Project RarelyUsed Teambuilding Competition: week 26: Slowbro-Galar

Wait, people vote on these before even looking at the pastes?

Some nice teams here. I'm a bit surprised by the general lack of prio moves (forgiven in some cases such as Heatranator with ample prankster T-wave support). Maybe I'm not good and rely on prio as a crutch.

Agree with Rarelyme (and Conkeldurr is really strong as always + Ditto love),

voting FlamePoke
(you'll always be a Flamingo in my heart)
 
:sv/gengar:Week 20: Speedy ghosts:sv/zoroark-hisui:
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We've had these two ghosts for a while now, it's about time they got their time in the spotlight even though they love hiding so much. The two of them share a lot in common, being ghosts with similar movepools, identical speed stats and nearly identical sets, however they can both set themselves apart in interesting ways. Gengar has a better secondary attacking type, slightly more special attack, toxic spikes, encore and more coverage moves, but Zoroark has stab tera blast, u-turn, a usable attack stat, a ghost immunity and the ever-annoying illusion. Think about these differences and how to best make use of them, then share your creation here.

Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have either Gengar or Zoroark on it.

Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-7) on Friday, July 26th, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-7) on Sunday July 28th.
 
Utility Gengar BO

:cyclizar: - Bike.
:gengar: - Encore Gengar my beloved, with Wisp to annoy switch-ins like Cyc and Hoodra.
:infernape: - NP Infernape is a great late-game cleaner with immense upside using Tera Grass.
:Oricorio-Pom-Pom: - Another setup mon I like to use on occasion, Ori-Pom is a great tool for teams because of its defensive profile and offensive upside.
:swampert: - SpDef Swampert with 30 Speed IVs to Knock, Rock, and Flip to something... stronk?
:weezing-galar: - PhysDef GWeez that drops Defog for Acid Spray, mainly to catch defensive switch-ins that otherwise check it like CM Fez.
 
ZH BO

Fun team I made that's pretty standard

:empoleon: - Using the new offensive set thats been popping up in the tier, it's what was the team was gonna originally be built around but I decided to put ZH for this week's mon. Nice switchin for all the waters in the tier(except mixed blastoise, fuck mixed blastoise) along with big threats like yan, special mence/noivern, and gard while also being able to take 2 shadow balls at full from scarf gengar + HZ (specs 2hkos and some). It also offensively threatens strong surfs off 339 sptak with ice beam + grass knot to hit would be switchins like bro, mence and bike to name a few. Very threating mon into the tier as a whole.

:weezing-galar: - Fighting + Ground switchin for empoleon, threatens wisp and defog while staying somewhat healthy with pain split, standard guy.

:okidogi: - Goated mon, I wanted a nice setup mon that offered some defensive value, the dog provides, I was deciding between knock and fangs but ended up back on fangs to hit annoying poison types like weez, fez, gengar and tera poison bro, knock is a fine choice as you are lacking one on the team and it hits bro w/o tera + ghosts

:hippowdon: - I wanted a rocker and settled on physdef hippo cause I love it and having a dedicated physdef wall with stab eq + phasing cooks a lot of mons (dd mence, krook, dog, mimi, gapdos etc.).

:sv/zoroark-hisui: - Big bad fast ghost, slap on specs and click to your hearts content. Though it is tough to get in because I decided I was too good for a bulky pivot in the builder(I forgor), so I ended leading it a lot and leveraging its strong immunities to sneak it's way in a click very strong moves into the whole tier for a short time to try and break key walls for dog or mence to sweep.

:salamence: - dd mence my beloved, really good setup mon + fire resist that can get in from mons empoleon or hippo bait in to click dd and start cleaning, I was lowkey thinking about maybe slotting flygon in for strong eq's but I like mence's power and ability to smack grass mons around more than flygon's threating stab, which is worn down much easier with lo and helmet hippo or helmet weez, salamence felt way more consistent during testing but this slot is very flexible, I was also thinking about scarf mence/flygon or even specs noivern

Alright team, probably could slot in regular spedef empoleon and put stone edge on hippo, or some combonation of spedef empoleon + bulky ground + pivot/scarf noivern to get HZ in way more often, but this is what I ended up with, hope you enjoy.
 
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ZH BO

Fun team I made that's pretty standard

:empoleon: - Using the new offensive set thats been popping up in the tier, it's what was the team was gonna originally be built around but I decided to put ZH for this week's mon. Nice switchin for all the waters in the tier(except mixed blastoise, fuck mixed blastoise) along with big threats like yan, special mence/noivern, and gard while also being able to take 2 shadow balls at full from scarf gengar + HZ (specs 2hkos and some). It also offensively threatens strong surfs off 339 sptak with ice beam + grass knot to hit would be switchins like bro, mence and bike to name a few. Very threating mon into the tier as a whole.

:weezing-galar: - Fighting + Ground switchin for empoleon, threatens wisp and defog while staying somewhat healthy with pain split, standard guy.

:okidogi: - Goated mon, I wanted a nice setup mon that offered some defensive value, the dog provides, I was deciding between knock and fangs but ended up back on fangs to hit annoying poison types like weez, fez, gengar and tera poison bro, knock is a fine choice as you are lacking one(by one I mean a knocker) on the team and it hits bro w/o tera + ghosts

:hippowdon: - I wanted a rocker and settled on physdef hippo cause I love it and having a dedicated physdef wall with stab eq + phasing cooks a lot of mons (dd mence, krook, dog, mimi, gapdos etc.).

:sv/zoroark-hisui: - Big bad fast ghost, slap on specs and click to your hearts content. Though it is tough to get in because I decided I was too good for a bulky pivot in the builder(I forgor), so I ended leading it a lot and leveraging its strong immunities to sneak it's way in a click very strong moves into the whole tier for a short time to try and break key walls for dog or mence to sweep.

:salamence: - dd mence my beloved, really good setup mon + fire resist that can get in from mons empoleon or hippo bait in to click dd and start cleaning, I was lowkey thinking about maybe slotting flygon in for strong eq's but I like mence's power and ability to smack grass mons around more than flygon's threating stab, which is worn down much easier with lo and helmet hippo or helmet weez, salamence felt way more consistent during testing but this slot is very flexible, I was also thinking about scarf mence/flygon or even specs noivern

Alright team, probably could slot in regular spedef empoleon and put stone edge on hippo, or some combonation of spedef empoleon + bulky ground + pivot/scarf noivern to get HZ in way more often, but this is what I ended up with, hope you enjoy.

ZH offense
Example of the changes I was considering at the end of my last post, decided on rock slide hippo because I hate stone miss and you might need the extra pp in endgames where hippo is in against some levitate or flying mon. Without attack investment hippo isn't hitting particularly hard in the first place and the extra 25 bp is really only useful for is a guaranteed 2hko on mence when not -1, but I find myself clicking roar vs mence 90% of the time anyway
 
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Double Ghosts, Double Gators HO
:zoroark hisui: :gengar: :kleavor: :krookodile: :feraligatr: :entei:
So, due to a poll on the RU discord, I was forced to use BOTH of these mons in a team, and oh boy, was it difficult. At one point I even gave up on this team, as I felt it wasn't possible to make this team too good. However, after some encouragement and ideas from Elec-ant1234, I was ready again to make the team better, and here it is. This team tries to overwhelm the opposing team by using mons that might have overlapping checks to then allow the remaining members of the team to overwhelm them.

:pmd/zoroark hisui: So, the first of our ghosts, this horoark is a little bit special. The main attributes I changed from the normal set were colbur berry as the item, tera fighting and focus punch. Now, colbur berry allows you to take a weaker knock off quite easily and respond with good damage. For example, scarf gapdos looks like a really good switch in to horoark, as it can outspeed and ko it with knock off. However, this isn't the case anymore as now horoark will easily live the knock and respond back with good damage. Tera fighting allows gapdos to take said dark moves even more often if colbur berry didn't work that well and goes well with our third tech. Focus punch may be a bad move, but here it is very funny. This tech works best when you illusion as gengar, which while not the best, can be something that you prep for late game by making gengar the 5th mon, keeping the early game surpises illusion provides while allowing for this cool tech. With 8 attack evs, focus punch OHKOs cyclizar, which is otherwise an annoying move. It can also help against bisharp that tries to stay in and setup, slam chansey if they don't stay very healthy, do a nice chunk to specially defensive umbreon and do quite a bit to empoleon. It doesn't come into battle too often this tech, but it can be suprising for the opponent.

:pmd/gengar: Second of our ghosts, this gengar set is more standard. The only unique move here is destiny bond, allowing gengar to trade with a mon that might threaten a sweep. NP of course allows gengar to boost up, shadow ball and sludge wave are good stab options and tera fighting allows gengar to stomach a dark hit and fire back with an attack, which is great against bisharp and bike.

:pmd/kleavor: I of course, needed a suicide lead, and kleavor is the go to. I don't really like the focus sash variant, as that commonly gets outsped and does nothing against rock blast leads that try to take it out. Therefore, I went with the scarf version. Since kleavors main job is to get up rocks, it not having a sash isn't too bad, as against most leads, it will have done its job and die next time. If you can preserve kleavor, do it. It can actually be quite the scary mon with its boosted speed allowing it to revenge kill some threats that could be problematic.

:pmd/krookodile: And now we get onto the first of our gators, krookodile. I initially experimented with a bulk up+scale shot set, but it didn't really do too well. However, a standard choice scarf set worked pretty well (yes, I have two choice scarfers on the team, It's not as bad as it seems though). It's able to clean up weakened teams quite well from the attacks teammates have fired off.

:pmd/feraligatr: I wanted something that could help a bit in the rain department by being able to take a hit and something that could boost its speed. While gyarados was an enticing option, I decided that feraligatr was the better option. I honestly don't use this mon too often, but its main job is to blow stuff up with powerful hits. This is just the standard set, which hits most things in the tier for great damage.

:pmd/entei: Finally, we have the goodest boy there is, Entei. After the initial team didn't pan out too well, Elec-ant1234 suggested that entei could be a great fit, and oh boy were they right. This is a bit of a special set though. Tera normal, e-speed ands sacred fire are standard on entei, I don't think I need to explain those. I decided to go with adamant and HDB, as that helps a lot with entei's survivability while still letting it hit hard. Now, for the main innovation, overheat. This was what Elec-ant1234 recommended to me after I suggested mixtei in order to deal with entei's physical walls. With overheat, you can smack the physical walls of geezing (the primary target), hippowdon, tera'd slowbro and some other threats such as okidogi and bisharp harder. The last move is double edge and simply put, big numbers make brain happy.

Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2165863926
I don't usually provide replays, but I thought this one of entei destroying a team is very funny.
 
:gengar::jirachi::slowbro::chansey::chesnaught::cyclizar:
Gengar Para Spam

:slowbro: :chansey: Defensive core to spread paralysis on offensive threats.

:cyclizar: Hazard control and more paralysis. Allows us to spam regenerator in certain matchups with slowbro.

:chesnaught: Handles dark types that irk slowbro as well as an extra win condition with ironpress.

:jirachi: This does so much for us. Iron head can just take lives if you roll the dice enough, serene grace body slam is basically thunder wave, trick give gengar even more opportunities to click sub and healing wish gives any mon on the team a second chance.

:gengar: This is how we win. If slowbro and chansey do their jobs hex will always be 130bp. Since we have plenty of support for hex we don't need to run will-o-wisp ourselves and we can sub+np to win games on the spot.
 
ZH offense
Example of the changes I was considering at the end of my last post, decided on rock slide hippo because I hate stone miss and you might need the extra pp in endgames where hippo is in against some levitate or flying mon. Without attack investment hippo isn't hitting particularly hard in the first place and the extra 25 bp is really only useful for is a guaranteed 2hko on mence when not -1, but I find myself clicking roar vs mence 90% of the time anyway
What does the EV spread on Empoleon do? It's definitely something special.
 
What does the EV spread on Empoleon do? It's definitely something special.
Imma be fr, I saw it on the strategy dex and yoinked it to build around, I forgot but its somthn like enough bulk to live eq’s/cc’s and fire back strong whatever’s. I remember a couple calcs like 2hkoing slowbro with grass knot I think even after a cm, it lives thund tbolt at around 30%, grass knot 3hko’s volc, chess body press does like 50, etc
 
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VoltTurn Encore spam NP Gengar BO
:bw/gengar::bw/crawdaunt::bw/gligar::bw/jirachi::bw/cinccino::sv/cyclizar:

After trying to build ParaSpam + Hex with both Gengar and Horoark (and failing), I figured that 1. Gengar > Horoark, and 2. Nasty Plot + Taunt is its best set. So, I built around that Gengar set (with Shadow Ball over Hex).

Gligar + Jirachi + Cyclizar is our defensive backbone with access to U-turn to let Gengar find opportunities to come in. Not much to say about them.

I needed a priority to rk Yanmega, Revavroom, Maushold and friends and a physical wallbreaker. I picked Crawdaunt due to its ability to consistently rk Yanmega and its ability to send out the strongest Knock Offs you will ever see to remove Rocky Helmets so Cinccino can click Triple Axel safely.

Finally, Cinccino gives us a 2nd fast Encore user to further lean into the disruptive elements of the team with Taunt Gengar/Encore Jirachi. It also gives us a great answer to Substitute setup sweepers you can Encore -> remove Sub and boost to +1 -> click funny buttons.
 
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CM Slowbro + Banded Gapdos Balance
:gengar: :zapdos-galar: :slowbro: :hippowdon: :cyclizar: :magnezone:
Pretty standard team built around utilising calm mind Slowbro. Gengar, Zapdos-Galar and Slowbro cover nearly all weaknesses of each other and thus have a good synergy. Idea is to simply weaken the opposing team with Zapdos and specs Magnezone as much as possible and then sweep with calm mind Slowbro. Destiny bond is used on scarf Gengar to possibly take away an opposing mon with it if it can't KO it directly or otherwise you trick it with scarf and utilise the remaining mons to weaken the team. It was fun using it on ladder and did fairly well. Rain teams are a bit problematic for it but they can be outplayed if Magnezone is used well. I hope it suffices.
 
CM Slowbro + Banded Gapdos Balance
:gengar: :zapdos-galar: :slowbro: :hippowdon: :cyclizar: :magnezone:
Pretty standard team built around utilising calm mind Slowbro. Gengar, Zapdos-Galar and Slowbro cover nearly all weaknesses of each other and thus have a good synergy. Idea is to simply weaken the opposing team with Zapdos and specs Magnezone as much as possible and then sweep with calm mind Slowbro. Destiny bond is used on scarf Gengar to possibly take away an opposing mon with it if it can't KO it directly or otherwise you trick it with scarf and utilise the remaining mons to weaken the team. It was fun using it on ladder and did fairly well. Rain teams are a bit problematic for it but they can be outplayed if Magnezone is used well. I hope it suffices.

I think np gengar might work a little better here just to forgo the need for another choice mon, its also nice to have another win condition if bro can’t do it in the matchup and if you really want a scarfer, switch it out for gapdos’s band. Gapdos is a really strong scarfer. Really cool team though
 
Status Spam + SubHex Gengar
:Fezandipiti: :Gengar: :Krookodile: :Noivern: :Jirachi: :Infernape:

:Fezandipiti: Status spreader number one, can click U-turn to try and spread toxic throughout the match and just works as a good neutral absorber to most moves. Fezandipiti also provides a potential wincon for the team with Calm Mind and Moonblast, which can become threatening on a user that isn't easy to take down on the physical side after a few boosts. Taunt can also work over Calm Mind, but I don't think it's super necessary as the team already has a great user in Krookodile. Speaking of which, Krookodile and Infernape synergize really well with Fezandipiti, with the combination of Earthquake, Flare Blitz, and Close Combat dealing with the Steel and Poison types that want to switch into Fezandipiti's U-turns.

:Gengar: SubHex Gengar is pretty fun if you're able to catch the opponent offguard with a sub, and with status being spread like wildfire with the rest of the team, specifically paralysis from Jirachi, you definitely have more than a few chances to do so. Will-O-Wisp can neuter physical attackers, and in conjunction with Tera Dark you can get subs up on Knock Off users like Cyclizar or Okidogi. Additionally, Tera Dark denies prankster users, primarily Thundurus from paralyzing you with a priority Thunder Wave. 40 Defense EVs allow for you to always get a substitute up safely against a burnt CB Okidogi after terastallizing, maybe a little overkill but I like the safety net it can provide.

:Krookodile: I think that Krook has slowly become by favorite Rocker due to its ability to use Taunt, which I have found to be so valuable in the face of both bulkier and HO orientated teams, being able to deny any status move while still providing so much raw power just feels so easy to slot onto a team. Anyways, standard Krook set, Tera Poison helps versus Mimikyu and Fighters, and as mentioned before covers the weaknesses that Fezandipiti faces.

:Noivern: The team is decently weak to Krook, so I figured that Noivern slotted in well for hazard removal and general disruption with Super Fang. U-turn lets you pivot into whatever you need after hitting a Super Fang, and Fairy allows you the ability to deny Draco Meteors from Cyclizar or Salamence if needed. Taking half the health of anything in conjunction with status can really rack up over the course of a game.

:Jirachi: Another status spreader, Body Slam gets paralysis off on a wide plethora of the tier, Encore provides utility and opportunities for Gengar to switch in and get a substitute off, Iron Head takes advantage of paralysis, and U-turn provides opportunities for other teammates to get in safely.

:Infernape: My GOAT, or monkey ig, Choice Scarf ape is pretty fun, and covers the weaknesses of the rest of the team. Switcheroo provides good utility, and Blaze boosted Flare Blitz is always a nuke. Another pivot is also always nice, in brief just another option at speed control if paralysis isn't given to you easily.
 
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:zoroark-hisui::slowbro::cyclizar::okidogi::krookodile::rotom-heat:
Modest scarf Horoark volt-turn

:zoroark-hisui:: I decided to build around Zoroark instead of Gengar because I like u-turn a lot. I also like Horoark because you get stab tera blast which allows you to effectively fit an extra coverage move. It's tera ground to hit Fezandipiti, Empoleon, Hoodra and tera poison mons trying to handle Okidogi. I made it modest because I kept running into situations where your moves were just barely short of getting the KO and I'm pretty sure nobody but me is running scarf Terrakion. The rest of the team is built to cover Zoroark's weaknesses and give it plenty of chances to switch in on pivot moves.
:cyclizar::rotom-heat:: The pivoters. There two are here to provide utility and bring in Dogi and Zoroark wherever they are needed. On thing I really like about Heattom as a pivot partner for Zoroark is that Empoleon and other special walls don't want to switch in on it. The reason it's twave instead of nasty plot or wisp is because you want to get that sweet sweet yellow magic on Cyclizar that instantly opens up the breaker duo of the team.
cyclizardown.png
:okidogi::Okidogi is an excellent breaker compliment to Zoroark. It punishes everything that tries to switch in on Zoroark and does significant damage with a silly secondary effect to anything trying to switch in. Cyclizar, Empoleon, Hoodra, Dark types... they all lose to the dog. They either die to dogi or wreck the team until Zoroark cleans up.
:slowbro:: I am tired of losing to fighting types, I need to start using Slowbro again. With Zoroark and a Dogi of my own I don't feel too vulnerable to other Dogis, so I guess I can afford to run rocky helmet and not instalose to maushold. I considered running a twave/future sight set but I like psynoise for being able to beat fat teams and this team really needed something good into suicune.
:krookodile:: The greatest glue mon in RU. Krookodile is this tier's protagonist. It's an offensive rocker, it's a bulky rocker, it 6-0s stall, it synergizes well with volt-turn teammates that let it come in safely and get that little bit of leftovers recovery. I love Krookodile, you love Krookodile
 
It's time for voting. This week's entries are:
:gengar::infernape::oricorio-pom-pom::cyclizar::swampert::weezing-galar: Utility gengar BO by FlamPoke
:empoleon::hippowdon::weezing-galar::okidogi::salamence::zoroark-hisui: Offensive empoleon+specs horoark offense by Crankbait#1
:zoroark hisui::gengar::kleavor::krookodile::feraligatr::entei:double ghost, double crocodilia by Heatranator
:gengar::jirachi::slowbro::chansey::chesnaught::cyclizar: gengar paraspam by klamalam
:gengar::crawdaunt::gligar::cyclizar::jirachi::cinccino: encore spam NP gengar by fluff!!
:gengar::zapdos-galar::slowbro::hippowdon::cyclizar::magnezone:Scarf gengar+band gapdos by verity and facade
:Fezandipiti::Gengar::Krookodile::Noivern::Jirachi::Infernape:Subhex Gengarwith status spam by HoopsspooH
:zoroark-hisui::slowbro::cyclizar::okidogi::krookodile::rotom-heat: scarf horoark+band okidogi volt-turn by Sneakyplanner
A lot of really good teams this week. I really love heatranator's, hoops's, fluff's and verity and facade but I'm going to have to go with crankbait because I love offensive emp and the team just looks so solid.
 
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