A few days ago, a random thought in my mind popped up: "Hear me out: Double Rock Offense." At first, it may seem strange. Why not use that second slot for a different pokemon that better synergizes with the team or is a win con? After all, one rock usually does a pretty fine job on most teams rocks do appear on. However, here's the rationale behind it: Sudowoodo likes to explode. A lot. It usually explodes on Octillery, Wigglytuff, Dugtrio, or the occasional Stantler if it decides to stay in. However, Sudowoodo exploding is often taken advantage of by the opposing team, usually with Fearow or Wigglytuff, so Sudowoodo exploding is a lot harder and it can often be relegated to becoming a do nothing mon as Octillery switches into it all day and Sudo is left just switching into their normal and scaring it out because if it explodes on Octillery, its team will be far worse at handling Fearow and Wigglytuff. Here's where the second rock comes in. Using a backup rock type alleviates a lot of restriction on using Sudowoodo offensively to eliminate certain key pieces from the opposing team with Self-Destruct, because even if your Sudo is gone you still have a rock type to do all the normal rock type things. Sudowoodo also synergizes well with other rock types, as it likes to explode on Octillery and Dugtrio. And with this knowledge, I present to you: Dual Rock Offense ft. Sudowoodo.
https://pokepast.es/a86400e9323cfdd2Team 2
https://pokepast.es/aca099ff0874b512
Building Process
As I'm sure is obvious by now, the whole concept starts with Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo is a pretty good pokemon. However it needs the right support.
I chose Xatu for its fighting resistance and ground immunity, both being types Sudowoodo is weak to. Octillery is here for its ability to beat ground types and take on other Octillery. Both are also just naturally amazing pokemon and THE two best in the tier. Now here’s where the two teams deviate.
Team 1
At first I went with graveler, because rapid spin is just so amazing for easing up building cause I can now use as many Pineco-weak pokemon as I want. It’s also a second explosion, which is always wonderful.
Now, I needed a fighting resist. I chose gloom. Moonlight keeps it alive long term, hp grass can slam Dugtrio and keeps it remaining threatening to Octillery, and stun spore can even provide paralysis support for the rocks and Wiggly. Speaking of, I needed something to answer Xatu and Dewgong, and ideally a win condition too. Wiggly fulfills both quite well. Since I don’t need Wiggly to check Octillery due to having my own and a Gloom, I can use Double-Edge without impunity. Wiggly also greatly appreciates Xatu and Gloom answering Primeape and Hitmonlee. Both of these pokemon let in Pineco pretty freely. Gloom fails to even 3hko Pineco with sludge bomb and it’s a roll to 4hko, while Wiggly double edge 3hkos and if you curse before Pineco comes in then you’re slower, giving up a spike and a boom. However, Graveler makes up for this by hard countering non-toxic Pineco, spinning away its spikes and resisting boom, and even if it has toxic it will take a long time for that damage to really add up.
Team 2
However, after I finished the first team I was still not satisfied. I NEEDED to make one for Pupitar. Pupitar is a pretty cool pokemon. It’s much faster than the other rocks, sitting at 200 rather than 158 (Sudo) or 168 (Grav). It also has screech, which is a solid move that also lets it beat curse normals. However, it does not have explosion or rapid spin, so I had to keep that in mind when finishing out the team.
Once again, I came calling for a fighting resist. I picked Weezing because I didn’t want to use Gloom again and it has fire blast to not let in PIneco completely freely. It’s also much more offensively dangerous. Then the teambuilding headaches set in. Firstly, I put ice beam on Octillery because this team has 3 ground weak mons + Xatu, who is weak to rock slide, basically meaning I would fold to Dugtrio with hidden power electric on Oct. However, now I needed something to cover both elec Oct, beam Oct, Dewgong, AND Chinchou. Here were my options: Chinchou, Hitmonlee, or Dunsparce/Wigglytuff. Chinchou hard counters both variants of Oct and Dewgong, but I have to risk a ditto vs opposing Chinchou. Hitmonlee beats all four, but lets in Pineco for free if I use body slam instead of hp rock, gives Weezing endless opportunities to sludge bomb poison my rocks or thunder my Xatu if I use hp rock instead of body slam, and is 2hko’d by Duggy’s earthquake. Wiggly and Sparce handle Dewgong and Chinchou, but are both a roll to be 3hko’d by Oct surf and become slower than it after cursing, which can cause some potential issues. I also can’t even use dedge on Wiggly because that knocks it into range to easily be 3hko’d by Oct surf. Both also let in Pineco relatively scott-free.
Because my team lacks a Graveler to compensate for the Pineco weakness of Hitmonlee, Dunsparce, and Wigglytuff and I don’t have a Pineco of my own to match those spikes or even spin if I want it to, and all 3 are also quite potentially Dugtrio weak, I chose Chinchou. It’s obviously not the most Dugtrio-resilient pokemon, but it can at least slam it with surf on the switch.
The Mons
Xatu @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Electric] / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The best pokemon in the tier. As already stated, it's here to answer the fighters, Primeape and Hitmonlee, and assist with grounds, mainly Dugtrio. Psychic is the strongest STAB option. Rest Talk is standard to provide longevity. Hidden power electric is chosen on team 1 as it provides additional pressure to opposing Octillery, Dewgong, and Kingler, and ice is not particularly needed. However, you can make it ice if you like. Hidden power ice is chosen on team 2 however, as with 4 ground weak pokemon, the team needs all the help it can get. Xatu is Xatu.
Octillery @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric] / Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The second best pokemon in the tier. Along with its normal duties of answering fires and rocks and Xatu, it's here to answer ground types and other Octillery. Surf is the best choice of STAB, and Rest Talk is standard to provide longevity. Hidden power electric is chosen on team 1 over ice beam as it helps significantly in combating other Octillery, primarily ice beam variants which Gloom cannot handle. Ice beam is chosen for Octillery on team 2 for the same reasons that Xatu has hidden power ice.
Sudowoodo @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Curse
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Self-Destruct
The star of the show. Rock slide is mandatory for STAB. Curse allows Sudowoodo to boost up its attacks, especially self-destruct, as well as become a great answer to curse Wigglytuff. The boom in question is insanely strong, as due to the mechanics of gens 1-4 making explosion and self-destruct halve the opponent's defenses, it can OHKO basically everything that doesn't resist it, and still does massive damage to those that do. Sudo's boom primarily aims to eliminate Wigglytuff, Octillery, and Dugtrio. Wiggly is a large threat to teams without normal resists (most of them), and Octillery and Dugtrio are just generally very amazing pokemon that also happen to threaten this team quite a bit. Earthquake compliments rock slide well, hitting Magnemite, other rock types, Dugtrio for good neutral damage, and Weezing. It's also a 100% accurate move on the fire types. Sudowoodo is mostly a nuke on this team, blowing up when you need it to because there is another rock type present to make up for the loss of Sudowoodo.
Team 1
Graveler @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
IVs: 22 HP / 26 Atk / 24 Def
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
The second rock on this particular team. Graveler is very strong, with a 95 base attack STAB Earthquake and STAB hidden power rock to compliment it, though unfortunately not rock slide because it is illegal with rapid spin. Speaking of, rapid spin is the main appeal to using Graveler. It allows it to spin away Pineco's spikes effortlessly, as it outspeeds and resists explosion and even has a super effective STAB move to threaten Pineco back if it decides to click reflect or toxic. Explosion is here as a final send off if Graveler is low on hp or no longer needed, or if I need it to break through something specific.
Gloom @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
IVs: 6 HP / 28 Atk / 28 Def
- Stun Spore
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Moonlight
Until very recently, I was very down on this mon due to its many significant flaws, and I just couldn't figure out why I would use it on a team. However, now only a short while later I'm pretty fond of it. With the correct support, primarily Graveler, some of its issues are much more manageable. Letting in Pineco and handling Weezing are both covered by Graveler, Ice beam Octillery is covered by my own Oct, fire types are covered by Oct, Graveler, and Wigglytuff, Xatu is covered by Oct and Wiggly. Now, for what Gloom does in return: answers fighting types, answers hp electric Octillery, spreads paralysis, assists with Dugtrio due to hidden power grass, and answers Chinchou. Those are the primary reasons it's here anyways. Pretty good stuff.
Wigglytuff @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Curse
- Double-Edge
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The main Xatu answer, Dewgong answer, and win condition. Wiggly has pretty insane special defense and lacks weaknesses outside of the fighting type, so it can use common pokemon such as the aforementioned Xatu and Dewgong to set up curse and deal big damage with double edge. Some issues it has are Rock types and Fighting types, the former of which are answered by Octillery, Gloom, and kind of Graveler while the latter are handled by Xatu and Gloom. Since the team is generally built pretty defensively, as seen with Graveler and Gloom, curse is essential on Wigglytuff to provide a real sweeping threat and generate some progress.
Team 2
Pupitar @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Ancient Power
- Screech
The pup. Pupitar on this team is not here to provide rapid spin or explosion utility, but rather be an offensive threat that can take advantage of its defensive traits. Due to its 200 speed compared to the much slower Sudowoodo and Graveler, it can outspeed certain threats like Octillery, Wigglytuff, and Porygon that the other two cannot. Earthquake and rock slide are the strongest STAB options. Ancient power is mostly filler, but it can be nasty. It's a 100% accurate move to click in front of a rock weak pokemon just because you can, and if you get the boost it can be devastating. Screech meanwhile is to let Pupitar answer opposing curse normals, mainly Wigglytuff, as well as just generally increase damage output and force switches. It's also a great Magnemite answer, being barely 3HKO’d by hidden power ice, being faster than it, and OHKO'ing in return with earthquake.
Weezing @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunder
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
Amazing fighting resist, physical blanket check (besides ground types), and offensive threat. Weezing just has great all-around stats and a fantastic movepool. Sludge bomb is a great choice of STAB, being a 90 base power no drawback move that hits a good bit for neutral damage and has a potentially disastrous 30% poison rate. Thunder smacks the hell out of Xatu as well as Fearow and Octillery, and if you get that 30% paralysis, you may be in business. Fire blast OHKO's Magnemite and Pineco and deals a lot of damage to Gloom, 3 pokemon who would otherwise use Weezing to their advantage. Explosion can be a targeted piece trade to open up your other offensive pieces, or it can be a last ditch nuke for when Weezing gets low or its services aren't required anymore.
Chinchou @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Surf
- Thunder
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The main answer to every opposing water type (besides Kingler). Chinchou is utterly blessed by its resistance to water and ice along with the electric typing, making it a practically perfect counter to Octillery and Dewgong. It's also my only switch to other Chinchou kek. Chinchou even has STAB surf to hurt any ground types trying to come in on thunder. Rest Talk is the best option for the last two moves on Chinchou, as it needs to actually be able to keep coming in on Octillery and Dewgong again and again and again throughout a game, even with spikes up. Chinchou also lets Octillery run ice beam over hidden power electric, as hp electric is mostly used on Octillery for other Octillery and to chip Dewgong, both of which Chinchou can handle, and this has even further benefits as Chinchou is weak to ground, mainly earthquakes coming from Dugtrio, and ice beam Oct is a fantastic answer to grounds.
Threatlist
Pretty self-explanatory, both teams have a lot of ground weaks. Team 2 has 4 ground weaks, and while team 1 only has 2 ground weaks it also has hp electric on both Xatu and Octillery rather than an ice move.
Stantler is a threat to every team.
Persian isn't exactly the biggest threat in the world but it beats Xatu 1v1, will steal something's leftovers, and likely sleep one of my rocks. Quite annoying.
Magmar can thunder punch oct for a 3hko and can sunny day to reduce surf damage, survives a 3hko from Xatu, and can randomly just cross chop crit the rocks or pull out some dumb shit like hp grass or water. 
Growth pass is a major threat. Flareon can come in on Xatu, use growth, and baton pass out to Dewgong easily because it's faster than Octillery and has hp grass for the rocks. Sudowoodo can tank one hp grass and blow up in return but then the opponent can just sack something and bring in Flareon again the next time Xatu enters. Once Flareon successfully passes to a three attacks protect Dewgong, the game is basically over. However, growth pass is also a massive pain to like every team.Team 1
Major pain in the ass. Comes in on Xatu, Gloom, and even Wigglytuff and can just fire off Thunders. Graveler is slower than it and has ass special defense so it gets 2hko'd by hp ice. At least Mag is kinda bad ngl.Team 2
Doesn't really have a good answer on this team. Try and win the ditto with my own Chinchou, or revenge kill it with Xatu and then play aggressively against opposing Octillery since my Chinchou is dead, or try and make plays with Weezing and watch it take like 30% switching in and then another 30% after, or just whatever. I know these teams don't have spikes and are built pretty defensively unlike other spike-less offense stuff such as baton pass or some other super aggro playstyle, but this was an honest attempt at making the concept work and I think I did pretty well for myself. Spike-less offense is very legit and real, you just have to build it right and keep in mind in your head that you are not using Pineco and accommodate for that. I hope these two teams help serve as proof of this matter. Thanks for the read and have a nice day :)
Edit (5/19): fixed a bunch of minor mistakes since I first posted this
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