Project Next Best Thing | [Old]

[LeNorm]

Psychic terrain has a huge amount of utility for setup sweepers that are weak to priority, allowing mons like Volcarona and Hawlucha to avoid powerful priority attacks that can stop their sweeps (e.g. Mega-Pinsir, Ash-Greninja, Zygarde, etc.). It also obviously aids mons running psychic moves like Zam, Medicham, and the getting rare Psychium Volcarona.

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic Terrain/Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Psyshock/Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Focus Blast

Running Psychic Terrain really helps against teams that use Bulu as their switch in to Lele. Everyone knows what the coverage moves hit and don't hit, so they are pretty slashable. But if you really like your terrain then this Lele is for you.

You could go full on support and run dual screens for role compression (+ taunt and either an attack or psychic terrain), and probs max HP max speed, but Koko does that so much better that it would seem pointless to me, and the kinds of team that run that tech would rather have the extra turns with screens than extra terrain.

 

[JTD783]

CM Fightinium Lele

Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Timid Nature
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind

The analysis suggests running Taunt on Fightinium sets; however, the additional power provided by Calm Mind is a useful option. +1 All-Out Pummeling nets OHKOs on Mega Scizor (after Stealth Rock) and Specially Defensive Heatran. In addition, it baits and KOs mons that see CM and expect Psychium sets, which often forgo Focus Blast.

 

[wadusher]

Tapu Lele @ Metronome
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind / Taunt / Psyshock / Whatever

Lele's the type of mon that wants to be rewarded for spamming its STAB moves, but being choice locked into them can be easily exploited. As such, you'd give it the item that rewards spamming the same move repeatedly in Metronome, but doesn't force it to do so like the choice items. The main use case for Metronome's progressively increasing damage output is vs anything that wants to recover stall you, like Clefable. You initially do less than they heal for the most part, but very quickly outpace the recovery until you do 70% or even OHKO those types of mons. It also has the benefit of bluffing its other sets, as the damage output of your first attack on the field is identical to that of scarf/Z sets (outside the Z move itself of course) making it impossible to tell you're metronome until the damage rolls get higher and higher.

 

[robofiend]

Tapu Lele @ Focus Sash
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psych Up
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast / Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This Lele is there to copy opponents boosts and prevent setup sweepers from cleaning out your team. It's only going to be fully functional against CM users that have already boosted to +6, so act like you're desperate and clear hazards while your opponent sends Reuniclus, (non sub) Zygarde, Magearna, or Clefable into the 5x-6x range. Focus sash gives you a nearly guaranteed revenge against all of them if you manage to defog before dying or don't let them sub up or stack Iron Defense (which admittedly makes Lele's life harder). The other cool thing is that it naturally checks Curse Scizor (who can't BP against it) and M-Mawile, who will both be maimed by HP Fire and won't be able to 2HKO because of Terrain and the Sash. With a Modest nature, Lele has the best chances of killing them, as well as surpise RK-ing a fully set up Zygarde that will instinctively try to Arrows you to death, only to get slapped back with that Moonblast. Focus Blast is there for Heatran if that's also a concern for you, though I think Moonblast has better utility for hitting Zam, Ash-Gren, Lopunny, and some other scarfed mons who might think it's curtains for your Lele but don't anticipate the sash.

 

[OlliKnolli]

Tapu Lele @ Normalium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nature Power
- Hyper Beam/ Moonblast
- Focus Blast/ Hidden Power Fire
- Psych Up

Nature Power always becomes Psychic under Psychic Terrain. Major Drawback is that other Tapus can come in way easier on a Nature Power than on a Psychic and when your Psychic Terrain runs out you have nothing but Tri-Attack. But it also has it advantages: It has 32pp instead of the 16pp that Psychic has and Normalium Z gives me some interesting choices on this set. I can go for a Shattered Psych in Psychic Terrain, a powerful Nuke that no Pokemon wants to switch into, I can go for a Z-Hyperbeam a Nuke that also hits dark types or I can go for a one time recovery in form of Z-PsychUp.

Hide

252 SpA Tapu Lele Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 93-110 (33 - 39.1%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO (still a good chunk)
252 SpA Tapu Lele Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 181-213 (64.4 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Lele Breakneck Blitz (200 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 275-324 (97.8 - 115.3%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Tapu Lele Breakneck Blitz (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tapu Bulu: 163-192 (47.3 - 55.8%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
(Energy Ball does nothing to Tapu Bulu, Z-Energy Ball does 1/3)
252 SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 124-147 (36.1 - 42.8%) -- 96.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Tapu Lele Twinkle Tackle (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 229-270 (66.7 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Tapu Lele Shattered Psyche (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 228+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth in Psychic Terrain: 318-375 (78.7 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Martin]

Reserving Mega Gardevoir

 

[Martin]

^just kidding

Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Ally Switch
- Calm Mind (/ Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire])

Z-Ally Switch is a not-terrible option on Tapu Lele that allows it to pick and choose what types of teams it threatens based on matchup—boost Psyshock if you need the firepower, or get a +2 Speed boost if you want to BTFO offense in the mid-late game stage. Of course it isn't without its own set of really massive drawbacks; Magnezone support is absolutely mandatory if you opt to go down the double dance route with Calm Mind as you no longer have any way of remotely threatening Steel-types that give you a headache, most notably including Celesteela and Ferrothorn, while if you opt to run 3 attacks it hurts your ability to function efficiently versus bulkier teams (hence why focus/hp fire are in brackets). It's not something I'd recommend running unless you really want to, and I don't really expect to win or anything for that reason, but nonetheless it's pretty funny to mess around with based on like 10 or 15 games with it.

Running Calm Mind and swapping out Moonblast for Focus Blast is also an option if you're really desparate, just bear in mind that you then can't threaten stuff like Lati@s/Reuniclus/Mew efficiently and are hard walled my Mega Sableye, which is a trade-off in its own right and probably isn't worth it considering that not pressuring certain brands of balance/stall kinda undermines the point of running CM on Lele in the first place.

 

[Flame from Heaven]

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Nature's Madness
A big problem with Scarf Lele is that unlike a lot of more offensive sets, it has no way of breaking Steel-types, especially Magearna, Celesteela, abd Heatran to an extent. And nobody likes giving these monsters free turns. So what if Lele has a way of cutting their health in half, leaving them at the mercy of one or two more Psychics? Say hello Scarf Natures Madness Lele. I would reccomend running HP Fire over Focus Blast on this set since Scizor and Ferrothorn can still be annoying with Roost and Leech Seed.

 

[nameless90]

Substitute Tapu Lele

Tapu Lele @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Substitute
- Focus Blast

Here we have an offensive Tapu Lele with the addition of Substitute over HP Fire in order to make good use of the turns provided by the threat of our beloved Tapu.
One important thing to consider is that Lele is able to beat some of its revenge killers if it is behind a Substitute.
I picked Focus Blast over HP Fire because I feel that now Fightning coverage has much more sense with the possibility to miss once.

Aguav Berry is there to recharge our HP after some Subs and to check some threat when you face it in a 1 vs 1 situation.

 

[Wugus]

Scarfed Utility Tapu Lele

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aromatherapy
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire]

One thing that is extremely overlooked in Tapu Lele’s move repertoire is it’s potential to be a powerful Special Wallbreaker while also being a cleric. Choice scarf allows Lele to keep an offensive by pressuring out mons that it beats but typically doesn’t outspeed without a scarf such as Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny. While Aromatheraphy is pretty situational to where it’s only real use is removing status, it allows Lele to use the turn mons are pressured out to heal it’s team’s status afflictions.

Focus Blast and HP Fire are pretty interchangeable, as they each hit different Steel-Type threats differently.

 

[curiosity]

Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie | Life On Mars? - David Bowie | Zeroes - David Bowie
​

Thank you everyone for participating throughout the last month and most importantly, thank you for being so patient with me throughout my long absence. Admittedly this month started out surprisingly slow, but I'm genuinely surprised on how active this project has become in recent weeks, so I can't thank you enough for keeping this project alive. Now, since I've been delaying the voting schedule for around the entire month, this week, I've decided to do something different when it comes to voting - instead of voting for the standard one submission, you'll now be voting for 3 submissions instead! Hopefully this should be quite simple, as you'll be voting for your favourite submission from every category.

Category 1: Mega Mawile

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Specially Defensive by XxAwesomePlayzxX
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Offensive Stealth Rock by nameless90
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Substitute +Focus Punch by KuraiTenshi26
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Category 2: Heatran

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Groundium Z by Algeria
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Binding Band by MFJK
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Wisp Utility by Steel With It
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Substitute + Toxic by Jordy
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Choice Specs by mellowyellowhd
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Offensive Dual Fire Stab by KuraiTenshi26
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Nature Power Utility by cromagnet42
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Offensive Chople Berry by Martin
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Choice Band by Qplaz
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Steelium Z +Flame Charge by 1_TrickPhony
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Torment Defensive by XxAwesomePlayzxX ​

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Category 3: Tapu Lele

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Tapunium by KuraiTenshi26
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Offensive Terrain Extender by LeNorm
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Calm Mind Fightinium by JTD783
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Metronome by wadusher
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Offensive Psych Up..? by robofiend
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Z-Nature Power by OlliKnolli
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Z-Ally Switch by Martin
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Scarf Nature Power by Flame from Heaven
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Offensive Substitute + Aguav by nameless90
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Scarf Utility by Wugus ​

Before I close off, I wanted to see what 'mon you guys were interested in looking at. I say this mostly because I've been stupid enough not to ask for feedback for any of my projects for a long time, so I wanted to hear your thoughts. What's something I could change (other than the schedule, that should be on time) and what's something that you want to see? I should also apologise for the hide tags, but the post is just too big without them. Anyways, Voting will end on Monday the 8th of October. Until then, Happy Posting!

 

[wadusher]

Steelium flame charge Heatran and SubPunch Mawile

 

[nameless90]

Specially Defensive Mega Mawile by XxAwesomePlayzxX

Nature Power Utility Heatran by cromagnet42

Tapunium Tapu Lele by KuraiTenshi26

 

[JTD783]

Offensive Rocks Mawile

SubToxic Tran

Tapunium Lele

 

[Mellow]

subpunch maw, binding band tran, cm metronome lele

 

[curiosity]

Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie | Life On Mars? - David Bowie | Zeroes - David Bowie
​

Thank you everyone for voting once again! This week's winners are KuraiTenshi26, cromagnet42 and wadusher with their Substitute + Focus Punch Mawile, Nature Power Heatran and Metronome Tapu Lele respectively. Your submissions will be added to the hall of fame very shortly.

Space Oddity - David Bowie
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This week's "case study" will be Tangrowth! Tangrowth has been a consistently fantastic pick throughout the entire generation, thanks to its fantastic defensive pivoting capabilities, which has made it a staple across various playstyles, including bulky offence, stall and balance, which all appreciate the utility that Tangrowth is able to provide to these archetype, which is the ability to essentially blanket check half the tier, while providing Knock Off support to a build. One often overlooked fact about Tangrowth is that it has an incredible movepool, which allows it to punish many unassuming threats or even allow it to provide a team with a completely unique niche! While in recent weeks, it has begun to face competition from Tapu Bulu, which holds a similar niche in the tier, with the removed (relative) passivity of Tangrowth and has the added benefit of providing a team with Grassy Terrain support and an additional wallbreaker, leaving Tangrowth somewhat overshadowed by Bulu. However, Tangrowth is still an incredible pick and has only seems to be getting better, and maybe you can find the Next Best Tangrowth set?

Here are this week's banned sets:

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Happy Posting!

 

[xapx]

Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 184 HP / 84 Atk / 28 Def / 140 SpA / 72 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb

This is the first time I ever customized a set. This Tangrowth is 3HKOed by Crunch from +1 Mega Gyarados, HP Ice from Tapu Koko. I concentrated more on the offensive EV stats, with 84 Attack EVs +Life Orb OHKOing Mega Charizard Y with Rock Tomb and 252 HP Heatran with Earthquake. The rest is dumped into Special Attack to increase overall damage.
Regenerator + Giga Drain is really nice to back up the LO recoil, and I think this niche set is pretty fun to use.

(You can even use this on like TR teams)

 

[nameless90]

Toxic+Stun Spore Tangrowth

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Toxic

Electric Terrain really hurts a regular defensive Tangrowth a lot, considering that that terrain is brought up by the already-good Tapu Koko and the sleep clause is a thing to consider because every player is used to it.
Stun Spore has the same accuracy of Sleep Powder, but with the bonus of the possibility to spread it more times than once. This way you cripple one threat or more.
Not only that, but Toxic is really helpful in order to have a wide coverage alongside Knock Off throwing away the opposite Leftovers (or whatever item is).
A teammate to deal properly with Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor is needed, though.

 

[Marigold]

Reserving Defensive AV Tangrowth

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fire]

Tangrowth is a great mon, I love how customizable it is when it comes to picking which calcs you want to deal with better while retaining the ability to check half the tier. You play this pretty much like standard max spdef Tang, but a bit less recklessly when dealing with some special moves and more liberally against some physical ones.

The +def nature helps with some notable scenarios such as avoiding a 2hko from Lop's HJK after rocks, a 2hko from banded Kartana Smart Strike, an ohko from +1 Dragonium Zygarde, an ohko from +2 adamant Fightinium Bulu. It still retains enough special bulk for scenarios like requiring a 3hko from specs Greninja's Dark Pulse and modest specs Kingdra's Draco Meteor.

Sludge Bomb is a great tech since the extra physical bulk is notably useful for handling even the most offensive SD Bulu sets. Hp Ice vs Fire is the classic "pick between Zygarde or Ferro/Kartana" but both work on this set courtesy of extra physdef.

 

[Mellow]

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Grass Knot
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power Fire
- Earthquake / Sludge Bomb

If your build isn't worried about RestTalk Zygarde or Gliscor and you have a secondary Ash-Gren answer (you can run Mixed Def too because you're not using this set as your primary Ash-Gren answer), Grass Knot + HP Fire is a cool option. Grass Knots used so you can still break Zygarde subs (it's 120 BP bc he's a fat fuck), but it's also much stronger against Pokemon like Mamoswine, Tyranitar, and Gyarados. Hidden Power Fire's nice so you can not be setup fodder for Mega Scizor, you scare out Ferrothorn (you already Knock it I know but HP Fire does a nice chunk), and ofc you OHKO Kartana, which can be amazing for some teams.

 

[Martin]

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power Ice
- Rock Slide

Rock Slide is a decent option that Tangrowth has at its disposal that helps it hit Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y as they switch in, both of which take next to nothing from any of Tangrowth’s other options while also not fearing Knock Off (Tang’s usual dangerous ‘mon dissuasion tool). It doesn’t really hit a lot other than 4x weak targets—the closest thing to an alternative target aside from Moltres is Tornadus-T, which usually takes less than 50% even before considering bulky variants, and Kyurem-B takes a measly 30% from it—but not being total setup fodder for Volc/a free nuke for Zard Y is a massive boon, especially on teams that opt to bring something like Gastro instead of Toxapex. Hell, you can even take a hit from Volcarona and retalliate back if Tang is healthy and fails to catch it on the switch.

0 Atk Tangrowth Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 268-316 (90.2 - 106.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

0 Atk Tangrowth Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Volcarona: 308-364 (99 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 228+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 276-326 (68.3 - 80.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 Atk Tangrowth Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 124 Def Volcarona: 260-308 (69.7 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 228+ SpD Assault Vest Tangrowth: 228-270 (56.4 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[robofiend]

Reserving Chlorophyll sun sweeper

 

[Steel With It]

Tangrowth @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Leech Seed

Electric Terrain is on damn near every team + Leech Seed is broken = Standard PhysDef Tang with a far superior (or Serperior, amirite) way of punishing its switch-ins in the Tapu meta. HP Fire is the preferred third move on this set to dick on any Karts or Ferros that might want to absorb your Seeds, but HP Ice is still HP Ice.

 

[Finchinator]

Been wanting to use this in Snake forever, but it has not quite fit onto any of my structures, so I'll share it here given that it's appropriate.

Tangrowth (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- Payback

On teams that have another Knock Off user and do not need Sludge Bomb for Tapu Bulu, Payback can be incredibly helpful in the fourth slot on the standard AV variant. Usually, it is even more helpful on teams that lack another hard-counter to Mega Alakazam or even Mega Latios, but even with a Celesteela paired with it, which often is the case, this can be quite beneficial seeing as Mega Latios is oftentimes lured in by Tangrowth and Mega Alakazam does not mind staying in to trace Regenerator and negate your Regenerator recovery by firing off a Psychic. You can punish both of these Pokemon to the point where it makes a significant difference in their long-term survivability, if not taking them out of the game entirely, thanks to Payback.

4 Atk Tangrowth Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Alakazam-Mega: 204-242 (81.2 - 96.4%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
4 Atk Tangrowth Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Alakazam: 268-316 (106.7 - 125.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 Atk Tangrowth Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios-Mega: 146-172 (48.5 - 57.1%) -- 89.8% chance to 2HKO, guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
4 Atk Tangrowth Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 174-206 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Tangrowth Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blacephalon: 240-284 (97.1 - 114.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO (nice for when in Grassy Terrain and EQ cannot kill it)

Doing so much to Mega Alakazam is ridiculously practical, oftentimes getting a kill that the Mega Alakazam user does not expect and giving you a big leg up in the game. In addition, doing over half on average to Mega Latios and having just as many PP as Roost with Payback is very helpful in specific match-ups.

 

[Sickist]

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Power Whip
- Curse
- Earthquake/Stone Edge
- Synthesis/Rest

Curse Tangrowth sounds subpar at first glance, but it actually can function as a late game sweeper. Curse allows Tangrowth to boost it's speed and attack, but lower it's speed. This will allow it to eat hits boosted and hit back hard. Power Whip is the STAB of choice, having huge power output (when it lands of course). Earthquake is a high powered, low risk, high reward moveallows you to hit most types that resist grass such as Steel and Fire. Alternatively, Stone Edge can be used to hit Flying and Bug types for super effective damage, but it leaves Tangrowth walled by steel types such as Kartana, Mega Scizor, and Skarmory, and overall is less practical then Earthquake. Finally, in the last slot is recovery. Synthesis allows instant recovery and allows you to keep attacking, but it has limited PP and is weakened by Tyrannitar's Sand Stream. Rest on the other hand heals to full no matter what and heals status, but leaves Tangrowth a sitting duck for the opponent. Maximum Spdef evs maximize Tangrowth's special bulk, allowing it to still somewhat check Greninja. Max HP allows for maximum overall bulk, allowing it to not drop to any one neutral attack from anything. In conclusion, This set may not be entirely practical, but it sure will give your opponent a massive surprise, and may even potentially win you games.