After seeing a bit of discussion in the Discord about switching from GravSleep clause to a simple Gravity ban, I got to thinking. Lando-I is really good right now, but what if it could also hit Zapdos and Celesteela? So I kind of half-heartedly threw a Gravity Sableye in with Lando, giving it Focus Blast for good measure, and left the team sitting unfinished for a while. Most of the ideas that came to mind for working with Gravity were either memes (Blizzard + Zap Cannon Genesect), unusable due to mechanics I was unaware of (Tsareena can't use HJK in Gravity), or teamcomps that could be improved by just using something else and didn't take advantage of Gravity.
I think I finally found one that works though, and it's not overly gimmicky. Here's the team I came up with:
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
Sableye @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 Spe
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Gravity
- Will-O-Wisp
- Quash
Sableye provides Fake Out support for Lando, helping it get free turns, and also can use Prankster Will-O-Wisp for general utility. Quash is great for some of the middling-speed Pokemon on the team, since the fastest Pokemon is Landorus-I. Gravity is obviously the reason that I chose to use it in the first place though, and it lets Earth Power hit Flying-types and makes Focus Blast hit your foes instead of the side of the screen.
Lando's pretty standard, but Sableye outruns 0 Spe Incineroar to win the Fake Out war if they didn't creep and has enough bulk to take CB Urshifu-R Surging Strikes unless you get very unlucky. It's kind of useless into some things, but it's really here as a Fake Out / Gravity bot anyway so I just decided to live with that.
Zapdos @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Static
EVs: 88 HP / 168 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Toxic
Metagross @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Atk / 32 SpD / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stealth Rock
The next two team members are dedicated to patching up some matchups and providing a bit more utility. For Tailwind support, Zapdos matches up pretty well into the Waters and Grasses that can be a little annoying for Lando and has Toxic to punish the really fat things like Porygon2. Metagross gives a pretty sturdy answer to Kyurem-B and an actual switchin to Diancie while also chipping things with Stealth Rock. I originally had Toxic on Metagross, but everyone switched out their Porygon2 when facing Metagross in case of Toxic, so putting it on something somewhat surprising helped.
Both Zapdos and Metagross happen to benefit (at least somewhat) from Gravity too -- Hurricane and Meteor Mash, each of their most powerful STAB attacks on these sets, suffer from poor accuracy and can be a little scary to click. Zapdos has enough HP to take Specs Draco from Timid Pult, and Metagross outruns Naganadel in TW (which is really just an excuse to creep opposing Metagross/Volcanion). 176+ Attack on Metagross ensures that Meteor Mash KOes 120 HP Kyurem-B after SR, and the dump is in bulk.
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Protect
I got a little bit stuck here, and then realized that QD Volcarona is helped out by Tailwind, Fake Out, Will-O-Wisp, Diancie killers, and even Gravity. Heat Wave missing after finally getting the right setup is really annoying, so Gravity lets you avoid that headache. Giga Drain is here for Urshifu-R and (kind of) Fini, supported further by the next member:
Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 240 HP / 36 Atk / 40 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
- High Horsepower
I'm not entirely sure that it's possible to build an optimal SS team without Rillaboom. I got to the end and had so many issues to patch up: Fini check, pivoting, Heatran lure, Fake Out/general support, Water resist, revenge killer... and Rillaboom just answered all of that. The spread is I think standard for HHP Rillaboom, outruns has enough Attack to OHKO 0/4 Timid Tran, with the rest in bulk to take either two Specs Pult Dracos or Lando-I Earth Power + Sludge Bomb thanks to Grassy Terrain.
Overall, the team could definitely be stronger against Porygon2, especially Toxic variants, and Incineroar is actually kind of frustrating to face, but if you get a Gravity off at the right time, it's actually really useful and a neat tech to have available.
Full importable: