This team is the one that I have done best with so far this gen. Prior to using it, I was stuck in the 1300-1400 range, and have been racking up the W's since then using my boy Loom and tera fairy Garg. Looking for feedback on how to improve it, cuz now I'm stuck in the high 1500s to low 1600s.
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Salt Cure
- Recover
The standard Garganacl set that I basically just ripped right off the strategy Pokedex, except instead of investing in Special Defense, I decided to go full defense. Originally I had some special investment, but I felt like ultimately I was using Garganacl mostly to switch into physical attacks, so I dropped it. It completely walls Dragapult after tera fairy, which would otherwise be a bit of a menace to this team, especially physical variants that Toxapex can't deal with. Salt cure is also useful for chipping away at steels, especially Corviknight, which Hydreigon, Gholdengo, and even Breloom somewhat struggle against. I almost always tera Garg, as the rock typing is just not useful considering multiple of my mons do not want to come in on hard hitting ground or fighting type moves, and the poison + steel weakness is much more manageable.
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Haze
- Liquidation
- Baneful Bunker
Not gonna lie, I stole this Toxapex set off of another RMT, although I don't remember now which one it was. It just seemed like a super solid blanket check/wall to multiple different popular special attackers, like Iron Valiant, Iron Moth and Volcarona, which my team would otherwise struggle to kill and prevent a sweep. Tera dark is kind of just there because whoever made this set had it on, I almost never use it because I feel like I need the poison typing for preventing fairy sweeps. I generally don't find Pex's passivity to be much of an issue, as I really just need a mon that can switch into hard hitting special attacks, and maybe add some chip so its teammates don't have to die.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
This Great Tusk is also stolen from an RMT, the same one I believe as Toxapex. It does its job providing knock off and hazard removal as most Great Tusk do. It also can act as a secondary check to physical mons, especially when Garg has not yet had a chance to tera. To be honest, unlike the other members, Great Tusk does not really have a super well-defined purpose other than hazard removal. He's just an all around solid mon that I feel can be used to adapt to different situations, and is flexible in the sense that while he's not always essential to a victory, he almost always provides something useful. He's slower than most other Great Tusk, but I never really find this to be an issue as he's never really getting hit very hard and leftovers provides ample sustenance.
Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bulldoze
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
Kind of meant to be the star of the team, I love this Breloom set so much. I've tried out a whole bunch of different ones, but I've found this and choice band to be the best. In the end though, I felt that spore was the best choice because of how slow and bulky this team is. Spore gives me a way to neuter the other tanky mons like opposing Garganacl, that would otherwise just sit on the field and chip away at my mons. Focus sash is useful in clutch situations, and is great for getting off a surprise spore on offensive mons that can potentially turn the tide of game, but it is kind of inconsistent and gets broken reasonably often.
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
The main source of damage on this team, Hydreigon's job is to force the opponent to make hard decisions by firing off super strong, choice specs boosted special attacks. OHKOing is his job, and he does it almost flawlessly. It would be nice if he was a little faster, but ultimately I think the damage is more important than the speed, as this team has built-in methods of dealing with the speed issues most of the mons face, and relies more on consistent damage to dismantle opposing teams than just completely sweeping them over the course of a few moves. Leading him against slow leads like Torkoal is just so fun, as if the opponent doesn't have a fairy type you basically force a turn 1 KO. Tera poison is super useful, although I was thinking of switching to steel to get STAB on Flash Cannon. Either way, aside from Garganacl he's basically the only mon whose tera I actually use.
Gholdengo @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
Gholdengo is mostly here just to mess with Amoongus, who destroys Breloom. Despite the reasonably small role I brought him in for, he has performed pretty well overall, which I guess is partially due to him just being a naturally excellent mon. Thunder wave provides more speed control, which I feel I can never get enough of, and recover allows him to consistently switch into attacks, usually special, providing some relief to Toxapex. I decided to fully invest in Special Attack, as I wanted to make sure he was as hard as possible to switch into, while also being bulky enough to switch into certain attacks himself. The fighting and poison immunity he provides are also pretty useful, as they help Garg both before and after he teras, and being able to kill Dragapult is always a nice bonus.
Overall, I feel this team is quite solid, but I struggle a lot against certain teams, and would like some feedback to see if I can climb even higher than I am right now. Hydreigon faces the problem of being incredibly predictable, and most fairies are able to shut him down, with Hattrene being a notable large problem as it also hits Toxapex super effectively, and Gholdengo if it has Mystical Fire. Hard hitting variants of Great Tusk are also hard to deal with early on, before Garganacl teras, as Hydreigon, Gholdengo, Toxapex, and Breloom all are not good switch-ins. Even my own Great Tusk isn't great, especially if they are packing Ice Spinner. Other notable issues lie in hazard stacking teams, as Great Tusk is my only source of removal, and sun teams, because they hit so hard.
Thanks for reading!
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Salt Cure
- Recover
The standard Garganacl set that I basically just ripped right off the strategy Pokedex, except instead of investing in Special Defense, I decided to go full defense. Originally I had some special investment, but I felt like ultimately I was using Garganacl mostly to switch into physical attacks, so I dropped it. It completely walls Dragapult after tera fairy, which would otherwise be a bit of a menace to this team, especially physical variants that Toxapex can't deal with. Salt cure is also useful for chipping away at steels, especially Corviknight, which Hydreigon, Gholdengo, and even Breloom somewhat struggle against. I almost always tera Garg, as the rock typing is just not useful considering multiple of my mons do not want to come in on hard hitting ground or fighting type moves, and the poison + steel weakness is much more manageable.
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Haze
- Liquidation
- Baneful Bunker
Not gonna lie, I stole this Toxapex set off of another RMT, although I don't remember now which one it was. It just seemed like a super solid blanket check/wall to multiple different popular special attackers, like Iron Valiant, Iron Moth and Volcarona, which my team would otherwise struggle to kill and prevent a sweep. Tera dark is kind of just there because whoever made this set had it on, I almost never use it because I feel like I need the poison typing for preventing fairy sweeps. I generally don't find Pex's passivity to be much of an issue, as I really just need a mon that can switch into hard hitting special attacks, and maybe add some chip so its teammates don't have to die.
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
This Great Tusk is also stolen from an RMT, the same one I believe as Toxapex. It does its job providing knock off and hazard removal as most Great Tusk do. It also can act as a secondary check to physical mons, especially when Garg has not yet had a chance to tera. To be honest, unlike the other members, Great Tusk does not really have a super well-defined purpose other than hazard removal. He's just an all around solid mon that I feel can be used to adapt to different situations, and is flexible in the sense that while he's not always essential to a victory, he almost always provides something useful. He's slower than most other Great Tusk, but I never really find this to be an issue as he's never really getting hit very hard and leftovers provides ample sustenance.
Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bulldoze
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
Kind of meant to be the star of the team, I love this Breloom set so much. I've tried out a whole bunch of different ones, but I've found this and choice band to be the best. In the end though, I felt that spore was the best choice because of how slow and bulky this team is. Spore gives me a way to neuter the other tanky mons like opposing Garganacl, that would otherwise just sit on the field and chip away at my mons. Focus sash is useful in clutch situations, and is great for getting off a surprise spore on offensive mons that can potentially turn the tide of game, but it is kind of inconsistent and gets broken reasonably often.
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
The main source of damage on this team, Hydreigon's job is to force the opponent to make hard decisions by firing off super strong, choice specs boosted special attacks. OHKOing is his job, and he does it almost flawlessly. It would be nice if he was a little faster, but ultimately I think the damage is more important than the speed, as this team has built-in methods of dealing with the speed issues most of the mons face, and relies more on consistent damage to dismantle opposing teams than just completely sweeping them over the course of a few moves. Leading him against slow leads like Torkoal is just so fun, as if the opponent doesn't have a fairy type you basically force a turn 1 KO. Tera poison is super useful, although I was thinking of switching to steel to get STAB on Flash Cannon. Either way, aside from Garganacl he's basically the only mon whose tera I actually use.
Gholdengo @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
Gholdengo is mostly here just to mess with Amoongus, who destroys Breloom. Despite the reasonably small role I brought him in for, he has performed pretty well overall, which I guess is partially due to him just being a naturally excellent mon. Thunder wave provides more speed control, which I feel I can never get enough of, and recover allows him to consistently switch into attacks, usually special, providing some relief to Toxapex. I decided to fully invest in Special Attack, as I wanted to make sure he was as hard as possible to switch into, while also being bulky enough to switch into certain attacks himself. The fighting and poison immunity he provides are also pretty useful, as they help Garg both before and after he teras, and being able to kill Dragapult is always a nice bonus.
Overall, I feel this team is quite solid, but I struggle a lot against certain teams, and would like some feedback to see if I can climb even higher than I am right now. Hydreigon faces the problem of being incredibly predictable, and most fairies are able to shut him down, with Hattrene being a notable large problem as it also hits Toxapex super effectively, and Gholdengo if it has Mystical Fire. Hard hitting variants of Great Tusk are also hard to deal with early on, before Garganacl teras, as Hydreigon, Gholdengo, Toxapex, and Breloom all are not good switch-ins. Even my own Great Tusk isn't great, especially if they are packing Ice Spinner. Other notable issues lie in hazard stacking teams, as Great Tusk is my only source of removal, and sun teams, because they hit so hard.
Thanks for reading!
