Battle Spot Is that a... Golisopod? [Singles team]

[Thick Fat Azumarill]

Hello everyone! I'm back with another team!

At the beggining of season 4, Jhon and Theorymon were hyping up Golisopod as a complement to the infamous Tapu Koko - Mega Salamence - Aegislash core as a means of checking Mamoswine, which can singlehandedly defeat the three mons in that core. I listened to them and decided to make a team with it. I enjoyed playing it a lot, but it's time to retire it. So, here it is!

Teambuilding Process

The start of the team was obviously the Koko Mence Aegi core + Golisopod. That core is very threatening and can deal with a huge part of the metagame alone, and Golisopod checks Mamoswine and a few other ground types.


While the core is very good on its own, I needed a revenge killer for set up mons. Greninja was the perfect choice with its high speed and insane coverage.


Hippo was added as a defensive backbone, and an overall annoyance thanks to Yawn + Rocks.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn

Koko hits hard with its Electric STAB, and I wanted to use my Z-Crystal on Aegislash, so Specs was the next best thing. The moves are pretty standard, and U-Turn is used instead of Volt Switch so that you can switch out against Ground type switch-ins.

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam

While special Mence isn't as good as it was last gen, it still gets people off-guard when their physical wall switch-in gets 2 or 3HKOed by this. Hyper Beam is a more of a last resort move in case Mence is sure to go down the turn you use it, and it's very strong, dealing over 50% to Porygon2 and it's a guaranteed OHKO after Hyper Voice on Tapu Fini and Toxapex.

Aegislash @ Ghostium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Sacred Sword
- King's Shield

Aegislash is great mon, and the introduction of Z-Moves only made it better. I went with physical to maximize Sacred Sword's damage, as the team struggles to beat Chansey and Porygon2. Z-Shadow Claw hits hard against everything that doesn't resist it, but if Porygon2 is ruining your day, feel free to switch that up to a Fightinium Z. This spread avoids the OHKO from Adamant Landorus-T's Earthquake and speed creeps other slow base 60 mons, such as Porygon2 and Primarina.

Golisopod @ Life Orb
Ability: Emergency Exit
Level: 50
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
- First Impression
- Poison Jab

The star of the team. Golisopod is an excellent offensive check to Mamoswine, fearing nothing from its STABs and isn't 2HKOed by Rock Tomb. STAB Aqua Jet revenge kills threats such Blaziken, Volcarona, the Zards and Excadrill. First Impression is one of the strongest priority moves in the game, on par with Technician-boosted 60 BP moves. It can KO Tapu Koko and Thundurus from ~40%. 192 Speed EVs allows Golisopod to outspeed 4 EVs base 60s. Emergency Exit may seem like a bad ability, but the free switches that it allows can come in clutch if you play this mon right.

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
Level: 50
EVs: 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse

Scarf Greninja is an excellent revenge killer, as almost nothing outspeeds it at +1. The moves are pretty standard. Gunk Shot hits the Tapus, Rock Slide hits Volcarona and Charizard, Ice Beam hits Dragon types and Dark Pulse hits Gengar.

Hippowdon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Yawn

Hippowdon works really well as both a bulky switch-in and a lead, doing what it does best: set up rocks and yawning away like no tomorrow. Rock Tomb is used instead of Whirlwind as a mean of both speed control and chip damage.

THREATLIST

The team has a hard time switching around it, so I have to outplay my opponent everytime I play against it.

Gengar in general is a scary matchup for the team, as Electric Terrain is my only means of stopping Hypnosis, Aegi can't KO it from full with Sneak and Greninja can't take a Sludge Bomb.

These two can be very tricky to defeat, and I must apply constant pressure to them so they don't recover up and stall me to death.

Likewise, those two together are almost impossible to defeat thanks to their passive recovery.

Blaziken stomps all over the team with the right set. Even the physical ones are hard to defeat because Mence doesn't have Roost.

Like Thundurus, these two are very hard to switch around.


Conclusion

While not flawless, this is a very fun team to play with if you enjoy a more offensive style. Golisopod may not be the best mon ever, but its surprise factor throws off a lot of people.

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-577127572
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-578568644
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-580462863
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-582030836

 

[cant say]

swapping Hippo for AV Mamo would help against Thund-T, M-Gengar, Chansey/P2, and Gliscor/Toxapex really well I think.

Golisopod should be ok against Blaziken, Aqua Jet revenges them easy enough. The trouble is Emergency Exit, since you can't switch in on a Flare Blitz without getting sent right back out, and then you have nothing to send in against it. I think changing to a bulkier (SpDef) Salamence (to help against the mixed HP Ice Blaze) would be great. However these bulkier Mence are better off going physical with DD than special attacking.

If you want to use a bulkier, physically attacking Mence, your balance of physical/special hitters will favour physical a lot, so if you like to keep that balance then you can simply change Aegislash to a special attacking set.

I think choiced Koko is too easy to exploit, you desperately need a way of dealing with bulky waters but those teams can easily take advantage of locking you into a bad move and forcing a switch, unless you make sick plays. However it's difficult to find an item replacement with members of its primary core already using the Z move and Life Orb. Expert Belt could be decent, or even Magnet. I'm not a fan of those items usually but I'm kinda lost for ideas here lol. Shuca Berry / Leftovers / Electric Seed + Calm Mind could be ok too I suppose.

 

[Thick Fat Azumarill]

swapping Hippo for AV Mamo would help against Thund-T, M-Gengar, Chansey/P2, and Gliscor/Toxapex really well I think.

Golisopod should be ok against Blaziken, Aqua Jet revenges them easy enough. The trouble is Emergency Exit, since you can't switch in on a Flare Blitz without getting sent right back out, and then you have nothing to send in against it. I think changing to a bulkier (SpDef) Salamence (to help against the mixed HP Ice Blaze) would be great. However these bulkier Mence are better off going physical with DD than special attacking.

If you want to use a bulkier, physically attacking Mence, your balance of physical/special hitters will favour physical a lot, so if you like to keep that balance then you can simply change Aegislash to a special attacking set.

I think choiced Koko is too easy to exploit, you desperately need a way of dealing with bulky waters but those teams can easily take advantage of locking you into a bad move and forcing a switch, unless you make sick plays. However it's difficult to find an item replacement with members of its primary core already using the Z move and Life Orb. Expert Belt could be decent, or even Magnet. I'm not a fan of those items usually but I'm kinda lost for ideas here lol. Shuca Berry / Leftovers / Electric Seed + Calm Mind could be ok too I suppose.

Thank you for replying! AV Mamo could work. I recently tried Swampert as my bulky ground because no weakness to water and ice, but I felt that it was a little underwhelming. Will give it a try!

Bulky Mence and Special Aegi seem to be the way, but Porygon2 remains a threat, especially with a weaker Sacred Sword.

Choiced Koko forces me to step up my game, and I agree with you that's it too exploitable sometimes. I am a huge fan of the Eletric Seed + CM combo, and I guess I will try that out.