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Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer: Monotype Edition

ChrystalFalchion said:
What would be some good cores for Mono Bug (including sets)?
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I thought somebody would've answered you by now... Anyway, some good Bug cores include but are not limited to Volcarona + M-Pinsir/M-Scizor, Volcarona + Heracross/Scizor, Armaldo + Galvantula/Araquanid, and Scizor + Heracross/Buzzwole. Here are the sets and core descriptions:

Volcarona @ Firium Z / Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain / Bug Buzz / Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Hidden Power [Electric]

Pinsir-Mega @ Pinsirite
Ability: Moxie
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Close Combat

or

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
Simple setup sweepers core. M-Pinsir wrecks Water and Poison teams (namely) for Volcarona, while Volcarona, after a Quiver Dance (against Ferrothorn or Zapdos for example), can take out entire Steel and Electric teams (namely) for M-Pinsir. If using M-Scizor instead, Volcarona could instead use Psychium Z, Psychic, and HP Electric instead of Firium Z, Giga Drain / Bug Buzz, and HP Ground to hurt Poison and Water teams, while M-Scizor blasts through Dragon and Rock teams. A Jolly nature is used on M-Scizor to outspeed Adamant Diggersby and OHKO it with Superpower before it can use Fire Punch.
Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain / Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

or

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
Pairing Volcarona with a Pursuit user such as Heracross or Scizor is a great way to eliminate Volcarona's checks and possibly let it sweep the opposing team. For instance, Heracross can Pursuit-trap Heatran and pop its Air Balloon, letting Volcarona sweep Steel teams with ease after a Quiver Dance. As for Scizor, it's preferable to also pair it with Armaldo (the set can be found in the next hide tag) as it can live Victini's V-Create after Stealth Rock before Scizor can outspeed (Jolly Nature) and OHKO it with Pursuit (due to V-Create's Defense and Speed drop), letting Volcarona sweeps against Psychic teams (or in the very least, greatly ease the matchup).
Armaldo @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Galvantula @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

or

Araquanid @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Scald
- Toxic
- Mirror Coat
Simple hazard stacking/clearing core. I guess Forretress can be used over Armaldo, but I've never personally enjoyed using it, haha. Galvantula badly messes up with Water and Flying teams, while Araquanid gives you a resistance to Fire-type moves and an actual M-ZardY switch-in.

Here's another variation of the core that uses all three of them:
Galvantula @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Armaldo @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Araquanid @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 184 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Scald
- Mirror Coat
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off / Pursuit

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit / Knock Off / Earthquake

or

Buzzwole @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake / Leech Life
- Ice Punch
Simple speed control core. Scizor + Heracross nicely deal with Psychic and Rock teams, while Scizor + Buzzwole take out Dragon and Flying teams. If using Heracross, Pursuit can be used by either Scizor or Heracross, but when using Buzzwole, Scizor should definitely carry Pursuit.
Hope this was useful! Ü
 
Perishing Song said:
Ground's weaknesses would be grass / water type pokemons and celesteela.

Celesteela is a huge issue that it can nearly 6-0 ground matchups single handedly.
Water type attacks can be blocked by seismitoad and gastrodon.

Unfortunately there's no grass immunity so your best defense is offense. Hit it hard with sludgewave seismitoad and landorus
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Thank you for your reply! Even though I knew that already haha. I find it very difficult to bring mons like Chomp, gastro/ toad since the teams I play are planned for ground. So what I usually try to do is to play around it with offense
 
I typically use the agility set as it allows it to sweep teams after a good agility boost.

Ampharos-Mega @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Focus Blast
- Agility

You can also use four attacks but that makes you super slow.
 
Aaronboyer said:
Is there a place to find the viability of the types themselves?
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There isn't anything strictly defined due to constant shifting in the meta, as well as each individual matchup being potentially type based, but one of our tier leaders has a detailed explanation into types relevant in the current meta; for those that do well, and those that don't. While it has been a while since this was released, there hasn't been much fluctuation from this list, if at all; maybe until Zeraora gets released it might change: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-monotype-metagame-discussion.3587204/page-25#post-7486266

Personally I'd put Water up there as an S rank type, but that's just me.
 
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roman said:
draft already happened and idt there will be a midseason but if you have good showings in upcoming tours managers will consider you for the next editions of mwp and mpl, probably
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Thanks for the info, when is the mid seasonal? I'd like to participate and don't miss it.
 
So idk if this has been asked before or is available in some other resources (I've done some digging and found some info, but not exactly what I'm looking for), but is there a type tier list/usage listing for ladder? I know that there's resources for the usage of types in tours, but I haven't been able to find information about types on the ladder. It'd be a great resource to use when thinking about how you want to build a team that can survive in what's currently common in the meta as of now, but I also understand that such a collection takes time and effort. I apologize if this is already answered/located somewhere else, but I have been unable to find it and would love to use it to improve my teambuilding to fare better against current meta trends if such a resource exists c:
 
fouyo4 said:
So idk if this has been asked before or is available in some other resources (I've done some digging and found some info, but not exactly what I'm looking for), but is there a type tier list/usage listing for ladder? I know that there's resources for the usage of types in tours, but I haven't been able to find information about types on the ladder. It'd be a great resource to use when thinking about how you want to build a team that can survive in what's currently common in the meta as of now, but I also understand that such a collection takes time and effort. I apologize if this is already answered/located somewhere else, but I have been unable to find it and would love to use it to improve my teambuilding to fare better against current meta trends if such a resource exists c:
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https://www.smogon.com/stats/2018-04/monotype/ here they are. You migth have to do some math to find any specific number you want, but the data is here.
 
What exactly makes fighting a bad type? It seems like it has a lot going for it, but I've heard a lot of people say it's not good, plus it's pretty rare on the ladder.
 
Miyami~~~ said:
What exactly makes fighting a bad type? It seems like it has a lot going for it, but I've heard a lot of people say it's not good, plus it's pretty rare on the ladder.
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Well, previously, Fighting was a pretty good type (namely gen5 and gen6). However, in gen7 there's simply too much stopping it.

1) The influx of news mons and popularity of Fairy severely limit Fighting type alone. Being that Fairy is one of the top types, that matchup is extremely difficult and limiting all on its own. Namely Pokemon like Mega Diancie and Tapu Koko rip through entire Fighting teams. Fighting also has difficulty tackling Tapu Bulu and Azumarill as well.
2) Toxapex. Toxapex is a huge pain for Fighting to deal with, boasting incredible defenses, Fighting's typical offensives options (Terrakion and Keldeo) can't handle it at all (Mega Gallade and Breloom can, but not much else). Combined with Toxapex's immense team support on both Poison and Water, those are both extremely difficult matchups for Fighting.
3) Psychic and Flying. Both of these two types can be considered to be among the top types in the metagame and hard plainly very difficult for Fighting to overcome, even with Fighting's access to Terrakion for the Flying matchup.
4) Electric. Electric's new additions of Tapu Koko and Alolan Raichu can duo entire Fighting-type teams, without there being much that Fighting can do in return to well built and played teams.

This is just naming a few of the matchups that are poor for Fighting. While it does have some favorable matchups (such as Steel), the overwhelming popularity of the types listed above prevent Fighting from being an effective type for a general use build (see: ladder). Fighting can be built to specifically target some of these matchups to make them more bearable, but it's unable to cover them all at the same time while having effective team synergy, meaning you'll have holes in your team regardless of what you do.
 
Two small questions:
• the Monotype is apparently a relatively stable metagame: the last suspect was the one on Naganadel and the last "strategic upheaval" would be the distribution in early march of hidden abilities for gen 7 starters (which did not change the tier, Incineroar is not even played). Is it on the agenda to rediscuss via a suspect the presence of some mons banned at the very beginning of SM? I'm thinking in particular of Zygarde-10% and Hoopa-U
• I don't know anymore where I found this spreadsheet (concerning the Monotype UU banlist) but I wondered on which criteria some mons of the concerned type are authorized compared to others? The fact that Pelipper is allowed lets me think that it's not based on usage statistics
 
Ellicrum said:
Two small questions:
• the Monotype is apparently a relatively stable metagame: the last suspect was the one on Naganadel and the last "strategic upheaval" would be the distribution in early march of hidden abilities for gen 7 starters (which did not change the tier, Incineroar is not even played). Is it on the agenda to rediscuss via a suspect the presence of some mons banned at the very beginning of SM? I'm thinking in particular of Zygarde-10% and Hoopa-U
• I don't know anymore where I found this spreadsheet (concerning the Monotype UU banlist) but I wondered on which criteria some mons of the concerned type are authorized compared to others? The fact that Pelipper is allowed lets me think that it's not based on usage statistics
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Hi, Zygarde-10% has been discussed quite a bit for some reason and it's quite broken cause thousand arrows is a broken move which would invalidate quite a few types. A band set or even dd dragonium would dent a bunch of types, stuff like electric, steel, fire among others have no real ways to deal with band or would be forced to run really stupid sets to have a chance against it which defeats the idea of a balanced metagame. Hoopa probably has a more likely chance but it's not really a chance anyway, the council bans happened for good reason and I'm pretty sure those aren't going to be given a chance to return to the meta in the near future although that's up to the council.

Secondly, mono uu bans aren't based on usage stats but are based on tests and council decisions. However Mono UU isn't an official part of monotype so you won't find mentions of it on smogon, except for maybe one recent really small tour.

sorry this is short it's really late but i think/hope i answered your questions
 
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soooooo if I were to do a duel monotyped Rivallocke of Ultra Sun and my types are Psychic/Ghost what would some good pokemon be?
edit:i have to choose rowlet because self-enforced rules and my brother (and rival)'s types are Fire/Dragon
 
MajecticEspeon said:
soooooo if I were to do a duel monotyped Rivallocke of Ultra Sun and my types are Psychic/Ghost what would some good pokemon be?
edit:i have to choose rowlet because self-enforced rules and my brother (and rival)'s types are Fire/Dragon
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you should probably ask in Orange Islands since they deal with in-game stuff. Monotype is for competitive monotypes (which obviously can't involve two types). Welcome to Smogon though!
 
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