This is a team I've developed and have tested out to decent success. I would appreciate some feed-back.
Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Defog
- Air Slash
Zeraora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Volt Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Blaze Kick
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
Urshifu @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- Wicked Blow
Aegislash @ Occa Berry
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
- Rock Slide
Kommo-o @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
Zarude @ Figy Berry
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 236 HP / 16 Atk / 108 Def / 136 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Jungle Healing
- Darkest Lariat
- Drain Punch
My team is a balance team that takes advantage of stealth rock to throw out massively powerful attacks, and features incredible physical bulk, as well as counters to powerful tier staples.
Zarude is what I titled the article so I'll start with him. Incredible speed, power and bulk make zarude underrated in my opinion, even if his typing isnt great defensively. I invested into his physical bulk, and that combined with bulk-up, allows him to take moves like non-STAB u-turns very well, and if his hp is too low, he has a figy berry, drain punch, and a recovery move to keep him healthy. I could run synthesis, which recovers more health, but the fact jungle healing heals status is very valuable, as it means it can switch into and punish chansey, blissey and non-haze toxipex. Since darkest lariat also ignores defense boost, it can even stay in to punish other bulk-up users like zerora and even corvinight. It isnt perfect, as it's as good at blocking special attacks, and fairy types give it real trouble. But this set lets it destroy stall and physical offense like nothing else.
There are two other pokemon weak to fairies as well. kommo-o is the stealth-rocker of the team, and it too is a physically defensive monster. instead of bulk-up, i gave it iron defense to make its defensive walling capabilities incredible, and to make its body press an impressive move. Dragon tail is there instead of coverage to deal with setup sweepers thinking they can get a free setup, as well as racking up stealth-rock damage. It deals with fellow stealth-rocker, excadrill, very well, but it still fears fairy types. I should note, however, that after an iron defense, body press is so powerful, it's usually worth it, since even a max hp clefable takes almost half of its health after an iron defense boost.
My choice scarfer is urshifu-dark, and its powerful STABs are wildly powerful. Poison jab is a good tool against weakened fairies, thus it appreciates the stealth rocks. U-turn of course keeps momentum, and is always a good move for choice scarfers.
Having three pokemon weak to fairies is an issue, unless you have a fairy counter. aegislash serves just that purpose. Its iron heads destroy fairies, and it is overall a great mon. Occa berry is the berry of choice, as while it's also weak to ground, dark and ghost, most fairies like clefable and togekiss use flamethrower to deal with steel types, so this prevents them from just instantly melting it. It's also meant to bait volcarona, who is a huge threat. It wont be able to set-up, and even if it just attacks it still has the berry, letting it survive and kill it. Priority in shadow sneak is good for focus sash users like zeraora and alakazam, as well as picking off weakened foes, especially useful when stealth-rocks are present.
Togekiss is what makes this possible. Its the special wall in this team of physical walls that serves as both the requisite fairy and defogger. It also has flamethrower to deal with steels like aegislash, corvinight and especially ferrothorn. It notably deals with other fairies and other special walls as well, as while it's not meant to beat them one on one, by hitting and flinching it repeatedly, it soften them up for teammates to take advantage.
finally there is zeraora, the other fast, strong physical sweeper. Its a straight forward all-out focus sash attacker. I chose adamant for its power, since it's still likely to out-speed most threats and it's meant to power through most weakened threats.
Your thought? I especially would like your thoughts on the more unique set I put for zarude, as most think dont bother using him and I think thats a shame.
Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Defog
- Air Slash
Zeraora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Volt Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Blaze Kick
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
Urshifu @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- Wicked Blow
Aegislash @ Occa Berry
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
- Rock Slide
Kommo-o @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
Zarude @ Figy Berry
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 236 HP / 16 Atk / 108 Def / 136 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Jungle Healing
- Darkest Lariat
- Drain Punch
My team is a balance team that takes advantage of stealth rock to throw out massively powerful attacks, and features incredible physical bulk, as well as counters to powerful tier staples.
Zarude is what I titled the article so I'll start with him. Incredible speed, power and bulk make zarude underrated in my opinion, even if his typing isnt great defensively. I invested into his physical bulk, and that combined with bulk-up, allows him to take moves like non-STAB u-turns very well, and if his hp is too low, he has a figy berry, drain punch, and a recovery move to keep him healthy. I could run synthesis, which recovers more health, but the fact jungle healing heals status is very valuable, as it means it can switch into and punish chansey, blissey and non-haze toxipex. Since darkest lariat also ignores defense boost, it can even stay in to punish other bulk-up users like zerora and even corvinight. It isnt perfect, as it's as good at blocking special attacks, and fairy types give it real trouble. But this set lets it destroy stall and physical offense like nothing else.
There are two other pokemon weak to fairies as well. kommo-o is the stealth-rocker of the team, and it too is a physically defensive monster. instead of bulk-up, i gave it iron defense to make its defensive walling capabilities incredible, and to make its body press an impressive move. Dragon tail is there instead of coverage to deal with setup sweepers thinking they can get a free setup, as well as racking up stealth-rock damage. It deals with fellow stealth-rocker, excadrill, very well, but it still fears fairy types. I should note, however, that after an iron defense, body press is so powerful, it's usually worth it, since even a max hp clefable takes almost half of its health after an iron defense boost.
My choice scarfer is urshifu-dark, and its powerful STABs are wildly powerful. Poison jab is a good tool against weakened fairies, thus it appreciates the stealth rocks. U-turn of course keeps momentum, and is always a good move for choice scarfers.
Having three pokemon weak to fairies is an issue, unless you have a fairy counter. aegislash serves just that purpose. Its iron heads destroy fairies, and it is overall a great mon. Occa berry is the berry of choice, as while it's also weak to ground, dark and ghost, most fairies like clefable and togekiss use flamethrower to deal with steel types, so this prevents them from just instantly melting it. It's also meant to bait volcarona, who is a huge threat. It wont be able to set-up, and even if it just attacks it still has the berry, letting it survive and kill it. Priority in shadow sneak is good for focus sash users like zeraora and alakazam, as well as picking off weakened foes, especially useful when stealth-rocks are present.
Togekiss is what makes this possible. Its the special wall in this team of physical walls that serves as both the requisite fairy and defogger. It also has flamethrower to deal with steels like aegislash, corvinight and especially ferrothorn. It notably deals with other fairies and other special walls as well, as while it's not meant to beat them one on one, by hitting and flinching it repeatedly, it soften them up for teammates to take advantage.
finally there is zeraora, the other fast, strong physical sweeper. Its a straight forward all-out focus sash attacker. I chose adamant for its power, since it's still likely to out-speed most threats and it's meant to power through most weakened threats.
Your thought? I especially would like your thoughts on the more unique set I put for zarude, as most think dont bother using him and I think thats a shame.
