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So, I've had an idea that's been bouncing about in my head for a while, and the premise is simple. A challenge where the player gets to (at least) 100 wins without using any common Maison mons. The "banlist" would look something like this:
Mega Kangaskhan (normal is fine)
Durant
Suicune
Aegislash (? Is it common?)
Garchomp
Gliscor
Greninja (?)
Any combination of level one endeavor/trick room setter
Mega Khan
Greninja
Scizor (mega or otherwise)
Greninja
Talonflame
Tyranitar (?)
Sylveon (?)
Klefki
Mega Mawile
Mega Khan
I'm a little hesitant to even do anything here (provided you're with the AI), as Multis is a little crazy with AI, and we only actually have 4 records above 100 with the AI, so perhaps something like
Mega Charizard Y
Typloshion
Aerodactyl
Steven?
This list is honestly really arbitrary and just stuff I pulled off by looking at the streaks and getting a feel for what's good, so an accomplished Maison player would obviously be better than me at making a list, but the list really isn't the point. The point is to create new teams that are (hopefully) fun to play and use new, different mons. For instance, I while back I saw a team utilizing round, which looked really fun to play and I'd never seen round actually used, so that was a bonus. (here it is, post #2909) Hopefully, by not using common pokemon, we'd look at other pokemon which might have potential, but don't really get used. So, if you're up to it, go for it (I won't for now, I need to get all the trophies first :P), and report on your progress here. Good luck!
So, I've had an idea that's been bouncing about in my head for a while, and the premise is simple. A challenge where the player gets to (at least) 100 wins without using any common Maison mons. The "banlist" would look something like this:
Mega Kangaskhan (normal is fine)
Durant
Suicune
Aegislash (? Is it common?)
Garchomp
Gliscor
Greninja (?)
Comments: I decided to build an hyper offense team based on Mega Salamence. This mon is an incredible beast, which can OHKO a huge part of my opponents at +1. Substitute allows it to place itself against Pokemon which brings hazards (Will-O-Wisp, Toxic+Protect, Leech Seed+Protect, Stealth Rock, Spikes...), and then make holes. As Mence is very weak against Ice, I had to unite it with mons which are able to break any Ice Pokemon: Grass Knot Greninja and Aegislash are their nightmares. I put Grass Knot on Greninja to destroy Water Pokemons with Ice Beam, but I really wonder if later I'll learn him Low Kick or something else. It's really hard for me to find the greatest moves on Greninja, but I think those are among the bests. For the Rock, Dragon and Fairy moves, Aegislash tanks them easily, and can boost himself with Swords Dance/King's Shield + make holes on opponent's teams with Shadow Sneak and Sacred Sword: no Pokemon type can resists to Ghost AND Fighting moves.
Threats: Pokemons which are super effective against Salamence AND Aegislash (Rhyperior, Golem, etc...). Those Pokemon are huge nuisances, cause it's so hard to put Greninja on an Earthquake or a Stone Edge. My only solutions against them is to bring Salamence to Intimidate them on the Earthquake on Aegislash, and then bring Greninja. But if Salamence already Mega Evolve, I have to PP stall the Earthquakes, or someone has to die.
Forecasts: I think I'm able to reach 100-150 Streak Wins with this team: I don't think I'll be able to reach 373 like I did with my hard stall team one year ago. But honestly, I don't know if my forecast is realistic: the hax will probably tell me the future.
Free Hugs (Ferrothorn) @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Explosion
Pizzaïolo (Rotom-Heat) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 1 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hex
Comments: Slowbro and Mega Audino are a GREAT defensive core. Physically and specially, it's so hard for opponents to OHKO them: the SpD EVs on Slowbro allows him to survive on Solar Beams from any Fire Pokemon (even 252 SpA Mega Charizard Y which doesn't exist on the BM). On the first turn in battle, my only question is: who will trick room? Slowbro if my opponents are physical, Audino if they are special. Scald/Flamethrower on Slowbro are useful for threats which can KO Slowbro + Audino (Escavalier, Swords Dance Scizor, Curse Armaldo, Steelix...), and Wish/Protect on Audino are useful for healing my two sweepers: Ferrothorn+Heat Rotom, with whom the types are amazingly complementary.
Choice Band Ferrothorn is a joke for most of us, but it makes HUGE holes on opponent teams: it's my Pokemon which kills the greatest number of opponents in 90% of my battles.
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Jolteon: 127-150 (90.7 - 107.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Latias: 186-219 (99.4 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 180-212 (86.9 - 102.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Ferrothorn Explosion vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Slowbro: 172-203 (85.1 - 100.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
And Heat Rotom is a beast.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Rotom-H Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blastoise: 164-194 (88.1 - 104.3%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Rotom-H Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Raikou: 157-186 (95.1 - 112.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
Threats: I had to put Hex on Rotom and Knock Off on Ferro, because Reuniclus and Cofagrigus are really annoying for my team. They're really slow, so they can easily Calm Mind, and then make holes on my team. So the plan is to poison them with Audino (for doubling the power of Hex), and then Hex with Rotom + Knock Off with Ferro. But it's not easy, because they attack before my Rotom after a Trick Room, or before my Ferro without the Trick Room. That's why they're really annoying: they can be really dangerous once boosted, and they will attack before at least one of my two sweepers.
Forecasts: I think this team is really solid, with an incredibly bulky defensive core, and an incredibly powerful offensive core. But the fact is that hikers give me problems very often. So I think I'll reach 100-150 Streak Wins with this team, like the forecast for my Super Singles Team.
PetitPatapon (Aron) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
- Protect
- Endeavor
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Godzilla (Tyranitar) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Earthquake
Bathory (Mawile) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
Surimi (Clawitzer) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Dragon Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
Comments: Before reaching the 50 Streak Wins, I never had played in Triples ever. That's why before my Streak, I analyzed teams from players which had amazing Streaks, and I retained the Pikiwin's team. Protect with Taillow and Aron in turn 1 + Trick Room with Hypno (taking advantages of the AI's stupidity which only attacks my level 1 mons), and then Endeavor with Taillow and Aron + Dazzling with Hypno to destroy two opponents each turn before they attacked me (Hypno has 67 in Spe, and is slower than 50's with Relaxed nature + 0 Spe IVs). This is the same strategy of Pikiwin, but his choice to put Mushana instead of Hypno is, for me, not the best one, because... even if Mushana is more slow, bulky, and specially offensive than Hypno, if one Rock Slide touchs Mushana and flinches it, this can be the end of the team, and that's the reason why Pikiwin lost at his 435th battle. So I decided to put Hypno with Lum + Inner Focus, which makes nearly impossible the fact he cannot Trick Room. And if Hypno Trick Rooms, it's GG 99,99999% of time... if it's not 100%.
Threats: GRENINJA WITH WATER SHURIKEN. This thing is the worse for me (even if it's so rare to find it), because it can OHKO any of my level 1 mons before the Endeavor, which is the key of my team's strategy. MOLD BREAKER EXCADRILL is a great threat too, because Earthquake OHKOs Aron, and I don't have any safe switch on that (maybe I should substitute Clawitzer by an Air Balloon slow Pokemon? I don't know...). Snow Warning is not a threat, because I can switch my Taillow on Tyranitar at the first turn. Hail Pokemons are annoying too, but they never will Hail if they can OHKO my level 1 mons (or... BELIEVE that they can OHKO them: Taillow can take 2 hits, and Aron 3). Ghost types are a little threat (depends on how much they are on the opponents side), but Scrappy Taillow allows it to touch ghosts, and LO Tyranitar with Crunch destroys them as Sucker Punch Mawile and Dark Pulse Clawitzer. Then, Pokemons which are slower than Hypno and can take Endeavor + Dazzling Gleam are really annoying (Probopass, Registeel, Bastiodon...), and worse: Pokemon which can take E+DG and have priorities or moves which can touch all the foes like Blizzard, Rock Slide, Heat Wave... But be quiet: with TTar, Mega Mawile and Clawitzer, I have a great coverage in case of emergency ;)
Forecasts: I really don't see any limit with this team. Maybe the Mold Breaker Excadrill? I don't know. But I'll think about it, maybe replace my Clawitzer (or the Mawile by another slow mega mon), and thinks that this team has the potentiel to be a part of the best Battle Maison teams ever in Triples. I honestly think I can reach 1000 Streak Wins or more with it. But it's just a forecast.
Comments: I REALLY (really) hate the Rotating battles (maybe because I'm a noob on this format), because, each time, I have to wonder if I have 33% or 67% of chance to be able to safely make a move on the opponent team, and that's REALLY (really) annoying for me. But the most annoying reason is that often (and I don't know why), the game doesn't remember the last move I executed. This means that when I press A, it doesn't offer me the last attack but the first on my moveset, and I very often make missclicks because of that (I made one on my battle against the Chatelaine), so... Anyway. For this format, I builded a balanced team, with mons which are capable to make holes and tank hits: Serp, Zard and Cune are a great core, and can quickly GG the opponents. The core is supported by a physically defensive Gliscor, with EVs to have divisible by 8 HPs at level 50.
Threats: The luck. And nothing else. On the Battle Maison, Pokemon which can peacefully take hits from my 3 first Pokemons don't exist. That's why the luck is the only huge threat on my team: for example, if I see that Dragon Claw from Zard OHKOs 2 opponents, but one Carbink is on the opponent side of the field, I have 67% of chance to take a huge advantage on the game, but 33% to be close to lose it. I admit I had luck against the Rotation Chatelaine and that I maybe didn't deserved to defeat her...
Forecasts: None. It could be 50 like it could be 500. I don't know, and I don't care. Hax will tell us the truth.
Ptéra (Aerodactyl) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Ice Fang
- Fire Fang
- Thunder Fang
Métalosse (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm
Comments: This format is really fun and intresting, but really difficult... Because we don't know what the computer will do (and because the computer is Steven and not others, which whom you would be unable to reach 10 Streak Wins LOL), and because base a team on a Focus Sash Aerodactyl and a 0 HP and 0 Spe Mega Metagross in doubles is really... hard. I thought about Dual Screen Klefki which would allow Metagross to make holes in opponent teams while really well tanking hits. And then, why not add a Mega which can take advantage of the Dual Screen to become invincible, and which resists to Fire and Ground moves (the Klefki's weaknesses)? Mega Gyarados. With the screens, it becomes sooo bulky, can easily place a Substitute, and after one or two DD becomes nearly invincible. I put T-Wave on Klefki because it's useful for Gross: it can then OHKO nuisances like Virizion or Terrakion which could seriously hurt Mega Gyarados before being defeated by Gross. Toxic is useless, but more useful than Dazzling or Foul Play. I really didn't found a better move. And its spread is objectivelly the best: it allow it the best covering against physical + special moves.
Threats: Magnezone is the greatest. It cannot be paralysed, poisoned, it can KOs Aero + para him, it can KOs Gyarados, and Metagross cannot OHKOs him with Hammer Arm. That's why I hesitate to put Earthquake on Gyara instead of Crunch, but Earthquake destroys Gross (especially at +1 and without the screens), so I don't know. The hax is a huge threat too, of course.
Forecasts: I don't know, and I don't care. This format is fun and nice, but not intresting (for me).
I'll keep you updated of my streaks! See you everyone :)
So, I've had an idea that's been bouncing about in my head for a while, and the premise is simple. A challenge where the player gets to (at least) 100 wins without using any common Maison mons. The "banlist" would look something like this:
Mega Kangaskhan (normal is fine)
Durant
Suicune
Aegislash (? Is it common?)
Garchomp
Gliscor
Greninja (?)
Any combination of level one endeavor/trick room setter
Mega Khan
Greninja
Scizor (mega or otherwise)
Greninja
Talonflame
Tyranitar (?)
Sylveon (?)
Klefki
Mega Mawile
Mega Khan
I'm a little hesitant to even do anything here (provided you're with the AI), as Multis is a little crazy with AI, and we only actually have 4 records above 100 with the AI, so perhaps something like
Mega Charizard Y
Typloshion
Aerodactyl
Steven?
This list is honestly really arbitrary and just stuff I pulled off by looking at the streaks and getting a feel for what's good, so an accomplished Maison player would obviously be better than me at making a list, but the list really isn't the point. The point is to create new teams that are (hopefully) fun to play and use new, different mons. For instance, I while back I saw a team utilizing round, which looked really fun to play and I'd never seen round actually used, so that was a bonus. (here it is, post #2909) Hopefully, by not using common pokemon, we'd look at other pokemon which might have potential, but don't really get used. So, if you're up to it, go for it (I won't for now, I need to get all the trophies first :P), and report on your progress here. Good luck!
Triples is not terribly difficult even without the extremely effective Tailwind+Mat Block combo, as it doesn't outlaw Trick Room, either; even then, were you to ban the more common setters like Aromatisse, or sweepers like Aron and Conkeldurr, I've still managed to clear 100 battles without it, while even forcing myself to use a number of shitty pokemon at times (my very first post in this thread displays just this feat, actually.)
Still, though, it is fun to play with unorthodox teams, so I like this all the same.
I'm thrilled to see Dutch's Manectric managed to snarl and fry its way through a thousand battles!
So, I've had an idea that's been bouncing about in my head for a while, and the premise is simple. A challenge where the player gets to (at least) 100 wins without using any common Maison mons. The "banlist" would look something like this:
Mega Kangaskhan (normal is fine)
Durant
Suicune
Aegislash (? Is it common?)
Garchomp
Gliscor
Greninja (?)
Any combination of level one endeavor/trick room setter
Mega Khan
Greninja
Scizor (mega or otherwise)
Greninja
Talonflame
Tyranitar (?)
Sylveon (?)
Klefki
Mega Mawile
Mega Khan
I'm a little hesitant to even do anything here (provided you're with the AI), as Multis is a little crazy with AI, and we only actually have 4 records above 100 with the AI, so perhaps something like
Mega Charizard Y
Typloshion
Aerodactyl
Steven?
This list is honestly really arbitrary and just stuff I pulled off by looking at the streaks and getting a feel for what's good, so an accomplished Maison player would obviously be better than me at making a list, but the list really isn't the point. The point is to create new teams that are (hopefully) fun to play and use new, different mons. For instance, I while back I saw a team utilizing round, which looked really fun to play and I'd never seen round actually used, so that was a bonus. (here it is, post #2909) Hopefully, by not using common pokemon, we'd look at other pokemon which might have potential, but don't really get used. So, if you're up to it, go for it (I won't for now, I need to get all the trophies first :P), and report on your progress here. Good luck!
I don't think we need to track this sort of thing on the leaderboard, but if you'd like to track it yourself, I will be happy to dredge up any videos I can for teams that meet these criteria. =)
Doubt, I definitely love seeing unorthodox teams have success, though any sort of banned list for would either have to be extremely broad or very arbitrary, likely both. Accordingly, I think making this a formal challenge would be difficult. Still, thinking of what might go on such a banned list does encourage one to think carefully about what works best in the maison and why, so it serves a valuable purpose just as a thought experiment.
A few thoughts on specific Pokemon you suggest (again, as a thought experiment only, I don't see any sort of official Maison-lite format arising out of this):
Garchomp is typically worse than Dragonite in Singles, so Dragonite should be banned before Garchomp is. Aegislash and Greninja, your question marks, are definitely S-class too.
Scizor doesn't seem too dominant in doubles, though it is a generally "over used" maison Pokemon. Is weather in doubles abusable enough to consider banning auto weather setters? And what about non-Aron Trick Room teams?
Neither Tyranitar nor Sylveon are particularly busted in triples, particularly since Sylveon really depends on speed control while Tyranitar can be replaced with Hippodown if you really want sand up. A more interesting approach to triples might be to avoid banning specific Pokemon, and just ban Mat Block, Tailwind, and Trick Room. Zounds of Pokemon can find success in triples, thanks to the large team sizes and easier ability to develop synergies, so banning the most abusable set up moves is probably better. Just banning Talonflame, for example, makes something like Tailwind / Rain Dance Aerodactyl appealing, while as ReptoAbysmal notes, there are many reasonably interchangable Trick Room setters, so banning just the best couple would only have a limited impact.
In the spirit of your idea, another thing we couple play with is the idea of tiering Maison pokemon. We already tier Pokemon for in game playthroughs, so doesn't seem that absurd to do something similar for Maison play.
Doubt, I definitely love seeing unorthodox teams have success, though any sort of banned list for would either have to be extremely broad or very arbitrary, likely both. Accordingly, I think making this a formal challenge would be difficult. Still, thinking of what might go on such a banned list does encourage one to think carefully about what works best in the maison and why, so it serves a valuable purpose just as a thought experiment.
A few thoughts on specific Pokemon you suggest (again, as a thought experiment only, I don't see any sort of official Maison-lite format arising out of this):
Garchomp is typically worse than Dragonite in Singles, so Dragonite should be banned before Garchomp is. Aegislash and Greninja, your question marks, are definitely S-class too.
Scizor doesn't seem too dominant in doubles, though it is a generally "over used" maison Pokemon. Is weather in doubles abusable enough to consider banning auto weather setters? And what about non-Aron Trick Room teams?
Neither Tyranitar nor Sylveon are particularly busted in triples, particularly since Sylveon really depends on speed control while Tyranitar can be replaced with Hippodown if you really want sand up. A more interesting approach to triples might be to avoid banning specific Pokemon, and just ban Mat Block, Tailwind, and Trick Room. Zounds of Pokemon can find success in triples, thanks to the large team sizes and easier ability to develop synergies, so banning the most abusable set up moves is probably better. Just banning Talonflame, for example, makes something like Tailwind / Rain Dance Aerodactyl appealing, while as ReptoAbysmal notes, there are many reasonably interchangable Trick Room setters, so banning just the best couple would only have a limited impact.
In the spirit of your idea, another thing we couple play with is the idea of tiering Maison pokemon. We already tier Pokemon for in game playthroughs, so doesn't seem that absurd to do something similar for Maison play.
Yeah, I do think tiering might be a fun idea, especially to help organize an OP for players who just want all five trophies. I do think we might need a separate thread if we want to follow through with it; it would prevent needless pollution of this thread and focus discussion. I think someone really good with this sort of stuff would need to make the OP, though.
Maybe we could have a separate thread for Maison-specific challenges? Random stuff like "make a 100 battle streak in Super Doubles with a Trick Room team where one of your leads has >100 base speed?
I've been wanting to try TerraCott in the Maison for some time. I finally got the inspiration and started with Peterko's Subway team of Weavile/Terrakion/Latios/Suicune, which seemed like the best TerraCott team in battle facilities so far.
Terrakion, Weavile and Latios form a sound core; for the fourth Pokémon, I added Aegislash. Since Weavile now has a 97.5 BP Knock Off and Beat Up's base power sucks in Doubles, I tutored my Weavile Knock Off over Protect. For the first 50 battles, I used Life Orb on Latios and Weakness Policy on Aegislash. Protect and Ice Shard would also be useful to have, but Weavile already needs its four moves.
After battle 50, I realized I wasn't using a Mega and that Latios had the ability to hold a Mega Stone. Doing so would free up Life Orb for Aegislash, but Mega Latios sounded really underwhelming - could it really be worth it?
Comparing the two options, Latiosite yields a ~15% increase in damage as opposed to Life Orb's 30% boost, removes Life Orb damage, and gives Latios +20 base Defense and +10 base Special Defense. Doing calcs, Mega Latios was able to survive Weavile Ice Punch, which made it look appealing, so I made the change. Mega Latias might be an option for even more bulk, but the power drop may be too drastic - I don't have a Timid Latias, so it was not an option for me. In practice, running Latiosite over Life Orb definitely paid off even before the benefit of freeing up Life Orb for Aegislash.
I was also using X-Scissor on Terrakion in battles 1-50 from copying Peterko's Subway team; howewer, with Knock Off's power, it seemed unnecessary as +4 X-Scissor was not a guaranteed KO on Slowbro4, so I replaced it with Earthquake at Battle 50. Earthquake turned out to be better for this team.
There's not much more to say; you know what TerraCott does, Latios has good synergy with Terrakion and has been used with it succesfully in the Subway, and Aegislash rounds out the team nicely. With Fake Out and good switch options, the opening is versatile; Beat Up is used on Turn 1 maybe around 60-70% of the time.
Regarding banlists, I think sane banlists would be very difficult to produce as there are no good usage stats aside from a very limited leaderboard sample. For example, prior to this streak post, Terrakion was not on the Doubles leaderboard at all; did it just jump from never-used to overused and gain a spot on the banlist? Is Mega Latios a trash Mega that qualifies as underused, or is it allowed - or Mega Latias, which hasn't seen big streaks in any mode yet, or are they both banned for being strongmons? Weavile was not in the top 10 on the Doubles leaderboard before; is it ban-worthy now? Or is the TerraCott strategy what makes these Pokémon overused, also banning Terrakion/Whimsicott? If a team of previously unused Pokémon turns out to be successful and yields a 300+ win streak in a banlist challenge, do those Pokémon become OU and unusable for future challenges?
Subjective power/viability rankings sound feasible, but they would probably end up reciting the Pokémon used in the top 5 teams on the leaderboard.
I don't like the idea of gimping your Pokémon selection. The Maison already has a brief banlist shared by both the player and the AI, and it's plenty difficult even without limiting your options - say hello to Tornadus, Donphan, Walrein and friends. There's room for new ideas in every mode even if you're running Latios or Scizor on every team - the whole team doesn't need to be underused for it to be fresh, and not having access to standard, strong Pokémon where they're appropriate might even render many otherwise viable rarely used Pokémon unusable thanks to the best glue Pokémon in the Maison not being available. For example, removing Scizor and Aegislash in Doubles removes two of the best Steel-types in the Maison - having to run Metagross when you want a Steel-type for your core because the best choices are arbitrarily disallowed doesn't sound very inspiring.
Nice work with the Terracott team, turskain! It's cool to see Mega Latios getting a little use (though it's sad they designed a mega whose real purpose in life is "free up a Life Orb slot").
Seeing as how I'm doing my own "Maison challenge" at the moment (beat the chatelaines in each mode with a different new mega), I'm certainly open to challenges. That said, the implementation seems really tricky in most of the modes. Singles is the most feasible, but like turskain said, completely eliminating the top Pokemon really prevents certain less-used Pokemon from shining. I have a 249 singles streak (lost at 250) using two Pokemon that aren't on the Singles leaderboard yet (I haven't posted it because I'd like to try them again once I finish up triples...I lost because of a really dumb misplay), but the team would have absolutely fallen apart without the third Pokemon, which is heavily used. I'm more inclined to have people take on their own challenges, or maybe even accept challenges other users make (e.g. "get as far as you can in Singles with Rhyperior, no Mega Kangaskhan or Durant allowed" or something like that) than to have a specific "banlist" challenge.
I have issues with the tiering idea for the same reason turskain does; too many Pokemon only function because of their teammates. I've argued elsewhere that Togekiss is generally a crappy Pokemon in Singles, but I managed to get it over 500 because it was an amazing support for Mega Kangaskhan and Aegislash. Whimsicott is clearly only useful as a crippler/Durant enabler, but it's in the #1 spot in Singles. Similarly, even a team of three SUPER good Pokemon can be fairly bad, because it doesn't utilize their synergy appropriately. And yeah, we could say "Super Singles S tier is Mega Kangaskhan, Suicune, Gliscor, Durant, Dragonite, Aegislash, and Mega Scizor because they're all really powerful and pretty easy to fit into a team," but everything below that is really murky. So really, all we'd be doing is defining a "top Maison Pokemon" list, which we kind of already have linked on the first page via NoCheese's signature.
I've decided to try Super Doubles for the first time. I've never played competitive double battles, so I took four random Pokémon I had in my boxes and "tweaked" them looking at some sets. I'm currently using Mega-Scizor/Tyranitar/Infernape/Azumarill, and I've won 25 battles with them until now (I know it's not a great streak, but it's my first time double battling xD).
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Roost
As I said, they're pretty random and not thought for Doubles (maybe except for Tyranitar, since it's a VGC set). Usually on the first turn Scizor megaevolves and uses Swords Dance, while Tyranitar can use Protect to see what the opponent wants to do or it can use Dragon Dance. I like Tyranitar's set because if it's hit with a weak but supereffective move, it goes to +3 Atk and +1 Spe (after Dragon Dance and Weakness Policy) and it doesn't happen so rarely. On the following turns I just Bullet Punch/Knock Off and Rock Slide things, except when my Pokémon are very weak to one of the opponent's Pokémon.
In that case I just switch into Infernape or Azumarill: both cover Scizor's Fire weakness; Infernape covers some Tyranitar's weaknesses (Bug, Steel, Grass) while Azumarill covers Fighting, Bug and Water. The other two weaknesses are Ground and Fairy. Usually Scizor can take down Fairies before they can do something, Ground weakness it's more of a problem though.
I think that Scizor/Tyranitar work very well together. What about the other two?
Why Infernape? I don't know, I just wanted to try him, and it went better than I expected. I choose Overheat over Fire Blast for more damage and better accuracy (although I know that 90% accuracy in the Maison it's not so good). The special attack drop doesn't matter too much, because I use it only during the final part of the match and don't need to use it lots of times. So, I like Infernape, but it's not a problem if it's outclassed by someone else and I have to change it, I'd like to have some advices.
Last, Azumarill. I'm using BellyJet because I had this in my boxes, but sometimes I find it difficult to use Belly Drum at the right time. Like for Infernape, I'd like to know if I should modify Azumarill's set or remove it completely in favor of someone else.
I think the team it's too Physically oriented, I only have Grass Knot and Overheat on Infernape as Special moves. What should I change? Id' like to mantain Scizor/Tyranitar, but the other two can go away if there's something better!
Maybe we could have a separate thread for Maison-specific challenges? Random stuff like "make a 100 battle streak in Super Doubles with a Trick Room team where one of your leads has >100 base speed?
In my opinion, there should never be two Maison threads at the same time/during the same Generation.
A certain group of Smogonites will ''hang-out'' in the ''more competitive'' one, while others will only be present in the ''Maison-specific'' one. It also means that (unless NoCheese runs it), there will be two different people maintaining the thread who will end up maintaining it different from one another.
In my opinion, NoCheese is doing an excellent job at running this one so there shouldn't be a second thread (mainly for my earlier mentioned reason).
Banning Pokémon to be put on a certain record list is impossible. We've tried it before with Durant and ended up with way too many opinions. After that we decided to allow everything that the game allows us to use, which (in hindsight), I totally agree with. Besides, in order to ban multiple Pokémon we would need a tiering council and we do not have one. Who am I to judge about Klefki in Rotations? Should I vote to ban it, because Turskain got to 600+ with it?
People who dislike certain Pokémon or the Pokémon on top of the record list are free to not use them.
The minimum to be put on the record list is 70, which should get you up there with lesser Mons in (most) modes. And if you really want to share a team with the community which uses Pokémon not on the record list / Pokémon most would consider garbage, you are always free to post about it and shouldn't care that it's on the bottom of the record list in the first place.
I myself have been thinking about the following idea to (maybe) spice things up a little;
Beat the Maison with their own Pokémon.
It's very simple, use 2-3-4-6 Pokémon that the Maison could throw at you. Copy their item/EVs/moveset and use your ability of choice since abilities aren't set in the Maison. An example for Doubles:
Dusknoir4 / Escavalier3 / Conkeldurr4 / Trevenant4
(Heh, you had to use a Trick Room example, didn't you Eppie?)
Try to get as high as you possibly can with it and post about your experience with it. I'm hella sure something like this would lead to pretty insane combinations of Maison mons. Combinations which would makes us bite our fingernails would we actually see the Maison throw them at you.
Just my two cents but please, don't consider a second Maison thread. It will destroy this one partly.
Eppie , I LOVE the "Maison vs. Maison" idea. For Singles, Suicune1 is pretty similar to what people already use (though the lack of Scald-thawing is kind of a pain). Darmanitan4, despite the crappy Impish nature, is still Choice Scarf Darmanitan. You also have Choice Band Dragonite and Haxorus (both set 3), Curse+Rest Swampert4, and even a shitty Focus Sash Entrainment Durant4! Terrakion also has some decent sets, and Garchomp 3 and 4 are pretty good.
I don't have much time for breeding, but if I had all of the Maison mons already bred and trained, I would totally do this.
The Maison vs. Maison idea was also brought up by GG Unit on IRC a while back, in the context of Doubles.
Rain might be viable with one of the Ludicolo sets. For Sun, DroughtTales with Scarf Entei/Typhlosion, Life Orb Solar Beam Victreebel, and others could be viable.
If sets from normal Maison (not the Super lines) are included, there is also Whimsicott (199 | Whimsicott2 | Modest | Sitrus Berry | Energy Ball | Moonblast | Leech Seed | Tailwind | Spd/SpA) for a Tailwind romp.
Just one (noob) question: how do you tag people, and how do you put a hide/show menu on your posts?
Cause mine is so long and I would love to short it with menus...
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: I currently have 197 Streak Wins in Super Singles with my Mence/Greninja/Aegi team!
To tag people, type @ followed by their username and don't follow it with any punctuation. So if there was a username of alsks, I would type @alsks and it would tag them. A pop-up menu will also appear, allowing you to select their username.
To hide text, just type "hide" in brackets: []
To end it, put /hide in brackets. To add a label to the hide box, just put =text in the first box. So ["hide=text"] without the quotation marks will look like this...
If we did the Maison vs Maison thing, how much leniency do we grant for IVs? Obviously you don't want to enforce six perfect IVs, and obtaining legends with 4+ perfects in itself takes a while, but how about as it pertains to speed for TR sets? The Maison runs 31 in everything Set 4; would you call foul at someone using a 0 IV in speed?
I already enjoy using a lot of shitty builds/pokes, so this sounds like a lot of fun. If I didn't mind rebreeding a lot, which I kinda do, even the randomness of the AI selection would still be right up my alley! I just need to think of a really ironclad group of 4-6 to work with; maybe ten if they don't take too long.
Edit: Then again, my plate kinda filled itself recently, so perhaps I'll just sit back and see what people come up with, and maybe theorymon myself a little bit.
VaporeonIce you can also use [PLAIN][/PLAIN] tags when describing how to use BB code so that you don't have to use symbols to stop the code from displaying properly. For example, putting a plain tag on the ends of a hide tag would make it look like this:
Finally got all five trophies in Omega Ruby, completing the "one new Mega for each mode" challenge I set for myself. The megas I used (in the order I completed the modes) were:
Rotations: Latias
Multis: Sharpedo
Singles: Lopunny (Mega Lop is possibly my favorite Pokemon)
Doubles: Salamence
Triples: Audino
After I finished Singles, I showed my partner (who doesn't play Pokemon) the new megas and asked her to pick which ones I should use. She initially chose Salamence and Pidgeot, but then we scrolled down to the bottom of the page and she saw Mega Audino and decided it was her favorite. She said Pidgeot and Audino; i flat out rejected Pidgeot because I thought it would be absolutely no fun to use a No Guard Pokemon with weaknesses to Ice, Rock, and Electric in either Doubles or Triples. Obviously, I could have run a different Triples team with Mega Pidgeot in the back, but I wanted the mega to play a central role in the team. So Audino and Salamence it was.
I'm not good at Doubles at all, so I kind of just scrounged something together to capitalize on Mega Mence's strengths. I've seen other people on here use the special set in Doubles with some success, so I wanted to try a physical set. Here's the team:
Salamence (M) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate -> Aerilate
Nature: Jolly (Adamant might have been better, but neither one REALLY solves the fundamental flaw in this team)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
~ Dragon Claw
~ Dragon Dance
~ Return
~ Earthquake
Physical Salamence. Gets some Fake Out support and sets up. Dragon Claw hits Dragons (the Latis in particular) and Electrics slightly harder than Return.
Weavile (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pickpocket
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
~ Knock Off
~ Protect
~ Ice Punch
~ Fake Out
The support. Weavile's Fake Out helps ensure Salamence can set up, and she can get a fair number of KOs herself thanks to Knock Off's buff this gen. Pickpocket lets me steal the items of things that break my Sash, which has nabbed me a Muscle Band and such a couple of times. Mostly, it's just better than Pressure.
Mantine (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Def / 164 SpAtk (I...actually have no idea where the other 10 EVs went, if I even used them in the first place)
~ Wide Guard
~ Protect
~ Scald
~ Haze
I didn't like the Rock weakness on the two leads, and I thought having something with Wide Guard would be nice for both Rock Slide and Blizzard. SpAtk EVs guarantee a OHKO on Rhyperior with Scald. Protect for baiting Electric moves; Haze for stuff like Cressselia 2 and other set-up sweepers. Not an amazing Pokemon, but he did his job decently well.
The same Blaziken from Rotations, but with a new item. Salamence obviously baits Ice moves; by switching in on an Ice move and using Protct on the next turn, I have a +1 Atk/+1 Spd Blaziken ready to do some pretty solid damage. Earthquake hits the Rock and Electric types who give Salamence problems. Blaziken gets kills really fast, so he was pretty reliable.
This team is pretty bad, mostly because of its crippling weakness to bulky Waters. Blaziken can switch in on their Ice Beams and Blizzards, but it doesn't have the power to KO a lot of them, even at +1. Obviously, a +1 Mega Salamence OHKOs almost all of them, but if he fails to do so, things go downhill quickly.
I'm definitely approaching Doubles with a bit too much of a "Singles mindset" (e.g. "I need to have a switch-in to this and that and be perfectly prepared for everything"), which doesn't help with teambuilding. Sometimes you just need strong Pokemon to smash through stuff. It doesn't help that some of the Pokemon I considered using (e.g. Rotom-W) aren't easy to breed, particularly with the right Hidden Power. I don't think Dragon Dance Salamence is a great Pokemonto build around in Doubles, either, since you're generally better off smashing face than setting up (unless the thing you're setting up is Trick Room).
The Chatelaine was easy enough; Latios and Raikou led, Weavile Faked Out Latios while Mence set up, Protected while Mence KO'd Latios with Dragon Claw, Knocked Off on Raikou (Raikou blocked it with Protect) while Mence OHKO'd Entei, Weavile hit Raikou with Knock Off (and fainted) while Mence OHKO'd Suicune, and Mence KO'd Raikou with EQ while Blaziken Protected.
This team is horribly weak to Suicune if it comes out when Mence isn't set up (or if it's a bulky set that can tank Return, which two of the sets can). I lost battle #53 by switching out my two leads against a Suicune who I was afraid was set 1 (it was actually set 2), who I was then entirely unable to KO. It also had Water Absorb, which I forgot about, meaning I healed it with Scald. It was depressingly bad play with a fairly bad match-up. If I had used Fake Out on Suicune + DD on Mence, then double targeted Suicune with Return and Knock Off, I guess I probably could have KO'd even if it had been set 1, but that would have left Moltres to do whatever it wanted. So while this may have been a winnable battle, this certainly isn't an impressive enough team to try to take too far. Here's the (depressing) battle video: P3XW-WWWW-WWXL-RFJP
Like I said, I want to give the Singles team another try before I post about them, since it was fairly respectable. It's certainly not amazing, but with a little luck (and no more stupid misplays), I think they can at least hit the 300-400 range, if not 500 or so. The Triples streak is still ongoing (I literally just broke 50 half an hour ago) and they seem pretty good; this is my first fairly serious foray into Triples, so I'm interested to see how it pans out. For now, though, I think I need to take a serious break; the Battle Maison isn't fun if it's the only thing you do all day.
'tis not 100 battles, but I did roll a team I found enjoyable enough to keep through the first 50. With Dana down, it's time for a change.
Gothitelle/M-Steelix/Gardevoir/Thundurus-T/Landorus-T/Clawitzer was the lineup. Fairly synergetic, but too reliant on the OP not leading with Scizor (only fought Scizor3, which holds a Life Orb and is generally worse than Set 4 with or without Technician) or Escavalier (encountered multiple 3s and 4s.) If either one came in later, as they usually did, unless my lineup had some really bad pairings, I was generally able to keep their rampages very short lived, as the brothers and Steelix weren't afraid of them.
I had raised three Gardevoir, one for support and two for damage; in this case I used one with Grass Knot and Thunderbolt because she slaughtered a large number of Steelix's checks, or at least netted 2HKOs on things that weren't likely to target her on the turn Steelix Protected. The iron/crystal snake's other move, aside from the obligatory Quake and Gyro, was Aqua Tail. I never really wished it had Rock Slide, and while Sand Force rarely kicked in, when it did, I had forgotten it had it and was surprised by the substantial damage buff.
I saved a handful of replays I'll probably compile, record over with music and add to my youtube pile, since the nature brothers in particular make this look like a bizarre TR team, and I like that.
Believe it or not, the list of things that outspeed Power Item Thundurus-T is very short. Only the STAB rock users are also able to threaten him. His ground immunity is what brought him into play more than Clawitzer, though that base 145 SpA and decent movepool pulled more than his weight.
You know, remember how during Gen III and IV, whenever you lost in the battle facility you had to do a few rounds of the boring and often super-irritating NFEs? When I learned they'd done away with that in V, with the whole Super format, I was thrilled, but now that we've been doing this for a long time, don't the 1-40 battles feel nearly as bad? When you're used to running calcs for Set 4 builds and have mostly only memorized those builds, and face much crappier sets with what feels like more liberal dosages of status (like Swagger and Confuse Ray) it gives those first several rounds just a pinch of dread. =P
I just wanna chime in and say that everyone here has been a big inspiration to me. Especially those who post often and with passion. I'm currently playing Alpha Sapphire and amassing a streak in Super Singles. I've been big into the Battle Tower/Frontier/Maison ever since Pokemon Emerald. I'm no stranger to the smogon website, but I wanted to finally sign up here because I only discovered this Maison thread a few weeks ago and didn't know so many other people took it seriously. Keep up the fight, you'll be hearing from me again! (Hopefully not too soon, hax willing)
EDIT: also, is there a database that shows what ability a Maison pokemon has? Sometimes I want to know if they have one of their standard or hidden ability. Or does it always default to HA if they possess one? I haven't been great at keeping up with that.
If we did the Maison vs Maison thing, how much leniency do we grant for IVs? Obviously you don't want to enforce six perfect IVs, and obtaining legends with 4+ perfects in itself takes a while, but how about as it pertains to speed for TR sets? The Maison runs 31 in everything Set 4; would you call foul at someone using a 0 IV in speed?
I already enjoy using a lot of shitty builds/pokes, so this sounds like a lot of fun. If I didn't mind rebreeding a lot, which I kinda do, even the randomness of the AI selection would still be right up my alley! I just need to think of a really ironclad group of 4-6 to work with; maybe ten if they don't take too long.
Edit: Then again, my plate kinda filled itself recently, so perhaps I'll just sit back and see what people come up with, and maybe theorymon myself a little bit.
Regarding IV's the fair thing to do would be to use the same IV's as the AI does, meaning either 31/x/31/31/31/31 or 31/31/31/x/31/31, ignoring the slight advantage we have over the AI when it comes to Foul Play (lol) and Swagger damage on Special Pokémon.
In the case of Trick Room, 0 Speed Escavalier Vs. AI's 31 Speed Escavalier is a pretty big advantage if you ask me, and shouldn't be allowed (imo).
In the case of legendaries, I think everyone should use the best legendary they have available, as long as it doesn't give you an advantage over the AI for a Trick Room team or an item/ability like Zoom Lens / Analytic (but we don't have such legendary).
Again, that's just my point of view, I'll hop on the ''upper-hand train'' if anything comes out of this.
You know, remember how during Gen III and IV, whenever you lost in the battle facility you had to do a few rounds of the boring and often super-irritating NFEs? When I learned they'd done away with that in V, with the whole Super format, I was thrilled, but now that we've been doing this for a long time, don't the 1-40 battles feel nearly as bad? When you're used to running calcs for Set 4 builds and have mostly only memorized those builds, and face much crappier sets with what feels like more liberal dosages of status (like Swagger and Confuse Ray) it gives those first several rounds just a pinch of dread. =P
I refer to the first 40 battles as "the gauntlet." It very much feels like a test of endurance to me, and it's definitely a good initial testing grounds for a new team I come up with. (Which is like every week, at this point. =P)
Why is it a good test? Because the number of active sets the AI can pull from in the first 40 battles is basically twice the size of the sets in battles 40+. Sure, the actual pokemon running around in battles 1-40 are individually less threatening (I'm looking at you, Scarf Aerodactyl), but the variance in the teams you come across is so much higher that you come across a particular kind of threat, or a particular combo that stresses your team, with a much higher frequency. So even though it may be much easier to clear the first 40 battles with a serious team than it is to win battles 41-50, it is still a good opening set, and I feel that it's pretty much the right length.
You know that feeling when you're fully motivated to chase down that top record?
You check if all your Pokémon are holding the right items one last time before you talk to the receptionist who welcomes you to the Battle Maison. Next you select your format of choice and almost end up with X Pokémon from your Battle Box which is part of a 6 vs. 6 Wi-Fi team, because you're so eager to start your streak. From that point forward the game is on. You know most of the Maison sets, know the weak spots of your team and most importantly, you've theorymonned multiple situations against bad match-up's in order to figure out a way to keep momentum and have the upper hand. Then your streak starts and you're doing extremely well. You plow your way through the first 50 battles and start setting goals for yourself (100, 200, 300, 400, 500..). You keep achieving your goals because you play flawless and the top record starts whispering in your ears (catch me, catch me), until this happens;
Battle #559 Vs. Pokémon Ranger Willow (Slowbro/Clawitzer/Starmie/Walrein);
WCFW-WWWW-WWXM-JGMB
Arguably, I should have taken out the Clawitzer first but I don't feel like I have to assume I'm going to miss three times with 95% accurate moves (Lax Insense), and get OHKO'd three straight turns right after. The ''Walrein roll'' was a 2.7% chance of happening and that isn't even factoring in the multiple misses against it due to Lax Insense. My streak brutally ends as my greatest nemesis decides my time has come and I'm back at the bottom.
''Started from the bottom now we're here''
Luckily, I'm a stubborn motherfucker so I figure ''hey, it's not gonna pull that shit against me a second time'' So we go back to the receptionist who welcomes me to the Battle Maison. I plow my way through the first 50 battles and start setting goals for myself (100, 200, 300, 400, 500). I keep achieving my goals because I play flawless and the top record starts whispering in my ears (catch me, catch me), and ''I've gotta catch 'em all'';
After 6,000+ battles with the same team I think I can safely say that I've faced almost every possible match-up the AI could throw at me; the best, the worst, the ''I don't care'' ones and the ''please don't'' ones. I've seen 5 straight Rock Slide flinches, first turn OHKO's on Dusclops, Blizzard freezes, Swagger confusions, random Taunts, Quick Claw rampages, 6 straight paralysis, but also dual Explosion leads, Dig + Earthquake combo's, Synchronized Will-O-Wisps and more. During this run I've managed to improvise, adapt and overcome them all, leading to another milestone for Doubles; 2,000 straight wins.
==========================
Battle Maison Super Doubles 2,000 straight wins (ongoing);
Trick Room;
Trick Room twists the dimensions which is needed to make use of the most effective and deadliest Maison Doubles strategy to date; sweeping the AI with a level 1 Aron and a bulky, hard hitting back-up. By using Trick Room and relatively slow Pokémon, speed EVs can be shifted to HP, Defense and Special Defense which allows those slow Pokémon to become incredibly bulky, and Aron to move first on anything without priority moves/items.
Foresight;
Foresight allows Aron to hit Ghost types which is one of the most annoying type for Trick Room teams. Foresight also ''ignores'' Double Team users who try to stall, and allows Kangaskhan to wreck havoc with Fake Out / Double-Edge after Mega evolving.
Night Shade;
Night Shade deals consistant damage which is ideal for a Pokémon with only base 90 Attack, uninvested. Night Shade takes out every non Sitrus Berry Pokémon after a full HP Endeavor from Aron. The only real downside of Night Shade is being unable to hit Normal types.
Brick Break;
Brick Break allows Dusclops to take out Normal types who've been hit by Endeavor. It also ensures to take down Rampardos2 and Rampardos4 after Sitrus Berry activation, which is crucial given that it may have Mold Breaker. Bastiodon4 also falls to Endeavor + Brick Break despite of Sitrus Berry, although it isn't a real threat bar Rock Slide flinches.
''Redrum'' is a reference to Stephen King's ''The Shining'', which is murder spelled backwards.
Endeavor;
Endeavor brings down the targeted Pokémon to 12 or 1 HP, depending on the condition of Aron. This allows me to take out the AI's Pokémon fairly easy with a combination of Endeavor + Night Shade/Brick Break, or even Fake Out/Mach Punch from my back-up.
Toxic;
Toxic is mainly used when facing dual Ghosts or Stall sets and probably 95% of the time when I face Cofagrigus, which removes Sturdy would I have Foresighted it with Dusclops. Spiritomb deserves special mention given that it likes to Sucker Punch Aron, and one of the sets has Substitute.
Swagger;
Swagger sounds like a filler move and while I have to admit that it isn't used much, it really, really isn't a filler move. It is by far better than Stealth Rock/Sleep Talk/Screech or Rain Dance/Sunny Day, unless you run Pokémon that benefit from the latter two. If you don't believe me I'd invite you to watch this battle video from the 1,296 run: AY5W-WWWW-WWWN-YNWH.
Protect;
Protect is mandatory as it allows Aron to go through turn 1 unscattered while Dusclops sets up Trick Room. Since Aron works like a magnet, Protect sees quite a lot of play in later turns, especially when I need to Foresight a Ghost type or to avoid damage from priority moves / twist the dimensions again.
''Mithril'' is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Lord of the Ring's''. Mithril is a metal which is stronger than steel but light as a feather.
Fake Out;
Fake Out is one of the top 5 moves for Maison Doubles and combined with Scrappy/Parental Bond the main reason why I use Kangaskhan. Fake Out reaches a Base Power of 90 (!!) after Mega Evolving thanks to Parental Bond, guaranteeing that the targeted Pokémon will not strike back that turn, with a few exceptions aside (Inner Focus etc). The best part isn't actually the amount of damage it does after Mega Evolution, but the privilege of flinching Ghost types thanks to Scrappy. Consider Mega Kangaskhan for all your Doubles teams for the sole fact that it has access to Fake Out.
Double-Edge;
Double-Edge has pros and cons when comparing it with Return. Double-Edge, (in combination with Night Shade) allows Mega Kangaskhan to OHKO a lot of the AI's Pokémon at the cost of (heavy) recoil. Given that Kangaskhan usually moves before the AI and that Dusclops + Aron do most of the work, I really prefer Double-Edge over Return for critical situations, were Kangaskhan needs to deal as much damage as possible.
Drain Punch;
Drain Punch used to be Rock Slide during the 1,748 and 1,296 runs and was slashed in after I lost to Cradily because Walrein4 screwed me over. Drain Punch allows Kangskhan to restore HP lost from Double-Edge recoil or general damage received from the AI. While a Super Effective Drain Punch deals less damage than a (non resisted) Double-Edge, it is the better option against things that are in KO range to create durability for Kangaskhan.
Sucker Punch;
Sucker Punch deals with Ghost types which can be considered a threat to the team given that Dusclops has to Forrsight them first for Mega Kangaskhan to hit them otherwise. However, the main reason I run Sucker Punch (and not Crunch) is the fact that it has priority. Sucker Punch helps in situations were the AI outslows Kangaskhan during Trick Room, or outspeeds her when Trick Room isn't up (anymore).
Sucker Punch provides great coverage with Drain Punch, while the few Pokémon who'm resist the combination all fall to Double-Edge.
Drain Punch;
Drain Punch is Conkeldurr's strongest accurate move that comes with no drawbacks, but heals it instead. Thanks to Iron Fist, Drain Punch reaches a Base Power of 146 which is incredibly strong.
Knock Off;
Knock Off received an amazing boost in Generation 6 and is one of the best moves for a Fighting type, thanks to it's secondary effect and movetype. Given that all Maison Pokémon have a held item, Knock Off has a Base Power of 97, most of the time.
Ice Punch;
Ice Punch deals with Grass and Flying types, while being boosted by Iron Fist. It provides great coverage for the team in general and OHKO's Pokémon like Landorus/Torterra/Hawlucha.
Mach Punch;
Mach Punch is a great priority move which helps against weakened mons when Trick Room has ran out. It is also boosted by Iron Fist, meaning that it reaches a decent Base Power (78), with priority. Conkeldurr's stats distribution and it's movepool make it the best (non mega) Trick Room attacker out there.
''Undisputed'' is a reference to the film series called ''Undisputed'', which is about the best prison fighters in the world.
Side note: My teams are always 50% male / 50% female if the species allow me to. I do this to minimize things like Cute Charm/Rivalry affection, which is obviously bullshit but I am a perfectionist (which is why Level 1 Aron has flawless IV's).
==========================
If you were to ask me if I'm going to continue this streak; for now, I won't.
The last ~700 battles have been quite stressful as the slightest misplay or hax would mean that I'd be back at zero without really acomplishing anything (I already had the record so the goal was 2,000).
And besides, having the top record which is still live feels pretty great (doesn't it, VaporeonIce ? ^^).
Another reason why I probably won't play for a while is the battle sessions I've done in the past few weeks, which I'll spoiler-post beneath. Quite a few of these sessions are insane for my standards and actually something I'd frown upon would someone post such logs. The reason for these sessions however is that I feel like my play get's better if the session is longer. I've had the feeling during this whole streak that I've been completely able to predict and outpredict Artificial Intelligence.
Here's the log:
Battles: 2.000 Battle Points: 13.894 Rare Candy's: 289 Amount of days: 21 Amount of hours: ~ 100 Average battles per day: 95 Average hours per day: ~ 4.8 Average Battle Points per day: 662
Then there was that one battle against Aurorus/???/Machamp/Armaldo which I almost lost.
Truth be told, for some reason I do not remember the ??? Pokémon and because my heart rate was going through the roof I ended up not saving the battle video, but I did keep a chatlog between me and turskain from #BattleMaison on SynIRC (people should check that channel out more often!). Aurorus had Snow Warning which made me lose Aron on turn 1 or 2 (perhaps the mystery Pokémon was a priority user which would mean I lost Aron on turn 1 because in such situations I open with Trick Room + Endeavor over Trick Room + Protect, but I honestly do not remember). Anyway, here's the log:
22:05 Eppie: Judgement day
22:05 Eppie: Choice Band Armaldo's Stone Edge vs Kangaskhan-Mega (Critical Hit) (205 - 243 HP) Damage: 96.7% - 114.62% | 81.25% Chance to OHKO
22:05 Eppie: If it hits and crits I'm out
22:06 Eppie: didn't happen
22:07 Eppie: Stone Edhe hitting, critting and knocking 100% mega kang out is 4.1%
22:07 Eppie: fuck I forgot to save the video
22:07 turska: it was locked into stone edge?
22:08 Eppie: yes
22:08 Eppie: dusclops/conk/kang vs. armaldo/machamp
22:08 Eppie: conk drain punched and dusclops night shaded armaldo before that CC took down conk
22:08 Eppie: armaldo KO'd dusclops with stone edge
22:09 Eppie: then it was kang vs 15% armaldo + 30% machamp (-1 defense)
22:09 Eppie: was forced to fake out machamp
22:09 Eppie: since CC would've been clean 1hKO
22:09 Eppie: god, should've saved that video
22:11 Eppie: 1/25 times I lose that one
22:12 Eppie: that calc was the crit calc btw
22:12 Eppie: 64.15% - 76.42% without crit
22:12 Eppie: I was scared it may knock me out without needing a crit
22:12 Eppie: like 1/16 or so 22:12 turska: is that right? stone edge has an elevated crit rate, right
22:12 turska: so it'd be a 1/8 CH chance
22:12 Eppie: good you mention that
22:13 Eppie: that means 8.2% 22:13 Eppie: 1/12 times I lose
