Gen 3 Explosion is an art

Foggi

Banned deucer.
Hello,
Today i wanna showcase one of my rather most succesful and fun to use teams that i built in ADV OU. It was originally a team that i built with some help from Astamatitos for one of his late-stage WCOP games but he never got a chance to use it because unfortunately Greece got eliminated in quarter-finals stages. The team however was featured in various tournament games, notably The real UD used it during the semi-finals of ADV OU No Johns tournament amongst others.





The team is based around setting up spikes and opening up your way with 4 Explosion/Selfdestruct Mons to setup a suicune sweep, It has a physically defensive backbone that consists of Metagross (rock resist), Cloyster (Primary Band Salamence/Flygon/Gyarados switch in) and Suicune (Lategame Tyranitar Check aswell as main win condition of the team). Special defensive wise the backbone is made of Snorlax (Water Types switch-in as well as my go-to Blissey and Porygon2 switch) and Camerupt (covers electric types and Gengar) The team appears to be quite simple to use, however this might be a bit far from the truth. In particular, it has some difficult threats to get around to and as such one has to play this team in a rather smart exchange format. Regardless, I guarantee you that this team can beat most team matchups if played right. A good example would be dealing with Milotic, a really big threat to any team comprising of mixed hitters. The team has a myriad options to bypass walls such as milo whether its:

1) Sleep or weakening it with Gengar or spikes damage then explode on it with Cloyster or Metagross

2)*This way is preferred lategame* Get your suicune on it with a double switch (or simply sack a mon that isn't needed at this point of the game) to not risk a possible toxic/hypnosis and then try to set up with your subcm suicune and win the game

3) Toxic on the switch with your Camerupt so it will lose its longevity

The team is all about getting the boom trades right, such that Suicune is left without walls late game. It is thus of great importance to keep Suicune healthy and unrevealed till the late part of the game. After all, Suicune is arguably the strongest 1v1 Pokemon in ADV when it comes down to a late-game brawl.





Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Explosion

The lead spot goes to metagross. Metagross is the most used lead in Advance (~70%) for a good reason. It immediately forces out the common Tyranitar lead whose Attacks you don't want to be tanking early on. At first i ran choice banded Metagross but after some tests i found that this team can't afford having a pokemon locked into a choice banded move as it really loses its pace and gives many opportunities to threatening mons like Milotic to recover and mixed Salamence to get free-hits in.
Not only that it also gives Skarmory the abillity to spike more freely without taking alot of damage wich can give a real pain for this team if Skarmory is paired with a spin blocker like Gengar. The mixed hp fire set turned out to be the best bet for this team as it can hit the opposing Skarmory aswell as swampert for really solid damage. A common theme amongst all the members of the team is that they don't give Skarmory any free turns and thus limit the Spikes game.

Calcs:

252+ SpA Metagross Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skarmory: 134-158 (40.1 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Metagross Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Swampert: 142-168 (35.1 - 41.5%) -- 78.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
The HP EVs allow Metagross to hit the Leftovers number aswell as always live an earthquake from +1 Adamant Tyranitar at 100%.
48 SpDef EVs allow it take 4 thunderbolts from 333 SpA Gengar after leftovers, aswell as take an Fire Blast From Fully Specially Offensive Mixmence after one spike damage.





Cloyster (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 204 SpD / 12 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Explosion
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes

Second member of the team is probably one of the most important ones. Cloyster is my main Salamence/Flygon/Gyarados aswell as swampert switch-in and its the team's spiker. It fits the slot better than the other spikers as it allows me to keep the offensive momentum against the bulky waters which the team can't take much hits from. The access to moves like rapid spin and explosion aswell as the abillity to check a big portion of the physically offensive side of ADV OU makes it a perfect choice for an offensive team, What i love about this mon is that after it does it job and gets the spikes up. It can still Explode on something like Blissey,Milotic or Suicune and cause massive damage, but preferably it will be denying any opposing DD Salamence/Gyarados from running loose with that Explosion.

Calcs:

0 Atk Cloyster Explosion vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Swampert: 273-322 (67.5 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 Atk Cloyster Explosion vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 622-732 (95.5 - 112.4%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Cloyster Explosion vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic: 287-338 (72.8 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

The spread that im using allows it to always 3hko max HP Gengar aswell as get 4hkoed by hydro pump from swampert with 126 SpA EVs.





Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 84 Atk / 124 Def / 188 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
- Hypnosis
- Explosion


Gengar is my second Specially Offensive presence and my Ground and Fighting immunity, it is the second most dominant force in ADV OU and the best spinblocker that this gen can provide us. With such a dominant coverage combined with access to Explosion and massive Speed/SpA Stat it is simply too good to not run on a spikes based offensive team.
The spread allows me to always live HP Flying from Either Choicebanded Or +1 Ddance Salamence with Adamant nature and max Atk EVs. This is necessary as the frail backbone means I will often have to throw Gengar in front of all kinds of setup sweepers.

Calcs:

252+ Atk Choice Band Salamence Hidden Power Flying vs. 112 HP / 124 Def Gengar: 244-288 (84.4 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The speed EVs allow me to hit 333 Stat outspeeding max speed adamant Tyranitar after a Dragon Dance and the extra Atk EVs allow this to ohko blissey if three spikes are up

84 Atk Gengar Explosion vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 515-606 (79.1 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO





Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Substitute
- Roar


Suicune is the win condition and the primary offensive presence of the team. Having such a massive bulk paired with solid SpA and Speed stat, aswell as having access to roar makes suicune the most dangerous CM user in ADV OU.
I went for the mono surf version of cune because it beats its usuall checks like Seismic toss aswell as the CM variant of Blissey and it easily beats other slower suicunes or cunes that don't carry roar. In addition it is also an amazing stallbreaker and my team already packs Cloyster with Ice Beam for stuff like Salamence or Flygon. Given that I aim to narrow the battlefield to just a few mons with the exploder lineup, the Sub/CM/Roar/Surf set is just a more optimal option to dogfight with.
The EVs are really simple 252 HP for maximized bulk and 101 HP subs, 176 Speed that gives you 250 speed stat and outspeeds most of the oppossing Modest Suicunes and roars them out. The rest simply in SpA.
There is an alternate option for the spread in this team which I have been considering and it is Timid Suicune wich allows you to roar out the oppossing roar cunes almost 99% of the time. I highly suggest to keep cune healthy for as long as possible while using this team because this team's huge weakness is having only one set-up sweeper.





Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 96 HP / 56 Atk / 136 Def / 80 SpA / 140 SpD
Brave Nature
- Body Slam
- Brick Break
- Self-Destruct
- Fire Blast


Utility Snorlax is the main glue of the team and it acts as my Water types sponge aswell as secondary electric types check. Thanks to that moveset it has amazing coverage. Brick Break doesn't allow Tyranitar to set up Dragon Dances on me more than once and Fire Blast lets me hit Steel types like Skarmory, Metagross, Forretress and Steelix really hard, Selfdestruct is here to deny any potential sweep from threatening Mons like Gyarados, Salamence, Suicune aswell as Calm mind Celebi.
The EV spread allows me a couple of things, the most notable ones are:
1) Hitting all the steels in the tier for a really good amount of damage:

Calcs:
80 SpA Snorlax Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skarmory: 136-160 (40.7 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
80 SpA Snorlax Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 149-176 (40.9 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
80 SpA Snorlax Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 220 SpD Steelix: 146-172 (41.2 - 48.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
80 SpA Snorlax Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Forretress: 272-320 (76.8 - 90.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

2) Never get 3hkoed by Swampert's earthquake


0 Atk Swampert Earthquake vs. 96 HP / 136 Def Snorlax: 138-163 (28.4 - 33.6%) -- 96.3% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

3) Always 1hko defensive Celebi (Wich is a big threat to this team) with Selfdestruct


54+ Atk Snorlax Selfdestruct vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Celebi: 425-501 (105.1 - 124%) -- guaranteed OHKO

4) Gives a really good shot at 1hkoing Max HP/Def Bold Suicune after 1 layer of spikes


54+ Atk Snorlax Selfdestruct vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 352-415 (87.1 - 102.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes





Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Atk / 124 SpA / 112 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Protect


This is the mon that i built the team around. Camerupt is a really underrated mon and in my opinion one of the best Gengar aswell as electric type checks that we have out here, thanks to its unique typing its a really good water types lure so it can easily abuse it with the standard Pro/Tox set wich really weakens the longevity of the most water types that we have in the Tier.
The spread that im currently running was made by dekzeh and i wanted to thank him for giving it to me. 20 Atk EVs allow Camerupt to always 2hko the standard DD Tyranitar spread which is 16 Hp 120 Defense

Calcs:
20 Atk Camerupt Earthquake vs. 16 HP / 120 Def Tyranitar: 183-216 (53 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 HP is here to maximize bulk and paired with the SpDef EVs allow Camerupt to never get 4hkoed by 333 SpA Gengar


148 SpA Gengar Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 112 SpD Camerupt: 85-100 (24.7 - 29%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

The rest EVs were simply put in SpA to give it hard hitting power and that power has almost guaranteed chance of 1hkoing max HP Metagross with fire blast


124+ SpA Camerupt Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 363-428 (99.7 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

Other set options

There are some other options for this team for example:

1) Running Explosion instead of Earthquake on Camerupt allows you to boom on threats like Mixmence wich usually come on Camerupt
however it gives you worse Tyranitar matchup aswell as Raikou matchup because your Camerupt can't touch CM raikou when it sets up.

2) Running slower and more offensive Suicune spread with Hydro Pump/Surf and Icebeam as it gives you a better Mixmence and DD Mence matchup
aswell as a way to hurt Celebi but you sacrifice the abillity to shred fat stall teams and beat its usual checks with the Surf/Cm/Roar/Sub Set.
Here is an alternative spread for the Water/Beam Suicune Set:

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 204 SpA / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Roar
- Calm Mind

3) Pursuit instead of HP Fire on Metagross. It allows you to trap opposing Gengars and guarantees that you can get a spin off with Cloyster however it looses its way to hit steel types like:
Skarmory,Forretress and Steelix.

Threatlist:






Mixmence

Definitely the biggest threat to this team. Because of the mono surf cune set that iam running it is really hard to stop this beast,
i usually try to boom on it with something like metagross or toxic it on the switch with camerupt and try to wear it down as much as possible with it.





Gyarados

It is a really big threat lategame that can be stopped only by booming,
Cloyster can kinda wall it but most of the time it isn't alive at the later part of the game.





Tyranitar

At first glance it looks like a really big threat however the DD set can be mitigated by the sets that i run, for example it cannot set up on snorlax or camerupt because im running brick break and earthquake on them the real threat however is the choicebanded set as it can do huge damage if predicted right and you have to be really
careful while playing vs it.





Dugtrio

Another really big threat to this team as it can trap Camerupt and Metagross and break the physical/special defensive backbone of the team,
it is really hard to play against it but it can only come on these two mons via double switch or BP so you can play around and scout for it.





Dragon Dance Salamence

Same as Gyarados, it is a really scary mon lategame especially if your Metagross/Cloyster is not alive however my Gengar is EVed to take one HP Flying from it and KO
it back with Ice Punch, you can boom on it with snorlax aswell if you feel that you don't need your snorlax in the specific part of game.






Metagross

Metagross can be really threatening especially the choicebanded set, it is hard to switch into with this team but nothing really gives it a free switch-in except cloyster
so you can play around it, for example predict the switch into snorlax and fireblast it for a really good amount of damage.






Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Explosion

Cloyster (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 204 SpD / 12 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Explosion
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes

Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 84 Atk / 124 Def / 188 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
- Hypnosis
- Explosion

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Substitute
- Roar

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 96 HP / 56 Atk / 136 Def / 80 SpA / 140 SpD
Brave Nature
- Body Slam
- Brick Break
- Self-Destruct
- Fire Blast

Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Atk / 124 SpA / 112 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Protect


Some good friends that i met on smogon/ps:
Astamatitos benbe Crestfall LucosDICampos The real UD xJoelituh p2 hyw Lord Outrage absdaddy Daenys

Some really cool ADV Dudes, its always fun to play and chat about the metagame with you guys: dekzeh Triangles BKC Smurf. Fakes

And a random shoutout to my old friend from other Forum Raptori
 
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Pocket

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I have a very similar team I made more than a decade ago with CB Claydol > Cloyster and DDMence as my sweeper. I had Explosion on Camerupt, and together with Metagross it was great at baiting Water-types. Sub CM Cune is probably a more consistent end-game Sweeper than DDMence, though :toast: Cool team, Foggi!
 

UD

BeerLover
I love using this team. It's always fun to just change the game's pace at the drop of a dime by booming everyone down to Suicune (I still use Boom on Camel in my version), and then picking off what's left with him after one CM.

Very well written RMT! Thanks for the shout out.
 
I like the brawl type of playstyle that comes with this team. I suppose one minor criticism of the team is that the average Speed of the mons is all quite low, which results in it being more susceptible to all-out attackers such as the aforementioned Mixmence. Regardless, the team does include the 2nd best revenge killer of the game for that matter, that being Boomgar. Gengar also displays good typing synergy with pretty much everything built around it. Thus most of the time Gengar can pivot those type of threats. Hypnosis on it is also ultimately its best option as well given that it allows it to get a 1up in the 'numbers game' that this team usually plays.

Camel's susceptibility to getting Dugtrio trapped does not make the team necessarily weak to the electrics thanks to Snorlax being on the backline as well, buying you an extra one or two attempts to force them out and subsequently boom them with something on their way back in. WoW Gar paired with Dugtrio can be an issue potentially, but it is also the reason for the particular Metagross spread. With regards to physical assaults, being able to 2HKO Tyranitar with pretty much everything except Cloygar (Cloyster and Gengar can explode to deny the second DD) allows the team to remedy the fact that no dedicated physical wall is present.

Overall the team is solid and can play around its weaknesses, which is what you want from any team after all. Also anyone who thinks "Cuneboom" is a better name for the RMT express your support to the cause in the following posts. Hopefully that will change Foggi's mind on it. ;p
 
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I have a few physical offensive teams (with the legendary Camel no less), that do this team's thing, but this one is a lot more all-out ride or die and I like that aspect a lot, especially seeing how much momentum Explosion just grabs (not to mention how much fun it is to see the opponents' rage). Also CuneBoom is a sick title go with that.

The team also has a decent amount of defensive synergy and back-up, mostly because of how Explosion is a stop to pretty much every threat of the tier, but also in the little things like how Lax backs up Camel against Electrics if it gets Dugged, or how Cloyster, Gengar and Suicune all sorta share the role of check to physical mons. It may mean immediate switch-ins to certain things are short and you have to dance to stay alive, but the team's effectiveness (along with the fact you only really need one free turn to blow up on your opponent) counteracts that. Reminds me of a Bab post I saw a while back saying that the beauty of old gens is that they're small enough that you can focus on what your team does as long as it does it really well (and this team really really does :)

Set-up sweepers like DDMence, Gyara and Tar aren't super duper threatening considering how most of your team is bulky and can just blow the threat up. That said naturally fast things can be annoying especially if you boom something prematurely - if Gengar pops then MixMence harasses you (it kinda does anyways), and if Meta pops then the rest of your team is a flinch away from losing to Aero. A bulkier Cune set (with Ice Beam cause you never know when you'll miss Hydro against Aero) might remedy this, as might the addition of idk, Wish Jirachi (it checks both Mence and Aero while simultaneously pressurising the opponent with the threat of para), but as is, the team is fine, it's theme is cool, and it does that theme really really well. Good going and I wish you luck with more epic builds.

Edit: Actually I take all of that back, Skarm spikes on you for days (protecting every time you try to blow it up kek), and then Aero flinches you to the cleaners lmao. 6/10 squad at best. Kill yourself. SLAYERRRRRRRRR
 
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