Just Another Drifblim Lele Team

[GreenNinjask]

So, I'm having a bit of trouble with this team. I've put quite a bit of work into it, and a lot has been a-okay, but something doesn't seem right. Maybe it's a certain move slot, maybe it's a whole set (I'm predicting it'll be Fini's), or maybe I'm just bad at the game lol. It's pretty close to done imho, and it feels as if the mistakes should be rather glaring, so it probably shouldn't take much effort to find everything that should probably be changed.

Drifblim @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Unburden
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 236 Def / 4 SpA / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

The Drifblim Lele core is so fun. The full set is straight from the Smogdex, except I took some EVs from Spa and put it in Spe instead to outspeed other standard Drifblims. When I'm not leading Vikavolt, this is a very important supportive mon, helping a lot with the teams bulk with wow and carrying the team with Tailwind.

Tapu Lele @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 164 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect

When I saw the Iapapa Berry as an alternative option, an amazing bulky set was already in the making. It has the ability to OHKO sash Kartana (ik I'd have to throw in a Shadow Ball or something as well to get rid of sash) and 2HKO vest Kartana after burn damage, while being 4HKOed by 4 Attack vest Kartana. It also doesn't lose very many OHKOs against targets who are weak to it.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 188 SpA / 4 SpD / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Reflect
- Substitute

This Fini set is a weird one, I'll be honest. It's not strictly offensive, nor defensive (although the ladder is much more prominent). It's there to live things and do some hefty-ish damage back. I made the set to be 3HKOed by Garchomp Poison Jab, 3HKOed by A-Muk Poison Jab under Reflect, and 4HKOed by a burned Kartana under Reflect, While 2HKOing Kartana and guaranteeing a OHKO on a non-assault vest Garchomp after some chip damage. Fini mainly exists for its resistances and nice STABs, helping out where the team is weak and when I'm expecting incoming burns.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 36 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Because of the recurring theme of bulkiness in the team, I made this Garchomp bulky as well. He also synergies well with the two speed controllers in the team due to their immunity to Earthquake. Swords Dance is useful for when I predict switches and making his abnormally low Attack investment look a bit bigger, and Fire Fang is for coverage that I'm otherwise missing in the team. He can always live an un-boosted Lele Moonblast and Porygon2 Ice Beam with his special investment, and he can also live two Leaf Blades from a Kartana 98% of the time.

Metagross @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 12 Def / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Brick Break
- Protect

WP Metagross is really nice to have, especially while in Tailwind and against other Drif Lele teams. Long story short, he does a frack-ton of damage after WP. The Speed investment is there to out speed Pheromosa while under Tailwind. He also synergies with Lele, getting a boost to its psychic STAB under its terrain, as well as appreciating Fini's burn protection terrain. It often relies on its WP boost for power, although that isn't always a problem, since Arcanine is literally everywhere (Metagross can take a max attack Flare Blitz 93.7% of the time and always a banded one under reflect), and it can still get a 2HKO against Kartana after burn damage.

Vikavolt @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 28 SpA / 156 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- String Shot
- Protect

Just a standard String Shot Vikavolt set that you see in the Smogdex. I figured that since Tailwind doubles my speed and String Shot halves theirs (making them both basically do the same thing), he'd be a nice alternative to my speed controller whenever I see Kartana or just don't want to lead Drif Lele. It's also nice to have another Celesteela check and an Electric-type STAB.

I know the sprites are inconsistent; I couldn't find a good site for sprites, so I just took the best ones from google images :P.

Most of the problems have been fixed so far; thanks for the input! :)

 

[Garris_san]

What is this teams answer to trick room?

 

[GreenNinjask]

Good point. I guess I need one >.>

You think A-Muk could replace Fini? Knock Off could definitely help against TR. Or are there any better ideas that you could think of?

 

[Garris_san]

Good point. I guess I need one >.>

You think A-Muk could replace Fini? Knock Off could definitely help against TR. Or are there any better ideas that you could think of?

Taunt on lele shuts down p2. Roar stops any trick room setter. Both solid options without having to change team comp at all. (Thought you had Arcanine) Just my first thought when I saw the team. Alolan muk would improve the p2 matchup further, but theif drifblim is a little tech that also allows you to steal berries and neuter p2 at the cost of your unburden speed boost.

 

[GreenNinjask]

Oh, I just learned that Fini can learn Taunt. Obviously, that wouldn't work in a Specs set. Is there any other set you can think of that it could fit on? I would put it on Lele, but I'm just honestly not willing to give up Reflect (along with burn, I'm pretty sure it makes a sash Kartana only be able to 6HKO).

 

[Garris_san]

Oh, I just learned that Fini can learn Taunt. Obviously, that wouldn't work in a Specs set. Is there any other set you can think of that it could fit on? I would put it on Lele, but I'm just honestly not willing to give up Reflect (along with burn, I'm pretty sure it makes a sash Kartana only be able to 6HKO).

You have drifblim to burn kartana and fini isn't going to burn Kartana anyway. Put reflect and lefties or a berry on fini. You aren't going to want to sacrifice a turn of tailwind to set up reflect. This would be better for late game if you are able to lead lele drifblim (which you will want to unless your opponent has an answer such as prankster taunt) Turn 1 taunt prevents protect stalling out your position.
You might also put swords dance on garchomp. Not one of your team members is fully invested in its attack stat and is going to have a hard time dealing with bulkier pokemon as a consequence unless you have some way of setting up.

 

[Garris_san]

Another thing, (also pretty bad at this meta) but my drifblim runs 220 speed and it still get's outsped by golduck in the rain because it's modest instead of timid. Opposing tailwind is something this core of drifblim and lele should be wary of. Your drifblim puts off no offensive pressure so you may consider swapping it out on a predicted protect (typically for garchomp). It should still be bulky enough to hopefully set up a late game tailwind. If you wouldn't mind updating this to show calcs, it'd be easier to optimize them. Even as far as movesets, it's easier to say, "This is what you should have this mon set up to do, because x,y,z".

As it stands, you are quite vague about defensive calcs. The defensive investment helps with gigilith? As in you can take a continental crush if it's burnt? I've done all I could do with what I was given. I have an 8 hour drive ahead of me, but if you do that, I may have a better idea of how to help without having to do it all for you.

 

[GreenNinjask]

Alright, I'm sold on everything, you make perfect sense. Sorry about the vagueness about the whole thing; again, I was pretty 'ugh' at the time, but now, I'll go ahead and improve everything, including adding calcs (btw, I'm noticing that the calc for some reason isn't adding the effects of 50% berries, so I'll probably have to do something fancy with that calc). I'm loving the idea of reflect lefties Fini, so I'll put that, and I'll go ahead and give Lele Taunt too.

The only question I have is which move should I give up for SD on Garchomp? Fire Fang is a really, really useful coverage move that no other mon in my team has, while Substitute works out so well against switches. Shoot, I'm even considering replacing Protect with SD, knowing that sub can still help with protection as long as I don't throw him into something bad.

Edit: All has been done except for Garchomp's SD, since I'm still on the fence on which move to give up.
Edit 2: I decided to give up Sub for SD, while also decreasing his Attack again in favor of being 2HKOed by Kartana only 2% of the time.

 

[Garris_san]

Alright, I'm sold on everything, you make perfect sense. Sorry about the vagueness about the whole thing; again, I was pretty 'ugh' at the time, but now, I'll go ahead and improve everything, including adding calcs (btw, I'm noticing that the calc for some reason isn't adding the effects of 50% berries, so I'll probably have to do something fancy with that calc). I'm loving the idea of reflect lefties Fini, so I'll put that, and I'll go ahead and give Lele Taunt too.

The only question I have is which move should I give up for SD on Garchomp? Fire Fang is a really, really useful coverage move that no other mon in my team has, while Substitute works out so well against switches. Shoot, I'm even considering replacing Protect with SD, knowing that sub can still help with protection as long as I don't throw him into something bad.

Edit: All has been done except for Garchomp's SD, since I'm still on the fence on which move to give up.
Edit 2: I decided to give up Sub for SD, while also decreasing his Attack again in favor of being 2HKOed by Kartana only 2% of the time.

By all means, you could keep sub on garchomp if it was fully invested in attack. You don't need any of that bulk if you're getting a sub up for free. Conversely, you could possibly keep that spread and replace sub with sword dance as it increases the amount of pressure you're able to put off. +2 tec rage is dangerous.
P.S. I appreciate all you've said. When I create custom ev spreads, I typically save my calcs for rmt submissions. You can never give us too much insight on the teambuilding process.

 

[GreenNinjask]

By all means, you could keep sub on garchomp if it was fully invested in attack. You don't need any of that bulk if you're getting a sub up for free. Conversely, you could possibly keep that spread and replace sub with sword dance as it increases the amount of pressure you're able to put off. +2 tec rage is dangerous.

I'll choose the ladder, knowing that my STAB, coverage, and protect are all very important.

P.S. I appreciate all you've said. When I create custom ev spreads, I typically save my calcs for rmt submissions. You can never give us too much insight on the teambuilding process.

Thanks! Once this goes high enough on the ladder, I'll probably make an RMT out of it. Thanks to you, I really see potential in the team, and it has been ladder climbing since!

 

[Garris_san]

I'll choose the ladder, knowing that my STAB, coverage, and protect are all very important.



Thanks! Once this goes high enough on the ladder, I'll probably make an RMT out of it. Thanks to you, I really see potential in the team, and it has been ladder climbing since!

It's really solid archetype. Climbed to mid 1600s for the first time this meta using a similar team.

 

[GreenNinjask]

Just passed 1400 on my alt. If I remember, I'll probably change back to my main account on showdown (which is in the 1500s I think).

Also, I swapped out Destiny Bond for Protect. Much better :P

 

[Garris_san]

Same! I'm glad you realized on your own how good that is because I completely forgot. People are just getting too used to seeing copy pasted drif lele teams.