Project RarelyUsed Teambuilding Competition: week 37: Resist Berries

[Sneakyplanner]

The rarelyused teambuilding contest is back! This is a project all about showcasing neat team ideas and building around a specific pokemon or idea. Every week there will be a new subject to build around, and at the end of the week everyone can vote on the best team. Share your team and spend some time telling everyone what it does and why you chose the mons you did. The contest will be open for entries from monday to friday and voting will take place on the weekend.

Winners will get highlighted in the sample team thread and in other places in the forum/showdown room.If you're lucky you might even get a youtube video made about you on the official SMogon Rarelyused youtube channel.

Rules and guidelines:
Submission format: Submissions should be structured like a team bazaar/rate my team post but a bit more condensed. It should have a pokepaste or importable text of the team and description of the team and how it plays, preferably with some images of the team members for visual interest. Tell us why you chose specific pokemon and moves, especially if they are unorthodox.

You can use codes such as

:sv/bellibolt: or :bellibolt:

to make sprites show up like or when posting your team.

Discussion and criticism: Feel free to discuss teams shared in the thread if you have something to say or ask questions if you have any, though try to avoid major edits/suggestions like changing 2+ pokemon. If you have a big change you want to make or someone inspired you to take a core and do something else with it, post that in the team bazaar instead.

Cheating: Finally, no vote manipulation or copying teams. Don’t ask people to vote for you and don’t vote purely to make someone else lose. Don't copy what someone else has made and make a minor change to create your own entry either. You aren't going to gain anything by cheating to win a pokemon forum contest.

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Hall of fame:
Week 1 (Volcanion): Volcanion+Raikou bulky offense by THE_CHUNGLER
Week 2 (Reuniclus): mixed Moltres +twave Reuniclus by Lilo
Week 3 (Slither Wing): double priority offense by Sneakyplanner
Week 4 (jirachi): Wishrachi balance by Ming549
Week 5 (Salamence/Noivern): Cobalion tspikes by Sneakyplanner
Week 6 (Rhyperior): supercell slammer by MachJacob
Week 7 (Necrozma): DD necrozma + CB bike
Week 8 (Chesnaught): amuk spikes by THE_CHUNGLER
Week 9 (Terrakion): Palossand spikes by Forest Guardian
Week 10: (Fezandipiti): SD fezandipiti by Heatranator
Week 11 (Swampert): Wish jirachi + swampert by Sneakyplanner
Week 12 (Bellibolt): Paraspam by MachJacob
Week 13 (Regidrago): DragoMag by Sir Tetris
Week 14 (Entei): Entei hazard stack by Queen of Bean
Week 15 (Raikou): Spikes voltturn by Heatranator
Week 16: (Suicune): Offensve Suicune hazard stack by Sneakyplanner
Week 17 (Goodra-Hisui): double-mollusc balance by lars
Week 18 (weezing-galar): Gweezing+ roar Mence bulky offense by lars
Week 19 (Krookodile): Scarf hilligant volt turn by Sneakyplanner
Week 20 (Gengar): subhex Gengar status spam by HoopsspooH
Week 21 (Zapdos-G): CB crawdaunt pivot spam by Forest Guardian
Week 22 (Gardevoir): a Eject pack AMoonguss+specs Gardevoir by fluff!!
Week 23 (Amoonguss): Eject button Amoonguss spikes by Forest Guardian
Week 24 (Flygon): Band Flygon +Gligar by Forest Guardian
Week 25 (Azelf): Mixed Azelf Offense by Heatranator
Week 26 (Slowbro-Galar): Calm mind Glowbro spikes by Forest Guardian
Week 27 (Bisharp): Scarf Hilligant+future sight Slowbro by Sneakyplanner
Week 28 (Magnezone): Double electric + CM Sylveon offense by Heatranator
Week 29 (Alolan-Ninetales): Snow HO by Elec-ant1234
Week 30 (Rotom): CB Flygon balance by fluff!!
Week 31 (Gastrodon): NP alolatales +spikes by Forest Guardian
Week 32 (Gyarados): twave Gyarados+golurk by Heatranator
Week 33 (Basculegion): AV basculegion balance by Heatranator
Week 34 (Eject Items): Eject pack Terrakion+Porygon-Z by Flabeauf

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Week 1: Volcanion

Volcanion is an overlooked water type so far in this new RU tier, but it's one of the more versatile ones, being able to be both an offensive presence and a hard wall to other waters. You can take it in a lot of ways, using moves like taunt and fire spin for utility as well as coverage moves like sludge bomb, earth power and body press. There is one big block to Volcanion though, its common archenemy of Cyclizar. You'll need to come up with some creative ways to get around the bicycle and make volcanion work on a team. Share your best work here for everyone to appreciate.

Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have volcanion on it. Other than that the only limit is your imagination.

Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Friday, March 15th, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Sunday March 17th.

 

[FlamPoke]

​

Starting the new Teambuilding Competition off with a TOTALLY original idea of combining Amoonguss, Cyclizar, Hippowdon and Volcanion to form a menacing defensive core that has Enamorus-Therian and Zapdos-Galar in the back to provide offensive pressure.

Amoonguss - The first of two Rocky Helmet holders on this team, intent to punish all the physical breakers and pivots RU has to offer. A fairly standard set with STAB's, Stun Spore for annoyance and Synthesis for extra recovery.
Cyclizar - Quick, name another spinner in RU that isn't terrible... ... ... Yeah, okay, Cyclizar slots onto every team because it's quite good at what it does AND has no competition... Assault Vest Cyclizar with the standard set I run on basically all balance teams.
Enamorus-Therian - One of the biggest hitters in the tier that is woefully forgotten outside of the occasional Trick Room team or Double Dance attempts. I like Agility Enam in this meta a lot and think the coverage of Earth Power / Moonblast / Tera Water Tera Blast hits practically everything you'd want while also being quite difficult to revenge.
Hippowdon - Another meta staple in recent weeks, Rocky Helmet Hippowdon provides all sorts of problems for all sorts of team structures. Nothing special here with EQ / Slack / Stealth Rocks / Whirlwind.
Volcanion - We made it to the star of the show! While Volcanion is another slept on option in RU, it still hits tremendously hard and has the tools necessary to beat it's best check (AV Cyc) in Body Press. I like to run a fairly standard Modest set with BP / Flamethrower / Steam / Taunt with Tera Ghost for defensive purposes.
Zapdos-Galar - I'd consider Gapdos to be borderline ban worthy (once monkey is gone) because of it's capacity to chunk switch-ins with it's STAB Brave Birds and Close Combats. Scarf Gapdos also has really nice coverage in Knock Off and U-Turn for generating tons of momentum into all team structures, and Tera Fire is largely to avoid a burn from opposing Moltres.

 

[HoopsspooH]

Volcanion Sun
​

Sun seems to be an overlooked play style currently with the strength that the tried-and-true Hippo-Cyc-Molt-etc. core bring to the tier. However, with the addition of Volcanion to the tier, Sun teams now have a very easy way to counteract the usually stability this defensive core brings to the table.

- Necessary on all sun teams, it’s the automatic setter that allows for everyone else to do their thing. I have a decently bulky spread with Max HP and Speed, with a little invested in SpAtk, along with Flamethrower, Encore, Healing Wish, and Nasty Plot. Encore punishes slightly slower Mons attempting to setup, or lay down hazards, with Nasty Plot taking advantage of these free turns by potentially turning Ninetales into an offensive breaker. Healing Wish allows the team to have some much needed recovery. Tera Ghost is to stop and potentially punish Maushold/Cincinno trying to roll through the team with Pop Bomb and Tail Slap.

- The main punisher of the usual defensive cores running rampant in the tier right now. Sun boosted Fire Blast + Body Press ensures a KO on an AV Cyc trying to switch in and tank whatever is being thrown out by Volc. Steam Eruption punishes Hippo for trying to deny Sun, and Earth Power allows Volc to beat other Volc 1v1. Tera Fairy allows for a somewhat safer matchup into Zarude, as you threaten massive damage with Fire Blast (Pre-Tera) and Earth Power (Post-Tera) without needing to worry about ludicrous damage coming from Knock Off. If they are running Drain Punch as their second attack, you win outright. Overall a solid breaker that allows for the rest of the team to have a much easier time later on. Additionally, Volc obviously is the team’s main answer to opposing Waters and even Rain, with Tera Fairy allowing for Volc to completely counter Kingdra.

- Former UUBL Mon, now NUBL, Lilligant goes pretty hard against the usual balance core that is being seen. Nothing in the tier outspeeds Lilligant in sun besides Scarf Gard, unless you are at +1 speed. Solar Blade + CC + Tera Fire Tera Blast is a very hard combo to switch into, and with potential boosts on top of the already incredibly high BP of these moves, Lilligant becomes a headache to deal with on Balance Structures. Tera Fire allows for a more easy stab move to click on a Coba, as well as a way to deter WOWs and Flame Body procs from ruining your day.

- Necrozma is pretty overlooked in the tier as of right now, but it benefits greatly from the power of Sun. boosting Moonlight to 75% recovery. Weakness Policy takes advantage of passive Cycs clicking U-Turn/Knock Off, or even Knocks from Zarude thanks to Prism Armor. I figure you only need enough speed to outspeed max Cyc at +1, which I’m not entirely sure on the commonness of, but better to be safe then sorry. Photon beats things like Unaware Quag and is just in general a really great STAB to have, and X-Scissor deals with the Monkey and other dark types. Tera Fairy for immunity to Dragon types, along with resists to Dark, Bug, and just gain a really great defensive typing in general.

- I chose the greatest of the viable Monkeys to put on the team, and this one is probably the most immediate wallbreaker out of the bunch. Specs Tera Fire Overheat in Sun has essentially 0 switch-ins, and will delete whatever is in front of Ape, even AV Cyc gets 2HKOd by Overheat. That’s pretty much all there is to Monkey, Flamethrower provides more consistent Fire-STAB, Vacuum Wave for Priority, and Focus Blast because I love blaming losses on Hax.

- I physically cannot stop myself from adding Maus to any team that I make, and this is no exception. Maus here provides an option for Hazard Remvoal that also threatens immediate damage after a Tidy Up. Encore for utility, Bite for coverage. Another potentially wincon after breaking with everything else. I always run Tera Normal, but Ghost or Fire are also fine on this build.

 

[THE_CHUNGLER]

DIRTY LEGEND SPAMMER OFFENSE

/ / / / /


I built this team originally back in late February around an offensive core of Raikou and Volcanion. I thought these two would do very well together, as I felt that many players were having to overprepare for the deluge of mainly physical hyper offense teams plaguing the RULT meta. To do so, teams were limited to using AV Cyclizar as their only dedicated special check, with some generally bulky mons sprinkled in their like Moltres as maybe a fairy and fighting resist, but not investing in SpD themselves. Bike has a lot of great qualities that let it check special attackers like its speed and typing, but it's easy to overwhelm and target.

When I finished building this team, I realized that every mon was a legendary or mythical Pokemon by complete accident, but I wear the title of DIRTY LEGEND SPAMMER with pride. I don't actually know what the hell Cyclizar is since I didn't play those games, but its got something to do with those big motorcycles you ride, on top of being an RU legend in its short stay. Without furthur ado, here's our team of all legitimately obtained, perfect IV legendary Pokemon.



Volcanion @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 196 HP / 252 SpA / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Steam Eruption
- Haze / Taunt
- Body Press


Body press is great for KOing Cyclizar after it switches in on steam eruption, max special attack because we want to break holes, and your choice of a utility move in the last slot. Haze for bulky calm minders, taunt to stop defensive pokemon from healing or statusing you. I like to run my volcanion pretty bulky, I think it helps with its ability to trade vs offense, which is useful for this team. Still, we'd like to get the jump on slow Bisharps and Conkeldurr. I wish I had a more interesting set here, but its certainly not broke, so there's nothing to fix. Tera ground is so we can maybe catch a Thundurus or Oven trying to volt out on us. As you'll see, this team does not have a ground immune, so a ground tera should be on the team somewhere. I usually never make a team with no volt switch blocker, but I still think the team performs well without one. With no volt switch immune, the next two pokemon are here to deal with those annoying electric types instead:


Raikou @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Inner Focus
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Aura Sphere
- Scald

Raikou didn't get a whole lot of shine when it first dropped to RU in January, and understandably so. It's a bit awkward to fit on a team as pure electric doesn't provide many resistances. Raikou does have a great speed stat, but is still slower than #1 usage cyclizar.

Thankfully, CM Raikou is fairly safe against AV Bike. It doesnt love losing its boots, but if Raikou CMs on the switch, draco meteor from Bike is doing less than 30%. Aura sphere at +1 is doing around 2/3s of Bike's health in return. Even without being faster than Cyclizar, being faster than most everything else unboosted means raikou threatens the rest of Cyclizar's teammates when its u-turning out. Raikou's coverage also does a great job of threatening the rest of the metagame even without a boost. Scald is great coverage with electric, and aura sphere outspeeds and hits the most common grass type hard. Another plus for this set is that you can actually switch in on Thundurus-T one time and beat it 1v1 if it wants to dare to stay in.

One thing that's different from February when I made this team that I should note specifically: Amoongus strolling into the tier is huge annoyance for this set, as Amoongus sits on you all day and then some.

If you wanted to be super lame and swap out Raikou here for a , that would solve the problem of lacking a volt immune, but the team becomes much weaker to zarude and cobalion by virtue of having fewer pokemon to revenge them. It would also not be as cool. If you did want to make that change, here's what I would run:

Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off
- Psychic
- Grass Knot


Cyclizar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 128 HP / 168 SpD / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Dragon Tail

The special check for this team (Listen, do as I say, not as I do) because it also provides spin, really not much to it. Evs are to give us a good chance of surviving modest +2 ice beam from Blastoise after rocks and letting us dragon tail it out (and without its white herb for the next time it comes in.) Dragon tail is my favorite option here just to stop revavroom and other scary setup from taking advntage of it. Tera fairy setup sweepers like Mew and Azelf will still be a major pain. You'll need bike to answer opposing volcanion on this team, and as you can guess, that's not always a great spot to be in, but its a necessity sometimes.


Azelf @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Trick

Azelf is, in my opinion, a criminally underused scarfer right now. It has a lot of great qualities we look for in other scarfers, but doesn't get used nearly as much. It has one of the best scarf speed tiers in the meta, allowing it to revenge +2 modest blastoise (something gengar and the base 108 crowd can boast as well) so what does it do better than the other scarfers in its speed tier? Well, its psychic is plenty strong off of 125 base, but unfortunately it doesn't rock dual stab like most scarfers it competes with.

In exchange, it acts as an additional ground immunity, has better bulk than Zoro-H/Gengar, and has a stronger u-turn than zoroark and munkidori, which is nice when you really want to sting Iron Leaves.
My favorite overlooked benefit though, is Levitate's ability to complement tera. Tera steel allows you to always work as a get-out-of--free card by retaining the ground immunity. Instead of needing to tera ghost with cobalion and wear yourself down to beat the Car, azelf does it at the cost of some HP it really isn't going to miss. This is great for a scarfer, as revavroom is one of the few speed boosting sweepers that outspeeds you with 1 turn of setup.


Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 72 HP / 184 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Heavy Slam
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Defense

Cobalion acts as the rocker for this team, and blanket physical check to a large portion of physical attackers. This is just a very standard set with ironpress along with rocks. I felt that this team still needed a way to really make HO sweat. HO teams can prep for the goat all they want, but as soon as you pop that red card and the tera is exhausted, any free entry point for Cobalion is potentially lethal. In some matchups, it will just check some phsyical attackers and get up rocks, but that's all we need.


Enamorus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 176 SpA / 40 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Draining Kiss
- Calm Mind

I've already said what I really wanted to say about Enamorus in an earlier post. Still broken, coverage has very few switch ins, and if you don't calm mind right away and pick your spots carefully instead, its very easy for the opponent to make a wrong move and take a moonblast to the dome when they thought you would setup. Oh, and its bulky and strong enough to trade with most of the tier, giving it good defensive utility on top of its great resistances.

I hope you give this team a try, its one of the most fun teams I've made recently, and it even got some play in RU Seasonal by TyCarter! The team went 1-1, so in the interest of posterity, here's the good and the ugly
vs ConfidentOyster
vs MachJacob

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Flame charge Volcanion and his other wet friend
As I was building with Volcanion, its statistical profile reminded me of another pokemon I've loved building with in the past: tsareena. High offenses, decent speed, pretty good bulk, and a move that can boost its speed. In the midgame you can get a flame charge vs a predicted switch and then go on a breaking spree. Body press might end up being respected as an option eventually but for now people just think that cyclizar is invincible.
Empoleon is there because it switches into mons that exploit volc like salamence and other volcanions, as well as being a spdef backbone and unfake steel type. I went with a more offensive empoleon because the team needed more damage and because it can lure in the water absorbers and hit them with a grass knot, the EV spread makes it able to live hits like gardevoir thunderbolt and hoopa's dark pulse.
The rest of the team is just filled out to compliment the two waters. The electric weakness is patched up with 3 electric resists and the team's ground weakness is patched up by hippowdon and amoonguss counting as ground resists due to there not being any real offensive ground types in the tier. Amoonguss is technically a zarude answer, you can use a better set on it after zarude gets banned. Terrakionn is a pretty flexible slot, you can go with pretty much any fast attacker. Gapdos would be a nice fit for the ground immunity, but then I might be committing copyright infringement on another team in the thread. I like terrakion because it's just basic, flexible and consistent.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

It's time for the voting phase of week 1. This week's entries are:

Taunt volcanion regenerator balance by FlamingoPokeman

Volcanion sun by HoopsspooH

Volcanion+raikou bulky offense by THE_CHUNGLER

Flame charge Volcanion double water by Sneakyplanner

My vote goes to the chungler, I always love a team that makes raikou usable.

 

[Hyper bol]

voting the chungler as well

 

[THE_CHUNGLER]

I enjoyed reading everyone’s submissions and I’m very interested in trying some of these teams out!

I’m going to vote SneakyPlanner, I like the Empoleon set he’s using (fuck passive fliprocks) and flame charge Volcanion was definitely the most creative Volc tech showcased, sounds like it could definitely pull off some sweeps against teams with bike as their Volc check.

Shoutout to Flamingo though for what looks like a demonic Enamorus set that I very easily could have gotten swept by on ladder the other day.

 

[Rarelyme]

the chungler
original + competitive aka best combo for this thread imo

 

[FlamPoke]

Voting for Hoops here, Chungler and Sneaky both submitted great teams as well but love the idea of Volc Sun. Good week everyone!

 

[Lilo]

Voting Sneaky here. Unfortunately missed out on this but cool teams

 

[Metallica126]

all look good but i prefer the chungler

 

[Tsuki]

Solid teams all around, but my vote goes to chungler, its chunglin time

 

[Found then Lost]

I'm voting Sneaky. Lots of solid teams, but none of them use Flame Charge Volcanion, not to mention the fact that they allowed Double Kick Terrakion to fly under the radar (unless I'm missing something and that's a common move on Terrak? which would be insane). Very cool, though I love the idea of Volcanion Sun.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Congratulations to THE_CHUNGLER for winning week 1 of the revived teambuilding contest.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Week 2: Reuniclus

​

Reuniclus is everyone's most beloved or beloathed psychic blob from gen 8 ru, but it's had a kind of rough transition to gen 9. It should be an amazing tera user, but 8 recover pp really hurts it a lot, and as a result it feels kind of underexplored so far. Reuniclus has 2 amazing abilities and a ton of good moves still, and if the standard bulky CM option is bad because of 8 pp recover then that just means there's more room for new sets. Make the best team with trick room+3 attacks reun or assault vest regenerator and share it here.

Teambuilding criteria:
Your team submission must be legal in SV RU and have reuniclus on it. Other than that the only limit is your imagination.

Submission deadline: Teams should be submitted by 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Friday, March 22nd, voting will then go until 11:59 PM (GMT-4) on Sunday March 24th.

 

[FlamPoke]

​

With the recent ban of everyone's least favorite monke () taking effect, Reuniclus is an excellent Psychic type to consider when team-building moving forward. I decided to go with a Hazard Stacking core of Flygon, Forretress and Gengar to punish switches forced by Reuniclus spamming Future Sight and Volcanion spamming Steam Eruption.

Bisharp - One of the best mons in the tier still when it comes to facing HO and Offensive teams in general, I went with a Tera Water set to potentially blow up after getting the +2 before a switch.
Flygon - One of two NU mons on the squad, Flygon functions as both the teams Volt blocker and Ground immune (more on that later...), while also establishing Stealth Rocks and Pivoting to one of the more offensive mons on the squad. Dragon Breath and Scorching Sands are very funny moves that have 30% odds to proc a status for our abusers below.
Forretress - A personal favorite of mine (and woefully unexplored), Forre serves as the Spikes stacker and Thunder Wave spammer for the team. Body Press is to punish trying to spin on you and Pain Split works so well against mons that think you're setup fodder.
Gengar - Flygon may look like the only Ground immune on the team, but our buddy Gengar comfortably floats above opposing EQ spammers with his , spreading Toxic Spikes and Will-O's all around and abusing the status spam with Hex.
Reuniclus - Star of the team and major reason I believe Hazard Stacking will be so proficient here; Future Sight forces a lot of unfavorable switches and Focus Blast can threaten to obliterate bikes even through .
Volcanion - Call it redemption for losing last week (congrats Chungler), but Volcanion really is a solid mon in general and fits this type of team well. Steam Eruption is always valuable for the huge damage and burn chance, Body Press to... you know... and Flamethrower / Taunt for general annoyance.

While the observant viewer may notice we lack removal here, that is not problematic to me - Volc is rocking the slickest Black Air Forces , Bish and Forre don't mind rocks (geology sucks), and Flygon, Gengar and Reun don't really care about spikes or rocks enough to warrant trying to slot the most BORING RU mon around. Forre could reasonably drop Pain Split for Rapid Spin but getting recovery from stuff unexpectedly is really nice and adds to the longevity of your main option.

 

[fluff!!]

I present to you the Hazard Stacking TR Tera Bug Reuniclus team !


(click the sprites for paste!)

yes, this is spiritomb, this is not a drill nor a troll (maybe)

So, this started when I wanted to play TR Reu and Klefki together because I just like both mons.

TR Reuniclus is an incredible anti-offense mon capable of easily cleaning entire teams after some chip. Thanks to its great bulk, it only needs 1 opportunity to set up Trick Room to do its job. Therefore, I wanted to have efficient, reliable hazard setting. Oh and yes, indeed, this is a Tera Bug Reuniclus ! I chose Tera Bug for 2 important matchups: Hoopa-U and Iron Leaves. 252+ SpD AV Hoopa-U has a 87.5% chance of getting OHKOed by Bug Tera Blast without any hazards, so yea, it just KOes. The Iron Leaves matchup is quite interesting. A +2 Iron Leaves will not click Psyblade or CC on a full health Reu no matter the Tera they guess, so you can easily tank a Leaf Blade and set up your TR on its face. see replays below.

Klefki is one of the few Spikes setters in RU. I picked it because it is a soft in against Hoopa-U and Prankster Spikes is exactly what I was looking for in terms of quick, reliable hazard setting. Balloon lets Klefki come in on Hippo and do whatever it pleases, which is usually maximum Spikes clicking. Switcheroo lets you remove a Heavy Duty Boots from someone on the enemy team. You can also pass back any Scarf that might be bestowed upon you by a friendly Trick Gardevoir for example.

I knew by now that my goal was to get maximum value out of hazards as quickly as possible. This is why I searched for the sturdiest Spin blocker against Cyclizar, and there he was: Spiritomb. Not only does Spiritomb spin block amazingly well against Cyclizar, thanks to its decent physical bulk when invested, it can tank anything from a majority of dangerous threats such as Iron Leaves, Blastoise or Maushold, set up a Trick Room and either deal huge damage with Foul Play or use Memento to send in Reuniclus under the now set Trick Room. Mental Herb is extremely important as it lets you use Trick Room even against Taunters such as Cobalion or Boots Thun-T.

A hazard stacking team would not be complete without a Rock setter. I chose Hippowdon over Cobalion because of Sandstorm, which is great at chipping even further and adds up to the hazards quickly. Whirlwind is also additional insurance against bullshit.

Boots Thun-T is one of the best sets in the entire tier, and for good reason. It threatens the vast majority of Balance cores easily without any boosts, it pivots against Empoleon who otherwise can stall Reu (kind of), it Taunts healing attemps, it Knocks Off Boots from Cyclizar... He is an incredible toolbox that I just can't let go off of.

To round the team up, I wanted a Fighting type, some speed control, a physical attacker, another Knock Off user and bonus points if it can spread poison so Reu has an even easier time cleaning. As it turns out, Scarf Okidogi checks off all of these boxes with flying colors. Okidogi is already a pain to switch into thanks to Knock Off and amazing Poison spreading capabilities and he has a colorful arsenal of moves to choose from which just fit this team perfectly.

As you can see, this team has no hazard removal. Your only goal is to set as many hazards as possible early and then find opportunities to cause chaos with Reuniclus. In other words, just click buttons and wrap up games in 20 turns.

You can probably improve this team a lot, Scarf Mienshao over Okidogi helps against Iron Leaves or you can probably run NP Thun-T for an easier time against Balance for example, I haven't played for super long, but it is so much fun, I actually want to play ladder a bit again!


Replays


they are not tournament or top ladder replays, im sorry...
against Hyper Offense: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2084000019
against Hoopa-U/Iron Leaves/Empoleon balance: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2084003652?p2
against Rarelyme's eject amoonguss/Specs Hoopa Sample Team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ru-2084291039


Edit 1: Added a replay. After some more testing, I swapped Thunder Wave for Magnet Rise and Balloon for Occa Berry on Klefki. You still get to sit on Hippo and it lets you live a hit from lead Moltres/Volcanion to set up 1 layer of spikes + switcheroo away boots, else Fire types are a pain in the ahh. I modified the paste accordingly.

 

[Ryu]

https://pokepast.es/5bb80693b57596bc

☆[ Regen Core Balance + Specs Reuni ] ☆

☆ Reuniclus is the star of the team, with choice specs he can weaken several walls or even kill offensive pokemons, in short, few things change in reuniclus, tera fairy can help him against hoopa-unbound or cyclizar, thus guaranteeing good damage in practically every ru metagame.

☆ Now we have cyclizar, almost mandatory in all Ru balances, considering that it is the best hazard controll in the metagame, you can also use knock to take items from other cyclizar, which makes it easier to reuniclus leave the opponent cornered.

☆ Well, as the team's proposal is to have a good regen core, I thought about which scarf I should put here, so obviously I arrived at mienshao, without many details you have a great pivot and damage with this pokemon

☆ Well, we need a physical wall since we are building a balance, so I opted for hippowdown which in my opinion is one of the best walls in the tier, so I just opted for its standard set with stealth rocks earthquake and whirwilnd, rock helmet to punish users of u turn or maushold, tera ghost is like an emergency if you lose rock helmet and are afraid of maushold

☆ Anyway, now we have moltres that I chose because it is a great physical wall too, not only does it help hippowdown in its role but it can also use a turn and pivot to give it a chance the reunion included taking the field and putting on a show, I also chose him because I felt the team was weak to Gardevoir.

☆ And last but not least, I chose raikou, which is very underrated in my opinion, again if we see here in the pivot option, and as we have other ways to deal with cyclizar it is not dead weight, scald can deal with hippowdown or burn other opponent's pokemons, my choice was because it is a great pivot that gives reuniclus a chance and also has a great variety of attacks

That's it, I hope you like the team!

 

[HoopsspooH]

Reuniclus Para-Spam HOish

​

IDK what to really do with Reun offensively cuz it’s kinda mid with recovery nerf, same defensively. AV is alright but 9 times out of ten you aren’t needing it when Cyclizar does it much better. So, I decided to use it as a sort of mini/worse Clef and use it to try to disrupt and paralyze early game, and build a sort of HO around that idea.

- Once again, mostly just trying to paralyze whatever is infront of it and trade barb onto it. Knock Off just in case they decide to switch, and recover for if you want to paralyze something later on. Max HP Max SpDef but you can easily trade for Def if you want, don’t think it really matters. Tera Fairy for the Hoopa matchup.

- Paralysis abuser numero uno, the main thing that Hoopa is stunted by is its somewhat low speed, however, with the magical properties of paralysis halving speed, that problem disappears. Using specs here just to get the absolute most out of speed drops caused by paralysis and nuking everything. Psychic is Hoopa’s best psychic stab, dark pulse can pile up with the flinch chance and grab you potential surprise KOs, Focus Blast for Cyclizar but you can also run trick, and then Tera Blast Fairy as a second method to deal with Cyclizar and opposing Hoopa, along with giving you a much better defensive typing if you do take a hit.

- I figured that the team would like a rocks setter and another mon to spread paralysis, so I figured that Cobalion would do the trick. Focus sash allows you to hopefully always get your rocks up, and depending on the lead a TW into rocks. Taunt denies rocks from opposing Hippos to be denied, and Iron Head abuses paralysis quite nicely. Max attack and speed just because you don’t really need anything else in a lead. Tera Ghost for Fighting types.

- Definitely wanted a ghost as a spin blocker, and Gengar seemed pretty perfect with the use of Hex to do insane damage to anything paralyzed, especially with the boost of life orb. Sludge Wave allows for you to hit normals, (we all know which one I’m talking about) Dbond is to catch suprised KOs before or after TW depending on speed, and I just threw TW on as last because I figured it couldn’t hurt.

- Kind of an unorthodox pick for an HO team, but I feel that Breloom definitely puts in work on this team. With Toxic Orb and Poison Heal, you’re able to play the odds in your favor to get up a sub without it taking damage thanks to paralysis. While behind, you can freely get up a SD and go to work, using boosted Facades and STAB Seed Bombs to rip through potential checks to the team.

- Can Bar? With the new Ford F-150, you get assured flinches around whenever you need them, and with the boost of paralysis, your opponent doesn’t get to have fun at all! Pretty standard vroom set that takes advantage of paralysis to setup and kill where it shouldn’t, but that’s pretty standard for car anyways.

 

[Forest Guardian]

https://pokepast.es/b9470b9d79c501a8​

Tada!
: AV reun makes for a decent blanket check to special threats like , , specs among others. The spread allows it to easily live 2 of modest scarf garde's moonblast and specs 's dark pulse (barely). Spatk investment along with a modest Nature allows it to break standard 's substitute with psyshock. Knock off, Night Shade and Future Sight fills the other 3 slots. Future Sight makes Infernape very annoying to deal with. Knock off does knock off stuff and night shade dents hoopa.
: Mixed Ape. Set future sight come in. click moves. This Ape has charcoal because there r certain mu's where I would like the extra fire Power (literally) more like against .I was thinking of using just special but I am NOT using focus miss. Grass Knot wrecks hippo and any water/ground thinking they could check it. Stone Edge is basically the fuck u button.
: Tink at home???? Anyways u just set up spikes and any team not using or struggles against a well played key since it can sometimes refuse to die. Spikes also make infernape and the next member very deadly. The spdef and def r very random numbers.
: This sometimes feels like better (controversial ik) but I believe they both can co-exist wonderfully. Taunt vern to stifle recovery from the likes of and is very cool and it pairs up well with spikes. Roost for recovery, Hurricane bcoz dogi is a fat ass threat however Draco Meteor is still a very viable option. Flamethrower to hit steels. Tera Poison for well.....dogi.
: QUAGGGGGGG.....siiireee. Sr coz I needed them. Ice Beam to freeze some random balloon that can make a car levitate?????
Wafer absorb so u don't get DESTROYED by rain however unaware works too but then u should use mach punch over edge on ape.
: I swear the tier is run by automobiles. Anyways standard av cycle set. Come in, knock shit, u turn out spin or w/e.

 

[Lilo]

Reuni Wave Spam
https://pokepast.es/3c07c041c457318f


Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Recover
- Knock Off

The leader of the orchestra, Twave Reuni is really good (and will be even better after hoopa is gone). Reuniclus has the ability to beat Cobalion, be a safe switch to Hippo, eat the occasional will-o and knock Moltres - which are three of the most useful mons in RU atm - and the most important thing is it can easily hinder Cyclizar w/ either knock or twave.
Tera Poison just to help clear tspikes if need be (thinking about making this tera water in the future and a bit more spdef oriented but needs tests)
Had fun testing this.


Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Body Press

Needed something for Hoopa-u because that mon is stupid and ended up with spdef diana with enough speed for both Conk and Enam just so I can avoid giving those mons free turns
Opted for spikes here and subsequently gave Hippo rocks. Also benefits quite nicely from hippo’s sand.
Tera steel because it’s a superior type compared to rock and turns diancie into a decent check for Cinccino.


Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Very standard, nothing new. Next…


Cyclizar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Dragon Tail
- U-turn
- Taunt

Okay so what do we have here… Team auto loses to sub cm Cune and Stoise so my marvelous brain thought about a way to beat both. Do I really like this set? no. Does it help? I guess so. Moving on…


Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Drain Punch/ Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch

Mr Conk, Conk the constructor, Beestung Conk, Beekeeper Conk, Do u even Lift?! - Conk, etc. Priority is super underrated rn and no better mon to demonstrate that. Nothing new here.
(this slot can be swapped for a different breaker like Hoopa-U).


last but not least…


Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Roost
- Fire Blast
- Brave Bird
- U-turn

The real Smogon Bird. Slow pivot, but fast enough for Conk and Enam, mixed set with good bulk? Sign me up. Needed to spice this up a bit.


Small fact:
Do not face Crawdaunt!



Team without a funky Lizard set

Team

SIKE here’s my favorite variation with another funky lizard set that can beat sub cm cune with tera normal facade https://pokepast.es/98f9542e513e3bd8

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Life orb twave reuniclus:
Another name I would give this experiment is "Reuniclus kind of sucks, actually." because the learning experience was just that reuniclus is just kind of bad. First thing I learned is that calm mind reuniclus is really bad with 8 recover pp. Next thing I learned is that 252 HP isn't enough builk to keep you from being 2hkoed by everything. No matter what I do, reuniclus always seems to be the weak link. Wanted to include slowbro, but didn't want to double up on psychics, wanted to run some speed on Reun to outspeed hippo, that would take way more EVs than I could afford. This is the best non-AV reun set I ended up reaching though. Life orb reuniclus with thunder wave is able to cripple some things and break some walls in order to set the stage for this bulky offense team to win. Banded gapdos is a really strong breaker than loves reun spreading paralysis, and scarf krookodile is there because I needed a dark type and really wanted to show krook some love. Then I filled it out with empoleon, amoonguss and cyclizar because they are a very splashable core. This team really struggles vs bisharp, you'll need to keep gapdos and krook healthy in order to revenge kill it.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Time for the voting phase for week 2. A lot more entries this week, thanks to everyone who participated.
hazard stack with bulky reuniclus by FlamingoPokeman
trick room with spiritomb by fluff!!
specs reuniclus balance by RyuSnowシ
tricky barb paraspam by HoopsspooH
AV reuniclus balance by Forest Guardian
mixed moltres+ twave reuniclus by Lilo
life orb reuniclus bulky offense by Sneakyplanner

my vote goes to forest guardian but I also really love the teams from fluff and ryusnow.