Sup peeps! I'll keep this short since I'm kind of tired but I wanted to show two teams based on around the Crabominal set that I've innovated on. s/ outs to
allstarapology for putting in the finest amount of work with these teams and the mon itself, as well as posting replays in viability rankings (I support the nom btw).
And the Crabominal set:
Crabominable @ Icium Z / Icicle Plate
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Ice Hammer
- Close Combat
- Bulk Up / Toxic
Substitute is amazing for a reasons: it forces switches like crazy because it smashes through a lot of stuff and takes hits while doing so, it mitigates the drawbacks in the moves Ice Hammer (lowering Speed) and Close Combat (lowering defenses) to some extent, it makes you harder to revenge kill, and it makes it so that Crab can potentially pull off multiple kills in a given match. The way to use Substitute with this Pokemon is less so about trying to ensure that it can take hits (though it can vs stuff like Crotomb Spiritomb or even Regirock if you get to +1 vs that thing) and more about capitalizing on the switches that you force, since slower threats that aren't wall, walls that are weak to its STABs, or Pokemon like Skuntank are often force to take a huge hit and potentially die or go to something that can pivot into an attack. To put into perspective on Crab's sheer power, and Icicle Place boosted Iron Fist Ice Hammer hits harder than LO Adamant Kingler's Sheer Force boosted Liquidation. Like, fuck me up fam LOL. Other than that, Crab is a massive breaking force vs a lot of balance and stall builds just by virtue of its unresisted dual STAB and huge attack stat alone. As for Icium Z, it's a strong af nuke that doesn't force the Speed drop and has some insane calcs:
252+ Atk Crabominable Subzero Slammer (180 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye: 282-333 (93 - 109.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Crabominable Subzero Slammer (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Weezing: 333-393 (99.7 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Crabominable Subzero Slammer (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Mesprit: 229-271 (62.9 - 74.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Crabominable Subzero Slammer (180 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Spiritomb: 223-264 (73.5 - 87.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Crabominable Subzero Slammer (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 64 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 348-409 (93 - 109.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Icicle Plate is slightly weaker, though still a great option if your Z-move is reserved for elsewhere and it still wears down traditional checks pretty easily as they're frequently forced in. Speed is for fast Weezing. Bulk Up is super deadly (can set up on Pokemon like Regirock, Skuntank, Ferroseed, etc.) and can put a lot of bulky things into KO range, whereas Toxic basically lets this thing solo Pyukumuku stall easily.
Team 1: More of a hyper offensive build that intends to operate in a way that it helps to bring the team's breakers, Crab and Haunter, safely, break through teams, and then clean up later with either Togedemaru or Combusken. Mesprit is pretty much the way to go when pairing Crab with a single pivot, as the Defensive Stealth Rock set, aside from being the ridiculously dominant and effective set that we all know of, is very good for checking Fighting-types, giving off slow U-turns, and can heal Crab back up with Healing Wish. It also loves the fact that Skuntank is constant slow U-turn bait for Mesprit the majority of the battle (this is the reason why people need to stop saying that Skuntank "easily" beats/traps this set, it doesn't lol), allowing it to frequently come in on it and capitalize it. Lanturn is a secondary momentum-grabber that adds a good Pyroar, Swanna, and Oricorio check, while also can Volt out of bulky Grass-types, another pool of Pokemon that Crab or Haunter exploits. Haunter is basically a secondary breaker that outspeeds things, can pressure Fighting-types, and can surprise random stuff that it can't quite kill really easily with Destiny Bond which could open up for Toge or Combusken. Togedemaru is the scarfer for checking things like Lycanroc, Oricorio-G, Swanna, and Lilligant, and also outspeed Primeape and being just another thing that can U-turn out of say, a Ferroseed or Weezing switch in, can be great for both Crab or Haunter, respectively. It also appreciates the rest of the team's ability to break down physical walls. Combusken is basically there for cleaning up after the team has done its job in wallbreaking. Defog on Combusken is a cool tech since it pressures hazard dudes like Ferroseed, Weezing, and Regirock, giving it enough opportunities for it to be a worthwhile option.
Team 2: More Bulky Offense build that takes advantage of Sub Bulk Up+Icium Z, chip damage, Toxic Spikes, etc. Mesprit is still Mesprit so why would I not use it, especially in conjunction with Crab. Weezing offers Tspikes and solid fighting check, Skuntank absorbs TSpikes, puts pressure on ghosts/phychics and Toxic is cool for luring things like Regirock for Type Null to outlast, Type Null brings a U-turn core with Mesprit, with the two synergizing extremely well since pivot into many Special Attackers like Pyroar and Aurorus, while Mesprit can better deal with Fighting-types. Kabu is a scarfer that offers Spin/Rain check/checks to random fastmons, and the like. Team's rather vulnerable to Oricorio-G since it's about not letting it sub that's the thing, so you'll have to outplay it or maybe even resort to something cheesy like Pursuit Type Null or Thunderbolt Weezing.
Cheers!
fwiw why i'm running 30 IV mesprit, it's because I wanted to always ensure that I'm slower than opposing pivot mesprit to get the slow u-turn off every time.
edit: fixed evs on type null