapex and Chansey. If I wasn't such a derp I would have just went right for the Return. But I didn't bother to calc it and never knew it would have OHKO'd since it hadn't used Superpower yet. And I am all but certain that I could have beaten Milotic and Skarmory afterwards.

So yeah...not the most graceful end to a streak. My goal was to make a 200 win run with this team and in my experience playing with it, honestly think it could do it. The standard Aeg/Mence/Chans core would be better but this team wouldn't be too far behind as Toxapex lets the team more easily deal with certain things that Aegislash isn't as fullproof against like Rain Dance teams. Really the main problem with the team is that, even with animations off, it's just so BORING to play. Often, I'll be trying to advance a streak and just fall asleep, only to wake to my 3DS out of battery or the cartridge popped out. I attempted it 10+ more times but decided to give up. Maybe I'll revisit it later but for now I am just going to move on to my plans of building a Moody Smeargle team with Durant and Mimikyu. While that team won't be snap to win with either, I feel it'll be a heck of a lot more fun to play. Namely because, if done the way I envision, I should be able to set up and sweep most of the time. With this team, I felt like Salamence was forced out every other match, and unlike Aegislash, Toxapex can't set up so it's forced to play waiting game like Chansey.
 
Unrelated questions: Where can I find Pokemon icons? I don't mean the animated sprite like the Dwebble in my avatar, but the much smaller Pokemon icons that usually show up next to a link.

Edit: Nvm, I found the answer.
 
Chalking up another Mega Pokemon to my 50+ win list. This time with Mega Banette! This one went for a streak of 58. It had potential to go on much longer if not for a boneheaded mistake that I made.

Team Annabelle (super singles)



Banette @ Banettite
Ability: Frisk ---> Prankster
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Phantom Force
- Sucker Punch
- Wil-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond

Although Mega Banette is the Pokemon featured in this streak, her primary role is to act as Suicune's support by using Pranster Will-O-Wisp on any opposing physical leads. Once the opposing Pokemon is burned, Suicune will switch in to setup then sweep. Against special leads, Mega Banette can usually take care of business herself as long as long as she doesn't get OHKOed. In such situation, Phantom Force followed by Sucker Punch will usually ensure 1 KO, then Prankster Destiny Bond will ensure another. Since Destiny Bond is priority, if it doesn't net the KO the turn it is used, using Phantom Force the following turn means Destiny Bond has a chance to trigger again before Mega Banette moves. Frisk is also an excellent ability before mega evolving, allowing me to know the exact set the opponent is running and plan accordingly.


Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature (should be Jolly Nature)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Fly

Landorus is here to act as another support for Suicune, as it can switch into many attacks that would threaten Suicune followed by OHKO revenge killing the user the following turn, namely Electric and Grass types. It can also either fast U-turn switch into Suicune to tank or slow U-turn switch to Mega Banette for more shenanigans. The Stone Edge can be Hammer Arm instead. I initially forgot to change it, but after Stone Edge netted some KOs against some birds, I just decided to leave it in for this round.


Suicune @ Leftover
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Hp / 132 Def / 124 SpD
Quirky Nature (should be Bold Nature)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Rest

This is really Suicune's team, as both Mega Banette and Landorus are there just to support it. Here is the standard Suicune Calm Mind set. I've switched Sleep Talk with Ice Beam as some physical grass types can come in and revenge kill Suicune since Scald doesn't KO them even when fully setup.


Here are some videos:

1. Proof that the AI manipulates RNG to its own favor, just watch the Incineroar. This isn't the first time the AI did this, by the way. I've seen it happened on multiple occasions.
WCVG-WWWW-WWW8-GD5J


2. This is a better idea of how the team works.
Y59W-WWWW-WWW8-GD7A

3. Legend battle. These Water Absorb Pokemon is what inspired me to give Suicune a second attack.
CY9G-WWWW-WWW8-GD7P


4. Losing battle. I made possibly the worst technical error in this battle....forgetting to mega evolve...
Mega Banette would've OHKOed the Mega Latias with Phantom Force and Destiny Bond KOed the Articuno. I was forced to Destiny Bond the Mega Latias instead...I seriously feel like this team could go the distance had my plays not being junk-tier.
YXZW-WWWW-WWW8-GD9Z
 
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Cool team, looks really solid. Banette seems to do a very good job. But you use some unaccurate attacks - especially the use of Stone Edge makes me shiver, although it may be superuseful if it hits.
(Aside from this team one question: How can i watch videos that have a code like this: YXZW-WWWW-WWW8-GD9Z ?)
 
Cool team, looks really solid. Banette seems to do a very good job. But you use some unaccurate attacks - especially the use of Stone Edge makes me shiver, although it may be superuseful if it hits.
(Aside from this team one question: How can i watch videos that have a code like this: YXZW-WWWW-WWW8-GD9Z ?)
Go to Festival Plaza, and go to the first PC in the castle, you should be able to download the video with the code.

I'm p sure the 2 wrong natures means that his goal was ultimately 50 though, so success! banette did it somehow
 
I just can't find anyone to trade me legendaries with good natures and I don't currently own older Pokemon games. I also did not try to lock-down natures when I caught the legendaries in this game, so all my legendaries have messed up natures XP.

Yeah, the Stone Edge should really be Hammer Arm. I was on a pretty good streak hitting with it, so I just left it on.
 
Hey. I am about to EV Train a Moody Smeargle I bred to use for the Traunt-Ant strategy. I intend to use the spreads GG Unit already came up with for Smeargle and Mimikyu as I don't think I could make them more optimal if I tried. That just leaves my Jolly Smeargle. I thinking of the following potential set:

Smeargle
Ability: Moody
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Att / 252 Speed or 252 HP / 4 Att / 252 Speed

Power Trip
Protect
Substitute
Spore/Taunt

There's two key areas where I have to make a choice: the 4th move and the EVs.

The first EV spread makes Smeargle as strong as possible while the second makes his substitutes less of a joke before he gets boosted up. (I am personally gravitating towards the first as I feel Smeargle needs to hit as hard as possible).

Then there's the 4th move. Spore can let me incapacitate mons for extra safety. On the other hand, Smeargle will usually be acting on loafing turns and he's potentially susceptible to Roar on the turns the foe can act if he isn't able to K.O. Taunt could make those turns safer. But then again, Mimikyu is there to ensure that I ideally only set up on something safe. Heck it may be ideal to split the Attack and HP IVs more evenly. Suggestions on which spread would serve me better? Much appreciated.
 

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