np SV UU Stage 3.1 - 212 (Scizor Suspect & Iron Leaves Quickban)

Status
Not open for further replies.
IMG_2386.jpeg
 
What are people using to beat Quaqaval? I have a decent team at the moment which has got me better than I expected as a newbie, but the duck is responsible for 80% of my losses
 
tera ghost gastro, slowbro, quagsire vs setup, mence can be a pain, keep up the pressure to make sure that they cannot get the free turns needed, decidueye, etc
They aren't foolproof if you lose those checks/counters, but hey its counterplay. Just tread carefully when dealing with Quaquaval. It really is a bit of a matchup duck. Its pretty silly if you happen to lose your counterplay to it, so you gotta make sure to do your best to keep it from finding openings when you do have counterplay by making sure to mess up its teammates that can get rid of your counters/check.
 
In light of the new drops, I thought that now would be an appropriate time to make a post about none of them and instead ramble about some options on some mons in the metagame I find cool.

:XY/pelipper:
Pelipper @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Choice Specs (w/ 4A)
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Water / Flying / Ground
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe - Can reasonably be ran much bulkier (usually kind of prefer more bulk atm tbh)
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk - Relevant for Brambleghast’s Strength Sap
- Hydro Pump
- Hurricane
- Knock Off / Surf / U-Turn
- Roost

Not a niche or unexplored mon but would just like to shoutout its offensive potency. The typing is just really obnoxious offensively and there’s actually very limited defensive counterplay as it stands. More often than not you’re kind of just forced into pivoting around it and it poses such a big threat while also having very nice defensive merit as an offensive Scizor & Quaquaval check. This is not to say that Pelipper is without it’s fair share of flaws given the poor speed tier and somewhat lacklustre bulk, but nonetheless I think it is still one of the most high potential breakers in the tier as it stands. Your 4th move is also super customisable, I like Knock Off or Surf a bit more than U-Turn, but they’re all very solid.
TL;DR: Water-Flying w/ boosted Hydro Pumps & 100% Accurate Hurricanes = Annoying


:XY/slowbro:
Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy / Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Surf / Flamethrower / Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off

This set doesn’t get talked about an awful lot but I think this is actually a pretty absurd wincon versus a lot of bulkier teams. It’s extremely easy to create late-game scenarios where the mon is unstoppable while simultaneously providing the lovely defensive role it usually fulfils. The coverage is also kind of crazy and you have some pretty nice options to nail whatever you want. I like Psyshock more than Psychic because It’s a pretty obscene stallbreaker if you can get your opp to burn it for Quag since you can also beat CM Blissey afterwards but it’s still a personal reference. Quagsire in general is usually pretty obnoxious but luring Wisp or at least discouraging is super nice.
TL;DR: Genuinely really annoying for more longevity heavy teams and can absolutely dominate endgames while being a generally good wall. Quags annoying but you also beat it handily if you can bait a wisp into it at any point during the game.

:SV/Quaquaval:
Quaquaval @ Choice Band
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Water / Steel / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- U-turn

Not a remotely unexplored set but I would still say that the number of set up variants still largely outnumbers choiced and the raw power behind it (when it isn’t thudding into Slowbro or an immunity) and doesn’t get enough respect. Biggest drawback is that you need to get your turns right, but the ceiling is quite frankly absurd. Aqua Step also has some pretty insane late game potential once obstacles like Gastro or Mence (Which are both taking a trillion from CC or Spinner respectively) are out of the way. This is all to saying nothing about the fact that it has U-Turn as a good midground. Overall a super super scary breaker and one I feel like I don’t see enough of. Speed tiers admittedly kind of shitty but I don’t think its enough of a gripe to make me not like this mon.
TL;DR: Demonic breaker that can also clean very effectively into a lot of teams. Should be noted that it does want to get its turns right though & the initial speed tier does leave something to be desired.

:XY/Florges:
Florges (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flower Veil
Tera Type: Fairy / Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Giga Drain / Draining Kiss / Synthesis
- Trick

By far the most out there of the sets I’ve talked about it, but specs Florges has some interesting advantages outside of CM stuff, I swear. In a similar vein to how Sylveon & Gardevoir can be stupidly potent offensively w/ Tinkaton removed, Specs Florges can do the exact same thing and is just as threatening. In particular in comparison to Specs Sylveon (Which has seen existent usage) Florges has a notable speed tier advantage. In addition to access to Trick, Florges’ base 75 puts it ahead of the likes of max speed TTar and Decidueye w/ a neutral nature which Sylveon can’t achieve. That being said there’s a trade off as you miss some notable benchmarks v Hippo & Gastrodon, but Tera Fairy muscles through both easily and the difference is marginal enough to the point where getting minimal chip on them evens it out anyways. Gardevoir is Florges’ biggest competition as it possesses a marginally better speed tier, Trace to abuse a myriad of mons, and with healing wish and coverage w/ Mystical Fire. Specs Gardevoir is undoubtedly generally a better option than Florges more often than not, but between Florges’ monstrous natural bulk & passable longevity through Draining Kiss or Synthesis, I feel like it’s an option you can still justify. Your natural bulk just gives you some really nice entry points and you can soft check some notable special attackers e.g. Noivern, Mence, Jugulis, and Greninja. It’s not an ironclad answer at all by any means and you should not really be looking to hard Florg in on them recklessly. But the main point is that it can eat a hit reasonably and threaten them well while also having a lot of cool offensive potential. Outside of Moonblast, Trick and Psychic you can kind of go for whatever, Giga Drains okay for some recovery while hitting the ubiquitous Grounds & Waters of the tier. Draining Kiss is actually a pretty stupid move and can give Florges some added longevity that still hits hard w/ Tera Fairy. Synthesis is somewhat of a cool option to give you a more direct means of sustaining yourself but the presence of sand makes it fairly unreliable. Tera Fairy is generally much better from my experience as Grass sacrifices a lot defensively (particularly w/ the flying weakness) but it does sit on Quag forever (For those unaware, Flower Veil activates if you Tera Grass) and it’s a lot better into Hippo/Shocks so I thought it was worth mentioning.
TL;DR: Limited Fairy resists = Florges scary, Outspeed TTar/Deci w/ Modest good, very good natural bulk on a fairy = also good. for sure a niche mon w/ big competition but it has some cool stuff going for it.
 
Today, I'd like to present you all with an underexplored set on an underexplored Pokemon, that surprisingly has a fantastic place in the current meta:

Toxic Toxicroak
:sv/toxicroak:
Toxicroak @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 176 Atk / 236 Def / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Encore / Gunk Shot / Sucker Punch / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Somehow, this NU Pokémon that barely hits 1% usage can threaten every single team with a defensive core without Altaria (which gets wrecked if you're running Ice Punch anyway). To illustrate, imagine how difficult Quagsire is to switch into. EQ + Toxic already is very threatening, but there are some Pokémon like Scizor and Taunt users that can shut it down quite easily. But, what if Quagsire had a strong Close Combat to make even those Pokémon tough to switch in? That's basically Toxicroak. Try to set up Stealth Rock? Get Encored. Switch into a bulky Flying or Ground to take a Close Combat? You just got Toxic'd, and are currently on a timer. Switching into Toxicroak is one of the most difficult things to accommodate for in the teambuilder.

And that's not even mentioning - It's one of the best offensive Floatzel / Barraskewda answers that we have! You have an even better Poison Heal in rain (3/16 of your HP every turn, including leftovers!), meaning that even if you take 50% on the switchin from some random attack, you can still avoid the 2HKO and strike back, staying healthy for your next switchin. Other defensive utility includes absorbing Toxic Spikes, 4x resisting First Impression & U-Turn, switching into Tsareena, non-Terastalized Wo-Chien, and Tyranitar's STABs, as well as checking Quaquaval sets that only run STAB moves.

Want to use Toxicroak, but not sure how to build with it? Take a look at this team: https://pokepast.es/9221bfd8c31eb105. It uses Toxicroak's ability to bait in and cripple bulky Ground-types to set up Dragon Dance Tyranitar for the easiest sweep possible. The given EV spread for Toxicroak lets you survive two choice band Floatzel Ice Spinners outside of rain, with enough speed for Tinkaton + speed creep and the rest put into Attack.

And this is the point where I'd normally put replays, and I did play a really good match with Toxicroak... which I forgot to save. So, I'll just say to try it out yourself and pass it off as community interaction. If I get any good replays, though, I'll edit my post and put them here.

So, yeah. Good Pokémon. I would definitely recommend experimenting with it as much as you can, because Toxicroak has a really big movepool and I only covered one set here.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top