I didn't track stats at all. I'd estimate the average was around 300, possibly a little higher. The standard deviation was massive.
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Battle Tree Discussion and Records
- Thread starter Eisenherz
- Start date
Hey y’all
I wanted to share my progress on mence-drill-fini-chansey round 2. I’m at 2040 wins right now. Here’s battle 2040- SQTW-WWWW-WWXF-WV39
I thought it’d be cool to make an offical threat tier list like Eisenherz
Thanks for reading
I wanted to share my progress on mence-drill-fini-chansey round 2. I’m at 2040 wins right now. Here’s battle 2040- SQTW-WWWW-WWXF-WV39
I thought it’d be cool to make an offical threat tier list like Eisenherz
Walrein-4 I have nothing to 2hko this unless mence and fini are out and fini’s not locked into anything but moonblast. Even then, lax incense can proc. Most threatening in the lead position, but heavily prefers sheer cold on mence and can be baited with protect sometimes.
Braviary-3 (when Defiant is rolled) Threatens 6.3% chance to brave bird ohko mence or ohko with a crit. Insane damage output on my team. Most common when facing Dexio or Kukui. Double-edge ohkos after BB recoil and usually does at full HP.
Metagross-4 (mega) Usually immune to intimidate because of clear body, outspeeds and 2hkos drill even if tailwind is up due to BP, can live EQ +double edge, 2hkos fini and mence. Tailwind, eq, ally switch, and specs scald are effective
Fan-Rotom-34 Can t-wave mence or 2hko with thunder if scarf. Can flinch drill with scarf dark pulse. Weakness policy can activate for rock slide.
Sceptile-4 (mega) Outspeeds mence, nearly always spams rock slide and tries to flinch everything which enables its partner. Crit leaf blade kills fini. Ally switch is unreliable against it. Tailwind is usually a necessity for this
Greninja-3 Also spams rock slide and enables partner but occasionally uses water shuriken on drill. Can have protean for stronger rock slides.
Drampa-3 QC fire blast and dragon pulse ohko my leads. Forces a turn one double switch to fini and chansey. Fini or ally switch handles it well.
Braviary-3 (when Defiant is rolled) Threatens 6.3% chance to brave bird ohko mence or ohko with a crit. Insane damage output on my team. Most common when facing Dexio or Kukui. Double-edge ohkos after BB recoil and usually does at full HP.
Metagross-4 (mega) Usually immune to intimidate because of clear body, outspeeds and 2hkos drill even if tailwind is up due to BP, can live EQ +double edge, 2hkos fini and mence. Tailwind, eq, ally switch, and specs scald are effective
Fan-Rotom-34 Can t-wave mence or 2hko with thunder if scarf. Can flinch drill with scarf dark pulse. Weakness policy can activate for rock slide.
Sceptile-4 (mega) Outspeeds mence, nearly always spams rock slide and tries to flinch everything which enables its partner. Crit leaf blade kills fini. Ally switch is unreliable against it. Tailwind is usually a necessity for this
Greninja-3 Also spams rock slide and enables partner but occasionally uses water shuriken on drill. Can have protean for stronger rock slides.
Drampa-3 QC fire blast and dragon pulse ohko my leads. Forces a turn one double switch to fini and chansey. Fini or ally switch handles it well.
Alakazam-34 Annoyingly locks into dazzling gleam sometimes from the specs set. Mega can trace intimidate and outspeed leads, crit psychic is favored to ohko mence.
Salamence-4 (mega) Intimidate is very effective against my leads. Speed ties and threatens dragon rush flinch or crit against mence. Threatens double-edge crit ohko against fini. I either risk attempting tailwind or pray it doesn’t crit fini. Otherwise, improvise
Mawile-34 (mega) Has intimidate for mence and drill, threatens with fire fang or play rough. Sometimes require a sacrifice, especially if it swords dances. 2hkod by scald and outsped by chansey. If no intimidate, double-edge + earthquake takes care of it.
Crobat-4 The threat of hypnosis or taunt usually forces a switch, but its damage output is low. Taunt is very annoying against chansey. Double-edge ohkos.
Primarina-34 Has super-effective STABs against leads, but is slower. Has low physical defense. Threatens blizzard freeze on drill. Very threatening when paired with fast partner like greninja-3 or sceptile-4.
Slowbro-4 (mega) Can always get up trick room against leads. Has strong STABs and blizzard. Fini easily 2hkos with moonblast.
Salamence-4 (mega) Intimidate is very effective against my leads. Speed ties and threatens dragon rush flinch or crit against mence. Threatens double-edge crit ohko against fini. I either risk attempting tailwind or pray it doesn’t crit fini. Otherwise, improvise
Mawile-34 (mega) Has intimidate for mence and drill, threatens with fire fang or play rough. Sometimes require a sacrifice, especially if it swords dances. 2hkod by scald and outsped by chansey. If no intimidate, double-edge + earthquake takes care of it.
Crobat-4 The threat of hypnosis or taunt usually forces a switch, but its damage output is low. Taunt is very annoying against chansey. Double-edge ohkos.
Primarina-34 Has super-effective STABs against leads, but is slower. Has low physical defense. Threatens blizzard freeze on drill. Very threatening when paired with fast partner like greninja-3 or sceptile-4.
Slowbro-4 (mega) Can always get up trick room against leads. Has strong STABs and blizzard. Fini easily 2hkos with moonblast.
Regirock-234 Clear body neutralizes intimidate, threatens thunder wave and z-stone edge, has coverage for drill. Iron head usually doesn’t 2hko. Thankfully, it usually targets mence and usually dies to scald. Chansey is also effective against it because it outspeeds.
Aerodactyl-4 Threatens crit stone edge on mence. If it leads, double protect to scout. Can also have pressure to reveal set (if it activates before intimidate, it’s set 4). Mega aero can’t touch mence.
Terrakion-1234 Scarf set is most dangerous. I usually double protect to scout or just attack with iron head which ohkos. Threatens rock slide flinches and super effective STABs against leads. Tailwind is very effective against it
Ferrothorn-4 Only a threat if it curses a lot and fini is dead or unhealthy. Can be especially threatening if trick room is up. Trick is effective against it- double edge and earthquake also do a lot. It also usually doesn’t realize gyro ball’s power.
Glaceon-34 The most annoying, evil thing ever. I hate this thing. Bright powder, focus sash + mirror coat, hail, blizzspam, detect. Even though fini + chansey destroy it and iron head + hyper voice should, I almost always have to double switch my leads due to fear of me missing attacks and getting smoked by blizzard. Whoever thought of bright powder and lax incense items should be banned from competitive play.
Latios and Latias 1 High speed + Lax incense + calm mind + spatk/spdef drops makes fini less reliable than usual. I can spam heal pulse with chansey but enemy partners can make the interaction difficult. Heal pulse is an amazing move on chansey
Aerodactyl-4 Threatens crit stone edge on mence. If it leads, double protect to scout. Can also have pressure to reveal set (if it activates before intimidate, it’s set 4). Mega aero can’t touch mence.
Terrakion-1234 Scarf set is most dangerous. I usually double protect to scout or just attack with iron head which ohkos. Threatens rock slide flinches and super effective STABs against leads. Tailwind is very effective against it
Ferrothorn-4 Only a threat if it curses a lot and fini is dead or unhealthy. Can be especially threatening if trick room is up. Trick is effective against it- double edge and earthquake also do a lot. It also usually doesn’t realize gyro ball’s power.
Glaceon-34 The most annoying, evil thing ever. I hate this thing. Bright powder, focus sash + mirror coat, hail, blizzspam, detect. Even though fini + chansey destroy it and iron head + hyper voice should, I almost always have to double switch my leads due to fear of me missing attacks and getting smoked by blizzard. Whoever thought of bright powder and lax incense items should be banned from competitive play.
Latios and Latias 1 High speed + Lax incense + calm mind + spatk/spdef drops makes fini less reliable than usual. I can spam heal pulse with chansey but enemy partners can make the interaction difficult. Heal pulse is an amazing move on chansey
Last edited:
We should be very thankful for him. Otherwise streaks would continue way longer
Hi everyone!
I´m really happy to submit a 91 win streak! I´ve been lurking the pokemon community for over 20 years and my family is already in the second generation of pokemon fans, so submit this here is a nice personal achievement.
I´ve also been playing USUM since launch and this team was made just to get to the 50 stamp on super singles. I was really surprised when I keept winning so I came here to search for the resources to help me in my run. Unfortunately, I made just enought to be eligible, as my 92 opponent was too much for the weakness of my team (fire), as we will see soon.
The Team:
Alolan Ninetales @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Roar
- Freeze-Dry
The screener. Build to act as suicidal lead, but she sweept some teams along the way too. Moonblast and Freeze-Dry usually offered a ok-ish coverege, enough to weaken foes for the sweepers. The snow warning helps breaking sashes (a problem that I faced on earlier runs) and Roar helped fasing opponent setup sweepers. I only switched her if a faster mon could ohko, usually against a steel or strong fire moves.
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Att / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brutal Swing
- Roost
Not much to be said here. He just setup and sweeps or acted as a cleaner after A-Ninetales and Charizard softened the opponent team.
Mega Charizard X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Also not much to be said. Mainstream Mega Charizard X, great coverage, a monster in damage with Tough Claws and my first pokemon back there in Pokemon Red. I prefered Dragon Claw over Outrage for flexibility and usually played very aggresively, flare blitzing everything and suiciding him for the clean switch and late priority-move sweep with Scizor.
Team Building Process and Strategy:
I´ve been playing Hyper Offensively and with my favorite pokemon for all my trainer career. I also don´t stand ugly and fluffy pokemon (for my point of view), so the choices were very limited for me.
I tried to make an original team too and went for the screener strategy after I coudn´t find something similar on the learderboard.
The strategy was simple: set Aurora Veil with A-Ninetales to setup with Scizor or Mega Charizard and sweep. Scizor and Mega Charizard X was incredibly bulky behind the Veil, so setup was almost always easy.
The Loss:
CL6W-WWWW-WWXF-XAZ4
The happiness to get to 90 streak didn´t last long. The 92 opponent team was a perfect counter for mine: 3 fire pokemon and a faster one in the first position: Mega Houndoom, Heatran and Moltres. Mega Houndoom would ohko my A-Ninetales, so I bring Charizard in. He defeated Mega Houndoom and I would probably win if Heatran wasn´t sashed (and Houndom used Sunny Day to stop the Hail, so Charizard was also defeated with an Earth Power). Everything down to the npc last pokemon and it was a Z-Move Moltres. It toasted my A-Ninetales and Burned Up (130 dmg/100%) my Scizor. Well, it would happen sooner or later as A-Ninetales and Scizor fire weakness was too obvious, but it was a nice run.
I´m actually on my "serious" run right now with a new team and better sinergies. I hope to be posting a new record soon!
I´m really happy to submit a 91 win streak! I´ve been lurking the pokemon community for over 20 years and my family is already in the second generation of pokemon fans, so submit this here is a nice personal achievement.
I´ve also been playing USUM since launch and this team was made just to get to the 50 stamp on super singles. I was really surprised when I keept winning so I came here to search for the resources to help me in my run. Unfortunately, I made just enought to be eligible, as my 92 opponent was too much for the weakness of my team (fire), as we will see soon.
The Team:
Alolan Ninetales @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Roar
- Freeze-Dry
The screener. Build to act as suicidal lead, but she sweept some teams along the way too. Moonblast and Freeze-Dry usually offered a ok-ish coverege, enough to weaken foes for the sweepers. The snow warning helps breaking sashes (a problem that I faced on earlier runs) and Roar helped fasing opponent setup sweepers. I only switched her if a faster mon could ohko, usually against a steel or strong fire moves.
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Att / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brutal Swing
- Roost
Not much to be said here. He just setup and sweeps or acted as a cleaner after A-Ninetales and Charizard softened the opponent team.
Mega Charizard X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Also not much to be said. Mainstream Mega Charizard X, great coverage, a monster in damage with Tough Claws and my first pokemon back there in Pokemon Red. I prefered Dragon Claw over Outrage for flexibility and usually played very aggresively, flare blitzing everything and suiciding him for the clean switch and late priority-move sweep with Scizor.
Team Building Process and Strategy:
I´ve been playing Hyper Offensively and with my favorite pokemon for all my trainer career. I also don´t stand ugly and fluffy pokemon (for my point of view), so the choices were very limited for me.
I tried to make an original team too and went for the screener strategy after I coudn´t find something similar on the learderboard.
The strategy was simple: set Aurora Veil with A-Ninetales to setup with Scizor or Mega Charizard and sweep. Scizor and Mega Charizard X was incredibly bulky behind the Veil, so setup was almost always easy.
The Loss:
CL6W-WWWW-WWXF-XAZ4
The happiness to get to 90 streak didn´t last long. The 92 opponent team was a perfect counter for mine: 3 fire pokemon and a faster one in the first position: Mega Houndoom, Heatran and Moltres. Mega Houndoom would ohko my A-Ninetales, so I bring Charizard in. He defeated Mega Houndoom and I would probably win if Heatran wasn´t sashed (and Houndom used Sunny Day to stop the Hail, so Charizard was also defeated with an Earth Power). Everything down to the npc last pokemon and it was a Z-Move Moltres. It toasted my A-Ninetales and Burned Up (130 dmg/100%) my Scizor. Well, it would happen sooner or later as A-Ninetales and Scizor fire weakness was too obvious, but it was a nice run.
I´m actually on my "serious" run right now with a new team and better sinergies. I hope to be posting a new record soon!
Hey all,
I have just started my super doubles run with the following team:
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 236 Atk / 116 Def / 156 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
Azelf @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Zen Headbutt
- U-turn
- Trick
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Frisk
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 236 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Night Shade
- Trick Room
- Pain Split
- Sunny Day
Camerupt @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Eruption
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam
Clearly trick room orientated. I lead Azelf + Clops and explosion/ u-turn + TR. Bring in my chosen TR sweeper and go from there. ATM Damp Kingdra is every where and being a little annoying but I manage.
Wish me luck/ give me tips to help
I have just started my super doubles run with the following team:
Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 236 Atk / 116 Def / 156 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
Azelf @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Zen Headbutt
- U-turn
- Trick
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Frisk
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 236 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Night Shade
- Trick Room
- Pain Split
- Sunny Day
Camerupt @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Eruption
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam
Clearly trick room orientated. I lead Azelf + Clops and explosion/ u-turn + TR. Bring in my chosen TR sweeper and go from there. ATM Damp Kingdra is every where and being a little annoying but I manage.
Wish me luck/ give me tips to help
Hey mate, are you able to link to the discord server?
Discord is linked in the first post of this thread!
Charizard Y Strikes Back Again! (A tribute to my best buddy in Competitive Pokemon: Charizard - Y)
Greetings! My name is PkmnTrainerRod. This is my very first post in Smogon and I will finally share to you my report of my Battle Tree Super Doubles team!
NOTE: This is a well-documented team report, so I greatly appreciate if you read this post from start to finish. By the way, the team I piloted was inspired and credited to Eisenherz (One of the best Battle Tree Players in the world. He's the current #2 in the leaderboards with over 3135 streak in his Super Doubles run!) And also, I would like to give thanks to Eisenherz and to others for helping me achieve this goal. I learned a lot and I will never reach this so far without you guys. Anyway, let's begin.
-THE STORY-
-Teambuilding Process-
After I finished Pokémon Sun, I just found and joined a discord server dedicated to battle facility runs. And I met some of the best Battle Tree players including Eisenherz. I gave them greetings as a newcomer and shared my first battle tree doubles team that I wanted to use.
-First Battle Tree team-
Mega - Salamence, Tapu Fini, Snorlax, Kartana (Inspired from lolnub’s 821 Doubles Team)
-The reason why I changed my team-
Tbh, I wanted to use Mega Salamence in battle tree because it’s so strong in Gen 7 metagame. However, I don't have a Special Attacker Salamence available. Thus, I immediately look for another team.
-Looking for another mega-
After several minutes of thinking a team, I wanted to give Charizard Y another try because it perfectly fits on my playstyle. In addition, it’s also one of my favourite megas since it was released in X/Y. I also had a lot of experience in online battles using Charizard and I want to take advantage of that. Without hesitation, I asked them if there's a Charizard Y team existed in Battle Tree. They responded immediately and send some sample teams that reached 3 - digit streaks. A member named JustinTR (Another experienced battle tree player. Currently #6 in the leaderboards with his personal record of 1470 streak) presented me a Charizard Y team that he used long time ago. But he said that the team had couple of issues. But the second team that was piloted by Eisen got my attention. They said that Eisen's Charizard Y team was my best bet if I wanted to use Charizard in Battle Tree. Without a doubt, I started to study, theorymon and used Eisen’s Charizard Y team with some changes.
If you want to look at JustinTR’s Charizard Y Team:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...sion-and-records.3587215/page-76#post-7291712
If you want to look at Eisen's Charizard Y Monotype Flying Team:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ion-and-records.3587215/page-172#post-8283384
-Changing Thundurus T to Tapu Koko-
Looking at Eisen's team, I was so amazed how solid the team was. But I want to make this team more interesting. That's why I chose Tapu Koko as a change to Thundurus T. I asked Eisen if switching Thundurus to Koko is a better choice, realizing that Tapu Koko will make the team more solid and Koko can basically shut down fast and bulky pokemon (Which is amazing to easily destroy A.I before it can do some crazy shenanigans). They agree that changing Thundurus into Koko will be a solid choice (I'll explain it later). After having conversation with Eisen and some of the best battle tree players, I started to build my team and before playing, I watched Eisen's Monotype Flying Team Highlights in order to have an idea on how to use the team properly.
Link:
-Why Charizard Y instead of Mega Mence?-
I saw that Charizard has some unexplored potential in the battle tree because megas like Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Mence, and Mega Metagross outshined Charizard Y. But because Charizard Y is always my go to pick in online battles, I wanted to show how powerful Mega Charizard Y.
-THE TEAM-
Charizard Y, Landorus T, Celesteela, Thundurus T > Tapu Koko
Charizard Y + Landorus core is been a thing since gen 6 VGC, and I’m a big fan using it because of its offensive power. Iirc, I used a HW + OH Charizard set + Scarf Lando T in Gen 6 online battles. But in battle tree, I copied Eisen’s Choice Band Landorus T because man, it deals a lot of damage, I mean A LOT. Landorus T is very helpful, giving his teammates Intimidate support and also a solid answer to Rock – Types (which Charizard Y hates). On the other hand, Landorus has access to these powerful support moves like Knock off and U turn. U turn is self-explanatory since I will use it as a pivot to my safe swap and also potentially breaking opponents focus sash. Furthermore, knock off is very helpful as it removes such annoying items in the tree. Most notable items are: bright powder, quick claw, choice items, leftovers, and life orb. With Intimidate, Charizard can outlive some powerful rock slides from Landorus, Machamp, Gallade, Mega Zard X, and Regirock. Even though Landorus had a strong offensive presence, there’s one big problem that everyone hates in battle tree: Ice Types, Blizzards, and unnecessary freezes. But thankfully, Charizard Y is always there to back up his Landorus T. With sun active, Sun prevents “freeze status” to occur and Charizard Y can deal with ice types offensively. Not only that, Charizard’s 4x weakness to rock types was covered by Landorus’ STAB Earthquake. Charizard also provides tailwind support (At first, I’m not a big fan of using tailwind set because I usually go for Overheat on this slot) But I realized, using an inaccurate move like Overheat and Heat Wave will mess up my gameplan. And if it misses, I basically got punished by the AI. Thus, I decided to use the Tailwind set because my Landorus was not scarfed and its speed was quite below average. And with tailwind up, Landorus can safely sweep through teams. Overall, this two works just like what they do in Gen 6: destroying everything on its path.
Since Charizard and Landorus synergizes well, I need a reliable safe swap just in case I had a pretty bad lead. With no protect on Landorus T, I look for a bulky pokemon that can handle a lot of things, specifically with Ice type leads. I also ended up getting the idea of Eisen’s monotype flying team and decided to use Celesteela because it’s the most reliable and best safe switch against Ice types after I watch his highlights. As former world champ Wolfe Glick said: "Sometimes you're the Celesteela. Sometimes the Celesteela eats you." I agree on this phrase because of its bulk with the combination of decent damage, it can 1v4 some teams alone by just stalling them with leech seed + heavy slam for chunking away health. Also, Celesteela is immune to ground types because o its part flying type. So I don’t need to worry about pairing it to Landorus as I just spam EQ and Celesteela just stalling enemies. In addition to that, Celesteela has access to Wide Guard (which is vital in battle tree doubles since A.I doesn’t recognize wide guard lol) providing protection against rock slides, blizzards, and other spread moves that can potentially threaten both Charizard or Landorus. Overall, using Celesteela was a perfect fit to this team since it saved me a lot of games that I almost lose. As they say: “The best offense is defense.”
By adding Celesteela on the third slot, do you notice something? Yes! I’m super weak to Electric type lmao. With only Landorus T as my best answer against them when it could easily be killed by water types. I need an Electric type to cover Landorus’ weakness to water types. In Eisen’s team, He used Thundurus T as his Electric Type sweeper. Because of my aggressive playstyle, I changed it to make this team more solid and interesting. That’s why I added Tapu Koko on last slot. I was not expecting that my team became stronger!
Prior to what I’ve said earlier that Tapu Koko can make the team more interesting. First and foremost, the difference of Tapu Koko to Thundurus is that Koko doesn’t need tailwind to sweep because it can basically outspeed most of the pokémon in the battle tree with its enormous speed of 200! (Except on the Scarfed ones and other fast pokemon like Mega Alakazam) Additionally, with its ability Electric Surge, Tapu Koko’s electric type moves are deadlier and Electric Terrain boosted Gigavolt Havoc helped me to OHKO some Bulky pokémon even in Neutral damage! And also, Electric Surge has a unique mechanic which prevents all grounded pokémon from sleeping. That’s why I can also take advantage of the terrain by shutting down some annoying stallers in the battle tree that has access to Rest. Lastly, another reason why I chose Tapu Koko because I also want to have a reliable switch in when matched against strong dragon types that can potentially threaten both of my lead (like Cynthia’s ScarfChomp). With its Dragon type immunity, I also have additional dragon type coverage to my team. I just need to be careful if I ended up pairing it to Landorus T as Koko is super vulnerable to Ground Types. I must say, the team become stronger since I started to use Tapu Koko. With the combination of speed and offensive power w/electric terrain boost, Koko can handle a lot of teams especially dragon types and trainers who have rain comps.
To sum it up, the synergy of this team was very strong and versatile since it can function both offensive and defensive. It works just as same as Eisen’s flying monotype team. But with the addition of Tapu Koko to the roster, I have now a safe switch against dragon type matchups. Other than that, I don’t need to worry about the needs of speed control from tailwind to sweep from the back. I just need to be careful on how I play, especially when to swap Tapu Koko to activate electric terrain as it makes my team weaker to electric type attacks. Overall, this team can cover each other’s weaknesses and can potentially go on higher streaks if used properly.
-Team Details-
Mega Charizard Y Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze > Drought
Modest Nature
EVs: 60 HP / 132 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Flamethrower / Tailwind / Protect / Solarbeam
Landorus - Therian Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Adamant Nature
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Earthquake / Rock Slide / Knock Off / U Turn
Tapu Koko @Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Dazzling Gleam / Thunderbolt > Gigavolt Havoc / Protect / Volt Switch
Celesteela Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Careful Nature
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Atk / 108 Def / 148 SpD / 20 Spe
Heavy Slam / Leech Seed / Protect / Wide Guard
-Threats (In General)-
Rock Slides/Stone Edge/Head Smash – It’s one of Charizard’s biggest weaknesses. Even with intimidate, it deals a lot of damage (Some pokémon in the tree had Stone Edge and Head Smash ad it can easily OHKO Charizard Y even in -1). Even though Charizard’s EV spread can survive at least one Rock Slide, I still respect the damage and I want to avoid unnecessary flinch. Because if it flinches, I basically f’ed up. Some of the pokémon in the tree has access to these strong rock moves at the same time outspeeding Charizard Y. Notable threats are: Terrakion, Aerodactyl, A-Dug2, Mega - Gallade, Machamp3, Landorus3, Rampardos3, Lycanroc Normal2 and Midnight2, Mega Charizard X, Archeops3/4, Pinsir3, and Passimian3.
Weather – Weather types can shut down Charizard’s sun boosted attacks. But in practical, they’re manageable with proper play and decision making. However, I need to be careful on these weather setters because they are fast, sometimes bulky and has access to deadly moves like thunder, blizzards, ice beams, stone edge, etc. Notable threats are: Electrode4, Pelliper3&4, Hail Comps, Sand Comps, etc.
Fast pokémon – This is one of the biggest issue of this team because Charizard and Landorus had a below average speed tier. I need to play safe and sometimes, Tailwind is necessary to win games. Notable threats (In general) are: Electric Type (Electrode4, Mega Manectric, Raikou, Rotom Wash2, Rotom Fan4, Jolteon) Water Types (Notably bruxish3), Dragon Types (Mega Latias/Latios, Mega Mence, ScarfChomp) Ice Types (Notably Weavile), fast megas (Mega Kangaskhan3, Mega Charizard X, Mega Gallade) and fast rock type users (Refer on the Rock slides/stone edge/head smash)
Overall, all of these threats can be manageable, as long as you’re not greedy and you have the patience to look for the right and safest play possible.
-Best Battles-
Video:
-How I lost-
Match: Y9SW – WWWW – WWXF – 25LZ
Okay, this is the most painful part. Match 141 against Veteran Kikujiro. Looking at his team (Electric Type), it should be fine and easy win. But when I saw he leaded Rotom-H4 and Electivire4, I need to play it carefully. My first turn (kinda) cost me the game, as I non mega flamethrower on Charizard (I’ll explain later why) and I go for rock slide to score a flinch. Unfortunately, Electivire avoids the rock slide and targeted my Landorus with an Ice Punch and guess what? Right, it got frozen.
I should’ve mega Charizard to activate sun and prevent freeze and go for EQ in Lando (Mega on Charizard and target electivire w/flamethrower is also right since it has 6.3% chance to OHKO it in sun). The reason why I didn’t activate sun T1 because of that Rotom had a FiriumZ. But I realized after the match, I can sac Celesteela to catch the FiriumZ and bounce back with Landorus to score huge rock slides. I also miscalculated the Ice punch damage, thinking it was OHKO, but with Intimidate it can guarantee to live an Ice Punch.
Calc: -1 252+ Atk Electivire Ice Punch vs. 20 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 136-160 (81.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Because of my bad plays (my brain got scrambled since my Landorus got frozen), I f'ed up. But it is what it is. I decided to play a little bit, hoping to get a hail mary thawed out on landorus. Unfortunately, it didn’t thawed and I got wrecked by the plethora of electric types. And that was the game. I’m quite upset with my decisions, but I’m still happy because I reached this so far with Charizard Y.
Correction: I watched the video loss again while recording, I thought I used non mega protect T1. Instead, I used non mega Flamethrower, not protect. Apologies for putting a wrong move & I hope u understand! BTW, Video of the battle loss is finally uploaded!
Video:
-Experience in Battle Tree-
My overall experience in playing battle tree was surprisingly fun and intense! I started from a lot of failures and losses. But with a lot of practice and on how to improve my gameplay from looking at the past mistakes, It helped me to reach this goal. I’m still sad that the streak ended, but it is what it is. I learned a lot by playing every single day and with the help and support from the members in the Battle Facility discord server, I drastically improved on how I play competitive pokémon. Also, this is one of my best runs on any battle facility I’ve played and also my biggest achievement yet in 8 years playing pokémon. Thank you so much Charizard Y, Landorus T, Celesteela and Tapu Koko for giving me this wild journey! I will forever cherish the bond and friendship I’ve built with you guys. Till we meet again!
Proof:
Greetings! My name is PkmnTrainerRod. This is my very first post in Smogon and I will finally share to you my report of my Battle Tree Super Doubles team!
NOTE: This is a well-documented team report, so I greatly appreciate if you read this post from start to finish. By the way, the team I piloted was inspired and credited to Eisenherz (One of the best Battle Tree Players in the world. He's the current #2 in the leaderboards with over 3135 streak in his Super Doubles run!) And also, I would like to give thanks to Eisenherz and to others for helping me achieve this goal. I learned a lot and I will never reach this so far without you guys. Anyway, let's begin.
-THE STORY-
-Teambuilding Process-
After I finished Pokémon Sun, I just found and joined a discord server dedicated to battle facility runs. And I met some of the best Battle Tree players including Eisenherz. I gave them greetings as a newcomer and shared my first battle tree doubles team that I wanted to use.
-First Battle Tree team-
Mega - Salamence, Tapu Fini, Snorlax, Kartana (Inspired from lolnub’s 821 Doubles Team)
-The reason why I changed my team-
Tbh, I wanted to use Mega Salamence in battle tree because it’s so strong in Gen 7 metagame. However, I don't have a Special Attacker Salamence available. Thus, I immediately look for another team.
-Looking for another mega-
After several minutes of thinking a team, I wanted to give Charizard Y another try because it perfectly fits on my playstyle. In addition, it’s also one of my favourite megas since it was released in X/Y. I also had a lot of experience in online battles using Charizard and I want to take advantage of that. Without hesitation, I asked them if there's a Charizard Y team existed in Battle Tree. They responded immediately and send some sample teams that reached 3 - digit streaks. A member named JustinTR (Another experienced battle tree player. Currently #6 in the leaderboards with his personal record of 1470 streak) presented me a Charizard Y team that he used long time ago. But he said that the team had couple of issues. But the second team that was piloted by Eisen got my attention. They said that Eisen's Charizard Y team was my best bet if I wanted to use Charizard in Battle Tree. Without a doubt, I started to study, theorymon and used Eisen’s Charizard Y team with some changes.
If you want to look at JustinTR’s Charizard Y Team:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...sion-and-records.3587215/page-76#post-7291712
If you want to look at Eisen's Charizard Y Monotype Flying Team:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ion-and-records.3587215/page-172#post-8283384
-Changing Thundurus T to Tapu Koko-
Looking at Eisen's team, I was so amazed how solid the team was. But I want to make this team more interesting. That's why I chose Tapu Koko as a change to Thundurus T. I asked Eisen if switching Thundurus to Koko is a better choice, realizing that Tapu Koko will make the team more solid and Koko can basically shut down fast and bulky pokemon (Which is amazing to easily destroy A.I before it can do some crazy shenanigans). They agree that changing Thundurus into Koko will be a solid choice (I'll explain it later). After having conversation with Eisen and some of the best battle tree players, I started to build my team and before playing, I watched Eisen's Monotype Flying Team Highlights in order to have an idea on how to use the team properly.
Link:
-Why Charizard Y instead of Mega Mence?-
I saw that Charizard has some unexplored potential in the battle tree because megas like Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Mence, and Mega Metagross outshined Charizard Y. But because Charizard Y is always my go to pick in online battles, I wanted to show how powerful Mega Charizard Y.
-THE TEAM-
Charizard Y, Landorus T, Celesteela, Thundurus T > Tapu Koko
Charizard Y + Landorus core is been a thing since gen 6 VGC, and I’m a big fan using it because of its offensive power. Iirc, I used a HW + OH Charizard set + Scarf Lando T in Gen 6 online battles. But in battle tree, I copied Eisen’s Choice Band Landorus T because man, it deals a lot of damage, I mean A LOT. Landorus T is very helpful, giving his teammates Intimidate support and also a solid answer to Rock – Types (which Charizard Y hates). On the other hand, Landorus has access to these powerful support moves like Knock off and U turn. U turn is self-explanatory since I will use it as a pivot to my safe swap and also potentially breaking opponents focus sash. Furthermore, knock off is very helpful as it removes such annoying items in the tree. Most notable items are: bright powder, quick claw, choice items, leftovers, and life orb. With Intimidate, Charizard can outlive some powerful rock slides from Landorus, Machamp, Gallade, Mega Zard X, and Regirock. Even though Landorus had a strong offensive presence, there’s one big problem that everyone hates in battle tree: Ice Types, Blizzards, and unnecessary freezes. But thankfully, Charizard Y is always there to back up his Landorus T. With sun active, Sun prevents “freeze status” to occur and Charizard Y can deal with ice types offensively. Not only that, Charizard’s 4x weakness to rock types was covered by Landorus’ STAB Earthquake. Charizard also provides tailwind support (At first, I’m not a big fan of using tailwind set because I usually go for Overheat on this slot) But I realized, using an inaccurate move like Overheat and Heat Wave will mess up my gameplan. And if it misses, I basically got punished by the AI. Thus, I decided to use the Tailwind set because my Landorus was not scarfed and its speed was quite below average. And with tailwind up, Landorus can safely sweep through teams. Overall, this two works just like what they do in Gen 6: destroying everything on its path.
Since Charizard and Landorus synergizes well, I need a reliable safe swap just in case I had a pretty bad lead. With no protect on Landorus T, I look for a bulky pokemon that can handle a lot of things, specifically with Ice type leads. I also ended up getting the idea of Eisen’s monotype flying team and decided to use Celesteela because it’s the most reliable and best safe switch against Ice types after I watch his highlights. As former world champ Wolfe Glick said: "Sometimes you're the Celesteela. Sometimes the Celesteela eats you." I agree on this phrase because of its bulk with the combination of decent damage, it can 1v4 some teams alone by just stalling them with leech seed + heavy slam for chunking away health. Also, Celesteela is immune to ground types because o its part flying type. So I don’t need to worry about pairing it to Landorus as I just spam EQ and Celesteela just stalling enemies. In addition to that, Celesteela has access to Wide Guard (which is vital in battle tree doubles since A.I doesn’t recognize wide guard lol) providing protection against rock slides, blizzards, and other spread moves that can potentially threaten both Charizard or Landorus. Overall, using Celesteela was a perfect fit to this team since it saved me a lot of games that I almost lose. As they say: “The best offense is defense.”
By adding Celesteela on the third slot, do you notice something? Yes! I’m super weak to Electric type lmao. With only Landorus T as my best answer against them when it could easily be killed by water types. I need an Electric type to cover Landorus’ weakness to water types. In Eisen’s team, He used Thundurus T as his Electric Type sweeper. Because of my aggressive playstyle, I changed it to make this team more solid and interesting. That’s why I added Tapu Koko on last slot. I was not expecting that my team became stronger!
Prior to what I’ve said earlier that Tapu Koko can make the team more interesting. First and foremost, the difference of Tapu Koko to Thundurus is that Koko doesn’t need tailwind to sweep because it can basically outspeed most of the pokémon in the battle tree with its enormous speed of 200! (Except on the Scarfed ones and other fast pokemon like Mega Alakazam) Additionally, with its ability Electric Surge, Tapu Koko’s electric type moves are deadlier and Electric Terrain boosted Gigavolt Havoc helped me to OHKO some Bulky pokémon even in Neutral damage! And also, Electric Surge has a unique mechanic which prevents all grounded pokémon from sleeping. That’s why I can also take advantage of the terrain by shutting down some annoying stallers in the battle tree that has access to Rest. Lastly, another reason why I chose Tapu Koko because I also want to have a reliable switch in when matched against strong dragon types that can potentially threaten both of my lead (like Cynthia’s ScarfChomp). With its Dragon type immunity, I also have additional dragon type coverage to my team. I just need to be careful if I ended up pairing it to Landorus T as Koko is super vulnerable to Ground Types. I must say, the team become stronger since I started to use Tapu Koko. With the combination of speed and offensive power w/electric terrain boost, Koko can handle a lot of teams especially dragon types and trainers who have rain comps.
To sum it up, the synergy of this team was very strong and versatile since it can function both offensive and defensive. It works just as same as Eisen’s flying monotype team. But with the addition of Tapu Koko to the roster, I have now a safe switch against dragon type matchups. Other than that, I don’t need to worry about the needs of speed control from tailwind to sweep from the back. I just need to be careful on how I play, especially when to swap Tapu Koko to activate electric terrain as it makes my team weaker to electric type attacks. Overall, this team can cover each other’s weaknesses and can potentially go on higher streaks if used properly.
-Team Details-
Mega Charizard Y Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze > Drought
Modest Nature
EVs: 60 HP / 132 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Flamethrower / Tailwind / Protect / Solarbeam
Landorus - Therian Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Adamant Nature
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Earthquake / Rock Slide / Knock Off / U Turn
Tapu Koko @Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Dazzling Gleam / Thunderbolt > Gigavolt Havoc / Protect / Volt Switch
Celesteela Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Careful Nature
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Atk / 108 Def / 148 SpD / 20 Spe
Heavy Slam / Leech Seed / Protect / Wide Guard
-Threats (In General)-
Rock Slides/Stone Edge/Head Smash – It’s one of Charizard’s biggest weaknesses. Even with intimidate, it deals a lot of damage (Some pokémon in the tree had Stone Edge and Head Smash ad it can easily OHKO Charizard Y even in -1). Even though Charizard’s EV spread can survive at least one Rock Slide, I still respect the damage and I want to avoid unnecessary flinch. Because if it flinches, I basically f’ed up. Some of the pokémon in the tree has access to these strong rock moves at the same time outspeeding Charizard Y. Notable threats are: Terrakion, Aerodactyl, A-Dug2, Mega - Gallade, Machamp3, Landorus3, Rampardos3, Lycanroc Normal2 and Midnight2, Mega Charizard X, Archeops3/4, Pinsir3, and Passimian3.
Weather – Weather types can shut down Charizard’s sun boosted attacks. But in practical, they’re manageable with proper play and decision making. However, I need to be careful on these weather setters because they are fast, sometimes bulky and has access to deadly moves like thunder, blizzards, ice beams, stone edge, etc. Notable threats are: Electrode4, Pelliper3&4, Hail Comps, Sand Comps, etc.
Fast pokémon – This is one of the biggest issue of this team because Charizard and Landorus had a below average speed tier. I need to play safe and sometimes, Tailwind is necessary to win games. Notable threats (In general) are: Electric Type (Electrode4, Mega Manectric, Raikou, Rotom Wash2, Rotom Fan4, Jolteon) Water Types (Notably bruxish3), Dragon Types (Mega Latias/Latios, Mega Mence, ScarfChomp) Ice Types (Notably Weavile), fast megas (Mega Kangaskhan3, Mega Charizard X, Mega Gallade) and fast rock type users (Refer on the Rock slides/stone edge/head smash)
Overall, all of these threats can be manageable, as long as you’re not greedy and you have the patience to look for the right and safest play possible.
-Best Battles-
Video:
-How I lost-
Match: Y9SW – WWWW – WWXF – 25LZ
Okay, this is the most painful part. Match 141 against Veteran Kikujiro. Looking at his team (Electric Type), it should be fine and easy win. But when I saw he leaded Rotom-H4 and Electivire4, I need to play it carefully. My first turn (kinda) cost me the game, as I non mega flamethrower on Charizard (I’ll explain later why) and I go for rock slide to score a flinch. Unfortunately, Electivire avoids the rock slide and targeted my Landorus with an Ice Punch and guess what? Right, it got frozen.
I should’ve mega Charizard to activate sun and prevent freeze and go for EQ in Lando (Mega on Charizard and target electivire w/flamethrower is also right since it has 6.3% chance to OHKO it in sun). The reason why I didn’t activate sun T1 because of that Rotom had a FiriumZ. But I realized after the match, I can sac Celesteela to catch the FiriumZ and bounce back with Landorus to score huge rock slides. I also miscalculated the Ice punch damage, thinking it was OHKO, but with Intimidate it can guarantee to live an Ice Punch.
Calc: -1 252+ Atk Electivire Ice Punch vs. 20 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 136-160 (81.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Because of my bad plays (my brain got scrambled since my Landorus got frozen), I f'ed up. But it is what it is. I decided to play a little bit, hoping to get a hail mary thawed out on landorus. Unfortunately, it didn’t thawed and I got wrecked by the plethora of electric types. And that was the game. I’m quite upset with my decisions, but I’m still happy because I reached this so far with Charizard Y.
Correction: I watched the video loss again while recording, I thought I used non mega protect T1. Instead, I used non mega Flamethrower, not protect. Apologies for putting a wrong move & I hope u understand! BTW, Video of the battle loss is finally uploaded!
Video:
-Experience in Battle Tree-
My overall experience in playing battle tree was surprisingly fun and intense! I started from a lot of failures and losses. But with a lot of practice and on how to improve my gameplay from looking at the past mistakes, It helped me to reach this goal. I’m still sad that the streak ended, but it is what it is. I learned a lot by playing every single day and with the help and support from the members in the Battle Facility discord server, I drastically improved on how I play competitive pokémon. Also, this is one of my best runs on any battle facility I’ve played and also my biggest achievement yet in 8 years playing pokémon. Thank you so much Charizard Y, Landorus T, Celesteela and Tapu Koko for giving me this wild journey! I will forever cherish the bond and friendship I’ve built with you guys. Till we meet again!
Proof:
Attachments
Last edited:
Reporting a completed streak of 106 wins in Super Double Battles with Mega-Aerodactyl.
The losing battle video has been uploaded at PDWG-WWWW-WWXF-2G84, and a photo with proof is attached.
I've been doing a self-imposed challenge for quite some time now to try and get 50 wins in the super-doubles battle tree with every Mega. I'm about half-way through (I'm not rushing into it super-seriously), and this is only the second time I've reached a streak worth noting in the leaderboards. This one was especially shocking because I literally threw this team together from pokemon I already had and I didn't expect it to get too far. For a first draft - this team RULED, and once I'm done with getting a ribbon on every mega I'll probably revist this team-comp to see if I can make a really deep run.
The Team:
Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Sky Drop
- Fire Fang
- Protect
I've used Aerodactyl with Sky Drop before and I know it's got serious legs as a support pokemon - it was a key member of my previous best run with Mega-Medicham (that team peaked at 96 wins). I wanted to make the Mega distinct from the (probably superior) focus-sash version, and I thought the best way to do this would be by using an adamant nature to do more damage. I expected I would miss the extra speed (and I did sometimes), but I underestimated how powerful a tough-claws boosted Sky Drop was. I treat Sky Drop a bit like Fake Out because it buys Aerodactyl's partner a free turn - but the damage output is far higher. Sky Drop hits for approx 120BP by the time you factor in tough claws and STAB, which is absolutely insane for a utility move which can be repeated turn after turn. With mega-aero's insane speed, as well as the target's inability to protect on the following turn, the move offered enormous control of the field, and it was indispensible as a support option.
Rock Slide was nice for spread damage and the occassional flinch, but I never liked relying on it because I knew a miss would cost me the game (and in the end it did). Fire Fang felt like an essential coverage moves for powerful Steel Types like Ferrothorn which would otherwise wall the entire team. Protect was great to scout Fake Outs and stall Tailwind or Trick Room turns. All in all, I think this is about as good as Mega Aerodactyl can get moveset-wise, but it is notable that Aerodactyl also gets Wide Guard and Taunt, which would definitely be better moves on a support set. I loved this thing and found it super fun to use. If I optimized it further to survive more attacks or outspeed more threats, who knows how far it would have gone? As it is, with a little more than half of all mega pokemon still to go on my challenge, I'm happy to retire the unrefined version at over 100 wins.
Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
I wish I had more to say about Garchomp but honestly I just thought "Rock Slide + Earthquake gets pretty great coverage, what's the strongest EQ user I can pair up with Aerodactyl?", and that's all there was to it. I chose Garchomp over Lando-T becauseI like it more of the much better speed tier, and it was absolutely the correct decision. The offensive combination was even more potent than I imagined, and the option to sometimes go for a double rock-slide against a slower team hoping to flinch came in handy more often than I'd like to admit. I chose Ground-Z partially because I had no Z-Move user, but mostly because it was nice to be able to delete something off the field if I wasn't confident in the EQ KO otherwise. Dragon-claw killed off most slower dragon types and offered decent neutral damage on Levitating pokemon, but I did often feel the power was a little lacklustre, so I did wonder whether Life Orb would have been a more consistent option. All things considered I think something with set-up may have been stronger beside mega Aerodactyl, but Chomp more than pulled its weight so I can't complain about it at all.
As the team's only Electric immunity on a team with 3/4 electric weak pokemon, preserving Garchomp was critical to the Team's success. That led to some tough situations which required some very strategic switches, and Garchomp's nasty 4x Ice weakness was tricky to navigate. However, that weakness led me to my final two team members, and they formed a really competent core behind the front two.
Golisopod @ Assault Vest
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 20 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
I wanted strong priority in the back row to clean up anything which had been chipped by Sky drop or Rock Slide, and I also wanted a Water/Ice-resist which also resisted Ground in case I had to swap it into Garchomp's Earthquake. Golisopod ticked every box, and was the glue which held the team together. With AV, Golisopod takes almost no damage from ice attacks, and threatens the OHKO on the speedy Lati@s sets which force Garchomp to protect or switch. Leech Life gives it astonishing longevity against Bulky Waters, and it did a great job 1v1ing threats like Milotic or Lapras which Garchomp would have been completely deleted by. Liquidation was probably the least-used move, but the option to lower Defenses was nice to have if I ever needed to soften something up.
Emergency Exit makes Golisopod perfect for pivoting around, which pairs up really well with Sky Drop/ Protect to secure safe switch-ins for the rest of the team. Golisopod unintentionally also served as a perfect Trick Room deterrent. It threatens to OHKO almost every setter in the tree with First Impression, and its low speed tier really works in its favour under reversed turn order. This glue held the team together like nothing else, and I wonder if I'd ever use Garchomp without Golisopod again. The synergy is just... so good.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Substitute
Honestly I wasn't sure what to put in the final slot, and this Celesteela is just always what I put on these teams while I play around until I can think of something better. Its bulk, typing, and movepool is just incredible, and Celesteela is fully capable of 3v1ing whole teams by itself. I was hesitant about adding it at first as it gives the team a really significant Electric weakness - but then I realised that Celesteela's only other weakness (Fire), is completely obliterated by everything else on the team. With that in mind, I decided it was worth the trade off, and that the Team's win-con would be to eliminate everything which threatens Celesteela at all costs. That meant preserving Garchomp to deal with Electric Types - but thankfully Celesteela serves as a fantastic switch-in to the Dragon and Fairy-Type attacks which threaten Garchomp too. Leech Seed was great BS-insurance for the Tree, something I've found indisipensible for every serious team, and Heavy Slam was great to eliminate anything chipped down by Aerodactyl for some SpDef boosts. Substitute was a bit of an odd inclusion, but both Leech Seed and Substitue have incredible synergy with Sky Drop, and in combination with Protect, Celesteela rarely took any damage it didn't want to. This thing was fantastic, and certainly carried the team to a lot of victories by virtue of simply being difficult to eliminate.
THREATS
TBH most threats can be dealt with by Sky-dropping them until an appropriate counter can come in, but some notable exceptions included:
Greninja2/4 - Greninja falls into this annoying little area where it can underspeed Aerodactyl and outspeed Garchomp while also surviving a Sky Drop, meaning that no matter what I do it can get an Ice-Beam/ Blizzard into the Garchomp slot. What's more, when it's in the air Golisopod can't touch it with First Impression, so even air-dropping it out of the battle for a turn wasn't a great option. This thing was really difficult to deal with, and sometimes the better option was to double protect against it, hope Protean turned it Ice-Type, then try to finish it with an (innaccurate) Fire Fang/ Rock Slide. Ugh. Without Protean it was somehow even worse, because I had to hope it wouldn't freeze Golisopod on the switch in (but of course it did exactly that at least once. Somehow I didn't lose that battle though, thanks to Rock Slide flinches).
Electrode3/4 - Electrode is one of the only pokemon in the Tree which can outspeed Mega Aerodactyl and use Thunder. Did you know Thunder can hit through Sky Drop? I didn't, but now I do. Oof. This thing's appearance forces Aero to protect while Garchomp Earthquakes turn 1, so you can imagine how tricky that got to navigate with Garchomp's big fat 4x Ice Weakness dragging it down. Oh, and Electrode 3 has Air Ballon and protect, because having to knock it out with Dragon Claw isn't punishing enough. This thing alone made me want to go Jolly on Aero, but even that would only Speed tie, so I think this beside something that threatens Garchomp would be trouble for this team no matter what.
Lati@s - any of them. Again they fall into that annoying speed tier where they're below Aero and above Chomp. so taking them out requires tricky switching, doubly difficult when Sky Drop doesn't damage Levitating pokemon. Latios could also consistently get Golisopod under 50% and trigger an involuntary Emergency Exit, which made switching in on it pretty tough. In these games it was better to eliminate whatever threatened Celesteela, then use Steela to outlast the Lati@s in a war of attrition. Brutal everytime, and made me seriously consider Ice Fang on Aerodactyl.
THE LOSS
Honestly this was just poor play on my part. A classic story of hubris, I underestimated my opponent and overestimated my team.
Battle 107 vs Sightseer Chen
Haxorus + Slaking vs Aero + Garchomp.
Predicting an easy time against Slaking, I decided to double protect to burn its attack since Haxorus was no threat to Celesteela.
Haxorus used Dragon Dance :(
Recognising my mistake, I decided to double up on Haxorus, expecting to lose Garchomp. Unexpectedly, it used Dragon Claw on Aerodactyl, taking it down to 26HP. I got in some chip damage on both targets with Rock Slide, and Garchomp finished Haxorus off with Dragon Claw.
Chen sent in Regigigas, and I was feeling good. I'd just eliminated the biggest threat and foolishly assumed I'd already won because I was facing down the two worst abilities in the game.
So... I should have double protected to burn out Slaking. My initial Rock Slide had done about 30%, so I thought another one plus Earthquake would finish it off before it could move, but of course, at the critical moment, Rock Slide missed. Slaking survived Earthquake with enough HP left to finish off Garchomp with a Giga Impact. Regigigas didn't flinch either, and knocked out Aerodactyl with a knock off.
Oof. Big oof.
So I was down but not out. Slaking was super low and about to lose a turn to Truant, so I reckoned I could finish it off pretty easily between Golisopod and Celesteela. I set up for the late game by putting a Leech seed on Regigigas and chipped it down to about 25% Health with a First Impression. And then, the final blow -- Regigigas used Thunder Wave on Golisopod.
I knew that was really bad news. I have the worst luck in the world. Paralysis may as well be freeze for how often it kicks in. However I reckoned Celesteela could probably muscle through almost anything if it had a SpDef boost, especially because it was leeching a huge chunk of HP back from Regigigas every turn. So I doubled into Slaking with Aqua Jet and Heavy Slam to cover for the paralysis so that even if Golisopod failed, I would still get the SpDef Boost. Of course, Golisopod did Paralyzed, and Slaking killed it with Giga Impact. Celesteela then finished off Slaking and got the SpDef Boost. Regigigas hit Celesteela with Knock Off, so it lost the leftovers.
That's bad for the end game in itself, but in a much more terrifying development, the final pokemon comes in, and it's Darmanitan.
No big deal, I think, huffing vast amounts of copium - there's only one physical attacking Darmanitan set in the Tree, and it could have Zen Mode! I just need to Leech Seed it, and maybe I can outstall it with protect/ sub --
No.
It was the Scarf set. It was Sheer Force. It vaporized Celesteela in one hit.
Game over at 106 wins.
Honestly, not the worst loss. I definitely could have played much better by conserving Garchomp, and if it weren't for the untimely paralysis on Golisopod it would have easily dealt with Darmanitan. A mixture of bad luck and worse play brought me down, and that's ok.
I'm enjoying this challenge and I'm not taking it too seriously, just dipping into it every now and again. Once I get to 50 wins, I stop looking up the opposing sets because I'll never get there with every mega if I get some random 300+ streak mid-way through. I'm shocked I got so far without guidance - but the team was remarkably solid and fun to use (and maybe a little lucky now and again).
Mega-Aero really exceeded expectations, and I'm glad this is now my top performing team. I typically cycle between 2-3 teams so I don't get too bored of using the same team over and over, so I'll be grinding out something between Banette, Lopunny, and Latias next. Should be fun, and maybe I'll update again soon with a better record. I doubt this is the peak. I still have to try Metagross, Kangaskhan and Salamence. Who wants more of them on the leaderboard anyway?
The losing battle video has been uploaded at PDWG-WWWW-WWXF-2G84, and a photo with proof is attached.
I've been doing a self-imposed challenge for quite some time now to try and get 50 wins in the super-doubles battle tree with every Mega. I'm about half-way through (I'm not rushing into it super-seriously), and this is only the second time I've reached a streak worth noting in the leaderboards. This one was especially shocking because I literally threw this team together from pokemon I already had and I didn't expect it to get too far. For a first draft - this team RULED, and once I'm done with getting a ribbon on every mega I'll probably revist this team-comp to see if I can make a really deep run.
The Team:
Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Sky Drop
- Fire Fang
- Protect
I've used Aerodactyl with Sky Drop before and I know it's got serious legs as a support pokemon - it was a key member of my previous best run with Mega-Medicham (that team peaked at 96 wins). I wanted to make the Mega distinct from the (probably superior) focus-sash version, and I thought the best way to do this would be by using an adamant nature to do more damage. I expected I would miss the extra speed (and I did sometimes), but I underestimated how powerful a tough-claws boosted Sky Drop was. I treat Sky Drop a bit like Fake Out because it buys Aerodactyl's partner a free turn - but the damage output is far higher. Sky Drop hits for approx 120BP by the time you factor in tough claws and STAB, which is absolutely insane for a utility move which can be repeated turn after turn. With mega-aero's insane speed, as well as the target's inability to protect on the following turn, the move offered enormous control of the field, and it was indispensible as a support option.
Rock Slide was nice for spread damage and the occassional flinch, but I never liked relying on it because I knew a miss would cost me the game (and in the end it did). Fire Fang felt like an essential coverage moves for powerful Steel Types like Ferrothorn which would otherwise wall the entire team. Protect was great to scout Fake Outs and stall Tailwind or Trick Room turns. All in all, I think this is about as good as Mega Aerodactyl can get moveset-wise, but it is notable that Aerodactyl also gets Wide Guard and Taunt, which would definitely be better moves on a support set. I loved this thing and found it super fun to use. If I optimized it further to survive more attacks or outspeed more threats, who knows how far it would have gone? As it is, with a little more than half of all mega pokemon still to go on my challenge, I'm happy to retire the unrefined version at over 100 wins.
Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
I wish I had more to say about Garchomp but honestly I just thought "Rock Slide + Earthquake gets pretty great coverage, what's the strongest EQ user I can pair up with Aerodactyl?", and that's all there was to it. I chose Garchomp over Lando-T because
As the team's only Electric immunity on a team with 3/4 electric weak pokemon, preserving Garchomp was critical to the Team's success. That led to some tough situations which required some very strategic switches, and Garchomp's nasty 4x Ice weakness was tricky to navigate. However, that weakness led me to my final two team members, and they formed a really competent core behind the front two.
Golisopod @ Assault Vest
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 20 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Leech Life
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
I wanted strong priority in the back row to clean up anything which had been chipped by Sky drop or Rock Slide, and I also wanted a Water/Ice-resist which also resisted Ground in case I had to swap it into Garchomp's Earthquake. Golisopod ticked every box, and was the glue which held the team together. With AV, Golisopod takes almost no damage from ice attacks, and threatens the OHKO on the speedy Lati@s sets which force Garchomp to protect or switch. Leech Life gives it astonishing longevity against Bulky Waters, and it did a great job 1v1ing threats like Milotic or Lapras which Garchomp would have been completely deleted by. Liquidation was probably the least-used move, but the option to lower Defenses was nice to have if I ever needed to soften something up.
Emergency Exit makes Golisopod perfect for pivoting around, which pairs up really well with Sky Drop/ Protect to secure safe switch-ins for the rest of the team. Golisopod unintentionally also served as a perfect Trick Room deterrent. It threatens to OHKO almost every setter in the tree with First Impression, and its low speed tier really works in its favour under reversed turn order. This glue held the team together like nothing else, and I wonder if I'd ever use Garchomp without Golisopod again. The synergy is just... so good.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Substitute
Honestly I wasn't sure what to put in the final slot, and this Celesteela is just always what I put on these teams while I play around until I can think of something better. Its bulk, typing, and movepool is just incredible, and Celesteela is fully capable of 3v1ing whole teams by itself. I was hesitant about adding it at first as it gives the team a really significant Electric weakness - but then I realised that Celesteela's only other weakness (Fire), is completely obliterated by everything else on the team. With that in mind, I decided it was worth the trade off, and that the Team's win-con would be to eliminate everything which threatens Celesteela at all costs. That meant preserving Garchomp to deal with Electric Types - but thankfully Celesteela serves as a fantastic switch-in to the Dragon and Fairy-Type attacks which threaten Garchomp too. Leech Seed was great BS-insurance for the Tree, something I've found indisipensible for every serious team, and Heavy Slam was great to eliminate anything chipped down by Aerodactyl for some SpDef boosts. Substitute was a bit of an odd inclusion, but both Leech Seed and Substitue have incredible synergy with Sky Drop, and in combination with Protect, Celesteela rarely took any damage it didn't want to. This thing was fantastic, and certainly carried the team to a lot of victories by virtue of simply being difficult to eliminate.
THREATS
TBH most threats can be dealt with by Sky-dropping them until an appropriate counter can come in, but some notable exceptions included:
Greninja2/4 - Greninja falls into this annoying little area where it can underspeed Aerodactyl and outspeed Garchomp while also surviving a Sky Drop, meaning that no matter what I do it can get an Ice-Beam/ Blizzard into the Garchomp slot. What's more, when it's in the air Golisopod can't touch it with First Impression, so even air-dropping it out of the battle for a turn wasn't a great option. This thing was really difficult to deal with, and sometimes the better option was to double protect against it, hope Protean turned it Ice-Type, then try to finish it with an (innaccurate) Fire Fang/ Rock Slide. Ugh. Without Protean it was somehow even worse, because I had to hope it wouldn't freeze Golisopod on the switch in (but of course it did exactly that at least once. Somehow I didn't lose that battle though, thanks to Rock Slide flinches).
Electrode3/4 - Electrode is one of the only pokemon in the Tree which can outspeed Mega Aerodactyl and use Thunder. Did you know Thunder can hit through Sky Drop? I didn't, but now I do. Oof. This thing's appearance forces Aero to protect while Garchomp Earthquakes turn 1, so you can imagine how tricky that got to navigate with Garchomp's big fat 4x Ice Weakness dragging it down. Oh, and Electrode 3 has Air Ballon and protect, because having to knock it out with Dragon Claw isn't punishing enough. This thing alone made me want to go Jolly on Aero, but even that would only Speed tie, so I think this beside something that threatens Garchomp would be trouble for this team no matter what.
Lati@s - any of them. Again they fall into that annoying speed tier where they're below Aero and above Chomp. so taking them out requires tricky switching, doubly difficult when Sky Drop doesn't damage Levitating pokemon. Latios could also consistently get Golisopod under 50% and trigger an involuntary Emergency Exit, which made switching in on it pretty tough. In these games it was better to eliminate whatever threatened Celesteela, then use Steela to outlast the Lati@s in a war of attrition. Brutal everytime, and made me seriously consider Ice Fang on Aerodactyl.
THE LOSS
Honestly this was just poor play on my part. A classic story of hubris, I underestimated my opponent and overestimated my team.
Battle 107 vs Sightseer Chen
Haxorus + Slaking vs Aero + Garchomp.
Predicting an easy time against Slaking, I decided to double protect to burn its attack since Haxorus was no threat to Celesteela.
Haxorus used Dragon Dance :(
Recognising my mistake, I decided to double up on Haxorus, expecting to lose Garchomp. Unexpectedly, it used Dragon Claw on Aerodactyl, taking it down to 26HP. I got in some chip damage on both targets with Rock Slide, and Garchomp finished Haxorus off with Dragon Claw.
Chen sent in Regigigas, and I was feeling good. I'd just eliminated the biggest threat and foolishly assumed I'd already won because I was facing down the two worst abilities in the game.
So... I should have double protected to burn out Slaking. My initial Rock Slide had done about 30%, so I thought another one plus Earthquake would finish it off before it could move, but of course, at the critical moment, Rock Slide missed. Slaking survived Earthquake with enough HP left to finish off Garchomp with a Giga Impact. Regigigas didn't flinch either, and knocked out Aerodactyl with a knock off.
Oof. Big oof.
So I was down but not out. Slaking was super low and about to lose a turn to Truant, so I reckoned I could finish it off pretty easily between Golisopod and Celesteela. I set up for the late game by putting a Leech seed on Regigigas and chipped it down to about 25% Health with a First Impression. And then, the final blow -- Regigigas used Thunder Wave on Golisopod.
I knew that was really bad news. I have the worst luck in the world. Paralysis may as well be freeze for how often it kicks in. However I reckoned Celesteela could probably muscle through almost anything if it had a SpDef boost, especially because it was leeching a huge chunk of HP back from Regigigas every turn. So I doubled into Slaking with Aqua Jet and Heavy Slam to cover for the paralysis so that even if Golisopod failed, I would still get the SpDef Boost. Of course, Golisopod did Paralyzed, and Slaking killed it with Giga Impact. Celesteela then finished off Slaking and got the SpDef Boost. Regigigas hit Celesteela with Knock Off, so it lost the leftovers.
That's bad for the end game in itself, but in a much more terrifying development, the final pokemon comes in, and it's Darmanitan.
No big deal, I think, huffing vast amounts of copium - there's only one physical attacking Darmanitan set in the Tree, and it could have Zen Mode! I just need to Leech Seed it, and maybe I can outstall it with protect/ sub --
No.
It was the Scarf set. It was Sheer Force. It vaporized Celesteela in one hit.
Game over at 106 wins.
Honestly, not the worst loss. I definitely could have played much better by conserving Garchomp, and if it weren't for the untimely paralysis on Golisopod it would have easily dealt with Darmanitan. A mixture of bad luck and worse play brought me down, and that's ok.
I'm enjoying this challenge and I'm not taking it too seriously, just dipping into it every now and again. Once I get to 50 wins, I stop looking up the opposing sets because I'll never get there with every mega if I get some random 300+ streak mid-way through. I'm shocked I got so far without guidance - but the team was remarkably solid and fun to use (and maybe a little lucky now and again).
Mega-Aero really exceeded expectations, and I'm glad this is now my top performing team. I typically cycle between 2-3 teams so I don't get too bored of using the same team over and over, so I'll be grinding out something between Banette, Lopunny, and Latias next. Should be fun, and maybe I'll update again soon with a better record. I doubt this is the peak. I still have to try Metagross, Kangaskhan and Salamence. Who wants more of them on the leaderboard anyway?
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Obligatory post to keep my streak unsealed, as requested by Eisenherz: I expect to return to this streak after I graduate (May 2023). I don't expect the done-ness of my streak to impact anyone, but if there's any activity around that region such that my streak being completed or not affects leaderboard positions, feel free to seal it for good.
Leaderboard update, just in time for SV (phew)!
As in the BDSP thread, I decided to add a "Streaks under review" section to this thread, where streaks I'm not comfortable listing without additional details/proof are listed in the meantime.
Quick rant / real talk...
It's no secret that in recent years, modifying the 3DS has become easy and widespread, which has the unfortunate side-effect of facilitating cheating. As the first post mentions, our recordkeeping relies heavily on a system of trust and honesty.
As a dude who has invested thousands of hours (unfortunately not an exaggeration) playing Facilities - Tree the most - it both saddens and angers me when someone decides to abuse this system of trust and "tries their luck" for a spot on the leaderboard. Not only are they being deceitful, but more existentially, it undermines the entire thing we have going. In the long run, it threatens to invalidate the very leaderboard they're trying to be a part of.
I'd like to keep this going. Not only did a really cool community build around battle facilities, but I also think they offer the coolest single-player challenge in Pokémon. So I just wanted to say, please: don't succumb to the temptation of cheating. All it does is harm this project and community. (Also, experienced players can usually spot cheating way easier than seems to be assumed).
Thanks for reading
As in the BDSP thread, I decided to add a "Streaks under review" section to this thread, where streaks I'm not comfortable listing without additional details/proof are listed in the meantime.
Quick rant / real talk...
It's no secret that in recent years, modifying the 3DS has become easy and widespread, which has the unfortunate side-effect of facilitating cheating. As the first post mentions, our recordkeeping relies heavily on a system of trust and honesty.
As a dude who has invested thousands of hours (unfortunately not an exaggeration) playing Facilities - Tree the most - it both saddens and angers me when someone decides to abuse this system of trust and "tries their luck" for a spot on the leaderboard. Not only are they being deceitful, but more existentially, it undermines the entire thing we have going. In the long run, it threatens to invalidate the very leaderboard they're trying to be a part of.
I'd like to keep this going. Not only did a really cool community build around battle facilities, but I also think they offer the coolest single-player challenge in Pokémon. So I just wanted to say, please: don't succumb to the temptation of cheating. All it does is harm this project and community. (Also, experienced players can usually spot cheating way easier than seems to be assumed).
Thanks for reading
HeadsILoseTailsYouWin : You have until December 21st for your biannual update
Every one of your submissions so far featured questionable teams (this was also the opinion of all experienced players I polled) which's success would hinge on a heavy dose of luck. This, in addition with the contents of some of your posts being incongruent, can only raise doubts.
Belly Drum Snorlax, by all standards of AI Multis, is a very bad lead, because of 1. Its speed tier, with no complimentary speed control, and 2. The fact it requires setting up. While your AI partner is a good one, a 101 streak is quite a mindblowing claim.
Given all of these circumstances, I cannot list you with peace of mind. If you think these assessments are incorrect, I invite you to record and/or stream long portions of play to showcase it.
Belly Drum Snorlax, by all standards of AI Multis, is a very bad lead, because of 1. Its speed tier, with no complimentary speed control, and 2. The fact it requires setting up. While your AI partner is a good one, a 101 streak is quite a mindblowing claim.
Given all of these circumstances, I cannot list you with peace of mind. If you think these assessments are incorrect, I invite you to record and/or stream long portions of play to showcase it.
I'm sorry, but after review and some discussion with other experienced players, your streak has been excluded from the leaderboard. Your team seems like it would struggle to reach the 100 mark, so a claim of 655 is incredibly bold. Several problematic issues can be quickly identified, for example:
- Hitting Rock Slides upfront; the strategy requires clicking and hitting Rock Slide turn 1 a lot of the time, and such luck tends to expire before long. This alone makes any high number claim shaky.
- Outspeeding; Terrakion is "slow" (ie. slower than Whimsicott), leaving it vulnerable to anything that outspeeds it upfront (things like Garchomp-3, Landorus-2, Mega Alakazam...). While usually this would be remedied by Tailwind, Terrakion is scarfed, and can't Protect as Whimsicott Tailwinds, leaving this slot ripe for a free KO, and these cannot be easily switch into considering your backline. Being choice-locked will also make Terrakion unable to really make use of its +4 as soon as the wrong typings show up from the backline (quick example, backline Cobalion-3 showing up while locked into Rock Slide seems like a nightmare scenario).
- Kommo-o barely has any SpA investment, making its Clangorous Soulblaze (and subsequent Clanging Scales) really weak. The list of things it can OHKO is very small (refer to a mass calc), it does not even OHKO Pokémon weak to it like the Latis. This makes your comment about getting free turns as spread moves score double KOs pretty unrealistic.
- Your writeup gives a generic assessment of the idea behind your team and how things should be handled in theory, but shows no knowledge of the Tree itself and how handling such a long streak goes.
More generally, all the sets on this team barring Whimsicott are questionable, and no experienced Tree player I showed it to was able to imagine it hitting 655 (or even 450, for that matter). This is my assessment as well.
- Hitting Rock Slides upfront; the strategy requires clicking and hitting Rock Slide turn 1 a lot of the time, and such luck tends to expire before long. This alone makes any high number claim shaky.
- Outspeeding; Terrakion is "slow" (ie. slower than Whimsicott), leaving it vulnerable to anything that outspeeds it upfront (things like Garchomp-3, Landorus-2, Mega Alakazam...). While usually this would be remedied by Tailwind, Terrakion is scarfed, and can't Protect as Whimsicott Tailwinds, leaving this slot ripe for a free KO, and these cannot be easily switch into considering your backline. Being choice-locked will also make Terrakion unable to really make use of its +4 as soon as the wrong typings show up from the backline (quick example, backline Cobalion-3 showing up while locked into Rock Slide seems like a nightmare scenario).
- Kommo-o barely has any SpA investment, making its Clangorous Soulblaze (and subsequent Clanging Scales) really weak. The list of things it can OHKO is very small (refer to a mass calc), it does not even OHKO Pokémon weak to it like the Latis. This makes your comment about getting free turns as spread moves score double KOs pretty unrealistic.
- Your writeup gives a generic assessment of the idea behind your team and how things should be handled in theory, but shows no knowledge of the Tree itself and how handling such a long streak goes.
More generally, all the sets on this team barring Whimsicott are questionable, and no experienced Tree player I showed it to was able to imagine it hitting 655 (or even 450, for that matter). This is my assessment as well.
Hello,
After I presented my double fight team, I can now present also my single fight team, which is also based on a simple strategy. Here the idea is not to have an aggressive strategy triggering most of the time KOs or double KOs, it is instead having two that strong slow defensive boosters, that they can handle almost all enemies without problems after full boosting. The booster pokemons are a Glalie and a Gliscor. They are supported for the setup by an Gothitelle as starter, which can reduce the danger from many pokemons by its status moves. Different to some of the other super effective Battle Tree strategies with boosting Glalies using entrainment to distribute the ability Truant, which are reported here and which I tried as well, this team was for me also very successful in online battles. After the degeneration of your opponent, you can exchange to one of the boosters and if the opponent is exchanging then, get at least one free round to boost usually quite safe, since Shadow Tag is avoiding the exchange before. One initial Substitute or Double Team can be against a lot of opponents already enough. The strategy with Shadow Tag is not working always as for example against ghost type pokemons, but it works very often.
Here are the pokemons, where all PP are very important to be maximized:
Gothitelle @ Wide Lens
DVs: all maximized except for physical attack, which is minimized.
EVs: 236 HP / 76 Def / 196 Spe
Ability: Shadow Tag
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Charm
- Confide
- Rest
Glalie @ Leftovers
DVs: all maximized except for physical attack, which is minimized.
EVs: 172 HP / 28 Def / 12 SpA / 44 SpD / 252 Spe (for rounding reasons even values are preferred here assuming positive boosts are more likely than negative boosts in the mean and because of opponents with the Download ability the idea is to have a higher special defense than defense)
Ability: Moody
Timid Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Taunt
- Substitute
- Protect
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
DVs: all maximized
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 4 Def / 204 SpD / 44 Spe
Ability: Poison Heal
Careful Nature
- Wing Attack
- Double Team
- Substitute
- Protect
All of the three pokemons can have some serious problems with Taunt, where I am at a start of a fight most of the time trying some switches and sometimes can try for some lucky boosts with Glalie.
Gothielle: It has in case of poisoning and so on an advantageous HP number. It can use Thunder Wave quite good in comparison to other pokemons, because the possibility to switch to an electric attacks absorbing pokemon is usually suppressed. It is faster than speed 100 base pokemons without investment and supporting nature for that. After a successful Thunder Wave, which is hitting the target almost always due to the Wide Lens, it is anyway faster than almost everything without boosting ability. Of course this works not for the electric type pokemons and ground type pokemons plus some more. Pokemons, which are forcing exchanges on the own side as well as to strong Explosions can lead to critical situations. It should be noticed that sometimes abilities as Competitive can be triggered by the own moves. If it is used to degenerate the enemy it can sometimes happen, that the opponent can or maybe can theoretically faster get stats than you can take them away, in such situations it is required, to be very careful. With rest, in a standard case of fight, it can restore its HP before the exchange to one of the boosters. Thereby it is nice, that it can be taken away before its wake up round with many HP left, having the benefit, to be protected regarding many status moves. But also this gives some small drawback in the case, the opponent has maybe something as Hex as move for example. Another positive point, Gothielle shares no weaknesses with the other pokemons of this team.
Glalie: It has some advantageous HP number according to the healing by its item. It can boost as a standard Moody boosting Glalie. It has Freeze-Dry in this case and not Frost Breath, because of the higher basic damage, type advantage, freeze possibility, it can be used more often and it has a higher accuracy. Furthermore, also Freeze-Dry can have critical hits, even if it would be sure for Frost Breath. Other pokemons with Moody, if coming and also pokemons, which are copying the ability should be treated carefully. Taunt can be used to avoid for example attacks as Psych Up or other Taunts from the enemies.
Gliscor: It has some advantageous HP number to make good use of the Poison Heal ability. It is faster than speed 100 base pokemons without investment and supporting nature for that. After full boosting with Substitute and Double Team it can win against almost everything in the battle tree, at least in the mean. Some pokemons have to be stalled out by PP, Cofagrigus for example, which should be ideally not attacked. Especially faster pokemons with strong ice or water attacks and Dragon Dance Tyranitars can be problematic and win with enough luck on their site. Also forcing exchanges on the own side can be a problem for Gliscor, which will lose then its boosts. Unfortunately, it has no Taunt access to avoid Psych Up or other Taunts and so on from other pokemons. It is noticeable, that Wing Attack can have with 56 a very high PP number and still has STAB. The type combination has advantageous resistances and is good in combination with the other types and especially the ice type, which is tanking ice attacks quite good, which are a bit problematic for Gliscor.
With this team I reached 284 wins in Pokemon Ultramoon (code: JZBW-WWWW-WWXF-2LH4). In the last fight, since I was not checking out the pokemon, I was not expecting the ability Guts. So, I estimated the Hariyama to be not threatening and started for saving PP the boosting of the Gliscor against the paralyzed Hariyama with Double Team instead of Substitute with Protect. This decision was bringing me into a bad situation and finally I lost. In principle, I should have boosted with Double Team after Hariyama would have not been able to use Brick Break having the substitute on the field. Then I could have set up my Gliscor basically quite safe. Anyway, I am happy with my record, I could have lost also earlier and sometimes it was close.
Here is one example fight, how a typical fight is going on with boosting Glalie (code: 446W-WWWW-WWXF-2EC4). Even if I reduced for two rounds the physical attack of the Sandstorm Gastrodon instead of the special attack and lost my Gothitelle, the fight was in a standard way winnable using Glalie.
Here is another typical example fight, where I boosted with the Gliscor and not with the Glalie (code: SZAW-WWWW-WWXF-2EC3). In this case, the weakening of the enemy was not possible, but everything went well.
Kind regards to everyone!
After I presented my double fight team, I can now present also my single fight team, which is also based on a simple strategy. Here the idea is not to have an aggressive strategy triggering most of the time KOs or double KOs, it is instead having two that strong slow defensive boosters, that they can handle almost all enemies without problems after full boosting. The booster pokemons are a Glalie and a Gliscor. They are supported for the setup by an Gothitelle as starter, which can reduce the danger from many pokemons by its status moves. Different to some of the other super effective Battle Tree strategies with boosting Glalies using entrainment to distribute the ability Truant, which are reported here and which I tried as well, this team was for me also very successful in online battles. After the degeneration of your opponent, you can exchange to one of the boosters and if the opponent is exchanging then, get at least one free round to boost usually quite safe, since Shadow Tag is avoiding the exchange before. One initial Substitute or Double Team can be against a lot of opponents already enough. The strategy with Shadow Tag is not working always as for example against ghost type pokemons, but it works very often.
Here are the pokemons, where all PP are very important to be maximized:
Gothitelle @ Wide Lens
DVs: all maximized except for physical attack, which is minimized.
EVs: 236 HP / 76 Def / 196 Spe
Ability: Shadow Tag
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Charm
- Confide
- Rest
Glalie @ Leftovers
DVs: all maximized except for physical attack, which is minimized.
EVs: 172 HP / 28 Def / 12 SpA / 44 SpD / 252 Spe (for rounding reasons even values are preferred here assuming positive boosts are more likely than negative boosts in the mean and because of opponents with the Download ability the idea is to have a higher special defense than defense)
Ability: Moody
Timid Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Taunt
- Substitute
- Protect
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
DVs: all maximized
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 4 Def / 204 SpD / 44 Spe
Ability: Poison Heal
Careful Nature
- Wing Attack
- Double Team
- Substitute
- Protect
All of the three pokemons can have some serious problems with Taunt, where I am at a start of a fight most of the time trying some switches and sometimes can try for some lucky boosts with Glalie.
Gothielle: It has in case of poisoning and so on an advantageous HP number. It can use Thunder Wave quite good in comparison to other pokemons, because the possibility to switch to an electric attacks absorbing pokemon is usually suppressed. It is faster than speed 100 base pokemons without investment and supporting nature for that. After a successful Thunder Wave, which is hitting the target almost always due to the Wide Lens, it is anyway faster than almost everything without boosting ability. Of course this works not for the electric type pokemons and ground type pokemons plus some more. Pokemons, which are forcing exchanges on the own side as well as to strong Explosions can lead to critical situations. It should be noticed that sometimes abilities as Competitive can be triggered by the own moves. If it is used to degenerate the enemy it can sometimes happen, that the opponent can or maybe can theoretically faster get stats than you can take them away, in such situations it is required, to be very careful. With rest, in a standard case of fight, it can restore its HP before the exchange to one of the boosters. Thereby it is nice, that it can be taken away before its wake up round with many HP left, having the benefit, to be protected regarding many status moves. But also this gives some small drawback in the case, the opponent has maybe something as Hex as move for example. Another positive point, Gothielle shares no weaknesses with the other pokemons of this team.
Glalie: It has some advantageous HP number according to the healing by its item. It can boost as a standard Moody boosting Glalie. It has Freeze-Dry in this case and not Frost Breath, because of the higher basic damage, type advantage, freeze possibility, it can be used more often and it has a higher accuracy. Furthermore, also Freeze-Dry can have critical hits, even if it would be sure for Frost Breath. Other pokemons with Moody, if coming and also pokemons, which are copying the ability should be treated carefully. Taunt can be used to avoid for example attacks as Psych Up or other Taunts from the enemies.
Gliscor: It has some advantageous HP number to make good use of the Poison Heal ability. It is faster than speed 100 base pokemons without investment and supporting nature for that. After full boosting with Substitute and Double Team it can win against almost everything in the battle tree, at least in the mean. Some pokemons have to be stalled out by PP, Cofagrigus for example, which should be ideally not attacked. Especially faster pokemons with strong ice or water attacks and Dragon Dance Tyranitars can be problematic and win with enough luck on their site. Also forcing exchanges on the own side can be a problem for Gliscor, which will lose then its boosts. Unfortunately, it has no Taunt access to avoid Psych Up or other Taunts and so on from other pokemons. It is noticeable, that Wing Attack can have with 56 a very high PP number and still has STAB. The type combination has advantageous resistances and is good in combination with the other types and especially the ice type, which is tanking ice attacks quite good, which are a bit problematic for Gliscor.
With this team I reached 284 wins in Pokemon Ultramoon (code: JZBW-WWWW-WWXF-2LH4). In the last fight, since I was not checking out the pokemon, I was not expecting the ability Guts. So, I estimated the Hariyama to be not threatening and started for saving PP the boosting of the Gliscor against the paralyzed Hariyama with Double Team instead of Substitute with Protect. This decision was bringing me into a bad situation and finally I lost. In principle, I should have boosted with Double Team after Hariyama would have not been able to use Brick Break having the substitute on the field. Then I could have set up my Gliscor basically quite safe. Anyway, I am happy with my record, I could have lost also earlier and sometimes it was close.
Here is one example fight, how a typical fight is going on with boosting Glalie (code: 446W-WWWW-WWXF-2EC4). Even if I reduced for two rounds the physical attack of the Sandstorm Gastrodon instead of the special attack and lost my Gothitelle, the fight was in a standard way winnable using Glalie.
Here is another typical example fight, where I boosted with the Gliscor and not with the Glalie (code: SZAW-WWWW-WWXF-2EC3). In this case, the weakening of the enemy was not possible, but everything went well.
Kind regards to everyone!
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Here is another post, showing how I gained battle points to farm stuff as Rare Candies by my Lego machine, which is realizing an automized surfing between two of the beaches. This was helping a bit to evolve my pokemon teams.
Here can be seen what happens on one beach.
And here can be seen what happens on the other beach.
Here can be seen what happens on one beach.
And here can be seen what happens on the other beach.
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Hello to everyone,
Here comes a video, which I made from my saved streak battles regarding my double fight team. By the way, the Youtube account is from a friend, who was so kind to upload the video for me, since I have no own Youtube account.
The video contains the battles with the following numbers: 190, 195-200, 210, 212, 390-400, 426, 440-450, 476, 500, 550, 600, 656.
Some of the fights were saved, since they were at specific numbers, others were saved, because something special happened. Fight 195 to 200, 390 to 400 and 440 to 450 can be seen somehow as random battles, because I decided to save them beforehand. Battle 212 and 392 are examples, which were quite critical to win. In battle 212 I was not getting the Mega-Mawile KO, which I assumed to be there and in battle 392 I just was somehow lucky, that I won at the end after it was not going well. Fight 426 is one of the seldom battles, where I even started using Earthquake and fight 656 is my losing battle, where I had finally Mimikyu versus Shiinotic as for fight 392 as well.
In principle, most of the typical battle situations are there. Exceptions are normal Trick Room enemy fights, where I usually, if needed, can use priority Encore on the Trick Room user and as well no Trick Room enemy fights against the Jellicent or Oranguru with Mental Herb, which can make the fights in that situations quite problematic to win, when they were able to use Trick Room.
Greetings!
Here comes a video, which I made from my saved streak battles regarding my double fight team. By the way, the Youtube account is from a friend, who was so kind to upload the video for me, since I have no own Youtube account.
The video contains the battles with the following numbers: 190, 195-200, 210, 212, 390-400, 426, 440-450, 476, 500, 550, 600, 656.
Some of the fights were saved, since they were at specific numbers, others were saved, because something special happened. Fight 195 to 200, 390 to 400 and 440 to 450 can be seen somehow as random battles, because I decided to save them beforehand. Battle 212 and 392 are examples, which were quite critical to win. In battle 212 I was not getting the Mega-Mawile KO, which I assumed to be there and in battle 392 I just was somehow lucky, that I won at the end after it was not going well. Fight 426 is one of the seldom battles, where I even started using Earthquake and fight 656 is my losing battle, where I had finally Mimikyu versus Shiinotic as for fight 392 as well.
In principle, most of the typical battle situations are there. Exceptions are normal Trick Room enemy fights, where I usually, if needed, can use priority Encore on the Trick Room user and as well no Trick Room enemy fights against the Jellicent or Oranguru with Mental Herb, which can make the fights in that situations quite problematic to win, when they were able to use Trick Room.
Greetings!
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Zing Zap! – MaruMence Team Report (148 Streak)
Greetings! This is PkmnTrainerRod (again). Posting another team report of my new personal record of 148 streak in Battle Tree Super Doubles with MaruMence.
- Teambuilding Process (STORY) -
After losing my Charizard Y team that reached 140 streak (#54 in Leaderboards) I decided to take a break from playing the tree. And after a one week break, I come back and make a new team again. I instantly look for a Mega Pokémon that is strong, versatile and the one that fits on my playstyle. While having a conversation with battle tree players in discord, I asked them which mega is good to use in battle tree. They said: Mega Metagross, Mega Salamence, and Mega Kangaskhan. Without a doubt, I chose Mega Salamence as a mega of choice because Salamence is top tier Mega in the tree and it is also one of my favorite pokémon of all time.
- Mega Salamence (First Choice) -
Mega Salamence Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate > Aerialite
Nature: Hasty/Naive
EVs: 60 Atk / 196 SpA / 252 Spe
Double Edge / Hyper Voice / Protect / Flamethrower
- Details -
After I successfully got to the leaderboards with Charizard Y, I wanted to beat my personal record with a different mega and I pick Salamence for the first time. What I like about Salamence is that it provides Intimidate to weaken strong physical attackers in the tree. Additionally, Mence had a very decent bulk, great offensive stats and wide movepool. In picking what set I’m using, I think that DD Mence can possibly work in doubles format. But I realized that setting up in Doubles is very difficult to pull off. So I ended up using a standard MixMence set which consists of Double Edge, Hyper Voice, Protect and Flamethrower. First, Double Edge is a very strong physical move that can delete opposing threats. And with Aerialite boost, it can easily tear through teams. Second, Hyper Voice is very essential on Mence because it’s very strong with Aerialite boost, spammable, and also deals tons of damage against neutral matchups. Protect? Nothing to explain there. And lastly, Flamethrower is a coverage move for annoying Ice types. I think that’s pretty much it about Salamence, because in VGC as well as in Battle Tree, it’s so good! (Btw, set was inspired from TyranitarPhantom’s 180 Streak Mega Mence Team)
-Finding A Partner for Salamence -
Before building a “complete” team, first, I read some several teams in the leaderboards in order to have a reference or inspiration (Especially those who used MegaMence in their runs. Most notable players were ANTS, lolnub, and TyranitarPhantom). After several minutes of looking for the perfect partner for MegaMence, I found out that Tapu Fini was the best choice to pair with Mega Salamence.
- Tapu Fini (First Choice)
Tapu Fini wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 68 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Moonblast / Scald / Protect / Ice Beam?
- Details -
I decided to pick EisenBerry Fini set with Ice Beam on last slot. Looking back at the Tapu Fini sets in the tree, I saw Eisen’s set was the best one in the Leaderboards. Thus, I stick with this set for my run. Tapu Fini is undeniably one of the best pokémon in the tree because of her excellent bulk, best type combination, offensive power, and last but not the list, strong hax prevention with her ability: Misty Surge. For those who don’t know, Misty Surge activates Misty Terrain, and Misty Terrain avoids all status condition to occur. Additionaly, Misty Terrain boosts Fini’s Fairy Type move, making her STAB Moonblast deadlier. Another benefit of having a Misty Terrain is that all Dragon type attacks will be cutted by 50%, and it will be greatly appreciated by its teammates. And for movesets, Moonblast is self-explanatory STAB. For Fini’s water type STAB, I prefer Scald over muddy water because as I said on my Charizard Y team report, I don’t want to use any inaccurate moves. Moreover, Scald also has a chance to burn opposing pokémon which is handy in some situations. Protect for safety. And Ice Beam was just a filler move on the last slot to deal with opposing Dragons and flyers (If Moonblast can’t OHKO). Overall, Tapu Fini is a very fantastic pokémon to use because of how strong it is.
- Sample Teams -
I’ve built some sample teams and played them only in NORMAL Doubles. These are the first teams I used:
Team #1: Raichu / Mega Salamence / Tapu Fini / Lando T (Tyranitar Phantom’s 180 Streak Team)
- I used TyranitarPhantom’s MegaMence Team first. Using it was fun, but I ended up dropping this team because I want my team to be more original.
Team #2: Togedemaru / Mega Salamence / Tapu Fini / Lando T (Changed Raichu into Togedemaru with almost same moveset)
- It works same as the first team. Though it had some issues, Maru is 4x weak to ground and in some cases, pairing it with Lando T will limit my options. And also, the team is pretty weak to Ice Types. Lastly, it lacks damage output.
I’m starting to get frustrated on how to build a team around MegaMence. So I took a break to refresh my thoughts and think what kind of team composition I’ll be using. After a one day break, I finally made a decision to pick up ANTS “Dual Core Processing” team (But with a different lead and 4th Pokemon)
Team #3: Tapu Fini / Incineroar / Mega Salamence / Aegislash
- The team looks pretty solid after getting inspiration from ANTS Dual Processing team. Aegislash was a strong steel type because I can pivot it out on Incineroar slot just in case it was threatened by a fighting type move. Additionally, Aegislash is solid pick against trick room matchups. And lastly, Aegislash provides Wide Guard support. The team looks cool and decent. But before I use it, there’s one big issue I pointed out in this team. I don’t have a good safe swap against electric types. Yes, my issue on electric types was still there (Veteran Kikujiro flashbacks). And even though Aegislash had very good defenses; I can’t afford to receive damage just to make Tapu Fini safe from electric type attacks. Furthermore, most electric type pokémon in the tree are very fast and annoying. So I dumped out the team even though I wanted to pilot it (Fk electric types!)
Since Tapu Fini, Incineroar and Mega Salamence synergize well. The only thing I needed is a steel type to glue out the team together. My first choice was Kartana because it resists Electric Types, super high attack stats, covers Mega Salamence well, and has access to tailwind for speed control. But the problem is that Tailwind Kartana can only be obtainable in US/UM and I don’t have one lol (I played in S/M only. I had a friend who had US/UM, but he doesn’t have a TW Kart) Because of that, I look for another steel type, but not just a filler steel type pokémon. I consider these 3 things on picking a good one:
1. Can resist electric types when I need to swap out/protect Tapu Fini
2. Can cover Mega Mence weaknesses (Fairy, Rock and Ice)
3. Pretty decent offense and can disrupt enemies
Because of these considerations, I finally found the one that can perfectly fit do to this role. And it is… Togedemaru.
- MaruMence (Team Details) -
Tapu Fini (カプ・レヒレ)@Wiki Berry (Set inspired from Eisen)
Traded by a Japanese Friend
Ability: Misty Surge
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 68 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Moonblast / Scald / Protect / Calm Mind
Incineroar @Figy Berry (Set inspired from Eisen)
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 236 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 84 Spe
Flare Blitz / Knock Off / Fake Out / U – Turn
Togedemaru Focus sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Iron Head / Zing Zap / Spiky Shield / Fake Out
Salamence – Mega Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate > Aerialite
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Double Edge / Hyper Voice / Protect / Flamethrower
- Summary of MaruMence -
I was surprised on the outcome of my team. All I can say is its freaking decent! During the teambuilding process, I watched Eisen’s ZapFini streak highlights in order to have solid knowledge on how to use Incin + Fini lead properly. Anyway, this is the summary of my team.
Incineroar and Tapu Fini is a very strong lead (I was inspired from Eisen’s ZapFini team, that’s why I decided to lead these two.) Incineroar’s ability Intimidate helps my team to tank more strong physical hits. With the combination of Fake Out, Tapu Fini can setup calm mind (I only use setup moves if needed) and sweep the game with +1 Moonblast in Misty Terrain and Scald. In addition, Incineroar has access to Knock Off to remove annoying items such as brightpowder, berries, choice items, etc. and U – Turn to safely pivot out when threatened by Ground / Fighting type move. Furthermore, Incineroar cover Fini’s grass type weakness well because of its powerful STAB Flare Blitz. On the other hand, Tapu Fini provides a lot of tools to cover not only Incineroar, but also the whole team because of her overall power. (Please refer to the Tapu Fini Details.)
But it doesn’t stop there. With Salamence in the back, it also provides intimidate support to cripple physical attackers in the tree (-2 doesn’t deal to much anymore, except on critical hits lol) and if my opponents pokémon are weakened by both of my leads, Mega Salamence can sweep from the back. In some cases, if Incineroar was pressured by a Ground or Fighting type move, I can take this opportunity to bring in Salamence and retaliate with its Aerialite boosted Hyper Voice or Double Edge. By the way, the reason why I didn’t put Salamence in the lead because of this issue: Mega Mence only minces for about 70-90% of opponents HP and it couldn’t OHKO most of the time. That’s why I decided to put Mega Mence in backline as an endgame sweeper. Moreover, I don’t want double intimidate leads because of the existence of Defiant / Competitive pokémons such as Thundurus, Bisharp, and Milotic. I also changed its EVs to 4/252/252 to maximize Hyper Voice damage since Mega Mence still does a lot with Double Edge even in 4 Atk EVs.
Last but not the list is none other than Togedemaru. Wait, Togedemaru? Why? Because it is so cute! I’m just kidding HAHAHA. On my first 50 streak, I’m still uncertain on how Togedemaru will work. Despite of filling its role to protect Mega Salamence and Tapu Fini, I was worried of Maru’s low defenses foreshadowing that the team will easily collapse because of its frailty. But as the streak goes by, I started to put my trust on using Togedemaru. I realized how perfectly Togedemaru fits on the team, it also synergizes well with Fini and Mence. Hence, Togedemaru is undeniably the MVP and also the most important piece of the team for 3 reasons:
1. It solves all of my electric type issues. Togedemaru makes Fini safe from any electric type attacks. Because of its Lightning Rod ability, it can make electric types useless and also make their moves limited, making it very easy to predict and win matches with ease. Additionally, I can also pivot Togedemaru just in case Fini was threatened by poison types (most notably: Crobat and Drapion) and perfectly bait poison type moves since Maru is immune to Poison.
2. Togedemaru perfectly synergizes well with the team especially on Mega Salamence. In offensive side, Togedemaru’s attack stat shouldn’t be underestimated because it hits pretty hard. STAB Iron Head to remove fairies in the field. Additionally, it also helped me to dent opposing Ice and Rock types (which Mega Salamence hates) STAB Zing Zap is a strong physical electric move that has a small chance to flinch opponents (Same as Iron Head) I know it doesn’t OHKO bulky water types in the tree but it provides necessary damage to gain momentum + putting it in kill range where its allies can easily pick them off. Along with his offensive coverage, it also has access to Fake Out. A very disruptive tool to completely shut down some huge threats on early turns. Giving my team a total of 2 Fake Outs. One from Incineroar in the lead and one from Togedemaru in the back. Two Fake Out is better than one :DD
3. Togedemaru is also reliable in supporting its allies. First and foremost, Lightning Rod ability completely shuts down electric types. Thus, limiting their options and moves (Side note: Catching an Electrium Z from the opponent is so satisfying) Other than that, Togedemaru hard counters these notorious stallers in the tree. Most notably Zapdos2, Cresselia2, and Blissey4. With additional FO in the back, it allows my teammates to gain another free turn and gain more momentum to easily finish the game. And also with Focus Sash, it won’t be broken by sand because of its steel typing (though I need to be cautious on hail and status conditions like burn) But when Maru’s health drop into 1HP, it can act as a “pseudo” FEAR – like strat and bait strong moves while its partner will gain a free turn and use the opportunity to snag a KO. This pikaclone shouldn’t be overlooked. This cute little monster can function well both offense and defense, a perfect role to unleash its true potential.
- Threats (In General) -
Ground Types – Despite having a strong synergy, ground types are one of the biggest weaknesses on my team. They deal tons of damage against Incineroar and Togedemaru. And sometimes, Tapu Fini can’t afford to take damage. Moreover, some Ground Types had Stone Edge or Rock Slide, which limits my option to safe swap into Mence or even Poison types, which threatens my Tapu Fini and restricts my options to catch it with Togedemaru. Most notable pokémon that has access to strong ground types are: Nidoking3, Nidoqueen3, Mega Garchomp/4, Mega Swampert/3, Tyranitar34, Drapion34, Mamoswine4, Aerodactyl4, Landorus234, Gastrodon34 and Terrakion34.
Electric Types – If Togedemaru is fainted, electric types are difficult to handle. They deal tons of damage, fast and annoying. But if Togedemaru is active on the field, they are pretty easy to deal with. Most notable Pokemon are: Mega Manectric/3, Electrode34, Electivire34, Rotom Wash and Heat34, Raikou1234, Mega Ampharos/4, Thundurus34, Zapdos1234, Jolteon34, and Magnezone34.
Stallers – These are the most annoying ones to deal with. Especially if you have no solid answers to them. And if you messed up your gameplan or you didn’t remove them immediately, you basically got rekt by them. But as long as Togedemaru or Incineroar is alive, they’re not much of an issue. Most notable Pokemon are: Zapdos2, Blissey34, Regigigas1234, Cresselia2, Registeel13 and Ferrothorn4.
Other Threats - Trick Room Pokemons (Most notable are Slowking4 and Slowbro4) Sallazle34, Milotic3, Virizion and Cobalion 1234, Goodra34, Mega Gengar/4, Mega Beedrill34, Mega Charizard X and Y, Rampardos34, Archeops34, Gyarados34, Braviary34, Passimian34, Regirock2, Alakazam34, Darmanitan34 and Mega Aggron3.
- Best Battles -
Match 138 vs. Veteran Kikujiro. I finally got my revenge on this trainer. I will never forget how super close it is. I’ll also post some MaruMence highlights soon
Video Link:
- How I lost -
Match 149 vs. Worker Omar. I played exceptionally well by perfectly catching overheats and electric type attacks from Mega Manectric. But unfortunately, I was so unlucky in the endgame thinking I will win by just simply pressing Hyper Voice on both of my opponents last two pokemon. I didn't know it was Soundproof Electrode! After that, I realized I’m in very big trouble since I protected Tapu Fini plus Electrode can outspeed both Fini and Mence. Because of that single freaking ability, it puts my team into its demise. I still tried my best to find a way to win by gambling a double protect on fini, or if it fails, hoping that the thunder from electrode will miss. But I’m so unlucky, the double protect failed and the 70% accuracy thunder connects on fini. And that was the game. It was a disastrous and unlucky way to lose. I was very devastated after the game, but I need to accept it because the fault was still on my end.
I should've won that by killing the Electrode sooner and sweep with fini + mence in the endgame. Or I should’ve preserve Togedemaru. That Incin to Maru switch in was so terrible and stupid. RS from Machamp and EQ from Mamoswine caught it off guard. Another option was Hyper Voicing to pick up Mamoswine and try to gamble the thunder will miss and finish it off with Flamethrower on that last turn. I just wanted to say that fuck 3 consecutive flinch from Machamp’s Rock Slide lol
Video Link:
- Conclusion -
I think I should rerun this team once again because I had a blast and it had potential on reaching higher streak. Togedemaru was a blessing in disguise. At first, I doubted to use it at the early stages of my run because Kartana was the best option and it will definitely be. But as the streak goes larger, it became the most important piece to complete my team. I also changed my playstyle from being aggressive to more flexible type of play (This team composition was purposely built for flexible playstyle) Actually, I’m not just playing MaruMence just to make it into the leaderboards. But instead, I also learned and discover new things on how to improve my gameplay to the next level. Thanks Togedemaru for giving me another achievement. My goal is to be the first Filipino player to reach 1000 streak, and hopefully in the future, I’m lucky enough to make it through. Wish me luck and thank you for reading my report!
Greetings! This is PkmnTrainerRod (again). Posting another team report of my new personal record of 148 streak in Battle Tree Super Doubles with MaruMence.
- Teambuilding Process (STORY) -
After losing my Charizard Y team that reached 140 streak (#54 in Leaderboards) I decided to take a break from playing the tree. And after a one week break, I come back and make a new team again. I instantly look for a Mega Pokémon that is strong, versatile and the one that fits on my playstyle. While having a conversation with battle tree players in discord, I asked them which mega is good to use in battle tree. They said: Mega Metagross, Mega Salamence, and Mega Kangaskhan. Without a doubt, I chose Mega Salamence as a mega of choice because Salamence is top tier Mega in the tree and it is also one of my favorite pokémon of all time.
- Mega Salamence (First Choice) -
Mega Salamence Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate > Aerialite
Nature: Hasty/Naive
EVs: 60 Atk / 196 SpA / 252 Spe
Double Edge / Hyper Voice / Protect / Flamethrower
- Details -
After I successfully got to the leaderboards with Charizard Y, I wanted to beat my personal record with a different mega and I pick Salamence for the first time. What I like about Salamence is that it provides Intimidate to weaken strong physical attackers in the tree. Additionally, Mence had a very decent bulk, great offensive stats and wide movepool. In picking what set I’m using, I think that DD Mence can possibly work in doubles format. But I realized that setting up in Doubles is very difficult to pull off. So I ended up using a standard MixMence set which consists of Double Edge, Hyper Voice, Protect and Flamethrower. First, Double Edge is a very strong physical move that can delete opposing threats. And with Aerialite boost, it can easily tear through teams. Second, Hyper Voice is very essential on Mence because it’s very strong with Aerialite boost, spammable, and also deals tons of damage against neutral matchups. Protect? Nothing to explain there. And lastly, Flamethrower is a coverage move for annoying Ice types. I think that’s pretty much it about Salamence, because in VGC as well as in Battle Tree, it’s so good! (Btw, set was inspired from TyranitarPhantom’s 180 Streak Mega Mence Team)
-Finding A Partner for Salamence -
Before building a “complete” team, first, I read some several teams in the leaderboards in order to have a reference or inspiration (Especially those who used MegaMence in their runs. Most notable players were ANTS, lolnub, and TyranitarPhantom). After several minutes of looking for the perfect partner for MegaMence, I found out that Tapu Fini was the best choice to pair with Mega Salamence.
- Tapu Fini (First Choice)
Tapu Fini wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 68 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Moonblast / Scald / Protect / Ice Beam?
- Details -
I decided to pick EisenBerry Fini set with Ice Beam on last slot. Looking back at the Tapu Fini sets in the tree, I saw Eisen’s set was the best one in the Leaderboards. Thus, I stick with this set for my run. Tapu Fini is undeniably one of the best pokémon in the tree because of her excellent bulk, best type combination, offensive power, and last but not the list, strong hax prevention with her ability: Misty Surge. For those who don’t know, Misty Surge activates Misty Terrain, and Misty Terrain avoids all status condition to occur. Additionaly, Misty Terrain boosts Fini’s Fairy Type move, making her STAB Moonblast deadlier. Another benefit of having a Misty Terrain is that all Dragon type attacks will be cutted by 50%, and it will be greatly appreciated by its teammates. And for movesets, Moonblast is self-explanatory STAB. For Fini’s water type STAB, I prefer Scald over muddy water because as I said on my Charizard Y team report, I don’t want to use any inaccurate moves. Moreover, Scald also has a chance to burn opposing pokémon which is handy in some situations. Protect for safety. And Ice Beam was just a filler move on the last slot to deal with opposing Dragons and flyers (If Moonblast can’t OHKO). Overall, Tapu Fini is a very fantastic pokémon to use because of how strong it is.
- Sample Teams -
I’ve built some sample teams and played them only in NORMAL Doubles. These are the first teams I used:
Team #1: Raichu / Mega Salamence / Tapu Fini / Lando T (Tyranitar Phantom’s 180 Streak Team)
- I used TyranitarPhantom’s MegaMence Team first. Using it was fun, but I ended up dropping this team because I want my team to be more original.
Team #2: Togedemaru / Mega Salamence / Tapu Fini / Lando T (Changed Raichu into Togedemaru with almost same moveset)
- It works same as the first team. Though it had some issues, Maru is 4x weak to ground and in some cases, pairing it with Lando T will limit my options. And also, the team is pretty weak to Ice Types. Lastly, it lacks damage output.
I’m starting to get frustrated on how to build a team around MegaMence. So I took a break to refresh my thoughts and think what kind of team composition I’ll be using. After a one day break, I finally made a decision to pick up ANTS “Dual Core Processing” team (But with a different lead and 4th Pokemon)
Team #3: Tapu Fini / Incineroar / Mega Salamence / Aegislash
- The team looks pretty solid after getting inspiration from ANTS Dual Processing team. Aegislash was a strong steel type because I can pivot it out on Incineroar slot just in case it was threatened by a fighting type move. Additionally, Aegislash is solid pick against trick room matchups. And lastly, Aegislash provides Wide Guard support. The team looks cool and decent. But before I use it, there’s one big issue I pointed out in this team. I don’t have a good safe swap against electric types. Yes, my issue on electric types was still there (Veteran Kikujiro flashbacks). And even though Aegislash had very good defenses; I can’t afford to receive damage just to make Tapu Fini safe from electric type attacks. Furthermore, most electric type pokémon in the tree are very fast and annoying. So I dumped out the team even though I wanted to pilot it (Fk electric types!)
Since Tapu Fini, Incineroar and Mega Salamence synergize well. The only thing I needed is a steel type to glue out the team together. My first choice was Kartana because it resists Electric Types, super high attack stats, covers Mega Salamence well, and has access to tailwind for speed control. But the problem is that Tailwind Kartana can only be obtainable in US/UM and I don’t have one lol (I played in S/M only. I had a friend who had US/UM, but he doesn’t have a TW Kart) Because of that, I look for another steel type, but not just a filler steel type pokémon. I consider these 3 things on picking a good one:
1. Can resist electric types when I need to swap out/protect Tapu Fini
2. Can cover Mega Mence weaknesses (Fairy, Rock and Ice)
3. Pretty decent offense and can disrupt enemies
Because of these considerations, I finally found the one that can perfectly fit do to this role. And it is… Togedemaru.
- MaruMence (Team Details) -
Tapu Fini (カプ・レヒレ)@Wiki Berry (Set inspired from Eisen)
Traded by a Japanese Friend
Ability: Misty Surge
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 68 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Moonblast / Scald / Protect / Calm Mind
Incineroar @Figy Berry (Set inspired from Eisen)
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 236 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 84 Spe
Flare Blitz / Knock Off / Fake Out / U – Turn
Togedemaru Focus sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Iron Head / Zing Zap / Spiky Shield / Fake Out
Salamence – Mega Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate > Aerialite
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Double Edge / Hyper Voice / Protect / Flamethrower
- Summary of MaruMence -
I was surprised on the outcome of my team. All I can say is its freaking decent! During the teambuilding process, I watched Eisen’s ZapFini streak highlights in order to have solid knowledge on how to use Incin + Fini lead properly. Anyway, this is the summary of my team.
Incineroar and Tapu Fini is a very strong lead (I was inspired from Eisen’s ZapFini team, that’s why I decided to lead these two.) Incineroar’s ability Intimidate helps my team to tank more strong physical hits. With the combination of Fake Out, Tapu Fini can setup calm mind (I only use setup moves if needed) and sweep the game with +1 Moonblast in Misty Terrain and Scald. In addition, Incineroar has access to Knock Off to remove annoying items such as brightpowder, berries, choice items, etc. and U – Turn to safely pivot out when threatened by Ground / Fighting type move. Furthermore, Incineroar cover Fini’s grass type weakness well because of its powerful STAB Flare Blitz. On the other hand, Tapu Fini provides a lot of tools to cover not only Incineroar, but also the whole team because of her overall power. (Please refer to the Tapu Fini Details.)
But it doesn’t stop there. With Salamence in the back, it also provides intimidate support to cripple physical attackers in the tree (-2 doesn’t deal to much anymore, except on critical hits lol) and if my opponents pokémon are weakened by both of my leads, Mega Salamence can sweep from the back. In some cases, if Incineroar was pressured by a Ground or Fighting type move, I can take this opportunity to bring in Salamence and retaliate with its Aerialite boosted Hyper Voice or Double Edge. By the way, the reason why I didn’t put Salamence in the lead because of this issue: Mega Mence only minces for about 70-90% of opponents HP and it couldn’t OHKO most of the time. That’s why I decided to put Mega Mence in backline as an endgame sweeper. Moreover, I don’t want double intimidate leads because of the existence of Defiant / Competitive pokémons such as Thundurus, Bisharp, and Milotic. I also changed its EVs to 4/252/252 to maximize Hyper Voice damage since Mega Mence still does a lot with Double Edge even in 4 Atk EVs.
Last but not the list is none other than Togedemaru. Wait, Togedemaru? Why? Because it is so cute! I’m just kidding HAHAHA. On my first 50 streak, I’m still uncertain on how Togedemaru will work. Despite of filling its role to protect Mega Salamence and Tapu Fini, I was worried of Maru’s low defenses foreshadowing that the team will easily collapse because of its frailty. But as the streak goes by, I started to put my trust on using Togedemaru. I realized how perfectly Togedemaru fits on the team, it also synergizes well with Fini and Mence. Hence, Togedemaru is undeniably the MVP and also the most important piece of the team for 3 reasons:
1. It solves all of my electric type issues. Togedemaru makes Fini safe from any electric type attacks. Because of its Lightning Rod ability, it can make electric types useless and also make their moves limited, making it very easy to predict and win matches with ease. Additionally, I can also pivot Togedemaru just in case Fini was threatened by poison types (most notably: Crobat and Drapion) and perfectly bait poison type moves since Maru is immune to Poison.
2. Togedemaru perfectly synergizes well with the team especially on Mega Salamence. In offensive side, Togedemaru’s attack stat shouldn’t be underestimated because it hits pretty hard. STAB Iron Head to remove fairies in the field. Additionally, it also helped me to dent opposing Ice and Rock types (which Mega Salamence hates) STAB Zing Zap is a strong physical electric move that has a small chance to flinch opponents (Same as Iron Head) I know it doesn’t OHKO bulky water types in the tree but it provides necessary damage to gain momentum + putting it in kill range where its allies can easily pick them off. Along with his offensive coverage, it also has access to Fake Out. A very disruptive tool to completely shut down some huge threats on early turns. Giving my team a total of 2 Fake Outs. One from Incineroar in the lead and one from Togedemaru in the back. Two Fake Out is better than one :DD
3. Togedemaru is also reliable in supporting its allies. First and foremost, Lightning Rod ability completely shuts down electric types. Thus, limiting their options and moves (Side note: Catching an Electrium Z from the opponent is so satisfying) Other than that, Togedemaru hard counters these notorious stallers in the tree. Most notably Zapdos2, Cresselia2, and Blissey4. With additional FO in the back, it allows my teammates to gain another free turn and gain more momentum to easily finish the game. And also with Focus Sash, it won’t be broken by sand because of its steel typing (though I need to be cautious on hail and status conditions like burn) But when Maru’s health drop into 1HP, it can act as a “pseudo” FEAR – like strat and bait strong moves while its partner will gain a free turn and use the opportunity to snag a KO. This pikaclone shouldn’t be overlooked. This cute little monster can function well both offense and defense, a perfect role to unleash its true potential.
- Threats (In General) -
Ground Types – Despite having a strong synergy, ground types are one of the biggest weaknesses on my team. They deal tons of damage against Incineroar and Togedemaru. And sometimes, Tapu Fini can’t afford to take damage. Moreover, some Ground Types had Stone Edge or Rock Slide, which limits my option to safe swap into Mence or even Poison types, which threatens my Tapu Fini and restricts my options to catch it with Togedemaru. Most notable pokémon that has access to strong ground types are: Nidoking3, Nidoqueen3, Mega Garchomp/4, Mega Swampert/3, Tyranitar34, Drapion34, Mamoswine4, Aerodactyl4, Landorus234, Gastrodon34 and Terrakion34.
Electric Types – If Togedemaru is fainted, electric types are difficult to handle. They deal tons of damage, fast and annoying. But if Togedemaru is active on the field, they are pretty easy to deal with. Most notable Pokemon are: Mega Manectric/3, Electrode34, Electivire34, Rotom Wash and Heat34, Raikou1234, Mega Ampharos/4, Thundurus34, Zapdos1234, Jolteon34, and Magnezone34.
Stallers – These are the most annoying ones to deal with. Especially if you have no solid answers to them. And if you messed up your gameplan or you didn’t remove them immediately, you basically got rekt by them. But as long as Togedemaru or Incineroar is alive, they’re not much of an issue. Most notable Pokemon are: Zapdos2, Blissey34, Regigigas1234, Cresselia2, Registeel13 and Ferrothorn4.
Other Threats - Trick Room Pokemons (Most notable are Slowking4 and Slowbro4) Sallazle34, Milotic3, Virizion and Cobalion 1234, Goodra34, Mega Gengar/4, Mega Beedrill34, Mega Charizard X and Y, Rampardos34, Archeops34, Gyarados34, Braviary34, Passimian34, Regirock2, Alakazam34, Darmanitan34 and Mega Aggron3.
- Best Battles -
Match 138 vs. Veteran Kikujiro. I finally got my revenge on this trainer. I will never forget how super close it is. I’ll also post some MaruMence highlights soon
Video Link:
- How I lost -
Match 149 vs. Worker Omar. I played exceptionally well by perfectly catching overheats and electric type attacks from Mega Manectric. But unfortunately, I was so unlucky in the endgame thinking I will win by just simply pressing Hyper Voice on both of my opponents last two pokemon. I didn't know it was Soundproof Electrode! After that, I realized I’m in very big trouble since I protected Tapu Fini plus Electrode can outspeed both Fini and Mence. Because of that single freaking ability, it puts my team into its demise. I still tried my best to find a way to win by gambling a double protect on fini, or if it fails, hoping that the thunder from electrode will miss. But I’m so unlucky, the double protect failed and the 70% accuracy thunder connects on fini. And that was the game. It was a disastrous and unlucky way to lose. I was very devastated after the game, but I need to accept it because the fault was still on my end.
I should've won that by killing the Electrode sooner and sweep with fini + mence in the endgame. Or I should’ve preserve Togedemaru. That Incin to Maru switch in was so terrible and stupid. RS from Machamp and EQ from Mamoswine caught it off guard. Another option was Hyper Voicing to pick up Mamoswine and try to gamble the thunder will miss and finish it off with Flamethrower on that last turn. I just wanted to say that fuck 3 consecutive flinch from Machamp’s Rock Slide lol
Video Link:
- Conclusion -
I think I should rerun this team once again because I had a blast and it had potential on reaching higher streak. Togedemaru was a blessing in disguise. At first, I doubted to use it at the early stages of my run because Kartana was the best option and it will definitely be. But as the streak goes larger, it became the most important piece to complete my team. I also changed my playstyle from being aggressive to more flexible type of play (This team composition was purposely built for flexible playstyle) Actually, I’m not just playing MaruMence just to make it into the leaderboards. But instead, I also learned and discover new things on how to improve my gameplay to the next level. Thanks Togedemaru for giving me another achievement. My goal is to be the first Filipino player to reach 1000 streak, and hopefully in the future, I’m lucky enough to make it through. Wish me luck and thank you for reading my report!
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No, this streak isn't dead. I'm currently at 2620 wins (2620 in the first version of this post), but that number will probably be edited later in the week as I get back to working on my streak.
Surprisingly, I actually had a close call in that measly 40-battle span.
tl;dr scary combination of first two mons while my win is secured by lucky AI move selection
Surprisingly, I actually had a close call in that measly 40-battle span.
Collector Sam leads a Skarmory. Against a potential Skarmory4, I need to make sure it gets as little of a chance to fill the screen with hazards as possible, so I switch into Suicune.
It's Skarmory4, alright, but at least it's using Z-Toxic instead of setting hazards.
Scald burns it on the next turn out, and it immediately sets rocks. The next several turns is a sequence of it phazing suicune and me switching it in on Toxic. Eventually, I scald it, Scald crits it down to 1 HP, it whirlwinds in Mence (for the second time, so I'm at 50% HP), and it then faints to burn damage.
A Tyranitar is then sent out.
My half-health Salamence is facing down an un-intimidated Tyranitar set while Rocks are set on my side of the field and my Suicune is at 75% health and badly poisoned.
The only saving grace of this situation is that the Tyranitar can't be set 2.
Eventually I decide to just use Roost once. This reveals set 3, using Rock Slide. I settle on PP stalling it to at the very least accomplish SOMETHING, not really having any idea what to do after that. Believe it or not, in this situation, Mence being at half health when TTar entered was a blessing in disguise, since it means TTar is stuck in a perpetual loop of trying to go for the Rock Slide KO and won't dragon dance.
Eventually, the loop breaks. On the 8th Rock Slide, it misses during a Roost turn, healing me up to the middle of KO range. Not sure what it'll do from here, I sub. It Dragon Dances. I decide to dance back, hoping it'll continue to chase after the Speed advantage. It does. Currently I'm at +1, behind a sub at roughly half health and it's at +2 at full health. +1 Return is about a 25% chance to 2HKO. Regardless, going for it is my best option. If the TTar DD's again, it will outspeed me at +3. However, I can dance again the very next turn to outspeed it at +2 vs +4.
I click Return. I see its health go into the yellow.
It Dragon Dances. Sigh of relief. Immediate crisis averted.
And then it Dragon Dances again on the next turn and I become confused at why it tried to dance when it already had the speed advantage. Whatever, I'll gladly take an intact sub for whatever the last mon is.
It's Snorlax. It doesn't stand a chance.
It's Skarmory4, alright, but at least it's using Z-Toxic instead of setting hazards.
Scald burns it on the next turn out, and it immediately sets rocks. The next several turns is a sequence of it phazing suicune and me switching it in on Toxic. Eventually, I scald it, Scald crits it down to 1 HP, it whirlwinds in Mence (for the second time, so I'm at 50% HP), and it then faints to burn damage.
A Tyranitar is then sent out.
My half-health Salamence is facing down an un-intimidated Tyranitar set while Rocks are set on my side of the field and my Suicune is at 75% health and badly poisoned.
The only saving grace of this situation is that the Tyranitar can't be set 2.
Eventually I decide to just use Roost once. This reveals set 3, using Rock Slide. I settle on PP stalling it to at the very least accomplish SOMETHING, not really having any idea what to do after that. Believe it or not, in this situation, Mence being at half health when TTar entered was a blessing in disguise, since it means TTar is stuck in a perpetual loop of trying to go for the Rock Slide KO and won't dragon dance.
Eventually, the loop breaks. On the 8th Rock Slide, it misses during a Roost turn, healing me up to the middle of KO range. Not sure what it'll do from here, I sub. It Dragon Dances. I decide to dance back, hoping it'll continue to chase after the Speed advantage. It does. Currently I'm at +1, behind a sub at roughly half health and it's at +2 at full health. +1 Return is about a 25% chance to 2HKO. Regardless, going for it is my best option. If the TTar DD's again, it will outspeed me at +3. However, I can dance again the very next turn to outspeed it at +2 vs +4.
I click Return. I see its health go into the yellow.
It Dragon Dances. Sigh of relief. Immediate crisis averted.
And then it Dragon Dances again on the next turn and I become confused at why it tried to dance when it already had the speed advantage. Whatever, I'll gladly take an intact sub for whatever the last mon is.
It's Snorlax. It doesn't stand a chance.
Reporting a new ongoing streak of 120 wins in Ultra Moon Doubles.
Video of battle 120: CXJG-WWWW-WWXF-4E35
Wow, what a ride.
I'm back again with another update in my doomed challenge to get a ribbon with every Mega Pokemon, and I've hit my best winning streak yet. I always thought I'd break the triple digits with something broken like Kangaskhan, Metagross, or Salamence - but never with Mega-Garchomp.
Teambuilding and Theorycrafting
I was really wracking my brains over how to make Mega-chomp work. It's probably the only mega which is inarguably a downgrade from its vanilla form, with lower speed, lower damage output without hold items, lower versatility without access to Z-Moves, and a much more niche ability which requires team support to function... Oof. I reckoned that the only scenario in which M-Garchomp is superior is when it's in both Sand and Tailwind, so to get the most out of it I'd have to build a team with that gimmick in mind. Relying on gimmicks is not usually a road to success, so I had very low expectations. I thought out a few variations, but none of them felt good, so I asked the Battle Tree Discord for ideas.
They suggested Talonflame as a TW setter, and Rotom-W as a support pokemon - both of which seemed like good suggestions to me. Talonflame is one of the most reliable TW setters ever, and both it and Rotom-W are immune to Garchomp's Earthquakes, giving it plenty of room to go wild. They also advised against using Sand at all, which was sensible - MegaChomp is stats-wise an absolute beast, and it can function perfectly well without Sand. But I just couldn't let the idea go without at least giving it a try. I thought about using Tyranitar in the last slot, since it benefits from TW and with Rockium-Z could deal hefty damage whenever required, and so I had a first draft of the team put together.
But something didn't feel right. Sand chip damage doesn't synergize well with Gale Wings, and without giving Talonflame the Z-Move I can't abuse Supersonic Sky Strike into Brave Bird. I could take the Z-Move away from Ttar, but the power drop was noticable, and I didnt know what item to run on it instead. I was considering running Safety Goggles on Talonflame when I noticed that in the same PC Box I had another flying-type which I had never used in the tree... and it was shiny... Oh yes...
Very Funky...
The Team
Funkytown (Sigilyph) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Psychic
- Tailwind
- Protect
That's right, it's Sigilyph. It's unorthodox, but it ticked all the boxes I needed. It's Flying-Type, it learns Tailwind, it's immune to Sand damage, it doesn't require Z-Move to function... plus it's shiny. I decided to give it a try. I'm not sure how I landed on this EV-spread, the set was originally a joke I was using for singles many years ago with Cosmic Power + Stored Power with a held Flame Orb, so I have no idea what it's supposed to do. I swapped it to the above moveset and gave it a life orb because I was too lazy to re-EV train it. It was a fun idea, so definitely worth a try.
Holy Moly. What a happy accident.
This set is weird, but it just has the perfect combination of everything. Under Tailwind, it hits a speed of 278, which outspeeds everything in the tree except for Scarfed Aerodactyl. What's more, it just slightly underspeeds Mega Garchomp, so it's perfectly positioned to snipe anything that survives the sand-boosted attacks and finish them off. What's more, even though it has no SpATK EVs, the Life Orb lets it do respectable damage, averaging between 40 and 50% to most targets. That doesn't sound impressive, but when coupled with Sand chip damage it means that Sigilyph can 2HKO most opponents, which is absolutely crazy for a support pokemon. The moves have great utility too. I can fish for a flinch with Air Slash, or hit a little harder with a perfect accuracy Psychic. What's more, the AI for some reason likes to try and hit Sigilyph with Toxic or Will-O-Wisp, and it's funny literally every time. This may be because of the defensive EV spread, but I'm not one to speculate, I just appreciate the free turns.
The EV spread is pretty beefy, but (and this is important) Sigilyph doesn't need to survive the whole battle, it just needs to live long enough to set Tailwind. It's beefy enough to survive most hits, but if it's too threatened to use Tailwind, it can protect and let its partner finish off the threat with a Z-Move, then set up TW next turn. If Sigilyph goes down, that's a free switch in for Mega Garchomp in sand. In other words, Siglyph going down after a turn or two is the whole point.
This Sigilyph just hit that golden zone of having the perfect combination of typing, moves, ability, item, and stats that makes me remember why I love playing this game. It's just the perfect glue, and it's made this team super fun to play.
Pet Rock (Gigalith) @ Rockium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 116 Atk / 180 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
- Wide Guard
- Sandstorm
So I know I said above that I wanted Ttar as a sand-setter, but... well... I tried it out, and after a few games I just didn't like it. It had too many weaknesses, it didn't do enough damage after using its Z-Move, and worst of all it really hated being beside Mega-Garchomp's Earthquake. So after losing my first run at 34 wins (to a Shuca Berry Metal Burst Aggron - Seriously?!) I swapped Ttar out with the only other Sand-setter I had - a Gigalith I used for my run with Mega-Steelix (that's why it's a Trick Room pokemon on a Tailwind team). I know it's suboptimal, but I was only aiming for the ribbon- I didn't think I'd set a new personal best.
Gigalith, perhaps unsurprisingly, is as steady as a rock. The bulk on this thing is just incredible, it'll easily shrug off even super-effective attacks to all-but guarantee that the Z-Move connects. Rockium-Z is the perfect item too, because relying on Stone Edge sucks, and the power is usually enough to swing the game into a 4v3 immediately. Explosion is a nice emergency button which lets Garchomp switch in safely if I know Gigalith is going to go down anyway, though I rarely clicked it if I didn't have to. Strangely, I've found Stone Edge hits far more often than it misses, but I'm assuming that's just to lull me into a false sense of security for the devastating miss which will inevitably end the run. Wide Guard gives moderate protection from certain sets and allows Garchomp to spam EQ safely- I even clicked Sandstorm a few times when I predicted the AI would try and set up Rain or Sun, but it's definitely the most replacable move. If I were fine-tuning the team I'd probably run Bulldoze over Sandstorm for some speed control if Sigilyph can't set up Tailwind, but this set has done well for me so far, so while optimization is possible (running Adamant over Brave for example), I'm not yet willing to change it.
Also, I suspect this thing is quietly manipulating the AI into not wanting to set up Trick Room. Often when the opponent is leading with something like Jellicent or Bronzong the AI will try and set up Rain Dance, which promptly gets them killed by Continental Crush. It seems the AI favours changing the weather when it can, which is good to know when clicking Sandstorm or picking up a free KO on the opposing weather setter. in 120 games I've yet to have an opponent use Trick Room, and that's fine by me.
Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Protect
And of course, the big lad himself. Nothing too exciting here, just the one pokemon the whole team was built around. I decided to run Adamant max attack because with Tailwind controlling Speed damage seemed important to maximize, and the moves are just ones which all benefit from Sand Force to make the most of it.
Here's the interesting thing - I've always thought Mega Garchomp had bad speed, but that's not true. It just has bad speed compared to vanilla Garchomp. I wouldn't change the EV spread, even if I could probably make more of Mega-Garchomp's natural bulk by doing so, because base 92 is still a respectable speed-tier to hit, and if Tailwind can't go up or goes down, Garchomp can still outspeed the majority of the unboosted game. The team priority is clearing the way for Garchomp to close out games. If you have the option with the front two to either KO an opposing pokemon or dent a threat to Garchomp - choose to dent the threat to Garchomp. Mega Garchomp in Sand's damage output is absurd, and can close out whole games solo. Rock Slide provides good coverage against ground immunities and it's also nice to occassionally fish for flinches, especially alongside Sigilyph's Air Slash. Iron Head is for consistent damage and also takes out any Fairy Types, but I always try and remove those before Garchomp comes in if I can.
This team is built around 1 win-condition, so preserving Grachomp and making the most of Sand is the highest priority for the team. I know I'm putting all my eggs in one basket, but what a basket.
Mr. Sparkle (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 36 SpA / 20 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
This was the only surviving team-member to have come from the Discord suggestions, and on paper it's perfect. It has levitate, excellent offensive typing and a really good movepool - but although it's very strong I think it's the weakest link on the team. The offensive coverage is its biggest strength, but it's not super bulky and it can only switch in safely on Ground and Steel attacks aimed at Gigalith. What's more, it doesnt do anything against the Grass & Fighting Types which threaten Gigalith (though Sigilyph is a huge threat to those types, and has legitimately taken out whole Grass-type teams by itself), so it's rather difficult to switch in.
That said, the type coverage compliments Garchomp extremely well, and Volt Switch allows for great momentum gain when I'm trying to reset Sand with Gigalith. Thunderbolt is a great way to deal with Water-Types which would otherwise give the team a lot of trouble, so Rotom has certainly carried its weight, but Hydro Pump I've probably only clicked about 5 times in the whole run, and I was panicking about missing every single time. Hidden Power is somewhat useful for denting Dragon Types such as Flygon or Hydreigon, or for dealing with tricky pokemon like Landorus or Gliscor, but overall it just wasn't terribly impressive. I feel like Rotom needed the Specs to do the damage I needed, but being Choice-locked was a hindrance more often than not (including one hair-raising battle where I was locked into Hidden Power vs a Bronzong at about 50% health with no other team members remaining. I won, but I hated that situation). I'd sometimes switch it in just so it could die and let me conserve Gigalith's Sand.
In a way, that was the most value Rotom added to the team. It's a fantastic way to deal with Water-Types, but the fact that it's expendable means that it's yet another route into Garchomp, and once Garchomp is in under Sand, the game is already over. If I were building the team again an Assault Vest Eelektross would probably do everything Rotom does while also being bulkier, and a Choice Scarf Cryogonal spamming Freeze-Dry would probably do the same again but much funnier. While the rest of the team rules, this thing is just OK.
Maybe I'm underestimating it, maybe it's sceretly holding the team together - but I've just never been in a situation where I've been like "Easy, Rotom's got this". That said, if both the front line go down, Garchomp and Rotom will pretty efficiently deal with whatever they're dealing with. Mega-Garchomp with Sand and Tailwind is just that formiddable.
Just not against Gastrodon. Ugh...
Threats
Gastrodon. Just look at Gastrodon and look at this team. Ugh. Thankfully no Gastrodon set in the Tree runs an ice move, but this thing was still a nuisance every time it showed up, especially against Rotom. If Garchomp and Sigilyph can't take it down before they die, I'll have to try and PP stall it with a choice-locked Rotom. Christ. Thankfully it's not come to that... yet...
Starmie. Will it hit Sigilyph with Thunder or Blizzard? I can switch Garchomp in safely on one, but not the other. No matter what I do, without Tailwind it will always outspeed and OHKO Garchomp, so I need to risk the Tailwind or lose on the spot. Or will it randomly decide to kill Gigalith with Hydro Vortex instead? Ugh. Headache inducing. This thing alone probably justifies Rotom's place on the team, it's always a menace.
Hydreigon/ Lati@s. Every set is immune to Earthquake and outspeeds/OHKOs Garchomp out of Tailwind. I'd often sacrifice health on Gigalith to guarantee a Continental Crush these things, but if they were the 3rd or 4th Pokemon, I'd just have to hope Stone Edge connected, or that Garchomp's Rock-Slide/ Iron Head would be enough to KO/flinch before they can attack. Hydreigon is the bigger threat since it can outspeed and OHKO Sigilyph too.
Hail. Hail-setters usually get overridden by Sand turn 1, but Abomasnow and Crabominable are HUGE threats to Gigalith which Rotom cannot safely switch into (Though I would often sacrifice it against these teams to preserve Sand). Against Hail the best strategy is usually to set up Tailwind before Sigilyph dies and try and get Gigalith to muscle through as much of the opposing team as possible with Stone Edge. Unfortunately, that means relying on Stone Edge. And no, Gigalith doesn't outrun anything under Tailwind. Painful every time.
Rain + opposing Sand. Not as big a threat as Hail so I'm lumping these together. Excadrill + Tyranitar can simply demolish the front two pokemon for free, but they in turn get destroyed by Mega Garchomp. The combination of Sand + Tailwind can usually handle Rain teams no problem, but getting both up at once can be a challenge if they like to spam rain dance, even moreso if also supported by Starmie or Gastrodon. Thankfully Rotom was quite useful against Rain, but against Sand I'd often have to lock it into Hydro Pump and hope for the best - which felt bad.
Landorus. Landorus has Sand Force and is immune to Earthquake. An untimely miss from Rotom's Hydro Pump gives it free reign to demolish anything else on the team, including Garchomp. Better lock into Hidden Power Ice and hope whatever else is on the team doesn't resist it...
In Conclusion
The battle continues. I'm beyond delighted to get Sigilyph of all things on the leaderboard but I doubt the team will go much further. I didn't expect it to get to the ribbon, never mind triple figures. Every win from here on in is a pleasant surprise, but the team is surprisingly competent. How far can it go? I guess we'll find out...
EDITING TO AVOID DOUBLE POSTING -
Well, I guess we found out. The run has now concluded at 147 wins, video code: XJEG-WWWW-WWXF-4JBF
Not a proud defeat, I totally dropped the ball by assuming the opponent wouldn't use Trick Room in front of Gigalith, and that would be true-- if they didn't also lead with curse Gastrodon, a pokemon I correctly identified as being the biggest threat to this team as part of the original write up. I foolishly assumed it would try and kill one of the front row so Garchomp would get a free switch in, and while I waited for that to happen it instead set up to be too bulky for Garchomp to KO. I should have just risked the damage on Garchomp and switched it in over Sigilyph to spam Earthquake into victory. Ah well, it's still my deepest run ever, and surpassed all my expectations, and I firmly believe that the team has the legs to get to 200 wins, so I'm a little annoyed at myself for dropping the ball against what should have been an easy win, Ah well, the challenge continues, and that 200 streak is now firmly a matter of when, not if. This is the peak for now, but I'm sure it won't be for long.
Sigilyph ftw
Video of battle 120: CXJG-WWWW-WWXF-4E35
Wow, what a ride.
I'm back again with another update in my doomed challenge to get a ribbon with every Mega Pokemon, and I've hit my best winning streak yet. I always thought I'd break the triple digits with something broken like Kangaskhan, Metagross, or Salamence - but never with Mega-Garchomp.
Teambuilding and Theorycrafting
I was really wracking my brains over how to make Mega-chomp work. It's probably the only mega which is inarguably a downgrade from its vanilla form, with lower speed, lower damage output without hold items, lower versatility without access to Z-Moves, and a much more niche ability which requires team support to function... Oof. I reckoned that the only scenario in which M-Garchomp is superior is when it's in both Sand and Tailwind, so to get the most out of it I'd have to build a team with that gimmick in mind. Relying on gimmicks is not usually a road to success, so I had very low expectations. I thought out a few variations, but none of them felt good, so I asked the Battle Tree Discord for ideas.
They suggested Talonflame as a TW setter, and Rotom-W as a support pokemon - both of which seemed like good suggestions to me. Talonflame is one of the most reliable TW setters ever, and both it and Rotom-W are immune to Garchomp's Earthquakes, giving it plenty of room to go wild. They also advised against using Sand at all, which was sensible - MegaChomp is stats-wise an absolute beast, and it can function perfectly well without Sand. But I just couldn't let the idea go without at least giving it a try. I thought about using Tyranitar in the last slot, since it benefits from TW and with Rockium-Z could deal hefty damage whenever required, and so I had a first draft of the team put together.
But something didn't feel right. Sand chip damage doesn't synergize well with Gale Wings, and without giving Talonflame the Z-Move I can't abuse Supersonic Sky Strike into Brave Bird. I could take the Z-Move away from Ttar, but the power drop was noticable, and I didnt know what item to run on it instead. I was considering running Safety Goggles on Talonflame when I noticed that in the same PC Box I had another flying-type which I had never used in the tree... and it was shiny... Oh yes...
Very Funky...
The Team
Funkytown (Sigilyph) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Psychic
- Tailwind
- Protect
That's right, it's Sigilyph. It's unorthodox, but it ticked all the boxes I needed. It's Flying-Type, it learns Tailwind, it's immune to Sand damage, it doesn't require Z-Move to function... plus it's shiny. I decided to give it a try. I'm not sure how I landed on this EV-spread, the set was originally a joke I was using for singles many years ago with Cosmic Power + Stored Power with a held Flame Orb, so I have no idea what it's supposed to do. I swapped it to the above moveset and gave it a life orb because I was too lazy to re-EV train it. It was a fun idea, so definitely worth a try.
Holy Moly. What a happy accident.
This set is weird, but it just has the perfect combination of everything. Under Tailwind, it hits a speed of 278, which outspeeds everything in the tree except for Scarfed Aerodactyl. What's more, it just slightly underspeeds Mega Garchomp, so it's perfectly positioned to snipe anything that survives the sand-boosted attacks and finish them off. What's more, even though it has no SpATK EVs, the Life Orb lets it do respectable damage, averaging between 40 and 50% to most targets. That doesn't sound impressive, but when coupled with Sand chip damage it means that Sigilyph can 2HKO most opponents, which is absolutely crazy for a support pokemon. The moves have great utility too. I can fish for a flinch with Air Slash, or hit a little harder with a perfect accuracy Psychic. What's more, the AI for some reason likes to try and hit Sigilyph with Toxic or Will-O-Wisp, and it's funny literally every time. This may be because of the defensive EV spread, but I'm not one to speculate, I just appreciate the free turns.
The EV spread is pretty beefy, but (and this is important) Sigilyph doesn't need to survive the whole battle, it just needs to live long enough to set Tailwind. It's beefy enough to survive most hits, but if it's too threatened to use Tailwind, it can protect and let its partner finish off the threat with a Z-Move, then set up TW next turn. If Sigilyph goes down, that's a free switch in for Mega Garchomp in sand. In other words, Siglyph going down after a turn or two is the whole point.
This Sigilyph just hit that golden zone of having the perfect combination of typing, moves, ability, item, and stats that makes me remember why I love playing this game. It's just the perfect glue, and it's made this team super fun to play.
Pet Rock (Gigalith) @ Rockium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 116 Atk / 180 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
- Wide Guard
- Sandstorm
So I know I said above that I wanted Ttar as a sand-setter, but... well... I tried it out, and after a few games I just didn't like it. It had too many weaknesses, it didn't do enough damage after using its Z-Move, and worst of all it really hated being beside Mega-Garchomp's Earthquake. So after losing my first run at 34 wins (to a Shuca Berry Metal Burst Aggron - Seriously?!) I swapped Ttar out with the only other Sand-setter I had - a Gigalith I used for my run with Mega-Steelix (that's why it's a Trick Room pokemon on a Tailwind team). I know it's suboptimal, but I was only aiming for the ribbon- I didn't think I'd set a new personal best.
Gigalith, perhaps unsurprisingly, is as steady as a rock. The bulk on this thing is just incredible, it'll easily shrug off even super-effective attacks to all-but guarantee that the Z-Move connects. Rockium-Z is the perfect item too, because relying on Stone Edge sucks, and the power is usually enough to swing the game into a 4v3 immediately. Explosion is a nice emergency button which lets Garchomp switch in safely if I know Gigalith is going to go down anyway, though I rarely clicked it if I didn't have to. Strangely, I've found Stone Edge hits far more often than it misses, but I'm assuming that's just to lull me into a false sense of security for the devastating miss which will inevitably end the run. Wide Guard gives moderate protection from certain sets and allows Garchomp to spam EQ safely- I even clicked Sandstorm a few times when I predicted the AI would try and set up Rain or Sun, but it's definitely the most replacable move. If I were fine-tuning the team I'd probably run Bulldoze over Sandstorm for some speed control if Sigilyph can't set up Tailwind, but this set has done well for me so far, so while optimization is possible (running Adamant over Brave for example), I'm not yet willing to change it.
Also, I suspect this thing is quietly manipulating the AI into not wanting to set up Trick Room. Often when the opponent is leading with something like Jellicent or Bronzong the AI will try and set up Rain Dance, which promptly gets them killed by Continental Crush. It seems the AI favours changing the weather when it can, which is good to know when clicking Sandstorm or picking up a free KO on the opposing weather setter. in 120 games I've yet to have an opponent use Trick Room, and that's fine by me.
Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Protect
And of course, the big lad himself. Nothing too exciting here, just the one pokemon the whole team was built around. I decided to run Adamant max attack because with Tailwind controlling Speed damage seemed important to maximize, and the moves are just ones which all benefit from Sand Force to make the most of it.
Here's the interesting thing - I've always thought Mega Garchomp had bad speed, but that's not true. It just has bad speed compared to vanilla Garchomp. I wouldn't change the EV spread, even if I could probably make more of Mega-Garchomp's natural bulk by doing so, because base 92 is still a respectable speed-tier to hit, and if Tailwind can't go up or goes down, Garchomp can still outspeed the majority of the unboosted game. The team priority is clearing the way for Garchomp to close out games. If you have the option with the front two to either KO an opposing pokemon or dent a threat to Garchomp - choose to dent the threat to Garchomp. Mega Garchomp in Sand's damage output is absurd, and can close out whole games solo. Rock Slide provides good coverage against ground immunities and it's also nice to occassionally fish for flinches, especially alongside Sigilyph's Air Slash. Iron Head is for consistent damage and also takes out any Fairy Types, but I always try and remove those before Garchomp comes in if I can.
This team is built around 1 win-condition, so preserving Grachomp and making the most of Sand is the highest priority for the team. I know I'm putting all my eggs in one basket, but what a basket.
Mr. Sparkle (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 36 SpA / 20 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
This was the only surviving team-member to have come from the Discord suggestions, and on paper it's perfect. It has levitate, excellent offensive typing and a really good movepool - but although it's very strong I think it's the weakest link on the team. The offensive coverage is its biggest strength, but it's not super bulky and it can only switch in safely on Ground and Steel attacks aimed at Gigalith. What's more, it doesnt do anything against the Grass & Fighting Types which threaten Gigalith (though Sigilyph is a huge threat to those types, and has legitimately taken out whole Grass-type teams by itself), so it's rather difficult to switch in.
That said, the type coverage compliments Garchomp extremely well, and Volt Switch allows for great momentum gain when I'm trying to reset Sand with Gigalith. Thunderbolt is a great way to deal with Water-Types which would otherwise give the team a lot of trouble, so Rotom has certainly carried its weight, but Hydro Pump I've probably only clicked about 5 times in the whole run, and I was panicking about missing every single time. Hidden Power is somewhat useful for denting Dragon Types such as Flygon or Hydreigon, or for dealing with tricky pokemon like Landorus or Gliscor, but overall it just wasn't terribly impressive. I feel like Rotom needed the Specs to do the damage I needed, but being Choice-locked was a hindrance more often than not (including one hair-raising battle where I was locked into Hidden Power vs a Bronzong at about 50% health with no other team members remaining. I won, but I hated that situation). I'd sometimes switch it in just so it could die and let me conserve Gigalith's Sand.
In a way, that was the most value Rotom added to the team. It's a fantastic way to deal with Water-Types, but the fact that it's expendable means that it's yet another route into Garchomp, and once Garchomp is in under Sand, the game is already over. If I were building the team again an Assault Vest Eelektross would probably do everything Rotom does while also being bulkier, and a Choice Scarf Cryogonal spamming Freeze-Dry would probably do the same again but much funnier. While the rest of the team rules, this thing is just OK.
Maybe I'm underestimating it, maybe it's sceretly holding the team together - but I've just never been in a situation where I've been like "Easy, Rotom's got this". That said, if both the front line go down, Garchomp and Rotom will pretty efficiently deal with whatever they're dealing with. Mega-Garchomp with Sand and Tailwind is just that formiddable.
Just not against Gastrodon. Ugh...
Threats
Gastrodon. Just look at Gastrodon and look at this team. Ugh. Thankfully no Gastrodon set in the Tree runs an ice move, but this thing was still a nuisance every time it showed up, especially against Rotom. If Garchomp and Sigilyph can't take it down before they die, I'll have to try and PP stall it with a choice-locked Rotom. Christ. Thankfully it's not come to that... yet...
Starmie. Will it hit Sigilyph with Thunder or Blizzard? I can switch Garchomp in safely on one, but not the other. No matter what I do, without Tailwind it will always outspeed and OHKO Garchomp, so I need to risk the Tailwind or lose on the spot. Or will it randomly decide to kill Gigalith with Hydro Vortex instead? Ugh. Headache inducing. This thing alone probably justifies Rotom's place on the team, it's always a menace.
Hydreigon/ Lati@s. Every set is immune to Earthquake and outspeeds/OHKOs Garchomp out of Tailwind. I'd often sacrifice health on Gigalith to guarantee a Continental Crush these things, but if they were the 3rd or 4th Pokemon, I'd just have to hope Stone Edge connected, or that Garchomp's Rock-Slide/ Iron Head would be enough to KO/flinch before they can attack. Hydreigon is the bigger threat since it can outspeed and OHKO Sigilyph too.
Hail. Hail-setters usually get overridden by Sand turn 1, but Abomasnow and Crabominable are HUGE threats to Gigalith which Rotom cannot safely switch into (Though I would often sacrifice it against these teams to preserve Sand). Against Hail the best strategy is usually to set up Tailwind before Sigilyph dies and try and get Gigalith to muscle through as much of the opposing team as possible with Stone Edge. Unfortunately, that means relying on Stone Edge. And no, Gigalith doesn't outrun anything under Tailwind. Painful every time.
Rain + opposing Sand. Not as big a threat as Hail so I'm lumping these together. Excadrill + Tyranitar can simply demolish the front two pokemon for free, but they in turn get destroyed by Mega Garchomp. The combination of Sand + Tailwind can usually handle Rain teams no problem, but getting both up at once can be a challenge if they like to spam rain dance, even moreso if also supported by Starmie or Gastrodon. Thankfully Rotom was quite useful against Rain, but against Sand I'd often have to lock it into Hydro Pump and hope for the best - which felt bad.
Landorus. Landorus has Sand Force and is immune to Earthquake. An untimely miss from Rotom's Hydro Pump gives it free reign to demolish anything else on the team, including Garchomp. Better lock into Hidden Power Ice and hope whatever else is on the team doesn't resist it...
In Conclusion
The battle continues. I'm beyond delighted to get Sigilyph of all things on the leaderboard but I doubt the team will go much further. I didn't expect it to get to the ribbon, never mind triple figures. Every win from here on in is a pleasant surprise, but the team is surprisingly competent. How far can it go? I guess we'll find out...
EDITING TO AVOID DOUBLE POSTING -
Well, I guess we found out. The run has now concluded at 147 wins, video code: XJEG-WWWW-WWXF-4JBF
Not a proud defeat, I totally dropped the ball by assuming the opponent wouldn't use Trick Room in front of Gigalith, and that would be true-- if they didn't also lead with curse Gastrodon, a pokemon I correctly identified as being the biggest threat to this team as part of the original write up. I foolishly assumed it would try and kill one of the front row so Garchomp would get a free switch in, and while I waited for that to happen it instead set up to be too bulky for Garchomp to KO. I should have just risked the damage on Garchomp and switched it in over Sigilyph to spam Earthquake into victory. Ah well, it's still my deepest run ever, and surpassed all my expectations, and I firmly believe that the team has the legs to get to 200 wins, so I'm a little annoyed at myself for dropping the ball against what should have been an easy win, Ah well, the challenge continues, and that 200 streak is now firmly a matter of when, not if. This is the peak for now, but I'm sure it won't be for long.
Sigilyph ftw
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I'm back to report another leaderboard-entry, clocking in a loss at 203 wins with Mega-Alakazam
Video: 7HWG-WWWW-WWXF-5EWK
I actually hit this streak almost immediately after my Sigilyph/Mega-Garchomp team but was reluctant to post it because while this team outperformed the previous one massively, it's relatively dull. It's no secret at this point that PheroLele is absurdly strong, and Mega-Zam is the exact midpoint between Phero's insane stats and Lele's insane damage output, so it's almost like having an extra Phero/Lele on the team. This may be the best possible team-comp for MegaZam, and plays into all its strengths (and weaknesses) perfectly.
While I'm a little under-excited by the team since it's very simple, it's legitimately powerful in the extreme. I had wanted to play an easier-to-play team for a change of pace, and this is by far the easiest team I've ever constucted. If anyone wants a fast-track to 200 wins, this is the team to do it with. It's completely braindead. Hence why I gave it the name:
Team Braindeath
Roach Queen (Pheromosa) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 SpA / 244 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Lunge
- Low Kick
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Phero needs no introduction at this point, and she's perfectly emblematic of the team as a whole. Who needs defensive synergy when you can DO DAMAGE?! Razor thin defenses mean that hyper offense is the only way (and it has to be because Zam is too frail to switch in on a light breeze), but luckily, Phero murders every dark type in the tree, and is (almost) impossible to outspeed with Lele suppressing priority moves. By the time she goes down (if she goes down at all), the other team is in ruins.
This moveset has been posted in the battle tree forum many times now, and it more than earns its spot on the top teams. Phero tears through threats to Lele as if they were made of tissue paper, and sash/protect generally assures she has multiple turns to wreak havoc. If she gets even a single boost resists no longer matter. Sash is non-negotiable. Pheromosa has been perfected. Here she is.
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect
Pheromosa's partner in war crime. Psychic terrain is busted. Psychium-Z is busted. Combine them to simply delete pokemon you don't want to deal with. Between Lele's Hydrogen-bomb-like offensive power and Pheromosa's beast-boosted attacks, by the time turn 2 rolls around the game is usually already over. It honestly feels like playing with cheat codes.
Taunt turned every Trick Room matchup into practically an auto-win, though 9 times out of 10 the better Anti-TR strategy was simply to KO the setter. Only resists survive Shattered Psyche, and Psychic-resists get murdered by Pheromosa. This lead combination led to a bloodbath (almost) every single time.
MagicFingers (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
As if Phero's speed and Lele's offensive power wasn't strong enough - when one goes down, another takes her place. Spoonman here was in theory the pokemon the team was built around, but the power of the front two was so devastating he often didn't even need to make an appearance at all. Usually by the time he came out, his only role was to mop up the survivors with dazzling gleam.
Mega-Zam is a quirky and cool choice, so I wish I had done something more interesting with him, but tbh "big stats hit hard" is what Zam has always done best, and sometimes it's hard to improve on a classic.
MasterBlastr (Celesteela) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Protect
And bringing up the rear is an offensively-oriented Celesteela. Tbh I just ran this because I had a psychic-seed Celesteela lying around and I thought since I was deep into psychic terrain strategy anyway, I may as well go all in.
It was a good call, bringing a much-needed steel-resist and some offensive coverage for the team. While Zam could absolutely never switch in, Celesteela was perfectly suited typing-wise to take a hit if I needed to preserve either of the front two for any reason. What's more, STAB 110BP Acrobatics is no joke, and while I missed the usual bulk Celesteela brings, the offensive output was in keeping with the team's playstyle. The speed EVs were probably unneccessary, but it soon became clear that the bulk wasn't required either, because:
Threats:
None.
That's right.
None.
There is no single set in the entire tree which treatens this team. Sometimes you'd worry about something which would outspeed Phero, like scarf Typhlosion's eruption- but Lele survives that attack, and so does Pheromosa. A phero at 1HP is functionally just as threatening as a phero at full, so going down to sash was never a big deal. There was almost nothing fast or strong enough to threaten both leads at once, and what's more, if one went down, Zam could pick up in it's spot as if nothing happened. After sailing through battle 150, having torn apart full teams of resists, RNG abusers, Trick Room teams, weather teams, every imaginable combination of legendaries and megas- I realised there was only one thing that could threaten the run, and that was--
The Loss:
Lead: Scarf-Typhlosion + Mega-Sceptile
Yup. Not one, but two lead pokemon which outspeed Pheromosa and which both have spread attacks. I knew it was only a matter of time. Looking at all the pokemon which outspeed Phero in the tree, I think this was the only two-pokemon combination possible which could beat both leads without taking colossal damage in the process. So Team Braindeath died as it lived - the battle was over before it began. My only hope was for a rock-slide miss which didn't come. On turn 2 Zam survived the Eruption and outsped Sceptile to eliminate Typhlosion - but was then immediately KO'd by Sceptile's follow-up attack, leaving Celesteela to solo through the rest of the team. A bulkier Celesteela could probably have pulled through, but this team is all about the hyper-offensive lifestyle baby, and Celesteela died as it lived; picking up KOs. Oof. What a ride.
I'm still working through getting a ribbon with every mega but I took a long break after this one, and it was only when I had some fun getting there with Mega-Pinsir that I remembered I'd never posted this win-streak. Ironically, despite being my most successful team yet, Team Braindeath walked straight out of my head as soon as the run ended. What can I say? Despite its success, the ease of the run meant it just wasn't very exciting.
Next up is mega-Gengar, so I have a feeling I'm going to miss having an easy go of it very very soon.
Wish me luck.
Bonus Battle: 159 - a close call due to an unfortunate flame-body burn on the way, I thought for sure this would be the run-ender, but in the end, the team is just too strong to fail.
UGQW-WWWW-WWXF-5EWN
Video: 7HWG-WWWW-WWXF-5EWK
I actually hit this streak almost immediately after my Sigilyph/Mega-Garchomp team but was reluctant to post it because while this team outperformed the previous one massively, it's relatively dull. It's no secret at this point that PheroLele is absurdly strong, and Mega-Zam is the exact midpoint between Phero's insane stats and Lele's insane damage output, so it's almost like having an extra Phero/Lele on the team. This may be the best possible team-comp for MegaZam, and plays into all its strengths (and weaknesses) perfectly.
While I'm a little under-excited by the team since it's very simple, it's legitimately powerful in the extreme. I had wanted to play an easier-to-play team for a change of pace, and this is by far the easiest team I've ever constucted. If anyone wants a fast-track to 200 wins, this is the team to do it with. It's completely braindead. Hence why I gave it the name:
Team Braindeath
Roach Queen (Pheromosa) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 SpA / 244 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Lunge
- Low Kick
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Phero needs no introduction at this point, and she's perfectly emblematic of the team as a whole. Who needs defensive synergy when you can DO DAMAGE?! Razor thin defenses mean that hyper offense is the only way (and it has to be because Zam is too frail to switch in on a light breeze), but luckily, Phero murders every dark type in the tree, and is (almost) impossible to outspeed with Lele suppressing priority moves. By the time she goes down (if she goes down at all), the other team is in ruins.
This moveset has been posted in the battle tree forum many times now, and it more than earns its spot on the top teams. Phero tears through threats to Lele as if they were made of tissue paper, and sash/protect generally assures she has multiple turns to wreak havoc. If she gets even a single boost resists no longer matter. Sash is non-negotiable. Pheromosa has been perfected. Here she is.
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect
Pheromosa's partner in war crime. Psychic terrain is busted. Psychium-Z is busted. Combine them to simply delete pokemon you don't want to deal with. Between Lele's Hydrogen-bomb-like offensive power and Pheromosa's beast-boosted attacks, by the time turn 2 rolls around the game is usually already over. It honestly feels like playing with cheat codes.
Taunt turned every Trick Room matchup into practically an auto-win, though 9 times out of 10 the better Anti-TR strategy was simply to KO the setter. Only resists survive Shattered Psyche, and Psychic-resists get murdered by Pheromosa. This lead combination led to a bloodbath (almost) every single time.
MagicFingers (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
As if Phero's speed and Lele's offensive power wasn't strong enough - when one goes down, another takes her place. Spoonman here was in theory the pokemon the team was built around, but the power of the front two was so devastating he often didn't even need to make an appearance at all. Usually by the time he came out, his only role was to mop up the survivors with dazzling gleam.
Mega-Zam is a quirky and cool choice, so I wish I had done something more interesting with him, but tbh "big stats hit hard" is what Zam has always done best, and sometimes it's hard to improve on a classic.
MasterBlastr (Celesteela) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Protect
And bringing up the rear is an offensively-oriented Celesteela. Tbh I just ran this because I had a psychic-seed Celesteela lying around and I thought since I was deep into psychic terrain strategy anyway, I may as well go all in.
It was a good call, bringing a much-needed steel-resist and some offensive coverage for the team. While Zam could absolutely never switch in, Celesteela was perfectly suited typing-wise to take a hit if I needed to preserve either of the front two for any reason. What's more, STAB 110BP Acrobatics is no joke, and while I missed the usual bulk Celesteela brings, the offensive output was in keeping with the team's playstyle. The speed EVs were probably unneccessary, but it soon became clear that the bulk wasn't required either, because:
Threats:
None.
That's right.
None.
There is no single set in the entire tree which treatens this team. Sometimes you'd worry about something which would outspeed Phero, like scarf Typhlosion's eruption- but Lele survives that attack, and so does Pheromosa. A phero at 1HP is functionally just as threatening as a phero at full, so going down to sash was never a big deal. There was almost nothing fast or strong enough to threaten both leads at once, and what's more, if one went down, Zam could pick up in it's spot as if nothing happened. After sailing through battle 150, having torn apart full teams of resists, RNG abusers, Trick Room teams, weather teams, every imaginable combination of legendaries and megas- I realised there was only one thing that could threaten the run, and that was--
The Loss:
Lead: Scarf-Typhlosion + Mega-Sceptile
Yup. Not one, but two lead pokemon which outspeed Pheromosa and which both have spread attacks. I knew it was only a matter of time. Looking at all the pokemon which outspeed Phero in the tree, I think this was the only two-pokemon combination possible which could beat both leads without taking colossal damage in the process. So Team Braindeath died as it lived - the battle was over before it began. My only hope was for a rock-slide miss which didn't come. On turn 2 Zam survived the Eruption and outsped Sceptile to eliminate Typhlosion - but was then immediately KO'd by Sceptile's follow-up attack, leaving Celesteela to solo through the rest of the team. A bulkier Celesteela could probably have pulled through, but this team is all about the hyper-offensive lifestyle baby, and Celesteela died as it lived; picking up KOs. Oof. What a ride.
I'm still working through getting a ribbon with every mega but I took a long break after this one, and it was only when I had some fun getting there with Mega-Pinsir that I remembered I'd never posted this win-streak. Ironically, despite being my most successful team yet, Team Braindeath walked straight out of my head as soon as the run ended. What can I say? Despite its success, the ease of the run meant it just wasn't very exciting.
Next up is mega-Gengar, so I have a feeling I'm going to miss having an easy go of it very very soon.
Wish me luck.
Bonus Battle: 159 - a close call due to an unfortunate flame-body burn on the way, I thought for sure this would be the run-ender, but in the end, the team is just too strong to fail.
UGQW-WWWW-WWXF-5EWN
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Hi this is my first ever post so I hope this is the right place to ask question about ultra sun battle tree! I'm currently using GG unit's Truant Durant Moody Glalie team in Ultra Sun and I need help dealing with sturdy + red card togedamaru stopping my glalie sweep. I only manage to hit 70 win streak with their team. Probably not the best idea to use someone else's team but I'm a complete noob when it comes to team building. I saw a drapion set on here which has acupressure which can possibly replace glalie to abuse truant. The drapion set:
Drapion @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Acupressure
- Taunt
- Protect
Will this drapion set be good enough to replace glalie in GG unit's original team?
Drapion @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Acupressure
- Taunt
- Protect
Will this drapion set be good enough to replace glalie in GG unit's original team?
If you want to use Drapion on that Durant team, you should read the writeups for the following two teams by SadisticMystic and me (DougJustDoug). We both used Drapion to achieve big streaks on teams that were both based on GG Unit Durant teams from a prior gen.
Sadistic Mystic team
DougJustDoug team
Just seeing this now but I think this is the same person who had some questions on YouTube.
I think the older games (maybe even Moon rather than Sun but I haven't looked in a while at which trainers are the version exclusives) are better for my team but more because there's a boss trainer in USUM with QC Incinerorar. Togedemaru should not be that bad to play around since it's most relevant if it's the 2nd mon (if it's 1st you can afford to hit it early on to use up the Red Card on a loafing turn, if it's 3rd you can just hit it and then Entrainment again if you've got Durant or do the rest with Mimikyu) and if it's 2nd that means the unseen 3rd opposing team member is not going to be a heavy hitter and you likely won't even need Durant to come back in for Mimikyu to do enough crippling to get Glalie set up again.
I think a more PP stall-oriented Gliscor with Sub/Protect/Double Team/Bulldoze would also be an interesting option in Mimikyu's place (or really any other team in a generation where Poison Heal Gliscor is available and opponents' moves aren't PP Maxed). There would probably be some matchups where you would just have to sacrifice Durant and go from there (and you could probably even reconfigure Durant where instead of Protect you have some status or stat-reducing move to shift the odds even more towards a safe Gliscor set-up against some lead that can't be Entrained). As I'm sure you know, being able to directly switch in on a potential turn 1 Volt Switch (well, unless it's a Magnet Pull Magnezone) would be great on a Durant team.
I think Gliscor and Glalie have very good synergy where Gliscor can give a relatively free switch-in to Glalie by drawing Ice moves (e.g. if Durant uses Confide against a Wishiwashi lead, you can generally set up Glalie quite easily when you bring it in 2nd, but it'd probably be even better if Gliscor came in 2nd, Protected to activate the Toxic Orb, and then switched out for Glalie to give it pretty much a one-boost headstart as well as a more robust teammate that can solo plenty of battles on its own if Glalie happens to have bad boosts by the time Wishiwashi U-turns out) or support it just PP stalling and reducing speed with Bulldoze, to say nothing of how many battles it can just solo. I discussed this a little bit in the Subway thread, but I think using Gliscor with Durant also could open up some other Sub/Protect sweepers who have previously been dismissed on the grounds of either taking a little too long to set up or their single-move coverage being walled by certain mons, which doesn't matter as much if like QD Volcarona or Acupressure Tentacruel/Moody Octillery can force a stalemate against some Flash Fire/Water Absorb mon and PP stall it until Gliscor can safely come in and set up.
I used to have an account here, but the recovery e-mail on it is one I don't have any access to anymore, so alas, new account it is.
My older brother left behind an Ultra Sun game when he moved and a really nice set of competitive mons, and I figured since he'd gotten his stamp, why not borrow them and do the same thing? So after a lot of trial and error, I hit a 91 streak on Pokémon Moon with Latios, Kartana, and Aegislash. Honestly just wanted my stamp (hence the impatient playstyle behind this team) but it kept winning so I kept going.
Threat analysis:
Garchomp-3: It locks into Fire Fang if Kartana is out, Outrage if Latios is out, and Earthquake if Aegi is out. The main issue here is if it comes in and I'm missing the right switch-in, things get extremely dicey. If Latios is out, I sack it and go to Aegislash to debuff it to -4/6 before setting up with Kartana, which usually ends things cleanly; if it's Aegi, I just switch to Latios, force a switch (or trap it if it's last), kill the switch, sack Latios, then repeat (or kill with Aegi if Kartana's gone), and if it's Kartana, I just go straight to Latios and kill with Ice Beam.
Close call at 70 with Wally where I had Latios gone and needed it to be Garchomp-4 (for a Z-Kartana OHKO); otherwise it'd Fire Fang and I'd instantly lose.
Houndoom-4: Every other Houndoom loses to Kartana, and almost nothing else on sun team players beats it at +1, so they're otherwise inoffensive. This variant outspeeds my entire team, and the only thing that'll survive one hit is Latios, who has to hit Draco Meteor or it's game over. Ideally, sun being up, Solar Power chipping away at it, and some lucky King's Shield mindgames and a Shadow Sneak at the end, I can just hit Thunderbolt and not have to worry about a 10% chance, but the only reason I get away from this thing sometimes is a little bit of foresight and keeping Latios healthy when I see sun go up.
Thundurus-2: Nothing instills the fear of God in me like this set. I once lost to it after it got two crits and flinches simultaneously, and I haven't been the same since. There's pretty much no scenario where it doesn't lock into Dark Pulse on this team, so the only way to survive is simple: survive one hit with Aegislash without flinching, and Z-Move it the hell out of there. Latios can also take a hit, but if I'm not locked into Ice Beam, things get messy. Kartana usually kills the remnants of anything on this monster's team, so I'm willing to lose basically everything to murder this.
Liepard-3/4: Caveat: they have to be Unburden, which they are way too often for my liking. #4 beats Kartana with NP/Sash, but if Aegislash is still alive I just revenge with priority. The Red Card variant is much safer to beat with Aegislash since it's going to be working off a 50. Latios usually has to find some way to scout this thing, ideally without breaking the sash and doubling its speed.
Loss at KM3W-WWWW-WWXF-5NWF. You'll have to excuse his questionable nicknaming sense, I can't do anything about that.
I'm probably going to come back and get this team to triple digits because I really just enjoy brainless Kartana mashing, but since I've already gotten the stamp, I'm not going to rush like I did over the past week (with several ruined 40+ streaks, including one to an absolutely insulting 4x Quick Claw Incineroar proc).
(edit from a week later: While it's probably not hard to imagine a dragon/aegi team carrying someone to breezy minimum leaderboard eligibility, I'm leaving a few more replays here from a new 50+ streak over the past week to show some usual situations I'm handling and maybe get advice on how to plan better for mystery 'mons in the back.)
#45: S97G-WWWW-WWXF-5QJR
I don't usually judge my chances with Haley as being too bad, since most threats she brings can be exploited using King's Shield and typical AI behavior (especially Charizard-X and Talonflame). They do, however, need Aegi to be ready to tank things from full just in case, so sacking Latios is usually what happens. She also doesn't carry Sylveon-4 (the only set that deals better damage to Latios), but Primarina only has a 25% chance to OHKO, so on a good roll and without critting, she goes 0-2 before Kartana has to do anything at all.
#46: M4CW-WWWW-WWXF-5QK3
That isn't to say that Latios can really do much to Sylveon in the average situation, so this shows what usually happens on a Turn 1 where Latios can't kill. Since Tamah carries both Flygon-3/4 (and Latios doesn't like switching in on Crunch), one KS is necessary before I decide what to do.
#48: NPQG-WWWW-WWXF-5QK7
While Candy doesn't have Thundurus-2 which I hate, Latios still needs to stay in to protect Aegislash from the consequences of either a switch-in Taunt, a Z move, or a Crunch. I judge that my chances with whichever Latios set she has (Specs, aka a speed tie, or the mega, which is outsped and dented) are pretty good: Aegi comes in for free on both occasions (either to revenge with priority, or simply take a resisted/feeble -2 hit from Specs).
My older brother left behind an Ultra Sun game when he moved and a really nice set of competitive mons, and I figured since he'd gotten his stamp, why not borrow them and do the same thing? So after a lot of trial and error, I hit a 91 streak on Pokémon Moon with Latios, Kartana, and Aegislash. Honestly just wanted my stamp (hence the impatient playstyle behind this team) but it kept winning so I kept going.
Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
The basic idea here is extremely simple: lead Latios, get a numbers advantage, and get Kartana to rack up boosts from easy revenge kills. In 70% of situations, I'm hitting Psychic even if there's a good chance the next thing in is NVE or there's a move that OHKOs if I suspect Kartana mops the rest of it up. Draco is an emergency button, usually for fast Fire types and several fast Dragon or Dark types that either outspeed or can't be oneshot by Kartana. Generally, Psychic kills something, reduces the second mon to Kartana kill range, and it's easy from there. A good 30% of the time, just mashing Psychic is a 3-0.
Ice Beam used to be Shadow Ball before I picked out Aegislash, which hit plenty of Psychic-types, but was redundant after the fact; with that slot free, I'm hitting Dragon- and Flying-types more reliably. Thunderbolt eats rain teams (and Walreins) for lunch without wasting Kartana's time.
Kartana @ Steelium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
A lot of people seem to favor Sashed Kartana sets, but I'm personally not a fan. +1 Kartana with Z-Smart Strike breaks through a lot of things that would otherwise drive me up the wall, most of which are thick Dragon types, bulky Ground types, and (several times) Mandibuzz-3, which will screw me over if it so much as gets a Tailwind off. Besides, owing to part three of this core, I often find ways to bring Kartana in anyway and dryly sweep by boosting with Swords Dance. 90% of the time, Sash would break on my gameplans, so screw Sash.
Additional comment: +1 Z-Smart Strike when in doubt, especially against frail, fast (but not fast enough) Fire-types. It'll get kills that Sacred Sword ever can't, and preserves steamrolls.
Generally, Kartana makes the hail/rain/sand teams free wins, which I always appreciate when most OHKO moves are out and lurking on those setups.
Aegislash (M) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
I tried a lot of things for member 3: Z-Mimikyu, AV Heatran, Mega Salamence, Lum / Sash Garchomp, Mega Metagross... none of them stuck, until I came up with this. This was the winning piece, and easily the reason I got anywhere past 50. My reasoning for dual Z-Crystals is pretty simple: any matchup where I'm using Z-Kartana is usually a runaway sweep (involving dead fairies) where Aegislash can just relax; likewise, if Aegislash has to hit the Z button, Kartana usually never comes out or is just cleaning up after a weakened #3. Aegi covers Fairy/Ice-types; I immediately preserve Latios and go to Aegi if the enemy has a Fairy lead, then waste a lot of time scouting their team.
In general, Aegislash opens a lot of doors here: with the right prediction, I can drive down physical attackers with King's Shield, go to Kartana, and SD away. It breaks some downright ugly enemies like Cresselia (1, 4) and Archeops-3, and punishes/stalls out TR/weather. One of my least favorite enemies, one that killed my streaks before I started using Aegislash, Garchomp-3, loses here if I can sacrifice Latios to an Outrage.
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
The basic idea here is extremely simple: lead Latios, get a numbers advantage, and get Kartana to rack up boosts from easy revenge kills. In 70% of situations, I'm hitting Psychic even if there's a good chance the next thing in is NVE or there's a move that OHKOs if I suspect Kartana mops the rest of it up. Draco is an emergency button, usually for fast Fire types and several fast Dragon or Dark types that either outspeed or can't be oneshot by Kartana. Generally, Psychic kills something, reduces the second mon to Kartana kill range, and it's easy from there. A good 30% of the time, just mashing Psychic is a 3-0.
Ice Beam used to be Shadow Ball before I picked out Aegislash, which hit plenty of Psychic-types, but was redundant after the fact; with that slot free, I'm hitting Dragon- and Flying-types more reliably. Thunderbolt eats rain teams (and Walreins) for lunch without wasting Kartana's time.
Kartana @ Steelium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
A lot of people seem to favor Sashed Kartana sets, but I'm personally not a fan. +1 Kartana with Z-Smart Strike breaks through a lot of things that would otherwise drive me up the wall, most of which are thick Dragon types, bulky Ground types, and (several times) Mandibuzz-3, which will screw me over if it so much as gets a Tailwind off. Besides, owing to part three of this core, I often find ways to bring Kartana in anyway and dryly sweep by boosting with Swords Dance. 90% of the time, Sash would break on my gameplans, so screw Sash.
Additional comment: +1 Z-Smart Strike when in doubt, especially against frail, fast (but not fast enough) Fire-types. It'll get kills that Sacred Sword ever can't, and preserves steamrolls.
Generally, Kartana makes the hail/rain/sand teams free wins, which I always appreciate when most OHKO moves are out and lurking on those setups.
Aegislash (M) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
I tried a lot of things for member 3: Z-Mimikyu, AV Heatran, Mega Salamence, Lum / Sash Garchomp, Mega Metagross... none of them stuck, until I came up with this. This was the winning piece, and easily the reason I got anywhere past 50. My reasoning for dual Z-Crystals is pretty simple: any matchup where I'm using Z-Kartana is usually a runaway sweep (involving dead fairies) where Aegislash can just relax; likewise, if Aegislash has to hit the Z button, Kartana usually never comes out or is just cleaning up after a weakened #3. Aegi covers Fairy/Ice-types; I immediately preserve Latios and go to Aegi if the enemy has a Fairy lead, then waste a lot of time scouting their team.
In general, Aegislash opens a lot of doors here: with the right prediction, I can drive down physical attackers with King's Shield, go to Kartana, and SD away. It breaks some downright ugly enemies like Cresselia (1, 4) and Archeops-3, and punishes/stalls out TR/weather. One of my least favorite enemies, one that killed my streaks before I started using Aegislash, Garchomp-3, loses here if I can sacrifice Latios to an Outrage.
Threat analysis:
Garchomp-3: It locks into Fire Fang if Kartana is out, Outrage if Latios is out, and Earthquake if Aegi is out. The main issue here is if it comes in and I'm missing the right switch-in, things get extremely dicey. If Latios is out, I sack it and go to Aegislash to debuff it to -4/6 before setting up with Kartana, which usually ends things cleanly; if it's Aegi, I just switch to Latios, force a switch (or trap it if it's last), kill the switch, sack Latios, then repeat (or kill with Aegi if Kartana's gone), and if it's Kartana, I just go straight to Latios and kill with Ice Beam.
Close call at 70 with Wally where I had Latios gone and needed it to be Garchomp-4 (for a Z-Kartana OHKO); otherwise it'd Fire Fang and I'd instantly lose.
Houndoom-4: Every other Houndoom loses to Kartana, and almost nothing else on sun team players beats it at +1, so they're otherwise inoffensive. This variant outspeeds my entire team, and the only thing that'll survive one hit is Latios, who has to hit Draco Meteor or it's game over. Ideally, sun being up, Solar Power chipping away at it, and some lucky King's Shield mindgames and a Shadow Sneak at the end, I can just hit Thunderbolt and not have to worry about a 10% chance, but the only reason I get away from this thing sometimes is a little bit of foresight and keeping Latios healthy when I see sun go up.
Thundurus-2: Nothing instills the fear of God in me like this set. I once lost to it after it got two crits and flinches simultaneously, and I haven't been the same since. There's pretty much no scenario where it doesn't lock into Dark Pulse on this team, so the only way to survive is simple: survive one hit with Aegislash without flinching, and Z-Move it the hell out of there. Latios can also take a hit, but if I'm not locked into Ice Beam, things get messy. Kartana usually kills the remnants of anything on this monster's team, so I'm willing to lose basically everything to murder this.
Liepard-3/4: Caveat: they have to be Unburden, which they are way too often for my liking. #4 beats Kartana with NP/Sash, but if Aegislash is still alive I just revenge with priority. The Red Card variant is much safer to beat with Aegislash since it's going to be working off a 50. Latios usually has to find some way to scout this thing, ideally without breaking the sash and doubling its speed.
Loss at KM3W-WWWW-WWXF-5NWF. You'll have to excuse his questionable nicknaming sense, I can't do anything about that.
I don't really have much to say here, obvious choke on my part for not hitting Z-Smart Strike on a wounded Mega Mawile since I assumed it would be an easy kill. Xio is a free win half the time because of Kartana / Aegislash, so I really shouldn't have conserved it for the potential of something bad waiting in the back. Worse still, I could have just clicked Ice Beam on Latios, which would have won me the game because of its stronger BP and Xio timewasting with several moves when she had me at match point + not clicking Sucker Punch on Mawile.
I'm probably going to come back and get this team to triple digits because I really just enjoy brainless Kartana mashing, but since I've already gotten the stamp, I'm not going to rush like I did over the past week (with several ruined 40+ streaks, including one to an absolutely insulting 4x Quick Claw Incineroar proc).
(edit from a week later: While it's probably not hard to imagine a dragon/aegi team carrying someone to breezy minimum leaderboard eligibility, I'm leaving a few more replays here from a new 50+ streak over the past week to show some usual situations I'm handling and maybe get advice on how to plan better for mystery 'mons in the back.)
#45: S97G-WWWW-WWXF-5QJR
I don't usually judge my chances with Haley as being too bad, since most threats she brings can be exploited using King's Shield and typical AI behavior (especially Charizard-X and Talonflame). They do, however, need Aegi to be ready to tank things from full just in case, so sacking Latios is usually what happens. She also doesn't carry Sylveon-4 (the only set that deals better damage to Latios), but Primarina only has a 25% chance to OHKO, so on a good roll and without critting, she goes 0-2 before Kartana has to do anything at all.
#46: M4CW-WWWW-WWXF-5QK3
That isn't to say that Latios can really do much to Sylveon in the average situation, so this shows what usually happens on a Turn 1 where Latios can't kill. Since Tamah carries both Flygon-3/4 (and Latios doesn't like switching in on Crunch), one KS is necessary before I decide what to do.
#48: NPQG-WWWW-WWXF-5QK7
While Candy doesn't have Thundurus-2 which I hate, Latios still needs to stay in to protect Aegislash from the consequences of either a switch-in Taunt, a Z move, or a Crunch. I judge that my chances with whichever Latios set she has (Specs, aka a speed tie, or the mega, which is outsped and dented) are pretty good: Aegi comes in for free on both occasions (either to revenge with priority, or simply take a resisted/feeble -2 hit from Specs).
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I have been obsessed with the Battle Tree ever since USUM came out when they made it ridiculously easy to get bottle caps and max out IVs since I was too lazy to breed Pokemon for perfect IVs before that. The Battle Tree alone is probably the single aspect of Pokemon I’ve spent the most time on due to sheer enjoyment of it. Before I knew about this forum, I had a streak of 118 wins, but I didn’t have it documented, so I honestly didn’t even remember what the exact team I used was. But I finally broke it at 120 wins in Super Doubles with the following team, so I really wanted to join the leaderboard for what is likely my favorite part of any Pokemon game I’ve ever played! Here’s the full report of the team below:
Proof of Run:
Replays included at the end of the report, including the loss!
The Team:
Nina Cortex (Mandibuzz) (F) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Roost
- Tailwind
The star of the show. I cannot believe at the time of my submission there wasn’t even one doubles team that featured Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz supports the team beautifully and is easily the most important member of the team. Her bulk, typing, and movepool all combine to offer incredible role compression that lets the remaining three hard-hitters focus on their own tasks. The primary job of Mandibuzz is to provide speed control in two key ways that are pretty obvious - Tailwind for non-Trick Room teams, and Taunt for Trick Room teams. Foul Play lets her actually have some degree of offensive presence, and Roost lets her stick around forever (or at least long enough to win the game). Taunt is also incredibly useful for the likes of the myriad of status-reliant Pokemon the AI trainers use. Two of my most recent runs before this ended in losses to two Pokemon with Double Team sets (Regigigas and Zapdos), so I knew I needed some way to stop that from happening. Taunt was even more crucial in helping me get this far after an encounter with a Shuckle that only had Wrap as its damaging move. With Taunt and Roost, I can stall out plenty of Pokemon in a one-on-one scenario should it come to that. I forgot to save the replay of the Shuckle battle, and I can only recall one or two other times in which Mandibuzz was left in a 1v1, but I can confidently say that this was the perfect moveset for Mandibuzz in this run. Mandibuzz also has insane bulk, which I haven’t really touched on yet. I don’t have concrete calculations, but barring critical hits, there were only two things I found that could KO her from full health - either a Devastating Drake from Haxorus or a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. Even the times where Mandibuzz was double-targeted I had virtually no concerns as it just keeps on trucking in the face of even something like a STAB Gigavolt Havoc from Raikou. I am going to keep trying to get a streak of 200+, and it’s likely Mandibuzz will be a key member of the team that eventually does get me that far. I already loved Mandibuzz before this run, but it has seriously moved up on my list of Pokemon.
Watt (Xurkitree) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 7 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
Xurkitree is a perfect example of a Pokemon that only really needed to do one thing - hit hard. Xurk has a dizzying base 173 Special Attack stat, which means with maximum investment and a Modest Nature, it has a Special Attack of 247 at level 50. All of its other stats are average at best, which makes Xurk the member who easily needs the most support. Luckily, Mandibuzz and Arcanine excel at making sure Xurk does its job well. The plan is almost always the same for turn 1 of the battle - Xurk uses Protect while Mandibuzz uses either Taunt or Tailwind. If played well from there, the game can often end on the spot. Xurk has the potential to steamroll the entire team from there thanks to Beast Boost further increasing its Special Attack to preposterous levels. Even if Xurk doesn’t sweep, the damage it can do is often impossible to come back from. There really isn’t much to say from this set that isn’t self-evident aside from one real idiosyncrasy. No, it’s not the 7 Attack IVs, I just put that there to give the exact set I used for this run and I didn’t feel like resetting for 0 IVs. I’m referring to Fairium Z as the hold item. Dazzling Gleam doesn’t exactly provide extremely widespread coverage in tandem with Thunderbolt and Energy Ball, but the main thing it does is give a way to threaten many Pokemon with ridiculous burst damage. Some Pokemon that can be very troublesome are things like Garchomp (especially the Choice Scarf sets), Haxorus, the Swords of Justice, and honestly just any Dragon type I don’t think will go down to an unboosted Dazzling Gleam. Being able to convert Dazzling Gleam into a Twinkle Tackle helps do two big things for Xurk: 1) It bypasses the spread reduction Dazzling Gleam has to reckon with in doubles, and 2) it offers a reliable out against a dicey lead matchup that also leads to a potential Beast Boost, allowing me to blow past any other dangerous Pokemon. Thunderbolt and Energy Ball already hit hard enough, so it felt like a no-brainer to use Fairium Z on Xurk, and in the long run that was definitely the correct call.
Dash (Arcanine) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Protect
Arcanine has always been a favorite Pokemon of mine, so when I was first getting into learning more about the more competitive aspects of Pokemon it made me happy to learn that Arcanine is a wonderfully helpful bork that does a lot for the team. Also, I’m going to refer to Arcanine by his nickname here since the name means a lot to me and it's significantly shorter to type, so please note when I say “Dash” I’m referring to Arcanine. Anyway, I’m sure many might wonder why I wouldn’t just use Arcanine’s feline rival who took over the VGC metagame by storm once it also got Intimidate. The answer is pretty simple - while Incineroar is just about the most perfect doubles Pokemon to ever exist, the fact is that Dash offers something that Incineroar just can’t replicate that this team desperately needs - spammable priority. Incineroar gets Fake Out, which is an amazing move in its own right, but this team definitely appreciated Extremespeed far more than anything else due to it being able to continually be used after the first turn Dash hit the field. Other than that, the moveset is pretty self-explanatory - Flare Blitz for strong damage, Snarl for weakening Special Attackers, and Protect to waste turns for the mostly predictable AI. If there’s a rough matchup for Mandibuzz or Xurk in the lead slot, Dash can tag in for one of them and fire off Intimidate or Snarl based on what is needed for the team. Dash simply functioned as a wonderfully helpful pupper who brought many great traits to the team, all while being a cute doggo in the process. He’s a heckin’ good boi.
TEC (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Protect
Shockingly, I have very little to say about Metagross. Metagross is another personal favorite Pokemon of mine, but honestly I probably should have used Ferrothorn or Mega Salamence instead. Don’t get me wrong, Mega Metagross is still an amazing Pokemon with absurd damage output, I just think its type and playstyle didn’t synergize with the team as much as I had hoped. That being said, I really only brought out Metagross when it was absolutely necessary, and it always brought the pain when it hit the field. Meteor Mash occasionally lets Metagross act like a second Xurk if I am fortunate enough to get the attack boost. Ice Punch and Stomping Tantrum are nice coverage options that are also boosted by Tough Claws, so Metagross is no slouch when it comes to outputting damage. Other than that, I don’t really have anything remarkable to say for Metagross. This is a really basic set and it just boils down to clicking on the move that will dispatch whatever threat is most pressing on the other side of the field.
Threats:
All of the biggest threats to this team are Ground-types. That shouldn’t be a surprise - aside from Mandibuzz, everything on the team is weak to Ground-types. However, I’ll list three of the biggest ones to illustrate the point. Garchomp is frustrating as there is a Choice Scarf variant that may get lucky with Rock Slide flinches on Mandibuzz which can block Tailwind. However, if it locks itself into Rock Slide, then Xurk can take a hit and fire back with a Twinkle Tackle, so it is easily the least threatening of the bunch. If Garchomp locks itself into Earthquake, then Tailwind almost assuredly goes up uncontested. Xurk outspeeds even Scarf Garchomp under Tailwind, so then it’s still a Twinkle Tackle into that slot. Mega Camerupt was not a Pokemon I saw often, but it has the most perfect typing to handle most of my Pokemon. Stomping Tantrum is the only super effective move I have against it, and while that does a considerable deal of damage, it doesn’t OHKO. However, as long as I use Protect in the right spots, Mandibuzz can use Foul Play to chip Mega Camerupt down due to its great base 120 Attack stat alongside with the heightened IVs of AI Pokemon at higher floors. Even so, it’s a scary Pokemon to face down on the other side of the field. The biggest threat without a doubt is Rhyperior, though, and I’m not just saying that because it’s one of the Pokemon on the team that ended the run. I had a couple of close calls thanks to Rhyperior before, and the sets it runs from the AI trainer are sufficiently diverse enough that I have to approach it carefully. I ended up losing to the Rockium Z variant, but if I get impatient and click Energy Ball into the Focus Sash + Metal Burst variant, then I could lose Xurk in a flash and possibly lose my best offensive weapon on the spot. As such, the best way I found to handle Rhyperior was double targeting in case it was the latter variant. Other general threats include Mental Herb Trick Room mons, which there aren’t many of, but I linked to a nail-biter battle with a Mental Herb Jellicent that I eked out through smart plays and a bit of luck with the Sash variant of Rhyperior appearing as opposed to the EQ + Rockium Z variant. Speaking of EQ, Earthquake is another potential death sentence for the team. Given how incredible Earthquake is as a move, especially in doubles, I’m still so astonished that my PB record arose from a team with three ground weaknesses. This obviously doesn’t cover all of the threats, but these are the ones that consistently had me sweating and swearing whenever I saw them.
Replays:
The Loss: 78XG-WWWW-WWXF-68VB
I lost to Sightseer Alice. From the first turn, I made what seemed to be some questionable plays. Why did I Tailwind turn 1? Well, I was worried about the Rampardos being Scarfed. After I realized it wasn’t Scarfed, I targeted the Rampardos - a horrible mistake. I already knew Rhyperior was the bigger threat and I idiotically left it there. I took out the Rampardos through double targeting it with Foul Play and Energy ball, but then Rhyperior used Earthquake to remove Xurk. From there, I had to send out Arcanine to soften up whatever came in next. Slaking was up next, and even though I wasn’t remotely worried about Slaking it technically became my downfall - more on that in a second. I used Protect with Arcanine the next turn to block any damage from Slaking and abuse Truant. Slaking used Rock Slide which, after the Intimidate, did almost nothing to Mandibuzz even with Life Orb. Mandibuzz hit Rhyperior with a Foul Play, but ended up falling to a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. I was down to Arcanine and Mega Metagross, which would spell trouble if an Earthquake user aside from Rhyperior was left. Meteor Mash took care of Rhyperior, and Arcanine got some solid damage on Slaking on its off turn. Alice then sent in Haxorus, which scared me. I double Protected to ignore Slaking on its free turn, which allowed Haxorus to Dragon Dance. My fate was sealed then. I used Extremespeed since Tailwind was long gone at this point to get some chip damage on Haxorus, to which Haxorus then used Earthquake. Metagross survived but both Slaking and Arcanine fainted. Metagross only had 49 HP left, but I was sure an Ice Punch would KO after the Extremespeed. Unfortunately, the Haxorus proc’d a Yache Berry and survived the hit, leading to another Earthquake taking out Metagross. An unfortunate way to go since I knew Haxorus could have a Yache Berry and I likely could have hit Meteor Mash for the KO with a favorable damage roll instead. Alas, I didn’t do that, and here we are with a streak ending at 120. I can’t even blame any other factor aside from a series of unfortunate misplays on my behalf.
Trick Room Close Call: W45G-WWWW-WWXF-699X
Metagross 1v2: P5VW-WWWW-WWXF-6992
I’m not going to do a play-by-play of any of the other replays, but they were pretty great and I encourage you to view them if you’re interested. The Trick Room one required some intense focus on my end to make sure I made enough correct calls to win the game, which I barely managed to do thanks to Mandibuzz hanging on with exactly 1 HP after a Rock Slide from the Excadrill. I also lucked out big time since the Rhyperior was the Metal Burst variant. If it had Earthquake I was as good as done. For the other replay I’ve included, I just wanted to give some love to Metagross. Even though I had the least to say about it above, I would have absolutely lost without it pulling its weight in the second supplementary replay.
Proof of Run:
Replays included at the end of the report, including the loss!
The Team:
Nina Cortex (Mandibuzz) (F) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Roost
- Tailwind
The star of the show. I cannot believe at the time of my submission there wasn’t even one doubles team that featured Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz supports the team beautifully and is easily the most important member of the team. Her bulk, typing, and movepool all combine to offer incredible role compression that lets the remaining three hard-hitters focus on their own tasks. The primary job of Mandibuzz is to provide speed control in two key ways that are pretty obvious - Tailwind for non-Trick Room teams, and Taunt for Trick Room teams. Foul Play lets her actually have some degree of offensive presence, and Roost lets her stick around forever (or at least long enough to win the game). Taunt is also incredibly useful for the likes of the myriad of status-reliant Pokemon the AI trainers use. Two of my most recent runs before this ended in losses to two Pokemon with Double Team sets (Regigigas and Zapdos), so I knew I needed some way to stop that from happening. Taunt was even more crucial in helping me get this far after an encounter with a Shuckle that only had Wrap as its damaging move. With Taunt and Roost, I can stall out plenty of Pokemon in a one-on-one scenario should it come to that. I forgot to save the replay of the Shuckle battle, and I can only recall one or two other times in which Mandibuzz was left in a 1v1, but I can confidently say that this was the perfect moveset for Mandibuzz in this run. Mandibuzz also has insane bulk, which I haven’t really touched on yet. I don’t have concrete calculations, but barring critical hits, there were only two things I found that could KO her from full health - either a Devastating Drake from Haxorus or a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. Even the times where Mandibuzz was double-targeted I had virtually no concerns as it just keeps on trucking in the face of even something like a STAB Gigavolt Havoc from Raikou. I am going to keep trying to get a streak of 200+, and it’s likely Mandibuzz will be a key member of the team that eventually does get me that far. I already loved Mandibuzz before this run, but it has seriously moved up on my list of Pokemon.
Watt (Xurkitree) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 7 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
Xurkitree is a perfect example of a Pokemon that only really needed to do one thing - hit hard. Xurk has a dizzying base 173 Special Attack stat, which means with maximum investment and a Modest Nature, it has a Special Attack of 247 at level 50. All of its other stats are average at best, which makes Xurk the member who easily needs the most support. Luckily, Mandibuzz and Arcanine excel at making sure Xurk does its job well. The plan is almost always the same for turn 1 of the battle - Xurk uses Protect while Mandibuzz uses either Taunt or Tailwind. If played well from there, the game can often end on the spot. Xurk has the potential to steamroll the entire team from there thanks to Beast Boost further increasing its Special Attack to preposterous levels. Even if Xurk doesn’t sweep, the damage it can do is often impossible to come back from. There really isn’t much to say from this set that isn’t self-evident aside from one real idiosyncrasy. No, it’s not the 7 Attack IVs, I just put that there to give the exact set I used for this run and I didn’t feel like resetting for 0 IVs. I’m referring to Fairium Z as the hold item. Dazzling Gleam doesn’t exactly provide extremely widespread coverage in tandem with Thunderbolt and Energy Ball, but the main thing it does is give a way to threaten many Pokemon with ridiculous burst damage. Some Pokemon that can be very troublesome are things like Garchomp (especially the Choice Scarf sets), Haxorus, the Swords of Justice, and honestly just any Dragon type I don’t think will go down to an unboosted Dazzling Gleam. Being able to convert Dazzling Gleam into a Twinkle Tackle helps do two big things for Xurk: 1) It bypasses the spread reduction Dazzling Gleam has to reckon with in doubles, and 2) it offers a reliable out against a dicey lead matchup that also leads to a potential Beast Boost, allowing me to blow past any other dangerous Pokemon. Thunderbolt and Energy Ball already hit hard enough, so it felt like a no-brainer to use Fairium Z on Xurk, and in the long run that was definitely the correct call.
Dash (Arcanine) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Protect
Arcanine has always been a favorite Pokemon of mine, so when I was first getting into learning more about the more competitive aspects of Pokemon it made me happy to learn that Arcanine is a wonderfully helpful bork that does a lot for the team. Also, I’m going to refer to Arcanine by his nickname here since the name means a lot to me and it's significantly shorter to type, so please note when I say “Dash” I’m referring to Arcanine. Anyway, I’m sure many might wonder why I wouldn’t just use Arcanine’s feline rival who took over the VGC metagame by storm once it also got Intimidate. The answer is pretty simple - while Incineroar is just about the most perfect doubles Pokemon to ever exist, the fact is that Dash offers something that Incineroar just can’t replicate that this team desperately needs - spammable priority. Incineroar gets Fake Out, which is an amazing move in its own right, but this team definitely appreciated Extremespeed far more than anything else due to it being able to continually be used after the first turn Dash hit the field. Other than that, the moveset is pretty self-explanatory - Flare Blitz for strong damage, Snarl for weakening Special Attackers, and Protect to waste turns for the mostly predictable AI. If there’s a rough matchup for Mandibuzz or Xurk in the lead slot, Dash can tag in for one of them and fire off Intimidate or Snarl based on what is needed for the team. Dash simply functioned as a wonderfully helpful pupper who brought many great traits to the team, all while being a cute doggo in the process. He’s a heckin’ good boi.
TEC (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Protect
Shockingly, I have very little to say about Metagross. Metagross is another personal favorite Pokemon of mine, but honestly I probably should have used Ferrothorn or Mega Salamence instead. Don’t get me wrong, Mega Metagross is still an amazing Pokemon with absurd damage output, I just think its type and playstyle didn’t synergize with the team as much as I had hoped. That being said, I really only brought out Metagross when it was absolutely necessary, and it always brought the pain when it hit the field. Meteor Mash occasionally lets Metagross act like a second Xurk if I am fortunate enough to get the attack boost. Ice Punch and Stomping Tantrum are nice coverage options that are also boosted by Tough Claws, so Metagross is no slouch when it comes to outputting damage. Other than that, I don’t really have anything remarkable to say for Metagross. This is a really basic set and it just boils down to clicking on the move that will dispatch whatever threat is most pressing on the other side of the field.
Threats:
All of the biggest threats to this team are Ground-types. That shouldn’t be a surprise - aside from Mandibuzz, everything on the team is weak to Ground-types. However, I’ll list three of the biggest ones to illustrate the point. Garchomp is frustrating as there is a Choice Scarf variant that may get lucky with Rock Slide flinches on Mandibuzz which can block Tailwind. However, if it locks itself into Rock Slide, then Xurk can take a hit and fire back with a Twinkle Tackle, so it is easily the least threatening of the bunch. If Garchomp locks itself into Earthquake, then Tailwind almost assuredly goes up uncontested. Xurk outspeeds even Scarf Garchomp under Tailwind, so then it’s still a Twinkle Tackle into that slot. Mega Camerupt was not a Pokemon I saw often, but it has the most perfect typing to handle most of my Pokemon. Stomping Tantrum is the only super effective move I have against it, and while that does a considerable deal of damage, it doesn’t OHKO. However, as long as I use Protect in the right spots, Mandibuzz can use Foul Play to chip Mega Camerupt down due to its great base 120 Attack stat alongside with the heightened IVs of AI Pokemon at higher floors. Even so, it’s a scary Pokemon to face down on the other side of the field. The biggest threat without a doubt is Rhyperior, though, and I’m not just saying that because it’s one of the Pokemon on the team that ended the run. I had a couple of close calls thanks to Rhyperior before, and the sets it runs from the AI trainer are sufficiently diverse enough that I have to approach it carefully. I ended up losing to the Rockium Z variant, but if I get impatient and click Energy Ball into the Focus Sash + Metal Burst variant, then I could lose Xurk in a flash and possibly lose my best offensive weapon on the spot. As such, the best way I found to handle Rhyperior was double targeting in case it was the latter variant. Other general threats include Mental Herb Trick Room mons, which there aren’t many of, but I linked to a nail-biter battle with a Mental Herb Jellicent that I eked out through smart plays and a bit of luck with the Sash variant of Rhyperior appearing as opposed to the EQ + Rockium Z variant. Speaking of EQ, Earthquake is another potential death sentence for the team. Given how incredible Earthquake is as a move, especially in doubles, I’m still so astonished that my PB record arose from a team with three ground weaknesses. This obviously doesn’t cover all of the threats, but these are the ones that consistently had me sweating and swearing whenever I saw them.
Replays:
The Loss: 78XG-WWWW-WWXF-68VB
I lost to Sightseer Alice. From the first turn, I made what seemed to be some questionable plays. Why did I Tailwind turn 1? Well, I was worried about the Rampardos being Scarfed. After I realized it wasn’t Scarfed, I targeted the Rampardos - a horrible mistake. I already knew Rhyperior was the bigger threat and I idiotically left it there. I took out the Rampardos through double targeting it with Foul Play and Energy ball, but then Rhyperior used Earthquake to remove Xurk. From there, I had to send out Arcanine to soften up whatever came in next. Slaking was up next, and even though I wasn’t remotely worried about Slaking it technically became my downfall - more on that in a second. I used Protect with Arcanine the next turn to block any damage from Slaking and abuse Truant. Slaking used Rock Slide which, after the Intimidate, did almost nothing to Mandibuzz even with Life Orb. Mandibuzz hit Rhyperior with a Foul Play, but ended up falling to a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. I was down to Arcanine and Mega Metagross, which would spell trouble if an Earthquake user aside from Rhyperior was left. Meteor Mash took care of Rhyperior, and Arcanine got some solid damage on Slaking on its off turn. Alice then sent in Haxorus, which scared me. I double Protected to ignore Slaking on its free turn, which allowed Haxorus to Dragon Dance. My fate was sealed then. I used Extremespeed since Tailwind was long gone at this point to get some chip damage on Haxorus, to which Haxorus then used Earthquake. Metagross survived but both Slaking and Arcanine fainted. Metagross only had 49 HP left, but I was sure an Ice Punch would KO after the Extremespeed. Unfortunately, the Haxorus proc’d a Yache Berry and survived the hit, leading to another Earthquake taking out Metagross. An unfortunate way to go since I knew Haxorus could have a Yache Berry and I likely could have hit Meteor Mash for the KO with a favorable damage roll instead. Alas, I didn’t do that, and here we are with a streak ending at 120. I can’t even blame any other factor aside from a series of unfortunate misplays on my behalf.
Trick Room Close Call: W45G-WWWW-WWXF-699X
Metagross 1v2: P5VW-WWWW-WWXF-6992
I’m not going to do a play-by-play of any of the other replays, but they were pretty great and I encourage you to view them if you’re interested. The Trick Room one required some intense focus on my end to make sure I made enough correct calls to win the game, which I barely managed to do thanks to Mandibuzz hanging on with exactly 1 HP after a Rock Slide from the Excadrill. I also lucked out big time since the Rhyperior was the Metal Burst variant. If it had Earthquake I was as good as done. For the other replay I’ve included, I just wanted to give some love to Metagross. Even though I had the least to say about it above, I would have absolutely lost without it pulling its weight in the second supplementary replay.
I have been obsessed with the Battle Tree ever since USUM came out when they made it ridiculously easy to get bottle caps and max out IVs since I was too lazy to breed Pokemon for perfect IVs before that. The Battle Tree alone is probably the single aspect of Pokemon I’ve spent the most time on due to sheer enjoyment of it. Before I knew about this forum, I had a streak of 118 wins, but I didn’t have it documented, so I honestly didn’t even remember what the exact team I used was. But I finally broke it at 120 wins in Super Doubles with the following team, so I really wanted to join the leaderboard for what is likely my favorite part of any Pokemon game I’ve ever played! Here’s the full report of the team below:
Proof of Run:
View attachment 503717
Replays included at the end of the report, including the loss!
The Team:
Nina Cortex (Mandibuzz) (F) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Roost
- Tailwind
The star of the show. I cannot believe at the time of my submission there wasn’t even one doubles team that featured Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz supports the team beautifully and is easily the most important member of the team. Her bulk, typing, and movepool all combine to offer incredible role compression that lets the remaining three hard-hitters focus on their own tasks. The primary job of Mandibuzz is to provide speed control in two key ways that are pretty obvious - Tailwind for non-Trick Room teams, and Taunt for Trick Room teams. Foul Play lets her actually have some degree of offensive presence, and Roost lets her stick around forever (or at least long enough to win the game). Taunt is also incredibly useful for the likes of the myriad of status-reliant Pokemon the AI trainers use. Two of my most recent runs before this ended in losses to two Pokemon with Double Team sets (Regigigas and Zapdos), so I knew I needed some way to stop that from happening. Taunt was even more crucial in helping me get this far after an encounter with a Shuckle that only had Wrap as its damaging move. With Taunt and Roost, I can stall out plenty of Pokemon in a one-on-one scenario should it come to that. I forgot to save the replay of the Shuckle battle, and I can only recall one or two other times in which Mandibuzz was left in a 1v1, but I can confidently say that this was the perfect moveset for Mandibuzz in this run. Mandibuzz also has insane bulk, which I haven’t really touched on yet. I don’t have concrete calculations, but barring critical hits, there were only two things I found that could KO her from full health - either a Devastating Drake from Haxorus or a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. Even the times where Mandibuzz was double-targeted I had virtually no concerns as it just keeps on trucking in the face of even something like a STAB Gigavolt Havoc from Raikou. I am going to keep trying to get a streak of 200+, and it’s likely Mandibuzz will be a key member of the team that eventually does get me that far. I already loved Mandibuzz before this run, but it has seriously moved up on my list of Pokemon.
Watt (Xurkitree) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 7 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
Xurkitree is a perfect example of a Pokemon that only really needed to do one thing - hit hard. Xurk has a dizzying base 173 Special Attack stat, which means with maximum investment and a Modest Nature, it has a Special Attack of 247 at level 50. All of its other stats are average at best, which makes Xurk the member who easily needs the most support. Luckily, Mandibuzz and Arcanine excel at making sure Xurk does its job well. The plan is almost always the same for turn 1 of the battle - Xurk uses Protect while Mandibuzz uses either Taunt or Tailwind. If played well from there, the game can often end on the spot. Xurk has the potential to steamroll the entire team from there thanks to Beast Boost further increasing its Special Attack to preposterous levels. Even if Xurk doesn’t sweep, the damage it can do is often impossible to come back from. There really isn’t much to say from this set that isn’t self-evident aside from one real idiosyncrasy. No, it’s not the 7 Attack IVs, I just put that there to give the exact set I used for this run and I didn’t feel like resetting for 0 IVs. I’m referring to Fairium Z as the hold item. Dazzling Gleam doesn’t exactly provide extremely widespread coverage in tandem with Thunderbolt and Energy Ball, but the main thing it does is give a way to threaten many Pokemon with ridiculous burst damage. Some Pokemon that can be very troublesome are things like Garchomp (especially the Choice Scarf sets), Haxorus, the Swords of Justice, and honestly just any Dragon type I don’t think will go down to an unboosted Dazzling Gleam. Being able to convert Dazzling Gleam into a Twinkle Tackle helps do two big things for Xurk: 1) It bypasses the spread reduction Dazzling Gleam has to reckon with in doubles, and 2) it offers a reliable out against a dicey lead matchup that also leads to a potential Beast Boost, allowing me to blow past any other dangerous Pokemon. Thunderbolt and Energy Ball already hit hard enough, so it felt like a no-brainer to use Fairium Z on Xurk, and in the long run that was definitely the correct call.
Dash (Arcanine) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Protect
Arcanine has always been a favorite Pokemon of mine, so when I was first getting into learning more about the more competitive aspects of Pokemon it made me happy to learn that Arcanine is a wonderfully helpful bork that does a lot for the team. Also, I’m going to refer to Arcanine by his nickname here since the name means a lot to me and it's significantly shorter to type, so please note when I say “Dash” I’m referring to Arcanine. Anyway, I’m sure many might wonder why I wouldn’t just use Arcanine’s feline rival who took over the VGC metagame by storm once it also got Intimidate. The answer is pretty simple - while Incineroar is just about the most perfect doubles Pokemon to ever exist, the fact is that Dash offers something that Incineroar just can’t replicate that this team desperately needs - spammable priority. Incineroar gets Fake Out, which is an amazing move in its own right, but this team definitely appreciated Extremespeed far more than anything else due to it being able to continually be used after the first turn Dash hit the field. Other than that, the moveset is pretty self-explanatory - Flare Blitz for strong damage, Snarl for weakening Special Attackers, and Protect to waste turns for the mostly predictable AI. If there’s a rough matchup for Mandibuzz or Xurk in the lead slot, Dash can tag in for one of them and fire off Intimidate or Snarl based on what is needed for the team. Dash simply functioned as a wonderfully helpful pupper who brought many great traits to the team, all while being a cute doggo in the process. He’s a heckin’ good boi.
TEC (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Protect
Shockingly, I have very little to say about Metagross. Metagross is another personal favorite Pokemon of mine, but honestly I probably should have used Ferrothorn or Mega Salamence instead. Don’t get me wrong, Mega Metagross is still an amazing Pokemon with absurd damage output, I just think its type and playstyle didn’t synergize with the team as much as I had hoped. That being said, I really only brought out Metagross when it was absolutely necessary, and it always brought the pain when it hit the field. Meteor Mash occasionally lets Metagross act like a second Xurk if I am fortunate enough to get the attack boost. Ice Punch and Stomping Tantrum are nice coverage options that are also boosted by Tough Claws, so Metagross is no slouch when it comes to outputting damage. Other than that, I don’t really have anything remarkable to say for Metagross. This is a really basic set and it just boils down to clicking on the move that will dispatch whatever threat is most pressing on the other side of the field.
Threats:
All of the biggest threats to this team are Ground-types. That shouldn’t be a surprise - aside from Mandibuzz, everything on the team is weak to Ground-types. However, I’ll list three of the biggest ones to illustrate the point. Garchomp is frustrating as there is a Choice Scarf variant that may get lucky with Rock Slide flinches on Mandibuzz which can block Tailwind. However, if it locks itself into Rock Slide, then Xurk can take a hit and fire back with a Twinkle Tackle, so it is easily the least threatening of the bunch. If Garchomp locks itself into Earthquake, then Tailwind almost assuredly goes up uncontested. Xurk outspeeds even Scarf Garchomp under Tailwind, so then it’s still a Twinkle Tackle into that slot. Mega Camerupt was not a Pokemon I saw often, but it has the most perfect typing to handle most of my Pokemon. Stomping Tantrum is the only super effective move I have against it, and while that does a considerable deal of damage, it doesn’t OHKO. However, as long as I use Protect in the right spots, Mandibuzz can use Foul Play to chip Mega Camerupt down due to its great base 120 Attack stat alongside with the heightened IVs of AI Pokemon at higher floors. Even so, it’s a scary Pokemon to face down on the other side of the field. The biggest threat without a doubt is Rhyperior, though, and I’m not just saying that because it’s one of the Pokemon on the team that ended the run. I had a couple of close calls thanks to Rhyperior before, and the sets it runs from the AI trainer are sufficiently diverse enough that I have to approach it carefully. I ended up losing to the Rockium Z variant, but if I get impatient and click Energy Ball into the Focus Sash + Metal Burst variant, then I could lose Xurk in a flash and possibly lose my best offensive weapon on the spot. As such, the best way I found to handle Rhyperior was double targeting in case it was the latter variant. Other general threats include Mental Herb Trick Room mons, which there aren’t many of, but I linked to a nail-biter battle with a Mental Herb Jellicent that I eked out through smart plays and a bit of luck with the Sash variant of Rhyperior appearing as opposed to the EQ + Rockium Z variant. Speaking of EQ, Earthquake is another potential death sentence for the team. Given how incredible Earthquake is as a move, especially in doubles, I’m still so astonished that my PB record arose from a team with three ground weaknesses. This obviously doesn’t cover all of the threats, but these are the ones that consistently had me sweating and swearing whenever I saw them.
Replays:
The Loss: 78XG-WWWW-WWXF-68VB
I lost to Sightseer Alice. From the first turn, I made what seemed to be some questionable plays. Why did I Tailwind turn 1? Well, I was worried about the Rampardos being Scarfed. After I realized it wasn’t Scarfed, I targeted the Rampardos - a horrible mistake. I already knew Rhyperior was the bigger threat and I idiotically left it there. I took out the Rampardos through double targeting it with Foul Play and Energy ball, but then Rhyperior used Earthquake to remove Xurk. From there, I had to send out Arcanine to soften up whatever came in next. Slaking was up next, and even though I wasn’t remotely worried about Slaking it technically became my downfall - more on that in a second. I used Protect with Arcanine the next turn to block any damage from Slaking and abuse Truant. Slaking used Rock Slide which, after the Intimidate, did almost nothing to Mandibuzz even with Life Orb. Mandibuzz hit Rhyperior with a Foul Play, but ended up falling to a Continental Crush from Rhyperior. I was down to Arcanine and Mega Metagross, which would spell trouble if an Earthquake user aside from Rhyperior was left. Meteor Mash took care of Rhyperior, and Arcanine got some solid damage on Slaking on its off turn. Alice then sent in Haxorus, which scared me. I double Protected to ignore Slaking on its free turn, which allowed Haxorus to Dragon Dance. My fate was sealed then. I used Extremespeed since Tailwind was long gone at this point to get some chip damage on Haxorus, to which Haxorus then used Earthquake. Metagross survived but both Slaking and Arcanine fainted. Metagross only had 49 HP left, but I was sure an Ice Punch would KO after the Extremespeed. Unfortunately, the Haxorus proc’d a Yache Berry and survived the hit, leading to another Earthquake taking out Metagross. An unfortunate way to go since I knew Haxorus could have a Yache Berry and I likely could have hit Meteor Mash for the KO with a favorable damage roll instead. Alas, I didn’t do that, and here we are with a streak ending at 120. I can’t even blame any other factor aside from a series of unfortunate misplays on my behalf.
Trick Room Close Call: W45G-WWWW-WWXF-699X
Metagross 1v2: P5VW-WWWW-WWXF-6992
I’m not going to do a play-by-play of any of the other replays, but they were pretty great and I encourage you to view them if you’re interested. The Trick Room one required some intense focus on my end to make sure I made enough correct calls to win the game, which I barely managed to do thanks to Mandibuzz hanging on with exactly 1 HP after a Rock Slide from the Excadrill. I also lucked out big time since the Rhyperior was the Metal Burst variant. If it had Earthquake I was as good as done. For the other replay I’ve included, I just wanted to give some love to Metagross. Even though I had the least to say about it above, I would have absolutely lost without it pulling its weight in the second supplementary replay.
This is such a cool team, congratulations on the streak!
Reminds me of my VGC2018 team which was almost exactly this, I think I even used the same movesets! If you want some advice for trying this again in future I'd recommend trying a psychic seed on Mandibuzz for extra bulk alongside a Tapu Lele. The extra bulk combined with Mandibuzz's excellent field control was just incredible, and Lele does a great job of running over threats thanks to Taunt/ Tailwind support. I don't know if it'd work as well in Tree as it did in VGC (probably not since I used a 50% berry+Calm Mind Lele at the time), but it was a super cool combo for me so I recommend it to anyone.
The full team as I recall was Xurkitree, Mandibuzz, Mega Metagross, Tapu Lele, Kommo-o, and Ninetales-A. It's still one of my favourite teams ever because between Ninetales and Mandibuzz I had an answer for almost everything, and the powerhouses of the team really appreciated the flexible field control that the supporting team members provided. The idea was to lead either Mandibuzz/Lele or Ninetales/Lele and soften up the opposition through incredible field control long enough for the whichever lurking powerhouses in the back between Xurk/Metagross/Kommo-o would clean up best. It's probably the strongest team I've ever made, and I'm still gutted that most of the team members were badly nerfed in Gen 8