Dmax has the benefit of making Water Compaction more feasibly activated without being KOed immediately afterward. Tree's Palossand4 could get nasty with WP if you didn't OHKO it, a memory which encouraged me to try it myself. Jellicent4 was a pain in the ass for my leads. It holds Assault Vest with max SDef, and thus was able to survive +2 Overgrowth (a mistake; my mind thought "Water type" before "weak to Ghost STAB") followed by a Shadow Ball from Jellicent. It also runs 252 SpA and so Hydro Pump was nearly able to 2HKO Palossand.
In spirit of Eisen trying to do randos without dmaxing if the team showed potential, I had been trying to dmax as little as possible even if EVELYN rolled in favor of it. This run saw it only twice; I typically reserve it for RNG bullshit situations, such as missing consecutive 100% moves to Brightpowder or an enemy getting too cute with QC, enticing me to kill accuracy checks and double my bulk. Tangrowth finally has a chance to use Nature Power on a semi-regular basis, and it actually did once this run, against a team of four Fighting types. It was surprisingly useful this run, not the least due to Regenerator.
This run would be the first of several for the Pokemon affectionately (or notoriously) referred to by several Discord posters last gen as one of the "ducks." The slight reduction in IVs plus rarity of enemy dmax makes P2's bulk all the better, and it makes an excellent co-setter. I've had the good fortune of frequently picking up SpA boosts from Download. I use both a Sassy one with no offensive investment and a Quiet 252, with the only moves unique to them being Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt, respectively. I have a third P2 without TR in its moveset, but it's still at Home.
The roll with this squad had really poor synergy in general, including Appletun and Abomasnow. I went with these four mostly because they at least worked well in one or more pairs, and consciously tried not to have rain up if I knew I'd be sending Marowak in. ...worrying aside, this team managed to have an extremely easy run, with only one KO sustained and dmax never used once. I also never exploded Lickilicky, who mostly OHKOd various Ghosts (including multiple Drifblim) with Knock Off. Cloud Nine helped more than it hurt, killing Sandtorm and with it Sand Veil, and at one point letting Marowak use Flare Blitz in the rain. Rain Dance on Zong also went a long way in patching up the holes in Liquid Voice and was used every battle. Between rain and Throat Spray, the split penalty wasn't enought to prevent Leon's Zard from being OHKOd.
Rather than tell Coeur the team outright (which I usually do after a really good run) I had him guess using a set of clues. It was... fun.
The Magearna used in this case is Relaxed with no offense, instead attempting to help with damage as the partner picks up KOs and grants Soul-Hearts. It's barely less destructive than full offense Magearna and allows it to survive things like Brave Rhyperior HH. Easily one of the most broken setters in the game.
Which is not to say the AI didn't create issues for it. One battle featured a Roserade that did nothing but Protect and Giga Drain, still providing a challenge to my two Waters but most of all just stalling out TR in an irritating manner. This also featured a Frosmoth which set Aurora Veil before Bisharp could KO with LO Iron Head. Rosie, having spent all of her Giga Drains, attempted a triple Protect and fortunately failed. Enough damage was done over time that Magearna had reached +5 from both friend and foe.
Leon was a much bigger outrage, with more of his severe upredictability nonsense, choosing to resist switch with a guaranteed KO at his fingertips and launching Overgrowth into Bisharp's slot as it was to be replaced by Gastrodon... ...so you know how that turned out. I was left with Magearna by itself in the rain, against a Cinderace and Rillaboom in the red. Cinderace would Blaze Kick for around half my HP and Rillaboom would seed me, then Protect, then Drain Punch. I survived the DP on 37 HP and would connect a Hail Mary Fleur Cannon to murder the stupid gorilla (grass plus lefties and seed had restored it almost to full, and Magearna was sitting on only the SH from killing Cinderace.)
I was happy to learn that Contrary triggers before being ovetwritten by Mummy, a scenario that played out when killing a Crustle that had previously knocked off Cofagrigus. Lurantis never dmaxed at its own peril but wracked up quite the body count nonetheless.
The new sprites haven't been added to Smogon yet, but that is none other than Galarian Slowbro. I have two sets for this fellow, a Quick Draw set with Quick Claw and a Regenerator set with a Sitrus Berry. This was the QDQC one.
On the one hand, with Slowbro easily having the first-turn advantage in TR, QDQC looks really dumb and redundant. The tradeoff was that having fairly strong odds of moving first during the first turn and picking up a quick OHKO was
really useful. This set ran no Poison STAB or Ice Beam in favor of Fire Blast and Hydro Pump, as well as Grass Knot. It had no shortage of frontlines weak to at least one of these moves. While Water typing was useful for Slowbro, I found myself appreciating the loss of an Electric or Grass weakness and there's no shortage of grass types in the tower that can't hit Psy/Psn particularly well.
Weather Ball and Earth Power for Politoed! Remember when the AI sets ran shit like Psychic? Even with an Expert Belt, Toed doesn't hit as hard as I'd like, but it was by no means a weak link. A bigger issue is that all of the abusers on this squad normally have AV as their preferred item. Politoed took the aforementioned Expert Belt, while Magnezone took a Weakness Policy (it seemed like a crapshoot at the time, and I hate Air Balloon.) Because Zone ideally uses AV, the loss of Singal Beam was compensated by Mirror Coat and not Ally Switch.
This team had a few nasty encounters. An Excadrill flinched Magearna with Shadow Claw and the following turn a Kingler easily KOd it with rain-boosted Liquidation. I won because that same Kingler and the Flygon next to it would throw the game, allowing me to KO Flygon without damaging Magnezone, putting Kingler into checkmate. I would later take a freeze to Politoed at 1HP and immediately thaw and not be targeted by the remaining Mandibuzz. Leon would destroy Musharna with Inteleon/Aegislash Shadow Balls, preventing TR but not without losing Aegislash in the process. Magnezone dmaxes and survives Mud Shot, and Politoed survives Overgrowth, resulting in both Inteleon and Zard being OHKOd. The worst of it over, Haxorus would KO Toed with Breaking Swipe then be easily murdered by Zone.
This run really cemented my favorable opinion of Flapple in TR. Grav Apple hits so frigging hard, and even after Hustle it's common to have at least one or two more boosts for it, not the least of which Gravity. Dragon Rush was also doing a lot of work. I did long for Dark coverage at times, however, and seeing the surprisingly fat chunks of damage from U-turn prompted me to immediately replace Acid Spray with Sucker Punch once the run was over. My fellow High Priests at the Temple of Ferro were "bewildered and disgusted" and to my knowledge are still deciding on a form of sacrifice brutal enough to atone for my level of blasphemy.
This team was fucked pretty hard by a lead QC Copperajah that would proc three straight times. Partnered with Xatu/Garbodor/Snorlax, I would win because of Wishiwashi coming in with a clutch dmax. I would also see TR prevented by Chandelure3 (Scarf) and FO Rillaboom, and won that battle because the backline, Mamoswine/Gourgeist, were more interested in setting hail, rocks, and curse than inflicting direct damage.
Throh mostly acted as a meat shield, and I frequently allowed it to die without doing much, but I was still proud of it! Eating Copperajah's supereffective SFPR and still standing isn't easy!
Second Galarbro set, Regen/Sitrus. Was originally Sludge Wave until Coeur suggested Belch, and it seemed easy enough to trip reliably. The downside is that my setters have long been accustomed to Sitrus for themselves, and because it's eaten any time below 50% it was allowing them to survive secondary, slower, more powerful hits than the faster enemy. Because Oranguru was now using a Figy berry, there was a strong risk of being left at 49% or lower without healing and then falling to something moderately strong.
This team also lost its first run to Beauty Rita, with Greedent/Mandibuzz/Silvally/Bisharp. Between not using dmax when it clearly should've the moment things went south, and Bisharp being sashed, wasting a precious turn of Marowak in KOing it, I was only able to get Silvally by itself and weakened before losing. Greedent was otherwise the biggest issue. Because this loss occurred early and was due to constant poor decisions, I hopped right back in instead of declaring the team an utter failure.
Apart from almost losing a second time to a QC Golisopod/Centiskorch/Vikavolt/Arcanine, this team did far better. I was maxing Slowbro frequently with poor options, as Ooze boosted SpA and made a huge difference in my damage output. Sitrus was also very easy to trigger in this form without being at risk. Scald was used just as frequently as Ooze/Expanding Force.
Geez, Gastro could not catch a frigging break! First battle lead Ludicolo/Eldegoss; 2nd, Ferrothorn; 3rd, Bullet Seed Cinccino (survived three uses); 4th, HA Rillaboom; 5th... ...well, no Grass leads but Aromatisse did reset TR; and 6th, a Dhelmise. Which is not to say Gastro spent much of the time cowering in the back, but many battles were won by Escavalier tanking shit for it and Hydreigon coming in to make kill assists.
The Leon battle was highly amusing because of his lead Seismitoad3, which was the only unit of his to actually attack. By tripping Storm Drain and allowing Gastro to pick up two SDef boosts and steamroll through his other three pokes, Seismitoad then began selecting moves at random instead of trying to Sludge Wave for shit supereffective damage to Comfey. I found it very amusing when it switched to Focus Blast then Muddy Water again, as if to say "I'm fucking programmed to pick moves until you kill me, just, please"
Araquanid was my trademark abuser last gen for a reason. Araquanid4, sporting its Choice Band, was able to do tons of damage to Porygon2 even after losing Water Bubble to Wandering Spirit, and survived Adaptability Sludge Bomb at -2 SDef, so my "attempts" to neuter it were not that effective.
Otherwise, this run was super smooth. Clawitzer, my favorite gen 6 abuser, is back with a vengeance and murdered a lot with and without Fake Tears support. During the Zeraora event I was quite fond of TR Runerigus, but couldn't pass up FT because of the backline. It enjoys Poltergeist and was even inflicting a lot of damage with it (albeit with LO) after a Dugtrio zapped it with Memento.
I passed on running Rime x Kyurem again! The novelty of running PZ for the first time was too strong. Like I alluded to previously, its "terrain set" was very odd and while it picked up most of the KOs, I thought most enemy teams were really bad and that alone was the driving force behind PZ having no problem steamrolling. Not only that, the higher speeds of the enemies made the debuff from Max Strike pretty inconsequential, and I was using that often for the aburd 300 base power.
Leon would open with Cinderace and Rillaboom, and I knew there was no chance to set TR like that, so I opted to Fake Out Cinderace. Unfortunately, Rillaboom was Set3, Life Orb, and murdered Rime with Darkest Lariat. I was able to OHKO Cinderace, and with a Grass type already on the field I figured I'd try to bait it with Primarina. Just my luck that Charizard came in next, which let Melmetal tank Overgrowth and Body Slam of all things; my guess is that the speed drop from PZ's Max Strike made the paralysis chance from Body Slam a desireable choice to offset the speed cut it suffered. Zard is murdered by Max Strike (Adaptability Hyper Beam) and then Rime enters, to fall easily alongside a third MS and Double Iron Bash.
:
Two battles in and I'm convinced that the last run should not have happened. PZ was having a real problem netting kills outside TR, especially with typings like Grass/Ghost, and Fake Tears was of little help for moves like Psyshock, or with the unwieldy properties of Solarbeam/Thunder. But I was still determined not to run carbon copies of either Porygon2 set, so I kept Hyper Beam and instead tried Blizzard/Thunderbolt/Dark Pulse. Blizzard maintained some of the meme status and was a fairly strong spread move outside TR with good coverage. Dark Pulse for the SDef debuff and Thunderbolt for terrain and a move that isn't mostly useless outside TR.
Afterward, this team sailed quite smoothly. I had the pleasure of Soaking a Protect-spamming Vileplume that had also eaten a burn, and that damage combined with Black Sludge helped whittle it down very nicely.
This roll included Jellicent, Crawdaunt, Gastrodon and Drednaw. Sometimes EVELYN is very persistent.
I was happy to notice that Avalugg could tank a crit Hawlucha HJK. I was less happy with the fact that Cinccino had already knocked off its WP. I was pretty lucky with Icicle Spears during this run, almost always getting at least three of them, which with HH and +2 was too much for anything with average bulk.
Braviary went all out this run. Unlike Milotic it was picking up lead Intimidates, including two off the same Eject Button Mawile, and also ate a Defog for reasons I don't understand (possibly the same reason an Alcremie would Decorate my Escavalier.) Anyway, versus Gengar4/Vanilluxe leads, Braviary survived an Explosion and the recoil from killing the Gengar that prevented TR; because TR was off, it also was able to outspeed and OHKO a backline Cursola, surviving on 2HP.
Bronzong tried Speed Swap for the first time; while way more situational than Rain Dance, it was nonetheless put to very good use by swapping with Drednaw, allowing it to outsped and OHKO another Cursola. I see it being valuable again under the same circumstances, since I have a lot of 60-65s now.
Moxie Heracross is a damn beast. Was slow enough to outspeed and OHKO a Vikavolt and Shiinotic, and took less than 50% from a Ditto's copy of mine. I was particularly lucky in landing all of my Megahorns. One highly unusual occurrence was an Accelgor2 skipping its favorite T1 Protect in order to Final Gambit the Heracross slot; I had swapped to Dracozolt because two Swoobat sets carry Air Slash, and the FG left it at 10HP, easily wiped by Swoobat's Heat Wave.
Perrserker ripped things to shreds without dmax, but it wasn't enough to prevent two battles from going to shit. One scenario that could've been bad, but wasn't, involved an Imposter Ditto turning into Perrserker; I won the speed tie OHKOd with Close Combat before it could potentially murder Comfey.
The first ugly bout was against Lazlo, who lead with Inteleon1, who murdered Perrserker with Max Quake and earned a SDef boost for itself and Vaporeon. I'm already way up shit creek because Torkoal is not going to do much before being killed, while Inteleon is practically guaranteed to use Phantasm against Lunala, and 3/4 Vappies carry Shadow Ball, with T1 Protect confirming that this one does. I think my only option is to bring in Lunala and dmax it, then HH Mindstorm the Inteleon. Between Prism Armor and insane special bulk, it can then eat a Shadow Ball from Vappy.
Like a fucktard I fail to click dmax first and HH Geyser, while extremely strong, does not KO. Lazlo had other ideas, however, and uses Wish with Vappy while hitting Comfey with Hailstorm. Inteleon goes down and Vaporeon CRITS Shadow Ball with a SDef drop. Jolteon replaces Inteleon and I manage to crit through Vappy's SDef with Geyser, OHKOing, while Jolt sets Light Screen. TR is now off, and Comfey manages to reset it on 1 HP before dying to hail. Thankfully Light Screen is not enough to spare the lastmon, Barbaracle, from Torkoal's Solarbeam. In addition to the late dmax of Lunala, I had also forgotten that Psyterrain blocks Triage! Shhhiiiiittttt..!!
Second rough battle was with Leon, who else? He lead Cinderace/Rhyperior, Set4 of the bunny as I would come to learn, and prior to that was sure that I'd need to make deliberate sacks. Rhy protects while Perrserker is burned to a crisp, and I regretfully acknowledge that Lunala must eat a LO Sucker Punch from this thing. It survives, but because Comfey is also killed, I'm forced to send in Torkoal and trip Drought for Charizard, leaving no way to survive Wildfire. I also can't just let Rhyperior sit there and get a free hit on Torkoal. As promised, Zard barely survives Mindstorm in terrain and I lose Lunala, but Rhyperior thankfully was Passho set and it destroyed without moving. Aegislash enters and shields while Eruption picks off the frail Zard; not content to lose without making me clench my asshole, Aegislash successfully uses KS again and thus TR is now off. I'm waiting for Set3 to crit Shadow Ball and end me, but it's Aegislash4, who uses critless LO Psycho Cut for a modest chunk and dies immediately to Weather Ball.
Fuck Cinderace4. If that were Libero it probably would have OHKOd with SP.
I was an advocate for Gunk Shot Druddigon but for the time being am running both Rock Slide and Fire Punch for their coverage. I also chose max bulk support gmax Alcremie, who still manages to pick up some OHKOs with Finale, such as Ditto and Bewear. With Iron Ball, it outspeeds even Greedent, necessary during this run because it used Belly Drum. The guaranteed healing from Finale was also really useful for both itself and P2. Nearly all battles were spent using Decorate at least once on P2 before maxing, or twice if the leads failed to do anything of substance (there were even two occasions they attempted to Taunt.)
Alcremie had excellent survivability, and I decided I'd try to kill Leon's Zard with P2 instead of looking for a window to send in Druddigon. He lead Haxorus/Rhyperior, and after taking under 50% from Rhyperior's HH I decided I would Decorate P2 a second time. On top of the Download boost, Zard was murdered by +5 Tri Attack (with Helping Hand for good measure) and Dragapult/Rhyperior fell shortly afterward, with Alcremie being the only casualty that battle!
I used a First Impression Haxorus in my naivete thinking I could get some cheap easy kills on dark leads, but they never appeared and thus I only used Flutterby a couple times to bop bulky Psychics. I wish I had gone with Assurance, since Clops with Nightshade is an easy way to get the 120BP.
However, the real star of this show was Blissey, who took physical hits like a champ, healed lots of damage with Heal Pulse, cured some burns and paralysis for Haxorus, and even used Ally Switch for some cheese. AV Mamoswine/Scope Lens Machamp/Sitrus Dhelmise/Rindoperior managed to force this team down to Dusclops x Blissey, who cleaned up through sheer staying power. Blissey was used every battle to do something very helpful.
For one fun example of retarded AI, Octillery was brough to 14 HP on a forced switch and the AI declined to touch it, allowing an Octosweep. What's more, Diggersby HAD QUICK ATTACK THE ENTIRE FUCKING TIME. WHY.
Roll #20 -- Archetype: Trick Room
Setters: Bronzong, Solgaleo
Abusers: Arcozolt, Toxtricity, Alcremie, Runerigus, Conkeldurr, Bisharp
Dmax Rule: Go Nuts
The fun of using Runerigus as a setter against Zeraora was encouragement to try it with this team, as disadvantaged as it was. I had always wondered when I would have an ill-fated encounter with Seismitoad4 using pokes unequipped for it, and I finally had that encounter. Chandelure4 nearly KOed Runerigus with Shadow Ball and Lapras made up the difference; Toxtricity was able to KO both of them with two Overdrives, but not before Chandy claimed another head: Conkeldurr. I now had Arctozolt and Tox left to take down an Orbeetle, along with Seismitoad; I mused that it could be Set4, and sure enough it was; without TR my dmax Zolt did not matter in the least and it easily cleaned up with LO Earthquake. Orbeetle helpfully set Reflect so that my one hit was even more fruitless.
That wholly deserved loss occurred on only Battle 2, so I decided to pass on novelty and try again.
That's more like it. Snorlax4 tanked LO Hammer Arm and after eating its berry survived +2 Iron Head, prompting a... reaction. Also of note was Ditto copying Conkeldurr, and after its first move became quite clear that it was Scarfed Ditto4 and so I let it sit, possibly more than I should've. Even at -2, Alcremie still outsped, so I was able to pick it off without eating a Poison Jab. This Alcremie was offensive, including Giga Drain and more readily using Max Flare instead of focusing on healing. Leon was beaten without suffering a KO or using dmax.
20 wins
20 wins
Rillaboom's G-Max was obviously chosen for the 160 BP G-Max Drum Beating, boosted by Grassy Terrain, an absolute nuke. Grassy Glide, which thanks to priority, OHKOs stuff like Starmie or Alakazam leads, also has more PP than other Grass moves, the ideal move for this format in so many ways! High Horsepower is used over Earthquake because Grassy Terrain. The Expert Belt allows Max Knuckle and Max Airstream (a weak 110 BP Airstream, sadly, but does the job) to pick up a lot of OHKOs they otherwise wouldn't. I'm sure I don't need to detail how great Atk and Spe boosts are for unilateral sweeps.
Funnily, when looking for Flapple replacements, I was looking for Grass types with a Flying move for an all-important Airstream, but in the end, Ludicolo's Swift Swim does that a lot better, with STAB. I tried more coverage as the 4th move (Mud Shot/Focus Blast), but both were wholly unnecessary for Ludi. I noticed I was quickly running low on Giga Drain PP since I also used it for healing purposes, so I added Solar Beam, a move I exclusively use as a Max move, it solves the PP problem and also gives it more power (140 vs 130). Leaf Storm would have provided the same power, but obviously, a lot less PP.
Ferro is the backbone of the team, it tanks and heals everyone with Leech Seed when the occasion comes. It can also transform into a powerful sweeper thanks to Max Steelspike boosting Body Press after the fact. I was initially going to use Gyro Ball, until I realized how little PP it had. Iron Head was great despite the lower power. I especially loved how Ferrothorn interacted with the Trick Room setters of the facility, making them reverse, and then set again when instantly switching, etc. until they're out of PP. Still, while Leech Seed stalling, I had to be very mindful of my Protect and Iron Head usage, because PP can run low very quickly, so switching around for tens of turns is often the optimal thing to do. Patience required.
The biggest threat to the team by far, First Impression murders the first 2 if they aren't / can't Dynamax. The Ferro switch is nice, except it also has Close Combat. If Ludicolo is healthy, I can let it tank it, but then I need to use Max Overgrowth if I want to OHKO, which isn't always available. Not OHKOing means it comes back and gets another First Impression. Ferro can tank a CC (it does about 50%) and heal a lot from Seed etc., but this requires Ferro to be very healthy to begin with, and means it and probably at least another team member will be low by the end of the exchange. All in all, it needs to be encountered in favourable circumstances, and finding a more passive Pokémon shortly after is necessary to heal.
I learned how to play around it over time after seeing what the AI does. Overheat does very little to Ludicolo all things considered, and Ferrothorn can be used on the expected Fly, Leech Seed it, and Ludicolo can then be switched on the next Overheat, and prevent Roost with a Scald. Still, it puts a stop to any ongoing Rillaboom sweep, which is not great.
Ferrothorn usually 1v1s it quite well, but ends up trading 50% or more of its HP in return, which can be bad at the wrong time. Optionally, if Rillaboom is very healthy, letting it tank a X-Scissor in Dmax and KOing Scizor with Max Knuckle into Max Quake can work (double Max Quake is a roll), after which Rillaboom can heal over time.
& 
Burn. Only Ludicolo can take absorb the burn, which is what I've done for the 2nd leg of this run. Ludicolo went through close to 30 battles burned, and while not ideal, it at least meant it couldn't get paralyzed. Still, in addition to burning, they both can do good damage to Ludicolo, and leave it in desperate need of healing, so they're dangerous.
Sturdy + Thunder Wave as usual. Ferro is my Thunder Wave absorber when need be. It spent most of the first leg of this streak paralyzed. Sometimes it works in my favor by preserving PP and preventing more hurtful statuses, but we all know what paralysis leads to with enough bad luck...
34 wins
