AAA Almost Any Ability

[UT]

Hello friends; now that initial dust has settled from the post-FurScales bans, it's survey time!

Please take this short tiering survey to let us know what, if anything, you would like us to consider banning, unbanning, or suspect testing in the immediate future. It will be open through Monday, and if we get a sizable reaction for anything, we will go from there!

 

[CrazyLasagna]

In a meta with so many spidops - we really need magic bounce to be reintroduced to AAA.

No thanks, I'm happy to never see Magic Bounce ever again.

 

[BugGoBrrrrrr]

Magic Bounce or not, it can never be overstated how easily Spidops can be countered. More specifically, Great Tusk is arguably a good fit on any team and counterleads Spidops (they can never get up Prankster Webs against Rapid Spin).

More serious answer though: We don't unban or ban abilities just to nerf or buff a playstyle; we wouldn't say "Spidops's Sticky Web is a problem, so let's unban Magic Bounce". If this was really the case, then we'd quickban or suspect test Spidops. Not gonna leak anything about a Magic Bounce re-suspect, but reasoning for unbanning it should be because we believe it isn't broken in the context of the meta--not just to counter any playstyles we don't like playing against :P hope that clears things up

I agree tusk spin is a good way to lead c lead spidops but I would also like to state circle throw + prank memento prevents tusk spin 100% of the time

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Ok, I would like to just put something here to avoid new people falling into the inevitable trap of using something horribly inconsistent.

Don't bother with Flinch Maushold
​

Maushold @ Wide Lens
Ability: Stench
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Population Bomb
- Beat Up
- Super Fang / Filler

In theory, this set works by just chaining flinches so the opponent isn't allowed to move, so you get to spam moves and KO them. In practice, this doesn't work so well.
One important thing to note is that the chances to flinch are not additive - you don't have a 100% chance to flinch with PopBomb because it's 10 hits at 10% for each hit. This is basically just going into probability - the odds are never really in your favour relative to the amount of effort you need to put in to actually have this potentially do anything. Maushold can't boost Accuracy (and Baton Pass is banned) so you're always working with 90% accurate PopBomb.

For one layer of flinching (King's Rock or Stench - they don't stack), the chance of 10-hit Population Bomb flinching is about 65.1%. This is because any amount of activations will mean you flinch the target, so you can basically do 100% - (chance they don't get flinched as a %) to get what you need. The chance each hit doesn't flinch is 90%, so 0.9 ^ 10 is 0.3486..., which you then subtract from 1 to get your 0.6513... or 65.1%.

For two layers of flinching (King's Rock and Serene Grace), the chance of 10-hit Population Bomb flinching is about 89.3%. The same calculation process can be used here, except that the chance to dodge a flinch is 80% or 0.8 instead. Chance of dodging a flinch is about 10.7%.

In theory, these seem like appealing numbers - if you grab a Tidy Up on the switch, you can attack into whatever's in front of you, and if you don't OHKO it then they have to play the flinching game. However, there are 3 key flaws in this logic - Accuracy, Rocky Helmet, and Covert Cloak.

In case you weren't aware, Population Bomb makes contact - this means that if you attack into a Rocky Helmet user, you take chip damage for each individual hit, essentially meaning the user instantly faints if you aren't bailed by a low amount of hits. This is generally difficult to manage with Knock Off support, since if the opponent sees a Maushold, they instantly know that preserving the Rocky Helmet makes their life significantly easier. Covert Cloak disruptive to a lesser extent in that it prevents the flinch from ever happening. Moreover, since you need the item slot to either hit your moves or to actually be able to flinch, you're really going to struggle to justify Protective Pads.

However, and this is the main reason i'm making the guide, the primary issue is that you're relying on actually hitting the move to get the gimmick to work. This is less than ideal, and i'll do the maths in the spoiler below:

The Maths

Population Bomb works by following the logic of "It hits until it misses", same as Triple Axel - after every hit, there's a new accuracy check for if the next hit connects. This makes it "easy" to work out the chances of landing a given number of hits, and thus the chances of a successful flinch.

Chance for 0 hits = 0.1 or 10%
Chance for 1 hit = Hit -> Miss = 0.9 * 0.1 = 0.09 or 9%
Chance for 2 hits = 2 Hits -> Miss = 0.9^2 * 0.1 = 0.081 or 8.1%
3 hits = 0.0729 or 7.29%
4 hits = 0.06561 or 6.561%
5 hits = 0.059049 or 5.9049%
6 hits = 0.0531441 or 5.31441%
7 hits = 0.04782969 or 4.782969%
8 hits = 0.043046721 or 4.3046721%
9 hits = 0.0387420489 or 3.87420489%
10 hits = 0.9^10 = 0.3486784401 or 34.86784401%

From here, you can individually work out the chances that an amount of hits both occurs and gets the flinch.

0 hits -> 10% chance to occur -> never flinches
1 hit -> 9% chance to occur -> 10% to flinch -> 0.9% to one-hit flinch
2 hits -> 19% to flinch -> 1.539% chance to 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 27.1% to flinch -> 1.97559% chance to 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 34.39% to flinch -> 2.2563279% chance to 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 40.951% to flinch -> 2.418115599% chance to 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 46.8559% chance to flinch -> 2.490114635% chance to 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 52.17031% chance to flinch -> 2.495289755% chance to 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 56.953279% chance to flinch -> 2.451651911% chance to 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 61.2579511% chance to flinch -> 2.373258537% chance to 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 65.13215599% chance to flinch -> 22.71017855 chance to 10-hit flinch

Adding these up, you get that the accuracy-accounted flinch chance is only 41.6% to one decimal place. This is if you wanted just Stench or King's Rock.
(41.60952689%)

If we account for King's Rock + Serene Grace, flinching is now 20%:
0 hits -> no flinch
1 hit -> 9% to occur, 20% to flinch -> 1.8% for 1-hit flinch
2 hits -> 36% to flinch -> 2.916% for 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 48.8% to flinch -> 3.55752% for 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 59.04% to flinch -> 3.8736144% for 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 67.232% to flinch -> 3.969982368% for 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 73.7856% to flinch -> 3.921269305% for 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 79.02848% to flinch -> 3.7799077% for 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 83.222784% to flinch -> 3.582467964% for 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 86.5782272% to flinch -> 3.354217912% for 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 89.26258176% to flinch -> 31.12393777% for 10-hit flinch

Adding these up, you get that the accuracy-accounted flinch chance is 61.9% to one decimal place. This is for Serene Grace + King's Rock.
(62.87891742%)

If we now account for Wide Lens' 99% accuracy, and use Wide Lens + Stench:
0 hits -> 1% to occur -> no flinches
1 hit -> 0.99% to occur -> 0.099% to 1-hit flinch
2 hits -> 0.9801% to occur -> 0.186219% to 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 0.970299% to occur -> 0.262951029% to 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 0.96059601% to occur -> 0.3303489678% to 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 0.9509900499% to occur -> 0.3894399353% to 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 0.9414801494% to occur -> 0.4411389973% to 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 0.9320653479% to occur -> 0.4862613814% to 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 0.9227446944% to occur -> 0.5255333603% to 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 0.9135172475% to occur -> 0.5596019488% to 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 90.4382079% to occur -> 58.90435464% to 10-hit flinch

These add up to an accuracy-adjusted flinch chance of 62.2% to once decimal place. This is for Wide Lens + Stench.
(62.1848495%)

If my maths is correct, then when adjusted for accuracy:

• King's Rock or Stench has a 41.6% chance to flinch the target.
• King's Rock + Serene Grace has a 61.9% chance to flinch the target.
• Wide Lens + Stench has a 62.2% chance to flinch the target.

So, basically, the best odds you're getting (and the only odds, because King's is banned), is 62.2% flinch - given that + the vulnerability to Rocky Helmet + Covert Cloak + Maushold being a heavy defensive liability + it doing very little damage + priority or scarfers rolling up, I would not recommend using it.

e: i never even realized king's is banned lmao

 

[Grim_Blazer]

Ok, I would like to just put something here to avoid new people falling into the inevitable trap of using something horribly inconsistent.

Don't bother with Flinch Maushold
​

Maushold @ King's Rock
Ability: Compound Eyes
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tidy Up
- Population Bomb
- Beat Up
- Super Fang / Filler

In theory, this set works by just chaining flinches so the opponent isn't allowed to move, so you get to spam moves and KO them. In practice, this doesn't work so well.
One important thing to note is that the chances to flinch are not additive - you don't have a 100% chance to flinch with PopBomb because it's 10 hits at 10% for each hit. This is basically just going into probability - the odds are never really in your favour relative to the amount of effort you need to put in to actually have this potentially do anything. Maushold can't boost Accuracy (and Baton Pass is banned) so you're always working with 90% accurate PopBomb.

For one layer of flinching (King's Rock or Stench - they don't stack), the chance of 10-hit Population Bomb flinching is about 65.1%. This is because any amount of activations will mean you flinch the target, so you can basically do 100% - (chance they don't get flinched as a %) to get what you need. The chance each hit doesn't flinch is 90%, so 0.9 ^ 10 is 0.3486..., which you then subtract from 1 to get your 0.6513... or 65.1%.

For two layers of flinching (King's Rock and Serene Grace), the chance of 10-hit Population Bomb flinching is about 89.3%. The same calculation process can be used here, except that the chance to dodge a flinch is 80% or 0.8 instead. Chance of dodging a flinch is about 10.7%.

In theory, these seem like appealing numbers - if you grab a Tidy Up on the switch, you can attack into whatever's in front of you, and if you don't OHKO it then they have to play the flinching game. However, there are 3 key flaws in this logic - Accuracy, Rocky Helmet, and Covert Cloak.

In case you weren't aware, Population Bomb makes contact - this means that if you attack into a Rocky Helmet user, you take chip damage for each individual hit, essentially meaning the user instantly faints if you aren't bailed by a low amount of hits. This is generally difficult to manage with Knock Off support, since if the opponent sees a Maushold, they instantly know that preserving the Rocky Helmet makes their life significantly easier. Covert Cloak disruptive to a lesser extent in that it prevents the flinch from ever happening. Moreover, since you need the item slot to either hit your moves or to actually be able to flinch, you're really going to struggle to justify Protective Pads.

However, and this is the main reason i'm making the guide, the primary issue is that you're relying on actually hitting the move to get the gimmick to work. This is less than ideal, and i'll do the maths in the spoiler below:

The Maths

Population Bomb works by following the logic of "It hits until it misses", same as Triple Axel - after every hit, there's a new accuracy check for if the next hit connects. This makes it "easy" to work out the chances of landing a given number of hits, and thus the chances of a successful flinch.

Chance for 0 hits = 0.1 or 10%
Chance for 1 hit = Hit -> Miss = 0.9 * 0.1 = 0.09 or 9%
Chance for 2 hits = 2 Hits -> Miss = 0.9^2 * 0.1 = 0.081 or 8.1%
3 hits = 0.0729 or 7.29%
4 hits = 0.06561 or 6.561%
5 hits = 0.059049 or 5.9049%
6 hits = 0.0531441 or 5.31441%
7 hits = 0.04782969 or 4.782969%
8 hits = 0.043046721 or 4.3046721%
9 hits = 0.0387420489 or 3.87420489%
10 hits = 0.9^10 = 0.3486784401 or 34.86784401%

From here, you can individually work out the chances that an amount of hits both occurs and gets the flinch.

0 hits -> 10% chance to occur -> never flinches
1 hit -> 9% chance to occur -> 10% to flinch -> 0.9% to one-hit flinch
2 hits -> 19% to flinch -> 1.539% chance to 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 27.1% to flinch -> 1.97559% chance to 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 34.39% to flinch -> 2.2563279% chance to 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 40.951% to flinch -> 2.418115599% chance to 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 46.8559% chance to flinch -> 2.490114635% chance to 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 52.17031% chance to flinch -> 2.495289755% chance to 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 56.953279% chance to flinch -> 2.451651911% chance to 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 61.2579511% chance to flinch -> 2.373258537% chance to 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 65.13215599% chance to flinch -> 22.71017855 chance to 10-hit flinch

Adding these up, you get that the accuracy-accounted flinch chance is only 41.6% to one decimal place. This is if you wanted just Stench or King's Rock.
(41.60952689%)

If we account for King's Rock + Serene Grace, flinching is now 20%:
0 hits -> no flinch
1 hit -> 9% to occur, 20% to flinch -> 1.8% for 1-hit flinch
2 hits -> 36% to flinch -> 2.916% for 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 48.8% to flinch -> 3.55752% for 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 59.04% to flinch -> 3.8736144% for 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 67.232% to flinch -> 3.969982368% for 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 73.7856% to flinch -> 3.921269305% for 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 79.02848% to flinch -> 3.7799077% for 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 83.222784% to flinch -> 3.582467964% for 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 86.5782272% to flinch -> 3.354217912% for 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 89.26258176% to flinch -> 31.12393777% for 10-hit flinch

Adding these up, you get that the accuracy-accounted flinch chance is 61.9% to one decimal place. This is for Serene Grace + King's Rock.
(62.87891742%)

If we now account for Wide Lens' 99% accuracy, and use Wide Lens + Stench:
0 hits -> 1% to occur -> no flinches
1 hit -> 0.99% to occur -> 0.099% to 1-hit flinch
2 hits -> 0.9801% to occur -> 0.186219% to 2-hit flinch
3 hits -> 0.970299% to occur -> 0.262951029% to 3-hit flinch
4 hits -> 0.96059601% to occur -> 0.3303489678% to 4-hit flinch
5 hits -> 0.9509900499% to occur -> 0.3894399353% to 5-hit flinch
6 hits -> 0.9414801494% to occur -> 0.4411389973% to 6-hit flinch
7 hits -> 0.9320653479% to occur -> 0.4862613814% to 7-hit flinch
8 hits -> 0.9227446944% to occur -> 0.5255333603% to 8-hit flinch
9 hits -> 0.9135172475% to occur -> 0.5596019488% to 9-hit flinch
10 hits -> 90.4382079% to occur -> 58.90435464% to 10-hit flinch

These add up to an accuracy-adjusted flinch chance of 62.2% to once decimal place. This is for Wide Lens + Stench.
(62.1848495%)

If my maths is correct, then when adjusted for accuracy:

• King's Rock or Stench has a 41.6% chance to flinch the target.
• King's Rock + Serene Grace has a 61.9% chance to flinch the target.
• Wide Lens + Stench has a 62.2% chance to flinch the target.

So, basically, none of these are better than Compound Eyes + King's Rock, which I only remembered existed after i'd done all the maths. Even with this combination (where you're guaranteed to always hit 10-hit PopBomb), the flinch chance is only 65.1%, so given that + the vulnerability to Rocky Helmet + Covert Cloak + Maushold being a heavy defensive liability + it doing very little damage + priority or scarfers rolling up, I would not recommend using it.

I hate this set so much, lucky for me though kings rock is banned! Stench isn't though so that's annoying

 

[Acetraineraegis]

AAA DesoLand Volcarona
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Solar Beam/ Bug Buzz
Desoland volcarona could be viable, as it removes its second largest counter, water, while also giving fire moves a nice buff. However, a four times stealth rock weakness leaves it almost necessarily using heavy-duty boots. Solar beam, once boosted with a couple uses of quiver dance, can easily remove rock types who would usually prove a threat to Volcarona, but for specially defensive rock types and pokemon of other types with rock moves, it is quite frail. Edit: Bug Buzz is the better overall option than Solar Beam; It has great coverage against popular psychic and dark pokemon and the STAB power of the move is quite generally impressive.

 

[Giagantic]

Been a while since I posted anything in the AAA thread and feel like this team is as good as it is gonna get whilst still maintaining it's somewhat meme-ish sets.


^Pokepaste Here^


TongueTooLong (Greninja) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Surf
- Water Shuriken
- U-turn
- Rock Slide

Expert Belt Greninja is great at targeting teams that are weak to Water type on top of which Rock Slide with Ebelt 2hko's Iron Moth and Volcarona making Desolate Land sets invalid switchins to it. U-Turn let's pivot and hits SE targets (like incoming regenvest Roaring Moons) decently hard. The choice of running Water Shuriken was made in order to kill those that are faster then it (like Chien-Pao) after they've taken damage and whilst not running Dark Pulse is moderately annoying it isn't the end of the world as most Gholdengo are still 2hko'd by Surf and the Moths are damaged by Rock Slide.


Yelling At The Sky (Roaring Moon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 148 SpD / 108 Spe
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

One of the best special sponges and pivots in the meta, Roaring Moon is running only dark stab because dragon stab sucks and edgequake has more usability over most other options. Obviously, U-Turn is what enables it to pivot. Handles stuff like Chi-Yu, however be warned Specs Noivern can and probably will 2hko you with Boomburst sadly.


Ol Papi Phan (Great Tusk) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Sword of Ruin Great Tusk is a menace, normally it'd be Choice Banded but I opted to run Muscle Band for the flexibility and utility of it's moveset. First thing that should be apparent is that I am not running ground coverage and the reason is quite simple, I find that the combination of Close Combat and Knock Off to hit the vast majority of the metagame for neutrality which is enough. This choice opens up the option of running Rapid Spin and Stealth Rocks whilst still remaining extremely threatening, it is also very easy to bluff having ground coverage and thus not a crippling absence.


Mk 2 Skarmory (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Body Press
- Bulk Up
- Roost

My Corviknight is surprisingly lacking defog which was a conscientious choice I made as I wanted it to be able to check special threats and physical threats. It walls some special threats merely through max bulk invested in to spdef (avoids 2hko by Aerialate Noivern Boomburst (flamethrower still can 2hko but gives you room to switch after taking the hit)) and checks physical threats like Dragonite by setting up on them and whittling them down with Rocky Helmet. Body Press is also ran to hit Kingambit hard and dissuade it from trying anything silly.


Jungle King (Gholdengo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 184 SpD / 72 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Nasty Plot
- Recover

Gholdengo is Gholdengo and checks a variaty of Pokemon like most Corviknight's and with Bulletproof is able to check the most common sets of opposing Gholdengo's. It can also wall choiced variants of Cinderace that opt to carry Pyroball.


Hardhead (Kingambit) @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Grass Knot
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

My weirdest set and one that can easily be changed if desired, Tough Claws Kingambit is 100% mixed invested in order to do this

Hide

252 SpA Life Orb Tough Claws Kingambit Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 445-525 (102.5 - 120.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

which is typically very easy to pull off as it is a common switchin to Kingambits. Even ignoring the gimmick, Kowtow Cleave + Sucker Punch back'd by Tough Claws + Life Orb hits a large swathe of the metagame hard and Swords Dance only bolsters that further.

______________________________________
The team focuses heavily around sponging special hits with Roaring Moon, and applying a ton of pressure with the combination of Greninja, Great Tusk, Kingambit, and Gholdengo. Some of the biggest threats to the team include things like Baxcalibur and Noivern both of which can lay on some major pain if given any leeway, and when faced with them you should generally give them as few chances to do anything.

 

[Codename C.A.T]

THE BIG GARG - How to use it and how to beat it

If you've played SV AAA before, then there's a good chance that you have encountered this little Rock type Pokemon called Garganacl. If you've encountered this thing, then you most likely know one thing about it: Salt Cure is simply impossible to switch into. It forces 12.5% chip damage on you, every single turn, until you switch out. Worse, it goes up to 25% if used on a Water or Steel type. It's not just a Salt Cure machine, either; it can set up Stealth Rocks, keep healthy with Recover, and use abilities such as Sand Stream or Earth Eater to check major meta threats like Dragonite, Noivern, and even non-Choice Specs Gholdengo. It's denying your Corviknight's Defogs, forcing heavy chip onto your Sub NP Recover Gholdengo, and making your Regenerator Great Tusk an absolute pain to switch in and spin with. So, how do you beat it? And more importantly, how do you use it to your advantage? That's what this post is about.

Garganacl: Using it, abusing it, and creating endless salt
You have two general options with Garganacl: you can either use a Ground immune ability like Earth Eater or Levitate, or use Sand Stream to boost your special defense and force more chip. There is also the option of Good As Gold, but this is more niche and thus won't be discussed here. Whichever you use should depend on your team and what you're worried about on it. You should NOT be using Sand Stream on a team with 3 Noivern checks! Same with using Earth Eater on a team with 2 Dragonite checks.

Physically Defensive (Garganacl) @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater / Levitate
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Stealth Rock / Body Press
- Recover
- Protect / Earthquake / Iron Defense
This set is a physically defensive Pokemon that can make heavy progress with Salt Cure and Stealth Rock. Additionally, if you choose to use Iron Defense and Body Press, it can be a lategame sweeping threat, as it simply becomes unkillable on the physical side. Protect accentuates the damage its Salt Cure dishes out, while Earthquake may be useful in certain matchups such as against Sandy Shocks or Clodsire. The main thing this set has going for it is the incredible defensive presence on the physical side, able to check dangerous threats such as defensive Great Tusk, Dragonite, and even Ceruledge. Be sure to Salt Cure very often with this set, it forces favorable scenarios like nothing else can. Rocks are crucial for ensuring extra chip as they switch into Salt Cure, and Recover is needed for very obvious reasons. You can tweak the EVs a little, maybe put enough SpDef EVs to not get 2HKO'd by Specs Noivern Boomburst. An incredibly effective set overall, would be on a lot of teams if Sand Stream didn't exist and provide so much.

Specially Defensive (Garganacl) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Protect / Earthquake
First things first, copy paste the moves from last time but get rid of Body Press and Iron Defense. Secondly, this is what I would consider to be the 3rd best Pokemon in the entire AAA metagame, and not for no reason. As I've said many times, Salt Cure is a ridiculous move that forces progress. However, with Sand Stream, the chip damage of Salt Cure is exacerbated, and the Steels that would normally be fine with Sand Stream are torn to shreds by Salt Cure in just a couple turns. Sand Stream also gives Garganacl a 1.5x boost to its Special Defense, making it have unparalleled special bulk that barely anything can match without an Assault Vest(except for Blissey who is bad and you shouldn't use). Finally, its Rock typing gives it a resistance to Flying, allowing it to check the most dangerous wallbreaker in the entire tier, Noivern. It also acts as a check to Choice Scarf Sandy Shocks, Gengar, Iron Moth, Hatterene, Volcarona, and many more. Even the things that should beat it don't quite cut it at times; Scarf Greninja of all things has a tough time getting a 2HKO with its Hydro Pump, and it is heavily threatened by Salt Cure + sand. Use this whenever you need a catch-all specially defensive Pokemon on balance or bulky offense teams, it can and will put in work every single game.

But that's a problem, it puts in work every game. Including the games that your opponent uses it against you. How do you even deal with this thing if Salt Cure is so free to spam?

Garganacl: Getting used, abused, and salted by it, and how to stop it
The major thing you need to know about Garganacl is that you cannot check it with what you would usually use to answer a Tyranitar or some other Rock type. Garganacl is different because he is way more cracked than any of those other guys, as he can simply click the Salt Cure button and win. Most of the time, at least. There are two major ways to make progress against Garganacl: Covert Cloak and Magic Guard.

Covert Cloak is an item version of the Shield Dust ability, as it prevents all secondary effects from moves. Thankfully for us, Salt Cure is counted as a secondary effect, so this means Covert Cloak is an excellent answer. Of course, you have to make sure the Covert Cloak user doesn't want another item, shoutouts to that one guy running Covert Cloak Greninja on ladder, but if you can afford it, it's quite good. I would recommend using it on a Body Press/Bulk Up Rapid Spin Great Tusk, as this uses what would otherwise be a free turn of progress into a free turn to make its own progress. Covert Cloak Gholdengo is also quite good, as it can come in and get a Substitute risklessly.

Magic Guard is an ability that prevents all passive damage, including Salt Cure. However, this one is harder to fit on teams, as it takes up your ability slot. There is a very very good Magic Guard Pokemon, though, and that is Gholdengo. With Magic Guard Steel Beam and an immunity to Salt Cure, Gholdengo is about as close as we have to a Garganacl counter. Chien-Pao also uses Magic Guard, though it's not as advisable to switch it into Garganacl(Salt Cure has surprisingly ok base damage against super effective targets). It's limited, but it's great at checking Garganacl while still having a lot of other utility, such as an immunity to hazards or recoil.


I don't know how to end this post. It's over. I'm gonna sleep now.

 

[CrazyLasagna]

AAA DesoLand Volcarona
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Solar Beam
Desoland volcarona could be viable, as it removes its second largest counter, water, while also giving fire moves a nice buff. However, a four times stealth rock weakness leaves it almost necessarily using heavy-duty boots. Solar beam, once boosted with a couple uses of quiver dance, can easily remove rock types who would usually prove a threat to Volcarona, but for specially defensive rock types and pokemon of other types with rock moves, it is quite frail.

IMO Solar Beam isn't worth it, especially if you're already running Giga Drain. While Desolate Land hard counters water moves, running Solar Beam makes you very weak into Primordial Sea users. I'd personally recommend using Psychic or Bug Buzz instead.

 

[Acetraineraegis]

IMO Solar Beam isn't worth it, especially if you're already running Giga Drain. While Desolate Land hard counters water moves, running Solar Beam makes you very weak into Primordial Sea users. I'd personally recommend using Psychic or Bug Buzz instead.

Fair point there, I have some experience using Bug Buzz Volcarona, chose solar beam for the extra kill power, as Giga Drain can struggle a bit with it. Bug Buzz is definitely the better overall option, allowing supereffective STAB hits against popular psychic and dark pokemon. I'll edit to include it.

 

[Poke★Blazer]

It has come to my attention that Corviknight is absolutely broken in this OM. It has way too much versatility, being able to run the "Ruin" Abilities to lower Atk/Spa, or run Flash Fire/WBB (or PrimSea) or Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb to remove either one of its two weaknesses. on top of its already insane bulk, it has Iron Defense. if that is combo'd with the "Ruin" ability that lowers SpA, Corv becomes practically unbeatable. It also invalidates Hazard setters with Defog, making it pointless to even try to set up hazards since this near-unkillable wall is just gonna come in and remove them. Corv pretty much forces an opposing team to carry an answer to it, which is difficult to do since you never know whether to bring a fire-type or an electric-type, since chances are one or the other will be useless against it. This thing just plain isn't healthy for the metagame and needs to be banned from AAA post-haste.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1798444835 here's a battle involving a Corviknight for further proof.

 

[Grim_Blazer]

It has come to my attention that Corviknight is absolutely broken in this OM. It has way too much versatility, being able to run the "Ruin" Abilities to lower Atk/Spa, or run Flash Fire/WBB (or PrimSea) or Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb to remove either one of its two weaknesses. on top of its already insane bulk, it has Iron Defense. if that is combo'd with the "Ruin" ability that lowers SpA, Corv becomes practically unbeatable. It also invalidates Hazard setters with Defog, making it pointless to even try to set up hazards since this near-unkillable wall is just gonna come in and remove them. Corv pretty much forces an opposing team to carry an answer to it, which is difficult to do since you never know whether to bring a fire-type or an electric-type, since chances are one or the other will be useless against it. This thing just plain isn't healthy for the metagame and needs to be banned from AAA post-haste.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1798444835 here's a battle involving a Corviknight for further proof. View attachment 491544

I’m away from my computer rn so I can’t write a huge post to justify my opinion but it’s my firm belief that if you can’t break through corv you simply have a bad team

 

[Tea Guzzler]

a couple things i've been using recently:


Meowscarada @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Leaf Storm

this works as a scarfer and leaf storm gives you the jump a tusk that thinks it can just live flower trick, KO you, and regen off the damage later. works well with bax since dozo practically infinite-walls it and you can dispatch it easily with this. severely struggles with any physdef corv tho which is a real problem, though this is more of a meowscarada issue. speaking of dozo...



Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Wave Crash
- Earthquake
- Rest

intim dozo is probably the most raw physical wall atm. curse lets you boost alongside ddancers like dnite and bax, and a lot of stuff doesn't enjoy switching in since water/ground surprisingly hits a lot. having to rely on rest for healing is unfortunate but there's not really any other alternative, don't really recommend rest/talk either since then you just get sat on by desland stuff. intim over fluffy so you don't get cooked by cinderace's pyro ball (which does over half even without band or boosts) or just have your ability do nothing into stuff like EQ tusk or spear bax. you can also pretty reliably sit in front of tusk which is always appreciated.



Gholdengo @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Steel Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Recover

this mon is lowkey busted. steel beam has no switchins and you can just nasty plot past any blissey or spdef corv you encounter, you get to outpace many of the slower tusks that run 252 HP / 252 Atk to not be spinblocked by EE ghold, and you can sit in front of garganacl for an eternity without the need for cloak or lagging tail pivoting. if you have a spare slot for a damage dealer and aren't already using ghold, this is a really easy fit that puts in work almost every game - it's also an easy hat switchin (since it doesn't mind being tricked specs) and it can even run scarf if you want. mglo also out-damages regenvest rmoon which is great.

some severe waffle

that's a you problem ngl

 

[APOGRAPHA]

It has come to my attention that Corviknight is absolutely broken in this OM. It has way too much versatility, being able to run the "Ruin" Abilities to lower Atk/Spa, or run Flash Fire/WBB (or PrimSea) or Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb to remove either one of its two weaknesses. on top of its already insane bulk, it has Iron Defense. if that is combo'd with the "Ruin" ability that lowers SpA, Corv becomes practically unbeatable. It also invalidates Hazard setters with Defog, making it pointless to even try to set up hazards since this near-unkillable wall is just gonna come in and remove them. Corv pretty much forces an opposing team to carry an answer to it, which is difficult to do since you never know whether to bring a fire-type or an electric-type, since chances are one or the other will be useless against it. This thing just plain isn't healthy for the metagame and needs to be banned from AAA post-haste.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1798444835 here's a battle involving a Corviknight for further proof. View attachment 491544

Corv ban would make the meta unplayable. Just be HO v HO arms race. Corviknight still has poor SpD and can easily be cooked by SFLO sets, Greninja, Baxcalibur, so on. Your replay just shows you sac'ing your mons into Dondozo when Chien Pao w/SD or Banded Sword of Ruin makes Corv sweat. Your team just needs a lot of work, as do your game plans.

 

[Grim_Blazer]

It has come to my attention that Corviknight is absolutely broken in this OM. It has way too much versatility, being able to run the "Ruin" Abilities to lower Atk/Spa, or run Flash Fire/WBB (or PrimSea) or Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb to remove either one of its two weaknesses. on top of its already insane bulk, it has Iron Defense. if that is combo'd with the "Ruin" ability that lowers SpA, Corv becomes practically unbeatable. It also invalidates Hazard setters with Defog, making it pointless to even try to set up hazards since this near-unkillable wall is just gonna come in and remove them. Corv pretty much forces an opposing team to carry an answer to it, which is difficult to do since you never know whether to bring a fire-type or an electric-type, since chances are one or the other will be useless against it. This thing just plain isn't healthy for the metagame and needs to be banned from AAA post-haste.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1798444835 here's a battle involving a Corviknight for further proof. View attachment 491544

Ok so I'm back at my computer and can actually give criticism now outside of my statement before. Corviknight is absolutely one of the premier defensive mons in the tier but that does not make it banworthy, nor is it particularly hard to break if you build correctly and play around it. For example lets look at the simple core of Baxcalibur + Chi-Yu, a core that I have been using ever since fur scales was around to great effect. This simple core is able to break most, if not all, corviknight sets. If Corv is running tablets of ruin then it can check Bax if it doesnt have dragon dance but neither of the ruin abilities can check Chi-Yu, the only Corv set that can check Chi-Yu is well baked body which easily is beaten by Bax. My final point is about defog since you seemed to have a problem with your hazards being taken away a lot. One way to stop defog from being a problem is to run a good as gold mon in conjunction with some hazard setters, although if you don't want to do that you could always take the route most players take of forcing it out with mons like the 2 I mentioned and disallowing defog. Hell if worse comes to worst you can always take the route of pp stalling defogs, it may be tedious but if you didn't pack any other ways of keeping hazards up then it's on you. I believe that I have shown enough evidence with this incredibly simple core that it isn't all that hard to have a good gameplan to beat Corv so with the right teambuilding you should have no problem fitting an answer or 2, sometimes on accident. Hell the core could be something as easy as an electric type + a fire type, which matches well into a lot of other meta pokemon too since we have good options to fit in that core like Cinderace and Sandy Shocks. Finally, as someone above mentioned your replay only has the mon that you're hoping to get banned in for 5 turns and it barely did anything when it was in. You had things like chien pao that could have beaten it but you just sacrificed it to their dondozo instead of trying to carefully position around their threats and walls.

The calcs I referenced are below

252 Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Baxcalibur Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Corviknight: 159-187 (39.7 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Baxcalibur Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Corviknight: 204-242 (51 - 60.5%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Chi-Yu Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Corviknight in Harsh Sunshine: 272-324 (68 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Chi-Yu Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Corviknight in Harsh Sunshine: 396-468 (99 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Baxcalibur Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 210-247 (52.5 - 61.7%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[clovre]

In regards to Houndstone being on the watchlist, I think that is a huge joke.
Even with a 450 BP STAB move (with Supreme Overlord), it is so weak, half of the metagame is able to easily counter it and abuse its horrendous speed, such as scarf Meowscarada , Sucker Punch Kingambit Intimidate/Tablets of Ruin Dondozo , Dragonite , and so many more that I don't have the time to list. I'm astonished it managed to get itself on the watchlist, it is such a horrible Pokemon. #HoundstoneIsOverParty

(edit for calcs)

calcs

252+ Atk Houndstone Last Respects vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Dondozo: 331-391 (65.6 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Adaptability Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 344-408 (120.7 - 143.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 308-366 (108 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Aerilate Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 177-208 (62.1 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[Don Vascus]

In regards to Houndstone being on the watchlist, I think that is a huge joke.
Even with a 450 BP STAB move (with Supreme Overlord), it is so weak, half of the metagame is able to easily counter it and abuse its horrendous speed, such as scarf Meowscarada , Sucker Punch Kingambit Intimidate/Tablets of Ruin Dondozo , Dragonite , and so many more that I don't have the time to list. I'm astonished it managed to get itself on the watchlist, it is such a horrible Pokemon. #HoundstoneIsOverParty

(edit for calcs)

calcs

252+ Atk Houndstone Last Respects vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Dondozo: 331-391 (65.6 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Adaptability Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 344-408 (120.7 - 143.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 308-366 (108 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Aerilate Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Houndstone: 177-208 (62.1 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Houndstone Last Respects vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tablets of Ruin Dondozo: 331-391 (65.6 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Ruin Slaking Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 231-273 (45.8 - 54.1%) -- 3.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Idk about you but i think cb giga impact slaking is a pretty strong mon if i do say so myself

Also big fan of how to show that its weak, you choose to show the calcs on none other than tablets dondozo, which is far and away the most physically bulky pokemon to grace this meta, which even still gets 2hkod. This is like saying that ou chi yu was balanced because in sun it only 2hkos eviolite chansey.

Also big fan of showing the dnite calc not ohkoing, as if that would stop the dog from ohkoing back or as if players would let it get chipped at all before hand. And what even is "half the metagame??" Most walls explote at max power last respects, and not every mon can run a scarf, and as you showed with your dnite calc, houndstone is capable of taking strong unboosted hits, so its not like any priority move or any simple scarfer will do

Lets not forget, how you simply not talk about the biggest weakness of houndstone, which is the opportunity cost of running, being dead weight until the late game due to how last respects works.

Kek

 

[swadloonytunes]

I don't comment here very often, but here are some sets I've found some success with.

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Body Press
- Defog
- Iron Defense



In my experience, this corv set catches many things off guard because unaware is a relatively uncommon ability. In addition to corviknight's normal functions, Unaware + Iron Defense allows it to check boosted baxcalibur, and it can comfortably beat curse dondozo and opposing corviknights. In addition to its defensive utility, it works quite well a win condition since it wins vs every physical attacker which isn't fire or ghost type, (and it wins against fire types with enough bulk ups). Unfortunately, it can still struggle to switch into baxcalibur's icicle spear and you need a different pokemon to handle the fire types corv could otherwise handle with well baked body.







Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt


This thing with AV is stupidly bulky. For reference, specs boomburst from aerilate noivern does around 33% damage, while goodra cleanly OHKOs noivern with draco meteor. This thing shrugs off vitually every special attack. While it's not exactly the strongest pokemon, it's strong enough to significantly damage frailer special attackers and comfortably beat them 1v1 even if goodra doesn't start at full health. The one asterisk is nasty plot gholdengo bc its bulk combined with recover allows gholdengo to set up multiple nasty plots before goodra can ko. The other potential issue is that sand stream garganacl is probably a better special wall much of the time. Nevertheless, I have still found excellent success with this pokemon

 

[DeepFriedMagikarp]

Survey Results!​

Thanks to everyone that responded to the survey! This time around we were able to gather 64 individual responses. While this isn't meant to be a representative sampling of every single person who builds and plays AAA, it's a decent gauge of the thoughts of those who are invested in the tier's development. Lets see how people responded!

Dragonite

Hide

31.2% Want action taken, and 43.8% Would not be opposed

Houndstone

Hide

48.4% Want action taken, and 29.7% Would not be opposed


Next we we wanted to gauge community opinion on the premier physical fire type attacker in AAA, and whether it or the ability Orichalcum Pulse was problematic

Orichalcum Pulse

Hide

40.7% Want action taken, and 32.8% Would not be opposed

Cinderace

Hide

9.4% Want action taken, and 39.1% Would not be opposed

Both

Hide

76.2% of people expressed interest on Orichalcum Pulse over Cinderace, if action were to take place the ability would be the one to go.

Next are two more abilities
Fluffy

Hide

21.9% Want action taken, and 25% Would not be opposed

Magic Bounce

Hide

46.9% Want the ability retested, and 39.1% Would oppose retesting.
While the vote is split, the amount of people wanting a retest is not insignificant, and the council recognizes this. While a re-suspect test is not slated for the immediate immediate future, it is definitely on the roadmap. We believe there are other things to take action on first, before Magic Bounce but a suspect test is/will be in the works.


Is there anything else you would like us to consider tiering action for, ban or unban?

> Magic Bounce: See above

> Great Tusk: All 3 of these saw multiple mentions, and we agree that these are some
> Gholdengo: of the more prevalent mons in the tier. Expect to see them on the next
> Noivern: community survey

> Hadron Engine: While a very strong ability, it lacks notable users unlike Orichalcum Pulse with Cinderace. The electric types in this tier currently all have their flaws, and none are seeing high viability. However it being a very strong ability, we are constantly looking at the metagame to see if it develops to incorporate more Hadron Engine usage.

> Baxcalibur: We have our eyes on it, can potentially be on the next Survey. Would like to see more discussion and usage on this Pokemon

> We're not unbanning Magnet Pull


Once again, thanks to everyone that took the time to respond to the survey. These results are extremely valuable, and reading through them absolutely helps and makes an impact on how the council chooses to tier.

Seeing the results, the council has elected to hold off on action for the time being, since none of the elements earned a majority and several other elements cropped up in the fill in responses. We wanted to see how things develop further, especially in regards to the recently started currently ongoing AAA Money Tournament. Expect to see another survey soon, in the next week or two, with more elements on it. We may also still take action on these elements as well, just not today

 

[LatiasDigs]

gonna give a shoutout to a set thats been doing work for me lately


Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse /Shadow Ball
- U-turn

what this does is it sacrifices a tiny bit of power on boomburst (also making it not able to hit ghosts but we'll get to that later) in exchange for a big boost to coverage (and less relevantly but worth mentioning, uturn), and perhaps more importantly, you are now able to run noivern and dnite on the same team, which is normally blocked by ability clause

Notable calcs:
-252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 462-544 (106.4 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO | still ohkos most tusks
-252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Gholdengo: 344-408 (91 - 107.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO | 252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gholdengo: 246-290 (65 - 76.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO | is able to 2hko or even ohko gholdenego switchin
-252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 264-312 (86.8 - 102.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock | 252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Boomburst vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sandy Shocks: 321-378 (103.2 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO | is able to ohko electric types that normally resist flying type boombursts
-252 SpA Choice Specs Protean Noivern Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Garganacl in Sand: 248-294 (61.3 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery | can 2hko max spdef gargancl if you dont miss

now regarding the coverage choice to begin with
-flamethrower is not used because a lot of the steel types that switchin on noivern often run wbb, plus it needs focus blast if it wants a chance against garg
-dark pulse vs shadow ball are mostly interchangable, with a few niche instances where the differences matter, shadow ball hits fairy/psychics harder, but gets blocked by bulletproof and the occasional normal type which dark pulse still hit, also, the typing they give you allows you to resist different priorities (ghost makes you immune to triage drain punch and other fighting/normal priority, dark makes you resist sucker punch)

 

[Acetraineraegis]

Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant or Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs / Crunch
- Close Combat

With Orichalcum Pulse use higher than ever, now is PrimoSea Barraskewda’s chance to shine. With extremely high Atk and Spe, as well as access to a priority STAB move in Aqua Jet, Barraskewda can be a big threat on switch-in. PrimoSea also completely shuts down both non-rain weather users and all fire users, while lending power to its water moves, which, along with Choice Band, can easily one-shot frail Pokémon and leave Pokémon like Garganacl and Corviknight below 50% with just one blow, landing a guaranteed 2HKO after leftovers on max Phys Def, HP Corviknight using Liquidation

Edit: liquidation is better than waterfall, added crunch as an option

 

[IceLevelIncarnate]

I'm a relatively new competitive player, and this is the first metagame I've really invested any time in. I've had a pretty solid team I've been using that's gotten me up and down the ladder, and I wanted to post it here to hopefully get some feedback on what I should change for more consistent results. Thanks!

Spoiler

Condor (Corviknight) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Spit
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn

With Garg taking center stage as the team sand setter, Corviknight acts as a good defensive pivot, and can set sand back up without switching Garg into a bad situation. The 0 Speed IV and negative Speed nature is to make sure Corv takes a hit, activates Sand Spit, and pivots out with U-Turn right after to provide a safe switch. Although I've been questioning how redundant it is to have two sand-setters on the team, and also playing my hand on Corv's ability often early in the game when what Corv's ability can be is one of the biggest threats in the metagame at the moment. On the flip side, it helps keep bringing in chip damage on the opposing team and can help enable Gengar if Garg went down earlier in the match.

Hoodoo (Garganacl) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Recover

I came up with Sand Stream Garg (in what I thought was a stroke of genius) and built my team around it a good while before I realized SS Garg was pretty meta to begin with. A real tank that can take physical and defensive hits decently well, the only thing consistently OHKOing it being Steel Beam/Make it Rain Gholdengo. It and Corv make the best leads for the team, and it's especially satisfying to force out Orichalcum Pulse Cinderaces due to the slower speed negating their weather. Past the early game, Garg is swapped in to reset Smooth Rock-boosted sand or set rocks in the faces of mons that can't offensively threaten it.

Cacti (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Corrosion
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover
- Infestation

Toxapex has gone through a few notable changes, at first running T Spikes, then replacing Recover with Chilling Water, before currently settling on bringing back Recover and introducing Infestation. Tox's role on the team has always been a bit dubious and everchanging, at first being a hazard setter before every Iron Moth would just switch in, absorb the T Spikes and blast it with a Grass move. It's now a mixed wall/trapper, using Corrosion to Toxic anything that switches in and using Infestation/BB/Recover to wear down offensive threats before they can escape. I'd say it has a niche, but is the most expendable member of the team at the moment, unless the rest of the team changes around them to make their niche more desirable.

Southern Belle (Hatterene) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Triage
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Draining Kiss
- Giga Drain
- Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle

Built as an answer to Iron Hands right before the ban, but proved to be a good member of the team regardless. It's not that different from the standard Triage Hatt sets I've seen run, but sacrificed Leftovers and Calm Mind for Assault Vest and Giga Drain to provide more coverage. When it gets walled, it gets walled hard, but when it gets in, it can threaten to sweep all on its own.

Bronco (Great Tusk) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Scrappy
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

With its immense bulk and power, it comes in and does good chip with Knock Off, which is an almost always safe option if I'm unsure if the opponent is going to stay in or switch. In lieu of predicting good chances to land Headlong Rush or CC, Rapid Spinning in the face of mons that can't offensively threaten it or predict wrong can make it a menace, with two RSs letting it outspeed a majority of the meta. The addition of Scrappy over Regenerator is a recent change, to get the jump on Ghost spinblockers like Gholdengo or Skeledirge that aren't running Good as Gold.

Dustdevil (Gengar) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Rush
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt

This team slot has cycled through a couple other Ghost-type powerhouses, from Gholdengo running Hex to capitalize on when Tox was a hazard setter to Houndstone abusing Scarfed Last Respects which, while good, left you screwed if what was left of the opposing team had any Ghost resists/immunes since its other options were running off a substantially lower base power. Gengar has a respectable amount of natural speed to not need Scarf, running Specs to maximize damage and carrying Sand Rush to capitalize the best off of my two leads' sand-setting. Barring priority, Gengar can outspeed everything else in the tier under sand if the stars align, and turn a losing game around. Of course, Specs means if every remaining team member isn't weak or neutral to one of its coverage options, its sweep is gonna get cut short. Outside of that, it can come in on a slow switch or sac and be a decent revenge-killer out of but especially in sand if the opponent doesn't predict what coverage options you have.

 

[cat]

I'm a relatively new competitive player, and this is the first metagame I've really invested any time in. I've had a pretty solid team I've been using that's gotten me up and down the ladder, and I wanted to post it here to hopefully get some feedback on what I should change for more consistent results. Thanks!

Spoiler

Condor (Corviknight) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Spit
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn

With Garg taking center stage as the team sand setter, Corviknight acts as a good defensive pivot, and can set sand back up without switching Garg into a bad situation. The 0 Speed IV and negative Speed nature is to make sure Corv takes a hit, activates Sand Spit, and pivots out with U-Turn right after to provide a safe switch. Although I've been questioning how redundant it is to have two sand-setters on the team, and also playing my hand on Corv's ability often early in the game when what Corv's ability can be is one of the biggest threats in the metagame at the moment. On the flip side, it helps keep bringing in chip damage on the opposing team and can help enable Gengar if Garg went down earlier in the match.

Hoodoo (Garganacl) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Recover

I came up with Sand Stream Garg (in what I thought was a stroke of genius) and built my team around it a good while before I realized SS Garg was pretty meta to begin with. A real tank that can take physical and defensive hits decently well, the only thing consistently OHKOing it being Steel Beam/Make it Rain Gholdengo. It and Corv make the best leads for the team, and it's especially satisfying to force out Orichalcum Pulse Cinderaces due to the slower speed negating their weather. Past the early game, Garg is swapped in to reset Smooth Rock-boosted sand or set rocks in the faces of mons that can't offensively threaten it.

Cacti (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Corrosion
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover
- Infestation

Toxapex has gone through a few notable changes, at first running T Spikes, then replacing Recover with Chilling Water, before currently settling on bringing back Recover and introducing Infestation. Tox's role on the team has always been a bit dubious and everchanging, at first being a hazard setter before every Iron Moth would just switch in, absorb the T Spikes and blast it with a Grass move. It's now a mixed wall/trapper, using Corrosion to Toxic anything that switches in and using Infestation/BB/Recover to wear down offensive threats before they can escape. I'd say it has a niche, but is the most expendable member of the team at the moment, unless the rest of the team changes around them to make their niche more desirable.

Southern Belle (Hatterene) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Triage
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Draining Kiss
- Giga Drain
- Mystical Fire
- Nuzzle

Built as an answer to Iron Hands right before the ban, but proved to be a good member of the team regardless. It's not that different from the standard Triage Hatt sets I've seen run, but sacrificed Leftovers and Calm Mind for Assault Vest and Giga Drain to provide more coverage. When it gets walled, it gets walled hard, but when it gets in, it can threaten to sweep all on its own.

Bronco (Great Tusk) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Scrappy
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

With its immense bulk and power, it comes in and does good chip with Knock Off, which is an almost always safe option if I'm unsure if the opponent is going to stay in or switch. In lieu of predicting good chances to land Headlong Rush or CC, Rapid Spinning in the face of mons that can't offensively threaten it or predict wrong can make it a menace, with two RSs letting it outspeed a majority of the meta. The addition of Scrappy over Regenerator is a recent change, to get the jump on Ghost spinblockers like Gholdengo or Skeledirge that aren't running Good as Gold.

Dustdevil (Gengar) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Rush
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt

This team slot has cycled through a couple other Ghost-type powerhouses, from Gholdengo running Hex to capitalize on when Tox was a hazard setter to Houndstone abusing Scarfed Last Respects which, while good, left you screwed if what was left of the opposing team had any Ghost resists/immunes since its other options were running off a substantially lower base power. Gengar has a respectable amount of natural speed to not need Scarf, running Specs to maximize damage and carrying Sand Rush to capitalize the best off of my two leads' sand-setting. Barring priority, Gengar can outspeed everything else in the tier under sand if the stars align, and turn a losing game around. Of course, Specs means if every remaining team member isn't weak or neutral to one of its coverage options, its sweep is gonna get cut short. Outside of that, it can come in on a slow switch or sac and be a decent revenge-killer out of but especially in sand if the opponent doesn't predict what coverage options you have.

i would definitely use calm mind on the hatterene set, replacing either nuzzle or mystical fire. i would replace giga drain with either psyshock or stored power (real trust me)
would use Bisharp or smth that has high attack / special attack and lower speed as my sand rusher

 

[Isaiah]

i would definitely use calm mind on the hatterene set, replacing either nuzzle or mystical fire. i would replace giga drain with either psyshock or stored power (real trust me)
would use Bisharp or smth that has high attack / special attack and lower speed as my sand rusher

Don't use Bisharp, it's overall worse than Kingambit

 

[Codename C.A.T]

3 cool sets ive been using recently


BLUE HEAT (Palafin) @ Leftovers
Ability: Zero to Hero
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Atk / 16 Def
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Drain Punch
- Jet Punch
- Taunt
cool 3a taunt set that bullies the everloving god out of corv. sure, moth beats you, but who cares when you just jet punch every other fire? stupid bulky, too. ik a lot of people have tried cb, its good, but i way prefer taunt sets, as that's its biggest boon over barra. strong, bulky, priority, switch moves, recovery blocking, recovery of its own, pretty good coverage, palafin really has everything you could want out of a water like it


PURSUING BLINDLY (Kingambit) @ Leftovers
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 224 HP / 116 Atk / 104 Def / 64 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Protect
protect kingambit lets it switch into cinderace, click protect on the greediest hjk ever, and watch their health bar simply disappear. protect also lets you squeeze out that little bit of extra leftovers recovery, which can be crucial against something like a baxcalibur sweeping in the lategame. these specific evs allow it to always live life orb garchomp's earthquake and let it live noivern's specs boomburst(if just barely...). pretty great set, you can even slap on adaptabillity if you need that extra power and you already used your wbb slot


BLACK HEAVENS GUNS (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Rash Nature
- Spikes
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
evs are to outrun jolly It's Joever. with max investment dracos and fire blasts, any non-wbb corv or any non-regenvest tusk iis getting absolutely massacred by the things that it should be checking. plus, you still got a pretty damn strong lo eq to click, and can throw down some spikes if they have a scream tail or an unrevealed dengo in the back. fits best on bulky offense that really appreciates having some spikes and murdering tusk, which is normally what would stop stuff like kingambit and spin away the spikes it sets.lowkey better than every defensive set ive seen, would highly recommend using it if you get the chance