Project USM TEAMBUILDING: Week 17: Golisopod

[KW]

Congrats to this week's winner, eifo! Eifo's team will be added to the hall of fame, and next week's challenge will be up shortly!

 

[KW]

Sigilyph is a unique mon, with access to the valuable magic guard negating its hazard weakness and potential life orb recoil, allowing it to provide a team with offense and longevity. Sigilyph's typing, however, can make it hard to switch in and effectively position however, and easily revenge killed. Can this week's builders create a team that lets Sigilyph maximize its presence, while covering up for the weaknesses it opens?

 

[sol]

ill post after our match

Import

Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Psychic

Bewear @ Normalium Z
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Double-Edge
- Superpower
- Earthquake

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 96 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Refresh
- Haze

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- Outrage
- U-turn

I'm running the standard Sigilyph set, as I don't know many others. Bewear was then added because it can switch in to dark, ghost and rock type moves while also hitting ice types with super effective damage. After that Nidoqueen was added to take electric and fairy type attacks, while also providing Stealth Rocks. Doublade was the next addition as it resists ice type attacks, while also providing my team with another set-up sweeper. Milotic was then added to take water and fire type attacks while also beating Feraligatr. Flygon was then added to give my team a scarfer and a way to deal with Salazzle, it also gives me some last ditch hazard control and another fire type resist.

 

[HypnoEmpire]

Import

Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Heat Wave
- Calm Mind
- Roost

Abomasnow-Mega @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 84 Atk / 248 SpA / 176 Spe
Rash Nature
- Blizzard
- Wood Hammer / Giga Drain
- Ice Shard
- Focus Blast

Diancie @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 160 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Power Gem
- Earth Power

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Defog

Poliwrath @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Vacuum Wave

Accelgor @ Life Orb
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Spikes

I was in the mood to build a team that strays from the norm, and I came up with this. I wanted to try out a concept like Hail or Sand in tandem with Spikes to passively chip at the opponent. I really didn't want to use Sand as that would leave the team very vulnerable to Nidoqueen and especially Mega Steelix (big reason why Gigalith is bad right now), and I really didn't want to put myself through that. So, I ended up with a Mega Abomasnow Spikes team. Sigilyph and Mega Abomasnow together take a dump on defensive cores and put a massive strain on stall-oriented teams. Sigilyph's immunity to passive damage and its strong offensive presence made it ideal for this team concept. Mega Abomasnow is so good right now as it takes advantage of people using Mega Steelix as their Steel-type which, in turn, leaves them really weak to Ice. Diancie gives a Dark resist and a check to Honchkrow, Kommo-o, and Swellow while setting rocks. I went for Earth Power over Heal Bell so it isn't a free switch-in for Mega Steelix and Nidoqueen. Flygon is the Salazzle check, fast revenge killer, fast pivot, and quick Defog. Defog is really only necessary vs Webs teams, but it's also useful if your opponent gets an edge over you in the hazard game. Specs Poliwrath is a neat idea that I've been messing around with recently. It checks Mega Glalie, Durant, Doublade, Mega Steelix, Feraligatr, and more while being surprisingly difficult to switch into. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only Pokemon that avoid getting 2HKOed by this are Cresselia, Milotic, Bronzong, Araquanid, Comfey, and Florges. Cresselia hard walls, but it will have difficulty staying healthy when Hail is up. Milotic barely takes 2 Focus Blasts unless it's invested in SpD, though Spikes and Hail damage can easily put it in range. Bronzong gets chipped quite a bit and Araquanid can't touch Poliwrath unless it's Spider Web. Comfey and Florges are trash anyway, but they suffer from the same problem Cresselia does while being vulnerable to Spikes. I run enough Speed on Poliwrath to outpace Adamant Bewear, then give it max SpA and put the rest in HP. Accelgor is the Spikes setter. This Pokemon is really fast, outspeeding stuff like +1 Feraligatr with just its natural speed, which is awesome. Accelgor scares away Psychic-types and sets Spikes for the team.

 

[KW]

Voting stage now begins! Vote for the best Sigilyph team, you have until the end of Wednesday!

 

[aVocado]

Over ace but make that milo max def

 

[Lazuli]

HypnoEmpire

 

[TJ]

over ace

 

[Gorechomp]

Over Ace

 

[KW]

Thanks to both Ov3r Ac3 and HypnoEmpire for their entries. Ov3r A3e wins this weeks challenge! Congrats! New building challenge will be up shortly.

 

[KW]

Week 6 Challenge:

Necrozma kicks off the first of several new building challenges for USM additions. With a new movepool unleashed Necrozma's possibilities have grown vastly, and it'll be up to this weeks builders to find the most effective use of Necrozma's numerous new toys to play with.

 

[aVocado]

importable

Kommo-o @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Close Combat
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Sigilyph @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Heat Wave

Tsareena @ Life Orb
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Synthesis

Necrozma @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Dark Pulse

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Flamethrower
- Toxic

The team's not really built around necrozma but moreso necrozma is used as a support mon with SR + 3 attacks. It's surprisingly strong imo with really good coverage and acts as a good offensive SR setter, comparable to nidoqueen. Dark Pulse was mainly used to not be 100% walled by Cresselia but it doesn't 2HKO or even come close to 2HKOing really, even with life orb or expert belt. It can be replaceable and if you wanna replace it then it'll either be toxic or morning sun/moonlight (forgot which one necro learns), but i like having the coverage just cuz i've ran into a couple of xatus and hoopas on the ladder. DD Kommo-o is really strong imo and very good and hard to revenge kill unless you've got scarf flygon. Using z-clanging scales /is/ possible but when I was building the team I wanted to try just good old dragon dance and i think it works better on this team at least because running z-clanging scales heavily restricts your options and pretty much forces you to run a special set. unless you wanna run some sort of z-clanging scales + dd mixed set, but that just sounds weird at least on paper. on the other hand though, it is broken as fuck cuz +1 defenses make it pretty much never ohko'd by anything so there's that. either way, I stuck with dd z-move and its actually amazing, CC is so good for it. on the final slot you can run either earthquake or poison jab. pick your poison, cucked by doublade or florges? sigilyph is the defogger of the team and i would use life orb if clangorous soulblaze kommo didn't exist, but for now its sash cuz it can live 1 hit and do like 65-75% with dgleam so that's /////goood///// i guess (srsly ban this shit), but it also helps me deal with all sorts of set up sweepers as well. tsareena with 3 atks + synthesis and life orb is kind of a new toy i'm trying out but basically its just a wallbreaker. unlike decidueye and virizion it hits hard right off the bat w/o need to set up and its actually very hard to switch into. for example gligar dies if it switches into knock followed by power whip. also, unlike roserade it can stay in and spam its stab cuz no drawback besides the accuracy. it slightly struggles against max/max cress though and that's where doublade comes in, it's a mon that takes advantage of cress and that's simple enough to understand, nothing else besides it. moltres was added initially to be an SD necrozma check with sub/roost/toxic/flamethrower, but I soon realized it literally gives the freest of setups to z-kommo so I decided to replace substitute with air slash to hit it before dying and letting sigilyph or something else revenge it afterwards. other than that moltres is a fighting type check I guess, it's also just a nice pivot with good resistances and bulk + roost so it's nice to have around, especially to spread toxic around on cresselia and what have you.

 

[Harpp]

Team

Necrozma @ Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 24 SpD / 232 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Moonlight
- Iron Defense

Pangoro @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Hammer Arm
- Gunk Shot
- Bullet Punch

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Roost

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 228 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Shaymin @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Seed Flare
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Liquidation
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake

Description

Hello, I'm new to Ru and been lurking to learn this metagame. I decided to take part in team building contest since I believe it'll help me understand the metagame and make me a better team builder at it. So I decided to build a team round Calm mind+Iron defense Necrozma which is a nice wincon given the right support.
I decided to build a Balance team around it. I next added in Pangoro as it takes out the dark types that threaten Necrozma and it also deals with Doublade pretty well. Choice band allows it to dent teams and shred apart balance builds. For the next teammate I decided to use Gliscor as Stealth rock and physical pivot of the team,since Gliscor is very weak to ice types moves next I added in sp.def Rotom-Heat with defog since I didn't wanted to fit in both defog and stealth Rock on Gliscor as a wall breaker like pangoro on the team appreciates both uturn and volt switch from glsicor and Rotom-Heat respectively. Since the team was looking weak to water types and I needed a speed control I opted for Choice scarf shaymin on the team which helps vs water types like miltoic. Lastly I decide to use feraligatr with Dragon Dance as the set up sweeper and the other win condition of the team.
I tested this team a little on ladder and it seems to be doing ok. Always open for suggestions to improve the team more! Thank you.

 

[eifo]

Import

Ribombee @ Life Orb
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Rampardos @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Punch

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower

Banette-Mega @ Banettite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off

Necrozma @ Buginium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Fun webs team that functioned a lot better than i had expected. Especially the random Sash Rampardos has been a pleasant surprise. It is basically standard Krow webs, but with Rampardos and Necro. Ribombee is the new hot webber, outclassing Galv because of its speed tier. Sash Rampardos is the offensive rocks lead, but can also be used for breaking mid-battle. The opponent will likely expect some sort of LO AoA set with Aero as the lead, which is something that I have taken advantage of several times, for example staying in on Zydog and killing it with Ice Beam among others. Aero is greatly appreciated on webs, checking all the birbs flying around, Swellow in particular. Banette is great on all types of HO, as prankster Dbond paired with a horrible speed tier works nicely together, making it able to stop sweeps and trade mon for mon. Necro breaks the whole tier. Krow is a staple on webs, you simply cannot build webs without it.

Replay:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-662765245 (pre kommonium ban, kommo was later replace by aero)
Ribombee weakens M Lix for Krow, and sets webs which allows it to outspeed and pick off the remaining pokemon.

 

[KW]

Week 6 is now over! Time to vote on the submissions!

 

[davidTheMaster]

eifo

 

[HypnoEmpire]

eifo

 

[Gorechomp]

eifo

 

[cdbk]

eifo

 

[eren]

avo

 

[KW]

Voting for week 6 is now at a close. Thanks to avocado, Alpha-Harpreet, and eifo for their submissions. This week's winner is eifo, congratulations.

 

[KW]

Week 7: Linoone

With USM, Linoone gained two valuable new tutor moves in Stomping Tantrum and Throat Chop, allowing it to hit a wider variety of Pokemon after setting up and making it an increased threat as a sweeper in the late game. Linoone's powerful attacks in conjunction with Belly Drum have often brought even the strongest teams to their knees, yet Linoone still must be carefully preserved and played in order to find an opportunity to setup and to make sure Linoone can win once it has setup. Can this week's builders find a team that supports Linoone and allows it to shine in its full fearsome form? What new innovation might occur!?

 

[zizalith]

Hide

Sneasel (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Pursuit

Flygon @ Earth Plate
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 108 Atk / 88 SpD / 64 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Defog
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Uxie @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpD / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Yawn
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Memento

Linoone @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Seed Bomb

Banette-Mega @ Banettite
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA / 8 Spe
- Destiny Bond
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Taunt

Mawile @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Toxic
- Knock Off

linoone and sneasel form a nice offensive core, with sneasel removing most of linoones counters and allowing it to run max hp to create set up opportunities, though ig you can still speedcreep hoopa and decid if you want to. uxie functions as a special pivot and helping linoone setting up with yawn+memento. psychic is there for the dangerous fighting and poison types in the tier like dragalge and kommo-o. the team needed a defogger so i stole chose this weird flygon set bc i really dislike scarf defog, and it checks stuff like salazzle wich otherwise run through this team. credit for the set goes to teachable in this post (though i opted for u-turn over roost for momentum over longetivity). meganette also has nice synergy with linoone since it can help wear down fatter teams with taunt and its huge attack. the speed ivs are for underspeeding umbys that try to underspeed banette and taking it down with it. mawile might seem like a meme but i needed a rocker who checked both durant and escavalier and a switch in to physical wallbreakers like pangoro. also, fire blast does more damage to both durant (ohko) and esca (2hko with the 8 spa investment and rock damage) so i figured why not, this is already the most niche mon ive ever used. toxic and knock improve its match up against fatter teams. and well, linoone... linoone just does what linoone does best.

 

[Taskr]

Import

Linoone @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Seed Bomb

Whimsicott @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Encore
- U-turn
- Moonblast
- Memento

Uxie @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 56 SpD / 204 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Memento

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Liquidation
- Ice Punch
- Crunch

Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw

Memento Spam seemed like the way to go with Linoone so first I added Whimsicott since to was good for switching in on Chesnaught too which is able to stop Linoone. Uxie provided a secondary Memento user and the ability to set up Stealth Rock whilst blanket checking a lot of specially attacking mons. Gligar provides Defog support and a good check for the Fighting types that Whimsicott struggles with such as Toxicroak. Next I wanted a sceondary sweeping option so I went with DD Gator which is able to handle the Rock-types that Linoone can struggle with. Lastly I needed a scarfer and a better Fire/Normal resist so I went with Tyrantrum.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-666914582

 

[Meru]

http://pokepast.es/a568ba5df5a233a7

Uxie has been a recurring theme but I decided to try Scarf since the SR setter tends to have some bad match ups or invite in some really dangerous stuff for a Linoone team. Steelix-Mega fits better as a SR setter, letting you get hazard momentum against other fat Steel-types, I chose Taunt with enough speed to creep Doublade so you can Taunt Bronzong and get rocks against non-Taunt Gligar with Defog. Double specs spam to break fat steels, rocks, psychics, fights, etc and Yanmega and Espeon both have great speed tiers and synergy. Chose Barbaracle as the second set-up user for its power and ability to outspeed Scarfers after Shell Smash, with Rockium to push past Milotic and Aerial Ace for Chesnaught, Toxicroak and Kommo-o. It also sets up on Zydog's Espeed, which is one of the few things that can revenge Linoone. Chose Seed Bomb on Linoone to not auto-lose to Quagsire stall, and Throat Chop in conjunction with the jump on positive 70's to take out the Ghost-types since I lack a Pursuit trapper