in the hills
spreading confusion
Teambuilding Process
note: team order is relevant in this metagame if you are confused about the formatting of this section
So obviously I wanted to start with Shuckle as my god here, so it was forced into my HP slot. As a Pokemon itself, it's pretty one dimensional, with hazards being your only option unless you want to run a niche passive damage set which in this case I did not. So with a basic hazards setting set, I knew the next thing I wanted to decide were my two defense inheritors.
The Defense inheritor was obvious to me. Magic Guard Clefable is an insane beast as is, and with 230 Defense it becomes the best blanket check to physical attackers the tier has to offer. Not only that, but with Calm Mind it can become a powerful wincon and finds many opportunities to set up. Passive teams have very little options to counter this as well as it's immune to Toxic and hazards and not much in the tier runs Haze. Next up, I wanted to choose a special wall that covered threats to Clefable.
After looking at the Pokemon that threaten Clefable, I knew I wanted to use a Regenerator Pokemon, and eventually landed on RegenVest Slowbro. An odd choice at first, RegenVest Slowbro is the perfect check to Nidoking and Nidoqueen and doesn't even need SpD EVs to do so. This allows it to double as a secondary physical wall for Steel-types and Victini, as well as utilize Body Press to its fullest potential. Future Sight support from it will also be great at providing support for the remaining Pokemon on the team.
Moving onto Shuckle's bad stats, the strategy is placing Pokemon that don't care about their stat being lowered. In this case I actually went with Blacephalon which loves having its Attack stat lower so that it takes less damage from Foul Play (0- Atk Dark Aura Yveltal Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blacephalon: 44-54 (17.8 - 21.8%) -- possible 5HKO). Blacephalon also great as it can break past a ton of metagame threats or more importantly Trick pesky opponents to enable other Pokemon to sweep. It's a great choice to dissuade Steel-types, which can be annoying for Clefable.
For the Special Attack slot, I decided that Sticky Web alone wasn't adequate speed control, so I went with Scarf Kartana. Scarf Kartana outspeeds most of the metagame and is strong enough to still be a strong breaker. The great thing about both of my attackers on this team is the potential both of them have to snowball.
To close out the team, I knew I needed a Pokemon that didn't mind being slow. While most people look at Shuckle's Speed stat and automatically assume they have to use something that's already naturally slow, I tried to keep an open mind for what I wanted. I knew the main thing I wanted to do with this last Pokemon is patch up the weakness this team had to Electric-types, particularly Tapu Koko. With that I knew I wanted a Ground-type, but I also wanted to have a way to remove hazards in a pinch, as Slowbro is a little bit susceptible to them. With that, the choice of Lando-T was obvious. Lando-T is very common in Godly Gift, but a 5 Speed Lando-T is definitely not something people think to use. Lando-T is a solid check to Tapu Koko and is still able to achieve its roles fine without Speed. It actually has a fantastic matchup against Trick Room teams thanks to its lack of Speed.
With that, we had our team of 6! Only made minor tweaks after this point that aren't worth mentioning. Let's take a closer look at each mon.
The Team
Shuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Sticky Web
- Infestation
As mentioned earlier, I went with a standard hazards set with Shuckle. Stealth Rock is the main move you'll be clicking for this team, as the chip damage helps all of your Pokemon. Ultimately for this team Webs is not the priority, as you'll mostly be sweeping with Clefable. However, there can be moments where they're needed to allow Blacephalon or Kartana to sweep, so be sure to pay attention to the situation. Encore and Infestation are both tools that help you keep hazards up or safely get a Pokemon in, and Encore in particular is great at ensuring setup sweepers don't take advantage of Shuckle. Mental Herb allows you to get a hazard up against Taunt users.
Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Trick
Choice Specs Blacephalon is the main breaker of this team, and plays very simply. Click whatever STAB you think is best for the situation and hope you made the right choice, if not it's okay you probably did a huge chunk of damage anyways. Overheat can be clicked over Fire Blast in cases where the higher BP and accuracy will be relevant, but otherwise Fire Blast is more consistent damage if you'll be in for a few turns. Trick is key for this team in certain matchups, so be sure to use it wisely and keep Blacephalon alive in those matchups long enough to use it.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
The main sweeper of this team is Calm Mind Clefable, which uses its Fairy typing to check a plethora of threats that would otherwise run through this team like Weavile, Persian-Alola, and Rayquaza. Like I mentioned before it finds a really easy time setting up against almost any physical attacker, even beasts like LO Rayquaza. Stored Power is the key to this set as it allows you to threaten Unaware Clefable and Corviknight while having a way to threaten the Nidos and opposing Calm Mind users. Clefable can struggle against powerful special attackers like Tapu Koko, so be sure to only stay in against them if you've already set up one or two Calm Minds.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Kartana is great at stopping opposing sweepers if you can get it in safely, since it's strong enough to KO a lot of mons with minimal chip. Knock Off and Sacred Sword provide good coverage and lets you hit Pokemon like Necrozma-DM and opposing Blacephalon and Kartana. Being Choice-locked an be unfortunate in some cases, but the speed tier is invaluable so do your best to not get your Scarf removed. Additionally, be sure to keep this healthy in matchups against offense as the odds are you will need it at some point.
Slowbro @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Body Press
- Future Sight
- Grass Knot
Slowbro is an amazing blanket check to the special attackers of the tier and wraps a Kyogre and Nidoking check into one. Scald makes Slowbro a decent check to Necrozma-DM, as you will very likely get a burn if it tries to set up against it. Body Press is great for Kyurem-White, Dialga, and Dark-types like Weavile and Bisharp trying to switch in, or even for taking a hit from them if you absolutely have to. Future Sight helps keep pressure on teams and makes it easier for this team to break past some bulkier threats. You can find a lot of opportunities to click it against special attackers as they often won't do enough damage in 2 turns to out-damage the HP recovered from Regenerator. Grass Knot is largely filler and could be replaced with other options like Flamethrower or Ice Beam, but I went with it here to damage Gastrodon and opposing Slowbro.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Defog
For this team, keeping hazards up isn't really realistic compared to Webs HO teams, while keeping hazards off the field has clear benefits for the team. With that, I decided to go with Defog Landorus-T as it is pretty reliable at keeping hazards off the field. I went with Earth Power over Earthquake to hit Kartana, which otherwise can be a little difficult for this team to damage. Max Special Defense is so that it can check Tapu Koko and Regieleki more reliably. With such low speed (only 13 with minimum IVs), you're always going to be the slowest Pokemon on the field, so keep that in mind when clicking Toxic and use that to your advantage when slow pivoting with U-turn.
ThreatsShuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Sticky Web
- Infestation
As mentioned earlier, I went with a standard hazards set with Shuckle. Stealth Rock is the main move you'll be clicking for this team, as the chip damage helps all of your Pokemon. Ultimately for this team Webs is not the priority, as you'll mostly be sweeping with Clefable. However, there can be moments where they're needed to allow Blacephalon or Kartana to sweep, so be sure to pay attention to the situation. Encore and Infestation are both tools that help you keep hazards up or safely get a Pokemon in, and Encore in particular is great at ensuring setup sweepers don't take advantage of Shuckle. Mental Herb allows you to get a hazard up against Taunt users.
Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Trick
Choice Specs Blacephalon is the main breaker of this team, and plays very simply. Click whatever STAB you think is best for the situation and hope you made the right choice, if not it's okay you probably did a huge chunk of damage anyways. Overheat can be clicked over Fire Blast in cases where the higher BP and accuracy will be relevant, but otherwise Fire Blast is more consistent damage if you'll be in for a few turns. Trick is key for this team in certain matchups, so be sure to use it wisely and keep Blacephalon alive in those matchups long enough to use it.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
The main sweeper of this team is Calm Mind Clefable, which uses its Fairy typing to check a plethora of threats that would otherwise run through this team like Weavile, Persian-Alola, and Rayquaza. Like I mentioned before it finds a really easy time setting up against almost any physical attacker, even beasts like LO Rayquaza. Stored Power is the key to this set as it allows you to threaten Unaware Clefable and Corviknight while having a way to threaten the Nidos and opposing Calm Mind users. Clefable can struggle against powerful special attackers like Tapu Koko, so be sure to only stay in against them if you've already set up one or two Calm Minds.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Kartana is great at stopping opposing sweepers if you can get it in safely, since it's strong enough to KO a lot of mons with minimal chip. Knock Off and Sacred Sword provide good coverage and lets you hit Pokemon like Necrozma-DM and opposing Blacephalon and Kartana. Being Choice-locked an be unfortunate in some cases, but the speed tier is invaluable so do your best to not get your Scarf removed. Additionally, be sure to keep this healthy in matchups against offense as the odds are you will need it at some point.
Slowbro @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Body Press
- Future Sight
- Grass Knot
Slowbro is an amazing blanket check to the special attackers of the tier and wraps a Kyogre and Nidoking check into one. Scald makes Slowbro a decent check to Necrozma-DM, as you will very likely get a burn if it tries to set up against it. Body Press is great for Kyurem-White, Dialga, and Dark-types like Weavile and Bisharp trying to switch in, or even for taking a hit from them if you absolutely have to. Future Sight helps keep pressure on teams and makes it easier for this team to break past some bulkier threats. You can find a lot of opportunities to click it against special attackers as they often won't do enough damage in 2 turns to out-damage the HP recovered from Regenerator. Grass Knot is largely filler and could be replaced with other options like Flamethrower or Ice Beam, but I went with it here to damage Gastrodon and opposing Slowbro.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Defog
For this team, keeping hazards up isn't really realistic compared to Webs HO teams, while keeping hazards off the field has clear benefits for the team. With that, I decided to go with Defog Landorus-T as it is pretty reliable at keeping hazards off the field. I went with Earth Power over Earthquake to hit Kartana, which otherwise can be a little difficult for this team to damage. Max Special Defense is so that it can check Tapu Koko and Regieleki more reliably. With such low speed (only 13 with minimum IVs), you're always going to be the slowest Pokemon on the field, so keep that in mind when clicking Toxic and use that to your advantage when slow pivoting with U-turn.
Other minor threats: Trick, Taunt, Ferrothorn. A well placed Trick and Taunt can disable Clefable's sweep, which does make it more difficult in the long run but not impossible. Even a choice-locked Clefable can wall physical threats if played well, but sweeping with it is very unlikely. Ferrothorn is also a minor threat, especially if Clefable gets Tricked, because it can set hazards reliably against the team and annoys most Pokemon on the team. If you try out it becomes too much, try Flamethrower on Slowbro.
Conclusion
Thank you all for reading! I had a ton of fun building and using this team on the suspect ladder, and was honestly a little surprised by how well it performed since Godly Gift is far from the main OM I play. Hopefully other people can have as much fun as I did when using it and if not, I hope you at least had fun reading about it.
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8godlygift-1620134021 vs Kyogre god, shows that Trick/Switcheroo can be difficult to play around but barely pulled it out
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8godlygift-1620193205-g4b7qt2shyvr3qv68w3ntw3txu51fvtpw vs Rayquaza god HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8godlygift-1617274591 vs Kyurem-White god
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8godlygift-1617338655 vs Kyurem-Black god
Shuckle @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Sticky Web
- Infestation
Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Trick
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Slowbro @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Body Press
- Future Sight
- Grass Knot
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Defog
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Sticky Web
- Infestation
Blacephalon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Trick
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Slowbro @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Body Press
- Future Sight
- Grass Knot
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Defog
Tbh I'm not the kind of person to tag a million people with my shoutouts, just know I appreciate everyone I interact with and am thankful or you all! especially to the K and what is pogging squads or especially especially if I send you tiktoks and tweets, you all make this site great for me
also Aeonic smells
also Aeonic smells
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