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Battle Tree Discussion and Records

Regular multis completed with my son Mega-Gardevoir and Bisharp his side, Mega-Blastoise and Thunderus-T on mine. Battle against Red and Blue pretty tense due to Scarf Aero Rock Slides.
 
Okay, I have a few teams for Platinum Battle Tower Doubles.
Team #1

401.png


Adamant, Choice Scarf, Intimidate
100 HP, 252 Atk, 156 Spe
Brave Bird, U-Turn, Close Combat, Return

94.png

Timid, Focus Sash, Levitate
4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
Shadow Ball, Icy Wind, Thunderbolt, Destiny Bond

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Adamant, Choice Band, Clear Body
4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Bullet Punch, Earthquake, Explosion, Iron Head

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Quiet, Rindo Berry, Torrent
212 HP, 168 Atk, 4 Def, 120 SpA, 4 SpD
Waterfall, Ice Beam, Earth Power, Protect


NOTE: I didn't research much on Platinum's speed tier so some Pokemon can outspeed Staraptor even with Scarf and Metagross even after Icy Wind.

I don't know how to access my winstreak records.

I'll post more teams when I have time. Not enthusiastic about Battle Frontier when every time I lose I have to slog through noob teams again.
 
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A video of a Doubles streak by a Japanese player, using Pheromosa/Tapu Lele/Aegislash/Mega Salamence. This player's channel also has a playlist including Maison Triples videos:

A different player using the same four species:

One more, this time a familiar player from the Maison: http://yun116.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-76.html

It's interesting to see what foreign players have come up with. Also found screenshots of a Singles streak, with a dubious team: http://pokemon-matome.net/articles/145531.html
 
I'm going to get back to my mystery streak now, cya when I've hit 500.

Well I've done it. I'm not very good with these kinds of introductions, so I'll just put the team here.

Salamence (F) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Substitute
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

I'm not sure what I can say for this other than a direct quote from GG Unit: "This is not a 'Dragon Dance once or twice then sweep' mon. If you want that or are wondering how this beats Rocks or Steels, use Dragonite instead." Usually when you decide to set Mence up, you're aiming for a sweep, and you want to go all the way, or at least as much as feasible. There is a lot you want to set Salamence up against: Non-Rock type physical attackers, anything with a status-inducing move that can't OHKO you, weak Special attackers, Draco Meteor/Overheat/Leaf Storm users (although they may need to be coaxed into using that move). Half the time I can just stay in and set up on their lead, subbing when necessary. In spite of Mence's sweeping capability, it is the mon you will be sacrificing a lot of the time if you can't avoid losing a mon. The EVs outspeed Haxorus non-mega, Salazzle after mega evolving, and outspeed +1 Tyranitar3 at +0 after Mega evolving, while giving Downloaders an Attack boost.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 13 SpA (Hyper Trained)
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest

This Suicune may have Calm Mind, but make no mistake: It is a PP staller first and a sweeper second. Scald's burn chance is not something you want to rely on either. It can (and probably will) fail you at the most crucial times. Suicune is my only Ice resist, and is thus the most valuable member of the team. Never leave it in to get killed by a potential Sheer Cold, even if it means that you'll lose Salamence in the process. I say that Suicune is not a sweeper, but at +6 you'll be able to take on the remaining 2 foes. Just don't leave it in to potentially get crit by Thunder and faint with a mystery mon left in the back. The EVs were originally meant to outspeed the Maison's Garchomp4 at -1 while surviving a +2 crit Earthquake from the same Mon, and I left them as is. The speed outspeeds the Tree's Garchomp4, meaning that you won't have to take a Sand-boosted Earthquake for half your health if it comes in as the second mon.

Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 15 SpA
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic

Unlike Suicune, this juggernaut doesn't try to hide what it does. It can PP stall nearly any move by itself. While it is best used in conjunction with Suicune to stall out certain move combos from faster Pokemon (Ice Beam/Thunderbolt from Starmie4, for example), it can usually do the same by itself, which helps with keeping Suicune's health high. Often stalling an Ice move out of all its PP is all Salamence needs to find a setup opportunity. However, should you be in a pinch against the lead, you can attempt a Gliscor sweep(which consists of PP stalling their lead until it gives you an opportunity to finish it off with a sub up, then Toxic stalling their backups). As Gliscor shares a 4x Ice weakness with Salamence, you would think it contributes less to the team's defensive synergy than something like Chansey. However, Gliscor provokes leads into using their Ice moves first, leading to less PP stalling required for Mence to set up, and thus, faster battles.
This team is adapted from Jumpman16's Kangliscune for Battle Maison, and Mega Mence is the lead that fits this team's concept the most. "With three Pokemon capable of beating enemy teams on their own, most leads will give you an opportunity to set up one of them." While Salamence executes this concept much more slowly than Kangaskhan ever could, and contributes less to defensive synergy, it provides Intimidate to help cripple some problem leads, and fits in to the Tree much more nicely.

9Z7W WWWW WWW9 DNKY Battle 500 vs. Wally (Altaria3/Magnezone34/Garchomp34)
Wally leads with Altaria, which either gives Salamence free Dragon Dances as it futilely tries to boost its speed, or else is passive enough to not pose a real threat to Suicune. Standard procedure with this team is to go for a non-mega sub if you outspeed the lead and will only be able to set up Mence if it's one of several sets. However, Altaria3's -1 Dragon Rush has a chance to KO non-mega Salamence after a Substitute and so I can't rely on it using Giga Impact if it, for some reason, decides to attack on turn 1. It's set 3, and as expected, uses Dragon Dance. I exploit an AI quirk that the AI will almost always try to boost its speed or lower yours if it will move after you. This will essentially guarantee it uses Dragon Dance enough for me to set up to +4 with a Substitute, which is all I need to sweep Wally.


If you're wondering where the threatlist or QR for the team is, well, there isn't a QR code for the team due to Return not working properly, and a threatlist will be posted in the 1000/loss post, whichever comes first, although I will share some things I think could get ugly.

Metagross4 is perhaps the single most threatening foe this team can face, and unlike most threats, it's even more deadly as a backup. It can get Meteor Mash attack boosts, crit/flinches on Suicune, and it has Clear Body to block Intimidate before it goes mega. This mon is the reason why, if you can't set Mence up to at least +2, you will want to keep it non-mega if possible. YE6W WWWW WWW9 BREB is an example of what happens when Mega Metagross4 gets an attack boost on the first turn. Watch out for Colress, because he has a 1/7 chance of bringing Clear Body Metagross4 every time you fight him, along with other tricky foes, like the Porygons.

Salamence4, like Metagross4, is another extremely threatening Mega. While its attacks don't have nasty secondary effects, it does have Intimidate and outspeeds my own Mega Salamence. Unlike Metagross4, its main attack is too dangerous to consider setting Suicune up on. See JJGG WWWW WWW9 BREF for the strategy I came up with to minimize damage against Salamence4 leads. (Only 7 battles after the previous video)

There are some more things I will put on the threatlist, but this is only a preliminary writeup for the team.

Also I'd like it if NoCheese put a link to my Singles threatlist (page 111) in the OP. I update it whenever the discord discovers that something could go wrong against a mon.
Finally, I can confirm that the AI will attempt to trick away ORAS Mega-stones, as seen in 3JDW WWWW WWW9 D67C - excuse the extremely sloppy play, it was the last battle I did that day.
 
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A video of a Doubles streak by a Japanese player, using Pheromosa/Tapu Lele/Aegislash/Mega Salamence. This player's channel also has a playlist including Maison Triples videos:
If I'm understanding what's going on there (animationless and japanese doesn't help much) is Carbink setting TR its second turn and the battle going to hell from there? Furthermore, evidently that was battle 934, and I found it odd that a team made it that far only to lose to such a basic TR team with its most offensive poke being a back line Slowking (not that Carbink and Cofargrigus can't be problems.) It seems like that team should be put in check too easily, but what do I know.
 
Through it all, I have continued my endless toying with battle facility sets: one half-hearted attempt at Gen IV Factory Doubles have fell at 4 wins, a quickie run in Rental Masters Triples, and the breeding/Hyper Training of several new additions to my ever-expanding Imperfect Army. The big additions are my current focus as things to build around, and I need some help as to what I can do with that. Would anyone know what can work with the following Maison/Tree sets?
- Latias1 (Tree Singles)
- Docile version of Lucario4 (Maison Triples)
- Infernape4 (Tree Doubles)
- Registeel1 (any format)

I'm actually in the middle of raising the Lucario4 as I type this, and with that...

One small addition I will be making to this little list for Tree, working on Gyarados1 now. It's not exactly a stellar set, but the whole idea of T-Wave/DD Gyarados is just very cool to me (for Trainers who don't know the sets, there is definitely the element of surprise) and I'm kind of surprised T-Wave Gyarados as a whole hasn't popped up more often in the meta (from what little of the meta I've paid attention to since I found this site).
 
Reporting a streak of 175 wins in Super Doubles.
Video of loss: D7NG-WWWW-WWW9-DMEH

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Timid
Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Def, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
Thunderbolt
Dazzling Gleam
Volt Switch
Grass Knot

Pretty boring lead Koko, sets up electric terrain and kills stuff, Grass Knot kills ground types, Volt Switch is for GTFOing or a fun double intimidate with Manectric.


Manectric @ Manectite
Timid
Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Thunderbolt
Flamethrower
Volt Switch
Hidden Power (Ice)

Mega Manectric is fun.
Intimidate+doubles power reduction lets both leads survive EQs, which is important for scarfed leads like Terrakion2 and Garchomp3, Flamethrower is for grass types, HP Ice is for dragons, Volt Switch lets you live to intimidate another day (or again the same turn if Koko uses it too).


Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Jolly
Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Poison Jab
Protect

Oh look it's this thing again, except now even more like Josh C's with Protect in the 4th slot. Still nukes stuff.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Careful
Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP, 80 Atk, 124 Def, 52 SpD
Heavy Slam
Flamethrower
Leech Seed
Protect

I wanted something bulky and immune to EQ, Celesteela is both things. Had good synergy with the rest of the team, but often felt underwhelming.
Typhlosion and Charizard leads means a 50% chance of Typhlosion being shit, a 25% chance of Typhlosion being good and then dying, and a 25% chance of being one of the only lead pairs that can outspeed and OHKO both of my leads without crits, guess which one these turned out to be?
Zard mega evolves into Y and turns up the heat, Typhlosion is scarfed and erupts, killing both of my leads before they even know what's happening, Chomp KOs Typhlosion and hits Zard with a Dragon Claw before falling to a beam of light, Celesteela manages to finish off Zard but can't BS her way past a Thundering Regigigas (wtf battle tree set designers?) and Stall Entei.
This team did better than my last one, but still felt like it was missing something. If I were to revisit these leads I would probably try Groundium Z Lando-T and a bulky water like Suicune/Tapu Fini as backups.
 
I've been fooling around with the After You + Eruption Torkoal strategy in doubles. I've tried a few variations with different moves/items on Lilligant and different back-ups. I haven't got any impressive streaks to report - the below team got me the best result with a win streak of 97 (losing battle 98: BGEW-WWWW-WWW9-949N) which is enough to qualify for the list even if it is well short of the Tapu Koko/Raichu-A team I posted a while ago!

torkoal.gif


Torkoal @ Choice Specs
Modest
Drought
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EVs: 172/0/0/252/84/0

Eruption
Flamethrower
Earth Power
Solar Beam

lilligant.gif


Lilligant @ Grassium Z/Miracle Seed/Focus Sash
Modest
Chlorophyll
IVs: 31/30/31/31/31/31 (hyper trained)
EVs: 36/0/4/252/4/212

Solar Beam
Hidden Power [Rock]/Grass Knot/Nature Power
After You
Protect

heatran.gif


Heatran @ Air Balloon
Timid
Flash Fire
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252

Flamethrower
Flash Cannon
Ancient Power
Protect

tapu_lele.gif


Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Modest
Psychic Surge
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31 (hyper trained)
EVs: 12/0/4/252/4/236

Psyshock
Moonblast
Dazzling Gleam
Thunderbolt

Modest Torkoal's full power Eruption, boosted by Specs and Sun, OHKOs over 500 of the potential sets that appear in the Tree which is nice for a spread damage move. I aim to utilize it as much as possible - I had plenty of 2-turn battles that were a sight to behold. Flamethrower is a back-up option for when Torkoal finds itself at lower HP, or possibly if I don't want to hit both opponents (e.g. if one has Flash Fire). Earth Power is essential for coverage against Fire-types that threaten this team. Solar Beam is the obvious choice for the fourth move but it's actually expendable since Lilligant has that move covered. I also bred two other Torkoal - one with HP Rock and the other with HP Ice - but never got around to trying them.

I focused Torkoal's EVs entirely on power and bulk (spread was recommended by the maximising your defenses app). Perhaps some speed could be invested to outspeed some slower stuff without assistance from After You but I haven't really looked into it. For what it's worth, I find lower Speed has its advantages for Torkoal - it basically guarantees that Sun will be active at the start of the first turn in the face of opposing weather setters, and it discourages Trick Room (in fact, it is possible to bait Trick Room with my faster Pokemon and switch in Torkoal on the turn it's set up, but I never really utilized this strategy).

Lilligant is the fastest Chlorophyll user that can use After You and is therefore the best choice at assisting Torkoal with using Eruption and avoiding damage. Lilligant is no slouch offensively either and fires off strong Solar Beams from 110 Special Attack. I find that Lilligant can also serve as bait in some match-ups which just helps Torkoal even more, and that makes Protect all the more useful, especially against Fire-heavy opponents that mess up this strategy.

Liiligant's move pool is unfortunately poor outside of those options and that is the main problem with Lilligant - it hits hard with its STAB but it provides little assistance with dealing with Pokemon that can stand up to Eruption. I started with HP Rock originally to cover floating Fires, and that was the move I had for the 97 win streak, but it doesn't really work that well for that purpose. Attacking Talonflame right away is risky unless it has lost HP because of Gale Wings, and I find Protect + Eruption works well enough to deal with it anyway. It helps a bit against Fire Oricorio (who I've not seen when using this team) and Charizard, but Mega Charizard X can take it easily and you won't know which mega you're facing until it mega evolves (in any case, I found that Mega Charizard X goes straight for Flare Blitz against Lilligant and so Protect can keep it at bay). Therefore, I later replaced it with Grass Knot (for a back-up STAB if Sun is removed) and Nature Power (becomes Psychic in Psychic terrain) - I personally found Grass Knot to be the most useful option. I've also considered Sunny Day to bring Sun back against opposing weather - useful against Mega Tyranitar/Abomasnow since their abilities activate upon mega evolving.

I started with Grassium Z to give Lilligant a one time nuke (was used in 97 win streak). After switching to Grass Knot I swapped to Miracle Seed, and then I tried Focus Sash with Nature Power. I quite liked Focus Sash as I felt it allowed Lilligant to use After You with more freedom in some match-ups where it would normally be KOed for doing so. You do lose some KO power by giving up the power boost though - it makes a difference against random stuff like Rindo Berry Wishiwashi.

Because of Lilligant's bad move pool, I've looked into other Chlorophyll + After You users. Some of them, such as Sunflora (Earth Power) and Vileplume (Moonblast + STAB Sludge Bomb), have additional moves that could help in some tricky match-ups, but they don't have Lilligant's Speed. I would be all over Sunflora if it weren't for the fact that it can't even outspeed +ve natured Base 100s with a Modest nature in Sun. Speaking of Speed, I should say that Lilligant was EVed to outpace Chlorophyll Whimsicott3/4. With a Timid nature, it could also beat Chlorophyll Venusaur3 but I don't think that's a huge deal (again, Protect helps in these situations).

There are other After You users that could also work - Mega Lopunny brings Fake Out and Fighting coverage to the table, and Cinccino has some nice Skill Link-boosted attacks including Rock Blast to cover Fire-types, although the imperfect accuracy is a turn-off. Obviously neither of these have the same Speed as Lilligant in Sun though.

I mostly picked back-ups based on what I had ready to go in my storage. Heatran obviously benefits from Sun boosting its Fire moves, but it also brings Flash Fire and some great resistance to the table. In particular, it covers Lilligant extremely well, being immune to Fire and Poison and bearing a 4x resistance to Ice and Bug. But Heatran was the Pokemon I was least satisfied with when using this team - it's stuck in a horrible Speed tier and carries weaknesses to Fighting and Ground that weren't appreciated (Air Balloon helps with the latter).

Heatran has access to Earth Power, but I picked Ancient Power as a back-up for Lilligant's Hidden Power since that didn't seem adequate on its own.

Scarf Tapu Lele is just a fast and powerful back-up that works well as a cleaner. It does well against Dragons which is important for this team, and coverage against Fighting is also helpful especially with Heatran as part of the team. But it also can't stand up to opposing Fire attacks well and it brings an annoying weakness to Ghost which exacerbates the poor match-up against Flash Fire Chandelure, and that's not ideal.

I used Psyshock on Tapu Lele for the physical coverage. This team relies on special attacks a lot and having Psyshock over Psychic is helpful for this reason.

This team obviously has problems with Fires and Dragons, and specially defensive Pokemon, especially Assault Vest Snorlax4 with Fissure (which possibly has Thick Fat too). Snorlax ultimately caused my loss - it landed Fissure on Tapu Lele and then I made the mistake of focusing on its partner Porygon2 which left me in a Heatran vs. Snorlax position, and I hadn't inflicted enough damage to Snorlax to ensure the KO with Flamethrower and was KOed by Earthquake in response.

I've tried some other stuff in place of Heatran, including Rockium Z Terrakion (provides useful Fighting and Rock coverage and also has Speed, but also has plenty of weaknesses and is rather frail), Arcanine, and Mega Houndoom, but I wasn't able to match the 97 win streak. I have some other ideas (e.g. Garchomp) but I'm going to leave this here for now and wait and see what options open up in USUM.
 
I've been fooling around with the After You + Eruption Torkoal strategy in doubles. I've tried a few variations with different moves/items on Lilligant and different back-ups. I haven't got any impressive streaks to report - the below team got me the best result with a win streak of 97 (losing battle 98: BGEW-WWWW-WWW9-949N) which is enough to qualify for the list even if it is well short of the Tapu Koko/Raichu-A team I posted a while ago!

torkoal.gif


Torkoal @ Choice Specs
Modest
Drought
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EVs: 172/0/0/252/84/0

Eruption
Flamethrower
Earth Power
Solar Beam

lilligant.gif


Lilligant @ Grassium Z/Miracle Seed/Focus Sash
Modest
Chlorophyll
IVs: 31/30/31/31/31/31 (hyper trained)
EVs: 36/0/4/252/4/212

Solar Beam
Hidden Power [Rock]/Grass Knot/Nature Power
After You
Protect

heatran.gif


Heatran @ Air Balloon
Timid
Flash Fire
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252

Flamethrower
Flash Cannon
Ancient Power
Protect

tapu_lele.gif


Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Modest
Psychic Surge
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31 (hyper trained)
EVs: 12/0/4/252/4/236

Psyshock
Moonblast
Dazzling Gleam
Thunderbolt

Modest Torkoal's full power Eruption, boosted by Specs and Sun, OHKOs over 500 of the potential sets that appear in the Tree which is nice for a spread damage move. I aim to utilize it as much as possible - I had plenty of 2-turn battles that were a sight to behold. Flamethrower is a back-up option for when Torkoal finds itself at lower HP, or possibly if I don't want to hit both opponents (e.g. if one has Flash Fire). Earth Power is essential for coverage against Fire-types that threaten this team. Solar Beam is the obvious choice for the fourth move but it's actually expendable since Lilligant has that move covered. I also bred two other Torkoal - one with HP Rock and the other with HP Ice - but never got around to trying them.

I focused Torkoal's EVs entirely on power and bulk (spread was recommended by the maximising your defenses app). Perhaps some speed could be invested to outspeed some slower stuff without assistance from After You but I haven't really looked into it. For what it's worth, I find lower Speed has its advantages for Torkoal - it basically guarantees that Sun will be active at the start of the first turn in the face of opposing weather setters, and it discourages Trick Room (in fact, it is possible to bait Trick Room with my faster Pokemon and switch in Torkoal on the turn it's set up, but I never really utilized this strategy).

Lilligant is the fastest Chlorophyll user that can use After You and is therefore the best choice at assisting Torkoal with using Eruption and avoiding damage. Lilligant is no slouch offensively either and fires off strong Solar Beams from 110 Special Attack. I find that Lilligant can also serve as bait in some match-ups which just helps Torkoal even more, and that makes Protect all the more useful, especially against Fire-heavy opponents that mess up this strategy.

Liiligant's move pool is unfortunately poor outside of those options and that is the main problem with Lilligant - it hits hard with its STAB but it provides little assistance with dealing with Pokemon that can stand up to Eruption. I started with HP Rock originally to cover floating Fires, and that was the move I had for the 97 win streak, but it doesn't really work that well for that purpose. Attacking Talonflame right away is risky unless it has lost HP because of Gale Wings, and I find Protect + Eruption works well enough to deal with it anyway. It helps a bit against Fire Oricorio (who I've not seen when using this team) and Charizard, but Mega Charizard X can take it easily and you won't know which mega you're facing until it mega evolves (in any case, I found that Mega Charizard X goes straight for Flare Blitz against Lilligant and so Protect can keep it at bay). Therefore, I later replaced it with Grass Knot (for a back-up STAB if Sun is removed) and Nature Power (becomes Psychic in Psychic terrain) - I personally found Grass Knot to be the most useful option. I've also considered Sunny Day to bring Sun back against opposing weather - useful against Mega Tyranitar/Abomasnow since their abilities activate upon mega evolving.

I started with Grassium Z to give Lilligant a one time nuke (was used in 97 win streak). After switching to Grass Knot I swapped to Miracle Seed, and then I tried Focus Sash with Nature Power. I quite liked Focus Sash as I felt it allowed Lilligant to use After You with more freedom in some match-ups where it would normally be KOed for doing so. You do lose some KO power by giving up the power boost though - it makes a difference against random stuff like Rindo Berry Wishiwashi.

Because of Lilligant's bad move pool, I've looked into other Chlorophyll + After You users. Some of them, such as Sunflora (Earth Power) and Vileplume (Moonblast + STAB Sludge Bomb), have additional moves that could help in some tricky match-ups, but they don't have Lilligant's Speed. I would be all over Sunflora if it weren't for the fact that it can't even outspeed +ve natured Base 100s with a Modest nature in Sun. Speaking of Speed, I should say that Lilligant was EVed to outpace Chlorophyll Whimsicott3/4. With a Timid nature, it could also beat Chlorophyll Venusaur3 but I don't think that's a huge deal (again, Protect helps in these situations).

There are other After You users that could also work - Mega Lopunny brings Fake Out and Fighting coverage to the table, and Cinccino has some nice Skill Link-boosted attacks including Rock Blast to cover Fire-types, although the imperfect accuracy is a turn-off. Obviously neither of these have the same Speed as Lilligant in Sun though.

I mostly picked back-ups based on what I had ready to go in my storage. Heatran obviously benefits from Sun boosting its Fire moves, but it also brings Flash Fire and some great resistance to the table. In particular, it covers Lilligant extremely well, being immune to Fire and Poison and bearing a 4x resistance to Ice and Bug. But Heatran was the Pokemon I was least satisfied with when using this team - it's stuck in a horrible Speed tier and carries weaknesses to Fighting and Ground that weren't appreciated (Air Balloon helps with the latter).

Heatran has access to Earth Power, but I picked Ancient Power as a back-up for Lilligant's Hidden Power since that didn't seem adequate on its own.

Scarf Tapu Lele is just a fast and powerful back-up that works well as a cleaner. It does well against Dragons which is important for this team, and coverage against Fighting is also helpful especially with Heatran as part of the team. But it also can't stand up to opposing Fire attacks well and it brings an annoying weakness to Ghost which exacerbates the poor match-up against Flash Fire Chandelure, and that's not ideal.

I used Psyshock on Tapu Lele for the physical coverage. This team relies on special attacks a lot and having Psyshock over Psychic is helpful for this reason.

This team obviously has problems with Fires and Dragons, and specially defensive Pokemon, especially Assault Vest Snorlax4 with Fissure (which possibly has Thick Fat too). Snorlax ultimately caused my loss - it landed Fissure on Tapu Lele and then I made the mistake of focusing on its partner Porygon2 which left me in a Heatran vs. Snorlax position, and I hadn't inflicted enough damage to Snorlax to ensure the KO with Flamethrower and was KOed by Earthquake in response.

I've tried some other stuff in place of Heatran, including Rockium Z Terrakion (provides useful Fighting and Rock coverage and also has Speed, but also has plenty of weaknesses and is rather frail), Arcanine, and Mega Houndoom, but I wasn't able to match the 97 win streak. I have some other ideas (e.g. Garchomp) but I'm going to leave this here for now and wait and see what options open up in USUM.
Haven’t seen After You in forever. I like the way you used it, as the only interesting thing I had come up with was during 5th gen, when Fighting Gems were a thing; Moxie Scrafty would spam Focus Punch with it, assisted by Cinccino. Yours is more effective lol

I used to toy with Quagsire using it to assist faster pokes under TR as well, but hadn’t been able to use it much.
 
After You Trick Room definitely popped into my mind when I noticed that many of the Pokemon that get After You also happen to be among the slowest species.

I imagine it would get some competition from Oranguru's Instruct, but After You would be more useful in other situations, and I'm all for unconventional strategies in any case!
 
After You Trick Room definitely popped into my mind when I noticed that many of the Pokemon that get After You also happen to be among the slowest species.

I imagine it would get some competition from Oranguru's Instruct, but After You would be more useful in other situations, and I'm all for unconventional strategies in any case!

Would an Oranguru set like this be viable?

Oranguru @ Lum Berry / Mental Herb
Nature: Sassy
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP/148 Def/12 Sp.Atk/92 SpD OR 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpDef
IVs: 0 speed
-Psychic / After You
-Instruct / After You
-Trick Room
-Protect

(EVs are mostly hacked from the last page just for example's sake. The right EV spread is if you don't run Psychic).

I actually theorymonned something like this a few days ago should my Whimsi-Toise team not perform the way I like and I consider giving a Trick Room team a shot. The one thing that sucks about making Trick Room teams for the Battle Tree is that usually your whole lineup has to be slow as molasses so if a wrench gets thrown in your plans you'll always be getting popped first. Having 1 or 2 speedy mons can alleviate this but the downside obviously is that if you DO get Trick Room off and your slow attacker dies, your speedy mons will get gimped. But After You on Oranguru can potentially circumvent this issue and make it possible to have speedy Pokemon not become dead weight even when your TR is up. Should your slow attacker get killed/forced out, you can have Oranguru use After You on them so that they strike first anyway. This could potentially make it possible to squeeze in Pokemon like Pheramosa, Tapu Lele, or Kartana who could provide valuable support or speedy backup offensive pressure but normally wouldn't fit due to Trick Room hindering them. Either Psychic or Instruct would have to go to make it fit. One lets Oranguru's support abilities further expand at the cost of making it Taunt bait and completely helpless if it's the last one standing while the latter lets it hold it's own at the cost of not getting to fire off double nukes.

PS: I've done some thinking and decided to put a special attacking move on my Whimsicott since Taunt will be too situational and I am probably better off just killing the Trick Room/Tailwind setters which is why I also intend to have Blastoise learn Dark Pulse over Ice Beam. But I wonder if I should use Moonblast for more damage on one target or Dazzling Gleam to hit both. Leaning towards Moonblast since it'll be better for focused attacks as I feel like a DG from Whimsicott with the spread damage reduction is going to hit like a wet blanket.
 
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Oranguru has no business using After You because of its base speed. After You in Trick Room has little purpose unless the user is moving first and the teammate will not be able to attack next without it. The aforementioned Quagsire suits that purpose because its base speed is 35, and when optimized for TR makes it slower than a lot of the more common sweepers (certainly in AI battle facilities.)

Oranguru on the other hand is outsped by those same sweepers under TR, which is why it gets so much mileage out of its signature move. And dual layering overpowered attacks will always be more helpful than spending your turn to prioritize another; though as atsync shows, it's still fun to build around.
 
Oranguru has no business using After You because of its base speed. After You in Trick Room has little purpose unless the user is moving first and the teammate will not be able to attack next without it. The aforementioned Quagsire suits that purpose because its base speed is 35, and when optimized for TR makes it slower than a lot of the more common sweepers (certainly in AI battle facilities.)

Oranguru on the other hand is outsped by those same sweepers under TR, which is why it gets so much mileage out of its signature move. And dual layering overpowered attacks will always be more helpful than spending your turn to prioritize another; though as atsync shows, it's still fun to build around.

Yeah. I realized after I got the idea a while back that it sure isn't long streak material since giving up either Instruct or Psychic on Oranguru is bound to lead to some ugly situations. That's why putting fast mons on the team can lead to some fun in the right times. I'd love to see a Tapu Lele be in a Trick Room yet still blow the enemy back before they make a move with no priority to save them. Shame it isn't practical though.
 
Not sure if we are still keeping track things, but reporting in with a Super Doubles streak of 104(5?) with the rain team. I found that I enjoy doubles way more than singles. The best teams in singles generally take way too many turns to achieve victory, not so for doubles. Also adding one more Mega to my list.

LET IT RAIN:
swampert-mega.gif
pelipper.gif
latest
kingdra.gif



Swampert @ Swampertite (Female)
Ability: Torrent --> Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Sp
Adamant nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Protect

The star of the group. She's the only physical attacker here, which probably wasn't a good idea and led to my eventual loss. With Pelipper as her partner, Mega Swampert can freely spam Earthquake, which can destroy a lot of Electric opponents who threaten Pelipper.



Pelipper @ Damp Rock

Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 SpA / 4 Sp
Modest nature
- Hydro Pump
- Hurricane
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Pelipper serves as the engine of the team and a perfect partner to Mega Swampert. Its Hurricane is essential at getting rid of pesky grass opponents who would otherwise immobilize Mega Swampert. Ice Beam is there against those 4x weaknesses opponents. With Damp Rock, I rarely had the rain run out on me before I mopped up the opponents.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Sp
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot
- Protect

The same shining Tapu Koko from the event. 100% accurate Thunder + electric terrain + life orb to lay the smack down as hard as possible. Grass Knot to destroy Ground fools. Tapu Koko acts as the ultimate revenge killer of the team.

Kingdra @ Dragonium Z

Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Hp/ 252 SpA / 252/ Sp
Hardy Nature (that's what the guy traded me)
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Protect

The fastest member of the group, Kingdra carries nuclear bombs on both of its STABs. Ice Beam is once again there because it's too good. Kingdra is the preferred switch-in target thanks to its better bulk over Tapu Koko and its many resistances. Under the rain, it outspeeds even scarf users.


Not really much more to say about the team. It's pretty standard fare as far rain teams go. But it's also a blast to play since most matches end super fast as the team can just blitz through pretty much everything. Also despite running 3 Water Pokemon, none of them share any weaknesses, which is kind of neat.

Videos:

Battle 80 something: Z7BG-WWWW-WWW9-F7HZ
- Team Rain smashes Team Legendary with flawless victory

Battle 90 something: JF7G-WWWW-WWWW9-F7J2
- Double KO ruled in my favor. Such a close one!

Battle 105(6?): 7XLW-WWWW-WWWW9-F7JS
- The losing battle. Rotom-Mow hard counters this team. Losing Mega Swampert early means I have no way to deal with the Blissey...
 
Team #2 for Battle Tower Doubles!
weavile-f.gif

Life Orb, Jolly, Pressure
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Fake Out, Ice Punch, Night Slash, Taunt (can you transfer a Low Kick Weavile from HGSS?)
zapdos.gif

Charti Berry, Modest, Pressure
132 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 114 Spe
Tailwind, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Hidden Power Ice

garchomp.gif

Focus Sash, Jolly, Sand Veil
4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Protect

heatran.gif

Leftovers, Modest, Flash Fire
148 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 100 Spe
Flamethrower, Earth Power, Substitute, Protect

If you checked out the recent Battle Subway thread, you'd notice that this team is very similar to one of my Subway Doubles team (I made this team first, fyi). This quartet just works so well together they transcend generation!
 
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Team #2 for Battle Tower Doubles!
weavile-f.gif

Life Orb, Jolly, Pressure
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Fake Out, Ice Punch, Night Slash, Taunt (can you transfer a Low Kick Weavile from HGSS?)

garchomp.gif

Choice Scarf, Jolly, Sand Veil
4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Protect

If you checked out the recent Battle Subway thread, you'd notice that this team is very similar to one of my Subway Doubles team (I made this team first, fyi). This quartet just works so well together they transcend generation!

Not sure exactly what you mean by "can you transfer a Low Kick Weavile from HGSS?", but Weavile can be taught Low Kick in B2W2 and ORAS, so a set of Fake Out, Ice Punch, Night Slash/Knock Off, Low Kick is perfectly legal in G7.

Also I'm curious, how do you play Scarf Chomp with Protect?
 
Team #2 for Battle Tower Doubles!
weavile-f.gif

Life Orb, Jolly, Pressure
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Fake Out, Ice Punch, Night Slash, Taunt (can you transfer a Low Kick Weavile from HGSS?)
You should be able to trade between Platinum and HGSS just fine, since they're both Gen 4 games.
 
Actually Smogon has separate leaderboards for DP Tower with and without moves obtainable only in Pt/HGSS. So no, you can't transfer Low Kick Weavile from HGSS if you want it to be eligible for most DP leaderboards.
 
Actually Smogon has separate leaderboards for DP Tower with and without moves obtainable only in Pt/HGSS. So no, you can't transfer Low Kick Weavile from HGSS if you want it to be eligible for most DP leaderboards.

Really? Then by extension, does that mean that Pokémon given Tutor moves exclusive to them in USUM aren’t eligible for the current Battle Tree leaderboard?
 
Not as much, as most Tutored moves are obtainable in gen 6 transferring in gen 7 and we are allowing those.

We have considered a separated leaderboard for USUM though, if USUM B-tree ends up being actually different.
 
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