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Congrats to the winners of the 2024 Smog Awards!
Project SV ZU Teambuilding Competition
- Thread starter diegoyuhhi
- Start date
And this week's winner is team 3 by Joethezombie! congrats!
Next week teambuilding competition will be taking a break due to drops happening mid week, but it will be back soon!
Next week teambuilding competition will be taking a break due to drops happening mid week, but it will be back soon!
OMG SHAYMIN IN ZU!!!!!!! and it's kinda ass. Still, this mon has really good stats for the tier and it can run a variety of different sets, from choice items to subseed to even swords dance.
Build a team featuring Shaymin and post it in this thread with a brief description.
Deadline is Friday 9th at 10pm GMT+1.
Have fun!
Got inspired by an idea by LesbianWhimsicott I believe it was, of putting in Grassy Terrain and watching it blow things up. I also decided to shore it up with the recently unbanned Stored Power for more justification to run Grassy Terrain.
If I'm building Grassy Terrain, I'd be stupid not to start with. Opted for a defensive moveset so I can consistently use him to set up Grass for the aforementioned abusers. U-Turn gives the ability to pivot around, which could be useful, and Grassy Glide is here for prio. Knock is good utility, and Drain Punch helps to keep me topped up. Tera Steel functions as a solid defensive tera to add a little more bulk to .
Secondly, I picked as a Grass abuser, since if I'm not mistaken, got banned last year for the same type of shenanigans it pulls off here. Grassy Seed allows to gain a defense boost by merely switching in under the right circumstances, not to mention the fact that having a defense boost means that gets more set-up opportunities, which is vital for a 'mon like it, which takes a turn or two to get going. Once it's got its foot in the door though, it's very hard to stop. Agility and CM help patch up its speed and help power up Stored Power. Tera Fairy is chosen here for both offensive and defensive purposes, namely giving an invaluable method to hit Darks like 
and 
, which it otherwise struggles to consistently break with its special attacking movepool, while at the same time helping it eat Sucker Punches from priority users attempting to revenge kill it. Admittedly, this makes Wyrdeer pretty tera-reliant in certain situations, but I think it's worth it.
Thirdly, the 'mon this week's competition is centered around,. I opted for a Life Orb variant so I have some move flexibility, which other options like Scarf or Specs fail to provide. I also opted for tera Grass to potentially power up Seed Flare to stupifying levels of power (And this move already hits quite hard without tera). Earth Power and Dazzling Gleam are your two coverage moves, Earth Power in particular being solid into Fires like 
. Healing Wish occupies the last slot, allowing to potentially heal up a 'mon for a second lease on life, which can really help in a strategy as otherwise all-or-nothing as Stored Power.
It took me a while to find three 'mons that fill in this team's defensive gaps in a satisfactory way (Having two pure Grass-types isn't the smartest idea from a defensive point of view), but I think I ended up succeeding, firstly with, which gives me a Fire, Poison- and Flying-resist. I decided to play by the rules here and made him a bulky hazard setter with Leftovers and Galvanize, allowing him to both support the team with Rocks, and hit pretty hard with its STABs. Volt Switch is chosen for pivoting, and tera Flying for the Ground-immunity.
The second 'mon in my little defensive situation is, a very solid physical tank who also gives me an Ice, Poison- and Bug resist. Since I already have hazards covered through , I decided to give the team another wincon with IDPress, which starts really dealing some damage after a boost or two. Substitute is chosen here, but moves like Protect and Spikes would probably work just fine; it comes down to preference in my opinion. I went for Tera Ghost to help blank strong Fighting-moves from 'mons like 
and 
.
Lastly, I chose for a second Fire- and Bug-resist, as well as a Fighting-resist. Roost is here for longevity, Hydro Pump and Hurricane for STABs (Even though the latter never landed when I needed it to :/ ), and Defog to clear hazards, which is pretty important to the team, particularly . Boots are obviously chosen so can switch in on Rocks, and tera Ground gives me an Electric-immunity, which would otherwise be her Achilles heel.
in Grassy Terrain and watching it blow things up. I also decided to shore it up with the recently unbanned Stored Power for more justification to run Grassy Terrain.If I'm building Grassy Terrain, I'd be stupid not to start with
. Opted for a defensive moveset so I can consistently use him to set up Grass for the aforementioned abusers. U-Turn gives the ability to pivot around, which could be useful, and Grassy Glide is here for prio. Knock is good utility, and Drain Punch helps to keep me topped up. Tera Steel functions as a solid defensive tera to add a little more bulk to .Secondly, I picked
as a Grass abuser, since if I'm not mistaken, got banned last year for the same type of shenanigans it pulls off here. Grassy Seed allows to gain a defense boost by merely switching in under the right circumstances, not to mention the fact that having a defense boost means that gets more set-up opportunities, which is vital for a 'mon like it, which takes a turn or two to get going. Once it's got its foot in the door though, it's very hard to stop. Agility and CM help patch up its speed and help power up Stored Power. Tera Fairy is chosen here for both offensive and defensive purposes, namely giving an invaluable method to hit Darks like and , which it otherwise struggles to consistently break with its special attacking movepool, while at the same time helping it eat Sucker Punches from priority users attempting to revenge kill it. Admittedly, this makes Wyrdeer pretty tera-reliant in certain situations, but I think it's worth it.Thirdly, the 'mon this week's competition is centered around,
. I opted for a Life Orb variant so I have some move flexibility, which other options like Scarf or Specs fail to provide. I also opted for tera Grass to potentially power up Seed Flare to stupifying levels of power (And this move already hits quite hard without tera). Earth Power and Dazzling Gleam are your two coverage moves, Earth Power in particular being solid into Fires like . Healing Wish occupies the last slot, allowing to potentially heal up a 'mon for a second lease on life, which can really help in a strategy as otherwise all-or-nothing as Stored Power.It took me a while to find three 'mons that fill in this team's defensive gaps in a satisfactory way (Having two pure Grass-types isn't the smartest idea from a defensive point of view), but I think I ended up succeeding, firstly with
, which gives me a Fire, Poison- and Flying-resist. I decided to play by the rules here and made him a bulky hazard setter with Leftovers and Galvanize, allowing him to both support the team with Rocks, and hit pretty hard with its STABs. Volt Switch is chosen for pivoting, and tera Flying for the Ground-immunity.The second 'mon in my little defensive situation is
, a very solid physical tank who also gives me an Ice, Poison- and Bug resist. Since I already have hazards covered through , I decided to give the team another wincon with IDPress, which starts really dealing some damage after a boost or two. Substitute is chosen here, but moves like Protect and Spikes would probably work just fine; it comes down to preference in my opinion. I went for Tera Ghost to help blank strong Fighting-moves from 'mons like and .Lastly, I chose
for a second Fire- and Bug-resist, as well as a Fighting-resist. Roost is here for longevity, Hydro Pump and Hurricane for STABs (Even though the latter never landed when I needed it to :/ ), and Defog to clear hazards, which is pretty important to the team, particularly . Boots are obviously chosen so can switch in on Rocks, and tera Ground gives me an Electric-immunity, which would otherwise be her Achilles heel.
I just got into ZU recently (shoutout TomatoZause) but thought a really bulky Shaymin could do great against a lot of stuff... so, I built a team with a really bulky Shaymin and have gone 20-0 so far on Ladder.
While certain threats such as. , 
, 
and 
exist and annoy the team at times, ultimately this structure has worked well for me thus far and seems really in-tune with the meta at the moment.
- Rapid Spin support with tremendous upside as a Body Press spammer into physical attackers.
- The silly Eel that could; I prefer to run a physical set with Drain and Knock as my main attacks, Dragon Tail for phazing and Volt Switch for momentum. Assault Vest also makes this a pretty safe switch into a lot of stuff like Ori or opposing Shaymin.
- My second answer to setup attempts while also providing general utility in the form of Knock and Thunder Wave for flying types that are immune to Toxic Spikes.
- The star of the show; the amount of sets you could run with this makes it really tough to guess in preview and that works to this teams benefit. While LO Shaymin can do work and Specs can break holes in teams, I really liked the idea of a SubLeech set with enough bulk to really bother opponents and force them to play from behind if they guess my set wrong (which they often did).
- Swalot is a really annoying mon in general. I like Sticky Hold to give myself opportunity to sit on things comfortably and establish Toxic Spikes with some offensive presence in the form of BP, Knock and Jab. I considered alternatives like 
for this role but liked my ability to remove Toxic Spikes on my side for free while also having extra bulk.
- The Big Bull puts in a TON of work for this team. While my main goal is to wear teams down with conservative play and gradual chip with rocks / poison / leech, this provides both speed control and breaking power that is really nice in a lot of situations. CC, EQ and Stone Edge all felt mandatory and I tried a few options for the fourth move before deciding on Outrage - not that there are many Dragon's in the tier but it hits really hard and can be a relatively safe move late-game to clean.
While certain threats such as
. , , and exist and annoy the team at times, ultimately this structure has worked well for me thus far and seems really in-tune with the meta at the moment. for this role but liked my ability to remove Toxic Spikes on my side for free while also having extra bulk.
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Wanted to try something different and built around SD Shaymin. This isnt the best Shaymin set or most optimized team in the world but I had some fun with it and have done well on mid to high ladder with it.
- This little guy is rocking SD, Trailblaze, Tera Blast w/ Tera Rock for fires + articuno, and Play Rough to hit like Appletun and w/e.
- spin + defensive utility. Strong Body Press does some stuff too
rocks + spikes + answer to steels like Magneton that are troublesome for Shaymin.
bulky calm mind wincon + medicham check. This thing is an absolute menace once its checks are removed
Fast offensive threat and is somewhat of a bellosom stop w/ taunt + roar. Roar synergizes well with spikes too.
Revenge killer scarfer, can clean once shaymin, spiritomb, pyroar, and spikes whittle stuff down.
- This little guy is rocking SD, Trailblaze, Tera Blast w/ Tera Rock for fires + articuno, and Play Rough to hit like Appletun and w/e.- spin + defensive utility. Strong Body Press does some stuff too rocks + spikes + answer to steels like Magneton that are troublesome for Shaymin. bulky calm mind wincon + medicham check. This thing is an absolute menace once its checks are removed Fast offensive threat and is somewhat of a bellosom stop w/ taunt + roar. Roar synergizes well with spikes too. Revenge killer scarfer, can clean once shaymin, spiritomb, pyroar, and spikes whittle stuff down.
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Green Stacks: Shaymin + Naclstack Bulky Offense
gm zu
With Shaymin being one of the most all-around useful mons in the tier, I wanted to build a balanced team leaning into Shaymin's mix of bulk, power, and high Speed Tier. Shaymin's set is fairly trivial, being a 3 Attacks + Synthesis set with Tera Fire for commonly seen Ice-types and Ice Beam users. To complement Shaymin perfectly is Naclstack, a mixed wall that chips down opposing walls for Shaymin to finish off. It switches into wallbreakers that scare off Shaymin, such as Scarf Haunter, Pyroar, and more. To establish a Fighting-type resist without having to Terastallize Naclstack, Dachsbun stonewalls almost every Fighting-type while also being a reliable Wish Passer. Wishes can be passed on to the team's spinner and pivot Komala, who runs Assault Vest to handle 1v1 matchups against Special sweepers like Houndoom. To bolster the team's offensive prowess, Scarf Haunter is a great revenge killer with very few consistent switch-ins. Finally, Paldean Tauros is an underrated attacker with Intimidate + Bulk Up allowing it to very easily set up against a lot of passive walls. Overall, this team focuses on versatility. Hyper Offense teams can get their offensive resources burnt out by trading unfavorably into this bulky team, and more Balanced structures have to put up with the constant offensive pressure from Shaymin, Haunter, and Paldean Tauros.
Role Summary / TLDR:
- Special Wallbreaker, Tank, Primary Tera User - Mixed Wall, Status Absorption, Stealth Rock Setter - Physical Wall, Wish Passer - Spinner, Special Wall, Tank, Pivot - Speed Control, Late-Game Cleaner, Spinblocker - Physical Wallbreaker, Intimidate User
Week is up, time to vote!
Team 1: LO Shaymin Grassy Terrain BO by Gymlead11b
Team 2: 
AV Eel + SpDef Shaymin Balance by FlamingoPokeman
Team 3: SD Shaymin + CM Tomb Balance by BloodAce
Team 4: Off Shaymin + AV Komala Balance by viet noa
Vote for your two favourite teams!
Deadline to vote is Sunday 11th at 10pm GMT+1.
Team 1:
LO Shaymin Grassy Terrain BO by Gymlead11b Team 2:
AV Eel + SpDef Shaymin Balance by FlamingoPokeman Team 3:
SD Shaymin + CM Tomb Balance by BloodAce Team 4:
Off Shaymin + AV Komala Balance by viet noa Vote for your two favourite teams!
Deadline to vote is Sunday 11th at 10pm GMT+1.
Voting -> 2 and 3
Bloodace(pyroar goated)
4 and 2.
The ZU tier is flooded (pun intended) with water types, many of which are really solid picks in the format.
Build a team featuring at least 2 Water types and post it in this thread with a brief description.
Deadline is Friday 16th at 10pm GMT+1.
Have fun!
https://pokepast.es/2fd0a1502a68e0d1
Trying to come up with a Waterspam team that isn't a rain variant is tricky, though immediately what came to mind was pairing Veluza with a Pokemon that can lure in many of its offensive checks. That's where this AoA Samurott comes in to play, combined with helpful Knock Off support. Hisuian Avalugg is my personal favorite hazard lead in the meta ATM, and even when its not setting hazards (which on an offensive team are quite nice to wear down the opposing team) its still a noticeable threat offensively. Pyroar is my Grass-type answer, losing to Earth Power Shaymin but mostly being a solid catch-all. Rotom-Fan is a Scarfer that also gives me a notable Fighting resist in addition to a secondary Grass one. Paldean Tauros is a back-up strategy for Dark-types (Most Honchkrow are choiced which is the only Dark that really beats Pauros).
Slash on Veluza (and maybe Sacred Sword on Rott) could be replaced.
Fish Spam: Specs Basculin + Scarf Veluza Bulky Offense
Despite a plethora of strong attackers in ZU right now, Basculin stands out as one of the hardest hitting breakers in the tier. While most would (for good reason) look at Basculin's high Attack and access to Adaptability-boosted Wave Crash, the lower abundance of designated special walls in the tier make way for Specs Basculin to thrive. Furthermore, its lack of recoil damage gives it better longevity in a hazardoous meta. By blowing past physically defensive walls like Whiscash, Sableye, and Orthworm, Basculin gives room for a late-game cleaner like Scarf Veluza to break through opposing structures. To support Basculin's special wallbreaking capabilities, Magneton is a tanky offensive pivot that takes care of opposing Water-types, while also boasting Magnet Rise to surprise Ground-type attacks. These three pivoting wallbreakers can switch into the defensive backbone, with Clefairy helping lay hazards and stand up to special wallbreakers. On a VoltTurn team like this one, having a wall that is immune to passive damage is absolutely amazing. As a bulky wincon with synergistic typing with Clefairy, Spiritomb is a great mixed wall that can generally sponge a variety of attacks. To bolster this team's physical defense, alongside providing hazard removal, the rock-solid Hisuian Avalugg stnads out as an important team member. Its Speed EVs let it outspeed other slow Pokémon like Piloswine, Crabominable, and Lurantis. By spamming powerful attacks and pivoting into support Pokémon when necessary, this team plans on putting pressure throughout all phases of the game.
Role Summary / TLDR:
- Special Wallbreaker, Offensive Pivot, Primary Tera User - Speed Control, Late-Game Cleaner, Physical Wallbreaker - Tank, Offensive Pivot, Special Wallbreaker - Special Wall, Stealth Rock Setter, Status Absorption - Mixed Wall, Spinblocker, Bulky Wincon - Spinner, Physical Wall, Tank