CAP 34 - Part 3 - Typing Discussion

[Anchor9]

Hi I'm a lurker and hope I don't post this response wrong but I wanted to say I'd personally advocate against Fairy in any capacity for one reason: Kommo-o. Out of all of the Soundproof mons available I think Kommo-o presents the biggest potential threat to CAP 34's sweeping potential and I think any player using CAP 34 will have to keep it in account. I wouldn't say that CAP 34 will necessarily be unable to defeat Kommo-o with appropriate coverage but I think it could possibly necessitate a super effective secondary STAB to at least prevent it from being a huge annoyance. As such, I'm kind of envisioning that if CAP 34 is Fairy then players will probably feel it necessary to add an additional Fairy STAB like Moonblast for Kommo-o which would make building more restricted and annoying, especially considering Kommo-o doesn't have much use in the tier outside of countering this. The only real possibility I could see in preventing this would be Dragon/Fairy typing so that a player could choose which sound move to use, but even then I think they'd opt for Clang and Moonblast for a surefire kill of Kommo-o which makes Alluring Voice a bit useless. I'm sorry if this is looking ahead a bit too much, but I definitely think the typing should be non-fairy but Fairy coverage in the form of Dazzling Gleam should be provided because otherwise Kommo-o stocks go up kind of needlessly as it is otherwise unviable aside from countering CAP 34.

I personally promote the idea of Psychic as the definite first time, and like the idea of Electric as the second type for another STAB sound option and flavor since it's a pretty unique typing, but I know CAP is about more than just giving something new. Psychic/Steel sounds like a pretty good offensive/defensive combo, though I like Psychic/Dragon as well but again definitely think it needs coverage for Kommo-o (same scenario as Fairy/Dragon).

I don’t think this one CAP will make people start running Kommo-o. Kommo-o has very rough matchups vs staples such as Hemogoblin, Cresceidon, and Gholdengo. If CAP 34 ends up being Fairy, Soundproof Komm-o will probably not be considered when building a set. Besides, a Psychic would have the same problem since Psychic Noise is blocked by Soundproof. Even if people started using Kommo-o to wall CAP 34, they would be sacrificing a teamslot for a subpar Pokémon that would put them at a worse disadvantage against non-CAP 34 users.

 

[Explosion Badger]

Water/Steel
&
Water/Ground

Defining Moves: Sparkling Aria, Overdrive, Boomburst

Gonna throw these two typings into the discussion. Why? Because I can!

In all seriousness, I wanted to put these two water typings into discussion because I felt that they had a strong mix of offensive and defensive strengths that would go a long way in helping the concept succeed. Water is a fairly strong choice for this concept; It's a well balanced type Offensively and Defensively, easily slotting itself into the role of a Sweeper that can use its defensive profile to find sweeping opportunities. Water also finds itself working well with many of our defining moves: Sparkling Aria as STAB is obvious enough as a way to begin and continue a sweep; meanwhile, Overdrive is a useful tool for helping it break through defensive waters that would normally stop a water type sweeper, and Boomburst pairs swimmingly with Water offensively, providing a hard-to-wall combo with immense power to boot. The secondary typings, then, are types that both resist Stealth Rocks and also provide their own mixes of offensive and defensive benefits. Furthermore, both typings love the ability to choose between their STABs and coverage, as they pair well with defining move types or types with strong special moves such as Poison and Ice. Where Water/Ground is the more offensive pair of the two, pairing well with a multitude of coverage options, Water/Steel still allows for offensive prowess and good coverage (notably electric coverage seems stronger here than with Water/Ground) while also giving a far stronger defensive profile, particularly against a wide range of common priority moves atm.

 

[Perturbo]

I quite like Psychic/Fighting as a type combo for many of the same reasons stated by other people before me.
Psychic and Fighting create a very potent offensive combo, hitting everything except other Psychics for at least neutral, and a couple of Ghost types with a secondary typing that resists Psychic. Considering how many sound moves are very neutral-hitting offensive types, I don't consider this a massive issue. And if we so desire, Dark coverage allows us to have the lesser known but very offensively threatening Psychic/Fighting/Dark core.
The main issue I find with this type combo and potential coverage option is that the main special move for these typings is quite weak. Psychic Noise, the main move CAP 34 would be running in this example, is only 75 bp. There are only 4 damaging special Fighting type moves, Focus Miss Blast, the weak Aura Sphere, the signature move Secret Sword, and priority Vaccum Wave. Not to mention that the most common special dark type move, Dark Pulse, is also 80bp.
As much as I like Psychic/Fighting as a potential type combo for CAP 34, I believe if we were to go with this option we would need to give it some heavy compensation in the stats department.

 

[Amamama]

Time to start a fire and get lit!
Most of you probably think Fire type means we run boots right?!
That a Mon weak to rocks will always favor sustainability in a meta full of hazards?
That there’s no upside that will possibly outweigh this issue for our concept.
Let me direct your attention to evidence contesting this idea:

Ceruledge @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fairy
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Shadow Sneak
- Poltergeist

Armarouge @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Psychic
Timid Nature
- Endure
- Armor Cannon
- Expanding Force
- Aura Sphere

Iron Moth @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
EVs: 124 Def / 132 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Fairy
Timid Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Sludge Wave
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball

Gouging Fire @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fairy
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
- Morning Sun

These four fire types have shown this gen, that longevity is not the only consideration for a sweeper on offensive structures.
All of them have item-ability interactions, that allow them to get more value out of “less traditional” items.
On offensive structures the one time/limited nature of these items has more immediate impact an thus is valued over running boots all the time.
This is especially true for the first two cases which rarely ever run boots, just because the momentum swing these other items provide is much more valuable.
I think CAP 34 can function similarly with the right tools and at the same time benefit greatly from advantages a fire typing provides:

1) strong spammable offensive moves with wide neutral coverage, that hits important targets such as Equilibra, Kingambit and Gholdengo super effectively.
2) great complementary coverage with most of the sound move typings (really all except Sparkling Aria)
3) providing a valuable resistance for offense against common revenge killing options like Hemogoblin and Rillaboom.

For all of the above reasons I think that one of these following types should make it to the slate.

Fire Electric
Fire Dragon
Fire Normal

Notably all of these typings secondary STABs are moves that are hard to lock into as they are met by an immunity, disincentivizing Choice items, even though their power and coverage is really strong, which is further amplified by a weakness to rocks. Circumventing the desire to run Boots will have to be dealt with during ability though.
In addition to what their fire types provide, all three of them have differing properties, that make them distinct and focus on different additional strengths:

Fire Electric
Overdrive (possibly Alluring Voice or Sparkling Aria)
This typings biggest strength is the offensive SE coverage it provides. Hitting Flying, Water and Steel types with just STABs is great for any offensive mon, given that these types are traditionally among the most common defensive options. You really only lose out on hitting Ground types and given that one of the major Ground types right now is weak to fire and you still hit any other of these neutrally it promises a great option for a balance breaker.
One great feature of being an electric type is hitting the more common Unaware walls super effective as well as being immune to the very common para spam more balanced teams use to cripple offensive threats and make them easier to handle.
Obviously no typing is without shortcomings. This typing has a four time weakness to Ground as well as a weakness to Stealth Rocks.
The sound move of choice also doesn’t activate on Ground type switch ins, which could become a major nuisance and might require a secondary activation move.
Lastly no gen since the introduction of Fairy types has seen so many powerful Dragon types, which are hit neutrally at best by this STAB combo.
There’s no way around a rocks weakness for this typing but all its remaining issues can be alleviated with the right coverage and utility options.

Fire Dragon
Clanging Scales, Overdrive
Fire Dragon has an incredible neutral spread of targets, which it can hit with some of the highest power spammable moves in Pokémon.
This typing is made to break walls as shown by gouging fire in OU (and it doesn’t even have that good of a dragon STAB)
Clanging Scales being high power and reliable is a great way of making Throat Spray the center of attention and the neutral coverage as well as defensive profile you get from this typing allow it to truly shine. Being weak to only Dragon, Ground and Rock moves while still having some very valuable resists is great.
It makes answering these STABs much more linear and predictable as few Pokémon can easily switch in, helping with prediction.
CAP notably has two very viable Threats that don’t take a lot of damage from these STABs alone. This is one of this types major weaknesses. Especially losing the valuable resist to Hemos Espeed takes some incentive away from being a Fire type.
That said there are enough options to mitigate this issue and considering the sheer power these STABs provide I believe it’s worth it.

Speaking of sheer power
Introducing the forbidden one:
Fire Normal
Boomburst
This must appear somewhat hypocritical coming from someone that spent most of defining moves adamantly arguing that Boomburst shouldn’t be STAB.
And I still believe this hold true for all but two typings. Even with these two types STAB on Boomburst will require some strong incentives to run Throat Spray during ability. But imo that’s the case for most of the presented typings.
The reason Fire Normal Works is the damage ceiling of Fire type moves which is comparable to Boomburst especially when factoring super effective hits.
The typing Provides incredible offensive coverage, which hits almost anything at least neutrally with super powerful STABs.
The most common exceptions are Dragapult and Heatran.
The reason I think this typing works with Throat Spray is because it actually provides the high momentum turn we talked so much about in the earlier stages of the project.
Clicking Boomburst and being able to follow it up with a Fire Blast into the few resists that exists is an incredibly powerful asset to have access to and enables this Mon to exert immense offensive pressure.
This typing keeps all of the defensive benefits of a fire typing and adds the ability to blank Wisp-Hex-Pult and especially Gholdengo.

Honorable mentions go to Water Normal which i believe can work similarly to fire Normal with maybe slightly less potent offensive coverage but the bonus of having a secondary activation move in Sparkling Aria and no stealth rock weakness.

And
Water Dragon
Which I think has a lot of overlap with what Fire Dragon provides again without the rocks weakness and slightly different defensive profile.

I want to discuss these two a bit more, but for now I’m gonna hold off on them to not make this post too long and to see how the discussion around Fire type options shapes up.

 

[Brambane]

There are three typings that stand head-and-shoulders above the rest.

Water/Electric is the most proficient combination at relying on three move coverage alone, and there is a CAP to prove it. Krilowatt shows that this dual STAB + Ice coverage can effectively dismantle defensive backbones. Our more sweeping direction puts us in an opposite to the other Water/Electric-types, similar to the vast difference between shared types in CAP such as Malaconda and Meowscarada, or Ting-Lu and Colossoil. Needless to say, when it comes to fitting the best coverage spread in two or three moves, its really hard to argue against one of the greatest combination since Pokemon's inception. Sparkling Aria is a perfectly competent sound move, even if Overdrive's BP is a little lackluster. Access to a high BP STAB option in Hydro Pump helps give the type more power that other combinations certainly lack. And the typing's neutrality to most priority and useful Water resist + Thunder Wave immunity gives it a lot more space than its overall neutral defensive profile would initially suggest. Of course, that neutral profile becomes a massive boon when you either boost defensively with Clangorous Soul or when you realize a defensive Tera type doesn't seem quite as required here if you can work around the likes of Rillaboom, opening up offensive potential even more for sets that solely rely on Throat Spray for a boost.

Overall Water/Electric is a solid typing across the board, with a STAB combination that threatens key defensive threats like Gliscor, Equilibra, Venomicon, Arghonaut, Cresceidon, Heatran, and Ting-Lu simultaneously. Few type combinations can boast such advantages.

Dragon/Poison best tempers the greed behind Clanging Scales (powerful, but dangerous in a metagame with so much priority!) by dampening the most threatening priority in the tier: Hemogoblin Extreme Speed. It also helps offset the weakness of blocking Clanging Scales by putting the fear of Poison in the heart of Fairies. Aside from that, the typing also has a handful of useful resists, including the traditional Dragon suite as well as Fighting and Poison, all of which are reasonable types to expect in a game. This typing doesn't threaten that many defensive pieces with SE coverage, pretty much only the Fairies, but it does hit pretty much even non-Steel reasonably hard by just clicking its 110 BP STAB move or Sludge Wave/Bomb. With a third coverage move, you have a very competent offensive profile with room for some tech options to boot. This typing runs some competition with other Dragons, but just being able to pressure Fairies extremely hard while clicking one of the most chip-heavy STAB options in the game, Sludge Bomb, is enough to stand out in a thick crowd.

Water/Poison hybridizes the above two typings in many ways. Defensively, this is very solid with only two weaknesses and enough resistences to reasonably find room to set-up. Offensively, you pressure defensive pieces Ting-Lu, Gliscor, Equilibra, Cresceidon, and Heatran with your STAB combination. Similar to Venomicon, you are a Poison-type that offensively pressures Ground-types, which a powerful boon in a format where Fairy resists are at a premium, especially one that also resists Water and Fire! All the common priority is resisted or neutral, making it a safer option to prevent revenge killing from priority, but this is balanced by STAB combination that wants several different coverage types simultaneously. This type is less linear than Water/Electric and Dragon/Poison, but it does merge the two together in a solid compromise.

I didn't include any of the Psychic-types since I think the only actual strong option unless you lean hard into Clangorous Soul (STAB is unnecessary for Psychic Noise) is Water/Psychic, simply because it has a secondary sound option and a 110 BP STAB, meaning it is more customizable power levels for your team, which I value.

 

[singaporygon]

WIP

Psychic / Ground
Defining Moves: Psychic Noise / Ground STAB / Clangorous Soul / Sparkling Aria or Overdrive

"Weaknesses: Bug, Dark, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Water
Resistances: Fighting, Poison, Psychic, Rock
Immunities: Electric, Sandstorm damage"

Like some others have said before, we want to be able to have openings to sweep, and so for a Psychic type we want a secondary STAB that can cover defensive cores pretty well. Ground is more than decent versus bulky-ghost-centered cores when used in tandem with Noise. And of course threatens the defensively-useful steel types (that aren't immune to ground).

Being resistant to rocks, it goes nicely with Soul, and there is also a useful immunity to paralysis from electric moves.
Compared to Fighting/Psychic, it does lack Flying/Fairy weakness, and with its resistances, has some niche-ish beneficial situations.

Major downsides include being very weak to priority in general, balloon/etc. blocking a stab, & grass/ice/water being pretty common coverage in the meta.
You'd also want to decide if you'd like to help cover Libra/Gliscor with Aria, or Corv with Overdrive (for examples).
I'd lean towards Aria, since Noise already covers a bunch of mons that Overdrive would cover.

I'd also like to say for Psychic typing, I'm a fan of Water/Psychic and Fire/Psychic, as well.

 

[viol and bass]

Gonna talk about a couple typings that are cool.

Grass/Psychic: OK so, I'm not fully on the "psychic everything" train, but I think this typing is pretty neat here for a number of reasons. While this typing has severe weaknesses as a whole and would typically be regarded as trash, I think it's actually really interesting for this particular project, because a lot of those weaknesses are mitigated by the build we have so far:

• It's surprisingly resilient to most common strong priority, despite its laundry list of weaknesses. It resists moves like Grassy Glide and Thunder Clap while not being weak to Extreme Speed from Hemogoblin. Sucker punch weakness sucks, but because our primary form of boosting may be an attacking move, we're not strapped for moveslots so it's not hard to fit something like Substitute on a set.
• Its STABs are quite useful right now offensively. We've talked to death about how Psychic is a neat offensive typing in gen 9, but grass is no slouch either, hitting mons like Ting-lu, Cresceidon and Krilowatt. And the two combined target a lot of Unaware mons in particular, like Dozo, Arghonaut, and Clodsire. This is particularly relevant on Clangorous Soul builds.
• Its STABs are naturally walled by steels (although it is worth noting that Libra is neutral to our Grass STAB), and you do probably want to run ground coverage or something, but we are more able to find slots for coverage than many sweepers because of the fact that we can fit attacking and setup on a single slot using Throat Spray.
• Late-game cleaner is one of the clearest routes currently available to us, which presumes opponents are weakened. Because we can use attacking moves as setup, we're also not tanking hits while setting up as frequently as most setup sweepers. Even Clangorous Soul builds are incentivized to come in at close to full health to be able to mitigate the loss of health via defense boosts. All of these things mean that we're less likely to have to deal with frequently tanking hits, and facing our large list of weaknesses head on, than we would otherwise be.
• It's not weak to rocks and it has access to a STAB activation move, although Clangsoul is a very viable route as well. Clangsoul with Giga Drain could potentially be interesting, although you may want to opt for a stronger STAB in general.
• Just kill the rilla before it u-turns on you bozo
• i know you wanna run fimp maw

This isn't the objectively strongest typing available to us, but I think it has a surprising amount of synergy with the build we have been creating so far. I think typings like that make for interesting processes.

(Defining moves: Psychic Noise, Clangorous Soul)

--

Water/Poison: This is way more standard, but this typing just does a lot for us, offensively and defensively, kind of exemplifying the balance that Ausma outlines in her post.

Defensively, I've stated the importance of resisting common strong priority, and resisting Hemo's Extreme Speed and being neutral to Grassy Glide is quite helpful relative to something like water/electric. You possess really solid resistances to fairy, fighting, water, fire, etc. to ease switching in and setting up, and you also have the ability to absorb Toxic Spikes for your team, which can be quite helpful on offensive team styles.

Offensively, Sparkling Aria is one of the stronger sound moves available, and very spammable as a Throat Spray activation move, with water STAB being useful against a lot of the best mons in the meta. Sludge Bomb is pretty complimentary, hitting mons like Cresceidon and Malaconda, while threatening poison into mons like Arghonaut and Raging Bolt. You can also just view the poison as a damage augmenter. Psychic Noise is reasonable as coverage, but mostly would be used to prevent opponents' recovery. Alluring Voice could be used for Pult and a couple other mons but is probably unnecessary most of the time. Clangorous Soul is solid on it for reasons G-Luke discussed although there are other builds that are reasonable as well.

(Defining moves: Sparkling Aria, Psychic Noise, Clangorous Soul)

 

[mark6870]

Psychic Noise, the main move CAP 34 would be running in this example, is only 75 bp. There are only 4 damaging special Fighting type moves, Focus Miss Blast, the weak Aura Sphere, the signature move Secret Sword, and priority Vaccum Wave.

Psychic/Fighting will likely not use Psychic Noise or Focus Miss as it's main STABs. Psychic Noise's secondary effect is simply not impactful enough on enough Pokemon to compensate for its lack of base power, and Focus Blast's base power doesn't make up for its inaccuracy.

Although I said otherwise in previous posts, I don't find Psychic Noise to be a good move to have STAB on anymore. Its lack of power makes it more of a coverage move or something to halt healing so CAP34 can finish off targets easier, not a spammable STAB attack.

Psychic Fighting is my personal favorite typing so far but it really wants Clangorous Soul to work, in my opinion. Clangorous Soul allows for the use of Psychic and Close Combat because A) go go gadget omniboost boosts our physical Attack and B) our attacking moves dont have to be sound anymore.

Vacuum Wave is legit cool for like. anti gambit shenanigans but this is the type thread not moves

 

[Lightniong]

Water/Steel

Important Resitances: Fairy, Ice, Dragon, Rock
Important Sound Moves: Sparkling Aria

I don’t think people see how powerful this typing is in the current CAP metagame. This typing has a mix of Offensive and Defensive qualities, which is important for a sweeper to both hit stuff hard and prevent revenge killing. Water, I believe is, arguably, one of the more better typings to work with a sound move, as it dosen’t have that much weaknesses, and has a solid offensive catalog. Steel complements it well, as it gives it a resistance to stealth rock, allowing for the Pokémon to actually run Throat Spray and not HDB, and giving it resistances to a lot of useful types, including:

• Resistance to Fairy(Pixilate Hemogoblin Extreme Speed)
• Quad-Resistance to Ice(Ice Shard)
• Neutrality to Grass(Grassy Glide)
• Neutrality to Dark(Sucker Punch)
• Resistance to Bug(U-Turn)
• Immunity to Poison(Toxic)
• Type combination also hits almost every type neutrally, as with the Throat Spray boost, neutral hits should do major damage

Y’all see how this combination beautifully complements the metagame? And plus, the 3 weaknesses aren’t bad either:

• Fighting(Vacuum Wave might be a problem)
• Ground(Might be a hurdle)
• Electric(Raging Bolt is kinda uncommon at the moment)

I don’t hear anyone clamoring for this typing, which they should, this typing has got everything in order to be an amazing sweeper.

 

[Explosion Badger]

Final Submission

Water/Steel

Important Resitances: Fairy, Ice, Dragon, Rock
Important Sound Moves: Sparkling Aria

I don’t think people see how powerful this typing is in the current CAP metagame. This typing has a mix of Offensive and Defensive qualities, which is important for a sweeper to both hit stuff hard and prevent revenge killing. Water, I believe is, arguably, one of the more better typings to work with a sound move, as it dosen’t have that much weaknesses, and has a solid offensive catalog. Steel complements it well, as it gives it a resistance to stealth rock, allowing for the Pokémon to actually run Throat Spray and not HDB, and giving it resistances to a lot of useful types, including:

• Resistance to Fairy(Pixilate Hemogoblin Extreme Speed)
• Quad-Resistance to Ice(Ice Shard)
• Neutrality to Grass(Grassy Glide)
• Neutrality to Dark(Sucker Punch)
• Resistance to Bug(U-Turn)
• Immunity to Poison(Toxic)
• Type combination also hits almost every type neutrally, as with the Throat Spray boost, neutral hits should do major damage

Y’all see how this combination beautifully complements the metagame? And plus, the 3 weaknesses aren’t bad either:

• Fighting(Vacuum Wave might be a problem)
• Ground(Might be a hurdle)
• Electric(Raging Bolt is kinda uncommon at the moment)

I don’t hear anyone clamoring for this typing, which they should, this typing has got everything in order to be an amazing sweeper.

Just a heads up, we don't do final submissions for type suggestions. We simply give our thoughts on types that we feel are strong for this concept. speaking of which...

I wanted to add my appreciation for Water/Poison. It's a phenomenal typing that gives 34 strong defensive resistance against priority like hemo's extreme speed, while also being a phenomenal type combo offensively, both in terms of lack of resistances and in terms of having reliable STABs with enough power and utility to make them threatening. Water/Electric is another good type combination as well, allowing 34 to not fear Cresceidons Thunder Wave, though it offers far less defensive benefits as Water/Poison, making it far more focused on sweeping (while having an easier to resist type combination, frustratingly). Dragon/Poison and Dragon/Electric also make for good offensive typings, though they fear fairy type interference far more than the water combinations.

 

[snake]

Quick post on typings I like:

Dragon/Poison (Clanging Scales / vastly prefer Clangerous Soul but doesn't have to be): This is an excellent typing regardless of our defining moves. Usually, a fast, special Dragon-type lives in Dragapult's shadow unless it has some excellent attributes because Dragapult can just use Draco Meteor and hit super effectively or neutrally. For example, Latios, despite hitting fast and hard, just couldn't muster its strengths over Dragapult. Other special Dragon-types that are/were in OU like Kyurem, Raging Bolt, and the now banned Archaludon operate under a different scheme because they're relying a lot on their bulk rather than mostly raw speed and power. However, a Dragon-type CAP34 whose primary role is being a sweeper actually makes sense in this case. If CAP34 is generally outclassed by Dragapult as a Boots/Specs user, then it must rely on its Throat Spray sweeping sets to find viability, and thus CAP34 will run Boots or Specs less.

Dragon/Poison is the best Dragon typing for the job, improving CAP34's matchup into Hemogoblin and Cresceidon. A Dragon/Poison CAP34 takes as much from Hemogoblin's Extreme Speed as, say, a Water/Electric CAP34 would. Few coverage moves are required to hit the entire meta for at least neutral damage. Additionally, Clanging Scales is an excellent STAB move that really enables a sweeper set, unlike other typical Dragon-type STAB options.

Water/Electric (Sparkling Aria / vastly prefer Clangerous Soul but doesn't have to be): The efficiency of this typing cannot be understated. Being a sweeper immune to paralysis is undoubtedly excellent and, as with Dragon/Poison, it doesn't take much coverage to hit the entire metagame neutrally. The weakness to Rillaboom's Grassy Glide is worth the advantages that this typing brings to the table.

Water/Psychic (Clangerous Soul imo required): Amongst all the Psychic typings in this thread, this one is by far the best. Psychic typing is a very potent offensive typing in this metagame and has some very interesting STAB options to consider. Water complements Psychic well, providing general neutral coverage across STABs as well as without any of the disadvantages afforded by Fighting (special fighting type moves being awful), Ground (lots of competition as a Ground-type and no hit into Equilibra), and Fire (Stealth Rock weakness). Granted, this typing would require Clangerous Soul's innate strength and additional flexibility in the ability stage to make work, but if afforded this strong defining move, Water/Psychic CAP34 could be an insanely strong sweeper.

 

[pyuking muku]

Wanted to comment on a few more typings!

Water/Steel
I've mentioned before that I think Steel is a very useful typing for CAP 34, and I think Lightniong explains it really well in their post. I think that this is a very unique, useful, and flexible typing that is very powerful into a lot of the meta and should definitely be on the radar.

Water/Electric
This is an interesting typing, and Brambane and quziel explained the merits of it very well. I think that this typing could work very well, but my major worry is that CAP 34 would get overshadowed by Krillowatt. I understand that Krillowatt is an offensive pivot and CAP 34 is meant to be a sweeper, but Krillowatt is a very powerful mon that can easily fill a similar role on a team with less limitations for when it can be used in battle. A Water/Electric CAP34 needs to have something very unique that Krillowatt can't do. This would be a case where I would heavily endorse Clangorous Soul, as it would allow us to meaningfully differentiate from Krillowatt by functioning as a mixed sweeper or a bulky sweeper.

Dragon/Poison
While I generally dislike the Dragon typing for this concept, I think that this is definitely the best option for a Dragon-type. Dragon and Poison STAB is amazing neutral coverage in this metagame, and Clanging Scales is a great move. This option definitely encourages CAP34 to be a late game sweeper that has its checks (strong priority users/fast physical attackers) removed, or would function very well with Clangorous Soul.

Fire/Electric
This is an amazing and unique offensive typing that works amazingly well with the niche CAP34 wants to take. Fire is an amazing type both offensively and defensively, and functions very well as an offensive sweeper or wallbreaker. Electric STAB alongside that gives us great offensive coverage that suits CAP34 very well!

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES:

MONO-FIRE
Honestly, this functions similarly to the Fire/Normal Amamama suggested, just without STAB on Boomburst and the handy Ghost immunity. It's hard to know how necessary the STAB on Boomburst would be before the stats stage, but I think it's worth considering both options. You can also consider this a support post for Fire/Normal, as I think the typing does very well, and the inability to activate Throat Spray with secondary STAB and its lack of additional coverage doesn't make it seem too powerful.

 

[singaporygon]

I'm wondering, since there's no final submissions etc. for this stage, then what are all the factors behind what the moderator chooses to be on the voting slate?

 

[Wulfanator]

what are all the factors

Nothing has really changed with the selection process. Minimally, the subject leader and topic leader will review the dicussion on the various typings. They will consider community consensus on what has been suggested and exercise their understanding of the metagame on decisions that are more questionable.

We are no longer using the "final submission" process because this is not a stage people are intended to "win." It needs to be a discussion, and people need to voice support for options they like if they want to see it slated. Quality of discussion drops when it is a race to be the first to pitch an idea. Any other questions can be posted in the Simple Questions, Simple Answers thread.

 

[ausma]

~48 hour warning until I close and put up the slate!

 

[Amamama]

Gonna try and rate some of the submitted typings. But I wanna preface this post with the idea, that regardless of what type we pick, this Pokémon will want either Clangorous Soul as its activation move or unburden as ability (maybe Simple too but I don’t trust it).
Any typing suggested with the assumption, that you don’t need either one or the other should be thoroughly scrutinized.
I think that most types, that aren’t super hazard weak will work with clangorous soul and I think that all types with access to a STAB sound move (except maybe If you’re only sound move is Psy Noise) will work with Unburden.
Imo we have to accept that any typing that cannot work with Clangorous Soul can only work with Unburden, which constrains ability choice for typings that don’t like Clangorous Soul.

now to rating typings

Psychic/Poison
Psychic/Steel

3/10
Grouping these two together. Between the two I think Psychic Poison has the edge bc of more relevant resists overall and much better coverage. I don’t think any of the two is really good though, as the Super Effective STAB coverage is just really meager. Hitting Argh and Venom in one slot is cool and for Psychic Poison adding Cresc and Hemo means you hit four really big targets, but finding good complementary coverage is really awkward. You want Fire for Equi and flying types, Fighting for Ting Lu and Kingambit, Ground for Heatran, Gholdengo and Glowking. Assuming that both these typings want to run Clangorous Soul as main activation, bc Psy Noise as Main STAB is just insufficient, you will always heavily suffer from 4mss.

Psychic/Water

9/10
This typing just works really well. The STAB combination is great, combining bulky Ground types, Heatran, Hemogoblin and other offensive Fire types as well as Arghonaut and Venomicon as targets.
Allowing for multiple Throat Spray activations both for Unburden or with Clangorous Soul gives us much more flexibility going forward.
This typing also has a above average defensive spread, that allows an offensive Mon some solid switch in opportunities and room to boost. Slight caveat is being weak to several high caliber priority options, which is going to make revenge killing a bit easier.

Dragon/Steel

4/10
This typing is basically in the same boat as the first two I wrote about.
It’s neutral STAB spread just isn’t enough for a sweeper in my opinion especially when the main draw of adding Steel to Dragon flops, when the two main fairies aren’t weak to steel and compared to the other two I feel like it has even less relevant resists. What gives it a slight edge for Clangorous Soul builds imo is that it is easier to round out a Strong Dragon STAB with coverage.
I think it’s workable but I don’t believe it’s remotely optimal.

Dragon/Poison

7/10
I think this is pretty similar to the above, with just slightly being better in every regard.
The STAB combination actually hits the relevant fairies and is fairly easily rounded out by one coverage move. It has more relevant resists allowing it better opportunities to set up. Like Water/Psychic it allows both for Clangorous Soul and Unburden builds.
Compared to that it does lack the same SE STAB spread, which makes it slightly less appealing to me.

Electric/Fighting

8/10
This typing needs more Hype. Imo it is the best typing for working with Clangorous Soul and while it shuts down other routes I think this would become a highly usable Mon. The STAB typing is just really good, hitting Water types, Venomicon and the Steel Birds as well as two of the main Ground types SE. It is fairly easily rounded out offensively to hit basically anything SE. It does have a few relevant resists with the big one being able to blank Kingambit.
This comes with the slight caveat, that it only can work with Clangorous Soul to allow for a mixed attacking Set. At the same time Clangorous soul actually heavily synergizes with this typing and the offensive presence it provides is incredible.

Psychic/Fighting

7/10
The offensive spread is almost as good as the above and if we assume Clangorous Soil for this I’d be happy to work with it. It does have slightly less solid resists and less Super effective hits compared to the above, so I’d still prefer Electric/Fighting

Fire/Fighting

Very similar to above fighting options but trades the incredible offensive spreads with slightly better defensive utility . It still a very potent offensive typing that can be easily rounded out offensively. As both other fighting types it pretty much requires Clangorous Soul, but given that nature of its STABs I think it can only benefit from that.

Water / Electric

9/10
This typing is one of the top tier options for having solid defensive utility and an amazing offensive Spread.
Similar to Psychic Water it allows both for Clangorous Soul and Unburden routes and basically doesn’t have a downside to it for this project.

Part two:

Dragon / Electric

6/10
Electric typings usually give you very strong offensive combination and this one is no exception. I think in CAP it can suffer from Libra being so good and it would probably compete quite a bit with Raging Bolt.
Other than that the STAB coverage is strong and easily rounded out.
While it doesn’t have the same defensive impact as Poison or Water Dragon and not the same offensive coverage as other Electric types it’s still going to allow us both Unburden and Clangorous Soul routes and seems strong enough to function well given the right coverage.

Water / Poison

7/10
If you are looking for good defensive utility and still solid offensive coverage, this typing is probably the best options.
Walling Hemos STABs while hitting Grounds and Fairies SE is really good and you don’t need much coverage to make the STABs really threatening. It also allows for both attacking moves and Clangorous Soul activating the item.
I rate it slightly below my top tier and especially Water Electric and Water Psychic because it offers slightly less powerful offensive Presence.

Psychic / Fire

4/10
Originally I rated this typing quite highly because it has an insane offensive coverage just with STABs and Psychic Noise seemed fun. I highly doubt Psy Noise is really that good on STAB typings because you’d rather have a stronger move and coverage and this typing doesn’t have good activation options that wouldn’t be better on Fire Normal or Fire Electric imo.
Given its hazard weakness it also doesn’t lend itself to Clangorous Soul routes.
If we go with a Fire type on the slate I’d rather not see this one.

Psychic / Ground

5/10
Another Psychic Typing that I honestly don’t really see popping off. It just needs too many moves as Coverage to really become threatening especially to Equilibra.
I don’t see this typing having room to run Psychic Noise really, though I could see it working with Clangorous Soul and very specific abilities or just really high SPA.
The defensive Spread isn’t amazing but probably workable enough.

Originally I wanted to endorse two additional water typings, but given how well Water Psy Water Electric and Water Poison fit there’s not really much they can add to the slate.

Given my Rating of the suggested types my ideal Slate would probably be:

Water Psychic
Water Electric
One of Fire Normal/Fire Dragon/Fire Electric
Electric Fighting
Psychic Fighting
Poison Dragon

 

[Brammi]

Going to put support behind the Psychic/Fighting, Water/Electric, Electric/Fighting, Electric/Flying, and Water/Steel

My main thoughts on these are split in to two areas. I like the defensive utility typings for Clang focus, I think that Electric/Flying and Water/Steel are exceptional in these areas with a lesser extent Water/Electric. These all have the ability to set up quite neatly on major threats and find the turns required for this. If we take from Pokemon historically, these are typings known to be great options for setting up and pivoting which is going to be an important factor when CAP 34 might not want to use it's throat spray right away, but be needed to not be dead weight until that point. These are also easy typings to create set up opportunities throughout the process to give CAP 34 the tools it needs in the ability or stat departments to properly create and abuse free turns on top threats.

The other school is the fighting type options alongside Psychic or Electric specifically. I like these for offensive presence. I am not in the camp that thinks these require Clang to work. I know that the elephant in the room is what the fighting stab would be, but there are options that would be interesting to explore as there are ways to mitigate the potential issues with any of the special fighting moves, especially in the ability phase or by just giving it the Secret Sword. I think it doesn't block out Clang either, so I like the design space we are left with, if going for a fighting/X typing.

 

[Anchor9]

Gonna try and rate some of the submitted typings. But I wanna preface this post with the idea, that regardless of what type we pick, this Pokémon will want either Clangorous Soul as its activation move or unburden as ability (maybe Simple too but I don’t trust it).
Any typing suggested with the assumption, that you don’t need either one or the other should be thoroughly scrutinized.
I think that most types, that aren’t super hazard weak will work with clangorous soul and I think that all types with access to a STAB sound move (except maybe If you’re only sound move is Psy Noise) will work with Unburden.
Imo we have to accept that any typing that cannot work with Clangorous Soul can only work with Unburden, which constrains ability choice for typings that don’t like Clangorous Soul.

now to rating typings



3/10
Grouping these two together. Between the two I think Psychic Poison has the edge bc of more relevant resists overall and much better coverage. I don’t think any of the two is really good though, as the Super Effective STAB coverage is just really meager. Hitting Argh and Venom in one slot is cool and for Psychic Poison adding Cresc and Hemo means you hit four really big targets, but finding good complementary coverage is really awkward. You want Fire for Equi and flying types, Fighting for Ting Lu and Kingambit, Ground for Heatran, Gholdengo and Glowking. Assuming that both these typings want to run Clangorous Soul as main activation, bc Psy Noise as Main STAB is just insufficient, you will always heavily suffer from 4mss.

9/10
This typing just works really well. The STAB combination is great, combining bulky Ground types, Heatran, Hemogoblin and other offensive Fire types as well as Arghonaut and Venomicon as targets.
Allowing for multiple Throat Spray activations both for Unburden or with Clangorous Soul gives us much more flexibility going forward.
This typing also has a above average defensive spread, that allows an offensive Mon some solid switch in opportunities and room to boost. Slight caveat is being weak to several high caliber priority options, which is going to make revenge killing a bit easier.


4/10
This typing is basically in the same boat as the first two I wrote about.
It’s neutral STAB spread just isn’t enough for a sweeper in my opinion especially when the main draw of adding Steel to Dragon flops, when the two main fairies aren’t weak to steel and compared to the other two I feel like it has even less relevant resists. What gives it a slight edge for Clangorous Soul builds imo is that it is easier to round out a Strong Dragon STAB with coverage.
I think it’s workable but I don’t believe it’s remotely optimal.

7/10
I think this is pretty similar to the above, with just slightly being better in every regard.
The STAB combination actually hits the relevant fairies and is fairly easily rounded out by one coverage move. It has more relevant resists allowing it better opportunities to set up. Like Water/Psychic it allows both for Clangorous Soul and Unburden builds.
Compared to that it does lack the same SE STAB spread, which makes it slightly less appealing to me.


8/10
This typing needs more Hype. Imo it is the best typing for working with Clangorous Soul and while it shuts down other routes I think this would become a highly usable Mon. The STAB typing is just really good, hitting Water types, Venomicon and the Steel Birds as well as two of the main Ground types SE. It is fairly easily rounded out offensively to hit basically anything SE. It does have a few relevant resists with the big one being able to blank Kingambit.
This comes with the slight caveat, that it only can work with Clangorous Soul to allow for a mixed attacking Set. At the same time Clangorous soul actually heavily synergizes with this typing and the offensive presence it provides is incredible.

7/10
The offensive spread is almost as good as the above and if we assume Clangorous Soil for this I’d be happy to work with it. It does have slightly less solid resists and less Super effective hits compared to the above, so I’d still prefer Electric/Fighting

Very similar to above fighting options but trades the incredible offensive spreads with slightly better defensive utility . It still a very potent offensive typing that can be easily rounded out offensively. As both other fighting types it pretty much requires Clangorous Soul, but given that nature of its STABs I think it can only benefit from that.

9/10
This typing is one of the top tier options for having solid defensive utility and an amazing offensive Spread.
Similar to Psychic Water it allows both for Clangorous Soul and Unburden routes and basically doesn’t have a downside to it for this project.

Part two:

6/10
Electric typings usually give you very strong offensive combination and this one is no exception. I think in CAP it can suffer from Libra being so good and it would probably compete quite a bit with Raging Bolt.
Other than that the STAB coverage is strong and easily rounded out.
While it doesn’t have the same defensive impact as Poison or Water Dragon and not the same offensive coverage as other Electric types it’s still going to allow us both Unburden and Clangorous Soul routes and seems strong enough to function well given the right coverage.


7/10
If you are looking for good defensive utility and still solid offensive coverage, this typing is probably the best options.
Walling Hemos STABs while hitting Grounds and Fairies SE is really good and you don’t need much coverage to make the STABs really threatening. It also allows for both attacking moves and Clangorous Soul activating the item.
I rate it slightly below my top tier and especially Water Electric and Water Psychic because it offers slightly less powerful offensive Presence.

4/10
Originally I rated this typing quite highly because it has an insane offensive coverage just with STABs and Psychic Noise seemed fun. I highly doubt Psy Noise is really that good on STAB typings because you’d rather have a stronger move and coverage and this typing doesn’t have good activation options that wouldn’t be better on Fire Normal or Fire Electric imo.
Given its hazard weakness it also doesn’t lend itself to Clangorous Soul routes.
If we go with a Fire type on the slate I’d rather not see this one.

5/10
Another Psychic Typing that I honestly don’t really see popping off. It just needs too many moves as Coverage to really become threatening especially to Equilibra.
I don’t see this typing having room to run Psychic Noise really, though I could see it working with Clangorous Soul and very specific abilities or just really high SPA.
The defensive Spread isn’t amazing but probably workable enough.

Originally I wanted to endorse two additional water typings, but given how well Water Psy Water Electric and Water Poison fit there’s not really much they can add to the slate.

Given my Rating of the suggested types my ideal Slate would probably be:

Water Psychic
Water Electric
One of Fire Normal/Fire Dragon/Fire Electric
Electric Fighting
Psychic Fighting
Poison Dragon

I’m gonna say about Poison / Paychic, all you need is Sparkling Aria and Overdrive to hit most of the targets you mentioned Super Effectively. I don’t think STAB matters too much because any +1 Super Effective attack off a good SpAtk stat is going to hurt a bit.

 

[Amamama]

I’m gonna say about Poison / Paychic, all you need is Sparkling Aria and Overdrive to hit most of the targets you mentioned Super Effectively. I don’t think STAB matters too much because any +1 Super Effective attack off a good SpAtk stat is going to hurt a bit.

You need a lot of Special Attack that Sparkling Aria does any significant damage even to mons like Equilibra and Heatran.
These mons are absurdly bulky and an 80BP non STAB move only goes so far.
+1 252 SpA Slowking-Galar Sparkling Aria vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Equilibra: 218-258 (53.4 - 63.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
This is 157 Spa which is what you need to 2hko current Equi Spreads and that’s not even counting Protect turns and the fact that Equi hits you SE.

 

[Tunana]

I'm also gonna make a second post with a slate I like based off of the past few days of discussion. These are in no particular order.

Water/Psychic
Great offensive and solid defensive profile. Great versatility with powerful sound moves and other special STABs. This route could either go Clangorous with no sound moves or a non-Clangorous route using only sound moves. This option leaves the process very open.

Water/Electric
Pretty much all of what I said for Water/Psychic holds up here as well; this just hits different targets. The main strength of this compared to Water/Psychic is neutrality to Sucker Punch. Very good typing overall.

Fighting/Electric
Clangorous is nigh required for this typing, but as Amamama pointed out, this dishes out crazy super effective damage into much of the meta with Ice coverage. Weakness to Hemogoblin's ESpeed is unfortunate, but this matches far better into Kingambit in return. Special Fighting coverage is also mediocre at best, but mixed is possible with Clangorous.

Poison/Dragon
Clanging Scales alongside Poison coverage are two extremely powerful STABs to have. This typing is extremely good for Throat Spray because this Pokemon would want to be switching moves to bypass the immunities to its STABs. This isn't weak to any relevant priority except for the occasional Ice Shard, and has a great defensive profile in general that makes it easy to come in. Very open process similarly to the Water typings I suggested, and could go either Clangorous or another route.

Poison/Psychic
Similar to Poison/Dragon, but this one would likely require Clangorous because of a lack of a powerful STAB like Clanging Scales. What I like about Psychic is that it hits a good amount of common targets super effectively. Water/Psychic is more powerful offensively and is probably more versatile, but there is something to be said for the defensive prowess of Poison allowing for easier switch ins to set up.

 

[pyuking muku]

Going to pop in and mention my top 5 favorite suggested typings with possible defining moves!

Fairy/Steel
Defining Moves: Alluring Voice, Sparkling Aria, Clangorous Soul, (maybe) Psychic Noise
I think that this mon would be a perfect Clangorous Soul user and a great Throat Spray user. Amazing typing and some good coverage can go a long way, especially because with the way CAP34 will want to play, the opposing team will likely be somewhat weakened, making +2 Voice and Aria dangerous tools. I think that Psychic Noise is good coverage, but I like the idea of having an option over whether 34 wants to pop Spray or save it for later.

Fire/Electric
Defining Moves: Overdrive, Boomburst(?), Sparkling Aria(??)
One thing that I've been really thinking about a lot is immunity to Paralysis. On a lot of mons, paralysis is an annoyance; for a sweeper, it can be a death sentence. Paralysis prevents a sweeper from outspeeding and ko'ing important mons, and the variance makes using them untenable. I think that this makes Electric typing very enticing. It's also been discussed very well by Amamama that Fire is a great typing, and it complements Electric very well offensively. Boomburst feels like it could be useful into most Dragons, or Aria could be good into the Grounds and other mons like Tran that threaten it. There is an obvious weakness to Ground here, but I think that the offensive potency is worth the risk. Personally, while Clangorous Soul could work here, I don't see it as much due to the extremely offensive nature of the typing and the 4x weakness. or you could just run air balloon :)

Water/Electric
Defining Moves: Overdrive, Sparkling Aria, Clangorous Soul
I've discussed this typing, and I want to reiterate that I very much like it if and only if we are using Clangorous Soul. Without it, I feel that it become extremely difficult for 34 to differentiate itself from Krillowatt. It's also just a great all-round typing, with only two weaknesses, one of them being relatively uncommon.

Mono-Fairy
Defining Moves: Alluring Voice, Psychic Noise/Boomburst, Clangorous Soul
Again, I think that Fairy is one of the most interesting monotypings available, and I feel like CAP34 could really run wild with it. Between its defensive profile, good neutral coverage, and handy immunity for coming in safely, I think that mono-Fairy 34 could thrive. The lack of secondary STAB is notable, which is why I think that Boomburst would really synergize well with it. Psychic Noise also helps immensely against the common Poison walls like Clodsire and Venomicon, but it feels like an either/or situation, as you need some coverage so you don't get blanked by Steels.

Fairy/Electric
Defining Moves: Overdrive, Alluring Voice, Sparkling Aria(?)
Oh baby, it's a new contender. Take the defensive usefulness of Fairy, with the raw power and coverage of Electric, and wham! It's some nasty nasty neutral coverage on a powerful sweeper. This typing works very well, as proven by the offensive powerhouse of Tapu Koko, who used its weaker special stat and still kicked ass. (it did also have many other niches, but you probably know what i'm getting at.) While there are a select few mons that do blank this typing (Clodsire, Libra, Plasmanta), there's plenty of room for coverage here. Aria could do a lot here, but it would give a few hard counters to 34 (which I personally think is fine on a sweeper). This isn't a typing that I've thought a lot about, but I feel like it could be very very powerful if maneuvered properly. Would love any feedback, especially on this typing!

 

[Palosaks]

I would like to advocate more for Water/Poison.
Now, people here have already spoken about the strengths of this type, however, I feel as though these strengths have been somewhat understated.
Firstly, this type's strongest attribute, its defensive profile. This type features several valuable resistances, primely Water, Fire, and Fairy, these types being very common providing CAP34 with plenty of switch in opportunities, in addition to CAP34 being able to threaten many Water and Fire types with either its STABs or potential coverage, but the type's resistances to Fighting, Poison and Ice, while not as common still are useful in finding chances to switch in. Resisting Fairy in particular is huge for CAP34 because of Hemo and its Pixiespeed. If we want this CAP to fulfill a role as a Sweeper as Throat Spray naturally suggests, then making sure the most common priority user, with the strongest priority move, does not completely bowl us over is rather important. In addition to this type's impressive resistances, this type only has three weaknesses to Ground, Electric and Psychic. Overall these weaknesses are manageable, particularly the Ground weakness given the Water STAB provided by this combo.
Which brings me to the next highlight of this type, its offensive capabilities.
(Putting this here because I couldn't find a better spot)
Defining Sound Moves: Sparkling Aria, Overdrive, Alluring Voice, potential for Clangorous Soul.
This type's offensive capabilities are not nearly as obvious as its defensive ones, but they are still quite notable. With just Water and Poison STAB CAP34 already has potential to threaten quite a few mons. Fairies like Hemo and Cresceidon, Grass types like Ogerpon-Wellspring and Rillaboom and the bulky Grounds all come to mind. But on top of that, Water/Poison can be a truly excellent offensive combo when coverage is taken into account. Electric and Fairy coverage are both huge for Water/Poison allowing the combo to vastly expand its list of targets. For example, Walking Wake, Roaring Moon, Venomicon, Miasmaw, Skarmory, bulky Waters, all now fall to CAP34 with the addition of just Overdrive and Alluring Voice, which in addition to being coverage offer more chances for CAP34 to activate Throat Spray, in addition to playing into the move slot freed up by Throat Spray's Sp.Attack boost, letting CAP34 slot in another attack where it would otherwise need to put a boosting move. Another thing with the coverage is that many of the targets that these moves let CAP34 hit are mons that CAP34 already resists, letting it switch in and threaten these mons with ease. In the other direction, this type works extremely well with Clangorous Soul providing plenty of opportunities to switch in and set up while also having very competent STABs and coverage to work with.
Overall, the Water/Poison type is a very well rounded type that, while not particularly flashy or exciting, posses several qualities that make it appealing for this CAP, from its balance of defensive prowess and offensive pressure letting it get in and be a threat to its pro-concept coverage, to the flexibility it provides us for the rest of this process, and overlooking it would be a shame.

 

[StarFalcon555]

Hopping in here to throw my support in the ring for two Psychic combos I seen little discussion on so far but have immense potential: Psychic/Ground and Psychic/Electric.

Psychic/Ground (defining moves Psychic Noise, Clangorous Soul) may not be the best in terms of defenses, with a whopping six weaknesses, with most of those being to common types like Water, Grass, Dark, and Ghost, but what it lacks in defensive viability, it makes up for in sheer overwhelming offensive power, hitting a large amount of the metagame for SE damage. There are an insane bevy of Steel types in this meta, from Kingambit to Gholdengo to Heatran, which is unfortunate for the frontrunner typing, Psychic. However, with the addition of Ground coverage, this major weakness isn't an issue, as now CAP 34 can blast through the Steels with +1 Earth Powers after using its Throat Spray! It does fail to hit certain threats like Levitate Equilibra and Skarmory, but coverage can easily help out with that :3 What I find especially good about this typing, though, is how it can fuck over Hemogoblin. Psychic Noise to prevent healing from Bitter Blade into a super effective Earth Power is just so enticing. It also pairs up really well with Clangorous Soul (one of the best options for that type IMO behind Dragon/Poison and Electric/Fighting). All around, a super underrated type and probably my favorite Psychic combo overall.

Psychic/Electric (defining moves Psychic Noise, Overdrive, Sparkling Aria, Alluring Voice) does suffer from a few of these same weaknesses - the Ground weakness especially sucks - but where this typing shines is versatility. This is another typing that gives us access to two STAB sound moves from our defining list - namely Psychic Noise and Overdrive. While this typing is way worse into certain threats, it allows us to make use of our wide range of defining moves, specifically Sparkling Aria to hit Equilibra and Alluring Voice to hit Meowscarada and Malaconda. Both of these moves also hit Ting-Lu, and hitting all of these threats is especially important because they all resist or are immune to the Psychic/Electric dual STAB combo. Psychic/Electric is also just good on its own into certain powerful metagame threats, hitting targets that other common Psychic combos fail to do. It's especially good into Cresceidon, fucking it over in a similar way to how Psychic/Ground fucks over Hemogoblin, and it also does really well into Skarmory and Primarina. The Psychic/Electric/Water combo triad has also already been shown to be a very effective coverage combo in old gens with Starmie (which also can learn Dazzling Gleam to fufill the quartet, but rarely uses it), and while we have Psychic/Water which obviously does the same thing (again, as proven by Starmie), Psychic/Electric has its own merits (especially in regards to hitting stuff like Cresceidon, Skarmory, and Primarina with STAB as mentioned before) that make it a very worthy alternative in my eyes.

Aside from these two, my favorite typings of the ones that have been suggested so far are Psychic/Fighting, Psychic/Water, Water/Poison, Electric/Fighting, and Poison/Dragon.

 

[razorsharp3000]

Throwing in my support for Psychic/Electric. The interesting thing about this typing is both STABs have immunities, so that will force it to use coverage and not just spam Choice Specs, and Alluring Voice and Sparkling Aria both act as great coverage to target the Dark and Ground types that want to switch into it.

I also like the Slowtwins typing of Psychic/Water and Psychic/Poison.

Thinking of the Slowtwins reminded me that Eerie Spell is a sound-based move, I wonder if we can find a use for that. But anyway, that is for a future discussion.

 

[PoorlyDrawnPhantump]

My three picks for typing is psychic/normal electric/psychic and fire/electric.

Psychic/normal has been used before on Pokémon like Meloetta and Indeedee, but neither of them been able to fill the role of special offence in OU, with Indeedee being use more as support in OU, and with Meloetta’s best performance being in UU during gen 5. This’ll give the type combo a chance at being a counter to stall teams OU with it's two defining moves being Boomburst, and the new Psychic noise which can not only both hit trough Substitute, but Psychic noise also keep the opponent from healing. It could also have Alluring voice to help with coverage against Dark types.

Electric/Psychic is kinda the the same as the previous type but having more weakness in return for hitting more weaknesses than Psychic/Normal.

And Fire/Electric is something you’ve probably seen already, I just wanted to bring it up still.