Project PU Teambuilding Lab (Accepting requests in 2025!!)

[Bella]

Approved by ishtar
Art by DaWolfKid
stolen op from Estarossa

Hello, everyone. Throughout our time in PU, we have noticed that many newer players like asa struggle to build effective teams. In an effort to rectify that, we have joined forces with other PU players to host the PU Teambuilding Lab. Here, users can post Pokemon sets or cores that they would like the Lab staff to build a team around. The Lab staff may then reply with their team and the team building process they used so that the client can see our thought processes, and, as a result, better develop their ability to build their own teams in the future. Feel free to share any success you have with the teams posted here!

Rules:

• Have a one-paragraph description (3-4 lines should suffice) with the set or core you want us to build around and a slight idea of what kind of team you want the end result to be. Also, actually have the set(s) you want us to use in your post. This makes the process of building teams faster for all of us here.
• Do not post asking us to make use of unviable Pokemon. This is not a competition to see how good we are at team building; this is us trying to educate people about what is good in the meta and how to build effective teams. Furthermore, all requests must make sure that the Pokemon being requested are at least on the Viability Rankings. If you're requesting a core, make sure that you provide good reasoning as to why that core is worth building around in the current metagame. Even if only one Pokemon is to be built around, it must be viable enough in the current metagame to warrant receiving the time and effort of our staff. We reserve the right to decline any request that we do not feel meets the Lab's quality standards.
• Each user is allowed one request per week. If any user is found requesting multiple teams within that timeframe, the offending posts will be deleted and the user may see further punishment.
• Please remember that these teams are often first drafts and, as such, will not be perfect. Edit them as you please. That being said, builders must be willing to take constructive criticism regarding their teams and those who point out the flaws of a builder's team should contribute to the team's improvement in a constructive manner so that the builders and the clients can grow as players.
• Do not flame people for asking for a certain Pokemon or for being unable to build around something themselves.
• On that note, you are free (and highly encouraged) to suggest and post the changes or critiques you've made to already posted teams that you feel improve them.
• However, you are not allowed to post your own teams here to have us modify them. We're here to build new teams, not modify older ones. If you want your own teams critiqued and modified, post them in the RMT forum, not here.

If you wish to become a member of the Lab staff, please send hosts a forum PM containing an application that follows the format below. Bear in mind that demand for builders will fluctuate based on the volume of requests and the activity level of the Lab's current staff.

Builder Application and Requirements

1. Be knowledgeable regarding the PU tier and the current metagame
2. Provide evidence demonstrating your skills as a builder (RMT Team Showcase, examples of successful teams, etc.)
3. ~A paragraph in length describing how you build / what playstyle you are best at building (offense, stall, or balance, to be precise)
You must clearly demonstrate to the hosts that you deserve consideration as a builder. If you do not provide enough useful information to successfully enable us to judge your suitability for the position, your application will be declined.

Hosts:
Bella
Builders:
2xTheTap
Akir
asa
Bella
DD Joe
gulch
ishtar
Lambovino
MZ
TONE
UberSkitty

Announcements:

• The Lab is currently accepting builder applications.
• The Lab currently accepts requests for teams in the following commonly-played PU metagames: SV, SS, SM, ORAS, BW, DPP, ADV.
• The Lab does not accept requests including Pokemon currently undergoing suspect testing.

 

[Bella]

Archive

Hyper Offense

none yet!

Bulky Offense

none yet!

Balance

none yet!

Stall

none yet!

 

[Wugus]

Toxtricity @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overdrive
- Sludge Wave / Snarl
- Volt Switch

Toxtricity is one of my favorite mons in the tier due to its incredible wallbreaking ability, especially via Tera Normal Boomburst. This mon is satisfying to use against teams that are unprepared for it. However, whenever I try to build, I struggle to find ways to bring it in safely. I would love to have a balance team built around the above Toxtricity set (I’m fine with snarl or sludge wave, as they’re both good options that I’ll leave to the builder’s preference). Any teambuilding tips you may have are also incredibly appreciated!

 

[TakingNotesKinda]

Future sight team with gcuno

 

[MZ]

Toxtricity @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overdrive
- Sludge Wave / Snarl
- Volt Switch

Toxtricity is one of my favorite mons in the tier due to its incredible wallbreaking ability, especially via Tera Normal Boomburst. This mon is satisfying to use against teams that are unprepared for it. However, whenever I try to build, I struggle to find ways to bring it in safely. I would love to have a balance team built around the above Toxtricity set (I’m fine with snarl or sludge wave, as they’re both good options that I’ll leave to the builder’s preference). Any teambuilding tips you may have are also incredibly appreciated!

Click sprites for importable!

I'd had a near-empty team with just Specs Toxtricity in my builder for over a week trying to motivate myself to build around it, so thanks for the final push. If there's one thing I can recommend about building, it's that if you're hung up on something, try to go in a totally different direction. Initially I got really hung up over providing pivots, thinking about if I needed some slow pivot set, am I getting Toxtricity in right, etc. and it just wasn't working. This is something I slapped together in like 10 minutes once I stopped caring about the pivot aspect of the team quite as much, and it came together almost perfectly with only a few minor changes after that. I will also say Snarl felt significantly better than Sludge Wave, it's a weirdly good safe move to hit that removes the need to predict around if they'll switch to, say, Hoopa or Mudsdale.

Bombirdier goes quite nicely with Toxtricity, it'll U-turn on an awful lot of stuff that this thing abuses (Bellibolt, fat Grounds, fat Waters, Florges, etc.). After that the team is pivotless, but I think it induces a lot of play where it's not too hard to double into Toxtricity or bring it straight in on one of the few things that can't particularly hurt it. Sandslash covers hazards because ideally you have them off for Toxtricity but it's not so mandatory as to take one of the very passive but better removers, you're usually either sacking it to huge chip a Fire Tauros (kinda like Skuntank) or saving it because they have a Scrafty and it's gonna be important if they have a Scrafty. I never Tera'd it once but feel free to change Bug, I just thought that was funny, speed beats a lot of things up to and including other Toxtricity after a spin and Rhydon before one. Slowbro-G + Tauros-P-A + Florges shouldn't need too much explanation, in terms of blanket walling most of the meta while having a lot more offensive presence and staying power than something like Milotic or Mudsdale would, they really do the trick. Tauros is almost always going to be the cleaner, but it may also be vital for checking the Scrafties and Inteleons. Do keep in mind the team lacks its own Water resist without Teraing Slowbro, so you're going to want to keep Slowbro or Florges healthy to handle most physical or special waters respectively. That should about cover it, I've really stretched the explanation for what's a relatively simple team overall. I had a lot of fun with it and ended up doing a ton of laddering yesterday where I was just struggling to put the team down. Just play aggressive with your Toxtricity and enjoy.

 

[Wugus]

Click sprites for importable!

I'd had a near-empty team with just Specs Toxtricity in my builder for over a week trying to motivate myself to build around it, so thanks for the final push. If there's one thing I can recommend about building, it's that if you're hung up on something, try to go in a totally different direction. Initially I got really hung up over providing pivots, thinking about if I needed some slow pivot set, am I getting Toxtricity in right, etc. and it just wasn't working. This is something I slapped together in like 10 minutes once I stopped caring about the pivot aspect of the team quite as much, and it came together almost perfectly with only a few minor changes after that. I will also say Snarl felt significantly better than Sludge Wave, it's a weirdly good safe move to hit that removes the need to predict around if they'll switch to, say, Hoopa or Mudsdale.

Bombirdier goes quite nicely with Toxtricity, it'll U-turn on an awful lot of stuff that this thing abuses (Bellibolt, fat Grounds, fat Waters, Florges, etc.). After that the team is pivotless, but I think it induces a lot of play where it's not too hard to double into Toxtricity or bring it straight in on one of the few things that can't particularly hurt it. Sandslash covers hazards because ideally you have them off for Toxtricity but it's not so mandatory as to take one of the very passive but better removers, you're usually either sacking it to huge chip a Fire Tauros (kinda like Skuntank) or saving it because they have a Scrafty and it's gonna be important if they have a Scrafty. I never Tera'd it once but feel free to change Bug, I just thought that was funny, speed beats a lot of things up to and including other Toxtricity after a spin and Rhydon before one. Slowbro-G + Tauros-P-A + Florges shouldn't need too much explanation, in terms of blanket walling most of the meta while having a lot more offensive presence and staying power than something like Milotic or Mudsdale would, they really do the trick. Tauros is almost always going to be the cleaner, but it may also be vital for checking the Scrafties and Inteleons. Do keep in mind the team lacks its own Water resist without Teraing Slowbro, so you're going to want to keep Slowbro or Florges healthy to handle most physical or special waters respectively. That should about cover it, I've really stretched the explanation for what's a relatively simple team overall. I had a lot of fun with it and ended up doing a ton of laddering yesterday where I was just struggling to put the team down. Just play aggressive with your Toxtricity and enjoy.

Thank you so much! This looks really fun to use! I’ll make sure to request something again on Sunday if anyone else is stuck on building with anything haha.

Do you have any tips on analyzing metas to help build teams better? I saw you mentioned mons like Rhydon and Fire Tauros, which I never would’ve considered if I was trying to build. I hadn’t ever considered Bombirdier as a pivot, so I’d definitely like to know how you chose it over other pivots.

 

[MZ]

Thank you so much! This looks really fun to use! I’ll make sure to request something again on Sunday if anyone else is stuck on building with anything haha.

Do you have any tips on analyzing metas to help build teams better? I saw you mentioned mons like Rhydon and Fire Tauros, which I never would’ve considered if I was trying to build. I hadn’t ever considered Bombirdier as a pivot, so I’d definitely like to know how you chose it over other pivots.

Rhydon is fairly arbitrary (and also pretty bad imo), the speed after spin is more what I was going for. However, when you start with Toxtricity + Bombirdier, it's pretty important to take a hard look at all the fat ground types that might mess you up and Rhydon is definitely notable for resisting Boomburst. I wouldn't worry about it too much on most teams but given the starting point it's more important to pay attention to things like Rhydon, Palossand, etc. Fire Tauros I just think is generally pretty good, but that could also be Staraptor or anything else that'll take a lot of physical recoil. As for Bombirdier, I wanted something that specifically baits in physical walls that won't handle a Specs Boomburst so well, especially Bellibolt since it can do the least damage back to Toxtricity. Bombirdier felt pretty natural for those reasons, although there's definitely other things like Ambipom or Staraptor that fit that goal. Originally it was Bombirdier to be the rocker, but after I added Sandslash and Glowbro I realized that offensive with Sucker Punch also made a lot of sense here.

As for how I analyze a meta, a lot of it is just trying. I make a lot of garbage that gets deleted quickly. If I'm ever a good builder, it's usually because I've spent so long being a bad one that I eventually struck gold. Maybe this team only came out well so fast because of the other 3 I made last week that were hot garbage. I do try to make heavy use of the role compendium and VR to direct my thoughts (What typical speed control can I fit here? What top mon eats my first 4 for breakfast?), and I usually try to keep things pretty offensive. If I'm going to use an extremely passive mon, take Gastrodon for example, I'm either going to justify it with a lot of power in the other slots (CB Tauros + Future Sight), or make sure its doing something very specific and has ways to not be so passive (like Clear Smog).

Also, I made a change to the team! Earthquake is nice on Glowbro to hit Skuntank and other Glowbros, but I think Surf is more useful to keep better pressure up on Ground types and being mildly stronger if you need to chip your way through a Levitate Bronzong. You can also run Bold on Glowbro instead of Relaxed now. I definitely should've caught this before posting so whoops my bad.

 

[Wugus]

Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Trailblaze

It’s been about a week since my last post, so I figured I’d request another mon. I’ve been seeing a lot of Heracross on the ladder recently, and probably for good reason. Heracross is a very potent Wallbreaker/sweeper, being able to abuse Guts + Tera Normal + Facade in a tier with only a few viable Ghost-Types. Even then, Heracross also gets Knock Off. I think this Hera set works best in either Hyper Offense or Hazard Stack, so a team of that archtype would be cool to see!

 

[TONE]

Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Trailblaze

It’s been about a week since my last post, so I figured I’d request another mon. I’ve been seeing a lot of Heracross on the ladder recently, and probably for good reason. Heracross is a very potent Wallbreaker/sweeper, being able to abuse Guts + Tera Normal + Facade in a tier with only a few viable Ghost-Types. Even then, Heracross also gets Knock Off. I think this Hera set works best in either Hyper Offense or Hazard Stack, so a team of that archtype would be cool to see!

Click the sprites for the importable!

Apologies for the wait, but here is your Heracross team. When building with Heracross I knew 3 things were needed, hazard stacking, hazard removal, and momentum to get Heracross in as safely as possible. Keeping the Heracross set the same, H-Electrode was added for immediate speed and a means of weakening stuff like Palossand. Tera Dark provides the team with a Psychic immunity which the team sorely lacked and Soundproof helps vs Toxtricity lacking Poison coverage. Goodra tanks Water- and Fire attacks for the team and provides added support with Knock Off + Toxic over Sludge Bomb to better handle CM Florges in conjunction with Tera Steel. Gligar + Coalossal provides the stacking and removal for the team, Stone Edge on Gligar is mainly for Staraptor and other FLying types and 0 Speed IVs and Relaxed nature is intentional to get the slow momentum to get in Heracross safely and Coalossal gives the team Spikes, Rapid Spin support for Heracross, and Heavy Slam puts more pressure on Florges so Coalossal isn't setup fodder. Lastly, Specs Inteleon provides extra breaking support and momentum and benefits from Heracross and H-Electrode dealing with Water-types. Enjoy the team!

 

[OllyPokemon]

Articuno @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Haze
- U-turn
- Roost

Hey sorry if this pokemon is too weak for this, however I enjoy using it on my teams - have built before around a kind of balance team but not sure if I got it correct. I think articuno can wall a lot and stops a lot of sweepers with haze, just not sure how to then turn that into victories. Usually use spikes/rocks with a bulky water mon like milotic and then just play around with banded wallbreakers to try and break through the opposition, just not sure I ever get the balance correct.

 

[asa]

The PU teambuilding lab is officially back in business! We didn't mean to let this project collect so much dust, but with this new meta beginning to settle, we'd like to once again open our ears (and teambuilders) to the cool, crazy, and coolrazy ideas you all have. Have at it!

If you're interested in becoming one of our builders, feel free to PM Bella or I with your application :)

 

[koopa003]

Pawmot @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Shock
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch

First attempt to show a good set!

Pawmot, typical wallbreaker, now with scarf to outspeed zoroark, salazzle, scarf deci-h and ambipoms (only revenge kill with this last one principally, even though fake out is a 2hko even with tera and life orb).

I think i dont have anything new to say about double shock. Its really great for end game, specially against bulky teams, as with tera it can easily 2hko even max hp and def slowbros, so its not a free switch for opponent. ice punch is mainly for ohkoing altarias and dealing a decent amount of damage against mudsdale and palossand, which are usually hard counters. Mach punch is a little surprise for the opponent if they know this is scarf. It is used in rare cases (that cases might be ambipom with web on your side, scarf zoroark, pawmot's scarf knocked off or chip for other pokemon who boosted their speed). It can be substituted with knock off/volt swicth/revival blessing. I believe this 4th move is pretty flexible, but actually with some practice i found that mach punch might be the most reliable.

Also, I want to talk about the nature. I put adamant over jolly mainly because it already has a high enough speed to outspeed everything (except other scarfs) and its also very powerful with that 361 attack, putting a lot of pressure on every pokemon, even on palossand (ice punch is a guaranteed 3hko) and mudsdale (ice punch does 35-42%, but with stamina its still harder to kill). However, jolly makes pawmot even faster and it outspeeds everything (scarf salazzle aint real lmao) so it can also be reliable if its you main speedy pokemon. It really depends if you want to priorize power or speed on your team.

-Backfire of adamant: its outsped by other scarfs users like tauros, bruxish,typhlosion, zoroark, jolly scarf pawmot...
-Backfire of jolly: less damage on its moves: double shock tera electric a 41.8% chance to 2hko slowbro galar; ice punch a 2hko against full hp def altaria...

Fun fact: if you want to use double shock consecutively, you should tera on the firts turn, because if you tera on the second it doesnt give the 2x boost, only 1.5x as it lost the electric type! Yes, it might seem obvious, but, still, be careful!!

 

[Breakfastbiscuit]

:) Hi PU! I have been having some real struggles in the builder lately and saw that the crew was again open for operation berry cool.

Okay first edition to the core I had in mind is:

Seemingly the last Pokémon I'd turn to when it comes to a dependable defensive wall. But I've seen it get some use on some hazard stack and status-heavy teams.

Next member of the core:

Now this is a Pokémon I consider to have some serious untapped potential, I've been told of some good match-ups it has & i'm a firm believer in its ability to snowball with some stat boosting sets, In particular: its new addition Trailblaze and its biggest synergy in Power trip. I just don't quite know how to support it

I'm not quite sure how this Pokémon even works But I mainly wanted something to spread some Toxic.

Now to the last addition to the core:

Now I know this Pokémon has no place being here but I know that's not even an issue to worry about around these here parts
and that I'm including due to nothing but my personal bias but I have it on good faith that it is indeed the pu standard to do so. Having said that I see no argument to be had for an exclusion.

 

[asa]

:) Hi PU! I have been having some real struggles in the builder lately and saw that the crew was again open for operation berry cool.

Okay first edition to the core I had in mind is:

Seemingly the last Pokémon I'd turn to when it comes to a dependable defensive wall. But I've seen it get some use on some hazard stack and status-heavy teams.

Next member of the core:

Now this is a Pokémon I consider to have some serious untapped potential, I've been told of some good match-ups it has & i'm a firm believer in its ability to snowball with some stat boosting sets, In particular: its new addition Trailblaze and its biggest synergy in Power trip. I just don't quite know how to support it

I'm not quite sure how this Pokémon even works But I mainly wanted something to spread some Toxic.

Now to the last addition to the core:

Now I know this Pokémon has no place being here but I know that's not even an issue to worry about around these here parts
and that I'm including due to nothing but my personal bias but I have it on good faith that it is indeed the pu standard to do so. Having said that I see no argument to be had for an exclusion.

The rules state that we only build around ranked Pokemon (and that the core should reasonably be worth building around):

Do not post asking us to make use of unviable Pokemon. This is not a competition to see how good we are at team building; this is us trying to educate people about what is good in the meta and how to build effective teams. Furthermore, all requests must make sure that the Pokemon being requested are at least on the Viability Rankings. If you're requesting a core, make sure that you provide good reasoning as to why that core is worth building around in the current metagame. Even if only one Pokemon is to be built around, it must be viable enough in the current metagame to warrant receiving the time and effort of our staff. We reserve the right to decline any request that we do not feel meets the Lab's quality standards.

As such, I am declining this request. If you want something with Naclstack, Salazzle, or both, though, that would be fine.