Project RarelyUsed Teambuilding Competition: week 32: Gyarados

[fluff!!]

Fezan is S rank

https://pokepast.es/057b129b25156c75


Fezandipiti U-turns on stuff and brings in the biggest special breaker and biggest physical breaker on the field for free because Toxic Chain is broken and forces switches into Steels/Poisons. Calm Mind + Alluring Voice is just here for show because, as Sneaky rightfully mentioned on discord, if Fezan had only U-turn and Roost it would still be at least A rank because Toxic Chain is just that broken. It does allow you to dunk on Suicune though.


when I built this team a month ago I just wanted to try out Gastrodon. I think the pysdef sticky helm set is very funny :3 even though fatter Grounds are probably better here (thinking about Hippo here)


I need Defog and it pairs well with Hoodra. Also a Ground immunity for Scarf Krook shenanigans.


when I built this team I couldn't find a 6th, so I used /randpoke ru
Scarf Krook turned out to be a good mon in here after a bit of testing so it stayed :3 it can hit Tera Poison Slowbro and Psychics so that's nice.

The team can struggle against weather HO but that's if you forget about Fezan being S-tier and having a goated matchup against these archetypes. You can replace Krook for a Scarf Gardevoir and autowin these MUs.

Replays (some of them were with a version of the team that has an AV goodra)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2214983114 vs TR
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2214981269?p2 vs Webs HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2215013615 vs balance w/ tera fire bisharp

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Slugnaught Spike Balance

Gastrodon+Chesnaught as a defensive core came to me in a daydream when I was bored at work. One is a reliable catch-all phys wall, the other is a reliable catch-all spdef wall, both set hazards, they cover each other's weaknesses and so on. Both have fighting-resist teras since the team otherwise lacks more sturdy fighting resists. If you see a Gapdos, plan on teraing your Chesnaught, if you see a Fezandipiti then do the same for Gastrodon. Gastrodon's EV spread lets it live 2 earthquakes from Krookodile.
Noivern started as a Chesnaught, as all RU teams do. But I made the odd choice to make my hazard removal a defogger for a few reasons. It's got a much-needed typing, the team needed a fast and offensive mon to balance out the fatties, and the team can power through stealth rock with its rock resists and your own offensive pressure, so I felt safe using a more conditional form of hazard removal.
Grass and water core? Might as well add a fire, and the oven also doubles as a strong pivot with a ground immunity. I went with a more offensive EV spread since the team already has two reliable walls. Heattom is there for its resists, it doesn't need defense investment as much. And with recent shifts such as Okidogi leaving, I haven't really felt compelled to max out speed that much, meaning I dropped speed until I hit the Bisharp-Volcanion range. I might change it back after an Armarouge or timid Volcanion really owns me, but for now I feel invincible.
Needed an offensive fighting type, needed a mon that still has some meat, needed priority... Slither Wing is the answer. RU's sweetest boy makes the team again.
shoutout to Heatranator for introducing pain split Amuk to me. The team needed a knocker and progress maker as well as a psychic immune for the team's two fighters, so Muk fits the role. Pain split eases a lot of the issues I have with the protect Amuk sets. It makes you less bothered by hazards, it helps you vs CM psychics, and pairing Amuk with gastrodon makes slowbro a do-nothing mon into your team.

 

[HoopsspooH]

Non-Scarf Choiced Hazard Stack



Speed control is overrrated and big damage is based, team is built around big hitters in specs hoodra and banddos taking advantage of a hazard stacking core in rachi gweezing and gastrodon. Vapo gives longevity to the big breakers and an emergency button if one of your other defensive mons gets chipped to much.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-800030 <- vs. Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2230128643-9xv8daj66tmkcd55n1vcw9zkuk7xys0pw <- vs. Rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2230879272 <- More Balance

 

[Sneakyplanner]

It's time for voting. This week's entries are:
Glastrier spikes by Heatranator
Hazards for birds by haunted paper
NP alolatales +spikes by Forest Guardian
S-rank Fezan by fluff!!
Slugnaught spikes balance by Sneakyplanner
Specs Hoodra + band Gapdos spikes by HoopsspooH
My vote goes to Fluff. Team looks like something I would build and the VR take is hot in a good way.

 

[haunted paper]

HoopsspooH - I had a good match against that team

 

[MrAldo]

It is from Forest Guardian or fluff!! imo, feel those teams have the best designed route of winning, the others feel slow without designed means of solid speed control or go to far on the stacking but use defog with rock weak mons, and that kind of defeat the process to me.


I will go for Forest Guardian on this. Feel the structure is brave and functional, and while fluff!! is the most solid one imo, feel the fun factor is more notable, how effective NP Alolan-Tales truly is remains to be seen, but I feel it is well supported here so thats my vote

 

[Rarelyme]

As much as I'd like to vote for the Glastrier team, I have to go for Forest Guardian here since their team balances best originality and viability.

 

[THE_CHUNGLER]

Haunted paper, it went nuts vs someone in a test game

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Congratulations to Forest Guardian for winning this week and thank you to everyone who participated.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Week 32: Gyarados

This week's spotlight mon is Gyarados. Former RUBL, currently in NUBL limbo. Gyarados is on potential-man watch, always allegedly a threat but never quite able to get it done. Gyarados has a great typing, great stats, and plenty of options, but just can't break through. Maybe you'll unlock the secret that brings it back to dominance. Sub DD, taunt DD, 3 attacks DD, intimidate, moxie, perhaps even choice band. There's so much for you to do, so many teams it can fit on.

Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-7) on Friday, November 1st, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-7) on Sunday November 3rd.

 

[fluff!!]

Veil Offense ft. Gyarados

https://pokepast.es/6f4d8388aecbd30d


The soon-to-be-NU Veil dispenser. Encore is broken.


Our support mon. Rocky helm for mice, Roar phazes setup sweepers and you can tank stuff thanks to Veil, pivot with Flip Turn.


The best Veil Offense mon in my honest opinion truthfully desu ne. Reuniclus is already immune to hazards and passive damage, give it max HP investment and Veil and it just tanks stuff. Then, its coverage demolishes Veil's worst matchups like Slowbro and Amoonguss (seriously, this mushroom thing 1v6s Veil Offense if you aren't careful)


I wasn't sure about this pick but I felt like I needed a Knock absorber and it did pretty good so I kept it. Air Balloon gives spikes immunity and makes it even harder for Grounds to beat it behind Veil.


Another Veil offense staple imo. Absolutely needed for its priority, natural bulk, and typing. Tera can be anything, I wouldn't mind Tera Fire on it but I like KOing stuff I shouldn't with Tera Dark.


Gyarados enjoys the added bulk from Veil to run Moxie freely and setup that one more Dragon Dance you absolutely need to break something. You'd normally want to run Covert Cloak, but we don't run hazard removal and Gyarados absolutely needs the 25% HP it loses from Rocks so I'm a boots enjoyer for Gyara.

 

[haunted paper]

https://pokepast.es/4905236e82b78bf4 - Catch of the Day

- Rain team answer and due to its' solid bulk, Volcanion can trade.

- Priority abuser and surprisingly works great with Volcanion in spreading burns since different mons check both. So that's cool. Also, added this to the team to 2HKO opposing Volcanions on the switch-in with Stone Edges, which could annoy Gyarados with Steam Eruption burns.

- This Mew has caught so many people off guard. Solid at bringing momentum to each game, never a let down. CC is mainly for Cyclizar, but also great against Chansey thinking it can trade hazards, as well as, steel types.

- This mon is so hard to use. Tera Fire is mainly for will-o-wisp users like Weezing-G or Talonflame. Lot of burn moves too like Sacred Fire and Scald. Avalanche is for 100% accuracy over ice fang and a way to hit mons like Salamence.

- Main answer to Maushold and physical attackers in general. Works great with Mew at hazard stacking.

- Spinner, special tank, knock user, and U-Turner. Just really great at being the glue of the team.

Krookodile is probably the number #1 weakness for this team.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2233176172-h3bcj60qtjqqe2mgl03i370651ue0nhpw - It's a sweep against webs.

 

[Heatranator]

T-wave Gyarados+Golurk Offense


Subject of this week's teambuilding comp, I decided to use a set that I've talked about before in the past on discord, t-wave gyara. This allows gyara to use its defensive qualities early on to spread para (every ground type besides swampert doesn't want to switch into it) very reliably, to either stop threats or cripple defensive mons. It can then use said para to sweep late game by using the classic para-flinch combo. This originally was tera ground with e-quake, but after discussing it with fluff!! a bit, we came to the conclusion that tera blast flying was necessary for DD gyara to truly work. So its now tera blast flying, which still works well as it can HEAVILY chunk some things that may be too bulky for the rest of the team (like umbreon).

A mon that has been rising up recently, golurk is a great mon on this team. Its able to set up stealth rocks while being a massive threat. The speed evs allow it to outspeed the normal conk spread, which is nice for getting off a hit on it (and makes it pretty good into conk in general). Colbur berry allows it to stay in on dark types and hit them for big damage. Tera normal means it becomes immune to ghost type moves, though tera dark is also a good option. Poltergeist and e-quake are good stab options, and ice punch hits the dragon/flying types and wo chien for good damage (ice punch 3hit ko's wo chien). Great mon, and it performs extremely well.

I wanted a fast mon for this team, so I decided to use raikou next. This is the standard pivot set, but with two key changes. I decided to swap out t-bolt for t-wave, which helps golurk a lot more and helps slow down fast threats (thundy cope), and I used tera fighting to increase the power of aura sphere, allowing it to do a lot better against umbreon, while resisting bisharp's sucker punch.

I wanted some hazard control for this team, and a little bit of defensive backbone as well, so cyclizar is up next. This is the standard set, but I swapped out draco meteor for double edge, which allows cyclizar to keep up the offensive pressure by doing solid damage into neutral targets.

I ofc, needed a steel type for the team, as any dragon would eviscerate the team, so I decided to add bisharp to the team. This is just a standard SD set, with tera fire in order to set up on geezing, though tera flying is also good.

Finally, I wanted another special attacking mon, and preferabbly something that could help with fighting types. Armarouge was the pick, as it does both of those things. Standard calm mind set, cause that's always good.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2233092502-isov8pvdpa1v7f5wp4j5nyja3pi3409pw Here's a replay with the team (though it is with the tera ground gyara variant).