Copyediting Battle Tree Mechanics and Guide [GP 0/2]

Alright, I'll see with the others which pokes we can pick as big offenders...

I'd guess definitely mentioning Mega Gengar and Scarfchomp for what concerns the "fast high damage" threats, the memeworthy Aero-1 + maybe one of the fakeout flinch thief sets for flinchhaxing, Walrein-4 and Dugtrio-2 definitely qualify as biggest OHKO threats (maybe mentioning Articuno and its mindreader sheercold shenenigan?), I'd assume mentioning a volcarona should give the idea of setuppers, and I have a personal hate for Zapdos staller set since it ended my first near 50 streak, and Rhyperior-3 definitely works as example of split threat (has both sash/burst and OHKO access) :x

Should look good? Or better ideas?
 

turskain

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Alright, I'll see with the others which pokes we can pick as big offenders...

I'd guess definitely mentioning Mega Gengar and Scarfchomp for what concerns the "fast high damage" threats, the memeworthy Aero-1 + maybe one of the fakeout flinch thief sets for flinchhaxing, Walrein-4 and Dugtrio-2 definitely qualify as biggest OHKO threats (maybe mentioning Articuno and its mindreader sheercold shenenigan?), I'd assume mentioning a volcarona should give the idea of setuppers, and I have a personal hate for Zapdos staller set since it ended my first near 50 streak, and Rhyperior-3 definitely works as example of split threat (has both sash/burst and OHKO access) :x

Should look good? Or better ideas?
Charizard34, both threats in their own right and Mega Charizard X as the most dangerous set-up sweeper; many other Megas such as Mega Kangaskhan busting through frail Focus Sash holders. Set34 unpredictability making specific Pokémon more dangerous, such as the Mega Charizards, Manectric (either Scarf or Mega), Gyarados34 (changes typing on Mega Evolution and both sets threaten set-up). Aero1 never appears past battle 40 and Aero34 both lack Rock Slide, so I don't think it's a threat worth mentioning.
 
Awesome start for the guide!

I am still new to battle tree compared to all you veterans and have limited knowledge and can't recall different sets of pokemon on top of my head, but what I think this can really help people like me a lot in all those trial and errors, is if there is one end to end example of picking a core, flow of battle, pros and cons and some rating, that would be very useful!!

Things that only experienced players would have, such as mentioning specific surprises that anyone could make that your team will face that might cost you a game (e.g. ice punch electivire if you are running garchomp in your team) that might not all make into a typical threat list. As most of my loses now are due to surprises of moves like this that just utterly destroyed the momentum and type weakness synergy to handle the rest of the fight.

Another possible section that I think would help a lot of newbies is the tactics to salvage if you lose one of your important mons using advanced tactics like switch stalling while keeping an eye on the AI mon's switching pattern and pp to a specific point, all while using the example team.


I can give an example right now:
Team i'm going to use:
1. Garchomp with LO, Jolly nature, EV 252 att / 255 spe / 4 SpD, Sub / SD / Outrage / Earthquake
2. Tapu fini with Choice Specs, Modest nature, EV 252 HP / 252 SpA, Moonblast / Confide / Scald / Grass knot
3. Mega Scizor with Scizorite, Adamant nature, EV 252 HP / 252 SpD, SD / Roost / Brutal Swing / Bullet Punch

General flow of the battle (first time writing this, so I'm trying to be specific, but a lot of general and common flows/patterns can be extracted from a lot of successful cores in the leaderboard team)
1. If Garchomp is on the field as lead, EQ if the move is super effective and you are faster than the Mon using the damage calculator, SD if EQ is not super effective, the opposite mon has no means to 1-2 HKO you and will not use status (look through the moveset spreadsheet at all possible set, look for typing weakness specifically), Sub if it has status and you are faster, Switch if none of the above are true
2. Switch to Tapu fini to prevent any status for 5 turns, remember to keep track of your remaining misty terrain so you can safe switch in with either your alive Garchomp or Mega Scizor, status move or move with side effects are very common strategy used by battle tree teams, a lot pre-20 battles, and still happens post-20. If you have to make decision to keep tapu fini alive and kill your other teammate, keep tapu fini alive always, trust me. Once you are in Tapu fini, attack if your moonblast is neutral or super effective as your choice specs boost your attack a lot and you are very bulky to tank most special attacks and some physical attacks. If you don't take a lot of damange on switch but has no super effective moves, use confide (only if the mon's main attack is special) usually will make your teammate with a lot easier times. Switch, only if you take more than 35% of your health on switch in or have no moves that can do damage.
3. Switch to either garchomp or mega scizor depending on the typing advantage. E.g. ice, rock to scizor and ground, dark, to garchomp, I would highly recommend opening up a tab in the background to check your mon's type weakness at all times.
4. If you switch to mega scizor, most likely it is 1-2 turn left of your misty terrain, make sure you make setup as your first priority so that you can bullet punch after the turn misty terrain is gone to sweep. If not, switch it back to tapu fini if the opposite mon still relies mostly on status moves (any status, such as flinch *yes i'm looking at you fake out*, confuse, sleep, etc all counts).
5. Win as the switching between tapu fini to maintain the misty terrian and remove some nasty mons and the setup and bulkiness of garchomp and mega scizor will win you the game eventually.

General mistakes that will happen using this team and the flow above
1. Switch into a mon and have misty terrain gone on the turn, and get status
2. Switch into a mon and got killed by cover moves (e.g. ice punch electivire that will make you sad when you see your garchomp's health shrink to zero in mere 1 second)
3. OHKO moves (e.g. Dugtrio)

Pros of this team
1. A lot of threats mentioned will be nullified as misty terrain prevent any of those from happening. You can rest assure you will get that victory in pre-20 battles easily usually within 5 turns either garchomp sweep or after switching to tapu fini
2. Battle is a lot easier, as each mon has distinct roles and their defensive typing and offensive typing are usually aligned (so you can usually just look at your move's super effectiveness to determine which mon to switch to)

Cons of this team
1. This is very true especially after 40, where each battle needs to be almost perfect, if you sac/lose any mons too early, you will pay for the consequences (eps. Garchomp, Tapu fini). So I highly recommend you turn on battle animation as that greatly reduce the error you might make when playing hours straight deep into the tree.
2. Still vulnerable to a lot of teams that rely purely on strength. You have no easy way to get out of it (no protect in the team) and if you got unlucky and somehow that fissure dugtrio hit 3 times in a row, your team is doomed.

Some recording of said team in action:

Win: I forgot to record one
Lost: RUFW-WWWW-WWW8-VW3F

I would rate this team as follows

Easy to use and understand: A
This is an A because as mentioned above, each role has distinct purpose, and misty terrain is just too OP for the tree!

Easy to recover from mistakes: B-
As mentioned earlier, as there is almost no overlapping between the mons, if one of your mon dies, the rest of the two will have very hard time recovering the mistake.

Easy to breed: B
1. You can easily get Tapu fini from one of the VGC thread (if you don't mind cloning) in smogon.
2. But the other two you might need some time training, especially Scizor which requires to get an item that is very hard to get and trading with strangers
3. Garchomp is the easiest among the 3 to breed




Complement with how worldie has introduced the tree and explained a lot of AI behaviors, I think this thread that worldie started will be the ultimate guide for battle tree!
 
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Alright, I'll see with the others which pokes we can pick as big offenders...

I'd guess definitely mentioning Mega Gengar and Scarfchomp for what concerns the "fast high damage" threats, the memeworthy Aero-1 + maybe one of the fakeout flinch thief sets for flinchhaxing, Walrein-4 and Dugtrio-2 definitely qualify as biggest OHKO threats (maybe mentioning Articuno and its mindreader sheercold shenenigan?), I'd assume mentioning a volcarona should give the idea of setuppers, and I have a personal hate for Zapdos staller set since it ended my first near 50 streak, and Rhyperior-3 definitely works as example of split threat (has both sash/burst and OHKO access) :x

Should look good? Or better ideas?
Yeah, I think Articuno-2 deserves some recognition with the fact that it's very bulky and difficult to take down in one turn, and unless you're running Encore, an Ice-type or Sturdy mon on your team, just the threat of MindCold may force you to double into an otherwise offensively lacking set for a turn. As for "fast and high damage offenders", I'd put in a vote for Salazzle-34; with both sets utilizing Fake Out to potentially halt your strategy, a wide-reaching STAB combination backed by 117 base Speed, Focus Sash + Nasty Plot for the former and Z-Overheat for the latter, these things demand some serious attention.
 
Right finally I got some IRL breath time to get back on this.

Here's a crude draft of a threat (in this case, Charizard-34).
Does this format look good?

CHARIZARD-34
Movesets
:
Charizard-3: Timid, 252 Speed/Spatk, Charizardite Y, Heat Wave, Solar Beam, Air Slash, Focus Blast
Charizard-4: Jolly, 252 Speed/Atk, Charizardite X, Dragon Rush, Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Rock Slide
Direct threats:
Charizard-3 has very high damage potential with solid speed tier, can threaten 1hkos with even access to a STAB Drought boosted Heat Wave in doubles if not focused down.
Charizard-4 can potentially sweep after 1 boost, leaving the player to hope he misses one of his inaccurate moves.
Examples of counterplay:
Singles: If the active Pokemon has 1hko potential, it's best to commit to it right away, since neither sets have access to Protect. Ideal 1hko scenarios are Rock moves which are supereffective against both sets, as well as most neutral Z-moves. Before committing to a Ground Z move, make sure to check that you are not facing Mega Charizard Y as it would be immune, both wasting your Z move and potentially KOing or severely damaging you back.
If 1hko option is not available, the second best scenario is to status with Sleep, or provide a form of speed control, or at least flinch to chip damage, but bearing in mind that a miss or being slower can result in losing the active Pokemon for free. If your composition has a Pokemon in the back who can outspeed and KO but your active Pokemon cannot, it's a viable option to sacrifice the lead in order to get the free switch, if your counter cannot safely swap in and take the hit directed to the active one.
If the opponent has access to both sets and has not yet revealed which it is carrying, it's unwise to swap or Protect to scout, since if the set reveals being Mega Charizard X it can get a Dragon Dance for free and sweep after and you do not have the option of outspeeding/priority Encore it.
Replacing the weather with a swap also effectively counters Mega Charizard Y, expecially but not limited to Rain. If your active pokemon is weak to Solar Beam and resists/absorbs Fire attacks, swapping another weather setter can cause the AI to be stuck in the Solar Beam charge turn, allowing to counterattack the turn after without taking damage on the swap.
Both sets are vulnerable to priority if they cannot be outsped or 1hkod, but bearing in mind both sets resist Bullet Punch and First Impression, Mega Charizard X takes neutral damage from Aqua Jet, while Mega Charizard Y resists Mach Punch but takes supereffective damage from Aqua Jet.
Doubles: Due to neither sets having access to Protect and having no bulk investment, the best scenario is to simply doubletarget into the Charizard, or at least Fake Out or status them if the double target option is not available. Denying the speed tier with Trick Room, Tail Wind or other forms of speed control can also allow to kill them.
If the speed or Prankster allow, Encoring Charizard-4 on Dragon Dance completely shuts it down, while Wide Guard can potentially deny most of the Charizard-3 actions since it will highly prefer Heat Wave in doubles unless both of your active Pokemon resist it.



Once a format that looks good is found, I was thinking of mentioning the following sets for the examples:
Charizard-34 as above
Mind Reader Articuno and/or Dugtrio-2 for the dangerous 1hko examples
I'd like to also provide a strong staller set, I was thinking of Zapdos-2 (bold with evasion + roost) or Thundurus-1 (bold with toxic, protect, rest, with potential Prankster)
 
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Crude version of Zapdos-2 analysis for Staller sets:

ZAPDOS-2
Moveset:

Bold, 252 HP/SpDef, Bright Powder, Charge Beam, Ancient Power, Double Team, Roost
Direct threats:
The set itself does not threaten the player right away due to very low BP stab and no status outside of the potential Static effect. However, if left alone for too many turns, excessive amount of stacks of Double Team combined with 2 potentially boosting moves and recovery means the Pokemon will eventually become impossible to hit and will slowly wither down the player's Pokemon or simply make them run out of PPs due to Pressure.
Examples of counterplay:
Singles: If the player has a Pokemon that threatens 1 or 2hko, it's best to simply swap into it and kill it before the Double Team stacks get too high, keeping in mind the fact that it has an equipped Bright Powder so it is possible to miss the first hit.
Otherwise, if the player has access to (possibly stab) Toxic, since this set has no Rest, it's possible to simply Toxic it then let it die and use the turns to setup on it.
If none of the player's Pokemon can threaten the set, it is still worth reminding that Ground Pokemon will wall this set very hard, as well as Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb users and Grass Pokemon with reliable recovery, so it is still possible to swap into it and try to wait for it to run out of PPs and Struggle to death, or if Haze or Clear smog are available, simply clear his buffs.
Finally, if Roar or Whirlwind are available and Zapdos is not the last Pokemon in the AI's team, it is a viable option to let it waste PPs then phaze it out.
Doubles: The set is way less threatening in a doubles scenario, however it is still capable of virtually stalling the player to Struggle if left unchecked for too long. It is possible to simply ignore it and deal with it last, as long as access to non missable moves (expecially stab Toxic), buff removal, a bigger staller, or simply a bigger PP reserve amongst remaining Pokemon is available in order to make it struggle to death.
 
And here the final of the 3 examples to include in the main post.
DUGTRIO-2
Moveset
:
Timid, 252 HP/Speed, Bright Powder, Fissure, Toxic, Substitute, Sandstorm
Direct threats:
Dugtrio-2 is one of the most threatening Pokemon in the tree if you are not prepared to deal with it. Very high speed tier, potential of having Arena Trap, access to both 1hko and stalling, this thing can easily demolish an entire team on its own if left alone.
Examples of counterplay:
Singles: If the active pokemon cannot straight up KO Dugtrio, swapping to a flier (if no Arena Trap) is probably the best option so at least the 1hko shenenigans are out of the equation. After that, simply bash attacks until they connect and it dies.
Be careful of using a Z-move on it while not outspeeding: while the nearly guaranteed 1hko plus unmissable effect avoiding Bright Powder RNG seembs good, there's the risk it uses Substitute and your Z-move gets completely wasted.
Doubles: Dugtrio should be double targetted when it shows up. The amount of threats from it if it is allowed to set up a Substitute or simply get a Fissure off is far too big to let it survive more than 1 or 2 turns. Since it has no Protect and even with the HP EVs it's quite squishy, it's almost guaranteed that it dies outside of resisted hits and Bright Powder dodges.
Do not rely on the help of Fake Out or Prankster status, since there's still the possibility of a Bright Powder miss.


Josh C. ReptoAbysmal GG Unit Do they look good enough?
 
You should include sample teams for each format that are either easy to use or are very potent, if unwieldy. What would I consider "easy to use"? For singles, nothing that requires you to count moves with more than 5 PP, and infrequently at that. For doubles, I'm going to have to ask some of my more knowledgable friends like turskain and Smuckem . What do I consider "very potent"? For singles, it would be teams that their users have gotten to at least 350. For doubles, at least 700. An example of an easy to use team for singles would be my Dragonite/Aegislash/Tapu Fini team (which I also have an unfinished lead guide for that I never posted), while a very potent team would be any of the top 3 singles teams on the leaderboard.
For doubles, I'm not sure what qualifies as easy to use, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of Phero/Lele teams and bait Aron teams are easy to use. For very potent, as with singles, just look at the leaderboard.

One of the things that Plumberjack's article had was sample teams, or sets for strong pokes that could be mix-and-matched easily to create a decent enough goodstuffs team, and I don't see that anywhere in this article.
 
The issue is that, "potent" is a wide definition.
For simply getting to 50, simply putting toghether 4 high OU / Ubers mons that have some sort of synergy makes it relatively easy to obtain.

From people who have put several thousand games in, it came pretty evident that the only reliable combos for singles are Aegimencechansey cores and similars, and Truant + Moody setups, everything else eventually tends to fall off to RNG.
Doubles, is a different story. There's tons of viable setups, but it's all down to having a synergy to work with.
 
After some consulting with others, we agreed that Dugtrio-2 is far too rare to be important for a potential novice reading, and I decided to opt on a way more common option: Rhyperior-3
Rhyperior-3 compresses several different threats toghether with being a 1hko user, and actually requires some proper thinking and planning, so should be a fitting example.
It's also extremely common and featuring on nearly every Trick Room trainer and Sand Trainer, on top of several generalists.

Writing the analysis was a bit more complicate as it's actually quite complicate to deal with, so I could use some improvement on the wording / extra pointers.

RHYPERIOR-3
Moveset
:
Impish, 252 HP/Defense, Focus Sash, Horn Drill, Reversal, Payback, Metal Burst
Direct threats:
Rhyperior-3 is a compression of several different threats at same time. It runs a 1hko move, it can use Focus Sash + Metal Burst to istantly 1shot one Pokemon, on top of packing very strong Reversal and Payback coming from a very slow Pokemon with 140 attack.
The extra problem is that nearly all trainers that have access to Rhyperior-3 also have access to Rhyperior-4 which actually runs Protect and a very strong Z-Rock Slide, and requires completely different counterplay, so the player is left to guess which set it is unless a Rockium Z or Focus Sash was previously revealed by a different Pokemon on the AI team.
Examples of counterplay:
Singles: There's not much to do in singles other than try to kill it, being mindful of the possibility of a Focus Sash Metal Burst / Reversal coming your way.
If attempting to KO before it can do anything relevant, you have two options, either go for a strong first attack and hope it does not Metal Burst, but risking that your own lead gets demolished by the Metal Burst, or start with a weak hit or Poison/Burn in order to remove the Sash and then finish it off.
If it is unknown if it's Rhyperior-3 or 4, if the active Pokemon cannot Fake Out to break the potential sash, KO with a multihit attack, or Protect to scout for the moveset, going for the strong potential 1hko is almost always the least risky option since it can remove the potential Rhyperior-4 before it can act, as otherwise any attempt to 2 turn KO Rhyperior-3 will result in exposing to either the risk of Metal Burst oneshot, or Horn Drill landing.
Since it's extremely slow, setting up Substitute more or less completely denies the set while also providing some safety net from the potential Z move and high damage from Rhyperior-4.
Doubles: Doubles provide both better counterplay but at same time additional types of threat from Rhyperior. Several of the trainers that run Rhyperior-3 have access to Sand, Trick Room, or both, and it's way more likely for them to be active in Doubles, and with its super low speed, Rhyperior has high potential to act before your Pokemon if Trick Room is up.
While the first thought would be doubletarget in order to remove Sash and kill on same turn, if the set is not revealed, there is the risk of focusing into a Protect from Rhyperior-4 essentially wasting the turn.
Similar counterplays otherwise apply to doubles: setting up a Substitute, Fake Out, statusing, potentially double Protecting to scout the set or using a multihit attack to deny the Sash. If Fake out specifically is available on the turn Rhyperior is sent in, then it is almost always the best action to take, as it gets the double value of not risking to double target into a Protect, not exposing yourself to a 1hko from Rhyperior-3 while at same time preventing Rhyperior-4 from freely Z-moving one of your Pokemon. If the set is scouted or the other active Pokemon is not threatening, the most reliable action to take is to just double target it before it can do anything, as again it's very slow and will generally act last outside of Trick Room.
A final note to any sort of chip damage like both your own and AI's spread moves and Hail that will break the sash without requiring to double target, allowing you to potentially just need to use one strong attack to kill either versions.
 
So this has been in QC for ages, and I'd like to throw my thoughts in here while I still can, mainly adding things or reworking stuff.
- Good Pokemon for tree use: Plumberjack's Maison article listed several good Pokemon for each mode, showing both the set they used as well as an explanation of why it's good. Since GG Unit and I are the only really dedicated singles players, just tag either one of us if you have a singles-specific question. Here's some things I'd list for recommended Singles Pokemon, and a short summary that you should elaborate on for the full article.
Mono attacking Mence(take the set straight from my team): The undisputed champion of set up leads. Has intimidate to offer set up opportunities against a wider range of foes, Substitute to trick the status-happy AI, and even unboosted it can take out some big threats like Salazzle. Has a huge advantage over other lead setup pokes in that it can emerge with a boost nearly every single time against lead Charizard34(the one exception is a dragon rush crit). Weak matchups are pokemon with special moves, especially ice beam, so good teammates can shrug off a potential freeze.
DDnite: Like Salamence, but for more offensive teams. Since its coverage is completely different, it beats completely different things. You can run a variety of spreads, but you should always invest at least 188 speed to outrun Tyranitar3 at equal boosts.
Chansey: One of the best status absorbers and PP stall mons. Look at GG unit's writeup.
Gliscor: Look at Plumberjack's maison article.
Aegislash: Look at GG unit's writeup.
Suicune: Decent PP stall, can stall BoltBeam(typically just ice beam) in conjunction with Gliscor. That's what I mainly used it for anyway. You could also go for a calm mind sweep but suicune is really weak to crits unless you run substitute and that means no speed control.
Tapu Fini: Despite being a bulky water just like Suicune, you use this in a completely different way. The best way to use this is as an auto-safeguard - typically its partners are steels who don't care about the dragon nerf in terrain. This gives you 3 turns to set up whatever grounded mon you choose without worrying about status hax. I've seen people play it as a Calm Mind sweeper, but I think it's better to use it as a scarf to remove stuff that overwhelms its partners offensively.
Durant: See GG unit's writeup.
Cloyster: See Plumberjack's maison article.
Glalie: See GG unit's writeup.
Scizor-mega: there's been quite a few scizor teams going around this gen, look at the writeups for those.
Garchomp: see plumberjack.
Toxapex: See Maunzi's writeup.


I'd also rework the threatlist you made, as it's kinda tiny and rhyperior3 isn't the most threatening mon. certainly not as much as something like incineroar4 or articuno2
 
Racking up the USUM differences to add them to the main post:

- Normal battles do not have a Banned Pokemon list anymore, and do not delevel your Pokemon, meaning you can run it down with your level 100 Necrozma if you so please. (Super battles are still identical, though).
- A few accidentall oversights in AI sets got corrected, like some Sunny Day mons now having Heat Rock instead of Smooth Rock, or Incineroar-3 having a fire move added to use Z-Firium with.
- Electivire-3 is now a Physical based set rather than Special
- A few minor changes in some movesets (entire list available here: https://pastebin.com/jt9TQEdP)
- All sets that previously had less than 4 moves other than Serperior-4 now have 4 moves.
- Lilie is now available as default AI partner
- 3 extra trainers can show up every 10 battle: Kukui, Sophocles and Giovanni.
- Every Megastone aside from Diancite is available at the shop in Battle Tree area
- BPs are now also obtainable via Mantine Surf and can be used with the various Move Tutors at the beaches as well as buying items.
- There is now also a Move Tutor in the Battle Tree area, teaching the following moves:
Liquidation (16 BP), Gastro Acid (8 BP), Foul Play (12 BP), Super Fang (12 BP), Outrage (16 BP), Sky Attack (16 BP), Throat Chop (16 BP), Stomping Tantrum (12 BP), Skill Swap (8 BP), Earth Power (12 BP), Gunk Shot (16 BP), Dual Chop (12 BP), Drain Punch (8 BP), Heat Wave (12 BP), Hyper Voice (12 BP), Superpower (16 BP), Knock Off (12 BP) and Dragon Pulse (12 BP).
 
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There, I added the extras from Ultrasun and Ultramoon to the article.

At this point the only question I was wondering about is: there's another 3 tutors, and some items buyable at Battle Dome with BPs as well.
Should those be listed too? Or should we just keep the ones available at the Battle Tree area? Or actually completely scrap listing avalable items/tutors from the article and just mention that they are there?
 

NoCheese

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There, I added the extras from Ultrasun and Ultramoon to the article.

At this point the only question I was wondering about is: there's another 3 tutors, and some items buyable at Battle Dome with BPs as well.
Should those be listed too? Or should we just keep the ones available at the Battle Tree area? Or actually completely scrap listing avalable items/tutors from the article and just mention that they are there?
Is this article still active? Seems it should be either all shops/trainers that use BP, or none. I kind of like listing them all, but am not adamant on this.
 
Gonna focus on this section specifically. Red is what I'd remove, green is what i'd add, blue is my comments.
BASIC TIPS FOR TEAMBUILDING

This section will provide some important tips for building a team composition depending on which mode you are playing.
While they are not mandatory guideline for success, following them will provide you a possibly painless experience for your first runs, allowing you to practice the mechanics better and eventually be able to build your own compositions.

- Singles
The most consistent way to make your way through Singles is to PP stall the opponent when your can't just kill it right away with one of your Pokemon. (Check my comments below for this, because hoo boy this statement is more flawed than a hydroelectric beaver dam.)
By accurately switching or using certain moves, you can deplete the AI's threatening attacks' PP in order to allow your sweeper to setup safely, abusing the fact that the AI is reluctant to swap as long as it can actually hit your Pokemon in some way, and then proceed to 1HKO the 3 enemies.(Mention this in a later section covering setup)
One of the most common "starter cores", Aegislash/Chansey/Salamence, relies on the fact that each Pokemon can swap on a weakness of the other, resulting immune to it. Aegislash is weak to Ground which Salamence is immune to, and weak to Ghost which Chansey is immune to, with Chansey being weak to Fighting which Aegislash is immune to. (It is criminal to mention this without the extremely common and easy-to-use Scigar cores, which consist of a lead garchomp (either dragonium or lum), mega scizor, and a water type, usually Tapu Fini)
For this purpose, having a safe lead, running Protect, Sash, having high bulk is a great plan, as it allows to scout which set the opponent lead is running in case the AI trainer has several sets of the same Pokemon available. In the previous example, Aegislash works well as pivot, due to its typing and bulk being great, and King Shield allowing to not only easily take the first attack but also drop the attack of a possible attacker, with the possibility to swap to your Chansey to bait out Fighting attacks. (This is completely wrong. Usually, your lead will either beat theirs by virtue of stats and typing, or be scared of theirs by virtue of stats and typing. The only times that their item and/or movepool will make enough of a difference to force me to change my strategy completely is when one set has an OHKO move, hax item, or is Charizard. Against OHKO move/hax item foes, you usually want to use strategies that suffer the least if you predict wrongly, and there is a fair amount of overlap between the sets anyway because you're dealing with the same pokemon. Against charizard it'll probably DD turn one if it's X and then you're screwed if you went for protect instead of a switch or chip damage. Let's put it this way. You have an aegislash against lead Tyranitar34. Do you go for king's shield, hoping to drop set4's attack? No, because if it's set 3 and dragon dances you just gave a really bulky mon the free turn of setup it needed to threaten your whole team. You make your plans based on how urgently they need to be done. Aegislash will have plenty of opportunities to switch in on a stone edge and drop Tyranitar4's attack, but your bulky water will only have one chance to switch in and prevent a dragon dance sweep.)
Another typically abused and a bit more advanced suicide lead is Scarfed Durant, with the plan of using Entrainment to put Truant onto the enemy, allowing your sweeper to alternate setup and protect, and then just clean up in same fashion. (Mention this in the Singles Recommended Pokemon section.)
following them will provide you a possibly painless experience for your first runs, allowing you to practice the mechanics better and eventually be able to build your own compositions.
The most consistent way to make your way through Singles is to PP stall the opponent when your can't just kill it right away with one of your Pokemon.
I'm sure you can see the issue here. Most people that read this guide will just be attempting to get their stamps, and PP stall is not something that should ever be anyone's first choice. Instead of focusing on what the top 3 use, try to cover what the top 10 use. This includes regular goodstuff in addition to (defensive) hybrid goodstuff and crippler teams. Instead of focusing on something most players don't even know about, try to advise them about simpler, yet still effective strategies, such as having a bulky setup lead (Dragonite is still very effective, and results in much quicker battles than Salamence) and having Pokemon that cover each others' type-based weaknesses. Going back your example of GG's aegimence team, replace Salamence with Dragonite and Chansey with a bulky water and the team still functions fine.
PP stall the opponent when your can't just kill it right away with one of your Pokemon
I'm also breaking this statement down to dust, because it is wrong on so many levels. First off, it is a waste of time to PP stall an opponent down to its most harmless moves and then simply KO it. Second, what do you do when you're facing an opponent that can do nothing to one of your mons? You set up on it, of course! You don't know if the next two mons will be able to threaten your team with or without significant hax. Thirdly, even if you can KO their active mon instantly, there are times when it is better to PP stall their most threatening move so that you can set up on them. Setup is one of the reasons why well-built singles teams only need a good lead matchup to win battles.


There is so much misleading and/or false advice in that paragraph that I would recommend ditching it entirely and adapting this article to work with the tree's information instead.

Singles Recommended Pokemon (list the set and mention why it performs well)
Aegislash, Chansey, Dragonite, Durant, Garchomp, Glalie, Gliscor, Salamence-Mega, Scizor-Mega, Suicune, Tapu Fini

Sorry I couldn't provide more concrete help. I hope that you'll be able to rework the article within the week.
 
On my defense, that was written a few months ago and we had plenty of time to chat about that section on discord. I'll see to get that sorted today with a more appropriate set.
Sadly being mostly a doubles player myself, the singles part is a bit trickier.
 
I have spent a bit of the afternoon working on a bigger version of what you proposed, trying to sum up both the notes on the singles streak and anything I could read off you from discord.
HeadsILoseTailsYouWin
I purposely omitted Garchomp as I really don't know how it's run and how it compares to just using Salamence or Dragonite for this purpose instead.

Here's a beta version (that might be excessively long, or need to be closed into hide brackets):


----------------------------------------------------

There are a few notable aspects important to singles, which all boil around the limited pool of mons available: you will not able to have a perfect coverage or always outspeed & 1hko everything so the composition must be built with contingency plans.
Hyperaggressivity can get relatively far when using very strong mons like Mega Salamence or Garchomp, but will eventually be prone to RNG when hitting the near legend and post legend mark where the AI uses both strong competitive sets (including scarfed high BST Pokemon) which could outdamage you, and very strong walls which might end up statusing you to death.
The key aspects of a safe singles composition should be a strong setup Pokemon (preferably with a realistic way to boost its speed, something that Dragon Dancers excell at), at least a safe switch in for this Pokemon who can handle threats that the main sweeper cannot (usually relying on typing cores like Steel/Dragon/Fairy who can swap from weaknesses of their sweepers to immunity/resists of the bulky Pokemon) and then either another strong damage threat which complements the main one, or a second defensive mon who complements the other defensive Pokemon.
Access to Substitute and reliable recovery on the main damage threat is a big plus, as it allows to also screen from potential status, 1hko moves and pure RNG shenenigans with Quick Claw or evasion items and abilities. For this reason often the main sweeper is picked with a mono attack or two attacks, and a combination of Substitute, boosting and recovery.
The idea is to find a setup opportunity for one of the 3 Pokemon on the lead of the opponent, and once your Pokemon is ready, proceed to 1v3 with in worse scenario your remaining forces can pick up the last weakened enemy. It's the safest approach, as you cannot know what the backline of your opponent is, so you have to rely on the lead it presents.
Some examples of successfully Pokemon and some cores for singles:
Damage threats:
With its Multiscale, Dragonite is virtually impossible to 1hko aside from a 1hko move. This provides with a solid opportunity to spam Dragon Dance on neutered enemies, have a insurance against backline, and once enough boosts are accumulated stab Outrage can wipe most non-fairy types off the game.
Typical Dragonite set includes 252 EV in Attack, possibly with Adamant nature, Lum Berry as safety from status, and then Dragon Dance, Roost, Outrage and a coverage of choice, usually Earthquake or Fire Punch to hit Steel types. It is possible to run Dragon Claw over Outrage if you don't want to be locked, but it comes at a significant damage output cost.
The speed EV should be tailored to your necessity about outspeeding something you consider threatening, but if not sure, a simple 252 EV are be fine.

One of the staples of Singles facilities, Salamence is similar to Dragonite in concept, but provides additional Intimidate support and base speed at the cost of coverage.
Salamence is genrally ran as mono attacker, and you generally look to setup Salamence in a position where it can destroy the entire enemy team on its own.
The set is a very simple Jolly 252 Attack, with similarly to Dragonite having speed tailored to your necessityes and perfectly fine as simply 252 EV as well. It runs mono attack in Return (or Frustration, if you prefer), using Substitute, Roost and Dragon Dance. The job of Salamence is to abuse slower weak phisical attackers or status users in order to stack up Dragon Dances behind the safety of Substitute, until it's ready to decimate the enemy with Aerilate boosted attacks.

A bulkier and harder to kill mon, this time relying mostly on priority and faster setupping via Sword Dance, while also being immune to Sandstorm and Toxic which are present enough on tree.
Typical set is a simple Adamant 252 attack 252 HP, using Sword Dance, Bullet Punch, Roost, and then either a bug stab (Bug Bite gets Technician boost and removes enemy berryes but is slightly less power than X-scissor) or Substitute. Once more, speed can be tailored to your needs if necessary.
Do note if using Mega Scizor that opposer Bruxish and Tsareena might block your Bullet Punch with one of their abilities if you are not using a second attack.

What would look like a usually terrible Pokemon has a very important niche as setup sweeper on Tree singles, and that is provided by its ability Moody. Provided that it can stay on a neutered lead, Glalie can just alternate Substitutes, Protects and Taunts in order to accumulate +6 boosts while preventing the AI from statusing or setupping back.
The moveset used for Glalie on tree is Timid natured with 136 or more speed EV, which allows it to outspeed a significant part of the tree up to minor scarfers at +1 speed, with 172 HP EV which give a full HP Glalie 16 turns to stay behind substitute and protects against a faster strong opponent while recovering with Leftovers and fish for the necessary boosts before it runs out of HP to Substitute again. Rest is invested into SpAtk to provide better damage rolls.
The only attack used is Frost Breath, and that's mainly because being it a guaranteed critical hit, it can safely ignore Calm Mind, Quiver Dance and Amnesia boosts that the AI might have set up.
Note that Smeargle can tecnically do a very comparable job if preferred albeith requiring more boosts to sweep, but having the option to use Spiky Shield, Toxic Shield or Spore instead of Taunt.

Bulky backlines:
Another staple of the singles, Suicune with its ability Pressure and great defensive type and stats is one of the premiere stallers for this mode. It also merges very well with Salamence Scizor and Dragonite, as it resists their 4x weaknesses while also being able to automatically unthraw from potential freezes with Scald.
The Nature and EVs (expecially speed) can be personalized based on what your team is made by, but otherwise a generic Bold with 252 HP and Defense EV is good enough to stomach most non supereffective phisical hits.
The typical set will be running Calm Mind, Scald and Rest with Leftovers, looking to setup several Calm Mind boosts on weaker special attackers or statusers while at same time depleting their PPs and healing up with Rest. The last move slot is usually used with Icy Wind, allowing Suicune to reduce the speed of something that the lead might have issues setupping on, allowing them to sweep when Suicune dies or can swap out. Scald can also provide clutch Burns but is not something that should be really relied on.

Tapu Fini can fill a somewhat comparable role to Suicune as switch in for Ice attacks, while also neutering any Dragon attack from faster AI threats, but due to Misty Terrain it has no access to a reliable recovery so cannot perform the stalling job Suicune does.
On other hand, it can successfully use its stabs combined with full Spatk investment and its natural bulk to absorb hits and retaliate while providing a safety cushion against status for whoever comes after, allowing safer setups. Tapu Fini is generally paired with Aegislash as Aegislash appreciates the Misty terrain since King Shield doesn't block status moves.
For this purpose, a Modest nature with 252 Spatk EV, enough Speed to outspeed the entire unscarfed tree (196) and the rest in HP, equipped with a Choice Scarf, Fini can use respectably strong Moonblast and Surf in order to weaken or flat out kill a threatening enemy for the lead or a backline that the lead cannot harm. The last 2 moves are used for any coverage the comp could benefit of, but Ice Beam and Grass Knot tend to be the best as they hit a few 4x weaknesses like many opposer Dragon types and Water/Ground types 1hko or close to 1hkoing them right away.
Do remind however if you are also using a Dragon, that Misty terrain will also halven your own Dragon attacks by 50% against grounded targets while it stays once Tapu Fini is sent in.

Gliscor is a Pokemon oriented to stall out enemies that can't kill it fast of important PP moves or TR/weather turns: its typing provides him with 2 immunityes (one to the very common Thunder Wave as well), several resists and only 2 weaknesses, 2x to Water and 4x to Ice, and it has a notably strong phisical bulk on top of a unusually high speed for a defensive Pokemon.
With a Careful nature and EVs mainly directed toward the special side (252 HP, enough speed as necessary and the rest into Special Defense, even 252 special defense works).
Gliscor runs a very stall oriented set with the combination of Poison Heal + Toxic Orb (also providing him with what is basically status immunity after one turn), and then running Protect, Substitute, Toxic and Earthquake.
Gliscor's 4x weakness to Ice attracts the Ice attacks that Salamence and Dragonite hate so much, but the higher speed tier usually allows him to Keep substitutes going alternating with Protect, while Poison Heal allows to keep healing up at same time.
Earthquake and Toxic round up allowing him to both deal with several Electric types which threatens water types like Suicune or Fini, or out-stall enemyes that it can successfully wall and might still be threatening to the rest of the composition even after their Ice attack PPs have been depleted.

Aegislash is another Pokemon who can at same time work as staller and pseudo-setupper, due to the combination of an amazing ability and typing and the moveset to go with it.
Since Aegislash runs Leftovers, it usually is never paired with another leftover user, however it can run a Z crystal or even Weakness Policy to abuse the solid bulk it has.
The typical set for singles will be running a Brave nature with as close to 0 Speed IVs as possible in order to always underspeed the enemy, as the last thing you are looking for is being hit in Sword form. 252 Attack EV combined with usually 252 in HP are excellent generic EVs to use.
For attacks, toghether with King Shield which is necessary to swap between forms, Sword Dance is used for getting strong attack boosts against neutered or weak enemies, using Shadow Sneak as main stab which also allows to pick up a clutch KO on a Sturdy/Sash user that your lead might have fallen to, and Sacred Sword as second attack, which while not being boosted by STAB, ignores defensive boosts and also provides perfect coverage with the Ghost attack, making Aegislash an excellent answer to AI sets that like to boost their defenses with Curse or Iron Defense. King Shield also allows to get very important attack drops on the enemy, which can further enhance a Substitute user or Aegislash himself to safe setup later on.

Chansey is overly known in competitive Pokemon scenarios for its insane special bulk, and that is as well true when it comes to facilities: it can shake off large majority of the special attackers that don't carry strong Fighting attacks, while PP stalling them with Soft Boiled or slowly getting them down with Seismic Toss.
A Timid nature with full or near full speed EV invesment is usually used in order for Chansey to be able to set Substitute on status users, with the remaining 252 EV thrown in Defense in order to patch the very mediocre phisical bulk, and allow Chansey to take some phisical hits as well.
Natural Cure as ability allows Chansey to swap out of Status if necessary, and Eviolite is the obvious item choice.
The moveset is usually Substitute, Minimize, Seismic Toss and Soft-Boiled. Stacking Minimize on weak enemies can effectively allow Chansey to either completely destroy a team on its own due to the dodges behind Substitute, or at very least completely deplete any threatening PP while recovering with Soft Boiled. Due to the almost unexistant offenses of Chansey, Seismic Toss is really the only attack that can do actual damage to enemyes due to it being a flat 50 HP damage per use.

Durant and Mimikyu form an important crippling core for setup sweepers, and are usually paired with Durant, Dragonite or Mega-Salamence for this purpose.
Durant runs a special set with Choice Scarf, Truant and Entrainment, in order to abuse the fact that the AI will not swap after having their ability suppressed and essentially allowing the chosen sweeper to alternate a setup move and Protect or Substitute to setup to +6 completely for free.
Due to Durant's speed tier, it will actually outspeed the entire tree bar Scarf Aerodactyl (which only appears in first 20 battles anyway) if scarfed. A simple spread of 252 Speed combined with either HP EVs and a Jolly nature is enough.
The other 3 moves it will run are the two stabs (Iron Head and X-scissor) and generally either Substitute as last move. The two stabs can allow Durant if coming in later to pick up a last ditch KO if for some reason the sweeper dies or is forced out, while Substitute can be used to force Pokemon that already have Truant or some trappers to waste some PP.
Mimikyu on other hand runs a set with as well Jolly Nature and HP/Speed EVs, but using a Red Card as item, and a set completely dedicated to cripple things that Durant cannot. The selected moves are Thief, Thunder Wave, Confide, Taunt.
While 99% of the times all Durant does is click Entrainment turn one, there are a few Pokemon that are immune to the move due to their own ability, or who might use Protect turn one, which will require to be Red Carded away by Mimikyu, abusing the fact that Disguise will prevent him from dieing right away. The remaining moves can be used combined with Mimikyu's speed tier to neuter what comes in after, stealing its item, Paralyzing it or dropping its Special Attack so substitutes from the sweeper are harder to kill.


Example cores:
Mega-Salamence + Aegislash + Chansey
The three pokemon benefit from being able to swap into each other immunities, and while Salamence's Intimidate and Aegislash's King Shield can progressively neuter phisical attackers, Chansey can instead take care of Special ones.
The core relies on providing either Salamence or Aegislash an opportunity to setup safely and then proceed to sweep, and Aegislash and Chansey provide a safety cushion if a significant series of bad RNG forces Salamence out.
M-Salamence/Dragonite + Suicune + Gliscor
Suicune provides the safety swap in against Ice attacks, and Suicune and Gliscor complement their stalling abilities toward special and phisical offenders in order to provide the opportunity of setupping Salamence. Suicune having access to its own setup and speed control also allows it to act as backup when Salamence cannot have the option of getting up Dragon Dances without risking to be taken out by RNG.
Durant + Mimikyu + Glalie
Once the lead is neutered by Durant or Mimikyu, Glalie or another chosen setupper can safely alternate Protect, Substitute and if necessary their own setup move in order to get to +6 in any necessary stat and then get rid of the 3 enemy opponents.
 
HeadsILoseTailsYouWin The Dutch Plumberjack I have further polished the section as suggested on Discord and removed the mention of Durant and Mimikyu as suggested due to them not being very intuitive to use for a potential newcomer.

How does this look

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There are a few notable aspects important to singles, which all boil around the limited pool of mons available: you will not able to have a perfect coverage or always outspeed & 1hko everything so the composition must be built with contingency plans.

Hyperaggressivity can get relatively far when using very strong mons like Mega Salamence or Garchomp, but will eventually be prone to RNG when hitting the near legend and post legend mark where the AI uses both strong competitive sets (including scarfed high BST Pokemon) which could outdamage you, and very strong walls which might end up statusing you to death.

The key aspects of a safe singles composition should be a strong setup Pokemon (preferably with a realistic way to boost its speed, something that Dragon Dancers excell at), at least a safe switch in for this Pokemon who can handle threats that the main sweeper cannot (usually relying on typing cores like Steel/Dragon/Fairy who can swap from weaknesses of their sweepers to immunity/resists of the bulky Pokemon) and then either another strong damage threat which complements the main one, or a second defensive mon who complements the other defensive Pokemon.

Access to Substitute and reliable recovery on the main damage threat is a big plus, as it allows to also screen from potential status, 1hko moves and pure RNG shenenigans with Quick Claw or evasion items and abilities. For this reason often the main sweeper is picked with a mono attack or two attacks, and a combination of Substitute, boosting and recovery.

The idea is to find a setup opportunity for one of the 3 Pokemon on the lead of the opponent, and once your Pokemon is ready, proceed to 1v3 with in worse scenario your remaining forces can pick up the last weakened enemy. It's the safest approach, as you cannot know what the backline of your opponent is, so you have to rely on the lead it presents.

Some examples of successfully Pokemon and some cores for singles:

Damage threats:

Recommended set:
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Attack
Moves:
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Outrage / Dragon Claw
- Earthquake / Fire Punch
With its Multiscale, Dragonite is virtually impossible to 1hko aside from a 1hko move. This provides with a solid opportunity to spam Dragon Dance on neutered enemies, have a insurance against backline, and once enough boosts are accumulated stab Outrage can wipe most non-fairy types off the game.
The coverage of choice is usually Earthquake or Fire Punch to hit Steel types.
It is possible to run Dragon Claw over Outrage if you don't want to be locked, but it comes at a significant damage output cost.
The speed EV can be tailored to your necessity about outspeeding something you consider threatening, but 252 is a good compromise as multiscale takes care of the survivability anyway.


Salamence @ Salamencite
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate -> Aerilate
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Attack
Moves:
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Return
- Substitute
One of the staples of Singles facilities, Salamence is similar to Dragonite in concept, but provides additional Intimidate support and base speed at the cost of coverage.
Salamence is genrally ran as mono attacker, and you generally look to setup Salamence in a position where it can destroy the entire enemy team on its own.
Compared to Dragonite, 252 speed is recommended in order to outspeed some significant threats at +1 that otherwise would be missed without full speed investment.
It runs mono attack in Return (or Frustration, if you prefer).
The job of Salamence is to abuse slower weak phisical attackers or status users in order to stack up Dragon Dances behind the safety of Substitute, until it's ready to decimate the enemy with Aerilate boosted attacks.


Scizor @ Scizorite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician -> Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Attack
Moves:
- Sword Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- Substitute / X-Scissor / Bug Bite
A bulkier and harder to kill mon, this time relying mostly on priority and faster setupping via Sword Dance, while also being immune to Sandstorm and Toxic which are present enough on tree.
The set rounds up with a bug stab (Bug Bite gets Technician boost and removes enemy berryes but is slightly less powerful than X-scissor) or Substitute. Once more, it is possible to invest into speed to outspeed opposer Scizor and some other priority users, but generally unneeded compared to just having more bulk.
Do note if using Mega Scizor that opposer Bruxish and Tsareena might block your Bullet Punch with one of their abilities if you are not using a second attack.


Glalie @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Moody
EVs: 136 or more Speed / 172 or more HP / rest in Special Attack
Moves:
- Protect
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Frost Breath
What would look like a usually terrible Pokemon has a very important niche as setup sweeper on Tree singles, and that is provided by its ability Moody. Provided that it can stay on a neutered lead, Glalie can just alternate Substitutes, Protects and Taunts in order to accumulate +6 boosts while preventing the AI from statusing or setupping back.
The moveset used for Glalie on tree is Timid natured with 136 or more speed EV, which allows it to outspeed a significant part of the tree up to minor scarfers at +1 speed, with 172 HP EV which give a full HP Glalie 16 turns to stay behind substitute and protects against a faster strong opponent while recovering with Leftovers and fish for the necessary boosts before it runs out of HP to Substitute again. Rest is invested into SpAtk to provide better damage rolls.
The only attack used is Frost Breath, and that's mainly because being it a guaranteed critical hit, it can safely ignore Calm Mind, Quiver Dance and Amnesia boosts that the AI might have set up.
Note that Smeargle can tecnically do a very comparable job if preferred albeith requiring more boosts to sweep, but having the option to use Spiky Shield, Toxic Shield or Spore instead of Taunt.


Bulky backlines:

Suicune @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Defense
Moves:
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Icy Wind
Another staple of the singles, Suicune with its ability Pressure and great defensive type and stats is one of the premiere stallers for this mode. It also merges very well with Salamence Scizor and Dragonite, as it resists their 4x weaknesses while also being able to automatically unthraw from potential freezes with Scald.
The Nature and EVs (expecially speed) can be personalized based on what your team is made by, but otherwise a generic Bold with 252 HP and Defense EV is good enough to stomach most non supereffective phisical hits.
The typical set will be running Calm Mind, Scald and Rest with Leftovers, looking to setup several Calm Mind boosts on weaker special attackers or statusers while at same time depleting their PPs and healing up with Rest. The last move slot is usually used with Icy Wind, allowing Suicune to reduce the speed of something that the lead might have issues setupping on, allowing them to sweep when Suicune dies or can swap out. Scald can also provide clutch Burns but is not something that should be really relied on.


Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 196 or more Speed / 252 Special Attack / rest in HP
Moves:
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
Tapu Fini can fill a somewhat comparable role to Suicune as switch in for Ice attacks, while also neutering any Dragon attack from faster AI threats, but due to Misty Terrain it has no access to a reliable recovery so cannot perform the stalling job Suicune does.
On other hand, it can successfully use its stabs combined with full Spatk investment and its natural bulk to absorb hits and retaliate while providing a safety cushion against status for whoever comes after, allowing safer setups. Tapu Fini is generally paired with Aegislash as Aegislash appreciates the Misty terrain since King Shield doesn't block status moves.
For this purpose, a Modest nature with enough Speed to outspeed almost the entire unscarfed tree (196) and the rest in HP, equipped with a Choice Scarf, Fini can use respectably strong Moonblast and Surf in order to weaken or flat out kill a threatening enemy for the lead or a backline that the lead cannot harm. The last 2 moves are used for any coverage the comp could benefit of, but Ice Beam and Grass Knot tend to be the best as they hit a few 4x weaknesses like many opposer Dragon types and Water/Ground types 1hko or close to 1hkoing them right away.
Do remind however if you are also using a Dragon, that Misty terrain will also halven your own Dragon attacks by 50% against grounded targets while it stays once Tapu Fini is sent in.


Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Nature: Careful
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Special Defense
Moves:
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Protect
- Substitute
Gliscor is a Pokemon oriented to stall out enemies that can't kill it fast of important PP moves or TR/weather turns: its typing provides him with 2 immunities (one to the very common Thunder Wave as well), several resists and only 2 weaknesses, 2x to Water and 4x to Ice, and it has a notably strong phisical bulk on top of a unusually high speed for a defensive Pokemon.
Gliscor runs a very stall oriented set with the combination of Poison Heal + Toxic Orb (also providing him with what is basically status immunity after one turn), and then running Protect, Substitute, Toxic and Earthquake.
Gliscor's 4x weakness to Ice attracts the Ice attacks that Salamence and Dragonite hate so much, but the higher speed tier usually allows him to Keep substitutes going alternating with Protect, while Poison Heal allows to keep healing up at same time.
Earthquake and Toxic round up allowing him to both deal with several Electric types which threatens water types like Suicune or Fini, or out-stall enemyes that it can successfully wall and might still be threatening to the rest of the composition even after their Ice attack PPs have been depleted.


Aegislash @ Leftovers / Weakness Policy / Ghostium-Z
Nature: Brave (possibly with 0 speed IV)
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Attack
Moves:
- King Shield
- Sword Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
Aegislash is another Pokemon who can at same time work as staller and pseudo-setupper, due to the combination of an amazing ability and typing and the moveset to go with it.
Since Aegislash runs Leftovers, it usually is never paired with another leftover user, however it can run a Z crystal or even Weakness Policy to abuse the solid bulk it has.
The typical set for singles will be running a Brave nature with as close to 0 Speed IVs as possible in order to always underspeed the enemy, as the last thing you are looking for is being hit in Sword form. 252 Attack EV combined with usually 252 in HP are excellent generic EVs to use.
Toghether with King Shield which is necessary to swap between forms, Shadow Sneak as main stab allows to pick up a clutch KO on a Sturdy/Sash user that your lead might have fallen to, and Sacred Sword as main coverage, while not being boosted by STAB, is able to ignore defensive boosts and also provide perfect coverage with the Ghost attack, making Aegislash an excellent answer to AI sets that like to boost their defenses with Curse or Iron Defense. King Shield also allows to get very important attack drops on the enemy, which can further enhance a Substitute user or Aegislash himself to safe setup later on.


Chansey @ Eviolite
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Defense
Moves:
- Soft Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Substitute
- Minimize
Chansey is usually known in competitive Pokemon scenarios for its insane special bulk, and that is as well true when it comes to facilities: it can shake off large majority of the special attackers that don't carry strong Fighting attacks, while PP stalling them with Soft Boiled or slowly getting them down with Seismic Toss.
A Timid nature with full or near full speed EV invesment is usually used in order for Chansey to be able to set Substitute on status users, with the remaining 252 EV thrown in Defense in order to patch the very mediocre phisical bulk, and allow Chansey to take some phisical hits as well.
Natural Cure as ability allows Chansey to swap out of Status if necessary, and Eviolite is the obvious item choice.
Stacking Minimize on weak enemies can effectively allow Chansey to either completely destroy a team on its own due to the dodges behind Substitute, or at very least deplete threatening attacks' PP while recovering with Soft Boiled. Due to the almost unexistant offenses of Chansey, Seismic Toss is really the only attack that can do actual damage to enemyes due to it being a flat 50 HP damage per use.



Example cores:

Mega-Salamence + Aegislash + Chansey
The three pokemon benefit from being able to swap into each other immunities, and while Salamence's Intimidate and Aegislash's King Shield can progressively neuter phisical attackers, Chansey can instead take care of Special ones.
The core relies on providing either Salamence or Aegislash an opportunity to setup safely and then proceed to sweep, and Aegislash and Chansey provide a safety cushion if a significant series of bad RNG forces Salamence out.

Mega-Salamence/Dragonite + Suicune + Gliscor
Suicune provides the safety swap in against Ice attacks, and Suicune and Gliscor complement their stalling abilities toward special and phisical offenders in order to provide the opportunity of setupping Salamence. Suicune having access to its own setup and speed control also allows it to act as backup when Salamence cannot have the option of getting up Dragon Dances without risking to be taken out by RNG.
 
I was thinking of adding a "novice proof teams" part somewhere, mentioning a handful of singles core and typical doubles setups going over the specifics of the synergy used, but I was not sure if it would be appropriate for a generic guide/walkthrough.
If you think it's a good idea, i'll quickly gather some more informations on other good beginnerfriendly combos from our friendly nerds dedicated runners and dedicate a section to it in the Basic Tips chapter, together with some pointers to what sort AI partners to look recruit.

As for the "Florges-2" and similar mentions: this sort of naming are generally used in regard of the order in which the set appears in the specific battle facility.
However, the resources we use with this collection are player-made excel sheets or external sites, I am not sure if it's fine to point out said resources on smogon guide. The creators don't mind, as I had already asked when starting the guide, but I believe Jellicent mentioned that linking to external sites was not necessarly a good plan.
Specifically, the resources we generally use are all at the bottom of the first post of our dedicated thread (expecially the trainer data sheet and the calculator made by turskain):
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/battle-tree-discussion-and-records.3587215/
So if any of those would be fine to show on the guide, I'd be happy to oblige.

And for the last part, definitely easy to add to the first chapter, in fact i'll do that right now.
Hi, yes, I'm interested in these novice proof teams you mentioned, if such a thing can be said to exist. They managed to get me to the first special trainer while I was hanging out in the discord. (Maybe drop a link to the tree discord in here as well? I was in there for a while, but I had an epic ragequit some months back.)
 
Unbreakable we talked about "noviceproof" teams for a bit on discord, I did make a list for singles with the cooperation of A (you can see it at the bottom of post 2 of the guide), however doubles is a much harder job to fit in a guide due to how much more variables there are unfortunately.
I don't quite think a link to discord is fitting in a guide (or is it?) But if people think it would be it's quickly done when passing to the copyediting i suppose :p
 

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